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Threats don’t deter me, Mamata says after BJP youth leader’s statement
No one denied beneits for not having Aadhaar: Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ties with U.S. have deteriorated under Trump, says Putin
It is advantage Juventus after humbling Barcelona 3-0 in Champions League
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Petrol, diesel prices to be ixed daily
NEARBY
Pilot scheme likely to be launched in ive cities from May 1, to be gradually extended all over country Press Trust of India New Delhi
Patnaik visits violence hit Bhadrak town BHUBANESWAR
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who visited communal violence-hit Bhadrak town on Wednesday, announced that his government will take strong steps to counter the evil designs of the divisive forces. EAST
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Sedition charge against students dropped CHANDIGARH
The Chandigarh Police on Wednesday dropped the sedition charge against 66 students of Panjab University (PU) even as an uneasy calm was maintained at the institute's campus amid heavy police presence. NATION
Come May 1, petrol and diesel prices will change every day in sync with international rates, much like what happens in most advanced markets. State-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL), — which own over 95% of the nearly 58,000 fuel outlets in the country, are likely to launch a pilot scheme for daily price revision in five select cities from May 1 and gradually extend it all over the country.
Market-aligned “Ultimately, we will be driving towards market-linked rates on a daily basis at all pumps across the country,” IOC Chairman B. Ashok told
PTI. The pilot scheme will be first implemented in Puducherry, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajasthan, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh, Mr. Ashok said. State fuel retailers currently revise rates on the 1st
and 16th of every month, based on average international price in the preceding fortnight and the currency exchange rate. Instead of using fortnightly average, pump rates will reflect daily movement in international oil prices
and rupee-U.S. dollar fluctuations. “It is technically possible to change rates daily, but we have to first do a pilot. Once the pilot is done and its implications are studied, we will extend it to other parts of the country,” Mr. Ashok said.
While Mr. Ashok said the pilot is to be “launched within one month” and did not give a specific date, industry sources said the pilot is planned to be launched on May 1. Daily price change will remove the big leaps in rates that need to be effected at the end of the fortnight, and consumers will be more aligned to market dynamics. While petrol price was freed from government control in June 2010, diesel rates were deregulated only in October 2014. Technically, oil companies have the freedom to revise rates but often they have been guided by political considerations. Rates differ by only a few paise between pumps of the three state fuel retailers. CONTINUED ON 쑺 PAGE 10
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Yuva Vahini members assault Muslim couple Man booked for obscenity: Meerut SP Staff reporter Meerut
‘If EVMs were ixed then I wouldn’t be in power’ NEW DELHI
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Wednesday that if the EVMs were tampered with he would not have been in power, contradicting the stand of his Congress party that the machines were not infallible. NEWS
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DELHI METRO 쑺 6 PAGES
Activists of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), a youth group founded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, allegedly barged into the house of a Muslim man in Meerut’s Shastri Nagar on Tuesday and thrashed him and his woman friend. The couple was handed over to the police by members of the HYV. Superintendent of Police, Meerut city, Alok Priyadarshi told the media that they were released on Tuesday but the
man, Wasim, has been booked for obscenity.
interview that the State did not share its border with China, but with Tibet.
BEIJING
China on Wednesday reiterated that the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh will have a negative impact on Sino-Indian ties, and accused New Delhi of breaching its commitment on the Tibet issue. In response to a question, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Beijing would take “further action” to safeguard its territorial sovereignty. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang took exception to statements by the Dalai Lama and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who had said in an
‘Principle violated’ Analysts saw the statement as a violation of the ‘One China’ principle that defines the country’s statehood. Mr. Lu said the “provocative” statements of the Tibetan leader “exceeded the scope of religious activities.” “What India has done is violated the solemn commitment on the Tibet-related issues, and it also has a negative impact on proper settlement of territorial disputes between the two sides through negotiations,” the spokesperson said.
Nine seamen were kidnapped this month Reuters MOGADISHU
Video on social media A video of the incident that is circulating on social media shows HYV members barging into the house and bombarding the couple with questions such as “What is your name? What are you doing here? Have you converted?” According to the HYV members, the couple were found in a “compromising” position when they, along with local residents, forced their way into the house.
India has breached its Tibet commitment, says Beijing Atul Aneja
Somali forces free Indian ship crew from pirates Somali security forces clashed with pirates early on Wednesday and freed nine seamen kidnapped from an Indian cargo ship this month, officials said. The pirates seized the dhow Al Kausar off Somalia’s coast. The kidnappers took the crew onshore in central Galmudug state on Monday and clashed with troops two days later, the Territory Minister for Ports and Sea Transport, Burhan Warsame, said. “We rescued the nine crew,
and they are healthy and safe,” he said. Hirsi Yusuf Barre, Mayor of Galkayo town, said the security forces attacked the gang after it tried to move the hostages into an area controlled by the militant group al Shabaab overnight. “We sent forces to every corner and blocked all roads,” he said. Isha Thaim, a member of the family in India that owns the cargo dhow, confirmed the reports of the crew being freed, adding that they had not had any food for about
three days. “The crew will be taken to the port and after all formalities they will be taken to the vessel,” he told Reuters on the phone from Gujarat.
India thanks Somalia India expressed its appreciation of Somalia for rescuing the crew. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “We thank Federal Government of Somalia, Galmudug state authorities and people of Somalia for their help and cooperation.” (With PTI inputs)
Protest cut short: A policeman tries to take away the banner from a veteran outside the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, demanding the release of Kulbhushan Jadhav. PTI *
Pak. not to yield to pressure on Jadhav Sharif, Gen. Bajwa confer on issue Press Trust of India Islamabad
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and powerful Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday agreed not to yield to any pressure on the issue of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death on charges of spying, according to a media report. General Bajwa met Mr. Sharif and took the Prime Minister into confidence on the issue, Samaa TV reported. “They agreed not to come under any pressure” on the issue of Mr. Jadhav, the channel said. The meeting comes two days after the Army chief approved the execution of Mr. Jadhav in the wake of a military court sentencing him to death for “espionage and sabotage activities.” During the meeting, they discussed matters pertaining to the professional preparedness of the Army and the current security and border situations, Radio Pakistan reported.
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The Foreign Ministry said: “The boundary question [and] the Tibet-related questions bear on the political foundation of China-India relationship.”
Growing apples in the tropics sea level. “Dhanora is surrounded by hills, while cold winds from the North are not blocked owing to deforestation,” Dr. A Veerabhadra Rao, senior principal scientist at CCMB, said.
DHANORA
Apple cultivation isn’t something one expects to see in the tropics. But in the hills of north Telangana, an experiment to change that is, literally, bearing fruit. In a small orchard in Dhanora village, Kerameri Mandal, Kumram Bheem Asifabad district (one of the four districts carved out of what was Adilabad), apple trees planted a year ago are fruiting.
‘Low-chilling’ varieties The achievement is a result of a few years of experimentation in apple genomics by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, which produced ‘low-chilling’ varieties of the plant, that is, they are able to withstand hot weather. CM YK
Farmer Kendre Balaji with the nascent apple fruits in his orchard. S. HARPAL SINGH *
Last year, an experiment in apple cultivation at the Regional Agriculture Research Station at Chintapally, Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, demonstrated that the fruit can be grown in the hot and arid uplands of Kerameri. The scientists say that the area is conducive for growth of the modified apples, as it is at about 2,300 feet above
2,000 grafts supplied CCMB supplied 120 tribal farmers with about 2,000 grafts of three low-chilling varieties. Kendre Balaji, a local farmer, is growing 150 plants, a mixture of all varieties, using organic cultivation methods which improve the nutritional value of his soil. His plants have shown excellent growth, including flowering and fruiting. “The apples are expected to taste good,” said Professor Ramesh Agarwal, CCMB’s chief scientist.
MANY OPTIONS TO SAVE JADHAV 쑺 PAGE 11
Akhilesh loyalists shunted out LUCKNOW
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S. Harpal Singh
Islamabad warned India has warned Islamabad of the consequences to bilateral relations if Mr. Jadhav is hanged. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday made a statement in both the Houses of Parliament, asserting that India would go “out of the way” to ensure justice to Mr. Jadhav, who is an “innocent kidnapped Indian.” She said Mr. Jadhav’s execution would be taken by India as a “pre-meditated murder.” Ms. Swaraj said Mr. Jadhav was doing business in Iran, and the charges against him were “concocted.”
Omar Rashid
Important consensus “We have already reached important consensus on resolving the boundary dispute through negotiations and consultations.” He said: “We also hope that the Indian side bears in mind the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples and safeguard the political foundation of the bilateral relationship and not take any provocative action.”
Telangana’s experiments have yielded hot weather varieties
Gen. Bajwa also apprised the Prime Minister of the progress in the ongoing Radd-ul-Fasaad, an anti-terror operation launched by the Pakistan Army. It was the first direct interaction between the Army chief and the Prime Minister.
All ears: President Pranab Mukherjee meets leaders of opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Left Front, in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI (REPORT ON PAGE 10) *
Uneasy calm ahead of Srinagar repoll Seven candidates decide to boycott election process; security tightened Peerzada Ashiq Srinagar
As the security forces brace for repolling in Srinagar on Thursday in the backdrop of widespread violence, seven candidates have decided to boycott the exercise. “It’s not election but selection. People are being fooled with such exercises. We appeal to people to not to cast their votes. We won’t let our brothers to die intentionally. The April 9 incidents were unfortunate,” said Mirza Sajad of the Rashtriya Jankranti Party (RJP). Mr. Sajad along with six other candidates contesting on the Srinagar Lok Sabha
seat called for a poll boycott during a joint press conference on Wednesday. The candidates include Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha leader Chetan Sharma, Rashtriya Samajwadi Party (Secular) leader Engineer Sajad Reshi, Liberal Democratic Party leader Bikram Singh, Independent candidates Farooq Ahmad Dar, Ghulam Hassan Dar and Mehraj Rashid Malik. “Lives of Kashmiris are being put in danger through re-polling. Fingers are being raised at the credibility of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for postponing the polls on the request of
Peoples Democratic Party's candidate (from Anantnag seat Mufti Tassaduq),” said Mr. Sajad. He claimed that the poll panel “did not take them into confidence on repolling and rescheduling” of byelections for the Srinagar and Anantnag seats. A total of nine candidates are contesting on the Srinagar seat. While seven of them have called for boycott, the remaining two candidates -- National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party’s Nazir Khan – have refrained from joining them. The NC has written to the
EC expressing its “apprehensions” ahead of the repolling. The poll panel is holding re-polls at 38 violence-hit booths in Srinagar. Multi-layer security arrangements are in place at the polling booths. Reinforcements have been sent to Budgam, where seven civilians were killed on April 9. “Adequate arrangements of security and videography have been made for repolling at 38 booths in Budgam district of Srinagar constituency,” said Chief Electoral Officer Shantmanu. SEE ALSO 쑺 PAGE 7
In the first major bureaucratic reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government, 20 senior IAS officers were transferred on Wednesday. Nine among them were discharged of their responsibilities and waitlisted. These included several officers who were considered favourites in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. Some of them have been shifted to less significant posts. Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan, Excise Commissioner, Allahabad, has been appointed as the new secretary to the CM. Navneet Sehgal, an IAS officer who enjoyed a prominent position under the previous government, was also transferred. While he is yet to be handed over new responsibility, Avanish Kumar Awasthi, an officer who was on wait after being relieved from the Centre, has got charge of the departments that were under Mr. Sehgal. Amod Kumar has been shifted from the post of Secretary, Science and Technology, while another Akhilesh favourite, Pandhari Yadav, has been removed from the post of Secretary, Housing and Urban Planning. Mr. Yadav and Mr. Kumar have been appointed as members in the Judicial Revenue Board, Allahabad. Anita Singh, Principal Secretary, Civil Aviation and Estate Departments, has been waitlisted. She is considered a Mulayam Singh loyalist. SEE ALSO DELHI METRO 쑺 PAGE 4 A ND-ND
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DELHI
Timings
Thursday, April 13
RISE 05:58 SET 18:46 RISE 20:40 SET 07:21 Friday, April 14
RISE 05:57 SET 18:46 RISE 21:32 SET 07:58 Saturday, April 15
RISE 05:56 SET 18:47 RISE 22:23 SET 08:38
Tripura oicers visit Bangladesh
CM visits Bhadrak, vows stern action Patnaik transfers SP and ADM and promises to announce package soon; ive taken into custody
To discuss border-related issues BHUBANESWAR
District Magistrate on promotion.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who visited communal violence-hit Bhadrak town on Wednesday, announced that his government will take strong steps to counter the evil designs of the divisive forces for creating discord and violence in the name of religion. Mr. Patnaik, who interacted with the affected people to assuage their concerns and fear, appealed to maintain peace and communal harmony. While chairing a high-level meeting with district administration and top government officers of the State, he directed for strong action against mischief mongers. The Chief Minister also directed the officials to assess the detailed damage suffered by the people and report within three days for provision of financial assistance for livelihood restoration. He said he would announce a package for the people who have lost their livelihood. Normalcy was fast returning to the district headquar-
Curfew eased As situation in the town was improving fast, the authorities relaxed the curfew from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to enable people to buy essential items thereby facilitating normal activities. The administration is considering relaxation of curfew for a longer period from Thursday. Meanwhile, five persons were taken into custody and interrogated by the cyber cell of the Crime Branch in connection with circulation of rumours and objectionable messages on social media. The ban imposed on social media sites in Bhadrak and nearby areas on April 9 was lifted on Tuesday night. About 100 people have so far been arrested in connection with the violence and arson in the town. Though prohibitory orders were clamped on April 6, curfew was imposed in the town on April 7 after fresh violence was reported after failure of talks at the peace committee meeting.
Prafulla Das
city of Chittagong. Officers from border districts of Bangladesh would join their Indian counterparts at the meeting. A BSF commandant is also accompanying the delegation. “The officers would return through the Akhaura check post in Agartala on Friday”, an official told The Hindu. He said the officers of south Tripura and Gomati districts are attending the one-day meeting. The two districts share boundary with three Bangladeshi districts.
Syed Sajjad Ali Agartala
A delegation of senior officials left for Bangladesh on Wednesday to attend a meeting on border issues. District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police of two districts in south Tripura, who were accompanied by junior officers, entered Bangladesh through the Belonia border. Border management, crimes, disputes, border fencing and other related issues will be part of the meeting slated for Thursday at the port
EDUCATIONAL
EDUCATIONAL
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik interacting with violence-afected people in Bhadrak on Wednesday.
ters town of Bhadrak where communal violence erupted on April 6 following alleged abusive remarks against Hindu deities on social media. Mr. Patnaik, who toured the town amid a nine-hour relaxation period of curfew during the day, also ordered immedi-
ate transfer of the Bhadrak Superintendent of Police after his return to Bhubaneswar. SP Dilip Das was asked to report at the police headquarters in Cuttack and Jajpur district Superintendent of Police Anup Sahu was transferred as posted as Bhadrak SP.
Hindu Yuva Vahini to enrol youths in Bihar CM urged to set up ‘anti-Romeo’ squads Amarnath Tewary Patna
With their founder Yogi Adityanath becoming the chief minister of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) is planning to recruit youths in all the districts of Bihar. Earlier, the StateBJP leaders had said units of HYV would be opened first in the border districts of Bihar over the next twothree months. “We have decided to strengthen HYV in Bihar, too, by enrolling thousands of youths in all 38 districts of the State. We will also select and appoint office-bearers of the organisation at the district level,” Pankaj Rai, State president of the youth organisation told newsmen, on Wednesday. “Ever since our founder Yogi Adityanath has become the Chief Minister people have high expectations from him and for a Ram Rajya,” Mr. Rai said. Mr. Rai also demanded that
Bihar Chief Minister and his government should set up antiRomeo squads in the State and take stern action against slaughter houses, like in Uttar Pradesh.
Main objective “Cow protection is one of the main objectives of the Vahini,” Mr. Rai added. Recently, en route to Deoghar in Jharkhand, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, too, visited Patna, where he was shown black flags by members of the newly formed Dharmnirpeksha Sewak Sangh (DSS) at the Patna airport. State Health Minister and older son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has reportedly founded DSS to counter the RSS in the State. “I know RSS chief Bhagwat’s agenda…they are out to spread venom in society for the 2019 Lok Sabha poll but in Bihar they will fall flat,” said Lalu Prasad on the RSS chief’s visit.
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PTI
Similarly, Bhadrak Additional District Magistrate Pravat Bhoi was also transferred and asked to report at the General Administration Department in Bhubaneswar. Talcher Sub-Collector Shyambhakta Mishra was appointed as Bhadrak Additional
Marriage of Class X girl foiled after phone call from friend She was opposed to proposal; fourth incident in Berhampur Staff Reporter BERHAMPUR
The marriage of a girl studying in Class X that was allegedly set to be held on Wednesday at Palur village of Ganjam district in Odisha was averted after her friend called the Berhampur Childline. The victim’s friend had called the 1098 Childline on April 10. According to the Childline officials, the girl was to be married to her maternal uncle. The officials said she hails from a community in which such marriages were accepted. After receiving information about the child marriage attempt, a team from the Childline reached the village to investigate. The officials said they ascertained the authenticity of the allegation and also found that the victim
was opposed to the marriage. Following this, Childline activists held discussions with the parents of the girl as well as their neighbours to stop the marriage, although the family had by then made all preparations for the marriage. The district administration and the police were also informed. On April 11, a team comprising Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) of the Rangeilunda block, inspector in charge of the Golanthara police station, District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) along with the Childline activists reached Palur to stop the marriage.
Written undertaking After their counselling, the village committee of Palur and the girl’s parents gave
a written undertaking that they would not get her married till she turns 18. However, the family was kept under observation and no marriage ceremony was held on Wednesday. According to the director of Berhampur Childline, this was the fourth such incident in the district in the past few months, where the victims or their friends have called and notified the Childline or other authorities to stop child marriages. All the victims in the recent months were students of Class X, who appeared for their final board examination in March this year, he added. The young girls who have shown exemplary courage to stop child marriages would be honoured, said DCPO, Subodh Kumar Sadangi.
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IN BRIEF
Nitish lags of rath to spread Bapu’s messages
HC blow to Tata housing project near Sukhna Lake Court sets aside environmental clearance, says complex in Lake’s catchment area Akanksha Jain
PATNA
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar flagged off “Gandhi rath” to spread Bapu’s message to the people. The rath would reach every panchayat of Bihar for a year to make people aware of Gandhian philosophy through audio and video presentation. PTI
Three held with fake dollars in Punjab BARNALA
The Punjab Police claimed to have seized fake US dollars from the possession of three persons at a village here. The fake currency notes were in the denomination of $100 with face value of USD 20,000, the police said. A police team stopped a bike near Beelha village and seized fake notes from its riders, Barnala SP Swaran Singh said. PTI
Two nabbed with 35 grams heroin CHANDIGARH
The Chandigarh Police arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 35 gms of heroin from them. The accused were identified as Vikas of Chandigarh and Sonu Goyal of Mohali, the police said. They were arrested from the road dividing Sector-44 and 45 here. PTI
NEW DELHI
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dealt a big blow to the Tata Camelot Housing Colony (CAMELOT), touted as a “high performance residential cum retail complex,” as it held that it was within the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake and set aside all environmental clearance and permissions granted to the project. A Bench headed by Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw set aside the environmental clearance granted for the project proposed to be set up by Tata Housing Development Company Ltd. (Tata HDCL) in Kansal village of Mohali district in Punjab.
Nineteen towers The Tata HDCL had proposed to construct 19 towers of 7 to 28 storeys in an area admeasuring 52 acres which is located about 1500 m from the Sukhna Lake and 123 m from the Wild Life Sanctuary. “The area over which the project in question is proposed to be constructed forms part of the catchment area of Sukhna Lake as demarcated in the Survey of India map dated 21.09.2004,” the Bench held.
“The permission granted by Nagar Panchayat Naya Gaon to Tata HDCL is invalid and is hereby set aside,” said the Bench while directing the Punjab government to reconsider the matter in the light of its judgement.
Category ‘A’ project “The environmental clearance granted by SEIAA Punjab for development of the project is not in conformity with the notification of the Ministry of Environment & Forests,” said the Bench in its 169-page judgement.
It also made it clear that if on reconsideration, the matter is decided in favour of Tata HDCL, it may apply to the Central Government for environmental clearance treating the project as a category ‘A’ project. All category ‘A’ projects require mandatory clearance from the Centre. The HC noted that “the contention of Tata HDCL that the project site does not form part of catchment area of Sukhna Lake is liable to be rejected”. The verdict comes on two
Don’t hire on contract: HC Rajasthan High Court says hire government staf on merit Mohammed Iqbal JAIPUR
In what comes as a far-reaching judgment, the Rajasthan High Court has restrained the State government from employing people on contract for posts that are permanent. The Court has also imposed a ban on hiring employees through placement agencies. The court was hearing a petition against the State government’s practice of not giving permanent employment and hiring people on contract to fill up regular vacancies. Surendra Kumar Gujjar
and others had raised a petition against orders to cancel the contract of a placement agency at 10 primary health centres. They had contended that employees were being hired through placement agencies at all other health centres in the State.
‘Merit-based’ Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma ruled that hiring for posts created under Central and State government schemes should be “meritbased”. Selection of candidates, even on contract, is to be done through the proper
channel, including advertisements and written examinations, said the court. The court, which has not imposed a blanket ban on hiring employees on contract, has given the State government liberty to constitute a nodal agency and lay down a procedure for the purpose. Appointments should not be made only on the basis of interviews and the merit list of candidates should show the marks obtained by them, it said. “Selection [only] through interviews can lead to randomness,” the court observed.
petitions filed by advocate Aalok Jagga and by Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Foundation, challenging the permissibility of construction of the housing project on various grounds, including that the project is not authorised under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The matter was transferred by the Supreme Court to the Delhi High Court after the Punjab & Haryana High Court allowed the construction of the project.
IAS oicer gets notice for picking holes in ODF drive Deepali Rastogi had written an article on the issue in an English daily earlier this month Press Trust of India Bhopal
The Madhya Pradesh government has served a notice to a woman IAS officer for raising some serious questions about the Centre’s Open Defecation Free (ODF) campaign. Deepali Rastogi, a 1994-
CM YK
batch IAS officer presently serving as the Commissioner of the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Welfare Department, expressed her views on the ODF campaign in an article in an English daily earlier this month. “A show cause notice has been issued yesterday to Deepali Rastogi for alleged
violation of All India Services (Conduct) Rules,” a senior officer at the State Secretariat said on Wednesday. The notice sought an explanation about her article raising serious questions over the Centre’s flagship scheme. In her article, Ms Rastogi said the ODF campaign was an attempt to change a cen-
turies-old mindset in just a few months because the white people say it is wrong to defecate in the open. She also raised doubts about the availability of water to keep clean the toilets constructed under the campaign. After picking holes in the way the scheme was touted by the government, she concluded
saying, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for toilets. After all, I am a city-dweller. I’m just uncomfortable with the way we are pushing it.” The Congress criticised the government for slapping the notice saying the questions raised by her should be addressed instead of suppressing the voice.
