date manoj soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several bsp leaders like for-mer...

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R ohit Shekhar Tiwari, who fought with his father Narain Dutt Tiwari, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, to be accept- ed as his son, died of heart attack in Delhi on Tuesday. According to Vijay Kumar, DCP, South district, Rohit was brought to Max Hospital in Saket where doctors declared him brought dead. Rohit had in 2008 went to court against Tiwari claiming he was born out of an affair between his mother and Tiwari. I n yet another instance of Lok Sabha polls being rescinded due to cash for votes, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday accepted the recommendations of the Election Commission (EC) and cancelled the elec- tions in Vellore Parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu fol- lowing recovery of huge amount of cash allegedly from a DMK candidate’s office a few days ago. Polling in Vellore was scheduled for April 18. Vellore has become the first con- stituency in India where a Lok Sabha election has been can- celled because of cash for votes. Meanwhile on Tuesday night, the EC postponed voting in the Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat to the third phase on April 23 from April 18, saying the prevailing law-and-order situ- ation there is not conducive for holding free and fair poll. There have been instances when the polls were cancelled due to cash for votes. In 2016, polls in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur assembly seats in Tamil Nadu were cancelled due to large scale distribution of money and gifts to elector. The EC had also can- celled RK Nagar Assembly election in Tamil Nadu after allegation of bribing the vot- ers at large scale came to light in 2017. A gra and neighbouring Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha seats are heading towards inter- esting contest with Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar locked in a close con- test in Sikri, while the battle in the Taj City will be a fight to watch. The BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh State Minister SP Singh Baghel from Agra while and Manoj Soni is the BSP can- didate. Former Income Tax Commissioner Preeta Harit is the Congress candidate. Though Baghel appears to be better placed than his rivals, the factionalism within the party is giving him headache. Supporters of sitting MP Ram Shanker Katheria, who was axed from the Modi Council of Ministers and shifted to neig- bouring Etawah Lok Sabha constituency, are very upset. Katheria got elected from Agra twice and has considerable fol- lowing here. The gathbandhan candi- date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for- mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi- date Digamber Singh. Agra is known as ‘Dalit capital’ and then BSP candidate Kunwar Chand Vakil lost to Katheria by about 10,000 votes. The BSP proved its hold dur- ing the 2012 Assembly elec- tions when it won six out of total nine Assembly seats falling under Agra district. However, it failed to win even a single seat in 2017 Assembly election. While Jatavs constitute a major share of Dalit population and remain loyal to the BSP, the non-Jatavs votes go to other parties also. The gathbandhan candidates can also count on gaining undivided Muslim votes which can prove to be a game changer in combination with loyal Jatav votes of the BSP. “Katheria supporters are creating troubles for Baghel. However, Baghel still enjoys the advantage of being in the ruling side and is himself a Minister in the State Government. Agra elections always begin with real issues but end with caste and religion equations. Perhaps this is the reason that Agra has been held in past by all like BJP, Congress, SP and BSP and Lok Dal,” explained political analyst Subransh Rai on as the side- lines of a campaign in Fatehpur Sikri. P oonam Sinha, wife of actor- turned politician and for- mer BJP MP from Patna Shatrughan Sinha, was on Tuesday chosen as the BSP-SP- RLD candidate from Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Her name was announced by the Samajwadi Party (SP) within hours after Union Minister Rajnath Singh filed his nomination papers from Lucknow. Poonam arrived here on Tuesday and headed straight to the SP office to formally become a member of the party. Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav handed over membership to Poonam. Later, SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav had a meeting with Poonam. SP sources said Poonam would file her nomination papers on Thursday. There were speculation that since Shatrughan is con- testing on the Congress ticket from Patna, the party may not field a candidate against his wife to pave the way for a one- on-one face-off between Rajnath and Poonam. However, late in the evening Congress announced the can- didature of Acharya Pramod Krishnam from Lucknow. The SP, which got Lucknow in its kitty under the BSP-SP- RLD alliance, has been busy finding a suitable candidate against Rajnath. Earlier, Shatrughan had met with Akhilesh to discuss the candi- dature of his wife. The Lucknow Lok Sabha seat is considered to be a BJP bastion since the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era. Since 1991 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has won this seat seven consecutive times. Vajpayee won from this seat for five times and after him, the seat was won by Lalji Tandon in 2009 and then by Rajnath Singh in 2014. Rajnath’s road show for nomination saw participation by enthusiastic women mem- bers, dressed in saffron sarees and caps, raising slogans in favour of the BJP and singing songs and playing the nagadas. The procession also witnessed the participation of camels. There are four lakh Kayastha voters and 1.3 lakh Sindhi voters in Lucknow, apart from 3.5 lakh Muslims. The fact that Poonam is a Sindhi while Shatrughan is a Kayastha is expected to give a major push to her candidature. In his nomination papers, Rajnath claimed that his total moveable property was worth 1.64 crore and the immovable property 2.97 crore. N otwithstanding the Election Commission’s action against leaders for using religion to seek votes, cricketer- turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has stoked a controver- sy by urging Muslim voters of Katihar Lok Sabha constituen- cy in Bihar to vote en bloc and defeat (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the CPI(M) wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora demanding action against PM Modi for allegedly violating the model code of conduct and communally polarising voters by making remarks on the Sabarimala issue. In a letter to the CEC, party Politburo mem- ber Nilotpal Basu said the remarks made by the PM were a “flagrant violation” of the model code of conduct. Sources in EC said the Commission has sought a report including recordings of Sidhu’s speech from the District Magistrate (DM) of Katihar that has stoked controversy. A video footage of Sidhu’s com- ments in the remote area was beamed by TV news channels on Tuesday. The comments by former test cricketer at a rally in Katihar, where he was can- vassing in support of veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister Tariq Anwar, drew an angry response from BJP which condemned the “reprehensible act”, urged the EC to take “suo motu cog- nizance” and take suitable action. Lambasting the Congress, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it is part of the Congress’ DNA to divide. It is not a new norm in this party.” He attacked Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her criticism of the saffron party over its interpretation of nationalism. How does Sidhu’s call to 64 per cent of minorities in the area to unite, help the country, he asked. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi hits out at Navjot Singh Sidhu after the Congress MLA struck con- troversy for appealing to Muslim voters in Bihar to vote as a bloc against the saf- fron party. “Who were you trying to unite for so many years when you were in the BJP? Your party might be new but the backwardness of Seemanchal is an age old story,” Owaisi tweeted. In a following tweet, the AIMIM candidate from Hyderabad wrote, “AIMIM wants the progress of all Seemanchal, Congress is still campaigning on the baasi (rotten) pro- gramme of “BJP ka darr”. Earlier, campaigning for Congress leader Tariq Anwar, Sidhu appealed Muslim voters of Katihar Lok Sabha con- stituency to vote en bloc and defeat PM Modi. “This will be sixer. Hit such a sixer that Modi is sent out of the bound- ary,” Sidhu said by invoking reference of cricket. A midst the prolonged dilemma whether to go for an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national Capital or not, the Congress on Tuesday asserted that it has shown a “big heart” by agree- ing to form an alliance with the AAP in Delhi and said the ball is now in the court of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to take a decision. A day after Congress pres- ident Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal indulged in a public spat over the issue, well informed sources said a meeting between senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel and AAP leader Sanjay Singh is likely to take place on Wednesday. The meeting holds significance since Congress has already offered AAP four seats in Delhi and now the decision has to be taken by it. “Party president Rahul Gandhi has made it pretty clear that an alliance can be formed just in Delhi in a ratio of 4:3,” he told reporters, in response to a question on alliance. People have expressed their doubts to us over AAP but despite that we have shown a big heart and for a common objective we have agreed to form an alliance in Delhi,” a senior Congress leader said. Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala has made it clear on the party’s stand on alliance in other States, he added. Surjewala had last week said that if an alliance has to be made it can only be made in the national Capital and not in other States. Rahul and Arvind Kejriwal had engaged in a public spat on Monday, with the Congress president accusing the AAP of making a “U-turn” over alliance talks prompting the Delhi CM to hit back at him. P opular Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was ordered by the Union Government to leave the coun- try immediately for flouting the norms of his business visa which has been now cancelled, an official said on Tuesday. Two days ago Ferdous had cam- paigned for a Trinamool Congress candidate against the rule thus sparking a political controversy. West Bengal State BJP lead- ers Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sisir Bajoria had met State’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ariz Aftab on Monday to reg- ister a complaint and urged him to take appropriation action over the violation of the model code of conduct by the TMC. A video showing Ferdous and Bengali actors Ankush and Payal participating in a roadshow on Sunday to seek votes for Kanhaiyalal Agarwal, the TMC candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha seat, went viral on social media. “All should vote for the Trinamool Congress. All should vote for Didi (TMC chief Mamata Banerjee),” Ahmed was claimed to have told voters while sharing the dais with Agarwal. Ferdous has also been “blacklisted” by the Union Home Ministry, thus jeopar- dising the prospects of his future travel to India. “After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations com- mitted by a Bangladesh National, Ferdous Ahmed, the Home Ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a ‘Leave India’ notice. He has also been blacklisted. The FRRO Kolkata has been directed to ensure compliance of these orders,” a Union Home Ministry official said in Delhi. The move comes hours after the Central Government sought a report from the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Kolkata, on the Bangladeshi actor over his alleged poll campaign. Majumdar, the State BJP vice president, wanted to know how a Bangladeshi national on a visit to the country could campaign for a candidate, and alleged that the actor was brought to polarise minority voters in the constituency. “We believe that it is a completely illegal move exe- cuted intentionally. This is a proof of the TMC’s bankrupt politics,” he said. When reached for com- ments, Agarwal said he had no knowledge of the actor can- vassing for him. “I have no knowledge about this (Ahmed campaigning for him). I have only two star campaigners Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikary. I have participated in Mamata’s two rallies and today I took part in a roadshow in Islampur where Suvendu Adhikary was present,” Agarwal said. T he Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed satis- faction over swift action taken by the Election Commission against various politicians, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BSP supremo Mayawati and SP leader Azam Khan, for their speeches flouting model code of conduct during campaigning saying the poll panel has now “woken up to its powers”. The SC refused Mayawati’s plea challenging the EC on Monday banning her from campaigning for 48 hours. A day after EC found itself “toothless” against hate speech- es, which had invited the ire of the SC, the poll panel told a Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that it has barred Adiytanath, Mayawati, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and SP leader Azam Khan from campaigning for varying hours. The Bench, also compris- ing Justice Sanjiv Khanna, refused to consider Mayawati’s plea challenging the EC’s 48- hour campaign ban on her on the ground that it has been inflicted on her without being granted an opportunity to put forth her views. “File a Special Leave Petition or an appeal if you want. We are not com- menting on anything now,” the SC told senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, representing Mayawati. The EC has acted because of the apex court’s order and the ban is “extremely drastic” in view of the fact that she has not been heard and, moreover, she has prior scheduled public meetings, Dave said. The Bench, which had summoned an EC official for Tuesday to examine the ambit of the poll panel’s to deal with hate speech- es, said, “It seems you have got your powers. It seems you have woken up to your powers”. Senior advocate CA Sundaram, appearing for the EC, said, “We have found we have several powers” and list- ed out the action taken by the poll panel against some politi- cians. T he Congress announced the name of Pankaj Sanghvi who had lost to BJP’s Sumitra Mahajan in 1998 from Indore. Sanghvi had contested his first poll as a corproator in 1983. He was fielded against Mahajan in 1998 and lost to her by over 49,000 votes. Sanghvi also had contested for the Indore mayor in 2009 but had lost to BJP’s senior leader Krishna Murari Moghe by barely 4,000 votes. He could not end his losing streak in 2013 when he was named as Congress candidate from assembly no 5 in Indore but lost narrowly to BJP candi- date Mahendra Hardia by 12 000 votes. Like Bhopal, Indore is also another saffron citadel in MP which the party hasn’t lost since 1989. However the party this time had few other plans as sit- ting MP and the LS speaker Sumitra Mahajn’s ticket is yet to be announced. An upset Mahajan had recently announced not to contest poll if the party was in any sort of dilemma over her candidature. Mahajan had reached New Delhi on Sunday and also met senior peaty leaders and report- edly forwarded her chosen of names if her named wasn’t being considered for the seat. The BJP is also expected to name its candidate in a day or two. If Mahajan is snubbed by the party, Mayor Malini Gaud is expected to be the nominee. A woman candidate and an MLA, Gaud represents a strong political family in Indore and has earned sizable accolade for her contrition in Indore’s num- ber’s distinction as cleanest city of India. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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Page 1: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, whofought with his father

Narain Dutt Tiwari, formerChief Minister of Uttar Pradeshand Uttarakhand, to be accept-ed as his son, died of heartattack in Delhi on Tuesday.

According to Vijay Kumar,DCP, South district, Rohit wasbrought to Max Hospital inSaket where doctors declaredhim brought dead.

Rohit had in 2008 went tocourt against Tiwari claiminghe was born out of an affairbetween his mother and Tiwari.

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In yet another instance of LokSabha polls being rescinded

due to cash for votes, PresidentRam Nath Kovind on Tuesdayaccepted the recommendationsof the Election Commission(EC) and cancelled the elec-tions in Vellore Parliamentaryconstituency in Tamil Nadu fol-lowing recovery of hugeamount of cash allegedly froma DMK candidate’s office a fewdays ago. Polling in Vellore wasscheduled for April 18. Vellorehas become the first con-stituency in India where a LokSabha election has been can-celled because of cash for votes.

Meanwhile on Tuesday

night, the EC postponed votingin the Tripura (East) Lok Sabhaseat to the third phase on April23 from April 18, saying theprevailing law-and-order situ-ation there is not conducive forholding free and fair poll.

There have been instanceswhen the polls were cancelleddue to cash for votes. In 2016,polls in Aravakurichi andThanjavur assembly seats inTamil Nadu were cancelleddue to large scale distributionof money and gifts to elector.

The EC had also can-celled RK Nagar Assemblyelection in Tamil Nadu afterallegation of bribing the vot-ers at large scale came to lightin 2017.

���� � ������������ �����������

Agra and neighbouringFatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha

seats are heading towards inter-esting contest with UttarPradesh Congress chief RajBabbar locked in a close con-test in Sikri, while the battle inthe Taj City will be a fight towatch.

The BJP has fielded UttarPradesh State Minister SPSingh Baghel from Agra whileand Manoj Soni is the BSP can-didate. Former Income TaxCommissioner Preeta Harit isthe Congress candidate.

Though Baghel appears tobe better placed than his rivals,the factionalism within theparty is giving him headache.Supporters of sitting MP RamShanker Katheria, who wasaxed from the Modi Council ofMinisters and shifted to neig-bouring Etawah Lok Sabhaconstituency, are very upset.Katheria got elected from Agratwice and has considerable fol-lowing here.

The gathbandhan candi-date Manoj Soni is strugglingto cope up with the defectionof several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra SinghChillu, former MLA Dharmpal

Singh and former MLA candi-date Digamber Singh.

Agra is known as ‘Dalitcapital’ and then BSP candidateKunwar Chand Vakil lost toKatheria by about 10,000 votes.The BSP proved its hold dur-ing the 2012 Assembly elec-tions when it won six out oftotal nine Assembly seatsfalling under Agra district.However, it failed to win evena single seat in 2017 Assemblyelection.

While Jatavs constitute amajor share of Dalit populationand remain loyal to the BSP, thenon-Jatavs votes go to otherparties also. The gathbandhancandidates can also count ongaining undivided Muslim

votes which can prove to be agame changer in combinationwith loyal Jatav votes of the BSP.

“Katheria supporters arecreating troubles for Baghel.However, Baghel still enjoysthe advantage of being in theruling side and is himself aMinister in the StateGovernment. Agra electionsalways begin with real issuesbut end with caste and religionequations.

Perhaps this is the reasonthat Agra has been held in pastby all like BJP, Congress, SPand BSP and Lok Dal,”explained political analystSubransh Rai on as the side-lines of a campaign in FatehpurSikri.

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Poonam Sinha, wife of actor-turned politician and for-

mer BJP MP from PatnaShatrughan Sinha, was onTuesday chosen as the BSP-SP-RLD candidate from LucknowLok Sabha seat. Her name wasannounced by the SamajwadiParty (SP) within hours afterUnion Minister Rajnath Singhfiled his nomination papersfrom Lucknow.

Poonam arrived here onTuesday and headed straight tothe SP office to formallybecome a member of the party.Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’swife Dimple Yadav handedover membership to Poonam.

Later, SP patron MulayamSingh Yadav had a meetingwith Poonam.

SP sources said Poonamwould file her nominationpapers on Thursday.

There were speculationthat since Shatrughan is con-testing on the Congress ticketfrom Patna, the party may notfield a candidate against hiswife to pave the way for a one-on-one face-off betweenRajnath and Poonam.However, late in the eveningCongress announced the can-didature of Acharya PramodKrishnam from Lucknow.

The SP, which got Lucknowin its kitty under the BSP-SP-RLD alliance, has been busyfinding a suitable candidateagainst Rajnath. Earlier,Shatrughan had met withAkhilesh to discuss the candi-dature of his wife. TheLucknow Lok Sabha seat is

considered to be a BJP bastionsince the Atal Bihari Vajpayeeera. Since 1991 Lok Sabhaelections, the BJP has won thisseat seven consecutive times.Vajpayee won from this seat forfive times and after him, theseat was won by Lalji Tandonin 2009 and then by RajnathSingh in 2014.

Rajnath’s road show fornomination saw participationby enthusiastic women mem-bers, dressed in saffron sareesand caps, raising slogans infavour of the BJP and singing

songs and playing the nagadas.The procession also witnessedthe participation of camels.

There are four lakhKayastha voters and 1.3 lakhSindhi voters in Lucknow, apartfrom 3.5 lakh Muslims. Thefact that Poonam is a Sindhiwhile Shatrughan is a Kayasthais expected to give a major pushto her candidature.

In his nomination papers,Rajnath claimed that his totalmoveable property was worth�1.64 crore and the immovableproperty �2.97 crore.

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Notwithstanding theElection Commission’s

action against leaders for usingreligion to seek votes, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot SinghSidhu has stoked a controver-sy by urging Muslim voters ofKatihar Lok Sabha constituen-cy in Bihar to vote en bloc anddefeat (Prime Minister)Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M)wrote to Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arorademanding action against PMModi for allegedly violating themodel code of conduct andcommunally polarising votersby making remarks on theSabarimala issue. In a letter tothe CEC, party Politburo mem-ber Nilotpal Basu said theremarks made by the PM werea “flagrant violation” of themodel code of conduct.

Sources in EC said theCommission has sought areport including recordings ofSidhu’s speech from the DistrictMagistrate (DM) of Katiharthat has stoked controversy. Avideo footage of Sidhu’s com-ments in the remote area wasbeamed by TV news channelson Tuesday.

The comments by formertest cricketer at a rally inKatihar, where he was can-vassing in support of veteranCongress leader and formerUnion Minister Tariq Anwar,drew an angry response fromBJP which condemned the

“reprehensible act”, urged theEC to take “suo motu cog-nizance” and take suitableaction. Lambasting theCongress, Union Minister RaviShankar Prasad said it is part ofthe Congress’ DNA to divide.It is not a new norm in thisparty.” He attacked Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra for her criticismof the saffron party over itsinterpretation of nationalism.How does Sidhu’s call to 64 percent of minorities in the area tounite, help the country, heasked.

AIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi hits out at NavjotSingh Sidhu after the

Congress MLA struck con-troversy for appealing toMuslim voters in Bihar tovote as a bloc against the saf-fron party. “Who were youtrying to unite for so manyyears when you were in theBJP? Your party might benew but the backwardness ofSeemanchal is an age oldstory,” Owaisi tweeted. In afollowing tweet, the AIMIMcandidate from Hyderabadwrote, “AIMIM wants the

progress of all Seemanchal,Congress is still campaigningon the baasi (rotten) pro-gramme of “BJP ka darr”.

Earlier, campaigning forCongress leader Tariq Anwar,Sidhu appealed Muslim votersof Katihar Lok Sabha con-stituency to vote en bloc anddefeat PM Modi. “This will besixer. Hit such a sixer thatModi is sent out of the bound-ary,” Sidhu said by invokingreference of cricket.

�������������� ��������

Amidst the prolongeddilemma whether to go for

an alliance with Aam AadmiParty (AAP) in the nationalCapital or not, the Congress onTuesday asserted that it hasshown a “big heart” by agree-ing to form an alliance with theAAP in Delhi and said the ballis now in the court of theArvind Kejriwal-led party totake a decision.

A day after Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi and Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalindulged in a public spat overthe issue, well informed sourcessaid a meeting between seniorCongress leader Ahmed Pateland AAP leader Sanjay Singhis likely to take place onWednesday. The meeting holdssignificance since Congresshas already offered AAP fourseats in Delhi and now thedecision has to be taken by it.

“Party president RahulGandhi has made it prettyclear that an alliance can beformed just in Delhi in a ratioof 4:3,” he told reporters, inresponse to a question onalliance. People have expressedtheir doubts to us over AAP butdespite that we have shown a

big heart and for a commonobjective we have agreed toform an alliance in Delhi,” asenior Congress leader said.

Congress spokesmanRandeep Surjewala has made itclear on the party’s stand onalliance in other States, headded. Surjewala had last weeksaid that if an alliance has to bemade it can only be made inthe national Capital and not inother States.

Rahul and Arvind Kejriwalhad engaged in a public spat onMonday, with the Congresspresident accusing the AAP ofmaking a “U-turn” overalliance talks prompting theDelhi CM to hit back at him.

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Popular Bangladeshi actorFerdous Ahmed was

ordered by the UnionGovernment to leave the coun-try immediately for flouting thenorms of his business visawhich has been now cancelled,an official said on Tuesday. Twodays ago Ferdous had cam-paigned for a TrinamoolCongress candidate against therule thus sparking a politicalcontroversy.

West Bengal State BJP lead-ers Jay Prakash Majumdar andSisir Bajoria had met State’sChief Electoral Officer (CEO)Ariz Aftab on Monday to reg-ister a complaint and urged himto take appropriation actionover the violation of the modelcode of conduct by the TMC.

A video showing Ferdousand Bengali actors Ankushand Payal participating in aroadshow on Sunday to seekvotes for Kanhaiyalal Agarwal,the TMC candidate fromRaiganj Lok Sabha seat, went

viral on social media.“All should vote for the

Trinamool Congress. Allshould vote for Didi (TMCchief Mamata Banerjee),”Ahmed was claimed to havetold voters while sharing thedais with Agarwal.

Ferdous has also been“blacklisted” by the UnionHome Ministry, thus jeopar-dising the prospects of hisfuture travel to India.

“After receiving a reportfrom the Bureau of Immigrationregarding visa violations com-mitted by a BangladeshNational, Ferdous Ahmed, theHome Ministry has cancelledhis business visa and issued hima ‘Leave India’ notice. He hasalso been blacklisted. The FRROKolkata has been directed to

ensure compliance of theseorders,” a Union Home Ministryofficial said in Delhi.

The move comes hoursafter the Central Governmentsought a report from theForeigner Regional RegistrationOfficer (FRRO), Kolkata, on theBangladeshi actor over hisalleged poll campaign.

Majumdar, the State BJPvice president, wanted to knowhow a Bangladeshi national ona visit to the country couldcampaign for a candidate, andalleged that the actor wasbrought to polarise minorityvoters in the constituency.

“We believe that it is acompletely illegal move exe-cuted intentionally. This is aproof of the TMC’s bankruptpolitics,” he said.

When reached for com-ments, Agarwal said he had noknowledge of the actor can-vassing for him.

“I have no knowledge aboutthis (Ahmed campaigning forhim). I have only two starcampaigners Mamata Banerjeeand Suvendu Adhikary.

I have participated inMamata’s two rallies and todayI took part in a roadshow inIslampur where SuvenduAdhikary was present,”Agarwal said.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday expressed satis-

faction over swift action takenby the Election Commissionagainst various politicians,including Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, BSPsupremo Mayawati and SPleader Azam Khan, for theirspeeches flouting model codeof conduct during campaigningsaying the poll panel has now“woken up to its powers”.

The SC refused Mayawati’splea challenging the EC onMonday banning her fromcampaigning for 48 hours.

A day after EC found itself“toothless” against hate speech-es, which had invited the ire ofthe SC, the poll panel told aBench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi that it has barredAdiytanath, Mayawati, UnionMinister Maneka Gandhi andSP leader Azam Khan fromcampaigning for varying hours.

