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saturday, march 3, 2018
Mumbai City Edition
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20 pages O 10.00
I&B Ministry denies vendetta against Prasar Bharati
No change in stand on Tibetan leader Dalai Lama, says Centre
After ‘great’ meeting, NRA says Trump opposes gun control
Starc, Lyon put Australia in command in rst Test against South Africa
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P r i n t e d at . C h e n n a i . C o i m b ato r e . Be n g a lu ru . H y d e r a b a d . M a d u r a i . N o i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . T h i ru va n a n t h a p u r a m . Ko c h i . V i j ayawa da . M a n g a lu ru . T i ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . H u b b a l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . T i ru pat i . lu c k n ow . cu t tac k . pat n a
10 Naxals killed on Telangana border
NEARBY
Easy riders
Police search teams run into large group of rebels in forests on State’s boundary with Chhattisgarh
Big blow to Maoists
MARRI RAMU GOLLAPUDI SRINIVASA RAO HYDERABAD
Missing API Bidre was murdered NAVI MUMBAI
An accused in the case of the missing Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre has revealed that main accused Police Inspector Abhay Kurundkar allegedly murdered Bidre in his at in Bhayander, chopped the body and dumped the severed head and limbs in Vasai creek on April 11, 2016. CITY A PAGE 3 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Ten members, including six women, of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) and a Greyhounds commando were killed in an exchange of re with the pol ice on the ChhattisgarhTe langana border, 400 km from here, on Friday. In a joint operation under way for the last two days fol lowing specic intelligence, armed police teams of the two States were combing the thick forests of Pujari Kanker in Bijapur district of Chhat tisgarh when they saw a group of Maoists around 6 a.m. The encounter site is close to Jayashankar Bhupal pally district in Telangana. “It was actually an armed company of 7080 Maoists. They wanted to ambush us and opened re,” Telangana intelligence wing ocials said. The Greyhounds teams and other units returned re. The gun battle lasted over 30 minutes. Thirtyfour yearold commando B. Sush
The death of 10 Maoists in a gunght with a a joint team of the Telangana and Chhattisgarh police in the Pujari Kanker forest area in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh dealt a major setback to the Maoists who had stepped up their activities along the inter State border, targeting road construction equipment and alleged “police informers.” A PAGE 5 The aftermath: Bodies being transported by helicopter after a gunght between the police and Naxalites on the TelanganaChhattisgarh border on Friday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
eel Kumar sustained a bullet wound and died. Bodies of 10 Maoists were found at the encounter site during searches later. Weapons seized One AK47 rie, ve Indian New Small Arms System (IN SAS) ries, one SelfLoading Rie, two single bore ries, three claymore mines and six rocket bombs were
Amit Shah invites Naidu for discussion on package TDP delegation to meet BJP president, FinMin on March 5
seized. A pistol, one radio and 41,000 in cash were al so recovered. Initially, speculation was rife that top Maoist leader Hari Bhushan was among the dead. Even the Telangana Advocate General, while res ponding to a lunch motion moved by civil rights organi sations before the Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court, said Hari Bhush
an was dead. By evening, ho wever, intelligence ocials said that he had escaped. Till evening, only two bo dies — of Bhudri alias Renuka and Sanjeev — were own to Bhadrachalam. The remain ing bodies were still at the encounter site when reports last came in. MAOIST WITH RS. 30 LAKH BOUNTY ON HEAD KILLED A PAGE 5
U.S. refuses to conrm Nirav Modi’s presence Look Out Circular issued against him Press Trust of India
is in New York.
Preserve bodies: HC The Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the government to preserve the bodies of the Maoists. A Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Vijaya Laxmi gave the order after hearing a motion, moved by a civil rights body, that the autopsy be done by two doctors. A PAGE 5
Fine balance: ‘Nihangs’ (Sikh warriors) display their riding skills at Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab on Friday. The event is held a day after Holi. PTI *
Counting of votes today in three northeastern States High stakes for national parties ahead of 2019 LS elections
Washington
Special correspondent Vijayawada
Bharatiya Janata Party presi dent Amit Shah on Friday te lephoned Chief Minister and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu to invite him for a dis cussion on implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Reor ganisation Act and assuranc es given in Parliament. A delegation led by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y. S. Chow dary will meet Union Fi nance Minister Arun Jaitley, Mr. Shah and ocials on March 5, the deadline xed by Mr. Naidu for the Centre to announce a timebound action plan for the imple mentation of the Reorgani sation Act. Mr. Shah’s call to Mr. Nai du assumes signicance in
N. Chandrababu Naidu
the wake of the Telugu De sam’s decision to write let ters to all political parties to seek their support for And hra Pradesh’s demand. Protest to continue In spite of the BJP top brass oering an olive branch, the TDP, sources said, had de cided to go ahead with plans
to step up protests in Parlia ment. “It will be a courtesy call. The TDP shall not compro mise on Andhra Pradesh’s interests. The party will con tinue to mount pressure on the Centre until the issues raised by us are addressed to our satisfaction,” Mr. Naidu is learnt to have told his par ty colleagues. Srikakulam MP Kinjarapu Ramamohan Naidu, Andhra Pradesh State Planning Board vicechairman C. Ku tumba Rao and ocials will accompany Mr. Chowdary. Mr. Rammohan Naidu and Mr. Kutumba Rao had met Mr. Shah on Thursday to discuss issues related to the State’s bifurcation. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8
Race to save 3,000-year-old treasures in A.P. village Megalithic site in West Godavari will be ooded by Polavaram
The U.S. government is aware of the media reports that diamond jeweller Nirav Modi is in the country but is unable to conrm them, a State Department ocial said on Friday. Mr. Modi, his uncle Mehul Choksi and others are being investigated by multiple agencies following a com plaint by the Punjab Nation al Bank (PNB) that they had allegedly cheated it to the tune of over 12,000 crore, with the purported involve ment of some employees of the nationalised bank. “We are aware of recent media reports that Nirav Modi is in the United States but cannot conrm them,” the spokesperson told PTI when asked about reports that the Indian businessman
No comments from DoJ Asked if the department is providing any assistance to India in tracing Mr. Modi, the spokesperson said, “We refer you to the Department of Justice.” The Department of Justice (DoJ) declined to comment. A Look Out Circular, known as a blue corner not ice, has already been issued against Mr. Modi and Mr. Choksi to keep a tab on their entry at all land, air and sea ports in India. A U.S. court on Friday passed an interim order that prevents creditors from col lecting debt from the Nirav Modiowned Firestar Dia mond Inc, which led for bankruptcy. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8
stones like chalcedony, carnelian and steatite. There are pointers to social life, such as a dagger, broken parts of a javelin, two ploughs, legged pottery and urns, besides red and black pottery.
RUDRAMKOTA
A small village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh is yielding clues to life in the region some 3,000 years ago. The State Archaeology department has dug up artefacts from burial sites here dating back to 1000 B.C. and the megalithic era. However, it faces a challenge: to complete the excavations early because the area will be ooded by the Polavaram project. Rudramkota in Velperupeta mandal of West Godavari district has so far yielded human gures, terracotta gurines, and red and black pottery, from a dolmen burial. There are over 150 graves here, and the area rst came to prominence in 1992. The excavations gathered pace last year when the A.P. government said it wanted to complete the Polavaram project in 2019. Rudramkota is scheduled to go underwater. CM YK
Nearly lost: A dagger and an urn found in Rudramkota. *
CH.VIJAYA BHASKAR
The Commissioner, Department of Archaeology and Museums, G. Vani Mohan, said the objects would be sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology to determine their antiquity through carbon dating. Closer study would yield insights into the lifestyle of the megalithic period, she said. The artefacts found include charred bones, seeds, beads of crystal and
More in store The quest for antiquities covers many villages, promising a bigger trove. Besides Rudramkota, there are Rayanapeta, Chinamettapalli and Jinnelagudem (all in East Godavari). Partnering the department is Deccan College, Pune. The current excavations launched in November will go on till April 2018, the Commissioner said. Rudramkota is one of the biggest megalithic excavations, said Deputy Director (Technical) at the Archaeology department N. Mallikarjuna Rao. The government gave 50 lakh for excavation, 2 crore to shift two temples, and 60 lakh to move idols.
AGARTALA
The wait for change, or more of the same, in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura will come to an end on Saturday. The verdict of around 56 lakh voters across these three northeastern States was sealed on February 18 and 27. With 180 Assembly seats and ve parliamentary seats in total, elections in these three small States have often been mere formalities.
All set: A threetier security arrangement has been made at all 13 counting centres in Meghalaya.
60member Assemblies But last month’s elections, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, have raised the stakes for the three major political players — the Bharatiya Jana ta Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI
(M)] and Congress —as well as a smattering of regional parties. All three States have 60member Assemblies. A party or coalition needs at least 31 seats for forming a government. Having bagged Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh and Ma nipur in a region that was considered its “nal fron tier”, the BJP has been on an aggressive expansion mode. PARTIES BANK ON PRE-POLL TIE-UPS A PAGE 9
IndiGo ight with 166 on board Activists want NPPA chief’s transfer revoked makes emergency landing MumbaiKolkata ight returns after pilots report vibration ADITYA ANAND MUMBAI
G.V.R. Subba Rao
Rahul Karmakar
IndiGo’s Kolkatabound A320 neo aircraft from Mum bai made an emergency landing on Thursday evening after one of its Pratt & Whit ney (P&W) engines deve loped trouble and pilots re ported high vibration and alert warnings. Airport ocials said the ight 6E 395, which took o for Kolkata from the Chha trapati Shivaji Maharaj Inter national Airport (CSMIA) at around 6.18 p.m. with 166 passengers on board, re turned to land safely at 6.58 p.m. Passengers were ac commodated in a spare air craft at 7.45 p.m. after a total delay of an hour and 50 mi nutes, IndiGo said. Not the rst time In recent weeks, there have been instances of A320 neo planes powered by P&W en gines facing glitches. The neo aircraft are currently op erated only by Indigo and Go Air. On February 14 and 15, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ocials said that neo aircraft operated by Go Air had faced issues thrice in
There have been instances of A320 neo planes powered by P&W engines facing glitches. *
GETTY IMAGES
a span of two days, both re lated to reported oil chip de tection. On February 24, another neo aircraft ying to Jammu from Delhi via Leh with 112 passengers and crew had to be grounded following indi cation in the oil chip detec tion system and spare parts had be own in. On Thursday IndiGo is sued a statement saying ight 6E395 en route Mum baiKolkata had to return to Mumbai due to a technical glitch (oil chip in one en gine). IndiGo has reported this incident to DGCA and has also initiated an internal enquiry. All passengers were
safely deboarded and at no time was safety compro mised, the statement added. Despite a series of inci dents involving such A320 neo planes, the civil aviation ministry and DGCA are yet to take a call on whether to ground the entire eet till the problems are fully addressed something that aviation ex perts are in favour of. Aviation expert, Capt Mo han Ranganathan said it is important to know that the engine is suspect. “This is happening almost on a regu lar basis. The only way to get this corrected is to ground the neos with these engines. They should not be allowed to y with even one of the de fective engines,” he said. Pratt & Whitney had said that defective engines are in stalled in 32 aircraft across the world – three of them with both defective engines are with IndiGo and have been grounded after DGCA orders DGCA. Besides, 11 more aircraft — 8 with IndiGo and 3 with GoAir — with one defective engine have already been barred from operating long haul ights.
Have questioned government’s motive Special Correspondent New Delhi
Health activists have raised concerns about the sudden transfer of National Pharma ceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) chairman Bhupen dra Singh. The decision to move Mr. Singh is being attributed to pressure from the pharma lobby. Activists have de manded that the govern ment rethink its decision and let him complete his three year term. His replace ment in the NPPA has not yet been announced. Mr Singh was transferred to the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Conven tion in the Cabinet Secreta riat on Thursday. The Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare (ADEH) has questioned the motive behind Mr. Singh’s transfer. “The very fact that Government moved Mr. Bhupender Singh so urgent ly before completion of his term without even lling his post raises skepticism about the intention of the govern ment,” said the statement. The All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) also
Bhupendra Singh
raised concerns about the timing of Mr Singh’s transf er. “We fear that Mr. Singh’s transfer in total disregard to the public interest is due to the pressure from the indus try and corporate hospital lobby.” “The pharmaceutical in dustry has long sought to undermine and weaken the NPPA to enable uninhibited proteering and circumven tion of the law. The recent price revise of coronary stents angered the U.S. based MNCs which ran a malicious campaign against the regulatory authority,” said a AIDAN statement, ad ding that the Government allow Mr. Singh to complete his three year term. A BM-BME
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2 CITY
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Civic bodies told to Police call actor’s blu on Twitter TISS strike continues, form hawker panel Say there was no function organised by them where Ajaz Khan was chief guest students’ meet today as per SC at: Patil D grade actor, fasadi and se rial abuser @AjazkhanActor was invited as chief guest for an event by @MumbaiPol ice.” His tweet was accom panied by a link to an article saying the same. The Mumbai Police, on the same day, replied to his tweet: “Poor general know ledge alert! Poor research al ert! Careless tweeting alert! Let us know after U nish re searching, if U could man age nding which city’s Pol ice this is! Clue NOT one of us! Disclaimer: Mumbai Pol ice neither organised such event nor was part it (sic).”
Special Correspondent Mumbai
Staff Reporter Mumbai
The Maharashtra govern ment has instructed all civic bodies to form a hawker committee as per the instructions of the Su preme Court. “The civic bodies have xed hawking and nohawk ing zones. Instructions have been issued to take action against hawkers if they are found illegally selling food items,” said Minister of State for Urban Development De partment, Ranjit Patil, in the Assembly on Thursday. He was replying to a call ing attention motion intro duced by MLAs from Mum bai and neighbouring areas. Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna VikhePatil highlighted the incident in Satancruz where hawkers were found storing vegeta bles and foods in an unhy gienic condition. “We have led cases against the hawkers and action will be taken,” said Mr. Patil. A hawker committee will have the municipal commis sioner or the chief executive ocer of the civic body as the president. It will have ve ocial members, eight members from hawkers’ as sociations, and six nominat ed members. Replying to a question on whether a farm goods mar
Ranjit Patil
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ket can be set up in the hawking zone, Mr. Patil said ocials have been instruct ed to check on the feasibility of the proposal. “The num ber of permissible hawkers will be decided depending on the city’s population.” Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Amit Satam, who was in trouble for beat ing up hawkers, raised il legal cooking of food items by hawkers. “Cooking on roads will be strictly dealt with since it is not allowed as per the Supreme Court guidelines. Licence inspector of the ward will face suspension for dereliction of duty if cooking is found on roads,” the minister said.
Twitterati recently saw an amusing exchange between the Mumbai Police and ac tor Ajaz Khan. The actor put out a politelyworded tweet thanking the police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for inviting him as the ‘chief guest’, while the police asked the actor to get his facts straight. Mr. Khan has acted in movies such as Rakhta Charitra and Allah Ke Bandey, and was also a contes tant in reality television show Bigg Boss. ‘Thanks’ tweet On February 11, Mr. Khan tweeted his ‘thanks’ to the Mumbai Police and the BMC. “Many congratula tions to BMC and @Mumbai Police for such an amazing job with “creation of ow ers” and thank you so much for inviting me as chief guest at this event, I feel ho noured,” Mr. Khan said us
Picture trouble: The actor’s tweet congratulating BMC, Mumbai Police. TWITTER *
ing his ocial Twitter han dle, @AjazKhanActor. Several Twitterati ex pressed their displeasure at the Mumbai Police for invit ing him for a function, as he has been known for being outspoken on social media. One such tweet, by San jay Dixit, said, “Bollywood
Another clarication A short while later, the pol ice issued another clarica tion, this time in response to Mr. Khan’s tweet. “We appreciate your grat itude for the eorts of @MumbaiPolice for the wellbeing of the city, but misplaced gratitude barely serves any purpose. Kindly recollect correctly who were you invited by and
where, because we were not there,” the tweet said. The matter, however, did not end there, as Mr. Khan himself tweeted to the Mumbai Police. “@MumbaiPolice With all due respect I’d like to say that you haven’t done your homework, I supported you, inspite of my mother’s recent demise I came to the event because BMC and Mumbai police invited me, now who is using Mumbai police’s Twitter handle God knows,” the tweet said.
Twitterati amused More than the controversy, Twitter users derived great amusement in the wording of the Mumbai Police’s res ponse, and many of them commented on it. Mumbai Police spokes person DCP Deepak Deoraj said, “There was never any function organised by us where Mr. Khan was invit ed as the chief guest. We are not aware what func tion he is referring to.”
Sports uniform, canvas shoes for BMC students Hepzi Anthony Mumbai
From the coming academ ic year, students of the schools run by the Brihan mumbai Municipal Cor poration (BMC) will get separate sports uniforms and canvas shoes. These will be provided along
with the 27 other items. The sports uniform is likely to be in blue, green, red and yellow. The pro posal to purchase about 3.25 lakh canvas shoes worth about 7.5 crore has been presented to the standing committee. Incidentally, the noted
shoe brand, Bata, had parti cipated in the bidding. Ho wever, the samples were not found to be up to the mark by the BMC’s quality monitoring team. The chairperson of the civic body’s education com mittee, Subhada Gudekar, who is also part of the stand
ing committee, said, “The Bata samples were not ap proved. But the other sup plier will provide quality shoes. The proposal could be decided soon.” The proposal for the sports uniform is expect ed to be presented in some time.
Staff Reporter Mumbai
A joint meeting of students representatives of all four campuses of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) will be held on Saturday to de cide how to take the agita tion forward. A fourmember delega tion from the Hyderabad, Tuljapur, and Guwahati campuses are in Mumbai for this purpose. “The agitation is for a cause and we all agreed that we needed to meet and decide the future course of action,” Pallavi Pratibha, a member of the delegation from TISS Hyde rabad, said. A national coordination committee with members from all four campuses has also been planned. Stu dents said the strike, which entered 10th day on Friday, will continue across all four campuses, while the meeting is on. On Thursday evening, a general body meeting of the students was organised in Mumbai, where it was de cided to continue with the strike. “The students were overwhelmingly in favour of the strike till our demands are met,” Fahad Ahmad, general secretary, TISS Stu dents’ Union, said. The students are pressing for a key demand of exemp tion of hostel and dining hall charges for SC/ST stu dents of the 201719 batch under the Government of India Post Matriculation
Scholarship (GoIPMS). The administration has waived hostel charges for the SC/ST students under GoIPMS of the 201618 batch, and has allowed them to pay the dining hall charges once the scholar ship comes or upon gaining employment.
Support pours in Meanwhile, support poured in for the strike. Rajya Sabha Member Sharad Yadav had written to Minister of Hu man Resource Development Prakash Javadekar on Fe bruary 28, seeking his inter vention and to ensure sup port to GoIPMS students across all four campuses. In his letter, Mr. Yadav said it is the social responsi bility of the government to protect the interests of SC, ST and OBC students of TISS. “The nancial aid to the students was started 14 years ago in these institu tions. You would appreciate that withdrawing of this support will not only dis courage the students of these institutions but adver sely aect this category of students in other institu tions,” Mr. Yadav said. Rahul Sonpimple of Bir sa Ambedkar Phule Stu dents’ Association of Jawa harlal Nehru University addressed the students on the issue in Mumbai on Thursday, while support al so came in from students of Tata Institute of Funda mental Research.
Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by N. Vaidyanathan at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No. 22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701 on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Mukund Padmanabhan (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). TNENG/2015/69444 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 4 No. 53 ●
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CM YK
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A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
CITY 3
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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MUMBAI
Timings
Saturday, March 03
RISE 06:57 SET 18:45 RISE 20:11 SET 07:54 Sunday, March 04
RISE 06:56 SET 18:45 RISE 21:07 SET 08:37 Monday, March 05
RISE 06:55 SET 18:45 RISE 22:01 SET 09:19
IN BRIEF Two foreign nationals arrested with drugs MUMBAI
Three persons, including two foreign nationals, were arrested with drugs by the AntiNarcotics Cell (ANC). Mephedrone and ecstasy drugs worth 2.1 lakh were seized from them. Personnel from the Azad Maidan unit of the ANC laid a trap at Reay Road on Wednesday and nabbed John Peter, an Ivory Coast national, and Abu Abrar Seham, a resident of Bandra. On the same day, ANC sleuths arrested Vincent Koman, a foreign national, near Wadi Bunder. PTI
Work on Shivaji statue to begin before monsoon L&T bags contract for 210 metre statue
‘API Bidre was murdered’ Accused says body was chopped, dumped in Vasai creek
Shift timings not taken into account
Raina Assainar Navi Mumbai
Staff Reporter Mumbai
The Maharashtra govern ment on Thursday handed over the ‘Letter of Accep tance’ to engineering major Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to build the Chhatrapati Shiva ji Maharaj Memorial in the Arabian Sea. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the founda tion stone of the memorial in December 2016. “Maha rashtra and our nation have waited for 15 long years for this monument of pride for every Indian. It is our go vernment which took every permission for this grand memorial in record time and gave directions to start the actual work before mon soon,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The 210metretall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji will be constructed on a 16hec tare islet, which is 3.6 km away from Girgaum chow patty in south Mumbai, at a cost of around 3,600 crore. The BJP made the sta tue one of the rallying
points during its campaign in the 2014 Assembly polls. The demand to build a grand memorial of the Ma ratha king had drawn atten tion from political quarters across the State. The BJP Shiv Sena government has blamed the previous Con gressNCP government for the delay in initiating the work. Mr. Fadnavis said that the company must begin its work at the fastest speed possible. He said, “This sta tue will be the tallest in the world. The rm now has the responsibility to show to the world that India can ensure highest quality work.”
An accused in the missing case of Assistant Police In spector Ashwini Bidre has revealed that main accused Police Inspector Abhay Ku rundkar allegedly murdered Bidre in his at in Bhayan der, chopped the body and dumped the severed head and limbs in Vasai creek on April 11, 2016. Mahesh Manohar Falnikar (48), childhood friend of Mr. Kurundkar and fourth ac cused in the case, told the police that the next day he helped Mr. Kurundkar dump Bidre’s torso, which was pre served overnight in the fridge, in Vasai creek. Mr. Falnikar said that Kun dan Namdev Bhandari (51), Mr. Kurundkar’s driver and third accused in the case, helped Mr. Kurundkar clean the house and give it a fresh coat of paint to destroy evi dence. Mr. Bhandari and Mr. Falnikar were presented in Panvel court on Friday and remanded in police custody till March 5 and March 9 respectively. Nilesh Raut, Assistant
Special Correspondent Mumbai
Partners in crime: Kundan Bhandari (left) and Mahesh Falnikar (centre) being produced in court on Friday. YOGESH MHATRE *
Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, said, “We are yet to recover the murder weapon and the cutter used to sever the body. We will launch an operation to re trieve the body parts from the creek on Monday.” Assis tant Commissioner of Police Sangeeta Alphanso said, “We have sought the civic body’s permission to con duct the search operation and cordoned o the creek. The Navy will be providing boats, divers and underwa
ter cameras for the search.” Bidre, a resident of Road pali in Kalamboli, was post ed with the Protection of Ci vil Rights Unit at Konkan Bhavan. She went missing on April 11, 2016 and a mis sing case was registered on July 14, 2016. A case of kid napping was registered with Kalamboli police on January 31, 2017. Mr. Kurundkar, who was posted at Security Branch, Thane Rural Police, allegedly had an extramari tal aair with Bidre.
Holi celebrations turned sour for hundreds of civic employees as the full salary for February was not credit ed owing to shift timings not being fed into the biometric system, which was intro duced last year. A civic ocial said, “In Ju ly 2017, all employees were asked to key in their duty timings to establish a disci plined working environ ment after a rise in instanc es of proxy attendance, reporting late for duty and adjusting shifts as per con venience. The biometric system is being updated and the remaining amount will be credited as soon as the sta enter the shift details.” However, sta members complained that the system was riddled with problems.
Trishala Kamble, secretary, Municipal Nursing and Para medical Sta Union, said, “In civic hospitals, senior sta frame the duty charts. However, shifts often change depending on the in crease in patients and shor tage in sta. The biometric system often doesn’t take in to account such changes shift timings and errors crop up while calculating the sal ary.” Ms. Kamble said salary was not credited for many sta members and it had be come dicult for them to pay their loan instalments. Over 20 re brigade driv ers and four remen also said that they had not re ceived their full salary. “The issue is our night shift starts at 11 p.m. and ends at 7 a.m. When an employee punches out in the morning, the bio metric system clocks in.”
Junior college teachers can take leave on duty But their demands are still not met Hepzi Anthony
Drenched in colours
Mumbai
History-sheeter found dead in Thane THANE
A 23yearold man facing several criminal charges was found dead on Thursday night, the police said on Friday. The body of Babloo Chourasiya, found in Ulhasnagar township around 9 p.m., bore multiple stab wounds and his throat was slit. Chourasiya had several criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, and extortion. A case of murder was registered. PTI
Biometric hitch cuts short pay of BMC sta
Spreading joy: The spirit of Holi enveloped tourists (left) and locals alike as Mumbaikars celebrated the festival on Friday.
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EMMANUAL YOGINI
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VIVEK BENDRE
In a recent Government Re solution, the State has al lowed teachers who have completed Masters in Edu cation, Philosophy or docto ral studies to avail of leave on duty to participate in se minars and workshops, and prepare research papers. The provision was earlier extended only to senior col lege teachers. However, the State Junior College Teachers’ Associa tion said that the State had not given them what they had asked for. Professor Anil Deshmukh, president of Maharashtra Federation of Junior College Teachers Or ganisation, said, “We alrea dy had the option of going
on leave for two or three days. What we had asked for was granting us study leave of one or two years to pur sue research studies. He added, “We had also requested the State to pro vide us research funds like those provided by the Un iversity Grants Commission. We also sought perks ex tended to senior college teachers such as three incre ments on completing their doctoral studies.” Prof. Deshmukh said the teachers could take leave on duty only to attend semi nars and workshops that are ocially sanctioned. School teachers’ associations have now demanded that the State to extend the facility also to them.
