friday, september 30, 2016

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www.thehindu.in Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 6 No. 233 CITY EDITION 24 Pages Rs. 8.00 ●

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

TDP MLA Revanth Reddy appears in court in cash-for-vote scam

SC finds Bihar delayed trial in the case against Shahabuddin

Rahul Gandhi granted relief in criminal defamation case

Lodha panel report: Crucial BCCI meeting today

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BRIEFLY Over 100 injured in New Jersey train crash

Target terror: India strikes along LoC

HOBOKEN (U.S.): A packed

commuter train crashed into a station in New Jersey on Thursday, with three persons reported killed and more than 100 injured. WORLD | PAGE 14

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Shakti Sinha to head Nehru Museum NEW DELHI: The Appointments

Committee of the Cabinet on Thursday approved the appointment of retired IAS officer Shakti Sinha to the post of director Nehru Memorial Museum and Library.

J NEWS | PAGE 13

Operations aimed at preventing infiltration: Army

NEW DELHI: India carried out

4 Pages

surgical strikes, targeting terrorist “launch pads” along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, the Indian Army announced on Thursday. The strikes were carried out in the early hours of Thursday, 10 days after terrorists killed 19 soldiers in an attack on an Army installation in Uri. “The operations were basically focused to ensure that these terrorists do not succeed in their design of infiltration and carrying out destruction and endangering the lives of citizens of our country. During these counter-terrorist operations, significant casualties have been caused to the terrorists and those who were trying to support them,” Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh told the media.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHENNAI: In a bulletin issued

late on Thursday on the health status of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Apollo Hospitals said she was responding well to treatment. Ms. Jayalalithaa has been under treatment in the hospital for a week now. The hospital added that the Chief Minister has been advised to stay there for a few more days for “recuperative treatment.” Information on the health status of the Chief Minister came after the official Twitter handle of the AIADMK, @AIADMKOfficial, tweeted that the CM was well and would return home soon, quoting Apollo Hospitals. The same message was also flashed by Jaya TV, which added that Ms. Jayalalithaa was taking rest on doctors’ advice.

‘Fully prepared’ “We do not have any plans for further continuation of the operations. However, the Indian armed forces are fully prepared to deal with any contingency. I have just spoken to the Pakistani DGMO and expressed our concerns and also shared with him the operations we conducted last night,” said

CBI arrests Tis Hazari judge for taking Rs 4 lakh bribe SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested a senior judge of the Tis Hazari court in the Capital along with her husband and a lawyer on allegations of accepting a bribe of Rs.4 lakh. “Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal, a civil judge in Tis Hazari court, was arrested while allegedly accepting bribe of Rs.4 lakh from an advocate named Vishal Mehan, who had been appointed as local commissioner in a case she was adjudicating. Her husband Alok Lakhanpal has also been arrested for alleged role,” said a CBI official. During searches, the CBI claimed to have seized Rs.94 lakh in cash. Two bank locker keys have also been seized. The agency said it is alleged

SUHASINI HAIDAR JOSY JOSEPH

SUHASINI HAIDAR KALLOL BHATTACHERJEE

FRIDAY REVIEW

‘Jayalalithaa responding well to treatment’

Commando teams spent four hours across LoC

that Rs 4 lakh, the amount seized, was the first instalment of a total bribe amount of Rs 20 lakh demanded by the judge. According to the CBI, the judge had appointed the accused lawyer for conducting an inspection of one disputed property and submit his report. “The advocate allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs.2 lakh for himself as well as Rs.20 lakh for the said senior civil judge for deciding the matter in favour of the complainant,” said CBI spokesperson R.K. Gaur. Based on a complaint, the CBI laid a trap and arrested the accused lawyer when he was receiving Rs.5 lakh allegedly on behalf of the judge. During interrogation, he purportedly disclosed that the money was meant for the judge.

Lt. Gen. Singh. Pakistan, however, denied that surgical strikes had taken place. “Pakistani troops befittingly responded to Indian unprovoked firing on LoC in Bhimber, Hotspring, Kel and Lipa sectors. Exchange of fire which started at 0230 hrs after midnight continued till 0800 hrs,” the DG-ISPR of Pakistan army said in an online statement.

However Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif announced that Indian soldiers “firing small arms” had killed two Pakistani soldiers and injured nine. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described India’s actions as “unprovoked and naked aggression” and said, “Our intent for peaceful neighbourhood should not be mistaken as our weakness.”

No aerial strike, says Rathore

Govt. kept the plan under wraps

NEW DELHI: Shortly after the Army

NEW DELHI: The Union government

said surgical strikes were carried out along the LoC, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the attack did not involve any aerial strike. He confirmed that the Army crossed the LoC “on the ground” for carrying out what he called “pre-emptive strikes.” PAGE 12

had kept the Army action along the LoC under wraps, but had put the forces guarding the border on high alert two days ago, according to a senior official of the Union Home Ministry. He said the Pakistani Army violated the ceasefire in Mendhar and Bhimber Gali on Wednesday night. PAGE 12

Mayo College calls off exchange programme with Pak school MOHAMMED IQBAL JAIPUR: Bowing to pressure from right wing groups, the prestigious Mayo College in Ajmer on Thursday called off a sports and cultural exchange programme with the Lahore-based Aitchison College. The move comes on a day when India carried out surgical strikes “along the line of control” in Jammu and Kashmir and inflicted “significant casualties” on terrorists. Groups led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had warned the district administration that the Pakistani delegation would not be allowed to enter the city. The delegation, comprising 38 students and

The move comes on a day when India carried out surgical strikes along the Line of Control teachers, was scheduled to take part in a tournament and an exchange programme at Mayo College from October 2 to 5. No NoC Ajmer Collector Gaurav Goyal, to whom a memorandum was submitted in this connection, said a noobjection certificate could not be issued for the programme in view of the security and law and order situation. The district adminis-

tration had also informed the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports about its stand. In a statement released to the media, the Mayo College management committee said the visit of students and teachers from Aitchison College had been cancelled in view of the “present circumstances” and “respecting [the] public sentiments.” It noted that the sports and cultural exchange is held every year. Established in 1875 as a boarding school, Mayo College is famous for educating scions of royal families of erstwhile Rajputana. It now functions as a boys' residential public school.

Mumbai railway hoots for safety, cuts track deaths More coaches in trains have made rides safer while walls and escalators prevented trespassing on tracks LALATENDU MISHRA MUMBAI: The Central Railway in Mumbai has been able to save an average of five lives a month, after it launched a special programme last year to prevent people dying on the tracks. Mumbai’s railway tracks are witness to an annual carnage. In 2015, the death toll was 3,304 while 3,349 persons were injured. say official data. For the first eight months of 2016, the number of deaths on Central Railway’s local tracks stood at 1,414

CM YK

ARING D DEATH: Commuters crossing the track at Borivali station in Mumbai. — FILE PHOTO: VIJAY BATE (176.75 deaths per month on an average) down from 2,187 deaths in the previous year on this line or 182

deaths per month. Similarly, the number of injured people plummeted by 23 per month. Until

August this year, 1,221 people were injured — 152 per month, as compared to 2,100 last year. Central Railway General Manager, Akhil Agrawal, on Thursday said the reduction “may not be substantial, but represents a beginning to tackle an alarming concern.” Over 80 lakh people travel by suburban trains in the financial capital every day. Among the steps, the Railways increased the number of 12 car trains, reducing overcrowding and the need to hang out and hence the the risk of falling

off. In other steps, boundary walls and barricades curbed trespassing, while escalators at stations prevented commuters from walking across tracks. Railway data analysis revealed that 55 per cent of deaths occurred due to trespassing at stations and on tracks between stations. The availability of medical facilities and ambulances at stations is also cited as a factor in cutting the number of deaths. All suburban stations now have doctors on duty round the clock.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army on Thursday announced that it had carried out strikes on eight terror launch pads, in a night long operation across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, which, officials claimed, exacted casualties in the “double digits.” According to sources, the operation to hit terrorist bases in a “pre-emptive counterstrike” were given the go-ahead a week ago, days after the attack on the Uri army base in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. On Wednesday, Defence Minister Parrikar inaugurated the Coastguards Commanders conference in Delhi in the morning, and he, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval were expected to attend a dinner at the event later in the day. They never attended the dinner. Instead, they spent the day at the military war room along with Director General of Military Operation (DGMO) Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, as the operations began in two different parts, after the Prime Minister gave a formal go ahead to the secret operation. The strikes were in locations spread over 200 kilo-

The strikes were spread over 200 km and carried out by Para Special Forces and 'Ghatak' platoons metres, and were carried out by Para Special Forces and 'Ghatak' platoons of the local units. Local commanders were given a free hand to select the targets that had been mapped in advance, say officials. The teams had already been moved to forward positions by helicopters, but no Indian Army chopper crossed the LoC, sources said. Just past midnight on Wednesday, the Army rolled out its operation. It started with artillery fire at a few locations including along the LoC at Uri. As the Pakistani troops focussed on retaliating, Indian commandos crawled across to the predetermined spots across the LoC. Reports in Pakistani media of the killing of eight Indian Army personnel is completely false and baseless, Indian Army sources said. (With inputs from Dinakar Peri)

J MORE REPORTS ON PAGE 12 & 15 J CROSSING THE LINE OF

CONTROL | EDITORIAL

Nursery student sexually assaulted in school STAFF REPORTER GURGAON: A nursery student of a leading school here was sexually assaulted allegedly by a housekeeping staff earlier this week.

The accused was arrested on Thursday after the matter was reported to the police. The three-year-old victim had gone to the wash room on the school premises when the accused, Yogesh, al-

legedly touched her inappropriately and assaulted her. He also threatened her and told her not to disclose it to anyone.

J DETAILS ON | PAGE 3

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THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

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TWIST IN TALE

NHRC, DCW notices to CBI over Bansals’ suicide notes Suicide notes allege torture of ex-bureaucrat’s family by CBI officials STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: The National

Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over allegations that officials of the agency were responsible for pushing former bureaucrat B.K. Bansal and his family to suicide. The CBI was investigating corruption charges against Bansal, who was Director-General in the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, when he and his son, Yogesh, were found to have committed suicide at their east Delhi home on Tuesday. Bansal was out on bail after being arrested by the CBI on July 16 for receiving a bribe of Rs.9 lakh from a corporate. His wife, Satyabala, and daughter,

Bansal was arrested by the CBI on July 16 for receiving a bribe of Rs. 9 lakh from a corporate

.K.Bansal B Neha, had committed suicide three days after his arrest. As per a suicide note, Bansal blamed certain CBI officials for torturing his family during the course of the investigation, leading to them taking their own lives. He alleged that his wife and daughter were physically abused. Report sought Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the NHRC expressed “deep anguish and shock over the suicide notes” of Bansal and his son. Issuing a notice to the CBI Dir-

ector, the NHRC asked for copies of the suicide notes as well as an action-taken report on the alleged abuse and torture at the hands of CBI staff within 72 hours. The Commission also asked for the names of the officials allegedly involved, including a head constable or havaldar who was not named in the suicide note. Bansal had written that even if he was at fault, why had his wife and daughter been driven to suicide. The NHRC “fully endorsed” this statement, saying that the CBI could not be permitted to “resort to physical assault, mental and physical torture of an alleged offender or his family members”. “It [the CBI] is supposed to be a protector and defender of human rights,” observed the NHRC. Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) also served a notice to CBI director Anil Kumar Sinha, seeking details about the action tak-

en on the allegations that Bansal’s wife and daughter were abused by CBI officials. The CBI was given 48 hours to respond. “Are they [the CBI] registering an FIR against the officers concerned in the matter? We want details about how they are going to conduct a transparent and independent inquiry in the matter since the notes name a senior politician and high-ranking CBI officers,” DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said. In the notice, the women’s panel asked whether a case of abetment to suicide had been registered against the officers named in the suicide note. The notice also asked whether the CBI was exploring the possibility of conducting lie detector tests on those named in the suicide note. “We are not passing a judgement on whether he [Bansal] was corrupt or not, but we want answers from the CBI,” Ms. Maliwal added.

35-year-old held for molestation

National-level athlete held for murder

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI: A national-level

NEW DELHI: A 35-year-old man

has been arrested for allegedly molesting a woman in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin. The accused, Abhishek H. Madhu, has allegedly told police that he belongs to a “highprofile family” and is a product of an IIM, said Romil Baaniya, DCP (South-East). The DCP, however, said they were yet to verify these claims. The victim works for a “reputed company” in the Capital. It was there that he became friendly with the victim and began calling her on phone on some pretext or the other. Over a period of time, Abhishek allegedly began to verbally abuse the woman. Around four months ago, he allegedly molested the woman in Connaught Place. She then registered a case against him. He was arrested from the New Delhi Railway Station on Wednesday.

The accused is involved in robbery, and theft incidents; in 2008, he was held in a carjacking case

STAFF REPORTER

shot-put athlete has been arrested for allegedly shooting dead a man who had threatened his brother to repay a debt of Rs. 10 lakh last year. The 29-year-old accused, Deepak, was a school champion and has participated twice in the national-level shot-put championship, said the police. ‘Lured by money’ However, due to a financial crisis, he resorted to crime to earn quick money, said the police. He later formed a gang and attempted robberies, snatching and thefts. In 2008, he was arrested in a carjacking case in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh. He and two others had shot dead the man on May 18 last year in outer Delhi’s Kanjhawala. While two of the accused were arrested soon after the incident,

ABBED: N Deepak was arrested on Wednesday. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Deepak had been on the run. Tip-off “Police teams were relentlessly working on tracking down Deepak. On Wednesday, information was received that Deepak had been spotted in Jharoda Kalan village,” said Surender Kumar, DCP (South-West). Later, it was revealed that

Deepak, who is a resident of the same village, had come to visit his family. The team conducted a raid late Wednesday, and the accused was arrested from outside his house when he was planning to escape, the police said. Deepak has allegedly told the police that last year his cousin Ravi Dagar told him that he had to pay back Rs. 10 lakh, which he had borrowed from one Amit alias Hoti, a resident of village Kanjhawala. Amit was asking him to pay off the debt immediately, and was allegedly threatening him of dire consequences. To get rid of the loan, the two brothers decided to eliminate him.

Nursery student sexually assaulted in school STAFF REPORTER GURGAON: A nursery student of a leading school here was sexually assaulted allegedly by a housekeeping staff earlier this week. The accused was arrested on Thursday after the matter was reported to the police. The three-year-old victim had gone to the wash room in the school premises when the accused, Yogesh, allegedly touched her inappropriately and assaulted her. He also

threatened her and told her not to disclose it to anyone. But, the girl complained to her mother following which a complaint was lodged at the Sushant Lok Police Station on Wednesday. The 32-yearold accused, a native of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on Thursday and produced before the court. An FIR has been registered under Sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and

Arms racket busted, 20 pistols seized STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Two alleged arms suppliers have been arrested with 20 country-made pistols that they were planning to sell to criminals in the Capital. One of the suspects, Prem Pal, was arrested from Dwarka on Wednesday based on a tipoff that he would be arriving in the area to deliver a consignment of firearms to one of his contacts. The pistols and six cartridges were recovered from him. His accomplice, Avnesh Babu, was arrested on

Thursday from nearby Kakrola, said Ravindra Yadav, Joint CP (Crime). The police said the accused were well-known to some of the notorious criminals in the city. On their demand, firearms would be smuggled into the city from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In Delhi, they would be sold for Rs. 15,000 each, at a profit of Rs. 5,000. In 2014, Pal and two others were arrested by the Delhi Police after they were found in possession of eight pistols.

relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act. The school authorities could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Safety an issue Expressing shock over the incident, Tripti Singh, administration, Facebook forum, Gurgaon Parents for Better Education, said: “It is high time that the administration initiate strict action against schools as well in such cases. In a similar case

earlier, a private school was let off the hook easily. These private schools charge hefty fees, but take no responsibility for the safety of kids. Children spend 7-8 hours in schools and there safety must be ensured.” In a similar incident, a four-year-old student of another prominent school was sexually assaulted by the school bus conductor in August. Following the incident, the parents had demanded strict action against the school authorities.

DELHI TODAY Book release and discussion: “South Asia State of Minorities Report 2016: Mapping the Terrain” by Prof. Muchkund Dubey, Council for Social Development.Speakers/Authors: Sajjad Hassan, Editor, Misaal – Centre for Equity Studies; Omar Sadr, South Asian University, New Delhi (Afghanistan); Naaz Khair, Minority Rights researcher and activist, India. Discussants: Rita Manchanda, South Asia Forum for Human Rights, and Ravi Nair, South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, at Conference Room I, India International Centre (IIC), 6:30 p.m. Dance & music: Parampara Series National Festival of Dance and Music 2016: Raja Radha Reddy, Natya Taranngini – Kuchipudi; D. Srinivas, D. Sesha Chary and D. Raghava Chary – Veena and Carnatic vocal, at Kamani Auditorium, 1, Copernicus Marg, 7 p.m. - 9.30 p.m.

Dance: An evening of classical dances at Vasuki Auditorium, Lok Kala Manch, 20, Lodhi Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, 6:30 p.m. Dance: Bharatanatyam recital by Dr. Debaldev Jana at The Stein Auditorium India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m. Music: Classical guitar recital by R2T2 at Amaltas Hall, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m. General: “Dastan-e–Gandhi”, a narration on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in the tradition of Dastangoi by Fouzia Dastango and Fazal Rashid, , at C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC), 6:30 p.m. Exhibition: “Soul of Delhi”, a photo series capturing the essence of Saddi Dilli by Abhishek Khanna, at Delhi ‘o’ Delhi Foyer, IHC, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. (Mail your listings for this column at [email protected])

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4| SURGICAL STRIKE

After Army action, Capital on its toes Delhi Police and CISF heighten vigil at the airport, the railway and metro stations, and landmarks STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: The Indian Army’s surgical strikes across the LoC have been followed up with enhanced security in the Capital. On Thursday, the Delhi Police and the CISF heightened vigil at the airport, the railway and metro stations, and landmarks, etc. The CISF D-G O. P. Singh met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Thursday and briefed them about the steps taken to strengthen security at the airport, seaports and other vital installations guarded by the CISF. Also, the police have beefed up security at all prominent malls, hotels, hospitals and educational institutions. Bus stands have also be brought under the security cover. A senior police official said that all Deputy Commissioners of Police had

Security checks are being conducted “everywhere” and “anti-terrorist action” is being taken to combat terror

IGH H ALERT: Tight security was put in place at Raisina Hill on Thursday. The police have also beefed up cover at all prominent malls, hotels, hospitals and educational institutions. PHOTO: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY been briefed and asked to monitor any suspicious activity reported in their areas. “We are ensuring that CCTVs at all places with high footfall, such as markets and metro stations, are functional. We are holding meetings with market associations and asking them to

ensure that CCTVs in their areas are in working condition,” said a senior police officer. Railway staff asked to keep watch The police have also asked the railway police and staff at stations and on the tracks to immediately bring to notice

anything suspicious. Gangmen and linemen, too, have been asked to keep watch over their areas and patrol the tracks through the day. Special checking and frisking of vehicles entering the city was started on Thursday afternoon with additional security personnel

deployed at the borders. A senior police officer said security checks were being conducted “everywhere” and “anti-terrorist action” was being taken to combat any kind of terror activities. A series of mock drills to check the preparedness of the security forces has been planned in the coming days.

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

ACB visits Maliwal’s office DCW chief questioned regarding complaint against her predecessors STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: A team of the AntiCorruption Branch (ACB) paid a visit to Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal’s office here with regard to a complaint that alleged irregularities by her predecessors Barkha Singh and Kiran Walia of the Congress during their tenure. According to a senior ACB official, a team headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police and accompanied by a woman police went to Ms. Maliwal’s office seeking more details into the complaint against Ms. Singh and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday afternoon. Ms. Maliwal had filed the said complaint alleging financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds meant for the functioning of the commission by her predecessors between 2007 and 2015.

Counter attack? “The DCW chairperson was asked questions about her allegations in pursuance of her complaint; the visit of the ACB team on Thursday was purely in connection with Ms. Maliwal’s complaint against three Congress functionaries and not in relation to a complaint alleging illegal recruitments in the DCW filed against her by Ms. Singh,” said a senior ACB official on condition of an-

RADING CHARGES: T Swati Maliwal has alleged financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds meant for the functioning of the commission between 2007 and 2015. FILE PHOTO

On September 21, Ms. Maliwal was booked on charges of allegedly flouting recruitment norms onymity. On September 21, Ms. Maliwal was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal breach of trust for allegedly flouting recruitment norms and “hiring people on contracts in an arbitrary manner and also fixing their remunerations” with regard to the appointment of 70 personnel in the commission. A few days later, Ms. Maliwal lodged a complaint with the ACB alleging financial irregularities running into crores, including an amount of Rs. 50 lakh that was swindled in the name of the

Kejriwal likely to scale down Restore faith in police functioning: NCM attack against Centre ASHOK KUMAR

CM to put off exposing ‘conspiracy’, govt says political unanimity needed STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal, who had announced that he would expose the ‘very big conspiracy’ behind the FIRs against his colleagues and him, is likely to scale down his attack on the Centre during the Special Assembly session scheduled for Friday following the tense situation along the LoC. Sources in the government said ‘political unanimity’ was the need of the hour, which led the Chief Minister to take this decision. With this, Mr. Kejriwal is likely to postpone the ‘revelations of the conspiracy against him and his partymen’. Press conference cancelled “However, other issues related to dengue and chikungunya will be taken up by the ruling party MLAs on the floor of the House tomorrow,” said an official in the Delhi government. The Chief Minister, who

ONEXPOSE FOR NOW: Government officals said issues like dengue and chikungunya will be taken up during the Special Assembly session today. FILE PHOTO was to hold a press conference at his official residence in Civil Lines on Thursday, postponed it and later called it off after news of the Indian Army’s surgical strikes emerged. On Tuesday, Mr. Kejriwal had tweeted, “False cases against AAP MLAs n ministers, FIR against me, CBI raid on me” why? A v big conspiracy. Will expose in Del Assembly on Fri (sic).”

The move came after the Delhi Chief Minister was named in an FIR that alleged irregularities in the Delhi Commission for Women by the Anti Corruption Branch (ACB), even as the anti-graft body said that he would not be questioned. The Chief Minister alleged that the FIR had been registered against him at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

‘Role of youth is crucial and instrumental in attaining SDGs’ STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Speaking at the in-

augural session of Delhi University Sustainability Forum, Yuri Afanasiev, the United Nation Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in India, said the role of youth is crucial and instrumental in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals. He quoted Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, as saying that “we are the first generation to end pov-

Two-day conference discusses issues related to sustainable development and the way forward erty, but the last to save the environment”. Students in attendance The two-day conference on “Sustainable Development Goals — The way Forward” was organised by Harithkram, the environment society of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Col-

Pre-Diwali anti-pollution drive soon STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: Ahead of Diwali,

when the use of firecrackers peaks, the Delhi government plans to launch a campaign to spread awareness about the impact the festive season has on air quality. Crackdown on crackers The anti-pollution drive will include action against the sale and use of Chinese CM YK

firecrackers, which have been banned. These efforts were announced after a review meeting held by Delhi Environment Minister Imran Hussain on Thursday. Apart from the awareness campaign, the Environment and Forest Department will also crack down on illegal burning of leaves and waste as well as dust pollution by vehicles and construction sites.

lege. Around 250 researchers, graduate students, and school students from 35 institutes across India and Delhi-NCR discussed issues related to sustainable development. Also speaking at the inaugural session, H. Ramachandran, ICSSR National Fellow, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, who discussed the importance of multigrade teaching in education for sustainable development, also the importance of inter-generational knowledge.

GURGAON: The National Commission for Minorities in its report on the Dingerheri gang-rape case has advised the Haryana government to take steps to promote communal harmony and restore confidence in the functioning of the police. The report also alluded to allegations about the attackers being cow vigilantes.

Cow vigilantes In its seven-page report on the matter, the commission said that “the incident has shaken the people of the area and there is a lot of resentment, especially among the Muslim community, partly due to allegations that the culprits were ‘gau rakshaks’.” The report said the role of the police in handling the case was being widely criti-

ORRECTIVE C STEPS: A report by the National Commission for Minorities has asked the Haryana government to promote communal harmony after the Dingerheri gang-rape. FILE PHOTO cised, and though the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the State government was “well-advised to take steps to promote communal harmony and restore people’s confidence in the functioning of the police”. The report added that “there is a need to convey a

clear message that culprits of such heinous crimes would not be spared. Such a step is more relevant in the case of Mewat district.” Statement recorded in haste Referring to a visit to Dingerheri by a team from the commission, the report

said that most people who interacted with them said the statement of the rape victim was recorded in haste while she was in trauma and breathless. It said that the rape victim had stated that the accused asked them if they ate beef, but that this fact had been omitted from the statement recorded under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and that the accused were ‘gau rakshaks’. Appreciating the government for paying double the compensation to the victims, the report said that “the State authorities should co-ordinate with the CBI to ensure quick completion of investigation in the case by the latter”. It also urged the State government to give regular employment to the kin of the victims and not casual employment.

