WEEKEND EDITION • Delhi

sunday, august 21, 2016

www.thehindu.in Weekly Edition Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49939 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 6 No. 34 CITY EDITION 28 Pages Rs. 8.00 ●

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Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram and Mumbai

Modi government bulldozing federal structure: Mamata

Bhutan’s Royalty refutes “coup” claims in M.K. Rasgotra book

Sikh MP Bardish Chagger is Canada’s 1st woman House leader

Never felt the pressure of playing in my first Olympic Games

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BRIEFLY J&K Opposition seeks Pranab’s intervention NEW DELHI: A delegation of the

Opposition parties from Jammu and Kashmir met President Pranab Mukherjee here on Saturday and sought a political solution to the present crisis. This triggered a war of words between National Conference president Omar Abdullah and BJP leader Ram Madhav. NEWS | PAGE 14

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27 killed as heavy rain lashes three States NEW DELHI: Heavy rain in

Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand since Friday claimed 27 lives, even as rivers continued to be in spate in Bihar. Fifteen deaths were reported in Madhya Pradesh. More rain has been predicted in some districts of Madhya Pradesh in the next 24 hours. NATION | PAGE 11

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SIT to probe 2012 Gujarat Dalit killings AHMEDABAD: In a bid to pacify

Dalits who continue to protest against the alleged atrocities on the community, the Gujarat government has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killing of three Dalit youths in police firing in 2012. NATION | PAGE 11

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Dalit’s death sparks tension in Birbhum KOLKATA: The death of a Dalit

man allegedly in police custody caused tension in Birbhum district of West Bengal. Human rights activists alleged that on August 11, Raju Thanda, 28, was picked up by the police in connection with a theft case and was “tortured in custody”. NATION | PAGE 11

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SUNDAY MAGAZINE 6 Pages

CLASSIFIEDS On Pages 7, 8 & 9

Urjit Patel named Rajan’s successor Economist has been a key player in Reserve Bank’s war on inflation SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: Ending months of

speculation, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Saturday announced the appointment of Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Urijit Patel as successor to Governor Raghuram Rajan. Dr. Patel will take up the top job for a three-year term on September 4, the day Dr. Rajan’s three-year term expires. The choice of Dr. Patel reflects the government’s preference for continuity to the Rajan tradition. Dr. Patel, working closely with Dr. Rajan, is piloting India’s transition to a new monetary policy regime. The 52-year-old macro-economist was appointed deputy governor in 2013. Since then, he has been

a key player in the RBI’s war on inflation. According to a press note announcing the appointment, Dr. Patel was picked in a new, two-step selection process. “For the first time, a systematic approach and an objective mechanism have been put in place,’ it said. New process In the first step, the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Search Committee (FSRASC) headed by the Cabinet Secretary P. K. Sinha made a shortlist for the consideration of the ACC. “It undertook an extensive exercise to suggest a panel of names to the ACC,” the note said. Thereafter, the ACC comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, settled

for Dr. Patel from a list of five names received from the FSRASC. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is not a member of the ACC, was in Mumbai on Saturday and could not be contacted for comments. Mr. Modi had

discussed the appointment with the Finance Minister on Friday. Dr. Rajan had announced, through a letter to the RBI staf , on July 18 that he would not seek a second term. The decision followed a campaign against him, especially

Institute without scholars, scholars without institute Ministry yet to appoint head for Kolkata research centre SUVOJIT BAGCHI KOLKATA: Should you walk

down the corridors of the sprawling Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS) at Salt Lake City, on any given day, do not be surprised if you are greeted by rows of locked rooms of scholars, vacant lanes between bookshelves, and a bleak air of emptiness. For over a year, the MKAIAS, inaugurated with much fanfare by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to delve deep into region-specific studies, has stopped functioning for all practical purposes. Since August 2015, the in-

An air of emptiness pervades the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies. — PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

SUNDAY SPECIAL stitute has been without a Chairman, an Executive Council (EC) and a Society,

bereft of members selected by the Government of India. Thus, the MAKAIAS cannot advertise fellowships, decide on term extension of scholars and interview fresh re-

searchers. It has not been able to continue its key work: publication of monographs and books. The fellows, who are “out of job” according to a letter to the Chief Minister, now fear it’s curtains for the prestigious region-specific research institute of eastern India. The reason, as explained by the former MAKAIAS Chairman, Sitaram Sharma, is the inability of the Ministry of Culture, under which the institute falls, to appoint a Chairman, an 11-member EC or a 30-member Society, selected by the Centre. “I do not know why the Government of India [GoI] is so reluctant to appoint the bodies, while providing a reasonable budget,” said Mr. Sharma.

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on Twitter, in which he was termed ‘un-Indian’ and detrimental to India’s economy. A top oicial told The Hindu that in the weeks preceding his letter to the RBI staf, Dr. Rajan had sent emails seeking clarity from the Prime Minister’s Oice and the Finance Minister on his second term, emphasising that some of the tasks he had taken up were incomplete. These included the setting up of the Monetary Policy Committee and the bad loan clean-up process in the banking sector. While the selection process of the Committee has since been initiated and is likely to be completed before the end of Dr. Rajan’s term, the banks’ bad loans cleanup will be completed only by March 2017.

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CONTINUITY; MICHAEL PATRA LIKELY TO BE DEPUTY GOVERNOR | PAGE 15

MUMBAI: The newly drafted

Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA) has proposed setting up of Special Security Zones where movement of arms, explosives and inflow of unaccounted funds will be prohibited .

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The government on Saturday made public the draft MPISA, 2016, defining Critical Infrastructure Sectors (CIS), and bringing nuclear reactors, dams, major projects, coastal areas under its ambit, with an emphasis on maintaining law and order and combating terrorism, insurgency, caste-relat-

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI/IMPHAL: The Assam

Rifles and the Army on Saturday rejected claims by insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) of an Indian military operation in Myanmar targeted against its militants, in which security personnel purportedly sufered casualties. On Friday, reports, quoting NSCN(K) sources, said a gunfight had taken place between troops and NSCN(K) militants, and five to six commandos were killed. The reports came on the eve of Minister for External Afairs Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Myanmar on August 22, even as Assam Rifles and other security agencies stepped up vigil along the India-Myanmar border and across the northeast against the NSCN (K).

Assam Rifles says offensive against NSCN(K) was not launched by any unit of Indian Army In a statement issued on Saturday, the Assam Rifles said, “The alleged ofensive on NSCN (K) Camp between Chenmoho village in Mon distt. and Thorloi village in Myanmar on 19 Aug 2016 was not launched by Para Commandos or any other troops of the Indian Army. Firing across the border in Chenmoho village of Mon distt. was heard by the troops deployed in the region. The troops moved closer to border areas but could not ascertain any concrete details about the gun battle across the border.”

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Bolt and beautiful

RARE TRIPLE: Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates after winning the men’s 4 x 100m relay final on Day 14 of the Rio Olympic Games on Friday. He secured a sweep of the three men’s sprint titles for the third time, and his ninth gold medal at the Olympics brought him level with Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis. — PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES (REPORTS ON PAGES 19 & 20)

Maharashtra to have law for internal security SHARAD VYAS

Army denies raids inside Myanmar

ed violence and communalism. Senior oicials of the State home department told The Hindu that the government would seek public responses to the MPISA, asking for suggestions before the Bill is presented to the legislature for approval.

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After Rio heroics, Dipa to study all night for exams RAKESH RAO NEW DELHI: Dipa Karmakar is

looking beyond the vaulting horse. The Agartala girl who caught the imagination of the nation with her trademark ‘Produnova’ vault at the Rio Olympics, is now willing to work on other apparatus in preparation for the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2018. “I will be working hard for the all-round title. But I also think it will be better for me if I concentrate on one apparatus at a time. I will be focussing more on balancing beam and floor exercises,” Dipa told The Hindu. Arriving in the Capital on Saturday after finishing fourth in the vault, Dipa reflected on her performance with mixed feelings. “God does not give everything to everyone. When I look back, I feel good that in my first Olympics, I could do well. I didn’t have anyone who could share (his/her) experience and say this is how it feels to be at the Olympic Games. But I also feel sad that I missed a medal for the country.” With no competition lined up until next year, Dipa is looking ahead to training after a 15-day break. During this period, Dipa will be appearing for the M.A. Political Science second semester exams. “Studies are so important. (P.V.) Sindhu is doing MBA whereas I am doing MA. Honestly, I have not even prepared one percent. Now I have to go back and study all night for my exams,” said Dipa. What more facilities does Dipa need to hone her skills and realise optimum performance level?

DARLING OF THE NATION: Gymnast Dipa Karmakar in New Delhi on Saturday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

“We have all the equipment now thanks to the Sports Authority of India. I hope the gym where I train (in Agartala) will be upgraded soon. If I want to excel, I have no choice but to work harder.” Few are aware that Dipa prefers vault, beam, floor exercises and uneven bars, in that order. Felicitation She will be felicitated by the Tripura government on August 22. “Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Sahid Choudhuri will felicitate Dipa Karmakar and her coach Bishweshwar Nandi on August 22 at the Swami Vivekananda Maidan here (Agartala),” Director of Youth and Sports Affairs Dulal Das said.

쐍 SEE ALSO | PAGE 4 쐍 DIPA GETS TUMULTUOUS WELCOME| PAGE 20

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DDA paves way for multi-level parking for buses

Taking a ‘fresh’ look at JNU

The DDA has started the process of modification of a provision in the master plan for Delhi that will allow multi-level parking facilities for buses in the city Page 4

New entrants to the university say they were welcomed with positive vibes, healthy discussions, and a sense of freedom tough to find in the country Page 5

FILM REVIEWS

Dragon fable rebooted

Guns and posers

Disney fine-tunes its 1977 live-action-animation musical fantasy, Pete’s Dragon with sophistication

Plenty of superficial laughs in this improbable but true tale about two buddies who scam the Pentagon into an arms contract worth millions of dollars SUDHIR SRINIVASAN

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ar Dogs reminded me of quite a few films that were far more successful at doing what it tries to do. It begins by showing a gun pointed at one of the protagonists, David Packouz (Miles Teller), who coolly takes on narrating responsibilities and makes a comment to us about the gun’s making. “It’s a Jericho 941RS, and it costs $300.” I almost expected him to continue, “I know this because Tyler knows this.” More parallels with Fight Club emerge when you learn that the narrator is as fragile and easily influenced as the one in the Fincher film; he too needs to be ‘rescued’ by an alpha male, Efraim Diveroli (the hilarious Jonah Hill), who, at the first sign of trouble, doesn’t mind shooting his AK-47 into the sky. He is every bit as manipulative and powerhungry as Tyler, and even his laugh is as deranged. Shortly, I found myself thinking about The Wolf of Wall Street for is it possible not to, when you have Hill playing an obnoxious, moneyminded character in a film that is based on a true story about corruption? Hill, who gets taken in by the charms of DiCaprio in the Scorcese film, has graduated to playing the charmer himself, although his charms are rooted firmly in the field of hostile humour. He’s the one calling the shots, duping the government, and mouthing obscenities (oh yes, there are a lot of them) like, “F*** the taxpayer.” I’d have included The Big Short in this list too for how War Dogs is a take on a recent American scandal, but the film, despite simplifying a complex topic — arms smug-

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FALLING SHORT: War Dogs is a take on a recent American scandal, arms smuggling, but it never really feels serious, thanks largely due to its eagerness at making the most of actor Jonah Hill.

★★★★★ War Dogs Director: Todd Philips Starring: Jonah Hill, Miles Teller, Bradley Cooper Runtime: 114 mins gling — like the former, never really feels as serious, thanks largely due to its eagerness at making the most of Hill. The upside to doing so, however, is that there are plenty of laughout-loud moments, especially in the first half. The actor, who reportedly has put on more weight for this part, is a riot each time he’s raging, which is almost through the film. In one memorably hysterical scene, a job applicant asks him what his company’s name, AEY, expands to. He condescendingly answers that much

like IBM, AEY is just a madeup acronym to feign seriousness. I challenge you not to laugh out loud when Hill looks stone-faced as the applicant goes on to tell him IBM’s expansion. Interestingly though, AEY, unlike otherwise said in the film, is actually made up of the initials of Efraim and his siblings. If Jonah read this, he’d likely ask me to “get the f*** out for being a big nerd.” Some of the best bits — or should I say, jokes — come in the first half, like when Efraim and David are forced to drive a truckload of guns into Baghdad from Jordan, through, as they later learn, ‘the triangle of death’. Efraim makes the most of this term by milking it for a thoroughly indecent joke, but hilarious nevertheless. So long as these jokes keep coming, like bullets from an AK-47, you don’t realise how myopic the vision of the film is. It has no opinion on war; it isn’t con-

cerned with exposing the U.S. government for the procedural mistakes that allowed two 20somethings (Efraim and David) to bag an arms contract worth millions of dollars; it isn’t even interested in any emotional tangles (the one concerning David and his wife is solved too easily). This lack of depth gets exposed calamitously during the latter half when the film’s veil of comedy drops; even Hill fails to make it all seem engaging. This likely explains the casting of Bradley Cooper, who, I’d guess, was paying of a debt. There can be no other reason for his deciding to play the role. Much like Pete’s Dragon that also released this week, music is a large part of what’s enjoyable about War Dogs. As Efraim and David set about scamming their way through their arms deals, Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ kicks in, specifically the line ‘We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl’ that emphasises how they are going in circles, making the same mistakes. It’s an entertaining sequence, but surprisingly deep too. The same can’t be said about the film.

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he animated dragon in Pete’s Dragon never quite melds with the environment, especially with the humans, and in another film, it’d be tempting to think of this as a flaw. But here, this incongruity is almost sort of the point. Elliott, the dragon, is among the most docile ever seen in cinema, and not just when it comes to the portrayal of dragons. Its green fur is almost grassy in texture, and one of its canines is chipped, likely the result of a harmless hop gone wrong. At all times, Elliott reminded me of a golden retriever pup. From how it exposes its belly when sleeping to the ungainly way in which it descends to the ground each time to how easily it gets distracted by butterflies and garden sprinklers. It’s not at all surprising then that the film’s opening line is, “This is the story of a puppy called Elliott.” Where there is a puppy — er, a dragon — there is a child, of course. In this case, a 10-year-old Pete, who’s had a Mowgli-esque upbringing in the depths of the jungle, and so, growls and grunts better than he talks. The Jungle Book’s not the only film Pete’s Dragon reminds you of. The attempts at capturing the dragon reminded me a lot of King Kong. What is fiercely, uniquely the film’s though is its milieu: an ’80s underpopulated American town whose residents seem to know each other quite well, and whose sherif isn’t as much feared as he is thought of as a helpful cohabitant. I loved the story’s small-town appeal, its lack of ambition. The harmony of the town is why it doesn’t seem odd at all when forest ranger, Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard), welcomes Pete into her home, despite already having a young daughter. You’d expect nothing less from such a community. Pete’s Dragon is a Disney film, and as you can imagine, almost every character is good. Even the evil Gavin (Karl Urban), that horrible lumberjack who feels no guilt about operating in the protected areas of the forest, has no great agenda, no destructive plan. As he says towards the end, “I haven’t really thought it

ENDEARING: Elliott, the dragon, is among the most docile ever seen in cinema.

★★★★★ Pete’s Dragon Director: David Lowery Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Robert Redford Runtime: 103 mins through.” When as many characters are shown to be innately decent, it is only natural that sometimes, it all almost seems simplistic. Like when Grace’s father, Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) — and through him, the director David Lowery — gently rebukes Grace for refusing to believe in the existence of dragons for lack of evidence. But this isn’t the sort of film in which you want to science things up and tell Mr. Meacham that the burden of proof rests on whoever claims the existence of something. The film’s, after all, about magic. In the words of Mr. Meacham himself, “Magic. Nothing else can explain it.” This is also not a film in which you wind yourself into a knot over minor

practical details. So, when Pete is shown labouring over everyday tasks like brushing, and eating a sandwich, you don’t quite wonder why he, who was five at the time of the accident that made him a denizen of the jungle, doesn’t quite remember these tasks. In Pete’s Dragon, it’s the emotional details that truly matter. Like when Pete, unable to bear separation from the dragon, howls like a pained dog. Like when Mr. Meacham, when in the presence of the dragon, looks at his daughter with pride, and asks, “What did I tell you?” Like when the dragon rests with Pete in the great outdoors at dusk and gazes, almost longingly at the northern star. No words are spoken, but you wonder if Elliott was craving the company of its kind, just like Pete seems to when he investigates Grace’s compass and finds a photo of her family. The music in Pete’s Dragon is as light and comforting as an evening breeze. The sort of twanging guitar and soulful vocals that make you feel the promise of approaching beauty, that make you want to set out on a trip to the great outdoors in the hope that perhaps you could spot a dragon too.

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Constable who went after goons left to die on road Around 200 people looked on as victim Anand Singh cried for help SHIV SUNNY

‘Anand was the bravest among us’ Cop restrains escaping SHIV SUNNY

NEW DELHI: In yet another incident NEW DELHI: When 49-year-old constable Anand Singh single-handedly took on three robbers on Friday night and continued to chase them despite being shot, his colleagues were not surprised. They had always known him to be an “extremely alert” and “daring” policeman. “Anand Singh had a meritorious career. In his 28 years of police service, he was awarded the commendation card 35 times and the commendation certificate twice,” said Vikramjit Singh, DCP (Outer District). Anand’s colleague and old friend, Daulat Singh, remembered the deceased as the bravest among them. “I would feel extra courageous whenever he would travel with us on any assignment,” Daulat said. So, when Anand heard a woman’s cries for help near Samosa Chowk around 9 p.m. on Friday, he immediately stopped his motorcy-

of public apathy in the Capital, a police constable bled to death even as around 200 people looked on. The victim, 49-year-old Anand Singh, was shot at by goons while chasing them in Outer Delhi’s Bawana on Friday night. Eyewitnesses confided in The Hindu that they “did not even touch” the dying policeman as they were “afraid of the legal troubles that would follow”. Cars that passed by also did not choose to intervene. Go unheard Subsequently, Singh lay bleeding and crying out for help for at least 20 minutes. When the police arrived, he had already died. Police sources, however, said the bullet had punctured Anand’s heart and he would have stood a low chance at survival. “But the reaction of people is predictable. No one helps anyone in this city,” said a police oicer. As soon as the constable was shot, the first reaction of around half-a-dozen stall owners nearby was to pack their belongings and keep them away, said eyewitnesses. Most of their customers ran helter-skelter before returning to the spot to take a look at the injured man. Mute spectator “I ran to the spot, but I did not

We waited for the police to arrive as that is the safest thing to do in such situations Shankar Eyewitness

PUBLIC APATHY: The spot where the policeman bled to death; (inset) constable Anand Singh. PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT touch him. Nobody else touched him, too,” said Ramcharan, a local dhaba owner. “But when the police arrived, we helped them load the constable in their vehicle,” he added. Despite being shot in his chest, Anand had chased the assailants for a good 30 metres before finally falling face-down. “We waited for the police to arrive as that is the safest thing to do in such situations,” said Shankar, another eyewitness. Eyewitnesses claimed that until the police arrived, they did not even know that the dying person was a policeman. “He was wearing a khakee pant and a civilian shirt. It was only when the policemen turned him, that everyone realised he, too, was from the police,” said

CISF returns bag with cash to Metro commuter STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) returned a bag containing Rs. 3 lakh to a passenger who had lost it while boarding a Metro on Friday. The incident happened at the Tagore Garden metro station. A CISF constable deployed as a CCTV observer noticed an unattended bag lying on the platform, and reported the matter to his seniors.

Taking stock Immediately, a Quick Reaction Team and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad were rushed to the spot, said a CISF spokes-

person. “The bag was opened after being checked for the presence of dangerous items. Cash worth Rs. 3 lakh and clothes were found inside it,” said the spokesperson. Later, a passenger named Bhola Nath Giri (60) arrived at the metro station and informed security personnel that he had lost his bag while boarding a Metro. “He said he had come from Gorakhpur, and had brought the money for his relative who was undergoing treatment in Medanta Hospital,” the spokesperson said. After verification, the bag was handed over to Mr. Giri.

cle to intervene. Locals said the woman sold alcohol on the roadside and was approached by three motorcycle-borne men who tried to rob her of her cash. Anand challenged the goons and caught hold of two of them. Brave show The men assaulted him in a bid to free themselves, but Anand kept his grip on them tight. People around watched in awe as Anand refused to let go. “One of the locals tried to help him, but the robbers thrashed him with helmets,” said Vikramjit Singh, DCP (Outer). When the situation for the robbers turned desperate, one of them pulled out a pistol and fired twice at Anand. That gave the two nabbed robbers an opportunity to escape, but Anand was adamant. “He was bleeding from his chest, but he chased the rob-

bers for at least 30 metres before he fell. All through the chase, he kept shouting that they had shot him and should be caught,” said Ramcharan, a local dhaba owner and an eyewitness. The commotion allowed the three criminals to escape in diferent directions. Several police teams have been formed to nab them. “Eyewitnesses have not been able to provide many clues. We expect a breakthrough soon,” said an investigator. Compensation announced Anand’s body was handed over to his family on Saturday afternoon after the Delhi Police’s top brass paid their respects to him. The Delhi government has announced a compensation of Rs. 1 crore to his family, and the Delhi Police will ofer a job to his kin. A native of Janti Kalan village in Haryana’s Sonipat, Anand is survived by his wife and two children.

Ramcharan. No remorse People at the murder site showed no regret for not rushing the dying man to hospital. “You care so much because he was a policeman. You would not bother if I was dying in his place,” countered a man at the spot. Police oicers, however, defended the local workers, who constituted most of the bystanders, saying they were too poor to own a vehicle of their own. “The man who called the police to inform about the incident did not even own a mobile phone of his own and had borrowed someone else’s phone to call 100. So, you must understand their limitations,” said a police oicer.

IN REMEMBRANCE: On Saturday, Delhi Police personnel paid their respects to constable Anand Singh who died while chasing goons in Bawana. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

prisoners despite injury

STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Hours after a constable was shot at

for taking on some goons, another policeman put up a daring show to restrain two undertrials from escaping police custody. The prisoners, Sushil and Birju, had been brought for appearance in Karkardooma Court earlier in the day. They were to be taken back to Tihar Jail by the prison van, but missed it because of delay in court. Plan goes awry Tasked with escorting them to jail, constables Chet Ram and Mangat decided to hire an auto-rickshaw from a spot barely metres away from east Delhi’s Anand Vihar police station. It was then that Sushil allegedly attempted to loosen the policeman’s grip. “Suddenly Birju signalled to Sushil, who bit into my hand and attempted to escape. He also picked up a stone and hurled it on my head,” Ram told the police. As Ram tried to control the bleeding from his head, the prisoners tried to escape in diferent directions. But Ram went after them, and managed to nab them. The commotion, meanwhile, drew the attention of passers-by and some policemen standing outside the Anand Vihar police station. They jumped into the scene to break up the scule between the policemen and the prisoners. According to Ram, the public also thrashed the prisoners before handing them over to the police. The injured constable was rushed to a hospital, where he was treated for injuries which were not life-threatening, said a police oicer. In the dock The prisoners had been arrested from west Delhi in connection with an assault. They had been sent to three days’ judicial custody by a magistrate at Karkardooma Court. A fresh FIR in connection with the assault has been registered against the duo. They have now been booked for obstructing a public servant from discharging his duties, assaulting a public servant and causing hurt. “It was courageous of the constable to take on the prisoners despite the injury he had sustained. We will be recommending him for a reward,” said a police oicer.

DELHI TODAY Music: IHC Lok Sangeet Sammelan celebrates 250 years of poet Waris Shah’s monumental work “Heer”. The festival presents Chaar Yaar’s performance titled “Gardens of Desire” and featuring Madan Gopal Singh, composer-poet and vocalist; guitarist and banjo player Deepak Castelino; sarod player Pritam Ghosal, and multiple percussionist Amjad Khan, at Amaltas, Habitat World, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m. Theatre: Sangeet Natak Akademi presents “Rang Swadheenta”. Amaan Ali Bangash (sarod), Rashid Mustafa Thirakwa - P Vetri Boopathi and group: Laya Shakti - Taal Vadya Kacheri; Kamaljeet Wahengbam,

Manipur: Struggle of freedom at Meghdoot Theatre, Rabindra Bhavan, Mandi House, 6 p.m. Exhibition: “Shahar-e-dilli”, a show of sketches on Delhi’s architectural ruins by Yajanika, at Delhi O Delhi Foyer, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Exhibition: A show of paintings by Shwetha Shukkla at Triveni Art Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, 205, Tansen Marg, Mandi House, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Exhibition: “Earth and Fire”, a ceramic exhibition, at Open Palm Court Gallery, IHC, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. (Mail your listings for this column at [email protected] )

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).

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THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

‘Woke up at 4.30 am daily to take Sakshi for training’ Father of Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik gets a promotion in his DTC job; Manish Sisodia thanks him for creating good environment for daughter

AAP will give Rs. 2 crore to Sindhu, Rs. 1 crore to Sakshi

JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI: Three days after his 23-year-old daughter Sakshi Malik created history and ended India’s medal drought at the Rio Olympics, Sukhbir Malik was making his usual route between Rohtak and Nangloi aboard a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus. Mr. Malik, a conductor, said he has religiously followed the same routine day in and day out for over a decade in his 23-year-long employment with the public transporter. His only other engagement: taking care of Ms. Sakshi’s training and nutritional needs ever since she started training at 12.

‘No compromise’ “There is and can be no compromise with duty (timings) but I always made it a point to be physically available to take over from my wife when it came to Sakshi’s training and nutrition,” Mr. Malik said, almost shrieking to be heard over the phone as a loud horn blared in the background. “One of us was always there for her in addition to her coach Ishwar Dahiya and Sakshi has rewarded us in more ways than one... she has brought glory not just to her parents and her coach but out entire village in one stroke... it’s surreal and much more than we had prayed for,” Mr. Malik said, adding that the trio’s combined efforts had always been aimed at ensuring that Ms. Sakshi’s gender never got in the way of her ambition. Mr. Malik said Ms. Sakshi got the inspiration to enter the domain of freestyle wrestling from her wrestler grandfather Badlu Ram Ma-

STAFF REPORTER

PROUD PARENTS: Deputy CM Manish Sisodia congratulates Sakshi Malik's father Sukhbir and mother Sudesh. PHOTOS: PTI, AFP “Our entire village was watching TV at our house and congratulations and complements started going around as soon as she was declared the winner, but I couldn’t utter a word till I heard her voice,” Mr. Malik recalled.

lik. For years, Mr. Malik has been waking up as early as 4.30 a.m. to ensure that Ms. Sakshi reaches the local akhara by 5.30 a.m. From there he goes straight to work, boards the bus and spends his day on it. By 5.30 p.m. he is back at the akhara to take

his daughter home. As fate would have it, around 4.30 a.m. on August 18, Mr. Malik was struggling to fight back tears of joy as he saw his only child ascend the podium and become the first woman wrestler from India to win an Olympic medal.

‘Broke into a dance’ “Sure as I was of it happening, Sakshi told the Indian officials that she needed to talk to me immediately and called me over the phone... I was so overwhelmed with joy that I still couldn’t bring myself to talk. As soon as she said “Papa...” I broke into a dance and kept dancing to the dhol. They (his family) had to pull me away and struggle to sit still,” Mr. Malik said. An asthmatic, Mr. Malik

said he had been mulling retirement from the DTC for sometime on health grounds, but her daughter’s success has now helped bring about a better professional opportunity for him. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who visited Mr. Malik at his residence on Saturday, announced he was being promoted in addition to a cash reward of Rs. 1 crore for Sakshi from the Delhi government. “There were rumours that I had resigned after she won, but that’s not true. Mr. Sisodia came to my house this morning (Saturday) and announced I had been promoted to an inspector in the DTC. I will continue to serve (the DTC) till the best of my ability for as long as I possibly can,” Mr. Malik said.

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on Saturday announced a Rs. 2 crore cash reward to Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and Rs. 1 crore to bronze medallist Sakshi Malik. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia made the announcement after visiting Ms. Malik’s parents in Rohtak, where he also announced a promotion for her father Sukhbir Malik, who is employed as a conductor in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). A senior government oicial added that Mr. Sisodia also announced Rs. 4 crore case reward to any Indian athlete

STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Continuing their opposition to the Delhi government’s recent decision to hike minimum wages in the Capital, representatives of over a hundred traders, hoteliers, transporters and industry associations on Saturday called on Labour Minister Gopal Rai suggesting “a middle path solution”. Organised by the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Trade Wing, which had initially threatened a strike over the decision, those opposed to the move have now suggested that the provisions of the hike be made “voluntary” instead of binding on the private sector. “We have suggested that the decision to hike minimum wages should be extended only to government employees and that the gov-

ernment allow the private sector to be out of it because the latter simply cannot afford it,” said Brijesh Goyal, AAP Trade Wing Convenor. ‘Will meet Kejriwal’ “The decision will lead to industry moving out of Delhi to where labour is cheaper... we have made this clear to the Labour Minister, who assured us that our apprehensions will be conveyed to the Delhi Cabinet and that the government will also examine the legality of our proposal,” Mr. Goyal said. Mr. Goyal added that the private sector was now contemplating legal course against the government’s decision. “After our concerns are raised in the Cabinet, we will also meet Delhi Chief Minister next week and raise this issue,” Mr. Goyal added.

NEW DELHI: The father of a nineyear-old boy, who died in May after falling in a drain, moved the Delhi High Court on Saturday demanding compensation of Rs. 50 lakh from the AAP government for causing the death of his child. Naushad, a resident of Shakurpur, moved the HC saying that the Delhi government should compensate him for the loss of his son, whose life was cut short

by negligence on part of the State and the Public Works Department. Mr. Naushad’s son Anas died after falling into a 15-feet-deep drain on May 9 near the road connecting Wazirpur to Rani Bagh. The drain comes under the PWD and was left uncovered. Police had said that Anas was returning home around 9 p.m. and did not see the drain as there were no street lights in the area. The boy fell in the drain and drowned. His body was fished out

two hours later. Mr. Naushad and his wife work as tailors earning Rs. 15,000 per month. They now have two daughters to raise. “The Delhi government must compensate for its negligence. The Superintending Engineer (North), in his report, found negligence on the part of the officials of the PWD,” said Mr. Naushad. After meetings with AAP leader Satyendar Jain failed to yield any result, Mr. Naushad

moved High Court through advocate Ashok Agarwal. The advocate contended that when the Arvind Kejriwal-led government can give compensation of Rs. 1 crore each to the kin of murdered NDMC official M.M. Khan and NIA officer Tanzil Ahmad, then it should compensate for the death of Mr. Naushad’s son too. “Mr. Khan and Mr. Ahmad’s death had nothing to do with the government, but Anas died due to its negligence,” said Mr. Naushad.