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No ban on late night parties in Goa: CM
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For a cause
Vishwajit Rane, one other, inducted into Parrikar cabinet
BJP has gone politically bankrupt, says Congress
Prakash Kamat Panaji
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday ruled out banning late-night music parties in Goa, because existing laws he said restrict playing loud music beyond 10 p.m. Speaking to reporters at the Raj Bhavan near here after the swearing-in of two new Ministers — Mauvin Godinho and Vishwajit Rane — into the BJP-led coalition government, Mr. Parrikar also said that police have clear instructions to crack down on drugs, prostitution and illegal gambling. “As per law, after 10 p.m. you cannot play loud music. If there is no permission, there is no question of banning it. Law says you can play loud music till 10 p.m., after taking permission. What disturbs people, any activity like this, will not be allowed by law,” Mr. Parrikar said. A few days back Water Resources Minister Vinod Palienkar of Goa Forward Party had said that police were not cracking down enough on late-night rave parties, which are popular in the coastal belt of north Goa. “Wherever there is suspi-
Special Correspondent Panaji
Dabolim MLA Mauvin Gudinho (left) and former Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane greeting each other at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday, after both were sworn in to the BJP-led coalition government in Goa. ATISH POMBURFEKER *
cion, police have clear instructions to crack down on drugs, prostitution and illegal gambling,” Mr. Parrikar said.
Portfolios soon Mr. Rane, who was sworn in today, will have to get elected in six months as he had resigned as Congress MLA immediately after election, and later joined the BJP. Mr. Godinho had resigned as Congress MLA ahead of the February 4 Assembly elec-
tions and has been elected on a BJP ticket from Dabolim constituency. They were administered oath of office and secrecy by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha. None of the Congress MLAs including sitting MLA and former Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane who is father of Vishwajit Rane were present for the swearing in ceremony. The Parrikar-led coalition government now includes five Ministers from the BJP (including CM), three
from Goa Forward, two from the MGP and two Independents. Mr. Parrikar is expected to soon allot portfolios to both the Ministers. The BJP, which won 13 seats in the February 4 Assembly elections, cobbled together a coalition with its allies last month to form the government. The Congress, which won 17 seats in the 40member Assembly , is in the Opposition with 16 MLAs following the exit of Mr. Rane.
The Congress on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar saying the induction of former Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane into the cabinet is a clear cut admission that BJP has conceded defeat in the State once again. “Theinduction has proved total political bankruptcy of BJP,” said AICC secretary Girish Chodankar in a press release issued today. He attacked Mr. Parrikar for poaching upon Congress leaders. He said Mr. Rane will be Minister only for five months as after his defeat he will have to vacate the position. Mr. Parrikar’s desperation was visible even before elections when he approached the then Congress leaders to contest on a BJP ticket, he addeed.
Gujarat reels under second spell of heat wave Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation activates heat action plan Special Correspondent AHMEDABAD
In a span of two weeks, Gujarat has come under a second intense heat wave with the mercury rising to as high as 44.5 in Idar while most of the towns and cities recorded above 42 degree temperature for the second consecutive day. On Tuesday, Bhuj recor-
ded 44.2, and Gandhinagar 44 while Ahmedabad saw 42.8 degree Celsius temperature.
Orange alert “The severe heat wave conditions in major parts of will continue in the state on Thursday as well,” the met department said. Meanwhile, Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation (AMC) has activated its Heat Action Plan (HAP) in the city and issued orange alert in the city. The 2017 heat action plan adds an innovative “cool roofs” strategy. Simple steps such as painting roofs with lime-based white wash, adding tarp-like coverings or white ceramic tiles — low
EDUCATIONAL
cost, high-impact measures — can help bring roof surface temperatures down by as much as 30 degrees centigrade and reduce indoor temperatures by 3 to 7 degrees. The civic body aims to convert at least 500 roofs, including government and business buildings across the city to tackle intense heat
wave conditions. The 2017 Heat Action Plan has been released jointly by AMC, public health and international climate experts at the IMD, Indian Institute of Public Health-Gandhinagar (IIPH-G), and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which works in India on climate and health issues.
EDUCATIONAL
In right earnest: Congress workers, led by State unit chief Ashok Chavan, begin a signature campaign at Veracity Square in Nagpur on Wednesday, seeking revocation of death sentence given by Pakistani military court to former Indian Navy oicer Kulbhushan Jadhav. S. SUDARSHAN *
Ban on Pramod Muthalik extended by two months
Collector allays concerns over highway
Sri Ram Sene chief’s entry to Goa was irst banned in September 2015
Press Trust of India
Special Correspondent Panaji
The District Magistrate of North Goa on Tuesday extended by more 60 days the ban on the entry of Pramod Muthalik, leader of “Sri Ram Sene” and any of his associates or members within the jurisdiction of North Goa District, with effect from April 7, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The step has been taken to prevent disturbance to law and order and danger to public safety due to aggressive statements or speeches that could hurt the sentiments of certain groups of the public and instigate violence, thus adversely affecting public peace and tranquility. When he was Chief Minister of Goa in 2012, Manohar
Parrikar had stated that he is against entry of Sri Ram Sene chief as his government was committed towards keeping “communalism” at bay to preserve communal harmony in the tourist State. Civil society groups and tourism industry too had petitioned him to not allow Mr. Muthalik to set up his branches in Goa, as he claimed then, fearing he may unleash “moral policing” in the State. On September 1, 2015 the Supreme Court had dismissed an appeal by Sri Ram Sene chief against the Goa government’s decision to ban his entry into the State. The State government has since been extending his ban every six months. Mr. Muthalik was linked with a 2009 attack on women at a pub in Mangalore.
EDUCATIONAL
Nashik
Nashik district Collector Radhakrishna Bon Wednesday tried to dispel farmers’ apprehensions about acquisition of their land for the proposed NagpurMumbai Samruddhi Corridor passing through the district. The farmers in Sinnar and Igatpuri tehsils are up in arms against the project, fearing forceful acquisition of their land by the government and the loss of livelihood. They have been protesting since last week by staging rasta rokos, taking out rallies, and throwing burning tyres on roads to oppose the project. The ₹46,000-crore Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Corridor is a proposed 702km express highway that will pass through ten districts.
EDUCATIONAL
EDUCATIONAL
SITUATIONS VACANT GENERAL
PUBLIC NOTICES
TENDERS
CM YK
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IN BRIEF
Rigorous life Post-Jaya, AIADMK MPs register lower attendance imprisonment for IM activists Analysis shows it fell sharply since the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s hospitalisation and death in 2016
reasons for the shortfall in attendance. “During Amma’s hospitalisation, we were with her. After her demise, we were in shock and did not attend the last days of the winter session,” said Vijila Sathyananth, the AIADMK’s Rajya Sabha Whip. “Attendance dropped this session due to the campaign for the R.K. Nagar elections. We — even those from the other faction — are all back in Delhi and have attended the session in the past two days. The attendance today was 75%,” said LS member P. Venugopal, AIADMK’s parliamentary party leader.
Deepu Sebastian Edmond CHENNAI
HC orders CBI probe into Kalabhavan Mani’s death
Sentenced for abetting 2008 serial blasts
KOCHI
The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into the death of film actor Kalabhavan Mani. The court directed the CBI to take over the investigation in a month. The directives were issued by Justice Sunil Thomas while allowing a writ petition for a CBI probe filed by Mani’s wife Nimmy and his brother K.R. Ramakrishnan.
Mangalam TV CEO denied bail KOCHI
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail pleas of R. Ajith Kumar, CEO, Mangalam TV, and chief of the ‘investigation team’ K. Jayachandran in a case relating to the broadcast of an audio sex tape targeting former Minister A.K. Saseendran. The court, however, granted anticipatory bail to all other accused.
Over 70% polling in Malappuram MALAPPURAM
Peaceful and incident-free polling took place in the byelection to the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday. Marking a slight dip from the general election of 2014, the constituency registered 70.41% voter turnout when polling closed at 6 p.m.
Telangana’s plea on Krishna posted for April 19 NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted the Telangana government’s plea for a fresh consideration of allocation of Krishna river water among all four riparian States — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka — for April 19.
CM YK
Case over: Indian Mujahideen activists being brought to the court in Mangaluru on Wednesday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
Staff Reporter MANGALURU
The 3rd additional district and sessions judge S.H. Pushpanjali Devi on Wednesday sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment three Indian Mujahideen (IM) members for abetting the outfit’s founder Riyaz Bhatkal in committing the serial blasts in 2008. The sentenced were Sayeed Mohammed Noushad, prime accused in the serial blasts in Surat and Ahmedabad; Ahamed Bava Aboobakkar; and Fakeer Ahamad alias Fakeer. The court awarded life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹10,000 each on all the three for offences under Section 16 (1) (b) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act; Section 5 (b) of the Explosive Substances Act; Section 120 (b) of the India Penal Code; and Section 25 (1)(A)(A) of the Arms Act. Additionally, Fakeer Ahamed was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life for offences under Section 6 of the Explosive Substances Act.
The judge sentenced all the three to five years RI and imposed a fine of ₹5,000 for offences under Sections 17 and 18 of the UAP Act; and two years RI and fine of ₹3,000 for offence under Section 9 (b) of the Explosive Substances Act.
Police plea allowed Noushad was also sentenced to seven years of RI and slapped with a fine of ₹5,000 for offence under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC, and RI of three years and fine of ₹3,000 each for offences under Sections 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC. The judge said the life sentences would run concurrently. She said at this stage she could not entertain the plea of the convicted persons that justice had not been rendered to them. The judge allowed the plea of the police to place handcuffs on the convicted persons while taking them from court to the prison.
Parliament records show that AIADMK members’ attendance has fallen sharply since their leader Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation late last year. An analysis of the attendance data of the last three sessions of the Lok Sabha and four of the Rajya Sabha by The Hindu shows that the AIADMK’s Lok Sabha members have an average attendance of 80.05% across the 11 sessions of the 16th Lok Sabha. However, in the two sessions that correspond with and after Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation and death, they recorded 49.94% attendance. The party’s Lok Sabha members recorded 96.94% attendance in the session preceding the former Chief Minister’s September 22, 2016 hospitalisation. Jayalalithaa was declared dead on the night of December 5, 2016. The AIADMK’s Rajya Sabha members have an average attendance of 78.38%. Across the three sessions
that correspond with Jayalalithaa’s absence, their attendance dropped to 52.04%. In the session that preceded her absence, they recorded 95% attendance. All data was pulled from the websites of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on April 7. The Lok Sabha data does not include that of M. Thambi Durai who, as Deputy Speaker, does not have to sign the attendance
register. The Rajya Sabha analysis includes N. Gokulakrishnan, AIADMK MP from Puducherry: even his attendance dropped from 95% in the session preceding Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation to 45.17% across the three sessions after. In the ongoing session of the Rajya Sabha, the AIADMK’s 13 members (both factions) have only 38.76% attendance. The six Rajya
Sabha members from Tamil Nadu, excluding those of the AIADMK, have 78.7% attendance; they recorded 93.75% in the previous session. All three AIADMK MPs The Hindu spoke to had attended the House on Wednesday, after which Parliament adjourned sine die. They cited the vigil during Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation and the campaign for the now-rescinded R.K. Nagar by-election as
‘Amma was watching’ Ms. Sathyananth said Jayalalithaa was the reason for their excellent attendance record: “All MPs used to be in the House because we knew Amma would be watching. She used to watch the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha channels on her way to the Secretariat and amid work. Even now, Amma is watching, so we will continue to attend.”
TTD kitchen must get licence: FSSAI
Kerala Minister upset after police oicer mistakes him for another
Vivek Narayanan
‘Intelligence chief shouldn’t have committed such an error’
Bengaluru
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has written to the Central Licensing Authority in Chennai to inspect the ‘pottu’ (kitchen) in the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in Andhra Pradesh where the laddu is prepared, and directed it to obtain a central licence to run the kitchen.
RTI plea Last October, following an RTI application by Bengaluru-based activist T.
Press Trust of India Thiruvananthapuram
Direction issued by regulator to inspect the kitchen.
Narasimhamurthy, the director of food safety management system had insisted that the TTD obtain a food safety licence like any other Food Business Operator for the famed Tirupati laddu.
An agitated Kerala Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan on Wednesday said the State Intelligence chief knocked at his door and asked him if he was the Agriculture Minister. “... It is unfortunate that the Intelligence chief did not recognise a Minister,” Mr. Chandrasekharan told reporters, adding, “I did not call him. He came to meet another Minister.” Mr. Chandrasekharan said
Intelligence ADGP B.S. Mohammed Yasin came to his house at 8 a.m. and asked him if he was Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar. He said after replying in the negative, he directed him to the house of the Agriculture Minister. Such a mistake should not have occurred, especially on part of a senior intelligence officer, he said.
Charge denied Denying the charge, Mr. Yasin said he knew all the Ministers and that it was his
car driver who made the mistake of taking him to Mr. Chandrasekharan’s house. He had fixed up a meeting with Mr. Sunil Kumar to discuss about a building which was on the verge of collapse in Thrissur, he said. “I have no other comment. I know all Ministers,” he said. Mr. Yasin also said he had known Mr. Sunil Kumar for two years, when he was Inspector General of Police in Thrissur district. (With inputs from IANS)
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IN BRIEF
Sedition charge against 66 students dropped Uneasy calm at Panjab University campus amid tight security; students say administration should have talked to them before hiking fee SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHANDIGARH
Sikh pilgrims leave for Pakistan ATTARI
Around 1,425 Sikh pilgrims, including women and children, on Wednesday crossed over to Pakistan in three special trains from the international Attari railway station here. Pilgrims on reaching Pakistan would pay obeisance at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib. - PTI
NEET aspirant ends life in Kota KOTA
A 28-year-old NEET aspirant on Wednesday allegedly committed suicide by hanging from ceiling fan in his rented accommodation in Dadabari area here, police said. Rajendra Singh, hailing from Bharatpur district in Rajasthan, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in his rented room in Sector-2 here, ASI Bajrang Lal said. - PTI
The Chandigarh Police on Wednesday dropped the sedition charge against 66 students of Panjab University (PU) even as an uneasy calm was maintained at the institute’s campus amid heavy police presence. The students had been booked under Sections 124-A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among other charges, after a protest on the PU campus over a fee hike had turned violent and students clashed with police personnel on Tuesday. Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Eish Singhal, told The Hindu that they had dropped the
sedition charge against the students after PU withdrew its complaint stating that its remarks had been "misinterpreted".
‘Misunderstanding’ “PU’s chief security officer Ashwani Kaul approached us saying that there was some 'misunderstanding' as students were shouting slogans against the university administration, the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, and not against the State, hence sedition charges should be withdrawn,” Mr. Singhal said. Meanwhile, police detained six more PU students on Wednesday, in addition to
JAMMU
Nestled in the Trikuta Hills in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, the cave shrine of Vaishno Devi will now get its first master plan for protection, preservation and development of the area. The Mata Vaishnodevi Shrine is the second busiest shrine in the country after the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh. - PTI
Girl commits suicide after rape in UP BADAUN
A girl apparently hanged herself in a village in Kuwargaon area here, two days after she was allegedly raped by a man, police said on Wednesday. She was allegedly raped on April 9 and was apparently depressed over the incident. She ended her life on Tuesday night, Superintendent of Police, Anil Kumar Yadav, said. - PTI
CM YK
Clashes: The fee hike issue had resulted in violence at the Panjab University campus. FILE PHOTO *
the 52 students arrested on Tuesday, on charges of rioting and damage to public property. Sixty-six students are named in the FIR.
Slamming the “over reaction” of the university administration, the students said that they will continue to “peacefully protest” until
‘Nothing concrete’ Mr. Kaushal said students' council representatives met the university administration on Wednesday to discuss the fee hike, but nothing concrete came out of it. “We will continue to protest till the fee hike is completely rolled
back. We have urged students to boycott classes till the cases filed against the students in the police clash episode are withdrawn,” he added.“Channels of communication should remain open to find a solution,” said Mr. Kaushal. “It seems slapping sedition charges is the easiest way under the current regime to tackle every issue. The administration seems to want to convey a message of fear so that people withdraw from raising issues,” said Brighu Sharda, a final-year student of law (LLB) at PU. Harpreet Singh, a student at the Department of Physics, said: “PU administration should have shown some re-
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Chishti new Rajasthan A ‘Book Café’ run exclusively by inmates Mahila Cong chief Party’s bid to strengthen minority base
Master plan for Vaishnodevi shrine area
the university accepts their demand to rollback the fee hike for the 2017-18 session. “It was unfortunate that sedition charge was slapped against students. It was a drastic step by the administration, but now the charge has been dropped… we welcome it,” Nishant Kaushal, president of Panjab University Campus Students Council, told The Hindu.
Free wi-i access, fast food items for visitors just above Shimla’s iconic Ridge
Special Correspondent
SHIMLA
Jaipur
Life for Darshan Singh, Jai Chand and Yograj, who are serving life sentences for murder and other charges at a Shimla jail, just got more interesting. Thanks to the local municipal corporation and jail authorities, the three prisoners from Model Central Jail Kanda will now run the ‘Book Café’ during the day. Besides providing books and magazines, their duties will include giving free wi-fi access to visitors and running a fast food joint. The café will be run exclusively by the inmates. “The café will also act like a mini library, and have books of national and international importance,” said Shimla Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar. The café, inaugurated in the hill town on Tuesday, is located at a spot called Taka
Rehana Reyaz Chishti
*
the minority communities ahead of the Assembly polls due next year. The demand for restructuring of the party on the basis of “social engineering” has been raised in the State Congress on several occasions.
Focus on grassroots She told The Hindu on Wednesday that she would promote women, who are active at the panchayat and municipal levels, in the politics at the State-level by selecting the Congress workers from the grassroots.
AAP blames authorities Aam Aadmi Party’s State convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich blamed the university administration and PU vice-chancellor Arun Kumar Grover for not taking the student bodies into confidence before taking the decision to hike the fee.
Investors’ meet in Uttarakhand Staff Reporter
tourist from Faridabad who stopped by the café on Wednesday, said, “I popped in for a quick peek at a book on the history of Shimla — Edward J. Buck’s Simla, Past and Present, that was written in 1904.” The inmates will also exhibit products made by prisoners at the cafe, said Director General of Police (Prisons) Somesh Goel.
Kanwar Yogendra
With an eye on the 2018 State Assembly election, the All India Congress Committee has appointed Rehana Reyaz Chishti as president of the Rajasthan Pradesh Mahila Congress, replacing Shakuntala Rawat who has been elevated as general secretary of All India Mahila Congress. Ms. Chishti, 56, has been active in the front organisations of Congress, such as Seva Dal and Youth Congress, for several years and has been serving as the Pradesh Congress Committee’s general secretary since 2014. Originally hailing from Kerala, she migrated to Rajasthan at the age of 19 years and she presently resides in Churu. Ms. Chishti's appointment is being seen here as an attempt of Congress to strengthen its base among
strain before filing complaint pertaining to sedition. The administration should speak to the students and listen to them." Ronki Ram, professor at the Department of Political Science and a senate member, said that the financial crisis being faced by the university is a common problem for both teachers and students.
Unique joint: Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh at the inauguration of cafe at Takka Bench in Shimla. PTI *
Bench. Situated right above the Ridge and on the way to the famous Jakhu temple, it will have books on tourism and history, including those about days of the British Raj, besides piping hot coffee and snacks. Darshan, who is the bakery manager at the café,
said: “I’d like to thank the jail authorities and the local civic body for giving me this opportunity.” “We’re not sure about [the length of ] our prison term, but we’re free during the day,” said visibly-elated Jai and Yograj. Surendra Sharma, a
Bakery products, shawls Besides bakery products, the prisoners have been making woollen shawls that Himachal Pradesh is famous for and other apparel items since the past few years. “Our endeavour is to help convicts get some recognition and supplement their income,” Mr. Goel said. The book café, which received a lot of publicity before it was opened, will receive logistical aid from the municipal corporation and the State Tourism Department.
Dehradun
In a step towards setting up viable industries in the State that could help in job creation and mitigate the issue of migration, the Uttarakhand government, on Wednesday, acting on a proposal by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, agreed to hold an investors’ summit here in June, this year. “Uttarakhand needs to attract investments in sectors where the State could perform well... Tourism, organic farming are among the sectors that still remain unexplored but could prove to be of great value to the State as far as increasing employment opportunities in the Hill State is concerned... In the Invest Uttarakhand event we shall focus on attracting investments in such sectors,” Assocham chief Sandeep Jajodia said.
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Big bazaar
Poll panel throws open challenge to hack EVMs Experts, politicians invited to demonstration in May
Haryana launches ‘anti-Romeo’ drive
Special Correspondent
CHANDIGARH
NEW DELHI
On the lines of the ‘antiRomeo’ squad in Uttar Pardesh, the Haryana government on Wednesday launched ‘Operation Durga’, under which police teams nabbed 72 people on the very first day from across the State. - PTI
To all those alleging that the EVMs used by the Election Commission were tampered with in the recent Assembly elections or that they could be hacked, the electoral body has thrown an open challenge asking them to prove the allegations. The exercise may be carried out in the first week of May. Computer experts and political leaders would be invited to the demonstration site and they could use their skills to show whether the machines could be tampered with.
Three killed, 48 hurt as tractor-trailer overturns HOSHIARPUR
Three pilgrims, two of them women, were killed and 48 injured when the tractortrailer they were travelling in to Sri Anandpur Sahib overturned near Shekhowal, about 50 Kms from here on Wednesday. The injured were shifted to nearby hospitals of Garhshankar and Ropar but two of the critically injured were later referred to PGI, Chandigarh. - PTI
No conidence: Opposition parties have alleged that people had lost faith in the voting machines.
trust” in the efficacy of the machines. Following similar allegations, the EC had earlier given an open invitation to experts. However, the Commission said, no one could prove that it could be hacked. After the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections, the Opposition parties have on several occasions alleged that the EVMs were
‘Use paper ballots’ The move comes days after the Opposition parties met the Election Commission (EC) and requested to replace EVMs with paper ballots, as people had “lost
Uneasy calm: Normalcy returned to the Kashmir Valley in Srinagar on Wednesday after three days of separatist-sponsored strike over the death of civilians in poll-related violence. NISSAR AHMAD *
Bihar sets up court for prohibition cases
Worker dies after crane falls on him
Global interest in PSLV soars
In one year, over 45,000 arrested
Press trust of india
Madhumathi D.S.
Raipur
BENGALURU
A labourer was crushed to death and another was injured after a heavy magnetic crane fell on them at a steel plant located here on Wednesday, police said. The incident occurred at around 3 pm at Steel Melting Shop section of Godavari Ispat Ltd, located in Siltara industrial area under Dharsinwa police station limits. “One labourer, identified as Mahendra Kashyap (30), a native of JanjgirChampa district, was killed in the incident while another Ishwar Sahu of Raigarh district sustained injuries,” Raipur Superintendent of Police (Urla area) Uttam Chandrvanshi said.
The PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) space vehicle has received more than double the volume of inquiries from prospective customers ever since it launched a record 104 satellites on a single flight in February. A world best, 101 small foreign commercial spacecraft were taken up at once in the feat, catapulting the PSLV’s overall commercial tally to 180. “There has been a spurt in inquiries, almost double what we were getting. Globally, 500 satellites are expected to come up for launch every year from 2018 onwards. We are seeing how we can equip ourselves towards using this big opportunity,” said Rakesh Sashib-
Amarnath Tewary Patna
A year after enforcing stringent prohibition laws, the Bihar government on Wednesday set up a special court for speedy trial in cases registered against violation of the law, which the Opposition BJP dubbed “draconian.” The State government had earlier requested the Patna High Court to open special courts to hear prohibition-related cases in all districts.
High Court order Following the High Court directive, the first special court has been set up in Patna, said an official of the Excise and Prohibition department. Gradually, such
courts would be opened in all districts, he added. Justice Trilokinath Tiwari has been appointed judge of the special court which would hear prohibition cases of Patna district. Bihar became a dry State on April 5, 2016. In last one year, over 45,000 people have been arrested for violating the liquor laws and 44,996 were sent to jail. Police and Excise department officials conducted 2,18,722 raids and seized over 3.5 lakh liters of liquor. Every day, trucks and vans loaded with liquor are being seized in different parts of the State. The border districts had become more vulnerable for smuggling of liquor bottles, said an official.
Inquiries from prospective customers double after its record launch of satellites the 5 kg to 100 kg small satellites,” he told The Hindu.
A ile photo of PSLV C36.
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PTI
hushan, chairman and managing director of Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s (Indian Space Research Organisation) business arm that markets its rocket and satellite services. “ISRO is also ramping up availability of the PSLVs. Antrix has asked for two dedicated PSLVs a year for doing fully commercial launches. They can cater to
National Lok Adalat settles over 6 lakh cases in one day They include matrimonial disputes, partition suits, cheque bounce cases and motor accident claims Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI
As pendency hampers the justice delivery system, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), led by Supreme Court judge Justice Dipak Misra, has been quietly chipping away at the backlog and has accomplished its latest feat of settling over six lakh cases in just 24 hours. The Second National Lok Adalat for 2017, conducted
on April 8, through out the country from taluk level courts to High Courts, has settled nearly 6.6 lakh cases. Out of this, 3.68 lakh cases have been reduced from court pendency and about 2.92 lakh cases were settled even before they could be filed in courts. The cases ranged from matrimonial disputes, partition suits, civil matters, cheque bounce cases, mo-
tor accident claims, revenue disputes pending in courts, criminal compoundable cases and service matters pertaining to pension, retrial benefits, etc.
Award is final The award of a Lok Adalat is final and cannot be challenged by way of appeals and revision, etc. Moreover, settlement of a pending court case in a Lok Adalat comes with an added
incentive of refund of court fee to the party involved in the litigation. The NALSA, under Justice Misra, has decided to organise bi-monthly National Lok Adalats for both pending and pre-litigative cases.
‘Culture of settlement’ Pendency in subordinate courts is a whopping over 2.7 crore cases. A statement issued by
NALSA emphasised the point made by Justice Misra that it is developing a “culture of settlement”.
Guidelines issued “A set of guidelines has been issued to State Legal Services Authorities to concentrate on the days of Lok Adalats to make efforts to see that parties in contest arrive at an amicable settlement,” NALSA said in an official release.
‘Clear leader’ The PSLV, with a near impeccable 37 successes in 39 flights, he said, is a clear leader in the category of rockets that lift small satellites to low earth orbits or LEOs. These satellites weigh up to 500 kg and must be placed in polar orbits 500 km from the earth. “Antrix has launch orders worth around ₹600 crore,” Mr. Sasibhushan said. Roughly 15% of its nearly ₹2,000-crore turnover comes from PSLV launch orders of foreign satellite operators. Similar 100-plus satellite contracts on a single flight would be uncommon; Mr. Sasibhushan said the next
PSLV, C-38, due in May, would have 30 small satellites (smallsats) riding piggyback with the primary Cartosat-2 series satellite. But they are not a result of the February launch, he clarified. Carolyn Belle, senior analyst at Northern Sky Research, a space industry consultancy based in Massachusetts, said in a response, “The PSLV is in an interesting position in the market. It has a strong technical track record and is an attractive vehicle for smallsat operators - especially if the launch [frequency] increases.” However, a limiting factor, in her view, is the waiver process that is needed to launch a U.S. satellite, the U.S. being the largest market.
“Punjab govt resorting to vendetta politics” Press Trust of India Chandigarh
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday accused the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab of resorting to “vendetta politics” against its opponents. “Akali workers are being targeted and even eliminated by Congress activists and even the police have become an instrument for un-
leashing vendetta against the Shiromani Akali Dal activists,” the former Deputy Chief Minister alleged. “I have already requested Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to restrain his workers from resorting to vendetta politics but it seems my pleas have not had any effect. The SAD will now go to the people and build a movement against these repressive tactics,” Mr Badal said.
tampered with, and each time the EC had maintained that the machines were secure, given the technology and the administrative processes adopted. The Commission has termed such charges baseless, stating that none of the complainants have come up with any proof to support their allegations.
Ban cow slaughter, says AMUSU Staff Reporter MEERUT
The Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union on Wednesday said that it supported a complete ban on cow slaughter. AMUSU president Faizul Hasan made this remark while addressing a gathering of students during AMUSU’s protest against “unconstitutional cow vigilantes”. “We would support if there is any proposal by the Central government to put a stop to cow slaughter across the country in view of the religious sentiments of the Hindu community,” he said. Students of the AMU and office-bearers of the AMUSU demanded death penalty to the killers of Pehlu Khan, allegedly a victim of cow vigilantism in Alwar, Rajasthan. They demanded that the government take action against the extra constitutional “gau rakshaks who were spreading terror in the name of saving cows”. The protesters submitted a memorandum to the President Pranab Mukherjee through the local district administration, demanding the quashing of the FIR against Pehlu Khan and his associates for transporting cattle. The memorandum noted that the ‘gau rakshaks’ were responsible for the murder of many innocent individuals in the recent past.
UP govt orders closure of judicial probe into Mathura violence CBI has taken over investigation into Jawahar Bagh incident Press Trust of India Lucknow
With CBI taking up the probe into Jawahar Bagh park violence in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Wednesday ordered closure of the judicial inquiry into the incident which had claimed 29 lives, including two police officials, last year during an
CM YK
anti-encroachment drive. “The Governor is of the opinion that continuance of the judicial inquiry is of no use,” Principal Secretary (Home) Devashis Panda said in a notification here.
Judicial panel He said the judicial panel headed by Justice (Retd) Mirza Imtiaz Murtaza of the
Allahabad High Court will submit in a sealed envelope its findings till April 1 to the government and return all facilities extended to it by April 20. The Allahabad High Court had last month directed the CBI to probe the incident, following which the investigating agency registered a case.
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8 EDITORIAL
NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
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Ending nuclear lawlessness The attempt at the UN to ban atomic weapons is based on the premise that all countries deserve equal security
In a safer lane
Another crisis Some give and take is the only way out of Nepal’s constitutional impasse
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ith Madhesi parties deciding to boycott local polls scheduled for May 14, Nepal is heading for another political crisis. The boycott decision came after the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre)-led government tabled fresh amendments to the Constitution in Parliament. Ever since the country adopted the new post-monarchy Constitution in September 2015, Madhesi parties have been demanding a redrawing of federal boundaries to relect the fact that the community, residents of the Terai area, and other minority groups are in a majority in some new provinces. The government led by CPN(M-C) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, with the Nepali Congress part of the coalition, came to power in 2016 on the promise of accommodating these demands to the extent possible and forging a reasonable consensus across the political spectrum. The government had also initiated amendments that went some way in addressing Madhesi concerns, such as the formation of a federal commission to look into a redrawing of federal boundaries, and the recognition of local languages as national ones. These amendments were, however, rejected by Madhesi parties, which stuck to a maximalist position. The opposition Communist Party of Nepal (Uniied-MarxistLeninist) also rejected them, though for being too giving. Unable to forge any consensus, the government came up with the fresh amendments as a signal that it is willing to concede some of the Madhesi demands in return for their participation in the long-pending local polls. But the absence of substantive eforts to address the federal question has resulted in a Madhesi boycott. Nine years have passed since elections to the irst Constituent Assembly were held. Beyond Nepal’s transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic, the lack of consensus on other issues pushed the inalisation of the Constitution far beyond the original remit of the Constituent Assembly, which was to have concluded the process in two years. The new Constituent Assembly elected in 2013 was less amenable to changes, especially to the state structure, and the Madhesi parties refused to accept the inalised Constitution in 2015. The impasse on the state restructuring issue has given rise to disturbing trends — jingoism, that sees Madhesi concerns as relecting the interests of external actors such as India, and voices of secessionism among Madhesi forces who suggest that the Nepali polity is incapable of addressing the plain-dwellers’ concerns. This political battle of wits has taken away muchneeded focus from the dire state of the economy, which is yet to recover from the shock of the devastating earthquake of 2015. Local elections are seen as a way to allow for a much-needed administrative presence everywhere, but this cannot happen without the participation of all political forces, especially Madhesis. The government has its task cut out to manage a compromise. CM YK
zia mian & m.v. ramana n the last week of March, at the United Nations in New York, history was made as diplomats from about 130 countries started formal talks on an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The goal is simple: declare it illegal for any country to produce, possess, stockpile, deploy, threaten to use, or use nuclear weapons. The inal treaty could be approved and ready for signature before the end of this year. Not surprisingly, none of the nine nuclear weapon countries showed up, India and Pakistan included. Numbers are not on the side of the nuclear weapons states, however. The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, staged a public boycott outside the negotiating hall but managed to rally only a ragtag band of about 20 diplomats, mostly from Eastern Europe. Ms. Haley claimed that, as a mother, “there is nothing that I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons” but she insisted that as an American “to ban nuclear weapons now would make us and our allies more vulnerable.” Clearly, however, she was not willing to accord the same protection to all countries. Ironically, it took an Indian Ambassador to inadvertently puncture this claim to nuclear privilege: “The language of privilege and entitlement has no place in today’s world.” The nuclear weapons ban talks are the fulilment of a long-standing demand that all countries deserve equal security. For decades,
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the world has pressed the handful of countries with nuclear weapons to free humanity from the nuclear danger. The very irst resolution at the UN, passed in 1946, called for a plan “for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons.”
regardless. It was an insane and murderous logic: since neither side could allow the other to prevail, the only acceptable outcome to both was mutual assured destruction. A handful of states followed them down into this moral pit: answer mass destruction with mass destruction. Tragically, this included India, which was warned by none other than Mahatma Gandhi that “the moral to be legitimately drawn from the supreme tragedy of the bomb is that it will not be destroyed by counter-bombs”.
The Cold War race The driving force for the demand for a nuclear weapon-free world is a simple humanitarian impulse, the love and compassion for other human beings — as even Ms. Haley realised. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate means of mass destruction and history has shown their use brings immeasurable death and sufering. It was this realisation that led to the November 1961 UN General Assembly resolution that declared: “Any state using nuclear and thermonuclear weapons is to be considered as violating the Charter of the United Nations, as acting contrary to the laws of humanity, and as committing a crime against mankind and civilisation.” During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union argued that the world was in a life or death struggle and nuclear weapons were a tragic necessity. Both sides knew no one would win in a nuclear war but they prepared to ight
Resistance of the nuclear club The end of the Cold War ofered the hope of a new start for the world. The UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. In July 1996, the court issued an advisory opinion, with two key conclusions. First, “the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conlict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law.” And, second, “there exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict
Time to force the issue Most of the other nuclear weapons
states, led by the U.S., did not try to hide behind diplomatic procedure. They simply insisted that the world wait for them to decide when they are ready to give up their nuclear weapons. After 70 years, the vast majority of countries around the world suspect that day may never come. After all, the world would never have banned slavery if we had to wait for all the slave owners to agree in advance that slavery was a bad thing and that they were ready to end it. Rather than waiting for that day, the nuclear weapon-free countries have decided to take matters into their own hands. Their irst step is the ban treaty. It lays down a clear marker for what weapons the world thinks no state can seek, possess and use in wartime. This is how other weapons have been banned, be they chemical weapons, biological weapons, landmines, or cluster munitions. Of course, as has happened in Syria with chemical weapons, there are occasional violations of the international laws banning weapons of mass destruction, but the world now condemns such actions and decent people everywhere would support eforts to ind the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The possibility of violations has never stopped countries from passing laws and agreeing on what should be prohibited. India, Pakistan, and all of the nuclear weapons states should prepare to give up their arsenals or be treated as outlaws. Zia Mian is co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Afairs, Princeton University. M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security with the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. Views are personal
Powering India-Nepal ties This is an opportune moment to push for electricity trade with a long-term perspective
kirit parikh
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n important step in promoting electricity trade between India and Nepal took place on February 14 when Energy Secretary-level talks — known as the joint steering committee ( JSC) meeting — concluded in Kathmandu. Here, it was decided to endorse the detailed project report of the 400 kV ButwalGorakhpur cross-border transmission line. It follows the guidelines issued by India’s Ministry of Power for cross-border electricity trade on December 5, 2016. This is an opportune moment to push for electricity trade with a long-term perspective. Nepal is short of power and will need to import power for some years to accelerate its economic growth. India has surplus capacity at present. In the years to come, it can fruitfully import lexible hydropower from Nepal to balance its fast growing renewable generation and also provide a market for Nepal’s electricity. With this market, Nepal’s hydro potential can be developed faster. India and Nepal have been talking about electricity trade and joint projects for many years now, but somehow these talks did not succeed. It was only in 2014 when India
and Nepal signed a Power Trade Agreement that the doors opened for Nepal developers/traders to access the Indian power market. At irst, Nepal was apprehensive that it would not get a fair deal trading with a large neighbour, but power is now traded in India on exchanges transparently and the price is known to all, thus assuaging some of Nepal’s apprehensions.
What the data show Due to political uncertainty, the development of Nepal’s hydro potential has been delayed. Out of an economically viable and technically feasible potential of 43.5 GW, only 0.8 GW had been developed by March 2016. Thus, a great opportunity has been missed. By selling power to India, Nepal could have developed its economy at a faster rate. Bhutan has reaped the beneit of power export to India and its per capita income in purchasing power parity adjusted for international dollars increased from $475 in 1980 to $7,860 in 2015. India’s was $5,730 in 2015. Electricity is required for economic growth and well-being. In 2015, Nepal faced load-shedding of up to 16 hours a day during the dry season, when the available capacity of Nepal’s hydropower decreases to a third of installed capacity. Peak load outstripped domestic power generation capacity, causing serious power shortage, which was partly met with by import from India. Nepal’s electricity supply in 2015-16 was around 5,100 GWh, of
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Bilateral tensions It is a well-established fact that the civilian government of Pakistan has neither the power nor the authority to take on the Pakistan Army and the establishment at Rawalpindi, which is the real power centre in that country. Unfortunately, India has always been at the receiving end of Pakistan’s unsavoury games, and we end up being made to look weak. Most of our carefully crafted agreements are just pieces of paper as nothing moves without the generals’ approval. The Indian government must now rise from this state of political sluggishness and take strong and irm steps against Pakistan. We must have the faith and the conidence in ourselves to declare Pakistan a terrorist state and snap all ties and agreements; this includes the Indus Waters Treaty.
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he Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by the Lok Sabha this week will take a little more time to come into force, since it has not cleared the Rajya Sabha in the Budget session. But the changes that it proposes to the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act of 1988 are signiicant. The Centre assumes a direct role in the reforms, since it will introduce guidelines that bind State governments in several areas, notably in creating a framework for taxicab aggregators, inancing insurance to treat the injured and to compensate families of the dead in hit-and-run cases, prescribing standards for electronically monitoring highways and urban roads for enforcement and modernising driver licensing. There is a dire need to have clear rules and transparent processes in all these areas, since transport bureaucracies have remained unresponsive to the needs of a growing economy that is witnessing a steady rise in motorisation. The bottleneck created by their lack of capacity has stiled regulatory reform in the transport sector and only encouraged corruption. There is some concern that the move to amend the MV Act overly emphasises the concurrent jurisdiction of the Centre at the cost of State powers, but the proposed changes come after a long consultation exercise. A group of State Transport Ministers went into the reform question last year, while the comprehensive recommendations of the Sundar Committee on road safety have been left on the back burner for nearly a decade. It may appear counter-intuitive, but research shows that imposing stricter penalties tends to reduce the level of enforcement of road rules. As the IIT Delhi’s Road Safety in India report of 2015 points out, the deterrent efect of law depends on the severity and swiftness of penalties, but also the perception that the possibility of being caught for violations is high. The amendments to the MV Act set enhanced penalties for several ofences, notably drunken driving, speeding, jumping red lights and so on, but periodic and inefective enforcement, which is the norm, makes it less likely that these will be uniformly applied. Without an accountable and professional police force, the ghastly record of traic fatalities, which stood at 1,46,133 in 2015, is unlikely to change. On another front, State governments must prepare for an early roll-out of administrative reforms prescribed in the amended law, such as issuing learner’s licences online, recording address changes through an online application, and electronic service delivery with set deadlines. Indeed, to eliminate corruption, all applications should be accepted by transport departments online, rather than merely computerising them. Protection from harassment for good samaritans who help accident victims is something the amended law provides, and this needs to be in place.
DEEPAK HARICHANDAN
States should start preparing to implement the changes in the Motor Vehicles Act
and efective international control.” The door opened to a nuclear weapons ban. In the 20 years since the court issued its judgment, countries with nuclear weapons have simply refused to comply. Rather than starting “negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament”, they have sought to block them, choosing to launch long-term costly programmes to maintain, modernise, and in some cases augment their nuclear arsenals. Non-nuclear states and peace movement activists went back to basics. They launched an international efort to highlight nuclear weapons capacity to cause widespread sufering and indiscriminate harm. This won support from the majority of the world’s countries. At the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in 2014, oicials from 158 countries showed up. This process led to the adoption of a historic resolution at the UN last October “to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”. India and Pakistan abstained from the UN vote. India’s main argument was that nuclear disarmament talks should only happen at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. The reason was simple: the Conference on Disarmament works by consensus, which means any state can block progress. India used this feature to try to block the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996, and Pakistan now uses this power to stop talks on a treaty to ban the production of issile materials for nuclear weapons. Their prescription would mean continued inactivity on nuclear disarmament.
which 3,300 GWh was domestic generation and remaining 1,758 GWh was import from India. Import has increased steadily from 746 GWh in 2011-12 to 1,758 GWh in 201516, an almost threefold increase. Nepal also exports electricity to India in some periods, although in very small quantity. Per capita electricity consumption in Nepal is one of the world’s lowest, at 119 kWh in 2012. It has an ambitious target of reaching 16,500 MW of hydro capacity by 2030, which includes the joint project with India at Pancheshwar.
Energy study We at the Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) have carried out a detailed modelling study which explored electricity trade potential on an hourly basis till 2045. (This study was carried out as a part of US AID-supported South Asia Regional Initiative
for Energy Integration project.) The trade takes place at a price that is acceptable to both buyer and seller. Its macroeconomic impact has also been estimated. For example, Nepal’s revenue from export of electricity to India increases its ability to import more goods and also to invest more in the economy. This increases its gross domestic product, consumption and use of electricity, which improves quality of life. The prospect of electricity trade with India makes it possible for Nepal to develop its hydropower potential and has important consequences. Even though signiicant exports to India will begin only from 2025 because domestic capacity development takes time, Nepal could already beneit through larger import of electricity from India. Increased availability of electricity accelerates its economic development. The construction of transmission lines to import electricity become lines to export electricity by 2025. Nepal imports 0.7 billion kWh (bkWh) in 2020 but by 2025 exports 18 bkWh, which increases to 65 bkWh by 2030 and to 113 bkWh by 2040. Its annual export revenue from the electricity trade becomes NPR 310 billion in 2030, NPR 840 billion in 2040 and NPR 1,069 billion in 2045, at 2011-12 prices. By 2045, Nepal’s GDP becomes 39% larger, its per capita consumption 23% higher and per capita electricity consumption 50% higher than if trade were to continue at its modest current level. Trade also beneits India. Meet-
ing the evening peak in India when its large solar PV capacity would not be available becomes easier and cheaper. The gains in monetary terms are comparable for both Nepal and India. Therefore, the sooner Nepal develops its hydropower potential, the earlier the beneits. For electricity trade to materialise, policy, institutional and technical infrastructure are necessary. Building hydropower projects and transmission infrastructure is highly investment-intensive. Without a stable, long-term conducive policy and an institutional environment in place, which ensures payment security, it is unlikely that investors will put their money in this risky business. Recently, the Indian government issued guidelines and draft notiication on cross-border electricity trade (CBET) policy to enable Indian/Nepal producers/traders to seamlessly exchange power with neighbouring nations. A climate of conidence and trust in the long-term trading relationship between India and Nepal can greatly help Nepal meet its ambitious target and provide an opportunity for Indian investors to invest in Nepal. This could help us smoothen our recently strained relations with Nepal as well as strengthen our historically friendly ties. Dr. Kirit Parikh, a former member of the Planning Commission, is Chairman, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe)
Letters emailed to
[email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
■ Iran’s stand in this matter is quite signiicant as no country would risk siding with either party in such a complex situation unless it has substantial knowledge of what the truth is. It’s time the world community stands for justice and stops this dirty game, which India had rightly called an act of pre-meditated murder — if it is carried out.
Ground situation
■ The Kashmir Valley holds tremendous tourism potential, but is being made a tinderbox in order to satisfy selish political agendas of vested interests. Youth who should be contributing their mite to the region’s development are instead being used as pawns to destroy their own home. And political leaders, instead of making positive interventions, are busy in a blame game. It would have been nicer had a veteran politician like Mr. Abdullah shared his vision on the future of politics in the country. There has to be a low of constructive ideas in the matters of utmost importance — be it a region’s development, the ight against corruption and terrorism, and even saving Kulbhushan Jadhav.
It is really unfortunate that the case has taken a dark turn. It is shocking that military courts have so much power that even the Supreme Court of that country cannot intervene. India has never pronounced the death penalty on a Pakistani spy. Good sense must prevail and the Pakistan civilian leadership must draw the line on its Army’s overreach.
It is amusing that National Conference president and three-time Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah feels that India is heading towards disaster under the leadership of Narendra Modi (‘The Wednesday Interview’ – “‘I see India heading towards disaster’,” April 12). Has he forgotten that unprecedented mega scams took place during the rule of his coalition partner, the Congress-led UPA government? As regards the recent violence in Kashmir, it is well known that it has been burning since the last so many decades not due to local issues but as a result of issues deliberately fostered by Pakistan. Since the NC government ruled the State for long, it should accept responsibility for the deterioration of law and order in the State.
S.P. Sharma,
J.S. Acharya,
Kshirasagara Balaji Rao
Killing research
Mumbai
Shell Cove, NSW, Australia
Hyderabad
In the present era of ICT
Kiran Babasaheb Ransing, New Delhi
Pankaj Sharma, Chandigarh
applications for research such as online reviewing facilities through e-books and e-journals, video conferencing, webinars, communication apps, other social media that are used in all stages of research— right from problem selection, tool construction, collection of data, analysis of data, up to preparing the report — time is not a factor. This means the academic supervisors can guide a greater number of scholars. Reduction in the number of wards/students afects both the quality and quantity of research output at the doctoral level.
