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Kumar Bangarappa quits Congress, to join BJP in Karnataka
RSS leader Kundan Chandravat sacked for statement on Kerala CM
Mamata gets Bill passed in Bengal Assembly to rein in private hospitals
India-Australia second Test begins at Bengaluru today
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Atul Aneja
The Bihar government on Friday placed senior IAS oicer Sudhir Kumar under suspension, a week after he was arrested and sent to jail in connection with the Bihar Staf Selection Commission (BSSC) question paper leak.
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Curfew was imposed in the city following clashes over an objectionable video, allegedly circulated by two students. Curfew was relaxed for three hours on Friday evening. NATION
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Alert across airports for Gayatri Prajapati NEW DELHI
Airports across the country have been alerted to prevent Uttar Pradesh Minister Gayatri Prajapati, accused of rape, from leeing the country. NATION
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Budget was leaked, says Kerala Oppn. Special Correspondent Thiruvananthapuram
The first full-fledged Budget speech of Kerala Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac for 2017-18 on Friday was marred by the Opposition United Democratic Front boycotting its presentation, alleging leak of crucial papers on social media and in a section of the press.
Resignation demand Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, the lone BJP member O. Rajagopal, and Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani demanded the resignation of the Finance Minister for the “leak.” Later, a delegation of the UDF, led by Mr. Chennithala, met the Governor and submitted a memorandum, seeking his intervention for Mr. Isaac’s resignation. CONTINUED ON
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Guests of honour: Seven Humboldt penguins kept in quarantine before being shifted to an enclosure in the Mumbai Zoo on Friday. The date of opening of the Penguin Bay has not been decided yet. The Humboldt penguin is a South American species that breeds in coastal Chile and Peru. It is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. VIJAY BATE
Oppn. misread note ban: Amit Shah Local body poll results show people backed government’s move, says BJP chief Nistula Hebbar Varanasi
BJP president Amit Shah cited the BJP’s victories in local body polls in Chandigarh, Rajasthan and lately in Mumbai and Odisha to assert that the Opposition had read the mood of the country wrong on demonetisation. In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Shah responded to the Opposition and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s contention that demonetisation would hurt the BJP’s electoral prospects. “Perhaps, Rahulji is not aware about the string of election results that have come out in the last couple
Amit Shah of months post-demonetisation.“ He claimed that the party’s “strong electoral performance” was “clear proof” that the people were “firmly with the government’s demonetisation drive to rid the
country of black money.” “The third quarter GDP growth at 7% shows that demonetisation did not impact the economy and belies the claims of the Opposition that demonetisation would hurt growth. I am sure on March 11, your headline will be ‘BJP demonetises the Opposition in U.P.’,” he said. Reflecting on the closely fought polls and the absence of a clear wave, Mr. Shah did not name any of the opposing parties in the fray, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine or the Bahujan Samaj Party as a rival. “U.P. is a vast State and each constituency has its
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local factors influencing the choice of voters. Hence our opponents differ from constituency to constituency. That said, we are contenders for the top position in each of the 403 seats,” he said. Mr. Shah has kept the reins of the campaign tightly in his hands, and said that the results will “hasten the end of dynasty, caste and religion-based politics in the country.” He added that being a cadre-based party, the BJP would choose a “hardworking and loyal” member to become Chief Minister in the event of a victory. INTERVIEW 쑺 PAGE 9
The China-India border dispute came into sharp focus on Friday after the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned New Delhi not to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh — the State which is at the heart of the Sino-Indian dispute in the eastern sector. China’s sharp response against the visit by the Tibetan leader in exile followed a call by a former Chinese boundary negotiator, who stressed that if the two sides managed to overcome their differences in the eastern sector, the final settlement of the boundary dispute would be well within grasp. “China is gravely concerned over information that India has granted permission to the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a briefing. He warned that an invitation to him to visit Arunachal Pradesh will cause “serious damage” to Sino-Indian ties. “India is fully aware of the seriousness of the Dalai Lama issue and the sensitivity of the China-India border question. Under such a background if India invites the Dalai Lama to visit the mentioned territory, it will cause
serious damage to peace and stability of the border region and China-India relations,” he said.
‘Stick to commitments’ “We have expressed concerns to the Indian side, urged India to stick to its political commitments and abide by important consensus the two sides have reached on the boundary question, refrain from actions that might complicate the issue, not provide a platform to the Dalai clique and protect the sound and stable development of the Sino-In-
dia relations,” he said. The remarks followed the conclusion of the China-India strategic dialogue, led by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar last month. Mr. Geng’s stand came in the wake of the “carrot” offered by Dai Bingguo, a former State Councillor and China’s Special Representative for the boundary talks, that both countries stood at the “gate” of the final settlement, provided they could overcome their differences on the eastern alignment. CONTINUED ON 쑺 PAGE 8
NHRC notice to Delhi govt over bonded labour
Proposal to do away with the practice shelved
New Delhi
Special Correspondent New Delhi
The Home Ministry has put on hold the Civil Aviation Ministry’s decision to do away with the security stamping of the passengers’ hand baggage at seven airports. An official said the proposal has been temporarily shelved due to lack of security gadgets. The decision, to stay the order of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), was taken during a highlevel meeting chaired by Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Civil Aviation Minister Jayant Sinha on Thursday. “Deliberations had been on for dispensing with the stamping of baggage tags at airports for a long time. Recently the CISF had conducted trial runs in two phases
Proposal temporarily shelved due to lack of security gadgets. FILE PHOTO
at 12 airports and concluded that stamping of baggage tags could be dispensed with after certain modifications of security architecture at the Security Hold Areas of the airports and installation of High Definition CCTV
Cameras. These modifications were required to make sure that passengers could not access bags containing restricted items which are segregated by CISF personnel for checking. High Definition CCTV cameras focussed on the baggage screening system were required so that CISF personnel who security cleared a bag could be easily identified for the purpose of fixing accountability,” a CISF statement said. The seven airports are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The BCAS had issued a circular on February 23 to dispense with the mandatory practice of putting security stamp on the hand baggage tags with “immediate effect”, despite an objection by the CISF.
For Olive Ridleys, it’s paradise lost Thousands of eggs in Gahirmatha perish as nesting turtles crowd shrunken beach Gahirmatha Sanctuary, told The Hindu over phone. Two bigger beaches with 200 hectares and 50 hectares at Ekakula Nasi and Nasi I island drew a mere 12 and 100 Olive Ridleys respectively.
Satyasundar Barik BHUBANESWAR
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Stamping of passenger hand baggage to continue
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Tens of thousands of eggs laid by Olive Ridley sea turtles this year in Gahirmatha Sanctuary in Odisha, one of the world’s largest nesting grounds, are getting destroyed due to shrinking coastal space. The ongoing mass nesting of the endangered animals has enthused conservationists, but habitat decline is undoing the gains. The Odisha Forest and Environment Department estimates that 6,04,046 turtles have come to lay eggs at Nasi II island of Gahirmatha from February 22. The turtles had largely given the island a miss in 2016, with only 50,000 coming to nest. Since the small island could not host all those that turned up this year, only
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Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal irks China
PATNA
Curfew in UP town after clashes
Ko l k ata
Warns of ‘serious damage’ to relations with India
Bihar IAS oicer suspended
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The survivors: Volunteers release Olive Ridley hatchlings in Visakhapatnam on Friday. K.R. DEEPAK
50% of eggs may survive. A female sea turtle scoops beach sand out to lay 80 to 120 eggs, but its effort is undone when a second digs at the same place to lay its own. This season, turtles are estimated to have laid close to 60 million eggs along a
1,000-metre beach of Nasi II. “Wildlife staff have observed mass nesting for a month. Since only 1,000 metres is now suitable at Nasi II, there is not enough space. Of 100 turtles, eggs of only 50 survive,” Subrat Patra, Range Officer,
Pale shadow Gahirmatha once had 32 km of beach and nesting area of 1,80,000 square metres. Research by B.C. Choudhury, former scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, showed that Nasi I and Nasi II had fragmented. Chief Wildlife Warden Sidhant Das said, “there is attrition, but there are also times when submerged portions got exposed again.” In the Visakhapatnam region, the Forest Department recorded 447 nests with 47,000 eggs, the highest so far.
Boys, aged between eight and 13 years, were rescued from a factory last month Staff Reporter
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued a notice to the Delhi government and the Delhi Police over reports of 26 boys found working as bonded labourers at a factory in north-east Delhi’s Seelampur. According to media reports, the boys, aged between eight and 13 years, were rescued from bonded labour at a jeans factory last month. The job of the children was to cut threads of denim and pack it.
Hit with hammer “The task was to pack 10 pieces of the cloth item in 10 minutes and the one who finished last would be beaten up with a hammer by the employer. The victims were forced to work for 22 hours a day,” the NHRC said. The children would also be allegedly hit if caught dozing off or visiting toilets during work hours. “Due to lengthy sittings, many of them are not able to walk properly. Injury marks were found on their bodies and one of them could not
even open his eyes in the sunlight,” the Commission said. The rescued boys were all from Bihar’s Motihari district and had been brought to the Capital about six months ago. They may have been victims of trafficking.
Reports sought Taking suo motu cognisance of the reports, the NHRC issued a notice to Delhi Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty and Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, asking for reports within four weeks. They were asked to inform the Commission about the
steps taken for the rehabilitation of the children as well as the action initiated against the employer. The NHRC said the human rights of the victims had been violated, both by the employer and the government. The Commission also observed that the police and the government had been unable to curb the practice of bonded labour. The victims are currently living at Mukti Ashram, a children’s home run by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO headed by Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
17 killed in Rajasthan accident Press Trust of India Jaipur
Seventeen people were killed when their jeep collided with a truck in Hanumangarh district on Friday, the police said. The accident took place on the Rawatsar-Hanumangarh mega-highway when the jeep was on its way to a nearby town with passengers. Describing it as a “sad incident”, Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunus Khan conveyed his condolence to family members of the victims. “People should avoid travelling in unauthorised transport vehicles,” he said, adding that the government will soon act against people promoting unauthorised vehicles on the roads. The district administration announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 each to the kin of the victims. Following the autopsy, the police handed over the bodies of 16 victims to their family members, while one body is yet to be identified, the Hanumangarh police said. They said 14 of the victims died on the spot. ND-ND
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IAS oicer arrested in paper leak scam case suspended The arrest had triggered a face-of between IAS association and Bihar govt
Rajasthan Cong protests books on Sangh ideologue Schools asked to buy books on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Special Correspondent JAIPUR
The Opposition Congress has registered a strong protest against the Rajasthan government's recent instructions to all secondary and senior secondary schools to purchase books on Jan Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya for their libraries. This step would be “morally wrong”, said the Congress.
Special Correspondent PATNA
The Bihar government on Friday placed senior IAS officer Sudhir Kumar under suspension, a week after he was arrested and sent to jail in connection with the Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) question paper leak. Sudhir Kumar was chairman of the BSSC when the question papers for the assistant rank jobs were leaked. The State General Administration Department has issued a notification suspending Mr. Kumar, a 1987 batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre. Mr. Kumar was arrested along with four members of his family who too were to appear in the BSSC exam. His nephew had admitted that he had got question papers of the exam from the Hazaribagh residence of Mr. Kumar.
IN BRIEF
Sri Sri offers to facilitate dialogue RANCHI
Spiritual leader and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Friday reiterated his offer to facilitate a dialogue between the government and the naxalites. - PTI
16-year-old girl raped, one arrested MUZAFFARNAGAR
A person has been arrested for allegedly raping a teenage girl in this district when she had gone to relieve herself in the fields, police said on Friday. - PTI On a complaint of by victim’s family, a case was registered and the accused was arrested.
Mayor stripped of powers in M.P. BHOPAL
The Madhya Pradesh government has withdrawn the financial and administrative powers of the Mayor of Sagar city, Abhay Dare, after an audio, in which he was allegedly making a bribe demand, went viral. - PTI
‘honest and upright’ However, the arrest of Mr. Kumar had triggered a faceoff between the State IAS association and the government. Demanding a CBI probe, the protesting IAS association had also declared that they would now not take any call even from the Chief Minister “unless it comes in writing”. The IAS
‘Imposing ideology’ Accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of imposing its ideology on young students, Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot said here that the decision would Out of job: Sudhir Kumar was chairman of the Bihar Staf Selection Commission when the paper leak scam was unearthed. FILE PHOTO officers have also been claiming Mr. Kumar as “one among the upright, honest and finest” IAS officers of the State. Of late, the central IAS association had too jumped into the ring and condemned the arrest of Mr. Kumar. But, the State government refused to oblige the protesting IAS officers and said when the investigation was on, court would be the only option for anyone to approach. The SIT of police, headed by Patna SSP Manu Maharaj
had asserted that “strong evidences have been found against BSSC chairman Sudhir Kumar in paper leak case”. But, the Opposition NDA leaders and the ruling alliance partner RJD too, had defended Mr. Kumar as an honest officer. Mr Kumar has been Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with the Indian Railways when RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Railway Minister. Meanwhile, the buzz in state power corridor has been that SIT has also found
evidences against another “upright and honest” IAS officer of the State in the BSSC paper leak scam and very soon he too would be under its net.
Ministers named Sources in the government told The Hindu that BSSC secretary Parmeshwar Ram who was arrested first in the case had named several ministers, MLAs and bureaucrats for putting pressure on him to seek favour for jobs for their kin.
Roadmap for second phase of Jal Abhiyan Rajasthan govt’s water programme aims to make villages self-reliant Special Correspondent JAIPUR
The Rajasthan River Basin and Water Resources Planning Authority has asked nodal officers of water sector wings to prepare within a week a roadmap for the second phase of the Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan for revival of traditional water sources. Touted as the country’s largest water conservation campaign to make villages self-reliant in their water needs, the flagship pro-
gramme has been promoted by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje personally with sustained appeals to various sections such as corporate houses, voluntary groups, religious leaders and citizens, to contribute towards it.
Timely completion River Basin Authority chairperson Sriram Vedire said the road map would ensure timely completion of work in the second phase and ensure success of scientific ap-
proach to watershed treatment. Harvesting of 11,170 million cubic feet of rainwater was carried out in 9,600 watershed structures constructed in 3,529 villages in the first phase. Mr. Vedire said rainwater harvesting would be started in the cities as well with the active participation of elected representatives and officers of urban local bodies. Officials of the Rural Development Department, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Commis-
sionerate and Watershed and Land Conservation Department will join the programme in the villages.
Geo-tagging The Abhiyan’s second phase started on December 9, 2016, after the selection of 4,200 watershed works in different sub-divisions. In addition to a survey through the waypoint software, scientific techniques of geo-tagging and mobile applications are being used for successful completion of works.
also lead to an unnecessary burden on the exchequer. “A better option would have been to make the expenditure on improving infrastructure of schools,” he said. A circular of the State Directorate of Secondary Education issued on February 27 has instructed the District Education Officers to buy copies of “Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Sampoorna Vangmay” for schools on the occasion of his birth centenary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the book, edited by former State BJP president Mahesh Chandra Sharma, in New Delhi on October 9 last year. Mr. Pilot said the BJP gov-
ernment had earlier turned the Bhamashah health insurance cards into the tokens of the party’s publicity and made saffron colour mandatory for bicycles distributed to girls achieving distinction in their studies.
‘Stop politicisation’ “The State government should stop politicisation of education through such steps. The BJP resorts to these tactics whenever it comes to power,” said Mr. Pilot. He suggested that a committee of experts be appointed for making additions to school curriculum without any prejudices.
U.P. sugar mills owe about 6,000 crore to cane farmers The State is all set to top production in the country Mohammad Ali Meerut
The sugarcane farmers of Uttar Pradesh are yet to get ₹,5975 crore arrears from sugar mills in the current crushing season. Private and corporate owned mills top the list which are yet to pay the farmers the full price. Overall the mill owners have managed to pay about 78% of the total money they owe to the farmers. In total, over 116 mills bought sugarcane worth ₹19,076 crore in the year 2016-17 but till February 2 they could pay back to the farmers only ₹13,091 crore.
Cash crop on West U.P. More than 55 lakh farmers spread across forty districts of western Uttar Pradesh grow sugarcane which is the cash crop of the region. The grim situation of payment to farmers exists even as the turnover of U.P. sugar industry this yearis all set to top the country. The Indian Sugarcane Manufacturers Association,
Hard labour: A sugarcane farmer working in his ield in Muzafarnagar. FILE PHOTO
an all India body representing sugar mills from all sugar producing States, has set the target of 85 lakh tonne of sugar production in U.P., which is 40% of the total target of the country. Due to a variety of reasons, including lowering water level and drought-like situation, sugar production target in Maharashtra has gone down from 84.24 lakh tonne in 2015-16 to 46 lakh tonne, which is a little over half of last year production in the State. Bajaj group which owns 15 mills owe over ₹2000 crore to the farmers, while Modi
group owes about ₹300 crores. Deepak Guptara of U.P. Sugarmill Owner's Association told The Hindu that the mills have paid over 78% of the total dues to the cane growers. “The figure of ₹5,975 is the money which sugar mills owe to the farmers and would be the dues after 14 days but the actual dues stands at only ₹3,666 crore. We have already paid about 78% of the total dues and we are looking forward to pay back to the cane growers as soon as possible,” Mr. Guptara said.
CBI opposes plea for Chautala case transfer PRESS TRUST OF INDIA New Delhi
The CBI on Friday told a Delhi court that a plea of INLD leader Ajay Chautala, serving 10-year jail term in JBT scam case, for transfer of a disproportionate assets case against him to another court was “frivolous” and based on “flimsy grounds”. The CBI’s response came
on Ajay’s claim that he apprehended that he would not get a fair trial if the case continued to be tried by the court presided by the same judge. The agency said the concerned presiding officer, against whom the allegations of being biased have been made, has acted as per the law and without any bias.
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Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 7 No. 54 ●
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IN BRIEF
Mizoram Youth Congress slams Modi government
Bengal passes ‘historic’ Bill to rein in private hospitals Repeals the 2010 Act passed by the Left Front government
The Mizoram Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (MPYCC) on Friday slammed the NDA government at the Centre for failing to check inflation, especially in prices of essential commodities. The MPYCC said that the Centre recently hiked the LPG price by ₹86 per cylinder. PTI
Retired Army officer dies in freak accident KOLKATA
A retired Army officer was killed on Friday after he fell down through a gap meant for the lift when a door accidentally opened up on the wrong floor. According to the police, when the former Army Colonel pressed the call button, the door of the lift opened on the fourth floor of his residence, but the lift was still at the first floor, he said. PTI
One kg of banned ‘Horse Drug’ seized KOHIMA
One kg of a banned drug, known as ‘Horse Drug’, was seized and one person was arrested by the police from the Nagaland-Manipur interState check gate. The police seized the drug from Hussain Ahmed of Brahmanshsan Block-2, Karimganj district of Assam yesterday during routine checking of vehicles, said PRO Kohima Police Atu Zumvu. PTI
Lizard found in food from fast food chain KOLKATA
A lizard was allegedly found in food served at a globally acclaimed fast food chain outlet in the city. The incident occurred two days ago but came to light on Friday. A woman lodged a police complaint against the fast food chain after allegedly finding the deep fried lizard in her food bought from the outlet. “A woman and her daughter ordered French fries. After the fries were served the woman noticed a dead lizard in it. She raised an alarm,” a police official said. PTI
Sonowal seeks SAIL unit in Assam GUWAHATI
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday urged Union Minister of State for Mine and Steel Visnu Deo Sai to set up a production unit of Steel Authority of India in the State to meet its increasing demand in the region. According to a statement, Mr Sonowal informed the Minister that there was ample reserve of alloy in the State and the raw material could be sourced from within the State. PTI
Staff Reporter
Now, govt to keep eye on pvt schools
Kolkata
Aiming to overhaul private healthcare in the State and take stringent measures against health institutions accused of medical negligence and corrupt practices, the Legislative Assembly on Friday passed the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation and Transparency) Bill, 2017, by a voice vote. The legislation repealed the West Bengal Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, passed by the Left Front government. Describing the move as “historic”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the Health portfolio, said she hoped that similar measures are taken across the country. In a stern message aimed at private hospitals, she said in the Assembly: “We’re giving an opportunity to mend your ways. After this, the law is the same for you and me.”
To bring transparency During a discussion on the Bill, Ms. Banerjee said the legislation is aimed at bringing transparency, ending harassment of patients and checking medical negligence at private hospitals and nursing homes. The Bill also seeks to bring clinics, dispensaries and polyclinics under its ambit. The Chief Minister gave
Special Correspondent Kolkata
details of cases of medical negligence, particularly against Apollo Hospitals. Referring to reports of resignation by a senior hospital executive, Ms. Banerjee said this justified the complaint against hospital by the State government. Ms. Banerjee said the death of Sanjay Roy at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital was an eye-opener for the government. She assured that the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission, provisions for which exist in the Bill, will be set up in a month. The Left Front and Congress legislators demanded that the Bill be sent to the Select Committee. However, their concerns were set aside
Detection of six more cases of jaundice in Qadam Rasool and its adjoining areas has spread panic among the residents. At least 150 cases had been detected till Friday. The civic authorities find themselves in a tizzy after it was revealed that most of the water samples collected randomly from different localities were found to be contaminated with hepatitis A and hepatitis E viruses. “Out of 109 water samples collected randomly from different locations of the city and sent for laboratory tests, 106 turned out to be contaminated,” a civic body doctor said, adding that potable water supplied through pipelines was infected due to sewage contamination. Following the revelation,
Staff Reporter
Guwahati
Terming the BJP-led Assam government as “courageless”, former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday demanded assurance from the Centre that the Naga Peace Accord will not affect the State. CM YK
He alleged that the TMC is using the CID as a “weapon” against the BJP to "malign the party".
Shift of stand Interestingly, Mr. Ghosh's latest remark on Ms. Chowdhury’s arrest marks yet another shift of stand by the State president. Last Tuesday, Mr. Ghosh had said that Ms. Chowdhury’s actions such as “taking some people to Delhi [to meet the Central leadership] without the State leadership’s permission has maligned the party’s image”.
ment,” said Mr. Patnaik. The Chief Minister congratulated the field workers for the State’s achievement.
BHUBANESWAR
For the first time in 16 years, Odisha has fared better than the national average in Infant Mortality Rate, registering the sharpest decline in IMR across the country. The fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) states that Odisha’s IMR has gone down by 25 points between NFHS 3 (2005-06) and NFHS 4 (2015-16), as against the national average of 16. The State’s IMR now stands at 40 as against national average of 41. In 2000, Odisha was only above Chhattisgarh in the national ranking. According to NFHS-4, the State’s IMR is better than six major States -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. Institutional delivery in Odisha was recorded at 85.4% in NFHS-4 as against the national average of
Odisha fares better than MP, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. 78.9%. Similarly, 78.6% children aged between 12 and 23 months were fully immunised in the State as against the national average of 62%.
Commendable decline “Our State has achieved a commendable decline in the IMR over the last 16 years, as has been reported in NFHS-4. On achieving the highest-point decline in the country, that is 56 points since the year 2000, our
of 109 water < > Out samples collected randomly, 106 were found out to be contaminated Civic body doctor
the district administration claimed that it was changing the broken pipelines on a war footing.
A huge task But the authorities are faced with a Herculean task as for every genuine water connection they are at least five illegal ones. Though the government has ordered severing all illegal water connections, the local authorities are finding it extremely difficult to implement the order for lack of political will. “Yes political pressure at the local level is
the stumbling block,” said a government official requesting anonymity.
“Has the Sarbananda Sonowal government informed the Centre that there has been widespread resentment against privatisation of oilfields? Have they told that it will go against the interest of the people? They simply do not have courage,” Mr Gogoi said at the Assembly
State’s IMR is 40 per thousand live births, which is lower than the national average,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Thursday. “Other indicators related to IMR are also very encouraging. Odisha has achieved a sharp increase in institutional deliveries, family planning and antenatal care of mothers. The State has also registered significant decline in under-five mortality rate, anaemia and malnourish-
complex. He alleged that the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act will go against the people of the State as it will allow Bangladeshi immigrants to settle in Assam. “The Accord has been kept under the wrap for so long. Why,” he asked.
CM lauds filed workers “The impressive and sharp decline in IMR and overall improvement across health indicators of the State in the last 16 years was achieved due to several initiatives of the government, commencing with the IMR Reduction Mission and Nabajyoti scheme in 2001, which were carried through initiatives to strengthen institutional deliveries, improve antenatal check-ups, immunisation and family planning coverage,” said Mr. Patnaik. He added that the MAMATA scheme -- a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant women and lactating mothers -- of the State government had made a significant contribution in ensuring safe deliveries and healthy infants.
Nagaland budget session from March 21 Last budget of the ruling NPF Press Trust of India
Illegal connections However, the civic body on Friday initiated steps to criminally prosecute heads of at least five households who had taken illegal water connections by snapping the main water pipeline. “Stringent action will be taken against people taking illegal water connections,” said civic body CEO Gyana Das. The maximum cases have been reported from Tulasipur area on the western limits of the city and its adjoining places, sources said, adding that the cases may rapidly increase in future as the residents in these localities have been using the contaminated water for over two months now.
Gogoi slams govt on Naga Accord Press Trust of India
‘Old wine in new bottle’ Calling it “old wine in a new bottle”, Leader of the Left Front Sujan Chakraborty pointed cited similarities between the repealed Act and the new Bill. He wondered why a new legislation was brought in the House instead of an amendment. Mr. Chakraborty and other MLAs from the Opposition highlighted poor infrastructure at government hospitals, which they said resulted in patients turning to private hospitals.
Dilip Ghosh
State’s IMR at 40 is lower than national average of 41, reports national survey
Maximum cases reported from Tulasipur area Correspondent
by the ruling party, which has over two-third support in the State Assembly.
Encouraged by the public response on curbing irregularities in private hospitals, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is turning her attention to private educational institutions of the State. Speaking in the State Assembly on Friday, Ms Banerjee said some checks will have to be introduced in private schools and higher educational institutions without interfering in their autonomy. She said private schools are taking crores of rupees in donation. Ms Banerjee said after the examination season is over she will have a meeting with private schools and higher education institutions of the State. It was at a meeting of private health institutions on February 22 where Chief Minister lashed at the hospitals and announced that a bill to rein them would be tabled in the Assembly. Ms Banerjee said her government would also bring in a legislation to curb rising accidents.
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said on Friday that the recent arrest of the general secretary of the party’s women’s wing, in relation to a child trafficking case in north Bengal, is a “Trinamool Congress (TMC) conspiracy to malign the BJP”. The statement comes a day after the State BJP removed Juhi Chowdhury from her post. A child trafficking racket was recently busted by the police in north Bengal when they arrested Chandana Chakraborty, owner of a children’s home, and one of her associates. The State BJP found itself in a spot when Ms. Chowdhury’s name cropped up in the investigation. “Even though the names of several local TMC leaders cropped up, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has not arrested or interrogated them. But they promptly arrested Ms. Chowdhury just for taking someone to Delhi,” said Mr. Ghosh.
On Friday, Mr. Ghosh wondered why the police allowed the key accused Ms. Chakraborty, who has mentioned the names of BJP's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and West Bengal women’s wing president Roopa Ganguly in relation to the child trafficking case, to speak to the media. "When suspended TMC MP Kunal Ghosh tried to speak to the media, the police dragged him inside the prison van. Now why are they giving Ms. Chakraborty such privileges?” asked Mr. Ghosh. He also wondered how the media had got hold of Ms. Chowdhury's statement to the CID. Ms. Chowdhury's arrest has also intensified the feud between the followers of Mr. Ghosh and former State BJP president Rahul Sinha. Mr. Sinha, now a national secretary of the party, had created severe discomfort for the State leadership by admitting that Ms. Chowdhury’s arrest had “definitely embarrassed” the party.
Infant mortality rate down in Odisha
Jaundice fear grips Cuttack areas CUTTACK
“Trinamool using CID as a weapon to malign the party” Kolkata
Special Correspondent
AIZAWL
Arrest of BJP woman leader a TMC conspiracy: Ghosh
Kohima
The budget session of Nagaland Assembly for the 20172018 fiscal is scheduled to be held from March 21. The session assumes significance since this would be the last budget of the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government before the 2018 State general election and also the first under the new Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu. Liezietsu is the third Chief Minister in this third innings of the NPF, which will end in February 2018. Liezietsu took over from T R Zeliang on February 22
as the latter had to step down bowing to pressures of the peoples’ movement led by Nagaland Tribes’ Action Committee Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee on moral grounds.
Zeliang’s resignation The two bodies had imposed a bandh throughout the State for almost three weeks demanding Zeliang’s resignation on ‘moral grounds’ following the death of three protesters, including two in police firing in Dimapur. They were part of the public movement against holding of Urban Local Body elections with 33 % seats reserved for women in the State.
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Kashmir reacts with anger over pellet shotgun report
IN BRIEF
Japanese envoy meets Nitish Kumar
It cannot make people of Valley give up their basic political demand: Mirwaiz Peerzada Ashiq
Consul General of Japan in Kolkata Masayuki Taga on Friday met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and said Japan was interested in investing in the State. Mr. Taga told the CM that people of Japan are keenly interested in coming to Bihar which has a large number of Buddhist sites. PTI
Srinagar
KOTA
A 50-year-old mentallychallenged woman was allegedly raped by her neighbour in Jhalawar district, the police said on Friday. Based on the complaint of the victim’s family members, a case was lodged against the accused, Kalu Lal Gujjar (52), on Thursday, Ghatoli Police Station SHO Nargis Khanam said. PTI
Court sends IAS officer to judicial custody
Tension gripped city after it ‘hurt’ religious sentiments Press Trust of India Lakhimpur Kheri (UP)
PATNA
Mentally-challenged woman raped in Jhalawar
Curfew in Lakhimpur Kheri after clashes over video
The reported move to stockpile 4,000 pellet shotguns in the Valley has drawn sharp reactions from both separatist leaders and mainstream politician over the Centre’s approach towards the Kashmir issue. Former Chief Minister and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah said the multi-fold increase in the number of pellet guns showed “that the present government had chosen not to learn any lessons from the recent unrest and the devastating effect of pellet guns when hundreds of young kids lost partial or complete eyesight.”
Adverse implications “The Peoples Democratic Party’s continued subservience to the BJP was alarming and could have long-lasting adverse implications on the State and its stability,” Mr. Abdullah said.
A policeman holds a pellet gun during clashes in the downtown area of Srinagar on Friday. NISSAR AHMAD Describing the move as a “grace concern”, Hurriyat faction chairman Syed Ali Geelani said: “The Indian authorities are hell-bent on muzzling voices. It illustrates arrogance. Unfortunately,
New Delhi looks at the Kashmir issue through the prism of law and order only.” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who heads another Hurriyat faction, said: “Stockpiling pellet shotguns or lethal
weapons or packages cannot make the people of Kashmir give up their basic political demand”. “Kashmir is a disputed territory. Instead of looking at ways and means to maintain status quo, it would be in the best interest of all parties involved in the Kashmir dispute to resolve it in accordance with the peoples’ wishes,” said the Mirwaiz. A New Dehi-based newspaper had reported that the CRPF was “planning to procure 4,000 pellet guns this year to deal with demonstrations during counter-insurgency operations”. At present, there are only 640 pump-action guns in the Valley.
