rahul quashes aap tie-up rumour over polls during ramzan · 2019-03-15 · ramzan so that muslims...

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SHARAD PAWAR NOT TOCONTEST LOK SABHA POLLPune: NCP chief Sharad Pawaron Monday said he will notcontest Lok Sabha election. The78-year-old veteran politiciansaid as two members of hisfamily are going to contest thepolls, “somebody had to stepback.” Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis saidthe NCP chief’s decision to pullout from poll fray was becausehe had “sensed the change inthe air”.

RAHUL’S ‘MASOOD JI’REMARK SPARKS ROWNew Delhi: The BJP on Mondaylatched on to Congress presidentRahul Gandhi’s reference toterrorist organisation JeM headas “Masood Azhar ji” to throw“Rahul loves terrorists” barb atthe Congress chief, as theOpposition party hit backaccusing its rival of deliberately twisting his comments.

GHOST PATIENTS: SC BARS MBBS ADMISSION New Delhi: In a real life plotresembling the Sanjay Duttstarrer Munna Bhai MBBS, amedical college in Bhopalallegedly admitted fake andghost patients to comply withminimum requirements ofMedical Council of India, a CBIenquiry has found. On the basisof the findings of the probeagency, the Supreme Court hasbarred RKDF Medical CollegeHospital and Research Centrefrom taking admissions in itsfirst year MBBS course for thenext two sessions 2018-19 and2019-20.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president RahulGandhi on Monday set

aside all speculation about aCongress-AAP alliance in thenational Capital by urging theparty workers to work hard to“win all the seven Lok Sabhaseats in Delhi”.

“There will be no tie-upand the Congress will go italone on all seven Lok Sabhaseats in Delhi. You shouldwork hard to win all the sevenseats of Delhi,” said Rahulwhile addressing party’s boothworkers in Delhi.

It seems the Congress istaking a long term view of itsprospects in Delhi, where it wasa force to reckon with fordecades. But the arrival of theAAP wiped out the Congressfrom the scene. In 2004 LSpolls, the Congress won six outof seven seats and in 2009 itwon all seven seats. But afterAAP turned the 2014 polls intotriangular contest, the BJPswept Delhi winning all theseven seats. The Congress hadbeen in power for three con-secutive terms spanning 15years from 1998 to 2013.

At a recent meeting withthe Congress chief , the DelhiCongress, led by Shiela Dikshit,had unanimously refused analliance with AAP. Last week,after a meeting with Rahul andUPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, Dikshit had claimedthe Congress had “no allianceyet” in Delhi. The meetingand the comment both cameafter AAP leaders urged Rahulfor a rethink, saying it shouldbe his decision and not theState Congress’ diktat.

The Congress has beenunder pressure from the TMCto enter into an alliance withthe AAP. Delhi Chief Ministerand AAP chief ArvindKejriwal too has been keen ona tie-up, saying it would stopthe split of non-BJP votes.

As the Opposition startedrecalibrating its campaign afterthe Pulwama terror attack andthe subsequent IAF air strikes,Rahul held a meeting withleaders of the Delhi Congressto discuss the issue.

After the Congress refusalthen, Kejriwal had tweeted,“At a time when the wholecountry wants to defeat Modi-Shah duo, Cong is helping BJP

by splitting anti-BJP vote.Rumours are that Congresshas some secret understandingwith BJP. Delhi is ready to fightagainst Cong-BJP alliance.People will defeat this unholyalliance.”

Reacting to Rahul’s state-ment on Monday, AAP leaderGopal Rai said his party is notin talks with the Congress foran alliance in Delhi and it willcontest all seven seats in theupcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Rai said Kejriwal will holda meeting with all State unitchiefs of the party and MLAsto discuss the strategy for theparliamentary polls. “The partyis not in talks with theCongress for an alliance in

Delhi and it will contest all theseats on its own,” the AAP’sDelhi unit convener said.

In an all out attack againstPrime Minister NarendraModi, the Congress presidentflayed him on a host of issuessuch as the Rafale deal, employ-ment generation, national secu-rity and alleged agrarian dis-tress. He also said the choiceis between Mahatma Gandhi’sIndia or Godse’s India with loveon one hand and hate on theother.

“You have to decide, youwant Gandhi’s India or Godse’sIndia. On the one hand thereis love, brotherhood, on theother is hate, fear. Gandhiji wasfearless, stayed in jail for years,

but spoke with the British withlove, while (Veer) Savarkarwrote letters to Britishers apol-ogising and asking to be let off,”he said.

He said Modi keeps talkingabout Make in India, but hisshirt, shoes and phone, withwhich he takes selfies, aremade in China.

Rahul said 40 CRPF per-sonnel were martyred in thePulwama terror attack carriedout by the Jaish-e-Mohammedwhose chief Masood Azharwas released from jail by theBJP.

“Two of our PrimeMinisters were martyred. Wedon’t bow before anyone,” hesaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Election Commission(EC) on Monday acted

swiftly to nip in the bud a con-troversy generated by leaders ofthe Trinamool Congress(TMC) and the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) over scheduling ofpoll dates during Ramzan.

The EC clarified that themain festival (June 4) andFridays (falling in the holymonth) have been excludedfrom the polling dates. TheCommission also said the LokSabha polls are being con-ducted during the Ramzanbecause a full month cannot beexcluded.

The BJP accusedOpposition parties of creatinga deliberate controversy overvoting during Ramzan sayingHindus too would be observ-ing “Navratra” fast when pollprocess would be underwaynext month.

Earlier, leaders of TMCand AAP alleged that thepolling schedule was designedin a way that most of the con-stituencies go to polls duringRamzan so that Muslims can-not go out and exercise theirfranchise.

They claimed that duringRamzan, it will be inconvenientfor Muslims and help the BJPas the community is largelyseen to be backing the

Opposition parties against theruling alliance.

The Ramzan, which is amonth of rigorous fasting forthe Muslims, will begin on May5 which coincides with thepolling schedule in States.Ramzan will end on June 4.

After the announcement ofpoll schedule by the EC, AAPleader Amanatullah Khantweeted on Sunday that elec-tions will be held in Delhi onMay 12, when Muslims will beobserving Ramzan. “There willbe less polling among Muslims,and it will directly benefit theBJP,” he had said. Some lead-ers of the ruling TrinamoolCongress in West Bengal hadspoken on the similar lines.

Kolkata Mayor FirhadHakim said the seven-phaseelection will be highly incon-venient for the minority pop-ulation in the States of Bihar,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengalas the election dates coincidewith the month of Ramzan.

“Election Commission is aConstitutional body and werespect them. We don’t want tosay anything against them. Butseven-phase election will betough for people in Bihar, UttarPradesh and West Bengal,”Hakim said, while expressing

his displeasure over the EC’sdecision.

Criticising the Opposition,BJP spokesperson ShahnawazHussain pointed out thatNavratas, when many Hindusobserve fast, will also fall dur-ing the elections. “Muslims donot observe roza by not doingtheir work. Islam also does notask us to stop our work forworship. It is not that peoplewho have jobs do not attendthem during Ramzan. Theykeep roza and do their work aswell. Creating such a contro-versy is unfortunate,” he said.

Hyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi said that he welcomesthe conduct of the election dur-ing Ramzan.

“As a Muslim I welcomethe election in Ramzan.Muslims are more devotionalin that month,” he said.Owaisi, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief, alsosaid those who are making acontroversy around the pollsdates don’t understand Islam.

According to EC, LokSabha elections will begin onApril 11 and continue for overa month till May 19 acrossseven phases. The last threephases of polling — on May 6,12, and 19 — would take placeduring Ramzan.

Polling for a total of 169Lok Sabha seats (i.e. 31.12% ofthe 543 seats) will take place.The polling for 41 parliamen-tary seats in Uttar Pradesh; 21seats in Bihar; 24 seats in WestBengal; seven in Delhi will beheld during Ramzan. As percensus, Muslim population inBihar is 17 per cent; 20 per centin Uttar Pradesh and 27 percent in West Bengal.

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Ajoint team of securityforces achieved a major

success on Monday when theyeliminated one of the “mainconspirators” of the February26 Pulwama terror attack on aCRPF convoy.

Jaish-e-Mohammed localcommander Mudasir Khan,alias Mohd Bhai, a low profiletrained electrician, was elimi-nated in a fierce gunfight in theTral area of South Kashmir’sPulwama late on Sunday.

Addressing a hurriedlycalled Press conference inSrinagar, GoC 15 Chinar CorpsLt Gen KJS Dhillon, accompa-nied by IG Kashmir SP Paniand IG CRPF Zulfiqar Hussainsaid Mudasir Khan has beeneliminated in the encounter.

He said Mudasir was the“main conspirator” of the attackon the CRPF convoy inPulwama. His elimination hascaused a major dent to the Jaishleadership in the Valley.

Claiming that the securityforces are pulling out all stopsto prevent Pulwama repeat, LtGen Dhillon said, “We havereally gone behind JeM acrossKashmi.” In the last threeweeks, “We have eliminated 18terrorists, out of which 14 wereJeM cadre, including 6 topcommanders,” he added.

“Operations against for-eign mercenaries and JeM ter-

rorists will continue till we killall of them,” he added.

The fierce gunfight, whichlasted several hours in Pinglisharea of Tral, erupted soon afterjoint teams of security forceshad cordoned off the area inTral after receiving a specificinput about the presence of JeMterrorists in the area on Sunday.

The security forces elimi-nated two Jaish-e-Mohammadterrorists without suffering anycollateral damage.

The bodies of the two ter-rorists, charred beyond recog-nition, were recovered from theencounter site, on Mondaymorning.

The identity of the slainterrorist was established withthe help of his family members.

Official sources claimedthat 23-year-old Mudasir, anelectrician with a graduatedegree and a resident ofPulwama, reportedly arrangedthe vehicle and explosives usedin the terror strike”.

A resident of Mir Mohallaof Tral, Mudasir joined the JeMin 2017 as an overgroundworker and was later drawninto the terror outfit by NoorMohammed Tantrey, alias‘Noor Trali’, who is believed tohave helped the terror group’srevival in Kashmir.

After Tantray was killed inDecember 2017, Mudasir dis-appeared from his home onJanuary 14, 2018, and has been

active since then.Suicide attacker Adil

Ahmed Dar, who rammed hisexplosive-laden vehicle into abus in the CRPF convoy onFebruary 14, had been in con-stant contact with Mudasir,officials said.

IG Kashmir SP Pani saidone of the terrorists killed hasbeen identified as “CodeKhalid”, believed to be aPakistani.

Zulfiqar Hussain, IG CRPF,said the Tral encounter couldnot be called an “avenge” of thePulwama terror attack as theCRPF had lost several men. Hesaid, “Our job is still not done.All those people who had sup-plied explosives, providedlogistics and radicalised youthwould be dealt with.”

According to the policerecords, both the slain terror-ists were affiliated with JeM and

were wanted for their com-plicity in terror crimes.

A police spokesman said,“Both terrorists were involvedin planning and executing sev-eral terror attacks. Mudasirwas involved in attack on aCRPF camp in Lethpora lastyear.”

The National InvestigationAgency, which is probing thePulwama attack, had raidedMudasir’s residence.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Much to the relief of con-servationists, a Central

green panel has rejected theNational Highway Authority ofIndia’s `2,196 crore proposalfor the construction of 240.12km road stretching fromGopalpur Port to Ratnapur inOdisha on the ground that itwill threaten the habitat ofendangered olive ridley turtles,migratory birds, and disturbthe flow of at least 13 rivers,and affect floodplains. Theproposal also involved felling ofaround 24,596 trees.

The NHAI had proposedthe construction of newNational Highway 516-A pass-ing near the BhitarkanikaWildlife Sanctuary — country’ssecond largest mangrove forestsafter Sunderban — and furtherdividing Balukhand KonarkWildlife Sanctuary and Chilika(Nalaban) Wildlife Sanctuaryin the State.

It is an important bird areaand winter home for migrato-ry birds from the Arctic andsub-Arctic regions during theironward and return migrationalong the east coast. BalukhandKonark is a nesting site for

Olive Ridley sea turtles.The Expert Appraisal

Committee (EAC) for projectsrelated to infrastructure devel-opment under the UnionEnvironment Ministry in ameeting in January asked theNHAI to explore alternateroute which does not affect thewildlife and wetlands.

Sources in the Ministrysaid the proposal involved con-struction of 2/4 laning withpaved shoulder starting fromGopalpur Port in Ganjam dis-trict and passing throughSatapada, Konark, Astarang,Naugaon, Paradip Port to end

at Ratanpur. The NHAI had proposed

acquiring 996 hactres, includ-ing 33.6 forest land, for the pur-pose which involved felling of24,596 trees. However, the factthat at least 13 stream crossingsnamely Rushikulya river,Chilika Lake, Kushabhadrariver, Kadua river, Prachi,Baradianadi, Borwan, Saunlia,Harhua, Gobari river, NuaNairiver, Devi river and Mahanadiriver were to be effected did notgo down well with the EAC.

However, justifying theproposed highway with newalignment, the NHAI at the

meeting of the EAC said it “hasbeen envisaged through anarea which shall have theadvantage of simultaneousdevelopment as well as shallresult in a shorter distance totravel.

“The junctions with exist-ing road will be planned in theform of interchanges and fly-over to ensure uninterruptedflow of traffic diversion. Theproposed road would act as theprime artery for the economicflow to this region,” said theproject proponent.

It also pointed out that itwill “enhance economic devel-

opment, provide employmentopportunities to locals,strengthen tourist develop-ment, ensure road safety, andprovide better transportationfacilities and other facilitiessuch as wayside amenities.Vehicle operating cost will alsobe reduced due to improvedroad quality.”

However, the EAC mem-bers were not impressed as theyalso noted that the pillars forthe highways will also passthrough Rushikulya and Deviriver mouths which are hometo tens of thousands of oliveridley.

Rahul quashes AAP tie-up rumour

Win all seven seats in Delhi, Cong chief exhorts party cadre

EC nips in bud squabbleover polls during RamzanFridays kept off

schedule; Owaisi

slams parties for

raising non issue

Pulwama mastermind killed18 terrorists, including JeM ultras, eliminated post suicide attack, says Army

NHAI road project threatening olive ridley hits blind alley

Olive ridley turtles are protected under India’s wildlife laws

Villagers walk past the debris of a destroyed house after a gunbattle between security forces and terrorists at Pinglish area ofTral in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Monday PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress is all set togive the final shape to its

strategy for Lok Sabha elec-tions at its WorkingCommittee meeting inAhmedabad on Tuesday andwill sound the poll bugle fromPrime Minister NarendraModi’s home State, party lead-ers said.

The party is of the viewthat the narrative for the gen-eral elections needs to besteered towards real issues andproblems confronting peopleof the country, from what itsleaders see as the “propagan-da” plank of the currentregime, especially afterPulwama attack and subse-quent air strike on terrorcamps in Pakistan.

CWC, the highest deci-sion-making body of the party,comes barely two days afterdeclaration of poll schedule forthe general elections. TheCWC was earlier scheduled forFebruary 27, which was put offamid escalation of the India-Pakistan tension.

Sources said the Congressis seeking to give a strong polit-ical message to the entirenation from the land ofMahatma Gandhi and SardarPatel, with the party leadershipscheduled to hold a prayermeeting at Sabarmati GandhiAshram in Ahmedabad, fol-lowed by the CWC meeting atSardar Vallabhbhai Patelnational memorial there.

The CWC meeting isbeing held in Gujarat after agap of 58 years. It was last heldin the State at Bhavnagar in1961. The party will also holda public meeting in Adalaj inGandhinagar Gujarat with theslogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”.

Congress general secre-

tary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra isalso likely to address this meet-ing in her first public rally afterentering politics.

Patidar leader HardikPatel, who shot to fame byspearheading a quota stir in theState and is set to fight the LokSabha polls, will also join theCongress at the meeting inpresence of party chief Rahul Gandhi.

Besides giving the finalshape to its LS election strate-gy, the party will demandanswers from Prime MinisterModi and the BJP on what theycall “failures” and “unfulfilled”promises of the Government.Top Congress leadership, ledby Rahul, Sonia Gandhi andformer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, and othersenior leaders will deliberateon key issues for the nationalelections beginning April 11.

The Congress leaders feelthat the party needs to demandanswers from the PrimeMinister on status of thepromises made by him fiveyears ago and on hisGovernance track record. Afterthe CWC meeting, seniorCongress leaders, includingRahul, UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh,as well as current and formerparty CMs, will attend the“Jan Sankalp rally”, said GujaratCongress chief Amit Chavda.

The party has been alleg-ing that Modi has “fooled” thepeople with his “false propa-ganda” and has not deliveredon his promises. The Congresswants these issues to be madepoll agenda.

The party will start theirday by paying tributes toMahatma Gandhi as March 12marks the launch of the his-toric Dandi March.

CWC meet in Modi's

home turf to finalise

poll strategy today

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and DPCC chief Sheila Dikshit at ‘Mera Booth, Mera Gaurav’ convention at Indira GandhiStadium in New Delhi on Monday Ranjan Dimri | Pioneer

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

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PNS n LUCKNOW

Muslim clerics and politicalleaders have voiced their

dismay over the clash of pollschedule with the holy monthof Ramzan. However, a sectionof clerics has dismissed theobjections as politics, sayingthat Jang-e-Badr was fought onthe 17th day of Ramzan.

Imam of Aishbagh Eidgahin Lucknow, Maulana KhalidRashid Farangi Mahali, urgedthe Election Commission to“respect” the sentiments of theMuslims and shift the polldates of May 6, 12 and 19, asRamzan was expected to starton May 6. He said that if themoon was sighted on May 5,the month of Ramzan wouldbegin from May 6.

“Polling dates of May 6, 12and 19 will hence fall duringthe fasting period and willsubject Muslims to ‘extraordi-nary’ hardships,” the MaulanaFarangi Mahali commented.

The Maulana, who is alsoa member of All-India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIM-PLB), suggested that theElection Commission eitherprepone the polling on these

three dates or postpone themto a date after Eid after the cul-mination of Ramzan.

“We will make a formalrepresentation to the ElectionCommission in this regard,both in writing and digitalform,” Maulana Khalid Rashidsaid in Lucknow on Monday.

At a news conference inNew Delhi on on Sunday, theElection Commission hadannounced the schedule of theseven-phase general elections,to be held from April 11 to May19 with counting of votes onMay 23.

Meanwhile, AIMPLB sec-retary Zafaryab Jilani said thathe did not remember any LokSabha election being held dur-ing Ramzan, though Assemblyelections have been held dur-ing the holy month of fasting.

“The Election Commissionmay or may not have consid-ered Ramzan while decidingthe dates. There are SupremeCourt judgements that once theelection process starts, thecourt cannot interfere in theprocess,” said Jilani, who is alsoconvenor of Babri MasjidAction Committee.

All-India Muslim Women’s

Personal Law Board presidentShaista Amber also voiced herreservation over the poll sched-ule. She said that never in thedemocratic history of Indiawere general elections heldduring Ramzan.

Jamait-Ul Hind (ArshadMadni group) general secre-tary, Maulana Abdul AleemFarooqui, said the IndianMeteorological department hadmade forecast that this summerwould be warmest due to cli-mate change.

“If the ElectionCommission could adjust elec-tion dates, it would helpMuslim voters to exercise theirfranchise in Ramzan,” he said.

“If the ElectionCommission looks at its deci-sion and adjusts the dates sothat they don’t clash withRamzan, it will be better,” hesaid.

The Election Commissionusually takes into account allfactors while finalising thedates of elections so that peo-ple do not face inconvenience.But it is quite possible thatwhile deciding the poll dates,the ECI might have overlookedRamzan.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Bahujan Samaj Partyand Samajwadi Party may

have finalised their pre-pollalliance on January 12 thisyear, but the cadres of both theparties are still in the dark overtheir top leaders Mayawati andAkhilesh Yadav taking theplunge in the Lok Sabha elec-tion.

With the announcementof parliamentary poll scheduleon Sunday, all eyes are onUttar Pradesh which sends80 members to the Lok Sabha.With not much time left forthe first phase of polls on April11, whether SP chief AkhileshYadav and BSP boss Mayawatiwill enter the poll fray is stilla question for many.

No leader in both partiesis willing to go on record, say-ing that only the top leaderscan speak on the issue.

Sources, however, claimedthat there were several optionsbefore the two leaders. Theysaid that both could stay awayfrom contesting election anddevote their time and energyon campaigning for the suc-cess of alliance candidates.

“Both Mayawati andAkhilesh apprehend that thismay not send positive messageto the masses and party cadresof the two parties when stakesare high and both parties arefacing existential crisis,” theysaid.

The sources said it wasalso possible that Mayawatiand Akhilesh contest the elec-tion, which would suit theinterests of the BharatiyaJanata Party as both wouldremain busy managing theirrespective seats.

If they decide to contest,then Akhilesh Yadav mightcontest from Azamgarh andMayawati from Nagina orAmbedkar Nagar constituen-cies.

Earlier, Akhilesh hadannounced that he would con-test the Lok Sabha poll fromhis wife Dimple Yadav’s con-stituency Kannauj and hisfather Mulayam Singh Yadavfrom Mainpuri. However, theSP announced that Dimplewould once again be contest-ing poll from Kannauj whileSP patron Mulayam SinghYadav would be shifted toMainpuri from Azamgarh.

It was also being anticipat-ed that BSP chief Mayawatiwould announce her candida-ture even as she had decidednot to contest polls afterbecoming national presidentof BSP in 2003. Since then,Mayawati has been a memberof Uttar Pradesh LegislativeCouncil while being ChiefMinister and of Rajya Sabhafrom where she resigned in2017.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said theBharatiya Janata Party

would contest the Lok Sabhaelection on the issues of devel-opment, security and goodgovernance because NarendraModi had proved that whatev-er was impossible for the oppo-sition was possible for him.

In a statement issued hereon Monday, Yogi said thatnational security was theprime issue for any country.He said the Congress, whichcompleted its five-year termwith the help of SamajwadiParty and Bahujan SamajParty, treated terrorists withbiryanai while the BJP struckback and taught the rogueneighbour a lesson.

“Today, we got a goodnews that the mastermind ofPulwama terrorist attack hasbeen killed. In a surgical strikecarried out in north-east, mil-itant camps were destroyed.The recent surgical strike inBalakot reflects this govern-ment’s commitment to destroymilitants. We believe in directaction because we have aPrime Minister who does nothesitate to call spade a spade,”Yogi said.

On the opinion poll whichhas predicted a hungParliament, Yogi said it was asix-month-old survey andmuch water had flown downthe river. Since then, severalpeople-oriented schemes have

been launched and surgicalstrike has been carried outthat has given a new pride toevery Indian,” he added.

Yogi asserted that the BJPwould form the governmentcomfortably and the partywould win 74 seats in UttarPradesh. “The people will teach‘Bua’ and ‘Babua’ a lesson,” headded.

Meanwhile, a meeting ofsenior BJP leaders was held inwhich the final strategy for theLok Sabha election was chalkedout. In the meeting, Yogi saidthe atmosphere was in favourof BJP and people want to seeModi as prime minister again.

BJP state presidentMahendra Nath Pandey saidthe party would go to the peo-

ple with the achievements ofthe Modi and Yogi govern-ments. He appealed to theparty workers to ensure a mas-sive victory of BJP in the Loksabha election.

The meeting was attendedby BJP’s UP in-charge JPNadda, organisational secretarySunil Bansal and GovardhanJhadapiya.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Turncoats have turned outto be a blessing in disguise

for Congress, which has beenburning midnight oil to stagea revival in the 2019 parlia-mentary elections in the polit-ically important state of UttarPradesh.

Interestingly, Congress,which fell short of candidates tofight from all 80 Lok Sabha con-stituencies in UP, has nowgeared up to woo leaders ofBharatiya Janata Party,Samajwadi Party and BahujanSamaj Party who may be deniedticket by their parties this time.

Sources said that while theBJP would not repeat morethen 25 percent of its sittingMPs, the SP and BSP, afterforming an alliance in UP,would be forced to annoy manyof their prominent ticket seek-ers and former MPs.

The Congress has beeneagerly eyeing these left outleaders and it would help themin their hunt for finding ‘poten-tial’ candidates with winnabili-ty factor.

The sources said thatnewly-appointed All-IndiaCongress Committee general

secretary and UP East in-chargePriyanka Gandhi Vadra wasnow busy fishing potential can-didates from other parties.

The sources further saidthat Priyanka had even askedsome top leaders from the BJPas well as SP and BSP to wait tillthe Election Commission issuedthe poll notification and thenswitch over to her party.

With the ElectionCommission announcing thepoll dates on Sunday an chancesof Congress joining the BSP-SPalliance fizzling out, at least twodozen leaders from other par-ties, including sitting MPs,would join Congress and help itin giving a serious fight in theLok Sabha polls.

A senior Congress leadersaid on Monday that ‘winnabil-ity’ was being weighed as thedeciding yardstick for welcom-ing turncoats in the party.

MP from BahraichSavitribai Phule, former BSP MPfrom Sitapur Kaisar Jahan, for-mer SP MP Rakesh Sachan,Avtar Singh Badhana and for-mer Union Home MinisterRam Lal Rahi, former MP andminister in BJP governmentOmwati Devi, former IAS offi-cer RK Singh, former SP MP

from Misrikh, RamashankarBhargawa, former BSP MP fromGhosi (Mau) Bal KrishnaChauhan, senior BSP leaderNiyaz Ahmed Khan, formerMLA Anoop Kumar Pandey inDeoria, have already joined theCongress.

Besides, more leaders fromother parties are bargainingand are likely to ‘strengthen’ theCongress in poll season.

Along with turncoats, topCongress leaders, who haveearlier won polls, are likely to befielded in this elections.

Besides Congress chiefRahul Gandhi and UPA chair-person Sonia Gandhi, promi-nent Congress leaders set to trytheir luck at the hustings fromUP include Jitin Prasada, RPNSingh, Anu Tandon, NirmalKhatri, Imran Masood, RajaramPal, Brij Lal Khabri, SaleemSherwani, Salman Khursheed,Pradeep Jain Aditya, PL Puniya’sson Tanuj Punia, Sri PrakashJaiswal, Raj Babbar, PramodTewari, Sanjay Singh,Laliteshpati Tripathi, AkhileshPratap Singh and others.

While the Congress plans tocontest 60-65 seats, it wouldleave the remaining seats forother like minded parties.

PNS n LUCKNOW

On the appeal of BharatiyaJanata Party brass to

donate liberally for party fund,Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathdonated `2.51 lakh from hispersonal account to SamarpanKosh of the party in Lucknowon Monday.

A senior BJP leader told ThePioneer that Yogi made a pay-ment of `2.51 lakh from hisaccount digitally, becoming thefirst one to donate fund after theleadership’s appeal. Yogi wasgiven a digital receipt of thedonation.

Yogi also appealed to allministers, legislators and munic-ipal corporation councillors todonate a month’s salary toSamarpan Kosh of the BJP.Besides, BJP office-bearers werealso asked to donate fund.

BJP state presidentMahendra Nath Pandey alsoasked party leaders to donategenerously for the party fund sothat the Lok Sabha electionscould be contested effectively.

In February, while observing

the death anniversary of partyideologue Pandit DeendayalUpadhyaya as ‘Samarpan Diwas’,BJP president Amit Shah hadasked ministers and legislators todonate liberally for the party,pointing out that it was not pos-sible to contest elections onlywith workers’ money.

Shah also made it clear thatparty leaders and office-bearersshould stay away from business-men. “There are at least sevenstates which run party offices onthe interest they earn fromdeposits. We should have moresuch offices,” the BJP chief hadsaid.

Meanwhile, in its latestreport, the Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR)claimed that the BJP hadreceived the maximum corpo-rate donation in 2017-18 ascompared to other parties, andit stood at `434 crore.

In October, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had launched adonation drive and asked partyleaders to donate through NamoApp. Each worker was asked todonate at least `1000.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Even as Excise departmentthrashed out a work plan to

check smuggling and sale of illic-it country-made liquor and dis-tillation of hooch in UP ondirective of ElectionCommission, the success of theexercise seems to be a her-culean task.

Excise department officialsand personnel are keeping atight vigil in bordering districtsto check smuggling of liquor intothe state.

Giving details, DeputyExcise Commissioner JainendraUpadhyaya said that enforce-ment teams had been asked to

get inputs about those dealing inillicit liquor sale/smuggling andlaunch a drive against them.

“We are carrying out check-ings in districts as per ElectionCommission directives and weare sending the action takenreport,” he said.

Upadhyaya said the watchon border districts had beenintensified since Sundayevening. “We are taking help ofdistrict administration andpolice in launching the drive.Police outposts have been set upto keep a check on thoseinvolved brewing hooch andsupplying it,” he said.

A team in Lucknow con-ducted a checking on inputs

received at different places onMonday. “The team alsochecked the stock at differentmodel and country liquor shopsduring the drive,” a sub-inspec-tor in the enforcement teamsaid. But he lamented thatdepartment lacked adequateforce to carry out massive driveagainst the bootleggers. “Ourstaff strength is very low and thismakes an intensive drive a dif-ficult task,” he said.

Sources disclosed that therewere around 3,500 constablesworking in Excise departmentacross the state. “In Lucknow,their number is around 10, inBarabanki 45, in Unnao around30, in Sitapur 25. Similar is the

condition in other districts of thestate. “Under these conditions,carrying out an intense driveeffectively seems a tough task,”the sources said.

They claimed that the Exciseenforcement teams seldom gethelp from the district policewhich is already occupied withlaw and order and other issuesduring election time.

They further said that sim-ilarly, preventive action againstillicit distillers becomes difficulttask. “Some districts likeLucknow, Barabanki, Sitapur,Unnao, Bahraich are the hub ofillicit country liquor distillersand it requires a large force fora crackdown on them,” they said.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident

Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (0532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (0512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (0542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi Office: No. 6, Behind Gulab Bhawan,

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Yogi: BJP to contest poll on dev,

security, good governance issues

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath goint to BJP state office in Lucknow on Monday Pioneer

Clerics dismayed at clashof poll dates with Ramzan

69 IAS officers from UP cadre deployed as poll observers

Lucknow (PNS): Normal functioning of theUP Secretariat and several departments is set to beaffected as the Election Commission has deployed69 IAS officers of UP cadre as poll observers. Theseofficers have been directed to report to theElection Commission in Delhi on March 14 for

training and orientation programmes. Most of theseofficers will be relieved from election duty only aftercounting of votes is completed on May 23. The stategovernment has released the list of IAS officers andthe EC will decide the state and constituency wherethey will be deputed as observers.

Turncoats a blessing in

disguise for Cong in UP

Cadre still

in dark

Will Akhilesh, Mayacontest LS election?

Yogi donates `2.51L toBJP Samarpan Kosh

Excise dept intensifies vigil to check illict liquor sale

Woman shot dead by cousin

Lucknow (PNS): A married woman was shotdead by her cousin in Haiderpur village ofMuzaffarnagar on Sunday night. As per reports,Shivani of Haiderpur hamlet was going to the localmarket on Sunday evening when her cousin SumitKumar stopped her midway and shot her deadduring a spat. While a manhunt to nab Sumit was

on, he turned up at the police station and con-fessed to the crime on Monday morning. He toldthe police that Shivani had illicit relationship withanother cousin Anuj. He said Shivani was mar-ried to Happi but she and her lover bumped himoff,. He said Shivani and Anuj were named in themurder case and were wanted by police.

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OBITUARY

L/NK AZAD SINGH30 APR 1984 - 7 FEB 2019

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF L/NK AZAD SINGH WHO DIEDWHILE SERVING WITH ADM BN AMCCENTRE AND COLLEGE.

FROM: LT GEN MV SINGH, AVSMAND ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPS

OBITUARY

OBITUARY

SEPOY AACHU HERENJ21 MAR 1993 - 28 JAN 2019

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF SEPOY AACHU HERENJ WHODIED WHILE SERVING WITH 471FIELD HOSPITAL.


OBITUARY

OBITUARY

HAV ASHOK KUMAR20 MAY 1970 - 19 FEB 2019

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF HAV ASHOK KUMAR WHO DIEDWHILE SERVING WITH 433 FIELDHOSPITAL.


OBITUARY

OBITUARY

L/NK (TS) SREEJITH C20 MAY 1983 - 18 FEB 2019

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICALCORPS SOLEMNLY PRAY TO THEALMIGHTY TO BESTOW PEACE TOTHE DEPARTED SOUL AND GRANTSTRENGTH TO THE BEREAVEDFAMILY TO BEAR THE GREAT LOSSOF L/NK (TS) SREEJITH C WHODIED WHILE SERVING WITH AFTCDELHI.


OBITUARY

OBITUARY

SEPOY BAMBHANIYAPARESHBHAI VIRABHAI

1 JUN 1997 - 13 FEB 2019

ALL RANKS OF ARMY MEDICAL CORPSSOLEMNLY PRAY TO THE ALMIGHTY TOBESTOW PEACE TO THE DEPARTEDSOUL AND GRANT STRENGTH TO THEBEREAVED FAMILY TO BEAR THE GREATLOSS OF SEPOY BAMBHANIYA PARESHB-HAI VIRABHAI WHO DIED WHILE SERVINGWITH COMMAND HOSPITAL (EC) KOLKATA.


OBITUARY

vko';drk gS

vko';drk gS MkW0 jktsUnzizlkn f'k{k.k laLFkku xaxpkSyhdqlh Z jk sM ckjkc adh es a&Department of pharmacy (1)Asst. prof (M. Pharma 1 yearExp.) (2)- Lecturer (B. Pharma3 years Exp.) (3)-lab. Tech (D-Pharma 2 year Exp.)WEBSIDE-DRPSS.CO.IN E-M A I L - D r p s s b a r a b a n k [email protected] Cont-7752969311/8172826167


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

With Holi approaching,the Food Safety and

Drug Administration (FSDA)has geared up to carry out theircampaigns and monitor theedibles. Food safety officerSuresh Mishra told The Pioneerthat as part of their awarenessprogrammes in khoya mandis,they held one in Thakurganjon Monday.

The focus is on on adulter-ation in khoya prepared fromcow milk, use of colours insweets and gram flour used formaking savouries. Mishra saidfake cow milk khoya was beingsold in the markets. “Since cowmilk is yellow as it containsVitamin B12, the khoya pre-pared from it is also yellow incolour. Some shopkeepers addmetanil yellow colour to buf-falo milk khoya and sell it as acow milk khoya because it ismore expensive,” he pointedout. Regarding the khoya pre-pared from buffalo milk, hesaid: “Nearly 70 per cent of thesamples which we receivedwere fine and the ones whichfailed was because of lack of fatcontent in the milk.”

“Most of the shopkeepersremove a layer of fat whileheating milk to prepare khoya

and then substitute ghee withrefined oil, which gives textureto the final product but not fra-grance. This can be detectedeasily by any aware customerif they smell the khoya. Hence,the shopkeepers usually extracthalf the fat from the milk andthen prepare khoya,” he elab-orated. Mishra said peoplebelieved that most of the timepotato and starch were alsomixed with khoya.

“There is no report of thisas such but people in the cityusually come up with thesekinds of complaints. This canbe easily tested with the help ofa drop of iodine tincture. Asmall amount of khoya, starch,

sweet is taken in a bowl towhich is added a certain somehot water and a drop of iodinetincture. If the colour changesfrom yellow to blue, it meansthat the substance has starch.Iodine tincture is availableeasily and it is one of the sim-plest tests which can be per-formed to check the quality ofkhoya” he explained.

The food safety officersaid they were also checkinggram flour (besan) which isused for making savouries onthe occasion of Holi. “We arepicking up samples of gramflour seemingly yellower incolour. Most of the adulter-ation is because of shopkeep-

ers mixing cornflour or ricewith gram flour while metanilyellow is used for giving it extracolour,” he said.

He said that the traderswere told during awarenessprogrammes that they could beeasily caught if they were usingsuch tricks. “We are taking twokinds of samples — one forsurvey and others for legalaction. We have been giveninstructions by PrincipalSecretary, FSDA, AnitaBhatnagar Jain about themethodology of the campaign.The reports of the samples arebeing prepared in one week’stime and one of the food offi-cers has been deployed for thepurpose. He goes to the labwith a sample daily and returnswith a report and hence, we areable to plan our actions well inadvance,” the officer said.

He added that the focuswould also be on colours usedin sweets. “We are requestingpeople to only play withcolours and not eat them.Food colours are prohibited inmost of the food items. Theyare supposed to be used insmall quantity —100 ppm insweets and 200 ppm in jams &jellies. They can be used in lim-ited food items and prohibit-ed in others,” he added.


