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CBI again summons Karti Chidambaram in INX Media case
RS Deputy Chairman requests Mayawati to take back resignation
Jaitley says GST will help to expand tax net and cut prices of goods
India takes on Australia in Women’s World Cup semi-final
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Pr i n t e d at . C h e n n a i . C o i m b ato r e . B e n g a lu ru . Hy d e r a b a d . M a d u r a i . No i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . T h i ru va n a n t h a p u r a m . Ko c h i . V i j ayawa da . Ma n g a lu ru . T i ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . Hu b b a l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . T i ru pat i . lu c k n ow
SC wonders whether privacy could be an absolute right
NEARBY
Fiery protest over rape and murder
State cannot be prevented from imposing reasonable curbs, observes court
SHIMLA
Krishnadas Rajagopal NEW DELHI
Right to privacy is not absolute and cannot prevent the state from making laws imposing reasonable restrictions on citizens, the Supreme Court orally observed on Wednesday.
‘Amorphous’ term The court said ‘right to privacy’ is in fact too ‘amorphous’ a term. To recognise privacy as a definite right, it has to first define it. But this would be nearly impossible as an element of privacy pervades all the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. “How do we define privacy? What are its contents... Its contours? How can the state regulate privacy? What obligations do the state have to protect a person’s privacy?” Justice Chandrachud asked the petitioners, who have challenged the Aadhaar law on the ground that it affects the privacy of citizens. The court said that an attempt to define the right to privacy may cause more harm than good. An exhaustive cataloguing by the court of what all con-
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Akalis plan movement against Punjab govt CHANDIGARH
Accusing the Punjab government of indulging in vendetta politics, the SAD has decided to start a mass movement against the government from July 25. NORTH
‘Advisory issued to State governments for legal action’ Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Kotkhai tehsil of Shimla district on Wednesday took a mysterious turn when one of the accused, Suraj Kumar, was killed in police custody, reportedly by another accused. Suraj belongs to Nepal and has been lodged in the Kotkhai police station since his arrest last week along with five others. NATION
Lynchings a plot against development, says Naqvi
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stitutes privacy may limit the right itself, Justice Chandrachud observed. He is part of a nine-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar examining a reference on the question whether privacy is sacred, fundamental and an inviolable right under the Constitution.
‘A common law right’ Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal has already submitted in the Supreme Court that right to privacy is merely a ‘common law right’, and the Constitution makers ‘consciously avoided’ making it a part of
the fundamental rights. The decision of the ninejudge Bench on whether privacy is a fundamental right or not will be pivotal to the petitioners’ challenge that Aadhaar, which mandates citizens to part with their biometrics, is unconstitutional. In the day-long hearing before a packed courtroom, the Bench questioned the petitioners’ plea that right to privacy is non-negotiable. “If people have put themselves in the public realm using technology, is that not a surrender of their right to privacy?” Justice Chandrachud asked. The court’s questions
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came even as petitioners banked on Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement in Parliament that privacy is ‘probably’ a fundamental right and ‘part of individual liberty’. The statement was made on March 16, 2016 during the presentation of the Aadhaar Bill. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, for the petitioners, along with advocates Vipin Nair and P.B. Suresh, submitted that a person should have the right to ‘informational self-determination’. “In the Internet age, a person should have control on how much he should put forward and not be compelled,” Mr. Divan submitted, adding that there is hardly any data protection in this digital age, inevitably leading to a compromise in privacy. But Justice Chandrachud observed that right to privacy cannot be linked to data protection. He said this is the age of ‘big data’, and instead of focussing on privacy, steps need to be taken to give statutory recognition to data protection.
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T.R. Zeliang sworn in as Nagaland CM PRESS TRUST OF INDIA KOHIMA
Amarnath pilgrims crossing Baltal in north Kashmir on their way to the holy cave. The 20th batch of 1,782 pilgrims, comprising 1,278 men, 404 women and 100 sadhus, left Jammu for the shrine on Wednesday. As many as 2,16,555 pilgrims had offered worship till Tuesday evening. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
T.R. Zeliang was sworn in on Wednesday as the Chief Minister of Nagaland in the place of Shurhozelie Liezietsu, who was sacked by Governor P.B. Acharya. But within hours, the Naga People’s Front (NPF) expelled Mr. Zeliang for six years for “anti-party activities.” “He was adamant and has already planned to dismantle the NPF party,” NPF working presidents Huska Yepthomi and Apong Pongener said. Mr. Zeliang, however, said he would remain the NPF leader in the Assembly. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that incidents such as lynchings and atrocities against minorities and Dalits are part of a conspiracy to take the discourse away from the government’s development agenda. Earlier in the day, the issue of cow vigilantism triggered protests during question hour in the House by Opposition members, who accused the government of not taking any concrete counter measure and sought to hold the BJP and organisations linked to it responsible for such incidents. The government said law and order was a State subject and that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) did not keep a separate record of such incidents. However, it had issued an advisory to the State governments for necessary legal action, which was being taken in all the cases. On a question from Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, whether the government would amend the IPC and the Cr.PC to specifically ad-
Backing for draft law Special Correspondent New Delhi
A draft law to deal with mob lynching, Manav Suraksha Kanoon (MASUKA), produced by the National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, received support from a group of politicians who represent the Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Janata Dal
(United), the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. The Campaign members and the MPs said they would first ask the government to bring the draft law to Parliament and start a discussion, failing which MASUKA would be brought in as a Private Member’s Bill. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10
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dress such crimes, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir said there was no such need. When Mr. Ahir shared details of the police action against cow vigilantes, collated from various States, Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Agarwal complained that it was breach of privilege, saying the government had earlier stated that NCRB did not maintain data specifically under the “cow vigilantism” head. He also asked if the government planned to bring in a law to address the issue. The Minister also submitted that the government was
ready to approve investigations by central agencies if there was any such recommendation from the State governments concerned. However, not satisfied with the Minister’s response, Opposition members trooped into the well of the House to lodge their protest, which resulted in a brief adjournment of proceedings. Anand Sharma (Cong) later said that the reply of the Minister of State for Home Affairs is not enough on such a serious issue which has tarnished the country’s global image and has also affected the economy.
Buffalo meat exports fall 4.35% in April-May Centre has been trying to ban cattle sale for slaughter Special Correspondent New Delhi
India’s buffalo exports fell 4.35% in the April-May period of this year to $530 million compared with the same period last year, according to a written answer by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha.
Put on hold The answer comes at a time when the Centre has been trying to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter. The notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has since been put on hold by the Supreme Court but
reported violence against cattle traders and transporters has been on the rise across the country. “While no complaint was received in this Ministry with regard to prevention in the production of meat and leather, as per the DGCI&S
(Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics) data, the export of buffalo meat has declined by 4.35% as compared to the same period in the previous year,” the reply said. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10
12 to 15 Indians fought with IS: Iraqi envoy Kallol Bhattacherjeee NEW DELHI
At least 12 to 15 Indians fought alongside the Islamic State (IS) against Iraqi forces during the recent spate of violence. Speaking to journalists to mark the victory of the Iraqi forces against the IS in Mosul, Iraqi Ambassador to India Fakhri H. Al Issa said some of the Indians who fought in Iraq might have returned home, and sought defence cooperation with India to defeat the outfit. “We know that at least 12
to 15 Indians were among the large number of foreign fighters, who fought against our forces during the ongoing operations in Iraq. Foreign fighters came from different parts of the world, including China, Japan, North and East Africa... We do not know what really happened subsequently to the Indians, but our information is that that is the total number of Indians in the IS,” he said. He said foreign fighters were often killed and many also escaped. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10
China planning nuclear attack, claims Mulayam Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that China had “buried” nuclear weapons in Pakistan so as to attack India and asked the government to back Tibet’s independence. At zero hour, he called China India’s “real enemy” rather than Pakistan that “can do us no damage.” Mr. Singh was Defence Minister in the UF government and is known for his CM YK
strong anti-China stance. Meanwhile senior sources in the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that China had not done any major troop mobilisation close to the border. In the past 48 hours, videos circulated in the media showing massive exercises by the PLA and the Chinese media have reported a huge mobilisation of resources amid the standoff in Doklam. INDIA FACING BIG THREAT FROM CHINA: MULAYAM A PAGE 11 A ND-NDE
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DELHI
Timings
Thursday, July 20
RISE 05:36 SET 19:19 RISE 02:22 SET 16:12 Friday, July 21
RISE 05:37 SET 19:19 RISE 03:17 SET 17:16 Saturday, July 22
RISE 05:37 SET 19:18 RISE 04:16 SET 18:17
Govt ignoring the plight of Akalis plan movement farmers, says Rahul Gandhi against Amarinder govt Sukhbir accuses the Punjab govt of vendetta politics
‘It also wants to extend undue benefits to rich industrialists through GST’ and 17. The SAD also took note of the two commissions formed by the Congress government to probe sacrilege cases and “false” cases respectively. The party said it rejects both the commissions.
Special Correspondent
BJP leader’s body found in well Press Trust of India Gopalganj
The body of a local BJP leader was found from a well at Baswaria village in Bihar’s Gopalganj district. Krishna Sahi was a resident of Chainpur village, Officer in-charge of Hatua police station Bimal Kumar Singh said.
Special Correspondent
Chandigarh
JAIPUR
Accusing the ruling Congress government of indulging in vendetta politics, the Shiromani Akali Dal has decided to start a mass movement against the government from July 25. The decision was taken at a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee on Wednesday. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the aim of the mass movement would be to force the Congress government to stop its workers from targeting the Akalis.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the National Democratic Alliance government of ignoring the plight of farmers who are reeling under heavy debts and agrarian crisis. He said the government was not willing to discuss the farmers’ issues even in the Parliament. Addressing a huge “Kisan Aakrosh rally” in the Banswara town of southern Rajasthan, Mr. Gandhi said the government was not just anti-farmers, but it also wanted to extend undue benefits to rich industrialists through “hasty introduction” of goods and services tax (GST). “The government opens the Parliament at midnight for GST, but it won’t talk about farmers' plight even for a minute,” said Mr. Gandhi, who was presented a bow and arrow as symbols of the tribal culture of the region. He said the Congress leaders wanted to discuss at length the difficulties faced by farmers in the Lok Sabha earlier in the day, but they
With the farmers: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi being presented a bow and arrow at the ‘Kisan Akrosh Rally’ at Banswara in Rajasthan on Wednesday. PTI *
were not allowed to speak. Mr. Gandhi affirmed that his party would put pressure on the BJP government in Rajasthan to waive off farmers’ loans. “In Punjab and Karnataka, the Congress governments did not take time in giving relief to farmers...The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh waived off loans under pressure from Congress.” He said the party leaders in Rajasthan would not let
the State government rest until the farmers’ crop loans were waived off. “Small traders, tribals, Dalits, farmers and labourers are important components of our society, but the BJP and RSS do not pay heed to their voices,” he said. Mr. Gandhi said the GST implementation had certain deficiencies which would adversely affect small traders. PCC president Sachin Pilot, former Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot and AICC general secretaries C.P. Joshi and Mohan Prakash also addressed the rally. Mr. Gandhi met the families of debt-ridden farmers before the rally and assured them of his party's support. Mr. Gandhi made an unscheduled stopover in Jaipur after the rally. In a personal visit, he met the family of the late Swarup Rani Katju, who was his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s aunt.
MP plans ‘clear-cut’ compensation policy
False cases “We will start the movement from Dera Baba Nanak on July 25. We will form committees in all districts to help victims. We are also evolving a system to contest all false cases registered against our workers, besides conducting an exercise to evaluate the extent of the false cases,” he said. The party passed a resolution on the controversial Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal, cautioning Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on not to agree to any negotiation with Haryana which
Sukhbir Singh Badal
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would take away even one drop of water from Punjab.
‘No excess water’ “We would like to make it clear to everyone that Punjab does not have any excess water and that there is no question of the construction of the SYL canal. This will not be allowed under any circumstances,” said party patron and former Chief Minster Parkash Singh Badal. The former Chief Minister also announced on the occasion that he would personally meet Akali workers to listen to their grievances twice a month in the party office. The first such set of meetings would take place on August 1 and 2 and on August 16
GST issue It was also decided at the meeting that a delegation of MPs and senior leaders would meet Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and urge a roll-back of taxes imposed under the Goods and Services Tax system, including those on langar (community kitchen) purchases by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee and other religious institutions. Also GST should be removed on agriculture inputs and machinery. The committee said while the party would fulfil its responsibility, the onus of getting all these taxes withdrawn was on the State government. “States have 66% weightage in the GST council, which has the power to review the new taxes. It must exercise its power to get these taxes withdrawn immediately,” it added.
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Bidding adieu
For victims of incidents of serious nature Press Trust of India Bhopal
The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday told the State Assembly that it would come out with a “clear-cut” compensation policy for the victims, who lose their lives in the incidents of serious nature. Home Minister Bhupendra Singh made this announcement while replying to a question raised by Congress member Mukesh Nayak over the financial aid provided to those who died during the farmers’ agitation last month, especially the Mandsaur police firing incident of June 6, in which five farmers were killed. “We are going to come out with a clear-cut compensation policy for the victims (including the deceased) of incidents of serious nature,” Mr Singh said. Currently, the compensation is given as per the Revenue Book Circular, he said adding, “However, in case of incidents of serious nature, succour is also provided from the Chief
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
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Minister’s Discretionary Fund.” Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had personally handed over the cheques of ₹1 crore each as compensation to the kin of the five farmers killed in Mandsaur police firing. Besides the loss of life, properties of several people had been destroyed in arson, stone throwing during the farmers’ stir in Mandsaur. The opposition Congress had later organised a bandh in Balaghat district and demanded ₹1 crore each for the over 25 people killed on June 7 in a fire cracker factory inferno there.
93 fuel outlets in UP manipulated deliveries 44 dealerships terminated so far Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Public sector oil marketing companies have reported to the Centre that so far, 93 retail outlets in Uttar Pradesh were found to be indulging in malpractices. In all, 44 dealerships have been terminated so far.
Short selling In response to a query in the Rajya Sabha, the government said it has directed the companies to ensure absolute zero tolerance in cases of malpractices, including systematic short selling to
the consumers. They have also been instructed to take stringent action against the retail outlets which are found indulging in such activities. There are various mechanisms in place at retail outlets to ensure correct dispensation of fuel to customers, including regular inspections, surprise checks and third party audit of retail outlets. In different parts of the country, 170 cases of manipulation of fuel deliveries to customers have been detected in the past three years.
Woman accuses husband of giving triple talaq on phone Press Trust of India Jaisalmer
A man divorced his wife by uttering ‘talaq’ thrice on the phone in Jaisalmer following which she approached the Rajasthan women commission. The woman was married to Sabir Mohammad three years ago in Jodhpur, but had returned to her parents’ home after two years alleging that she was harassed by her in-laws, Sudha Puro-
hit, a member of Rajasthan Women Commission, said. The couple has a one-yearold daughter. The woman approached the panel on Tuesday claiming that her husband had divorced her over the phone, Ms Purohit said. She said the woman had earlier lodged a complaint about the harassment with Pratap Nagar police station in Jodhpur but later reached a compromise with her in-laws.
Farewell: Army jawans paying tributes to Major Shikhar Thapa at his native village Dari near Dharamsala on Wednesday. PTI *
‘Increased cess on cigarettes will hit industry, farmers’ Tobacco Institute of India asks GST Council to roll back hike SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHANDIGARH
The steep revision in compensation cess rates on cigarettes under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will pressurise the industry in the country and adversely impact tobacco farmers, the Tobacco Institute of India (TII) has said. “The GST Council, at its meeting on July 17, effected a steep increase in compensation cess rates on various segments of cigarettes ranging from ₹485 to ₹792 per 1,000 cigarettes. Under the ‘Others’ category, a 31% increase in the ad valorem component of the cess has been levied,” said Syed Mahmood Ahmad, director at TII, in a statement.
Mr. Ahmad said that the incidence of tax as per the revised levy on cigarettes was not in keeping with the fundamental GST principle of revenue neutrality.
Revenue neutrality “The additional tax burden caused by an increase in compensation cess rates will exacerbate pressure on the entire legal cigarette value chain in the country, which is already reeling under a huge tax burden,” he added. “We request the GST Council to review its decision and roll back the tax increase to the revenue neutral level, consistent with the government’s stated objectives,” Mr.
Auditors in cooperative societies compulsory
Ahmad added. Mr. Ahmad also said that an increase in taxation would have a debilitating impact on the country’s tobacco farmers, whose livelihoods are inextricably linked to the legal cigarette value chain.
Decreased earnings “Tobacco farmers are already under severe pressure due to the fall in demand for tobacco as contraband products do not use the locally-grown product. In fact, since 2013-14, the annual earnings of tobacco farmers have shrunk by more than ₹1,500 crore due to drop in offtake of tobacco for manufacturing domestic legal cigarettes,” he said.
Fake notes racket busted Press Trust of India
Rajasthan amends rules for the same Special Correspondent JAIPUR
The Rajasthan government has made the appointment of auditors compulsory for all cooperative societies to bring transparency in their financial dealings and asked them to submit their reports to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. The rules under the State Cooperative Societies Act have been amended for the purpose. State Cooperative Minister Ajay Singh Kilak said here on Wednesday that the autonomy of cooperative institutions would remain intact in the new arrange-
ment, while timely audit of accounts would ensure their effective functioning. The amended rules have come into force from July 10. Mr. Kilak said the cooperative housing societies not getting their finances audited and issuing lease deeds in back dates had been identified for dissolution. “As many as 73 societies have been identified in Jaipur alone and action initiated against them. This step will ensure that no housing society cheats the home buyers and their rights are protected,” he said.
Raipur
The police claimed to have busted an inter-State fake currency racket with the arrest of two persons and recovered counterfeit notes with the face value of ₹7.80 lakh from them in Mahasamund district in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday. The accused, Latif Khan (32) and Madhusudan Rana (40), were arrested from Saraipali police station area of the district, Mahasamund ASP Sanjay Kumar Dhruv said. Khan is a native of Saraipali area (Mahasamund), and Rana belongs to the neighbouring Bargarh district, in Odisha.
Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 7 No. 172 ●
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Strike hits normal life in Tripura
IN BRIEF
Protest against ongoing highway, rail blockade by tribal party; Congress leaders detained
Naveen’s plea to Centre on Paika rebellion ‘Declare it as first war of independence’
Syed Sajjad Ali Agartala
Naveen opens Odisha’s longest river bridge CUTTACK
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday dedicated to the public Odisha’s longest river bridge over Kathajodi here. He said the bridge, named after freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, will reduce travel time between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Built at a cost of ₹114 crore, the 2,815-metre the bridge is about 600-metre longer than Mahanadi bridge. PTI
Kolkata Metro to get 40 new AC rakes KOLKATA
Kolkata Metro will get 40 new air-conditioned rakes, the first of which has been delivered to the public carrier, Metro Railway sources said here. PTI
Man held with gold bars worth ₹ 2 crore IMPHAL
A man was on Wednesday caught by Assam Rifles personnel for illegal possession of gold bars worth more than ₹ two crore during frisking at a check post in Tengnoupal district. He was coming from the border town of Moreh and was heading for the state capital in a van. PTI
Special Correspondent
The 12-hour strike called by the Opposition Congress on Wednesday against the ongoing highway and rail blockade by a tribal party affected normal life and business activities in Tripura. The strike was peaceful across the State. State Congress President Birajit Sinha, and senior leaders Gopal Roy and Tapas Dey were detained along with their supporters at various locations in Agartala. Many security personnel were present when they began picketing in front of government offices. The strike was in protest against the ongoing blockade by the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), which is demanding a separate State for the 33% indigenous population.
BJP conspiracy The Congress also protested against the ‘conspiracy of the BJP to divide the State and inaction by the CPI(M)led State government to end the blockade’. “Our main grievance is against the BJP and the CPI (M), as they are actively working to create unrest and anarchy in the State,” Mr. Dey told journalists. While all Central govern-
Bhubaneswar
All quiet: A deserted street in Agartala during the 12-hour Congress bandh on Wednesday. ment offices remained open, State government offices functioned normally in some areas. Private sector offices and educational institutions remained closed, and vehicular movement was nearly missing. Governor Tathagata Roy had met senior IPFT leaders twice on Tuesday to discuss
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Seeking special package
the blockade issue and requested them to end it. He had also issued a statement making a formal appeal saying he would take up the party’s grievances at the appropriate level. IPFT president Narendra Chandra Debbarma called an emergency meeting of the party’s office-bearers on
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Wednesday. However, the meeting failed to adopt a resolution ending the blockade as several leaders insisted on a ‘reasonable response from the Central government’. “We will meet again on Thursday at 11a.m. to take a final call on the issue,” said Mr. Debbarma. Agartala was affected due
A day after the Odisha Cabinet decided to propose to the Centre to declare the Paika Rebellion of 1817 as the first war of Indian independence, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh requesting Centre to consider the proposal positively. “I request the Government of India to consider this proposal positively so that the people of India appreciate, in correct perspective, the events that led to the Indian freedom struggle and our historic independence from foreign rule,” Mr. Patnaik wrote to Mr. Singh on Wednesday. “I think, that would be a befitting tribute to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Paika Rebellion,” he added. The Paika Rebellion, which took place 40 years
before the Sepoy Mutiny, eminently qualifies to be called the first war of Indian Independence not simply because it took place four decades prior to the Sepoy Mutiny but due to its very nature and characteristic features, said Mr. Patnaik.
Also called Paika Bidroha “The Paika Rebellion, popularly known as Paika Bidroha, was a broad based and well organised plural struggle against the rule of the British East India Company,” he said. “It cannot be a mere coincidence that Paika Rebellion measured by its form as well as content provides a marvellous analogy with subsequent freedom movement and its outcome,” he added. President Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to inaugurate the year-long celebrations of the Paika Rebellion in New Delhi on Thursday.
to the consecutive agitation programmes of the BJP and the Congress on the IPFT blockade issue. The BJP had on Tuesday called for a 13hour gherao of the official residences of the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues. However, it was called off following a request by the Governor.
Four more killed in Assam floods Press Trust of India Guwahati
Demonstration : Members of Parliament from Northeastern States staging a protest at the Parliament House in New Delhi on Wednesday demanding relief and rehabilitation for the floodaffected people. R. V. MOORTHY *
The flood in Assam on Wednesday claimed four more lives taking the toll to 73 though the overall situation continued to improve with around five lakh people affected across 14 districts. Two persons lost their lives in Morigaon district of central Assam and one each died in Barpeta and south Salmara districts, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said. With this, the toll in this year’s flood related cases has gone up to 73, including eight in Guwahati. ASDMA said 583 villages were under water and over 27,000 hectares of crop areas inundated.
Odisha seeks land leased to petrol pump Press trust of India Bhubaneswar
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday alleged that a part of the land allotted to the State government in New Delhi was subsequently leased out to a petrol pump and urged the Centre to return it. Mr. Patnaik said this in a letter to the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan. The chief minister was replying a letter of Mr. Pradhan who wanted steps to popularise Odia cuisine, art and culture of the State in the national Capital. Mr. Patnaik said that the State government was unable to add to its activities in Delhi due to lack of required land. “In fact, for Odisha Bhawan, we have only half of the physical area as compared to the adjoining State Bhawans since half of the originally allotted land in our favour was subsequently leased out to a petrol pump,” Mr. Patnaik said in the letter.
No justification Stating that there seems no justification for the said petrol pump as there are two operating petrol pumps adjoining each other, Mr. Patnaik said “appropriately, the said plot of land, originally allotted to the Odisha government and subsequently leased out to a petrol pump, may be restored back to us so that we can add capacity to our State Bhawan.” CM YK
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Surat textile traders call off strike Press Trust of India
NCP MP faces arrest after High Court rejects bail plea
Ahmedabad
Traders in Surat have called off their two week long strike against the imposition of 5% GST on textiles following the Centre’s assurance to look into their demand. The announcement to withdraw the protest was made by the traders after they met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “ Mr. Jaitley assured us that the issue will be taken up in the next GST Council meeting on August 5,” said Manoj Agrawal, a textile trader. Surat has one of the biggest textile markets in the country.