One dead, three trapped in Narela blaze STAFF REPORTER

A three-storey building caught fire in outer Delhi’s Narela on Wednesday evening

NEW DELHI: Three persons,

including two fire fighters, remained trapped for over 24 hours after a threestorey building caught fire in outer Delhi’s Narela on Wednesday evening. While there was no update till this report was filed, strenuous rescue operations did help in pulling out a labourer, Sanjan, from the debris after almost 22 hours. However, he did not survive. On Wednesday night, the fire fighters had rescued six persons who had either suffered burns or were trapped under the debris. These included two fire fighters. All of them are said to be out of danger. The two fire fighters still trapped at the time of filing this report have served in the department for 18 and 11 years. The fire broke out in a

IRETRAIL: F On Wednesday night, the fire fighters had rescued six persons from the spot. PHOTO: SHIV SUNNY three-storey plastic itemsmanufacturing unit in Narela’s Industrial Area around 5 p.m. on Wednesday. While short-circuit is suspected to have triggered the blaze, the exact cause is yet to be ascertained. Several fire tenders were rushed to the spot and fire fighters struggled to douse the flames. After a boiler exploded

around 9 p.m., the roof of the first floor gave way, trapping over half a dozen persons. ‘Pancake collapse’ A fire officer at the spot explained that it was a “pancake collapse” in which the roof of the first floor had come down. “Chances are that the entire building may cave in, so we are forced to tread cautiously to

prevent more casualties,” said the officer. The rescuers relied heavily on machines such as cranes and drillers while removing the debris to prevent any further harm to those still trapped. Consequently, this has led to the rescue operations proceeding at a snail’s pace. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, meanwhile, reached the spot on Thursday morning. The Delhi Fire Services, the Delhi Police, the National Disaster Response Force and the Civil Defence volunteers continued their rescue operations at the time of filing this report.

650 public representations received on wards’ delimitation DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI: About 650 representations from the public, councillors, residents’ welfare associations and politicians, reacting to the proposed new boundaries of municipal wards have been received by the Delhi State Election Commission. The process of delimitation of wards is reaching its final leg, with the elections to the

three municipal corporations of Delhi slated for April 2017. The commission had asked for representations from the public and elected representatives in Delhi on its draft delimitation proposal. The two-week public representation period ended on September 24. Election panel at work According to State Election Commissioner Rakesh Me-

hta, the commission would need about a month to go through all the 650 representations, most of which are in the form of objections. The boundaries of all 272 wards have been changed in the draft due to change in population over the past decade. “Most people don’t want any changes. But, we have to work with certain principles, including that of equitable population distribution. We

will assess all representations and make changes, if necessary, before submitting it to the government in October,” said Mr. Mehta. So far, each Assembly constituency has four municipal wards in its boundaries. But, the new boundaries have been changed in a way that some Assembly constituencies have more than four and some less, depending on the popu-

lation. As per the rules, each ward should have 60,000 residents, with a leeway of 10 per cent. As per the draft, there will be seven wards in Matiala Assembly constituency — the maximum. There will be six wards each in Mundka, Burari, Badarpur and Vikaspuri, and five each in Narela, Badli, Rithala, Kirari, Uttam Nagar, Najafgarh, Bijwasan, Okhla and Deoli.

December 16 gangrape victim in the immediate aftermath of her death. “Instances of gross financial irregularities and high misappropriation of government funds was done by previous chairpersons Barkha Shukla Singh and Kiran Walia, with some instances prima facie being carried out under the directions of then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,” the complaint read. The complaint also alleged that while holding the post of chairperson Ms. Shukla’s conduct amounted to misusing of public office with an aim to benefit certain individuals. “Every year, a majority of the budget of the DCW was spent on organising functions and giving out ads, which were criticised by audit reports time and again,” the complaint added.

NAVAL WAR ROOM LEAK

CBI fined for not examining witness NIRNIMESH KUMAR NEW DELHI: A special court here has imposed a fine of Rs. 5,000 on the CBI for its failure to examine a prosecution witness in the 2006 Naval War Room leak case. The witness was not examined as the Special Prosecutor in the case was busy in the Delhi High Court. “Witness (Retd.) Commander Atul Nag is present since morning. It is now stated by proxy counsel for Special Prosecutor for the CBI, Rajiv Mohan, that he is held up in the High Court in some matter and will be coming around lunch time.

Defence refuses to wait However, the defence counsel submitted that they were not willing to wait as they were waiting since morning and had urgent matters in other courts to attend. Therefore, for rendering today’s purpose as infructuous and since the witness was present since morning and had to be discharged unexamined, cost of Rs. 5,000 is imposed upon the CBI,” the court said. Later, the court directed the CBI to engage another prosecutor after it was informed that the current prosecutor had asked the CBI that he be relieved of the responsibility. Former naval officer Kulbhushan Parashar, former commander Vijender Rana, sacked naval commander V. K. Jha, former IAF Wing Commander Sambha Jee L Surve and alleged arms dealer Abhishek Verma are facing trial in the case of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and the Official Secrets Act (OSA). While Prashar, Surve, Rana and Jha are out on bail, Abhishek Verma is in judicial custody. The CBI has alleged that over 7,000 pages of sensitive information from the Naval War Room and the Air Force Headquarters were leaked. ND-ND

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‘Denial of physical contact to spouse without reason is mental cruelty’ It entitles victim to seek dissolution of marriage, says the Delhi High Court in-laws living in fear of police action and false dowry harassment cases also amounted to mental cruelty. In the instant case, the parties got married in November 2003. They were blessed with a baby boy in 2005, but have been living separately since December 2007. The son is in the custody of the mother.

AKANKSHA JAIN NEW DELHI: Denying physical

contact or sexual intercourse to one’s spouse for a long time without justification amounts to mental cruelty so as to entitle the victim to seek dissolution of marriage, the Delhi High Court said on Thursday. A Bench of Justices Pratibha Rani and Pradeep Nandrajog said so while upholding the decree of divorce granted to a man, an employee with the MCD, by a family court on grounds of cruelty. The man had told both the courts that his wife used to quarrel with him and deprive him of cohabitation and physical contact without any reason. Estranged The estranged wife had challenged the decree of divorce before the High Court, but was denied relief. “Upon assessing the matrimonial life of the respondent/husband as a whole, we find that her act of denial of physical contact for a long time without any justification amounts to mental cruelty to the respondent/ husband so as to entitle him to seek dissolution of the marriage,” the high court held. “The act of the wife to deny cohabitation for a long

ISSOLUTION D OF MARRIAGE: The husband told the court that his wife used to quarrel with him and deprive him of cohabitation and physical contact without any reason. — FILE PHOTO period of time to the husband in itself is an act of cruelty and constitutes a matrimonial offence for the purpose of Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (which covers divorce on grounds of cruelty),” it added. The Bench relied on a Supreme Court judgment which states that “not allowing the spouse for long time to have sexual intercourse by his or her partner, without sufficient reason, causes mental cruelty to such spouse”. In the instant case, the woman did not wish to live with her in-laws. “The situation reached to the extent that the appellant/wife, on not getting her

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demand of separate accommodation being acceded to, started denying sexual contact with her for days together. False dowry harassment case In March 2004, she was provided separate accommodation on the first floor of the same house, but her attitude remained unchanged. She did not allow the husband to sleep with her on the first floor, thereby compelling him to sleep on the ground floor in the same house,” the court noted. The court also held that the ways of the wife in calling the police at the drop of the hat and the husband and

Separate homes The man moved a divorce petition, and was granted the same in February 2016. He told the family court that his wife had wanted a separate home for the two of them, but he could not afford it. However, since his wife was not allowing him cohabitation for days together, they both shifted to the first floor of the house within a few months of marriage. The High Court noted, “Apparently it was a perfect solution to strike a balance between sharing family responsibilities and meeting the demand of his newlywed wife to make her happy. Even this could not succeed as the respondent/ husband has claimed that he was not allowed to sleep on the first floor by his wife, leaving no option for him but to sleep on the ground floor.”

Clean sweep

DUST POLLUTION: A municipal corporation worker sweeps a street at ITO in New Delhi. — PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

HC asks ED not to arrest Virbhadra’s son him. ED counsel Sanjeev Narula maintained that the agency had no such plan and that he would communicate this to the officer concerned.

STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to arrest Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s son Vikramaditya, who has been called for interrogation in connection with a money laundering case registered against his father and others.

‘No such plan’ Justice Vipin Sanghi told the ED that the officer before whom Mr.

imachal H Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh with his son Vikramaditya. — FILE PHOTO

Vikramaditya appears should be told not to arrest

L-G calls for safety of Northeast people STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI: At a meeting held with the Delhi Police brass on the law and order situation in the Capital here on Thursday, LieutenantGovernor Najeeb Jung stressed the need for safety of people from the Northeast residing in Delhi and women, besides “honesty and hard work” in discharge of policing duties.

“Laxity” The L-G also issued instructions for strict compliance with Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) and the Constitution, even as he warned the police that they will be held responsible for “any laxity” that comes to the fore. “There can be no substitute for honesty and hard work. Please remember the two most sacred books for you are the Constitution and the Cr.PC,” Mr. Jung told top police officers, according to the statement. The meeting at Raj Niwas was attended by Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar in addition to Special Commissioners (Law and Order), Joint Commissioners (all ranges) and all Deputy Commissioners of Police. Sensitivity “He directed the DCPs to ensure that the conduct of SHOs and their subordinate staff is of highest standards, especially while dealing with the common people. Police personnel must demonstrate sensitivity to people and their issues,” said a statement from the Raj Niwas, adding that SHOs had been directed to “actively engage” with local NGOs working with women. Directing the officers to adopt zero-tolerance towards crimes against women, Mr. Jung also said

Issues instructions for strict compliance with Criminal Procedure Code and the Constitution that the number of such incidents must be brought down with concerted efforts. He told the police to intensify patrolling, particularly in areas more prone to crimes against women. On the issue of safety of the people from the Northeast in the Capital, the L-G cautioned officers to be careful of any crime against them. He said that individual responsibility of officers, including area SHO, will be fixed if there were crimes against the people from the northeast residing in Delhi. Communal harmony In terms of communal harmony, the statement said, the said police needed to “isolate elements trying to disrupt peace and communal harmony and deal with them strictly” with SHOs asked to intensify their engagement with peace committees and regularly engage with people in their areas. The L-G also highlighted the issue of growing incidents of motor vehicle thefts and snatching, while directing the personnel of all ranges and districts to work concertedly towards bringing down crimes through greater intelligence gathering and by being extra vigilant, the statement added.

Non-appearance Mr. Vikramaditya has been asked to appear on Friday by the ED for questioning in connection with the case following his non-appearance for interrogation earlier. Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for Mr. Singh’s son, contended that he apprehends his client may

be detained during questioning and that he should be protected from arrest. The ED had filed a case under provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the CBI in this regard in September last year. The agency is probing allegations that Mr. Singh and his family had amassed wealth of Rs.6.1 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income between 2009 and 2011, when he was the Union Minister of Steel.

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NORTHERN REGION

Indo-Pak trade normal in J&K after surgical strikes 26 trucks crossed over to PoK and 13 from there reached the Indian side URI: Cross border trade be-

tween India and Pakistan remained unaffected in Jammu and Kashmir despite the surgical strikes by the army across the Line of Control (LoC), with 26 trucks crossing over to PoK and 13 from there reaching the Indian side. As the State administration went into a huddle with army officials discussing possible evacuation of the locals from villages on the border amid heightened tensions between the two countries, trucks carrying goods from India crossed Salamabad checkpost in Uri on way to PoK. Similarly, PoK authorities said 13 trucks with goods including embroidery items crossed over into Salamabad from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. After necessary documentation was completed, the cross over of trucks started at 2 p.m. and was completed by 4 p.m., officials said. They said Indian trucks carried chilli seeds, embroidery material, cumin seeds and black cardamom, while the trucks from PoK came with almonds, dried dates and mangoes. Uri, located 102 km north of Srinagar, is one of the last Teshils in Baramulla district of north Kashmir. It was in news recently after four militants of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried out a suicide attack on an Army

Ruckus in Odisha Assembly over Polavaram issue SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Assembly’s monsoon ended on Thursday with the Opposition, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, blaming the ruling Biju Janata Dal for avoiding a discussion on the Polavaram issue over which the latter had stalled the proceedings of the House on Wednesday. The House witnessed several adjournments even on the last day of the brief session with the legislators of the Congress and the BJP stalling the proceedings during the zero hour demanding a discussion on the Polavaram issue. Although the BJD had on Wednesday said that they were ready for a discussion on the issue, Speaker Niranjan Pujari, however, did not allow a debate saying that a number of Bills were to be passed on the last day of the House. Talking to mediapersons outside the House, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra termed the ruling BJD legislators “escapists”, while saying that the government was not ready to discuss the Polavaram issue since it was not having details of the project. Leader of the BJP Legislature Party K.V. Singh Deo told newsmen that the BJD government was neither serious about the Mahanadi or the Polavaram. “They want to politicise the issues and divert attention of the people from the real issues of poverty, health care, education, and law and order. This is nothing but a poll ploy keeping the panchayat election in view,” he added. The monsoon session had begun on September 21, and BJD legislators had stalled the proceedings in the first two days by raising slogans against the Centre and theChhattisgarh government over Mahanadi and Polavaram issues. The Mahanadi water dispute was finally discussed in the House over two days and Chief Minister had replied saying that the State government was taking action on administrative and legal fronts to protect Odisha’s rights over Mahanadi waters. Opposition legislators had also stalled the Assembly for two days demanding a clarification from the Chief Minister and wanting to know what recourse the State government was planning to take to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute.

CM YK

camp killing 18 soldiers on September 18. Tension between India and Pakistan has been increasing since then. In the wee hours of on Thursday, India said its troops had carried out surgical strikes inside PoK and destroyed terrorists launch pads located in that part of Kashmir.

The trade between the divided parts of Kashmir resumed on Tuesday after nearly two months as Pakistani traders decided to suspend the trade to protest civilian killings in the valley as a mark of “solidarity with the people of Kashmir”. 21 items, including eatables, garments and handi-

crafts, are traded on the twin routes - Srinagar-Muzaffarabad in Kashmir and PoonchRawalakote in Jammu - on which around 50 trucks ply for four days a week. The trade between the divided parts is considered as the second major Confidence Building Measure (CBM) - PTI

Kashmir Valley remains curfew-free SRINAGAR: Kashmir Valley was once again curfew-free as authorities did not impose curbs in any area on Thursday, but restrictions on the assembly of people remained in force throughout the Valley. “There is no curfew anywhere in Kashmir Valley on Thursday,” a police official said here. He, however, said the restrictions on the assembly of people under section 144 CrPc were in place throughout the Valley as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order. After the Valley remained curfew-free for three days, the authorities had imposed the curbs on the movement of people in Koimoh town of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday in view of the separatists call for a march to various tehsil headquarters. However, the curbs were lifted this morning in view of the improvement in the

situation. Meanwhile, normal life continued to remain affected in Kashmir for the 83rd straight day on Thursday due to the separatists’ call for shut down, but there was increased movement of private vehicles in the city, indicating mass fatigue among the populace due to the prolonged unrest. Shops, petrol pumps and other business establish-

ments remained closed, while public transport remained off the roads. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions also remained closed across the Valley. The separatist groups have been announcing weekly protest programmes with periodic relaxation on some days and have extended the strike till October 6.- PTI

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THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

‘T.N. in dire need of water’ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu refused to move from their stated positions JACOB KOSHY NEW DELHI: The Centre failed to broker a solution to the dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the release of Cauvery waters. Following instructions of the Supreme Court, the Centre had directed Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi earlier this week to arrange a meeting of both States to try and find a solution to the imbroglio over sharing of waters. After the meeting on Thursday, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said in a press briefing that all the concerns and objections raised by both States would be placed verbatim before the Supreme Court on Thursday night. The SC is expected to hear the matter on Friday.

Tamil Nadu, according to Ms. Bharti, rejected a suggestion by Karnataka to constitute an expert committee to ascertain the quantity of water available in the Cauvery basin. Before the meeting, attended by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Tamil Nadu Minister for Public Works E.K. Palaniswamy and top water officials from the two States and the Centre, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in a written statement, insisted that a Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB) be expeditiously constituted. Ms. Bharti, in an emotional appeal, said though she was bound by the Supreme Court’s directions to be only a “facilitator” of the meeting, she would go on a “hunger strike” if there was violence in either State on the dispute. Referring to the tense situation in the two States, especially Bengaluru, Mysore and Mandya, Ms. Bharti

urged people to “take care of each other” and ensure peace. “I may go on an indefinite hunger strike along the border between the two States, if the problem persists,” Ms Bharti said, making an emotional appeal. Over the weeks, Karnataka has been adamant over not releasing water to Tamil Nadu in spite of orders by the Supreme Court and the Centre-led Cauvery Supervisory Committee. Karnataka said poor rains and its agriculture, and its own drinking-water requirements didn’t allow it to spare water for Tamil Nadu. Plea for expert panel Karnataka Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav said his State insisted on a Central expert committee’s visit to the basin area to study “ground realities, actual quantum of drinking water available and crop situation” before water was released as directed by the SC. “Before releasing water, we want a central team to

visit the Cauvery basin and assess ground realities, look at the situation and the level of drinking water and crop situation,” Mr. Jadhav said. He also said the Tamil Nadu government reiterated the long-standing demand for setting up a Cauvery Water Management Board. “To this, our Chief Minister replied that there is a hearing scheduled before a court in this regard on October 11 and let the issues relating to formation of the board be decided then,” Mr. Jadhav said. Meanwhile, on Karnataka’s demand for sending an expert team to the basin area, Central Water Resources secretary Shashi Shekhar said there was no provision under the law in this regard. The Supreme Court directed last week that a Cauvery Water Management Board be constituted, again, a matter Karnataka is vehemently opposed to saying that it takes away the State’s right over deciding how to manage its reservoirs.

Reiterating the need for the immediate constitution of Cauvery Management Board as ordered by the Supreme Court, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday demanded that Karnataka release the stipulated quantity of Cauvery water which was vital for at least one samba crop this season.

CHENNAI:

CM’s statement According to an official release, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao read out the statement of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who is in hospital, at the meeting convened on the directions of the Supreme Court in New Delhi. Tamil Nadu PWD Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswamy attended the meeting. Ms. Jayalalithaa said Tamil Nadu was in dire need of water and that, in the spirit of the SC order, the Centre should ensure that Karnataka complied

‘Kanu’s Gandhi’ to be showcased in Bengaluru RANJANI GOVIND BENGALURU: For the first time outside of the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, 42 rare pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, taken by his grand-nephew Kanu Gandhi, will be showcased in Bengaluru. The exhibition titled ‘Kanu’s Gandhi’ will be displayed at the National Gallery of Modern Art from October 1, ahead of Gandhi Jayanti. It is presented in association with Nazar Foundation, a non-profit trust for photographic arts, which released a book by the same name last year. The exhibition will also travel to Goa, Mumbai and Dhaka. Kanu, the son of Mahatma Gandhi’s

nephew Narandas and his wife Jamuna, lived at the Sabarmati Ashram from the time he was a toddler, and eventually worked for the ashram, where he developed a passion for photography. The B&W stills of the Mahatma giving a massage to a Sanskrit scholar suffering from leprosy, or the poignant shot of Kasturba on his lap during her last moments at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, bring out some rare moments of his life. ‘Candid and lucid’ Photographer and curator Prashant Panjiar has been on this journey since 1998, piecing together photographs, journals and other materials that are part of

ahatma M Gandhi at Sevagram Ashram, 1938. the private collection of Kanu’s daughter Geetha Mehta, who lives in Rajkot. Books such as Bapu ke Saath, authored by Kanu and his wife Abha, helped Mr. Panjiar in curating the exhibition too. He said:

“The straightforward angles are the simple narratives in each of Kanu Gandhi’s photos.” Despite the strict rules imposed by his revered subject (“no flash, no posing and no funds from the Ashram”, the Mahatma said), some of Kanu’s photos reflect his focus and proximity to the Mahatma, which no one else enjoyed. “His unschooled photos are convincingly candid and lucid,” explains Mr. Panjiar, appreciating some of the “quiet moments” that Kanu has captured. “Kanu’s interactions with photographers pushed him to get obsessed with photography,” Mr. Panjiar added. Acharya Vinobha

Bhave’s brother, Shivaji, while on a visit to Sevagram, was the first to encourage Kanu to record events. “Initially, Gandhi turned down Kanu for lack of funds, but later relented as the industrialist G.D. Birla helped Kanu get a Rolleiflex camera for Rs.100!” remarked Mr. Panjiar. “Though some of Kanu Gandhi’s images reproduced in books are well known, he was never credited for them. Nor were they acknowledged and brought over as a showcase for their historical and artistic importance,” says Mr. Darshan Kumar, Assistant Curator, NGMA, Bengaluru.

‘Biligundlu received 2.04 tmcft water’ M.T. SHIVA KUMAR

AKING M PEACE: Union Minister Uma Bharti during a meeting on Cauvery issue with the Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, and PWD Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K. Palanisamy, in New Delhi on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI with it and released water to Tamil Nadu. Further, Karnataka should release the stipulated quantity of water as per the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, including the backlog of 76.042 TMC as on September 26, 2016, she

said. “This is absolutely vital for the survival of at least a single samba crop in the Cauvery delta which is the granary of Tamil Nadu as well as to meet the drinking water needs of a large number of towns and villages,” her statement said.

MANDYA: Karnataka may have stopped discharging water to Tamil Nadu, but the neighbouring State has received at least 2.04 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water since September 20. Sources at the water measuring station, set up by the Central Water Commission at Biligundlu (inter-State border) in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, say the station had registered an inflow of around 2.04 tmcft of water between September 20 and 28. Whilst the inflow rate was 9,871 cubic feet per second (cusecs) on September 20, the quantum decreased to 1,190 cusecs on Wednesday, sources told The Hindu. Water discharge to Tamil Nadu was suspended on September 21, as the level at the KRS had plummeted to 85.7 ft against the full-reservoir level of 124.8 ft.

‘Amma’ freebies find their way to Andhra market THARUN BODA VIJAYAWADA: Poll freebies, ranging from smart phones to wet grinders distributed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK during the recent Assembly elections, are creating a buzz in Amaravati, capital region of Andhra Pradesh. Traders from Tamil Nadu with loads of table top mixergrinders, wet grinders, ceiling fans and other household items have set up shop on the roadside in Krishnalanka of the city, and the Tadigadapa centre in Guntur district. The items display the picture of Ms. Jayalalithaa, popularly called ‘Amma,’ and the logo of the Tamil Nadu government. A two-jar mixer grinder

n elderly A woman walks away with ‘Amma’ mixer-grinder sold by a person, at Tadepalli of Guntur district, near Vijayawada, on Thursday. — PHOTO: V RAJU costs for Rs. 600 while wet grinders are sold at Rs.1,200 a piece. “Four days ago, traders came with a truckfull and sold everything. Due to the low prices, people are buying them eagerly,” said a

shopkeeper at the Tadigadapa centre. Apart from assuring a ‘warranty’ for two years, the traders test the items before giving them away to the buyers.

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Riyadh Mathew is new PTI Chairman NEW DELHI: Riyadh Mathew, Director of Malayala Manorama, and Viveck Goenka, Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Express, were on Thursday unanimously elected Chairman and ViceChairman respectively of PTI. Mr. Mathew, who is Senior Assistant Editor and member of the Manorama management, succeeds Hormusji N. Cama, Director of Bombay Samachar. Mr. Goenka succeeds Mr. Mathew as Vice-Chairman. Besides Mr. Mathew, Mr. Goenka and Mr. Cama, members of the PTI Board are K.N. Shanth Kumar (Deccan Herald), Vineet Jain (Times of India), Mahendra Mohan Gupta (Dainik Jagran), Aveek Kumar Sarkar (Anand Bazar Patrika), N. Ravi ( The Hindu) M.P. Veerandra Kumar (Mathrubhumi), Vijay Kumar Chopra (The Hind Samachar Ltd), R. Lakshmipathy (Dinamalar), R ajiv Verma (Hindustan Times) and Independent Directors Justice R.C. Lahoti, Prof. Deepak Nayyar and Jimmy F Pochkhanawalla and Shyam Saran. — PTI

Bihar inexplicably delayed Shahabuddin trial: SC Supreme Court Bench was hearing a plea by the State to cancel the bail of the former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP NEW DELHI: A day after flaying

the Bihar government for its lacklustre attitude, which allowed former Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohd. Shahabuddin to get bail, the Supreme Court on Thursday found that the State inexplicably delayed trial in the Rajiv Roshan murder case for over 17 months. Mr. Shahabuddin, who got bail from the Patna High Court in the Roshan murder case on September 7, said there was a “conscious delay” on the part of the State in conducting the trial, compelling him to seek bail. Charge sheet A Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy went through trial court records before them and found that the charge sheet in the case was filed in February 2015. “Trial court records show that police papers were served on the accused over a year after the charge sheet

MADHUMATHI D.S. BENGALURU: The first of the

TDP MLA appears in court SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Telugu Desam MLA A. Revanth Reddy today appeared in an AntiCorruption Bureau court here in connection with the cash-for-vote scam pending against him but the court adjourned the case to October 24 as one of the co-accused Sebastian, a pastor, did not turn up. Revanth Reddy showed up in the court along with another accused Udaysimha while the judge took note of the absence of Sebastian and asked his legal counsel to file a memo explaining reasons why his client was not present.