Great attention should be paid to how to maintain quality in research without restricting the number of wards. Periodic training for research supervisors, better quality checks and benchmarks, stringent evaluation processes of theses, encouraging original research and a dissemination of research indings will enhance present standards of research (“No place for scholarship”, April 12). P. Prema, Thanjavur
more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
corrections & clarifications: The opening paragraph of the report headlined “Nepal link to Jadhav verdict?” (April 12, 2017) incorrectly referred to Lt. Col. (retd.) Muhammad Habib Zahir as a Pakistani army oicer. Actually, he is a retired oicer. It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signiicant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:
[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
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THE HINDU
OPED 9
NOIDA/DELHI
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
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India’s epic dilemma
Passage without scrutiny
Our stories are richest when they are read as ethical texts, not ideological guides
We must move to a system where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House of Parliament
peter ronald desouza
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m.r. madhavan Some days ago, during a discussion on the many ways to interpret episodes in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the issue came up of whether these are ethical texts or merely ideological ones. Should one regard them as repositories of moral conundrums, on the human condition, that needed to be decoded and debated by every age for itself, or whether their messages, about the nature of the dharmic order to which all must conform, were clear and without ambiguity. What gave rise to this debate were two stories that were being discussed: the case of Eklavya who willingly offered his thumb to Drona on the Guru’s request, thereby assuring an anxious Arjun of his supremacy as an archer, and that of Ram beheading Shambuka for falling out of dharmic line. I wondered if one were a feminist, a Dalit scholar, a passionate nationalist of the current variety found among Ministers of State, or even a European Marxist, would one find morally grey areas in such episodes or would one see them as containing clear messages of how power and social relationships in a ‘just’ society should be ordered? At this point let me step back a bit and carefully probe the distinction between an ethical and an ideological text. An ethical text is one which presents episodes as forks in the road where each path offered is attractive because it contains desirable goals. Choosing one path presents one with a quandary because the benefits offered by the other path would now have to be willingly foregone. Each path at the fork leads to the same destination. One only needs to decide what gains and losses one wished to forego. For example, path A would offer to cut a journey short by four hours. But it would mean travelling on a bad road full of potholes and perhaps risking a bad back and a breakdown. Path B, in contrast, is longer and would get the traveller home past midnight. But it would be a smooth ride on a freshly metalled road that went through a forest. Travelling at night would risk a dacoit hold-up. An ethical text does not give a clear
moral message. It compels one to weigh options before making a choice. The ideological text, in contrast, is like a road within the National Highway system. Clearly numbered exits are given to one’s destination. You know where and when to leave the highway. Here there are no moral conundrums. There are just clear signposts prepared by a highways authority which tell you where to stop, at what speed to travel, which lane to follow, and where to exit. The highways authority offers a distinct route map for the whole society. It does so with the certainty of one who knows.
Civilisational abundance So are the epics ethical texts or ideological ones? I believe they are the former. I believe each episode is a site for debate, an opportunity for each moral position in society to be heard and to solicit adherents. An Irawati Karve can see in Bhishma an egoistical, old man who, never having fought a war, still accepts the generalship of an army at a ripe age extending into the eighties, a measure of his narcissism. The Jain Ramayana has Laxman, instead of Ram, killing Ravan because that was the only way for them to reconcile the central Jain doctrine of Ahimsa and still valorise the Maryada Purusha. It is only an ethical text which allows for an A.K. Ramanujan’s 300 Ramayanas, suggesting that the story is alive in the country as people and places interpolate into the text their own aspirations and values. Individuals and social groups, of all ages, have drawn from the epics to fight their moral
and political battles. This is what makes the epics so relevant to contemporary India. Today we need new interpretations to fight our political battles. The epics today need to be contemporanised. An ethical text is the organic fertiliser of a society. Being fully openended, it delights, beckons, and recaptures the deracinated Indian from the lure of the ideological camp. While it generates passion, it also respects diversity of interpretation. It represents life but, in contrast to life’s chaos, also offers options. An ethical text is a living text. India is fortunate to be the land of several epics such as Silappatikaram in Tamil or Palnati Virula katha in Telugu and so on. I am not saying something very new here but only presenting, in a binary way, the contrast between an ethical and an ideological text so that we can fight our current politics. Because the Indian tradition has always seen the epics as ethical texts, in contrast to the political trend today, we have great commentaries such as that of V.S. Sukthankar. The sophisticated elaboration by Mehendale on the rules of war and the consequences in terms of punishment of their violation, in his wonderfully slim book Reflections on the Mahabharata war, is another illustration of the Indian tradition of diverse interpretations. Critical commentaries, dissent, alternative readings are merely different forks in the road as we explore our national cultural heritage. Unfortunately today, with the rise of cultural vigilantes, these great epics are being converted into ideo-
logical texts. Because they receive tacit support from the powers that control the state, they attempt to push everyone onto the highway and away from the byways of Indian society. It bears repeating here that the National Highway is good for the movement of goods and traffic, for practical and efficiency purposes, but not for cultural journeys for which it is the byways that matter. They nurture the richness of our cultural life. It is through the byways that we will discover the cultural ecosystems that local communities have created through complex negotiations with each other.
Isn’t this anti-national? The smell of the mahua tree, for example, means a great deal in central India but has little significance in coastal India where the smell of fish is more exciting. Unless of course the rishi Parashar aroused by Satyavati replaced her fish smell of matsyagandha with the heavenly smell of making coastal yojanagandha, people like me to think this to be a parochial tale. Such playful stories can only be told when the epic is an ethical text. The cultural vigilantes have created a climate of anxiety which the people in control of the state have done little to diminish, for it pays them political dividends. Do they not realise that while they may gain the country, they will lose a civilisation? Do they not realise how anti-national this is? Peter Ronald deSouza is Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Studies. Views are personal
The Budget session of Parliament that concluded on Wednesday was an eventful one. Lok Sabha clocked in 108% of the originally scheduled hours, while Rajya Sabha did 86%. The Budget dates were advanced to enable the discussion and passing before the beginning of the financial year. Several important Bills were passed. However, there were several instances when Parliament failed to perform its role in scrutinising Bills before passing them. This Session, 20 Bills were introduced, and to date none of these have been referred to standing committees of Parliament; one Bill — the constitutional amendment to create a national commission for backward classes — was passed by Lok Sabha and then referred by Rajya Sabha to a select committee. In the last three years, just 29% of Bills have been referred to parliamentary committees. This is in contrast to the 60% and 71% of bills examined by committees in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas, respectively. The important contribution of committees is evident in the progress of the Bills referred to them. The Mental Healthcare Bill passed this session and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by Lok Sabha this week incorporated most of the changes recommended by the committees.
Some problematic Bills Three Bills passed by Parliament may face constitutional challenges. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill follows up on the demonetisation exercise. It provides a limited time period for citizens who were abroad between November 9 and December 30 to exchange their notes. Indian residents could do that until the end of March 2017, and NRIs till June. The Bill also made it an offence to hold more than 10 pieces of the old notes (25 for research or numismatic purposes). This Bill raises two significant constitutional issues. First, the notification of November 8 that denotified the notes allowed time till December 30 for depositing these, and said that any person unable to do so would be given further time to deposit them at specified RBI branches. On December 30, an ordinance was issued (the Bill is identical to the ordinance) that provided further time only to citizens who were abroad till that date. This is akin to expropriation of property without any compensation and may violate Article 300A of the Constitution. Also, if holding the notes is made a criminal offence on December 30,
and a person having them that day cannot deposit or exchange them, then this is effectively making an action an offence with retrospective effect and may be seen as a violation of a fundamental right. The second Bill is the Finance Bill. Other than amending tax rates, it allowed the process of appointment, removal and service conditions of members of appellate tribunals to be determined by rules. That is, the terms of engagement of quasi-judicial bodies will be determined by the Central government by notification instead of being specified in the Act. This provision may contravene several judgments that lay out the independence of the judiciary as a basic feature of the Constitution. Another provision of the Finance Bill permits income tax officers to refuse to disclose to any court or tribunal the information that formed the basis for a raid; this may contravene the principle of judicial review of executive action. The third Bill is the Enemy Property Bill which vests the rights over enemy property with the Central government. This amendment has been made with retrospective effect (going back four decades), and will affect all property that may have been sold (and resold) since then. The Bill also bars any court from hearing cases related to enemy property. These provisions may not adhere to principles of due process and judicial review.
Taxation Laws Bill The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, that was introduced in Lok Sabha and passed within a week, too raises some concern. It makes several amendments related to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax. In addition, it adds a section to the Customs Act, which requires various authorities to disclose to the customs officer any information required. The question is whether Lok Sabha examined the appropriateness of giving such powers to the customs officer. Except the Enemy Property Bill, the other three were not referred to committees and were passed as Money Bills. The Enemy Property Bill was examined by a select committee of Rajya Sabha, and a note of dissent signed by six of its 23 members pointed out constitutional issues, but the suggested changes were not incorporated by Parliament while passing it. The key lesson is the importance of detailed scrutiny by Parliament. Perhaps, it may be advisable to move to a system like that of the British Parliament where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House. That may take more time to pass a Bill but will ensure that there is adequate deliberation by parliamentarians before they pass a Bill. M.R. Madhavan is the President and co-founder of PRS Legislative Research
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Remember them at their best
FIFTY YEARS AGO APRIL 13, 1967
First Nehru award to Thant President Radhakrishnan to-day [April 12] presented the first Jawaharlal Nehru Award to the U.N. Secretary-General, U Thant, for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of international understanding and friendship among peoples of the world before a distinguished gathering at an impressive ceremony at Vigyan Bhavan here [New Delhi]. The President said the U.N. Secretary-General had made ceaseless efforts to end the senseless slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Viet Nam. U Thant’s plan for peace in Viet Nam conformed to world opinion and “we hope that it may be possible to implement the scheme of U Thant with any small modifications if necessary.” Dr. Radhakrishnan said U Thant being a true Buddhist aimed at peace without victory or defeat for either side but with reconciliation. Dr. Radhakrishnan said U Thant was a great servant of peace and understanding and paid a special tribute to Buddhist humanism, to which U Thant subscribed, as expressive of “the universality of all mankind”.
The melancholia of watching our idols past their prime Abdus Salam
R. SHIVAJI RAO
Months before he passed away in July 2012, Rajesh Khanna managed a rare self-deprecatory turn in a lifetime of ego trips. In what was apparently the irst time he was appearing in a commercial (he’d done print ads in his heyday), and what was also claimed to be the irst time he was turning out in a tuxedo on camera, he decided to laugh at himself, insisting no one could take away his legion of fans from him, as the camera panned to a stadium-full of rotating blades. Perhaps it was his last sally at overturning years of oblivion for ‘Kaka’, as his legion of real fans called him, and the ad sure made a splash, especially after it proved to be his last celluloid ofering. The abiding memory of it, however, is one of pathos, of being forced to see the shrivelled caricature of a man slipping away on account of terminal liver cancer. The gaunt face, the sunken eyes and the broken voice were a far cry from the splendid jawline, the impish eyes and the rich baritone of the romantic hero who became India’s irst superstar and introduced a whole generation of girls to the art of writing letters in blood and kissing car bonnets.
Keeping the personal personal While the jury is still out on whether the makers of the ad ilm ‘used’ a dying Kaka and if the ad itself was disparaging to his legacy, fact is that the actor willingly partook in the project. Such informed consent doesn’t seem to have been the case with his peer and ailing yesteryear star Vinod Khanna as social media went hysterical with an image of him in hospital clothes last week. Flanked by his wife and son, Khanna looked virtually unrecognisable in his frail arms, scraggly grey stubble and barely open eyes. It led to feverish speculation about him suffering from bladder cancer, even as the hospital’s oicial version had it that he was admitted for extreme dehydration. Khanna is much better now, his family has subsequently reported, but this image of him as a pale shadow of the man who was too good-looking to keep playing villain will remain etched in the mind, much like that of an Amitabh Bachchan outside a Delhi hospital a few years ago inside an SUV, slouching from abdominal pain. That the personal is anything but personal for celebrities and those in the public sphere is a truism, but intrusions into one’s private life vis-à-vis relationships is one thing, peering into one’s litany of ailments and outing pictures of the ravages of time quite another. Khanna is a sitting Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur, and his health is of consequence to his constituents, but he should have had the agency to inform them at a time of his choosing. Unless non-disclosure is outright detrimental to public interest, it’s best to let people be during their convalescence or slow march into the sunset. That is the reason why we haven’t seen and heard much of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and George Fernandes these past few years. We remember them at their best. CM YK
ARCHIVES
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO APRIL 13, 1917
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CONCEPTUAL
FAQ
Freudian slip
All about bitcoins
Psychology In The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Sigmund Freud postulated that the slips or mistakes people make in spoken or written language could be on account of repressed impulses and intentions, often sexual in nature. Thus, failure of memory, mismatch of words, and bungled action are not accidental; they reveal a lot about a person’s unconscious thoughts. Although extremely popular as a concept, the Freudian slip has been criticised on several counts. Sebastiano Timpanaro, for instance, argued that many of the slips referred to by Freud could be a result of ‘banalisation’: a ‘wrong’ more familiar word is spoken, read, or transcribed instead of a ‘correct’ less familiar one. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
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Playback singer Iman Chakraborty after winning a National Award http://bit.ly/2o6awqr
How to buy, send and invest in the digital currency K. Bharat Kumar How do people use bitcoins? It is an electronic
or digital currency that works on a peer-to-peer basis. This means that it is decentralised and has no central authority controlling it. Like currency notes, it can be sent from one person to another, but without a central bank or the government attempting to track it. The system depends on cryptography to control the creation of the currency. While no one authority controls the generation of the coins or tracks them, the system itself is designed in such a way that the network maintains a foolproof system of the record of every transaction as well as tracking issuance of the currency. Who can you send bitcoins to? You can send bitcoins
digitally to anyone who has a bitcoin address anywhere in the globe. One person could have multiple addresses for different purposes – personal,
business and the like. Receivers can get to spend them within minutes of receiving the coins. Once given away, like currency, there is no getting them back, unless the receiver decides to give them to you. A bitcoin is not printed currency but is a non-repudiable record of every transaction that it has been through. All this is part of a huge ledger called the blockchain. Where do you get bitcoins?
Bitcoins are available in bitcoin exchanges. You could also purchase bitcoins from other users. A bitcoin exchange traded fund could be another source in the near future. You can become a bitcoin miner by investing in software and hardware. More the power of the hardware that helps with encryption technology, higher the probability of your earning bitcoins. Unocoin is a Bengalurubased company that allows users to buy, sell, store or use bitcoins. While bitcoin
usage is certainly not mainstream, there are said to be more than 500 merchants who accept bitcoins for payment in India. What is the value of one bitcoin today? One bitcoin
is worth roughly about $1,200 now. An early investor in Snapchat has been quoted on the Web as saying that by 2030, the value could be as high as $500,000. One of the reasons that could prompt you to buy a bitcoin today is not so much to use it for payment online but as an investment. Urban legend has it that someone who was doing a thesis on cryptocurrency bought 5000 bitcoins for $27 in 2009. Do the math for the value today! And unlike traditional currency that is inflationary in nature, the bitcoin is a deflationary currency. In other words, if there are only so many bitcoins in use, and the demand for those rises, the value of a bitcoin would, logically, rise.
The Freedom of Edinburgh was conferred upon Sir R. Borden, General Smuts and the Maharajah of Bikanir to-day, the Lord Provost presiding at the great assembly of citizens in the Usher Hall. In his speech, Sir R. Borden said he and his fellow delegates had come to sit at the great council board of the nation to discuss vital questions of common concern. One of the delegates was an Indian Prince invested with splendid traditions of race and ancestry and united to the British Crown by ties of fealty and devotion which were never more strikingly manifested than during the past three years. Another was the distinguished soldier-statesman who had served the Empire splendidly for many years in both capacities although he had previously fought against us to the best of his great ability. To-day he and General Botha were the great assets to the Empire and to the world. The fact that his and General Smut’s conceptions regarding future constitutional relations were substantially the same in spite of widely differing conditions of upbringing was evidence of the broad foundation of liberty, justice, autonomy and unity on which the British Empire stood secure. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
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NOIDA/DELHI
THE HINDU
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017
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FROM PAGE ONE
Petrol, diesel prices to be ixed daily Rates differ by only a few paise between pumps of the three state fuel retailers.
Unbranded petrol Unbranded petrol at IOC pumps in Delhi costs ₹66.29 per litre, while the same at BPCL pumps in the city is priced at ₹66.37 a litre. HPCL pumps sell for ₹66.48 per litre. Unbranded diesel at IOC pumps in Delhi costs ₹55.61, ₹55.66 at BPCL outlets and ₹55.69 a litre at HPCL pumps. With daily changes, which are unlikely to be more than a few paise per litre, the political pressures for not revising rates particularly when they are to be hiked will go, sources said. Last revision Petrol price was last revised downward by ₹3.77 a litre on April 1, and diesel rates were cut by ₹2.91. This was
Petrol, diesel prices in a particular market will be the same.
the first revision in two-andhalf-months as oil firms did not change prices during the Assembly elections in five States, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Mr. Ashok said prices of petrol and diesel in a particular market (city or town) will be the same. “By and large, in a particular market it should be the same, though, there might be marginal difference from pump to pump,” he said.
‘Bounty’ for Mamata’s head raises a storm BJYM leader Yogesh Varshney’s call receives lak from Opposition parties
Group disowns youth leader
Special Correspondent New Delhi
Opposition members in Parliament expressed serious concern over a BJP youth wing leader announcing a ₹11-lakh bounty for anyone who “beheads” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, with the Centre saying the State government was “free to take legal action” against him. Yogesh Varshney of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha made the controversial remark after the West Bengal police used batons to disperse a rally raising slogans in praise of Lord Rama on Hanuman Jayanti. Trinamool member Sukhendu Sekhar raised the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “I strongly condemn such statements. The State government is free to take appropriate legal action on this issue.”
More slander better for me: Bengal CM
Press Trust of India New Delhi
Special Correspondent KOLKATA
Taking it head-on: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a programme in Murshidabad on Wednesday. Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien said the State government can register an FIR and take action. He added there was no need for further discussion on it as the Minister had condemned the statement.
Mayawati tells BJP to act BSP chief Mayawati demanded that the BJP take action against the individual rather
The BJYM has disowned its leader Yogesh Varshney, who announced a ₹11 lakh bounty on Mamata Banerjee’s head. “The BJYM urges the administration to take action against him as per law,” it said, adding he was expelled from the party two years ago. *
PTI
than just condemning the statement. Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan said, “You can protect cows, and women are facing atrocities. How dare somebody talk like this, especially against a woman?... Is this the way they are going to protect the women of this country?” In the Lok Sabha, members condemned the state-
ment, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar expressing his displeasure. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said everyone must condemn such statements. Trinamool member Saugata Roy said: “Mamata Banerjee is not only a Chief Minister but a former member of this House too. It is a serious and alarming behaviour.” (With PTI inputs)
The more they try to slander me, the better it turns out for me, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday. The remarks by the Chief Minister came on a day an activist associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) youth wing from Aligarh created a political furore by offering a bounty on the Trinamool Congress chairperson’s head. While the Trinamool leadership demanded immediate arrest of the BJP youth leader, Ms. Banerjee did not make any direct reference to the controversy. “For all the abuses they
shower, I will not retaliate in their language,” Ms. Banerjee said while addressing a rally at Murshidabad district. Cautioning people against getting swayed by rumours being floated on social media to incite communal violence, the Chief Minister said her government would not allow riots to break out. Referring to to the armed Ram Navami rallies in various districts, she said, “Our mothers and sisters take part in sindur khela (a custom where married Hindu women smear one another with vermillion). This is the culture of Bengal, not the sword fights which some gentlemen have imported from Delhi.”
When India came to the aid of Pak. Country living in fear: Opposition Indian Coast Guard releases details of mid-sea rescue operation of Gujarat coast Special Correspondent AHMEDABAD
Two days after it rescued two naval commandos of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) following a mid-sea collision off the Gujarat coast, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) released details of the operation it undertook. In the collision, three commandos died while one went missing and two were rescued by Gujarat fishermen and the Coast Guard, which also provided primary treatment to the naval commandos in ICG ships.
Message from PMSA According to details shared by the ICG, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Mumbai received a message from the PMSA headquarters seeking assistance for one speed boat along with six
TV channel chief booked for communal remark
Helping hands: Coast Guard personnel treating Pakistani naval commandos early on Monday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
crew, which went missing while on a routine patrol off the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). The reported position of the boat that went missing
was four nautical miles inside Pakistan waters. Immediately after receiving the message, ICG ships ICGS Ankit, ICGS Samrat and ICGS Arinjay were pressed
into service along with one ICG Dornier and an advanced light helicopter. “In addition, Pakistan deployed two Naval ships, one PMSA ship, one fixed wing aircraft and one ship-borne helicopter for the search operation within Pakistan waters,” the ICG release stated. On April 10, a fishing trawler informed the ICG of the rescue of two survivors suspected to be Pakistani nationals. Marine commandos of the Coast Guard took custody of the two Pakistani nationals and provided them treatment before handing them over to the PMSA. “Subsequent search yielded the bodies of four crew members. The two survivors and four bodies have been handed over to the Pakistan Naval ship, which was operating across the IMBL,” the release stated.
Special Correspondent New Delhi
A delegation of various Opposition parties led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday to express concern over a number of issues ranging from the rise of vigilante groups, the undermining of institutions and the passage of key and farreaching legislation in the form of money Bills. “(A) matter of grave concern is the prevailing environment of fear and insecurity in the country. Triggering false debates, manufacturing post-truths, orchestrating an inflammatory narrative on nationalism and exploiting religious sentiments, muzzling dissent and threats of violence to the citizens, are vitiating the environment
U.P. freezes ‘Samajwadi’ pension scheme
‘Sita’s place of birth a matter of faith’
Probe ordered to check eligibility of beneiciaries
Press Trust of India
Special Correspondent LUCKNOW
Special Correspondent
The Editor-in-Chief of Hindi channel Sudarshan News, Suresh Chavhanke, has been booked on charges of allegedly hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity between religious groups. The Uttar Pradesh police registered a case against Mr. Chavhanke, also the managing director of the company, after his channel telecast a programme in which he allegedly made several comments that could disturb communal harmony. Through the website of the channel, Mr. Chavhanke has been appealing to Hindus to reach Sambhal, a communallysensitive district in western U.P., to stake claim over a mosque that he says was once a Hindu temple, the Hari Mandir. Mr. Chavhanke has been booked under Sections 153 A(1) (promoting disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (1)B (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against public tranquillity) of the Indian Penal Code. Section 16 of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1955, was also invoked in the FIR, a statement by the U.P. police said. The case was registered at the Kotwali police station in Sambhal. The police took the action after the matter was raised by citizens of different communities.
LUCKNOW
CM YK
Alleges exploitation of religious sentiments and muzzling of dissent
Days after ordering a judicial probe into the Gomti River Front, the Yogi Adityanathled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is now going after another flagship scheme launched by the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, the Samajwadi Pension Scheme. The Chief Minister has not only ordered a probe to find out if those receiving benefits under the pension scheme are eligible but also scrapped the word Samajwadi from its name. The scheme has been put on hold till the identity of the beneficiaries is verified.