Case pertains to demand of protection money and assault
Crime rate no co-relation to casinos: Parrikar Exchequer’s earnings from casinos has risen over three years Special Correspondent Panaji
Special Correspondent Pune
Trouble is brewing for Udayanraje Bhosale, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP from Satara and a descendant of the Chattrapati Shivaji, after the Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed his petition for anticipatory bail in an extortion case. The bench of Justice Prakash Naik, hearing the two-month old petition, rejected granting of relief to the controversial Satara MP. Mr. Bhosale could be arrested any time.
“Everyone is equal before the law and he [Bhosale] will be arrested at the right moment, within the framework of law,” Vishvas Nangre Patil, Inspector General of Police (Kolhapur Range) had said last week, commenting on the case.
Second rejection The spectre of arrest has been hovering over the rebel NCP leader ever since the Satara District and Sessions Court rejected his anticipatory bail petition on April . Following this, Mr. Bhosale
had moved the High Court. In March, the Satara district police had registered an FIR against Udayanraje and other persons following a complaint by Rajkumar Jain, an official with the Ahmedabad-based Sona Alloys, whose industrial unit is located in Satara’s Lonand Industrial Area sited in the district’s Khandala Taluk. Mr. Jain had alleged that the MP and his henchmen had demanded ‘protection money’ after summoning him to an official guest house in Satara on February
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Water woes
18. When he refused to pay, Mr. Jain said he was physically assaulted by Mr. Bhosale and his men and relieved of cash and important documents. Notorious for his frequent outrageous behaviour, Mr. Bhosale was elected MP after he contested on an NCP ticket in his fief, Satara, during the Lok Sabha elections, winning by a massive margin of three lakh votes. Prior to this, he served as the Revenue Minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government from 1995 to 1999.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday told the Goa Assembly that revenue earned from the casino industry had doubled over the last two years. In a written reply to a question by leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar on whether crime rate had increased in Goa due to casino operations, Mr. Parrikar, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said there was no co-relation between the casino industry and the state’s crime rate. Mr. Parrikar further
Earnings from casinos in Goa have increased.
claimed that crime rate had decreased in the last three years, with 4,467 criminal cases reported in 2014, 3,074 in 2015, 2,693 in 2016. The CM also said that revenues generated over the last three
State govt. clears merger of 34 villages with Pune civic body
Moving to safety: People crossing the flooded Wainganga after heavy rains lashed Gadchiroli and adjoining areas in the last 48 hours. Over 100 villages in Bhamaragad division of Gadchiroli remained cut off from the rest of the district due to an overflowing Parlkota river. The district police have formed special teams to rescue villagers. S SUDARSHAN *
CM YK
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday gave a green signal to the merger of 34 villages into the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits. However, of these, only 11 will be incorporated into the civic body by the end of this year. Among the 11, only the twin villages of Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, 20 km from Pune city, are to be immediately assimilated while the remaining nine villages will be incorporated in phases. The process of the merger is expected to be completed by December 31 this year. In view of the impending Gram Panchayat elections in some villages this year, the government is expected to complete the merger of the remaining 23 villages in a phased manner over a three-year period, said PMC sources. Last month, the Bombay High Court had directed the
THE HINDU
fiscals from casinos had increased substantially. While the State earned ₹78.62 cr. in 2014-16 from the casino industry in form of various taxes, in the year 2016-17, it went up to ₹161.96 cr.
Man held for desecration was brainwashed: CM Special Correspondent Panaji
Shoumojit Banerjee Pune
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State government to take a decision on the merger of 34 villages into the PMC within three weeks. In 2014, members of a citizen group called the ‘Haveli Taluka Nagari Kruti Samiti’ had filed a petition in the HC seeking expediting of the merger process of these fringe villages.
Strain on resources Pune Guardian Minister Girish Bapat, along with other BJP legislators have been vociferously opposed to the grand merger of 34 villages, citing that the move would put a great strain on the financial resources of the civic body — a view shared by PMC authorities. “The proposed merger benefits neither the urban pockets nor the villages. It is vital to first set forth the infrastructure like roads and drinking water facilities. A number of pending projects have to be completed first to ensure development in
these areas,” Mr. Bapat said. For the PMC, the population in these villages, totalling six lakh, is expected to put an enormous strain on the budget. Authorities estimate that the water provisioning system itself, which will include the construction of water purification plants and reservoirs, will exceed a whopping ₹3,000 crore. A further ₹1,900 crore will be needed on the key development parameters of public health, land acquisition, primary education among others. In the event all 34 villages do get incorporated in the near future, the PMC will be the largest civic body in Maharashtra, bigger in scope and size than even the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The PMC’s geographical area is set to increase from its existing 243.84 sq. km. to over 500 sq. km., in contrast to BMC’s 416 sq. km.
Goa Chief Minister said in the Assembly on Wednesday that 50-year-old Francis Pereira, who is being probed for desecrating a number of religious icons, including Catholic crosses and Hindu idols of worship was brainwashed by Israeli inmates while he was in the Aguada Central Jail. “Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Veerappan were his idols,” Manohar Parrikar said in reply to a calling attention motion tabled by leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar. “After contesting elections and losing them, I think he shot his opponent. He went to jail and in Aguada jail, he met some Israeli inmates. The Israelis convinced him that idol worship is not the correct thing. That all souls enter into these crosses, small temples and these souls do wrong things, and therefore should be released,” Mr. Parrikar said.
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SOUTH 5
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IN BRIEF
Film-maker Jagannadh questioned in drug case
More quota for Karnataka students
IndiGo lifts flying ban on TDP MP; Air India, Spicejet follow
Staff Reporter
Tollywood director’s name surfaced during SIT investigation
Diwakar Reddy reportedly expressed regret for June 15 incident
Karnataka students have reason to cheer as 72.24% of medical seats and 70.98% of dental seats have been reserved for students from the State. With the common National Eligibility cum Entrance Test kicking in, students from across the country were eligible to opt for institutional quota seats, but organisations within the State had carried out protests demanding more reservation for the State students. “Karnataka has one of the highest number of medical colleges and is the most sought after destination for students from other States. We hope that in the coming years, the State will further increase the reservation,” said Bharath Kumar D., president, Karnataka Medical Students’ and Young Doctors Association.
Bengaluru
Kannur nursing students call off stir
hibition Department here with his son, brother and advocate. Only the director was allowed into the investigation room.
Rohit P.S.
KANNUR
Nursing students in Kannur called off their stir against the district administration’s controversial order directing nursing college principals to deploy students in hospitals affected by the ongoing strike. The decision was taken by the Student Nurses’ Association leadership following talks with District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali.
Dileep’s manager files anticipatory bail plea KOCHI
The manager and driver of actor Dileep, Appunni, filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Kerala High Court in the case relating to the sexual assault on a woman actor. In the petition, Appunni said he had no connection with Sunil Kumar aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni, prime accused in the case.
HYDERABAD
The Special Investigation Team set up by the Excise Department to probe the drugs racket, in which some Tollywood personalities are allegedly involved, questioned Telugu film-maker Puri Jagannadh on Wednesday. The director’s name cropped up when excise officials analysed contacts and WhatsApp chats of Calvin Mascarenhas, the drug peddler who was nabbed earlier this month, reportedly along with the names of other celebrities and school students. The SIT intends to probe the contacts of the peddlers to establish, among other things, the nature of the connection between them and their contacts. According to initial reports, which are yet to be
Puri Jagannadh confirmed, SIT investigators presented the director with information suggesting an acquaintance between him and Mascarenhas. It was also learnt that two government doctors were summoned, supposedly to collect blood samples from the director. Earlier in the day, Mr. Jagannadh arrived at the office of the Excise and Pro-
Cabinet nod for Sabarimala airport on Cheruvally estate It is spread over 2,268 acres and situated near 2 NH corridors
Grilled for 9 hours The grilling went on for more than nine hours, with the investigators preferring not to let the director out for a break. Mr. Jagannadh denied that he was acquainted with Mascarenhas. “I told the SIT officials that I do not know Calvin and I have never met him. Anything illegal, not only drugs, I have not done and will not do,” the filmmaker said in a video he tweeted. Meanwhile, Akun Sabharwal, Director, Excise and Prohibition, who is overseeing the probe, launched an awareness campaign against drug use in schools.
from the State capital and 113 km from Kochi.
The proposed Sabarimala greenfield international airport in Central Travancore is to come up on the Cheruvally estate, 2.5 km from the Theni-Kottarakara National Highway and close to Erumeli town in Kottayam district. The weekly Cabinet meeting approved the recommendation of the threemember committee, headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) P.H. Kurien, that the proposed airport be set up on the estate, which is located on the way to the Ayyappa temple, 136 km
5th international airport Once commissioned, this will be the fifth international airport in Kerala. The estate in Kanjirappally taluk, the subject of litigation for some time now, is spread over 2,268 acres, mostly plain land situated close to two NH corridors and five PWD roads. The three-member committee apparently went by the site selection report of AECOM, global provider of technical and support services to airport owners, investors and aviation clients.
Special Correspondent
CM YK
NEW DELHI
Low-cost airline IndiGo on Wednesday lifted the flying ban imposed on Telugu Desam Party MP Diwakar Reddy last month for “disruptive behaviour” against its staff. Air India and SpiceJet also revoked the ban. The move by IndiGo came after a meeting between its officials and Mr. Reddy at a lunch hosted by TDP MP Y.S. Chaudhary “to resolve the issue.” “The issue is amicably revolved between the two and IndiGo has decided to lift the said ban with immediate effect,” an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Three-hour meeting’ “It was a three hour-long meeting and Mr. Reddy expressed his regret,” the spokesperson added. The move comes a day
Diwakar Reddy after the Hyderabad High Court issued notices to airlines, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on a petition filed by Mr. Reddy challenging the ban. Mr. Reddy agreed to withdraw the case after the ban was revoked by the airlines. Jet Airways, Vistara, Air Asia and GoAir, which had also barred the MP from tak-
ing a flight after the IndiGo incident, are also likely to review their decision. On June 15, Mr. Reddy got into a verbal spat with an IndiGo ground staff at Visakhapatnam airport and threw a printer kept at the counter after being told that boarding for his flight to Hyderabad had closed. Mr. Reddy said he would not apologise to the airline or its staff and later moved the Hyderabad High Court challenging the flying ban imposed by the domestic airlines. The High Court on Monday sought a response from the respondents. Mr. Reddy, the second MP to be banned by airlines after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, flew to New Delhi from Hyderabad on a chartered flight to cast his vote in the presidential elections due to the flying ban against him.
Karnataka in no hurry to decide State flag State faces no legal bar, but does not want to create controversy on what is a grey area: Minister Special Correspondent Bengaluru
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Special Correspondent
Karnataka’s Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T.B. Jayachandra on Wednesday said the government’s proposal to give legal status to the ‘Kannada flag’ was a “legal grey area” and it was in no hurry to decide on the issue. Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, where the flag controversy came up for discussion, the Minister said: “There is no intention on the part of the State government to create a controversy on the proposed State flag issue. There is no legal bar on the State having its own flag, just like
Ma. Ramamurthy, who designed the flag.
the State anthem.” Though there is no specific mention in the Constitution on States having their own flags, there is no bar on it, he said. “The committee will examine all aspects of the issue. It is a
legal grey area,” he told the media. The first meeting of the nine-member committee constituted to look into the issue would be convened soon. “Having a separate flag is a policy issue and we will take an appropriate decision examining the pros and cons,” he said. Mr. Jayachandra made it clear that the government was not in a hurry in the matter. “There are three separate Acts related to the national flag but none has barred the State from having its own flag,” he said. Meanwhile, the Congress high command has asked for an explanation from the State government on the flag
plans. However, AICC general secretary in-charge of the party affairs in the State, K.C. Venugopal, clarified later that the high command would not interfere in the issue. Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP and JD(S) have questioned the motive behind the move. Countering this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah challenged the BJP to categorically state that they were opposed to the Kannada flag.
Forgotten flag-bearer Amid the controversy on the government’s move to consider giving official status to the red-and-yellow “Kan-
nada flag”, the birth centenary year of the person who designed it has been nearly forgotten. Writer and Kannada activist Ma. Ramamurthy, nicknamed ‘Kannadada Veera Senani’, who created the two-colour flag as the symbol of the Kannada Paksha floated by him, was born on March 11, 1918. While there are no preparations for celebrating his birth centenary, an outfit called Kannada Geleyara Balaga plans a series of programmes to mark his birth centenary year, starting in August. The flag was designed in 1966, a year before Ramamurthy’s death.
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Weather Watch Rainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday
IN BRIEF
Patkar detained from Bhopal railway station BHOPAL
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar, AAP’s Madhya Pradesh convenor Alok Agrawal and their supporters were on Wednesday detained from railway stations here before they could head for a protest in connection with the Sardar Sarovar Dam. PTI
Tantrik, three others held for boy sacrifice
Anger in hills: An angry mob sets a police vehicle on fire (left) and throw stones on the Kotkhai police station in Shimla district on Wednesday.
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PTI
Fiery protest over rape and murder
INDORE
The police on Wednesday arrested the 30-year-old tantrik on whose ‘advice’ a man yearning for a son allegedly abducted and brutally killed a two-year-old boy in a human sacrificial ritual with the help of his two wives last month. The man and his wives were arrested on Monday. PTI
Police constable, man killed in road accident JAIPUR
A constable of the Rajasthan Police and a 37-year-old man were killed on Wenesday after their motorcycle was hit by a private bus in Sadar area of Nagaur district. The bus travelling from Deh to Nagaur rammed into the two-wheeler near Amarpura village, killing constable Khojaram Meghwal (47) and Ramchandra Meghwal on the spot, Sadar SHO Ramveer Singh said. PTI
Health officer caught taking bribe RAIPUR
The Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday arrested a health officer of the Chhattisgarh government for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹7,000 in Dantewada district. District Ayurved Officer Dr Prakash Singh had demanded the bribe amount from two persons for clearing their pending arrears. official here said. PTI
CM YK
Protesters attack police station even as Governor summons DGP and seeks report on the incident Staff Correspondent Shimla
The rape and murder of a schoolgirl in Kotkhai tehsil of Shimla district on Wednesday took a mysterious turn when one of the accused, Suraj Kumar, was killed in police custody, reportedly by another accused. Suraj belongs to Nepal and has been lodged in the Kotkhai police station since his arrest last week along with five others, mostly from Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, when asked about the case, appeared to trivialise the issue and told reporters that “rape and murder happens everywhere and there is nothing new.” The police said Suraj was an eyewitness in the rapecum-murder case and was reportedly ready to become a prosecution witness. Angered by the killing in the lock-up, a mob attacked the Kotkhai police station, setting ablaze vehicles and hurling stones in which at least four policemen, including an Assistant Superintendent of Police, were injured. The protesters refused to believe the police version and questioned how a person could be killed while in the lock-up.
Mob fury: Protesters ransacked the Kotkhai police station in Shimla district. The angry protesters also blocked the Hatkoti-Theog and the Hindustan-Tibet highways for hours due to which hundreds of people were stranded. The police faced a tough time even in shifting the injured to hospital. After much effort, three of the injured policemen were admitted to a local hospital while one
critically injured was referred to the Indira Gandhi Medical College here. To keep the situation under control, additional police force was rushed to Kotkhai, as the authorities feared the killing would trigger outrage. The people of the district, including Kotkhai, Theog, Gumma and Shimla and its suburbs, have been protest-
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PTI
ing everyday and demanding the arrest of what they called the “real” culprits. They said the names and photographs of the “real” culprits were disclosed on Twitter by the Chief Minister but was withdrawn subsequently. Governor Acharya Devvrat has summoned State Director General of Police
Somesh Goyal and has sought a report from the government on the case. In a letter to the chief secretary, Mr Devvrat said the alleged rape and murder of the minor girl was a serious matter which had angered people across the state. The High Court also summoned the state Director General of Police (DGP) and sought a report. Mr Virbhadra Singh, who has not visited Kotkhai so far and had lauded the police for “cracking” the case, said he had written to the CBI for a probe. He came back midway from his tour of Mandi district and got agitated when told that the opposition has raised the matter in Parliament and approached the Home Ministry for an “impartial probe.” “So what Rajnath Singh will not attack me,” he said and blamed the media and the opposition for defaming him.
Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)
Forecast for Thursday: Heavy to very heavy rain at a few/isolated places likely over Konkan & Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, central Maharashtra, coastal Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, east Rajasthan, West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Marathawada, Telangana and Kerala city rain max min Agartala...............0.5.... 30.0.... 26.4 Ahmedabad........17.5.... 33.0.... 25.8 Aizawl ....................2.... 29.9.... 13.6 Allahabad .............. —.... 36.7.... 29.0 Bengaluru ...............9.... 26.6.... 20.6 Bhopal....................1.... 26.6.... 24.6 Bhubaneswar .......4.4.... 31.1.... 26.0 Chandigarh ............ —.... 37.3.... 29.6 Chennai ...............0.1.... 37.7.... 29.4 Coimbatore..........0.1.... 30.7.... 23.2 Dehradun............... —.... 35.8.... 25.0 Gangtok...............1.2.... 22.3.... 19.0 Goa .................106.2.... 26.9.... 24.5 Guwahati ...........18.2.... 31.2.... 25.9 Hubballi................. —.... 23.0.... 21.0 Hyderabad .........39.7.... 29.0.... 21.5 Imphal.................2.3.... 28.0.... 23.0 Jaipur .................... —.... 35.0.... 26.0 Kochi.................30.2.... 30.4.... 24.0 Kohima................6.6.... 25.6.... 18.4 Kolkata................5.3.... 30.1.... 26.1
city rain max min Kozhikode ...........29.7.... 30.0.... 23.1 Kurnool ...............13.3.... 32.6.... 24.1 Lucknow................2.9.... 35.7.... 28.5 Madurai................... —.... 37.8.... 27.3 Mangaluru .............6.6.... 28.4.... 23.8 Mumbai...............79.3.... 30.5.... 24.2 Mysuru................14.6.... 25.2.... 20.5 New Delhi ............... —.... 38.4.... 28.0 Patna ...................... —.... 35.4.... 28.5 Port Blair ..............0.5.... 30.6.... 26.2 Puducherry............0.1.... 36.9.... 26.4 Pune .....................2.8.... 28.1.... 22.3 Raipur ...................0.6.... 30.0.... 25.7 Ranchi...................6.2.... 30.7.... 23.2 Shillong...............13.8.... 23.0.... 17.0 Shimla......................2.... 26.4.... 17.0 Srinagar ................3.5.... 29.0.... 18.2 Trivandrum ...........7.8.... 31.2.... 23.7 Tiruchi .................... —.... 34.9.... 28.4 Vijayawada ..........74.2.... 33.8.... 24.6 Visakhapatnam .......1.5.... 30.8.... 25.4
Particulate matter in the air you are breathing CITIES
Yesterday
SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE
Ahmedabad ......... ....—.....— ...— ....... — .......—.......— Bengaluru ................9 ...50 ..65 ....... —......69 ......* Chennai..................10 ...36 ..24 .... 341 .......— ......* Delhi......................13 ...45 ..98 .... 135....232 ......* Hyderabad .............50 ...28 ..16 ...... 30 .......2 ......* Kolkata ..................11 ...38 ..33 ....... —......20 ......* Lucknow ..................9 ...45 ..44 .... 104 .......— ......* Mumbai ...................9 ...50 ..59 ...... 23......34 ......* Pune ......................15 ...28 ..79 ...... 10......17 ......* Vishakhapatnam .....32 ...15 ..54 ...... 43......57 ......*
In observation made at 4.00 p.m., Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab, recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) score of 350 indicating an unhealthy level of pollution. In contrast, Tirupati recorded a healthy AQI score of 34
Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters. CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death. PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease (Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)
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Extra privileges for foreigners on Indian trains
IN BRIEF
They can book tickets 1 year in advance
Calcutta HC raps CBI in Tamang case KOLKATA
S. Vijay Kumar
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed that the hearing on framing of charges in the Madan Tamang murder case be completed by August 17 in the court of the chief judge, city sessions Court. A Division Bench came down heavily on the CBI investigation for not ensuring the presence of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung and 21 other accused in a city court.
CHENNAI
Train hits platform wall in Kolkata, 24 injured KOLKATA
A suburban train hit the guard wall of a platform at the Sealdah station here on Wednesday morning, injuring 24 passengers. The Railways has initiated an inquiry into the incident and suspended the train’s driver and the guard. Initial reports said 21 passengers were hospitalised. Later, Eastern Railways authorities said three more had suffered “minor injuries.”
Septuagenarian axed to death by son KOTA
A 70-year-old woman was axed to death allegedly by her younger son after an argument between them in Jaipla village in Baran district, the police said on Wednesday. Suraj Bai worked as a daily wage labourer while her two sons - Raju (26) and Kajod (40) - were jobless and habitual drinkers who would often quarrel with her for money, they said. The woman was attacked by Raju with an axe late last night, they said.
Foreign lawyers: Centre seeks early hearing of plea
Ministry, NITI Aayog moot privatisation of select services in district hospitals Under proposed PPP model, private players will get 30-year leases on space in district hospitals Vidya Krishnan New Delhi
As a part of a radical ‘privatisation project’, the Health Ministry and the NITI Aayog have developed a framework to let private hospitals run select services within district hospitals, on a 30-year lease. In a 140-page document, prepared in consultation with the World Bank, the government will be allowing “a single private partner or a single consortium of private partners” to bid for space in district level hospitals, “especially in tier 2 & 3 cities.” Under this Public Private Partnership (PPP), care for only three non-communicable diseases — cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer care — will be provided. A model contract drawn up by NITI Aayog was sent out to State governments on June 5 by Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, giving the states a two-week window to furnish responses.
NEW DELHI
The Centre has moved the Supreme Court seeking early hearing on a plea that has raised the issue whether foreign lawyers and law firms can be allowed to practice in the country. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its plea, termed the issue as “an important” and “urgent one” and said that the Bar Council of India had framed rules on the subject, but it was waiting for the judgment of the Supreme Court. PTI
Draft document In a letter sent out last month, Mr. Kant adds that the draft document was prepared by a working group comprising representatives from the industry, Health Ministry and “representatives of a few states”. The policy document has come under sharp criticism for the Ministry’s failure to consult with key stakeholders from civil society and
Trustees lost confidence in me: former EPW editor He was accused of changing journal’s ethos
Model contract: Under the Public Private Partnership , care for three non-communicable diseases — cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer care — will be provided. academia. Dr. Amit Sengupta, convener of the India chapter of the People’s Health Movement, said that the government was handing over critical public assets without gaining anything much in return. “NITI Aayog has no locus standi to make health policy, which is a state subject in India. The logic behind shutting down the Planning Commission was to ensure that policies are not centralised. NITI Aayog was to be an advisory body but here they are rushing through a policy that will essentially hand over public assets to the
private sector, leading to a further dismantling of the public services available for free. If the government has to give seed money, share blood banks and other infrastructure, and still not be able to reserve beds for poor patients, it seems like we are not getting much in return,” said Dr. Sengupta. Mr. Kant, Health Minister JP Nadda and Health Secretary C.K. Mishra did not respond to emails and phone calls. According to the draft model contract, private hospitals will bid for 30-year leases over portions of dis-
trict hospital buildings to set up 50- or 100-bed hospitals in smaller towns across the country. The State governments could lease up to five or six district hospitals within the State.
Viability gap funding Further, the State governments will give Viability Gap Funding (VGF), or one-time seed money, to private players to set up infrastructure within district hospitals. The private parties and State health departments will share ambulance services, blood banks, and mortuary services.