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STREETWISE
What not to say to survivors On the manner in which society reacts to victims of sexual assault
:: Sameera Khan
Survivors in our country are attacked twice. I refer partic ularly to women survivors of sexual violence of any kind — rape, molestation, stalking, verbal/physical abuse and street harassment. The rst time is when they are assaulted, the second is afterwards when we as fami ly, community, law enforce ment end up bruising them further by our judgemental words, advice and reactions. Sometimes even those women who don’t survive their assault are attacked, but often, we are more for giving of them — mostly be cause they are dead. We re serve our bile for those who survive an attack. So here in time for Inter national Women’s Day: What Not To Say To A Survivor Of Sexual Assault/Harassment 101 “Are you really sure it happened?” In no other crime do we disbelieve a survivor as much as when a woman speaks up about facing vio lence of any kind. It could be about having her breasts grabbed in a bus. Don’t say, “Maybe you imagined it.” Even in a crowd, a woman knows when her breasts are pulled, or posterior pinched. The crowd might make it dicult to identify the culprit, but yes, she knows it happened! Believe survivors when they share stories, for that is the har dest thing for them to do. “What were you wearing? Had you been drinking? You agreed to go with him to the pub? Did you take a shared taxi? Why were you out at 2 CM YK
Speak up and listen For dealing with crimes .
am? Wasn’t that being too adventurous...” The list of questions we throw at women survivors of violence often blames them for purposely bringing on the violence by something they did or said. By going out, laughing loudly, drink ing beer, staying late, wo men are not consenting to assaults against themselves. They have full rights, includ ing legal, to experience pu blic space in all manner without violence. Going out on a date with a man is not oering him consent to rape or molest her. Also, if dress causes rape, it doesn’t ex plain why girls as young as eight months are raped, does it? “Oh, that’s nothing. When you go out, you have to put up with some groping/pinch ing/grabbing/staring. That’s how men are. Just ignore it.” Taking for granted the everyday violence against women ignores not just the severe mental impact this has on women’s lives but al so the way they use public space and make choices re lated to higher education
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In no other crime do we disbelieve a survivor as much as when a woman speaks up about facing violence of any kind and work. Don’t normalise it as behaviour of all men. Don’t tell survivors it’s not a big deal. It is for them. De nitely, don’t call it “eveteas ing”, for that undermines its seriousness and ignores the way young women see it, as an assault on their mobility. “But you hardly show any injury marks… it wasn’t such a major attack. Or did you not really ght back?” The absence of physical injury marks is not a sign of a nonconsensual assault not taking place, or how less traumatic it was for the sur vivor. When you are at tacked, you do your best to survive that attack in whatev er way you can. Don’t judge survivors, support them for surviving such an ordeal. “He follows you, sends
you phone messages, calls you… just enjoy the attention.” Don’t tell survivors to ac cept stalking as a compli ment. Flirting and gestures of romance are only accepta ble when both parties con sent to them. It is violence when one is stalked and ha rassed without one’s appro val. You don’t have to wait for an acid attack to take place before you term it as violence. This isn’t an exhaustive list of what not to say to sur vivors. More can be added. But suce to say, women survivors of sexual violence don’t need our moral judge ment. Don’t hold them res ponsible for the attacks on themselves. Don’t punish them for speaking up. That is often the hardest thing for them to do. Instead, go after the perpetrator/s or at least support the survivor/s by hearing them out and believ ing them. Sameera Khan is a Mumbai-based journalist, researcher and coauthor, Why Loiter? Women & Risk on Mumbai Streets A BM-BME
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4 WEST
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Mining woes: Goa MLAs to knock Centre’s doors
Colours of joy
Special Correspondent Panaji
Let’s play Holi: :Children from an orphanage soak in the spirit and colours of the season during a Holi celebration in Pune on Friday. MANDAR TANNU *
Nagpur unit of Cong. still in tatters
A delegation of Goa legisla tors will meet two Union Ministers in New Delhi on Monday seeking a solution to ensure mining opera tions are not disbanded. With mining in Goa set to close after March 15, follow ing an apex court order to cancel 88 renewed iron ore mining leases, legislators cutting across party lines met on Thursday and de cided to meet Union Minis ter for Mines Narendra Singh Tomar and Minister for Shipping Nitin Gadkari. Speaking to pressper sons on Thursday, the se niormost Cabinet Minister in the BJPled coalition go vernment, Sudin Dhavali kar, who is standing in for ailing Chief Minister Mano har Parrikar, said, “We have xed appointments with both Union Ministers. We have also asked our South Goa MP Narendra Sawaikar
to secure an appointment with the Prime Minister,” Mr. Dhavalikar said. The delegation would al so ask the Centre to grant a compensation package for workers linked to the min ing industry. On February 7, the Su preme Court cancelled all renewed iron ore mining leases in Goa and ordered stoppage of all ore extrac tion activity after March 15. Goa is the country’s lead ing exporter of lowgrade iron ore and the private sec tor exported over 50 mil lion tonnes per annum be fore the Shah Commission in 2012 exposed a 35,000 crore illegal mining scam leading to a ban on mining in the State. This ban was later re voked in 2014 with the Su preme Court putting an an nual cap of 20 million tonnes on extraction and set stringent guidelines for transportation and export.
Leaders say high command needs to infuse fresh energy Pavan Dahat NAGPUR
Days after the State unit of the Congress expelled form er minister and senior lead er from Nagpur Satish Cha turvedi last week, the Nagpur city Congress presi dent Vikas Thakre presided over a meeting at the party oce here and welcomed “the expulsion of deant men by the party”. A day later, several party leaders met at a Congress Councillor’s residence and called for Mr. Thakre’s remo val.Both these meetings, soon after Mr. Chaturvedi’s expulsion, show how the party’s city unit remains a divided house. What makes Nagpur polit ically important is that it has a reach in all 11 districts of the Vidarbha region.
CM YK
With both general and As sembly elections due next year, the Congress high com mand does not seem to be infusing fresh energy in this politically vital city unit, feel party leaders. Vertically split The Nagpur city unit is verti cally split into two, with one group led by Mr. Thakre and his mentor and former Nag pur MP Vilas Muttemwar, and the other led by Mr. Cha turvedi along with former minister Nitin Raut, and Anees Ahmad. Despite facing a mighty Bharatiya Janata Party led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari, these two Congress factions continue to indulge in power politics. This factionalism had dis
astrous outcome in 2014 Lok Sabha elections and As sembly elections and also in last year’s municipal polls in which the Congress party was reduced to meagre 29 seats out of total 151 seats in the Nagpur Municipal Cor poration (NMC). Mr. Thakre himself suf fered a humiliating defeat in the NMC election, but a year later he continues to head the city unit of the Congress and appears to be happy with the interparty ghting. Mr. Thakre also has no control over the party’s ma jority group in the NMC. Some promising candi dates, like rsttime council lor Banti Shelke and sea soned councilor Praful Gudadhe, still continue to face apathy at the hands of the city unit.
A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
MUMBAI
NATION 5
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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IN BRIEF
Mighty blow to Maoists in their stronghold Telangana and Chhattisgarh police had chalked out a collaborative strategy
Vijayendra Saraswathi assumes charge
P. SRIDHAR
KANCHEEPURAM
Barely a few weeks after working out a collaborative strategy to combat the resur gence of Maoist movement in Telangana, a joint squad of Telangana and Chhattis garh police inicted a major blow to the CPI (Maoist) in its stronghold of Dandakaranya forest region spanning across the volatile Telanga naChhattisgarh border. The death of 10 Maoists in an encounter with the joint team comprising Grey hounds personnel of the Te langana and the Chhattis garh police in Chhattisgarh’s Pujari Kanker forest area in Bijapur district early on Fri day dealt a major setback to the Maoists who had stepped up their activities along the interState border, targeting road construction equipment and alleged “pol ice informers.”
The 70th pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi, has started performing the duties of the Peetathipati. His guru, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, was placed in samadhi on Thursday, after he passed away on Wednesday.
Courts can take notice of conviction abroad: HC MUMBAI
Courts or judicial authorities in India can take cognisance of the conviction of an Indian by a foreign court for an offence committed outside India, the Bombay High Court has held. However, such a conviction will not be automatically binding upon the courts or authorities in India while they are exercising their judicial powers, and they must use their discretion on the effects of the same, the court ruled. PTI
11 lose vision in one eye after botched-up surgery RAJNANDGAON
At least 11 people lost vision in one eye after they underwent cataract operation at a private hospital here in Chhattisgarh, doctors said on Friday. Cataract surgeries of at least 96 patients were performed at the Christian Fellowship Hospital here, Dr Thomas Abraham, director of the community-based eye services at the hospital, said. A probe has been initiated. PTI
Eight pilgrims among 11 killed in HP accidents SHIMLA
Eleven people were killed and seven injured in two accidents in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday night, the police said on Friday. Eight pilgrims were killed and one was injured when their car fell into a gorge along the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway. In another incident, three people, including a couple, were killed and six injured when a government bus on its way to Delhi from Bir Biling collided with a car near Una. PTI
BHADRADRI KOTHAGUDEM
Eective coordination Friday’s encounter comes just a few weeks after senior police ocials of the Left wing extremismaected BhadradriKothagudem and JayashankarBhupalapalli districts of the State and Chhattisgarh’s strifetorn Bastar region met in Kotha
Ensure two doctors at autopsy: HC
gudem to forge eective coordination in antiMaoist operations. The meeting has report edly discussed a multifocal strategy envisaging intensive joint antiMaoist oensive as well as civic action pro grammes in the areas along the restive interState border. A month ago, around 40 Maoist rebels from Dandaka ranya region struck terror in Pinapaka mandal after cross ing over the Godavari, gun ning down a tribal man, grie vously injuring another by branding them as “police in formers” and setting ablaze costly equipment worth 1 crore at a sand quarry.
Special Correspondent HYDERABAD
The Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the go vernment to preserve the bodies of the Maoists killed in Friday’s encounter in proper condition. A divi sion bench of the High Court comprising acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ran ganathan and Justice Vijaya Laxmi, gave the directions after hearing a lunch mo tion moved by a civil rights body, that the autopsy of the bodies should be con ducted by two doctors. The High Court ordered that one of the doctors con ducting post mortem ex amination (PME) must be either incharge or head of the district hospital. “The bench said the PME must be video graphed,” lawyer Raghu nath, who moved the lunch motion on behalf of Civil Liberties Committee President Gaddam Lax man, said. Fingerprints of the slain Maoists should be sent for forensic analysis, the bench instructed.
Bandh observed The CPI (Maoist) subse quently observed a ‘Dandak aranyaTelangana’ bandh on February 5 protesting against what the outt termed “fascist repression.” The bandh was preceded by a slew of incidents of Maoist violence. A major exchange of re broke out between the se curity forces and a strong group of more than 50 Maoists at Togugudem in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur dis trict on February 4.
Commando had vowed to return soon The Greyhounds member died ghting naxals Abhinay Deshpande Hyderabad
“My phone will be switched o for the next few hours... I will be back soon,” were the last words of B. Susheel Ku mar, a Greyhounds com mando, to his threemonth pregnant wife Sushma. The 34yearold commando told his wife on Thursday morn ing that he was heading for a
major operation and asked her to take care of herself and their twoandhalf year old daughter. Susheel was killed in the early hours of Friday in a gunght between the police and the naxals on the bor ders of Telangana and Chhattisgarh. “Susheel assured us that he will return home safe and we need not worry about him. I believed him,” a tear ful Sushma told The Hindu. On Friday morning, around 9 a.m., Sushma re
‘Leadership means taking a stand on principles’
assured us < > Susheel that he will return home safe and we need not worry about him. I believed him Sushma WIFE
ceived a phone call from an unknown number. The call er identied himself as a se nior police ocer and in formed her that Susheel had suered bullet injuries and that he was being rushed to Hyderabad.
“Minutes later, the same ocer called again and said Susheel is no more. I imme diately rushed to Bidar, where my inlaws are stay ing,” Sushma said. All along she kept praying for a mira cle. Susheel married Sushma in May 2009. His body was own to his hometown of Bidar in Karna taka after the police homage at Bhadradri Kothagudem. “I am proud of his courage and dedication to his duty,” his wife Sushma said.
Maoist with 30 lakh bounty on head killed MARRI RAMU GOLLAPUDI SRINIVASA RAO HYDERABAD
Though top Maoist leader Hari Bhushan escaped from the encounter site, another leader, who carried a boun ty on his head, was report edly among those killed in the gunght on the Telanga na border on Friday. “Among the slain Maoists, two looked identical to Hari Bhushan. No one could con rm it was him,” the Intelli
gence authorities said. The identity of the re maining Maoists was also yet to be conrmed, they said. The Maoist party’s Kham mamKarimnagarWaragal (KKW) secretary Bade Chok ka Rao alias Damodar is said to be among the slain Maoists. He carried a re ward of 30 lakh on his head and was accused of involve ment in over 50 criminal cases.
Woman who had twins via surrogacy given leave Soibam Rocky Singh New DElhi
The Central Administrative Tribunal has come to the aid of a woman, working in the Ministry of Law & Jus tice, who was denied ma ternity leave as she had be gotten her children through surrogacy. The Tribunal directed the Ministry to sanction 180 days of maternity leave to the woman citing three High Court verdicts which held that the commission ing mother is also entitled for grant of maternity leave. The woman is working as a personal assistant in the Legislative Depart ment, Ocial Language Wing of Ministry of Law & Justice. As she was unable to conceive due to medical issues, she entered into Gestational Surrogacy Agreement with another woman. The surrogate mother delivered two baby girls on February 13 last year. Being the biological mother she applied for grant of 180 days maternity leave to her with eect from the day the babies were born. Ministry’s counter However, her application was rejected on the ground that according to Central Civil Services (CCS) Leave Rules, maternity leave can not be granted to a govern ment servant on getting ba by through surrogacy. The woman then moved the Tribunal seeking to quash the order denying her the maternity leave. Responding to her plea, the Ministry had defended its decision to deny the ma ternity leave saying the is sue has been dealt within Rule 43 of CCS (Leave) Rules which makes it abso lutely clear that a commis sioning mother or biologi cal mother is not entitled for grant of maternity leave.
One taken into custody in Gauri murder case Special Correspondent
Special Correspondent CHENNAI
The fth Sakthi awards, in stituted by Puthiya Thalaim urai were conferred on Fri day on women who had excelled in dierent elds. Malini Parthasarathy, co chairperson, THG Publish ing Private Limited, was gi ven the award for leader ship. The other awardees included Bhagirathi Rama murthy, who runs the Anan dam old age home, for bene volence; cricketer Thirush Kamini for talent, and Udu malpet Kausalya Shankar, who is leading the crusade
Malini Parthasarathy receiving the award from Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan. S. R. RAGHUNATHAN *
against honour killing, for courage. The awards were given by T.N. Health secretary J. Rad hakrishnan and P. Sathyana
Man seeks divorce as wife was not ‘dutiful’
rayanan, managing director of Puthiya Thalaimurai. In her acceptance speech, Dr. Parthasarathy said: “Lea dership is not just about em powerment and positions. It also means taking stands for principles, values even if they are unpopular and against the tide.” Stating that it was a happy development to see women coming in large numbers and being active in reporting and newsrooms, she hoped the award would inspire them to take up more lea dership positions in news rooms.
Bengaluru
The Special Investigation Team probing the Gauri Lankesh murder case has ta ken into custody 37yearold K.T. Naveen Kumar to ascer tain his possible role in the killing of the journalistacti vist in September last year. A senior ocer described him as a “strong suspect” and said his call records in dicate his aliation to a rad ical Hindutva group. Naveen, from Maddur in Mandya district, was arrest ed by the Central Crime Branch sleuths on February 18 from the Kempegowda
Gauri Lankesh
Bus stand here. He had with him over 15 rounds of cartridges of .32 calibre. He was taken into custody for questioning and later a case was led with the jurisdictional Upparpet police under Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.
Plea to raise minimum age for marriage
Bombay High Court dismisses petition LEGAL CORRESPONDENT Press Trust of India Mumbai
The Bombay High Court has dismissed a man’s plea for divorce from his wife on the allegations that she had failed to be a dutiful wife since, among other things, she used to wake up late and that she did not cook tasty food. A bench of Justices K.K. Tated and Sarang Kotwal upheld an order of the fami ly court that had dismissed the divorce plea led by a resident of Santacruz on the ground that the allegations made above did not amount to cruelty, and thus, could not be a ground for divorce. The bench further ob served that the wife of the petitioner was a working woman and yet, she was the one who had the additional burden of buying groceries, cooking for the petitioner and his parents, and doing CM YK
all other household work. The observations were made by the bench in an or der passed on Thursday. In his plea before the HC, the petitioner had claimed that the family court judge had erred in its order. He submitted as evidence, the statement of his father sup porting his allegations such as those made above. He al so alleged that his wife would abuse him and his pa rents if they tried to wake her up early in the morning. The wife in turn denied all allegations and said that before going to work, she used to cook food for the en tire family. She also submit ted as evidence, the state ments of a neighbour and some relatives from the peti tioner’s side who testied that whenever they used to visit her, they would nd her busy with one house hold work or another.
NEW DELHI
Population explosion was a growing menace to funda mental rights, and one of the steps to check this was to raise the minimum age for marriage, a petition led in the Supreme Court said. It is likely to be listed before a Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra. Petitioner advocate Ash wini Kumar Upadhyay said “fertility depends on the age of marriage’’. There fore the minimum age for marriage for men and wo men should be made 25 years and 21 years respec tively from the current 21 years and 18 years, he said. The plea said the state had failed to implement ef fective population control strategy or programme to ensure the wellbeing of ci tizens, which was under peril due to the rampant rise in population. A BM-BME
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6 EDITORIAL
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Staying ahead of the double helix India needs a law against genetic discrimination. There are enough models available globally
It is unclear whether the threat of conscation of property will encourage fugitives to return
Transition trouble The ruling front in Ethiopia should make political succession less autocratic
T
he state of emergency reimposed after Hailema riam Desalegn’s resignation as Prime Minister in midFebruary marks a reversal in Addis Ababa. It was in August last year that the Ethiopian People’s Re volutionary Democratic Front government had lifted an emergency clamped in 2016. In January, it released thousands of protesters, including top politicians and journalists. Most of those imprisoned had been accused of treason, terrorism and other criminal acts, charges that drew wide international condemnation. Together, these moves were regarded as an attempt at national re conciliation showing a willingness to usher in a more open and participatory political process after nearly three years of political unrest. But recent events suggest that the state is prepared to unleash further repression when it fails to quell protests. Underlying the discon tent is the uneven nature of distribution of the benets of economic growth in Ethiopia, one of the bestper forming economies in Africa in recent years. Besides the simmering popular protests, instability also derives from a jostling within the EPRDF, which has ruled since 1991. There appears to be a pushback against the dis proportionate dominance in the ruling coalition of eth nic Tigrayans, who account for a small fraction of the country’s population. There is speculation, therefore, that bringing in a Prime Minister from the Oromo com munity, which makes up more than a third of Ethiopia’s population, could calm sentiments in the streets. There is some talk that the new spell of emergency may be aimed to ensure a smooth transition to the next Prime Minister. Besides keeping a check on antigovern ment mobilisation, a state of emergency empowers the authorities to ensure that public services are not dis rupted and businesses don’t shut down as a mark of protest. However, the ban on protests and curbs on me dia freedom will inhibit a frank debate between the go vernment and the opposition. The ZanuPF in Zim babwe and the ANC in South Africa have in recent months demonstrated how entrenched political parties can regain public credibility that some of their selfseek ing leaders have squandered away, by ensuring political succession in a relatively open and transparent manner. Although of an autocratic bent, the EPRDF should use this opportunity of charting a postDesalegn future to restore stability after years of political turmoil. The Front, which enjoys absolute control in parliament, could make a modest beginning by respecting the rule of law and giving Ethiopia’s diverse ethnic communities a sense of political representation. That may be the lone guarantee to sustain the impressive economic growth the country has registered in recent years. Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister has his or her task cut out. CM YK
Sujatha Byravan
T
he Delhi High Court recently ruled against discrimination in health insurance by Unit ed India Insurance Company in volving a person with a heart con dition which was perceived to be a genetic disorder. The court held, “Discrimination in health insu rance against individuals based on their genetic disposition or genetic heritage, in the absence of appro priate genetic testing and laying down of intelligible dierentia, is unconstitutional.” While the specic features of this case may depend on clauses in the original policy, this is a critical court decision around the broader question of discrimination on the basis of one’s genetic predisposi tion. As technology for genetic testing and tools to gather family history and compile them in data bases become cheaper and more widespread, it becomes impera tive that due social and ethical consideration be given to genetic discrimination as the implications are farreaching and can aect everyone. Questionable assumptions Genetic discrimination (GD) is un derstood to be dierential treat ment of those not showing symp toms but who are nevertheless treated dierently on the basis of any real or assumed genetic cha racteristics. We must recognise that GD is nothing new. There were robust policies of eugenics in the U.S. in the 1900s. These led to laws in many States that made ste rilisation compulsory for those
American precedent In the U.S., researchers working with the Council for Responsible Genetics in Cambridge, Massachu setts recorded hundreds of cases of misuse of genetic information obtained through family history, genetic tests, or by employers and insurers accessing personal data. There are many examples of employers and insurers using ge netic information to engage in dis criminatory policies. In 2001, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Rail road Company settled a federal lawsuit in the U.S. The company had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by threatening to re a worker who did not give a
is related to the functioning of net works of genes in the milieu of oth er central cellular components and also depend on lifestyle and environment.
blood sample to test whether he was predisposed to developing carpal tunnel syndrome. The com pany conducted genetic tests on its employees without their con sent as a means of thwarting com pensation claims for jobrelated stress injuries. A person diag nosed with a condition that causes excessive iron storage, but whose symptoms are otherwise manage able, lost her health insurance des pite clear medical evidence that she was healthy. In the U.S., the Genetic Informa tion Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was signed into law in 2008. GINA provides strong protection against access to genetic information and genetic discrimination in the con text of health insurance and em ployment. It prohibits insurers from “requesting or requiring” ge netic tests from an individual or members of the person’s family, or using genetic information to deter mine eligibility or establish premi ums. It also prohibits employers from “requesting or requiring” ge netic information for hiring or pro motional decisions, or when de termining eligibility for training programmes. Geneticists are not in agree ment on the usefulness of genetic tests or even on their veracity. Most importantly, very few single gene health problems exist and the vast array of common diseases
Too much miscommunication Moreover, the popular notion of deoxyribonucleic acid (otherwise known as DNA) being the central and only player in cellular and ge netic information and disease with a mere unfolding of characteristics is deeply awed. While there is mounting evidence to oppose this perception of DNA as a master mo lecule, there is a lot of miscommu nication among scientists and the media on this topic wherein a gene that codes for a protein associated with the outward expression of a condition is regarded as its cause. Correcting this perception, even when genetic reductionist para digms have shifted, is an uphill battle when commercial interests such as testing have been un leashed. The Council of Europe has adopted a set of recommendations on the use of genetic information for the purpose of insurance. Ca nada’s recent Genetic NonDis crimination Act makes it illegal for insurers or employers to request DNA testing or results. It is report ed that insurers in the U.K. are cur rently under a voluntary moratori um agreed upon between the Association of British Insurers and the government until 2019. Based on this agreement, results from ge netic tests are not to be used for health or life insurance except for Huntington’s disease, which is do minantly inherited with a high pe netrance. This simply means that there is a high likelihood that those who have this gene develop the disease, which is inherited as an autosomaldominant trait. But it must be noted here that even
with the rare singlegene condi tions the genetic expression varies signicantly because of other fac tors. India too needs a law that pre vents genetic discrimination. In this era of rampant genetic testing, we need to prevent discrimination and uphold “equal treatment un der the law”. Would the court have ruled the same way if the insu rance company had done a genetic test and included a clause that this particular heart condition would not be covered? Equality under the law cannot have exceptions. A complex future The situation is likely to get worse as people become more accepting of predictive genetic tests and in surance companies insist on them; at the moment, they generally use family medical history as the basis for determining premiums. In the medium term, there are also se rious concerns related to the pro tection and privacy of medical and genetic data. Breaking into data banks, as we are all familiar by now, is not impossible as even America’s Federal Bureau of Inves tigations and other secure re walls have been breached. Looking beyond these imme diate issues, everyone has genes for some predisposition or the oth er, this being the human condi tion. There should therefore be no discrimination based on genetic information. Insurance is deve loped from pooling risks. If com panies begin to insist on tests for everyone, then potentially no one will be insurable. Only universal health care can therefore be a via ble solution. Sujatha Byravan was president and executive director of the Council for Responsible Genetics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The Adivasi in the mirror The lynching of Madhu in Kerala must shock our conscience into recognising the dispossession of India’s tribals
Nissim Mannathukkaren
W
ithin a few hours of the dastardly killing of Mad hu, a 27yearold Adivasi by a lynch mob in Kerala, Davinchi Suresh, a sculptor and artist, made a sculpture of Madhu in clay and noted painfully: “In God’s Own Country, we are not able to create you again, brother.” The fact that news of the sculpture went viral online was not surprising. In the sculptor’s masterly hands, even the lifeless clay reected the path os of the original photo of Madhu — standing in front of his attackers with his hands tied together, the emaciated body, the helplessness and fear on his face. What the image says Sometimes a photo or a work of art can convey a historical condi tion better than a treatise. The ‘Na palm Girl’ photograph of the Viet nam War laid bare the horrors of American hegemony. The sculp ture of Madhu points to the funda mental but hidden truth of Indian modernity and development: that it is built on an unprecedented dis possession of, and violence
against, the nation’s Adivasi communities. Sadly, this feature equally marks Kerala, the State with the highest human development indi cators (with Adivasis making up 1.1% of the population), and ‘back ward’ States like Odisha, Chhattis garh and Jharkhand which have substantial tribal populations. Thus, Madhu is not, unfortunately, alone. The Madhus of the world suer violent deaths not because we failed to modernise them, but because of the intrinsic connec tions between their terrible fate and wellbeing — in 70 years after Independence, postcolonial go vernments have virtually replicat ed colonial government policies towards the Adivasis. Various estimates put the num ber of developmentinduced inter nally displaced people in India ov er 50 years between 20 and 50 million. Of this, tribals, who are only 8.6% of the population, prob ably make up more than half the number. They are the sacricial lambs that the dominant majority society oers at the altar of deve lopment. Dispossessed, they be come a part of the army of cheap, daily wage labour. In Kerala too, there has been a systematic expropriation of indi genous lands since the 1940s by settlers from the plains. This, is in a State which has implemented the most comprehensive land re
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Is a law enough? The Fugitive Economic Oenders Bill, 2018 may be ineective if it doesn’t go beyond dening a fugitive economic oender and seizing his assets (“Assets of fugitive economic oenders will be seized”, March 2). First, separating the personal assets of an oender from his joint family assets will be a challenge. Defaulters are not naive to leave their illgotten assets lying about, waiting to be seized. Second, mere seizure of assets does not entail instant encashing and appropriation towards a defaulted loan. Given our tardy legal system, sale and realisation of conscated assets is more easier said than done. Already in cases where banks have received
Sivamani Vasudevan,
forms in South Asia. Behind the ( justiably) much lauded secular model of develop ment in Kerala lies the hideous reality of racism/casteism in which an Adivasi or a Dalit becomes the other. Adivasis are a constant butt of jokes in commercial cultural productions like the 2002 low brow Malayalam comedy lm, Bamboo Boys. Again, this is something that has national resonance. Adivasis are not full persons, but mere exotic props in mainstream lms. The contact with mainstream society is absolutely damaging for the cultu ral self of the Adivasis. Their chil dren are often traumatised be cause of persistent discrimination in schools. Is it surprising that Madhu lived as a recluse in a cave in the forests? Reports indicate that a few years ago he worked as job trainer in a tribal development centre until he was attacked, suering a head in jury in the process. Crimes against Scheduled Tribes in Kerala in
creased substantially between 2014 and 2016. There cannot be a mere deve lopmental/economistic solution to the Adivasi ‘problem’. But that has been the dominant approach to mitigating their condition. Nearly 5,000 crore has been allocated in the Kerala State Budgets alone (ex cluding Central government and other project funds) in the last 10 years but with hardly any demon strable results. Adivasis cannot be equal citi zens until they are considered ho listically as a part of cultural and ecospheres with unique customs and practices, and not just as wel fare recipients receiving doles. Further, there cannot be the liber ation of the Adivasi until the fun damental material issue of land alienation is addressed. But that is precisely what is being hidden. Capitalism, especially its neolib eral versions now, will not allow the resolution of such a question, for accumulation of capital and land is built on such expropria tion. And the state is an active ac complice in this predatory capital ism unleashing extraordinary levels of ‘legal’ violence against the Adivasis. If we hear regular sto ries of tribal resistances against corporations mining minerals in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jhark hand, it is because these States alone account for most of India’s bauxite, coal, iron ore, and chro
mite reserves. Scholars Rajesh Bhattacharya, Snehashish Bhatta charya and Kaveri Gill have shown how these movements have forced the Indian state to nally make radical legislations which accept the cultural and forest rights of the Adivasis, and grant selfgover nance to them. But as they argue, these have either been poorly im plemented or completely diluted in practice. Time for reparation Thus, we see explosive struggles by Adivasis for land taking place in Kerala now. Kerala civil society is vibrant compared to most other States. There is an outpouring of anger, and calls to memorialise Madhu through Davinchi Suresh’s sculpture. But the discourse around Adivasis must shift more towards substantive measures like reparations and restitution. This is something which Western democ racies are moving to, but is hardly discussed in India. Madhu should sear our modern consciences which now revel in technologies of hate. After all, the lynch mob not only killed him, but also took ‘seles’ of the act. Madhu is asking us to look in the mirror, and see the brutality of our own modernity. Nissim Mannathukkaren is Chair, International Development Studies, Dalhousie University, Canada
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court verdicts for disposal of assets, realisation by sale has been cumbersome. Also, a look at the huge stockpile of assets seized by lawenforcing agencies convinces one about the futility of conscating assets. Conscated assets depreciate in value. Last, there is no guarantee that parties who are otherwise innocent but have a bonade title interest in the seized assets would forfeit their right of possession easily. Sentiments too play a role. It would be more prudent to work with the governments of those nations where the fugitives seek asylum and ensure that these fugitives are deported. Chennai
THULASI KAKKAT
G
iven the apparent ease with which economic of fenders ee India and cock a snook at the bank ing and judicial systems, the proposed law to seize their wealth is undoubtedly a welcome measure. In fact, given the public disquiet over the apparent im punity enjoyed by billionaire fraudsters living in the sa fety of foreign climes, any new law is likely to be viewed in a positive light. However, its success rides on the slim hope that the threat of conscation of property will act as a serious deterrent to those seeking to ee or as a big incentive for fugitives to return. Legal provisions to con scate the assets of oenders already exist, but these are regarded as somewhat inadequate. The Fugitive Economic Oenders Bill, which has been cleared by the Cabinet, aims to make up for the shortcomings and pro vide a fresh legal framework that would enable the con scation of the property of those evading prosecution by eeing the country or remaining abroad. From the provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure for attach ment of the property of ‘proclaimed oenders’, to sec tions in Acts targeting smugglers, foreign exchange of fenders and trackers in narcotics, proceedings for forfeiture of property have been marked by shortcom ings and procedural delays. But laws deemed draco nian, such as the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Ma nipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, have not exactly been a success. Experience has shown that dis posal of conscated assets is not easy, especially at a price sucient to recoup losses or pay o all creditors. Under the Fugitive Economic Oenders Bill, cons cation is not limited to the proceeds of crime, and ex tends to any asset owned by an oender, including be nami property. Such clauses are liable for legal challenge, especially if there are third party interests and doubts about real ownership. Care must be taken to draft a law that is free from legal inrmities from the point of view of fundamental rights and due process. The government has justied not linking the forfeiture clause to criminal conviction by citing the principle en shrined in the UN Convention Against Corruption, which India ratied in 2011. The convention envisages domestic laws for conscation of property without a criminal conviction in cases in which the oenders can not be prosecuted for reasons of death, ight or ab sence. The Bill is reasonable in that a fugitive oender will cease to be one if he or she appears beforecourt. There is a 180day window during which the property will remain attached, with a provision for appeal against an order of conscation. While the utility and eectiveness of laws are best assessed in the implemen tation, it is important to ensure they are fair and reason able. The shortcomings in previous laws must be avoid ed, and the new legal regime impartially enforced.
