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CMYK

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friday, march 24, 2017 Delhi

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SC defers CBI appeal

against dropping of

charges against Advani

page 10

India faults Pakistan

Ambassador’s remarks

on Kashmir

page 10

Taliban capture Sangin

district in Helmand

province of Afghanistan

page 12

Pujara says Kohli is

a great ambassador

for the game

page 15

FRIDAY REVIEW � 12 PAGES

(TABLOID)

The Election Commissionon Thursday allotted newnames and symbols to theV.K. Sasikala and O. Pan-neerselvam factions of theAIADMK after freezing theparty symbol and nameahead of the R.K. Nagar by-election in Chennai sched-uled for April 12.

As directed by the EC, therival groups submitted theirproposals for new namesand symbols on Thursdaymorning. The Sasikala camprequested the name ‘All In-dia Anna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (Amma)’ and the‘Hat’ as its election symbol.

The Panneerselvamgroup requested ‘All IndiaAnna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam (PuratchiThalaivi Amma)’ and the‘Electric Pole’ as its symbol.

Armed with the EC order,T.T.V. Dhinakaran, sportinga hat, filed his nomination.“I will definitely win in theby-election by a margin ofseveral thousand votes,” hetold journalists and reiter-ated that the AIADMK

(Amma) would eventuallybe identified as the real AI-ADMK and retrieve the ‘TwoLeaves’ symbol.

Mr. Madhusudhanan,who filed his papers as theAIADMK (Puratchi ThalaiviAmma) candidate, said:“People of R.K. Nagar loveO. Panneerselvam and me.They see him as a righteousand simple man. Since I amcontesting as his candidate,I definitely have the chancesto emerge victorious.”

AIADMK factions getnew names, symbolsTo contest under ‘hat’, ‘electric pole’

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

T.T.V. Dhinakaran beforeiling his nomination inChennai. * M. VEDHAN

POWER OF A SYMBOL

� EDITORIAL

Meat traders in western Ut-tar Pradesh announced astrike on Thursday, hoursafter the State governmentsealed over 36 slaughter-houses and hundreds of re-tail meat shops across theState in its continued crack-down.

Police said 43 persons hadbeen arrested from variousdistricts for alleged cattlesmuggling, adding that 27FIRs had been registeredagainst 60 persons for thesame.

On the action against il-legal slaughterhouses, Addi-tional Superintendent of Po-lice, DGP headquarters,Rahul Srivastav said eightFIRs had been lodged inMeerut, Varanasi andBareilly, and two illegalslaughterhouses each clos-ed in Varanasi and Bareilly.

The strike move has led to

panic buying, with muttonvanishing from shop shelvesand the price of chickenrising sharply. FormerMayor of Meerut and meatexporter Shahid Akhlaq toldThe Hindu that the State ad-ministration was acting “un-der tremendous pressurefrom the BJP government toshut down all the slaughterhouses — even those func-

tioning with proper papersand records.”

The BSP leader said thatas a mark of protest on the il-legal and illogical way oftreating meat traders, theAssociation of Meat Tradershad held a panchayat anddecided to go on a completestrike till the administrationrepealed the “draconian ap-proach of treating legal andillegal meat establishmentswith the same brush.”

“The government talksabout ‘sabka saath sabka vi-kas‘. But the manner inwhich the Yogi Adityanathgovernment is going aboutshutting down every estab-lishment which deals withmeat clearly shows the pre-judice,” said Mr Akhlaqowner of Al Yasir exportsPrivate Limited, located onthe Meerut-Hapur road.

(With inputs from PTI)

Meat traders shut shopacross western U.P.Protest follows govt.’s sealing of slaughter houses, shops

Mohammad Ali

Meerut

CONTINUED ON � PAGE 10

Policemen raid an abattoir inMoradabad. * PTI

A large number of Indianworkers in Bahrain havesought the support of theMinistry of External Af-fairs, continuing the trendof difficulties faced by la-bourers from India in Gulfcountries.

The problem came tolight when a group of work-ers employed with aBahraini private companyappealed to the govern-ment for help through so-cial media networks. Theysaid at least 500 workershad not received salary formonths and were living onfood handouts.

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj onThursday instructed the In-dian Embassy in Manamato help them. “Indian em-bassy in Bahrain is seizedof the matter and will helpthem,” she said after fol-lowers on her Twitter pagesought her intervention.

Subsequently, the In-dian embassy in Bahrainsaid in a message: “Thematter has been taken upwith the local Govt. Mis-sion is working for aspeedy resolution to the is-sue.”

No pay, 500Indians suferin BahrainKallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI


United front:Doctors andmembers of themedical teachers association protest at King EdwardMemorial Hospital in Mumbai onThursday, the fourth day of their strike to condemn the violence against doctors. While the Bombay HC asked them to return towork immediately, CMDevendra Phadnavis mooted a panel to resolve security issues in hospitals. * VIVEK BENDRE (REPORT ON PAGE 4)

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Seeking a cure

New Delhi’s Indira GandhiInternational Airport wit-nessed dramatic scenes onThursday morning afterShiv Sena MP RavindraGaikwad reportedly hit anAir India employee re-peatedly with his footwearas he was not allotted abusiness class seat on an alleconomy flight.

The employee has sincelodged a complaint withthe Delhi Police.

The airline is now “ex-amining the creation of no-fly list of unruly passengerson the lines of othercarriers.”

Mr Gaikwad, a Shiv SenaMember of Parliamentfrom Maharashtra's Os-manabad constituency,was travelling from Pune toDelhi by AI 852. In a state-ment, Air India said thatthe flight landed at Delhiairport at 9.35 am fromPune.

Shiv SenaMP beats upAI employeeStaff Reporter

New Delhi


A man drove a car into apedestrian street in Antwerpon Thursday, forcing peopleto jump out of its path, a dayafter an assailant rammed avehicle into crowds in cent-ral London, police said.

The car sped away leavingno one injured, but prosec-utors said police later arres-ted a man suspected of be-ing the driver, naming himas Mohamed R., a 39-year-old French national of NorthAfrican origin. Officersfound knives in the vehicleand a canister containing anunknown substance thatbomb disposal officers werecurrently checking.

Federal prosecutors, whotypically handle cases of Is-lamist violence, did not givedetails but said they hadbeen called in “based on allthese elements and theevents in London.”

Man held inAntwerp forcar-attack bidReuters

Antwerp

DELHI METRO� 6 PAGES

U.P. CM’s photo landsman in troubleDANKAUR

The UP police have arrested a

man for allegedly posting an

objectionable photograph

and comment on Facebook

against UP Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath.

The accused has been

identiied as Rahat Khan, who

lives in Dankaur police station

area in Greater Noida. The

accused told the police that

he didn't knowwho had

posted the photo from his

account.

NATION � PAGE 6DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

For more than a century,Tunday Kababi, Lucknow’siconic kebab shop, hassatisfied connoisseurs withits delicious galawati kebabsmade from buffalo meat. Onany given day, the restaurantin the heart of oldLucknow’s Chowk localitybustles with customers, whodo not mind waiting in longqueues for a bite of theirfavourite kebabs.

But all that had changedon Thursday with only acouple of tables occupiedand most waiters sitting idle.There was an unusual calmat the place, a far cry fromits daily business.

“Aap khud hi dekh saktehai, kaisa sannata hai.Aaram se baithe hai hum,aam dino mein baithne kifursat nahi hoti. (You can seefor yourself how desertedthe place is. Under normalconditions, we would nothave a moment to rest),”says Tunday’s caretakerMohammad Farooq.

The iconic restaurant hasbeen hit hard by a shortageof buffalo meat following theState government’scrackdown on illegalslaughterhouses.

As buffalo meat is no

longer available, TundayKababi’s Chowk outlet wasforced to shut down onWednesday. It reopened onThursday but with the USPof its menu missing. For thefirst time since its inception,the restaurant servedmutton and chicken kebabs,instead of its mainstay, beef.Stickers pasted on the wallsof the outlet informedcustomers of the change.

Chicken kebab“This is for the first time inmy 62 years of life that thisjoint is selling chickenkebabs. We have always soldbeef. The customers comehere especially for bade kakebab (beef kebabs) and do

not care much about othermeat,” says Mr. Farooq.

As their favourite items gomissing from the menu, theflow of customers has alsodipped. MohammadTauqeer, a retiredgovernment official, arrivedat the outlet to purchase hisfavourite beef kebabs andparanthe but wasdisappointed. Would he trythe chicken or muttonkebabs? “I am not interested[in mutton and chicken]. Ijust don’t get the sametaste,” Mr. Tauqeer said, ashe walked off empty-handed. Abbas (29), arrivedto encounter the samedilemma. He, was, however,ready to give the new items a

try. “I am a foodie. It isdifficult to replace the taste[of beef kebabs]. It is not thesame,” he said.

In its election manifesto,the BJP promised to shutdown all mechanisedabattoirs and illegalslaughterhouses in U.P.

Within a couple of daysafter coming to power, theAdityanath governmentswung into action, sealingslaughterhouses allegedlyrunning without licence.

“We welcome the move toshut illegal slaughterhouses.We request the governmentto ensure that thoseslaughterhouses with licencebe allowed to run,” said Mr.Farooq.

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With no beef, Tunday customers chicken outFamous food joints of Lucknow have been hit by the crackdown on slaughterhouses

Business woes:Dip in sales as favourite items gomissing from themenu of Lucknow’s iconickebab shop. * RAJEEV BHATT

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Khalid Masood, a lone, Brit-ish-born attacker, who wasknown to police and had astring of convictions, wasnamed as responsible for theattack on Westminster onWednesday. The attack leftfour persons, including thealleged assailant dead, andaround 40 others injured.

Details of the 52-year-oldattacker, who had beenknown by a number of ali-ases, emerged on Thursday,as reports suggested that theIslamic State (IS) had claimedresponsibility, describing theassailant, who was shot deadjust within the parliament-ary security cordon, as oneof its soldiers.

‘No prior intelligence’Masood was known for arange of offences dating backas early as 1983, when hewas convicted for criminaldamage, the MetropolitanPolice said on Thursday.“Masood was not the subjectof any current investigation,and there was no prior intel-ligence about his intent tomount a terrorist attack.”

Earlier in the day, PrimeMinister Theresa May de-scribed Masood as a “peri-pheral figure,” who had beeninvestigated several yearsago in connection to con-cerns about violent extrem-ism. “The case is historic. Hewas not part of the current

intelligence picture… Therewas no prior intelligence ofhis intent, or of the plot,” shesaid.

Masood was born in thecounty of Kent, south-east ofLondon, but had most re-cently lived in the West Mid-lands, a U.K. region which in-

cludes the city ofBirmingham. The claim ofresponsibility from the ISwas made via Amaq, thegroup’s news agency, accord-ing to Associated Press.

IS claims responsibility for U.K. attackBritish-born Khalid Masood named as the assailant, had been arrested earlier for violent crimes

Vidya Ram

London

For the fallen: Police oicers look on as a colleague lays lowers at the National Police Memorialbeneath a list of those whowere killed in the terror attack, in London on Thursday. * AFP

BRITONS STAND UNITED; LONDON

MOURNS VICTIMS � PAGE 12

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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EAST

DELHI Timings

Friday, March 24

RISE 06:20 SET 18:35

RISE 03:40 SET 14:54

Saturday, March 25

RISE 06:19 SET 18:35

RISE 04:23 SET 15:52

Sunday, March 26

RISE 06:18 SET 18:36

RISE 05:05 SET 16:52

Concern over borderfencing by MyanmarKOHIMA

The Nagaland Assembly on

Thursday expressed serious

concern over the reported

construction of a fence on

the international border by

Myanmar at Pangsha in

Tuensang district of

Nagaland. The legislators

said that fencing of the

border has the potential to

affect free movement. - PTI

IN BRIEF

Mega cultural eventin TawangITANAGAR

A nine-day mega cultural

event, ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti

Mahotsava’, showcasing

traditional folk dance and

music was inaugurated in

Tawang by Arunachal Pradesh

Chief Minister Pema Khandu

on Thursday. About 100

artistes representing

different tribes of Arunachal

and 500 artistes from across

the country will showcase

their traditional dance and

music during the event. - PTI

The college and hospital atthe Regional Institute ofMedical Sciences (RIMS) inImphal were affected due toa strike on Thursday overthe demand for appoint-ment of a regular director.

The strike was jointlycalled by the Teachers andMedical Officers’ Associ-ation, the RIMS Nurses’ As-sociation Lamphel and theRIMS Non-Teaching Employ-ees’ Association.

There hasn’t been a regu-lar director at RIMS sinceAugust 26, 2014.

There were two directors-in-charge, but the last oneretired on February 28, 2017,on superannuation. Thepost of the deputy directorof administration too hasbeen vacant since November15, 2016.

A source at RIMS said: “Awalk-in interview for ap-pointment of a director was

held on January 13, 2017. El-even candidates appearedfor the interview.”

However, the resultshaven’t been declared so far.

The source attributed thedelay to four candidates go-ing to court. A Manipur HighCourt ruling on February 28,2017, had said that an in-terim director on the basisof the interview can be ap-pointed. An earlier by thecourt had said that no ap-pointment should be madewithout its orders.

‘Strike to intensify’The striking doctors, nursesand other employeeswarned that the strike willintensify gradually if there’sno positive response ontheir demands. This will bedone by closing down of theemergency services and op-eration theatres, followed bytotal shutdown on Sunday.

The strike forced patientsto seek medical help else-

where, mostly at expensiveprivate hospitals.

RIMS was set up in 1972 toprovide quality treatment tothe people and medical edu-cation to the students of thenorth-east.

The annual intake capa-city of students from thenorth-east at the institute is100 MBBS and 147 post-graduate students. Of late,some seats were being setaside for the all-India quotastudents as well.

The striking employeesclaimed they’d submittedmemorandums to the UnionMinistry of Health and Fam-ily Welfare for regular ap-pointments since there havebeen financial and adminis-trative problems.

During his election cam-paign in Manipur in the lastweek of February, UnionHealth Minister J. P. Nadahad announced that a regu-lar director would be ap-pointed soon.

There hasn’t been a regular director at RIMS since Aug 2014

Iboyaima Laithangbam

Imphal

Strike in Imphal hospital overdemand for regular director

The Brahmaputra Boardwill spend ₹207 crore forthe protection of theworld’s largest river islandMajuli by employing anti-erosion and flood preven-tion measures.

“Brahmaputra Boardwill implement projectsworth ₹207 crore for pro-tection of Majuli from re-current flood and erosion,”an official release said onThursday.

Brahmaputra BoardChairman Sanjay Kundu in-formed Assam Chief Minis-ter Sarbananda Sonowalduring a meeting in the Na-tional Capital on Thursday,it added.

“Taking a strong view ofthe performance of theBoard, the Chief Ministerstated that due to absenceof Board officials in thefield, anti-erosion andflood protection works car-ried out in Majuli wereseverely affected,” thestatement said.

Mr. Sonowal alsostressed for setting up of apermanent office at Majulisaying that otherwise asense of alienation wouldalways prevail in the mindsof the people there.

₹207 cr tobe spent onMajuli islandPress Trust of India

Guwahati

A gang of burglars compris-ing six juveniles and an adulthas been smashed by the po-lice in Berhampur.

According to sources,gang leader Kanti Das (40)was using the small and frailbodies of the juveniles forcommiting thefts. Das, whois a rickshaw puller, has alsobeen arrested, said AjayMishra, inspector in chargeof the Baidyanathpur policestation. The nabbed juven-iles have been sent to theGovernment Special Obser-vation Home for Boys inBerhampur.

Two temple thefts onMarch 15 night and twoother major burglaries laterin the city had led the policeto the gang. Sources said thedelinquent children werefrom poor families and werelured by Das.

Ornaments stolenOn March 15 night, the ganghad broken into thepremises of Jagannathtemple on Courtpeta squareand escaped with orna-ments and valuables fromthe Ganesh temple. Thesame night, the gang stuck atNrusimha temple on Kamap-alli square and stole orna-ments and valuables. Whenthe police scanned the CCTVfootage, they were suprised

to find that small childrenwere involved in the crimes.

Similar thefts were alsoreported from Brahmanagarand Jyotinagar. The thieveshad managed to enter thepremises through smallventilators. Investigations re-vealed that the gang of ju-veniles was involved in thesethefts also.

According to sources, thegang would assemble atsome place in the cityaround 9 p.m. and Daswould identify the target. Hewould then take the juven-iles to the spot late at nightin his rickshaw for the thefts.The police patrols usually ig-nored the rickshaw as it wastransporting small children.

Berhampur Childline dir-ector Sudhir Sabat said mis-use of small children bycriminals was continuing inthe city and the recent incid-ent was just the tip of theiceberg. He alleged thatsmall children were beingused in illicit liquor tradealso.

‘Poor kids being lured’“Criminal gangs use smallchildren from poor familiesas they can be motivatedeasily through cheap lures.As juvenile delinquents getbail easily and the law isslack towards them, they arefast becoming key elementsof criminal gangs,” healleged.

Gang of juveniles involvedin temple thefts smashedTwo thefts in Berhampur on March 15 led police to them

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Recovered: Stolen items seized from the gang on display at theBaidynathpur police station in Berhampur. * LINGARAJ PANDA

The Odisha government hasacquired land belonging tothe Airports Authority of In-dia to divert a public roadadjacent to Naveen Nivas,Chief Minister Naveen Pat-naik’s house. The decisionhas been taken to create abuffer zone in front ofNaveen Nivas for strengthen-ing the CM’s security.

The State government hasswapped three acres belong-ing to Biju Patnaik Airportwith two acres of govern-ment land for the purpose.The proposed diversion ofan important public road inthe city has raised eyebrowsas the house Mr. Patnaik isresiding in was built by hisfather, late Biju Patnaik. Thenecessity of acquiring landfrom the sensitive AAIboundary to create a bufferzone around private prop-erty has not gone down wellwith the opposition politicalparties.

“It is utter misuse ofpower. The CM’s security isparamount, but why is landbeing acquired to create abuffer zone around privateproperty,” asked Sameer Mo-hanty, senior BJP leader.

“We would not have hadany objection if road diver-sion was carried out toprovide security coveraround a CM’s designatedgovernment quarter. After

the diversion, residentsresiding just behind NaveenNivas would have to take cir-cuitous route to reach theirhomes,” Mr. Mohanty said.

‘Wrong signal’Similarly, Suresh Panigrahi,a senior CPM leader, pointedout that a permanent roaddiversion undertaken tocarve out additional space infront of Mr. Patnaik’s par-ental property sends awrong signal. It has, how-ever, not been confirmed bythe General Administrationdepartment if the bufferzone that will be createdwould remain permanentlyout of bounds for the public

in the future.Deputy Commissioner of

Police Satyabrata Bhoi saidthe proposed diversionwould not cause any incon-venience to the general pub-lic as diversion would not bemore than 100 metres longand the AAI land, which hasbeen acquired for the bufferzone, was not part of coreoperation of the airport.

Security around Mr. Pat-naik had been strengthenedafter student Congress activ-ists hurled eggs at the CM’sconvoy in 2015. Close to 150police personnel have beenengaged for the CM’s secur-ity. The city police had comeunder pressure after some

agitators managed to reachand stage a demonstrationoutside Mr. Patnaik’s resid-ence in the recent past.

The government had car-ried out a detailed survey onwho had taken formal build-ing permission for erectinghigh rises on the backside ofNaveen Nivas and the ante-cedents of the people resid-ing in private houses closerto the CM’s residence werealso checked. The Intelli-gence wing of the city policehad also recommended in-stallation of a net to preventscaling of the boundary wallor throwing of stones fromthe backside of theresidence.

AAI land acquired to createbufer around CM’s houseImportant road to be diverted to beef up Naveen Patnaik’s security

End of the road: A policeman stands on the road in front of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’sresidence. The road is proposed to be diverted due to security reasons. * BISWARANJAN ROUT

Satyasundar Barik

BHUBANESWAR

A zonal committee memberof the Communist Party ofIndia-Marxist (CPI-M),Salauddin Haldar, was killedin South 24 Paraganas dis-trict on Wednesday night.

Mr. Haldar, 55, was at-tached to the Mathurapur 1zonal committee of theCPI-M. Party leaders have al-

leged that Trinamool Con-gress (TMC) cadres havekilled Mr. Haldar, a popularleader in the area.

Local TMC leaders couldnot be reached forcomments.

Mr. Haldar, who was alsosecretary of the party’s localcommittee in MathurapurEast in South 24 Paraganas,was attacked on his way to a

local mosque around 8 p.m.on Wednesday.

Shot from close rangeLocals said “at least four orfive” men shot him fromclose range.

CPI-M South 24 Paraganasdistrict secretary SamikLahiri said Mr. Haldar triedto file a complaint earlierwith the police but officers

of the Mathurapur police sta-tion refused to take the com-plaint or provide security toMr. Haldar.

“About a week ago he toldthe police in Mathurapurthat a few miscreants of theTMC were threatening him.But the local police refusedto take his complaint seri-ously,” Mr. Lahiri toldjournalists.

Senior CPI(M) leader killed inWest BengalSpecial Correspondent

Kolkata

Four hundred TrinamoolCongress members, includ-ing 16 of the total 65 Statecommittee members of theTMC, have joined the BJP inTripura on Thursday.

The TMC members whojoined the saffron party alsoinclude former chairman ofthe Tripura unit of Trin-amool Congress, Ratan

Chakraborty.The president of Tripura

unit of BJP Biplab Deb andUnion Minister of State forRailways Rajen Gohainjointly handed over the saf-fron party flag to MrChakraborty.

“The BJP is the only partywhich attached maximumimportance to develop thebackward northeastern re-gion, Mr Chakraborty said.

400 TMCmembersjoin BJP in TripuraPress trust of India

Agartala


THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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The Rajasthan governmenthas affirmed that the D.C.Samant Committee wouldremove anomalies in thesalaries of employees whilegiving its report for imple-mentation of the 7th Pay-commission's recommend-ations.

No cutNo salary would be re-duced in the exercise, saidthe government. IndustriesMinister Rajpal SinghShekhawat said in the StateAssembly that there was noneed to make Budgetary al-location for implementingthe recommendations, asthey could be accommod-ated with the supplement-ary demands.

‘Anomalies inpay will beremoved’Special Correspondent

JAIPUR

Two truck drivers were onThursday burnt to death aftertheir vehicles collided near Bad-shami village on the Kurukshetra-Yamunanagar road here.

Trucks collide,2 burnt alivePress Trust of India

Kurukshetra

The first expansion of Pun-jab Cabinet is likely beforethe State’s budget sessionslated for June, Chief Minis-ter Amarinder Singh indic-ated on Thursday.

Capt. Amarinder hadtaken oath as chief ministeron March 16 alongwith nineministers.

The Chief Minister saidCongress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi had given himfull freedom in choosing thecouncil of ministers, and hehad identified seniority, ex-perience and regional parityas the main criteria in the se-lection process, according toan official release.

Capt. Amarinder said hewould ensure that all regionsare given due representationin the Cabinet to enable theholistic progress of the State,with no region left out fromthe development process.

The Cabinet expansion

will be undertaken beforethe presentation of thebudget for fiscal 2017-18, saidhe said, pointing out that thegovernment would only begoing in for vote-on-accountnext week.

The maiden session of thenewly-constituted State As-sembly is scheduled to com-

mence on Friday.He said experience and

professionalism would begiven due importance in allgovernment appointments.

The Chief Minister said hisgovernment had decided tocontinue with DGP SureshArora as he was a profes-sional man.

Amarinder says seniority, experience and regional parity will be the main criteria

Press Trust of India

Chandigarh

Greetings: Chief Minister Amarinder Singh greets former DGPKPS Gill in Chandigarh on Thursday. * PTI

Punjab Cabinet expansion likely before budget session: CM

Punjab Minister NavjotSingh Sidhu can heave asigh of relief.

The State Advocate-General Atul Nanda saidon Thursday that hefound no conflict of in-terest between Mr.Sidhu’s office as CabinetMinister and his work ontelevision shows.

CM gets reportChief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh has re-ceived the Advocate-Gen-eral’s report.

“There is no hindrancenow to Mr. Sidhu’s con-tinuation on TV shows,nor is there any need tochange his Culture port-

folio,” said RaveenThukral, Media Adviserto the Chief Minister.“There was, in the opin-ion of the Advocate-Gen-eral, no violation of theConstitution of India, theRepresentation of thePeople Act, 1951 or codeof conduct in this case.”

According to the A-G,Mr. Sidhu faces no legalbar in continuing with hiswork on the show, hesaid.

The Punjab Chief Min-ister had asked the A-G togive his legal opinionwhether there was anyprohibition or restrictionin the continuation of Mr.Sidhu appearing as acelebrity guest on a com-edy show.

Sidhu can work in TVshows: Punjab A-GSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

On the death anniversary oflegendary freedom fighterBhagat Singh, the RajyaSabha on Thursday wit-nessed a brief uproar, withthe Opposition charging theBJP-led Haryana govern-ment with not wanting toname the Chandigarh air-port after the martyr.

“The Punjab Governmenthad agreed that the airportwill be named afterShaheed-E-Azam BhagatSingh, (but) the HaryanaGovernment, the HaryanaChief Minister said 'no'. Theywant to name the airportafter Mangal Sein," CPI (M)'sRitabrata Banerjee said dur-ing Zero Hour.

He added there were agit-ations on Wednesday overthe demand.

Congress leader PratapSingh Bajwa also demandedthat the airport be namedafter Bhagat Singh.

Minister of State for Par-liamentary Affairs Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi, however,sought to clear the air. “Wehave never said it andnobody has said it. It's notproper to make such sweep-ing statements,” he said. Headded that the late BhagatSingh was respected byeveryone as a martyr.

As the uproar continued,Deputy Chairman P. J. Kur-

ien asked Mr. Naqvi to takenote of the suggestion,something to which Mr.Naqvi readily agreed.

Leader of Opposition andCongress leader GhulamNabi Azad sought to knowfrom the Centre whether ornot it has decided to namethe airport after BhagatSingh. (with inputs from PTI)

Haryana wants to name the airport after Mangal Sein


NEW DELHI

CPI-Mmembers and AamAadmi Party MP Dharamvira Gandhistaging a demonstration demanding naming the Chandigarhairport after Bhagat Singh on his martyrdom day, at Parliamentin NewDelhi on Thursday. * PTI

Demand to rename Chandigarhairport after Bhagat Singh

Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh activist Aseemanand,accused of planning terrorattacks, will walk a free manin a couple of days after a Hy-derabad court granted himbail in the 2007 MeccaMasjid blast case onThursday.

A senior National Investig-ation Agency official said ithad opposed the bail in thespecial NIA court and wouldexamine the order to see if itcould be challenged in ahigher court.

“We objected to his bailpetition in court. However,the court deemed it appro-priate to grant him bail. Wewill take a call on challengingthe bail when we get a certi-fied copy of the order thisweek,” the NIA official said.

The official said Aseeman-and moved the bail plea afterhe was acquitted in theAjmer Dargah blast caseearlier this month.

Nine persons were killedand 58 injured when an ex-plosion occurred inside theMecca Masjid, Hyderabad,during Friday prayers on

May 18, 2007.Seven persons, including

Aseemanand, have beencharge-sheeted in the case bythe NIA. There are 304 wit-nesses in the case and 166have been examined so far.An official said 26 witnesseshave turned hostile.

Madhav’s tweetSoon after Aseeemanand gotbail, BJP national general sec-retary Ram Madhav tweeted

that he was a free man now.“Swami Aseemanandji se-cured bail in Hyderabad casealso. Of the three cases, hewas acquitted in one, se-cured bail in two others. Heis a free man now,” Mr.Madhav tweeted.

Aseemanand was first ar-rested by the Central Bureauof Investigation in the MeccaMasjid case in 2010. The BJPhas often said that chargesagainst Aseemanand and

other right-wing leaders likeSadhvi Pragya were an out-come of the then UPA gov-ernment's ‘political preju-dice’ as it coined ‘Hindutvaterror’ and ‘saffron terror’for vote bank politics.

Ajmer Dargah blast caseEarlier this month, Aseeman-and was acquitted of all ter-ror charges in the Ajmer Dar-gah blast case of 2007 wherethree people were killed. The

from the Hyderabad prison,where he is currently lodged.

“The acquittal of SwamiAseemanand in Ajmer Dar-gah blast case will also im-pact the outcome in theother two terror cases. He isonly accused of conspiringthe bomb blasts and not ex-ecuting them. Since, he hasbeen acquitted in the Ajmercase, where the court did nottake cognisance of a confes-sional statement given byhim, the charges will nothold in the Samjhauta andthe Mecca Masjid case as theinvestigating agency is alsodependent on confessionalstatements here,” said Man-bir Rathi, Aseemanand’s law-yer on phone fromPanchkula.

From 2006 to 2008, ex-treme right-wing groupswere accused of explosionsin at least six cases. Blastswere carried out by a groupled by Swami Aseemanandwith an intention to give abefitting reply to the per-ceived persecution of Hindusby the Muslim “terrorists”and they propounded a"bomb ka badla (revenge)bomb’ theory.”

NIA is yet to firm up its de-cision on challenging Aseem-anand’s acquittal in the case.Two other RSS workers-Bhavesh Patel and DevendraGupta were convicted.

Another caseHe is facing trial in anothercase -- the 2007 SamjhautaExpress blast.

A powerful explosion tookplace in two coaches of theSamjhauta Express on Febru-ary 19, 2007, where 68people, mostly Pakistanis,were killed when the trainwas on its way to Lahorefrom Delhi.

Aseemanand and five oth-ers have been charge-sheeted by the NIA, but hewas granted bail by the Pun-jab and Haryana High Courtin August 2014, months afterthe NDA government cameto power.

The NIA did not challengethe bail within the stipulated90-day period in the Su-preme Court but he contin-ued to be in jail as he waswanted in two more cases.