10,000 injured During the five-month-long street protests in 2016, over 10,000 people were injured, mainly due to pellets. Around 1,000 were hit in the eyes. At least 10 civilians died due to pellet injuries.
Curfew was imposed in the city following clashes over an objectionable video, allegedly circulated by two students. Curfew was imposed on Thursday night but was relaxed for three hours on Friday evening as the situation remained under control, District Magistrate Akashdeep told reporters here. Curfew, however, will remain in force during the night, he said. The tension gripped the city after the video, which allegedly hurt religious sentiments, went viral on social media, said the DM adding curfew had to be imposed on Thursday night and people were asked to stay indoors to maintain peace and the law and order. As the situation remained under control on Friday, the restrictions were relaxed from 3 p.m.
to 6 p.m., he said, while making an appeal to the people to keep calm and do not pay attention to rumours.
Two arrested The city police swung into action promptly and arrested the two students who had allegedly circulated the objectionable video. The police later produced them before the which remanded them to judicial custody. Despite the prompt action by the police, the protests started on roads on Thursday evening and markets were closed in panic. The DM along with SP Manoj Kumar Jha visited some vulnerable areas of the city and urged people to keep calm. But, as reports of clashes and firing were received on Thursday evening, indefinite curfew was imposed. Mr. Akashdeep said a person was reportedly in-
jured in the clash, but he is out of danger.
Police deployed Zonal IG A Satish Ganesh and DIG Pravin Kumar rushed to Kheri late in the night and reviewed the situation in troubled areas where heavy police force has been deployed. Divisional Commissioner Bhuvanesh Kumar, who too was camping in the city, said the situation is under control. A peace committee meeting with members of both communities, officebearers of all major political parties, vyapar mandal leaders was held at the Collectorate in which Commissioner, IG, DIG, DM and SP invited opinions and complaints from people and sought their active cooperation to restore peace and harmony. In the meeting, the IG promised to take prompt and effective action against the objectionable video.
NEW DELHI
Suspended principal secretary in Chhattisgarh government B. L. Agrawal and one of his associates were on Friday sent to judicial custody by a special court in connection with a bribery case. Besides Mr. Agrawal, special judge Virender Kumar Goyal also remanded the officer’s relative Anand Agarwal in 14-day judicial custody. PTI
Indo-Nepal border sealed a day before UP polls MAHRAJGANJ (UP)
The Indo-Nepal border has been sealed, 24 hours before polling in the sixth of the seven phased Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls begins on Saturday. Cameras have been installed on trade and transit points along India’s border with Nepal to prevent illegal movement of people during polling. PTI
Infertility rumour sparks panic in Haryana district
Prajapati case: victim’s kin alleges death threat
Video claiming State government’s vaccination drive is harmful goes viral on social media Ashok Kumar
mours were soon scotched with the cooperation of panchayat members and the students returned to the school. “But the rumours spread to other schools in the area as well,” he said.
Gurugram
Panic gripped parts of the Muslim-dominated Nuh district on Friday after a video went viral on social media alleging that the government’s vaccination drive in schools would cause infertility. The video claimed it was a RSS conspiracy. The rumours, which originated in Path Khori village, spread like wild fire in schools of Nagina and Punhana in the district. Parents rushed to the schools to bring back their wards. “It all started after a woman in Path Khori village got
Children leaving school in Nuh.
a call from her male relative warning her against the vaccination drive. She went to school to bring her child back.
EDUCATIONAL
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Other students in the school then rushed to their homes,” said District Education Officer Dinesh Shastri. Mr Shastri said the ru-
Many schools affected Nuh Deputy Commissioner Mani Ram Sharma confirmed that several schools in Punhana were impacted. “The message spread through WhatsApp and Facebook. I got calls from at least half-a-dozen villages. But we countered the rumours through the community radio and panchay-
EDUCATIONAL
ats and the situation was brought under control,” he said. Mr Sharma said it seemed to be the handiwork of quacks to derail the vaccination programme as their business had been adversely impacted. “We administer medicine to school children every Monday as part of the government’s Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation programme and also give injections to pregnant women suffering from lack of haemoglobin to fight the high infant mortality rate,” he said.
Threat to kill in fake encounter by cop Staff Reporter New Delhi
A relative of the woman who was allegedly raped by UP Minister Gayatri Prajapati and his aides has alleged that a U.P. police officer, who had come to AIIMS to record the victim’s statement, has threatened to kill them in a fake encounter. In a complaint filed at the Hauz Khas police station, the relative alleged that on Thursday a DSP rank officer barged into their ward at AIIMS where the victim’s 16year-old daughter is admit-
EDUCATIONAL
ted, and threatened them after snatching their mobile phones. The victim’s daughter, who was also allegedly sexually assaulted by the Minister, is undergoing treatment in a restricted ward at AIIMS. “The lady officer pushed the girl, who is undergoing treatment, and pestered the mother to record the statement. When we objected, the officer threatened to get us killed in a fake encounter,” alleged the complainant, who claimed to be a cousin of the victim.
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IN BRIEF
Centre dithers on Western Ghats issue States have forced the MoEF to consistently delay imposing Ecological Sensitive Area restrictions Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Gopal Ansal fails to get immediate relief in SC NEW DELHI
Real estate baron Gopal Ansal yet again failed to get immediate relief on Friday from the Supreme Court which said it would order listing of his appeal on March 6 in the Uphaar fire tragedy case. Gopal has sought relief that he should not be asked to serve one-year jail term, like his elder brother Sushil Ansal, in the case of 1997 fire tragedy in which 59 people were killed. PTI
Two charred to death in Arunachal ire ITANAGAR
Two women were charred to death and ive others sustained injuries in a ire that broke out at Dirang in West Kameng district. The deceased have been identiied as Chogymu and Ngawang Choden, an oicial statement said. - PTI
Aadhaar must for midday meal cooks, students
The Environment Ministry has dithered, for the second time in three years, from bringing into force a law that will make about 56,825 sqkm of the ecologically-rich Western Ghats out of bounds for industrial development. On February 27, the government resuscitated a draft notification that was first published in March 2014 that specified how much land in various coastal States encompassing the Western Ghats would be earmarked as practically-inviolate. Because it wasn’t made into a final law — thanks to objections from States — this lapsed in a year and a half and on September 2015, a fresh draft notification with the same numbers was reintroduced. This too would expire on March 4. The reiterated February notification — open to public
A ile photo of the Western Ghats in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. K. MURALI KUMAR comment for 60 days — allows the Centre to create an Ecological Sensitive Area (ESA) in the Western Ghats (WG), a 1,500 km, ecologically-rich strip along the west coast spanning Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Regions declared as the ESA will not be allowed to host mining and quarrying pro-
Javadekar takes a dig at Javed Akhtar
NEW DELHI
Cook-cum-helpers working under the midday meal scheme as well as the student beneiciaries will now be required to have an Aadhaar card to avail the facility with the HRD Ministry mandating the same. The move, aimed at improving eiciency and transparency, comes after a push from the Centre to link the Aadhaar number with subsidy schemes related to school education. PTI
Custody death: father of boy seeks neutral probe RUDRAPUR
The father of a 16-year-old boy, who allegedly committed suicide at a police outpost in Udhamsingh Nagar , has demanded a probe by a neutral agency to investigate the “cover up” of his son’s “murder” by the Uttarakhand police. Mohammad Yamin, father of Ziauddin who was found hanging in side outpost, said he had no hope of justice from Uttarakhand police. - PTI
Criticises poet’s tweet on sportspersons Special Correspondent CHENNAI
Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday took a dig at poet Javed Akhtar’s comments on sportspersons, saying illiterate intelligence was more effective than educated incapacity. The Minister was referring to the controversy over a social media campaign by DU student Gurmehar Kaur against the violence outside Ramjas College. Wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt, Geeta Phogat, Babita Phogat, Mahavir Phogat and cricketer Virender Sehwag were among those who criticised her stand. “Today, we are discussing illiteracy. Recently in our country, someone called our sportspersons illiterate and half-literate. Illiteracy is a stigma; it is in the thoughts
of some people ... That is why some important people have called our sportspersons semi-literate, half-literate and illiterate.” Mr. Javadekar was speaking at the inaugural session of the Rotary South Asia Literacy Summit at the Chennai Trade Centre. One of the many placards held by Ms. Kaur in her video, which said, “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him,”was singled out for criticism. Mr. Sehwag tweeted a picture of himself holding a placard which said, “I didn’t score two triple centuries, my bat did.” In response, Mr. Akhtar tweeted on February 28: “If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr its understandable but whats (sic.) wrong with some educated folks.”
jects and building thermal power plants.
Gadgil committee Ever since a committee headed by ecologist Madhav Gadgil recommended in 2011 that all of the Western Ghats be declared as the ESA — with only limited development allowed in graded zones— States have forced
the Centre to consistently delay imposing the ESA restrictions. A committee headed by K. Kasturirangan, former ISRO chairman, recommended that only about 60,000 sq km — or about 37% of the WG and a significant reduction from that of the Gadgil committee — be declared as ESA. Kerala managed to get this down to about 56,825 sqkm after widespread protests and an all-party resolution in the State forced the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to exclude 3,117 sqkm of settlements and agricultural land in the State from the ESA. Last week, the Chief Secretary of the State wrote to the MoEF that a further 887 sqkm of non-forest land be reduced.
Fresh representation Multiple officials in the MoEF told The Hindu that the 2017 notification, though
technically open to public comment only for 60 days, would not automatically become law after that period. On the contrary, it paved the way for fresh representation from States on how much area could be demarcated as the ESA. “There has been no response from Tamil Nadu so far and next month we are even planning to discuss if there should be State-specific limits at all,” said an official privy to proceedings. “We have to be sensitive to the needs of development as well as conserving the pristine nature of the WG,” the official said. Union Environment Minister Anil Dave is expected to have fresh meetings with States on the issue next month. Another source familiar with the matter said a draft notification allowed the government 545 days to decide on taking a final call.
Dalit thinker Kirwale murdered in Kolhapur The incident has sent shock waves across Maharashtra Shoumojit Banerjee PUNE
The murder of noted Ambedkarite thinker Dr. Krishna Kirwale, in his home in western Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district on Friday, has sent shock waves across Maharashtra. He was 62 years old. According to reports, Dr. Kirwale, a former professor at Kolhapur’s Shivaji University and head of the Marathi language department, was found stabbed to death in his bungalow in the MHADA colony in the city’s Rajendranagar area, where he lived with his wife, said police, who reached the spot late afternoon. According to a senior officer, the prima facie cause of the killing appears to be a trivial issue, which may have involved non-payment for
Krishna Kirwale
some household items on the part of the retired professor. Nothing definite has yet been ascertained and investigations are in progress. The area has been sealed off. A large number of activists from various Ambedkarite parties gathered soon as news of the murder spread. Demanding a probe into Dr. Kirwale’s murder, the Republican Party of India (A)
leader Ramdas Athawale said that the culprits must be brought to book with a speedy investigation. Dr. Kirwale, who also headed the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Centre for Research and Development, was noted as a firebrand progressive cast firmly in the Ambedkarite mould. His writings expounding Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy and the literature of the Dalit movement were widely respected and highly acclaimed. Some were often used as standard references in their field. His unexpected death, and its grisly nature, stunned his former students, many of whom expressed their respect and admiration for their teacher as an Ambedkarite whose writings galvanised them.
Kumar Bangarappa quits Congress Decides to join Bharatiya Janata Party Special Correspondent BENGALURU
Former Minister and actor Kumar Bangarappa, son of former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, quit the Congress on Friday and announced his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on March 9, with his supporters. Mr. Bangarappa cited the “suffocating” atmosphere in the Congress as the reason for his decision.
‘Have been sidelined’ Attributing his move to pressure from party workers from the Sorab constituency, he said he had been sidelined since 2004. District in-charge Minister Kagodu Thimmappa was practising “vendetta politics,” he said. This is not the first time Mr. Bangarappa has quit the
Kumar Bangarappa
Congress. In 2003, he quit the party, following his father’s footsteps, and joined the BJP. However, he returned to the Congress soon due to the “suffocating” atmosphere in the BJP. Mr. Bangarappa, who has had an association with the Congress for two decades, served as Minister for Minor Irrigation and Municipal Administration (Independent) in the S.M. Krishna government.
RSS sacks leader for remark against Kerala CM Chandravat withdraws statement Press Trust of India Ujjain/New Delhi
RSS leader Kundan Chandravat, who had announced a bounty of ₹1 crore for beheading Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, retracted his statement late on Thursday after it drew condemnation from various quarters, including the Sangh. RSS Madhya Pradesh State head Prakash Shastri issued orders for Mr. Chandravat’s removal from all Sangh posts. “Chandravat’s controversial statement has created a
wrong impression about the Sangh. He has been removed from all posts,” Mr. Shastri said in a letter on Friday. Mr. Chandravat, RSS Sah Prachar Pramukh in Ujjain, claimed he got some phone calls from Kerala threatening to kill him and was being targeted on social media. “I was pained on the issue of murders of Swayamsevaks and therefore made an emotional statement. I retract it [statement] and express my regret,” Mr. Chandravat said in a statement.
Low MR vaccine coverage in TN a worry Only about 50% of children aged 9 months to 15 years have been covered so far R. Prasad CHENNAI
Only about 50% of children aged nine months to 15 years in Tamil Nadu have been vaccinated by the measlesrubella (MR) combination vaccine since the campaign was launched. Unless and otherwise the vaccination coverage is increased to over 90%, there is a high possibility that the State would witness more rubella infections among older age groups. This would, in turn, lead to an increase in the number of newborns with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) — hearing impairments, eye and heart defects and brain damage — when women get infected with rubella virus during the early stages of pregnancy. “When the rubella childhood immunisation coverage in communities is suboptimal, there will more number of CRS cases than before as the infection shifts to an older age group. This is called the paradoxical increase in CRS,” says Dr. Jacob John, who is co-chairman of the India Expert Advisory
Group for measles and rubella. “There will be fewer CRS cases initially (one-three years) after immunisation. But in four-five years, as the infection shifts to an older age group, there will be more CRS cases than before.” “In order to avoid this we need high coverage during both the campaign and the universal immunisation programme (UIP),” he says. There is a compulsion that the UIP becomes more efficient than before. “The national average for immunisation coverage is 72%. The country and the States have been stagnating. It’s a tall order that all States achieve above 95% coverage. This is an unprecedented requirement for UIP,” says Dr. John. “The measles-rubella vaccination coverage in Goa is over 90%. In the case of Karnataka it is 87-88%. Tamil Nadu is struggling at 50%,” says Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner — Immunisation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
about vaccine safety we would have already seen it by now. But we have not seen any. So the vaccine is safe and the fear is unfounded,” stresses Dr. Haldar.
There is a need to increase the vaccination coverage
“Karnataka has been able to handle the crisis of misinformation about the safety of the combination vaccine by adopting several strategies, while Tamil Nadu has been struggling.” As a result, the duration of the campaign in Tamil Nadu was extended by 15 days to cover more children in the nine months to 15 years age group.
‘Vaccine is safe’ “Of the 35 million children targeted in the five States [Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Goa and Lakshadweep] we have already vaccinated 23 million children. If there were any concerns
Major epidemic Greece and Brazil witnessed the paradoxical increase in CRS due to shift of age distribution of rubella cases. In 1993, a “major rubella epidemic took place [in Greece] affecting women of childbearing age at a rate higher than in previous years,” says a 1999 paper in the BMJ. Following the rubella epidemic, Greece saw the largest number of babies born with CRS. In Greece, during the later 1970s and the 1980s, rubella vaccination coverage remained “consistently” below 50% and did not reach 5060% before 1990. As a result, the proportion of pregnant women susceptible to rubella showed a steady increase — from 12% in 1971-75 to 24% in 1984-89 to 36% in 1990-91. “In 1993, the mean age of patients with rubella was 17 years and 64% were 15 years or older,” says the paper.
Manipal varsity to advance holidays
Ph.D. admissions issue lares up again
Cites water scarcity as the reason
Osmania students protest on campus
Ganesh Prabhu Manipal
Severe water scarcity has forced Manipal University to declare its semester holidays a fortnight earlier this time. The coastal district of Udupi, which normally receives heavy rain during monsoon, has been declared drought-hit this year. Usually, the semester for technical and other courses, including engineering, business management, communication, architecture, and commerce, closes by May CM YK
20. This time, the semester for some of these courses will close by April-end. But the next semester, which usually starts in August, will start in the first or second week of July.
Unaffected However, the semester calendar of the medical courses will remain unaffected. By closing the semesters early, the university will be able to ensure proper water supply to its hospitals here.
Special Correspondent HYDERABAD
The Ph.D. admissions issue in Osmania University flared up again with a section of students calling for bandh on Friday demanding that admissions be taken up again, citing anomalies. The group supporting the bandh call closed all the departments in Arts Colleges and sent students and faculty out. Senior officials in OU said the students are demanding
that all those who qualified in the last OU Ph.D. Eligibility Test held in 2014 be admitted as they had waited for nearly five years for fresh admissions. However, the varsity is expressing its inability stating UGC norms were clear that not more than eight students can be allotted to each guide and the first preference has to be given to candidates who clear the Junior Research Fellowship and National Eligibility Test followed by the State Eligibility Test. ND-ND
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THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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War, state and martyrdom In a democracy, national security functions cannot be shielded from critical public scrutiny
Crossing a bridge
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ven in the fraught and volatile framework of India-Pakistan ties, the Permanent Indus Commission mandated to implement the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has met like clockwork, 112 times in 56 years, annually in each country. The commission has experts who look into issues and disputes on the ground over the utilisation of the waters of six rivers of the Indus system. Under the treaty, India has full use of the three “eastern” rivers (Beas, Ravi, Sutlej), while Pakistan has control over the three “western” rivers (Indus, Chenab, Jhelum), although India is given rights to use these partially as well for certain purposes. As a result, there should be little to comment in the normal course when India accepts Pakistan’s invitation to the next round of talks, as it has for the Permanent Indus Commission in Lahore later this month. The move is welcome, as it denotes India’s commitment to the treaty that has stood the test of time and war, and also displays New Delhi’s sincerity on the issue of watersharing, given that the IWT is seen to be a model in dispute management. In September last year, doubts had been raised over India’s commitment after the terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri, killing 19 soldiers. In the days that followed, senior oicials announced the suspension of talks until there was an “atmosphere free of terror” after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a review meeting on the treaty to consider retaliatory measures against Pakistan for the attack, saying, “blood and water cannot go together”. Mr. Modi repeated some of those angry sentiments at public rallies where he said India would not allow even a “drop of water” to go waste into Pakistan. The atmosphere was also charged after the government announced “surgical strikes” had been carried out along the Line of Control and subsequently pulled out from the SAARC summit in Pakistan, leading to fears of a freeze in bilateral ties. In the event, the government has chosen wisely, with some encouragement from the World Bank and persistence by Pakistan, to step back from much of that rhetoric, and allow IWT commissioners from both countries to meet. The decision follows several other moves between India and Pakistan in the past few weeks indicating a softening of positions on some other issues as well: from a marked reduction in LoC iring, the regular annual exchange of nuclear lists, the release of prisoners by both countries, and India being part of the consensus to elect the Pakistani nominee as the SAARC Secretary-General this week. It would be premature to expect that any of these events, some of which are routine, consolidate a thaw in relat↓ions between the two countries. However, they reairm the high stakes that are woven into India-Pakistan relations, and the need to keep certain issues such as water-sharing above the politics of the moment.
Moscow’s shadow The Russia angle continues to trip members of the Trump administration
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ess than three weeks after the resignation of Michael Flynn, U.S. President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, over failure to disclose contact with Russian oicials, Attorney General Jef Sessions is now staring down the barrel of similar allegations, intensifying a storm that the White House was already struggling to cope with. This week Mr. Sessions faced three distinct, serious questions regarding his conduct in this context. First, did he have an undisclosed meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, in September? Second, if he did make such contact with Russian oicials, was there not a conlict of interest in the Attorney General overseeing an investigation into Russia’s alleged attempts to inluence the November 8 presidential elections? Third, did he then perjure himself during his conirmation hearing in the Senate when he appeared to fudge a direct question about contact with Russian oicials? The irst and second questions have already been answered — investigations by the Washington Post revealed that Mr. Sessions and two senior aides met with Mr. Kislyak in his Senate oice on September 8, about a month before the Obama administration accused the Russian government of interfering with the U.S. election process and three months before it ejected 35 Russians diplomats from their U.S. posts and slapped sanctions on Moscow. Under immense pressure from Democrats on Capitol Hill, on Thursday Mr. Sessions recused himself from the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the election. They must now wait for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, which Mr. Sessions heads, to get details on the nature of contact that Russian oicials had with Mr. Sessions, Mr. Flynn, and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, White House adviser Jared Kushner. The law enforcement machinery must then determine whether U.S. national security was in any way compromised by those interactions. The third question regarding whether Mr. Sessions lied under oath to Congress about his meetings, a potential felony under U.S. law, may make his continuance in oice uncertain. The combined weight of the conversations that he and other Trump team members had with those oicials makes Moscow’s ingerprint on American politics hard to ignore. This saga leaves a heavy question hanging over the sovereignty of U.S. foreign policy in the days ahead. President Trump, who’s come to oice on an “America First” battle cry, will struggle yet more to counter the allegations of Kremlin’s hand covertly inluencing policy. The denouement matters immensely to the outcomes in Syria, the future of the embattled European Union, and across an increasingly multipolar world.
CM YK
happymon jacob
mid the ongoing commotion triggered by arrogant and puritanical claims about nationalism and patriotism, the words of Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student whose online video of May 2016 has suddenly become a needless controversy, come across as profoundly wise and humane. Ms. Kaur’s moving and thoughtful statement — “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him... I ight for peace between India and Pakistan. Because if there was no war between us, my father would still be here” — has, however, not gone down well with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and certain celebrities, among others. Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home, suggested that someone was “polluting this young girl’s mind”, which was soon supported by his party colleague and MP Pratap Simha with an equally disgraceful tweet. Statements by these two leaders and their supporters have displayed an appalling lack of nuance about the larger import and context of what Ms. Kaur was referring to when she said that it was war that killed her father. Such a ‘nationalist’ backlash against thoughtful comments should make us wonder if indeed war is proitable to some sections of society, and hence preferable to peace. In a more fundamental sense, the prevailing understating of the nation state as “father”, “mother”, etc. has de-historicised and reiied the true nature and context of the modern state, thereby condoning the many atrocities committed by states around the world. There is therefore a need to ‘de-anthropo-
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Role of violence Modern states not only monopolise and organise violence, but more importantly, violence has played a central role in their historical evolution. War-making and the use of force are intrinsic to the modern state, and this deepseated tendency of the state should be constantly mediated by popular resistance, reasoned debates and peace-building, lest those tendencies run amok. Nation states are not sentient beings to be revered, but entities often controlled by powerful interest groups, whose power and control should be constantly checked and interrogated. Moreover, war is not always, as many of us believe, an undesirable evil thrust upon us by ‘immoral’ outsiders, but often something that our politicians and governments create through their actions and engage in for their own selish political and other interests. As historian Charles Tilly reminds us, “Governments themselves commonly simulate, stimulate, or even fabricate threats of external war.” The argument here is not that we should do away with states altogether or that armed forces should be disbanded. But rather that the state’s so-called national security functions cannot be allowed to continue unquestionably, without critical public scrutiny. Notwithstanding Mr. Rijiju’s advice that “we should stop this habit of raising doubt, questioning the authorities and the police,” we must make it a habit to question the security claims and functions of our state: for our own good. States routinely use wars, or as Ms. Kaur puts it, “state-sponsored hatred”, for domestic political ends. Sometimes as diversionary war tactic — to divert our attention from domestic turmoil such as economic slowdown or rising unemployment — and sometimes for
political ends like how the BJP cleverly used the ‘surgical strikes’ for electoral purposes, while advising others not to do so. The sharp spike in ceaseire violations in the Jammu sector during the Jammu and Kashmir election in 2014 is yet another example. As a matter of fact, ceaseire violations, terror attacks and military casualties have considerably increased ever since the BJP government has come to power: would it not be logical then to argue that the BJP’s political inability to make peace in Kashmir and negotiate the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan has become costly for the country? World over today, the link between conlict and huge costs to the economy is well understood. The ‘nationalist war-mongering’ by the BJP and its supporters often sounds like a ‘protection racket’, one in which many national security threats are imagined, often created by its own actions, disagreements to its national security discourse are castigated as anti-national, and then political beneits are made from the resultant turmoil. Then there are deep-running business interests such as politically connected promoters of the defence industry who stand to beneit from conlict and war.
Myth of martyrdom As a nation, we must value the sacriices our soldiers make by serving in diicult conditions and even getting killed in action. And yet, cloaking their deaths in the hyper-gloriied paraphernalia of martyrdom
is often a convenient excuse for waging wars, and not undertaking the diicult task of conlict resolution. Government reports and popular narratives typically talk of soldiers, even villagers on the border, embracing martyrdom when they get killed in iring, mine blasts and even vehicle accidents. How does a villager who had absolutely no intention of dying achieve martyrdom when he gets killed in iring between the two armies? The hype around martyrdom and the talk about giving a beitting response to the other side are often used as convenient excuses to not take adequate measures for resolving conlicts which cost lives in the irst place: why worry about the not-so-easy process of conlict resolution when soldiers are willing to be ‘martyred’, and they or their family won’t complain as doing so would be an insult to ‘Bharat Mata’ or the result of a ‘polluted mind’? The talk of martyrdom is also misleading because it shrouds the sheer unnecessity of premature death in momentary glory, thereby diminishing the importance of a soldier’s life. The life of a soldier is worth far more than the monetary compensation or the honour of ‘shahadat’. Furthermore, it makes the rest of us, civilians, view it as their unavoidable fate: “Why join the military if you are not willing to die?” But why do they have to die if, as Ms. Kaur asked, we can “talk to each other and get the job done”? Why do societies have to “brainwash” (I use this word upon considerable relection) youngsters to die so that others can live peacefully? Young soldiers’ lives are no less expendable than ours, and that’s precisely why we should not let the ruling classes, who have historically beneitted from wars and conlicts, glorify wars. The talk of martyrdom not only justiies getting our youngsters killed but also killing others, who are victims of similar circumstances across the border. When proudly, and even
hearteningly, counting the kills on the Pakistani side becomes a national pastime, we must know there is something wrong with our society. Let’s make it somewhat simpler for politicians such as Mr. Rijiju who take igurative expressions such as ‘Bharat ka namak’ too seriously. Devoid of cheap populism, Bharat is a modern state that requires better institutions, better leadership, and innovative tools for conlict resolution, none of which the BJP seems to be interested in. Problematising the concept of martyrdom is not about dishonouring our soldiers but emphasising that their lives are as sacred as ours.
Double standards BJP leaders are adept at using ‘our soldiers and their sacriices’ for their political ends, but when one of them (like the Border Security Force soldier, Tej Bahadur) or their relatives (like Ms. Kaur) decide to speak out, BJP leaders cry foul. Is that not a bit too convenient? It is increasingly becoming evident that the BJP is merely concerned about using ‘our jawans’ for its political ends: beneath such rhetoric, it is hardly concerned about their welfare (such as providing good working conditions), or ensuring that the country’s national security is robust (institutionally and materially) or resolving the conlicts that kill our soldiers. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lahore to make peace with Pakistan (after years of accusing the Congress party of being soft on Pakistan), BJP leaders hailed it as innovative diplomacy, but when people like Ms. Kaur call for making peace with Pakistan, BJP leaders suggest they have ‘polluted minds’. This is a classic deinition of a politically convenient double standard. Happymon Jacob teaches Disarmament and National Security at the School of International Studies, JNU
The road to China is through Kabul New possibilities on regional cooperation are emerging, which India should not hesitate to explore
Harsh V. Pant
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fghanistan has again emerged as a platform providing new possibilities on the IndiaChina cooperation front. After the restructured ‘Strategic dialogue’ between India and China last week, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said: “On Afghanistan, they certainly seem to suggest to us that their approach and policies are in tandem with us, not on diferent page.” The strategic dialogue, which was divided into ive subgroups of which Afghanistan was one, focussed signiicantly on the country. China expressed admiration for India’s developmental work in Afghanistan amidst a broader understanding that New Delhi and Beijing need to strengthen the government in Kabul. This development comes against a backdrop of the growing threat of the Islamic State (IS) to China. The
IS released a video this week of Chinese Uighur Muslims vowing to return home and “shed blood like rivers” even as the Chinese military displayed its military might as a show of force in Xinjiang. A rattled China is calling for greater global cooperation against the IS, which is also a reason why China has joined ranks with Russia in a bid to engage the Taliban in Afghanistan. China has for years blamed exiled Uighur “separatists” for violence in Xinjiang and has warned of the militants’ potential to link up with global jihadist groups. It is worried about the spillover efect of continuing instability in Afghanistan. The impact of Afghanistan’s destabilisation will be felt not only in Kashmir but also in Xinjiang where the East Turkistan Islamic Movement is active. Moreover, China’s mega investment plans in Pakistan are predicated on a measure of regional stability. With the Donald Trump administration yet to clarify its position on Afghanistan, and with it looking unlikely to add more American troops to the depleting reserves of Western forces in the country, it is not sur-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Thaw in relations The fact that India has agreed to attend a meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission in Lahore on the Indus Waters Treaty and the selection of a Pakistani oicial as Secretary-General of SAARC are hopeful signs of relations improving between India and Pakistan (“India to attend Lahore meet on Indus Waters Treaty” and “Key SAARC post for Pak. oicial”, March 3). It is time to begin a new chapter with our neighbour, even while it is important to keep vigilance on the border. India should start this new chapter by relaxing visa rules for ordinary Pakistani citizens coming into India. Hopefully, Pakistan will reciprocate this gesture. New border trade posts should be opened and sports and cultural exchanges should commence gradually.
But there remain some fundamental divergences in Sino-Indian positions on Afghanistan and broader counterterrorism postures. Just last December, Mr. Jaishankar said that India and China were not able to “cooperate as effectively” as they should in countering terrorism. His statement had come in the wake of China putting on hold the inclusion of JeM chief Masood Azhar’s name in the United Nation’s list of global terrorists. Even after last week’s strategic dialogue, the Foreign Secretary was careful to underline the diferences. On the Taliban, for example, he suggested that “their [China’s] characterisation was that there were elements of Taliban which are very extreme. In their view there were also elements of Taliban that can work with international community and Afghan government.”
For long, India sought to include Afghanistan in its discussions with China on counterterrorism. The Sino-India counter-terrorism dialogue was initially viewed as a promising bilateral initiative for dealing with terrorism. But nothing of consequence emerged from these dialogues. For India, the main source of terrorism is Pakistan where the state machinery continues to view terrorism as a legitimate tool of national policy. For China, Pakistan is an important asset in its South Asia policy and an allweather friend. As a consequence, where New Delhi had, somewhat audaciously, expected to make common cause with Beijing vis-a-vis Islamabad and Rawalpindi, there was only disappointment at the out-
Koushik H.R.,
for inal pension settlement, LPG subsidy and even for a temple darshan! (“Rlys. to make Aadhaar mandatory”, March 3). It appears that the dual standards of political parties have no bounds and the BJP is no exception.