A major concern about the policy is that under ‘principles’ of the financial structure, the document states that “there will be no reserved beds or no quota (sic) of beds for free services” in these facilities. “While it is clear that insured patients will receive free care, it is not at all clear what will happen to the vast majority of the population. In particular, how will these referral arrangements work? Whereas it says that states can, if they wish, refer 100% of patients for cashless care, it is a matter of concern that it also proposes that States can set a cap on this entitlement. How would this work? What happens when the cap is reached? Would people only be able to access services for half the year, or less,” said Robert Yates, a leading expert on universal health coverage (UHC) and Project Director of the UHC Policy Forum at Chatham House, London. “What is particularly disturbing is the suggestion that only Below Poverty Line (BPL) patients and those in insurance schemes will be able to access free care. This would effectively exclude hundreds of millions of the Indian population from vital hospital services. “If implemented, these proposals could threaten to take India away from UHC, a key sustainable development goal, rather than towards it,” Mr. Yates said.
The Indian Railways has made train travel easy for foreign nationals and NRIs by offering confirmed accommodation in upper classes of all trains one year in advance. Besides the Foreign Tourists Quota (FTQ) of eight berths each in First and Second Class AC coaches, these passengers would also be entitled to avail confirmed berths on demand from the general quota earmarked for Indian nationals. A circular issued by the Railway Board on Wednesday says, “With a view to facilitate foreign tourists booking tickets online in advance, it has been decided to extend them the facility to book reserved tickets up to 365 days in advance through Internet (e-ticketing). This will be in addition to the Foreign Tourist Quota being earmarked at present”. For Indian nationals, booking of tickets is permitted four months in advance (120 days) on a first-comefirst-served basis. Tickets for important trains get waitlisted minutes after the counters open since a sizeable number of berths are blocked for tatkal and emergency quota for VIPs. Now the FTQ and extended benefit to foreign tourists might add to the demand for train tickets, say railway officials.
Enhanced service charge Foreign tourists would mean foreign nationals whose continuous stay is not more than six months in India or NRIs whose continuous stay abroad is more than six months. These passengers would be allowed to book accommodation in Executive Class/First Class AC and Two-Tier AC coaches in all trains, including Shatabdi, Rajdhani, Duronto and Gatiman Express trains, for which the fares shall be uniformly charged at 1.5 times the base fare by the railways. In addition to this, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
will be in < > This addition to the Foreign Tourist Quota available (IRCTC) would collect enhanced service charge of ₹ 200 per ticket. The new facility would come into effect immediately. Till now, the system was that foreign tourists had to purchase Indrail Pass to book confirmed accommodation tickets 360 days in advance on select trains that had limited berths under FTQ. Under the new scheme, foreign tourists would have to provide the passport number, nationality, international mobile number for booking the ticket. Payment should be made only through international debit/ credit cards and SMS confirming the reservation would be sent to the registered mobile number. Cancellation would mean a flat 50 per cent deduction in addition to the cancellation charges as applicable. Eight berths in First AC (two cabins), eight berths Second AC (two inside berth cabins) and 10 seats in Executive Class from general quota would be made available for booking 365 days in advance.
Additional berths In case, the party seeking accommodation requires more berths than what is earmarked under the FTQ, the remaining passengers would be registered and provided confirmed accommodation on the opening day of reservation (of general quota). Some of the other features of the new facility are that tickets cannot be booked by travel agents and passengers would have to book them directly. The names of passengers cannot be changed under any circumstance and the tickets are not transferable. The Railway Board has advised zonal railways to sensitise travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) on the validity of passports and visas that are mandatory documents required for travel.
CBI again summons Karti in INX Media case He has been asked to join the probe tomorrow
Special Correspondent New Delhi
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta resigned as editor of the respected Economic & Political Weekly on Tuesday after office-bearers of the Sameeksha Trust, expressed lack of trust in him. Mr. Thakurta was also asked to take down two articles criticising corporate house Adani Power Limited, a business subsidiary of Adani Group, by the trustees. Mr. Thakurta told The Hindu that the trustees believed he had changed the character and ethos of the influential publication in his 15-month tenure, which had made them unhappy. He also said the trustees informed him of their decision to hire the services of a co-editor and impressed upon him the need to codify a set of rules explaining the terms of engagement for the editor of the publication. According to Mr. Thakurta, he was directed to take down two articles on the Adani subsidiary with immediate effect. The former editor also said the trustees had expressed hurt and indignation at not being informed of the decision or seek the prior consent of the trustees before engaging the services of a lawyer to respond to a notice sent last month by the Adani group following the publication of the articles. “I acknowledged and apologised for this.” “After the legal notice was sent to me last month, I engaged the services of a lawyer to put together a reply. I acknowledge the mistake made in not seeking the prior approval of the trustCM YK
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
ees before hiring the services of the lawyer and apologised for making this procedural error,” he said. Mr. Thakurta clarified that his reply to the business group was sent to the trustees and was prominently displayed on the website of the magazine on their receipt. “After the trustees stated that I had put them to great professional, personal and financial risk, I explained to them that the article was fact-checked and correct and that concern was misplaced as no court of law had been moved yet, implying there was no criminal case yet.”
‘Unanimous decision’ Asked whether the view of the trustees was unanimous, he said the Sameeksha Trust chairman Deepak Nayyar, the managing trustee D.N. Ghosh, and four trustees present, which included historian Romila Thapar, sociologist Dipankar Gupta, Ambedkar University ViceChancellor Shyam Menon, and CSDS director Rajeev Bhargava, were unanimous in their decision to take down the articles. Dr. Nayyar and other trustees did not respond to queries from The Hindu.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti in connection with a case of alleged misuse of foreign investments by INX Media. He has been asked to join the probe on July 21. The CBI has accused Mr. Karti of having got commissions via a company associated with him to scuttle a possible probe by the Department
Karti Chidambaram of Revenue into the allegations against INX Media, then of Peter and Indrani Mukerjea. The agency alleges that in 2007, INX Media
had got an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for ₹4.62 crore investment, but it received ₹305 crore foreign direct investment (FDI) from two Mauritius-based companies by sale of shares at a premium of ₹800 a unit. Against the FIPB decision, asking the company to file a separate application, a downstream investment of 26% of the funds was also allegedly made in INX News.
Send stories of corruption to Ministers, Kamal tells people After threats, actor posts 2-page statement on Twitter Special Correspondent Chennai
Actor Kamal Haasan took the social media by storm on Wednesday night with a tweet. Responding to politicians who asked him for proof of corruption in Tamil Nadu, he urged people to send their stories of corruption to Ministers. Mr. Haasan asked people to mail them individually, detailing the troubles they went through because of this government’s corruption. And he told the people to keep the missives polite. A day after his cryptic tweets on Tuesday, which led to speculation about his entry into polit-
ics, he posted a two-page statement on Twitter, virtually taking the fight to the State government’s home page after some State Ministers threatened him with ‘dire consequences’. “When the whole world knows of the scale of corruption, only those really dull and corrupt will ask for evidence,” he said, claiming that he entered politics “wittingly or unwittingly” the day he raised his voice against the imposition of Hindi. The threat of those who held on to power forgetting their responsibilities to the people was at once laughable and condemnable, he said.
“One Minister orders me to give evidence. When there are people to remind them of the bitter cry of corruption, who am I to stand in between,” he asked. Mr. Haasan said it was up to him to expose the corruption in the cine field. “Only a very few like me are exceptions to the corrupt practices to obtain a certificate exempting [a film] from entertainment tax. Others are colluding out of fear,” he said. “People are not herds. Be honourable and listen to the voice of the people. Soon, the public voice will be heard,” Mr. Haasan said, concluding his statement. A ND-NDE
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8 EDITORIAL
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The big squeeze on civil society The state must respect articulation of the politics of ‘voice’, and not just the politics of the ‘vote’
Resignation drama n May 2015, a host of civil society organisations wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of India. The opening paragraph said: “We write to you, as members and as representatives of civil society organisations, and above all as Indian citizens, to express our deep concern on how civil society organisations and their donors are being labelled and targeted. Funds are frozen, intelligence reports are selectively released to paint NGOs in a poor light, and their activities are placed on a watch list. NGO projects have been shut down, donors are unable to support work, and there is an overall atmosphere of State coercion and intimidation in the space of civil society.” The letter continued: “Our work for the poor and the marginalised might involve questioning and protest decisions taken by the government, and this is our right. The government may not agree with what our policies are, from opposing nuclear power plants to campaigning to the right to food. Yet we expect the government to protect our democratic right to protest without being targeted as anti-national.” The open letter emphasised the violation of two democratic rights by the government: the right to freedom of expression including the right to protest, and the right to form associations.
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Democracy beyond elections The issues raised by the letter have to be taken seriously. Civil society as the sphere of associational life forms the backbone of democracy. The right to participate in an activity we call politics is not, and can-
The Trump administration’s new sanctions on Iran threaten stability in West Asia
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he U.S. administration’s decision to slap sanctions on 18 Iranian individuals and entities on Tuesday, only a day after it certified to Congress that Tehran was compliant with the conditions of the nuclear deal, sums up its strategic resolve in taking on the Islamic Republic and the tactical dilemma it faces while doing so. It is no secret that President Donald Trump has been critical of the Iran nuclear deal, which ended the international sanctions on Tehran in return for curbing its nuclear programme. During the campaign, Mr. Trump had vowed to either kill or renegotiate the agreement. But as President, his options are limited with Iran remaining compliant with the terms of the agreement. More important, it is not a bilateral pact. The nuclear deal was reached among seven entities, including the U.S., Russia, Germany and Iran. Any unilateral move to withdraw from the agreement would hurt American interests as European countries are keen on expanding economic ties with Iran. This explains why a reluctant Mr. Trump has re-certified the deal twice since his inauguration in January. But on both occasions, he slapped additional sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile programme and “support for terrorism”, signalling that the Obama-era détente with Tehran was over. Administration officials are now saying Iran may be compliant with the terms but it is “unquestionably in default of the spirit” of the agreement. This is an overstretched argument, given that all international monitors say Iran remains committed to the deal. The logical next step of the nuclear agreement should have been an overall improvement in relations between the West and Tehran. Barack Obama had set the stage for such a policy overhaul and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had responded to it, but Mr. Trump, in six months, has taken Washington’s Iran policy back to Republican neoconservatism. Besides sanctions, Mr. Trump has also endorsed the Saudi-led Sunni bloc’s attempts to isolate Iran. His policy priorities are now clear. The administration will align with Saudi Arabia and Israel, continue to target Iran through sanctions and even try to undermine the nuclear deal in the long term. This is a dangerous turn of events since the historic moment of April 2, 2015, when the framework for the nuclear pact was announced. But this policy of containing Iran could backfire as Iran has already established itself as a rising regional power with substantial geopolitical clout. To stabilise Iraq, the U.S. needs Iran’s help. And there won’t be a long-lasting peace deal in Syria without Iran’s participation and cooperation. If the U.S. is serious about working towards peace and stability in West Asia, it should reciprocate Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal, not punish it through additional sanctions. It should also act as a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran, instead of taking sides in a destabilising cold war in West Asia.
Rise of civil society The worldwide shift to civil society was catalysed by the mobilisation of people against Stalinist states in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1970s and the 1980s. Citizens turned their back on unresponsive and authoritarian states and formed associations, such as reading clubs and soup kitchens, in a metaphorical space outside the state. This space they called civil society. The power of popular mobilisation was in full view in 1989, when some very powerful states fell like the proverbial house of cards before agitating but peaceful crowds assembled on the streets. And the term civil society came on to everyone’s lips, as a companion concept to democracy. In India, by the late 1970s, the decline of all institutions gave rise to several mass-based political movements and grassroots activism. The anti-caste movement, the struggle for gender justice, the
On the back foot Today, we see the marginalisation of civil society and the sidelining of a rights-based approach to social policy. The Bharatiya Janata Partyled government at the Centre has no use for civil society activism or the politics of dissent. The government, along with the front organisations of the religious right, is determined to take over the political space as well as civil society. The perspective bodes ill for the future
Neera Chandhoke is a former Professor of Political Science at Delhi University
An India-Israel investment treaty would have to reconcile investment protection with the state’s right to regulate
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any pundits in India continue to gaze at the India-Israel relationship through the lens of Palestine. However, some argue that it is critical to dehyphenate India’s relations with Israel and Palestine, a process that began in 1992 when New Delhi established diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and which has gathered steam since then. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel earlier this month made this de-hyphenation blatant and conspicuous.
Enormous trade potential Growing trade and investment relations are a strong reason to study India-Israel relations on their own merit. Bilateral merchandise trade increased from $200 million in 1992 to around $4 billion in 2016, an increase of 2,000% in 25 years. Cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows from Israel, from April 2000 to March 2017, stood at $122 million. While these are low, constituting only 0.04% of total FDI inflows to India, there is enormous
potential for Israeli investment in fields such as renewable energy and water management (drip irrigation and desalination). Defence production, which is at the heart of the ‘Make in India’ campaign, is another area with significant potential for Israeli investment, a move that will help India save billions of dollars it currently spends on importing weapons from Israel. Israel is the third largest supplier of arms to India after Russia and the U.S. Investment in defence production will also give a fillip to domestic manufacturing, reduce dependence on bureaucratic state-owned ordnance factories and bring in new technology — an example being the recently set up plant in Madhya Pradesh, between India’s Punj Lloyd and Israel Weapon Industries, to manufacture small arms. Boosting trade and investment ties found explicit mention in the India-Israel joint statement during Mr. Modi’s visit. To encourage bilateral investments, Mr. Modi and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, also agreed to conduct negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
Negotiating a BIT Is an India-Israel BIT possible? In 1996, India and Israel signed a BIT. However, this was reportedly terminated by India when it unilaterally discontinued 58 BITs recently.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Ending scavenging The basic reason why the despicable practice of manual scavenging still persists in India is because there is negligible or no support by society to eliminate this most inhuman of professions (Editorial – “Get real on Swachh”, July 19). Our society is still deeply mired in propagating caste and religious prejudices; rather than take up the issue in isolation, we need to strike at the root cause — caste prejudice. Raja Ram Mohan Roy said that change should come from society itself. I wonder how this marginalised community will be able to attain some kind of social mobility even with reservation when there is a growing anti-reservation sentiment. We need to do something for them which is sustainable and helps them in achieving a social status on their own. Sandeep Kumar Meena, New Delhi
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CM YK
The focus on civil society dates back to the 1980s, when political scientists began to speak of a ‘crisis of representation’. Citizens across the world had shifted from older and traditional forms of representation, such as political parties and trade unions, to ‘newer’ modes: social movements, informal citizen groups and non-governmental organisations.
of democracy. From 2004 to 2014, civil society organisations came together to press upon the government the right of citizens to social goods. Once laws granting the right to information, to food, and to work had been passed, activists kept watch on acts of omission and commission, and issued citizen reports. Today, social security plans are announced without corresponding mobilisation of, consultation with or intervention of civil society organisations. On the contrary, the government has come down heavily on organisations by blocking their bank accounts, by putting a stop to funding, and by casting aspersions on their ability to represent the people of India. In many instances, non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace have been projected as being antinational. The government has made determined efforts to shrink the space available to civil society. The rather sharp reversal in the political fortunes of civil society compels us to recognise that civil society cannot be conceptualised independently of the state. A democratic state needs a democratic civil society. But a democratic civil society also needs a democratic state; a state that respects the politics of ‘voice’ as opposed to the politics of the ‘vote’. If the government respects the voice of citizens through the grant of the right to freedom of expression and association, it should be enabling civil society to articulate aspirations, critically engage with the state, and issue social report cards. The promises of democracy can only be realised through collective action in civil society. If the state constrains civil society space, democracy is truncated, and citizens are seen only as voters. They are deprived of status.
BITs and pieces of trade with Israel prabhash ranjan
Target Tehran
not be, restricted to just elections. Elections are but the starting point of the democratic project. Citizens have the right to scrutinise the work of their representatives, publicise acts of omission and commission, such as infringement of civil liberties, appropriation of tribal land for purposes of accumulation, failure of governments to provide a reasonable standard of life for the citizens, and engage with leaders on the troubled issue of political conflicts. The right to engage with, interrogate and criticise representatives is an integral part of democracy. Without this right democracy becomes farcical, an empty term, a phantom concept, an illusion. Democracy is ultimately about the rights of the people who vote representatives into power, to speak back to abuse of power. There has been too much emphasis on democracy as elections in India. The heat needs to be taken off elections. We need to be conscious of what happens between elections, given the opacity of government, given its awesome power over the lives and liberties of citizens, and given the propensity of every government to appropriate, accumulate and misuse power. This can be checked, provided we appreciate the competence of ordinary people to participate in political campaigns in civil society.
The only other example I
GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
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he resignation of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati from her Rajya Sabha seat on Tuesday provided the high drama in the opening days of Parliament’s monsoon session. But it was easy to understand why she is giving up the little she has in Parliament in order to raise her political profile. In fact, as he joined other Opposition leaders to line up moral support for her, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad inadvertently highlighted the position of weakness from which she is launching her fightback. He would help get her re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, he said. The BSP, with just 19 seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, does not have sufficient numbers to ensure the former U.P. Chief Minister’s re-election, something she would have needed less than a year from now anyway. But Ms. Mayawati’s fight is not for a seat in the House, it is for her very relevance. Successive elections have confirmed the squeeze. From being presumed to be both the prime ministerial candidate of the Third Front in 2009 and the beneficiary in 2017 of the cracks in the Samajwadi Party and the expected blowback of the Narendra Modi government’s demonetisation exercise, she now finds herself to be little more than an aside. Ms. Mayawati herself gave away her predicament by the choice of issue she sought extra time for on the floor of the House: denial of permission for a Dalit procession in Saharanpur on April 14, B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. If on the one hand the BSP finds the BJP taking away large segments of the Dalit vote, the rise of forces like the Bhim Army in Saharanpur with a more fiery Dalit assertion threatens to leave her behind. The challenge for her is nothing less than crafting the next chapter in the BSP’s evolution. The party had first tasted electoral success under Kanshi Ram’s mentorship, with a call for an alliance of the oppressed, along caste, gender and religious lines, to transform society and politics so that they were not simply accommodated through symbolic handouts — but the world around them progressed rapidly for them to win their rightful political space. This aspiration was worked into his strategy of forcing political instability, so that every churn would give the BSP a shot at expanding its base. The next phase took place on Ms. Mayawati’s watch when she crafted a bottom-up rainbow coalition of Dalits, Muslims and upper castes, and got a full majority in the 2007 State elections. With its skilful rewrite of the holding majoritarian narrative and its organisational aggression, the BJP has cherry-picked from that coalition. So much so that the BSP is in an existential struggle to hold on to its core base. More than any other party, the BSP has relied as much on its organisation as on its modernising message. She needs to refresh both.
neera chandhoke
DEEPAK HARICHANDAN
Mayawati is struggling to be politically relevant and retrieve the viability of the BSP
movement for civil liberties, for a sound environment, and against mega development projects that have displaced thousands of poor tribals and hill dwellers, the movement against child labour, for the right to information, for shelter, for primary education, and for food security have mobilised in civil society. The fact that vital issues related to livelihoods, to the fulfilment of basic needs, and for justice were not taken up by political parties but by civil society organisations acted to propel hopes in civil society as an alternative to the non-performing state and an unresponsive party system. For unlike the Scandinavian experience, in India trade unions are yoked to political parties and represent a minuscule percentage of the workforce. Unions have shown little interest either in the welfare of the unorganised sector which constitutes 94% of the working class, or in the welfare of peasants. And political parties tend to think of social rights as an electoral/populist ploy rather than a basic right of citizens. In the first decade of the 21st century, civil society organisations stepped in to represent the interests of the most deprived and the most marginalised in the country. Mobilisation proved effective, and the enactment of social rights followed a number of civil society campaigns, the filing of Public Interest Litigations in the Supreme Court, and the onset of a new phase of judicial activism.
For a new BIT to be negotiated, both sides will have to start afresh. However, there are challenges given the many fundamental differences Israel and India have on BITs, as outlined in their Model BITs of 2003 and 2016, respectively. The first is on the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision that allows foreign investors to bring claims against a host state for alleged treaty breaches at international arbitral forums. Foreign investors prefer international arbitration — which is faster and independent — over litigating in domestic courts. The Israeli model gives an investor the choice to submit any investment dispute with a state to international arbitration if not resolved within six months through negotiations. The Indian model imposes many procedural and jurisdictional restrictions on an investor’s right to bring an ISDS claim. These include a foreign in-
vestor having to litigate in domestic courts for five years before pursuing a claim under international law. These requirements make it very difficult for a foreign investor to make efficient use of the ISDS provision. Second, Israel’s model provides a broad asset-based definition of foreign investment that covers both FDI and portfolio investment. The Indian model of 2016 defines investment narrowly as an enterprise (with its assets) that has to possess certain characteristics of investment including the investment having ‘significance for the development’ — words not defined in the BIT — of the host country. Third, the Israeli model contains a broad most favoured nation (MFN) provision — a cornerstone of non-discrimination in international economic relations — which is missing in the Indian model. The absence of MFN, from Israel’s perspective, would mean that its businesses would have no remedy under international law if India were to discriminate against it, say, by offering greater incentives to another defence manufacturer over an Israeli one. Fourth, the Indian model excludes taxation altogether from the purview of the BIT. Thus, the foreign investor cannot bring an ISDS claim even if taxes imposed are confiscatory, discriminatory or un-
fair. However, in the Israeli model, taxation-related measures are recognised as an exception only to MFN and national treatment provisions. Foreign investors can still challenge taxation-related measures for violating other BIT provisions such as the fair and equitable treatment or expropriation. India’s recent record in administering its taxation laws has made foreign investors jittery. The World Investment Report 2017 issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development also points out that tax-related concerns are a deterrent for some foreign investors to invest in India. Thus, Israeli investors will not be comfortable if taxation is completely outside BIT’s purview.
In a nutshell In sum, the Indian position on BITs is very pro-state, offering limited rights and protection to foreign investors. The Israeli position is the opposite. An India-Israel BIT looks difficult till both sides move away from their stated positions. Both sides should work towards having a BIT that reconciles investment protection with a state’s right to regulate. Prabhash Ranjan is an Assistant Professor of Law at South Asian University, New Delhi. The views expressed are personal
Letters emailed to
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the community — the latest move being its choice of Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind for the post of President — time seems to be running out for the BSP. Ms. Mayawati’s brand of Dalit empowerment has become a thing of the past. In the name of Dalit memorials, she ‘planted’ her own statues. Instead of building leadership across the Dalit community, she projected herself as the sole leader.
upload the finger/palm prints again. I am sure many face this problem as there are crowds at the few Aadhaar-issuing centres. Glitches in the system should be addressed with alternatives instead of driving people to hardship. Senior citizens are especially inconvenienced.
Calculated move?