An NIA official said thatwith Thursday’s bail order,he would soon walk free

Aseemanand gets bail, will soon walk freeAfter a Hyderabad court granted him bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case, NIA says it will challenge the order

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Armed with broom, UPMinister cleans oiceLUCKNOW

A day after UP Chief Minister

Aditya Nath Yogi emphasised

cleanliness, his Cabinet

colleague Upendra Tewari on

Thursday picked up a broom

to clean his office in the State

legislature here, pictures of

which went viral on the social

media. Armed with a broom

and a mop, the minister

swept the floor of his office

and the corridor leading to it

in the Vidhan Bhawan here,

which houses the State

legislature. PTI

IN BRIEF

Man kills daughters,hangs himselfJODHPUR

A 35-year-old man allegedly

killed his two minor

daughters and then hung

himself from the ceiling fan

of his house here on Thursday

afternoon, the police said.

They said the incident took

place when the girls’ mother

had gone to attend a religious

function in the

neighbourhood.PTI

Man arrested with poppystraw in SambaJAMMU

A man was arrested on

Thursday in Samba district for

allegedly carrying 4 kg of

poppy straw,the police said.

During a checking drive, the

police intercepted Mohan

Singh, who was riding a

motorcycle, and recovered 4

kg of poppy straw from his

possession. A case has been

registered and investigation

in going on, he added.PTI

At a time when small andmarginal peasants in the hillState are pressing the govern-ment to regularise theirsmall encroachments, banksare tightening the noosearound them and declaringthem defaulters for non-re-payment of loans.

Following a court ordersometime ago, the govern-ment had reclaimed hun-dreds of hectares of agricul-tural lands from the illegalpossession of a large numberof farmers. The governmentaction had impacted thesmall and marginal farmerswith less than five bighas ofland.

Looking at their plight, thegovernment has now de-cided to approach the courtwith a request to regularisethe small encroachments asthe farmers are finding it dif-ficult to make ends meet. Butthe farmers, who have be-come hopeful after the gov-ernment’s promise in theelection year, are now beingthreatened by the bankswhich have given them an ul-timatum to repay the loansby March 31.

The Himachal PradeshState Cooperative Agricul-ture and Rural DevelopmentBank has issued notices tomore than 4,000 for default-ing on repayment of loansand threatened to auction

their remaining landholdings.

To pay ₹75-100 croreAccording to an estimate, thesmall farmers have to payaround ₹75-100 crore inloans to banks against theirsecurities.

Despite repeated warn-ings, the farmers are not re-paying the loans and thebank will be forced to forfeittheir securities, said a bankofficial.

The farmers, on the otherhand, say that they have losttheir source of income afterthe government orderedthem to cut their apple treesin the name of encroach-ment.

4,000 farmers receive banknotice over loan repaymentBank will be forced to forfeit their securities, says oicial

Kanwar Yogendra

SHIMLA

The Uttar Pradesh governmenthas directed top officials to en-sure a 24 hour electricity supplyduring ‘Navratras’ in Balrampurand Mirzapur districts whichhave famous temples of GodessDurga besides Ayodhya,Varanasi, Mathura andGorakhpur.

The State’s Power MinisterSrikant Sharma gave this direct-

ive to officials in his first meet-ing after taking charge here.

“During Navratras thereshould be 24 hour power supplyin districts having famousShakti-peeths (temples) likeMirzapur, Balrampur besides inMathura, Kashi, Ayodhya andGorakhpur”, the minister said.Significantly, the issue of powersupply had become a conten-tious election issue during therecently held Assembly polls.

24-hour power supply during‘Navratras’ in key UP districtsPress Trust of India

Lucknow

A probe has been orderedinto the hoisting of a BJPflag by a group of partyworkers at a governmentschool in Araria district ofBihar to celebrate theparty’s win in the U.P. As-sembly elections.

The incident took placeat the Dak Haripur KanyaMadhya Vidyalaya in Fore-besganj on March 18, whilethe results of UP electionswere announced on March11.

Party’s victoryWhen students and teach-ers were leaving the schoolon March 18, some BJPworkers barged into thecampus and hoisted theparty’s flag there to celeb-rate the party’s victory inUP, the school’s headmas-ter told District EducationOfficer Faizul Rahman.

Headmaster Jagdish Me-hta said he tried to stopthem but they hoisted theflag, Mr. Rahman said. TheDEO said he has instructedthe Block Education Of-ficer to investigate thematter.

Probe intoBJP lag inBihar school


Araria (Bihar)

Four persons, includingtwo cops, injured in clashJAIPUR

Four persons, including two

policemen, were injured in a

clash between cops and local

residents in Adarsh Nagar

here late on Wednesday

night. The incident occurred

when some of the policemen

posted in the wireless wing

allegedly threw empty beer

bottles at a house in Adarsh

Nagar and broke windscreens

of some vehicles parked

outside the houses. PTI




WEST

Medical services in Puneand Pimpri-Chinchwadwere affected for the fourthconsecutive day as doctorsremained on strike againstassaults on their colleaguesby kin of patients, throwingtreatment for the needy offbalance.

Speaking to The Hindu,Dr. Mohan Joshi, presidentof the Pune unit of the In-dian Medical Association(IMA), said, “Unless we havea written assurance fromthe State government,providing us with the re-quisite security personnel,we will not withdraw thestrike. If our strike is said tobe in contempt of court,then the State government’sfailure to provide security toour doctors also amounts tocontempt of court.”

Assurances givenDr. Joshi said verbal assur-ances had been given by theState government in thepast, but they did not yieldany help to medical person-nel. “When around 4,000resident doctors under theMaharashtra Association ofResident Doctors (MARD)

protested in 2014 against thebeating of a colleague in Sol-apur, we were promisedthat security would beprovided. It appears thatthese promises promisenothing.”

The IMA has urged thegovernment to provide1,100 security guards imme-diately across State-runmedical colleges and hospit-als to ensure that the num-ber of relatives per patientwere limited to two.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad,

more than 50 doctors fromthe Yashwantrao ChavanMemorial Hospital (YCMH)joined the IMA in theirprotest on Thursday, alongwith several other doctors,said Dr. Dilip Kamat, presid-ent of the IMA’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit.

Patients, with their kin,were seen crowding in thelobbies of government col-lege hospitals where doctorswere on mass casual leave.

Notices served

On Wednesday, authoritiesat the city’s B.J. Medical Col-lege and Sassoon GeneralHospital had served noticesto as many as 272 residentdoctors, ‘expelling’ them fortheir failure to resume duty.In response, the IMA hadcalled for a shutdown of allout patient department(OPD) services at all clinicalestablishments, with the ex-ception of emergency ones.

Nearly 500 doctors, in-cluding resident doctors,medical interns, and under-graduate students particip-ated in the mass strike.

Dr. Joshi said, “I spoke tothe Dean of B.J. Medical Col-lege on the matter and ap-prised him of our stance.These notices serve no prac-tical purpose as this man-power is needed and we willnot withdraw the strike untilour security concerns havebeen duly addressed.”

In July last year, relativesof a deceased patient assaul-ted two resident doctors atthe Sassoon General Hos-pital with office equipment,resulting in the doctors be-ing compelled to undergotreatment for their injuriesat the hospital’s intensivecare unit (ICU).

Doctors’ strike enters fourthday, health services of trackIMA demands 1,100 security guards across State-run medical colleges and hospitals

Not backing down:Doctors of Sassoon Hospital in Puneduring a protest. * FILE PHOTO

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune

Oh dear: A herd of spotted deer at Bor Tiger Reserve, nearly 50 km fromNagpur. * S. SUDARSHAN

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Walk in the park

The Congress legislatorsstaged a walkout on thesecond day of the As-sembly’s Budget Session onThursday, condemningGovernor Mridula Sinha’sdecision to not invite theparty to form a govern-ment, even after it hademerged as the singlelargest party in the recentelections.

All 16 MLAs of the Con-gress were wearing blackarmbands as a mark ofprotest. When the Gov-ernor began her customaryaddress to the members ofthe Assembly, Congress Le-gislative Party leader BabuKavlekar stood up and saidMs. Sinha’s decision to in-vite the BJP to form a gov-ernment, despite the partycoming second in the elec-tions with 13 MLAs in the40-member House, wasagainst the spirit of theconstitution, and also acondemnable act. Some ofthe Congress’s MLAsbacked Mr. Kavlekar andstaged a walkout.

However, the NationalistCongress Party MLAChurchill Alemao re-mained seated during thewalkout. Mr. Alemaon hasbeen served a show-causenotice by his party forbacking the BJP-led coali-tion government in theconfidence motion in theHouse last week.

In her address, the gov-ernor said that her govern-ment was committed toeliminating open defaca-tion in Goa by October 2,2019, the 150th birth an-niversary of MahatmaGandhi.

Mopa airportMs. Sinha said the Green-field international airportproject at Mopa, NorthGoa, will have a potentialof 28 million passengersper annum. She said thegovernment will also en-sure that the Dabolim air-port remain functional forcivilians.

Goa Congresslegislatorsstage walkoutSpecial correspondent

Panaji

Organisations working forthe rights of children, cametogether on Thursday underChildrights Network, to urgethe State government to en-sure that Goa becomes a safehaven for children.

Nishtha Desai of Chil-dren’s Rights in Goa (CRG),said, “Make budgetary alloc-ation to implement variousprovisions of the Goa Chil-dren’s Act (GCA), 2003.”

“The Act is held up in na-tional and international for-ums as a unique law. Butmost of its provisions are yetto be implemented as gov-ernments have failed tomake any budgetary alloca-tion for it,” Ms. Desai toldThe Hindu.

She said the Act providesfor health cards to children,early intervention for devel-opment disorders, gendersensitisation and rightsawareness in schools, a childfriendly tourism code, muni-cipal and village child com-mittees, and plans to ad-

dress child labour, childrenin difficult circumstances,and rescuing children fromsexual exploitation.

The child rights networksaid the Act came into force14 years ago. They also saidthat incidents of child abusehave risen in Goa, with asmany as 324 cases reportedbetween April 2014 and July

2015. “Only a handful of vil-lage child committees havebeen set up, but implement-ation of the GCA could buildsafety nets to prevent chil-dren from being abused orexploited in any way.”

The 2017-18 State Budgetwill be presented in the As-sembly by Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar on Friday.

Budgetary allocation soughtfor Children’s Act provisionsChildrights Network says incidents of abuse on the rise

Prakash Kamat

Panaji

Lost childhood: Asmany as 324 cases of abuse were reportedbetween April 2014 and July 2015. * ATISH POMBURFEKAR

State Chief Secretary Dhar-mendra Sharma told theGoa State Human RightsCommission (GSHRC) onThursday that a compensa-tion of ₹8,39,680 has beenpaid to the dependants ofwelder Saharul Sheikh, whowas burnt to death onDecember 26 last year at theconstruction site of the thirdMandovi Bridge.

In a reply to the com-plaint filed by activist and

lawyer Aires Rodrigues, Mr.Sharma said the manage-ment of Larsen & Tourbo,the construction company,has been directed to bemore vigilant, in order toavoid such mishaps.

Mr. Rodrigues had drawnthe commission’s attentionto the case of 29-year-oldSaharul, a native of WestBengal, and had expressedhis apprehension that theauthorities, taking advant-age the victim’s economic-ally poor background, could

hush up the matter.

Contract basisHe had stated that he wasemployed on a contractbasis with the constructionfirm, which had been giventhe work by Goa State Infra-structure Development Cor-poration (GSIDC).

Safety standardsMr. Rodrigues had also poin-ted out in his complaint thatthe authorities need toprobe whether all the re-

quired safety standardswere in place at the con-struction site, as Saharul re-portedly fell into a deeptrench containing hot tarwhile he was trying to dosome welding work withoutwearing the appropriatesafety gear.

He had also said that theauthorities need to give de-tails about what measuresthey intend to take to avoidsuch mishaps, which are inviolation of human and fun-damental rights.

Family of worker compensated, GSHRC told


PANAJI

Sheikh was burnt to death on Dec. 26 at construction site of third Mandovi Bridge

CMYK

A ND-ND




SOUTH

Bail for accused in Keralastudent assault caseKOCHI

The Kerala High Court on

Thursday granted bail to P.

Krishnadas, chairman of

Nehru Group of Educational

Institutions, an accused in a

case relating to assaulting a

student of the Nehru

Academy of Law, Palakkad.

The court ordered that he be

released forthwith on bail on

his executing a bond for ₹1

lakh with two solvent

sureties to the like sum.

IN BRIEF

₹1.28 crore seized fromduo in old notesBENGALURU

A team attached to the

Central Crime Branch arrested

a 26-year-old realtor and his

chartered accountant friend

for allegedly trying to

exchange banned currency

notes through Non-Resident

Indians. The police seized old

₹500 and ₹1,000 notes

amounting to ₹1.28 crore

from real estate agent Ajay

and Jimmy Rahul, a CA.

According to the police, the

duo were in the habit of

stashing their earnings in

their houses.

Beer, wine parlour licencesget 3-month extensionTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The Kerala Cabinet has

extended the licence of beer

and wine parlours, toddy

shops, and bar permit holders

for three months from April 1.

The Cabinet on Thursday

decided to extend the licences

in view of the fact that the

new excise policy of the Left

Democratic Front government

had not been announced so

far. The toddy shop licences

would be extended after

collecting a fee proportionate

to the existing rates and in

compliance with the norms in

force.

Feast for the eyes:Harvest of the ‘nendran’ variety of banana has been brisk at Tiruvalarcholai, near Tiruchi. * M. MOORTHY

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Ripe and ready

Chief Minister N. Chandrab-abu Naidu declared in theAssembly on Thursday thatall the accused in the Ag-riGold scam would bebrought to book.

Making a statement onthe much-debated issue, Mr.Naidu said seven personshad so far been arrested outof the 18 accused and thatthe CB-CID was trying itsbest to trace those at largeand that he was prepared toget the scandal probed bythe Central Bureau of Invest-igation.

Three companies — Ag-riGold Farm Estates Pvt.Ltd., AgriGold ConstructionsPvt. Ltd., and Dream LandVentures and several otherfictitious companies floatedby the prime accused A.V.Rama Rao and his brotherscollected approximately₹6,300 crore, which was di-verted to 87 ‘suitcase com-panies.’ The auction of Ag-riGold properties, whichstarted in April 2016, had

yielded ₹16.05 crore till date.Mr. Naidu said the govern-

ment was willing to post de-tails of all the 32 lakh-plusvictims (belonging to allStates) online with courtpermission subject to theconduct of a forensic audit,and added that the govern-ment was in favour of payinga compensation of ₹3 lakh tokin of each victim and if ne-cessary raise it to ₹5 lakh.

Special cellThe government has also an-nounced an incentive of ₹10lakh to those providing in-

formation leading to the ar-rest of the remaining ac-cused and decided to set upa special cell to deal withwhite-collar crimes like theone committed by AgriGold.

The number of depositorsin Andhra Pradesh stoodaround 19 lakh with sums in-vested amounting to ₹4,000crore. The value of movableand immovable propertiesof AgriGold in A.P., Telan-gana, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Odisha isabout ₹2,500 crore.

Association ends stirThe 18-day agitation bymembers of the AgriGoldCustomers and Agents Wel-fare Association at Velid-andla HanumantharayaGrandhalayam Hall endedon Thursday following assur-ances made by the State gov-ernment, but the ‘political’speech of YSR CongressParty president JaganmohanReddy created unrest amongthe victims.

The victims were takenaback at the emergence of

Mr. Jagan, who went to thevenue from the Assembly.“We invited leaders like K.Parthasaradhy (YSRCP) andN. Tulasi Reddy (Congress),but we never expected Mr.Jagan. He made some com-ments which did not godown well with the victims,”said association president M.Nageswara Rao.

Mr. Jagan, in his speech,said that his party wouldcertainly come to power inthe 2019 elections and hewould enhance the ex gratiato kin of suicide victims to₹10 lakh each.

Apolitical forum“This association is anapolitical forum fighting fora cause of lakhs of commonpeople duped by a family.The association is havingmembers of all politicalparties and his speech isagainst the tradition of anall-party forum,” he felt.

He said the associationhad agreed to all the prom-ises made by the Stategovernment.

Naidu promises justice to AgriGold victimsAndhra Pradesh Chief Minister announces ex gratia of ₹3 lakh each to next of kin

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Chandrababu Naidu

Alleging that mining baronand former Minister G.Janardhan Reddy was being“bailed out” by the Centrefrom illegal mining-relatedcases in view of the 2018 As-sembly elections inKarnataka, JD(S) State pres-ident H.D. Kumaraswamysaid it was being done onthe condition of “meetingthe election expenses of₹500 crore”.

At the JD(S) State conven-tion here on Thursday,which marked the start ofpreparations for the As-sembly elections, Mr. Ku-maraswamy said the Con-gress, on the other hand,had failed to take the formerLokayukta N. Santosh Heg-de’s report on illegal miningto a logical end.

Noting that the next 10months were crucial for theJD(S), he said the BJP na-tional president Amit Shah

and Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi would turn theirfocus on Karnataka. “It isthe JD(S) which has the ca-pacity to stop the Ash-wamedha horse of the BJPas the Congress has nostrength to do it.”

He came down heavily onthe State and Central BJPleadership for “harming”the interests of State farm-

ers, and listed out burningissues such as waiver ofcrop loans, and Cauveryand Mahadayi water dis-putes.

Mr. Kumaraswamy askedpeople to seek an explana-tion from the BJP and itsState president B.S. Yeddy-urappa on why the Centrewas not ready waive of croploans.

JD(S) national presidentH.D. Deve Gowda harped onhis pet issue of reunificationof the Janata Parivar. He in-sisted that the processshould begin first at theState level, before experi-menting it at the nationallevel. “People in the Statehave to decide whetherKarnataka needs a regionalparty or not,” he said.

‘Centre bailing out Reddy to fund polls’Kumaraswamy lays Karnataka, Central BJP govts for harming farmers’ interests


BENGALURU

Frontal attack: JD(S) supremo H. D. Deve Gowda and other leaders at the party’s convention atPalace Grounds in Bengaluru on Thursday * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Kerala government onThursday scrambled to denythe politically damaging al-legation that it had“brazenly” recommendedthe “release” of “notoriouslaw breakers” convicted ofgrave crimes.

Television news channelsraked up the issue by airinga Right to Information (RTI)reply from the Prisons De-partment which stated thatjail inmates approved for“remission” included thoseconvicted for highly sensa-tional and emotive crimes.

Chandrasekharan murderThe RTI reply listed CPI(M)men serving life-term for themurder of T.P.Chandrasekharan amongthose eligible for “cancella-tion of penalty.” The list alsoincluded the names of mil-lionaire Nizam convicted ofrunning down a securityguard with his expensive car

and “gang leader” OmPrakash serving time formurder. The RTI query wasspecific about the names ofconvicts.

At least three Malayalamchannels aired the contro-versial RTI reply simultan-eously in the morning andcapped the “breaking news”with live political debates.Opposition leaders said onTV that they would raise the“impending release” of pris-oners as an election issue inthe Malappuram Parliament-ary byelection campaign.

Director General of Pris-ons R. Sreelekha told TheHindu that the RTI reply hadbeen grossly misread. Somequarters had misinterpretedit as early release of con-victs.

In fact, prisoners couldearn a few days remission oftheir sentence if they con-ducted themselves properly,obeyed jail rules, andworked productively. “Forinstance, a convict serving a

three-month term can begiven a maximum remissionof 15 days,” Ms. Sreelekhasaid.

‘Remission is not release’It was the prerogative of thejail superintendent con-cerned to make therecommendation.

The Prisons Departmentwould sent it to the HomeDepartment for further ap-proval after a preliminaryvetting.

Remission of sentenceshould not be equated withoutright release of the con-vict, she said.

Home Department offi-cials said the list of thoseserving time for gravecrimes had been struck ofthe list of those eligible forreduction of sentence time.They said there was nowrongdoing on the part ofthe Prisons Department inthis regard. The list has beensent to the Governor forapproval.

‘Not releasing notorious prisoners’

Television channels misread RTI reply, says Kerala govt.

Girish Menon

Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala High Court onThursday directed theState government to ex-plain whether the Vigil-ance and Anti-CorruptionBureau had any exclusivepower of investigation un-der the Prevention of Cor-ruption Act. If so, how andunder what circumstanceshad such power beengiven.

Justice P. Ubaid issuedthe directive when Leaderof the Opposition RameshChennithala’s plea challen-ging a case registeredagainst him in connectionwith the promotion andappointment of N. ShankarReddy as Director, Vigil-ance, during the UDF re-gime came up for hearing.A plea by P.K. Sudheer, rel-ative of former IndustriesMinister E.P. Jayarajan,against an FIR against him,was also heard.

HC poserto VigilanceBureauSpecial Correspondent

Kochi

The Special CategoryStatus (SCS) issue rockedthe Andhra Pradesh As-sembly on Thursday withOpposition YSR Congressstalling proceedings de-manding a discussion.

The House could nottransact any business forabout two-and-a-half hoursas the Opposition did notrelent even as the treasurybenches and alliance part-ner BJP asserted that it was“a closed chapter.”

Podium stormedThe YSRC members, whoserved an adjournmentmotion seeking a discus-sion on the issue by sus-pending the QuestionHour, stormed the Speak-er’s podium, holding plac-ards and raising slogans“Pratyeka Hoda AndhrulaHakku” (special status isAndhra’s right). To counterthe Opposition attack, theruling Telugu Desam

brought in the AgriGoldvictims’ issue to the foresaying Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu wouldmake a statement on it. Butthe YSRC members contin-ued their protest.

At one point, SpeakerKodela Sivaprasada Raosaid he would refer the sug-gestion made by LegislativeAffairs Minister YanamalaRamakrishnudu for the‘automatic suspension ofmembers who disrupt theproceedings repeatedly’ tothe Rules Committee. It,however, did not deter theMLAs. They raised theirpitch, forcing the Chair toadjourn the House.

Row in AndhraHouse over SCSGovernment says it’s a closed chapterStaff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Kodela Sivaprasada Rao

Prominent Tamil writer andSahitya Akademi winnerAshokamitran, who power-fully portrayed the lives andstruggles of the urbanmiddle-class life in his liter-ary works, died, aged 86, onThursday night. He col-lapsed at home. He is sur-vived by wife and three sons.

Born Tyagarajan onSeptember 22, 1931, he laterassumed the pen name,Ashokamitran. He was oneof the few writers who wrotefluently in both Tamil andEnglish and was also knownoutside Tamil Nadu as mostof his works were translatedinto English and other Indianlanguages.

In a career spanning oversix decades, he wrote eightnovels, 20 novellas, hun-dreds of short stories, com-mentaries on a wide range ofissues, and profiles of per-sonalities. He was given theSahitya Akademi Award in1996 for his work AppavinSnegidhar, a collection ofshort stories. Twice, he wasawarded the creative writing

fellowship at the Universityof Iowa.

Full-time professionHe took on writing as a full-time profession at a timewhen it was ‘unviable’. “Ihave witnessed all kinds ofdifficulties that a full-timewriter will face,” he said inan interview to the now de-funct magazine Subham-angala. Satire and, some-times, subtle humour werethe trademark of his writ-ings. Tamil writer Jeyamo-han said: “Without anydoubt, Ashokamitran andPudumaipithan are the twogeniuses of modern Tamil lit-

erature. And in the case ofAshokamitran, he has beenwriting for almost 40 years,and retained the fire rightthrough.”

Journalist and writerGnani called Ashokamitran afriend, philosopher andguide to all his associates.Talking about his prose,Gnani said, “It was shorn ofall adornments, but was veryprofound. He used to saythat the reader would doubtif he was indeed a goodwriter, going just by theprose.” He went on to addthat Ashokamitran’s womencharacters were very strongand sustained life despiteseveral odds. Amsan Kumarwho made a documentaryon Ashokamitran in 2003said it was admirable that henever considered himself thecelebrity he actually was. Hewas grounded, humble, andfriendly.

As the editor of Tamil lit-erary magazine Kanaiyaazhifor almost 25 years,Ashokamitran always main-tained close links with themainstream media and hisworks were published in all

the leading journals andnewspapers.

Authority on filmsHe also wrote with authorityon films. His novel,Karaindha Nizhalgal, was aninsider's fictionalised ac-count of the Tamil filmworld. Everyone involved infilm-making, from drivers,light men, choreographers,to assistants found a place inhis book.

He gained intimate know-ledge of the film world andthe making of films duringhis stint as an employee inthe public relations depart-ment of Gemini Studios.Later, he wrote on his associ-ation with S.S. Vasan of Gem-ini Studios, My Years withBoss, in which he recalls anincident when Vasan askedhim to perform some menialtask. He resisted and quit.

“Even though P.S. Ra-maiah and Pudhumaipithanalso worked closely with thefilm world, their literaryworks hardly touched uponthe film world,” said S. Ra-makrishnan, Tamil writer.Ashokamitran also wrote

about classical music. It wasa strange coincidence that hespent his childhood days inPolagam, a small village inThanjavur where PapanasamSivan lived.

Though his family be-longed to Mayiladuthurai, hisparents lived in Secundera-bad until Ashokamitran was20. He based his novel Path-inetaavathu Atchakodu onthe city. His father was afriend of S.S. Vasan who pub-lished Ananda Vikatan. Laterin life, he developed a greatfondness for American writ-ing and films, and was a reg-ular at the library in theAmerican Consulate.

He kept himself abreast ofthe latest writings in Englishand Tamil, and had a goodrelationship with otherwriters. He was close friendswith T. Janakiraman, Ka.Naa. Subramaniam, IndiraParthasarathy, SundaraRamasamy and Nakulan, andhas even written about theirworks and his relationshipwith them.

His youngest son T. Ra-makrishnan is an AssociateEditor with The Hindu.

Tamil writer Ashokamitran deadSatire and subtle humour were the trademark of the Sahitya Akademi award winner

B. Kolappan

CHENNAI

Ashokamitran

The Hassan district adminis-tration has failed to convincea section of Dalits in Chakena-halli of the Holenarsipur talukagainst participating in therisky ritual of ‘Sidi’ during thetwo-day annual fair of Udus-alamma temple beginningFriday. Dalits, who take partin the ritual regularly, havetold the administration thatthey take part in it “voluntar-ily” to fulfil a religious vow.

The ritual involves men be-ing tied to a wooden pole

with hooks inserted in theirbodies and women walkingwith their mouths lockedwith iron hooks.

A controversy broke outafter some members of thefamily refused to participatethis year and wanted the dis-trict administration to inter-vene and stop the ritual. Afterthe Hassan district unit of theDalit Hakkugala Samiti ap-pealed to the administrationto stop the ritual, H.L. Naga-raj, Assistant Commissioner,Renukumar, tahsildar ofHolenarsipur, and senior po-

lice officers held meetingswith representatives of thevillages. “We told them thatthe government would not al-low such rituals. But four per-sons (Dalits) have given astatement that they wouldtake part voluntarily,” Mr. Re-nukumar said.

The Dalits believe thattheir forefathers stole paddyfrom a rich farmer’s houseand were saved from hiswrath by deity Udusalamma.They believe the deity savedthem after they promised totake part in the ritual.

Dalits speak in diferent voices on Hassan ritualSome want Karnataka government to stop ‘Sidi’, others say participation in ‘risky’ event is voluntary

Sathish G.T.

Hassan

Getting ready: Preparations for the Sidi ritual are under way atHariharapura in Holenarasipur taluk. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Anganwadi workers fromacross Karnataka, who hadbeen camping on the streetsin thousands demanding awage hike, ended theirprotest on Thursday afterthe government promisedto hold talks on April 10.

The Karnataka State An-ganwadi Workers’ Associ-ation withdrew the strikeafter a meeting with ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah.

The April 10 meeting will

discuss the workers’ de-mand for an increase inhonorarium to ₹10,000 and₹7,500 for anganwadi work-ers and helpers, respect-ively.

Minister for Women andChild DevelopmentUmashree said the Stategovernment could not makeany announcement now asthe model code of conductwas in place in view of theby-polls to the Nanjangudand Gundlupet Assemblyconstituencies on April 9.

Karnataka anganwadi

workers call of 4-day stirGovt. to hold talks on April 10

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU




CMYK

A ND-ND

NATION

Ranthambore reservenow home to 62 tigersJAIPUR

The Ranthambore Tiger

Reserve in Rajasthan’s Sawai

Madhopur district is now

home to 62 tigers, which is

the highest ever in the park’s

history. In a written reply to

an unstarred question in the

Assembly, the State

government said the number

of tigers in the reserve has

increased over the years.

However, the number of big

cats is more than the reserve’s

capacity, leading to migration

and territorial adjustment of

weak and adult tigers. PTI

IN BRIEF

MP govt blacklistswriter of MA textbookBHOPAL

The Madhya Pradesh

government on Thursday told

the Assembly that writer and

publisher of a MA geography

textbook, which is alleged to

have “derogatory” references

to Gond tribals, are

“blacklisted” and will face

legal action. The Leader of

the Opposition, Ajay Singh,

said a chapter in the book

wrongly described the Gond

tribal community as “cow

killers” and “beef eaters.” He

had dubbed the book

“derogatory” to the tribe. PTI

Firearms seized ahead ofbypoll in Bhind; 2 heldBHIND (MP)

A large number of firearms

being allegedly carried

illegally were seized from two

men in the district, ahead of

the bypoll to the Ater

Assembly seat here, the

police said on Thursday. The

two persons, identified as

Mohar Singh (35) and Maan

Singh (22) have been held,

they said. The seized firearms

included four 315 bore rifles,

one 12 bore rifle, four 12 bore

hand guns, two country-made

pistols and 20 cartridges. PTI

Three doctors, three nursesand a sweeper of a govern-ment hospital in Uttar Pra-desh have faced disciplin-ary action for their role inthe death of a toddler dueto negligence, the NationalHuman Rights Commissionsaid on Thursday.