Preserving history

DTC tests Metro card on its buses STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: In a step towards making common mobility cards a reality on public transport in the Capital, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) said it had successfully tested a Metro card on one of its Electronic Ticketing Machine (ETM). A system for common mobility cards has been in the works since 2010. In a statement, the DTC said it is in the process of installing ETMs in its buses so that common mobility cards can be used on the buses. As part of the move, the DTC successfully carried out a real transaction from a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) card on a DTC ticketing machine on Friday “The successful process is the result of the integration of software being utilised in the DMRC and the ETMs of the DTC,” the statement said.

CM YK

HANDLE WITH CARE: Conservation work by Archaeological Survey of India in progress at Jantar Mantar. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

DTC successfully carried out a real transaction from a Metro card on a DTC bus on Friday “The transaction of the DMRC and the DTC will be segregated and the amount will go to a specific account. DMRC cards are prepaid and the system will be utilised for using the card in ETMs of the DTC. It is likely that in the next two months, commuters will be able to use common mobility cards,” the statement added.

Promotion for Sakshi's father On Friday, Mr. Sisodia had written to Transport Minister Satyendra Jain urging him to promote Ms. Sakshi’s father in the DTC, which has employed him for the last 23 years.

In his letter, Mr. Sisodia wrote that Ms. Sakshi brought laurels to the country by winning a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics so it was necessary for the government to felicitate her father too. “I recommend to directly promote Sakshi’s father Sukhbir Malik in the department,” Sisodia said, adding, “I propose to honour Sakshi and her entire family, especially her father, for her success.” “It is a matter of pride for the Delhi government that despite working as a bus conductor in DTC our colleague (Sukhbir Malik) created such an environment that his daughter could bring laurels to the nation,” Mr. Sisodia said.

GOLDEN FUTURE: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu. FILE PHOTO: AFP

Make hike non-binding Father moves HC for Rs. 50 lakh compensation on private sector: traders AKANKSHA JAIN

that wins a gold medal in the Olympics. Shuttler Sindhu won silver medal in badminton at Rio. She is the country’s first-ever woman silver medallist in the Olympic Games. On Wednesday, 23-year-old Sakshi ended the country’s wait for a medal at the Olympics as she bagged the bronze medal in women’s wrestling in the 58 kg category, pulling of a dramatic 8-5 victory.

SDMC may shut milk booths over licence fee DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI: A handful of milk booths across South Delhi could face action over pending licence fee payments, with the local civic body planning to seal a few outlets in each zone to put pressure on the defaulters. Milk supply will not really be afected when the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) initiates action against Mother Dairy booths, but oicials are hoping that the sealing helps in recovering dues. At a meeting of senior oicials last week, the SDMC decided that it would start by sealing two Mother Dairy outlets in each of its four zones in order to recover licence fees.

At odds As per directions, a copy of which is with The Hindu, the SDMC will consult its counsel before taking any action. Delhi’s civic bodies and Mother Dairy, whose dairy products, fruits and vegetables are sold through about 800 outlets across the city, have not seen eye-to-eye on whether increased rates of licence fee can be charged with retrospective efect. The erstwhile-Municipal Corporation of Delhi had hiked the licence fee from Rs.100 to Rs. 300 per outlet per year in 2006. Then, the civic body again increased the fee in 2012, citing the commercial success of the booths to ask for the same

Civic body may seal some Mother Dairy outlets over pending licence fee payments. FILE PHOTO rate paid for a general trade licence. While some outlets are paying Rs. 1,200 as licence fee, many have not been paying, several SDMC oicials told The Hindu. In the meantime, the SDMC had asked the milk outlets to start paying the revised fee with retrospective efect from 2006, for which the High Court granted a stay. As per the SDMC, two meetings were convened by the Land and Estate Department on March 21 and June 3 this year to discuss the matter. Oicials decided that since Mother Dairy had failed to hand in a proposal for paying the outstanding dues, the SDMC would take action. When contacted, a Mother Dairy oicial said that the matter was sub judice and declined to make any statements saying that the matter is expected to come up for hearing in the High Court in October.

DDA paves way for multi-level parking lots for buses ing is essential. At the same time, in order to reduce dead mileage — making buses travel to locations outside the city to depots in large plots of land — it is more desirable to provide them parking within developed urban areas in multiuse multi level parking facilities,” the modified provision states.

SIDHARTHA ROY NEW DELHI: The Delhi Develop-

ment Authority (DDA) has started the process of modification of a provision in the master plan for Delhi that will allow multi-level parking facilities for buses in the city. The modification will help the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), which is already on the path of building its first such parking facility, to tide over the acute shortage of parking space for buses at its depots and terminals. At present, the Master Plan for Delhi 2021 allows only for bi-level bus parking facilities, which means only one bus

NO SPACE: The DTC is facing acute shortage of parking space for its buses at depots and terminals. FILE PHOTO parking in the upper basement level and one at the lower ground level. The DDA has now proposed modification of the

clause present in the chapter on transportation in the Master Plan for Delhi 2021. “Land is scarce and eicient use of land for bus park-

Pilot project As per the amended provision, multi-level parking within developed urban areas should be developed as mixed use projects. The decision to modify the provision was taken in the DDA’s meeting on August 10,

based on the directions of the Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. The authority had approved the plan to allow multi-level parking facilities at bus depots and terminals instead of bi-level parking. The amended provision has been put in the public domain for thirty days for objections and suggestions, following which there could be more changes in the provisions before its gets the final approval and is notified by the Urban Development Ministry. The DTC already has its plans ready to provide such

parking facilities at its Seemapuri bus depot in northeast Delhi as a pilot project, which has failed to take of due to lack of response from bidders. “The pilot project at Seemapuri is being carried out by the Public Works Department and its tenders were floated, but there was no response. The tendering process has been initiated once again,” said DTC spokesperson R.S. Minhas. “Once the Seemapuri bus depot pilot project is proved successful, we will replicate the project at our other bus depots in other areas as well,” Mr. Minhas said. ND-ND

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CAMPUS CALLING

Taking a ‘fresh’ look at JNU New students rejoice welcoming atmosphere, sense of freedom at university JAIDEEP DEO BHANJ NEW DELHI: It is a relaxed Saturday afternoon at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the new entrants here have finally started to settle down. Putting their feet up at a dhaba on campus, they launch into a freewheeling discussion about how the university welcomed them with positive vibes, healthy discussions, and a sense of freedom that is tough to find anywhere else in the country. This despite aspersions cast on the university by the government and sections of society for being a hub of “antinational” activities.

Misunderstood? “The best part about JNU is that it treats all students as adults. Unlike other institutes, there is no diference between a senior student and freshers here. We have felt so welcome and have already been a part of many discussions with our seniors,” says Saumya Pandey. Saumya said that the only advice her parents gave her was that she must concentrate on academics before getting involved in politics on campus. According to them, Saumya added, she must gain knowledge about what she stands for before venturing into it. “Politics here is not forced on us as many people outside believe. Students get into it on their own terms after reading about issues and understanding them,” she said. Rityuja, who has taken up Chinese at JNU, said her parents supported her decision to study at the university. But she did mention that a Facebook post where she spoke about securing admission at JNU attracted an adverse response from many friends. “Many of my friends and others on social media were not

Politics here is not forced on us as many people outside believe. Students get into it on their own terms

CLEAN-UP ACT? The Administration Block, which was the location for the #JusticeforRohit campaign and the indefinite hunger strike after students were arrested for sedition, got a facelift ahead of the new session. Graffiti, signature campaigns and posters, which were a common sight here, have now been scrubbed off. FILE PHOTOS: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR & JAIDEEP DEO BHANJ

supportive. I had to deactivate my Facebook account for a while because of the abuse I was receiving. Somebody even reported my account to Facebook just because I was a JNU student,” said Rityuja. Engaging debates She feels that the students on campus are aware about most issues and do not engage in a discussion without having facts ready. “Even people with rigid ideas will develop a more open mindset here,” adds Rityuja. Most students point out that as the cost of living is fairly low on campus; the university attracts a good mix of

people from across the country, which helps them understand the issues confronting each region first-hand. Talking about the February 9 event on campus, Nisar. M said that he did visit the university himself to get a sense of the atmosphere. It is a safe environment, perhaps one of the safest places in Delhi, he said. “The media passed a lot of judgements about the atmosphere on campus. It is not the job of the media to judge. The courts need to do that. For me, the atmosphere in a college is more important than the infrastructure. And here, the atmosphere is conducive for academic de-

velopment. We learn a lot from all the debates and talks organised,” Nisar said while adding that the country needs more campuses like JNU. Commenting on the politics on campus, Nirdosh S.L. says that after seeing student-level politics at Delhi University, he knew the politics at JNU to be one where people fight for what is right. “Here, academics and politics go together. Good academic knowledge goes with good politics, which is what makes the university stand out and be unique from other educational institutions,” he said.

Delhi Police asked to reply to JNU students’ bail plea NIRNIMESH KUMAR NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have been asked to file replies in response to the pleas for regular bail put forth by JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and his two co-activists Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid. At present, the three students are out on interim bail. Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh has now directed the police to file replies by August 26, which is the next date of hearing. The three students face

sedition and criminal conspiracy charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans on the JNU campus at a meeting organised on February 9 earlier this year in memory of Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013 after being convicted in the Parliament attack case. On Wednesday, the High Court had directed Kanhaiya to move a lower court after he had approached it for regular bail. Submitting that this was a politically-motivated case, Kanhaiya through his lawyer Sushil Bajaj said that there was

As of now, Kanhaiya Kumar, Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid are out on interim bail no reason to deny him the liberty of bail as he had cooperated in the investigation. Also, there was no allegation against him of hindering the probe or influencing witnesses, the bail application said. Kanhaiya’s interim bail will expire on September 1. The High

Court had granted him interim bail for six months on March 2. Later, Khalid and Bhattacharya too were granted interim bail for the same period by the trial court. On August 12, the High Court had refused to cancel Kanhaiya’s bail, stating that a probe could not be interfered with by a stranger under the Cr.PC, and the Delhi Police themselves were not in favour of cancelling the bail. Two private persons had filed separate petitions seeking cancellation of his interim bail.

Python alarm at Chhatarpur farmhouse Snake checks in at post oice

STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: A python was rescued from a farmhouse in South Delhi’s Chhatarpur on Saturday, but not before it left the residents rattled. NGO Wildlife SOS said that the eight-foot-long snake was caught by a rapid response unit after the residents of the farmhouse contacted them on the helpline number. It took two expert handlers almost half an hour to catch the python, which will be released after it is declared fit.

Alert security staf The resident who made the call, Raakesh Bhaasin, said: “The python was spotted around the neighbourhood. After seeing it make its way into our residence, our neighbour’s security staf immediately informed us.” Though Mr. Bhaasin said that snakes were not unusual in the area, the locals had “never come across such a huge reptile before”. In all probability, the CM YK

STAFF REPORTER

FREAK ENCOUNTER: It took two expert handlers almost half an hour to catch the eight-foot-long python. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

This was the first time that residents of the area came across such a huge reptile snake had made its way into the area from a neighbouring forest, which is its natural habitat, said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife SOS. “Although nonvenomous, a python’s bite

can be injurious. It requires swift skills on the part of the rescuers to capture them without alarming them too much,” he said. The snake, which has been identified as an Indian Rock Python, is a species found in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The species has been afected by loss of habitat and poaching as it is sought-after in the illegal pet trade, said the Wildlife SOS in a statement.

NEW DELHI: A four-and-a-halffoot long rat snake was recently rescued from the India Post oice near the IGI Airport here. The snake has been released into its natural habitat. The snake was spotted amidst a pile of steel pipes near the car parking. Security oicials were immediately alerted, who contacted Wildlife SOS on the 24-hour helpline 9871963535. The wildlife conservation NGO then dispatched a two-member team to the location. Pawan Kumar, an employee at the post oice, said, “We see snakes in and around our oice premises quite often as the area has a lot of green patches. We have the Wildlife SOS helpline number on our emergency contact list. We alerted them and their team successfully carried out the rescue.” Rat snakes are a highly adaptable species common in urban areas. Though nonvenomous, they may bite when agitated. ND-ND

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Govt. needs to be more transparent: NHRC head STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Greater transparen-

cy, simplification and use of digital technology in governance are the need of the hour, said experts attending a national-level seminar organised by the National Human Rights Commission here on Saturday. Concluding the two-day seminar on ‘good governance, development and human rights’ held at National Law University, the speakers came up with certain suggestions on how to improve governance. Though the Right to Information Act has brought about openness, the lack of awareness of policies and laws, and the inaccessibility of governments continue to afect governance. Two-way communication through digital tools is required to ensure that welfare programmes actually benefit the public and their feedback is relayed back to the governments, said the experts. The speakers said the definition of health care required an expansion, especially in the context of India. To im-

Speakers say that the right to equality, dignity, life and liberty are still a dream for many

prove higher education, experts suggested field visits by students to sensitise people about their rights. On Friday, the chairperson of the NHRC, Justice (retired) H.L. Dattu, had hit out against the rampant systemic corruption still prevalent in the country as one of main hindrances to good governance and development. He said that while there had been improvements in transparency to curb simpler types of corruption, the deep-seated political or systemic corruption still needed to be reined in. He said without a corruptionfree country and stable pop-

ulation there cannot be good governance. In his concluding remarks, NLU vice-chancellor Professor Ranbir Singh said human rights could not be secured with the increasing criminalisation of politics and cited the growing number of Members of Parliament with criminal background. He added that there were many colonial-era laws, including the one on sedition, which were used by the British to curb free speech. These, said Professor Singh, should be repealed. He went on to question the intentions of successive governments for failing to act on

Supreme Court guidelines on police reforms and the Model Police Act. To improve governance, Professor Singh said the charter of duties of all government oicials should be set. He said that the right to equality, dignity, life and liberty had remained a distant dream for many Indians. In the backdrop of Justice Dattu’s saying in June that the NHRC was a “toothless tiger”, Professor Singh said that the rights panel could not say it did not have powers. He said “blame theory” would not work and that everyone would have to come forward to improve governance.

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Domestic help caught stealing on camera STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: A domestic help who had allegedly been stealing from her employer’s residence in South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj for the past several months was arrested after CCTV cameras, secretly installed in the house, captured her in the act. When a police team went to the help’s house to arrest her, the locals reportedly attacked them with stones. A policewoman was injured in the incident, but is out of danger,

Constable Manisha was injured when a stone hit her. We arrested the help and detained two more women NATIONAL SEMINAR: NHRC chairperson Justice (retd.) H.L.Dattu (above) said there cannot be good governance without a corruption-free country and stable population. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

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STUMPED BY TECHNOLOGY: A police team that went to the help’s house to arrest her was allegedly attacked with stones by locals. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT said the police. “Two separate cases, one related to theft, and another of assault on the police, have been registered. The accused was arrested from her home on the day the complaint was filed,”

‘Hang Jigisha’s killers’ NIRNIMESH KUMAR

the commission of the crime.

NEW DELHI: The prosecution in the Jigisha Ghosh murder case on Saturday sought death sentence for the three convicts by submitting that they had abducted and murdered the 28-year-old IT professional just for “monetary pleasure”. Making the submission before Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav, Special Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said the convicts, after killing Jigisha, made purchases using her ATM card. He further said that the convicts had robbed the victim of her jewellery. The counsel for the convicts, however, urged the court to take a lenient view while deciding the quantum of sentence as the convicts were first-time ofenders and were young at the time of

Convict seeks leniency Counsel for Ravi Kapoor, one of the convicts, submitted that the latter was sufering from a life-threatening disease and came from a poor family. Later, the Judge reserved the order for Monday. Jigisha, an operations manger at Hewitt Associate, was abducted and killed after she was dropped near her home in Vasant Vihar by her oice cab in 2009. The police had recovered her body near Surajkund in Haryana. The trial in the case began in 2010 with the examination of the victim’s father as a prosecution witness. On July 14, the court held Amit Shukla, Baljeet Malik and Ravi Kapoor guilty of the crimes.

said a senior police officer. Employer sensed mischief afoot

The domestic help had been working at the house of the complainant, Satish Sehrawat,

Students stab dance instructor to death STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old dance instructor was stabbed to death, allegedly by his two students, in southeast Delhi’s Jaitpur on Friday. The victim, Gaurav, lived in the same area. The accused were a part of his dance troupe that performs at events in the Capital. According to the police, Gaurav and his friends had manhandled the duo during an argument a few days ago. To seek revenge, the two visited Gaurav’s home on Friday afternoon and lured him out on the pretext of sorting out the issue among them. Once outside, one of the accused men allegedly pulled out a kukri and stabbed Gaurav on his thigh.

NGT issues warrants against States, UTs for non-appearance BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN NEW DELHI: The National

Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued bailable warrants against the resident commissioners of Gujarat, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab and Tripura for not appearing before it despite notices being issued to them. It also issued warrants against the oicers of Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Taking strong exception to oicials of several States and UTs not appearing before it during proceedings on matters concerning protection of biodiversity, the tribunal said: “Despite service, nobody appears on behalf of respondents... Consequently, we issue bailable warrant against Resident Commissioners of these respondents in the sum of Rs. 10,000 each to the

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CM YK

GREEN CONCERN: The tribunal was hearing a plea alleging that various States and UTs had “failed” to pay attention to India's unique biodiversity. FILE PHOTO: PTI satisfaction of the arresting Oicer, in exercise of our powers and in terms of the provision of Section 19 (4) (a) of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.” Next hearing on Sept 29 The directions came when a Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar was carrying out proceedings on a plea alleging that various States and union territories had “failed” to pay attention to the

DEATH

since many years. However, it was only in the last few months that he noticed cash going missing from his home. When thousands of rupees began disappearing from the cupboard every few days, he decided to install a CCTV camera. On Wednesday, when he checked footage from the previous days, he saw the accused stealing cash from a cupboard. Armed with this video evidence, he approached the Vasant Kunj (North) police station and got a case registered against the maid. Police said that as they entered the JJ cluster where the woman lives, locals opposed the arrest and started pelting stones at the police. “Woman constable Manisha was injured when a stone hit her. We arrested the help from her home and detained two more women on charges of obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions and voluntarily causing hurt,” said the police.

unique biodiversity of the country and sought implementation of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Biological Diversity Rules, 2004. The Bench has now fixed the next hearing for September 29 on the plea filed by Pune resident Chandra Bhal Singh. The tribunal had earlier issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards in the matter.

Though the victim's cries drew people out, the assailants managed to escape on their motorcycle The victim tried to save his life by running away, but he was caught and repeatedly stabbed. Gaurav’s cries for help drew people out from their homes, but the assailants had escaped on their motorcycle by then. The victim was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to injuries. Based on local intelligence and clues provided by a CCTV footage, the police nabbed the accused from their homes in Badarpur on Saturday.

Helicopter makes emergency landing GHAZIABAD: A helicopter en route to Agra from Safdarjung airport in Delhi made an emergency landing in the agricultural fields in Niwari village here on Saturday due to a technical snag.

Snag forced landing “A chopper of Pawan Hans Limited made an emergency landing in the fields of Firozpur Kaithwari at 11.27 a.m.,” said Superintendent of Police (Rural) while adding it was carrying staf members S.K. Sharma, Kirshna Kumar and Raj Kumar Jadhav. The captain, S. Kumar, observed some technical flaw in the chopper near Modinagar area and immediately contacted the air traic control and sought permission for emergency landing. After safe landing, engineers of the company reached the spot to repair the fault, he said. Curious villagers rushed to the spot after news of the landing reached them. — PTI

Gurgaon: Over 1,000 autos impounded ASHOK KUMAR GURGAON: More than a 1,000 auto-rickshaws have been impounded by the traic police in a massive drive against errant auto-rickshaw drivers in the city. The drive is being seen as a part of an efort by the Commissioner of Police, Sandeep Khirwar, who took over earlier this week, to inculcate a sense of discipline among the autorickshaw drivers in the city and ensure better traic management. Many auto-rickshaws drivers in the city are notorious for violating traic norms, leading to jams, and plying without valid documents. The drive has led to strong resentment among the auto-rickshaw drivers who threatened to go on a strike if the drive continued. As many as 350 auto-rickshaws were impounded on Thursday and another 690 auto-rickshaws on Friday. Besides, 108 cars were impounded for wrong parking on Thursday. Also, 1,364 challans were issued for various traic violations and 131 vehicles were towed away on Friday. The police said the owners would be get back their vehicles only if they produced valid documents. Mr. Khirwar told The Hindu that the drive was not aimed at causing discomfort to anyone. “We just want to send across a message that violation of norms will not be allowed. We are ready to address their (auto-rickshaw drivers) grievances,” he said. ND-ND

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TAMIL

BUSINESS SUPERIOR QULTY A4 Copier Avail in Bulk Packing. 9884755882, 9442535658

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Finance against Properties,Cheques & abroad projects.Ph−09840024113

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NRI Hindu Parents invite proposals for their daughter, 24 years, 5’ 4", B− Tech (EEE), currently working in Canada, Anusha Nakshatram, good looking. Father & Mother − Entrepreneurs and inter−caste (Nair & Brahmin), settled in Chennai − seek suitable alliance from professionally qualified and well−placed prospective grooms. Caste no bar. Respond to prem@office−2000.com with details.

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ENGLISH

SC / AD,26/157,Pooram, BEMBA,Empd, PROTESTANT CHRISTIAN vanniar Girl, ch,seek26−30yr,Empd,9941138245 veryfair, good looking, 1989 born/ 163cm/Mvsc seeks suitable God fearing Professional Groom with Clean FINANCE / BANKING habit. Contact−9789256737. NAIDU 26 168cm,slim,wheatish brown, Barani,MBA,Govt Bank Officer,Sutha jathagam.Clean Decent Qualified Groom parents From FC,BC Ct 9500560488 Proposals invited from well educated Nair boys of upper middle class families from Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozikode districts for a postgraduate Nair girl Age 27star Vishakam with One and half Dosham. 9539068852

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CSI NADAR Girl 31 BE 75000 Chennai employed seeks Engineer / IT Pro- TN GOVT MBBS DPH Cuddalore inter fessional with Good Habits.94431 caste Father SC Mother Vanniyaku73721 lakshatriyar MBC From FC mostly vegetarian look like College stuCSI Nadar smart looking 25/167 PG dent divorcee 40 days only No isLecturer seeks Professional Groom sue 43 seeks from MBBS/ME 36−47 from god fearing family. Age group well todo family Caste 9789027170 Religion Country Citizenship No Bar wants like College student CSI NADAR Girl 34 ME P.hd Divorcee 9443073954 8940728898 seeks IT Professional/ Doctor/ Engineer with clean habits. 94431 Vanniar 28/159 BCA,MCITP, Aswini− 16845 Mesham Seeks Suitable Groom Ct: 9445407743/ ruckmaniselvarajan@ RC Mudaliar, 34/155cm, MDS, 10 gmail.com lakhs/yr, anulled with no issues, seeks groom less than 38yrs. GOOD LOOKING Asst.Prof Engg Col9025784597 lege ME/ 24yrs/ 163cms Tamilnadu Reddiar/ No bars except Tamilnadu RC 40 MA Employed Pvt Divorcee based, Non−software groom working seeks employed RC Issueless Di- in S.India wanted. Ct: acme8848@ vorcee/Widower below 47. Ct : gmail.com 09791564075 WANTED HINDU Vellala, Non−VegetariRC GIRL from Nagercoil May 1985 an, bridegroom below 37 for Magam/ born,BTech working in US.Parents Simham, Beautiful, EC Engr, now seek qualified catholic groom. unemployed, native Madurai, residContact 9486249271,stellafjn@gmail. ing at Chennai with employed brothcom. er at Kalpakkam . Ct: 9894913522

CSI,AD,33,165cm, Wheatish,Msc,Mphil ,Govt.Asst.Prof. Expectation: Suitable alliance required for Govt.Asst.Prof.or PG Teacher, girl. MBBS, MCEM, August 1988, 8870170579/ 9003287486, 158, Shivalli Brahmin Contact [email protected] 09449865865. RC, CHRISTIAN, Mudaliar, M.Sc 23/ ALLIANCE INVITED from well em- 163, Seeks Well Qualified / Employed Kannada Madhwa Brahmin ployed Groom. Contact: 09597598399 Bridegrooms Engineer/Doctor/MBA for Atreya, Krithika 4th Pada, Kan- CSI NADAR 44/170 MA(Maths) MCA nada Madhwa Girl, 32/162 B.Tech. B.Ed PGT School Teacher, Divorcee without issue seeks suitable MBA,SWE.9840949115 match. 044−26152423/ jose445566@ rediffmail.com

MALAYALAM

CSI NADAR Remarriage Bride 25, KERALA BASED RC family seeking al- 167cm M.E, Fair Rich seek 27 to any Professional. Ct: liance for daughter 29/169cm, Em- 33, ployed, Chennai. Ct: 09447773730. 7708907384

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MUTHURAJA Beautiful Girl 32/156 BE SWE MNC −Chennai Salary Rs.50K pm Upper Middle Class Divorce Caste − No Bar Seeks Well Educated Upper Middle Class Groom. CT:08903952834.

NAIDU 27/163 Anusham BE MS Fair Wrkng USA Seek USA/TN Gd Lkng WellEmpd Groom−09841598847/gyraj5@g mail.com Tamil Yadav 25/150,moolam−2 well settled family seeks well educated groom with clean habits from good family. Ct:9488494083. VALLUVAN 39/160 Msc (Agri) MBA, Senior Bank Manager Rs 60000/− Per month. Thiruvonam,Magaram. Contact− 9443849088, 9488645754. MBBS HINDU − SC AD − PR, 24/163 Moolam, daughter of well settled Doctor at Sirkali. Expectation MBBS/ any Medical PG. only Mob. 9443985758 ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

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SOUTH

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NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Woman mauled to death by stray dogs

Medal brings Sindhu a windfall

Another seriously injured in a separate incident; rising incidence of attacks in Kerala

VIJAYAWADA/HYDERABAD: Badminton player P.V. Sindhu’s medal-winning performance in the Rio Olympics won for her big money of Rs.3 crore, a 1,000-square yard residential plot and a Group-I oicer job of her choice from the Andhra Pradesh government and Rs.50 lakh for her coach Pullela Gopi Chand. An announcement to that efect was made by A.P. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in a briefing by him on the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting on Saturday. Showering praises on Ms. Sindhu, Mr. Naidu attributed the achievements of star players like Gopi Chand, Saina Nehwal, Karanam Malleswari and Sindhu to the world-class sporting infrastructure he had created in Hyderabad. He recalled that the successful conduct of the National Games in 2002 and Af-

STAFF REPORTER

The stray dog menace in Kerala continues unabated with a 65-year-old woman being mauled to death by a large pack of stray dogs on a suburban beach at Pulluvila, near Kanjiramkulam. The hapless woman, Shiluvamma, 65, succumbed to the grave injuries she suffered in the savage attack on Friday evening. The pack attacked her when she ventured to the seashore along with her son, Selvaraj, who was also bitten when he attempted to pull his mother to safety. He jumped into the sea in a bid to escape from the pack. As news of the attack spread, residents were shocked further to hear that 52-year-old Daisy, one of Shiluvamma’s neighbours, had also been THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

seriously injured in a similar attack. Ms. Daisy was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital here with grievous injuries on her legs and hands. Reacting to the incidents, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said stray dog menace had increased in several parts of the State and the concern and fear of the people over the issue would soon be resolved. Threat to people Residents claimed that over 30 similar incidents have occurred over the last few months. Putting up a brave face, grama panchayat president G. Hestin said that the local body has resolved to adopt a strict stance against the rampant dumping of garbage, particularly by the seashore. Additional District Magis-

Kerala government drops online liquor sale plan THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala has dropped its plan to start online liquor sales during the Onam festival after it ran into criticism from all quarters. The CPI(M)-led government has said no such decision has been taken. Tourism and Cooperation Minister A.C. Moideen said that neither the State-run Cooperative Consumers Federation (Consumerfed) nor the government had decided to start online foreign liquor trade. Media reports that the decision was taken by Consumerfed — the apex body of consumer cooperatives — were “baseless,” he said in a statement on Friday night. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala of the UDF alleged that the plan was part of the government’s agreement with the liquor

lobby. It would encourage liquor consumption in the State, he said. BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan had said the plan would hurt the State’s ‘pride and glory’ during the festival. Consumerfed chairman M. Mehboob said on August 19 that there was a plan to launch online liquor sales during Onam, but it would be implemented only after discussions with the government. Consumers registering themselves for the products online could order their favourite brand and collect it from outlets by producing the bills, he had said, adding that it was meant to avoid long queues in front of liquor outlets. Excise Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan had said the proposal was yet to come up before the government. — PTI

trate John Samuel announced financial assistance of Rs. 10,000 for the victims. Stray dogs have been pos-

ing a great threat to people, especially women, children and the elderly, in coastal stretches of Kerala, includ-

ing Pulluvila, for some time. The issue has been a point of debate in Kerala for the last few years. According to a recent report submitted to the Supreme Court by a committee appointed by the apex court in a connected case, more than one lakh people in Kerala have been bitten by dogs in 2015-16. The report also said Kerala is estimated to have a stray dog population of 2.5 lakh, which feed on the waste from garbage dumps across cities and towns. According to the panel, the maximum reported cases of dog bites were from Thiruvananthapuram (5,948), Palakkad (4,916), Kollam (3,670), Pathanamthitta (2,892), Alappuzha (2,967), Ernakulam (2,050), Thrissur (2,044) and Kottayam (1,614). (With inputs from PTI)

Committee visit A recent visit by a factfinding committee comprising of environmentalists and farm experts revealed that

FOR THE ADVENTUROUS: A man rides a jetovator on river Krishna at Punnami Ghat during the Krishna Pushkaram in Vijayawada on Saturday. — PHOTO: V. RAJU

Pink bollworms have attacked the cotton crop at Gangapur in Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district. — PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT su P. and environmentalist Manjunath Holalu recently visited farmlands at Devi Hosur and Boodagatti in Haveri taluk and Gangapur in Ranebennur taluk and found the crop damaged. “Initial study suggests

‘Not all pre-diabetics are the same’ RAMYA KANNAN CHENNAI: There is pre-diabetes and then, apparently, there is pre-diabetes. A recent study on published in Diabetes Care has indicated that innovation is required to treat a specific category of people with impaired fasting glucose, on whom regular interventions are not efective. While arguing that systematic diabetes prevention in people with pre-diabetes could efectively reduce incidence by a third in the community, the paper goes on to state that people with impaired fasting glucose may require a diferent set of interventions. A collaboration between Emory University and the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF), the D-CLIP paper is based on a study over three years of over 600 people with prediabetes in Chennai. No large diabetes prevention trial has compared the efects of diabetes prevention strategies across the pre-diabetes spectrum, the paper claims. Ranjani Harish, of MDRF, and co-author said, “We are the first group to replicate the most suc-

CM YK

Different groups in pre-diabetic state need specific interventions and strategies cessful U.S. Diabetes Prevention Programme, by culturally adapting their lesson plans to an Indian setting and used that model to study diabetes prevention. Broadly speaking, the categories in the pre-diabetic stage are Impaired Fasting Glucose (IFG), Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) and a combination of IFG and IGT. Lifestyle modifications The trial sought to measure the impact of a mix of lifestyle modifications, exercise and a dose of metformin, an anti-diabetes drug, (for those who failed to respond to lifestyle changes alone), among patients in preventing progression to diabetes.” It was found that in the IFG group, people still moved to diabetes irrespective of the regimen they were put on. Mary Beth Weber, of the

ro-Asian Games in the subsequent year, both in Hyderabad, gave a fillip to prospects of talented players like them. It paved the way for holding the Commonwealth Games in India. From Telangana The Telangana government on Saturday announced Rs. 5 crore, a house site of 1,000-square yard and a suitable job, if she was willing to accept, for Ms. Sindhu. A grand welcome would

also be organised on her arrival in Hyderabad on August 22. This was decided at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. “She’s the daughter of Hyderabad and Telangana and it has been the government policy to encourage sportspersons with international calibre,” Mr. Rao said. He also announced Rs.1 crore reward to Mr. Gopi Chand.