who expressed a range of condi tions believed to be inherited. Such conditions covered those with disability, who were poor, had mental health problems, were promiscuous, were dwarfs, and so on. Eugenics was also practiced in many countries in Europe, not just in Nazi Germany. Nordic coun tries, for example, passed eugen ics laws in the 1930s and some of those stayed in the books until the 1970s. With newer and cheaper meth ods to sequence entire genomes, the era of expanded genetic test ing is already upon us, although not everyone may associate it with eugenics. Whether specic genetic tests themselves are scientically valid, whether they add value to those tested, and whether they should be generalised for popula tions or communities raise a sepa rate but linked set of issues that I will not cover in this article. Rath er, I will stay focussed on the is sues of insurance and employ ment when there is family history of disease, the potential complica tions of genetic tests and their im plications.
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO
Fear of forfeiture
These oenders anyway park their entire personal wealth abroad and leave only some here in relation to their dues. So, they will continue to enjoy their lives. M. Balakrishnan, Bengaluru
This is a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. In almost all the scams involving public sector banks, the liability of the fugitives far exceeds the inated collaterals pledged by them. There will be no tangible assets worth their name to seize, and banks have little leeway while initiating recovery proceedings against these fugitives. The best way to preempt their eeing is to impound their passports once the case is redagged.
The government needs to show the will for taking this bold action. P.K. Varadarajan, Chennai
Dierent kinds of rule It is true that China’s economic development is without any comparison (“Mapping the Chinese century”, March 2). However, this is an autocratic nation where there has been a crackdown on civil liberties and where there is great inequality. The question then is, how long can the present Communist leadership survive and how long can President Xi Jinping maintain his position as the supreme leader? How long can an economy based on the export of consumer durables of inferior quality
withstand the pulls and pushes of a hostile international situation? India has always been a democracy and has built its polity on strong foundations. It should select its own path to development rather than follow the Chinese model. Suresh Rangarajan, Thiruvananthapuram
And now Russia In his State of the Union address in January, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to modernise U.S. nuclear arsenal. Now, Russia has unveiled its range of “invincible nuclear weapons” (“Putin unveils new nuclear weapons”, March 2). Then there’s North Korea, which is openly defying United Nations Security Council
resolutions by repeatedly launching missiles. There is also a thriving nuclear black market in parts of Ukraine. All this shows that the NonProliferation Treaty is almost dead. R. Sridhar, Bengaluru
Mr. Putin’s declaration that any nuclear attack on Russia’s allies will be viewed as attack on Russia has remnants of the rivalry between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. One wonders what has changed since then. There is an urgent need to resort to non hostile methods of deterrence. Vyom Bharadvaj, Mohali
more letters online: www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/
A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
GROUND ZERO 7
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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On the march: “The panchayat referendum has become the new mantra of sorts in Rajasthan, as a previously dormant provision in the excise law is being used in village after village keen to declare itself ‘liquor-free’.” Women lead the protest for closing the liquor shop in Phoga Bharthari village in Churu district. (Below) Sarpanch Jairam Kumawat of the Rojda panchayat, Jaipur district, points to a liquor shop that was shut down after villagers of that cluster voted for its closure in the referendum. R. V. MOORTHY *
Voting against alcohol Villages in Rajasthan have started invoking a 42-year-old excise law to shut down liquor shops one by one. But making a village ‘liquor-free’ is an arduous endeavour in a State that earns a substantial chunk of its revenue from liquor sales, reports Mohammed Iqbal
O
n February 22, the Phoga Bhar thari village panchayat in Churu district of Rajasthan, located 270 km north of Jaipur, voted overwhelm ingly in favour of shutting Ganpati Wines, a licensed liquor shop, and its branches. In doing so, it became the State’s fourth liquorfree (or technically, liquor shopfree) village panchayat. The shop will down its shutters on April 1. The villagers did this by invoking a 42yearold law — the Rajasthan Excise (Closure of Country Liquor Shop by Lo cal Option) Rules, 1975, published in the State Gazette on January 8, 1976 — which has a provision that makes such a move for closure possible. Simply put, the statutory rules lay down that if 51% of the registered voters in the village pan chayat opt for the closure of a liquor shop, it has to shut down. In Phoga Bharthari, 97% voted for closure. The story of Phoga Bharthari The Phoga Bharthari panchayat com prises a cluster of ve villages, the other settlements being Phoga Jalpasarki, Phoga Asalwas, Phoga Bhogan and Pho ga Hemran. The village panchayat has a population of 9,000. The region was a part of the Bikaner princely state before Independence, and is reported to have been inhabited for the last 500 years. The licence for a liquor shop and its halfadozen outlets in the panchayat was issued 10 years ago and renewed annually, the latest one being in the name of Suresh Kumar, a businessman from Churu. Sarpanch Dwarka Prasad Kathotia told The Hindu that a liquor shop in the heart of the village provided easy access to country liquor, and that the people who lived near the outlets became “regular clients”. “Dalits, especially Meghwals, were particularly vulnerable. Liquor con sumption has ruined many rural fami lies, besides giving a boost to crime,” he said. As the resentment against alcoho lism grew, women came out on the streets in large numbers and cam paigned for closure of the liquor shops. The movement against alcoholism had been gaining ground even before the villagers discovered the legal route to get what they wanted. The women of the village had been periodically orga nising rallies, and held at least three massive demonstrations in front of the licensed shop. But not only did the own er refuse to budge, he sought protection from the panchayat itself, citing his right to use his licence. Two years ago, at a Republic Day function, Satyanarain Jhajharia, a re tired section ocer in the Union Home Ministry who hails from Phoga Bhartha ri, told the villagers about the rules un der the Excise Act that could be used to seek a referendum on the liquor shop. He urged the villagers to carry their struggle to its logical conclusion and en sure the shop’s permanent closure.
April 2016, the Excise Department o cials raised objections at every stage of approval. The application was kept pending for several months, and the ex cise ocials kept oering new explana tions for the delay. “Either the summary of the plea was not in order or the vo ters’ names and signatures were not gi ven in the required pro forma or it was something else,” Jhajharia said. He then led applications under the Right to In formation (RTI) Act to nd out the rea son for the delay, and even moved an appeal before the Appellate Authority to force the authorities to respond. Meanwhile, Pooja Chhabra, the na tional president of Sharab Bandi Ando lan, visited the village several times to extend her support to the campaign and encourage the villagers to keep up the ght. Chhabra is the daughterinlaw of former Janata Dal MLA and social acti vist Gurcharan Chhabra, who died in Jaipur in November 2015 after a month long hunger strike demanding prohibi tion in the State. Following the sustained pressure on the authorities, the District Collector announced that the referendum would take place on February 22. The voting took place under the watch of a presid ing ocer appointed by the Collector. A large number of villagers who had tem porarily migrated for work to towns in Maharashtra and Telangana came back just to cast their vote. Around 20 resi dents, who were in government service elsewhere, took leave and returned to the village to take part in the voting. The enthusiastic “voters” proudly showed o their inked ngers after stamping the ballot papers. Chhabra, along with her team, was in Phoga Bharthari to provide moral support to the villagers. Of the 2,556 votes cast in the referen dum, 2,480 (97%) favoured closure. On ly 46 votes opposed the demand for the shop’s closure; 30 were held invalid. Of the village’s registered electorate of 4,071 (62.7%) exercised their franchise. The panchayat referendum has be come the new mantra of sorts in the desert State, as a hitherto dormant pro vision in the excise law is being used in village after village keen to declare itself ‘liquorfree’. The campaign against al cohol through the legal route has trig gered a quiet revolution, enabling wo men, social activists, and panchayat bodies to have liquor vends shut down.
Fighting spirit “In Phoga Bharthari, it was not dicult to reach a consensus that we needed to move beyond dharnas and demonstra tions. But activating the legal option was a long and arduous process, with road blocks at every stage,” Jhajharia said. After the villagers led an application to the SubDivisional Ocer (SDO) in
Old rule is the new weapon Since 2016, four villages in three dis tricts in the State have voted in favour of closing liquor shops licensed by the Ex cise Department. Their referendums had been organised under the Rajas than Excise Act, 1950, through a provi sion introduced when new rules were framed in 1975. Ironically, the provision
CM YK
had remained buried in the rule books for 40 years despite its immense poten tial to bring about rural transformation. The awareness about the rules began to spread in 2014, when they were ex tended to urban local bodies. Under the Closure of Liquor Shop Rules, 1975, an application to the SDO of the area is sub mitted with signatures or thumb im pressions of 20% of the registered vo ters. The SDO conducts an inquiry to nd out whether the applicants have ac tually signed, and then forwards the pe tition to the Excise Commissioner. The Excise Commissioner asks the District Collector to ascertain, through a poll, the public opinion in the pan chayat on the question of closure of the liquor shop. The Collector issues a pu blic notice and gives a date for the refe rendum, which is held after at least 15 days. A presiding ocer is appointed to conduct the poll. If 51% of the electorate vote in favour of closure, the liquor vend is closed from the commencement of the next nancial year. The outcome of the referendum then becomes the ba sis for a notication ordering the closing of the liquor vend from the following nancial year. As per the law, Ganpati Wines and its outlets will be permanently closed and the excise licence withdrawn from the next nancial year, beginning April 1. The village eagerly awaits the closure of the shop and kiosks, while the women folk in particular expect that it would restore peace in countless families and curb domestic violence. While men like Shankar Lal, 50, and Bhagwan Ram, 43, claimed that the shop’s closure would automatically help the villagers shun the drinking habit, most women said that they need to be vigilant to ensure that the men do not buy alcohol from neighbouring towns such as Sardarshahar and Taranagar. Jitendra, hired from Churu by the li cence holder to sell liquor at the shop in Phoga Bharthari, said that he was aware of the breakdown in families caused by liquor and he personally supported the villagers’ verdict in the referendum. “My employer won’t mind leaving Pho ga Bharthari. He will get a licence for some other place,” he said. Women at a work site of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) on the outskirts of the village panchayat narrat ed what they had to endure as a result of their husbands’ addiction to liquor. Ke sar (40) said that two of her four chil
dren had to leave school because the household income was being frittered away on alcohol. “We have no money to spend on children’s education. If I don’t work here, we cannot even have two square meals a day. My husband wastes the money he earns on liquor,” she said. Pointing to the bruises on her arms and stomach, Santosh said that no one in her family could stop her inebriated husband once he started beating her. “I spend some hours at the work site just to escape my husband’s blows.” Bhanwari Devi, 70, is forced to work as a labourer because four of her ve sons are addicted to alcohol and do not earn anything. “Why would I work here if my sons took care of me? My family has been ruined by liquor. We have lost all our savings and there is no money now. Only my youngest son and I man age to earn something,” she said. Among the 100odd labourers work ing on building an anicut to stop the rainwater in the next monsoon season, about 90 were women. Site inspector Shis Ram said that he had been looking after the MGNREGS works for the last ve years, but noticed such a high num ber of women seeking work only in the last two years. “This shows the alarming
have no money to spend < > We on children’s education. If I don’t work here, we cannot even have two square meals a day. My husband wastes the money he earns on liquor. Kesar Worker at a MGNREGS site
extent to which families have been des troyed by liquor consumption,” he said. Sarpanch Kathotia was emphatic that the village community would not allow illegal sales of liquor after the shop’s clo sure. “The panchayat will form a com mittee to ensure that liquor is not sold here illegally or brought from outside. We will deal appropriately with people who try to hoodwink the law,” he said. Not without a court order In Rojda village panchayat, in Amber tehsil of Jaipur district, the shutting of the liquor shop following a referendum held on March 19, 2017, the villagers said, has put an end to several pro blems, such as girls being leered at, drunken men mistreating women at home, and the general nuisance created on the streets by inebriated villagers. The shop, which used to be on the
main road, was permanently shut down on April 1, 2017. Interestingly, the licen see was a village panchayat member, Bhanwar Singh. A farmer who also rears cattle, he now uses the erstwhile liquor shop to store fodder. Sarpanch Jairam Kumawat said that women and children were the worst vic tims of liquor sale in the cluster of Roj da, Sindolai, Harchandpura, Jaitpura and Sardarpura villages, all of which fall under the Rojda panchayat. “Even the children who were sent to fetch liquor from shops became addicts,” he said. The turn of events in Rojda, which was the second village in the State to make use of the provision for a referen dum, was unique in many respects. The villagers formed a Sangharsh Samiti (ac tion committee) which led an antiliqu or agitation for 363 days through de monstrations and dharnas. After a resolution was passed in the village pan chayat, an application under the 1975 Rules was submitted to the government in March 2016 and followed up at every stage. Despite sustained eorts by the Sar panch and the villagers, the State go vernment did not take a decision on holding a referendum in Rojda. The Sangarsh Samiti then led a public inter est litigation in the Rajasthan High Court and obtained orders for a referen dum. Only then did the District Collec tor give a voting date, in compliance with the court’s directive. Residents of the ve villages voted in favour of closing the liquor shop and its outlets. Of the 2,581 votes polled, 2,270 (nearly 88%) rejected the main liquor shop and its four branches that had been operating in the area for some time. Only 170 votes were in favour of the shop, while 141 were held invalid. Welcoming the outcome of the refe rendum, Gandhian leader and Nasha mukt Bharat Andolan’s State convener Sawai Singh had said that the villagers had set an example for others. Singh, who later travelled to the villages in Bhim tehsil of Rajsamand district to support their proposals for holding a re ferendum, said it was strange that a State government unable to supply clean drinking water to the villages was allowing liquor shops to thrive. The support for the antiliquor agita tion came from across the political spec trum. Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Raju Lal Prajapati worked hard to mobilise youths, while members of the Congress party led by the Sarpanch and a 62yearold farmer, Birdha Ram, gen erated awareness among farmers and traders in the Kumawat and Jatdomi nated panchayat that has a population of 13,000. Rojda has proudly installed boards on its borders declaring itself a liquorfree village. More demand referendums Rajsamand district’s Kachhbali village panchayat was the rst in the State to shut down a liquor shop by voting against it. Over 67% of the villagers had voted against the liquor shop in the refe rendum held on March 29, 2016. Anoth er village panchayat, Mandawar, in the same district held the liquor vend to be an illegitimate entity in the referendum held on January 20 this year, with 59% of the voters giving their verdict against
panchayat will form a < > The committee to ensure that liquor is not sold here illegally or brought from outside. We will deal appropriately with people who try to hoodwink the law. Dwarka Prasad Kathotia Sarpanch, Phoga Bharthari
it. The village will get rid of the liquor shop on April 1. Taking their cue from the village pan chayats where liquor shops have been declared illegal, sarpanches, political leaders, and social activists of a large number of villages in the State have launched antiliquor campaigns and are approaching the government authori ties with requests for holding a referen dum. However, the signatures of the ap plicants could not be veried in the cases of at least two village panchayats, Thaneta and Thikarwas, while in anoth er village panchayat, Barjaal, the propo sal was voted down in the referendum by a margin of 130 votes in August, 2017. Persistent protests by villagers have forced the State government to make changes in the annual liquor policy, as a result of which the number of liquor shops in the rural areas has come down. But a Statewide prohibition is nowhere in sight in Rajasthan. Licensing, pro cessing, and sale of liquor are under the State government’s control, while the Panchayati Raj institutions function un der the government’s guidance. Immediately after coming to power in December 2013, the Vasundhara Raje government had increased licence fees for liquor shops and introduced tough er liquorcontrol regulations in its ex cise policy for 201415. Contrary to spec ulation that it would relax the number of hours that liquor shops could stay open, the government decided to stick to the 10hour duration announced by the previous Congress regime, mandat ing the closure of liquor shops by 8 pm. Another signicant step taken in Ra jasthan is the closure of Ahaatas or in house drinking enclosures in domestic liquor shops. The State government has amended the excise rules and disconti nued the practice of setting up Ahaatas. As in several other States, excise from liquor sales is a big source of revenue in Rajasthan, which probably explains why the authorities are reluctant to hold the panchayat referendums des pite strong demands. The State earned 7,053.68 crore in 201617 from 7,640 li quor shops, which makes excise reve nue from liquor the second biggest source of funds after valueadded tax, which has been replaced now with the Goods and Services Tax. In the current nancial year, the State had earned ex cise revenue of 4,537.26 crore till De cember. The growth in revenue collec tion from liquor during the last three years was 5.08% in 201617, 20.18% in 201516, and 12.12% in 201415. Excise Commissioner O.P. Yadav said the Excise Department had registered 11,137 cases of manufacture, transport and possession of illegal liquor during the rst quarter of 201718, but he dis missed the charge that the referendums against licensed liquor shops would have an adverse impact on revenue earnings. A BM-BME
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8 NEWS
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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FROM PAGE ONE
U.S. refuses to conrm Nirav Modi’s presence
No change in stand on Dalai ‘Present laws Centre claries on report that ocials have been told to keep o exile fete an instruction was sent out. The news report said Fo reign Secretary Vijay Gok hale had recently written to senior government ocials and political gures to avoid attending the events to mark the Dalai Lama’s arrival in In dia 60 years ago because of the “very sensitive phase” in India’s ties with China.
Kallol Bhattacherjee NEW DELHI
Mr. Modi and his associates allegedly acquired fraudu lent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from the PNB’s Brady House branch in the Fort area of Mumbai for overseas credit from other lenders. The CBI and the Enforce ment Directorate (ED) have registered two FIRs each in this case. Mr. Modi, his family, and Mr. Choksi, the promoter of Gitanjali Gems, left the Nirav Modi country in early January, much before the CBI re tasy Inc, and A. Jae Inc, of ceived a complaint from the which he is the president and sole director. PNB. In a court submission on On being asked by the CBI to join its investigation into Wednesday, Firestar Dia the alleged fraud, Mr. Modi mond Inc (FDI) had provid refused, saying he had “bu ed a list of its creditors along with their details. siness abroad”. According to court pap The CBI then directed him to contact the Embassy ers, FDI and Fantasy cur of India in a country where rently have jewellery mer he is staying so that his tra chandise on consignment vel to India can be arranged. with their customers having Meanwhile, the U.S. court an aggregate consignment granting relief to Mr. Modi price value of approximate from creditors warned in its ly $33,250,000 million. AJI currently has jewel order, “Creditors who vio late the stay can be required lery merchandise on con to pay actual and punitive signment with its customers damages and attorney’s having an aggregate con signment price value of ap fees.” Copies of the order have proximately $7,300,000. Mr. Bhansali said that been transmitted to multi ple stakeholders, including during the pendency of a few dozen creditors of Fir these cases, it was its inten tion to continue to operate estar Diamond Inc. A meeting of the creditors their businesses while seek has been convened by the ing an infusion of capital or court in New York on March the sale of its businesses, in whole or in parts, as a going 30. The interim relief comes concern. According to court pap days after Mihir Bhansali had led for bankruptcy on ers, Firestar Diamond and behalf of three companies — Fantasy have approximately Fantasy Diamond Inc, Fan $90 million of annual sales.
India has not changed its po sition on the Dalai Lama, the External Aairs Ministry said in response to a news report that the Union government had instructed senior o cials and leaders to stay away from the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the exile of the Tibetan spiri tual leader in India. Following the report, a Ti betan spokesperson said the plans for the celebrations had been changed. “He is a revered religious leader and is deeply respect ed by the people of India.
Dalai Lama
There is no change in that position. His Holiness is ac corded all freedom to carry out his religious activities in India,” Ministry spokesper son Raveesh Kumar said, without denying that such
Major celebrations The Hindu had earlier re ported that the Tibetan lead ers were planning to hold major celebrations in Delhi. Lobsang Sangay, political leader of the community, had said a major event was
planned for March 31 at the Raj Ghat. But Tibetan repre sentatives have said the plan has been shelved. “His Holi ness is not expected to be in Delhi on March 31, and the refore the interreligious event planned at the Gandhi memorial will not be held,” said Sonam Norbu Dagpo, secretary of International Relations in the Department of Information and Interna tional Relations of the Tibe tan governmentin exile. Dr. Sangay had said a re presentation would be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Mr. Dagpo said no invite was sent.
Commando colours
Colourful greetings: Home Minister Rajnath Singh celebrates Holi with NSG commandos in New Delhi on Friday.
Amit Shah invites Naidu for discussion But, the Telugu Desam lead ers were apparently not happy with the response. “Yes, indeed we met Mr. Shah. But, the response was not very encouraging,” the MP said after the parliamen tary party meeting during the day. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, addressing the TDPP meet ing, said: “I never said that the Special Category Status was not required for A.P. We agreed to the special pack age as the Centre pleaded helplessness in extending the same citing technical reasons.” The meeting decided to get ready for a showdown
Special Correspondent New Delhi
A day after the Centre an nounced a new Bill to deal with fugitive economic of fenders, the Congress on Friday said the move was to “deect attention from the bank scams that happened under Prime Minister Na rendra Modi’s watch.” Speaking to The Hindu, the Deputy Leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sab ha, Anand Sharma, said the current laws gave the Enfor cement Directorate (ED) enough power to deal with economic oenders. “Let the Bill come and we will discuss. But there were enough laws and the ED had the authority and legal man date to attach the properties of all these people. Why was Nirav Modi and Mehul Chok si allowed to ee,” Mr. Shar ma asked. “More important is the fact that there were ocial complaints against them in the Prime Minister’s Oce since 2015 but nothing was done. They were allowed to plunder and ee with 22,000 crore. And now if you add the amount of Jatin Mehta [owner of Winsome Diamonds who ed in 2016], it will be close to 30,000 crore. And it all happened under Prime Mi nister Narendra Modi’s watch,” he said. The Congress leader said the government would have to answer the Opposition on
Anand Sharma
all these issues when the Budget session of Parlia ment resumes on Monday. ‘We need answers’ “We need answers. And they are deecting atten tion. It is not only this new law but also by arresting so mebody who was always available for questioning. You allow those who have plundered the banks to scoot and those who have gone with court permission and returned is arrested on landing,” Mr. Sharma said referring to the arrest of Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The Congress leader justi ed the party’s boycott of the Lokpal selection com mittee meeting on Thursday over the Leader of the Con gress in Lok Sabha, Mallikar jun Kharge, being referred to as a “special invitee”. “The Prime Minister isn’t serious about it [Lokpal] and he never had a Lokay ukta in Gujarat,” he said.