K.S. Jayatheertha,
It looks as if the resignation of BSP chief Mayawati from the Rajya Sabha is less about the urgency of Dalit issues being addressed in Parliament and more about the marginalisation of her party in the Hindi heartland (“Mayawati quits RS, says she was muzzled”, July 19). Her calculations: resignation on live television will have a greater impact than a quiet retreat from a House where her term was, in any case, due to end in April 2018. With the BJP eyeing the Dalit vote bank and making efforts to woo
Bengaluru
The Editorial ( July 10), “Divided island”, on the reunification of Cyprus, attempts to shed light on the outcome of the latest round of peace talks on Cyprus, divided since 1974 when Turkish troops invaded, and subsequently occupied, a third of the island in gross disregard of international law and in clear violation of the UN Charter as well as relevant UNSC resolutions. Nonetheless, a number of references and assumptions are misleading. For example, the references to the “Greek Cypriot”, Republic of Cyprus,
can think of, of an equivalent practice in the Victorian era, was when children were used as chimney sweeps. However, the practice was abolished while scavenging continues. The basic problem is a lack of education. There is also something called humanity which is missing in many parts of India. C. Sruthi, Chennai
Aadhaar woes It is strange that the issue of privacy comes up when the Aadhaar programme is quite well-entrenched in many systems (“Aadhaar: 9-judge Bench to consider whether privacy is a basic right”, July 19). I am a senior citizen and have been unable to get a new phone connection as my fingerprints are not recognised by the relevant device at many vendor points. When the matter was referred to the UIDAI, their prompt reply was to
R. Aravamudhan, Chennai
Cyprus reunification
“Turkish Cypriot state” and “Northern Cyprus” are unfortunate. The recent state visit to India by the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Anastasiades, was enlightening enough in so far as India’s principled position on Cyprus is concerned. The essence of the problem is not adequately reflected in the Editorial; that is, Turkey’s objective is not a truly independent Republic of Cyprus, “in control of its affairs”, without interference from third countries. Turkey’s objective is to control Cyprus, hence its insistence “on an indefinite Turkish military presence on the island.” This was the reason
voters were reluctant to accept similar demands under the 2004 Annan Plan and one of the major stumbling blocks in the latest round of negotiations. I would like to reaffirm the commitment of the Government of Cyprus to reaching a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem within the framework of the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, the Good Offices Mission of the UN Secretary General, and international law. Michalis Hadjikyrou, Chargé d’ Affaires a.i., Cyprus High Commission, New Delhi
more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
corrections & clarifications: In “Get real on Swachh” (Editorial, July 19, 2017), the last sentence in the first paragraph should have read: “This is incongruous, ..., and the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ..., to which the public was contributing a cess.” The graphic, “Doubling down on renewables” (Data Point, OpEd page, July 17, 2017), erroneously said that China nearly tripled its renewable energy capacity in the last decade. Actually, it was nearly four times. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300; E-mail:
[email protected] A ND-NDE
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THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017
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Think beyond loan waivers Strengthening the repayment capacity of farmers by improving and stabilising their income is the only way to keep them out of distress other developmental activities would create a base for future growth and development of the sector. It appears that loan waiving can provide a short-term relief to a limited section of farmers; it has a meagre chance of bringing farmers out of the vicious cycle of indebtedness. There is no concrete evidence on reduction in agrarian distress following the first spell of all-India farm loan waiver in 2008. In the longer run, strengthening the repayment capacity of the farmers by improving and stabilising their income is the only way to keep them out of distress.
Ramesh Chand S.K. Srivastava Indian agriculture is characterised by low scale and low productivity. About 85% of the operational landholdings in the country are below 5 acres and 67% farm households survive on an average landholding of one acre. More than half of the area under cultivation does not have access to irrigation. Agriculture income generated at average size of landholding is not adequate to meet farmers’ needs. The problem is exacerbated by weather and market risks. According to the latest National Sample Survey on Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households (NSS-SAS), 13.9% farm households experienced negative return from crop production during 2012-13. Non-farm income comprised 40% of the income of farm households, but access to non-farm sources of income is highly skewed as about 40% of farm households reported zero income from such sources.
Increasing debt burden Modern agriculture requires investment in farm machinery and use of purchased inputs like seed, fertiliser, agri-chemicals, diesel and hired labour. Most often, savings generated from unremunerative crop enterprise are inadequate for such investments. Rising expenses on health, education, social ceremonies and non-food items put additional financial demand on farm families. Consequently, majority of the farmers have to take loans from institutional or non-institutional sources or both. The share of institutional loans disbursed during a year to agriculture and allied sectors has risen from 8.9% of the value of output in 200001 to 31.4% in 2015-16. The amount of short-term institutional loans for agriculture exceeds the total cost of inputs including hired labour at an all-India level and in many States. This indicates that a part of crop loans is likely spent on non-agricultural purposes. A more worrisome fact out of NSS surveys on Investment and Debt (NSS-I&D) is that the loans taken by cultivators from non-institutional sources,
Valuing the produce: A farmer carrying his harvested paddy on a buffalo cart in Mayong village in Morigaon district, Assam. RITU RAJ KONWAR *
which involve high interest rate, is rising faster than from institutional sources. These indicators point to a worrying development — much of the growth in household demand in rural India has been debt-ridden and not supported by growth in income. Recently a few States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka have responded to farm distress by rolling out farm loan waiver schemes as a measure of immediate relief to those farmers who qualify certain criteria. The demand for such measures is spreading to other States too. The ultimate goal of farm loan waiver is to lessen the debt burden of distressed and vulnerable farmers and help them qualify for fresh loans. The success of the loan waiver lies on the extent to which the benefits reach the needy farmers. Loan waivers suffer from several drawbacks in this respect. First, it covers only a tiny fraction of farmers. According to 2012-13 NSS-SAS, 48% of the agricultural households did not have any outstanding loan. Further, out of the indebted agricultural households, about 39% borrowed only from non-institutional sources. The farmers investing from their own savings and those borrowing from non-institutional sources are equally vulnerable to weather and market risks. But all such households are outside the purview of loan waiver. Second, it provides only a partial relief to the indebted farmers as about half of the institutional borrowing of a cultivator is for non-farm purposes. Third, in many cases, one household has multiple loans either from different sources or in the name of different family members, which
entitles it to multiple loan waiving. Fourth, loan waiving excludes agricultural labourers who are even weaker than cultivators in bearing the consequences of economic distress. Fifth, it severely erodes the credit culture, with dire long-run consequences to the banking business. Sixth, the scheme is prone to serious exclusion and inclusion errors, as evidenced by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) findings in the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008. According to the CAG report, 13.46% of the accounts which were actually eligible for the benefits under the scheme were not considered by the lending institutes while preparing the list of eligible farmers. On the other hand, in 8.5% of the cases, the beneficiaries were not eligible for either debt waiver or debt relief but were granted the benefits. Further, 34.28% of the beneficiaries were not issued debt relief certificates which would have entitled them to fresh loans. Beside these errors in implementation, the loan waiver as a concept excludes most of the farm households in dire need of relief and includes some who do not deserve such relief on economic grounds. Apart from above drawbacks, such schemes have serious implications for other developmental expenditure, having a much larger multiplier effect on the economy. For instance, loan waiver may cost Uttar Pradesh at least ₹36,000 crore, which is 4.4 times the State’s capital expenditure of ₹8,191 crore (Budget estimate) in agriculture, including irrigation and flood management, in 2016-17. A similar amount spent on improvement of agriculture infrastructure and
Sustainable solutions For providing immediate relief to the needy farmers, a more inclusive alternative approach is to identify the vulnerable farmers’ based on certain criteria and give an equal amount as financial relief to the vulnerable and distressed families. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh 23.2% (41.87 lakh) agricultural households (180.49 lakh) are estimated to have income below poverty line. With ₹36,000 crore, each of these households can be given ₹85,980. This looks to be a more inclusive approach and provides farmers flexibility to spend this money. In our view, the sustainable solution to indebtedness and agrarian distress is to raise income from agricultural activities and enhance access to non-farm sources of income. The low scale of farms necessitates that some cultivators move from agriculture to non-farm jobs. Improved technology, expansion of irrigation coverage, and crop diversification towards high-value crops are appropriate measures for raising productivity and farmers’ income. All these require more public funding and support and there is a danger of these getting adversely affected by resources diverted towards loan waiver. Another major source of increase in farmers’ income is remunerative prices for farm produce. This requires removal of old regulations and restrictions on agriculture to enable creation of a liberalised environment for investment, trading and marketing. Agrarian distress and farmers’ income will be addressed much better if States undertake and sincerely implement long-pending reforms in the agriculture sector with urgency. Ramesh Chand is Member and S.K. Srivastava an Agricultural Economist with the NITI Aayog. Views expressed are personal
Conserving water, the ancient way Tamil Nadu’s temple inscriptions provide some handy drought-management advice formations like eris (small lakes) and per-eris (bigger lakes). Channels created square parcels of lands called sadirams and they were subdivided into smaller padagams of land, all of which had numbers. There were as many as 20-24 padagams in a sadiram. They were taxed differently based on how fertile they were — a system far more complex and farmer-friendly than today!
Pradeep Chakravarthy Can droughts experienced centuries ago teach us ways to handle the present ones? They can if we care to look in the right place — for instance, the walls of temples in Tamil Nadu. Temples today are primarily religious monuments, occasionally visited for their art and architecture. However, in the past, their walls served as record-keepers. Inscriptions on Tamil Nadu’s temples record administrative and social decisions from a time when they were a seat of authority for the local community. Inscriptions connected to irrigation in Tamil Nadu concern two broad zones, the Cauvery delta and the Tamirabarani delta. The Cauvery delta was more fertile and larger — with more tributaries — but the number of drought-related inscriptions here are more in number than the Tamirabarani delta. About 1,000 years ago, during the zenith of the Chola power, irrigation in the Cauvery delta was through the many tributaries of the river and smaller canals.
Reverence for the resource The Tamirabarani region was much more water-starved and gives us astonishing data on what we need to do. Inscriptions from 700-1,000 years ago, connected to water conservation in temples at places like Mannarkovil, Cheranmahadevi, Tirukurungudi, Kovilpatti, and Pudukkottai, attest to a few aspects. Temple inscriptions were always documents connected with the sale, transfer and maintenance of irrigated lands. Today, we consider water to be a right. However, in the older traditions, it was a representation of god that residents were duty-bound to protect and conserve. Further, the respect for water transcended the public sphere and was part of individual homes as well. As recently as the 1970s, I remember older women drawing water from the wells pouring the first pot back into them. In the Pandya empire, water conservation was a completely local affair. The entire community, through the elected temple mahasabha, managed it. This meant that there was constant supervision, ownership and responsibility. All systems and processes were sustained through an emotional connection with the resource. Water from the Tamirabarani and the Vaigai rivers was taken through channels into
Care for the local terrain Every tank had multiple weirs, always built in consonance with the local terrain, to drain out excess water. Using these, farmers irrigated the fields. There were complex calculations on allocation by turns (murai) and hours of supply (nir naligai). The interests of the boatmen in the lower estuaries and ports were also taken care of so that there was enough water there to permit them to bring boats up the river. The upper reaches had a higher number of large tanks which fed water into the smaller ones, tanks and ponds before it finally drained into the sea. As a result, during floods, the limits were rarely breached, and during droughts, each tank had water. Maintenance of the tanks through desilting and enlargement and building and maintaining of new canals was a continuous process. More than a hundred inscriptions across the region deal exclusively with this. Fishing rights for the lakes helped defray maintenance costs. Revenues were high enough for the excess profits to be deployed in building larger halls in temples that could be used for public functions. In Srivilliputhur, every able-bodied man was expected to participate in such operations. Some inscriptions show that maintenance was a local responsibility and not that of the king. In fact, many capital-intensive projects were funded by the dancing women of temples. Many inscriptions also talk of reclaimed lands and tax concessions provided following natural disasters and how, after a disaster, the community quickly acted together to set the system right. True, the inscriptions don’t paint a utopian world. They talk about disputes related to water sharing and taxes; deaths that happened during desilting; and fights over excess water for more rounds of crops. However, these disputes were quickly resolved and in a way that the river or tank was respected. Today, we may have advanced in technology but we could pick some best practices from long ago. Pradeep Chakravarthy, who is based in Chennai, runs a heritage tour company and does management consulting
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Plastic realities
FIFTY YEARS AGO JULY 20, 1967
We need to urgently and drastically cut the use of plastics
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. D.P. Mishra told Pressmen here [Bhopal] to-day [ July 19] that he would advise the Governor to dissolve the legislature and hold mid-term elections in Madhya Pradesh. He made this announcement soon after 36 Congressmen had crossed the floor in the State Legislative Assembly and joined the Opposition. Mr. B. Verma, one of those who defected, announced the list of the 36 members while the House began discussion on the demand on Education Department after lunch hour to-day [ July 19]. Two of the 36 members later contradicted that they had defected from the Congress ranks. Talking to newsmen the Chief Minister said that he would have to assess the impact of the defections and find out whether the signatures of the defectors were “genuine”.
36 Congressmen cross floor in M.P.
Samir Nazareth
UPI.COM
Plastics had their origin in cellulose derivatives. The first synthetic plastic was called bakelite and was derived from fossil fuels. During the Second World War, large-scale production of plastic was directed towards the war effort. However, with the declaration of peace, there was a need to do something about the installed capacity. And so, in 1946, Tupperware company came into being. At present, the use of plastic has become so ubiquitous that even birds, animals and fish have unwittingly made it part of their diet. Disposed plastic degrades slowly, its chemicals getting leached into surroundings. Further, it breaks down into smaller components over time, entering our food chain and landing up on our plates. According to a 2014 report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “the overall natural capital cost of plastic use in the consumer goods sector each year is $75 billion”. This will only go up with the rising consumerism and the increasing use of plastic. According to a recent article in The Guardian, a million plastic bottles are bought across the world every minute. However, plastic bottles are not the only problem. There are smaller forms of plastic, no greater in size than 5 mm, called microbeads, first patented in 1972 for use in cleansers. In the 1990s, they began to replace natural material like ground almonds, oatmeal and sea salt in the area of cosmetics. Many cosmetics and toiletry products — ranging from facewashes to toothpastes — use it today. Their abrasive nature lends itself to use in industries such as petroleum, textiles, printing and automobile. An article in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin states that the microbeads are used as exfoliants and that, in a 150-ml bottle, there will be anywhere between 1,37,000 and 28,00,000 microparticles. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has recently classified the non-biodegradable microbeads as unsafe for use in consumer products through a draft notification titled, “Classification for cosmetic raw materials and adjuncts, Part 2: List of raw materials generally not recognised as safe for use in cosmetics.” Countries such as the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands have already put in place regulations to stop the use of microbeads in personal-care products. The sooner India adopts such regulations, the better. The use of plastic in our daily life should be reduced even as their recycling is increased. This has to involve everyone, from the manufacturer to the user to the waste collector and the recycling authority. We as a society need to create an ecosystem that reduces the use of plastic and prevents its escape into the external environment. Samir Nazareth is the author of ‘1400 Bananas, 76 Towns & 1 Million People’
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ARCHIVES
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO
JULY 20, 1917
Alleged murder. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
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CONCEPTUAL
FAQ
Money illusion
A raging market
Economics The notion that people care more about the nominal value of money rather than its real value. According to this idea, workers, for instance, would be impressed if their wages double in a year even if the real value of their money were to drop by more than half during the same period. The concept, credited to British economist John Maynard Keynes, has been heavily criticised for its assumption that people are naïve. The theory of rational expectations, which among other things states that people learn from experience and can reset their earlier beliefs, was a response to the idea of money illusion.
The present bull run is due to the inflow of big capital Prashanth Perumal Why is the stock market doing so well? The BSE
Sensex and the NSE Nifty are at record high levels, gaining well over 20% this year. The Indian economy’s high growth rate has been touted as the major reason behind the rally. The belief is that high economic growth should lead to higher earnings, thus supporting higher stock prices. But other stock markets across the globe have experienced equally impressive gains. So the present bull run could be better explained by the flow of huge capital into the stock market. How is liquidity affecting the market? Central banks
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When Madras State was renamed ‘Tamil Nadu’ http://bit.ly/MadrastoTN
around the globe have been on a money-printing spree since the crisis of 2007-08, which has distorted the prices of financial securities. New money pouring into the capital markets has bid up the prices of various securities, including bonds and stocks. In such an environ-
ment, risk-averse investors unwilling to pay a high price have been priced out of the market. At the same time, risk-seeking investors who are ready to pay through their nose have remained in the market. Is the market overpriced at current levels? Corporate
earnings and interest rates determine the price of stocks in the long run. Prices fall if they are out of touch with either of these fundamentals. On the earnings front, the Sensex’s price-to-earnings ratio based on trailing earnings is close to 23, higher than its historical average of around 18. Given that earnings growth has been flat in recent years, it may be premature to justify current prices based even on future earnings growth. On the front of interest rates, low rates have been the only reason justifying current stock prices, but whether they can stay low forever is the big question.
What are the riskiest stocks? Mid-cap and small-
cap stocks have seen a greater percentage increase in their prices, thanks to investors aggressively pricing in future earnings growth. If future earnings fail to keep up with expectations, already factored into their prices, we could see a sharp fall in their prices.
News of a sensational murder of a European spread through the town [Palghat] early on Tuesday morning. It would appear that one Charles Alexander, formerly employed as a Guard in the South Indian Railway Company and now according to a statement he had made before Sub-Collector, Mr. Percy Macqueen, I.C.S., a fireman on board a Casting Steamer arrived in Palghat on Monday morning by mail train. He represented to the Sub Collector in the noon that he had missed his steamer at Madras and was now on his way to join the vessel at the Mangalore Port. The story on the face of it seemed improbable, but having been stranded penniless, the Sub-Collector gave him under the Vagrant Act some money for his food and arranged for his ticket to Mangalore by the train leaving Palghat that night.
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DATA POINT
There is significant risk involved here as many of these companies lack a strong track record of sustainable earnings, which increases the chances of an earnings surprise in the future. Is a serious crash imminent? It is hard to
predict the market’s next move. Corporate earnings have failed to recover sufficiently to keep up with rising prices, so that is one major risk. A rise in interest rates is another risk, as when central banks stop pouring money into the market, it could affect stock prices adversely. A ND-NDE
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10 NEWS
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017
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FROM PAGE ONE
Can privacy be an absolute right: SC Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, who opened the arguments for the petitioners, said that the constitutional right to privacy does not mean mere protection from the state’s ingress. “The right to liberty means the right to make personal choices, the right to develop one’s personality, one’s aura, one’s thinking and actions, the freedom of religion and conscience, the freedom to believe or not believe. For all this, one needs privacy. ,” Mr. Subramanium submitted.
Aadhaar info on websites Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Nearly 210 government websites were found to be displaying personal information, including Aadhaar number, the government said on Wednesday. The UIDAI was regularly monitoring them to get data removed. There had been no leakage. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Buffalo meat exports fall 4.35% in April-May “During the previous year 2016-17 (April to May), the buffalo export was $554 million whereas during the current year export was noticed to $530 million for the same period.” The data provided by Ms. Sitharaman shows, however, that buffalo meat exports have been declining for some time now. The total amount of buffalo meat exported during 2016-17 was 1,330,753 million tonnes, down 11.5%
from the amount exported two years previously. This trend of declining exports is consistent with what is seen for other meat as well. Sheep and goat meat exports fell from 23,612 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 22,049 million tonnes in 2016-17. Similarly, exports of ‘other meat’ declined to just 12 million tonnes in 2016-17 period from 262 million tonnes.
Backing for draft law against lynching Those who attended the meeting at the Constitution Club on Wednesday included the Congress’s Digvijaya Singh, Salman Khurshid and Shashi Tharoor, the CPI (M)’s M.B. Rajesh, the AAP’s Sanjay Singh, the RJD’s Manoj Jha and the JD(U)’s Pavan Verma. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Digvijaya Singh said: “The time has come for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go beyond words
and take concrete steps to stop this mob violence.” Mr. Rajesh said it was a pity that there was a need for a law against mob lynching. “Lynching survives because of impunity,” Mr. Tharoor said, “because mobs feel they can get away with it and very few perpetrators of such crimes are even apprehended, prosecuted or punished. That is why we need a law and I support MASUKA.”
12 to 15 Indians fought with IS: Iraq envoy “We feel that some of the Indian fighters might have escaped and returned home in the way many foreign fighters returned home in Europe,” he said. The Ambassador said India had extended humanitarian and military support during the campaign to free Mosul, but the Iraqi government was taking time to consider the offer. Mr. Al Issa, however, said Iraq needed military support and urged India to collaborate with his nation to
defeat the IS. “The victory of Iraq in Mosul is a victory for India. A stable Iraq will mean a stable and strong India,” he said. India had extended light military equipment and medical support and offered to train Iraqi forces, the Ambassador said, maintaining that the issues were under discussion. Mr. Al Issa also indicated that Iraq had no idea of what had happened to the 39 Indians kidnapped by the IS in Mosul in 2014.
Zeliang sworn in Nagaland Chief Minister “The expulsion from the party does not affect the membership of the House,” he said. He was appointed shortly after Mr. Liezietsu and his supporters failed to turn up in the Assembly to face the floor test, following which the House was adjourned sine die. Mr. Zeliang was administered the oath of office and
secrecy by the Governor at a function in the Raj Bhavan in the presence of Speaker Imtiwapang Aier, 35 NPF MLAs, seven Independents, four BJP MLAs and BJP State president Visasolie Lhoungu. He told journalists that he would prove his majority on July 21. The Governor has directed him to go for the floor test by July 22.
India hit by 34 ransomware attacks, Minister tells LS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI
A total of 34 incidents of infections from the two global ransomware attacks, WannaCry and Petya, were reported to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) by organisations and individuals, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. “Remedial measures to contain the damage and prevent such incidents have been advised by CERT-In,” Minister of State for Electronics and IT, P.P. Chaudhary, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. WannaCry and Petya inCM YK
fected thousands of computers worldwide in May and June, respectively. The attackers in both cases had sought about $300 in Bitcoin as ransom. Ransomware is a type of malicious software that infects a computer and restricts users’ access to affected files by encrypting them until a ransom is paid to unlock it. Asked if the government planned to amend the existing regulations, the Minister replied in the negative. “At present, there is no proposal with the government to amend the Information Technology Act, 2000.”
GST will expand tax net, says Jaitley Finance Minister tells BJP MPs that the new initiative will bring down prices of various goods
Kurien urges Mayawati not to quit
Special Correspondent
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
NEW DELHI
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday briefed BJP MPs on the benefits of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, stating that it would expand the tax net, bring down “Inspector Raj” and cut prices of goods. He was making a presentation on GST for the parliamentary party group, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His was, however, not the only presentation at the weekly meeting of BJP MPs (when Parliament is in session).
Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati must reconsider her decision to resign from the Upper House, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien said on Wednesday. “None of us, especially me, are happy about what happened. I always allow more time to her, and we all respect her as a very senior leader. It was a communication gap, a misunderstanding ... there’s no feeling against her. The House will ask her to reconsider the decision, I have no doubt about that,” he said. Various sections of the House, including Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Tapan Sen of the CPI (M), made the request. Following this, Mr. Kurien said: “It is the desire of the House that she should take back her [resignation] letter.”
Foreign affairs Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj briefed party MPs on Mr. Modi’s recent foreign trips, especially to the United States and Israel. “The Minister made special reference to the warmth Prime Minister Modi’s visit was accorded in Israel, and how Israeli Prime Minister
Owaisi brings Bill on mob violence Nistula Hebbar
Talking point: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley during the BJP parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi. R. V. MOORTHY *
Benjamin Netanyahu accompanied him to almost all his public engagements,” said an MP who attended the meet. On China, the Minister did not say much except that the
government had briefed all parties on the mater. Mr. Jaitley said the prices of goods had come down between 4% and 8% since the GST rollout on July 1.
He said more than one crore firms would be migrating to the new tax regime against around 80 lakh companies earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Ku-
mar quoted Mr. Jaitley as saying. Meanwhile, BJP MPs were also asked to attend the proceeding of the Houses regularly.
You were not voted to shoot farmers: Scindia
House resumes after SP leader apologises
‘When govt. kills instead of protecting, where is democracy?’
Special Correspondent
Uproar over MP’s remark on Hindu gods
NEW DELHI
Asaduddin Owaisi, MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief, has sent notice for a private members Bill in the Lok Sabha to combat mob violence, with sections to award a minimum 10 years’ imprisonment to public servants for “acts of omission”. “The Bill criminalises mob violence as well as acts of omission by public servants. As we have seen in the Pehlu Khan case, two of the accused have not been arrested yet. There is similar slowing of investigations when the media spotlight is taken away from such incidents,” Mr. Owaisi told The Hindu. “Unless there are measures that call public servants to account, the sincerity of investigation will be contingent on public uproar, popular demand and political expediency.” The Bill proposes special courts for trying cases of mob violence, with judges appointed by a collegium of five senior-most High Court judges. These courts will receive complaints of mob violence, set up special investigation teams and appoint public prosecutors. The SIT and public prosecutor will also be under Supreme Court supervision. Punishment up to life imprisonment, special compensation and witness protection are built into the Bill. The most significant clause, however, is the award of penalties to public servants when such cases are not properly investigated, either due to malafide intentions or wilful neglect. Mob violence include any act in which two or more persons injure, harm, oppress or threaten a person on the basis of his identity or prevent his enjoyment of a Constitutional right.
NEW DELHI
Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan they had full faith that things would improve and withdrew,” he said. “Some politicians not getting political traction anywhere decided to stoke violence.