The Bench, also compris-ing Justice Sanjiv Khanna,refused to consider Mayawati’splea challenging the EC’s 48-hour campaign ban on her onthe ground that it has beeninflicted on her without beinggranted an opportunity to putforth her views. “File a SpecialLeave Petition or an appeal ifyou want. We are not com-menting on anything now,” theSC told senior lawyer DushyantDave, representing Mayawati.

The EC has acted becauseof the apex court’s order and theban is “extremely drastic” inview of the fact that she has notbeen heard and, moreover, shehas prior scheduled publicmeetings, Dave said. TheBench, which had summonedan EC official for Tuesday toexamine the ambit of the pollpanel’s to deal with hate speech-es, said, “It seems you have gotyour powers. It seems you havewoken up to your powers”.

Senior advocate CASundaram, appearing for theEC, said, “We have found wehave several powers” and list-ed out the action taken by thepoll panel against some politi-cians.

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The Congress announcedthe name of Pankaj Sanghvi

who had lost to BJP’s SumitraMahajan in 1998 from Indore.

Sanghvi had contested hisfirst poll as a corproator in1983. He was fielded againstMahajan in 1998 and lost to herby over 49,000 votes. Sanghvialso had contested for theIndore mayor in 2009 but hadlost to BJP’s senior leaderKrishna Murari Moghe bybarely 4,000 votes.

He could not end his losingstreak in 2013 when he wasnamed as Congress candidatefrom assembly no 5 in Indorebut lost narrowly to BJP candi-date Mahendra Hardia by 12000 votes.

Like Bhopal, Indore is alsoanother saffron citadel in MPwhich the party hasn’t lostsince 1989.

However the party thistime had few other plans as sit-ting MP and the LS speakerSumitra Mahajn’s ticket is yet tobe announced. An upsetMahajan had recentlyannounced not to contest pollif the party was in any sort ofdilemma over her candidature.

Mahajan had reached NewDelhi on Sunday and also metsenior peaty leaders and report-edly forwarded her chosen ofnames if her named wasn’tbeing considered for the seat.

The BJP is also expected toname its candidate in a day ortwo. If Mahajan is snubbed bythe party, Mayor Malini Gaudis expected to be the nominee.A woman candidate and anMLA, Gaud represents a strongpolitical family in Indore andhas earned sizable accolade forher contrition in Indore’s num-ber’s distinction as cleanestcity of India.

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Festivities at a posh eatery sit-uated at City Centre turned

sour as police raided it anddetained more than a dozenguests for consuming liquor.Since the restaurant did nothave licence to serve liquor, thepolice nabbed six staff mem-bers, including the cook andthree waiters.

However, the owner of therestaurant managed to escapefrom the police net. All thedetained persons have beentaken to the District Hospitalfor blood test. A case has beenlodged under various sectionsof the IPC as well as under sec-tions of the Central Excise Actand the Madhya PradeshExcise Foreign Liquor rules.

Acting on a tip off, a raidwas conducted at the ChickenCentre around midnight onMonday by a police party

under the command of theUniversity CSP.

Speaking to the media per-sons, CSP Munish Rajouria,said that police conducted theraid on receiving informationthat the Chawala ChickenCentre was illegally servingliquor to its guests.

He further said that theaccused have been identified asBank, Finance and Telecomemployees. The CSP addedthat they would be produced inthe court on Tuesday. A man-hunt is on for the manager-cum-owner of the restaurantwho took advantage of thedarkness and commotion to getaway.

According to some mem-bers of the raiding party, whenthey reached the spot, theycould hear loud music beingplayed. Inside the eatery liquorwas being served without prop-er permit.

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The educational programme'Do and Learn' by Indira

Gandhi Rashtriya ManavSangarahalaya will begin fromApril 24. The programme isorganised with the aim ofintroducing participants to var-ious arts of the country.

This year, training will beprovided in Traditional GondPainting, Bhil Painting, SawaraPainting of Odisha, Clay Art ofManipur, Clay Modeling, Tribal

Jewelery Making of Bhil tribes,Maandne Painting of MeenaTribes of Rajasthan & DigitalPhotography. Children fromthe age group of 8 and 14 yearscan participate in the pro-gramme.

The aspirants can getthemselves registered for thisprogramme from IGRMS, gateno 1 by paying �10 from April20. The registration fee is �250.Participants will be selected onfirst come first get basis. Forfurther information contacton 0755-2526555 or 2526548.

Besides, various pro-grammes are being organisedat Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangarahalaya(IGRMS) under SwachhataPakhawada 2019 which isobserved from April, 16 to 30,2019. Different programmesdealing with various subjectswill be organised under theweek.

On the occasion of inau-guration of Swachhata pledgewas taken in the museumpremises for Cleanliness ourCampus. On this occasion,

employees and officials of themuseum took oath adminis-tered by Joint Director ofIGRMS, Dilip Singh, ITS.

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AIIMS, Bhopal, organisedthe ‘Swachhta Pakhwada,

2019’ from April 1 to 15. Onthe last day of the fortnight, a‘Valedictory Function’ wasorganised. Prof (Dr) SarmanSingh, Director, AIIMS, Bhopalchaired the function as ChiefGuest.

Prof (Dr) ManishaShrivastava, MedicalSuperintendent and NodalOfficer Swachhta Action Plan,AIIMS Hospital, has given abrief presentation on theSwachhta Pakhwada Activities.Activities undertaken duringthe Pakhwada was highlightedthrough a power point presen-tation for all audience. Manyactivities towards the CleanlinessDrive, Beautification of Hospital,Preparation of list of OldRecords & Equipment forDisposal and Optimisation ofOffice Space, Sensitisation dri-ves on Hand washing,Segregation of Bio MedicalWaste, Quiz Competition,

Celebration of World HealthDay, Nukkad Natak, EssayWriting Competition etc. werethe main attractions of theSwachhta Pakhwada.

During the fortnight, PreetiSudan, Secretary (Health), DrPromila Gupta, PrincipalConsultant and DGHSNominee, Dr DharmendraSingh Gangwar, Addl Secretary& Financial advisor, SunilSharma, Joint Secretary(PMSSY) and other dignitariesof the Ministry of Health &Family Welfare, Governmentof India inspected the Swachhta

Pakhwada activities ofAIIMS Hospital on April 10,2019 and has appreciated thecleanliness work of AIIMSBhopal Hospital.

At the Valedictory func-tion, Prof Sarman Singh,Director, gave away award to allthe winning contestants of var-ious competitions with prizesand certificate of appreciation.Speaking on the occasion, ProfSarman Singh highlighted theimportance of cleanliness par-

ticularly for health & hygieneand said that this is the great ini-tiative of Government of India,we all should take actively partin day to day Swachhta activitiesand contributes in this great ini-tiative for development of insti-tution, society and country as awhole.

He further added that it isteam work and credit of well-organised Swachhta Pakhwadaactivities goes to all employeesof AIIMS, Bhopal. He speciallyappreciated the work being car-ried out by the employeesengaged in the cleanliness work

and activities at AIIMS, Bhopal.He also said that many othereconomically weaker likeAfrican and Arabian countriesare also cleaner than Indiabecause of social responsibilitiesby the citizens of those countries.If we have to achieve this objec-tive; we all should have tochange our mindset towardsCleanliness. Speaking on theoccasion; Santosh Sohgaura, DyDirector (Administration)appreciated the work of estab-lishing of Gandhyan Galleryand activities of SwachhtaPakhwada in AIIMS, Bhopal.

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Aladdin is one of the mostexciting shows we are

doing,” said young actors—Avneet Kaur and SiddharthNigam.

Avneet essaying the role ofPrincess Yasmine and Siddharth

essaying the role of Aladdinwere in Bhopal on Tuesday toshare their experiences and sto-ries about the show.

This fantasy show is set tobring jaw dropping twists andturns in the upcoming weeks tokeep its viewers hooked totheir television screens. As

Ginoo’s (Raashul Tandon) trueidentity has come out into theopen, he is now under Zafar’s(Aamir Dalvi) command whohas turned him from good toevil with an intent to take for-ward his wicked intentions.On the other hand, a romanceis set to bloom. Situations have

brought Aladdin and Yasminecloser and the two are about toconfess their love for eachother. With all this coming up,there are a lot more excitingrevelations in pipeline for theviewers, set to keep them gluedto their TV screens.

Talking with the media per-sons Siddharth Nigam said,“Playing the role of Aladdin isvery exciting, considering all themagical scenes I get to do. It isalso extremely overwhelming towitness the amount of love ourviewers have garnered uponus. I am very happy to be visit-ing Bhopal and meeting all thelovely people here. The upcom-ing episodes of Aladdin: NaamToh Suna Hoga are surely goingto increase the curiosity levelsamongst the viewers and theyare going to enjoy a lot.”

Avneet Kaur said, “I havealways been fascinated by themagical stories of Aladdin andYasmine and feel really happyto be playing the role of such abeautiful character. It feelsamazing to receive so muchappreciation and affection fromour viewers all around and I amthus, even more excited to visitBhopal and spend some timewith our fans there.”

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A32-year-old worker gotelectrocuted when he

climbed electricity pole forrepairing technical fault inBadjhiri village under Ratibadpolice station area.

Police said that thedeceased, identified asMansaram Verma, used towork with outsourced agencyfor maintenance and while hewas repairing the fault, opera-tor switched on the powersupply injuring him badly andwhen he was rushed to hospi-tal, he was declared dead.

SHO Ratibad AditiBhawsar said that the workerdied at Jhagari and Dial 100took him to Bilkishganj and acase of zero FIR was registeredand later, the case was trans-ferred to Ratibad police. Theinvestigation is in the initialstage and a case under section174 of the CrPC has been reg-istered in case if negligencewould be found action wouldbe taken against the responsi-ble.

The deceased used to workwith an agency assigned withmaintenance work. After hefell, he went unconscious andsustained injuries. He wasrushed to hospital by the localswhere doctors declared himbrought dead and later policewere informed regarding thedeath.

Police said that in theinvestigation if it is found thatthe operator was responsiblefor the death caused due tonegligence action would betaken against him and a caseunder section 304 A of the IPCwould be registered.

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For Indian families, foodcomes first and we do not

usually plan our meals espe-cially during mid afternoon orearly evening snacking time.Snacking smart with almondsis a great way to lead a healthylifestyle, said NutritionistAmita Singh during event orga-nized by California Almondson Tuesday.

She said that almonds havebeen shown to lower total andLDL cholesterol when includedin a healthy diet and might helpin reducing levels of heart-damaging inflammation.

Not just this, a handful of

almonds promotes the feeling offullness, helping you keephunger at bay. They are naturallyhigh in dietary fibre and low insugar.

A unique cookout sessionconducted in Bhopal helpedtake this idea forward, wherealmonds were the main ingre-dient involving unique snackingand festive recipes demonstrat-ed by homemakers of the city.

The session was conductedby Chef Israr Ahmed andNutritionist Amita Singh asthree homemakers Savita Gupta,Renu Maheswari and SurabhiIsrani from the city led the wayin showcasing how almondscould be made a part of our daily

diets through snacking and fes-tival food preparations.

The interactive afternoonkick started with the threehomemakers displaying theirculinary skills by demonstratinga recipe each which featuredalmonds as the hero ingredientin snacking and festive recipes.While the homemakers pre-pared their dishes, nutritionistAmita Singh and Chef IsrarAhmed shared insights intowhy almonds make for a healthysnack. Nutritionist Amita Singhhighlighted that “almonds are apowerhouse of 15 nutrientssuch as vitamin E, magnesiumdietary fibre, protein, andmore.”

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With an aim to maintainsmooth traffic flow and

proper traffic management, ajoint team of police, BMC andPWD officials, inspectedChetak Bridge (Govindpura)trisection and planned forproper regularisation of traf-fic on Tuesday.

The ASP, Traffic, PradeepSingh Chouhan, said thatafter inspecting the black spotusing ‘cones’ temporar ydividers and left turn was cre-ated and deployed addition-al traffic police force to main-tain smooth flow of traffic.

It was a joint inspectionconducted by addl SP TrafficChouhan, SDO PWD SGupta, SE PWDChandrakant, SDO PWDChetak Bridge Ravi Shukla,Sub Engineer BMC HabibKhan.

The team discussed twotypes of planning— long termand short term and in thelater stage, more feasible andeffective panning would be

implemented providing relieffrom traffic chaos.

Addl SP Traffic PradeepSingh Chouhan said that highlevel coordination meetingwith agencies involved inconstruction and mainte-nance of roads and traffic sig-nals have been organised andissues have been shared andwork are done accordinglybut it takes time as there isprocess involved in the imple-mentation which have to befollowed by agencies andpolice.

On Tuesday Blackspotnumber 2—Chetak Bridge(Govindpura side) wasinspected using drone camerato identify the issues with thetraffic movement, blockades,road construction, rotary,road divider, traffic signalsand other objects importantfor smooth traffic and prop-er traffic management.

Few days ago joint teamused the same method used toidentify issues at police con-trol room trisection which isone of the black spots identi-fied by traffic police.

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Page 3: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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A40-year-old man died in amassive fire which broke

out at a garment store atMarwari road in the after-noon on Tuesday. The firewhich broke out in a trans-former spread to the adjacentbuilding engulfing goods worthlakhs of rupees.

Addl SP Zone 3, ManuVyas, said that the deceased ina bid to save goods got sufo-cated, resulting to his death.The fire broke out in the shopand Jain was trying to removemost of the goods but got

trapped in dense smokes whichlead to his death.

After the preliminary inves-tigation the body was sent forthe post mortem and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCwas registered and furtherinvestigation has been started.

The narrow lanes of thebusy old city area once againproved costlier as fire tendersfailed to rescue and save life ofSandeep Jain.

Initially the locals maderounds to remove the goods butlater the fire took massive shapeand when Jain went inside toremove goods he got trapped.

Meanwhile, massive firebroke out a godown of Hindinews daily at Industrial area latein the evening; paper rolls usedfor newspaper printing andscrap was stored at the premis-es.

The fire broke out ataround 7.30 pm on Tuesdaywhich gutted the premisesmeant for paper and scrappaper.

After a local spotted fire,fire brigade was informed and firetenders were rushed to rescue.The loss would run into lakhs ofrupees as the huge flames werewitnessed from long.

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For the second consecutiveday, dark and dense clouds

and dusty storms disruptednormal weather conditionsof the State Capital onTuesday.

Light rainfall was also wit-nessed with the dust stormswhich settled leaving treesand hoardings uprooted anddisrupted power supplies inmost of the areas of the StateCapital.

Rainfall and thunderyactivities were witnessed atseveral places in seven divi-sions in the past 24 hoursbringing down temperaturessignificantly on Tuesday.

Spell of abrupt weather

conditions would continuewarned Met department aswarning of dust storms, thun-dery activities and rainfallwould be witnessed inHoshangabad, Indore,Ujjain,Chambal,Bhopal, Sagar,Shahdol, Rewa and Jabalpurdivisions.

The day temperatureswhich were recorded around42 degree Celsius dipped by 8-10 degree Celsius after rainfalland thundery activities.

After rainfall and thun-dery activities in the statecapital in the evening onMonday significant dip in thetemperatures was recorded.State capital recorded day tem-perature at 34.1 degree Celsiusand night temperature at 23.9

degree Celsius and are likely todip further as forecast by Metdepartment claims that dayand night temperatures wouldbe witnessed around 33 degreeCelsius and 22 degree Celsiusrespectively.

The state capital is likely towitness partial cloudy weath-er conditions and speedywinds along with thunderyactivities are likely to be wit-nessed in the evening.

In the past 24 hoursSailana and Khacrod recorded1 cm of rainfall. The highestday temperature was recordedat 43 degree Celsius inKhajuraho, Nowgong, Damohand Umaria. The tempera-tures turned soft making theweather conditions pleasant.

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For the sports enthusiasts, atwo-month summer camp

‘Summer sports training Camp’is being organised at TT Nagarstadium. The camp is beingorganised by State SportsDepartment.

The summer camp whichhas begun from April 15 willconclude on June 15, 2019. Thisyear, in 15 different sports, thechildren will be trained bytraining their children.Registration Form TT foradmission can be obtainedfrom the stadium office locat-ed at the city stadium.

SL Thhoussen, Director,Sports and Youth Welfare, saidthat summer camp is beingorganized with the aim of pro-viding better opportunities tothe children in the field ofsports and to improve theirskills to become talentedsportspersons. He told thatselected players through thesummer camp can avail theboarding and de-boardingscheme run by the sportsdepartment.

This year golf, fitness pro-gramme and Martial arts festi-val from Manipur has alsobeen included in the summercamp. The camp will be con-ducted under the guidance ofRanbir Singh Laisram. He is themember of World FanobaFederation.

Director Sports and YouthWelfare S. L. Thoussen toldthat the fee for the camp is Rs

800. The summer camp is agood opportunity for the kidsto display their talent and alsoprepare themselves for theupcoming national and inter-national training camps.

Notably, two T-shirts arebeing provided to the childrenby the Department this year.Such children of BPL (livingbelow poverty line) familieswho want to get training inprescribed sports are beinggiven fifty percent discount inthe fee. More than one hun-dred trainers have beenappointed to provide trainingin various camps at SummerCamp. Sports directorThousen described the sum-mer camp event as a goldenopportunity for the childrenand said summer camps haveproved to be very helpful in thepreparation of national andinternational players.

The games in which theparticipants will be trainedduring the summer camp atthe city stadium include bas-ketball, badminton, karate,tennis, soccer, Mallakhamb,boxing, chess boxing, skating,athletics, kabaddi, gymnastics,volleyball, aerobics and bil-liard-snooker games.

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Art is not something a merecombination of brush and

paint, to me art is a universallanguage,” says a city artistSaba Iftikhar.

Saba’s work will be dis-played at a group exhibition ofpaintings and sculpturesAnanda-4. The exhibition willbe put up at Pritamlal DuaGallery, Indore. The groupexhibition will begin fromWednesday that will featureartistic works of various artistsfrom across the country.

Ananda-4 is being orga-nized by Art 20-20 group. Inthis exhibition, Saba Iftikharwill be presenting her art series

‘Enigma’. While talking abouther art series with The Pioneer,Saba said, “My latest series,Enigma, symbolises theMuslim woman's attire as a bar-rier, protecting the inside andthe personal from the outside;a barrier of choice rather thanoppression. True freedom shebelieves is in this opportunityto choose.”

As many as two paintingsfrom the series Enigma will bedisplayed at the exhibitionfor the art lovers. Saba is oneof the talented artists of thecity.

Born in Belgium andraised in the Middle East,Saba Iftikhar is a British artistof Indian origin, currently

based in India. Shaped bymany cultures, her work aimsto connect people from allspheres of life. Her works

have been exhibited in differ-ent cities of India, the UK andthe UAE.

As shared by her Bbing a

Muslim woman in the artcommunity, her peers oftenmistook Iftikhar's attire for asymbol of oppression.

Keeping her experiences inmind, she created art seriesEnigma which will be a visu-al treat for all the art lovers.

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Issuing clear warning to theBJP against any attempt to

topple his Government, ChiefMinister Kamal Nath atChhindwara stated that anyattempts in this regard wouldnot succeed.

Notably, several BJP seniorleaders have in the past open-ly claimed that this Congressgovernment would not lastfive years. BJP general secretaryKailash Vijayvargiya in thepast had claimed that theycould bring down the govern-ment any time and onlyrequired a nod from the highcommand.

Nath sought to respond toall these claims during an elec-tion meeting in Chhindwara onTuesday when he asked the BJPnot to think on these lines, if atall there was any conspiracyunderway. “You won’t succeed,”Nath added. Nath alsoslammed the BJP governmentin the centre and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on theoccasion.

The CM’s remark comesdays after when he had open-ly alleged that the Centre wastrying to destabilise and malign

the MP Government. Nath’soutburst had followed IT raidson several persons includinghis close aides.

The Congress governmenthas been hanging dangerouslyafter the grand old partysecured only 114 seats, twoshort of majority and BJPemerged as a strong oppositionwith 109 seats in assemblypolls. The Kamal Nath gov-ernment is afloat with the sup-port of four independents, twoBSP and one SP MLA.

Later, addressing anotherpublic rally in Balaghat, Nathalleged that the BJP was alwaysa party which believed in fakeand hollow promises andarousing sentiments of thepublic.

Nath claimed those whohave no record of nationalismare talking about nationalismand terrorism. PM Modi whoacts as saviour of the public isonly trying to convert his liesinto truths, added Nath.

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The two-day handloom exhi-bition The Saffron Saga-

Spring Summer Edit conclud-ed here on Tuesday with a lotof fervour. The exhibition cumsale was put up at BhojpurClub.

The fair began here fromMonday brought a huge range ofhandcrafted materials. Thesematerials have been designed indifferent patterns and prints.Besides, the South Indian Cottonmaterials in saris and suits are inmuch demand by the citizens.

The Saffron Saga, womenclothing brand has arrived withthe sparkling and fizzy shades oftheir regions which is captivat-ing the interest of the shopaholicsof the city.

The fair displayed a rare col-lection in the cotton handloomwhich is captivating a hugecrowd in the city. This collectionis specially designed and hand-crafted by the designers of TheSafforn Saga. Truly Indian inspirit, the Saffron Saga is a melt-ing pot of handcrafted fashionand home ensemble from acrossIndia.

The fair showcased a col-

lection in Chanderi andMaheshwari cotton fromMadhya Pradesh. It also shareda collection of Kashmiri cotton,Kosa silk in saris and dressmaterials.

There is an array of won-derful colour combinations inbrown, shades of blue, white,black, red, green and also sometraditional colours like royalblue, gold and silver lining workhas enhanced the look of thehandloom material.

This striking summer, thefair is evoking a good responseand the vendors are having asatisfactory sale at the fair.The fair has become a majorattraction for those lookingfor new stuff for theirwardrobe.

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Annoyed with the Congress,tribal outfit Jai Adivasi

Yuva Shakti (JAYS) Tuesdaysaid it would field candidateson four out of six Lok Sabhaseats in Madhya Pradeshreserved for Scheduled Tribes.

JAYS State president AntimMuzalda said the names of thecandidates for Ratlam, Dhar,Khargone and Betul Lok Sabhaseats would be announced onApril 21. Shahdol and Mandlaare the other two seats whichare reserved for STs in the state.

"We had supported theCongress during theNovember 2018 Assemblyelections, but it went back onits promises. We were assuredof being made part of the(Congress) government,"Muzalda told.

"We were also told that ouropinion will be honouredwhile selecting candidates forRatlam, Dhar, Khargone andBetul Lok Sabha seats (all STseats). None of this has hap-pened and the Congressannounced its own candidates.Therefore, our leaders willcontest as Independent candi-dates from these four seats,"the JAYS leader said.

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JAYS, which claims to havefive lakh youth members but isnot yet registered as a politicaloutfit, managed to win oneAssembly seat in theNovember, 2018 state polls.

JAYS national convenerHiralal Alawa was elected asMLA from Manawar on a

Congress ticket.Alawa, a doctor who

joined politics after resigningfrom Delhi's AIIMS, said, "Weare fighting for tribal issues. Igot elected as MLA on aCongress ticket but this doesnot mean the Congress hasbought out our organisation."

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Page 4: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Controversy erupted hereTuesday after the railway

administration removed a pic-ture of bandit-turned-politi-cian Phoolan Devi from aboundary wall.

The local Mallah commu-nity felt offended, while theRajput leaders asked why herpicture figured on the wall inthe first place. The picture ofPhoolan Devi on the boundarywall of the local railway stationwas painted over on April 13.

It was among the picturesof 35 eminent women includ-ing Mother Teresa and theQueen of Jhansi Rani Laxmi Baipainted on the wall.

When contacted, RatlamRail Division's DivisionalRailway Manager RL Sunkarsaid that after the administra-tion learned about "the con-troversial picture" of PhoolanDevi, it was removed.

A private university haspainted pictures of eminentwomen on the boundary wall ina bid to beautify the railway sta-tion under a corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) initiative,he said.

"The agency working underCSR has been told strictly notto paint a picture of any per-sonality without approval of therailway administration," Sunkarsaid.

But the action did not go

down well with the local Mallah(boatmen) community, towhich Phoolan Devi belonged.President of the MadhyaPradesh Manjhi Machhua andAdivasi Mahasangh ChandraShekhar Raikwar said, "It is veryunfortunate that the picture wasremoved. Our community'sdelegation would soon meetrailway officials and demandthat it be restored.

Phoolan Devi's life was thestory of a woman's struggle, hesaid. "She took up arms againstatrocities. She reachedParliament after winning anelection, leaving the life of abandit behind.

We will not tolerate aninsult to her," he said.

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Chief Electoral Officer VLKantha Rao took a meeting

of officers of the departmentsin connection to the prepara-tions of Lok Sabha Election-2019. He instructed thatresponsibilities and dutiesentrusted to them for electionshould be shouldered withutmost seriousness and inresponsible manner and itshould be completed prior tothe day of voting.