On reports of funds being withheld, it says public service broadcaster is bound by general nancial rules Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Amit Shah
with the Centre on March 5 when Parliament meets af ter recess for the remainder of the budget session. The TDP president suggested that party MPs stall pro ceedings in Parliament in the interests of the State.
The Prasar Bharati is bound by the government’s general nancial rules and must sign a memorandum of under standing (MoU) with the In formation & Broadcasting Ministry on nancial targets and timelines for activities to use grants in a nancial year, the Ministry said in a state ment on Friday. The organi sation had not signed the MoU despite repeated remin ders, the Ministry said. The Ministry’s statement comes in the wake of a public
conict between the Prasar Bharati Board and the Minis try and a media report that the Ministry had withheld funds after December 2017 in response to the Prasar Bha rati Board’s dierences with the Ministry. Salaries at stake A news portal carried a re port quoting Prasar Bharati Chairman A. Surya Prakash as saying that I&B Minister Smriti Irani had withheld funds to the state broadcas ter, which then had to pay salaries to employees in Ja
Smriti Irani
nuary and February from a contingency fund. Dr. Surya Prakash did not respond to messages or calls
Youth quits militancy in Valley
Special Correspondent
Peerzada Ashiq
Srinagar
Srinagar
As the State Crime Branch was preparing to submit its report in the rapeand murder of an eightyear old girl in Jammu, the pre sence of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Ministers at a function of the Hindu Ekta Manch, a body defending an accused policeman, has put coalition partner Peo ples Democratic Party (PDP) in a tight corner. Ministers Chowdhary Lal Singh and Chandra Pra kash attended the rally.
One more youth quit militan cy on Friday to resume nor mal life in the Kashmir Val ley, according to the police. “Another young boy res ponding to the appeals of his crying mother returned to the folds of his family, leav ing the path of violence in the Valley. I wish the family a happy reunion,” said Jammu and Kashmir DirectorGener al of Police S.P. Vaid. The police have refused to identify the youth for “secur ity concerns”.
Police refuse to identify him, says he responded to appeal of ‘crying mother’
Welcome trend In January, three youth have shunned the path of militan
Keeping vigil: A le picture of jawans on patrol at the LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. PTI *
cy, bringing the total num ber to do so to 10 in the re cent months. The police attributes the trend to Lash
kareTaiba recruit Majid Khan’s return from militan cy in November 2017. They said 67 youth were
counselled against joining the militancy last year. The Pakistan Army conti nued to violate ceasere along the Line of Control in the Pir Panchal Valley’s Ra jouri and Poonch in the past 24 hours. An ocial in PoonchRajouri sector said Pakistan resorted to ring in the night in Mankote Sector in Mendhar and Khour Sec tor in Rajouri. No loss of life was reported. “However, one house was damaged due to a shell red from across the LoC in Man kote,” said an ocial. Schools and houses within 3 km of the Zero Line in Poonch remained closed on Friday.
Pak. summons Indian envoy again
Press Trust of India Srinagar
Press Trust of India
A fresh video has surfaced here showing Lashkare Taiba militant Naveed Jutt, who escaped from police custody last month, with top militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen in a forest area of the Valley. The video shows Jutt, carrying an automatic rie, exchanging hugs with some Hibzul Mujahideen militants. Police ocials, however, refused to com ment on the video.
Islamabad
CM YK
PTI
New Bill a ploy to divert attention: Cong.
Ministry denies vendetta against Prasar Bharati
BJP presence in rally puts PDP in a spot
Video shows LeT militant with Hizb
*
adequate to deal with defaulters’
Pakistan summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner J.P. Singh for the second con secutive day on Friday over “unprovoked ring” by In dian troops across the Line of Control. The Foreign Oce said Di rectorGeneral (South Asia & SAARC) Mohammad Faisal summoned Mr. Singh, and condemned the “unpro voked ceasere violations” by the Indian forces along
the LoC in the Bhimber/Sa mahini sectors on Thursday. The ring killed a civilian and injured his wife and son, it said, adding that Indian troops were using “heavy mortar”. Mr. Faisal said that despite calls for restraint, India con tinued to violate the ceasere. 415 ceasere violations India carried out more than 415 ceasere violations along the Line of Control and the
Working Boundary so far in 2018, resulting in the killings of 20 civilians and injuries to 71 others, he said. He said this “unprece dented escalation in cease re violations by India is continuing from the year 2017 when the Indian forces committed 1970 ceasere violations”. “The deliberate targeting of civilian populated areas is indeed deplorable and con trary to human dignity, in ternational human rights
and humanitarian laws. The ceasere violations by India are a threat to regional peace and security and may lead to a strategic miscalculation,” Mr. Faisal said. Pakistan urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 cea sere arrangement; investi gate this and other incidents of ceasere violations; in struct the Indian forces to respect the ceasere, in let ter and spirit; and maintain peace on the LoC and the Working Boundary.
from The Hindu on Friday. At a meeting of the Prasar Bharati Board on February 15, at least three directives from the Ministry were re jected. The Board said the Ministry's directives were in “contempt” of the Prasar Bharati Act. Rejecting reports that it had withheld funds to the Prasar Bharati “as retaliation for not obeying certain dic tates of the Ministry”, the statement said, “The misin formation is based on illwill and incorrect appreciation with halfbaked facts and is
tantamount to causing loss of reputation of the govern ment in public eyes.” ‘Fiscal prudence crucial’ “Fiscal prudence and ac countability is the very ful crum of the functioning of any government organisa tion. Prasar Bharati is as much bound by the General Financial Rules (GFR) of the Government of India as any Ministry or any organisation receiving grantsinaid from the Government,” the Minis try added. Prasar Bharati ocials
claimed that for the current nancial year, the Finance Ministry had allotted 2,800 crore for the broadcaster. The Ministry has to release 200 crore a month for day today functioning of the state broadcaster. “Since De cember, these funds, which are essential to pay salaries of our employees, have not been released,” a senior Pra sar Bharati functionary said. The functionary told this correspondent that the Pra sar Bharati had taken the matter to “higher authori ties”.
The stench of unfullled promises in ‘model’ Phulpur The villages are bereft of civic amenities and infrastructure Omar Rashid PHULPUR
“This is our own little Praya graj,” laughs Pramila Pal. Her sarcastic allusion to the Sangam, the conuence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, is aimed at the huge pool of mud and slush formed at her door be cause of drain water running from dierent directions. “We face a lot of problems in moving about. But it be comes most embarrassing when we have visitors,” says Ms. Pal, who belongs to an OBC (Other Backward Class) community. She lives in Jait wardih, a village roughly three kilometres from the banks of the Ganga in the Phaphamau region of Alla habad. While residents remem ber the village as always be ing bereft of civic amenities and basic infrastructure, their grouse is that there have been no real improve ments despite its adoption as as a ‘model village’ after the Narendra Modi govern ment came to power in 2014. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Mau rya, who adopted the vil lage, was the local MP till last year and the upcoming by poll on March 11 is to elect his successor.
Overowing woes: An open drain at Jaitwardih village in Allahabad. RAJEEV BHATT *
Barring a few patches, most of the roads and gullies in the village are kuccha, un even and in a decrepit state, marked by overowing drains. Lone development The lone development that has taken place in the village since it was adopted was the installation of toilets, says Magru Yadav, a resident. Sachin Yadav, a property dealer, complains that Mr. Maurya never paid heed to the civic issues nor delivered on constructing the pro mised pathways. Locals also say that while the power supply is satisfac tory, water supply in the vil lage is irregular. A few blocks away, in the
Jatav locality, Kanchan Bha ratiya says the village “ur gently needs a colony to come up as most of its resi dents were still living in mud houses.” Another issue facing the village is that of security. The solar lights in the local Su labh complex were recently stolen. Mahavir Yadav, the prad han, says the poor roads and the absence of a good drain age system are the bane of the village. He, however, says that a water tank, one Sulabh toilet complex and 92 electric panels have come up in the village after Mr. Maurya adopted it. Mr. Keshav Prasad Mau rya was not available for comment. A BM-BME
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IN BRIEF
NE elections: parties bank on pre-poll tie-ups With BJP’s aggressive campaign and CPI(M) and Congress defending traditional strongholds, role of smaller parties will be crucial Rahul Karmakar
which has been ruling the state for 25 years. The BJP’s ambition in Meghalaya and Nagaland is a tad less given the demo graphic and religious com position there. It has tied up with regional parties against a common enemy — the Con gress. However, the pact has been conrmed only in Na galand.
AGARTALA
BSF on alert on border ahead of counting AGARTALA
Ahead of Saturday’s counting of votes in Tripura, Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have been deployed along the India Bangladesh border. The State police, paramilitary forces and Tripura State Rifles are on vigil across the State. “Security arrangements are in place in the 20 places where counting is to be held,” Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Sriram Taranikanti said. ANI
73% turnout in Nagaland re-poll KOHIMA
Around 73 per cent voter turnout was reported during the repolling held at 13 stations across nine constituencies in Nagaland on Saturday, CEO Nagaland Abhijit Sinha here. The voting passed off peacefully, he said. Repolling was ordered following reports of snatching of EVMs, misuse of ID cards and after miscreants prevented people from voting. PTI
‘Tripura results will impact national politics’ KOLKATA
The Tripura election result will have farreaching consequences not only nationally but also within the CPI (M), a party leader said. “If the BJP wins, then the question of adjustment with the Congress to stop the BJP will again come up,” he said. The CPI(M) central committee had earlier adopted a draft resolution ruling out any electoral tieup with the Congress. PTI
Tripura Minister and CPI(M) candidate dies AGARTALA
Tripura Fisheries and Cooperation Minister Khagendra Jamatia, 64, died at a hospital in New Delhi on Friday. He was diagnosed with blood cancer a few days back, sources said. He was the CPI(M) candidate from Krishnapur in the Assembly elections held on February 18. Results are due on Saturday and if he wins, a byelection will be held. He is survived by wife and two sons.
The rst of the three north eastern States to go to the polls on February 18, the vo ters in Tripura had a relative ly easier task of having to choose between the ruling Left Front and the challenger BJP to the right. However, voters in Megha laya and Nagaland had more options, increasing the pos sibility of a hung Assembly. To add to the confusion, in Nagaland the main regional rivals — the ruling Naga Peo ple’s Front (NPF) and Nation alist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) — are both linked to the BJP. The BJP had struck a pre poll deal with NDPP for con testing 20 seats, but kept its options with the NPF open. The NPF, one of the oldest constituents of the NDA in the Northeast, is a member of the BJPhelmed North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) whose goal is to rid the re gion of Congress. Leaders meet Governor On Friday, Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang and NPF president Shurhozelie Liezietsu met Governor P.B. Acharya with letters of pre poll agreement with the Ja nata Dal (United) and Nation al People’s Party (NPP), which together elded 38 candidates. “We have a good chance because voters know who can deliver for them,” Mr. Ze liang said, indicating that his party had been cleansed af ter 26 MLAs left to join NDPP and BJP before the poll pro cess had begun. Multi-cornered contest Parleys for postpoll allianc es have also been on in Meghalaya, where the race for political parties is likely to be single largest party. “The Congress has been the only consistent party in the state,” Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma said, insisting the divisive politics of the BJP will be a gain for his party. The Congress fancies its chances because the contest in Meghalaya is multicor nered with BJP and two of its
Wait ends: Results for 178 seats across three States will be known on Saturday.
Syed Sajjad Ali
Paramilitary troops were de ployed in strength at various sensitive locations in Tripu ra on Friday, ahead of count ing of votes for the Assembly elections conducted in 59 Assembly constituencies on February 18. Election in the Charilam (ST) constituency was coun termanded and a bypoll was slated for March 12 after the demise of Communist Party of India (CPIM) candidate Ramendra Narayan Debbarma. The CPI(M) lost another candidate, Khagendra Jama tia, who passed away on Fri day morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. Mr. Ja matia was contesting in this election from his home turf, friends in NEDA – United De mocratic Party and NPP – in the fray as rivals. “Meghalaya is tougher than the other two States for us, but we hope to have a say
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Work under way at the rst of two reactors at the Rooppur plant in Bangladesh.
clear power plant in Bangla desh on a turnkey basis. Indian companies can be involved in construction and installation works and in the supply of equipment of a noncritical category .
Tarini reaches Cape Town in the last leg of its journey Press Trust of India New Delhi
An allwomen crew leading the Indian Navy Sailing Ves sel (INSV) Tarini docked at a port in Cape Town in South Africa on Friday, in the last phase of its maiden voyage to circumnavigate the globe. The expedition is being covered in ve legs, with stopovers at Fremantle in Australia, Lyttleton in New Zealand, Port Stanley in Falklands, and Cape Town. The crew encountered rough seas and extremely cold temperatures, coupled with stormy weather condi tions, making the circumna vigation highly daunting, the CM YK
Lt. Cdr. Vartika Joshi
Navy said in a statement. The vessel’s passage through the Indian, Pacic and Atlan tic oceans so far has wit nessed winds in excess of 60 knots and waves up to 7 metres high. This is the rstever In
the Krishnapur (ST) consti tuency. Election department ocials said the bypoll at Krishnapur would be neces sitated only when the CPI(M) registers a victory in the con stituency. The segment wit nessed a multiparty contest. Tripura has been placed under high alert in view of the counting slated to take place simultaneously in 20
centres across the State. Ad ditional contingents of the Border Security Force (BSF) were deployed along the border with Bangladesh to check possible inltration. Section 144 of the CrPC was clamped along a 200 metre radius of the counting centres. “Installation of CCTV cameras and live web casting are other precau tionary measures in place,” said Chief Electoral Ocer Sriram Taranikanti. Mr. Taranikanti also re marked on the increase in the percentage of votes polled in the February 18 As sembly election. The nal evaluated gure of 91.53% would further increase after the counting of postal and service ballots, as well as the votes in the Charilam by election, he added.
in the nal shape of things,” BJP’s State unit president Shibun Lyngdoh said. NPP chief Conrad K. Sang ma too indicated it will all boil down to postpoll com
binations. “Our target has al ways been to be the single largest party,” he said. The hurdle in Tripura is a deeplyentrenched Left Front headed by CPI(M),
Agartala
Signs tripartite agreement with Russia and Bangladesh
The MoU was signed in Moscow by the Department of Atomic Energy of India, the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh and Rosatom. Russia is building the nu
ABHISEK SAHA
Tripura set for counting
India to help build nuclear plant in Bangladesh India, Bangladesh and Rus sia have signed a tripartite memorandum of under standing (MoU) for coopera tion in the construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. “Today [Thursday] was a landmark event for both our countries — and the industry as a whole. We are condent that this is the rst step to wards the formation of a new, forwardlooking coop eration agenda in the re gion,” said Nikolay Spassky, Deputy DirectorGeneral for international relations of Ro satom, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation.
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dian circumnavigation of the globe by an allwomen crew. The vessel is skippered by Lieutenant Commander Var tika Joshi and the crew com prises Lieutenant Comman ders Pratibha Jamwal, P. Swathi and Lieutenants S. Vi jaya Devi, B. Aishwarya and Payal Gupta. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had aggedo the expedition from Goa on September 10. The vessel has covered 1,75,00 nautical miles from Goa. The indigenouslybuilt INSV Tarini, a 56foot sailing vessel, was inducted into the Navy earlier this year
Prohibitory orders are in force near counting centres.
Regional parties hold the key in Meghalaya BJP, Congress fought without alliance Shiv Sahay Singh Shillong
Battle for survival For the Congress, Mandate 2018 has been more of a bat tle for survival. Seven of its nine MLAs in Tripura joined BJP before the polls and it has struggled to nd candi dates in Nagaland. The party fancies its chances in Meghalaya, where the verdict has always been fractured after the 1972 Assembly election. Buoyed by exit polls that predicted an edge in Tripu ra, the BJP is upbeat about ejecting the “corrupt” Com munists. “People have voted for a change, and we hope to provide it,” State BJP presi dent Biplab Kumar Deb said. The BJP’s poll credo has been ‘chalo paltai (Let’s overhaul).’ The BJP’s ally is the Indige nous People’s Front of Twi pra (IPFT), a party that had to eschew its demand for a separate tribal homeland to strike a polldeal with the saf fron party. The BJP left nine seats in tribal areas for the IPFT.
Hours before the counting of votes in Meghalaya, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have started reaching out to the smaller and regional political par ties who may hold the key to power in the hill state. The two parties have con tested the polls without any alliance. Senior leaders of both are camping in the State and playing crucial role in the discussions. All India Congress Com mittee (AICC) general secre tary C.P. Joshi and BJP spo kesperson Nalin Kohli have been camping in the State. While the Congress is con testing all 60 seats, the BJP is contesting 47. There was hectic activity on Friday at the Congress Bhavan on Thana Road here. “If the BJP is talking to other political parties, we are also not sitting ducks. We have not left the discus sions for the last moment,” a senior Congress leader and AICC member told presspersons.
Stake for Left Front The ruling CPI(M) is banking on its rural base to retain power. “Voters in Tripura are wise enough to know who is their true friend and who pretends to be,” the par ty’s State secretary, Bijan Dhar, said. Ahead of the counting day, though, the CPI(M) re ceived a setback with its Krishnapur candidate Kha gendra Jamatia passing away at AIIMS in New Delhi on Fri day. Another prominent tribal face of the party, Ramendra Narayan Debbarma, died on February 11 leading to the countermanding of polls in Charilam constituency.
Major player The National People’s Party (NPP), led by P.A. Sangma’s son and Tura MP Conrad Sangma, is an important player in the Meghalaya polls. The party contested 52 seats. The NPP is part of the BJPled North East Demo cratic Alliance (NEDA) and is an alliance partner of the BJP in the Manipur govern ment. While the NPP is per ceived close to the BJP, the Congress is pinning its hopes on parties such as the United Democratic Party (UDP) and the Hill State Peo ple’s Democratic Party (HSPDP).
Conrad K. Sangma
There are smaller players such as the Nationalist Con gress Party (NCP) and the Garo National Front. Security arrangements Meanwhile, Meghalaya’s Chief Electoral Ocer F.R. Khargkongar said that a threetier security arrange ment had been made at counting centres of the State. “Eleven companies of the Central Armed Police Forc es have been deployed out side the 13 counting centres in the State. An additional six companies of Central Forces have been posi tioned to maintain law and order in the postelection scenario,” Mr. Khargkongar said. Counting will be held in 59 of the 60 Assemblies in the State where polls were conducted in 3,025 polling stations. The election to the Wil liamnagar Assembly seat was suspended following the death of NCP candidate Jonathone N. Sangma in an IED blast in the Meghalaya Garo Hills. The number of electorate in the State is about 18.4 lakh and 85.7% of the voters exercised their franchise in the polls held on February 27.
‘Gwadar, Chabahar not comparable’ Press Trust of India Washington
The development of the Chabahar port in Iran is a commercial enterprise, whereas that of the Gwadar port in Pakistan by China is a strategic venture with longterm implications on the region, former Union Minister Manish Tewari has said. The Gwadar Port in the Balochistan province is be ing built by China under a multibillion economic cor ridor. The Chabahar port in Iran is being considered by India, Iran and Afghan istan as a gateway to major opportunities for trade with central Asian countries. “One thing which needs to be very clearly under stood is that Chabahar port is a commercial enterprise and Gwadar port is a stra tegic military enterprise. There is a distinction bet ween as to why two pro jects have been con ceived,” Mr. Tewari said at an event organised by the South Asia Centre of the At lantic Council. Similarly, the ChinaPa kistan Economic Corridor is not a connectivity pro ject, the Congress leader said. It was a strategic pro ject by which China seeks access to the Arabian Sea and surmount the Straits of Malacca. As such there is no com parison between Gwadar and Chabahar. Mohammad H. Qayou mi, Chief Adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said that after 100 years, Central Asian countries looked at Afghanistan as part of that entity. A BM-BME
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10 WORLD
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Trade wars are easy to win: Trump EU industry raises alarm bells over U.S. tari move
Stays deant amid criticism of his plan to impose taris on steel and aluminium imports Agence France-Presse Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke out deantly on Friday in the face of glo bal criticism of his plan to impose taris on steel and aluminium imports, claim ing trade wars are “easy to win”. The ghting words came after the billionaire politi cian’s proposal sparked a fu rious reaction from major steel and aluminiumpro ducing nations. “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dol lars on trade with virtually every country it does busi ness with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Example, when we are down $100 bil lion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymorewe win big. It’s easy!” After weeks of rumour and counterrumour about his administration’s inten tions, Mr. Trump on Thurs day announced he would sign o on measures de signed to protect U.S. pro ducers “next week”. The taris — 25% on steel and 10% on aluminium — cover two materials that are the lifeblood of the construc tion and manufacturing sec tors in the U.S. The announcement an gered key U.S. allies — Cana
da, the European Union, Australia, and Mexico — as well as rival China.
Commission warns of ‘WTOcompatible countermeasures’ Vidya Ram
‘Unfair practices’ Mr. Trump has long threa tened to impose taris on steel and aluminium, accus ing other countries of dump ing and deploying “unfair” trade practices. He has been particularly critical of China, although steel and alumini um each account for less than 1% of the country’s total exports to the U.S. Beijing on Friday urged the U.S. to “exercise res traint” and respect interna tional trade rules. “If all countries followed the exam ple of the U.S., (it) will un doubtedly result in a serious impact on the international trade order,” Foreign Minis try spokeswoman Hua Chu nying said at a regular brieng. The timing of Mr. Trump’s announcement was provoca tive for China: its top eco nomic envoy Liu He was in Washington, holding meet ings at the White House on Thursday. “They candidly exchanged their views, building the necessary con ditions for the next step in deepening cooperation,” Ms. Hua said of the meetings with U.S. ocials. China has previously warned it was ready with countermeasures should
London
High stakes: Donald Trump has long threatened to impose taris on steel and aluminium, accusing other countries of dumping and deploying “unfair” trade practices. AP *
the Trump administration deploy taris, but the Fo reign Ministry did not indi cate on Friday that any such moves were in the works. Domestic opposition The White House has em barked on a campaign to re new American infrastruc ture, with steel likely a major input. But Mr. Trump’s announ cement has faced signicant domestic opposition, includ ing within his own White House and the Republican party. U.S. automakers, oil and gas producers and other in dustry groups have publicly urged the president to not impose new barriers on me tal imports, warning the
measures could jack up pric es and invite reprisals, harm ing the U.S. economy. Sources familiar with Mr. Trump’s decision say he faced stern opposition from aides, including top econom ic advisor Gary Cohn, who argued the move could ulti mately damage U.S. industry. But trade hawks like Peter Navarro, who was by the Pre sident’s side as he made his remarks, appeared to have won the day. The same sources said it was not impossible that carveouts follow, making the measures more palatable to the EU, Canada and South Korea. The U.S. Commerce De partment said last month that the global glut of steel
and aluminium threatened U.S. national security, and presented the White House with a set of options, includ ing quotas, taris targeting specic countries, and acrosstheboard taris on all imports of the metals. Trump's proposal most closely resembled the last option. Analysts said that while there were initial sharp stock market losses in the steel and aluminium sectors following the announcement, the main fear was what it could mean in the future. “We think overall, the danger is contagion — the reaction — rather than the actual taris themselves,” Fat Prophets resources analyst David Len nox told AFP.
Politicians, industry, and un ions in Europe have reacted with alarm to the U.S. go vernment’s announcement of restrictions in the form of a surcharge on imports of steel and aluminium, with the European Commission warning of proposals for “WTOcompatible counter measures” to rebalance the situation. “We will not sit idly while our industry is hit with un fair measures that put thou sands of European jobs at risk,” said Jean Claude Junck er, the President of the Euro pean Commission. “Protectionism cannot be the answer to our common problem in the steel sector. Instead of providing a solu tion, this move can only ag gravate matters,” he said, following the announce ment of import duties of 25% on steel and 10% on alumini um on Thursday. Cecilia Malmstrom Com missioner for Trade warned that the move would simply raise costs and reduce choice for U.S. consumers of steel and aluminium. “These U.S. measures will have a negative impact on transatlantic relations and on global markets,” she ad
Jean Claude Juncker
ded. In 2017, the EU export ed 5 million tonnes of steel to the U.S. out of a total ex port volume of 40 mt , ac cording to EU steel trade as sociation EUROFER. “In the current context of massive global excess steel capacity, markets will be forced to take preventative contingen cy actions to avoid domestic market disruption from traded deection,” said its director, Axel Eggert. Tata Steel Europe, for which the U.S. represents 10% of its sales, welcomed the EU’s pledge of swift ac tion. “The EU must not allow the moderate recovery in our industry over the last year to be destroyed by the EUs most important ally,” said a Tata Steel Europe spokesperson.
‘POTUS doesn’t want gun control’ Russia breaching Cold NRA says Trump supports the Second Amendment and strong due process meeting in the Oval Oce to night with the NRA!” The twin tweets suggest that it may have taken the gun rights group only a little more than a day to persuade the President to back away from his apparent embrace of gun control during a re markable, televised meeting on Wednesday with mem bers of Congress.