NHRC interventionActing on the interventionof the NHRC in the matter,the Uttar Pradesh Govern-ment initiated disciplinaryproceedings against thethree doctors, including thechief medical officer, of theDistrict Government Hos-pital in Bahraich for negli-gence leading to the deathof a 10-month-old child onAugust 9, 2016.

In addition, the govern-ment terminated the ser-vices of a staff nurse andsweeper. Another nurse wassuspended and departmentaction was started againsther and another nurse.

The NHRC observed thatthe incident was a “clear

case of violation of humanrights of the child” and re-commended monetary re-lief of ₹1 lakh to be paid bepaid to the victim’s familyby the government.

Staff demanded bribeRunning a temperature, thetoddler had been brought tothe hospital’s children’sward, where a nurse al-legedly demanded a bribefrom the family to help.

The demands for moneycontinued throughout thehospital stay, with asweeper asking for moneyto put the child on a bed.

A medical assistant askedfor money the next morningto give an injection that wascrucial for the child’s treat-ment.

After the staff and thechild’s family argued, theinjection was brought, but itwas too late for the boy whodied before it wasadministered.

The NHRC had taken suomotu cognisance of the caseon August 11, 2016 based onmedia reports.

‘Action taken againstnegligent medical staf ’Toddler died due to lack of proper care

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHIThe UP police have arrested a22-year-old man for allegedlyposting an objectionable pho-tograph and comment onFacebook against UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath.

The accused has beenidentified as Rahat Khan,who lives in Dankaur policestation area in Greater Noida.The accused told the policethat he didn't know who hadposted the photo from his ac-count. “Acting on the com-plaint of Hindu Yuva Vahini,an FIR has been lodgedagainst him. We have arres-ted him under the IT act andhe will be produced in thecity court on Friday,” saidDankaur police station in-charge Rajpal Tomar.

Area still tenseA controversial comment hadalso allegedly been postedwith the photograph that wasposted on March 19. OneNaveen Sharma and otherworkers of Hindu Yuva Vahinihad lodged the complaint.The area has remained tensefollowing the incident and

senior police officers saidthey would keep a close tabon the situation.

IT probe soonMr. Tomar said Rahat Khanruns a Jan Suvidha Kendra (afacilitation centre for fasterassistance of various govern-ment works) in Dankaur.

The police said that it willseek the help of IT experts toestablish whether RahatKhan himself had posted thepicture or not. “We will ex-amine from which terminal

the photograph and com-ment was posted. We will tryto locate that machine aswell,” a senior police officersaid. The police also said thatit appears screenshots weretaken from a controversialvideo and Yogi Adiyanath’sface was morphed into it.

The police had, on March21, arrested three people inBareilly, Amethi andGhazipur on three separateincidents on charges of post-ing “objectionable” picturesof the CM.

CM’s photo lands man in troubleThe 22-year-old was arrested for Facebook post; FIR lodged on complaint iled by ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’

Cracking the whip: The police had earlier arrested threeperson on similar charges. * SANDEEP SAXENA

Purusharth Aradhak

Dankaur

The State government’s moveto provide vitamin-enrichedand ready-to-use therapeuticfood to malnourishedchildren has borne fruit, witha large number of youngstersnow leading healthy lives.

The Community-basedManagement of AcuteMalnutrition (CMAM)— aproject undertaken by thegovernment in December2015— has helped in treating9,117 children below 5 yearswho were suffering from

severe acute malnutrition(SAM). UNICEF, GlobalAlliance for ImprovedNutrition, and Action AgainstHunger are the projectpartners.

Nutrition kitKarauli in eastern

Rajasthan is among the 13districts where the initiativewas launched in its firstphase. Here, doctors at theprimary health centres andaccredited social healthactivists (ASHA) have beenworking to identify and

provide the nutrition kit tochildren. The kit usuallyconsists of an energy-densenutrition supplement, locallyknown as Poshan Amrit,antibiotics and de-wormingtablets.

Three-and-a-half-year-oldVishakha, a resident ofFatehpur village situated 18km away from Karauli,survived after theintervention of village ASHABebi Devi. A year ago, shewas suffering from diarrhoeaand fever and was not eatinganything for several days at a

stretch. Vishakha’s fatherRamdayal Koli, aconstruction labourer, toldThe Hindu that the girl wasfirst admitted to theMalnutrition TreatmentCentre in Karauli for 15 days,after which Ms. Devi gave thekit to the family.

Survivor's storiesFor the next two months,

the activists visited Mr. Koli’shome every day to review thegirl’s health condition.Vishakha has now recoveredand gained weight. She also

regularly attends theAnganwadi centre in thevillage.

Similarly, four-year-oldRadhika and three-year-oldKanha in Fatehpur haveovercome the risk ofmortality after regularlyconsuming the ready-to-usefood. Karauli Chief Medicaland Health Officer, RamroopMeena, said the CMAM hadturned out to be “verysuccessful” in the district andthe Todabhim block hadbeen recently felicitated forits achievements.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Rajasthan’s move to provide therapeutic food helps tackle malnutritionAs many as 9,117 malnourished children aged below 5 years in the State are now leading healthy lives

In the pink: Vishakha (3), who was earlier sufering frommalnutrition, with her father Ramdayal Koli. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Mohammed Iqbal

KARAULI (RAJASTHAN)

The ABVP staged a protesthere demanding actionagainst an Aligarh MuslimUniversity (AMU) pro-fessor for allegedly mak-ing anti-Modi statementsand fuelling resentmentagainst the present gov-ernment’s Kashmir policy.

Effigy burntThe Akhil Bharatiya Vidy-arthi Parishad (ABVP) act-ivists burnt an effigy ofAMU Vice Chancellor LtGen (retd) Zameer UddinShah on Wednesday andissued a “72—hour ulti-matum” to the universityauthorities for taking pun-itive action against theprofessor, failing whichthey threatened to launchan agitation.

The ABVP has deman-ded the district adminis-tration’s intervention inthe matter if the univer-sity authorities do nottake any action, ABVPspokesman Dhiraj Choud-hary said on Thursday.

They also accused theAMU authorities of“shielding” Prof MajidKhan of the department ofIslamic Studies instead oftaking action on the basisof the complaint againsthim by his own students.

When contacted, AMUVice Chancellor told PTI,“We have zero tolerancefor any sort of anti-na-tional activity and the al-legation that we are tryingto shield anyone is totallybaseless. There is no evid-ence whatsoever againstthe Professor.”

ABVP seeks actionagainst AMU profPress Trust of India

Aligarh




CMYK

A ND-ND

NATION

IN BRIEF

Navy Everest expeditionteam flagged offNEW DELHI

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil

Lanba on Thursday formally

flagged off the 28-member

expedition team to Mount

Everest, which will attempt to

summit the peak in May this

year. The members were

selected from a pool of 100

personnel from various ships,

submarines, aircraft

Squadrons and

establishments of the Navy,

Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar,

Controller Personnel Services

told the media.

Jumbo rescue efort, spread over two days, has happy endingA 10-year-oldmale elephantthat fell into a65-feet dry wellin Coimbatorewas lifted tosafety in asix-hour-longoperation onThursday.

Two entrepreneurs were de-tained by the police for sixhours for posing questions toChief Minister Nitish Kumarat a start-up summit held inPatna on Tuesday.

The two entrepreneurs —Nemi Kumar Saraf (43), andSuresh Kumar Sharma (46),— were among hundreds ofentrepreneurs invited to the“4th Bihar EntrepreneurshipSummit-Start-up”, organisedby the Bihar EntrepreneursAssociation.

Mr. Kumar was the chiefguest, and State IndustriesMinister Jai Kumar Singh andtop officials were alsopresent. But when the twoentrepreneurs rose to pitchtheir ideas while raising is-sues of transparency in gov-ernment approval of start-upprojects and on the harass-ment from banks for loans,they invited the ire of the po-lice. Though the CM in hisspeech acknowledged theirsuggestions and instructed

officials to pay heed to theircomplaints, the police offi-cials detained the duo afterMr. Kumar left the venue.

‘Not allowed to eat’Speaking of the ensuing trau-matic ordeal, Mr. Saraf toldThe Hindu, “I, along withSuresh Kumar, was taken to

the local Gandhi Maidan po-lice station where police offi-cials questioned us like crim-inals and forced us to sitthere for six hours. We werenot allowed to eat, drink wa-ter or even go to toilet…ourmobile phones were seized.”

Mr. Saraf, a known socialfigure from Madhubani and

an RTI activist, said when thepolice were quizzing him inPatna, the local policereached his house and inter-rogated his wife and ageingparents.

Mr. Saraf said, “I also pro-posed that the governmentshould disclose the names ofapproved projects and givereasons for rejecting otherson its official website... tomake the process transpar-ent.”

Mr Sharma from Ch-haurahi village of Begusaraitoo spoke of his ordeal.

“I was falsely implicatedin a loan case by someonewho had purchased a ma-chine from me in2013…when I failed to getany response from anyquarter, I raised the issue be-fore the Chief Minister whileasking how an entrepreneurcould do business in theState...but, the policementook me under detention,”Mr Sharma told The Hindu.

The two men who weretaken into detention at

around 1 p.m. were releasedat 8:10 p.m. and were forcedto state in writing that theyhad been treated well andwere being released in goodcondition by the police.

“We’d taken them underdetention to get the details-…name of one of them,Suresh Kumar Sharma, hascome up in a case…But wereleased them after gettingthe details,” was all Patna Su-perintendent of Police ManuMaharaj told journalists onThursday.

Responding to the incid-ent, State Industries MinisterJai Kumar Singh said,“Whatever had happenedwith the two, should nothave happened.”

CM’s response soughtOpposition BJP leaders havedemanded a response fromthe Chief Minister.

“If somebody asks ques-tion to the Chief Minister,should he face such action,”asked senior State BJP leaderNand Kishore Yadav.

2 Bihar entrepreneurs detainedThey raised questions of transparency with CM Nitish Kumar at start-up meet

Nitish Kumar with Industries Minister Jay Kumar Singh duringthe entrepreneurship summit in Patna. * RANJEET KUMAR

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

Ordeal begins: (Topright) Themale elephantcrying out in pain after

slipping into anabandonedwell at

Kovanur, nearPeriyanaickenpalayam,on Tuesday. Though it

fell from a height of 65feet, it was active.

(Right) Forest oicialsstarted the rescueoperations around

5.30 a.m. on Thursday.

Out of the woods: Around 8.30 a.m., the jumbowassedated. It was pulled out successfully by the Fire andRescue Services personnel whowere assisted by ForestDepartment oicials.

Heading home: (Top) After a wash, the jumbois administeredmedicines. Antibiotics andother drugsmixed with fruits were given to it.It joined its ive-member herd after beingreleased into the forest. * M. PERIASAMY

The Kolkata police haveconstituted a Special Invest-igation Team (SIT) to probethe cheating charges againstTrinamool Congress MPK.D. Singh’s chit fund com-pany, Alchemist.

Two directors of the com-pany are also named in theFIR by the city police. Thedirectors, including Mr.Singh’s son, have been ac-cused of raising ₹2.53 crorefrom small investors andusurping the money.

Though the news of theFIR emerged only on Wed-nesday, it was actually re-gistered on March 16, a daybefore the Calcutta HighCourt ordered the CBI in-

vestigation into the Naradacash-on-camera scam.

Amistake, says MamataWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said onThursday that she regrettedher decision to send Mr.Singh to the Rajya Sabha.

“Making K.D. Singh anMP was a blunder. What canI do now?” she said in an in-terview. “People learn fromtheir mistakes,” she said.Ms. Banerjee, however, saidshe had had no contact withMr. Singh for a very longtime. “He is in the RajyaSabha, so we need to be intouch occasionally for issu-ing whip and that is done byDerek [O’Brien]. Otherwisewe are not in touch.”

SIT to probe chargesagainst Trinamool MP

Firm’s two directors too named in FIRSpecial Correspondent

Kolkata

Screening, diagnosis andtreatment of people withtuberculosis is “sub-optimal”in Indian prisons, says astudy published recently.

Only 79 prisons (50%)screened new inmates at thetime of entry, and 92 prisons(59%) carried out periodic orregular screening. As a res-ult, the researchers from theDelhi-based InternationalUnion Against Tuberculosisand Lung Disease (TheUnion) were able to diagnose80 new TB cases by screen-ing nearly 5,100 prisoners.

These people “could havebeen missed in the existing[TB testing] system” in In-dian prisons.

157 prisons studiedThe study was conducted in157 prisons — central, districtand sub-district — thathoused 0.2 million inmates.There were 342 inmates withTB in 92 prisons when thestudy was carried out. Theresults were published in theInternational Journal of Infec-tious Diseases.

The study found an associ-ation between periodicscreening and TB patients

but no such associationbetween the entry-levelscreening and TB patients.

“Entry-level screeninghelps to identify TB patientsamong those prisoners/in-mates who are new in theprison. Regular screeningidentifies TB patients amongthose who have been in theprison for certain durationand are at higher risk [owingto prison conditions]. Ourstudy indicates that entry-level screening alone is notsufficient to diagnose all TBpatients in prisons andneeds to be supplementedwith regular screening,” Ba-

tional tuberculosisprogramme.

Though the availability ofdiagnostic facility in prisonsensures early diagnosis ofTB, the study found the avail-ability of diagnostic andtreatment services had “nosignificant” relation to TBdiagnosis. Central prisons,where inmates serve morethan two years of imprison-ment, had better facilities —doctors trained in TB pro-gramme (90%), periodicscreening (73%) and availab-ility of TB services (65%) —compared with district andsub-district prisons.

nuru Muralidhara Prasadfrom The Union and the firstauthor of the study says in anemail.

The WHO and The Unionadvocate regular screening.“In this study, regularscreening was limited to afew central and district pris-ons,” the paper notes.

Diagnostic facilityEntry-level screening is morein prisons which had a doc-tor and was the least in sub-district prisons. Though doc-tors are available in 129(89%) prisons, only 65%were trained under the na-

Researchers diagnosed 80 new cases by screening nearly 5,100 prisoners

R. Prasad

CHENNAI

TB diagnosis, treatment sub-optimal in prisons

Nine days after YogendraVasupal, co-founder of on-line home stay aggregatorStayzilla, was arrested by theCentral Crime Branch (CCB),a special court for CCB-CB-CID cases in Chennai onThursday dismissed the bailapplication moved by thestart-up entrepreneur.

Dismissing his bail plea,Special Metropolitan Magis-trate M.M. Kabir grantedone-day custody of Mr.Vasupal to the CCB. “TheCCB is granted custody ofthe accused from 3 p.m.today [Thursday] till 3 p.m.Friday,” the judge said.

On Wednesday, duringthe arguments on his bailplea, Mr. Vasupal contendedthat the criminal charges“foisted” against him werepart of pressure tactics tosettle a civil dispute betweenhim and the complainant,

C.S. Aditya of Jigsaw Advert-ising and Solutions PrivateLimited.

Criminal proceedingsOn March 14, the CCB initi-ated criminal proceedingsagainst Mr. Vasupal based ona complaint fromMr. Aditya,alleging that Stayzilla hadfailed to make payments forthe advertising servicesrendered by his companysince February 2016 and hasdefrauded him of ₹1.69crore. A case was registeredby the CCB against Mr.Vasupal and his partnerSarjit Singhi (absconding)for offences under Sections406 (Punishment for crim-inal breach of trust), 420(Cheating), 506 (i) (CriminalIntimidation) of the IPC.

Moving the bail applica-tion on behalf of the ac-cused, senior counsel B. Ku-mar said, “There is nowritten contract for the ser-

vices rendered. It was all anunderstanding between theparties.”

Contending that thewhole dispute was of a civilnature, Mr. Kumar said theleast police should havedone was to have enquiredthe petitioner about whatthe dispute was actuallyabout.

Opposing the application,Additional Public ProsecutorS. Manual Arasu said,“Prima facie this is a clearcase of cheating. The otheraccused is absconding and isyet to be arrested and it istoo early to allow the applic-ation considering the gravityof the offence.”

Pointing out that the CCBis receiving several othercomplaints against the ac-cused, Mr. Manual arguedthat there are high chancesof the accused tamperingwith witness and evidence ifenlarged on bail.

Judge grants one-day custody of accused to CCB

Sureshkumar

Chennai

Court dismisses bail plea ofStayzilla co-founder Vasupal

Bandh against killing ofCong leaderDHANBAD

Normal life was on Thursday

affected in the coal city of

Dhanbad following a bandh

called by the Congress to

protest against the killing of

party leader Neeraj Singh and

three others.

Railway passengers were

stranded at Dhanbad station

as private and public vehicles

were off the road. - PTI

An officer of the Jammu andKashmir traffic police wason Thursday suspendedafter a video, showing himtaking bribe from a truckdriver, went viral in socialmedia here.

The video, shot with amobile phone, has garneredmore than 80,000 views inabout seven hours after itwas uploaded on a socialnetworking site.

In the minute-long video,the police officer hints at thedriver to pay a bribe toavoid getting fined for wear-ing a ‘pheran’ (traditionalKashmiri cloak worn duringwinter).

The driver had ques-

tioned the police officer de-taining his vehicle as heclaimed to have all the docu-ments in order.

“I will photograph youand send it to the judgealong with the challan. I willtell him ( Judge) that he(driver) is driving an LP(long platform) truck wear-ing a pheran,” the officertells the driver before strik-ing an amiable chord withthe driver.

“We have friendship withyou (drivers). Why shouldwe fine you?” the officersays as the driver pulls out acurrency note and hands itto him.

The police officer then letthe driver go without impos-ing any fine.

Bribe taking videogoes viral in Srinagar

Traic police oicial suspended


Srinagar

Two police men takingbribe were on Thursdaycaught on camera by Pun-jab Minister ManpreetSingh Badal, who was trav-elling in a private carwithout the red beacon onit, the police said.

Doraha incidentThe incident took place atDoraha near Ludhiana.Badal, who was returningfrom Ferozepur after at-tending a function withoutany escort, saw two police-men taking bribe and shota video of the act, policesaid.

Later, the BathindaUrban MLA brought it tothe notice of senior policeofficials.

Cops takingbribe caughton cameraPress Trust of India

Chandigarh




CMYK

A ND-ND

EDITORIAL

In the face of competing claims from the two factions

of the AIADMK, the Election Commission did the

right thing in denying both the use of the party name

and the election symbol. While a majority of its mem-

bers of Parliament and the Tamil Nadu Assembly have

stayedwith the group headed byV.K. Sasikala, friend of

former Chief Minister and former party general secret-

ary Jayalalithaa, the EC deferred a inal decision on this

issue, and passed an interim order freezing the ‘Two

Leaves’ symbol for the purpose of the by-election in the

R.K. Nagar constituency in Chennai. In a way, this is a

signiicant victory for the faction led by E. Madhusud-

hananandO.Panneerselvam,whohavebeenmaintain-

ing that the Sasikala faction does not enjoy the support

of party leaders andworkers at diferent levels of theor-

ganisation. The decision, in efect, formalises the split

in the party after the death of Jayalalithaa, andprovides

a level playing ield to both factions in the by-election.

The order wrote itself: to favour one faction over the

other without examining in detail the veracity of the

rival claims of support within the organisation across

the State would have been unfair. This way, both fac-

tions are equally disadvantaged. Strangely, the two

parties have been allowed similar names: the Sasikala

faction opted for AIADMK (Amma), and the other fac-

tion AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma). Ideally, to

avoid confusion among voters, the names of the re-

spective leaders should have been given to the factions.

The by-election is critical for the future of both fac-

tions; in the event theyboth lose, the one that getsmore

votes is likely to be legitimised in the public eye as the

true AIADMK. Both factions know that they will have to

best the other before they can be ready to take on the

bigger enemy, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The

Sasikala faction raised the stakes by ielding T.T.V. Dh-

inakaran, a nephewofMs. Sasikalawhowas nominated

the party’s deputy general secretary. This high-risk

strategy canmakeor break the Sasikala family’s holdon

the party. A victory for Mr. Dhinakaran would give him

greater moral and political legitimacy within the party,

and, maybe, prepare the ground for a shot at the chief

ministership. It is no secret thatMs. Sasikala nominated

him to lead the party in her absence so that her family

could control both the party and the government led by

Edappadi K. Palaniswami. A victory forMr. Dhinakaran

would be a setback not only to the Panneerselvam fac-

tion, but also to the authority of Mr. Palaniswami in the

government. The opposition DMK, which made an un-

seemly bid to thwart the conidence vote moved by Mr.

Palaniswami last month, is well-placed in this election

despitehaving little to loseor gain from it. The focuswill

be on theAIADMK factions locked in a ight for survival.

Power of a symbolGiven the rival claims, the EC had no choice

but to freeze the AIADMK’s ‘Two Leaves’

By hosting the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Israel,

the two heavyweights in West Asia that do not

have formal diplomatic relations, in consecutive

weeks, Beijinghas sent yet another signal on its growing

appetite to deepen ties with the region. During the visit

of King Salman last week, China and Saudi Arabia an-

nounced an investment cooperation dealworth $65 bil-

lion thatwill boostpartnerships inields suchas energy,

inance and aerospace. Days later, Chinese President Xi

Jinpingmet Israeli PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu

in Beijing, where both leaders vowed to strengthen co-

operation in the technology and agriculture sectors.

Over the years China has built strong economic ties

with countries in West Asia, while staying clear of the

region’s several crises and hostilities. It is one of the top

buyers of oil from Saudi Arabia and a key trading part-

ner of Israel. For Iran, Beijing remained a trusted ally

even during the time of sanctions. Chinawas one of the

few countries that continued to buy oil from Iran when

most others, including India, either halted trade or im-

plemented massive cuts in imports under American

pressure. China’s economic ties with West Asia as-

sumed greater signiicance after Mr. Xi unveiled the

One Belt, One Road initiative. West Asia plays a major

role in this Silk Road revival plan,which theChinese be-

lieve will fortify their global standing.

Of late, China has showna greater interest in expand-

ing its engagement with the region beyond the eco-

nomic sphere. Its relationship with Iran has already ac-

quired strategic dimensions. It is one of the supporters

of theBashar al-Assad regime in civilwar-stricken Syria.

In the UN Security Council, China, along with Russia,

has consistently vetoed U.S.-backed resolutions on

Syria, while at the same time ofering to broker peace

between rival factions. China has also recognised

Palestine as a state andofered support for thePalestini-

ans. During hismeetingwithMr. Netanyahu,Mr. Xi said

peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine

would be good for both parties and the region. The

Chinese have also urged SaudiArabia and Israel towork

together to attain peace. All this indicates that China is

ready to end its strategic reluctance in dealing with

WestAsia and to adopt a gradualist proactivepolicy that

suits its proile as a fast-rising global power. But there

are risks as well. Unlike the U.S. and Russia, China has

traditionally played a risk-free global role, staying fo-

cussed on economic development. It lacks experience

innavigating thepolitical, religious, sectarianand tribal

tensions in West Asia, both among states and within

countries. The three major pillars of China’s West Asia

policy— Iran, SaudiArabia and Israel—are rival powers.

The challenge before Beijing, if it wants to enter the

troubled political waters of West Asia, is to maintain a

perfect balancing act.

Arc toWest AsiaBeijing hosts Saudi and Israeli leaders,

signalling a deepening regional engagement

During the general election of2014, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi had convincingly

demonstrated his extraordinaryskill in crafting an election cam-paign that was unlike any other —and not only by the standard of In-dian elections. The victory was apersonal triumph for campaignerModi. In the course of the electoralcampaign he had demonstrated atotal disdain for the kind of tacticspreviously adopted by the Bhar-atiya Janata Party, and had led theparty to a spectacular victory.

An issue uppermost in people’sminds at the time was whether themomentum could be sustained toachieve similar victories in futureelections to various State Assem-blies and the general election duein 2019. Some wrinkles did occursoon thereafter, with the party los-ing out to rivals in Bihar and Delhi(2015), and displaying an inabilityto breach regional bastions inWestBengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala(2016). It seemed to indicate thatthe BJP might not be able to repeatits 2014 success. The highly credit-able victory in Assam (2016) andthe party’s performance in UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipurand Goa (February-March, 2017)have removed such doubts. Mostcommentators seem reconciled toa Modi victory in the 2019 generalelection.

Overwhelming victoryU.P. was seen by many analysts asthe BJP’s likely ‘Achilles heel’, theonemost likely toderail its electiondynamic. Bywinning 325 seats, theBJP alliance has put paid to all suchprognostications. Further, it has ef-fectively consigned rival parties

such as the Samajwadi Party, Bahu-jan Samaj Party and Congress tonear irrelevance in U.P. politics.The vote shareof theBJP alliance inU.P. almost equals that of the nexttwo parties, the SP and BSP, com-bined, conirming the scale of vic-tory in the State.

In Uttarakhand, the BJPhumbled the Congress by increas-ing its vote share by over 13% to46.5%, compared to2012.TheCon-gress vote remained stagnant ataround 33.5%. In Manipur, the BJPmade substantial inroads into theCongress vote bank. In Goa, theBJP by and large maintained its2012 vote share. All this was indic-ative of a growing groundswell ofsupport for the BJP, relected againin sub-State elections, includingsigniicant advances in recent zillaparishad elections in Odisha and astrong showing in Mumbai localelections against the Shiv Sena.

Mr. Modi refrained this timefrom resorting to his 2014 high-tech campaign. The emphasis wason mega rallies, specially in U.P.,with him acting as the lead cam-paigner. No Prime Minister hadpreviously campaigned so hard orso extensively in any Stateelections.

Political disruptionDecoding the Modi Efect hencebecomes an objective necessity.The campaign seemed to involveboth a penchant for political dis-ruption as also a reliance on cer-tain unusual skills. These, farmorethan his ‘can do’ image, appear tobe the key to BJP’s success. Mr.Modi himself revealed an unerringinstinct for ‘voter sentiment’, espe-cially where it related to class andcaste issues, followed by an abilityto convert defeat into victory. Forinstance, and despite the pain ofdemonetisation, Mr. Modi couldconvince the commonman that hewas representing his interestsagainst ‘hoarders’ of ‘blackmoney’. Further, that he stood fora ‘developmental model’, impli-

citly distancing himself from anyrole either in weaving a ‘majorit-arian’ Indian ethos, or in endors-ing religious intolerance.

Strong leadership accompaniedby powerful oratory, often vergingondemagogy, and steeringhis ownpolitical ecosystem seemed to ac-count for the Prime Minister’s per-sonal appeal. This ‘leadershipmantra’ rather than the develop-ment agenda appeared to tilt thebalance, with Mr. Modi skilfullyprojecting an image of a ‘convic-tion’ politician in the line of power-ful leaders like Margaret Thatcher,Vladimir Putin andDonald Trump.

Complementing his mass ap-peal was the crucial importancethe Prime Minister attached tomessaging and propaganda.Linked to this was also the skilfuluse of social media, and utilisationof Twitter and other forms forsending short pithy messages, in-cluding at times unveriied facts.

Mr. Modi’s command and mas-tery over the political narrativeclearly helped to outmanoeuvrethe Opposition, which was unableto ofer any counter-intuitive nar-rative. He also communicated withtheelectoratemoreefectively, andcould convince them — rightly orwrongly — that whatever he wasdoing was for their beneit. Ithelped sidestep contentious issuessuch as the exclusion of the entire

Muslim minority from the BJP’selectoral calculus.

Notwithstanding the latest elect-oral success, itwouldbeprudent tohoist certain danger signals. Forone, identiication of the PrimeMinister as the biggest vote-catcher, leading to an image of be-ing bigger than the party, couldhave a long-term adverse politicalfallout. A comparison could bemade with the current fate of theCongress, which was led at onetime by giants such as Pandit Jawa-harlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi,leaderswith great ideas and a deepcommitment to certain funda-mental principles andbeliefs.Withthe passage of time and over-cent-ralisation of power, however, theCongress seems to have lost muchof its past élan. Themessage is thatno one can ignore the reality thatas individuals gain wider salienceover the organisation and its ideo-logy, it often leads to a party’sdecline.

For another, the rise of thecentre-right narrative on national-ism, secularism and social justicehas the potential to damage India’smost precious legacy, one whichhas stood the test of time, viz. In-dia’s commitment to certain funda-mental principles, beliefs and pre-cepts. It is this which had enabledIndia to not only negotiate its waythrough some of the most diicultperiods in its history, but also tohold its own in the comity ofnations.

For a third, the habit of ‘contriv-ing’ majorities can prove ex-tremely shortsighted. Narrowingof the social base to achieve win-ning combinations can be highlydeleterious in the medium and thelonger, and perhaps even in theshort, term.

One should not also overlookthe fact that the U.P. outcome wasthe result mainly of the ‘reinven-tion of electoral mobilisation’. Itshould not lead ‘believers’ to thinkthat the nation is in syncwith someof themore disruptive policies and

programmes that were highlightedduring the course of these elec-tions.

Mastery over the narrative mayhave helped create ‘alternativeideologies’, but this canprove tobeas dangerous as ‘alternative facts’.Exclusion of the Muslim minorityfrom theBJP’s electoral calculus onthis occasion may have helped theBJP, but the fallout can be serious.Closing the mind to other possibil-ities can only lead to a widening ofthe fault lines in society and in thenation,whatever be the temporarybeneit. Ignoring the larger picturecould have disastrous results.

Heed the lessons of history‘Winners’ must also heed the les-sons of history. Spectacular victor-ies donot comewithout their shareof concerns. Demonstration ofleadership, with the Prime Minis-ter scoring over rival leaders onthis occasion, paved the way forvictory in U.P. Yet, in the ultimateanalysis, there is noone single tem-plate for leadership, nor any win-ning formula for all time. This timearound, thePrimeMinister and theBJP leadership succeeded in shap-ing the agenda around issues bestsuited to them, and could inveiglethe electorate to back them. Thismay not always be possible.

Conventional wisdom today isthat the Prime Minister representsa new model of change-related as-pirational India. Strong populistleadersmay succeed for a time, butit may be a mistake to think thatdemocracy would reject Establish-ment leaders over populist onesover the longer haul.Many a leaderin the past has confronted this real-ity sooner rather than later.