STAFF REPORTER

GIRISH PATTANASHETTI

the summer cotton crop (cultivated during summer in irrigated land) has fallen prey to the pink bollworm. The team comprising of the former Assistant Director of Agriculture Kumaraswamy, organic farming activist Va-

PROUD MOM: Sindhu’s mother (centre) rejoices while watching the shuttler’s match on television, in Hyderabad on Friday. — PHOTO: G. RAMAKRISHNA

Nalini urges NCW to secure her release

Thrilling ride

Despite Bt seeds, Haveri sees pink bollworm attack HUBBALLI: Pink bollworm, a pest that left farmers of Raichur devastated last year by destroying Bt cotton crops, has now reached Haveri district, where cotton is grown in about 1 lakh hectares annually. This has once again raised questions over claims by companies supplying Bt cotton seeds of immunity from pink bollworm . While the scientific community is yet to begin any study in Haveri and independent experts and oicials of the Agriculture Department difer over the extent and severity of the pest attack, the impact of the pest is widespread.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Emory Global Diabetes Research Centre, Emory University, Atlanta, says, “Researchers in our group and elsewhere are still trying to understand why this is, but it might be due to the fact that some individuals develop a condition called beta cell dysfunction earlier than others. Beta cells are the cells in your pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that signals cells in your body that there is glucose — or sugar — in your blood. If the beta cells are not working well, they may not make enough insulin to clear the glucose from your blood stream. For these individuals, exercise and diet change may not be suicient.” Following a healthy diet, one that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, low in sugar, and includes healthy fats; exercising at a moderate level for at least 150 minutes per week; and not smoking or using tobacco products are known to reduce diabetes risk. In fact, R.M. Anjana of MDRF, says these changes did have a good preventive efect on the combined IFG and IGT group.

pink bollworm attack in villages of Haveri and Ranebennur taluks only on the summer cotton crop and it is severe. While there is no report yet on the kharif cotton, the possibility of pink bollworm spreading cannot be ruled out as it is a monophagous insect (single host pest),” Mr. Holalu told The Hindu. “We found labels of all the branded Bt cotton seeds claiming immunity to the crop from all types of bollworm, including pink bollworm, which is misleading. Farmers believe that Bt cotton is resistant to pink bollworm, but we see that it is not,” he said. Resistance breached Mr. Holalu pointed out that a report, dated October 1, 2015, of the Crop Forecast Coordination Centre of the Union Ministry of Agricul-

ture and Farmer Welfare had mentioned about pink bollworm attack in Gujarat and said reports suggested that resistance of Bt (Bollgard II) cotton to pink bollworm had been breached. “Despite this, companies continue to advertise their seeds as pink bollworm resistant, and no action is being taken,” he said. Although Joint Director of Agriculture of Haveri district Rajshekhar I.B. admitted to a pink bollworm attack on the summer cotton crop in the district, he said it was “not of alarming level”. “Summer cotton crop is cultivated on around 1,010 hectares of land in the district while kharif sowing is in 69,000 hectares. Of this, the pest is noticed in 500 hectares and pest attack is not of alarming level. But as a precautionary measure we have taken steps to sensitise farmers,” he said.

VELLORE: Nalini Sriharan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has appealed to the National Commission for Women (NCW) to urge the Union government to exercise its power under Article 72 of the Constitution and release her, given that she is the longest serving woman prisoner in the country. She hoped the NCW would spare no eforts in ensuring that she joined her daughter living in the United Kingdom at the earliest. In her petition, Nalini said she had completed more than 25 years in prison. In all the States, women life convicts were given preference in premature release after completion of 10 or 14 years of imprisonment, she pointed out.

Nalini Sriharan “But she has not been released because of political reasons,” her lawyer P. Pugalenthi said, quoting her. Nalini said she had all along been eligible to be freed under various premature release schemes in the State. “Unfortunately, I am yet to be released. I have almost lost all hopes of my release from prison,” she said.

Draft notification on new districts in Telangana to be issued tomorrow SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD: The process of re-

organisation of districts was given momentum on Saturday with Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao holding preliminary consultations with representatives of political parties followed by a Cabinet meeting and getting their nod for taking up the exercise oicially, although they expressed some reservations. The Chief Minister has already announced that the draft notification for reorganisation of districts, revenue divisions and mandals (tehsils) would be issued on August 22 under the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Districts Reorganisation Act, 1974, which was adopted by the Telangana Government. “The real exercise will

People will be given 30 days time to give their suggestions or lodge objections on the draft proposals commence now, even though a committee headed by the Chief Secretary and Cabinet Sub-Committee has already carried out some preparatory work,” Mr. Rao said while speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting. People would be given 30 days time to give their suggestions or lodge objections on the draft proposals either with the district Collectors or Chief Commissioner of Land Administration, he said, adding that districts were being reorganised for administrative ease, convenience, betterment and de-

velopment of people. Mr. Rao, however, said the final decision on new districts won’t be against people’s wishes. Referring to the demands for some districts being made by leaders of various political parties, he said there is no viability to their proposals and some sections were also opposing such proposals. “A separate strategy will be adopted for their development,” he said. Mr. Rao said advertisements would be given in newspapers so that people could come to an understanding as to where their area would be, after reorganisation of mandals, revenue divisions and districts. He assured that proposals in the draft notification would not be final and they could undergo changes.

Residents of village adopted by Sachin seek jobs, not roads G. RAVIKIRAN NELLORE: New concrete roads, pavements, a Rs. 1.15-cr community hall, underground drains and a lot more development has taken place at the far-flung Puttamrajuvari Kandriga here in Nellore district ever since iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar adopted this sleepy hamlet to develop it into a model village two years ago. The poor villagers are greatly overwhelmed at the transformation that has taken place, but they are left wondering whether all this has changed their lives for any better. The villagers rear sheep and bufalo and are very small farmers, owning land holdings of one or two acres. Some own and drive autorickshaws. There are just 114 houses, and the population comes to around 570, with 280 of them having voter IDs. The main approach road was developed with Rs.50 lakh, with an impressive pavement added, but what greets visitors is an unclean road and the ubiquitous dung left behind by cattle.

Infrastructure in place, but will that work wonders for the poor villagers who need jobs?

Batta Pujitha, a mother of two, wants a house for her family at Puttamrajuvari Kandriga, the village that was adopted by cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. — PHOTO: K. RAVIKUMAR “I was thinking of getting it cleaned today,” sarpanch Bujja Nageswara Rao told The Hindu, wearing a helpless smile. He said the people were very poor and what they required was sewing machines for women and

small factories that could provide jobs for men. Pointing to the impressive community hall that had come up, Mr. Rao said the hall could hold nearly 1,000 people but the poor families could not aford to hold a

function or a wedding there. Puttamrajuvari Kandriga, 65 km south of Nellore, is actually a hamlet under the Nernuru panchayat. It has got 58 backward class households, 60 SC households and 20 ST households.

After Sachin gave Rs. 2.79 crore from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY), the district administration released matching funds of Rs. 2.9 crore. This came to a total of Rs. 5.69 crore which was used for overall development. Collector R. Mutyala Raju said that Sachin sanctioned another Rs. 90 lakh and more developmental works would be taken up soon by matching it with Rs.90 lakh from the district funds. While welcoming this development, Batta Pujitha, a mother of two, said she would have been happier had the house sanctioned for her poor family two years ago been constructed by now. She, along with all others, have Sachin’s picture on the main door as a mark of respect for the MP. ND-ND

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NATION

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

27 killed as rain lashes three States

Birbhum tense after Dalit man dies in custody

Rivers continue to flow in spate in Bihar; IAF aircraft drop food packets, medicines in flooded areas

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: Heavy rain in Mad-

KOLKATA: A man allegedly died

hya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand since Friday claimed 27 lives, even as rivers continued to be in spate in Bihar. Fifteen deaths were reported in Madhya Pradesh since Friday evening as the Met department predicted more showers and sounded heavy downpour alert for some districts on Sunday. Three Indian Air Force aircraft dropped food packets and medicines in flooded areas of Rewa district, Collector Rahul Jain said. Seven people, including a woman and four minors, were killed and three others were injured when a house collapsed in Rahatgarh area of Sagar district on Saturday. Two people, including an old woman, were also killed and seven others were injured when a newly-constructed building collapsed due to incessant rains at Maihar inSatna district. A jeep carrying two persons was swept away in the swollen

stranded in Chabra, Chipabarode, Kawai, Harnavadashahaji areas as the Parvan, Parwati, Ujjad and other rivers are overflowing after the rains.

FLOOD FURY: Villagers move to safety, carrying bare essentials on a boat, after their hamlet was submerged in floods near Maner in Patna district on Saturday. — PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR Betwa river as it attempted to cross a bridge in Raisen district. Three bodies were recovered from a nullah on Saturday in Chhattarpur district. The victims were

travelling in a car that was washed away of a bridge on the flooded nullah on Friday. In Rajasthan, five people were killed when their house collapsed in Phool Baroda

village in Baran district due to incessant rains since Saturday morning that created a flood-like situation in several parts of the State. Several people are feared

25 years of service to air passengers SUNITHA SEKAR

APAI was started in 1990 to protect the interests of flyers and to improve air connectivity

CHENNAI: Rewind to 24 December 1989, Mumbai. Several passengers waiting to board the Indian Airlines flight at Mumbai airport were informed that their flight to Chennai had been delayed. The crew told the passengers that the flight may not take of for a while owing to a technical snag. The problem the passengers initially assumed would be resolved soon prolonged up to 27 hours. The harrowing experience prompted D. Sudhakara Reddy from Chennai to start the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI).

Multiple roles The association was started in November 1990 with an aim to protect passengers’ interests, redress their grievances and improve air connectivity. Today, the association celebrates 25 years of its existence. “At that time, one of our priorities was to persuade the government to permit private enterprises to operate scheduled airlines. This was not only to ensure better fares for passengers were available to fly but also to have more options to fly. Unlike now, when there are so many flights on a given day to a city, back then, the options were limited,” Mr. Reddy said. He recollects his meeting with former PM P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1991 for submit-

ting a memorandum on issues related to civil aviation. For two decades now, the APAI intervened in various cases to help out passengers. “For instance, few years ago, the baggage of a family travelling from the U.S. to Chennai via Frankfurt was misplaced by a private airline. They were upset as it contained many valuables and jewellery. “Not only did we intervene and help them get their baggage soon, we also got them a huge compensation from the airline and free business class tickets,” Mr. Reddy said. In another case in Hyderabad eight years ago, when an Air India flight was delayed and passengers were not given food for hours, the APAI interfered and solved the issue. Since then, the APAI has

also tried to push for passenger welfare schemes and oppose the ones that act against their interests. “We have been persistently opposing the 5/20 rule [five years of domestic operations and 30 aircraft to fly in the international market] and also gave various recommendations for the new civil aviation policy,” Mr. Reddy said. Acts as liaison Today, the association members constantly act as a liaison between passengers and airport operators by raising complaints from time to time. “Sometime back, we received complaints that in the New Delhi airport, private taxis were charging exorbitant fee from passengers and in Mumbai, parking charges

were too high. We immediately raised the matter with the airport operators GMR and GVK. In Chennai, of course, we have been talking of the need to improve maintenanceand we take up the issues often with the authorities. But we expect more action to be taken,” he added. On 24 August, as part of their silver jubilee celebrations, they plan to give away awards in various categories, including Best Full Service Airline-Domestic Best Low Fare Airline — Domestic, Best New Entrant — Domestic, Best Full Service — International Airline, Best International Low Cost / Budget Airline Operating out of/into India, Best Metro Airport, Best Non-Metro Airport. Union Ministers including Ram Vilas Paswan, Ashok Gajapathy Raju, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari and Suresh Prabhu will be part of the celebrations. Apart from that, the APAI also plans to honour CISF personnel. “Four personnel from four zones have been chosen for this. They are someone whose service is always of prime importance but are seldom given their due. They have been relentlessly working for our safety,” he said.

Seven of family killed Seven members of a family were killed when their house was razed to the ground by huge boulders that rolled down the hill following a cloudburst in Pauri district of Uttarakhand on Saturday. The Army was called in to the flood-afected areas of Baran district as senior oicials also rushed to the spot. At least 24 people were airlifted in Baran district and nearby areas. Several villages remained inundated after water entered buildings, houses and a private power plant in Baran. Meanwhile, two youths were reportedly swept away by strong currents in the Balapura Dam near Chipabarode town of Baran district. However, one of them was rescued later. — PTI

in police custody in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. The incident took place in Muchipara (also known as Darjipara) area in the Bolpur sub-division of Birbhum district. Human rights activists alleged that on August 11, Raju Thanda (28), a member of the Dalit community, was picked up by the Bolpur police from his in-laws’ house for his suspected involvement in a theft and was “tortured in custody”. Thanda is originally a resident of Durgapur in the neighbouring Bardhaman district. Superintendent of Police of Birbhum, N. Sudheer Kumar, refused to comment on the matter, saying he “was on leave” during the time of the incident. Locals said that last Sunday, the body was found in the Bolpur Sub-Divisional hospital. A mob then assembled in front of the Bolpur police station with the body and staged a demonstration. It turned violent when the

Modi’s monogrammed suit enters Guinness

police oicials allegedly refused to meet the locals. ‘Rubber bullets fired’ “When denied entry into the police station, the mob started pelting stones at the police and vandalised vehicles inside the compound. Later, the police resorted to lathi-charge and fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd,” said a resident. In a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Kirity Roy, the secretary of a human rights organisation, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, reiterated the same allegation and said the police also fired rubber bullets “in which five relatives [of the deceased], including two women, were injured.” Last week, family members of the victim alleged that there were several bruises on Thanda’s body. However, activists said the family members eventually refused to file any police compliant as they were “threatened” by the local Trinamool Congress leadership.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT AHMEDABAD: In what appears

A file photo of Narendra Modi in the suit. ago on the suggestion of our company’s HR management team. Within a couple of months, we received a certificate acknowledging it was the world’s most expensive suit sold at an auction,” Hitesh Patel, son of Lalji Patel, said. — PTI

AHMEDABAD: A 15-year-old Dalit boy was allegedly beaten up late on Thursday evening by two men in Bhavda village of Daskroi taluka in Ahmedabad district ostensibly because his father refused to dispose of cattle carcasses in the village, police said on Saturday. Two persons were arrested after the boy’s father, Dinesh Parmar, lodged an FIR against them. Kanbha police station oicer Govindbhai Parmar said a case was registered under the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Act. Complainant Dinesh Parmar told the police that his son Harsh was sitting with a friend in their colony when the two accused — Sahil Thakore and Sarvarkhan Pathan — went there. They started abusing Harsh as his father had refused to remove the carcasses in response to a call by Dalit organisations protesting the July 11 flogging of four youths in Una in Saurashtra. — IANS

SIT to probe deaths in Thangadh police firing

SURAT (GUJARAT): The mono-

grammed suit donned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in New Delhi last year entered the Guinness World Records as “the most expensive suit sold at auction.” The suit, which had kicked up a controversy, was auctioned in February last year and bought for Rs. 4.31 crore by Surat diamond trader Lalji Patel, who owns Dharmananda Diamond Company. “It is a matter of happiness and pride that the suit has found a place in the Guinness World Records. We had applied for the world record five months

Boy beaten up as father refuses to remove carcasses

to be an attempt to pacify Dalits who continue to protest atrocities against them, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has ordered setting up of a special investigation team to probe the death of three Dalit youths in police firing in Thangadh in 2012. The government’s move to set up the SIT, headed by Rajkot police commissioner Anupan Singh Gahlot, has apparently pre-empted a ral-

ly planned by Dalit groups and families of the victims on August 21 in the State capital to seek justice for the victims, who were all below 18 at the time of the incident. In a late night press release on Friday, junior Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja said besides setting up an SIT, the government would also pay Rs. 20 lakh as additional compensation to the families of the victims. Though the State government had set an inquiry committee, it is yet to table its report.

Woman pushed of moving train by bag snatchers STAFF REPORTER AGRA: An engineer from Bareilly is battling for her life after a gang pushed her of a running train when she resisted an attempt to steal her bag. The woman is now in a coma at the intensive care unit of a hospital. According to the police, Jagriti Sharma, who works as an engineer in Micromax company, was chasing the bag-snatchers when they pushed her out of the compartment of the LucknowKathgodam Express late on Friday, when the train began moving from Bhojipura railway station. Ms. Sharma who is a resident of Shastri Nagar in Bareilly was on her way to Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) where she works for Micromax.

Resisted attempt S.C. Sharma, the victim’s father told reporters that his daughter was sitting at the emergency exit window of the compartment. “It seems that the miscreants pushed her of the train when she resisted their attempt to loot her of her bag which had four thousand rupees and a mobile phone,” he said. Passengers stopped the train by pulling on the emergency chain and Ms. Sharma was rushed to a health centre, police said. The miscreants have escaped. CM YK

ND-ND

12 |

WEEKEND BEING

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

DR HUMERUS

INTERVIEW

Keshav

‘Social equity must be prioritised’

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Aarathi Prasad on the variegated world of Indian health care, and the need to bridge gaps TISHANI DOSHI

For her second book, In the Bonesetter’s Waiting Room, Dr. Prasad, a U.K.-based geneticist, travels across India, speaking to a diverse group of health-care practitioners in order to present snapshots of the multidisciplinary medical systems at work in the country today. India currently spends 1 per cent of GDP on health provision (other countries on average spend 6 per cent), and 800 million Indians have little or no access to modern health care. These medical tales are recounted not just to highlight disparities and problems but to demonstrate how individuals can act as powerful catalysts for change. Excerpts from an interview:

AROUND THE WORLD Masks and pollution A study by environmental health scientists suggests that inexpensive cloth PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT masks worn by people in the hope of reducing their exposure to air pollution vary widely in effectiveness. Their use could be giving these users a false sense of security, especially in highly polluted areas. In a series of experiments with an experimental mannequin, the scientists tested four masks: one, a pleated surgical type, two cloth ones and the last, a cone-shaped cloth with exhalation flaps. Among the cloth masks, the one with exhaust valves performed fairly well, removing 80-90 per cent of synthetic particles and about 57 per cent of diesel exhaust. Plain cloth masks were “only marginally beneficial” in protecting people from particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers, often considered more harmful than larger particles because they can penetrate the lungs more deeply — University of Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.

Your first book explored the idea of virgin birth, what made you want to explore India’s ancient systems of medicine? I like playing with ideas that are against or parallel to the flow of conventional thinking. Like the idea of what a parent is and who society and biology dictates should reproduce and when. Academically, I come from a science/tech background, so my experience of Indian science normally interfaces with research that is cutting edge. Ayurveda as a tradition was strong in my family — my grandfather was a government adviser on indigenous systems of medicine in the ’50s. But the book is really about pluralistic medicine: how people approach health and disease and why.

Spatial reasoning and maths link

Poverty, poor nutrition and education, and lack of medical professionals form a very toxic Venn diagram. Remedying this is beyond the remit of just doctors. It needs a joint approach. PHOTOS: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT; WANG WEI

There’s fascinating stuff here — rhinoplasty circa 800 BC, fish doctors, flowers for rabies, aloe for cancer, hakims and ashtavaidyas. How firm was your quackery radar in place during these travels? Being a geneticist has made me very critical. I don’t mean that in a negative way but science can only really move forward by being selfcritical. As I met diferent types of doctors I wanted to know what their prescriptions did and why their medicine might work the way they thought it to. It’s diicult though, when recipes are long-held family secrets. For a patient, being asked to trust a doctor somewhat blindly

has an element of faith healing. In western clinical medicine there’s a wealth of information that can be accessed if you were really interested in what drugs can do, but most of us don’t read the information sheets. So we all take medicines on some faith. That being the case, my radar was not set to judge but to interrogate within the context of place and type of illness.

One of the great disparities your book reveals is the difference between rural and urban health care in India. Could you speak to those differences? At the moment India is around

70 per cent rural in terms of population distribution. This large section is also some of the poorest. Poverty, poor nutrition and education, and lack of medical professionals form a very toxic Venn diagram. Even when the rural poor move to cities, they’re still more likely than not to live in insalubrious conditions, and may find the best-equipped hospitals inaccessible to them for financial reasons. Remedying this is beyond the remit of just doctors. It needs a joint approach. In response to how to get dedicated doctors and nurses to live and work in rural areas, Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Health sort of told me — you don’t. Instead, you set up colleges of excellence within rural areas, you make medical education cheap, or free, that way local people train close to their own communities and will be more likely to practise there.

Why is mental health such a dire issue in India? How has traditional and allopathic medicine failed in this respect? Mental health is a dire issue everywhere, but in India there’s a marked lack of psychiatrists, and what’s more, psychiatrists who take into account cultural context. I think there’s an understanding in traditional systems of a link between diiculties in life and a distressed state of mind, and traditional healers can cleverly work with that understanding. This is not in reference to professionalised traditional systems like Unani or Ayurveda, but there are many

Drugs to rebuild organs? Researchers have tested a drug in mice that promotes liver repair and the regeneration of PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT damaged liver tissue. Their study may pave the way for medicines that help to rebuild organs instead of relying on complicated therapeutic strategies such as delivering biomaterials and regenerative cells to specific spots in the body to repair and restore injured tissue. The scientists came upon their discovery by focussing on an important molecular signalling pathway called the Hippo pathway, which regulates organ size and growth. The researchers looked for a small molecule that could block the action of two enzymes in this pathway, MST1 and MST2, that normally prevent cells from proliferating. They discovered the small molecular inhibitor, XMU-MP-1, which blocked MST1/2 activity and allowed cells to proliferate.

DEMYSTIFYING SCIENCE What is a quantum satellite? On August 16, China said it had launched a quantum satellite into space that could be the future of wireless communication and set new standards in Internet security. “The project tests a technology that could one day offer digital communication that is hack-proof”. Called Micius, after the ancient Chinese scientist and philosopher, the 600-kg satellite will try to communicate with earth using the principle of quantum entanglement, whereby subatomic particles become inextricably linked or “entangled” in such a way that any change in one disturbs the other even if both are at opposite ends of the universe. This means any attempt at hacking entangled particles would, even in principle, be impossible. CM YK

I was in an almost constant state of cognitive dissonance during my travels for this book. One day I was interviewing women in Dharavi about the sexual attacks they faced in communal lavatories. Then I headed to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Colaba for my last meeting of the day. The pricey hospitals ofering cosmetic surgery are a short drive from Dharavi too. Going forward the focus has to be on equity as well as economic growth. The development economist Jean Drèze described India as a world champion of social underspending. So the basic necessities for social equity — adequate public funding of high quality health care, education, infrastructure for sanitation, water, housing — must be prioritised. It’s not optional.

Boost for mental care SOUMITRA PATHARE

VIKRAM PATEL

T

he Rajya Sabha passed the Mental Health Care Bill (MHC), 2016 last week marking the culmination of a six-year process to review and replace the existing Mental Health Act, 1987. Many commentators have welcomed the fact that the new law finally decriminalises attempted suicide.

Twins ‘live longer’ Twins not only have a bestie from birth. They also live longer than singletons. And those two factors may be PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT related, according to new research by the University of Washington. While twins have been the subjects of countless studies that try to separate the effects of nature from nurture, a recent study in PLOS ONE is the first to actually look at what being a twin means for life expectancy. The data comes from the Danish Twin Registry, one of the oldest repositories of information about twins. The authors looked at 2,932 pairs of same-sex twins who survived past the age of 10 who were born in Denmark between 1870 and 1900 — so all had a complete lifespan. — Science Daily

You must have come across a range of extremes — 640 million people with no access to toilets versus a $280-million fairness industry — what does one do with these imbalances?

OPINION

From Android to an ‘Eye phone’

Spatial reasoning measured in infancy predicts how children do in mathematics at PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT four years of age, says a new study published in Psychological Science. “We’ve provided the earliest documented evidence for a relationship between spatial reasoning and math ability,” says Emory University psychologist Stella Lourenco, whose lab conducted the research. To explore whether individual differences in spatial aptitude are present earlier, Lourenco’s lab tested 63 infants, between ages six months to 13 months, for a visual-spatial skill known as mental transformation, or the ability to transform and rotate objects in “mental space”. Mental transformation is considered a hallmark of spatial intelligence. — Emory University

systems of folk healing in which terms like ‘possession’ are still used to account for mental illness, where cures are sought in exorcism, prayer or physical injury. It’s saddening to see that in both modern and traditional practice there’s a commonality in the diference in outlook for male and female patients — the nonchalance often about calling a woman ‘mad’ and not taking her to the hospital, where a man would be allowed treatment.

EYE DOCTOR IN AN APP: The “Eyephone app”, a smartphone application which can detect eye diseases and disorders, could prove to be a boon in many countries. Used as part of an ophthalmological study and examination, carried out by technicians from the “Nakuru Eye Disease Cohort Study”, and led by Dr. Andrew Bastawrous of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the Android mobile application is being used to scan people’s eyes and optic nerves to detect eye diseases, including cataracts and glaucoma. The technology is deceptively simple to use and costs a few hundred euros compared to a professional ophthalmoscope that costs tens of thousands of euros and which weighs in at around 130 kg. Dr. Bastawrous hopes the study will one day revolutionalise access to eye treatment for millions of low-income Africans who are suffering from eye diseases. Picture shows a woman being scanned at Kianjokoma village, near Kenya's lakeside town of Naivasha. — PHOTO: AFP

PRENATAL SCREENING

Knowing early, and safely Expectant mothers can take a non-invasive blood test that examines foetal DNA in the mother’s blood to determine whether there is a high risk of chromosomal defects AFSHAN YASMEEN

T

he idea of genetic disorders, an important health concern, and the third most common cause of mortality in newborns, need not bale Indian parents-to-be anymore. Technology has now made it easier to detect problems in the early stages of pregnancy. Many expectant mothers now access a non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) that examines foetal DNA in the mother’s blood to determine whether there is a high risk of chromosomal defects. But opinion is still divided on whether women need to undergo this expensive test.

Not a diagnostic test Unlike the invasive amniocentesis, which is a prenatal test where a small amount of amniotic fluid is removed for testing from the sac surrounding the foetus by inserting a fine needle into the uterus through the abdomen under ultrasound guidance, or the Chorionic Villus Sampling, another prenatal test in which a sample of chorionic villi is removed from the placenta, NIPT is a blood test, according to Priya Kadam, Program Director, MedGenome NIPT, one of the players in the field. Citing American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines that support the use of non-invasive prenatal tests as an optimal, initial option to screen for specific genetic conditions, she argues that NIPT should replace the conventional tests. The test, which can be taken up anytime during pregnancy, will screen the blood sample for chromosomal disor-

ALL’S WELL? “The test can be taken up anytime during pregnancy… If results are positive, the doctor will have to validate the defect through amniocentesis.” — PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

ders that include trisomy 21 (Down’s syndrome), trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome) and trisomy 12 (Patau syndrome). But this is only a screening test and not a diagnostic test. If the test shows a positive result, the doctor has to validate the defect through amniocentesis. Amniocentesis still required Over the last two years, the test is being recommended by some doctors as a matter of routine in every case. While there are no figures available, the number of people getting tested is increasing, according to companies conducting the tests. However, gynaecologists and foetal medicine specialists who vouch for the

safety of the test, are sceptical about the need for it. Dr. Hema Divakar, who represents the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), says with each test costing around Rs.30,000, only those cases that raise a red flag after the First Trimester Screening (FTS) need the NIP test. “Even after getting the test done, the patient has to undergo an amniocentesis to get the result validated. This means the patient has to undergo two tests for the same purpose,” she says. Dr. C.N. Sheela, President of the Bangalore Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, says NIPT has several limitations. “The test results may not be as accurate in women who are obese or have had multiple pregnancies. If women in the low-risk category undergo the test, the positive predictive value is less,” she says. Genetic counselling plays an important role and the patient should be counselled that even if she undergoes NIPT, she may have to undergo amniocentesis. Dr. N. Venkatesh, senior consultant and Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru, says that despite some doctors being euphoric about the test, past history has shown that we need to take some universal tests and recommendations promoted by companies with a pinch of salt. “The ACMG guidelines are formulated for the western population that is genetically diferent from the Indian population,” he says.