Rao directed the GeneralAdministration Departmentthat a notification should bereleased to declare holiday on

the day of voting. A list of suit-able officers for working asobserver during the electionwork should be made available.The Commercial TaxesDepartment has been instruct-ed that an order in connectionto ban sale of liquor on the dayof voting and counting shouldbe issued. Similarly, the HigherEducation and SchoolEducation Departments havebeen directed to ensure basicnecessary facilities in pollingbooths made in schools andcolleges.

Rao gave directives to theFood and Civil SuppliesDepartment to ensure supply of

petrol and diesel in the statefrom the day of the electionnotification till the end of elec-tion process. The HomeDepartment has been instruct-ed to send demand for centralforces besides sanction of hon-orarium/ ex-gratia for policepersonnel and central forcesand to hold coordination meet-ing with officers of the bor-dering states and police deploy-ment plan.

The Chief Electoral Officerhas directed the Public HealthEngineering Department formaking arrangement of drink-ing water at polling booths. TheLabour Department has been

told to issue notice as regard todeclaring holiday in the entireprivate and government insti-tutions of the state on the dayof voting. Likewise, the PublicWorks department has beendirected for repair of pollingbooths, roads connectingpolling booths and for instal-lation of barricades.

Besides, the Public Healthand Family WelfareDepartment and EnergyDepartment have beeninstructed to provide medicaland health services to electionworkers, police personnel anduninterrupted supply of powerin the state on the day of vot-

ing along with electricityarrangement at polling boothsrespectively. Similarly, theRevenue Department has beendirected for printing of forms,envelopes and books related toelection and the Law andLegislative Affairs Departmenthas been instructed to issuenotification in connection toempowering zonal officers andsector magistrates with powersof special executive magistrate.

Those who present in themeeting include the AdditionalChief Electoral OfficersSandeep Yadav and ArunKumar Tomar, Joint ChiefElectoral Officers Rajesh Kaul,

AbhijitAgrawal and Deputy Chief

Electoral Officers RakeshKushre, Rajesh Shrivastava andofficers of other departments.

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So far 94 nomination papers of67 candidates have been

received for the elections in fifthphase in the state under LokSabha Elections-2019. On thefirst day for the election of thesixth phase, 5 candidates pre-sented 5 nomination papers.

Seven out of total 29Parliamentry Constituencieswhich are Tikamgarh (SC),Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna,Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul(ST) are included in the fifthphase. While in the sixth phase,8 parliamentary constituen-cies which are Morena, Bhind(SC), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar,Vidisha, Bhopal and Rajgarhare included.

In the fifth phase, 9 nom-ination papers of 9 candidatesin Tikamgarh parliamentaryconstituency, 12 of 7 candidatesin Damoh, 7 of 6 candidates inKhajuraho, 26 nominations of16 candidates in Satna, 16 of 13

candidates in Rewa, 15 of 8candidates in Hoshangabadand 9 nominations of 8 candi-dates in Betul have beenreceived till date from April 10the date of notification forelection of fifth phase.

On Tuesday, the fifth day ofsubmission of nominationpapers, 31 candidates submit-ted 40 nomination papers. Ofthese, 6 nominations of 6 can-didates were received inTikamgarh, 3 of 2 candidates inDamoh, 5 of 4 candidates inKhajuraho, 15 of 9 in Satna, 7of 7 candidates in Rewa, one ofone candidate in Hoshangabadand 3 nominations of 2 candi-dates in Betul.

Notification of election forsixth phase was issued today.On the first day of this phase,one nomination paper wasreceived from one candidate inGwalior, two of two candidatesin Guna and one of one candi-date each in Bhopal andRajgarh.

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Congress and Aam AadmiParty (AAP) on Tuesday

come on the same platform toseek review of the ElectionCommission’s decision totransfer Punjab Police IGKunwar Vijay Partap Singh, amember of the SIT probing the 2015 sacrilege and policefiring incidents.

A joint delegation of lead-ers of both the parties —including Punjab Congresspresident Sunil Jakhar, PunjabCabinet Minister Tript RajinderSingh Bajwa, AAP MLA andthe Leader of Opposition inVidhan Sabha Harpal Cheema,AAP’s ‘rebel’ MLA Nazar SinghMansahia, and Dakha MLA HSPhoolka — called upon theChief Election Commissionerseeking review of its April 5decision.

The delegation urged theCentral poll panel head that thecomplaint by the Akalis wasaimed at tampering with theinvestigation into a very sensi-tive issue and the true facts hadnot been brought to theCommission’s notice.

After the meeting, the del-

egation members maintainedthat the Commission hadassured them that it would lookinto their representation.

On the orders of theElection Commission, the StateGovernment had relieved IGKunwar Vijay as IG Intelligence(Organised Crime ControlUnit), and also as the memberof Special Investigation Team(SIT) probing the sacrilege andrelated police firing cases, andposted him as IGP Counter-Intelligence at Amritsar againsta vacant post.

The directions came fol-lowing a complaint by theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD)against the cop on March 22alleging him of giving a “politi-cally-motivated” interview on aTV channel on March 18 and 19.

Acting on the same, thepoll panel had directed the stateChief Secretary to “immedi-ately” relive Kunwar Vijay fromhis present posting, while mak-ing it clear that he should notbe given any post related toconduct of elections.

The Commission has alsodirected that action may be ini-tiated against him for the “laps-es or violations”.

The Commission, in itsorder dated April 5, stated thatafter examining the complaintfiled by SAD’s Rajya Sbaha MPNaresh Gujral, “it was found

that the officer have political-ly motivated interview to a TVChannel on 18 and 19 Marchabout ongoing investigationby SIT and made certain polit-

ical comments”.“It has also been observed

that the contents of the part ofthe interview has political con-notations and has the potential

to show certain political lead-ers in poor light. The officeralso mentioned the name ofleaders of SAD which is clear-ly in violation of the provisionof Model Code of Conduct,”stated the Commission.

Notably, the Congress hadsubmitted a representation toPunjab Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) S Karuna Raju accusingthe SAD of “using” the ElectionCommission to “sabotage” theongoing probe by the SIT intothe sacrilege and police firingincidents by filing “frivolous”complaints against the officer.

Only previous week, thefamilies of Behbal Kalan andKotkapura police firing victimsand injured had filed a repre-sentation with the Punjab ChiefElectoral Officer Dr S KarunaRaju to appeal against thetransfer of IG Kunwar VijayPratap contending that themove would hamper the out-come of the probe which isinching towards the conclusion.

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Chandigarh: Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) on Tuesday said thatthe joint conspiracy, hatched bythe Congress, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) and Punjab Ekta Party(PEP), to politicize the unfor-tunate police action at BehbalKalan and Kotkapura had beenexposed with all three partiesapproaching the ElectionCommission to undo the trans-fer of SIT member and IGKunwar Vijay Pratap which hadbeen done on merit after exam-ination of all facts of the case.

“The Congress party isagain lying that the SIT inves-

tigation into the police firinghas been stopped when thetruth is that only one memberof the SIT, Kunwar VijayPratap, has been transferredbecause he had violated themodel code of conduct by giv-ing a political interview on theissue. No investigation isstopped due to implementationof model code of conduct,” saidSAD senior vice-presidentDaljit Singh Cheema.

Cheema said that it seemedthat the Congress party, inleague with AAP and PEP, hadconspired to further politicize

the inquiry into the policeaction and were now feelingfrustrated that they had beenthwarted from implementingthese nefarious goals.

“By politicising this issue,Congress and other parties areinsulting State DGP, SIT chair-man as well as other membersand also the State police force bystating that only IG KunwarVijay Pratap could investigatethe matter...The IG should alsoavoid teaming up with politicalparties in this manner as it wasshowing the entire police forcein bad light,” he said. PNS

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For the first time, ‘SakhiMatdan Kendras’ would be

set up in each assembly seg-ment of Haryana to dissemi-nate the message of womenempowerment during theensuing Lok Sabha polls.

These Kendras wouldexclusively run by women onlyand no male personnel wouldbe present on these Kendras,”said Haryana chief electoralofficer (CEO), Rajeev Ranjanon Tuesday.

A total of about 1.73 crorevoters (1,73,55,247) including93.06 lakh males (93,06,532)and 80.48 lakh females(80,48,715) constitute the elec-toral roll across the state, whichhas a population of 2.53 crore(according to Census 2011).

There are 90 Assemblysegments in Haryana.

Ranjan said that this ini-tiative would go a long way inspreading message in the soci-ety that women could not onlyparticipate in the elections butalso get these conducted in anefficient manner.

He said extensive steps arebeing taken to increase par-

ticipation of women in thedemocratic system. With anaim to increase their vote per-centage in the election thistime, programmes are beingorganised regularly to makethem aware about their right,he added.

The chief electoral officersaid that arrangement of sep-arate queue for women wouldbe made on each polling cen-tre in the State. While castingvote, priority would be given tothose women who are preg-nant and near delivery andthose who are having childrenbelow three years of age.

In those polling centreswhere the number of women inthe queue is more than 15, twowomen would be allowed to casttheir vote after every singlemale voter so that women neednot to stand in the queue for toolong in summer. Apart fromthis, arrangement of separatetoilets for women would also bemade at the polling site, headded.

Ranjan said that transportfacility would be made avail-able to the Divyang womenvoters to bring them to the vot-ing centre and also to dropthem back at their residence.

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Punjab Director General ofPolice, Dinkar Gupta on

Tuesday inaugurated 8th All-India Women Artists’Contemporary Art Exhibitionhere at the Galleries of FineArts Museum, PanjabUniversity, Chandigarh.

Addressing the partici-pants, Gupta said art is anexpression of women’s empow-erment. Lauding the efforts oforganisers to showcase thework of women painters heexpressed that women areequally powerful and talentedas men in every sphere of life.

On the occasion he alsogave away the awards to the win-ners in different categories. Inprofessional category KavitaMehrotra from Lukhnow, UttarPradesh was awarded with cashprize of Rs 50,000 for her paint-ing ‘Exist of Life’, and NehaJaiswal from Allahabad, UP forPaturkar ‘Campanion’ with Rs45,000.

In the same category, PreetiDhaniya from Panchkula washonoured for ‘Bounded PreciousTime’ with Rs 40,000 and VarshaMithun Niranjan from Solapur,Maharashtra for ‘Good Morning’with cash award of Rs 35,000.

In students category AratiMaurya for her painting

‘Qurisity-3’ and Reetu (bothfrom Khairaghar, Chattisgarh)for ‘Emergence’ were awardedRs 25,000 each. In the same cat-egory, Agomoni Sen fromRanchi, Jharkhand for her cre-ation ‘Inward Looking’ andPriya Sisodiya fromHyderabad, Telangana for ‘3Generations’ with cash prizes ofRs 20,000 each.

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Ahead of Lok Sabha poll inGiridih prohibitory orders

under CrPC Section 144 hasbeen imposed banning rallies,meetings and use of loud-speakers without prior per-mission in Bokaro, Chas,Bermo and Gomia assemblyconstituency till 23 December,said KN Jha DeputyCommissioner Bokaro cumElectoral Officer of Giridih LSConstituency.

The administration alsoput restrictions on defacing ofpublic property, putting up ofbillboards and banners, andother activities related to polls.For any such activity priorpermission has to be obtainedfrom the concerned Nodalofficer or District Collector, hesaid.

“It bans a gathering ormoving of more than five peo-ple at one place also for ralliesand protests; bans also includecarrying weapons as well as any

sharp equipment,” added DC.Nomination for Giridih

Lok Sabha Constituency hasbeen started; candidates can filetheir nomination papers beforethe District Electoral Officer atBokaro between 11 am to 3 pmtill 23 April.

April 23 is the last date forthe candidates to file nomina-tion for the Giridih LS seatwhile scrutiny would be doneon April 24. Candidates canwithdraw from the poll fray by26 April. The voting date is 12

May and counting of the votewill be conducted on 23 May,informed Jha.

For nomination, a candi-date belongs form general cat-egory will have to deposit Rs.25,000 and Rs. 12,500 for theST/ SC candidate as securityand the candidate has to filehis nomination paper in foursets of the documents.

During the nomination,only four persons would beallowed to accompany thecandidate before the electoral

officer. Only three vehiclesare allowed to accompany thecandidate must have to park ata safe distance (100 meters) forthe nomination, said Jha.

“Use of vehicles by leadersand political parties will alsorequire prior permission,” saidan official. The request for per-mission for the landing ofChoppers by the political par-ties has to be submitted to theDC Bokaro along with expen-diture details, officials said.

On the first day of filing

nominations for Lok Sabhaelections under the sixthphase, in Giridih 9 nominationforms were bought by candi-dates. Chandra ParkasChoudhary from AJSU-BJP,Jagarnath Mahato JMM andSimmi Suman form Shiv Senawhile six as independentbought the paper wereDwarika Prasad Lal, ChandraDeo Prasad, Lalu Kewat,Madhusudan Singh, NarayanGiri and Ajit, an officialinformed.

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Page 5: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Worried over deliberateattempts by certain

groups to malign the poll body,a group of former civil servants,defence personnel, judges andacademicians wrote to PresidentRam Nath Kovind, expressingconcerns over alleged attemptsbeing made by certain groups to“discredit” the ElectionCommission by casting asper-sions on its neutrality.

The letter, signed by near-ly 80 former civil servants,defence officers, judges, acad-emicians and professionals,said “slurs” are being levelledagainst the poll body anddoubts are being raised on itsability to hold free and fair elec-tions. The letter was inresponse to an earlier pleamade by a group of former civilservants expressing concernover the credibility and func-tioning of the ElectionCommission for failing to dealwith alleged cases of poll vio-lations, particulary thoseinvolving the ruling party.Among those who signed theletter included former DelhiPolice commissioner RS Gupta,Air Marshal (retd) RC Bajpai,former diplomat Ashok Kumar,Lt. Gen. AK Sahni.

“We have come to expressconcerns over attempts beingmade by certain groups to dis-credit the EC which has beentime-tested and great credibil-ity not just in India, but allacross the world,” the letter tothe President said. This, the let-ter added, gives rise to suspicionthat a deliberate attempt isbeing made by groups with

“vested interests” to denigratesuch institutions of democracyby undermining their position.

“This appears to be part ofa larger design to influence itsdecision-making and to makeit conform to a particular lineof behaviour and thought,” theletter said. Referring to the

objections raised by the groupon Prime Minister NarendraModi’s biopic, the letter said,“The very people who have castaspersions on the indepen-dence of the ElectionCommission have appeared tohave succeeded in influencingthe decision of the poll body in

banning the biopic made by anindependent producer. It maybe noted that the decision wasdelivered only after the releaseof the open letter by the groupof (former) civil servants.”

Last week, the EC bannedthe release of the biopic, titled“PM Narendra Modi”, until its

further orders.The letter also pointed out

that the said group is trying tostop a 10-part web series‘Modi-A Common Man’sJourney’, five episodes of whichhave already been screenedbefore the model code of con-duct came into effect.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Tuesday issued

notification for the sixth andpenultimate phase of LokSabha elections to be held onMay 12 in 59 seats acrossseven states. All the sevenseats in Delhi will also go forpolling in the sixth phase.

With the issuance of noti-fication, the process of filingnominations has begun. Thelast date of filing nominationsis April 24.The poll for the sixthphase will be held on May 12.

Some of the constituenciesgong to poll are: ValmikiNagar, Paschim Champaran,Purvi Champaran, Sheohar,Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan andMaharajganj in Bihar.

In Uttar Pradesh,Sultanpur, Pratapgarh,Phulpur, Allahabad, AmbedkarNagar, Shrawasti,Domariyaganj, Basti, SantKabir Nagar, Lalganj,Azamgarh, Jaunpur,Machhlishahr and Bhadohiare going for polls.

Like Delhi, Lok Sabha elec-tions will be held in a singlephase in Haryana also.Tikamgarh, Damoh,Khajuraho, Chhindwara andHoshangabad in MadhyaPradesh will also go for elec-

tions in the sixth phase. The seven-phase elections

began on April 11 and will endon May 19. Uttar Pradesh,

Bihar and West Bengal willhead for voting in all the sevenphases of the general elections.

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New Delhi: A plea in theSupreme Court Tuesdaysought direction to theElection Commission toensure safety and security ofelectronic voting machines(EVMs) after Lok Sabha polls.The plea, filed by MSrinivasan, president of TamilNadu Annal Ambedkar LawAssociation, has referred tonews reports on apprehensionsof some Opposition partiesthat EVMs may be tamperedwith even after the polls. Thepetition, which may come up

for hearing next week, said thatthe Chief ElectionCommissioner be directed toensure that EVMs are nottampered with during the postpolls period. PNS

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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has

attached property worth �6.19crore of controversial Jammu &Kashmir-based businessmanZahoor Ahmad Shah Wataliand his family members underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) in theongoing investigations in a ter-ror funding case relating to ter-ror financing by Pakistani ter-ror groups for fuelling jehad inthe Valley.

The terror financing casewas earlier registered by theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) against HafizMuhammad Saeed (founderof Lashkar-e-Tayyeba andJ a m a a t - U d - D a w a ) ,Mohammad. Yusuf Shah aliasSyed Salahuddin (chief ofbanned terror group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen) and others.

Watali allegedly acted as aconduit for Hurriyat leaders forraising funds from Pakistan forperpetrating terror in the Valleyand destroying governmentinfrastructure like schools.

ED had initiated the probe

under PMLA based onchargesheet filed by (NIA)against Saeed, Salahuddin,Aftab Ahmad Shah aliasFantoosh, Nayeem AhmadKhan, Farooq Ahmad Dar aliasBitta Karate, MohammadAkbar Khanday, RajaMehrajuddin Kalwal, BashirAhmad Bhat and Watalibesides Kamran Yusuf andJaved Ahmad Bhat under var-ious sections of the IndianPenal Code and Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act. “During investigations

under PMLA, it is revealed thatthe Hurriyat leaders havereceived funds from Pakistanthrough conduits and also fromthe Pakistan High Commissiondirectly. This was substantiat-ed by an incriminating docu-ment seized from the house ofGhulam Mohd. Bhatt duringsearches,” the ED said.

Bhat worked as the cashier-cum-accountant with Watali.The document clearly indi-cates that Watali was receivingmoney from Hafiz Saeed (Headof Jamaat-ud-Dawa), from ISI,from the Pakistan HighCommission at New Delhi andalso from a source based inDubai.

Watali was remitting thesame to the Hurriyat leaders,separatists and stone-peltersof Jammu and Kashmir. Thesaid document has been main-tained in regular course of hisbusiness and is signed byWatali himself. This documentalso indicates that Hurriyatleaders were receiving fundsfrom Pakistan through the offi-cials of Pakistan High

Commission and throughWatali. The signature of Watalihas also been verified and asper the expert report, his sig-nature on the questioned doc-ument matches with his spec-imen handwriting as well as hisadmitted handwriting. Watalialong with other nine accusedare under judicial custody atTihar Jail here.

The ED probe revealedthat another accused NavalKishore Kapoor has mobilizedfunds from unknown sourcesin Dubai and remitted thesame to Watali and his com-pany Trison Farms andConstruction Pvt. Ltd. Thesaid transactions were carriedout in the guise of a lease agree-ment between Trison Farmsand Construction Pvt. Ltd.and Naval Kishore Kapoorwhich was found to be only alegal façade to bring fundsfrom unknown sources inDubai to India.

The ED probe has estab-lished proceeds of crime to thetune of �7.22 crore. Theattached properties includeland at Sozeith Goripora,Narbal, Budgam belonging to

Watali and his family members,worth �6.19 crore.

One property of Watali islocated in Gurugram, having avalue of �1.03 crore, establishedas proceeds of crime will beattached soon, sources said.

Watali has been found tobe involved in fund raising andas a financial conduit forHurriyat Leaders. NIA investi-gation also revealed that the AllParty Hurriyat Conference(APHC) and other secession-ists instigate the general pub-lic, especially the youth, toobserve strikes and issue direc-tives to the masses to hold anti-India protests, demonstrationsand processions through pressreleases, newspapers and socialmedia.

The secessionists instigatethe masses to resort to violenceespecially stone-pelting on thesecurity forces at encountersites and also after the disper-sal of Friday prayers. This hasbeen done willfully to createsuch circumstances which willarouse disaffection among thepeople of Jammu & Kashmirtowards the Government ofIndia, the agency said.

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India and Thailand will dis-cuss the entire range of bilat-

eral maritime issues andexplore new avenues of defenceco-operation during NavyChief Admiral Sunil Lanba’sthree-day visit there startingfrom Wednesday.

The visit is intended toconsolidate and enhance thenavy to navy relations betweenthe two countries.

Giving details of the visit,navy officials said here onTuesday Lanba will hold bilat-eral discussions with GeneralPonpipaat Benyasri, Chief ofDefence Forces, Royal ThaiArmed Forces, AdmiralLuechai Ruddit, Commander-in-Chief Royal Thai Navy andother senior government offi-cials. In addition, Lanba willvisit the Royal Thai Navy andRoyal Thai Armed ForcesHeadquarters in Bangkok andthe 3rd Naval Area Commandat Phuket.

India has historical link-ages with Thailand which dateback several centuries. Thetwo countries established for-

mal diplomatic relations in1947. The defence relation-ship between India andThailand has matured over theyears, with the two countriessigning a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on DefenceCooperation in January 2012.The Defence Cooperationbetween the two countries isbeing progressed through theAnnual High Level DefenceDialogue, the 7th edition ofwhich was held in March 2019at New Delhi.

The Indian Navy cooper-ates with the Royal Thai Navyon many fronts, which includeoperational interactions, train-ing exchanges and hydrographycooperation. These activitiesare coordinated between thenavies through the medium ofNavy-to-Navy Staff Talks, the11th edition of which were held

at Bangkok in March 2019.The Royal Thai Navy is

also a member of the IndianOcean Naval Symposium(IONS) and actively partici-pates in the three IONSWorking Groups, viz‘Humanitarian Assistance andDisaster Relief ’ (HADR),‘Maritime Security’ and‘Information Sharing andInteroperability’.

Meanwhile, the two-weeklong joint exercise betweenthe navies of Australia andIndia codenamed AUSINDEXconcluded last week inVisakhapatnam. The currentedition of the exercise, thethird one, in last few years, sawthe participation of the highestnumber of units with fourfrontline ships with integralhelicopters, one submarine anda variety of aircraft including P-8 I and P-8 A long range mar-itime reconnaissance anti-sub-marine warfare aircraft.Moreover, for the first time 55American and 20 New Zealandmilitary embarked onboardthe Australian ships and wit-nessed the exercises, officialssaid.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday agreed to hear a pleaseeking permission for Muslimwomen to enter mosques tooffer prayers and asked theCentre to respond to it.

A Bench of justices SABobde and SA Nazeer told thepetitioners’ counsel that it wouldhear the matter only in view ofthe apex court’s judgement inthe Sabrimala temple case.

“The only reason we mayhear you is because of ourjudgement in the Sabarimalacase. Otherwise you are notgiving us satisfactory answers,”the bench told the counselappearing for petitionersYasmeen Zuber AhmadPeerzade and Zuber AhmadNazir Ahmad Peerzade.

On September 28 last year,a five-judge constitution benchof the apex court, in its 4:1 ver-dict, had paved the way forentry of women of all ages intothe Sabarimala temple inKerala, saying the ban amount-ed to gender discrimination.

Besides the Centre, theapex court also issued noticesto the Ministry of Law andJustice, Ministry of MinorityAffairs, National Commissionfor Women, Maharashtra StateBoard of Waqfs, Central WaqfCouncil and the All IndiaMuslim Personal Law Board,seeking their replies on the pleafiled by the Pune-based couple.

During the hearing onTuesday, the apex court askedthe petitioners’ lawyer as towhether the right to equalitycould be invoked against pri-vate individuals.

“Can you invoke Article 14(equality before law) of theConstitution and claim equaltreatment from another humanbeing?” the bench said, adding,“Is a mosque a state? Is a tem-ple a state? Is a church a state?”

The Bench also sought toknow from the petitioners howthe state was involved in this.

“Persons in a mosque areindividuals. Where is the stateinvolved in this?” the benchsaid, adding that the funda-mental right to equality can beinvoked against the state andnot against individuals. To this,the petitioners’ counsel saidmosques in the country wereenjoying the benefits and grantsextended to them by the state.

At the outset, when thepetitioners’ counsel said theissue was about the right ofMuslim women to entermosques to offer prayers, thebench had asked, “Who hasdenied this right? Have youtried to enter (a mosque) andwere denied entry?”