Bengaluru
Kshirasagara Balaji Rao,
Chandrawat’s speech, in which he declared a bounty on the Kerala Chief Minister’s head, was disgusting (“RSS leader’s remark on Pinarayi draws lak”, March 3). The political discourse in India is touching a new low every day. Only a couple of days back, a Minister encouraged a crowd to attack the Prime Minister’s photo. Such comments have unfortunately become par for the course in Indian politics. From communal slurs, to gender-insensitive and casteist remarks, to personal insults, it’s become a free-for-all. We are supposed to be a mature democracy. We often talk about cleaning up politics, but we must also speak about the importance of the language of discourse.
were peaceful is appreciable. Our country needs more such mature peaceful movements that challenge the decisions of governments that are not in the public interest.
P. Arihanth,
Politics of Aadhaar
Secunderabad
Before it came to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party had called the Aadhaar scheme a “fraud”. It promised to review it once the party came to power. But after coming to power, it has made Aadhaar mandatory
Victory for civil society
Bengaluru
This is a great story about the success of a movement by the people (“Karnataka drops steel lyover project”, March 3). That the protests
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Kundan
Divergences on Afghanistan
come of these dialogues. But as concerns started rising in the region about the consequences of the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2014, China reached out to India. This too couldn’t go far as China continued to emphasise that its relationship with Pakistan was far more important than a regional approach on terrorism with India. In this context, New Delhi should not expect Beijing to change its Afghanistan policy signiicantly to suit Indian interests. The road to stability in Kabul lies through Rawalpindi, and China has few incentives to challenge the Pakistani security establishment’s traditional adversarial mindset visà-vis India that continues to look at Afghanistan for some chimerical ‘strategic depth’. But the fact that China is interested in working with India on Afghanistan suggests that new possibilities on regional cooperation are emerging, which India should not hesitate to explore. Harsh V. Pant is Professor at King's College, London and Head of Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
Letters emailed to
[email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
D.B.N. Murthy,
Sorry state of discourse
prising that China is keen to engage India, the one country that has built a reservoir of goodwill in Afghanistan and has demonstrated some ability to deliver concrete results on the ground.
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO
India has done the right thing by deciding to attend the Indus Waters Treaty meet
NISSAR AHMAD
morphise’ the nation state to gain insights into its historically appropriate character.
Hyderabad
I am a proud Bengalurian today and I congratulate the people for their sustained campaign against the steel lyover project. I also appreciate the State government for its decision to cancel the project. At a time of drought, and before a harsh summer, the fact that a city has prevented around 800 trees from being felled is some comfort. ■
S. Arjun Prasanna, Bengaluru
Unrest on campuses This refers to the views put forth by Professor Aswini Mohapatra (“Are our campuses under siege?” March 3). By going back to some mythical past to deine his version of Bharatvarsha, the author exposes himself to a lot of uncomfortable questions. Who are the people who occupied this land? Did they all practise the same religion? Did they all speak variants of the same language? How far back do you go to deine Indian identity? According to some historians, the subcontinent was originally inhabited by native tribes who spoke languages of the Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and TibetoBurman families and not by
the dominant strain that now claims to be truly Indian. Even the example he quotes of Ram and Ramaswamy is only partly true. There are innumerable names of people in Tamil Nadu that have no North Indian equivalent. Just one example will suice to prove my point: Pugazhendy. As for the physical boundaries of this mythical land, what do you include and what do you leave out? Do you include Afghanistan because it was part of the Gandhara province of Ashoka’s Mauryan empire? By the same token, do you leave out South India and large parts of the Northeast because they were not part
of this empire? To avoid such problems, one has to start with the most recently created and internationally accepted entity — independent India — and the Constitution. In fact, perhaps unwittingly, while spelling out the nature of the constructivist model of the Western historical perspective of nationalism, the author has spilled the beans on the methodology being used by the present political dispensation — the use of narratives based on selective manipulation of facts by the political elite for mobilisation and capture of state power. S. Bhashyam, Bengaluru
more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
corrections & clarifications: >>Penicillin mould created by Fleming sells for ₹ 97.5 lakh” , read a Life page story (March 3, 2017) headline. The igure ₹ 97.5 lakh — which was there in the text as well — was erroneous. It should have been ₹ 9.75 lakh. It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signiicant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:
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THE HINDU
GROUND ZERO 7
NOIDA/DELHI
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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Ear to the ground Can a village, with its speciic caste complexity, local dynamics and cross-pollination of allegiances, hold pointers to the rest of the State during election season? Smita Gupta reports from Kalan in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district as the 7-phased Assembly elections draw to an end on March 8 The sprawling village of Kalan is set in 1,200 bighas of fertile land in the southeastern corner of Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district. An early spring sun filters through the trees onto the ruins of Somit Pratap Singh’s hereditary home. He is supervising the building of his new home, as the mountain of bricks before which he sits suggests. Somit has just completed his MSc from the Shri Vishwanath Degree College nearby and hopes to become a primary school teacher, once the Assembly elections conclude and recruitment is resumed. Three days before polling in the Kadipur Assembly constituency (February 27), in which this village falls, we talk about the electoral prospects of the parties in the fray. It’s BJP versus BSP here, he says confidently. His vote, like that of his fellow Thakurs, will go to the kamal ka phool (lotus, the BJP symbol). He suddenly rushes off and returns with a large notebook, flips it open and shows me a family tree he has drawn up painstakingly. It goes back two centuries. “It’s important that future generations know who their ancestors were,” he stresses.
The Thakurs, BJP loyalists Indeed, pride in their heritage is a recurring theme with the Thakurs who dominate the village politically, own the largest tracts of land, and are patrons of education. Kalan has many shortcomings, but it has an array of educational options in its immediate vicinity from the government school and degree college to the swish Shivbrat Children’s Academy and an engineering college: it ensures that virtually every child here is getting an education. The last named is administered by Uma Shankar Singh, the former pradhan of Kalan, who studied at Mumbai’s K.C. College and the Mafatlal Institute before embarking on a 25-year-long career in textile quality control that included a stint at Subbu Textiles in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district. Rajendra Bahadur Singh, a primary school teacher in a neighbouring village, claims his family’s arrival in these parts predates Rana Pratap — a Thakur icon — who ruled in the sixteenth century. His ancestors, he says, came as horse traders from Amer in Rajasthan, overthrew the Rajbhars who were the local rulers at the time and settled down in the village of Khanpur Pilai, less than five km from Kalan. “Today,” he proclaims proudly, “Our clan of Kachwaha Thakurs is spread over 52 villages and the Rajbhars work on our land. But we don’t have any social relations with them.”
cycle is looking at its < > The community, the elephant at its community. We are trying something new: we’ll vote for the kamal (lotus). Motinath
It’s a given that Rajendra and his family, including his elder brother who holds a PhD in sociology from Lucknow University and has done research work at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, will vote BJP. “It is the only nationalist party — all educated people will vote for Narendra Modi,” he says. And then he adds, “This time, the Rajbhars, who are traditional BSP supporters and even voted for the party in 2014, have shifted to the BJP.” The reason? A brand-new Rajbhar party, the Bharatiya Samaj Party, that takes its inspiration from Raja Suhel Dev, ironically enough the Rajbhar king who was defeated by the Thakurs, has allied itself with the BJP this time.
Rajbhars shifting right? In Kalan, the Rajbhars, an OBC community, are numerically larger than the Thakurs but, barring the Musahars (earlier rat catchers but now landless labourers), are the poorest in the village. Its members largely live below the poverty line. A handful are marginal cultivators not even growing enough to feed their families, while the vast majority are landless labourers here. The Rajbhar quarter in the village is a tongue of land surrounded on three sides by lush green fields of paddy and mustard. But most of it belongs to another OBC community, the Badhais, traditionally makers of agricultural tools, but whose secondary occupation is cultivation. The crowded mud hovels in which the Rajbhars live are a far cry from the well-lit havelis and whitewashed bungalows of the Thakurs, equipped with modern conveniences. Some have laid out their string beds outside their homes. To protect themselves from the elements and the mosquitoes, they have opened out used fertiliser bags and stitched them into mosquito net-like canopies for their beds. “Our ancestors left us no land,” says Sanichara sadly, “so we work on the lands of the Thakurs and the Badhais.” Rajpati and Mala join in the conversation to complain they have the “lal rang ka card” (BPL card) but don’t get any of the welfare benefits that others seem to enjoy. “No one cares whether we are alive or dead,” says Mala. “We have no proper drains or toilets, and a kucha (unpaved) road leads to our dwellings.” Her nephew, Munna, is a mason who CM YK
Appraising the vote: “In Kalan, numerically there are roughly the same number of Dalit families as there are Thakur households, adding to their sense of power.” Susheela Devi (far right) stands with her neighbours in the village. (Below) An old Thakur house. R.V. MOORTHY
has seen a bit of life outside the village. “Look at Bihar: have you seen the pitch (tarred) roads there?” he says enviously. “Here we were told that everyone with a red BPL card would get a free bulb, and pay ₹25 on electricity. But we are being made to pay ₹270.” In the hand-tomouth existence that they live, that makes a big hole in their meagre earnings. So has anyone come to seek your votes, I ask. Yes, says Rajpati, someone from the BSP. But when I ask who they are voting for, the women say, “Kono palan nahin (We haven’t decided yet).” Mala adds, “Jahan public jutegi wahan jayenge (Wherever the majority is going, we will follow).” Sanichara’s father-in-law, Motinath, with matted long hair and a straggly unkempt beard, is more forthcoming: “The cycle [the SP symbol] is looking at its community, the elephant [the BSP symbol] at its community. We are trying something new: we’ll vote for the kamal.” As I turn to leave, there is a surprise. Sanichara, Rajpati and Mala follow me. As soon as they are out of earshot distance from their menfolk, they grab my arm and whisper in my ear: “We like Mayawati: we have attended her rallies in the past. We are going to vote for her. Don’t you think that’s a good idea?”
Camp BSP: the Dalits If the Thakurs of Kalan have memories of military triumphs stretching over several centuries that gives them the selfconfidence to take on the challenges of life, the BSP phenomenon has empowered the Dalits over the last 25 years. Indeed, though Akbarpur, the birthplace of the socialist leader, Ram Manohar Lohia, is less than 40 km away, only old-timers in the village have fleeting memories of him, with a statue and a few educational institutions named after him there. Instead, with BSP founder Kanshi Ram making this region — of which Kalan is a part — one of his social laboratories, it is the BSP that continues to have influence here.
In Kalan, numerically too there are roughly the same number of Dalit families as there are Thakur households, adding to their sense of power. As I walk to the Dalit quarter, right at the heart of the village, this is immediately visible, especially among the women and the younger generation. Uneducated Dalits like Ramachal and his wife Usha are marginal farmers, who supplement their income by carrying bricks at building sites. But they have nothing left at the end of the month. Ramachal’s ailing father gets a pension, but that’s about it. They complain about notebandi (the demonetisation exercise) and are a bit subdued, but their eldest child, Sonu, who is in Class XI at the local government school, is not. He says he wants to be an engine driver and see the world. His mother butts in to say sourly, “Where will we get the money for the bribe?” But Sonu remains cool and instead explains the Pythagorean theorem with aplomb — a tribute both to him and the school where he studies. At 17, he doesn’t have a vote but clearly takes an interest in politics, for it is he who says that his parents will vote for the elephant. “Behenji [BSP chief Mayawati] ran a very good government and the BSP is our party. We are all elephants,” Sonu stresses. Like Sonu, one of their neighbours, Sunita Devi, who works at an Anganwadi, has her own world view. An attractive young married woman, she is the mother of three little girls, and has studied till Class X. “Modi had said ghar ghar sauchalaya [a toilet in every house], but we have no toilets yet,” she says. “We will vote for Behenji because she gives the most benefits. When my eldest child was born, she was in power and the government gave ₹1 lakh insur-
grown-up sons are < > Our considering Akhilesh Yadav because he has given cycles and laptops. Meera
home and crying,” she says. If the Dalit women are committed Mayawati supporters, some of the men are considering other options. Ramprakash, a bus conductor who earns ₹4,000 a month, says, “We are haathiwalen but it’s not necessary that we will all vote BSP. Modi has done some good work: let’s try him once.” His fiery young wife, Shashikala, and their neighbour, Meera, turn on him: “Rubbish! He has done nothing. We women at any rate will vote BSP.” And then comes another surprise. Meera says, “Our grown-up sons are considering another option — Akhilesh Yadav [of the SP], because he has given cycles and laptops.”
ance for the baby. When my daughter turns 18, I can use the accrued money for her marriage.” I tell Sunita I had heard that a BJP representative visited the Dalit quarter, and ask her what she thinks of the Prime Minister. “Yes, Rajesh Kumar [a BJP activist] came here and said, vote for kamal ka phool. I told him we are haathi [elephant] people, so forget about it.” And then she takes off on the Central government: “I was expecting my third child last November and had gone to my parents’ home in Azamgarh district. Thanks to notebandi, my parents had such a tough time raising the ₹5,000 for me to have the child at a private hospital.” So what does she expect of the Prime Minister? “When we choose a Prime Minister, we do it in the hope that he creates a harmonious atmosphere, and works for the welfare of all the people. Then everyone will be happy. We don’t expect notebandi — everyone sitting at
The split backward vote But Mayawati has other admirers among the backward castes. In Kalan, there are half-a-dozen homes of the Lohars, traditional blacksmiths, but who have now turned to carpentry, with many moving to Mumbai. The Lohars have some land, but it is not enough to feed them. Saroja Surajlal Vishwakarma, the young daughter-in-law of one Lohar household, is an ardent Modi admirer. But her aunt-inlaw, Parvati, who lives in Mumbai and is here on vacation, hates the Prime Minister. She had to pawn her jewellery to get her husband treated after demonetisation devastated their carpentry business. “Someone who begs for your votes should not oppress you. Life was best for women under Mayawati. I have been to her rallies,” she says firmly. But not all communities who vote BSP have been empowered. Take Kalan’s only Musahar family. Ram Chander, his two brothers, and his wife Lakshmina, who suffers from a nervous disorder, live on the edge of the village. Three decades back, they lived in a small room in the nearby kasba, and would travel to Kalan for work. One day, a Thakur said that he would give them a piece of land in exchange for which they would have to make sal leaf pattals (plates) and clear away the soiled plates. Now no one eats from those plates and they do odd jobs to eke out an existence. They also have a little stall on the main road where they sell chewable tobacco, potato crisps and toffees. If the Lohars are divided, another backward caste, the Chaurasias, traditional betel growers and a community that has social relations with the Thakurs, are firmly with the BJP. Kalan’s current pradhan Bimla Devi was away in Mumbai to attend to her husband Chottey Lal, who is admitted in a hospital there after he sustained a heart attack. They have a thriving betel leaf and motor parts business in that city. That is evident from the imposing three-storey house they are building in the village, with tiered, carved balconies that curve around the structure. Their younger son, Krishna, who has a BSc degree, is standing in for his mother. He reels off all the improvements he has made to the village — drains, roads, electricity — and says he hopes to contest the seat when it is dereserved. His elder brother Mukesh, who is going to sit for the entrance exams for a government job, and he are both BJP supporters. Mukesh says he
“Behenji [BSP chief Mayawati] < > ran a very good government and the BSP is our party. We are all elephants. sonu
likes the BJP but wishes the party would not try and divide society — also he makes it clear that reservation for OBCs must continue. But Krishna likes the party for its anti-Muslim stance: “They tease our girls in Muslim-dominated areas and the SP gives them protection,” he says, adding, “I want Yogi Adityanath to be Chief Minister.” In Kalan, however, the Muslims are a miniscule minority, no more than six families, two of whom live on one edge of the village. But the two — related to each other — have quarrelled over land, and a wall separates their homes. Tabassum is a young widow. She and her daughter live with her mother and sister-in-law. They have no land, so her brother who works in Mumbai sends home money to support them. “My daughter, Saina Bano, has friends at the private school she attends, but none in the village.” For much of the year, they live in splendid isolation: “Most people don’t know we are Muslims, so we go and play Holi,” she says and then adds, “We invite people for Bakrid.” Yes, she will vote, she says. “I hear people are voting for Mayawati. I’ll do the same.”
Akhilesh’s Yadavs? The Yadavs in Kalan are predictably supporters of the SP: they are largely educated and financially on a stable footing. Sangeeta, a young housewife who also works at an Anganwadi, lives in a joint family. Her brother-in-law Rajesh has an MA degree and is looking for a job. But the family has enough land to not only to feed itself but also sell in the open market. Everyone here says they are voting SP, but it is the younger members who answer the difficult questions. The cherubic-looking Saurabh is only 16, but clearly sharper than his elders: when I ask the family what they have to say about the Yadavs cornering all the benefits, it is he who responds, measuring his words carefully: “Do only OBCs walk on the roads or benefit from the ambulances and police vans? Are they the only ones who get pensions? Yes, there may be many Yadavs in the police and forces because we are a martial people. But the bureaucracy is dominated by Kayasthas and Brahmins. Why not talk about that?” And then Saurabh springs a surprise. He will be of voting age by 2019 and he says: “I am very impressed by Modi’s personality. I think many in my family will vote BJP in 2019.” His uncles demur but he has let the cat out of the bag. After SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav came to power, through the 1990s and the 2000s, political power helped the Yadavs prosper materially and enter the middle class. Their aspirations have changed and many no longer wish to be associated with a party associated with lathi-wielding musclemen. If the advent of the polished Akhilesh Yadav has held them back, the results of the current elections could well determine the future voting patterns of the community. ND-ND
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8 NEWS
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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FROM PAGE ONE
Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal irks China The former official signalled that China was likely to reciprocate in the western sector, which includes the disputed Aksai Chin, if India demonstrated flexibility along the eastern boundary. “If the Indian side takes care of China’s concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India’s concerns elsewhere,” he observed. The “eastern sector” dispute is over territory south of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh, which includes Tawang. The McMahon Line was the result of the 1914 Simla Convention, between British India and Tibet, and was rejected by China. Referring specifically to Tawang, Mr. Dai underscored that the “disputed territory in the eastern sector of the China-India boundary, including
Tawang, is inalienable from China’s Tibet in terms of cultural background and administrative jurisdiction.” “From the perspective of international law, the Simla Accord, as well as the ‘McMahon Line’ which it created, are not only unfair and illegitimate, but also illegal and invalid,” he observed. Mr. Dai highlighted that an Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, that was signed in 2005 has been “fundamental” in advancing the boundary talks. He said that this agreement pinpointed that the two countries should make “meaningful and mutually acceptable adjustments to their respective positions on the boundary question in order to reach a package settlement.”
Budget leaked, says Kerala Opposition The budget ‘leak’ amounted to a major constitutional lapse, the Opposition charged and wanted the presentation of a fresh one under a new Finance Minister. The UDF also met the Speaker seeking his intervention in the matter since the budget papers were the property of the House and it was the responsibility of the government to protect their sanctity. The Opposition came up with its charge when the Finance Minister was almost two hours into his speech and reached paragraph 230 of his rather lengthy 148page text. Mr. Chennithala alleged that the finer details of the Finance Minister’s speech were circulating in the social media even before he had delivered the contents. The allegations momentarily led to all-round bewilderment, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan promising to look into the matter since he was not privy to the developments. The Finance Minister too
made a similar statement, but this did not satisfy the UDF members who initially trooped into the well of the House, but later announced the boycott of the rest of the Budget speech on the ground that the exercise had lost its sanctity and there was no point in listening to it. Later Mr. Chennithala, with his Congress colleague V.D. Satheeshan, alleged that relevant portions of Dr. Isaac’s budget speech had been carried verbatim in regional papers also. “The budget has lost its sanctity. The leak is a reflection of the inefficiency of the government. Dr. Isaac should resign owning responsibility for it,” they said. Dr. Isaac, however, maintained that there was no leak in the classified budget papers. Only the highlights prepared for the benefit of presspersons had made their way into social media. He did not consider this as part of the budget papers along with other supplementary documents.
Civilian killed in grenade attack Two security personnel and a resident injured as militants throw grenade at CRPF patrol in Pulwama
Special Correspondent Peerzada Ashiq
Srinagar
Srinagar
One civilian was killed and four persons, including two security personnel, were injured when militants lobbed a grenade at a CRPF patrol vehicle at Muran Chowk, Pulwama, in south Kashmir on Friday afternoon. The grenade exploded near the vehicle even as local residents ran for cover. The police said the militants escaped in the ensuing melee. Two injured CRPF personnel and two civilians were immediately shifted to hospitals. However, a civilian, identified as Muhammad Ayoub Wani, a resident of Gusoo village, died. The death of the civilian sparked fresh protests in the area, with local residents hurling stones at the security personnel, who used tear smoke shells to disperse the restive crowd. Earlier, local shopkeepers downed shutters in protest against a series of arrests in Pulwama’s Ratnipora area on Thursday night. Police sources said around 20 youths were rounded up as part of investigations into the recent stone-pelting incidents.
Battle zone: Protesters throw stones at security personnel amid bursting of teargas shells during clashes in Srinagar on Friday. NISSAR AHMAD
India salutes you, Sushma tells Grillot
Apex court seeks Centre, MCI response on plea over NEET
Press Trust of India
Petition wants entrance test to be conducted in Urdu
Houston
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has sent a personal message to 24year-old Ian Grillot, who was injured while trying to intervene during a shooting in which an Indian techie was killed in Kansas, and wished him a speedy recovery. Indian Consul-General in Houston Anupam Ray met Mr. Grillot and his family on Thursday at the University of Kansas Hospital and handed over the message from Ms. Swaraj. “India salutes the heroism of Ian Grillot! Best wishes for speedy recovery,” Mr. Ray wished Mr. Grillot on behalf of the Minister and the people of India, according to a KSHBTV report.
India to train Myanmar Navy
SC takes govt. to task over farmer suicides
Special Correspondent
‘Compensation not the solution’
Press Trust of India New Delhi
A plea suggesting making Urdu as a medium for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2017, a common entrance test for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses across the country, on Friday led the Supreme Court to seek responses from the Centre and the Medical Council of India (MCI). “Issue notice,” a Bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R. Banumathi said while taking note of the petition filed by Student Islamic Organisation (SIO). The Bench also noted that the MCI was open to include any language as a medium for NEET if a request was
CM YK
Press Trust of India New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday expressed grave concern over farmers’ suicide due to indebtedness and crop failure and said it felt the government was going in a “wrong direction” in tackling the real problem. Asking the Centre to apprise it of the policy roadmap to address the burning issue, a Bench headed by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar said the issue of farmers’ suicide was of “extreme importance” and paying compensation to the families of such victims “post-facto” was not the real solution. “This issue is of extreme importance. Tentatively, we feel that you are going in a wrong direction. Farmers take loan from banks and when they are unable to repay, they commit suicide. The remedy to the problem is not to pay money to farmers after the suicide, but you should have schemes to prevent this. “Farmers’ suicides have been happening for so many decades and it is surprising that no action has been taken to address the causes behind suicides.” The Bench, also comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and S.K. Kaul, said “if the matter is moved on a right track, a lot can be achieved” and fixed the plea for further hearing on March 27. Additional Solicitor General P.S. Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, told the Bench that the government had initiated many schemes for farmers and the 2015
A ile photo of a farmers’ protest in Bathinda. PTI crop insurance scheme would drastically reduce such fateful incidents. The ASG said other schemes also needed to be strengthened to make farmers feel that the government would stand behind them in distress.
PIL petition The court was hearing the plea, filed by NGO ‘Citizens Resource and Action and Initiative’ on the plight of farmers in Gujarat and suicide committed by many there. The Bench had expanded the scope of the petition to the entire country. Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the NGO, said that government policies had been existing since long but the main issue was to implement the schemes on the ground. He also referred to the studies conducted by renowned agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan and eminent journalist P. Sainath on farmer suicides and suggested that they may also be asked to put forth their recommendations.
made to it concerned.
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States
CBSE, DCI get notice Besides the Centre and MCI, the court also issued notices to the Dental Council of India (DCI) and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and fixed the plea for further hearing on March 10. The counsel for the SIO informed the court that Maharashtra and Telangana have already apprised the MCI that Urdu be included as one of the medium for conducting NEET. Currently, NEET is being conducted in 10 languages — Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Bengali, Assamese, Telegu, Tamil and Kannada languages.
Earlier, the apex court had refused to give urgent hearing to the petition, filed through lawyers Parvez Dabas and Ravindra S. Garia, alleging that exclusion of Urdu as one of the languages in NEET exam to be held on May 7 was “arbitrary and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution”. “The decision to exclude Urdu was discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution,” it said. “The decision to exclude Urdu which is the sixth most spoken language of India, while including seventh most spoken language Gujarati, and 12th most spoken language Assamese is completely without any rationale basis,” it said.
Kashmir Valley’s self-styled faith healer, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat alias Gulzar Peer, has been released from jail after a Jammu court acquitted him of charges, including that of rape and molestation of minors. A division bench, comprising Justice Janak Raj Kotwal and Justice B.S Walia, while hearing the case earlier this week, observed: “The acquittal rendered by the learned trial court does not call for any interference by this court and this appeal [against the acquittal of Bhat by the State government] is therefore dismissed as without any merit.” Bhat was arrested on May 21, 2013 after four minor girls accused him of sexual exploitation at his Budgam seminary. He was first released from jail on February 12, 2015 following his acquittal. However, in the face of public anger, Bhat was taken into preventive custody. The court came down heavily on the J&K police for “miserably” failing to prove the case.
‘Indian spy’ will be booked, says Pak. Kulbhushan was held in Balochistan MUBASHIR ZAIDI KARACHI
Pakistan on Friday said a case was being registered against former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Yadav, arrested in the Balochistan province in March last year, and he would be prosecuted. Mr. Yadav may face death penalty, if convicted. Adviser to Prime Minister Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Friday told the Senate that a case was being prepared to prosecute ‘Indian spy’ Kulbhushan Yadav. “We have prepared an FIR and a case is in the process of registration to prosecute the Indian state actor for involvement in subversive and terrorist activities in Pakistan,” he told the Upper
House. The Adviser said Pakistan had also shared a dossier with the U.N. Secretary-General on the alleged Indian involvement in the internal affairs of Pakistan and in subversive and terrorist activities. He said the government was also examining the possibilities for sharing the dossier with other countries and world organisations.
Access denied Pakistan has denied access to Indian embassy officials despite repeated requests. Pakistani officials claimed that Mr. Yadav was working for the Indian spy agency RAW and involved in planning terror activities in the Balochistan province.
U.S. nixed India’s plea on reforms in medicine At WHO meet, New Delhi proposed discussion on ‘Access to Medicines’ report by UN panel Vidya Krishnan New Delhi
NEW DELHI
The Indian Navy will set up meteorological facilities and impart training to the Myanmar Navy. This was agreed upon during a recent visit of a Myanmar delegation to Kochi. Myanmar will soon send a proposal with its requirements. This fits into India’s overall effort to boost strategic cooperation under the ‘Act East’ policy and will help offset increasing Chinese presence in its neighbourhood. The three-member Myanmar Navy delegation was on a four-day visit to Kochi from February 26 to March 2. “The visit is primarily aimed at familiarising the officers with the Indian Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) operational/training facilities and exploring avenues for defence co-operation in the field,” the Navy said in a statement. The Navy said the delegation also called on the Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command (SNC), Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni, who “assured them all assistance in terms of training and setting up of meteorological facilities for the Myanmar Navy.” “He requested the delegation to send a proposal for the SNC to take up the same with higher authorities,” the Navy stated. As a prelude, the delegation was given a tour of the Indian Naval Meteorological and Analysis Centre (INMAC) as well as the School of Naval Oceanology and Meteorology (SNOM).
Court frees rape-accused ‘faith healer’
A month after the 140th World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Executive Board meeting, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response has revealed that the United States government had opposed including agenda items proposed by India, which aimed at reforming medical innovation that currently pump up drug prices to unaffordable levels. The Indian government — along with 11 South East Asian countries — had proposed a discussion on an ‘Access to Medicines’ report by the United Nations High Level Panel that had recommended reforms in the funding of biomedical research and development. However, the set of documents released by Knowledge Ecology International
(KEI), a not for profit organisation that gives technical advice to governments, reveals that both the United States and the WHO opposed including the proposal by India.
Email exchange An email exchange dated September 28, 2016, between Dr. Thomas Frieden, CDC Director and Vice-Chairman of the WHO EB, and Ambassador Jimmy Kolker, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sets out the position of the U.S. government, stating that, “Access to medicines (oppose proposal by India): The USG should be on the record opposing this proposal from India that seeks to take forward recommendations from in the U.N. Secretary General’s High
Level Panel on Access to Medicines report, which was released in September. We have serious concerns about the narrow mandate of the Panel and its recommendations ... ” The 11 member-states — Bangladesh, Bhutan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and TimorLeste — as well as Brazil, Iran, and South Africa sup-
ported the inclusion of the agenda item. The delays by WHO to place the UN HLP recommendations on the agenda of the WHO’s EB and subsequently at the World Health Assembly have drawn widespread criticism from Asian civil society organisations. “The U.N. report says there is a need for an RD treaty and it recommended reforms in the area of biomedical R&D. The U.S. government has a policy of blocking all reforms that would lead to funding the R&D system in a way that it prioritises diseases that kill millions of people in the developing world. The U.S. government is not just a member-state of WHO but also a big donor. This is consistent with the U.S. policy to pressure countries like India to
have more IP barriers while blocking all attempts at reforms,” said Leena Menghaney, lawyer and access campaigner.
Policy incoherence The U.N. Access to Medicines report had recommended solutions for remedying the policy incoherence between justifiable rights of inventors, trade rules and global public health targets. The report recommended that “governments and the private sector must refrain from explicit or implicit threats, tactics or strategies that undermine the right of WTO Members to use TRIPS flexibilities.” On March 1, India delivered a statement during WTO TRIPS Council discussions on the Access to Medicines report, urging member-states to discuss the report’s recommendations.
Guilt led to jawan’s suicide, says Army ‘He may have felt that he let down his superiors; media’s questioning of sahayak system also a reason’ Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Army on Friday issued a strong statement on the suicide of Lance Naik (L/Nk) Roy Mathew, observing that he likely took the extreme step due to media personnel asking him “leading questions” on the sahayak system and his “resultant guilt” in letting down his superiors. “Preliminary investigations have now revealed that the suicide may be the result of a series of events, which were triggered by media personnel managing to videograph the deceased by ask-
ing leading questions on his duties as a buddy without his knowledge. It is very likely that the guilt factor of letting down his superiors or conveying a false impression to an unknown individual, led him to take the extreme step,” the Army said in a statement.
Sting operation Online media portal The Quint had put out a video on February 24 based on a “sting” operation which featured L/Nk Mathew, posted as a sahayak at Devlali in Maharashtra, talking about the
February 25 and he had gone missing since. His wife said that he was under a lot of stress and was disturbed, but he did not tell her why, an Army officer said.