HYDERABAD:

ohd. M Shahabuddin was filed. The trial court orders repeatedly direct the prosecution to furnish copy of the charge sheet to the accused,” Justice Roy told senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Bihar government. Mr. Dwivedi and advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing Chandrakeshwar Prasad, the victim’s father, submitted that Mr. Shahabuddin moved the sessions court in review of the charge sheet shortly after it was filed in court. “He could not have filed

two small surveillance aircraft carrying the first Indian airborne early warning system is slated to be inducted into the Air Force in about two months, it is reliably learnt. The DRDO has fitted its own airborne early warning and control system (AEW & CS) on a modified Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft imported from Brazil. The AEW & CS is basically a ‘sharp-seeing and listening’ radar that can look out deep across enemy territory for any incoming threat without itself crossing over. “The aircraft has undergone the requisite operational trials, [got certified] and is ready for induction in November or later,” a person with knowledge of its progress told The Hindu. Second aircraft The second aircraft is going through the initial trials

for review without having a copy of the charge sheet,” they pointed out. “So you are saying the trial court made a mistake? Please do not think we are completely unaware of trial court proceedings ... Did you not have a duty to ensure that the trial was held expeditiously,” Justice Roy asked Mr. Dwivedi. The court was hearing pleas by the State and Mr. Prasad to cancel Mr. Shahabuddin’s bail. Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, for Mr. Shahabuddin, argued that his client had got bail in all other cases against him. Mr. Naphade submitted that his client should not be forced to lose his personal liberty again just because the Bihar government failed to ensure that the trial was expeditiously conducted. Roshan, the eyewitness to the gruesome killing of his two younger brothers, was also killed a few days before his proposed testimony in the murder case of his brothers.

and is likely to join the first one around mid-2017 at the Bhisiana Air Force Station in Bathinda, Punjab, close to the northern borders. The DRDO’s Bengalurubased Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS) is the nodal agency for the design, integration and testing of the Indian early warning systems on the Embraer. (Early this month the DRDO sought details of the purchase of the two aircraft after the United States launched a probe in recent months into suspected payments in the Brazilian deal.) Work on the twin Rs. 2,000-crore surveillance aircraft project started after the first customised plane reached CABS in July 2012 from Sao Paulo.

tage conservation project in India and is a State government initiative involving renovation of ancient places of worship, old markets, forts and the construction of museums. Respect for ancestors Art writer Aditi Anand spoke of how the preserva-

Mumbai man arrested for demanding money to end love affair MUMBAI: A 37-year-old divor-

cee was arrested by the Navi Mumbai Anti-Extortion cell for trying to extort money from the father of a 25-yearold, with whom he had a love affair. The accused, Pritam Ramesh Ranade, a resident of Taloja who had already extorted Rs. 1 lakh from the complainant to break the relation with his daughter, demanded Rs. 2 lakh more. He threatened the complainant that he would upload his daughter’s pictures on social media sites. Ranade had got in touch with Priya (name changed) via OLX on the pretext of finding a shared flat for his CM YK

Pritam, who had already extorted Rs. 1 lakh, demanded Rs. 2 lakh more to end the relationship friend’s sister. Priya, who was staying in Navi Mumbai as a paying guest, was also in search of a shared apartment and had posted her requirement on OLX, using which Ranade got in touch with her in 2014. Ranade introduced himself as Adwait Pradhan who worked as a software trouble shooter. The duo soon started a relationship. In July 2015, Vaishali Mudaliyar, a resident of Kamothe, registered a case against

PATNA: Ahead of the Supreme Court verdict, likely to be pronounced on Friday on cancellation of the bail granted to former RJD MP and strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin, security has been tightened in his hometown Siwan. Security personnel in large numbers have been deployed around his house and also the house of Chandrakeshwar Prasad alias Chanda Babu, who three sons were killed allegedly by the henchmen of Shahabuddin. “I have full faith in judiciary and God. If Shahabuddin remains out of jail, there will be threat to our life. He should be either put behind bars or kept outside Bihar,”

handrakeshwar C and wife Kalawati whose sons were killed allegedly by Shahabuddin’s henchmen.— FILE PHOTO: RANJEET KUMAR Chanda Babu told The Hindu over the phone. The septuagenarian and his ailing wife Kalawati Devi have kept themselves updated about the matter coming up for hearing in Supreme Court. People of Siwan are also keeping their fingers crossed. “Siwan is in

complete silence waiting for the court’s decision,” Basant Singh, a government employee, told The Hindu. The district administration has provided security to about 20 people in Siwan who have “threat perception from Shahabuddin in some way or the other.

Ranade for dowry harassment in which he was briefly arrested before getting bail. “Priya learnt his true name and discovered that he had married in 2006 and had three children.,” said Assistant Police Inspector Deepak Shikhare of the Anti-Extortion cell. According to police, Ranade persuaded Priya to stay in the relationship. “Priya’s parents wanted Ranade to break the relation with their daughter. Ranade asked her father to pay Rs 1 lakh in order to break the relation,” said Mr. Shikhare. Her father agreed to pay the amount. On Monday, Ranade contacted the complainant and demanded Rs. 2 lakh.

tion of history plays a very important role in promoting respect for our ancestors. “It also teaches us about who we are and our role in the world. Muziris project speaks of how cosmopolitan the land was and how it contributed to the present cultural diversity of the region,” he said. The three-day mart will conclude on Friday and members of the public will be allowed entry on the day. As many as 265 stalls are featuring an array of products, packages and services offered by tourism entrepreneurs of Kerala.

FTII to propose fee hike, upper age-limit

Pawar clan gives Maratha rally in Baramati a miss SHOUMOJIT BANERJEE

PUNE: The administration of

the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) here would be proposing a fee hike and upper age-limit of 25 years for admissions at Friday’s meeting of its academic council in Mumbai. But the proposal has not gone down well with a group of students who alleged the administration was trying tomake the institute “commercial“. “The rationale behind proposing hike in fee structure is that for five years the fees were not increased as they should have been. In fact, in 2010, the fee of acting course, which is self-financing, was Rs 1.75 lakh (per annum) however, the then administration brought it down to Rs. 48,000,” said FTII director Bhupendra Kainthola. — PTI

KOCHI: The last United Democratic Front government’s liquor policy has an unintended casualty: the coffers of the government-funded Kerala Financial Corporation. The KFC had advanced hefty loans to the once-thriving bars dotting the State, but the abrupt closure of hundreds of these bars has turned those loans into Non Performing Assets (NPA) overnight. The loan portfolio of the corporation included loans extended to 221 hotels, before the curbs took a toll on their revenue. The total principal outstanding in these accounts now stands at Rs. 529.05 crore, which translates to 22.04 per cent of the KFC’s total loan portfolio. Of these, about Rs.182 crore was in default, pushing the Non Performing Assets of the corporation to above 10 per cent. This is against the banking average of 5 per cent,” M.G. Rajamanickam, managing director, KFC, told The Hindu.

IWAI clarifies on Gangetic dolphins

he Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak T passenger train which collided with a goods train at Kathajodi station in Cuttack on Thursday, killing one person and injuring 22.—PHOTO: BISWARANJAN ROUT

They will discuss sharing of knowledge on their ancient trade with Kerala through Muziris port

KOCHI: Attempts being made

RAINA ASSAINAR

AMARNATH TEWARY

The DRDO has fitted its own AEW&CS on a modified Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft, imported from Brazil

STAFF REPORTER

near Kodungalloor. “A lot of the materials related to this trade such as maps, ancient accounts, paintings and artefacts are in other countries, and this knowledge has to be shared. We have already got agreement with three top global universities to share their digital knowledge.” Muziris is the largest heri-

Security tightened in Siwan

Collision in Cuttack

Envoys of 31 nations on Spice Route to meet by Kerala to rekindle interest in the Spice Route project involving 31 countries come at a time when most countries are focussed only on their ancient history, conservation architect Benny Kuriakose, who played a key role in heritage conservation at Muziris, has said. Speaking at a seminar organised here in connection with the ninth edition of the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) on Thursday, he said that a meeting is expected to be convened in New Delhi in November where ambassadors of these 31 countries, which traded spices and other commodities with Kerala, will discuss the sharing of knowledge on their ancient trade with Kerala through the Muziris port, said to have been located

Liquor policy dries out Kerala’s coffers M.P. PRAVEEN

LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

Aircraft with Indian airborne warning system set for induction Revanth Reddy

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NATION

NOIDA/DELHI

PUNE: Maratha strongman and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar did not take part in ‘Muk Morcha’ (a silent protest) staged on Thursday by the community in Baramati, the stronghold of the Pawar clan. While some relatives of Mr. Pawar took part in the march, his daughter Supriya Sule, who represents Baramati in the Lok Sabha, and nephew Ajit Pawar skipped it. Mr. Ajit Pawar, however, had taken part in the Pune rally last week. Maratha politicians of all parties have taken part in the marches held since the last month to express solidarity with the community, which forms the core of the NCP’s vote base. Mr. Pawar attended a party

meeting in Mumbai, from where he was urgently called to Delhi to attend a meeting on security issues. Observers say Mr. Pawar did not attend the rally to avoid creating an impression that the NCP was orchestrating the rallies, spearheaded by the Sambhaji Brigade and the Maratha Seva Sangh. They also reckon that the Pawar clan does not want to alienate the Dhangars and other backward castes which constitute a major part of Baramati’s population. The rallies started after the rape and murder of a minor Maratha girl at Kopardi in Ahmednagar district. Recently, Mr. Pawar accused the BJP government of not addressing the problems of the community.

Brajesh Kumar, Senior Consultant (Communications), Jal Marg Vikas Project, Inland Waterways Authority of India, writes: The report headlined ‘National waterways project threatens Gangetic dolphins: Conservationists’ (Sept. 24) says “the development of the Ganga for shipping is seen by wildlife conservationists as the single-largest threat to the survival of the species whose numbers are declining in most part of the natural habitat,” attributing the statement to Dr. Rashid Raza, Project Scientist, Wild Life Institute of India. This suggests that the development works on National Waterway-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project, being implemented with technical and financial assistance from the World Bank, is primarily responsible for the diminishing numbers of dolphins. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) refutes this assumption. The project is yet to take off and cannot be responsible for the diminishing numbers of dolphins. The IWAI is awaiting a loan appraisal by the World Bank, for works on the 1,620km stretch of the NW-1. The report quotes ecologist Nachiket Kelker as saying that the “the river dolphins get highly stressed because of the dredging activity [on NW-1].” But, no dredging activity is proposed within or in the vicinity of the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS). Navigation under the Jal Marg Vikas Project is yet to start; we need to look elsewhere for the reasons for the fall in the dolphin population. The IWAI is undertaking various mitigation measures to ensure that when NW-1 is developed, no dolphin is harmed. For instance, vessel speeds shall be restricted to 2.7 knots in the VGDS to cut propeller noise. Restricting speed in the area can maintain noise levels lower than 140 dB, which are lower than the tolerance levels of dolphins. Vessels will have propeller guards and dolphin deflectors to minimise accidents.

83-year-old on santhara draws thousands in Kolkata Sohani Devi Dugar, suffering from cancer, chose to embrace the Jain religious practice of a ritualistic fast unto death SHIV SAHAY SINGH KOLKATA: The house of the Dugars in the posh Mandeville Gardens of south Kolkata has been seeing an endless number of visitors for the past few days. Amid the chanting of Jain mantras, people trickle in silently and pay their respects to an elderly woman who has confined herself in one of the rooms. Sohani Devi Dugar, 83, chose to embrace santhara — a Jain religious practice of a ritualistic fast unto death. Thursday was the tenth day of santhara for

Ms. Sohani Devi. Her decision came about after doctors could assure little hope of her recovery from an advanced stage of throat cancer. ‘A form of penance’ “In the past few days, thousands, including Jain monks, sadhvis and members of our community and others, have come to our home to visit my mother,” Kamal Dugar, son of Ms. Sohani Devi, told The Hindu. Mr. Dugar, a 58-year-old businessman, is evidently proud of his mother’s decision, but at times

ohani S Devi Dugar struck with grief at the imminent prospect of losing his mother. Mr. Dugar was among the thousands who hit the streets of Kolkata in August 2015, after a judgment in the Rajasthan High Court declared the practice ‘illegal’, and rejoiced when

the Supreme Court stayed the order nearly 20 days after the HC judgment. “The decision of my mother to take up the highest form of penance under the Jain religion was accepted by all members of my family and subsequently, members of our community were informed. The process does not only involve giving up food and water but also aspiring for spiritual advancement of the soul by detachment from all worldly materials,” he said. Shekhar Hattingiri, law professor and the maker of

the critically acclaimed documentary Santhara: A Challenge to Indian Secularism? said that during his five year research on the subject, he was told by senior monks that about 10-12 santharas are approved and closely monitored by the Jain priesthood every year. On the legal aspects of the matter, Mr. Hattingiri pointed out that the Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the implementation of the Rajasthan High Court order till such time that the Supreme Court itself hears the case and rules on it. ND-ND

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EDITORIAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

A silence that’s deafening The recent Maratha protest marches across Maharashtra, while a reflection of the farming crisis in the State, are essentially an expression of marginalisation of the community’s lower and middle rungs F R I D AY , S E P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 6

KUMAR KETKAR

Crossing the Line of Control

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fter running through a variety of nonmilitary responses to the September 18 terrorist strike at an Army camp in Uri, the Centre on Thursday announced that Indian forces had carried out “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control. With this, India’s next steps, post-Uri, are in uncharted terrain, with New Delhi abandoning the self-proclaimed policy of “strategic restraint” adopted in the face of earlier provocations by terrorists believed to be backed by Pakistan. The operation, that began and concluded in the early hours of Thursday, was claimed to be a military success, with no injuries to the Indian para-commandos who went across the LoC into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to attack several locations. The decision to strike in this manner was evidently taken after specific intelligence that terrorist groups were planning attacks in India. This may not be the first time India has undertaken quick cross-LoC operations, but it has never before chosen to share information so publicly. The terms “surgical strike” and “pre-emptive strike” used by the Centre were intended to convey that this was not an attack on Pakistan’s defence forces, but a targeted action against terrorists poised to wreak damage in India. Pakistan of course has played down the Indian operation, characterising it as an act of habitual cross-border shelling. It is welcome that New Delhi declared the strikes complete shortly after the operation, with the DGMO calling his Pakistani counterpart to convey that India would not escalate the conflict beyond this. This, along with the briefings held in New Delhi for envoys of various countries, indicates that the Centre wants to end hostilities with Pakistan for the moment. This strengthens the view that the operation was the result of pressure on the Modi government to manufacture a strong response to Uri. Over the past few daysthere has been a cascade of moves to underline that such provocations cannot be followed with business as usual. The government reviewed the working of the Indus Waters Treaty, declared it is flirting with the idea of reviewing Pakistan’s Most Favoured Nation status, and pulled out of the SAARC heads’ meet to be held in Islamabad. Having made it known that India does not want further escalation, even as people living along the International Border and the LoC are shifted to safer locations, the Centre will need to articulate what it regards as the new normal — and indeed, how it hopes, or plans, to dissuade Pakistan from escalating the situation in turn.

If any political leader or pundit were to have said, even just four months ago, that lakhs and lakhs of Marathas were going to mobilise and march across Maharashtra, week after week, from Parbhani in Marathwada to the so-called “intellectual and knowledge capital” Pune, nobody would have believed that prognosis. Nobody, not even the powerful Maratha leadership, including the ‘strongman’ of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar, had seen the turbulence beneath the superficial and deceptive calm in the community. Now it is obvious that the frustration and anger among the Marathas has been brewing intensely. Most people outside Maharashtra do not understand the difference between the two phonetically similar sounding terms, Maratha and Marathi. Why, even the metropolitan Mumbaikar cannot comprehend the distinction. The broadcast media and panel pontiffs too are confused by the sudden tsunami-like Maratha marches, which they cannot simply ignore because of their sheer size and breadth. Indeed, the mobilisation is so grippingly picturesque that television cameramen and anchors cannot underplay it by pretending that Kashmir and the Cauvery water crisis are far more important! The class divide among Marathas The Maratha caste can be broadly compared with Jats in Rajasthan and Haryana or Patidar-Patels in Gujarat, primarily farmers. They are one-third of the State’s population and Marathi is their mother tongue, though not exclusive to them. Within the community, there is a hierarchy observed very diligently, particularly when it comes to matrimony. However, irrespective of social hierarchy, they are all directly connected with agriculture, sons of soil, as it were. But there is another hierarchy, that of class. There are four class divisions. The elite Marathas are directly related to power or power centres — ministers, chairmen of commissions, various boards, directors in cooperative banks, board members of sugar cooperatives, zilla parishad or gram

ILLUSTRATION: SURENDRA

The disgruntled Maratha youth, instead of wagging an accusing finger at the power elite of their own caste, began to see an enemy in the Dalit community panchayat chiefs, and so on. These Marathas are seen to not distinguish between the private and public. The class just below them is the rich farmer, “bagayati” or cash crop farmer. They are powerful because they command respect on account of their wealth, which also gives them status and authority in the villages. They are not in political power directly, but they have political heft across parties as they finance candidates. Next in the hierarchy comes the small or middle peasant, who survives on a seasonto-season basis, is dependent on the vagaries of nature, is anxious about the monsoon, takes small loans to run the farm or for wedding expenses, and commits suicide if harassed by the bank or moneylender. The middle peasant aspires to be a rich farmer, and hence imitates the lifestyle of the welloff farmer. When he fails to live up to his projected image, distraught, he hangs himself. The lowest and the last layer is that of the landless peasants and agricultural labourers who depend on government employment guarantee schemes and other benefits.

The only bond among this four-layered class structure is of caste. Being Maratha gives them a feeling of difference from the ‘other’ and an illusion of being important. The power elite have everything going for them. The rich farmer’s main worry is that he is not getting cheap labour because of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. His economic interest pits him against his Maratha brethren because of the class distinctions. The real frustration is among the small/middle farmers, the vast section of landless farmers and/ or agricultural labourers. A young person among the lower classes of Marathas has had no opportunities for higher education, no possibilities of migrating to the cities for a better future, and certainly no avenues to new kinds of jobs — in the information technology sector, for instance. Unemployment, declining agriculture, compounded by severe drought and devastating floods, have threatened his very survival. For the past two years these suffering classes waited with great expectation for “Achche Din”. They had voted against the Congress because their condition saw no improvement during the years of Congress rule. They thought Narendra Modi would provide what the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance did not. Now, there’s disillusionment. Searching for an object of ire Thus, multiple frustrations got accumulated and mixed up. But who should be held responsible? The Marathas are in power from sugar cooperatives to Mantralaya, the administrative headquarters of the State government. All parties, from the Congress, NCP, to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena have large contingents of Marathas. In assemblies and local self-governments there is Maratha domination. And yet the lower- and middle-rung Marathas feel isolated, neglected, marginalised in the job market and denied opportunities in higher education. The reservation policy gave Dalits an advantage vis-à-vis Marathas in getting admission in reputed colleges. Ironically, many of the State’s private colleges and deemed universities are owned, run and managed by the Maratha power elite! Moreover, the subcaste, or parallel caste, Kunbi, was included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) res-

CARTOONSCAPE

Heed the boundary

T

he Lodha Committee’s status report, highlighting how the Board of Control for Cricket in India has failed to adopt the recommended administrative reforms, has left the game’s officials in a quandary. In a 79page report filed in the Supreme Court, Justice R.M. Lodha has said the BCCI’s current office-bearers would have to relinquish their posts for the proposed changes to be effected. Lending greater force to the punch, Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur said the BCCI elite would have to “fall in line, or else we will make them fall in line”. The provocation for these firm strictures was the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on September 21, where a slew of decisions were taken, ranging from the nomination of Sharad Pawar as ‘alternate director for International Cricket Council meetings’ to the appointment of new selection committees. The actions were seen as a failure to heed the Supreme Court. When the Lodha Committee green-lighted the BCCI’s AGM, it was with the caveat of sticking to appraising the year 2015-16, but the board discarded the retrospective gaze and instead looked ahead. The appointment of selection committees, to cite one example, went against norms set by Justice Lodha, who had recommended a threemember panel. The board stuck to the status quo of having five. Wednesday’s developments in court now put the BCCI in a piquant situation. The BCCI’s elbow room has shrunk, and it is expected that the chastised board will toe the line, though it has time till October 6 to file a reply in the Supreme Court. This sorry state of affairs couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment. India has a home season bounty — 13 Tests, including the match that concluded in Kanpur this week, and an imminent Ranji Trophy schedule. Now there is the risk of disarray. The sport is perhaps India’s best-governed, but the administrators refuse accountability. The cricket schedule (domestic and international) is welldrawn, former cricketers get a generous pension, young players find financial security in the Indian Premier League, and there is much to cheer in Indian cricket. But a refusal to embrace transparency and the lack of respect for the ordinary fan have been emblematic of a feudal mindset that guides cricket’s officialdom. BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke has been quoted as saying the board did what it felt was best for the game; BCCI president Anurag Thakur has often declared he is out to clear “wrong perceptions”. Their intentions are, however, yet to be matched by their actions. They need to take care they do not precipitate what could be the most serious crisis yet for Indian cricket. CM YK

ervation category. That, too, has fuelled the demand for reservation among other larger Maratha groupings. The disgruntled Maratha youth, instead of wagging an accusing finger at the power elite of their own caste, began to see an enemy in the Dalit community, the ‘beneficiaries’ of the reservation policy. The brutal rape and murder of a Maratha girl in July by a few Dalit youth in Kopardi village of Ahmednagar district provided these marginalised Maratha youth an opportunity to direct their wrath against the Backward Castes and OBCs. Though none of the recent Maratha marches have witnessed any diatribe against the Dalit community, the underlying message is that the mobilisation is targeted against the Dalits. Since the NCP founded and led by Mr. Pawar has the largest Maratha following, many commentators believe that he and his party are behind the movement. The Maratha elites are happy to face this charge, because they get credit for channelling the discontent when they are at best only supporting from behind the scenes what is essentially a spontaneous expression of mass (and class) frustration. In the past it was the Brahmin (caste and class) that was the ‘enemy’ of the Marathas (self-declared Bahujan). The Dalits and OBCs too regarded Brahminism as the main ‘enemy’. Demographically, this upper caste had just about 4 per cent presence in society but dominated education, bureaucracy, media and other institutions of power. That domination was sharply reduced following reservation, and a section of the Marathas too entered the corridors of power and influence. But still there were the vast armies of lower- and middle-end Maratha youths deprived of participation in the mainstream economic, political and cultural affairs. Around 200 Maratha families have kept the reins of power in their hands, claim organisers of the protest movement. Rage of the have-nots As stated in the beginning, the marches are a reflection of the massive crisis in the agricultural economy of Maharashtra. That is the reason the demand for the implementation of reports of the M.S. Swaminathanled National Commission on Farmers between 2004 and 2006 has acquired importance in this agitation. The farmer is denied competitive prices for his produce, affordable prices for the input elements, relief and support during drought, famines and floods, and help from financial institutions when it is the need of the hour. This hapless and helpless small and middle farmer is seeing around him the new wealth, new opportunities, new jobs, new lifestyles that he too aspires to. The urban haves and rural haves have cornered the new wealth, making him the new poor. The new poverty is not poverty imposed on him by nature or overall backwardness; it is enforced by the ruling class and the ruling government and the ruling establishment. He knows who the ‘enemy’ is: it is in his neighbourhood and his community. That is why all the marches are silent protest processions, perhaps. The marches are disciplined, clean, huge and silent, with massive participation from women of all age groups and girl students who are angry because they feel the future is being snatched away from them. The silence of the lakhs of marchers is deafening and the elite — Maratha or Brahmin or Dalit — are feeling threatened. It is a silent political bomb ticking and could explode anytime, devastating all that we think is stable and settled. Kumar Ketkar is a veteran journalist and Chief Editor of ‘Dainik Divya Marathi’.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

India’s response to Uri India’s decision to carry out surgical strikes targeting terror ‘launch pads’ across the Line of Control is bold and long overdue. Terror platforms abutting the LoC are evidently meant to carry out attacks in India. The Indian government is justified in taking military action to eliminate them lock, stock and barrel. This should send the right message to the Pakistan government as well as to those who support terrorism. This decision also shows how the principal opposition parties are wrong in saying about Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he is a man of words, not action. K.R. Jayaprakash Rao, Mysuru

Although there is no doubt that Pakistan is leaving no stone unturned to escalate hostilities between the two countries, boycotting SAARC is a knee-jerk and inappropriate reaction to crossborder terrorism (“The SAARC gambit”, Sept. 29). SAARC is a platform for engagement, for discussing and debating issues amicably. India being the largest economy in SAARC has more obligations to fulfil, especially as it aspires for permanent UN Security Council membership. It should not set the wrong precedent of abandoning the proceedings of an association that is also meant for its own interest. In fact, this is the time to strengthen institutions like

SAARC and build pressure on Pakistan to make the latter accountable on the issue of terrorism. India’s decision will certainly give Pakistan one more alibi to show to the world that India is averse to any type of engagement with it. Gagan Pratap Singh,

show to the world that the forum is a cohesive unit. That India, as a big brother, could not pave a way to get Pakistan to fall in line is most unfortunate. With India’s surgical strikes across the LoC, the future of this summit is bleak. Suddapalli Bhaskara Rao, Muscat

Noida

India has boycotted the summit in the light of the Uri attacks, but to what extent such measures will improve the security situation remains to be seen. On the contrary, a sustained dialogue with Pakistan on every issue, including terrorism and Kashmir, should be an ongoing process to defuse the situation and drive home the message that Pakistan has to do much more to curb cross-border terrorist activities. We have everything to gain by trying to normalise relations with Pakistan. Quiet diplomacy sometimes works wonders rather than high-pitched verbal attacks. We, as one of the founding members of SAARC, should strengthen it rather than weaken it. D.B.N. Murthy, Bengaluru

The way Pakistan is conducting itself, and India’s response to it, makes a mockery of the objectives of SAARC. Peace and progress of the eight SAARC countries will take a heavy beating. Although SAARC nations comprise 9.12 per cent of the world economy, they are yet to

The audacity of the Indian Army to carry out surgical strikes across the LoC is truly laudable. Mr. Modi had said in Kozhikode that the “sacrifice of our jawans won’t go in vain”. This has come true. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong, but of the weak.” Mukul Nigam, New Delhi

Finally Prime Minister Modi has walked the tough walk on Pakistan. While the Indian Army has claimed that significant casualties have been inflicted on the terrorists, Pakistan has said that only two of its soldiers have died. India has sent out a clear and an unequivocal message to Pakistan that it will no longer remain a mute spectator to crossborder terrorism and will respond to it with full force. M. Jeyaram, Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Judicial overreach Why should the Supreme Court point fingers only at the BCCI in India and not at other sports organisations in the country?

