‘i respect all kinds of audience’ 16 vivacity twenty-year-old shradha mengshette, ... accepting...

PNS n NEW DELHI

In order to check unfair prac-tices of imposing service

charge on food and drink bills,the Government is mullingissuance of an advisory to allStates, asking them to crackdown on such wrong methodsused by restaurants and othereatery outlets as well.

“Service charge does notexist. It is being wrongly

charged. We have prepared anadvisory on this issue. We havesent it to the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO), for an approval,”Food and Consumer AffairsMinister Ram Vilas Paswantold reporters.

A senior Ministry officialsaid the advisory, onceapproved by the PMO, wouldbe issued to all States andUnion Territories in the coun-try. “The advisory will also be

useful for Voluntary ConsumerOrganisations (VCOs) fightingfor consumer right,” said theofficial, adding that no cus-tomer should be forced to payservice charge.

He added, “If customerswant they can pay a tip to wait-ers or give their consent to levythe charge in the bill. The levy-ing of service charge withoutseeking customer consent willbe considered as unfair trade

practice under the ConsumerProtection Act.”

The Minister, however, saidconsumers should be informedabout service charge in themenu card itself. Earlier too onseveral occasions, Paswanspoke against unfair impositionof service charge on food billand had even sought explana-tion from hotels and restau-rants’ bodies.

In January, the Departmentof Consumer Affairs statedthat service charge on food billsis not compulsory and a cus-tomer can choose to have itwaived if not satisfied withexperience. States were told toensure that hotels/restaurantsdisseminate this informationthrough displays in their premises.

Continued on Page 7

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/PTI nNEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD

Tension between India andPakistan spiked on Friday

over death sentence awarded toIndian national KulbhushanJadhav by a Pakistan Armycourt. While India asked theneighbouring country to pro-vide documents related to thetrial and consular access, theneighbouring country warnedthat “inflammatory” statementsover Jadhav’s death sentencewould only result in escalationof tension in the bilateral ties.

In the midst of a continu-ing war of words over whatIndia has described as “falsecharges” and “farcical trial”,Indian High Commissioner inIslamabad Gautam Bambawalemet Pakistan Foreign SecretaryTehmina and asked for a certified copy of thechargesheet as well as the judg-ment on Jadhav.

“They have denied ourrequest for consular access 13times (in the last one year). Ihave again requested thePakistan Foreign Secretary togive access to Jadhav so that wecan appeal,” Bamwale told PTI.

Sources in New Delhi saidapart from diplomatic options,India will also explore legalremedies permitted underPakistan legal system, includ-

ing Jadhav’s family appealingagainst the verdict.

Meanwhile, HomeMinister Rajnath Singh refut-ed Pakistan’s claim of a fair trialbeing given to Jadhav and saidall efforts were being made tosecure justice for him.

“I do not agree with whatPakistan has said. KulbhushanJadhav did not get a fair trial,”he told a Press meet in Kolkata.“All efforts are being made tosecure justice for Jadhav. Wewill do everything,” he added.

He was reacting to PakistanPrime Minister’s Adviser onForeign Affairs Sartaj Azizassertion that due process oflaw was followed in the trial of46-year-old Jadhav.

Sartaj Aziz rejected India’saccusations that there was nocredible evidence againstJadhav and warned that“inflammatory” statementsover his death sentence wouldonly result in escalation oftension in the bilateral ties.

In a detailed statementread out to the media at theForeign Office, Aziz said thefirst FIR against Jadhav waslodged on April 8, 2016 bypolice’s Counter TerrorismDepartment (CTD) in Quetta,the capital of Balochistan.

He said detailed trial washeld and all relevant laws,including Evidence Act and

recording of statement beforea magistrate, were followed.Jadhav was also provided legalassistance. “Kulbhushan Jhadav,who is responsible for espi-onage, sabotage and terrorismin Pakistan, has been triedaccording to the law of theland, in a fully transparentmanner while preserving hisrights, as per the Constitution ofPakistan,” he said.

“His sentence is based oncredible, specific evidenceproving his involvement inespionage and terrorist activi-ties in Pakistan,” he added.

On Thursday, India hadcriticised the PakistanGovernment for not sharingJadhav’s location and details ofhis condition and said that theinternational norm to provideconsular access was not fol-lowed. India and Pakistan havea bilateral agreement on con-sular access. India had con-veyed to Pakistan that given thecircumstances of the case,absence of any credible evi-dence to substantiate the con-cocted charges against Jadhav,farcical nature of the proceed-ings against him and denial ofconsular access to him, the peo-ple and the Government ofIndia will consider this as a“premeditated murder”.

Continued on Page 7

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

In back-to-back engagementsduring his day-long visit to

Nagpur, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridaylaunched two new schemesunder the BHIM app for refer-ral bonus to individual usersand cash-back for merchants toincentivise them with an out-lay of `495 crore for a periodof six months.

At a NITI Ayog-organisedevent on the 126th birthanniversary of social justicecrusader BR Ambedkar, Modisaid the ‘DigiDhan’ movementwas not only about curbingcorruption, but also about giv-ing a voice to the poor.

Expressing his confidenceabout India becoming a digitaleconomy soon, the PrimeMinister said, “The time is notfar when every India, even thepoorest would say ‘DigiDhan isNiji Dhan’ (Digital Money isMy Money) of the poor. It willbecome the voice of the poor.”

“The DigiDhan movementis a safai abhiyan (cleanlinessmovement). It is to fight the menace of corruption,” he added.

On a day when he also paidfloral tributes to late DrAmbedkar at Deekshabhoomiin Nagpur where the architectof the Constitution of India hadembraced Buddhism in 1956along with his large number offollowers, the PM dedicated tonation three 660 MW units ofKoradi Thermal Power Plan ofMahaGenco.

He also released two spe-cial commemorative postagestamps — one depictingDeekshabhoomi in its full glory

and the other with twin pic-tures of Lord Gautam Buddhaand late Dr Ambedkar atanother function.

After inaugurating newunits of the Koradi thermalpower station, the PM stressedthe importance of renewableenergy sector. “One of the sec-tors towards which we aredevoting significant effort is therenewable energy sector,” thePM said while describing ener-gy sector as a great vitality inthe 21st century.

Commenting on theaffordable housing, the PM

said, “Each and every Indianmust have his or her ownhouse. And that house must beequipped with electricity, waterand other facilities.”

Modi said, “BabasahebAmbedkar wanted to build anIndia for all citizens and theBHIM-Aadhaar is the strongestfoundation for building a neweconomy of new India.”

Calling it a complete gamechanger, the PM said BHIM-Aadhaar would posi-tively impact several livesacross India.

Continued on Page 7

India, Pak stick toguns on JadhavNew Delhi seeks copy of judgment, consular access

Modi gives credit for BHIM app to Ambedkar, saysBHIM-Aadhaar strongest foundation for new India

PNS n MUMBAI

Twenty-year-old ShradhaMengshette, a second year

student of ElectricalEngineering from Latur districtin Maharashtra, emerged as thewinner of `1 crore mega drawfor digital consumers, HardikKumar from Khambhat(Cambay) in Gujarat walkedaway with second prize of `50 lakh under the LuckyGrahak Yojana.

While Shradha won the `1 crore prize for making atransaction of `1,590 throughher RuPay card online, to paythe monthly EMI for her newmobile phone, Hardik — aprimary school teacher —bagged `50 lakh prize for usinghis RuPay card for making atransaction of `1,100.

Similarly, the first prize of`50 lakh, under the Digi-DhanVyapar Yojana category formerchants, was won by AnandAnanthapadmanabhan foraccepting a payment of `300 atGRT Jewellers in Tambaram,Chennai.

Anant apadmanabhaninstantly donated his prizemoney to the Clean Gangacampaign.

As the initial two incentivesschemes viz Lucky GrahakYojana and Digi Dhan VyaparYojana, came to an end afterrigorous 100-day information,education and communicationcampaign led by NITI Aayog,the Prime Minister felicitatedthe winners of the Mega Drawin Nagpur on Friday.

DigiDhan will become voice of poor: PM

Latur girl wins `1 crin Lucky GrahakYojana mega draw

Eateries can’t fleece you for ‘service’ The Govt is mullingissuance of anadvisory to all States,asking them to crackdown on restaurantsand other eateryoutlets who inflate billswith service charge

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tribute at Deekshabhoomi on the occasion ofAmbedkar Jayanti in Nagpur on Friday PTI

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‘I RESPECT

ALL KINDS

OF AUDIENCE’

16 VIVACITY

PNS n LUCKNOW

To check the menace ofillegal power connec-tions, the state govern-

ment will provide free elec-tricity connections to belowpoverty line (BPL) families inurban and rural areas.

On the 126th birthanniversary of Dr BhimraoAmbedkar, the State and Uniongovernments signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding — ‘Power forAll’ — on Friday. The schemeaims to provide 24x7 powersupply to all categories of con-sumers in the state by the endof November 2018.

An MoU was also signedfor installation of 10,000 solarpanels, 10,000 solar irrigationpump sets and distribution ofLED bulbs, tube lights andfans.

Addressing a meeting aftersigning the MoU with theUnion government, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath said:“The state government will act

fast to achieve the MoU objec-tives and provide electricity toevery household in rural andurban areas, farmers, smalltraders and all other categoriesof power consumers.”

Lashing out at the previousSamajwadi Party government,the CM said: “Earlier, only 4-5 districts were blessed with 24-hour uninterrupted power sup-ply as per orders of the thenChief Minister. It is a blot ondemocracy that some districtswere chosen for 24-hour powersupply on the basis of caste andreligion.”

“The UP government iscommitted to supplying powerto all consumers across the

state. As per promise made inthe election manifesto (SankalpPatra), each district headquar-ters will get 24-hour supply,tehsil headquarters for 20 hoursand rural areas for 18 hours byNovember 2018,” Yogi said.

“The ‘katiya’ (illegal powerconnection) is a big menace inthe state. To curb it, the stategovernment will give freepower connections to all BPLfamilies. To keep track of powerconsumption, prevent powertheft and ensure safety of con-sumers, the government willinstall smart power meters.The cost of meters will befinanced by Power FinanceCorporation of India and Rural

Electricity Corporation,” theChief Minister said.

Yogi attacked the previousSP government for its myopicvision of development andsaid: “I launched 150 ambu-lances on Thursday and fundsfor this scheme was given bythe Centre under NationalHealth Mission. But since 2014,the previous UP governmentdid not seem to be interested inproviding facility to the people.”

Taking a jibe at his prede-cessor, Yogi said: “Many peopleare surprised that I have notordered massive reshuffle in thebureaucracy. The old team,which ‘did not use to work’, is

Continued on Page 7

Yogi vows ‘power for all’

CM signs MoUwith Centre; BPLfamilies to get freepower connection

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other Cabinet ministers at the ‘Power For All’MoU signing function in Lucknow on Friday Pioneer

‘Schools must open on birth anniv of great personalities’PNS n LUCKNOW

Holidays in schools could becurtailed as Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath suggested thatschools should remain openduring birth anniversaries ofgreat personalities of India sothat children could learn abouttheir sacrifices.

The CM’s suggestion cameduring his address at a functionat Ambedkar Mahasabha inLucknow on Friday to mark the126th birth anniversary of DrBR Ambedkar.

“Educational institutionsshould not close during birth-day anniversaries of great per-sonalities. Instead, teachersshould educate children aboutthese personalities and thegreat work done by them fornation building,” Yogi said.

The CM was, however,mum on holidays in govern-ment offices.

Uttar Pradesh is notoriousfor having too many public hol-idays in government institu-tions, including schools.Governments offices and edu-cational institutions remainclosed for over 100 days. Theseholidays include 48 gazetted

Continued on Page 7

city 02LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

Lucknow: RidiculingBahujan Samaj Party presidentMayawati for appointing herbrother Anand Kumar as herparty’s vice-president and heirapparent and expressing will-ingness to join hands withother parties for taking on thesaffron party, the BharatiyaJanata Party accused her of pro-moting corruption and nepo-tism.

“Mayawati’s decisions willcertainly end her political career.The U-turn from her earlierstand that she will not allow herfamily members to join theparty only proves her weaknessand nepotism,” BJP state gener-al secretary Vijay BahadurPathak said here on Friday.

Pathak said that giving polit-ical patronage to Kumar, againstwhom ED, IT and CBI have ini-tiated probes for financialembezzlement, would not savea corrupt person.

“Mayawati is now left aloneafter her party’s debacle in theAssembly polls. Offering to joinhands with other parties willserve no purpose for the BSPand in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelections she will face anotherignominious electoral rout,” theBJP leader said.

Pathak said the decision ofall opposition parties to joinhands before 2019 Lok Sabhapolls shows that they have con-ceded defeat and were nowlooking for avenues to salvagetheir pride. “It is a fact that peo-ple still love Prime MinisterNarendra Modi because there isno corruption charge againsthim,” he said.

Meanwhile, at a function atBJP headquarters here, partyleaders paid floral tributes to DrBR Ambedkar. BJP state presi-dent and Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Maurya said thatthe party as well as the govern-ment would fulfil the dreams ofBaba Saheb Ambedkar.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Calling for opposition unityto take on the Bharatiya

Janata Party in the comingelections, Bahujan Samaj Partychief Mayawati said that shewas not averse to stitching analliance to halt the saffron jug-

PNS n LUCKNOW

In a surprise development,Samajwadi Party’s senior

leader Shivpal Singh Yadavmet Bharatiya Janata Partypresident Amit Shah in Delhion Friday.

Yadav, however, refused tospeak to the media about themeeting and dismissed it sayingit was only a figment of themedia’s imagination.

Sources in the SP, however,said that Shivpal had beencamping in Delhi since Tuesdayto meet Shah. After meeting the,the BJP president came toLucknow on Thursday noon.

Earlier on April 5, ShivpalYadav had met Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath along with hisson Aditya Yadav. The meetinghad fuelled speculations that hewas attempting to join the BJPafter being marginalised in theSamajwadi Party by his nephewAkhilesh Yadav.

The sources however saidthat Shivpal, through his meet-ings with Yogi Adityanath andAmit Shah, was trying to mountpressure on Akhilesh Yadav toinitiate unity efforts in theparty and end the discord in thefirst family.

A SP Rajya Sabha membersaid that this kind of deadlockat the top could not be allowedto continue for an indefiniteperiod as it had already taken aheavy toll in the form of theparty’s worst poll debacle in therecent Assembly poll. The feudin the SP first family came to thefore in September 2016 andcontinues unabated.

“Instead of drawing lessonsfrom the poll rout, both factionsare trying to paint each other asvillain rather then thinking ofchallenges ahead. We have toface the urban local bodieselection and also the bypolls to

PNS n LUCKNOW

Bahujan Samaj Partysupremo Mayawati hitout at the Yogi

Adityanath government, sayingthat it was doing nothing andwas just trying to get mediaattention.

“This Yogi government isdoing nothing and is onlyholding meetings day andnight. Publicity through mediais the only achievement of thismonth-old regime,” sheclaimed.

Addressing party workerson Dr BR Ambedkar’s birthanniversary on Friday,Mayawati said: “The meat con-troversy was intentionally cre-ated by the Bharatiya JanataParty government to harass aparticular community whichopposed them in the electionwhile the state governmentwas overlooking the problem ofexorbitant fee structure of pri-vate schools,” she said.

On triple talaq, Mayawatisaid the matter should be leftto the Muslim community or tothe Supreme Court to decidethe issue as per constitutionalprovisions to ensure justicefor Muslim women.

“Our party wants theSupreme Court to take a deci-sion on triple talaq, keeping thestate and Central governmentsout. From media reports, itdoes not seem that senior peo-ple linked with MuslimPersonal Law Board are seriousabout Muslim women gettingjustice on triple talaq. We donot feel that the Board will beable to ensure justice to Muslimwomen soon. Hence the apexcourt should ensure justice tothem,” she said.

In October last year,Mayawati had criticised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi overhis stance on the issue, sayingsuch matters should be left tothe Muslim community andnot be raked up on electioneve.

On demands to closedown liquor shops in populat-ed areas, Mayawati claimedthat her party supported it buttermed it unfortunate thatthe BJP government was silenton the issue because of eco-nomic gains and capitalistmindest.

On farm loan waiver, theBSP chief said that loans up toonly one lakh rupees had beenwaived and this was a betray-al of the people as Modi hadpromised full loan waiver whilecampaigning for the Assemblypolls.

On the law and order issue,Mayawati said there was noimprovement visible under theYogi government and crime inthe state was taking place asbefore.

“But to divert attentionfrom such issues, this govern-

ment is using media to focus onprobes into works of the previ-ous governments. Our party isnot against probes into scamslike the one relating to memo-rial construction but it shouldnot be conducted with acasteist, religious mindset or forpolitical

vendetta,” she said.

On the massive depart-mental reviews being held bythe Chief Minister, she said thatmerely enacting laws, holdingreviews or publicising themwould not improve the lot ofthe people.

Meanwhile, the BSP chiefalso set up a five-membercommittee comprising senior

party leaders to meet the ChiefMinister and raise issues relat-ed to poor condition of memo-rials and the woes of the people.

The team would compriseLalji Verma, Ram AchalRajbhar, NaseemuddinSiddiqui, Satish ChandraMishra and Ashok Siddharth.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.

Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi

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NOTICE

Yogi government doing

nothing, says Maya

BSP supremo Mayawati paying tributes to Dr BR Ambedkar on the Dalit icon’s birth anniversary in Lucknow on Friday Pioneer

Appoints brother as BSP vice-president PNS n LUCKNOW

Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati appointed

younger brother Anand Kumaras the vice-president of herparty and authorised him totake decisions and sign docu-ments in her absence.

The announcement wasmade by Mayawati whileaddressing party workers onthe occasion of the 126th birthanniversary of Dalit icon Dr BRAmbedkar in Lucknow onFriday.

However, the BSP chiefclarified that her brother wouldnot become an MLA, MP orchief minister but will contin-ue to do his business.

“Anand Kumar is facing theire of the Bharatiya JanataParty government at the Centrebut has not bowed to their pres-sure. My brother’s family hasalso served Kanshi Ram duringhis ill health,” Mayawati said.

Attacking the BJP govern-ment at the Centre, the BSPchief alleged that it was tryingto harass her family members,particularly Anand Kumar,through Income Tax,Enforcement Directorate andCBI.

Anand Kumar, who calledthe shots during the previousBSP regime without holdingany post in the government orin the party, runs several busi-nesses.

The appointment of AnandKumar is set to overshadowsenior leaders of the party likeSatish Chandra Mishra andothers who were considerednext in the party hierarchy afterMayawati.

Without attaching any spe-cific reason for the appoint-ment, Mayawati appears tohave decided to bring her heirfrom the family thus renegingon her earlier promise that noone from her family would be

involved in politics. As per Article IV of the

BSP constitution filed with theElection Commission, “Theorganisation would have onevice-president along with thepresident”.

Clause VI says, “In theabsence of the national presi-dent, all functions of the formercould be performed by thenational vice-president, provid-ed that all decisions taken byhim/her in such situation shallbe put up before the nationalpresident for ex post factoapproval.”

The next Clause VII says,“In the event of unfortunatedemise of the national presi-dent, the national vice-presi-dent shall immediately andautomatically assume charge asnational president and shall continue to function assuch until the end of the current term of the nationalpresident.”

two Assembly and two LokSabha constituencies in comingmonths. But the party seems tobe clueless,” the SP Rajya Sabhamember said.

“The open offer given byMayawati for alliance with anyparty for future political battlewill also add to the pressure onAkhilesh to respond and live upto his supporters’ expectations.Before responding to BahujanSamaj Party overtures, Akhileshwill have to restore order with-in the party and end the dis-pute,” the SP leader said.

Samajwadi Party leaders,however, expect little from bothfactions as both seem to be

adamant to fight till the end.The battle of supremacy in theparty has reached an interestingstage where both uncle Shivpaland his nephew Akhilesh arewaiting for the other to strikefirst.

Shivpal wants to desert theparty and Akhilesh wants tothrow him out of the party.Shivpal is in the process offorming a new party andAkhilesh is waiting for thatday. Yet both factions haverefrained from firing the firstsalvo. The rift in SP’s first fam-ily is growing by each passingday and prospects of an amica-ble patch up seem negligible.

Shivpal meets Amit Shah,

fuelling speculations

Shivpal Singh Yadav Amit Shah

BJP: Mayawatipromoting nepotism

gernaut in the state.Addressing a gathering on

the 126th birth anniversary ofDr BR Ambedkar in Lucknowon Friday, Mayawati said, ‘’TheBJP has always ditched andmisled Dalits for its politicalgains. The party is enacting adrama to claim that they are theonly honest people in the coun-try and the opposition leadersare corrupt.”

“Ninety per cent of theSikhs, Muslims, Parsis,Buddhists, Dalits and Backwardshave been denied their rights byupper castes. Kanshi Ram tookthe pain to unite them. Butunfortunately, ‘manuwadi’ forceshave once again created differ-ences,’’ she said.

“The BJP had openly sup-ported the anti-Mandal move-ment after dislodging the VPSingh government whichshowed their anti-Dalit atti-tude,’’ Mayawati said.

Announcing the suspen-sion of BSP protest against elec-tronic voting machines (EVMs)till the Supreme Court gave itsverdict on the issue, Mayawaticontinued her attack on the BJPon the issue and claimed that inUP, the party had won 250 seats

of the total 325 by tamperingwith the EVMs.

She also thanked the partyrank and file for staging amassive protest on April 11against the use of EVMs inelections .

The BSP chief also allegedthat the Narendra Modi gov-ernment was misusing officialmachinery against her and herfamily members.

“Like 2003, the present BJPgovernment is doing every thingto tarnish my family’s image andharass them,” she said.

The BSP chief has beenunder fire following a recentdecision of the Yogi Adityanathgovernment to order probeinto the sale of sugar mills andconstruction of memorials dur-ing her regime.

Mayawati said, “I am beingtargeted by BJP under a con-spiracy so that I stop speakingon the EVM tampering issue.It is being projected as if I wasresponsible for the sale of 21sugar mills. The fact is that Inever held the Sugar depart-ment. It was headed byNaseemuddin (Siddiqui) anddecisions were taken by theCabinet.”

Trying to counter theAssembly poll results whichindicated Dalits deserting heras she tried to woo theMuslims, Mayawati made itclear that it was a misconcep-tion being spread by the BJP.

“Dalits have voted enmasse for me along withMuslims as they know very wellthat a BSP government isalways pro-Dalit and pro-Muslim,” she added.

Sharing her medical condi-tion with party workers for thefirst time, Mayawati said that agland in her throat had to beremoved in 1996 which forcedher to read written texts.

“One of the two glands inmy throat was removed bydoctors in an operation and soI cannot stress my vocal chordtoo much,” Mayawati said.

Asking party leaders andworkers to camp in their areasfrom May 1 and spread theparty’s base, Mayawati exhort-ed them to go to the people andraise their issues before the gov-ernment.

She, however, warned lead-ers not to meet any BJP MLA,MP or minister to seek theiradvice.

Mayawati calls for united

opp to take on BJP

‘Not averse toalliance’


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Dr Madan Lal BrahmaBhatt took over as theVice-Chancellor of King

George’s Medical University(KGMU) Vice-Chancellor onFriday. He took over from out-going V-C Dr Ravi Kant, whowas given a one-month extension. Dr Bhatt was thehead of Radiotherapy depart-ment before his appointment asthe Vice-Chancellor of the pre-mier medical university. He isthe 7th Vice-Chancellor ofKGMU. The new V-C said heknew the issues concerningKGMU and their treatment aswell.

“I feel privileged to carryforward Chief Minister YogiAdityanath’s view on improvingmedical education and health-care. Similarly, I can say that Iunderstand KGMU wellenough as I have been associ-ated with it since my collegedays and later in professionallife. Even when I was not here,I used to hear and discussissues related to KGMU. All Ican say is that I know the dis-ease that affects KGMU and thecorrective treatment too,” hesaid while addressing reporterson Friday.

Dr Bhatt clarified that hewould follow the state govern-ment’s directives on privatepractice and would deal withany act of indiscipline accord-ingly. Asserting that he would

take a clue from the KGMUrule-book to resolve com-plaints, he feigned ignoranceabout wrongdoings in the past.

Dr Bhatt said he had setself-determined targets with

more focus on implementing asingle-window healthcare sys-tem. “From day one, our focuswill be on reducing inconve-nience to patients. I have a planto accomplish this target with-

out extra expenditure. A systemwill be implemented wherein apatient will get all servicesconveniently at one place. Themedical university will alsopromote research in the largerinterest of the nation,” he said.

The new V-C also exhort-ed the faculty and staff mem-bers to discharge their respon-sibilities and take KGMU’slegacy forward.

Dr Bhatt’s appointmentcomes 40 years after heenrolled as an MBBS student atthe then KGMC in 1977. Aftergraduating in 1982, he servedin the Army Medical Corps forfive years. “During my servicein the army, I faced severalchallenges including postingson front line. This taught methe importance of discipline inlife,” he said.

After completing his armystint, Dr Bhatt returned toKGMU and completed post-graduation in Radiotherapy in1995. For the first time, he ven-tured into academics in 1996 byjoining Aligarh MuslimUniversity as lecturer in theRadiotherapy department andreturned to his alma mater in2002. He has also been medicalsuperintendent at KGMU’sGandhi Ward.


The final list of studentswho will receive medals at

the 3rd convocation of DrShakuntala Misra NationalRehabilitation University(SMNRU) on April 24 wasreleased by examination con-troller Ashwani KumarDubey on Friday. As many as37 students will get 53 medalsat the convocation. Of them,28 girls have bagged 38

medals, including 21 gold, 16silver and 16 bronze medals.

Ranjana Rao has baggedVisitor, Chief Minister andVice-Chancellor gold medalswhile Mulayam Singh Yadavgold medal has gone to SafaltaSaini.

Shri Alok TomarMemorial gold medal, DrShakuntala Misra Memorialgold medal, Amit MittalMemorial gold medal andVice-Chancellor gold medal

have gone to visually-impaired student MohdAkram. He has also securedtwo bronze medals.

The convocation func-tion will be chaired byGovernor Ram Naik whileUnion HRD MinisterPrakash Javadekar, GoI willbe the chief guest. Minister ofDepartment of Developmentof Persons with DisabilitiesOm Prakash Rajbhar will bethe guest of honour.

Lucknow (PNS): LMRCmanaging director KumarKeshav, along with DaljeetSingh (Works director) andMahendra Kumar (RollingStock director), on Fridayinspected the Metro stations atCharbagh and Durgapuri. AtCharbagh, the managing direc-tor inspected civil, finishing,electrical and mechanical(E&M) works being carried outthere for the blueline section.

He also asked the contrac-tor, M/s Larsen & Toubro, tocomplete the work of the entryand exit point whereas on theother side the work for the redline is in its final stage.

A brief inspection of eachsection of the Charbagh Metrostation was made where theofficials inspected the work ofcable tray, rolling shutter, floor-

ing and finishing and asked thecivil and systems contractor tofinish the remaining work assoon as possible. On the otherhand, the plantation work wasfinished at the entry point ofthe Charbagh Metro Station.

In the end they inspectedthe Durgapuri Metro Stationwhich is the first of its kind inthe North-South Corridorwhich will provide the facilityto the Metro passengers toconnect directly fromCharbagh (NE) railway stationfrom the Durgapuri MetroStation. The remaining finish-ing work at this station is goingto be completed soon and theinstallation of equipment likeDFMD, TVM and Security X-ray machines and baggagescanners had been completed,the officials said.


Post-BJP victory in the UPAssembly elections books

on the Sangh are attractingthe attention of the readers atthe Lucknow Book Fair whichis currently going on at theMoti Mahal Lawns. Theincharge of the stal l ofSamayak Publications saidthat these books were beingpicked up by the youths.

Amit Kumar at the stall,while talking to The Pioneer,said that the books which hadcaught the attention of thereaders were ‘Sangh andRajneeti’ written by a reput-ed author, Rakesh Sinha, and‘Deendayal Upadhyaya’ writ-ten by Sharad Singh. “Thebook on Sangh by RakeshSinha is an independentassessment of the organisa-tion and is well written. Thereis a lot of information on theSangh in that book. Sincethere are youngsters who havejoined the Sangh recentlythey are also curious to knowabout this organisation. Thereis yet another book onDeendayal Upadhyaya whichnot only talks about his lifebut also about the books hehad written,” said Kumar. Hefurther pointed out that the

books written by womenauthors were also attractingthe attention of the readers.“For literature lovers ChitraMudgal is one of the favouriteauthors. Her book, NalaSopara, is being picked up bythe people of all age groups.It is about the letters whichhave been written by a trans-gender to his mother at postbox No 203 at Nala Sopara inMumbai. He talks about hisproblems which he faceswhile leading his life,” said thestall incharge. The other bookwhich is witnessing good sales

among the books written bythe women authors is‘Ghulam Mandi’ which iswritten by Nirmal Bhuradiya.He said that the advantage ofbuying the books at the BookFair was the 10 per cent dis-count which the reader gotthere.

Meanwhile, a seminar bythe world number one humantrainer, motivator and writer,Surya Sinha, will be the spe-cial attraction at the LucknowBook Fair on Saturday whichis currently running at theMoti Mahal Lawns.


Good Friday was observedon April 14 in the various

city churches to commemoratethe crucifixion and death ofJesus Christ on the cross for thesalvation of mankind.

The main ceremonies atthe St Joseph’s Cathedral inHazratganj were held in theevening hours with the ‘Way ofthe Cross’ and the ceremony ofthe ‘Passion of Lord JesusChrist’. These were held at 4 pmto correspond with the timewhen Jesus died on the cross.

Father Donald D’souza,Chancellor, Diocese ofLucknow, while addressing theaudience said that Good Fridaywas the day when theChristians remembered thesuffering and death of JesusChrist on the cross for the sal-vation of humankind.

“This is the basis of faith ofthe Christians all over theworld. The redeeming death ona cross for the sins ofhumankind and the resurrec-tion from death forms thefoundation of Christian faith,”he said. “The Saviour, Son ofGod, was born as a man in

Jesus Christ. He went aboutdoing good all his life. But atthe end of his life on thisearth, a mere 33 years, he wasrejected by his own people,beaten, scourged, crowned withthorns and killed and crucifiedon a cross. This was the divinegood of that Friday on whichJesus Christ died for the sins ofhumankind. This is the reasonwhy the Friday of his death hasbeen called Good Friday,” hesaid. “Holy Saturday, April 15,2017, is a day of silence, hopeand expectation for theChristian community as itawaits Jesus’ resurrection.While the morning is spent insilent prayer, the SolemnEaster Vigil will be held at10.30 on Saturday night in allthe churches of the city, espe-cially in the main church of thecommunity, St Joseph’sCathedral in Hazratganj. Therewill be divine services in thevarious churches of the city inthe morning on April 16, 2017,Easter Sunday,” he said.

Catholic Bishop ofLucknow Gerald John Mathiaswished people the blessings ofEaster.

Meanwhile, the Good

Friday worship service washeld at the Assembly ofBelievers Church at St Michael’sSchool on April 14. Depictionof Jesus carrying the cross wasperformed by the churchyouths. The Assembly ofBelievers’ Church, Aliganj, hadorganised the ‘Good FridayService’ at St Michael’s School,Bada Chandganj, Aliganj. Thisfunction is one of the uniqueones from the series of pro-grammes planned for GoodFriday in the city. The said wor-ship service started with thesong ‘Lakri pe latka nasari’ ledby Anurag Daniel, Ankur,Alisha, Priya etc. Father Morrisintroduced the seven preachers,who shared the seven wordswhich Jesus spoke on the cross.A small skit, based on the cru-cifixion of Jesus Christ, wasdirected by Sisters Vartika andAmisha and the gospel chore-ography by the girls’ groupcomprising Pooja Sneha andChinual. Sisters Ranjeeta andSuman sang a special numberrecalling the sacrifice of Jesus.

Br Rohit led in these songs‘Krush pe qurban,’ ‘Karvery kepas khada hun, Krush pe kash’ etc.


On the occasion of the 126thbirth anniversary of Dr

Bhimrao Ambedkar, architectof the Indian Constitution anda Bharat Ratna recipient, aninternational seminar wasorganised by the Baba SahebBhimrao Ambedkar CentralUniversity.