In the ultimate analysis, rootingforPrimeMinisterModi at this timemay be understandable, but root-ing for him as the ‘Platonic ideal’may be inadvisable.

M.K. Narayanan is a former NationalSecurity Adviser and former Governor ofWest Bengal

Decoding the Modi efectExclusion of the Muslim minority from its electoral calculus may have helped the BJP, but the fallout can be serious

M.K. Narayanan

*RAJEEVBHATT

It takes money to make money.CSIR-Tech, the commercialisa-tion arm of the Council of Sci-

entiic and Industrial Research(CSIR), realised this the hard waywhen it had to shut down its opera-tions for lackof funds. CSIRhasiledmore than 13,000 patents — 4,500in India and8,800abroad—at a costof ₹50 crore over the last threeyears. Across years, that’s a lot oftaxpayers’ money, which in turnmeans that the closing of CSIR-Techis a tacit admission that its work hasbeen an expensive mistake — a mis-take that we tax-paying citizenshave paid for.

Recently, CSIR’s Director-Gen-eral Girish Sahni claimed that mostof CSIR’s patents were “bio-datapatents”, iled solely to enhance thevalue of a scientist’s resume andthat the extensive expenditure ofpublic funds spent in iling andmaintaining patents was unviable.CSIR claims to have licensed a per-centage of its patents, but has so farfailed to show any revenue earnedfrom the licences. This compulsivehoarding of patents has come at ahuge cost. If CSIR-Tech wasprivately run, it would have beenshut down long ago.Acquiring Intel-

lectual Property Rights (IPR) comesout of our blind adherence to theidea of patenting as an index of in-novation. The private sector com-mercialises patents through the li-censing of technology and the saleof patented products to recover themoney spent in R&D. But when thefunds for R&D come from publicsources, mimicking the private sec-tormay not be the best option.

Patents andmoral hazardWhile it’s true that it costs lakhs ofrupees to get a patent in India, gov-ernment-funded research organisa-tions are likely to spend moremoney on patents so long as theyare not asked to bear the risk. Reck-

less iling of patents using publicfunds may be explained by the eco-nomic concept of moral hazard. Ac-cording to economist Paul Krug-man, it happens in “any situation inwhich one person makes the de-cision about howmuch risk to take,while someone else bears the cost ifthings go badly”. In the case of pub-lic-funded research, the reckless il-ing of patents without due diligenceresults from themoral hazard of thegovernment bearing the risk of pat-ents that don’t generate revenue. Inthe insurance sector, moral hazardrefers to the loss-increasing beha-viour of the insured who acts reck-lessly when the loss is covered byanother. Insurance companiescheck moral hazard by introducingcopayment from the insured. Dr.Sahni’s statement that CSIR laborat-ories need to bear 25% of expensesfor their patents acknowledges themoral hazard.

The National IPR Policy releasedlast year does not ofer anyguideline ondistinguishing IPR gen-erated using public funds fromprivate ones — it views every IPRwith private objectives by insistingon commercialisation. Dissemina-tion of technology to the masses,participation innation-building andcreating public goods are rarely ob-

jectives that drive theprivate sector.The IPR policy of some publicly-funded research institutions allowsfor 30-70% of the income generatedthrough the commercialisation ofthe patent to be sharedwith the cre-ators of the invention, i.e., scientistsand professors on the payroll of thegovernment. Such a policy couldpromote private aggrandisementand may work against public in-terest. In contrast, the IPR policy ofprivate companies does not allowfor a payback on the share of royal-ties earned by patents.

Possible solutionThe fate of CSIR-Tech is proof thatthe current model of commercial-isation does not work with respectto publicly-funded research. So,how do we ensure that public-fun-ded research reaches the massesand check the excessive iling of pat-ents without due diligence? A pos-sible solution to preserve the ob-jective of publicly funded researchis to devise an IPR policy whereinpatents are initially ofered on anopen royalty-free licence to start-ups. Once start-ups commercialisethe inventions successfully, the roy-alty-free licence could be convertedinto a revenue-sharingmodel.

It is predominantly taxpayers’

money that goes into public-fundedresearch. When research is com-mercialised by private entities, ittends to be sold back to thepublic ata price. America is in the midst ofsuch a conundrum, where talks aregoing on of granting French phar-maceutical company Sanoi exclus-ive licence for the drug against theZika virus — a drug which hasalready cost the American ex-chequer $43 million in R&D. Grant-ing Sanoi thiswould defeat the pur-pose of public funds expended onresearch as the company wouldcharge the American public againfor the life-saving drug.

Putting granted patents on anopen licence can be testimony tothe commercial viability of thethingswe are patenting using publicmoney. Not only would it bring asense of accountability to the man-agers who run the system but itwould alsoopenuppublicly-fundedresearch to awhole lot of people, es-pecially start-ups, who can nowtest, verify, work and put the paten-ted technology into themarket.

Feroz Ali is the IPR Chair Professor atIIT-Madras and part of a ShuttleworthFoundation project on access tomedicines. Shweta Mohandas is theResearch Associate with the IPR Chair,IIT-M

The compulsive patent hoarding disorderThe current model of commercialisation does not work for publicly funded research

Feroz Ali & Shweta Mohandas

*GETTYIM

AGES

PAN and AadhaarThe FinanceMinister hastaken an unwarranted andhasty decision to link thePAN card with the Aadhaarcard when the issue ispending in the SupremeCourt (“Jaitey stronglydefends PAN-Aadhaar link”,March 23). The Aadhaarsystem is yet to stabilise andcontinues to have teethingtroubles. The data are notcomprehensive andfoolproof. If a person is ableto get more than one PANcard or passport, it meansthat there are faults in thesystemwhich need to berectiied. A PAN card doesnot contain the holder’saddress and so this mayresult in issuing of manyPAN cards.When theAadhaar card wasintroduced, people thoughtit would serve all purposes.However, this does notseem to be the case.I.V. Prabhakara Rao,

Hyderabad

‘Two Leaves’ for noneIt is clear that bitterinighting in the AIADMK

has grievously hurt theprospects of both thefactions (“‘Two leaves’symbol frozen by EC forR.K. Nagar bypoll”, March23). Neither the V.K.Sasikala faction nor the O.Panneerselvam faction cannow face the electorate asthe real AIADMK, the legacyof MGR and Jayalalithaa.WhenMGR split with theDMK and started his ownparty, he rode the wave topower thanks to hischarisma and popularity.Jayalalithaa too wascharismatic. Both T.T.V.Dinakaran andMr.Panneerselvam lack theability to attract votes likethose leaders did, thoughMr. Panneerselvam canclaim that ‘Amma’ hadalways reposed faith in him.The Election Commission’sdecision could work infavour of the DMK.C.V. Aravind,

Chennai

The EC’s prudent decisiondeserves praise. That theruling AIADMK is in direstraits now is an

indisputable fact. The R.K.Nagar bypoll will now be anacid test for both the rivalfactions of the party toprove their strength. Asthings stands now, it lookslike Mr. Panneerselvam’sfactionmay stand to gain.M. Jeyaram,

Sholavandan, Madurai

In pursuit of happinessNotmany can deine‘happiness’ in the way thatthe writer has in his piece(“Themany shades ofhappiness”, March 23).Todaymorning, I waslistening to a song called ‘Yekisne geet chheda’ by S.D.Burman and sung byMukesh and SumanKalyanpur. It gavemegoosebumps. I replayed itmany times because itstruck a chord. Happinessresides in small momentslike these. It is notpermanent, but amomentary feeling. It’s onlybecause happymomentsend that people say ‘liveeverymoment’. Ironically,while craving formorehappiness, one forgets to

live in the present.Vyom Bharadvaj,

Kansal, Mohali

Tribute to Anil DivanMany years ago, I had theopportunity to interact withAnil Divan, whowas ourcompany’s legal counsel onmatters pertaining totaxation (“RememberingAnil Divan”, March 23).Meetings with him gavemelessons on not only law butalso on the economics of themarketplace in whichweoperated. On severaloccasions I have beenoverawed by the toweringintellect of theman.Above all, Divan was kind.He treatedmewith respectand evaluatedmy points ofview carefully. I should addthat I had no qualiication inlaw andmy position was nothigh in the hierarchy of ourorganisation.T.E. Kannan,

Chennai

Switching loyaltiesStrange are the ways of ourpoliticians. Seeing S.M.Krishna switch over to the

Bharatiya Janata Party afterbeing a veteranCongressman for decades, Iwonder about ourpoliticians’ commitment tothe ideologies they professto follow (“Aftermonths ofsuspense, Krishna inallyjoins BJP”, March 24). Theideology of the BJP isdiametrically opposite tothat of the Congress. ThatMr. Krishna suddenly wentto the party which isanathema to the Congress ishard to digest.V. Subramanian,

Chennai

Meat shopsSealing several

slaughterhouses andmeatshops in Uttar Pradesh isnot a goodmove (“3meatshops vandalised in westernU.P.”, March 23). What willthe poor, who aredependent on this for theirlivelihood, do?Won’t itafect the economy? TheChief Minister should focuson bringing down the crimerate against women andminorities in the Stateinstead of indulging inmeasures that couldpolarise the population.Zaheeruddin,

Sant Kabir Nagar, U.P.

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corrections & clarifications:

>>Oversight: A report on the Supreme Court’s order cancellingadmissions to twomedical colleges in Kerala (March 23, 2017) wascarried in the front page aswell as an inside page in some editions.

>>A sentence in the storyheadlined“India slips inhumandevel-opment index” (March 22, 2017) — quoting the 2016 HumanDevel-opment Report — said 1.5 million people worldwide still lived inmultidimensional poverty. It should have been 1.5 billion people.

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DATA POINT

For someone who sputtered ontothe national stage as a “strokelesswonder” debuting for India againsta West Indies in its prime in 1983,Navjot Singh Sidhu has certainlymetamorphosed into a stroke-maker par excellence in the worldshe has inhabited over a storied ca-

reer — cricket, where he emerged as India’s inest Test openerin the intervening period between Sunil Gavaskar andVirender Sehwag; as a cricket commentator and entertain-ment personality whose wisecracks and turns of phrase evenprompted the coining of the term ‘Sidhuisms’; and politics,transitioning from a trophy acquisition for the BharatiyaJanata Party in 2004 to incumbent Minister in Punjab.Yet Mr. Sidhu has always worn his weighty political resume

lightly. The three-time parliamentarian thought nothing ofconining himself to the Bigg Boss house in 2012, or playingsecond iddle in comedian Kapil Sharma’s eponymous televi-sion shows. It shouldn’t surprise, then, that days into assum-ing oice as Minister of Local Government, Tourism, CulturalAfairs, Archives and Museums, Mr. Sidhu has insisted thathe’d continue appearing alongside Sharma.

The quirks of powerThe Advocate General of Punjab’s opinion will eventually de-termine if theminister can indeed take theeveninglight out ofChandigarh to Mumbai every Saturday. But whether hislaughter escapades constitute a breach of ‘oice of proit’ ornot, Mr. Sidhu’s “what I do after 6 p.m. is nobody’s business”outburst throws up essential questions for our public sphere.It punctures the hubris aroundpolitics being a 24x7x365 voca-tion, something that has forced its practitioners to wrap a veilof secrecy around their downtime. At any rate, what’s ‘full-timeministership’ when the politician in power constantly al-ternates between governance agent and partyman caught in apermanent campaign?

Mr. Sidhu has also pitched the gig as an economic imperat-ive, claiminghis only earnings nowwere from this show.Givenhow ‘full-timers’ havemadepolitics an avenue for personal ag-grandisement and turned public oice into a byword for rent-seeking, lassoing himwith the ‘oice of proit’ clause is just thekind of rule-book hypocrisy we could do without. Our politicsneeds space for entirely new imaginings, for mavericks whosee it not from the lofty heights of public service but as a job tobe done and be held to account at the hustings.

Critics, however, argue that Mr. Sidhu’s insistence is mereposturing forweightierportfolios.Havingoverplayedhishandwith theAamAadmiParty after exiting theBJP last year, hehashad to settle for much less. In trademark Congress style, eventhe question ofwho is the number two in the Cabinet has beensuitably obfuscated with Mr. Sidhu being sworn in after ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh and Health Minister Brahm Mo-hindra. If this is indeed a bargaining chip fromSherry, here’s aSidhuism for solace: “Boss, make hay while things are goinghaywire.”

Sherry-pickingFar frommaking a laughing stock out ofgovernance, Navjot Singh Sidhu hasopened up new imaginings

ABDUS SALAM


SINGLE FILE

*PTI

This debate is academic.A switchover to the pres-idential system is not pos-sible under our presentconstitutional scheme be-

cause of the ‘basic structure’ doc-trine propounded by the SupremeCourt in 1973 which has been accep-ted by the political class without re-servation, except for an abortive at-tempt during the Emergency byIndira Gandhi’s government to haveit overturned. The Constituent As-sembly had made an informed

choice after considering both theBritish model and the Americanmodel and after Dr. B.R. Ambedkarhad drawn up a balance sheet oftheir merits and demerits. To alterthe informed choice made by theConstituent Assembly would violatethe ‘basic structure’ of the Constitu-tion. I must clarify that I have been acritic of the ‘basic structure’doctrine.

Abuse of power worriesA presidential system centralises

power in one individualunlike the parliamentarysystem, where the PrimeMinister is the first amongequals. The surrender tothe authority of one indi-vidual, as in the presiden-tial system, is dangerousfor democracy. The over-centralisation of power in one indi-vidual is something we have toguard against. Those who argue infavour of a presidential system oftenstate that the safeguards and checksare in place: that a powerful Presid-ent can be stalled by a powerful le-gislature. But if the legislature isdominated by the same party to

which the President be-longs, a charismatic Pres-ident or a “strong Presid-ent” may prevent anymove from the legis-lature. On the otherhand, if the legislature isdominated by a party op-posed to the President’s

party and decides to checkmatehim, it could lead to a stalemate ingovernance because both the Pres-ident and the legislature would havedemocratic legitimacy.

A diverse country like India can-not function without consensus-building. This “winner takes it all”approach, which is a necessary con-

sequence of the presidential system,is likely to lead to a situation wherethe views of an individual can rideroughshod over the interests of dif-ferent segments.

What about the States?The other argument, that it is easierto bring talent to governance in apresidential system, is specious.You can get ‘outside’ talent in a par-liamentary system too. Right fromC.D. Deshmukh to T.A. Pai to Man-mohan Singh to M.G.K. Menon toRaja Ramanna, talent has been com-ing into the parliamentary systemwith the added safeguard of demo-cratic accountability, because the

‘outsiders’ have to get elected afterassuming office. On the other hand,bringing ‘outside’ talent in a presid-ential system without people beingdemocratically elected would deterpeople from giving independent ad-vice to the chief executive becausethey owe their appointment tohim/her.

Those who speak in favour of apresidential system have only theCentre in mind. They have notthought of the logical consequence,which is that we will have to movesimultaneously to a “gubernatorial”form in the States. A switch at theCentre will also require a change inthe States. Are we ready for that?

Do we need a presidential system?The surrender to the authority of one individual, as in

the presidential system, is dangerous for democracy

LEFT, RIGHT, CENTRE

LEFT

Raju Ramachandran

is a senior advocate at

the Supreme Court

of India

Our parliamentarysystem is a perversityonly the British couldhave devised: to votefor a legislature in or-

der to form the executive. It hascreated a unique breed of legis-lator, largely unqualified to legis-late, who has sought election onlyin order to wield executive power.There is no genuine separation ofpowers: the legislature cannot trulyhold the executive accountablesince the government wields themajority in the House. The parlia-mentary system does not permitthe existence of a legislature dis-tinct from the executive, applyingits collective mind freely to the na-tion’s laws.

For 25 years till 2014, our systemhas also produced coalition govern-ments which have been obliged tofocus more on politics than onpolicy or performance. It hasforced governments to concentrateless on governing than on staying inoffice, and obliged them to cater tothe lowest common denominatorof their coalitions, since with-drawal of support can bring gov-ernments down. The parliament-ary system has distorted the votingpreferences of an electorate thatknows which individuals it wantsbut not necessarily which partiesor policies. Voters who want to see,say, Narendra Modi as Prime Minis-ter or Mamata Banerjee as ChiefMinister, have to vote for an MP

they may not care for,merely because he be-longs to Mr. Modi’s or Ms.Banerjee’s party.

Failures in the systemIndia’s many challengesrequire political arrange-ments that permit decisive action,whereas ours increasingly promotedrift and indecision. We must havea system of government whoseleaders can focus on governancerather than on staying in power.

A system of directly elected chiefexecutives at all levels – panchayatchiefs, town mayors, Chief Minis-ters (or Governors) and a nationalPresident – elected for a fixed termof office, invulnerable to the whimsof the legislature, and with clearlydefined authority in their respect-ive domains – would permit Indiato deal more efficiently with its crit-

ical economic and socialchallenges.

Cabinet posts wouldnot be limited to thosewho are electable ratherthan those who are able.At the end of a fixedperiod of time — say the

same five years we currently ac-cord to our Lok Sabha — the publicwould be able to judge the indi-vidual on performance in improv-ing the lives of Indians, rather thanon political skill at keeping a gov-ernment in office.

The fear that an elected Presid-ent could become a Caesar is ill-founded since the President’spower would be balanced by dir-ectly elected chief executives in theStates. In any case, the Emergencydemonstrated that even a parlia-mentary system can be distorted topermit autocratic rule. Dictatorship

is not the result of a particular typeof governmental system.

Direct accountabilityIndeed, the President would haveto work with Parliament to get hisbudget through or to pass specificBills. India’s fragmented polity,with dozens of political parties inthe fray, makes a U.S.-style two-party gridlock in Parliament im-possible. An Indian presidency, in-stead of facing a monolithic opposi-tion, would have the opportunityto build issue-based coalitions ondifferent issues, mobilising differ-ent temporary alliances of differentsmaller parties from one policy tothe next – the opposite of the dictat-orial steamroller some fear a pres-idential system could produce.

Any politician with aspirations torule India as President will have towin the support of people beyond

his or her home turf; he or she willhave to reach out to differentgroups, interests, and minorities.And since the directly elected Pres-ident will not have coalition part-ners to blame for his or her inac-tion, a presidential term will haveto be justified in terms of results,and accountability will be directand personal.

Democracy, as I have long ar-gued, is vital for India’s survival: weare right to be proud of it. But fewIndians are proud of the kind ofpolitics our democracy has inflic-ted upon us. With the needs andchallenges of one-sixth of humanitybefore our leaders, we must have ademocracy that delivers progressto our people.

Changing to a presidential sys-tem is the best way of ensuring ademocracy that works. It is time fora change.

Changing to a presidential system is the best way of

ensuring a democracy that works

RIGHTShashi Tharoor

is a Congress MP,

author, and a former

United Nations oicial

I think the debate hasa life cycle of its own.It has been brought upand discussedwhenever there has

been a super-majority government.From Jawaharlal Nehru to IndiraGandhi to the present, the presid-ential system has been debated ex-tensively around two aspects: is itdesirable, and second, is it feasible?

To tackle the second aspect first,unless the Supreme Court changesits mind, any such amendmentwould violate the ‘basic structure’of the Constitution as was decidedwith, and since, the Kesavnanda

Bharti case. There is no way to getaround this unless the SupremeCourt now takes a wholly differentview.

Different modelsOn the desirability aspect, whichpresidential system are we talkingabout when we pit the Americanpresidential system against theWestminster model? In the Amer-ican system, the President appointshis officers; they have limited ten-ure and their offices are confirmedby the Senate (Upper House). Then,we have the Latin American model,where some Constitutions give

Presidents a term oftenamounting to a life tenurelike in Cuba. There areplenty of models tochoose from and there arearguments against each.So, which system is beingargued for when the vo-taries of change seek ashift to the presidential system?

Our Rajya Sabha cannot be com-pared to the U.S. Senate whereeach state has its own Constitutionand has the power to change it. Therelationship between the states andthe federal government is ex-traordinary; as is the status of theircourts and the manner of appoint-ment of judges. I do not thinkpeople have thought about it.Merely stating that a change to the

presidential system isneeded does not meanmuch. The Indian debatecurrently is not focussedon the kind of presiden-tial system envisaged.What is the term we areseeking for the Presid-ent? Should he/she be

re-elected? If so, for how manyterms? Then, who decides thechange? Parliament? All this re-quires a massive amendment to the‘basic structure’ of the Constitu-tion. The Supreme Court has speltits view on the ‘basic structure’ ofthe Constitution.

Giving an opinion is one thing. Ajudgment is a more carefully con-sidered conclusion. Those whosupport the presidential system

should do their homework whenthey argue against the parliament-ary system. There is also the matterof separation of powers. In the U.S.,the President, who is also the Su-preme Commander, has the powerto veto the Congress. Does Indianeed this? The manner of removingthe U.S. President through im-peachment is a very complex pro-cess. There is also the possibility ofaggregating more powers to thePresident.

One could argue that the parlia-mentary system too runs a similarrisk. I do not think it has beenthought over. It is not on the tableyet.

Reform the processOn the other hand, there are ideas

going around about reforming theelectoral processes to make demo-cracy more robust. From limitingexpenditure of political parties anddeciding the ceiling on the ex-penditure, to holding simultaneouselections, declaring the results for acombination of booths instead ofconstituencies — I think it is advis-able to debate this and ensure thatthe gaping loopholes in the elect-oral processes are speedilyplugged.

The present parliamentary sys-tem has been tried and tested fornearly 70 years. Rather thanchange the system, why not reformthoroughly and cleanse the elect-oral processes?

As told to Anuradha Raman

Rather than change the system, why not reform

thoroughly and cleanse the electoral processes?

CENTREUpendra Baxi

is a legal scholar and

the former

vice-chancellor of

Delhi University

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Morarji Desai, admitted inthe Lok Sabha to-day [March 23, New Delhi] that devaluationhad not done the good “it was supposed to do”. Mr. Desai,who faced a volley of questions on the effects of devaluationon the country’s economy, categorically ruled out any possib-ility of a further devaluation. “As long as it lies in my power,there will be no further devaluation,” he said. Mr. Desai madeit clear there was no proposal for devaluation before the Gov-ernment. Asked if the Government would consider revalu-ation of the rupee, Mr. Desai said it could be done only bystrengthening the economy of the country. “We are consider-ing what is to be done about this and we shall do that”.

FIFTY YEARS AGO MARCH 24, 1967

Morarji: purpose of devaluation not achieved


FROM ARCHIVES

A member of the staff writes: The Hospital Ship “Madras” leftBombay on the 27th February at 11 A.M. As passengers toBasra, the following were taken on board at Bombay:- 105Stretcher Bearers, 5 British Hospital Orderlies, one NursingSister and One Red Cross Depot Clerk. A quite uneventful pas-sage was made to Basra which was reached on the 5th Marchabout noon. Here we found everyone in a state of great jubila-tion over our overwhelmingly decisive victory at Shamranand the air was full of rumours, which were later to be con-firmed, that our troops had entered Baghdad. A cinema showwas given in the evening and we had a very gratifying attend-ance from the shore.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO MARCH 24, 1917

Hospital Ship “Madras”

The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title disputetook a new turn in the Su-preme Court with theChief Justice of India, J.S.Khehar, advising the rivalparties to have an out-of-court settlement. This isnot the first time the courthas given this advice in thedispute.

In 1994, a ConstitutionBench of the court in Dr.M. Ismail Faruqui v. Unionof India had said the Ayod-hya dispute cannot, in na-tional interest, afford aloser.

The Bench was hearingthe constitutional validityof the Acquisition of Cer-tain Area at Ayodhya Act,1993 and the maintainabil-ity of the Special Refer-ence made by the Presid-ent. The court based itsviews on facts stated in theWhite Paper on Ayodhyaof February 1993, issuedby the Centre.

The majority view ofthe Bench by Justice J.S.Verma for himself, then

Chief Justice of India M.N.Venkatachaliah, andJustice G.N. Ray quotedJonathan Swift’s “we havejust enough religion tomake us hate, but notenough to make us loveone another” to conveythe nation’s predicament.

They advocated out-of-court negotiations whileterming the demolition ofthe 16th century structurea “communal holocaust”.

“This is a matter suitedessentially to resolution bynegotiations which doesnot end in a winner and aloser while adjudicationleads to that end. It is inthe national interest thatthere is no loser at the endof the process adopted forresolution of the disputeso that the final outcomedoes not leave behind anyrancour in anyone. Thiscan be achieved by a nego-tiated solution on the basisof which a decree can beobtained in terms of suchsolution in these suits. Un-less a solution is foundwhich leaves everyonehappy, that cannot be the

beginning for continuedharmony between ‘we thepeople of India’,” JusticeVerma observed in the ma-jority verdict.

In their dissenting view,Justices S. Bharucha andA.M. Ahmadi on the Benchsaid the court should re-ject the Reference out-right. A judicial opinioncan be used as a spring-board for favouring onecommunity over the other.

“Ayodhya is a storm thatwill pass. The dignity andhonour of the SupremeCourt cannot be com-promised because of it,”Justice Bharucha wrote.

In September 2010, aBench of Justices R.V.Raveendran and H.L.Gokhale held divergentopinions on whether theAllahabad High Courtshould pronounce its judg-ment on the Ayodhya titledispute. Justice Gokhalesuggested further negoti-ations, saying a judgmentmay trigger passions anddestroy communal har-mony, but JusticeRaveendran was sceptical.

For a formula for Ayodhya

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ACT ONE

The SC has advised out-of-court settlements before

Krishnadas Rajagopal

Domino theory/Political ScienceThis theory gained cur-rency during the height ofthe Cold War to argue forand justify American inter-ventionism across theglobe, especially in South-east Asia, and CentralAmerica in the 1980s. Itheld that the communistadvance has to be resisted,because the fall of one na-tion to communism cre-ates congenial conditionsfor a similar replication inthe neighbourhood. Theverdict on the theory’s ro-bustness is mixed, withcritics pointing to Thail-and, Indonesia, and otherlarge Southeast Asiancountries not succumbingto communist takeovers asa case in point, and othersarguing that it was Amer-ican involvement thatstemmed a wider spread.

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CONCEPTUAL

TheHindu explains: ‘free’election symbolshttp://bit.ly/2o8RleY

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MORE ON

THE WEB 3

The Traditional KnowledgeDatabase Library (TKDL), amarquee organisation of theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research that hasfought biopiracy fordecades, will cease to existin its current form. It has nocommitted funds beyondMarch, most of its workforcehas been removed and thesestaffers are litigating againstCSIR.

It will no longer be anorganisation that once pro-actively scouted forintellectual propertyinfringements by Indian andforeign companies ontraditional knowledge inareas.

TKDL is an online

repository of about 300,000formulations from Ayurveda,Siddha and Unani systems.Over two decades, the bodytranslated, scanned anddigitised texts from theirSanskrit, Arabic and Urduoriginals. This was then

made searchable, allowingpatent offices in India,Europe, the United States,United Kingdom, Canada,Australia and Japan to checkif patent applicants of herbalconcoctions, creams anddrugs were basing their

claims on availabletraditional knowledge.

Even before TKDLopened, India overturnedpatents in the U.S. andEurope on neem andturmeric products. Between2009 and 2015, 219 patentswere denied to Indian andforeign companies based onTKDL’s challenges, includingUnilever, Colgate-Palmolive,Avesthagen, thegovernment’s CentralCouncil For Research inUnani Medicine, and YaleUniversity in the U.S.

Yet, the organisation wasseen in pharmaceuticalcircles as a “patent blocker,”a person familiar with TKDLactivities until 2012 said.“Over the years, it made ithard for companies, many

Indian, to developformulations and naturallythere was lobbying againstit,” the source said.

Challenges endSince 2016 there have beenno patent challenges byTKDL. The 100-oddemployees — on projectcontracts — includingAyurveda experts,intellectual-propertyanalysts and IT staff aredown to about 50. Even theyare likely to be terminatedby March 31 and havelaunched a dispute withCSIR in the CentralAdministrative Tribunal(CAT). The dispute began inlate 2015 but CSIR told CATthat funds for CSIR-TKDLwere sanctioned between

April 2012 and March 31,2017.

There would be no“budgetary provisions forsalary of staff beyond thisdate,” documents viewed byThe Hindu show. Staffers,requesting anonymity, saidsalaries were not raised forfive years, and they weretold projects would end inMarch. This, in spite of only60% of the digitisation oftraditional texts beingcompleted and a project tointegrate 1,500 yoga asanas(with video) only 25% done.

Girish Sahni, Director-General, CSIR deniedreports that TKDL wasdying.

It would be “fullysupported in an expanded,advanced way.”

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With no funds, ancient knowledge hub faces a grim futureMost of its workforce has been removed and the stafers are litigating against the Council of Scientiic and Industrial Research

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

Natural remedies:Herbs, seen here at an ayurveda expo inNewDelhi, are documented by the CSIR database. * AFP

CMYK

A ND-ND




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

The news from Bahraincame even as the Telanganagovernment urged Ms. Swa-raj to free 29 Indian workersemployed in a company inSaudi Arabia.

Ms. Swaraj had instructedthe Indian Embassy in Riy-adh to look into the case.

The cases from Bahrainand Saudi Arabia are thelatest in a series of incidentsinvolving a large number ofIndian workers from the

Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) countries. Ms. Swarajhad to intervene in July 2016to help nearly 800 Indianworkers who had beenstarving because of lack ofmoney and resources inSaudi Arabia. The GCCcountries account for thelargest number of overseasIndian workers and remaina steady source of foreignremittances to the Indianeconomy.

500 Indians incrisis in Bahrain

It was then supposed to beoperated to Goa at 10.55a.m.

“After arrival of the flight,all passengers disembarkedexcept the MP. The MP washolding an open businessclass ticket and wanted totravel on this flight,” thestatement said. The airlinesaid the MP’s PA had been intouch with its Pune Airportmanager from Wednesdayregarding the MP’s travel toDelhi.