(“Lodha wants BCCI brass removed”, Sept. 29). The court can initiate action against the BCCI and its officials for their wrongdoing, but should it decide the age and qualifications of members of sports bodies and their subcommittees? The Lodha Committee report should be forwarded to the government. The government should propose comprehensive legislation, including international commitments of various sports bodies at the international level, and place it before Parliament. The court should not discriminate against the BCCI alone. The sports body is otherwise well-established, and has done a great deal of service for cricket. The court has so many pending cases; it is unnecessary for it to spend so much time on the BCCI. C.R.K. Reddy,

It appears that centrism will reign triumphant over the radical right in the U.S. elections. Of course, things may change between now and November, but Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s victory seems plausible in the face of her growing popularity. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, will prove to be a disaster for reform politics in the U.S. In his campaign, he has gone after AfricanAmericans, immigrants, Latinos, Asians, women, and Muslims. Stephen Alter rightly says that “America does not have a monopoly on xenophobia” (“An American djinn”, Sept. 29). In Mr. Trump, the U.S. has its own Praveen Togadia. But I am hopeful that voices of sanity will prevail. Satish C. Aikant,

Hyderabad

Mussoorie

A worrying trend is emerging, first with Karnataka disobeying the court’s orders to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, and second, with the BCCI ignoring the SCappointed Lodha Committee’s recommendations. The public will lose faith in the judiciary if the court fails to assert itself in these cases. The court will become meaningful only when it initiates contempt against Karnataka and the BCCI to enable full delivery of justice to Tamil Nadu and to Justice Lodha’s recommendations. N. Visveswaran,

Donald Trump personifies all our fears and prejudices. He has given a voice to the unsaid and unspoken thoughts of the masses and has gathered a set of followers in this manner. There are many people who have radical views but don’t express them fearing aggressive retaliation. But Mr. Trump has successfully identified the weaknesses of American citizens and is transforming all that is politically incorrect to what is his idea of morally correct thought for his own political mileage. Nandini Ray,

Chennai

New Delhi

The rise of Trump

ND-ND

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AGRICULTURE

Seeds of discontent? On September 5, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released an “Assessment of Food and Environmental Safety” for genetically modified (GM) mustard on its website, and gave the public a month to respond with comments and concerns. This review report ANIKET was put together by an expert sub-committee of the ministry’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee AGA (GEAC). The public consultation is likely to be the penultimate step before the government takes a final decision on what might become India’s first GM food crop — Bt cotton seeds, though also crushed for edible oil, were not explicitly approved as food; Bt brinjal is unlikely to emerge out of the moratorium issued by former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh any time soon. GM mustard represents the culmination of over a decade of painstaking work by a team of Delhi University scientists led by the noted biotechnologist, Deepak Pental. Mustard, a self-pollinating crop, is difficult to hybridise, that is, cross-pollinate. Pental’s team has genetically modified an Indian mustard, Varuna, and an East European mustard line in order to cross-pollinate them. They have sought permission to commercially release the resultant hybrid named DMH-11, and to use the two GM parental lines for developing new hybrids. They claim that by virtue of being a hybrid (rather than a GM crop), DMH-11 yields about 30 per cent more than a reference mustard variety. Given India’s huge import bill for edible oil, they argue, this effort to boost mustard yields must be welcomed. Indeed, this may well be a moment for us to appreciate government-led scientific efforts — except that the case for GM mustard is not as straightforward as the government makes it seem. Biosafety and socio-economic impact GM mustard is resistant to the herbicide glufosinate, and thus a herbicide-tolerant (HT) crop. A farmer growing DMH-11 can potentially get rid of weeds with a blanket spray of glufosinate (sold in India by Bayer under the brand name Basta), which will kill all the plants except the mustard crop. The technical expert committee appointed by the SuThe government is within its preme Court in an ongoing public rights to take a strategic interest litigation (PIL) concerning decision to commercialise GM crops had found HT crops “completely unsuitable in the IndiGM mustard, but not at the an context” in its final, majority recost of fidelity to the law port. The principal reasons were that herbicides adversely impact the vast constituency of manual labourers, for whom weeding provides livelihood, and generate selective pressure for the emergence of herbicide-resistant or “super” weeds. The aforementioned MoEFCC review report on GM mustard makes light of these concerns, and simply notes that farmers are not “required to spray herbicide” on GM mustard fields — which is neither here nor there. Second, there are concerns that the yield advantage of GM mustard has been over-estimated by comparing it with dated mustard reference varieties. Sharad E. Pawar, Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has analysed the yield data of DMH-11 and shown that it has “no yield advantage over varieties and hybrids released in recent years”; a view also held by the government’s own Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research. Transparency and public participation These and other concerns (such as over gene flow, impact on biodiversity) might have been addressed if the government had made public the details of its case for GM mustard — and by “making public”, I mean making its case freely and widely available, even to those who cannot access websites or read English. However, having uploaded the review report, the MoEFCC has made the primary data on agronomic and biosafety assessment available only to those who can visit the GEAC secretariat in New Delhi by prior appointment during working hours before October 5. Equally serious is the fact that withholding the full biosafety dossier violates the government’s own commitments given to the Supreme Court on April 8, 2008 in the hearing on the aforementioned PIL. Consequently, we do not know, for example, if sociologists considered the impact of GM mustard on agricultural labourers; or if ecologists, toxicologists and nutritionists investigated the wider impact of potential glufosinate use on mustard fields. In April and again in August, the Central Information Commission ordered the MoEFCC to release complete information on GM mustard and other GM crops. The Commission also ordered the GEAC to disclose the agenda and full, detailed minutes of its meetings, which the Ministry had stopped doing since 2012. The Ministry continues to disregard these orders. Thereby, the MoEFCC is reducing public participation to a farce. Denying citizens a voice in this matter is all the more serious considering that no labelling regime is in place in India. That is, if commercialised, citizens will not have the choice of opting out of GM sarson da saag, for instance. Perhaps, developers of GM mustard and the government fear that releasing the biosafety dossier will lead them down the path of Bt brinjal, but this fear is misplaced. The government is within its rights to take a strategic decision to commercialise GM mustard despite opposition, but this cannot come at the cost of transparency and fidelity to the law. At the minimum, the full biosafety dossier for GM mustard must be uploaded on the Ministry’s website, the GEAC should disclose its full agenda notes and minutes for each of its meetings, and the window for public consultation should be extended beyond 30 days. As the distinguished biotechnologist, mustard-breeder, and former Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research V. L. Chopra wrote some years ago, greater transparency and wider public participation may be the most effective way of “allaying fears and building confidence” in our regulatory institutions. Aniket Aga is Assistant Professor at the School for Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Email: [email protected]

FROM THE ARCHIVES (dated September 30, 1966)

India strong, says P.M. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister, said here [Srinagar] to-day [September 29] that India had emerged stronger and more united after attacks by China and Pakistan and its strength was increasing “hour by hour”. Addressing a largely attended public meeting, the Prime

Minister said China and Pakistan wanted to weaken India but that could not happen. She declared India was to-day strong enough to reply to aggression from any quarter. It was India’s policy and faith to live in peace with all countries, particularly its neighbours and for this purpose it had extended the hand of friendship to China and Pakistan.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS The last paragraph of the report, “Union Cabinet approves ratification of climate deal” (Sept. 29, 2016), erroneously put India’s emissions at 5.8%. It should have been 4.1%. It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:[email protected] Mail: Readers’ Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India. All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No personal visits. The Terms of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on www.thehindu.com CM YK

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Making books accessible to all Today, as the Marrakesh Treaty comes into force, India’s multi-stakeholder approach to providing texts for the blind/print-disabled offers an excellent model for other countries to follow FRANCIS GURRY

oday T is an important day for blind and other print-disabled people across the globe, as it marks the entry into force of an international treaty designed to help deliver specially adapted texts to those affected by a range of disabilities that interfere with the effective reading of printed matter. It is called the Marrakesh Treaty and today I am calling on other countries to follow India’s lead — as the first nation to join the so-called ‘Books for Blind’ treaty and then as a trailblazer in implementing the pact that will benefit not only India’s visually impaired citizens but millions more around the world. According to the World Health Organisation, some 285 million people worldwide live with visual impairments. Meanwhile, the World Blind Union estimates that children who are blind have a less than 10 per cent chance of going to school — a situation that could be improved if schools had ready access to texts adapted for use by visually impaired children. India, leading the way The Marrakesh Treaty represents a significant step towards making books available to everyone, by easing the creation and transfer across national boundaries of texts in accessible formats such as Braille, audio, or large print. With access to information and educational materials, blindness need no longer be a barrier to learning, employment and full participation in society. So far, 22 countries have joined the Marrakesh Treaty, but many more are needed: each new nation that joins brings along not only a population in need, but a wealth of printed matter that can more easily be made accessible in other countries. Joining the treaty is the easy part, however. Ensuring that books become widely available to people who are blind or print-disabled takes perseverance, patience, and logistical effort. First, the books need to be adapted

CIRCLE OF READERS: “Joining the treaty is easy; ensuring that books become widely available to people who are blind or print-disabled takes patience and effort.” Visually impaired students preparing for an examination in Kerala. PHOTO: S. RAMESH KURUP

Visually impaired children have a less than 10% chance of going to school. If schools had access to texts adapted for use by them, this could improve into accessible formats either by libraries for the blind, organisations serving the print-disabled, or at the source by publishers (including Departments of Education) so that the texts can be “read” using assistive technology on computers, phones or electronic Braille devices. Once produced, these accessible books need to be distributed to the people that need them, including to populations that may live far from major urban areas. These are common challenges in many countries and India has been a leader, having in June 2014 become the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty. And it did not stop there. India has not delayed in readying itself to ensure the Marrakesh Treaty benefits its people. For example, the ‘Accessible India

Campaign’ has provided a nationwide flagship campaign for universal access for people with disabilities. And India has begun implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty through a multi-stakeholder approach, which includes collaboration among key players such as government ministries, local champions like the DAISY Forum of India, and the private sector. This led to the launch in August of India’s largest collection of online accessible books called “Sugamya Pustakalaya”, which counts 2,00,000 volumes. Building an accessible book bank The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), a United Nations organisation based in Geneva, administers the Marrakesh Treaty and leads an alliance of private and public partners known as the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), which was established in June 2014 to support the goals of the treaty. The ABC has established a centralised electronic multilingual catalogue of accessible books produced by libraries for the blind around the world.

Through the ABC Book Service, which is free, organisations serving the printdisabled can supplement their collections of accessible books from their counterparts in other countries. The ABC Book Service can assist in preventing the same book from being produced in accessible formats by more than one library, thereby avoiding duplication. It is hoped that Sugamya Pustakalaya will soon become a member of the ABC Book Service, thereby joining an international library-to-library service managed by WIPO in Geneva. Nineteen libraries for the blind from 16 countries are already participating in this service, and I am happy to announce today that over 1,00,000 loans have now been made to visually impaired individuals around the world through the participating organisations. ABC is continuing to establish projects in India, including by training publishers, libraries and NGOs in the production of accessible books, as well as providing funding to produce educational materials in accessible formats. Without these materials, students either cannot access their curriculum or are dependent on books being read aloud to them. In addition to implementing projects in India, ABC has also established training and technical assistance projects in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and it is estimated that 88,500 students with visual impairments in these four countries will benefit from ABC projects in the upcoming year. ABC plans to extend its capacity-building programmes to Africa and Latin America, helping ensure that these transformative uses of technology can boost access to books for people who are blind or print-disabled around the world. Today, as the Marrakesh Treaty takes effect in India and elsewhere, India’s multi-stakeholder approach provides an excellent model for other countries to follow. WIPO looks forward to many more countries implementing the Marrakesh Treaty so that print-disabled people around the world can benefit from the new avenues to access now available to Indians. Francis Gurry is Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

Saving the public university Recent policy prescriptions threaten to push liberal arts education in public universities into oblivion while carving out space for the entry of foreign universities

P APARNA VINCENT

REETI

RAGHUNATH

The Central government recently announced the setting up of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), conceived as a special purpose vehicle to accrue and disburse funds to certain institutions of higher education in the country. This development is an upshot of the Tenth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Nairobi in December 2015 where decisions on “international trade in educational services” were made. In the interim period, some Indian public universities had to endure attacks on their institutional autonomy and research culture. All these changes leave us, as liberal arts researchers, with little option but to address the elephant in the room — the pushing of an already marginalised liberal arts education in Indian public universities into oblivion. The fact that we as student researchers have not been made part of larger decision-making for education that have an immediate impact on our academic trajectories is a huge cause for concern. It fails to recognise our position as active stakeholders of policy advances that seek to alter the texture of the higher education space as we know it. Researching for the public Public universities have long held the unique mandate of being imagined as egalitarian spaces tailored for democratic engagement with the enterprise of education, in the Deweyian sense. For us student researchers in the liberal arts, they open up a world of interactions that take us beyond narrow societal preferences for a very instrumental, technical education. Liberal arts education, encompassing the broad areas of humanities, social, natural and pure sciences, equips individuals with skills to understand and engage with issues of the world beyond mere black-andwhite dichotomies. For instance, our research on issues such as everyday experiences of corruption, child soldiers in conflict areas, media freedoms in times of impunity, ideas around human sciences, clearly traverse beyond university confines and assume significance for the larger public. This is in contrast to a technocratic approach that perceives education as a “trade commodity” or “service deliverable”. It is in disagreement with this approach that some of the best of us pursue public-oriented liberal arts re-

A CAPACIOUS CHARTER: “Public universities are spaces that serve a larger mandate of inclusiveness.” File photo of students in the JNU library. PHOTO: MEETA AHLAWAT search, even when the private sector provides unmatched opportunities for those with technical literacy. By caricaturing the liberal arts as untenable, society at large is stymied from constructively engaging with our theoretical and empirical research work. Researching for the public, then, is incumbent on societal recognition of the larger public interest mandate our work entails. The 2014 elections and the preceding anti-corruption movement were pitched around a burgeoning youth demography. The rhetoric was hinged on a futuristic imagination of an India that would have a place for our aspirations. Strategies like extensive deployment of social media, setting up of startup incubators, and expansion of certain kinds of technology imperatives are indicative of this trend. However, these efforts have focussed rather wantonly on a particular imagination of our ambitions, without considering any other inclinations and talents we may possess and aspire to pursue. We seek to make inroads into this conflated imagination of the youth with certain aspirations for the entire country that the strategists seem to repose their efforts in. In actively hedging for their own interests, they have negated all attempts made thus far in nurturing other divergent proficiencies. Public universities are spaces that serve a larger mandate of inclusiveness and social justice. They often are the only option available to those who have to travel a significant distance, literally and otherwise, in reaching the higher echelons of education. Liberal arts research in public universities allows us

The inherent understanding that bringing in foreign universities in itself would drastically alter and improve standards of education in India is misplaced to engage with the sheer diversity of these experiences, that then allows us to bring deeper understanding, sensitivity and rigour to our own research. Developments at the WTO-General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) conference last year, the New Education Policy and the recent mooting of the HEFA indicate a preference for privatising the public university — through corporate social responsibility interventions, long-term loans and structural adjustments in areas of technical education and certain kinds of scientific research, lack of quality indicators for foreign universities that can enter the Indian education “market”, and no pronouncement on the social justice mandate of public universities. The already marginalised liberal arts face a double whammy in the form of the recent approval of the third phase of the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme, by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. Public universities do not operate in a time warp — they are hierarchy-laden and bureaucratic. Older issues and their newer articulations call for introspection every so often. Accessing highquality journals is a very expensive affair, financial support to attend international conferences is haltingly limited, and digital and remote library facilities

are still a mirage, especially in times when we look towards Digital India. Moreover, the market-oriented shifts fail to capture larger and more pragmatic questions of pedagogy. Universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Hyderabad and Tezpur University occupy the top spots in the first-ever government ranking. Over years, these universities have adopted and practised certain pedagogic approaches to public education, accentuating their relevance in recent times. How, then, do we as student researchers respond to such changes? We approach the public university as a shared space for cooperative learning and dialogic peer-group pedagogy, through collaboration and co-learning. Public universities, then, have the larger responsibility of guarding and nurturing such spaces. This would mean transcending disciplinary boundaries and traditional conceptions of teachertaught relationships. It would call for working with technology innovators, and humanising their spaces towards further collaboration. It also demands that the larger society, including those holding public office across semi-/institutional setups, take cognisance of our research. Sharing the global spotlight The inherent understanding that bringing in foreign universities in itself would drastically alter and improve standards of education in India is misplaced. It does not take into account the quality research that is already underway in many of our public universities. It only feeds in to the preference for foreign degrees, to the disadvantage of those who have expressed enough commitment to and trust in the Indian public education system. We would do well to draw lessons from current articulations and cynicism amongst the youth on costs of higher education and student debt in the U.S. In a similar vein, other European experiences with public education offer interesting ideas that we could examine, even as we appreciate our own systemic challenges and achievements. Building larger Global South solidarities and advancing them at multilateral fora are ways to engage with education reform. A better approach to sharing the global spotlight, then, is to pay heed to the urgent need to showcase research from Indian public universities on a global level — especially from the liberal arts — instead of shying away from it. These efforts alone would leave us with a sustainable higher education system. Aparna Vincent and Preeti Raghunath are doctoral students at the University of Hyderabad. ND-ND

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Across ‘porous’ LoC, a strike when the iron was hot The plan was kept under wraps even when the forces guarding the border were put on maximum alert two days ago VIJAITA SINGH NEW DELHI: The Union govern-

ment had kept the Army strike across the Line of Control under the wraps, but had put the forces guarding the border on maximum alert two days ago, said a senior Home Ministry official. The official said the Pakistani Army had violated the ceasefire in Mendhar and Bhimber Gali along the LoC on Wednesday night. “We expected retaliation in other sectors along the Pakistan border and did not want to take any chances. Though post-Uri, the Border Security Force and the Army were put on a heightened alert, it was revised further two days ago,” the official said. The Army strike is a testimony that the LoC is back to being the preferred route by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence and the Army to push militants into Indian territory. In the past three years, officials recorded most of the infiltration attempts and ceasefire violations along the 197-km International Border, which runs along Jammu district. In 2013, there was massive displacement of Jammu’s villagers along the border. From November 2015, however, the focus shifted back to the LoC and this year alone, the Army has thwarted more than 20 attempts. The Border Security Force (BSF) guards the 2,308-km

Swift and sure strikes SUHASINI HAIDAR JOSY JOSEPH NEW DELHI: The targets hit by Indian para commandos and Ghatak platoons on Thursday were terrorist launching pads in Hot Springs, Kel and Lipa that came under 15 Corps, while Bhimber Gali came under the Army’s 16th corps. “They went in with the order to shoot to kill, and not to leave behind any injured soldiers,” a senior Army officer said. Guides and handlers, who knew the locations of the target camps, were involved as support, say military sources, as were soldiers of the Dogra and Bihar regiments. Of the eight targets, say the sources, six were active terror camps, while two didn’t show much activity. While most of the operations were conducted within about two kilometres of the LoC, one team of commandos had to walk about 3 kilometres across the Hotwater springs area. At each location, the teams went in quickly, planted explosives, detonated them and moved out. Army sources said three of the targets were destroyed fully. According to initial assessment of UAV footage, Army estimates at least 40 deaths. Where the soldiers faced fire, they fired back, but sustained no injuries, according to officials. Sources describing the operation said the casualties on the Pakistani side were “heavy”, and in the “double digits”. They said photographs and videos of the operation would be released soon. The entire operation was covered by UAVs that provided live footage. (With inputs from Dinakar Peri)

CM YK

Pak. summons Indian envoy

Doval, Jaishankar work diplomatic lines

NEW DELHI: Responding to the

SUHASINI HAIDAR

situation at the LoC, Pakistan summoned a joint session of the National Assembly, which will be attended by provincial heads. Pakistani media reported that Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale had been summoned for a demarche. — Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Even as the military

operation got under way, the government was working the phones to manage the diplomatic fallout of the LoC strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The first call between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and U.S. NSA Susan Rice took place around 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday. While officials refused to confirm whether the NSA informed Ms. Rice of the exact nature of the operation that was already under way, their conversation put to rest two questions: India made it clear that it didn’t intend to escalate the operation to a conflict even if it had launched “pre-emptive” counter-terror strikes, and according to senior government officials, the U.S. didn’t intend to restrain India in any way. The call followed an earlier call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on September 27 to discuss the situation.

border with Pakistan, running from Gujarat to Jammu. In Jammu, 192 km of the border, which is referred to as a working boundary by Pakistan, is manned by the BSF, while the remaining 8 km is secured by the Army. The LoC is entirely secured by the Army. An official explained that in 2015, there were around 95 infiltration attempts along the IB, but this year only 12 such attempts were reported. “One reason for them to shift their focus back to the LoC is perhaps the thin population on both sides. The IB, which runs along the Jammu district, is heavily populated and any tension here amounts to high civilian casualties on both sides,” said a Home Ministry official. Arun Chowdhury, who once handled the Kashmir desk at the Intelligence Bureau, said an opportunity for surgical strikes along the LoC always existed.

Envoys briefed Hours later, the government went to work on explaining its actions to other countries also. Foreign Secretary S.

China says it is in touch with India and Pakistan ATUL ANEJA BEIJING: China on Thursday

signalled that it was actively engaged in defusing tensions between India and Pakistan, using multiple channels, to prevent a spillover of friction between New Delhi and Islamabad in the region. “As far as the tension between Pakistan and India, recently Chinese side has been in communication with both sides through different channels,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing here. He added: “We hope that Indian and Pakistan can enhance communication and properly deal with differences and work jointly to maintain peace and security

‘Beijing hopes that both countries could properly deal with their differences through dialogue’ of the region.” Mr.Geng was responding to questions on whether the cross-border raid in Uri, in which 18 soldiers were killed, featured during the maiden counterterrorism and security dialogue that was held between India and China earlier this week. Asked to go into specifics about the level of its official engagement with the two countries, Mr.Geng said: “Beijing maintains contacts at different levels with both India and Pakistan. China is

friendly neighbour to India and Pakistan. China hopes that both the countries could properly deal with their differences [through] dialogue and consultation and improve their bilateral relationship, strengthen cooperation in different fields and work jointly for regional peace and development and stability.” Peace and stability On Wednesday, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told Pakistan’s special envoy to China for Kashmir that “Beijing hopes that Pakistan and India will strengthen channels for dialogue, appropriately handle any differences, improve bilateral relations and together protect the region's peace and stability.”