Lance Naik Roy Mathew
jobs they were made to do under the orderly system. Army sources said that he had last called his wife on
Declared AWOL “From February 25, this individual was declared Absent Without Leave (AWOL) and an apprehension roll was registered with the police as per existing orders on the subject, till his body was recovered from an abandoned barrack outside the unit lines in Devlali cantonment,” the Army stated.
The Army rejected reports of an inquiry being ordered against L/Nk Mathew following the video as, “the identities of the Army personnel involved in the clipping were hidden and thereby not known to the Army.” L/Nk Mathew’s body was found on Thursday after some Army personnel sensed a foul smell from the abandoned barracks. The Army has lodged a complaint with the local police and an internal inquiry has been ordered into the the circumstances leading to L/Nk Mathew’s death. ND-ND
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THE HINDU
NEWS 9
NOIDA/DELHI
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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IN BRIEF
INTERVIEW | AMIT SHAH
‘A tsunami of support for BJP in Uttar Pradesh’ Party president says BJP government under PM Modi has taken a series of initiatives and launched schemes to alleviate suferings of the poor ‘BJP has rebels and the tainted as candidates’ JAUNPUR
BSP president Mayawati on Friday attacked the BJP, saying its own cadre would teach its leaders a lesson for fielding ‘baagi’ (rebels) and ‘daagi’ (tainted) candidates in the U.P. elections. “The BJP has become a party of the baagi and daagi candidates. They have not given tickets to people of their own cadre but to those who joined them after leaving other parties...”, Ms. Mayawati said. PTI
EC orders FIR against BJP’s Manipur unit NEW DELHI
The Election Commission on Friday ordered registration of FIR against some oicebearers of the BJP’s Manipur unit and newspapers for publishing uncertiied advertisements ahead of the Assembly elections. In a directive to the State’s Chief Electoral Oicer, the Commission took cognisance of the said advertisements in newspapers published on Friday. Manipur’s irst phase of polling would be held on Saturday.
Govt., EC get SC deadline for debarring convicts
As the long seven-phase polls in Uttar Pradesh wind to a close, BJP president Amit Shah speaks to Nistula Hebbar on the elections so far, who the BJP’s rivals are and the impact of demonetisation…. Two-thirds of the election has gone by, which phase has been the best for you and how do you look at the next two phases?
All the five phases so far in the U.P. elections have seen massive support and largescale voting in favour of the BJP. The groundswell of support in these elections is stronger than the one seen during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when we got 73 of 80 seats. We are confident that when election results are announced on March 11, we will form the next government in the State with more than two-thirds majority. We expect that the support for the BJP, the huge development work by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and our blueprint for the
■
development of Uttar Pradesh will ensure that the tsunami of support for the party will decimate our rivals in the remaining two phases as well. What makes you so confident? Both the SP-Congress alliance and the BSP claim that they have outpaced you.
The last 15 years of SP and BSP rule have destroyed U.P., and India’s biggest State is still categorised as a BIMARU one. On the other hand, BJP-ruled States like M.P., Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Goa have gone way ahead on all parameters of development. These BJP-ruled States have 24-hour power while cities and villages in U.P. still have to face long power cuts despite abundant power generation in the country. Law and order has completely collapsed in U.P., and it is the number one State when it comes to ■
heinous crimes like murder and rape. People, whether it is men or women, feel unsafe. The present SP government has broken all previous corruption records. On the other hand, under the leadership of PM Modi, our government has taken a series of initiatives and launched several schemes to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and the marginalised; to name a few, the Ujwala gas connection to over 5.2 million poor women, electrification of 1464 villages, 3 crore Jandhan accounts and 20,000 crore low-interest Mudra loans etc. However, the inept and corrupt SP government has ensured that the benefits of many schemes do not reach the poor. But the people of U.P. have seen through the Akhilesh government’s machinations. They have decided to uproot the SP government and bring in a double engine government (same party rule at the Centre and the State) to
are conident < > We that we will form the next government in Uttar Pradesh Amit Shah BJP President
boost the development of Uttar Pradesh. In an interview to The Hindu, Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi said that demonetisation would hurt the chances of the BJP. How do you parry this assertion? ■ Perhaps, Rahulji is not aware about the string of election results that have come out in the last couple of months post-
demonetisation. The BJP has emerged victorious in each of these elections – be it civic poll in Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or the recently concluded civic polls in Maharashtra where we registered a huge victory by winning 8 out of 10 municipal corporations. In Odisha, we have given a serious challenge to Naveen Patnaik’s BJD government where we won an astounding 307 seats in panchayat elections, which is a nine-fold jump from only 36 seats in the 2012 elections. The BJP’s strong electoral performance in various parts of the country is a clear proof that people are firmly with the government’s demonetisation drive to rid the country of black money. Rahulji will get more proof in the coming days when the results for Assembly elections are announced. Further, the third quarter GDP growth at 7% shows that demonetisation did not
Divided loyalties in a 3-sided battle
NEW DELHI
The government and the Election Commission were on Friday granted the last chance by the Supreme Court to spell out their stand on a plea for debarring convicts from contesting polls for life. A Supreme Court Bench gave the Centre and the poll panel two weeks to file their responses to the petition, which also seeks them to fix minimum educational qualification and a maximum age limit for persons contesting elections. PTI
Exit polls on March 9, not 8: Poll panel NEW DELHI
The country will have to wait for one more day for the exit polls outcome as the Election Commission on Friday postponed their telecast to March 9 after elections to one seat each in U.P. and Uttarakhand were over. The last phase of polling in U.P. and Manipur was slated for March 8. But after the demise of two candidates, the EC ixed March 9 as the poll date in the two constituencies. PTI
Velingkar to dissolve rebel unit, rejoin RSS PANAJI
Former Goa RSS chief-turnedrebel Subhash Velingkar, whose outfit had contested Assembly polls against the ruling BJP last month, is set to “dissolve” his rebel unit, apparently to enable his supporters to rejoin the parent RSS. He has expressed desire to work as an ordinary ‘swayamsewak’ without any post in the RSS. This is not a merger (with the RSS) but dissolution, he said. PTI
impact the economy and belies the claims of the Opposition that demonetisation would hurt growth. I am sure that on March 11, your headline will be “BJP demonetises the Opposition in U.P.”. Why did the party take the call of not projecting a chief ministerial face and do you consider that to be an advantage or a disadvantage? ■ Every State has its own dynamics, character, and equation. We went into elections in States like Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand without a CM candidate and registered a comprehensive victory. The governments in these States have been performing very well. Being a cadre-based party, we have multiple leaders and workers who are more than capable of leading a State government.
How do you see the results of the U.P. elections impacting
national politics. ■ The U.P. election results will be yet another vote of confidence for the policies and vision of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre. The results will further strengthen the resolve of the Central government to work for the masses and deliver on the promises. The election results will also hasten the end of dynasty, caste and religion-based politics in the country.
As the election moves decisively to the east, which party is your principal opponent? You had said last May that you saw the SP as the party to beat, do you hold by that? ■ U.P. is a vast State and each constituency has its local factors influencing the choice of voters. Hence, our opponents differ from constituency to constituency. That said, we are contenders for the top position in each of the 403 seats.
‘Rivals to get electric shock after poll results’
U. P. votes in phase 6 today, and Mulayam’s Lok Sabha segment Azamgarh is the centre of attraction Omar Rashid BALLIA
Arvind Singh Thakur, a pharmacist who worked in Mumbai for a decade before returning to his native Ballia in 2012, is astounded by the “change” witnessed by Uttar Pradesh in the last five years. “Look, how fast the Lucknow Metro was built, and the six-lane highway. Road, rail and river — they are the three most essential elements required for economic development. If we have these, then we will not need to migrate in future,” says Mr. Thakur. He lavishes praise on Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, but in the same breath also calls Prime Minister Narendra Modi his “hero.” “If it was Mulayam versus Modi, I would have picked Modi,” says the 35-year-old. Mr. Thakur is eating batichokha (a popular Purvanchal snack) at a little stall in Rasra, one of the seven Assembly constituencies in Ballia. And as is common in this part of the country, his open views soon trigger a fullscale political discussion among those present. One of the most vocal is Arvind Prasad, a Baniya youth, also 35 years old, who feels that under the Akhilesh Yadav government, traders do not feel safe. “There is no guarantee. Anything can happen. Traders live in fear. When we dial the 100 helpline num-
Flag-bearers: BJP supporters during a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Ghosi constituency of Mou district recently. RAJEEV BHATT ber, the police do not reach on time,” says Mr. Prasad.
Slams ‘casteist’ politics Though he recalls the initial hard days caused by demonetisation, he lauds the decision, saying it should be carried out every ten years. As importantly, he dismisses the BJP’s opponents for their “casteist” politics. “The only person who can bring in development is Modi,” he says. The BSP’s supporters also chip in. Among them is Bhagwan Das, a Noniya Chauhan (backward caste) labourer. He is critical of the
Modi government for failing to fulfil its promises and strongly favours the BSP’s candidate and incumbent MLA Uma Kant Singh. “Each year, he organises marriages of poor girls, irrespective of their religion, and also helps the poor with cash,” says Bhagwan Das. Interestingly, the candidates supported by the above three respondents do not belong to their castes. If the SP has fielded a Brahmin, both the BSP and BJP have Thakurs. Though seat-wise equations may change, as reflec-
ted by the conversation at the bati-chokha stall in Rasra, things are poised for a three-way battle as U.P. votes in the sixth phase today, when 49 seats will go to the polls. Out of these, the SP holds a commanding 27, while the BSP has nine, the BJP seven, the Congress holds four, and other parties have the remaining two. As equations change, this time, the SP is contesting 40 seats while its ally Congress is fielding candidates in nine. The BJP is fighting on 45 seats, leaving the rest for its allies — if the Kurmi-based
Apna Dal is fighting one, on three seats the Rajbhardriven Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) will test its luck. The BSP is fighting all seats. At the focus of this phase is Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of Mulayam Singh, where the SP won nine out of 10 seats last time. Though CM Akhilesh Yadav held seven rallies on the same day in the district, his party appears to be on a sticky wicket in Azamgarh due to a number of factors, including dissatisfaction over ticket distribution and the disenchantment of Muslims. The family feud also weighs heavily as Mulayam himself shied away from campaigning. The BSP hopes to make huge dents in Azamgarh this time, with a smart selection of candidates, the support of the Rashtriya Ulema Council, and the induction of the Ansari brothers. The last two factors are expected to boost its vote among Muslims. The BJP, on the other hand, hopes to gain from its alliance with the SBSP, which has substantial clout among the Rajbhar community that is concentrated in many seats in this phase. Another highlight of this phase would be the fate of controversial Mau MLA Mukhtar Ansari, whose son Abbas is making his debut from Ghosi.
PM gives reply to Akhilesh’s jibe Press Trust of India Mirzapur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rivals, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress, would get “electric shocks” when the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are announced. Mr. Modi’s sharp riposte in Mirzapur came as a response to a remark made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who had
Narendra Modi addressing an election rally in Mirzapur on Friday. PTI asked the Prime Minister to “touch an electric wire” in order to see if current flowed through it.
Akhilesh junks claim of ISI role in train mishap ‘BJP seeks votes by misguiding people’ Press Trust of India Ghazipur
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday rubbished Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of ISI involvement in the Kanpur train accident and alleged that the BJP was used to seeking votes by misguiding people. “Our Railway Minister [Suresh Prabhu] could not take care of Kanpur tracks and gave a false report to the PM that the ISI had damaged the tracks. I want to say that the incident took
Akhilesh Yadav place in U.P. At least I should have been informed about this... But no information... no truth in it,” he said at an poll rally in Ghazipur.
Telugu Desam Party wins six MLC seats unopposed Elections reiterate party’s hold on constituencies Staff Reporter VIJAYAWADA
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won six seats in the Andhra Legislative Council, from the Local Authorities Constituencies, unopposed on Friday. The TDP bagged seats from Chittoor, East and West Godavari, Anantapur, and Srikakulam districts unanimously. A few independent candidates who filed their papers in Srikakulam, West Godavari and
Anantapur districts withdrew their candidature on the last day on Friday, paving the way for the unopposed election of the TDP nominees. Former Ministers Satrucharla Vijaya Rama Raju (Srikakulam), Chikkala Ramachandra Rao (East Godavari), sitting MLC Angara Ramamohan and Mantena Satyanarayana Raju (West Godavari), B Rajanarasimhulu alias Dorababu (Chittoor) and
Deepak Reddy (Anantapur) were declared elected unopposed as MLCs from the respective Local Authorities Constituencies, the Returning Officers announced. The opposition YSR Congress did not field its candidates in these LACs as it did not have adequate strength. The YSRC is locked in a contest with the TDP in SPS Nellore, Kurnool and Kadapa.
‘Exhume bodies for autopsy’ Press Trust of India Bilaspur
The Chhattisgarh High Court has ordered the State government to exhume the bodies of two tribals and re-conduct their post-mortem on a plea by their relatives alleging that the police killed them in a fake encounter by branding them as Naxals. “The single-judge bench of Justice Goutam Bhaduri delivered the order yesterday on a writ CM YK
petition (criminal) filed by the relatives of the deceased,” Amarnath Pandey, one of the lawyers of the petitioners, said on Friday. Relatives said Bheema Kadti, a native of Gampud village in Bijapur district, and his sister-in-law Sukhmati Hemla, had gone to a market in Kirandul in neighbouring Dantewada district on a bicycle on January 28, but they later received information that the two
were killed in a fake encounter. Mr. Pandey said the police had asked the relatives of the deceased to collect their bodies from Dantewada district hospital. However, the police had claimed the duo were Naxals and were killed in a gun fight on January 29. Subsequently, the relatives of the deceased filed the petition claiming they were not Naxals and that the encounter was staged, Mr. Pandey said. ND-ND
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ELSEWHERE
Trump slams ‘witch-hunt’ over Sessions’ Kremlin ties President says he has total conidence in Attorney General
Fillon’s spokesman quits campaign team PARIS
Francois Fillon’s bid for the French presidency suffered another blow on Friday as his spokesman, Thierry Solere (in photo), resigned from the campaign team. Mr. Solere’s departure was the latest in a series of defections related to pending corruption charges against Mr. Fillon. AP
Détente as Russia, NATO hold military talks MOSCOW
Senior Russian and NATO military chiefs on Friday held their first phone talks since ties between the two sides collapsed over the crisis in Ukraine, Kremlin said. The chairman of the NATO Military Committee Petr Pavel called Russia’s chief of staff Valery Gerasimov to discuss the possible restarting of military coordination. AFP
Turkey hits out after Germany cancels rallies ANKARA
Turkey on Friday accused Germany of scandalous behaviour in cancelling rallies of Turkish citizens in two German towns and said Berlin provided a “shelter” to those committing crimes against Ankara. The comments by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag reflected a broader souring of relations between the two NATO allies. REUTERS
Man held in U.S. for anti-Semitic threats NEW YORK
Juan Thompson, a former journalist fired for making up stories, is behind at least eight of the scores of threats made against Jewish institutions nationwide, and a bomb threat to New York’s Anti-Defamation League, in an effort to harass and vilify his former girlfriend. He was arrested by U.S. federal officials on Friday. AP
Agence France-Presse Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump accused Democrats late on Thursday of conducting a “witch-hunt” against Attorney General Jeff Sessions over contacts with Russia, as the veteran senator recused himself from any probe into the election campaign. Mr. Sessions’ announcement came as top Democrats demanded his resignation after it emerged he had met with Russia’s Ambassador during the presidential election campaign, as the White House moved to forestall a snowballing controversy over its ties to Moscow. Mr. Sessions denied any impropriety or that he lied about those encounters in his Senate confirmation hearing. The Attorney General told his confirmation hearing in January that he “did not have communications with the Russians” and did not know of any by other campaign staff. Mr. Sessions on Thursday clarified that his denial referred to contacts made on behalf of the campaign. He said he met Mr. Kislyak in his capacity as a Senator, and discussed mainly global politics with him. Mr. Trump declared his “total” confidence in Mr. Sessions — while adding that he “wasn’t aware” of contacts between Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Mr. Sessions, who was a Senator actively supporting Mr. Trump’s campaign at the time. He defended Mr. Sessions again in a statement late on Thursday, calling
BAGHDAD
Seven people, among them five children, have been hospitalised over the past two days near Iraq’s Mosul with injuries from chemical weapons, the Red Cross said on Friday. The Islamic State, which holds the majority of west Mosul, has periodically used rudimentary chemical weapons in the course of its more than two-year war with Iraqi forces. AFP
him an “honest man” and accusing Democrats of carrying out “a total witch hunt!” Mr. Sessions “did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately, but it was clearly not intentional”. Unswayed by Mr. Sessions’s account of events, top Democrats are maintaining their calls for him to step down immediately, accusing him of perjury.
Independent probe They also called for an independent prosecutor to investigate contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow, which U.S. intelligence says interfered in the election to hurt Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Adam Schiff, a Democratic ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, rejected Mr. Sessions’s claim that his contacts with Mr. Kislyak were unrelated to his work with the Trump campaign as “simply not credible”.
“In the midst of a Russian campaign aimed at undermining our election and as a highly visible proxy for candidate Trump, Sessions would have had to be extraordinarily naive or gullible to believe that the ambassador was seeking him out in his office for a discussion on military matters, and Sessions is neither,” he said in a statement. “I have come to the reluctant conclusion that the Attorney General should step down,” he said, echoing calls made earlier by top Democrats in both chambers of the Republican-controlled Congress. Mr. Trump has come under increasing pressure over Russia’s interference in the election. According to officials, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to investigate just how and how much Moscow intruded into U.S. politics, and whether that effort involved collusion between the Trump campaign and officials in the Kremlin.
Indian-origin girl racially abused in NY Press Trust of India New York
Chemical weapons injure 7 near Mosul: Red Cross
Public anger: People protest against Jef Sessions outside the Justice Department in Washington on Thursday. NYT
An Indian-origin girl in the U.S. has been allegedly racially abused by an AfricanAmerican man, who called her inappropriate names and yelled “get out of here” when she was travelling in a busy commuter train. Ekta Desai, who lives in New York, took a video of the incident that occurred on February 23. The video was then shared by a website ‘The Voice Raiser’ and has since then gone viral and viewed
by hundreds of thousands of people. In the video, the AfricanAmerican man is seen abusing the girl, saying words like “Freedom of speech” and “Black Power”. Using expletives, he tells her to “get out of here”. As the girl is recording the video, the man gets visibly angry and is seen shouting at her. “This man was on the same PATH train as me along with 100 other passengers, I had my headphones on and it was like any other day. Next thing I know he is
Sergey Kislyak — Moscow’s man in Washington
yelling on my face [Did not bother to listen/react],” Ms. Desai wrote on social media. Ms. Desai said she did not react to the man but he continued shouting and questioned as to why she was taking his photo and pictures. Ms. Desai said she reported the matter to the police, who allegedly said the man appears to be “emotionally unstable” and she should be careful. The incident comes close on the heels of the shooting in Kansas of Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
UN body slams Sri Lanka Rights chief urges Colombo to quickly deal with the horrors of its wartime past Agence France-Presse Geneva
Reports of abuses including torture remain widespread in Sri Lanka eight years after the end of a decades-long civil war, the UN said on Friday, criticising the government’s slow progress in addressing wartime crimes. Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena swept to power two years ago promising justice for the minority Tamil community and a full investigation into alleged atrocities committed under the leadership of his predecessor. But UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the island had made “worryingly slow” progress in addressing its wartime past, warning this could threaten lasting peace and stability. “I urge the government and people of Sri Lanka to prioritise justice alongside reconciliation to ensure that the horrors of the past are firmly dealt with, never to recur,” he said. His comments came in a new report in which the UN human rights office said the use of torture was “a serious concern”. It pointed to the island’s
Strong words: UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein at the Human Rights Council session last Monday. REUTERS own Human Rights Commission’s acknowledgement of complaints illustrating the “routine use of torture by the police throughout the country as a means of interrogation and investigation”. “The prevailing culture of impunity for perpetrating torture has undoubtedly contributed to this situation,” the report said.
Lapsed deadline At least 1,00,000 people died in the conflict between Tamil separatists and gov-
ernment forces that ended in 2009. The UN has been pushing for a special court to investigate allegations that government forces killed up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting. Mr. Sirisena had agreed to a UN Human Rights Council resolution in October 2015 which called for special tribunals and reparations for victims and gave Sri Lanka 18 months to establish credible investigations. But the deadline lapsed without those commitments
being met. The UN said coalition politics in the unity government Mr. Sirisena formed after ousting former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapaksa were likely to blame for the slow pace of progress. “Party politics, including the balancing of power between the different constituencies of the coalition in the run-up to constitutional reforms, have contributed to a reluctance to address difficult issues regarding accountability,” it said. On Monday, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera asked the UN for more time, promising that his country remained committed to seeking justice. “With patience, understanding and constant and consistent effort and perseverance, we strongly believe that we can make the reconciliation process a success,” he told the Human Rights Council. In its report, the UN urged the government to prioritise the return of private land occupied by the military, adopt laws allowing the creation of a hybrid court, and invite the UN rights office to establish a presence in the country.
‘U.S. needs trade deal with India’ Top Congressman says Washington trying to increase bilateral trade to $500 bn. retary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Friday.
Varghese K. George Washington
As the Donald Trump administration moves ahead with its plans to replace multinational trade treaties with bilateral ones, a senior lawmaker has called for an India-U.S. bilateral trade treaty. Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said India and the U.S agreed on liberalising trade further and a bilateral treaty could be the next step. Mr. Royce was speaking at a reception organised by Indian American investor Devendra Verma for a visiting delegation from Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi, a think thank earlier headed by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. “…we are trying to push the policies [to increase bilateral trade to $500 billion], and the Prime Minister is also trying to push these policies. So we need an ef-
Ed Royce
fective bilateral trade agreement treaty with India. We are pushing to liberalise trade further,” Mr. Royce, who had earlier on Thursday met Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, said. A bilateral trade treaty is among the topics of Mr. Jaishankar’s discussions with U.S. interlocutors, according to U.S. Congressional sources. The Foreign Secretary met U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday and was scheduled to meet Sec-
Moving fast The U.S. under Mr. Trump has already started exploring bilateral trade treaties with the U.K., Japan and Canada. “You will be shocked by the speed at which bilateral agreements begin to materialise,” Reuters had quoted an unnamed Trump adviser in January as saying. The U.S. has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was designed as a 12-country trade pact. Mr. Trump has also ordered to tweak the North America Free Trade Treaty (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. India is the ninth largest trading partner of the U.S and bilateral trade is largely guided by WTO rules. “If both governments move ahead with a bilateral trade agreement, we will support it,” Mukesh Aghi, president of the U.S-India Business Council, told The
Hindu. High technology trade is guided by strategic calculations, and is often a point of friction in bilateral ties. India’s request for unarmed Guardian drones for maritime surveillance was given a green signal by the Obama White House, but appears struck in the U.S bureaucracy. “I have been frustrated with the Defense and State Departments in terms of the sale of Guardian drones. This is going to be the next great thing of defence collaboration,” Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus, said during a discussion at Woodrow Wilson Centre, a Washington think tank. Mr. Warner and Republican Senator Dan Sullivan called for speeding up the process and enhancing defence trade between the two countries. Mr. Sullivan also called for joint military operations by India and the U.S. “in areas of common interest.”
Leader of JMB ofshoot arrested Reuters
Ambassador is known for cultivating powerful ties in U.S.
Dhaka
Neil Macfarquhar Peter Baker Washington
Sergey I. Kislyak, the longtime Russian Ambassador to the U.S., hosted a dazzling dinner in his three-story, beaux-arts mansion four blocks north of the White House to toast Michael A. McFaul just weeks before he took up his post as the U.S. envoy to Russia. It was, Mr. McFaul recalled, an “over-the-top, extraordinary dinner,” including five courses of Russian fusion cuisine for 50 seated guests. They were government officials intimately involved in formulating Russia policy for the Obama administration. “I admired the fact that he was trying to reach deep into our government to cultivate relations with all kinds of people,” Mr. McFaul said of the dinner in late 2011. Mr. Kislyak’s networking success has landed him at the centre of a sprawling controversy and made him the most prominent ambassador in Washington. Two advisers to President Donald Trump have run into trouble for not being more candid about contacts with Mr. Kislyak: Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign as National Security Adviser, and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who admitted two previously undisclosed conversations. A career diplomat raised in the Soviet era, Mr. Kislyak, CM YK
The eye of the storm: Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak (centre) at the U.S. Congress in Washington last Tuesday.
66, may seem an unlikely protagonist in such a drama. He has interacted with U.S. officials for decades and been a fixture on the Washington scene for the past nine years, jowly and cordial with an easy smile and fluent if accented English, yet a pugnacity in advocating Russia’s assertive policies. Invited to think tanks to discuss arms control, he would invariably offer an unapologetic defence of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and assail Americans for what he portrayed as their hypocrisy — then afterward approach a debating partner to suggest dinner. “Not all of us, myself included, initially appreciated his very tough, in-your-face style,” said Dimitri K. Simes, president of the Center for the National Interest and an advocate of closer RussianAmerican relations. “But we
AFP
gradually came to develop a grudging respect for him as someone who was really representing the positions of his country.” Mr. Simes introduced Kislyak to Mr. Trump in a receiving line last April at a foreign policy speech hosted by his Center at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. Mr. Kislyak was one of four ambassadors who sat in the front row for Mr. Trump’s speech. The Russian Embassy did not respond to an email on Thursday, but Mr. Kislyak defended engagements with U.S. officials last November, when he was asked during a speech at Stanford University. Mr. Kislyak echoed his government’s line that it was not involved in hacking. He said it was natural for diplomats to attend events such as political conventions and foreign policy speeches by candidates. NYT
Bangladeshi police have arrested the head of an Islamist militant group accused of inspiring followers to kill foreigners, the chief of the counter-terrorism unit said on Friday. Shaikh Mohammad Abul Kashem, who founded an offshoot of the larger Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh ( JMB) group, was picked up on Thursday night in the Senpara Parbata area here. Kashem worked alongside Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury and Nurul Islam Marjan, two men police accused of masterminding an attack on an upscale Dhaka cafe in July in which 22 people were killed, most of them foreigners, Monirul Islam, the counter- terrorism chief, said. “On the basis of a tip-off from a secret source, our force arrested him from the area when he was going to receive money that came through a mobile banking system,” Mr. Islam said. According to the police, Kashem, who wrote several jihadi books and headed a religious school in northern Bangladesh, taught followers of his group, called Neo JMB, that killing foreigners would ease their path to heaven. Since July, Bangladesh has arrested or killed several men accused of involvement in the cafe siege. ND-ND
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THE HINDU
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market watch 03-03-2017
% CHANGE
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 28,832 dd -0.03 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 66.81 dd -0.16 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,725 dd -0.92 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 55.41 dd -0.10
Services PMI in irst expansion since Oct.
Tata stresses group’s role in bringing social change
Survey shows recovery in sector post demonetisation
MUMBAI
Lauds capacity to think past business SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NIFTY 50 PRICE
CHANGE
ACC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1393.70. . . . . -14.15 Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296.35. . . . . . . . . 2.50 Ambuja Cements . . . . 225.40. . . . . . . -3.20 Asian Paints . . . . . . . . . . . . 1013.70. . . . . -15.05 Aurobindo Pharma . 674.90. . . . . . . . . 6.65 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512.90. . . . . . . . . 6.60 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2832.80. . . . . . . . . 0.75 Bank of Baroda . . . . . . . 159.95. . . . . . . -1.65 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . 356.15. . . . . . . -0.70 BHEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158.15. . . . . . . -0.05 Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21158.95. . . -449.30 BPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632.80. . . . . . . -2.35 Cipla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588.60. . . . . . . -0.65 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.25. . . . . . . -0.15 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . . 2871.10. . . . . . . . . 0.60 Eicher Motors . . . . . . . . . 23089.30. . . -359.65 GAIL (India) . . . . . . . . . . . . 520.25. . . . . . . 18.65 Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021.00. . . . . . . 25.90 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852.90. . . . . . . . . 9.15 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371.20. . . . . -27.80 HDFC Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1377.00. . . . . . . -3.10 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . . . 3272.85. . . . . . . 43.55 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198.55. . . . . . . . . 9.10 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . . 877.15. . . . . . . -0.35 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.95. . . . . . . -2.70 Idea Cellular . . . . . . . . . . . 110.55. . . . . . . . . 0.95 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . . 1299.20. . . . . . . -7.25 Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . . 307.90. . . . . . . 18.10 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1031.20. . . . . . . . . 7.90 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261.55. . . . . . . -3.20 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809.50. . . . . . . -6.65 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1470.35. . . . . . . -3.60 Lupin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1476.10. . . . . . . 15.20 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1322.05. . . . . . . -2.95 Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . . 5887.75. . . . . -31.00 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156.10. . . . . . . . . 0.15 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.05. . . . . . . . . 0.35 PowerGrid Corp . . . . . . 190.85. . . . . . . . . 1.10 Reliance Ind. . . . . . . . . . . . 1258.55. . . . . . . 21.80 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.05. . . . . . . -2.25 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . 686.45. . . . . . . 10.30 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . 459.95. . . . . . . -1.75 Tata Motors DVR . . . . 280.10. . . . . . . -2.45 Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.90. . . . . . . . . 0.85 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495.10. . . . . . . . . 0.45 TCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2494.05. . . . . . . -7.40 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . . . 503.70. . . . . . . . . 3.80 UltraTech Cement . . 3801.75. . . . . -16.05 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493.85. . . . . . . . . 3.65 YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1433.75. . . . . . . . . 9.05 Zee Entertainment . 503.00. . . . . . . . . 1.35
EXCHANGE RATES Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on March 03
TT BUY
CURRENCY
TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66.61. . . . . . . 66.93 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 70.21. . . . . . . 70.56 British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 81.44. . . . . . . 81.83 Japanese Yen (100) . . .. . 58.19. . . . . . . 58.47 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 9.66. . . . . . . . . 9.71 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.81. . . . . . . 66.14 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . .. . 47.06. . . . . . . 47.30 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . . .. . 49.65. . . . . . . 49.89 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . . .. . 14.95. . . . . . . 15.03 Source:Indian Bank
BULLION RATES
CHENNAI
March 03 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses
Bar Silver (1 kg) .- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . (44,100) Retail (1 g) . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 45.50. . . . (47.30) 24 ct gold (10 g). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (29,940) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . 2,823. . . . (2,842)
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI
The services sector expanded in February recovering from demonetisation-related disruption, according to a private survey. The Nikkei India Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.7 in February from 49.4 in January. A reading above 50 denotes an expansion in business activity while one below 50 implies a contraction. “The upturn in services activity follows news from the sister PMI survey showing factory production growing for the second straight month in February,” said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at IHS Markit and author of the report. “With demand conditions strengthening in India, new business inflows rose in both sectors, leading to the first increases in private sector new work and output since October 2016. Nevertheless, growth rates were mild at best and far from their historical averages.”
