region of madhya pradesh ended at 5 pm on saturday. polling for tikamgarh, damoh, khajuraho, satna,...

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T he high-pitched cam- paigning for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls in 51 seats spread across seven States ended on Saturday with the BJP trying hard to keep the steam on and repeat 2014 magic and the rival Congress seeking to retrieve ground it had lost in the last general elections. In 2014, the BJP had con- solidated its position from the fifth phase onwards to single- handedly cross the majority mark. For the Congress, its president Rahul Gandhi is in the fray against BJP’s Smriti Irani from his pocket-borough Amethi. However, the contest seems to be tougher this time given the BJP’s focus on the seat for the last five years. Rae Bareli, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, is one of the 12 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh which will go to polls on Monday. The other seats in the elec- torally important UP are Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda. SP-BSP-RLD has emerged in UP as the main rival of the BJP and banking on its combined vote bank share which was divided in the last Lok Sabha poll, yielding a duck for the BSP and only six seats for the SP. In this phase, the BSP is contesting on five seats — Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj. While Samajwadi Party is fighting on seven seats Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is seeking re- election from Lucknow con- stituency, which has been rep- resented in the past by the BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Rajnath Singh is facing Samjawadi Party’s nominee Poonam Sinha, wife of actor- politician Shatrughan Sinha. Former Union Minister and Congress candidate Jitin Prasada is contesting from Dhaurahra against former Chambal dacoit Malkhan Singh of Pragati Sheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia). In the Faizabad parliamentary con- stituency, under which the temple town of Ayodhya falls, sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is taking on Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Khatri is a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief. In 2014 elections, 12 of 14 seats of this phase in UP were won by the BJP while National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had swept all five seats of Bihar. The Congress could win only the Rae Bareli and Amethi — out of the 80 seats in the entire State. State-wise distribution of Lok Sahba seats in this poll round is: UP (14 constituen- cies), Rajasthan (12), Madhya Pradesh (7), West Bengal (7), Bihar (5), Jharkhand (4) and Jammu & Kashmir (2). The phase would see conclusion of voting in all 29 seats of Rajasthan, which were won by the BJP in 2014. In contrast to previous rounds, poll campaigning in this phase has been peaceful even as electioneering during the last couple of days was marred by the panic over Fani, which caused large-scale destruction in Odisha. A high-decibel campaign for seven Lok Sabha con- stituencies in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul seats, all held by the BJP cur- rently, will take place on May 6. This will be the second phase of polling in MP, the first phase having been held on April 29. Union Minister Virendra Kumar Khatik is the BJP candidate from Tikamgarh while former Union Minister and sitting MP Prahlad Patel is the party’s Damoh candidate. Turn to Page 4 P eople of West Bengal heaved a sigh of relief as severe cyclonic storm Fani weakened on Saturday morn- ing which wreaked havoc in Odisha leaving 12 persons dead. However, Fani killed at least 14 people in Bangladesh as it barrelled into the nation on Saturday. North-East States — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura — have witnessed intermittent rain since Friday due to the impact of Fani. As many as 79 flights were cancelled at different airports in the Northeast region due to bad weather. According to the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, the cyclone has caused extensive damage to telecommunications and power infrastructure in Puri, Bhubaneswar and some other areas of Odisha while the West Bengal Government has reported mild impact of the cyclone. The Andhra Pradesh Government informed about heavy rainfall and some dam- age to crops and roads in Srikakulam district. In Bengal, the storm lashed Digha, Haldia, Tajpur, Mandarmani, Sandehskhali, Contai, Diamond Harbour, Bankura, Sriniketan, Asansol, Dumdum and Alipore, Kharagpur, Kolkata, and Burdwan. Trees were uprooted, power and telecom lines snapped, metal hoardings blown away as the storm swept through Bengal. However, no loss of life was reported from the State. According to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the entire administration was awake the whole night. “We were very worried about the cyclone Fani. There were not much damage in the State. At least 850 mud houses in the districts were partially dam- aged while 12 were complete- ly destroyed,” she said. The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) also resumed its rou- tine operation on Saturday morning at both Haldia and Kolkata docks. As Fani has moved away, flight operations resumed at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar airports on Saturday. “Flight operations to and from Bhubaneswar airport has resumed. Alliance Air flight from Ranchi is the first flight to land,” tweeted the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The Eastern Naval Command has launched a massive rescue and rehabilita- tion effort in Odisha. Turn to Page 4 A bus ferrying 42 female employees of a private company overturned after it was hit by a speeding truck, resulting in injuries to passen- gers in Noida Sector 93 on Saturday around 6 am. “The bus had 42 passen- gers, all women employees of a private firm, who were on their way to work when their vehi- cle overturned after being hit by a truck,” Phase 2 SHO Farmood Ali Pundir said. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, while those critically wounded were taken to Kailash Hospital, he said. “The truck involved in the incident has been impounded and its driver detained,” the SHO said. He scotched rumour of the law and order situation at the accident site, and said probe is underway. T he last day of the Lok Sabha poll campaigning in Amethi turned interesting with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Smriti Irani locking horns on several issues. Sitting MP and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is seeking to defend his turf for the fourth time against Union Minister Smriti Irani, who had brought down Rahul’s victory margin to just over a lakh in 2014. Charges have been flying thick and fast with the Congress accusing the BJP of trying to bribe voters and the BJP slamming the Congress for taking the segment for granted with dynasty politics. Campaigning for her brother, Priyanka said, “Smriti Irani comes here and distrib- utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute you shoes. I also want to ask if the BJP is so concerned about Amethi, why did they wind up projects which Rahul Gandhi initiated.” On the other hand, Smriti mocked Rahul in a rally, say- ing, “Absentee MP has already given up on you and run away to Kerala.” Turn to Page 4 The UN agency for disaster reduction has commended the India Meteorological Department’s “almost pinpoint accuracy” of early warnings that helped authorities conduct a well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise the loss of life. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday discussed the sit- uation with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and assured all support from the Central Government. Modi will visit Odisha on Monday to take stock of the situation.