Border States at the ready

NEW DELHI: On a day of fastmoving developments following the strikes conducted by the Indian Special Forces on terror launch pads across the Line of Control, the BJPled NDA government swung into action on Thursday to gather domestic and international support for its action. With most opposition parties publicly supporting the military action, and congratulating the armed forces, even promising future cooperation on matters of national security — and no signs of international disapproval as yet —the government appeared to be placed in a comfortable position. If there was a note of caution, it came from Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti: she voiced grave concern over the escalation of the situation along the border and warned that confrontation could lead to a “disaster of epic proportions” for the State. She called for restraint and de-escalation of the “war-

USTERING M SUPPORT: Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah arriving to attend an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI like situation,” and said India and Pakistan must open channels of communication. Modi briefs Manmohan Earlier in the day, realising the importance of creating a national consensus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi briefed his predecessor

Manmohan Singh and followed it up with a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The CCS is understood to have discussed various options related to the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of the Uri attack, and taken stock of ceasefire violations

WASHINGTON: U.S. Ambassador to

India Richard Verma cut short an official visit here and rushed to New Delhi on Thursday morning as the news about India’s military action across the LoC broke. He cancelled a public event at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, and other official engagements here. The U.S. has not offered an immediate response to the situation in South Asia. — Varghese K. George Jaishankar held a briefing for envoys of 22 countries including the P-5 (Permanent members of the Security Council — U.S. ,U.K., Russia, China, France) Germany, Japan, and key neighbouring countries and West Asian countries. A separate briefing was held for former Indian diplomats, retired officials and think-tank analysts who will take forward the government’s stand on public platforms and the media. When asked about the threat of sparking a fullfledged conflict with Pakistan, the official is believed to have said, “Fear of escalation cannot be a reason for passively accepting acts of violence.”

Soldier strays across LoC

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday convened an emergency meeting with senior government officials in Chandigarh, while a high alert was sounded along the 1,070-km International Border in western Rajasthan. In the border districts of Kutch, Banaskantha and Patan in Gujarat, State Reserve Police (SRP) teams have been deployed along with the Border Security Force (BSF). Mr. Badal directed the officials to start the process of evacuation from villages falling within 10 km of the International Border in Ferozepur, Fazilka, Amritsar, Taran Tarn, Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts, said an official statement.. The Rajasthan government is monitoring the situation in the border districts NEW

DELHI:

O SAFETY: T People being evacuated from places close to the International Border near Attari on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI of Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer to prevent panic. State Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said after a high-level meeting here that the villages near the border would

Plaudits from across the political spectrum SMITA GUPTA

U.S. Ambassador rushes back

and infiltration attempts. After this, the Director-General Military Operations and the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs made a public announcement on the action. Simultaneously, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called up the Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal to inform them of the action. The four Pakistan border States — Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Gujarat — were put on high alert with special directions to Punjab to evacuate people living in villages within 10 km of the International Border (IB). In Gujarat, fishermen were warned not to go close to the international maritime boundary line on the coast. Sonia’s pat for Army The principal opposition party, the Congress, was particularly forthcoming in its message of support. Party president Sonia

Gandhi congratulated the armed forces “on the success of the operation” and offered the Congress’s support “to the Government in our country’s continuing battle against cross-border terrorism.” At the all-party meeting, chaired by Mr. Rajnath Singh, the DGMO gave a detailed briefing on the surgical strikes. An opposition leader who attended the meeting later told The Hindu: “All opposition parties spoke in one voice, and said they would support the government on any such action. They said there was need for total alertness to anticipate any retaliatory action by Pakistan and stressed the need to give a free hand to the military.” Those who attended the meeting included Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), C.M. Ramesh (TDP), Prem Chand Gupta (RJD) and NDA ally Ram Vilas Paswan (LJSP).

not be evacuated, and the police and Home Department would be in constant touch with the BSF. Defence sources said troops were in a state of “high alertness and preparedness”.

NEW DELHI: Military sources on Thursday confirmed that an Indian soldier had strayed into Pakistani territory across the LoC “inadvertently”. The confirmation came hours after a similar report surfaced in the Pakistan media . "One soldier from 37 RR with a weapon has inadvertently crossed over to the other side of the Line of Control. Pakistan has been informed by the DGMO on the hotline. Such inadvertent crossing by Army and civilians are not unusual . They are returned through existing mechanisms," an army source told the media. It was not yet clear if the soldier, whose identity is yet to be verified, is connected with the counter terror strikes.

Rathore rules out use of copters, aerial strikes PUJA MEHRA NEW DELHI: Shortly after the Army announced in Delhi that surgical strikes had been carried out along the LoC, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore told The Hindu that these did not involve any aerial operations. “There were no aerial strikes,” Mr. Rathore, himself an ex-Indian Army man, explained recounting the op-

eration. He denied that any helicopters were used. He confirmed that the Indian Army crossed the LoC “on the ground” for carrying out what he termed were “preemptive strikes”. “That is not like crossing the International Border.” The targets were “launch pads”, he said, which are temporary in nature. Infiltrators gather there for a day or so just before crossing over to the Indian side under cover of Pakistan Army. firing.

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Muzaffarnagar riot victims upset with NHRC Residents seek withdrawal of report on Kairana that blames Muslims for the exodus of Hindu families

Shakti Sinha to head Nehru Museum SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The victims of the

2013 Muzaffarnagar riots have demanded an apology from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for its report on the alleged “exodus” of Hindu families from Kairana town in Uttar Pradesh. They have also demanded immediate withdrawal of the report. “The NHRC had never bothered to talk to us once in these three years. Now, it has produced a report in which it is painting us as criminals,” said Shauqat Ali who had fled his village in 2013 when his family was attacked and settled in Kairana. Citing 24 unnamed witnesses, the report, released on September 21, 2016, stated: “Youths of the specific majority community [Muslims] in Kairana town

pass lewd/taunting remarks against the females of the minority community...” At a media interaction in New Delhi, activist Farah Naqvi said: “How can a body like the NHRC indulge in such communal stereotyping of the kind used to create tension and stoke riots? Its report is not based on facts. Instead of investigating the living conditions of the riot victims, it is branding them as criminals...” The report said the resettlement of 25,000-30,000 Muslims in 2013 had changed the demography of Kairana in favour of Muslims, leading to the “Muslim community becoming the more dominating and majority community.” Human rights activist Harsh Mander contested these claims. He said Kairana had already been a

ISCORDANT D NOTE: The NHRC is painting us as criminals, say riot victims of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. — FILE PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA Muslim-majority town, with 80 per cent of the residents being Muslims, as per the 2011 census. “For quite some time, the NHRC has been

passive in the face of increasing communal atrocities. But this report suggests it has now become an active participant in spreading

communal disharmony. It is setting a dangerous precedent of giving a communal colour to law and order problems. It ill befits a

President appoints 15 Rahul gets relief in defamation judges to Madras HC case filed by RSS functionary LEGAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: President Pranab

Mukherjee on Thursday appointed 15 judges to the Madras High Court two months after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended their names to the government. The 15 new judges are V. Parthiban, R. Subramanian, M. Govindaraj, M. Sundar, R. Sureshkumar, J. Nisha Banu, M.S. Ramesh, S.M. Subramaniam, Dr. Anita Sumanth, A.M. Basheer Ahamed, T. Ravindran, S. Baskaran, P. Velmurugan, Dr G. Jayachandran and C.V. Karthikeyan. IB inputs sought The government has sought additional IB inputs on the remaining nine names of the 24 cleared by the collegium. All these names are part of a list of 30 names forwarded by the Madras High Court

collegium in February. The High Court’s list contained 19 lawyers and 11 district judges. Of this, six names — four advocates and two district judges — were dropped by the Supreme Court collegium itself in a meeting on July 21. Judges for Kerala Government clearance of the names was held up due to the ongoing process of drafting the Memorandum of Procedure for judicial appointments by the government. However, the government moved on the files, considering the increasing number of vacancies in the Madras High Court. The President also signed the warrants of appointment of five additional judges to the Kerala High Court. They are Sathish Ninan, Devan Ramachandran, Somarajan P., Shircy V. and Aettupanku Mohammedkhan Babu.

Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday granted relief by a local court in a criminal defamation case filed against him by an RSS functionary. Mr. Gandhi appeared as the accused before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Kamrup and was granted a Personal Recognisance (PR) bond as he appeared personally, and in deference to his status as a Member of Parliament, his lawyer Anshuman Bora told reporters outside the court. “We had made a bail application for him but as Rahul Gandhi appeared in person, the court allowed him to go on a PR bond. The next date of hearing is November 5,” Mr. Bora said. Mr. Gandhi has to be present personally again on November 5, when the court will explain his offence to him. The complainant had filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi for

DEVESH K. PANDEY NEW DELHI: The Enforcement

ongress C vice-president Rahul Gandhi on his way to the CJM court in Guwahati on Thursday. — PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR “bringing down the image of the RSS by saying that he was not allowed by RSS members to enter the Barpeta Satra, a 16th century Vaishnavite monastery in Assam, on December 12, 2015”. CJM Sanjoy Hazarika in his August 6 order stated: “The statement of Rahul Gandhi so published in dailies as well as in media appears to be defamatory in nature... I find sufficient material to proceed against Rahul Gandhi to face trial

under Section 500 IPC.” Section 500 of the IPC contains the quantum of punishment, which may extend to two years or a fine or both. Bijon Mahajan, counsel of the complainant Anjan Bora, a Bibhag Chanchalak of RSS, told the court that day that Mr. Gandhi had told a “blatant lie” before the media as he never visited Barpeta Satra in Assam on December 12, 2015, as was apparent from the perusal of evidence of the witnesses. — PTI

President Pranab Mukherjee waves to people during the Ganga aarti at Har ki Paudi in Haridwar on Thursday. — PHOTO: PTI

CM YK

Aptitude test to help students choose a career VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI: Students of

Class 10 will soon be able to take an aptitude test to enable them to make a considered career choice. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is developing a prototype of an aptitude test to submit to the government for its consideration before year-end. Two detailed field trials have been conducted across the country taking adequate care of diversity and a task force is looking into the results to finalise items for a questionnaire that can be used to assess a student's aptitudes. “Our effort is that the test is designed in such a way that it yields similar

Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs.235 crore of the Tayal Group companies in connection with the cases registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Immovable assets worth Rs.233 crore and 19 bank accounts with deposits of Rs.1.6 crore belonging to Tayal group have beeen attached provisionally under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, according to the ED. The Directorate said the CBI’s Kolkata unit had initiated investigations on the basis of a complaint from UCO Bank in connection with K. Life Style & Industries Ltd, Global Softech Ltd and Tayal Energy Ltd. It was alleged that companies defrauded the bank to the extent of Rs.296 crore and siphoned of the said funds.

The CBI has registered five cases against the group companies in Kolkata and Mumbai. Bank transactions worth about Rs.3,000 crore are under investigation by the agency. Funds diverted “During investigation initiated by the ED, it was revealed that the said companies under the umbrella of Tayal group of companies, represented by their promoter Praveen Kumar Tayal, were involved in large-scale of fraud involving several nationalised banks across the country,” said the ED. During investigations, the Directorate said, it was revealed that the funds received from the banks by the Tayal group for specific purposes were siphoned off through a maze of fictitious companies and from there to unknown destinations.

There had been much opposition from various quarters to his candidature dentials in the selection process of candidates to the director’s post. Mr. Mehta was one of the members on the selection committee set up to recommend names to the post of director. The NMML has been without a director since the resignation of its previous director Mahesh Rangarajan in September, after Culture Minister had questioned the manner of his appointment by the UPA Government. Mr. Sinha who has served in the PMO during Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure, was also director in India Foundation, a think tank aligned to the RSS.

Law Commission gets full-time member LEGAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: The government has appointed S. Sivakumar, professor at the Indian Law Institute in New Delhi, as a full-time Member of the 21st Law Commission of India. The Commission has several important references pending with it, including one on the viability of the Uniform Civil Code and amendments to the Advocates Act to effectively curb misconduct by lawyers. The mandate of the 21st Law Commission also includes recommending obsolete laws to be repealed. Mr. Sivakumar, who is a recipient of the National Law Day Award in 2008, specialises in Administrative Law and Media Law. His area of interests include Constitutional Law, Human Rights, IPR, ADR and Clinical Legal Education. Hailing from Kerala, he is the author of several books on law.

‘Miracle’ TB drug hit by low enrolment VIDYA KRISHNAN

MUMBAI: The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association on Thursday passed a resolution banning Pakistani actors from the industry. “IMPPA in their 87th annual general meeting passed (a resolution that) no Pakistani will be hired by their producer members forever,” producer T.P. Aggarwal, the president of IMPPA, told PTI. Producer Ashoke Pandit, a member of IMPPA, said: “IMPPA paid homage to the martyrs who were killed in Uri. It felt its responsibility towards the nation and passed a resolution banning Pakistani actors & technicians in India till normalcy returns.” Last week, Raj Thackerayled MNS issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Pakistani artistes, including Fawad Khan and Ali Zafar, to leave India by September 25. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Thursday approved the appointment of retired IAS officer Shakti Sinha to the post of director, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, putting to rest the controversy following the inclusion of his name to the post. Mr. Sinha’s candidature had not only prompted the resignation of Executive Council Member Pratap Bhanu Mehta, it led to a very public questioning of the credentials of Mr. Sinha, particularly, his suitability to the post. Another member Mr. Nitin Desai, an economist and former under secretary general of the UN, too had spoken against the shortlisting of Mr. Sinha’s name. Mr. Mehta, in a letter last month, highlighted the marginalisation of academic cre-

ED attaches Rs.235-cr. assets of Tayal Group

GUWAHATI:

President at Haridwar

Indian film body bans actors from Pakistan

statutory body to produce such a report,” he said. The Shami-based activist Akram Chaudhury of Afkar India said: “It is untrue that 25,000 Muslims have resettled in Kairana after the riots. Only 270 families, or at the most 2,000 Muslims, have moved here. How can the addition of 2,000 Muslims to an already Muslim majority of 80,000 change the demography?” Pointing out that the NHRC had never used the word ‘exodus’ to refer to the 70,000 internally displaced persons of Muzaffarnagar, Ms. Naqvi said: “It is strange that the NHRC gives credence to rumour-mongering by calling the fictitious departure of 346 people an “exodus”. It must apologise to the Muzaffarnagar riot victims and withdraw this mischievous report.”

results if repeated. And we want to ensure it is a culturally fair test for all kinds of students in our diverse country, irrespective of class, caste, gender, culture or urban or rural background,” said an official of the CBSE. The prototype of the test will be in Hindi and English, to begin with. If the government is satisfied, versions of it in other Indian languages can also be developed. The test will have eight different sections, including verbal reasoning, spatial ability, numerical ability, interpersonal skills and creative aptitude. There will be questions testing these; situations will be given and responses of

students sought; and audio clips will also be given to test how students respond to them. There will also be activities to test creative skills of the students. “Students who take these tests seriously should be able to assess their own aptitudes well. A student may have more than one kind of aptitude. This would enable them to make better informed career decisions,” the official said. The task force that is putting the prototype in place is headed by Delhi University psychology professor Anand Prakash and has NCERT and CBSE officials, apart from other professors from top institutions such as the JNU, on it.

NEW DELHI: Six months after the launch of ‘miracle’ drug bedaquiline — the most effective treatment for multidrug resistant tuberculosis — the Indian government has enrolled a mere 36 patients. Bedaquiline is used exclusively to treat patients who have failed to respond to second-line anti-TB medicines. India had received a donation of 300 doses from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with another batch of 300 doses to be donated next year. “India has been really remiss with its bedaquiline programme. Since it was announced, only a handful of patients have been enrolled. For a country as advanced as India, with thousands of patients who would benefit from new drugs, this glacial

Despite receiving 300 doses of Bedaquiline from USAID, India has enrolled a mere 36 patients pace is really disappointing. Other countries like South Africa,Swaziland or even Belarus have accomplished so much. They have put nearly 5% of their MDR TB patients on bedaquiline within a year. India has made a lot of promises about new drugs on paper but they are failing to deliver. As far as bedaquiline is concerned, this looks like another one of India’s broken promise,” said Jennifer J Furin, lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As part of a Compassionate Access Programme (CAP), the pharmaceutical company Janssen that holds

the patent for this drug, had donated 600 doses to USAID, which gave half of the medicines to the Indian government in March this year. The drug was to be introduced in six hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Guwahati and later be introduced in 104 districts in five States. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India shoulders 71,000 multi-drug resistant tuberculosis patients. Its report says nearly 10 per cent of all multi-drug resistant TB patients have extensively drug resistant TB or XDR-TB — “resistant to any fluoroquinolone, and at least one of three second-line injectable drugs (capreomycin, kanamycin and amikacin), in addition to multidrug resistance.” According to Sunil Khaparde, head of the

Central TB Division of the Health Ministry, India has about 2,300 XDR-TB patients: only 36 are currently on the government’s access programme. Since this is the first drug in decades to dramatically improve MDR-TB treatment outcomes, the government set stringent eligibility criteria, allowing only patients residing close to the treatment centres. Criteria relaxed “We understand that the enrolment has been slow. Keeping that in mind, we have now relaxed the technical criteria. We will now start using the drug on patients who are resistant to any fluoroquinolone. The geographical criteria have also been relaxed. Now patients in the entire city and not just the immediate neighbourhood will be eligible,” said Dr. Khaparde.

British girl’s mother writes to PM seeking fresh probe

Former AAP leader to float new party

PRAKASH KAMAT

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

PANAJI: Fiona Mackeown, the mother of the British minor girl who was found dead on a Goan beach in 2008, has now approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a fair probe into her daughter’s death by a special investigation team. Disappointed with the recent acquittal by a local court of both the accused in the case, her lawyer Vikram Varma on Thursday accused the CBI of “compromising the probe and letting drug dealers get away.” In a verdict that came after trial which was spread over a period of eight years, the Goa Children’s Court last Friday acquitted the accused due to lack of evidence. The probe by the CBI had said that the 16-year-old girl was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted by beach-

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, the plan of Sucha Singh Chhotepur, former convener of the Aam Aadmi Party State unit, to float a new party on October 1, could hurt the AAP’s ambitions of wresting power in the State. Mr. Chhotepur, the most visible face of the AAP in Punjab, was removed from his post last month, after he was accused of taking bribe for issuing party ticket. He told The Hindu that the name of the party would be finalised soon. “People in Punjab are disenchanted with traditional political parties — the Akalis and the Congress ... they [people] saw a hope in the AAP, but it has also let down ‘Punjabis’ and therefore, a new party is the need of the hour,” he said.

iona Mackeown F (centre), mother of deceased British schoolgirl, leaves the Children’s Court in Panaji after the acquittal of the accused. — FILE PHOTO: AFP shack (temporary eateries on Goan beaches) workers Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho who then left her to die on the Anjuna beach in February 2008. “I think I have got more of a chance of getting a fair response from the Prime Minister, therefore, we

thought he would be the best person to approach rather than local judicial authority,” Ms. Mackeown told a press conference on Thursday. In her letter to the Prime Minister, Ms. Mackeown has requested setting up of a special investigating team to probe her daughter’s death.

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WORLD Abducted German freelance journalist in Syria freed BERLIN: A German woman who was kidnapped in Syria last year while she was pregnant has been freed along with her baby, the German foreign ministry has said. The pair were released on Wednesday and had safely crossed the border into Turkey, a ministry spokeswoman said, declining to name the woman. German media have identified the woman as Janina Findeisen, a freelance journalist who travelled to Syria on the promise of getting exclusive information. Focus magazine had reported earlier this year that the 27-year-old had gone missing in October 2015, apparently kidnapped by militants from al-Nusra Front who were demanding a fivemillion-euro ($5.6-million) ransom. The weekly said she gave birth in December. — AFP

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THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

Hillary shares stage with ex-rival Sanders in appeal for youth votes DURHAM (NORTH CAROLINA): On Wednesday, former Democratic primary rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders teamed up in a bid to charm America’s youth, as recent polls showed Ms. Clinton’s lead slip dramatically among voters aged 18-34. They are a demographic that proved key to both of U.S. President Barack Obama’s presidential wins. “Is everybody here ready to transform America?” asked Mr. Sanders at a University of New Hampshire rally amid heavy applause. While millennials flocked to Mr. Sanders as he pledged to fight income inequality and provide free state university education, Ms. Clinton has struggled to appeal among young voters. The latest Quinnipiac poll showed Ms. Clinton at just 31 per cent among the key demographic, a razor-thin lead over Republican Mr. Trump’s 26 per cent.

NITING FOR U CHANGE: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday.— PHOTO: AP After warmly embracing Mr. Sanders in New Hampshire, Ms. Clinton said she was “proud of the primary campaign Bernie and I ran, based on issues not insults”. Education plan Speaking to students who pay upwards of $28,000 annually in tuition at the University of New Hampshire,

California rocked by protests over unarmed black man’s shooting EL CAJON (CALIFORNIA): A second night of mostly peaceful protests over the fatal police shooting in Southern California of an unarmed black man said to be mentally ill climaxed on Wednesday as protesters confronted officers in riot gear who retreated as tensions rose. Protesters earlier in the day shouted “murder” and demanded a federal investigation of Tuesday’s shooting in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, which came just as racially charged anger over similar incidents in two other U.S. cities during the past two weeks had begun to subside.

Victim had mental illness The Tuesday mid-afternoon shooting unfolded after two El Cajon police officers responded to several

U.S. Congress passes ‘spending bill’, averts a shutdown WASHINGTON: The U.S. Congress passed a spending bill late on Wednesday and staved off a government shut down, after reaching agreement on funding for a tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan that had bedeviled earlier proposals. The fiscal year ends on September 30. Had Congress failed to pass a bill approving federal spending by midnight on Friday, some government offices could have been forced to close. The bill passed the Senate 72-26 and then the House 342-85. It provides $1.1 billion for efforts to fight the Zika virus, and $500 million for disaster recovery in flood-hit Louisiana and other States. Lawmakers had been split on how to fund the crisis in Flint, Michigan, where the drinking water is contaminated with lead. Several Democrats voted against an earlier bill apparently because it provided money for Louisiana emergency flood relief without providing any infrastructure funding for Flint. — AFP

ATTLE FOR B DIGNITY: Protesters gather along Broadway Avenue, California, on Wednesday. — PHOTO: REUTERS calls about a mentally unstable person walking in traffic, then confronted the man behind a restaurant. No weapon from the man, however, was recovered at the scene, police said. The object he was said to be carrying was not specified. The next day, Mayor Bill Wells confirmed the victim’s

identity as Alfred Olango, a 38-year-old Ugandan immigrant with a U.S. felony record of convictions for drug and weapon offences, according to federal court records. Friends and activists said Olango was mentally ill and may have been suffering a seizure in the moments before his death. — Reuters

the pair focused on Ms. Clinton’s education plan, which was largely inspired by Mr. Sanders’s primary platform. Mr. Sanders praised Ms. Clinton’s project to eliminate tuition at public universities for families making less than $125,000, as well as expanding loan forgiveness programmes and interest payment breaks. — AFP

No rationale in use of the term ‘Islamic terrorism’, says Obama WASHINGTON: U.S. President Barack Obama has defended his decision not to use the term ‘Islamic terrorism’, saying it is a “sort of manufactured” issue and there is no religious rationale to associate Islam with those who have “perverted and distorted” it as an excuse for their barbarism. Mr. Obama said he has been careful to make sure he does not lump these “murderers” into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who in this country are troops and police officers and fire-fighters and teachers and neighbours and friends. — PTI

Ghani formalises peace deal with ‘Butcher of Kabul’ KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani formalised a controversial accord with one of Afghanistan’s most notorious warlords on Thursday, a deal the government hopes will lead to more peace agreements. Surrounded by hundreds of Afghan officials, many former warlords and rivals themselves, Mr. Ghani signed a pact that opens the door to the militant faction of Hezb-i-Islami, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, playing an active role in politics.

Rhetoric for unity Despite the rhetoric of unity, Hekmatyar was not present and addressed a gathering in Kabul in a recorded video message, appearing by himself to sign the document in a small room. “With this agreement, I hope to put an end to the current crisis in the country,” Hekmatyar, derided widely as ‘Butcher of Kabul’ said in his message. “I call on all sides to support this peace deal and I call on the opposition parties of the government to join the peace proc-

fghan President A Ashraf Ghani signing the peace agreement with Hizb-i-Islami in Kabul on Thursday; (right) An image from the group’s leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s recorded video message. — PHOTOS: REUTERS, AFP ess and pursue their goals through peaceful means.” A controversial figure from the insurgency against the Soviets in the 1980s and the civil wars of the 1990s, Hekmatyar has been designated a “global terrorist” by the U.S. Hekmatyar, who served as Prime Minister in the 1990s, before the rise to power of the Taliban, has long been known as close to Pakistan. His faction of Hezb-i-Islami has played a relatively small role in the current conflict, in

which the Taliban have a leading role. However, government officials hope the accord will be a first step toward eventually making similar peace deals with others. “This is a chance for the Taliban and other militant groups to show what their decision is: To be with people and join the respected caravan of peace, like Hezb-iIslami, or confront the people and continue the bloodshed,” Presient Ashraf Ghani said. — Reuters

Train crash in New Jersey injures 100 The train failed to stop as it pulled into Hoboken station, causing major damage to the transit hub able. Mr. Nelson said there were around 250 passengers on the train at the time of the crash, which occurred at around 9:00 a.m., and that it was not known if there were still people trapped on board.

HOBOKEN (NEW JERSEY): A packed commuter train crashed into a station in New Jersey during the morning rush hour on Thursday, with three people reported killed and more than 100 injured, many of them in critical condition. The train failed to stop as it pulled into Hoboken station, causing major damage to the transit hub just over the Hudson river from Manhattan.