Speaking on the occasion,Minister of State for Law andJustice Neelkanth Tiwari, whowas the chief guest, said: “If wehave to fulfil the dreams ofBabasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkarthen we will have to take histhoughts to the society.”

He said that by merelyannouncing the thoughts ofAmbedkar we would not beable to achieve anything and forrealising the goals we wouldhave to adopt them practical-ly. Tiwari said that they couldpay tributes to Dr Ambedkar inthe real sense of the term byimplementing his aim andvision in their lives. “He want-ed to bring a change in oursociety and this can only bedone when we follow his mis-sion and vision in our ownlives. The students of this uni-

versity and its administrationshould visit the slum areaaround its 100-km peripheryand enlist the problems beingfaced by the underprivilegedpeople and try to solve them inthe best possible way. The UPgovernment will also supportthe University in this endeav-our,” he added.

Vice-Chancellor RC Sobtisaid that the University wouldwork in this direction and wewould go to the slums and facil-itate the work related to the bet-terment of the underprivilegedand downtrodden sections ofthe society. He also spokeabout the work the universityand its employees had done forthe welfare of the society andsaid that it had adopted five vil-lages and its employees had vis-ited them from time to timeand distributed books and nec-essary things among their residents.

Mayor of Varanasi RamGopal Mohali highlighted thework Baba Saheb had done forthe society. He said that the BJPwas following the path of DrAmbedkar and trying to workfor the welfare of the people ofevery caste and religion.


Police arrested 24-year-oldChhotu on Friday for

molesting a 15-year-old girl inChinhat area. The incidenttook place near a school onApril 8 last. The mother of thegirl lodged an FIR at theChinhat police station.

She alleged that Chhotuused to cast a covetous eye onher daughter and often tried tomolest her. Chhotu took theadvantage of the isolated placefrom where she was passing toreach the house after attend-ing the classes. Source said thatChhotu was untraceable afterthe incident. The police raid-ed his probable hideouts butfailed to trace him. He waspicked up from his native vil-lage in Barabanki district inthe afternoon.

Meanwhile, two incidentsof suicide were reported fromdifferent place of the statecapital in the past 24 hours.The first incident was report-ed under the PGI police sta-tion where 35-year-oldMadhuri committed suicide byhanging herself with a dupat-ta. She was having a live-inrelationship with RajeshMaurya who hails fromAlambagh but was living withher at a rented house. Sourcesaid that the couple had a tiffin the morning. But after sometime, their neighbours went tothe landlord to inform himthat unusual activities weregoing on in the house. Theyentered the house as the maindoor was open. They foundthe rooms in a disorder stateand Madhuri was found hang-ing. Maurya was in Varanasifor his business work.Investigation is in progress toascertain the motive for com-mitting suicide.

The second incident wasreported at Bakshi Ka Talabwhere 35-year-old Prabha

Singh, wife of Sher BahadurSingh, committed suicide byhanging herself from the ceil-ing fan.

No suicide note was foundfrom the room by the policeduring search. Singh said thathe left the house at 9 am totake his son Nikhil to a coach-ing institute located inMadiaon area. One of his rel-atives Shailendra Singh, whoused to stay with them in thehouse, informed Singh on hismobile phone around 11 amthat his wife had shut him inone the rooms and hanged

herself from the ceiling fan.Singh was unable to state themotive of his wife taking sucha drastic step.

Meanwhile, Hari Shanker,a daily wager in a chemicalfactory in Talkatora area, diedafter he sustained seriousinjuries when he fell from thethird floor of the factory. Hewas rushed to a nearby privatenursing home and thenreferred to Trauma Centrewhere he succumbed toinjuries. He was unmarriedand living with his father JaiPrakash Lal in Mall locality.


Atheft was committed atthe house of senior bank

manager at Ashutosh Nagarfalling under Krishna Nagarpolice station on Friday. Theunidentified culprits made offwith household goods, set ofbatteries, two LPG cylinders,coloured TV, hot plate, cook-ing oven and inverters.

The police said thatPunjab National Bank seniormanager Prakash Pant is liv-ing with his mother, childrenand wife at Vrindavan Yojana-2. The house at AshutoshNagar was locked and he usedto visit the house once in amonth.

Pant came to AshutoshNagar house for electricitymetre reading here on Fridaymorning. He was surprisedwhen he saw the locks brokenand rooms in a disorderlystate. The police said that theculprits committed the theftwere well aware of the houseand the whereabout of thelandlord. He lodged an FIR at the Krishna Nagarpolice.

Solemnity marks Good FridayI know what ails KGMU: New V-C

Man held for molesting minor


Police claimed to haveworked out a daring

dacoity committed in Amaraiarea falling under Indira Nagarpolice station on April 11night. Four out of five culpritswere arrested on Friday. Theywere identified as Sher Ali,Chhotu alias Anand, Altaf Aliand Azmat Ali. They confessedtheir involvement in the crime.The police claimed that thefifth miscreants would benabbed within three or four days.

An informer alerted theincharge of the police stationon Thursday night that one ofthe miscreants involved in thedacoity was seen near hishouse located in DUDAcolony in Chinhat area. Actingpromptly on the information,a police party was despatchedand it picked up the man forinterrogation. He was identi-fied as Sher Khan, a hardcorecriminal, involved in seriouscrime cases. During the inter-rogation, Sher Khan revealedthe names of other aidesinvolved in the dacoity.

On the basis of his infor-mation, the police raided prob-able hideouts and roundedup three aides. However, thepolice failed to disclose theidentity of the fifth miscreantto maintain secrecy. The policerecovered two motorcycles,two gold chains, one LPGcylinder, one LED televisionset and an airbag, artificial jew-ellery, four ATM cards and Rs6,200 in cash from the houseof Sher Ali.

Dacoity case worked out; 4 in police net

New KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr Madan Lal Brahma Bhatt took charge on Friday Pioneer

Will have to takeAmbedkar’s viewsto society: Tiwari

Thieves target

house of bank

manager

LMRC officials inspect

two Metro stations


A25-year-old woman was rapedby her neighbour. He was iden-

tified as Anshul alias ShoebHussain, a resident of Gomti Nagar.She also alleged that Anshul hadpromised to marry her but later hereneged on his promise. Anshul isreported to be absconding when thepolice raided his house on Fridayevening.

In an FIR lodged at the GomtiNagar police station on Friday, shestated that she knew Anshul and hisfamily since her childhood and shewas having an affair with him forthe last five years. They used to goon dating and were also involved inpre-martial relations. Her parentsstrongly objected her conduct anddisowned her. But she continuedher relationship with Anshul as shewas confident that he would marryher at the right time. She alsocharged Anshul with secretly click-ing her photographs in a compro-mising position. When she talkedabout marriage last week, Anshuldenied having made such apromise. He warned her pho-tographs would go on the socialmedia sites. The police sought thehelp of Anshul’s neighbours totrace his whereabout.

Books on RSS attracting youthsWoman raped

by neighbour

28 SMNRU girls bag 38 medals

Lucknow (PNS): Thebeautification of JaneshwarMishra Park in Gomti Nagarhas been postponed whilethe fund (Rs one crore) hasbeen put on hold till furtherorders. The decision hasbeen taken by HousingMinister (independentcharge) Suresh Pasi. He saidhe felt that there should bea thorough probe into thebungling in funds releasedby the erstwhile state gov-ernment.

Sources said that thebeautification would beginand funds released once theprobe panel submitted theirfindings. An inquiry is like-

ly to be ordered within 3-4days. The sources said therewould be no 4-km cyclingtrack any more. It will be

removed like the ones inother parts of the city.

LDA Vice ChairmanSatyendra Singh said hewould cooperate with theprobe panel so that truthcame out in public interest.

According to thesources, the national flagflying at 225 feet will also beremoved as the minister saidit was disrespected on sever-al occasions in the past.Entry tickets will cost moreto lessen the number ofanti-social elements. Theminister said a multi-levelparking should be construct-ed there to avoid traffic congestion.

Beautification of JM Park put on hold

The books which

have caught the

attention of the

readers are ‘Sangh

and Rajneeti’

written by a

reputed author,

Rakesh Sinha, and

‘Deendayal

Upadhyaya’ written

by Sharad Singh

Christians taking part in a procession at St Cathedral Church in Hazratganj on the occasion of Good Friday Pioneer



The first national confer-ence of All India Union of

Forest Working People, held atNagal Mafi village inSaharanpur, has adopted vari-ous declarations and resolu-tions. An AIUFW membersaid that in alliance with fra-ternal organisations, theywould be leading peoples’movements in protecting theirlivelihood whether dependenton land, water, forest, seas,mines and would initiate col-lective action towards forma-tion of a larger political allianceto challenge the continuedappropriation of naturalresources by corporate andgrowing displacement of peo-ple.

“AIUFW has alreadycommitted itself to an alliancewith New Trade UnionInitiative Affiliate, JharkhandKrantikari Mazdoor Union(JKMU) to fight mass dis-placement arising out of min-ing or any other development-

related activity, jointly, inJharkhand to begin with butnot limited to it,” he said.

“AIUFW criticises allefforts to dilute and dismantlethe Forest Rights Act 2006(FRA) through backdoor andwe will do everything possibleto counter such efforts. Weoppose the recent efforts tomake it seem that forest rights,as ensured in the FRA, are onlyfor Scheduled Tribes, and makeit clear this game will not betolerated as the OtherTraditional Forest Dwellersincluding non-scheduled adi-vasi communities also haveequal rights under the FRA.The continuing areas of focusfor us, which were discussedthreadbare in workshops, werestepping up the fight to getCommunity Forest Rights titlesas per the FRA, setting upstructures to control the forestproduce through democraticcommunity management,countering innumerable falsecases on community’s in resis-tance,” he elaborated.


Amajority of representativesfrom the companies are

showcasing their products atthe ‘Coolex Exhibition 2017’which was inaugurated onFriday.

Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) launched the20th edition of 4-day flagshipexposition at Indira GandhiPratishthan with appliances upfor sale including air-condi-tioners, refrigerators etc. Thisyear, ten major MNCs andIndian companies are takingpart in the exposition and theproducts being showcased areof latest technology, eco-friend-ly and with various financialpackages. Manager of a majorcompany’s central east UPregion Siddharth Aggarwalsaid that the sales had beenextremely good looking intothe weather conditions. “We aremaking good sales of ACs thisyear and waiting for freshstocks to arrive. The growth inthe industry is almost 20 percent and our company hasshown a growth of 30 per

cent,” he said. He said it wasalways good to go in for invert-er ACs. “The inverter technol-ogy is one in which cooling isaccording to the number ofpeople sitting in the room andit helps save power. This hap-pens because these ACs havesensors. A 3-star inverter ACcosts around Rs 44,000 and afive star AC around Rs 54,000.This inverter technology isonly available in the splitmodel,” he said, adding that

people preferred window ACsbecause they were cheaper.

The chief guest at the inau-guration was Minister of Statefor Mining, Excise, Prohibition(UP) Archana Pandey. Sheappreciated the CII flagshipevent which is the annual expo-sition. “Expositions like thisgive the customers a choice tojudge, choose and products oflatest technology and featureswhich are available under oneroof,” she said.


KGMU is facing an acuteshortage of negative blood

group units and the depart-ment is contemplating to pro-vide Iron tablets to deal withdonors having low haemoglo-bin count.

The situation is so grimthat blood of AB (negative)group has been out of stock forthe last few days forcingpatients to arrange the vital lifefluid through other means.

Head of TransfusionMedicine department atKGMU Prof Tulika Chandrasaid: “The department organ-ises blood donation camps onregular basis but after Holi andschool examinations, suchcamps were organised withlesser intensity, leading to a

shortage of negative bloodgroups in the blood bank. Thedepartment has started organ-ising blood donation camps.”

Irregularity in organisingsuch camps have also aug-mented the crisis of A (nega-tive) and B (negative) alongwith some positive bloodgroups in the KGMU bank. Toovercome the crisis, moreblood donation camps will beorganised, Prof Chandraadded.

On being asked how theywere dealing with the demandof blood units, Prof TulikaChandra explained: “In case ofcrisis, the blood unit of ‘O’blood group is often transfusedfor all blood types. This attimes helps in dealing with thecrisis. Moreover, making therational use of blood compo-

nents by separating the bloodcomponents is another way ofdealing with the crisis.” Shesuggests that a healthy personcould donate blood once everythree months.

Further, in order to dealwith the shortage of haemo-globin in blood of donors, themedical university will provideIron tablets to such donors andexhort them to donate blood.

Prof Chandra said: “Often,people with low haemoglobincome to donate blood in dona-tion camps even when they arenot aware of it. They areadvised to increase intake ofFolic Acid along with Iron. Wehave sent a proposal to the uni-versity administration to coun-sel such donors and recom-mend a proper and wholesomediet to them.”

CMS STUDENT SELECTEDFOR SCHOLARSHIPS

Swapnil Verma, a talentedstudent of City MontessoriSchool, Gomti Nagar (CampusII) been selected by theAmerican universities —Washington & JeffersonCollege (USA) andWenthworth Institute ofTechnology, Boston (USA) —for US $ 90,000 and US$ 50,000scholarships respectively.Swapnil will be provided thescholarship during her fouryears of education. Swapnilattributed her success to theteachers and peaceful atmos-phere of CMS. Several studentsof CMS are being offeredadmission to the top universi-ties of the USA, UK, Canada,Australia, Japan, Germany etc.

DISCOUNTThe books authored by lit-

terateur Hari Om Sharma‘Hari’ are available with 50 percent discount for students,teachers and journalists at theLucknow Book Fair stall num-ber 61. Some of the books aretitled ‘Jago, Utho, Chalo’‘Awake, Arise, Ascend’, ‘Jad,Zameen, Jahan’, ‘Harvest ofHuman Values’, ‘Zid, Junoon,Zindadili’ ‘Sach Karein Sapne’‘Kaise Banein Safal Mata-Pita’and ‘Apna Rasta KhudBanayen’.

BOOK RELEASEDSagar Sanskriti Sanskritik

Sansthan organised a func-tion to release the book titled‘Rama Satsai’, authored byRama Arya at Press Club onFriday. The chief guest wasdirector of Bora Institute of

Management Sciences PankajBora, who released the bookamidst applause by the gath-ering. The function was

presided over by litterateurHari Om Sharma and con-ducted by Pratyush RatnaPandey.


The Central Institute ofHorticulture (CISH) will be

taking the Malihabadi mangospecies to their research stationin Malda, Kolkata. TheDirector, CISH, ShailendraRajan, said that they would testthese varieties at their ResearchStation in Malda, Kolkata.

The ICAR-CISH RegionalResearch Station, Malda, hastaken the initiative for the con-servation and utilisation oflocal varieties of mango inMalda and Murshidabad dis-tricts of West Bengal.

“In this regard a mobilisa-tion campaign had been organ-ised in the different mango-growing belts of both the dis-tricts for the on-farm conser-vation and utilisation of therich diversity of mango. Theinteresting part is that the vari-eties which we had taken andpreserved from these regionshad disappeared and we arenow trying to reintroducethem,” he said.

Rajan said that the custo-dian farmers and mango grow-ers of Murshidabad districthad come forward for estab-lishing a society in the name ofMurshidabad IndigenousMango Growers’ Society.“CISH-RRS, Malda, will notonly help in establishing thesociety but also in ensuring thatits activities remained smooth..ICAR-CISH had established itsregional research centre atMalda, West Bengal, on

February 28, 2016, to under-take location-specific researchprogrammes pertaining to theproblems being faced by themango growers in the regionand to conserve their geneticdiversity, evolve trait-specificmango varieties, optimise pro-tocols for production of qual-ity planting materials, developproduction and post-harvestmanagement technologies spe-cific to the region, includingcontributing to the strength-ening of the Food Park inMalda, West Bengal,” he added.

He said that the ICAR–CISH Regional ResearchStation, Malda, had prepared aproject for setting up a moth-er block of fruit crops for pro-ducing quality planting mate-rial.

“This project will be sub-mitted very shortly to the

National Horticulture Board,Government of India, for fund-ing (to meet the demand ofplating materials for new plan-tation and replantation). TheCISH-Regional ResearchStation, Malda, had alreadysubmitted a proposal to theIndian MeteorologicalDepartment, Government ofIndia, for establishing a DistrictAgromet Meteorological Unit(DAMU) at the station forproviding weather-based agroadvisory services to the mangogrowers,” he added.

He further pointed outthat the CISH RegionalResearch Station, Malda, wasalso going to submit a propos-al shortly on Integrated BeeDevelopment Centre to theNational Bee Board for fund-ing and this station wouldfacilitate the mango growers for

an additional alternative sourceof livelihood.

“The station is under theprocess of submitting propos-als on a Soil Testing Laboratory,a Community Radio Station(CRS), and a Plant HealthClinic within a month to dif-ferent agencies for fundingand establishment. The stationhad also started a dialogue withthe Deputy Manager, APEDAregional office, Kolkata, forexport promotion of the Maldamango,” he added.

The Director said that theproblems identified in Maldadistrict of West Bengal,which was known for itsgood quality of mango, wasthat the majority of orchardshad been established a longtime back and an area of 28,000hectares had been coveredunder mango with a produc-tion of 2,25,000 metric tonnes(MT) and a business of Rs 250crore. Issues related to theindiscriminate use ofpesticides, dependence ofgrowers on their dealers, non-availability of latest technicalknow-how, and a relativelypoor infrastructure of exten-sion services required for thetimely delivery of technicalinputs had been flayed andfound responsible for low pro-ductivity. “Mango varietieslike Fazli, Himsagar,Lakshman Bhog, Ashina etc)are predominant in theregions which do not havemuch export potential,” headded.

CISH to test Malihabadi mango

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

Shiv Sena activists torching Pakistan’s effigy in Lucknow over death sentence to former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav Pioneer

Lucknow (PNS): Ameeting of sugarcaneresearchers from the ICAR(Indian Institute of SugarcaneResearch), Lucknow, UP, theCouncil of SugarcaneResearch, Shahjahanpur, andits different centres along

with high-level officials fromthe State Cane Departmentwas organised on Wednesday atthe IISR premises under thechairmanship of Suresh Rana,Cane Development and SugarIndustry Minister, UP.

In the meeting Ranareviewed the recent advancesmade in sugarcane research. Heemphasised that the improvedcane technology should be dis-seminated to all the cane-growing areas at a faster speed.He said that a daylong work-shop should be organised at theIISR wherein all the caneresearchers from the IISR,Lucknow, and UPCSR,Shahjahanpur, along withextension and developmentofficials like the DCO andCDI from the CaneDepartment, all KVK heads ofUttar Pradesh and all theGeneral Managers and the GM(cane) from the sugar millsshould be invited to participateso that the main technologicalinterventions and action planwere communicated to eachworker at the field level.

The minister emphasisedthat sugarcane researchers from

the Central and state-levelresearch organisations shouldwork in close collaborationwith each other. He alsoemphasised that the researchfindings should be made sim-ple and communicated in alocal and understandable lan-guage to the farmers. He alsosaid that all the vital aspects ofcane farming should be takenup at the workshop from tech-nical, administrative and appli-cation ease as well as policyangle and the action should betaken accordingly. He calledupon the cane researchers towork in a planned and stress-free manner by utilising thecollective wisdom of all con-cerned. On the occasion DrAD Pathak, Director, IISR,presented a view of theimproved technologies andcited the example of the suc-cess story of Bihar Seed CaneProduction Programme andemphasised that a similar pro-gramme was needed for UPtoo. Director, UPCSR, Dr BLSharma, also apprised newsper-sons about the varieties devel-oped and the seed cane pro-duced annually in UP

Suresh Rana reviews recent

advances in cane research4-day ‘Coolex-2017’ kicks off

KGMU facing crisis of blood units

AIUFW adopts various declarations, motions

Transport Minister Swatantra Dev Singh inspecting Kaiserbagh bus depot inLucknow on Friday Pioneer

nation 05LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

IAHE SIGNS PACT WITHSOUTH WALES VARSITYNew Delhi: Indian Academy ofHighway Engineers (IAHE) hasinked a pact with University ofNew South Wales for building anadvanced transportationtechnology and systems. TheMoU was exchanged between theDirector of IAHE VL Patankar andVice Chancellor of University ofNew South Wales (UNSW) IanJacobs in the presence of SimonBirmingham, Australian Ministerfor Education. This would be theworld’s first transportation centreinvolving two countriescommitted to seeing technologicalinnovation for economicdevelopment through improvedsafety and reduced congestion,according to a Road Ministrystatement.

I-T EXEMPTION FOR INDIANSEAFARERS GRANTEDNew Delhi: Accepting the long-pending demand of India’s leadingmerchant navy Unions — TheMaritime Union of India (MUI)and the National Union ofSeafarers of India (NUSI) — theMinistry of Finance has finallygranted income tax exemption toIndian seafarers sailing aboardforeign ships outside India formore than 182 days a year. “Thisdecision is a huge boost for over1.3 lakh Indian seafarers, as tax-free income has always been anadded attraction for Indianmerchant navy workforce, whichcontributes around $40 millionannually to our country’sexchequer,” said Amar Thakur,General Secretary, MUI. Incometax exemption to Indian seafarerswill certainly strengthen theCentre’s ‘Maritime Agenda 2020’aimed at increasing the globalshare of Indian seafarers to 9 percent from7 per cent currently.

UGC APPROVES OVER35,000 JOURNALSNew Delhi: The University GrantsCommission (UGC) has approvedover 35,000 journals and theresearch work published in themwould be considered for thepurpose of promotion and directrecruitment of varsity teachers.The teaching community andother stakeholders have beendemanding a list of notifiedjournals for a long time to set abenchmark for research and alliedactivities in the field of highereducation.

INDIA ASSERTS NO CHANGEIN ITS POSITION ON TIBETNew Delhi: India on Fridayasserted that there is no change inits position on Tibet being part ofChina and it will continue to seeka fair, reasonable and mutuallyacceptable solution to the vexedboundary issue. External AffairsMinistry Spokesperson GopalBaglay said, “Let me make itabsolutely clear that there is nochange whatsoever in theGovernment of India’s policytowards the Tibet AutonomousRegion of the People’s Republic ofChina. Similarly, our approach toseeking a fair, reasonable andmutually acceptable solution tothe boundary question remainsunchanged.”

INSHORT

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

Despite the RailwayMinistry’s claims to create

an atmosphere of greater trans-parency in its working style, thenational transporter has thedubious distinction of peoplelodging the largest number ofcomplaints against it, among allGovernment entities.

Of the total of 67 per centoverall increase in corruptioncomplaints received againstvarious Government depart-ments by the Central VigilanceCommission last year, theRailways topped the list withover 11,000 such plaints against it.

The CVC said 11,200 com-plaints were against railwayemployees while 8,852 weredisposed and 2,348 were pend-ing. Further, a total of 1,054complaints against railwaysemployees were pending formore than six months. Thecomplaints received are ofbribery, irregularities in ten-dering process, and promises ofemployments among others

As per the CVC report

tabled in Parliament early thisweek, the vigilance watchdogreceived a total of 49,847 com-plaints in 2016, as against29,838 received by it in 2015 —an increase of about 67 percent.”The Commissionreceived a considerable numberof complaints against publicservants working in the StateGovernments and other organ-isations who do not comeunder the jurisdiction of theCommission or which are ofadministrative nature,” it said.

The number of complaintsreceived by the CVC in 2015was 50 per cent less than a totalof 62,363 received by it in2014. The CVC had got 31,432and 37,039 complaints ofalleged corruption during 2013and 2012 respectively, thereport said.

As many as 6,513 com-plaints of alleged corruptionwere received against employeesunder Home Ministry, followedby 6,018 against bank officialsand 2,496 against those working

with Ministry of Petroleum. Atotal of 2,646 such complaintswere received against officialsworking in Income Tax depart-ment, 2,514 against those inUrban Development Ministryand 2,393 against employeesworking under Telecommu-nication Ministry, it said.

There were 1,746 corrup-tion complaints against employ-ees under Labour Ministry,1,668 against those in Food andConsumer Affairs department,1,420 against employees of cus-toms and excise, 1,376 againstthose in public sector insurancecompanies and 1,369 againstofficials of Ministry of Steel, theCVC said.

A total of 759 complaintswere against Coal Ministryemployees, 724 against officialsof Information andBroadcasting Ministry, 689against those in Defence, 571against employees working inHealth and Family Welfaredepartment and 479 againstofficials of Shipping Ministry.

Of 11,200 plaintsagainst Rlys staff,8,852 disposed and 2,348 werepending: CVC

Railways tops with 11K

graft plaints against it

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt has asked the Centre tore-think on the issue whetherparamilitary forces — CRPF,BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB — canbe given monetary benefitslike the “organised services”.

The apex court was hear-ing a batch of appeals includ-ing one filed by the Centreagainst the Delhi High Court’sSeptember 2015 verdict askingthe Government to consider allparamilitary forces as “organ-ised services”.

The High Court had saidofficers of paramilitary forcesshould be given the benefitsincluding non-functional finan-cial upgradation (NFU), earlieravailable to ‘Group A organisedservices’, from 2006 in terms ofthe 6th Pay Commission.

Under NFU, if all the officersof a particular batch cannotmove up the ladder owing to lackof vacancies but only one does,the others will automatically getfinancial upgradation like theone who has been promoted.

Solicitor General RanjitKumar, representing the Centre,

told the apex court if the para-military forces were declared asorganised group ‘A’ services,there cannot be any deputationand no one from IPS cadre cancome on deputation.

The court said it perceivesthat the paramilitary forces per-sonnel were grieved by the non-grant of ‘equal pay for equalwork’, a benefit granted to theorganised services, and if theconferment of the benefit canassuage their grievance, theGovernment might think over it.

“In the ultimate eventuate,we think it apt to say that if theconferment of monetary ben-efit can assuage the grievanceof the respondents, the Unionof India may rethink over thematter without disturbing itssense of discipline as it con-ceives,” a Bench comprisingJustices Dipak Misra and MMShantanagoudar said.

“The personnel of BSF,CRPF, CISF, ITBP, RPF and SSBare to play their role in theirduties. Though we have framedthe issues that will be requiredto be addressed, yet we would

like the Union of India to takea decision, as advised, so that therespondents may feel that theirgrievances have been apposite-ly addressed,” the court said.

The Bench, which granted12 weeks to the Centre to delib-erate upon the issue, further said,“The respondents, as we per-ceive, are grieved by non-grantof equal pay for equal work, thatis, benefit that has been grant-ed to the organised services”.

“If that is the case, we wouldlike the respondents to file theirduty chart in respect of each ofthe forces. The petitioners shallalso file the chart and the joballocation so that a comparisoncan be made that can renderassistance in the process of adju-dication,” it said and fixed thematter for hearing on August 9.

The apex court has framedthree issues for consideration,including whether the HomeMinistry was alone responsiblefor takeing a decision or otherdepartments can confer thebenefit of equivalence subjectto approval by the Cabinet.

PTI

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Despite being home to thelargest numbers of

patients with haemophilia(PWH) in the world, over 80per cent of the patients inIndia are still undiagnoseddue to unawareness and inad-equate diagnostic facilities.

With an aim to meet thegap in medical research andtreatment, the Department ofBiotechnology under the UnionScience and TechnologyMinistry has sought proposalsfrom scientists in the country tofind ways to diagnosis the blood

disorder as well as implementviable, practical and sustainablecare strategies for the PWH.

Haemophilia is a bleedingdisorder which prevents theblood from clotting correctlyand can cause continual bleed-ing with injuries. April 17 ismarked as World HaemophiliaDay across the globe.

Talking about the need forcalling proposals in the sector,a senior official from the DBTsaid that in the developed coun-tries, management ofhaemophilia has proceededthrough replacement therapy,prophylactic treatment and tak-ing care of post-treatment com-plications such as vulnerabilityto infections like HIV/HCV,development of allo-antibodiescalled inhibitors that neutralise

the replacement proteins (clot-ting factors) and osteoporosis.

In the coming years, gene

therapy is expected to be themost attractive treatmentoption for people.

“However, in India, whenit comes to treatment, PWHstill do not have adequateoptions or opportunities with-in the country.

“To Indian haemophili-acs, factor concentrates havebecome available through thepublic health care systemmostly in the last five yearsonly. While this is a gooddevelopment, much moreneeds to be done,” he added.

The poor availability ofdiagnostic and treatment facil-ities along with the lack ofawareness about hemophiliaamongst primary care physi-cians and specialists is themajor impediment for the man-

agement of haemophilia in ourcountry, the official pointed out.

Therefore, considering largenumber of challenges and to findways to implement viable, prac-tical and sustainable haemophil-ia care strategies in the country,we are seeking proposals frominvestigators to conduct researchin the field, he added.

In India, approximately1,00,000 people suffer fromthe disease, out of which only16,000 are diagnosed, accord-ing to the HaemophiliaFederation of India.

The Federation has beenstressing on providing prophy-laxis treatment to children toprevent them from having per-manent damage in joints as hasbeen experienced by manyadult haemophilia patients.

Re-think on monetary benefits toparamilitary forces: SC to Govt


While India is yet to frameguidelines on Cerebral

Palsy (CP) — caused due todamage in brain — to improvediagnosis and treatment acrossthe States, experts say that itcan take a cue from UnitedKingdom which has recentlyreleased protocols detailingstandards of care for peoplewith such disability.

Caused due to brain dam-age by injury or abnormal devel-opment of the brain, CP is themost common cause of physi-cal disability in children andyoung people across the coun-tries. In UK it is estimated that2 in 1,000 babies are born withcerebral palsy, in India the ratiois 4-6: 1,000 children.

Senior paediatrician phys-iotherapist from Delhi, DrMansoor Alam said that suchpatients suffer from problemslike speech problem, mentalretardation, deafness, visualdefect, perceptual problems,and convulsive disorder.

He said that India can fol-low the guidelines on CP issuedby the UK’s National Institutefor Health and Care Excellence(NICE). He said that earlyrecognition, intervention and

services for children sufferingwith CP are the need of hour.

The NICE guideline focus-es on the causes and treatmentof the disease and the mostcommon co-morbidities — orsimultaneous conditions —such as saliva control, pain,mental health, and communi-cation issues.

Recommendations include:recognising that parents andfamiliar carers have a key rolein recognising and assessingpain, discomfort and distress inchildren and young peoplewith cerebral palsy and that allchildren with delayed motormilestones should be referredto a child development servicefor further assessment.

Dr Alam added thatCanada and USA too havebeen doing pioneer service forthe welfare in the field of CP intheir respective countries.

According to World HealthOrganization (WHO), 10 per

cent of the global populationsuffers from some form of dis-ability, in India, it is 3.8 per centof the population.

To ensure holistic treat-ment and early disagnosis of thephysical and mental disability,various startups are forayinginto the sector. For instance, DrAlam is pioneering a start-upwith a unique concept wherecomplete rehabilitation of thepatients is taken care under oneroof — Delmira RehabilitationServices.

By providing consistenttreatment and ensuring regu-lar monitoring, the startupwould ensure affordable ser-vices and help cut medicaltreatment costs by about 30 percent, said Ametesh Khare,Executive Director, DelmiraRehabilitation Services.

Besides CP, the firm alsoaims to provide solution forplethora of disorders such asautism, bells palsy, back pain,frozen shoulder and the like. Toensure that its professionals onits board are regularly abreastof latest technology, we havealso launched a skill transferprogram bringing 35 specialistdoctors like neurologists, phys-iotherapists and rehabilitationexperts together on one plat-form, Khare added.

India can take cue from UK

on Cerebral Palsy: Experts

New Delhi: There is a need tokeep non-serious parties out ofthe political system, and toensure they do not misusefacilities like tax exemption,their registration should beregulated by law, a parliamen-tary panel has said.

The recommendation ofthe committee comes days afterthe Election Commission wroteto the Income Tax departmentasking it to look into thefinances of 255 political partiesit has ‘delisted’ for not contest-ing elections.

The Commission has, overa period of time, identified var-ious parties which have notcontested polls since 2005 andhas ‘delisted’ 255 of them.

The poll panel believesthat most of them exist onpapers to help people converttheir back money into white byaccepting donations.

While the poll watchdoghas the mandate to register apolitical party, it lacks powerunder electoral laws to dereg-ister any party.