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Page 1: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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The high-pitched cam-paigning for the fifth phase

of the Lok Sabha polls in 51seats spread across seven Statesended on Saturday with the BJPtrying hard to keep the steamon and repeat 2014 magic andthe rival Congress seeking toretrieve ground it had lost inthe last general elections.

In 2014, the BJP had con-solidated its position from thefifth phase onwards to single-handedly cross the majoritymark. For the Congress, itspresident Rahul Gandhi is inthe fray against BJP’s SmritiIrani from his pocket-boroughAmethi. However, the contestseems to be tougher this timegiven the BJP’s focus on the seatfor the last five years. RaeBareli, Congress leader SoniaGandhi’s constituency, is one ofthe 12 Lok Sabha seats in UttarPradesh which will go to pollson Monday.

The other seats in the elec-torally important UP areDhaurahra, Sitapur,Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow,Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi(SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad,Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj andGonda. SP-BSP-RLD hasemerged in UP as the mainrival of the BJP and banking onits combined vote bank sharewhich was divided in the last

Lok Sabha poll, yielding a duckfor the BSP and only six seatsfor the SP.

In this phase, the BSP iscontesting on five seats —Dhaurahra, Sitapur,Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur andKaisarganj. While SamajwadiParty is fighting on seven seats— Lucknow, Banda,Kaushambi, Barabanki,Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda.

Union Home Minister

Rajnath Singh is seeking re-election from Lucknow con-stituency, which has been rep-resented in the past by the BJPpatriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee.Rajnath Singh is facingSamjawadi Party’s nomineePoonam Sinha, wife of actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha.

Former Union Ministerand Congress candidate JitinPrasada is contesting fromDhaurahra against former

Chambal dacoit MalkhanSingh of Pragati SheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia). In theFaizabad parliamentary con-stituency, under which thetemple town of Ayodhya falls,sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh istaking on Nirmal Khatri of theCongress. Khatri is a formerUttar Pradesh CongressCommittee chief.

In 2014 elections, 12 of 14seats of this phase in UP were

won by the BJP while NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA)had swept all five seats ofBihar. The Congress could winonly the Rae Bareli and Amethi— out of the 80 seats in theentire State.

State-wise distribution ofLok Sahba seats in this pollround is: UP (14 constituen-cies), Rajasthan (12), MadhyaPradesh (7), West Bengal (7),Bihar (5), Jharkhand (4) andJammu & Kashmir (2). Thephase would see conclusion ofvoting in all 29 seats ofRajasthan, which were won bythe BJP in 2014.

In contrast to previousrounds, poll campaigning inthis phase has been peacefuleven as electioneering duringthe last couple of days was

marred by the panic over Fani,which caused large-scaledestruction in Odisha.

A high-decibel campaignfor seven Lok Sabha con-stituencies in the Bundelkhandregion of Madhya Pradeshended at 5 pm on Saturday.

Polling for Tikamgarh,Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna,Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betulseats, all held by the BJP cur-rently, will take place on May6. This will be the secondphase of polling in MP, the firstphase having been held onApril 29. Union MinisterVirendra Kumar Khatik is theBJP candidate from Tikamgarhwhile former Union Ministerand sitting MP Prahlad Patel isthe party’s Damoh candidate.

Turn to Page 4

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People of West Bengalheaved a sigh of relief as

severe cyclonic storm Faniweakened on Saturday morn-ing which wreaked havoc inOdisha leaving 12 personsdead. However, Fani killed atleast 14 people in Bangladeshas it barrelled into the nation onSaturday.

North-East States —Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya, Nagaland,Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura— have witnessed intermittentrain since Friday due to theimpact of Fani. As many as 79flights were cancelled at different airports in theNortheast region due to badweather.

According to the NationalCrisis Management Committee(NCMC), headed by CabinetSecretary PK Sinha, the cyclonehas caused extensive damage totelecommunications and powerinfrastructure in Puri,Bhubaneswar and some otherareas of Odisha while the WestBengal Government hasreported mild impact of thecyclone.

The Andhra PradeshGovernment informed aboutheavy rainfall and some dam-age to crops and roads inSrikakulam district.

In Bengal, the storm lashedDigha, Haldia, Tajpur,Mandarmani, Sandehskhali,Contai, Diamond Harbour,Bankura, Sriniketan, Asansol,Dumdum and Alipore,Kharagpur, Kolkata, andBurdwan. Trees were uprooted,power and telecom linessnapped, metal hoardingsblown away as the storm sweptthrough Bengal. However, noloss of life was reported fromthe State.

According to Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee, theentire administration wasawake the whole night. “Wewere very worried about thecyclone Fani. There were notmuch damage in the State. Atleast 850 mud houses in thedistricts were partially dam-aged while 12 were complete-ly destroyed,” she said.

The Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) also resumed its rou-tine operation on Saturdaymorning at both Haldia andKolkata docks. As Fani has

moved away, flight operationsresumed at Kolkata andBhubaneswar airports onSaturday. “Flight operations toand from Bhubaneswar airporthas resumed. Alliance Air flightfrom Ranchi is the first flightto land,” tweeted the Ministryof Civil Aviation.

The Eastern NavalCommand has launched amassive rescue and rehabilita-tion effort in Odisha.

Turn to Page 4

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Abus ferrying 42 femaleemployees of a private

company overturned after itwas hit by a speeding truck,resulting in injuries to passen-gers in Noida Sector 93 onSaturday around 6 am.

“The bus had 42 passen-gers, all women employees of aprivate firm, who were on theirway to work when their vehi-cle overturned after being hitby a truck,” Phase 2 SHOFarmood Ali Pundir said.

The injured were rushed toa nearby hospital, while thosecritically wounded were takento Kailash Hospital, he said.

“The truck involved in theincident has been impoundedand its driver detained,” theSHO said.

He scotched rumour ofthe law and order situation atthe accident site, and saidprobe is underway.

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The last day of the LokSabha poll campaigning

in Amethi turned interestingwith Priyanka Gandhi Vadraand Smriti Irani locking hornson several issues.