The Bench then asked thecounsel about a matter beforethe Bombay High Courtregarding the entry of womenin the Haji Ali Dargah. PTI

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The Supreme Court onTuesday agreed to hear the

Income Tax department’sappeal challenging the MadrasHigh Court order whichquashed criminal prosecutionagainst senior Congress leaderP Chidambaram’s family mem-bers under the black moneylaw.

The top court, however,refused to stay the order of thehigh court.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna issued notice toChidambaram’s wife Naliniand their son Karti, who is con-testing Lok Sabha election fromSivaganga constituency inTamil Nadu.

The Bench also soughtreply from Karti’s wife Srinidhiand others in the case.

The high court hadquashed criminal prosecutioninitiated by the I-T departmentunder the Black Money Actagainst the three.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for the I-Tdepartment, sought stay of thehigh court order of November2, 2018 on various groundsincluding that it can be used byother accused to avoid crimi-nal prosecution in cases relat-ed to black money.

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The Supreme Court onTuesday asked the Centre

to respond to a plea seekingquashing of allotment, exten-sion or continuation of leasesto firms for mining iron orefrom over 358 mines across thecountry without any fresh eval-uation.

A Bench of Justices SABobde and SA Nazeer issuednotice to the Centre on thepetition, which has also soughta direction to the CBI to reg-ister an FIR to probe the mat-ter, and asked senior advocatePS Narasimha to assist it in thecase.

The plea, filed by advocateManohar Lal Sharma, hasalleged that in February thisyear it came to his knowledgethat 288 mining leases wereextended in exchange of “largedonations” which has created a“serious financial loss” to thetune of �4 lakhs crore to pub-lic exchequer.

The petitioner has claimedthat leases have been eithergranted or extended to thefirms for mining iron ores inover 358 mines without eitherany fresh evaluation or adopt-ing the auction process.

It has also sought direc-tions for recovery of marketvalue of the mined minerals inaccordance with the law.

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Three more historical mon-uments-Rani ki Vav in

Gujarat, Khajuraho temples inMadhya Pradesh and AgraFort in Uttar Pradesh are all setto become part of theGovernment’s ‘Digital India’with the Archeological Surveyof India (ASI) planning toinstall automated turnstile gateslike the ones at metro stationsat the entrance and exit points.Tourists will be given a tokenwith inbuilt magnetic chipwhich they have to scan on theturnstile gate to get the entryand drop at the exit gate ontheir way out.

The move. which facili-tates digitisation of ASI’s serviceofferings, aims to ensure trans-parency and cut down paperwastage.

Currently, the digital tech-nology is installed at nine pop-ular monuments including TajMahal in Agra, Humayan’sTomb, Qutub Minar, Red Fortand Old Fort, all in Delhi,Ellora Caves and Bibi KaMaqbara in Auranagabad, SunTemple in Bhubaneswar andShaniwar Wada in Pune.

“Also, a major concern thatwill be addressed by the systemis that it will help to curb anykind of corruption that canoccur during manual ticketing,”said a senior officer from theASI. In future, there is plan to

limit the time that the touristscan spend inside the monu-ments as has been proposed forTaj Mahal. The move will helpcut down the ASI officials tomanage the crowd particular-ly in the popular historicalmonuments like Qutub Minarand Taj Mahal.

However, the much-hypedASI’s �2.5-crore project of reg-ulating visitors entry at the TajMahal by installing automatedturnstile gates has run intorough weather following ongo-ing tussle between the localadministration and some rightwing organizations, includingthe VHP, over “blocking” theway to the 400-year-old

Siddheshwar Mahadev templenear the western gate of themonument. The ASI hasinstalled seven turnstile gates atthis entrance point. The ASI isnow waiting for the ongoiningLok Sabha polls to end to takea final decision in the matter.

A total of 24 turnstile gateshave been installed by the ASI.Officials said that seven each atEast and West gate entrance ofthe Taj Mahal and five each atthe exit of both the gates

The ASI, which is underthe Union Ministry of Culture,has the mandate for conserva-tion and maintenance of over3,678 monuments across thecountry.

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Page 6: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

It is significant that many knowledgeorganisations and institutions inthis country prefer to work entire-ly on their own and seldom joinhands across problem areas or sec-

tors, which might provide far more inte-grated assessments and solutions for thegrowing challenges we face. While theinterlinked nature of human activities —and their globalisation — is becomingincreasingly more complex, it appears thatefforts to work along narrow subjects andalong established silos seem more deeplyentrenched on the Indian scene. This isa major deviation from collaborativetrends in several parts of the world, par-ticularly in the developed countries,even though there are disturbing trendsto the contrary in those nations as well.

A significant example of partnershipsand outcomes thus produced lies in aninteresting series of publication entitled,The Conversation. The subtitle for thisseries describes it as “Academic rigour,journalistic flair.” Indeed, while the analy-sis presented reflects substantial acade-mic rigour, the style in which it is writ-ten is purely that of a conversation, whichmakes it possible for journalists and theaverage public to grasp the depth of whatis conveyed. When Rajiv Gandhi was thePrime Minister of India, this writer senthim a detailed note on the need to bringtogether a group of knowledge organisa-tions, which were working on strategicissues. Rajiv Gandhi’s response was swiftand positive and the Cabinet Secretarywas instructed to convene a meeting ofhalf a dozen knowledge organisations,including The Energy and ResourcesInstitute (TERI), the Institute for DefenceStudies and Analyses (IDSA) and others.The Government agreed in principle toprovide regular support for cooperativeand interactive work between theseorganisations. Unfortunately, like sever-al other initiatives, this one also sufferedfrom the plunging decline in politicalstanding of the Government and itsinability to undertake fresh initiatives.

The Conversation has a number ofsponsors and partners, including theCommonwealth Scientific and IndustrialResearch Organisation (CSIRO) ofAustralia, the University of Melbourne,the Australian National University andseveral others. The CSIRO was pat-terned along the lines of India’s ownCouncil of Scientific & IndustrialResearch (CSIR), but it has gone farbeyond the capabilities of the latter witha strong market orientation and ability togenerate financial resources and foster-ing innovation in various fields.

In general, if we were to analyse thelack of effort on the part of leaders inIndia to reach out and collaborate onissues of contemporary importance, wemay be able to identify a certain level of

hubris and extreme ego on thepart of those responsible forsuch organisations.

Interestingly, a recentissue of The Conversation dis-cussed hubris and described itas: “Hubris is a dangerouscocktail of over-confidence,over-ambition, arrogance andpride fuelled by power andsuccess. When found along-side contempt for the adviceand criticism of others, itcauses leaders to significant-ly overreach themselves, tak-ing risky and reckless deci-sions with harmful, some-times catastrophic conse-quences for themselves, theirorganisations, institutions andeven for society.”

The view seems to be thata number of leaders, both at theglobal and the national levels,today appear to be victims ofhubris. An example can be pro-vided of former US PresidentGeorge W Bush, who over-reached himself in the 2003invasion of Iraq. Similarly, theformer and final CEO ofLehman Brothers, RichardFuld, who, in his overreach,was responsible for the finan-cial crisis bringing down theLehman Brothers with him.Former British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron’s decision tohold a referendum on EUmembership such that he maybe able to stop his party’sEurosceptics on that issue isanother example of hubris.

Supposedly, Cameron made adecision against the advice ofmore reasonable colleaguessuch as George Osborne.

Another issue of TheConversation discussed thearea of bipartisanship where-in even a proud Democrat likeLyndon Johnson workedclosely with GeneralEisenhower when the latterwas President of the US.Similarly, Democrats alsoworked with President RonaldReagan in a similar spirit,which showed the absence ofhubris so prevalent amongleaders of today. A leaderwho is down to earth is sup-posed to identify himself withthe interests of the people heleads. Eisenhower even wentto the extent of defying thedemands of his own party. Itis reported that he refused tocut taxes on those upperincome groups that had tradi-tionally supported and heav-ily influenced his own party.Instead, he worked to cutspending and balance thebudget — a goal he achievedthree times during his twoterms. He supported addi-tions to social security andwent to the extent of a feder-ally funded national highwaysystem, which was supportedby the Democrats as part of apublicly-funded infrastruc-ture programme.

The question is whetherthese leaders are seen by their

followers as larger than lifeand measuring up to thedimensions of a superman, tobe idealised and admired bythem. It is hoped that distin-guished leaders in the futurewould show a certain level ofhumility and shed the hubristhat they appear to haveacquired in recent years.

It is relevant to recall thatthe brightest scientist in histo-ry Albert Einstein is reportedto have said. “I prefer an atti-tude of humility correspond-ing to the weakness of ourintellectual understanding ofnature and of our own being.”

Could it, therefore, bethat those leaders with hubrislack an intellectual under-standing of their own beingand most certainly that ofnature, which takes the formof remoteness from realityand basic humility? Weurgently need leaders in thismould before those withhubris can impose untoldharm on society and distortthe finest attributes of humannature. But in recent times,leaders with hubris have strut-ted the stage in the US, theUK, the Philippines,Indonesia and many othercountries. Will they be suc-ceeded by more humble andmodest personalities?

(The writer is formerchairman, IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change,2002-15))��*+�,-./��������������(

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Tiger Zinda Hai” (April 16).In Tiger Wood’s master win, onecould get the feel of the roar of atiger. Reverberations of this stun-ning victory were felt across theglobe and made for a fine come-back story in sporting history.The improbable win followedyears of struggle for Woods withrepeated surgery and personalproblems. He is an inspiration forall struggling aspirants in allrealms of life, not just sports.

Rohit KaushikVia email

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Sir — Good Friday is a great fes-tival for Christians. It usually fallsbetween March 20 and April 23.The long week is observed tomark the resurrection of JesusChrist. To mark this day, a reli-gious holiday is observed primar-ily by Christians, commemorat-ing the crucifixion of Jesus Christand his death at Calvary. Initially,this day was called ‘God’s Friday’.In the Eastern OrthodoxChurches, it is known as the

‘Great Friday’. On this day, prayerand meditation take place. This isalso a day when people fast,mourn and pray in search ofgoodness.

Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

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Sir — This refers to the article,

“Alternative farm strategy” (April12) by Elumalai Kannan andSanjib Pohit. The country’s agrar-ian crisis can be solved if onetakes note of the SwaminathanCommission report, which said,“Land reforms are necessary toaddress the basic issue of accessto land for both crops and live-stock. Land holdings inequality isreflected in land ownership. In1991-92, the share of the bottom

half of the rural households in thetotal land ownership was onlythree per cent and the top 10 percent was as high as 54 per cent.”

We must not forget that landreforms made China a strongcountry in spite of its huge pop-ulation and size. Land reformscan help boost inclusive growthin many ways. We need toremember what Joshi said, “Landreforms in India have not

assumed the form of gigantic rev-olutionary upheaval as in China,or that of a dramatic changebrought about from above as inJapan.”

Recommendations of theSwaminathan Commissionshould immediately be imple-mented.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “EC’s test of faith” (April 16).The hue and cry raised overEVMs is strange. To the commonman, it appears that theOpposition leaders’ new demandof verification of at least 50 percent of votes sends out a signalthat these leaders and parties aremaking accusations in anticipa-tion of their defeat.

While there is always scopefor improvement in efficiency andtransparency, making wild allega-tions does not help in creating apositive image.

ShivanshVia email

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Page 7: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Research is the cornerstone of great institutions.Without it, a professor should not be eligibleto teach at the university level as he/she will

not be in a position to teach anything new to thestudents other than what is available in textbooks.The only benchmark to judge the quality of a uni-versity is its research standard. And Indian univer-sities and prized management institutes do not farewell going by this count. Quality in research is dete-riorating and so are the great institutions that werebuilt so painstakingly by our great researchers.

According to the World Bank, India’s highereducation system is the third largest in the world,next to the US and China, but it fares miserablyin terms of expenditure per student as well as perteacher. In the last decade, access to higher edu-cation has improved as more IITs, IIMs and Centraland State-level universities have been established.However, this proliferation has also raised concernsabout an imbalance between excellence andinclusion. Regional and State-level universities suf-fer from shortage of good quality teaching staff andlaboratories, although they are more inclusive interms of their geographies and social groups. Morethan 70 per cent of Indian students study at localand regional universities but these institutes havesmaller budgets and are known for inflatedgrades, deflated quality and absenteeism amongstudents, even teachers.

Statistically, out of India’s 1.3 billion population,there were only 216 researchers per million popu-lation in 2015. India’s investment in research is ameasly 0.62 per cent of its GDP. These numbers arewell below global practices. France, for example,spends 2.25 per cent of its GDP on research and theUS spends 2.74 per cent. Both countries have some4,300 researchers per million population. China, forits part, invests more than 2.11 per cent of its GDPon research and has 1,200 researchers per millionpopulation. Particularly in higher education,India’s research expenditure is only four per cent ofits GDP. There were some 1,61,412 studentsenrolled in PhD programmes in 2018. This com-prises less than 0.5 per cent of the total student enroll-ment in higher education in the country, which con-stitutes students enrolled in universities, colleges andstandalone institutes pursuing undergraduate andpostgraduate programmes.

After the first revolution of education, whichwas the massification of education and providingeducation for all, the second revolution is the arrivalof the global knowledge economy, which means uni-versities now compete globally in any given field ofstudy. Forces in the global knowledge economy actin contradiction to massification. All countries needto have top universities that can compete and coop-erate at the highest levels in the broader society andthe economy. More specifically, this role can beplayed by research universities.

Research universities are a very small part ofany country’s academic system and because they areexpensive to fund, nations need to think about howmany such universities they need to maintain. Inthe US, about 200 of the 2,300 state-funded univer-sities are research universities. Of these, 200 are ofcentral importance in the pyramid of the higher edu-cation system. In order to have research universi-ties that can talk to the top universities in the world,these campuses need to be given adequate supportto enable them to partake of the global knowledge

economy at the same level as other uni-versities. Interaction among world classuniversities entails international studentmobility, faculty exchange, research andteaching programmes that require aglobally mobile academic labour force.

Realities in context of the higher edu-cation mean three things for research uni-versities and their role in the academic sys-tem. First, contemporary higher educa-tion needs differentiated academic sys-tems. Not all higher education institutionsare research universities; not all post-grad-uate institutions need to be universities.

Second, there only needs to be a smallnumber of research universities but theyare important in the system. Researchuniversities play a number of complexroles and at the top of the list is research.Often, research universities are asked todo many things but they are not socialservice agencies. They do not earn fromapplied research or consulting but focuson research and teaching. Universitieshave been the source of research for morethan 200 years and need to continue assuch. They are the only societal institu-tions that will carry out basic research andthey need to be supported by theGovernment. It is evident that a balancebetween basic and applied research isimportant. The former is what will winNobel prizes, which in the long run willcontribute to applied research. For exam-ple, it is only recently that Einstein’s the-ory of relativity was proven through basicresearch by the universities.

Third, universities, especially researchuniversities, are in the education business.They educate people with the end-goal ofhelping them to attain the skills andknowledge required to land jobs. The evi-dence of universities fulfilling this role iswhen those that are well-educated findjobs, especially the kind of jobs created in

the rapidly changing 21st century. So whatkind of education should research univer-sities provide? They need to teach peoplehow to think and communicate in a waythat brings forth the importance of beingtrained in more than one type of job asgoing forward, training for just one typeof job or career in a person’s lifetime isbecoming less and less applicable.

But how does academic research con-tribute fundamentally to the well-beingof our society? People benefit fromquality, ethical research and should rallyto support and defend it. There is, how-ever, a growing reliance on and accep-tance of the commodification of research,ie, research projects are increasinglydefined on the basis of economic crite-ria. This practice infringes on academicfreedom and narrows the scope ofresearch. The result is that faculty are dis-couraged from engaging in researchthat benefits society and are forced toaccept research projects that are fundedby the private sector or ones that are heav-ily influenced by the private sector.Public/private partnerships can under-mine collective bargaining agreements.

There are several challenges to aca-demic research. Some of them are:

Funding: Public funding for acad-emic research, including basic research,is not meeting the need. Funding needsinclude but are not limited to creationand maintenance of quality facilities,modern equipment, staff support, infor-mational infrastructure and funding ofscholarly activities such as conferenceattendance. Public/private partnershipsmust not replace public funding ofresearch. The challenge is to be vigilantabout funding opportunities that mayallow excessive outside interference andunduly influence the research.

Respect for research within institu-

tions: Many organisations do not ade-quately address the need for “release time”,reduced teaching loads or other compen-sations for scholars carrying heavy respon-sibilities for research.

Academic freedom: Academic free-dom of researchers is threatened by a vari-ety of non-academic forces. Situationsrepeatedly arise where public/privatefunders assert influence over research pri-orities and tamper with findings. Thosefunding research should not be allowedto exercise control over, edit or limit dis-semination of findings with which theymight disagree.

Intellectual property: Academicresearchers are often deprived of theirintellectual property rights. For example,there are instances of copyright infringe-ment, conflicts around the ownership ofresearch data and findings and restrictionson publication and presentation of find-ings by private funders. Such disputes cannegatively affect the tenure process fornon-tenured faculty. For faculty conduct-ing international research, there may beother barriers due to different or fewerlegal protections of their intellectualproperty rights.

Another important factor to boostresearch and the quality of higher educa-tion is to unshackle quality higher edu-cation institutions from Governmentcontrols and give them freedom to oper-ate, develop their own roadmaps and pur-sue ideas of excellence. The status quo ineducation has resulted in a situation whereit is not only sub-standard but has alsofailed to open inquiring minds to theworld of research. India must be innov-ative in its approach and open its policiesto boost research if its demographic div-idend is to be tapped into.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Amity University)

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The buzz in the Congress’ circlesis that general secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra may make her

electoral debut by contesting againstPrime Minister Narendra Modi inVaranasi. The Congress’ leadership istight-lipped about it although Priyankahas herself kept the mystery alive.When party workers in Rae Barelirecently urged her to contest the elec-tions, she responded by asking if sheshould contest from Varanasi. Reportsthat the Congress could field Priyankafrom Varanasi have been doing therounds since the last few days. Theparty on Saturday said that it would notcomment on hearsay and that mediawould be informed if any such deci-sion was taken.

The question is: Will she take theelectoral plunge? After all, it took somany years for her to enter politics. TheGandhi family is very cautious aboutwhen to enter politics and from where.The family is quite calculative aboutthese matters. These things are chore-ographed well. Even Sonia Gandhitook seven years to decide and she tookthe plunge only in 1998 when the partywas almost withering away and need-ed a charismatic leader. She was boldenough to enter politics when the partywas languishing in the Opposition withno chances of immediate revival.Though she joined the electoral fray in1999 and became the first womanLeader of Opposition, she took on theBJP on issues despite being a novice.She developed a reasonable under-standing with former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee and then sur-prised every one by leading the UPA,which came to power for two consec-utive terms, thus shattering the BJP’s“India shining” dreams.

Similarly, Rahul Gandhi enteredpolitics in 2004, contested from Amethiand won the family’s bastion. He hasbeen in politics since then and was

made the general secretary in 2007 andvice president in 2013. Last year, hetook over as party president. This willbe the first time he will be leading theparty to the polls and, therefore, it iscrucial that he does well.

Priyanka’s entry into politics wasalso a calculated move and the timingwas a surprise; though people had beenwanting since many years that she jointhe party. Seen as a more charismaticleader than Rahul, it was speculatedthat she was staying away for fear ofovershadowing her brother. Anyway,

now that Sonia Gandhi has decided totake a back seat, Priyanka has taken theplunge.

The decision to contest is entire-ly left to the family. Whether it is a goodmove to field all the three Gandhis isa question that the family will consid-er. But the chorus from Uttar Pradeshis becoming shrill day by day. Partyleaders and workers from the Stateargue that the move will enhance theCongress’s poll prospects.

Initially, it was believed that ifSonia Gandhi bowed out, her daugh-

ter would contest from Rae Bareli. Theparty’s Allahabad unit had passed a for-mal proposal, urging the Congress’leadership to field Priyanka fromPhulpur, which was represented by hergreat grandfather and India’s firstPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.This might still happen as Priyanka islikely to fare better in Phulpur.Defeating Modi may be difficult as heis still popular in Varanasi. Also, tra-ditionally, barring once in 2004, the BJPhas won Varanasi comfortably since1991. Then came the speculationstrengthened by Priyanka herself.Responding to a frequently askedquestion whether she would contest,Priyanka surprised the media with adirect “why not” “even you can” andadded, “If my party wants me to con-test polls, then I will definitely do so.”Congress workers believe that she hasa striking resemblance with her grand-mother Indira Gandhi and would bea good vote-catcher. Priyanka is moreconnected to the people in her inter-actions and she is a crowd puller.

A section in the party also believesthat if Priyanka contests from Varanasi,Modi can be pinned down to cam-

paigning in this seat. Second, sincethere is no Modi wave, it may be eas-ier for Priyanka to face him. Third,about four lakh votes were split againstModi in 2014. If Priyanka is fielded asa joint candidate of the Congress,Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Partyand Rashtriya Lok Dal, a division ofvotes can be avoided. Fourth, shewould be a fresh face with the Gandhimystique. The party has notannounced any name so far for bothVaranasi and Phulpur. Incidentally,both Rahul and Priyanka are buildingthe ground for the 2022 Assembly pollsand seems like she could be its ChiefMinisterial candidate. “We are prepar-ing the ground for 2022 Assembly elec-tions” Priyanka clarified herself.

Prime Minister Modi’s response toPriyanka contesting against him was:“In a democracy, anyone can contestfrom anywhere. I don’t fear about whois contesting from where, it doesn’tmatter to me.” Modi versus Priyankawould be a tantalising contest but willthe Congress risk it? This is a milliondollar question.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

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New Delhi: Campaigningended on Tuesday for the sec-ond phase of Lok Sabha pollson April 18 for 95 seats spreadacross 11 States and one UnionTerritory that was marked byacrimony with the ElectionCommission barring severalleaders from electioneeringfor their controversial remarks.

Polling will be held in 38seats in Tamil Nadu, 14 seatsin Karnataka, 10 inMaharashtra, eight in UttarPradesh, five each in Assam,Bihar and Odisha, three eachin Chhattisgarh and WestBengal, two in Jammu &Kashmir and one seat each inManipura, Tripura andPuducherry.

Elections will also be heldin 35 Assembly constituenciesin Odisha. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, BJP chiefAmit Shah, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi and a host ofUnion Ministers among otherscanvassed for their party can-didates in the past few days,undertaking whirlwind toursof constituencies.

Among the key contes-tants in the fray are Unionministers Jual Oram,Sadananda Gowda and PonRadhakrishnan, former PMHD Deve Gowda, Congressleaders Verappa Moily andRaj Babbar, NationalConference president FarooqAbdullah, BJP’s Hema Maliniand DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran,A Raja and Kanimozhi.

After the ElectionCommission Monday barredUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, Union minis-ter Maneka Gandhi, BSP chiefMayawati and SP leader AzamKhan from campaigning forvarying periods over violationsof the moral code of conduct,the leaders stayed away from thecampaign but marked theirpresence in other ways.

Mayawati’s nephew AkashAnand delivered his first polit-ical speech in Nagina, whereshe was initially scheduled toaddress a joint Oppositionalliance meeting. Khan’s sonAbdullah addressed a pressconference in Rampur, criti-

cising the EC order whileAdityanath prayed at aHanuman temple in Lucknow,a day after the EC issued theorder frowning at his ‘Ali-Bajrang Bali’ remark.

In Odisha, besides the five

Lok Sabha seats, polling willalso be held for 35 Assemblyconstituencies. Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik is contestingfrom his home turf Hinjili inGanjam district and Bijepur

in Bargarh. While there

are five women candidates inthe Lok Sabha seats, 25 womenare in the fray for the assem-bly segments.

In Tamil Nadu, theAIADMK, contesting as partof the NDA. The alliance com-

prises among others BJP, PMK,DMDK and Tamil MaanilaCongress of former UnionMinister GK Vasan.

The DMK has formed a“Secular Progressive Alliance”comprising the Congress and

Left parties, among others.The electoral battle in the

state is largely among the twofronts led by the Dravidianmajors and the AMMK led byTTV Dhinakaran, anAIADMK rival, though partiessuch as the fledgling MakkalNeedhi Maiam of actor-politi-cian Kamal Hassan are alsotesting their fortunes.

Lok Sabha elections inTamil Nadu are the first everafter the demise of Dravidianstalwarts J Jayalalithaa ofAIADMK and M Karunanidhiof the DMK.

Allegations of use ofmoney flew thick and fast inthe run up to the polls withpoll authorities seizing over Rs127 crore cash and gold andother precious metals with atotal value of Rs 284 crore invarious parts of the State.