“The Committee is of theview that provisions relating toregistration of political partiesneeds to be made more strin-gent so that non serious polit-ical parties are not able to reg-ister in the first place and ifregistered, their registrationcould be cancelled,” the par-liamentary standing commit-tee on Law and Personnel hassaid in it’s latest report tabledin the just-concluded Budgetsession.

The committee said thepossibility of regulating regis-tration of political parties andsuspension/cancellation of theirregistration through a lawshould also be explored to “pre-vent misuse of facilities availableto registered political parties byunscrupulous elements”.

As its demand to get powerto deregister a party is pendingwith the Law Ministry, theElection Commission uses itspowers under Article 324 of theConstitution to delist parties forbeing dormant and not contest-ing elections for a long time.PTI

‘Non-serious parties

need to be kept out

of political system’

PNS n NEW DELHI

LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswanon Friday lashed out at the

Opposition for blocking the Billseeking to accord constitution-al status to the OBC commis-sion and asserted theGovernment will ensure itspassage. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi too had ques-tioned the Opposition’s move toblock the Bill in the RajyaSabha even when the Lok Sabhahad passed it and when the leg-islation was aimed at benefittingthe backward classes.

The Bill for according con-stitutional status to the NationalCommission for BackwardClasses (NCBC) was referred toa Select Committee of theRajya Sabha after the opposi-tion blocked its considerationon April 11.

“We are committed.... Forhow long they (opposition par-ties) can delay it. Maximum 2-3 months. We will get itpassed,” Paswan, UnionMinister for Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distribution,told reporters here.

The Bill seeks to createNational Commission for

Socially and EducationallyBackward Classes (NCSEBC),which will have judicial pow-ers and constitutional status.

“I don’t understand whythey (Opposition parties) areopposing this Bill. They thinkthat Government has taken abig step for benefit of peoplebelonging to the OBC (and sothey are stalling it). The OBCssupported the NDA in a bigway in the just concludedassembly elections. They arerattled. They are trying todelay its passage in the RajyaSabha by sending the bill to theSelect Committee. This iswrong. This is against the OBCcommunity and their rights,”Paswan said.

The Minister said the NDAgovernment was committed toits passage and the oppositionparties cannot block it for long.

“We will get it passed.Their mentality is againstSC/ST and OBCs,” said theMinister, and added it wasbecause of the “double stan-dards” of the opposition partiesthat the poor and margin-alised sections of the societywere yet to get reservation inpromotions.

Paswan lashes out

at Opp for blocking

OBC panel Bill in RS Early recognition,intervention and

services forchildren sufferingwith CP are the

need of hour— DR MANSOOR ALAM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanges greetings with Buddhist monks after giving them gifts at Bhimrao Ambedkar’s 126th birth anniversary celebrations at Parliament in New Delhi on Friday PTI

New Delhi: India, Pakistan,China and Russia and severalcentral Asian countries onFriday deliberated on the situ-ation in Afghanistan at a con-ference in Moscow, a day afterthe US dropped the “mother ofall bombs” in Afghanistan’sNangarhar province.

Representatives from theleading regional powersreviewed the peace process inAfghanistan as well as thesecurity situation, besidesexploring ways to ramp upreconstruction activities in thatcountry.

The conference is alsounderstood to have delved onboosting regional coordina-tion for bringing peace and sta-bility in Afghanistan. TheIndian team was led by JointSecretary (PAI) in the ExternalAffairs Ministry Deepak Mittal,

according to sources.The conference is an ini-

tiative of Russia-China-Pakistan trilateral and, officialsources said it is for the secondtime India is participating init.

The US military onThursdayhad dropped itslargest non-nuclear bomb everdeployed in combat on anIslamic State tunnel complex ineastern Afghanistan, close tothe Pakistani border.

A GBU-43/B MassiveOrdnance Air Blast (MOAB)bomb, nicknamed “mother ofall bombs,” was dropped on atunnel complex of ISIS-Khorasan, a regional affiliate ofthe terror group, in Achin dis-trict of Afghanistan’sNangarhar province, killing 36ISIS militants, the Pentagonsaid. PTI

India, Pak, China, Russiadiscuss Afghan situation

*Exercise regularly. Activitiessuch as swimming, bicycle ridingand walking can build up muscleswhile protecting joints

*Avoid certain pain medications

*Avoid blood-thinningmedications

*Practise good dental hygiene toprevent tooth extraction, whichcan lead to excessive bleeding

*Protect your child from injuriesthat could cause bleeding. Keepyour home free of furniture withsharp corners

REMEDIES ANDPRECAUTIONS

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, BJP leader LK Advani, Congress leader Ghulam NabiAzad and others after paying tributes to Bhimrao Ambedkar at the Central Hall ofParliament in New Delhi PTI


Around 630 million peoplein the South East Asian

countries, including India,use a faeces-contaminateddrinking water source, theWHO said on Friday.

Worldwide, the globalhealth body said, almost twobillion people use a source ofdrinking water contaminatedwith faeces, putting them at therisk of contracting cholera,dysentery, typhoid and polio.

In a new WHO report,published on behalf of UN-Water — the United Nationsinter-agency coordinationmechanism for all freshwater-related issues, including sani-tation, it asserted that thenations worldwide were notincreasing their spending fastenough to ensure water andsanitation targets, under theSustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDG) for 2030, are met.

According to the UN-Water Global Analysis andAssessment of Sanitation andDrinking-Water (GLAAS) 2017report, the countries haveincreased their budgets for

water, sanitation and hygiene atan annual average rate of 4.9 percent over the last three years.

Yet, 80 per cent of thecountries report that water,sanitation and hygiene(WASH) financing is still insuf-ficient to meet nationally-defined targets for WASH ser-vices.

“Contaminated drinkingwater is estimated to causemore than 5,00,000 diarrhoealdeaths each year and is a majorfactor in several neglected trop-ical diseases, including intesti-nal worms, schistosomiasis,and trachoma,” WHO Director,Department of Public Health,Environmental and SocialDeterminants of Health MariaNeira said.

630 million in S-E Asiancountries use contaminateddrinking water source: WHO

Contaminated drinking water isestimated to cause more than5,00,000 diarrhoeal deaths

each year and is a major factorin several neglected tropicaldiseases, including intestinal

worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma

— WHO DIRECTOR

Unawareness, lack ofdiagnostic facilities inIndia are key reasons

80% with haemophilia still undiagnosed


PNS n PATNA

Continuing his tirade againstRJD chief Lalu Prasad and

his family, senior BJP leaderSushil Kumar Modi on Fridaycame out with yet another‘document’ claiming thatHealth Minister Tej PrtatapYadav had purchased 45 deci-mal land in 2010 from six dif-ferent persons for `53.34 lakhand the land is valued not lessthan `15 crore.

Modi said, in 2012 thisland was mortgaged by LaraDistributors Private Limitedto Madhya Bihar Gramin Bankfor taking a loan of `2.29 crore.The company had opened amotorcycle showroom on thisland. He said Tej Pratap neitherdeclared this land in his affi-davit to the ElectionCommission during 2015Assembly election nor men-tioned in his affidavit submit-ted to the Government.

“We will soon move theElection Commission aboutthis discrepancy and conceal-ment of the fact,” he added.

Demanding that ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar shoulddismiss a Minister involved incorrupt practices and moneylaundering, Modi said protec-tion of such Ministers was also

a crime. “There is plenty of evi-dence against him for moneylaundering and possession ofland and benami properties,but the CM instead of takingaction was only patronisinghim,” he alleged.

On the land in Aurangabaddistrict in central Bihar, theLara Distributors had estab-lished a bike showroom. Thoseon the company’s board of

director included Lalu’s daugh-ters Misa Bharti, Chanda Yadavand Ragini apart from RabriDevi having 1.17 lakh equityshares for `10 each and TejPratap having 2.51 lakh equi-ty shares of the same value.

Modi said the land waspurchased not by the compa-ny but by Tej Pratap personal-ly and asked how come at theage of 20 he purchased it for

`45.24 lakh and from wherethis money had come. Thisland is located on the NationalHighway.

Modi’s fresh salvo cameamid the reports that Lalu’schildren are running chain ofbusiness companies. As perthe website of Ministry ofCorporate Affairs, his twodaughters Chanda and Raginiare directors in four companieswhich are registered in NewDelhi. Besides, they are otherfamily members like RabriDevi, Misa Bharti, Deputy CMTejashwi Prasad Yadav and TejPratap, who are directors in dif-ferent companies like LaraProjects LLP, AK Infosystems,AB Exports Private Limited,Shivoaham Entertainment,Fairgrow Holding Pvt Ltd,Sunrise IT Infrasoft Pvt Ltd andDelight Marketing Co.

Modi said that a number oflands were in the name ofthese firms which are whollyowned by Lalu family.

“This land scam is muchbigger than fodder scam and itruns into billions of rupeeswhich needed a thoroughinquiry by the CBI, enforce-ment directorate and IT,” hesaid and added, “Lalu’s mantrais: Garib ka nam japna, sab kazamin apna.”

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Asecond incident of ‘orches-trated’ violence against

Rohingya Muslims campingin Jammu came to light in thewee hours of Friday when overhalf a dozen temporary shelterswere gutted in a mysterious firein Bhagwati Nagar area. No lossof life was reported in thearea, but personal belongingsand household items werecompletely gutted in the fire.This is the second incidentinvolving Rohingya Muslims inJammu in the last one weekwhere ‘unidentified’ personswere involved in thrashingthem and torching their shel-ters.

Scared families were plan-ning to shift to bigger clusters ofRohingya Muslims on the out-skirts of Jammu as they werefeeling ‘unsafe’ in the area.

Incidentally, the site of thefire accident was located infront of Yatri Niwas, used asbase camp for Amarnath yatrisin Jammu. Despite presence oflarge number of security per-sonnel in the Yatri Niwas ontheir return from KashmirValley and quick reaction team

stationed near the Yatri Niwas,mysterious fire engulfed tem-porary shelters of RohingyaMuslims. However, two tem-porary rooms in the same plotbelonging to daily wage labour-ers from Bihar and Punjabremained untouched.

Due to ongoing JammuMahotsav, the entire area waswearing a festive look when themysterious fire broke out.

According to eyewitnessreports, “Seven out of the ninetemporary shelters raised in anempty plot were gutted in thefire in the wee hours of Friday.”

The fire was first reportedby one of the Burmese nation-al around 3.30 am and soonSOS calls were made to escortthem to safety. The rescuersfirst shifted sleeping childrenand women to prevent any lossof life. A total of 44 peoplewere staying in the area.

The plot owner who iden-tified himself as Farman Ali toorushed to the spot after inform-ing police control room torush fire extinguisher. He saidthe fire fighters came after4.00 am. Before fire extinguis-hers could salvage anything,seven temporary shelters were

completely gutted in the fire. Farman Ali told The

Pioneer that one of the seniorcitizens living in the plot hadnoticed some unusual move-ment in the area and informedhis son to verify the same. But,he ignored his alarm. In a fewminutes, major fire engulfed allthe temporary shelters.

He alleged that it could bethe handiwork of some anti-social elements,who are afterRohingya Muslims. He alsoruled out the possibility thatshort circuit could have trig-gered the fire. He claimed thatat the time of the incident thepower was off.

Urging the StateGovernment agencies to payattention to series of incidentsof attack on Rohingya Muslims,Ali said, “Last week unidenti-fied youth tried to targetRohingyas living in Talab Tilooarea. Before that similar fireaccidents were reported in thenearby plot and Narwal Balaarea.”

Local police authoritiesalong with some representa-tives of NGOs visited the siteof fire accident and startedindependent investigations.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Union Minister of State forMinority Affairs (Independent

Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvisaid here on Friday that the Centrewas considering actively the revivalof the option of sending Haj pil-grims via sea route to Jeddah,Saudi Arabia, in consultation withthe Shipping Ministry.

Addressing the participantsat a trainers’ programme for Hajpilgrims at Haj House here, Naqvisaid that a high-level committee,formed by the Government toframe the Haj Policy 2018 accord-ing to Supreme Court's 2012 order,was exploring reviving the optionof sending pilgrims via sea routeto Jeddah.

Naqvi said that dispatching pil-grims through ships would helpcut down travel expenses by near-ly half as compared to airfares. “Itwill be a revolutionary, pilgrim-friendly decision,” he said.

The practice of ferrying Hajpilgrims between Mumbai andJeddah by waterways was stoppedfrom 1995. Currently, devotees

undertake the journey by air from21 embarkation points across thecountry.

Naqvi said that another advan-tage with ships available thesedays was that they were modernand well-equipped to ferry 4,000to 5,000 people at a time and thatcould cover the 2,300-odd nauti-cal miles one-side distance

between Mumbai and Jeddahwithin just two to three days.Earlier, the old ships used to take12 to 15 days to cover this distance.“The high-level committee willsoon submit its report,” he said.

Naqvi said that the new HajPolicy was aimed at making entireHaj process easier and transparent.Haj pilgrims’ facilities would be in

focus of the new Haj policy.Naqvi said that the Minority

Affairs Ministry, in coordinationwith other concerned agencies, hadstarted preparations for Haj pil-grimage very early. “Our aim is toprovide world class facilities to Hajpilgrims. The measure to make Hajprocess online has produced goodresults. A total of 1,29,196 Haj

applications were done online,” hesaid.

Naqvi said that the increase inIndia's annual Haj quota by theSaudi Arabia Government hasbenefitted about all the States asquota of the States for Haj 2017has also been increased signifi-cantly. Saudi Arabia hadincreased annual Haj quota ofIndia by 34,005.

More than 500 trainers fromdifferent States are participatingin a three-day trainers' pro-gramme. The trainers will nowtrain the pilgrims in trainingcamps. As many as 99,903 peoplewent to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia forHaj from 21 embarkation pointsacross India through HajCommittee of India during Haj2016. Apart from this, about36,000 Haj pilgrims had proceed-ed for Haj through the private touroperators. For Haj 2017, a total of1,70,025 people will go to Haj pil-grimage from India out of which1,25,025 pilgrims will go throughHaj Committee of India while45,000 people will go throughPrivate Tour Operators.

Rohingya Muslims search for their belongings at Bhagwati Nagar area of Jammu on Friday Mohit Kandhari

Shelters of Rohingyasgutted in mysterious fire

‘Drunken tourists ruining Goa’s culture’

Lalu family accused of money laundering

BJP senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi addresses a Press conference in Patna on Friday PTI

‘Centre considering to send Haj pilgrims via sea route’

Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs (Independent Charge) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi addresses a trainers’ programme for Haj pilgrims atHaj House in Mumbai on Friday Pioneer photo

Kutch sizzles at45.5

oC, highest

in 125 years

PNS n GANDHINAGAR

The tempera-ture in

Kutch’s districtcapital Bhujtouched almost46 degreesCelsius onFriday, the high-est ever temper-ature recordedin April in thelast 125 years.

According to sources, the highest tempera-ture recorded in Bhuj in the past was 45.6 degreesCelsius on April 30, 1893. However, on Thursday,the highest temperature in the historic towntouched 45.8 degree Celsius and broke the cen-tury-old record. Even the lowest temperature onthe day was four degrees higher than the nor-mal at 26.4 degrees Celsius. India's largest port— Kandla near Gandhidham in Kutch districttoo simmered with 45.3 degrees Celsius. Otherparts of bordering Kutch remained hot with mer-cury hovering around 42 to 44 degrees Celsius.

Main reason for the unprecedented heat washot wind coming from Baluchistan area, said offi-cial sources, adding that the heat wave would notaffect kharif crop. Indian MeteorologyDepartment (IMD) has declared State-wideorange alert for Friday and Saturday. More than40 degrees Celsius temperature was recorded inmost parts of the State. Generally, South Gujarat and coastal Saurashtra remain pleasant even inmid-summer, but this year in the beginning ofthe season these areas too witnessed unprece-dented heat. Major South Gujarat cities includ-ing Surat, Valsad and Navsari witnessed tem-perature ranging from 40 to 43 degrees Celsius.In coastal Saurashtra region, includingBhavnagar, Porbandar and twin city Veraval-Somnath, mercury remained between 41 and43.5 degrees Celsius.

J&K viral video: 5 held for heckling jawans

KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR

The Jammu & Kashmirpolice on Friday arrested

five people, who were alleged-ly involved in jeering and slap-ping at a group of CentralReserve Police Force personnelon poll duty during the bypollto the Srinagar parliamentaryseat on April 9.

After receiving a complaintfrom the CRPF, five personswere arrested, and a hunt was

on for others seen in the videoshot in Budgam district, policesaid. Budgam accounted for thedeath of seven of the eight pro-testers during the poll-day vio-lence. The by-election wasmarred by large scale violenceas security forces shot deadeight anti-poll protesters andinjured scores others. Officialssaid that around a hundredsecurity forces personnel werealso injured.

Sources said police ques-

tioned several youngstersbelonging to Kralpora localityon the outskirts of Srinagar for their alleged involvement in attacking the CRPF person-nel deployed in the area on polling day.

In a video clip, the securi-ty personnel are seen leavingthe area as a slogan shoutingcrowd waylaid the armed per-sonnel. Even as most of thepeople pave way for the per-sonnel, some youngsters slapand abuse them. The CRPFpersonnel maintain their cooland walk ahead. The video cliphas generated debate on socialmedia and television.

While the controversialclip was being debated, formerChief Minister Omar Abdullahuploaded another clip on histwitter handle showing a con-voy of Army passing througha village in central districtBudgam with a local youngstertied with ropes on the leadarmoured vehicle. While the

vehicle passes through the vil-lage, an announcement saysthat stone-throwers wouldmeet the same fate. The young-ster tied with ropes is an allegedstone pelter. A spokesman ofthe Army in Srinagar said thatthe contents of the video clipwere being verified. “The con-tents of the video are being ver-ified and investigated.”

Sources said the youngsteris a resident of Beerwah con-stituency in central districtBudgam, which is representedin the legislative assembly byOmar Abdullah.

The controversy over theissue intensified when a NewDelhi-based newspaper report-ed on its website that ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti hadendorsed the Army action tosave the lives of people. An offi-cial spokesman refuted theattribution.

“It is highly unfortunate,severely unethical and grosslyirresponsible on part of such a

prominent newspaper toattribute such sweepingremarks to the Chief Ministerwhich she never made,” thespokesman said.

In a separate official state-ment, Mehbooba expressedconcern and anguish over the surfacing of these videos reportedly fromBudgam and has sought adetailed report from the policein this regard.

Terming the display of actsin the videos as unacceptable,the Chief Minister has askedthe police to submit a detailedreport about these incidents toher so that necessary action isinitiated. In another video,uniformed personnel areshown training guns on agroup of stone-throwers andshooting dead one of them.Sources said the clip shot on amobile phone is showing thefirst fatal casualties on thepolling day in Chrar-e-Shariefarea.

PNS n PANAJI

Barely a few days after hetriggered controversy by

calling for a ban on Lamanitribesmen, Goa TourismMinister Babu Ajgaonkar hasnow trained his guns ondrunken tourists, accusingthem of ruining Goa’s cul-ture.

Speaking to reportersduring the birth anniversarycelebrations of BabasahebAmbedkar in the State capi-tal, Ajgaonkar said that hewould try to woo back elec-tronic dance music festivalsback to Goa in order to boost

tourism. “The outsiders who come

here, create chaos after theydrink. They ruin our culture,our Goenkar ponn(Goanness). That should nothappen. This should be con-trolled,” Ajgaonkar said.

The Tourism Ministry,he said, would crack downseverely on tourists indulgingin drunken revellery and out-rage in public.

Goa receives more thanfour million tourists everyyear, nearly half a million ofwhich are foreign nationals.

While the State is alreadya top beach tourism and

nightlife tourism destinationin the country, the liberalexcise regime in Goa hasmade the State the go-toplace for tourists for con-sumption and purchase ofliquor, making alcohol anoth-er major draw for tourism.

Ajgaonkar howeverclaims that tourists need tocontrol themselves after con-suming drinks.

“You cannot behave likethis after getting drunk. Youcannot spoil it for everyonearound you,” Ajgaonkar said.

The Tourism Ministeralso said that liquor andmusic were a part of theGoan culture and it needed tobe preserved and the dignityof the culture needed to bemaintained.

“Liquor, music is a part ofour culture. It has been goingon in a traditional way. It can-not be stopped just like that.Liquor is also a part of ourtradition, our Goenkarponn,”Ajgaonkar said.


SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Mamata Banerjee is a mer-chant of hatred with

whom the BJP has no secretunderstanding, the saffron out-fit on Friday iterated dismiss-ing claims made by the BengalOpposition parties thatTrinamool Congress and BJPwere tied in a secret deal.

While Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh whoheld a closed-door meetingwith senior State BJP leadersinstructed the Bengal unit ofthe party to ‘ignore such falsepropaganda’ and move for-ward his Cabinet colleagueUma Bharati said Banerjee waspeddling hatred for political-gains.

“There is no secret under-standing between the BJP andthe Trinamool,” said seniorBJP leader Rahul Sinha quot-ing Singh and added “Rajnathjitold us that all such false pro-paganda is being made by theLeft and the Congress in orderto hold on to the ground slip-ping beneath their feat.”

“He told us not to be both-ered by the false propaganda asthey are the part of the oppo-sition strategy to defame asurging BJP which hasbeendoing so well in the State ascould be proved by theThursday’s by-election resultsof South Contai Assembly seatwhere the party has displacedthe Left to come up to the sec-ond position behind theTrinamool Congress.”

“He not only asked us toignore the false propaganda butalso congratulated the Bengalunit for the impressive result inEast Midnapore,” Sinha quot-ing Singh said adding the sup-porters of the party all over thecountry were excited by itsresults in Bengal.

Sinha a former State BJPpresident said that Singh wasbriefed about the issues like vic-timisation of BJP leaders, infil-tration,trans-border smugglingadding the Home Minister wasalso told informed how theState administration was sin-gling out the BJP workers,attacking them and framingthem in false cases.

Subsequently, reacting tothe situation in the State seniornational BJP leader UmaBharati said Bengal ChiefMinister was spreading politicsof hatred in the State.

"Instead of developing theState Mamata Banerjee isspreading hatred in Bengal”Bharati herself a former ChiefMinister said adding the policecould have handled the situa-tion at Suri in Birbhum moresensibly instead of rainingbatons on the people who hadtaken part in a religious pro-cession.

“The State not only fails tospend properly the money thatis sent by the Centre but also itfails to send its requisition toDelhi on time missing out onmany opportunities. This hap-pens because the ChiefMinister is interested only inspreading hatred and appease-ment politics and not develop-ing Bengal,” she maintained.

“The proposals sent by the Government are also full of faults. They cannot makeone correct project proposaland expect the money to come immediately. So how canthey get central funds,” Bharatialso a Union Minister saidadding the State officialsseemed to be lacking in prop-er guidance.

“Instead of giving themguidance, Mamata Banerjee is spreading hatred,” UmaBharati said.

‘No secret dealwith Didi whopeddles hatred’BJP rubbishes claims by Bengal Opp

Rajnath Singh,who held aclosed-door

meeting withsenior State BJP

leaders,instructed the

Bengal unit of theparty to ‘ignore

such falsepropaganda’

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

In what could add a new chapter in India’stransport history the work for burrowing a

tunnel beneath River Hooghly (Ganga) com-menced for the first time in the country onFriday with the Metro Railway engineers start-ing the work to dig a tunnel which will joinKolkata and Howrah.

The work to construct a 520 metre tunnelbeneath the River bed will take about twomonths to complete Metro sources said, addingthe tunnel would run 26 metres beneath the riverand its bed. The work began with deploymentof a couple of boring machines which will digabout 13 metres of underwater tunnel on the firstday. Incidentally the City of Joy got the coun-try’s first Metro project way back in the mid-eighties. The work is the part new Metro pro-ject called East-West Metro connecting Kolkataand Howrah. The current want runs from northto south. The two lines will converge at CentralMetro Station.

The project which will run from Rajarhatto Howrah via Sealdah a major railway stationin the country will descend further down pastDalhousie Square — the city’s main office dis-trict adjacent to one of Asia’s biggest wholesale

market place Burrabazar — creating a 1,100metre incline to go under the Hooghly, sourcessaid. The 14.67 km stretch would have 12 sta-tions out of which six would be under groundand six elevated. The Japan Bank of InternationalCooperation (JBIC) and Indian Railways werefunding the phase two of metro railway expan-sion project which would cost around `5,000crore. It is likely to be completed in 2018.

Incidentally, a tunnel about six feet in diam-eter constructed in the British period runsbeneath the Hooghly and carries the cable lines.

Work on India's first underwatermetro tunnel commences

Four ‘hybrid’ lions (clockwise from top left) lioness Vrinda and Varu and lion Lawa and Montu reached the Van Vihar NationalPark on Friday after a 75-hour-long road journey from a zoo in Guwahati. Dr Atul Gupta, who is attached to the National Park,said the lions were a cross-breed of Asiatic and African Lions. A team of Park officials, led by Dr Gupta, brought the lions herein a special vehicle. The animals are in the age group of 10-11 years PTI

VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI

Families of the Keralites whohad gone missing from the

country last year and were sus-pected to have joined the IslamicState (ISIS) are in anxiety follow-ing Thursday’s massive US bombattack on the terror outfit inAfghanistan’s Nangarhar provinceand the information received inKerala the other day that aMalayalee ISIS recruit has beenkilled in that region.

More than 20 Keralites aresaid to be there in the ISIScamps in Nangarhar.

Though none of the fami-lies of the ISIS recruits fromKasaragod and Palakkadapproves of what they had done,most of them are said to be hop-ing that they would return tonormal life some day. “We can’taccept the choice they hadallegedly made. But it seemsthey were lured into the terrornet,” said a native of Padanna,Kasaragod.

The family of MurshidMuhammad (24) of Padanna,Kasaragod had late Thursdayevening received informationthat he was killed in Afghanistan.The Telegram message fromAfghanistan was received by hisfather Muhammad and social

activist BC Abdul Rahman.However, no pictures or other evi-dences were available to confirmthe information.

As per reports, there wereKeralite recruits in the regionwhere the US carried out theattack on Thursday with the“mother of all bombs” killing 36ISIS terrorists. Though therewas no official informationabout the identities or nation-alities of those killed in theattack, the development has ledto escalation in the anxiety ofthe families of those who hadallegedly joined the ISIS.

In the wake of the US attackin Nangarhar, the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA),which has been pursuing thecase of the missing Keralites,contacted their families as perinstructions from the Centre.Reports quoted NIA sources assaying that it was almost impos-sible for the agency to make on-the-spot observations in theconflict zone in Afghanistan.

Murshid had gone missingunder mysterious circumstancesfrom Mumbai in June last yearon his way home from AbuDhabi.

One of his friends, who wason his way home from Dubai,had also gone missing alongwith him. As per reports,Murshid had been working inAfghanistan as a driver afterjoining the ISIS. In February,Rahman and the relatives of TKHafeezuddin (24) of Padanna,

who had allegedly joined theISIS, had received a messageabout his death in Afghanistanin a drone attack. The news ofHafeezuddin’s death was relayedby KP Ashfaq Majeed, anotheryouth from Kasaragod whohad reportedly joined the ISIS.A total of 21 Keralites, includ-ing six women and three chil-dren, had gone missing from thecountry in May-June, 2106 andwere feared to have joined theISIS in its camps in Afghanistan.It was later revealed that all theseKeralites were in ISIS strong-holds in Nangarhar. Of the 21people who had gone missing17 were from Kasaragod andfour were from Palakkad.

The youths who had left thecountry were highly qualifiedand included doctors, engi-neers and management experts.Two of the men in the groupwere converts into Islam fromChristianity and three youngwomen - one Hindu and twoChristians - among them hadembraced Islam before mar-riage. “I still hope that mydaughter will return,” Bindu,mother of Hindu girl Nimishawho became Fatima afterembracing Islam and marryingEssah of Palakkad, a Christianwho converted into Islam, toldthe media.

Essah, Fatima, his brotherYahia and his wife Miriyam, aChristian who had embracedIslam, had left the country forjoining the ISIS.

One terrorist from

Kasaragod killed

in attack by US

DIGIDHAN WILL...He said even the most

advanced nations did not havesuch an inclusive system for pro-moting digital economy andasserted that soon it wouldbecome a case study for manyforeign universities. Seeking torope in youngsters to promotecashless transactions, Modi saidfor every person introduced tothe BHIM app, one will get acashback of Rs 10. “If you refer20 persons a day, you can earnRs 200,” he said. Under the refer-ral bonus scheme, both theexisting users who refer BHIMand new users who adopt itwould get a cash bonus whichwill be credited directly to theirbank account. Under the cash-back scheme, the merchantswill get a cashback on everytransaction on BHIM. Both theschemes will be administered bythe Ministry of Electronics andInformation Technology andimplemented by the NationalPayments Corporation of India.

BHIM-Aadhaar, the mer-chant interface of the BHIM app,paves the way for digital pay-ments through the Aadhaarplatform. This will enable the cit-izens to pay digitally using thebiometric data like thumbimprint on a merchant’s bio-metric- enabled device, whichcould be a smartphone with abiometric data reader.

Anyone without access tosmartphones, internet, debit orcredit cards will be able to trans-act digitally through the BHIM-Aadhaar platform.

“This will make digital pay-ments easy even for those whocannot read or write, thus real-ising Ambedkar’s vision of socialand financial empowerment forall,” Modi said. Modi also laid thefoundation stones for the IndianInstitute of Management’sNagpur campus and other pre-mier institutes like All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), Indian Institute ofInformation and Technology(IIIT) and Maharashtra NationalLaw University (MNLU).Maharashtra Governor CH

Vidyasagar Rao, Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis, UnionMinisters Nitin Gadkari, RaviShankar Prasad, PrakashJavadekar, Piyush Goyal, HansrajAhir, Ramdas Athavale accom-panied the PM on his Nagpurvisit.

EATERIES CAN’T...“A number of complaints

from consumers have beenreceived that hotels and restau-rants are following the practiceof charging service charge in therange of 5-20 per cent, in lieu oftips, which a consumer is forcedto pay irrespective of the kind ofservice provided to him,” it hadsaid. Highlighting provisionsunder the Consumer ProtectionAct, 1986, the Ministry hadsaid a consumer can make acomplaint to the appropriateconsumer forum against unfairtrade practices. “Our depart-ment’s view is that imposing ser-vice charge is an unfair tradepractice and consumers neednot pay,” Paswan had said inJanuary.

INDIA, PAK STICK...“I would like to ask India

why Kulbhushan Jhadav wasusing a fake identity imperson-ating as a Muslim? Why wouldan innocent man possess twopassports, one with a Hinduname and another with aMuslim name? Since India hasno credible explanation aboutwhy their serving NavalCommander was in Balochistan,it has unleashed a flimsy pro-paganda campaign.

“Inflammatory statementsand rhetoric about ‘pre- medi-tated murder’ and ‘unrest inBalochistan’, will only result inescalation, serving no usefulpurpose,” Aziz warned.

“We condemn the baselessallegations from India, especiallyin the light of the fact that it wasnon- cooperation and lack ofIndian response to Pakistan’srequest for legal assistance, dueto which consular access has notbeen provided to Mr. Jhadav.

“We expect India to behave

responsibly and refrain fromissuing statements that will fur-ther aggravate people-to-peoplehostility. More active diploma-cy is therefore needed to arrestthe growing crises in India-Pakistan relations before itbecomes even more serious,”Aziz said. Aziz also said that aLetter of Assistance requestingspecific information and accessto certain key witnesses wasshared with the Government ofIndia on January 23, 2017.

“There has been noresponse from the Indian side sofar,” he said. Providing details ofthe trial, Aziz said that the con-fessional video statement ofJhadav followed by initial FIR inCTD Quetta on April 8, 2016.

The initial interrogationwas done on May 2 and detailedinterrogation on May 22. It wasfollowed by the constitution ofa Joint Investigation Team onJuly 12. The confessional state-ment under Section 164 CrPCwas recorded on July 22 andrecording of summary of evi-dence done on September 24.

The first trial proceedingwas held on September 21, sec-ond proceeding on October 19,third proceeding on November29, 2016 and fourth proceedingon February 12, 2017. The deathsentence was endorsed on April10, 2017. Aziz said that a lawqualified field officer was pro-vided to defend Jadhav through-out the court proceedings. Azizsaid Jadhav can appeal againstthe verdict of the military tri-bunal within 40 days to a mili-tary Appellate Court. He can filean appeal to the Army chiefwithin 60 days against the deci-sion of the Appellate Court.