Sitting MP and Congresschief Rahul Gandhi is seekingto defend his turf for thefourth time against UnionMinister Smriti Irani, whohad brought down Rahul’svictory margin to just over alakh in 2014.

Charges have been flyingthick and fast with theCongress accusing the BJP oftrying to bribe voters and the

BJP slamming the Congressfor taking the segment forgranted with dynasty politics.

Campaigning for herbrother, Priyanka said, “SmritiIrani comes here and distrib-utes shoes and sarees. Sheshould come and beg for votesrather than distribute youshoes. I also want to ask if theBJP is so concerned aboutAmethi, why did they wind upprojects which Rahul Gandhiinitiated.”

On the other hand, Smritimocked Rahul in a rally, say-ing, “Absentee MP has alreadygiven up on you and run awayto Kerala.”

Turn to Page 4

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The UN agency for disasterreduction has commended theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment’s “almost pinpointaccuracy” of early warningsthat helped authorities conducta well-targeted evacuation planand minimise the loss of life.

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�#�#�������������%�������������Prime Minister Narendra Modion Saturday discussed the sit-uation with Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik andassured all support from theCentral Government. Modiwill visit Odisha on Monday totake stock of the situation.

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Page 2: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

�How have things changedafter playing AngooriBhabhi?

A lot has changed. I tooka break of two years in mycareer and was waiting for agood project where I get toplay a good character. PlayingAngoori was the right choice.It is important for an actor toget to play a good role aftercoming back from a break.Angoori has become thebiggest role of my life. Playingher is a treat for me and Ihave enjoyed playing it. Thisrole has offered me a lot offame, Angoori has nowbecome an household nameand it feels good. I have alsowon many awards for therole.�Did you ever think thatthis character will becomeso popular?

I never imagined it.When I got to play thischaracter, I was replacingsomeone else for the role. Itcame with a lot ofresponsibility. I decided togive my 100 per cent to thecharacter. I didn’t think that

I will get this much love andappreciation from theaudience. I believe in onething agar hum pooriimaandari ke sath koi kaamkartey hain toh uska resultzaroor milta hai.�Does it mean that youhave to work harder?

Yes. I would not call itchallenging but it came as ahuge responsibility on me atthat time. I knew that I wasreplacing a big character. Itwas important that I wasable to do justice to thecharacter. It wasn’t easy. I hadto work on my language andaccent. I come from MadhyaPradesh, so Bhojpuri wasalien to me. Initially, I faceda lot of difficulties to get intothe skin of the character andget everything right.Eventually, it all worked outwell for me.�What is that one thing that

you like and dislike aboutyour character?

I like the innocence ofthe character. It is a beautifulcharacter to play. I get toexperiment a lot with thecharacter. The thing that Idislike about my character iswearing a heavy wig andheavy sarees. I get a lot ofheadache after wearing it fora long time.�Did you want to be anactor?

Yes. Being an actor wasmy childhood dream. Jab semujhe hosh hai, tab se mujheactor hi banna tha. I becamean actor a long time ago — abathroom actor. Thengradually, with everyone’sblessing and because maineitni shiddat se yeh maanga kiI got into this field. It was along journey, full of ups anddowns but I made it heresomehow.

�What kind of roles wouldyou like to experiment with?

There are so many. I loveearthy characters and wouldalso love to be a part of artfilms. After Bhabhi Ji GharPar Hain, I would love to playthose characters which noone will ever imagine meplaying. I am looking forwardto some bold stuff too.�Where did you get yourinspiration from?

There are so many actorsthat inspire me in a way orother. Whenever I seesomeone doing a brilliantjob and I get inspired by themand I think that why can’t I domy work in such a way thatinspires others. There is somuch of talent around us thatI believe in getting inspiredfrom everything andeveryone around me.�Apart from acting whatelse keeps you busy?

I love travelling. Andvery soon I will come up withmy own travel show for theaudience.�What does fame mean toyou?

Fame is momentary. It isfor a short duration. If you arehit then people rememberyou aur phir kuch time baadbhool bhi jatey hain. Oneshould not take fame tooseriously. I believe in doinggood work, imaadari ke sath.This is what matters at theend.�How was the experiencebeing a part of KitchenChampion?

It was an amazing andfun-filled experience. Thewhole team is brilliant. Thisis the first time that I haveworked with my husband(Piyush Poorey) in any show,so I enjoyed it a lot. I got tocook, dance and do mimicrytoo. It was a wonderfulexperience. I got to spendsome time out from my usualroutine. I would like to thankArjun Bijlani (host of theshow) and the makers forhaving me there. I hope thatthis association will be therein future too.

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Over the years therehave been so manymovies made on

terrorism and sleeper cellsand how to end it all. Blankjust gets added to the list ofthe manys.

What we have is a man— an accident victim —brought to a hospital wherethey find a bomb tickingthat too that is linked to hisheart beat no less. He dies,the bomb explodes. Thesituation is explosive thefilm is not.

This is where theproblem lies. Blank which isBehzab Khambata’sdirectorial venture is unableto cash in on the pace atwhich the story should

progress. Given the urgencyof the situation, the pace isslow. The characters moveas if they have tons of timeat their hands, it is just theopposite. There are 25 livebombs that are about to gooff in various parts of thecountry.

The reasons for creatingterror are the same. Wordslike jannat, Inshaallah and itis just business are thrownaround. Money makes theworld go round is themantra.

Yelling and screamingno longer works and nordoes beating the terrorist toa pulp. There are far moreadvanced ways to get themtalking. Bollywood appearsto have forgotten that.References to the RAW andIB are cliched. If all thework has to be done bythese Intelligence Agencies,the police might as well shut

shop and put up theiruniforms.

Newbie Karan Kapadia(brother-in-law of AkshayKumar) does manage toleave his mark even thoughthere are many instanceswhere he just appears toamble along. But he is talland fights well. This shouldgo in his favour. Sunny Deolhas yet to lose the perpetualfrown as is the fact thatshouting no longer gets thework done. The parts wherehe yells grate on nerves.Good that these are few.