Expanding access This was a longstanding demand from civil society, mental health professionals and the Law Commission of India. However, the law goes well beyond this specific clause and enshrines fundamental rights to care and dignity for persons with mental illness. At the heart of the new law are the twin rights of the person with mental illness to receive care and to live a life with dignity. The most significant public health measure in the new law is to expand access to mental health care across the country, directly addressing the large treatment gap for mental illness in India. Even the limited range of mental health services in the country either tend to be located in private facilities or in large mental hospitals which are still home to nearly 80 per cent of all mental health beds in the country. Neglect, segregation and social exclusion of persons with mental illness continue to pervade the experience of mental health care. The law recognises the acute shortage and maldistribution of mental health professionals and requires the government to put in place training programmes to achieve internationally accepted norms in the next 10 years and, in the interim, to train all medical oicers in public health facilities to provide basic and emergency mental health care. It requires the government to provide a range of mental health services, including for those who have attempted suicide, from outpatient clinics to sheltered accommodation, through the public health sector in every district. The law aims for social inclusion of persons with mental illness. The law

PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

introduces Advance Directives which, like a living will, allows a person to state how they want to be treated if they are ever afected by a mental illness and not in a position to make decisions for themselves. The law requires parity of mental health services with physical health services. There is a regulatory provision of District Boards, consisting of a district judge, psychiatrist and users and care-givers to ensure that rights of persons with mental illness are respected when they receive mental health care and treatment. About partnership Indeed, the new law is the first legislation in India enshrining the right to health care and the government’s responsibility to fulfil this right, a goal which has remained elusive for the broader health aspirations of India’s people. One of the most commonly cited concerns about the new law is that these aspirations are beyond the reach of the implementation ability and resources of the country. However, spurring the government to act to address concerns of public good is a central mission of progressive legislation, and we can derive some comfort from examples of the successful realisation of other radical laws, for e.g. the Right to Education Act and the PCPNDT Act to prevent sex determination. In all these cases, a partnership of the government and civil society for implementation and ensuring accountability has played a crucial role. The broader mental health community including persons afected by mental illness, their care-givers and families and mental health professionals need to make a similar efort by forming State and districtlevel coalitions if the aspirations of the new mental health law is are to be turned into reality. Soumitra Pathare is Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune. Vikram Patel is Professor of International Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Public Health Foundation of India.

[email protected] ND-ND

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

| 13

WEEKEND READING

SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

INTERVIEW

SHELF

Return to wonderland

G

HELP

The personal is universal

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, biographer of Lewis Carroll, on the lasting fascination with Alice and the gaps a memoir must have It is 154 years since the Mathematics don at Oxford, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, set of with ten-year-old Alice Liddell and her two sisters on a boat trip up the Thames. He narrated to them the story of the curious girl who fell down a rabbit hole — and created forever a wonderland. On a similar pleasant day, I got into a boat, at the same spot, Salter’s Boatyard near Folly Bridge, and tried to relive that “golden afternoon”. It was just a week after July 4, that historic day when Dodgson made the trip. Oxford was full of celebrations to commemorate the writing of Alice in Wonderland and salute the genius of her creator Lewis Carroll, the pen name of Dodgson. He taught at Christ Church College and his inspiration was Alice, the daughter of the Dean of the college, Henry Liddell. The next day I made my way past the PorKausalya ters’ Lodge at MagdaSanthanam len College to talk to Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Professor of English Literature, about his recent and highly acclaimed biography of Lewis Carroll, The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland (Harvill Secker). The book takes up the life of a man who spent almost all his life at Christ Church, near Magdalen, creating a magical and enduring wonderland of the imagination. The book unpicks his relationship with the real Alice, tracing her growth from an eight-year-old to a much-feted 82-year-old, catapulted to fame through her literary persona. It also deals with the abiding influence of the Alice books — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: And What Alice Found There. A passport to reading “It’s been a year since I wrote the book and I have moved on… The book is not on the top of my mind,” said Dou-

— ILLUSTRATION: SATWIK GADE

glas-Fairhurst. “But I did archival work, made five drafts and wrote it in 16 months. I wondered what it feels like if real life and fiction overlap, and to make it feel as if the reader could understand these people, including the silences, the uncertainties, and the unknown elements of their lives. The book is full of asterisks, it has moments you can’t put into words… But yes, I did intend it to read like a novel. The real challenge while writing the book was to make the story fresh, a story which everyone thinks he or she knows, the story behind the story which is equally strange, and how each informs the other.”

The real challenge while writing the book was to make the story fresh, a story which everyone thinks he or she knows, the story behind the story which is equally strange, and how each informs the other. — ROBERT DOUGLAS-FAIRHURST THE BOOK

IN MY HAND Bhikhu Parekh I am reading Amalendu Misra’s The Landscape of Silence: Sexual Violence Against Men in War. I greatly enjoyed reading Joanna Bourke’s An Intimate History of Killing: Face to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare. It offers a chilling and unromanticised account of how perfectly ordinary men normalise violence, the process of which includes sexualising killing, demonising the opponent, and collecting his body parts as trophies. I shall soon start reading books, some published recently, on the Nazi Holocaust, the Rwanda genocide, and the Partition. Bhikhu Parekh is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a professor of political philosophy at the University of Westminster, U.K.

K. Srilata I am currently reading a graphic novel by Malik Sajad called Munnu: A Boy from Kashmir. Set in the 1990s, this book is a poignant, heart-stopping account of what it means to be a young boy growing up in a conflictridden land. The drawings are modelled on Art Spiegelman’s Maus. To read it is to understand the tragedy that is Kashmir. The last book I read was Robert Bly’s Leaping Poetry: An Idea with Poems and Translations. His translations of Federico García Lorca, Allen Ginsberg and others are outstanding. Next I plan to read In a Time of Burning, the poems of Cheran translated by the magical Lakshmi Holmstrom, and Joe Sacco’s Palestine. K. Srilata is a poet, fiction writer, translator and academic.

CM YK

“For me as everyone else,” he pointed out, “Alice is a passport to reading and a doorway into an imaginary world. It was a favourite book during childhood. Oxford is full of stories, full of ghosts, and being here makes you rethink about the book. Here it is easy to take it for granted, but I wanted to rethink some of the conventions that have grown up like barnacles around it.” Carroll’s predilection for little girls has always been a subject of scrutiny and debate. He liked to photograph them in the nude. It seems strange to 21st century eyes. How did the parents allow it, I asked Douglas-Fairhurst. “People who write about Lewis Carroll are either fans or those who want to tear him apart,” he said. “In Victorian England, people did not think children had sexuality. To them it was just like a dog or cat being photographed. Also, many of them saw children as emblems of purity and they idealised childhood. In Victorian times, there are many parallels of grown-ups fixated on little girls as they thought of them as non-sexual beings.

That’s very diicult for us to understand.” Returning to Carroll’s writing, readers have often wondered why he was not able to replicate the success of the Alice books. “The success of Alice destroyed him as a writer,” said Douglas-Fairhurst. “He hoped that he would entertain and educate at the same time. But the desire to give the readers more destroyed him. The Alice books are full of understated paradoxes. Sylvie and Bruno is not timeless like Alice, but baggy, sentimental and doctrinal.” Carroll had such a gift for

playing with words and he had such a unique mind. How did he write the way he did? “By keeping a channel of communication open between him and childhood,” replied Douglas-Fairhurst. “Children are ruthless, literal-minded little people and can be quite cruel. To keep that connection — the ruthlessness and the illogicality of children and their playfulness — he needed to keep the point of contact. So he was constantly making friendships with new children to enable the renewal of access to childhood.” But why was it always with girls, a succession of Alices as well as other little girls? “Because he was a boy. He knew how boys are; he knew they were not paragons of virtue and purity. Little girls could sustain the illusion he had of their purity and of innocence. They were beautiful, beautiful creatures!” The uneventful life It must, nonetheless, have been diicult to write interestingly about a man who led such an uneventful life. “Carroll did not lead an ex-

citing life, it is true,” said Douglas-Fairhurst. “He was a slippery, elusive, mercurial figure taking great care that nothing exciting ever happened to him, maintaining control and order to see life did not surprise him — as if life is an equation in balancing out terms.” Despite dealing with a creative genius like Carroll and an ordinary person like Alice Hargreaves, née Liddell, he manages to keep a balance... “I was fortunate to know Alice’s great great granddaughter,” he said. “She lent me letters. They were not earth-shattering revelations but they helped give a rounded, more nuanced picture of Alice. It was diicult to write about the real Alice, to warm up to her. She was a snob, socially detached and financially insulated. It is diicult to know what she thought and felt. It is as if her thinking and feeling had already happened ‘as Alice’. This fictional character became more and more broad and her life became more and more socially narrow.” So does biography, as a genre, interest him? “What interests me most is people who write about biography,” he said. “They talk about ‘life writing’. Writing is orderly and so diferent from the way we experience life. Usually biographers see people as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; they see biography not as a way of reflecting life but redeeming life. But I don’t. That’s why my book has gaps. One has to be honest with the reader. The courage of the lack of conviction is what a biographer has to have.” Alice in retrospect Alice has had an influence on so many spheres — literature, science, art and culture… “It is possibly because the original work is so ambiguous, so porous, that it encourages other writers to explain it, revise it, and make sense of it, to try to unpick some of its locks,” Douglas-Fairhurst said. The next day I passed Alice’s Shop in Oxford (Old Sheep Shop in Through the Looking Glass) where Alice bought her sweets. I picked up a few souvenirs as did some Chinese, Japanese and European tourists. And I recalled what DouglasFairhurst said about the commercialisation of Alice and her creator: “It doesn’t do any harm — or good.” I smiled to myself. Kausalya Santhanam is a Chennaibased writer and critic.

ARCHANA NATHAN

The allure of memoirs lies in their ability to create an intimate space between the writer and the reader where the ‘I’ of the writer becomes the ‘I’ of the reader too. Thus the space becomes a shared one and the personal becomes the universal. Recently, I discovered another charming quality of memoirs: their ability to be compelling narrators of history. Sayed Kashua’s Native: Dispatches From an IsraeliPalestinian Life (translated by Ralph Mandel) and Hisham Matar’s The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between are two memoirs that ofer refreshingly personal and insightful accounts of two conflict-ridden regions of the world. Kashua, a Palestinian who was born and raised in Israel, compiles the essays he wrote for a weekly column in Haaretz, a popular Israeli newspaper. The memoir captures the time when he lived with his family in Beit Safafa, a Palestinian neighbourhood in Israel. Matar was 19 when his father Jaballa Matar was abducted by Muammar Qadhafi’s men in Libya. The Return recounts his endless search for his father 20 years after the kidnapping, after the fall of Qadhafi. Kashua with his ironic sense of humour and Matar with his stinging, yet sensitive, narration draw you into their worlds with an enviable ease. However, it is what they do after they draw you in that struck me as poignant. Once you are in Kashua’s living room, for instance, living his life with him, he opens all the windows and doors of his home to introduce you to his outside world. He asks you to walk with him and his Palestinian daughter on the streets of Israel to her mixed school. And you listen, choking with tears, as he tells his daughter that it is okay to speak Arabic as long as it is not at the entrance to a mall where an Israeli guard stands. Similarly, inscribed across Matar’s search for his father is the story of Libya itself. His everyday conversations with his family and his personal predicament and apprehensions speak on multiple levels to Libya’s own future postQadhafi. For me, both Kashua and Matar’s memoirs are examples of how individual lives can be embodiments of the conflict in a region, making for fantastic historytelling. As I finished the books, I couldn’t help but realise that despite the entire world constantly surveying these regions, one cannot know what Kashua and Matar tell you about life in these countries — except through their own accounts. [email protected]

BOOK SCAN

Of wise spiders and radiant pigs In books, and in life, animals show us that you don’t always need words to express the important things Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta One night, about a year ago, I started reading Charlotte’s Web to my children. It was one of the novels my older son’s class would be reading that year at school. In an alphamom moment, I thought we could read it together at home to give him a head start. My sons were then eight and seven years old. That night, they wanted to play some more before bedtime. They didn’t want me to start reading yet. I read out the first sentence of the novel: “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” At once they sat down to listen. Moral conflicts I can’t think of a more dramatic story than E.B. White’s classic 1952 farm novel. The little girl Fern — one of my alltime favourite characters in fiction — asks her mother why her father would need an ax. Her mother replies that some pigs had been born the previous night, and one of them was too small and weak to amount to anything. Within the first few lines of the novel, we were looking at one of the great moral conflicts of human life. We were looking at a man with an ax — a father and a farmer, a man who was “almost ready to cry himself.” We were confronted with the word “injustice”, spoken by a girl who was “only eight”. As we read on, we started to

(Clockwise from top) Tintin with Snowy; the book cover of Charlotte’s Web; the film James and the Giant Peach. imagine the farm. We enjoyed the way the goose spoke, we became fond of the grumpy and greedy old rat, we marvelled at the assorted things Wilbur liked to eat. Yuck, yuck, giggled my boys as I read out the list, which included carrot scrapings and stale hominy. We loved the sense of diversity, community, and the friendship that seemed most natural, between a naïve, runty pig and a tiny, wise, compassionate spider. “The barn was very large. It was very old. It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure. It

Animals teach us to tolerate scratch marks on the upholstery and tolerate the unfairness of death smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows. It often had a sort of peaceful smell — as though nothing bad could happen ever again in the world.” I stopped reading for a mo-

ment to let the children imagine the barn. I never thought spiders could be kind, murmured the seven-year-old. Of course they can, said the eightyear-old, impatiently. Go on. When we reached the final chapters of the novel, when death does come but not in the way we had feared, my children cried. And I found I had a speck of dust in my eye too. Dealing with death We moved on to James and the Giant Peach, Ruskin Bond, and other books; we are now on the new Harry Potter. We

forgot about Charlotte’s Web — until the time came to understand why we had read it. This week, our cat died. Billoo was twelve years old, over eighty in human years; elderly and diabetic, but we had thought he would pull through. One evening after the visit to the vet for his daily IV, he remained inside his travelling cage instead of coming out to sit on his rug. From a corner of the cage, he gazed out at us calmly. Within minutes, he put his head down and died. My younger son sobbed; Billoo should have lived for some more years, he said. I reminded him of Charlotte’s Web: the pig is saved from the ax, but death comes in the story eventually, in its season, and this is a part of the natural way of life. My son became quiet, dried his tears and made a farewell card. “Bye Billoo,” he wrote. My older son was quiet and thoughtful. Our dog sat at his feet as he made an intricate drawing in Billoo’s memory. In our lives, animals teach us many things. Like Snowy who follows Tintin even to dangerous places, against his better judgment, they will follow us anywhere. Like the dog who walks along with the Pandavas on their final journey, they will pad along, only stopping occasionally to smell the grass or chase a squirrel. When we come home at the end of the day, even if our children are too busy playing cricket or Minecraft to notice that we are back, it’s the dog who will greet us as if we are Odysseus himself returning from long

years of travel. The cat might even deign to turn towards us and blink briefly. Animals teach us to tolerate scratch marks on the upholstery and slippers chewed into fragments, and to tolerate the unfairness of death. Meeting Billoo I remember vividly the way Billoo had come into our lives. This was before the children were born. My husband and I had gone to a book reading at the NGMA Mumbai. It was the launch of Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City. Walking back to our car, we saw, between the Elphinstone building and Jehangir Art Gallery, what looked like a tiny scrap of cloth. It was moving. It was a kitten. It was almost going to get run over by a taxi. We waited for the mother cat but to no avail. By this time the kitten had already rolled into a ball and was using my arm as a scratching post. We took him home and introduced him to our afable Labrador who didn’t look at all surprised. We called the kitten Bilkul; he soon became Billoo. In books, and in life, animals show us that you don’t always need words to express the important things; that unlikely friendships and coexistence are possible. Spiders have to eat, too. Pigs can be radiant. And in a Maximum City, a tiny minimum creature can narrowly escape being run over, and make his way nonchalantly into a corner of your heart. Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta is in the IAS, currently based in Bengaluru.

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Institute without scholars, scholars without institute The Ministry of Culture funds 42 autonomous institutes in the country, of which the MAKAIAS is one. Till recently, it had received an annual budget upwards of Rs. 15 crores, besides other project-specific benefits and grants. “Nearly, all of these institutes are headless today and run by ad hoc bodies. The MAKAIAS cannot be run by an ad hoc body, but only by an EC, so it has stopped functioning altogether,” said Mr. Sharma, whose term came to an end in August 2015. He has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requesting her to “intervene…to save [the] internationally famous” institute, which received land from the State government and where it was shifted from the Maulana’s residence in central Kolkata in 2010. The State government gets to name two members to the EC, the Central government has four. For its part, the State has selected its members; not so the Central government. As the president of the Society, Governor Keshari Nath

Tripathi has written to the Ministry for a solution. The Maulana Azad fellow granted to the former Secretary of Ministry of External Afairs, Krishnan Srinivasan, has also written to the Prime Minister and received a reply. “But he refused to accept the reply as it was sent by an oicer of the rank of Under Secretary, which a former Foreign Secretary cannot accept,” sources told The Hindu. Sources in the institute told The Hindu that the paralysis arises from the rivalry between Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and the State unit of the BJP. “Dr. Sharma wants to give Sitaram Sharma another term, while the State unit of the BJP feels it should have its representative as the Chairman because Mr. Sharma was appointed by the Congress,” an oicial said. Mr. Sharma refutes this. “While I share a very cordial relationship with the Minister, I have no idea of this BJP infighting. During my tenure [mid-term, 201315] I received full cooperation from the Ministry and the Minister,” he said.

The statement went on to claim that the “Fire fight is most likely an inter-factional conflict which was claimed against the Indian Army commandos as a propaganda to gain popularity and make headlines by the NSCN(K).” A senior army oicer in Delhi however, said there was an encounter between Assam Rifles personnel and a group of KSCN (K) militants, when the latter was trying to infiltrate into Indian side. “We have recovered three automatic weapons, one pistol and a 12 bore,” he said.

The oicer said the militants abandoned their weapons and retreated to Myanmar, and thus Indian security personnel do not know of any casualty on the other side. “We have not suffered any casualties,” he said. Meanwhile, oicial sources in northeast said security measures along the 358 km long Manipur-Myanmar border have been stepped up in the wake of the encounter. Intelligence sources said this was to prevent NSCN (K) militants from entering Chandel, the border district, to carry out revenge attacks.

Internal security law The draft has a provision for a jail term of up to three years and fine for those threatening the State’s security. The act has also clearly defined the SSZs as having a separate police infrastructure. The zones will also have a command and control system, and separate Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) to be followed by the SSZ police, the draft act reads. Maharashtra is the first State in the country to draft its own internal security act. The draft act says the police chief will have powers to ban or regulate the “production, sale, storage, possession, or entry of any devices or equipment or poisonous chemical, biological or radioactive article or substances,

or electronic content of potentially explosive nature or any inflow of funds.” The act has defined internal security as a situation ‘posing threat to state within its borders, either caused or provoked, prompted, or proxied by a hostile foreign power, perpetrated even by such groups that use a failed, failing or weak hostile foreign power, causing insurgency, terrorism or any other subversive act targeting innocent citizens, causing animosity between groups, violence, destroy, or attempt to destroy public and private establishments.” Senior oicials told The Hindu the act has provisions to control by way of CCTV cameras access points to important establishments.

Urges Pranab to impress upon Centre the need for a political dialogue SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: A delegation of op-

position parties from Jammu and Kashmir met President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday to seek a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the State. The move triggered a serious war of words between National Conference president Omar Abdullah and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ram Madhav. The five member delegation led by Mr.Abdullah sought Mr. Mukherjee’s intervention “to impress upon the Central government to initiate a credible and meaningful process of political dialogue without any further delay involving all stakeholders to address the issue.” ‘No force against civilians’ “We also request you to influence the Central and the State governments to stop the use of lethal force against civilians in the Valley,” the

FOR A POLITICAL SOLUTION: Jammu and Kashmir opposition members coming out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday. — PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN delegation urged upon the president. Since the delegation outrightly tore apart the government’s response to the crisis describing it as “the failure of the State and the Centre to acknowledge that the issue in Kashmir is largely of a political nature,” the BJP was quick to hit back. Mr. Madhav lambasted the

delegation, reminding the National Conference and the Congress of not ofering “Azadi (freedom)” to Kashmiris when they jointly ruled the State during the 2010 agitation. “Talk of political solution is only to score political points. They did nothing to help State bring normalcy. In stead helped spread unrest,”

NEW DELHI: Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a swipe at the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, saying there are forces which are promoting disharmony and are seeking a “divided and divisive” India. “Unfortunately, there are also those that prefer a divided and divisive India, out of tune with itself and the world. They seek to spread disharmony. These are the forces that wish to break the bonds between us,” he said. The occasion was the function at which the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award for 2014-15 was conferred on noted Hindustani classical vocalist Shubha Mudgal for her outstanding contribution towards the

promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill. The award carries a citation and cash award of Rs. 10 lakh. Using the platform provided by the award that is conferred each year on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Mr. Gandhi said “There are, unfortunately in India today, men and women who actively promote disharmony, who humiliate and separate, who isolate and kill. But though the few may feel they are thriving in India today, we are proud to honour you ma'am and the many millions like you, who stand for everyone.” Hails Shubha Mudgal Hailing Ms. Mudgal for using her art to bring millions of people together, Mr.

Rahul Gandhi distributing keys of vehicles to the differently abled in New Delhi on Saturday. — PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA Gandhi said, “Her songs have broken barriers and brought harmony to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. My father Rajiv Gandhi

NEW DELHI: The war on terror has failed to discourage Pakistan from using terrorism and religious radicalism as tools against its immediate neighbours, said former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai.

Sinister agency Mr. Karzai said that the Islamic State militants who have emerged as a new threat to Afghanistan were finding support from a ‘sinister agency” from “across the border”. Mr. Karzai was delivering a speech he delivered at a think tank event here. “We know that the IS in Afghanistan is made of foreign

NEW DELHI: The royal family

CM YK

did the same in politics. He carried millions of people together, bringing India closer and allowing it to imagine a collective dream.”

lowing overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, blamed the United States-backed radicalisation movements during the Cold War era for the troubles facing South Asia and West Asia-North Africa. The fallout of radicalisation has been long term and has surrounded the entire region and spread to Iraq and Syria, he said.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SUHASINI HAIDAR

A file photo of the Bhutan Royal family.

Plea to India According to Mr. Rasgotra, who was the MEA oicial dealing with

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT SRINAGAR: Six days after mo-

bile telephony was withdrawn from the Valley, the authorities on Saturday restored services to post-paid mobile services and incoming facility to pre-paid phones, bring relief to more than 60,000 subscribers. However, Internet services on all mobile services remain suspended. Meanwhile, separatists launched a poster campaign against pro-India politicians on Saturday, seeking their resignation, even as the authorities restored post-paid cellular services in the Kashmir Valley. “Despite killings and injuries of war proportions, you [mainstream politicians] continue to perform the role of covering up the crimes. Before your anti-people role provokes us to initiate a comprehensive boycott, we beseech you to quit this treacherous role, resign and come back to people,” reads a poster. These posters are being sent to workers and leaders of mainstream parties on social media and through the print media. For the 43rd day

India, he said, had achieved what it has precisely because millions of people have chosen to live in harmony together: “India in harmony with itself is musical.” The award ceremony also saw Mr. Gandhi taking centre stage as his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, was unable to attend the function as she is recovering after illness. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Karan Singh, who is the Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Award, hailed Ms. Mudgal’s contribution. Ms. Mudgal said that in giving the award to her, the composite culture of India was being honoured, as Hindustani classical music truly reflected sadbhavna and harmony.

‘IS in Afghanistan gets support from across the border’

TACKLING TERROR: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivering a speech in New Delhi on Saturday. — PHOTO: AFP fighters. We know that these fighters are being controlled by a sinister agency from across the border,” said Mr. Karzai asking big powers to

display greater coordination in dealing with cross-border terror. Mr. Karzai, who became the leader of Afghanistan fol-

Former envoy says India turned down a request to help overthrow King Jigme Wangchuck, the then monarch

April 1964. He was succeeded by his brother Lhendup Dorji. The Royal grandmother, 86-year-old Ashi Kesang Wangchuck was in a significant position as she was Queen to King Jigme Wangchuck as well as the sister of the assassinated Prime Minister Dorji and the new Premier Lehndup Dorji.

Mr. Madhav tweeted. In a biting response, Mr. Abdullah described Mr. Madhav’s reaction as “sly” and challenged him “to prove that any of us spread unrest.” “We have ofered you solutions both while in power & out of it but you are deaf to what you don't like hearing!,” Mr. Abdullah further tweeted.

Mobile services restored in Kashmir

BJP, Sangh Parivar creating disharmony: Rahul

Bhutan’s Royalty refutes “coup” claims in Rasgotra book of Bhutan very rarely speaks publicly. But in a move that could have diplomatic circles abuzz, the ‘Royal Grandmother’ of the Kingdom has taken on what she calls a “false and malicious” account of Bhutan’s history by former Indian foreign secretary M.K. Rasgotra in his memoirs. The accusations, that pertain to the assassination of Bhutan’s former Prime Minister Jigme Dorji more than half a century ago, reopen the old chapter that experts say not only deals with the most troubled years of contemporary Bhutanese history, but also put a harsh spotlight on India’s otherwise unique and special relations. In his autobiography, A Life in Diplomacy, Mr. Rasgotra has described events that followed the dramatic assassination of the country’s Prime Minister Jigme Dorji in

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

J&K Oppn. seeks President’s intervention in crisis

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Army, Assam Rifles deny Myanmar raids

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Nepal and Bhutan at the time, the new Prime Minister, Lehndup Dorji, sent an emissary to New Delhi to gauge whether India would support a bid to oust King Jigme Wangchuck (the third King) as revenge for what he [Dorji] saw as a royal plot against his murdered brother. “One of Lhendup’s confidants showed up in at my residence to say, in a roundabout way, that Lhendup wanted to avenge

his family’s loss by ousting the Wangchucks, ‘one way or another’, and that he was hoping for my support,” Mr. Rasgotra claims in the book. Mr. Rasgotra further says that when he dismissed the emissary’s request, Mr Lhendup Dorji left Bhutan for Nepal in “voluntary exile”, for fear he would be exposed, and that he had only been allowed to return on Mr. Rasgotra’s request to the fourth King in the 1970s. Scathing response Writing a scathing response to Mr. Rasgotra, Ashi Kesang Wangchuck says she needed to refute all the “serious allegations” as her brother Lhendup Dorji was no longer alive. “Mr. Rasgotra has reduced the troubled and heartbreaking period in our lives from the time of the assassination of my brother Prime Minister Jigme Dorji in April 1964 and its aftermath into a simplistic narrative where Mr.

Rasgotra plays the central role,” Ms Wangchuck wrote in her four-page letter, made available to The Hindu. “She feels very very hurt that after the loyalty our family, my father (slain PM Jigme Dorji) and uncle (former PM Lhendup Dorji) have shown the royal family, that a book like this should be published in India that calls us treacherous,” said her nephew Benji Dorji. When contacted by The Hindu, Ambassador Rasgotra said he “regrets any hurt caused” but insisted that his book was “factual”. “In my book I have described events and situations I dealt with during limited periods of my assignments as Director (North) in MEA, Ambassador of India in Nepal and as India’s Foreign Secretary. The facts of which I have direct personal knowledge are as I have stated them in the book,” he said.

‘Pak. paying price’ “Pakistan is paying a price of the radicalisation process that began in the anti-Soviet jihad. Just last week, some of the best educated people of Pakistan died in an attack in Quetta. We therefore are appealing to brothers in Pakistan so that we can have civilised relationship and show

that religion is for good purposes,” Mr. Karzai said. Lauds India Mr. Karzai said that crossborder threats need to be confronted and Afghanistan has been demanding for military equipment to deal with the threat. “But India told us that it did not want to aggravate the situation there by meeting our demand immediately,” said Mr. Karzai lauding India’s patient policy on Afghanistan. “There are many political leaders in Pakistan including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who wants good relation with neighbours who would agree with my request for peace in our region,” Mr. Karzai said.

Elderly couple injured in firing SRINAGAR: An elderly couple were injured when security forces fired pellets at them after they resisted the arrest of their son in Tral area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, official sources said on Saturday. The security forces fired pellets at the couple as they tried to resist the arrest of their son Noor Mohammad in Kamla village of Tral. — PTI

on Saturday, the police said curfew was imposed in Srinagar, Anantnag and Pampore. Mehbooba meets Vohra Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday evening met Governor N.N. Vohra at the Raj Bhavan in Srinagar. An oicial spokesman said in an hourlong meeting, both “discussed various important matters relating to the urgent restoration of peace and normalcy in the State”. This is first time Ms. Mufti met the Governor to discuss the 43day-long unrest in the Valley.

States’ opinion bulldozed, says Mamata SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT KOLKATA: Launching a scathing

attack on the Modi government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said the Centre was being run like “a complete dictatorship”. The situation, according to her, was “worse than Emergency” and that the Centre is now trying to “control” the state’s projects. This is the first time Ms. Banerjee went all out against Mr. Modi and the BJP-led government, after coming to power for the second time in May, underscoring that the States were now planning to “fight unitedly” against the Centre. Speaking to the journalists at the State Secretariat, Ms. Banerjee waved a letter from the NITI Aayog, calling the recommendations by the “BJP-dominated” sub-group of Chief Ministers on rationalisation of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) as “an attack on federalism” and basic democratic structure of the country. Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet accepted major recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on rationalisation of the CSSs, including limiting the total number of schemes to 30, and changing the sharing pattern between the Centre and the States. Ms. Banerjee, who called for taking the protest to streets and for a joint movement of diferent parties “to protect the constitution and tradition of the country”, said she would take up the issue with the President .

Which law asked Hindus to have fewer children, asks Bhagwat shakha (oice) and see for yourself. This is the way.”