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The death of six farmers in police action during a farmers’ agitation in Mandsaur of Madhya Pradesh early in June emerged as a key theme in the discussion on the agrarian situation in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia attacking the State government and Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar mounting a stout defence of it. “You were not voted to power to shoot farmers. When the government kills instead of protecting, where is democracy,” asked Mr. Scindia, initiating the discussion. Mr. Tomar hailed the Shiv-
Jyotiraditya Scindia
raj Singh Chouhan government as the “most profarmer government in India”. “Due to certain circumstances, prices for crops fell below expectations. Farmers came out to agitate but upon having their grievances addressed by
Adjournment sought Several Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha gave notices under Rule 267 seeking an adjournment to discuss the agrarian crisis. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien, however, said a discussion had been accepted and members could raise their concerns during the proceedings. Demanding a debate, Janata Dal(U) leader Sharad Yadav said 15 to 20 farmers were committing suicide every day.
A remark by Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal on some Hindu gods led to an uproar in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, forcing two adjournments. The Treasury benches sought an apology from him for hurting religious sentiments. It was only after Mr. Agarwal expressed regret that the House could resume discussion on the spate of lynchings in recent times. “You have not realised the gravity of what he has said. He has linked every Hindu god to a brand of alcohol,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Deputy Chairperson P.J. Kurien. The turning to Mr. Agrawal, Mr. Jaitley said:
New social security net planned Scheme will provide universal coverage to workers in formal, informal sectors Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Union government plans to introduce a universal social security network for workers in both the informal and formal sectors. The scheme will be rolled out in a phased manner, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Amnesty scheme To a question, Mr. Dattatreya said that after demonetisation, the Ministry had started an enrolment campaign, and from January 1 to June 30, the government brought in an amnesty scheme for employers who were earlier not part of the Provident Fund regime. During the exercise, the workers employed from April 2009 to December 2016 were also included.
Bandaru Dattatreya More than 1.3 crore new workers were brought under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) regime. Mr. Dattatreya said 20 lakh new employees were included as part of the amnesty scheme and 80 lakh contract labourers, including construction workers and those engaged by the public sector units at the Centre and the States, were
also registered. The Labour Minister said the EPF security network currently covered 4.8 crore contributory members and had a corpus of over ₹10.43 lakh crore. However, some members including Sanjay Seth and Naresh Agarwal (SP) were not satisfied with the Minister’s reply to a question about a proposal to lower the employee’s and the employer’s contribution from the present 12% to 10%. It was opposed in the 218th meeting and therefore, the government could not make any decision on that, Anil Desai said.
IT sector Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu raised the issue of IT sector employees, stating that there was no superannuation fund in the country and EPF alone
was the support for the employees who were retiring or getting terminated. “Take any cosmopolitan city, services of thousands of IT employees are being terminated. As the Labour Ministry is not having any control over IT companies and multinational corporates, what is the measure that the Labour Ministry is intending to do to the Employees’ Provident Fund to protect the IT sector employees..,” he asked. Mr. Dattatreya said the law might confine to wages of those who had got a ceiling of ₹15,000, for that EPFO eligibility would be there. Apart from that, the government would provide social security to IT workers and also IT employers. Loan, PF, Pension, everything would be protected under wages’ safeguards.
U.S. blames Pakistan for going soft on Lashkar and Jaish
IIITs now Institutes of National Importance
But says it was an important counter-terrorism partner last year
Lok Sabha has cleared the Bill
Varghese K. George Washington
Counter-terrorism cooperation between India and the U.S. deepened in 2016, the State Department’s annual ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’ released on Wednesday said. The report said the “Indian leadership expressed resolve to redouble efforts, in cooperation with the United States and other likeminded countries, to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorism.” It said Pakistan remained “an important counter-terrorism partner” last year, but it did not take sufficient action against groups that target India and Afghanistan. “The Pakistani military
India welcomes U.S. report Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
India welcomed the U.S. State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism that pointed out Pakistan’s failure to curb anti-India groups. Sources said it vindicated India’s stand. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
and security forces undertook operations against groups that conducted attacks within Pakistan such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan did not take sub-
stantial action against the Afghan Taliban or Haqqani Network, or substantially limit their ability to threaten U.S. interests in Afghanistan, although Pakistan supported efforts to bring both groups into an Afghan-led peace process,” the report said.
Pakistan’s inaction “Pakistan did not take sufficient action against other externally focused groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in 2016, which continued to operate, train, organize, and fundraise in Pakistan.” The report said India and the U.S. pledged to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats.
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a Bill to declare the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) established under the public-private partnership (PPP) route as Institutes of National Importance (INIs). During the discussion before the passage of the Bill, Minister of Human Resource Development (MoHRD) Prakash Javadekar said that as PPP did not mean there would be fee hikes. He said fees were not the only source of revenue for these institutions, and they would raise funds also from research grants and projects. “There might be a slight
Prakash Javadekar increase for those who have the capacity to bear. But for the poor [students], there will be scholarships,” he added. He also cautioned against resistance to the PPP model, saying much investment was required to make education competitive for increasing employability.
“You would be liable for prosecution had you said this outside. Would you show the audacity to say this in relation to any other religion?”
Remarks expunged After adjourning the House to examine the records, Mr. Kurien concluded that the statement was “per se derogatory and hurt the sentiments of the majority community and god as it is believed.” Though he expunged Mr. Agrawal’s comments, the Treasury benches did not rest till he expressed regret. Congress leader Anand Sharma pointed to the example of a Minister making “derogatory” remarks about Goddess Durga in the same House last year.
T.N. MPs join hands on NEET issue Special Correspondent New Delhi
The Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu buried political differences on Wednesday and together demanded permanent exemption for State students from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), alleging discrimination in the pattern of the medical admission test. Union Human Resource Minister Prakash Javadekar said the government had taken note of the issues raised by the members. However, the matter was sub judice.
Upheld by SC: Nadda Health Minister J.P. Nadda said the Supreme Court had upheld the entrance test and all political parties had accepted it. Exemption was given to the students last year, but the test had already been conducted this year, he said. Mr. Nadda said the government had given its views on the legislation passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly for granting exemption, and now it was up to the President to decide the matter. Earlier, AIADMK and DMK members gathered in the Well of the House demanding exemption. A.K. Selvaraj of the AIADMK said the Assembly had passed the legislation, but the President had not given his assent to it so far. Alleging bias, Mr. Selvaraj said 98% of the students followed the State syllabus, but the test was conducted on the Central Board of Secondary Education pattern. AIADMK member A. Navaneethakrishnan alleged that while tough questions were given to students from the southern States, those from the north got easy ones. A ND-NDE
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China shows zero tolerance to ‘sovereignty’ threats The latest posturing is in line with its stand on areas of hypersensitivity — Tibet, Taiwan and South China Sea Atul Aneja BEIJING
China’s insistence on the withdrawal of Indian troops from the Doklam plateau as a precondition for negotiations is consistent with its position on Tibet, Taiwan or the South China Sea — areas of hyper-sensitivity where Beijing perceives that its “territorial sovereignty” is at stake. While India’s alleged incursion into Chinese territory has grabbed headlines, the Chinese Foreign Ministry over the past week has adopted a similar unbending position on Tibet, embodied in the proposed visit of the Dalai Lama to Botswana, as well as the moves by the United States to reopen naval port calls with Taiwan. Predictably, Indonesia’s cartographic dalliance, by renaming a portion of the South China Sea as North Natuna Sea, has also drawn Beijing’s ire.
Dalai Lama issue Asked to comment on Botswana’s invitation to Dalai Lama next month, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned on Friday that the government in Gaborone must “correct” its decision. “The 14th Dalai is a political exile who has long been engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion with the attempt to split Tibet from China. China is firmly opposed to Dalai’s trip to any country for activities aimed at splitting China in any capacity or
name, and contact with any official in any form in any country,” said Geng Shuang, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson. “China’s stance is clear. We hope relevant country can see clear the nature of Dalai, faithfully respect China’s core concern and make correct decision on the relevant issue.” Last year, Mongolia’s decision to welcome the Dalai Lama in Ulan Bator resulted in Bejing’s decision to impose stringent trade restrictions on its unequal neigh-
hope relevant < > We country can see clear the nature of Dalai, faithfully respect China’s core concern ... Geng Shuang China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson
bour. Earlier this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mongolia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsend Munkh-Orgil on telephone that the Tibetan leader’s “furtive visit to Mongolia brought a negative impact to China-Mongolia relations.” He added: “We hope that Mongolia has taken this lesson to heart.”
U.S. criticised China perceives any encouragement to the Dalai Lama by foreign powers or military or political support to Taiwan as a challenge to its “One China” policy — a clear and unambiguous no-go area. Consequently, Beijing had frowned on remarks by
Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh questioning the One-China policy during the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh in April. Unsurprisingly, China slammed the United States on Monday, following the passage of the National Defense Authorisation Act for Fiscal Year 2018 by the House of Congress, which asks the U.S. Defence Secretary to look into the feasibility of re-establishing port calls between the U.S. and Taiwanese navies. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang went ballistic in his response to question related to Washington’s move. “Relevant contents go against the One China policy of the U.S. and the principles of the three joint communiqués between China and the U.S. and interfere in China’s domestic affairs.”
U.S. presses India, China for talks PRESS TRUST OF INDIA WASHINGTON
Prickly issue: A file photo of Indian workers erecting a barbed wire fence along the India-China border at Nathu La, 55 km north of Gangtok. REUTERS *
‘Raised Mansarovar with China’ Press Trust of India
Indonesia’s move China has also raised the red flag on Indonesia’s decision to issue a new official map renaming a part of the South China Sea (SCS) as the North Natuna Sea. The map apparently intersects a part of the Nine-Dash line, which defines China’s maritime boundary in the SCS, thus rejecting Beijing’s “sovereignty” in the entire area. On July 14, Mr. Geng said he hoped that the “relevant country can work with China for the shared goal and jointly uphold the current hard-won sound situation in the South China Sea.”
New Delhi
The government has engaged with China on the issue of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via the Nathu La route, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Replying to a written question, Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh said the route for the yatra via Nathu La Pass in Sikkim became operational in 2015 on the basis of an MoU signed in 2014. “This year, the yatra via the Nathu La has been deferred after the Chinese government cited unfavourable conditions to ensure the smooth conduct of the yatra. The government is engaged with the Chinese government on this matter,” he said. Hence, pilgrims are going to Mansarovar through the Lipulekh pass in Uttarakhand.
India facing big threat from China: Mulayam Chinese activity in PoK must be opposed, says SP leader Special Correspondent New Delhi
Samajwadi Party leader and former Defence Minister Mulayam Singh, speaking in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said, “India is today facing a big threat from China. I have been cautioning the Central government for many years. None paid attention. China has joined hands with Pakistan. It has made a full preparation to attack India. China is India’s biggest opponent. What has the gov-
IN BRIEF
ernment done?” “In Kashmir, the Chinese Army has allied with the Pakistani Army,” he pointed out. Mr. Yadav said Chinese soldiers were seen in Pakistani military facilities in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir where China was building roads, too. This must be opposed at the diplomatic level. “We have come to know that China has buried ‘atom bombs’ in Pakistan in order to... prepare to attack India,” and Indian intelli-
gence agencies “would know better,” he said. Without naming Jawaharlal Nehru, he said the Congress stalwart made a “big mistake” on the Tibet issue. Tibetan leaders like the Dalai Lama had always supported India, and the time had come for India to support Tibetan independence. “Tibet has been a traditional buffer between the two big nations, and India should give maximum support to the Dalai Lama.”
India and China should work together to come up with “some better sort of arrangement” for peace, the U.S. said on Wednesday, expressing concern over the military stand-off in the Sikkim sector. Chinese and Indian soldiers have been locked in a face-off at Doklam for over a month after Indian troops stopped the Chinese from building a road in the disputed area. “I know that the U.S. is concerned about the situation there,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at her daily news conference. “We believe both sides should work together to come up with some better sort of arrangement for peace,” she said. Expressing concern over the People’s Liberation
will continue to < > We develop capabilities to counter China’s improving military capabilities General Paul Selva Vice-Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Army’s growing assertiveness in the strategic Asia-Pacific region, a top U.S. commander said that China was exploiting its economic leverage to advance its regional political objectives. The modernisation of the PLA emphasises the development of capabilities with the potential to degrade core U.S. military-technological advantages, General Paul Selva of the U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday. His comments came in re-
Heather Nauert
*
U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
sponse to questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee which considers his nomination for reconfirmation as Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “As China’s military modernisation continues, the U.S. and its allies and partners will continue to be challenged to balance China’s influence,” Gen. Selva said.
Security network Noting that a long-term, sustained presence would be critical to demonstrating the U.S. commitment to the Asia Pacific region, Gen. Selva said the U.S. would continue to develop a security network through multilateral partnerships. “We will continue to develop capabilities to counter China’s improving military capabilities.” Gen. Selva said China’s leaders remained focussed on developing the capabilities to increase the country’s regional influence and to counter any third-party intervention, including by the U.S., during a conflict. “China’s growing military is being designed and postured to be able to protect its interests both in the AsiaPacific region and abroad.”
‘No troop mobilisation by China on the border’ Dinakar Peri NEW DELHI
China has not done any major troop mobilisation close to the border, senior sources in the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. In the last two days, a couple of videos circulated in the media showing massive exercises by the People’s Liberation Army. The Chinese media reported a huge mobilisation of re-
sources amid the stand-off in Doklam. PLA Daily, the official mouthpiece of Chinese military, reported on Wednesday that the Chinese Army had moved tens of thousands of tonnes of military vehicles and hardware to a region south of the Kunlun Mountains in northern Tibet late last month. The Indian Defence Min-
efforts < > Diplomatic under way to end the stand-off S. Jaishankar Foreign Secretary
istry sources said there was a general state of alert, but no major movement of troops. “The exercise in the video is a routine annual exercise that took place in early June... It took place near
Lhasa in Tibet, 700 km from the border...,” a source said. Army sources last week ruled out any flag meeting between commanders to end the stalemate as the issue was being discussed at the highest level. Briefing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said diplomatic
efforts were under way to end the stand-off. On June 16, Chinese troops tried to lay a road through the disputed area. This was blocked by Indian troops. Since then, troops of both countries have pitched tents, separated by 100-150 metres. About 300 Indian soldiers are facing a slightly fewer Chinese troops. (With PTI inputs)
RJ’s satirical song makes Sena see red Viral video mocks civic body for Mumbai’s potholes; corporators want channel sued vankar and fellow Sena corporator Ameya Ghole asked BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta to file a ₹500 crore defamation suit against the channel. On the same day, officials from the Public Health Department pasted a notice at the RJ’s mother’s home in Bandra under the stringent Section 381 B of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act.
Alok Deshpande Mumbai
Advani gets Lifetime Achievement Award NEW DELHI
BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Wednesday received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions as a Lok Sabha member. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav got the Lifetime Achievement Award as a Rajya Sabha representative from VicePresident Hamid Ansari at a function organised by the Lokmat Media Group. IANS
AIR got ₹10 crore from PM’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ NEW DELHI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s monthly radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’ has generated revenue of about ₹10 crore for the All India Radio (AIR) in the last two fiscals, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. In 2016-17, the revenue was ₹5.19 crore, while it was ₹4.78 crore in 2015-16, Minister of State Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said. PTI
Team probing Mallya case reaches London NEW DELHI
A joint team of the ED and the CBI is in London to brief the U.K. prosecution working on the extradition of fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya and submit fresh proof in the case, officials said on Wednesday. Mallya, who is wanted in India for Kingfisher Airlines’ default on loans worth nearly ₹9,000 crore, has been in the U.K. since March 2016. PTI
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With over 12 lakh views (and counting), a song on Mumbai’s potholes by popular radio jockey Malishka Mendonsa is making the Shiv Sena hot under the collar. So upset are they that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — which the Sena currently rules — slapped a notice for breeding mosquitoes on the RJ’s door. A week ago, RedFM uploaded ‘Sonu Tuza Mazyavar Bharosa Nai Kai - Pothole Mix’ (‘Sonu, don’t you trust me’). The video features Malishka mocking the BMC for not maintaining the city’s roads during the rains. The party, founded by the late Bal Thackeray, reputed for his biting political car-
Malishka Mendonsa toons, did not take kindly to the criticism. Sena corporator Samadhan Sarvankar called the video an insult to every Mumbaikar and the workers of BMC. “This is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt. Legal action must be taken against her for spoiling the civic body’s name.” On Tuesday, Mr. Sar-
The notice said the officials had detected Aedes aegypti (a dengue-transmitting mosquito) in the ‘clay bowl kept under the plant pot kept in front of door.’ The civic body denies attempting to frame the RJ, a story other political parties and citizens do not believe. Even the BJP, a Sena ally in the BMC, sided with Mal-
ishka. “It is brave of her to come out of her comfort zone and apply her creativity to express Mumbai’s problems,” said BJP Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar. Malishka could not be contacted over the phone. But she tweeted, thanking citizens of Mumbai for their support. and said she had faith in them: “Mala tuzyavar bharosa aahe.” With over 12 lakh views — and counting — on You tube, a satirical song on Mumbai’s potholes from popular radio jockey Malishka Mendonsa is making the Shiv Sena uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that, in what does not seem to be a coincidence, the BMC — which the Sena currently rules — slapped a notice for breeding dengue mosquitoes on the RJ’s door.
Minor fights gain communal colour in two U.P. villages Staff Reporter MEERUT
Additional police forces have been deployed to ensure peace in Jalali village of Aligarh and Baghra village in Muzaffarnagar, after fights that broke out over water distribution and a cricket match turned communal, leaving over half a dozen persons injured. Bacharam Kushwaha and Abaad, residents of Jalali village in Harduaganj area of Aligarh, were old friends. Kushwaha had been allowing Abaad to draw water from his hand pump but on
Tuesday, Kushwaha refused. This led to a verbal spat between the two. According to Kushwaha’s police complaint, Abaad and his brother Zafar barged into his house on Wednesday and abused the female members of his family.
‘Women assaulted’ “Abaad and Zafar assaulted the women in my house in my absence. They also brought half a dozen people and burnt down portions of my house because I refused to let them have water from
my hand pump. My wife, son and daughter-in-law sustained injuries,” says the complaint filed by Kushwaha. Workers of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad reached the spot and demanded the arrest of all the accused. Similarly, a fight between two groups of boys playing cricket in Baghra village under the Titavi police station in Muzaffarnagar turned communal. The local police quickly intervened and prevented the situation from flaring up. A ND-NDE
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Trump, Putin held undisclosed talks White House confirms the meet was held during G20 summit, but says there was nothing unusual in it JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS Washington
Rouhani threatens response to U.S. curbs TEHRAN
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would “respond appropriately” to new U.S. sanctions but added that Iran remained committed to its nuclear deal with world powers. “Iran will stick to its international commitments,” he said in a televised cabinet meet. AFP
Saudi police release ‘model in skirt’ DUBAI
Saudi police have released without charge a woman who was filmed in a miniskirt at a historic site in the Kingdom, the government said. The Ministry of Information said the woman had confessed to walking through the site in a skirt with her hair uncovered but that the footage had been uploaded without her knowledge. AFP
Thai General ‘guilty’ of human trafficking
Hours into a long dinner with world leaders who had gathered for the Group of 20 summit meeting, President Donald Trump left his chair at the sprawling banquet table and headed to where President Vladimir Putin of Russia was seated. Earlier in the day, the two Presidents had met for the first time, yielding what the Trump administration later described as a warm rapport, even as they talked about Russia’s interference in the U.S.’s 2016 elections. The July 7 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, was the single most scrutinised of the Trump presidency. But it turned out there was another, potentially just as important, encounter: a roughly hour-long one-onone discussion over dinner
that was only overheard by a Kremlin-provided interpreter. No presidential relationship has been more dissected than the one between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin, a dynamic only heightened by the swirl of investigations into whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to sway the election in his favour. Nevertheless, the meeting was confirmed by the White House only on Tuesday, after some attendees privately expressed surprise that it had occurred. The dinner discussion caught the attention of other leaders around the table, some of whom later remarked privately on the odd spectacle of an American President seeming to single out the Russian leader for special attention at a summit meeting that included some
U.S. court partly rejects Trump’s travel ban Order says court’s move is temporary
knew!” he tweeted. “Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!” Mr. Trump added.
Behind the scenes: Donald Trump, right, with Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Hamburg on July 7. AP *
of the United States’ staunchest, oldest allies.
Coverage is sick: Trump The White House acknowledged the conversation on Tuesday but said there was nothing unusual about it, batting aside the suggestion that it had been deliberately
Manas Kongpan, a Thai General, was found guilty of human trafficking as a Bangkok court convicted scores in a mass trial exposing the lynchpin role of corrupt officials in the trade of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants. AFP
Four from Shia family shot dead: Pak. police QUETTA
Gunmen ambushed a car and killed four family members from the Shia Muslim minority in a sectarian attack in southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, police said. The men sprayed bullets at the vehicle of the Hazara Shia family travelling to Karachi as they passed via Choto. AFP
Reuters Washington
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday a bid by President Donald Trump to block a judge’s ruling that prevented his travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries from being applied to grandparents of U.S. citizens. But in a partial win for Mr. Trump, the court put on hold part of the judge’s ruling that would allow more people to enter the United States under a separate ban on refugees if it went into effect. The brief order said the court’s decision is temporary while the San Franciscobased 9th United States Cir-
BBC under fire for gender pay gap
It put on hold part of a judge’s ruling that would allow more people to enter the United States. AFP *
cuit Court of Appeals considers a separate appeal on the same issue. Three of the conservatives on the court of nine justices noted that they would have granted Mr. Trump’s request in full.
London
Britain’s public broadcaster BBC came under fire on Wednesday for its gender pay imbalance after it was forced to reveal how much it pays its top-earning talent. For the first time in its 94year existence, the BBC was this year forced to release a list of its employees paid more than £1,50,000 ($195,000) between 2016/ 2017, after a change in its charter last year. More than 200 names feature on the list, which includes executives, actors, presenters, writers and technicians, but only one third are women. Former Top Gear host Chris Evans was revealed to be the highest-paid person, earning over £2.2 million, while presenter Claudia Winkleman was named as the top female earner, pock-
Varghese K. George
India has a “critical role” to play in breaking the stalemate in Afghanistan, the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Forces has said, calling for enhancing trilateral cooperation between Afghanistan, India and the U.S. In a report accompanying the National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) 2018, the committee also called for enhancing the overall defence cooperation between the U.S. and India, and “eventually joint naval patrol of the Indian Ocean.” The Senate Committee also pulled up the Department of Defense for not making faster progress in improving cooperation between India and the U.S. While ac-
knowledging improvement in partnership, the report said the committee was “concerned by a growing gap between the overarching goals of the bilateral defence relationship and the Department’s implementation of these objectives”.
Refined approach The committee specifically noted the delay by the Pentagon in designating an individual within the Department to “coordinate and expedite bilateral defence cooperation,” as required by last year’s NDAA. The lawmakers’ body said “appointing such an individual would bring a refined approach to prioritising defence cooperation and aligning it with missions like maritime aware-
U.S. needs to < > The recommit to the Afghanistan fight and India has a critical role to play Senate panel report
ness and anti-submarine warfare, and eventually joint naval patrol of the Indian Ocean.” India has been less than enthusiastic about joint patrol and cautious while expanding cooperation with the Afghan government. India has a strategic partnership agreement with Afghanistan, but its military component remains limited. “The committee is concerned by the current stalemate in Afghanistan, and believes that the United States
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Faith and law
demning the arrests. Mr. Ibrahim had helped Mr. Yameen win a controversial 2013 run-off election against Mohamed Nasheed, the head of the main Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). But after a fallout, Mr. Ibrahim joined the growing ranks unifying behind Mr. Nasheed and the MDP to topple Mr. Yameen.