The 111-minute filmshould have been fraughtwith tension and speedunfortunately time is spentin showing sleeper cellschecking their text andwalking. But not all is losthere. It is good to see close-ups of hand-to-handpunches thrown in.

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Page 3: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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Delhi Chief Minister and AamAadmi Party (AAP) National

Convener Arvind Kejriwal wasslapped by a AAP supporter duringhis roadshow in New Delhi's MotiNagar area on Saturday. The inci-dent took place when ArvindKejriwal was holding a roadshow infavour of his party's candidateBrijesh Goyal who is contestingfrom the New Delhi seat.

The man, identified as Suresh(33), who has a spareparts businessin Kailash Park, climbed atop theopen jeep and slapped Kejriwalacross the face before he was pulledoff the jeep by the AAP workers.

According to MonikaBharadwaj, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP)West district, the incident occurredat around 5:43 pm when ChiefMinister got out of the officialvehicle and got on to the openGypsy prepared for the road show.

"As he was meeting and greet-ing his party workers, who had gath-ered around the Gypsy, suddenly, aperson got on to the bonnet of theGypsy and attempted to assault him.He was immediately overpoweredand saved from the agitated sup-porters and was taken to hospital formedical treatment. The road showthen started and continued as perthe schedule," said the DCP.

"Preliminary interrogation hasrevealed that the person, Suresh, ascrap dealer in the area, has been asupporter of AAP and used towork as an organiser of the party'srallies and meetings," said the DCP.

"As per his version, over a peri-

od of time, he got disenchanted withthe party and its leaders. He gotangry because of the incompatiblecomments on the armed forces bythe top leaders of the party," theDCP said.

"The man was wearing a cap(which he later took off) and scarfof AAP, and was in the receptiongroup of the CM. No one objectedto him being there as he had beenan organiser for the party. He wasstanding near the front right tyre ofthe Gypsy. He took off the scarf,climbed the bonnet and attemptedto assault the CM," said the DCPadding that further interrogation ofthe person is on.

Delhi Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia slammed the BJPafter the incident. "Do Modi andAmit Shah want Kejriwal to be mur-dered?" Sisodia tweeted, attackingthe Prime Minister and the BJPchief.

He said the BJP could notbreak the morale of Kejriwal andcould not defeat him in elections inthe last five years despite putting inall its might. "Now, you want himremoved form your way like this.You cowards! This Kejriwal is yourend," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

AAP spokesperson, SaurabhBharadwaj, too, alleged that the BJPmight be behind the attack andasserted the incident would notstanch the spirit of the party.

"The Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwalwas attacked during the roadshow.We condemn this cowardly act. ThisOpposition-sponsored attack can-not stop the Aam Aadmi Party frommaking itsstrong presence in Delhi,"he said. BJP Delhi president, ManojTiwari, condemned the incident andsaid the AAP might have "scripted"the incident.

"We do not support violenceand condemn such action by any-

one. But I have doubt as to why suchincidents happen with Kejriwal inelection time only. I doubt this inci-dent may have been scripted byKejriwal himself," Tiwari alleged.

"Another negligence in thesecurity of CM @ArvindKejriwal.Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal gotattacked during the roadshow. Wecondemned this cowardly act. Thisopposition sponsored attack cannotstop the Aam Aadmi in Delhi," theAAP tweeted.

This is not the first time that theDelhi CM has been attacked. A sim-ilar incident happened in April, 2014when Arvind Kejriwal was slappedby a man in Delhi's Dakshinpuriarea. The incident happened whenArvind Kejriwal was holding aroadshow in the Capital city. A manlunged at Arvind Kejriwal andslapped him on the neck beforebeing taken down by Kejriwal's sup-porters. Four days later, ArvindKejriwal faced another such attackafter an unidentified man slappedhim during a roadshow in Delhi.The assault left Kejriwal with aswollen face and eye. In 2013,Arvind Kejriwal has also beenattacked with ink.

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Former Union Minister and Congress can-didate from New Delhi constituency Ajay

Maken on Saturday said that all worldeconomies are booming and oil prices aredown, the Indian economy is on verge of reces-sion due to Prime Minister Narendra ModiGovernment's ill-thought-out economic poli-cies.

Addressing the public gathering in NewDelhi constituency, Maken said that arbitraryeconomic policies like notebandi (demoneti-zation), GST and sealing in Delhi have causedimmense loss of livelihoods.

"Around 4, 70, 00,000 jobs have been lost as result of these whimsical policies.Banks are under severe stress and NPAs have increased exponentially. ModiGTovernment is protecting big businessowners like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksiwho have siphoned off loans and fled thecountry," said Maken.

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Hitting at the Bharatiya JantaParty (BJP), National

Convener of the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal,on Saturday, said that the BJPhas imported Hans Raj Hansfrom Punjab as it thinks that nobackward class member fromNorth West constituency inDelhi is able to contest the LokSabha polls.

Addressing his supporters,during a roadshow in Bawana,Kejriwal asked if the people willgo to Punjab for the redressal oftheir problems.

"By importing the singer —Hans Raj Hans — from Punjab,the BJP is telling the people ofNorth West Delhi that no back-ward class member is in a posi-tion to contest the electionsfrom this area," said Kejriwal.

The AAP has fielded GuganSingh from North West Delhi,the Lok Sabha seat reserved forScheduled Castes. The Congress'candidate from the seat is RajeshLilothia.

"He (Gugan Singh) is fight-ing for the people of North WestDelhi. Elect him to make himstronger," Kejriwal told the peo-ple as his caravan passedthrough the sea of supporters inBawana.

This was Kejriwal's fourthroadshow in the national capi-tal. On Wednesday, he carriedout a roadshow in Chandni

Chowk along with party candi-date Pankaj Gupta.

On Thursday, he led EastDelhi candidate Atishi's road-show and on Friday, he partici-pated in North East Delhi DilipPandey's roadshow.

His roadshows are part ofthe party's third phase of cam-paigning, which started Tuesdayand will continue till May 10.Delhi goes to polls in the sixthphase of the Lok Sabha electionson May 12 and the campaigningwill end on May 10.