Roof collapses Michael Larson, a New Jersey transit employee, told CNN the train hit a concrete block at the end of the line with such force that it went airborne -— hitting the roof and causing it to partly collapse. “We have 100 plus injuries,” Jennifer Nelson, a New CM YK

USH HOUR R MISHAP: Officials survey the New Jersey transit train that crashed into the platform at the Hoboken Terminal on Thursday. — PHOTO: AFP Jersey transit spokeswoman, told reporters at the scene, adding there were “multiple critical injuries.”

NBC and CBS reported three fatalities from the early morning accident. No official toll was immediately avail-

‘Never slowed down’ Passengers quoted by U.S. media described the train ramming at full speed into the bumper at the end of the track. “We never slowed down,” Jim Finan, a commuter from New Jersey, told Fox. Mr. Nelson told reporters it was not known how fast the train was travelling as it entered the station, and that an investigation was ongoing. "We're looking at all things that could have caused this accident," she said.— AFP ND-ND

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Surgical strikes on Pakistan have not affected gold prices in India Veerappa Moily, Congress leader

Centre to invite bids from foreign funds for asset recycling KOLKATA: The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will invite bids from foreign pension funds for recycling of brownfield projects to raise funds, a senior official said. “The Cabinet has approved the proposal last month. There is a need for model concessional agreement after which the Request For Proposal (RFP) will be finalised,” Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Rohit Kumar Singh said on the sidelines of a BCCI seminar here. Once the request for proposal was ready, bids would be invited, he said adding “We are expecting to invite bids in the next two or three months.” The process involves handing over of 75-odd brownfield road projects across the country to these foreign funds for a concession period of 30 years, he told reporters. During this period, the foreign funds would collect toll as per law and maintain them while ownership would not be transferred. “The ownership will remain with the government,” he said. Mr. Singh said in this way, the government was expected to garner Rs.50,000 crore which would be given upfront by the fund managers and would be then ploughed back in creating other new road assets. “This mechanism of called asset recycling which is quite popular in other countries like Australia,” Mr. Singh said. —PTI

Yes Bank to raise Rs.2,500 cr. via long-term bonds NEW DELHI: Private sector lender Yes Bank plans to raise up to Rs.2,500 crore by issuing long-term bonds on a private placement basis. “The bank proposes to raise funds by issuing senior unsecured listed rated redeemable long-term bonds in the form of debentures amounting to Rs.1,000 crore, with a green shoe option for an additional amount up to Rs.1,500 crore on a private placement basis,” it said in a regulatory filing. The bank has already received approvals from the board of directors and shareholders to borrow or raise funds up to Rs.10,000 crore in Indian or foreign currency by issue of debt securities and through various other instruments. Yes Bank said Rs.10,000 crore could be raised in one or more tranches on private placement basis from time to time. Among others, the bank can also float instruments such as non-convertible debentures. — PTI

Nalco told to review smelter project in Iran NEW DELHI: The Union government has directed state-run aluminium maker Nalco to reconsider its over $2 billion project for setting up a gasfired thermal power plant and a smelter in Iran. Nalco has been in the process of setting up a five lakh tonnes aluminium smelter in Iran, where is can procure natural gas at cheap rates. Power accounts for 40 per cent of the input costs in making aluminium. “Our priority is to reduce imports under the Make in India initiative, hence we have asked them (Nalco) to revisit their decision to process alumina in Iran,” Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar told PTI. The focus is to increase India’s capabilities and make the ‘Make in India’ initiative a huge success, Mr. Kumar added.

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BUSINESS

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Stocks, bonds, rupee slump after India’s cross-LoC strikes Benchmark indices and rupee post biggest single-day fall since Brexit vote

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI: Stocks, bonds and the rupee slumped on Thursday after the Indian Army announced it had conducted strikes across the Line of Control in Kashmir to foil infiltration bids by terrorists. The benchmark stock indices and the rupee posted their biggest single-day fall since the Brexit vote in June amid concern that overseas investors may slow the pace of their purchases if tensions between India and Pakistan escalate. The broader Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell 153.90 points, or 1.76 per cent, to 8,591.25, while the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex slumped 465.28 points, or 1.64 per cent, to

close at 27,827.53. All but one stock lost ground in the Sensex pack. The overall market breadth was weak with 2,340 stocks declining, as against 411 gainers. “Concern about potential escalation of tension at the border” triggered a market correction, said Gautam Duggad, Head - Research, Motilal Oswal Securities. “We expect the volatility to remain high for next few days, as situation gets clearer on the Indo-Pak front. This, however, is a good opportunity for accumulating select stocks where earnings visibility is high, fundamentals are supportive,” he added. Data from the markets regulator show that foreign investors have been quite bullish on Indian equities this year, having invested

Rs.47,883 crore in stocks since January. Rupee weakens The Indian currency weakened 0.6 per cent against the dollar, sliding 0.39 rupee to end at 66.855. According to dealers, the central bank sold dollars through state-run banks to stem the depreciation in the rupee’s value. “Over the next one-month period, we expect rupee to be range bound, around 66.50-67.50,” said Puneet Pal, head, fixed income, BNP Paribus Mutual Fund. “The fundamentals are healthy like the current account deficit, which is under control.

The RBI is also expected to intervene to curb volatility.” Bond yields also spiked with the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond increasing 8 basis points to 6.86 per cent. Markets may remain under pressure over uncertainty about the geopolitical situation between the two countries, with investors opting to take a wait and watch approach in the short term, said Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman & Managing Director, Angel Broking. The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s KSE 100 Index slipped 59.50 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 40,295.52.

Commercial tax staff may strike over powers governments. It would severely affect the revenue collection of the State governments,” Mr. Suryanarayana told The Hindu on phone. The office-bearers of AICCTA have sought an appointment with the Revenue Secretary to explain their concern. “The reasoning that state tax officials do not have expertise in handling the Service Tax administration is ridiculous,” he said.

SUVOJIT BAGCHI KOLKATA: Employees of Com-

mercial Tax departments, under the State governments, will go on strike on October 15 if their demand to be allowed to monitor and collect Service Tax, under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, is not addressed. Almost two lakh employees of Commercial Tax departments will go on strike in October if the issue is not addressed in Friday’s GST Council meeting, the All India Confederation of Commercial Taxes Association (AICCTA), said on Thursday. In the first meeting of the newly constituted GST Council last week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the officers of the Central government would exclusively monitor Service Tax assessees under the GST regime. However, earlier, during all the deliberations of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers it was decided that all taxpayers below the annual turnover threshold of Rs.1.5 crore would be mon-

AXING T TIMES: States’ tax officials want to be allowed to collect Service tax under the new GST regime. — FILE PHOTO itored by the officials of the respective State’s Commercial Tax department. A large component of Service Tax assessees are below the Rs.1.5 crore threshold. By reducing the area of operations of the officers of Commercial Tax, which is the key source of revenue for the States, the GST Council was trying to “strangulate” the tax departments in the States, AICCTA officials said. Lower workload? “Suppose, in Kolkata, officials collect tax from four lakh assesses (dealers), then

OPEC agrees on modest oil production curbs ALGIERS: OPEC agreed on

modest oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008, with the group's leader Saudi Arabia softening its stance on arch-rival Iran amid mounting pressure from low oil prices. “OPEC made an exceptional decision today ... After two and a half years, OPEC reached consensus to manage the market,” said Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, who had repeatedly clashed with Saudi Arabia during previous meetings. He and other ministers said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would reduce output to a range of 32.5-33.0 million barrels per day. OPEC estimates its current output at 33.24 million bpd. “We have decided to decrease the production around 700,000 bpd,” Mr. Zanganeh said. The move would effectively re-establish OPEC

production ceilings abandoned a year ago. However, how much each country will produce is to be decided at the next formal OPEC meeting in November, when an invitation to join cuts could also be extended to non-OPEC countries such as Russia. Many traders said they were impressed OPEC had managed to reach a compromise but others said they wanted to see the details. “This is the first OPEC deal in eight years! The cartel proved that it still matters even in the age of shale! This is the end of the ‘production war' and OPEC claims victory,” said Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst at Price Futures Group. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday that Iran, Nigeria and Libya would be allowed to produce “at maximum levels that make sense” as part of any output limits. — Reuters

the number would reduce to one lakh or less as the Central government would be monitoring it from Delhi thus downsizing the department, which essentially means termination of employment,” said the national president of AICCTA, K.R. Suryanarayana from Hyderabad. Besides, in the long run, it would reduce the earning of the State governments, he said. “Many service sectors – like the contractual work – and many upcoming sectors will be monitored by the Central agencies which are now monitored by the State

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Trust deficit “If the said reasoning is acceptable, then it would equally apply in the case of central authorities in the case of handling of ‘inter state transactions’ (IGST). With this decision, the true spirit of GST reform will get defeated and the States’ domain will remain limited to only Goods Tax, which is not the intended spirit of the 122nd constitutional amendment. It seems to be a trust deficit on the States and it is also about denying the States their Constitutional right,” he said. On Friday, State Finance Ministers will likely air their concerns in the Council.

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29-09-2016 49.28 28-09-2016 46.12

3.16 $/bbl

ICICI Pru falls 11% below issue price on debut SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT MUMBAI: Shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, which made its debut on the stock market on Thursday, lost more than 11 per cent compared with the issue price, as the overall market sentiment weakened over escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. On the NSE, the shares ended the day at Rs.295.85, 11.42 per cent lower than the issue price of Rs.334. They made their debut at Rs.330, before losing further ground to touch a low of Rs.295.15. On the BSE, the shares closed at Rs.297.65 pegging the market capitalisation at Rs.42,722.42 crore. Incidentally, the initial public offer (IPO) - a first by an insurance entity – had received a strong response from investors with the issue getting subscribed 10.47 times. In other words, the IPO received bids worth nearly Rs.46,250 crore. The issue size was about Rs.6,000 crore.

Aggressively priced? Analysts said that while there was always a view that the offer was aggressively priced, Thursday’s stock price movement was more due to the overall market weakness. The issue had received a strong response from institutional investors as well with entities such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Government of Singapore, Russell Investment, GMO Emerging along with many mutual funds subscribing to the anchor portion of the offer.

Centre to raise EPF’s equity exposure to 10% SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI: One in every ten rupees parked in your provident fund would now be invested on Dalal Street, with the government deciding to double employees’ PF savings’ exposure to equities from the present level of 5 per cent to 10 per cent of fresh accretions to the corpus, Union Labour and Employment Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said. Riding over concerns expressed by employee representatives on the board of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the Labour Ministry has issued instructions to its fund managers to tap the enhanced window for equity investments immediately. Officials said this is expected to translate into an additional investment of Rs.11,500 crore in stocks over the next six months of this financial year. “This will meet a longstanding demand of EPF members… EPFO is a social security organisation and a

India Inc. backs strike across Line of Control PIYUSH PANDEY MUMBAI: India Inc has given a thumbs-up to the Indian Army’s strike across the LoC and reiterated that the economy had adequate bandwidth to deal with the consequences of the current state of tension with neighbouring Pakistan. “For the sake of national security, the Indian economy has a strong bandwidth to deal with any possible aftereffects of the current state of tensions with Pakistan,” Assocham said in a statement. The industry group’s president Sunil Kanoria said that it was time to impose economic sanctions on Pakistan.

Trade ties He added that such a move would not affect India’s interests due to its low level of trade with Pakistan. RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka said while war would be “disastrous for both the nuclear-armed nations,” India needs to isolate Pakistan

nand Mahindra A through diplomatic and economic means. “We had to strike back. And we hit with utmost professionalism,” tweeted Mr. Goenka, whose tweet was retweeted by Marico Industries’ Harsh Mariwala. Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra, who had earlier said on his twitter feed, “I trust our army. They know how to pursue & retaliate. Their strategy need not be advertised on Twitter,” on Thursday tweeted, “I don’t need to add anything more today...”

custodian of workers’ money, so it is our responsibility to keep the money safe and at the same time, give them good returns,” Mr. Dattatreya said. While the Finance Ministry had allowed equity investments between 5 per cent and 15 per cent of fresh accretions for non-government provident funds such as EPFO, the PF office had made a cautious start by allowing 5 per cent investments last August after years of resistance to a stock market foray. The Finance Ministry had first allowed equity investments of up to 5 per cent of corpus in 2005. The proposal to hike the exposure to equities was discussed with the EPFO’s central board of trustees twice in recent months and the improvements in returns were shared with them, the minister said. “We have taken this decision after careful consideration. The world over, pension funds invest around 30 per cent in equities,” Mr Dattatreya said.

Exchange Rates Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m on September 29

Currencies U.S. Dollar Euro Pound Sterling Jap Yen (100 Units) Chinese Yuan Swiss Franc Singapore Dollar Australian Dollar Canadian Dollar Swedish Kroner Danish Kroner New Zealand Dollar Hongkong Dollar Malaysian Ringgit Kuwaiti Dinar UAE Dirham Bahraini Dinar Qatari Riyal Saudi Riyal Omani Riyal

TT TT Buying Selling 66.65 66.97 74.80 75.16 86.82 87.24 65.66 65.99 10.00 10.05 68.77 69.10 48.91 49.15 51.07 51.33 50.94 51.19 7.78 7.81 10.04 10.09 48.40 48.65 8.59 8.64 16.15 16.27 220.31 222.85 18.14 18.23 176.73 177.67 18.35 18.37 17.82 17.83 173.07 173.97

Source:Indian Bank

Bullion Rates September 29 rates in rupees with previous rates in brackets

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

46,005 49.20 31,720 2,966

(45,645) (48.80) (31,550) (2,950)

45,550 (45,150) 31,350 (31,300) 24,500 (24,500)

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BUSINESS

16 | SNIPPETS Interest rates on small savings schemes cut NEW DELHI: The Centre announced a cut of 0.1 percentage point in the

interest rates on small savings schemes, including Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra and Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts, for the period October 1-December 31, 2016. The rate on savings deposit remained at 4 per cent. Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis. The next revision will be for the January-March quarter. Under the new rates, the Public Provident Fund will fetch an interest of 8 per cent as opposed to the 8.1 per cent in the quarter ended September 30. The Kisan Vikas Patra will see an interest rate of 7.7 per cent, down from the earlier 7.8 per cent. — Special Correspondent

Twelve SME IPOs to hit markets today NEW DELHI: Enthused over upbeat investor sentiment, as many as 12

small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will hit the capital markets on Friday to raise an estimated Rs.70 crore through initial public offers. So far this month, 12 other companies have already hit the capital markets. The 12 firms coming up with IPOs are Gretex Industries, Dhanuka Realty, Sakar Healthcare, Art Nirman, Pansari Developers, Aurangabad Distillery, Globe International Carriers, DRA Consultants, Shashijit Infraprojects, Mewar Hi-Tech Engineering, India Green Realty and Bindal Exports. Of these, 7 companies will be listed on SME platform of NSE and 5 firms on the BSE platform. — PTI

U.S. economy less sluggish in second quarter WASHINGTON: U.S. economic growth was less sluggish than previously

thought in the second quarter as exports grew more than imports and businesses raised their investments, hopeful signs for the economic outlook.Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday in its third estimate of GDP. That was up from the 1.1 percent rate it reported last month and higher than analysts’ expectations.The revision incorporated data that showed businesses cut investments in buildings and equipment less than the government previously estimated, while they sank more money into research and development. — Reuters

Mytaxiindia to raise $5-10 million for expansion CHENNAI: New Delhi-based online car rental start-up Mytaxiindia is in

talks with investors to raise $5-10 million to fund its expansion plans.“We are currently operating in 153 cities through 589 operators and our goal is to reach over 200 cities by March 2017,” Anshuman Mihir, Mytaxiindia CEO & co-founder said. “On an average, we are adding 15 to 20 operators every month and we are offering our services throughout the country. We will be making announcement soon, regarding the fresh investment.” In the earlier rounds, it had raised $1.1 million. It has been working with taxi operators to deliver the best possible travel solution to customers at affordable price. — N. Anand

Budget merger may need Parliament’s nod Centre has not consulted Parliament, Opposition says SOMESH JHA NEW DELHI: The Centre may have to pass a resolution in Parliament in the upcoming session to finally put an end to the practice of presenting a separate Rail Budget, senior Railway Ministry officials said. Although the Constitution does not provide for a separate Rail Budget, it was separated from general finances after a resolution was passed in the Legislative Assembly (now Parliament) based on the recommendations made by the Acworth Committee in 1921. “Based on the recommendations made by Acworth Committee, it was decided that the separation of Railway Finances be effected by means of a Convention to be laid before the Legislative Assembly (now Parliament), in the form of a resolution, and that the Assembly be asked to agree to it,” the official said, on conditions of anonymity. The matter was placed before the House, which voted the Convention resolution of 1924, the official added.

Unilateral step “Presentation of a separate Budget is more of a matter of Convention than any rule.

AIL TRAIL: R The Rail Budget was first separated from general finances in 1921. — FILE PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY Government decided to introduce a resolution to do this,” the official said. After the Union Cabinet approved merger of railway and general Budget, opposition parties attacked the government for not consulting the Parliament. “The decision by the Union Cabinet to merge the Railway Budget with the General Budget is a unilateral step taken without a discussion in parliament. It was the Parliament which was empowered to discuss railway finances and development,” Communist Part of India (Marxist) had said in a press statement. Former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi had also said that the “Parliament was not taken into confidence.” “…the State, should get a

CPI-M said Parliament is empowered to discuss railway finances and development fair and stable return from the money it has spent on its Railways; but if you go further, if you take from the Railways more than that fair return, then you are indulging in a concealed way in one of the most vicious forms of taxation, namely a tax on transportation. “One of the objects we have most at heart in putting these proposals before this House is to establish that principle,” the government had stated when the proposal for resolution was presented to 1924 Assembly.

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

enry H Ford Health, Pearl Human to set up hospital N. ANAND

Detroitheadquartered $6 billion Henry Ford Health System has entered into a 20-year licensing agreement with Pearl Human Care Pvt. Ltd. to set up a super speciality hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. To be built at a cost of Rs.330 crore, Naruvi Hospitals will come upon on threeacre land located close to the existing Christian Medical College and Hospital. It will start functioning from January 2019. In the first phase, it will have 250 beds and another 150 beds will be added in the next phase. As part of the deal, Henry Ford Health System will get one-time lump sum fee and a share in the revenue. “This is our maiden entry into India in healthcare segment,” Mark Coticchia, Ford Health System, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer said. “Though we have six hospitals in the U.S., we are setting up this hospital in India under licensing arrangement with Pearl Human Care due to legal complications. As per the deal, we will provide technical know-how, design and develop the hospital to provide international health care at affordable price.” CHENNAI:

Digital records Pearl Human Care will create infrastructure and manage the day-to-day oper-

As per the deal, we will provide technical know-how, design and develop the hospital to provide international health care at affordable price Mark Coticchia VP, Henry Ford Health System ations, while Henry Ford Health System will provide clinical speciality, equipment selection and procurement, patient flow, key case review mechanism, quality control and building design, said G.V. Sampath, Pearl Human Care Chairman and Managing Director. “The project cost will be met through a mix of debt and promoters fund. We have selected Vellore, as most of the patients either go to Chennai or Bengaluru for treatment as the existing hospital does not have capacity. It will not be another hospital, as we are planning to digitise patient records from the day one. We have taken the U.S. model and tailored it for Indian conditions,” Mr. Sampath said.The hospital will provide primary care as well as advanced speciality care in fields such as cardiology and orthopedics. It will have 300 medical staff.

Samsung’s woes flow over to washing machines from phones SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, which is already reeling from a global recall of its Note 7 smartphones, said it is in talks with a U.S. watchdog to address potential safety problems related to some of its washing machines. The South Korean tech company's comments came as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned of problems with some of Samsung's topload washing machines, following media reports that they had exploded.

Top-load machines Certain top-load washing machines made between March 2011 and April 2016 were affected, both the company and the CPSC said. “In rare cases, affected units may experience abnormal vibrations that could pose a risk of personal injury or property damage when washing bedding, bulky or water-resistant items,”

Denim sector eyes Rs.54,000 cr. in five years MUMBAI: The Rs 30,000-crore Indian denim industry, which has been growing 15 per cent annually for the last five years, is expected to be worth Rs.54,600 crore by 2023, according to experts.

Denim revolution “Denim revolution started in India in 80s and 90s which gradually shifted to lifestyle and more so fashion of late. With 7.4 per cent of India’s GDP growth and USD 1,362 per capita income, India continues to be one of the largest producers of denim in the world,” Reliance Brands business headDiesel & GAS - Deval Shah said during the session “New Opportunities in Denim” at the 32nd IAF World Fashion Convention here. The two-day International Apparel Fashion (IAF) concluded here on Wednesday and was jointly organised by the Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India (CMAI) with support from Union Ministry of Textiles and Union Ministry of Commerce. “With the emergence of denim demand from Bangladesh to which India exports huge quantity, Indian businesses have doubled installed capacity denim to 1.3 billion meters per annum over the last five years with an estimated investment of Rs 60 crore per million meters,” Mr. Shah said at the session. — PTI

Zeta to invest $25 million for expansion STAFF REPORTER

BOOM’ TIME: ‘ Some washing machines manufactured between March 2011 and April 2016 were affected.—FILE PHOTO:REUTERS Samsung said on its website. The company said consumers with affected models should use the lower speed delicate cycle when washing those materials. Samsung did not mention the models impacted but asked customers to enter their washing machine's serial number to determine if their machine is affected. It was not immediately known how many units were involved, but a Samsung spokesperson said models

sold outside North America are not affected by the issue. Samsung is also facing a lawsuit from U.S. customers who, according to a filing in a New Jersey court on Aug. 12., said their machines “explode during normal use.” Samsung, the world's top smartphone maker, announced on September 2 a global recall of at least 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in 10 markets due to faulty batteries causing some phones to catch fire. — Reuters

Vijay Mallya confident of judicial relief STAFF REPORTER BENGALURU: The absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday said he had faith in the Indian judicial system and that his company would get judicial relief. “The government continues to attach properties and threaten other forms of action, all of which will be contested in the courts of law. “I have great faith in the Indian judicial system and I am sure that judicial relief will come our way sooner rather than later,” said Vijay Mallya, Chairman of United Breweries (Holdings) Limited (UBHL). He was speaking to shareholders at the company’s 100th annual general meeting through a video-conference. He also said the ‘unfavourable policies of the government, taxation and high fuel price’ were the major reasons to turn Kingfisher Airlines, once called as the ‘queen of the skies’, into a nightmare for the country. Slamming the government, Mr. Mallya, who flew out of the country in March, said he was being unfairly accused of siphoning off Rs.6,000 crore off the airline. Mr. Vijay Mallya said that concerted efforts were made to paint him as a ‘poster boy of bad loans and financial crimes’.

BENGALURU: Digital payments platform Zeta is planning to invest $25 million in the next financial year to increase its product portfolio. The company announced the introduction of its three new digital solutions as part of its tax-compliant benefits product portfolio. “We have committed $19 million capital into Zeta in two rounds. We have planned a serious push as far as marketing is concerned. We will see investment of $25 million in the current and next fiscal, which will be used to scale up business,” said Zeta CEO and cofounder Bhavin Turakhia. The company’s e-solutions offer tax savings to employees as per legal provisions on fuel reimbursements or allowances, mobile phone and Internet bill reimbursements and books and periodicals reimbursements.The HR managers can credit grants to all employees using a MasterCard-powered physical Super Card, an NFC-enabled sticker- Super Tag or the Zeta app. Zeta’s cloud-based solution enables companies send grants to employees instantly via a digital dashboard.According to the company, more than 300 corporates ranging from start-ups to conglomerates across industries are using its solutions.

Domestic cement demand to touch 6% in FY17: ICRA NEW DELHI: India’s demand for cement is expected to rise to 6 per cent in the current financial year against 4.6 per cent in 2015-16, ratings agency ICRA has said. This (demand) is expected to support the cement prices in the near term. However, the energy cost benefits are expected to reverse in second half of 2016-17, given the recent hike in the pet coke and coal prices, it said in a statement. ICRA Ratings Senior VP Sabyasachi Majumdar said demand in 2016-17 is likely to be mainly driven by the pickup in the infrastructure segment, primarily road projects and housing segment and the likelihood of a recovery in the rural demand from second half of this fiscal, given the better monsoons.“This is likely to support cement prices in near term,” he said.Structural constraints also need to be sorted out for project implementation, he said.— PTI ND-ND

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Telecast schedule Cricket: India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, STAR Sports 1, 3 & HD 1 & HD 3, 9.30 a.m.; Pakistan vs West Indies: 1st ODI, TEN 3, 4.30 A p.m.; South Africa vs Australia: 1st ODI, TEN 2 & TEN 1 HD, 5 p.m. Golf: Ryder Cup, TEN 1, 9 p.m.