The scheme has over 50 lakh beneficiaries. The CM has ordered that the scheme be renamed as the Mukhyamantri Pension Yojana or the Chief Minister Pension Scheme. The probe into the scheme is to be completed within a month, a government spokesperson said. Mr. Adityanath took the decisions during a review meeting of the Social Welfare Department late on Tuesday. “It must be found out if the people who were availing the benefits of the scheme were its legal beneficiaries. Only those eligible should avail the benefit of this scheme,” a spokesper-
Opposition denying OBCs their rights: PM Accuses it of playing negative politics Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Opposition parties on Wednesday of denying backward castes their rights by blocking the passage of a bill, which accords constitutional status to the backward classes commission, in the Rajya Sabha. At an interaction with Other Backward Class (OBC) MPs from his party who had gathered to felicitate him for bringing the bill and getting it through the Lok Sabha, Mr. Modi expressed surprise at the stand of the Opposition as members of all parties had been urging him to bring the legislation. “The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha but blocked in the Rajya Sabha. Denying the back-
ward sections their rights with such negative politics is regrettable,” the Prime Minister said. He also asked the BJP’s OBC MPs to reach out to their counterparts in other parties and convince them to support the legislation. The Rajya Sabha had on Tuesday referred the Constitution (123rd) Amendment Bill, 2017, [which was passed as the Constitution 102nd Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday] to a Select Committee. This was done under pressure from the Opposition which felt that the bill encroached upon the rights of the States to include names of communities in the Central OBC, as it now handed that power to Parliament. The NDA does not have a majority in the Upper House.
son quoted Mr. Adityanath as saying. He has also directed officials to link the State’s welfare schemes to the those of the Centre, saying it would ensure that funds are never short and work is undertaken in an effective and smooth manner. The scheme, started by Akhilesh Yadav in 2014, provides a pension of ₹500 to families falling under the BPL. During the meeting, Mr. Adityanath also directed officials to review the doubling of the ₹500 amount each in the divyang, widow and oldage pension schemes and present it before the Cabinet.
United front: Leaders of Opposition parties coming out of Rashtrapati Bhavan after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. V. SUDERSHAN *
and jeopardising peace,” said the memorandum the parties submitted.
‘Threat to rule of law’ The parties complained of a ‘threat’ to the rule of law. “In a democracy, where rule of law must always prevail, lumpen elements masquer-
ading as vigilantes, moral police, gau rakshaks and antiromeo squads to further a narrow agenda, have created an environment of harassment, violence and mob lynching of citizens, unacceptable in a democracy...” It also expressed concern over the alleged tampering
Budget session ends with passage of key Bills Parliament had 29 sittings altogether
New Delhi
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma on Wednesday came under Opposition fire in the Rajya Sabha for a written reply to a question, in which he said the birthplace of Sita was “a matter of faith.” Congress leader Digvijay Singh said the Minister, in his reply, meant to say that there was no proof about Sita’s birthplace even though he had reached the present position by using the name of Ram temple and Ram Setu. Mr. Singh asked the Minister to apologise. Mr. Sharma, however, defended his written reply, claiming there was no question mark over the birthplace of Sita.
NEW DELHI
The Budget session of Parliament came to an end on Wednesday after the approval of four GST bills and other legislations, besides the Budget and the demands for grants of various Ministries. The two-part session, advanced this time, began on January 31 with the President’s address to a joint sitting of both Houses. Also, for the first time, the Railway Budget was merged with the General Budget. The session also saw government statements on the death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani milit-
ary court on the charges of spying. Altogether, there were 29 sittings, with the Lok Sabha working for 176 hours and 39 minutes and the Rajya Sabha for a little over 136 hours. The Lok Sabha lost eight hours and 12 minutes to disruptions. The Upper House lost 13 hours. The Lok Sabha passed The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Enemy Property Bill, the Mental healthcare Bill, Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the 123rd Constitution Amendment Bill (to grant constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes), among others.
MPs’ panel says there are frequent ceaseire violations Parliamentary panel on home affairs has said that after the 1971-Pakistan war, the country’s borders had never been as vulnerable as it is now. The persistent ceasefire violations along the Pakistan border are affecting the border population and today the “country seems to have internal refugees and internal migrants.” The panel headed by Congress leader P. Chidambaram said the government should revive the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), a project conceived by the UPA government in 2012 and vehemently opposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the Gujarat Chief Minister then.
P. Chidambaram
“After the 1971 war, the present is the most vulnerable period for the borders of the country,” the report said.
Many casualties “There have been a large number of ceasefire violations and several jawans and civilians have been killed.
Press Trust of India
According to some reports, more than a hundred ceasefire violations took place within a span of two months in 2016 and the year 2016 can be considered one of the most vulnerable periods. The government should find a way to prevent the frequent and persistent violations of ceasefire, including use of diplomatic channels. Ultimately, the answer lies in diplomacy. During ceasefire violations, the worst sufferers are the people living in the border villages. The question is where will they go and where will they earn their living? The country today appears to have internal refugees and internal migrants,” the report said. The report said there was a significant spurt in ceasefire violations in 2016.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Wednesday that if the EVMs were tampered with, he would not have been in power, contradicting the stand of his Congress party that the machines were not infallible. “If EVMs were fixed, then I wouldn’t be sitting here. The Akalis would,” he said. Amarinder is the second senior Congress leader after former Law Minister Veerappa Moily too stood up in defence of the EVMs, amid the Congress allegation of tampering of the machines. The party has demanded that they be replaced with ballot paper system.
Haryana suspends 120 roadways employees Press Trust of India Chandigarh
New Delhi
Amarinder defends EVMs New Delhi
Special Correspondent
‘Borders have never been so vulnerable since 1971 war’ Vijaita Singh
of Electronic Voting Machines and top appointments in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and Nalanda University. Apart from Congress, the memorandum was signed by leaders from NCP, BSP, SP, CPI(M), CPI, JD(U) and DMK, among others.
The indefinite strike of Haryana Roadways employees entered its third day on Wednesday with public buses remaining off road causing inconvenience to a large number of people. Cracking the whip, the State government placed 120 staff of Haryana Roadways under suspension for al-
legedly “instigating other employees and misleading them”. “Services of 120 employees of the State Roadways have been placed under suspension as they were instigating other employees and misleading them,” Additional Chief Secretary (Transport) S. S. Dhillon said here this evening.
A ND-ND
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THE HINDU
NEWS 11
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IN BRIEF
INTERVIEW | RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD
‘Aadhaar robust; the poor have no complaints about it’ Minister says the Centre is enforcing UID under a proper mandate of law, with due regard to privacy and conidentiality Nistula Hebbar
Parrikar backs ban on late-night parties PANAJI
A couple of days after a Minister demanded a ban on late-night parties, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Wednesday that any activity not permitted by the law would not be allowed. “There is a legal ban on holding parties after 10 p.m. The ban has been upheld by the State government. There is no controversy about it,” the Chief Minister told presspersons. PTI
69.4% voter turnout in Sikkim by-poll GANGTOK
The by-election to the Upper Burtuk Assembly constituency in Sikkim ended peacefully with 69.4% voter turnout, the Election Commission officials said. The by-poll was necessitated following the disqualification of sitting MLA Prem Singh Tamang (Goley), who was accused of misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the State Animal Husbandry Minister in 1996-97. PTI
Union Minister for Law and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad tells The Hindu that nobody is being denied any benefit for not having Aadhaar and fears on that count are misplaced. Why is Aadhaar being made compulsory for availing benefits when there is no legal compulsion for it? ■ Let me clarify. Under Section 7 of the Act, no poor person shall be denied the benefit of subsidy at all. The only thing is that the person either should have an Aadhaar or should have applied for one; also, alternative means of identification will be available and acceptable through which the person can access all benefits. So nobody is being denied any benefit that might accrue to them. The poor are not complaining as they are getting benefits by direct benefits transfer in their bank accounts. The government has saved ₹49,000 crore under various schemes by plugging leakages. There are 113 crore Aadhaar enrolments out of a population of 125 crore; 83.7 crore adults are enrolled,
43.5 crore bank accounts have been opened, 16.97 crore LPG connections and 71.51 crore ration cards have been done using the system. The use of Aadhaar is transformative for good governance and it is a robust system. The second part of the answer is: Can we deny that fake bank accounts are not being set up, that money laundering is not taking place earlier? What is important is that there is a digital identity kept under safe and secure conditions and this will verify identity, prevent leakages, and end duplication. What is the need for other services to link to Aadhaar? Like banks and for filing tax returns?
Do you have a voter identity card, a passport? You have no problem with these marks of identity, but you have a problem with ■
Aadhaar. What does Aadhaar contain? Under Section 2( j), one is core biometric, that is iris and fingerprint. Second is demographic information: name, date of birth, and address, but shall not include race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, income or medical history. It is minimum information, optimal utilisation. Under Section 29 (2), no core biometric information under this Act shall be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever; my information cannot be shared even with my consent. The identity related information collected under this Act can only be shared as specified by the Act and its regulations. The regulation clearly enjoins that you will only use for the purpose you are collecting it for. The Aadhaar system is completely insulated for the purpose for which the information is sought. For instance, we have 113 crore Aadhaar numbers, they just confirm the identity. The Aadhaar system does not know the purpose for which it is being sought. The requisitioning authority will only use it for this purpose, it is completely
information can’t < > My be shared even with my consent ... Till date, there has been no data leakage encrypted, and if anyone uses it for unauthorised purposes, they can be punished for three years, and if a company violates this law, ₹10 lakh in compensation is to be awarded to the aggrieved. Till date, there is no leakage of data from the system. We have blacklisted 34,000 agencies till now. Again, what is the need for linking Aadhaar with PAN cards or tax returns?
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech that out of a population of 125 crore, only 1.72 lakh file returns above ₹50 lakh, and
■
shockingly only 25 lakh people show their income above ₹10 lakh. If the country has to grow, more people will have to come into the tax net. This linkage, therefore, will help in weeding out double-triple accounts, and combating money laundering. It is, therefore, good governance in an atmosphere of improving fiscals. There are fears that operators doing the enrolments can leak data. ■ Operators are selected by a strict process, with the registrar of the State governments, the Centre and municipalities being involved. Operators have to first put in their own biometric to operate the system every time and the whole process is robust in terms of safety features. If anyone tries to fiddle with it, the system can help trace any attempts to tamper.
There are also fears of a burgeoning of a surveillance state.
Disclosure of information cannot be done for any
■
reason other than national security. In that case, a joint secretary-level officer of the government of India specially designated for this purpose, shall record in writing the reasons for this. A highlevel committee consisting of the Cabinet Secretary, the Secretaries of the Ministry of Law and the Information Technology Secretary will go into any oversight. And it is also open to legal challenge before a district judge, and no order shall be issued without a hearing. This is tougher than the Supreme Court’s certified guidelines on tracking of phone calls given out in 1995. Core digital biometric information cannot be disclosed even by the person who owns it. General biometric information cannot be disclosed except for the purposes authorised, and those who do so are liable for prosecution. I know of cases where the police sought biometric information on certain people suspected to be involved in certain crimes and the UIDAI refused. Therefore, a very robust architecture for privacy is there in the system.
There is puzzlement over this government’s advocacy of Aadhaar after it opposed it when the previous government had gone ahead. ■ The previous government was enforcing Aadhaar by an executive order, which was one of the challenges before the Supreme Court, while we are doing this under a proper mandate of law with due regard to privacy and confidentiality. There is a United Nations report on Enabling Digital Identity that states that the Aadhaar system helped India save fuel subsidy of over $1 billion.
But the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report says it was due to falling fuel prices and not Aadhaar. ■ I have responded to this in Parliament. A proper press statement was put out by the Petroleum Ministry that they surveyed 3 crore fake gas connections because of Aadhaar linkages. After DBT, the clamour for non-subsidised connections rose by 39%.
Many options to save Open-ended warrant issued against Mallya Jadhav from gallows
Case relates to a FERA violation of 1995; Enforcement Directorate said earlier warrant not executed
Nirnimesh Kumar NEW DELHI
Experts suggest that India should not rush into negotiations have suggested that Lt. Col. Muhammad Habib Zahir, a former ISI official, who reportedly conducted anti-India activities on the IndiaNepal border, was arrested by India some time ago.
Kallol Bhattacherjee NEW DELHI
India should not rush into negotiations with Pakistan to free the former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who has been awarded the death sentence by Pakistan, veteran diplomats said on Wednesday. They said India had several bilateral and multilateral options to free Mr. Jadhav, who was accused of sabotage and tried in a military court. “One option before India is to ask [U.S.] President Trump to prevail upon the Pakistan military to release Mr. Jadhav. It is highly unlikely that any request to shift Mr. Jadhav to a civil court would work,” said Chinmaya Gharekhan, who has worked in conflict situations and had been a special envoy of the government. Mr. Gharekhan said Mr.
Kulbhushan Jadhav Jadhav’s case was unique in the history of India-Pakistan hostility and was reminiscent of a Cold War spy drama. “The other option is to exchange Mr. Jadhav with a Pakistani intelligence official, who, according to some reports, was captured by the Indian agencies from IndiaNepal border. If the report of arrest of the Pakistani official is correct, then the government may consider exchanging him with Mr. Jadhav,” said Mr. Gharekhan. Reports
Peculiar case Some diplomats have recommended that India should not hurry in responding to this move by Pakistan as the case is peculiar. “What makes this case particularly peculiar is that a foreign national has been court-martialled and the grounds on which he was court-martialled is not at all clear,” said TCA Raghavan, former High Commissioner of India to Islamabad. Diplomats said that India woud have to deliberate upon what kind of response would be befitting if Pakistan executed Mr. Jadhav.
India, U.K. framework to guide technology transfer Pact can help sell high-tech products to third countries Dinakar Peri NEW DELHI
To expand the cooperation between India and the U.K. on sharing of advanced technology, the two countries are discussing ways to devise a government-to-government framework to facilitate transfer of such technology, said visiting U.K. Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon on Wednesday. “We have our exports controls, licensing system and I know that 99% of the license applications are granted. We hope to facilitate the transfer through a
Michael Fallon
government-to-government framework…,” he said at the India-U.K. strategic dialogue organised by the Observer Research Foundation and the U.K. High Commission.
This is in line with the understanding reached between PM Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Theresa May during her visit to India in November last year. This will be discussed under the Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP) agreed between the two countries in 2015 and will be taken up by the Defence Consultative Group (DCG). He said the U.K. sees India as a launch pad for British firms where “we can develop high-tech capabilities and sell them to third countries…”
A Delhi court on Wednesday issued an open-ended nonbailable warrant against businessman Vijay Mallya in a FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) violation case of 1995. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass issued the warrant after the Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED) submitted that the non-bailable warrant issued earlier had not been executed and, therefore, it required more time for that. The court had in December 2000 exempted Mallya from personal appearance in the case. However, it had modified the order in July last year on an application
by the ED and asked Mallya to appear before it in person. The passport authority had revoked his passport in April last year. Mallya has been staying in London as a Permanent Resident for nearly three decades. The case is related to Mallya’s non-appearance before the ED despite issuance of four summons between 1999
and 2000 for investigation into the charges of allegedly entering into an agreement with London-based company Messrs Benetton Formula Limited in 1995 for advertisement of the Kingfisher brand on racing cars in the Formula-I World Championship in 1996, 1997 and 1998 without taking prior permission of the Reserve Bank of
India. As Mallya failed to appear in response to the summons, the ED had filed a complaint against him in the court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in the Patiala House courts here in 2000. The court had later summoned him and framed the charges against him in 2001.
U.S. can play key role on Kashmir: Pak. Press Trust of India Islamabad
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that America can play a “very critical role” in resolving the Kashmir issueas he hoped to see proactive engagement by the Trump administration on the issue. “With regards to Kashmir, America can play a very critical role, which it has not done,” Mr. Sharif was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan. He said that the world, including the US, was well aware of the danger the dispute posed to world peace and to the stability in the region. “We wish to see progress towards the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is the biggest hurdle in the way of peace and development in the region,” he said. Referring to the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council on Kashmir, Mr. Sharif said that the UNSC must also ensure the implementation of its resolutions as failure to do so is already raising questions about its credibility. Earlier, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had said the US would try to deescalate Indo-Pak tensions.
Centre iles curative plea on AFSPA SC order a fetter on security forces involved in anti-militancy operations: A-G Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI
The government on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to urgently reconsider its July 2016 verdict which ripped open the cloak of immunity and secrecy provided by the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 (AFSPA) to security forces for deaths caused during encounters in disturbed areas. The Supreme Court had held that “there is no concept of absolute immunity from trial by a criminal court” if an Army man CM YK
has committed an offence. The judgment by a Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur had held that every death caused by security forces in a disturbed area, even if the victim was a dreaded criminal or a militant or a terrorist or an insurgent, should be thoroughly inquired into to address any allegation of use of excessive or retaliatory force.
A-G’s stance Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday appeared before a Bench led by
Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar during the mentioning hour, and apprised the court that the judgment had become a fetter on security forces involved in anti-militancy operations.
“This court ought to have appreciated that the principles of right to self-defence cannot be strictly applied while dealing with militants and terrorist elements in a hostile and unstable terrain. This court ought to have taken into account the complexity and the reality of the conduct of military operations and tactics, especially while combating terrorists,” the curative petition said. The judgment came on a plea by hundreds of families in Manipur for a probe by Special Ivestigation Team. A ND-ND
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ELSEWHERE
Trust erodes under Trump: Putin Russian leader meets visiting American Secretary Rex Tillerson as Kremlin steps up attack on U.S.
Bangladesh hangs 3 Islamist extremists Sentenced for attack on U.K. envoy
Spicer sorry over Hitler remarks
Reuters Moscow
Hasina backs Islamists over statue controversy DHAKA
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has been accused of “kowtowing” to Islamists after expressing dislike for a controversial statue of “lady justice” that religious radicals want removed from the Supreme Court. They want the statue destroyed and replaced with a Koran. AFP
Five killed in Kabul suicide bombing KABUL
At least ive people were killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber on foot struck near the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul, oicials said, in an attack that was claimed by the Islamic State group. Three other people were left wounded in the explosion, which occurred when Ministry staf were likely to go home. AFP
United Airlines regrets deplaning incident CHICAGO
United Airlines CEO unequivocally apologised on Tuesday for an incident in which a passenger was dragged of a plane, and promised a thorough review of the airline’s practices. The apology came after a torrent of criticism of the carrier’s action on a light and its initial explanation of it. AFP
Corruption probes hit Brazilian Ministers BRASŢLIA
Brazil’s corruption crisis struck the heart of President Michel Temer’s government on Tuesday with the opening of probes into up to nine ministers and scores of lawmakers. The Supreme Court authorised probes in the already giant “Car Wash” investigation. AFP
Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday trust had eroded between the U.S. and Russia under President Donald Trump, as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria. Any hope in Russia that the Trump administration would herald less confrontational relations has been dashed in the past week after the new U.S. leader fired missiles at Syria to punish Moscow’s ally for its suspected use of poison gas. “One could say that the level of trust on a working level, especially on the military level, has not improved but has rather deteriorated,” Mr. Putin said in an interview broadcast on Russian television moments. Mr. Putin doubled down on Russia’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, repeating denials that Mr. Assad’s government was to blame for the gas attack last week. Moments earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov greeted Mr. Tillerson with unusually icy remarks, denouncing the missile strike on Syria as illegal. “I wont hide the fact that we have a lot of questions, taking into account the extremely ambiguous and sometimes contradictory ideas which have been expressed in Washington across the whole spectrum of bilateral and multilateral affairs,” Mr. Lavrov said. Later in the day, Mr. Putin received Mr. Tillerson at the Kremlin along with Mr. Lavrov after the top diplomats held several hours of talks. There was speculation this would not happen due to the tension between the two nations. Russian spokesman did not elaborate on what the three discussed.
Associated Press WASHINGTON
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has apologised for making an “inappropriate and insensitive” comparison to the Holocaust in comments about Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons remarks that drew rebuke from Jewish groups and critics. He said that he was trying to make a point about Assad’s use of chemical weapons and gas against his people, but “mistakenly made an inappropriate and insensitive reference to the Holocaust, for which there is no comparison. It was a mistake to do that.”
‘No danger of conlict with Russia’ Mattis says U.S. maintains military and diplomatic communications with Moscow Varghese K. George Washington
Tensions between Russia and the U.S. would not spiral out of control, said U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis, even as both countries continue to exchange barbs on their involvement in the Syrian civil war. Responding to a question about the danger of their antagonistic positions related to Syria spiralling into “a conflict between the two nuclear-powered countries”, Mr. Mattis said during a briefing at the Pentagon: “It will not spiral out of control. As you know, Secretary of State Tillerson is in Moscow. We maintain communications with the Russian milit-
ary and with the diplomatic channels. It will not spiral out of control.” Mr. Mattis reiterated that the U.S. would strike against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria again if it used chemical weapons. Asked how he was so confident that these positions would not escalate into a conflict between the two countries, Mr. Mattis said: “Well, I’m confident the Russians will act in their own best interests, and there’s nothing in their best interests to say they want this situation to go out of control.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told a TV channel that the U.S. had no intention to involve more
deeply in the Syrian civil war, indicating that the missile strike was a specific response to the chemical weapons attack on April 4. “We’re not going into Syria,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. “But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons, which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration, but they violated it,” he said, explaining the strike.
No change in policy Mr. Mattis also emphasised that the strike against the regime does not signal a change in the U.S. policy of viewing the Islamic State as the primary enemy in Syria. “Our military policy in Syria
EU puts Hungary’s Viktor Orban on notice To do a thorough legal assessment of the new Higher Education Act that has sparked protests Sriram Lakshman London
The European Commission on Wednesday expressed concern about Hungary’s amendment to its Higher Education Act as well as its adherence to European Union values at a meeting of the College of Commissioners in Brussels. The College discussed last week’s amendments made to the 2011 National Higher Education Act by Hungary’s Parliament restricting the educational and funding activities of foreign universities in the country. The discussion also included Hungary’s draft law on the funding of NGOs and its treatment of migrants. “We need to quickly complete a thorough legal assessment of its [the law’s] compatibility with free movement of services and
the freedom of establishment,” EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans said of the Higher Education Act, adding that the Commission would consider next steps by April-end.
Targeting CEU The amendments, which were signed into law on Monday by Hungarian President Janos Ader, were championed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn and are seen as specifically targeting the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, founded by Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. The CEU will likely have to shut down given the way the new laws are written. “The amendments are set up to look trivially procedural but in reality they demand actions from the CEU
Viktor Orban
that it cannot deliver and require it to adopt rules that would endanger its academic autonomy,” Abby Innes, a professor at the European Institute of the London School of Economics, told The Hindu. The new rules would require, among other things, the CEU to open a campus in the state of New York as well as reach an
inter-governmental agreement with the U.S. Federal government, even though higher education is a state subject in the U.S., Ms. Innes said. The university, founded in 1991, has some 1,400 students from 130 countries. The new laws have been met with widespread protests in Budapest with some 70,000 people marching on Sunday across the Danube to Parliament. Mr Orbàn, a known critic of the organisations run by Mr. Soros, has taken issue with the CEU issuing diplomas that are recognised both by the U.S. and Hungary. Ironically, Mr Orbàn himself attended Oxford University as a Soros Scholar in 1989. “The CEU has breached no law. It is being specifically targeted in a discriminatory
manner, apparently because it remains an independent and critical institution that goes against the grain of a government that has increasingly sought to establish a monologue of power,” Ms. Innes told The Hindu.