MOHAMMAD ALI AGRA: Hindutva is ingrained

in the fabric of India and that is why Hindutva is nationalism, said Rashtraiya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat while addressing a large gathering of university and college teachers of the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh in Agra on Saturday. Bharat and Hindu have the same meaning and the entire world describes India as Hindu, said Mr. Bhagwat in his long lecture on being Hindu and Hindu culture. Which law asked Hindus to produce fewer children, he asked responding to a question on the alleged rising growth rate of the Muslim population in India. “Who has stopped them [Hindus],” he said responding to a participant. Mr. Bhagwat asked teachers to join the RSS and have a personal experience of how the organisation changed the system by building character. “What is quite easy to understand is that Hindutva is the quality of Bharat and that

Mohan Bhagwat is why Hindutva is rashtriytva [nationalism],” said Mr. Bhagwat. He referred to the BJP government at the Centre, and said that the RSS could not solve problems directly but produces swayamsevaks who can make a diference and change the system. While replying to complaints of teachers on salaries and changes in the education system, Mr. Bhagwat said that he would convey their problems to the Union Education Minister but he also said, “For a long and stable change in the system in the national interest, I appeal to newcomers to this conference to come to the RSS

‘Join the shakha’ “You should come to the RSS oice for six months or one year. There would be complete freedom to come and go without any restrictions. If you find all the things that I said here in the RSS shakha then stay. This is a long but certain way to decide the direction of your belief,” added Mr. Bhagwat. Talking about the nomenclature of the RSS, Mr. Bhagwat invoked the JNU controversy and said, “Our [RSS] name does not start with ‘Hindu’ or ‘bharatiya’ but ‘rashtriya’ because it’s all synonymous.” Were people living on a geographical structure Indian? If this was the case, then how come people living in India raised slogans such as Bharat tere tukde honge?” “It [India] looks diverse but in reality, it is one. The diversity originates from one culture. While the entire world talks about tolerance, we talk about accepting everybody,” he said. ND-ND

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THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

CHANGE OF GUARD IN RBI

The penny drops: Govt. wanted continuity, chose Patel ‘An economist rather than a banker will help balance inflation priority’ PUJA MEHRA NEW DELHI: Preference for “continuity, especially in carrying forward the legacy of Governor Raghuram Rajan”, tilted the Union government’s decision in favour of Urjit Patel as it named him as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday. Of the candidates in the reckoning, Mr. Patel, it was observed, would be able to demonstrate “maximum convergence” with New Delhi. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, picked Mr. Patel from a shortlist of five names submitted by a search and selection panel. The government wanted an economist rather than a banker at the

RBI helm, a source involved in the selection process told The Hindu. “It hopes that Mr. Patel will balance the RBI’s inflation priority with that of creating jobs in the economy.” Hand-picked by Rajan Mr. Patel, the seniormost Deputy Governor at the RBI and architect of the new monetary policy framework, has been working closely with the Cabinet Secretariat and the Finance Ministry to ensure a smooth transition. The responsibility for setting interest rates is being transferred from the Governor to a six-member Monetary Policy Committee, three of whose members are appointed by the government. The main mandate of the central bank is being formally defined as targeting inflation

Urjit Patel, right, with Raghuram Rajan. — FILE PHOTO to bring it under the four per cent level (+/-2 per cent). Mr. Patel was picked by Mr. Rajan to head the RBI committee that made these recommendations and suggested that the central bank abandon its focus on the wholesale price index for its inflation management and adopt in its place the consumer price index.

It won’t hurt that Mr. Patel is from a community that the BJP is at pains to mend its relationship with in Gujarat, where elections are due by 2017-end. Earlier this week, the Financial Sector Regulatory Appointments Committee (FSRASC), headed by Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, sent the names to the appointments committee for

its consideration. The FSRASC first met in July and readied a long list of possible candidates to succeed Mr. Rajan and then, earlier this week, pared it down to a shortlist of five in no order of preference. It did not conduct interviews or rate the individual candidates. The five names were forwarded to the appointments committee. “The five candidates on the shortlist were not ranked or rated by the FSRASC … no order of preference was specified…in that sense, the selection of Mr. Patel is purely by the ACC,” an oicial source said. The shortlist included Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya, who, if picked, would have been the first woman Governor. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was not part of the committee, but Mr. Modi is said to have discussed the appointment with him.

An “owl’s eye” on the country’s cofers MANOJIT SAHA MUMBAI: “As Urjit [Patel]

keeps telling me, we are neither hawk nor dove. We are owl,” outgoing Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan once said on the constant interpretation of RBI statements by the media. The owl, a symbol of wisdom, stays vigilant when everybody else is asleep. In appointing Mr. Patel as the 24th Governor of RBI, the government is eyeing continuity of policy in the country’s central bank as he was the Deputy Governor in charge of the monetary policy. Mr. Patel was appointed Deputy Governor in charge of the monetary policy in January 2013 by the previ-

Patel’s biggest task came as head of a committee to review the monetary policy framework ous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for three years. The appointment was made despite the then Governor, D. Subbarao, recommending that Subir Gokarn continue in the post. In his recently released memoir, Who moved my interest rate, Mr. Subbarao recounted that the then Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, wanted “fresh thinking” in the RBI, while deciding on Mr. Patel. While no RBI Governor’s term has been ex-

tended by a succeeding government of a diferent party, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) extended Mr. Patel’s tenure as Deputy Governor for three years in January 2016. Mr. Patel (52) has close to three decades of experience across financial, energy, infrastructure and other sectors. But his biggest task came when Mr. Rajan made him head the committee to review the monetary policy framework in 2013. With retail inflation staying at double digits for two years, monetary policy faced severe criticism. Retail inflation Retail inflation, if high for a long time, afects the consumer more by denting

Speaker asks BRICS to join hands for SDGs

real income. Mr. Patel, who holds a doctorate in Economics from Yale University and is a graduate of the University of London and Oxford, made a radical recommendation which redefined how inflation needs to be anchored. The committee proposed inflation targeting as the central bank’s prime objective and changed the main gauge for inflation to consumer price indexbased inflation from wholesale based price index. It proposed a committee-based approach for setting interest rates, The committee will be held responsible if inflation target is not met. And unlike many committee reports, which are put on the back-

burner, the government and the RBI moved promptly to implement the recommendations such as making consumer pricebased inflation the anchor for monetary policy. The monetary policy committee, which will be headed by Mr. Patel as RBI Governor, is expected to be announced shortly. Many economists have mainly attributed the fall in inflation to soft global oil prices, as the country imports two-third of its requirement. However, as one former central bank official told The Hindu, “We now know what is the inflation rate that the RBI is comfortable with, and will not hesitate to take steps if it tends to go out of the price band.”

Michael Patra likely to be Deputy Governor MANOJIT SAHA MUMBAI: Michael Debabrata

Patra, Executive Director of the RBI who is in charge of the monetary policy, is seen as a strong contender to succeed Urjit Patel as Deputy Governor, once the latter takes over as the next Governor of the central bank. Mr. Patra, who joined the RBI in 1985 and is a confidant of Mr. Patel, was recently selected by the central bank board as its nominee on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Mr. Patra was elevated as executive director in October 2014. Before that, he was the adviser in charge of the monetary policy. The government is in the process of forming the sixmember committee and it expects to announce three members from outside the

A close confidant of the new appointee, he was recently named to Monetary Policy Committee RBI shortly. The three internal members are the Governor, a Deputy Governor and an oicial to be nominated by its board. Mr. Patra’s experience in monetary policy could be useful at a time when the central bank will make an important transition as it shifts to a rulebased policy from a discretion-based regime, with interest rates set by a committee. Mr. Patra has been in contention for Deputy Governor earlier, as he was interviewed when Mr. Patel’s first term as Deputy Governor was coming to an end last December.

Patel right man to fill Rajan’s shoes: India Inc. PIYUSH PANDEY MUMBAI: India Inc., upbeat

about the appointment of Urjit Patel as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is optimistic that Mr. Patel will continue the “good work” of his predecessor, Raghuram Rajan, in containing inflation and reducing interest rates. Videocon Industries chairman Venugopal Dhoot hopes the new Governor will cut interest rates. “Mr. Urjit Patel has a profound vision about the global economy and extraordinary intellectual power about understanding the financial problems in India. He will reduce interest rates and also help in bringing down inflation,” Mr. Dhoot

told The Hindu. Godrej Industries chairman Adi Godrej said Mr. Patel was an excellent choice. RPG Group chairman Harsh Goenka told The Hindu, “The economy is in good hands. Mr. Patel is an eminent, globally respected economist with a 360-degree view on the economy and stellar experience drawn from the best in MNC, semigovernment, private and government sectors. He is a great choice.” Bajaj Group chairman Rahul Bajaj said: “I am confident that Mr. Patel’s decisions regarding interest rates, monetary policy, cleaning banks’ NPAs, etc., will be balanced keeping in mind the circumstances prevailing from time to time.”

Three held in Bulandshahr rape case SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The CBI on SaturJAIPUR: Calling upon BRICS

countries to strengthen “cooperative mechanisms”, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Saturday said a united front would help in the successful implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Much of India’s development agenda was mirrored in the SDGs, Ms. Mahajan said. Inaugurating the first meeting of the BRICS Women Parliamentarians’ Forum at the Rajasthan Assembly here, Ms. Mahajan said while India had chosen the path of removing poverty by empowering the poor, BRICS should innovate new institutional means for meeting the needs of the member countries. The Speaker airmed that some of the recent initiatives launched in the country were promoting inclusion and social advancement. The initiatives include Jan Dhan Yojana, unleashing entrepreneurial energies of people, and the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme to bring the girl child as focus of all development eforts. New initiatives “Make in India, Skill Development and Digital India are some of the new initiatives taken by the government to accelerate growth in

IN STEP: Jaya Bachchan, MP, dances with Rajasthani folk artists at the venue of the BRICS women parliamentarians' forum in Jaipur on Saturday. — PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS the country,” Ms. Mahajan said. She said BRICS was a relatively young group and its member countries together comprised 43 per cent of the world’s population, contributing 37 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product. “The success of the SDGs will be heavily dependant on their successful implementation in the BRICS countries,” she said. Ms. Mahajan said the women parliamentarians, as enablers of achievement of the SDGs, needed to concentrate on their role as people’s representatives, helping highlight their concern and mobilise citizens’ participation in issues of governance and sustainable development.

Referring to the 2030 agenda for the SDGs, Ms. Mahajan said the women parliamentarians had added responsibilities in it because worldwide, women were facing disproportionate risks and greater burdens from the impacts of poverty, climate change and other social, political and economic crises. Sustainable development She laid emphasis on sustainable development without hurting culture and traditions. She highlighted the ageold traditions of water conservation and sustainable use of water resources in Rajasthan, saying these practices had virtually made it a drought-free State. State Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal spoke.

day arrested three of the accused in connection with the gang-rape of a woman and her minor daughter at Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh last month. The CBI took over the case on Friday, following an Allahabad High Court directive. A team comprising forensic experts also examined the crime scene and gathered evidence. “The team has returned to Delhi. Three of the accused have been arrested and will be produced before a court for taking their custody. All case details case are being collected from the local police,” said a CBI oicial. The agency will also gather and study medical reports of the victims as part of the investigations. The alleged incident took place in the intervening night of July 29-30 when six members of a Noida-based family were on their way to Shahjahanpur. The criminals stopped the victims’ vehicle on the national highway and dragged them to the nearby fields in Dostpur village, where they allegedly raped the woman and her daughter. Based on their complaint alleging abduction, dacoity and gangrape, a case was registered at Kotwali Dehat police station. The police have arrested all the six accused.

Shakti Sinha likely to made NMML director NEW DELHI: Shakti Sinha, who

was private secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was Prime Minister, has been appointed Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, a source said. The oicial announcement will be made soon, the source said. The director’s post has been lying vacant since last year after Mahesh Rangarajan stepped down as the government described his appointment by the United CM YK

Progressive Alliance government as “illegal and unethical”. Mr. Sinha, an IAS oicer of the 1979 batch, was considered a highly influential Joint Secretary in Mr. Vajpayee’s Prime Minister’s Oice in the late 1990s. He had taken voluntary retirement in 2013 when serving as Finance Secretary in the Delhi government. The advertisement issued for the director’s post was reportedly modified at the last

moment to accommodate Mr. Sinha. Controversy erupted over the appointment of director after a prominent member of the Executive Council of the institution, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, quit allegedly over shortlisting of Mr. Sinha, who, reportedly until a few days ago, was a director in the India Foundation, a think tank aligned to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sevak. Besides Mr. Mehta, a political scientist, the selection

committee, headed by Minister of State for External Affairs and vice-chairperson of the Executive Council, M.J. Akbar, who is also on the India Foundation board, had six members. At a meeting last week, Nitin Desai, economist and former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, spoke out against the shortlisting of Mr. Sinha and Indira Gandhi National Open University academic Kapil Kumar. — PTI ND-ND

16 |

WORLD

Myanmar to support Silk Road, BCIM Joint statement, issued after Suu Kyi’s meeting with Xi, avoids any mention of South China Sea politicians — like Mr. Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang — her delegation also broke bread with the who’s who of China’s State-owned-enterprises and its corporate sector. Talks were also held with State Grid Corporation, China’s state-owned behemoth that envisions establishing an Asian super-grid, with Myanmar as one of its nodes. Besides, the visitors met a delegation from the China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO), which has been known for developing advanced weapons, apart from trucks, cars and motorcycles.

ATUL ANEJA BEIJING: Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi concluded her visit to China after embarking on a tough balancing act — of seeking Beijing’s support for her country’s infrastructure projects while taking into consideration the demands of environmental groups back home, who oppose such foreign-backed initiatives. During the visit, media attention remained largely fixed on the Myitsone project, the controversial Chinabacked undertaking worth $3.6 billion stalled since 2011 on the grounds of causing extensive ecological damage. The joint statement released after Ms. Suu Kyi met China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday placed on record Myanmar’s support for China’s ‘Belt and Road’ connectivity initiative along the ancient Silk Road. It also supported the BangladeshChina-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor meant to industrialise a stretch — spanning more than 2,000-km — linking Kunming in China with Mandalay in Myanmar, passing through Bangladesh, and ending at Kolkata in India. Significantly, it made no

Number of U.S. military advisors in Yemen slashed RIYADH: The U.S. military has

slashed the number of intelligence advisers directly supporting the Saudi-led coalition's air war in Yemen, the U.S. Navy said on Saturday, after concerns over civilian casualties. The reassignment of personnel, around June, occurred because “there was not the same sort of requests coming in for assistance” from the Saudis, Fifth Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey told AFP from Bahrain. Lt. McConnaughey said the U.S. reassignment of personnel does not afect their ability to support the Saudis and is a more eicient allocation of resources. — AFP

PRIME PARTNER: Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday. — PHOTO: AP mention of the South China Sea dispute, an achievement for Beijing, which has been working hard to avoid negative references to the issue

among members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). While Ms. Suu Kyi engaged with China’s prime

Indian-Canadian named House Leader TORONTO: Indian-Canadian Sikh MP Bardish Chagger has been named as the new Leader of the government in Canada’s House of Commons, becoming the first woman to hold the post in the country’s history. Ms. Chagger (36), an MP from Waterloo who is also the Minister of Small Business and Tourism, was among 19 Indian-origin candidates who won in last year’s general election. Ms. Chagger’s parents had immigrated to Waterloo from India in the 1970s. “This is a tremendous opportunity. I have been involved in the political process for basically my whole life,” Ms. Chagger told reporters on Parliament Hill after her swearing-in on Fri-

day. The latest development makes her the first woman in Canadian history to hold the job of guiding government legislation through Parliament and replaces Dominic LeBlanc. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his “confidence in Minister Chagger as a worthy successor”, the report said, citing a government statement. On the first day on the job, Ms. Chagger said she “really does believe that we can all work together”. MP from Waterloo Ms. Chagger, who was born and raised in the Waterloo region, attended the University of Waterloo where she was the president of the Young Liberals. She will re-

Dhaka planning commission to probe Mujib’s assassination DHAKA: Bangladesh govern-

ment is planning to constitute a commission to unmask the conspirators behind the assassination of the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975 that resulted in a coup, Law Minister Anisul Huq said today. “We have been able to expose to justice those who were directly involved in the killing. Now those who were behind-the-scene masterminds should be unmasked in the interest of history,” he said at an event at attorney general’s oice. “So we are thinking to form a commission to find out their identities,” Mr. Huq said. Huq’s comments came as Dhaka University ViceChancellor Arefin Siddique recently floated a similar proposal, saying the formation of a fact-finding commission was crucial to unearth the plot “in totality”. Siddique claimed the plot for the August 15 coup was

State Department officials will fly to Ankara to discuss government accusations against Fethullah Gulen, the

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hatched under a long-drawn process in several phases and some of the behind-thescene masterminds could have taken part from abroad — sitting in Washington or elsewhere.

exiled cleric Turkey accuses of masterminding a failed military coup, according to a Justice Department official. “U.S officials, including representatives of the Departments of Justice and State, have offered to consult with the Turkish government,” the Justice Department official said on Saturday. — Reuters

N. Korea brands defector a ‘criminal’ SEOUL: N. Korea state media

says diplomat defector 'criminal' 2556 North Korea’s Deputy Ambassador to Britain, who defected to South Korea this week, is a criminal who had been ordered to return home for questioning, Pyongyang state CM YK

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Give Trump a chance, says GOP nominee to black voters DIMONDALE (MICHIGAN): Republican Donald Trump again made a direct appeal to black voters on Friday night, urging them to abandon the Democratic Party and give him a chance. Speaking at a rally in Dimondale, Michigan, an overwhelmingly white suburb outside of Lansing, the GOP nominee argued that Democrats, including his rival Hillary Clinton, have taken advantage of African-American voters and taken their votes for granted. “Tonight, I’m asking for the vote of every single Afri- TRUMP-SPEAK: People cheer as Republican presidential nominee can-American citizen in this Donald Trump addresses a campaign event in Dimondale, country who wants to see a Michigan, on Friday. — PHOTO: REUTERS better future,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump?” he asked them. “You’re living in your poverty, your schools are no good, WASHINGTON: Companies additional $2 billion to a string of you have no jobs, 58 per cent belonging to Donald Trump have lenders”, The Times said about of your youth is unemployed at least $650 million in debt, debt that could significantly what the hell do you have to more than twice the amount affect Mr. Trump’s wealth. lose?” Most polls show Mr. shown in public filings made by The billionaire tycoon Trump trailing Ms. Clinton his presidential campaign, The campaigns on what he says is his significantly among black New York Times reported on spectacularly successful real voters. Saturday. estate record, claiming to be On Twitter, the Clinton The paper employed a worth $10 billion and citing his campaign responded, “This property information firm to business acumen as his major is so ignorant it’s staggering.” search publicly available data on qualification for the presidency. The Clinton campaign’s more than 30 U.S. properties His lenders include one of the Marlon Marshall added in a connected to the Republican largest banks in China — which statement: “Donald Trump candidate, including offices and Mr. Trump accuses of being a U.S. asks what the African-Amer- golf courses. economic foe — and the ican community has to lose In addition to the $650 million investment bank Goldman Sachs, by voting for him. The an- liabilities, “a substantial portion which he says influences his swer is everything from a of his wealth is tied up in three Democratic White House rival man who questions the citi- passive partnerships that owe an Hillary Clinton. — AFP zenship of the first AfricanAmerican President, courts white supremacists, and has been sued for housing discrimination against communities of colour.”

Trump’s companies have $650 million in debt: report

Hillary condoles death of Pramukh Swami

A HISTORIC FIRST: Indian-Canadian Bardish Chagger is applauded by Governor General David Johnston after being sworn-in as Government House Leader in Ottawa, Canada. — PHOTO: REUTERS tain her title as the Minister along with the new role. She is one of the four Sikh Canadians inducted into Mr. Trudeau’s Cabinet besides De-

fence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi and Innovation Minister Navdeep Singh Bains. — PTI

Trump advisor on Putin Meanwhile, a Washington Post report said that Carter Page, a foreign policy advisor of Mr. Trump, had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with U.S. experts and think tanks here in June. “The adviser, Carter Page, hailed Putin as stronger and more reliable than President [Barack] Obama… and then touted the positive efect a Trump presidency would have on U.S.-Russia relations,” it said. — AP, PTI

WASHINGTON: Pramukh Swami, the spiritual head of the Swaminarayan sect who passed away last week, built a global faith and community founded on Vedic values, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has said. “Pramukh Swami didn’t just teach virtues — he lived them every day. That’s what made him a Guru to millions of devotees around the world. From the Akshardham Mandir in New Jersey to the countless temples that he blessed in the U.S., Pramukh Swami built a global faith and community founded on

media said on Saturday. The defector, Thae YongHo, had embezzled huge sums of money, raped a minor and spied for South Korea, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, calling him “human scum” to the South. — AFP

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in a pre-dawn raid at his Dhanmandi house along with his wife, three sons, two daughters in-law and several presidential aides and Awami League leaders. The regimes that took over protected the killers by enacting an indemnity law and rewarded several of the coup plotters with diplomatic posting abroad. In 1996, when Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League returned to power, it scrapped the indemnity law and initiated a process of delayed trial. Following the trial, 12 former army oicers were handed down death sentences and five of them hanged in January 2010. — PTI

B. MURALIDHAR REDDY NEW DELHI: A day after former

MAYOR’S DAY OUT: The 153-year-old London Underground, the world’s oldest subterranean rail network, began a 24-hour service on Friday night. Picture shows London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Saturday standing between passengers on the first Night Tube train along the Victoria line. — PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Aleppo’s underground shelter, a safe haven for children EMMA GRAHAM-HARRISON

T

wo floors underground, Aleppo’s luckier orphans sleep as safely as anyone can in a city at war, though they are jolted awake regularly by bombs ripping apart the streets above them. Watching over them are Asmar Halabi and his wife, who knows in intimate, painful detail the damage explosives can do, because she still carries injuries picked up in an air strike on a school two years ago. Vulnerable individuals The sufering of the Syrian city’s children, who have lived through years of bombing, was thrust back into the headlines this week by a photograph of five-year-old Om-

Vedic values,” Ms. Clinton said in a statement on Friday. Ending her condolence message with ‘Jai Swaminarayan’, Ms. Clinton said her husband Bill Clinton was fortunate enough to visit the spiritual leader both here in the United States and at the Akshardham Mandir in Gujarat. “In meeting many of his followers, I’ve been touched by his wisdom as well,” she said. A U.S. flag honouring the life of the leader was flown on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, said Stephen T. Ayers, Architect of the Capitol. — PTI

OIC expresses concern over Kashmir violence

A common man

Panel will try to unmask the masterminds behind the 1975 murder of the country’s founder

U.S. officials to probe coup allegations

WASHINGTON: U.S. Justice and

Reconciliation eforts Prior to Ms. Suu Kyi’s visit, Myanmar’s media had highlighted that she was likely to look for Chinese support for her government’s initiatives in achieving reconciliation with insurgent groups in Myanmar. For more than half-a-century, Myanmar has been a victim of militancy, fuelled by clandestine sale of drugs, timber and jade that is mostly channelled through China. Last month, leaders of Myanmar’s rebel groups converged at Mai Ja Yang, a border town, to prepare for a

major peace conference, slated to be held at the end of this month. The Joint Statement echoed Beijing’s cross-border interests by noting China’s support for Myanmar “to realise peace and national reconciliation through political dialogue”. Amid the bonhomie in Beijing, civil society groups reminded Ms. Suu-Kyi’s hosts about the intensity of Myanmar’s internal woes. In a letter to Mr. Xi, routed through the Chinese embassy in Myanmar, 60 civil society groups in Yangon underscored that the opinion of “Myanmar’s people has never been sought extensively enough since the Myitsone project was first conceived”. Separately The Irrawaddy newspaper reported that 26 Shan civil society and environmental organisations have called for an immediate halt to major dam projects planned for construction on the Salween River. An open letter to State Counsellor pointed out that hydropower dams on the Salween River would block water flow and create hardship for those who rely on the waterway, particularly for agriculture, in Burma, Thailand and China.

NOIDA/DELHI

SHELTER FROM THE STORM: Children dance during the opening of an underground centre for battle-affected children in Aleppo, Syria. — FILE PHOTO: REUTERS ran Daqneesh, bereft and bloodied in the back of an ambulance. Mr. Halabi’s 50 charges at the Moumayazoun (Out-

standing Guys) orphanage are some of the most vulnerable individuals left in the city. The orphanage moved below ground when relent-

less bombardment became too much for normal life to continue, and it now provides a subterranean haven. The children range in age from two to 14. Their parents have been killed or become mentally ill, or have been snatched away in some other cruel fashion by a conflict now moving towards its sixth year. “Many had been made homeless, like siblings Omar (12) and Mufedah (13), found sleeping in rags on the stairs of their uncle’s apartment building. He had forced them into the ruined city to beg for food and small change after their father died and their mother had a nervous breakdown and then disappeared, Mr. Halabi said. Although their relative

had barred them from his apartment, his doorway still seemed safer to the children than the streets. Destitute young people The orphanage opened last year after activists raised concerns about the growing number of destitute young people scraping a living alone. It has space for another 100 children, and new residents arrive with tragic regularity. The team of 25 ranges from cooks and security guards to teachersAmong the most important figures at the orphanage are the fulltime psychologists, who have a dedicated counselling area where they work with children. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2016

Afghan President Hamid Karzai “appreciated” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on the human rights situation in Balochistan, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) voiced concern over alleged excesses of the Indian military and the paramilitary forces in Kashmir. A report in the Pakistanrun news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) quoted the Secretary General of OIC Iyad Amin Madani as saying that his organisation will continue to expose human rights excesses in the Valley till the resolution of the issue in accordance with the United Nations resolutions and wishes of the people of Kashmir. Mr. Madani was on a visit to Pakistan to apprise the Pakistani leadership of the upcoming Foreign Ministers meeting of the OIC at Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The comments are bound to rile New Delhi though this is not for the first that the OIC has spoken about the issue. At a joint press stake-out along with Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Afairs Sartaj Aziz, the OIC general secretary also reportedly renewed support to the right of self-determination for Kashmiri people and said it was an international and legitimate issue. APP quoted Mr. Aziz as saying that the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir would be meeting again in September 2016, during the UN General Assembly session. Mr. Aziz is also reported to have said that they should wait for a response from India after a letter was handed over to the Indian High Commissioner, extending an invitation to the Indian Foreign Secretary to visit Islamabad by the end of this month. ND-ND

| 17

BUSINESS

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Parsvnath to raise up to Rs.1,000 cr via NCDs

India’s forex reserves increase by $73.2 mn

IL&FS Engineering JV bags PGCIL order

Parsvnath Developers is planning to raise up to Rs.1,000 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs), the company said.— PTI

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose $73.2 million in the week ended August 12 to $365.822 billion, according to RBI data. — Special Correspondent

IL&FS Engineering Services JV has secured a Rs.136.26 crore turnkey transmission line project in Gujarat from Power Grid Corp. — PTI

SBI to sharpen marketing focus The merger of the banks will result in a reduction in operating costs SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI: State Bank of India, which has started the process of merging its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank, said it will redeploy its manpower in customer-facing roles with a sharper marketing focus. “The same is expected to create a superior customer experience,” the lender said in a statement. The six banks which will be merged with SBI have about 40,000 employees; post the merger the total staf strength of SBI will be 2,70,000. Total number of SBI branches will be increased to 24,000 which is around 15,000 now. SBI also said the merger will also lead to faster rollout of digital initiatives across the bank, which is currently hamstrung by existence of diferent entities with separate managements causing a

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

“Thus, the benefit so derived will flow on to the customers in the form of improved services, borrowing costs etc.” it said.

The total business put together is almost equal to the size of the second largest lender in India lag in implementation across the SBI Group. “Consequently, customers of associate banks will benefit from new initiatives simultaneously,” it said. Operating costs On Thursday, the board of SBI approved the share swap ratio for the three listed associate banks, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, and also for Bharatiya Mahila Bank. State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala are 100 per cent owned by SBI. The merger is expected to be completed by March 2017. The merger will result in reduction in operating costs,

NEW ROLE: The merger will also lead to faster rollout of digital initiatives across the bank. — PHOTO: P. V. SIVAKUMAR SBI said since there will be reduction in overheads, administrative oices and centralisation of treasury. “India’s second largest bank post the mergers will be almost 1/4th of SBI in terms of total deposits and advances,” the lender said adding that post the merger, SBI will add Rs.8 lakh crore of assets.

Moderate taxes and evasions can’t coexist: Finance Minister

The total business of the six banks put together, is almost equal to the size of the second largest lender in the country. The bank expects that increased presence in all geographies will increase the bank’s capacity to raise deposits and bring down the cost of funds further.

Credit approval The speed of credit delivery, particularly large credit approvals, will improve as instead of seven sanctions by seven banks, the customer will have to deal with a single credit approval process, it said. Similarly, the resolution measures of stressed assets will be quicker and decisive as the decision making will be centralised. The bank said additional capital requirement will be not significant as the mergers will be met through the resultant increase in eiciencies and economies of scale. “SBI is a well-capitalised bank with capital base well above the regulatory norms applicable to a Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB),” it added.

MUMBAI: Amid demand from the industry for a lower Goods and Services Tax rate, Finance Minister Aurn Jaitley said for the rate to be low, the tax base needs to increase. “If all taxpayers pay their taxes, it will help bring in tax rates lower. The more the evasions and exemptions, the higher will be the tax rate. So, moderate tax rates and evasions cannot co-exist,” Jaitley told a meeting of BJP workers. The minister was replying to a demand made by Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP unit president, to bring the proposed GST rate at 17 per cent. “A large section of people who file return don’t pay taxes… To increase the base everyone should pay their taxes,” the finance minister said. Earlier this month, Parliament passed the much delayed GST Bill paving the way for the new tax structure

Foreign tourist arrivals to India rise 17.1 per cent in July P. NARASIMHAN

WELCOME VISITORS: Tourist arrivals in July 2016 was 7.36 lakh as compared with 6.28 lakh in July 2015. — FILE PHOTO: VIPIN CHANDRAN

CHENNAI: The number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India rose 17.1 per cent in July 2016 over the same period a year ago. Bangladesh accounted for the highest share of tourist arrivals followed by the U.S. and the U.K., according to a government statement. The government earned Rs.14, 319 crores as foreign exchange, stemming from tourist inflows. The FTAs during July 2016 was 7.36 lakh as compared to 6.28 lakh during the month of July 2015 and 5.69 lakh in July, 2014. FTAs during the period Ja-

Bangladesh accounted for the highest share of tourist arrivals followed by the U.S. and the U.K. nuary-July 2016 were 49.22 lakh with a growth of 10 per cent as compared to 44.73 lakh with a growth of 4.6 per cent in January-July 2015 over January-July 2014. The percentage share of FTAs in India during July 2016 is as follows: Bangladesh (17.30 per cent) the U.S. (16.51 per cent), the U.K. (11.67 per cent), Malaysia (3.49 per cent), France (3.12 per cent), Sri Lanka (2.94 per

cent), Canada (2.66 per cent), China (2.32 per cent), Germany (2.31 per cent), Japan (2.2 per cent), Australia (2.2 per cent), Nepal (2.04 per cent), Oman (2.04 per cent), UAE (1.99 per cent) and Pakistan (1.66 per cent). Air passengers In percentage terms Delhi airport topped the list with a 26.22 per cent share followed by Mumbai airport (17.04 per cent) and Chennai airport (10.11 per cent). Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during July 2016 stood at Rs.14,319 crore as compared with Rs.11,982 crore in July 2015 and Rs.10,284 crore in July 2014.