MICHAEL D. SHEAR SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Washington
The top lobbyist for the Na tional Rie Association (NRA) said late on Thursday that President Donald Trump had retreated from his surprising support a day earlier for gun control mea sures after a meeting with NRA ocials and VicePresi dent Mike Pence in the Oval Oce. The lobbyist, Chris Cox, posted on Twitter just after 9 p.m. that he met with Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence, say ing that “we all want safe schools, mental health re form and to keep guns away from dangerous people. PO
ELSEWHERE
Donald Trump
TUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, sup port strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA.” Mr. Trump tweeted about an hour later, “Good (Great)
Previous meeting In that meeting, the Preis dent called for a comprehen sive legislation that would expand background checks to rearms purchased at gun shows and on the internet — a measure favored by Demo crats but anathema to the
NRA. He also stunned law makers from both parties by suggesting that he would support measures to allow the authorities to seize guns from mentally ill people or those who could pose a dan ger without rst following due process, like appearing before a judge. By Thursday night, sever al people expressed resigna tion to the latenight state ments by the President and Mr. Cox. “Unsurprising, but no less revolting,” tweeted Matt Bennett, a longtime gun con trol advocate and top ocial at a centerleft Washington think tank, in response to Mr. Cox’s comment. NY TIMES
Britain wants the broadest partnership with EU: May PM, however, rules out remaining in the customs union Vidya Ram London
Israel police question Netanyahu again JERUSALEM
The Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife for several hours on Friday over corruption allegations that threaten the rightwing premier’s long tenure. This is the eighth such session since 2017, after the police last month recommended Mr. Netanyahu’s indictment in two graft cases. AFP
25 dead in fire at drug rehab clinic in Azerbaijan BAKU
Twentyfive people perished in a fire which tore through a drug rehabilitation clinic in the Azerbaijani capital Baku early on Friday, with activists saying safety standards had not been met. President Ilham Aliyev has set up a commission to probe the incident and ordered financial aid to be allocated for the families of the victims. AFP
Trump, Merkel discuss Eastern Ghouta violence
The U.K. and the EU needed to face up to “hard facts” that neither side could have “exactly what we want”, British Prime Minister The resa May warned on Friday, in a keenly awaited speech that followed a tumultuous week in Britain’s prepara tions to leave the union. While the Prime Minister rejected remaining in a cus toms union, arguing that it would not respect the re sults of the June 2016 refe rendum, including the abili ty to negotiate trade agreements with other countries, the government would be pushing for “the broadest and deepest possi ble partnership, covering
more sectors and cooperat ing more fully than any Free Trade Agreement anywhere in the world today”. Howev er, Britain and the EU’s ac cess to each other’s market would inevitably be “less than it is now”. The speech was the latest in a series of crucial Brexit
Agence France-Presse Washington
The U.S. has accused Mos cow of openly breaching Cold Warera treaties by de veloping what Russian Presi dent Vladimir Putin called a new generation of “invinci ble” hypersonic weapons and submarines. Mr. Putin unveiled the new arsenal on Thursday in a State of the Nation address, challenging Washington to a new arms race ahead of a March 18 presidential elec tion that will all but certainly conrm his grip on power. The U.S. State Depart ment expressed outrage at Mr. Putin’s presentation and his “cheesy” animated video
of warheads over U.S. soil. “We don’t regard that as the behavior of a responsible international player,” said spokeswoman Heather Nauert. Putin’s conrmation “President Putin has con rmed what the United States government has known for a long time but that Russia has denied prior to this. Russia has been de veloping destabilizing wea pons systems for more than a decade in direct violation of its treaty obligations,” she said. Ms. Nauert said Moscow had proven itself in violation of the 1987 Intermediate
Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), through its develop ment of groundlaunched cruise missiles. The Pentagon reacted with more equanimity, with a spokesman insisting that the U.S. military remains “fully prepared” to react to “anything that comes our way.” Meanwhile, Moscow’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ana toly Antonov said Washing ton’s lastminute pullout from cybersecurity talks in Geneva last month was an “unfriendly step... that gave the impression of having been preplanned and lead ing to the further degrada tion of bilateral relations”.
Protectionist move “In its imagined postBrexit role as the vanguard for glo bal free trade, it must re member that not everyone is on the same page and not everyone is playing by the same rules. Whilst we have to resist any urge to mirror such protectionist moves, we must at the same time be cleareyed and equip our selves with tools to respond eectively and protect our interests when necessary,” said U.K. Steel Head of Poli cy, Richard Warren. German Chancellor Ange la Merkel’s spokesperson said the federal government rejected the taris, and pledged to stand sideby side the European Commis sion, AFT reported.
Armed men attack French embassy Agence France-Presse Ouagadougou
An armed group attacked the French embassy, the country’s military head quarters and the French cultural centre at Burkina Faso in West Africa on Fri day before being repelled, leaving six assailants dead, the government said. “A certain number of gendarmes and soldiers” were wounded, but there were no known casualties among civilians, Informa tion Minister Remis Ful gance Dandjinou told the State TV channel RTB. The attack “has strong overtones of terrorism,” the Minister said.
Nepal paper summoned to court Agence France-Presse Kathmandu
Nepal's largest newspaper appeared briey in court on Friday after being sum moned by the country's Chief Justice for publishing articles critical of him, in a case widely condemned as an attack on press freedom. The Kantipur Daily was subpoenaed by Chief Jus tice Gopal Parajuli on con tempt of court charges for a series of articles that said the country's top judge had given dierent dates of birth on various ocial documents. The newspaper’s editor inchief, the chairman, a company director and a re porter appeared for the scheduled hearing, but it was postponed until Sunday.
Chinese lawmakers’ wealth soars According to a report, the net worth of 153 members of Parliament is $650 billion SUI-LEE WEE
BERLIN
BEIJING
U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call agreed that the Syrian regime must be held accountable for the Eastern Ghouta violence, Berlin said on Friday. Both also “urge Russia to end its involvement in the bombing of Eastern Ghouta and to persuade the Assad regime to stop its offensive operations”, a statement said. AFP
In a country where the Com munist Party makes all the big decisions, Chinese law makers hold very little politi cal power. But they have plenty of money — $650 bil lion of it — and that is growing. According to the Hurun Report, a research organisa tion in Shanghai that tracks the wealthy in China, the net
CM YK
Theresa May
speeches made by Ms. May, including in Florence, Italy, and Lancaster House in Lon don, but was the most fo cussed on specics, outlin ing Britain’s vision for the tailored kind of relationship it hoped to negotiate with the EU. Britain could opt to commit to maintain areas of regulation around state aid and competition to be in step with Europe’s, along side maintaining similar standards and protections when it came to workers rights and environmental standards. “The fact is that every Free Trade Agreement has varying market access de pending on the respective interests of the countries in volved,” she said.
War-era treaties, says U.S.
The concerns were echoed in individual Euro pean markets, including in Britain, which exports some £360 million of high value steel products to the U.S., or around 15% of the sector’s exports, according to indus try body U.K. Steel. In addition to hitting U.S. exports, U.K. Steel warned the U.S. move could have a knock on eect on markets such as the U.K., with steel diverted away from the U.S. to other markets.
worth of the 153 members of China’s Parliament and its advisory body that it deems “super rich” amounts to $650 billion, up by nearly a third from a year ago. Double the wealth While President Xi Jinping has pledged to close the in come gap and alleviate po verty, the wealth of the na tion’s lawmakers has kept soaring.
In 2017, it topped $500 bil lion, more than doubling from the year before. The surge in wealth re ects the strength of the Chi nese economy, which grew 6.9% in 2017, and stock mar kets all over the world. The number of billio naires in China’s legislature could contribute to the per ception that the government is out of touch in a country where disposable income
per capita was just over $4,000 in 2017. China added 210 billionaires over the past year — about four a week — 40% more than the U.S., ac cording to a separate list of the global rich by Hurun. The wealthiest lawmaker is also China’s richest per son, Pony Ma, whose net worth is $47 billion. He is the founder of Tencent, which owns WeChat, a social media mobile app. NY TIMES A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
BUSINESS 11
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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‘Don’t expect steel exports hit for now’
Stocks, dollar tumble as Trump sparks trade war fears
Reuters
Reuters
NEW DELHI
LONDON
India does not expect any immediate impact from U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to im pose curbs on steel im ports, the steel ministry’s top bureaucrat said on Friday. The President had said he would impose taris on imported steel and alumi nium to protect U.S. producers. “We have only 2% of our exports to U.S. so no imme diate dent, but validity of Section 232 is stretched to be used as tari barrier,” India’s Steel Secretary Aru na Sharma said. The Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Section 232(b) gives the U.S. the ability to investigate whether certain imports, or high levels of certain imports, pose a threat to national security.
The spectre of a global trade war sent world stocks tum bling towards a 2.5% weekly loss on Friday, and left bruised investors reaching for the traditional antidotes — government bonds, gold and the Japanese yen. The falls came after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would impose taris of 25% on im ported steel and 10% on alu minium, sparking concerns of retaliatory moves from major trade partners China, Europe and neighbouring Canada.
U.S. President’s proposed tari on steel and aluminium triggers concerns of retaliatory moves by trade partners including China and Europe
ArcelorMittal slumps Europe’s STOXX 600 index fell over 1.5% led by a near 5% slump from world’s big gest steelmaker ArcelorMit tal SA and 2.56% drops from the region’s carmakers wor ried that they might be next.
than one year low against the yen at 105.54.
Bracing for the fallout: Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 2.5% to end the week down 3.3%, while MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacic shares excluding Japan dropped 0.9%. AP *
Wall Street futures were also pointing lower for what would be a fourth straight day and another dicult week for the benchmark S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq indexes. “Trade wars are good, and easy to win,” Trump’s rst
Friday tweet said, which on ly acted to iname the mar kets’ nerves. The dollar and U.S. Trea sury yields both fell as they appeared to push aside con siderations of ination, a ma jor theme that spooked nancial markets over the last
month. Tenyear U.S. Treasu ries yields dipped to 2.8024%, hitting its lowest le vel in three weeks and furth er extending the distance from its fouryear peak of 2.957% touched on Feb 21. The dollar fell across the board including to more
Brokers resist SEBI move to tighten oversight Changing frequency of data upload to weekly, from monthly, defeats purpose, says broker association concerned... we submit that weekly uploading, that too within [three] days of the closing of the week will lead to frequent uploading and the main purpose of moni toring will become more dif cult,” it added. The Hindu has reviewed a copy of the letter.
ASHISH RUKHAIYAR MUMBAI
The move by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to enhance the super vision of market participants is facing fresh resistance from stock brokers who are trying to stall the regulator’s attempts to monitor any pos sible misuse of client funds by the broking community. Brokers are currently re quired to upload informa tion related to client funds ly ing with them on a monthly basis. SEBI wants this to be done weekly, from April 1. This includes a wide array of important information such as the aggregate value of client fund balance, collat eral, credit & debit balances in all the client accounts and value of margins utilised,
Counter view: Some welcome the change, suggesting brokers would nd it dicult to misuse clients’ funds. REUTERS *
among other data. The Association of Nation al Exchanges Members of In dia (ANMI), which is the um brella body of brokers, has written to SEBI to continue with the existing system “ANMI is of the strong view that current system of
uploading data by monthly is [running] smoothly to the sa tisfaction of exchanges and also the regulator,” stated the ANMI letter addressed to SE BI chairman Ajay Tyagi. “This monthly uploading is sucient for monitoring purposes by the authorities
‘Instances of misuse’ The regulator is in favour of enhanced oversight of mar ket participants as it wants to minimise possible misuse of client funds by brokers as there have been instances in the past, where client money had allegedly been used by the stock broker for his own proprietary purposes. “... uploading of that data by the stock broker to the stock exchanges shall be on
ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel to jointly bid for Essar Steel
Demand for steel grows by 5.2%: ICRA
‘Joint operations in U.S. since 1987 to come in handy’
Press Trust of India
sPecial correspondent
Domestic steel demand has grown by 5.2% during the rst nine months of 2017 18, which is positive for the industry, rating agency ICRA has said. The rise in demand was aided by a buoyancy in the automobile sector and re covery in the construction and capital goods sectors, it said in a statement. ICRA expects domestic consumption growth to be favourable in the backdrop of the government’s thrust on infrastructure, particu larly in aordable housing and power transmission. “A combination of favoura ble factors like domestic demand rise in domestic and international markets and lower growth in im ports would help the sec tor in the days forward,” ICRA said.
‘20-year history’ Mr. Lakshmi Mittal, chair man and CEO, ArcelorMittal, said, “Partnering with NSSMC for Essar Steel was always our intention and adds further strength to our oer. Combining our expe rience and expertise creates a powerful partnership that has a proven track record — our rich history of... collabo ration dates back more than 20 years with three joint ventures in the U.S.” “We believe that together, we can contribute our know ledge and technology to sup port a rapid turnaround in Essar’s performance, ena bling it to increase produc tion, enhance its product capabilities and make a mea ningful contribution to the future growth of India’s ma nufacturing sector and the development of its econo my,” it added. CM YK
Joint exercise: With NSSMC, we can support a turnaround in Essar’s performance, says L.N. Mittalled ArcelorMittal. AFP *
“The JV between Arcelor Mittal and NSSMC is said to be a partnership of equals,” said another source in the know of the development. ArcelorMittal and NSSMC have operated I/N Tek and I/N Kote in Indiana, U.S., un der joint venture agree ments since 1987. I/N Tek and I/N Kote are highadded value downstream steel n ishing facilities which serve the automotive and domes tic appliance markets. In its resolution plan, AMIPL set out a detailed in dustrial and turnaround path aimed at ‘restoring Es sar Steel’s fortunes, enabling it to realise its full potential and participate in the antici pated steel demand growth in India’, the company said in the statement. NSSMC will proceed with ArcelorMittal to form the joint venture and acquire ESIL, subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities, NSSMC said in a statement. It added that India was one of the most promising steel markets in the world, with signicant growth po tential in the medium and longterm and where domes tically produced steel pro ducts command a superior position. ‘Expanding production’ NSSMC has been steadily ex panding local production in India and ‘targeting sectors
Steel buckles The trade nerves had domi nated Asian market moves. Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 2.5% to end the week down 3.3%, while MSCI’s broadest index of AsiaPacic shares excluding Japan dropped 0.9% to take its losses for the week to 2.1%. Steelmakers were hit the hardest there too with South
Korea’s Posco down 3.3% and Japan’s Nippon Steel o 3.8%. Toyota Motor shares skidded 2.4% too after the automaker had said the planned taris would sub stantially raise the produc tion costs and therefore pric es of cars and trucks sold in America. ‘How recessions start’ The anxiety over titfortat trade tari moves was under scored by Canada’s quick res ponse, with ocials in Otta wa saying they will retaliate. China and the EU both fol lowed, saying that they will safeguard their interests. In the currency market, the dollar’s retreat saw the euro jump back to $1.2273. “The world stands on the brink of a trade war,” said Robert Carnell, head of re search, AsiaPacic at ING. “Forget the yield curve — this is how recessions start.”
‘Eective regulation need of the hour in banking sector’ Scams becoming excuse to seek privatisation: Economists Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
What the banking sector needs right now is eective regulation and supervision and not increased privatisa tion, a group of prominent economists said on Friday. “The scale of the recent bank scams and the poten tial losses faced by banks holding nonperforming loans given to some large companies and individuals, has shocked all of us,” the economists said in a joint statement. “However, we are concerned to note that this has become an excuse to de mand the privatisation of publicly held banks.”
While it was true that the Punjab National Bank scam involved the second largest public sector bank, “the bas ic cause is very clearly the in adequate and faulty regula tion and monitoring of the banking sector,” they said. ‘Curious turn’ “This aects all banks, re gardless of ownership. But in a curious turn, fraud that was led by and beneted private players pursuing superprots at any cost is being made the reason for handing control of the na tion’s savings to the private sector,” they said. The statement said that
poorly regulated private banks were even more prone to scams and failure, and that private prot orien tation generated incentives for managements to exploit loopholes in rules and en gage in risky behaviour, as shown by the U.S. and Euro pean bank behaviour lead ing up to the nancial crisis of 200809. “It is worth noting that even a scam as large as the present one has not led to a widespread run on PNB and other banks,” the econo mists added. “This is be cause of the state guarantee that still generates trust in the public banking system.”
Kolkata
MUMBAI
Steel baron Lakshmi Niwas Mittalled ArcelorMittal and Japanese steel major Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Cor poration (NSSMC) have placed a joint bid for debtla den Essar Steel. In its resolution plan for Essar Steel, ArcelorMittal’s subsidiary ArcelorMittal In dia Private Limited (AMIPL) on February 12 outlined the intention to have NSSMC for mally join its bid for Essar Steel. “Should the submitted re solution plan be selected and formally accepted by In dia’s National Company Law Tribunal, ArcelorMittal and NSSMC would jointly ac quire and manage Essar Steel,” ArcelorMittal said in statement on Friday. “The ArcelorMittal bid is ahead of Numetal’s bid; Re want Ruia, son of Essar pro moter Ravi Ruia is a stake holder in [Numetal],” a source in the know of the de velopment told The Hindu.
weekly basis i.e. stock brok ers shall submit the data as on last trading day of every week on or before the next three trading days,” said a SEBI circular issued in Sep tember last year. “While it would certainly add to the compliance re quirements, which are alrea dy quite stringent, the move will make it dicult for brok ers to misuse client money,” said a domestic broker on conditions of anonymity as a nal decision on the matter is yet to be taken. “The arbitration and in vestor grievance redressal mechanism set by the ex changes regularly sees cases wherein clients say that the money lying in their account was allegedly misused by brokers,” he added.
‘Will see retaliation’ “It is a real worry because Europe is a open global eco nomy so it isn’t just about U.S. versus China,” said Ian Ormiston, a European equity fund manager at Old Mutual Global Investors about Trump’s moves. “And we will see retaliation there are no two ways about it.” Europe’s market moves compounded what was al ready a fragile mood ahead of a crunch few days of politics. Britain’s underre Prime Minister Theresa May will esh out her Brexit plans la ter, while Germany will nd out if it nally has a coalition government on Sunday with Italy also holding delicately poised elections that day. Combined with the sim mering trade war nerves it
was unsurprising then that safehaven demand was on the rise. German Bunds — Europe’s credit market benchmark — saw their yields fall to a veweek low of 0.618% as Italy’s BTP yields dropped to a two week low of 2.008%. “I am surprised how little risk the market is pricing from this,” said the Chief In vestment Ocer of Pictet Wealth Management Cesar Perez Ruiz, referring to the Italian elections.
advantageous to its techno logical superiority’ it said. Meanwhile, NSSMC has also been seeking opportun ities to engage in integrated steel production in India to capture the growing de mand for steel products, which is expected to in crease along with the deve lopment of domestic infras tructure, the statement added. ESIL, a major steel rm, has a fully integrated steel production system located on the west coast of India. It manufactures at steel pro ducts, plates and pipes, which are sold through its domestic sales channels, and owns an iron ore mine in the east of India. “Based on the success of the relationship between NSSMC and AM, as well as AM’s extensive track record of rebuilding many compa nies and substantial market knowledge of India, NSSMC believes that by bringing to gether the strengths of both companies, NSSMC and AM will be able to successfully turn around ESIL and trans form it into a competitive steel business,” NSSMC ad ded in its statement. Acquisition of Essar Steel is a part of NSSMC’s 2020 MidTerm Management Plan that lays out a roadmap to further enhance and deve lop its global business, the statement said.
ICRA raises auto parts sales outlook Press Trust of India Mumbai
Ratings agency ICRA has revised upward its revenue growth for the domestic auto component industry to an expected 1315% from the earlier estimate of 9 11% for the current scal on the back of an anticipated robust growth in demand for vehicles across segments. ICRA, in a release said it also expected industry wide credit trends to re main stable, supported by robust demand from the OEM segment in the near term, supported by healthy cash accruals, among other factors. The strong growth in topline is also expected to be aided by improved realisation due to increase in com modity prices, as per ICRA. A BM-BME
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12 BUSINESS
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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IN BRIEF
INTERVIEW | R. DINESH
‘We want to be a $1 bn rm in India by 2021’ Xiaomi opens Home Experience Centre
Global capabilities will boost growth, says TVS Logistics MD dustries Inc.) in the U.S. In India, we were into transpor tation and then, we forayed into freight forwarding through the investment in TVS Asianics in Singapore. So, now we have capability in almost every sphere of logistics. So, while it may look that we have grown with acquisi tions, it was not acquisition and just not running that bu siness. All our acquisitions have grown by 25%.
Lalatendu Mishra
CHENNAI
Xiaomi, a Chinabased electronics and software company, opened its rst Mi Home Experience Centre in India to give an opportunity to its potential customers to get rsthand experience of the ‘vast and diverse’ array of products. Users’ feedback would be incorporated into future oerings. The Chennai store would display products such as Mi kettle, Mi bike, Mi rice cooker, Mi weighing scale and Mi Ninebot, according to a statement.
Coal India Feb. output at 54.46 mt, misses target NEW DELHI
Coal India production edged up to 54.46 million tonnes (mt) in February 2018 compared with the same month last year but missed the target of 61.43 mt. Coal otake also improved by 4%to 49.97 mt in the month under review but lagged the targeted volume of 52.14 mt, according to a ling by Coal India (CIL). It produced 56.6 mt coal in January while the output was 54.3 mt in February 2017. Coal otake was 53.7 mt in January. PTI
Maker Village to hold hardware start-ups meet KOCHI
India’s largest hardware electronic incubator ‘Maker Village’ will organise a one day national conclave here on March 10, seeking to give a push to hardware startups by bringing together all key stakeholders. About 1,200 participants, including those from hardware startups, central and state government ocials, industries and technology rms across the country would attend the event. PTI
CM YK
In 1996, when R. Dinesh, MD and S. Ravichandran, deputy MD of TVS Logistics Services, started the compa ny, they had never imagined that the rm would grow in to an Indian multinational in a few years down the line. From clocking a revenue of 1 crore in 199697 to becom ing a 6,000crore entity, the journey had been long but smooth, thus far. In an interview, Mr. Dinesh spoke about the TVS Group’s foray into the logistics sector. What made you to foray into logistics? ■ It was not a group man date. Ravichandran had re turned from Tanzania after an overseas assignment. I knew him and he said logis tics was becoming integral for distribution and spare parts. Because I was into these, he wanted me to look at logistics as a division. He came up with the idea and I backed him. We wanted to give it a try. Initially we did not win any business but we also did not spend [a] lot of money. We did not get business from the group. We got our rst business from a U.K. company which is into ma nufacturing of earth moving equipment. In the rst year, we had a turnover of 1 crore, including 60 lakh from the U.K. customer. After that, we started growing slowly. Post 2008, it was very well planned and after 2011, we became se rious about the business.
How did you grow to become a company of this size?
we have < > Now, capability in almost every sphere of logistics ■ Actually, it is an evolution. From 1996 to 1999, we had three to four customers. We got a big breakthrough when one MNC car manufacturer wanted to outsource plan ning and integration of the supply chain. We had a choice to become an India player waiting to be squeezed by MNCs. But, we decided to be bold and go ahead to acquire companies overseas. So, in 2004 we formed a separate company and that was the time when we wanted money. In 2008, we got invest ment from Goldman Sachs. Post that, we did the rst overseas acquisition. Initial ly we bought the company (Rico Logistics) which we ran out of India but we al lowed the management team to grow the business and supported them. In U.K., we got the know how for after market. Then, we wanted the knowhow to handle production. So, we went ahead to acquire the company (Wainwright In
On expanding in Asia?
We see Singapore as the hub for Asia. We committed [an] investment plan of $100 million, most of which has been invested through TVS Asianics. Singapore gives us a natural advantage to ex pand in Asia and strengthen IndiaAsia trade.
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What is your vision for the company?
We are still an India com pany. PostGST, we are get ting our global capabilities to India to grow in India and now, post the Pan Asia Logis tics acquisition by TVS Asianics in Singapore, to grow in Asia as well. Ideally speaking, we want to be a billiondollar company in In dia by 2021 (from about $370 million now). That is the vi sion.
‘EV charging infrastructure oers 2 lakhcr. business opportunity’ Integration of electrical, electronics will enable fast charging, says Vijay Karia MUMBAI
The Indian electrical and electronics industry is ex pecting business worth more than 2 lakh crore from electric vehicle charg ing infrastructure in the next ve years as the automobile industry rms up plans for electrication of passenger cars and public transport, a top industry ocial said. “In the next decade, tech nology will change the face of the industry. There is vast scope of business [possible] from charging infrastructure alone. “We see huge opportuni ty, as, just the electric charg ing infrastructure will re quire a minimum investment of 2 lakh crore.
Any plans to go public?
You know what has hap pened with the initial listing by a few logistics companies which are much smaller in size than us. If you ask me, yes we are evaluating but we have not decided. (The writer was in Singapore recently at the invitation of TVS Logistics)
Plugging in: Induction charging, solar roadways will oer opportunities. says the Elecrama chairman. KAMAL NARANG *
We will be manufacturing and supplying these,” said Vijay Karia, chairman, Ele crama 2018, an exhibition scheduled for next month in Noida to showcase solutions
for etransportation and bat tery storage systems. “Ehighways, induction charging [and] solar road ways are going to oer addi tional opportunities. In the
‘Fast charging needed’ He said in the coming years, electric cars will need fast charging or replaceable bat teries for uninterrupted movement. “For fast charging, one will need more electronics and there will be integration of electrical and electronics to make it possible,” he said. To support the Centre’s ef forts to electrify vehicles to wards lowering emissions and bringing down cost of transportation, Elecrama 2018 will showcase solutions to complex energy problems by adopting a systemsbased approach, the chairman of Elecrama 2018 said.
‘Market hit by small tea growers’
Wider network, investment in brands paying o: Britannia
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Posts sales growth in States that earlier saw muted activity
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decade ahead, you will see a dierent country,” he added.
Special Correspondent
KOLKATA
Contribution of small growers to overall tea pro duction has been growing to touch almost 50% as per 2017 estimates, said the In dian Tea Association (ITA). The Board feels the trend does not augur well and could cause “disrup tion” in the market. In 2017, total production during JanuaryDecember period was 1,348.84 mil lion kg, while the estimat ed contribution of the small growers was 631.69 million kg. Tea Board Chairman P.K. Bezbaruah said unless demand in creased, this trend would destabilise entire industry and cause disruption.
and Gujarat, net sales value rose 20%29.8% in the third quarter of scal 2018. BIL had been trying to increase sales in these States for sometime.
Indrani Dutta KOLKATA
Britannia Industries Ltd. had succeeded in increasing penetration in four States where it had been trying to mark a wider footprint. The food products maker’s focus on a few basic strategies also helped it improve business performance. Increase in direct reach, growth in rural areas and higher penetration in these States had helped the rm post ‘good’ results. ‘Double-digit growth’ “Our doubledigit volume growth came on the back of investment in brands and widening our distribution
Varun Berry
network through focus on direct reach, rural and weak markets,” Varun Berry, MD, said in a statement. BIL is now planning 50 product in troductions by 2020, apart from 16 new ones this scal. In Rajasthan, M.P., U.P.
‘Basic execution’ Thirdquarter revenue rose 13% to 2,558 crore, while consolidated net prot climbed 29%. “Focus on basic execution is driving the company’s growth,” BIL said on an in vestor call, elaborating that its ve execution focus areas were increased distribution footprint, premiumisation, attaining cost leadership, leveraging xed costs and driving protable growth.