The District Election Officehas set up a cell for mon-

itoring social media for effec-tive enforcement of the modelcode of conduct. The ADM,Administration, said that thecell consisted of ADM (West),SP (East) and CO(Hazratganj). “The cell will bemonitoring the social mediaand an FIR will be lodged incase of model code viola-tion,” he said.

City magistrate GirjeshChowdhar y said publicdemonstrations of electronicvoting machines (EVMs) hadalready been carried out. “TheEVMs have been shifted tothe strong room at Rama BaiSthal. There are a total of4,282 control units and 5,814ballot units along with 4,629VVPATs. A task force hasbeen deployed for security ofthe EVMs,” he said.

A schedule had been pre-pared for randomisation ofthe EVMs, he said. “In thef irst randomisation, theassembly constituency wherethe EVMs will be sent isselected and in the second,the particular booths wherethe EVMS will be sent areselected,” he explained.

Trainings of the pollingpersonnel for EVM opera-tions are also being scheduled.District Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma, while givingdetails of what constitutesthe model code of conduct,said there was complete pro-hibition of programmes,financial announcements andlaunches.

He said no governmentofficial could participate inpolitical activity and strictaction would be taken for thesame. He said official vehicleswould not be used for any


Madhukar Mishra, thealleged mastermindof Gosainganj dacoity

case in which three police-men, including two sub-inspectors were involved, sur-rendered in the court in an oldcase against him on Mondaygiving the tech-savvyLucknow police the slip. Onthe other hand, the Lucknowpolice are mulling to recom-mend termination of theaccused cops in the case.

On Monday, Mishra, whois an advocate and had unsuc-cessfully contested for thepost of junior vice-presidentof a bar association, surren-dered in the court and wastaken into custody. The posseof cops, sleuths of LocalIntelligence Unit (LIU), crimebranch and surveillance cellcould get a whiff of the devel-opments only after somepolicemen informed theWazirganj police.

Red-faced cops latermoved an application in thecourt seeking court’s permis-

sion to get the statement ofMadhukar Mishra recorded inthe Gosainganj dacoity case.

Giving details, policespokesman AK Dwivedi saidthe police would move anapplication seeking permis-sion for 14 days’ police cus-tody remand (PCR) ofMadhukar Mishra in theGosainganj dacoity case. “It ison court’s discretion how longit permits for the PCR,” hesaid.

With the surrender ofMadhukar Mishra in the case,the investigation in thedacoity case seems now head-ing to a blind al ley.“Madhukar had the lion’sshare of the cash which waslooted by the policemen,Madhukar and their aides.Police had arrested both of theS-Is, the constable and his dri-ver in the case. The otherabsconders are said to bejuniors of Madhukar. Thepolice recovered Rs 2.4 lakhonly as of now. The surrenderof Madhukar will delay theinvestigation and recovery ofthe cash looted will be a hard

nut to crack,” the sources said.Some police off icials

defended the sub-inspectorswho were accused of lootingthe cash from coal traderAnkit Agrahari. “Madhukarwas with the sub-inspectorsand other accused when theyraided the flat at OmaxeResidency. While the police-men had held Agrahari andhis friends at the gun-point,Madhukar slipped the scenetaking the boxes filled withnotes.

The accused policemengot a little of the total cashlooted,” a police officer saidwhile sharing the detail of theinvestigation into the case.The accused had looted Rs1.85 crore from a flat ofAgrahari in Gosainganj onSaturday morning. AsAgrahari got a chance to con-tact one of his acquaintances,who is said to be a minister inUP government, and sharedthe ordeal, the cover on thedodgy deal was exposed andthe police were forced to ini-tiate an action. By the timehelp came, the accused madeoff with the cash and Rs 1.53crore was only left forAgrahari. Later, a team ofIncome Tax departmentsealed the recovered cash andstarted the probe.

Launching a crackdown,the police later arrested PawanMishra, Ashish Kumar Tiwari(both sub-inspectors), consta-ble Pradeep Bhadauria and hisdriver Angad Yadav. OnSunday, the police had iden-tified other two accused asRadhakrishna Upadhyay andYashraj Tiwari.

As Holi nears, FSDA gears

up to prevent adulteration

Loot by cops: Main

accused surrenders

Gorkha Rifles Regiment jawans perform ‘Khukuri’ at the opening ceremony of a Field Training Exercise at AMC Centre in Lucknow on Monday


Two conmen robbed awoman of Rs 50,000 in

Chowk police station area onMonday. The incident occurredaround 12 noon whenHameeda Bano (55). alongwith her son Imran (25), wasreturning home in Saadatganjarea after withdrawing Rs50,000 from a bank.

When she reached nearNimbu Park, two miscreants onbike approached them. Theytold her that her bag was open

and cash was falling down. Atthis, Hameeda and Imran bothstarted checking the bag. “Oneof them took the bag from vic-tims to show the hole in the bagand later withdrew the cashfrom it taking advantage of thescatterbrained mother-sonduo,” the police said.

The police said the womanlater sensed that that the purseshe was carrying was light andshe checked it only to find thecash missing. “She approachedChowk police station and acase was registered,” the policespokesman said. Chowk SHOPramod Mishra said that themiscreants also stole the vic-tim’s mobile. He, however, hadno idea about the modusoperandi and was unsure thatthe cash was looted or conned.Later, the police registered acase on the charges of cheating.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Aman running a travelagency was found dead

at his house in Chinhat onMonday. Police claimedthat the man suffered car-diac arrest which claimedhis life. The residents smelta foul play in the incident.

The family of the deceasedhad been informed. As perreports, the man, identifiedas Yogesh Singh (45) ofBasti, was living at a houseon rent and ran the agency.Around 2.30 am, fellowtenant Naveen Kumarheard him crying in painand alerted the police.

Yogesh was rushed to hos-pital where he was declared

“brought dead”. Police spokesman AK

Dwivedi said Naveen heardYogesh crying in pain andwent to the room. “As perNaveen’s account, Yogeshwas writhing in pain. Hesuffered a heart attackwhich claimed his life. Theautopsy will clear the cause

of death,” he said.The residents and

those working with Yogeshsaid: “He was all hale andhearty and never evershared that he was suffer-ing from heart-related ail-ment. We are surprisedthat he suffered one andlost his life due to that.”

Conmen robwoman of`50,000 in Chowk

Police will movean application forpermission for 14days’ policecustody remand ofthe accused. It ison court’sdiscretion howlong it permits for the remand

political activity by ministers.Also, he pointed out thatnobody could use loudspeak-

ers without permission. Anyrally or juloos had to beplanned with prior permis-sion, he asserted.

The District Magistratesaid official works would notbe mixed with campaigning.“The voters should not beoffered any form of dolesand on the day of polling, nocaste-based or religion-basedappeal should be made. Noreligious place should be usedfor making poll campaigning,”he added.

He said no distribution ofliquor would be allowed. Hesaid no flags, no posters andpublicity material should beallowed around booths andpolling stations. “For nomina-tions, only three vehicles willbe allowed near the RO andARO offices,” he added.

Cell set up to monitor social media for

violation of model code of conduct

Travel agency owner found dead in house


There has been a dip in trafficsnarls since Metro commercial

run on the entire North-South cor-ridor was inaugurated on March 8.A senior traffic official said that theload factor on roads had decreased,but any estimation could be madeafter keeping a watch for over aweek.

“Metro was inaugurated onMarch 8 and the commercial runbegan the next day, which was aSaturday, followed by another hol-iday (Sunday). Though the roadsdid seem clear on Monday, the realimpact can be given only afterwatching for a while,” he pointedout. The LMRC officials had stat-ed that 60 per cent of the trafficload would be cleared once Metrostarted its full run and would go along way in easing traf f ic congestion.

However, people still feel thatthe fares are high. An office-goerin Indiranagar said his bus MSTwas much cheaper than GoSmart.“From Alambagh to Lekhraj mar-ket, I will have to shell out Rs 30from one side in Metro whereasthe bus will cost Rs 20 to and fro,”he said. Similar views were

expressed by a daily commuterwho comes to Indiranagar fromKanpur.

“If I take the Metro fromCharbagh, it costs me Rs 30 fromone side, which is very expensiveas compared to the bus MSTwhich costs Rs 1,100 for threemonths,” he added.

Metro effect: Slight dip in traffic snarlsA SENIOR TRAFFIC OFFICIAL

SAID THAT THE LOAD FACTOR

ON ROADS HAD DECREASED,

BUT ANY ESTIMATION COULD

BE MADE AFTER KEEPING A

WATCH FOR OVER A WEEK


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Ameeting of the admissioncommittee was held at

Lucknow University onMonday. It was chaired byVice-Chancellor SP Singh.

Anil Mishra fromChemistry department wasre-appointed as admissioncoordinator for UG-PG cours-es for the session 2019-20.“There will be centralisedadmissions for the entire uni-versity. Admissions to man-agement courses will also bedone under centralised systemand Prof Mishra will coordi-nate that as well. The numberof seats for LLM was increasedfrom 30 to 60,” PRO NKPandey said.

He pointed out that therewould be no super numericquota in courses governedunder the rules of regulatorybodies like BCI and AICTE.The number of regular seatsfor MAEd was increased from15 to 30. “There will be no self-financed seats in MAEd,” saidPandey.

The admission committeeproposed to keep provision for

10% additional seats for eco-nomically backward classesas declared by the Central gov-ernment. In case of the avail-ability of PG seats, it wasdecided that if candidates seeka subject which they havestudied only in the final yearof graduation, the eligibilitywill be minimum 45% marks.

In case the candidate seeka subject which they havestudied in the first two yearsof graduation but not in thefinal year, the eligibility will beminimum 55% marks. If thecandidate seeks a subject

which they have not studied ingraduation, the eligibility willbe minimum 60% marks. Ifthe eligibility in a subject is‘any graduate’, the candidatesmust have minimum 50 percent marks in graduation.

There will be commonforms for Social Work, PERD,and Public Health. For PG testmarks, no minimum cut offwill be imposed. Subjects willbe allotted on the basis ofranks of the candidates whohave reported for counsellingwithin the stipulated time andavailability at that moment.

“No change of subject willbe allowed later. The candi-dates reporting late will haveno claim if seats of higherchoices are filled up. They willbe offered subjects available atthat point of time. All candi-dates seeking direct admissionunder sports quota will have toapply online. There will be aregistration fee of Rs 200 percandidate for filling formsonline,” Pandey said.

Meanwhile, the studentsfrom College of Art and Crafton Monday complained tothe Vice-Chancellor regardingtheir incomplete results. Itwas brought to the notice ofthe Vice-Chancellor that theresult was incomplete due tonon-submission of internalassessment marks by twoteachers — Poonam RaviJaiswal and Garima Rani.

The Vice-Chancellor hasasked the examination con-troller to serve notices on thetwo teachers. The V-C has alsoasked the examination con-troller to declare their internalassessment marks null andvoid and make other examin-ers do that again.

WOMEN’S DAY AT INTEGRAL UNIV

Integral University cele-brated International Women’sDay on Monday on the theme‘Think equal, build smart,innovate for change’. The pro-gramme was organised byWomen’s Grievance Cell andWomen’s Study Centre of theuniversity. “Women are thepowerhouse and pride atIntegral University,” actingVice-Chancellor Aqil Ahmadsaid. The chief guest was for-mer DGP Sutapa Sanyal whileformer Vice-Chancellor ofLucknow UniversityRooprekha Verma and direc-tor of Techno Academy AzraWasim the guests of honour.Azra Wasim spoke aboutwomen equality and progressin various fields. “It’s 21stcentury and today’s womenhave successfully achieved thework-life balance. Womenhave become smarter to haveit all – a euphoric family, aremarkable career and someseclusion to find time for her-self,” she said.

INSPECTIONGeneral manager,

Northern Railway, TP Singhinspected AlambaghWorkshop, Bridge Workshop,Supervisors’ Training Centreand Loco Workshop inCharbagh on Monday. Singhencouraged and motivatedthe employees and made theminaugurate the new units intheir respective workshops.Singh also addressed the rail-way officials on various issuesand met the representatives ofdifferent unions for railwayemployees.

LECTURE AT BSIPBirbal Sahni Institute of

Palaeosciences (BSIP) organ-ised ‘5th Dr MN BoseMemorial Lecture’ onMonday. Director of WadiaInstitute of HimalayanGeology (Dehradun)Kalachand Sain inauguratedthe programme. Earlier, shewas welcomed by BSIP direc-tor Mukund Sharma. He cit-ing Sain’s contribution in thefields of seismic and gas-

hydrate explorations. Thefunction was attended bygeologists, palaeobotanistsand research scholars of theinstitute. “As gas hydrateshave received global attentionas a possible alternative ener-gy resource, exploring andassessing its potential is vitalfor country’s energy securityin near future,” Sain said. Helaid stress on using wide angleseismic experiments for iden-tifying Mesozoic sediments(containing oil and gasreserves) beneath the hardsoil. In the later part of hislecture, he focused on gashydrate zones and their pos-sible potentials for meetingout energy needs of the coun-try. “So far, these energyresources have not beenexploited commercially butthey possess a huge potential.Ten per cent of these identi-fied methane reserve in formof cold methane hydrates cansupport energy needs of thecountry for the next 100 yearsat the present rate of con-sumption,” he pointed out.


Burglars targeted two hous-es and made off with Rs 5

lakh and jewellery worth Rs10 lakh in Para police stationarea on Monday. After com-mitting the theft, they boltedthe door of the room in whichhouse owners and their fam-ily members were sleeping.

As per reports, the inci-dent took place when com-plainant Rakesh Kumar, alongwith his family, was fastasleep. The miscreants brokeinto his house and closed the

room in which they weresleeping from outside andcommitted robbery.

“The thieves made offwith Rs 1 lakh in cash andjewellery worth Rs 10 lakhfrom my residence when wewere asleep. When I woke up,I saw my room locked fromoutside,” Rakesh said.

While investigation of thetheft at Rakesh’s house wasunderway, another residentSanjeevan Lal came com-plaining theft at his house too.He said that thieves made offwith Rs 4 lakh in cash from

his house and bolted thedoors of the room from out-side. Para SHO RanjeetBhadauria said that there wasno CCTV in the area andcops started the investiga-tion into the matter. “Theburglars will be nabbed soon,”he added. An FIR was regis-tered under charges of theftand house trespass.

In another incident,thieves broke out into a housePanchayati Raj clerk andmade off with Rs 70,000 incase and jewellery worthlakhs under Thakurganj

police station on Monday.According to the police, theincident occurred in the inter-vening night of Sunday andMonday when complainantDharam Prakash Kushwaha,along with his family, hadgone to attend a weddingceremony. The incident cameto light on Monday morningwhen he returned to his housein Dubagga locality and wasshocked to see the door lockbroken. As he moved further,he saw valuables strewnaround and cash and jew-ellery missing.


Apan kiosk owner alleged-ly staged a fake loot case

playing the role of a victim ofloot of Rs 5.25 lakh to gainsympathy and so get rid ofloan in Gudamba on Mondaymorning. As he faltered in thepolice interrogation, his planwas exposed. As per reports,Mohammed Umar ofKalyanpur in Gudambainformed the police controlroom that miscreants lootedthe cash in Behta localitywhen he was going to get aland registered in his mother’sname at Fatehpur tehsil inBarabanki. A huge police forcewas rushed to the scene forinvestigation into the case.

Umar told police that twopersons, riding a bike, over-took him in Behta and tried tostop him. He said that he wasscared out of his wit and ranhis scooty in a mango grove tosave himself. “I fell down as Ilost control. The miscreantsreached near me. One of themtrained pistol at me whileother kicked me in my stom-ach. I fell unconscious butwhen regained the conscious-ness I found the cash which Ihad put in the box in thescooty missing,” he claimed.Umar added that he had pur-chased 1000 square feet landfrom Ram Kishore of Anwarivillage in Fatehpur ofBarabanki.

Police asked him to tell thesource though which he gotthe cash and he faltered. “Wedoubted his claim from thebeginning. When the policeworked, it surfaced that Umarhad taken loan from differentpersons in the past and was yetto pay back the same. Whenmoney lenders started pursu-

ing him to pay back the moneythey loaned to him, Umarstaged the loot incident,”police spokesman AK Dwivedisaid. He said the SSP sent ateam of police led by SP, trans-Gomti and CO, Crime to thescene. “Every word from Umarabout the loot is false. He hadto pay Rs 36,000 to one fromwhom he had purchased aloader and Rs 60,000 to anoth-er person of the area. To get ridof the loan, Umar planned tostage a fake loot case sometime back. He secured anappointment from theRegistry department atFatehpur tehsil and also hadasked the land seller to appearat the Registry office for tes-timony,” the police spokesmansaid. He said a legal actionwould be taken against Umar.

ATTACKEDA group of men attacked a

women priest after she deniedentry of children who used tolitter the temple premises inGudamba. She alleged that theattackers attempted to molesther too. Police are investigatingthe case. Reports said thewoman, who looks after LordShiva temple in Forest Viewcolony in the area, was at thetemple when she spotted chil-dren inside the premises. As thechildren entered the placewhere Lord Shiva’s idol isplaced, the woman priestshooed them away saying theywere dirtying the temple. Thechildren went to their homesand complained to their par-ents. “In no time, a huge num-ber of people thronged the tem-ple. They called me by mynames and later barged into thetemple. They thrashed me andsome of them even tried tomolest me,” she alleged.


Actor Ali Fazal, who is a reg-istered voter from

Lucknow, said he was keen oncasting his vote in the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections on May6. The actor was in the city forpromotion of his film ‘MilanTalkies’. He said he thought thatit was important for people toexercise their franchise.

“I believe one shouldalways vote. Right now, I amtrying to get my vote trans-ferred to Mumbai,” he said.

About his character that hehas played in the film which isabout the single theatre era,Fazal said he was playing therole of a person keen on mak-ing films . “It’s a kind of an odeto the celluloid,” he added.

Director TigmanshuDhulia said he wanted to makea love story after having doneseveral hard-hitting films like‘Paan Singh Tomar’. “I hadbeen carrying the idea of a lovestory for long because one partof me is romantic. This is a filmbased in Allahabad and shot inLucknow. There were a num-ber of heroes which I thoughtof initially but Ali Fazalapproached me and I ropedhim in. As for the female lead,I settled for Shraddha Srinathwho works in South Indian

films but a fine Hindi speaker”Dhulia said, adding that he hadalso acted in the film.

“I kept delaying the shootof the film because I could notget the dates of the actors whowere supposed to be doing therole of the girl’s father andeventually, I decided to do itmyself,” he added.

Dhulia said the film wasprimarily shot in Lucknow andMathura and the producershad also applied for govern-ment subsidy. “I shot the filmin Lucknow, and not inAllahabad, because I had faced

a lot of problems while shoot-ing for a film based on studentpolitics there. I faced a lot ofopposition for the film,” herecalled. Asked to define love,he said it begins as an attractionand then grows as an affection.“This was the case in my lovestory as my wife I have stayedtogether,” he said. On whetherhe was nervous about how thefilm would fare, he said it wasalways the case. “The feelinghappens at the time of anyrelease and is similar to the onewhich we face when we appearfor board exams,” he said.

CHILDREN’S FILM FESTTO BEGIN ON APRIL 4

The 11th InternationalChildren’s Film Festival (ICFF-2019), organised under theaegis of City MontessoriSchool, will begin on April 4.During this 9-day fest, educa-tional and entertaining chil-dren’s films from 101 countrieswill be screened. Several emi-nent personalities from Indiaand abroad will be registeringtheir presence to motivate thestudents. CMS founder andICFF-2019 chief patron JagdishGandhi said it was a matter ofpride that several leadingBollywood personalities andchild actors would be presentat the film festival to inspire theyoung viewers. The actorsinclude Anushka Sen, JaptejSingh, Rudra Soni, AmanSiddiqui and Rubal Jain andDarsheel Safari. Cash prizesworth Rs 10 lakh will beawarded to the best films invarious categories. The selec-tion will be made by an inter-national jury comprising NilsMamros from Denmark, LaliKiknavelidze from Georgia,Vidyashankar N Nois, ShyamaPrasad and Vinod Ganatrafrom India.

Centralised admissions in LU

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

Man stage-manages

loot case, caught

Thieves make off with cash, valuables from 2 houses

Keen on exercising my franchise in Lucknow on May 6: Ali Fazal

Women participating in a programme at BOI Star Self-Employment Training Institute in Lucknow

Bag containing `10.30 lakh looted by bike-borne goons

Allahabad (PNS): In adaring incident, two motorcy-cle-borne miscreants looted abag containing Rs 10.30 lakhfrom an agent of HindustanLiver Company at gunpoint atJawahar Square Chowk underthe Kotwali police station

here on Monday. The incidentof sensational loot has sent thepolice department into a tizzy.

On receipt of informa-tion, Senior Superintendent ofpolice (SSP) and other policeofficers also reached the spotand reviewed the situation.

The police also scanned theCCTV footage. The policewas investigating the matter.

As per the reportsreceived here, trader, AnilAgarwal owns a godownMadhuri Das Shiv Prasad inthe Chowk area under the

Kotwali police station. Healso owns two agencies too.He informed the police hissalesmen Amit and one of hisold employees, Bhagwan Das,were going to deposit `10.30lakh in the Corporation Bankon Monday.

Actor Ali Fazal (right) with director Tigmanshu Dhulia in Lucknow

International Women’s Day celebrations at Integral University

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

New Delhi: A former DGP ofUttar Pradesh and an environ-mentalist have urged theSupreme Court to direct theElection Commission (EC) toban roadshows and bike ralliesduring polls, saying they violateEC’s instructions and causedamage to the environment.

The plea, filed by formerdirector general of policeVikram Singh and environ-mentalist Shaivika Agrawal,was mentioned for urgent list-ing on Monday before a benchcomprising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and Justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The Bench, however,refused to accord urgent listing.

In their plea, the petition-ers have said roadshows andbike rallies during electionperiod cause air and noise pol-lution and traffic jams whichresult in inconvenience to thegeneral public.

The plea, drawn by advo-cate Virag Gupta, said instruc-tions issued by the EC withregard to roadshows and polit-ical processions mandate thatvehicles must be registered

and a convoy cannot havemore than ten vehicles.

As per EC’s instructions, itadded, two convoys mustmaintain a distance of at least200 metres, more than half theroad cannot be covered and thenumber of vehicles and personsjoining the roadshow has to beintimated to authorities inadvance. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has allowed StateGovernments to take some

enemy properties for publicuse. The move comes amid theCentral Government’s efforts tosell more than 9,400 enemyproperties, worth over `1 lakhcrore, and `3,000 crore worthof enemy shares.

The guidelines for dispos-al of the Enemy PropertyOrder, 2018 have been amend-ed to facilitate “usages of enemyproperty by the StateGovernment exclusively forpublic use”, according to arecent notification issued by theHome Ministry.

Enemy properties are thoseproperties that were left behindby the people who took citi-zenship of Pakistan and China.There are 9,280 such propertiesleft behind by Pakistani nation-als and 126 by Chinese nation-als, an official of the Ministrysaid. Of the total properties leftbehind by those who tookPakistani citizenship, 4,991 arelocated in Uttar Pradesh, thehighest in the country. WestBengal has 2,735 such estates

and Delhi 487. The highestnumber of properties left byChinese nationals is inMeghalaya (57).West Bengalhas 29 such properties andAssam seven.

“The estimated value of allenemy properties is approxi-mately `1 lakh crore,” UnionMinister of State for HomeHansraj Gangaram Ahir hadtold the Rajya Sabha last year.The Central Government lastmonth had constituted a high-level committee to recommendthe quantum and price or priceband for sale of enemy shares,worth `3,000 crore.

A total 6,50,75,877 sharesin 996 companies of 20,323shareholders are under thecustody of the Custodian ofEnemy Property for India,another official said. Of thesecompanies, 588 are functionalor active companies, 139 ofthese are listed and the remain-ing are unlisted.

The act was amended in2017 to ensure that the suc-cessors of those who migratedto Pakistan and China willhave no claim over the prop-erties left behind in India.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India and the UK will discussthe entire range of maritime

co-operation during Navy chiefAdmiral Sunil Lanba’s four-dayvisit to London startingTuesday. The two navies havetraditional links and Lanbaduring his talks with UK Navycounterparts will explore newavenues to further strengthenthe Defence ties.

The relations between thetwo Navies have come a longway since institutionalisation ofvarious Defence forums forenhancing bilateral relationshipbetween the two countries.With the constitution of theIndia-UK Defence ConsultativeGroup (DCG) and the MilitarySub Group (MSG) in 1995, atwo-tier structure of coopera-tion was established to progressvarious areas of defence coop-eration, Navy officials said onMonday while explaining thesignificance of Lanba’s visit.

In September 2004, thetwo countries inked a pact toembark upon a strategic part-nership in which Defencecooperation figured promi-nently. The ‘Service-level StaffTalks’ forum, officially referredto as ‘Executive Steering Group’is the primary mechanism ofenhancing cooperationbetween the two Armed Forces.

Indian Navy and Royal Navyare partners in the Indian OceanNaval Symposium (IONS), amaritime co-operation constructconceptualised and pioneered byIndian Navy in 2008. The RoyalNavy participated in the 10thanniversary celebrations of IONSat Kochi in November 2018. Thebilateral naval exercise Konkanis a significant operational linkbetween the two navies and isheld every year, alternately off thecoast of India and the UK. Thetwo navies also interact on a hostof issues like training, doctrinalconcepts and maritime domainawareness.

During the visit, Lanba isscheduled to hold discussionswith the Chief of Defence Staff,UK in London and the First SeaLord and Chief of the NavalStaff of the Royal Navy atPortsmouth.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE nNEW DELHI

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Monday said it has attachedassets worth `5.83 crore inFrance of Valerie Michel, ex-wife of middleman ChristianMichel who had receivedProceeds of Crime from theaccused who is an Europeanmiddleman who is facingmoney laundering charges inconnection with theAgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

The attached property inFrance is in the name of a firmSCI Solaime situated at 45Avenue Victor Hugo, Parisbelonging to his ex-wifeValerie, officials said.

Christian Michel Jameswas extradited from UAE toIndia in December 2018. Hewas arrested on December 22,2018, under Section 19 ofPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) andwas subjected to custodialinterrogation by in ED.

The ED probe has revealedthat Michel is a middlemanwho received kickbacks fromthe VVIP Chopper deal to thetune of Euro 42 million. Duringthe course of investigation, itwas revealed that funds weretransferred from Dubai-basedcompanies to various entities.

The ED investigation alsorevealed that Michel had trans-ferred the amount received askickbacks to various entities,including Euro 922185.76equivalent to `5,83,40,422 tohis ex-wife Valerie, and subse-quently to SCI Solaime forinvestment in purchase of theattached property.

The agency would soonsend the attachment order to itsFrench counterpart and theasset would be seized and heldwith a competent court inFrance till the case was finalisedand the accused convicted inIndia, the officials added.

Further investigations toidentify the remainingProceeds of Crime are underprogress, the officials added.

Meanwhile, a Delhi courton Monday sought a responsefrom Tihar Jail authorities onthe ED’s plea to interrogate

Michel in connectionwith the AgustaWestlandchopper case inside theprison.

The court has directed thejail authority to submit itsresponse to the ED’s plea byTuesday.

Special Judge ArvindKumar also issued a productionwarrant for Tuesday againstMichel after his lawyer allegedmental torture inside jail.

The court had earlier lam-basted the jail authorities forfailing to justify the shifting ofMichel to a high-security cell inisolation, saying it will start anenquiry if it does not get aproper response.

Michel is among the threeEuropean alleged middlemenunder the probe of the CBI andthe Enforcement Directorate(ED) with the two others beingGuido Haschke and CarloGerosa.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The number of people eli-gible to vote in the Lok

Sabha polls beginning nextmonth has increased by 8.4crore as compared to the 2014general election, and thisincludes 1.5 crore “young vot-ers” who are in the 18-19 agegroup and will exercise theirfranchise for the first time. Thetotal electorate in the countrythis year has increased toapproximately 90 crore com-pared to 81.5 crore in 2014.

According to the ElectionCommission (EC) these“young voters” constitute 1.66per cent of the total electors.

The EC had allowed enrol-ment of “transgender persons”with gender mentioned as“Others” in the electoral rollssince 2012. The number of vot-ers enrolled in this category is38,325. The EC will set upnearly 10.35 lakh polling sta-tions in the country, as com-pared to nearly 9.28 lakh set upduring 2014 polls. This marksan increase of 10.1 per cent.

“The increase is largelydue to rationalisation of pollingstations, which theCommission undertook in therecent years,” the EC said.

Nearly 39.6 lakh electron-ic voting machines and 17.4lakh paper trail or voter verifi-able paper trail machines wouldbe used in these polling stations.These include reserves. Onecontrol unit and at least one bal-lot unit where buttons areplaced constitutes EVM.

This time, the visuallyimpaired and blind voters willbe provided with braille voterslips to cast their vote. Brailleis a script with raised dots thatcan be read with fingers bypeople who are blind or whohave low vision. It is a tactilereading and writing systemused by blind and visuallyimpaired people who cannotaccess print material.

As part of its strategyframework for ‘accessible elec-tions’, the Commission hastold all chief electoral officersto issue accessible photo voterslips with braille to voters whoare visually impaired or blind.

The braille enabled slipswere used in recently heldassembly elections too. EVMsalready have the braille feature.The ballot paper pasted on themachine with name and symbolof candidates is braille-enabled.The EC also plans to providebraille election photo identitycards to visually challengedvoters across the country.

The Lok Sabha electionswill begin on April 11 and con-tinue for over a month till May19 across seven phases. Thecounting of votes will be heldon May 23, the ElectionCommission announced onSunday, kick-starting a megaelectoral battle.

New Delhi: In a real life plotresembling the Sanjay Duttstarrer film Munna Bhai MBBS,a medical college in Bhopalallegedly admitted fake andghost patients to comply withminimum requirements ofMedical Council of India, a CBIenquiry has found.

On the basis of the findingsof the agency, the SupremeCourt has barred RKDFMedical College Hospital andResearch Centre from admis-sions in its first year MBBScourse for the next two years2018-19 and 2019-20.

The apex court has alsodirected its Secretary Generalto initiate prosecution againstthe Dean of the college SSKushwaha and imposed apenalty of `5 crore for playingfraud on it.

The apex court has direct-ed the college to refund the feepaid by the students for the aca-demic year 2017-19 along witha compensation of `1 lakh toeach student.

The enquiry found that thecollege misled the SupremeCourt by manipulating and fil-ing of fabricated records. “Theassertion made by the college

regarding the genuineness of thepatients in the hospital turnedout to be false in the enquiryconducted by the Committeewhich was comprised of theofficers of the CBI and medicalexperts,” an official said.

The Central Governmentand Medical Council of Indiahad highlighted before theSupreme Court gross mal-practices in the college andinadequate infrastructure andpatients to impart education to

MBBS students. This was con-tested by the college which hadchallenged the report of theGovernment and the MCI.

In order to verify the alle-gations against the college, theSupreme Court in 2017 hadconstituted a committee head-ed by a senior officer deputed bythe CBI Director and two doc-tors of the AIIMS recommend-ed by the AIIMS Director. TheCBI registered a preliminaryenquiry and submitted its reportbefore the Supreme Court lastyear which included opinion ofAIIMS doctors.

“The Committee exposesthe evil design of the college inresorting to deceitful methodsto cheat the authorities con-cerned and this court to securepermission for admission ofstudents. Apart from the pros-ecution of the Dean, the collegeis liable to be suitably punishedfor committing perjury,” thecourt said.

The MCI in its inspectionin 2015 had found that the col-lege, for the purpose of grant-ing admission for 2014-15,admitted fake patients andothers who were without anysignificant illness. PTI

New Delhi: The ED hasattached assets worth `8.46crore of Delhi-based lawyerGautam Khaitan, an accused inthe `3,600 crore VVIP chopperscam case, as part of a secondcriminal probe against him forallegedly possessing undis-closed foreign accounts. TheED has provisionally attachedproperties of Khaitan.

While the book value ofthese properties is `8.46 crore,the present market value ofthese properties is much high-er. The attached properties arelocated in Delhi, Haryana andUttarakhand and have beenattached under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA), the agency said in astatement.

The ED initiated investi-gation under the provisions ofPMLA on the basis of a casebooked by Income TaxDepartment under the BlackMoney (Undisclosed ForeignIncome and Assets) AndImposition of Tax Act, 2015,against Khaitan.

“Accused has held the ben-eficial interest/ownership inforeign assets/company/accountand had failed to disclose thesame in his return of incomefiled before the Income TaxAuthorities. It was also revealedduring investigation that hehad been found launderingmoney in various personal andcompanies’ bank accounts inSingapore and Mauritius andthat he willfully did not disclosethe relevant information relat-ed to the foreign bank accountsand companies which are ben-eficially owned by him,” theagency added. PNS

`8.4 cr assets

of Khaitan

attached

Fresh chargesheetagainst NiMo filedPNS n NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate(ED) has filed a fresh

chargesheet against Nirav Modiunder the anti-money laun-dering law in connection withthe `14,000 crore PNB scam.

The chargesheet or theprosecution complaint in EDparlance against Modi has beenfiled before a special Preventionof Money Laundering Act(PMLA) court in Mumbai,officials said.

This is a supplementarychargesheet against the dia-mantaire and few others andthe agency has recorded addi-tional evidences gathered in the case and attachmentsmade during the ongoingprobe, they said.

The development comestwo days after a British dailyreported that Nirav Modi,accused in the $2-billionPunjab National Bank (PNB)scam, is living in a swanky 8-million pound apartment inLondon’s West End and is nowinvolved in a new diamondbusiness.

In the wake of the reporton Modi’s presence in the UK,the Government is nowmulling to send a joint team ofthe CBI and the ED to expeditethe extradition proceedings inthe relevant court in the UK,sources said.

The ED had said onSaturday that the UnitedKingdom’s Home Secretary hasrecently referred India’s requestfor extraditing the tainted busi-nessman to a court for initiat-ing legal proceedings againsthim.

The ED had filed the firstchargesheet in this case in Maylast year.

The agency and the CBIare investigating Nirav Modi,his uncle Mehul Choksi andothers for alleged money laun-

dering and corruption forallegedly defrauding BradyHouse branch of the PNB inMumbai through illegal lettersof credit.

The agency had alsoattached his assets worth`1,873.08 crore under thePMLA and has seized assetslinked to him and his familyworth `489.75 crore during theongoing probe.

Nirav Modi, 48, is currentlyliving in a three-bedroom flatoccupying half of a floor of thelandmark Centre Point towerblock in London, where rent isestimated to be 17,000 poundsa month, The Telegraph of theUK had reported.

ED attaches assets of

Michel’s ex-wife in Paris

q The attached property worth`5.83 crore in France is inthe name of a firm SCISolaime situated at 45Avenue Victor Hugo, Parisbelonging to his ex-wifeValerie Michel

q The ED probe also revealedMichel had transferred theamount received as kickbacksto various entities, includingEuro 922185.76 equivalent

to `5,83,40,422 to his ex-wife, and subsequently toSCI Solaime forinvestment in purchase

of the attached property

m The chargesheet or theprosecution complaint in ED parlance against NiravModi has been filed beforea special Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act (PMLA) court inMumbai

m This is a supplementarychargesheet against thediamantaire and few othersand the agency hasrecorded additionalevidences gathered in thecase

m In the wake of the report onModi’s presence in the UK,the Government is nowmulling to send a joint teamof the CBI and the ED toexpedite the extraditionproceedings in the relevant court in the UK,sources said

India-UK to discussmaritime co-op

Home Min allows

States to use 9,400

enemy properties

SC acts against college hospitalfor admitting ghost patients

In a real life plot resemblingthe Sanjay Dutt starrer filmMunna Bhai MBBS, a medicalcollege in Bhopal allegedlyadmitted fake and ghostpatients to comply withminimum requirements ofMedical Council of India, aCBI enquiry has found

Plea in SC seeks ban

on roadshows, bike

rallies during polls

nation 05

EC APPOINTS 3 EX-CIVIL SERVANTS AS SPECIAL OBSERVERS FOR J&KThe Election Commission (EC) has appointed three eminent former civil servants as specialobservers for the forthcoming Parliamentary elections in Jammu & Kashmir. The observersare Amarjit Singh Gill, an IPS of 1972 Batch, former DG, CRPF, Noor Mohammad, IAS of1977 and Vinod Zutshi, (IAS 1982).

CEC TO HOLD MEET ON J&K ASSEMBLY POLLSThe Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora will hold meeting with Jammu & Kashmir admin-istration to discuss modalities for Assembly polls in the State. The EC’s decision not to holdAssembly polls in J&K along with the Lok Sabha polls drew strong criticism from the Oppositionleaders, including leaders of the Valley.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Asserting that theOpposition represents a

bagful of contradictory partiesrivaling each other at State-lev-els, Union Minister ArunJaitley on Monday said thechoice before the people in2019 Lok Sabha poll isbetween “Modi or chaos”.