NGO funding The European Commission’s discussions on Wednesday also included concerns about a draft Hungarian law that would require NGOs to declare foreign funding, something that the Commission would be following closely, Mr. Timmermans said. “There can be legitimate public interest reasons for ensuring transparency of funding, but any measures need to be proportionate and must not create undue discrimination within the EU,” he said.
has not changed. Our priority remains the defeat of ISIS. ISIS represents a clear and present danger, an immediate threat to Europe and ultimately, a threat to the United States homeland,” the Secretary of Defence said, adding that the Assad regime “should think long and hard before it again acts so recklessly in violation of international law against the use of chemical weapons.” The President and Mr. Mattis appeared eager to underscore that they had no desire to get more involved in Syria amid conflicting signals from within the administration on the future course of action.
Agence France-Presse Kashimpur
Bangladesh hanged three Islamist extremists, including the leader of a banned militant outfit on Wednesday, after they were sentenced to death over a 2004 grenade attack on the British Ambassador. The authorities hanged Mufti Abdul Hannan, the leader of Harkatul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI), and one of his associates at Kashimpur prison just outside Dhaka and another associate in a jail in the northeastern city of Sylhet, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. “They were hanged at 10 p.m. (1600 GMT),” he said. The three were sentenced to death in 2008 for the grenade attack four years earlier at a 14th century Sufi shrine in Sylhet, which killed three persons and injured the British High Com-
missioner at the time. Bangladesh’s highest court upheld the death sentence last month, rejecting the final appeals by Hannan and the two associates, Delwar Hossain and Sharif Shahedul Islam.
Pleas rejected They had sought clemency from the Bangladesh President in a last-ditch attempt to commute the execution orders to life sentences, but he rejected their pleas. A madrassa teacher who studied in India and Pakistan, Hannan, 60, fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan before returning to join HuJI, founded for jihadists who fought in that war. Prosecutors said Hannan had headed HuJI since the late 1990s, masterminding attacks on a church and mosques used by Islam’s minority sects.
Ahmadinejad in Iran presidential race Ignores Khamenei’s advice to stay out Associated Press TEHRAN
Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday stunned the country by unexpectedly filing to run in the May presidential election, contradicting a recommendation from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to stay out of the race.
Firebrand style Ahmadinejad’s firebrand style could prove appealing for hardliners seeking a tough-talking candidate who can stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s de-
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cision could upend an election many believed would be won by moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who negotiated the nuclear deal with world powers. Mr. Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms from 2005 to 2013.
Xi calls for ‘peaceful’ North Korea solution
Islamist held in Dortmund blasts case
‘Committed to stability on peninsula’
Agence France-Presse Dortmund
Press Trust of India Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged Donald Trump to peacefully resolve raging tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme after the U.S. President warned that Washington would “solve the problem” on its own if Beijing did not rein in its close ally. Mr. Xi spoke over phone to Mr. Trump as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson churned towards the Korean peninsula, raising regional tensions. He said that China sticks to the target of the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and that China is committed to peace and sta-
bility of the peninsula. China holds that the issue should be solved through peaceful means, said Mr. Xi.
Reining in close ally Mr. Trump has repeatedly called on China to do more to rein in its reclusive neighbour and close ally, which has stepped up its missile development and nuclear programme since 2016. Mr. Xi’s phone call came after Mr. Trump turned to Twitter to vent his frustrations over North Korea’s provocative behaviour. “I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the United States will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem,” he had tweeted yesterday.
German investigators on Wednesday detained an Islamist suspect over three explosions that rocked Borussia Dortmund’s team bus, prosecutors said, confirming that the probe was examining a possible “terrorist link”. The roadside blasts left Dortmund’s Spanish international Marc Bartra and a policeman injured, with the bombs “containing metal pieces” detonating minutes after the team bus set off to a planned Champions League game against Monaco on Tuesday night. The match was put back to Wednesday as security was ratcheted up around Dortmund and in Munich where Bayern Munich will take on Real Madrid.
Colombo’s seafront makes way for China-backed inancial city Project developer hopes investments to the tune of $13 billion will start coming in from 2018; targets major investors from south Asia, particularly India Meera Srinivasan Colombo
It is hard to miss the bluelettered boards lining the northern end of Galle Face, Colombo’s iconic seafront. “A new Central Park in Colombo”, “A new world class city in South Asia” — they declare in bold font. In the background, a few cranes spray sand into the sea in big arches, filling up narrow strips of land — inroads that emerged after work on the port-city project commenced. About 500 acres of land is to be reclaimed for the new facility. Inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September 2014, the project has persisted over the last three years, surviving controversies and drastic changes. Campaigning hard for the January 2015 elections that his coalition won, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made a poll promise to scrap the Chinese-funded port city, seen as a brainchild of former President Mahinda CM YK
Rajapaksa, only to renew it a month after he took office. Amid mounting concerns over its possible environmental impact, Sri Lanka and China in April 2016 decided to redefine the port city project, calling it an international financial city. The largest foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka, the $1.4billion project will house a financial centre and a host of other facilities, including a marina, a central park, and possibly an international school and hospital over the next 30 years, its developer said.
Targeting investment “We want to create a city where it would be interesting for South Asians to come and live, invest, do business and maybe manage their wealth,” said Liang Thow Ming, chief sales and marketing officer of Sri Lanka’s CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd, which is handling the project. A subsidiary of China Communication Construc-
tion Company, in which the Chinese government is a major stakeholder, CHEC projects that investments to the tune of $13 billion will begin coming in from 2018. For this, the company has begun reaching out to investors in south Asia, particularly in India. Given Colombo’s strategic geographic location in the Indian Ocean, investors see the potential for a major financial hub in the city, filling the void of financial cities between Dubai and Singapore. “Arabs are not going to come here instead of Dubai; Malaysians and Indonesians will not come to Colombo instead of going to Singapore. For the same reason, South Asians would like to come to Colombo,” Mr. Liang told The Hindu. On likely investors in India, Mr. Liang said: “The spirit is willing, flesh is weak,” referring to the turbulence in the real estate sector. However, he was confident that once a few began
Redeining dreams: Inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, the project has persisted over the last three years, surviving controversies and drastic changes. investing here, others would “join the bandwagon”. CHEC sees a potential Indian investor as someone with money to park, making frequent trips to Colombo to meet bankers and do business. Investors might consider admitting their children to the international school at
the financial city, and perhaps even buy a plush apartment there, Mr. Liang said.
Falling growth Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s economy has been facing major challenges in the last few years, with its growth dropping to a three-year low of 4.4% in 2016, from 4.8% the
previous year, Reuters reported. Asked if that would impact the project, Mr. Liang said the financial city did not depend on that. Giving an example of an investor who makes a weekend trip to Colombo to meet his bankers, see his children studying here and perhaps spend time and money at a
hotel and at restaurants, he said these were independent of how the Sri Lankan economy was doing. However, project director and a top official from the Sri Lankan side, Nihal Fernando, said that while it might be a different structure, the city would be fed by Colombo. “The Sri Lankan economy is very much linked to it and if it fails, it will affect the financial city.” On the other hand, Mr. Liang said the project would create 83,000 jobs, 90% of which was likely to be taken up by Sri Lankans. Mr. Fernando too sees a huge demand for workers, and with their high literacy and English proficiency, Sri Lankans will have an edge, he said. On measures to prevent money laundering at such a financial hub, Mr. Liang said a separate set of laws, modelled on U.K. laws, would be applicable to the city. “A separate court, separate arbitration centres, a city that is run under a different set of rules
— the whole port city playing a different game from the rest of Colombo.” It is this exclusive operation that makes some uneasy, though the city will come under Sri Lanka’s penal code. India’s concerns over the China-backed initiative are well-known. When Mr. Rajapaksa was in power, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval reportedly urged the Sri Lankan government to cancel the project. Locally, there has been considerable resistance to the project, particularly from fisher folk and environmental groups. A co-convenor of the People’s Movement Against the Port City, Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda, said illegal sand mining had become rampant in Gampaha district, north of Colombo. “That is where they get the sand to reclaim the sea,” he said, adding that 20,000 families were facing acute drinking water scarcity as a result. A ND-ND
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market watch 12-04-2017
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Industrial output shrinks in Feb.
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 29,643 ddddddddddddd -0.49 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 64.67 ddddddddddddd -0.26 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,760 ddddddddddddddd1.39 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 55.99 ddddddddddddddd0.77
Decline in manufacturing, persistent impact of demonetisation spur contraction
NIFTY 50
New Delhi
and the NPA (bad loans) issue of banks is addressed, this segment will not show sustained growth.” S. K. Sinha, Principal Economist, India Ratings & Research, said: “This (fall in IIP and particularly in the manufacturing segment) clearly shows the fragile nature of industrial/ manufacturing growth which has been languishing consecutively for several years now.”
Special Correspondent PRICE CHANGE
ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1494.55. . . . . . . . . 4.65 Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327.60. . . . . . . . -6.20 Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 249.10. . . . . . . . . 0.20 Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1070.45. . . . . . . . -2.05 Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 656.50. . . . . . . . . 1.35 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506.00. . . . . . . . -9.05 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2839.50. . . . . . . 17.05 Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 172.35. . . . . . . . -2.35 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 350.80. . . . . . . . . 0.60 Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23362.35. . . . . 614.60 BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717.30. . . . . . . . . 6.90 Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579.40. . . . . . . . -0.65 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290.00. . . . . . . . . 1.10 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2644.85. . . . . . . 16.75 Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 26422.50. . . . . 542.05 GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 378.25. . . . . . . . -6.50 Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1072.35. . . . . . -16.00 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831.65. . . . . . . . -2.15 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1466.65. . . . . . -10.20 HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1443.70. . . . . . . . . 4.20 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3227.05. . . . . . . 24.85 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.00. . . . . . . . -3.45 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 923.75. . . . . . . . . 0.05 Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 936.70. . . . . . . . -0.45 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280.80. . . . . . . . -2.85 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1437.75. . . . . . . 13.25 Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 367.05. . . . . . . 11.50 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968.85. . . . . . . . . 1.70 Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 409.25. . . . . . . . -0.25 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281.90. . . . . . . . -0.15 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879.40. . . . . . . . -1.65 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1702.80. . . . . . . . -2.10 Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1439.45. . . . . . . 10.00 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279.95. . . . . . . . -1.60 Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6154.50. . . . . . -93.30 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.95. . . . . . . . -2.05 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186.70. . . . . . . . -1.15 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 197.60. . . . . . . . -1.55 Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1354.00. . . . . . -18.35 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290.15. . . . . . . . -4.35 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 683.25. . . . . . . 12.85 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 464.55. . . . . . . . -7.70 Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 284.85. . . . . . . . -3.45 Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.55. . . . . . . . . 0.10 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477.40. . . . . . -10.70 TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2393.25. . . . . . -26.05 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 437.65. . . . . . . . -7.55 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 4033.10. . . . . . . . -0.20 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.75. . . . . . . . -9.40 YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1631.45. . . . . . . 16.70 Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 530.45. . . . . . . . -9.70
Industrial production in February 2017 shrank 1.2% year-on-year, the lowest in four months, mainly due to a decline in manufacturing output and the persistent impact of demonetisation, data released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday show. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had recorded 1.99% growth in February 2016. The previous low was a contraction of 1.87% in October 2016. Manufacturing sector, accounting for more than 75% of the index, shrank 2% in February 2017. The sector had marginal growth of 0.6% in February, 2016. “The negative IIP number in February has come as a surprise as the market players were expecting a positive growth number following an improvement seen in January (of 2.7% growth),” Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, CARE Ratings, said. “With the consumer goods segment registering a negative growth in February (-5.6%) and near zero growth
Stuttering growth: The key factor retarding growth was a fall in consumer goods output. AP *
for the financial year, so far, it does appear that the effect of demonetisation continues to persist,” Mr. Sabnavis said. “The investment environment continues to be subdued as seen through negative growth in the capital goods. We expect industrial output growth for FY17 to be 1-2%, down from 3-4% forecast earlier.”
Consumer goods The main factor retarding growth was a fall in consumer goods output — both durable and non-durables being in the negative zone,
according to an analysis by CARE Ratings. “Consumption demand has not surfaced this month. But we may expect a pickup in March especially for durable goods.” CARE Ratings said 15 of the 22 industries witnessed negative growth, which was not a good sign, adding that capital goods declined against an “increase in January which was expected as such growth rates have been volatile in the past. We believe that until consumer demand picks up leading to better capacity utilization
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on April 12 CURRENCY
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US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.48. . . . . . . 64.80 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 68.38. . . . . . . 68.72 British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 80.60. . . . . . . 81.01 Japanese Yen(100) . . .. . 58.81. . . . . . . 59.10 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.35. . . . . . . . . 9.40 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.02. . . . . . . 64.35 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 45.98. . . . . . . 46.21 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 48.43. . . . . . . 48.67 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.55. . . . . . . 14.64 Source:Indian Bank
BULLION RATES
CHENNAI
April 12 rates in rupees with previous rates in parentheses Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 45.50. . . . . (44.60) 22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,806. . . . . (2,770)
CM YK
Centre had set a target of 3.2% of GDP in 2017-18 Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Centre can take a pause on the fiscal consolidation front over the next three years by maintaining a fiscal deficit to GDP ratio of 3% till 2019-20, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee chaired by former Revenue Secretary N.K. Singh has recommended. Set up to comprehensively review and give recommendations on the FRBM roadmap for future, the panel has advocated reaching a fiscal deficit to GDP ratio of 2.8% in 2020-21, 2.6% the subsequent year and 2.5% in 2022-23. To put that in context, the government has set a fiscal deficit target of 3.2% of GDP in 2017-18, marginally better than the 3.5% clocked last year. The FRBM law enacted in 2003 had originally envisaged attaining a fiscal deficit of 3% of GDP by 2008-09, but amendments over the years had revised the year
N.K. Singh
for achieving the same target to 2017-18.
Escape clause The panel has introduced an escape clause that allows the government to skip the fiscal deficit target for a particular year, in situations that include national security concerns, acts of war, national calamities, a collapse of the agriculture sector and farreaching structural reforms with unanticipated fiscal implications. It recommended that de-
viations from the stipulated fiscal targets should not be more than 0.5%. The Reserve Bank of India governor Urjit Patel was not in favour of such a large deviation. Mr. Patel, who was also a member of the panel along with Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, was inclined to only permit a 0.3% deviation. The escape clause can also be triggered if the economy’s real output growth slips by three percentage points from the average of the previous four quarters. A similar buoyancy clause has been proposed, so that fiscal deficit must fall at least 0.5% below the target if real output grows 3% faster than that average. The panel has recommended that the existing FRBM Act and rules be scrapped and a new Debt and Fiscal Responsibility Act be adopted and proposed the creation of a Fiscal Council that the government must consult before invoking escape clauses.
FinMin rejects Apple’s tax demands Panel to suggest norms for virtual currencies A call on tax sops will be taken by GST Council: Minister
EXCHANGE RATES
Retail inflation The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation inched up in March 2017 to 3.81% (provisional) as against 3.65% recorded in February 2017, according to government data. Still, retail inflation was slower than the 4.83% recorded in March 2016. According to CARE Ratings, the acceleration in inflation could be ascribed to higher fuel prices on account of rising global crude oil prices and increases in the costs of food articles like fruits and milk products. Slower gains in the prices of pulses helped cap headline retail inflation.
Hold iscal deicit at 3% till FY20, says N.K. Singh panel
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI
The Finance Ministry has rejected iPhone maker Apple’s demand for tax exemptions for setting up a manufacturing unit in India saying that the decision will have to be taken up by the GST Council. The U.S.-based firm has indicated plans to put up manufacturing lines in India this year. Apple had sought concessions such as duty exemption on manufacturing and repair units, components,
capital equipment for smartphones for 15 years, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, P.P. Chaudhary, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. These demands were “examined in the Department of Revenue and have not been accepted,” Mr. Chaudhary said. He said these incentives cannot be accepted as with the coming into force of the new indirect tax regime “all imports will be liable to IGST (integrated GST) and any exemptions from CGST
(centre)/SGST (state)/IGST can be granted based on the recommendations of the GST Council only.” Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha said that Apple has indicated its plans for putting manufacturing lines this year. “Apple in their communications, indicated their plan for selective introduction of manufacturing lines in Spring 2017,” Ms. Sitharaman said.
RBI cautions users, holders of cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, of potential risks users, holders and traders of virtual currencies (VCs), including Bitcoins, about the potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to.
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Centre has decided to close the regulatory gaps to keep a check on virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, and has set up an inter-disciplinary committee to recommend an action plan for dealing with such currencies within three months. “The circulation of Vi rtual Currencies which are also known as Digital/Crypto Currencies has been a cause of concern. This has been expressed in various fora from time to time,” according to a
Committee will recommend an action plan in 3 months. statement from the Finance Ministry. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had also cautioned
Panel members To examine the existing framework for virtual currencies, the Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance has constituted an inter-disciplinary committee chaired by Special Secretary (Economic Af-
fairs) with representatives from the departments of revenue and financial services and the ministries of Home Affairs as well as Electronics and Information Technology. In its February advisory, the RBI had said it has not given any licence or authorisation to any entity or company to operate such schemes or deal with Bitcoin or any virtual currency. “As such, any user, holder, investor, trader, dealing with virtual currencies will be doing so at their own risk.”
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IN BRIEF
Jharkhand set to enact GST law State is prepared to implement the GST regime, says Chief Secretary Verma Vikas Dhoot
Firm had invested $280 mn. for the project at its Pune unit
NEW DELHI
Flat solar power tarif drops to all-time low NEW DELHI
The levellised solar power tarif has dropped to an all-time low of ₹3.15 per unit in an auction of a 250 MW project at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. Earlier in February, the lower capital expenditure and cheaper credit had pulled down solar tarif to a new low of ₹2.97 per unit for the irst year in an auction conducted for 750 MW capacity in Rewa Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh. PTI
CCEA nod for listing 11 PSUs on bourses NEW DELHI
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Afairs on Wednesday approved the listing of 11 central PSUs. They include IRCON International, Indian Railway Finance Corp., IRCTC, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd., RITES, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Bharat Dynamics, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers and Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani),North Eastern Electric Power Corp. and MSTC.
Cabinet approves export promotion scheme NEW DELHI
The Cabinet has approved the implementation of the Supreme Court’s October 2015 judgment regarding the Target Plus Scheme (TPS) 2004-09 for export promotion. The apex court had held that the government’s notiications of February 2006 and another in June 2006 related to the TPS could not be applied retrospectively and would be efective only from the date of their issue.
Jharkhand may soon become one of the first states to clear the State Goods and Services Tax law following Parliament’s clearance of the four central laws necessary to implement GST from this July, Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma told The Hindu. “We were the second state after Assam to agree to GST. We will call a special session to pass the state GST law,” Ms. Verma said adding that the Jharkhand administration was ready for the Goods and Services Tax regime. The legislative assemblies of all state governments need to pass the state GST law in order to switch over from the current system of levying multiple indirect taxes at the state and the Central level.
Arcelor Mittal The mineral-rich state expects to receive mining and mining-related investments of ₹2 lakh crore. “They are capital intensive projects such as a power plant with coal linkages, a steel plant with iron ore linked to it. The chief minister is very keen on labour-intensive sectors to check the high migration of our people,” Ms. Verma said. However, a marquee ₹50,000 crore investment for a 12 million tonne steel plant proposed by Arcelor Mittal in 2005 remains stuck. Ms. Verma said that the long-delayed project is still a work in progress and has not been abandoned despite the inability to execute leases for the iron ore mine earlier allotted to the firm. The firm which has acquired a part of the land for the project can still secure iron ore linkages by tying up with those who win mining rights under the new auction regime for mineral reserves, she pointed out. “We are still in active talks with the company. The pro-
FCA India to roll out Jeep Compass by June this year Special Correspondent MUMBAI
Of the block: Jharkhand will soon convene a special session of the Assembly to pass the State GST law. GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO *
posal is very much on. They have been allocated an iron ore mine, but the lease has not been executed as the forest clearance is not yet in. Now, there will be mineral auctions so iron ore will be in the market so whoever gets it can supply (to them). They can have a linkage,” Ms. Verma said. Though the proposed mine is located in Jharkhand’s Saranda forest, the thickest Sal forest in Asia with an elephant corridor, it doesn’t fall in the ‘No Go’ area, the top state government official said. “Only about 7% of the forest area has minerals and the ‘no go’ area is limited,” she said.
Tackling Maoists Ms. Verma said that the Maoist menace in the state will be history by the end of the year and investors are no longer concerned about the state’s law and order situation. “Our surrender policy is very good — we have an open
jail, where they can stay with their family. On the fringes, perhaps some possibility (of Left-Wing extremist activity) is there, but our forces are working very hard to curb that,” she said. “There are 13 areas such as Kunda and Pratappur and we have set up camps everywhere. I have been visiting all these areas and going to each door there. So if there is an able-bodied boy looking for a job, dropouts from school, we are getting them into school, looking into their economic issues, holding health camps,” said Ms. Verma.
State investment board Ranked high on the Centre’s ease of doing business index, the state scored the highest marks for labour reforms across all states and is ranked fifth in terms of attractiveness for foreign direct investment or FDI. It has also set up an Investment Promotion Board led by the Chief Minister that includes
representatives from all departments, including environment and pollution control authorities. “The CM wants ownership and equal stake of all the departments and he does not want any red-tapism in clearances. We are the most investment ready state and have included all stakeholders on the Board to ensure no issue comes up and it becomes a collective decision with ownership. Till there is no sense of ownership, you know how file movement becomes,” Ms. Verma said.
Weekly meetings Apart from a monthly meeting steered by the CM for investment projects, the chief secretary holds a meeting every week to resolve issues that come up. Several of the investors that signed pacts with the state in an investment summit in February have already seen the land parcels on which their projects can come up, she said.
FCA India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, announced plans to roll out the locally-made Jeep Compass from its Ranjangaon plant by June 2017. The company had invested $280 million on the project at its facility near Pune. The SUV, the first to be produced by FCA in India, is expected to enter the domestic auto market’s fastest-growing segment in the third quarter of calendar 2017. “The local production schedule of the Jeep Compass is firmly on track and we are all set to begin local production of the Jeep brand’s global SUV by June ,” said Kevin Flynn, President and MD, FCA India. “The Jeep Compass will come
Power play: The product will come with two power train options and will be priced in the region of ₹20 lakh. REUTERS *
with several industry-first features and will set benchmarks in the Indian SUV space.” The company also announced two power train options that will be offered with the Jeep Compass – the 160+ HP, 250 Nm multi-air
petrol and the 170+ HP, 350 Nm, diesel. Jeep Compass is expected to be priced at about ₹20 lakh and will compete with existing SUVs such as Mahindra and Mahindra’s XUV 500 and Hyundai Motor India’s Creta.