“The airport managertold the PA this is an all eco-nomy flight operated regu-larly. Since the MP wantedto travel on this flight he wasallotted the seat in the firstrow itself since there is nobusiness class on this flight,”the statement said.

Air India said after the MPrefused to leave the aircraftfor almost an hour, the air-line's shift manager reques-ted Mr. Gaikwad to deplanesince 115 passengers werewaiting to board the flight toGoa.

“While the staff was re-questing, the MP becameabusive and started hittingAI employee with slippers.Mr. Gaikwad also tried tothrow him out from the air-craft and was stopped byother AI staff,” the state-ment said. The 60-year-oldemployee, R. Sukumar is aduty manager with AirIndia.

MP admits hittingWhile talking to TV chan-nels, Mr. Gaikwad admittedthat he did hit the Air Indiaemployee and said it is theairline that should apologiseto him instead because itsstaff had first misbehavedwith him.

“Yes, I beat him with mysandal 25 times. Should Itolerate abuses just becauseI'm an MP?” Mr Gaikwadtold TV channels. “I can tryto make someone under-stand something 10 timesbut if they don't, then I willbeat them. It is the airlinethat is at mistake and theyshould apologise to me,” hesaid.

In the complaint given tothe police, Mr. Sukumar ex-plained the turns of eventsthat took place on the flight.He alleged that the ShivSena MP had refused to de-

board the aircraft after re-peated requests.

Demands meetingAccording to the complaint,Mr. Gaikwad wanted tomeet the top management,to which Mr. Sukumar, DutyManager and in-charge ofthe flight, told him that itwas not possible and ex-plaied that he and his teamwould have to dispatch theflight to Goa on time forwhich 115 passengers werewaiting. Mr. Sukumar al-leged that upon hearingthis, Mr Gaikwad abusedhim and forced him to speakin Hindi.

“He used foul languageand bad words against meand abused me with all badwords against me and hestarted beating me and tookout his slippers and startedhitting me,” wrote Mr.Sukumar.

He also wrote that in theprocess, Mr Gaikwad brokehis spectacles and “toreaway the button” of his car-digan.

“I can only say God saveour country if this is the cul-ture and behaviour of ourMPs,” he added.

Medical examinationMr. Sukumar was sent formedical examination afterthe results of which the po-lice decided against lodgingan FIR based on the com-plaint at the moment.

“We have got the medicalreport. There is no cogniz-able offence made as per thereport. We are seeking legalopinion and according tothat, action will be taken,”DCP (Airport) Sanjay Bhatiatold The Hindu.

Shiv Sena MP hits AIstaf with footwear

Ravindra Gaikwad

A Supreme Court Bench ofJustices P.C. Ghose and Ro-hinton Nariman on Thursdayposted the CBI appealagainst dropping criminalconspiracy charge againsttop BJP leaders, includingveteran L.K. Advani, for de-tailed hearing after twoweeks.

The Bench reassembledon Thursday with JusticeNariman returning as puisnejudge, but Mr. Advani’s coun-sel, senior advocate K.K.Venugopal, told the Benchthat he was on his legs in an-other part-heard disputebetween two factions of aKerala church.

“We will adjourn it

then...” Mr. Ghose said. Mr.Nariman asked the lawyerspresent, Additional SolicitorGeneral N.K. Kaul for the CBIand senior advocate KapilSibal for another party,

among others, to file writtensubmissions before the nexthearing on April 6.

“You all file your writtensubmissions, so we can focuson the issues in the matter,”Mr. Nariman said.

Conspiracy chargeMr. Nariman, who made cut-ting remarks at the March 6hearing that the conspiracycharge against the leadersshould be revived, was ab-sent at the hearing on Wed-nesday.

Mr. Ghose was sitting withJustice Deepak Gupta, whileMr. Nariman was headinganother Bench. Mr. Ghosehad adjourned the hearingby 24 hours for Mr. Narimanto return to the Bench.

SC defers Babri casefor detailed hearingFile written submissions before April 6, court tells parties

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

L.K. Advani

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday briefedBJP members of Parliamentfrom Uttar Pradesh, daysafter the Yogi Adityanathgovernment was sworn inafter the party won absolutemajority in the State in therecent elections.

Mr. Modi told the mem-bers to work hard in theirconstituencies and regionsto ensure that developmentwork progressed there andthe schemes of the Centrewere communicated to thepeople.

Sounds cautionThe meeting comes after Mr.Modi pulled up BJP MPs forskipping Parliament, sayinghe could not attend theHouse for them.

Sources say the Thursday

meeting saw the Prime Min-ister sounding a note of cau-tion for the MPs.

Now, with the BJP itself inpower in Uttar Pradesh, MPsfrom the State should not in-terfere in the functioning of

the State government, Mr.Modi is said to have stated.

Mr. Modi’s words are be-ing seen as an attempt tomake the party pick up effi-ciently from here in theState.

Uttar Pradesh being In-dia’s most populous State, itis very crucial for Mr. Modi’s2019 campaign, for whichthe recent elections haveprovided him the perfectlaunchpad.

Work hard, U.P. BJP MPs toldBut they should not interfere in functioning of State government, says Modi


NEW DELHI

Assessing situation:U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathmakes a surprise visit to theHazratganj police station, in Lucknow, on Thursday. * RAJEEV BHATT

The clamour in the Congressfor vice-president RahulGandhi to take over as pres-ident of the party will in-crease as soon as he returnsfrom abroad with ailingmother Sonia Gandhi, aparty functionary told The

Hindu.

He said senior leaderswould impress on Mr.Gandhi that time is runningout for him and the party,and that he needs to takecharge immediately, andform his team — and formu-late his strategy — for 2019.

Party sources said thatMr. Gandhi was likely to re-turn late on Thursday night.

Though Congress mem-bers, reeling between angerand despair ever since theresults of the Assembly elec-tions came in on March 11,seem to be running out ofpatience, they are stillunited in their understand-ing that Mr. Gandhi shouldcontinue to be their leader,as Ms. Gandhi is now toofrail to play an active role.

Conversations with across section reveal thatparty members feel there isstill no credible alternativein the party to the Gandhiswho, they say, act as the glue

that is holding the party to-gether.

Growing pressureGiven this understanding,there is growing pressure fora clean sweep of all the cur-rent functionaries who havebeen at the helm for the lasttwo decades and more.

They point particularly tothe manner in which the BJPupstaged the Congress inManipur and Goa, eventhough the party hademerged as the single largestin both States.

Meanwhile, the debate inthe party over the need toform a coalition of opposi-tion parties to take on theBJP ahead of the 2019 fed-

eral elections is also gainingmomentum. While some areopposed to it, pointing tothe disastrous results in Ut-tar Pradesh, many others —from Mani Shankar Aiyar toC.P. Joshi — are pushing forit. There is a third group ofold-timers — who currentlydo not hold any posts — whosay it will be acceptable onlyif the Congress has a centralrole in any coalition that isformed.

WhenMr. Gandhi returns,he will have his plate full:but if he does not embark onthe task of restructuring theparty — as he had promisedin the immediate aftermathof the poll results — it will beanother opportunity lost.

Clamour for Rahultakeover set to mountNo credible alternative to the Gandhis, feel partymen

Smita Gupta

New Delhi

Waiting for a new dawn:Outside the AICC headquarters inNewDelhi. * FILE PHOTO

“How can you seal aslaughter house which hasall the required NOCs andpapers like mine? If thismeat establishment wasfunctioning illegally andflouting rules then why didyou not question the NOCthat my factory has got fromseven departments,” saidMr. Akhlaq.

Highlighting that meatwould not be available inthe market as the State gov-ernment has virtually de-clared every slaughterhouse to be “illegal”, Mr.Akhlaq said, “We will meetthe District Magistrate (DM)and the Commissioner andask them to provide liveli-hood to thousands ofpeople. Then what kind ofrule of law is this whichlooks more like anemergency?”

He said that the “preju-

diced way in which BJP gov-ernment was shutting downall meat establishments, itwould not only affect a bulkof India’s meat export but itwill also render several lakhpeople, who are associatedwith the meat trade directlyor indirectly, unemployed.What kind of vikas (develop-ment) is this as this is goingto cost the leather industry,which is one of the biggestexporting industries in In-dia, very badly”.

Meanwhile the BJP Mayorof Meerut HarikantAhluwalia doesn't wantmeat to be sold in openmar-ket even legally.

Mr. Ahluwalia and otherBJP leaders on Thursday ap-proached the DM againstselling of meat in the openmarket, especially in placeswhich also have temples inits vicinity.

Meat traders shut shopacross western U.P.

India on Thursday advisedPakistan to control terror-ism emanating from its ter-ritory and maintain diplo-matic decorum. The officialcomment came onThursday after the HighCommissioner of PakistanAbdul Basit raised the issueof Kashmir during hisspeech that he delivered tomark Pakistan Day that wasobserved on Thursday.

“We have seen media re-ports about Pakistan HighCommissioner’s remarkstoday regarding the State ofJammu and Kashmir. Theyare not in keeping with dip-lomatic niceties and are tan-tamount to interference inour internal affairs,” said of-ficial spokesperson of the

Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) Gopal Baglay. He fur-ther added, “Pakistanwould be well-advised to ef-fectively address the chal-lenge of terrorism emanat-ing from that country,which has adversely af-fected peace and stability inthe entire neighbourhood aswell as Pakistan’s relationswith other countries.”

Pak. told to maintaindiplomatic decorumIndia faults envoy’s remarks


NEW DELHI

Abdul Basit

Seeking to send a strongmessage that laxity in enfor-cing law and order will notbe tolerated, the Uttar Pra-desh police have suspendedover 100 policemen sincethe Yogi Adityanath govern-ment assumed office.

Most of these suspensionswere in Ghaziabad, Meerutand Noida. In Lucknow,seven inspectors have beensuspended. The crackdownfollowed directives issued

by DGP Javeed Ahmed a fewdays ago to identify the“black sheep” among thepolicemen.

U.P. Police PRO RahulSrivastava said, “More than100 policemen, mostly con-stables, have been suspen-ded as per the directives ofthe DGP to identify theblack sheep and take exem-plary action against them.”

The order was issued toall the superintendents ofpolice after Mr. Adityanathassumed office.

Over 100 policemensuspended in U.P.Adityanath govt. cracks the whip


Lucknow

Odisha has sought addi-tional two more battalionsof Central Armed PoliceForce (CAPF) to intensify itsanti-Maoist operation in theState.

Director General of PoliceK.B. Singh on Thursday helddiscussions with Special DG(Central Zone) of CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)and raised the issue formore forces to deal with

left-wing extremists sneak-ing into the State fromneighbouring States.

At present, 16 battalionsof Central forces have beendeployed in Odisha in com-parison to more than over100 battalions each in Ch-hattisgarh and Jharkhand,government sources said.

Planning strategy“We discussed redeploy-ment of paramilitary forces,joint combing operation in

Naxal-hit areas and activit-ies of LWEs in the neigh-bouring States. Our focus isto combat extremist groupsin Kalahandi, Rayagada andMalkanagiri districts,” saidMr. Singh.

On Naxalites targetingpublic after branding themas police informers, policeDG said, “We are trying toidentify as to who are thepotential targets of extrem-ists. They will be cautionedin advance,” he said.

Odisha govt. seeks moreforces to ight MaoistsDemands two more units of Central Armed Police Force

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee onThursday stood beside poetSrijato Bandyopadhyayagainst whom a Hindutvagroup has lodged an FIR forwriting a poem allegedlyhurting Hindu sentiments.

“There will be no prob-lem and I will take full care. I

have asked the police to con-duct an investigation intothe matter and submit thereport to me. Do not worry,”Ms. Banerjee said during aninterview to a local newschannel here this evening.

She said that a particularpolitical party, which hastaken up “saffronising”, wasbehind lodging the com-plaint and threatening the

poet on a social networkingsite.

Ms. Banerjee said: “Theyare threatening him [Sri-jato]. He has beenthreatened in a worst man-ner. A particular politicalparty is threatening him. Iwill take the names of thosewho are up to saffronising.They are threateningeverybody.”


Kolkata

Police probing FIR against poet: Mamata

The Congress on Thursdaystaged a walkout in the As-sembly, claiming that ClassX and XII students werewriting their Board exam-inations in darkness due topower cuts.

Congress MLAs Kam-leshwar Patel and RampalSingh raised the issue ofpower cuts in Sidhi, Sin-grauli, Rewa, Satna, Shah-dol, Bhopal, Indore andsome other districtsthrough a calling attentionmotion.

Power cutsduring boardexams alleged


Bhopal

The police have arrested aman involved in a relation-ship with a 15-year-old girl,who was killed allegedly byher father for honour, in

Charthawal town here.In a suspected case of

honour killing, the minorgirl was murdered on Wed-nesday allegedly by herfather who was against herrelationship with the man.

Man held for assaulting minor


Muzaffarnagar

CMYK

A ND-ND




NEWS

Engage all stakeholders,says Farooq AbdullahSRINAGAR

NC leader Farooq Abdullah

said here on Thursday that

the Centre could not resolve

the Kashmir issue unilaterally

and all stakeholders,

including separatists, should

be engaged. “I want to

remind Home Minister

Rajnath Singh that the issues

in Kashmir cannot be

resolved unilaterally. PTI

IN BRIEF

Three more Ministersinducted in ManipurIMPHAL

Three more Ministers were

inducted into the BJP-led

Biren Singh Cabinet in

Manipur on Thursday.

Governor Najma Heptullah

administered the oath of

office and secrecy to Nemcha

Haokip, T. Radheshyam and

V. Hankhalian from

Kangpokpi, Thoubal and

Churachandpur, respectively.

Power supply to SPleader’s plants snappedMUZAFFARNAGAR

Power connections of three

chilling plants of a local

Samajwadi Party leader have

been snapped by officials

over dues of ₹ 1.35 crore here.

SP Muzaffarnagar city

president Rashid Siddiqui

owns the three plants. PTI

The Government of India feltanguish and pain over theSri Lankan military’s allegedwar crimes against unarmedTamils in the 2009 war, saidExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj in an unusu-ally strong observation onthe nation’s human rights re-cord.

Ms. Swaraj said India wascommitted to the protectionof the rights of the Tamils inthe Island nation, even asthe U.N. Human RightsCouncil (HRC) appeared setto take up a crucial resolu-tion on the issue on Friday.

“The anguish with whichthe members have raised theissue [of crimes committedduring the war of 2009], thegovernment associates itselfwith the same pain,” Ms Swa-raj said.

“Our aim is to protect theinterests of Tamils in SriLanka. You can achieve thisthrough two means: byeither doing it forcefully orthrough persuasion with thefriendly country,” she saidanswering a question fromD. Raja of the CommunistParty of India (CPI).

HRC sessionThe Minister’s commentscame in the backdrop of the34th Session of the U.N. Hu-man Rights Council (HRC),where the report of the Of-

fice of the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Hu-man Rights (HCHR) on SriLanka was presented.

The report assessed theprogress made in the imple-mentation of UNHRC resolu-tion 30/1, on human rightsand reconciliation betweenOctober 2015 and January2017, and suggested thatmore efforts were neededfor the improvement of thehuman rights situation of SriLanka.

The HRC’s session is com-ing to an end on Friday and,despite criticism of Colom-bo’s human rights record,

the resolution is expected toget another extension.

Raja’s poserMs. Swaraj said India’s rolein the HRC had been guidedby the belief that humanrights concerns of the SriLankan Tamils could be ad-dressed in a “constructiveand inclusive” manner. How-ever, Mr. Raja sought clarific-ation on how long Indiacould wait for Colombo toact on human rights con-cerns.

“The war in Sri Lanka wasover in 2009, but the govern-ment of Sri Lanka has not

done anything to punishthose accused of war crimesagainst unarmed Tamils.There have been similar viol-ence in other parts of theworld, but reconciliationand accountability havebeen practised following thewar. But in the case of SriLanka, the government hasshown total disrespect to in-ternational concerns,” saidMr. Raja. He urged the gov-ernment to work with SriLanka for greater humanrights accountability.

Ms. Swaraj, however, saidIndia had adopted a con-sensus-based approach onSri Lanka and would ensurethat the pluralistic identity ofthe country was preserved.“As Sri Lanka’s closest neigh-bour, India cannot remainuntouched by the develop-ments in that country. Wehope that with the sagacityand political will of its lead-ership and the support of itspeople, Sri Lanka willachieve genuine reconcili-ation and development,”,she said.

But Mr. Raja said Indiashould not appear like aparty which was also helpingSri Lanka in skirting ac-countability in human rightsviolations. “India helped SriLanka fight the Tamil Tigers.Is there a guilt consciencethat India is trying to hide bynot exposing Sri Lanka’s in-action,” he asked.

Sushma backs Tamil causeSays Sri Lankan ‘war crimes’ have caused pain and anguish for India

Firm stand: Sushma Swaraj says India is committed to theprotection of the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka. * PTI

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj onThursday said the U.S. Con-gress had not passed anyBills that could put curbs onissuing H-1B visas for IndianIT professionals.

Speaking in the RajyaSabha, Ms. Swaraj said thatthere was no “hangingsword” over Indian com-

munity members employedunder H-1B visa or L1 visacategories.

Dialogue with U.S.“Four Bills have certainlycome to the U.S. Congressbut they have not beenpassed so far. We are con-ducting a dialogue with theU.S. at a very high level re-garding this ... We are mak-ing all efforts (through diplo-

matic channels) to ensurethese Bills are not passed,”Ms. Swaraj said. “So there isno reason to worry about itas of now,” she said explain-ing that the visa policy of theU.S. had always varied. TheMinister pointed out thateven before Donald Trumpbecame President, the U.S.had “flip-flopped” on theH1B visa policy.

“In 1990, when H-1B visas

were first introduced, only65,000 visas were issued. In2000, it was raised to1,95,000, which was calledthe Visa Reform Act. In 2004the number of these visaswas again reversed to65,000 by the U.S. under an-other Visa Reform Act. Sothere has been a flip-flop onthis policy even before Don-ald Trump government,” shesaid.

No cause for worry over H-1B visaThere is no ‘hanging sword’ over Indian community members, says Minister


NEW DELHI

The Central government hasurged the Supreme Court toprovide the necessary lead-ership for expeditious andeffective resolution of com-mercial disputes in Delhiand Mumbai lower courts,through e-filing and e-ser-vice of summons and adher-ence to time lines.

In a letter to Chief Justiceof India J.S. Khehar, UnionLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said there were cer-tain issues that could be ad-dressed by the judiciarythrough its initiatives in thelarger interest of efficientand effective delivery ofjustice.

He said the SupremeCourt could provide the ne-cessary leadership for theproper implementation ofthe existing provisions of theCivil Procedure Code relat-ing to the grant of adjourn-ments, adherence to timelines and electronic filingand electronic service ofsummons in city courts ofDelhi (11) and Mumbai (60)immediately.

“Doing so will go a longway in providing timely andeffective enforcement ofcontracts and this will un-doubtedly ensure a markedimprovement in our rank-ing. I would request you tokindly take steps to sharethis information with theDelhi and the Bombay HighCourts and seek their assist-ance in implementing thesemeasures with utmost prior-ity,” said Mr. Prasad.

Ease of doing businessHe said the government ac-corded high priority to im-proving the ease of doingbusiness and making India afavourable investment des-

tination for the domestic aswell as global investors. Effi-cient and effective deliveryof justice played a key role.

“The World Bank pub-lishes a report on “DoingBusiness” on annual basis,which compares the busi-ness regulations across 190economies. As per the re-port published by the WorldBank in September 2016, In-dia’s overall ranking im-proved from 131 in 2016 to130 in 2017. The overall rank-ing is an average of the vari-ous sub-indicators on thebasis of which the countrieshave been ranked. Thesesub-indicators include thetime taken to start a busi-ness, time taken to get con-struction permits, payingtaxes and enforcing con-tracts,” said the letter.

The “Enforcing Contract”indicator in the report meas-ures the time and cost forresolving a standardisedcommercial dispute througha local court of first instance,which for the purpose of theranking is the Delhi districtcourt and Mumbai city civilcourt as of now.

‘Help speed up resolutionof commercial disputes’Centre seeks SC’s assistance for efective delivery of justice


NEW DELHI

Ravishankar Prasad

The Defence Ministry willlook into the possibility ofhaving a separate fast-trackprocurement process in In-formation and Communic-ation Technologies (ICT),said Minister of State forDefence Subhash Bhamreon Thursday.

“The suggestion fromthe Signal Officer-in-Chief[SO-in-C] to create a separ-ate category of fast trackprocurement for ICTequipment which are veryseverely and rapidly ef-fected by technological ob-solescence is a very goodsuggestion … I will follow itup with the staff in theministry,” he said speakingat the Defcom India 2017conference jointly organ-ised by the Army’s Corps ofSignals and the Confedera-tion of Indian Industry(CII).

Army Chief GeneralBipin Rawat said that in ad-dition to keeping pace withthe fast changing techno-logy, the same technologyshould be made flexible tobe used in both conven-tional and sub-conven-tional conflicts.

Faster ICTupgrade forarmed forcesSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

An Indian who went miss-ing in Serbia has beenfound, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swarajsaid on Thursday, holdingthe agent who sent himthere responsible for thehardship caused and re-commending “exemplarypunishment” for the guiltyperson.

“Vinay Mahajan hasbeen found and is in safecustody of Serbianauthorities.

“Mr. Luther — This is be-cause of the agent whosent him there. This agentdeserves exemplarypunishment.

@ProtectorGenGOI(sic),” she said in a series oftweets.

Tweet appealMs. Swaraj’s responsecame after she was ap-proached by a netizen whotweeted, “@SushmaSwarajplease help my brother hislife in big trouble...”

Reacting to a separatecomplaint of nearly 500 In-dian workers being de-prived of their salary inBahrain, she tweeted, “In-dian Embassy in Bahrain isseized of this matter andwill help them.”

MissingIndian foundin SerbiaPress Trust of India

NEW DELHI

With only months to go be-fore the Presidential elec-tion, Trinamool Congresschairperson and WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has saidthat she would be happy tosee L.K. Advani, SushmaSwaraj or Pranab Mukher-jee, persons she shared acordial relation with, oc-cupy the post.

“I will be happy if any ofthem gets to become thenext President,” she said inan interview to a Bengalitelevision channel onThursday.

To a separate question,she said she shared a goodrelationship with LokSabha Speaker Sumitra Ma-hajan and Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh too.

Asked if she would sup-port any of the leaders, Ms.Banerjee chose to be diplo-matic. “It will depend onwhat is good for the coun-try,” she said.

The Trinamool has a for-midable presence in bothHouses of Parliament andthe State Assembly and cantherefore play a significantrole.

Ms. Banerjee’s commenthas come at a time whenthe relationship betweenthe Bharatiya Janata Partyat the Centre and TMC inthe State is at its nadir.

Mamatamakeschoice clearSpecial Correspondent

Kolkata

The framework agreement,signed between the Govern-ment of India and the Na-tional Socialist Council ofNagalim (Isak Muivah) in Au-gust 2015, will give Nagas“maximum sovereignpower”, NSCN (IM) generalsecretary ThuingalengMuivah said, even as hepointed out that the agree-ment talks about “co-exist-ence” and shared sover-eignty of “two entities.”

“The ‘Framework Agree-ment’ will give the Nagasmaximum sovereign powerto grow into a developedpolitical people and it willalso strengthen the securityof India,” Mr Muivah told acouncil meeting of the NSCN(IM) at its headquarters inHebron near Dimapur inNagaland on Wednesday.

Unique identityReflecting on the terms ofthe agreement, which havebeen kept under wraps, Mr.Muivah, who was re-electedas general secretary for sixyears at the council meet-ing, said, “The historic‘Framework Agreement’ re-cognises the unique history,the identity, the sovereignty,[and] the territories of theNagas.”

He pointed out that the

agreement “also recognisesthe legitimate right of theNagas to integration of allNaga territories”.

But, in the same breath,he also said the agreementtalks about ‘co-existence ofthe two entities and share-sovereignty of the twoentities’.

Particulars revealedThis is the first time sincethe agreement was signedthat the NSCN (IM) hasspoken about the crux ofthe agreement.

Expressing the hope thattalks with the Governmentof India will conclude soon,Mr. Muivah said the NSCN(IM) is now fully “engaged inpolitical talks with the Gov-ernment of India for work-ing out an honourable polit-ical solution”.

Muivah says deal withCentre helps Nagas

‘It ensures integration of their land’


Kolkata

ThuingalengMuivah

A group of 107 members ofU.S. Congress have writtento Union Home Minister Ra-jnath Singh to temporarilylift the restrictions on theAmerican Christian charity,Compassion International(CI), until a permanent solu-tion can be found. TheUnion government hasordered banks in India tostop processing wire trans-fers from CI to its Indianpartners, bringing the char-ity’s operations to halt. CIsupports 1,45,000 childrenin India with donationsraised in the U.S.

The U.S lawmakers saidthey were “long time sup-porters of U.S. –India part-nership” but the Indian gov-ernment’s treatment of CIhas “caused serious concernwithin the U.S. Congress.”

Deep concern“It is with this in mind thatwe write to express our deepconcern over the lack oftransparency and consist-ency in your government’senforcement of the ForeignContributions RegulationsAct,” the members wrote.

The Indian government

has put CI on a PriorityWatch list, accusing thecharity of carrying out reli-gious conversion in thecountry. However, no casehas been filed against the or-ganisation. American law-makers, most of themstaunch supporters of India,have raised the issue withthe Prime Minister’s Officeearlier, but the Indian gov-ernment has not budged.

The letter to the HomeMinister has been organisedby the Republican Chairmanof the House Foreign AffairsCommittee Ed Royce andDemocrat Ranking MemberEliot Engel.

“As long time supportersof the U.S.-India partner-

ship, we have worked dili-gently to deepen tiesbetween our two countries.As the largest and oldestdemocracies in the world,India and the United Statesshare bonds rooted in polit-ical pluralism and respectfor the rule of law. It is withthis in mind that we write toexpress our deep concernover the lack of transpar-ency and consistency inyour government’s enforce-ment of the Foreign Contri-butions Regulations Act.

“The ongoing case of U.S.-based Compassion Interna-tional, which will haveharmful consequences formany Indian children, hascaused serious concernwithin the U.S. Congress. Asyou may know, CompassionInternational has worked inIndia since 1968, and today,its programs support over1,45,000 Indian children,providing critical tutoring,health and nutrition, andmedical services,” they saidin the letter to Mr. Singh.

The U.S lawmakers said:“We want to be clear withyou that we expect all U.S.entities operating within In-dia to respect India’s laws,including Compassion.

U.S. lawmakers urge Indiato lift curbs on NGOCall for lifting sanctions on Compassion International

Varghese K George

Washington:

Rajnath Singh

CMYK

A ND-ND




WORLD

‘H-1B is not for replacingAmerican workers’WASHINGTON

Asserting that replacement

of U.S. workers is not the

intent of H-1B visa, Labor

Secretary-nominee

Alexander Acosta also

acknowledged the labour

shortage. “[A]mericans are

being asked to train their

foreign replacements. That is

not the intent of the H-1B,”

he said. PTI

ELSEWHERE

4 killed inWisconsinshootingWESTON

Four people including a

police oicer are dead and a

suspect is in custody after

shootings at a bank and a law

irm in northernWisconsin,

followed by a stand-of at an

apartment complex that

ended in a volley of gunire.

Police characterised the

initial shooting at the

Marathon Savings Bank in

Rothschild onWednesday

afternoon as a domestic

dispute, but have provided

no further details. AP

10 Egyptian soldierskilled in Sinai fightingCAIRO

Ten members of Egypt’s

security forces were killed

when their vehicles were hit

by two improvised bombs

during a military operation

against suspected militants in

the Sinai peninsula, the army

said on Thursday. REUTERS

Chinese troops joinPakistan Day paradeISLAMABAD

Chinese, Saudi and Turkish

troops for the first time

joined the Pakistan Day

parade in the capital

Islamabad on Thursday, in a

sign of deepening ties.

Pakistan President Mamnoon

Hussain said it was the first

time Chinese troops

participated in a parade in a

foreign country. REUTERS

Sri Lanka was on Thursdaygiven two more years to setup its accountability mech-anism to probe alleged warcrimes committed duringthe 37-year civil war in theUNHRC resolution adoptedin Geneva.

The Foreign Ministry heresaid that 36 more countrieshad co-sponsored the resolu-tion which was adoptedwithout a vote.

This was in addition to theoriginal sponsors — the U.S.,U.K., Montenegro andMacedonia.

Transitional justiceTitled “Promoting reconcili-ation, accountability and hu-man rights in Sri Lanka” theresolution gives Sri Lankatwo years to show more pro-gress on the transitional

justice process. Sri Lankawas granted 18 months by aUNHRC resolution in Octo-ber 2015 to initiate a credibleinvestigation into the nearlythree-decades long civil war.

The new resolution re-quests the government tofully implement the meas-ures identified in the resolu-tion of 2015. This includes

engagement with specialprocedure mandate holdersin protecting human rights,asking the UNHRC to provideadvice and technicalassistance.

The two-year time hasbeen allowed despite strongopposition from the Tamillobby which cited inactionby the government in show-

ing genuine commitment tothe resolution. UN rightscouncil had called for inter-national judges to help in-vestigate possible warcrimes to guarantee imparti-ality.

Sri Lankan governmenthas resisted the call by UNHuman Rights chief ZeidRa’ad Al-Hussein to set up aninternational hybrid court.

Speaking at the sessions,the Sri Lankan Deputy For-eign Minister Harsha de Silvasaid, “It is always work-in-progress. The people of SriLanka have been through ex-tremely difficult and painfultimes, and although muchhas been done, there ismuch still left to do, includ-ing strengthening our insti-tutions and achieving eco-nomic progress. There aremultiple challenges that weface.”