The EC in an order onTuesday evening cancelled thepoll in Vellore Lok Sabha con-stituency over allegations ofexcess use of money power.Authorities had seized over Rs10 crore cash from a premis-

es of an associate of a DMKleader recently.

The district police hadfiled a complaint against DMKcandidate Kathir Anand aswell as two party functionar-ies on the basis of a reportfrom the Income Tax depart-ment on April 10.

It was a relatively low keycampaign in Srinagar withonly Farooq Abdullah, who isseeking a fourth term in thelower house of Parliamentfrom the seat, making hispresence felt as a candidate.

Abdullah is pitchedagainst political greenhornsAga Moshin of the PDP, IrfanAnsari of the People’sConference and KhalidJehangir of the BJP. An electionofficial said there were only 46rallies in Srinagar district, acity of over 12 lakh residents,during the campaign period.

The Lok Sabha polls arebeing held in seven-phases for543 seats on April 11, April 18,April 23, April 29, May 6, May12 and May 19, and countingwill be on May 23. PTI

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Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati’snephew and SP leader AzamKhan’s son filled in for the twoUttar Pradesh heavyweightson Tuesday, the final day ofelectioneering for the secondphase of polling in the State.

The Election Commissionhad Monday barred the twoleaders — as well as UP ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andBJP’s Maneka Gandhi — fromcampaigning for varying peri-ods over violations of the moralcode of conduct.

The leaders stayed awayfrom the campaign, butmarked their presence in otherways. Bahujan Samaj Partysupremo’s nephew AkashAnand delivered his first polit-ical speech in Nagina, whereMayawati was initially sched-uled to address a joint opposi-

tion alliance meeting. AzamKhan’s son Abdullah addresseda press conference in Rampur,criticising the EC order.

Yogi Adityanath prayed ata Hanuman temple inLucknow, a day after the EC’sissued the order frowning at his‘Ali-Bajrang Bali” remark,seemingly framing the electionas a contest between Hindusand Muslims.

Campaigning for the sec-ond phase of Lok Sabha elec-tions in Uttar Pradesh endedTuesday evening.

Elections will be held oneight Uttar Pradesh seats onApril 18 — Nagina (SC),Amroha, Bulandshahr (SC),Aligarh, Hathras (SC),Mathura, Agra (SC) andFatehpur Sikri.

Adityanath followed the

EC order, keeping away fromthe meetings he was scheduledto address in second-phaseconstituencies of Nagina andFatehpur Sikri.

He also skipped UnionHome Minister Rajnath Singh’sroad show, held before he filedhis nomination as the BJP can-didate from Lucknow. Instead,Adityanath prayed at the well-known Hanuman Setu templein the State capital, refusing tointeract with other worship-pers. Mayawati skipped thejoint opposition alliance rally inAgra, which too goes to thepolls on April 18.

But her nephew AkashAnand delivered his first polit-ical speech there, watched onby SP president Akhilesh Yadav,Rashtriya Lok Dal chief AjitSingh and BSP’s S C Mishra.

“People in such large num-bers have come here on theappeal of my aunt, for which Iam thankful,” he said. He saidthe victory of the alliance can-didates will be a “proper reply”to the Election Commission,ending his brief address withthe ‘Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat” slo-gan.

Akash Anand is the son ofMayawati’s brother Anand andhad begun appearing in publicwith her, but not as a speaker.

While Azam Khan didn’tcampaign Tuesday followingthe EC reprimand, his sonAbdullah courted controversyby claiming that the leader wastargeted because he is aMuslim. The EC had orderedAzam Khan to suspend hiscampaign over a “khakhiunderwear” jibe at BJP candi-

date Jaya Prada.“No action was taken when

the BJP candidate stated onTwitter that she is coming toRampur to bring an end to theregime of a demon,” Abdullahtold reporters in his father’sconstituency. He maintainedthere was no mention of her inhis father’s speech and he hasbeen barred “only because he isa Muslim”.

Abdullah termed the gagorder an attempt by the EC toplease the Bharatiya JanataParty after the poll panelbanned Yogi Adityanath fromcampaigning.

The EC had taken objec-tion to Adityanath’s remarksuggesting that while the BSPand the SP had faith in Ali, theBJP believed in Bajrang Bali, orLord Hanuman.

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Asenior Income Tax officialhas lodged a complaint

with the Election Commissionof India against former FinanceMinister P Chidambaram andhis son, Karti, for pumpingblack money in Sivagangafrom where the latter is con-testing the Lok Sabha election.

In a two page letter,Income Tax Commissioner SKSrivastava detailed the “hush-ing up” of crores worth assetsby Karti in his affidavit anddistributing money in theSivaganga constituency tobribe voters.

Srivastava pointed out thatthe father-son duo is engagedin subversion of the electionprocess and the Commissionshould take action againstthem for blatant violation oflaws. He also accused the localelection officers of colludingwith Karti and Chidambaramand not taking action againstcomplaints from people whopointed out the pumping ofmoney with evidences. TheIncome Tax Commissionersaid that the father and son hadparked money in grocery

shops and the shop ownerswere distributing householditems to voters to lure the elec-torate.

“In the course of the visitof Special ExpenditureObserver to Sivaganga, it wasfound that as many as 67 com-plaints by physically availablecomplainants over flagrantabuse of illegitimate blackmoney by P Chidambaramwhere money was parked inthe malligai stores (provisionstores), etc to be bribed to vot-ers in the garb of purchase ofprovisions etc has been hushedby the District ElectionObserver and ReturningOfficer by making eye washinquires stating that on visit byjunior officials no such caseswere noticed and district level

election officers has guts tononchalantly tell the SpecialExpenditure Observer of ECIthat he and his officers did notconsider that to be necessary toverify the complainants andask them for necessary detailsabout complaints against PChidambaram over moneybeing paid by him to voters,”said Srivastava in his complaintto the Election Commission,adding that he was ready pro-vide evidences.

In his detailed complaint,the Income Tax official saidthat the affidavit filed by Kartiis just fake and he has not evendeclared the details of hisassets across the countryunearthed during raids by theIncome Tax and EnforcementDirectorate.

Thrissur (Ker): BJP chief AmitShah on Tuesday launched ascathing attack on Kerala'sCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentover the Sabarimala womenentry issue, accusing it of vio-lating its centuries’ old customand destroying the sanctity ofthe Lord Ayyappa temple,situ-ated in dense forests.

“The Kerala Governmentunleashed violence on thedevotees of Sabarimala underthe pretext of implementing theSupreme Court order.

What message does KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanwant to send to people throughthe violence on the devotees?,”Shah said, addressing an elec-tion campaign meeting of BJP'scandidate for Thrissur LokSabha Seat, Suresh Gopi, here.

Two days after Vijayanclaimed it was the Centre whichhad asked his government toimpose prohibitory orders inSabarimala during frenziedprotests in 2018 over entry ofwomen of all age groups intothe hill shrine,Shah alleged thatthe government had unconsti-tutionally recruited DYFIcadres in police to destroy thesanctity of the temple.

"The DYFI cadre wererecruited unconstitutionally inpolice force by the StateGovernment. They are destroy-ing the sanctity of the temple",he said. The BJP presidentalleged that 30,000 Ayyappadevotees have been chargesheet-ed in 2,000 cases by the LeftGovernment in connection withthe Sabarimala protests.

He accused theGovernment of targeting BJP-RSS workers in connectionwith it. Shah also declared thatthe BJP would always standstrongly with the Ayyappadevotees to protect the faith ofthe temple.

On September 28 last year,a five-judge ConstitutionBench, headed by the thenCJI Dipak Misra, in a 4:1 ver-dict had paved the way forentry of women of all ages intothe shrine, saying the banamounted to gender discrimi-nation. PTI

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Patna: Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Kumar Modi onTuesday threatened to file adefamation case againstCongress president RahulGandhi over his comment thatall thieves shared the Modisurname.

Sushil Modi's strong reac-tion came in the backdrop ofGandhis jibe at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi that all thieveshad the same surname.

I was deeply hurt by RahulGandhis statement wherein heremarked that all those who arechor (thieves) shared the Modisurname. Besides insulting thePrime Minister, he has hurt mepersonally as I share the samesurname. Hence, I would besuing him for defamation, thesenior BJP leader told reportershere.

Gandhi, who has rankledthe BJP with his chowkidar chorhai jibe over alleged irregulari-ties in the Rafale deal, has alsobeen accusing the PrimeMinister of colluding with NiravModi and Lalit Modi bothwanted in different corruptioncases and currently on the run.

In an attempt to pepper hisattacks with sarcasm, he has oflate been saying why is it that allthe thieves have the same sur-name Modi.

Meanwhile, RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav whose party isan ally of the Congress inBihar reacted to the deputyChief Ministers defamation

threat saying I openly say SushilKumar Modi is a thief. Let himsue me for defamation as well.

I have for long been sayingthat Sushil Kumar Modi isdirectly involved in the Srijanscam. If he is so upset over anindirect remark by RahulGandhi, let me add upfrontSushil Kumar Modi is a thief.Now let him sue me for defama-tion, the RJD heir apparentwhom the BJP leader has suc-ceeded as Deputy CM, said. PTI

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Surat: A Gujarat BJP MLA hasfiled a criminal defamationcomplaint in a court hereagainst Congress presidentRahul Gandhi over his "why allthe thieves have Modi in theirname" barb.

In his complaint filedMonday, the MLA, PurneshModi, claimed Gandhi, with hisstatement, has defamed theentire Modi community.

The complaint was filed in

the sessions court here underIPC sections 499 and 500, bothdealing with defamation, andthe matter will come up forhearing on April 22.

The ruling party MLA fromSurat (West) said the Congresspresident was defaming theentire Modi community by say-ing all "Modis are thieves".

He referred to an electionrally at Kolar in Karnataka onApril 13. PTI

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Coimbatore: The ElectionFlying Squad on Tuesdayseized unaccounted cash of�1.41 crore from a car nearSulur on the outskirts of thecity during a vehicle check.

Police said the cash wasfound stashed in two suitcas-es in the car when it wasstopped by the squad for vehi-cle check.

Since the three occupantsof the car, a bank employee andtwo security personnel didnot have proper documents toaccount for the money, it wasseized, they said.

Though the three claimedthe money was meant fordepositing in ATMs in threeplaces in Tirupur district, the

officials directed them to pro-duce the relevant documentsand then take back the cash,which was deposited in thetreasury.

Meanwhile, a few DMKworkers caught five people,reportedly AIADMK cadres,while they were distributingmoney at Ponnaiahrajapuramarea in the city.

The DMK workers actedon a tip off that money wasbeing distributed to voters,rushed to the spot, nabbed thefive, held them in a house andinformed police.

Though one of them man-aged to escape, the other fourwere taken to the police stationfor questioning. PTI

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Trinamool Congress willform the Government at

Centre with the help of region-al outfits and so, voting for theCongress or the Left Frontwill be a wastage of time andopportunity, Mamata Banerjeeon Tuesday told a huge electiongathering at Raiganj.

Like the Congress and theBJP, the Trinamool, too, was anational party and destined tolead a coalition of regionalparties particularly, those fromUttar Pradesh, the Bengal ChiefMinister said.

“The ouster of NarendraModi Government is con-firmed if one is to go by the vot-ing pattern of the first phase ofelections. The Congress cannotform Government on its ownand the Left is a spent force,”Banerjee said.

“UP and Bengal will play acrucial role in the formation ofthe new Government in Delhi.So there is no point wastingyour vote by giving it in bavourof the Congress and theCPI(M),” Banerjee added.

Raiganj is witnessing afour-cornered contest with theCongress’ Deepa Dasmunshi,BJP’s Surpiyo Sarkar, CPI(M)’s

Md Salim and TMC’s KanhaiaLal Agarwal all evenly placed inthe fight.

Launching a scathingattack on the Prime MinisterBanerjee for “going back on hispromises” she said “Modi jipromised 10 crore jobs butended up snatching 2 crore jobsper year,” adding how theGovernment was trying to selloff the Air India and also“process is on to rationalize50,000 workers of the BSNL.”

Whereas, “I did not sackanyone. Even here in Raiganjthere was a spinning mill whichwas running in loss. I accom-modated the workers in otherareas. In Bengal we have cre-ated jobs, the retirement age ofthe government casual workershas been increased to 60 years,the professors’ retirement age

has been upped to 65 years,”she said reminding how herGovernment had created ahealth insurance scheme calledSwasthya Saathi whereby eachfamily will get a coverage of Rs5 lakh and the card would beissued in the name of thewoman of the family.

“BJP is dividing the coun-try. We practice the religion ofSwami Vivekananda and theypractice the religion of RSSbrand of Hinduism,” she saidcondemning the BJP’s allegeddesigns to create communalriots in the State in the nameof Ram Navami. “We don’twant a Chowkidar (watch-man)” she said apparentlyattacking Modi adding “wewant a national leader instead,”which was why “the TMC isplanning to lead the next

Government of regional par-ties in Delhi.”

Attacking the saffron out-fit for threatening to invokeNRC in Bengal, she said “Idare you to do this and seewhat happens. They are tryingto create a communal divide towin elections. I won’t allowNRC because those who havebeen living in this country fordecades are Indians.

“They have forgotten aboutNehru-Liaqat pact and theyhave forgotten about thearrangement by which thosewho came to India afterBangladesh war are Indians.”

Attacking the BJP forharassing even the HinduBengalis in Assam she said “23lakh Hindus Bengalis havebeen delisted in that State.About 24 lakh Muslim Bengalishave been deregistered. Thiscannot be tolerate here.”

The BJP was planning tobringing in the CitizenshipBill “which will make you a for-eigner for 5 years and then theywill consider your citizenship.What kind of law is this? Onlythe TMC and no other partyprotested against such dracon-ian laws,” she said asking thepeople to “change the people,bring the TMC in the Centre.”

Ahmedabad: Senior BJP leaderShivraj Singh Chouhan onTuesday accused Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi of"lying" to people about fulfil-ment of his promise to waiveloans of farmers which he hadmade ahead of the last year'sAssembly elections in MadhyaPradesh.

Taking potshots at Gandhi,the former Madhya PradeshChief Minister said Gandhishould be presented with the"world's biggest liar" award. PTI

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Page 10: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Jindal Steel and PowerLimited (JSPL) reports its

highest ever domestic quarter-ly steel production and sales inQ4 FY 2018-19. The companyregistered a record crude steelproduction of 1.51 MT(Million Tonnes) and robustsales of 1.45 MT during thequarter January– March 2019.The quarterly steel produc-tion saw a 23% growth duringQ4 FY 2019, while the quar-terly steel sales record a rise of21% on a quarter-on-quarterbasis.

“We’re thrilled to reportanother excellent quarter”Naushad Akhter Ansari, JointManaging Director, JSPL said,“In the fourth quarter, we con-tinued the momentum. Withthe ramp up in production atAngul, we are confident offurther accelerating the growthmomentum, both in produc-tion and sales”

While congratulating allthe employees for achievingthis important milestone, Mr.Ansari said, “This is the resultof hard work and dedication ofthe entire team who haveshown resilient character toexcel in challenging times.”

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If we make one of the mostenergy efficient pumps peo-

ple just copy how it looks. InIndia it is prevalent. And theefficiency is down, say GroupSenior Vice President &Regional Managing Director,Grundfos Asia Pacific Region,Kim Jensen and ManagingDirector, Grundfos PumpsIndia, Ranganath NK to ThePioneer’s Vikas Kumar.

Excerpts of the conversa-tion:

What are the challengesthat pump industries facethese days? The major threechallenges?

Protectionism; I think thisis everywhere. So governmenttrying to promote global invest-ment trying to force you to pro-duce locally, to meet local stan-dards and this could be inmany countries on Earth. UScould be one, Saudi Arabia andIndonesia. So, there is a lot ofprotectionism in large coun-tries.

What about India?India also has rules about

the local content in some sec-tors, but I don’t think India is

outstanding as in they are sim-ilar to many large economieswhether it’s Russia or SaudiArabia or Turkey or Indonesiaor the US, it’s the same tri-umphs. So, local approvals,local content rules. So that’sprobably the pump industry’schallenge in a negative way.Most challenges are positive tobe honest so the world wants toconsume less energy. That’s agreat opportunity for us, we canmake better products. Theworld wants to do somethingabout sustainability greatopportunity for us to make thatproduct. Climate change is agreat opportunity for usbecause places with too muchwater they need pumps. Placeswhere they have no water theyneed pumps.

The second biggest chal-lenge?

Besides protectionism Ithink I would say the fact thatlot of energy is consumed bypumps so 10% of the world’selectrical production is con-sumed by pumps and that’s notsomething that puts the pumpindustry in a very positive

light. So, saving energy is notonly a question of lookinggood in the media or doinggood for the environment, it’salso the industry needs to dosomething about the energyconsumption.

Just to add there is blatantcopy. So, if we make one of themost energy efficient pumpspeople just copy how it looks.In India it is prevalent. And theefficiency is down. They sell itat a cost lower than our mate-rial cost. That’s a huge challengeeverywhere in the world.Challenge with India, withIndonesia, with Iran. MiddleEast. I mean they don’t do it inthe Middle East, its copied it’ssent there. So, that’s anotherchallenge because of this. Likewhat he said it’s connectedwith what he said. We can dovery well — since standards arenot maintained because ofcopy the kind of energy that theconsumer — if anything spe-cific to India look at the ener-gy consumed by Indian cultureand what. Because they wantthe cheapest, very poor mate-rial, very poor efficiency.Efficiency is in the agricultur-al electrical motors, electricalpumps, submersibles.Predominantly varyingbetween 17 and 21%. And theyget free power so imagine thewaste. That’s another chal-lenge.

I think we are now lookingfor protected like farmlandand you know to incentivize, Ithink we are just asking that ifthey are copying us they shouldat least do it properly.

Has Trump administra-tion affected your operationsin USA?

No. It’s very very little thatthe US is taking from China.Maybe some broadcasting butit is not a big thing and theother way is very little at all.

Yes. I think that the pri-mary effect that I feel is that alot a of Chinese companiesestablished production outside

of China. So if they build fac-tories in India or in SaudiArabia the project that terror-ists can handle because Trumpcannot put terrorism on every-body. So, the Government haslost interest in South East Asiafrom Chinese. The challengewill be to keep all these solarpumps running. We did somesurveys and 50% of what thesolar pumps or the not neces-sarily solar the pumps in therural communities are not run-ning. And the repair cost is Ithink on an average is a 100dollars, which they can’t afford.So that’s a problem.

Plastic reacts with heatand produces BPA an organ-ic synthetic component whichcan lead to reproductiveorgan disorder. What are yourofferings for portable water?Or what are your technique ortechnology innovation?

That is a good questionthat you have asked becausewe have just recently we sawthat the city somehow getsportable whether in plastic orin pouches or bottles or what-ever. It’s rural India and therural parts of most of theworld which really suffersbecause they have no access toclean drinking water, theytake any dirty water and theydrink it. So having seen thissustainability is a big focus forus. Not sitting out of the busi-ness but being a part of thebusiness where we say how canwe embed good solutions. So,what we did and this is a prod-uct made in India for the restof the world. Now we saymake in India. It’s a solar dri-ven ultra filtration systemwith dosing and disinfectionall built in this kit. The firsttwo have been commissionedin the Sunderbans where youcannot go by road, you go byboat dismantle and then puteverything together. So, wetake any surface water, notground water, not bowel waterbecause that has salts.

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Cash-strapped Jet Airways on Tuesdaysaid it is awaiting “emergency liq-

uidity support” from the SBI-led con-sortium of lenders to arrest further dete-rioration in its services.

The airline, which is operating onlyfive planes, said its operations have beenseverely impacted due to critical liquid-ity position.

“The company’s leadership, in con-sultation with its board of directors, isengaged with lenders in connectionwith the said emergency fundingrequest... The company is also in constantengagement with the Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation and Ministry of CivilAviation in this regard,” it said in a fil-ing to the BSE.

The filing was made in response toa clarification sought by the exchangeregarding reports that the airline waslikely to temporarily shut down itsoperations.

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Mumbai: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has decid-ed not to bid for acquiring stake in the cash-strappedairline, sources said Tuesday.

The full service carrier, which is currently operat-ing less than 10 aircraft, is awaiting fresh fund infusionunder a debt resolution plan.

Airline sources said Goyal, who had stepped downas chairman of the carrier last month, has withdrawnthe bid for the airline.

On April 12, sources said that Goyal had also putin bid for the carrier.

SBI Capital Markets has the mandate for JetAirways’ sale on behalf of the SBI-led consortium of thedomestic lenders to the debt-ridden private carrier.

Last month, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyalstepped down from the board of the airline, which hasmore than �8,000 crore debt. PTI

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About 25 developing coun-tries will be participating in

a meeting to be held in thenational capital from May 13-14to discuss various issues relatedto the World Trade Organisation(WTO), an official said.

The commerce ministryhas already received approvalfrom the Election Commissionto hold this mini-ministerialmeet. EC’s nod is necessarysince the model code of con-duct is in place.

The meeting assumes sig-nificance as several countriesare raising questions over therelevance of the Geneva-basedglobal trade body. Many coun-tries are also taking protec-tionist measures, impactingglobal trade.

Member countries coulddeliberate upon issues such asreforming the WTO, the offi-cial said.

Recently, the WTO cau-tioned that the global trade willcontinue to face strong head-winds this year and in 2020after growing slower-than-expected in 2018 due to risingtrade tensions and increasedeconomic uncertainty.

India has time and againstressed the importance andrelevance of the WTO for pro-moting global trade.

This will be the secondmini-ministerial meet to beorganised by India. In Marchlast year, over 50 nations par-ticipated in a meeting here toexplore options for resolvingvarious issues and re-invigo-rating the WTO.

India had appealed to theWTO members to identifycommon ground for strength-ening the multilateral tradebody amid challenges beingfaced by it following the dead-lock at the Buenos Aires min-isterial meet in December 2017.

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The Indian rupee onTuesday lost another 18

paise to close at 69.60 againstthe US dollar, marking itsthird straight session of declineowing to sustained demand forthe greenback from importersand rising global crude oilprices.

The local currency hasdepreciated by 68 paise in thelast three days.

Besides, strong dollaragainst its rival currencies builtadditional pressure on therupee. However, persistent for-eign fund inflows and heavybuying in domestic equitiessupported the rupee andcapped the losses to someextent.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) market, therupee opened lower at 69.55and fell further to touch theday’s low of 69.69. It finallyended at 69.60 per dollar,down by 18 paise against itsprevious close.

The rupee on Monday haddeclined by 25 paise to close at69.42 a dollar.

“The strength in dollarindex against basket of sixcurrencies and delay of dollarinflow by Essar steel lead toweakness in the rupee,” said VK Sharma, Head PCG andCapital Markets Strategy,HDFC Securities.

Moreover, there was cau-tion in the market in a holiday-truncated week.

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Aviation regulator DGCAwill continue to monitor

airfare movements on a dailybasis and also engage with air-

line for appropriate action, asenior official said Tuesdayamid concerns over rising tick-et prices.

With crisis-hit Jet Airwaysdrastically curtailing its oper-ations, there has been anadverse impact on the numberof flights being operated onvarious routes.

As concerns persist onhigher air ticket prices, theDirectorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA) Tuesday helda meeting with representatives

of airlines, the official said.Airlines were advised to

continue to monitor at theirlevel and provide informationto the DGCA to keep fares lowas far as possible, he noted.

“Airlines representative alsointimated DGCA that theyhave removed the few higherbuckets from sale and offeringtickets to passengers in lowerfare buckets.

“DGCA will continue tomonitor fare movement ondaily basis and engage with air-

line for appropriate action,”the official added.

According to him, the reg-ulator monitors domestic air-fares on a daily basis, particu-larly on high density routes androutes where alternate mode oftransport is not available or isdifficult.

Based on the monitoringprocess, the DGCA engageswith airlines when the spurt inairfares is observed in any sec-tor for appropriate action, headded.

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Online advertis-ing expendi-

ture by politicalparties is likely todouble to �400-500 crore this LokSabha electioncompared to 2014,riding on thegrowing smart-phone penetrationand cheaperInternet packs,experts said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leads the pack in adver-tising spend in the digitalspace, they said.

“The total advertisingexpenditure on election cam-paigns could be between�2,500-3,000 crore in the 2019general elections,” said AshishBhasin, CEO- Greater South,Dentsu Aegis Network.

Of this, ad spends on thesocial media and other digitalplatforms could be around�500 crore, Bhasin, who is alsothe company’s chairman andCEO-India, told PTI.

Bhasin said the overallexpenditure also includes themanpower cost for campaign-ing, but not the spends onadvertising Governmentschemes and programmes.