Pharma exports likely slid to $16.4 billion in 2016-17 Price erosion, absence of of-patent blockbuster drugs hurt Special Correspondent HYDERABAD
India’s pharmaceutical exports are projected to have declined marginally in the financial year ended March 31, 2017, after clocking more than 9% growth in 2015-16, amid an absence of blockbuster drugs going off patent. Director General of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) Ravi Uday Bhaskar forecast exports in 2016-17 to be about $16.4 billion, down from $16.89 billion in the previous fiscal. Price erosion, an absence of blockbuster drugs going off patents — generic drugs
constitute the bulk of India’s pharmaceutical exports — and currency issues in the African and Latin American markets contributed to the decline, he said at a press meet about the upcoming International Exhibition for Pharma and Healthcare (IPHEX) 2017 on Wednesday. The outlook for the current year was, however, positive, Mr. Bhaskar and IPHEX chairman P. Ramesh Babu said, citing the fact that India bagged more than 30% of Abbreviated New Drug Applications granted by the U.S. FDA in 2016. According to Pharmexcil, the Indian pharmaceuticals industry increased at a CAGR of about
17.5% between 2005-2016, growing from $6 billion in 2005 to about $34 billion in 2016. By 2020, it is expected to touch $55 billion. India accounted for about 30% (by volume) and about 10% (by value) of the $70-80 billion generics market in the U.S. On FDA inspections and Form 483 observations to units, both of them said with about a third of the exports going to the U.S. such inspections were bound to increase. While Mr. Bhaskar sought to downplay the Form 483 issue stating that it was akin to a show cause notice, Mr. Babu said 90% of observations were addressed by units in 3-4 days.
Overbooking of lights soars in India Between Aug.-Feb., 12,957 domestic ticketed passengers weren’t allowed to ly at the check-in counter and they are liable to compensation of up to ₹20,000.
Somesh Jha NEW DELHI
India’s domestic airlines routinely deny boarding to thousands of passengers who had bought tickets — and the incidence of overbooked flights is rising sharply. On Sunday, American carrier United Airlines had a passenger evicted from its plane after overbooking its Chicago to Louisville flight. Aviation experts said it was a legal practice followed by the transportation sector globally. A video of the passenger being dragged along the aircraft’s aisle went viral on the Internet drawing ire from across the world. In the seven months between August 2016 and February 2017, 12,957 passengers on domestic Indian flights were not allowed to board their flights – a 65.8% increase from the yearearlier period. That such incidents are going up alarmingly indicates that airlines haven’t been deterred by a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directive last August, steeply increasing the compensation carriers need to pay passengers holding a booking for denying them boarding.
In the lurch: Airlines haven’t been deterred by a DGCA directive to pay higher compensation for denying boarding.
Jet Airways accounted for the highest proportion of cases related to boarding denial at 84%, followed by Air India with 11.1% of such cases from August 2016-February 2017, after the higher compensation regulation kicked in.
Ticket refund Airlines in India have typically offered refunds for the ticket, hotel accommodation, alternative flights and monetary compensation to passengers who have been denied boarding. Many airlines in India and globally tend to issue confirmed bookings to more passengers than the number of seats available on a flight in anticipation of a few ticket can-
cellations and to cut the possibility of departing with empty seats. Airlines may deny boarding even in cases when passengers may be holding confirmed bookings for travel on a flight. “This is a global practice followed by the transportation sector,” said Mark D. Martin, Founder and CEO of Martin Consulting. “In India, even the Indian Railways follows this concept by issuing reservation against cancellation (RAC) and wait-listed tickets to passengers.” In India, the airlines first check with passengers who are interested in voluntarily taking the next flight in exchange for some incentives. If that doesn’t work, airlines deny boarding to passengers
Cisco’s Cyber Lab to boost security Indian facility is the ifth, with the other four in Australia Yuthika Bhargava GURUGRAM
U.S. networking major Cisco on Wednesday inaugurated its Cyber Range Lab in India that aims to provide cybersecurity training to professionals by simulating real-life threat scenarios. Inaugurated by National Cyber Security Coordinator Gulshan Rai, the lab is part of Cisco’s $100 million investment commitment to India and is the company’s fifth such lab in the world — the other four are based in Australia. “With the cybersecurity CM YK
framework in place now, the need is for active implementation to better handle the ever changing threat landscape,” said Mr. Rai, adding that an effective implementation of cybersecurity requires IT infrastructure and technical expertise for which the industry should play a responsible role. The lab will use 200-500 different types of malware, ransomware and 100 attack cases to deliver realistic cyberattack experiences. The facility can be accessed virtually from any part of the world.
“The demand for cybersecurity experts has grown three times faster than any other IT job role, and training a cybersecurity workforce is a priority for many organisations,” Cisco India President India and SAARC Dinesh Malkani said. “The cybersecurity lab aims to provide highly specialised technical training workshops to help security staff build the skills and experience to combat new age threats,” Mr. Malkani added. (The writer was at Gurugram at the invitation of Cisco)
Compensation However, airlines are not liable to pay compensation, as per DGCA rules, in case another flight is arranged within an hour of the original scheduled departure. An AirAsia India spokesperson said the airline decides the number of seats to be overbooked on a flight based on historical flight data, “without causing inconvenience to guests and is carried out in compliance with the regulatory body.” “We do not overbook as a practice; however, if we were to run into an overbooked situation due to unplanned schedule disruption, we would accommodate customers in order of check-in,” said a Vistara spokesperson. “We have the lowest denied boarding rate in India, which is predominantly zero.” “Airlines deny boarding at the check-in counter” and United-like situations haven’t happened here so far, said D. Sudhakara Reddy, founder Air Passengers Association of India. “Centre should formulate guidelines not to allow such incidents in India.”
GMR JV bids €480 mn. for Crete airport Reuters ATHENS
The only bid submitted to build an airport on the island of Crete was priced at €480 million ($509.4 million), well below the expected €850 million, sources close to the project said on Wednesday. The bid was submitted last year by a joint venture of India's GMR Infrastructure and Greek construction group GEK TERNA. “The financial offer was unsealed on Tuesday,” one of the sources told Reuters. A ND-ND
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THE HINDU
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Rana anchors the Mumbai chase
KKR meets KXIP in its irst home engagement
The host medium-pacers peg back Sunrisers’ hitters with niggardly bowling Amol Karhadkar
SCOREBOARD
MUMBAI
While the target was not as big as it was on Sunday, the dew made as much an impact at the Wankhede Stadium as it did three nights ago. No wonder then that it was Nitish Rana again who anchored Mumbai Indians’ chase to perfection as the home team overpowered defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad in a lop-sided contest. After the bowling unit had done remarkably well to restrict Sunrisers to 158 for eight, the batsmen ensured that Mumbai Indians sailed home with four wickets and eight balls to spare. While Jos Buttler failed to fire, Parthiv Patel made a telling contribution going after veteran Ashish Nehra. However, once Parthiv lofted offie Deepak Hooda to Bhuvneshwar Kumar at longon at the midway mark — with captain Rohit Sharma having perished to leg-spinner Rashid Khan for his third single-digit score in succession — MI required Rana to put his head down. The left-hander avoided undue risk, and yet punished the long-hops. Krunal Pandya’s quickfire 20-ball 37 — including a six over longon and a four through backward square off Nehra, followed by a whack over cowcorner and twin boundaries off Ben Cutting in the following over — made the home side’s task easy.
Yorked: Ben Cutting, who had hit four boundaries in a 10-ball 20 and was looking dangerous, was stopped in his tracks by Jasprit Bumrah. VIVEK BENDRE *
Scuttled Things would not have been as facile had the Mumbai Indians bowlers not pulled the plug on the Sunrisers’ lower middle-order at the ‘death’. At 118 for three, with Yuvraj Singh at the crease and the impressive Harbhajan Singh through with his quota of overs, Sunrisers were set for a score of about 180. However, the pacers conceded just 40 — and sent
back five batsmen — to restrict the visitors to under 160. Hardik Pandya, who had slipped on the delivery stride of the first ball he bowled, got Yuvraj to play on. Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah then struck the block-hole at will to not let any of the SRH hitters go berserk. A rare instance of a bats-
Kohli trains at full throttle
man hitting the last ball of an over for a four and still facing the first ball of the following over occurred in the first innings. David Warner, the Sunrisers’ captain, nudged Bumrah’s last ball of the sixth over, through thirdman for a boundary. After the changeover Mitchell McClenaghan ran in to bowl to Warner, instead of Shikhar Dhawan.
No doubt that the on-field umpires — C.K. Nandan and Nitin Menon, coming on the back of a bad match at the same ground three nights ago — did not notice that the batsmen had also changed ends. However, the onus also lies with Warner, who switched over swiftly to the other end after his chat with Dhawan in the middle.
Question mark over Lynn’s availability
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan b McClenaghan 48 (43b, 5x4, 1x6), David Warner c Parthiv b Harbhajan 49 (34b, 7x4, 2x6), Deepak Hooda c Pollard b Harbhajan 9 (9b, 1x4), Yuvraj Singh b Hardik 5 (7b, 1x4), Ben Cutting b Bumrah 20 (10b, 4x4), Naman Ojha c Pollard b Bumrah 9 (9b), Vijay Shankar c Rana b Malinga 1 (2b), Rashid Khan c & b Bumrah 2 (4b), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (not out) 4 (3b), Ashish Nehra (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (lb-5, nb-1, w-5): 11; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 158. Fall of wickets: 1-81 (Warner, 10.2 overs), 2-105 (Hooda, 13.1), 3-114 (Dhawan, 14.5), 4123 (Yuvraj, 15.3), 5-146 (Cutting, 17.4), 6-147 (Vijay Shankar, 18.1), 7-153 (Ojha, 19.1), 8-155 (Rashid, 19.4). Mumbai Indians bowling: Harbhajan Singh 4-0-23-2, Lasith Malinga 4-0-30-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-24-3, Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-42-1, Hardik Pandya 3-0-22-1, Krunal Pandya 1-0-12-0. Mumbai Indians: Parthiv Patel c Bhuvneshwar b Hooda 39 (24b, 7x4), Jos Buttler b Nehra 14 (11b, 3x4), Rohit Sharma lbw b Rashid 4 (4b), Nitish Rana b Bhuvneshwar 45 (36b, 3x4, 2x6), Kieron Pollard c Dhawan b Bhuvneshwar 11 (11b, 1x6), Krunal Pandya c Cutting b Bhuvneshwar 37 (20b, 3x4, 3x6), Hardik Pandya (not out) 2 (3b), Harbhajan Singh (not out) 3 (3b); Extras (lb-3, w-1): 4; Total (for six wikts. in 18.4 overs): 159. Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Buttler, 3.1 overs), 2-41 (Rohit, 4.5), 379 (Parthiv, 9.4), 4-111 (Pollard, 13.4), 5-149 (Krunal, 17.1), 6-155 (Rana, 17.6). Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-21-3, Ashish Nehra 4-0-46-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-19-1, Mustafizur Rahman 2.4-0-34-0, Deepak Hooda 2-0-18-1, Ben Cutting 2-0-18-0. Toss: Mumbai Indians Man-of-the-match: Bumrah. Result: MI won by four wickets with eight balls to spare.
Y.B. Sarangi KOLKATA
With a question mark hanging over Chris Lynn’s availability for the rest of the tournament, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is back in business for its first home engagement against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the IPL at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday. KKR received a massive boost when it rode on the record unbeaten opening partnership of 184 between Lynn and captain Gautam Gambhir to cruise to a 10-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in its first match at Rajkot. The loss to Mumbai even after setting a target of 179, thanks to Manish Pandey’s blazing unbeaten 81, may be disappointing though. KKR lost the plot by giving away 50 runs in the last three overs. Ankit Rajpoot, who claimed three wickets, experienced the bitter side of bowling in the death, while New Zealander Trent Boult struggled to make his mark. Sloppy fielding in the final over made matters worse. KKR would be happy to
Special correspondent KOLKATA
Kolkata Knight Riders coach Jacques Kallis said he was surprised to see the fielding lapses which contributed to the side’s defeat to Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League on Sunday night. “It’s surprising. We pride ourselves on our fielding. It is an area we have been pretty good in
He had tried his hand at Australian Rules Football Ashwin Achal Bengaluru
Ready to rock: Virat Kohli, seen with physio Evan Speechly, had an extended batting session at nets. G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR *
Principal Correspondent Bengaluru
Virat Kohli, who is yet to play an IPL match this season due to a shoulder injury, went full tilt at an RCB training session here on Wednesday evening. At the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Kohli hit the ground running with a gruelling fielding session. The 28-year-old regularly
dived and flung himself towards the ball, and even pulled off a couple of incredibly athletic catches. He then had an extended batting session at the nets. The star player showed no signs of discomfort as he tonked the bowlers to all parts of the ground. RCB next takes on Mumbai Indians here on Friday.
LONDON
Cricket umpires have been given the power to eject disobedient players while tethered bails will be permitted to protect wicket-keepers from eye injuries as part of a series of law changes coming into effect from Oct. 1. The new ‘Players conduct’ rule will allow on-field officials to remove a misbehaving competitor temporarily or permanently and award five penalty runs to the opposition, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has said. If a captain refuses to remove his offending player, the umpire can award the match to the opposition. If both captains refuse to comply, the contest can be abandoned.
Fun with fans: RCB’s Billy Stanlake obliges youngsters with a selie.
The away match, held at Indore, was marked by a blazing unbeaten 46-ball 89 by A.B. de Villiers, who made a terrific comeback from injury. “AB is irreplaceable — you cannot really fill his shoes. It’s great to have him back. It was just quite crazy that he can bat like that after a break,” he said. Before he took to the red cherry, the strapping lad
Merging rules The MCC, the custodians of the game’s laws, also merged “handled the ball” offence with “obstructing CM YK
substitutes to keep wicket. Among other changes, ‘lost ball’ law has been deleted and is now covered under ‘dead ball’, while bowling of deliberate front foot ‘no balls’ is to be treated in the same way as deliberate full-tosses.
A protest with no balls & wides! Reuters DHAKA
A Bangladeshi cricket team conceded 92 runs in just four legal deliveries to deliberately lose a match in what they called a protest over biased umpiring in its league. In the 50-over match of Dhaka Second Division League on Tuesday, Lalmatia Club was dismissed for just 88 off 14 overs before its opponent Axiom Cricketers reached 92 for no loss off just four balls. Lalmatia’s opening bowler
Sujon Mahmud sent down 13 wides and three no-balls in the first over and all of them raced to the boundary, costing his side a further 80 runs. Axiom opener Mustafizur Rahman struck three fours in four legitimate boundaries to take his side home in just 0.4 overs to complete a 10-wicket win in the capital’s City Club ground. Lalmatia Club secretary Adnan Rahman said his player bowled the wides and noballs deliberately as a mark of
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welcome pace ace Umesh Yadav back from fitness issues. It would love to see Englishman Chris Woakes rise to the expectation and the spinners, including Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, carry on their good work. KXIP, on the other hand, is in buoyant mood after
the last couple of seasons,” said Kallis. “I think it’s more of a mindset. We know that’s an issue. Hopefully, we can improve on that,” said Kallis. Agreeing that the loss to Mumbai in dewy conditions was a setback, the South African said, “It has happened in the early part of the season. We would learn from it.”
we played in < > When Dubai, we played with a free mind . We are trying to do that this year as well. Wriddhiman Saha, KXIP ’keeper
nailing two emphatic wins in a row. With Virender Sehwag as the mentor and Glenn Maxwell as captain, freedom of expression is the right of every player. “Both have told us to play freely without thinking much… In our set-up we have been told that anyone can bat anywhere,” said local cricketer Wriddhiman Saha, donning KXIP colours. With the reliable Hashim Amla and in-form Manan Vohra at the top and the devastating Maxwell and David Miller in the middle, KXIP’s batting looks to be in terrific touch. The team’s pace department, consisting of Sandeep Sharma, Varun Aaron and Australian Marcus Stoinis, has the variety to trouble any side. The pitch, which staged some low-scoring Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, may offer a few surprises when KKR and KXIP test their strength under lights.
CoA unlikely to endorse Nanda’s appointment NEW DELHI
tried his hand at Australian Rules Football. His father, Warren Stanlake, played the sport. “My father played just the single professional game. I remind him that he has played just the one game, so he can’t actually be that good,” the speedster said. As for following in his father’s footsteps, it was not to be. “Football is a bit more brutal (laughs), and there’s
Hasan meets Manohar Special Correspondent
Boucher was hit in the eye by flying bails in a tour match in England, which forced him into an early retirement. The MCC also approved bat restrictions (like thickness of the edges and the overall depth) and allowed
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KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS V KINGS XI PUNJAB Sony Six, Sony ESPN, Sony Max (SD & HD), 8 p.m.
Vijay Lokapally
Tethered bails approved as per law changes proposed by MCC the field”, thus reducing the number of possible dismissals from 10 to nine. It also ratified the proposal of tethered bails to protect wicket-keepers from the type of injuries that ended South African Mark Boucher’s career in 2012.
PLAYING TODAY
Was given media manager post
Umpires can eject misbehaving players Agencies
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Hope to improve our ielding: Kallis
Stanlake found his calling in cricket Standing at 6’8”, it is natural to assume that Billy Stanlake is a fast bowler. “Being this tall, I can’t possibly be a batsman. Funnily enough, I did keep wickets when I was young. But that didn’t last long,” Stanlake said, at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday. The Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer has featured in two of the three matches played so far. In his maiden appearance, against Delhi Daredevils, Stanlake took two for 29 to help his side defend a 158-run target. His next outing, however, was not as memorable, as he conceded 41 runs in his four overs. RCB lost the encounter to Kings XI Punjab. “I didn’t expect to play so soon. To get an early game in was a surprise. Playing in front of the home fans (against Delhi) was a great experience,” he said.
Legends meet: KXIP mentor Virender Sehwag has a word with former India captain Sourav Ganguly. PHOTO: PTI
protest for poor umpiring. The secretary alleged the umpires did not even allow the team captain to see the coin after the toss. The match angered the Bangladesh Cricket Board, which organises club cricket in Dhaka. “This is very unusual ... so many wides and no-balls,” said BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus. “We have asked match officials to submit a report in this regard. Once we’ve received the report, we will launch a formal investigation.”
Mumbai
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan met the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Shashank Manohar at Nagpur on April 11. The two are part of the five-member ICC Special Working Group that has proposed changes to the ICC’s Constitution and Financial models that was accepted in principle by the ICC Board last February. The next round of ICC meetings are scheduled for from April 21, with the ICC Board set to meet on April 26. The entire process of the changes to the Constitution and Financial models will come to an end when it is placed before the 105 member (10 full, 39 associate and 56 affiliate) annual general meeting after the Champions Trophy in June.
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G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR
too much running involved. So I’ll stay away from that,” he said. The junior Stanlake did give it a go, but found his calling in cricket. “When I was 16, I was picked for the Australian under-19 cricket team. That’s when I started to take cricket seriously, and realised that I cannot be running around footy fields getting bashed up,” he said.
Acting BCCI president C.K. Khanna’s decision to appoint former Delhi leg-spinner Chetnya Nanda as media manager is unlikely to meet the approval of the Committee of Administrators (CoA). Khanna, who got the responsibility being BCCI’s senior most vice-president, had appointed Nanda to the job to take care of the assignments in the North. Salil Seth of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) had been handling the affairs for more than a year and the appointment of Nanda was seen as Khanna’s attempt to take on the
CoA. Nanda was Delhi’s junior selector until recently and was looking forward to his new sphere of work. It is learnt that all BCCI appointments would now have to meet certain criteria like inviting applications for specific posts. In the past, such appointments were carried on without inviting applications. The BCCI has a fullfledged media department functioning from the Cricket Centre in Mumbai led by Gaurav Saxena. The list of BCCI employees is expected to be made public and it would be highly unlikely for Nanda’s name to figure in it.
Harbhajan among eight Champions Trophy ambassadors
MCC life membership for nine Ind. women
Press Trust of India
G. Viswanath MUMBAI
Dubai
Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was on Wednesday named one of the eight ambassadors for the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled in England from June 1 to 18. Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, Bangladesh’s Habibul Bashar, England’s Ian Bell, New Zealand’s Shane Bond, Australia’s Mike Hussey, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Graeme Smith of South Africa were unveiled as the other ambassadors for the tournament. The announcement comes exactly 50 days before the first ball is bowled in the tournament-opener between England and Bangladesh at The Oval. The Champion Ambassadors will be involved in the Trophy Tour and will
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) has taken the consent from nine former Indian women cricketers for its honorary life membership. Last year it had bestowed the honour on Anjum Chopra. MCC has also taken verification from the BCCI. Harbhajan Singh
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PTI
also make appearances in the UK. In addition to this, the eight cricketers will be part of an ICC editorial team and will provide match previews and match analysis through exclusive columns which will be available on the ICC website.
The nine cricketers are Diana Edulji, Shanta Rangaswamy, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Sudha Shah, Sandhya Agarwal, Neetu David, Gargi Banerjee, Shashi Gupta, Amita Sharma. The women’s World Cup final will be played on July 23 at Lord’s, the home of the MCC. A ND-ND
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IN BRIEF
Six-wicket win for Pakistan
Three share lead after round-1
Shoaib Malik scores unbeaten century
Ajeetesh Sandhu, Shivendra Sisodia and Sudhir Sharma sizzle, each carding ive-under 67
Agence France-Presse Providence
Shoaib Malik scored an unbeaten century as Pakistan beat West Indies by six wickets to clinch victory in the ODI series in Guyana on Tuesday. Malik sealed the win — and his ton — in spectacular fashion, smashing a
Howard stars in Hawks’ win ATLANTA
Atlanta Hawks, behind centre Dwight Howard’s 53rd double-double, secured fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a 103-76 victory over Charlotte Hornets in the NBA on Tuesday. Other results: Lakers 108 bt Pelicans 96; Kings 129 bt Suns 104; Nuggets 109 bt Mavericks 91; Thunder 100 bt Timberwolves 98. AGENCIES
Sumit Nagal loses on comeback HAMMAMET (TUNISIA)
Top seed Sumit Nagal was beaten 7-6(4), 6-4 by Ugo Humbert in the first round of the $15,000 ITF Futures tennis tournament here on Wednesday. The results: $60,000 ITF women, Istanbul: First round: Ayla Aksu & Pemra Ozgen (Tur) bt Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) & Ankita Raina 7-5, 7-5. $15,000 ITF women, Sharm El Sheikh: First round: Zeel Desai bt Dhruthi Venugopal 3-0 retd.; Linea Malmqvist (Swe) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-3, 6-4; Sarah Rebecca Sekulic (Ger) bt Kyra Shroff 6-1, 6-4. $15,000 Futures, Hammamet, Tunisia: First round: Ugo Humbert (Fra) bt Sumit Nagal 7-6(4), 6-4.