The growth rate in rupee terms during July 2016 over July 2015 was 19.5 per cent as compared to 16.5 per cent in July, 2015 over July, 2014. FEEs during January-July 2016 amounted to Rs.87,384 crore with a growth of 15 per cent as compared Rs.76,017 crore with a growth of 9.5 per cent during January-July 2015 over January- July 2014. In dollar terms, FEEs in July 2016 amounted to $2.13 billion as compared to $1.884 billion in July 2015 and $1.712 billion in July 2014. The growth rate in July 2016 over July 2015 was 13.1 per cent compared with the growth of 10 per cent in July 2015 over July, 2014.

Arun Jaitley which is expected to kick in from 1 April 2017. While states like Assam and Bihar passed the Bill, it has to be passed at least by 17 more states with two-third majority for the Bill to get constitutional validity. Uniform rate “India is politically integrated into one country, but economically we are diferent states. You have to have a free flow of goods and services across the country. You

have to have a uniform rate of taxation thought the country,” Mr Jaitley said emphasising the need for moderate taxation to bring down costs. “You have to have one person being assessed once and not by diferent tax authorities in a diferent way. This makes doing business easier,” he said. Mr. Jaitley said the Indian tax rates were becoming more reasonable. The peak GST rate will be finalised by the proposed GST Council comprising the Union Finance Minister and his state counterparts, even as the chief economic advisor has suggested an 18 per cent peak rate. Stating that GST implementation was his immediate challenge, the minister said the next challenge would be strengthening the banks. “The government is working on strengthening the public sector banks and we are determined to do it,” the minister said.

PFC gets shareholders’ nod to raise Rs.55,000 cr. NEW DELHI: State-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has got shareholders’ approval for raising up to Rs.55,000 crore via issue of securities. PFC, one of the leading lenders to the power sector, also got nod for raising its borrowing limit to Rs.4 lakh crore at the company’s annual general meeting held on Friday. A special resolution listed for seeking approval for raising funds by way of private placement of bonds/debentures/notes/debt securities in India and/or outside the country to the extent of

The company also got an approval to raise its borrowing limit to Rs.4 lakh crore at its AGM Rs.55,000 crore during the period of one year from the date of the AGM held on August 19, 2016 was passed, stated PFC in a BSE filing on Saturday. The company has also got shareholders’ nod to raise Rs. 5,000 crore by issuance of bonds for Power Ministry in addition to its total borrowing limit to Rs.4 lakh crore. —PTI

‘At least 50 firms keen to partner Postal Bank’ SURAT: Around 50 companies including global banking institutions, like the World Bank, Deutsche Bank and Barclays, have expressed eagerness to be associated with the Centre’s postal payments bank initiative, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today. “We will begin postal payments banking service from September 16, wherein 1.3 lakh postmen will be given hand-held devices, a moving ATM to provide banking services, insurance, money-order, as well as third-party service,” Information Technology Minister said after inaugurating an incubation centre at the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) here. “Some 50 companies, in-

to set up 650 branches of postal payments banks. Prasad said his ministry is taking up several initiatives to use IT and related services to improve the services, and asked IT experts to use government services through the STPI to innovate in this direction.

Ravi Shankar Prasad cluding World Bank, Deutsche Bank, Swiss Bank, Barclays, want to be associated with us,” said the senior BJP leader. The Union Cabinet in June had cleared the proposal for postal payments banks with a corpus of Rs.800 crore. The proposal is

Virtual classrooms “We will also begin virtual classroom facility so that we can use technology to ofer better education through virtual classrooms. As a pilot project, 3,500 government schools will be given the facility, of which 770 schools are from Gujarat,” Prasad added. The minister also spoke about the government initiative to set up BPOs in smaller

centres in the country. “We have started BPO scheme to encourage small centres for call centres, BPOs. We started 48,000 call centres/BPOs and will provide subsidy of Rs 1 lakh for call centres in smaller centres. We are creating a platform across the country for that,” Prasad said. — PTI

Bullion Rates August 20 rates in rupees with previous rates in brackets

Chennai Bar Silver (1 kg) Retail (1 g) 24 ct gold (10 g) 22 ct gold (1 g) Delhi Silver Standard gold Sovereign

46,690 50.00 32,000 2,992

(47,115) (50.40) (32,030) (2,995)

45,975 (46,465) 31,250 (31,250) 24,300 (24,300)

VW eyes deals for self-driving car plans FRANKFURT: Volkswagen is planning further acquisitions in the market for new transportation technologies and services, a leading manager at the German carmaker said, as it seeks to make up ground after its emissions scandal. Europe's largest automaker, which had been reluctant to commit to new industry trends like car sharing, is also looking for more alliances with technology firms as it tries to capture new business post-Dieselgate, Volkswagen (VW) digital chief Johann Jungwirth said. “Yes, there are further opportunities” for purchases, Jungwirth said in an interview with Reuters this week. “We have quite a few things in the pipeline,” he said, without going into details. VW took a $300 million stake in May in ride-hailing company Gett which competes with Uber as it builds a services business that VW expects to generate billions of euros in sales by 2025. But Jungwirth, a former Apple and Daimler manager, acknowledged that VW is a latecomer on new technologies as it pushes into selfdriving cars and ride- sharing -- areas where rivals have already made inroads. “We have a massive need

CM YK

Suspends Golf production in Germany BERLIN: Embattled automaker Volkswagen has been forced to suspend manufacture of the popular Golf model at its main production plant in Germany, a spokesman said Saturday. But the decision by the car giant, locked in a legal battle with parts suppliers, will not afect its annual production target. Production of the Golf will be suspended "from Monday for the whole of the week" at its main Wolfsburg plant in northern Germany, the spokesman told AFP. Some 815,000 vehicles

to now work with the same passion for detail and the same focus on software and services as on hardware (cars),” said Jungwirth who joined VW last November when it was struggling with the aftermath of its Diesel emissions scandal. VW, through its Audi luxury flagship brand, has committed to developing a fully self-driving car rather than working on incremental autono-

rolled of the production line at Wolfsburg last year, including nearly 500,000 of its Golf model and its mini-van version the Golf Sportsvan. Volkswagen secured temporary injunctions on August 12 ordering ES Automobilguss, supplier of cast gearbox components, and seat cover maker Cartrim to resume deliveries, suspended since the start of the month. But the two suppliers appealed the decision, leaving production at VW limping along. On Friday judges in Brunswick ordered the two firms to mous-drive features that would occasionally require the intervention of the driver. Research lab To help speed its development of self-driving cars, the manager said VW will “massively expand” its presence in Silicon Valley where it is setting up centres for future design and autonomous driving alongside its elec-

resume deliveries, but neither obeyed and ES has appealed. The parts suppliers accuse VW of having cut several contracts with no advance warning or compensation, leaving them no choice but to suspend deliveries to protect their own workers. According to media reports VW -- wracked by crisis after admitting last year it had installed software to cheat on diesel engine emissions tests -- has been seeking concessions from all of its suppliers, amounting to several billion euros. — AFP tronics research lab. VW will be at the forefront of carmakers rolling out fully automated driverless vehicles for commercial ride-sharing no later than 2021, according to Jungwirth. It is a competitive field. Uber formed an alliance with Volvo this week and plans to test driverless control systems in Volvos and Ford Fusion models in a pilot scheme in Pittsburgh. — Reuters ND-ND

BUSINESS

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Indian innovation has long way to go: DIPP’s Agarwal ‘The education system hampers the natural innovativeness of Indians’ creativity and innovation. “We need to make sure we create an ecosystem where young Indians can move ahead, based on the research that has already been done. If you don’t have protection, then what would be the incentive to innovate?” he asked.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: India has a long way to go in promoting innovation despite moving 15 places up to 66th rank in the Global Innovation Index, according to a top oicial. “While India’s rank has increased, there is still a long way to go,” Rajeev Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said on Saturday while addressing a gathering at a conference on innovation. “There are hurdles that need to be crossed,” he said. One of the hurdles, according to Mr.Agarwal, is the Indian education system which hampers the natural innovativeness of Indians. “Indians are naturally innovative. However, the entire education system puts blinders on them, hampering

SPURRING CREATIVITY: India’s IPR policy will promote innovation. Above, a robot, for representational purposes. — FILE PHOTO: AP this innovation. Then a lot of efort has to go into removing these blinders,” he said. The Joint Secretary also spoke about the ‘jugaad’ (finding a way through frugal means) culture in India, describing it as more of a sign of Indian ingenuity rather than a desire to cut corners. “The jugaad mentality in India is remarkable. But peo-

ple say that it is to cut corners. I would say that this is not the case. I would call jugaad, a version of frugal engineering,” Mr.Agarwal said. IPR policy Speaking about the national Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy, Mr. Agarwal said the bedrock of the policy was to promote

‘Real estate sector must invest more in skilling’ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The real estate industry and construction industry should try to ensure that the money collected as construction cess by the states should be used for skilling purposes, the Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said. “The real estate and construction industry should nudge the states concerned, where their projects are operational, and make use of construction cess for the skilling of the labour force for optimum realisation of their hard work,” he said during his address at the 13th National Convention of the National Real Estate Development Council. About Rs.26,000 crore collected from various real estate and construction builders as cess over the last two

Cess of about Rs.26,000 crore, collected from real estate players is lying idle, Mr. Agarwal said decades is lying idle, Mr. Aggarwal said. Private sector However, the secretary also said that skilling cannot be the sole responsibility of the government and that the private sector must get involved as well. “Skilling cannot alone be the government responsibility and developers and builders should come forward and begin to skill the labour that they engage to fulfil their construction needs,” he said. Going deeper into the issue, Mr Aggarwal touched upon the difering roles of

the private sector and the government when it came to skilling. “Skilling should be the responsibility of the private sector also whereas the job of providing certification to endorse skills should be performed by the government. It is going to happen based on which of those acquired skills is made employable in any industry including real estate and construction.” Land acquisition The labour secretary said the current land acquisition act has made it almost impossible to acquire land, and has also led to delays in obtaining approvals, which delay housing projects. “Therefore, the solution should be worked out by a process of dialogue between the farmers and those that intend to acquire their land.”

Strong procedures In his address, Commissioner of the United States International Trade Commission F. Scott Kief touched upon the importance of strong procedures that ensure competition. “If every anti-trust decision requires the big players to talk to the government, then this in essence means that they are being made to talk to each other as well, since they have to reveal information,” USITC’s commissioner Mr. Kief said.

Electricity body gives nod for 1,000 MW Turga hydel project KOLKATA: Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has given conditional clearance to the Rs.4,500-crore 1,000 mw Turga Pump Storage Hydel Power Project in West Bengal’s Purulia district. “We have cleared the project and it is now pending environmental clearance,” CEA Chairman S.D. Dubey said. “We want more such projects in the country for better grid stability,” he said on the sidelines of CII organised Energy Conclave. State Power Minister Shobandeb Chatterjee said the formal letter has not arrived. The approval is conditional for want of some more land which will be sorted out in due course. The state was planning to feed the pump storage hydel project with 1,200 mw solar power. — PTI

Aman may set up four more resorts in India N. ANAND CHENNAI: Singapore-headquartered Aman, a luxury hotel group operating 31 resorts in 20 countries, is planning to set up four more resorts in India, according to a top oicial. “We are moving to the western side of Asia. In the coming months, we will be setting up new properties (resorts) in India, Europe and North America,” Olivier Jolivet, Chief Executive Oicer, Aman told The Hindu. “Our priority is to commence the first property in Shanghai and the fourth in China by early next year. Japan would then follow,” he said. “India is an important

New Delhi and Mumbai are target cities for setting up new properties and wellness centres market for us. New Delhi and Mumbai are our target cities for setting up new properties as well as creating centres of wellness to ofer the Aman experience. It will ofer service to high end customers. We are also exploring other main cities,” he said. Currently, Aman has two resorts in Rajasthan. The new properties are to be set up in the North, West and South of India. Besides, Ra-

jasthan will have one more resort. Aman is also exploring the possibilities of setting up properties in Chennai, Bengaluru and north east of Kolkata. Investment plans While refusing to divulge investment plans for the new properties, Mr. Jolivet said the amount depended on the size of the property and location. According to him, Aman had been in India for the last 20 years. The new properties will be a blend of local culture and architecture to ofer a pleasant experience. “We don’t have a timeline. But, we will complete these projects

within five years,” he said. In China, Aman operates three resorts with 128 rooms comprising suites and villas, he said.Amandayan Lijiang opened in February 2015, Amanfayun Hangzhour in January 2010 and Aman Summer Palace Beijing in September 2008. Aman Shanghai, to begin operations in 2017, comprises a village of historical dwellings surrounded by a ‘sacred’ camphor forest. The project entailed the disassembling, relocation and restoration of more than 30 villages, comprising 50 Ming and Qing Dynasty houses chosen for preservation and 10,000 ancient camphor trees.

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

LeEco to increase India retail outlets four-fold

Private investment will pick up from next fiscal: Godrej

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI: Chinese technology major LeEco is increasing its retail outlets in India fourfold to boost the sales of its smart phones in the country, said a top oicial. “Currently, we sell our smart phones and super TVs through online channels. As more than 60 per cent of smart phone sales in India are happening through offline channels, we are ramping up the retail outlet numbers from 2,000 to 8,000 during 2016,” Atul Jain, Le Ecosystem Technology India Pvt. Ltd., Chief Operating Officer Smart Devices, told The Hindu. Over 50 per cent of the new outlets will be in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Its oline sales will contribute 60 per cent to the total sales by next year. Plans are also on to set up 500 franchisee stores. Besides, it has also applied to the Centre for permission to set up its own flagship stores numbering between five and eight, he said.

KOLKATA: Private investment,

which has been slow until now, will pick up from next year when all sectors, especially agro-based and agribusinesses, should do well, Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej said. “We are having a good monsoon after two bad monsoons and if a sensible rate is fixed for GST then the economy will really get a boost from next fiscal. From this quarter onwards, I see signs of increased consumer oftake which will become more conspicuous in next few quarters, especially with the Pay Commission efect, consumer spend will pick up,” he said. “Companies with agribusiness like us as well as those in real estate, will pick up from next financial year,” Mr. Godrej said. The diversified group has business across multiple sectors with backward and forward integration, having heritage brands in its portfolio.

Adi Godrej Perhaps three of the group’s best-known companies are Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Ltd and Godrej Properties Ltd. On the group’s investment plans he said: “Group business is not very capital-intensive, so investment was not in a very restrictive situation.” Inorganic growth Mr. Godrej said that the company was “giving a strong emphasis on inorganic growth” and was looking to acquire in the consumer

business, personal care and household goods space. The geographies under scanner were Asia, Africa and South America. The acquisitions would be mainly in the personal and household care segments. He said the current global conditions presented a right opportunity to acquire. “Because of the global situation being a little dull, you can acquire (a) company at a little lower (price) than in the past,” he added. Indications are that the group’s inorganic growth may be through Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) – which is into personal and household care – and the unlisted Godrej Agrovet which is into animal feed and agri-business. Reiterating the group’s plan to increase turnover ten-fold in 10 years, he said that this has sufered a setback due to the slow-down and “needs to be made up.” This would be through organic mostly but also through the inorganic route.

Gold-buying picks up ahead of festive season MUMBAI/BENGALURU: Physical gold demand in Asia improved modestly this week as consumers returned to the market ahead of upcoming festivals in India and China when demand is usually high. In India, the world's second biggest gold consumer, discounts narrowed as jewellers started buying for the festive season. Dealers were ofering a discount of up to $52 an ounce over the global spot benchmark, down from up to $60 last week. “Large jewellers have started building inventory for the upcoming festival season. In coming weeks, demand is expected to pick up further if prices remain stable at the current level," said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a global bank.

Increased demand India's gold demand may rise in the second half of 2016 after falling to the lowest in

NBCC bags contract from ASI NEW DELHI: State-owned NBCC India Ltd today said it has bagged a Rs.120 crore contract from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for construction of Institute of Archaeology and UNESCO Category-II Centre in Greater Noida. ASI has executed an MOU with NBCC for “assigning work for construction of Institute of Archaeology and UNESCO Category-II Centre at Knowledge Park- II, Greater Noida amounting Rs.120.00 crore (approx).” — PTI

CONSUMER INTEREST: Indian demand may rise in second half of 2016. — FILE PHOTO seven years in the first half as monsoon rains spur rural demand during the peak festive season, the World Gold Council said on Aug. 11. Two-thirds of gold demand in India comes from villages, where jewellery is a traditional investment. The quarter ending in December typically accounts for about a third of India's gold sales since it includes the start of the wedding sea-

son and festivals like Dhanteras and Diwali, when buying gold is considered auspicious. Bullion prices in top consumer China were at a premium of$1.50 an ounce to the global benchmark, almost unchanged from last week, dealers said. Premiums in Hong Kong were about 10 cents an ounce from 20-60 cents previously. Steady premiums in China

were due to an upcoming mid-autumn festival in September, which is typically a peak season for jewellery fabricators to build their inventories, said Zhirui Ji, an analyst with Thomson Reuters-owned metals consultancy GFMS. Premiums in Singapore rose to about 50-60 cents from 20-30 cents last week. “Physical side is seeing some inquiries and most of them are looking with a longterm perspective as there is too much uncertainty in the market,” said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central. Biggest gain Gold, often perceived as a hedge against financial uncertainties, has risen 27 percent this year to trade at $1,347 an ounce on Friday, and is on track for its biggest annual gain since 2010. — Reuters

Scoot awaits nod to double services SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHENNAI: Scoot, low-cost and long-haul airlines of Singapore Airlines is keen to double its weekly services between major Indian cities and Singapore following an increase in traic, a top oicial said. It is currently awaiting final bilateral agreements between India and Singapore that would allow airlines from both countries to increase capacity. “We are currently operating 46 flights per week at an average load factor of about 85-90 per cent,” said Bharat

It operates 7 flights a week on ChennaiSingapore sector and 4 on AmritsarSingapore sector Mahadevan, Scoot Pte Ltd., Country Head – India. “During long weekends and festivals, there is huge demand. We have to turn away several customers as we are unable to accommodate them due to limited capacity. We can easily increase the number of flights. But, we are unable to

do so due to regulation in India.” The airline is seeing healthy bookings from several Indian cities, he said, without specifying numbers. “The introduction of more flights or new destinations can be done only after the finalisation of bilateral agreements between the respective Governments,” he said “We will begin flights between Jaipur and Singapore from October. Constrained by flying rights, we are unable to operate between Coimbatore and Singapore,” Mr. Mahadevan said.

Thomas Cook to buy 24% stake in Sita World Travels Lanka SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHENNAI: Thomas Cook Lanka Pvt. Ltd. has entered into a share purchase agreement (SPA) for acquiring 24 per cent stake in Sita World Travel Lanka Pvt Ltd. The company in a communication to BSE said that “Thomas Cook Lanka (Private) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India) Limited, has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the purpose of acquiring 24 per cent (twenty four percent) of the issued, subscribed and paid up share capital of Sita World Travel Lanka Pvt ltd. by way of purchase from the minority promoters. The balance 76 per cent is held by SOTC Travel Service Pvt. Ltd. which is a subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. and Travel Corporation of (India) Ltd.No financial details are available..Sita World Travel was incorporated in 1997 to promote leisure travel to Sri Lanka.

CM YK

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SPORT

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Games Telecast

Talisman

Lochte apologises

STAR Sports 1, 6 p.m.; STAR Sports 2, 3, 4 & HD 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 p.m. onwards; Closing Ceremony: STAR Sports 1, 2, 4 & HD 1, 2, 4, 5 a.m. (Monday)

Ladies love it. There’s strength inside, hidden. My strength is in my moustache, that’s why we got into the final. — Canoeist Filip Dvorak of the Czech Republic.

I should have been much more responsible in how I handled myself and for that am sorry to my teammates, my fans, my fellow competitors, my sponsors and the hosts of this great event. — American swimmer Ryan Lochte apologises for his role in the ‘robbery’ scandal.

쑺

쑺

Systematic planning 쑺

We bought the land in 2014, in the year 2015 we built the house and in the year 2016 we’ve painted the house. — Brazil’s Alison Cerutti on the long process to winning the gold in men’s beach volleyball.

No stopping Bolt from his triple triple

Indians cut a sorry figure RIO DE JANEIRO: The Indian quar-

While the US men’s relay team finds itself disqualified, the women beat Jamaica to the 4x100 gold KAMESH SRINIVASAN RIO DE JANEIRO: When Usain Bolt

is on schedule, he not only fills the Olympic stadium, but draws all attention. Yet, there were moments that stood out, apart from Usain Bolt anchoring Jamaica to gold in the 100metre relay and winning his ninth gold medal in the Olympics on Friday.

But, first things first. Bolt along with Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and Nickel Ashmeade clocked a season best 37.27 seconds to beat the Japanese who ran an Asian record of 37.60. The Jamaicans hold the World and Olympic record at 36.84 from the London Games. Canada won the bronze with a national record time of 37.64. The Japanese Ryota Yamagata, Shota Iizuka, Yoshihide Kiryu and Aska Cambridge may not be impressive individually, but as a team they showed months of hard training can bear fruit even against the best in the business on the biggest stage. There was no real challenge to the Jamaican supremacy.

“Our coach said, listen guys. Make sure you get the baton around. As long as I get the baton in my hands, it is going to be gold,” Bolt said after the race. The US team that had former Olympic champion and 100 metre silver medallist Justin Gatlin in its ranks, was disqualified after it finished third, for violating the rules. The flag-draped U.S. quartet had already completed their lap of honour and were speaking to the media when news emerged that instead of taking bronze medals behind Japan and winners Jamaica they had been disqualified. The problem was a minor technical one at the first changeover between Mike Rogers and Justin Gatlin, as Gatlin touched the baton out of his zone but the result was disqualification. Gold for Felix Allyson Felix, who could not defend her 200-metre gold as she did not make the US team, won her fifth gold, the first by a woman in athletics, as she ran the second leg in the team’s victory in the 100-metre relay. Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner and Tori Bowie did it with Allyson to clock 41.01 seconds that beat Jamaica’s 41.36. Some of the very best sprinters, Elaine Thompson, Veronica campbell-Brown, ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce along with Christania Williams were in the Jamaican team, but the American team executed the race better. Britain took the bronze with

won the gold with his fifth throw of 78.68 metres. He beat Ivan Tsikhan of Belarus (77.79) and Wojciech Nowicki of Poland (77.73). “It was my childhood dream to win an Olympic gold medal,” said Dilshod. The women’s pole vault gold went at 4.85 metres to Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece, while Sandi Morris of the US

ATHLETICS

FOUR TO TANGO: Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt and Nickel Ashmeade are a delighted lot after taking the 4x100m relay gold. — PHOTO: CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGES a national record 41.77. Interestingly, the American team had a re-run with only the clock to beat on a set target in the qualification stage, after Allyson was viewed to have been obstructed by a Brazilian runner during the baton exchange in the heats. “It is very special. I am proud to look back on my career and appreciate what the

sport of track and field has given me,” said Allyson. In the women’s 5000 metres, favourite Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia was outrun by the Kenyans, four-time world champion Vivian Cheruiyot and Hellen Onsando Obiri, with about 700 metres to the finish. “This was my fourth Olympics. I have been dreaming

about a gold medal. It has finally come today,” said Vivian who had won the silver (5,000) and bronze (10,000) in the London Olympics. She had won the silver in the 10,000 metres behind Almaz earlier in Rio. “Before the last five laps, I saw how Ayana was not running smoothly. I said to Hellen, let’s go. We are going to

get something. Today we are going to catch this lady,” recalled Vivian, who won with an Olympic record of 14 minutes 26.17 seconds, ahead of Hellen who clocked a personal best 14:29.77. Almaz, who had set a World record in the 10,000 metres, was a distant third at 14:33.59. In men’s hammer throw, Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan

had to settle for the silver over the same height. Eliza McCartney of New Zealand pipped Alana Boyd of Australia after both cleared 4.80 metres. On the count back, whoever clears a height earlier, wins the tie-break. London Games silver medallist Jennifer Suhr of the US could clear only 4.60 metres and finished joint seventh. “It is one of hardest events to compete. I am glad to make my country proud,” said Ekaterini, who had taken to the sport when she was 10. Like everyone, she also missed World and Olympic champion, the iconic Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia. “It would have been just as successful an event for me if I had come second to Isinbayeva,” said Ekaterini. She recalled the risk her husband took to congratulate her. “My husband jumped into the scafolding, almost killed himself and then said, 'Honey you did it,'” said Ekaterini.

A man born to run T

he Olympics is going to miss the ‘Lightning Bolt’ pose that has lit up the last three Games at a time when athletics desperately needs a hero. When Usain Bolt crosses the finish line and starts pounding his chest, it resonates around the world. But after his 4x100m triumph in Rio on Friday, the Rio crowd celebrated in the knowledge that they were witnessing the departure of a legend. His mother seems to think that the young Bolt, who will retire after next year’s World championships, was born to run. Born in Trelawny parish near Montego Bay — where a

First ever gold for German women FOOTBALL

Chen wins gold RIO DE JANEIRO: China’s Chen Long inflicted more Olympic heartache on Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei with a straight games win for gold in the men’s badminton singles final on Saturday. Chen took both games 21-18 to consign Lee to a

BADMINTON third consecutive defeat in an Olympic Games final. It was a first gold medal for World No. Chen, who won bronze at London 2012, but a third straight silver for the top-ranked Lee. Chinese superstar Lin Dan lost the bronze medal match to Dane Viktor Axelsen 15-21, 2110, 21-17. CM YK

Proved that I’m the greatest: Bolt KAMESH SRINIVASAN RIO DE JANEIRO: With the “mis-

sion accomplished”, Usain Bolt knelt on the track and kissed the finish line. He had done the same after his last individual race, the 200 metres. The 29-year-old Bolt, in his fourth Olympics, knew the uncertainties of the sport, especially in the exchange of baton in the relay. “I was just watching them and praying that they didn’t mess up,” said Bolt, about the Jamaican teammates during the relay. “I told the guys, don’t give me too much work to do, please. I had no work to do but to just run to the line. As soon

as I got the baton, I knew I was going to win this one, because there is no one on the anchor leg that can outrun me,” said Bolt, who will be celebrating his birthday on Sunday. About his Olympic journey, Bolt said: “It is a great feeling. I have worked hard in every Olympics. I have proved to the world that I am the greatest.” The Jamaican’s nine gold medals in athletics pulled him level with Paavo Nurmi of Finland and American Carl Lewis. Next, World championships For the athletics fans, the good news is that Bolt plans to compete in the World championships next year in London. He was pleased with the ambassadorial role he has played

for Jamaica over the years. “I live up to my country’s needs. I always try to push my country on top and be the best. I have brought more tourists to my country, more jobs. I have done as much as I possibly can for my country, and will continue to do so after I retire from the sport,” he said. One of his teammates Nesta Carter had tested positive and a positive retest may damage a part of Bolt’s golden collection. “I don’t think my legacy would be tarnished. I have proved it over and over again that I have done it clean. So, It is no stress. It is not what I want, but it is life. It is not something I have control over,” Bolt said.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Germany won its first ever Olympic women’s football gold on Friday when it turned in a superior secondhalf performance to beat Sweden 2-1. The No. 2 ranked Germans, who are now one of only three women’s teams to win both the Olympics and World Cup, scored two goals in the second half, and although the Swedes got a goal back they could not get a second to take the game into extra time. Sweden, which scored just three goals in its five games before the final, started more positively than its previous form suggested, but Germany started to impose itself as time went on and the best chance of the half fell to Anja Mittag after 25 minutes. The sides were evenly matched but things changed in the second half and it was the Germans who deservedly took the lead three minutes into the second period when Dzsenifer Maroszan scored. It extended its lead 14 minutes later thanks to an unfortunate own goal. A Sara Daebritz free kick from 20 yards smacked the post and Linda Sembrandt tried to clear but instead kneed the ball into her own goal from just a few yards out. — Agencies

Athletics: Men’s Marathon: T. Gopi, Kheta Ram, Nitendra Singh Rawat, 6 p.m. Wrestling:

Men’s

freestyle

(65kg qualifications): Yogeshwar Dutt, 5 p.m. onwards.

Bolt’s parents Wellesley and Jennifer. — PHOTO: AP host of sprinters, including the shamed Ben Johnson, al-

so come from — Bolt was something special from the start, according to Jennifer Bolt. “After three weeks he was pushing because he was so strong,” the mother said. “One day, I left him on the bed and when I came back he was close to falling of, so from here I was saying, ‘What kind of child is he?’” she recalled. By the age of 12, Bolt was the fastest in his school. “He was always on top,” she said. How does Bolt’s mother help the world’s fastest man keep his cool? “We say things that will make him laugh,” said Jennifer. — Agencies

tet of Nirmala Sheoran, Tintu Luka, M.R. Poovamma and Anilda Thomas clocked 3 minutes 29.53 seconds to place seventh in the heats and 13th overall among 16 teams in the women’s 4 x 400 metres relay at the Olympic Stadium on Friday. In the men’s 4 x 400 metres relay, the Indian team of Kunhu Muhammed, Muhammed Anas, Ayyasamy Dharun and Arokia Rajiv was disqualified for exchange violation. In women’s 20km walk, the 23-year-old Khushbir Kaur clocked 1 hour 40 minutes and 33 seconds, for the 54th place. The other Indian in the race, Sapna Poonia did not finish. Liu Hong of China won the race in an exciting finish, two seconds ahead of Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez of Mexico, with a time of 1:28:35. Another Chinese, Lu Xiuzhii won the bronze. While six were disqualified, five did not finish and 63 managed to complete and clock a time against their name. — KS

Athletics: Men’s 4x400m relay, round one, Arokia Rajiv, Kunhu Muhammed, Dharun Ayyasamy, Muhammed Anas Yahiya, disqualified. Women’s 4x400m relay, round one, M.R. Poovamma, Anilda Thomas, Tintu Luka, Nirmala Sheoran, 13th, 3:29.53. Women’s 20km walk, Khushbir Kaur, 54th, 1:40.33; Sapnaa Punia, did not finish.