Demonetisation impact “The Nikkei India Services Business Activity Index signalled growth in February as businesses recovered from the demonetisation-related disruptions seen in each of the previous three months,” according to the report. The index fell to 46.7 in November, the month demonetisation was announced, the lowest it had been in almost three years. The index posted a tad higher reading of 46.8 in December but was still firmly depicting a contraction in business activity. “Having contracted for three months in a row, incoming new business also picked up in February,” IHS Markit said. “However, as was the case
Snapchat parent’s share sale raised $3.4 bn., the biggest tech IPO since Alibaba NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO
Green shoots: The expansion was mostly driven by ‘Financial Intermediation’ and ‘Other Services.’ GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
for output, the pace of growth in new work was marginal overall. Anecdotal evidence from survey participants suggested that, after being hampered by shortages of cash in the economy, demand for services in India improved.” This improvement in business activity and order inflows was mostly driven by the ‘Financial Intermediation’ and ‘Other Services’ category, according to the report with most of the other major heads seeing a decline. However, the report noted that the rate of contraction softened in all cases.
‘Less optimistic outlook’ “Other survey indicators painted a mixed picture of the service sector’s health,” the report said. “Respondents became less optimistic about the 12-month outlook
for activity, with sentiment falling since January as firms were concerned about market competition.” Looking at employment levels in the services sector, IHS Markit said the rate of job losses in February was only fractional. However, staffing levels decreased in the manufacturing sector, in comparison, it noted.
‘Sustainability doubtful’ “It is still too early to state that expansion rates will climb to their trend levels in the near term,” Ms. De Lima observed. “Companies remain reluctant to take on additional staff and confidence towards the 12-month outlook for output dipped to its secondlowest mark in over one year. These factors indicate that, so far, firms are doubtful about the sustainability of the economic recovery.”
Both irms are likely to approach the RBI within 15 days
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
India’s Tata Sons will split a dispute settlement payment of $1.18 billion owed to NTT DoCoMo over the Japanese firm’s exit from a telecoms joint venture, leaving it with about two-thirds of the amount to invest in India, a source said. Both companies may approach India’s central bank within 15 days with a plan that will offer to split the payment into two parts, the source, who has direct knowledge of the matter, said. While Tata Sons will pay the fair value of DoCoMo’s 26% stake outside India, or roughly $390 million according to Reuters calculations, the Japanese company would need to invest the balance of $790 million in India, either for expansion or other joint ventures, the
It is not clear how DoCoMo will use the money if the plan formalised.
source added. It was not immediately clear how DoCoMo would use the money if the plan were formalised. “DoCoMo at least gets control of the money and can use it for investment in India,” said the source, who requested anonymity, as the decision is not final. Another alternative could
tutional investors are not above quickly “flipping” a stock if they see an opportunity.
REUTERS
Air India moves head of operations
REUTERS
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Investors see Snap’s IPO ‘too big to fail’
Tata-DoCoMo truce may aid Japan irm invest $790 million NEW DELHI
Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts and former chairman of Tata Sons has commended the group’s employees for contributing to social change. “As one of the largest stakeholder communities for the Trusts, you as the Tata employees have played an important role in making
the legacy come alive and we hope that you are proud of our group’s capacity of thinking beyond business,” Mr. Tata wrote in a letter to the group. “It is this strength and intention that is reflected through the Trusts, in their vision and their work,” Mr. Tata said. Tata Trusts holds 66% stake in Tata Sons.
be that DoCoMo receives the entire payment in India and retains it for future investment instead of repatriating it, a second source close to Tata Sons said. Any deal is subject to the RBI’s approval. Tata Sons declined to comment. DoCoMo did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Tata Teleservices, a unit of salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Sons, and DoCoMo formed a telecoms partnership in 2009. In the event of an exit, that deal guaranteed DoCoMo the higher of either half its original investment, or its fair value. When DoCoMo decided to get out in 2014, Tata Sons was unable to find a buyer for the Japanese firm’s stake and offered to buy the stake itself, for half DoCoMo’s investment of $2.2 billion.
Institutional investors anxious not to be left out of this year’s marquee initial public offering helped Snap Inc pull off the biggest U.S.listed technology share sale this week since Chinese ecommerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holding Inc smashed records in 2014. Keen to boost returns and with a dearth of new stocks to buy, the IPO of a buzzy social media group was a “must-have” for money managers despite concerns about the company’s strategy, slowing user growth and lack of voting rights for new investors, sources familiar with the offer said. “Taking a piece of the company is almost a foregone conclusion,” said Evan Pondel, president of investor relations firm PondelWilkinson Inc.
Ardour for Snap Investors’ ardour for Snap shares — which rose almost 50% in its market debut on Thursday, giving it a market value of nearly $30 billion — bodes well for future tech IPOs. Although blockbuster names such as Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc are
Scarce supply: Snap ofered only 15% to investors, including retail investors and short-term hedge funds. AP
not expected to go public this year, there is a lineup of smaller technology companies preparing to list in the coming months that could benefit from residual investor enthusiasm, technology investors said. To ensure a successful market launch, Snap’s bankers deployed a common tactic on big tech IPOs: they limited supply. Snap offered only 15% of the company to investors, including retail investors and short-term hedge funds, sources familiar with the IPO strategy told
Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as the process is private. “All this concern about the number of users slowing down — a tech IPO of this sort has nothing to do with the business, nothing,” said Philippe Collard, founding partner at Yabusame Partners, which advises technology startups. “It has everything to do with a financial transaction where you create artificial demand. Hedge funds are famous for buying into an IPO only to sell shortly after, but insti-
One-year lockup However, a quarter of the new offer was subject to a one-year lockup, an unusual stipulation, limiting the amount of churn. Large actively managed mutual funds are among the most sought-after IPO investors because of their size and their tendency to hold stocks for longer. They develop strong ties to IPO underwriters by virtue of being prolific IPO investors and providing the banks’ brokerage business with trading fees. These funds are also under pressure to boost performance as investors redirect tens of billions of dollars each month into index-tracking funds, which cost less and over time have performed better. Fidelity Investments, BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Wellington Management began piling into pre-IPO tech companies in 2014, and both Fidelity and T. Rowe Price invested in Snap during a private funding round last year, positioning them to benefit from Thursday’s pop.
NEW DELHI
National carrier Air India has shunted out its controversial head of operations A.K. Kathpalia, replacing him with A.K. Govil in a top deck reshuffle announced on Friday. Last month, aviation regulator DGCA had suspended Mr. Kathpalia’s flying licence for three months for allegedly skipping the mandatory pre and post-flight alcohol test. Mr. Kathpalia, who is also a senior executive pilot at the airline, has been made as the new Executive Director for Special Projects, according to an official notification. Mr. Govil was earlier serving Air India as its ED, Inflight Services. As part of the exercise, the national carrier has also replaced its ED, Training A.S. Soman with Amitabh Singh, who has been elevated to the post of executive director.
Lamborghini unveils Aventador S at over ₹5 cr. Driver can select from among four driving options, including the EGO mode Special Correspondent MUMBAI
Automobili Lamborghini India has introduced Lamborghini Aventador S in India at an ex-showroom price of ₹5.01 crore. The sports car comes with redeveloped suspension, increased power and new driving dynamics, according to the company. “This next generation of the V12 Lamborghini flagship is for customers who appreciate the Italian attributes of our brand which is design and technological leadership,” said Sharad Agarwal, Head, Automobili Lamborghini India. The 12-cylinder, 6.5 litre engine provides an additional 40 HP output over its predecessor. Acceleration from 0-100 km/h can be reached in 2.9 seconds, with a top speed of 350 km/h, according to the company. CM YK
Top gun: The car can accelerate from 0-100 km/hour in 2.9 seconds, with a top speed of 350 km/hour. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT ND-ND
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12 BUSINESS
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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IN BRIEF
GST Council to meet on supplementary laws NEW DELHI
The GST Council will meet on Saturday to finalise supplementary legislations headed for Parliament, which reconvenes next week, so that the new regime is rolled out from July 1. The 11th meeting of the Council will discuss central GST (CGST), state GST (SGST), integrated GST (IGST) laws and finalise them. The officers’ committee from States and the Centre met on Friday to discuss the views of the law ministry, officials said. PTI
BSE speeds up corporate announcements system MUMBAI
Leading stock exchange BSE has set up a new corporate announcement iling system to provide speedy, timely and accurate information on listed companies to investors as well as news agencies. The new system, which has been made operational since March 1, will give out information round-the-clock and provide a irm’s iling time and BSE’s dissemination time for users to verify the delay between reporting and discourse. PTI
Malaysian fund sells 6% in Apollo Hospitals CHENNAI
Integrated Healthcare Holdings Ltd. (IHHL), an arm of Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah, has sold close to 6% stake in Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. in the open market for about ₹1,069.62 crore. As per NSE data, IHHL sold 84.39 lakh shares at ₹1,267.46 a share. DB International Asia Ltd. had picked up 39.26 lakh shares in the deal. At the end of the December quarter, the Khazanah arm owned 10.94% of Apollo Hospitals. The hospital chain’s shares declined more than 5% to ₹1,246 on the BSE.
CM YK
Pepsico India to focus on health products
BASF sets up €50 million innovation campus
Sustainability key to partnership with farmers, says CEO
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
K.T. Jagannathan Sanjay Vijayakumar CHENNAI
Improving farmers income, stepping up production of health products and protecting the operating ecosystem will remain key constituents of Pepsi’s business strategy in India, according to a top official of the company. In a free-wheeling interaction with The Hindu here on Friday, D. Shivakumar, CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Private Ltd., said, “we have nothing to do with PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a non-government organisation].” Asserting that Pepsi had been a partner of Indian farmers all along, he said sustainability had been a crucial component of its partnership with Indian farmers. Pointing to the technology support and extension programmes that Pepsi had been providing to potato growers in the country, he said the focus of the exercise was to touch the entire value chain – from input provision to facilitating financial support and product procurement. The resultant ecosystem, he said, helped farmers improve yield, get higher price and earn predictable income. Mr. Shivakumar said Pepsi would try to extend similar support to those cultivating crops such as mango. “Our effort is very much aligned to the country’s big need of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. We continue to invest into areas which are very important to farmers,” he said. Pepsi, he said, was working with close to 24,000 potato growers. “We have brought in Frito Lay variety of seeds into India. Farmers have a buy-back agreement with us, and their income
Clean water: Pepsi says it has helped improve access to drinking water for about four million people. AP have gone up by 35% over the last 2-3 years,” he added. Mr. Shivakumar asserted that “we are water positive.” In this context, he said, Pepsi had ‘given back’ 12.75 billion litres of water in 2015 alone through assorted conservation and replenishment initiatives. In Tamil Nadu, especially, Pepsi was water positive by 1.5 billion litres in 2015, he added. The three manufacturing facilities it had in Tamil Nadu provided direct jobs to 3,500 people. A release claimed that PepsiCo Foundation invested $17.6 million (close to ₹114 crore) between 2008-2016 for programmes related to WASH (Swacch Bharat) and improved access to clean drinking water, benefiting more than four million people across the country. “Tamil Nadu is one of the key markets from the point of our investments, brand
stature and community initiatives,” he said. His statement must be viewed in the context of a recent call for ban on sales of Pepsi and Coca Cola drinks in the state by local traders’ associations. Reinforcing the ‘3 P’ thrust (on people, product and planet), Mr. Shivakumar said Pepsi would fully fit into the Prime Minister’s “Make in India’” campaign even as it sought to transform its product portfolio to contain more health products. “We have a vision of this. And, we have a plan as well,” he said. Innovation and local tastes would be the focal point of this transformation, he said. All these would make Pepsi more than a carbonated soft drink. In this context, he asserted that the introduction of Quaker products would transform the way ‘breakfast’ was taken by the Indian people.
Union Bank to strengthen retail, MSME loan portfolio Push to infrastructure, housing to spur uptick, says CMD
MUMBAI
BASF Group inaugurated its new innovation campus in Mumbai with a total expected investment of up to €50 million from BASF Group, and marks the Group’s largest research and development (R&D) investment in South Asia. All global research operations at BASF Innovation Campus Asia Pacific (Mumbai) will be housed under BASF Chemicals India Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of BASF SE, according to a company statement. The new innovation campus will expand the company’s existing R&D activities in India to include global and regional research on a wide range of speciality chemicals and will cover personal and home care, process development, organic synthesis, crop protection among others. “A growing need for energy, food and clean water, limited resources, and a rising world population pose huge challenges. Innovations based on chemistry will enable new solutions,” said Dr. Martin Brudermueller, vice-chairman of the board, and chief technology officer. The Innovation Campus significantly expands BASF’s research capacities in India, established in 2005 and expanded in 2014 to cover agricultural research, organic synthesis, molecular modelling and advanced process research, the statement said. The new innovation campus includes laboratories for chemical synthesis, application and process development, as well as analytics. The campus can accommodate 300 scientists.
Special Correspondent CHENNAI
Union Bank of India will strengthen its loan portfolio under the retail, agriculture and MSME head to achieve its growth in advances, said a top official. For the year ended December 31, Union Bank’s share of loans to these sectors in domestic advances stood at 54.8% against 51.1% for the corresponding period a year earlier. This will increase to 60% in a year’s time. “Whatever the growth guidance we have given in the past three years in advances and deposits, we have achieved those numbers,” said Arun Tiwari, chairman and managing director, Union Bank. “We are on track and my growth will come from retail, agriculture and MSME,”
Arun Tiwari
he said. The bank’s non-performing assets continued to decline for the third straight quarter, he said, adding that core sector (steel, cement, power, ports and roads) accounted for 65% of such assets. According to him, steel was the hardest hit. However, he said road construction had improved from 8 km a day to 35 km per day. “In the last six months,
some positivity has been seen in the core segment. With the government’s push to infrastructure and ‘housing for all by 2022’ programme, there will be an uptick in consumption for steel and cement. Thus, we expect things to be back on track in a year,” he said. Historically, Union Bank has been in fifth position among its peers in total business, while it has moved to the number two slot in terms of profit after State Bank of India. “This compares with the fifth or sixth place in profits some years ago,” he said. Commenting on the performance of the Chennai zone, comprising Tamil Nadu and Kerala with 480 branches, he said 14 branches were loss making as against 49 branches a year earlier.
Australia wants India to be a ‘consistent buyer’ of its cotton The exporter ups the ante by ofering small quantities M. SOUNDARIYA PREETHA COIMBATORE
Australia, the fifth-largest exporter of cotton, is looking at India to emerge as a consistent and major buyer of the commodity. An eight-member delegation representing the Australian Cotton Shippers’ Association held meetings in Ludhiana, Mumbai, and Coimbatore between February 27 and March 3. “We came to promote and enhance the use of Australian cotton,” Matthew Bradd, chairman of Australian Cotton Shippers’ Association, told The Hindu
here on Thursday. “We want India to become a consistent buyer of our cotton.” Australia has close to 1,200 cotton growers and can supply even small quantities to India. China purchased more than 30% of Australia’s cotton production last year. However, this was lower than its usual purchase. “India is a big market for cotton and spinners in India said they have had good experience with Australian cotton,” he said. Hamish McIntyre, vicechairman of Cotton Australia and a member of the eight-
member delegation, said India used to purchase 5-7% of cotton produced in Australia every year. In 2016, it shot up to close to 23 % due to a drop in production in India. Indian textile mills can use Australian cotton as a blend to produce high-value garments. The area under cotton production was increasing in Australia, Mr. McIntyre said. K.N. Viswanathan, vicepresident of Indian Cotton Federation, said that Australia’s output was limited until last year. India is the largest producer and consumer of cotton globally.
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THE HINDU
SPORT 13
NOIDA/DELHI
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IN BRIEF
Hurting India hopes to make amends While Steve Smith & Co. will be on a high after Pune, they will only be too aware of the host’s ability to bounce back K.C. Vijaya Kumar Bengaluru
ITF turns down Aljaz Bedene’s appeal LONDON
Slovenian-born tennis player Aljaz Bedene has failed in his latest attempt to overturn his ban from playing for adopted nation Britain in the Davis Cup. An arbitration hearing of the International Tennis Federation said on Thursday that Bedene, 27, remained ineligible because he has already represented Slovenia three times in the team competition. REUTERS
Bale banned for two games over red card MADRID
The Spanish football federation on Friday banned Real Madrid star Gareth Bale for two matches for his red card against Las Palmas this week. Bale was also fined €600 after he was ordered off for twice kicking out at Jonathan Viera and then pushing the Las Palmas midfielder to the ground. Bale said after he did not accept he deserved the red card BUT apologised to his teammates. AFP
French football great Kopa passes away
A fortnight ago, Virat Kohli’s men were scaling cricketing peaks that included an unbeaten streak of 19 Tests. But once the team imploded twice against Australia in the first Test at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, the subsequent heights were the ones the players reached in their treks up the Western Ghats. The Indian think-tank considers the 333-run loss in Pune a blip in a blistering form-book always on the upswing. It is a mindset that has united the team and Kohli believes that amends would be made in the second Test commencing at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday. The venue is a second home to him thanks to his stint as skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. A section of fans and critics, who stake their self-esteem on the ambit of national sporting triumphs, are struggling to cope with the defeat in the series opener. But the reality is that Steve Smith and company, through their gutsy performance, have opened up the series and gone against the prophecies of India effecting a clean sweep. Australia leads 1-0 and if India doesn’t recoup, the
Looking ahead: Virat Kohli expects his under-ire team to produce a better performance in the second Test.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy may prove elusive. India did not pile up runs in Pune, managing a combined score of 212 across both innings. Its bowlers had nothing to defend. To make it worse, the visitor’s left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe bagged 12 wickets. This is not the first time India has collapsed or a rival practitioner of slow-bowling has reigned. In 2012, England arrived and its spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar hoodwinked M.S.
Dhoni’s troops. Bengaluru is no stranger to such quirks. In 1987, Pakistan’s Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed spun a fatal web here. India lost by 16 runs and Sunil Gavaskar’s splendid 96 was destined to elicit wistful sighs. That surface three decades ago was a minefield but the current one, despite the grass being shaved off, should not evoke the ghosts of the past. It will aid spin as the game progresses, and Kohli said he had a few op-
tions with regard to the playing eleven.
Hardik Pandya out Hardik Pandya, with a shoulder injury, is ruled out while the rest are fit. It remains to be seen if Bhuvneshwar Kumar would step in for Ishant Sharma and whether the team-management is tempted to find a slot for local lad Karun Nair or still persist with Jayant Yadav. India’s Murali Vijay and K.L. Rahul are fine batsmen
G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR
but they are failing as a combine. They have opened together in 11 innings and are yet to stitch a 100-run partnership. This has been overlooked as the middle-order — especially Kohli — has sparkled but on bad days like the ones in Pune, the deficit at the top hurts. Kohli’s counterpart, Smith, is seemingly sitting pretty. Buoyed by his second-innings century in the first Test and empowered by O’Keefe’s wickets and
Mitchell Starc’s biff with the bat and his dismissal of Kohli, the Australian captain might presume that the aces are in his pocket. But he is equally aware that India, in its backyard, remains a daunting opposition. History offers some stirring tales. In 2001, trailing 0-1 against Australia, India found magic at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. V.V.S. Laxman’s 281, Rahul Dravid’s 180 and Harbhajan Singh’s 13 wickets, all combined to produce cricket’s greatest Houdini act and a series was flipped on its head. Bengalureans, happy with their activism that forced the government to abandon a steel-flyover project which threatened the environment, are hoping that they will have more to cheer as India strives to regain its mojo in Tests. The teams (from): India: Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Karun Nair, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav. Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Steve O’Keefe, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Swepson. Umpires: Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong; Third umpire: Richard Kettleborough; Match referee: Chris Broad. Play starts at 9.30 a.m.
PARIS
Former France football great Raymond Kopa, who won three consecutive European Cups with Real Madrid from 1957, has died at the age of 85. Kopa, who guided France to third place at the 1958 World Cup and was named the tournament’s best player, is one of four French players to have won the Ballon d’Or. REUTERS
French Open reluctant to give Sharapova wild card PARIS
The president of the French tennis federation Bernard Giudicelli has indicated the body is reluctant to hand Maria Sharapova a wild card entry for this year’s tournament despite the embattled Russian tennis star returning from a doping ban. “We prefer that she returns completely rehabilitated. Integrity is one of our strong points. We cannot decide, on the one hand, to increase the amount of funds we dedicate to the anti-doping battle and, on the other, invite her,” Giudicelli was quoted as saying. ANI
Won’t reprise Pune performance: Kohli India skipper says ‘two or three combinations in mind’ earlier. “Does it look like [I’m under pressure]?” he asked. “I’m pretty relaxed, I’m happy, I’m smiling. It’s fine. It’s his view, whatever he wants to say... It’s time to focus on our skills rather than what Australia is saying or doing. “I know these mindgames, and these press conferences are something they’re very good at.”
Shreedutta Chidananda BENGALURU
When it comes to match-eve prevarications on the playing eleven, Virat Kohli is not in M.S. Dhoni’s league yet. But he is learning quickly. India’s captain simply would not be drawn on team composition ahead of Saturday’s second Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, preferring to keep his cards close to his chest. “These are perceptions; we have our ideas,” he said, when asked if Jayant Yadav and Ishant Sharma could be left out of the side. “Jayant has been outstanding. You can’t put too much pressure on a guy who’s played just one series. He’s been brilliant so far; he’s a very intelligent cricketer. “All of us go through the grind. We have good games, bad games, off days as well. Pune wasn’t his best game. “I won’t sit here and judge him because he’s played only a few games but he knows how to turn things around and get back into
that mindset he started his first series with. I’m sure he’ll get back into that zone.” A final decision on the eleven, Kohli smiled, would be made “in a couple of hours”. “I won’t let it out right now but we do have two or three combinations in mind,” he said. “We’ll see what works best for this surface. Eventually we’ll come to a conclusion this evening. But yes, all
Mixed luck for Ramkumar Sports Bureau Orlando
Ante Pavic beat top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of Futures tennis event here on Thursday. However, he and Jaume Pla Malfeito made the doubles finals.
The results: $15,000 Futures, Sharm El Sheikh: Semifinals: Chandril Sood & Lakshit Sood bt Wilfredo Gonzalez (Gua) & Federico Zeballos (Bol) 6-2, 4-6, [10-4]. $15,000 Futures, Orlando: Second round: Ante Pavic (Cro) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 6-4. Doubles: Semifinals:
Jaume Pla Malfeito (Esp) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Hunter Callahan & Tam Trinh (US) 7-5, 3-6, [12-10]. $15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh: Semifinals: Veronika Kapshay (Ukr) & Julia Wachaczyk (Ger) bt Estelle Cascino (Fra) & Kyra Shroff 6-2, 6-2.
Murray to meet Verdasco Kyrgios stuns Djokovic in the quarterinals at Acapulco Reuters Dubai
Fernando Verdasco made the final of the Dubai Open with a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1 win over Robin Haase on Friday. In the second semifinal, Andy Murray got past Lucas Pouille 7-5, 6-1. In the quarterfinals on Thursday, Murray saved seven match-points in a 31minute second-set tie-break that stretched to 38 points before subduing Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(4), 7-6(18), 6-1. The ATP said no Tourlevel match has featured a tie-break with more than 38 points since 1991 — six have finished 20-18. In doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Marcin Matkowski reached the final beating Leander Paes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 3-6, [10-6]. In the Mexican Open at CM YK
Nick Kyrgios.
AFP
Acapulco, Nick Kyrgios served like a man possessed to take out World No. 2 Novak Djokovic with a 7-6 (9), 7-5 win in the quarterfinal on Thursday. Kyrgios served 25 aces to outgun the Serb. The results: At Dubai: Dubai Open: Semifinals: Fernando
Verdasco bt Robin Haase 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1; Andy Murray bt Lucas Pouille 7-5, 6-1; Quarterfinals: Murray bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(4), 7-6(18), 6-1; Pouille bt Evgeny Donskoy 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (2). Doubles: Semifinal: Rohan Bopanna & Marcin Matkowski bt Leander Paes & Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 3-6, [10-6]. Quarterfinals: Bopanna & Matkowski bt Florin Mergea & Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4; Paes & Garcia-Lopez bt Daniel Nestor & Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(3), 7-6(6). At Acapulco: Mexico Open: Quarterfinals: Men: Nick Kyrgios bt Novak Djokovic 7-6(9), 7-5; Marin Cilic w/o Steve Johnson; Rafael Nadal bt Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(2), 6-3; Sam Querrey bt Dominic Thiem 6-1, 7-5. Women: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni bt Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-3; Lesia Tsurenko bt Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 7-6(5); Christina McHale bt Monica Puig 6-2, 6-2; Kristina Mladenovic bt Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-3.
kinds of possibilities tomorrow... there might be a few surprises. “I can’t say whether five bowlers will play or four will play. That should be left to the team management to decide.”
Pressure, what pressure? Kohli denied that India was feeling the pressure at 1-0 down in the series, an opinion Steve Smith had aired
Lessons learnt Kohli was firm in his belief that the team had learned its lessons from Pune. “Obviously you will want to forget a bad result but it’s important that you take it to heart (dil pe lagna hain),” he said. “It’s important that you learn from it. It’s important to accept that we lost the Test match because of a lack of intent and because the other team played better cricket. “If your ego is hurt and you ignore it then that thing piles on. You will not get to see a performance like that again: that much I can assure you.”
We need to win one more game: Smith ‘Trophy could be sessions away’
‘Kohli will do everything to come back’ Sports Bureau Bengaluru
Steve Waugh.
FILE PHOTO
Steve Waugh believes India will bounce back from defeat in the first Test with a strong performance here in the second. “They have got a leader (Virat Kohli) who is an intensely competitive person. He will be wounded after that loss in Pune,” Waugh said here on Friday. “That’s because there were some captaincy decisions and probably some criticism which is new to him because he hasn’t got that before. “He’s a proud lad and he will do everything to come back. The pitch seems like it will be a lot easier for the batsmen. “The momentum is lost comprehensively but India have good players who won’t play as badly as they did in the first Test.”
‘Headlines don’t matter to us’ Special Correspondent
No hidden agenda: Steve O’Keefe inspects the covered pitch during the practice session on Friday. G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR Special Correspondent Bengaluru
After a sensational victory in the opening Test, Steve Smith believes that Australia could only be “a couple of sessions” away from retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. “Things can happen very quickly here in India, especially at the back-end of a game. “We could only be a couple of sessions away from winning. So obviously we have to come into the game with that mindset and
adapt to the wicket,” he said here on Friday. The pitch here has been the subject of much discussion since the end of the first Test. Smith believes that the surface would be good for run-making early on before aiding spin. “We were looking at their latest series against England where in the first innings there were some big runs scored and then the pitch deteriorated. Looking at this wicket, I think it will be similar to those games against England,” he said.
Rhode-Stewart pair picks up gold; Silver for Federico-Melisa Gil the good gathering though it was just a test event, which may not be part of the international federation’s recommendation to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion in the Tokyo Olympics.
Kamesh Srinivasan NEW DELHI
Angad Vir Singh Bajwa helped the host wind up the shooting World Cup on a bright note as he won the mixed skeet bronze medal with Haley Dunn of the USA, at the Dr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Friday. Six-time Olympic medallist and former World champion Kimberly Rhode won the gold with Hayden Stewart defeating the brother-sister combination of Federico and Melisa Gil of Argentina 29-26.
In the bronze medal match, Angad and Haley prevailed 28-26 over Americans Robert Johnson and Caitlin Connor.
Good outing for Angad It was a good outing for Angad, who had competed in two World Cups last year, apart from three World Championships earlier as a junior. He was the men’s national silver medallist behind another youngster Anantjeet Singh Naruka in 2015. Saniya Sheikh was the pick of the lot among the six Indian women in action, as she shot 47, including a perfect 25, in the second round. After it had won the air pistol mixed event gold through Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu in another test event, it was a memorable finish for the Indian team which had placed fifth in the medals table in the World Cup with a gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
Missed The Italian team which won the men’s skeet championship here, Riccardo Filippelli and Katiuscia Spada, shot 94 and missed the knockout by one point. It was entertainment for
The results: Mixed skeet: 1. USA (Hayden Stewart, Kimberly Rhode) 29(31), 98 (15); 2. Argentina (Federico Gil, Melisa Gil) 26(28), 98(14); 3. IndiaUSA (Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Haley Dunn) 28 (29), 95(3); 4. USA-2 (Robert Johnson, Caitlin Connor) 26 (27), 95(4).
Time to celebrate: Angad Vir Singh Bajwa helped India wind up the shooting World Cup on a bright note.
dropped one bird out of 16, while Dunn dropped two. The duo had managed to be comfortably ahead of Italy, the third team, in one part of the semifinal knockout. The Indo-US combo was three points clear, as the Italians, which had both the reigning Olympic champions Diana Bacosi and Gabriele Rossetti, missed six birds out of 24.
India vs Australia: 2nd Test, STAR Sports 1, 3 & HD 1, 3, 9.30 a.m. I-League: TEN 2, 4.30 p.m. & 7 p.m. NBA: Sony Six & Sony Six HD, 4.30 a.m. (Sunday)
Bengaluru
Angad wins mixed bronze with Dunn
Silver lining Angad provided the silver lining for India, especially after the prime teams of Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Saniya Sheikh (92) and Amrinder Singh Cheema and Rashmee Rathore (91) failed to make the top six for the semifinals and had placed ninth and 22nd respectively. Qualifying in the sixth place, with a total of 95, Angad and Dunn, who contributed in equal measure for the progress with 48 and 47 respectively, handled the semifinals and the bronze medal matches with comfort. It required the prowess of the eventual winners to beat the Indo-US pair in the semifinals 31-29 to be eligible for the gold contest. Angad had
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Virat Kohli on Friday made clear his displeasure with what he perceived as excessive criticism in the aftermath of the first Test, India’s first loss in the format in 20 matches. “I felt this sort of strange energy... some people were quite excited about the fact that they had something to write about the team after two years,” he said. “Yeah, the pitch, the players’ mindset, their skills, the pressure and whatnot, everything came into contention. It’s fine, some people would have made more out of their jobs in those few days. “We never get excited by praise; we don’t focus on criticism either. We take losses together; we take wins together. That’s one reason we ended up having that streak (of 19 unbeaten matches). We didn’t expect it; it became a streak eventually.” Kohli added: “The comments or headlines don’t matter to us; they never have and we don’t base our cricket on that.”
HC notice to BCCI on Sreesanth Special Correspondent KOCHI
The Kerala High Court on Friday issued notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on a writ petition filed by cricketer S. Sreesanth challenging the life ban imposed on him after the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal. In his petition, Sreesanth has sought a directive to the BCCI to lift the ban. As a single judge recused himself from hearing his petition on Thursday, it came up before another judge who issued the notice. The cricketer also sought a directive to the BCCI to issue him an NOC (no objection certificate) to play in Scotland’s premier league. According to him, he was invited by Scotland’s Glenroth Club to play there from the first week of April, for which the NOC from BCCI was mandatory. ND-ND
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14 SPORT
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THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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All set for Invitation Cup carnival Stellar events Stayers’ Cup and Sprinters’ Cup today Anil Mukhi Bengaluru
The Indian Turf Invitation Cup, conceived in the early sixties of the last century, was intended to bring together the top four-year-olds in the land over the classic trip of 2400m. With the passage of time, the concept of catering to specialists at other distances as well gained traction and now the first week of March each year sees the leading racehorses of the country facing off in a two-day rotating carnival featuring four Grade 1 events. This year the spotlight will shine at the Bangalore Turf Club, which has laid on a delectable menu of
equine sporting action. While the principal event is slated for Sunday, runners with widely differing attributes will clash on Saturday in a pair of stellar events, starting with 11 stoutly-bred performers in the 3000m. Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Memorial Stayers’ Cup, due to start at 4.30 p.m.