The AAP has already car-ried out campaigning in twophases. The first phase wasfrom March 10 to April 7 andthe second phase from April 10to April 25. In the first phase,campaigning was carriedthrough jansabhas, while in thesecond phase door to door cam-paigning was done.

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In order to make the voters awareof their rights to vote in the Lok

Sabha election, the office of theChief Electoral Officer (CEO) hasdecided to print the "voter awarenessmessages' on water bill, issued to thepeople by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB).The polls in the national Capital willbe held on May 12.

"The initiative is taken under theSystematic Voters' Education andElectoral Participation program(SVEEP) activities to aware thevoters to cast their vote. Voterawareness message is being printedon the bill of Delhi Jal Board," saidan official.

The Delhi CEO has furtherremoved a total of 3,47,540 hoard-ings/banners/posters in all overDelhi that violated the model codeof conduct laid for the general elec-tions. Out of these 30,533 are

removed from New Delhi MunicipalCouncil, 43,075 from East DelhiMunicipal Corporation, 2,411 fromDelhi Cantonment Board, 1,55,705from South Delhi MunicipalCorporation, and 1,15,816 fromNorth Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The office of CEO and DelhiPolice has lodged as many as 236FIR's/DD entry against variouspolitical parties, out of which,27 isagainst Aam Aadmi Party, 35 againstBhartiya Janata , 13 against CongressParty, Two against Bahujan SamajParty (2 FIR) and one againstSamajwadi Party, Four against CPI(M) and 154 (150 FIR's and 4 DDEntry) are against under the head ofothers/non-political.

As per the data shared by CEOofficer, about 478 FIR's have beenregistered under Arms Act, in which557 persons are arrested and1411.6604 Kg. Narcotics/Drugs areseized respectively.

"Till date cash of �4,00,73305/-has been seized by SST/FST, 657numbers of unlicensedarms/weapons seized and 2,960numbers ofcartridges/explosives/bombs seized.Whereas, 4,904 licensed armsdeposited, 1,03,411 persons havebeen booked under various sectionsof CRPC/Delhi Police Act, as pre-ventive action measures," shows thedata.

Further, a total of 1,764 bottles,109 Half, 208365 quarters of IndianMade Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and2,076 bottles, 1,892 Half, 4,46,528quarters of Country liquor and 8,109bottles beer were seized. A total num-ber of 1,254 FIR's have been regis-tered in Excise Act and 1,255 personsare arrested in Excise Act.

The elections in the nationalCapital will held on May 12 and the overall results will declared on23 May.

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Actor cum politician Prakash Raj willcampaign for the Aam Aadmi Party

(AAP) in Delhi for a week. Raj began hisDelhi campaign from the North East LokSabha constituency on Saturday eveningwith a meeting in support of AAP can-didate, Dilip Pandey, at Babarpur.

Addressing the media along withthe AAP Delhi convenor Gopal Rai atthe party headquarters, Raj, who foughtthe Lok Sabha polls as an independentcandidate from the Bengaluru Centralseat, said that people need to unite to"reclaim the republic" of the countrywhich is on the verge of losing with theonslaught of communal and hatred-based politics.

"The AAP is fighting the elections onthe issues of health, education, theirvision and based on their work. I am veryhappy, proud and I feel meaningful inthis journey in Indian politics to be withAAP. I am not from Aam Aadmi Party,but I am one of those Aam Aadmi whichlook upto to the ideology and the workdone by this party and this is what made

me here. I am here to support such can-didates, such party, which is fighting fora change in this election, compared toother parties.

"This is what we need, this is my ges-ture, and my belief, that different peo-ple with different thought processes butlove for the country come together tomake this democracy, to reclaim ourrepublic which is on the verge and thatwe may lose with the onslaught of com-munal and hatred politics of the gov-ernment, which is in place," Raj said.

He will campaign in the New Delhiand East Delhi constituencies on Sunday.

Meanwhile, AAP chief spokespersonSaurabh Bharadwaj on Saturday said thatthe party's Lok Sabha candidates willdeclare their constituency-wise mani-festoes this week.

"AAP is the only party, which hasalready put its Delhi Lok Sabha mani-festo in the public domain 10 days backfor the residents of the national capitalto thoroughly examine what our partycan do for Delhiites and on what basiswe are seeking their votes," saidBharadwaj.

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Page 4: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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Ahead of the holy month of Ramzan,a senior BJP leader from South

Kashmir district of Anantnag was shotdead by unidentified terrorists inNowgam area of Verinag at around 10.00pm on Saturday.

Confirming the death of his partycolleague, BJP candidate from AnantnagLok Sabha seat, Sofi Yousaf said, "GulMohd Mir, district Vice President,Anantnag was killed by unidentified ter-rorists late Saturday night".

He said, Mir was a senior andrespected leader of the party in Kashmirvalley. He had contested 2008 and 2014Assembly polls and recently won thePanchayat polls.

According to doctors of theAnantnag district hospital, BJP leaderhad received five bullet injuries, three inchest and two in abdomen. He wasdeclared brought dead on arrival in thedistrict hospital.

From Page 1In 2014, the BJP had won

27 of 29 seats in the State. TheCongress later increased itstally to three after wrestingRatlam seat from the BJP in abypoll. The Congress, whichcame to power in the State inDecember last year after 15years, hopes to carry forwardthe winning momentum whilethe BJP hopes to repeat its2014 magic.

The five seats of Biharwhich would go to poll areMuzaffarpur, Saran,Sitamarhi, Vaishali andHajipur. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi led the cam-paigning from the front, hold-ing a rally at Muzaffarpurwhere he canvassed in favourof the local BJP candidate asalso nominees fielded byalliance partners the JD(U)and the LJP.

Congress president whoseparty is not contesting any ofthe five seats going to the pollson Monday, did not hold anelection meeting in these con-stituencies which are, howev-er, being contested by alliancepartners in theMahagathbandhan.

BJP chief Amit Shahaddressed rallies at Saran andSitamarhi and spoke about the

Prime Minister’s commitmentto his work which is evidentfrom his having not taken aday off in 20 years.