“What was promised to be‘Mahagathbandhan’ is turningout to be a ‘gathbandhan’ ofseveral conflicting gathband-hans. It is a self-destructive‘coalition of rivals’. The BSPand the SP will contest againstthe Congress but eventuallyjoin hands. So will theTrinamool and the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal.However, in Kerala, theCongress and the Left willcontest against each other,”

Jaitley said.Writing in his blog, the

Finance Minister said the PDPand the National Conferencetried to form the Governmenttogether with the support of the Congress in Jammu & Kashmir.

“Today they are rivals inan election and on the dan-gerous agenda of either ‘auton-omy’ or ‘pre-1953 status’ butcould join hands with thegathbandhan,” he said.

Coming hard on Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi on theleadership issue, Jaitley saidRahul “is a inadequate leader.He is tried, tested and failed.His lack of understanding ofissues is frightening. He aspiresto be the leader of this chaot-ic pack.”

On the other, MamataDidi, he said is positioningherself as the ‘sutradhar’ of thisalliance. “She won’t concede asingle seat either to theCongress or the Left in WestBengal but will want them tobe her pillion riders if she dri-ves the vehicle. Her instinctivecomments on policy issues areretrograde.”

The senior BJP leader fur-ther said the Oppositionalliance is unclear and isabsolutely fragile.

“None of the political par-ties is capable of any signifi-cant number of seats. Thealliance will not have a stablenucleus. It has a set of highlyambitious, self-centred andmaverick leaders.

“Barring the Congress andthe Left, most of them havedone political business withthe BJP in the past. Their ide-ologies and commitment to

their constituents are widelydifferent,” he added.

On the other, Jaitley saidwithin the NDA there are noleadership issues.

“There is absolute clarity.Shri Narendra Modi leads theNDA and will be the PrimeMinister in the event of theNDA victory. His leadership isnationally accepted, his ratingsare very high. His track recordspeaks for itself,” Jaitley added.

The Finance Minister fur-ther said the contest in theforthcoming Lok Sabha elec-tion is between a trusted leaderModi and secure, and opposi-tion parties coalition with noprojected leader.

“There are multiple lead-ers (in the opposition), eachtrying to outwit the other.They can only promise a tem-porary Government if we goby the past precedents. Onecan be certain of chaos.

“The choice is clear - it iseither Modi or chaos,” headded. Jaitley said Modi hasproved to the world that Indiacan be administered withintegrity and honesty andIndia is capable of tough deci-sions in order to ensuregrowth to enable India tosecure itself.

“The contest is between aleader in whose hand thecountry is developing andsecure. He is trusted. Againsthim it is no one projectedleader. There are multipleleaders, each trying to outwitthe other. They can onlypromise a temporaryGovernment if we go by thepast precedents. One can becertain of chaos,” the BJPleader maintained.

1.5 cr youngvoters to votefor 1st time

Number of voters up by 8.4 cr: ECo According to EC the “young voters” constitute

1.66 per cent of the total electors

o The EC had allowed enrolment of “transgenderpersons” with gender mentioned as “Others” inthe electoral rolls since 2012. The number ofvoters enrolled in this category is 38,325

o The EC will set up nearly 10.35 lakh pollingstations in the country, as compared to nearly9.28 lakh set up during 2014 polls. This marks anincrease of 10.1 per cent

o This time, the visually impairedand blind voters will be providedwith braille voter slips to casttheir vote

Jaitley: Choice before peopleis between Modi or chaos

❝ BSP and SP willcontest against

Congress buteventually join hands

❝ Barring theCongress and the

Left, most of themhave done politicalbusiness with the

BJP in the past.Their ideologies

and commitmentto their

constituents arewidely different

❝ What was promised to be‘Mahagathbandhan’ is turningout to be a ‘gathbandhan’ ofseveral conflictinggathbandhans. It is a self-destructive ‘coalition of rivals

AGUSTAWESTLAND

VVIPCHOPPERSCAM

nation 06LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

The Trinamool Congress isall set to release its candi-

dates” list in a couple of days,party sources said adding “itcould even be published asearly as tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Confident of winning allthe 42 seats, the party is readywith its candidates” list whichmay include some surprisessources said. With ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeealready announcing her targetof “42 out of 42” seats, seniorparty leader and a Ministerfrom North 24 Parganas said“we are working in that direc-tion and the party will ensurethat campaigns begin early.”Incidentally, a Bengal televisionchannel on Tuesday predicted34 seats for the ruling party“should the elections are heldtoday.” The channel has pre-dicted 8 wins for the BJPwhereas one, mighty Left Frontand its probable ally Congresswill draw a blank.

The channel has predicteda total of 42 percent votes forthe TMC, 34 percent votes forthe BJP and a paltry 15 percentvotes for the Left Front. The

Congress is likely to get amicroscopic 8 percent. Thesurvey was however conduct-ed before the alliance wasstruck between the Left and theCongress.

Currently the TMC has 34seats, the Congress has fourseats while the Left and the BJPhave 2 seats each.

Reacting to the Sunday”spredictions the Minister saidwho is also known for hisorganisational capacity said,“we will win all the seats. Thecurrent upswing in (PrimeMinister) Narendra Modi”sfavour is because of bombing inPakistan. But that fervor will goin a month”s time as the cam-paigns intensify and the peoplewill soon come back to reality

giving a second thought. Therethey will find that it is theTrinamool and the BJP whichremains by their side through-out the year. So we will win allthe 42 seats. The BJP will losethe existing two seats even.”

Apart from the TMC theBJP is also likely to announceits candidate-list by the end ofthis week. According to sourcesthree senior Bengal leadersDilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha andMukul Roy were currently inDelhi to hold discussion withparty president Amit Shah.After the meeting with Shahthe party will draw the final listwhich will be declared thisweek, insiders said.

The CPI(M) on the otherhas already declared a list of 15

candidates. The names ofremaining 10 candidates will bedeclared by the end of this weekfollowing discussions with theCongress leadership, insiderssaid. The two parties are goingfor a seat-adjustment this timeround.

The Congress will declareits seat following discussionswith the Left, PCC sources saidadding former PCC presidentAdhir Chowdhury will contestfrom Behrampore, AbhijeetMukherjee son of former pres-ident Pranab Mukherjee willcontest from Jangipur and AbuHasem Khan Chowdhury willfight from Malda South seat.Isha Khan Chowdhury a localMLA and the nephew of lateBengal Congress patriarchABA Ghani Khan Chowdhuryis likely to contest from MaldaNorth, sources said. Son ofPCC president may contestagainst TMC MP and MamataBanerjee”s nephew AbhishekBanerjee from DiamondHarbour sources said.

Meanwhile, the TMC onMonday questioned the logicbehind conducting seven-phase polling in Bengal charg-ing the Election Commission of

India for showing “lack of sen-sitivity” towards the commonpeople of the State.

Questioning the “virtuebehind such long-phase elec-tion” party all-India generalsecretary and senior MinisterPartho Chatterjee said “this isunprecedented measure. Noone knows the reason behindconducting a 7-phase election.No one but the common peo-ple will face hardship due tothis decision of the ECI.”

Attacking the Commissionfor leaving “gray areas” in itsdirections regarding advertise-ments in the media about theabsconding people with non-bailable charges, the Ministersaid “they have said that suchadvertisement has to be givenin three newspapers or televi-sion channels but it is notclear as to which newspapershould be selected for purringsuch advertisements.

The BJP and the Left onthe other hand met the ChiefElectoral Officer and demand-ed the removal of posters andhordings of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee and hernephew Abhishek from streetscorners.

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

With the AIADMK and theDMDK signing the deal

on late Sunday night at Chennai,the battle lines for the 2019 LokSabha elections have been drawnin Tamil Nadu. The DMK-ledfront will take on the AIADMK-led front in the 39 constituenciesfrom Tamil Nadu and the loneconstituency in the UnionTerritory of Puducherry in thepoll to be held on April 18.

The AIADMK has allocat-ed the DMDK four parliamen-tary constituencies in the elec-tion. Though Vijayakanth, thefounder of the DMDK hasinsisted that his party should beallocated seven Lok Sabha seatsand a Rajya Sabha seat (thepackage which was given by theAIADMK to the PMK), the rul-ing party in the State stood itsground. The DMDK was furtherembarrassed when the DMKleadership told the media thatthe former was holding parallelparley with them for a betterdeal.

According to the deal signedby Chief Minister Edappadi

Palaniswamy and DMDKfounder Vijayakanth in a cityhotel, the DMDK would beallocated four seats in return forthe support of the party for theAIADMK-led front in the LokSabha election. The DMDKwould extent support to theAIADMK candidates in the by-election to be held from the 21Assembly constituencies in theState.

It was announced by theElection Commission that 18Assembly constituencies wouldgo to the poll on April 18 whilethe bypoll to the three con-stituencies would be held later asthe High Court is hearing peti-

tions filed by various parties withrespect to these constituencies.

The AIADMK led front hasPMK, BJP, DMDK, All IndiaNRC, Puthiya Tamilakam andIndian Justice Party in its line–up while the DMK-led UPAhas the Congress, the CPI(M),the CPI, Muslim League, VCK,Kongunadu Jananayaka Katchi,Indian Democratic Party andthe Manithaneya Makkal Katchias its constituents.

As on Monday evening, theAIADMK has been left with 21Lok Sabha constituencies.Sources in the AIADMK and theBJP told The Pioneer that thereis a possibility of the G K Vasan-led Tamil Manila Congresspitching itself in the AIADMKfront. “Please wait for one or twodays. We will give you somegood news,” said EdappaduPalaniswamy when asked aboutthe possibility of Vasan (son offormer Congress leader late G KMoopanar ) joining the front.

The AIADMK allocating18 seats to alliance partnersmean that 19 party MPs who had won the 2014 LokSabha election may not get seatsthis time.

Battle lines drawn in TNAIADMK-LED FRONT VS DMK-LED FRONT

TMC LS candidate list likely today

PTI n AHMEDABAD

Aday ahead of the CongressWorking Committee

meeting here, Jamnagar(Rural) MLA VallabhDharaviya on Monday quitthe party, tendered his resig-nation from the GujaratAssembly and joined the BJP.

Dharaviya’s is the thirdresignation of a Congress MLAin the past four days.

“Dharaviya has resigned asJamnagar (Rural) MLA. Hetold me he is resigning volun-tarily,” Speaker RajendraTrivedi confirmed.

It was a homecoming forDharaviya who was with theBJP earlier before switchingover to the Congress ahead ofthe 2017 Assembly polls andwinning on the Oppositionparty’s ticket.

“I am originally a BJP sol-dier. I had worked under PMModi and BJP president AmitShah earlier. I am leaving

Congress because of infighting.I have realised that only BJPcan ensure people’s well-being,”he said after joining the party.

“After the recent (February26) air strikes on Pakistan(terror camp), I have realisedthat Modi must be re-electedas Prime Minister. TheCongress does not have suchleadership,” he further said.

Dharaviya belongs to theSathwara community, part ofthe Other Backward Classes,which has a strong electoralpresence in Jamnagar district.

A little while beforeDharaviya quit Monday after-noon, his former party col-league Parsotam Sabariya, whohad resigned as DhrangadhraMLA on March 8, joined theruling BJP in the presence of itssenior leaders IK Jadeja andKC Patel.

Sabariya was arrested inOctober last year in connectionwith an irrigation scam andwas granted bail by the Gujarat

High Court in February.Sabariya said he was not

under pressure to join the BJPand claimed he was making theswitch to develop his con-stituency.

“I am joining the BJP todevelop my constituency. Iwas not under any pressureand have resigned from theCongress voluntarily. As far asthe FIR is concerned, the lawwill take its own course. TheBJP has to do nothing about it.I am not joining BJP to get anypost or for other benefits,” hetold reporters.

On March 8, JawaharChavda, Congress MLA fromManavadar, too had resignedfrom the Assembly and waspromptly inducted into the BJP.

He was made a CabinetMinister in the Vijay RupaniGovernment on March 9.

The total number of deser-tions of MLAs from GujaratCongress ranks in the past fewmonths now stands at five.

Guj Congress MLA resigns,third to quit party in 4 days

Itanagar: A Congress MLA inArunachal Pradesh defectedto the BJP on Monday, a dayafter the Election Commissionannounced simultaneous LokSabha and Assembly polls inthe state on April 11.

Markio Tado representedTali constituency in Kra Daadidistrict of the BJP-ruled State.

Tado said he submittedhis resignation letter to stateCongress president TakamSanjoy and joined the BJP.

“The Congress has novision for the future of the State.So I joined the BJP in the larg-er interest of the State and thepeople of my constituency,” hetold a press conference.

The State has witnessedrapid development under thePema Khandu Government,he claimed.

Tado had won from Tali asa Peoples’ Party of Arunachalcandidate in the 2009 Assemblyelections and as a Congressnominee in the 2014 polls. PTI

Cong MLA

joins BJP in

Arunachal

Chennai: The DMK on Mondayurged the Election Commissionto hold bypolls to three morevacant Assembly seats besidesthe 18 segments for whichbyelections have been scheduledon April 18 alongside Lok Sabhapolls in Tamil Nadu.

At a meeting of its districtsecretaries, MPs, and MLAshere, the main Opposition partyadopted a resolution which saidnot holding bypolls to the threeAssembly constituencies was“anti-democratic.”

Tamil Nadu Chief ElectoralOfficer Satyabrata Sahoo had onSunday said bypolls were notscheduled forT i r u p a r a n k u n d r a m ,Ottapidaram and Aravakurichiconstituencies, which are alsovacant, since election petitionswere pending in the MadrasHigh Court.

To this, the DMK meetsaid, “It is noteworthy that theElection Commission was not

restrained from holding bypollsto the three constituencies by thecourt.”

The resolution, hence,demanded that the EC holdbypolls to these three con-stituencies.

DMK president M K Stalinsaid his party’s Rajya SabhaMPs Tiruchy Siva and TKSElangovan would submit amemorandum to the ElectionCommission seeking holdingbypolls to these constituencies.

If the party’s request was notheeded, “We have decided toapproach the High Court and if

necessary the Supreme Court,”so that bypolls could be held inthese three seats, he said.

On bypolls, he said onlyDMK candidates would be field-ed in all the 18 constituencies.

To a question, he said hisparty’s election manifesto wouldbe released in two to three days.

While Ottapidaram andAravakurichi were representedby disqualified AIADMK MLAsSundararaj and Senthil Balaji (heis now with the DMK),Tiruparankudram legislator AKBose died last year.

Petitions challenging theirelections are pending in theMadras High Court.

Meanwhile, DMK’s losingcandidate S Saravanan, who haschallenged the victory of Bose inthe bypoll held on November 19,2016, Monday filed a petition inthe High Court, saying he want-ed to withdraw his election pleaover which the court had alreadyreserved its orders. PTI

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena onMonday said patriotism is notthe monopoly of a single partyand falsely calling people “anti-national” just because they arepolitical opponents is nothingbut suppression of freedom ofexpression.

The party’s remarks comeamid a row over politicisation ofthe air strike.

“Patriotism is not themonopoly of a single party...Wewonder when politicians willunderstand that the action (airstrike) was part of duty (of sol-diers) and not a task asked to becarried out,” the UddhavThackeray-led party said in aneditorial in its mouthpiece“Saamana”.

Those demanding proof ofthe air strike and the ones seek-ing votes donning militaryfatigues are equally wrong, theSena said, referring to Delhi BJPchief Manoj Tiwari who woremilitary fatigues at a recentrally.

The Sena said it was aninsult to the soldiers and theircourage.

“Why act frivolously bywearing soldiers” uniformswhich they have obtained afterrigorous training and hardwork? It supports the allegationsof the Opposition that the BJPis politicising the air strike,” saidthe Sena, an ally of the BJP at theCentre and in Maharashtra.

The terror attack inPulwama in which 40 CRPFsoldiers were killed was moreserious than the air strike andimages of the carnage inKashmir could be used by theOpposition to corner those inpower, the editorial in “Saamna”said.

“We have basically failed toprevent the casualties of our sol-diers, but some wear the cam-ouflage (outfits) and campaignfor political reasons. It doesn’tlook good when the ElectionCommission has to interveneand ask the political parties notto use images of jawans in polit-ical campaigns,” it said. PTI

Patriotism not

any party’s

monopoly: Sena

Mumbai: The MaharashtraGovernment on Monday toldthe Bombay High Court that itsdecision of granting reservationto the Maratha community waslegal and valid.

The Government conclud-ed its arguments before a divi-sion bench of Justices RanjitMore and Bharati Dangre, whichis hearing a bunch of petitionschallenging the quota decision.

On November 30 last year,the Maharashtra Legislaturepassed a Bill proposing 16 percent reservation in educationand Government jobs for theMarathas, declared socially andeducationally backward classby the Government.

“The quantum of reserva-tion granted to the Marathacommunity is valid and legaland the petitioners have failed to

make out a case to show that theGovernment’s decision wasmalafide and dishonest,”Government Counsel AnilSakhare argued Monday.

The petitioners, in theirpleas challenging the quota, hadsaid that no State Governmentcould exceed the 50 per centmark in reservations.

At present, the percentage ofreservation in Maharashtrastands at 68 per cent.

Sakhare told the court onMonday that as per the govern-ment, the Maratha communitywas socially and educationallybackward and hence it decidedto grant them reservation. “TheGovernment felt this was a spe-cial and extraordinary situa-tion and hence we should bepermitted to exceed the 50 percent mark,” Sakhare said. PTI

Maratha quota valid, legal:Maha Govt tells Bombay HC

Itanagar: Around 3,000 dif-ferently abled voters ofArunachal Pradesh will be pro-vided with special vehicles toreach polling booths in hillyareas and ramps in plains.

State Chief ElectoralOfficer Kaling Tayeng Mondaysaid the Election Commissionwould build ramps in booths inthe plains for voters with dis-abilities.

In hilly and difficult areas,the authorities would arrangefor special vehicles and otherlogistics if those voters makesuch a request, he said.

These special vehicleswould bring the differentlyabled voters from home to thepolling stations and take themback.

The CEO lamented that hedoes not have the exact num-ber of voters with disabilities inthe state.

“Many of the physicallychallenged voters in the statedid not like to register as dis-abled voters during enrolment.For this, we face difficulty ingetting the record of the exactnumber of such voters,” hetold a press conference here.

Arunachal Pradesh will gofor simultaneous Parliamentaryand Assembly elections onApril 11 this year along withother three states.

To a question on how totackle flood and landslides asmonsoon rain will begin inApril, Tayeng said helicopterwould be deployed to transportelection materials and person-nel to remote areas in case ofrain and flood.

Back-up teams would beput on place to transport menand materials in case of land-slides, he said.

“We have successfully con-ducted several elections in thestate during monsoon earlier. Idon’t think there will be anyproblem this year too withmost of the places in the stateare now well connected withall-weather roads,” Tayengadded.

Asked about use of moneyby political parties to influencevoters, Tayeng said voters alsoneed to be ethical and reject themoney culture. PTI

3,000 voters with disabilities toget ramps, vehicles in Arunachal

PNS n JAMMU

A33-year old unemployedyouth, hailing from

Kalakote area of Rajouri, wasarrested by police in Poonchahead of recruitment rallyorganised by the TerritorialArmy in Surankote area ofPoonch on Monday.

Since early morning largenumber of aspirants had turnedup outside the venue of the rally.

Before gaining entry insidethe venue of the rally the localarmy authorities were carryingout frisking of the candidates.

During the same exercise, atraining grenade C-90, UBGLgrenade and detonator were

recovered from the possession ofa 33 year old Rajinder Singh S/OKrishan Lal R/O Kalakote inRajouri.

After preliminary interro-gation the army authoritieshanded him over to the Poonchpolice. Later addressing mediapersons SSP, Poonch RameshKumar Angral said, “Duringfrisking at the venue of therecruitment rally in Surankotearea, a Training Grenade C-90,UBGL grenade, and a detonatorwas recovered from his posses-sion”. SSP Poonch said, after theregistration of FIR in the case theyouth has been shifted toSurankote police station for fur-ther questioning.

Aizawl: A 36-year-old manbelonging to the Chakma com-munity was severely injured onMonday after he wandered intoMyanmar and stepped on alandmine, official sources insouth Mizoram’s Lawngtlai dis-trict said.

The incident occurred at ajungle in the neighbouringcountry near the Indo-Myanmarborder’s boundary pillar numbertwo, the sources said.

The man along with twoothers, all residents ofBangdukbanga village, wan-dered into Myanmar while look-ing for food.

He was severely injuredwhen a landmine exploded afterhe accidentally stepped on it, thesources said, adding, the 36-year-old man lost his right leg inthe blast. The two others accom-panying him escaped unhurt,the sources said. The injured,identified as Berona, was takento the Assam Rifles camp atParva village, they said. PTI

Indian looses

leg in Myanmar

landmine blast

Man arrested

with grenades,

detonator in J&K

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Bangladesh

counterpart Sheikh Hasina onMonday jointly unveiled e-plaques for development pro-jects in Bangladesh throughvideo conference.

They unveiled e-plaques forsupply of buses and trucks,inauguration of 36 communityclinics, 11 water treatment plantsand extension of NationalKnowledge Network toBangladesh, a statement fromthe Ministry of External Affairssaid. Speaking on the occasion,Modi said this is his sixth videoconference with Hasina. He saidPM Hasina’s vision is the biggestinspiration for stronger con-nectivity between India andBangladesh. PTI

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday dismissed aplea by Karnataka Governmentseeking vacation of stay on theproposal to pump secondarytreated water from its sewagetreatment plants (STPs) inBengaluru into irrigation tanksin Kolar district for rechargingthe ground water table.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi expressedits displeasure that the stateGovernment has not men-tioned requisite details in itsapplication seeking vacationof the apex court’s stay order ofJanuary 7 this year.

“Are you playing aroundwith the court? There are nodetails in your application. It isa bland application,” the bench,which also comprised justicesDeepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna, said. PTI

Modi, Hasina

inaugurate

development

projects

Mumbai: Veteran journalistand lawyer S Balakrishnan hassought a police inquiry intoMaharashtra Navnirman Sena(MNS) chief Raj Thackeray”sclaim of another “Pulwama-like” terror attack before theLok Sabha polls.

Balakrishnan Sunday sub-mitted a written complaint tothe Chembur police station,demanding an inquiry underrelevant laws into the claimmade by the MNS chief abouta possible terror attack in thecountry, police said Monday.

Citing media reports,Balakrishnan said Thackerayhad said, “Mark my wordsthere will be yet anotherPulwama- like incident in thecountry”.

According to the applica-tion, Thackeray is a senior andresponsible politician, whosestatements should be takenseriously.

He appears to be certain ofa repeat of the Pulwama- typeterror attack that took place onFebruary 14 and resulted in thekilling of 40 CRPF jawans inJammu and Kashmir, the jour-nalist-lawyer said.

The police should recordThackeray”s statement andinquire into his claim, saidBalakrishnan.

“We have received theapplication of the journalist inconnection with the remarks ofMNS president Raj Thackeray,”said an official of the Chemburpolice station. PTI

SC dismisses K’takaplea to vacate stayon use of secondarytreated water

Probe sought in Raj’sclaim of another‘Pulwama-like’ attack

DMK asks EC to hold bypollsin 3 more TN Assembly seats

The DMDK

was further

embarrassed when

the DMK

leadership told the

media that the

former was holding

parallel parley

with them for a

better deal

Pedestrians cross a street during rains in Jammu on Monday PTI

LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019 nation 07

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Amonth after he indicatedthat he would contest from

Madha Lok Sabha constituen-cy in western Maharashtra,NCP chief Sharad Pawar onMonday backed out of thecontest, setting the stage of theentry of his grandson ParthPawar into electoral politics.

Seventy-eight-year-oldPawar, who had earlier beenpersuaded by his party leadersto contest from Madha con-stituency, announced that hehad decided not to contest theLok Sabha polls to pave way forthe younger generation.

Parth (28) is the son ofPawar’s nephew andMaharashtra’s former deputyChief Minister Ajit Pawar. Heis the third generation Pawar tomake debut in electoral politics.

Pawar will contest fromMaval Lok Sabha constituency,a seat in Pune district that iscurrently held by the ShivSena. He will take on the sittingSena MP Gajanan Babar in thepolls.

Pawar’s announcementcame after he met the partyoffice bearers from Solapur inwestern Maharashtra — atwhich he urged his party work-ers to support the NCP’s sitting

MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil,who will re-contest the LokSabha polls from Madha con-stituency.

Making the most of Pawar’sdecision not to the contest theLok Sabha polls, MahsarashtraChief Minister DevendraFadnavis termed the develop-ment as a “big victory” for theBJP-Shiv Sena alliance.“Pawar’s decision is indicator ofthe fact that Modi’s popularityis increasing in Maharashtraand across the country. Modihad once said that Pawar quick-ly gauges the changing politi-cal mood in the country. Sincehe has backed out of the LokSabha contest, Pawar musthave taken stock of the politi-cal mood in the country,”Fadnavis said.

Earlier in the afternoon,

Pawar had made it clear that hisdecision not to contest theLok Sabha polls was in no wayindication of the fact that heapprehended defeat in the polls.“Till today, I have contested 14elections. I have not beendefeated even once. That beingmy track record, the questionof nursing fear to contest thepolls does not arise”.

Without mentioningModi’s name, Pawar said thatthere was absolutely no wave inthe country. “At this juncture,there is no wave in the coun-try. There is a need for changein Government in the country.I have absolutely no fear to con-test the polls. There has to bea limit on the number of peo-ple contesting the polls fromone family. Like in the two pre-vious elections, my daughterSupriya Sule will contest fromBaramati constituency.Everyone in the party wantedmy grandson to contest fromMawal constituency. That’s whyI have decided to back out ofthe contest,” the NCP chief said.

It may be recalled that onFebruary 8, Pawar had said thathe was considering a request byhis senior party’s leaders tocontest from Madha Lok Sabhaconstituency.

“I am not interested in

contesting the Lok Sabha polls.Since all my party colleagues,including Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil (who is the sitting MPfrom Madha constituency)have insisted that I contest thepolls this time, I may considertheir request,” the NCP chiefhad said.

The Madha Lok Sabhaconstituency, from wherePawar may contest, came intobeing on February 19, 2008 asa part of the delimitation exer-cise carried on the basis of rec-ommendations made by theDelimitation Commission ofIndia constituted in July 2012.It comprises Assembly seg-ments of Madha, Karmala,Sangole, Malshrias, all fromSolapur district and Phaltanand Maan from Satara district.

In the 2009 Lok Sabhaelections — held for the firsttime after the formation of thisconstituency, Pawar won thisseat by trouncing the BJP can-didate Subhash Deshmukh bymassive margin of 3.14 lakhvotes. Pawar, however, chosenot to contest the 2014 LokSabha polls. In his place, theNCP filed local heavy VijaysinhMohite-Patil, who managed towin the seat in the 2014 LokSabha polls.

Bengaluru: Former KarnatakaChiefMinister SM Krishna onMonday said he believes thatNarendra Modi becoming thePrime Minister once again was“inevitable”.

The former External AffairsMinister also said he wouldcampaign for the BJP inKarnataka in the Lok Sabhapolls to ensure that more num-ber of party candidates winfrom the State and Modibecomes Prime Minister onceagain.

“I believe in the principlethat Narendra Modi becomingthe Prime Minister of thiscountry once again isinevitable,” Krishna said.

Speaking to reporters here,he said “For this reason, I willvisit as many constituencies aspossible and thereby ensurethat more number of BJP can-didates win from Karnatakaand Narendra Modi becomesPrime Minister once again.

With this one vision we areall putting our efforts together,”he said.

Senior State BJP leader RAshoka Monday met Krishnato discuss about the prepara-tions for the Lok Sabha polls

and requested him to campaignfor the party candidates.

Krishna, a former Congressveteran, quit the grand oldparty and joined the BJP in2017.

Krishna had served as theKarnataka Chief Ministerbetween 1999 and 2004.

He had also served as theMaharashtra Governor andeven had a stint as ExternalAffairs Minister during theUPA Government.

The BJP is likely to useKrishna’s charisma to garnermore votes in Bengaluru andnearby areas as he is widelycredited for the growth of thecity as a global IT hub.

The party is also likely toutilise him for campaigning inthe districts where Vokkaligasare dominant- like in oldMysuru region, where the BJPis weak, as Krishna belongs tothe community.

To a question on how hispresence would help BJP inBengaluru, with reports aboutformer Prime Minister HDDeve Gowda contesting as theJD(S) candidate from BangaloreNorth, Krishna said the saffronparty has strong ground in the

city and people have not for-gotten his good work as ChiefMinister.

“I’m of the feeling that thepeople of Bengaluru have not-forgotten the good work that hashappened in the three con-stituencies of Bengaluru duringmy administration in Bangalorenorth, south and central- so inall the three constituencies, BJPhas strong ground and presence.

So the BJP can face thiselection with much courage,excitement and aspiration,” hesaid.

Asked whether Gowdacontesting would have anyimpact, Krishna said individu-als would not be that important,but ideology is.

“The ideology to whichBJP is committed to, on thebasis of that ideology we willask for votes. Naturally, who allhave worked for the develop-ment of Bengaluru will be inpeople’s minds. So based on thatprinciple, we will fight thise-lection, not on the basis of per-sonality. But the only exceptioninthis is Narendra Modi shouldbecome Prime Minister onceagain, this is our strong wish,”he added. PTI

Modi becoming PM once again‘inevitable’, says SM Krishna

PTI n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

AStudents’ Federation ofIndia (SFI) leader was

attacked allegedly by BJP work-ers at Parassala in the district,police said on Monday.

The SFI leader sustainedserious injuries in the lateSunday night attack, they added.

Two Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) activists were arrested inconnection with the incident onMonday, the police said.

Four activists of the rulingCommunist Party of India(Marxist) in Kerala, includingthe SFI leader, and three BJPworkers have been hospitalisedafter political violence erupted atParassala, the border area ofThiruvananthapuram district.

Abu Thahir, a district com-mittee member of the SFI, washacked, leading to head injuries.The SFI is the students’ wing ofthe CPI(M). “Santhosh Kumar(36) and Girikumar (38) are thetwo who have been arrested inthe case. They will be producedbefore a court on Monday.Further investigation is on,” apolice official told PTI.

Srinagar: National Conference(NC) president FarooqAbdullah on Monday madeserious allegations against theBJP-led Centre, saying itordered the air strike inPakistan’s Balakot with the “solepurpose” of winning Lok Sabhaelections.

The Srinagar MP allegedthe BJP has “failed” on allfronts and it was apprehendedthat there would be a fight orskirmish with Pakistan beforethe polls so that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi becomes somekind of an “avatar” withoutwhom India cannot survive.

“This surgical strike (airstrike) was done only for thepurpose of election...Totally forthe election. We lost an aircraftworth crores of rupees. Bethankful that the IAF pilot(Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman) sur-vived and returned fromPakistan with respect,”Abdullah told reporters here.

In a predawn exercise onFebruary 26, the Indian AirForce pounded Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest trainingcamp in Balakot. The air strikecame in response to a terroristattack in Pulwama on February14, in which 40 CRPF jawanswere killed.

Abdullah said Monday, “Inthe Parliament, we knew theyhave failed on all other thingsand that there would be a fightor a skirmish with Pakistan inKashmir so that he (PrimeMinister Narendra Modi)becomes some kind of an‘avatar’ without whom Indiacannot survive. But I want totell him that whether he or I liveor not, India will live and moveforward,” .

The NC president said anatmosphere of fear was beingcreated to help the BJP in thepolls.

“They want to create anatmosphere of fear. Therewould be no war. The wholeworld is watching. This gov-ernment is only using the seniorofficer for winning the election,the officer whom they got bysuperseding many others andwho is now dancing to theirtunes. Otherwise, there is nodanger,” he said, without nam-ing the “officer”.

“This atmosphere of fearthat they have created in thecountry that without him any-thing will happen, I want to tellhim that you were neither aGod and never will be,” he said.

Abdullah said there is noother way than to talk toPakistan over the Kashmirissue.

“They (New Delhi) havebrought this (Kashmir) intointernational limelight. Severalcountries are now involved inmaking India and Pakistan totalk over Kashmir and they willhave to engage themselves as itis the only way forward,” hesaid.

Asked about the ElectionCommission of India’s decisionto delay the assembly polls inthe state, Abdullah said hefeared some “mischief ” by theCentre in J&K.

“I think they must havethought of doing some mis-chief, that’s why they delayedthe polls. I do not understandthat when thousands of peopletook part in the Panchayat andmunicipal polls, what dangerthey think there is now whenforces are present in largernumber than they were. Andthey are present in every nookand corner of the state,” he said.

The NC president said allparties are in favour of holdingsimultaneous Lok Sabha andAssembly polls and now thepublic should understand whattheir motive is.

“If we unite, their designswill fail. We should prepare forthat..For not giving a chance tothe Centre for destruction. So,we all should stand to confrontthem...Where is the mightygovernment of India whichcannot conduct an electionhere? If this is not surrender,what is,” he said. PTI

SFI leader

attacked in

Kerala, 2 BJP

workers held

Thiruvananthapuram: TheElection Commission onMonday warned political partiesin Kerala not to use theSabarimala temple matter as acampaign issue.

Kerala Chief ElectoralOfficer Teeka Ram Meena toldthe media here that “citing orinvoking” religious propagandaon the “Sabarimala issue” wouldbe a clear violation of the modelcode of conduct.

“Inviting religious feelings,using any kind of SupremeCourt judgement, invoking orsoliciting the votes in the nameof religion or by inciting religiousfeelings is a clear violation of themodel code of conduct,” hesaid. The CEO also said thecommission would not allowany kind of violation that putsa particular political party at anadvantage over another.

“Citing or invoking or doingsomething of religious propa-ganda on the Sabarimala issueby invoking the name of SabariGod, etc., will be a clear viola-tion of the model code of con-

duct,” Meena said.He added that the

Sabarimala issue was a contro-versial matter as far as Keralawas concerned and politicalparties “need to draw a line towhat extent they have to use it”.

“Tomorrow, I am holding ameeting with political parties inthis regard and I will be request-ing them not to unnecessarilyuse this religious feeling or reli-gious traditions to solicit votesas this may create some religioustensions among people.

If that happens, action willbe taken against those respon-sible,” Meena said.

Kerala witnessed wide-spread violence by devotees andright-wing activists after thestate government decided toimplement the Supreme Court’sSeptember 28, 2018 verdictallowing women of all ages intothe Sabarimala temple.

The BJP has already pinnedits hopes on the Sabarimalaissue as it believes that it was ableto create a momentum amongits workers. PTI

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

In a major setback for RajThackeray-led MNS, its lone

MLA Sharad Sonavane fromJunnar in Pune district of west-ern Maharashtra on Mondayjoined the Shiv Sena.

An erstwhile Shiv Sainik,Sonvane joined the Sena in thepresence of party presidentUddhav Thackeray.

Sonavane’s entry to the ShivSena comes one and a half yearsafter six MNS corporatorsjoined the ruling Sena in theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC).

Talking to media persons ,Sonavane said: “It’s homecom-ing for me. Raj Thackeray andhis wife Sharmila have given me

a lot of love. I have nothingagainst the MNS. It was myintense desire to return homethat prompted me to join theShiv Sena. Junnar is one of theAssembly constituencies fallingunder the Shirur Lok Sabhaconstituency, a seat currentlyheld by the Shiv Sena’sShivajirao Adhalarao Patil.

There had been consider-able resistance from the ShivSena workers in Junnar talukaof Pune district. The local Senaoffice bearers had threatened toquit the party in the event ofthe party taking Sonavane intoits fold. However, the Senaleadership has persuaded theaggrieved party workers not tomake an issue of Sonavane’sentry to the party.

MNS’s lone MLA joins Sena

PNS n MUMBAI

Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, the sonof senior Congressman and

Leader of MaharashtraLegislative AssemblyRadhakrishna-Vikhe Patil, isset to join the BJP.

Sujay’s decision to quit theCongress stems from inability tocontest the Lok Sabha polls theAhmednagar Lok Sabha seat,which falls in the NCP quota.

In the past, Shrad Pawarhad offered the seat to Sujay onthe condition that he shouldcontest the seat on NCP ticket.

Sujay wants to switch overto the BJP in the hope that thenew party will nominate him tocontest the polls from LokSabha constituency.

There is uncertainty onwhether the BJP will field himas its candidate fromAhmednagar. No wonder thaton Monday, the supporters ofsitting BJP MP from DilipGandhi staged a demonstrationin front of the Maharashtra BJPheadquarters in south Mumbai,demanding Gandhi’s re-nomi-nation as the party candidate tocontest the Lok Sabha polls.