Jadhav can file mercy peti-tion to the President of Pakistanwithin 90 days if the Army chiefrejects the appeal for clemency.Aziz listed a several cases of ter-rorism in which he said Jadhavwas involved. “He was part ofsabotage and terrorism in whichcivilians and security personnel

were killed,” he claimed.Aziz also accused Jadhav of

orchestrating attacks againstminority Shia Hazara commu-nity in Quetta. Aziz also said thatIndia has not allowed consularaccess to many Pakistani pris-oners for many years despiterepeated requests. He also saidthat all political parties hadsupported the decision of themilitary tribunal and the entirenation was united against anythreat.

‘SCHOOLS MUST...holidays comprising birth

anniversaries of 23 great per-sonalities including GuruGobind Singh, Karpoori Thakur,Maharishi Kashyap, ChettiChand, Lord Mahavir, MohdHazrat Ali and MahatmaGandhi etc. Governmentschools remain closed for over60 days for winter and summervacations while governmentoffices get 17 restricted holidays.

Adityanath said: “It is hightime that students should knowabout the great personalities.The government will bring anamendment under whichschools will not close on thebirth and death anniversaries ofgreat personalities but theanniversaries will be celebratedin schools.” Yogi said that hisgovernment believed in equali-ty. “Dalit students will get schol-arships in higher and technicaleducation. There will not be anydisparity in extending scholar-ships to students. Meritoriousstudents should get exposureand those deprived of basicnecessities of life should get allthese facilities,” he said. “TheConstitution, drafted by DrAmbedkar, has helped in bring-ing poor and deprived sectionsinto the mainstream. The coun-try is indebted to Dr Ambedkarfor giving voice to all citizens ofthe country through theConstitution,” the CM said.

At Ambedkar Mahasabha,Yogi garlanded the statue of Dr

Ambedkar in the presence ofGovernor Ram Naik.

Earlier in the day, the CMlaunched BHIM app to promotedigital transaction during aDigiDhan Mela. “The BHIM(Bharat Interface for Money)app will help in controllingblack money. Digital transactionis the best mode to control cor-ruption. If the country wants toprogress, economic corruptionhas to end and BHIM app canplay a stellar role in this direc-tion,” he said.

“The Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment in Uttar Pradesh iscommitted to ending corruptionand bringing transparency in itsworking. A beginning has beenmade. We have ordered e-ten-dering in all departments, par-ticularly in development author-ities,” the Chief Minister said.

Yogi also declared that UPwould be ‘Open DefecationFree’ in the next three years.

YOGI PROMISES...still there and performing. It

may be due to the crisis of lead-ership earlier. What was notdone in the last 10 years has beendone by the present regime inthe last 20 days.” Earlier, UnionPower Minister Piyush Goyalsaid that by January this year allthe states except UP had signedthe MoU for ‘Power for All’scheme of the Centre.

“We had been waiting forthe response of UP govern-ment for the last three years. Butthey did not seem to be inter-ested. It is a historic day that theMoU has been signed by the UPgovernment after the people ofthe state gave a historic mandateto the Bharatiya Janata Party,”Goyal said. The Union ministersaid that LED bulbs and fans hadmet a huge response from thepeople in UP. “On the very firstday, 3.5 lakh LED bulbs weresold by 3 pm on Friday and 8lakh bulbs are likely to be soldby the end of the day. The num-ber of households in UP is esti-mated to be 4.5 crore and 15-17crore bulbs are likely to be soldin the state,” Goyal said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Kerala families rue fate

of 20 IS recruits in Af

BJP youth leader YogeshVarshney’s offer of `11lakh to anybodybeheading West Bengal’sChief Minister Mamata

Banerjee, is utterly revolting. It isnot just a matter of ugly politicalrhetoric but a criminal act in thatit calls for murder backed by anoffer of reward. It has rightlybeen condemned by all politicalparties and right-thinking persons.But that is not enough. One mustponder the circumstances thathave created the climate in whichsome people think nothing ofmaking such statements.

There have been, over the pastseveral decades, a number ofannouncements prescribing thekilling of people, which, in somecases, were backed by the offer ofa reward. There have been, forexample, fatwas for the killing ofauthors like Salman Rushdie andTaslima Nasreen, and one in April,2016, by the Darul-Ulum Deoband,the pre-eminent Islamic seminaryin the Indian sub-continent, againstMuslims saying “Bharat Mata kijai” (Victory to Mother India). Thatwas in April 2017. Another fatwa,in January 2017, was issued byShahi Imam of the Tipu SultanMosque in Kolkata, Maulana Nur-ur Rehman Barkati, for the shav-ing of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s hair and beard and black-ening his face with ink for the suf-fering demonetisation has causedto people. He promised a reward of`25 lakh for the act.

Besides these, hundreds of fat-was have been issued on innumer-able matters, some quite ridiculousand some very serious in theirimplications. This writer cannotremember a single case where aperson, issuing a fatwa that iscriminal in nature, has received apunishment proportionate to theoffence. There has been no deter-rent. As a result, fatwas havebecome a part of India’s politico-religious scene and issuing these,or some similar form of diktat, istending to become increasinglycommon. Yogesh Varshney’s offerfor the killing of Mamata Banerjeehas to be seen in this context.

The second factor is the gener-al climate of violence in the coun-try. The Pakistan-inspired troublein Kashmir, the Khalistan agitationwhich rocked the whole of north-ern India with unprecedented vio-lence, the Maoist insurgency inmany parts, the spreading shadowof terrorism throughout the coun-try, the rising communal tensions,to say nothing of the explosion ofcrime, have all contributed to this.More than any of these perhaps has

been the contribution of the grow-ing incidence of political violencein many parts of the country,including West Bengal. Startingfrom 1967, the State has seen sus-tained violence in which manyimportant political leaders likeHemanta Kumar Basu of theForward Bloc and the Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University,Gopal Sen, were murdered. Morerecently, there has been violence inNandigram and Singur. Now thereare continuing clashes betweensupporters of the TrinamoolCongress and Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) and TMC and theBJP, amid cries of collapse of law-and-order in the State.

There was a time whenwomen and children were sparedphysical violence even in themidst of the most fearful clash-es. On one occasion in 1971, thiswriter was witness to a clashbetween supporters of theCPI(M) and the CommunistParty of India (Marxist-Leninist)in which both sides, arrayedroughly 100 metres or so apart attwo ends of a road, were firingaway from country-made guns.Suddenly, a child strayed into the

road and an old lady ran after himto take him back to safety. Bothsides stopped firing instantly andresumed it after the lady hadtaken the child away to safety.

Women are not spared anymore. Recall what happened inSingur and Nandigram in WestBengal and what is happening inthe same State and elsewherenow. This is partly a result of thedeterioration of the country’s gen-eral political culture closely linkedto the growing criminalisation ofpolitics, underlined by the fact thatan alarming number of Legislators,including Members of Parliament,or leaders, have criminal chargespending against them. The prac-tice of not launching abusive orphysical attacks on women lead-ers and politicians has been defen-estrated in the process.

In its turn, the growing crim-inalisation of politics has been apart of an alarming criminalisationof the wider society. The reasonsare many and known. One isgrowing urbanisation and theinflux into cities of rural migrantswho are without the familial andsocietal restraints that work onthem in the villages where, besides,

different moral concepts and cul-tural and societal mores prevail.The other is the rise of the mar-ket economy, with advertising asthe cutting edge, and the con-sumer culture. Women’s bodies areoften used in many advertisementsin a manner that is tantamount toprojecting them not as humanbeings with feelings but objects ofsexual pleasure. This conduces tothe urge to take such objectsforcibly if they cannot be possessedwith their consent. This, in turn,conduces to an increase in casesof rape and molestation.

The urge to possess, that playsan important role in such crimes,is steeply enhanced by the con-sumer culture which defines one’sstatus in society by one’s posses-sions. What matters is the make ofthe car one rides or drives, theclothes and perfumes/ after-shavelotions, one wears, the kind ofwatches, pens, mobile phones andother consumer items one possess,or the vacations one enjoys or therestaurants one dines in!

Whether a person is wise andethical is coming to matter increas-ingly little. If this removes such peo-ple as role models in society, theinadequacies of the criminal justicesystem, marked by low rates of con-victions and long trials duringwhich many offenders are out onbail after short incarcerations,severely undermine the deterrencemechanism against crime. Both thesituation and the prospects aregrim. Things continuing this way,utterly condemnable acts like offer-ing a bounty of `11 lakh onMamata Banerjee’s head, wouldbecome increasingly common. Thequestion is: How do we halt thisheadlong march to disaster?

The social, economic and cul-tural factors conducing to it arenow so deeply entrenched in ourcountry that it will take a long timeto eradicate or radically reformthem. The effort, however, shouldbegin with the civil society play-ing an increasing role in uphold-ing moral values and ethical con-duct and pressing upon the Unionand State Governments to discussand formulate measures that facil-itate the process. Also, politicalparties should stop sending per-sons with criminal records orcharges pending against them tolegislatures and elevating them toleadership positions. Finally, thecriminal justice system should berevamped to make it far moreeffective than now. This will per-haps mark the beginning of a trekthat will take years to complete.

(The writer is Consultant Editor,The Pioneer, and an author)T

here are always challenges in a relationship. Indeed, the more deep ties arethe more the need to better manage them, is. The India-Russia bilateral square-ly falls in the category of this profound relation where both sides require to

be assured at regular intervals through words and deed, that they care for eachother and are there for each other in times of crisis. It is 70 years since the twonations established diplomatic ties, and it's also 70 years of this country's inde-pendence. This coincidence is not without significance; it demonstrates that sinceits birth, independent India has been Russia's all-weather friend; the vice versa

is equally true. There have been developments in recent months that have ledmany experts to question the historical depth and conclude that Russia is nolonger the partner of India it was in its Soviet Union avatar. There is admitted-ly some material for these commentators to say so. Russia and Pakistan havegot closer, with Russia even lifting its decades-old informal embargo on the sup-ply of military hardware to Islamabad. Russia has also brought Pakistan on thetable along with China to proactively deal with the Afghanistan problem, much

against the wishes of India — andAfghanistan too. Russian troops hadarrived in Pakistan in the wake of theUri terror attack to conduct joint exer-cises with the Pakistan Army; at firstit was understood that the exerciseswould be done in Pakistan-occupiedKashmir, but the Russians later deniedthe news. Whatever the truth mayhave been, the incident did result insomewhat dampening the spirit. Allthe same, it cannot be denied that theRussians were not only among thefirst to condemn the terror attack butalso hold Pakistan responsible. And,regardless of the little military helpMoscow is extending to Pakistan, theRussians are far too deeply engagedwith India in defence cooperation tolet anything come in the way of the

arrangement. We must also remember that while New Delhi is still negotiatingwith Western countries to get its civil nuclear programme to the next high level,Russia continues to provide India with all the necessary material and technicalhelp in operating the latter’s civil nuclear facilities. Its defence deals do not comewith the many obstructionist riders one is used to seeing in negotiations withWestern nations and their private firms.

Besides, it's not Russia alone which is looking to partner others without acost attached to Indian interests; New Delhi too has reached out to the West,particularly the US, in unprecedented ways, through the purchase of sophisti-cated military equipment and economic cooperation. Over the years, India's depen-dence on Russia for defence needs has gone down. In geo-political terms too,both countries have been tweaking their priorities. These efforts ought not tobe seen as impediments to India-Russia ties. Additionally, India has had warmrelations with nearly all countries Russia has been close too. This is a plus.

By winning five of the 10 Assembly seats for which by-elections were heldacross eight States, the Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained the momen-tum of its emphatic win in the 2014 Lok Sabha election and subsequent

State Assembly polls. Of the recent gains, two stand out for their long-term impact.The first is the triumph in Delhi's Rajouri Garden seat. The BJP-Akali Dal com-bine snatched the seat from the Aam Aadmi Party, which was relegated to thethird position — behind the Congress. This is the coalition's first win since theAAP's sweep in 2015, when the latter secured a whopping 67 of the 70 seatson offer. With days to go for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi poll, the victo-ry comes as a shot in the arm for the BJP. The other significant performancehas been in a West Bengal constituency, where the party pushed the Left Frontto the third spot and the Congress to a poor fourth. Although the seat has beenwon by the ruling Trinamool Congress in the State, the BJP secured a vote shareof more than 30 per cent, and is clearly emerging as the main opposition to theTrinamool Congress. Apart from Odisha, West Bengal is the other eastern Statewhere the BJP has been struggling to get a foothold. With its excellent show inthe recently concluded local body election in Odisha and its growing vote-share

in West Bengal, there are indicationsthat the party could be the one towatch out for, by the ruling regionaloutfits there. The BJP's victories inRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, HimachalPradesh and Assam were alongexpected lines, though its failure in thetwo seats in Karnataka must have dis-appointed it. A win here would havebeen a morale-booster for the partyahead of the Assembly election in theState in 2018. The BJP will have to getthe caste equations right and the Stateunit must unite before D-Day.

It's interesting that two parties arelosing their grip on the States theyhave been dominant in. The AamAadmi Party candidate not just lost theRajouri Garden constituency but alsoforfeited his deposit. This is a major

embarrassment for a party that had only two years ago decimated its rivals inthe State election. It's a message that the people are getting fed up of AAP'srule and its focus on other States at the cost of governing Delhi efficiently. TheRajouri Garden defeat comes on the heels of its poor show in both Punjab andGoa — nearly all its candidates lost their deposits in the latter State. Instead ofabusing its rivals and blaming the electronic voting machine for its defeats, theAAP must look within for the downfall. Although it is seeking to contain the dam-age by saying that the by-poll setback will not impact its prospects in the com-ing civic election, the fact is that its Rajouri Garden candidate had used civicpoll issues in his campaign, such as the house tax matter. The other party whichis facing an existential crisis in its one-time bastion is the Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist). In the good old days, it would have been a close second if notthe winner, in West Bengal. Today, that spot has been occupied by the BJP. TheLeft Front, of which the CPI(M) is the main constituent, got just 10 per cent ofthe votes in the by-election. And yet, like the AAP, the communists remain root-ed to the old and discredited forms of politics.

March of BJP brigade

AAP disgraced and Left Front marginalised

opinion 08LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

Making violence thesolution to everythingThe offer of a reward on Mamata Banerjee's beheading reflects a dismal wider scenario. Fatwas to kill orinjure, criminalistion of politics and general intolerance to opposing views have become common

Robust and unparalleled

India-Russia relationship isn’t of a fickle nature

Stern action

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Big mockery of justice” (April 12).The time has come to take harsh-est possible measures againstPakistan. First, India must down-grade diplomatic ties by recallingHigh Commissions and askPakistan to do the same.

Second, there must be no cul-tural or sporting ties, no people-to-people contact in any form, no visasto Pakistanis to visit India and ournationals too must be forbidden tovisit that country.

Third, we must withdraw themost favoured nation status.Subsequently, all perks must bewithdrawn to the separatist leaders.Lastly, we must take up the matterof Kulbhushan Jadhav’s death sen-tence to international forums andtake steps to get Pakistan brandedas a terrorist state.

Ashok MehtaVia web

Strengthening nation

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Big mockery of justice” (April 12).Might is right, goes the adage.When we remain stronger, we aresoft, merciful and charitable towardsPakistan. As soon as the foe gains

strength, it knows no mercy or rea-son. Our history is replete with suchincidents. We pardonedMohammad Ghori 16 times. Onthe 17th occasion, when he got theupper edge, we were enslaved forcenturies. We lost a large chunk ofthe land to the new converts whohad donned the robes of Ghori. Itis strength alone that will bring theother side to reason.

LR GuptaLucknow

Flip side

Sir — This refers to the article,“Diversifying India’s energy mix”(April 12) by Sreemati Ganguli.Although the writer has talkedabout the diversification of ener-gy mix in the Indian power grid,India’s overwhelming spending innuclear sector is alarming. Ourcountry is massively buildingnuclear power plants without tak-ing adequate measures.

Naveed AhmedVia web

Bureaucratic failure

Sir — This refers to the article,“When the party interest overridesnational cause” (April 12) by AshokK Mehta. Unless the Government’s

Business Rules are amended andDefence Minister is made account-able and responsible, nothing isgoing to change.

Our babus are men with egosand work round the clock to thedetriment of defence personnel. Allreforms suggested till date remainunimplemented. India must be theonly country where the largestaffected number of employees arenot represented in the PayCommission. The key issue is: Dowe need a Defence Minister at all?

PrakashVia web

Nefarious designs

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Assault on democracy” (April11). It is the separatists who arethe real disturbing elements infoiling the election in SrinagarLok Sabha constituency, thepolling of which saw the lowestturnout. Separatists unleashedunrest, fierce violence and terror,and the voters became frightenedand stayed at home. TheGovernment must withdraw allbenefits enjoyed by separatists.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

www.dailypioneer.com

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

HIRANMAY KARLEKAR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Bahujan Samaj

Party now has no

reservations in tak-

ing the help of anti-

BJP parties to fight

against tampering of

the EVMs.

BSP supremo

—Mayawati

People of Rajouri Garden

did not like the fact that

our MLA Jarnail Singh

left the seat to contest

from Punjab.

Delhi CM

—Arvind Kejriwal

There are offers that

I am considering,

but after doing

Dangal, I don't want

to do anything that

can dilute the effect

of that film.

Actor

—Sakshi Tanwar

POLITICAL PARTIESSHOULD STOP

SENDING PERSONSWITH CRIMINAL

RECORDS ORCHARGES PENDINGAGAINST THEM TO

LEGISLATURES. THISWILL MARK THEBEGINNING OF ATREK THAT WILLTAKE YEARS TO

COMPLETE

SOUNDBITE

It’s time for India to act

and not issue warnings

This refers to the editorial, “Big mockery of justice” (April 12). KulbhushanJadhav, a former Indian Navy officer was reportedly picked up by the Inter-Services Intelligence. His trial went on in a closed military court which award-

ed him death sentence falsely, charging him of being a Research and AnalysisWing agent. Even Pakistani media has backed India, saying that Jadav's exe-cution will have serious consequences for Islamabad. Some journalists haveeven demanded that the evidence against Jadav be made public.

Pakistan People's Party chief Bilawal Bhutto has said that the matter isdisputed. Pakistani authorities have claimed that Jadhav was arrested in March2016 in Balochistan, while India claimed that Jadhav was kidnapped in Iran.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has assured that if Pakistan goes aheadwith the sentence, there will be consequences. The Government will go out ofthe way to get justice for Jadhav. The Government must come true to Swaraj'swords and go beyond just making statements to bring Pakistan to sense.

MC JoshiLucknow

Send your feedback to: [email protected]

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017 3rdeye {saturday special} 09

PERSPECTIVE

OTHERVOICE

The United States hasdisplayed a strategicambivalence in the context ofTaiwan in order to tread thetwin canoe balancing actingon the Oriental seas of theAsiatic Space. It is thisdevelopment and snippet out of international law whichhas to be sorted outpeacefully by the involvednation-state actors

MANAN DWIVEDI

Jadhav victim of Pak-China Baloch romance

It is a well-known fact that Pakistanalways looked for blame games and

excuses to carry on with her illegaloccupation of Balochistan and geno-cidal military operation against theBaloch people.

The aim is to defeat the Balochfight for freedom and force them tosurrender to the Punjabi elite whocould then loot Baloch resourceswithout any resistance.

China, Pakistan’s close friend,joined the Punjabi looting class close-ly in 2001 in its efforts to kill andplunder Baloch resources unabashed-ly. It has now increased the stakes byannouncing the so-calledChina–Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) that has raised Pakistan’sstrategical importance many times inthe region and beyond.

There are no doubts about theimportance of CPEC for China andPakistan (read Punjab). China haseven declared it as the flagship pro-ject under the “One Belt, One Road”(OBOR) initiative. However, CPEC isan existential threat to not only theBaloch people but also to other eth-nic minorities who are graduallycoming to terms with the adverseimpact of it on their lives. TheBaloch people are particularlyincensed about the growing militaryaction that has followed theannouncement of the project.

This has touched their nerves andmade them more determined tofight for their inalienable rights ofIndependence which was snatchedaway from them through illegalannexation of their country byPakistan in 1948.

CPEC is a direct threat to theUSA too even if some of theAmerican analysts have deludedthemselves into believing that itwould bring prosperity and stabilityto the terror-manufacturing country.

They ignore the debilitatingimpact of China-Pakistan strategicnexus on the regional conflict dynam-ics in general and the human rights sit-uation in Balochistan in particular.

Pakistan is keeping its doorsopen for China to enhance its strate-gic existence in the Arabian Seathrough its presence in Gwadar andboost its economy by bringing pros-perity to western Chinese region ofXinjiang. At a time when China is fac-ing economic downturn, investing itsvast idle reserves in a corridor likethis makes eminent sense, especial-

ly when it has a partner like Pakistan,and it is willing to trust Pakistani mil-itary with its ability as well as com-mitment to provide security for itsinvestments.

This should particularly worryrealists in America, when China isstrategically competing with and dis-placing the US from region afterregion in the developing regions ofAsia, Africa and Latin America.

It has inflated aspirations ofreplacing the US as the most power-ful country in the world. It is full ofscorn for the values and norms thatthe US upholds as fundamental tohuman development. There is a con-scious effort by China to provide thedeveloping world with an alternativevision of economic growth foundedon values which are inherently anti-democratic and anti-human rights.

Ideologically, the Punjabi elite ofPakistan is its close cousin even if itmaintains a façade of democracy. Insuch a setting, the US should stopalignment of such regressive forcesrather than seeking to cohabit thestrategic space of Southern Asia withboth of them.

CPEC is also a direct threat to theoil rich West Asian countries. IfChina sets up its military bases rightat the neck of Strait of Hormuz inPersian Gulf in this way, it will defi-nitely flex its muscle in the regionsooner than expected and browbeatthe region into submission.

Having an alternative route forChinese imports and exports awayfrom South China Sea where thewaters are increasingly getting hotdue to Chinese ambitions to controlentire south sea is also an attractive

proposition for China. It will save onits expenses on security and trade-transit through CPEC.

CPEC is being projected as a mat-ter of life and death by the ruling eliteof Pakistan. Perceived Indian opposi-tion to it is acting as an unexpectedincentive for both China and Pakistanto overinvest on it for its successfulimplementation. They know for surethat the main hurdle on their way isthe Baloch movement for freedom.They want to delegitimise the move-ment by inventing a link with India.

It is no secret that since 2000, thePakistan Army is running its brutalmilitary operations against the inno-cent Baloch people, who have beenwaging their fifth-generation strug-gle against the Pakistani policies.

Starting with military dictatorMusharraf, Pakistani rulers have open-ly blamed everybody around the worldfrom CIA, RAW, Mossad, Russian FSB,Afghans, Arabs and Iranian intelli-gence agencies for the ongoing Balochresistance movement.

The Kulbhushan Jadhav episodeonly proves this point further. TheBaloch people have known Pakistanidesigns since 2003 when Pakistaniauthorities offered them US $ 35,000for every Indian they would be ableto kidnap from Afghanistan andUS$ 20,000 every Indian kidnappedfrom Iran. They have offered millionsto Afghan Taliban for capturingIndians working in Afghanistan.

The story emerging from theground suggests that KulbhushanJadhav was kidnapped from westernBalochistan near Chabahar port inIran by three Afghans who later soldhim to some Baloch who were work-

ing for the ISI.Jadhav was there on a business

trip to inspect some possibilities toexport Indian garments toTurkmenistan and other centralAsian states.

He was blind-flooded andbrought inside Pakistani occupiedBalochistan and sold for US$ 35,000that was trophy for ISI. He was thenshown as a RAW agent captured inBalochistan, who was there to trainand help Baloch and create instabil-ity in Pakistan.

It was all just a grand make-believe show to brainwash Pakistanipublic and international communi-ty to hide their crimes in Balochistan.

Another fact that has gone unno-ticed is that the Chinese have resist-ed the temptation to invest heavily inBalochistan so far. The proposedGadani power plants have been keptin abeyance. The move to buildinfrastructure around Gwadar hasbeen pushed by Pakistan to sustainChinese interests.

The only good this is thatPakistani ploy to project Baloch resis-tance as merely a function of mischiefcaused by Indian RAW has not con-vinced the Chinese about the natureof Baloch movement, which is likelyto intensify further.

If the sentence against Kulbushanis carried out, it will be a travesty ofjustice. He has not been given dueassistance under international law toplead his case. The Pakistani versionof the story has been upheld by themilitary court and death sentence hasbeen pronounced without even grant-ing Indian High Commission accessto its citizen alleged to be a spy.

As per international norms, thisis the very minimum requirement fora fair trial. All this shows how des-perate Pakistanis are to undermineBaloch struggle at one level and selltheir antipathy towards India as legit-imate point to the international com-munity on the other.

Ironically, the Baloch people,with their secular outlook and reflex-ive empathy for India, have notreceived due attention and help fromIndia in their struggle for their existence.

With India being a regionalheavyweight with its record ofupholding human rights in the caseof Bangladesh, the Baloch have hugeexpectations from New Delhi, but ithas gone unmet over the years.

Despite steady attempt by variousBaloch leaders in exile to reach outto Indian diplomats abroad in questfor moral and material help, there isno manifest desire to imperil India’srelationship with Pakistan by sidingwith Balochistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas raised Baloch expectations but asthe Indian coyness about theKulbhushan case shows, India is stillnot prepared to openly advocate theBaloch cause and raise the case ofgross human rights violations at theinternational level.

Alas! The ground reality is sovery different from what thePakistanis portray it to be!

(The writer is a physician by profession and a Baloch rights activistbased in Moscow)

No nation ought to have a “two-nation theory”as it militates against the founding myth of a race,

its people and the nation.India with its own two-nation theory suffered

partition and ungainly carnage. The mainlandChina and the outgrowth of its selfsame organic inthe form of Taiwan too militate against the rationaleof nation-state, ideally speaking.

The schism between communist supremo MaoTse Tung and the flight of Chiang Kai Shek leadingthe Kuomintang happens to be a perennial scar onthe founding myth of the Chinese nation, but Taiwantoo needs its Independence.

The small north-top nation of Taiwan has fol-lowed a capitalist and democratic mode of devel-opment and is a micro scab tissue on the organic scaf-folding of China, according to the mainland China’sargument.

The Chinese never gave up on the severedTaiwan, while the status of Taiwan has always beenmired in the quick sand twilight zone of Taiwan’srights and status. The smaller administrative unitwith its promiscuity with the United States sooncharted a grand growth and development story foritself.

Also, in the contemporary context, PresidentDonald Trump’s post-inaugural conversation with theState head in Taiwan led to a blowback with theBeijing, wherein, the old wounds despite a Nixon-Mao détente in 1971 as part of Ping Pong diploma-cy were sure to make an impact upon the generaltenor of the Washington-Beijing bilateral.

The Taiwan Relations Act, passed in April, 1979,declared substantial but non-diplomatic relationswith the people of Taiwan.

Senator Barry Goldwater and other members ofthe Congress opposed the decision of PresidentJimmy Carter, as he had abrogated the Taiwan USMutual Defense Pact, which served as a larger secu-rity umbrella for Taiwan since 1954.

The Chinese act of supporting Washington in itsrole playing in Afghanistan and the Dragon’s expe-dition against Vietnam, the sore for America,brought Beijing and Washington together for a brieffurlough.

Thus, as fallout of this rift in the American home-land, the institution of the order of the AmericanInstitute in Taiwan was established and this spawnednew commercial and abiding cultural ties betweenthe US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The American understanding leaves apart theislands other than the mainland Taiwanese Island andthe Penghu Island away from the jurisdiction of theTaiwan Relations Act (TRA).

The purport of the TRA happens to be histori-cally that, “The Taiwan Relations Act potentiallyrequires the US to intervene militarily if the PRCattacks or invades Taiwan.” The act states that “theUnited States will make available to Taiwan suchdefense articles and defense services in such quan-tity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to main-tain sufficient self-defence capabilities. However, thedecision about the nature and quantity of defenceservices that America will provide to Taiwan is tobe determined by the President and the Congress”.

The US has displayed a strategic ambivalence inthe context of Taiwan in order to tread the twin canoebalancing acting on the Oriental seas of the AsiaticSpace. It is this development and snippet out of inter-national law, which has to be sorted out peacefullyby the involved Nation State actors.

Initially, in the contemporary context, PresidentTrump had called for a review of the status of PRC,but after a conversation with Beijing akin to otherissues such as immigration policy and others, he hasmellowed down a great deal.

Yan Xuetong, Dean of the School of InternationalRelations at Tsinghua University in Beijing, wrote inthe New York Times, “Even though Trump has saidhe will support the ‘One China’ policy, China can-not fully trust him. Even his own people don’t trusthim.” Thus, the Washington folks need to stick to atough talking position, if they seemingly want toappear to be stately like. Still, a mellowing down inthe light of Xi Jinping’s strong observations on theAmerican standpoint has been taken in astutely byPresident Trump ‘uppity’ and upbeat campaign trail.

The question which needs to be answered is: canthe twin superpowers share power in the Pacific? TheAmerican stratagem towards the PRC has alwaysbeen interpreted as being that of strategic ambigu-ity and one that of “cooperative competition” in near-ly all contested terrains in the larger international sys-tem, including the nationalist northern speck overChina.

To put to rest doubts about any American leg-erdemain, Trump reiterated the American supportto a “One China Policy” in a telephonic conversa-tion with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.

It might be a tactical retreat by the American

strategists and President Trump. The Cable NewsNetwork in one of his news reports informs the audi-ence, “President Trump’s willingness to pull backfrom some of his more extreme ideas has been wel-comed by market watchers. The pledge to Xi onTaiwan “matters to investors because if China canbring about a change like this, it may succeed in soft-ening other US policy positions,” said Paul Donovan,global chief economist at UBS Wealth Management.”

The Chinese are of the opinion, pragmaticallyspeaking that, Beijing is hopeful about the US mel-lowing down and taking substantial interest in thetrade negotiations between both the nations.

Still, when China refers to the right of self-deter-mination and insurgent ministrations in provincessuch as Xinjiang, its own standpoint in the contextof twilight-zone Taiwan stands on shaky grounds.

The new Chinese Policy of “leapfrog develop-ment” happens to be that of serving the mainframeHan race as most of the demographic alterations inthe sphere of internal migrations have already beenaccomplished. Thus, the Chinese canard of playingthe aggrieved nation in the context of Taiwan fallsflat in the light of the strife-torn East-Turkistan movement.

The Uighur Turks, the original ethnic group, werebelittled in all prevalent manners in order to hike thefortunes of mainland unity, the Han way. The samediscrimination gets reflected in the manner in whichnational day parades exist as charades in light of thepattern of “select participation at national events”.

So much the so for the Chinese doublespeak.London-based the Guardian has reported that

China reiterated in January, 2017 very categorical-ly that Taiwan is non-negotiable.

Even, going by national polls in Taiwan, most ofTaiwanese nationals prefer a separate existentialstreak for themselves and do not prefer to kow-towalong with the dragon wing’s flippancy. This allowsdissent and freedom of existence in the name of theTaiwanese insistence on self determination. USPresident Trump does not propose to utilise theTaiwanese angle as a bargaining chip to outdo PRCdiplomatically in the Asia Pacific.

In return for the Chinese demands, the US hasalready raised the bogey of the North Korean ques-tion, which insists on making Pyongyang retract fromits scary and regimental nuclear ambitions and theambiguities associated with it.

The American concerns over North Korea aregenuine as it has ratcheted up the threat to take themilitary route over North Korea but China, too, hasalertly refuted the American threats and concerns.

Still, as a summation, the Trump dispensationcan hope for a negotiated settlement with Beijing in the peninsular region if not with the North Korean dictator.

Still, Chinese currency manipulation and sub-sidies serve as the constant obstructions in a steadySino-US Relations. Also, Washington should link upits “Rebalancing” with Asia in the light of the Chineseclaims over Taiwan.