Bollywood actor and BJPMP Hema Malini held a rallyat Sitamarhi where sheexpressed delight over theimproved infrastructure inBihar and recalled withamusement the 1990s whenthen Chief Minister LaluPrasad reported promise ofmaking the potholed roads ofthe State as smooth as hercheeks had made headlines.

BJP MPs Ajay Nishad andRajiv Pratap Rudy are seekingre-election from their respec-tive seats of Muzaffarpur andSaran respectively. Rudy facesChandrika Rai of RJD, father-in-law of Lalu Prasads elderson, Tej Pratap Yadav.

LJP chief Ram VilasPaswan, who has announcedthat he would no longer con-test direct elections, has field-ed his younger brother andState Minister PashupatiKumar Paras from his pocketborough of Hajipur.

In Bengal, the fear overFani cyclone led all politicalparties to cancel their electionmeetings in last two days. Onthe last day of campaigningthe BJP candidate of Bongaon

(SC) seat, Shantanu Thakurwas injured in a road accident.

Seats in which electionswill be held on Monday areBongaon (SC), Barrackpur,Howrah, Uluberia,Serampore, Hooghly andArambagh (SC) where1,16,91,889 electorate willdecide the fate of 83 candi-dates, the ElectionCommission said.

The EC will deploy a total578 companies of Centralforces, which will cover almost100 per cent polling booths inthe seven constituencies toensure free and fair polling,officials in the poll body said.

The campaign saw pollmeetings by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, BJP presidentAmit Shah and West BengalChief Minister and TrinamoolCongres supremo MamataBanerjee. Mamata also par-ticipated in a number of road-shows.

In Bongaon (SC) seat,which is on the Indo-Banglaborder and has a large num-ber of voters from the Matuacommunity, TMC has fieldedMamata Thakur against theBJP candidate ShantanuThakur. The Left Front con-stituent CPI(M) has nomi-nated Alakesh Das, while the

Congress has nominatedSourav Prosad.

In Barrackpore, the TMChas fielded its sitting MPDinesh Trivedi against BJP’sArjun Singh, who had defect-ed from Mamata Banerjee’sparty ahead of the poll. TheCongress has nominated MdAlam and CPI(M) GargiChatterjee.

Howrah Lok Sabha seatwil l see TMC’s PrasunBanerjee, a footballer-turnedpolitician locking horns withBJP’s Rantidev Sengupta.Congress has nominatedSuvra Ghosh and the CPI(M)Sumitro Adhikary.

Kalyan Banerjee is theTMC candidate fromSreerampur seat against BJP’sDebjit Sarkar. The Congresshas nominated DebabrataBiswas and CPI(M) has field-ed Tirthankar Ray for the seat.

In Hooghly seat Ratna DeNag of TMC will contestagainst BJP’s celebrity candi-date Locket Chatterjee. TheCPI(M) has nominated PradipSaha and the Congress PratulChandra Saha for the seat.

Braving inclement weath-er due to Cyclone Fani, thepolling personnel have alreadyleft for the 13,290 booths inthe seven constituencies.

Frrom Page 1I am sending the Congress

manifesto in an envelope tothe people. They are sendingyou �20,000 each. They thinkthey can buy you with votes.They are mistaken. I havelearnt so much from you.”

Earlier Priyanka said,“The way my father was ded-icated to the welfare of peopleof Amethi, my brother too iscommitted.”

Priyanka’s canvassing forher brother centred on emo-tion as she went around greet-ing locals, addressing them as“family members” and recall-ing the old days when herfather, the late Rajiv Gandhi,used to represent Amethi.

“I used to come here withmy father as a 12 year old. Ihave seen this arid land turngreen after my father camehere. The way my father wasdedicated to the people ofAmethi, my brother is alsocommitted,” Priyanka told thepeople.

The BJP, on the otherhand, flagged Congress’sdynastic politics as the bane ofAmethi and sought to woolocals with development.

“Where was the absenteeMP when 10 Amethi villagescaught fire recently? He aban-doned you even after winningthe seat in 2014 whereas Istood by you even after losing,”Irani told people as she exud-ed confidence that they will“teach the absentee MP a les-son for ignoring his con-stituency for 15 years”.

To the women of Amethi,Smriti has promised sugar at�13 a kg and to voters she haspledged development callingout the slogan ‘Phir ek baarModi sarkar’.

As titans clash in thislargely underdeveloped area,some locals see Amethi andthe Gandhis as inseparable,while others are willing toshun old loyalties and seeknew horizons.

Amethi is still awaitingfruits of development so muchso that a cluster of local villagesis considering to boycott elec-tions over an old unfulfilledpromise of a rail under bridgein the Amethi town.

“We have been demand-ing a rail under bridge at anunmanned rail crossing fordecades. Even in the last elec-tion we had threatened a boy-cott but Rahul Gandhi told ushe will help. Nothing hasmoved. We feel betrayed,” saidSurinder Singh of villageBirahimpur, where locals haveresolved to boycott the May 6poll.

According to MumtazKhan, an ex-village head ofRaydepur, the fight for anunder bridge started in 1987and people are dejectedenough to consider a boycott.

“We are a VIP segment yesbut we are fed up now,” herued as the segment wears adesolate look bereft of finessethat should have been attachedwith such a seat.

That said, generationalloyalty for the Gandhis

remains a factor here withsome locals indicating thatdespite lack of development,Rahul Gandhi was likely to bevoted back.

For Uma Shankar Pathak,an old timer, “The Nehrufamily gave this place its iden-tity though there has not beenadequate development.”

According to another localBhola Nath, “For the sake ofthe Gandhi family’s legacy,people may still vote for RahulGandhi here.”

A section of people dis-agree and feel the competitionthis year is cut throat and any-thing can happen.

“It is a very close contestand nothing can be said. Thistime the Gandhis are cam-paigning much harder thanbefore and their anxiety is vis-ible,” said Mahesh Jaiswal ofAmethi.

Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel andOBC leader TamradhwajSahu, besides Ghulam NabiAzad and others also cam-paigned for Rahul.