UNHRC gives Colombo 2more yearsGeneva resolution asks Sri Lanka to implement measures identiied in 2015


Colombo

Sri Lankan PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremasinghe andPresident Maithripala Sirisena. * AP

A white U.S. Army veteranfrom Baltimore bent onmaking a racist attack tooka bus to New York, ran-domly picked out a blackman who was collectingbottles on the street andkilled him with a sword,police said on Wednesday.

James Harris Jacksonturned himself in at aTimes Square police sta-tion early on Wednesday,about 25 hours afterTimothy Caughmanstaggered into a police pre-cinct bleeding to death.

Jackson, who was arres-ted on suspicion ofmurder, told police he’dharbored feelings of hatredtoward black men for atleast 10 years, authoritiessaid. He travelled to NewYork on March 17.

U.S. Armyveteran killsblack manAssociated Press

New York

Politicians and communityleaders from around Londonand the U.K. appealed forcalm and unity, as the coun-try contends with the after-math of a terrorist attack atthe heart of its democracy,yards from where membersof both the House of Com-mons and Lords hadgathered for parliamentarybusiness on Wednesday.

Setting the tone of howLondon would not be cowedwas the resumption of nor-mal business at the Houses ofParliament.

”Beyond these walls today,in scenes repeated in townsand cities across the country,millions of people are goingabout their days and gettingon with their lives… thestreets are as busy as ever…the offices are full… it is theseactions — millions of acts ofnormality — that we find thebest response to terrorism,”

said Prime Minister TheresaMay. Labour Leader JeremyCorbyn called for communit-ies to unite following the “ap-palling atrocity.”

While the Islamic Stateclaimed responsibility for theattack, Acting Deputy Com-missioner Mark Rowley said:“It is still our belief — whichcontinues to be borne out byour investigation — that thisattacker acted alone yester-day and was inspired by in-ternational terrorism,” said .

No to divisions“We stand together in theface of those who seek toharm us and seek to destroyour way of life,” said LondonMayor Sadiq Khan.

The attacker who ran anSUV into pedestrians on acrowded London bridge andthen stabbed a police officerto death on the grounds ofBritain’s Parliament wasearlier identified as British-born Khalid Masood (52).

Religious groups have alsoswiftly condemned theevents, and called for unity.“The best response to thisoutrage is to make sure wecome together in solidarityand not allow the terrorists todivide us,” said Harun Khan,secretary general of theMuslim Council of Britainwhile the Hindu Council U.K.warned that it would be“wrong to stir up hatred to-

wards any religion or faith asa result of this attack…To-night there will be many fear-ing reprisals.” The Sikh Fed-eration also issued astatement called for unity.“We join other peace lovingpeople to condemn thisattack.”

Right-wing rhetoricWhile most individuals andorganisations refrained frompolitical points in the after-math of the tragic events inLondon, Tommy Robinson, aformer far-right, anti-Islamleader was widely con-demned on social media forattempting to gain politicalcapital at the scene of the at-tack, after launching into averbal tirade, and an attackagainst Muslims in Britain on-line.

However, those voices ap-peared in the minority, asTwitter was flooded withmessages of a commitmentto unity and hashtags such as

#WeStandTogether.Virendra Sharma, the La-

bour MP for the ethnically di-verse London constituencyof Ealing Southall, who wasone of those parliamentari-ans caught up in lockdown inthe House of Commonschamber on Wednesday, toldThe Hindu that he had re-

ceived messages of supportfrom people and organisa-tions across communitieswithin his constituency.

“London communities arewise and strong and are com-mitted to equality andunity… I have full confidencethe general public will notlisten to the right wing reac-

tionaries — we cannot denythere is a threat from terror-ism in our society but whenwe are united we can send amessage that we don’t en-dorse their ideology or theirmessage of hatred. That isthe history of the people ofLondon and I am sure theywill carry on this tradition.”

#WeStandTogether, say Britons after terror attackFrom Prime Minister May to Opposition leader Corbyn, leaders urge calm and unity; far-right elements link attack to immigration

Vidya Ram

LONDON

Union lags ly at half-mastin London. * AFP

A minute’s silence was heldin Parliament and at Scot-land Yard on Thursdaymorning, and a vigil was setto take place in central Lon-don for the victims. The at-tack on London came ex-actly a year after theterrorist attack on Brussels,in which 32-people werekilled in bomb attacks at thecity’s airport and at a sub-

way station in the Maelbeekarea. Senior security figureshave warned for a whilethat Britain had a number offactors that could limit ter-rorists’ abilities to inflictdamage — such as stronggun control laws. But theuse of tools such as vehiclespose new threats.

Last year it emerged that12 attacks had beenthwarted in the past twoyears alone, and hundreds

of “live” cases were ongoingat any moment in time. TheSoufan Group, a U.S.-basedintelligence services com-pany, said that while recentattacks in Europe lacked the“formal command and con-trol” previously associatedwith terrorism, “most at-tackers have engaged insome level of communica-tion, [with] members ofgroups such as the IslamicState or al Qaeda“.

Special correspondent

London

Londonmourns victims of incident

In the well-heeled district ofEdgbaston, residents arestruggling to understandhow their quiet corner ofBritain’s second city Birm-ingham could be linked tothe deadly terror attack inLondon.

Overnight, armed policestormed an apartment onHagley Road, wedgedbetween restaurants sellingpizza and Persian food, oneof six locations raided justhours after a car and kniferampage outside the Housesof Parliament in CentralLondon.

A cricket-loving areaThe road is in the well-heeled district of Edgbaston— a cricket-loving corner ofBritain’s second largest citythat is unused to the sight ofarmed police blocking offstreets.

A police cordon surroun-ded the flat on Hagley Road,

with two local police officersstanding guard outside thebrown front door while de-tectives from London wentinside.

The flat’s owner, FarhadMakanvand, turned up tocollect the mail from theShiraz restaurant next door,but he said he knew littleabout his tenants.

“I do own the flat but it isrun by an agent. I have noth-ing to do with the tenants,”

Mr. Makanvand told AFP,without giving his name.

The extent of Birming-ham’s links to the attack hasyet to become clear, but acar hire firm in Solihull onthe city outskirts has con-firmed that the Hyundaivehicle used in the attackwas rented there.

The attacker was identi-fied Thursday as 52-year-oldKhalid Masood, who wasknown by “a number of ali-ases” and had a range ofconvictions including griev-ous bodily harm and posses-sion of offensive weapons,according to London’s Met-ropolitan police.

Birmingham is home tolarge South Asian andMuslim communities, lastyear hosting Europe’s largestcelebrations for the Eid fest-ival. The proportion ofMuslims in Birmingham is21.8% of the population —compared to a national aver-age of 4.5%, according to thelatest census figures.

Locals are shocked atBirmingham’s link to attackThe vehicle used was rented from a hire irm on the outskirts

Agence France-Presse

Birmingham

Iwona Romek, a neighbour ofKhalid Masood, the attacker,in Birmingham. * AP

Michael Fallon, the De-fence Secretary, has

said that security in Parlia-ment will be reviewed by theauthorities, as he said it wasextremely difficult to pre-vent “lone wolf” terror at-tacks involving simply a carand knife. Mr. Fallon paidtribute to police officer KeithPalmer, who was killed inthe incident at Westminsteron Wednesday, saying “hegave his life to protectdemocracy”.

Speaking before TheresaMay addressed the House ofCommons, he stressed thatMr. Palmer had ensured theterrorist was unable tobreach the security of theHouse of Commons.

Nevertheless, Mr. Fallonsuggested it was importantto look again at any potentialweak spots on the parlia-mentary estate.

“Parliament cannot behermetically sealed, peopleare coming and going all thetime,” he said, pointing outthat MPs had been called at

that time for a vote in thechamber so people werecoming and going throughthe main gates in cars or onfoot. “Obviously this is some-thing that will be reviewedby the house authorities”, headded, arguing that London-ers were getting back towork as they took the attack“on the chin”.

Mr. Fallon told BBC Radio4 that police and securityagencies had stopped morethan a dozen attacks thatwere being planned from go-ing ahead in Britain last year,

but said Wednesday’s incid-ent in Westminster was thekind of thing that was verydifficult to see coming.

“Of course this kind of at-tack, this lone wolf attack,with things from daily life — avehicle, a knife — are muchmore difficult to forestall,”he said. “And we are dealingwith a terrorist enemy that isnot making demands orholding people hostage butjust to kill as many people aspossible.” The Defence Sec-retary compared the attackto others, including in Berlin

and elsewhere, where terror-ists used vehicles to murderpeople.

Asked about the braveryof MP Tobias Ellwood , whotried to help Palmer, Mr. Fal-lon said colleagues had com-mented on his bravery. “Weshould also comment on thebravery of all those other po-lice officers in Westminsterwho ran forwards into thedanger and dealt with the at-tacker as quickly as theycould.”

Mr. Fallon said a meetingof the government’s emer-gency Cobra committee,chaired by Theresa May, hadreviewed whether the Metpolice had the resourcesthey needed, including milit-ary backup. He said therehad been budget increasesfor the security services inrecent years, but that wasunder constant review.

“I want to reassure youthat the police and securitysources will have resourcesthey need,” he said, addingthat it was not yet knownwhether the individual hadassociates . THE GUARDIAN

Parliament security to be reviewedDefence Secretary admits that lone wolf attacks are ‘diicult to forestall’

Anushka Asthana

For peace: People holding up a banner ahead of a candlelit vigilat Trafalgar Square on in London on Thursday. * GETTY IMAGES

A Utah man was killed andhis wife badly injured dur-ing Wednesday’s attack, re-latives of the couple saidon Thursday. Kurt Cochran(54) and his wife, Melissa,were in Europe to celeb-rate their 25th wedding an-niversary and had beendue to return to the U.S. onThursday, according to hisbrother-in-law, ClintonPayne. Mr. Cochran’s wifewas hospitalised for treat-ment after suffering abroken leg and rib, and acut to her head, Paynesaid. She was expected torecover.

U.S. President DonaldTrump expressed his con-dolences. “A great Amer-ican, Kurt Cochran, waskilled in the London terrorattack,” Mr. Trump wroteon Twitter. “My prayersand condolences are withhis family and friends.”

The couple were visitingMelissa Cochran's parents,who are missionaries inLondon.

Utahmanwas amongthose killedReuters

New York

The Taliban captured a keydistrict centre in Afgh-anistan’s southern Helmandprovince on Thursday whilein the country’s north, an of-ficer turned his rifle onsleeping colleagues, killingnine policemen, officialssaid.

The fall of Sangin district,once considered the deadli-est battlefield for British andU.S. troops in Afghanistan,comes amid the insurgents’year-long push to expandtheir footprint in the Talibanheartland of Helmand.

The British who took oversouthern Helmand in 2006were headquartered atCamp Sebastian, which at itspeak was the centre for 137

bases in Helmand. Most ofBritain’s more than 400 mil-itary deaths occurred in Hel-mand province in Sanginalone, Britain lost 104 sol-diers. The district’s policechief, Mohammad Rasoul,said the Taliban overran

Sangin centre early onThursday morning. Talibanspokesman Qari Yousuf Ah-madi, also issued a state-ment claiming the Talibancapture of Sangin.

Poorly protectedMr. Rasoul said the districtheadquarters had beenpoorly protected and that atthe time of the Taliban siege,only eight policemen and 30Afghan soldiers were onduty.

Afghan security forceswere now amassing nearbyfor a full-scale counter-at-tack in a bid to retakeSangin, Mr. Rasoul added,though he did not say whenthe assault would occur andhow many forces would beinvolved.

Taliban take key Afghandistrict in south HelmandThe fall of Sangin comes after a year-long battle

Associated Press

Kabul

An Afghan Army soldier inSangin in a ile photo. * AP

CMYK

A ND-ND

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GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376.90. . . . . . . . . 7.90

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1091.90. . . . . . . 11.80

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876.65. . . . . . . . . 3.90

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1456.65. . . . . . . 14.35

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1430.90. . . . . . . . . 0.00

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3367.40. . . . . . . 52.80

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.70. . . . . . . . . 0.30

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 902.00. . . . . . . . -2.95

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266.95. . . . . . . . . 1.95

Idea Cellular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.60. . . . . . . . . 0.30

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1383.90. . . . . . . . . 7.30

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 313.55. . . . . . . . . 0.60

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1040.45. . . . . . . 12.75

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277.60. . . . . . . . -2.25

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868.15. . . . . . . . . 5.95

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1543.90. . . . . . . 14.05

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1490.25. . . . . . . 22.10

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274.55. . . . . . . . . 3.70

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6034.80. . . . . . . 29.00

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.40. . . . . . . . . 3.65

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.60. . . . . . . . . 1.10

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 193.05. . . . . . . . . 0.95

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1273.30. . . . . . . 13.60

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268.50. . . . . . . . . 1.00

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703.15. . . . . . . . . 1.70

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472.90. . . . . . . 13.00

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 281.60. . . . . . . . . 4.15

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.10. . . . . . . . . 0.15

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495.50. . . . . . . . . 7.40

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2460.35. . . . . . -18.60

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 482.15. . . . . . . . . 6.75

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 3974.25. . . . . . . . . 4.00

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510.00. . . . . . . . . 9.45

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1518.60. . . . . . . 47.75

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 523.60. . . . . . . . . 2.80

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on March 23

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.32. . . . . . .65.64

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 70.48. . . . . . .70.82

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 81.63. . . . . . .82.03

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 58.82. . . . . . .59.11

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.48. . . . . . . . . 9.53

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.82. . . . . . .66.15

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 46.68. . . . . . .46.92

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 49.04. . . . . . .49.29

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.74. . . . . . .14.83

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

March 23 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 44.30. . . . . (44.20)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,780. . . . . (2,784)

market watch

23-03-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex ddddddddddd 29,332 dddddddddddddddddddddddddd0.56

US Dollarddddddddd65.52 dddddddddddddddddddddddddd0.08

Gold dddddddddddddddd 29,000 dddddddddddddddddddddddd-1.19

Brent oil dddddddddd50.36 dddddddddddddddddddddddd-0.19

Bharti Airtel said it hasentered into a definitiveagreement to acquire TikonaDigital Networks’ 4G busi-ness for ₹1,600 crore, includ-ing spectrum and 350 sites infive telecom circles.

Tikona has 20 MHz spec-trum in the 2300 MHz bandin Gujarat, U.P. (East), U.P.(West), Rajasthan and Hi-machal Pradesh circles.

With this acquisition,Bharti Airtel will have spec-trum in 2300 MHz bandacross all circles. Airtel plansto roll out high-speed 4G ser-vices on the newly acquiredspectrum in the five circlesimmediately after the closureof the transaction, accordingto a company statement.

Telecom consolidationAfter the entry of RelianceJio’s 4G services, mergersand acquisitions havegathered pace in the coun-try’s telecommunications in-dustry. Idea Cellular on

March 20 agreed to mergewith the Indian unit of theU.K.-headquartered Voda-fone Plc, making it a $23 bil-lion giant and creating thecountry’s largest mobile op-erator, displacing BhartiAirtel.

Reliance, with an invest-ment of $25 billion offeringfree voice and data servicefor six months, has disruptedthe industry’s pricing struc-

ture. Rajan Mathews, dir-ector general of the CellularOperators Association of In-dia had said the current tariffwar in the market may not besustainable for long

He had also said that incontrast to 13 operators a fewyears ago, the Indian mobiletelecom market is down to“four or five operators.”

Bharti Airtel had lastmonth announced the ac-

quisition of the local unit ofNorway’s Telenor. Thoughthe companies didn’t dis-close the deal size, aDeutsche Bank Market Re-search report pegged thevalue of the transaction atabout $300 million, or morethan ₹2,000 crore.

“Airtel’s continued focuson strengthening its 4G cap-abilities across multiple spec-trum bands will be comple-mented with the BWAspectrum acquisition fromTikona,” Gopal Vittal, MD &CEO (India & South Asia),Bharti Airtel, said.

Rishi Tejpal, principal re-search analyst at Gartnersaid that Airtel’s acquisitionof Tikona filled the gap that ithad in the TDD-LTE bandmainly in U.P. East, U.P. Westand Rajasthan circles. “Withthis acquisition, Airtel willhave nationwide TDD-LTEspectrum,”

He added that combinedwith FDD-LTE, this addi-tional spectrum holding willhelp Airtel to be future ready

for the surging data demandson 4G. In addition, this willalso help Airtel to improvethe quality of service withadditional spectrum, he ad-ded. TDD-LTE and FDD LTEare two different standardsfor offering 4G LTE services.

Mr. Tejpal said after theVodafone-Idea deal, the Air-tel acquisition is another steptowards consolidation in theIndian telecom sector.

‘Healthy competition’“Overall things are headingin the right direction for ahealthy competition. The In-dian telecom sector is underpressure and the future ex-pansion and growth will de-pend on the quantum ofspectrum held and the qual-ity of services offered. Suchacquisitions help operatorsto address the above high-lighted issues,” he said.

As per the agreement an-nounced on Thursday, theacquisition of the 4G busi-ness in Gujarat, U.P. (East),U.P. (West) and Himachal

Pradesh will be undertakenby Airtel, while in the Ra-jasthan circle, it will be ac-complished through Airtel’ssubsidiary Bharti HexacomLimited.

“The proposed acquisi-tion will enable Airtel to fillBWA [broadband wireless ac-cess] spectrum gaps in the2300 MHz band in Ra-jasthan, UP (East) and UP(West), thereby securing apan India-footprint in theband. The deal will signific-antly bolster Airtel’s spec-trum position in Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh, taking itsoverall BWA spectrum hold-ing to 30 MHz each in thesecircles,” according to thecompany.

Post-completion of thedeal, Airtel will have 30 MHzin the 2300 MHz band in 13circles giving it an advantagein handling the surging datademand, according to thestatement.

Tikona’s Wobro businesswill continue to be held byshareholders of Tikona.

Airtel to buy Tikona’s 4G vertical for ₹1,600 cr.Telecommajor plans to roll out high-speed services on newly acquired spectrum in ive regions after closing deal


NEW DELHI

Firm footing: Bharti Airtel says it will have an edge in handlinga surge in demand for data, after the deal closes. * REUTERS

The Goods and Services Tax(GST) regime, when imple-mented, will result in elimin-ating barriers between statesand make exports morecompetitive, according toCommerce and IndustryMinister NirmalaSitharaman.

“GST gives a feeling thatmarket in India is one nowand there are no barriersbetween regions orprovinces. Even within thecountry, the value chains –which will get integrated –will have a simpler andstraightforward flow (ofgoods) and therefore, itshould make exports more

competitive rather than ex-pensive,” Ms. Sitharamantold reporters.

The Union Cabinet onMonday approved four GSTlegislations – the Central GSTBill, Integrated GST Bill,Union Territory GST Bill,

and the Compensation Bill –which had earlier been ap-proved by the GST Councilover 12 meetings spanningabout six months.

The Bills now need to bepassed by Parliament, whilethe State GST Bill needs tobe passed by the legislativeassemblies of each state.

Responding to a query onthe status of talks betweenIndia and the U.S. on H-1Bvisa-related issues, the min-ister said, “The new U.S. ad-ministration is focusing onthe larger issue of immigra-tion and the notificationwhich they have given forH-1B for 2018 says there is nochange in position and wefind no change.”

GST will make exportscompetitive: SitharamanThere will soon be no barriers between States, she saysSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Nirmala Sitharaman

India on Thursday pressedfor expediting the negoti-ation process for a globalservices pact, that amongother things, aims to easenorms for movement ofskilled workers acrossborders.

India had, in February,submitted to the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) alegally-vetted proposal for aTrade Facilitation in Ser-vices (TFS) Agreement. Theproposal was taken up by anexpert committee at theWTO headquarters inGeneva recently, and it willbe considered for discussionby all the WTOmembers.

“I hope it (negotiations onTFS) will not take too longbecause the disillusion thatmultilateral institutions aredelivering slowly cannot beafforded any longer in thepolitical reality of the globetoday,” Commerce and In-dustry Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman said at a TFSworkshop organised by herministry along with theWorld Bank Group.

The proposed TFS,among other things, aims toensure portability of socialsecurity contributions andcross-border insurance cov-erage to boost medical tour-ism. According to India, theproposed pact is similar tothe WTO’s Trade FacilitationAgreement (TFA) in Goods,that recently came intoforce, and aims to ease cus-

toms norms to boost globalgoods trade. India had spe-cified that the proposed TFSpact is also about ‘facilita-tion,’ that is “making marketaccess ‘effective’ and com-mercially meaningful andnot about ‘new’ (or greater)market access.”

She said the lessonslearnt from the discussionson TFA in Goods were verycritical, and wanted theWorld Bank to closely en-gage with the WTO on TFSto help it gain traction.

India wants to hasten talks onproposed global services pact

Accord favours portability of social security contributions


NEW DELHI

Global mobility: The agreement will ease norms for movementof skilled workers. Above, the entrance to theWTO. * AFP

The country’s current ac-count deficit (CAD)widened to $7.9 billion inthe Oct.-Dec. quarter of thecurrent financial year,which was 1.4% of GDP ascompared with $3.4 bil-lion, or 0.6%, recorded inthe preceding quarter, Re-serve Bank of India datashowed.

CAD was $7.1 billion inthe third quarter of thefiscal 2015-16. RBI said theCAD widened primarily onaccount of a decline in netinvisibles receipts despite aslightly lower trade deficiton a year-on-year basis.

“Net services receiptsmoderated on a y-o-y basis,primarily owing to the fallin earnings from software,financial services andcharges for intellectualproperty rights. Privatetransfer receipts, mainlyrepresenting remittancesby Indians employed over-seas, amounted to $15.2 bil-lion, having declined by3.8% from ... a year ago.”

Currentaccount gapwidens in Q3SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) onThursday approved themetals and mining firm Ved-anta’s merger with its cash-rich oil subsidiary Cairn In-dia, paving the way for theformation of the fourth-largest resource company inthe world after BHP Billiton,RioTinto and Glencore Plc.

The initial deal terms, an-nounced in June 2015, wererevised in July 2016 in orderto address the concerns ofthe minority shareholders inCairn India.

According to the reviseddeal, minority shareholdersin Cairn India will receive,

for each equity share held,one equity share, and fourredeemable preferenceshares with a face value of₹10 in Vedanta Limited.

The preference shares willcarry a coupon of 7.5% and atenure of 18 months.

“The National CompanyLaw Tribunal, MumbaiBench, has today approvedthe Scheme of Arrangementbetween Cairn India Limitedand Vedanta Limited, andtheir respective shareholdersand creditors,” according toa statement from Cairn In-dia. “The certified copy ofthe order is awaited from theTribunal,” it added.

Both companies declinedcomment.

“It’s just a matter of dayswhen the deal will be com-pleted. It’s more [to do with]procedural issues,” a sourcein the know of the develop-ment told The Hindu. The ef-fective date of merger will be

April 2016 and synergies ofthe merger will be seen inFY2017-18, Anil Agarwal,chairman of Vedanta Re-sources had told The Hindu

in an earlier interview.

Ownership patternFollowing the merger, Ved-anta Plc.’s ownership in Ved-anta Limited is expected tofall to 50.1% from its current62.9%.

Cairn India minorityshareholders will own 20.2%and Vedanta Limited minor-ity shareholders will own a29.7% stake in the enlargedentity.

Speaking about the deal inJuly 2016, Tom Albanese,CEO of Vedanta Limited, had

said: “The strategic rationalefor merging Vedanta Limitedand Cairn India remainshighly compelling. Diversi-fied resources companieshave delivered superior re-turns for shareholders his-torically. The transactionconsolidates our portfolio ofattractive Tier-I assets andsimplifies the group struc-ture, better positioning thegroup to deliver superiorvalue to all shareholdersover the longer term.”

Shares of Vedanta Limitedrose 1.78% to ₹265.7, valuingthe resources firm at ₹78,771crore. Cairn India sharesgained 2.68% at ₹298.9 in afirm Mumbai market onThursday.

Merged entity will be fourth-largest resource company after BHP Billiton, RioTinto and Glencore


NEW DELHI

Anil Agarwal

NCLT gives nod for Cairn-Vedanta merger

The Competition Commis-sion of India (CCI) has ap-proved a ₹11,000 crore pro-posed transaction involvingthe sale of the tower divi-sion of Reliance InfratelLimited, a subsidiary of Reli-ance Communications Ltd.(RCom), to Brookfield Infra-structure Group.

Billionaire Anil Ambani-led-Reliance Communica-tions last year agreed to sellits tower assets to Brookfieldto help pare its debt.

The tower division of Re-liance Infratel will be de-merged into Towercom In-frastructure Private Limited(Towerco) and Rapid Hold-ings 2 Pte. Ltd., a part of the

Brookfield InfrastructureGroup, will acquire 100% ofTowercom Infrastructure.

The deal is subject tocompletion of the demerger,through a scheme of ar-rangement, and the comple-tion of certain other condi-tions and approvals, said acompany statement addingthat the company hadalready filed an applicationwith the National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT), Mum-bai Bench, for approval ofthe scheme of arrangement.Post closing, the companywill receive ‘B’ class non-vot-ing shares in Towercoproviding 49% future eco-nomic upside from the busi-ness based on certainconditions.

CCI approves sale ofRCom tower divisionSpecial Correspondent

MUMBAI

Private sector lender YESBank on Thursday cameout with a qualified institu-tional placement (QIP) is-sue for raising $650 mil-lion, with a $100-milliongreenshoe option.

In a notification to theexchanges, the bank said ithad set a floor price at₹1,498.95 and the bankmay offer a discount of 5%on the floor price.

YES Bank shares rose3.12% to ₹1516.05 on theBSE. Motilal Oswal, Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch,IIFL and CLSA are the mer-chant bankers for theissue.

Earlier, in September2016, the bank had comeout with a QIP to raise $1billion but then withdrewthe proposal citing ‘volatilemarket conditions’ be-cause of ‘misinterpretationof QIP guidelines.’

Goldman Sachs was oneof the merchant bankersfor that issue.

YES Bank’sQIP to raise$650mn.SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI

The Finance Ministry willmeet select bankers on Fri-day to discuss a new facil-ity to drain surplus liquid-ity from the bankingsystem arising out of theCentre’s demonetisationmove, bankers who areaware of the developmenttold The Hindu.

The new Standing De-posit Facility allows banksto park their excess fundswith the RBI at a rate whichis lower than the repo ratebut without any collateral,a letter from the Depart-ment of Economic Affairs,which called the meeting,indicated. The repo rate is6.25%. Currently, bankscan get funds through therepo window from the RBIby using government se-curities as collateral.

Bankers tomeet FinMinon liquiditySPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI

CMYK

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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

Oppo unveils F3 Pluswith dual front camerasNEW DELHI

Chinese smartphone maker

Oppo on Thursday

introduced F3 Plus with dual

front cameras with a price

tag of ₹30,990 in India. “Our

brand has been growing

rapidly across South-east

Asia and other regions

around the world. As per the

GFK data, we became the

No.2 smartphone brand in

India oline market last

year,” said Sky Li, global VP &

president of OPPO India.

With SPICE, cost ofincorporating irms cutNEW DELHI

As part of ease of doing

business initiatives, the

Centre on Thursday said that

the cost of incorporating a

company with Simpliied

Proforma for Incorporating a

Company Electronically

(SPICE) has been reduced to

₹500 from ₹2,000. SPICE is

an e-form which does away

with the requirement to ill

up multiple forms by

business entities operating in

India.

Repco Home Financeties up with NHBCHENNAI

Chennai-based housing

inance company, Repco

Home Finance Ltd., has

tied-up with National

Housing Bank for

implementation of credit-

linked subsidy scheme for

the middle income group

(CLSS for MIG). The scheme

will be implemented for a

period of one year from

January 2017 in all statutory

towns under the Pradhan

Mantri Awas Yojana Mission.

The Centre is working on a‘compliance report” of itsflagship ‘Make In India’ (MII)initiative that attempts totransform India into a globaldesign and manufacturinghub as well as generatelarge-scale employment.

The objective of the exer-cise, among other things, isto find out whether the gov-ernment departments andagencies implementing theMII programme are meetingthe deadlines envisaged inthe ‘MII Action Plan’ ofDecember 2014.

MII initiativeThe MII initiative covers 25focus sectors ranging fromautomobiles to wellness.The ‘MII Action Plan’ had setshort-term (one year) andmedium-term (three years)targets “to boost invest-ments in the 25 sectors” andto “raise the contribution ofthe manufacturing sector to25% of the GDP by 2020.”

At a national workshopheld in December 2014 onthese 25 sectors, an ActionPlan was finalised with thehelp of Secretaries to the In-dian Government as well asindustry leaders.

As per the National Manu-facturing Policy, “the shareof manufacturing in India’sGDP has stagnated at 15%-16% since 1980 while theshare of comparable eco-nomies in Asia is muchhigher at 25%-34%.”

Government sources saida detailed study is also beingundertaken on the impact ofthe MII initiative including asector-wise assessment re-garding job creation and for-eign direct investment in-flows using the National

Industrial ClassificationCode.

RBI, CSO dataData from the Reserve Bankof India and the Central Stat-istics Office are also beinglooked into in this regard,they said, adding that inputsare being sought from theState governments as well.

The compliance report isbeing monitored and evalu-ated at the highest level, in-cluding by the Prime Minis-ter’s Office, the sources said.Recently, the ParliamentaryStanding Committee onCommerce wanted an as-sessment to be done on howthe MII initiative has helpedthe country’s micro, smalland medium enterprises.

It recommended that ded-icated steps should be takento ensure that FDI promotesthe MSME sector, andsought to know the factorsbehind the Foreign PortfolioInvestments turning negat-ive and its impact on the In-dian industry. The panelalso wanted to learn if the

MII initiative has seized theopportunity of demographicdividend in the country.

$1 trillion by 2025According to the India BrandEquity Foundation (IBEF),“India’s manufacturing sec-tor has the potential to touch$1 trillion by 2025. There ispotential for the sector to ac-count for 25-30% of thecountry’s GDP and create upto 90 million domestic jobsby 2025.”