Senior Cong leader’s son to join BJP

Mumbai: Security was beefedup at suburban Khar railwaystation on Sunday evening,after an unidentified callerfrom North America claimedthat a bomb was planted there,police said on Monday.

However, the call turnedout to be a hoax.

An unidentified personcalled on the landline numberof Khar police station Sundayevening, claiming that a bombwas planted at the railway sta-tion, which comes underWestern Railway, an officialsaid. PTI

Bomb hoax atKhar rly station

Kerala poll body warns partiesagainst use of Sabarimalaissue in poll campaigning

Balakot strike was done forsole purpose of winning LSelections: Farooq Abdullah

Kashmiri school children attend morning prayer at their school in Srinagar on Monday PTI

Pawar won’t fight elections

PTI n NEW DELHI

In a clear reference toPakistan, India on Friday

conveyed to Saudi Arabia thatan “immediate, irreversible andverifiable action” to dismantleterror infrastructure is essentialto fight the menace of terror-ism. This was conveyed duringa meeting between ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swarajand Saudi State Minister forForeign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir,who paid a four-and-a-half-hour visit to India, days afterhis trip to Islamabad.

Sources, however, saidthere was no offer, either ear-lier or now, from the Saudi sideto mediate in de-escalatingtensions between India andPakistan. Jubeir held extensivetalks with Swaraj here with afocus on deepening coopera-tion to combat terrorism. It islearnt that the recent tensionstriggered by the Pulwamaattack and India’s subsequentair strike on a terrorist trainingcamp in Pakistan also came upduring the meeting.

“They (Swaraj and Jubeir)took note of significant devel-opments after the visit of HisRoyal Highness (Saudi CrownPrince Mohammad binSalman) to India. EAM reiter-ated that an immediate irre-versible and verifiable action todismantle terror infrastructureis essential to fight the menaceof terror,” a Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) statement said,without naming Pakistan or thepost-Pulwama tensionsbetween India and Pakistan.

During his four-and-a-half-hour visit, Jubeir alsocalled on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and discussed

bilateral issues, officials said.“The Prime Minister thankedthe leadership of Saudi Arabiafor expressing full solidaritywith India in the fight againstterrorism in all its forms andmanifestations,” the MEA said.

“It was agreed that SaudiArabia and India should worktogether for irreversible, veri-fiable and credible steps againstall terrorists without any dis-crimination,” it said.

Jubeir briefed PrimeMinister Modi on the follow upof the outcomes of the “histor-ical visit” of the Saudi CrownPrince in February 2019.

Meanwhile, PM NarendraModi on Monday held separatetelephonic conversations withTurkish President Recep TayyipErdogan and Abu DhabiCrown Prince SheikhMohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, while Saudi Arabia’sjunior Foreign Minister calledon him — engagements whichcame in the backdrop of esca-lating tensions between Indiaand Pakistan. It was not imme-diately known whether Indo-Pak tensions figured in thePrime Minister’s telephonicconversations with the leadersof Turkey and UAE.

Government sources saidthere was no offer of any medi-ation by any country to de-escalate tensions between Indiaand Pakistan even thoughIslamabad was reaching out toseveral foreign governmentsfor such a role.

The official statement onModi’s conversation withErdogan said that the PrimeMinister stated that terrorismremains one of gravest threatsto global peace and security.

Verifiable action to

dismantle terror infra

must: India to Saudi

Defence Research and Defence Organisation successfully test fired indigenously developed Pinaka guided rocket system, at Pokhran on Monday PTI

Pinaka guided weapons system successfully test-fired: Def Min

PTI n NEW DELHI

The indigenously developed Pinaka guidedrocket system was successfully test fired on

Monday at Pokhran desert in Rajasthan, in aboost to artillery capability of the Army, the Defence Ministry said.

The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of anadvanced navigation and control system.

“The indigenously developed guided Pinaka,developed by DRDO, will significantly boost thecapability of the artillery to make precision hits,”the Defence Ministry said. About the tests, it saidthe weapon systems impacted the intended tar-gets with high precision and achieved desiredaccuracies. “Telemetry systems tracked andmonitored the vehicle all through the flight path.All the mission objectives have been met,” theministry said.

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday latchedon to Rahul Gandhi’s reference to terror-ist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad’s headas “Masood Azhar ji” to throw “Rahul lovesterrorists” barb at the Congress chief, asthe Opposition party hit back accusing itsrival of deliberately twisting his commentsmade with sarcasm.

Addressing a meeting of Congressworkers here, Gandhi attacked the BJP, say-ing, “These people with 56 inch chest, youwould recall, in their previous government,the current NSA Ajit Doval went in an air-craft with Masood Azharji and handedover Masood Azhar there in Kandahar.”

Gandhi noted it was Azhar who wasresponsible for the killing of 44 CRPF sol-diers in Pulwama in Kashmir on Feb 14.Azhar’s group JeM has claimed responsi-bility for the attack.

Targeting the Congress chief, BJP leaderand Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

said, “Come on Rahul Gandhi Ji! Earlier itwas the likes of Digvijay Ji who called OsamaJi and Hafiz Saeed Sahab. Now you are say-ing ‘Masood Azhar Ji’. What is happeningto Congress Party?” Prasad said Gandhi hascaused huge pain to families of martyrs and

embarrassed the country with his com-ments. Gandhi’s remarks showed theCongress can go to any extent for votes,he said. “The Congress on one handinsults our armed forces and Indian AirForce by seeking evidence of their valourbut honours a murderer, a terrorist likeAzhar,” Prasad said. The BJP leader addedIndia is working to have Azhar declared aglobal terrorist but Pakistan will now sayeven Indian leaders are giving the JeM chiefrespect. Congress chief spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala accused the BJPand a section of media of deliberately twist-ing Gandhi’s remarks. “Two questions toBJP & select Bhakt Media, who deliberatelyseek to twist the ‘Masood’ sarcasm ofRahulji- 1) Did NSA Doval not escort &release terrorist Masood Azhar inKandahar? 2) Did Modiji not invite Pak’srogue ISI to investigate Pathankot terrorattack?” PTI

BJP, Cong in war of words over Rahul’s ‘Masood ji’ comment

The Supreme Court’s recent deci-sion to appoint three mediatorsto attempt a solution through dis-cussion of the vexed RamJanmabhoomi issue in Ayodhya

could be the last opportunity available to allparties to attempt an amicable out-of-court resolution of the vexed dispute thathas been the perennial source of socialdisharmony. This mediation process will bea court-appointed and court monitoredexercise which will be conducted outsidemedia glare “with utmost confidentiality”.

The idea of a mediated settlement in theRam Janmabhoomi Case is not new. Twoyears ago in March, 2017, the then ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court, J S Kehar hadsuggested a negotiated settlement and hadoffered himself as a mediator. However, thisproposal did not find favour with the AllIndia Muslim Personal Law Board (AIM-PLB) and the Babri Masjid ActionCommittee.

This time around, objections if any aremuted, probably because of the court’s deter-mination to get all parties to the negotiat-ing table.

The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjiddispute has taken a torturous course, butsome of the milestones in recent times arenotable. The first of these was the SupremeCourt’s judgement in Dr M Ismail Faruquiand others vs Union of India and others inOctober, 1994. In that case, the constitution-al validity of the Acquisition of Certain Areasof Ayodhya Act, 1993 was challenged. Thecourt upheld the Act but declared itsSection 4(3) to be invalid. This judgmentresulted in the revival of all pending suitsbefore the Allahabad High Court.

The second milestone is the sovereigncommitment given by the Government ofIndia in September, 1994, before theSupreme Court that if it was established thata Hindu temple or religious structure exist-ed before the Babri Masjid, it would handover the site to the Hindus. The UnionGovernment had made a PresidentialReference under Article 143(1) of theConstitution in which it asked the SupremeCourt “Whether a Hindu temple or anyHindu religious structure existed prior to theconstruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid (including the premises of theinner and outer courtyards of such struc-ture) in the area on which the structurestood”.

The Presidential Reference said the gov-ernment proposed to settle the dispute afterobtaining the opinion of the SupremeCourt. In the course of the arguments whensome litigants representing Muslims’ inter-ests said the reference would serve no pur-pose, the court asked the Solicitor-Generalto respond. The Solicitor-General made awritten submission on behalf of the UnionGovernment in response to the court’s queryand what was said therein on behalf of thegovernment is significant. The government

said it was committed to theconstruction of a Ram templeand a mosque, but their actuallocation will be determinedonly after the Supreme Courtrenders its opinion in thePresidential Reference.

The government made thefollowing commitments beforethe apex court in that submis-sion: That it would treat thefinding of the Supreme Courton the question of fact referredto it in the PresidentialReference as a verdict which isfinal and binding; that consis-tent with the court’s opinion itwould make efforts to resolvethe controversy by a process ofnegotiation; that if a negotiatedsettlement is not possible, itwould be committed to enforcea solution based on the court’sopinion. It further said that “Ifthe question referred isanswered in the affirmative,namely, that a Hindutemple/structure did exist priorto the construction of thedemolished structure, govern-ment action will be in supportof the wishes of the Hindu com-munity. If, on the other hand,the question is answered in thenegative, namely, that no suchHindu temple/structure existedat the relevant time, then thegovernment action will be insupport of the wishes of theMuslim community”.

Why did the UnionGovernment put this questionto the Supreme Court. A whitepaper published by the Centreafter the demolition of theBabri Masjid provides a clue. Itsaid that during negotiationsaimed at finding an amicable

settlement, one issue that cameto the fore was whether a Hindutemple existed on the site andwhether it was demolished tobuilt the masjid. Muslim organ-isations claimed that there wasno evidence to prove this.Muslim leaders also assertedthat if this was proved, “theMuslims would voluntarilyhand over the disputed shrineto the Hindus”.

The Supreme Courtdeclined to answer this ques-tion. The five-judge Benchwhich gave its verdict in theFaruqui Case in October, 1994simultaneously disposed off thePresidential Reference. It saidthe reference was ‘superfluousand unnecessary and does notrequire to be answered”.However, the UnionGovernment’s desire to securean answer to the million dollarquestion was met when theAllahabad High Court, thepending suits before which gotrevived as a result of theSupreme Court’s order in theFaruqui Case, ordered theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) to excavate the site and seewhat lay beneath the disputedstructure.

The ASI, after extensiveexcavations, informed the courtthat there was evidence of amassive structure below thedisputed one which had “dis-tinctive features found associat-ed with the temples of NorthIndia”. Based on this finding, allthe three judges on theLucknow Bench of theAllahabad High Court con-cluded that a Hindu templeexisted below the disputed

structure. The Supreme Courthas stayed this judgement afterit was challenged by several par-ties to the dispute.

It is not unusual for courtsto suggest mediation. This isoften suggested by courts inmany civil matters becausethere are no winners and loserswhen issues are resolvedthrough mediation. However, ifmediation fails, the court willhave to hear the matter andarrive at a conclusion, whichmay or may not please all par-ties in a dispute.

Meanwhile, what will theUnion Government do? It hascommitted itself to initially tryand settle the dispute throughnegotiations once it heardfrom the Supreme Court onthe question of fact it had putbefore it in the PresidentialReference. The court howeverdeclined to answer that ques-tion, but the observationsmade in the white paper andthe ASI’s substantive report tothe Allahabad High Courtcannot be wished away.

The three mediatorsappointed by the SupremeCourt — Justice Fakkir IbrahimKalifulla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankarand Sriram Panchu — will haveall this material before themwhen they begin negotiations insearch of an amicable settle-ment. All parties to the disputewill need to join this effort with-out hesitation in order to resolvethe matter through mutual giveand take. They must give medi-ation a chance.

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati)

The visuals of fugitive diamond merchant

Nirav Modi, the key accused in the

`13,500 crore Punjab National Bank

scam, roaming freely in London may have chal-

lenged our sense of comeuppance but fact is

that they have very little impact on his extra-

dition process. Reports in a UK daily may point

to his privileged lifestyle in Central London, his

walking a pet cat regularly, his new diamond

business or a UK insurance number but as MEA

spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, these don’t

automatically mean he can be brought back

immediately and India can only reiterate its urgency to expedite the extradition

process, the request for which was made last August. Neither can he be arrest-

ed despite an Interpol notice.

Though we have an extradition treaty with the UK, only one out of 28 fugi-

tives that India most wants has been sent back in the last decade. The extradi-

tion process is so intricately complex and painstakingly time-consuming that most

offenders seek refuge in that country. Even if we go by immediate examples,

then the government has yet to get back runaway businessman Vijay Mallya.

While extradition proceedings have been formally initiated against Mallya now,

nothing of consequence has been initiated against Nirav Modi, who is report-

edly seeking political asylum in the UK. There are layers and layers of inquiry

and cross-checks of the veracity of the claims for extradition there, no matter

how serious the offence may appear to us. Besides, an appeal for asylum, which

would but naturally imply a threat perception of the fugitive in his home coun-

try, is vetted seriously there. Extradition isn’t easy as it involves conflicting sov-

ereign interests. While the requesting state seeks to prosecute offenders pur-

suant to its interests and powers, the state where the fugitive is located looks

into its own interests and rights too. These pertain to a whole subset of techni-

calities, be they treaty obligations, different laws, the prerogative to grant asy-

lum and the most pertinent, the protection of human rights. The UK has oblig-

ations under the European Convention of Human Rights and this clause has been

repeatedly milked by our offenders. Mallya claimed immunity, citing a biased

media trial back home that could impair a fair inquiry and our poor prison con-

ditions, which compared to UK standards, will always appear short. Therefore,

the hostile prison conditions ruse works in UK courts, delaying processes. Mallya

has even claimed government persecution, contending that the CBI isn’t inde-

pendent, is influenced by the government and hence proceedings against him

would be oppressive, unjust and a political witch hunt. And Article 9 of the Extradition

Treaty between India and the UK recognises these as a ground to deny requests

of the home country. Meanwhile, the action against errant banks and its offi-

cials who overlooked clearances, should be big enough to set a deterrent.

The General Elections in India are nothing

short of a carnival, of people turning out

in huge numbers to exercise their rights

and choices in the world’s most populous

democracy. And for all the chaos and cliches

that the world labels us with, this is one enter-

prise that manages an organisational and logis-

tic efficiency like no other. And the numbers go

up every five years. Chief Election

Commissioner Sunil Arora says that 900 mil-

lion voters will exercise their franchise and security challenges mean that the

election is spread across seven phases. In Jammu and Kashmir for example,

where the commission is not risking a simultaneous Assembly poll unlike Andhra

Pradesh, Arunachal, Sikkim and Odisha, Anantnag will vote for the Lok Sabha

in three graded rounds. Of course, every election has a theme song, the 2014

one being for a change that ushered in the Narendra Modi government on almost

a monolithic verdict, marking the end of the coalition era. But with the incum-

bent now going to the electorate with a mixed bag of a report card, this time it

is a battle of coalitions against one of just personality cult. And subsequent to

a polarised India, there are two broad themes, a pillar-like leadership with a bold-

ness of agenda and a shared leadership representing a diversity of causes. Politically

speaking, national security has emerged as an emotive issue post Pulwama ter-

ror attacks and the Balakot airstrikes, at least across the North Indian heartland.

Prime Minister Modi, who has changed the bilateral paradigm with Pakistan by

redefining the contours of counter-terror operations, is using this as demonstra-

ble proof of his muscular and single-minded leadership. The BJP is expected

to go to town with this as a clutter-breaking formula, considering the Modi gov-

ernment has failed on other performance markers —- agrarian distress, poor

GST management, a sluggish economy, joblessness, infrastructure bottlenecks

and a lukewarm Make in India. Yes, ISRO has made great strides but Gaganyaan

is a goal too far to sway the verdict. Pakistan is a visible, pan-India plank. However,

the Election Commission in its infinite wisdom has banned the use of defence

forces in election slogans and campaigns, reining in the tendency to politicise

the forces.

The BJP is relying heavily on allies as it is now ruling in 15 states with their

help. However, its own government is in just five states. So it needs to work on

them, considering it has even jeopardised its new constituency in the Northeast

with the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Its main rival, the Congress, has a gov-

ernment in four states and now with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra formally joining hands with party chief Rahul Gandhi, there’s some spark

in the Congress campaign. But it’s to do more in shoring up the Mahagathbandhan

or the federal front of regional parties, rather than splitting the anti-BJP vote.

Particularly in the bellwether state of UP. While it wants to grow its lost votes,

tactically it needs the state parties now, all of whom have a committed vote pie.

The Congress is losing the game of perception with its intransigence and whether

its leaders like it or not, they have to be the glue for a united national alterna-

tive. The Opposition front desperately needs a counter narrative to Balakot and

raise people’s issues stridently. It cannot appear to be falling back on reactive

strategies. This election is about many firsts too. For the first time, all candi-

dates will be asked to give details of their social media accounts while filing their

nomination papers. And all platforms will be keenly vetted for clandestine cam-

paigning and fake news dissemination. Two new demographics will have a size-

able effect on the verdict. The first is of the millennial first time voters, who are

considered change makers, and the second, the women, who form half of the

country’s electorate, who may force a change in discourse, given the impact

of the Ujjwala scheme in rural areas in UP. Surely interesting times ahead as we

stand at the crossroads.

Test of democracy

As India makes its choice between polarities, EC prioritiseslogistical efficiency of the world’s biggest voting exercise

Visuals of the fugitive businessman may anger usbut extradition from UK is a complex process

A problem of plenty

From the Paris Fashion Weekcomes a piece of money wastingsilliness, and it's not a dress. Afashion water bottle, if there issuch a thing, created by Evianand others went on sale for $67(US $47, £42) and suddenlythere were 4,000 people on awaiting list for it.

Even the branding of 'rain-bow inside' seems odd given thatthe cleanest water is clear andgenerally any colour is a sign ofpollution.

There is no rule that peoplecan't waste their money on anystupid item and given some ofthe recent purchases in the artworld there seems to be nolimit as to how much can bespent. A question arises as tohow could the money be spentmore sensibly or even given tocharities.

The real concern is not justwasting money on a water bot-tle but how water is undervaluedgiven that it truly is a vital needin l ife, more than any other. There are so many peoplewho have little access to waterand especially to clean potablewater.

A quick check online gives

a list of charities that buildwater projects in Africa. The firstone mentioned, the water pro-ject, can supply water to twopeople for $68 (US $47, £42), aconvenient value for compari-son. Surely this is the best wayto spend the money rather thanfor a vanity plastic bottle.

Let’s supply water to thosethat need it rather than thosewho think they will look better

carrying it around.Dennis Fitzgerald

Australia

Way forward for CEC

Sir — The Chief ElectionCommission has nowannounced the general elec-tions schedule for two months inseven phases across all the states.It has also made the announce-

ment that the poll results wouldbe declared on May 23. It is amammoth exercise in one of thelargest democracies in the worldwhich is now poised to witnesshistoric elections amidst thetough political competitionamongst grand old alliance par-ties and the emerging trend ofnew regional parties.

The EC should further spec-ify regulations related to social

media aimed to be enforcedprior to the elections, as thedecision for the same is alsounder review by the Hon’bleStanding Committee onInformation Technology (IT).The challenge to smartly tacklethe menace of the possiblespread of fake news over thesocial media also remains one ofthe key challenges during theelections which would lead tothe constitution of the 17th LokSabha. This poses a huge chal-lenge to free and fair elections.

Further the ElectionCommission should also lookinto implementing a strategy toenable the launch of peoplecentric projects without muchpolitical intervention, if any,during the model code of con-duct.

The move will perhaps onlyenable the voter to avail the ben-efits of schemes and projects ina seamless and hassle free man-ner without waiting for anymajor kick-off campaign duringthe enforcement ensuing ofmodel code of conduct.

Varun SDBengaluru

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


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op nionLUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

08

Ayodhya peace

A SURYA PRAKASH

For an amicable settlement to this festering problem, it is essential for the country

to move out of the bind that it has been in for the last several decades

The voters would send amessage by their ballotsthat they are not fools andwon't be taken for a rideagain.

Madhya Pradesh CM — Kamal Nath

The surgical strike wasdone for elections. Bethankful that WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman returned.

NC president — Farooq Abdullah

I served in a war in Iraq thatwas based on lies andlaunched without evidence

US Congresswoman andDemocratic 2020Presidential candidate—Tulsi Gabbard

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

Will mediation make a difference?

This refers to the editorial, “Ayodhya breather” (March9). Offering all sides a final opportunity to arrive at amutually acceptable settlement the Supreme Court’s

decision to resolve Ayodhya dispute through mediation isa welcome step.The decades-old Ayodhya temple-mosquedispute has now been referred to a three-member panelof mediators, who have eight weeks to speak to all stake-holders for a solution. But if Late Nehru and Late Vajpayeeweren’t able to find a more meaningful solution to the locksthe colonial rulers had clamped on the disputed site, there’slittle hope from the present one. Also, even before the panelhad its first meeting there was such vicious regurgitatingof confrontationist positions that the pitch was queeredand Justice Kalifulla, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankarand reputed arbitrator/ advocate Sriram Panchu would havebeen left wondering why their Lordships has tasked themwith a thankless job that required nothing less than a mir-acle for their efforts to bear fruit.

Having got itself in the mediation process the apex

court is now duty-bound to ensure that it yields some suc-cess. In the meantime the Prime Minister must make allattempts to cool communal tempers that are flaring up timeand again across the country, especially on the issue ofgauraksha and against Kashmiris. Surely he would wanthis first term to be remembered as one where India movedforward on all fronts. But the divisive Hindutva rhetoricdrowns out positive messaging in other areas.

JS ACHARYA, Hyderabad

ALL PARTIES TO THEDISPUTE WILL NEED

TO JOIN THISEFFORT WITHOUT

HESITATION INORDER TO RESOLVE

THE MATTERTHROUGH MUTUAL

GIVE AND TAKE.THEY MUST GIVE

MEDIATION ACHANCE

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

Nirav’s London stay

You cannot plan. When youplan, God laughs, the filmindustry also laughs, thingschange everyday! But that'sthe beauty of it

Bollywood actor —Parineeti Chopra

Women-friendly financials

MUSLIMS WILL BE OBSERVING RAMZAN DURING

ELECTIONS. THERE WILL BE LESS POLLING AMONG

MUSLIMS, AND IT WILL DIRECTLY BENEFIT THE BJP.

—AAM AADMI PARTY LEADER

AMANATULLAH KHAN

MUSLIMS DON’T OBSERVE ROZA BY NOT DOING

THEIR WORK. CREATING SUCH A CONTROVERSY IS

UNFORTUNATE.

— BJP SPOKESPERSON

SHAHNAWAZ HUSSAIN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

It is now universally acknowledged thatIndia has shown spectacular performance infinancial inclusion and is now a candlelight

for the developing world. Most international sur-veys and studies vouch for this. They also high-light the impressive gains for women.

According to the World Bank’s GlobalFindex Survey (2017), 80 per cent Indian adultsnow have a bank account — 27 points higherthan the 53 per cent estimated in Findex 2014round. In respect of women, 77 per cent nowown a bank account against respective 43 percent and 26 per cent in 2014 and 2011. On thisbasic measure of financial inclusion, females aremore financially included than before. India hascut its gender gap in financial access from 19.8percentage points in 2014 to 6.4 in 2017.

However, a more granular analysis showsthat gender gaps is still worrying. While morewomen have been enrolled for bank accounts,a larger gender gap persists in their usage. Andbeyond account ownership, in terms of creditand insurance usage, the gender gap remainshigh. For example, female account ownersshow an 11-percentage-point gap against menin terms of account usage; 54 per cent of womenwith an account made no deposit or withdraw-al in a year as compared to 43 per cent of men.The credit gender gap is still more stark.Distribution of outstanding credit in small bor-rower accounts shows 24.5 per cent share offemale account owners against 72 per cent bymen as on March 2017.

Women often face several barriers whichlimit their financial inclusion, other than the uni-versal constraints that low-income communitiesface: limited access to mobile phones, lower lit-eracy levels, less confidence in using technolo-gy and restrictions on travel or social interac-tion. We need to address them through behav-ioural and reformist approaches, instead of theusual hardware-based approach, so that demandand supply-side barriers that women face inaccessing finance are eliminated.

Women’s participation in the financial sys-tem can have significant benefits in terms of eco-nomic growth, greater equality and societal well-being. When women are empowered as econom-ic actors, the benefits touch everyone. They havemore child-centered preferences than men.Access and usage of financial services arelevers for increasing women's participation inthe economy. They enhance their self-confidenceand place financial decision-making power intheir hands resulting in large development pay-offs.

Women are a low-revenue segment butprove to be loyal and profitable clients whentreated with respect and served with appropri-ately-designed products. Women are more risk-aware than men and take longer to make deci-sions but they make firm decisions and whenthey do, they tend to be more trustworthy andreliable customers than men. Financial service-providers need to ensure that the fees arenot prohibitive and the design tools which areused make their engagement with financial ser-vice-providers friendly, safe, affordable and con-venient.

Professionals and practitioners have distilled

some salient features of financial prod-ucts and services that foster women’sactive participation in formal finance.They find that women don’t have astraight financial journey and havemore interruptions and life-stages intheir financial lives due to withdraw-al from employment during pregnan-cy and in medical emergencies fornursing sick family members. Theymay remain active users of the accountsduring these periods. Women shouldbe able to reactivate their accountswithout much hassles or penalties.They are also more price-point sensi-tive and expect affordable fees.

The single best way to increaseaccount use would be to more fullydigitise government transfers. Womenwithout accounts frequently interactwith governmental offices to make pay-ments (P2G) or to receive paymentsfrom them (G2P). Fees paid to accesspublic services and payments for pub-lic utilities are still made mostly in cashin the developing world, and if pay-ment was required to be made throughelectronic means it could help a firstinteraction with a digital payments sys-tem. Many state governments in Indiahave adopted the default savingsoptions by mandatorily delivering allwages to participants of governmentschemes and programmes throughformal saving accounts. For example,the Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MNRE-GA) states that at least one-third of itsbeneficiaries should be women andtheir payments should be delivered viaelectronic transfers to bank accounts

Providers will need to deepentheir understanding of the uniqueneeds of women consumers and devel-op products and customer experi-ences tailored to these needs. Thisdoesn’t sound like rocket science andit isn’t, except that the financial prod-ucts currently available to women areclones of regular products and do notmatch their distinct income, expendi-ture and savings patterns. For example,income, which is mostly from theircasual employment, tends to be moreirregular and unpredictable, often cob-bled together from various sources.Savings are limited; often taking the

form of small amounts saved daily thatneed to be banked quickly to preventthem from being spent. Formal cred-it histories are virtually non-existent.There is heavy reliance on informalnetworks like friends and family forfinancing big-ticket needs.

Women clients, particularly inrural areas, find interacting with malestaff at banks an intimidating experi-ence and may not trust banks as theyare not considered part of their trust-ed service-providers. To overcomesuch psychological barriers, financialinstitutions can increase women staff,and appoint dedicated ones to servefemale customers because most ofthem have a preference for a non-intimidating environment. Womencustomers are likelier to entrust sucha retailer with their finances. They lookfor a consistently high-quality experi-ence, and the qualities they look for inthese experiences include ‘trustworthi-ness’, ‘understanding’, ‘dependability’and ‘accessibility’. In failing to developclient experiences rooted in men andwomen’s fundamentally different per-spectives on finance, monetary servicesinstitutions are missing a very signif-icant business opportunity.

Employing more women as banktellers or mobile money agents canmake it easier for more from the sexto board financial services. Womenwant financial services delivered tothem by someone who is experiencingthe same issues as them. The countryhas only five per cent women asBusiness Correspondents (BCs). Indiahas 8.7 million Self-Help Groups(SHGs) comprising more than 100 mil-lion women members. The number ofSHGs in the BC space needs to bestepped up.

To make financial inclusion forwomen more relevant and meaningful,we also need to sensitise men to thepeculiarities and needs of their femalegender. The inadequacies of focussingon women in isolation have long beenrecognised: women live in communi-ties, they live in families, and they livewith men. Abstracting women fromtheir social realities distorts our under-standing of the relational nature of gen-dered power and the interdependen-

cy of women and men, and that has astrong bearing on women's motiva-tions, choices and possibilities.

At the same time, gender disaggre-gated data is extremely essential fordesigning of suitable financial productsthat can appropriately address women'sneeds. We can use time series data to bet-ter understand women's lives and theirneeds, and accordingly address supplyside disparities to create customised,affordable, convenient, and reliable finan-cial products for women.

Greater women's financial inclu-sion doesn't necessarily require gender-specific policies or making finance pink,but rather policies that work for women.Some banks ‘feminise’ the name orbrand colour of the product. These salestactics may not work. We need anenabling environment that incorporateswomen’s perspectives. They are differentfrom men, due to their gender-diverse lifecycle needs and associated risks, result-ing from constraints imposed by societyand laws and biological differences.Women spend, invest, borrow, manageand protect money differently than men.They prioritise services based on prefer-ences including safety, security, easyaccess, low cost, privacy from friends andfamily and husbands and trust inproviders.

Similarly, the insurance needs ofwomen are different from those of menas they are more at risk of losing theirincome because of pregnancy, divorce orseparation, as well as cultural norms andsocio-economic patterns. The insuranceindustry can play a major role in increas-ing financial protection for womenthrough approaches that target their spe-cific needs, particularly coverage fortheir illness, pregnancy, various life-cycle transitions, while protecting theirsavings to cope with financial chal-lenges.

In short, what is needed for a broad-er, deeper and more relevant and mean-ingful financial inclusion is a nuancedapproach that tackles the underlying,interconnected barriers that women facein accessing and using financial services.

(The writer is Member, NITIAayog's National Committee on

Financial Literacy and Inclusion forWomen)

To service one-half of the population, banks as well as other service providers willhave to develop products specifically for them

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Repercussion of

trade wars

SANJIB POHIT

Revoking MFN and imposing punitive duties onPakistan would hit the Kashmiri traders hard

MOIN QAZI

THERE IS A NEEDTO DEEPEN THE

UNDERSTANDINGOF THE UNIQUE

NEEDS OFWOMEN

CONSUMERS ANDDEVELOP

PRODUCTS ANDCUSTOMER

EXPERIENCESTAILORED TO

THESE NEEDS.THIS DOESN’T

SOUND LIKEROCKET SCIENCE

AND IT ISN’T,EXCEPT THAT THE

FINANCIALPRODUCTS

CURRENTLYAVAILABLE TO

WOMEN ARECLONES OF

REGULARPRODUCTS

Following terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Kashmir,

Indian government has taken several steps to isolate

Pakistan in international forum. Hitting Pakistan econom-

ically is of course a reasonable approach. On this front, India

has taken two steps: (a) abolish MFN status to Pakistan;

(b) impose 200 per cent duty on Pakistani goods. Since India

has notified World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it is revok-

ing MFN status to Pakistan, technically it is in a position to

raise tariffs without being dragged to WTO on this punitive

measure.

The real question is whether it hurts Pakistan and its

traders only or do our traders suffer equally?

The first reason being that the official trade between India

and Pakistan is on a low level, amounting only to about US

$2 billion in 2017-18, with imports from Pakistan to the tune

of only US $0.5 billion. Since India is not an important trad-

ing partner of Pakistan, these interventions will have limited

impact.

Second, let us be realistic. Poor connectivity of Kashmir

Valley implies that trading with Pakistan along the borders

makes economic sense for Kashmiri traders, especially pro-

ducers of primary goods. Since India has revoked MFN sta-

tus to Pakistan, the latter can retaliate by imposing punitive

high tariffs on Indian goods. Effectively, the trading oppor-

tunities of Kashmiri traders would be fur ther curtailed lead-

ing to economic hardships for them.

The successive years of terrorist activities in Kashmir

Valley has reduced the economy of the area to shambles.

These actions will cause further economic hardship for those

Kashmiris who are engaged in trading with Pakistan. The

traders from the rest of the country, who have multiple con-

nectivity options, would not face as much hardship as they

can search for other markets. Frankly, these steps would only

affect the vulnerable Kashmiri traders depriving them of eco-

nomic opportunities. Maybe, the Government of Jammu &

Kashmir or Government of India should take steps that would

ensure that they do not suffer unduly by this knee-jerk action.

This in turn would have the effect of driving a fur ther wedge

in the already precarious relationship between the Valley and

the Indian Government.

The third and the most important result is that it would

lead to spike in informal trade between the two countries. A

study of India-Pakistan trade by Taneja and Pohit indicates

that while its true potential is to the tune of US $15-20 bil-

lion, the numerous tariff and non-tariff barriers constraining

the cross border exchange of goods between the two coun-

tries have restricted the current level to about US $2 billion.

Much of this takes the form of informal trade. This has fur-

ther ramification in terms of informal money market or hawala,

a mode of finance largely preferred and/or controlled by anti-

social elements. Surely, the very purpose of the step taken

by the present regime by streamlining electronic payment in

all sectors of the economy would be defeated if this trade is

allowed to flourish.

Over the years, the deadlock in India-Pakistan diploma-

cy has led to the establishment of an efficient system for

cross-border trade. By and large, Middle-East is the preferred

route through which it takes place. Many a times, the offi-

cial papers indicate that the destination is some hypotheti-

cal country, but the merchandise, instead, is delivered to a

port in Pakistan. The traders also use Afghan transit trade

channel route or trade via China to deliver merchandise to

the partner country. While the traders located in Mumbai or

other Indian ports may continue to thrive even after India’s

tough action in respect of trade with Pakistan, the cost would

solely be borne by Kashmiri traders who use the land bor-

ders for trading with the neighbouring country.

Of course, all traders using land borders would be hit hard

as they would have to look for alternative markets for their

products. However, the ones located in the rest of Northern

India are better connected than those in the Kashmir region

and would be able manage better in the changed scenario.

It is thus the Kashmiri traders who will bear the brunt of this

action.

In such a scenario, the question that needs to be asked

is whether it is worth it since access to economic opportu-

nities is probably the best remedy for reducing terrorism activ-

ities in the Valley?

(The writer is a Professor at NCAER)

With increasing penetrationof internet, surging mid-dle-class and focus on cus-

tomer convenience and affordablepricing, online retail commerce inIndia has grown at a phenomenal 70per cent during the last five yearsreaching about US $40 billion dur-ing 2017. This is projected toincrease five-fold to US $200 billionby 2026.

Much of the growth has beendriven by foreign majors such asAmazon,Walmart/Flipkart and so onunder a policy notified in 2016-17which allowed 100 per cent foreigndirect investment (FDI) in the mar-ketplace model of e-commerce.

The marketplace is an electron-ic platform on which vendors sell

their products to consumers. Theplatform owner can only providesupport services viz. warehousing,logistics, order fulfillment and so onto the vendor but not undertakedirect selling. Vide a circular datedDecember 26, 2018, it was furtherclarified that the owner [or its groupcompany] can neither hold equitynor control the inventory of the ven-dor.

In the process of conductingtheir businesses, these companiesgenerate data of millions of cus-tomers. Advanced techniques suchas Artificial Intelligence (AI), dataanalytics, cloud computing andmore can be used to track consumerbehavior/history and target poten-tial consumers with customisedmarketing content. The data mayalso be susceptible to misuse and itraises privacy concerns.

In this backdrop, a draft policyon e-commerce — put up by theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)for public comments — focusses onprotection of such data, restrictionson its cross-border movement and

sharing of ‘sensitive’ data with thirdparties (including foreign govern-ments) even when the consumerconsents to such storage. The poli-cy requires foreign companies to setup domestic data storage; mandato-rily register business locally and havea representative; give the govern-ment access to source code and algo-rithms of AI systems.

The draft proposes continuationof the extant policy on FDI in mar-ketplace and stresses the need forgiving access of these platforms tosmall traders and retailers andensures their running in a ‘transpar-ent’ and ‘non-discriminatory’ man-ner. It moots setting up of e-con-sumer courts to consider and redressgrievances. It suggests taxation ofelectronic transactions.

It does not recommend settingup of a regulator for the e-commercesector; instead, a standing group ofsecretaries is mandated to addressthe regulatory issues. The policyneeds to be evaluated on three mainplanks viz. (i) promoting business-es to catapult Indian economy to ahigh growth trajectory; (ii) protect

the fundamental rights of citizens toprivacy; (iii) safeguard nationalsecurity.

Even as the policy is expected tostrike a fine balance between thethree objectives, looking at the pro-posals, one gets a sense that there isdisproportionate emphasis on pro-tection of the data. Indeed, this isbeing pushed to a point whereby thismight even stifle innovation, dis-courage foreign investment andaffect growth.