Alonso to miss Monaco for Indy 500 LONDON
McLaren F1 has announced that Fernando Alonso will miss next month’s Monaco GP to race for the team in the Indianapolis 500, where the team will enter a single car. AFP
Indian girls’ golden hunt KOZHIKODE
Indian girls took four out of the six golds at stake in the Asian youth blitz chess at Tashkent. Akanksha Hagawane (under-18), D. Jishitha (u-14), Divya Deshmukh (u-12) and M. Sahithi Varshini (u-10) were the gold medallists. The lone boy to take the gold was A.R. Ilamparthi (u-8). C. Sai Vishwesh (u-18) won a silver and Dev Shah (u-10) bronze. Ananya Suresh (u-18) and L. Jyothsna (u-14) won a bronze each.
SCOREBOARD
six off Jason Holder to wrap up victory with nearly seven overs to spare. Malik’s 101, which included two sixes and ten fours, was matched by an assured 81 from Mohammad Hafeez as Pakistan finished on 236 for four in reply to the home side’s 233 for nine.
Stan Rayan KOCHI
Ajeetesh Sandhu shot an impressive five-under 67 in the PGTI Cochin Masters at the CIAL Golf Club, Nedumbassery, on Wednesday. Sharing the lead with Sandhu are Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Sudhir Sharma, ahead of their nearest challengers by two strokes.
WEST INDIES VS PAKISTAN, THIRD ODI
West Indies: E. Lewis c Hafeez b Junaid 16, C. Walton b Hasan 19, K. Powell st. Sarfraz b Imad 23, S. Hope c Shoaib b Shadab 71, J. Mohammed c Sarfraz b Junaid 59, J. Carter b Shadab 11, J. Holder c Shadab b Amir 12, A. Nurse (not out) 10, V. Permaul c Hafeez b Amir 8, D. Bishoo (run out) 0, Extras (lb-1, w-3): 4; Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs) 233. Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-40, 368, 4-169, 5-192, 6-211, 7-219, 8-231, 9-233. Pakistan bowling: Md. Amir 90-41-2, Junaid Khan 10-060-2, Hasan Ali 6-1-29-1, Md. Hafeez 7-0-21-0, Imad Wasim 10-1-24-1, Shadab Khan 8-0-57-2.
Top scores:
Pakistan: K. Akmal c Powell b Gabriel 0, A. Shehzad c Hope b Holder 3, Babar Azam b Gabriel 16, Md. Hafeez c Permaul b Nurse 81, Shoaib Malik (not out) 101, Sarfraz Ahmed (not out) 24, Extras (b-3, lb-4, w-3, nb-1): 11; Total (for four wkts. in 43.1 overs) 236.
Accuracy rewarded Sisodia, who had a good first round last year too, started with three birdies on the first four holes and finished the day with three more on the back nine.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-36, 4-149.
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Man-of-the-Match: Malik
Ajay in quarterinals
Shoaib
Result: Pakistan won by six wickets
Sealing it: Shoaib Malik inished it of with a six, which also helped him reach the three-igure mark. AFP *
Sjoerd feels the girls sometimes lose a match even before they step on the ield Uthra Ganesan NEW DELHI
Marijne Sjoerd.
ness, that was a good thing. The team’s technical skills are good,” he said, speaking to The Hindu from back home in Holland for a short break. The team also broke up and will reassemble on March 23.
Lack of faith As coach of the Dutch side that won 7-0 in the only match against India he has been involved in, Sjoerd had little idea about the bunch of
First round: 67: Sudhir Sharma, Shivendra Singh Sisodia and Ajeetesh Sandhu. 69: Deepinder Singh Kullar, Om Prakash Chouhan, Dipankar Kaushal, M. Dharma, Feroz Ali Mollah, and Amardip Singh Malik.
Ajeetesh Sandhu.
\ DELHI ROUND-UP \
West Indies bowling: Gabriel 10-0-60-2, Holder 8.1-1-37-1, Bishoo 10-1-42-0, Permaul 40-31-0, Nurse 10-0-49-1, J. Mohammed 1-0-10-0.
‘Being favourite was unfamiliar ’ It was the best possible start to his stint with the Indian women’s hockey team, but Marijne Sjoerd doesn’t really care. He knows his team was favourite to win, but is also aware that the victory means little in the larger scheme of things for the future. The Hockey World League Round 2 win in West Vancouver that helped the team advance to the next round — also a World Cup qualifier — was the Dutchman’s first outing in charge of the team and the 42-year-old knew better than to call it a big achievement. “It was a stretched tournament for us, we played only four matches in nine days, with lots of rest. That is not really very nice for keeping our rhythm through the tournament. But we concentrated on the next games and trained hard. We had no problems playing against those teams, in terms of fit-
“I was quite accurate with the irons today, having landed it within three feet of the pin on five occasions. That helped set up a lot of birdies for me,” said Sisodiya. Feroz Ali Mollah, the defending champion, was one of the six men behind the leaders with three-under-69
girls he was to take charge of till about a month ago. “I feel the players are worried that Argentina or South Africa is better than them. At times, they lose a match even before they step on the field. Also, I did not know then that this was the first time the team was favourite in a competition, and it was a strange place to be in for them,” Sjoerd said. “The mental problem was there in the beginning, as I said. We spoke of the Olympics, where they did not win a single match, and I felt that the girls look up to the other teams, which is really not necessary. Yes, they have to learn and I am not saying they will immediately start winning. But they have to begin believing in themselves somewhere,” he insisted. Captain Rani Rampal, all of 22 and already one of the senior-most players in the side, appreciated the attacking, aggressive hockey the
Junior World Cup-winning coach brought into the side. But Sjoerd wants the aggression to be mixed with a structured, patient style to be most effective. The coach is clear that there will be changes in the team between now and Johannesburg, specially with a six-game test series in New Zealand thrown in next month as part of the preparations. “Against a strong team like New Zealand is when I will really see their level and only then can I say something, I cant say which position the team will finish in, but the skills are there to give us a chance against every team,” he said. In Canada, India was the top-ranked side. At the Hockey World League Semifinals in Johannesburg in July, the level of competition will be completely different with Argentina (World No. 3), USA (6), England (2) and Germany (7) being some of the other teams.
Ajay Malik beat Dhruv Tangri 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to seal his quarterfinal berth in the Road to Wimbledon Masters under-14 tennis tournament at the Delhi Gymkhana Club here on Wednesday. On the girls’ side, Sandeepti Singh Rao topped her group beating Gargi Pawar 7-5, 6-1. The results: Boys: Pool-A: Ajay Malik bt Dhruv Tangri 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; Nishant Dabas bt Rudra Kapoor 6-4, 6-2. Pool-B: Krishan Hooda bt Udit Gogoi 7-5, 6-4; Nikhil Niranjan Thirumale bt Pranav Ikkurthy 6-3, 6-2. Pool-C: V.M. Sandeep bt Sushant Dabas 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Aman Dahiya bt Shashidhar Kota 6-2, 2-6, 6-0. Pool-D: Divesh Gahlot bt Sanjith Devineni 6-3, 6-0; Denimm Yadav bt Kartik Saxena 6-2, 6-2. Girls: Pool-A: Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Gargi Pawar 7-5, 6-1; Akanksha Nitture bt Hrudaya Shah 6-0, 5-7, 6-4. Pool-B: Aditi Narayan bt Sudipta Senthil Kumar 6-2, 2-6, 6-1; Mushrath Anjum Shaik bt Ayushi Singh 7-5, 6-4. Pool-C: Sarah Dev bt Naisha Srivastav 6-3, 6-0; Avi Shah bt Divya Bhardwaj 6-3, 6-3. Pool-D: Priyanshi Bhandari bt Srujana Rayarala 6-2, 6-1; Yana Dhamija bt Renne Singla 7-5, 6-1.
Alam slams 182 n.o. Arish Alam made a matchwinning unbeaten 182 off just 108 balls to help Defence Accounts Sports Control Board defeat Madan Lal Cricket Academy (MLCA) by eight wickets and enter
the pre-quarterfinals of the 27th all-India Om Nath Sood memorial tournament. The scores: MLCA 286 for nine
19.2 overs (Anuj Chaudhary 32 n.o., Neelesh Manglani five for 18).
in 40 overs (Vaibhav Kandpal 127, Shaurya Thakur 69, Sanjay Pardesi three for 54, Murtaja Ali three for 54) lost to DASCB 289 for two in 36 overs (Arish Alam 182 n.o., Priyank Tehlan 71).
Rahul Chopra (61 and three for 23) and Harshit Sethi (58 and three for 41) helped Billabong Academy beat Gautam Gambhir Academy by 71 runs in the 10th Hargopal under-19 cricket tournament. Dhruv Jurel top-scored with an unbeaten 77 for the winner. The scores: Billabong
Arjun and Aadish set up Clever Fox’s win Arjun Gupta slammed a 57-ball unbeaten 84 and Aadish Jain picked up five for 18 as Clever Fox beat Playerz XI by four wickets in the fifth Roshanara Premier League. The scores: Playerz XI 168 for nine in 20 overs (Jaspreet Singh Dhingra 63, Mahir Sharma 36, Aadish Jain five for 18) lost to Clever Fox 171 for six in 19.5 overs (Arjun Gupta 84 n.o.); Zenith XI 172 for seven in 20 overs (Ekansh Gulati 78, Aditya Kaushik 52, Abhishek Gupta two for 10, Keshav Mishra two for 32, Akash Trehan two for 44) bt Nav Durga XI 160 for eight in 20 overs (Jagrit Anand 63, Kapil Manglani two for 23, Aditya Kaushik two for 28).
Six-wicket haul for Ayush Ayush Dutt had a six for 13 and Nitin Chaudhary picked up three for 17 as Aryan Club beat You Star Academy by four wickets in the Swastik Cup tournament. Neelesh Manglani picked up five wickets for the losing side. The scores: YSA 51 in 17.3 overs (Ayush Dutt six for 13, Nitin Chaudhary three for 17) lost to Aryan Club 52 for six in
Rahul, Harshit shine
Academy 280 for seven in 40 overs (Dhruv Jurel 77 n.o., Rahul Chopra 61, Harshit Sethi 58, Anish Ali three for 49) bt Gautam Gambhir Academy 209 in 30.5 overs (Abhishek Goswami 50, Abhijeet Sharma 44, Saurabh Nagpal 42, Rahul Chopra three for 23, Harshit Sethi three for 41).
Schools hockey Hoping to revive school hockey, four leading public schools from across the country will participate, with United for Hockey (UFH), for the inaugural UFH Invitational Cup on April 15 and 16. Doon School (Dehradun), Mayo College (Ajmer), the Scindia School (Gwalior) and Welham Boys’ School (Dehradun) will compete along with two other teams comprising various school alumni under the UFH banner, a club of hockey enthusiasts and former players. The matches will be played under lights in a leaguecum-knockout format.
Mahesh ensured that the of-court drama didn’t afect us: Prajnesh There was no pressure; we’d already known about the injuries, says Ramkumar
Velavan stuns top seed to enter last four
K. Keerthivasan
JOHANNESBURG
CHENNAI
Qualifier Velavan Senthilkumar stunned top seed Aqeel Rehman of Austria 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 in 31 to reach the semifinals of the Parkview Open 2017 squash here on Wednesday. In another match, second seed Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu cruised past South Africa’s Gareth Naidoo 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 to reach the last four. Guhan Senthilkumar had lost to Aqeel Rehman 11-9, 11-1, 11-4 in the first round. PTI
Fresh from featuring in India’s 4-1 win over Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup match at Bengaluru, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran are basking in the limelight. “It was an important tie for us to get into the World Group play-offs. Everyone wants to be there,” said Ramkumar, speaking to The Hindu on Wednesday. “More important, we played as a team,” he said.
Concurring with Ramkumar, Prajnesh said: “The team dynamics was excellent. Having (Sriram) Balaji and Ram(kumar) was great, and Bopanna helped us too.” Making his Davis Cup debut in the match against the Uzbeks, Prajesh said he handled the pressure better than he had thought he would. “I couldn’t have done better,” said the left-hander who, like Ramkumar, won his singles rubber on the opening day. A good run of form of late
was what had earned Prajnesh his Davis Cup spot. “This is the first time I’ve played a full season without any injuries,” he said. In the absence of Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni, the task of spearheading the Indian singles challenge fell upon Ramkumar. What was it like to cope with? “There was absolutely no pressure,” Ramkumar said. “We’d already known about about the injuries.” On whether the off-court turbulence around the team
had affected them, Prajnesh said, “Mahesh (Bhupathi) kept us away from all of that. Our focus was on our matches and the tactics we should employ. Seriously, it didn’t affect us at all.” Ramkumar is now ranked 232 in the World, and Prajnesh is not too far behind at 286, and both are eager to improve on it to secure their spots on the Indian team for the World Group play-off away against Canada from September 15 to 17. “Rankings will be one of
the main criteria to get into the team. Form will be another factor, and the playing surface will play another big part,” said Prajnesh. “(Milos) Raonic and (Vasek) Pospisil are big servers. It could be hard courts, you never know. Mahesh told us that, in Davis Cup, we always have a chance.” Prajnesh said his immediate focus would be on qualifying for the Grand Slams, and Ramkumar said he had belief in his team-mate. “He can do it,” said Ramkumar.
Coming into their own: Ramkumar and debutant Prajnesh handled with aplomb the task of playing singles for India in the recent Davis Cup match against Uzbekistan. M. KARUNAKARAN *
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THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11980 1
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3 Fund eel breeding — It's a necessary action (7)
14 Trick almost caused shock (4)
4 Assembled union to distribute cleaned pot in stage where maximum capacity has been reached (10,5)
16 Hits inspector with pole as symbol (5,4)
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12 Fancy violin had been free from scratches (9)
15 Gesture to call not working (4)
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(set by Aspartame)
6 Craft hour — it is a painful problem (9)
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21 Law written allows fellows to start exporting food (6)
7 Note about spy novelist being a member of British college (7)
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23 Festive igure admitted one with alcohol bottles inside leading hospital (10)
13 Inauguration of Nolan movie (9)
24 Bend reel backwards, not completely (4)
15 Attacks in hot Arab country (7)
18
Reaching Brahman
5 Central railway was halted in stormy conditions (6)
20 How butchers are asked to hurry up (4-4)
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■ ACROSS 1 Predict reaction to GPS tracking (13)
25 Devious nun loves getting unctions interrupted (13)
8 Verbal test (4) 9 Notes at IIM sent for evaluation (10)
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■ DOWN
17 Anchor understood reports on some odd article (7) 18 Hanging frame (7)
10 Somewhat weak Indo-French exhibits (4,2)
1 Distribute luck (7)
19 Accommodating Asian guy owes principal to miser (6)
11 Stop smuggling in Mysore's trains (8)
2 Lubricated machine that is old (5)
22 One fool copies written work meant for submission (5)
Solution to puzzle 11979 C U S T OM O N U I M P O R T E M W E H AMM E R A E AM E N D E F P R A C T I C C A N WH I R L I N A O S E N O U G H T S E I S L E D I
E R S MO S H N T E P D R E D S E A I E I L N D S I C K L E G S A I S T E R L I N G D G E T I P S Y N N G D E R V I S H I X I C N O T A T I O N E R E L S C A R D E D
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
Uddalaka gives his son Svetaketu many examples to explain the nature of Brahman, said M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse. After explaining the subtle nature of Sath, Uddalaka goes on to explain what liberation means and also the need for an Acharya to give spiritual instruction. Uddalaka says, “Suppose there is a person from the Gandhara country. He is taken to a forest and left there blindfolded. The forest has no human habitation. The man will shout that he has been left alone and is also blindfolded. He would shout out in different directions. If a person happens to be present, he will remove the blindfold and then guide the lost man, telling him how he can reach Gandhara. From then on, the man slowly will make his way to Gandhara, by making enquiries on the way. Once he is told the right direction that he has to take to reach his destination, then he can make the journey alone. Likewise, a person who has a good Acharya will know the way to reach Brahman.” But when does a person reach Brahman? Only when he exits the body can he reach Brahman. Once he has served out the effects of his karma, his soul leaves his body. Uddalaka further explains that when a person is on his death bed, his relatives gather around him asking him if he recognises them . He is able to recognise them, until his speech merges into manas, and manas merges into prana, and prana merges into tejas and tejas unites with the Supreme One. At that stage, he no longer recognises anyone. In other words, once the soul unites with Sath, he does not recognise anyone. So the relationship with the body is impermanent. He who knows this will not be touched by the sorrows of samsara, for he knows that Sath is the atman of everything. He will meditate upon this Sath. A ND-ND
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THE HINDU
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IN BRIEF
Barca’s Paris deja vu
Dortmund fans’ spontaneous gesture
The ‘Jewel’ outshines Messi to give Juve the edge
Agence France-Presse DORTMUND
Stranded Monaco fans were offered free accommodation by fans in Dortmund after Tuesday’s Champions League match was called off following the attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus. Many Monaco supporters, who had planned to travel back to France directly after the game, found they had nowhere to sleep when the game was postponed, with their tickets still valid. However, a heartwarming spontaneous initiative from Dortmund
Injured Bartra has wrist surgery DORTMUND
Spain international Marc Bartra underwent wrist surgery on Tuesday after being injured when the Borussia Dortmund team bus was rocked by a series of explosions that forced the postponement of its Champions League match against Monaco. The 26-yearold Bartra needed an operation after he had broken the radius (bone) in his right wrist, said a spokesman. AFP
Head over heels: Juventus’ Paulo Dybala celebrates one of his two strikes against Barcelona with teammate Juan Cuadrado. REUTERS *
Agencies Turin
Anderlecht no pushover, says Mkhitaryan PARIS
Henrikh Mkhitaryan says Manchester United cannot afford to underestimate Belgian league leader Anderlecht as Jose Mourinho’s side attempt to join an elite group of European clubs. “Anderlecht are not easy opponents. I know this because I have watched some of their games in Europe; they are playing very well,” he said. AFP
TV PICKS Europa League: TEN 1, 2, 3 & TEN 1 HD, 11.30 p.m.
Paulo Dybala upstaged fellow Argentine Lionel Messi with two exquisite goals to set Juventus on the way to an emphatic 3-0 win over an underwhelming Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday. The Spanish side, which overcame a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the previous round to beat Paris St. Germain, will have to pull a similar trick out of the hat again. Dybala, knwon as the ‘Jewel’ fired Juve ahead in the seventh minute and added the second goal before the half hour while defender Giorgio Chiellini headed in the third early in the second half. It could have been worse for Barca as Gonzalo Higuain, usually Juve’s most dangerous marksman, missed two chances that he would usually have snapped up.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Barca had 65% possession but was strangely ponderous in midfield and leaky at the back, where it could not cope with the pace and aggression of Mario Mandzukic or Juan Cuadrado on the flanks. The match pitted Chiellini against Barcelona forward Luis Suarez for the first time since the infamous incident at the 2014 World Cup when the Uruguayan bit the Italian defender. Juve, unbeaten at home in a European tie for four years, went ahead when Cuadrado found Dybala who cleverly turned and curled a left-foot shot past Marc Andre ter Stegen. Dybala struck again 15 minutes later, meeting Manduzkic’s low cross in his stride to beat ter Stegen inside the near post with another left-footer. Barcelona made a more promising start to the second
Solidarity: Fans show their support following the explosions near the Borussia Dortmund team bus. AP *
fans via Twitter meant many found a place to sleep for the night under the hashtag
BAI president passes away Press Trust of India
half, but Juventus was not finished. After Higuain squandered another chance by delaying too long over his shot, Chiellini out-jumped Javier Mascherano at the far post to head in from a corner for the third in the 55th minute. The result: Juventus 3 (Dybala 7, 22, Chiellini 55) bt Barcelona 0.
Mbappe stars for Monaco Agencies Dortmund
Kylian Mbappe’s brace and a goal by Sven Bender helped Monaco beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the first leg of their Champions League encounter. Ousmane Dembele and Shinji Kagawa scored for the host.
#bedforawayfans. Borussia Dortmund’s official account promoted the initiative.
NEW DELHI
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta passed away in Lucknow, after suffering a heart attack, in the wee hours of Wednesday. He was 56. He had become BAI president after the arrest of former chief V.K. Verma over corruption charges in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and was unanimously re-elected for another four-year term in 2014. Last year, he was also elected the vice-president of the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) for a four-year term. Under his tenure, India bagged the rights to host marquee BWF events like the 2014 Thomas/Uber Cup and the Super Series, while the Syed Modi International was upgraded to a Grand Prix gold status. He was also instrumental
Akhilesh Das Gupta.
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PTI
in launching and organising the the Badminton League in August 2013, which was later rechristened Premier Badminton League in 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes that poured in for Das Gupta. “Saddened by the demise of former MP & Union Minister, Shri Akhilesh Das. His active contribution to public life will be remembered. RIP,” the PM tweeted. Sports Minister Vijay Goel
also tweeted his condolences. “Shocked by the sudden demise of @BAI_Media President Akhilesh Das, was a great administrator. Prayers & condolences for his friends and family,” Goel tweeted. Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta also expressed their deep sorrow. “Really shocking news ?? it’s just unbelievable..our beloved president sir @BAI_Media is no more .. may his soul Rest in peace,” tweeted Saina. “My heartfelt condolences to the family of our badminton president who passed away... #akhileshdasgupta #RIP,” Jwala said. Commonwealth Games champion P. Kashyap also took to Twitter, saying: “Shocked and saddened! My heartfelt condolences to his family. May his soul rest in peace. Our beloved president @Dr_akhilesh_das.”
“Dear supporters of @AS_Monaco_EN! If you need accommodation in Dortmund, please check #bedforawayfans. #bvbasm,” the German club tweeted and the Monaco account also highlighted the action. Several Dortmund fans posted pictures of themselves at home with relieved Monaco supporters and the solidarity drew plenty of praise on social media. “All together! Solidarity has developed between the fans of both teams,” wrote French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
Bagan held by Lajong, but goes to the top Press Trust of India SHILLONG
Former champion Mohun Bagan failed to log full points after Shillong Lajong held it to a 1-1 draw but managed to climb to the top of the I-League table here on Wednesday. Jeje Lalpekhlua struck in the 75th minute to give Bagan the lead before Dipanda Dicka equalised within three minutes. Bagan now has 30 points from 15 games, same as Aizawl FC, but a better goal difference and head-to-head record. With the league likely set to be decided in the 3536 point zone, Bagan will like to at least win a couple of matches in their last three games.
Sindhu enters second round Sai Praneeth also advances in Singapore Open Press Trust of India Singapore
P.V. Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to make a positive start to her campaign at the Singapore Open here on Wednesday. Sindhu fought back from a game down to eke out a 1021, 21-15, 22-20 win in the opening round of the wo-
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men’s singles match. The fifth-seeded Indian will now face Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani. B. Sai Praneeth also dished out a gritty performance to prevail 17-21, 21-7, 2119 over Denmark’s Emil Holst. The Indian will clash with China’s Qiao Bin next. Other results: (first round): Women: Hsu Ya Ching bt Rituparna Das 21-18, 21-13.
Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa & N. Sikki Reddy bt Yin Loo Lim & Yap Cheng 21-19, 21-19. Men: Anthony Sinisuka bt Sourabh Verma 21-15, 21-14; Hu Yun bt Sameer Verma 28-26, 23-21. Doubles: Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda bt Manu Attri & B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-8, 21-16. Mixed doubles: Lu Ching Yao & Chiang Kai Hsin bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & K. Maneesha 2113, 16-21, 21-11.
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