12 gold medals will be decided on the final day of the Rio Games. SUNDAY (Aug. 21) Athletics: Men’s marathon, 6

p.m. Rhythmic gymnastics: Women’s team all-around, rotation two, 8.20 p.m. Cycling-mountain bike: Men’s cross-country, 9 p.m. Volleyball: Men, 9.45 p.m. Wrestling: Men’s freestyle 65 kg, 10.05 p.m. Handball: Men, 10.30 p.m. Boxing: Women’s middleweight (75kg), 10.30 p.m.; Men’s flyweight (52kg), 10.45 p.m. Wrestling: Men’s freestyle 97kg, 11.15 p.m. Boxing: Men’s light welter 64kg, 11.30 p.m.; Men’s super heavy over 91kg, 11.45 p.m. MONDAY (Aug. 22) Basketball: Men, 12.15 a.m. Closing ceremony , 4.30 a.m.

Isinbayeva calls it quits RIO DE JANEIRO: Barred from competing at the Rio Games, Russia’s double Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva announced her retirement on Friday and said whoever won the women’s pole vault in her absence would not have achieved a proper gold medal. At a combative news conference, Isinbayeva also said God would be the judge of whether athletics’ governing body was right to exclude almost the entire Russian track and field team, including herself, over what it said was incontrovertible evidence of State-sponsored doping. Isinbayeva said she had been confident of winning the pole vault after clearing 4.90 metres on June 2 on her first competitive appearance in three years after giving birth to a daughter. She said she and her coach had been confident she would achieve 5.10, four centimetres higher than her own World re-

Yelena Isinbayeva. — PHOTO: AFP cord, and well above the season’s best of 4.93 set by American Sandi Morris. “I really believed in my victory, because everything was heading towards that,” Isinbayeva said. “When the girls jump today without me, do you think that will be honest? “If you look at the big pic-

ture, when you compete without Isinbayeva it can’t be a proper gold medal.” Whoever wins, she said, “I will congratulate the new pole vault champion, of course, but I’m sure she will feel it’s not entirely gold because goal number one is to beat Isinbayeva.” Isinbayeva, 34, was elected by her peers on Thursday to the International Olympic Committee’s athletes' commission, and the IOC will vote on Sunday on whether to confirm her as one of its around 100 members. In that role, she will be an influential and outspoken player at a time of crisis in relations between Russia and the wider Olympic movement. Many Russians believe the exclusion of more than 100 of their athletes from Rio is part of a Cold War-style political plot to punish Moscow for opposing the West over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. — Agencies

Aditi slips further, finishes 41st RIO DE JANEIRO: India’s Aditi Ash-

ok finished 41st in her maiden Olympic campaign in the women’s individual golf event which concluded on Saturday.

GOLF She carded a five-over 76 in her fourth and final round to end with an overall score of seven-over 291. The 18-year-old Bengaluru golfer started with a bogey on the first hole before slipping to a double bogey on the third. On the back-nine, she had two bogeys. At the end of the second round on Thursday, Aditi was in the top-10 with an impressive six-under. However, an

SLIPPING AWAY: Aditi Ashok was in medal contention in the first two rounds before losing her way in the next two. — PHOTO: SCOTT HALLERAN/ GETTY IMAGES

eight-over 79 in the third round saw her slip out of medal contention. The gold was won by South

Korean Inbee Park (16-under) while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (11-under) took the silver. — Sports Bureau ND-ND

20 |

SPORT

I knew Sindhu had a medal in her: Gopi The star shuttler looks forward to getting back to her phone, ice cream and chocolates KAMESH SRINIVASAN RIO DE JANEIRO: Handling the In-

dian media is a far more diicult job than winning an Olympic silver, P.V. Sindhu found out, but she put on a smile and answered the same questions a hundred times.

Matej Toth (Svk): Athletics:

Men’s 50km walk. Liu Hong (Chn): Athletics: Wom-

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

A silver seven years in the making V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM HYDERABAD: India’s chief Na-

tional badminton coach P. Gopi Chand says that his most famous ward and Rio Games silver medallist, P.V. Sindhu, is adept at giving the right response — both on and of the court. “It was not just the great game she played out there for the whole week but the way she responded to some of the simple things I asked her to do like handing over the mobile, the iPad and not insisting on having her favourite sweet curd. She did all these things with a smile and not putting up a grim face. These things really helped me focus more on the game,” said the coach in an interview with The Hindu from Rio on Saturday. “Yes, the best part in Rio was that every moment was a pleasure because of the kind of

atmosphere. For us, especially, we were all in the same block — including the two physios Kiran and Subodh. They did a terrific job too. So we used to go out for dinner or for a walk together and even the competition arena was pretty close to our room. These things helped us in saving time, to plan out much better and stay focused,” Gopi said. Amazing fitness “Well, I definitely believe the key to the super Sindhu show was her ability to raise the game when it was needed and her amazing fitness levels,” Gopi said. “She played the game a notch higher than she normally does. She came up with a brilliant all-round game and was arguably at her best in Rio,” he pointed out. What was the mood before the final? “After taking it match by match, we decided to

give our best for the one last shot at the gold. We had nothing to lose. A medal was assured and still the objective was to finish of on a high and fight it out till the last point,” Gopi said. “I am glad that Sindhu put up a great show even in the final, coming back quite a few times after being down. But, we must acknowledge Marin played a great game under pressure,” he said. Referring to the famous Sindhu-Gopi bond, the jubilant coach said, “I started the early morning training schedules just for her and the silver is a result of seven long years of planning,” he said. “I wish her silver will inspire many more in my academies to dream big and work hard.” What was the big diference for him as a coach in Rio compared to London Olympics? “I think we had more time to pre-

pare. This time around, everything went of well and it is reflected in Sindhu’s mental toughness,” Gopi said. How diicult was it for him as a coach in terms of expectations after India’s dismal show in some disciplines with only Sakshi Malik winning the wrestling bronze before Sindhu’s silver? “Well, the feeling of not winning a medal was always haunting. One should remember all those who failed to get going will also feel equally disappointed. “So, we were just hoping to win a medal in badminton and glad that Sindhu has become the first-ever Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympics. What more can I ask for from my trainee in her maiden Olympics after showing such great composure and maturity? She played like a champion,” Gopi said.

en’s 20 km walk. Ekaterini Stefanidi (Gre): Ath-

letics: Women’s pole vault.

Maiden who felt no pressure

Dilshod Nazarov (Tjk): Athletics:

Men’s hammer throw. Vivian Cheruiyot (Ken): Athlet-

ics: Women’s 5000m. USA (Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, Tori Bowie): Athletics: Women’s

4x100m relay. Jamaica (Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade): Athletics: Men’s 4x100m

relay. Carolina Marin (Esp): Badmin-

ton: Women’s singles. Fu Haifeng & Zhang Nan (Chn):

Badminton: Men’s doubles. Estelle Mossely (Fra): Boxing:

Women’s light 60 kg. Mariana Pajon (Col): Cycling-

BMX: Women’s individual. Connor Fields (USA): Cycling-

BMX: Men’s individual. Germany: Football: Women. Great Britain: Hockey: Women. Chloe Esposito (Aus): Modern Pentathlon: Jump and Shoot. Russia: Synchronised swimming: Women. Oh Hye-Ri (Kor): Taekwondo: Women’s 67 kg. Cheick Sallah Cisse (CIV): Taekwondo: Men’s 80kg. USA: Water polo: Women.

Discipline was the key to the accomplishment, and Sindhu said that she was looking forward to getting back to her phone, ice cream and chocolates, not necessarily in that order. Coach P. Gopi Chand, for whom the silver is a step up from the bronze in the London Olympics with Saina Nehwal, said he saw something special in Sindhu when she joined his academy in 2004, an impression that has only grown. “I knew she had an Olympic medal in her. I had the hunch. She has done it,” said Gopi. Sindhu said she was at a loss for words to describe her emotions after taking silver. “My ultimate aim was to get a medal at the Olympics. I thought it would be gold. Never mind that it is silver. She [Carolina Marin] played better. “It could have been difer-

V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM HYDERABAD: Rio Olympics

TOUGH COACH, DEDICATED PUPIL: Coach P. Gopi Chand says P.V. Sindhu will only get better. — PHOTO: PTI ent, had I hung on. I gave two or three points, and that changed it.

BADMINTON “It has been a wonderful week, and I focused on one match at a time. I am proud of what I have done. I am on cloud nine.” Support acknowledged Both Sindhu and Gopi gratefully acknowledged the support from all quarters, the government, the Sports Authority

of India (SAI), the national federation, and everyone associated with the journey. Gopi was particularly happy with the role Sindhu’s parents had played. “Her parents played a huge part. God has been kind. You need a bit of luck,” said Gopi. The real celebrations will start once Sindhu returns home. “I just want to go back to India,” said Sindhu, quite eager to see the joy on the faces of people, not least film icon Amitabh Bachchan, who tweeted that he wanted a selfie with her.

Vladimer Khinchegashvili (Geo): Wrestling: Men’s freestyle 57 Hassan Yazdani (Irn): Wres-

U

S track and field athlete Allyson Felix became the only woman to claim five Olympic gold medals, when she won the women’s 4x100m relay gold on Saturday. She had earlier bagged the 200m, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay in London, and the 4x400m relay in Beijing. She ran close for the women’s 400m gold earlier this week, when Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas beat her with a desperate dive for the line. The 30-year old has a shot at another medal, the 4x400m relay. Team USA was initially disqualified from the women’s 4x100m relay after Felix dropped the baton in the heats. But the team lodged an appeal citing that the baton drop was caused by interference from another runner. The appeal was accepted, and the team re-raced alone to clock the fastest qualifying time.

Living up to expectations “I must thank Gopi Sir for all the planning before the matches and I am I glad that I could live up to his expectations. I never felt the pressure of being in my maiden Olympics. “The aura was amazing and it was a great feeling to move around in Rio though we did not get

ATHLETICS Men’s 50km walk: 1. Matej Toth

(Svk) 3:40:58; 2. Jared Tallent (Aus) 3:41:16; 3. Hirooki Arai (Jap) 3:41:24. Women’s 20 km walk: 1. Liu Hong (Chn) 1:28:35; 2. Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez (Mex) 1:28:37; 3. Lu Xiuzhi (Chn) 1:28:42. Women’s pole vault: 1. Ekaterini Stefanidi (Gre) 4.85m; 2. Sandi Morris (USA) 4.85m; 3. Eliza McCartney (NZ) 4.80 (First and second spots decided on countback). Men’s hammer throw: 1. Dilshod Nazarov (Tjk) 78.68m; 2. Ivan Tsikhan (Blr) 77.79; 3. Wojciech Nowicki (Pol) 77.73. Women’s 5000m: 1. Vivian Cheruiyot (Ken) 14:26.17 (OR); 2. Hellen Onsando Obiri (Ken) 14:29.77; 3. Almaz Ayana (Eth) 14:33.59. Women’s 4x100m relay: 1. USA (Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix, English Gardner, Tori Bowie) 41.01s; 2. Jamaica (Christania Williams, Elaine Thompson, Veronica CampbellBrown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce) 41.36; 3. Great Britain (Asha Philip, Desiree Henry, Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita) 41.77. Men’s 4x100m relay: 1. Jamaica (Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade) 37.27s; 2. Japan (Ryota Yamagata, Shota Ilzuka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Aska Cambridge) 37.60; 3. Canada (Akeem Haynes, Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, Andre de Grasse) 37.64.

den 2-1; Bronze: Canada bt Brazil 2-1. HOCKEY Women: Gold: Great Britain bt

The Netherlands 2-0 on penalties (regulation time: 3-3); Bronze: Germany bt New Zeland 2-1. MODERN PENTATHLON

1. Chloe Esposito (Aus) 1372 (OR); 2. Elodie Clouvel (Fra) 1356; 3. Oktawia Nowacka (Pol) 1349; SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING Women’s team: 1. Russia

Chen Long (Badminton gold). bt Lin Dan (Chn) 15-21, 21-10, 21-17. Doubles: Gold: Haifeng Fu & Nan Zhang (Chn) bt Wee Kiong Tan & V. Shem Goh (Mas) 16-21, 21-11, 23-21; Bronze: Marcus Ellis & Chris Langridge (GBR) bt Wei Hong & Biao Chai (Chn) 21-18, 19-21, 21-10. BOXING Women’s light 60 kg: Gold: Es-

telle Mossely (Fra) bt Yin Junhua (Chn) 2-1; Bronze: Mira Potkonen (Fin) & Anastasia Belyakova (Rus). CYCLING-BMX Women’s individual: 1. Mariana

Pajon (Col) 34.09s; 2. Alise Post (USA) 34.43; 3. Stefany Hernandez (Ven) 34.75. Men’s individual: 1. Connor Fields (USA) 34.64s; 2. Jelle van Gorkom (Ned) 35.31; 3. Carlos Ramirez (Col) 35.51. EQUESTRIAN Individual jumping: 1. Nick Skel-

BADMINTON Men: Singles: Gold: Chen Long

ton (GBR); 2. Peder Fredricson (Swe); 3. Eric Lamaze (Can).

(Chn) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-18, 21-18; Bronze: Viktor Axelsen (Den)

FOOTBALL Women: Gold: Germany bt Swe-

196.1439; 2. China 192.9841; 3. Japan 189.2056. TAEKWONDO Women’s 67 kg: Gold: Oh Hye-Ri

(Kor) bt Haby Niare (Fra) 13-12; Bronze: Ruth Gbagbi (Ivr) bt Farida

Azizova (Azr) 7-1; Nur Tatar (Tur) bt Chia-Chia Chuang (Tpe) 7-3. Men’s 80kg: Gold: Cheick Sallah Cisse (Ive) bt Lutalo Muhammad (GBR) 8-6; Bronze: Oussama Oueslati (Tun) bt Steven Lopez (USA) 14-5; Milad Beigi Harchegani (Azr) bt Piotr Pazinski (Pol) 12-0. WATER POLO Women: Gold: USA bt Italy 12-5; Bronze: Russia bt Hungary 19-18. WRESTLING Men’s freestyle 57kg: Gold: Vla-

dimer Khinchegashvili (Geo) bt Rei Higuchi (Jap) 3-1; Bronze: Haji Aliyev (Azr) bt Vladimir Dubov (Bul) 5-0, and Hassan Rahimi (Irn) bt Yowlys Bonne (Cub) 5-0. Men’s freestyle 74kg: Gold:

Hassan Yazdani (Irn) bt Aniuar Geduev (Rus) 3-1; Bronze: Jabrayil Hasanov (Azr) bt Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Uzb) 3-1, and Soner Demirtas (Tur) bt Galymzhan Usserbayev (Kaz) 3-0.

RAKESH RAO NEW DELHI: “I wish I could stay

back in Rio. I didn’t feel like returning to India. I told my coach, ‘once we land (in Delhi), it is obvious no one will receive us. We can quietly take a cab and go home (to the residential wing of the Indira Gandhi Stadium).’ But I did not expect so many people to receive us.” For Dipa Karmakar, who vaulted into the hearts of a billion Indians and gained the respect of her peers in Rio with a gallant fourth place, the experience on arrival here was truly “unbelievable” — the mike held by a reporter struck her head. Soon she saw another journalist bleeding from his hand after losing his balance in the melee. The Produnova expert was witnessing a ‘tumble’ of a new kind. Appalled The mayhem triggered by the media left the composed Dipa and her coach Bisheshwar Nandi appalled as they hurriedly left the airport. But, the frenetic media was not done yet with Dipa and her mentor. The media landed at the stadium and virtually laid siege outside the residential wing.

FOOTBALL

VARIETY

Aguero double inspires Man City win

SU | DO | KU

LONDON: Pep Guardiola extend-

ed his 100 per cent start as Manchester City manager as Sergio Aguero’s brace and a late double from Nolito secured an impressive 4-1 win at Stoke in the Premier League on Saturday. Bojan Krkic scored the consolation goal for Stoke.

Sergio Aguero. — PHOTO: AFP Burnley stuns Liverpool Liverpool crashed to an embarrassing 2-0 defeat at Burnley. The Reds, who beat Arsenal 4-3 in their first match, suffered a nightmare in their second as Welsh forward Sam

Vokes scored his first topflight goal in the second minute and Andre Gray pounced on a woeful pass by Reds’ right-back Nathaniel Clyne. Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck twice and Paul Pogba shone on

his return as Manchester United beat Southampton 2-0 on Friday. The results : On Saturday: Stoke 1 (Bojan 49-pen) lost to Manchester City 4 (Aguero 27-pen, 36, Nolito 86, 90+5). Burnley 2 (Vokes 2, Gray 37) bt Liverpool 0; Swansea 0 lost to Hull 2 (Maloney 79, Hernandez 90+3); Tottenham 1 (Wanyama 83) bt Crystal Palace 0; Watford 1 (Capoue 55) lost to Chelsea 2 (Batshuayi 80, Costa 87); West Brom 1 (McAuley 9) lost to Everton 2 (Mirallas 45+2, Barry 67); Leicester 0 drew with Arsenal 0. On Friday: Manchester United 2 (Ibrahimovic 36, 52-pen) bt Southampton 0. — Agencies

Suarez ’tricks as Barca runs riot A mind game and a puzzle that you solve with reasoning and logic. Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner that every row, every column and every 3x3 box accommodates the digits 1 to 9, without repeating any. The solution to yesterday’s puzzle is at left. CM YK

Focused Sindhu said she could stay focused in all the matches only because she was able to shut herself out from everything. “Once I entered the court, my only job was to get the better of the opponent,” she said. “I don’t think I can pinpoint any particular match as the turning point. The whole approach was to take it match by match,” the two-time World championship bronze medallist remarked. Was there any pressure once Saina Nehwal and K. Srikanth were out of the reckoning? “Not really! I was aware of the expectations, but luckily I could stay focused,” she said. “This is a dream come true, that

too in my first Olympics. Could have been better if it were a gold,” she said. “Well, no regrets. The thing is I did my best and got what was destined,” Sindhu said, adding that the first time she had thought of being in an Olympics was when watching Saina Nehwal in action. She dedicated the medal to her coach and parents (P.V. Ramana and P. Vijaya). “And, I must thank all those millions of supporters. I am eager to return to my parents and share my moments of triumph,” she said. Defining moment What was the most defining moment at Rio? “Without doubt, standing on the podium and receiving the silver with the tri-colour flying high,” Sindhu said.

RIO DE JANEIRO: The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team is still a little better than Spain. One more win and the Americans are again the best in the world. The U.S. advanced to its third straight gold-medal game, beating Spain 82-76 on Friday in another tight matchup between the teams that met in the last two championship games. Klay Thompson scored 22 points for the Americans, who will play Serbia on Sunday for their third consecutive Olympic title. Serbia defeated Australia 8761 in the other semifinal. The U.S. was just good enough again against Spain; it was the lowest-scoring game for the Americans in the Olympics since the 2004 semifinals, when they managed 81 in a loss to Argentina. — Agencies

Dipa returns to ‘tumultuous’ welcome

kg. tling: Men’s freestyle 74kg.

badminton silver medallist P.V. Sindhu says she had a dream phase in Rio for the whole week which culminated in the women’s singles final appearance against World No. 1 Carolina Marin on Friday night. “Yes, I played the best game of my career and, more importantly, consistently right through the Olympics,” Sindhu told The Hindu from Rio before leaving for India.

enough time to spend long hours out there,” the 21-year-old champion shuttler remarked.

USA men to play Serbia for gold

MADRID: Luis Suarez scored a

hat trick and Lionel Messi added two more goals as Barcelona made a superb start to its Spanish league title defence by routing Real Betis 6-2 on Saturday. Suarez helped to put the result beyond doubt before halftime and struck twice afterward to complete the demolition. Even better for the Catalan

club, Messi destroyed any hopes of title rivals that a diicult summer could have afected his game. Messi was found guilty in June of tax fraud in Spain he is appealing and lost another Copa America final with Argentina. But he was his normal brilliant self at Camp Nou. Besides his brace, Messi took part in three more goals. Earlier, Lucas Perez earned

and converted an 87th-minute penalty to complete a 2-1 comeback win for Deportivo La Coruna over Eibar, while Osasuna also struck late to draw 1-1 at Malaga on Friday. The results : Barcelona 6 (Turan 6, Messi 37,57, Suarez 42, 56, 82) bt Real Betis 2 (Castro 21, 84); Deportivo La Coruna 2 (Pedro Mosquera 68, Lucas 87) bt Eibar 1 (Ramis 55); Malaga 1 (Anor 56) drew with Osasuna 1 (Merida 85). — Agencies

Around noon, the jet-lagged duo emerged from their rooms to fulfil ‘media obligations’. But, they had not reckoned with the series of ‘exclusive’ one-on-one interviews stretching to nearly two hours! “I am very hungry. Can we please go now and have our meal,” an exasperated Dipa pleaded, even as the demand for selfies continued unabated. Dipa had had enough. She held her coach’s hand, stepped up the pace to ‘flee’ to the adjacent building that houses the ground floor mess for the trainees. Once inside the mess, Di-

pa was herself — exchanging pleasantries with the campers. It was time for a ‘thali’ and some well-earned rest ahead of the evening’s SAI’s in-house function.

GYMNASTICS But the Agartala-based girl, such a joy to an entire nation, carries a pain. Her eyes glint with pride at the mention of a career-best performance in Rio. She, however, lowers her eyes, wistfully recalling, “If only I had won a medal.”

SMILE PLEASE! Dipa Karmakar was the toast of budding gymnasts at a meet-and-greet programme at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. — PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

No play on third day too PORT OF SPAIN: Rain and wet outfield forced the abandonment of the third day’s play without a ball being bowled in the fourth and final Test between India and the West Indies here on Saturday. No play was possible at the Queen’s Park Oval for the second consecutive day after the outfield repairs were undertaken in a bid to dry it out, but rain intervened even before the process could be completed. The sun was shining brightly in the morning but the outfield was still moist. It then began to rain and puddles formed on the outfield. However, the ground just did not seem to drain at all forcing the day’s play to be called of. — PTI

Second ODI abandoned MALAHIDE (IRELAND): The second

ODI between Ireland and Pakistan on Saturday failed to see a ball bowled, with bad weather forcing the game to be abandoned. Pakistan thrashed Ireland by 255 runs in the first game on Thursday. — AFP

The tinge of sadness is apparent. “I missed such a big podium by such a small margin.” Dipa, the darling of the nation, has every reason to hold her head high. She finished as the best Asian performer in the event — a fact that seemed so improbable just a few months ago. After finishing the two vaults, Dipa was placed second behind Switzerland’s Giulia Steingruber. But the two gymnasts who followed — Russia’s Maria Paseka and USA’s favourite Simone Biles — expectedly came up with better eforts to capture the gold and silver. “I knew Simone would win the gold. She is so good. Only if Maria had faltered,” Dipa was candid. Her grind continues. “I have my M.A. (Political Science) second semester exams next week. I have not studied at all. During the camp here I was studying for about 40-50 minutes everyday. “But my coach told me not to carry textbooks to Rio. I don’t know what I am going to write. I will have to study all night.” The exams lie heavily on Dipa’s mind. A request for a selfie follows and Dipa quickly flashes her infectious smile. She is Dipa again. The pain of missing a podium-finish is just a blur.

CRICKET

Steyn strikes twice before rain does DURBAN: Dale Steyn, playing in

his first Test match in more than eight months, struck two early blows for South Africa before rain prevented any play after lunch on the second day

SCOREBOARD South Africa — 1st innings: S. Cook c Watling b Boult 20, D. Elgar c Guptill b Bracewell 19, H. Amla c Watling b Boult 53, J. Duminy c Boult b Wagner 14, F. du Plessis c Williamson b Wagner 23, T. Bavuma lbw b Santner 46, Q. de Kock c Bracewell b Santner 33, V. Philander c Southee b Wagner 8, K. Rabada (not out) 32, D. Steyn b Southee 2, D. Piedt c Watling b Boult 9; Extras (lb-4): 4; Total (in 87.4 overs): 263. Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-41, 3-102, 4-106, 5-160, 6-208, 7-208, 8-228, 9-236. New Zealand bowling: Southee 23-3-80-1, Boult 21.4-5-52-3, Bracewell 16-6-53-1, Wagner 15-4-47-3, Santner 11-2-22-2, Guptill 1-0-5-0. New Zealand — 1st innings: M. Guptill lbw b Steyn 7, T. Latham c Amla b Steyn 4, K. Williamson (batting) 2, R. Taylor (batting) 2; Total (for two wkts. in 12 overs): 15. Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-12. South Africa bowling: Steyn 64-3-2, Philander 6-1-12-0.

of the first Test against New Zealand here on Saturday. New Zealand was 15 for two, 248 runs behind South Africa’s first innings total of 263, when play ended for the day. Steyn, who had failed to complete the only two Tests he had played in South Africa’s last eight matches because of groin and shoulder injuries, had Tom Latham caught at first slip by Hashim Amla for four of the second ball of his fourth over. Bowling in heavily overcast conditions, he trapped Martin Guptill leg before wicket for seven with an in-swinger, in the next over. Steyn took two wickets for three runs in six overs. — AFP

ND-ND

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Telecast schedule South Africa vs New Zealand :

First Test, TEN 3, 1.30 p.m. Sri Lanka vs Australia : First

ODI, TEN 1, 2.30 p.m. West Indies vs India : Fourth Test: TEN 2, 3 & TEN 1 HD, 7 p.m.

Front-foot no-ball to be trialled LONDON: A system where the

third umpire is responsible for the calling of front-foot noballs will be on trial during the upcoming England-Pakistan ODI series, the ICC announced on Saturday. In the trial system, the ICC said the standing umpire would not call any front-foot no-balls without the third umpire’s advice, unless side-on cameras were unavailable. The ICC also said the third umpire would be able to judge a no-ball within seconds of delivery and communicate a decision to his on-field colleagues by means of a vibrating pager. If the pager system breaks down, the third umpire would relay his decision to the men in the middle by the standard radio communication system. — AFP

Ricky, Dhruv and Nayan top the grid KOLHAPUR: Bengaluru’s Ricky

Donison, Kolhapur’s Dhruv Mohite and Mumbai’s Nayan Chatterjee have taken the top three positions in the grid for the final round of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Rotax Max Karting championship to be held at the Mohite Racing Academy on Sunday. BPC Racing driver, Donison has 252 points, winning both the heats with a best lap timing of 51.750. The results: Micro Max: Heat 1: 1. Shahan Ali Mohsin, Agra (9:38.065), 2. K. Aadityansh, Pune (9:47.562), 3. Kunal Vinod, Bengaluru (9:47.753); Heat 2: 1. Shahan Ali Mohsin, Agra (9:38.366), 2. Kunal Vinod, Bengaluru (9:47.586), 3. R. Arjun, Bengaluru (9:47.691). Junior Max: Heat 1: 1. Chirag Ghorpade, Bengaluru (13:14.787), 2. Yash Aradhya, Bengaluru (13:22.751), 3. Jonathan Kuriakose, Mumbai (13:31.690). Heat 2: 1. Chirag Ghorpade, Bengaluru (13:07.783); 2. Yash Aradhya, Bengaluru (13:09.935); 3. Jonathan Kuriakose, Mumbai (13:13.974). Senior Max: Heat 1: 1. Ricky Donison, Bengaluru (13:08.349); 2. Dhruv Mohite, Kolhapur (13:17.138), 3. Vishnu Prasad, Chennai (13:18.000). Heat 2: 1. Ricky Donison (12:56.490), 2. Nayan Chatterjee, Mumbai (13:10.094), 3. Dhruv Mohite (13:10.165). — Sports Bureau

Easy win for Karthik Tharani CHENNAI: Karthik Tharani made

the best use of a poor start by his key rival Vikas Anand to take a comfortable win in the MRF Formula1600 race in the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National racing championship at the MMRT track, Sriperumbudur, near hear on Saturday. Tharani took the lead from P2 even as Vikas slipped to fourth and slowly opened a huge gap, and won by over 12 seconds. However, Vikas managed to recover to second place and is now seven points behind Tharani with two more races scheduled for Sunday. In the VW Vento cup, Delhi’s Karmindar Pal Singh took the honours starting second behind championship leader Ishaan Dodhiwala. As the lights went of, Ishaan got of the grid with a lot of wheel spin which allowed Karminder to get past him on the first corner. From then on, Karminder kept his lead all the way ahead of Ishaan and Aditya Vijay Pawar. The results (Provisional): MRF F1600 (Race one, 10 laps): 1. Karthik Tharani (Chennai) (17mins, 20.723secs). Volkswagen Vento Cup (Race one, eight laps): 1. Karmindar Pal Singh (Delhi) (20:26.665). Indian Touring Cars (Race one, eight laps): 1. Arjun Narendran (Red Rooster Racing) (15:32.658). Indian Junior Touring Cars (Race one, 10 laps): 1. Charen Chandran (Red Rooster Racing) (21:24.071). Super Stock (Race one, 10 laps): 1. Veeresh Prasad (Race Concepts) (21:42.254). F1300 Rookie Championship (Race one, eight laps): 1. Raghul Rangasamy (Wallace Sports) (15:53.517). — Sports Bureau

VERY BRIEFLY Kyra Shrof and Frenchwoman Estelle Cascino won the doubles title at the $10,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at Sezze, Italy, beating the hosts’ Beatrice Lombardo and France’s Carla Touly 6-2, 6-2 in the final. CM YK

Victory song for Xiong CHESS / Makes him the second youngest champion P.K. AJITH KUMAR To win the World junior chess championship with a round to spare is rare. To win it at the age of 15 — it is an Under-20 tournament — is rarer. Jefery Xiong achieved both feats on a warm Saturday night at the KIIT University campus. The second-seeded American raced to his title in style too, winning with black pieces against Paulo Bersamina of the Philippines in the 12th round. The victory, in 78 moves of Sicilian Grand Prix Attack, took him to 10 points and made him the second youngest champion in the 55year-history of this prestigious tournament. “I never expected to win such a strong event with a round to spare,” said Xiong, shortly after getting the better of Bersamina in a minor-piece ending. “I was well prepared for the game and was able to get a good position from early on.” His title was confirmed because the second-board game between top-seeded Russian Vladislav Artemiev and Grzegorz Nasuta of Poland had already ended in a draw. That

BHUBANESWAR:

RARE FEAT: Jeffery Xiong raced to the title in style, winning with black pieces against Paulo Bersamina of the Philippines with a round to spare. — P.K. AJITH KUMAR meant Xiong would have an unassailable lead of 1.5 points over Artemiev and Nasuta. The girls’ championship is far from decided, though. Top seed Dinara Saduakassova of Kazakhstan has moved into the lead, after scoring a crucial win with black pieces against Paula Rodriguez Rueda of Colombia, but half a point behind her is Russia’s Dinara Dordz-

hieva, who defeated India’s Michelle Catherina. The host received an even bigger setback when its best hope for the title, P.V. Nandhidhaa, was beaten by Uuriintuya Uurtsaikh of Mangolia. The Tamil Nadu girl is one of six players on eight points, going into Sunday’s final round. Important results (12th round; Indians unless specified): Paulo

Bersamina (Phi) 7.5 lost to Jeffery Xiong (USA) 10; Grzegorz Nasuta (Pol) 8.5 drew with Vladislav Artemiev (Rus) 8.5; Parham Maghsoodloo (Ira) 8 drew with Aravindh Chithambaram 8; Masoud Mosadeghpour (Ira) 8 bt Xu Yinglun (Chn) 7.5; Cristobal Villagra Henriquez (Chi) 7.5 drew with Shardul Gagare 7.5; Tran Tuan Minh (Vie) 7 lost to S.L. Narayanan 8; Xu Yi (Chn) 8 bt Bozidar Ivekovic (Cro) 7; Rasmus Svane (Ger) 7.5 bt Dhulipalla Bala Chandra Prasad 6.5; Yuan Qingyu (Chn) 6.5 lost to Karthikeyan Murali 7.5; Karthik Venkataraman 6.5 lost to Shahin Lorparizangeneh (Ira) 7.5; Arjun Kalyan 7 drew with Christoph Menezes (Aut) 7; Basso Pier Luigi (Ita) 6.5 drew with G. Akash 7. Girls: Paula Rodriguez Rueda (Col) 8 lost to Dinara Saduakassova (Kaz) 9; Janelle Mae Frayna (Phi) 8 lost to Parnali Dharia 8; Uuriintuya Uurtsaikh (Mgl) 8 bt P.V. Nandhidhaa 8; Dinara Dordzhieva (Rus) 8.5 bt Michelle Catherina 7.5; Alina Bivol (Rus) drew with Nataliya Buksa (Ukr) 8; M. Mahalakshmi 7 drew with R. Vaishali 7.5; Tokhirjonova (Uzb) 7 drew with Gu Tianlu (Chn) 7; Du Yuxin (Chn) 7 drew with Teodora Injac (Chn) 7; Karina Ivanova (Rus) 7 drew with P. Bala Kannamma 7; Soyunlu Narmin (Aze) 6.5 drew with Anna Styazhkina (Rus) 6.5; Saina Salonika 6.5 drew with Mobina Alinasab (Ira) 6.5.