Targeted support It noted that John W. Nicholson, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, has highlighted “significant short-term materiel and training needs within the Afghan Air Force, and has personally urged India to provide this targeted support to meet urgent gaps.” The re-
port said the assistance could include logistical support, joint training, combined military planning, threat analysis, intelligence, materiel, and maintenance support for Afghan National Defence and Security Forces for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, security assistance. The report noted the “positive adjustment of U.S. export controls for defence articles sold to India” after last year’s NDAA, but called for faster progress and focussed approach. It said the 2012 Defense Technology and Trade Initiative has six ‘‘pathfinder’’ initiatives, which need to be more in alignment with the Joint Strategic Vision between the two countries.
Protesting lawyers want Sharif to resign Lahore
Street showdown: Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian man following an appeal from clerics to pray on the streets instead of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday. A dispute over metal detectors escalated into fresh clashes between Israel and the Muslim world over the contested Jerusalem shrine. AP *
a concentration of power within one branch and within one individual who is also younger than so many of the cousins and sons of former kings that it may begin to create a situation where the family is out of whack,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the West Asia at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
The New York Times AMMAN
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should leverage the capabilities of allies and partners to more effectively secure regional stability and security. The committee believes that the United States needs to recommit to the fight in Afghanistan and that India, as a major defence partner of the United States and a contributor to regional security, has a critical role to play in this effort,” the report said.
Pakistani courts came to a standstill on Wednesday as lawyers across the country held protests demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ’s resignation after a probe recommended filing a graft case against him and his family. The protests were called by Pakistan’s top lawyers’ associations, including the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and the Supreme Court Bar Association. The courts, where protests were organised, did not hear any case. The Supreme Court, however, continued with its proceedings, including hearing the Panama Papers case.
Indications emerge that appointment of Crown Prince was rockier than has been publicly portrayed
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
former U.S. officials and associates of the royal family. To strengthen support for the change in the line of succession, some senior princes were told that Mohammed bin Nayef was unfit to be King because of a drug problem, according to an associate of the royal family. The decision to oust Mr. Nayef and some of his closest colleagues has
Abdulla Yameen
Press Trust of India
Saudi King’s son plotted effort to oust rival As next in line to be king of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Nayef was unaccustomed to being told what to do. Then, one night in June, he was summoned to a palace in Mecca, held against his will and pressured for hours to give up his claim to the throne. By dawn, he had given in, and Saudi Arabia woke to the news that it had a new Crown Prince: the king’s 31year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman. The young prince’s supporters have lauded his elevation as the seamless empowerment of an ambitious leader. But since he was promoted on June 21, indications have emerged that Mohammed bin Salman plotted the ouster and that the transition was rockier than has been publicly portrayed, according to current and
Colombo
The nephew of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has been arrested for allegedly bribing politicians to challenge the ruling regime, the Opposition said on Wednesday, warning of further reprisals in the troubled honeymoon islands. Faris Maumoon, an MP and son of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was taken into custody after police searched his home in the capital Male on Tuesday. The passport of another key Opposition figure, Qasim Ibrahim, a former ally of strongman Yameen, was also seized by the authorities. Opposition parties aligned against Mr. Yameen issued a joint statement con-
‘PM lost moral authority to continue’
eting more than £4,50,000. Ms. Winkleman hosts Strictly Come Dancing, Britain’s version of Dancing With The Stars.
‘There’s more to do’ In a statement, the BBC’s Director-General Lord Hall defended the organisation as “more diverse than the broadcasting industry and the civil service” however admitted that “there is more to do.” “We’ve set a clear target for 2020: we want all our lead and presenting roles to be equally divided between men and women,” he added. Culture Secretary Karen Bradley told Parliament last year that releasing the list would ensure the organisation “produces value for money” for licence fee payers and that more transparency could lead to savings.
Agence France-Presse
U.S. Senate committee says Indian assistance could include logistical support, planning & joint training
It was forced to reveal top salaries Agence France-Presse
Move comes amid power struggle
Panel for bigger Indian role in Afghanistan Washington
BANGKOK
hidden from public view. Late on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump derided news reports about it as “sick.” He said the dinner was not a secret, since all of the world leaders at the summit meeting and their spouses were invited by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. “Press
Private meal While the private leadersand-spouses dinner was on Mr. Trump’s public schedule, the news media was not allowed to witness any part of it, nor were reporters provided with an account of what transpired. Mr. Trump’s travelling press contingent did note, however, that his motorcade left the dinner four minutes after Putin’s did. The conversation took place at a private meal that lasted more than three hours after a concert for the leaders and their spouses at the Elbphilharmonie, a concert hall on the banks of the Elbe River. NYT
Nephew of Maldives President arrested
*
NYT
spread concern among counter-terrorism officials in the U.S., who saw their most trusted Saudi contacts disappear and have struggled to build new ties. And the collection of so much power by one young royal, Prince Mohammad bin Salman, has unsettled a royal family long guided by consensus and deference to elders. “You may have now such
Similar accounts But since The New York Times reported last month that Mohammed bin Nayef had been confined to his palace, U.S. officials and associates of senior royals have provided similar accounts of how the elder Prince was pressured to step aside by his nephew. In response to questions from The Times, a written statement by a senior Saudi official denied that Mohammed bin Nayef had been
pressured and said the Allegiance Council, a body of senior Princes, had approved the change in “the best interest of the nation.” It said Mohammed bin Nayef was the first to pledge allegiance to the new crown prince and had insisted that the moment be filmed and broadcast. The former crown prince receives guests daily in his palace in Jiddah and has visited the king and the crown prince more than once, the statement said. The rivalry between the princes began in 2015, when King Salman ascended the throne and bestowed tremendous power on his favourite son. Mohammed bin Salman was named Deputy Crown Prince, or second in line to become King, as well as Defence Minister; put in charge of a powerful economic council; and given oversight of the state oil monopoly, Saudi Aramco.
Tax evasion charges The Lahore High Court was also paralysed by a partial strike by the lawyers. The organisations have urged
Nawaz Sharif Mr. Sharif to “honourably” resign as he has “lost the moral and legal authority” to continue in his office after a joint investigation team report accused him and his family of evading tax by setting up offshore companies to purchase high-end properties in London. Bar council Vice-Chairman Ahsan Bhoon said the lawyer community has expressed solidarity with the Supreme Court and asked Sharif to step down.
French military chief quits after row with Macron President had rebuked him for criticising spending cuts General De Villiers, who had been in the job for three years, said he felt he had no choice but to stand down. “I no longer feel able to ensure the sustainability of the model of the armed forces that I think is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people,” he said in a statement.
Agence France-Presse Paris
French leader Emmanuel Macron faced the biggest crisis of his young presidency on Wednesday following the resignation of the head of the armed forces, whom he had rebuked for criticising defence spending cuts. The row between Mr. Macron and General Pierre De Villiers blew up last week when the chief of staff told a parliamentary committee that he would not allow the armed forces to be “screwed” by the government’s plans to slash 850 million euros ($980 million) from this year’s budget. Mr. Macron, 39, slapped down the 60-year-old, fivestar General, telling the army top brass at their annual summer party “I am
General Pierre De Villiers
the boss” and that he deeply regretted that the budget dispute had been dragged into the “public sphere.” In a newspaper interview at the weekend, Mr. Macron added that if there was a difference of opinion, “it is the chief of the defence staff who will change his position.”
His replacement Mr. Macron named 55-yearold General Francois Lecointre, currently the top military adviser to the Prime Minister, as his replacement. At a weekly Cabinet meeting, the President hailed General de Villiers for his “remarkable service” and promised to hike the defence budget again in 2018, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said. A ND-NDE
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market watch 19-07-2017
% CHANGE
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 31,955 ddddddddddddddd0.77 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 64.28 ddddddddddddddd0.08 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,110 ddddddddddddddd0.03 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 49.51 ddddddddddddddd1.52
‘AAI to bear capex for two airports’ Private firms to focus on operations, maintenance at Ahmedabad, Jaipur terminals post privatisation Somesh Jha
NIFTY 50
NEW DELHI PRICE CHANGE
ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1734.60. . . . . . -24.90 Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381.05. . . . . . . . -0.85 Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 264.60. . . . . . . . -1.65 Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1155.85. . . . . . . . . 9.25 Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 765.85. . . . . . . 31.55 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520.20. . . . . . . . . 3.65 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2823.70. . . . . . . . -8.05 Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 164.45. . . . . . . . . 0.60 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 421.25. . . . . . . 12.95 Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24345.95. . . . . . -17.95 BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469.85. . . . . . . . . 1.25 Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568.25. . . . . . . . . 8.50 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254.70. . . . . . . . . 6.20 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2774.00. . . . . . . 55.05 Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 29215.00. . . . . 616.50 GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 379.35. . . . . . . . . 0.30 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895.40. . . . . . . 14.70 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1654.85. . . . . . . . . 1.85 HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1692.30. . . . . . . . . 8.75 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3770.65. . . . . . -13.30 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213.45. . . . . . . . . 6.05 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1154.35. . . . . . . . -3.50 Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1149.60. . . . . . . . . 7.60 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302.25. . . . . . . . -1.65 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1574.55. . . . . . . . . 4.45 Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 415.15. . . . . . . . -3.05 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979.85. . . . . . . . -5.75 Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 375.15. . . . . . . . . 3.00 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.45. . . . . . . . . 6.90 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 994.20. . . . . . . 17.10 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181.30. . . . . . . . . 3.40 Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1172.30. . . . . . . 15.95 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1382.40. . . . . . . . . 2.25 Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7561.50. . . . . . . 12.15 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.80. . . . . . . . . 0.25 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.00. . . . . . . . . 1.30 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 218.65. . . . . . . . . 3.25 Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1532.95. . . . . . . 13.05 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.30. . . . . . . . . 2.30 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 589.15. . . . . . . 10.90 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 460.60. . . . . . . . . 4.45 Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 274.55. . . . . . . . . 2.75 Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.95. . . . . . . . . 0.50 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571.20. . . . . . . . . 7.90 TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2449.60. . . . . . . 41.25 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 396.75. . . . . . . . . 5.45 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 4205.85. . . -125.00 Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.35. . . . . . . . . 5.00 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271.10. . . . . . . . . 2.10 YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1570.15. . . . . . . 12.35 Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 545.40. . . . . . . 14.90
EXCHANGE RATES Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on July 19 CURRENCY
TT BUY
TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.08. . . . . . . 64.40 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 73.85. . . . . . . 74.22 British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 83.49. . . . . . . 83.94 Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 57.19. . . . . . . 57.47 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.49. . . . . . . . . 9.54 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 67.16. . . . . . . 67.50 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 46.83. . . . . . . 47.08 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 50.72. . . . . . . 51.00 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.94. . . . . . . 15.04 Source:Indian Bank
BULLION RATES
CHENNAI
July 19 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 40.20. . . . . (40.10) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,672. . . . . (2,659)
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will bear the capital expenditure at Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports even as private developers will only need to concentrate on operations and maintenance (O&M) of the two airports whose terminal buildings are set to be privatised. “The AAI has re-examined the issue related to the project financials of the O&M project for Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports. The concept of project cost will be different in case of these two airports as against the model adopted for privatisation of other airports, including Delhi and Mumbai airports,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, requesting anonymity. “The successful bidder for the airport projects will not be required to make capital investments into the airport
Private play: Till March 20, 11 private players had registered for the bid for the Ahmedabad airport. AFP *
as AAI will bear such cost,” the official added.
‘To make it lucrative’ The decision was taken after a meeting among the AAI, Civil Aviation Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office recently in a bid to make the airport deal lucrative for both domestic and interna-
BharatNet deadline pushed to March 2019 Cabinet okays Phase II of the project Yuthika Bhargava NEW DELHI
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the second phase of the BharatNet project that forms the backbone for the government’s Digital India initiative, according to an official aware of the development. However, the deadline for the delay-marred project had been pushed to March 2019, the official said.The project seeks to bring high speed broadband to all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) through optical fibre.
Phase I The Centre was still working on completing the first phase of the project for
which the deadline was March 2017. It had been able to lay optical fibre in nearly one-lakh GPs, however, only about 22,000 GPs have been provided Internet connectivity due to equipment procurement issues. The second phase aims at covering the remaining 1.50 lakh GPS. “The Cabinet has approved a modified implementation strategy of BharatNet project for providing broadband connectivity to all GPs by March 2019,” the official said. The official said the approval entails a total estimated expenditure of ₹42,068 crore for the implementation of project bankrolled from the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
tional players. “The private operators who had shown interest in running the terminal building of the two airports had opined that the scope of revenue generation was limited in the O&M model so they may not find it viable to incur capital expenditure,” another civil aviation ministry
Deal to help government meet 40% of disinvestment target Press Trust of India NEW DELHI
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the sale of the government’s 51.11% stake in oil refiner HPCL to India’s largest oil producer ONGC for a potential sum in the range of ₹26,000 crore to ₹30,000 crore, a top source said. While ONGC buying HPCL will help the government meet as much as 40% of its target for raising ₹72,500 crore in the current fiscal through stake sale, more deals in the oil sector including one where refiner Indian Oil Corp. potentially buys out explorer Oil India Ltd. or Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.
Cabinet nod for IWAI bond issue
Bench asks why RBI had to direct SBI to start proceedings
Special Correspondent
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday reserved order on insolvency pleas against Bhushan Steel as well as Bhushan Steel and Power even as it ‘wondered’ as to why RBI had to issue directions to banks to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against big defaulters. A two—member bench headed by Justice M.M. Kumar reserved its order on SBI petition for initiating insolvency proceedings against Bhushan Steel Ltd. and a similar plea by Punjab National Bank (PNB) against Bhushan Steel & Power Ltd. During the proceedings,
counsel appearing for Bhushan Steel said that 65% loan shown by the SBI is for working capital and hence it is not a defaulter. SBI is claiming recovery of ₹4,295 crore from Bhushan Steel and $490 million for foreign currency loan. However, rejecting the company’s argument, SBI’s counsel said that it was the bank’s money and they wanted it back. During the proceedings, the bench observed: “We were wondering what was the necessity for the RBI to issue (circular) direction to file... Are the banks not responsible enough?” To this, SBI’s counsel said:
“We have statutory remedy and we have exercised it.”
Two petitions NCLT was hearing two petitions, one filed by SBI against Bhushan Steel Ltd. and another by PNB against Bhushan Steel & Power Ltd. The NCLT, on July 13, issued notices to Bhushan Steel Ltd. as well as Bhushan Steel and Power Ltd. over insolvency proceedings initiated by SBI and PNB. The companies were directed to file their reply. Both the petitions were filed under the Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016 where the financial creditor initiates insolvency proceedings with a claim.
Global players Some of the global players in the fray included Daa International that operates Ireland’s state-owned airports and Vinci Airports Singapore, Swiss-based Zurich Airport International and French firm Egis Airport Op-
eration. Among domestic players, GMR Airports, GVK Airports Services and Bengal Aerotropolis showed interest for both the airports. Adani group and Tata Realty and Infrastructure had registered to bid for the Ahmedabad airport. Earlier, the AAI had made changes to the bidding documents to allow global private players to run the airports for 15 years against the 10 years proposed previously. The private developers of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) – GMR and GVK respectively incur the capital expenditure for expansion of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. As per the publicprivate partnership (PPP) agreement, DIAL has to share 45.99% of its revenues with AAI, while MIAL is supposed to share 38.7% of revenues.
ONGC gets nod to buy out Centre’s stake in HPCL
NCLT reserves order on IBC petition against Bhushan Steel NEW DELHI
official said. The AAI, which operates Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, had floated a global request for proposals to hand over the operation and maintenance of its terminal building to private players earlier this year. The technical bidding for the two airports is likely to begin from September. Till March 20, 11 private players, including four global companies, registered for the bid for operating and maintaining Ahmedabad airport and seven private companies, with two global players, registered to bid for Jaipur airport.
merges with gas utility GAIL, may be in the offing.
‘MRPL takeover’ Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is likely to make a statement on the deal as well as other potential mergers in Parliament on Thursday.
Pre-merger, HPCL is likely to take over Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. to bring all the refining assets of ONGC under one unit. ONGC currently owns 71.63% of MRPL while HPCL has 16.96%. HPCL buying ONGC stake’s will give the explorer ₹16,414 crore at Wednesday’s closing price. The source said ONGC will not have to make an open offer to minority shareholders of HPCL as the government’s holding is being transferred to another staterun firm without change in ownership. The deal will be completed within a year, according to the source.
ITC among top MF favourites in June Stock singed after cigarette levy raised SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI
ITC, which has been bearing the brunt of analyst downgrades, increased cess post introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a petition seeking direction to the government and insurance companies to divest their stake in the cigarettemaker, was among the stocks favoured by mutual funds (MFs) in June. According to data from U.S.-based investment research firm Morningstar, ITC was the seventh most purchased stock by MFs last month with fund houses buying shares worth almost ₹537 crore with the total value of holding at ₹16,593 crore, which also made ITC the sixth most-held entity among large-cap stocks. Interestingly, ITC shares have gained almost 21% in the current calendar year. This is slightly better than the 20.01% return of the benchmark Sensex in 2017. ITC touched its all-time high of ₹323.65 on June 30. On Wednesday, ITC gained 2.4% to close at ₹291.50. The stock fell 15% during intraday trade on Tuesday as the GST Council decided to increase the cess on
cigarettes. The development led to ICICI Direct, among many brokerages, revising its rating on ITC from buy to hold while reducing the target price from ₹407 to ₹317 attributing the revision to the increased cess on cigarettes that will rise the tax burden on the company while negatively impacting volume growth in the segment. “We believe the change will increase the indirect tax incidence on the company by 22% with the effective estimated price hike coming to 12% to pass on the entire burden,” the report said. The volume growth estimate has been cut from 5% earlier to 1% for FY’18. Credit Suisse, CLSA and Morgan Stanley are among the foreign brokerages which downgraded ITC after the hike in cess. ITC was in the news recently after anti-tobacco activists filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the government and public sector entities to divest their holdings in the firm. Insurance firms hold 22.48% in ITC with LIC accounting for 16.29%. Specified Undertaking of the UTI holds 9.09%.
NEW DELHI
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for raising ₹660 crore in bonds for extra budgetary resources in 2017-18. “The proceeds from the bonds will be utilised by IWAI for development and maintenance of National Waterways (NWs) under National Waterways Act, 2016 (effective from 12.4.2016),” an official statement said. “Funds received through issue of bonds will be used exclusively for capital expenditure to improve infrastructure funding,” it said. The IWAI mayget ₹857 crore in loan from World Bank for its Jal Marg Vikas Project.
‘Banks may need to forgo ₹2.4 lakh crore’ 60% haircut needed to settle 50 large stressed assets with ₹4 lakh cr. debt: Crisil Special Correspondent Thiruvananthapuram
Ratings agency Crisil on Wednesday said that banks may have to take a haircut of 60%, worth ₹2.4 lakh crore, to settle 50 large stressed assets with debt of ₹4 lakh crore. These 50 companies are from the metals (30% of total debt), construction (25%) and power (15%) sectors, and account for half of the ₹8 lakh crore non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking system as on March 31, 2017. The agency also estimated banks have provisioned for about 40% of this exposure. “We used the economic value approach to assess the haircuts,” said Pawan Agrawal, chief analytical officer, Crisil Ratings in a statement. “This is a combination of market-value multiples and cash-flow estimation. The final haircut, however, will also be influenced by the expectation of lenders, valuation of subsidiaries, and the price outlook for commodCM YK
Industry woes:The 50 firms across metals, construction and power sectors account for half of the ₹8 lakh crore NPAs. ity-linked sectors.” The sources of stress are policy or demand (power plants), lower capacity utilisation (steel plants), and overleveraged balance sheets (construction companies).
‘Tools didn’t help’ However, Crisil said that the restructuring tools facilitated by the Reserve Bank of India that indebted firms had availed of earlier did not help because of very high debt levels that underscore the magnitude of stress. The government recently
promulgated an ordinance empowering the RBI to issue directives for faster and optimum resolution of stressed assets to make them viable. The focus now is on optimum debt reduction including through potential transfer of assets to a different management that can bring in resources needed to scale up cash flows. A quarter of the debt analysed needed marginal or moderate haircuts, while a third needs aggressive, and nearly 40% deep haircuts. “Companies from the power
sector would require moderate haircuts, while those from the metals and construction sectors would need aggressive ones,” Mr. Agrawal said. Majority of the debt requiring deep haircuts belong to companies with unsustainable businesses so asset sales are necessary to recover monies. Firms needing moderate or aggressive haircuts had gone for debt-funded capex. As demand slumped, or as projects ran into regulatory issues, significant time and cost overruns made them unviable. Firms needing a marginal haircut are those facing temporary setbacks, which could be corrected over time. “Some of these assets offer M&A opportunities for companies with strong credit profiles. Also, potential synergies could allow for a significant reduction in haircut — an aspect that has not been considered in our analysis,” said Ramesh Karunakaran, director, Crisil Ratings. A ND-NDE
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IN BRIEF
INTERVIEW | MATTHEW WINKLER
‘If we aren’t paid, we don’t eat’ ‘The truly existential debate between being influential and being paid is eternal’ behind. The data refers to the people. It’s about human behaviour. The data reported in the financial context, whether it’s out of the market, the economy or corporate performance, is about human behaviour. It is not theoretical. It’s factual.
K. Bharat Kumar Suresh seshadri
New India expects to unveil IPO by October MUMBAI
The country’s largest non-life insurer New India Assurance aims to unveil its initial share sale by October as it expects the final government goahead for it any time now, a senior company official said on Wednesday. New India and GIC Re, the reinsurer are likely to hit the markets first. This will be followed by the other three state-run insurers: National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance. PTI
Pricol inks MoU with U.S. firm for oxygen sensors COIMBATORE
Automotive components manufacturer Pricol Limited has signed an MoU with U.S. firm Kerdea Technologies for exclusive licensing partnership for oxygen sensors in India. The product is meant for combustion engine applications in the two-wheeler and threewheeler vehicle segment, according to a release. The sensor is designed to monitor the oxygen content in the exhaust gases from the engine.
Aurobindo Pharma renal drug gets USFDA nod HYDERABAD
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. has received the final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture Sevelamer Carbonate tablets 800mg. A generic version of Genzyme’s Renvela tablets, Sevelamer Carbonate tablets are indicated for the control of serum phosphorus in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis.Aurobindo will start selling the drug immediately.
CM YK
Matthew Winkler, co-founder and editor-in-chief emeritus, Bloomberg News, was in Chennai to deliver the inaugural address of the Asian College of Journalism’s class of 2017-18. Renowned for his focus on accuracy in news reporting, Mr. Winkler spoke on a range of issues. Excerpts:
You have been uncomfortable with anonymous sourcing of stories...?
Did you ever have to worry about content becoming free?
We have had this truly existential debate as long as we have been around. What it comes down to is, we all would love everything we do to be paid for directly. And, first and foremost, Mike Bloomberg, the founder, owner and CEO of Bloomberg has been explicit that if we don’t get paid for what we do, we don’t eat. And, I agree. However, we have also said that we want our journalists to be as influential as they could possibly be. In order to be influential, at least some of what they do has to be read, heard and viewed by the widest possible audience. Because you never know, there could be someone in that audience who could be affected by that reporting in some way and who would not necessarily be a Bloomberg Terminal user and we want our reporters to be most influential. So, we have always have had this debate – what can be unbundled from Bloomberg, that isn’t a set price. It’s an issue that won’t go away. ■
How should journalists prepare for reporting in today’s world?