Seasoned runners Past results show that older, more seasoned runners, hold an advantage in this feature as many of the better staying four-year-olds prefer to take their chances in the Invitation Cup. That said, in 2017 four of the 11 represent
the year-younger generation and Captain Morgan seeks to emulate runners like Bay Of Angels, Arabian Knight and Swiss Don. Any short list must also include last year’s winner, Tintinnabulation (also a former Invitation Cup winner himself ), as well as Arlene and Booker Jones. As many as 17 runners will square off in the 1200m. Mysore Race Club Sprinters’ Cup. In contrast to recent practice this race follows, rather than precedes, the Stayers’ Cup and is down for decision at 5.15 p.m. The event often bears an open look, with the draw and manner in which the race unfolds probably contribut-
ing to the ultimate result, and this year is no exception. Trends suggest that the race favours older horses, and only the Hyderabad pair of Mr. Baahubali and and Rahuls Pet will fly the flag for the younger set. Dancing Prances, now seven, has been close up in this race thrice — could this be his lucky year? Local ace Mickey Mouse excels on this track but is drawn 16. Champion jockey P. Trevor guides Your Royal Majesty but a stronger a case can be made for his stablemate Denny Crane — whose mother won this very race in 2005.
What the professionals say Anil Mukhi and Riaz Babu Bengaluru
Professionals voice their opinions on the Stayers’ Cup and the Sprinters’ Cup: Pesi Shroff: For the Stayers’ Cup, I like Captain Morgan, Tintinnabulation and my ward Arlene; in the Sprinters’ I feel it will be Dancing Prances from Your Royal Majesty and Mickey Mouse. S. Padmanabhan: Sprinters’ looks very open, a lot of horses has drawn bad. I like Captain Morgan in the Stayers’ Cup. R.R. Byramji: It’s Dancing Prances and Solomon. Tintinnabulation for Stayers’ Cup. Irfan Ghatala: Sprinters’ wears an open look. Captain Morgan has the best credentials. S. Ganapathy: Sprinters’ Cup is very open race. Captain Morgan is one for the Stayers’. I hope my horse
Nihal Sarin is now an IM P.K. Ajith Kumar KOZHIKODE
Nihal Sarin has just completed the requirements to become an International Master. The 12-year-old got there by completing his third and final norm from the Aeroflot Open, which concluded in Moscow a couple of days ago, where he finished with 5.5 points from nine rounds; among his victims were two Grandmasters. He had got his first norm from the Capella-la-Grande Open in France and the second from the Sunway Sitges Open in Spain; both of those events were held last year. To become a Grandmaster, he now needs to achieve three norms and take his rating to 2,500. The youngster from Thrissur has already proved himself at the junior level. He has won the World Under-10 titles in both the classical and blitz events.
Magistero should run a good race. Darius: I like Solomon for Sprinters’ and Captain Morgan for Stayers’. Vijay Singh: Sprinters’ is anyone’s race. In the Stayers’ Cup my brother’s ward Triumphus will run a good race. G. Sandhu: It’s between Dancing Phoenix and Dancing Prances in the Sprinters’. I think Arlene and Towering Heights can upset in the Stayers’ Cup. Bharath Singh: In the Stayers’ Captain Morgan and my horse Triumphus may a add pep to the finish. Zeyn Mirza: I like Adam for Sprintes’ and Captain Morgan has improved a lot. J.E. Mckeown: In Sprinter’ my horse Shivalik Storm will run a good race. Captain Morgan should win the Stayers’ Cup. S. Dominic: The Stayers’ Cup is very open. Captain
Morgan has the best chance followed by Let The Lion Roar. In the Sprinters’ Cup, Dancing Prances should prevail over Solomon. Fahad Khan: Captain Morgan is the horse to beat in the Stayers’ Cup. In the Sprinters’ Cup, the big striding Dancing Prances should do it. Arjun Mangalorkar: I like Arlene in a very open Stayers’ Cup and feel that the locally-trained runners — like Mickey Mouse — will have an advantage in the Sprinters’ Cup. David Allan: In the Sprinters’ my mount Dancing Phoenix is drawn one and has an advantage. In the Stayers’ Cup Booker Jones is now running without blinkers , I think he will run a different race. P. Trevor: Sprinters’ is open, who ever gets a clear run can win. In the Stayers’
The Colemans take pole Gaurav Gill seventh on the grid MUMBAI
rowing to 50m wide along the way to the finish.
Sam Coleman and Daisy Coleman were quickest in time trials on Friday will be rewarded with pole position for the first of two Nexa P1 Powerboat races on Saturday. The Welsh siblings (Baleno Booster Jets) finished in 2:25.73 seconds, edging out James Norvil and Christian Parsons-Young (MoneyOnMobile Martins) who timed 2:25.74. Gaurav Gill and C.S. Santosh, both making their P1 debuts, will start in seventh and ninth places respectively in the first race, comprising 15 laps. Sunday will see the two Panther class races featuring six teams (two boats each). Race day will see a massed start over the 70km wide track on water, nar-
The results: Time trials: 1. Baleno RS Booster Jets (Sam Coleman & Daisy Coleman, 2:25.73s); 2. Money On Mobile Marlins (James Norvill & Christian Parsons-Young, 2:25.74); 3. Mirchi Maverics (John Donnelly & Kevin Burdock, 2:26.63); 4. Lloyd Dolphins (Craig Wilson & William Enriquez, 2:27.34); 5. Ultra Sharks (Neil Jackson & Jason Jackson, 2:27.67); 6. Lloyd Dolphins (Stuart Cureton & Sara Cureton, 2:29.02); 7. Ultra Sharks (Gaurav Gill & George Ivey, 2:30.60); 8. HVR Racing (Darren Nicholson & Giovanni Carpitella, 2:30.67); 9. Baleno RS Booster Jets (C.S. Santosh & Martin Robinson, 2:31.54); 10. Money On Mobile Marlins (Glynn Norvall & Lee Norvall, 2:31.55); 11. Mirichi Maverics (David Taft & Frederick Bastien, 2:33.63); 12. HVR Racing (Frank Silva & Tony Iannotta, 2:33.5).
Nandakumar Marar
Cup I like my mount Captain Morgan. A. Imran Khan: Captain Morgan has a very good chance in the Stayers’ Cup. In the Sprinters’ my mount Dancing Prances should do it, Inshallah. Suraj Narredu: I ride the outsider Shivalik Heroine in the Stayers’ Cup. In the Sprinters’ Cup my mount Solomon has a good draw and a big chance. R. Marshall: I regularly work Captain Morgan and feel he can score in the Stayers’ Cup. In the Sprinters’ it should be Dancing Prances from David Allan’s mount (Dancing Phoenix). Vasant Shinde (retired alltime great jockey): It’s Captain Morgan or Arlene for Stayers’ Cup and Solomon or Your Royal Majesty for Sprinters’ Cup.
India beats Belarus Press Trust of India Bhopal
Rani and Lalremsiami scored as the Indian women’s team scored a 2-1 victory over Belarus in the second hockey ‘Test’ here on Friday, to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. The result: India 2 (Rani 9, Lalremsiami 60) bt Belarus 1 (Sviatlana Bahushevich 36).
Zeel to meet Mahak Sports Bureau GWALIOR
Mahak Jain and Zeel Desai set up a title clash in the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament here on Friday. The results: Semifinals: Mahak Jain bt Fatma Al Nabhani (Oma) 6-3, 4-0 (retd.); Zeel Desai bt Lulu Radovcic (Sui) 6-3, 7-6(5). Doubles final: Natasha Palha & Rishika Sunkara bt Riya Bhatia & Shweta Rana 6-4, 6-2.
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THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11946 1
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CM YK
(set by Lightning)
13 At irst grant ancient badge for Federer’s Olympic achievement (4,5) 14 Helps when sister treats shoulder for starters (7) 16 Good engineer following battle (4) 19 Spent for protection outside institute (4) 21 One learner lost divine instrument (7) 24 For the most part media blown away where Federer enjoyed great success (9) 25 Fire bishop with misplaced zeal (5) 26 Speed detector looks identical from either side (5) 27 Turn past Senna by the way (2,7) 28 Daily service, nevertheless new and interesting at the end (8) 29 Sluggish agent receiving shelter (6)
Across
Down
1 Played new set in Federer's sport (6) 4 Pro agency framing last picture of Federer's groundstroke for one (8) 10 Major striking criticism (5,4) 11 Expression of surprise at play missing openers (5) 12 Smoke essentially causing boils (5)
1 Contest about crude spirit old fellow entered (3-2-3) 2 Mean, young lady in narrow escape (4,4) 3 River needing no introduction meanders around university (5) 5 Current rule's mantra — to adopt hard stance at irst on litigation (4,3)
FAITH
SUDOKU
Swayambhuvamanu’s advice
6 Short-lived record, he initially mastered on time with rookie (9) 7 Refer to everyone due for a change (6) 8 Aimlessly scribble old ode in a different way (6) 9 Synchronises with alto’s lines in audition (6) 15 Petty saint stealing power revolvers (5,4) 17 Partially escape a delayed surge (8) 18 Records attempt to produce embroidery (8) 20 Outrage at prison cell where 500 usurp nationalist (7) 21 Box old, extremely pretty ornamental covering (6) 22 Deviation in Federer's opening shot landing wide (6) 23 Throws mud generously helping to make soil (6) 25 Where Federer mainly plays in eastern parts of Federer’s hometown (5)
Solution to puzzle 11945 A P R I O R I
U G H I O S C T T C O W S A N E P E N T O A L V T E E N L
U S L T E E U P Y N M T A R P A B E O U I S
T R
I M A C Y O T B E E G A U I F L E R
F L E B F R I C L E L J L A N T E R
P A C L I C J U L H A R S J O U L P I E E T
I R E D A A N D E R I K N I O R E N D E D E S C AM A I N D E R E A C N I C C L H Y N E
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
Dhruva’s brother Uthama was killed by a yaksa. To avenge this killing, Dhruva began to kill yaksas. In order to completely finish off all the yaksas, Dhruva used the Narayanastra against them. One yaksa was responsible for the death of Uthama. But now Dhruva was targeting all yaksas. Swayambhuvamanu wanted to show him that this was wrong, said P.T. Seshadri in a discourse. He said to Dhruva: “So much anger is undesirable. People sin because of their anger and many go to hell mainly because they are prompted by anger to do the most wicked things. Look at what you have done. You have killed so many yaksas. One yaksa was guilty of killing your brother. Did so many yaksas have to pay for the sin of one yaksa? Is it fair? Worship of Lord Narayana is not easy. You achieved that at a very young age. The God whom you worshipped is in everyone. He guides all virtuous men. That being the case, consider if what you have done is right.” Swayambhuvamanu then went on to talk about the Supreme One. “Do you know who Paramatma is? Mimamsakas say He is karma. Carvakas say He is nature. Vaisesikas say He is time. Astrologers say He is a superior force. Others say He is desire. Each one has a different theory about Him. Can He be known fully by us? Therefore you must give up anger. Everyone is afraid of angry men. So who is a wise man? A wise man will not want others to fear him. Nor will he want to fear anyone. Who are these Yaksas? They are Kubera’s servants. By killing them, you have angered Kubera. Now you appease him, so that he will cease to be angry. Because the anger of good people will harm you.” ND-ND
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THE HINDU
SPORT 15
NOIDA/DELHI
SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2017
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Delhi discovers its winning ways
IN BRIEF
Gurkeerat stars for Punjab
Pant’s knock galvanises the side to its irst victory in four matches Vijay Lokapally Cuttack
Maradona in talks as football advisor to China RIO DE JANEIRO
Argentine football great Diego Maradona could accept a position as a national football advisor in China, according to the World Cup winner’s lawyer Matias Morla. Morla said the former player was in talks with officials to help promote and develop the game in Asia’s largest country, reports Xinhua. IANS
Warriors suffer consecutive losses LOS ANGELES
Golden State Warriors, adjusting to life without injured Kevin Durant, fell to Chicago Bulls on Thursday. It’s just the second time in nearly two years, Warriors have suffered back-to-back NBA regular-season defeats. Jimmy Butler scored 22 points to lead four Bulls players in double-figures in the 94-87 triumph. The results: Portland Trailblazers 114 bt Oklahoma City Thunder 109; Phoenix Suns 120 bt Charlotte Hornets 103; Chicago Bulls 94 bt Golden State Warriors 87. AGENCIES
Jindal Panther down Navy-Cavalier-RVC NEW DELHI:
Jindal Panther beat NavyCavalier-RVC 11-2 1/2 and made the final by topping the group in the Radha Mohan Rajinder Mohan Gold Vase 8-goal polo tournament at the Jaipur Polo ground here on Friday. The results (league): Haryana Polo 8 (Angad Kalaan 5, Uday Kalaan 3) bt Drakon 3 (Basheer Ali 3). Jindal Panther 11 (Miguel Saravia 5, Simran Shergill 4, Raghav Rao 2) bt NavyCavalier-RVC 2 1/2 (Arjun Patil 2, handicap 1/2).
Rishabh Pant struck form and Delhi discovered its winning ways against Tripura at the Barabati Stadium here on Friday registering its first victory in four matches by 70 runs. After three defeats, this was a welcome relief for Delhi, which has suffered from poor form overall in the ongoing Vijay Hazare tournament. For Tripura, it was the first loss in four matches. It needed Pant to galvanise the side after the persistent failures of Shikhar Dhawan and the inability of Gautam Gambhir to come up with a decisive innings. These veterans in the Delhi camp have performed much below expectations and added to the pressure on some youngsters in the rank. Dhawan made 18 and Gambhir 37 after Tripura elected to field. Pant and the talented Dhruv Shorey gave the innings the direction it sorely needed with a third-wicket
partnership of 152 runs. This was the phase when Tripura struggled to keep the runflow under check. There was no touch of desperation in Pant’s approach. He did not curb his flair to hit the ball and maintained a steady hold on the attack, time and again producing a daring shot to establish his supremacy in the middle. He motivated Shorey to play his natural game and runs came in a cascade as the two went about their job with consummate ease.
Clueless bowlers The Tripura bowlers were clueless as Pant came down hard on the short ball and Shorey drove with disdain when they erred in length. Pant and Shorey complemented each other and their race to outdo the other caused a nightmare for Tripura as the batsmen converted good deliveries to pick up boundaries at will. Pant, having plundered 99
off 72 balls with nine fours and five sixes, became impatient and inner-edged to lose his wicket. His partner Shorey followed 30 runs later when he gave a return catch to Bikramkumar Das. Shorey’s 74 came off 81 balls with nine fours and two sixes.
Vidarbha, Assam post win
A strokeful 72 (48b,7x4, 2x6) by Milind Kumar placed Delhi in a formidable position after Manan Sharma slammed a nine-ball 28 with three fours and two sixes. Tripura made an attempt to fight through Yashpal Singh (115, 117b, 14x4, 3x6) and Bishal Ghosh (59, 68b, 10x4). Smit Patel made 47 off 38 balls with eight fours, but Delhi did not ease its grip and won by 70 runs. The scores: Delhi 356 for for five in 50 overs (Rishabh Pant 99, Dhruv Shorey 74, Milind Kumar 72 not out, Gautam Gambhir 37) bt Tripura 286 for eight in 50 overs (Yashpal Singh 115 not out, Bishal Ghosh 59, Smit Patel 47, Subodh Bhati three for 55)
Supreme knock: Rishabh Pant found his touch as Delhi inally tasted success on Friday. FILE PHOTO
VIJAY HAZARE TROPHY SCORES At Chennai: Bengal 230 for in 48.5 overs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 127, Shardul Thakur four for 47, Abhishek Nayar three for 35) bt Mumbai 134 in 36.2 overs (Shreyas Iyer 34, Sayan Ghosh three for 48, Pragyan Ojha three for 28). Bengal 4 (16), Mumbai 0 (8). Gujarat 288 for seven in 50 overs (Parthiv Patel 104, Bhargav Merai 36, Jesal Karia 34, Rohit Dahiya 53 n.o., Ayyappa Bandaru three for 72) bt Andhra 106 in 31.5 overs (D.B. Ravi Teja 44, Jasprit Bumrah four for 29, Rujul Bhatt three for 21). Gujarat 4 (12), Andhra 0 (8). Goa 290 for eight in 50 overs (Sagun Kamat 63, Snehal Kauthankar 94, Suyash S. Prabhudessai 52, Ankit Singh Kushwah five for 60) lost to Madhya Pradesh 294 for three in 38.1 overs (Rajat Patidar 64, Naman Ojha 105 n.o., Harpreet Singh Bhatia 83). Goa 0 (0), MP 4 (12).
At Bhubaneswar: Kerala 230 for seven in 50 overs (Sanju Samson 84, Salman Nizar 49, Sachin Baby 37) lost to Tamil Nadu 231 for four in 39.2 overs (Dinesh Karthik 88, B. Aparajith 74, Sandeep Warrier four for 51). Kerala 0 (0), Tamil Nadu 4 (16). At Cuttack: Delhi 356 for for five in 50 overs (Rishabh Pant 99, Dhruv Shorey 74, Milind Kumar 72 not out, Gautam Gambhir 37, Manan Sharma 28 not out) bt Tripura 286 for eight in 50 overs (Yashpal Singh 115 not out, Bishal Ghosh 59, Smit Patel 47, Subodh Bhati three for 55). Tripura 0(12), Delhi 4(4). At Kalyani: Jammu and Kashmir 108 for nine in 28.4 overs (Prasidh Krishna four for 15) lost to Karnataka 110 or three in 17.4 overs (K. Gowtham 53 n.o., Manish Pandey 27 n.o., Mohammed Mudhasir three for 53). Jammu and Kashmir 0 (0),
EDUCATIONAL
Karnataka 4 (16). At New Delhi: Railways 215 in 48.3 overs (Akash Verma 55, Pratham Singh 33, Akash Yadav 27, Hitesh Kadam 25, Arup Das three for 36, Pritam Das two for 30, Sarupam Purkayastha two for 34, Amit Verma two for 49) lost to Assam 216 for six in 48 overs (Pallav Kumar Das 44, Arun Karthick 42, Amit Verma 35, Riyan Parag 32, Ashish Yadav three for 26, Deepak Bansal two for 34) by four wickets. Assam 4(8), Railways 0(4). Haryana 196 in 48.5 overs (Nitin Saini 48, Chaitanya Bishnoi 38, Rahul Tewatia 34, Shivam Chauhan 27, Harbhajan Singh four for 33, Baltej Singh two for 34) lost to Punjab 200 for five in 41.4 overs (Gurkeerat Mann 91 not out, Shubman Gill 35, Rahul Tewatia three for 49). Punjab 4(12), Haryana 0(8). Odisha 162 in 45.3 overs (Govind Poddar 59, Biplab Samantaray 29, Akshay Karne-
war four for 21, Ravikumar Thakur two for 18) lost to Vidarbha 163 for three in 40.1 overs (Jitesh Sharma 70, Ambati Rayudu 30 not out, Ganesh Satish 27, Rajkishan Patel two for 32) by seven wickets. Vidarbha 4(12), Odhisa 0(4). At Kolkata: Hyderabad 203 for eight in 50 overs (Sumnath Kolla 48, Bavanaka Sandeep 43; Shahbaz Nadeem three for 27) beat Jharkhand 182 in 44.4 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 102; Mehdi Hasan three for 40. Hyderabad 4 (16), Jharkhand 0 (12) Saurashtra 279 for nine in 50 overs (Sheldon Jackson 73, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 50, Harvik Desai 48; Pankaj Rao four for 34) beat Chhattisgarh 187 in 44 overs (Manoj Singh 55; Prerak Mankad three for 37). by 92 runs. Saurashtra 4 (4), Chhattisgarh 0 (4).
EDUCATIONAL
Sasi Kumar in inal Sports Bureau GUWAHATI
Third seed Sasi Kumar Mukund beat second seed Vishnu Vardhan 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament here on Friday. It was the first victory for the 20-year-old Mukund in eight meetings over National champion Vishnu Vardhan on the professional circuit. The results: Semifinals: Sami Reinwein (Ger) bt Shane Vinsant (US) 6-2, 7-5; Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Doubles (final): Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Sanam Singh 6-3, 3-6, 10-6.
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LEGAL NOTICE
I, AISHWARYA RAVI previously called Aiswarya Ravi, resident of House No. C−1828, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon−122017, Haryana, India, daughter of Shri Sundaram Ravi and Smt. V Sugantha, solemnly declare I wholly renounce/relinquish and abandon the use of my former name of Aiswarya Ravi and in place thereof, I do hereby assume the name Aishwarya Ravi.
EDUCATIONAL
NEW DELHI: Continuing his impressive form, Gurkeerat Mann proved the match-winner with an unbeaten 91 as Punjab scored a five-wicket victory over arch-rival Haryana at the Air Force ground, Palam, here on Friday. Earlier in the day, Vidarbha posted an easy sevenwicket victory over Odisha to join Baroda at 12 points from four matches. Punjab also has a similar tally after playing a match more than Baroda and Vidarbha. The day’s other winner was Assam, which extricated itself from the bottom of the table after its second victory, following a fourwicket triumph over Railways. Two days after scoring an unbeaten 66 that helped Punjab pip Railways, Mann played a similar role once the side lost the top four batsmen, including Yuvraj Singh, for 75. With the team still needing 122 to win, Mann covered the distance in the
company of Mohit Handa (18) and N. Chaudhary (14 not out). Mann’s 86-ball knock included 14 boundaries. At the Karnail Singh Stadium, a comfortable victory over Odisha kept Vidarbha firmly in the race for the two quarterfinal spots from the group. Left arm sprinner Akshay Karnewar (four for 21) and left-arm medium pacer Ravikumar Thakur (two for 18) helped restrict Odisha to 162 after in-form Govind Poddar smashed a 59. Vidarbha chased down the target with 59 deliveries to spare after Jitesh Sharma showed the way with a 70. At the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, Assam’s batsmen finished the job after the bowlers had done well to restrict Railways to 215. Contributions from openers Pallav Kumar Das and Riyan Parag, followed by those from ‘professionals’ Arun Karthick and Amit Verma paved the way for Assam’s triumph.
Balwinder nets four goals Special Correspondent New Delhi
Punjabi University (Patiala) rode on Balwinder Singh’s four goals to register a huge 14-1 win against SGB University (Amravati) in a Pool B match of the 24th Nehru inter-university hockey tournament here on Friday. Jaswinder Singh and Harpreet Singh scored three goals apiece for the winner.
NEW DELHI:
The results: Pool A: GND University, Amritsar 9 (Jagjit Singh 2, Varinder Singh, Karanbir Singh, Mehreet Singh, Pawandeep Singh, Harsahib Singh, Shubhraman Singh, Har-
PERSONAL
preet Singh) bt Barkatullah University, Bhopal 0; VBPS University, Jaunpur 10 (Kamlesh 2, Ankit 2, Abhay 2, Shubham, Om Prakash, Mithilesh, Brijendra Singh) bt Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur 1 (V. Manikanta) Pool B: MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi 3 (Govind Singh Rawat, Sumit Kumar, Dharambir Yadav) bt Madras University, Chennai 2 (P. Mahendran, V. Surendra); Punjabi University, Patiala 14 (Balwinder Singh 4, Jaswinder Singh 3, Harpreet Singh 3, Bishan Singh 2, Satgur Singh, Lovepreet Singh) bt SGB University, Amravati 1 (Zaim Khan).
TENDERS
CHANGE OF NAME I Richa D/O Vijay Mohan born on 06/ 12/1988 residing at E−111, The Icon, DLF Phase−5 Gurgaon, have changed my name to Richa Gupta vide affidavit dated 23/02/2017 at Gurgaon.
TENDERS
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Welcome to the wall: Banksy opens hotel in Bethlehem Accommodation, art and protest ofered on a platter to spark dialogue Emma Graham-Harrison Bethlehem
There is unlikely to be much room for last-minute travellers at Bethlehem’s latest inn. The Walled Off Hotel might sound utilitarian, even bleak: 10 rooms nestled against the controversial barrier wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories. But it offers travellers something much more elusive than the latest toiletries or a fancy spa. The lodging in the historic city is a hotel, a protest and an art work, all in one. It is the latest creation of the elusive British street artist Banksy. The hotel, which was opened to the media on Friday, aims to bring jobs and tourists to a town whose pilgrim and sightseeing-based economy has been ravaged by ever tighter Israeli controls on travel between Is-
Images speak: Artwork by Banksy in ‘The Walled Of Hotel’ in Bethlehem. AP raeli and the Palestinian territories. The artist, who fiercely guards his anonymity, also wants to spark dialogue, with his biggest target market not his legions of international fans, but young Is-
raelis who might normally spend their weekends clubbing in Tel Aviv. His support team insists the hotel is a real business venture, not an art stunt. Its nine rooms and one suite will be open for bookings on
its website later this month. There have been few reasons for Israelis to visit Bethlehem in the recent years, because they are banned by law from visiting the town and all its main tourist sites. But the hotel is located in an area just outside the town and still under Israeli control, and therefore legal for them to visit. The hotel will host exhibitions by Palestinians, giving artists who have few opportunities to travel a chance to reach international audiences. It will have a “colonial” theme, with chefs serving traditional afternoon tea to those who want a glimpse of the establishment. In 2005 and 2007, Banksy created some of his bestknown pieces on the West Bank barrier wall. Guardian News and Media Service
AI light with all-woman crew eyes record Aircraft circles the globe; feat comes ahead of International Women’s Day Press Trust of India New Delhi
In a quest to set a new world record, Air India has operated a flight around the world with an all-woman crew ahead of International Women’s Day. The flight, which departed from here on February 27 for San Francisco, landed at the Indira Gandhi International airport on Friday after flying across the globe. The aircraft, a Boeing 777200LR, flew over the Pacific on its journey to San Francisco, while the return flight flew over the Atlantic, encircling the globe, Air India sources said. An Air India spokesperson said the airline has applied
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Flying colours: Crew of Air India light AI 173 upon arrival in New Delhi on Friday.
for a Guinness World Record and an entry in the Limca Book of Records to mark the feat. The cockpit and cabin crew, check-in and ground handling staff, and the en-
gineers who certified the aircraft were all women, Air India said. It added that the Air Traffic Controllers who cleared the departure and arrival of the aircraft were also women.
PTI
As part of the celebrations for International Women’s Day, which is observed on March 8 every year, the airline will operate similar flights on some domestic and international routes.
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Let delegation receive award
Okhla ire singes future
Farewell to those claws
For the love of bamboo
JNU students start online petition stating V-C Jagadesh Kumar doesn’t ‘deserve’ to receive Visitor’s award Page 2
Boy studying late night for exam saves family, but fails to write paper as ire burns down jhuggis in Jamia Nagar Page 3
There’s more blood and gore in Logan than all of the prequels combined. It is Marvel’s most depressing ilm yet Page 4
Bamboo is being used to make over 1,800 products from textiles and stationery to fashion accessories Page 6
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IN BRIEF
Tihar inmates bang head against wall Jail oicers claim 11 inmates injured themselves after authorities refused to hospitalise them en masse
Hospital trip is a repeated demand
Shubhomoy Sikdar New Delhi
L-G transfers WCD Secretary Dilraj Kaur NEW DELHI
The Lieutenant-Governor has transferred Women and Child Development Secretary Dilraj Kaur, whose appointment as member secretary of Delhi Commission for Women by former L-G Najeeb Jung was disputed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Ms. Kaur, a 2000-batch IAS oicer, has been posted as Additional Commissioner in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. CITY
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Baijal approves 37% hike in minimum wages NEW DELHI
L-G Anil Baijal has approved the Delhi government’s proposal to hike the minimum wages of labourers by 37%. Dubbing the hike “historic” and the “highest” yet in independent India, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said a notiication would be issued on March 6. He also thanked Mr. Baijal for approving the scheme. CITY 쑺 PAGE 4 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Police bust 'Thak-Thak' gang, arrest one NEW DELHI
With the apprehension of a juvenile and the arrest of a man, the Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have busted a gang which allegedly stole valuables from vehicles after distracting the drivers. The accused allegedly ran an organised gang called the 'Thak-Thak' gang. PTI
As many as 11 prisoners in a special security ward in Tihar Jail suffered self-inflicted injuries by allegedly banging their heads against the prison wall in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, the jail administration said. They also went on to damage the ambulance in which they were being taken to the hospital and then misbehaved with staff members at Safdarjung Hospital, the officials claimed. A case has been registered in the matter. “We have received a complaint from Tihar authorities... a criminal case is being registered under Sections 186, 353, 355 and 34 of the IPC and Section 3 of the PDPP Act,” said a senior police officer.
‘Feigning illness’ Director General (Prisons) Sudhir Yadav told The Hindu that the action of the inmates was in response to the administration’s denial to take them all to the jail hospital at the same time. He described it as a “concerted attempt by feigning illness”. “They are all from different cells of the same Ward in Jail Number 3 and have previous records of indulging in violence while in jail. First, one of the prisoners told the guard that he was unwell and wanted immediate medical attention. The jail doctor visited the cell and prescribed him some medicines, but the inmate insisted on being taken to the hospital so he could get an
Staff Reporter New Delhi
A visit to the jail hospital is a repeated demand of inmates lodged in the special security wards of Tihar Prison Complex. The reasons behind the demand are many: getting a break from the “stricter” confinement, catching up with inmate friends or obtaining banned articles. The peculiar demand comes as these prisoners are kept in a tighter security environment compared to other inmates.
FightBackDU rally to Parliament today March to start from Mandi House Staff Reporter
injection,” said Mr. Yadav. The doctor, said jail officials, determined that there was no need for him to be taken to the hospital but the inmate kept insisting. “Since his demand was against medical advice, we refused. He was soon joined by other inmates in his cell and those in other cells of the same ward. All of them claimed that they were unwell and needed to be taken out of the cell. When told that this was not possible
18 senior cops transferred in major reshule
and there were security issues involved, they started banging their heads against the wall till they started bleeding,” said Mr. Yadav. The staff then rushed the inmates to nearby Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Hospital in west Delhi.
Ambulance damaged “On route, they damaged the ambulance. From DDU, they were referred to Safdarjung Hospital where they misbehaved with the staff,” said
Mr. Yadav. The ward where the incident took place, Mr. Yadav said, is a special security ward where inmates with past history of creating ruckus or indulging in violence while lodged in prison are kept. By Friday evening, all the inmates returned to the jail after receiving treatment. Asked if some of them belonged to any known gangs, Mr. Yadav said those records were not available.
Tight security “The prisoners in the special wards were shifted here as they are more aggressive. They are kept in cells that cannot house more than four prisoners, unlike a barrack where 50 prisoners are kept,” said a senior jail official. They are allowed to spend little time in the open. Even meeting their family or speaking to them over the phone requires a length security process. This type of confinement forces several inmates to fake an illness so they can spend some time in the relatively bigger hospital wards. Inmates coordinate their trips so they can catch up or procure prohibited items like cigarettes or mobile phones.