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THE HINDU
SHOWCASE 13
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Literary eorts: (From left) Persian Mirrors (ballpoint and handcut text collage on deacidied reclaimed book pages); Woman in Love (incense burns on handcut text collage on deacidied reclaimed book pages); and The Code of Love (acrylic on handcut text collage, on deacidied reclaimed book pages) COURTESY TARQ AND ASHISH CHANDRA *
Words are not futile devices Youdhisthir Maharjan’s debut solo show plays with the uidity of language to create whimsically repetitive artworks Zahra Amiruddin
In the lyrics of one of Sufjan Stevens’ songs written as an ode to a lover, is the phrase “…words are futile devic es.” Stevens’ words don’t quite apply to artist Youdhisthir Maharjan, as the existence of 26 letters has served as fodder for his solo show that explores the materiality of text. Titled An Unquiet Mind, his work is a collection of artworks made unconsciously, by us ing reclaimed text and meditatively obliterating alphabets and words through numerous techniques. Pages from books have taken a new shape on the gallery walls. These are sculptures of sorts with their own un ique personalities. By doodling on some, colouring with ink, cutting, pasting and burning the words in a se condhand book, the artist has sepa rated the original meaning of the text from its title, and created his own in terpretation. “Alphabets could be con verted into whimsical shapes that were universally accepted rising above the limitations of a language,” writes Amit Kumar Jain about Mahajan’s works in the catalogue essay.
It’s apparent what the artist is trying to convey right from the rst few artworks that you set your eyes upon. Like in ‘Let ters from Kathmandu’, the pattern created using the existing words, forms a sketch of a skyline. Or in ‘The Last Song’, the joining of the letter “O,” creates an illustration of musical notes. And while all of these drawings are sig nicant to their book title in one way or another, Maharajan insists he doesn’t know the visual outcome of a page when he begins his process. “After a vi sit to numerous thrift stores, and sifting through a number of books, I pick them according to their title. That inspires the pattern, design, illustration, and the aesthetics. Then some pages speak to me, and some don’t,” he explains. On repeat The repetitive patterns zigzagging from across letters, was something that the artist began experimenting with during his undergraduate degree in creative and experimental writing. Maharjan’s deep interest in literature took on a vi sual form after he was rst introduced to Samuel Beckett’s famous twoact play Waiting for Godot.
Unlike other pieces of writing that had a traditional beginning, middle, and end, Beckett’s play had both acts al most identical to one another. Making the narrative cyclical without any real conclusion. “You could have a 100 acts in the play, and they would all be exact ly the same!” exclaims the artist. His Buddhist and Hindu beliefs that encour aged the idea of reincarnation, made Maharajan realise that he wanted to work with “the act of futile repetition,” as Jain puts it. Past inspirations Even though the artist has now settled in the United States, his disciplined, and meditative artistic process is the result of years in military school in Nepal, and an unstable political environment. Hav ing grown up in Kathmandu, and strug gling with family discontent when they learnt Maharajan wanted to pursue art, has played an impact in his art. The fact that he’s a selftaught artist, with a de gree in art history, helped him under stand art, rather than merely making it. “I think it’s important to know why you’re making something, the true rea son behind it. That’s how I got interest
ed in the conceptual form of art mak ing,” Maharajan shares. What’s interesting to see is the way the artworks have a sense of connected ness even though the patterns may seem scattered. With glistening inden tations made with scribbles of ballpoint pens like in ‘Persian Mirrors’, or folds of paper to create the ebb and ow of wa ter in ‘Of Murmuring Streams’, Mahara jan uses the tactility of the page as much as he uses its space. The burning desire that comes with the passion of love, is displayed in his artwork ‘Wo man in love’, where a circle envelops the centre of the page, lled with burnt words. While the circle itself is symbolic of femininity, Maharajan is trying to re create the feeling of love, and not its de nition. “I’m looking past the pre scribed meaning of language, How I would experience love, not what I’m
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It’s hard though because even though you’re repeating the same simple algorithm, you’re bound to get a dierent pattern
Youdhisthir Maharjan’ Artist
POOCH CAFE
PEANUTS
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
CALVIN AND HOBBES
TIGER
told love is,” he says. Maharajan also plays with light and shadow to experiment with the way the viewer perceives the text. In one of his larger artworks, ‘We’ll Meet Again’, the placement of the pages, and the sha dows of the missing letters being pro jected on the wall, constantly come into view and disappear depending on where you’re standing. “I’m trying to encourage the viewer to shift their per spectives, and therefore shift the mean ing of the text,” explains Maharajan. He also delves into how the artwork is made using two parallel lines, with the intention of touching upon how parallel lines never meet. “We’ll meet again. They’re trying to meet, but it’s a futile attempt. The parallel lines are ghting to get to one another despite all obsta cles,” says the artist contemplatively. Collector of books Through his journey of furiously sca venging for the perfect book that can take the form of his muse, Maharajan has also had a few glimpses of serendip ity. Since he’s collected over 300 books, he often loses track of the one’s he has already picked up. To think that this
happened with a novel titled Look Again, of which he unknowingly col lected three copies, seems like a lucky coincidence. Maharajan decided to ar range the same pages of each of the three copies next to one another, and created a design that’s as identical to one another as possible. “It’s hard though because even though you’re re peating the same simple algorithm, you’re bound to get a dierent pattern,” he explains. Even though Maharajan has a library of books collected over the years, he hasn’t read even one of them. He be lieves that by reading the text, he will become preoccupied by the original message of the author, “and then the work tends to be what the author want ed it to be.” The artist treats the book as readymade material, where the author name, text, story, and information are all irrelevant. “This gives me a sense of freedom of what I want to do with the words,” Maharajan elucidates. He is also sure of working specically with English texts, as he’s trying to take something familiar to most audiences and turn it into something unfamiliar. “I want to create a new language that’s alien and eligible,” says the artist. “If I work in De vanagari or Arabic, it’s already foreign to me and the viewers.” Work in process The artist is most comfortable working out of his studio in Boston, but is not strictly bound to creating there. All he needs are a few books, his knives, pens, and a table with a lamp, to make a work station. The show in itself took 18 months to create, with the peeling worded artworks being the most time consuming, but also therapeutic. Maha rajan mostly worked at night with the accompaniment of soft music, and the occasional comedy show playing in the background. “Like it is with anything, the hardest part is to begin the work. But once you start, you don’t want to stop,” he says laughing. While the show is called An Unquiet Mind a lot of the works hold a medita tive quality. But the artist explains that they’re quite the opposite, “it’s what goes on in your mind in those moments of quietness. You realise how loud si lence can be.” The multiple circles that dot the eponymous artwork of the show, are representative of the feeling of eternity, of an inescapable journey, where the mind is in a constant state of ux between the external and internal voices. The constant repetition in his works tries to emulate that. When asked if it ever gets frustrating to recreate the same patterns multiple times Mahara jan says, “it never gets frustrating, but it can get tiring.” An Unquiet Mind, is ongoing at Tarq, Colaba until March 8
THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD 12698 2 Surface swimmer’s breathing aid (7) 3 Unctuous (4) 4 Quite (6) 5 In which koi carp may reside? (4,4) 6 Stocking material (5) 7 Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (3,6) 10 Jolly Roger (5,4) 12 Boss (8) 15 Wild horse of the West (7) 16 Cause to fall (from horse?) (6) 18 One who has served time (23) 20 0 (4) 23 See 21
WUMO
Solution will appear in The Hindu on Sunday, March 4 page 2 ■ Across
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
CM YK
1 Very deep male voice (5,8) 8 Minor attachment underneath a plant (7) 9,1down Counter for various cold vegetables and dressings (5,3) 10 Twowheeler (abbr) (4) 11 Small brown carnivore — dared nap (anag) (3,5) 13 On re (6) 14 Tooth covering (6)
17 Preparing to be knighted or to propose marriage? (8) 19 Pale (4) 21,23 Game where prizes are picked from a container (5,3) 22 Green — jewel (7) 24 Difference in attitudes between the young and old (10,3) ■ Down 1 See 9
Solution No. 12697
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14 SHOWCASE
THE HINDU
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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FILM REVIEWS
Scary until oversimplied The oppressive fear built at the start collapses when the lmmaker explains it all Namrata Joshi
Pari Prosit Roy’s Pari is the kind of horror that gags and chokes you with an inci pient dread. But only up to a point. The setting is s rainy, wet Kolkata; a beautiful inscrutable woman Rukhsa na (Anushka Sharma) is being hunted down by a group of cruel men; there are inexplicable unearthly presences; a strange, grotesque cult; its equally cryptic opponents; an evil force whose menace you can’t see but only hear in the rasping sound of his breath and a kind, young man Arnab (Param brata Chatterjee), possibly the only “normal” one around. Roy builds a relentless feel of doom, the lobs of fear broken only briey with tiny interludes of romance. There’s a terrible sense of oppressive ness that makes you want to run away to grab some fresh air, yet it's enough to intrigue you to want to stay on. Yes, there are many jump scares (can we ever escape them) but Roy does well in creating a suocating atmosphere, in vests some ordinary objects and crea tures with a signicant, pivotal eeri ness, be it incense sticks, a bucket of water, an articial eye, a tube of Boro line cream, a nailcutter, the cartoons on the TV or the dogs on the street. I am never going to look at them the same way again. A nailcutter sequence and one involving the pet neighbour
Prosit Roy Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chatterjee, Rajat Kapoor Storyline: A beautiful, inscrutable woman is being hunted down by a group of men. Who is she? What has she done wrong? Director: Cast:
Scare tactics: The lm should have left many things unsaid
hood dog almost left me with a myo cardial infarction. Sadly, Roy is not able to sustain it. Halfway through the lm, when he ex plains it all, the essential horror van
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ishes. What you are left holding on to thereafter are some gimmicky, super natural sequences and gory revenge and retribution scenes. There are fa miliar tropes from a clutch of horror
lms — Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Richard Donner’s The Omen, Gehrayee by ArunaVikas. But Roy takes them away from the usual Chris tian and Hindu backdrops and places them in some ctional Muslim occult. There’s plenty of interesting stu happening in the head of the lmmak er. For one there’s a compelling cha racter at the centre, a woman trying to grapple with the split within herself (and Anushka Sharma does well with the role); then there’s the obfuscation of the duality between the good and the bad — that there’s the possibility of humaneness in the devil and the hu mane may at times veer towards the devil. But Roy makes it all too literal complete with a righteous, virtuous take on pregnancy and abortion. In an eort to nd a neat closure (when he could have tried to make a Omen-like franchisee out of it), the director spins out a clumsy climax. Wish he had left a lot more unsaid and unresolved.
Growing pains Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut celebrates the misunderstood but universal motherdaughter dynamic Deborah Cornelious
Lady Bird is an unconventional com ingofage lm, one that doesn’t leave you with the fuzzy contentment. It’s nostalgic for something you mightn’t even have experienced. This writer doesn’t recognise Sacramento’s sub tle natural beauty, but Lady Bird uses the American town as a metaphor for any young adult’s growing pains. It’s one of Greta Gerwig’s many talents, which also includes her eln charm in portraying complicated women on screen. With her brilliant directorial debut, the Sacramentoborn 34year old pays tribute to her family and ho metown with painstaking detail, at tention and compassion. Gerwig’s heroine is a teenage ver sion of herself yearning for culture and a chance to study at a New York school. Is ‘Lady Bird’ Christine McPherson’s (Saoirse Ronan) given name? Yes, it is. She gave it to herself, we’re boldly told during a high school theatre audition. She’s the only one who’s wearing red lipstick and a dress, all her peers have stayed in their Catholic school uniforms. While chronicling Lady Bird’s coming of age, the lm simultaneously dissects the intimate yet complicated relation ship between a mother and daughter, both equally headstrong. Lady Bird’s mother Marion (Laurie Metcalfe) can passive aggressively taunt her daughter for dragging her feet, chide her for using one too many towels after a shower and even tell her she’s only good enough for com munity college. But her unwavering love is indisputable despite her hard
CM YK
Mother knows best: Lady Bird is Greta Gerwig’s touching tribute to Sacramento
Lady Bird Greta Gerwig Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Stephen McKinley Henderson Storyline: Lady Bird’s last year at home before college is fraught with teenage problems and a complicated relationship with her mother Director: Cast:
spirit. Metcalfe narrows her lips into an angry slit, and quivers the same mouth in anguish to depict how com plicated and fragile life is. Marion has had it hard but only wants the best she can provide for her daughter.
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She’ll stay up altering a dress so Lady Bird can shine at Thanksgiving with her boyfriend. In turn, Lady Bird will yell at never wanting to speak to Ma rion but also defend her parenting to outsiders who say anything other wise. As the lm’s protagonist is 23 yearold Ronan who makes her di cult and precocious character lova ble. She’ll shamelessly dump her real friends for a cooler crowd, ercely and unapologetically chase her de sires, but also tearfully apologise when she’s wrong. How could you not love these two? Both are simply trying their hardest at life. All of Gerwig’s characters have been kindly etched out. Take for ex ample, Father Leviatch (Stephen McKinley Henderson). His limited
screen time as Lady Bird’s drama teacher, is enough to pack in the grav ity and suering of being a man of the cloth whose faith falters for myste rious reasons. Lady Bird then seems to have no supporting cast, simply real people living real lives in front of an audience of voyeurs. It helps that Gerwig perfectly recreates the early noughties with bellbottomed pants and loose sweaters. The lm’s almost sepiatoned cinematography and af fecting soundtrack, including the strategically placed anthem ‘Crash in to me’ by Dave Mathews Band only heighten its wistful atmosphere. Lady Bird is funny and poignant for all the right reasons. It’s a simple story without cinematic ourish but plenty of heart.
Music and lyrics: Dr Pournima Dhumale (above) and Pratima Tilak.
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In sync with taleem and tradition Three women Hindustani vocalists make a strong statement on tradition and gender Priya Purushothaman
The path to a performance career in Hindustani music has not always been smoothly paved for women. Facing ob stacles in an originally patrilineal ghara na system, including widespread disap proval of women performers in the public gaze, the strides made by the wo men who went against the grain esta blished signicant precedent for those who came after. This Sunday, Legacy a daylong festival organised by First Edi tion Arts will feature three female Hin dustani vocalists hailing from three dif ferent bastions of the tradition: Apoorva Gokhale of the Gwalior gharana, Dr Pournima Dhumale of the Agra gharana, and Pratima Tilak of the Jaipur gharana. This lineup is noteworthy in its selec tion of uncompromising artists who seek to create thoughtful, honest, and moving music without smokescreens of show or fanfare. Tilak comes from a lineage of es teemed female gurus, Kamal Tambe and Kausalya Manjeshwar, who are disciples of JaipurAtrauli maestro Mogubai Kurdi kar. While Tambe pursued music in the professional arena, Manjeshwar did not have the same choice. “She never pur sued music as a profession, because it was not seen as a very respectable pro fession in those times. Though she was very learned and sang in public, it was never professionally,” Tilak recounts. As a member of the next generation, Tilak received the full support of her family and gurus when she decided on pursu ing a career as a musician. The personal signicance of a wo menonly festival is not lost on Tilak. “All the generations before us fought so much and stood up against so many odds. It’s only because of this that our generation and the next generation are getting such platforms and opportuni ties, and a better understanding from society.” Dhumale’s Agra gharana li neage relates a dierent narrative for women in a gayaki that has been per ceived as male dominated. Dhumale ex plained, “There are just a few female vo calists in this gharana. This context becomes more important for me, to pre sent the Agra gharana on women’s day. At the same time, I would like to try my best to wipe out a misconception about the Agra gharana. Though it is male dominated, the gayaki (musical style) is not masculine. When I’m presenting a gayaki, I’m just an artist, not a male or female. The temperament of the gayaki depends on the temperament of the raag being presented.” Dhumale rst trained under her mother and re
nowned musicologist, Dr Sulabha Tha kar, followed by a 20year tutelage un der the late Agra gharana veteran Babanrao Haldankar. She expressed her concern for the de creased representation of the gharana in the current musical circuit. “The Agra gharana is a little bit left behind nowa days, as compared to Jaipur, Kirana or Patiala,” she explained. “Agra gharana singers of today’s generation should in trospect...we should look at the reasons why we were left behind and move ahead without compromising our gayaki, such as the nom tom alaap, which is a such an exclusive feature of the Agra gayaki. We should polish these precious facets and try our best to bring back the glory of the Agra gharana, whether as a male or female.” As a torchbearer of her gharana, Apoorva Gokhale takes pride in preserv ing the content of her legacy with auth enticity. She has received training from her grandfather, Gwalior master and prolic Guru and composer, Gajananbu wa Joshi, followed by tutelage under her uncle Madhukar Joshi. “I feel that peo ple are not coming to listen to me. They are coming to hear those who have pre ceded me in my lineage, my tradition, the taleem I have received, and many have heard my gurus as well. I want my guru’s presence highlighted in my per formance,” Gokhale said. And while Gokhale acknowledges that the number of women in the eld are comparatively less, she feels that quality of music trumps gender as a point of discrimina tion. “If you have something to give and it is pure, people will appreciate it. Peo ple will listen to you whether you are a woman or a man,” she shared. “Ultimately, the content should win over the marketing. Though this takes time, it will, and I’m sure of that. Organ izers and connoisseurs should be wise enough to respect content above other qualities,” Tilak said. Legacy, will take place at the G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture on Sunday, March 4 from 10 a.m.; more details at bookmyshow.com
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THE HINDU
SPORT 15
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Navjot Kaur wins 65kg Asian gold
Starc, Lyon put Australia in control de Villiers plays a lone hand for the hosts after Mitchell Marsh comes good again AUSTRALIA IN SA
to the attack in the eighth over.
Agence France-Presse DURBAN
Navjot Kaur... golden deeds. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
Sports Bureau BISHKEK
Navjot Kaur became the rst Indian woman to claim a gold medal in the Asian wrestling championships when she defeated Imai Mi yu of Japan in the nal to win the 65kg title in the Kyrgyzstan capital on Friday. In a competition involv ing only six competitors, Navjot, who had bagged Asian bronze (2011) and sil ver (2013) medals and a Commonwealth Games bronze medal (2014), lost to Imai 44 and won against Uzbekistan’s Baltaniyazova Bakhtigul 100 in her group to make it to the seminal. The 28yearold beat Mongolian Enkhbayar Tse vegmed 21 in the last four and got the better of Mai 91 in the nal to corner the yellow metal. Bronze for Sakshi Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik had to settle for a bronze medal after losing 66 to eventual silver medallist Xiaojuan Luo of China in a 62kg rst round bout. In the repechage rounds, Sakshi defeated Jiae Choi of Korea 110 and Ayaulym Kassymova of Ka zakhstan 107 to bag the bronze.
The spin of Nathan Lyon and the reverse swing of Mitchell Starc sent South Africa crash ing on the second day of the rst Test against Australia at Kingsmead on Friday. South Africa was bowled out for 162 shortly before the close, giving Australia a lead of 189 runs in the rst innings. Lyon started the slide for the hosts and nished with three for 50 before the tall leftarmer Starc gave a mag nicent display of fast, re verse swing bowling to take ve for 34. A.B. de Villiers played a lone hand for South Africa, making 71 not out. Maharaj takes ve Mitchell Marsh struck 96 for Australia. Largely through his eorts, as well as an ag gressive innings of 35 by Starc, Australia’s last three wickets added 100 runs to take it to a total of 351. On a pitch which has proved even slower than predicted by both the cap tains, leftarm spinner Kesh av Maharaj took ve for 123 for South Africa. Spin continued to be eec tive when South Africa bat ted. Ospinner Lyon was brought on in the eighth over and took two wickets in his rst over. Starc used reverse swing bowled from around the wicket to make the ball move disconcertingly away from the righthanded batsmen before blasting out the last two batsmen, both lefthan ders, with full deliveries bowled from over the wicket. Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram put on 27 for South Africa’s rst wicket and were looking reasonably comfor table until Australian captain Steve Smith brought Lyon in
Two in one over He had almost immediate success, catching Elgar o his own bowling with his se cond delivery. Three balls la ter he had Hashim Amla caught o bat and pad at short leg. Markram (32) fended a short ball from Pat Cummins to give Cameron Bancroft a second catch at short leg to leave South Africa reeling at 55 for three at tea. de Villiers and captain Faf du Plessis batted condently after tea, scoring freely o Lyon so that the spinner was taken o after a spell of two for 36 in ten overs. He was replaced by the Starc, who struck twice with reverse swing, having both Du Plessis and Theunis de Bruyn caught behind o balls which moved away from them. Nipping a stand Brought back into the attack, Lyon ended a promising sixthwicket stand of 42 bet ween de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, bowling the latter for 20. Almost from the start of his innings, de Villiers looked in a dierent class to his teammates, timing the ball superbly despite the slow pitch. He reached his f ty o 81 balls with nine fours. Mitchell Marsh, who had made centuries in two of his previous Tests, both against England, looked set for another until he drove Ver non Philander to midon, where Morne Morkel, South Africa’s tallest elder, leapt to take the catch. Marsh batted cautiously to be on 60 not out o 147 balls at lunch before adding another 36 o 26 balls after the interval. He hit 13 fours and a six.
Mithun jumps eleven places
Aizawl signs o on a high
Catches up with overnight leader Thangaraja along with Vikrant
Zikahi Dodoz scored twice as Aizawl FC rallied to beat Gokulam Kerala FC 31 and end its ILeague campaign on a winning note on Friday. Last season, Aizawl won the ILeague in one of In dian football’s most incred ible stories but this time its campaign lacked spark. A string of poor shows led to the sacking of Portuguese coach Paulo Menezes mid way in the season, before Santosh Kashyap took charge.
*
CHENNAI OPEN K. Keerthivasan CHENNAI
Mithun Perera and Vikrant Chopra caught up with over night leader N. Thangaraja on the leaderboard of the Chennai Open golf cham pionship, at the Madras Gymkhana Club annexe. The three are tied at 9un der 131. Defending champion Mu kesh Kumar is in fourth place with a twoday total of 8under 132. Shamim Khan dropped to tied fth from second with a score of 69 and an overall tally of 7un der (133). While Vikrant jumped two places, Mithun took a huge leap of 11. At tied 12th place at the end of round one — seven shots behind the leader — Mithun worked his way to the top with some ne putting. The Sri Lankan has taken his inability to bag any title in the last four years in his stride. The 31yearold was on raging form, ring bir dies in the rst and second hole, which gave him the CM YK
condence to march ahead. After making the turn at threeunder, Mithun did a twounder on the backnine, with the day’s score of 63. The Colombobased profes sional produced his best shot of the day on the 10th hole when his approach from 140 yards landed in ches from the pin. His bir dies on the 11th and 14th were a result of two 15feet conversions. Thangaraja had a quiet day after posting a 70, with ve bogeys to boot. “It [nice] to see two Sri Lankans on the leader board. My putting was good even though I think game wise I played better yester day (Thursday),” said Mithun. The scores (day two, Indians unless stated): 131: N. Thanga raja (SL) (61, 70); Mithun Pere ra (SL) (68, 63); Vikrant Chopra (66, 65); 132: Mukesh Kumar (66, 66); 133: Shamim Khan 133 (64, 69), Sujjan Singh (67, 66); 134: Divyanshu Bajaj 134 (69, 65), Feroz Singh Garewal (68, 66); 135: Md. Zamal Hos sain Mollah (68, 67), Badal Hossain (67, 68).
A coaching role in the IPL or a media stint may be the reason Amol Karhadkar MUMBAI
Destroyer: Mitchell Starc, celebrating the exit of Faf du Plessis, used the reverse swing to devastating eect to skittle out South Africa on Friday. LEE WARREN/GETTY IMAGES *
SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA VS AUSTRALIA, 1ST TEST
Australia — 1st innings: C. Ban croft c de Kock b Philander 5, D. Warner c de Villiers b Philander 51, U. Khawaja c de Kock b Ra bada 14, S. Smith c de Villiers b Maharaj 56, S. Marsh c de Villi ers b Maharaj 40, M. Marsh c Morkel b Philander 96, T. Paine c de Kock b Rabada 25, P. Cum mins b Maharaj 3, M. Starc b Maharaj 35, N. Lyon c de Bruyn b Maharaj 12, J. Hazlewood (not out) 2; Extras (b4, lb8): 12; Total (in 110.4 overs): 351.
Fall of wickets: 115, 239, 395, 4151, 5177, 6237, 7251, 8 300, 9341. South Africa bowling: Morkel 223750, Philander 2712 593, Maharaj 33.451235, Ra bada 257742, Markram 10 20, de Bruyn 2060. South Africa — 1st innings: D. Elgar c & b Lyon 7, A. Markram c Bancroft b Cummins 32, H. Amla c Bancroft b Lyon 0, A. de Villiers (not out) 71, F. du Plessis c Paine b Starc 15, T. de Bruyn c
Paine b Starc 6, Q. de Kock b Lyon 20, V. Philander c Paine b Starc 8, K. Maharaj b Hazle wood 0, K. Rabada lbw b Starc 3, M. Morkel b Starc 0; Total (in 51.4 overs): 162. Fall of wickets: 127, 227, 355, 492, 5108, 6150, 7158, 8 159, 9162. Australia bowling: Starc 10.43 345, Hazlewood 135311, Lyon 163503, Cummins 122471.
Barely a month after the In dia Under19 side emerged as the World champion, chief junior national selec tor Venkatesh Prasad has re signed from his post. The former India mediumpacer emailed his resignation to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) o cials and executives on Friday. “Yes, I have stepped down from the post but would not like to elaborate on the reasons,” Prasad told The Hindu from Bengaluru. “It’s been an enriching and satisfying journey. I would like to thank all the stake holders I have worked with during my stint.” Surprisingly, Prasad did not sound anyone o during Thursday’s meeting along with fellow selectors Gya nendra Pandey and Rakesh Parikh at the BCCI head quarters here to shortlist the Under16 and Under19 players for the national camp. With the junior national team unlikely to be involved in an assignment in the com ing six months, Prasad’s re signation will give the BCCI enough time to nd a suita ble replacement. Prasad has been at the helm of the BCCI’s junior se lection panel since October 2015. Despite heading the junior selection committee, Prasad, the former India bowling coach, has tried to get into other positions in the Indian cricket setup, in cluding India’s bowling coach, senior selector and most recently General Man
Venkatesh Prasad. *
FILE PHOTO: R. ASHOK
ager — Cricket Operations. However, The Hindu un derstands that the decision to step down abruptly may have nothing to do with be ing overlooked for the GM’s post despite being a favou rite to be appointed before Saba Karim, the former wicketkeeper, entered the fray. In fact, Prasad may have stepped down with an eye on a role in the Indian Pre mier League (IPL). Having served as the Royal Challen gers Bangalore bowling coach and a media expert earlier, Prasad may be in talks for a coaching or a commentators’ role. Since the BCCI’s conict of inter est regulations no longer al low anyone associated with the BCCI setup to take up such roles, it may have prompted Prasad to resign. “He has been raising a re quest to reserve half the coaching strength in the IPL for Indian coaches, a rule that cannot be made by the BCCI since we don’t have a role to play in franchises’ coaching sta appoint ment,” said a BCCI ocial, preferring anonymity.