“FDI inflows in India’smanufacturing sector grewby 82% year-on-year to$16.13 billion during April-November 2016,” accordingto the IBEF, a trust formedby the Commerce Ministryto promote of the ‘Made inIndia’ label overseas.

It said, “The governmenthas an ambitious plan to loc-ally manufacture as many as181 products. The movecould help infrastructuresectors … that require largecapital expenditure and re-vive the $27.75 billion Indiancapital goods business.”

Jobs impact of ‘MakeIn India’ under reviewCentre working on report assessing compliance by agencies

Roaring potential: Themanufacturing sector has thepotential to create up to 90million domestic jobs by 2025.

ARUN S

New Delhi

Mother Dairy Fruit & Veget-able., a wholly-owned subsi-diary of National Dairy De-velopment Board (NDDB), isplanning a foray into the nu-trition products segment,managing director S. Nagara-jan said.

Lifestyle changes and the“gender-specific” needs ofpeople in the 11 to 59 yearsage-group, has created theneed for products which willhelp overcome deficienciesin calcium, iron, vitaminsand micronutrients, Mr.Nagarajan said after unveil-ing the company’s milk port-

folio here, under a newbrand ‘Dailycious.’

Although a three- to five-year timeline was being

looked at for entering the nu-trition product segment, nofirm dates had been fixedyet, he said.

Indications are that fibre-packed vegetable juices maybe among the initialofferings.

Mother Dairy has an in-novation centre near Delhi,where a ₹15 crore investmentwas made this year, he said.

The firm, eyeing a₹10,000 turnover in 2019(from about ₹8,000 crore es-timated this fiscal), has fourproduct segments – milk,value-added products, ed-ible oil (Dhara brand) andfruits and vegetables.“The

fastest growth is from value-added segment of ice cream,dahi, butter milk, followedby edible oil, fruits and ve-getables, and milk” Mr.Nagarajan said.

Sandeep Ghosh, BusinessHead, said that the introduc-tion of the milk portfolio willstrengthen the company’sposition in Kolkata.

NDDB ran the ‘OperationFlood’ project in WestBengal till the ‘90s when ithanded over the brand tothe state government, on theunderstanding that the latterwould have exclusive rightsto the Mother Dairy brandfor milk products.

They will help overcome vitamin and micronutrient deiciencies


KOLKATA

Mother Dairy eyes nutrition products

S. Nagarajan

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas put four public sectorlenders, including IDBIBank and Indian OverseasBank, under watch and ad-vised them to stay off riskyassets so that their finan-cial health is not stressedfurther.

While UCO Bank alsofigured in the list, thename of the fourth lendercould not be immediatelyascertained. Sources saidthese lenders were on theRBI’s radar as their finan-cial health may not im-prove after the centralbank’s asset quality reviewends on March 31.

These banks have beenadvised by both the Fin-ance Ministry and the RBIto improve their financials,look for avenues for capitalinfusion and create a self-sustaining model by sellingassets, they added.

Central bankputs 4 PSBsunder watch


NEW DELHI

Carborundum Universal(CUMI), part of the ₹29,500crore Murugappa Group,commissioned three new fu-sion plants at its electro-mineral complex in Kochion Thursday.

With the new facilities — azirconia bubble fusion plantand two alumina fusionplants — CUMI’s complexhere has become one of themost advanced and integ-rated electro-mineral com-plexes in the world, said A.Vellayan, executive chair-man, Murugappa Group,who inaugurated the plant.

An investment of ₹80crore, funded through in-ternal accruals, has beenmade in the new facilities. Atfull capacity, it will addabout 25,000 tonnes offused minerals generation,

with potential sales of about$30 million, said K.Srinivasan, managing dir-ector, CUMI.

The direct job creationfrom this project will beprimarily in technology andin the application side. It isalso expected to create morethan 300 indirect jobs in thefront- and back-end of thesupply chain, he said.

Zirconia bubble isclaimed to be a first-of-its

kind material produced innot more than three coun-tries in the world. It is ex-tensively used in ceramics,refractories, pigments andin the nuclear industry.

The zirconia bubble fu-sion plant has a modern tiltfurnace while the two alu-mina fusion plants havemodern pot furnaces and tiltfurnaces of large capacities,Mr. Srinivasan said.

ExportsCUMI’s products are expor-ted to 43 countries in NorthAmerica, Europe, Australia,South Africa and Asia. Closeto 75% of the division’s rev-enue comes from exportsand overseas operations.CUMI might end the currentfiscal with net sales of₹2,200 crore of which elec-tro-minerals would accountfor 35%, Mr. Srinivasan said.

Firm invested ₹80 crore, funded via internal accruals


CHENNAI

A.Vellayan

CUMI commissions 3 plants atits Kochi minerals complex

CMYK

A ND-ND




SPORT

Test cricket has come to thetranquil environs of theDhauladhar range, riding onthe acrimonious backgroundof a fewoff-the-field incidentsthat have come to mar thespirit of the game in the ongo-ing India-Australia series.

Decisive wins in two of thethree Tests thus far haveraised hopes of a biting con-test in the final encounter butmuchdepends on the tacticalacumen of the rival think-tanks.

The camps were busy pre-paring for the decider, if onemay term it so.

Aggressive intentModern cricket demands

professionalism and commit-ment of the highest grade.The emphasis, sometimes,can be overwhelmingly influ-enced by aggressive intentaimed at disturbing the con-centration of the opponent.Some succumb. Those whodon’t best illustrate the qual-ity of doggedness in adversecircumstances.

Sledging in cricket is notnew. The trend to constantlyuse it as a tool to target thebest in the opposite camp isperhaps a legacy of the in-tense contests that came toattract the attention duringthe 1970s.

Of course, cricket, since itsinception, has witnessedsome incredible finishes thatbecame fascinating mainlydue to the desire to fight andwin. Players with a toughmental attitude were theones who emergedunscathed.

Australia has employedpressure tactics, betterknown as sledging, because itsuited the team’s profile.

The difference betweenfriendly banter and sledgingwas thin since it dependedonthe one at the receiving end.India and Australia have hada series of incident-filledcombats.

The most striking beingthe 1981 series when Sunil

Gavaskar nearly forfeited theMelbourne Test following adistasteful remark by DennisLillee.

It is another matter thatbetter sense prevailed, Indiacontinued, and went on towin the match in dramatic

conditions. Gavaskar was toreturn four years later to winthe World championship ofcricket and acknowledgewicketkeeper SadanandViswanath’s chirping as a sig-nificant contribution to un-settle the opponents.

Lillee portrayedAustralianaggression along with JeffThompson by peppering thebatsmen with unrelentingmissiles, verbal and off thepitch.

His clash with Javed Mi-andad is part of cricket folk-

lore —Lillee taking evasive ac-tion with the Pakistanicharging with his bat raised.Miandad, however, had an ef-fective response that wonhima legion of fans.

In one fiercely-contestedmatch, Miandad reportedlymade it a point to send thehelmet back to the dressingroomwhen Lillee came on tobowl and asked for it whenthe spinners joined the at-tack. It wasMiandad’s way ofshowing in what esteem heheld Lillee’s bowling.

For someone like Gavaskarand Mohinder Amarnath, ithardly mattered what theclose-in fielders said. In fact,sledging would evoke a de-termined response fromthem. In effect, a big inningsto drive home their point.

Focal pointIn recent times, incidents ofsledging, especially the cur-rent series, have become thefocal point of the competitionbecause the target is the cap-tain of the Indian team. Thesquad has rallied aroundVirat Kohli, who loves suchintense attention from theopposition.

He is only re-living thetimes when Sourav Gangulyencouraged his players toplay tough.

Ganguly epitomised ag-gression on the field by back-ing his players and taking thelead role, sometimes insledging too. “Come on guys,Australian tail has begun,” hewouldgreet SteveWaugh’s ar-rival at the crease.

But never did they crossthe line of decency. Their de-meanour was a key factor inaggression in the middle notgoing out of hands.

An India-Australia fixtureholds a place of pride in inter-national cricket.

That it has deterioratedinto a slanging matchbetween the players hastaken away the sheen offsome glorious cricket atPune, Bengaluru andRanchi.

It is Dharamshala’s turn tocontinue the trend, and, cer-tainly not byway of sledging.

Time to exorcise the sledging ghostIt is Dharamshala’s turn to put the game back on track

Vijay Lokapally

DHARAMSHALA

Mind games: Australia has employed pressure tactics against Virat Kohli in the ongoingTest series. * V.V. KRISHNAN

Let’s see more women inthe paddock: HamiltonMELBOURNE

Three-time champion Lewis

Hamilton, if granted a wish,

wants to see more women in

the paddock at Formula One

Grands Prix. “A Miami race

and more ladies in the

paddock,” the 32-year-old

said at a media conference

ahead of the season-opening

Australian GP. “More access

for the women, there’s too

many dudes in the paddock.”AGENCIES

Cheteshwar Pujara jumpedto the defence of skipperVirat Kohli in the ongoingwar of words between Indiaand Australia.

Asked to comment onKohli being termed the Don-ald Trump of world sports,Pujara said, “It’s really sadto hear such comments. Wefully support Virat and he isone of the great ambassad-ors of this game.

“I think the focus has shif-ted somewhere else, whichshouldn’t have happened.We are very much focusedon the game.

“He is a great leader. Weare looking forward to thenext game rather than wor-rying about anything else.”

He did not give muchthought about the state ofthe pitch. “We will just tryand focus on things ratherthan worry about how thewicket will play.

“We have played enoughcricket on different pitchesthroughout the season. So Idon’t think the wicket willmatter a lot to us.”

Was fatigue a factor?“See, we have worked reallyhard on our fitness since the

last one-and-a-half years. Ithink it is the mental battlewe’ve to win and we’rementally up for it.

“We are quite motivatedbecause we want to win thisseries.

“I think fatigue shouldn’tcome into play becauseplaying for India is the mostimportant thing for anycricketer and now winningthe series is very important,because we’ve had a fant-astic season so far. We wantto finish on a good note.”

Did he agree that mo-mentum was with the Aus-tralians? “I think we’vebowled well, and as I men-tioned earlier, they scored450 and we were able toscore more than 600. Andat one stage they were fourdown at lunch.

“The session where wedidn’t get a wicket wasbetween lunch and tea. But,overall they were six down,and I think we definitely hadthe upper hand in the lastgame.

“Although we didn’t winthe game, we just had to batonce and they had to battwice and that credit I thinkgoes to the bowlers.”

‘He’s a great ambassador of the game’

Gunning for victory: Cheteshwar Pujara says India will bekeen to end the Test series against Steve Smith’s men ona positive note. * V.V. KRISHNAN


Dharamshala

Pujara jumps toskipper’s defence

Former Australia captainSteve Waugh on Thursdaycomplimented ViratKohli, saying he sees a bitof Ricky Ponting and him-self in the way the Indianskipper goes about hisbusiness. “There’s prob-ably elements of Rickyand myself in his cap-taincy, but having saidthat he’s his own man,”Waugh was quoted as say-ing by cricket.com.au.

“He’s the new face ofIndia, he can get in yourface, he’s aggressive, he’s

positive, and he leads in acertain way so the otherguys know how he wantsthe team to play. I’m gladhe’s got a bit of me in hiscaptaincy,” he added.“He’s a very aggressivecaptain, encourages a lotof talk amongst his troopsand got positive body lan-guage. They’re all thetraits that I liked in mysides,” he said.

He compared Kohli’son-field conduct to Pont-ing saying both takecharge and step up tolead by example whenthe situation demands.

Waugh sees a bitof himself in KohliIANS

SYDNEY

The hike in annual retainerand match-fee for the Indiancricketers that was an-nounced on Wednesday was,no doubt, long overdue.However, the fact is thatsome players may have be-nefited from the the delay inchalking out the 2016-17 an-nual contracts, thanks totheir performances in theongoing contract cycle.

Had it not been for the de-ferred finalisation of the an-nual contracts — thanks toBCCI being embroiled in aplethora of legal tangles —Cheteshwar Pujara and M.Vijay might not have been el-evated to the top tier, whileveteran Yuvraj Singh, nowincluded in grade-B, wouldhave found it difficult to evenmake the list.

Since the introduction ofthe system of annual con-tracts in 2004-05, the prac-tice was to award these forthe October-September cal-endar cycle.

The contracts, finalised bythe gradation committeecomprising the BCCI presid-ent, secretary and the chiefselector, used to be an-nounced, after ratification bythe Board’s working commit-tee, in early November orDecember.

The norm was followedwhen the 2015-16 contractswere announced on Novem-ber 9, 2015.

Even in 2010, the last timethe BCCI had hiked annualretainers and match-fee, thecontracts were declared onNovember 11.

All along, the BCCI hadstressed that the contractsare based primarily on theplayers’ performance duringthe preceding contract cycle.

The brief was to alsofactor in the selectors’ plansfor the upcoming cycle.

If the 2015-16 performancewas the yardstick, Pujaraand Vijay would have foundit difficult to earn a promo-tion from grade-B to grade-A.

Pujara scored 495 runs innine Tests at 41.25 — well be-low his usual career averagethat has hovered betweenthe high 40s and low 50s.

He was even, albeit con-troversially, dropped for aTest in the West Indies lastyear, with the team manage-ment doubting his ability torotate strike.

Similarly, Vijay featured in

eight of India’s 10 Tests dur-ing the cycle, tallying 374runs at 34.

However, the fact bothhave been on song during In-dia’s long home season —combined with the growingdemand for the Test special-ists’ compensation to matchat least the base price of topIPL players — played to theiradvantage when the Com-mittee of Administrators(CoA) sat down on Wednes-day to prepare the contracts.

Yuvraj gets lucky too

Yuvraj had lost his placeafter a forgettable WorldTwenty20 last year, butmade a dazzling comebackwith a hundred in an ODIagainst England this January.

Would the promotionshave been so smooth had the

contracts been issued as perschedule?

The most prominentomission from the list of 32contracted players is that ofSuresh Raina.

Until last year, the BCCIhad a rule that any non-con-tracted player who featuresin an India XI in any of thethree formats would earn thelowest-grade retainer on apro-rata basis for the re-mainder of the cycle.

In November 2015, theBCCI had raised the eligibil-ity from one to three caps.

Considering the fact thatRaina has fulfilled the cri-teria to earn an annual re-tainer, his omission from thelist poses a question onwhether it is a matter ofoversight by the CoA.

Raina, who has had an ail-ment-plagued domestic sea-son, featured in all threeTwenty20 Internationalsagainst England earlier in theyear. Yet, his name was miss-ing from the list announcedon Wednesday.

The Hindu understandsthat the message from the se-lectors to the CoA was thatRaina no longer “fits into thescheme of things”.

Even if that is the case,should there have been a de-viation from the existing rulein Raina’s case?

Delay may have beneited Vijay, PujaraThe promotion-clinching performances came after the usual evaluation period for annual contracts

Amol Karhadkar

MUMBAI

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

B Contracts usually issued inNovember or December forOctober-September cycle

B In that period for the 2015-16 season, Vijay had scored374 @34, and Pujara [email protected], both well belowtheir overall average

B Raina, who had played inthe 3 T20Is v England,fulilled the criteria to earnan annual retainer, but hasbeen omitted

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

one could well be different.Chauhan has always taken

pride in laying out a surfacethat encourages pace andbounce. How would it bethis time? “I can’t change thenature of the soil. I expectthe bounce to be true. Theskills of the bowlers docount too,” he said.

The Dharamshala pitch isnow 14 seasons old and tra-ditionally has not been ahappy hunting ground forslow bowlers.

“There are many factorsinvolved in pitch making and

Having monitored the pre-parations from close quar-ters, Daljit Singh and SunilChauhan, the two experi-enced curators involved inthe making of the pitch here,relaxed in the cool confinesat one end of the ground —reflecting on the job done.

In recent times, the pitchhas often come under scru-tiny in the run-up to a gameas India has fallen back onthe trusted policy of spin-ner-friendly pitches. But this

soil is the most important.We should have a decentgame,” added Daljit, whoprefers the playing surfaceto be slightly inclined to-wards the bowlers.

Many experts had erred intheir reading of the pitch inthe last Test at Ranchi. Thebrown surface did not de-teriorate and saw Chetesh-war Pujara construct a dili-gent double century. Thepitch here does promise anintense contest with Daljitand Chauhan committed toproviding a true surface.

A pitch with true bounce: curatorSpecial Correspondent

DHARAMSHALA

With preparations for the up-coming Under-17 FIFA WorldCup in its final stages, the AllIndia Football Federation’snext target is the Under-20World Cup with presidentPraful Patel declaring thecountry was ready for it.

“The Under-20 World Cupis our next mission. We havealready spoken to FIFA andtold them that we are inter-ested. The AIFF is ready tohost it next year itself if pos-sible but it isn’t that simple.

We have to see how to goabout it and how, when weget it is something we cannotdecide,” Patel told The Hindu

following the AIFF ExecutiveCommittee meeting here onThursday.

Motivating youngstersAsked about how he fanciedIndia’s chances at the U-17World Cup — the first everFIFA event in the country —Patel admitted that whileperformance was important,the key objective for the fed-eration was to get Indian

youngsters motivated to takeup football.

“It’s a big moment for usand we should not miss it.We know that, eventually, In-dian football’s future lies inthis youth group, not thepresent lot. The currentteam is playing well andgood for them but if youwant to see India at the nextlevel in Asia and the world,you have to see the next gen-eration of youth,” he said.

He, however, refused tocomment on the long-drawnissue of merging the I-League

and the ISL, saying nothinghad been finalised yet whileinsisting that the I-Leaguewould continue to exist re-gardless of the proposed re-structuring of domesticfootball.

Meanwhile, former Indiastriker Shyam Thapa re-placed Bhaichung Bhutia aschairman of the AIFF tech-nical committee even as sev-eral of the other sub-commit-tees of the federation wererevamped at the executivecommittee meeting.

The EC also included

former players Abhishek Ya-dav and Ishfaq Ahmed asmembers of the technicalcommittee, taking the num-ber of footballers in the bodyto five including PradipDutta, Prosanto Banerjeeand Henry Menezes, who hasbeen named its newvice-chairman.

Bhutia’s deputy Savio Mes-sias has been been omittedbut the Goan is now part ofthe Ethics Committee of theAIFF. Yadav, incidentally, isalso the AIFF’s talent scout-ing director and also the

chief operating officer for theIndian Under-17 team.

Thapa was last part of theAIFF as coach of the Indianunder-16 and under-19 teamsin the late 1980s.

Ahmed, who is part of theKerala Blasters team in theISL, would have to quit thatrole.

Benevolent fundThe committee also decidedto set up a Players’ Benevol-ent Fund with Patel contrib-uting $200,000 for the same.The amount is part of the TA/

DA allowances provided tobe part of the AFC meetingswhich Patel apparently neverclaimed. An amount of$100,000 would also begiven to the AFC Social De-velopment ReformProgramme.

The EC also approved thenext three-year calendar in-cluding the Federation Cupin Cuttack (May 7-21) with theseason’s top eight I-Leagueteams participating.

The AIFF also decided toimplement a ranking systemfor the State associations.

We are interested in hosting the under-20World Cup, says Praful PatelShyam Thapa replaces Bhaichung Bhutia as the chairman of AIFF technical committee

Praful Patel.

Uthra Ganesan

NEW DELHI

Shreyas called in ascover for KohliDHARAMSHALA

Mumbai middle-order

batsman Shreyas Iyer has

been called up as cover for

Virat Kohli for the fourth Test

against Australia. Kohli,

nursing an injured right

shoulder, is a doubtful

starter and did not bat in the

nets.

Fast bowler Mohammed

Shami, not part of the

original squad, took part in

the nets session and bowled

to a few batsmen. The

decision to play him rests

with the team management.

IN BRIEF

Yu keeps China’s WChopes aliveCHANGSHA (CHINA)

Marcello Lippi’s China

stunned South Korea 1-0 in a

politically-charged World

Cup qualifier on Thursday to

give itself a glimmer of hope

of reaching next year’s

tournament in Russia.

The unmarked Yu Dabao

headed in the game’s only

goal in the 34th minute.The results: Group A: China 1bt South Korea 0; Syria 1 btUzbekistan 0; Qatar 0 lost toIran 1.Group B: Thailand 0 lost toSaudi Arabia 3; Iraq 1 drewwith Australia 1; UAE 0 lostto Japan 2. AGENCIES

Bangar and Sridharget another pay hikeMUMBAI

The BCCI Committee of

Administrators (CoA) has

further raised the

professional fee of the Indian

team’s batting coach Sanjay

Bangar and fielding coach R.

Sridhar by ₹25 lakh. They will

now receive ₹1.5 crore. At

their meeting on February 25,

the CoA had given the two a

25% increase (₹1 crore to

₹1.25 crore).

CMYK

A ND-ND




SUDOKU

C O F F E R S C R E E P Y

O R J E A M H C

N A I V E D E S P E R A D O

T A C U T R E N

R O B O T I C E L A S T I C

A L O T L O R

C H E E R I N C I D E N C E

E O H T

P Y R O M A N I A S I D L E

T E A R Y R H

I L L I C I T L U M B A G O

V A A I A P W U

E X P E D I E N T T E E N S

S S A I A O R E

L E G M A N N E M E S I S

Solution to puzzle 11962 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

In the Sundara Kanda, Valmiki captures Hanuman’s great-ness as an envoy, showing how might and prowess ismatched by astute alertness to the delicate mission that hasdevolved on him. On this is superimposed his absolute hu-mility and devotion in the undertaking on behalf of the di-vine couple, pointed out Damal Sri Ramakrishnan and Srim-ati Perundevi in a discourse.

After conveying to Sita news of Rama and handing overRama’s signet ring, he obtains from her a token to be givento Rama. But he feels his mission is not over and he decidesto show Ravana and the people of Lanka a taste of what is instore for them for the adharma perpetrated on Sita. He des-troys Asoka Vana and hearing this news Ravana sends hismen to fight Hanuman. He is brought to Ravana’s courtwhen he submits to Indrajit’s Brahmastra with profound re-spect. Fearlessly, he warns Ravana that his atrocities onlybeckon impending doom to Lanka. Ravana orders the rak-shasas to set fire to Hanuman’s tail and have him flogged.

When Sita hears this news, she prays to Agni to keep histail cool. Hanuman realises that the fire blazing onhis taildoes not burn his body. He understands that it is the graceof Rama and Sita and, extricating himself from the ropesbinding his body, he sets on fire the whole city of Lanks. . Hesoon regrets his hasty act of foolishness, for would not thefire have destroyed Asoka Vana where Sita has been im-prisoned ? But he hears that Asoka Vana alone has miracu-lously escaped the fire.

Rama is overwhelmed by Hanuman's achievements and,by way of gratitude, graces him with an embrace which con-fers all His Sarvatva to him.

Hanuman cherishes this gift that has left an indeliblemark on his sharira and would not give it up at any cost, noteven when Rama offers salvation.

FAITH

Envoy extraordinary3 Look for the answer! (6)

4 Solving this clue is __ __ you!

(2,2)

6 Crack Chennai's top investor

retreating with heads of

school education (8)

7 Woman holding up entry form

is dodgy (7)

8 You may be silver-tongued but

not speaking might help

better (7,2,6)

9 Strenuous musical

performance by boy (9)

14 Puzzling to have giant mice

running about (9)

17 What old women liked to do in

the past decades with

daughters and sons in the

mating game (5,3)

19 Any woman, though, opts

herself out (7)

21 Under the inluence of drugs,

son and sweetheart went out

together (7)

22 Strips put up on company's

decorative material (6)

25 Wave made by each man (4)

recall by nobleman (4)

16 What an accident on the road

may well bring about — how a

ight in a movie can be

described (5,5)

18 Ultramodern directions on

tooth by the French dentist

initiated (10)

20 Questions Tamil leader

abandoning jobs to be done

(4)

23 Someone who cares for earth

organises force to take on

each kind, to begin with (8)

24 Dust settles on India's top old

workroom (6)

26 With a bit of rice, Olivia

cooked an Italian dish (7)

27 Left, as a large number came

in with feelings roused (7)

28 Thin light falling over sport

official (6)

29 Give conidence to old men —

be barmy (8)

■ DOWN

1 How one may get a thing done

even if it means bumbling

through (2,5,3,5)

2 Cry loudly — sometimes it's

stolen from others (7)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9

10 11

12 13

14

15 16

17

18 19 20 21

22

23 24

25

26 27

28 29

(set by Gridman)

■ ACROSS

1 Ram's ready for sweet-talk

(6,2)

5 Get a bit of commercial tax (6)

10 Proclaim: U.S. President meets

alien (7)

11 Garment in general (7)

12 Charge our country almost

going to court (6)

13 Time for an event (8)

15 Almost whimsical

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11963

Collina for action againstabuse of refereesLONDON

Pierluigi Collina, FIFA

Referees Committee

chairman, has warned of a

global shortage of match

officials if efforts are not

made to tackle abuse and

violence towards referees.

Collina said it is a “real

threat” when match officials

face verbal and physical

abuse in amateur football.REUTERS

IN BRIEF

Harikrishna beginswith a drawSHENZHEN

P. Harikrishna started his

campaign in the Shenzhen

Longgang Grandmaster chess

tournament with a draw

against Peter Svidler on

Thursday. Both decided to

share the point after 30

moves. PTI

Ankur Mittal clinched thedouble trap gold in the finalof the shotgun World Cuphere on Wednesday.

He also equalled theWorld record of 75 out of 80in the final, to beat JamesWillett (73) of Australia whohad set the record while win-ning the World Cup lastmonth in Delhi.

Incidentally, Ankur wonsilver then.

“I wouldn’t call it revenge.Winning and being defeatedare all part of the game. Theconditions in the final rangewere perfect.

“The wind affected thequalification rounds, but inthe afternoon it was not so

strong,” Ankur was quotedas saying by ISSF.

Ankur qualified in secondplace with 138 following aseries of 26, 29, 27, 29 and27. For being ranked beforethe final, he beat Qi Ying of

China 6-5 after the two weretied on 138.

With the new rules,whenever there is a tie in theknockout phase, the rankingof the shooters in the quali-fication will prevail. But, incase of a tie for a medal,there will be a shoot-off.

The qualification topperAndreas Loew of Germanymissed a medal by one pointto Qi Ying.

The second Indian in thecompetition, the youngShapath Bharadwaj shot 128following a series of 25, 24,25, 26 and 28.

The results: 1. Ankur Mittal 75(EWR) 138(6); 2. James Willett(Aus) 73 (135); 3. Qi Ying (Chn)52 (138)5; 12. Shapath Bharad-waj 128.

Ankur wins double trapThe Indian equals World record in the inalSports Bureau

Acapulco

Ankur Mittal.

Former India captain andDavis Cupper Naresh Kumarfeels Indian tennis will gain alot with Leander Paes andMahesh Bhupathi agreeingto work together again.

Naresh Kumar, one of theoldest tennis legends of thecountry, said it was nice tosee the two agreeing to atruce after a “Mahabharata”of differences.

“If they can get together itwill be better for us. Thenews of their fight a fewyears ago was not nice. Letus hope that with Bhupathicoming back to the IndianDavis Cup team, there is re-conciliation. It is good thatthe Mahabharata is over,”said Naresh Kumar here onThursday.

“Whether they are reallyat peace or not, I cannot say.

But it is a good sign if theyare going to come together,”he said.

When asked how longPaes could continue playing,Naresh Kumar said the 1996Olympic bronze medalliststill has the class to win cru-cial points.

Playing crucial points“It is a very difficult ques-tion. If you watch closely atLeander's doubles or mixeddoubles matches, he is theone winning the crucialpoints.

“ You have to have thatconfidence and the panacheto be still doing that.

“The other boys maybebetter players, but on thecrucial occasion this fellow isputting his neck forward. Sothat is his greatest quality,”said Naresh Kumar, endors-ing Paes’ decision to con-

tinue playing.The 88-year-old, who

played both at Wimbledonand Roland Garros, said In-dian tennis could grow onlyif there was enough funds tohelp the new breed of Indianplayers trying out on the in-ternational circuits.

“We have opted out of the

British system and are gain-ing a lot from the AmericanCollegiate system now. Thisis a good development, butour young players needenough money to keep play-ing on the European andAmerican circuits,” he said.

Praise for Federer

He had special appreciationfor Roger Federer, whomade a comeback to win theAustralian Open.

“The secret is his back-hand. And you know howthat backhand came? Be-cause most of his opponentswere attacking his backhandall the time and with practicethat became strong.

“I think he has balanceand balance is the essence oflife. Otherwise it is not easyto win a Grand Slam at theage of 35,” he said.

‘Paes-Bhupathi reconciliation is a good sign’Naresh Kumar says new breed of Indian players need inancial supportSpecial Correspondent

KOLKATA

Naresh Kumar. * PTI

Japan’s Yoshihito Nishiokasaved 11 of 14 break points tosecure a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 winover Australia’s JordanThompson in the first roundof the Miami Open on Wed-nesday.

There was an unusualstoppage during TommyHaas’s narrow 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5loss to Czech Jiri Veselywhen the game was halteddue to an iguana on top ofthe scoreboard. The creature

was eventually taken awayby officials, but not before itscampered across the court.

What a startIn another match, youngAmerican Ernesto Escobedopulled off a surprise victoryin three sets over Britain’sDan Evans.

Meanwhile in the wo-men’s section, EugenieBouchard’s poor run of formcontinued as the Canadiansuffered a first-round exit atthe hands of Australia’s Ash-

leigh Barty, losing 6-4, 5-7,6-3.

Important results (first round):

Men: Dudi Sela bt ChristianHarrison 6-1, 6-1; Nicolas Mahutbt Michael Mmoh 6-3, 6-2;Yoshihito Nishioka bt JordanThompson 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; JiriVesely bt Tommy Haas 6-7(5),6-3, 7-5; Viktor Troicki bt Thi-ago Monteiro 5-7, 6-3, 6-1;Jeremy Chardy bt Facundo Bag-nis 6-2, 6-2; Fabio Fognini btRyan Harrison 6-4, 7-5; BenoitPaire bt Martin Klizan 7-6(4),6-3; Federico Del Bonis bt Juan

Monaco 7-5, 7-6(4). ErnestoEscobedo bt Daniel Evans 7-5,0-6, 6-3.