The requirement for foreignplayers to mandatorily register theentity locally and have a represen-tative in India will dissuade themfrom investing here as the cost andhassles of running businesses andmeeting regulatory requirementsincrease. The insistence on havingtheir physical presence locally is outof sync with the underlying philos-ophy of digital transactions germaneto e-commerce.

Similarly, the cost and hasslesassociated with asking foreign com-panies to set up server/data collec-tion centre has to be weighed againstthe objective of preventing misuse

and minimising security risk. Theinsistence on access to source codeand algorithms of AI systemsappears to be too stringent a require-ment which is bound to be resistedby the foreign majors.

Instead of going for suchextreme steps, the government mayconsider a ‘pragmatic’ and ‘flexible’arrangement to address the concernson protection of ‘sensitive’ data. Itsapproach should be one of riskassessment, identification of misuseand timely pre-emptive action takenin collaboration with the foreigncompanies. The latter should extendfull cooperation to the former.

Let this be understood in noambiguous terms that merely by tak-ing possession of the ‘data key’(read: source code and algorithms ofAI systems), the state agencies won'tget anywhere. So, it can let the keyremain with the company whichshould ensure that all necessarymeasures are in place to protect thedata and address security concerns.If need be, penalty may be imposedfor non-compliance. There is anurgent need to set up a regulator.

This approach guided by thephilosophy of mutual trust andaccommodation will also help incapturing all the digital transactionsneeded for garnering tax revenue —indirect and direct — from thevendors as well as the marketplaceowner.

There are loopholes in the extantpolicy on FDI in e-commerce mar-ketplace which are being exploited byforeign majors to get into direct sell-ing. The December 26, 2018 circularhas not helped much. In a scenarioof their being completely barredfrom B2C on ground zero (unlikelyas we don’t even have a regulator),they would simply pack up. So, theway forward is to allow 100 per centFDI in retail in both ‘online’ and‘offline’ — without any riders. Thiswill create level playing field and ben-efit all stakeholders including smalltraders and retailers. The governmentneeds to rehash the policy draftshunning its overly rigid and protec-tionist stance and instead build on‘flexibility’ and ‘trust’ to maximise thedeliverables.

(The writer is a policy analyst)

Protectionism hurts e-commerce Instead of the extreme steps proposed by a new policy, the government should consider a pragmatic and flexible

arrangement to address the concerns on protection of sensitive data

UTTAM GUPTA



F O R E I G N E Y E

New opinion polling byYouGov in the midlandsand north of Englandreveals greater support forgiving the people a FinalSay on Brexit than some ofJeremy Corbyn’s advisersmay fear. The poll finds thatthree-quarters of voters inthese “Labour heartlands”support the party’s policy ofputting any Brexit deal to anew referendum.

—The Independent

POLL SUPPORTSBREXIT REFERENDUM

DOCYARDDR SHYAM AGGARWAL

Senior Consultant,HOD,Medical Oncology

SIR GANGA RAM HOSPITAL, DELHI

Supportive care

is important

Chemotherapy is used in treatment of cancer globally.However, there are several side effects that need to be man-

aged effectively in order to improve quality of life of patientsand their adherence to the treatment. Many patients drop outor delay their treatment due to these side effects and so it isimportant to understand the side effects and ways to managethem.

The most critical side effects of chemotherapy arechemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), cancercachexia, oral mucositis, chemotherapy-induced neutropenia,and chemotherapy-induced anaemia.nChemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV): Itis the most common and critical side effect of chemotherapy,affects 70-80 per cent patients receiving chemotherapy. CINVcan result in loss of energy as the body is not able to consumenecessary vitamins and minerals from food, loss of appetiteand taste, dehydration, and slow healing of wounds. A patientgenerally has CINV for about seven to 10 days afterchemotherapy and this needs to be controlled through appro-priate medicines. Earlier patients had to take multiple drugsat regular intervals per chemotherapy cycle to effectively man-age CINV but with recent advancements in supportive carein cancer, a proven medicine that needs to be taken only onceper chemotherapy cycle is available in India.nCancer cachexia or wasting syndrome, characterised byweight loss, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness and significantloss of appetite in someone not actively trying to lose weight

occurs usually at the advancedstages of cancer. It is mostcommonly seen in pancreaticand gastric cancer. Recent ther-apies for the cachectic syn-drome involve a multi-discipli-nary approach with diet mod-ification and or exercise alongwith necessary medications.nOral mucositisis an inflam-mation of the mucosa of themouth ranging from redness tosevere ulceration. It is a com-mon, debilitating complicationof chemotherapy and radio-therapy, affecting about 40 per

cent of patients. Oral mucositis usually begins five to 10 dayspost initiation of chemotherapy and lastsupto six weeks ormore. Different treatments for mucositis include general oralcare protocols, topical anaesthetics, antiseptics, antibacterial,antifungal and antiviral agents,mucosal barriers and coatingagents, mucosal cell stimulants, psychotherapy and others.nChemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN): It is causedwhen the amount of white blood cells called neutrophils sig-nificantly drops due to chemotherapy. At present, CIN is man-aged by delaying and reducing dose of chemotherapy treat-ment with hematopoietic growth factors and with intravenousantibiotic therapy. Reducing chemotherapy may compromisetreatment outcomes in potentially curable malignancies,such as early stage breast cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.nChemotherapy-induced anaemia (CIA): It is a frequentcomplication of malignancy. CIA risk varies depending on thetype of chemotherapy, the stage and type of cancer, the num-ber of chemotherapy cycles and patient's overall health. CIAtreatment includes providing supportive care through trans-fusion with packed red blood cells (PRBC) or administrationof erythropoiesisstimulating agents (ESAs), with or withoutiron supplementation.

While new medicines for cancer treatment are being intro-duced, improving quality of life of patients remains a challengedue to the treatment side effects. Supportive care in cancer isa comprehensive approach for effective management of theseside effects and awareness about supportive care medicationsneeds to increase among all stakeholders as cancer continuesto spread rapidly in the country.

At present, CIN ismanaged bydelaying and

reducing dose ofchemotherapytreatment withhematopoieticgrowth factors

pioneer THE PIONEER LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019 10

According to a study, published inObstetrics & Gynaecology, five micro

particle proteins found in first-trimesterblood samples may give clues about

the risk of spontaneous pre-term birthwhich can be due to pre-term labour,

early rupture of the placentalmembrane or preeclampsia

PredictBirth

ASHWAGANDHA: Ashwangandha is a plant in thenightshade family. It is used is

used to tone, support, and revitalisebody functions. It has been reveredover time for its dual capacity toenergise and calm at the sametime.

Stress can cause fatigue,often manifesting as hypersigns like agitation anddifficulty sleeping. Byproviding a nourishing, yetenergising effect, ashwagandhacan support a healthy nervoussystem.

With the use of ashwagandha,stress doesn’t impact the nervous systemwith such intensity, and the signs of stressand agitation will naturally resolve over time.Due to its heating effect, a small quantity of it can also help tocure cough and cold.

It also supports a healthy immune system and foster healthysleep patterns. It promotes thyroid health and proper function-ing of the adrenals.

W A R M F O O D S

The Government has brought 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs under pricecontrol, capping trade margin at 30 per

cent. This would reduce their retail prices byup to 85 per cent. The NationalPharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) hasinvoked extraordinary powers in publicinterest, under Para 19 of the Drugs (PricesControl) Order, 2013 to bring 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer drugs under pricecontrol through trade margin rationalization.

As per data available with NPPA, theMRP for 105 brands will be reduced up to 85

per cent entailing minimum saving of `105crore to consumers. Currently, 57 anti-cancerdrugs are under price control as scheduledformulations. Now 42 non-scheduled anti-cancer medicines have been selected for priceregulation by restricting trade margin on theselling price (MRP) up to 30 per cent.

The NPPA currently fixes prices of drugsplaced in the National List of EssentialMedicines (NLEM) under Schedule-I of theDPCO. So far, around 1,000 drugs have beenbrought under price control under theinitiative.

SLIMLINE

Getting enoughsleep can helpprotect against

cardiovascular disease bypreventing the build-up ofplaques in the arteries, as per a study. Theresearch describes the mechanism bywhich insufficient sleep increases produc-tion of inflammatory white blood cells,which are known to be major contributorsto atherosclerosis. It also found that a hor-mone in the brain known to control wake-fulness controls processes in the bone mar-row and protects against cardiovasculardisease.

One of every five patients in India suf-fers from sleeping disorder, as per a studyand about 20.3% patients visiting doctorsfor such issues ask for sleeping pills. Manypatients suffer from sleep disturbances, thereasons for which include hectic schedule,night shifts, and high stress levels.Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) seems tobe one of the most common problem.

Tips from Heart Care Foundation ofIndia

nTry to go to bed and get up at thesame time every day — at least, on week-days.

nCreate a sleep sanctuary. Reserveyour bedroom for sleep and intimacy.

nBanish TV, computer, smartphoneor tablet, and other diversions you’re yourbedroom

nAvoid caffeine after noon and golight on alcohol.

nGet regular exercise, but not with-in three hours of bedtime.

TIPTOPSTUDYCENTRE

There are many peopleout there who sufferfrom indoor or outdoor

allergies like pollen and dustmites especially with thechanges in season. Itchy eyes,wheezing and sneezing arecommon symptoms.

Apple cider vinegar is oneof the most commonitem found in kitchens.It can help reducemucous productionand cleanse thelymphatic system.If possible swal-low a tablespoonof it otherwiseadd a tablespoonto a cup of hotwater with a smallbit of honey anddrink it.

Honey is another itemfound is most households.However, a tablespoon or twowill not immediately have the

desired effect but taken overtime, will show results.

Sometimes allergies are aresult of poor immune system.Probiotics give the system themuch needed boost. A goodsource of probiotics is

kimchi. Eat lots of

fresh vegetables andfruits like grapes, apples,

oranges, and tomatoes. Ahealthy diet is good for your

whole body. There was a reason

why our grandparentsinsisted that we leaveour shoes at the doorand wash our hands

and feet before enteringthe house. Each time you

walk into your home, youbring small pieces of the out-side world with you. Take ashower and change yourclothes to wash away any aller-gens.

Seasonal allergies are commonbut a cause of irritation for

those who suffer from it.ROSHANI DEVI tells you how

one can deal with them withsimple and useful condiments

found in your kitchen

Warning symptoms often precedethe sudden cardiac arrest eventin a large number of patients,

but symptoms may be unrecognised orminimised by patients, and subse-quent ascertainment of symp-toms is often limited, partic-ularly in patients who donot survive the event.

In addition, patientswho have sudden cardiacarrest and are resuscitat-ed often have a retro-grade amnesia and hencedo not remember events orsymptoms that may havebeen present.

In most studies 51 per centpatients have warning symptoms withinfour weeks preceding SCA and 80 per

cent of patients experience symptoms atleast one hour before sudden cardiacarrest and 34 per cent having symptomsmore than 24 hours before the arrest.

Chest pain (46 per cent), dysp-noea (18 per cent) and dizzi-

ness, fainting, or palpitations(4 per cent) are the mostcommon symptoms, withwomen more likely tohave dyspnoea than chestpain (31 versus 24 percent).

Patients with symp-toms concerning for cardiac

disease, particularly new orunstable symptoms, should seek

prompt medical care for potentiallylife-saving evaluation and treatment.

DadiKaKehna

Adecade ago, if one had to think about replac-ing a missing tooth, there were choices such

as Removable Partial Dentures (RPD) or FixedBridge. However, today, there are better options.Technology has brought about developments inosseointegration utilising titanium as a noblemetal which can provide foundation of single,multiple, or all the teeth. Doctors say they arefar more effective, and enduring.

“With bone loss, one’s face sags and startslooking old. A sagging jaw further leads to poor-ly formed facial profile. However, the preserva-tion of bone has produced unimaginable pos-sibilities. Today, it has been reliably proven thattill the time a tooth remains, the bone remains— else you’ve lost a tooth! The methods usedtill date are either fixed partial, removable or par-tial dentures. However, in all these the bone isnot recovered. Implants are the only solutionwhich can promise bone recovery,” says Dr SheoSewak Pandey, Implantologist, Clove Dental.

Missing teeth can be more than just a sourceof embarrassment and low self-esteem for peo-ple of all age groups. They are unhealthy for themouth and overall health. Tooth loss is a rela-tively common phenomenon. According to sta-tistics about 70 per cent of adults in the age groupof 35 to 49 years have at least one missing ordecaying tooth. Another one in four peopleabove the age of 74 are missing all of their teeth.Studies show that in the ancient times, missingteeth were replaced using dentures made froma combination of rare hippopotamus ivory,human bone and metal fasteners. “The fact thatwe have better options today makes the loss ofteeth a little more bearable,” Pandey says.

While a person’s confidence suffers withtooth loss, the latter also affects health in the longterm. Infections followed by a serious gum dis-ease have also been linked to heart diseases anddiabetes. “Missing teeth affect a person’s jawstructure (and the tooth next to this gap maytry occupying the space too). Tooth shifts likethis create a domino effect wherein the teethmove, the jawbone shifts over time, and thestructure becomes unstable. Within some time,all of this can lead to tooth decay and therebyloss of more pearly whites,” Pandey tells you.

Removable teeth replacements that come ina full or partial set are called dentures. For a goodtime, conventional dentures have been the mostpopular option for missing teeth. There has beena lot of advancement in their look and feel overtime and today, they look more natural than theydid years ago.

“Dental implants are permanent teethreplacements implanted surgically into thejawbone. Provided a person maintains good oralhygiene, dental implants can last for a long time(in some instances cases of it lasting longer than20 years were also recorded) without replace-ment. Although expensive, it is important toconsider the fact that they can help in savingmoney on any health complications that arisedue to missing teeth,” he shares.

It also helps that they are easier to maintainthan conventional dentures as the person neednot worry about them falling out. In addition,they tend to look and feel more natural.

Although dental implants can provide bet-ter health outcomes, it is important to weighyour options and talk to the dentist. Once youunderstand the differences in detail, they canhelp you in arriving at a choice and therebyensure healthier teeth and gums — and overallhealth in the longer run. The development inimplant material has brought the prognosis intoacceptable limits. Implants are the most viablesolution for missing teeth. There is no doubt thatthey will continue to rule till research in stemcells takes over these as a viable replacement formissing teeth.

I M P L A N T I N GNEW WAYS

DEEPAK KUMARJHA talks to DRSHEO SEWAKPANDEY about

the developments indental care industry

Ahealthy family starts withthe women of the house ishealthy. Trying to balance

the demands of family and workor school and coping with all thepressure it is difficult to copy upwith the nutritional requirements.The right food will not only helpto boost the energy levels, moodand also it will maintain a healthyweight of women. A healthylifestyle is very important for awomen as there are a lot of phys-ical changes that happens in thelife of a women, it starts from hermenstrual cycle at the age of tento 15 years, pre-menstrual syn-drome (PMS) and then pregnan-cy and then menopause, at everystage a women’s body needsrequired amount of nutrients.

Having the required amountof nutrients will help women tomaintain a healthy and balancedlife. While women needs morecalories than men, the require-ments of some vitamins and min-erals in a females body is muchhigher. Stages like hormonalchanges, menopause, anemia,osteoporosis and weakness whilePMS, the nutrient requirementsincreases. Some important nutri-ents that a woman requires are cal-cium, iron, iodine, protein, goodfat, Vitamin-D, folic acid, Vitamin-C, omega-3, fibre, Vitamin B12,potassium, antioxidant, Vitamin-

B6, water, magnesium, zinc, car-bohydrates, vitamin-K, andVitamin-E. In daily life we neglectthe daily dietary requirements. n Calcium: It is important in

women’s diet as they are moreprone to osteoporosis and tokeep one’s heart healthy calci-um is important. As calciumhelps to regulate heartsrhythm, and ensure our ner-vous system functions proper-ly. Calcium deficiency leads tomood problems, anxiety,depression, sleep disorder.Food rich in calcium areyogurt, almonds, beans, wheyprotein, chia seeds, cheese,spinach, kale, barley, tofu, figsand milk.

n Iron: The deficiency of ironcan cause anemia and can leadto fatigue. Iron is important tobe taken as it is required inmenstrual cycle and for healthyheart. Some iron rich foodspinach, chickpeas, peas, soy-abean, pumpkin seeds, quinoa,broccoli and dark chocolate.

n Iodine: Iodine rich food likeapple, eggs, berries like cran-berries, strawberries, blueber-ries, banana, tofu, prunes,almond and walnuts. All theseare rich in iodine helps to keepa healthy heart.

n Protein: It is very important inone’s diet as it helps to boostmetabolism and does repairand muscle building. For ahealthy heart it is important todo intake of protein in a prop-er amount. Having more ofred-meat can lead to heartproblems and problems likecholesterol. Some protein richfoods are fish, nuts, low fatyogurt and milk.

n Good fat: Good fat foods likeavocados, dark chocolate, fish,nuts, olive oil, whole eggs,chia seeds, coconut oil and lowfat yogurt.

n Vitamin-D: It is very impor-tant f or the absorption of cal-cium in our body. For a healthyheart

n Folic acid: The daily dose of

folic acid can reduce the risk ofheart disease and strokes.Some of the food rich in folicacid are beans, leafy greenvegetables — spinach, orangejuice, bread and rice.

n Vitamin-C: It helps to lowerthe blood pressure, lowers cho-lesterol and builds up theimmune system. Some vitaminC rich food are grapefruit,broccoli, bell peppers, tomatoand sweet potato.

n Omega-3: It can decreasetriglycerides and lowers bloodpressure and decreases strokesand irregular heart beat. Someomega 3 rich foods are fish,flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds.

n Fibre: Oats, beans andflaxseeds provides fibre andhelps to lower blood choles-terol levels and lowering badcholesterol levels.

n Vitamin-B12: It helps toimprove heart help by decreas-ing homocysteine, whichreduces the risk of heart dis-eases. Vitamin B12 is natural-ly found in animal productslike fish, egg, milk and milkproducts.

n Antioxidant: It helps to reducethe risk of (CHD) coronaryheart diseases. Antioxidantsrich foods are green tea, onion,garlic, berries and spinach.

n Vitamin B6: It helps to reduceheart strokes and it may reducethe risk of heart failure. Somevitamin B6 rich food is chick-en, egg and brown rice.

n Water: Hydrated heart is ableto pump blood easily. Havingthree litres of water in a day isessential.

n Magnesium: It is important forheart as it helps to keep nervesworking properly.

n Zinc: The antioxidant proper-ty in zinc keeps the hearthealthy, shell fish, nuts andeggs are some foods that arerich in zinc.

n Carbohydrates: It is impor-tant for the body to workproperly. Some rich carbohy-drates are bread, wheat flourand rice.

n Vitamin K: It helps to keep cal-cium out of the arteries, someof the vitamin K rich food arefish, eggs, sprouts and broccoli.

n Vitamin E: Vegetable oils andnuts are rich in Vitamin Ewhich helps to maintain ahealthy heart.

n Potassium: Helps to ease ten-sion in our blood vessel walls.Banana, orange, cucumber,raisins and broccoli are richsources.

The writer is Jasleen Kaur,

Dietician with Just Diet

Lot of times diets plansare helpful for shed-

ding few kg in the begin-ning but then there comesa time when people shedno more. It is then whenmost people give up andfeel disappointed. But itsimportant to understandthe reason of plateau andlittle things which can becorrected.

Make a food diary, itwill help giving detailedidea of our eating pat-terns, cheatings done,meal skipped, over indul-gence and most important

real picture of our waterintake. Most commonmistake done during theweight loss exercise is, nothydrating the body prop-erly.

Water is not only con-sumed as its liquid formbut also the food we eathas been water contentwhich releases in ourbody. Our body is morethan 70 per cent water, sohydration becomes sec-ond important factor.

“Sometimes weightloss on scale isn’t there butvisible inch loss is there,

that is because when weburn fat get gain muscles,one see visible inch loss orBCA (Body CompositionAnalysis) test can give thereal picture of fat range

drop off. So, there nothingto worry if visible inch lossis there. Check your dailyfood menu, if it does notinclude seasonal vegeta-bles, adequate amount ofprotein (lean meat, fish,eggs, tofu, beans, legumes,nuts, milk and its productslike yogurt, cheese) andsalad, this could be thereason of weight lossplateau,” Shweta Diwanfrom Slimage Diet Clinic,explains and tells you thatone must eat dark greenleafy vegetables, salads,sprouts.

“No one diet works forall and so is the reason forplateau for every individ-ual. It is always suggestedto take professional helpand build your relation-ship with food for a longterm benefit and constantweight loss rather thangoing on a crash diet. If westart eating mindfullythere is no reason that ourweight shall be stuck. “Weshould strive towards alifestyle modification andnot diet for a limited peri-od for a long term holisticwellness,” Diwan says.

W A T C H W H A T Y O U E A T

PIONEER HEALTH speaks with dieticians on how women can keepthemselves healthy

wealth

Health is

wealth

Health is

HAVING THEREQUIRED

AMOUNT OFNUTRIENTS WILLHELP WOMEN TO

MAINTAIN AHEALTHY AND

BALANCED LIFE

money 11LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2018

BUSINESS CORNER

TRIUMPH LAUNCHES NEW TIGER 800 XCA PRICED AT RS 15.17 LAKHNew Delhi: British premium motorcycling major Triumph Monday

launched the latest version of its off-road bike Tiger 800 XCA in India priced at`15.17 lakh (ex-showroom). The new version of Tiger 800 XCA has over 200chassis and engine upgrades, including a suite of major off-road improvementsthat work hand-in-hand with carefully crafted on-road enhancements, TriumphMotorcycles India said in a statement. The bike powered by an 800cc engine hasa peak power output of 95PS and comes with up to six riding modes with opti-mised suspension configurations, among others. “"Tiger as a brand is importantand central to our product strategy in India. With more than 1,000 Tigers alreadyon the road, Triumph Tiger undoubtedly is the largest premium adventure motor-cycle in India,” Triumph Motorcycles India general manager Shoeb Farooq said.The new Tiger 800 has undergone years of research and development and is thebest adventure-ready Tiger ever built, he added.

MG MOTOR INDIA TO LAUNCH ELECTRIC SUV IN SELECT CITIESNew Delhi: MG Motor India, a wholly-owned arm of China's SAIC Motor

Corp, Monday said it plans to launch its upcoming electric SUV in some selectcities to begin with, a senior company official said. The company, which plansto launch two models -- Hector SUV and a fully electric SUV -- over the nextnine months, announced that its vehicles in the country would have over theair (OTA) technology. “We will be launching the pure electric SUV in the fourthquarter (October-December) this year. It will be launched in some select citiesacross the country,” MG Motor India Chief Commercial Officer Gaurav Guptatold reporters here. He did not share details about the locations but said the vehi-cle would be able to go over 250 km in a single charge. The company's first model,which has been christened as Hector, is slated for launch during June quarterthis year. MG Motor has already initiated trial production of the vehicle at itsmanufacturing facility at Halol, Gujarat. MG Motor is the only company besidesTesla to have OTA technology at its disposal, Gupta said. “We will have OTAfunction in our cars. It is not there on any car in India right now. This has thepotential to revolutionise mobility,” he added.

LG AIMS 40 PC MARKET SHARE IN HOME AC SEGMENT IN INDIANew Delhi:, Mar 11 (PTI) South Korean consumer electronics maker LG is

aiming to garner around 40 per cent market share of the inverter air conditionermarket in India this summer, betting on its range of energy efficient productswith advance features, said a top company official. LG India claimed to havearound 38 per cent share in the inverter room AC segment in 2018, a growth of28 per cent, even though the market was almost flat last season. The company,which sells a range of ACs through over 20,000 points of sale across India, expectsa faster growth rate from the non-metro and tier III markets, besides the met-ros, which are the highest contributors to the company's sales. The companyexpects 70 per cent AC sales to come from its highly energy efficient 5-star range,the segment in which LG India is extending its product portfolio.

Sensex reclaims 37K

mark in pre-poll rally

PTI n MUMBAI

The BSE benchmark Sensexsoared 383 points to

reclaim the 37,000 mark onMonday, its highest level innearly six months, led by gainsin RIL, ICICI Bank and BhartiAirtel amid sustained foreignfund inflows and positive glob-al cues. According to experts,investors widened their port-folios amid hopes of a win forthe incumbent NDA govern-ment, following the announce-ment of 2019 general electiondates Sunday.

The 30-share Sensex start-ed off on a strong footing andreclaimed the 37,000 mark onwidespread buying byinvestors, and ended at37,054.10, up by 382.67 points,or 1.04 per cent.

This is the highest closinglevel since September 19 lastyear when it had closed at37,121.22. The gauge had set-tled 53.99 points, or 0.15 percent, lower at 36,671.43 onFriday. The NSE Nifty, afterclimbing to 11,172.40 - itshighest since September 26last year - closed at 11,168.05points, up 132.65 points, or1.20 per cent.

Power, oil and gas, PSU,metal, banking, auto, capitalgoods, infrastructure and

healthcare sector stocks wit-nessed heavy buying throughthe session.

Experts see this as a pre-poll rally following theannouncement of 2019 gener-al election dates.

Prevailing geopolitical con-cerns in the wake of recentIndia-Pakistan military con-flicts will be a key factor in theupcoming general electionsthat may help incumbent NDAgovernment at the centre, theysaid.

Lok Sabha elections willbegin on April 11 and will beheld over seven phases followedby counting of votes on May 23,the Election Commissionannounced on Sunday.

According to Hemang Jani,Head - Advisory, Sharekhan byBNP Paribas, elections resultswill be the deciding factor forfurther upside in the short-term. Bharti Airtel emergedbest performers among Sensexconstituents by surging 8.08 percent, followed by PowerGrid by3.90 per cent. Other prominentgainers included Coal India,RIL, Vedanta, Tata Steel, AsianPaint, Hero MotoCorp, SBI,ONGC, Yes Bank, Bajaj Auto,ICICI Bank, M&M, MarutiSuzuki, Kotak Bank, SunPharma, Bajaj Finance, HUL,HDFC, L&T, ITC, Tata Motors,

Axis Bank and HDFC Bank,rising up to 3.80 per cent.

However, TCS, HCL Tech,NTPC, IndusInd Bank andInfosys ended in the negativezone with fall of up to 0.41 percent.

Barring IT, all the BSE sec-toral indices ended in thegreen, with oil and gas indexrising 2.85 per cent, metal 2.50per cent, consumer durables2.32 per cent, PSU 2.30 percent, auto 2.24 per cent, power2.04 per cent, infrastructure1.75 per cent, healthcare 1.54per cent, capital goods 1.19 per-cent, FMCG 1.05 per cent,realty 0.93 per cent, capitalgoods 0.95 per cent, bankex0.92 per cent, FMCG 0.74 percent and teck 0.53 per cent.

The broader markets toodisplayed a firm trend with theBSE mid-cap index surging1.96 per cent and the small-caps index rising 1.61 per centas investors accumulatedrecently beaten down stocksavailable at prevailing attractivelevels.

Meanwhile, on a net basis,foreign institutional investors(FIIs) bought shares worth`1,095.06 crore, while domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)sold shares worth Rs 470.7crore on Friday, provisionaldata showed.

Banks' reliance on bulk depositslikely to increase: Ind-RaPTI n NEW DELHI

Scheduled commercial banks' relianceon bulk deposits is likely to increase

if credit growth is higher than that ofdeposit, India Ratings and Research(Ind-Ra) said on Monday.

As per the rating agency, the sys-tem level credit growth of 12.9 per centyear-on-year continues to outpacedeposit growth at 9.3 per cent, there-by intensifying competition for depositsamong banks.

This is based on RBI's quarterly sta-tistics on deposits and credit of sched-uled commercial banks for December2018

In third quarter of this fiscal, state-owned banks have seen credit growthof 8.4 per cent and deposit growth at4.9 per as compared to the year-agoperiod, implying that they could alsocompete to recoup some of the depositmarket share loss that they have con-ceded to private banks over the years.

“With private banks seeing con-tinuing strong credit growth at 22 percent year-on-year in third quarter of

2018-19, they are likely to solicitdeposits even by offering higher rates,”Ind-Ra said.

It believes that if credit growth con-tinues to outpace deposit growth, "thenscheduled commercial banks' relianceon bulk deposits is likely to increasewhich could lead to a higher cost offunds along with increasing volatility inthe asset-liability structure of banks".

During April-February 2018-19,deposits raised by banks were up 24.6per cent as compared to the year-agoperiod even as the outstanding amountwas up only 3.6 per cent at Rs 1.78 lakhcrore, it said.

The rating agency said the longerterm trend of market share shift frompublic sector banks (PSBs) to privatebanks continued to play out in the last12 months. Private banks saw anincrease of 235 bps to 26.2 per cent and234 bps to 31.4 per cent in market sharein deposits and credit, respectively, inthe last one year while PSBs saw a 274bps decline to 65.7 per cent in depositsand a 253bps decline in credit to 60.9per cent.

Sebi imposes `25L fine

on Indus Portfolio

New Delhi: , Mar 11 (PTI) Marketswatchdog Sebi has levied a penalty ofRs 25 lakh on Indus Portfolio for car-rying out reversal of trades in the illiq-uid stock options segment on theBSE.

Sebi conducted a probe betweenApril 2014 and September 2015 afterobserving large-scale reversal of tradesin the stock options segment on thebourse which led to the creation of arti-ficial volume. PTI

Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 7.33 7.79 7.28 7.43RCOM 6.09 6.09 5.30 5.38IFCI 13.90 14.20 13.40 13.92SPICEJET 83.45 85.90 82.75 83.20JPASSOCIAT 6.55 6.72 6.55 6.60RPOWER 11.98 12.33 11.70 11.96DHFL 139.00 140.00 131.00 132.90RELIANCE 1270.80 1313.00 1268.10 1301.00AVANTI 415.00 462.35 409.00 451.25AXISBANK 731.60 744.90 731.00 734.15SBIN 283.30 288.50 283.30 286.80INFIBEAM 40.80 45.30 39.75 43.90YESBANK 233.00 237.90 231.70 236.30RELINFRA 126.50 133.85 125.25 132.40LAURUSLABS 360.00 371.40 354.50 363.85CGPOWER 35.30 39.25 34.30 38.55MOTHERSUMI 163.80 173.00 163.75 171.90HINDPETRO 250.95 266.25 250.30 263.70TATASTEEL 509.00 522.40 508.50 520.80JETAIRWAYS 251.15 254.50 246.00 248.05DBL 568.00 605.00 568.00 598.10LEMONTREE 86.00 89.15 81.50 87.50INFY 713.00 718.20 709.20 711.65BHARTIARTL 309.00 336.60 308.00 333.70RELCAPITAL 187.95 192.70 186.20 190.20IBULHSGFIN 706.50 720.50 706.50 718.15TATAMOTORS 181.65 184.45 180.95 182.15VENKYS 2185.95 2407.00 2175.50 2334.95IDEA 33.00 34.45 31.90 34.15WIPRO 258.15 260.50 257.40 259.65ANDHRABANK 26.80 27.35 26.65 27.25FORCEMOT 1733.80 1834.90 1726.00 1816.35ASIANPAINT 1383.60 1423.50 1383.60 1416.00BPCL 368.20 388.75 368.20 387.05LT 1341.00 1350.00 1340.05 1347.65ASHOKLEY 91.00 93.50 90.15 93.10EDELWEISS 163.90 174.00 163.70 173.10ICICIBANK 370.80 378.20 370.15 375.90GRAPHITE 456.70 466.10 454.10 457.00BHARATFORG 508.20 537.60 507.90 533.75M&M 668.00 683.70 668.00 680.15PNB 83.90 86.45 83.90 85.80ADANIPOWER 49.95 52.35 49.40 51.65INDIACEM 96.75 104.45 96.70 103.80COALINDIA 236.95 245.00 234.90 243.40IOC 149.95 155.30 149.45 153.95RBLBANK 644.40 658.00 634.50 642.45JINDALSTEL 164.45 172.00 163.55 170.70NATIONALUM 51.95 54.95 51.95 54.50NTPC 153.00 160.30 150.00 152.00JUBILANT 771.50 854.90 771.50 845.50HDFCBANK 2128.55 2144.00 2122.00 2130.05MARUTI 6987.00 7118.00 6973.10 7090.40BAJFINANCE 2770.00 2805.60 2769.95 2790.10HEROMOTOCO 2730.10 2830.00 2730.10 2810.00VOLTAS 595.00 627.95 593.25 625.05GUJGAS 137.40 144.40 136.90 141.00NCC 100.20 103.00 100.20 102.35FEDERALBNK 87.00 92.35 87.00 91.25BANKINDIA 89.45 92.65 88.90 92.25KOTAKBANK 1247.00 1254.00 1232.40 1251.55HEXAWARE 347.00 347.90 336.10 337.00BLISSGVS 173.00 174.60 165.85 171.05ADVENZYMES 191.70 195.70 185.00 188.35IBREALEST 76.95 78.50 76.10 76.90PCJEWELLER 78.80 81.90 77.50 79.95SUNPHARMA 456.00 461.20 453.85 459.45GODFRYPHLP 947.20 1042.50 943.05 1032.60ITC 292.00 294.70 291.15 293.00RECLTD 131.95 134.85 131.35 134.20BANKBARODA 114.40 117.10 114.20 115.90UJJIVAN 318.25 340.25 316.75 335.85SBILIFE 587.00 625.00 587.00 622.20TITAN 1065.00 1074.00 1061.00 1067.95VEDL 173.20 178.50 172.75 176.70ALBK 57.45 58.80 55.45 56.80UNIONBANK 78.75 83.15 78.75 82.70EICHERMOT 21999.95 22990.00 21999.95 22892.75L&TFH 142.40 145.90 141.95 144.60CANFINHOME 290.00 309.00 289.55 307.35BIRLACORPN 540.00 540.00 485.10 531.95SIEMENS 1045.00 1061.05 1024.00 1056.00JUBLFOOD 1340.00 1375.00 1340.00 1371.10WOCKPHARMA 422.90 442.40 422.40 440.05TATACHEM 577.95 590.45 577.95 589.85TCS 2022.70 2032.80 2005.50 2014.10BEL 88.00 91.80 87.45 91.40SOUTHBANK 14.81 15.77 14.81 15.46BAJAJ-AUTO 2961.50 3012.05 2940.65 3004.40IPCALAB 884.05 935.00 883.60 924.00HEG 2200.00 2234.60 2189.20 2196.95IDFCFIRSTB 49.00 50.65 48.85 50.00BHEL 67.10 70.60 67.10 70.05GNFC 289.95 298.00 288.05 295.35GODREJCP 709.00 727.10 709.00 723.50M&MFIN 440.00 448.70 438.80 443.65AMBUJACEM 225.50 233.90 225.50 232.80JUSTDIAL 558.40 565.30 550.55 552.95SUNTECK 405.50 429.90 405.50 427.95IDBI 44.00 45.40 44.00 44.90SPARC 193.00 196.65 191.90 195.30LICHSGFIN 496.00 507.50 495.60 500.50BAJAJFINSV 6630.00 6799.80 6621.00 6772.35MARICO 340.00 348.40 334.45 347.85GAIL 353.00 357.30 350.10 351.50MUTHOOTFIN 571.00 597.75 571.00 594.65GRANULES 111.60 114.50 109.70 113.90HDFC 1889.70 1903.60 1885.60 1897.00

TECHM 813.00 814.65 803.65 807.80HINDUNILVR 1702.00 1724.50 1702.00 1714.25PARAGMILK 244.00 259.50 244.00 257.15PEL 2586.00 2675.05 2586.00 2661.15RNAM 204.85 209.75 199.20 202.40ZEEL 459.00 459.95 451.20 454.00INDIGO 1250.00 1310.00 1245.00 1299.90KTKBANK 119.10 127.00 118.10 125.05ICICIGI 976.95 997.00 971.80 973.10TVSMOTOR 490.00 510.00 487.45 506.80BEML 897.95 917.95 896.45 912.50UPL 890.00 898.60 888.00 895.00GRUH 269.50 279.80 264.00 279.00SAIL 53.60 55.35 53.60 55.10DISHTV 37.40 39.20 37.40 38.20BOMDYEING 115.50 119.00 115.20 116.00POWERGRID 187.00 196.00 187.00 194.40PETRONET 235.50 239.70 235.50 237.95TATAGLOBAL 193.00 202.90 192.50 202.35SUNTV 605.00 619.40 597.70 616.30JSWSTEEL 289.00 293.65 287.35 292.15AUROPHARMA 740.00 751.00 737.25 748.80TATAELXSI 961.85 965.05 947.90 956.60HDFCLIFE 391.10 391.30 385.50 389.80INDIANB 253.85 265.00 252.25 262.75DRREDDY 2621.00 2655.00 2612.85 2626.30DMART 1450.00 1483.50 1450.00 1478.70ITDC 282.00 308.55 282.00 298.40HCLTECH 1008.95 1020.70 1001.45 1004.50EQUITAS 124.00 133.20 124.00 131.40OIL 174.20 178.50 173.75 177.90ACC 1574.20 1610.00 1564.20 1603.70NBCC 57.45 59.30 57.20 58.90ESCORTS 734.95 747.40 731.00 742.00JAICORPLTD 108.25 111.55 108.20 109.15ENGINERSIN 111.50 116.35 111.40 115.10TATAPOWER 70.20 72.10 70.20 71.70INFRATEL 306.95 321.10 306.40 319.35IRB 147.40 157.55 147.40 154.50CANBK 255.00 262.95 254.95 258.50HAVELLS 729.00 745.35 729.00 740.55ADANIPORTS 342.00 352.00 342.00 350.60KSCL 428.85 436.00 425.00 432.45ITDCEM 125.10 139.65 125.10 136.10MEGH 62.50 65.50 62.35 64.85INDUSINDBK 1525.00 1525.55 1504.10 1515.10DELTACORP 260.00 260.10 256.40 257.90STAR 434.00 447.00 434.00 444.35IGL 295.00 299.80 293.85 298.30ONGC 151.90 154.00 151.30 153.00BRITANNIA 3080.80 3140.00 3075.40 3130.40