(The writer teaches International Relations atIndian Institute of Public Administration, Delhi)

While addressing the students of Lucknow University in 1951,BR Ambedkar had said, “India has failed to develop a strong

foreign policy. Tibet has been garrisoned by China; it will have long-term threat to India.” This statement of Baba Saheb is still relevant.The recent visit of the Dalai Lama to Twang has stirred a fresh con-troversy. China threatened India for permitting the Dalai Lama tovisit Twang. The Indian Government has made it clear that it wasa spiritual visit and nothing to do with politics. But the anger andfrustration of China are well entrenched in the Chinese strategiccalculus. While explaining the vision of BR Ambedkar, it becomesinteresting to connect his thought of a strong nation and realisticforeign policy.

Despite being humiliated as a human being in caste-riddensocial structure of India, Ambedkar never undermined theimportance of nation. He strongly advocated for a power which acountry needs to aspire. It is the only route through which it canmake its presence felt in the world politics. Unfortunately that didnot happen during the Congress regime. He was scornful ofNehruvian foreign policy, especially on China and the erstwhileSoviet Union. He wanted Tibet must remain an independent coun-try. While delivering speech in Kathmandu in 1955, he cautionedthe aggressive approach of China to Himalayan states. Almost sixdecades of Indian foreign policy synchronised itself under the duressof China from a major power to a trivial entity.

But the current Government is moving in the directions of BabaShaeb’s thoughts. Narendra Modi was the first Prime Minister whovisited Bhutan and Nepal after becoming the Prime Minister. Thatwas a breakaway from established trend of Indian Prime Minister’sentourage. Modi as a Prime Minister made the Himalayan statesmore important. This was a major turning point in Indian foreignpolicy. Since then China is very aggressive. The Modi Governmentis also working on the long-term strategy, which was missing ear-lier. That is why at the fag-end of his prime ministership, ManmohanSingh uttered that India did not have strategic culture. With Modi’sdoctrine, China is feeling uneasy.

China plays dual role. On one side, it is keen to hijack theBuddhist structure through its soft power diplomacy, on the otherhand, it is waiting the Dalai Lama to pass away and let the TibetanLiberation Movement be rudderless and leaderless. China publisheda white paper on Tibet in 2015 to showcase the world how Tibethas been converted from pastoral land to well-developed cities.China claims that the Tibetan culture and people have been muchbetter off since its occupation rule began in 1959. It claims: “Tibet’straditional culture is well protected and promoted, and freedomof religious belief in the region is respected, while its ecological envi-ronment is protected too.” The white paper also presents data tojustify its rule for the last 50 years. It claims: “Earlier Tibet did nothave a single school in the modern sense; its illiteracy rate was ashigh as 95 per cent among the young and the middle-aged; therewas no modern medical service, and praying to the Buddha forsuccour was the main resort for most people if they fell ill; theiraverage life expectancy was 35.5 year.”

Even if the above data are true, there are many aspects of whichare equally misleading. The Tibetan community has been killedand subjugated to slavery. Their twin identities of faith and pas-toral lives were forcefully destroyed by the communist regime. Tibethas been strategically cut into two parts. One part of it, the TibetAutonomous Regions (TAR), has been converted into a nucleardustbin, spreading deadly diseases such as cancer. Thousands ofTibetans are behind bars. Their economic status is very low. Thepolicy of transferring Han Chinese into the TAR is making theTibetans a minority community in their own region. China underthe 2020 Plan wants to transfer more Hans to Tibet. This wouldstrengthen China’s rule of terror and worsen the pace of the ongo-ing cultural genocide.

Tibet remains the decisive factor in shaping the China-Indiarelations for the last 65 years. However, India has maintained a prin-cipled stand and stated time and again that Tibet is a part of China.Meeting with the Dalai Lama and refugee status of Tibetans liv-ing in India has been categorically defined by Indian leaders con-sistently. Atal Behari Vajpayee during his visit to China in 1979 asthe Foreign Minister explained that the Dalai Lama was given refugein India purely in reference to his spiritual position. OrdinaryTibetans were granted refugee status on strictly humanitariangrounds. But China remains apprehensive. Any move of India islooked, explained and understood by China under the shadow ofTibetan cause. Overall India-China relations have been shapedunder the currents of Tibetan factor.

The Chinese takeover of Tibet is strategic rather than histor-ical or ideological. The Tibetan rebellion of 1959 and the China-India border war of 1962 tended to strengthen Chinese belief inthe strategic importance of Tibet. No sooner had the PLA troopsentered eastern Tibet than they began building roads. Strategicdevelopment continued in Tibet for more than two decades andcertainly the most spectacular aspect of the overall developmentin Tibet from 1950 till 1976 has been strategic or military orient-ed. China has always been apprehensive of the influence of exter-nal powers into the territory of Tibet. That is why purportedly shift-ed the area of buffer zone from Tibet to their tiny Himalayan stateslike Nepal and Bhutan with India. To consolidate its position, Chinasigned border agreements with Burma and Nepal in 1960,Magnolia in 1962, and Pakistan in 1963

China’s Tibet policy impacts Indian security interests mainlyin two ways. One, it exposed the border problem between Indiaand China, which led to the 1962 Sino-Indian War. The Chineseinvasion of Tibet ended the buffer zone between the two countries.At the same time, it increased China’s reach into South Asia. In fact,Tibet has an 870-mile border with Nepal and China has been con-solidating its relationships with Nepal. Another serious consequenceof Chinese developmental strategy in Tibet could be in terms ofenvironmental hazards. India’s major rivers originate from the Trans-Himalayan region. China’s Western Development programme isfeared to cause major deforestation and ecological imbalance. Tibetand Tibetan ethnic areas are endowed with the greatest river sys-tem in the world. Its rivers supply fresh water to 85 per cent of Asia’spopulation and approximately 50 per cent of the world’s popula-tion.

The Dalai Lama is the most revered figure of Buddhism. TheIndian Government has started its diplomatic venture by creatinga Buddhist circuit from India to South East Asia and Central Asia.China is trying to divert this circuit towards its turfs. Tibet is lynch-pin of this diplomacy and the Dalai Lama is spiritual driver. Keepingthe words of Baba Saheb, Tibet and Tibetans’ dignity need to beprotected. It is not merely for the interests of Tibetans, but for India.

(The writer is Head of the Department of Political Science, CentralUniversity of Haryana)

JUMMA MARRI

The Baloch people have knownPakistani designs since 2003when Pakistani authoritiesoffered them US $ 35,000 forevery Indian they would be ableto kidnap from Afghanistan andUS$ 20,000 every Indiankidnapped from Iran... PrimeMinister Modi has raised Balochexpectations but India is still notprepared to openly advocate theBaloch cause and raise the caseof gross human rights violationsat the international level

Taiwan riddle for Trump, Xi

Ambedkar’s Tibetconcerns andChinese threat

Baba Saheb was scornful ofNehruvian foreign policy,particularly on China. Whiledelivering speech in Kathmanduin 1955, he cautioned theaggressive approach of China toHimalayan states. Almost sixdecades of Indian foreign policysynchronised itself under theduress of China from a major power to a trivial entity.However, the Modi Governmentis moving in the directions ofBaba Shaeb’s thoughts

SATISH KUMAR

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017 money 10

At present large number of the cor-poration's landline customers do notsubscribe to its broadband services.So, we will be pursuing with them tosell broadband services such that thepercentage of the broadband cus-tomers can also be increased. It willnot only increase our revenue but thecustomer retention will also be bet-ter

-- MTNL CMD PK Purwar

The payments through BHIM Appwill directly cater to about 40

crore bank account customersspread across the country whoseaccount is linked with Aadhaar. Itis a huge opportunity for enabling

digital transactions as about 99per cent of adult population is

now Aadhaar-enabled-- NPCI MD & CEO AP Hota

GOVTS

FROM

BUZZ

Snapshots...

ITDC SEEKS SHAREHOLDERS' NOD FOR DIVESTING STAKENew Delhi: India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) is seekingshareholders' nod to divest stake in the undertakings and JV subsidiariesof the company. The state-run firm is looking to divest or offload its stakein all hotels run by it except Ashok and Samrat hotels in the nationalcapital. The Ministry of Tourism has appointed transaction advisors tooffload stake in Hotel Jaipur Ashok, Jaipur, Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel,Mysore, Hotel Patliputra Ashok, Patna and Hotel Kalinga Ashok,Bhubaneswar. “ITDC being a Government Company, predominantlyowned by GoI, it was found desirable to seek shareholders approval forsale, lease or otherwise disposal of units as a matter of good corporategovernance, to maintain full transparency and also because some of theunits may be leased to non-Government entities,” it said in a regulatoryfiling. INDIGO TO OPERATE 18 ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS FROMJUNEMumbai: Low-cost domestic carrier IndiGo on Friday said it willoperate 18 new additional flights, starting June, as part of its summerschedule. The Gurgaon-based airline, which currently operates over900 flights, will add these flights to the existing routes, includingBengaluru-Delhi and Bengaluru-Hyderabad, a release said. It willoperate its 15th flight between Bengaluru and Delhi (to and fro), and10th additional flight between Bengaluru and Hyderabad and Kolkataand Bengaluru (to and fro), the airline said. Besides, the carrier willalso operate new additional flights from Ranchi, Guwahati andThiruvananthapuram, it said. ACS, POWER BACKUP DEVICES SALES TO RISE SHARPLY: ASSOCHAMNew Delhi: Demand for ACs, inverters, generators and air coolersis estimated to rise 35-45 per cent this season compared to last yeardue to the onset of early summer and a sudden rise in temperaturein most parts of India, according to an Assocham survey. The surveyobserved that the demand for air conditioners (ACs) has shot up inthe last three weeks in all major cities across the country, with salesexpected to increase by 40-45 per cent this year.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Income Tax departmenthas identified over 60,000

‘high risk’ persons for probeunder the second phase of the‘Operation Clean Money’which was launched on Fridayto detect black money gener-ation post demonetisation.

The CBDT said the cate-gory of people who will under-go ‘detailed investigations’ aspart of the next phase of theoperation include businessesclaiming cash sales as thesource of cash deposits, likepetrol pumps and other essen-tial services like hospitals,which is found to be excessivecompared to their past profileor industry norms during thenotes ban period.

It will also probe thosegovernment or Public SectorUndertaking employees whomade ‘large cash deposits’, peo-ple who have undertaken highvalue purchases, those who‘layered’ or laundered funds byusing shell companies andthose who did not respond totaxman's queries under thefirst phase of the said opera-tion.

A senior officer said thereis no threshold of deposits thathas been identified under thelatest operation and all suspi-cious and similar inter-related

transactions have been chosenand brought under it. “Thedeposits under scrutiny of thelatest operation are no doubthigh value ones,” he said. Theofficer added that while theinitial communication to these60,000 people will go via theonline medium, the taxmanwill also undertake search andsurvey action and also seekphysical documents from theassessee as part of the opera-tion. The threshold under thefirst phase of the operation,that began on January 31 andended on February 15, waskept at deposits made to thetune of `5 lakh and above.

“More than 60,000 per-sons, including 1,300 high riskpersons have been identifiedfor investigation into claims ofexcessive cash sales during thedemonetisation period.” “Morethan 6,000 transactions of highvalue property purchase and6,600 cases of outward remit-tances shall be subjected todetailed investigations,” theCBDT, policy-making body ofthe department, said in a state-ment. “All the cases where noresponse is received shall alsobe subjected to detailedenquiries,” it added.

The CBDT said the com-plete exercise of examining‘all the doubtful and non-taxcompliant accounts’ may take

more than an year to completebut with the help of technolo-gy and continuous enforce-ment action all the liableaccounts will be brought totask.

The latest operation hasbeen initiated based on ‘iden-tification’ of huge cash depositsthrough use of advanced dataanalytics ‘including integra-tion of data sources, relation-ship clustering and fund track-ing’. The CBDT said the tax-man also undertook ‘extensiveenforcement action’ of search,survey and seizure postdemonetisation and has detect-ed undisclosed income to thetune of `9,334 crore betweenNovember 9 and February 28.

“More than 2,362 search,seizure and survey actionshave been conducted by thedepartment.. .Leading toseizure of valuables worthmore than `818 crore, whichinclude cash of `622 croreand detection of undisclosed

income of more than `9,334crore,” it said. “More than 400cases have been referred by thetax department to theEnforcement Directorate andthe CBI. Surveys have beenconducted in more than 3,400cases by assessment units,” thestatement added.

The demonetisation of twohigh value currencies of `1000and `500 was announced byPrime Minister NarendraModi on November 8 last year.Under the first phase of theoperation, it said, 17.92 lakhpeople, who entered into cashtransactions that did notappear to be in line with theirtax profile, were contacted viathe online medium. “Onlinequeries were raised “in 35,000cases and online verificationwas completed in more than7,800 cases,” it said, adding thedepartment has decided toclose the verification in caseswhere explanation of source ofcash was found to be justified.

“In cases where the cashdeposit has been declaredunder Pradhan Mantri GaribKalyan Yojna (PMGKY), theverifications would also beclosed,” it said.

The ‘Operation CleanMoney’, the CBDT said, isbeing conducted by the taxdepartment through use ofadvanced data analytics allow-ing ‘optimisation of govern-ment resources and causingminimum inconvenience tothe taxpayers’. It added that theimpact of government action isalready visible in the increaseof 21.7 per cent in the returnsof income received in FinancialYear 2016-17.

Sixteen per cent growth ingross collection was seen, thehighest in the last five years,14 per cent growth in net col-lection- the highest in lastthree years and above 18 percent, 25 per cent and 22 percent growth in personalincome tax, regular assess-ment tax and self-assessmenttax respectively. The state-ment said the demonetisationexercise was aimed at the‘elimination of black moneythat casts a long shadow ofparallel economy on our realeconomy’ and the latest oper-ation is one of the major stepsaimed to achieve this goal andalso widen the tax base.

I-T launches ‘Op Clean Money’-II;

to probe 60,000 high-risk persons

More than 60K persons, including 1,300 highrisk persons have been identified for

investigation into claims of excessive cashsales during the demonetisation period. Morethan 6K transactions of high value property

purchase and 6,600 cases of outwardremittances shall be subjected to detailed

investigations. All the cases where noresponse is received shall also be subjected

to detailed enquiries

IANS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has issued a new set of

enabling provisions to resolvethe problem of banks’ mountingnon-performing assets (NPAs),or bad loans. Through the noti-fication titled ‘Revised PromptCorrective Action (PCA) frame-work for banks’, the RBI has saidthe new set of provisions, effec-tive from April 1, override theexisting PCA framework, andare based on the financials ofeach bank as of March 2017. Thenew framework will be reviewedafter three years.

Under the revised frame-work, if a bank crosses the thirdlevel of risk threshold (where abank's common equity tier I cap-ital falls below the threshold of3.625 per cent by 3.125 per cent,or more) it will either be amal-gamated or merged, or takenover by another entity.

“Breach of 'risk threshold 3'of CET1 (common equity tier 1)by a bank would identify it as alikely candidate for resolutionthrough tools like amalgama-tion, reconstruction, winding upetc,” the notification said. Theapex bank also said that in casea “bank defaults in meeting theobligations to its depositors,possible resolution processesmay be resorted to without ref-erence to the PCA matrix”.

“A bank will be placedunder PCA framework based onthe audited annual financial

results and RBI's supervisoryassessment. However, RBI mayimpose PCA on any bank dur-ing the course of a year, includ-ing migration from one thresh-old to another, in case the cir-cumstances so warrant.”

The revised PCA frame-work is applicable to all banks,including small and foreignbanks. The new framework alsoplaces capital, asset quality andprofitability as the key areas formonitoring. Besides, the over-riding indicators tracking capi-tal, asset quality and profitabil-ity will be capital to risk assetsratio (CRAR), CET1 ratio, metNPA ratio and return on assets,respectively, the notificationsaid. A bank’s “leverage will bemonitored additionally as partof the PCA framework and anybreach of any risk threshold willresult in invocation of PCA,” itadded. If a bank breaches therisk levels or leverage levels, RBIsaid ‘promoters/owners/parent

in the case of foreign banks’ willhave to bring in capital to meetthe special supervisory require-ment. Breach of risk threshold2 will attract restrictions onbranch expansion, as well asdomestic and overseas higherprovisions, as part of the cover-age regime, RBI said.

Breach of risk threshold 3will invite mandatory actions ofthreshold 1 and 2, along withrestrictions on managementcompensation and directors'fees and any other correctiveactions such as removal of offi-cials and supersession or sup-pression of the board.

At its first monetary policyreview of the fiscal on April 6,the RBI said it would come outwith a revised PCA framework.The NPAs of state-run banks atthe end of last September roseto `6.3 lakh crore (almost $100billion), as compared to `5.5lakh crore at the end of June2016.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka,whose pay package was

one of the contentions raisedby the founders, has drawn$6.68 million (about `43crore) or 61 per cent of thepromised compensation forthe 2016-17 fiscal. Sikka waseligible for a $11 million payincluding basic salary, vari-able pay, restricted stock units(RSUs) and performancestock options for the year.

Incidentally, this is alsolower than what Sikka drewin the previous financial yearwhen he took home `48.73crore. According to Infosys'financial statements that out-line compensation to keyexecutives, Sikka receivedonly $ 3.68 million of the $8million variable componentthat he was promised.

One of the highest paidexecutives in the Indian ITindustry, Sikka took home$0.82 million in variable pay,$1.9 million in RSUs andESOPs worth $0.96 million,totalling $3.68 million. Sikka’ssalary was revised from $7.08

million to a handsome $11million package with effectfrom April 2016, a move thatdid not go down well with thefounders, including NRNarayana Murthy. The $11mill ion package was toinclude a base salary of $1million and $2 million worthof stock annually as well $3million in variable pay. Sikkais also eligible for another $5million worth of perfor-mance-based equity andstock options upon achieve-ment of certain performancetargets.

“The Board, based on therecommendations of theNominations Committee,approved on April 13, 2017,$0.82 million as variable pay

to CEO for the year endedMarch 31, 2017,” Infosys said.It further mentions “...RSUsamounting to $1.9 millionand ESOPs amounting to$0.96 million representingthe performance-based equi-ty and stock options for thefinancial year 2017".

While the founders hadraised concerns over the sig-nificant salary hike given toSikka, the Board, on its part,maintained that the variablecomponent was tied to steepperformance goals. However, Infosys has notmade those goals public.

Infosys had defendedSikka’s pay hike saying alldecisions were made ‘in theoverall interest of the com-pany’.

Infosys’ performance of2016-17 has disappointedthe street, especially after itlowered its annual revenueguidance thrice last fiscal.The ‘aspirational goal’ of $20billion revenue by 2020 setby Infosys looks like a tallorder given the current per-formance, said industrywatchers. The Bengaluru-

based firm, which posted arevenue of $10.2 billion in2016-17, has been focussingon new areas like automationand artificial intelligence to

bolster its revenues to meetthe said target. For the finan-cial year 2017-18, Infosysexpects its revenues to growby 6.1-8.1 per cent in $terms.

UNDER THE REVISED FRAMEWORK, IF ABANK CROSSES THE THIRD LEVEL OF RISKTHRESHOLD (WHERE A BANK’S COMMONEQUITY TIER I CAPITAL FALLS BELOW THETHRESHOLD OF 3.625% BY 3.125%, ORMORE) IT WILL EITHER BE AMALGAMATED ORMERGED, OR TAKEN OVER BY ANOTHER ENTITY.BREACH OF ‘RISK THRESHOLD 3’ OF CET1 (COMMONEQUITY TIER 1) BY A BANK WOULD IDENTIFY IT AS A LIKELYCANDIDATE FOR RESOLUTION THROUGH TOOLS LIKEAMALGAMATION, RECONSTRUCTION, WINDING UP ETC,SAYS THE NOTIFICATION

NEW DELHI: Moving goodsworth more than `50,000under GST will require prioronline registration of the con-signment and securing an ‘e-way bill’ that tax officials caninspect anytime during thetransit to check tax evasion.

The Central Board ofExcise and Customs (CBEC)has issued draft rules onElectronic Way (e-way) billthat require registered entitiesto furnish, in a prescribed for-mat, GST-Network (GSTN)website information relating toany goods worth more than`50,000 they intend to movewithin a state or outside.

GSTN will generate e-waybills that will be valid for 1-15days, depending on distance tobe travelled - one day being for100 kilometres and 15 days formore than 1,000 km transit.“Upon generation of the e-waybill on the common portal, aunique e-way bill number(EBN) shall be made availableto the supplier, the recipient

and the transporter on thecommon portal,” stated thedraft norms. The person in-charge of conveyance will berequired to carry the invoice orbill of supply or delivery chal-lan, and a copy of the e-way billor the e-way bill number, eitherphysically or mapped to aRadio Frequency IdentificationDevice (RFID) embedded onto the conveyance.

The rules authorise the taxcommissioner or an officerempowered by him on hisbehalf to intercept any con-veyance to verify the e-way billor the number in physicalform for all inter-state andintra-state movement of goods.

Physical verification ofconveyances can be carried outon specific information of eva-sion of tax, as per the rules.The officer will be required tosubmit a summary report ofevery inspection of goods intransit within 24 hours and thefinal report within three daysof inspection.

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka

GST: CBEC proposes

e-way bill for goods

worth `50K in transit

MUMBAI: The NationalPayments Corporation of India(NPCI) on Friday announcedthe launch of mobile applicationfor Aadhaar-based paymentsthrough Bharat Interface forMoney (BHIM) app for mer-chants. The service waslaunched by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in Nagpur. Thenew service will allow cus-tomers to make purchases usingtheir Aadhaar number linkedwith their bank account. Thetransaction will require cus-tomer's fingerprint for authen-tication.

“This will directly cater toabout 40 crore bank accountcustomers spread across thecountry whose account is linkedwith Aadhaar. It is a huge oppor-tunity for enabling digital trans-actions as about 99 per cent ofadult population is now aadhaarenabled,” NPCI managing direc-tor and CEO, AP Hota said.Currently, over 30 banks are par-ticipating on BHIM Aadhaarand more member banks shall beon-board, NPCI said. BHIMAadhaar would be applicable forretail merchants only and not forcorporate merchants, it said. PTI

Mobile Aadhaar-based

payments via BHIM

App unveiled by NPCI

PTI n MUMBAI

Top stock exchanges NSEand BSE will discontinue

equity as well as equity deriv-ative trading in the security ofCairn India from April 26, asthe cash-rich oil producerhas merged into its debt-rid-den parent Vedanta.

Under the merger deal,shareholders of Cairn Indiawill get one equity share ofVedanta and four redeemablepreference shares of face value`10 and coupon 7.5 per cent.

Further, Cairn Indiashareholders, as on recorddate, who will become share-holders of Vedanta, wouldalso receive an interim divi-dend of `17.70 per equityshare. April 27 has been set asrecord date for the shareswap.

Accordingly, in two sep-arate notices, NSE and BSEhave asked the investors andbrokers not to deal in theequity shares of Cairn Indiawith effect from April 26.

“...It is hereby notified

that the following security willbe suspended from tradingwith effect from April 26,2017,” NSE said in the circu-lar.

BSE in its circular said:“ Trading Members areadvised not to deal in theequity shares of Cairn IndiaLtd with effect from the undermentioned date (April 26)”.

At the same time, thebourses in separate circularssaid ‘no futures and optionscontracts will be available inthe underlying CAIRN fortrading from April 26, 2017onwards’.

Moreover, the boursessaid the existing equity deriv-ative contracts of Cairn ‘withexpiry dates April 27, 2017,May 25, 2017 and June 29,2017 will expire on April 25,2017’. Earlier this week,Cairn and Vedanta hadannounced the completion ofthe merger. The mergerwould help the metals andmining company Vedantaaccess to the cash of CairnIndia, helping it cut debt.

PTI n NEW DELHI

State-owned telecom firmMTNL is looking to convert

nearly 50 per cent of its fixedline users into broadband sub-scribers over the next 18months, as part of plans toincrease revenue and retaincustomers. At present, nearly34 per cent of its fixed line cus-tomers are also its broadbandsubscribers.

“In the next 1.5 years, weshould gun for 50 per cent oflandline customer basebecoming broadband enabledcustomers for us. And thatshould be driving force for us,”MTNL Chairman andManaging Director PK Purwartold PTI.

Terming broadband as a‘f lagship’ offering forMahanagar Telephone NigamLtd (MTNL), Purwar noted atpresent large number of thecorporation's landline cus-tomers do not subscribe to itsbroadband services.

“So, we will be pursuing

with them (to sell broadbandservices) such that the per-centage of the broadband cus-tomers can also be increased.It will not only increase ourrevenue but the customerretention will also be better,”he added. The company alsoplans to take the broadbandequipment closer to subscriberpremises and has recently‘revisited’ tariffs plans to tunethem with the varying cus-tomer requirements, he added.

“To improve broadbandspeeds, we have installed 140DSLAMs in Delhi, and 150 inMumbai in 2016-17. We arelooking at similar numbers for2017-18 so that the customerwho are being providedbroadband services should bewithin 1-1.5 kms from our

DSLAM areas or broadbandequipment areas and hence getbetter experience,” Purwarsaid.

Digital Subscriber LineAccess Multiplexer or DSLAMis a network devices that con-nects customer digital sub-scriber lines to a high-speeddigital communications chan-nels. MTNL has 15 lakh land-line subscribers in Delhi and18 lakh in Mumbai, while itsmobile subscriber base ispegged at 35 lakh in the twometros combined. The corpo-ration has over 20 broadbandplans, said Purwar. He saidthat MTNL is talking to cus-tomer to better understandtheir requirements.

“We customise broadbandpacks for different pricepoints... We believe that weshould cater to all kinds of cus-tomers...From those withhigher data usage to students,”he said. In 2015-16, MTNLreported a total annual rev-enue of `3,197.41 crore andnet loss of `2,005.72 crore.

NEW DELHI: Tata Trusts andBrick Eagle Foundation havepartnered to design a pilot afford-able housing project at Karjat, onthe outskirts of Mumbai. TataTrusts has offered a grant to BrickEagle Foundation for extensiveresearch on customer needs,industry best practices and scal-able and sustainable constructiontechnologies, a statement said.The project is expected to becompleted in two years.

“This project will provide acritical perspective to under-stand the housing needs of theEconomically Weaker Sections(EWS) and Lower Income Group(LIG) population,” said ShikhaSrivastava, Lead, Urban PovertyAlleviation and Livelihoods port-folio, Tata Trusts. KirtiTimmanagoudar, founder ofBrick Eagle Foundation, said,“Our association with TataTrusts began about a year ago.Tata Trusts’ focus on Habitat isa welcome move as it supportsthe Government’s ‘Housing forAll’ objective’. PTI

Bourses to discontinue tradingin Cairn India from April 26

Tata Trusts, Brick Eagle Foundationpartner for housingproject in Mumbai

MTNL sees 50% landline users

opting for broadband in 18 mths

RBI issues new norms

for mounting bad loans

INFOSYS CEO TAKES HOME `43 CR IN FY’17

NEW DELHI: The appointment ofa co-chairman by softwarecompany Infosys adds anotherlayer of leadership at the boardlevel and is likely to create‘factions’, proxy advisory firmIiAS has said. Claiming thatInfosys was fighting the ‘wrongbattle’, IiAS said that while RaviVenkatesan's appointment asco- chairman may be construedas signs of Infosys’ boardlistening to feedback, in doing soit has ‘courted anothercontroversy’.

“IiAS believes that Infosys isnow fighting the wrong battle:instead of focusing on itsperformance, it is now spendingmore time focusing internally andquelling perceptions,” it said in astatement. The views come at atime when Infosys has drawn flak

from founders, including NRNarayana Murthy, who haveflagged alleged corporategovernance lapses in thecompany and criticised the hikein compensation packages ofcertain key executives.

In a move widely beinginterpreted as an attempt toplacate the founders, Infosysyesterday elevated IndependentDirector Venkatesan as co-chairman. “...Infosys’ boardseems to have caved in andadded another layer of leadershipat the board level. While this mayhave been done to appeaseNarayana Murthy, IiAS believesthis decision was unnecessary,” itsaid. IiAS pointed out that theposition of co-chairman is rarelyseen in corporate India and‘having more than one person

Appointment of co-chair to createfactions at Infy board, says IiAS

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017 money 11

{usp}

BHEL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Govt of India for the year 2017-18 in New Delhi. The MoU was signed by Atul Sobti,Chairman and Managing Director, BHEL and Girish Shankar, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Ministry of Heavy Industries & PublicEnterprises. Functional Directors of BHEL and other senior officials of DHI and BHEL were present on the occasion.

P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of CivilAviation of India, on the last Thursday receivedAlain Vidalies, French Minister of State forTransport, Marine Affairs and Fisheries, who iscurrently on an official visit to India (11th to 13thApril 2017) to strengthen Indo-Frenchcooperation on transport. In the presence of thetwo ministers, a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) between Airports Authority of India (AAI)and the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC)was signed to further the active technicalcooperation programme between the twocountries. The MoU was signed AlexandreZiegler, Ambassador of France to India,representing the French side, and AK Dutta,Member (ANS) of the Airports Authority of India,representing the Indian side.

Suresh Praphakar Prabhu, Minister of Railways accompanied with his wife Uma Prabhu visited the Solo Exhibition by Farhat Jamshed Installations-17,The End of History at the Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi recently. He went around the hall, showing keen interest in each display, healso congratulated Jamshed for her imaginative work and fine sense of balance and aesthetics shown in her installations. Farhat Jamshed, one of SouthAsia's most visceral experimental artists held her Solo Exhibition Installations-17, The End of History at the Visual Arts Gallery, Indian Habitat Centre, NewDelhi from 9-11, April 2017. Manoj Sinha, Minister of communication (IC) and Minister of State for Railways visited the Exhibition on day one andappreciated the artistically creative work done by Jamshed. The Event was inaugurated by Sonal Mansingh, Padma Vibhushan, Iconic Cultural Personalityof India and Muzaffar Ali, Padma Shri, the Eminent Film Maker. Many prominent dignitaries and artists visited the exhibition over the three days.

PK Singh, Chairman, SAILdedicated 'Shilpangan', a skilldevelopment center at DSP SteelTownship to the society. Thecenter has been developed underDurgapur Steel Plant's CSRscheme for imparting skill basedtraining to the underprivilegedsection of the society. The centerhas 3 sub-centers, whichprovide training for unarmedsecurity guards and general dutyattendants. These trainings areprovided under Pradhan MantriKaushal Vikash Yojna (PMKVY)and the certificates are issued bythe National Skill DevelopmentCouncil (NSDC).

In a grand and colourful function, inauguration Ceremony of CISF Government Building & North Sector Hqrs Campusand laying of foundationstone for family accommodation at Saket, New Delhi was held at CISF Campus, Mahipalpur, New Delhi. Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh wasthe Chief Guest and inaugurated the infrastructure and facilities for officers and Force personnel of CISF Unit Government Building Security(GBS), New Delhi. On the occasion, MP, Lok Sabha, Ramesh Vidhuri, Dr AK Mittal, Chairman, NBCC, Dharmendra Kumar, IPS, ADG (AirportSector), RK Mishra, ADG (HQrs) and other Senior Officers of CISF, were present. Vote of thanks was given by RituArora, IPS, IG (Admn), CISF.

NATION PAYS HOMAGE TO DR BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR ON HIS 127TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

The President, Pranab Mukherji led the nation in paying homage to Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb, Dr BR Ambedkar on his 127th Birth

anniversary here on Friday. He paid floral tributes at the statue of Baba Saheb at Parliament House Lawns in the Parliament House

complex in the morning. The Vice President, M Hamid Ansari, the PM, Narendra Modi, the Speaker, Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan,

Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawarchand Ghelot, Ministers of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Krishan

Pal Gurjar and Vijay Sampla and leaders of various political parties paid tributes to Dr Ambedkar at the statue of Baba Saheb at

Parliament House Lawns. Thousands of people visited the Parliament House Complex since morning to pay tributes to the Bharat

Ratna Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar amidst chanting of slogan 'Baba Saheb Amar Rahe', 'Jai Bheem' and 'Jai Bharat'.

Kalpana Chawla Government Medicalcollege (KCGMC), Karnal, a 500 beddedhospital and 100 intake medical collegehas been inaugurated on Friday by theChief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal.The hospital has state of the art facilitieswith 12 operation theatres (8 Modular O.T),60 I.C.U. Beds, Special services. This isone of the prestigious projects done byHSCC (I) Ltd. During the event the Ministerwas briefed by Gyanesh Pandey, CMD, andHSCC. The event was graced by Anil Vij,Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Govtof Haryana, Karan Dev Kamboj,M.O.H.F.W., Govt. of Haryana, SardarBakhshi Singh Virk, Harvinder Kalyan,Bhagwan Das Kabirpanthi along withSurender Kshyap, Director, KCGMC andsenior officials of HSCC.