Women: Patricia Tig bt HeatherWatson 7-6(4), 6-1; AshleighBarty bt Eugenie Bouchard 6-4,5-7, 6-3; Lucie Safarova bt Yan-ina Wickmayer 7-6(2), 6-4;Yaroslava Shvedova bt JelenaJankovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3); Beth-anie Mattek-Sands bt KaterinaSiniakova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Aliak-sandra Sasnovich bt Alize Cor-net 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; Julia Goergesbt Alison Riske 7-5, 6-3; SoranaCirstea bt Monica Puig 6-2, 6-4.

Nishioka prevails over ThompsonBouchard’s poor run of form continues with a irst-round exit


MIAMI

Star batsman Rohit Sharmasuffered yet another injury —this time aminor knee injury— which will see him out ofaction from thePaytm-Deod-har Trophy limited-overcricket tournament to beheldhere fromMarch 25.

According to a BCCI me-dia release on Thursday, theall-India Senior SelectionCommittee has named re-placements for RohitSharma and Kedar Jadhavwhohavebeen ruledout.

“Rohit suffered a minorknee injury and has been ad-vised rest by the BCCI med-ical teamwhile Kedar Jadhavhas been rested due to stom-ach related ailment.

“Ruturaj Gaikwad of Ma-harashtra has been includedin India-Blue while Hydera-bad’s left-arm fast bowler

Chama Milind has beennamed in India-Red.Bengal’s Sreevats Goswamihas been added to the India-Red team,” it stated.

Off-spinner HarbhajanSingh will now lead India-Blue team in thetournament.

The teams:

India Blue: Harbhajan Singh(Capt.), Mandeep Singh,Shreyas Iyer, Ambati Rayudu,Manoj Tiwary, Rishabh Pant(wk), Deepak Hooda, KrunalPandya, Shahbaz Nadeem, Sid-darth Kaul, Shardul Thakur,Prasidh Krishna, Pankaj Rao andRuturaj Gaikwad.

India Red: Parthiv Patel (Capt.&wk), Shikhar Dhawan,ManishPandey, Mayank Agarwal,Ishank Jaggi, Gurkeerat Mann,Axar Patel, Akshay Karnewar,Ashoke Dinda, KulwantKhejroliya, Dhawal Kulkarni,Govinda Poddar, Sreevats Gos-wami andC.V.Milind.

Knee injuryhits RohitRules him out of Deodhar Trophy


VISAKHAPATNAM

Goa’s chances of hostingmarquee matches in theFIFA U-17 World Cup ap-pears to have taken a hitowing to low attendance inthe AFC under-16 event lastyear.

“We have always saidthat for marquee matches,the criteria would be readi-ness and willingness.

“In terms of readiness,Goa had the advantage ofhosting the AFC u-16championship

“For the willingness, wehad a test on the AFC un-der-16 and we have ana-lysed the attendance data,which was certainly nottoo encouraging,” saidtournament director JavierCeppi after a FIFA delega-tion, along with the localorganising committee, vis-ited the Nehru Stadium inFatorda and the trainingsites to take a comprehens-ive look at the facilities.

Goa unlikelyto get bigmatchesPress Trust of India

MARGAO

SPORT

Shamim Khan’s excellentshort game made up for hisbelow par driving as theDelhi golfer’s second suc-cessive round of four-under68 fetched him a three-shotlead in the Kolkata Classicchampionship at the RoyalCalcutta Golf Club here onThursday.

Going into the final round,Shamim has a 10-under 206and is sole professional to re-cord three consecutive un-der-par rounds. Overnightleader Mukesh Kumar re-covered from a disastrousstart to card an even parround and take the secondspot.

Local golfer Shankar Dasand Sri Lankan Mithun Per-era were tied for the thirdspots, six strokes adrift.

Few under-par scoresWith the course playingharder and the wind gettingstronger, the going wastough as only 11 playerscould shoot under-parscores.

Shamim, who had beenstruggling with his drivingthrough the week, found thefairways only on six occa-

sions. However, his fine put-ting skills saved the day forhim.

A 20-footer birdie putt onthe second hole, a 25-footeron 12th and a three-footer on15th boosted Shamim, whoalso benefited by holing histhird shot for an eagle fromabout 110 yards on par-fivefourth. The 38-year-old, whohad a bogey on the seventh,

saved valuable pars on thesixth, 17th and 18th.

Four birdies, includingthree in the later half, savedMukesh from furtherembarrassment.

Shankar, who had threebirdies and an eagle on 15th,matched Shamim in return-ing the best card of the day.The scores: 206: Shamim Khan(70, 68, 68); 209: Mukesh Ku-

mar (69, 68, 72); 212: ShankarDas (71, 73, 68) andMithun Per-era (70, 72, 70); 213: SanjeevKumar (70, 73, 70), Gaurav Pra-tap Singh (70, 72, 71) and S.S.P.Chowrasia (71, 70, 72); 214: OmPrakash Chouhan (69, 74, 71)and Sujjan Singh (70, 71, 73).215: Harendra Gupta (70, 74,71), Feroz Singh Garewal (69,73, 73) and S. Chikkarangappa(68, 71, 76).

Shamim grabs the leadOvernight leader Mukesh manages a par, after a bad start, to lie second

Pulling ahead: Shamim Khan’s short game skills put him three shots in front after day three.

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

Sarthak scorescenturyNEW DELHI:

Sarthak Ranjan (104) helped

Hindu College to an eight-

wicket win over Arya Bhatt

College to enter the

semifinals of the inter-

college tournament.The scores: ABC 199 for ninein 45 overs (Manish Tehlan 81,Rajesh Sharma 47, GauravKumar five for 36) lost toHindu College 203 for two in26.2 overs (Sarthak Ranjan104, Himmat Singh 57 notout, Pragam Sharma 36).

All-round show byKushankNEW DELHI

Kushank Rastogi (three for

28, 75 n.o.) helped

Uttaranchal Academy beat DC

Academy by three wickets in

the Swastik Cup.The scores: DCA 142 in 31.3overs (Rahul Mathur 39,Kushank Rastogi three for 28,Abhishek Kathuria three for34) lost to USA 146 for sevenin 30 overs (Kushank Rastogi75 not out, Rahul Mathur fourfor 41).

With the seeded playerspressing hard to stay oncourse, the script of thefourth day’s play in the In-dian Oil-ITF Futures tourna-ment was on expected linesat the TTC courts here onThursday.

Consequently, it was alsoa day of one-sided matchesas the top-seeded PrajneshGunneswaran, No. 2 SriramBalaji and the third seedVishnu Vardhan expectedlytook their places in themen’s semifinals while thefourth slot was taken by Dal-winder Singh, benefitingfrom the early exit of No. 4Sasikumar Mukund.

With the sixth seed Vijay

Sundar Prashanth havingalready built up a reputationof being a dogged fighter, itwas anticipated that hewould provide a close fightagainst top-ranked Pra-jnesh.

But as things turned out,Prajnesh came up with afine all-round display tocanter home 6-2, 6-2.The results: Quarterfinals:Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt VijaySundar Prashanth 6-2, 6-2; N.Sriram Balaji bt V.M. Ranjeet6-4, 6-2; Vishnu Vardhan btHaadin Bava 6-3, 7-6(3); Dal-winder Singh bt JayeshPungliya 6-3, 6-3. Doubles:Semifinals: Sriram Balaji &Vishnu Vardhan bt KunalAnand & Anvit Bendre 6-3, 7-5;Jui Chen-Hung (Tpe) & HongKit Wong (HKG) bt Aryan Gov-eas & Dhruv Suresh 6-3, 6-0.

ITF Futures: a day ofone-sidedmatchesDalwinder among semiinalistsSpecial Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Top seed Parikshit Somanibeat Dipin Wadhwa 6-1, 6-3to make the boys’ semifinalsin the Rendezvous A RolandGarros-BTA-AITA NationalSeries tennis tournamenthere on Thursday.

In the girls’ section, Yub-rani Banerjee defeatedPrerna Vichare 6-3, 6-3 tomake the last four.

The tournament is thefirst qualifier in a series ofthree to identify two playersfrom the country who willplay the final qualifyinground at Roland Garros, thewinner of which gets to playthe junior section if theGrand Slam event on awild-card.

The second qualifier willbe played in Pune next weekbefore the ‘masters’ event inthe third week of April in

New Delhi where thosequalifying from Kolkata andPune will play.

The winners from boththe girls’ and boys’ sections,will play against a selectionof players from countrieslike Japan, China, Brazil,South Korea and the USA inthe final stage of qualifyingin France.

The results: Boys: ParikshitSomani (Asm) bt DipinWadhwa(Del) 6-1, 6-3; Rishabh Sharda(Chd) bt Yugal Bansal (Del)6-3, 6-0; Rithvik ChoudharyBollipalli (Tel) bt AshutoshTiwari (UP) 6-3, 6-1; Abhi-manyu Vannemreddy (Kar) btAtharva Sharma (Mah) 6-4,6-2. Girls: Smriti Singh (Har) btJanvi Patel (Guj) 6-4, 6-3; Prat-ibha Prasad Narayan (Kar) btRadhika Yadav (Har) 6-2, 7-5;Yubrani Banerjee (Ben) btPrerna Vichare (Mah) 6-3, 6-3,G.S. Vasavi (TN) bt BhaktiBharat Parwani (Guj) 6-1, 6-2.

Parikshit in last fourYubrani makes girls’ semiinalsSpecial Correspondent

KOLKATA

CMYK

A ND-ND




SPORT

Westbrook nets ‘perfect’triple-doubleWASHINGTON

NBA scoring leader Russell

Westbrook unleashed his

35th triple-double of the

season on Wednesday,

making NBA history and

powering Oklahoma City

Thunder over visiting

Philadelphia 76ers 122-97.Other results: Nuggets 126bt Cavaliers 113; Hornets 109bt Orlando 102; Bulls 117 btDetroit 95; Wizards 104 btAtlanta 100; Hornets 109 btMagic 102; Celtics 109 btPacers 100; Bucks 116 btKings 98; Jazz 108 bt Knicks101. AGENCIES

IN BRIEF

WC Qualifier: Spain vs Is-rael, Sony Six & Sony Six HD,1 a.m. (Saturday)NBA: Sony Six & Sony Six HD,5.30 a.m. (Saturday)

TV PICKS

Goa punished Kerala for itsfrailties in defence to score a2-1 win and enter the final ofthe 71st Santosh Trophy Na-tional football championshipat the GMC stadium here onThursday.

Striker Liston Colacostruck a brace to shut outKerala whose weak defencewas exposed by Goa.

In the final on Sunday, Goawill meet Bengal which beatMizoram 6-5 in sudden deathin another semifinal match.

Though Kerala had thebetter of ball possessionGoans stung in counter at-tacks and scored both thegoals in the same manner.Kerala attacked from thestart but it was Goa which

went ahead and off the firstchance it created.

Peter Carvalho pushed along ball to Brian Mascaren-has on the right flank. Brianentered the box and squaredthe ball to Liston who beatthe goalkeeper with a rightfooter in the 13th minute.

The Kerala goal fell againin the 36th minute whenLeander Cunha found Listonwith a through ball and thestriker easily beat his markerto bury the ball into farcorner of the net.

After surviving an earlyscare in the second half whenAaren D’Silva failed to con-nect a cross from Brian, Ker-ala went on to dominate itsopponent. It created severalchances and Rahul Raj pulledone back in the 61st minute

when he found the net with aheader in a goal mouthmelee following a corner.

Goa survived the Kerala at-tacks in the final minutes tomove into the final.

Earlier, 31-time championWest Bengal entered the finalfor the first time in six yearsafter defeating Mizoram 6-5in sudden death.

Goalkeeper Sankar Royturned out to be the Bengal’shero as he made two saves intie-breaker. Roy stopped pen-alties taken by his counter-part Muanawma and Lal-baikhula as West Bengal won6-5 in sudden death.

The teams failed to scoreduring the regular time and

30minutes of extra-time. TheBengal defence kept a cleanslate again and so far Bengalhas not conceded a goal dur-ing regular play.

Mizoram must be ruingthe chances it missed includ-ing the two chances the teamgot in the dying minutes ofextra time.

During regular play, thedefensive wall put up byWestBengal’s back four was hardto penetrate.The result: Semifinals: Bengal6 (Rana Gharami, Manvir Singh,Samad Ali Mallick, Mumtaz Ak-thar, S.K. Faiz, MoirangthemBasanta Singh) bt Mizoram 5(Lalrammawia, Ramfangzauva,Lalrammuanpuia, Lalrinchhana,Lalchhuanawma).

Goa 2 (Liston Colaco 13, 36)bt Kerala 1 (Rahul Raj 61).

Sankar Roy does the star turn for BengalListon Colaco sparkles in Goa’s 2-1 victory over Kerala in the semiinals

M.R. Praveen Chandran

Panaji

Duel:Mizoram’s Laldinliana (right) and Bengal’s MoirangthemBasanta Singh ight for possession. * PTI

SANTOSH TROPHY

Yuki Bhambri lost 6-3, 6-2 tofifth seed Maximilian Mar-terer of Belgium in thequarterfinals of the $50,000Challenger tennis tourna-ment here on Thursday.The results: $50,000 Chal-lenger: Quanzhou (China):Quarterfinals:Maximilian Mar-terer (Bel) bt Yuki Bhambri 6-3,6-2; Second round: Bhambri btBlaz Kavcic (Slo) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Quarterfinals:

(Tpe) 4-6, 7-6(3), [10-8].

lion (Greece): First round:

& Maya Tahan (Isr) 7-5, 6-3.

Sheikh:bt Ramya Natarajan 6-2, 6-3.

TENNIS

Bhambri crashes outSpecial Correspondent

Quanzhou

ONGC Dehradun scored itssecond straight win defeat-ing Income Tax (Gujarat) 88-71 in men’s Group B leagueof the 31st Federation Cupbasketball championshiphere on Thursday.

The IT boys knew theywere up against one of thebest teams in the country.But they displayed guts ofsteel, dribbling boldly andconfidently into the rivalarea for precious points, inthe first quarter.

ONGC, the championshipfavourite, meanwhile,played in a much relaxedmanner. The idea was to ex-ercise its strategies for the fi-nal league against a strongIndian Overseas Bank on Fri-day. It was, in fact, a re-hearsal of sorts for the team.

After its main players se-cured a good 15-point lead inthe first session, ONGCtested its bench strength.

Income Tax, on the other

hand, continued to workhard at the flanks. DishanthV. Shah, the only tall star inthe team, who lookedsmooth and easy beating thedefence in the first half, sud-denly could not find thespace to move around as hewas completely checked bythe big men from Ut-tarakhand.

Income Tax could have

still made a match of it hadits bench been strongenough. It had just three toboast of as against ONGC’seight. They tried their levelbest in the final quarter butthe damage had alreadybeen done.

Late on Wednesday, Cus-

toms and Central Excise(Kerala) held its nerves toclinch a 78-77 thriller over afighting Ludhiana BA.The results: Men: ONGC (Ut-tarakhand) 88 (YadwinderSingh 21, Vishesh Briguvanshi20) bt Income Tax (Gujarat) 71(Dishant V. Shah 20, IndravijaySingh 16); Army Service Corps &Centre (Karnataka) 87 (Issac T.Thomas 28, Vivekananda 16) btLudhiana BA 64 (ArshpreetSingh 19, Rajveer Singh 18); IOB75 bt Central Railway 58.On Wednesday: IOB 82 (G. Siv-abalan 20, Hareesh Koroth 19)bt Income Tax (Gujarat) 71(Dhaval P. Ulva 20, Dishan V.Shaji 19); Customs & Central Ex-cise (Kerala) 78 (R. Manoj 30,K.R. Nikhil 23) bt Ludhiana BA77 (Arshpreet Bhullar 21, RahulMehla 16).Women: West Bengal 76(Madhu Kumari 25, SitamaniTudu 19) bt Kerala 55 (P.G. An-jana 11, Nimmi George 9); Ch-hattisgarh 105 (PoonamChaturvedi 42, Riya Verma 18)bt Punjab 75 (Nicha Netam 15,Mahima Bharadwaj 11).

Second straight win for ONGCIncome Tax (Gujarat) goes down ighting

Rayan Rozario

Coimbatore

Dominating:ONGC’s Yadwinder Singh called the shots againstIncome Tax (Gujarat). * M. PERIASAMY

FEDERATION CUP

Joshna bows out ofBritish Open squashHULL

India’s campaign ended in the

British Open squash

championship with the exit of

Joshna Chinappa here in the

second round late on

Wednesday. Joshna lost 11-8,

11-7, 11-7 to Raneem El Welily

of Egypt, a former World

champion, in 27 minutes.

India loses to AustraliaBANGKOK

Australia beat India 3-0 in the

quarterfinals of the Asia

Oceania World Junior (u-14)

tennis tournament on

Thursday.The results: Australia bt India3-0 [Casey Hoole bt DiveshGahlot 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5; PhilipSekulic bt V.M. Sandeep 6-2,6-1; Philip Sekulic & EdwardVo bt Nishant Dabas & V.M.Sandeep 7-6(3), 6-2].

Salsa Aher and HumeraShaik got India past Kaza-khstan 2-1 in the play-offmatch for the ninth place inthe Asia Oceania junior FedCup under-16 girls’ tennistournament at the DLTAComplex here on Thursday.

India will next playKorea. The winner will playthe winner of the matchbetween Indonesia andMalaysia for the ninthplace.

The results (play-off): Indiabt Kazakhstan 2-1 (Salsa Aherbt Takhmina Zhanatova 6-3,6-2; Humera Shaik bt Ana-stasia Astakhova 0-6, 7-5, 7-6(3); Salsa Aher & SaiDedeepya lost to KamilyaShalina & TakhminaZhanatova 6-3, 7-5).

Indian girlsget pastKazakhstanSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-ND




LIFE

The sea ice cover in the Arc-tic and the Antarctic hit newrecord lows for this time ofyear, marking the smallestpolar ice caps in the 38-yearsatellite record, U.S. govern-ment scientists said onWednesday.

In March, the Arctic icesheet should be at its biggest,but on March 7 the ice coverreached “a record low win-tertime maximum extent,”said a statement by NASA.

Data from the NASA-sup-ported National Snow andIce Data Centre (NSIDC) inBoulder, Colorado, alsoshowed that on March 3,“sea ice around Antarcticahit its lowest extent ever re-corded by satellites at theend of summer in the South-ern Hemisphere”.

Seasonal cycleThe disappearing sea icecomes as the planet hasmarked three years in a rowof record-breaking heat, rais-ing new concerns about theaccelerating pace of globalwarming and the need tocurb burning of fossil fuelswhich spew heat-trappinggreenhouse gasses into theatmosphere.

The ice floating in the Arc-tic Ocean grows and shrinkson a seasonal cycle, reaching

its largest size in March andits smallest at the end of thesummer melt in September.

This year’s Arctic max-imum spanned 14.42 millionsq.km. That is 95,829 sq.km.below the previous recordlow in 2015. When scientiststake account of the averagesea ice extent for 1981-2010,this year’s ice cover is12,19,884 sq.km. smaller.

The Arctic sea ice max-imum has dropped by an av-erage of 2.8% per decade

since 1979, NASA said. “Westarted from a low Septem-ber minimum extent,” saidWalt Meier, a sea ice scientistat NASA’s Goddard SpaceFlight Center.

“There was a lot of openocean water and we sawperiods of very slow icegrowth in late October andinto November, because thewater had a lot of accumu-lated heat that had to be dis-sipated before ice couldgrow,” he added. “The ice

formation got a late start andeverything lagged behind —it was hard for the sea icecover to catch up.”

The ice in the Antarcticalso follows a seasonal cyclebut its maximum comes inSeptember and its minimumaround February.

Antarctic worriesIn the Antarctic, this year’srecord low annual sea iceminimum was 21,10,840sq.km. That was 1,83,889sq.km. below the previouslowest minimum extent inthe satellite record, whichoccurred in 1997, said NASA.

“Since November, dailyAntarctic sea ice extent hascontinuously been at its low-est levels in the satellite re-cord,” said the U.S. spaceagency.

For the past two years,however, Antarctica saw re-cord high sea ice extents.

“There’s a lot of year-to-year variability in both Arc-tic and Antarctic sea ice, butoverall, until last year, thetrends in the Antarctic forevery single month were to-ward more sea ice,” saidClaire Parkinson, a seniorsea ice researcher at NASAGoddard.

“Last year was stunninglydifferent, with prominentsea ice decreases in theAntarctic.”

Sea ice hits record winter lowScientists are alarmed at the rapid pace of melting of the earth’s polar capsAgence France-Presse

Miami

Deep trouble: Image shows how low Arctic sea ice levels werein March 2017, compared tomedian ice edge (thin yellow line)of 1981 - 2010. * NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA CENTER/NASA/AP

Amputees with prostheticlimbs may soon get a bettersense of touch, temperatureand texture, thanks to theenergy-saving power of thesun, British researchers saidon Thursday.

While prosthetics are usu-ally fully powered using bat-teries, a new prototype fromUniversity of Glasgow re-searchers opens up the pos-

sibility for solar-poweredskin, which would includebetter sense capabilities thancurrent technology.

Ravinder Dahiya, a re-search fellow at the univer-sity, said the technology in-volves installing a thin layerof pure carbon around aprosthetic arm, hand or leg.

This allows light to passthrough it and be easily usedas solar energy, the research-ers said. The sun canprovide up to 15 times moreenergy than is usuallyneeded to power a pros-thetic limb, Mr. Dahiya told

the Thomson ReutersFoundation. This extra andrenewable energy can beused to power sensors thatincrease sense and feeling ina limb, so much so that theprosthetic can feel pressure,temperature and texture likenatural skin.

The technology could alsoincrease the functionality ofrobots, allowing them tohave a better understandingof what they touch.

Solar-powered ‘skin’ for prosthetic limbsIt ofers a better sense of touch, temperature and texture, say researchers

Reuters

LONDON

Ravinder Dahiya. * UNIVERSITY

OF GLASGOW

It’s a breathtaking view andyou can almost smell the lav-ender: visitors to Rome cannow stroll through EmperorNero’s Golden House andsumptuous gardens thanksto a new virtual tour.

Only a section remains ofthe vast landscaped palace,which once stood in themiddle of the ancient city,its walls decorated withgold-leaf, ivory and gem-stones, among gardensboasting vineyards, pas-tures, woods and an artifi-cial lake.

Treasures looted in East-ern cities were displayed inthe complex of porticoesand rooms built by Neroafter the great fire of Romein 64 C.E. had razed the aris-tocratic dwellings in thearea.

On his death, Nero’s suc-cessors did not take long toscrap the palace, buildingthe Colosseum for gladiatorbattles on his ornamentallake in 70 C.E., filling theGolden House with earth,and erecting the Baths ofTrajan on top in 109 C.E.

The complex was lost forcenturies, before being re-discovered in the Renais-sance by accident and be-coming a must-see for artistsfrom Raphael to Michelan-gelo, who were lowered intoone of the rooms by a win-dow in the ceiling to studythe frescoes by candlelight.

Strapping on virtual real-ity headsets, visitors cannow see that room as it waswhen it was filled near to theroof with earth and as itwould have looked in Nero’stime, its marble walls gleam-ing in the sunlight.

“It’s called the DomusAurea (Golden House) notonly for the gold leaf in thefrescoes but because it wasdesigned so that the rays ofthe sun would bounce offthe marble and waterfalls to

glimmer like jewels,” archi-tect Gabriella Strano said.

The viewer steps, virtu-ally, past the columns andinto the garden, crossing lav-ender beds and the lawn tolook out across Rome.

Visitors, who must bookin advance to join groups ofup to 25 people, can alsolook behind and above themwith the 360 degree techno-logy viewers.

A place to relax“There were no kitchenshere, or bathrooms or heat-ing. The rooms were allopen onto the gardens orthe view of the lake. It wasprobably a place to takewalks and relax,” said archi-tect Elisabetta Segala.

The complex officiallyopened to tourists in 1999,but was forced to close againwhen water damage lead topartial roof collapses.

The fault lay with the pub-lic gardens on top of the bur-ied palace, and in 2010 itwas decided the area wouldhave to be redesigned.

Not only is the garden soilfour-metres thick in partsand porous — weighing 30%more in heavy rains — butoaks and pines havestretched roots down over25 metres to feed on themineral salts in the mortar

between the ancient bricksbelow, weakening thestructure.

“We need to treat the fres-coes to stop them goinggreen, but as even the smal-lest intervention removes alayer of the original work weare first resolving the prob-lem with the gardens beforedoing a final restoration,”Ms. Strano said.

Part of the new tourshows visitors how archi-tects and archaeologistsplan to save the complex — iffunds can be found. The gov-ernment has so far stumpedup 13 million euros of the 31million needed to shore upthe walls and transform theland above.

Fifty trees will be up-rooted, with smaller pottedfruit and olive trees put intheir place. The flower beds,which will echo the layout ofthe palace and baths below,will feature plants grown inRoman times, from rose-mary to irises.

The beds will be shallowand placed over a system ofthermal insulation anddrainage which will protectthe frescoed rooms below bymaintaining the climate un-derground at exactly 16 de-grees Centigrade and the90% humidity to which ithas long been acclimatised.

The ‘Golden House’ in central Rome has new attractions


Rome

Awe inspiring: Visitors walk through one of the rooms of theDomus Aurea, a large palace built by the Roman Emperor Neroin the irst century. * AFP

Stroll in Emperor Nero’sgarden with a virtual tour

WWF to undertakedolphin surveyKOLKATA

The World Wide Fund for

Nature (WWF) will start its

Ganges river dolphin count in

November, after witnessing a

dip in the number of the

endangered species earlier

this year. The survey will

cover a 534-km stretch in

West Bengal. Earlier surveys

were based on sightings. The

new exercise will be

undertaken with equipment

that will help accurate

imaging. PTI

IN BRIEF

Damage detected inMars rover wheelsWASHINGTON

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover

has developed small breaks in

its aluminium wheels, say

scientists who have detected

the latest signs of wear and

tear on the probe. “All six

wheels have more than

enough working lifespan

remaining to get the vehicle

to all destinations planned for

the mission,” said project

manager Jim Erickson. PTI

Street art lourishesat ‘India by the Nile’CAIRO

As part of the ongoing ‘India

by the Nile’ exposition in

Egypt, artists shared their

thoughts through street art.

Egyptian painter Mohamed

Abla teamed up with Indian

artist Yogesh Saini to paint a

wall in Cairo. IANS

Classic and contemporary: Amodel displays a creation by designer TokukoMaeda during the2017 Autumn/Winter Collection at the Tokyo FashionWeek on Thursday. * AP

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Going minimalistic

Sony is working on a newSpider-Man spin-off basedon female characters BlackCat and Silver Sable.

According to The Holly-wood Reporter, the scriptwill be penned by Thor:Ragnarok writer ChrisYost, while a previous draftwas written by Westworldco-creator Lisa Joy. MattTolmach and Amy Pascalwill serve as executive pro-ducers.

Black Cat, whose realname is Felicia Hardy, is areformed burglar who hasa long and tangled ro-mantic relationship withSpider-Man in the comics.

Silver Sable, who runs afirm that hunts war crimin-als, is depicted as both ant-agonist and ally to Spider-Man in the comics.

Spider-Manspin-of inthe worksPress Trust of India

Los Angeles

A house clad in mirrors popsout of the California desert.It blends into the landscape,reflecting a kaleidoscope ofthe urban grid and arid val-ley of Palm Springs — to thedelight of photographersand selfie-seekers.

This is Doug Aitken’s“Mirage”, one of theshowstoppers of Desert X,an exhibition of 16 site-spe-cific monumental works byinternational artists thatspans southern California’sCoachella Valley.

The works are mostly“land art,” massive installa-tions in nature. The exhibi-tion includes a replica of as-sassinated president John F.Kennedy’s nuclear shelter, amirrored fence, a wall of op-tical effects, a traditionalearthen shelter... and an an-tisocial robot.

The show has attractedtens of thousands of peoplesince its opening four weeksago, including hipsters, art

lovers and residents of theregion not normally attrac-ted to museums.

“We had 5,000 peopleper weekend,” close to twicethe number expected,Desert X artistic directorNeville Wakefield said.

The success of the exhibi-tion highlights the growingcreative clout of Los Angelesand Palm Springs, wherenew galleries and museums,prestigious fashion showsand trendy tourism destina-tions offer a counterweight

to New York on the otherside of the country.

Moving to the west“There’s been a steady driftwest, away from Manhat-tan,” Wakefield said.

Economic factors are driv-ing the shift, with manyartists fleeing the exorbitantrents of New York.

“Mirage”, which is shapedlike an ordinary ranch-stylesuburban house, symbolisesthe cult of real estate, a cent-ral tenet of the American

Dream. It is also a nod to the“mid-century modern” ar-chitectural masterpieces ofPalm Springs.

“I’m interested in seeingartwork as something thatcan be alive on its own andcontinuously in flux,”Aitken, a top contemporaryAmerican artist, said in anemail to AFP.

The location of “Mirage”,which reflects the surround-ing sky and landscape, was“very important.”

The organisers of Desert Xgive only the latitude andlongitude coordinates of theworks and not their ad-dresses, forcing visitors tosearch for them and discoverlittle-known places along theway, like theWhitewater Pre-serve where art-seekers canfind “One I Call.”

Sherin Guirguis’s sculp-ture, an ode to migration, isbuilt from bags of earth andis modelled after traditionalhoming pigeon towers in thedesert villages of her nativeEgypt.

Desert X exhibition relects the worldAmirrored house and a wall of optical efects are among the installations


Los Angeles

Think piece:Doug Aitken’s ‘Mirage’ house at the Desert X landart exhibition in the Coachella Valley of California. * AFP

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