REPCOHOME 445.05 466.50 445.05 462.90BATAINDIA 1339.65 1349.00 1325.65 1338.00VIPIND 438.00 445.00 434.15 443.05DABUR 433.40 443.95 433.25 442.05KANSAINER 446.00 483.90 441.80 476.10ISEC 233.00 244.85 233.00 243.50NAVKARCORP 47.45 48.40 46.20 47.95PHILIPCARB 174.00 179.45 174.00 177.00ICICIPRULI 344.00 350.00 339.05 340.50LUPIN 779.15 796.00 779.00 793.50INTELLECT 193.30 198.00 191.25 192.20BANDHANBNK 502.00 512.00 502.00 510.35LTI 1651.00 1664.00 1621.00 1652.75MANAPPURAM 118.30 119.80 116.05 118.30IDFC 40.00 41.90 39.40 41.25COROMANDEL 479.30 495.75 479.05 491.10STRTECH 269.70 276.10 269.70 270.95ULTRACEMCO 3959.95 4050.00 3958.80 4045.00GRASIM 806.50 831.60 806.45 827.15HFCL 23.00 24.15 23.00 23.90JKTYRE 93.25 93.50 91.80 92.70NESTLEIND 10143.30 10340.00 10042.00 10287.25HINDALCO 197.05 202.00 196.40 201.00DLF 175.05 178.30 175.05 176.60CARBORUNIV 380.50 394.70 380.50 390.00BIOCON 616.55 625.00 615.55 625.00WELSPUNIND 58.90 63.25 58.90 62.40MGL 888.00 893.40 882.25 890.75NMDC 110.00 111.00 108.35 110.70RCF 57.05 59.55 56.75 58.95NOCIL 139.40 141.85 136.20 140.90JAMNAAUTO 60.00 62.75 59.85 62.25DEEPAKNI 254.65 263.00 254.65 257.35PFC 109.00 112.15 108.20 111.65TORNTPOWER 250.10 259.50 248.70 256.25APOLLOHOSP 1170.00 1211.30 1170.00 1204.00INOXLEISUR 306.95 315.60 305.40 306.20

MFSL 420.50 430.85 415.95 430.00CUMMINSIND 733.90 751.30 725.40 748.00TATAMTRDVR 92.90 93.20 91.80 92.75IBVENTURES 285.00 294.60 285.00 287.55ORIENTBANK 95.25 98.15 95.05 97.65CROMPTON 222.30 234.00 220.70 228.30CENTURYTEX 860.85 882.75 858.60 882.75DIVISLAB 1647.95 1693.45 1647.95 1686.60CHOLAFIN 1300.00 1368.55 1297.50 1367.90GODREJIND 514.15 527.40 514.10 525.00EXIDEIND 224.00 228.00 224.00 227.25BERGEPAINT 302.50 309.90 301.65 307.40EMAMILTD 393.00 401.00 385.55 400.00OMAXE 206.00 207.15 205.40 205.90CIPLA 538.05 541.40 535.50 540.30ABCAPITAL 100.30 101.00 99.55 99.75MANPASAND 101.20 104.60 100.45 103.20TAKE 140.20 140.70 136.60 137.50HIMATSEIDE 179.00 201.70 179.00 196.55DCMSHRIRAM 456.80 465.85 446.45 450.00VINATIORGA 1649.50 1699.00 1644.70 1685.65SUVEN 267.00 272.30 265.30 268.10WELCORP 117.50 121.85 117.50 120.60ASHOKA 134.95 138.90 134.15 137.25GUJFLUORO 1019.95 1034.00 1008.00 1025.00BAJAJELEC 502.00 502.50 488.25 500.00JISLJALEQS 61.00 63.40 60.75 63.00THERMAX 984.85 1033.00 980.00 1023.40CONCOR 490.10 500.00 488.20 493.00RAYMOND 812.05 824.70 812.00 817.10RAIN 106.95 108.35 106.30 106.95HINDCOPPER 49.30 50.40 49.30 50.15APOLLOTYRE 213.90 219.05 212.70 217.60TNPL 221.20 244.00 212.00 217.40MINDTREE 920.95 933.00 915.00 924.70RADICO 399.00 399.00 390.75 393.90CEATLTD 1130.05 1154.35 1129.15 1154.35SYNDIBANK 37.20 38.80 37.15 38.65CASTROLIND 162.80 165.00 162.45 165.00JMFINANCIL 86.50 86.50 85.00 85.95COLPAL 1252.50 1279.00 1252.50 1279.00DCBBANK 196.50 201.55 196.05 201.00SOBHA 438.00 442.80 435.80 440.10JSLHISAR 92.80 96.60 92.80 95.85AJANTPHARM 969.00 988.60 964.00 985.25SRTRANSFIN 1230.00 1266.90 1221.00 1258.20MRPL 68.75 72.25 68.55 72.20SHK 155.50 160.00 152.00 153.60MPHASIS 983.05 1002.00 973.80 993.55GMRINFRA 16.90 17.25 16.90 17.15PRSMJOHNSN 91.40 96.95 90.85 95.70GREAVESCOT 132.00 137.40 131.35 135.55JSL 42.60 43.60 42.40 43.00DEEPAKFERT 135.75 141.00 135.70 138.50EIHOTEL 204.00 204.00 199.35 201.00FSL 45.25 46.45 45.25 46.00GLENMARK 603.85 616.00 603.00 614.00SHANKARA 452.50 469.80 449.55 469.80MINDACORP 147.25 150.40 145.00 145.65NHPC 25.25 25.45 24.85 25.30ITI 95.40 97.00 95.35 96.25BALKRISIND 905.95 916.60 900.50 907.10PAGEIND 22902.00 23850.50 22902.00 23774.05CADILAHC 327.50 333.25 326.15 333.00SCI 39.00 40.00 37.95 38.35ENDURANCE 1173.50 1175.45 1158.45 1167.25MAGMA 114.55 123.00 114.25 118.20NAUKRI 1797.90 1820.00 1774.40 1801.15CENTRALBK 33.00 35.30 33.00 34.10GSFC 99.60 102.85 99.35 102.00GICRE 244.50 258.95 242.90 251.00TATACOFFEE 91.50 95.00 91.15 92.95CHENNPETRO 257.55 265.60 256.00 262.65OBEROIRLTY 483.40 487.75 475.05 478.75MCX 727.00 745.00 727.00 743.55SWANENERGY 110.35 113.00 109.00 109.70SRF 2353.00 2382.00 2340.50 2368.95FRETAIL 449.95 451.75 439.50 445.70UBL 1380.10 1392.50 1377.25 1382.65SADBHAV 223.00 237.40 223.00 235.90HEIDELBERG 179.90 184.00 177.60 178.75LAKSHVILAS 73.50 73.95 71.35 72.60PIDILITIND 1126.00 1142.90 1125.05 1140.30GSPL 172.00 173.75 168.40 173.65PIIND 989.95 1015.00 981.50 1010.80NIITTECH 1310.00 1332.20 1309.60 1331.55KEC 267.50 273.50 266.40 272.70BBTC 1261.75 1290.00 1260.00 1281.65WHIRLPOOL 1565.55 1630.00 1565.55 1597.05HUDCO 45.80 45.80 44.75 45.35IOB 14.54 15.69 14.48 15.11CHAMBLFERT 162.50 171.85 162.50 168.85TATAMETALI 668.80 678.60 664.55 667.20MHRIL 223.50 236.00 223.50 233.55RELAXO 770.00 770.00 750.00 760.00HSCL 119.95 124.90 119.20 123.45ABB 1265.25 1276.25 1260.20 1265.00FCONSUMER 50.65 51.60 50.65 51.00ABFRL 223.95 226.65 223.00 226.00MMTC 28.00 29.00 28.00 28.65HINDZINC 268.00 272.50 268.00 271.20PNBHOUSING 889.10 899.00 872.50 879.00BOSCHLTD 18502.00 19144.90 18473.70 19065.90JINDALSAW 91.00 94.60 91.00 92.40SUPREMEIND 1092.05 1150.10 1085.00 1136.00GHCL 238.00 249.75 238.00 240.65AIAENG 1850.00 2026.00 1770.00 1783.05KAJARIACER 582.95 582.95 558.30 566.30RALLIS 158.65 165.10 158.65 163.60

NLCINDIA 68.05 70.80 68.05 70.60HSIL 233.00 246.20 232.70 245.70TTKPRESTIG 8708.45 9040.00 8697.00 9000.00ISGEC 5390.00 5500.00 5175.00 5500.00AARTIIND 1440.05 1509.90 1440.05 1482.10TV18BRDCST 36.25 37.35 36.10 37.10GODREJAGRO 514.30 522.60 512.55 517.15KEI 392.00 398.70 390.25 396.10VGUARD 213.35 220.00 213.30 215.40IBULISL 331.00 349.45 330.00 346.45ADANITRANS 207.95 213.60 207.90 209.25MOIL 158.90 162.85 158.85 162.15NAVINFLUOR 647.50 661.80 642.00 644.55TATACOMM 612.00 616.35 605.40 611.70KNRCON 241.00 245.00 239.00 239.00J&KBANK 45.80 46.95 45.70 46.20LINDEINDIA 552.75 553.80 522.05 524.85JSWENERGY 68.60 68.95 68.10 68.45MERCK 3416.15 3510.00 3416.15 3470.00MOTILALOFS 601.85 604.00 591.60 594.00SYMPHONY 1318.75 1375.00 1308.00 1375.00DCAL 207.40 211.00 204.20 208.00QUESS 771.05 798.00 762.55 778.10LALPATHLAB 1010.00 1047.95 1010.00 1030.70LUXIND 1289.00 1326.70 1265.40 1297.70LTTS 1550.00 1560.00 1546.00 1548.00GREENPLY 153.65 154.30 150.00 150.80NILKAMAL 1408.65 1434.60 1390.60 1420.00INDHOTEL 145.85 146.30 143.60 144.10PNCINFRA 142.05 151.35 142.05 150.30GUJALKALI 530.00 532.10 520.00 525.50FORBESCO 2085.25 2398.55 2085.25 2398.55EVEREADY 209.75 212.20 205.85 206.60CCL 291.05 301.25 291.05 294.55NIACL 201.75 206.80 197.00 205.35EIDPARRY 209.00 213.40 209.00 212.00SREINFRA 31.90 32.95 31.90 32.85JBCHEPHARM 335.35 345.00 327.65 343.00RAMCOCEM 727.00 738.75 717.20 736.15JYOTHYLAB 185.15 190.00 185.15 188.15PVR 1557.90 1559.30 1532.85 1542.20CENTURYPLY 186.10 194.00 186.10 193.40NATCOPHARM* 579.00 579.00 568.00 574.50ADANIGREEN 35.65 36.35 35.35 36.10ORIENTCEM 80.50 90.00 80.50 88.75WESTLIFE 369.90 376.00 369.90 373.10WABAG 331.65 337.35 328.55 330.65KIOCL 144.30 172.65 140.00 151.15AUBANK 588.00 588.15 580.00 583.40TRIDENT 66.00 67.15 66.00 67.10UFLEX 218.00 225.50 218.00 223.80HERITGFOOD 494.00 518.85 494.00 512.00AEGISLOG 207.00 208.00 203.40 205.00ATUL 3386.95 3387.00 3315.00 3355.00TRENT 335.35 341.80 333.15 340.00KALPATPOWR 401.00 414.90 401.00 414.90APLAPOLLO 1388.50 1415.70 1385.20 1393.65PERSISTENT* 648.00 680.00 648.00 672.60GDL 126.55 131.60 125.80 128.30UCOBANK 19.25 19.90 19.25 19.35BALMLAWRIE 183.25 192.00 183.25 190.25OFSS 3499.00 3499.00 3425.00 3450.00JAGRAN 105.95 110.45 105.20 109.00GODREJPROP 702.80 710.70 700.00 706.50CENTRUM 34.25 35.95 34.25 35.30COCHINSHIP 371.45 383.75 371.45 380.50NBVENTURES 104.45 105.50 104.00 104.60RAJESHEXPO 589.00 600.00 584.75 599.95GICHSGFIN 250.00 252.85 250.00 250.15FINCABLES 449.80 454.80 443.00 453.90TORNTPHARM 1796.35 1798.05 1772.85 1796.95MAXINDIA 66.70 66.70 63.10 63.50IEX 158.70 160.70 158.00 160.05TEJASNET 176.00 176.00 171.45 172.20CAPPL 408.00 412.55 400.50 401.60ALLCARGO 108.00 109.00 105.00 105.95BDL 277.90 286.60 277.85 280.95DBCORP 197.80 201.75 197.80 199.60PRESTIGE 203.35 204.80 201.35 202.90ZENSARTECH 219.30 223.25 217.10 221.50SCHNEIDER 102.25 104.00 100.90 101.75KRBL 370.50 373.00 363.80 371.85ASTRAL 1213.95 1227.30 1184.80 1215.20PTC 79.00 81.00 78.90 80.60SJVN 24.85 24.85 24.40 24.50CARERATING 1012.00 1015.40 996.05 1010.05SUNDRMFAST 517.65 526.80 517.65 525.30

PGHH 10910.00 10910.00 10136.50 10237.15SKFINDIA 1950.45 1960.00 1905.80 1936.00MAHINDCIE 239.20 241.05 237.40 237.40LAXMIMACH 6211.00 6353.75 6211.00 6250.00JKCEMENT 811.90 834.00 811.85 828.85VMART 2831.95 2834.00 2769.00 2802.00MRF 56971.45 57905.65 56971.45 57712.60COFFEEDAY 288.70 293.80 286.00 288.50PFIZER 3210.00 3229.80 3180.00 3209.50AMARAJABAT 743.30 749.20 739.65 747.05FINOLEXIND 544.00 553.00 537.95 545.55SUDARSCHEM 347.95 351.10 344.35 350.50APLLTD 543.05 550.00 540.40 550.00SANOFI 5612.70 5653.70 5550.00 5633.50THOMASCOOK 217.10 223.00 216.75 220.20INOXWIND 76.80 76.80 73.55 74.30SHREECEM 17599.15 18036.80 17563.75 17948.60TEAMLEASE 3008.00 3080.00 2975.00 3080.00NETWORK18 34.40 34.90 34.40 34.70SHARDACROP 370.45 388.80 369.65 375.00BHARATFIN 951.00 957.95 946.35 955.80MAHLOG 497.05 504.90 497.05 500.00GLAXO 1314.95 1324.00 1313.95 1319.85SONATSOFTW 333.00 334.00 330.55 333.00BAJAJHLDNG 3272.55 3332.25 3272.55 3307.95FORTIS 135.15 135.95 134.50 135.95REDINGTON 93.45 95.70 93.00 95.00BASF 1390.00 1444.90 1384.00 1430.05CRISIL 1447.20 1463.80 1427.50 1452.00MONSANTO 2745.00 2745.00 2665.00 2675.00MAHABANK 13.00 13.45 13.00 13.40ECLERX 1139.00 1139.00 1094.25 1100.00JKLAKSHMI 341.50 345.50 339.10 342.25SHOPERSTOP 469.00 481.40 466.00 479.80BLUESTARCO 664.00 669.90 657.00 657.45HAL 670.00 680.95 669.90 679.05CUB 188.95 189.50 186.70 187.503MINDIA 24990.00 25050.00 24459.60 24500.05GPPL 89.70 91.35 89.20 90.50KPRMILL 584.45 592.65 578.55 592.45GRINDWELL 600.00 603.30 590.00 590.00GMDCLTD 85.20 86.50 84.55 85.75WABCOINDIA 6327.00 6350.00 6287.10 6319.00APARINDS 653.00 666.00 650.00 662.00SUNCLAYLTD 3080.00 3120.00 2874.10 3001.00TIMETECHNO 104.35 106.30 102.50 102.60IFBIND 904.00 934.00 901.55 927.00ASTRAZEN 1993.25 2010.20 1974.00 1981.00LAOPALA 205.85 216.90 205.85 212.50VTL 1095.65 1104.85 1074.65 1096.65CORPBANK 29.90 30.15 29.50 29.70GESHIP 294.50 295.40 288.60 294.80CYIENT* 675.00 684.00 675.00 682.00MINDAIND 345.35 346.05 343.00 344.50ABBOTINDIA 7350.10 7450.00 7350.05 7428.05GSKCONS 7047.00 7145.00 7040.00 7127.00ALKEM 1755.30 1758.00 1745.00 1751.10BAJAJCON 351.90 351.90 348.50 350.00TIINDIA 380.00 384.00 374.80 379.60ASTERDM 157.90 157.90 153.00 154.00TIMKEN 579.95 589.05 578.20 578.20AKZOINDIA 1714.85 1749.95 1712.00 1735.15INDOSTAR 355.45 358.00 351.00 354.75SHILPAMED 376.25 382.00 374.30 374.55MAHLIFE 368.00 376.80 368.00 373.55SUPRAJIT 218.20 229.00 218.20 220.40PHOENIXLTD 635.85 639.80 630.65 636.75SOMANYCERA 365.50 371.00 360.00 368.00VBL 806.00 813.75 806.00 808.50NESCO 454.10 467.00 450.00 450.00SYNGENE 589.00 592.70 586.10 588.00SCHAEFFLER 5550.00 5600.00 5455.20 5455.20ERIS 636.25 651.95 636.25 649.50ZYDUSWELL 1291.20 1307.90 1279.70 1306.45FLFL 439.55 441.75 437.00 441.00NAVNETEDUL 109.85 110.00 108.05 108.50THYROCARE 528.50 530.00 522.65 530.00TVSSRICHAK 2241.60 2360.00 2241.60 2290.00FDC 174.85 178.45 174.00 177.00UNITEDBNK 11.25 11.39 11.12 11.21GET&D 285.70 292.05 284.95 287.10GEPIL 840.30 854.95 840.05 852.00BLUEDART 3350.00 3580.00 3200.00 3230.00TATAINVEST 836.05 846.65 836.05 844.05ASAHIINDIA 274.75 275.05 265.20 268.10HONAUT 22799.95 22799.95 21949.90 22000.00GAYAPROJ 169.35 175.00 168.80 169.20JCHAC 1970.00 2010.00 1970.00 2001.00DHANUKA 440.80 446.70 431.25 441.35TIFHL 489.60 500.00 481.70 500.00MAHSCOOTER 3300.00 3333.50 3283.75 3285.50ELGIEQUIP 257.30 259.90 254.20 257.00STARCEMENT 100.05 101.80 99.30 101.35HATSUN 694.50 700.00 685.00 693.00SUPPETRO 218.00 220.00 217.00 218.00SIS 830.05 840.00 826.40 826.40BAYERCROP 4334.55 4351.20 4322.10 4322.10SOLARINDS 1024.80 1035.50 1024.80 1035.00GALAXYSURF 1106.75 1114.90 1093.05 1093.05CERA 2585.25 2608.85 2553.00 2560.00ESSELPRO 113.15 113.65 112.00 112.00SHRIRAMCIT 1710.55 1740.00 1710.55 1736.30NH 221.50 223.30 217.80 220.50TVTODAY 331.80 340.10 331.55 336.10GULFOILLUB 879.00 880.00 860.40 874.00GILLETTE 6504.40 6519.40 6456.00 6465.00RATNAMANI 885.00 885.95 870.40 871.00SFL 1393.85 1393.85 1368.90 1369.70TRITURBINE 114.00 114.00 112.05 113.95

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11068.75 11180.90 11059.85 11176.30 140.90BHARTIARTL 309.05 337.10 308.70 334.70 26.00HINDPETRO 250.95 266.80 250.25 263.70 13.85BPCL 369.45 388.50 368.80 386.85 19.50EICHERMOT 21948.55 23145.20 21895.00 22917.80 1046.75INFRATEL 306.60 322.00 305.95 318.75 13.25POWERGRID 188.50 196.00 187.75 194.25 7.25COALINDIA 236.70 245.00 235.25 243.50 8.60IOC 150.00 155.35 149.35 153.65 4.95RELIANCE 1270.05 1312.00 1268.00 1308.10 41.00HINDALCO 197.00 202.00 196.10 201.50 5.95HEROMOTOCO 2745.00 2828.40 2745.00 2819.65 79.30ADANIPORTS 343.20 352.90 342.15 352.05 9.90BAJAJFINSV 6616.50 6812.10 6612.25 6805.65 188.70VEDL 174.00 178.75 172.55 177.10 4.75ASIANPAINT 1389.20 1423.00 1385.00 1419.00 36.65TATASTEEL 510.00 522.40 509.50 521.10 13.25IBULHSGFIN 709.50 721.00 705.50 719.80 17.80GRASIM 809.00 831.95 808.25 827.10 20.05SBIN 285.30 289.00 283.50 287.05 5.85ULTRACEMCO 3975.50 4057.50 3955.65 4049.00 77.00JSWSTEEL 289.40 294.65 287.15 291.90 5.50ONGC 151.55 154.30 151.10 153.10 2.70UPL 889.45 899.45 887.60 896.95 15.20M&M 671.95 683.85 671.50 681.40 11.25MARUTI 6980.00 7121.60 6975.00 7084.45 116.75YESBANK 233.00 238.00 231.60 236.15 3.85BAJAJ-AUTO 2970.00 3012.00 2936.90 3001.05 45.35ICICIBANK 371.80 378.40 370.00 376.20 5.60TITAN 1058.00 1074.60 1057.60 1068.30 15.10SUNPHARMA 456.00 461.45 454.00 459.60 4.65BAJFINANCE 2769.00 2807.95 2769.00 2794.25 25.95KOTAKBANK 1238.00 1254.90 1234.00 1249.90 11.00WIPRO 259.00 260.90 257.45 259.70 2.00HINDUNILVR 1708.75 1726.00 1703.00 1714.95 13.35GAIL 350.30 357.90 350.00 352.20 2.55HDFC 1886.35 1903.80 1884.00 1895.35 11.30LT 1343.55 1351.00 1340.00 1347.00 7.60DRREDDY 2628.00 2656.00 2611.05 2625.70 10.65TATAMOTORS 182.00 184.60 181.05 181.90 0.70ITC 293.00 294.90 291.10 292.95 0.95AXISBANK 733.30 744.90 730.60 734.50 1.10HDFCBANK 2132.00 2143.70 2122.20 2129.20 1.00CIPLA 542.00 542.00 535.50 539.80 -0.15INDUSINDBK 1520.90 1525.00 1502.40 1515.00 -3.00INFY 713.30 718.50 709.40 710.95 -1.40TECHM 812.00 814.40 803.00 807.25 -4.10HCLTECH 1007.00 1021.75 1001.00 1003.95 -5.10ZEEL 458.45 459.90 450.85 452.75 -2.35TCS 2028.90 2033.00 2003.65 2012.10 -10.60NTPC 153.00 160.30 149.50 150.75 -1.45

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27573.25 28106.15 27546.60 28093.15 634.95SBILIFE 589.75 626.40 587.40 623.65 36.50MOTHERSUMI 163.80 173.00 163.50 172.10 8.85IDEA 32.75 34.70 32.60 34.30 1.75BHEL 67.70 70.60 67.20 70.50 3.40BEL 87.75 92.00 87.30 91.60 4.40INDIGO 1247.10 1308.50 1245.50 1303.45 60.45ASHOKLEY 90.80 93.60 90.10 93.40 3.75NIACL 195.00 206.50 195.00 205.30 7.65SUNTV 604.70 620.00 597.20 618.25 22.60MARICO 337.40 348.45 334.40 347.10 12.55BOSCHLTD 18500.00 19170.00 18489.00 19116.10 686.25SRTRANSFIN 1229.60 1269.90 1218.55 1260.00 39.60AMBUJACEM 226.75 234.70 226.45 233.20 7.05PEL 2600.00 2674.00 2590.45 2657.30 75.25SAIL 53.95 55.40 53.70 55.05 1.55MCDOWELL-N 563.00 581.40 562.10 574.20 15.75GICRE 243.00 259.30 242.90 249.60 6.50SIEMENS 1023.00 1062.00 1023.00 1050.20 26.35DABUR 434.30 444.00 432.70 443.25 11.05CADILAHC 326.95 333.85 325.00 332.90 7.95LUPIN 780.80 797.00 779.25 796.70 17.55OIL 173.60 178.50 173.50 177.50 3.80PETRONET 236.95 240.00 235.00 239.00 5.10DMART 1449.90 1488.00 1448.10 1481.25 30.85GODREJCP 710.50 726.80 710.50 722.80 14.80BANKBARODA 114.50 117.20 114.25 115.95 2.35HAVELLS 729.45 746.00 728.50 742.85 15.00BANDHANBNK 507.95 512.90 503.05 512.40 10.25BRITANNIA 3086.00 3139.50 3066.50 3131.35 60.15L&TFH 142.60 146.00 141.95 144.60 2.75ACC 1575.90 1610.00 1563.70 1604.90 30.35AUROPHARMA 739.55 752.75 737.00 749.25 13.40LICHSGFIN 498.50 507.80 494.80 502.20 8.55COLPAL 1259.40 1277.65 1252.85 1272.45 20.75SHREECEM 17680.00 18094.90 17637.25 17918.05 288.65HINDZINC 269.00 272.00 268.55 271.10 3.85BIOCON 615.00 624.15 614.85 623.15 8.35MRF 57040.00 57980.15 57040.00 57719.55 692.95PIDILITIND 1125.55 1141.65 1124.30 1138.00 13.50DLF 175.35 178.30 175.15 177.00 1.65CONCOR 490.00 500.80 487.55 493.05 4.60NMDC 109.75 111.20 108.30 110.75 0.70NHPC 25.15 25.45 24.75 25.30 0.15ICICIPRULI 343.10 350.25 340.15 343.25 1.00ICICIGI 980.00 998.00 973.00 979.90 1.95ABB 1266.00 1277.00 1261.50 1267.70 1.70ABCAPITAL 100.00 101.00 99.60 99.95 -0.05OFSS 3465.00 3470.00 3425.05 3440.00 -10.75HDFCLIFE 391.00 392.00 385.30 390.45 -1.25PGHH 10319.95 10347.00 10150.00 10187.15 -133.15

world 12LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

Jennifer Lawrence’s new fiance sweetly

kisses her head on romantic date nightNew York: And the love is clearly strong between Jennifer Lawrence and her fiance Cooke Maroney, as the twodemonstrated on a romantic date night on Saturday.After a sushi dinner, the couple were pictured chattinganimatedly in the New York street, wide smiles on their faces, before Cooke sweetly planted a loving kiss on hisbride-to-be's head.The Oscar-winning actress, 28, smiled as he did so, holdingher purse in front of her, showing off her glittering diamond ring as she didso.The two had been for a sushi meal, with Jennifer wearing a warm furcoat and taper cigar pants. The Silver Linings Playbook star and art gallerydirector Cooke, 34, had been dating for eight months when he gotdown on one knee and popped the question last month. Cookeworks at New York's Gladstone Gallery, which represents artistsincluding Lena Dunham's dad, Carroll Dunham, as well asRichard Prince, Anish Kapoor, and Bjork's ex, MatthewBarney.While he is now very much part of the New Yorksocial scene, Cooke, like his new fianceé grew up in thecountryside, spending his childhood on his parent's farm inVermont.His father was an art dealer in Manhattan andpreviously served as the Head of American Paintings atChristie's before the family decided to move to the country.While neither Jennifer or Cooke have spoken publicly abouttheir relationship, insiders have gushed about their chemistry,with a source telling People in August: 'She is smiling like Ihave never seen her do with any of her previous boyfriends.'The relationship begun just months after Jennifer split fromMother! director Darren Aronofsky, 49, in November 2017after a year of dating. It was claimed their age gap causedproblems with their romance, and the actress admitted theywere never able to switch off from talking about work aftermeeting on the set of the widely-panned horror movie.

GLOBE TROTTING

Foreign Secretary Gokhale to

meet Pompeo, top US officials

PTI n WASHINGTON

Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale will call on US

Secretary of State MikePompeo and meet other seniorofficials of the Trump admin-istration here on Monday andexchange views on major for-eign policy and security-relat-ed issues, officials said, amidsttensions between India andPakistan after the Pulwamaterror attack. Gokhale arrivedin the US on Sunday for thebilateral Foreign OfficeConsultation and StrategicSecurity Dialogue with hisAmerican counterparts, UnderSecretary of State for PoliticalAffairs David Hale and UnderSecretary of State for ArmsControl and InternationalSecurity Andrea Thompson.

While his 3-day US tripwas scheduled much before theFebruary 14 Pulwama terroristattack, Gokhale’s meetings withPompeo and his counterpartshere this week are consideredsignificant in view of the esca-lated tension between Indiaand Pakistan in the aftermathof India’s preemptive air strikeon the largest terrorist trainingcamp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakotin Pakistan and the subse-quent developments.

Tensions between Indiaand Pakistan flared up after asuicide bomber of the Pakistan-

based JeM terror group killed40 Central Reserve Police Forcepersonnel in Kashmir’sPulwama district.

India has provided adossier to Pakistan, detailingthe role of JeM in the Pulwamaterror attack. India has also saidthat Pakistan has failed to takeany credible action against JeMand other terrorist organiza-tions, which continue to oper-ate with impunity fromPakistan. State DepartmentDeputy Spokesperson RobertPalladino, during his bi-week-ly news conference lastTuesday, said Secretary of StatePompeo played an “essentialrole” in de-escalating tensionsbetween India and Pakistan.“Secretary Pompeo led diplo-matic engagement directly, andthat played an essential role in

de-escalating the tensionsbetween the two sides,” he hadsaid.

According to Pompeo’sschedule for Monday releasedto the media, the StateDepartment said the meetingbetween the US Secretary ofState and Gokhale is scheduledon Monday morning.“Secretary Pompeo meets withIndian Foreign Secretary ShriVijay Gokhale at theDepartment of State,” the StateDepartment said. Protocol-wise, it is quite unusual forPompeo to meet Gokhale, butover the last few years, the USSecretary of State has met theForeign Secretary, includinghis predecessor S Jaishankar.

The foreign office consul-tation and strategic securitydialogue with the US are reg-

ular high-level dialogue mech-anisms to review bilateral rela-tions, exchange views on majorforeign policy and security-related developments and coor-dinate respective positions onissues of common interest,External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid. Gokhale’s visit comes asIndia intensifies its efforts todeclare Pakistan-based JeMchief Masood Azhar a globalterrorist by the United NationsSecurity Council. Last month,the US, the UK and Francemade a fresh bid at the UN toban Azhar. JeM is already aUN-designatedterrorist organ-isation.During his visit, theForeign Secretary is also like-ly to meet with senior leadersin the US administration andthe US Congress.

UN ban on Masood Azhar: China says ‘solution’ can only come through talksPTI n BEIJING

Amid reports that the res-olution to declare

Pakistan-based JeM chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist would come up in theUN Security Council onMarch 13, China on Mondaysaid “a responsible solution”can only come through dis-cussions.

Beijing also said securityissues constituted an “impor-tant topic” in its talks to easetensions between Pakistanand India following thePulwama terror attack.

The US, the UK andFrance had moved a propos-al at the United NationsSecurity Council (UNSC)after the Pulwama terroristattack to designate the chief ofthe Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) whichclaimed responsibility for thePulwama terror attack, as aglobal terrorist.

According to reports theresolution was expected tobe taken by the 1267 com-mittee of the UNSC on March13. China, which has blockedthree times such moves byIndia and other members ofthe UNSC, is yet announce itsstand. Asked about India’sappeal and China’s stand onthe issue, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangtold media here, “First I wouldlike to say that the UNSC asa main body of the UN hasstrict standards and rules ofprocedures. Some reports

have knowledge of insideinformation the UNSC. I don’tknow that can be counted asan evidence,” he said.

“China’s position on thedesignation of a terrorist bythe 1267 SanctionsCommittee is consistent andclear.

China adopted a respon-sible attitude, follows the rulesof the procedure of the com-mittee and participated in thediscussions in a responsiblemanner.

Only through discussionscan we come up with aresponsible solution,” he said.

Recently Chinese ViceForeign Minister KongXuanyou travelled to Pakistanand held talks with PrimeMinister Imran Khan and

Army chief Gen Qamar JavedBajwa and other officials.

India on Saturday said allthe UNSC members wereaware of the JeM trainingcamps and the presence ofAzhar in Pakistan, and urgedthe nations to designate himas a global terrorist. To anoth-er question whether Azhar’sban issue figured in China’stalks with Pakistan, Lu said“recently India and Pakistanhas experienced a lot. Wethink those indents are not inthe interest of peace and sta-bility in the region”.

“We have engaged inmediation efforts with bothsides and held talks to pro-mote the easing of tensions.We made enormous efforts.While exchanging ideas secu-

rity is an important topic andI can say that our talks werewide ranging quite deep,” hesaid. Tensions f lared upbetween India and Pakistanafter a suicide bomber of JeMkilled 40 CRPF personnel inKashmir’s Pulwama district onFebruary 14. Amid mountingoutrage, the Indian Air Forcecarried out a counter-terroroperation, hitting the biggestJeM training camp in Balakot,deep inside Pakistan onFebruary 26. The next day,Pakistan Air Force retaliatedand downed a MiG-21 in anaerial combat and capturedIndian pilot, who was handedover to India on March 1.

India andPakistan hasexperienced alot, we thinkthose indentsare not in theinterest ofpeace andstability in theregion, we haveengaged inmediationefforts withboth sides andheld talks topromote theeasing oftensions

Bhutto meets ailing Sharif in jail,demands best treatment for ex-PMPTI n LAHORE

In a significant develop-ment in Pakistan’s political

scene, Opposition leaderBilawal Bhutto Zardari metNawaz Sharif at the KotLakhpat jail here on Mondayand asked the Imran Khan-led government to providethe best medical treatment tothe ailing former prime min-ister. Sharif, 69, has beenimprisoned at the high secu-rity Kot Lakhpat jail sinceDecember 2018 following hisconviction in a corruptioncase.

Shar i f ’s daughterMaryam Nawaz, quoting car-diologists sent by the gov-ernment to examine Sharifon Thursday said, the 3-timeformer premier’s heart dis-ease has “worsened”. PakistanPeoples Party chairmanBilawal’s meeting with Sharifis being seen by politicalobservers as a step to form amajor opposition allianceagainst the Imran Khan indays to come.

After the meeting,Bilawal told reporters outsidethe jail that he came to toinquire after Sharif ’s health.“Although there are politicaldifferences but Mr Sharif isnot well and I have comehere to see him and inquireafter his health. Mr Shariflooked very unwell.

“I demand the govern-ment provide him best treat-ment. He should be giventreatment according to hiswish. Injustice shouldn’t bedone to him,” Bilawal, 30,said.

He said it is difficult todefend the countr y on

human rights if best treat-ment is not accorded to athree-time prime minister.“It is our failure that thechartered of democracycouldn’t be implemented inletter and spirit. We need todevise a new charter in thisregard,” he said.

He said: “I hope NawazSharif will not strike a dealand stay determined. I didn’ttake any impression that hewas keen to go to London fortreatment.” Sharif is servinga seven year imprisonment inAl-Azizia Steel Mills cor-ruption case, one of the threegraft cases f i led by theNational Accountabi l ityBureau on the orders of theSupreme Court.

PPP senior leader HaiderZaman Qureshi told PTI thatthe meeting between Bilawaland Sharif lasted more than

an hour. Senior PPP partyleaders, including QamarZ aman Kaira , HassanMurtaza and Jameel Soomroaccompanied Bilawal duringhis jail visit. Prime MinisterKhan on Saturday askedPunjab Chief MinisterUsman Buzdar to ensure thatevery health facility in thecountry is made availablefor Nawaz to get the treat-ment of his choice.