Another advertising pro-fessional said the budget of

political parties for online pro-motion is growing exponen-tially with a surge in smart-phone sales in the last fiveyears, and a cut-throat compe-tition among telecom operatorsto offer cheap data packs.

He added that there areseparate estimates for con-stituency-specific advertising insome of the regions.

According to Google’sPolitical AdvertisingTransparency Report, the totalspend on its various digital seg-ments surpassed �86,311,600since February 19 this year.

A similar report byFacebook showed such expen-diture at �121,845,456 for61,248 ads.

The 2019 general electionis being held in seven phasesacross the country, from April11 to May 19. The results willbe announced on May 23.

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The RBI on Tuesday told theNational Company Law

Appellate Tribunal that bankswill have to classify theaccounts of debt-ridden IL&FSand its group companies asNPAs in terms of its mastercircular and the SupremeCourt judgement.

It is the obligations of thebanks to mark any loan asNPA after a default of 90 days,and they cannot be relievedfrom doing that, said theReserve Bank of India, addingthat it is a process which everybank has to follow.

Senior advocate GopalJain, representing the RBI,submitted before the NCLATthat true reflection in thebooks of the banks is impor-tant for fair accountingbecause it has early warningsignals.

“The whole thing is tohave a transparent and fairaccounting system, so thatthe health of the institution isnot affected.

According to him, the jobof the regulator is to have rightpolicy for all the banks.

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Page 11: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Notre-Dame infernocontainedDonations and

offers of help began to pour inas day broke over the City ofLight, revealing the extent of the damage from Monday night’s inferno whichtook around 15 hours to extin-guish.

French PresidentEmmanuel Macron vowed torebuild the cathedral describedas the soul of the nation andexpressed relief that "the worsthad been avoided" in a blazethat had at one point threat-ened the entire edifice.

“All night long I saw mengoing past with tears in theireyes. I described it this way: Itwas total chaos, but we can’t letit knock us down,” saidPhilippe Marsset, the vicargeneral of Notre-Dame.

Most of the roof has beendestroyed, the steeple has col-lapsed and an unknown num-ber of artifacts and paintingshave been lost, but the walls,bell towers and the mostfamous circular stained-glasswindows remain in tact.

Around 400 firefightersbattled through the night tocontrol the flames and the lastremnants of the inferno wereextinguished at around 10 amon Tuesday, 15 hours after itbroke out.

Ongoing renovation workis widely suspected to havecaused the fire after the blazebroke out in an area below scaf-folding.

Investigators interviewedwitnesses overnight and beganspeaking to the employees offive different constructioncompanies which were workingon the monument, said publicprosecutor Remy Heitz.

“Nothing indicates this wasa voluntary act,” Heitz told

reporters, adding that 50 inves-tigators had been assigned tothe case.

French PresidentEmmanuel Macron had strucka defiant tone on Mondaynight as he visited the scenewith his wife Brigitte, tellingreporters: “We will rebuildNotre-Dame because it is whatthe French expect.”

He described the cathedralas the “epicentre of our life”.

A public appeal for funds

drew immediate support fromFrench billionaires and otherprivate donors as well foreigncountries including Germany,Italy and Russia which offeredto lend their expertise.

French billionaire BernardArnault announced Tuesdaythat he and the LVMH luxuryconglomerate he controlswould give 200 million euros(USD 226 million), after luxu-ry rival Kering offered 100million euros.

Specialised craftsmen andrare materials are also expect-ed to be needed to restore themonument, seen as symbol ofWestern civilisation and anemblem of France which hassurvived revolutions and wars.

A French wood companyin Murlin, central France,offered to put its loggers towork immediately for the oakbeams that will be needed torebuild the vaulted roof of theUNESCO-listed WorldHeritage site.

“The work will surely takeyears, decades even, but it willrequire thousands of cubicmetres of wood,” SylvainCharlois of the Charlois grouptold France Inter radio.

The privately run FrenchHeritage Foundation launcheda call for donations on its web-site — www.Fondation-patri-moine.Org — while severalpages were set up on theLeetchi fundraising portal.

“We have everything to beable to rebuild it in exactly thesame way,” Culture MinisterFranck Riester told FranceInter, adding that the govern-ment was looking at ways toencourage donations.

Thousands of Parisians andtourists had watched in horrorfrom nearby streets on Mondaynight as flames engulfed thebuilding and officials tried tosave as much as they could of

the cathedral’s countless trea-sures, built up over centuries.

The inferno destroyed two-thirds of the roof of the 850-year-old landmark, whosespectacular Gothic spire col-lapsed as orange flames andclouds of grey smoke billowedinto the evening sky.

One firefighter sufferedinjuries during the blaze, whichat one point threatened tobring down one of the twomonumental towers on thewestern facade of the cathedralthat is visited by around 13 mil-lion tourists each year.

Culture minister Riesterwarned that the structureremained unstable and thatno one had yet been able tofully inspect the extent of thefire and water damage inside.

“We’ll have to wait for awhile to do a full inventory,” hesaid. The Holy Crown ofThorns, believed to have beenworn by Jesus at his crucifixion,was saved by firefighters, as wasa sacred tunic worn by 13th-century French king Louis.

Rescuers formed a human chain at the site of thedisaster to bring out as manyartifacts as possible which havebeen stocked at the Paris townhall. The sense of shock at the damage was palpable inFrance and stirred reactionsfrom Governments across theworld.

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Sudanese protesters havehardened their stand,

demanding a transitional mil-itary council be scrapped andimmediately replaced withcivilian rule as Tuesday theyrefused to end a days-long sit-in outside Army headquar-ters.

Organisers fear the army isseeking to hijack the revolutionon the streets which saw vet-eran president Omar al-Bashir,whose three-decade reign wastoppled on Thursday by topcommanders after four monthsof nationwide demonstrations.

On Monday, activistsaccused commanders oflaunching an abortive attemptto clear the sit-in outside armyheadquarters, ending the rela-tive calm that has reigned sinceBashir’s overthrow.

Witnesses said severalarmy vehicles had surroundedthe area and that troops wereseen removing the barricadeswhich demonstrators had putup as a security measure.

Activists voiced fears thatthe army would make a newattempt on Tuesday.

Several vehicles carryingparamilitary forces deployed ona bridge that connects theprotest site with northKhartoum, a witness said.

“The army will try to makeanother attempt to disperse theprotesters because it is underhuge pressure,” said protesterAhmed Najdih.

“But we are not going any-where. We will not lose ourpatience. We know what hap-pened in Egypt and we don’twant that to happen to us.”

In neighbouring Egypt, theso-called Arab Spring revolu-tion of 2011 toppled veteranpresident Hosni Mubarak andreplaced him with electedIslamist Mohammed Morsionly for him to be overthrownin 2013 by then army chief,now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Protest laders have gradu-ally toughened their approachtowards the transitional mili-tary council, as policyannouncements from its uni-formed officers have multi-plied.

Amid widespread anger atthe number of faces from theold regime, the protesterssecured the replacement of itsfirst chairman, a longtimeBashir loyalist after just 24hours last week.

But the honeymoon of hissuccessor, General Abdel Fattahal-Burhan, lasted just days.

As weekend talks on thetransition failed to make head-way, protest leaders who ini-

tially demanded a “swift” han-dover to civilian rule, begandemanding first an “immedi-ate” handover then the militarycouncil’s dissolution.

“We want the militarycouncil to be dissolved and bereplaced by a civilian councilhaving representatives of thearmy,” said Mohamed Naji, asenior leader of the SudaneseProfessionals Association,which has spearheaded theprotests.

Both sides in the standoffhave sought to woo interna-tional support.

The protesters have high-lighted their sacrifices inmurals painted outside armyheadquarters of some of themore than 60 of their comradeskilled in clashes with the secu-rity forces.

The military council haspledged that individuals impli-cated in killing protesterswould be held to account andthat demonstrators detainedunder a state of emergencyimposed by the president dur-ing his final weeks in powerwould be freed.

It has held briefings with Western diplomats andsent an envoy to the AfricanUnion’s headquarters in theEthiopian capital Addis Abababefore it met on Sudan onMonday.

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Kabul has announced a listof 250 people — including

around 50 women — who areheaded for Qatar for talks withthe Taliban later this week, agathering known as intra-Afghan dialogue.

The list was released by thegovernment on Tuesdayalthough the Taliban haverefused to talk directly withAfghan President AshrafGhani’s Government, sayingthey would recognise partici-pants only as “ordinary”Afghans.

The talks are due to startFriday.

The Government’s listincludes representatives ofpolitical parties, governmentofficials, Opposition figures,former warlords, women’srights activists, war victims’families, clerics, youth andmedia groups, as well as tribalelders and members of theindependent High PeaceCouncil.

The Qatar gathering couldmark a significant step towardfinding an end to Afghanistan’sprotracted war and US Troopwithdrawal.

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The Gulf State of BahrainTuesday jailed 138 people

and revoked their citizenship forplotting to form a “terror” groupwith links to Iran’s RevolutionaryGuards, the public prosecutorsaid. The verdict was swiftly con-demned by the Bahraini oppo-sition, while human rights group

Amnesty International decriedthe “mockery of justice” and“mass arbitrary denaturalisa-tion”. The court, whose rulingscan be appealed, handed themen prison terms of three yearsto life for having tried to builda Bahrain Hezbollah, similar tothe Shiite militia active inLebanon, said prosecutorAhmad al-Hammadi.

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More than 100 people have been arrested in

ongoing climate changeprotests in London thatbrought parts of the Britishcapital to a standstill, policesaid Tuesday.

Demonstrators startedblocking off a bridge and majorcentral road junctions onMonday at the start of a civildisobedience campaign thatalso saw action in other partsof Europe.

The protests were organ-ised by the campaign groupExtinction Rebellion, whichwas established last year inBritain by academics and hasbecome one of the world’sfastest-growing environmen-tal movements.

London’s MetropolitanPolice said that by earlyTuesday 113 adults had beenarrested.

The figure includes three men and two womenwho were arrested at the UKoffices of energy giant RoyalDutch Shell on suspicion ofcriminal damage. Campaignersdaubed graffiti and smashed awindow at the Shell Centrebuilding.

The majority arrested wereseized for breaching publicorder laws and obstructing ahighway.

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Page 12: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Arsenal moved into thePremier League top four,

but made hard work of see-ing off 10-man Watford 1-0 thanks to Pierre-EmerickAubameyang's fortunateearly opener on Monday.

Aubameyang profited from anerror by Watford goalkeeper Ben Fosteras he blasted an attempted clearance inoff the Gabon international.

Watford captain Troy Deeney wasthen shown a straight red card after just11 minutes, but the Gunners failed to

make the most of their man advantageand were fortunate as the hosts twicehit the woodwork.

However, Unai Emery's men heldout for a first clean sheet away fromhome in the Premier League this sea-son to move ahead of Chelsea on goaldifference into fourth.

"We didn't control the match like

���■ &���

Real Madrid took the Monday nightslot reserved for La Liga's lower

teams and never really looked out ofplace as Karim Benzema's goal wasenough only for a 1-1 draw away toLeganes.

Madrid delivered another thor-oughly underwhelming performanceat Butarque to remain 13 points adriftof Barcelona, with Zinedine Zidane'ssecond reign as coach now deliveringthree wins, one defeat and a draw.

Leganes might even have won itafter Jonathan Silva gave them the leadshortly before half-time and whileBenzema scored his 26th goal of theseason, Madrid never looked likefinding a winner.

Instead, they sit four points behindAtletico Madrid and finishing second,and above their city rivals, appearsunlikely. Leganes climb to 11th.

Benzema has been, by a distance,Madrid's most consistent playerthis season and he showed againwhy Zidane has already said thestriker will stay. Gareth Bale,meanwhile, was left on thebench for the second time inthree matches, with hisprospects looking ever-morebleak.

Chances were few and far betweenin the first half but Madrid could twicehave taken the lead as Marco Asensioscuffed his finish after being put

through by Isco and RaphaelVarane's shot was blocked aftera goalline scramble.

Leganes, though, were oth-erwise rarely made to feeluncomfortable and shortlybefore half-time they took thelead. Madrid failed to clear,

instead allowing Martin Braithwaite to

roll back to Silva, who guided the ballinto the corner.

Zidane strode down the tunnel athalf-time and his team emerged withgreater purpose afterwards, withBenzema finding an equaliser sixminutes in.

Casemiro threaded a neat ballthrough to Luka Modric, who twist-ed and set free Benzema. His first shotwas pushed out by Pichu Cuellar butonly back to Beznema, who fired in therebound.

���■ �������

Son Heung-min insists he hasalready proved hecan shoulder the burden of

replacing Harry Kane inTottenham's Champions Leagueshowdown with Manchester Cityon Wednesday.

Mauricio Pochettino's side headto the Etihad Stadium for the quar-ter-final second leg looking to pro-tect a slender 1-0 lead.

But Tottenham's task has beenmade harder by injuries to Kane andDele Alli. Kane is likely to miss therest of the season after the strikersuffered yet another ankle ligamentinjury in the first leg against City,while England midfielder Alli is adoubt after fracturing his hand inthe same match.

Losing two such influentialplayers ahead of a do-or-die clashwith the Premier League champi-ons would be a hammer blow tomost teams.

But South Korea forward Son

has shown this season that playingwithout Kane need not be fatal tohis side's European ambitions.

Son has scored nine goals in 10matches with Kane absent this sea-son.

While Hugo Llorisdeserved plaudits for savingSergio Aguero's penalty, thefirst leg was won after Kanelimped off thanks to Son's78th-minute strike — a typi-cally cool finish after healertly kept the ball inplay as the Citydefence dithered.

In fact, Tottenham havewon their last five matches withoutKane and Son looks in perfect formto maintain that run at City'sexpense.

Son's rise to prominence is evenmore impressive given he was so

frustrated three years ago that heconsidered leaving Tottenham.

His focus back on the eagerly-anticipated City tie, Son is confidentTottenham are primed to reach their

first European semi-final since1984.

"The Manchester Citygame will be a tough one, butI believe that if we play as ateam and believe in ourselves,

we can have a good result," hesaid.

Without an awaygoal from the first leg,

City will be in troubleshould Tottenham score in the

second leg at Etihad Stadium. City could be without holding

midfielder Fernandinho, whomissed the 3-1 win against CrystalPalace in the Premier League onSunday through injury.

Tottenham has never reachedthe semifinals of the ChampionsLeague.

��D"����"Mohamed Salah looks back to

his best after brilliant goals in suc-cessive weeks in the Premier League— against Southampton and thenagainst Chelsea on Sunday — buthe might count himself fortunate tobe playing the second leg againstPorto on Wednesday.

Match officials missed Salah'sstuds-first lunge on Danilo near theend of the first leg at Anfield, whichcould easily have resulted in a redcard and suspension.

Instead, Liverpool has its frontthree of Salah, Roberto Firmino andSadio Mane intact for the trip toPortugal. The last time the teamsmet in the Estadio do Dragao,Liverpool won 5-0 in the first leg ofthe round of 16, with that trio scor-ing all the goals. Porto captainHector Herrera is back from sus-pension, as is center back Pepe.

���■ &��������

Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City'sbid for an unprecedented quadruple

will be defined by Wednesday's ChampionsLeague showdown with Tottenham andtheir following two Premier League games.

Guardiola's side are in contention towin all four major trophies after liftingthe League Cup, reaching the FACup final and staying in touchwith Premier League leadersLiverpool.

City's next obstacle onthe road to footballimmortality comes in theChampions League quar-ter-final second leg againstTottenham as they bid tooverturn a 1-0 deficit at theEtihad Stadium.

Even if they beat Tottenhamto make the semi-finals, there will beno time for City to rest on their laurels asthey face Spurs again in the PremierLeague on Saturday before heading toManchester United the followingWednesday.

With Liverpool two points clear of City,

who have a game in hand, Guardiolaacknowledged the next seven days willdecide whether his team take their quadru-ple chase into the final days of the season.

"Definitely. If we don't win thesegames we will be out of two competitions.I've had this feeling for weeks," Guardiolatold reporters on Tuesday.

"Last season in this period we werealready champions. This season

we had an incredible opponentin the Premier League with

Liverpool. Both teamsdeserve to be champions,but just one is going to getit.

"After what we didlast season, I'm surprised

that we have 83 pointsright now. The target is 98,

without that we will not bechampions."Tottenham are incredible and

we don't have rest. We played nine, 10 or11 games more than Liverpool. Even withthat, I like this challenge."

Having won the Premier League inrecord-breaking fashion last season,Guardiola could have been forgiven for

focusing on Europe this term as he looksto win the Champions League for the thirdtime as a boss — and the first since his 2011triumph with Barcelona.

B�F�������"���GFBut the City boss claims the Premier

League remains his primary goal.And Guardiola, who cut a tetchy fig-

ure for much of his press conference,refused to accept he has underachieved inEurope's elite club competition.

"The Champions League is tough. Wefail all the time. Sorry guys, I'm a failure!"he said in an outburst laced with sarcasm.

"Not winning the Champions Leaguein Bayern Munich was a big failure. Whatcan I say?

"Do I have to win it? No. The chairmansaid I have to win the Champions Leaguethree times in a row!

"I didn't come here to win theChampions League honestly. I came hereto play the way we played the last 20months.

"The Premier League is the mostimportant title, to be there every three dayscompeting."

Guardiola's grumpy mood included arant at the Premier League for failing to giveEnglish teams in Europe equal treatment.

The Spaniard is irked that Tottenhamhad more time to rest and prepare beforeboth legs.

"They had six days to prepare the firstgame, we had two. Now they playedSaturday, we played Sunday," Guardiolasaid.

"I don't know why the Premier Leaguedon't put the games at 12.30 on Saturday."

Guardiola's irritability may have beenprovoked by a question about his past jibethat Tottenham were the 'Harry Kane team'in reference to the England captain'simportance.

Kane will miss the second leg withankle ligament damage sustained againstCity last week, but Guardiola wasn't goingto give Mauricio Pochettino's side any extramotivational fuel.

"Tottenham without Kane are thesame strong team they had three seasonsago, two seasons ago and this season," hesaid.

Guardiola knows Tottenham will posea serious threat to City's quadruple dreamsover the next few days, and he called onthe Etihad crowd to produce an intimidat-ing atmosphere.

"I know how focused the players are,I know the desire to get to the semi-finals,"he said.

"Every time we played away in theChampions League the atmosphere wasincredible, so we need it.

"I want to see if our fans really want toget to the semi-finals."

���■ &���������

Argentine Guido Pella dealta second-round blow to

seventh seed Marin Cilic, beat-ing the Croatian 6-3, 5-7, 6-1on Tuesday at the Monte CarloMasters.

Defeat in just over twohours left 2014 US Open win-ner Cilic with just one winfrom six matches sinceJanuary's Australian Open,where he went out in thefourth round.

Pella, who won his firstcareer match at the event in thefirst round on Sunday,emerged a winner as he playedon the idyllic centre court forthe first time.

"This is my best surface, Iknew I had chances," the worldnumber 35 said. "But I had toplay well.

"I was a bit nervous at thestart, it was my first time onthis court. But playing here isa dream — it's unreal."

Cilic was playing here forthe 11th straight year, withquarter-final showings in threeof the previous four editions.

Left-hander Pella came tothe European clay with a title

this season in Sao Paulo. Henow stands 13-3 on the surfacein 2019.

Top seed Novak Djokovicwas set to begin his pre-RolandGarros campaign later, facingPhilipp Kohlschreiber, whobeat him last month in theIndian Wells third round.

Pella moved into a win-ning position as he broke Cilicfor the eighth time of theafternoon, winning a six-

minute game before servingout the upset, saving a breakpoint in the final game andwrapping up as Cilic firedwide.

In the first round, BritonCam Norrie advanced in hisdebut match at the event, withthe 23-year-old defeatingAdrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3.

The 56th-ranked Norriewas impressed with the dra-matic setting of the iconic

Monte Carlo Country Clubvenue which overlooks theMediterranean from a cliff.

"I like the conditions here.Everything is kind of on top ofeach other," he said.

"It's pretty sick kind ofplaying tennis on the side of amountain with a water view."

Canadian revelation FelixAuger-Aliassime advancedinto a second-round contestwith third seed AlexanderZverev after beating Argentinequalifier Juan Ignacio Londero7-5, 7-6 (7/5).

The 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who reached lastmonth's Miami semi-finalsfrom a qualifying start, nowboasts a ranking of 33rd — upfrom 175th when he playedhere a year ago.

Frenchman Pierre-HuguesHerbert defeated Spanish vet-eran Fernando Verdasco 6-4,6-4, while local Gilles Simonrounded out opening-roundplay with a 7-5, 6-1 defeat ofAustralian Alexei Popyrin.

Popyrin, 19, and playinghis first ATP-level match onclay, received medical treat-ment on his neck while trail-ing a set and 4-1.

���■ &����

Bayern Munich president UliHoeness ruled out breaking

the 100 million euros ($113million) mark this summerand said he would buy Frenchstriker Kylian Mbappe "imme-diately" if he had the money.

Bayern are planning amajor squad overhaul this sum-mer, and have already con-firmed the signings of FrenchWorld Cup winners BenjaminPavard and Lucas Hernandez.

In an interview withGerman news agency DPA onTuesday, Hoeness admittedthat, in an ideal world, hewould love to sign anotherFrench World Cup winner,Paris Saint-Germain's 20-year-old star.

"I would sign Mbappestraight away, he is a top play-er. But we don't have the moneyfor him," said Hoeness.

The Bayern president ruledout spending 100 million euroson a single player in the sum-mer transfer window, but sug-gested that Bayern may breakthat figure in the future.

"There definitely won't bea 100 million euro transferthis year, but I have to admitthat ten years ago, I couldn'thave imagined spending 80million," he said.

The sum of 80 millioneuros was what Bayern paid tosign Hernandez from AtleticoMadrid, a figure nearly doublethat of their previous recordtransfer — fellow FrenchmanCorentin Tolisso.

In 22-year-old KingsleyComan, Bayern have yet anoth-er Gallic talent in their emerg-ing generation.

On Tuesday, club legendLothar Matthaeus backedComan and Serge Gnabry, 23,to follow in the footsteps ofdeparting veterans ArjenRobben and Franck Ribery,who are both out of contract atthe end of June.

"Coman and Gnabry areboth quick, good dribblers anddangerous in front of goal,"Matthaeus wrote in his columnfor Sky Sports, adding that"legendary" veterans Robbenand Ribery would not bemissed.

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I wanted," admitted Emery."The team was anxious because

they could (have) taken some moment.The most important for us is to scorethe second goal, which we didn't do."

Arsenal also edge to within apoint of north London rivalsTottenham and two clear of ManchesterUnited in the four-way battle for thetwo remaining CL places behindLiverpool and Manchester City.

FA Cup finalists Watford werealready shorn of the man who helpedbook their place at Wembley againstManchester City next month as GerardDeulofeu missed out through injuryand Javi Gracia's side did themselves lit-tle favours early on.

Firstly, Foster dallied asAubameyang closed in to concede acomical opener.

And within seconds, Deeney waspunished for what the referee saw as anelbow into the face of Lucas Torreira.

However, the 10 men were stillcausing problems to a defensively vul-nerable Arsenal at the other end.

Page 13: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Over the last five years, there hasbeen an increase in the demandfor operations management

professionals. Right from manufactur-ing and service, to IT & ITES and tele-com sectors, operations managementhas become a core component of theoverall business strategy of theseorganisations.

It is important to understand thebasic difference between operationsmanagement and organisational strat-egy.

Organisational strategy is figuringout how and why of reaching the com-pany vision, and achieving businessgoals.

Operations management pertainsto design, operation, and control of allprocesses undertaken from the pro-curement of raw materials to thedelivery of the finished products to theend customers.

For example: A garment factorysets the target of increasing its outputby 25 per cent. The top managementthen formulates a strategy regardingthe operations management to deter-mine the requirement of humanresources, production facilities, tech-nology and finances to reach this tar-get. Once the strategy stage is takencare of, it is the responsibility of theoperations manager to execute thisstrategy effectively and provide theresults expected by the company.

Operations management plays a

strategic role in maximising the pro-ductivity of the organisation throughsuccessful and optimal integration aswell as the execution of all resourcesin the overall operations system.Operations management keeps thesupply chain or value chain of theorganisation running like a well-oiledmachine. The organisational strategysets benchmarks for the success of thebusiness goals whereas the operationsmanagement translates the strategicobjectives into workable objectives.Without an organisational strategy,operations management wouldn’tknow what to do. Without operationsmanagement, the strategy will fail toexecute.

Both are closely related and needto work in cohesion for the conversionof the vision into concrete, specifictasks.