MAHABALESHWARA MS IS THE NEXT MD & CEO OF KARNATAKA BANKMahabaleshwara MS, presently the Chief General Manager of Karnataka Bank, is appointed as Managing Director

and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of the Bank. The Board of Directors of the Bank, who met today at the

Bank's Head Office at Mangaluru, Karnataka, have appointed Shri. Mahabaleshwara MS as Managing Director and

Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of the Bank for a period of three years from the date of assuming charge, as

per the approval received from Reserve Bank of India, which is in accordance with Board's earlier recommendation.

He is succeeding P Jayarama Bhat, who has since assumed charge as Part-time, Non-executive Chairman of the Bank, on Friday.

Mahabaleshwara has been 'Karnataka Bank man' for the last 32 years and has rich banking experience both at operational and

administrative levels. He has done his Masters in Agricultural Sciences (M.Sc. Agri), with specialization in Agronomy, from the

University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bangalore and he is also a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB)

and has also done Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) from St. Aloysius College, Mangalore.

PTI n BENGALURU

President Pranab Mukherjeeon Friday underscored the

need for India to be a globalpowerhouse not just in termsof economic parameters butalso 'Gross NationalHappiness'.

“If we aspire to be one ofthe leading economic powersof the world, yes, we can be,but merely in statistical terms,in terms of gross domesticproduct (GDP), in terms ofskill are not adequate,”Mukherjee said after laying thefoundation stone for theBengaluru Dr B R AmbedkarSchool of Economics here.

The President said theconcept of development haschanged now and interna-tional organisations like theWorld Bank and IMF are talk-ing about development interms of GDP as well as GrossNational Happiness (GNH).

“Along with GDP, GNH isconsidered as one of theimportant factors of develop-

ment,” Mukherjee emphasised.He expressed concern overunemployability of the youthin India, saying ‘600 millionyouth are entering the jobmarket, but their employabil-ity is not adequate’. “They areeducated, but not employable.Their employability is not upto the world standard,” hesaid.

Mukherjee observed thatskill development may notappear glamorous but is mostimportant in the Indian con-

text. Putting a premium onquality, the President said it isimportant to maintain inter-national standards in educa-tion and training to makeIndian youth employable inthe world.

“IITs have 100 per centcampus recruitments. IITiansare working in MNCs acrossthe world at different posi-tions. Even Dr BR AmbedkarSchool of Economics will notbe local but of internationalrepute,” Mukherjee stressed,

calling upon the state govern-ment to run the school withthis objective.

He expressed happinessthat the school is named afterAmbedkar, the father of theIndian Constitution, a ‘brightproduct’ from the LondonSchool of Economics.Speaking on the occasion,Karnataka Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah said the stategovernment has already allo-cated a sum of `150 croretowards setting up of theschool.

“Further, `75 crore arebeing released in the next fiveyears in a phased manner forsetting up of the proposed cor-pus. It has also been decidedto release the recurring grantof `10 crore each year for thenext five years,” he added.

Union ministers AnanthKumar and DV SadanandaGowda, state GovernorVajubhai Vala were present,along with state higher edu-cation minister BasavarajRayareddi and academicians.

India should aspire to become

global power of happiness: Prez

NEW DELHI: Insurance behe-moth LIC will soon obtainservices of retired bankers tostrengthen its lending opera-tions and ensure that NPAs arekept at the minimum. LIC hasset up a cell for its lending, NPAresolution and one time settle-ment (OTS), sources said,adding the company will soonget experts particularly bankersto this portfolio.

LIC has been into the busi-ness of insurance but theydon't have expertise on loanrisk assessment and resolu-tion, sources said. A standardoperating procedure has alsobeen worked out for repaymentthrough one-time settlementscheme, they added. At the endof March 2016, LIC had a debtportfolio of `3.79 lakh crore,bigger than the loan portfolioof most banks. Its gross nonperforming assets stood at 3.76

per cent at the end of March2016, up from 3.30 per cent inthe previous year.

Driven by sudden surge insingle premium policy salesand falling interest rates, totalnew business premium of LICrose 25.8 per cent to ̀ 1.22 lakhcrore in FY 2016-17 fromaround `97,000 crore in theprevious year. However, thestate-owned insurer witnesseddegrowth in terms of policiesduring the year under review.

Total new business premi-um, including pension andgroup business, rose to `1.22

lakh crore in 2016-17 fromaround `97,000 crore a yearago, a senior LIC official said.New business on the individualbasis zoomed 47 per cent to`37,800 crore from `25,700crore a year ago. New businesson the individual basis jumped122 per cent from the project-ed target of `31,000 crore in2016-17. Interestingly, the tar-get was the same for the previ-ous fiscal too. New business onthe individual basis at LICgrew by 47 per cent to `37,800crore for 2016-17 from `25,700crore in the previous fiscal.

NEW DELHI: World’s largestcoal miner CIL will diversifyinto coal to chemical businessand is planning to set up acoal-based methanol plant inWest Bengal.

“Coal India (CIL) intends todiversify into new 'Coal toChemical business’ domainby converting the high calorif-ic value, low ash thermal coalinto chemical," an officialsaid. To implement the new strat-

egy, premises of its existingDankuni Coal Complex inWest Bengal has been identi-fied as the location for settingup a coal to methanol com-plex by using the good qual-ity coal from Raniganj coal-f ield, the of f icia l said. However, the official further

said that the methanol plantwould be set up through coalgasification route.

“The first step to this newventure will be pre-qualifica-tion of coal gasification licen-sors who can produce Syngasof required composition forproduction of methanol util-ising the Raniganj coal,” theofficial added. PTI

New business on the individual basis jumped122% from the projected target of `31,000 crin 2016-17. Interestingly, the target was the

same for the previous fiscal too. Newbusiness on the individual basis at LIC grew

by 47% to `37,800 cr for 2016-17 from `25,700cr in the previous fiscal

NEW DDELHI: Mobile hand-set makers may get some reliefas the Government is expectedto ease bank guarantee normsfor import of components atconcessional duty rates for localmanufacturing. According tosources, the Prime Minister’sOffice convened a joint meetingwith industry and inter-minis-terial officers last week to lookinto the impediments beingfaced by mobile makers in India.

Industry players raised con-cerns over huge capital gettingblocked in bank guarantees givenas assurance to customs that theitems imported by them on con-cessional duty rates will not beretailed in the market and will beused solely for making mobilephones. “The PMO has assuredthat it has noted concerns ofmobile manufacturers on IGCR

and will take it up so that at leastthe formalities of bank guaranteeis waived for companies withgood track record,” a source whoattended the meeting told PTI.Bank guarantees of as much as`29,000 crore have been fur-nished by companies.

“The accounting period ofbank guarantees is 3 month forIGCR (Import of goods at con-cessional rate of duty for man-ufacture of excisable goods). Acompany cannot free the bankguarantee if the imported goodshave been exhausted even in 5days so the capital remains blockfor long period,” said a repre-sentative of a mobile company.When contacted, Indian CellularAssociation (ICA) NationalPresident Pankaj Mohindrooappreciated the support of PrimeMinister's office. PTI

Govt may waive bankguarantees for mobile component imports

PNS n NEW DELHI

NDMC officials led the nationin paying homage to Bharat

Ratna Baba Saheb, Dr BRAmbedkar on his 127th Birthanniversary here on Friday.Director (Technical), NMDC asChief Guest, Dr TRK Rao,Director (Commercial), NMDC,RK Satpathy, Director(Production), NMDC, SandeepTula, Director (Personnel),NMDC were the Guests ofHonour on the occasion. G SivaRama Krishna, GeneralSecretary and B HanumanthaRao, President of the NMDCSC/ST Employees WelfareAssociation along with executivemembers were also present. Atthe outset Chief Guest, Guests ofHonour and other dignitariesunveiled and garlanded newstatue of Dr BRAmbedkar and litthe lamp.

NK Nanda while addressingthe gathering appealed to bring

a change in the society by fol-lowing the principles laid downby Dr BR Ambedkar and imbibeat least one principle of BabaSaheb in the life of our childrenthis would give moral satisfactionto parents and would also enablethe children to understand theimportance of respect to elders

and the society. Dr BRAmbedkar's role is of pivotalimportance in framing IndianConstitution and upliftment ofdowntrodden people and alsoemphasised on the principles ofoneness and equality.

Dr TRK Rao, Director(Commercial) in his speech

emphasized to follow ideals andprinciples of Dr BR Ambedkarin eradication of SocialInequality, bringing in humanequality and liberation of mindsto understand humans reforms.PK Satpathy, Director(Production) emphasized on tofollow Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's prin-

ciples of humanity and fightagainst social discriminationand inequality. He also said thatmore focus should be given onwomen empowerment in thispresent society. He said that theBHIM APP (Bharat Interface forMoney) is named after Dr. BhimRao Ambedkar as a mark ofrespect by the presentGovernment.

Sandeep Tula, Director(Personnel) in his speech saidthat life of Dr. B.R. Ambedkaris a source of inspiration for allcitizens' of India. His determi-nation, dedication and think bigattitude gave new dimension toIndia and for its new genera-tions. G Siva Rama Krishna,General Secretary gave a briefabout the activities of the SC/STassociation of NMDC and itscontribution in the welfare ofthe employees. The functionwas attended by employeesalong with their family mem-bers making it a grand success.

NMDC pays floral tribute to Baba Saheb Dr BR Ambedkar

PNS n NEW DELHI

Accepting the long-pendingdemand of India’s leading

merchant navy unions -Maritime Union of India(MUI) and the National Unionof Seafarers of India (NUSI) -the Ministry of Finance hasfinally agreed to grant incometax exemption to Indian sea-farers sailing aboard foreignships outside India for morethan 182 days a year.

Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) under theFinance Ministry has issued aclarification regarding liabili-ty to income-tax in India fora non-resident seafarer receiv-ing remuneration in non-res-ident external or NRE accountmaintained with an Indianbank.

Following the decision ofthe Finance Minstry, AmarThakur, General Secretary,MUI, said, “This decision is ahuge boost for over 1.3 lakh

Indian seafarers, as tax-freeincome has always been anadded attraction for Indianmerchant navy workforce,which contributes around $40million annually to our coun-try's exchequer.”

However, NUSI GeneralSecretary Abdulgani Serangsaid, "Income tax exemption toIndian seafarers will certainlystrengthen the Centre’s“Maritime Agenda 2020' aimedat increasing the global shareof Indian seafarers to 9 per centfrom7 per cent currently”.

A judgement delivered bythe Kolkata income tax tri-bunal in August 2016, man-dated Indian merchant navyworkforce to pay taxes in India,which shattered the morale ofIndian seafarers. Both MUIand NUSI jointly challengedthe tribunal’s decision inAugust 2016 in the KolkataHigh Court through MesserDave & Padvekar Associatesand Advocates.

NEW DELHI: Digital transactionsincreased by about 23 times inMarch to nearly 64 lakh, with totalvalue of `2,425 crore, from lastNovember when demonetisationtook effect. “Volume of all digitaltransactions increased by about 23times with 63,80,000 digital trans-actions for a value of ̀ 2,425 crorein March 2017, compared to2,80,000 digital transactions worth`101 crore till November 2016,”Niti Aayog said in a statement.Aadhaar Enabled Payments haveincreased from 2.5 crore inNovember 2016 to over 5 crore inMarch 2017, it said.

After scrapping of `500 and`1,000 notes on November 8,2016, the Government hadlaunched two schemes to incen-tivise digital payments LuckyGrahak Yojana and DigiDhanVyapar Yojana on December 25.The statement also said ImmediatePayment Service (IMPS) transac-tions have also increased from 3.6crore to 6.7 crore during the same

period. In order to achieve the tar-get of 2,500 crore digital transac-tions in the current financial year,the Prime Minister todayannounced about 75 townshipsspread all over India as ‘less-cashtownships’, it said. According to thestatement, a less-cash township isone where the deployment ofpayment acceptance infrastructureis complete, all the families in thetownship are covered under train-ing programmes.

“Townships with more than80 per cent of the total number oftransactions being done throughdigital modes of payments duringthe review period are included inthis list,” it pointed out. Noting thatthe townships were selected onthe basis of third party assessmentby Price Waterhouse Coopers(PWC), the statement said that‘these townships are likely togenerate over 1.5 lakh digitaltransactions every day therebyleading to about 5.5 crore digitaltransactions in a year’. PNS

Digital transactionsup by 23 times post note ban to 64 lakh

Finance Ministry agrees

to grant tax exemption

for Indian seafarers

CIL to enter coal tochemical biz, plansWB methanol plant

PTI n COIMBATORE

Swedish auto major VolvoCars on Friday launched its

performance oriented sedanVolvo S60 Polestar at an intro-ductory price of `52.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). With itsfirst performance car in India,the company is looking for apush in the luxury segment asit targets to sell over 2,000 vehi-cles in the country this year.

The Volvo S60 Polestar is thequickest car from Volvo's stableand can accelerate from 0-100km/hr in just 4.7 second witha top speed of 250 kmh. It is pow-ered by a two-litre, twin-charged(Turbo Charged and SuperCharged) petrol engine.

Polestar, which was foundedas a motorsport team in 1996, isnow the performance brand ofVolvo Cars after its acquisition in2015. Commenting on the launch,Volvo Auto India ManagingDirector Tom von Bonsdorff toldPTI: “With the S60 Polestar, we areplugging the gap we had. Now wehave a complete range of vehiclesin the luxury segment.”He furthersaid: “We hope this will give us apush in the performance segment.”

Volvo Cars launches S60 Polestar at `52.5L

LIC to soon get bankers on boardfor managing lending operations

world 12LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

Follow Ambedkar's example to fight for social justice: UNPTI n UNITED NATIONS

Atop UN official has urgednations to follow the

example of social reformerand Dalit icon Baba SahebAmbedkar in the fight forsocial justice andequality, call-ing them to harness the powerof digital technologies forsocial and financial inclusion.

"It is fitting that we honourhis (Baba Saheb Ambedkar’slegacy of fighting against socialdiscrimination by talking todayabout how to use digital tech-nologies to promote empow-erment and inclusion for allpeople – not least, women,"Deputy Secretary-GeneralAmina Mohammed said at aspecial event organised here by

India's Permanent Mission tothe UN to mark Ambedkar's126th birth anniversary.

She said nations live in anera of rapid and momentouschange driven in large part byadvances in information andcommunications technologies,which have the power to help

us achieve all the SustainableDevelopment Goals.

In this spirit, she called onnations to harness the power ofdigital technologies for socialand financial inclusion and theadvancement of societieseverywhere. "I am sure BabaSaheb Ambedkar, who stoodfor the rights of women,minorities, and the under-privileged, would welcomethese efforts. Let us follow hisexample and fight forsocial\justice and equality byfulfilling the promise of the2030 Agenda. Let us mobilisethe best minds in the world oftechnology to invent moreways to improve people’s lives,and ensure that no one is leftbehind," she said yesterday.

Mohammed said the intro-duction of digital identity canprovide a breakthrough, citingthe example of the biometricidentity cards in India,Aadhaar. Digital identitywould help to provide betterand more inclusive access topublic services and finance,including for the poorest andmost vulnerable, she saidadding that the use of biomet-ric identity cards in India forover one billion people is a"great example". She notedthat currently, more than halfthe world's population -- some3.9 billion people lack access tothe Internet and in the LeastDeveloped Countries, thenumber is as high as 85 percent.

North Korean official blames US

Prez for region's ‘vicious cycle'

PTI n PYONGYANG

North Korea's vice foreign minister onFriday blamed President Donald

Trump for building up a "vicious cycle" oftensions on the Korean Peninsula, sayingthat his "aggressive" tweets were "makingtrouble."

In an exclusive interview with TheAssociated Press in Pyongyang, ViceMinister Han Song Ryol also saidPyongyang won't "keep its arms crossed"in the face of a pre-emptive strike by theUS. "If the US comes with reckless mili-tary maneuvers then we will confront itwith the DPRK's pre-emptive strike,"Hansaid, referring to North Korea by itsofficial name, the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea.

"We've got a powerful nuclear deter-rent already in ourhands, and we certain-ly will not keep our arms crossed in the-face of a US pre-emptive strike."Tensionsare deepening as the US has sent an air-craft carrier to waters off the peninsula andis conducting its biggest-ever joint militaryexercises with South Korea.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, recentlylaunched a ballistic missile and someexperts say it could conduct anothernuclear test at virtually anytime.

Many North Korea watchers believeNorth Korea could have a viable nuclearwarhead and a ballistic missile capable ofhitting the US mainland on Trump'swatch as president â€” within the next fewyears.

Han, however, said North Koreablames Trump and the U.S. for the risingtensions. He cited not only the US-SouthKorean wargames and the deployment ofthe aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson,but a tweet Trump posted Tuesday inwhich he said the North is "looking fortrouble."

Trump also tweeted that if China does-n't do its part to rein in Pyongyang's

nuclear ambitions, the US can handle it."Trump is always making provocationswith his aggressive words," Han said.

"So that's why. It's not the DPRK butthe US and Trump that makes trouble."

The annual military exercises haveconsistently infuriated the North, whichviews them as rehearsals for an invasion.

Washington and Seoul deny that, butreports that exercises have included"decapitation strikes" aimed at the North'sleadership have fanned Pyongyang's anger.

"Our stance toward their hostile pol-icy is strident and clear-cut," Han said."Now the Trump administration is think-

ing about several options as regards theDPRK.

Those options include such recklessoptions as headquarter decapitation andthe pre-emptive strike.

"Whatever comes from the US, we willcope with it. We are fully prepared to han-dle it." Outwardly, there are few signs ofconcern in North Korea despite the polit-ical back and forth.

Instead, the country is gearing up forits biggest holiday of the year, the 105thanniversary of the birth of the late Kim IlSung, the country's founder and leaderKim Jong Un's grandfather.

US assessing ‘military options'

Washington: TheUnited States is assessing

mil itar y opt ions inresponse to North

Korea 's weaponspro-grams, a top official con-f irmed today, whi leacknowledging anotherprovocative test was aquestion of "when" ratherthan if.

" As speculat ionmounted that Pyongyangis preparing to fire a trialnuke or missile tomor-row, a White House for-eign policy adviser saidthe United States waspoised to deal with thesecurity threat.

"Military options arealready being assessed,"the official said on con-dition of anonymity todiscuss a sensitive topic.Describing a fresh test as"possible," the WhiteHouse adviser said that"with the regime it's nota matter of if, it's when."

... as N Korea test looms

In this July 27, 2013, file photo, North Korean soldiers turn and looktowards leader Kim Jong Un as they carry packs marked with the nuclearsymbol at a parade in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea’s vice foreignminister Han Song Ryol said in an interview with the Associated Press onFriday, April 14, 2017: “We’ve got a powerful nuclear deterrent already inour hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face ofa U.S. pre-emptive strike.”

‘Nuclear test will be dangerous’

Beijing: China on Fridaywarned its ally North Koreaagainst carrying out a nucleartest, saying such a "dangerousand irresponsible" move couldlead to a breakout of conflict atany moment amid soaring ten-sions with the US. Conflict overNorth Korea could break out"at any moment", China'sForeign Minister Wang Yi said,warning there would be "nowinner" in any war as tensionssoar with the US. "There hasbeen heightened tension

between the UnitedStates, theRepublic of Korea and theDemocratic People's Republicof Korea. The precarious situationdeserves ourattention and con-cern," Wang said withoutdirectly referring to strongretaliation threatened by USPresident Donald Trump ifNorth Korea resorted tonuclear test.

"We urge all parties torefrain from inflammatory orthreatening statements and

deeds to prevent the situationon the Korean Peninsula frombecoming irreversible," Wangtoldreporters following talkswith French Foreign MinisterJean- Marc Ayrault.

Later, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang said North Koreashould not carry out nucleartest. "UNSC resolution statedclearly that DPRK (NorthKorea)should give up allnuclear and missile relatedprogrammes. Stop relevantprogrammes. It is very clear," hesaid when asked about reportsthat Pyongyang is bracing to

carry out its sixth nuclear test."It will be very dangerous

and irresponsible", he said,adding that the situation in theKorean peninsula is sensitiveand complex.

"We have been calling allrelevant parties keep calm andexercise restraint instead oftaking action that may esca-latetension," Geng said.

China's SpecialRepresentative for KoreanPeninsula Affairs Wu Dawetoday went to Pyongyang aftervisiting South Korea and Japanfor talks with the North Koreanleadership. PTI

... China warns N Korea

Turkey in final referendumpush as jihadists detainedPTI n ISTANBUL

The opposing sides inTurkey's tightly-contested

referendum on expandingPresident Rece TayyipErdogan's powers made a lastpush for votes today as thearrest of five suspected jihadistsfuelled security concerns.

Opinion polls - usuallytreated with caution in Turkey- have predicted a tight out-come on Sunday despite theconsiderable advantages of the'Yes' campaign in both airtimeand campaign resources.

The referendum will takeplace under a state of emer-gency that has been in placesince last summer's failed coupwhich has seen some 47,000arrested in the biggest crack-down in Turkey's history.

Analysts regard the refer-endum as a turning point in themodern history of the countrythat will affect not just theshape of its political system butalso its relations with the West.

If the new system is passed,it will abolish the office ofprime minister, enabling thepresident to centralise all statebureaucracy under his controland also to appoint cabinetministers.

Supporters see the newsystem as an essential mod-ernisation step for Turkey tostreamline government butopponents fear it risks granti-ng Erdogan authoritarian pow-ers. Erdogan has raised hack-

les in the West throughout thecampaign with his repeateddenunciations of the EuropeanUnion, which Turkey hassought to join for the last halfcentury.

"April 16 will be an answerto the European Union,"Erdogan said in a TV interviewlate on Thursday. He expressedconfidence that the new pres-idential system would beapproved, saying there were nolonger undecided voters. "'Yes'has gone up considerably, while'No' has gone down," he said.

A poll by the Konda groupshowed 'Yes' ahead at 51.5 percent but the Sonar group hasprojected a 'No' vote of 51.2 percent, and with other pollingcompanies producing differ-entfigures the outcome remainsuncertain.

Erdogan will on speak inKonya, the Anatolian city seen

as the heartland of conservativesupporters who have benefitedfrom his rule.The leader of theopposition Republican People'sParty (CHP) KemalKilicdaroglu has called for a'No' vote, arguing there was toomuch uncertainty over theconsequences of the new sys-tem."We will altogether write alegend of democracy (onSunday) because our questionshave been left unanswered," hetold reporters in Istanbul.

The referendum is takingplace after a bloody year of ter-ror attacks in Turkey blamedon jihadists and Kurdish mili-tants.

Adding to security con-cerns, Turkish police todayde-tained five suspected IslamicState jihadists in Istanbulaccused of planning a "sensa-tional" attack targeting the-weekend referendum.

US must accept importance ofPak's ties with China: MushPTI n WASHINGTON

Pakistan's former dictatorGeneral Pervez Musharraf

has equated the China-Pakistanrelationship with the Indo-USties and asked America toaccept this fact and adjust itsstrategic interests in the region.

Musharraf, who ruled overPakistan from 1999 to 2008,said the US must review itsrelationship with Pakistan andgive his country the impor-tance it deserves.

He said that in a changingworld, the US must adjust itsstrategic interests with those ofthe other emerging powers,which he identified as Russiaand China.

Those emerging powers,China and Russia have theirown interests in our region," hesaid in his keynote address ata conference on Pakistanorganised by the School ofAdvanced International Studiesof the Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Musharraf said that theUS needs to watch that andthendecide what is in its bestinterest. "Pakistan needs tocarefully articulate its relation-ships with China, Russia andthe United States," said the for-mer general, who overthrew ademocratically elected gov-ernment to become the dicta-tor of the country.

Responding to a question,Musharraf said Pakistan has tobalance its relationship with theUS and China. This needs to bedone bilaterally, he noted."The

US has relationship with India,as it thinks it isin its nationalinterest. So, the US has toaccept that Pakistan's relation-ship with China is in its inter-est," he said.

"On bilateral basis, we mustcarry out our relationship withthe US and China," he said inresponse to a question. "Withthe US, we had long term rela-tionship not only militarily,but also in social economic sec-tor. We cannot undo them andwe must carry on this rela-tionship," Musharraf observed.Musharraf expressed optimismabout US-Pak relationshipunder the TrumpAdministration. "I see thatPresident Donald Trump startswith a clean slate," Musharrafsaid, adding that Trump needsto understands the complexitiesof Pakistan-India relations andthe complexities ofAfghanistan, Taliban and theal-Qaeda. He also accused theUS of committing "one of thegreatest blunders" in

Afghanistan by not convertingits military victory over theTaliban and al-Qaeda post-9/11 into a political one.

"After 9/11 Taliban andAl-Qaeda were defeated inAfghanistan. This was militaryvictory. This military victorywas to be converted into apolitical one," Musharraf said.

The 73-year-old retiredarmy general said the militaryvictory over Taliban and AlQaeda post 9/11 created a vac-uumin Afghanistan for oneand half long years.

"The requirement thenwas to convert this military vic-tory into a political victory. InAfghanistan, in Kabul thereought to have been an ethni-cally balanced government,"he said, ruing that thePakhtoons who are in majori-ty in Afghanistan were notgiven a proportional say in thenew government.

"This was one of the great-est blunders, which has impacteven now," he said, addingthat this resulted in resurgenceand emergence of the Talibanand al-Qaeda. Speaking on hispersonal experiences and per-spectives on the Pakistan Army,Gen (rtd) Mahmud A Durranisaid the answer to Pakistan'sproblem is an informed polit-ical order, not the army takingover. Shahid Javed Burki, theformer World Bank vice pres-ident,rued that Pakistan hasbeen described as a distressedstateand a fragile state in thewest. "It has been called a fail-ing state.

Nigeria marks threeyears since schoolgirls'mass abductionAbuja: Nigerians on Fridaymarked three years since themass abduction of nearly 300schoolgirls by Boko Haramextremists amid anger thatgovernment efforts to negoti-ate their freedom appear tohave stalled.

Activists were expected torally in the capital, Abuja, andcommercial hub Lagos to urgePresident MuhammaduBuhari's government to domore to free the nearly 200schoolgirls who remain cap-tive. Nigeria in Octoberannounced the release of 21 ofthe Chibok schoolgirls afternegotiations with the extrem-ist group, and it said anothergroup of 83 girls would bereleased "very soon.

"No one has been freedsince then. The governmentthisweek said negotiations have"gone quite far" but facechal-lenges. It refused to give details,citing security reasons.

The failure of Nigeria'sformer government to free thegirls sparked a global BringBack Our Girls movement.The schoolgirls from Chibokvillage are among thousands ofpeople abducted by theNigeria-based Boko Haram asit continues to threaten parts ofthe northeast and has spreadinto neighboring countries.

Buhari late last yearannounced that the extremistgroup had been "crushed," butit continues to carry out dead-

ly suicide bombings, oftenstrapping them to youngwomen.

On Wednesday, Nigeriansecurity officials said they hadthwarted plans by Islamic Stategroup-linked BokoHarammembers to attack theembassies of the United Statesand Britain, along with "otherWestern interests" in the cap-ital.

Nigeria's military in thepast year has rescued thou-sandsof Boko Haram captiveswhile liberating towns and vil-lages from the group's control,but many have been detainedaspossible Boko Haram sus-pects.

Boko Haram's seven-yearIslamic uprising has killedmorethan 20,000 people anddriven 2.6 million from theirhomes, with millions facingstarvation because of the dis-ruption in markets and agri-culture.

EASTER IN BRITAIN

Actors perform during 'The Passion of Jesus' in Trafalgar Square in London on Friday. The play was a free performance depictingthe betrayal, capture, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, performed by the Wintershall players

Rescuers pluck 24

passengers from

stuck roller coaster

Baltimore (AP): An amuse-ment park roller coaster fea-turing a "cobra roll,"''sidewinder loop," and "count-less swift reversals" stalled out-side of Washington, DC, leav-ing 24 riders stuck 30 metres upin the air. Prince George'sCounty Fire/EMS spokesmanMark Brady said on his Twitteraccount that the riders came toa standstillaround 5:30 pm atSix Flags America in Largo,Maryland.

The Berwyn Heights vol-unteer fire department said ina tweet that the cars of Joker's

Jinx were 30 metres off the-ground. Helicopter video fromWJLA-TV showed six cars.TV video showed firefighters ina rescue bucket talking with thepassengers, none of whomappeared to be in distress,Brady said. Six Flags' websitedescribes the Joker's Jinx ashaving a "spaghetti bowl"design, with the roller coasterdoing "acobra roll, a sidewinderloop, a corkscrew, and count-less swift reversals." Six FlagsAmerica said in a statement:"Joker's Jinx didnot complete itsregular ride cycle, causing it tostop at a safe location on thetrack. The Prince George'sCounty FireDepartment isonsite to assist in getting theriders safely off the ride.

The safety of our guests isour highest priority and theridewill be closed for a thoroughinspection before reopen-ing."Two dozen passengersbecame stuck, some for as longas five hours, on the same ridein August 2014.

People are bad at choosing

flattering profile pictures

Melbourne (PTI): Want a newFacebook profilepicture? Let astranger do the choosing, sayscientists who found that peo-ple are not good at picking outflattering npictures of them-selves for online profiles.

In the first study to inves-tigate the process by whichpeople choose their profilepictures, researchers fromUniversity of New South Wales(UNSW) in Australia foundthat images selected bystrangers convey morefavourable first impressionsthan images people select forthemselves.

The findings appear tocontradict previous researchwhich showed that people tendto portray themselves morefavourably than others.

"Our findings suggest thatpeople make poor choiceswhen selecting flatteringimages of themselves for onlineprofile pictures, which affectsother people's perception ofthem," said David White, fromUNSW. "This effect is likely tohave a substantial impact on

online interactions, the impres-sions people form and thedecisions they base on them,including whether to employ,date, befriend or even vote forsomeone," White said.

"Previous work has shownthat people make inferencesabout an individual's characterand personality within a splitsecond of seeing a photographof their face, so our results haveclear practical implications," hesaid. "If you want to put yourbest face forward, it makessense to ask someone else tochoose your picture," he said.

To find out whether selectingone's own profile picture mighthave a positive or negativeeffect on first impressions, theresearchers asked 102 studentsto select two out of 12 photosof their own face that they weremost or least likely to use as aprofile picture in three onlinenetwork contexts: social net-works, dating sites and profes-sional networks.

Participants were thenasked to do the same for 12images of a randomly selectedstranger who had participatedin the study previously.Theresearchers found that peopletended to select images thathighlighted positive personal-ity traits in line with the con-text of the website that theimage was for.

"Our results demonstratethat people know how to selectprofile pictures that fit specif-ic networking contexts andmake positive impressions onstrangers: dating imagesappearmore attractive, and pro-fessional images appear morecompetent," said White.

world 13LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

Orlando Bloom sparks dating

rumours with Nina Dobrev

Los Angeles: Orlando Bloom and Nina Dobrev are reportedlydating after they were spotted getting cozy at a movie premiere.Dobrev, 28, and 40-year-old Bloom attended the premiere of

"The Promise"in Los Angeles,reported AceShowbiz. Theduo steppedout in style atthe event thattook place atTCL ChineseTheatre. Theywere joined bythe movie castmembers thati n c l u d e dChristian Bale,A n g e l a

Sarafyan and Charlotte Le Bon when hitting the red carpet.Therumoured new couple was pictured leaving the event and tak-ing a sweet walk together. Bloom and Dobrev's datingrumours comes just days after the British actor addressed hisbreak-up from singer Katy Perry.

Victoria Beckham trademarks

daughter Harper's name

Los Angeles: Singer-turned-designer Victoria Beckham hasregistered her five-year-old daughter Harper's name asa trademark. As per intel-lectual property of f icerecords, the 42- year-oldformer Spice Girl has reg-istered Harper's name tobeused in a range of brand-ed pro duc ts , rep or tedAceShowbiz. They include"perfume, lip gloss andeven anti-wrinkle creams,as well as books, umbrellas,music, clothing and chil-dren's dolls". The newly-registered Harper Beckhamtrademark can now also beused in the entertainmentindustr y. L ast year inDecember, Victoria hadregistered the names ofher sons Brooklyn, 18 andCr uz , 12 to t he UK’sIntellectual Property Officeand the EU-wide office back.