When asked about ajoint political alliance againstthe PTI government in thewake of Bilawal’s meetingwith Sharif, Qureshi said: “Itis very much on the card asthe honeymoon period ofthe Imran Khan governmentis over and the Oppositionwill be seen united againstthis government that hasbrought miseries to the peo-ple of Pakistan.”

Imran Khan’sincome dropsby Rs 3 crorein 3 yearsIslamabad (PTI): Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan’s netincome has dropped sharply byRs 3.09 crores in the last threeyears even as the income of someOpposition leaders continued torise, according to a media reporton Monday.

The cricketer-turned politi-cian’s net income in the year 2015was 3.56 crore Pakistani rupees,it dropped sharply to Rs1.29crore in 2016 and further downto Rs 0.47 crore in the year 2017,Dawn newspaper reported.

In 2015, a major chunk ofKhan’s income comprised thegain of a little over Rs 0.1 crorefrom the sale of an apartment inIslamabad, followed by Rs 0.98crore of foreign remittances, thereport said citing official docu-ments.

In 2016, his total incomedropped to Rs 1.29 crore ofwhich he earned Rs 0.74 crorefrom “foreign services” alone. Incontrast, the income of the LeaderOpposition of the NationalAssembly Shahbaz Sharif con-tinued to see an upward trend ashis net income rose from Rs 0.76crore in 2015 and crossed Rs1crore in 2017.

Former president Asif AliZardari’s agricultural income thatcomprises most part of his netincome stood at Rs 10.5 crore in2015. It rose to Rs 11.4 crore in2016 and surged to Rs 13.4 crorein 2017. He holds 7,748 acres ofland. While Zardari’s son BilawalBhutto-Zardari appears richerthan him in terms of assets heholds in Pakistan and elsewhere,he lags behind the father in termsof income, according to the doc-uments.

Won’t allow Bangladeshi soil to be

used by any terror outfit: Hasina

PTI n DHAKA

Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina on Monday

assured her Indian counterpartNarendra Modi that her gov-ernment would never allow thecountry’s soil to be used by anyterrorist organisation underits “zero tolerance policy”.Dhaka was firmly committedto stamp out terrorism fromthe South Asian region throughbilateral, regional and multi-lateral cooperation, she saidafter jointly inaugurating fourprojects in Bangladesh withPrime Minister Modi throughvideo-conferencing.

Terming the spread of rad-icalism as a “grave threat” notonly to the two countries but tothe entire region, India andBangladesh last year resolved tostep up anti-terror cooperation.“We remain steadfast in ourresolve to root out the scourgeof terrorism from our regionand beyond through bilateral,regional and multilateral coop-

eration,” Hasina said.The Bangladesh premier

said her government wouldnever allow Bangladesh soil tobe used by any terrorist organ-isation under its “zero tolerancepolicy” against terrorism “in allits forms and manifestations”.

Hasina also expressed her“utmost sympathy” for thefamily members of the Indianparamilitary police personnelwho were killed in last month’sterror attack in Pulwama inKashmir. “We reiterate our

strong condemnation of thisdastardly act,” she said. A sui-cide bomber of Pakistan-basedJaish-e-Muhammed killed 40CRPF personnel in Kashmir’sPulwama district on February14, the incident led to flaringup of tensions between Indiaand Pakistan. Hasina said thatthe relations between Dhakaand New Delhi is now a “rolemodel” of good neighboursfor the rest of the world as aresult of multi-faceted andmulti-dimensional coopera-

tion. “I strongly believe thismomentum will continue,” shesaid.

The Bangladesh premiersaid over the last decade, twocountries have witnessedremarkable progress on coop-eration in different conven-tional and unconventionalareas like security, power, tradeand commerce, energy, con-nectivity, infrastructure devel-opment, environment, renew-able energy, education, cul-ture, people-to-people contactand health. She said at thesame time, the two countrieshave expanded cooperation innew areas like blue economyand maritime cooperation,peaceful uses of the nuclearenergy, cooperation in outerspace, internet bandwidth shar-ing, cyber security etc. The twoprime ministers joined thevideo-conferencing from theiroffices in Dhaka and NewDelhi and jointly inauguratedthe four projects by unveilingthe e-plaques.

AFP n BRUSSELS

The EU’s chief Brexit negotia-tor Michel Barnier told AFP

on Monday that negotiations tobreak a deadlock on a deal toleave the bloc are now betweenBritish Prime Minister TheresaMay and members of her par-liament.

“We held talks over theweekend and the negotiationsnow are between the govern-ment in London and the parlia-ment in London,” Barnier said ashe arrived at EU headquarters in

Brussels to discuss Britain’s exitfrom the bloc with envoys fromthe other 27 member states.

Hopes had been high that

May would come to Brussels tofinalise a deal with the EU onMonday, but a European sourcethese plans had been shelved dueto a lack of progress.

With time running out, Mayhad hoped for a signal fromBrussels to help get a Brexit dealover the line in time for Britain’slooming departure from theEuropean Union — scheduledfor March 29. Instead, she spoketo European Commission chiefJean-Claude Junkcer late Sundayby phone, with both sides agree-ing to stay in touch.

“No further meetings atpolitical level are scheduled, butboth sides will remain in closecontact this week,” Juncker’sspokesman Margaritis Schinassaid. “We are committed to rat-ifying this deal before March 29.It is now for the House ofCommons to take an importantset of decisions this week,” headded.

British MPs overwhelming-ly rejected the deal when it wasfirst put to them in January —with many citing the controver-sial Irish “backstop” clause.

Indians feel older earlier thanJapanese, Swiss: StudyWashington (PTI): People livingin India experience the healthproblems associated with ageingat an early stage than those livingin Japan or Switzerland, accord-ing to a first-of-its-kind studypublished in The Lancet PublicHealth. Researchers at theUniversity of Washington in theUS and colleagues found that a30-year gap separates countrieswith the highest and lowest agesat which people experience thehealth problems of a 65-year-old.

They found 76-year-olds inJapan and Switzerland, and 46-year-olds in Papua New Guineahave the same level of age-relat-ed health problems as an “aver-age” person aged 65.

The analysis also found thatpeople living in India experiencethe similar health problems wellbefore they turn 60. “These dis-parate findings show thatincreased life expectancy at olderages can either be an opportuni-ty or a threat to the overall wel-fare of populations, depending on

the ageing-related health prob-lems the population experiencesregardless of chronological age,”said Angela Y Chang, lead authorof the study and postdoctoral fel-low at the University ofWashington in the US.

“Age-related health problemscan lead to early retirement, asmaller workforce, and higherhealth spending. Governmentleaders and other stakeholdersinfluencing health systems needto consider when people beginsuffering the negative effects ofageing,” Chang said in a state-ment. These negative effectsinclude impaired functions and

loss of physical, mental, and cog-nitive abilities resulting from the92 conditions analysed, five ofwhich are communicable and 81non-communicable, along withsix injuries.

The study is the first of itskind, according to Chang. Wheretraditional metrics of ageingexamine increased longevity, thisstudy explores both chronologi-cal age and the pace at which age-ing contributes to health deteri-oration. The study uses estimatesfrom the Global Burden ofDisease study (GBD).Theresearchers measured “age-relat-ed disease burden” by aggregat-ing all disability-adjusted lifeyears (DALYs), a measurement ofloss of healthy life, related to the92 diseases. Although most coun-tries have similar rankingsbetween age-standardised, agerelated and all-burden rates,countries such as Ethiopia,Nigeria, and South Africa per-form better in age-related diseaseburden relative to all burden.

File photo of Bilawal Bhutoo meeting Nawaz Sharif

Taliban leader Omar lived next to US Afghan base Islamabad (AFP) : Talibanfounder Mullah Omar lived with-in walking distance of US bases inAfghanistan for years, accordingto a new book that highlightsembarrassing failures of Americanintelligence. Washington believedthe one-eyed, fugitive leader hadfled to Pakistan, but the new biog-raphy says Omar was in fact liv-ing just three miles from a majorUS Forward Operating Base in hishome province of Zabul before hisdeath in 2013.

“Searching for an Enemy”, byDutch journalist Bette Dam,reveals the Taliban chief lived asa virtual hermit, refusing visitsfrom his family and filling note-books with jottings in an imagi-nary language. Dam spent morethan five years researching thebook and interviewed JabbarOmari, Omar’s bodyguard whohid and protected him after theTaliban regime was overthrown.According to the book, Omar lis-tened to the BBC’s Pashto-lan-guage news broadcasts in the

evenings, but even when helearned about the death of al-Qaeda supremo Osama BinLaden rarely commented ondevelopments in the outsideworld.

Following the 9/11 attacks in2001 which led to the fall of theTaliban, the US put a USD 10million bounty on Omar and hewent into hiding in a small com-pound in the regional capitalQalat, Dam writes.

The family living at thecompound were not told of theidentity of their mystery guest,but US forces twice almostfound him.

Barnier: Brexit talks now in hands of Britain

world 13LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

Ethiopia mourns crash victims as plane’s ‘black box’ found

AP n EJERE

Ethiopian Airlines hasgrounded all of its Boeing

737 Max 8 aircraft as “an extrasafety precaution” followingthe crash of one of its planes inwhich 157 people were killed,a spokesman said Monday, asEthiopia marked a day ofmourning and the plane’s dam-aged “black box” of data wasfound. Although it wasn’t yetknown what caused the crashof the new plane in clearweather outside Addis Ababaon Sunday, the airline decidedto ground its remaining four737 Max 8s until furthernotice, spokesman AsratBegashaw said. EthiopianAirlines had been using five ofthe planes and awaiting deliv-ery of 25 more.

Some other airlines aroundthe world were deciding to dothe same. Aviation authoritiesin China and Indonesia alongwith Caribbean carrierCayman Airways temporarilygrounded their Max 8s. RedCross workers slowly pickedthrough the widely scattereddebris near the blackened crashcrater, looking for the remainsof 157 lives. A shredded book.A battered passport. Businesscards in multiple languages. Heavy machinery dug for larg-er pieces of the plane.

The plane’s “black box” offlight data and cockpit voicerecorder had been found,Ethiopian Airlines said. An air-line official, however, told TheAssociated Press that the boxwas partially damaged and“we will see what we canretrieve from it.” The officialspoke on condition ofanonymity for lack of autho-rization to speak to the media.Forensic experts from Israelhad arrived to help with theinvestigation, said EthiopianAirlines’ spokesman Asrat.Ethiopian authorities lead theinvestigation into the crash,assisted by the U.S., Kenya andothers.

“These kinds of thingstake time,” Kenya’s transportminister, James Macharia, toldreporters. People from 35countries died in the Sunday

morning crash six minutesafter the plane took off fromEthiopia’s capital en route toNairobi. Ethiopian Airlinessaid the senior pilot issued adistress call and was told toreturn but all contact was lostshortly afterward. The planeplowed into the ground atHejere near Bishoftu. “I heardthis big noise,” one local resi-dent, Tsegaye Reta, told the APon Monday.

“The villagers said that itwas a plane crash, and werushed to the site. There was ahuge smoke that we couldn’teven see the plane. The partsof the plane were falling apart.”Kenya lost 32 people, morethan any country. Relatives of25 of the victims had been con-tacted, Macharia said, and tak-ing care of their welfare was ofutmost importance.

“Some of them, as youknow, they are very distressed,”he said. “They are in shock like

we are. They are grieving.”Canada, Ethiopia, the U.S.,China, Italy, France, Britain,Egypt, Germany, India andSlovakia all lost four or morecitizens. Leaders of the UnitedNations, the U.N. refugeeagency and the World FoodProgram announced that col-leagues had been on the plane.The U.N. migration agencyestimated that 19 U.N.-affili-ated employees were killed.

Both Addis Ababa andNairobi are major hubs forhumanitarian workers, andsome had been on their way toa large U.N. environmentalconference set to beginMonday in Nairobi. The U.N.flag at the event flew at half-staff.

The crash was strikinglysimilar to that of a Lion Air jetof the same Boeing model inIndonesian seas last year,killing 189 people. The crashwas likely to renew questions

about the 737 Max 8, thenewest version of Boeing’spopular single-aisle airliner,which was first introduced in1967 and has become theworld’s most common pas-senger jet.

Safety experts cautionedagainst drawing too manycomparisons between the twocrashes until more is knownabout Sunday’s disaster. TheEthiopian plane was deliveredto the airline in November. Thejet’s last maintenance was onFeb. 4, and it had flown just1,200 hours.

The crash shattered morethan two years of relative calmin African skies, where travelhad long been chaotic. It alsowas a serious blow to state-owned Ethiopian Airlines,which has expanded to becomethe continent’s largest andbest-managed carrier andturned Addis Ababa into thegateway to Africa.

China, Indonesia, Ethiopia ground

Boeing 737 Max 8 planes after crash

Beijing (PTI): China’s civilaviation regulator on Mondayordered domestic carriers toground nearly 100 Boeing 737MAX 8 planes, citing flight safety,a day after an aircraft of similarmodel operated by EthiopianAirlines crashed in Addis Ababakilling all 157 passengers andcrew, including four Indians. Thecrash of Ethiopian Airlines planecame five months after anotherBoeing 737 MAX 8 of Lion Aircrashed in Indonesia that killed189 passengers and crew.Apart from China, Indonesia and

Ethiopia have also orderedairlines to ground their Boeing737 MAX 8 planes. There weresimilarities between the twomishaps, since they bothoccurred during take-off,involving new aircraft that hadjust been delivered, the HongKong-based South ChinaMorning Post reported quoting astatement by the Civil AviationAuthority of China (CAAC).“In accordance with the CAAC’smanagement principle of zero

tolerance for safety hazards, theauthority has instructed alldomestic carriers to temporarilyhalt operations involving theaircraft model before 6pm (localtime) on March 11,” the Postquoted the CAAC statement assaying.The grounding of the aircraft is

likely to affect more than a dozenChinese carriers, which havetaken delivery of close to 100 ofthe latest single-aisle plane fromthe US aircraft maker, it said.CNN, quoting state-run media,said Chinese carriers have 97Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes. Asmany as 246 Chinese domesticroutes and 355 domestic flightswere scheduled on Monday forthe 737 MAX 8 planes, excludinginternational services, the reportsaid quoting Chinese flight dataprovider VariFlight. As many as29 flights have already beencancelled, while 259 fights werereplaced by other aircraft.China Southern Airlines, Air

China, China Eastern Airlines,Hainan Airlines are among the

carriers that fly the aircraft, whichcan carry between 138 to 230passengers depending on theirconfigurations, the report said.Meanwhile, the Chicago-basedBoeing said it did not intend toissue any new guidance to itscustomers and a company’stechnical team will be travelling tothe crash site to provide technicalassistance to Ethiopian and USinvestigators.“Boeing is deeply saddened to

learn of the passing of thepassengers and crew onEthiopian Airlines Flight 302, a737 MAX 8 airplane. We extendour heartfelt sympathies to thefamilies and loved ones of thepassengers and crew on boardand stand ready to support theEthiopian Airlines team. “A Boeing technical team will be

travelling to the crash site toprovide technical assistanceunder the direction of theEthiopia Accident InvestigationBureau and US NationalTransportation Safety Board,” thestatement from the company Rescuers work at the scene of an Ethiopian Airlines flight crash near Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday. AP

UN environment talks open undershadow of Ethiopian plane crashNairobi (AFP): A worldforum on addressing the plan-et’s environmental crisisopened in Nairobi on Monday,the mood darkened by theEthiopian Airlines tragedy thatkilled 157 people a day earli-er, including at least 22 UNstaff, many headed for theevent. Delegates arrived at thesprawling compound to seethe UN flag flying at half-mastand the usually colourful dis-play of national flags removed.

As they wondered aloudwho among their colleaguesmay have been on board theill-fated Boeing, some huggedand comforted one another.According to MaimunahSharif, head of UN-Habitat, at

least 22 UN employees wereamong those who died whenthe Nairobi-bound EthiopianAirlines jet crashed earlySunday just six minutes aftertake-off from Addis Ababa.

“I stand before you on thefirst day of the UNEnvironment Assembly, whichhas officially commencedtoday in the wake of thistragedy,” she told delegates.“We will not forget thistragedy, nor those who per-ished. Let us reflect thatour colleagues were willing totravel and to work far fromtheir homes and loved ones tomake the world a better placeto live.” Kicking off a sombreopening plenary, UN

Environment Assembly pres-ident and Estonia’s environ-ment minister, Siim Kiislerasked delegates, many dressedin black and some in tears, toobserve a minute’s silence.

A member of the UNEPsecretariat told AFP it was “stilltrying to consolidate” thenumber of staffers who died.Among the UN employees onthe downed Ethiopian Airlinesflight were some who workedfor the World FoodProgramme (WFP), the UNrefugee agency UNHCR, theInternational Organization forMigration (IOM) and theFood and AgricultureOrganization (FAO). “Theenvironmental community is

in mourning today,” said JoyceMsuya, a Tanzanian scientistwho is the UN’s acting envi-ronment head. “We lost UNstaff, youth delegates travellingto the Assembly, seasoned sci-entists, members of academiaand other partners.”

It is the second time inless than five years that dele-gates have died in a plane dis-aster on their way to a majorglobal conference.

In July 2014, a MalaysiaAirlines Boeing 777 passengerjet, flight MH17, was shotdown over eastern Ukraine enroute from Amsterdam toKuala Lumpur, killing all 298on board, most of them Dutchcitizens.

Turkey tumbles intorecession as polls loomAnkara (AFP): Turkey’s econ-omy fell into its first recessionin a decade, official datashowed on Monday, just weeksbefore President Recep TayyipErdogan’s government faceslocal elections where growthand inflation will be key issuesfor voters. Economic outputcontracted by 2.4 percent in thefinal three months of the yearcompared to the third quarteron a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, the TurkishStatistics Institute (TUIK)said.That followed a revised 1.6percent contraction in the thirdquarter. Two consecutivequarter-on-quarter contrac-tions in economic output iswidely considered to be the def-inition of a recession.

The flagging economy cou-pled with a currency crisis lastyear that battered the lira aresensitive issues for Erdogan andhis ruling Justice andDevelopment Party (AKP)before the municipal vote onMarch 31. The Turkish leader,in power since 2003 first asprime minister and then aspresident, has often boasted ofthe country’s strong growthduring his time in govern-ment.Growth came in at 2.6 percent for 2018 overall, but thatwas still much lower than the7.4 per cent recorded in 2017,a turbulent period followingthe 2016 failed coup and terrorattacks.

The economy shrank by 3percent in the fourth quarter of2018 compared with the sameperiod the previous year.

Inflation has also remainedhigh. It struck a 15-year peakin October at 25.24 per centbefore falling below 20 percentin February, with food priceshit particularly hard.Erdogan’sgovernment has sought to curb

consumer prices, especially forproduce consumed everyday inTurkish households.

Turkish authorities lastmonth set up their own veg-etable stands in a bid to forcemarkets to lower food prices.

But analysts said econom-ic data showed inflation wasstill weighing on householdconsumption, and domesticdemand was weak.

Turkish Finance MinisterBerat Albayrak, who is alsoErdogan’s son-in-law, said onTwitter the data was as expect-ed, but “the worst is behind us”.

That analysis was shared tosome extent by the London-based Capital Economicsresearch firm, but they offercold comfort for Turkey’s eco-nomic outlook.

“While the worst of thedownturn may now havepassed, the weak carryovermeans that we expect GDP todecline by 2.5 percent thisyear,” said Jason Tuvey, senioremerging markets economist atCapital Economics. Albayrakblamed the recession on “spec-ulative attacks” and the currentglobal economic slowdown.

While Turkey’s economywas hit when US PresidentDonald Trump doubled tariffslast year on Turkish steel andaluminium, confidence wasfurther eroded by a bitter rowover a detained American pas-tor.

The lira plummeted invalue in August. While anaggressive interest rate hike inSeptember helped brake itsfall, economic activity stalledwhile prices of goods shothigher. The last time Turkeyentered a recession was in2009 after the global econom-ic crisis hit foreign and domes-tic demand.

Military: Seoul closely monitoring

North Korea for ‘missile launch’

Seoul (AFP): South Korea’smilitary said Monday it wasclosely monitoring NorthKorean facilities after a series ofsatellite images triggered inter-national alarm that Pyongyangmight be preparing a long-range missile or space launch.Analysis indicates increasedactivity at two key sites — theSamundong missile researchfacility and the Sohae rocket-testing facility. A n ylaunch could send stutteringtalks on denuclearisation intodisarray.

South Korea is “closelytracking and looking into allactivity for possible scenariosincluding a missile launch”across the border, in close coor-dination with the US, said KimJoon-rak, spokesman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff.

Satellite images ofSamundong taken on February22 showed cars and trucks at thesite, as well as rail cars andcranes at a yard, US news out-let NPR reported. “When youput all that together, that’s real-ly what it looks like when theNorth Koreans are in the

process of building a rocket,”Jeffrey Lewis, a researcher at theMiddlebury Institute ofInternational Studies atMonterey, was quoted as say-ing.Located on the outskirts ofPyongyang, the Samundongfacility was built in 2012 to sup-port development of long-rangemissiles and space-launch vehi-cles.

As well as developing theHawsong-15 ICBM, which ana-lysts agree is capable of reach-ing the whole US mainland,Samundong constructed thelong-range rockets that werethen transported and success-fully launched from the Sohae

satellite launch station in 2012and 2016. North Korean leaderKim Jong Un agreed last year toshutter the Sohae site at a sum-mit with the South’s PresidentMoon Jae-in in Pyongyang.

Satellite pictures in Augustsuggested workers were dis-mantling an engine test stand atthe facility.But the Washington-based Center for Strategic andInternational Studies suggestedlast week rebuilding was pro-gressing quickly at the facility.

A moving structure thathad been used to carry vehiclesto a launch pad on rails has beenrestored, said respected researchwebsite 38 North project.

Court ‘barsGhosn fromattending’Nissan boardmeetingTokyo(AFP): A Japanese courton Monday barred CarlosGhosn from attending a Nissanboard meeting, according tolocal media, as the bailed for-mer chairman prepares hisdefence against charges offinancial misconduct.

Nissan removed Ghosn aschief shortly after his shockarrest in November, but he can-not be officially removed fromhis seat on the board withoutan extraordinary sharehold-ers’ meeting — expected to takeplace on April 8. Both publicbroadcaster NHK and theNikkei business daily reportedthe decision but the courtcould not be immediatelyreached for confirmation.

The Japanese carmaker isholding a board meeting onTuesday in Yokohama, near

Tokyo. And Ghosn’s lawyerJunichiro Hironaka said earli-er Monday that his client “hada duty” to attend the boardmeeting and wanted to do so —if the court gave the green light.

Ghosn was released onMarch 6 on bail of nearly $9million. Under the terms of hisrelease, he is forbidden fromcontacting people who couldbe involved in his case, includ-ing Nissan executives likely toattend board meetings, such asCEO Hiroto Saikawa.

Other conditions ofGhosn’s bail include living in aresidence monitored from out-side by camera. He can onlyaccess a non-internet connect-ed computer at his lawyer’soffice. The former high-flyingauto tycoon stepped out of aTokyo detention centre aftermore than 100 days.

Iran’s Prez hails‘special’ ties withIraq ahead of visitAFP n TEHRAN

Iran’s President HassanRouhani on Monday

described ties with Iraq as“special”, as he prepared totravel to Baghdad on his firstofficial visit to the neighbour-ing country. Rouhani’s three-day visit comes as Iraq hasbeen under pressure fromWashington to limit ties withits neighbour, particularly afterthe United States withdrewfrom the Iran nuclear deal andhit Tehran with sanctions.

“Iran-Iraq relations arespecial,” Rouhani said atTehran’s Mehrabad airport,state televisionreported.“Whenever the peo-ple of the region had a prob-lem and asked Iran for help,the people and government ofIran rushed to their help withall their power,” he added.Iranhas close but complicated tieswith Iraq, with significantinfluence among its Shiitepolitical groups.

The two countries foughta bloody war from 1980 to1988 and Tehran’s influence inBaghdad grew after the 2003US-led invasion of Iraq top-pled the government ofSaddam Hussein.

Iran was the first countryto respond to Iraqi calls forhelp after Islamic State groupjihadists captured Mosul in2014 and threatened to over-run Baghdad and Kirkuk.

Tehran dispatched “mili-tary advisors” and equipmentovernight along with thefamous Revolutionary Guardselite Qods Force commanderQasem Soleimani to prevent IS

jihadists from approaching itswestern borders. Followingthe defeat of IS in Iraq, Iran istrying to position itself togain a prime role in rebuildingthe war-ravaged country.

“Iran-Iraq relations arenot comparable with (Iraq’srelations) with an aggressorcountry like America,”Rouhani said. “America isdespised in the region. Thebombs that the Americansdropped on Iraqis, Syrian peo-ple and other countries cannotbe forgotten and,” hesaid.Rouhani’s visit to Iraqwill be the first since hebecame president in 2013.

He is set to meet IraqiPrime Minister Adel AbdelMahdi, President BarhamSaleh and the country’s chiefShiite cleric Grand AyatollahAli Sistani, according to theIranian government’s website.

Iran’s Foreign MinisterJavad Zarif arrived Sunday inBaghdad to prepare for thevisit.

Tehr an (AP ) : A youngIranian couple have beenarrested after a marriageproposal in public, capturedon a video clip that wentviral on social media. Thepolice say the pair offendedIslamic mores on publicdecenc y but were laterreleased on bail.

The video, which spreadon social media last Friday,s h ow s t h e you ng m anstanding in a heart-shapedring of flower petals next to

colorful balloons in a mallin the central city of Arak.After the young woman says“yes,” he slips a ring on herf i n g e r t o c h e e r s f romonlookers.

The two weren’t identi-f i e d . Mo s t a f a Norou z i ,deputy police chief in Arak,told the Shahrvand dailythat it’s unacceptable forthe young “to do whateveris common in other placesof the world and disregardmores, culture and religion.”

Couple held after proposal in public

Islamabad (PTI): India can-not stop the flow of water intoPakistan under the Indus WatersTreaty, a top Pakistani officialssaid Monday, assert ing thatIs l a m a b a d w i l l m ov e t h eInt e r n at i on a l C o u r t f orArbitration if New Delhi haltsthe water from the Ravi, Sutlejand Beas rivers.

T h e o f f i c i a l o f t h ePermanent C ommiss ion forIndus Waters alleged that India

had “continuously been involvedin water aggression”.

Last month, Union ministerNitin Gadkari said in New Delhithat India had decided to “stop”the flow of its share of water toPakistan after the Pulwama ter-ror attack that killed 40 CRPFsoldiers.

Pakistan responded to hisremarks, saying it was not con-cerned over India’s plan to stopthe flow of its share of water.

“The Ministry of Water andPower is reviewing India’s moveto stop water from flowing intoPakistan. As per the Indus WaterTreaty, India cannot stop waterfrom flowing into Pakistan andif they do so then we will movethe Internat ional Court forArbitration,” Geo News report-ed, quoting an official as saying.

“ In d i a’s In du s Wat e rCommission did not apprisePakistan regarding the move to

stop the flow of water,” the offi-cial said. It will take India sev-eral years to change the directionof the water to keep it from flow-ing into Pakistan, the officialsaid.

Under the Indus WaterTreaty signed in 1960, the watersof the western rivers — theIndus, Jhelum, and Chenab —was given to Pakistan and thoseof the eastern rivers — the Ravi,Beas and Sutlej — to India.

India can’t stop water from flowing into Pakistan: Official


Actor APARSHAKTI KHURANA isgetting offers of lead roles withgreat money, but he doesn't wantto rush into it. The actor says heis waiting for theright script and theright part.“There are a lot ofpeople whoapproachedme afterDangal andStree to dofilms in leadroles withgreat money.But I don't wantto rush into it,”Aparshakti said. “I want you to callme with a happyface that the film isrocking... And thatwill only happen if Imake wise andpatient decisions. SoI am just kind of wait-ing for the right scriptand not jumping thegun and not rushinginto it,” he added.

Actress NUSHRAT

BHARUCHA, whoseSonu Ke Titu KiSweety turned outto be a success,says life haschanged a lot forher as she has beenable to create a space for herselfin a competitive industry. Shebelieves talent has nothing to dowith one's surname.She said, “I would love to do aweb series. I think there is a lotof investment that goes intomaking a Bollywood film. To asksomeone to put in that muchmoney in a movie and to be ableto recover it, that's a huge pres-sure altogether. So, in a time andspace like today, some storiesmight as well see the light of dayin terms of web series too.”

Socialite PARIS HILTON sparkedconcern among fans when herfather Rick said that he had beenunable to contact her.The hotel heiress, 38,took to Instagram toshare a throwbackclip of her musicvideo Stars areblind, but fanswere more con-cerned by her dadRick's comment. Under the clip,Rick posted, “Parisit is very importantyou call dad's cell.We can't reach youon any of your lines."Concerned fans repliedto his post, writing,“Dying to know whatwas so important; Callyour dad, Girl, call yourdad.”Despite the concerns,it seems Rick's mindwas put at ease, as helater shared a carefree clip listen-ing to a song.

‘Don't want to getinto the rat race’

‘Drawing aline betweenwork andhome issomething Istronglyadvocate for.I strongly feel thatonly by keeping abalance in check youcan continue to beinspired. Alwaysspeak out. Even ifwhat you think is abad idea, alwaysvoice it. You neverknow who you mayinspire and what thatone seed idea canblossom into.—Sussanne Khan

Hilton's fatherunable to reach her

Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s forth-coming film Mere Pyare Prime Minister is count-ing stars even before its release. At a screening,

Milkha Singh, Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar,Kartik Murali and Kirron Kher showered their loveon the film.

Indian Sprinter Milkha shares a warm bond withthe director Rakeysh after working on the former’sbiopic together. Owing to the special friendshipbetween the sports star and director, Rakeysh held aspecial screening for the flying Sikh and his entire fam-ily.

Presenting an emotionally inclined story of a boywho struggles to make an appeal to the Prime Ministerof India raising the issue of open defecation after hismother gets raped.

Actress Kirron Kher was left emotional by the endof it. Unanimously the sportsmen were touched bythe emotional appeal of the story while the social prob-lem struck a chord with the audience.

Talking about the film, Sunil shared, “Everyonehas acted really well, especially the kid — Om. He haswon my heart. The movie carries an important mes-sage about the necessity of having a toilet. We neverrealize the problems of people living in the slums andI hope this film spreads the message across the nation.We already have toilets building up in the nation sincequite years and I wish the same continues throughthe film’s message for the sanity.”

Milkha shares, “The film’s idea is quite touching.Rakeysh is my favorite director and the way he depictsthe storyline in a movie is amazing. I hope people givelove and acceptance that Mere Pyare Prime Ministerdeserves.”

The film is set to release on March 15.

The sari is a metaphor of his-tory, its seamless andunstitched character makes itmoldable for every bodytype. It is one of the few

ensembles that has withstood the testof time, tide, trends and has heldwomen’s undaunted interest for decades.It is this multi-identity that LotusMakeup India Fashion Week AutumnWinter 2019 will pay a tribute to at thegrand finale.

Sunil Sethi, President FDCI says,“The grand finale pays homage to theadaptability ingrained in the warp andweft of this traditional fabric, which has-n’t lost its relevance pan-India despiteWestern onslaught. Today the sari hasseen many innovative and artisanal ren-ditions to woo the modern-thinkingwoman in a youthful way.”

The country’s most ingeniousdesigners — Akaaro, Alpana & Neeraj,Amit Aggarwal, Anamika Khanna,Anavila, Anita Dongre, Bodice, GauravGupta, Little Shilpa, Neeru Kumar,Pankaj & Nidhi, Payal Khandwala,Prashant Verma, Raw Mango, RimzimDadu, Rohit Bal, Rohit Gandhi + RahulKhanna, TAANI by Tanira Sethi, TarunTahiliani, Urvashi Kaur and WendellRodricks will showcase their collections.

Designer Pooja Shroff will also bedisplaying her collection — Resist AurDye, which is inspired by a line of hand-made Indonesian batiks that sheacquired during her travels to Jakarta.

Actress Rakul Preet Singh will turnshowstopper for designer Julie Shah.The designer will showcase her new col-lection The High Noon Affair, whichderives inspiration from the bloomingtree of peony flowers, capturing itsabstract beauty and varied textures.

“The subtle creases in each petal hasbeen beautifully showcased by delicate-ly interweaving within the layeredfoliage, creating manifold striped pat-terns and illusions,” said Shah.

Actress Karisma Kapoor will walkin a Mekhela Chador, a traditionalAssamese attire, for designer SanjuktaDutta, as part of her new collection,Morom, meaning ‘love’ in Assamese. It

is inspired by flowers and butterfly.Dutta’s collection is especially

designed for the modern women inhandwoven Assamese silk, by theweavers of Assam. It’s a collection bywomen for women.

LMIFW WILL HOST VARIOUSSESSIONS

Pledge against child labour byFDCI designers along with KailashSatyarthi, a Nobel Prize winner andfounder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan,to wage war against child labour. In sup-port of the council’s determination tomake India child labour-free, 12 design-ers are taking a pledge to manufacturegarments that do not use child labour.

New York-basedtrend forecaster,Fashion Snoops isholding an exclusiveTrend ForecastingSeminar. The work-shop will targetSpring/Summer2020 trends forboth men andwomen and willprovide key insightsinto the essentialapparel items, mate-rials, patterns, graph-ics, silhouettes andcolour reports tar-geted at the forth-coming season.

Recently, FDCI curat-ed a show titled Made inSouth Asia, which displayed60 outfits made from textilescreated by women self-helpgroups from Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,Nepal and Pakistan. WithinIndia, the textiles came fromeight states (Assam, Bihar,Gujarat, Kerala, MadhyaPradesh, Odisha, Telanganaand Uttar Pradesh). FifteenFDCI designers participatedin the event, each of themworking with the craft andtextiles of a particular SouthAsia region. The designers wereAlpana Neeraj, Amrich, AnjanaBhargava, Munkee See Munkee Doo,Nitin Bal Chauhan, Nought One,Pankaj & Nidhi, Payal Jain, PayalPratap, Pratimaa Pandey, ReynuTaandon, Rina Dhaka, Sonam Dubal,Suket Dhir and Suneet Varma. Whilethe show was very well received, FDCIbelieves the tremendous work done bythe women’s self-help groups as well asthe designers’ creative efforts need to beshared with a wider audience on a largeplatform. And the LMIFW is all set toprovide such a stage to them.

(The fashion week starts from March13 and will go on till March 17 at the JLNStadium.)

As he mouths a dialogue for hisnew thriller Badla, the growly

voice resonates in my echo chamber:Main vo 6 dekhu jo tum dikha rahiho ya vo 9 jo mujhe dekhna chahiye.It has a different quality about it andstays with your residual memory. Amitabh Bachchan and his craft hascaptivated several generations now,ageless as he is, the thespian hascompleted 50 years in an industrywhich he straddles like a colossus.

Bachchan sends a message oversomething that has caused him greatpain and distress in recent memory,he said, “Condolence and prayers forthe brave hearts we lost in Pulwama,and for those who fight and protectus every hour for our safety.”

Excerpts:

*How would you describe your50-year journey from the time AbbasSaheb picked a young man fromCalcutta to be one of SaatHindustani?

Another day another job then...But I have worked in the past withSujoy, I liked the story and thedirector, the element of suspense andthrill in the story got to me. Sujoy hasmade Kahaani and is restless, seek-ing perfection from his artistes, veryclear in his thought process and howhe wants to roll with it. He under-stands the grammar of cinema intel-ligently.

*A fulfilling journey where youhave worked with great directors andactors, would you say Hrishida andPran are your favourites, they wereboth lucky for you in differentways... you made 10 films withHrishida?

Every director, actor, writer, pro-ducer, colleague that I have workedwith wil l always remain myfavourites.

*Lots of top American actorspursued the method acting model ascrafted by Lee Strasberg whom wethen saw as Hyman Roth inGodfather 2 pitted against his pupilAl Pacino, it was riveting cinema.When you hit your strides, did youtake acting classes?

No, I never took any actinglessons, nor did I consciously orunconsciously imitate someone,unless asked by my makers to do so

and there were a few such occasions.I have no idea on the method of act-ing, and have never taken or hit anystrides.

*One hears of RanveerSingh living and breathinghis roles these days. I amsure many of your roleswould have required majorpreparation, for instance Paaor Black, if you could explainyour craft for suchdifficult roles?