There are several other examplesof sectors which are highly dependenton the operations management fortheir success. E-commerce is one ofthem. All e-commerce companiessuch as Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm,MakeMyTrip and others put greatemphasis on their operations manage-ment. As soon as a customer orders aproduct online, there are several back-end activities undertaken by theiroperations team simultaneously. Itprocesses the order, checks the inven-tory levels in the warehouse, sendspurchase invoice to the supplier, pro-

cures the product, arranges transporta-tion from supplier to warehouse,packages the product, then ships it tothe customers and performs manyother miscellaneous functions. Nowjust imagine if the shipment getsmixed up and a wrong product reach-es the customer. Or, the courier ser-vice company refuses to deliver theproduct due to some reason. All suchissues can lead to customer dissatisfac-

tion and eventually harm the reputa-tion of the brand. The operations man-agement ensures that all end-to-endvalue chain functions run seamlesslyand none of the adverse situationsoccurs.

Similarly, an operations managerin a restaurant works closely with thekitchen, serving and dishwashing staffas well as all other employees who

work behind the scenes. He is alsoresponsible for payroll, administrativeactivities and employee training. Onthe front end, he interacts with cus-tomers, oversees the seating arrange-ments and handles their complaints.

The following key functions of theoperations management will help youto understand its relevance to the over-all organisational strategy even further:

"�����+��������3�����+Operations managers brainstorm

with the top management duringstrategy formulation and plan everyoperational aspect from asset alloca-tion to product delivery. They alsoforecast the product demand andprobable occurrence of certain eventsto do capacity and production plan-ning.

����3����������������3��Whether the resources are scarce

or in abundance, the operations man-agers have to ensure their efficient usefor effective output. They help strate-gize which operation activity requireswhat amount of resources.

����+�The design of the product on

paper may not really translate success-fully into the actual product. It needsto be tested to ensure if it is feasible tomanufacture and market. The opera-tions managers are involved in both

the technical and business design ofthe product.

���������������Imagine customers getting a

different taste of the same recipeevery time they order it. If the recipeisn’t prepared exactly the same everytime, the inconsistent taste will detercustomers to visit the restaurantagain. The operations managersensure standardisation of every littleprocess that goes into the productionor service delivery so that customersget consistency in value they receive.

C��"��%�����������There is always room for improve-

ment in the operations processes interms of inventory, human resources,capacity planning, etc. The operationsmanagement professionals continu-ously strive to raise the bar of qualityby implementing quality control mea-sures such as Just-In-Time, TotalQuality Control, Six Sigma and otherprocess improvement standards.

You can say that strategy is thebrain of the organisation while oper-ations management is the arms andlegs of the strategy. Operations man-agement facilitates smooth coopera-tion between all processes and func-tions to keep the organisation prof-itable.

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���������3��"+%The JD Institute of

Fashion Technology invitesapplications for its uniquelydesigned under-graduate,post-graduate and profession-al development coursesthrough its campus in Delhi.

The institute offers cours-es in Fashion, Interior,Jewellery, Fashion Marketing& Communications, FashionStyling, Fashion BusinessM a n a g e m e n t , V i s u a lMerchandising, Photography,Hair and Make-Up.

How to apply: Log on tohttps://www.jdinstitute.com/apply-online/.

Last date to apply: May10, 2019.

�����������+�The International School

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Eligibility: Class X passfor diploma, Class XII forbachelors & diploma andgraduates for masters degreeor diploma(any stream).

How to apply: Log on tohttp://www.insd.edu.in/apply-online.html.

Last date to apply: April30, 2019.

3�������3���3����+The School of Engineering

& Technology by MVNUniversity invites applicationsfor admissions in ComputerScience Engineering pro-gramme.

Computer science engi-neering (CSE) is one of thepopular courses among engi-neering aspirants which focus-es on the basic elements ofcomputer programming andnetworking. Students pursuingcomputer science courses willgain knowledge of design,implementation and manage-ment of information system ofboth hardware and software.

Duration: Four yearsEligibility : Minimum

qualification for securingadmission to degree pro-gramme is Class XII pass fromany recognised board.

How to apply: The appli-cation forms & brochure canbe purchased by paying �1000

from admissionoffice of MVNUniversity,Haryana.

Last date to apply: April30, 2019.

���3���+�����The Indraprastha Institute

of Information TechnologyDelhi (IIIT-Delhi), invitesapplications for MTech pro-gramme 2019-20 general andspecialised courses inComputer Science andEngineering, Electronics andC o m m u n i c a t i o n sEngineering, andComputational Biology.

The specialisations offeredin Computer Science andEngineering (CSE) programare Artificial Intelligence, DataEngineering, InformationSecurity and MobileComputing. The focus of theprogram is to enhance theknowledge of students infuturistic technology so thatthey can contribute efficient-ly towards the development oforganisations they work for.

How to apply: Log on tohttp://iiitd.ac.in/admission/mtech/2019.

Last date to apply: April18, 2019.

��3��������+�����The Atal Incubation

Centre at the RabindranathTagore University (AIC-RNTU) and the Centre forSocial Entrepreneurship at theTata Institute of SocialSciences (TISS) have launcheda joint Incubation Programmefor Start-ups 2019-20.

The applications for theprogramme are invited underthree categories — ideate, dis-cover and growth. The candi-dates need to have a ventureidea with proof of concept tobe eligible for the programme.

Last date to apply: April22, 2019.

A2014 McKinsey Report statesthat in the organisation for

Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) countriesmore than one in eight of all 15 to 24-year-olds are unemployable. Thisentry-level unemployability is due tothe skill-gap that is markedly evidentbetween the supply end of the edu-cation sector and the demand end ofthe organisation sector. This lack ofindustry readiness calls for specialattention and intervention from theend of the educators to positivelyimpact the performance of the youthat their entry point in the industry,and even later. This skill-gap is moreso at the level of soft-skills of theyouth.

In case of a contemporary MBAprogramme in India, the interestingamalgamation of business know-how and its hard skills factor, even hasenough room for making the studentsindustry-ready through various softskills factors. We must bear in mindthat education in itself, is an indepen-dent process of learning. However, itis linked to employability. Mostemployers at the time of making hir-ing decisions evaluate not just whathas been learned from the programacademically, but also evaluate para-meters such as positivity, ability tomulti-task, flexibility, ability to workin teams, leadership quality, profes-sionalism, time management, cus-tomer orientation and relationshipnurturing, culture sensitivity, attitu-dinal adoption to change, verbalcommunication and presentationskills.

An arduous MBA programme,from any reputed institution, wouldprovide students not just excellentclassroom based learning, but hand

down sufficient exposure to real-timelearning, through case studies, roleplays, live projects, presentations andresearch opportunities. In the process,every student is given a platform toimprove their overall communicationand presentation skills. Also, duringthe tenure of the program, there areseveral opportunities for the studentsto meet and interact with industrypersonnel, who would enrich theirlearning through their growth trajec-tories. Learning through observationand internalisation is also a keysource for MBA aspirants to pick up

aspects such as body language and eti-quette which are integral to a success-ful corporate stint.

There are MBA programmesboth in the country and outside,which have dedicated modules onenhancing student preparedness tomeet corporate needs. These modulesencompass topics such as generalawareness, quantitative abilities, lan-guage competence and mock inter-view sessions. Across sectors, organ-isations are in need of resources whoare not just tech savvy but astutestrategists who can drive the business-

es towards greater profitability. Withimmense competition and supply ofgraduates being high, the demand forskilled workers has only increasedover time. So, what exactly does askilled worker mean?

A skilled worker in today’s timesis not just a subject matter expert, butalso an individual with varied inter-ests and at the core, an excellent peo-ple’s person. Formal higher educationtoday is a very challenging area as itis imperative for institutions to recog-nise the need of the hour and givevery high importance to shaping anindividual’s overall personality. TheMBA programme per se, has all theingredients in-built to enable studentsto improve on their soft skills. Thecurriculum invariably is highly flex-ible with inputs from both academi-cians and industry experts who cre-ate the right mix of theory and appli-cation. Classroom based learning iscomplemented with application basedlearning and at regular intervals,students are exposed to real-time pro-jects which require great soft skills tobe on display.

In conclusion, the MBA of todayis a programme which encapsulateseffective time management, team-work and dedicated efforts to realiseintrinsic aspirations. The aspirationshowever vary from a good job todoing a business or perhaps taking upresearch. Irrespective of what it is, theMBA definitely acts as a catalyst inholistically transforming lives andenhancing capabilities not just in tak-ing businesses ahead but also in shap-ing one’s own personality and gener-al outlook towards life.

(��%��������,�����������������,��������� ����!

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���,!-��-!,�,��!��-�(�������&��� (�����) ��(����!4 �(05/�� 3� 3(��@������5� �����( �3����(����!4� )!�5(�104

1� ���"���������� ����))�������#�The 3rd Annual Convocation of

the Indian Institute ofManagement Sirmaur was organisedon April 12, 2019. The ceremony washeld at the Institute’s campus atPaonta Sahib. Sunil Kant Munjal, oneof the founder promoters of HeroGroup and Chairman, HeroEnterprise was the chief guest on theoccasion and delivered the convoca-tion address. Professor NeeluRohmetra, director, IIM Sirmaur, pre-sented the director’s report on theoccassion.

The ceremony was graced byAjay S Shriram, chairman, Board ofGovernors, IIM Sirmaur, and chair-man & senior managing director,DCM Shriram Ltd, who presidedover the 3rdAnnual Convocation andawarded MBA degrees to the grad-uating students. The academic pro-cession included the graduating stu-dents, faculty, members of board andacademic council. The families of aca-demic students were present on theoccasion.

A total of 63 students were con-ferred the full-time Master ofBusiness Administration (MBA).Fifteen girl students were conferredMBA degrees on the occasion of the3rd annual convocation of theInstitute. Anshika Gupta receivedChairman’s Gold medal for being theoverall topper of the batch. Director’sGold medal was awarded to AkshayDevapal for ranking second in orderof merit. Kanika Gupta was present-ed with Special Recognition Awardfor being the Best All Rounder for thebatch.

In his convocation address, chiefguest Sunil Kant Munjal gave aninspiring address to the students tobegin a new journey of success andcontribute towardthe industry andsociety. Munjal laid stress on devel-oping the mind set of an entrepreneurand face the dynamics of change withright strategy and planning. He dis-cussed how the pace of change isaccelerating at unmatched pace frompast 10 years and how the old rulesare failing to solve new problems oflife and business. Finally, he encour-aged students to do a thorough self-search, find out their skills and pas-sion and pursue it whole heartedly intheir life. “Life has a habit of overtak-ing all plans and that becomes theplan” he says.

He advised the students to man-age their time well and fix priorities.

In his welcome address,theChairman Board of Governors, AjayS Shriram, talked about dealing withstress and negativity in life by apply-

ing certain rules which involve man-aging oneself and one's emotionseffectively. He further exalted to thegraduating batch to always focus onthe positive aspects of life andimprove once attitude through self-criticism and feedback from others.Shriram shared his vision of makingIIM Sirmaur an institution of excel-lence by taking various new initia-tives, emphasising on innovationand entrepreneurship among thestudents. He further thanked MHRD,Government of India and local com-munity for their wonderful supportin the growth of the institute.

Addressing the gathering,Professor Neelu Rohmetra, DirectorIIM Sirmaur congratulated the grad-uating students and their families andpresented the director’s report of theinstitute’s progress. She further dis-cussed various initiatives taken by theinstitute to improve both academicas well as physical infrastructure ofthe institute.

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Page 14: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Over the last five years, there hasbeen an increase in the demandfor operations management

professionals. Right from manufac-turing and service, to IT & ITES andtelecom sectors, operations manage-ment has become a core componentof the overall business strategy of theseorganisations.

It is important to understand thebasic difference between operationsmanagement and organisational strat-egy.

Organisational strategy is figuringout how and why of reaching the com-pany vision, and achieving businessgoals.

Operations management pertainsto design, operation, and control of allprocesses undertaken from the pro-curement of raw materials to thedelivery of the finished products to theend customers.

For example: A garment factorysets the target of increasing its outputby 25 per cent. The top managementthen formulates a strategy regardingthe operations management to deter-mine the requirement of humanresources, production facilities, tech-nology and finances to reach this tar-get. Once the strategy stage is takencare of, it is the responsibility of theoperations manager to execute thisstrategy effectively and provide theresults expected by the company.

Operations management plays a

strategic role in maximising the pro-ductivity of the organisation throughsuccessful and optimal integration aswell as the execution of all resourcesin the overall operations system.Operations management keeps thesupply chain or value chain of theorganisation running like a well-oiledmachine. The organisational strategysets benchmarks for the success of thebusiness goals whereas the operationsmanagement translates the strategicobjectives into workable objectives.Without an organisational strategy,operations management wouldn’tknow what to do. Without operationsmanagement, the strategy will fail toexecute.

Both are closely related and needto work in cohesion for the conversionof the vision into concrete, specifictasks.

There are several other examplesof sectors which are highly dependenton the operations management fortheir success. E-commerce is one ofthem. All e-commerce companiessuch as Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm,MakeMyTrip and others put greatemphasis on their operations man-agement. As soon as a customerorders a product online, there are sev-eral backend activities undertaken bytheir operations team simultaneously.It processes the order, checks theinventory levels in the warehouse,sends purchase invoice to the suppli-

er, procures the product, arrangestransportation from supplier to ware-house, packages the product, thenships it to the customers and performsmany other miscellaneous functions.Now just imagine if the shipment getsmixed up and a wrong product reach-es the customer. Or, the courier ser-vice company refuses to deliver theproduct due to some reason. All suchissues can lead to customer dissatis-

faction and eventually harm the rep-utation of the brand. The operationsmanagement ensures that all end-to-end value chain functions run seam-lessly and none of the adverse situa-tions occurs.

Similarly, an operations managerin a restaurant works closely with thekitchen, serving and dishwashing staffas well as all other employees who

work behind the scenes. He is alsoresponsible for payroll, administrativeactivities and employee training. Onthe front end, he interacts with cus-tomers, oversees the seating arrange-ments and handles their complaints.

The following key functions of theoperations management will help youto understand its relevance to the over-all organisational strategy even further:

"�����+��������3�����+Operations managers brainstorm

with the top management duringstrategy formulation and plan everyoperational aspect from asset alloca-tion to product delivery. They alsoforecast the product demand andprobable occurrence of certain eventsto do capacity and production plan-ning.

����3����������������3��Whether the resources are scarce

or in abundance, the operations man-agers have to ensure their efficient usefor effective output. They help strate-gise which operation activity requireswhat amount of resources.

����+�The design of the product on

paper may not really translate suc-cessfully into the actual product. Itneeds to be tested to ensure if it is fea-sible to manufacture and market. Theoperations managers are involved in

both the technical and business designof the product.

���������������Imagine customers getting a

different taste of the same recipeevery time they order it. If the recipeisn’t prepared exactly the same everytime, the inconsistent taste will detercustomers to visit the restaurantagain. The operations managersensure standardisation of every littleprocess that goes into the productionor service delivery so that customersget consistency in value they receive.

C��"��%�����������There is always room for improve-

ment in the operations processes interms of inventory, human resources,capacity planning, etc. The operationsmanagement professionals continu-ously strive to raise the bar of qualityby implementing quality control mea-sures such as Just-In-Time, TotalQuality Control, Six Sigma and otherprocess improvement standards.

You can say that strategy is thebrain of the organisation while oper-ations management is the arms andlegs of the strategy. Operations man-agement facilitates smooth coopera-tion between all processes and func-tions to keep the organisation prof-itable.

(��%��������*��������)(������������������!

)'*-=���#�#���#����#����Abook by an IGNOU alumnus is gaining

attention in top universities of USA includ-ing Harvard, Stanford, MIT and others.Amongst the books written by Dr Krishna NathPandey who had studied MBA and PhD atIGNOU, the book titled Paradigms ofKnowledge Management: With SystemsModelling Case Studies is at the top.

This book has been written by studying theknowledge management implementation atPowergrid India, one of the largest power trans-mission companies in the world. The book sug-gests ways and means for knowledge manage-ment including implementation and capitali-sation; especially, for organisations with mul-tiple business verticals.

The author of the book Dr. Krishna NathPandey, Dean, Schools of Management

Sciences, Commerce and Humanities, Lingaya’sUniversity, was ex-GM at Powergrid, and is alsoan author of the much sought after books,including Contemporary Conviviality of TradeUnionism: Perspectives from the Power Sectorand Trajectory of Transmission for RenewableEnergy: An Inclusive Case of India.

J�����",(,�.��������4� 7�����(�/�5�/0����44 �(�( ���The Council of Architecture

is conducting NationalAptitude Test in Architecture(NATA) for admission to firstyear of five year BArch degreecourse. The test is being con-ducted online. This year itwas proposed to conduct thefirst test on April 14, 2019 andsecond test on July 7, 2019.

The Council has success-fully conducted the first phaseof NATA 2019 on April 14,2019. The exam was conduct-ed at 191 centres all over Indiaand one centre at Dubai, peace-fully and smoothly. A total of35748 candidates have applied

for the first test and 32761 can-didates have appeared for thetest. The council appointed itsobservers to oversee the con-duct of examination.

The Council will make allefforts to announce the resultsof the first phase of exam ondue date or even before that sothat the students can seekadmission to BArch course asper counseling conducted bythe competent authority ofthe concerned institution/uni-versity. In case any student(s)could not appear for this testthey may appear for the testscheduled in July 2019.

���������3��"+%The JD Institute of Fashion

Technology invites applica-tions for its uniquely designedunder-graduate, post-graduateand professional developmentcourses through its campus inDelhi.

The institute offers coursesin Fashion, Interior, Jewellery,Fashion Marketing &Communications, FashionStyling, Fashion BusinessM a n a g e m e n t , V i s u a lMerchandising, Photography,Hair and Make-Up.

How to apply: Log on tohttps://www.jdinstitute.com/apply-online/.

Last date to apply: May 10,2019.

�����������+�The International School

of Design invites application forbachelors, masters and diplomaprogrammes in Fashion Design.

Eligibility: Class X pass fordiploma, Class XII for bachelors& diploma and graduates formasters degree or diploma(anystream).

How to apply: Log on tohttp://www.insd.edu.in/apply-online.html.

Last date to apply: April 30,2019.

3�������3���3����+The School of Engineering

& Technology by MVNUniversity invites applicationsfor admissions in ComputerScience Engineering pro-gramme.

Computer science engi-neering (CSE) is one of the pop-ular courses among engineeringaspirants which focuses on thebasic elements of computer pro-gramming and networking.Students pursuing computerscience courses will gain knowl-edge of design, implementationand management of informationsystem of both hardware andsoftware.

Duration: Four yearsEligibility: Minimum qual-

ification for securing admissionto degree programme is ClassXII pass from any recognisedboard.

How to apply: The appli-cation forms & brochure can be

purchased by paying �1000from admission office of MVNUniversity,Haryana.

Last date to apply: April 30,2019.

���3���+�����The Indraprastha Institute

of Information TechnologyDelhi (IIIT-Delhi), invites appli-cations for MTech programme2019-20 general and specialisedcourses in Computer Scienceand Engineering, Electronicsand CommunicationsEngineering, andComputational Biology.

The specialisations offeredin Computer Science andEngineering (CSE) programmeare Artificial Intelligence, DataEngineering, InformationSecurity and MobileComputing. The focus of theprogram is to enhance theknowledge of students in futur-istic technology so that they cancontribute efficiently towards thedevelopment of organisationsthey work for.

How to apply: Log on tohttp://iiitd.ac.in/admission/mtech/2019.

Last date to apply: April 18,2019 for MTech (CSE) andMtech (ECE) programmes.

��3��������+�����The Atal Incubation Centre

at the Rabindranath TagoreUniversity (AIC-RNTU) andthe Centre for SocialEntrepreneurship at the TataInstitute of Social Sciences(TISS) have launched a jointIncubation Programme forStart-ups 2019-20.

The applications for theprogramme are invited underthree categories — ideate, dis-cover and growth. The candi-dates need to have a venture ideawith proof of concept to be eli-gible for the programme.

Last date to apply: April 22,2019.

A2014 McKinsey Report statesthat in the organisation for

Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) countriesmore than one in eight of all 15 to 24-year-olds are unemployable. Thisentry-level unemployability is due tothe skill-gap that is markedly evidentbetween the supply end of the edu-cation sector and the demand end ofthe organisation sector. This lack ofindustry readiness calls for specialattention and intervention from theend of the educators to positivelyimpact the performance of the youthat their entry point in the industry,and even later. This skill-gap is moreso at the level of soft-skills of theyouth.

In case of a contemporary MBAprogramme in India, the interestingamalgamation of business know-how and its hard skills factor, even hasenough room for making the studentsindustry-ready through various softskills factors. We must bear in mindthat education in itself, is an inde-pendent process of learning. However,it is linked to employability. Mostemployers at the time of making hir-ing decisions evaluate not just whathas been learned from the programacademically, but also evaluate para-meters such as positivity, ability tomulti-task, flexibility, ability to workin teams, leadership quality, profes-sionalism, time management, cus-tomer orientation and relationshipnurturing, culture sensitivity, attitu-dinal adoption to change, verbalcommunication and presentationskills.

An arduous MBA programme,from any reputed institution, wouldprovide students not just excellentclassroom based learning, but hand

down sufficient exposure to real-timelearning, through case studies, roleplays, live projects, presentations andresearch opportunities. In the process,every student is given a platform toimprove their overall communicationand presentation skills. Also, duringthe tenure of the program, there areseveral opportunities for the studentsto meet and interact with industrypersonnel, who would enrich theirlearning through their growth tra-jectories. Learning through observa-tion and internalisation is also a keysource for MBA aspirants to pick up

aspects such as body language and eti-quette which are integral to a suc-cessful corporate stint.

There are MBA programmesboth in the country and outside,which have dedicated modules onenhancing student preparedness tomeet corporate needs. These modulesencompass topics such as generalawareness, quantitative abilities, lan-guage competence and mock inter-view sessions. Across sectors, organ-isations are in need of resources whoare not just tech savvy but astutestrategists who can drive the busi-

nesses towards greater profitability.With immense competition and sup-ply of graduates being high, thedemand for skilled workers has onlyincreased over time. So, what exact-ly does a skilled worker mean?

A skilled worker in today’s timesis not just a subject matter expert, butalso an individual with varied inter-ests and at the core, an excellent peo-ple’s person. Formal higher educationtoday is a very challenging area as itis imperative for institutions to recog-nise the need of the hour and givevery high importance to shaping anindividual’s overall personality. TheMBA programme per se, has all theingredients in-built to enable studentsto improve on their soft skills. Thecurriculum invariably is highly flex-ible with inputs from both academi-cians and industry experts who cre-ate the right mix of theory and appli-cation. Classroom based learning iscomplemented with application basedlearning and at regular intervals,students are exposed to real-time pro-jects which require great soft skills tobe on display.

In conclusion, the MBA of todayis a programme which encapsulateseffective time management, team-work and dedicated efforts to realiseintrinsic aspirations. The aspirationshowever vary from a good job todoing a business or perhaps taking upresearch. Irrespective of what it is, theMBA definitely acts as a catalyst inholistically transforming lives andenhancing capabilities not just in tak-ing businesses ahead but also in shap-ing one’s own personality and gener-al outlook towards life.

(��%��������,�����������������,��������� ����!

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The Institute of CharteredAccountants of India (ICAI)

and the Institute of CharteredAccountants of Nepal (ICAN)had entered into an MoU thatwas approved by the UnionCabinet chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andlater on formally signed andexchanged by both the institutesin his august presence in the year2017.

The MoU interalia providesthat both ICAI and ICAN wouldbe jointly working for theadvancement of accountingknowledge, professional and

intellectual development, advanc-ing the interests of their respec-tive members and positively con-tributing to the development ofthe accounting profession inIndia and Nepal.

Recently, ICAI providedtechnical assistance to ICAN infurther strengthening their exam-ination systems wherein officersfrom ICAN visited ICAI toperuse the examination systemand discuss various activitiesrelated to smooth conduct/flowof examinations. The represen-tatives of ICAN were briefedabout the entire examination

process and the various activitiesbeing carried out by the exami-nation department of ICAI. Thedelegation was very appreciativeof the efforts taken by ICAI inthis regard.

It is pertinent to note that theICAN came into being with thetechnical support provided by theICAI. The first MoU betweenICAI & ICAN was signed in theyear 1998 wherein ICAI provid-ed assistance for development ofprofession and regulatory frame-work namely drafting of syllabi,setting up of the examination sys-tem and others.