Part of being a successful journalist is knowing how to learn and that learning is continuous, it’s perpetual; that, to be a worthy ■
What I thought was difficult, to say the least, was in the course of reporting what people reported as mergers and acquisitions deals. Acquisitions is what they really are. One company acquires another. Because so much of that kind of reporting was anonymously sourced, it was far too subject to the risk of being misleading. Because, it favoured the sources of information. I’ll give you an example. It was a really big deal, the biggest of the time. German car company Daimler acquiring Chrysler – 1998. In the initial reporting of that acquisition, which was anonymous, was first of all said to be ‘a merger of equals’. Well, it was the worst deal in the history of Daimler. Had the reporting of it at the time been transparent, if people who did not have a vested interest been able to talk about that deal, the initial reporting would have been very different from what it was. It was a giant commercial, if you will, for the investment bankers doing the deal, who got paid a lot of money for the deal. But that deal was fundamentally not in the interest of the acquiring company – the proof is, it was a disaster for Daimler shareholders. That is what I mean about how hazardous anonymous reporting is. ■
lot of fake news is < > Aasserted, as opposed to reported journalist is to be a learner willing to learn, which means having the capacity to obtain as much factual information about whatever the subject is. To do that requires knowledge and skill: knowledge as in knowing what you don’t know and how to know what you don’t know; and skill as in where to obtain that knowledge. Journalists should be aware of how the global, national, regional economy works, what drives business, what goes into technology, how markets work. Those are very important parts of the equation that are marginalised and I think they should be put in front of everybody as the main focus. If journalists have that knowledge and understanding, they can be much more effective reporting on events.
every journalist should always go about his or her reporting or editing with the aspiration: ‘accuracy above all else’. That is not new, but a traditional mandate. In today’s world of fake news, what signs should one watch out for?
As in any presentation, in any field, any discipline or subject, the use of facts can be superficial or comprehensive. The more comprehensive and detailed, the more credible the information. Most fake news, if not all of it, is typically a superficial assemblage… It’s light or superficial packaging. Readers who want only accurate information should be skittish about what is presented as factual that you can see is porous in its content. It’s missing too many data points to be taken seriously. ■
Can there ever be a human side to financial reporting?
Financial or economic reporting has all kinds of opportunities for what you just referred to as the human element. The reason for that is, wherever there are a lot of data points, the individuals can’t be far ■
With proliferation of fake news, do you see a redefinition of ethics for journalists?
Every journalist should start with the premise that if it isn’t true, it isn’t news. So, ■
India Cements to focus on building brand loyalty To leverage TNPL to consolidate market position K.T. Jagannathan CHENNAI
With retail demand forming a substantial portion of its sales in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, The India Cements Ltd. (ICL) has decided to focus on building long-term brand loyalty at the grassroots. Indicating this at a media briefing here on Wednesday, Rakesh Singh, executive president, ICL, said this exercise required the company to embark on a non-traditional approach. The title sponsorship of the second edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) was part of this exercise, he added. The sponsorship and the promotional activities built around TNPL
Fortigo starts GSTN service for truckers Special Correspondent
Rakesh Singh
would give the company a clear edge over competitors in terms of brand recall and loyalty, he said. This would help ICL fortify its market position around clusters where TNPL matches were played, he said. Nearly 50-55% sales
came from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Retail demand formed almost 75-80% of total sales in these two States. For ICL, TNPL “is a good opportunity’’ to communicate the brand message to the right person directly. ICL would foster a sense of loyalty among assorted stakeholders in the value chain by giving them prominent focus in TNPL-related events, Mr. Singh said. IPL franchise CSK gave ICL a national visibility. Though CSK had since become an independent company, ICL would look at a business association with CSK to build its corporate identity, Mr. Singh said.
Unlimit in IoT alliance with China’s Fibocom Partnership to enable Next-Gen apps
MUMBAI
Fortigo Network (4TiGo), a cloud-based logistics platform that connects all players in the road transportation system, has introduced a technology solution to enable transporters and fleet owners to seamlessly register on to Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN). Through this paid service, transporters and fleet owners can upload invoices and other GSTN documents and maintain their entire books of accounts online. “As and when the e-waybill initiative is rolled out, the transporters and fleet owners will be able to use the platform,” said Vivek Malhotra, co-founder and chief of strategy and marketing, Fortigo Network.
Special Correspondent MUMBAI
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group’s IoT (Internet of Things) arm, Unlimit, has allied with China’s Fibocom to introduce wireless communications modules and solutions for IoT and mobile Internet in the Indian market. The partnership will allow innovative design and Next-Gen applications to be introduced in the Indian market which will narrow the gap between India and other developing and developed countries with the introduction of a robust infrastructure set-up for digital growth, according to a company statement on Wednesday. “With the number of connected devices in India projected to rise from 200 mil-
lion today to 3 billion by 2020, nearly every part of the economy will be positively impacted by IoT,” said Juergen Hase, chief executive officer, Unlimit. “We are delighted to partner with Fibocom to unlock the full potential of the Internet of Things for our customers, thereby making the benefits of IoT virtually unlimited,” he said.
‘Digital India’ “With the extensive customer base and channel network of Fibocom, China’s innovative design and famous applications will be brought to the Indian market, thus accelerating the realisation of the ‘Digital India’ plan,” Qi Guangzhi, vice-president, Fibocom, said.
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IN BRIEF
‘I don’t think I need to understand anything new about coaching’
I matured immensely in the last two weeks, says Shastri
Kohli speaks about his equation with Shastri as the team embarks on Sri Lanka tour
G. Viswanath
Ashwin slips to third place in rankings
G. Viswanath
DUBAI
Captain Virat Kohli said India’s high success rate in the last two years in Test cricket could be traced back to the series win in Sri Lanka in August 2015. He highlighted the 2-1 win after losing the first Test by 63 runs at Galle. Kohli, a little over two years into India captaincy now, said before leaving for Colombo that the “team culture created then (August 2015)” had resulted in India believing that it could win Test series abroad. He said: “I think that tour (of Sri Lanka in 2015) for us was a landmark. If you look at the average age of that team a couple of years ago; obviously the players have matured from then on, it’s been 24 months. That tour for us was a sort of start of the belief system that we can win away from home and we do have the side required to win away from home. “We do have a culture that’s been created in the team to win whatever Test matches, Test series we play. Losing the first Test (at Galle) was a shock to us, but the way we bounced back was only because of the team culture that was created at that stage where even the less experienced players — if you had compared us to Sri Lanka, the number of Tests was not even close — showed more belief in their abilities to win from any situation and that really turned our mindset around.
Mumbai
Mumbai
R. Ashwin has slipped a place, to the third position, in the latest ICC rankings for Test bowlers. Sri Lanka spinner Rangana Herath has climbed to the second spot following his superb performance against Zimbabwe.PTI
Gary Ballance out of third Test LONDON
England batsman Gary Ballance has been ruled out of next week’s third Test against South Africa with a broken finger, the England and Wales Cricket Board has confirmed. AFP
Lanka minister willing to probe 2011 WC final COLOMBO
Sri Lanka Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera said he is willing to order a probe on the 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka following concerns raised by former captain-turnedminister Arjuna Ranatunga. “Let anyone make a written complain I am ready to order an investigation,” Jayasekera said.PTI
TV PICKS Golf: British Open: DSport, 11 a.m & 6.30 p.m.
Women’s WC: 2nd semifinal: Australia vs India, STAR Sports 1 & 1 HD, 3 p.m. Ultimate Table Tennis: SS Select 2 & SS Select 2 HD, 7.40 p.m.
Right combination: India captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri during a news conference before leaving for Sri Lanka on Wednesday. AP *
“From then on, you can see the results we have had so far. We have an away series coming up and same mindset would apply now what we started way back in 2015.” Speaking about Ravi Shastri’s return, Kohli said: “We have worked together from 2014 to16. So there should be that kind of understanding (between us)...that you can also understand. So I don’t think that I need to understand anything new about (the coaching and support staff ) in this scenario. We had worked earlier also and so we know what’s expected. So I
don’t think there is any effort to understand (is needed) as we have worked earlier also.”
Not under pressure He denied he is under any pressure, in particular with the controversy surrounding Kumble’s exit. “I don’t think there is added pressure because what has to happen will happen, I believe in that regardless of what happens around in the outside world; as a team we aspire to achieve what we want to achieve. All of us have faced hardships in the past, criticism and being criti-
cised is nothing new, we understand that aspect playing the sport. “I certainly don’t take any added pressure because the responsibility has been given to me. I only started off as a player, wanted to do the best for the team, continue to take up that responsibility, and will continue to do so in the future till the time I am captain or I am kept at this position. “So that’s what I see of it, you only have to look at the series ahead; if you focus on all these external factors, it is similar to going out to bat
thinking, what if I get out. It can happen in any scenario and so you need to take care of your mindset and move forward.” Kohli eventually hinted at what may not have existed until the ICC Champions Trophy. “I think understanding and communication is something that works in every walk of life and the dressing room environment is nothing different. You need to have all those aspects for any relationship to work in life and it is not just confined to cricket.”
Ravi Shastri’s remarks at the ten-minute press conference could be put down as matter-of-fact, brusque or just the way he is used to talking. “These Ravi Shastris, Anil Kumbles will come and go. But the fabric of Indian cricket will remain, and the credit should go to everyone who has participated in the Indian team in the last three years. If they are No. 1 today, it is (because of ) the efforts they have put in over the three years,” Shastri declared in a stentorian tone. He added: “I have matured since I last went to Sri Lanka and I have matured immensely in the last two weeks. So mine will be a refresh button that will be pushed; I carry on from where I left. I don’t come with any baggage.” To the question “What is it like to have your own team”, Shastri replied without mincing words: “I will answer that question wearing two hats, and I promise you there is no conflict of interest here. One as a player and as a former captain; when you play the game, you want your mind to be clear. You want to be able to focus inwards without a care in the world for anything on the outside and that happens with good communication with the support staff. “Now I will go on the other side as the head coach. My job is to do exactly that for every player; to put him in a frame of mind only about his role, he is
thinking about the team that he is playing for and, of course, the opposition which we always respect and that is his job… period.”
Track record Talking about B. Arun, who is in the Indian team coaching staff at his behest, Shastri said: “There is a track record of 15 years of his life in coaching. It has been outstanding, right from junior level to A-teams to India junior World Cup teams; he has been part of it. He knows these boys better than I do. “You look at the last World Cup; India took 77 out of 80 wickets. If Arun’s name was someone else who had played a lot of Test matches, you would have put him on the top of the tree. So I don’t need to elaborate too much on what he is good at, what are his strengths. It is there for everyone to see.”
The man who wrote about Bradman’s lash, dash and cash
India eager to upset Australia
Ray Robinson was the master of telling detail and his writing had a studied casualness in phrase-making
Press Trust of India
BETWEEN WICKETS suresh menon
In Between Wickets — the book from which this column takes its name – the Australian cricket writer Ray Robinson says, “cricket was not invented merely so that a Bradman, a Hammond, a Compton, or a Hutton could play it.” You can update that by naming the modern heroes. It is a throwaway line in the book, but a moment’s thought reveals its profundity. Cricket is much more than the adventures and accomplishments of its finest performers. Or its most pernicious officials, for that matter. W.G. Grace is said to have told a bowler who had dismissed him, “Folks have come here to see me bat, not you bowl,” and bat on. “No cricket fan has been quoted as telling an official, “We have come to watch the stars play, not you administer.” But it wouldn’t be a surprise if someone did. While the many layers of cricket administration in India, from the BCCI to the COA to the CAC to the Special Committees for deciding a)
which of the Supreme Court’s orders it likes and b) how to handle the business of the support staff for the head coach Ravi Shastri – while all these go about their business, we must not lose sight of what the game stands for. And few writers remind us of that better than Ray Robinson, who died this month 35 years ago. That’s two whole generations of cricketers ago, perhaps more. Robinson was the master of the telling detail. His mosaic on players, bright, attractive, colourful, was built on bits of information gathered over a long period. Like the canvas of a pointillist, the detail could overwhelm if you stood too close to the picture, but stand back and the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
Painstaking research There was charm, and more importantly, surprise, as the pieces came together. Painstaking research was his strength; that, and the ability to use the material with a light touch. It all looked so easy and casual, like V.V.S. Laxman’s batting, but like the batting, much effort went into the writing. He wrote of Bradman: “If there was bowling to be whipped, a single to be stolen, a cheque to be written, Bradman was the one with the lash, dash and cash to do it.”
As a character sketch that is a brilliant compression. Between Wickets appeared soon after the War, in 1946. His last book, On Top Down Under, on the captains of Australia, was published three decades later. In between he made four tours of Australia, and tours to the West Indies, South Africa, India and Pakistan. He wrote four more books and was operated for detached retinas in both eyes. Robinson’s writing lacked the drama and the classical references of Cardus, nor did it have the technical certainty and lived experience of Jack Fingleton. But it had something else — sheer joy and a studied casualness in phrase-making.
Meticulous The Cardus style fixes him in a specific era, much like Dickens or Thackeray. Fingleton has had his successors, player-writers like Michael Atherton who have both the lived experience and felicitous turn of phrase. Robinson is unique, unmatched because he is unmatchable as the most meticulous note-taker of them all. He has not dated. Shoe sizes were important to him (he discovered that Stan McCabe had small feet one size five and the other size six), as were the manner of dealing with fans or responding to questions, quirks and mannerisms and
other “habits and styles and eccentricities” of players, as Jack Pollard pointed out while editing Robinson’s collection, After Stumps Were Drawn. Few writers reward you afresh on rereading them. Ray Robinson does; not because the cricket of the past was pure and bereft of politics and scandals — the game has never been so — but because of the quality of the writing, and the possibility of discovering something you might have missed the first time around. “At 24,” he wrote of Ray Lindwall, “he emerged from army service in the Pacific Islands. Tablets gradually cleared up the after-effects of tropical fevers, but throughout his career he was plagued by dermatitis in a place subject to chaffing.” Not surprisingly, Cardus called him X-ray Robinson. Robinson worked on the Melbourne Herald during the Bodyline series (1932-33) and was probably the sub-editor on the desk who picked up “Bodyline” from the reporter Hugh Buggy’s telegram from Brisbane (where he had shortened “in line with the body”) and put it in the headline. “When isolated happenings, sometimes unexplained, are fitted together they make a pattern which leads to a truer valuation,” he says in Between Wickets. He was speaking of Bradman, but he could be describing his own writing technique too.
A win will see India in the final for only the second time WORLD CUP Derby
Odds are stacked heavily against it, but a confident India will aim to turn the tables when it takes on sixtime champion Australia in the second semifinal of the ICC Women’s World Cup, here on Thursday. India has a poor record against Australia, having lost 34 out of 42 games played. But come Thursday, the team will aim to end the losing streak against Australia. A win will ensure India’s entry into the summit clash at Lord’s only for the second time in the history of the tournament. India played the final of the World Cup only once in 2005 edition in South Africa, where it lost to Australia. While India has finished the round-robin stage in the third spot with five wins and two losses, Australia has finished second with six wins out of seven games. The match will be played at The County Ground here, a ground boasting plenty of familiarity for India, having played four of its group games here, including its last must-win clash against New Zealand to reach the semifinals.
Influential: India’s cause will be well served if skipper Mithali Raj can carve out another fine innings. REUTERS *
‘Will be exceptional if we can beat Australia’ Press Trust of India Derby
It will be nothing short of exceptional if India upstages Australia, feels captain Mithali Raj, who reckons her team will have the “home advantage” in the ICC women’s World Cup semifinal here on Thursday. “We’ve played a lot of the group stage here, four games, so we are aware of the conditions and that is our advantage,” she said. “But Australia is a very good side. They have a lot of
players who have played in high-pressure games,” she added. “It’s all about how the teams respond to the situation and the conditions on the day,” she said. “How the players play the situation is important because having said that Derby is our home ground, you need to perform on that day to win. “But for this Indian team, it is going to be a big game and if we can pull out one win, it will be exceptional by the team,” she added.
Dinesh Karthik looking forward to the 2019 World Cup S. Dinakar CHENNAI
In shipshape: Dinesh Karthik is a natural athlete and takes immense pride in his fitness. AP *
CM YK
His eyes flicked across the ground, picking out little things. The sight of the iconic arena at Chepauk also forces Dinesh Karthik to flash a rather infectious smile. “You know, I was a ball boy here when India defeated Australia in a thrilling Test in 2001. Sachin Tendulkar, my idol, scored a hundred against Steve Waugh’s men. Cannot forget those moments,” Karthik said here on Wednesday. Karthik’s association with the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium runs deep. “When I was a schoolboy, we used to have matches here at MAC-B. A person called Munuswamy used to sell ground nuts. Wonder what happened to him, I don’t see him around these days.” When he is here, memories keep gushing back. In the field of dreams he has taken
flight and the former ball boy has gone on to play for the country and share the dressing room with Tendulkar. But then the past, despite some highs, has been a rather bumpy ride for a man with immense natural ability. Karthik has an eye on the fu-
ture though. The feisty cricketer is back from the West Indies, where knocks of 50 not out and 48 in the final ODI and the oneoff Twenty20 game meant his comeback to the Indian team had many positives. “Happiness is a small term,
relief is more,” he said about his return to the national side.
Praise for Kohli Talking about his match-winning unbeaten 122-run partnership with skipper Virat Kohli at Kingston, he noted,
Favouring home-away format in Ranji Trophy Special Correspondent CHENNAI
Dinesh Karthik wants the Ranji Trophy to return to the home and away format. He also wishes to take the toss out of the equation to nullify any doctoring of surface by the host. Karthik observed, “The BCCI has done well to be innovative and conduct all
the games at neutral venues last season. But to me personally, a young cricketer should not be deprived of experiencing the pressures and the joy of playing on his home ground.” He noted, “If you give the visiting captain the option to either bat or bowl and not have the toss at all, no home
association will make an under-prepared surface.” Karthik felt that the game will be better off if technology is used to detect no-balls. “You could have a beep sound if a no ball is bowled. This will enable the umpires to focus solely on the delivery and not look for no-balls also.”
“Virat is a positive, vibrant person who gives ideas, runs brilliantly between wickets.” In a chat with The Hindu, India chief selector M.S.K. Prasad had said that Karthik was picked as a pure batsman this time around. Karthik agreed. “I knew that M.S.D. was the wicketkeeper batsman in the side. I was there as a batsman. But then I am a genuine batsman and a genuine ’keeper. And I have batted at different slots.” Although not big-built, he is a natural athlete. Karthik noted, “I am comfortable fielding at any position, have a good throw. Virat has confidence in my fielding.” Not surprisingly, he wants to return to the Test team at some point. “Wearing the whites for India under Virat would be something!” He has worked on his temperament with Mumbai allrounder Abhishek Nayar.
“Stroke-making is my strength. If I stop playing the shots, I will not be the cricketer I am. But I have to play the right shot at the right time.” Karthik is no spring chicken at 32 but takes immense pride in his fitness and is looking forward to the 2019 ICC World Cup. “I don’t want a younger guy to come to the side and say I am fitter than Dinesh Karthik.” In his wish list is a desire to represent Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. “This is where I have learnt and played much of my cricket. There is this passion within you to represent the franchise of your city.” As Karthik continues his journey, he recalls a nugget from V.V.S. Laxman. “It is not the number of runs but the manner in which you win the game for your side that matters.” A ND-NDE
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IN BRIEF
Change of coach did the trick
Lahiri, Kapur look to make impact
Time spent with Emilio Sanchez in Florida put Ramkumar’s career back on the rails Kamesh Srinivasan NEW DELHI
Magic Johnson dazzled by Ball’s performances LOS ANGELES
Magic Johnson believes Lonzo Ball’s dazzling performances in the Las Vegas Summer League are a shape of things to come as the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to regain former glories. “I am going to play my game. Lonzo is going to play his game. The great ones do,” he was quoted by ESPN as saying. AFP
Sandeepti makes two semifinals CHANDIGARH:
Sandeepti Singh Rao made the semifinals of both the under-18 and 16 events in the AITA Championship series junior tournament on Wednesday. The results (quarterfinals): Under-18: Boys: Calvin Golmei bt Aditya Balsekar 6-0, 6-4; Deepender Grewal bt Shrut Mohan Nargeta 6-3, 6-3; Shashikant Rajput bt G.S. Sanjay 6-3, 6-4; Krish Patel bt Tushar Madan 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Girls: Prinkle Singh bt Srishti Ray 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa bt Harleen Kaur 6-2, 6-3; Sarah Dev bt Richa Chougule 6-4, 6-4; Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Kaavya Sawhney 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. Under-16: Boys: Shashikant Rajput bt Krish Patel 6-4, 7-5; Naresh Badgujar bt Tushar Maan 6-3, 6-4; Dhruv Tangri bt Uddayvir Singh 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Krishan Hooda bt Sonu Khan 6-4, 6-3. Girls: Richa Chougule bt Princy Panchal 6-3, 6-3; Konika Singh Dhull bt Priyanka Jakhar 6-2, 6-4; Simran Pritam bt Lagan Bhidhan 6-3, 7-6(0); Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Lavanya Sreekrishnan 6-0, 6-0.
Brar swimming meet on July 22 NEW DELHI:
The inaugural Padma Shri Arvinder Singh Brar memorial invitational championship, organised by the Swimming Foundation, will be held here on July 22. Brar was a national 100m breaststroke champion in 1976. The meet is being held at the Talkatora Pool where Brar had successfully organised the swimming competition during the 1982 Asiad.
NEUFC to tap talent from the region KOLKATA
ISL outfit North East United FC (NEUFC) took its first major step towards nurturing footballing talent across the eight states of the region by launching its residential youth academy. The Centre of Excellence (CoE), a joint effort by NEUFC and Shillong United FC, will have its base at Shillong and will offer training and education, and organise competitions for its trainees throughout the year. The CoE will create under-13, under-15 and under-18 teams to provide a talent base for NEUFC in future.
Ramkumar Ramanathan is a man of few words and would rather let his racquet do the talking. Despite a series of good matches against quality opposition, with the best against World No. 8 Dominic Thiem on grass in Antalya, the 22-year-old Ramkumar has nothing much to say, except expressing gratitude to his coaches. It is not surprising as Ramkumar always had the potential to play the big game, as seen from his performance at the Chennai Open in recent years, except at the start of this season when he was outplayed by Yuki Bhambri.
Wake-up call Maybe, it was a timely wakeup call and he sought direct attention from coach Emilio Sanchez in Florida to set his career back on the rails. “I have been working hard, and been playing many matches. “I think the advice I have been getting from my coach Emilio Sanchez on a daily basis is priceless,” said
Growing in confidence: India’s Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi, left, says Ramkumar Ramanathan has the ability to break into the top-100. FILE PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH *
Ramkumar, without going into details. After having worked with Juan Balcells and Sergio Casal, it was something specific for Ramkumar that helped him galvanise all his energy and focus on the way
forward. “Sanchez helped me during the start of the year in his academy in Florida. “ I have been following it and listening to his words,” said Ramkumar, after stumbling out of the final qualify-
Manpreet tests positive Y.B. Sarangi KOLKATA
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has informed the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and Asian champion woman shot putter Manpreet Kaur about the athlete testing positive for a banned substance. Manpreet reportedly tested positive for dimethylbutylamine, a banned stimulant, in the Federation Cup at NIS Patiala on June 1. The substance is a ‘derivative’ of methylhexaneamine. “Since it is a specified substance, she has not been placed under provisional suspension. Whatever medals she has won after the test will stay with her for the time being and she is free to participate in any event. However, if she is held guilty, then medals won by her after the positive result would stand forfeited,” NADA Director General Navin Agarwal told The
Hindu on Wednesday. “The AFI and the athlete were informed of the positive result on Monday.” Manpreet, who won the gold medal in the Asian athletics championship in Bhubaneswar, was tested again during the continental event by the NADA on behalf of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on July 6. The result of this test is awaited. In case the athlete tests positive again for the same substance at the Asian athletics championship, then NADA would explore the option of negotiating with the international federation to club both the cases for hearing by a Disciplinary Panel. Manpreet took the No. 1 rank in the world following her gold medal winning performance of 18.86m in the Asian Grand Prix in Jinhua, China, in April and qualified for the World athletics championship to be held in
Prarthana enters doubles quarterfinals Sports Bureau Bucharest
Prarthana Thombare and Jessica Moore of Australia made the doubles quarterfinals beating Nicoleta Dascalu of Romania and Isabella Shinikova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-2 in the $250,000 WTA event here. Other results: $600,345 Hall of Fame Open, Newport: Doubles: First round: Sam Groth (Aus) & Leander Paes bt Marco Chiudinelli (Sui) & Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 6-3, 7-6 (2); Purav Raja & Divij Sharan bt
Alex Bolt & Andrew Whittington (Aus) 7-5, 6-3. $25,000 ITF, Yinchaun, China: Pre-quarterfinals: Zhang Zhizhen (Chn) bt Karunuday Singh 7-5, 6-4. $25,000 ITF, Istanbul: First round: Sumit Nagal bt Bogdan Borza (Rou) 6-1, 6-2. $60,000 ITF women, Bursa, Turkey: Pre-quarterfinals: Ankita Raina bt Anastasia Gasanova (Rus) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. $15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh: First round: Rutuja Bhosale bt Ola Abou Zekry (Egy) 6-1, 6-4.
ing round in the ATP Tour event on grass in Newport. “We have always known Ram has had the potential when he did well in Chennai a few years ago. I think his change of coach this year and working with Sanchez
BRITISH OPEN GOLF Press Trust of India SOUTHPORT
Anirban Lahiri and Shiv Kapur will be looking to make an impact at The Open Championship when they tee off at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club here on Thursday. It is only the third time that there will be two Indians at the same edition of The Open. Lahiri, who is playing his fifth Open — the most by any Indian — feels he is well prepared. “I was keeping an eye on where my world ranking was and was doing my own research to see how far it has gone down the list. I was quietly confident, so mentally I was prepared to play this week about a month ago. That’s why I played in Scotland last week with the intention to play this week.” Lahiri, who has locked his PGA Tour card for 2018 and also a place in FedEx play-offs, is looking at getting his ranking inside Top-50 once again and also making the Presidents Cup.