New Delhi
The “FightBackDU” campaign is organising a march from Mandi House to Parliament on Saturday to register their protest against the violence on campus after the Ramjas incident. The call for the march has been given by the common students of Delhi University, but has been backed by Left organisations. The march will begin at 2 p.m. from Mandi House and head towards Parliament. The previous march conducted under the banner of “FightBackDU” saw a massive response with thousands of students joining the protest. It was conducted under heavy police protection to prevent any violence on campus.
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Another day, another rally
Oicers working on JNU, Ramjas cases given new assignments
ABVP team meets Baijal Staff Reporter New Delhi
A delegation from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Friday met Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal to apprise him of the alleged “anti-national activities” that took place at Ramjas College on February 21. National Media Convenor of the ABVP Saket Bahuguna said they submitted a memorandum to the L-G seeking strict action against those who indulged in “anti-national activities”. They also asked Mr. Baijal to order the Delhi Police to act swiftly on a sedition case filed against three JNU students last year.
Chinese student ‘molested’ by lower seller Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter NEW DELHI
In a major reshuffle in the top brass of the Delhi Police under new commissioner Amulya Patnaik, 18 officers, including those working on cases such as missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed and Ramjas College violence have been transferred. Notably, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav has been transferred as Joint Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range). Praveer Ranjan, who was posted as Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters), will be replacing Mr. Yadav and inherit important cases, including Ahmed’s disappearance and the probe into the violent clashes at Ramjas College. A 1995-batch DANIPS of-
ficer Pramod Kushwaha, who was acting as DCP Special Cell has been transferred to Second Battalion of the Armed Police. He was supervising the probe into the JNU sedition case where a chargesheet has not been filed despite the cell probing the case for the past one year.
Routine transfers Senior police officers, however, said that the transfers were routine and were not linked to JNU cases. In the rijieg, a few officers were promoted to the rank of Special Commissioner of Police. With many Special CPs retiring or exiting the force, there was a shortage of Special CP-rank officers when Mr. Patnaik took over, a crisis that was solved by
the recent promotion of Joint Commissioners Dependra Pathak, who was promoted as special commissioner, will replace Sanjay Beniwal as special commissioner (Operations). Mr. Beniwal, who was handling Operations and Women Safety, Airport and Modernisation, as special commissioner of police has been relieved of the Operations job whilst continuing to look after the latter. Sanjay Singh, who was recently promoted as special commissioner, will assume charge as special commissioner (Armed Police). He will replace R. S. Krishnia, who will now be assuming charge as special commissioner (Headquarters), while retaining the Recruitment charge.
New Delhi
Action-packed: Left-backed Students’ Federation of India staged a protest on Friday against ABVP members for their alleged involvement in inciting violence at Ramjas College last week. During the rally, the police received a call claiming that a bomb had exploded near Mandi House. The call turned out to be a hoax, but traic in the area was afected. V. SUDERSHAN
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From secret war room, Congress tests new strategy to select candidates Homemakers and college students are calling up over 94,000 party workers to make sure that the right person is picked in every ward for the civic polls Damini Nath New Delhi
In a nondescript building on a busy west Delhi street, up three flights of narrow stairs is a small room from where the Congress is carrying out its latest experiment. The grand old party is for the first time reaching out to its supporters to ask for their opinions on prospective candidates, aiming to call 94,000 workers in less than a month. Set up for the Delhi municipal elections, which are likely to be held next month, the control room and call centre began operations on February 27, with its location kept a secret to prevent interference. The Delhi Congress had CM YK
asked for applications from prospective candidates — another first for the party.
Whittling down As of February 19, the party had received 10,448 applications for the 272 wards. Each applicant was asked to give a list of workers in their wards who would support their candidatures. Whittling down from a list of 2.5 lakh workers, removing duplicate entries and errors, the control room was given the phone numbers of 94,000 workers. A Congress supporter with a background in running a call centre, Anuj Chaddha, helped set up the control room, which had 16 callers busy on the lines on
Sifting room: From a nondescripit building in west Delhi, calling agents are gathering information on the people who have applied for a Congress ticket. SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
Friday. From a centralised system, the calls are lined up, forwarded to the agent, who then asks the party workers a set of questions
and records them onto a database, said Mr. Chaddha. Averaging 4,000 calls a day, the control room has covered 104 wards so far and will be able to complete the
process by March 12, said Mr. Chaddha. Homemakers, students and supporters — who had taken time off work — run the call centre from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. On Friday afternoon, the agents got a breather when the electricity went out and the system took about 10 minutes to restart. With flags and buntings of the party symbol on her desk, Mamta Bhalla, a Congress supporter and a housewife, gets ready for the next call. While waiting, Ms. Bhalla said most of the workers she had called so far were excited about the elections and were ready to support the party’s campaign. Another agent, Pushpa,
said her five-and-a-half-years of experience as a call centre executive had come in handy. “This experience is much better as the people we are calling are very receptive and are eager for a Congress victory,” she said. Eighteen-year-old Payal, who is a first-year student at Delhi University, said even though she had never worked before, the experience of working at the Congress control room was pleasant.
Daily updates “There is no pressure because the workers all want to tell us their preferences for candidates. About 90% of the calls we make are to genuine workers, while the
remaining are wrong numbers,” Ms. Payal said. After a busy day, the results of the calls are shared with Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken in a daily report. In fact, Mr. Chaddha said a system was designed for the control room to generate automated reports for each ward. “We are making an effort to narrow down the number of candidates to the top two or three for each ward. If a candidate does not have the requisite support in their ward, then how can they win?” Mr. Maken said, adding that the party will then screen the top applicants, before announcing the candidates.
A 22-year-old Chinese student of Lady Shri Ram college, who is here on a student exchange programme, was allegedly molested by a flower vendor in southeast Delhi’s Kailash Colony. The accused, Avinish alias Mahavir, was arrested on Thursday after the police prepared a sketch based on the description given by the victim. He was produced in Saket court on Friday and was sent to judicial custody. The victim is studying in the US but had come to India on a six-month exchange programme, which is set to end in May. Police said that the victim was repeatedly approached by the accused, who tried to sell her flowers. Once he pleaded that he was short on cash, and the victim bought two flowerpots from him. After that the victim spotted him many times in the area but did not pay heed.
Persistent On February 27, he returned to her colony and asked her to buy a flowerpot, but this time she refused, said the police. He later reached her residence with a flowerpot. Despite the victim asking him to leave he stood there and requested her to take the flowerpot. When she refused again, he allegedly molested her and touched her inappropriately. The student registered a complaint, following which a case was registered under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC. A sketch was prepared, and after an extensive search the 42-year-old Badarpur resident was nabbed. ND-ND
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IN BRIEF
Stephen’s autonomy proposal put on hold NEW DELHI
Let delegation receive award, JNU students urge President Online petition says V-C doesn’t ‘deserve’ to receive award for university
DUSU joint secretary calls for ban on ABVP NEW DELHI
DU Students’ Union joint secretary Mohit Garid, the only NSUI member in the panel, has written to the DU V-C urging him to ban the ABVP. He has also called for removal of the grotesque hoardings put up by the ABVP across North Campus. STAFF REPORTER
JNU administration in a fix over poster removal NEW DELHI
The JNU administration, which had ordered removal of a poster demanding freedom for Kashmir and Palestine, is now in a dilemma over its removal as it doesn’t want a “fresh controversy” on “avoidable issues”. PTI
Dance: Devi Meenakshi – Bharatanatyam by Arupa Lahiry, Devi Ambaji – Kathak by Vidha Lal at Meghdoot Theatre 1, Mandi House, 6:30 p.m. Music: Vocal music by Ramneek Singh with Vinod Lele on tabla and Paromita Mukherjee on harmonium at India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m. Music: Bharat Sangeet Utsav: S. Aishwarya (vocal), G. Raghavendra Prasath (violin), J. Vignesh (mridangam), 4 p.m.; S. Saketharaman (vocal), Vittal Rangan (violin), D.S.R. Murthy (mridangam),
Akanksha Jain
The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant urgent hearing to a petition moved by two Delhi University students seeking action against police personnel who had allegedly assaulted female students and journalists during the violence at Ramjas College on February 22. The petition, moved by final-year students of DU’s Campus Law Centre Tarun Narang and Deepak Joshi, was mentioned for urgent hearing before a Division Bench headed by Justice B. D. Ahmed.
Staff Reporter
Following news that Jawaharlal Nehru University has bagged the Visitor’s Award for Best Central University, the students have started an online petition urging the President to present the award to a delegation from the JNU community instead of Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar.
‘Extremely disturbed’ The students said they were extremely disturbed by the fact that the award would be formally handed over to the V-C on March 6. Stating that he didn’t deserve to receive the award on behalf of the entire JNU community, the students said the university has for the past year — since Prof. Kumar took over — witnessed unprecedented attacks and crackdowns on its core values. They have requested President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of central universities, to nominate a joint delegation comprising
At loggerheads: Students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University have been protesting against the decisions taken by the university administration. FILE PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
students, teachers, staff and workers of JNU to receive the award.
‘Unprecedented crisis’ The students claimed that within 13 days of Prof. Kumar taking over, the campus witnessed an unprecedented crisis. They added that the Delhi
Police was given a free hand to raid the campus and arrest student activists, even as the V-C didn’t demand to see the evidence or warrants before allowing such action. They also questioned the way in which the V-C handled the situation after student Najeeb Ahmed went missing. The students al-
leged that the V-C played a partisan role that allegedly forced two Chief Proctors to resign. The students also said that Prof. Kumar was instrumental in implementing the 2016 UGC Gazette Notification, which will lead to virtual dismantling of JNU research programmes.
Public interest litigation “What’s the urgency in this matter? There’s no urgency. It’s a public interest litigation. File it and let it come up for hearing in the course of time,” Justice Ahmed told advocate Vishnu Sharma, appearing on behalf of the
Want to e-auction Taj Mansingh, SC told
S. Sunilkumar (kanjira) at AP Bhawan, 6.15 p.m. Exhibition: Two-day fruit, vegetable and lower show, and Ikebana and Bonsai display at DCA, JCO Club, Defence colony, 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Exhibition: “Life is a Circus” - solo show of sketches by Poonam Bevli Sahi at India International Centre (IIC), 11 a.m. – 7 p.m Exhibition: “Metropolis”, solo photography show by Martin Roemers at IHC, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Exhibition: 20th All India Studio Pottery Show at AIFACS, Rai Marg, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Screening: “Like Asura” Japanese
ilm screening with English subtitles at The Japan Foundation, Lajpat Nagar IV, 2 p.m.
March 5 Talk: Swami Prabhudhananda on “Katho Upanishad” at Ramana Kendra, Lodhi Road, 5 p.m. Dance: Kathak recital by Shovana Narayan and her disciples at IIC, 6 p.m. Music: Morning ragas: Sarod recital by Ayaan Ali Bangash at IHC, 10:30 a.m. Music: Hindustani classical vocal recital by Azmat Ali followed by solo tabla recital by Asim Khan at IHC, 7
p.m. Music: Bharat Sangeet Utsav: R. Suryaprakash (vocal), Dr. M. Narmadha (violin); N. Padmanaban (mridangam); S. Krishnaswamy (ghatam), 4 p.m. and Dr. K.N. Renganatha Sharma (vocal), Dr. M. Narmadha (violin); M.V. Chander Shekar (mridangam) and S. Krishnaswamy (ghatam) at AP Bhawan, 6 p.m. Paintings: “Another Tree. Another Sky” - solo painting show by Renuka Varma at IHC, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Art: “Sargam” - a group show of artworks by master artists at IHC, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Photography: “Amalgam: The Everyday of Delhi” - solo photography show by Pallavi IHC, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Exhibition: “Spring” - painting exhibition by Prabal Roy, Tanmoy Roy Chowdhury, Barun Roy at IHC, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Screening: Tribute to Om Puri. “Jai Ho Democracy” Hindi ilm screening at IHC, 7 p.m. (Mail your listings for this column at
[email protected]) Engagements entries for Sundays will from this week be published on Saturdays. Those who wish to submit them may please do so early enough.
Press Trust of India New Delhi
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) told the Supreme Court on Friday that it wants to e-auction the iconic five-star hotel Taj Mansingh, which is located in the heart of the Capital. A Bench of Justices P. C. Ghose and R. F. Nariman agreed to hear the NDMC’s plea on March 22. They asked Tata group’s Indian Hotels Company Ltd. (IHCL), which has challenged a Delhi High Court order allowing auction of the hotel, to file objections, if any, within a week.
Reconsider decision The apex court had earlier asked the NDMC to reconsider its decision to auction the hotel in the wake of the opinions of the AttorneyGeneral and the SolicitorGeneral to not initiate any such process. It had noted
CM YK
students. The petition sought action against the police personnel on duty saying that they had “manhandled, roughed up, slapped and misbehaved with female students of DU, and also stopped journalists from covering the incidents on campus”. “It’s unfortunate that female students were manhandled by the Delhi Police, who used excessive force on them, punched them and slapped them, and thus outraged their modesty,” the petition said, adding that the conduct of the police was against the code of conduct issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and also a violation of the fundamental and human rights of the students and journalists. The petitioners have also sought constitution of an independent committee of senior police officers to probe the allegation.
Court to hear NDMC plea on March 22
DELHI TODAY March 4
Female students, scribes assaulted on Feb. 22, says petition New Delhi
New Delhi
St. Stephen’s College is considering putting on hold a proposal seeking autonomy for the institution. The staff association had threatened that teachers would resign from administrative posts if the proposal wasn’t reconsidered. PTI
Ramjas: HC declines urgent hearing on plea against cops
the fact that opinions of both top law officers against auctioning of the hotel had not been placed before the Home Affairs Ministry for consideration.
Internal opinion The Bench also took note of the fact that the internal opinion of top NDMC officials was against the auctioning process. The NDMC had informed the Ministry that opinions of the AttorneyGeneral and the SolicitorGeneral favouring extension of lease were still awaited. “It’s strange and doesn’t look bona fide. The Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General’s opinions should have been placed before the Ministry concerned,” the Bench had said. The IHCL had earlier told the court it was “not clear” why the NDMC wanted to auction the prime property that gave it the “best revenue”.
They also sought lodging of an FIR under various Sections of the IPC, including assaulting a woman with an intent to outrage her modesty, against the cops and others who allegedly harassed and assaulted the female students and journalists during the protest. They also urged the court to issue guidelines for law enforcement agencies while dealing with students and media on university campuses.
Large-scale violence Ramjas College here witnessed large-scale violence between members of the AISA and the ABVP in the last week of February. The genesis of the clash was invites to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on “Culture of Protests”, which was withdrawn by college authorities following opposition by the ABVP.
DCW summons cop over Awana issue Staff Reporter New Delhi
Following a complaint by the Teachers’ Association of Delhi University law faculty to the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), the panel on Friday summoned a senior Delhi Police officer before it on March 7. The complaint alleges inaction despite a DU faculty member complaining of abuse and threats by a former students’ union president .
Viral video A video, that’s gone viral on social media, purportedly shows former DU Students’ Union (DUSU) president and ABVP activist Satender Awana threatening Dean of DU Law Faculty Ved Kumari, even as police officers stand silently nearby. Ms. Kumari had approached the police and the DCW with a complaint against him. “In response to our notice, a reply from Deputy Commissioner of Police North has been received, wherein it’s mentioned that the complaint has been forwarded to the DU V-C for necessary action,” DCW Chief Swati Maliwal wrote to the police. “The reply is insufficient and evasive. Prima facie, serious cognizable offences are clearly made out against the above-mentioned persons and the erring police officers, and the police is duty bound to register FIRs under relevant sections of law.”
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THE HINDU
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IN BRIEF
Midnight ire singes dreams Boy saves family, but fails to write exam as Jamia Nagar blaze destroys jhuggis
Cops raise suspicion over petitioner’s role in death of elderly
Hemani Bhandari NEW DELHI
Delhi govt’s push to update fire services NEW DELHI
Flagging off 10 fire tenders, Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday said efforts are being made to modernise firefighting equipment in the city. He said 20 more vehicles will be added to the fleet of the Delhi Fire Services within a month. “We have 300 fire tenders with us currently. We have spent Rs.6-7 crore in procuring the new vehicles, 10 of which will replace old fire tenders,” he said. PTI
Four auto drivers arrested for burglaries NEW DELHI
The Delhi Police have arrested four auto drivers who were allegedly committing burglaries at night. Alam alias Sabu (24), Nadeem Ali alias Sonu (20), Mohd. Javed (25) and Prem Chand (38) used to scan the areas for the target during day time, said the police. All four have criminal history and were nabbed with the help of CCTV footage. STAFF REPORTER
Seven injured as bus rams another NEW DELHI
Seven people suffered injuries while deboarding a cluster bus which was hit by another bus outside north Delhi’s Hanuman temple on Friday, the police said. The injured passengers were rushed to nearby hospital and discharged after first aid. “The driver of the bus that hit the other bus said he lost control and could not apply the brake in time,” a senior police officer said. PTI
“If it wasn’t for my son who was studying for his mathematics examination till late night, we would not have been alive today,” said 42year-old Jabbar Ali, who lost almost half of his house in the fire that engulfed 14 jhuggis and spread to adjacent Gali no. 4 of Jamia Nagar in Batla House, Okhla. The fire broke out on Thursday midnight. Though no injury was reported in the fire, that residents suspect started because of a short circuit, the loss of livelihood and property was enormous. Ali’s 8-year-old daughter Zainab lost her school uniform and books in the fire, while his 17-year-old son failed to write his exam because his parents were mourning the loss of the house they had built over four years. Ali and his 38-year-old brother Momeen Ali, who together run a delivery service for a private firm in Lawrence Road, lost two motorbikes, refrigerator, television, washing machines and other household goods.
Household goods gutted “The fire broke out around midnight. My son, who was studying for his exam, woke us up and told us that the jhuggis had caught fire. While we were trying to douse the fire, we saw our motorbikes and pick-up trucks going up in flames,” said Jabbar Ali. The family of 14, with five children to each couple, fled through the roof of their two-storey house and jumped to the other building
HC disallows man to cremate woman not related to him Akanksha Jain NEW DELHI
Huge loss: A ire engulfed 14 jhuggis and spread to an adjacent street at Jamia Nagar in Okhla’s Batla House on Thursday midnight. No injury was reported. HEMANI BHANDARI
using a ladder. While they blamed the fire brigade for reaching late to the spot, the family members were thankful to their neighbours for helping them save whatever little was left of their house. “By the time the fire brigade came, we had already doused the blaze. I am really grateful to our neighbours who got buckets of water from their houses to help us,” said Momeen Ali.
Residents in shock The residents of the jhuggis, who are mostly ragpickers, were still in shock as they lurked around looking for another area to settle in. “All they are left with are the clothes they were wearing last night. Everything, including the children’s school books, is gone,” said Laili,
who resides opposite the jhuggis and is the supervisor of some of the women ragpickers. Many were disappointed with the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) for not making it in time. “If the fire brigade had come on time, the fire could have been controlled. They came after one and a half hour,” added Laili. He admitted that some of the angry residents beat up the fire officials who came for the rescue.
‘No delay’ Officers at the DFS denied the allegations levelled by
the residents. “We don’t think we were late. We got a call at 12:18 a.m. We sent sufficient help twice and the first vehicle reached at 12:55 a.m. I must say that the road to the area where the fire broke out was rough and the vehicles had to take a detour to reach there,” said A.K. Malik, Divisional Officer (South Division), Department of Fire Services. The police said no resident has registered any complaint so far. “We will take appropriate action once we receive a formal complaint,” said a senior police officer.
The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant the request of a man who wanted to perform the last rites an elderly woman who, though unrelated, was staying with his family. The woman had died of burns at Safdarjung Hospital two weeks ago. The court order came following the police’s disclosure that the “death of the woman was shrouded in suspicion” and the man had not come to court with “clean hands”. Rajesh Arya (name changed), a resident of Patel Nagar, had filed a plea in the high court claiming that the police were not handing over the body of Mamta (name changed), who was staying with his family since 2014 as she had no family to turn to. Justice A.K. Pathak refused to grant his request and directed that the woman’s body be handed over to her relatives who were traced by the police and brought to the court.
Suspicion on petitioner It was only after Rajesh moved the court that the police began probing his role and discovered that there was more to the case then meets the eye. Rajesh had claimed that on February 13 Mamta’s clothes caught fire when she was lighting a diya near the Tulsi plant in the house. She suffered 45 per cent burns and died six days later at Safdarjung Hospital. Rajesh in his plea had
stated that the police were delaying the post-mortem and had asked him to bring the woman's legal heir or relatives. He had claimed that Mamta had no relatives.
case.
Bank transactions However, on Friday, the police came to the court with Mamta’s first cousin and her nephew and also a status report to show a series of bank transfers totalling Rs.1.5 crore from Mamta’s account to that of Rajesh and his family in two years. The police claimed to have also received a phone call that Mamta’s death was not an accident. The police told the court that Rajesh intentionally misled them by providing fake numbers of Mamta’s relatives.
Death mystery Rahul Mehra, appearing on behalf of the Delhi Police, told the court that Mamta had a property in Patel Nagar. The ground floor of the same came to be occupied by a woman with criminal background. Since Mamta used to visit Arya Samaj Mandir in Patel Nagar, she developed friendly relations with Rajesh’s family. Rajesh, a lawyer, also represented Mamta in an eviction suit and got the case settled for Rs.1.5 crore. Mamta she started staying with his family in 2014. Thereafter, the money was transferred from her account to that of Rajesh and his relatives.
Right of kin “Now the relatives have come. There is no question of handing over the body to you,” Justice Pathak told Rajesh. “In the light of the facts... dead body may be handed over to either to the cousin or the nephew singly or jointly,” he ordered. When Rajesh insisted on cremating the body, Justice Pathak said, “Who are you? The law does not recognise any such person as kin.” The post-mortem will be conducted on Saturday morning after which the body will be handed over to the relatives. The police also said that they were going to register a case against Rajesh. The court said it was leaving it to the police to decide what they wanted to do in the
‘Character certificate’ Mr. Mehra also questioned a document given by Mamta to the police last year stating that she was being taken care of by Rajesh’s family who kept her happy. “Who gives such kind of character certificate about someone to the police? And two months later she dies,” he argued. The police said an inquest is on in the case. Rajesh said the money was not misused as he had borne her medical expenses and Mamta had even travelled abroad with them. “If you were such a good person that you provided her accommodation, you would not have taken her money. You met a woman who had no family, you won her confidence and looted her,” said Justice Pathak.
Fire at Ghaziabad housing society
Rape threats: cops yet to identify suspects
Fire alarm system was not working; residents allege developer’s negligence
Police say deletion of Gurmehar’s Facebook account won’t afect probe
Purusharth Aradhak Ghaziabad
Close shave: A ire broke out at a group housing society in Ghaziabad’s Loni on Thursday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A large number of families had a close shave after a major fire broke out in a group housing society in Loni here on Thursday. According to the police, the fire broke out around 9 p.m. at Bharat City’s Indraprastha Yojana. “I noticed smoke coming out from a garbage duct and immediately sounded an alert,” said Yogesh Sirole, a resident of the society. Reportedly, none of the
fire alarm systems in the society were working and it was the residents who doused the flames.
FIR lodged The families then lodged an FIR against the developer at the Banthla police post for negligence. “The developer ignored these safety measures despite repeated reminders from the residents,” Mr. Sirole said. He further said that the developer sent his staff to
the society on Friday to “dress up” the affected areas. “Even after paying ₹3,600 per month as maintenance fee, our lives are in danger,” Mr. Sirole said. Banthla police post incharge, Raj Kumar, confirmed that an FIR had been filed. When asked about the action taken in the case, Mr. Kumar said, “I am out of town. I will reach Ghaziabad on Saturday and only after that will action be taken.”
“We are in touch with her. She is communicating with the probe team through phone and email. Since her Facebook and Twitter accounts are linked, the threatening texts have not been lost,” said a senior police officer.
Staff Reporter NEW DELHI
The Delhi Police are yet to identify the persons who allegedly issued online rape threats to LSR student Gurmehar Kaur, but said that the deletion of her Facebook account would not affect the investigations in any way.
Sexual harassment Ms. Kaur, the daughter of a Kargil martyr, deleted her Facebook account after the police registered a case of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation against un-
Gurmehar Kaur
known persons. She is currently staying with her family in Jalandhar.
Accused not identified On the progress of the probe, the officer said that the accounts from which the threats were issued were yet to be identified. The police have the profile id and the screenshots of the threaten-
ing messages that Ms. Kaur received on her social media accounts. Earlier, Ms. Kaur faced threats when she started the campaign "I am not afraid of ABVP", following the violence at Ramjas College last month.
Massive support The post went viral and Ms. Kaur received massive support as well as threatening messages. The DCW forwarded a complaint to the police based on which a case against unknown persons was registered.
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Burning bright
Going down in lames: Seized tiger skin being destroyed in an incinerator at the Delhi zoo to mark World Wildlife Day on Friday. Also seen is Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment Anil Madhav Dave. V. SUDERSHAN
Landlord’s son accused of rape Purusharth Aradhak Ghaziabad
An eight-year-old was allegedly raped by her landlord’s son in Ghaziabad’s Sahibabad. His family allegedly threatened the victim’s family when they complained against him. The Hindu has a copy of the FIR lodged by the mother at Sahibabad police station. “The landlord’s son took my daughter to a vacant room in the same building and raped her around 7 p.m. on Sunday. After raping my daughter, he threatened her with dire consequences,” the victim’s mother said. CM YK
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IN BRIEF
Minimum wage hiked by 37% Kejriwal thanks Baijal for accepting proposal, terms move ‘historic’ Staff Reporter
Dilraj Kaur transferred
New Delhi
Frame policy on e-rickshaws: HC to govt NEW DELHI
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Centre, the Aam Aadmi Party government and the Delhi Police to frame a comprehensive policy on plying of e-rickshaws in the capital. It said a committee, including members from the Ministry of Urban Development, Delhi government, discoms, director of local bodies and a senior officer from Delhi Police, be constituted in three weeks to frame a comprehensive policy. PTI
Youth Congress protests against CM NEW DELHI
Hundreds of Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress activists on Friday protested against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal outside his residence in Civil Lines for his alleged failure to fulfil promises after coming to power. Indian Youth Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja said the AAP government had not been able to deliver on promises such as free WiFi, new colleges, pensions for senior citizens and ending “VIP culture”. STAFF REPORTER
Reach out to people with mental ailments: Jain
Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal has approved the Delhi government’s proposal to hike the minimum wages of labourers by 37%, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday. Dubbing the hike “historic” and the “highest” yet in independent India, the Chief Minister said a notification for its implementation would be issued on March 6. Mr. Kejriwal also thanked Mr. Baijal for approving of the scheme.
Notification on March 6 “The notification for the hike in minimum wages will be issued on March 6 and the increased salaries will be paid to the workers in accordance with it,” Mr. Kejriwal said.. As per the Delhi Cabinet’s decision, for an unskilled worker the minimum wages will be ₹13,350 per month against the existing ₹9,724 per month. For semi-skilled and skilled workers, it will increase from ₹10,764 to ₹14,698 and from ₹11,830 to ₹16,182 per month, respectively. In August 2016, the government had proposed a hiked of 50% minimum wages but the decision was struck down by the then L-G Najeeb Jung. Mr. Kejriwal
Press Trust of India New Delhi
Strict implementation: Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai has said monitoring committees will be formed to ensure that employers pay the new minimum wages. FILE PHOTO
said the difference between the last year’s hike and the present 37% was due to “seasonal variations” in the prices of food and other items. “The government has cleared all the recommendations of the 15-member committee set up last year to revise the minimum wages,” he said.
Message to employers The Chief Minister urged employers to “share” their earnings with their employees, and advised them not to go to courts to challenge the hike. Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said State- and district-level monitoring committees would be formed to
ensure that employers paid the new minimum wages. “Employers will have to provide online information regarding the payment of minimum wages by them,” Mr. Rai said, adding that “strict” monitoring would be done to ensure its implementation. The hike in minimum wages will benefit around 50 lakh people in Delhi, he further said. The Minimum Wages Bill, which is awaiting the Centre’s approval, proposes a penalty of ₹50,000 and jail term up to three years for violation of the provisions of minimum wages. At present, the penalty is ₹500, while the jail term is six months.
Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal has transferred Women and Child Development Secretary Dilraj Kaur, whose appointment as Member Secretary of the Delhi Commission for Women by his predecessor, Najeeb Jung, was disputed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Ms.Kaur, a 2000batch IAS officer, has been posted as Additional Commissioner in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC). She has been replaced by IAS officer Garima Gupta.
Additional charge Senior IAS officer Anil Kumar Singh, Secretary-cum-Commissioner (Labour), will hold additional charge as Secretary (Social Welfare and Women and Child Development) till further notice.
NEW DELHI
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday exhorted doctors to reach out to mental patients with a missionary zeal and help demystify psychological ailments. “There are a lot of misconceptions attached to mental ailments. But these are like other diseases. Many people ignore and hide mental ailments,” Mr.Jain said at the inauguration of a long-stay home at the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences. PTI
BJP to blame for garbage, civic issues: CM Ahead of polls, Kejriwal releases video to highlight failure of municipal bodies Staff Reporter NEW dELHI
Gearing up for the civic polls, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a video message on Thursday slammed the BJP and the Congress over the “mess” in the Municipal Corporations.
In the video, which will be used during the campaign for the upcoming elections, Mr. Kejriwal told Delhiites that maintaining sanitation and cleanliness in the city was the responsibility of the BJP-ruled municipal corporations but it had “failed miser-
ably” on that front.
‘No outstanding work’ He also challenged the two parties to name one “outstanding” work that they have done while in power in the civic bodies in the past five years.
In the 14-minute video, which also talks about the Aam Aadmi Party government’s achievements, Mr.Kejriwal asked the people to vote for AAP as they will ensure a “corruption-free MCD and garbage-free Delhi”.
No more hassles as driving licence application goes online Transport dept. makes 8 services online to end ‘corruption’ Staff Reporter New Delhi
In a bid to eradicate corruption, the Delhi Transport Department has made eight of its services online. These include application for driving licences, issue of duplicate registration certificates and the transfer of vehicle ownership, among others. An announcement to this effect was made by Chief Minister Kejriwal at the Delhi Secretariat on Friday. The other services which can be availed online include the payment of road tax and fitness fees, allotment of fancy registration numbers, change of address in the registration certificate of a vehicle, and deletion in vehicle registration. To avail of the services,
applicants will have to visit the website of the transport department.