The BJP also gave a finalpush to its campaign withAmit Shah holding a roadshow for Smriti on Saturdayand Yogi Adityanath holdingrallies earlier.

Another local Shiv Kumarsaid, “Earlier, the Gandhiswould only come to file thenomination. This time theyare spending much more timein Amethi because they knowSmriti Irani is a tough chal-lenger.”

From Page 1“The cyclonic story

crossed Kharagpur and is like-ly to continue further in north-east direction with a windspeed of 90 kilometres perhour. The extremely severecyclonic storm relatively weak-ened after entering coastalOdisha and transformed into“very severe” as it approachedWest Bengal. Analysis andnumerical model guidancesuggested widespread rainfallactivity across NortheasternStates and widespread rainfallactivity over Arunachal onMay 4 and 5,” the IMD said.

Heavy rain along with awind speed of 175 kilometresper hour battered Odisha ascyclone Fani made landfallclose to the temple town ofPuri on Friday morning, leav-ing a trail of destruction in theState. Life remained paralysedon Saturday, a day after the‘extremely severe’ cyclonicstorm in Odisha.

As communication net-works are not in place, the

extent of damage could not beascertained. Energy infra-structure has suffered a mas-sive damage in the region.Failure of mobile connectivi-ty has added to the chaos. TheNational Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) has moved 16additional teams, comprisingabout 45 personnel in each, forrescue and relief work inOdisha and has removed fall-en trees and other obstacles onmost of the roads.

In Andhra Pradesh, Fanitriggered heavy rain in coastaldistricts of Andhra Pradeshbesides uprooting 10,000coconut trees and destroyingagriculture and horticulturecrops.

The JharkhandGovernment issued an advi-sory on May 3, asking all dis-trict deputy commissioners toset up control rooms to meetany exigency in the wake ofFani.

Two maritime reconnais-sance sorties were undertakenby the Dornier aircraft of the

Navy revealing widespreaddestruction localised aroundthe temple town of Puri,according to an official state-ment. Based on the aerial sur-veys, the Eastern NavalCommand is undertaking athree-pronged rescue andrehabilitation effort centredaround Puri and its suburbs incoordination with the StateGovernment and the districtadministration.

Meanwhile, the examina-tion authority, National TestingAgency (NTA) has cancelledNEET UG 2019 for candidatesappearing in Odisha in wakeof Fani. The notification hasbeen issued a day before thescheduled exam date on May5. According to the notifica-tion, “NEET exam scheduledfor May 5 in Odisha has beenpostponed as per the requestof the State Government work-ing on relief and rehabilitationwork in the wake of Fani.Revised dates for the exam inOdisha will be announcedsoon.”

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Lucknow: BJP president AmitShah on Saturday lashed out atthe SP-BSP alliance, allegingthat it was indulging in divisivepolitics and pitting one casteagainst another for "petty polit-ical gains".

Addressing an electionrally in Fatehpur, he said,"Erstwhile Governments of SPand BSP would divide peopleon caste lines and would notfocus on development. TheYogi Adityanath Governmentand the Narendra ModiGovernment have shifted thefocus entirely to developmentwithout any caste discrimina-tion."

Hitting out at the Congress,he said, "The biggest achieve-ment of the Modi Governmentis that of securing the nationagainst terrorism. DuringSonia-Manmohan rule, terror-

ists used to enter Indian at willand even cut heads of our sol-diers like that in case of (LanceNaik) Hemraj (Singh), withoutany response from then silentPM Manmohan Singh."

"After the Pulwama terrorattack, Indian Air Force wentdeep inside Pakistan to Balakotand killed terrorists anddestroyed their bases. Modijihas a strong will to take strongdecisions for the security of thecountry," Shah said.

Sonia Gandhi was the pres-ident of the Congress when itgoverned the country from2004 to 2014.

Taking on the Congress forpromising to remove the anti-sedition law if it comes topower, the BJP president askedwho the party and its followerswere trying to protect.

"Who do you want to pro-

tect? When anti-India sloganslike 'Bharat tere tukde honge'were shouted, you stood withthem in the name of freedomof speech. Such people will bejailed as long as the BJP isthere," he said.

Exuding confidence thatNarendra Modi will return asthe prime minister, Shah saidpeople seem to have made uptheir minds to vote for the BJP.

Showering praise on Modi,the BJP chief said, "Modiji is theman the country had beenwaiting for 70 years...For devel-opment to take place in realsense."

Taking a swipe at Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi, hesaid, "In the past 20 years,Modiji has never taken even aday's holiday. But Rahul Babagoes on holiday every nowand then." PTI

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Morena (MP): BSP chiefMayawati on Saturday said theCongress will pay a "heavyprice" for inducting her party'sGuna Lok Sabha candidate inthe Congress.

Earlier last week, the BSP'sGuna candidate Lokendra Singhhad opted out and joined theCongress while extending sup-port to the party's sitting par-liamentarian JyotiradityaScindia.

"The Congress will have topay a heavy price for this whentime comes. Due to similar acts,we brought down the Atal BihariVajpayee Government," she said.

The BSP supremo said theCongress Government in thestate had misused officialmachinery to pressurise Singh towithdraw in favour of Scindia.

Addressing a rally here, theformer Uttar Pradesh chief min-

ister dubbed both the BJP andCongress as "casteist and capi-talist" and said the BSP wouldnever enter into an alliancewith either of them.

"You (BSP workers) shouldbe ready that we will never con-test elections in alliance with theBJP and Congress, both ofwhich are casteist, capitalist par-ties," she said.

Mayawati urged her partyworkers to bring together peo-ple from the Scheduled Caste,Scheduled Tribe, OtherBackward Classes, Muslim andother minority communitiesalong with the poor from thegeneral category to form aGovernment in MadhyaPradesh. She told the gatheringthat this formula had led to theBSP forming a majority gov-ernment several years ago inUttar Pradesh. PTI

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New Delhi: Promoters and top offi-cials of realty firm Amrapali Groupdiverted homebuyers' money forpersonal benefits and buildingtheir own empire, said the forensicreport submitted to the SupremeCourt.