1� ���"����������))�������#�The 3rd Annual Convocation of

the Indian Institute ofManagement Sirmaur was organisedon April 12, 2019. The ceremony washeld at the Institute’s campus atPaonta Sahib. Sunil Kant Munjal, oneof the founder promoters of HeroGroup and Chairman, HeroEnterprise was the chief guest on theoccasion and delivered the convoca-tion address. Professor NeeluRohmetra, director, IIM Sirmaur, pre-sented the director’s report on theoccassion.

The ceremony was graced byAjay S Shriram, chairman, Board ofGovernors, IIM Sirmaur, and chair-man & senior managing director,DCM Shriram Ltd, who presidedover the 3rdAnnual Convocation andawarded MBA degrees to the grad-uating students. The academic pro-cession included the graduating stu-dents, faculty, members of board andacademic council. The families of aca-demic students were present on theoccasion.

A total of 63 students were con-ferred the full-time Master ofBusiness Administration (MBA).Fifteen girl students were conferredMBA degrees on the occasion of the3rd annual convocation of theInstitute. Anshika Gupta receivedChairman’s Gold medal for being theoverall topper of the batch. Director’sGold medal was awarded to AkshayDevapal for ranking second in orderof merit. Kanika Gupta was present-ed with Special Recognition Awardfor being the Best All Rounder for thebatch.

In his convocation address, chiefguest Sunil Kant Munjal gave aninspiring address to the students tobegin a new journey of success andcontribute towardthe industry andsociety. Munjal laid stress on devel-oping the mind set of an entrepreneurand face the dynamics of change withright strategy and planning. He dis-cussed how the pace of change isaccelerating at unmatched pace frompast 10 years and how the old rulesare failing to solve new problems oflife and business. Finally, he encour-aged students to do a thorough self-search, find out their skills and pas-sion and pursue it whole heartedly intheir life. “Life has a habit of over-taking all plans and that becomes theplan” he says.

He advised the students to man-age their time well and fix priorities.

In his welcome address,theChairman Board of Governors, AjayS Shriram, talked about dealing withstress and negativity in life by apply-

ing certain rules which involve man-aging oneself and one's emotionseffectively. He further exalted to thegraduating batch to always focus onthe positive aspects of life andimprove once attitude through self-criticism and feedback from others.Shriram shared his vision of makingIIM Sirmaur an institution of excel-lence by taking various new initia-tives, emphasising on innovationand entrepreneurship among thestudents. He further thanked MHRD,Government of India and local com-munity for their wonderful supportin the growth of the institute.

Addressing the gathering,Professor Neelu Rohmetra, DirectorIIM Sirmaur congratulated the grad-uating students and their families andpresented the director’s report of theinstitute’s progress. She further dis-cussed various initiatives taken by theinstitute to improve both academicas well as physical infrastructure ofthe institute.

))�������$�5�������������������%�����������$��������$������$��������B������ ��������

Page 15: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

Job opportunities in near future wouldbe largely impacted by globalisation withtechnology as a driving force. This will

require large scale skilled manpower astechnology and automation are taking overa sizeable number of jobs. Many jobopportunities are getting redundant andexisting jobs are demanding for a changein the skill sets required to do them. Notto be left behind, many women in India,foreseeing these transformations are work-ing on acquiring new skill as they foreseelimitless new opportunities. They are opt-ing for offbeat careers in manufacturing,automation, block-chain amongst others,which have pre-dominantly been pre-ferred by men.

In order to develop new skillsets,women can get enrolled at Government ofIndia’s Skill India Mission Skill Centres,developed across the country. These cen-tres impart skills related training for vari-ous new age technologies at ITIs,Polytechnics institutes and other private-run registered institutes. In fact, manywomen are already undergoing and manyhave undergone skill training for variousforms of new age technologies from theseskill centres.

There are many other short coursesmade available by the ITIs across the coun-try which offers short-term skillset devel-opment certificate courses for various inautomation, block-chain and other emerg-ing technologies. There are several otherprivate institutions and many other indus-try run institutions which offers short termcourses for many new age technologies.Working women can also keep updated andcontinue to develop their skillsets throughin-house training at their workplace or atthe aforementioned institutions. This willensure that they do not become redundantand will have the bandwidth to command

a handsome salary and much higher thanany industry can offer.

A recent report by the World Banknoted that India can grow in double-dig-its if more women participate in the prod-uct line of the Indian economy. This,according to the report, could be achievedby imparting women with skilled training.As we move towards the Fourth IndustrialRevolution, the Industry 4.0, women aresteadily moving towards new age tech-nologies. The Industry 4.0 is evolving inte-gration of Artificial Intelligence, Internet ofThings (IoT), automation, genetics, robot-ics, 3D printing, biotechnology, nanotech-nology, cloud computing, sensors, com-puter powered processes and intelligentalgorithms besides other forms of emerg-ing new age technologies that are drivingnewer prospects for job opportunities andgrowth.

As companies are finding it difficult forskilled men to take on newer technologiesin manufacturing sector, they are turningtowards women. Not only does this help increating a larger part of skilled people butalso helping companies creating a con-ducive workplace, which is bringing inmore discipline in work culture. Anothergood part for women is that technology led-disruptions would also widen the scope forremote and flexible work opportunities, cre-ating new employment avenues for women.

According to a study commissioned byMinistry of Commerce and Industry in year2018, the number of highly skilled techni-cal graduates in India is growing at a rateof 7 percent per year, while in start-ups,India is ranked third in the world, account-ing for over 4,700 businesses.

MANUFACTURINGThe smart factories and the manufactur-ing industry in future will not be mechan-

ically handled but will be equipped withnew aged technologies.

Many green field factories in India arealready adapting to these new age tech-nologies. Automotive industry that areheavily dependent on technology and areamongst the first to go on automation andembrace new technologies have women-friendly work culture and encourage themto take up works related to technology.Today Block chain technology is tipped tobe a disruptor in the automotive industry.Two-wheelers manufacturers like YamahaMotor India have a pink assembly line,managed entirely by women. They havealso hired 200 women to undergo appren-ticeship programme. Similarly, HeroMotoCorp's ̀ Project Tejaswani' has broughtin more women in its manufacturingoperations, while Bajaj Auto has an assem-bly line which is run by women. Besides,women must explore on harnessing BigData in Manufacturing that generatesmore data than any other sector of the econ-omy and helps drive efficiency, improveprocesses, and carve a competitive advan-tage.Other areas where opportunities emerge innear future are across many other majormanufacturing entities, which could be tex-tiles, design, chemicals, software, hardwareamongst others that will require skillsets innew and emerging technologies.Government too is keen on promotingmanufacturing sector which has a share of16 per cent of India's Gross DomesticProduct (GDP). It aims to increase it to 25per cent and create 100 million new jobsby year 2022.

AUTOMATION & ROBOTICSAs the winds of change are blowing acrossindustry as they move to automation andnewer technologies, companies are grad-

ually picking up on involving automationat their production units across India. Thisis minimising human intervention in pro-duction, else conventional technologiesgenerally requires more manpower. Womenwho are also likely to be impacted by theautomation in sectors like InformationTechnology (IT). Similarly, in services likeretail, hospitality are also expected for dra-matic transformations as a result of digi-talisation, automation and surge in use ofdata analytics. Women who are looking foradvance career must look for upgrading toupcoming technologies in their relevantareas of work. This will help in wideningtheir job opportunities.

BLOCK CHAIN TECHNOLOGYBlock chain today is like what the "Cloud"was in the mid-2000s. Ranked amongst thefastest-growing skillsets globally, it offersexcellent job opportunities. As of now, itsdemand is far outpacing the supply. Inskillsets, blockchain technology today is inits infancy, but its demand from start-upsand many established companies havegone-up. Companies are exploring cryptocurrencies powered by blockchain thatunderlines technology in block chain,which can be transformative across indus-tries. Block chain are also digitally linkedchain, which strengthen procurementstrategies and improves efficiencies and costfor manufacturing units. Such is the hugepotential which women can explore. Sincelast few years, manufacturing units are mov-ing towards aligning their procurementprocesses strategically and using digital toolsof supply chain, integrated warehousing andfreight handling. Startups in B2B commercespace like Moglix today offer digital solu-tions of supply chain management for themanufacturing sector.

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The University ofSouthampton, in collaborationwith the British Council andGreat Britain Campaign, hasannounced up to three GreatScholarships 2019-India forIndian students who want to pur-sue a Postgraduate taught(Masters) degree programme atthe University in the sessionstarting from September 2019.Each scholarship will cover thefull tuition fee for the student foraone year Masters programme.

These scholarships are applic-able for select postgraduatetaught programmes at Universityof Southampton: MA LuxuryBrand Management, LLMMaritime Law, MSc ActuarialScience, MSc Data Science andMSC Entrepreneurship &Management.

Eligibility: Applicants for thescholarships 2019-India must beIndian nationals residing in Indiaat the time of application andthey must have completed theirsecondary education in India.They should also hold an uncon-ditional offer letter for the eligiblepostgraduate taught programmeat the University starting fromSeptember 2019. While the schol-arship covers the full tuition feefor a one year Masters pro-gramme, other costs such as trav-el and living expenses are notcovered under the scholarship.

The University will thennominate three candidates to the

British Council and invitethem to complete the applicationprocess by May 31, 2019.Theapplications for the nominatedcandidates will be reviewed by aselect panel based on set parame-ters and they will be notified ofthe outcome of their applicationsin July 2019.

For further information,please visit:www.southampton.ac.uk/great-scholarships

Contact details for furtherqueries: [email protected].

Application Deadline: May8, 2019

The University ofTechnology Sydney is proud toannounce the UTS ScienceInternational Undergraduatefunding for Excellence inAustralia. International studentsare eligible to apply.

Eligibility: Applicant mustmeet all admission criteria for theselected course. Candidate mustbe commencing full-time studieson-campus and be commencing aUTS Faculty of Science UG pro-gramme. Applicant must havecompleted an Australian Year 12or high school studies compara-ble to an Australian Year 12 qual-ification, no more than threeyears prior to commencing atUTS, and be admitted based onthis qualification into UTS.Applicants whose first language isnot English are usually requiredto provide evidence of proficiencyin English.

How to apply: Applicantsmust have to attach the personalstatement, CV and transcript.

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According to a recent India Jobsstudy, data science is the fastest-growing field in India. As every

company turns into a technology compa-ny, organisations in industries such asmanufacturing, healthcare, retail, tele-com, oil and gas, manufacturing, airlineand e-commerce are all trying to grow asdata-driven organisations.

They are looking to strengthen theirdata teams. India is emerging as one of theworld’s largest data science capitals. Indiahas a large number of people who have theknowledge of coding, and thus it’s becomequite a lucrative career in India. Everyindustry is hiring.

Data is everywhere. In fact, the amountof digital data that exists is increasing at arapid rate, almost doubling every year,altering the way we live and interact withthe smart technology. Over the past fewyears, there has been a lot of talk aboutData Science, Big Data, Machine Learningand Deep Learning. Today, every organi-sation is struggling to convert itself into adata driven organisation due to lack ofaccomplished professionals. This hasresulted into an increased demand of datascientists in the world.

Job prospectsWith market competition strengthen-

ing, top organisations across the world areturning to data scientists to analyse andidentify new market opportunities for theirservices and products. As things stand now,almost 80% of best organisations consid-er data science as a critical component ofbusiness. Data scientists have a hugeinfluence on company policies and mar-keting strategies. The global demand forData Scientists has increased exponentiallyin the past decade and will only increasefurther.

There is a global demand for data sci-entists who have in depth knowledge andapplied skills in various areas like math,stats, machine learning, deep learning, nat-ural language processing (NLP), R, Python,SQL, SAS, Big Data tools like Hadoop andSpark, Visualisation tools like Cogonos,Tableau and click view.

The application of AI, ML, Deeplearning, Data Science is growing in Indiaand around the world in almost everyindustry like Telecom, IT, Insurance, man-ufacturing, healthcare, banking, retail,media, consulting, ecommerce, oil, gas,automobile, airline, government, NGOs,

start-ups and every functional area.RemunerationThe salaries of Chief Data Scientists

with over 10 years of experience inMathematics and Statistics are at a mini-mum of �1 crore, annually. Unicorn DataScientists, being a specialised skill set, ishigh in demand to scarcity of talent. Theyare an upgraded version of our racy datascientists, and are compensated morethan $200,000 per year. Data Science is oneof the fastest growing, highest remuner-ating and most intellectually challengingfield.

EligibilityThere are multiple ways where you can

really start your career. However, there twopopular paths to achieve this - One, a struc-tured master’s programme in these fields;Second, to opt for a MOOC course on var-ious platforms like Coursera, edx, Udemy,mUniversity, and the like.

The trend we are observing with thecampus recruitment at Aegis, is that com-panies are paying much more emphasis onwhat you can do for them than on whatyou know. They are evaluating studentsbased on the challenging projects they havedone, which helps them choose twopotentially similar candidates.

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Page 16: date Manoj Soni is struggling to cope up with the defection of several BSP leaders like for-mer Minister Devendra Singh Chillu, former MLA Dharmpal Singh and former MLA candi-date

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Having missed the WorldCup bus, Ambati Rayudu

will be aiming to make a state-ment when a maraudingChennai Super Kings take on adesperate Sunrisers Hyderabadhere on Wednesday.

The World Cup snub toRayudu is the sole disappoint-ment in an otherwise superbtournament so far forMahendra Singh Dhoni's menas they are just a win away fromclinching the play-off berth.

While CSK sit pretty on topof the table with 14 pointsfrom eight games, Sunrisers'have suddenly gone off the boilwith a hat-trick of defeats,including an inexplicable bat-ting collapse against DelhiCapitals in their last game.

What has been CSK'sstrength despite an ageing teamhas exactly been Sunrisers' banein the matches that they haveplayed so far.

While CSK have had plansA, B and C for various situa-tions, Sunrisers have failed mis-erably whenever their theiropening pair of Jonny Bairstow

and David Warner have failedto perform.

The basic problem has beenthe middle-order where ManishPandey (54 in six games),Deepak Hooda (47 in sixgames) and Yusuf Pathan (32 insix games) have been miserable.

On the other hand, Dhonihas played various combina-tions depending on surfaces andmore often than not, his team-mates have responded prettywell.

The man who has been arevelation for CSK this seasonis 40-year-old Imran Tahir with13 wickets. The South Africanimport has executed his skip-per's plans brilliantly.

For Sunrisers to remainrelevant in this edition, theyneed to stop the CSK juggernautwhich looks easier said thandone.

���■ ����

Bangladesh called up batsmanMosaddek Hossain and uncapped fast

bowler Abu Jayed for their World Cupsquad on Tuesday as they wrestle with aseries of injuries.

Mosaddek was named to compensatefor fellow batting all-rounderMahmudullah Riyad, who has suffered ashoulder injury and looks unlikely to beable to bowl, said chief selector MinhajulAbedin.

Jayed also got the nod in the 15-mansquad as potential cover for pace spearheadMustafizur Rahman, who is recoveringfrom an ankle sprain, and Rubel Hossainwho has a side strain.

Mosaddek, a useful off-spinner, has-n't played for Bangladesh since last year'sAsia Cup, but he forced his way into thereckoning with a series of big scores indomestic cricket.

"We have injury worries overMahmudullah. Most probably he will notbe able to bowl," Minhajul told reportersin Dhaka.

"So we needed someone down theorder who could also bowl a few overs. Thisis why we opted for Mosaddek." Mosaddekplayed a key role in B’desh's win over NewZealand at the 2017 Champions Trophy,when he picked up three vital wickets.

His batting faded until the recent

Dhaka Premier League where he scored428 runs and picked up seven wickets in12 one-day matches.

Jayed was the only uncapped player inwhat is an otherwise experienced squad forthe tournament in England and Wales,starting on May 30.

Four players have been to three WorldCups: skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, TamimIqbal, Shakib Al Hasan and MushfiqurRahim.

Jayed's inclusion meant there was noroom for pace bowler Taskin Ahmed, whois also recovering from injury.

"Taskin played his last ODI in October2017 and it was a long break for him," saidMinhajul.

Bangladesh also named a 17-mansquad for a tri-series in Ireland in earlyMay, where uncapped spinner NayeemHasan and batsman Yasir Ali will join theWorld Cup players.

���■ �"���"�

Australian coach Justin Langer onTuesday welcomed the top-

order selection dilemma posed bythe return of David Warner as offer-ing "fantastic flexibility" to the teamahead of the World Cup.

The return of Steve Smith andWarner from their year-long banshas left selectors in a quandary, withopeners Aaron Finch and UsmanKhawaja building a formidable part-nership in recent one-day interna-tionals.

Warner has been in blisteringtouch in the IPL and typically opensthe batting.

But Langer on Tuesday said itwas a welcome problem to have allthree potential openers firing.

"We have amazing flexibilitynow," he told Melbourne radio SEN.

"Usman and Finchy have donean incredible job opening the bat-ting. David and Finchy have done a

great job in the past doing it," headded.

Langer said he would "mix andmatch" the top order in matchesleading up to the World Cup.

"I love the flexibility of it. (It'sabout) boys playing their roles for the

team not just playing the roles thatsuit them," he said.

Australia named their WorldCup squad on Monday with middleorder batsman Peter Handscomb"brutally unlucky" to have to makeway for Smith.

"Steve Smith we felt wouldprobably be able to play that role thatPete has done so well for us," Langersaid.

The decision to dropHandscomb also means the teamonly has one wicketkeeper in AlexCarey.

But Langer said Tim Paine,Matthew Wade and Handscomb, allnamed in one of Australia's two Asquads which will play in Englandlater this year, were on standby ifCarey was injured.

"Usually wicketkeepers, theygive up their spot for no-one. Theyhave to do a pretty serious injury tomove aside for someone else," hesaid.

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Ambati Rayudu's omission fromIndia's World Cup squad after

just three failures is "heartbreaking"but there should be no debate onRishabh Pant's exclusion as he did-n't grab his chances, feels formerIndia opener Gautam Gambhir.

Veteran Dinesh Karthik beingfavoured over Pant has been round-ly criticised. But the hero of the 2007World T20 and 2011 World Cupfinal said Rayudu not making the cutis the most unfortunate bit about thesquad announced on Monday.

"I think there should be nodebate about Rishabh Pant's exclu-sion but more about AmbatiRayudu," Gambhir said on Tuesday.

"It is very, very unfortunate thatsomeone averaging 48 in white-ballcricket and is only 33 has been leftout. That for me is more heartbreak-ing than any other selection deci-sion," said the outspoken Gambhir.

Rayudu was called India's first-choice No 4 by captain Virat Kohlia few months ago but low scores inthe home series against Australia lastmonth led to a rethink by the selec-tors.

Gambhir was not picked for the2007 World Cup in the West Indiesand for a brief period contemplat-ed quitting.

"I feel sorry for him as I was ina similar position in 2007, when they(erstwhile selectors) didn't pick meand I know how difficult it is notbeing picked for the World Cup.Ultimately for any young kid, it is achildhood dream to be a part of thebig event. So, I feel more sorry forRayudu more than any other crick-eter, who hasn't been picked."

However, Gambhir, who hasbeen Pant's first first-class captain,felt that this omission can't betermed a setback at all as he had notgrabbed the opportunities present-ed before him.

"This is not a setback at all. Whyis it a setback? He has not consistent-ly been part of white-ball cricket. Hegot his opportunity but unfortunate-ly couldn't grab it. So it cannot betermed a setback," said Gambhir.

���■ ������

Dinesh Karthik might havebeen picked as a back-up

wicketkeeper for the World Cupbut mentor Abhishek Nayar feelsthe Tamil Nadu cricketer can playthe role of an opener, a finisher ora specialist No 4 for India inEngland.

MSK Prasad led selection com-mittee picked allrounder VijayShankar for the No 4 spot andmade it clear that the secondwicket-keeper will come into playonly if Mahendra Singh Dhoni isinjured.

However, Nayar said Karthikcould be India's answer for thedebatable No 4 spot and can evenopen if needed.

"He can play a Kedar Jadhavfinisher's role to a No 4 batsman'srole if needed. He can even openif needed," Nayar, who's credited forresurrecting Karthik's career, said.

"Being a good fielder, adds that

value. Of course he's back-upwicketkeeper, but I'm pretty surethat the management will look athim as a specialist batsman ifsomeone is slightly out of form.

"You never know what oppor-tunities this game can bring to you.For his point of view, it's aboutbeing just prepared and beingready for that opportunity so thatwhen it comes he grabs it with bothhands."

��$� ��"��2 India opener Shikhar Dhawan onTuesday said the selectors have picked a "very strongside" for the the ICC World Cup starting May 30in the United Kingdom.

"For the world cup we have a very good and astrong side and we are looking forward to the com-petition. We will perform really well once we getthere," Dhawan said.

Talking about his IPL side Delhi Capitals, whoare currently placed second on the points table withfive wins from eight games, Dhawan said the expe-rience of coach Ricky Ponting and advisor SouranGanguly is helping the side.

"The support of the coaches Ricky Ponting andSourav Ganguly... Their experience as a captainalong with the belief they instill in us is great. Atthe same time the young boys in our team are alsogetting mature."

"It has been a good season for us. It's a cleanslate for the Delhi franchise, new name, new admin-stration, support staff everyone was new. Our teamis strong and is a balanced side with the overseasand Indian players. The way we are performing isgood." PTI

Live on Star Sports 1& 2

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Ambati Rayudu has "ordered 3dglasses" to watch the World

Cup, a day after he was pipped bythe "three-dimensional" VijayShankar in the Indian squad for theshowpiece.

All-rounder Shankar was pre-ferred over the 33-year-old Rayudufor the contentious number fourspot in India's World Cup squad.

"Just Ordered a new set of 3dglasses to watch the world cup,"Rayudu wrote on his Twitter han-dle on Tuesday.

Disappointment knocked onRayudu's door when his name wasleft out of the squad just a fewmonths after captain Virat Kohlihad more or less earmarked him forthe number four position.

"We did give a few morechances to Rayudu but VijayShankar gives three dimensions. Hecan bat, if the conditions are over-cast, he can bowl, plus he is a field-er. We are looking at Vijay Shankaras a No 4," chief selector MSKPrasad said Tuesday, justifying hisselection.

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Opener KL Rahulcracked a patient fiftybefore a terrific cameo

by skipper RavichandranAshwin powered Kings XIPunjab to a challenging 182for six against RajasthanRoyals in a second leg IndianPremier League clash here atIS Bindra Punjab CricketAssociation stadium onTuesday.

Rahul, who was named inthe World Cup squad onMonday, recovered after aslow start to post a 47-ball 52studded with three fours andtwo sixes. He was ably sup-ported by his South Africanteammate David Miller (40 off27) as the duo shared a 85-runstand to lay the foundation.

Ashwin then blasted afour-ball 17 in the last overbowled by Dhawal Kulkarni asKXIP posted a good total onboard.

Pacer Jofra Archer (3/15)returned with an exceptionalthree-wicket haul to emerge asthe best bowler for the Royals.

Invited to bat, openerGayle (30) smashed JaydevUnadkat for a couple of sixesin the second over, beforeblasting Dhawal Kulkarni fora four and a six in the fifthover.

Archer then had himcaught behind by SanjuSamson in the sixth over asKXIP were 39 for one in thefirst powerplay overs.

Playing his first IPL gamethis season, New Zealand's Ish

Sodhi was then introducedinto the attack and MayankAgarwal (26 off 12) clobberedhim for a six in the fourth ball.

Agarwal then picked up afour and a six off ShreyasGopal before Sodhi returnedto remove him. Trying to playa slog sweep, Agarwal wascaught by Archer at long-on.

Left stranded on the otherend, Rahul tried to steady theship with Miller, who cameinto the side due to the last-minute ankle injury of MoisesHenriques.

The duo took singles andtwos before Rahul finallyscored his first boundarywhen he lifted a Unadkatdelivery across the mid-offregion.

In the 14th over, Rahuland Miller exploded afterbringing up the hundred forKXIP. The duo amassed 19runs off Sodhi's over, his last,with Rahul smoking a massivesix over deep square leg and

Miller thumping one overlong-off.

The two batsmen piled up20 runs in the next over withRahul hitting an inside-outshot over cover for a six anda four off Unadkat, and Millerdisposing a full-toss over deepmidwicket.

Gopal then bowled aneconomical over next to com-pete his quota of four overs.

In the next over, Archerdismissed Miller on a no-ballbefore Rahul sent one acrossthe mid-off area to completehis fifty in 45 balls.

Rahul perished early inthe 18th over off Unadkat andArcher then bowled a superbover, removing NicholasPooran (5) and MandeepSingh (0). Miller too was sentpacking early in the 20th overby Kulkarni.

Ashwin then smashed afour and successive sixes inthe last two balls to put KXIPin a strong position.

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