We will look to introduce DRS in future: Kohli Whenever Indian batsmen are on the receiving end of contentious decisions, the talk of the DRS crops up. Answering a question related to the introduction of the DRS in Tests involving India, captain Virat Kohli said the issue needed to be discussed further before it was introduced. “These are things we have discussed, these are things we have had meetings on, because there were some areas that we felt can be debated, especially ball-tracking and Hawkeye. “We won’t take (bad) decisions too hard, because we, in the first place, decided that we would not use DRS. So for us to then say that umpires had erred and it’s going against us, it’s not logical. There’s no room for excuses, ” Kohli said here on Thursday. “Once DRS is in place and it is up and running for us as well, then you can sit and think what the grey areas are. We want to definitely think about it, but I can’t make a decision sitting here right now. It’s a good point, it’s something that we have had discussions on and we will certainly look to probably introduce it in future,” added Kohli. Reacting to Kohli’s opinion on the DRS, New Zealand batsman Tom Latham said, “We’ve had it in the past back home and it is a good system that tends to work. “It gets rid of that decision that probably is not out or is out, that major decision that is called incorrectly. We enjoy it back home, if [India started using it] that’d be great.” — Special Correspondent

| 17

SPORT

NOIDA/DELHI

Duckett’s distinction

Crunch time I believe next week is crucial to sort out my future as I need to know if the option remains or if I have to look somewhere else (other than Formula One). Obviously I A want to keep my career in Formula One going, but I cannot wait much longer. — Sergio Perez

Northants’ 21-year-old left-hander Ben Duckett became the first player to be named Players’ Player-of-the-Year and Young Player-of-the-Year in the same season by England’s Professional Cricketers’ Association on Wednesday.

A

Anderson, Wood ruled out England bowlers James Anderson and Mark Wood have been ruled out of next month’s tour of Bangladesh due to injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed on Thursday.

India looks to continue love affair with Eden Gardens CRICKET / New Zealand may replace out-of-form Guptill with Ronchi at the top; rain threat looms large over second Test

KOLKATA:

Y.B. SARANGI KOLKATA: The much-awaited Durga Puja is around the corner and the City of Joy is in a festive mood. A dose of cricket, in the form of the second Test between India and New Zealand starting at the Eden Gardens on Friday, is icing on the cake. However, it is serious business for Virat Kohli & Co. There is hardly any scope for complacency for India, especially after its big win over New Zealand in its 500th Test and series opener. Immediately after securing a 1-0 lead, Kohli, having noticed the intent and hard work of the opposition, underlined the possibility of the series getting more competitive. The Kiwis held their heads high in defeat. They displayed determination and application on a turning track in Kanpur, where visiting sides have often surrendered meekly. The biggest takeaway for New Zealand is the performance of promising allrounder Mitchell Santner. During the World Twenty20, he had shown his capability to adapt to the Indian conditions well. Backed by grit, courage and self-belief, he switched nicely to the longer format. With a tight schedule in hot and humid conditions, timely recovery of its players will hold the key for New Zealand. Captain Kane Williamson was unwell and missed Thursday’s practice session. It will be a big jolt to the Black Caps if he does not recover in time. Allrounder Jimmy Neesham

RIMED: P Gautam Gambhir (right), who returns to the Indian squad after two years, practises with the team on the eve of the second Test against New Zealand at Eden Gardens. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK may make a comeback if he is fit enough to play. Off-spinner Mark Craig, who was ruled out with a side strain, has made way for Jeetan Patel. Trent Boult was good on a spinner-friendly track and young leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also impressed with his discipline. Williamson, Tom Latham, Luke Ronchi and

Santner gained a lot of confidence by applying themselves on the dusty Green Park pitch. It should inspire their fellow batsmen to put up a better show. New Zealand may think about replacing out-of-form opener Martin Guptill with Ronchi and must find a solution to Ross Taylor’s struggle

‘India skilled enough to tackle any plan’ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT KOLKATA: Captain Virat Kohli

TIME TO DELIVER: New Zealand will look to Trent Boult, who bowled superbly on a spinner-friendly track at Kanpur, for early breakthroughs on a better track in Kolkata. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

said India would not adopt a pre-determined approach in the second Test starting at the Eden Gardens on Friday. Here are the excerpts from his interaction with the media on the eve of the match: Injury concerns: Jayant (Yadav) is not there as cover…We have three quicks already. We thought of adding another off-spinner because they have five left-handers in their line-up. This will help at some stage when we plan to play three spinners. Maybe two off-spinners could play together. On Jadeja: What I think is that he used to think too much about Test cricket being too difficult and him having to play differently. He has a different way of playing cricket which we feel he shouldn’t change. Obviously, he will gain experience. New Zealand batsmen’s approach: Our focus will be to execute our skills as well as we can. In the first game they had some good partnerships… We’re not pre-planning for any approach. We feel that we are skilled enough to tackle any plans they come up with. On regaining the No. 1 rank: I don’t get motivated by

records… my goal is to play cricket at a certain level and maintain it. Own form: I don’t really think about these things. You prepare well, but the result is not in your hands. On Ashwin and the pitch: Ashwin is absolutely fine. The pitch looks good…the pitch is what we see in Kolkata more often than not. It’s generally a very good batting wicket. We are expecting the same. New Zealand batsman Tom Latham said: Injury or health issues: Kane Williamson is a little bit ‘crook’ today. Hopefully he’ll be fine to go tomorrow. Nothing too major, he is just resting up and getting right for tomorrow. Team’s approach: Nothing really changes too much [from Kanpur]… we weren’t too far away in the first Test. We just need to do things a little bit longer. The Ashwin-Jadeja combination: They are world-class bowlers and they bowl a lot of overs in these conditions. If we can keep making those good decisions for longer, hopefully we can put up a good score, or if we are chasing in the last innings we can chase [the total] down.”

against spinners. India will have to take a look at its strategy of fielding four bowlers. Whenever the Kiwi batsmen looked defiant, the deadly spin duo of R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja seemed clueless. If Kohli opts to go with five bowlers, then leg-spinner

Amit Mishra may add teeth to the attack. The inclusion of off-spinner Jayant Yadav provides more options. On an abrasive pitch, the home pacers used the older ball well and Mohammed Shami stood out with his reverse swing. In batting, Kohli has to make

a choice between Shikhar Dhawan and his Delhi teammate Gautam Gambhir, who returns to the Indian side after two years to replace an injured K.L. Rahul. M. Vijay was a class act and Pujara was fabulous in the first match. They will look to continue their good work. Ashwin and

Jadeja’s timely contribution with the bat should be comforting for the host. Kohli, who fell to loose shots in both innings, will be keen to make amends and play a bigger knock. There will be a question mark over Rohit Sharma though. He has allowed critics to suspect his temperament in Test cricket and will be lucky to keep his place in the playing XI. India will be eager to make another landmark Test, its 250th home match, memorable by sealing the series here. The Eden Gardens, hosting a Test after three years and New Zealand after 51 years, has staged many an Indian win with the spinners dictating terms. As a player Anil Kumble was part of several of them. Now as the head coach, he will wish India continues its love affair with the iconic ground presenting a brand new pitch. Only the weather gods pose a threat to the Indian ambition. The teams (from): India: M. Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gamhir, R. Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Jayant Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt.), Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Jeetan Patel, Mitchell Santner, Ross Taylor and B-J. Watling (wk). Match starts at 9:30 a.m.

Ringing in a new tradition M.O. BADSHA

T

he Kolkata Test beginning on Friday will be a special occasion for India as it happens to be the 250th to be staged at home. It also gives the host a chance to reclaim the No. 1 Test ranking. That apart, Test will also mark the debut of what could turn out to be an Eden Gardens tradition. In an idea borrowed from Lord’s, a ‘Ringing of the Bell’ will now mark the commencement of a Test at Kolkata. “The ringing of the five-minute bell at Lord’s by an international cricketer, administrator or well-known enthusiast of the sport is a recent tradition introduced in 2007,” informs a website. Making a ceremony of it The bell, located outside the Bowlers’ Bar of the Lord’s Pavilion, is rung to signify the imminent start of play, and it has become a great honour to be invited to ring it on the morning of a Test match. It is in the fitness of things that the first peal of the bell will provide a grand soundtrack to a historic moment in the City of Joy.

N INSPIRED A IDEA: A ‘Ringing of the Bell’ will now mark the commencement of a Test at Kolkata — a device borrowed from Lord’s. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK And the first to ring in the tradition at the Eden Gardens will be the legendary Kapil Dev, the man who brought home the Prudential World Cup in 1983. Incidentally, Kapil had the honour of the ceremony at Lord’s in 2014. The idea of the bell is a thoughtful move on the part of

Sourav Ganguly, president of the Cricket Association of Bengal. Traditionally, it was the tolling of bells that summoned the faithful for worship to churches, and it is an idea that appropriately lends itself to Test cricket. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi

was the first Indian to be accorded the honour. Sunil Gavaskar in 2007, Dilip Vengsarkar in 2011, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid (2014) have also been honoured thus. The great Sachin Tendulkar has not got the Lord’s honour yet.Perhaps he will, one day, at the Eden Gardens.

Eden clearly misses a couple of old stalwarts Members ‘confused’ ahead of BCCI SGM VIJAY LOKAPALLY

KOLKATA: Cut-outs of Jagmohan Dalmiya dot the road alongside the Eden Gardens, a sad reminder of his absence at the iconic stadium that he had nurtured for more than three decades. When you step inside the stadium, the familiar figure of Probir Mukherjee, the lanky curator, is missing too. His booming voice would keep the ground staff on their toes and often serve as warning to the players to not venture near the square. Even M.S. Dhoni had a sour send-off once from Probir Da, as he was fondly called. Dalmiya, referred to cricket circles as Jaggu Da, and Mukherjee would be conspicuous by their absence as Eden Garden celebrates India’s 250th Test on home soil. Dalmiya and Mukherjee complemented each other, in good and bad times, and departed within nine months of the other, leaving a void hard to fill. The changing face of Eden is driven home by a new set of office-bearers, led by Sourav Ganguly. He misses the two elderly cricket figures and also

CM YK

M ENTOR: Jagmohan Dalmiya’s cut-outs dot the road alongside the Eden Gardens, a reminder of his absence at the iconic stadium he nurtured for more than three decades. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

acknowledges the necessity of modernisation at the Eden. An effective drainage system is the priority, not to forget the state-of-the-art covers that Ganguly has procured. Rain will not ruin a match any-

more at the Eden. The crowd at the Eden has changed. There is no clamour for tickets. Not a good sign for the future of Test cricket. True, Green Park witnessed overwhelming spectator re-

sponse. But Eden is the yardstick by which an event is judged. The character of the spectators has undergone a change at most cricket venues in the country. Eden is not an excep-

tion either. Driven by the IPL experience, fans come and celebrate the day at a cricket ground with festive fervour. They are vociferous as always, but not traditional cricket lovers. The crowd at the Eden was always passionate. But they were also well-informed. as this anecdote from Sports journalist Dhiman Sarkar illustrates. He was nine when he first attended a Test at the Eden, India versus England, in 1982. Derek Underwood had just claimed a wicket and the person next to him asked, “Do you know what that ball was?” Dhiman was at a loss. “That was an armer.” That said it all. The spectators did not come to the Eden to just take their seats and make noise. They did their homework and enjoyed the fare provided by some of the greats, past and modern. There will be some in the stands from the old school to carry on the legacy of the Eden, a rich testimony of India’s cricket history. Only Jaggu da and Probir da will be missing for the first time in many years.

AMOL KARHADKAR MUMBAI: With hours remaining for its emergent Special General Meeting (SGM) — called “to consider directions of the Justice (Retd.) Lodha Committee in connection with the formal adoption of the new Memorandum of Association and Rules for the BCCI” — the members are in “the dark” about the eventual outcome of the meeting. The BCCI, conventionally, ensures all members are informally briefed about the proceedings on the eve of a crucial meeting. However, on Thursday, most members were “in the dark and confused”, as stated by a seasoned State association official, in the wake of the Chief Justice of India’s ultimatum to the BCCI. A day before the SGM, to be held at the BCCI headquarters here, most members were unable to establish contact with the hierarchy. While president Anurag Thakur is still overseas — ex-

pected to arrive here on Friday morning — secretary Ajay Shirke is understood to have spent the day in New Delhi, discussing the possible options for Friday’s meeting with legal luminaries. A State association representative revealed that before the Supreme Court delivered yet another rap on the knuckles on Wednesday, BCCI corridors were abuzz with whispers of the members being asked to vote against accepting the new constitution. That could have created another legal conundrum since multiple Supreme Court judgements specify members cannot be asked to vote in a particular manner. However, after Wednesday’s development, many State association officials have become wary of not passing the resolution in favour of amending the rules. A BCCI member who is involved in discussions revealed that a resolution “with a few reservations” may be passed on Friday.

On the other hand, speculations are rife that Thakur and Shirke may resign at the start of Friday’s SGM. If that actually happens, the meeting will find it difficult to pass any resolution and the BCCI’s reins will automatically be passed on to the Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee. If the SGM accepts the new constitution in totality, all the BCCI office-bearers will have to forego their posts immediately and the chief executive officer, in consultation with the Lodha Committee, will have to initiate the election procedure as per the new rules. Reacting to the Lodha Committee’s status report, CJI T.S. Thakur on Wednesday had asked BCCI to “fall in line” by October 6. If the BCCI still remains defiant, then not only the hierarchy but, more importantly, the institution also may dig a deeper hole for itself. ND-ND

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Banthia keeps India in the fight

SQUASH

van der Heijden upsets Fernandes

BUDAPEST: Siddhant Banthia beat Chih Chi Huang 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 to give India a rousing start against top seed Canada in a group-A league match of the Junior (under-16) Davis Cup here on Thursday. However, Felix Auger-Aliassime outplayed Adil Kalyanpur 6-3, 6-0 in the second rubber. The doubles will decide the winner of the match. Canada and Hungary are ahead of India in the league table owing to their commanding performances thus far in the race for spots in the knockout phase. In the Junior Fed Cup, Hungary leads India 2-0 in the third and final league match in group-B. The results (league): Boys: Canada tied with India 1-1 [Chih Chi Huang lost to Siddhant Banthia 6-1, 2-6, 4-6; Felix Auger-Aliassime bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-3, 6-0]. Hungary bt India 3-0 [Mate Vooros bt Siddhant Banthia 6-2, 6-1; Daniel Khin bt Adil Kalyanpur 6-4, 6-4; Daniel Khin & Mate Voros bt Adil Kalyanpur & Megh Patel 4-6, 6-3, (10-3)]. Girls: Hungary leads India 2-0 [Adrienn Horvath bt Shivani Amineni 6-4, 6-4; Reka Zadori bt Mahak Jain 3-6, 6-2, 6-1]. Canada bt India 3-0 [Isabelle Boulais bt Shivani Amineni 7-6(8), 6-1; Bianca Vanessa Andreescu bt Mahak Jain 6-1, 6-1; Isabelle Boulais & Layne Sleeth bt Shivani Amineni & Sathwika Sama 7-6(7), 7-6(4)]. — Sports Bureau

MUMBAI: The Netherlands’s Milou van der Heijden upstaged Guyana’s Nicolette Fernandes 3-1 in the women’s draw at the JSW Indian Squash Circuit Otters International 2016 tournament on Thursday. Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal-Karthik too ensured progress, winning 3-1 and 3-0 respectively. Fourth-seeded Dipika needed almost an hour to get past Egypt’s Mayar Hamy 10-12, 18-16, 13-11, 11-3. Joshna downed Belgian challenger Nele Gilis 11-9, 11-7, 11-9. The results (first round): Women: 6-Teesni Evanes (Wales) bt Tong Tsz-Wing (Hong Kong) 11-6, 11-8, 11-3; 8-Nadine Shahin (Egy) bt Sachika Ingale (Ind) 11-7, 5-11, 11-1, 11-6; Milou van der Heijden (Ned) bt 5-Nicolette Fernandes (Guy) 6-11, 1311, 11-7, 14-12; 4- Dipika Pallikal

HOCKEY

India bests Pakistan DHAKA: India defeated Pakistan 3-1 to set up a summit clash against host Bangladesh in the fourth men’s under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament here on Thursday. India took the lead in the seventh minute through Shivam Anand and enhanced

FOOTBALL

City survives Celtic scare

Iraq to fight it out with Iran AMRIT RAMAKRISHNAN

PARIS: Raheem Sterling netted

at both ends as Manchester City was made to fight for a 3-3 draw with Celtic in a Champions League thriller on Wednesday, while Atletico Madrid once again did for Bayern Munich. While City’s perfect start to the season was ended in Glasgow, its Premier League rival Arsenal eased to a 2-0 victory against Basel. Atletico had eliminated Bayern in the semifinals last season and repeated the trick at the Vicente Calderon to make it a double for Spanish clubs against German opposition as Barcelona downed Borussia Moenchengladbach. On paper, the Group ‘C’ clash at Celtic Park appeared to be a bit of a mismatch with City looking to equal Tottenham Hotspur’s English record of 11 successive victories at the start of a campaign from 1960. But instead Pep Guardiola’s men found themselves having to come from behind three times to claim a point at a raucous Parkhead, with Celtic first scoring in the third minute when an Erik Sviatchenko header went in off Moussa Dembele. Fernandinho equalised only for a Kieran Tierney cross to

Karthik bt Mayar Hany (Egy) 10-12, 18-16, 13-11, 11-3; 3-Delia Arnold (Mal) bt Akanksha Salunkhe (Ind) 11-2, 11-3, 11-6; 1-Annie Au (HK) bt Millie Tomlinson (Eng) 11-5, 11-8, 1311; 2-Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt Nele Gilis (Bel) 11-9, 11-7, 11-9. Men: Abhay Singh (Ind) bt 6Sandeep Ramachandran (Ind) 11-9, 8-2 (retd. hurt); 8-Abdullah Al Muzayen (Kuw) bt Rahul Baitha (Ind) 11-6, 11-3, 11-6; 7-Alex Noakes (Eng) bt Ahmad Al-Mudhaf (Kuw) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8; 5-Ravi Dixit (Indi) bt Omar Bahgat (Egy) 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9; 6Sanjay Singh Chal (Ind) bt Abhinav Sinha (Ind) 11-6, 11-2, 11-2; 3-Robert Downer (Eng) bt Vijay Kumar (Ind) 12-10, 2-11, 11-9, 11-6; 2-Edmon Lopez (Esp) bt Tushar Shahani (Ind) 11-8, 11-9, 11-4; 1-Iker Pajares Bernabeu (Spn) bt Velavan Senthilkumar (Ind) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8. — Special Correspondent

go in off Sterling and restore the Scottish champions’ lead. Sterling’s brilliantly-taken goal at the other end restored parity before the half-hour mark, but Dembele capitalised on an Aleksandar Kolarov error to make it 3-2 just after the break. However, Nolito got City’s third equaliser and it was the English side which looked more likely to go on and win it. The results : Group A : At Sofia : Ludogorets 1 (Natanael 16) lost to Paris Saint-Germain 3 (Matuidi 41, Cavani 56, 60); At London : Arsenal 2 (Walcott 7, 26) bt Basel 0. Group B : At Istanbul : Besiktas 1 (Quaresma 29) drew with Dynamo Kiev 1 (Tsygankov 65); At Naples : Napoli 4 (Hamsik 20, Mertens 51, 58, Milik 54-pen) bt Benfica 2 (Goncalo Guedes 70, Salvio 86). Group C : At Moenchengladbach : Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (Hazard 34) lost to Barcelona 2 (Arda Turan 65, Pique 74); At Glasgow : Celtic 3 (Dembele 3, 47, Sterling 20og) drew with Manchester City 3 (Fernandinho 12, Sterling 28, Nolito 55). Group D : At Madrid : Atletico Madrid 1 (Carrasco 35) bt Bayern Munich 0; At Rostov-on-Don : Rostov 2 (Poloz 8, 37) drew with PSV Eimdhoven 2 (Proepper 14, de Jong 45+2). —AFP

STERLING SHOW: Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling gets one past the Celtic goalkeeper. — PHOTO: MARK RUNNACLES/GETTY IMAGES

MARGAO: In a classic game of two halves, Iraq edged out tournament favourite Japan 4-2 in the AFC Under-16 Championship, at the GMC Stadium, in Bambolim on Thursday. Mohammed Dawood scored a hat-trick. It started the brighter of the two teams, having the lion’s share of the possession in the first 10 minutes. Iraq’s intricate passes paid off in the 18th minute as the midfielder broke the deadlock. The No. 7 received the pass on the right side of the penalty box, went past a defender and put his laces through the ball. The shot deflected of Japan’s Seko Ayumu, leaving the ’keeper stranded as the ball nestled in the back of the net. This was the first goal Japan conceded in this tournament and it woke the team up. It started to dominate as captain Fukuoka Shimpei pulled the strings from the middle of the park.

O Mohammed Dawood

scores a hat-trick against Japan

And in the 29th minute, Japan restored parity through Hiroto Yamada, who rifled home Hirakawa Rei’s chipped through ball.The equaliser proved to be the catalyst Japan needed as it continued to dictate the proceedings. In the 42nd minute, Yamada doubled his tally after his low cross, from inside the box, missed everybody, including the intended target Taisei Miyashiro, as the ball sneaked into the goal. Japan went into the break with a 2-1 lead. Different story Second half was a totally different story. Chasing the game, Iraq upped the ante in search of the equaliser and it did come in the 67th minute. Muntadher Mohammed tapped in from six yards out after Japan failed to clear its

lines from a freekick. Dawood then slotted home a brace of penalties (81 st minute, 90+ minute) to complete his hat-trick as Iraq ended Japan’s 100 per cent record in the tournament. Iran beats DPR Korea In the other semifinal, Iran beat defending champion DPR Korea 6-5 in penalty shootout. Korea’s Kim Kyong Sok heartbreakingly missed his penalty, gifting the Iranians a final date with Iraq. Skipper Mohammed Sharifi opened the scoring for the Iranians in the 19th minute through an indirect freekick but the Koreans equalised from the penalty spot in the 81st minute, through Kye Tam. With both teams deadlocked at 1-1 after regulation time, it was time for penalties. The shootout entered sudden death as Iran’s keeper Ali Gholam Zadeh was its hero as he saved Kim Kyong Sok’s decisive penalty, sending the Iranian dugout into ecstasy.

TENNIS

Indian pairs crash out CHENGDU: Rohan Bopanna and

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan fell in the quarterfinals of the Chengdu Open ATP Tour event, losing 6-4, 7-6(4) to Adil Shamasdin and Andreas Siljestrom on Thursday. Purav Raja and Divij Sharan also crashed out, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak in the quarterfinals. In a Futures tournament at Balatonboglar, Hungary, Sumit Nagal battled for two hours and 54 minutes to beat Lenny Hampell of Austria 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The results: ATP Chengdu

Open: Quarterfinals: Nicholas Monroe (USA) & Artem Sitak (Nzl) bt Purav Raja & Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-3; Adil Shamasdin (Can) & Andreas Siljestrom (Swe) bt Rohan Bopanna & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-4, 7-6(4). $25,000 Futures, Balatonboglar (Hungary): Quarterfinals: Sumit Nagal bt

Lenny Hampel (Aut) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. $10,000 Futures, Cairo: First round: Leandro Serrano Sanz (Esp)

bt Ajay Pruthvi Nemakal 6-0, 7-5; Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Alexander Braun (Ger) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; P.C. Vignesh bt Hassan Bassel (Egy) 6-3, 6-2. Doubles

pre-quarterfinals:

Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi & Ajay Pruthvi Nemakal bt Dmytro Badanov

(Ukr) & Denis Pisarchuk (Rus) 6-3, 6-2; P.C. Vignesh & Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Alexander Braun (Ger) & Andrew Ruppli (Sui) 6-1, 6-4. $10,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh: First round: Ana Bianca Mihaila (Ru) bt Shweta Rana 6-3, 6-4; Ramya Natarajan bt Victoria Ariadna Beccio (Arg) 6-2, 6-2; Guadalupe Perez Rojas (Arg) bt Angella Raman 6-0, 6-0; Eetee Maheta bt Salma Abdel Rahim (Egy) 6-1, 6-1; Dea Herozelas (Bih) bt Amreen Naaz 6-0, 6-2. $10,000 ITF women, Chisinau (Moldova): Semifinals: Marina

Kolb & Nadiya Kolb (Ukr) bt Estelle Cascino (Fra) & Kyra Shroff 5-7, 6-2, [10-3]. — Sports Bureau

it through Dilpreet Singh’s penalty-corner conversion in the 32nd minute. Nilam Sanjeep Xess (46th) converted another penaltycorner to give India a comfortable lead before Pakistan managed a goal back through Amjad Ali Khan (63rd). — PTI

ATHLETICS

Annu Rani betters her own National record UTHRA GANESAN LUCKNOW: For quite some time now, Annu Rani has been competing against herself in the absence of any serious competition at the National level. The 24-year old javelin thrower did the same on Thursday, bettering her own mark to set a new national record with a throw of 60.01m at the 56th National Open athletics championship here. The previous record of 59.87m was set in Hyderabad earlier this year. With the previous meet record (58.85m, 2015) also against her name, Annu has been improving gradually over the past two years. But she made light of the absence of anyone to push her further. “I don’t bother about who participates or not or whether someone else throws better. My competition is with myself, and my only focus is on improving my performance and my target,” she said. Adding that her target here was to reach the 62-metre mark, which incidentally was the qualifying standard for the Rio Olympics, Annu said: “The weather was not an issue since I practice in Patiala in similar hot and humid weather. But better conditions could have helped. I train with former Commonwealth Games medallist Kashinath Naik, and I only focus on the target set for me by my coach. Now I am hoping to qualify for and focus on the Asian Championships next year.” Also impressive was 17-year old high jumper Tejaswin Shankar, who equalled the four-year old meet record of 2.22m in his first senior domestic event. The Delhi boy’s previous personal best was a silver-winning 2.17m at

NCHALLENGED: U Annu Rani won the javelin gold with a distance of 60.01m, a mark that meant that she now has the top three national-level performances. — PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT the SAF Games in Guwahati earlier this year, his first ever international event. “I had gone for the SAF junior championships selection trials in Patiala last week and managed 2.15m. “It was only then that my coach Dinesh Kumar suggested I come here to keep the momentum and also get a feel of the track since the SAF meet too will be held here. This competition was never planned and so feels even better,” he said. The Class XII student said this performance had given him confidence to take the Asian Championships seriously. “I was happy working on my mark and training hard at the junior level. But now I feel I can compete at the senior level too. Even at Guwahati, I’d pulled my groin muscle and could not continue. Else I could have done better there. That injury forced me to skip the Junior World Championships despite qualifying. Hopefully this performance here will impress the selectors and coaches enough to include

me in the national camp,” he said. The results: Men: 20km walk: 1. Devendar (SSCB) 1:29:48s, 2. Chandan Singh (SSCB) 1:29:53, 3. Jai Bhagwan (AIPCB) 1:30:33. 400m hurdles: 1. Jithin Paul (RSPB) 50.38s, 2. Jabir MP (SSCB) 50.74, 3. Jagadeesh (RSPB) 51.10. Pole vault: 1. J. Preeth (RSPB) 4.95m, 2. Dhirendra Kumar (Guj) 4.85, 3. P. Balakrishna (Kar) 4.85; High jump: 1. Tejaswin Shankar (Del) 2.22m, 2. B. Chetan (SSCB) 2.20, 3. Sreenith Mohan (Ker) 2.20; Discus: 1. Arjun (RSPB) 56.67m, 2. Kirpa Singh (ONGC) 56.41, 3. Dharmaraj (SSCB) 54.39. 3,000m steeplechase: 1. Naveen (SSCB) 8:43.18m, 2. Durga Bahadur (Utk) 8:46.21, 3. Ramesh Bishnoi (Raj) 8:46.32. Women: 400m hurdles: 1. Santosh Kumari (AIPCB) 58.98s, 2. Sarita Ben Gayakwad (Guj) 59.32, 2. Ayana Thomas (AIPCB) 59.80. Triple jump: 1. N.V. Sheena (Ker) 13.54m, 2. Karthika (TN) 13.10, 3. Shilpa Chacko (Ker) 13.09m; Javelin throw: 1. Annu Rani (RSPB) 60.01m, 2. Poonam Rani (ONGC) 56.73, 3. K. Rashmi (RSPB) 51.56. 3,000m steeplechase: 1. Preeti Lamba (ONGC) 10:31.88s, 2. Chinta Yadav (UP) 10:32.88, 3. Chavi Yadav (UP) 10:43.25.