Anirban Lahiri. *
STUART FRANKLIN/GETTY IMAGES
Kapur arrived at Birkdale early and got some invaluable practice. “I’ve played this golf course in two completely different winds so you need to have two strategies rather than one. “You learn how to combat weather when you play on links courses and most of the time the yardage books go out of play. It is a lot of feel, ball flight control and creativity. You need to use a lot of imagination,” he said.
Mr. Baahubali for Madras Race Club Cup HYDERABAD: Mr. Baahubali, who has been well tuned, runs with a good chance in the Madras Race Club Cup (1,200m), the main event of the races to be held here on Thursday ( July 20). WELCOME PLATE (Div. I), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only (Cat. II), (Terms), 1.15 p.m.: 1. Agilis (4) Md. Ismail 56, 2. Arrow Arrow Arrow (6) Aneel 56, 3. Golden Aliza (5) Sai Kumar 56, 4. Kohinoor Prince (12) N. Rawal 56, 5. Royal Victory (7) P. Gaddam 56, 6. Vallee Peaks (3) G. Naresh 56, 7. Wild Wings (2) K. Mukesh Kumar 56, 8. Blue Angel (11) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 9. Cannon Fury (8) Kiran Naidu 54.5, 10. Glorious Grey (10) Deepak Singh 54.5, 11. Little Royal (13) C. Umesh 54.5, 12. Royal Dancer (1) Ajit Singh 54.5 and 13. Tough Princess (9) Ajeeth Kumar 54.5. 1. ARROW ARROW ARROW, 2. AGILIS, 3. WILD WINGS
1
Manpreet Kaur.
has helped him a lot and given him plenty of confidence,” said Davis Cup captain Mahesh Bhupathi. Ramkumar said that it was great to have people believing in him and guiding him on the right path. “It is always good to have people around who believe that you can make it. That gives me the belief too. I am grateful for that. “The win against Thiem makes me believe more,” said Ramkumar. “He is India’s No.1 currently and I think he is positioned well to break into the top-100 if he continues his run in the second half of the season,” said Bhupathi. Having negotiated the bad stretches with conviction, Ramkumar does relish the smooth flow in the professional journey. “He is prepared to do everything in his power to sustain the good run, with suitable guidance. Ramkumar has won 31 ITF Futures titles, including 16 singles, and is looking forward to capitalising on his stay in the big league.
*
V. RAJU
London in August. She won the titles at the Federation Cup and the Asian championship with performances of 17.04m and 18.28m respectively. It will be interesting to see whether the AFI allows Manpreet, who can be suspended up to four years if found guilty for the doping violation, to participate in the World championship next month.
PRANAHITA PLATE (1,100m), 3-y-o & over, rated 26 to 46 (Cat. III), 1-45: 1. Celtic Queen (4) Rafique Sk. 60, 2. On The Fire (2) Md Sameeruddin 59.5, 3. Paprika (11) Hannam 59.5, 4. Ragas Ajalias (3) K. Mukesh Kumar 59.5, 5. Vancouver (6) Deepak Singh 59.5, 6. Asteria (9) Md. Ismail 59, 7. Gladstone (10) N. Rawal 58.5, 8. Proud Warrior (8) Sai Kumar 58.5, 9. Top Starchy (1) Ajeeth Kumar 57.5, 10. Sarvatra (7) C. Umesh 57 and 11.
2
Raja Hindustani (5) Ajit Singh 53.5. 1. PAPRIKA, 2. ON THE FIRE, 3. CELTIC QUEEN WELCOME PLATE (Div. II), (1,100m), maiden 3-y-o only (Cat. II), (Terms), 2-15: 1. All Star General (7) K. Mukesh Kumar 56, 2. Gaandeevan (2) Koushik 56, 3. Kohinoor Legend (10) Sai Kumar 56, 4. Lord Gift (4) G. Naresh 56, 5. Mean Machine (12) Md. Ismail 56, 6. Newport (6) Hannam 56, 7. San Vinto (5) S. Sreekant 56, 8. Cannon Dear (8) Kunal Bunde 54.5, 9. Flying Ebony (3) N. Rawal 54.5, 10. Heaven Can Wait (11) A.S. Pawar 54.5, 11. Negress Princess (9) Ajeeth Kumar 54.5 and 12. Royal Green (1) Ajit Singh 54.5. 1. HEAVEN CAN WAIT, 2. NEWPORT, 3. ROYAL GREEN
3
4
TINTINNABULATION PLATE (1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated 42 to 62 (Cat. II), 2-50: 1. Altruist (8) Aneel 60, 2. Oh Dear (1) Deepak Singh 59, 3. Poll Promise (2) C.P. Bopanna 59, 4. Carolina Moon (3) S. Sreekant 56.5, 5. Symbol Of Pride (4) B.R. Kumar 56.5, 6. Aakash Vani (9) Ajeeth Kumar 56, 7. Green Image (10) P. Gaddam 56, 8. Movie Moghual (7) Md. Sameeruddin 56, 9. Legend (6) Sai Kumar 55.5, 10. Wonder Eye (5) Kiran Naidu 53.5 and 11. Masti (11) Hannam 53. 1. ALTRUIST, 2. MASTI, 3. OH DEAR
RAMAPPA PLATE (Div. I), (1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated upto 30 (Cat. III), 3-25: 1. Ice Cave (5) B. Dileep 62, 2. Back To Business (7) K. Mukesh Kumar 60.5, 3. Golden Xanthus (6) Sai Kumar 57.5, 4. Blaze Of Glory (1) B.R. Kumar 57, 5. Power Star (3) N. Rawal 56.5, 6. Wonder Star (8) Kuldeep Singh 56.5, 7. Racing Ikon (10) Nakhat Singh 55, 8. My Choice (4) P. Gaddam 54, 9. Ashwini (11) Kunal Bunde 52.5, 10. Cash For Rank (2) Rafique Sk. 50 and 11. Enter Canter (9) S.S. Tanwar 50. 1. WONDER STAR, 2. ENTER CANTER, 3. ICE CAVE
5
6
MADRAS RACE CLUB CUP (1,200m), 3-y-o & over, rated 74 & above (Cat. I), 4-00: 1. Happy Guy (7) Nakhat Singh 60, 2. Vijays Joy (5) Rafique Sk. 59.5, 3. Vijay Viraaj (9) P. Gaddam 57.5, 4. Mr. Baahubali (6) Hannam 56.5, 5. Exclusive Wind (8) B.R. Kumar 55.5, 6. Rahuls Pet (3) Deepak Singh 54.5, 7. Time For Fun (11) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 8. The Healer (10) Kuldeep Singh 52.5, 9. City Of Harmony (1) A.K. Pawar 52.5, 10. Baashagar (4) C. Umesh 50.5 and 11. Mangalyaan (2) Ajeeth Kumar 50.5. 1. MR. BAAHUBALI, 2. THE HEALER, 3. RAHULS PET RAMAPPA PLATE (Div. II), (1,200m), 5-y-o & over, rated upto 30 (Cat. III), 4-35: 1. Time To Climb (10) Gopal Singh 62, 2. Ro-
7
mantic Fire (11) G. Naresh 59.5, 3. Jem Star (5) Koushik 57.5, 4. Bouncer (2) Nakhat Singh 57, 5. Pretty Star (4) B.R. Kumar 57, 6. Yet Another (9) Kiran Naidu 57, 7. Abracos (1) K. Mukesh Kumar 54, 8. Wine N Dine (6) Akshay Kumar 54, 9. Sefarina (8) Deepak Singh 53, 10. Rainbow Blues (3) Ajeeth Kumar 50 and 11. Seeking Alpha (7) N. Rawal 50. 1. SEFARINA, 2. ABRACOS, 3. TIME TO CLIMB
8
LOOK OF EAGLES CUP (1,400m), 5-y-o & over, rated 26 to 46 (Cat. III), 5-10: 1. Little Smart Heart (8) Deep Shanker 60, 2. Coruba (12) P. Gaddam 59.5, 3. Dahlois (13) Hannam 59.5, 4. Rebellion (6) Rafique Sk. 59.5, 5. Aston Doulton (9) Sai Kumar 56.5, 6. Island Bird (4) A.K. Pawar 56.5, 7. Canberra (1) Md. Ismail 56, 8. Silvassa (7) Rohit Kumar 56, 9. Strengthandbeauty (3) N. Rawal 56, 10. Brilliant (14) C. Umesh 55, 11. Penumatcha’s Pride (10) Aneel 55, 12. White Gold (15) Deepak Singh 55, 13. Lavender (2) Akshay Kumar 54.5, 14. Vijay Vidyut (5) A.S. Pawar 54 and 15. Dhool Ka Phool (11) B.R. Kumar 53. 1. LAVENDER, 2. CANBERRA, 3. DAHLOIS Day’s best: MR. BAAHUBALI Double: PAPRIKA — ALTRUIST Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 3, 4 & 5; (iii): 6, 7 & 8; Tla: all races.
BAI plans to set up its own coaching centre V.V. Subrahmanyam Hyderabad
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) is in the process of setting up its own National Coaching Centre (NCC) either in Hyderabad or Bengaluru to ensure that all players picked for various international events train together at one venue. Vivek, a Bengaluru-based industrialist, whose Badminton Academy with worldclass facilities including 16 courts and a hostel is likely to be ready by the first week of December, is keen to enter into an agreement with BAI
to ensure that BAI has complete control over the facility, according to a senior official of BAI.
Another option To keep its options open, BAI president Himanta Biswa Sarma has also written to the Telangana State government to allot an indoor stadium in Hyderabad on lease for 15 years. A final decision is still awaited from the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) which is, however, keen only on a 10-year lease, to be renewed thereafter.
This was also confirmed by SATS VC & MD A. Dinakar Babu. “Yes, the matter is being discussed at a high level and a decision will be taken very soon,” he said. Interestingly, BAI is looking at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium instead of Gachibowli as a better option if Hyderabad is decided as the venue as it feels Saroornagar is bigger than Gachibowli and has a hostel facility too. Asked why the concept of NCC, the BAI official said: “Primarily, to see there is no scope for any complaints of
discrimination by any player or against any coach. “By ensuring all the facilities at one place, we can make sure all the big players will be there in one National camp. For this, we are willing to spend about ₹3 to 4 crore in the next couple of years to ensure a much better performance in the 2020 Olympics.” It was also informed that the BAI president was constantly engaged in discussions with chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand in this regard. “We will take a call very soon depending on
can make sure < > We all the big players will be there in one National camp BAI official
the response from the Telangana government,” he added. “Importantly, we want all the national players in one camp and not train at academies of their choice as is the case now. We are also going to make it clear that if they don’t attend these National camps, they will not be considered for selection,” the BAI official said.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12064
(set by Sunnet)
13 Shrink the criminal (9) 14 Expression of dismay on finding catholic queen is more violent (7) 16 Goodbye and thanks once again (2-2)
FAITH
SUDOKU
He is not our slave
5 Settlement of salary's expected disregarding the Centre (7) 6 Agile of me to get back into machined casting (9) 7 Touch Bill's tie (6)
19 Trickle from bore (4) 21 Indian unit to almost question Japan (7) 24 Boiled red banana for food (4,5) 25 Laugh hides desire of scavenger (5) 26 Lower with potassium inside lawyer (5) 27 Ah! Sam knew to galvanize a soldier (9) 28 Litigates to protect individual's right over family identities (8)
■ ACROSS
9 Change medical practitioner (6) 15 This French beer damaged and completely upset portions of the brain (9) 17 Very successful president left dinner bash (8) 18 Open style amusement destination in New York (8)
1 Trace of shower on road (6)
29 Aim to absorb university's forge (6)
20 An abnormally early arrival? (7)
4 Perhaps Bond girls can be spotted from a distance using this (8)
■ DOWN
21 Nick is after city's cargo (6)
1 Rest to get rid of rotten strips around in front (5,3)
22 Rascals evenly skin birds (6)
2 Hack note bearer (8)
23 Rely on king's financier (6)
11 Principal officer (5) 12 Average is raised by Indian community (5)
3 Managed to stop two persons from Persia (5)
25 9 thousand and one cut meat (5)
10 Old religious person gets a conservative's purgative (9)
CM YK
8 Spray without any issue near luxurious accommodation (6)
Solution to puzzle 12063
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
A jnani knows that God should be defined as One Who is neutral. Whenever our wishes are fulfilled, we say that God is on the side of the righteous. When we face reverses and setbacks in life, we say that God is cruel and unfair and always on the side of the wicked, the implication being that we are sinless! The tendency to see ourselves as pure, to be blind to our own faults, and to think that we should always get what we want — these are the things that make us miserable. First of all, whether we are good or bad is not for us to say. It is for others to judge. Secondly, even assuming we are good, what we now face in life is not due to what we are in this life, but due to our actions in previous births. Sometimes, it also happens that what we think is good for us may not in fact be so, said Suki Sivam in a discourse. Suppose a man is desperate to have a job in a certain city and performs yagas and prays hard for it. Suppose he does land the job, and this involves moving to some place. What if this migration brings his son into contact with undesirable friends? Will the man, who sought the job, be happy then? Another grouse we often have is that we are not appreciated enough by others. There is no one who can win universal approval. There will always be some people who dislike us. And to make ourselves unhappy over the fact that some people always criticise us is not going to do anything for us. A jnani ignores criticism and praise, and learns to accept whatever comes his way. This attitude to life is evident in the verses of the Nayanmars, Azhvars and bhaktas like Abirami Bhattar. God is not our slave to do as we command. Nor is anything in this life to be had on demand. All we can do is our duty, and leave the rest in God’s hands. A ND-NDE
https;//telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone
https;//telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS
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THE HINDU
SPORT 17
NOIDA/DELHI
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017
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IN BRIEF
Falcons pummell Yoddhas Sanil Shetty stars with an upset victory over Quadri Aruna ULTIMATE TT
Natraj ahead in Ultimate Bike category DAKSHIN DARE
K. Keerthivasan CHENNAI
Morata-Chelsea a done deal LONDON
Chelsea has reached an agreement to buy Spain international striker Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, the Premier League champion announced on Wednesday. “Chelsea Football Club and Real Madrid have agreed terms for the transfer of Alvaro Morata to Stamford Bridge,” Chelsea said on its website. Meanwhile, Leicester City has snapped up goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic from Hull City for an undisclosed fee. AFP
Soni wins judo gold in C’wealth Youth Games NASSAU
Soni of Haryana won the gold medal in the boys’ 73kg category in the Commonwealth Youth Games here. Ashish took bronze in the boys’ 60kg, while Antim Yadav (48kg) and Rebina Devi Chanam (57kg) won bronze medals in the girls section. PTI
Suresh Rana drives into the lead
It turned out to be the shortest Tie thus far in the Ceat-Ultimate Table Tennis League, with the contest pretty much laid to bed in less than two hours. Falcons TTC pummelled Oilmax-Stag Yoddhas 22-5 and finished its Chennai engagements with 50 points from three Ties, while Yoddhas also completed its quota of three Ties here with a tally of 32 points. Falcons reached the winning tally of 14 points in the fifth match itself when Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching beat Polina Mikhailova of Russia 11-3, 11-6, 11-4. The man who gave the momentum for the team was Sanil Shetty. The 28-year-old outclassed Quadri Aruna 11-6, 11-10, 11-9 and then paired up with Ching in the third match to post a scintillating 11-5, 11-7, 11-8 win over Abhishek Yadav and Doo Hoi Kem of Hong Kong. Sanil has been a roll ever since he created a couple of
P.K. Ajith Kumar BELAGAVI
On the ball: Sanil Shetty of Falcons continued his fine run as he dismantled Quadri Aruna’s game with consummate ease. R. RAGU *
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC Today’s match O Dabang Smashers vs RP-SG Mavericks CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
upsets in the Australian Open held earlier this month. He has made a few changes to his game, and those have proved effective. He has reduced the backswing on his forehand and made a few changes in footwork. And the results are
Roglic claims Stage 17 Champion Froome still ahead; Kittel quits after a crash
there for all to see. “After the loss to Arjun Ghosh in the Central Zone this season, I was upset but [India] coach Massimo Costantini encouraged me and made my forehand short, and German coach Peter Engel has played a big role in improving my backhand,” said Sanil, ranked 201 in the world.
etty 6-11, 10-11, 9-11; Manika Batra lost to Wu Yang 5-11, 1011, 8-11; Abhishek Yadav & Doo Hoi Kem lost to Sanil Shetty & Lee Ho Ching 5-11, 7-11, 8-11.
The results: Oilmax-Stag Yoddhas lost to Falcons TTC 5-22 (Quadri Aruna lost to Sanil Sh-
Quadri Aruna lost to Liam Pitchford 9-11, 11-7, 9-11; Doo lost to Wu Yang 8-11, 4-11, 2-11).
Easy for Australia HWL SEMIFINALS
TOUR DE FRANCE
Agencies
Tomislav Pucar lost to Par Gerell 11-9, 3-11, 9-11; Polina Mikhailova lost to Lee Ho Ching 3-11, 6-11, 4-11; Abhishek Yadav lost to Par Gerell 6-11, 6-11, 711; Polina bt Sutirtha Mukherjee 11-10, 11-9, 11-7.
On a day that saw some heavy rain, reigning champion Suresh Rana forced his way into the lead at the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare. At the end of the opening leg in the Ultimate Car category, he was placed third but moved to the second slot after the second. Samrat Yadav, who was in the lead after both these legs, had to make way for the driver from Manali. Rana and co-driver Ashwin Naik have clocked 6:59.02 on a Grand Vitara, while Samrat and S.N. Nizami are at 7:00.15. Former champion Sandeep Sharma and Karan Arya, driving a Maruti Gypsy, have retained the third place with a timing of 7:05.46. The action on the third day was mostly on the dirt tracks around Aimangala, a village near Chitradurga. “It was a tough track, but I en-
joyed the challenge and am delighted that I have finally taken the lead,” Rana said. “My car had suffered as many as three punctures in the first two legs that had slowed me down a bit. Now I want to retain the lead for the last two legs.” Samrat would want to assure him that it would not be easy. “My car had stuck in the third stage today and that proved me costly. But I feel I am in a position to catch up with Rana.” To do that, he would have to be at his best in the fourth leg, to be held here on Thursday. The rally concludes at Pune on July 21. In the Ultimate Bike category, T. Natraj (4:29.30) is still in the lead, followed by Abdul Wahid (4:31.26) and Sanjay Kumar (4:35.57). At the end of the second leg of the Endurance (TSD) Car category, Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta were on top, ahead of Karthik Maruthi and S. Sankar Anand and Raghu Nandan and M. Prakash.
Reuters
Australia thumped Egypt 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Hockey World League (HWL) semifinals on Wednesday. In another match, Germany downed France 4-1.
Chris Froome kept control of his rivals in a gruelling Alpine ride to move a step closer to a fourth Tour de France title on Wednesday, retaining the leader’s yellow jersey after the 17th stage, won by Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic. The defending champion was attacked by last year’s runner-up Romain Bardet and Ireland’s Dan Martin in the lung-busting ascent to the Col du Galibier but he stayed calm and covered every offensive move. Bardet and Martin’s accelerations, however, were damaging for Fabio Aru as the Italian lost 31 seconds and slipped from second to fourth place overall. Froome leads Colombian Rigoberto Uran and Bardet by 27 seconds each, while Aru is now 53 seconds off the pace. German Marcel Kittel, holder of the green jersey for the points classification,
CM YK
Elite bunch: Chris Froome, Romain Bardet and Rigoberto Uran, the overall top three riders in action during the 17th Stage. REUTERS *
abandoned the race after a crash. New leader Australian Michael Matthews looks likely to wear the jersey all the way to Paris thanks to his big lead over secondplaced Andre Greipel.
Saturday’s final time trial, which is expected to favour the Briton.
The results: Australia 4 (Jeremy Hayward 10, Jake Whetton 13, 35, Matthew Swann 20) bt Egypt 0. Spain 2 (Ricardo Sanchez 39, Alvaro Iglesias 45) bt Ireland 1 (Alan Sothern 44). Germany 4 (Tom Grambusch 15-pc, Timm Herzbruch 26, 42, Marco Miltkau 52) bt France 1 (Nicolas Dumont 59). Belgium 2 (Sebastien Dockier 3, Tom Boon 5) bt New Zealand 0.
Sports Bureau TAIPEI
India lost to 79-102 to Lithuania in the William Jones Cup basketball tournament in Chinese Taipei. Amjyot Singh Gill, after a couple of quiet matches, scored 28 points. The result: Lithuania 102 (Zygimantas Jocys 21, Domantas Seskus 20, Vaidotas Volkus 14) bt India 79 (Amjyot Singh Gill 28).
La Liga draw postponed Agence France-Presse Madrid
The Spanish football federation has pushed back the draw for the upcoming football league calendar until Friday following the arrest of its president Angel Maria Villar. The draw to decide fixture for the first and second divisions, originally scheduled for Thursday, will now take place on Friday at the federation’s headquarters, it said in a Twitter message. The 2017-18 first division season will begin from August 19 and end on May 20, 2018.
Akhil, Jitender’s rivals revealed The two boxers will fight on the same day as Vijender Special Correspondent
am not scared of < > Imy opponent and
KOLKATA
Johannesburg Serre-Chevalier
India loses to Lithuania
Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar will take on Ty Gilchrist of Australia, while Jitender Kumar will meet Thailand’s Thanet Likhitkamporn in their professional boxing debuts in Mumbai on August 5.
‘Battleground Asia’ The two Olympians will be part of ‘Battleground Asia’ that will see Vijender Singh in action against Chinese boxer Zulpiker Maimaitiali. Akhil, 36, will be engaged in a four-round junior welterweight (63kg) contest against Gilchrist, who made his debut in 2010 and has six
confident of winning Jitender kumar
In the big league: Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar will make their pro debut in Mumbai on August 5. FILE PHOTO: PTI *
wins, including two knockouts, in 13 bouts. “It’s my debut and I am
concentrating on my training so that I can put up a good show. It’s great that Gil-
christ is experienced, people will enjoy our fight. I like challenges,” said Akhil. Twenty-eight-year-old Jitender, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and a World Cup bronze medalist like Akhil, will lock horns with Likhitkamporn in a four-round lightweight (61kg) fight. The Thai made his debut earlier this year where he lost to his rival. “I am not scared of my opponent. I know I am training well, so I am confident of winning my debut fight,” said Jitender.
Last chance Thursday’s stage, a 179.5-km ride from Briancon to the 2,360m Col d’Izoard, is likely to be the last-chance saloon for Bardet and Uran to unseat Froome ahead of
A ND-NDE
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