GLOBE

TROTTING

36 IS terrorists killed by massive bomb

PTI n WASHINGTON

The attack on a tunnel com-plex in remote eastern

Afghanistan with the largestnon-nuclear weapon ever usedin combat by the US militaryleft 36 Islamic State groupfighters dead and no civiliancasualties, Afghanistan offi-cials said on Friday.

The Ministry of Defensesaid in a statement that severalIS caves and ammunitioncaches were destroyed by thegiant bomb, which terrifiedvillagers on both sides of theAfghanistan-Pakistan borderwith its "earsplitting blast."

The US military head-quarters in Kabul said thebomb was dropped at about7:30 p.m. local time Thursdayon a tunnel complex inNangarhar province, wherethe Afghan affiliate of theIslamic State group has beenoperating. The target wasclose to the Pakistani border.

"I want a hundred timesmore bombings on thisgroup,"said Hakim Khan, 50,a resident of Achin district,the site of the blast.

Pakistani villagers livingnear the Afghan border saidthe explosion was so loudthey thought a bomb ad beendropped in their village byU.S. warplanes targeting ter-

rorists in Pakistan. "I wassleeping when we heard aloud explosion. It was an ear-splitting blast," said Shah Wali,46, who lives in thevillage ofGoor Gari, 15 kilometers fromthe border with Nangarhar. "Ijumped from my bed andcame out of my home to seewhat has gone wrong in ourvillage."

Wali said dozens of othervillagers also came out ofhomes and later he went nearthe border, where he met withother residents. He said he

could see smoke in the sky.Gen. Daulat Waziri,

spokesman for theAfghanistan Ministry ofDefense, said the death toll ofIS fighters couldrise. He saidthe bombing was necessarybecause the fortification wasextremely hard to penetrate,with tunnels as deep as 40meters.

"It was a strong positionand four times we had oper-ations (attacking the site) andit was not possible toadvance," he said, adding that

the road leading to the target"was full of mines."

The US estimates 600 to800 IS fighters are present inAfghanistan, mostly inNangarhar. The US has con-centrated heavily on combat-ting them while also support-ing Afghan forces battling theTaliban.

President Donald Trumpcalled Thursday's operation a"very, very successful mis-sion." The bomb, known offi-cially as a GBU-43B, or mas-sive ordnance air blast

weapon, unleashes 11 tons ofexplosives.

Inamullah Meyakhil,spokesman for the centralhospital in eastern Nangarharprovince, said the facility hadreceived no dead or woundedfrom the attack.

District Gov. IsmailShinwari said there is no civil-ian property near the airstrikelocation. There was no imme-diate comment from theIslamic State group or othermilitants regarding the USbomb attack.

Afghan commandos arrive at Pandola village near the site of a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday and An Afghan securitypersonnel prays in Pandola village near the site of a U.S. bombing in the Achin district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan on Friday. AP

CIA helped unravel nuclear

smuggling network: Pompeo

PTI n WASHINGTON

The CIA helped unravelthenuclear smuggling

network used by Pakistaniscientist A Q Khan, the spyagency's new director MikePompeo has said. "CIA hasbeen a crucial player in theg lob a l c amp aig nagainstnu c l e ar pro l i f e r at i on , "Pompeo said in his remarksatthe Center for Strategicand International Studies, atopAmerican think-tank.

"We've helped unravelthe nuclear smuggling net-work used by A Q Khan,assisted in exposing a covertnuclear facility inSyria, andgathered intelligence -- withthe help of ourliaison part-ners -- that persuaded Libyato abandon itsnuclear pro-gramme," he said in hisfirst major policy speechafter he became the head ofthe Central Intel l igenceAgency.

Pa k i s t an ' s nu c l e arrecord is clouded with thearchitect of its nuclearweapons programme, Khan,accused of clandestinelygiving North Korea nuclearweapons technology.

Pompeo said the CIAhas also been at the fore-

front of cutting edge tech-n o l o g i c a l i n n ov at i onthroughout the history.

" We l e d e f for t s t odevelop the U-2 aircraftand orbiting satellites --endeavours that allowed usto surveil activities in rivalstates that were otherwiseclosed to us," Pompeosaid.

The CIA has pushedback the boundaries of thepossible in ways that havebenefited both the securityand welfare of the Americanpublic, he said.

"For example, when weneeded long-lasting powersources for certain opera-tional missions, in the 1960sour scientists helped to

develop the lithium-ion bat-tery—technology thatulti-mately has powered pace-makers and cell phonesalike," he said.

More recently, the CIAinvestment in a technologyventure in 2003 led to thedevelopment of what todayis known as Google Earth,Pompeo said "My first fewmonths on the job haveonly reaffirmed for me thatthis innovative spirit is verymuch alive and well at CIA,"he said.

Describing CIA as a for-eign intelligence agency,Pompeosaid it is focused onc o l l e c t i ng i n for m at i onabout foreign governments,foreign terrorist organisa-t ions and the l ike-not\Americans."

A number of specificrules keep us centred onthat mission and protectthe privacy of our fellowAmericans.

To take just one impor-tant example, CIA is legal-ly prohibited from spyingon people through elec-tronic surveillance in theUnited States," he said.

"We're not tapping any-one's phone in Wichita,"Pompeo added.

Residents, fightersevacuated from fourbesieged Syria townsBeirut (AFP): Civilians andfighters began evacuating fourtowns besieged by rebels andgovernment forces on Fridayunder a deal brokered by oppo-sition backer Qatar and regimeally Iran.

An AFP correspondent inrebel-held Rashidin, westofAleppo city, said at least 80buses arrived in the regionfrom government-held Fuaaand Kafraya in Idlib provinceA rebel source in Idlib told AFP"the implementation of thedeal started in the morning".

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights confirmedthe beginning of the evacua-tion. Madaya resident Amjadal-Maleh, who spoke to AFP onthephone from one of the buses

leaving opposition-controlledMadaya and Zabadani ataround 6:00 am (0300 GMT),said: "We just left now, around2,200 persons in around 65buses".

More than 30,000 peopleare expected to be evacuate-dunder the deal, which beganon Wednesday with anexchange of prisoners betweenrebels and government forces.

All 16,000 residents of Fuaaand Kafraya are expected toleave, heading to government-held Aleppo, the coastalprovince of Latakia orDamascus.

Civilian residents ofMadaya andZabadani willreportedly be allowed toremain if they choose.

UK universities want new

immigration policy for

international students

London: British universitieshave called on the govern-ment for a "new immigrationpolicy" to encourage interna-tional students to choose theUK, after recent figures showeda "worrying decline" in thenumber of students from coun-tries like India.

Universities UK, the rep-resentative body for highereducation institutions,expressed concerns this weekover a "worrying decline" in thenumber of international stu-dents coming to Britain due toa perception of being unwel-come. It urged the British gov-ernment to drop internationalstudents from its annual targetof immigration cuts. "While theUK government continues tocount international studentsas long-term migrants in its tar-get to reduce migration, thereis a continued pressure toreduce their numbers, addingto the perception that they arenot welcome here," said DameJulia Goodfellow, President ofUniversitiesUK and Vice-Chancellor of the University ofKent.

"If the UK wants to remaina top destination for interna-tional students, we need a newimmigration policy thatencourages them to choosethe UK," she said.In referenceto the realities of Brexit, shesaid: "Asthe UK prepares to exitthe EU, it is more importantthan ever that we project a wel-coming message to talentedpeople from across the world."

The most recent figures oninternational students in theUK showed a worrying declinein the number of new interna-tional enrolments over recentyears, Goodfellow said. "At thesame time, competitor coun-tries such as the USA andAustralia have seen increases.Both countries open their armsto international students andclassify them as being non-per-manent or temporary residentsin their immigration systems."Her comments followed a new

ComRes poll commissionedbyUniversities UK which foundthat nearly 73 per cent of theBritish public were in favour ofinternational students comingto study in the UK.

The poll released yesterdayreveals that most members ofthe British public do not viewinternational students as immi-grants to the UK. The resultsshow that only 26 per cent ofthe Britishpublic think of inter-national students as immi-grants when thinking aboutgovernment immigration pol-icy.

Goodfellow added: "It isclear that the British publicdoes not see international stu-dents as long-term migrants,but as valuable, temporary vis-itors. They come to the UK,study for a period, then the vastmajority return home. "The UKcould be doing much betterthan this. The UK has thepotential to be one of theworld's fastest growing desti-nations for internationalstudents, building on its cur-rent status as the second mostpopular destination for inter-national students [after theUS]."

The public poll of over4,000 adults conducted lastmonth also found that 75 percent of the British publicagreed that international stu-dents should be able to work inthe UK for a fixed period oftime after they have graduated,seen as a major factor behindthe drop in international stu-dent numbers in recent years.

The latest HigherEducation Statistics Agency(HESA), UK's official agencyfor the collection, analysis anddissemination of quantitativeinformation about higher edu-cation, had revealed earlierthis year that while Indiansremain the third-largest cate-gory of students from out-side the European Union, theyregistered a decrease of 9 percent in 2015-16 over the pre-vious year.

US immigration crackdown heatsup for border crossers and techiesWashington: The Syrian gov-

ernment's suspected chemicalweapons attack on civilianslast week amounts to a "warcr ime," the US StateDepartment has said.

It also ridiculed com-ments by President Bashar al-Assad in an interview withAFP to the effect that thealleged attackwas fabricatedby the United States to justi-fy an Americanmil itar ystrike.

"Sadly, it's vintage Assad.It is an attempt by himtothrow up false flags, createconfusion," said departmentspokesman Mark Toner,alluding to what Assad said intheinterview Wednesday. Itwas Assad's first since thealleged April 4 chemicalweapons attack prompted aUS cruise missilestrike on aSyrian air base. The suspect-

ed chemical attack killed atleast 87 people, includingmany children, and images ofthe dead and ofsuffering vic-tims provoked global out-rage.

"Frankly, it's a tactic we'veseen on Russia's part as well

in the past," Toner told a dailypress br ief ing. Echoingcharges by Defense SecretaryJames Mattis and Secretary ofState Rex Tillerson, Tonersaid there can be little doubtthat the chemical weaponsattack in Idlib province wascarried out by Syrian gov-ernment forces.

"It wasn't only a violationof the laws of war but it wasa-- we believe, a war crime,"Toner said. Tillerson, visitingMoscow on Wednesday,addressed the issue of thechemical weapons attack buthe stopped short of

calling it a war crime.Ti l lerson did raise theprospect of criminal pro-ceedings at some point overthe attack, including againstAssad himself, but warnedthere were be major legalobstacles to this.

Trump hails US military for targeting ISISPTI n WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump hashailed the USmilitary's "very, very successful" strike on an

Islamic State tunnel complex in Afghanistan withthe largestnon-nuclear bomb ever used incombat which killed 36 militants and destroyedtheir mountain hideouts near the Pakistan bor-der.In another dramatic show of military forceafter the bombing of a Syrian airfield with 59Tomahawk missiles, the USmilitary yesterdaydropped a GBU-43/B, colloquially known as the"Mother Of All Bombs" or MOAB, to target tun-nels and bunkers built by Islamic State fighterin Nangarhar province.

Trump said he authorised the use of theMOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast - andcalled the mission "very, very successful". "It wasreally another successful job, we are very proudof our military. We are so proud of our military,it was another successful event," Trump toldreporters at the White House.

The MOAB, developed for use in the Iraqwar and first tested in 2003, is dropped from anaircraft on a pallet. A MOAB is a 21,600 pound,Global Positioning System (GPS)-guidedmu-nition that is US's most powerful non-nuclearbomb. Its main effect is a massive blast wave -said to stretch for 1.6 kms.

The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 air-craft, operated by the Air Force SpecialOperations Command. It's the first-ever com-bat use of the bomb, said Pentagon spokesmanAdam Stump. "Everybody knows exactly whathappened, what I do is I authorise our military.We have the greatest military in the world,they've done a job, as usual, so we have given

them total authorisation and that's what they'redoing, and frankly, that's why they've been sosuccessful lately," Trump said. The bombing inAfghanistan was the second major incidentwhen the US military in recent days have shownits combat prowess, after missile strikes on aSyrian airfield.

"If you look at what's happened over the lasteight weeks and you compare that to what's hap-pened over the last eight years, you'll seethere's a tremendous difference. So we haveincredible leaders of the military and incredi-ble military, and we are very proud of them, andthis was another very very successful mission,"Trump said.

He, however, said he does not know if thiswould send a message to North Korea. "I don'tknow if this sends a message. It doesn't makeanydifference if it does or not. North Korea is a prob-lem.The problem will be taken care of. I will saythis: I think China has really been working veryhard," he said.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicertold reporters that the tunnels and caves IS fight-ers used to "move around freely" were targetedas they make it easier for them to target US mil-itary advisers and Afghan forces in the area. "TheUnited States takes the fight against ISIS veryseriously and in order to defeat the group, wemust deny themoperational space, which wedid." Spicer said the US took "all precautions nec-essary" toprevent civilian casualties and collat-eral damage. The strike was part of efforts todefeat Islamic State's local affiliate ISIS-K inAfghanistan, the US Central Command said.Nangarhar borders Pakistan and is a hotbed ofmilitancy.

‘Chemical weapon attackin Syria was war crime'

AFP n WASHINGTON

Encouraged by a sharpdownturnin illegal border

crossers, the US administrationis ramping up a crackdown onundocumented immigrants,taking aim at both CentralAmerican labourers and Indiantech workers in Silicon Valley.

Police, prosecutors andjudges have been ordered totake a harder line against allillegal immigrants, detaininganyone without papers andvigorously prosecuting more ofthem.

Hiring standards for immi-gration agents are being easedto quickly beef up their ranks,more facilities to hold detainedimmigrants are being built,and more judges are beingadded to handle cases. And

officials have been directed toround up illegal immigrants,even those in the country fordecades, at placesthat used tobe safe - courthouses, townhalls, and citiesoffering themsanctuary. Meanwhile designsare underway for construc-tion of a wallalong the entire3,200-kilometre US-Mexicoborder that President DonaldTrump promised. It won't be afull physical barrier all theway along, but strategicallyerected wall sections inter-spersed with stretches of tech-nology-dependent surveillance.

"For those that continue toseek improper and illegal entryinto this country, be fore-warned: This is a new era. Thisis the Trump era," AttorneyGeneral Jeff Sessions told bor-der patrol agents on Tuesday.

Trump came into officepromising to expel the esti-mated 11 million people livingin the United States illegally,who he says steal Americanjobs and fuel crime. Most arefromMexico, and many ofthem have been here fordecades, raising families, own-ing homes and businesses.

Three months into theTrump administration, thenumber ofillegal border-crossers has plunged to a fourdecade low, according to theCustoms and BorderProtection agency (CBP).Apprehensions of illegal bordercrossers in March droppedto16,600, down 30 percent fromFebruary and 64 percent froma year ago. It is too early to seeany pickup in deportations,which take longer to process.

Indian-origindoctor chargedwith genitalmutilation ongirls in US

New York (PTI): A 44-year-old Indian-origin womandoctor has been arrested andcharged with performing gen-ital mutilation on girls aged 6to 8, believed to be the firstsuch in the US. JumanaNagarwala has been chargedwith performing FGM onminor girls out of a medicaloffice in Livonia, Michigan.

According to Nagarwala'sprofile in the Henry FordHealth System website, shespeaks English and Gujarati.According to the complaint,some of the minor victimsallegedly traveled inter-stateto have Nagarwala performthe procedure.The complaintalleges that Nagarwala per-formed FGM on girls whowere approximately 6 to 8 yearsold.

This is believed to be thefirst case brought under a USlaw, which criminalises FGM.Nagarwala, who is an emer-gency room physician, wasarrested and was scheduled toappear in federal court iDetroit.

The number of girls under18 at risk for FGM in the UShas quadrupled since 1997.The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention esti-mates 513,000 women andgirls are at risk of FGM in theUS. Congress passed a law in1996 making it illegal toper-form genital mutilation or cut-ting in the US on anyone underthan 18. FGM is punishable byup to five years in prison,however, it is not a crime in 26US states, includingn Michigan.

"…despite her oath to carefor her patients, Nagarwala isalleged to have performed hor-rifying acts of brutality on themost vulnerable victims,"Acting Assistant AttorneyGeneral Kenneth Blanco ofthe Justice Department'sCriminal Division said in astatement on Thursday.

Gurdwara in UAE enters Guinnessbook for ‘marathon breakfast'Dubai (PTI): A gurdwara in Dubai has founda placein the Guinness book of world recordsby serving free breakfast to hundreds of peoplefrom over 100 countries in an hour-long event.The Gurunanak Darbar gurdwara served con-tinentalbreakfast titled 'Breakfast for Diversity'to 600 people from 101 countries, the maximumnumber of people from diversenationalities,entering the Guinness World Record.

The people enjoyed the hour-long breakfastwearingtraditional outfits on the premises of thegurdwara in Jebel Ali area yesterday, KhaleejTimes reported. The chief guest at the marathonbreakfast even was Indian Ambassador to theUAE Navdeep Singh Suri. The officials from theGuinness Book of World Recordsconfirmed thatthe gurdwara broke the previous record of55nationalities having a continental breakfast,

organised by Nutella at the Milan Expo in Italyin September 2015. Entry for the breakfast eventwas through priorregistration and includedschoolchildren, diplomats, government officialsamong others. The gurdwara, which is knownfor serving free meals to all visitors through itscommunity kitchen, caters to over 50,000 Sikhdevotees in the UAE. "Sikhism has alwaysembraced diversity as it has beenpart of our faithand belief, that we are all human beings to betreated with respect.

The gurdwara has been spearheading char-ity and volunteer work not only for the Indiancommunity but for the entire UAE communi-ty as well," said Surender Kandhari, chairmanof the gurdwara. The event was aimed at pro-moting the idea of peace, tolerance and com-munal harmony.

sport 14LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

SHARAPOVA SLAMS ITF LONDON: Maria Sharapova hit out at tennisauthorities on Friday for failing to warn herthat a drug she had been taken hadbecome a banned substance. Sharapova, afive-times Grand Slam champion, had aninitial two-year suspension by theInternational Tennis Federation (ITF)reduced to 15 months after she tested pos-itive at the 2016 Australian Open for mel-donium. This was a medication theRussian had been taking when it was with-in the rules but which was later reclassifiedas a prohibited drug. "Why didn't someonecome up to me and have a private conver-sation, just an official to an athlete, whichwould have taken care of the confidentialityproblem they talked about later?"Sharapova told The Times. However, shedid accept she had become "complacent",saying she was responsible for failing thedrug test. "Ultimately the fault was mine,"she added. "I had been getting clearance oneverything I was taking for seven years andI became complacent."

SEBASTIAN COE TO VISIT INDIANEW DELHI: Distance running legend andInternational Association of AthleticsFederation (IAAF) chief Sebastian Coe willvisit India during the 22nd Asian AthleticsChampionships to be held in Bhubaneswarfrom July 6-9. Coe has accepted an invita-tion extended by Athletics Federation ofIndia President Adille Sumariwalla to visitthe country. Sumariwalla, who was inLondon to attend the 209th IAAF CouncilMeeting held on April 12-13, said that Coehas accepted his invitation and it will be anhonour for the AFI to host the doubleOlympic gold medallist Briton for the sec-ond time. Coe, who won a gold each in1500m at 1980 Moscow Olympics and1984 Los Angeles Games, earlier visitedIndia in October 2015. "I spoke to IAAFPresident on the sidelines of IAAF CouncilMeeting and informed him that AsianAthletics Championships 2017 will be heldin Bhubaneshwar in July. I requested himto be our guest and attend theChampionships," Sumariwalla said.

ADITI MAKES CUT AT LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIPS KAPOLEI (US): Aditi Ashok made her thirdsuccessive cut on the LPGA with a secondstraight one-under 71 that placed her tied-40th after two rounds of the LOTTEChampionship here. A 71-minute rain delaymeant a second straight day with weatherinterruption and it also lead to the secondround not being completed. But the familiarnames were on top, as In-Kyung Kim andAriya Jutanugarn finished their secondrounds and were tied for the lead at 9-under. Su-Yeon Jang, who finished fifthhere a year ago, was also at 9-under. Shewas through 16 holes when play was sus-pended for the day. Aditi played steady golfwith a birdie on 18th, after starting from thetenth. She added a second birdie on fifth,but a late bogey on eighth pushed her backslightly. She was two-under 142 and tied-40th. Jutanugarn, who has two runner-upfinishes in 2017, was looking for her firstvictory of the season. The 2016 Race to theCME Globe winner fired a bogey-free 66Thursday, including three-straight birdieson No's 16, 17, and 18. Agencies

S I N G L E S

AP n GENEVA

On a volatile night in Lyon, fight-ing French and Turkish fansdelayed a Europa League quar-

terfinal kickoff by 45 minutes onThursday.

Hundreds of Lyon fans sought safe-ty on the field when the disorder flaredabout 20 minutes before the scheduledkickoff in a stadium that will host thefinal next season.

Trouble was concentrated in a sectionbehind one goal housing Besiktas fans,and followed clashes between rival groupson the streets.

On the field, Lyon trailed until the84th minute before scoring twice — thesecond from a bad goalkeeping error —to seize an unlikely 2-1 victory.

The return match is next Thursdayin Istanbul which has a reputation asamong the most hostile cities in Europefor visiting fans.

Elsewhere, Manchester United stayedon course to complete its full set ofEuropean trophies by drawing atAnderlecht 1-1 in their first-leg game.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored in thefirst half and the Belgian side levelled inthe 86th to add intrigue to the returnmatch at Old Trafford next Thursday.

LYON 2-1 BESIKTASWhen situation was under control,

the match finally started. After a 9:50 pm(1950 GMT) kickoff in Lyon, Besiktas ledat halftime through Ryan Babel's low shotin the 15th minute.

Lyon waited until late to score twicein two minutes.

In the 83rd, Matthieu Valbuena's freekick found Corentin Tolisso to level thematch.

A minute later, Besiktas goalkeeperFabri gifted Lyon a winner when he tooka backpass close to goal and tried to trickhis way past the onrushing Jeremy Morel.

The defender was left with an emptynet to score in.

Both clubs will be fined by UEFA,which increased security measures at allChampions League and Europa Leaguematches this week after BorussiaDortmund's team bus was targeted by abomb attack on Tuesday.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulaswas among the officials on the pitch try-ing to restore calm.

Besiktas likely faces the heavier sanc-tions from UEFA, which can close sec-tions of the Turkish champion's stadiumat the second-leg game.

MAN UNITED 1-1 ANDERLECHTUnited coach Jose Mourino was

unhappy his team lapsed into a season-long failing — drawing games it shouldhave won.

"If I were one of my defenders Iwould be very disappointed becausethey had serious work and the people

who had to kill the game didn't,"Mourinho said.

Still, United will be favored toadvance at Old Trafford next week aftercontrolling much of the game in Brussels.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic linked in asweeping move to give United the lead.His pass to the right wing found AntonioValencia for a cross that was met byMarcus Rashford's volleyed shot.

Anderlecht goalkeeper MartinezRubin dived right to push the ball spin-ning away toward the byline and, froma tight angle, Mkhitaryan hit a rising shotinto the net.

Mkhitaryan has scored in fourstraight away games in the EuropaLeague, which shapes as United's bestroute back to the Champions League ifit can reach and win the Final inStockholm on May 24.

Anderlecht made the second legtrickier in the 86th.

Leander Dendoncker ran clear of twoUnited defenders to power a header fromnear the penalty spot past goalkeeperSergio Romero.

AJAX 2-0 SCHALKE Ajax, the 1992 champion, could have

taken a more decisive lead to Germanynext week.

Davy Klaassen's 23rd-minute penal-ty and shot in the 52nd from JustinKluivert's cross were a poor reward fortheir dominance at Amsterdam Arena.

Ajax brought 10 saves from Schalke'keeper Ralf Faehrmann and twice weredenied by the goal frame.

CELTA VIGO 3-2 GENK Seeking to keep the trophy in Spain

for a fourth straight year, and sixth timesince 2010, Celta Vigo found a resilientopponent in Belgium champion Genk.

After trailing inside 10 minutes to aJean-Paul Boetius goal, Celta seized thelead eight minutes later and was 3-1 upat halftime. Pione Sisto, Iago Aspas andJohn Guidetti got the goals.

But Genk got a valuable secondaway goal in the 67th from substituteThomas Buffel. Genk, playing its 17thgame in the competition it began in thesecond qualifying round in July, isunbeaten at home so far.

AP n SAKHIR

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettelposted the fastest time in the

first practice session at theBahrain Grand Prix, whileFormula One rival LewisHamilton saved his pace forFriday's second practice anddid not push for a leading time.

In roasting hot tempera-tures, Vettel clocked 1 minute,32.697 seconds, putting him.400 quicker than DanielRicciardo and .869 ahead of hisRed Bull teammate MaxVerstappen. Hamilton was near-ly two seconds behind in 10th,with his Mercedes teammateValtteri Bottas 14th.

Hamilton and Vettel arelevel on 43 points in the cham-

pionship race with one wineach. Vettel won the season-opening Australian GP andHamilton, who has securedboth pole positions, won inChina last weekend.

When drivers took to theircars at 2 p.m. local time (1100GMT), the track temperaturewas 46 degrees Celsius (115Fahrenheit).

However, temperatures willbe considerably lower forSunday's race, which starts in theevening and finishes underfloodlights. After 30 minutes ofpractice, Carlos Sainz Jr. — sonof the former rally world cham-pion Carlos Sainz — briefly wentquickest for Toro Rosso on softtires.

Finnish driver Kimi

Raikkonen's session ended earlyafter his Ferrari sustained enginedamage before he could evencomplete a timed lap.

He pulled up on the side ofthe track, climbed out with hishelmet still on and started walk-ing back to the paddock despitethe intense desert heat.Raikkonen, whose nickname is"Iceman," eventually hitched alift the rest of the way on a scoot-er. Meanwhile, his Ferrari waslifted off the track by a crane,with the team saying the prob-lem was overheating in theturbo area.

When practice resumed,Hamilton and Bottas were at thetop of the leaderboard on softtires, but then dropped rightdown as Vettel took command.

PTI n SINGAPORE

Olympic silver medallist P VSindhu suffered a crushing

quarterfinal loss to arch-rivalCarolina Marin but B SaiPraneeth and K Srikanthadvanced to the semifinals of theSingapore Open Super Serieshere on Friday.

Sindhu, who had reached toa career-best world number 2ranking after winning the IndiaOpen by beating Marin in NewDelhi, went down 11-21, 15-21 ina lopsided quarterfinal match inthe women's singles event.

Praneeth, however, battledfor an hour and 11 minutes to ekeout a 15-21, 21-14, 21-19 winover eighth-seeded TanongsakSaensomboonsuk of Thailand inthe men's singles quarterfinals.The Syed Modi Grand PrixGold finalist Indian will faceKorea's Lee Dong Keun in thesemifinals.

Srikanth, who is on a come-back trail after recovering from

an injur y, notched up adominating 21-14, 21-16 winover All England Championshiprunner-up Shi Yuqi of China toset up a semifinal clash withAnthony Sinisuka Ginting ofIndonesia, who had beatenSourabh Verma early in the tour-nament.

In the mixed doubles com-petition, B Sumeeth Reddy andAshwini Ponnappa lost 11-21 8-21 to the third-seeded Chineseduo of Lu Kai and HuangYaqiong.

It was a rare bad day inoffice for Sindhu as she wascompletely outwitted by Marin,who showed tremendous agilityand pounced on every opportu-nity to emerge victorious.

Sindhu, who had droppeddown to world number 5 due toher first round exit at theMalaysia Open last week, neverlooked the player who had out-smarted Marin not too long backin New Delhi. The Indian justcould not match up to the pace

of Marin.The opening game started

aggressively with Marin beingquicker off the blocks in fast-paced rallies. Marin opened up a2-0 lead early on and then madeSindhu run across the court withher angled strokes.

Sindhu, on the other hand,miscued her shots even asMarin sealed an 11-4 advantagewith a smash on the Indian'sbackhand.

The Spaniard continued inthe same vein yelling her heartout at every point won and didnot allow Sindhu to gather her-self. Marin was up 16-4 in notime.

Sindhu picked up a fewpoints to make it 11-18 but a widehit helped Marin close thegame in 14 minutes with a bodysmash.

The second game was nodifferent and Sindhu continued tofind the going tough against aconsistently aggressive Marin.Sindhu trailed 5-11 at the break.

It was an on-rushing tapfrom near the net that helpedMarin grab the advantage at theinterval. Even after the breather,Marin did not take her foot offthe pedal and moved to a 19-11lead.

Sindhu tried a late comebackbut it was too little too late asMarin grabbed the match pointwith a body smash.

Sindhu then handed over thematch to the Spaniard with a ser-vice fault, summing up an unusu-ally bad day for her.

Srikanth, who had exited inthe first round at India Open,took control of the opening gameby breaking off from 7-7. Hemoved to a 15-9 lead and thenreeled off four points at 17-14 tograb the first game.

In the second game, Srikanthhad to toil harder as he foughtback from 6-10 deficit to grab a11-10 advantage at the interval.The duo fought till 15-15 beforethe Indian marched ahead to sealthe semifinal spot.

AP n LONDON

With Arsenal in danger of failing to qual-ify for the Champions League for the

first time in 21 years, manager ArseneWenger says his team faces a "massive" chal-lenge to finish in the top four of the PremierLeague.

"We might get there, we might not getthere, but the only thing to get there is tobelieve we can do it and that's what we haveto focus on," Wenger said Friday. "It's not thefear to fail, it's the desire to make it and that'sthe only chance we have to make it."

Wenger conceded the mood in theArsenal camp had "not been very enjoyable"following the 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace onMonday, its third league loss in the last fivegames. For Wenger, "it is not acceptable (thatwe wanted it less). That's what I said straightafter the game. We were beaten, and you haveto face reality and respond," the Frenchmanadded. He added that: "To play with restric-tion and a little bit of a handbrake on does-n't help the performance."

AFP n BERLIN

Borussia Dortmund face the dif-ficult challenge of recovering

from Tuesday's frightening bombattack on their team bus as they pre-pare to host Eintracht Frankfurt inthe Bundesliga this weekend.

Players and staff alike werebadly shaken after their team coachwas rocked by three explosions onthe way to Signal Iduna Park aheadof their Champions League tieagainst Monaco.

Defender Marc Bartra under-went emergency surgery on a frac-tured wrist and to remove glass thatbecame planted in his arm after theblast shattered windows on theDortmund bus.

His team-mates also felt the psy-chological effects, losing 3-2 toMonaco after their quarter-final firstleg was pushed back to Wednesday.

Many in the Dortmund squadsaid they had not wanted to play,while manager Thomas Tuchelrailed at the decision to reschedulethe match less than 24 hours afterthe planned kick-off.

"Unless you experienced it, youcan't understand how bad it was forus," said defender SokratisPapastathopoulos.

"I am just happy to be alive, it

was the worst day of my life," headded, referring to the night of theattack.

Tuchel accused UEFA of treat-ing Dortmund as if only a "beer can"had been thrown at their bus.

But European football's gov-erning body rejected the claim,insisting that both clubs had agreedto play on Wednesday.

German police are still huntingthe culprits and an officer was alsohurt in the blast.

Tuchel is sure to rotate hisfourth-placed squad to try to helpgive those worst affected by theattack time to recover.

FAN DISORDER MARS THRILLING NIGHT

Lyon-Besiktas game delayed after fans stormed onto the pitch; Anderlecht deny United victory

BOTH CLUBS WILL BEFINED BY UEFA, WHICHINCREASED SECURITYMEASURES AT ALLCHAMPIONS LEAGUEAND EUROPA LEAGUEMATCHES THIS WEEK

Rattled Dortmund

seek solace after blast

MASSIVE CHALLENGE TO

REACH TOP 4: WENGER

Vettel fastest in 1st session

Sindhu loses to Marin; Praneeth, Srikanth in S/F

Above: A fan climbs the goal as supporters invade the pitch a few minutes before Lyon and Besiktas match on Thursday night; BELOW: Anderlecht’s Leander Dendoncker scores the equaliser against Manchester United AP

INTER-OFFICE TOURNEYInter-House Cricket Tournament will begin at NER Stadium from

April 20. The tournament is open for all the government or privateoffices. Interested teams may contcat on 9936147084.