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Ajay Jayaram in last eight SEOUL: Ajay Jayaram emerged as the lone Indian survivor at the Korea Open after notching up a 21-15, 21-18 win over China’s Huang Yuxiang to advance to the quarterfinals of the men’s singles of the Super Series badminton here on Thursday. B. Sai Praneeth, however, suffered a 9-21, 15-21 loss to sixth seed Korean Son Wan Ho. — PTI

Afghanistan beats Bangladesh DHAKA: Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by two wickets in the second ODI to level a three-match series 1-1 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday. Skipper Asghar Stanikzai scored 57 as Afghanistan reached 212 for eight in 49.4 overs after its bowlers helped the visitors dismiss Bangladesh for a modest 208 in 49.2 overs. The third and final match of the series will be held on Oct. 1. The scores: Bangladesh 208 in 49.2 overs (Mosaddek Hossain 45 n.o., Rashid Khan three for 35) lost to Afghanistan 212 for eight in 49.4 overs (Asghar Stanikzai 57, Mohammad Nabi 49, Shakib Al Hasan four for 47). — AFP

CHESS

Aradhya, Hridik win

LL A SMILES: Prize winners of senior and junior category of the The Hindu chess competition. — PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA NEW DELHI: Top seed Aradhya Garg maintained an all-win record and emerged a worthy champion in the inaugural The Hindu chess championship for schools here on Thursday. Garg, representing Amity International School (Pushp Vihar), with a FIDE rating of 2232 points, tallied seven points and finished one point clear of second seed Harshal Shahi (Modern School, Barakhamba Road) and K. V. S. Ruthwik (Suraj Bhan DAV Public School). Among the juniors, too, Amity School’s Hridik emerged champion after being tied for the title at 6.5 points with Bal Bharati Public School’s Tanmay Chopra. Later, the prizes were presented by Sunil Garg, General Manager (Human Resource), Indian Oil Corpora-

TABLE TENNIS

Harmeet emerges champion INDORE: Harmeet

Desai of PSPB beat Subhajit Saha of PSPB 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9 to emerge the men’s singles champion in the 11Even Sports central zone Nationalranking table tennis championship here. The results: Men’s singles: Final: Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9; Semifinals: Subhajit Saha bt Jubin Kumar (PSPB) 5-11, 13-11, 11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8; Harmeet Desai bt Utkarsh Gupta (Del) 11-3, 8-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-3, 13-11. Women’s Singles: Final: Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 7-11, 1210, 11-8; Semifinals: Manika Batra bt Divya Deshpande (PSPB) 11-8, 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9; Madhurika Patkar bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8. Youth: Boys singles: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Ronit Bhanja (AAI) 11-9, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5; Semifinals: Manav Thakkar bt Arjun Ghosh (WB) 11-6, 3-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9; Ronit Bhanja bt Jeet Chandra

(WB) 11-5, 5-11, 12-14, 13-11, 11-8, 11-4. Girls singles: Final: Archana Kamath Girish (AAI) bt Priyanka Pareek (Raj) 11-7, 13-11, 11-3, 11-7; Semifinals: Archana Kamath bt Sagarika Mukherjee (RSPB) 11-9, 1311, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9; Priyanka Pareek bt Sreeja Akula (AAI) 7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7. Junior: Boys: Final: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Jeet Chandra (WB) 11-9, 11-4, 11-7, 12-10; Semifinals: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) bt Manush Shah (Guj) 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10; Jeet Chandra (WB) bt Parth Virmani (Del) 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, 14-12. Girls: Final: Moumita Datta (WB) beat Manushree Patil (Mah) 12-10, 911, 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5; Semifinals: Moumita Datta bt Shailu Noorbasha (AP) 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5; Manushree Patil bt Srushti Haleangadi (Mah) 5-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-9, 12-10. — Sports Bureau

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tion, the associate sponsor, in the presence of four-time National women singles badminton champion Manjusha Kanwar. Final standings: Senior: 1. Aradhya Garg (7 points), 2-6. Harshal Shahi, K. V. S. Ruthwik, Palkin Kaur, Uttam Prakash, Sanskar Aggarwal (6); 7-8. Rohan, Akshit Negi (5.5); 9-21. Priyanshu Dua, Samarth Gaba, Akshay Khurana, Gursimran, Nemank, Yogda Kalra, Mradul, Kartik Luthra, Mandeep, Arsh Marwah, Shubham, Bhavya Tejwani and Rishit Arora (5). Junior: 1-2. Hridik, Tanmay Chopra (6.5 points), 3-5. Arush Gupta, Aarnav, Kushagra Khurana (6); 6-9. Intakhab, Satvik Kalra, Anishka, Navya Dhawan (5.5); 10-20. Siddhant Srivastava, Agam, Reyan Bangia, Isai, Ruchit, Ronit, Sai Pratik Biswal, Aastha, Kabir Singh, Dhruv and Bhanvi (5). — Special Correspondent

Serjeant At Arms in pink of condition MYSURU: Serjeant At Arms, who is in pink of condition, as evidenced by his track movements, may score an encore in the Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club Mysore 2000 Guineas (1,600m), the chief event of the races to be held here on Friday (Sept. 30). There will be no false rails. 1 LOKAPAVANI PLATE (1,200m), rated 00 to 25, 1-30 pm: 1. Order Order (4) Santosh Kumar 62.5, 2. Camaraderie (12) Ajay Kumar 62, 3. Kallistrate (6) S.G. Prasad 62, 4. Lovely Micmel (8) Gautam Raj 61, 5. Cool Dude (5) R. Marshall 60, 6. Delilah (11) Shobhan 60, 7. Swiss Lady (10) Ramesh Kumar 59, 8. Dazzle Away (3) Madhu Babu 56.5, 9. Time To Time (2) M. Prabhakaran 54, 10. Green Emerald (9) Mallikarjun 52.5, 11. Napolean Dynamite (7) Nitin Singh 52 and 12. Coffee Time (1) Arshad Alam 51. 1. Cool Dude, 2. Coffee Time, 3. Time To Time

2 TRIVENI PLATE (Div. II), (1,400m), rated 20 to 45, 5-y-o & over, 2-00: 1. Kir Royale (6) Srinath 61, 2. Fruit Prince (2) Praveen Shinde 57, 3. Masteroftherolls (11) M.L. Bhosle 57, 4. Goodwill Warrior (1) Syed Imran 56.5, 5. Little Brown Jug (4) Ajeet Kumar 56, 6. As Good As It Gets (10) A. Ramu 55, 7. Go Green (8) Janardhan P 55, 8. Scorching (5) Rajesh Kumar 55, 9. Sivanta (-) (-) 55, 10. Indian Legend (9) Arshad Alam 53, 11. Icepick Willie (3) Kiran Naidu 52.5 and 12. Samay Balwan (7) L. Prashant 52.5. 1. Go Green, 2. Scorching, 3. Goodwill Warrior

3 MARGROVE ESTATE TROPHY (Div. II), (1,400m), rated 40 to 65, 4-y-o & over, 2-30: 1. Gran Turismo (3) Kiran Rai 60, 2. Excelonce (10) M. Bhaskar 59.5, 3. Afore (12) Janardhan P 59, 4. El Fenix (7) Jagadeesh 59, 5. Azure Fire (2) Sarvan Kumar 58.5, 6. Crown Emperor (6) S. Waseemuddin 58.5, 7. Silsila (1) L. Prashant 58, 8. Strengthandwonder (5) Kiran

Naidu 58, 9. As Good As Gold (11) L. Paswan 57, 10. All Thats Nice (8) S. John 56, 11. Cherie Amour (4) Arshad Alam 56 and 12. Majestic Style (9) Sahanawaz 55. 1. El Fenix, 2. Cherie Amour, 3. All Thats Nice

4 JUSTICE P.MEDAPA MEMORIAL TROPHY (2,000m), rated 40 to 65, 3-00: 1. Momotaro (4) A. Imran Khan 60, 2. Festive Cheer (1) S. John 57, 3. Into The Spotlight (5) A. Sandesh 55, 4. Chandini (2) Shiva Kumar 52.5 and 5. Pikachu (3) Nitin Singh 51.5. 1. Into The Spotlight, 2. Festive Cheer

5 MARGROVE ESTATE TROPHY (Div. I), (1,400m), rated 40 to 65, 4-y-o & over, 3-30: 1. Tronada (7) R. Marshall 61.5, 2. Areca Wonder (6) S. John 60, 3. Wise Guy (4) P.P. Dhebe 59, 4. Carisa (1) Shivanath Paswan 58.5, 5. All In (8) Darshan 58, 6. Kazuri (12) Kiran Rai 58, 7. One Big Gang (2) Praveen Shinde 57, 8. Rakshitha (9) Mallikarjun 56, 9. Spinning Chakram (5) S.G. Prasad 56, 10. Ruthba (3) Santosh Kumar 55.5, 11. Dont Trust Anyone (10) Arshad Alam 51.5 and 12. Attractive Bay (11) Rajesh Kumar 50.5. 1. Areca Wonder, 2. Tronada, 3. Dont Trust Anyone

6 DR.M.A.M.RAMASWAMY MEMORIAL TROPHY (1,400m), rated 60 & above, 4-y-o & over, 4-00: 1. Kington Town (12) P.P. Dhebe 60, 2. Force Ensign (9) A. Imran Khan 59, 3. Silver Chieftain (3) P.S. Chouhan 58, 4. Absolute Brave (6) Jagadeesh 57.5, 5. Wind Wonder (7) Suraj Narredu 56.5, 6. Hillsboro (2) S. Shareef 56, 7. Sea Lagoon (8) S. John 55.5, 8. Secret Hunter (11) Imran Ashraf 55.5, 9. Secret Dimension (4) Rajesh Kumar 54.5, 10. Zidaan (1) Gautam Raj 54.5, 11. Campeon (10) Ajeet Kumar 53 and 12. Galaxy Queen (5) M. Abhilash 53. 1. Silver Chieftain, 2. Kingston

Town, 3. Wind Wonder

7 JAYACHAMARAJA WADIYAR GOLF CLUB MYSORE 2000 GUINEAS (1,600m), 3-y-o, (Terms), 4-30: 1. Arvak (2) Srinath 56, 2. Attorney General (4) A. Imran Khan 56, 3. Bold March (3) P.S. Chouhan 56, 4. Lorenzo (5) L. Prashant 56, 5. Namid (6) Suraj Narredu 56, 6. Serjeant At Arms (7) A. Sandesh 56 and 7. Sporting Pleasure (1) S. John 56. 1. Serjeant At Arms, 2. Arvak, 3. Attorney General

8 TRIVENI PLATE (Div. I), (1,400m), rated 20 to 45, 5-y-o & over, 5-00: 1. Amazing Redd (1) P.P. Dhebe 62, 2. Game Guy (6) Nazerul Alam 62, 3. Blue Zone (2) Srinath 61, 4. Lovely Dancer (12) Janardhan P 59, 5. Stellar Ambition (4) Rayan Ahmed 59, 6. Passing Fulcrum (8) L. Prashant 58.5, 7. Tea Wid Me (10) A. Imran Khan 58.5, 8. Trust Me Boy (5) Shobhan 58.5, 9. Deltin (11) Imran Ashraf 58, 10. Beauty Is Truth (9) Arshad Alam 57, 11. Croziet (7) S. John 57 and 12. Candice (3) Kiran Rai 56. 1. Croziet, 2. Amazing Redd, 3. Tea Wid Me

9 HOGENAKAL PLATE (1,100m), rated 20 to 45, 5-30: 1. Ice Splendour (5) Darshan 62, 2. Bryant Park (7) Santosh Kumar 60, 3. Happy Victory (2) Rajesh Kumar 59, 4. Speed Queen (6) S. John 59, 5. Ayahuasca (1) S.G. Prasad 58.5, 6. Al Dahma (10) Madhu Babu 55, 7. Country’s Angel (3) P.P. Dhebe 55, 8. Jamais Vu (8) Jagadeesh 55, 9. Castlebar (9) Arsahd Alam 54 and 10. Country’s Courage (4) Nitin Singh 54. 1. Country’s Courage, 2. Castlebar, 3. Country’s Angel Day’s best: Serjeant At Arms Double: El Fenix – Into The Spotlight Jkt: 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9; Tr (i): 1, 2 and 3; (ii): 4, 5 and 6; (iii): 7, 8 and 9.

Daylite claims Chief Minister’s Trophy MYSURU: Daylite (K.G. Steyn up) won the Chief Minister’s Trophy, the main event of the races here on Thursday (Sept. 29). The winner is owned by Mr. Shapoor Mistry and trained by M. Eshwer. The results: 1. BHARACHUKKI PLATE (Div. II) (1400m), rated 00 to 25: Oye Coma Va (R. Ahmed) 1, Tic Tac Toe (Ashok Kumar) 2, Active Grey (Rajesh Kumar) 3, Thalassa (Ramu) 4. All ran. 1, 3/4 and 1/2. 1m 25.59s. Rs. 584 for (w), 104, 42 and 20 (p), FP: Rs. 2,405, Q: Rs. 1,361, SHP: Rs. 129, Trinalla: Rs. 25,724. Favourite: Miss Wonder. Owner: Mr. Bipin Kumar Vashisth. Trainer: Imtiaz Khan. 2. BELUR PLATE (1400m), rated 20 to 45: Generous Gesture (Santosh Kumar) 1, Sky Jasmine (Kiran Rai) 2, Drops Of Jupiter (Srinath) 3, Water Fall (K.G. Steyn) 4. All ran. 1-1/4, 4 and 2-3/4. 1m 23.98s. Rs. 149 (w), 40, 14 and 13 (p), FP: Rs. 1,575, Q: Rs. 539, SHP: Rs. 39, Trinalla: Rs. 2,414 and Rs. 683. Favourite: Drop Of Jupiter. Owner:

Mrs. Malathi Prakash. Trainer: Narendra. 3. BHARACHUKKI PLATE (Div. I) (1400m), rated 00 to 25: Galino (A. Imran Khan) 1, Power And Strength (Raja Rao) 2, Saffron Intense (Rajesh Kumar) 3, Winsomeness (Sahanawaz) 4. Not run: Fire Rainbow and Just Fabulous. 11/2, 7-1/4 and Shd. 1m 24.94s. Rs. 18 (w), 11, 21 and 28 (p), FP: Rs. 96, Q: Rs. 71, SHP: Rs. 51, Trinalla: Rs. 376 and Rs. 168. Favourite: Galino. Owner: Mr. K. Thambuswamy. Trainer: Dominic. 4. KARAPUR PLATE (1600m), rated 20 to 45: Intrepid Warrior (Suraj) 1, Internal Affair (Arshad Alam) 2, Amber Crown (Chouhan) 3, Pull The Plug (Irvan Singh) 4. All ran. 2-1/2, Shd and 4-1/2. 1m 36.80s. Rs. 37 (w), 15, 20 and 14 (p), FP: Rs. 187, Q: Rs. 98, SHP: Rs. 55, Trianalla: Rs. 397 and Rs.115. Favourite: Amber Crown. Owner: Mr. Clinton Miller. Trainer: Azhar Ali. 5. DUPONT PLATE (Div. II) (1200m), rated 40 to 65, 5-y-o & over: Colour Of Gold (Ramu) 1, I

Smile (Janardhan) 2, Praelector (Jagadeesh) 3, Queen (Adarsh) 4. Not run: Dimension and Jersey Bride. Nk, 1-1/2 and 2-3/4. 1m 11.74s. Rs. 56 (w), 16, 19 and 78 (p), FP: Rs. 313, Q: Rs. 261, SHP: Rs. 61, Trinalla: Rs. 4,762 and Rs. 3,571. Favourite: Capitalize. Owner: Mrs. Sangeetha. Trainer: Amit Caddy. 6. CHETTINAD STUD TROPHY (1400m) rated 60 & above: Speartooth (Srinath) 1, Bonfire (John) 2, German Guide (Chouhan) 3, Inquisition (Irvan Singh) 4. All ran. 1-1/4, 2 and 3/4. 1m 23.08s. Rs. 81 (w), 21, 12 and 15 (p), FP: Rs. 196, Q: Rs. 100, SHP: Rs. 38, Trinalla: Rs. 520 and Rs.171. Favourite: Bonfire. Owner: Mr. R. Keshava Moorty. Trainer: Ranjeet Shinde. 7. CHIEF MINISTER’S TROPHY (1800m), rated 80 & above: Daylite (K.G. Steyn) 1, New World (Srinath) 2, Class Is Class (Arshad Alam) 3, Flash Drive (P. Dhebe) 4. All ran. Snk, Nk and 1/2. 1m 51.05s. Rs. 120 (w), 50 and 46 (p), FP: Rs. 998, Q: Rs. 671, SHP: Rs. 76, Trinalla: Rs. 3,710 and Rs. 1,829. Fa-

vourite: Flamboyance. Owner: Mr. Shapoor Mistry. Trainer: M. Eshwer. 8. MANDYA PLATE (1200m), rated 20 to 45, 4-y-o & over: Ireland (Kiran Rai) 1, Pretty Hot (Agarwal) 2, Teri Adah (Prasad) 3, Young Gallant (Waseemuddin) 4. Not run: Run To Win. Nk, Shd and 1-3/4. 1m 12.56s. Rs. 37 (w), 15, 19 and 29 (p), FP: Rs. 92, Q: Rs. 61, SHP: Rs. 54, Trinalla: Rs. 902 and Rs. 494. Favourite: Ireland. Owner: Mr. Babu Krishna Kishore. Trainer: V. Appachu. 9. DUPONT PLATE (Div. I) (1200m), rated 40 to 65, 5-y-o & over: Jersey Shore (Srinath) 1, Cool Baby (Naveen) 2, Fair Game (Ramu) 3, Rich Revival (Syed Imran) 4. Not run: Umarkot. 2, 1 and Lnk. 1m 10.88s. Rs. 64 (w), 22, 19 and 16 (p), FP: Rs. 344, Q: Rs. 293, SHP: Rs. 52, Trinalla: Rs. 1,476 and Rs. 486. Favourite: Sun Glow. Owner: Ananth Iyengar. Trainer: Mahesh. Jackpot: Rs. 2,52,527, Runner-up: Rs. 6,366, Treble (i): Rs. 5,513; (ii): Rs. 1,784; (iii): Rs. 1,597.

CRICKET

Unmukt Chand to lead NEW DELHI: With Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir on National duty, Unmukt Chand will lead Delhi in its first two Ranji Trophy matches. Delhi is due to open its campaign against Assam at Vadodra on October 6 and later play Maharashtra in Mumbai from October 13. The selection committee of Nikhil Chopra, Atul Wassan, Robin Singh Jr. in the presence of Chief coach Bhaskar Pillai and convenor Chetan Chauhan picked 15 players. It was also decided to name

Kohli as captain and Gambhir as vice captain for the season. The 15-member squad will report to Bhaskar Pillai on Friday at 8 am at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground for practice until October 2. The team is due to leave for Vadodra on October 3. The team: Unmukt Chand (captain), Vaibhav Rawal, Milind Kumar, Nitish Rana, Manan Sharma, Dhruv Shorey, Rishab Pant (wk), Mohit Sharma, Pulkit Narang, Varun Sood, Parwinder Awana, Navdeep Saini, Pradeep Sangwan, Pawan Suyal and Vikas Tokas.

NORTH INDIA ROUND-UP Simran and Nimrat bag titles CHANDIGARH: Simran Pritam and Nimrat Kaur won the girls under-16 and under-14 titles respectively in the AITA Talent series junior tennis tournament here on Thursday. In the boys’ section, Udayvir Singh and Rishi Jalota set up the title clash against each other in both the under-16 and under-14 events. The results: Boys: Semifinals: Under-16: Udayvir Singh bt Abhay Mohan 7-5, 6-2; Rishi Jalota bt Pranav Chopra 6-2, 6-4. Under-14: Udayvir Singh bt Dhananjay Singh 6-4, 7-6(6); Rishi Jalota bt Pranav Chopra 6-3, 6-1. Girls: Finals: Under-16: Simran Pritam bt Sohani Makkar 6-0, 6-1. Under-14: Nimrat Kaur bt Aaditaa Vashisht 6-1, 7-5.

Parth in final GURGAON: Parth Aggarwal beat Anshuman Gulia to set up a title clash against Jaideep Chaudasama in the ₨50,000 AITA men’s tennis tournament on Thursday. The results (semifinals): Parth Aggarwal bt Anshuman Gulia 6-4, 6-4; Jaideep Chaudasama bt Gaurav Bhatia 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Gahlawat strikes as HCA enters final NEW DELHI: Off-spinner Ashish Gahlawat took three for 25 to help Haryana Cricket Academy restrict Telefunken Club and chalk out a 56-run victory by the VJD method in a rain-interrupted semifinal match of the 26th all-India Sperry Om Nath Sood

memorial cricket tournament on Thursday. From 111 for two in 25.3 overs, Telefunken was bowled out for 185 in 48.5 overs after Gahlawat and Abhishek Tiwari (two for 35) did the damage. When rain intervened, HCA was way ahead of the par score of 59 needed from 20 overs. On Wednesday, Gaurav Kumar smashed a blistering 180 to set up Telefunken’s 187-run victory over Sai Constructions. The scores: Telefunken Cricket Club 185 in 48.5 overs (Ankit Dabas 37, Priyank Tehlan 32, Ashish Gahlawat three for 25, Abhishek Tiwari two for 35) lost to Haryana Cricket Academy 115 for two in 20 overs (Manoj Dagar 31, Jatin Gahlot 30 not out).

Ishaan shines Ishaan top scored with 32 points as Blue Bells School beat Bal Bharati SchoolPitampura 76-43 in a senior boys’ league match in the 27th Hansraj Prabhakar memorial inter-school basketball tournament at Vikaspuri, on Thursday. The results: Senior boys (league): Oxford school 59 (Uday Tyagi 17, Kartik Maan 10) bt Brain International 19 (Shiv 10). Venkateshwar school 55 (Jasraj 18, agam 10) bt St. Michael’s School 21 (Pranav 13). Blue Bells 76 (Ishaan 32, Shubham 20, Oasis 16) bt Bal Bharati, Pitampura, 43 (Harshit 15, loksh 14). Montfort 84 (Aditya 43, Parth 26) bt The Mann School 50 (Adnan 20, Jahan 17).