Chennai City FC delights the locals Soosai leads from the front to hand Minerva a 21 defeat
Press Trust of India AIZAWL
The result: Aizawl FC 3 (Zika hi Dodoz 59, 74; Lalkhaw puiamawia 78) bt Gokulam Kerala 1 (Mahmood Al Ajmi 25pen).
Huge leap: Mithun Perera, who was tied 12th at the end of round one, worked his way to the top with some ne putting. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Prasad resigns as chief junior selector
I-LEAGUE P.K. Ajith Kumar COIMBATORE
You lose your last match 71, you are staring at relegation and you are facing the table topper in what is your nal game. What do you do in such a situation? If you are Chennai City FC, you play some delightful football and score one of the biggest shocks of the I League. With its splendid 21 victo ry over Minerva Punjab, the host ensured that it gave its loyal fans —more than 7,000 of them were there on a plea sant Friday night at the Neh ru Stadium — plenty to cheer about and remember before
City embarrasses Arsenal again Las Palmas holds leader Barcelona EURO LEAGUES Reuters & AFP LONDON
Manchester City tore Arse nal apart for the second time in ve days on Thurs day, beating it 30 on a freez ing night at The Emirates to restore its 16point lead as it closes in on the Premier League title. Arsenal hoped for re demption after City thrashed it by the same sco reline in the League Cup nal on Sunday but rsthalf goals by Bernardo Silva, Da vid Silva and Leroy Sane handed it a second home league loss this season. Delightful On a snowy night at The Emirates, City’s Portuguese forward Bernardo Silva opened the scoring in the 14th minute, collecting a pass after a long weaving run from Leroy Sane and de lightfully curling his shot in to the far corner past goal keeper Petr Cech.
City sliced open Arsenal’s defence again just before the halfhour, moving the ball swiftly upeld to Ague ro who laid it into the path of David Silva racing up on the left, and the Spaniard drove a low shot into the corner to double the lead. Bamboozled Sane made it 30 ve mi nutes later, walking the ball into the goal after another quickre City move had bamboozled Arsenal’s ram shackle defence which was left chasing shadows. Meanwhile in Spain, Bar celona was held to a 11 draw at relegationghting Las Palmas on Thursday in an unexpected setback. The results: Premier League: Arsenal 0 lost to Manchester City 3 (Bernardo Silva 15, David Silva 28, Sane 33). La Liga: Real Betis 0 drew with Real Sociedad 0; Las Palmas 1 (Calleri 48pen) drew with Barcelona 1 (Messi 21); Alaves 1 (Laguardia Cisneros 90) bt Le vante 0.
it signed o. It was a remarkable come back by the Chennai men af ter their crushing defeat to East Bengal at Kolkata just a few days ago. They looked keen to attack right from the beginning and their talented captain Soosai Raj didn’t waste any time before nd ing his touch. He put his team ahead in the fth minute, o a splen did cross from the right by Edwin Vanspaul; his header was pushed away by goal keeper Kiran Kumar Limbu but he slotted the ball home o the rebound. Punjab equalised in the 26th minute through Chen cho Gyeltshen, who drove the ball rmly into the roof
Home hero: Star performer Michael Soosai Raj lets go a erce shot in the match against Minerva. M. PERIASWAMY *
of the net after receiving an excellent long ball from Sou vik Das to score his seventh goal of the season. Chennai
City didn’t allow itself to be rattled too much, and conti nued to attack. Fifteen minutes into the
second half, it went ahead again. The scorer was Rakic, the Serbian forward who had a great game. He nished o a swift move orchestrated from deep inside Chennai’s own half by Pradeep Mohan raj and Soosai, who would la ter be named manofthe match. Minerva tried desperately to salvage a point, with even its custodian playing as a striker towards the close. But the equaliser never came. Minerva still tops the table with 32 points, one more than Neroca, while Chennai is eighth with 19. The result: Chennai City FC 2 (Soosai Raj 5, Aleksander Rakic 60) bt Minerva Punjab 1 (Chen cho Gyeltshen 26).
Modric charged with giving false testimony
India faces Argentine in opener
Agence France-Presse
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Zagreb
Real Madrid’s Luka Modric was charged on Friday with giving false testimony at the corruption trial of Di namo Zagreb’s powerful former chief Zdravko Mam ic, prosecutors said. He was charged with “committing the criminal oence of giving false testi mony” last June during a trial against Mamic.
It’s India vs Pakistan PRESS TRUST OF INDIA DOHA
India will face Pakistan in the summit clash of the IBSF World Cup team snooker event after Pankaj Advani and Manan Chan dra led the team to a 32 win over Iran here on Friday. Pakistan defeated Hong Kong 32 in the other semi nal.
Coach Marijne condent the team will deliver the goods AZLAN SHAH CUP IPOH
India will look to begin its campaign on a positive note when it takes on World No. 2 Argentina in the opening game of the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tour nament here on Saturday. The Sardar Singhled team put up a ght against World No. 1 Australia before going down 12 in a warmup game on Thursday. Though the team lost des pite vicecaptain Raman deep Singh scoring India’s lone goal, chief coach Sjoerd Marijne was optimistic. “We played three quar ters against Australia to ad just to the humidity. I was happy with a lot of things. For the rst match together with this new combination, we put up a good perfor mance and we will use this to prepare for the opening game against Argentina.” “While a winning start is what we look for, it’s impor tant for the team to execute the structure we want to
Rehearsal: Sardar Singh’s men will be hoping to take a sele with the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. K. MURALI KUMAR *
B
Under skipper Sardar, India has never returned home without a medal in Azlan Shah (2008 silver, 2015 bronze, 2016 silver)
play in. There is no room for error when you play a team like Argentina and we can not let their Olympic cham pions’ tag intimidate us. I am hopeful we will stitch togeth er a good performance,” said the 31yearold skipper.
“The practice match against Australia has given the rsttimers an insight in to what they can expect and I am sure they will take that condence into the opening game as well.” India’s second match, on Sunday, will be against En gland which has retained 10 players from the squad that won the title last year. But for now, Sardar and his team’s focus is on Satur day’s game against the Argentines. A BM-BME
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16 SPORT
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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TV PICKS Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD), 1.30 p.m.
South Africa v Australia: 1st Test, Sony Six (SD & HD), 1.30 p.m. ILeague: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD), 2 p.m. World Indoor athletics: SS Select 2 (SD & HD) 3.30 p.m. ISL: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD), 8 p.m.
IN BRIEF
Saurabh Tiwary excels in Reliance 1’s triumph
Hooda hopes to make debut in tri-series
The skipper hits an unbeaten century as his team defends title against BPCL
Press Trust of India
Special Correspondent MUMBAI
Shubhankar sizzles to lie tied second MEXICO CITY
Rising Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma savoured a dream debut at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship as he fired a sizzling six-under 65, that included included an eagle and four birdies, to grab the tied second place after the opening round here on Thursday. The 21-year-old is now one shot behind Louis Oosthuizen. PTI
Reliance 1, led by skipper Saurabh Tiwary’s unbeaten 112 (63b, 5x4, 8x6), beat Bha rat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) by 25 runs to defend its title at the 14th D.Y. Patil T20 Cup at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Thursday night. Tiwary was named ‘manof thenal’ and ‘manofthetournament’. Tiwary played a big part in Reliance 1 scoring 185 for six in its allotted 20 overs. Well-paced partnerships Taking charge after Rishabh Pant fell early, the captain paced himself well in two partnerships, with Akshdeep Nath (23) and Nikhil Naik (19) respectively. Rishi Arothe’s was BPCL’s best bowler with two for 34. Abhishek Nayar (43) and Shreyas Iyer (35) tried to in fuse momentum in the chase but the others were not able to shake o shackles though a late charge by Shivam Du bey (40 n.o.) took BPCL clos er to the target. India under19 World Cup pers Kamlesh Nagarkoti (four
Sharmila, Gaurika and Amandeep make the cut COFFS HARBOUR (AUSTRALIA)
Sharmila Nicollet led Gaurika Bishnoi and Amandeep Drall into the weekend rounds of the women’s NSW Open golf here on Friday, while Vani Kapoor missed out. Sharmila (71) was two-over through 36 holes to be Tied-37th, while Gaurika’s 70 brought her right on the cut line at three-over. Amandeep shot 74. Both Gaurika and Amandeep squeezed inside the cutline. Australian amateur Jihye Park and Justine Dreher of France moved into a share of the halfway with six-under-par. PTI
Striker Ranjeet Pandre struck twice in the second half to steer Union Bank of India to a facile 20 win over Mumbai Strikers in an MDFA League Elite Division match at the Cooperage ground.
Geostanne hold nerve Geostanne SC, Bandra, played with determination to win 54 against UK United, Malad, in a men’s open prequarternal of the 25th Bandra Gymkhana open rink football tournament at the DeMonte Park Recreational Ground, Bandra. The results: Men: Open (pre quarternals): Geostanne SC 5 (Nikhil Singh 2, Ajay Manggla, Vicky Manggla, Hemant Rawat) bt UK United 4(Harold Fernandes, Dustin Fernandes, Riddick D., Shanon Pereira) via TB (full-time 1-1); St. Jude 1 (Neil Fernandes) bt Mean
NIDAHAS TROPHY
Mumbai
youngsters like Hooda being given a chance in the trise ries, which kicks o from March 6 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, have brightened. “This is an important se ries. I did not get a chance (to play) in the rst series (in which I was selected), I hope that I will now get a chance and I am prepared for it. I will give my 110 per cent,” Hooda told PTI on Friday. Hooda, a righthanded batsman and rightarm o break bowler, has so far played 31 First Class games for Baroda in which he has amassed 2208 runs. He has also taken seven wickets.
Reign continues: The Reliance 1 squad that retained the D.Y. Patil T20 Cup on Thursday. *
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
for 28) and Anukul Roy (three for 29) stood out for Reliance 1. Earlier in the seminals, BPCL got past CAG in a high scoring match, while Re liance 1 beat DY Patil SportsB. The scores: Final: Reliance 1 185 for six in 20 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 112 n.o., Rishi Arothe two for 34) bt BPCL 160 for
nine in 20 overs (Abhishek Nayar 43, Shivam Dubey 40 n.o., Shreyas Iyer 35; Kamlesh Nagarkoti four for 28, Anukul Roy three for 29). Seminals: BPCL 211 for six in 20 overs (Abhishek Nayar 67, Rahul Tripathi 56, Mandeep Singh 47; Sayan Ghosh two for 52) bt CAG 194 for three in 20 overs (Ankit Kaushik 74 n.o., Ankit Lamba 53, Prashant Chopra 23, Ankit Sharma 23).
Machine 0; Joga Bonita 1 (Dan Dias) bt Juhu SC 0; Hot Steppers 5 (Nitin Gokhale, Yash Panchal, Roney Tellis, Jay Shah, Ankush Mirekar) bt Mighty Young Joe 4 (Jackson Koli 2, Steven Koli, Manish Koli). Women (seminals): Leaders FC 1 (Lian Mathews) bt FC Mumbaikar 0.
Veterans (quarternals): Chinai Veterans 6 (Vijay Anand 3, Kingsley Rebello 2, Rakesh Yadav) bt Central Railway Mumbai Division 3 (Kasif Jamal, Hamid Ansari, Tausif Jamal); Ronnie-7 SC 2 (Glen Moraes 2) bt Golden Gunners 0.
MAA office-bearers Olympian Adille Sumariwalla (Athletics Federation of India president) and athletics technical ocial Satish Uchil (AFI Technical Committee member) were reelected the president and general secretary respectively of the Maharashtra Athletics
D.Y. Patil Sports-B 136 for six in 20 overs (Hardik Tamore 70 n.o.; Mohsin Khan four for 14) lost to Reliance 1 140 for ve in 15.3 overs (Nikhil Naik 36 n.o., Akshdeep Nath 31, Raunaq Sharma two for 34). Individual awards: Maximum sixes: Saurabh Tiwary (19). Best elder: Kamlesh Nagarkoti. Best bowler: Sayan Ghosh (12 wickets). Best batsman: Saurabh Tiwary (295 runs).
Optimistic: Deepak Hooda says he is prepared and will give it his all if he gets to play. FILE PHOTO: VIJAY SONEJI *
Ashley Westwood. *
FILE PHOTO: K. MURALI KUMAR
Special Correspondent KOLKATA
ATK interim head coach Ashley Westwood has de cided to step down from his post before the team’s last league match against NEUFC scheduled on Sunday. Westwood had replaced Manchester United legend Teddy Sheringham, who had quit in the last week of January. ATK did not win a single match under Westwood. Since ATK has not named a new coach, Bas tab Roy, who was the assis tant coach, in all likelihood will take care of the team in its nal appearance of the season.
‘Pleased that I could prove many wrong’
\ MUMBAI ROUND-UP \ Ranjeet on target
His chances are bright this time With some key players, in cluding captain Virat Kohli, given a break, young Baroda allrounder Deepak Hooda is optimistic of making his International debut in the upcoming T20 trination se ries in Sri Lanka. Hooda was rst picked in the Indian squad for the threematch bilateral T20 series versus Sri Lanka held last December at home, but did not get a game. The 22yearold Rohtak born player has been cho sen again in the T20 squad, to be led by Rohit Sharma, and this time he hopes to get a game. With senior pros like Koh li and M.S. Dhoni rested for the series, chances of
D.Y. PATIL T20 CUP
Ashley Westwood steps down
Association (MAA). According to a MAA media release, the Special General Meeting of the state body was held recently at Mahtre College, Raigad. Office bearers: Adille Sumariwalla (president), Abhay Chajad (chairman), Narayan Khadke, Balaram Patil, Shrikant Joshi, Dilip Jaiswal, Gopal Singh Rathod, Sanjay Badole, Ranjit Singh Rana, Dr A Rizvi (vicepresidents), Satish Uchil (general secretary), Dinesh Bhalerao (sr joint secretary), Sanjay Patil, Rajeev Joshi, Madhavrao Shejuwal, Pralobh Kulkarni, Hemant Pandey, Atul Patil, Lalit Jiwani (joint secretaries), Raju Pyati (treasurer), Suresh Faarkte, Ashok Aher, Ramesh Gangawane, Vikram Sankhaye, Rajesh Jadhav, Anil Bonde, Sharad Suryavanshi, Sanjay Wategaonkar (executive members).
Age is no bar for us anymore, says gymnast Aruna Reddy v.v. subrahmanyam Hyderabad
Aruna Reddy — the World Cup gymnastics bronze me dallist — is pleased with her medalwinning eort though she is aware that she has to evolve constantly with each training session to be a better gymnast. “I am pleased that I could prove many wrong by win ning a medal on the big stage at the age of 22. I think age is no bar for us any more,” said Aruna in a chat with The Hindu after her return home here on Friday. “There is always a general perception that Indian gym nasts struggle on the interna tional stage for they tend to translate their potential late after crossing 20,” said Aruna.
Proud moment: World Cup Gymnastics bronze medallist Aruna Budda Reddy comes home to a rousing reception. *
NAGARA GOPAL
“But if you have the focus, worldclass training facilities, the desired support system and determination you can still compete with the best in the world,” she added. “I think the success story of Di pa [Karmakar] is a huge in
spiration for many like me.” Aruna also stressed on the need for better facilities in the country saying it was a demanding task for Indian gymnasts. “Winning my rst interna tional medal and it being a
World Cup bronze is all the more special. I am now tar geting medals in the Com monwealth Games and the World championship later this year. It is not going to be easy. “It helped a lot to be in the Indian camp under the fo reign coach in Uzbekistan. But this is possible only when you get the basics right from your rst coaches. In my case it was the late Giri raj, then Ravinder and now Brij Kishore who worked really hard to netune my skills,” she said. “It is sad that Brij sir is in hospital now,” she said. “I am glad that achievers in gymnastics from India are also getting their due in terms of recognition,” added Aruna.
A solo Indian team for Asia Road Racing
Lalith Babu gets the better of Magnus Carlsen
CHENNAI
Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Pvt. Ltd. on Thursday announced that for the first time an Indian team will be participating solo in the 23rd season of the Asia Road Racing championship with riders Rajiv Sethu and Anish D. Shetty on board. The Idemitsu Honda Racing India team by T Pro Ten10 will see the two promising Indian riders battle it out with 23 other Asian riders in the Asia Production 250cc class.
J. R. Shridharan VIJAYAWADA
Lalith Babu...scripting a memorable win FILE PHOTO *
GM M. Lalith Babu is on cloud nine after his victory over World champion Mag nus Carlsen in an ongoing online PRO ChessLeague, organised by www.chess .com, on Wednesday. Lalith defeated the Nor wegian in 80 moves after a 45minute tussle.
“I was representing Delhi Dynamite (DD) while Carl sen played for Norway Gnomes. We defeated the Norway outt 11.54.5 in a lopsided encounter to quali fy for the playos. “Indian GMs P. Harikrish na, Sahaj Grover, Abhijit Gupta and UAE GM Salem Saleh were the other mem bers of my team,” said Lalith
to The Hindu on Friday. “The unorthodox open ing put Carlsen in a spot of bother right from the begin ning. “Interestingly, with eve rything on the line for Nor way, Carlsen chose a less thancritical opening. “However, he enter tained the fans with truly risky and dubious opening
play essaying 1. Na3, 1.f3, and the Portuguese varia tion of the Scandinavian de fence rarely seen at the top level”. “In the semirapid game, he was forced to sacrice his queen to protect his weak king and he was keen on defending (his king) most of the times,” he added.
Lalith’s morale has re ceived a llip with this win and he wants to put his not soimpressive show at the Gibraltar GM tournament behind and prepare for the forthcoming big xtures earnestly. “This win means a lot to me for I defeated the world’s top player. I will be preparing for the Asian
chess championship to be held in May with new vigour and condence. “The Commonwealth Championship and Jakarta Asian Games are other two major tourneys lined up for me this year,” said Lalith, who trains with his rst coach Murali in the sleepy village of Ponnur in Guntur District.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12255
(set by Lightning)
3 Assistant shelters saint out of consideration (5)
Visit Badri at young age
14 Indict one under custody (6)
4 Pause from soldier tucking into dip (7)
16 Obscure and short movie on church ending all the way on top (7)
6 Engineering student left worried and restless (9)
19 Regret from leaders of Rajasthan enforcing a code (7)
7 Weak backing restrains one medium of communication (5)
Thirumangai Azhvar points out the importance of worship ping the Lord of Badrikasahram when one is young, said P.T. Seshadri, in a discourse. An old man will nd it dicult to reach Badrikashram. He has to watch his step. After walking a few paces, he needs to rest. Before this stage in one’s life, one should go to Badrikashram, says Thirumangai Azhvar. Periavachan Pillai, explaining this verse, narrated an inci dent from Nanjeeyar’s life. Nanjeeyar, who had been a gri hastha, took to sanyasa and came to Srirangam. Parasara Bhattar was being carried in a palanquin by his sishyas. Nan jeeyar too wanted to be a palanquinbearer for his Acharya. But Bhattar said that a sanyasi should not carry a grihastha. Nanjeeyar, as a sanyasi, had spoken to the tridanda — the stick that every sanyasi has to hold in his hand. This was a re quirement for every sanyasi. He has to say to the tridanda, “You should be my friend.” Now, when Bhattar turned down Nanjeeyar’s request to be a palanquin bearer on account of his (Nanajeeyar) being a sanyasi, Nanjeeyar said, “I am un able to show to my Acharya the regard that I showed my stick. How then can my tridanda save me?” Periavachan Pil lai quotes this incident to show that whether a person is a grihastha or a sanyasi, the only stick he should lean on in is the Lord Himself. When a person is young, he walks proudly and is unbend ing like a king. But when he is old, walking a few steps is as tough as waging a war on the scale of the Kurukshetra war! Thirumangai Azhvar talks of the God of Badrikashram as the One who slew Putana. Putana came in the guise of a good woman, but actually had evil intentions. Likewise, the body too seems to do us good. But in actual fact, it leads us down the wrong path by oering us eeting pleasures.
23 Does hard worker run away with chief surgeon? (9) 25 Cash from rst working day, easily emptied (5) 26 Cut short comedy with line that is very different (3,3) 27 Working attempt to arrest governor trying to escape (2,3,3)
CM YK
FAITH
13 Worried rookie to train hard for sporting event (9)
21 Mathematicians left replacing dead trees (6)
■ ACROSS 1 Plants wild shrub without watering hole (8) 5 Compulsion from university to wear formal clothes (6) 9 Instrument of devious, new international cartel (8) 10 Upset animal moving ahead to attack (6) 12 Journey around Grand Canyon’s rim perhaps (5)
SUDOKU
28 Deadly to allow criminal smuggling heroin (6) 29 Approve a chapter on faith (8) ■ DOWN 1 Log trimmed merely with string (6) 2 Segment of bonus and theme song (2,3,4)
8 Piece from thin strip of wood holds temperature with resistance (8) 11 Part I’m expecting somewhat for a moment (4) 15 River and mountain range, part of countryside (5,4) 17 Paired in role with boring person, reins ecstasy (9) 18 Terrible fraud led movement (8) 20 Display power in part (4) 21 Element of deformed sine curve on the outside (7) 22 Bird sounds like seal (6) 24 Sharp rings — old item used in fortunetelling (5) 25 In retrospect, odd admitting expression of surprise getting old coin (5)
Solution to puzzle 12253
Solution to Thursday’s Sudoku
A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
SPORT 17
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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Russians jump to glory
Invitation Cup carnival goes east Anil Mukhi
Genzebe Dibaba proves she is the best over 3000m WORLD INDOORS Reuters BIRMINGHAM
Mariya Lasitskene and Danil Lysenko could not represent their banned home nation of Russia at the World indoor championships but, compet ing as neutral athletes, the springheeled pair still leapt to high jump gold on Thursday. Lasitskene, one of the world’s most dominant ath letes in her event, reeled o her 38th straight victory while Lysenko caused the championships’ rst big shock by handing out a rare defeat to IAAF male athlete of the year, Qatar’s Mutaz Es sa Barshim. The outstanding 20year old prospect Lysenko need ed a thirdattempt clearance at 2.36 metres to win the
Golden leap: Mariya Lasitskene reeled o her 38th straight victory on Thursday. AFP *
gold outright from Barshim, who had a rare threetime failure at that same height. While the high jump con tests took centrestage on a novel opening day to the fourday championships, the great Ethiopian Genzebe Di baba was the rst track lu minary to shine as she pro duced a dazzling eort to win the 3,000 metres title.
The results: Men: High jump: 1. Danil Ly senko (Ana) 2.36m, 2. Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qat) 2.33, 3. Ma teusz Przybylko (Ger) 2.39. Women: 3000m: 1. Genzebe Dibaba (Eth) 8:45.05s, 2. Sifan Hassan (Ned) 8:45.68, 3. Laura Muir (GBr) 8:45.78. High jump: Mariya Lasitskene (Ana) 2.01m, 2. Vashti Cun nigham (USA) 1.93, 3. Alessia Trost (Ita) 1.93.
KOLKATA
First envisaged in the early 1960s, the Indian Turf Invita tion Cup started o as a race intended to bring together leading fouryearolds of the country over the classic trip of 2400m. As the concept evolved, runners of varying distance capabilities were catered to as well. Nowadays, the rst week of March each year sees the top Indian thoroughbreds competing in a twoday ro tating carnival featuring four Grade 1 events. In 2018, it is time for fans of the Indian turf to head east, for the eleventh time in the past six decades, as all roads lead to the historic Royal Calcutta Turf Club.
HYDERABAD: Laxman Singh trained Vijay’s Dynamite (Kuldeep astride) claimed the first division of the Silver Dagger Plate, the main event at the races held here on Friday. The winner is owned by M/s. Vijay Racing & Farms Private Limited represen ted by Mr. Vijay Kumar Gupta & Mr. Susheel Kumar Gupta.
Tiger (Akshay Kumar) 2, Avantika (Deepak) 3, Shivalik Arrow (Sai Kiran) 4. Not run: Lavender. DNF: Agusta Bombshell. 11/2, 11/4 and s. hd.. 1m, 27.26s. 101 (w), 17, 8, 17 (p), SHP: 25, FP: 241, Q: 125, Tanala: 1884. Favourite: Charlie Brown. Owner: Mrs. Sk. Kassam. Trainer: Sk. Kassam.
Ruffina appeals most in the Sprinters’ Cup (1,200m), while Azzurro appears to have an edge in the field of seven runners in the Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy Stayers’ Cup (3,000m) that wears an open look in the preInvitation Cup day races to be held here on Saturday (March 3). There will be no false rails.
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SILVER DAGGER PLATE (DIV. I), (1400m), Cat. II, 4yo & over, rated 58 to 78: VIJAY’S DYNAMITE (Kuldeep) 1, Sea Castle (Deepak) 2, Doroteo (C.P. Bopanna) 3, Lim itation (Nakhat) 4. Not run: Bashaagar, Green Image, Sweet March. 1, 31/4 and 23/4. 1m, 26.25s. 10 (w), 5, 5, 5 (p), SHP: 14, FP: 20, Q: 12, Tanala: 55. Fa vourite: Vijay’s Dynamite. Owner: M/s. Vijay Racing & Farms Private Limited represented by Mr. Vijay Kumar Gupta & Mr. Susheel Ku mar Gupta. Trainer: Laxman Singh.
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CHEROKEE ROSE PLATE (DIV. I), (1400m), Cat. II, maiden 3 yo only (Terms): MEKA’S (Na khat) 1, Tiger of the Sea (Sweeney) 2, Guiding Force (Rawal) 3, Ashwa Arjun (Akshay Kumar) 4. 2, 43/4 and 1/2. 1m, 27.24s. 39 (w), 9, 7, 17 (p), SHP. 15, FP: 97, Q: 32, Tanala: 1161. Favourite: Tiger of the Sea. Owner: Ms. Ahalya Meka & Mr. Yugandhar Meka. Trainer: L. D’Silva.
CM YK
4
SILVER DAGGER PLATE (DIV. II), (1400m), Cat. II, 4yo & over, rated 58 to 78: SOUTHERN PROMISE (Deep Shanker) 1, Big Heart (Akshay Kumar) 2, Ans Ans Ans (Aneel) 3, Kalinda (Deepak Singh) 4. 11/2, 11/4 and 11/4. 1m, 26.03s. 35 (w), 9, 6, 8 (p), SHP: 14, FP: 132, Q: 43, Tanala: 501. Fa vourite: Big Heart. Owner: Mr. Teja Gollapudi. Trainer: Laxman Singh.