YOGA CHAMPIONSHIPExcellia School is organising the UP State Zonal Yogasan Sports

Championship at its premisis from April 15 to 17. Teams from Lucknow,Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Rai Bareli, Sitapur and Unnao will take partin the championship.

2/11GR BLANK APS 2/11GR blanked APS 3-0 in a league match of the 1st Kishan Lal

Memorial Football tournament at La Martiniere ground on Friday.Telango scored a brace while Samim also chipped in a goal.

NORTH ZONE WINNorth Zone defeated South Zone by six wickets in aleague match

of the 9th SIDBI Inter-Zonal Cricket Tournament at Microlit groundon Friday. In another match, West Zone beat Central Zone by 5o runs.BRIEF SCORES:WZ: 144 (Chaitanya 44, Pranav 41; Sachin 23/2, Vikrant 14/2, Ashutosh28/2) CZ: 94 (Raman 35, Neeraj 19/6)

MAC BEAT UCAMulti Activity beat Unity Cricket Academy in a league match of

Under-14 Yorker Cricket Trophy at Christian College ground on Friday.BRIEF SCORES:Unity: 149 (Akbar Raza 50, Md Razi 32; Sparsh 18/4) MAC: 150 (Spash42, Abhinav 37; Kazmi 26/3, Wazid 24/2)

LOCAL EVENTS

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017 15

At this juncture a bit of experi-mentation can be done. Wewill soon sort out our XI. Inabout 7-8 matches we will

know our XI— Delhi Daredevils bowler

Amit Mishra

4s

6s 168

boundarymeter

337

Q U O T E U N Q U O T E

T H E M A T C H A F T E R

COMEBACKT O D A Y I N A C T I O N

PTI n KOLKATA

Buoyant Kolkata Knight Riders will look to continue theirwinning momentum when they face defending cham-

pions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier Leaguehere on Saturday.

It will be a battle between two top bowling sides of theIPL and Kolkata will hope to avenge their defeat in theEliminator round last season. After a win and a loss, thetwo-time former champions began their campaign at homewith an eight-wicket thrashing of Kings XI Punjab with21 balls to spare last night.

Their 11th successive run-chase at Eden Gardens wasmade possible by anoth-er Gautam Gambhir mas-terstroke in letting SunilNarine open the inningsas the duo killed theirchase with their best everPowerplay display of 76runs. KKR's spirited runwas halted by MumbaiIndians in their second match but last night's victory withNarine shining with the bat will boost the team which isstruggling to find Lynn's immediate replacement.

One of the reasons for KKR's consistency has been theirskipper Gambhir's form with the bat. He notched up arecord- equalling 33rd IPL fifty and would look to con-tinue his good form.

With SRH also boasting a superb pace-cum-spin attackin Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan, who lead thetally with 13 wickets from three matches, it promises tobe a nice contest between bat and ball. Purple Cap hold-er Bhuvneshwar has been outstanding at the death and heand veteran Ashish Nehra are two key Indians of their paceattack that also features Mustafizur Rahman who playeda key role in their 2016 title-winning journey.

KARTHIK RAMAN n NEW DELHI

On the back of a thumping victory against Rising PuneSupergiants, Delhi Daredevils will be eager to build

on that momentum when they face Kings XI Punjab in theirmaiden home match here on Saturday.

Led by the ever-reliable Amit Mishra — second high-est wicket-taker in IPL — in bowling, Delhi will be keento continue their good work with the ball, following twoimpressive bowling performances.

However, batting seemed to be their biggest worry atthe start of the tournament after two most experienced bats-men in Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy withdrawal fromthe tournament. However, Delhi seemed to have found away to deal with those blows. After failing to chase downa mediocre 158 against Royal Challenger Bangalore in theopener, Delhi got their act together against Pune to scorea massive 205, thanks to a brilliant 105 by Sanju Samsonand a late blitz by Chris Morris (38 off 9 balls). A disci-plined bowling effort saw Daredevils bowl out Supergiantsfor a mere 108 runs, thereby winning the match by 97 runs.

Due to de Kock and Duminy's absence, Delhi wereforced to rely on local talents more in this edition of IPL.That seems to work so far. Rishabh Pant has been a con-sistent performer, coming up with scores of 57 and 31.

Samson will be alsobrimming with confi-dence following hismaiden T20 hundred.

Opener SamBillings, however, hasfailed to convert his gotgood starts into bigscores. The Englishopener will be hoping fora good show in front of the home crowd.

The bowling, however, has been the side's biggest pos-itive so far. Amit Mishra will definitely be their go-to man.The 34-year-old leg spinner is the second highest wickettaker in IPL with 127 wickets from 114 games. Mishra isalso the first bowler to take three hat-tricks in IPL histo-ry. He was particularly impressive in the last match, pick-ing up three wickets. Vastly familiar with the Kotla wick-et, he will spearhead Delhi's attack on Saturday.

Skipper Zaheer Khan was equally good in the previ-ous match, taking three wickets. Besides, Chris Morris' valu-able experience will come in handy for them. Moreover,they have one of the best bowling talents in the world inPat Cummins.

Kings XI, on the other hand, had a reality check in thelast outing after starting the tournament with two straightvictories. Follwing a massive 8-wicket defeat against KolkataKnight Riders, Punjab will be eager to put behind the dis-appointment when they face Delhi.

They have an explosive batting unit. Led by their hard-hitting skipper Glenn Maxwell, Punjab have big-hitters inthe form of David Miller, Eoin Morgan, Shaun Marsh,Hashim Amla, Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha.

However, bowling seems to be their main concern.Barring Mohit Sharma and the newly recruited IshantSharma, they do not have many top experienced bowlersin their side. The likes of Axar Patel, Varun Aaron andSandeep Sharma need to step up a level to restrict the oppo-sition from scoring big.

PTI n BENGALURU

Kieron Pollard scripted MumbaiIndian's sensational four-wicketwin over Royal Challengers

Bangalore with a blistering 70-runknock which overshadowed SamuelBadree's hat-trick in an IPL game hereon Friday.

Chasing a 143-run target, Mumbailooked down and out with Badree's hat-trick that reducing the visitors to sevenfor four in the third over. It was first hat-trick of IPL-10.

It soon became 33 for five but thebig-hitting West Indian and KrunalPandya (37 not out) stitched a match-winning 93-run partnership to stage adramatic turnaround.

Mumbai went into the inningsbreak having the upper hand after lim-iting RCB to 142 for five despite ViratKohli striking a classy 62 off 47 balls inhis first competitive outing in nearly amonth.

Mumbai, with the batting they pos-sess, were expected to chase the 143-runtarget comfortably on a batting friend-ly pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

However, Badree, playing his firstmatch of the tournament, brokeMumbai's back by removing ParthivPatel, Mitchell McClenaghan and RohitSharma in successive balls to have the vis-itors reeling at seven for four in the thirdover.

It was a remarkable effort by theWest Indian, considering he picked allthose three wickets in the Powerplay. Hedismissed Patel and Rohit with a googly,the left-hander handing a simple catchto Gayle at short extra cover while anoth-er went through Rohit's defence, send-ing the packed crowd into a frenzy.

The spinner had the luck on his sidetoo as he dismissed McClenaghan off alow full-toss. He ended his spell with awicket, sending back the in-form NitishRana to leave Mumbai at 33 for five ineight overs. Badreee returned incredible

figures of 4-1-9-4.What followed was sensible batting

from both Pollard and Krunal. They kepttheir team in the hunt with an oddboundary but did not take too manyrisks.

The game tilted hugely in the favourof Mumbai in the 16th over whenPollard pummelled Pawan Negi for twohuge sixes, reducing the target to 33 off24 balls.

Pollard departed after smashingfour sixes and three fours in total, moreimportantly doing the job when his team

needed it most.Hardik Pandya ended the game in

emphatic fashion, a six off Tymal Millsover long on.

Earlier, RCB failed to capitalise onthe good work done by Kohli, manag-ing just 31 runs off the last five overs andlost four wickets.

Kohli, out of action for almost amonth with a shoulder injury he sufferedduring the third Test against Australia,got into the groove in no time.

After mistiming a short ball offHarbhajan Singh for a single in the sec-

ond over of the innings, Kohli found hisominous touch.

All this while his opening partnerChris Gayle (22 off 27) was not unableto unleash the big hits he is known for.Though the West Indian did manage tohit a six off Harbhajan, he was far fromhis best. However, RCB lost their wayafter his dismissal in the 16th over, strug-gling to 127 for five from 110 for one ina space of 17 balls.

PTI n KOLKATA

Kings XI Punjab pacer IshantSharma said they were sur-

prised to see Sunil Narine open theinnings and set up the eight-wicketwin for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPLThursday night.

"We were quite surprised. Wedid not know how he would bat. Wewere thinking about Robin Uthappa.When you see Narine, you did notknow what's going to happen,"Sharma said at the post-match newsconference.

Chasing a tricky 171, KKR,who were missing opener ChrisLynn, gave the chance to 'mysteryspinner' Narine atop the order andthe Trinidadian blasted a whirlwind18-ball 37 as KKR posted their high-est Powerplay score of 76.

KXIP got the hint during theinnings break when Narine was seenwith pads at the dug-out.

"We could make out seeinghim in the dug-out. Maxi (Maxwell)told us that his go-to shot was theslog over the midwicket. So if wekeep hitting the back of length on to

his body. It's very difficult as he's abowler not a batsman," Sharmasaid.

Sharma further said there was alot of dew but added they were help-less with Narine and Gambhir set-ting up the chase brilliantly.

"With dew the ball was comingnicely on to bat. But if you give away76 runs in six overs, I don't think youcan win even if you scored 200," hesaid. Dew was affecting too much.The spinners could not grip the balland it was skidding nicely on to thebat. I think it was very difficult, inthis format you need to have varia-tions.”

PTI n KOLKATA

Explosive Australia opener DavidWarner says he remains good friends

with Indian cricketers despite a bitterlyfought Test series which India won 2-1 toclinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

During the recent spiteful Australia'stour of India, home team skipper ViratKohli might have said that he was no morefriends with the Australian cricketers afterbeing repeatedly targeted on and off thefield, but Warner feels at the end of theday a cricketer always wants to play thegame in the right spirit.

"We always gel very well. It's a differ-ent feeling when you put both the teamson the field. Our ultimate goal is to go outthere and win for the country and we willdo anything to try and beat each other,"said Warner, who is now rubbing shoul-ders with Indian cricketers in the ongo-ing Indian Premier League.

"There were antics on and off the fieldin the Test series but we are also goodfriends. We enjoy laugh and that bringseveryone together in international crick-et. We have to keep the game in a nice fairspirit to make sure that we have grown thegame of cricket. That's the ultimate goal

for us as athletes, to make sure cricket isthe number one sport in the world,"Warner said while donating his bat andgloves to the Fanattic Sports Museum atEcospace in New Town here on Friday.

The onfield controversies, notwith-standing, Warner said the Test series wasa "fantastic" exhibition of five-day game.

"It was a fantastic series for cricket and

for fans in general with a lot of edge of theseats moment. A lot of stuff happeningboth on and off the field. We hoped every-one enjoyed the series," he said. "It's dis-appointing not to have drawn the seriesor won it. But for us there was a lot of pos-itives out of the way. We have proven thatwe can play in these conditions."

‘T20 HAS MADE PLAYERS VERSATILE’The game of cricket has evolved

with the advent of Twenty20 format andmost players are now capable of playingmany roles, Sunrisers Hyderabad headcoach Tom Moody observed on Friday.

"In Twenty cricket you have to be alertand aware that anything can be possible,whether it's spinner open the bowling orbatting. Most cricketers are pretty adapt-able and versatile now," Moody said ofSunil Narine's 18-ball 37 while openingthe batting that set up KKR's eight-wick-et win over KXIP on Thursday. "As a sideneed to be prepared for the unexpected.One of the key tactics is try to catch youropponent by surprise. Even if you steal anover from the game with bat or ball it givesyou a big advantage. KKR felt good reasonto go with the change at top of the ordergiven the loss of Chris Lynn."

PTI n RAJKOT

Debutant Andrew Tye registeredthe second hat-trick of the day to

enable Gujarat Lions beat RisingPune Supergiant by seven wickets inan Indian Premier League match, hereon Friday.

Right-arm pacer Tye, playing hisfirst IPL match, returned with impres-sive figures of 5 for 17 from his fourovers to keep Supergiant undercheck,especially after a blazing start by open-er Rahul Tripathi (33 off 17) and skip-per Steven Smith (43 off 28).

Tye's was the second hat-trick ofthe day in the history of IPL afterRoyal Challengers Bangalore's SamuelBadree (4/9) achieved the feat earli-er in the day against Mumbai Indiansin a losing cause.

Chasing 171, Lions’ openersDwayne Smith (47) and BrendonMcCullum (49) added 94 runs in 8.5overs to put the strong foundation oftheir team’s maiden win of IPL 10.

Electing to bowl, Gujarat Lionsgot off to a prefect start as veteranPraveen Kumar (1/51) removed dan-gerous Ajinkya Rahane for a duckwith the third ball of the innings.

The credit for the dismissalshould go to Gujarat Lions skipperSuresh Raina who pulled off a one-handed blinder at the first slip froma good length delivery that came inafter pithing and cramped the bats-man for room only to induce an out-side edge.

Therefater, Supergiant skipperSmith and Tripathi took the attack tothe opposition and stitched quick 63-run partnership off just 32 balls totake Gujarat forward.

Tripathi smacked Praveen fortwo consecutive sixes and a four andthen Smith hit the bowler two con-secutive boundaries to pick up 25 runsfrom the fifth over.

But Tye put the brakes on thescoring with a slower delivery byremoving the dangerous-looking

Tripathi in his first over as the bats-man went for another huge shot onlyto lift the ball as far as mid-off intothe safe hands of Aaron Finch.

Smith was the next to departwhen he mistimed a Dwayne Smithdelivery to Finch at long-on with theSupergiant scoreboard reading 89for two in 9.2 overs.

Tye once again came to the partywhen he went through the defence of

Ban Stokes in the 13th over.Under-fire Mahendra Singh

Dhoni's (5) woeful run in the tour-nament continues as he lasted a justeight deliveries, caught in plumb infront of the wicket by Ravindra Jadeja(1/40).

Manoj Tiwary (31) and AnkitSharma (25) then added valuable 47runs for the sixth wicket to pushSupergiant's forward.

But Tye left his best for the lastover of the innings and dismissedAnkit, Tiwary and Shardul Thakurwith the first three balls to haltSupergiant's surge.

Tye was at his effective as hedeceived the batsmen, who went forbig shots, with best with his slowerballs that includes his famous knuck-le delivery.

Tye was unlucky not to get hissixth wicket of the day in the form ofRahul Chahar as Jadeja dropped asimple chance in the final delivery ofthe innings.

POLLARD SPOILS KOHLI’S RETURN

Struggling at 33/5, Kieron takes Mumbai home with 47-ball 70; Virat returns with classy fifty

expertopinion

For me this was the first goodbowling performance by MumbaiIndians in this edition. The bowlersdid a good job to restrict RCB to amodest score. But then cricketshowed its Jalwa with Mumbai losingfive quick wickets due to Badree’sphenomenal bowling. But the gamebelonged to Pollard. He took thematch, with help from K Pandya, awayfrom RCB. It was cricket at its best.

SLEDGEHAMMER

PACE FOUNDATION

PRADEEPMOHANTYPRESIDENTSLEDGEHAMMER

PACE FOUNDATION

Hat-trick hero Tye roars for Lions

High-flying KKR facedefending champions

Delhi eye momentum

Live on Sony Six

KOLKATA

KKR vs GL

HEADTO

HEADM 9

KKR 6

GL 3SATURDAY | 4:00 PM

Live on Sony Six

NEW DELHI

DD vs KXIP

HEADTO

HEADM 18

DD 8

KXIP 10SATURDAY | 8:00 PM

Narine surprised us: Ishant

FULLTIME

‘We're good friends with Indian players’

12SAMUEL BADREEBECAME THE 12THBOWLER TO CLAIM HAT

TRICK IN INDIAN PREMIERLEAGUE. THE LEG BREAKBOWLER FROM TRINIDAD GOTTHE HAT-TRICK WHILE PLAYINGAGAINST MUMBAI INDIANS

FAISEL FEATURES

S T A T P I C K

David Warner shakes hand with B Thampy of GL IPL

Tye's was thesecond hat-trick of

the day in thehistory of IPL after

RCB's SamuelBadree (4/9)

achieved the featearlier in the day

against Mumbai in alosing cause

I was 21 years old and pre-sumably the best doctor ofthe country was sitting infront of me, telling me that Idid not have the geneticsthat would allow me to dothe things an actor neededto do. Never feel disempow-ered by the situations inyour life. They are there toserve a purpose.

S H O R T C I R C U I T S

Baahubali helped me torealise that people want meto do different characters.Like now I have shot for afilm in which I play a deafand mute girl, gone com-pletely sans make-up. Wehave always looked uponHollywood superheroes butBaahubali is our own Indiansuperhero.

Baarish is very close to me.It is based on my real lovestory. Hence, writing andcomposing this song camenaturally to me. It is toughto work as a solo composer,but I am rising slowly andenjoying the process. Thefact that the audience is lik-ing my work gives a lot ofencouragement.

TAMANNAAH BHATIA ROBERT PATTINSON

I'm always kind of curi-ous. Anything wherethere's a mass audienceor seemingly an audiencefor it, I always like theidea of subverting peo-ple's expectations. It willbe difficult to make anoth-er film in the Twilight fran-chise because there's nosource material.

TANISHK BAGCHILISA KUDROW

Yes, we had a story, we

had an idea, but it was

never picked up. Also, I

don’t think a sequel to

Romy & Michele's High

School Reunion would

work because Mira looks

incredibly — she hasn't

aged. I don't want to

play Romy's mom.

vivacity {48 hours} 16

PERSONALITY 1 HOUR

LUCKNOW | SATURDAY | APRIL 15, 2017

HRITHIK ROSHAN

Just when we are beginning to warm upto streaming of live TV, shows and films,

signing up for Netflix and Amazon Prime,devouring varied and interesting contentthat’s redefining the art of story-tellingeverywhere, home-grown studio Balaji hasseized the first mover advantage in the dig-ital space. This week it launched ALTBalaji, a Netflix-type app that will bestreaming 250 hours of original content inHindi and will soon add regional contentto its bouquet. With no ads, some initialdiscount, even rewards and only 60 paisaper episode, it gives each owner of a hand-held device a chance to snack up on whatthe international players do not have: orig-inal Indian stories. Manav Sethi, CMO,ALT Balaji, is upbeat about the launch andhopes to be present the day when EktaKapoor, currently considered as the coun-try’s undisputed TV moghul, completelyswitches over to the digital platform.

How are they so sure about taking overthe nascent entertainment app businesswith the numbers yet to deliver for the big-ger players? “You need to see what exist-ing players have got. Either they aredoing catch-up TV or they are into sports.Hotstar (from the Star Network) has verylittle original content. It spends humon-gous amounts on TV rights of IPL andthen tries to monetise it. Then it has liveTV and show archives accessible on yoursmartphones. No player in India has avalue prop as of now. But we have com-mitted to play 250 hours of original con-tent this year itself. If you draw a parallelwith a global player like Netflix, who did600 hours of content last year, we havealready begun with a bang. Even Amazonand Netflix have written huge cheques butnone of the shows are out. Considering theIndia studio culture is not as organised asit is in the US or UK (here we have too may

variables like running behind the cast, thewriter, the director, screenwriter...), onlyEkta Kapoor, who has been creating andcurating TV shows at the pace of canningone episode a day, could take the plungeand serve up fare with a frenetic pace. Notonly that, having worked across GECs, shehas the best understanding of her targetaudience and what they expect or couldexpect. We are leveraging these strengths,”says Sethi, confident that they will takeentertainment consumption in the coun-try to the next level.

What ALT Balaji is aggressively doingis filling up the web audience spacebetween English and the Hindi or vernac-ular. But personalising content for 100 mil-lion consumers and making sure they hitthe right button is a tall order indeed.However, this new start-up has a “safe” mixfor what Sethi describes as the “intelligentmass audience.” So there’s the familiarityof a Ram Kapoor-Sakshi Tanwar’s Kar LeTu Bhi Mohabbat, where she plays theshrink to his ageing and cranky superstar,a carry-over from their last TV show. Thenthere’s The Test Case, helmed by ace direc-tor Nagesh Kukunoor and starring NimratKaur, about a woman officer’s journey tobecome a commander. This is a courage

under fire story, anticipatory and taut, con-sidering women in the Army have justbeen cleared for combat duties and are yetto experience the whole gamut of fieldchallenges. The ace duo of Hansal Mehtaand Rajkumar Rao are bringing alive thepersonality of Netaji Subhash ChandraBose. Meanwhile, the urban tribe hassomething to look forward to in Romil andJugal, a twist on Shakespeare’s Romeo Julietwhere the protagonists are gay and Dev

DD, where a female Devdas embarkson her own journey of self-discov-ery. There’s also the coming-of-ageBoygiri. “We have kind of complet-ed the entire spectrum of issues thathas so far not been dealt with intelevision. But we talk about themin the corridors, in our bedrooms, inour colleges and in our offices. ForBose, we have done a humongousamount of research. We are present-ing him not from the point of viewof history or the Indian freedomstruggle, we are looking at him, theperson. Bose, the person, is still anenigma with some files yet to bedeclassified. There’s a story waitingto be told to unravel his unknownself. And he is such a figure that hecan fire up the imagination oftoday’s youth as well. We have lentit credibility and quality by ropingin director Hansal Mehta,” saysSethi.

Sure, the web offers a demo-cratic space. But ALT Balaji isbeing careful about not tread-ing the territory of eitherTVF or AIB. As Sethisays, “We are never

going to make content thatis preposterous or

objectionable.Our stories aredeep-ro ote dand we will notdo anythingthat will beantitheticalto our con-

sumers.” But in the

end it is allabout numbers andeconomics. Sethiinsists that theyhave made fool-proof calculations.“We have about950 millionmobile users withabout 100 million

internet or broad-band-enabled audi-

ence. Of that 400 mil-lion can be sliced and

diced. As a platform, themobile phone helps to

create a one-is-to-onerelationship with a con-sumer as compared to TV.So if you don’t like Romiland Jugal, you are atabsolute liberty not to watchit. Which is why from a busi-ness standpoint, I am givingyou five episodes free to

make your call. If you likeeven one or all of our shows,then you pay me less than ` 1

a day which works to about` 300 annually. This ischeaper than Netflix orAmazon. And you get relat-

able stories with an Indian ethos.” He has done the math. “If you look at

youtube, it has about 180 million month-ly active users. About 67 per cent of theusage graph is the Hindi consumer.English is a miniscule seven per cent. Weare attempting to build on this base. Forall its spread, Netflix has only 1.5 millionpaying users because it is focussing onlyon English. Shift the focus to Hindi andregional languages and you suddenlyhave huge volumes staring at you. That’swhat we intend to address and that’s wherewe intend to take our stories to. We areoffering ad-free snackable content. Soevery episode is of about 20 minutes thatyou can finish watching in a Metro orwhile waiting for a meeting or at the air-port. On flights, I find 80 per cent of pas-sengers watching something or the otheron their smartphones that has been down-loaded. India, according to me, is goingthrough a cataclysmic shift which is per-sonal entertainment.”

ALT Balaji is already seeing itself as aself-generating engine and will not rely onthe mother ship called Balaji Telefilms tobalance the troughs. Sethi wants compe-tition. And tough competition at that. “Wehave only seen the tip of the iceberg. Iwould really want competition that wouldmake us stand up on our toes. May the beststoryteller win.” So will TV flatten out? “Itwon’t be dead because if there is anythingthat India taught us, it is that there will belayering. Having said that, even an Indianhousewife has a smartphone and India isthe only geography that is adding moresmartphones every month compared toanywhere else on the planet. If this is trueand the Jios of the world are willing to givebandwidth, then content will be the ulti-mate king.”

Photo: Pankaj Kumar

Ekta Kapoor is enjoying her creativefreedom these days. She is back onthe drawing board, reading stories,

hearing scripts, devouring them, chaper-oning talent and is reinventing herself witha passion. She is a ball of energy these days,waiting to exhale on the digital space withher original content, something that shehas done in fits and starts in both televi-sion and films as a producer. Many wouldsay she set the template and formula forcommercial television so deep that sheherself found it difficult to budge an inchwithin its repetitive confines. And keptgoing as along as the dough came in. Nowshe has broken free from her mould andis willing to take a risk in the digital space,experimenting with ideas and giving freeflow to her voice. If she has delivered tothe masses, she is all set to create a cate-gry of “thinking masses.” Excerpts:

nWhen did you first think about enter-ing the digital space, considering thelineup of ALT Balaji seems to havebeen well-incubated and put together?

Not that early actually. It was in 2015that I decided to enter the digital spacelargely because people around me told methat it was a young medium and that I didnot know or understand it. But I am astory-teller and would do that given aslightest chance anywhere, on any plat-form. I respect all kinds of audience andwould like to offer something for every-body. People wouldn’t know this but I didthe TV show called Naagin and producedUdta Punjab the same year. How could I,therefore, not explore the digital space,assuming it allowed a wider arc for story-telling? Not doing something is worse thandoing something and then failing. So Itook the plunge.

I may fail but then I have the libertyto make mistakes and pay for them. I wantto be like an ostrich... focus on the job athand, meet people, hear ideas and if some-thing clicks, go for it. I am not going toanalyse and see if it works on TV or onthe big screen or on the net. If the storyis good (I have come across an amazingtalent pool) and if me and my team areinterested in it, I will put it out there andif there is an audience, they will come andwatch it. I cannot over-think or strategisebecause then I would panic and gettense. There is nothing I can do but deliv-er my best.

nWhat exactly drew you to the digitalspace?

The personal connect you make. Wehave different viewers for TV and films.But when it comes to digital, it’s you andyour mobile and a dialogue between thetwo. You decide what you want to see. It’s

like your music playlist; youdon’t tell everybody what songsyou hear. It’s your own journeywith each song reminding youof a person, a moment, anevent, a mood. The digital plat-form is akin to this playlist.There are various shows on offerbut you choose the one you con-nect to.

nWhat research have you putin to compile the bouquet ofweb series?

Actually I have not donemuch of research because anytype of research would tell youwhat has already happened butnot where the whole dynamic isheaded. I work instinctively.

nHow would you define enter-tainment viewership in Indiatoday?

It’s definitely polarised. Ithink everyone has an individ-ual taste and is proud to expressit. I might not watch Narcos butI might watch Riverdale. Netflixprovides me both. So I will signup for it simply because it hasmy choices and allows me thefreedom to ignore what I do notlike. Besides, the days of the sin-gle-TV family, using a pro-gramme to connect in a com-mon space, are waning. Noweach family member is inhis/her isolated, exclusive zone,hooked on to entertainment inhis/her phone. Then there’ssomebody like me who watch-es Orange Is The New Blackbecause it is about a differentkind of woman power.Simultaneously, I also watchScandal which Sameer (SameerNair, ALT Balaji group CEO)says is not to his liking becauseit is very massy. Which WhiteHouse is not like that, he tellsme. But I will go for a platformwhich accommodates thedemocracy of choice. That’swhat ALT Balaji is all about.

nYou have crafted the TVspace over a decade now. Doesthis new content-sharing plat-form mean you are movigaway from that medium?

I love television and havegiven a lot of years to it. Havingsaid that, if I am not able to del-egate programming and execu-tion now, then I have certainly

not been capable enough inthat medium. I have somesuperb writers for my top-rated shows and yes I amdelegating more than Ishould. Luckily for me, a lotof my shows is so well-setand my writers are so goodthat I don’t have to brain-storm with them.

nWill the television con-tent, therefore, flatten out?

I don’t think so becausewithin the TV format toosegmentation has begun.The fantasy-loving audi-ence that watches Naagin(by the way some urbanviewers are hooked on to ittoo) won’t watch Yeh HaiMohabbatein, which has adifferent audience.

Once the digital showstake off, there will be over-laps too. In daily soaps, wefocus on key characterseveryday so that theybecome a part of our fami-ly lives. But after 20episodes, that also becomesexhausting in an age ofshorter attention span. Howmany people can commit toan every day watch over asustained period of time? Sofor the audience that watch-es two shows at the sametime, watching three or fourinternet shows that arequick and snacky is moreinteresting. This is the over-lap that will power theswitchover to digital andbring in varied storylines. IfI am a kind of viewer whodoesn’t want to fix a timeslot and likes to tuck into myown comfort zone, I wouldbinge watch on my phone.Numbers will never be aproblem because there is anentirely new demographicof phone consumers to tapinto.

So instead of targetingthe 28 Indian states I wouldmake all the 108 countriesmy market by capturing thecellular audience.

nWere you at any point oftime disappointed withTV?

Yes I have been. It’s notthat I wanted to stick to a

hit formula. I did try to vary content butthe TV audience rejected it. I was partic-ularly affected by the way some womenrejected Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Ye, which wasabout a woman who was undergoing aseparation in her middling age and wastrying to stand up and move on in life.Imagine the plight of a woman for whomthe marital relationship is the only axis andwho finds that everything that she believedin till that point of time was a lie. Manywomen in India are familiar with this sce-nario. Yet when I showed her as a survivorand finding companionship, I got a lot ofnegative feedback from no less thanwomen themselves. They just couldn’taccept the fact that she was leaving thehusband despite her travails. They wroteto me and asked what would happen to herchildren. And I was very careful to depictthat there was an emotional and mentalconnection with the other man rather thanthe physical. Yet women in India could-n’t take it. Guess what the reviews werelike: “I can’t watch it with my husband, aisato hota hi hai har aadmi ke saath, mardhai toh chalta hai....”

There wasn’t any empathy for our pro-tagonist. I had really wanted to change themindset of women who watch TV just abit. But they weren’t ready. Yet I support-ed my protagonist. It is not that we pro-ducers do not want to change stereotypesor try something new. Who wants to getbored? Imagine the pressure of thinkingabout 1000 episodes and not getting to dothe things you like. Digital is 20-30episodes flat and a real story is done.

If I get many million viewers and if Ican make that many programmes on theweb, I do not need TRPs which come fromtwo million or 10 million viewers. I justneed a couple of shows that are watchedby half a million viewers, another coupleof shows that are watched by another halfa million …that way I get my two millionsubscribers. So yes, I am like a kid in acandy shop and I am having a blast.

nWhat about your films?Half Girlfriend is coming up now.

Then there are two more films.

nConsidering digital content is moredemocratic, are you fearing some soprtof policing and monitoring?

Most of the programmes on ALTBalaji have a lot of heart. There are no sex-ual overtones, nothing offensive, noteven in the gay show. That one has a beau-tiful line, “Every great love has a story init.” This love story has a real problem. Andit is this that I am more concerned aboutthan the physical representation.

Photos: Pankaj Kumar

She broughtthe family

together atdinner timewith her hitprime timeshows ontelevision.

Now film andTV producer

EKTAKAPOOR is

striking up apersonal

conversationwith each one ofyou through herweb series and aNetflix-type app.

Saturated withTV, she is now

breaking format. By RINKU GHOSH

EVENT SPACE 30 MINUTES

First mover advantageBasing volumes on the ballooning numbers of smartphone users and thebooming Hindi and regional audience, the ALT Balaji app may justredefine the online entertainment space, says CMO MANAV SETHI

I had really

wanted to

change the

mindset of

women who

watch TV just a

bit. But they

weren’t

ready for my

experimental

shows. Yet I

supported my

onscreen

protagonists. It

is not that we

producers do not

want to change

stereotypes or

try something

new. Who wants

to get bored?

Imagine the

pressure of

thinking about

1,000 episodes

and not getting

to do the things

you like. Digital

is 20-30 episodes

flat and a real

story is done

The insatiable labour of love

‘i respect all kinds of audience’ 16 vivacity twenty-year-old shradha mengshette, ... accepting...

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