Focus on e-governance The Chief Minister also announced that the Delhi government would soon introduce an ‘e-Authority’ so that people did not have to visit the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs). “In the last two years, the AAP government has taken several steps to provide better services to the people of Delhi. As eight services of the transport department have gone online, Delhiites won’t have to make rounds of the RTOs. In future, all department services will be made online,” Mr. Kejriwal said. As per records, around 20
lakh people visit the RTOs every year. The Chief Minister, however, said that as per the Motor Vehicles Rules, an applicant would still have to visit the transport offices to get a hard copy of the document once the filing of the application and payment of fees were done. Mr. Kejriwal said the government would also take up the matter with the Centre so that there was no human interface at the department’s offices. “Earlier, the department was understood to be a den of corruption. Through online services, corruption will be eliminated. This is a very big step. I want to thank the transport department officials for the initiative,” he said.
Govt. to focus on learning outcomes
‘Smart City plan not inclusive’
Teachers to be given skill training
Staff Reporter New Delhi
Staff Reporter New Delhi
Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said the Delhi government would focus on attaining the gradewise learning outcomes drafted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for Classes I-VIII. Speaking at a meeting held to discuss the issue, Mr. Sisodia said the focus from this year onwards would be to attain those outcomes instead of the mere completion of syllabuses.
‘Track progress’ He pointed out that the outcome indicators should be
self-explanatory for teachers so that they can regularly track the progress of students. “Teachers should not only be able to take corrective actions but also be able to communicate the same to parents,” said the Minister. The State Council of Educational Research and Training will train teachers to strengthen their pedagogical skills. The Minister also said that an assessment unit would be set up under the Directorate of Education with the mandate of developing the assessment tools and supervising its administration to measure the learning outcomes across schools.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said the Central government’s Smart City Mission was not inclusive as it had chosen a very small area of the Capital to be developed as a smart city. Mr. Sisodia was talking at the ASICS annual conclave organised by not-forprofit institution Janaagraha. In Delhi, the area under the jurisdiction of the New Delhi Municipal Council has been chosen to be developed as a smart city. Mr. Sisodia asked what had prevented the Central government from choosing another area.
Farewell to those claws
FILM REVIEWS
On an ingratiating mission
Here is Marvel’s most depressing and dark ilm yet
Commando 2 disregards its action chops by being a propaganda vehicle for demonetisation Namrata Joshi
Commando 2 is an action film that decides to wear another mask; of topicality, social consciousness and patriotism, all for the heck of it. In the process the film loses its own identity entirely. The epilogue and prologue (obviously added as an afterthought post November 8, 2016) try to give a contemporary frame to what is essentially just another fantasy about getting the Indian black money home from overseas. What you end up with is a propaganda vehicle for demonetisation rather than an edge-of-the-seat thriller; one that makes perfunctory noises about farmer suicides and peddles the false dream of “₹15 lakh in every citizen’s account”, i.e. once all the money returns. There are references to Swachh Bharat and to desh bhakti—one character randomly talks about his name —Zafar Hussain —and the onus of proving his patriot-
Commando 2: The Black Money Trail Deven Bhojani Vidyut Jammwal, Adah Sharma, Esha Gupta, Shefali Shah, Anjum Rajabali Run time: 123 mins Director: Starring:
Not impressed: Actor Vidyut Jammwal fails to make an impact despite sporting the right muscles, slithering up walls and swinging from buildings. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
ism to the world. Another casually talks about the pleasure in serving the nation. We remain eminently unmoved. So you have a team of four—Commando Karan Singh (Vidyut Jammwal), ACP Bakhtawar (Freddy Daruwala), Inspector Bhavna Reddy (Adah Sharma) and Systems hacker Zafar Hussain (Sumit Gulati)—all on a
mission to get a big black money launderer back to India from Malaysia. The idea is to wring out all the secrets from him about the accounts and the account holders — the corrupt businessmen and politicians. Much of what ensues defies logic—like a cockroach giving an important lead — and you surrender to the plot holes in a narrative that is a minefield
of inconsistencies, in the hope that the action set pieces will be the saving grace. Computers get hacked, the chases wind on, cars get smashed, and there are countless gunshots and stabbings. But there is hardly any high voltage drama, the kind that gives you the adrenaline rush, save in the opening credits and a sequence in the finale that has been shot like a video game. The film demonstrates a high level of obsequiousness for the government and the powers that be – all politicians and ministers get absolved in the corruption game by a highly contrived twist in the tale. It is worse than the supposed grand re-
veal at interval. No wonder Vidyut Jammwal — even though he may speak in a baritone, sport the right muscles, slither up the wall and swing from buildings athletically, go somersaulting with all agility and singlehandedly take on several goons— just can’t make an impact. And as with most standard action films women are reduced to glam dolls and jokers. However, there were a few takeaways – Shefali Shah, as the home minister, wears some lovely kalamkari saris teamed up with mismatched blouses. I was most amused on seeing writer Anjum Rajabali step into the (fictional) Prime Minister’s shoes and laughed out loud to find a villain sporting my hairstyle, without the sprinkling of grey of course. Also, much as the film keeps harping on desh bhakti, small mercy that the national anthem didn’t get shoved in. Welcome to the world of sarkari cinema.
A love letter to Bostonians Peter Berg’s Patriot’s Day is a moving tribute to people afected by the Boston Marathon Bombings Deborah Cornelious
Patriot’s Day
In his third film with director Pete Berg, Mark Wahlberg stars in the dramatisation of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. As he is wont to do (case in point Deepwater Horizon which also stars Wahlberg), Berg sticks to the facts in Patriot’s Day. And although his leading man’s character has been fictionalised, all the other characters are based on real people who worked tirelessly to capture the bombers. Patriot’s Day opens a few hours before the marathon showing us glimpses into the lives of the people who would eventually be affected by the attack. The film then spans the five days (April 15 to April 19), commencing with the day of the bombing going up to when the officials CM YK
Peter Berg Mark Wahlberg, J. K. Simmons, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon and Michelle Monaghan. Run time: 133 minutes Director: Starring:
Pleasant to watch: The depiction of the bombers is refreshing; a portrayal that doesn’t patronise the audience by humanising them. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
finally found the second perpetrator hiding in a boat. Essentially, the film is a love letter to the city of Boston, exalting the citizens and the officials’ tireless work to capture the terrorists. For instance, in one scene, officials realise they’ve received thousands of responses just minutes after addressing the
public, and another shows a citizen risking his life in the midst of gunfire to offer an officer his sledgehammer as a weapon. It’s noteworthy that Berg hasn’t intentionally once tried to emotionally manipulate his audience save for his addition of little story arcs to the real-life characters. Des-
pite that, the film does manage to embed itself firmly in the viewers. The director does that first with his impactful depiction of the attack’s aftermath. There’s blood spilled in the streets, body parts strewn about and people running helter-skelter in panic but still helping each other out. Berg translates, as much as you can in a film, the chaos, mayhem and fear that went down after the bombing. Although terrorism films are prone to play up the anti-Muslim rhetoric
often exacerbating the hatred towards the religion – but in this case, there’s an unequivocal hero with little attention paid to the villains. Boston’s resilience and the triumph of love over hate eclipses the evil of the bombers. And the depiction of the bombers is actually refreshing; a portrayal that doesn’t patronise the audience by humanising them or offering an explanation of their actions. Each time Berg uses real images and actual news footage from April 2013 – including cameos from the people the characters are based on – it only validates the audience reaction to the city’s people and its law enforcement agencies. And you’ll end up feeling buoyant after seeing how Boston reacted to the bombings.
Scary sights: There’s more blood and gore in the ilm than all of the prequels combined.
PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Ramakrishnan M
Things were never the same with the Hollywood superhero franchise after Christopher Nolan made his indelible mark of realism on Batman. Since then, DC Comics and Marvel have been playing the ‘who’s more dark and disturbing’ game with each other. To hell with tributes to comic storytelling, let’s breathe some real cinema into this thing. And that’s exactly what you should expect when you ask the man who directed Walk The Line to take over the Wolverine franchise. That James Mangold has chosen to call this project Logan is very significant. It is only the fourth superhero movie to not use the character’s name in its title (the rest being The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel). There are no leather tights or colourful leotards here. “Someone made this all up, it’s not real,” Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) says, clutching copies of X-Men comics, to the eleven-yearold mutant girl, Laura (Dafne Keen in a pint-sized powerhouse of a perform-
Logan James Mangold Hugh Jackman, Dafne Keene, Patrick Stewart, Boyd Holbrook Run time: 141 mins Director: Starring:
ance) in the dystopian year of 2024. You can almost cut the irony with his claws. But how bittersweet it is to see the grumpiest of Charles Xavier’s (Patrick Stewart) students end up taking care of him as he battles Alzheimer’s in his 90s. The rest of them, save for Caliban (Stephen Merchant) who is reduced to doing daily chores, are gone. Logan is the breadwinner of the house, eking out a living by chauffeuring an on-demand limousine. After nearly 130 years of his existence, his healing powers are wearing off — making him look like he’s battling that bear from The Revenant everyday of his life. Alcohol (lots of it_ becomes the painkiller. What’s actually more disturbing is that Logan needs reading glasses! Some things in the narrative are sacred, for without it there’s no meaning to the X-
Men story: mankind is still trying to control mutants, there’s a mad doctor behind it all (Richard Grant as Dr. Zander Rice), a henchman who does the dirty work (Boyd Holbrook of Narcos fame as the mutant hunter, Donald Pierce) and a mythical haven of peace for the different ones. Logan is the most dark and depressing film from the Marvel universe so far. There’s more blood and gore than all of the prequels combined. If anything, it should present an anatomical study of how Adamantium claws cut their way into human flesh and bone, and dismember limbs and heads. The screenplay oozes with depression and a sense of regret about everything. Even Professor X cannot refrain from using the f-word so freely. The occasional moments of peace and happiness do not last long. “Shit happens to people I care about,” Logan barks. When he loses it in a tearful scene involving a departure, taking it out on his truck with a spade, we can sense Jackman grumbling he’s had enough playing this role for 17 long years. ND-ND
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On an inclusive journey...
Making it happen
Four Australian bikers on how they seek to connect with little ones across the country
Inclov, a mobile app, seeks to empower specially-abled people by giving them an option to ind their soul mate
Madhur Tankha
s. ravi
Making a trip to India and undertaking a long circuitous ride for the betterment of underprivileged children was a dream shared by Cameron Perry, Scott Grills, Taylor Hogan and Ben Butcher. The four Australian bikers, all in their 20s, are geared up to embark on their journey which begins at Gurugram this Saturday taking them to various states, cities and villages. “The issue of child rights is close to our hearts. All four of us are self-driven to do more in life and give back to society. For us, this was the best way to use our motorcycling skills to support this cause. This is an exciting process and we look forward to this journey,” says Cameron Perry, who seeks to do something substantial for Indian children. During the next 45 days, Cameron and his three buddies, who share a passion for biking and filmmaking , would discover not just the diverse terrain as they ride on their adventure bikes across the country but also get up close and personal with marginalised kids like those from urban slums in Delhi. They would cheer them up and exhort them to stand up on their feet once they get educated. After getting an insight into children’s groups, parents and mothers’ groups, they would highlight their stories. “We would be visiting
Passionate bikers: (From left) Scott Grills, Ben Butcher, Cameron Perry and Taylor Hogan
various centres run by Child Rights and You (CRY) and meeting these children,” he says. On how he would be shooting the documentary, Ben, who will videograph, says, the film would capture the hard work that goes into these programmes and show it to bigger audience. “It would then create more support and understanding of this movement to help eradicate child labour.” “We have been raised in a
fairly privileged country which has not been exposed to some of the issues concerning children. For us it is a huge eye opener. We strongly feel that these problems like child labourneed to be eradicated. Free education is there in India but educational institutions don’t have facilities which children require,” notes Cameron. Lack of education opporunities for underprivileged is a global issue. “Each child whether an Indian or Australian needs to avail education. Schools and colleges lay the foundation of greater things in life. Job security should be a con-
strongly feel < > We that these problems like child labour need to be eradicated Cameron Perry
‘Logan will always be a part of me’ Hugh Jackman opens up about playing Wolverine, ‘one last time’
A legacy: Hugh Jackman in “Logan” vishal menon
This being your last X-Men movie, what is the one aspect of the franchise you will miss most? ■ I’m going to miss being on the sets with people like Patrick Stewart. When I began in 1999, I was a little star-struck. I’d seen John Barton’s Playing Shakespeare so many times and I dreamt that I would do Shakespeare with Stewart one day… to think I would be on the same sets as Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. The sets of X-Men were such that we all became really close, but I realised that it is not the case with all films. I like to believe there is such a thing as the ‘Art of Living’. If there’s someone who has perfected that, it is Patrick Stewart. It’s the people I’m going to miss the most. But Logan will always be a part of me. How do you see Logan’s evolution as a character? ■ Logan is a radical departure. I think the world of the film is very different from the other X-Men films. The director wanted to make the film smaller. I remember having a chat with one of my earliest drama teachers. I asked him, when we do a show eight times a week, was I meant to make it difCM YK
ferent each time? He said, ‘It’s not different, but it is deeper.’ We’ve gone deeper With Logan...the script has allowed that.
Have the X-Men films ‘grown up’? ■ The sole purpose of Logan was to allow us to get into the real essence of what we thought the character was all about. And the studio said yes immediately. There is one rule in the world we live in today: ‘the average, fails’. If you’re not giving people a reason to go to the theatre, then no marketing campaign will work. By 7 pm on the Friday you’ve opened, you know if your film’s dead. You can’t just say ‘It’s an X-Men movie and it will run’. When did you first think of ending Wolverine? ■ I was having dinner with Jerry Seinfeld and I asked him why he ended his supremely successful show at the time he did. He said that creatively, it is important that we don’t run ourselves dry. He didn’t say that you need to be on top, but if you leave when you still have ideas, then it would propel your next creative endeavour. As he said this, I knew it was time. I woke up at 4 am the next morning and I knew the direction the last film should take.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
cern when they grow up as adults but right now they need to know that education is vital for their future. They cannot be working and studying at the same time. That is why the school drop out rate in India is so high,” he adds. In 2015, Cameron visited India and was appalled to see children working at roadside eateries and factories. “I got a feel of the culture and fell in love with the atmosphere. When we got together to start Ride for Rights, we thought there could not be a better place to start this journey from.”
Language barrier On their stay in Delhi, Scott says: “It has been great even in the last few days to interact with strangers and hear their stories. We are sure we will have many such stories to hear through our journey and we are not having any pre-conceived notions.”
Lack of knowledge of Hindi can create a spanner in their road trip. “It would create a partial barrier but we have learning devices for general conversations. At work with programmes, CRY would send spokespersons so that they can translate and make us understand dialect of villagers. So far we have been able to communicate with locals without language. Despite the language barrier, there is so much to learn and share,” says Cameron. All of them are big foodies and have acclimatised themselves to Indian food. “We are not taking any food with us because all four of us absolutely love the Indian cuisine. As we would be regularly eating local food from the countryside, we have stopped the intake of Continental food. It is all part of engaging in culture. We are now looking forward to eating in dhabas.”
Heading for a conference, it was sheer luck that got Kalyani Khona and Shankar Srinivasan acquainted on a train journey. Their friendship proved a great help for people with disabilities and health disorders. They created a matchmaking app, Inclov in January 2016, focusing on making life a little better for many coping with disabilities. “It lets one find a match on the basis of age, location, lifestyle, medication, disability type, disability percentage, level of independence, assistive devices used and cure availability ,” explains Srinivasan. Inclov also conducts physical meet-ups in different cities at accessible locations enabling its members and their friends to get together. In a chat, Srinivasan talks about how Inclov came into being, its success stories and how it helps people with disabilities (PwDs). Overcoming social stigma Inspite of high education and respectable job, PwDs face challenges in finding a desirable partner because of the social stigma and general outlook society has. “Sometimes families are not very supportive and think that they will remain single forever which worsens the situation. There is a general misconception that PwD cannot find a life partner and we are going to break this with a blog series of real women with disabilities in India sharing their stories of how they found a life partner and how they are managing very well now,” relates Srinivasan. Simple and sensible Inclov mobile app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store to create an account with email ID and password. It can be done by using FB/Google login too. Going further, Srinivasan explains: “Then one creates the profile which goes up for review for 24 hours where we give feed-
Made for each other: Shankar Srinivasan with Anisha Banu Multani and Imran
back like if one needs to change the display picture, if any information is not clear to get closest to finding a match. On acceptance of profile, one can start browsing matches and send requests. After request acceptance, a person can start talking on our text box/chat.” Authenticity and security To protect privacy and keep away spammers and fake profiles, Srinivasan says adequate steps have been taken. “We curate profile and there is a review process, mobile verification and inchat feature so one doesn’t have to disclose personal contact details. Further no screenshots are taken on Inclov (by disabling the feature). One cannot exchange images on app. This way, cyber crime and bullying issues are addressed.” Accessibility “It is fully accessible to people with visual impairment through screen reader and talk back. Font size and colour themes (for people with retina disorder or colour blindness/contrast) can be chosen. We plan to start working on video call for people who use sign language, voice commands for people with upper body mobility and regional/local languages to solve the language barrier,” reveals Srinivasan.
Social Spaces Realising that those interacting and matching up on the app do not get a chance to meet in person, Inclov ideated in 2015 to begin Social Spaces. “This allows people to get to know each other better in a fully inclusive environment. We have conducted over 19 Social Spaces across the country with more than 500 people having met in person,” informs Srinivasan. Success stories With a hint of pride, Srinivasan narrates how Inclov brought many people together. “Anisha Banu Multani, a gold medallist in rifle shooting and Miss Wheelchair Runner-up, waited for eight years before settling down. Initially hesitant , we persuaded her and she found Imran within ten days. Three months down the line they tied the knot . Likewise, Kumar and Arpita (names changed), both fully independent and belonging to different castes married after meeting through Inclov. Kumar has cerebral palsy while Arpita is afflicted with polio. Srinivasan recalls another case. “Ankush (affected by polio) from Delhi met Mahima (spinal cord injury) from Telangana on the app. They didn’t speak each other’s language initially but they have fallen in love.”
FOOD SPOT
Making the right noises Honk makes you realise that one has to venture into uncharted territories for a memorable meal Rahul Verma
If it’s not too late for New Year resolutions – we are, after all, only in the first quarter of the year – I would like to pen a short note to myself and stick it to the fridge with a magnet. “Must travel more often to the south of south of Delhi,” it will say. Readers know than I am a bit reluctant when it comes to criss-crossing the city in search of good food. The traffic is hell and even short distances turn into marathons when you are going along with the traffic. So when friends or restaurateurs invite me to a new place in the southern parts of the city, or beyond, I tend to demur. That is why I was reluctant when invited to the Pullman Hotel in the area known
as Aerocity, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport, some days ago. But I did finally go there, and had such a happy meal that I resolved to step into uncharted territories. The meal was at its panAsian restaurant called Honk. The décor is cheerful and the lights are dazzling. From the ceiling hangs this enormous chandelier, with slender lights casting a bright glow over the place. Well lit restaurants lift my mood, so I saw that as a good sign. I had an interesting conversation with the two chefs – Ajay Anand, culinary director, and Deepak Malhotra, executive sous chef – about the food that they cook. The menu seeks to celebrate what is essentially the street food
Worth the efort: Leaf-wrapped Chilean seabass, buttered garlic, asparagus and greens; (below) jasmine cream brule, ginger madillion, honey streusel
of Southeast and East Asian countries. And since it is a fine dining restaurant, the food is served most aesthetically, which, to my mind, always adds to the taste and flavours. It was a sumptuous meal – consisting of, among other things, Asian greens with bean sprouts and avocado, duck and sour cherry dumplings, Jade prawn har gow
‘perfume de hen’ dumplings and leaf wrapped Chilean sea bass. The greens were excellent; the avocado giving a light kick to the dish flavoured with sweet sesame. The jade touch to the har gow dumplings came from some wasabi, and the casing had been pierced with a syringe filled with strong chicken stock, which was the ‘perfume de hen’ that the
dish promised. The fish, nicely moist, came in a delightful buttered garlic sauce. You know my fondness for pork, so it’s no surprise that I hugely enjoyed the Singapore style pork ribs. The pork was tender and had soaked in the flavours of Chinese five spices, star anise and Schezwan pepper. The meat had been braised for two hours over a very low
flame, which helped trap all the juices and spices in it. Likewise, the Nanjing style duck had the predominant flavours of star anise and Shaoxing wine. The meat, lightly powdered with potato starch, had been flash fried on high heat – which meant the duck was crisp from the outside, and meltingly soft within. I am on and off sweets these days – well, actually I must admit that I am more on than off – but I decided that to round off what was a very satisfying meal I needed to have something sweet. I had a spoonful of the jasmine flavoured crème brulee and warm ginger cake with a blob of raspberry and ginger ice cream. The caramel chocolate and peanut parfait was perfect – sweet and just mildly salted. The dinner at Honk made me realise that there is a world out there waiting to be conquered. A wise man had said that you need to dig deep for sweet water. And you have to travel just that extra mile for a memorable meal. the writer is a seasoned food critic
4 EVENTS WORTH-YOUR-WHILE
MUSIC
THEATRE
EXHIBITION
THEATRE
Lou Majaw
She Said/He Said
Life Is A Circus
Lou Majaw of Shillong known for his energetic and electrifying live shows will be performing at the Piano Jazz Club to belt out the Bob Dylan and rock and roll numbers. Venue: B 6- Commercial Complex, Safdar. Enc. Time: 9 p.m.
Akshara Theatre presents the English comedy play based on the play by Alice Herzenberg. Directed by Anasuya Vaidya it features Dhruv Shetty, Rakesh Palisetty and Ankur Anand. Venue: 1 1-12 B, Baba Kharak Singh Marg Time: 7 p.m.
Theatre Festival
The solo art exhibition is presenting a series of sketches by Poonam Bevli Sahi who through lyrical metaphors inspired by the circus and everything extraordinary that surrounds it. Venue: Art Gallery IIC Annexe Time: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Old World Collegiate Theatre Festival will stage “In the Name of the Bully” by the Players from Kirori Mal College and “A Shaggy Dog Story” by haheed Sukhdev College of BS Venue: Amphitheatre, IHC Time: 7 p.m. ND-ND
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6 LIFESTYLE
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Watch out If you prefer an all-natural look, opt for these elegant bamboo watches that have been handcrafted with select bamboo variants. These are natural bamboo wooden watches with a brown leather strap, watches with bamboo and maple wood, bamboo watches with a green wood dial, and a zebra wood strap. Waterproof and light-weight, the watches come in a neat gift box. Priced at ₹5,000 upwards, at kraftly.com
Bicycle trail Bambike: A suggestion from a friend got Vijay Sharma working on the country’s irst bamboo bicycle prototype, Bambike. The Bengalurubased furniture designer and manufacturer, who runs his company 6mm Designs and Furniture, created the bambike in just three days back in 2009. As it did not have too many takers, Vijay did not venture into selling it commercially.For details, mail Vijay at
[email protected] Bamboo India: Bamboo bicycles are durable, resistant to stress and impact, and transfer power eiciently. Currently being manufactured by Bamboo India, the bicycles are available in three variants — road bike, mountaineering bike, and a hybrid variant. Each frame is made by hand, giving it much-needed durability. The frame is made of bamboo, which needs to be treated to prevent splitting. The bikes have a non-toxic satin polyurethane inish, which functions as a vapour seal. This enables easy maintenance of the bicycle. The bicycles are available at exhibitions, and cycling events. Priced from ₹25,000 onwards, log on to bambooindia.com to place your order
In the shade
PHOTO CREDIT: SAM MOHAN
Woodgeek: Woodgeek, which went online in 2015, also has a range of bamboo sunglasses. The frames are carved out of 12 mm thick bamboo boards and are planed and sanded down. Hand-finished to ensure uniformity in wood grain, the sunglasses and prescription eyewear come with polarised lenses and a special UV coating that makes them water resistant. Priced between ₹2,499 and ₹3,499. At woodgeekstore.com Wood Works: A range of water-resistant bamboo sunglasses has been created by Gujarat-based Wood Works. Launched online in May 2016, they are made using polarised lenses and steel hinges. Priced between ₹2,499 and ₹3,499. Details: woodworksinc.in
Godrej: When Vijay Crishna of Lawkim Motors Group travelled to Antarctica, he chanced upon a bamboo-framed bike that had been ridden the entire length of North and South America. Inspired, he invited its designer Craig Calfee to India to create something similar for the Indian market. Made using the PseudoOxytenanthera stocksii species of bamboo, the bamboo frames are lighter and stronger than those in mild steel bicycles. They will be soon available in India via online channels in three diferent variants
Sound zone Another innovative product from Bamboo India Mission, this acoustic bamboo speaker and mobile docking station is made using a rare variety of bamboo found only in Pune, Maharashtra. Each speaker is made with a single piece of bamboo, and is cut, polished and dyed by hand. A signature product, no two bamboo speakers are alike. Each speaker is laserengraved and can be customised with a name or logo on it. The stylish docking station and sound ampliier uses zero electricity, battery or plug-ins. It’s not only great for playing music, but works well for hands-free calls, and
Write side up This artisanal pen has a vintage feel and was created with the hope of reviving the art of writing. Based on a concept suggested by a client in the US — who hired the Ahmedabad-based design studio, Rhizome, to work on its design — it is carved out of bamboo, and has a steel clip and a chamfered tip. Each pen comes with a German ink refill. Rebecca Reubens, Founder and Principal Designer of Rhizome, who has worked with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) for seven years, is now working on developing a range of holistic writing instruments inspired by sustainable materials and crafts. Priced at ₹500, the Humble Pen is currently being sold on a project basis on rhizomedesign.co.in
Clean easy Over 150 million plastic toothbrushes are discarded every month in India and this seeded the idea of the bamboo toothbrush. Yogesh Shinde, Founder, Bamboo India Mission, introduced it in the country late last year. Sturdy and bio-degradable, they are made with the MOS variant of bamboo, which is carbonised (treated with heat to increase longevity, and make it water-resistant and antibacterial). The bristles are made from biodegradable nylon4 and bamboo fibre or corn fibre. The toothbrush has been supplied to the UK, Dubai, the US and the Netherlands, and over 20,000 toothbrushes have been sold since its launch. Priced at ₹110. Details: bambooindia.com
For the love of BAMBOO
bambooindia.com
From biodegradable bikes to bow ties, the lowly grass moves up nidhi adlakha
There are over 1,000 bamboo species in the world, and yet we have not tapped its full potential. The woody perennial grass is not just great for roofs and furniture, but, as we discovered, they are currently being used to make over 1,800 products, ranging from textiles and stationery to fashion accessories. With innovators in the country experimenting with it as an alternative to plastic and metal, here is what we found.
Skin deep
Carved from bamboo boards, these bow ties and culinks are a great addition to your wardrobe. Created using a CNC router, they are hand-sanded and UV-coated for a smooth inish. The bamboo cuf links can be engraved with your initials and make for a unique customised gift. The bow ties and cuf links are also available in walnut, rosewood and zebra wood. The bow ties are priced at ₹1,999 and cuf links at ₹1,499. At woodgeekstore.com
Stock up BarX, the newest bar accessories website, assures variety, quality and great price points Surya praphulla kumar
Quite often, an urge to update my tiny home bar outfit will have me trawling the net. I’ve looked at Serpollet ice buckets on Arttd’inox, silver-plated Mandalay wine bowls on Good Earth, and Sitara bar tools, with their beautiful brass finish, on Nicobar. But the price points make my hand stay on the mouse. So it was with trepidation that I logged on to three-week-old BarX, started by Vikram Achanta, the Delhi-based owner of Tulleeho, a beverage education and training centre. Though the website is still under development, the
Dear Earth: Mumbai-based company, Dear Earth, has created a lotion and soap from activated bamboo charcoal. Launched in 2014, the bamboo charcoal lotion contains ine bamboo charcoal, aloe vera, neem oil, lemon oil, coconut oil, and vitamin E that promises soft and supple skin. Meanwhile, the soap is made from ine pounded bamboo charcoal and organic jojoba oil that unclogs pores and exfoliates your skin. The lotion is priced at ₹850 and the soap at ₹290.
On the case Lumbr: Obsessed with all things bamboo and wood, Kolkata-based Lumbr has designed a range of bamboo phone cases. Made using a light-weight variant of bamboo, the texture enables precise engraving and gives the cases a rich look. Priced from ₹799 to ₹1,499 at lumbr.in Woodgeek: Made by combining real bamboo veneer with a polycarbonate shell, the bamboo phone cases at Woodgeek are sliced from carefully selected bamboo logs. The 2-mm-thick veneer is coated with matte UV cured varnish and pasted on a polycarbonate shell to give the cases lexibility. The cases can be engraved and come in two variants — slim cases, which are thin and light, and bumper cases which give added protection to your smartphone. Available at woodgeekstore.com, the phone cases are priced from ₹799 to ₹1,499
Take a bow
CM YK
using apps like Skype. Priced at ₹329. Details:
Number crunching A fun addition to your oice, this calculator marries bamboo with plastic. The top is laser-cut from a 3 mm bamboo board and combined with a hard plastic body. The calculators can be customengraved with text or a logo. Made to order, they are only available for bulk
Details: dearearth.in Pratha Naturals: Pune-based Pratha Naturals has a soap for men made with activated bamboo charcoal and peppermint. The Hardy Clumpy variant of bamboo is put to use here together with natural oils and butters blended in a traditional cold process method. Priced at ₹175. Details:
purchases. Priced at ₹899 for a
minimum order of 100 pieces. Place your order at woodgeekstore.com
fact that a five-piece bar essentials kit is on its way to me now will give you a hint as to how pocket-friendly its products are. “Quite often, a customer who is just getting into bartending wants something with an approachable price point. We offer products at a lowentry bar, which you can then take up a notch with our more premium selections, like the imported copper and gold-plated barware from Taiwan, which you won’t easily find on the shelf in India,” begins Achanta, explaining why he felt the need for a site dedicated to barware.
Talking numbers Achanta — an IIM Calcutta graduate, who worked as a management consultant for close to nine years before changing tracks to begin his beverage startup — first spent a few months figuring out what was lacking in the market, from both the consumer’s and the professional’s points of view. “We found there was a gap in terms of availability and access to a comprehensive range of
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Cheers! A bar essentials kit from BarX; Vikram Achanta
bar products. There is no one-stop shop, either online or off the net, that aggregates a good assortment of products,” he reveals. Like a muddler, which you would use in a mojito. “We offer muddlers in nylon, wood and metal. We stock garnish tongs in small and long sizes. We are getting product diversity in place now — giving custom-
ers a variety of choices, at a broad price range, with different kinds of finishings.” I also liked the atomisers, misters and bitters bottles.
Brand savvy Keeping their USP of a “carefullythought-out product assortment” in mind, Achanta is also in talks with Lu-
minarc, the French glassware brand, and Cocktail Kingdom, the UK-based custom barware brand, to list their products on his site. “Currently, we have 40 to 50 products, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can do. Soon, you can expect ice mallets, which we are getting made, and ice bags. So it’s a constant process in terms of product development,” he says, adding that books and a range of wine accessories will also be stocked. While the updated website, which will go live in a week, will have information on product features and specifications, Achanta says the sales will be facilitated by Amazon (you will be redirected to the latter’s site every time you click the ‘buy’ button) because he feels, in terms of payment and shipping, a customer will feel comfortable with a known entity than a new brand. Products start from ₹130 onwards. Details: barx.co ND-ND