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RECHARGE PLATE (1200m), Cat. II, 4yo & over, rated 42 to 62: LA ROMANCE (B.R. Kumar) 1, Star Gazer (C.P. Bopanna) 2, Starlight (Akshay Kumar) 3, Desert Moon (Parmar) 4. Nk., 1 and 1. 1m, 12.32s. 16 (w), 8, 8, 8 (p), SHP: 20, FP: 56, Q: 30, Tanala: 194. Favourite: La Ro mance. Owner: Mr. Ashok Rupani. Trainer: Arjun Anne.
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HUNTER PLATE (1400m), Cat. III, 5yo & over, rated 26 to 46: CITI COLORS (Vikrant) 1, Valee
GREENER PLATE (1200m), Cat. III, 4yo & over, rated 26 to 46: VIJAY’S DELIGHT (Ajit) 1, Raajneeti (Kuldeep) 2, King David (Rohit) 3, Sher Afgan (Sai Kiran) 4. Not run: Princess Hina, Good Striker, Southern Minstrel. Nk., 4 and hd.. 1m, 13.63s. 74 (w), 11, 5, 10 (p), SHP: 17, FP: 232, Q: 57, Tanala: 1130. Favourite: Raajneeti. Owner: Mr. Mukesh Pitti. Trainer: N. Ravinder Singh.
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GANDIPET PLATE (1400m), Cat. III, 4yo & over, rated upto 30: GOOD TASTE (Akshay Ku mar) 1, Boca Grande (Vikrant) 2, New Hope (Deepak) 3, Cannon Fury (Rawal) 4. Not run: Dawning Hope, Top Sprint. 21/2, nose and 21/2. 1m, 28.79s. 9 (w), 6, 9, 9 (p), SHP: 19, FP: 34, Q: 22, Tanala: 178. Favourite: Good Taste. Owner: Mr. Mangilipelly Satyanarayana. Trainer: M. Satyanarayana. Treble (i): 268 (180 tkts.), (ii): 527 (97 tkts.), (iii): 2850 (55 tkts.) Consolation: 99927 (three tkts.) Jackpot: 349747 (two tkts.)
Anil Mukhi
an open look.
KOLKATA
Some professionals voiced their opinions on the Sprinters’ Cup and the Stayers’ Cup: Arjun Mangalorkar: Multitude and Runa should ght it out in the Sprinters' Cup; the Stayers’ Cup is an open race and anything can win. S. Padmanabhan: Runa is simply outstanding in the eld for the Sprinters’ Cup; in contrast, nothing is outstanding in the Stayers’ Cup, which bears
Imtiaz Sait: In the Sprinters’ Cup it should be Runa as there is really no contest; either of my runners Winter Renaissance or Raees can annex the Stayers’ Cup. Ignore the latter’s last run as he was recovering from a fever and previously he had won well at Pune. Vijay Singh: In the Sprinters’ Cup, my ward Multitude will have to beat Runa, who looks outstanding; the Stayers’ is an open race and Azzurro may get the nod.
The zestful Azzurro appears to have an edge in the Stayers’ Cup KOLKATA
CHEROKEE ROSE PLATE (DIV. II), (1400m), Cat. II, maiden 3 yo only (Terms): HUKUM (Sweeney) 1, Wings Of Eagles (Sai Kiran) 2, Musashi (Akshay Kumar) 3, Drogan (B.R. Kumar) 4. 63/4, s. hd. and 3/4. 1m, 26.23s. 7 (w), 6, 6, 7 (p), SHP: 13, FP: 19, Q: 15, Tanala: 52. Favourite: Hukum. Owners: Mr. Marthand Singh Mahindra, Mrs. Rina Mahindra & Mr. P. Prabhakar Reddy. Trainer: D. Netto.
Speed is her forte Drawn 8, she may have to cover a little additional ground, but such is her ac celeration that this should not inconvenience her in any way. All that her pilot needs
What the professionals say
to do is to get the timing right as her superior merit is not in any doubt. Multitude, Lin coln and Captain Courage should follow her home. Forty ve minutes later, seven steeds of the stout va riety will parade in front of the starting gates prior to the Dr. M.A.M. Ramaswamy Stayers’ Cup (Grade 1, 3000m.). The complexion of this event is altogether die rent and none of the runners appear to be the sort that one can “bet the farm on”. Although the handicapper rates Jack Frost the highest, others have superior claims on form. Azzurro and Winter Renaissance should battle it out for the prize with Ophion and Raees capable of spring ing an upset depending on the pace.
Runa overwhelming favourite in Sprinters’ Cup
Vijay’s Dynamite wins main event 3
On Saturday, it is the turn of the eet of foot as also those replete with stamina to strut their wares in a pair of specialist events. First up at 3.15 p.m. is the Sprinters’ Cup (Grade 1, 1200m.), a race that has been a punter’s delight at Ali pore as a rank outsider hasn’t had a lookin since Guindy Girl shocked in 1980. The event is poised to car ry on the tradition of being a haven for favourites as Ru na towers over her nine riv als.
H. Kamal Khan
JAPAN CUP (1,600m), rated 21 to 46, 1 to 26 eligible, 115 p.m.: 1. Torch Bearer (7) David Allan 62, 2. Mizuno (4) B. Mahesh 61.5, 3. Devotion (9) S. John 61, 4. Lhotse (5) N.S. Parmar 59, 5. Arion (2) D.S. Deora 57, 6. Fiorelle (10) P. Trevor 56.5, 7. Prince Of Heart (3) Hindu Singh 55.5, 8. Zandra (1) Rajinder Singh 55, 9. Xlite (12) Neeraj 54, 10. Mythical Sunrise (11) Shamaz Shareef 52, 11. Star Phoenix (8) Ashhad Asbar 52 and 12. Timeless Treasure (6) Sai Kiran 50. TORCH BEARER: Looks fit and well. DEVOTION: A failed favour ite in her last start; may make amends. LHOTSE: won a 1,600m in a gutsy manner; retains form. FIORELLE: Ran Lhotse to halfa length in her last start; well tuned. 1. FIORELLE, 2. LHOTSE, 3. DEVOTION
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SANS CRAINTES STUD TROPHY (1,600m), rated 81 & above, 61 to 86 eligible, 145: 1. Germanicus (3) Srinath 65, 2. Setaflame (5) S. John 63, 3. Copernicus (2) B. Ma hesh 59, 4. No More Politics (6)
D.S. Deora 58, 5. Volantis (1) Suraj Narredu 57, 6. Namid (7) Zervan 52.5 and 7. Rufus (4) Dashrath Singh 50. GERMANICUS: Carrying the same weight finished a game third to Volantis over 2,000m in his last start; in fine fettle. VOLANTIS: Won her last start impressively; may repeat. NAMID: As a favourite finished 3/4 length behind Volantis; should be given another chance. RUFUS: Appeals on weights. 1. GERMANICUS, 2. VOLANTIS, 3. NAMID BRAVE DANCER CUP (1,600m), rated 61 to 86, 41 to 66 eligible, 215: 1. Arminius (4) B. Mahesh 61, 2. Hartnell (11) Srinath 58.5, 3. Sweet Music (9) R.S. Bhati 57, 4. Rigoletto (6) David Probert 56, 5. Cocoanut (10) Hindu Singh 54.5, 6. Celtic King (7) D.S. Deora 54, 7. Mocha Loca (5) Zervan 53.5, 8. Raqs Sharqi (2) C.S. Jodha 52.5, 9. Joss (8) C. Alford 52, 10. Summer hill (1) Dashrath Singh 51.5 and 11. Top Cat (3) P. Vikram 50. ARMINIUS: Won a 1,600m in a gutsy manner; maintains form. HARTNELL: Fit for the fray. MOCHA LOCA: A consistent run ner; in fine trim. RAQS SHARQI: Won his last two starts in the lower class; may make it three in a row. 1. HARTNELL, 2. MOCHA LOCA, 3. RAQS SHARQI BOOKMAKERS’ ASSOCIATION CUP (1,200m), rated 21 to 46, 1 to 26 eligible, 245: 1. Perfect Bal ance (8) Shamaz Shareef 62.5, 2.
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Pick Pocket (6) Sujit Paswan 60, 3. Malana (3) C.S. Jodha 59, 4. Monaco (10) P. Vikram 59, 5. My Lady Luck (14) D.S. Deora 59, 6. All Rounder (11) S. Kamble 58.5, 7. Auxilium (4) J. Chinoy 58.5, 8. Everglow (9) S. John 58.5, 9. Bournville (13) B. Mahesh 57.5, 10. Glorious Run (1) Shezad Khan 55.5, 11. Happy Returns (15) Hindu Singh 55.5, 12. Mustang (5) Ran idan Singh 53.5, 13. Shanayaa’s Pet (7) Md. Imran 53.5, 14. Blaze To Glory (12) Sai Kiran 53 and 15. Prancing Queen (2) Neeraj 53. MALANA: Justified the favouritism by winning a 1,200m comfortably; may score again. EVERGLOW: Ran Red Bug to halfalength over 1,100m in her last start; has im proved since. HAPPY RETURNS: An impressive winner of his last start (1,100m); may score an en core. PRANCING QUEEN: Well in at the weights. 1. HAPPY RETURNS, 2. MALANA, 3. EVERGLOW
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SPRINTERS’ CUP (1,200m), 4 yo & over (Terms), 315: 1. Adam (4) N.S. Parmar 59, 2. Brah machari (2) Shezad Khan 59, 3. Captain Courage (10) P. Trevor 59, 4. Multitude (3) S. John 59, 5. Amorous White (6) C. Alford 58, 6. Cavallo Veloce (1) Srinath 58, 7. Lincoln (9) Sandesh 58, 8. Per ciosa (7) Deepak 57.5, 9. Siobhan (5) P.S. Chouhan 57.5 and 10. Ruffina (8) David Allan 56.5. CAPTAIN COURAGE: Twice third may raise a winning gallop today. MULTITUDE: Won three of his four starts this season; in fine
nick. CAVALLO VELOCE: Looks fit and well. LINCOLN: After winning two races finished second to Ruffina over 1,200m at Mumbai; in fine condition. RUFFINA: A rousing performer; in great heart. 1. RUFFINA, 2. LINCOLN, 3. CAVALLO VELOCE DR. M.A.M. RAMASWAMY STAYERS’ CUP (3,000m), 4yo & over (Terms), 400: 1. Azzurro (6) P. Trevor 59, 2. Cadman (7) S. John 59, 3. Jack Frost (1) Sandesh 59, 4. Ophion (5) David Allan 59, 5. Raees (3) C. Alford 59, 6. Winter Renaissance (2) C.S. Jodha 57.5 and 7. Lord Of The Sea (4) David Probert 56.5. AZZURRO: Carrying 62.5 kg fin ished a game second to Winter Renaissance (2,800m), in his last start; the 7yo continues to be zestful. CADMAN: Working well; may upset. RAEES: His nowhere in Winter Renaissance is best ig nored. WINTER RENAISSANCE: Won her last start impressively; re tains form. 1. AZZURRO, 2. RAEES, 3. WINTER RENAISSANCE NANOLI STUD CUP (1,200m), maiden 3yo only (Terms), 4 45: 1. McCallister (6) J. Chinoy 55, 2. Oak Brook (8) Dashrath Singh 55, 3. Accidental (9) P. Trevor 53.5, 4. Aiyana (5) Sai Kiran 53.5, 5. Ca dillac (2) Suraj Narredu 53.5, 6. Fa biola (7) David Allan 53.5, 7. Havana Grey (3) Ranidan Singh 53.5, 8. Kefira (10) Neeraj 53.5, 9. Move To The Front (4) Tejeshwar 53.5, 10. The Kiss (1) C. Alford 53.5 and 11. Ultraviolet (11) Hindu Singh
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53.5. AIYANA: A consistent runner; con tinues to shine in the morning try outs. CADILLAC: First run; judi ciously prepared. KEFIRA: Twice second; may trouble the best. UL TRAVIOLET: Comes into the reck oning on her second to Alyssa (1,400m). 1. CADILLAC, 2. AIYANA, 3. KEFIRA
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MOHANPUR CHOWDHURY ESTATES TROPHY (1,400m), rated 41 to 66, 21 to 46 eligible, 515: 1. Nelsons Blood (10) Hindu Singh 61, 2. Sanvi (5) Neeraj 59, 3. El Cid (11) D.S. Deora 56.5, 4. Alshafa (6) J. Chinoy 56, 5. Dark Gold (9) P. Trevor 55.5, 6. Levante (7) Dashrath Singh 55, 7. Claymore (8) Suraj Narredu 54, 8. Bacaardi (3) Ashhad Asbar 53, 9. Day Flower (4) David Allan 53, 10. Running Hand (2) P. Vikram 53 and 11. The Big Bull (1) P.S. Chouhan 53. NELSONS BLOOD: In a starttofin ish attempt ran fourth to Zenon over 2,000m in his last start at Mumbai; the present trip may suit him better. SANVI: After winning a 1,400m easily, ran Eternally (second win) to 3/4 length over 1,400m; moving impressively in the trials. DARK GOLD: Looks fit enough. LEVANTE: A consistent runner; may upset. 1. SANVI, 2. NELSONS BLOOD, 3. DARK GOLD Day’s best: RUFFINA Double: HARTNELL — AZZURRO Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 3, 4 & 5; (iii): 6, 7 & 8.
A BM-BME
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18 WEEKEND SPORT
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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CM YK
A BM-BME
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THE HINDU
MUMBAI
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CM YK
WEEKEND SPORT 19 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
A BM-BME
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20 LIFE
MUMBAI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
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IN BRIEF
Diabetes has ve types, say scientists Accurate diagnosis can be the rst step to personalised treatment and prevention of complications Agence France-Presse Paris
Jimmy Kimmel will not ignore #MeToo at Oscars LOS ANGELES
Social media went into a tizzy when some news outlets reported on Thursday that host Jimmy Kimmel would not address the #MeToo movement at the Oscars. However, in an interview with Variety, Kimmel said, “It’ll be a part of the show.” NYT
Indian-American scientist awarded $2.1 mn grant HOUSTON
An IndianAmerican scientist has been awarded a grant of over $1.1 million (7 crore) by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Navin Varadarajan of the University of Houston will work on improving Tcell immunotherapy. PTI
Scientists on Friday unveiled a revised classication for diabetes, one they said could lead to better treatments and help doctors more accurate ly predict lifethreatening complications from the disease. There are ve distinct types of diabetes that can oc cur in adulthood, rather than the two currently recog nised, they reported in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, a leading medical journal. The ndings are consis tent with the growing trend toward “precision medi cine”, which takes into ac count dierences between individuals in managing dis ease. In the same way that a patient requiring a transfu sion must receive the right blood type, diabetes sub types need dierent treat ments, the study suggested. Similarly, scientists have also identied distinct kinds of microbiome — the bacte rial ecosystem in our diges tive tract — that can react dif
Blood sugar testing with glucose meter.
ferently to the same medication, rendering it more or less eective. “This is the rst step to wards personalised treat ment of diabetes,” said se nior author Leif Groop, an endocrinologist at Lund Un iversity in Sweden, adding that the new classication is a “paradigm shift” in how the disease is viewed. People with diabetes have excessively high blood glu cose, or blood sugar, which comes from food. Some 420 million people around the world today su
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GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK
er from diabetes, with the number expected to rise to 629 million by 2045, accord ing to the International Dia betes Federation. Building on knowledge Currently, the disease is di vided into two subtypes. With type1 — generally diagnosed in childhood and accounting for about 10% of cases — the body simply doesn’t make insulin, a hor mone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. For type2, the body makes some insulin but not
enough, which means glu cose stays in the blood. This form of the disease correlates highly with obesi ty and can, over time, lead to blindness, kidney damage, and heart disease or stroke. It has long been known that type2 diabetes is highly variable, but classication has remained unchanged for decades. For the study, researchers monitored 13,270 newly diagnosed diabetes patients ranging in age from 18 to 97. By isolating measure ments of insulin resistance, insulin secretion, blood su gar levels, age, and the onset of illness, they distinguished ve distinct clusters of the disease — three serious and two milder forms. Among the severe types, a group of patients with insu lin resistance — in which cells are unable to use insulin ef fectively — was at far higher risk of kidney disease. “This group has the most to gain from the new diag nostics as they are the ones who are currently most in correctly treated,” Mr. Groop
Early treatment The two other groups have milder types of the disease including one, which in cludes about 40% of the pa tients, beset with a form of diabetes related to advanced age. “This will enable earlier treatment to prevent compli cations in patients who are most at risk of being aect ed,” said lead author Emma Ahlqvist, an associate profes sor at Lund University. The results were checked against three other studies from Sweden and Finland. “The outcome exceeded our expectations,” said Mr. Groop. The researchers plan to launch similar studies in Chi na and India.
Weinstein sculpture set up on street
Time’s up: The sculpture of Harvey Weinstein aims to highlight sexual misconduct in the lm industry. AFP *
Associated Press Los Angeles
A golden statue of a bath robeclad Harvey Weinstein, seated on a couch with an Oscar in hand, took up tem porary sidewalk residence close to the site of Sunday’s Academy Awards. “Casting Couch” is a col laborative work between a Los Angeles street artist known as Plastic Jesus and Joshua “Ginger” Monroe, designer of 2016’s nude Do nald Trump statues placed in major U.S. cities. The lifesized Weinstein
Scientists detect water in exoplanet’s atmosphere
Phenomenon observed in urban areas in India
WASHINGTON
Astronomers have detected a large amount of water in the atmosphere of a Saturnsize exoplanet 700 lightyears away. The planet, known as WASP39b, is located in the Virgo constellation and has three times as much water as Saturn does, NASA said. IANS
R. Prasad Chennai
2,640 commoners invited to royal wedding LONDON
Seize the day: Adélie penguins leaping o an iceberg at Danger Islands, Antarctica. A thriving “hotspot” of 1.5 million Adelie penguins has been discovered on the remote islands, scientists said on Friday. AFP/LOUISIANA STATE UNIVESITY/STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY *
Beretmania as fashion ditches beanie for classic
Very heavy rainfall lasting less than 24 hours (subdai ly) in urban locations in In dia has become more in tense during the last few decades. The frequency of subdai ly rainfall extreme has also witnessed a twofold in crease between 1979 and 2015, say researchers from the Indian Institute of Tech nologyGandhinagar. Currently, rainfall data is reported on 24hour basis and longterm subdaily ob servations are limited. In ci ties, heavy downpour for less than an hour can create urban ooding due to large impervious area. “Since hea vy rainfall for less than an hour causes ooding and deaths, it is now necessary to record the amount of rain fall every 15 minutes espe
cially in the urban areas,” says Prof. Vimal Mishra from the Department of Civil En gineering at IITGandhinagar and corresponding author of the paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Atmospheric changes Most of the previous studies have considered changes in atmospheric moisture on ac count of local or global change in climate warming (thermodynamic). But ex treme precipitation is also linked to variations in atmos pheric motion and vertical wind velocity (dynamic). “Though rainfall ex tremes have profound impli cations for urban areas, the response of shortduration rainfall extremes in India to thermodynamic and dynam ic changes remains largely unexplored,” says Haider Ali
veillard said such is the de mand from fashionistas that he can never keep enough of them at his Paris est Tou jours Paris (Paris is always Paris) boutique in the French capital. “Many customers buy two and three at a time. They cannot make them fast enough for us to sell them,” he told AFP as Paris fashion week began in earnest Tuesday.
Agence France-Presse Paris
Suits everybody “Young, old, rich, poor, male, female the beret suits everybody,” he said. The black leather Dior version Rihanna wore to the show with such badass Black Panther attitude ew o the shelves and now sells for $999 (812 euros) on eBay. Style icons as diverse as the Hadid sisters, the Jenner Kardashians, the Duchess of Cambridge a longtime fan Meghan Markle and Prin cess Charlene of Monaco have all been photographed sporting berets. Fashion critics also re joiced at the beret’s revival CM YK
A model presenting a creation by Christian Dior in Paris. AFP *
with The Guardian declaring that it “may nally free us from our beanies”. Gucci and Marc Jacobs have also got in on the act, while Laulhere, the last his toric French beret maker, has been at full stretch to keep up with demand. It has even opened a shop in Paris’ ritzy Rue St Honore between Hermes and Prada, where sales manager Mark Saunders said some of “our bestsellers, which are co vered with pearls or nished in extraordinary leathers and satins, retail at between 450 and 500 euros.” Its more traditional “her itage” felt berets made to protect Basque and Bearnais peasants from winter snow and the summer sun sell for a much more modest 35 euros. But retailer Sebastien Re
Sold out “We have sold out of some colours and if I could get my hands on more I would sell them too. Everybody young and old wants them. “Not only is the beret al ways chic, but you can wear them for every occasion. And they last forever, the Laulhere ones are made for life,” he added. Saunders admitted that the modest Laulhere facto ry, which nestles in the foothills of the Pyrenees at OloronSainteMarie, is stretched, but insisted that there were no quick xes to meet demand. “It takes two days to make a beret and there is an in credible amount of hand work involved. It is a very complicated process, 80 percent of it by hand. The felting process alone takes between 11 and 18 hours, Irishborn Saunders said, using the “water from the Gave d’Aspe river right next to the factory.
from the Department of Civil Engineering at IITGandhi nagar and rst author of the paper. The twomember team from IITGandhinagar found that climate warming and dynamic contributions are 1.5 times more in the case of subdaily extreme rainfall than daily extreme rainfall. The team found that changes in subdaily precipi tation extremes are more strongly related to variations in the atmospheric motion and increase in vertical ve locity than the increase in at mospheric moisture content and climate warming. “Both largescale change in climate warming and lo calised heating due to urban heat island eect could be contributing to increased air temperature in cities leading to intense rainfall,” says Prof. Mishra.
Scrubbing Indonesia’s dirtiest river Citarum’s murky waters is a oating carpet of household rubbish and toxic chemicals waste are dumped into the river each day, according to government and environ mental group data. Making matters worse, many locals think nothing of tossing their household waste into its toxic waters.
Agence France-Presse
Hatmaker Laulhere is struggling to keep up with demand What do Rihanna, Che Guev ara nostalgics, and the Kar dashian clan all have in com mon? They are all bonkers about berets. The Frenchest of hats is now also the hippest, with makers struggling to keep up with demand from eve ryone from pop stars to the crowned heads of Europe. Since Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri sent out every one of her 68 models wearing one in her rst autumn winter show last March, the humble Pyrenean shepherd’s hat has become the epitome of cool. “I love berets because they’re the Tshirt of hats,” said Stephen Jones, the Brit ish master milliner who helped create the cult Dior line for Chiuri.
sculpture, displayed Thurs day on Hollywood Boule vard, aims to spotlight the entertainment industry’s sexual misconduct crisis and the disgraced studio mogul’s role in it, Plastic Je sus said. “There’s so much about Hollywood that’s great and celebrated in the Oscars, but there’s also this under belly of darkness within the industry that we often sweep under the carpet or ignore,” said Plastic Jesus, formerly a Londonbased photographer.
Short spells of heavy rainfall see a twofold rise: study
Penguin paradise
Britain’s Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle have invited 2,640 members of the public into the grounds of Windsor Castle for their wedding in May, Kensington Palace said on Friday. They will be able to watch the arrival of the bride and groom at St. George’s Chapel. AFP
said. Another group facing serious complications was composed of relatively young, insulindecient pa tients. The third “severe” group were people with autoim mune diabetes correspond ing to the original “type1” diagnosis.
‘Casting Couch’ statue debuts in Hollywood
Majalaya
The scabies on Indonesian rice farmer Yusuf Supriyadi’s limbs are a daily reminder of the costs of living next to the “world’s dirtiest river”. Supriyadi depends on the Citarum’s murky waters — a oating carpet of household rubbish, toxic chemicals and animal feces — to irrigate a small rice plot in West Java that sustains his family of six. The farmer’s rice yield is now down by twothirds in the rainy season as textile factories dump more and more industrial waste into the river. But he has few oth er options. “There are oods during the rainy season. My hands get itchy and the harvest is damaged,” the 54yearold tells AFP. “Pollution makes my rice hollow. If I keep going I’ll lose money, but if I don’t, I’ll have no other job,” he adds. Now faced with a health emergency after decades of failed cleanup eorts, Jakar ta is stepping in with a seem ingly impossible goal: make the Citarum’s water drinka ble by 2025. Using this polluted water is a risky calculation for ma ny of the 30 million people who rely on it for irrigation, washing and even drinking water including around 80 percent of residents in the sprawling capital Jakarta. At nearly 300kilometres long, the river is also a key source for hydroelectric power for Indonesia’s most populated island Java and
A combination photograph shows outdoor toilets along the stretch of the Citarum river before it enters the Java Sea northwest of Muara Gembong, West Java province, Indonesia. REUTERS *
tourism hotspot Bali. The World Bank declared it the mostpolluted river in the world a decade ago, an de scription widely picked up by media and environmentalists. Dangerous to health Waste levels can vary de pending on how pollution is measured and the time of the year. But the Citarum is danger ous by almost any standard. Previous research has shown it has alarming levels of toxic chemicals includ ing 1,000 times more lead than the US standard for safe drinking water. It regularly appears on mostpolluted lists alongside
India’s Ganges river, the Mis sissippi river in the United States and China’s Yellow river. In January, Jakarta yanked responsibility away from lo cal government, and vowed to get tough on business owners who ignore waste disposal rules. Factories that fall short could have operating per mits revoked. And CCTV cameras are to be installed along the river’s banks to keep an eye out for oenders dumping waste in the early morning hours to evade detection. Meanwhile, dredging equipment will be used to clean up the lthy river, said Djoko Hartoyo, a spokesman
for the Ministry of Maritime Aairs. “We are not playing around this time,” he added. “We’re going in with a ho listic approach so we are op timistic we can make Cita rum clean again, just like it was 50 or 60 years ago.” Industrial zone In the 1980s, a new indus trial zone sprang up around the small town of Majalaya, about 170 kilometres east of Jakarta, and things quickly changed for the pristine river. Some 2,000 area textile factories have provided muchneeded jobs, but it came with a heavy cost: about 280 tons of industrial
Awful smell “When it rains and my house gets ooded, the smell is aw ful,” Achmad Fachrureza said from inside an inatable dingy, as he navigated the river’s styrofoam containers, fabric, empty cans, plastic bottles and garbage bags. The 57yearold villager said he was sacked from his job as a textile factory secur ity guard after asking ques tions about the rm’s waste disposal system. Factory pipes dump waste directly into waters bubbling with chemical dyes used in textiles, creating an over whelming stench. “Most fac tories here have a waste dis posal system, but they don’t work properly because it’s just a formality,” said Deni Riswandani from local envi ronmental group Elingan. That poses a serious health risk, especially for the ve million people living in the river’s basin. Many locals suer from skin diseases like scabies and dermatitis, as well as respira tory infections from inhaling factory pollution. “The number of people going to the health clinic is very high,” Riswandani said. “We keep reporting these issues to the government, but we never get a solution.” A BM-BME