Nitin Kumar, Shivani Amineni win titles CHENNAI: Nitin Kumar Sinha of

West Bengal beat local boy Manish Suresh Kumar 7-5, 7-6 (3) to win the boys’ singles event in the adidas MCC National clay court tennis championships here on Saturday. Manish encountered an opponent who employed same tactic of trying to dominate from the baseline with fluent ground strokes but Nitin played the big points well at the end of each set. In the girls’ final, Shivani Amineni of Telangana beat Shivani Ingle of Maharashtra to clinch the title. Roaring start In the opening set, Amineni got of to a roaring start as she led 5-2 and won 6-3.

In the second set, Amineni became error-prone losing it 6-4. In the final set, Amineni broke Ingle in the fourth game to lead 3-1. They traded breaks twice as Amineni surged ahead. She finally won the set 6-3 and the match. Vijay Sankar, vice-president Tamil Nadu Tennis Association and Srivats Subramaniam, president, Madras Cricket Club, gave away the prizes. The winners were given a kit contract of Rs. 100,000 by the title sponsor adidas while the runners-up got a kit contract of Rs. 75,000. The results (finals): Boys: Nitin Kumar Sinha (WB) bt Manish Suresh Kumar (TN) 7-5, 7-6(3). Girls: Shivani Amineni (TS) bt Sivani Swarup Ingle 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

BADMINTON

Saina undergoes knee surgery RICHA KHARE

TENNIS

SPORTS REPORTER

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SPORT

NOIDA/DELHI

MUMBAI: Saina Nehwal under-

went right knee surgery at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital on Saturday morning. She sustained a knee injury during the Rio Olympics. Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, Head of centre for sports medicine & Director, arthroscopy & shoulder service, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital said, “Saina had sustained an intra-articular injury (inside the joint) to her right knee. “A small fragment of bone had separated from her patella (knee cap bone). This displaced fragment was causing her impingement and pain. She underwent arthroscopic surgery and is back in her room.” Saina was admitted to the hospital in Hyd-

the fitness. She requires rehabilitation thereafter, so sport rehabilitation and physiotherapy will be going on from the fourth week till eighth week. In two months, she will get back on the court and will start of with light training sessions. She will need another two months of training on the court to be match fit. So she will be ready to play properly in four months from now.” He added: “We don’t expect any complications after the surgery. It was a straight forward situation where a fractured bone fragment was causing her the irritation inside the joints. We have taken out the fractured leaf and repaired the area where it came from. “We expect it to heel completely and she would be hundred per cent normal subsequently.”

Vijay Vidhata may complete a hat-trick HYDERABAD: Vijay Vidhata, who is in good form, may complete a hat-trick in the Governor’s Cup (1,200m), the chief event of the races to be held here on Sunday (August 21). 1 SANGAREDDY PLATE (Div. II), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o & over (jockeys and apprentice jockeys are not permitted to carry whips), rated upto 50 (Cat. III), 1.15 p.m.: 1. In Command (5) B. R. Kumar 60, 2. Amazing Venus (2) Ajeeth Kumar 59, 3. Halifax (8) C. S. Vikrant 59, 4. Fantastic Nine (3) N. Rawal 58, 5. Good Image (4) P. Gaddam 58, 6. Yes Baby (7) Koushik 57.5, 7. Amaravathi (6) G. Naresh 57 and 8. Pride And Joy (1) Md. Sameeruddin 57. 1. Amazing Venus, 2. Good Image, 3. Yes Baby 2 SANGAREDDY PLATE (Div. I), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o & over (jockeys and apprentice jockeys are not permitted to carry whips), rated upto 50 (Cat. III), 1.45: 1. Tricky Star (2) Akshay Kumar 60, 2. Golden Joy (3) G. Naresh 58, 3. Avenida (7) Sai Kumar 57.5, 4. Cashel (9) N. Rawal 57, 5. Miramar (1) A. S. Pawar 57, 6. Chinese Thought (4) C. S. Vikrant 56, 7. Rolls Roycee (5) Rafique Sk. 55.5, 8. Seville (8) Arshad Alam 55.5 and 9. Cannon Grey (6) S. Sreekant 55. 1. Avenida, 2. Golden Joy, 3. Tricky Star

TRIUMPHANT: Nitin Kumar Sinha and Shivani Amineni, the winners of the adidas MCC National clay court tennis championships in Chennai on Saturday. — PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN

erabad and flew down to Mumbai to undergo the surgery. The injury was sustained during the training before she flew of to Rio. She played two matches at Rio with heavilystrapped right knee. She had anterior knee pain since August 1 and took a pain-killer injection before her loss in her second group match. The 25-year-old had been expected to give a big challenge at Rio Olympic but her knee pain worsened after the match on August 8, forcing her to have surgery. On Friday, she shared the details from her medical report on twitter. Dr. Pardiwala said, “She started walking today and will be discharged tomorrow. She requires three weeks of rest. In the rest period, she will be doing simple exercises just to keep up

3 SUBRAMANYA BHARATI PLATE (Div. III), (1,200m), 3-y-o & over, rated upto 25, 2.15: 1. Rosecoloredglasses (6) Koushik 62, 2. Nelly (4) Akshay Kumar 61, 3. Kohinoor Charm (5) Kunal Bunde 60.5, 4. Act In Time (2) Rafique Sk. 59.5, 5. Hunter’s Pride (7) Md. Sameeruddin 59, 6. Captain General (8) G. Naresh 58.5, 7. Sefarina (9) A. S. Pawar 57.5, 8. Fresco (3) Hanumant Singh 56.5 and 9. Gun Stream (1) S. S. Tanwar 50. 1. Captain General, 2. Hunter’s

Pride, 3. Gun Stream 4 DECCAN QUEEN PLATE (Div. I), (1,200m), maiden 3-y-o only (Cat. II), (Terms), 2.45: 1. Athletic Approach (11) Sai Kumar 56, 2. General Salute (3) Srinath 56, 3. Jayin (5) R. B. Shinde 56, 4. Magnum (1) Arshad Alam 56, 5. Old Faithful (2) K. Sai Kiran 56, 6. Seven Colours (10) S. John 56, 7. Composure (9) Aneel 54.5, 8. Invasion (12) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 9. Mandy (4) Laxmikanth 54.5, 10. Penthesilea (6) G. Naresh 54.5, 11. Veronese (8) S. S. Tanwar 54.5 and 12. War Lady (7) N. Rawal 54.5. 1. Mandy, 2. General Salute, 3. Magnum 5 HAPPY VALLEY PLATE (1,600m), 4-y-o & over, rated upto 50 (Cat. III), 3.15: 1. Karromshade (2) Akshay Kumar 61.5, 2. Agusta Bomshell (4) A M Tograllu 57, 3. Hal Chal (5) Deep Shanker 57, 4. Rose ‘D’ Mumtaz (11) S. John 56.5, 5. Rumaiya Vastavaiya (10) G. Naresh 56, 6. Charming Beauty (6) David Breux 55, 7. Coruba (8) Laxmikanth 54.5, 8. Silvassa (7) Deepak Singh 53, 9. Blaze Of Glory (9) Ajeeth Kumar 51.5, 10. Forever Bullish (3) A. S. Pawar 51 and 11. Steyn Memories (1) N. Rawal 50. 1. Coruba, 2. Agusta Bombshell, 3. Charming Beauty 6 ASTRONOMIC CUP (Div. II), (1,100m), 3-y-o & over, rated upto 50 (Cat. III), 3.45: 1. Musk Melon (3) Koushik 60.5, 2. Love For The Game (5) B. Dileep 59, 3. Bharat King (4) Ajeeth Kumar 58.5, 4. Khan Sahib (9) Akshay Kumar 58.5, 5. Palisades Park (1) Arshad Alam 57.5, 6. Garib Parwar (6) S. John 57, 7. Rahuls Pet (7) Deepak Singh 57, 8. Touch Of Gold (2) N. Rawal 51.5 and 9. Kohinoor Karishma (8) Kunal Bunde 51. 1. Garib Parwar, 2. Rahuls Pet, 3. Kohinoor Karishma

7 GOVERNOR’S CUP (1,200m), 3-y-o & over (Terms), 4.15: 1. Solomon (7) P. Trevor 58, 2. Dancing Phoenix (4) S. Zervan 54, 3. Smile Stone (5) Srinath 54, 4. Castle Key (3) S. John 53.5, 5. New Prince (6) Arshad Alam 53.5, 6. Gaarswood (2) Sai Kumar 51 and Vijay Vidhata (1) Akshay Kumar 52. 1. Vijay Vidhata, 2. Solomon, 3. Castle Key 8 ASTRONOMIC CUP (Div. I), (1,100m), 3-y-o & over, rated upto 50 (Cat. III), 4.45: 1. Green Striker (5) Ajeeth Kumar 60.5, 2. Ruby’s Gift (2) N. Rawal 60.5, 3. Manoveg (9) A. S. Pawar 59, 4. Big Flash (10) Deepak Singh 58.5, 5. Dragonstone (3) Akshay Kumar 57.5, 6. Royal Dynamite (8) Srinath 57.5, 7. Born To Do It (4) Rafique Sk. 57, 8. Time Is Luck (7) Laxmikanth 55, 9. Bouncer (6) S. Sreekant 54.5 and 10. Our Ensign (1) Kunal Bunde 51. 1. Big Flash, 2. Royal Dynamite, 3. Ruby’s Gift 9 DECCAN QUEEN PLATE (Div. II), (1,200m), maiden 3-y-o only (Cat. II), (Terms), 5.20: 1. Batur (10) Deepak Singh 56, 2. Golden Image (6) Arshad Alam 56, 3. Patron Saint (4) David Breux 56, 4. Angels Bay (3) P. Gaddam 54.5, 5. Bharat Queen (2) Ajeeth Kumar 54.5, 6. Chester (5) Khurshad Alam 54.5, 7. Creative (1) G. Naresh 54.5, 8. Mountain Of Light (8) Laxmikanth 54.5, 9. Negress Pearl (7) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 10. Queen To Rule (11) N. Rawal 53.5 and 11. Rohini (9) A. S. Pawar 54.5. 1. Batur, 2. Negress Pearl, 3. Patron Saint Day’s best: Vijay Vidhata Double: Big Flash — Batur Jkt: 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 4, 5 & 6; (iii): 7, 8 & 9; Tla: All races.

SAILING

Kaushal-Vishnu emerge champions SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD: Kaushal Kumar Yadav and Vishnu Prasad were crowned champions of the seventh Inland Hobie Cat sailing championships here on Friday. The Artillery Water Sports Association (AWSA) duo got the gun in eight of the 12-race series. The worst finish by the top pair was a fourth in the penultimate race. Apart from that, the twosome never slipped below second position, leaving them with 12

points after allowing for two discards. Jaspreet Singh and Nitesh Kumar, also of AWSA, were second with 26 and the EME Sailing Association duo of Ashish Kumar Patel and Nagen Behera were third with 29. By and large it was smooth sailing for Yadav and Prasad except on one upwind leg. Heading for the country’s largest flag on the extreme right, a sudden gust lifted up their left hull, throwing Prasad overboard. Seasoned sailor that Kaushal is, he brought the

FOOTBALL

Palace pays club record fee for Benteke LONDON: Belgian international

striker Christian Benteke became Crystal Palace’s record signing on Saturday as the Premier League club paid £27million (€31m) with add ons to end his unhappy spell at Liverpool. The 25-year-old — who cost Liverpool £32.5m when he joined from Aston Villa last year but fell out of favour with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp when he replaced Brendan Rodgers — said he was looking forward to moving on. “I’m very happy to commit my future to Palace and I’m looking forward to meeting the manager, the players and the staf,” Benteke told Palace’s official website. happy that the deal has been done and now I can look forward,” added Benteke, who has accrued 51 goals in four Premier League campaigns. Palace manager Alan Pardew, who had had an earlier bid for the Democratic Republic of Congo-born striker turned down, said on Friday how appreciative he was of his board sanctioning such a huge fee. Benteke’s fee is over double the previous record fee paid by Palace, England international winger Andros Townsend moving from Newcastle in July for £13m. “It’s important when you lose iconic players to try and replace them with iconic players,” said Pardew. “We’ve lost two this week, Mile Jedinak (left for Championship side Aston Villa) and Yala Bolasie (who was signed

Christian Benteke. — PHOTO: AP by rival Everton). “Both were massive figures at this club and we will need to replace them with big figures,” he added. Pardew, who will be relieved to have finally got his man as he had been left with just one fit striker in Conor Wickham, said he had tried to lure Benteke to Newcastle from his first English club Aston Villa. “He’s someone I know very, very well because I wanted to take him to Newcastle,” said Pardew. “I thought he’d be a fantastic fit for that club. He got the move to Liverpool and it hasn’t quite worked out. “For us, we need to get him back to doing what he does best. His style of play, the way he feeds of crosses... “He’ll enjoy that with the wide players we have.” — AFP

craft under control. Setting upright the huge boat was a challenge for the accomplished helmsman. By then Jaspreet and Nitesh had capitalised on the crisis to force their way to the fore. The results (winners only): Race X : Kaushal Kumar Yadav & Vishnu Prasad (AWSA). XI: Dhas Hemrai & B.K. Sharma (EMESA). XII: Jaspreet & Nitesh. Overall standings (top three) : 1. Kaushal Kumar & Vishnu 12 points (AWSA); 2. Jaspreet & Nitesh 26 (AWSA), 3. Ashish & Nagen 29 (EMESA).

Guwahati to host ISL 2016 opener NEW DELHI: NorthEast United FC and Kerala Blasters FC will kick of the third season of the Indian Super League (ISL) in Guwahati, which will also host the opening ceremony. By awarding Guwahati the rights to host ISL 2016 opening ceremony, Football Sports Development wishes to celebrate the northeast’s contribution to the development of Indian football and recognise the potential it has in shaping the future of the game in the country. On October 1, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Sarusajai, with a capacity of 30,000, will witness ISL teams, owners, celebrities and performers put up a visual extravaganza at the opening ceremony. — PTI

Ronaldo resumes training MADRID: Portugal’s Euro 2016

winning captain Cristiano Ronaldo resumed training for his club Real Madrid on Saturday after picking up a knee injury during the final victory over France. No date has been set for a full return to action but a slimline and tanned Ronaldo trained separately from the rest of the group, as did teammate Karim Benzema, who has also been sidelined through injury. “I can’t give a precise date for Ronaldo’s return,” said Real coach Zinedine Zidane. Real starts its La Liga campaign against Real Sociedad on Sunday, but neither Ronaldo or Benzema, who is sufering with a back injury, will be fit to play.— AFP ND-ND

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LIFE

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NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Garcia featured on banknote

Yellowstone River closed to public

Zuckerberg sells $95mn worth of shares for charity

Colombia has started circulating a 50,000-peso banknote bearing the likeness of Nobel-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who died in 2014.

Wildlife officials have indefinitely closed a 294-km stretch of the Yellowstone River in the U.S. state of Montana to prevent the spread of a parasite.

Mark Zuckerberg has sold $95 million worth of Facebook shares, part of a process to fund a philanthropic venture that aims to give away most of his wealth in his lifetime.

New species of eel found in Bay of Bengal The one-foot long fish, which has 194 vertebrae, is likely to be called Indian unpatterned moray SHIV SAHAY SINGH KOLKATA: Scientists have discovered a new species of eel, a snake-like fish, from the northern Bay of Bengal along the West Bengal coast. The species Gymnothorax indicus is slender-bodied, about one feet-long and edible. The eel was studied by the scientists at Sankarpur fishing harbour in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, after it was collected in a trawl net by fishermen in northern

Gymnothorax indicus. — PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Bay of Bengal, about 70 km of the coast. “When fresh, the body is uniformly pale brown without spots or patterns and the

Facebook releases app for video-loving teens SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook on Friday took direct aim at video-loving adolescents, and Snapchat, with the release of a new iPhone app that allows teens to watch clips about the lives of their classmates. The app, called Lifestage, was released with no fanfare, and is available for anyone to download on iPhone, although seeing profiles of other users is reserved for those 21 years of age or younger. The social network allows users to make video clips to describe likes, peeves, dance styles, and other aspects of their character. Those clips are woven together to serve as public profiles that can be viewed by other Lifestage members, provided they are young enough. A tool in the app lets users block and report older folks. “Lifestage makes it easy and fun to share a visual profile of who you are with your school network,” the app’s iTunes store description

eye rim is pale. We have proposed that the newly discovered species be called Indian unpatterened moray,” Anil Mohapatra, scientist from

Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) told The Hindu. The scientist said that the eel has 194 vertebrae. Its dorsal fin has a black margin. The paper by Mr. Mohapatra, Dipanjan Ray, David G. Smith and Subhendu Sekhar Mishra was published in an international journal, Zootaxa, earlier this week. Eaten in coastal areas Eels are found mostly at the bottom of rivers and seas. This species was found at a depth of 35 metres in the sea.

Globally, about 1,000 species of eels have been identified and, in India, the number is around 125. Though considered a delicacy in many countries like Japan, the consumption of eels in India is limited to coastal areas. With over-exploitation of fishing resources both freshwater and marine, scientists believe that these newly discovered species may contribute to food security in the future. Over the past few years, West Bengal’s Digha

coastline and the adjoining areas of Bay of Bengal have yielded two new species of fish indicating the rich marine biodiversity of the coastal region. In 2015, a short brown unpatterned moray eel, named Gymnothorax mishrai (Bengal moray eel), was discovered here. Two years ago, scientists had discovered another new species of edible marine fish Haplogenys bengalensis (Indian velvetchin) from the same area.

Burning bright

iPhone users can watch clips about the lives of classmates if enough school members join in says. Once enough students at any given school are on the app, it becomes “unlocked.” “Once your school is unlocked, you can access the profiles of others in your school community [and all over!] so you can get to know people better in your school and nearby schools,” the description said. Lifestage users are invited to share video snippets whenever they wish. The app comes as a challenge to Snapchat, the vanishing message service that became a hit with teenagers and which lets members share pictures and video clips. Lifestage was seen by some as an efort by Facebook to stay connected to young internet users. — AFP

STAR TREK Hair loss forced Keira Knightley to wear wigs

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ctor Keira Knightley says she had to start wearing wigs after suffering from major hairfall. “I have dyed my hair virtually every colour imaginable for different films. It got so bad that my hair literally began to fall out of my head! So for the past five years I’ve used wigs, which is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to my hair,” Knightley said. Even though her mane is recovering, the actor finds it tough to deal with her curly locks. “I have naturally crazy, curly hair, and since I’ve had the baby it’s become 10 times thicker. So now I’ve been finding quite a lot of dreadlocks,” she said. Knightley and husband James Righton welcomed daughter Edie in May. — PTI

Dhoni amazed by Sushant’s portrayal of him

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ndian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says he was “amazed” by the attention to detail paid by actor Sushant Singh Rajput in portraying the cricketer in upcoming biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story. In order to get into the skin of the cricketer, the Shuddh Desi Romance actor had to undergo rigorous training to perfect his cricketing skills, especially to pull off Dhoni’s trademark ‘helicopter’ shot. “He [Sushant] has worked very hard. He was practising everyday for more than nine months. He was batting everyday for over three hours,” Dhoni said. “Also the way I walk, the way I talk, he has copied almost everything. In fact I was amazed to see him do all these things,” he added. The film releases on September 30. — PTI

American actor Jack Riley dies at 80

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FEARFUL SYMMETRY: French artist Marco Clement paints a mural of a tiger on a wall in Bengaluru on Friday. — PHOTO: REUTERS

eteran actor Jack Riley, who played a counselling client on The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s and also voiced a character in the Rugrats animated series, breathed his last on Friday at the age of 80. The actor’s representative Paul Doherty confirmed the news of his demise, The Los Angeles Times reported. Besides portraying the role of Elliot Carlin on The Bob Newhart Show, Riley appeared in the Mel Brooks films History of the World: Part I, High Anxiety and Spaceballs among his more than 150 projects over a career spanning five decades. In a statement, stand-up comedian and actor Bob Newhart said Riley created one of television’s “most endearing” situationcomedy characters with the portrayal of Carlin. Riley also voiced commercials and made guest appearances on numerous TV series, including Seinfeld, Night Court and Different Strokes. — IANS

Wedding sneakers for that sprint down the aisle Welcome to Rabbitland Some millennial American brides prefer the comfort the shoes give them on their big day MARIANNE ROHRLICH

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rides who once may have looked forward to walking down the aisle dressed to the nines are now bouncing down it dressed to the eights, or maybe a 7 1/2 (narrow). Many wedding guests this summer may glimpse sneakers under traditional gowns. And not just plain white tennis shoes. Some are brightly coloured, others are embroidered with names and dates, or decorated with beading or lace to match the dress. Ronnie Rothstein, an owner of Kleinfeld Bridal in New York, thinks the bridal sneaker is not so much a fashion statement as a lifestyle statement, with fashion in general being more casual these days. And pairing sneakers with wedding dresses fits with the

MOVE OVER, HEELS: Decorative elements are added to running shoes at Kleinfeld Bridal in New York. — PHOTO: NYT overall easing of dress codes, at work and at leisure. Millennial women in particular are about comfort. “If a girl wears jeans to work, she’s wearing sneakers to the wedding,” Mr. Rothstein said. The fashion industry is

helping by making sneakers as glamorous as possible. At a Karl Lagerfeld 2014 haute couture collection, a model wore white running shoes with a bridal gown. Now brides have an expanding choice of comfort-

able yet stylish sneakers from sources like Etsy, Bill Blass online, Keds and Converse. Tory Burch is also showing dressed-up sneakers, and there are highheeled Chuck Taylors, if the bride is looking for height, said Cathy Schroeckenstein, the editor-in-chief of weddingbee.com. “You have to assume you’ll be on your feet for 12 to 15 hours on your wedding day,” Ms. Schroeckenstein said, and “most women are not comfortable in high heels.” In 2012, when Cassandra Arellano was married in Rancho Cucamonga, California, “I really thought I would wear gorgeous heels, and since I was engaged for two years I had plenty of time to search for them,” she said. “But I couldn’t find the right ones, and then I

thought anyway they would kill my feet. So I said, forget it. How cute would it be if I wore purple Converse sneakers?” Arellano ordered her shoes online from Converse. She said that the 100 guests couldn’t see them under her long dress until she got onto the dance floor and showed of her footwear. Jennifer Contreras was wearing customized sneakers when she was married in June 2014 in San Diego. “I wanted to be comfortable,” she said, something her mother was all for. The shoes were hidden under her dress at first. “No one sees your shoes until you show them of,” she said. “The back of my shoes was embroidered with ‘Mrs. Contreras.’” — New York Times News Service

A Hong Kong café has 12 resident bunnies for customers to pet HONG KONG: The newest addition to Hong Kong’s cafe scene is taking a soft approach to business — with 12 resident rabbits for customers to pet. The ‘Rabbitland’ bunnies munch on grass while visitors coo over them between sips of tea and bites of toasted sandwich. Tucked away on the third floor of a high-rise in the busy commercial district of Causeway Bay, the cafe says it gives people who have no room to keep a pet in spacestarved Hong Kong the chance to bond with the fluffy animals. Most of the rabbits have been abandoned by previous owners. Hong Kong already has a number of “cat cafes”, but this is the first one for rabbits, inspired by a similar shop in Japan.

TIME TO RELAX: A customer strokes a bunny at the Rabbitland cafe in Hong Kong. — PHOTO: AFP “I like how soft they are and like their fur and how gentle they are when you feed them,” says Natalie Chan, 11, whose mother had brought her to find out more about keeping rabbits as she wants one as a pet.

There are a list of rules about how to behave around the animals, including not picking them up or pulling their ears. Co-founder Teddy Chui, 29, says anyone who does not obey the rules is asked to leave. — AFP

The post oice on water: Mail boat in Great Lakes stays afloat

Chinese scientists discover molecule to repair organs J.W. Westcott II, whose official motto is “mail by the pail”, chugs out to passing freighters to deliver parcels to crew members Chinese scientists have discovered a small molecule that can regenerate tissue, which in the future could potentially eliminate transplants of some organs. The research was led by Zhou Dawang and Deng Xianming of the School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, and professor Yun Caihong of Peking University, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday. Prof. Zhou said the researchers discovered a drug, XMU-MP-1, which can promote repair and regeneration in the liver, intestines and skin. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine. Prof. Zhou and his colleagues specifically targeted a critical signalling molecule in the Hippo pathway, which controls organ size. The XMU-MP-1 has been proven to inhibit the activity of MST1/2, the central component of this pathway and promote cell growth in four diferent mouse models with acute injuries. — IANS BEIJING:

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TYLER J. KELLEY

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narrow street deadends at the Detroit River, where a black-and-white boat bobs in the water, emblazoned with a Postal Service eagle. This is the mail boat J.W. Westcott II, the only floating ZIP code in the United States. The little boat’s ZIP code, 48222, is reserved for mail addressed to the freighters that ply the Great Lakes. It is administered by the J.W. Westcott Co. of Detroit, founded in 1874 when its main job was vessel reporting — telling companies, and the families of sailors, where their ships and loved ones were. Today, its oicial motto is “mail by the pail.” It chugs out to passing freighters to deliver parcels to the crews, often by hoisting the mail with a rope and bucket. It’s been a registered post oice since 1948. First-class mail volume is down these days, said the owner, Jim Hogan. Most ships have wireless Internet

— so, like everyone else, sailors use email. “But our packages, express and priority, are up.” It’s a small business that delivers everyday staples — food for the crew, a pair of pants ordered online, extra toilet paper for the voyage — to the giant vessels that carry the ore, coal and grain that keep America running. What modern sailors want Forty or 50 years ago, when ships and ports were less mechanised, a boat’s crew had time to shop on land while their vessel was docked. “The modern sailor is a whole diferent game,” Mr. Hogan said. “Younger guys are used to ordering things online.” Today, “it’s not as important to get the love letter from home as it is to get something that he’s ordered.” Over the last several decades, the Westcott Co. has found a way to stay afloat and even grow, while the Postal Service has sunk deeper underwater — net losses for the second quarter of 2016 were

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Capt. Bill Redding (right) gets a stack of coffee grounds during a delivery for the American Mariner in Detroit, Michigan. — PHOTO: NYT $2 billion. While the service has laid of hundreds of thousands of people over the last five years, Mr. Hogan, 60, says he has trouble finding qualified workers. To his relief, his son Jimmy, 32, recently moved back

to Detroit to take over the Westcott’s billing and work as night captain. He is the fifth generation of the family to run the mail boat. The hundred or so freighters that make up the Westcott’s customers each carry millions

of dollars’ worth of commodities like coal, iron ore, grain and limestone. With freight this valuable, time costs a lot, so barring a catastrophe, boats stop only to load or unload cargo. Mail — and anything else a ship

might need — must be delivered on the fly, while the mail boat and the freighter are moving. One warm morning in late May, the mail boat chugged out to meet the Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin, a 739-foot freighter steaming up the Detroit River. The big ship slowed but did not stop, and Capt. Bill Redding pushed the tire-clad bow of the 45-foot J.W. Westcott II snug against the sheer steel side of the Martin, keeping pace with it. Canada Steamship Lines was painted in white across the red hull, and from above the “S” in “Steamship” a man in a hard hat and red jumpsuit lowered a dirty white bucket on a black rope. Two bags, filled with six cans of Planters mixed nuts and seven boxes of K-Cup cofee, were quickly tied on by the Westcott’s deck hand and hoisted aboard the freighter. Twenty-four hours earlier, the captain of the Martin had called to order the nuts and cofee, knowing that they would be delivered to his ship when it passed the

Westcott oice. Sailing two months on and one month of, “sailors on contemporary merchant ships are basically trapped,” said Mr. Hogan, sitting in front of black-and-white family photos and hockey posters in his oice. He recently read that Maersk, the largest container shipping company in the world, was experimenting with using drones to deliver to its ships. But drones are expensive and small, so Mr. Hogan is confident that it will always be cost efective to deliver bulky, low-value cargo like cofee or paper towels by boat. About one-third of the Westcott’s business comes from its contract with the Postal Service, which calls the boat its only floating ZIP code. Another third comes from transporting passengers, pilots, crew and contractors at $90 per person. The remaining third is from delivering non-Postal Service packages and other goods. — New York Times News Service ND-ND