I have no craftand no idea of whatthe others do. Ihave followed asdiligently as possi-ble the writtenwords of thewriter, and thedirection given tome by the direc-tors. For Black,we learnt thesign language ofthe differently-abled. Badla is adifferent genre,a thriller whichfor years nowhas hooked us,for someoneof my genera-tion. Mahalremains embed-ded in my memor yrecesses since it was a cultfilm from 1949 starringAshok Kumar andMadhubala with seminalmusic. They have beenpart and parcel of Hindicinema’s strong fabric.Obviously Alfred Hitchcockwas the master of this genre.Thrillers are an integral partof the history of universalcinema. (In his formativeyears, Bachchan himselfacted in two very powerfulsuspense thrillers —Parwana and GehriChaal.)

*You have always said that youhave been fortunate in your actingcareer — Main akela hi chala ja rhatha, log judte chale gaye aur karvanbanta chala gaya — is that the credothat has determined your life?

I do not know the meaning ofcredo in my profession. I do knowthat I have been fortunate enough.

*During a large part ofyour peak years, you actuallyhad a very difficult relation-ship with media, including amajor part when media boy-cotted you and you now havea fabulous relationship with

them. Explain this paradox,and did you work

towards bridgingthe divide, whatled to it in thefirst place?

I am cer-tain you aremore thanaware that onecan never betoo close tothe media ortoo far awayfrom them.The media isthe fourthestate, theconscience ofthe nation. Ishall have thecapacity, orthe audacity tolive with myconscience, butnot that of the

media’s. It wouldbe foolish of me

to think so.

*Is Hindi cinema ingood hands with a newgen of young directorsand actors like RanveerSingh, AyushmannKhurrana, Alia Bhatt,Rajkumar or even theSher from Gully Boytelling simple tales thatresonate with people?Biopics or true life storieswith a slight amount ofpoetic licence seem to bedoing well, Akshay has

perfected this art form,you too are doing Jhund

with Nagraj Manjule. Tell usif this is due to the absence

of original scripts or is it theflavour of the season?Times and circumstances

change. They change for every pro-fession too. Films are no different.The present generation is an auda-cious package of incredible talent. Iam in immense admiration of them,and fortunate that I get to play asmall part in their company. It is aneducation for me. They provide a dif-ferent and alternative world-viewand this is learning. Never everunderestimate the credibility, dexter-ity, adroitness and skill of the writ-ers and makers of today’s entertain-ment world. They have been the rea-son and cause of the flourish andproliferated blossoming in our cre-ativity for the past 100 years. To havea meaning and standing after 100years is not a joke. It deservesrespect and dignity. Originality is adichotomous terminology. It needsto be used and expressed most care-fully.

*Do you get irritated with thefact that now actors have to sing fortheir supper as in market and devotea lot of time and energy which was-n’t the case when you were theundisputed Shahenshah. How andwhy have things changed in tactics?

Look around, not just actors, butdoes not everyone in today’s timeshave to sing for their supper?

*From eight releases in a year inyour time, the stars now do onemovie in a year or even two years, isthis a function of new age com-merce?

It is a recognition of better manage-ment, both financial and personal. Thegood thing is that music and melody areback in Hindi cinema, Music is enjoyedby one and all, music plucks the chordsand strings of our souls.

*From the age of parallel cinemato small cinema like Raazi andBadhai Ho taking on pulp, how hasHindi cinema evolved? Has thepalate of Hindi film goers changedor has the definition of pulp itselfchanged?

I do not know what is ‘pulp’ or‘parallel’. Cinema is cinema — sizeand girth, small or big are measure-ment tags on apparel. The palate ofevery generation in every corner ofthe world changes, not just for filmbut for every walk of life.

—IANS

The multiplicity, candour and personality of the sari, a symbol of eternity, willbe celebrated by top designers from all corners of the country at the grandfinale of Lotus Makeup India Fashion Week 2019. By TEAM VIVA

THE WORLD IS

YOUR RUNWAY

‘THE FINALE PAYSHOMAGE TO THEADAPTABILITY

INGRAINED IN THEWARP AND WEFT OFTHE TRADITIONAL

FABRIC, WHICH HASN’TLOST ITS RELEVANCEPAN-INDIA DESPITE

WESTERN ONSLAUGHT’

‘Originality is a dichotomous terminology’

Actor AMITABH BACHCHAN says that it’s certain that one can never be too close or too farfrom the media. It is the fourth estate, the conscience of the nation

Thumbs up to

Mere PyarePrime Minister

vivacity 14

sport 15LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

PTI n BASEL

Two-time winner SainaNehwal and defending champion Sameer

Verma will look to shrug off their All England dis-appointment when they spearhead India's cam-paign at the Swiss Open, starting with the quali-fiers on Tuesday.

For Sameer, this event started his journey thatculminated into a World Tour Final semifinal fin-ish last year and a career-high ranking of 11. Hehad defeated newly-crowned All EnglandChampion Kento Momota in the quarterfinals, afew months before the Japanese went on to becomethe world No 1 and world champion last year.

World No 14 Sameer will be opening his cam-paign in $150,000 event against a qualifier afterhis elder brother Sourabh, who had also battledinjuries on his way to becoming the SeniorNational Champion last month at Guwahati,pulled out of the tournament.

Sameer might face fellow Indian B SaiPraneeth in the second round and a favourableresult is likely to hand him over the chance to set-tle scores with former world No 1 Viktor Axelsen,who had defeated him in the first round of AllEngland Championships in Birmingham last week.

The BWF World Tour Super 300 event willbe Saina's fourth outing this season, having wonthe Indonesia Masters before losing in the semi-finals and quarterfinals at Malaysia Masters andAll England Championship respectively.

She begins her campaign against a qualifier,eying to secure her third title at Swiss. She had wonthe event in 2011 and 2012 in the past.

Seeded third, Saina is expected to face secondseeded He Bingjiao of China in the semifinals ifthe results fall in her favour.

Among other Indians in fray, ParupalliKashyap, a former Commonwealth Games cham-pion, will face a qualifier, Praneeth will meetEngland's Rajiv Ouseph and Subhankar Dey willalso take on a qualifier in first round.

AFP n INDIAN WELLS

World number two Rafael Nadalraced into the third round of

the ATP Indian Wells Masters asRoger Federer made a less speedy butstill successful start to his quest for asixth title on Sunday.

Nadal, a three-time Indian Wellswinner, needed just 72 minutes to getpast overmatched Jared Donaldson,6-1, 6-1.

Federer, who is seeking to breakout of a tie with top seed NovakDjokovic for most titles in theCalifornia desert, looked set for a sim-ilarly easy time of it, but had to turnback a second-set challenge fromGerman Peter Gojowczyk in a 6-1, 7-5 win.

Fourth-seeded Federer said hewas relieved not to go to a second-settiebreaker after falling behind 3-1 tothe free-swinging German, who isranked 85th in the world.

The Swiss regained the break and,after saving four break points to makeit 4-4, cruised home.

"I struggled a little bit with myserving in that second set and thatgave him chances. Because he wasserving better, he started to swingmore freely and then it was tough,"Federer said.

"I'm really happy I found a wayin that second set."

Federer next faces compatriotStan Wawrinka, a three-time GrandSlam champion currently unseeded ashe continues his return from injury.

Wawrinka won a taut thrilleragainst 29th-seeded HungarianMarton Fucsovics, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, finally sealing it on his fifth matchpoint after three hours and 24 min-utes when Fucsovics lofted a lob long.

Nadal, playing his third tourna-ment of a year that started with a

crushing loss to Djokovic in theAustralian Open final and includedan early exit in Acapulco, convertedfive of his six break chances againstDonaldson and never faced a breakpoint himself.

He next faces DiegoSchwartzman, who beat Spain'sRoberto Carballes, 6-3, 6-1. Nadal is6-0 against the Argentine.

In other early matches, sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan sur-vived a scare in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4)victory over France's AdrianMannarino.

Nishikori next faces67th-ranked HubertHurkacz of Poland, whodefeated France's LucasPouille, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

E i g h t h - s e e d e dAmerican John Isner routedAustralian qualifier Alexei Popyrin, 6-0, 6-2, the most lopsided win of Isner'scareer.

He'll play Guido Pella, who wonhis first title at Sao Paulo last week.Pella ended the hopes of anotherAussie qualifier, Alex Bolt, 7-6 (7/5),2-6, 6-3.

Tenth-seeded Croatian MarinCilic downed Serbian Dusan Lajovic,6-3, 6-4 to book a meeting with 19-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov,the 24th seed who beat AmericanSteve Johnson, 6-3, 6-4.

AFP n INDIAN WELLS

Serena Williams's first tour-nament since the

Australian Open came to anabrupt end on Sunday as theailing 23-time Grand Slamchampion retired from herthird-round WTA matchagainst Garbine Muguruza atIndian Wells.

Muguruza was leading 6-3, 1-0 whenWilliams called it a day in the battle of formerworld number ones because of a viral illness.

"Before the match, I did not feel great,and then it just got worse with every sec-ond; extreme dizziness and extremefatigue," Williams said in commentsreleased via tournament organizers.

The 10th-seeded American, contin-uing to work her way back up the rank-

ings in the wake of time off to have a baby, hadmade a strong start, winning the first threegames.

But she called for the trainer after droppingsix straight.

After a long talk with medical personnelWilliams took the court for the second set, butafter Muguruza held serve at love Williams calleda halt.

"By the score, it might have looked like Istarted well, but I was not feeling at all well phys-ically," Williams said. "I will focus on getting bet-ter and start preparing for Miami."

It was the sixth meeting between Muguruzaand Williams, all five prior coming in Grand

Slams.The Spaniard, who advanced to a fourth-

round clash with seventh-seeded Kiki Bertensof the Netherlands, a 7-6 (12/10), 6-4 winner overBritain's Johanna Konta.

World number two Simona Halep had herhands full with Ukrainian qualifier KaterynaKozlova but emerged with a 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 vic-tory in her first meeting with the 114th-rankedplayer.

Halep next faces 61st-ranked Czech MarketaVondrousova, who followed up her win over2018 finalist Daria Kasatkina with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over 22nd seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.

Sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina also advanced,holding of Australian Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-4.

AFP n TURIN

Juventus's Champions League hopes arehanging on Cristiano Ronaldo pullingoff another sensational comeback as the

Italians trail 2-0 to defensive specialistsAtletico Madrid going into the last 16,second-leg tie in Turin on Tuesday.

"We didn't expect to lose the firstleg 2-0, but anything can happen, andwe want to give a great response inour home, in front of our fans,"Ronaldo told Juventus TV ahead ofthe game in the Allianz Stadium.

"These are the great nights,the fantastic ones: theChampions League nights," hecontinued.

"The team is confidentof playing a great game andI am too. To the fans I say:think positive, let'sbelieve.

"Get ready to comeback!"

The seven-timereigning Italianchampions boughtRonaldo last summerfrom Real Madrid for100 million euros ($117 million) to endtheir Champions League heartbreak goingback 23 years.

The 34-year-old's stunning overheadkick for Real in the quarter-finals in Turinlast April had dumped Juventus out of thetournament once again.

Expectations are high that he canreproduce his improbable hat-trick whichlifted Real Madrid past Wolfsburg in April2016 with the Spaniards 2-0 down to theGermans after the first leg.

Juventus have come from behind inthe elite European competition eighttimes — including in the 1996 quarter-finals against Real Madrid on their way towinning the title.

They also lifted the European trophyin 1985, but have finished runners-up fivetimes since their last success, includingtwice in the past four years.

YEARS OF DISAPPOINTMENTS"CR7 is here for that," wrote Italian

sports daily Corriere dello Sport, of "a gameCristiano cannot get wrong."

"He wasn't signed to win the Scudettoor to boost merchandising, Juve are wait-ing to end years of disappointments."

Ronaldo won five Champions Leaguetitles with Manchester United and RealMadrid and has scored a record 121 goalsof which 57 have proved decisive.

The top scorer in the Champions

League for the last six seasons, he has how-ever scored just once in this year's competi-tion, delivering a performance far belowexpectations in Madrid.

Since the Madrid game he has not scoredin the league and has been overtaken as thetop Serie A scorer by Sampdoria's FabioQuagliarella, who has 20 goals to Ronaldo's19.

The problem for Juventus is they need toscore at least twice against a team that spe-cialises in defence.

Diego Simeone's Atletico — second in LaLiga — have not conceded a goal for fivegames.

"Everyone knows that they are a strongteam, they defend very well, they don't takea lot of risks and they play on the counter-attack, but we are ready, and we will do every-thing we can to beat them," said Ronaldo, whohas scored 22 goals against Atletico.

"The fine details will make the difference,and we want to win and qualify for the quar-ter-finals."

HIGH STAKESFormer-Wolfsburg manager Dieter

Hecking believes Ronaldo can make a differ-ence.

"Ronaldo is capable of everything, he canalso score three goals again as he did againstmy Wolfsburg. Of course he can," Hecking toldGazzetta Dello Sport.

"Atletico have the best defence in Europeand an excellent attack: without Ronaldo, whocan invent goals in any way, it would be impos-sible.

"If I said that Ronaldo is not the strongestplayer I have ever met, I would lie.

"I remember that night I told the team thatwe should not be afraid neither of him nor theBernabeu, but at 17 minutes we were already2-0 with a double by CR7, it was monstrous."

Allegri's future at the club he has won 10trophies with since 2014 will likely hinge onthis game. The Juventus coach knows thestakes are high.

"I think expectations have been raised fartoo much and it has become an obsession,"said the 51 year-old.

"Since I arrived, the Champions Leaguehas always been an objective, but if people saythat it's a failure if Juventus go out, that is notright."

AFP n MANCHESTER

Manchester City managerPep Guardiola has again

cast doubt on the PremierLeague champions' readiness towin the Champions League forthe first time despite beingfavourites for the competition.

City host Bundesliga strug-glers Schalke on Tuesday witha 3-2 first leg lead in their last16 tie hoping to avoid the pit-falls that did for Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid inChampions League shocks lastweek.

Guardiola admitted even hewas taken aback by ManchesterUnited's stunning 3-1 win inParis and holders Madrid'scapitulation to a talented youngAjax team, but refuted sugges-tions their elimination hadcleared the way for City to final-ly conquer Europe.

"We are teenagers in thiscompetition that's my feeling.It's not excuses, of course wewant to win it," said the Catalancoach on Monday.

"You have to dream andpoint as high as possible but inthe same time you have toaccept there are other teamsthinking the same with a lot ofquality and lot of talent."

Guardiola was annoyed byCity's mistakes in concedingtwo penalties and havingNicolas Otamendi sent off 22minutes from time inGelsenkirchen three weeks agodespite turning around a 2-1deficit with 10 men through lategoals from Leroy Sane andRaheem Sterling.

And he used that experi-ence to warn his players againstany complacency.

"In domestic competitionthere is another game, in thiscompetition there is not anoth-er game. It is something unique,the focus is incredible andwhen you make somethingwrong they (the opponent)punish it," he added.

"Schalke had two shots ontarget and scored two goals. Weplayed 23 minutes 10 v 11when we could avoid that sec-ond yellow card from Nico.

"We are lucky today we arehere 3-2 up when we could be3-1 or 4-1 down. That's the real-ity in this competition. (Thereis) work to do, be calm andfocused."

Along with the suspendedOtamendi, Fernandinho willagain miss out through injury,but the Brazilian's absence hasnot been felt as badly as firstfeared due to Ilkay Gundogan's

form.The German has deputised

ably in the holding midfieldrole.

TEDESCO HANGING ONSchalke travel to

Manchester City for last 16second leg with head coachDomenico Tedesco barely hang-ing onto his job and confidenceat rock bottom.

Schalke's fortunes havenose-dived since first leg defeatafter leading at break, leaking 11goals in three heavy defeats toleave them four points from theBundesliga relegation places.

Tedesco, 33, has been toldhe has two games to prove him-self.

Schalke's new sportingdirector Jochen Schneider saysonly good performances at Cityand home to third-placed RBLeipzig next Saturday can saveTedesco.

Man City have won theirlast nine games at the EtihadStadium, but the Schalke squadare hoping for an unlikely awayvictory and want Tedesco to stayon.

"Of course we do — no one

has ever said anything different,"said striker Guido Burgstaller.

Morale in the Schalkesquad is so low after Friday'sdefeat that all the talk was onavoiding relegation, with theprospect of facing the PremierLeague leaders in their ownbackyard barely registering.

"This is not a pleasure trip,"says Schneider.

"The anticipation is over-shadowed by the situation in theBundesliga."

To compound their prob-lems, Schalke's playmakerDaniel Caligiuri misses the tripto Manchester, sidelined forthe next four weeks by a leginjury.

Likewise, striker Mark Uthand midfielder Amine Harit,who were dropped for thedefeat at Bremen, have also beenleft out of the squad forManchester for disciplinary rea-sons, but full-back HamzaMendyl has been added.

It's all a far cry from last sea-son when the Royal Blues fin-ished second in the Bundesligato qualify for the ChampionsLeague in Tedesco's first season.

Despite qualifying for theknockout stages in Europe, theyhave been no higher than 11thin the Bundesliga this cam-paign.

Man City vs Schalke

Live from 1:30am IST

SONY TEN 1 NETWORK

Juventus vs Atletico

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‘Get ready to come back!'

Ronaldo expects Juve to

bounce back strong

against Atletico after

shocking 1st leg defeat

Man City still teenagersin adult world of CL: Pep

AFP n MADRID

Zinedine Zidane will make ashock return as coach of Real

Madrid after the club decided onMonday to sack Santiago Solari, sayreports in the Spanish press.

Madrid president FlorentinoPerez has reportedly met with theboard and resolved to dismissSolari, with Zidane set to be hisreplacement, nine months after thehe resigned at the end of last sea-son.

Zidane could take training asearly as Tuesday and be in chargefor Madrid's La Liga game at

home to Celta Vigo onSaturday.

His priority will beto secure Madrid's placein the top four after aturbulent fortnight thathas seen them lose twiceto Barcelona and knocked out byAjax in the Champions League.

Zidane won that tournamentin each of his three seasons incharge at the Santiago Bernabeu, aswell as La Liga in 2016-17, whileenjoying a strong relationship withthe majority of the players.

Gareth Bale was one of the fewnot to see eye-to-eye with the

Frenchman and Bale's future willbecome even more uncertain,should Zidane's appointment beconfirmed.

Sergio Ramos had said earlieron Monday he accepts blame forthe club's "deeply disappointing"season but insists the players haveno say on the coaching situation.

Ramos posed a series of ques-tions to himself on social mediaafter Madrid beat Real Valladolid4-1 in La Liga on Sunday night.

"As footballers we like to doour talking on the pitch but thisseason is not turning out that way,"Ramos wrote.

"Recent events have been dis-astrous and I'm not hiding. We arenot hiding. We the players are pri-marily responsible and I, as captain,more than anyone." On Solari'sposition, Ramos said: "It's a deci-sion that's not ours to make and inwhich we never interfere. We haveenormous respect for the positionand we always support the RealMadrid coach.

"These reflections are, withoutdoubt, the result of a deeply disap-pointing season but if success did-n't stop us, we're not going to letdefeat stop us. It's our obligation tocarry on, to work and to evolve."

ZIDANE SET FOR SHOCK MADRID RETURN

Nadal, Federer make winning start

Saina, Sameer look toput behind All Englanddisappointment

THE TEAM IS

CONFIDENT OF

PLAYING A GREAT

GAME AND I AM

TOO. TO THE FANS I

SAY: THINK

POSITIVE, LET'S

BELIEVE. GET READY

TO COME BACK!

Illness end Serena's bid

sport 16LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MARCH 12, 2019

INDIA B WIN QUADRANGULAR TITLEThiruvananthapuram: India under-19 Boutclassed India under-19 A by 72 runs in the finalto win the quadrangular ODI tournament onMonday. Electing to bat, India B made 232 for 9 in50 overs and dismissed the A team for 160 in 38.3overs to emerge deserving winners. SkipperRahul Chandrol (70, 74 balls, 4X4, 2X6), SameerRizvi (67, 88 balls, 4X1) and left-arm medium-pacer Sushant Mishra, who took a four-wickethaul, shone for India B. While only SkipperShubhang Hegde showed some resistance for Aside, making 42 from 60 balls (2X4, 2X6) beforehe was the last man dismissed by leggie PrayasRay Barman. In the third-place match, SouthAfrica under-19 crushed Afghanistan by 55 runsthanks to captain Matthew Montgomery's knockof 73 and Kgaudise Molefe's four-wicket haul.

MARKRAM GETS WC LIFELINE Johannesburg: Aiden Markram was handed alikely lifeline to the Cricket World Cup on Mondaywhen he was named in South Africa's squad forthe final two one-day internationals against SriLanka. Markram, a fixture as an opening batsmanin South Africa's Test team, has not played in aone-day international since November 2018. Amodest one-day international record has countedagainst Markram but successive innings of 169,139 and 85 for the Titans domestic franchise thismonth earned him a recall for South Africa's lasttwo one-day matches before the World Cup,starting in May. Also back is the experienced JPDuminy, who returned to domestic action withtwo half-centuries this month after being out ofaction since October following shoulder surgery.Another experienced returning player is batsmanHashim Amla. Batsman Reeza Hendricks and all-rounder Wiaan Mulder were dropped.

MOMOTA, CHEN TAKE ALL ENG TITLES Birmingham: Kento Momota became the firstJapanese man to win the All England Open onSunday, while China's Chen Yufei was the surprisewomen's champion. Momota is the reigningworld champion, Asian champion and worldnumber one and he can now add success inbadminton's oldest tournament to his glitteringCV. The 24-year-old held his nerve to win 21-11,15,21, 21-15 against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen."Winning this tournament has been a dream frommy childhood and having won this it is a really bigmoment in my life, and gives me a lot ofconfidence," Momota said. The women's singlestitle is back in Chinese hands for the first time infive years after Chen shocked defendingchampion Tai Tzu Ying. The last Chinese winnerwas Wang Shixian in 2014, but 21-year-old Chenended that barren run with a 21-17, 21-17 victory.

MUMBAI MAUL VIDARBA BY 6 WKTSIndore: Domestic giants Mumbai defeatedVidarbha by six wickets in their Super LeagueGroup B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20tournament on Monday. Opting to field at theHolkar Stadium, Mumbai bowlers, led by mediumpacer Tushar Deshpande (3-28), put in a spiritedshow to restrict Vidarbha to 137/8 in their alloted20 overs. Opener Jay Bista hit an unbeaten 73 off51 balls to see his team romp home with 26deliveries to spare. He got able support fromskipper Shreyas Iyer (28) and Surya Kumar Yadav(25). Agencies

SINGLES

AFP n BASSETERRE

David Willey spearheadedanother rout of an indis-

ciplined West Indies battingline-up as England completeda 3-0 sweep of the series withan eight-wicket victory in thethird and final T20International at Warner Parkin St Kitts.

Medium-pacer Willeyknocked over the top-order infinishing with career-bestT20I figures of four for sevenfrom three overs to take theman of the match award as thehosts were demolished for 71off just 13 overs on Sunday.

Willey's teammate andfellow all-rounder ChrisJordan was named man of theseries.

Jonny Bairstow, man ofthe match in the first fixturein St Lucia five days earlier,then sped the visitors towardtheir target with 37 (31 balls,two sixes, four fours) as thewhitewash was completedwith almost ten overs to spare.

Bairstow fell to DevendraBishoo with victory in sightleaving captain Eoin Morganto cart the leg-spinner for a sixand a four off successive deliv-eries to seal the comprehen-sive result.

Fast bowler Mark Wood,playing his first game of the

T20 series in place of the fast-medium Liam Plunkett, main-tained the pressure afterWilley's early successes in

taking three for nine whileleg-spinner Adil Rashid fin-ished off another pitiful bat-ting effort by the world cham-pion Caribbean side with twowickets in two overs.

Dismantled for their low-est T20 total ever, 45, on theway to a 137-run thrashing inthe second match two daysearlier at the same venue,Jason Holder's decision to batfirst on winning the toss madeno difference with Shai Hopefalling to the very first ball ofthe match from Willey to setthe tone for another collapse.

Hope's opening partner,John Campbell, making hisT20I debut in place of the rest-ed Chris Gayle, was one offour players to get into double-figures — twice as many as onFriday — although it made nomeaningful difference to theinnings.

IANS n NEW DELHI

Ace gymnast DipaKarmakar is set

to represent India inthe upcoming WorldCups at Baku,Azerbaijan and Doha,Qatar. She says forher, every competi-tion is very tough butshe doesn't feel pressurised.

Ahead of the competitions that will startfrom March 14, Karmakar said: "Training hasbeen going well. I was training in Agartala allthis while. I will try my best to do well there."

For her, all the championships are thesame.

"We are always on the field. Whether itis Olympics or any world championship, allare the same. For us, every competition is verytough," said the young sports star.

But she maintains that there is no pres-sure.

"The performance of players either goesup or down. It has always been like that. Forinstance, I didn't do well at the Asian Games...whatever was the reason," she said referringto her disappointing fifth spot in the women'sbalance beam final at the 18th Asian Gameslast year.

"But I have no pressure. I have to do mybest, I need to feel satisfied myself first," addedKarmakar, who bagged the Gold in thewomen's vault event at the Artistic GymnasticsWorld Challenge Cup in Mersin in Turkey in2018.

Like her competitors from Russia and theUS, her aim is to get good scores that can lifther to a podium finish.

AFP n WELLINGTON

Adouble ton from Ross Taylorand three quick Bangladesh

wickets put New Zealand in aprime position to pull off anexceptional victory in the rain-shortened second Test inWellington on Monday.

At stumps on day four atBasin Reserve, where the firsttwo days were washed out,Bangladesh were 80 for three,still 141 from making NewZealand bat again. Taylor,dropped twice on 20, proceededto punish the Bangladesh attackwith a rollicking 200 from 212balls before New Zealanddeclared at 432 for six.

With 23 overs left in the day,Bangladesh had a disastrousstart to their second inningswhen Tamim Iqbal was bowledin the first over.

After innings of 126 and 74twice so far in the series,Bangladesh's leading run-scorerwas out for four.

Mominul Haque followedfor 10 and Shadman Islam for 29leaving Mohammad Mithun on25 with Soumya Sarkar not out12.

New Zealand resumed theday at 38 for two and piled on394 runs in 73 overs beforesending Bangladesh back in.

Taylor, after surviving thetwo early chances, madeBangladesh pay a high price fortheir fielding errors.

He clouted Taijul Islam forsix over the long-on boundary tobring up his century which tookhim past his mentor, the lateMartin Crowe, to become NewZealand's second most prolificcentury-maker with 18, twobehind Kane Williamson.

He put on 172 withWilliamson for the third wicketand then 216 with Henr y

Nicholls for the fourth in aninnings which included 19 foursand four sixes.

But after reaching 200 for thethird time in his career, and rais-

ing his bat in salute, he was dis-missed from the next ball hefaced, caught behind offMustafizur. Williamson, whobatted with a painful shoulder

injury, made it through to 74before he was dismissed andtaken for a scan which provedinconclusive.

Nicholls swept Taijul Islam to

the boundary to bring up hisfifth century in the second overafter tea, but only faced anotherseven deliveries before Taijulbowled him for 107.

PTI n MOHALI

Shikhar Dhawan has the knackof bouncing back just when

his detractors write him off andthe Indian batsman says he man-ages to stay afloat in the tough-est of times by shutting out thecriticism that comes with leanpatches.

Without an internationalhundred for the past six months,Dhawan announced his come-back with a career-best 143against Australia, albeit in a los-ing cause, in the fourth one-dayer on Sunday.

Asked how he reacts to crit-icism, the happy-go-lucky crick-eter said living in his own bub-ble helps him keep it calm in themind.

"First of all, I don't read newspapers andI don't take information which I don't wantto. So I don't know what's happening around

me and I live in my own world.So, I decide in which directionmy thoughts are going," saidthe 33-year-old after the match.

Dhawan offered a sympa-thetic view on his junior state-mate Rishabh Pant, who had aterrible day behind the stumps.The youngster, who replacedMahendra Singh Dhoni forthe last two games, was shod-dy with his glovework andalso missed an easy stumpingchance.

"Like any other youngbloke, you have to give himtime too. I mean Dhoni bhaihas played so many games andfor how many years. You sim-ply can't compare.

"Yes, had he effected thestumping, may be the game could havechanged but then it slipped quickly out of ourhands and for that, dew played a big role.That's what it was," he signed off.

On personal front,Handscomb termed Australia'sfour-wicket victory in thefourth ODI against India as the"best match of his career",something that will give themmomentum ahead of WorldCup in England.

"It is a lovely feeling. I haveno words to describe my feel-ing. This was the best match ofmy career so far. This win willgive us a great momentum forthe decider and then the WorldCup in England. I am just gladthat I contributed in the victo-ry," Handscomb said after thematch.

On his maiden century, hesaid: "I am happy, I did notknow I was going to play ODIagain and it's funny how thingschange. It's nice to get oppor-tunity to play for Australiaand take it. The faith of selec-tors to keep me in that was nice.To get it today was pretty spe-cial."

Handscomb was alsohappy with the fact that theyhave been able to chase downbig totals in the tour irrespec-tive of formats.

"High scoring chase isalways special. It just gives youso much competition. Wechased down 189 in Bengaluru(in second T20 International)and today we proved that itwasn't a fluke," he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

A"Shane Warne like drift"makes Kuldeep Yadav a

more difficult bowler to facecompared to YuzvendraChahal, feels former Australiaopener Matthew Hayden, whosays wrist spinners like the twoIndians are becoming more rel-evant because of finger spin-ners' lack of "courage".

Kuldeep and Chahal, thetwo Indian wrist spinners, havetroubled the world's best bats-men in the shorter formats.

So what makes them spe-cial?

"Leg spinners provideoption and variety. In particu-lar, if you look at Kuldeep, his

strength is not how far he turnsthe ball but his strength is howthe ball just like Shane Warne'sdeliveries arrives at the bats-man. It has a distinct curve inthe air," Hayden said.

Chahal can, however, benegotiated, feels Hayden, whowas hugely successful againstHarbhajan Singh and AnilKumble at their peak.

"Chahal is a differentbowler. He is a very stump-to-stump. He bowls much flatterand straighter. He doesn't getthe drift. If I was a player, Iwould prefer facing Chahalbecause he doesn't get thedrift," said Hayden, who has8000-plus Test and 6000 plusODI runs for Australia.

The finger spinners are notmuch in demand in the 50-over format and Haydenblames it on the restrictiveapproach which has been theirundoing.

"What has happened isthat off-spinners have learnt theart to contain batsmen, whichhad kept them in play for a cer-tain period of time.

"But now, the players have

got used to the flatter trajecto-ry of the off-spinners. Off-spin-ners have lost the art of beingable to get the pace to drop(vary pace)," said Hayden.

Working as an analyst dur-ing the ongoing series, Haydenwas seen working with thejunior members of theAustralian team, especially,Ashton Turner, who has nowbecome an overnight sensationwinning the fourth ODI witha scintillating knock.

"It's not my doing," Haydensaid with a lot of modesty.

"The boys have workedvery hard on their game andthat created the change. I havebeen working more withyounger boys like AshtonTurner," he added.

The veteran of 103 Testsand 161 ODIs is happy thatAustralians have been able toforce Kedar Jadhav to bowl adifferent line.

The part-time off-spinner,with an unconventional side-arm action, was taken to taskby Aaron Finch in Ranchi andthe duo of Usman Khawaja andPeter Handscomb in Mohali.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi onMonday criticised the nation-

al selectors for resting six seniorplayers, including skipper SarfarazAhmed, for the upcoming ODIseries against Australia, saying agood outing would have boostedtheir confidence ahead of theWorld Cup.

In a surprising move, theselectors picked young speedsterMohammad Hasnain in the one-day squad although he hasappeared in just two first-classgames, played for the Pakistanjuniors and did well in the ongo-ing Pakistan Super League.

"I don't know but we must firstgive chances to the establishedbowlers like Junaid Khan, WahabRiaz etc. First look and give prop-er chance to the established play-ers because after all we are playingin the World Cup," Afridi said.

The all-rounder was also crit-ical of the decision to rest Sarfarazand other key players for the'home' series, slated to be held inthe UAE.

"Look if we had been playingagainst a weak side than it madesense to try new players but this isa series against a big team and Idon't think it was right time to restplayers after all it is not as if theyhave been playing for some 10 or

15 years." "I would think that if our main

players played against a team likeAustralia and did well it wouldboost their confidence for theWorld Cup."

Afridi, who is playing for histhird franchise (Multan) in thePSL, dismissed talks about himfinally taking retirement from allcricket.

"I haven't had a very good timein this PSL but let's see which fran-chise picks me next season or I staywith Multan," he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) on Monday said

India was granted permission towear camouflage military caps inthe third ODI against Australia asa tribute to the country's armedforces, a gesture which Pakistan hasobjected to.

In the third ODI in Ranchi onMarch 8, the Indian team sported

military caps as a mark of respectto the CRPF personnel who werekilled in the Pulwama terror attackand donated its match fee to theNational Defence Fund.

"The BCCI sought permissionfrom the ICC to wear the caps aspart of a fundraising drive and inmemory of fallen soldiers whohave died, which was granted,"ICC's General Manager StrategicCommunications Claire Furlong

said in a statement.The Pakistan Cricket Board

had sent a strongly-worded letterto the ICC, calling for actionagainst India for wearing thecaps.

"They took permission fromICC for some other purpose andused it to do something else,which is not acceptable," PCBChairman Ehsan Mani said onSunday in Karachi.

‘ALWAYS KNEW ABOUT

ASHTON’S ABILITIES’

Handscomb praises fellow teammate for his match winning innings in Mohali

India was granted permission to wear caps in memory of fallen soldiers: ICC

‘Warne like drift makes

Kuldeep more difficult’

Don't react to criticism as I livein my own world: Dhawan

Taylor's double ton raises Kiwis hopes

AFP n WELLINGTON

Ross Taylor whispered aprayer and an apology to the

late Martin Crowe Monday ashe overtook his mentor's centu-ry tally during an exceptionalinnings of 200 that put NewZealand in a strong position inthe second Test.

The number four's sterlingeffort was his third Test doublehundred and achieved his long-held ambition to fulfil Crowe'sprophecy that Taylor would

one day overtake the late greatbatsman's mark.

"I told Hogan (Crowe) 'myapologies' for taking so long toget there," said Taylor whoscored his 17th century in 2017,nearly two years after Crowedied from cancer.

In the course of his innings,Taylor also passed Crowe'srecord for the most runs scoredat the Basin Reserve "so he'sprobably a bit annoyed with thatone," the batting mainstayquipped.

Q U I E T A P O L O G Y

‘Resting established playersagainst Aus is wrong move’

Willey steers Eng to series sweep

PTI n MOHALI

Peter Handscomb, one of thearchitects of Australia's recordbreaking run-chase against

India in the fourth ODI, wasconfident that youngAshton Turner could repli-cate his big-hitting exploitsin domestic cricket at the inter-national stage.

Turner on Sunday smashedunbeaten 84 off 43 balls as Australiachased down a mammoth target of359 with four wickets in hand and13 balls to spare to level the five-match series 2-2.

The series-deciding fifth andfinal ODI will be played in NewDelhi on Wednesday.

"Ashton (Turner) is an amaz-ing player. We have seen what hehas done in the Big Bash League(for Perth Scorchers) for the pastcouple of years. We knew he can getthe job done. The way he operat-ed against Bumrah was quite amaz-ing. This knock will give him somuch confidence going forward,"Handscomb said after the famouswin on Sunday night.

He said that once Turner start-ed hitting, everyone in the dressingroom became superstitious.

"That was awesome. No onewas moving around with all thosesuperstitions coming into play.That's incredible. To see him comein at international stage and play aninnings of this kind is phenomenal."

NEW DELHI: The Delhi &Districts Cricket Association(DDCA) has dropped plans tofelicitate India captain ViratKohli along with VirenderSehwag and Gautam Gambhirin the wake of Pulwama terrorattack, which killed 40 CRPFpersonnel.The DDCA had decided tofelicitate the three 'Delhilegends' before the start of thefinal ODI between India andAustralia on Wednesday.The decision was taken byDDCA after BCCI decided to notonly call off the IPL openingceremony but also donate entirebudget of the event for thewelfare of the families of themartyrs."We had plans of felicitatingSehwag, Gambhir and Kohli butwe decided against it sinceBCCI is also not having anopening ceremony of the IPL,"DDCA President Rajat Sharmasaid on Monday."We have also decided todonate `10 lakh to DelhiPolice's Martyrs Fund. As ofnow, 90 percent of the ticketsthat was put on public sale hasbeen sold out," Sharma said.The DDCA for the first time isgiving couple of VIP passes toall the former internationalplayers from the state. PTI

DDCA CANCELSKOHLI FELICITATION

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