The audit report reveals thataround �3,500 crore of homebuy-ers' money was diverted by theAmrapali top brass. According tothe auditors, the money was spenton houses, luxury cars and wed-dings among others and also invest-ed in shares and mutual funds.

The Supreme Court onWednesday slammed both theNoida and Greater Noida author-ities and the banks concerned forthe diversion of funds by the group.

Pointing to the diversion of�3,500 crore by the AmrapaliGroup as estimated by the forensicauditors, Justice Arun Mishra said:"�3,500 crore have gone away. Dueto your inaction, cheating hastaken place. The banks' inaction hascontributed to it. Had you takenaction timely, this would not havehappened."

"It is your own doing. You havenot done anything. If you had doneanything, this would not have hap-pened. If it is not hand in glovesthen what it is," Justice Mishra toldthe Noida, Greater Noida author-ities and the banks.

The forensic auditors' reportpointed to instances where moneymoved from one company toanother company of the AmrapaliGroup.

The court said that that "with-out the active support of the banks,this kind of large scale money laun-dering could not have happened".

IANS

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Indore (MP): Officials of theDirectorate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI) on Saturday raided a zoo hereand rescued 134 foreign animals,allegedly brought into the country ille-gally.

On a tip-off, DRI officials raidedthe zoo located in Malharganj area, runillegally by the NGO Karuna Sagar, anofficial release said.

Creatures found in the zoo includ-ed a South American Marmoset,Australian Iguanas, a Persian cat, RedEared Singapore Slider Turtle, NorthAmerican Alligator Gar, SouthAmerican Guinea Pig and SouthAmerican Macaw.

The rescued animals, birds andreptiles were shifted to Kamala NehruZoo in the city.

The NGO which was running thezoo could not present legal documentsrelated to import or purchase of theseforeign animals, the DRI releasealleged, adding that appropriate legalaction will be taken against it. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani onSaturday accused the Congressof doing a U-turn on the issueof surgical strikes, saying theparty which earlier soughtproof from the ModiGovernment, was now claim-ing that six such operationswere carried out during theUPA rule.

He claimed that peoplecame to know about the phrase'surgical strike' thanks to theModi government.

The chief minister alsosaid that Congress presidentRahul Gandhi and his sisterPriyanka Gandhi Vadra have

become the butt of jokes onsocial media.

"Congress, which was seek-ing a proof of air strike and sur-gical strike, had to say yester-day that it had conducted sur-gical strike six times. It meanslooking at the mood, enthusi-asm and patriotism of people,you have made a U-turn. Youwould ask for proof earlier, butnow you accept that it has hap-pened. Now you say we (UPA)also conducted it," Rupani toldreporters in Gandhinagar.

"It means you have quiet-ly accepted that there was a sur-gical strike (under the Modigovernment)...The truth is that

the people of the country learntabout the word 'surgical strike'from Modi government, whichconducted the operations inresponse to the terror attacks inPulwama and Uri. People werenot even aware of the word tillthen. And India made it pos-sible," he said.

The Congress had Fridaystated that it conducted six sur-gical strikes between June 2008and January 2014.

On the controversy sur-rounding the electronic votingmachines (EVMs), he said,"Congress is blaming theElection Commission. It willstart blaming the EVMs. These

machines worked fine in threestate elections (where Congresswon), but they will be calledfaulty when it is defeated."

He also targeted Congressin-charge of eastern UttarPradesh Priyanka GandhiVadra over her meeting withsnake charmers in UttarPradesh, and said that she andher brother Rahul Gandhi havebecome the butt of joke onsocial media.

"Priyanka Gandhi is play-ing with snake charmers. Thisis childishness. Both the both-er-sister have become the buttof joke on websites, YouTube,"he said. PTI

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Mumbai: Bajirao, the last captive whitetiger at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park(SGNP) in Borivali, died at the age of 18.

A statement issued by the SGNPsaid, the tiger breathed his last earlyFriday.

"Bajirao had been suffering fromchronic ankylosis on left shoulder andchronic senile generalised arthritis for thelast four years. He had been unable towalk for the last ten days and succumbedto his ailment at 5.30 am on Friday dueto his advanced age," it said.

Bajirao was born at the SGNP in2001 to Renuka and Sidharth. He wasthe last surviving white tiger in the park,it said.

An expert advisory committee of theSGNP, comprising senior veternarians,including those from the BombayVeterinary College (BVC) and retiredones from the SGNP, had earlier exam-ined Bajirao and suggested the line oftreatment considering his advancedage, the statement said.

Bajirao's post-mortem was con-ducted by the pathology department ofthe BVC and the final reports are await-ed. He was later cremated as per the pre-scribed procedure, it added.

Taxidermist Santosh Gaikwadexpressed inability to perform taxi-dermy on Bajirao due to the unsuitableskin condition, the statement said. PTI

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Bhopal: The Opposition BJP on Saturdayreleased an 'aarop patra' or charge sheet againstthe Kamal Nath-led Government in MadhyaPradesh, targeting it over its "failure" to deliveron the promises it had made to the people.

The chargesheet, which is a 12-page book-let, lists the "unfulfilled promises" of theCongress, which formed the Government in thestate in December last year.

The saffron party alleged that among otherthings, the Congress duped farmers in the nameof loan waiver. It also said that the ruling partyhas disappointed the people of the state as itsassurances have remained "only on paper", asagainst its claim of implementing 83 promises.

However, the ruling party hit back at the BJPsaying the allegations against it were "baseless".

The booklet was released at the BJP's stateparty office by former Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan, party's national vice presidentsVinay Sahasrabuddhe and Prabhat Jha, amongothers.

Talking to reporters on the occasion,Chouhan said, "The farm loan waiver scheme ofthe Congress, on the basis of which it came topower, has been a complete failure. Not a singlefarmer in the state has received a loan waiver cer-tificate."

"Although the Congress Government hadissued an order of loan waiver, the debts of nota single farmer have been written off.

"Farmers across the State are setting on firethe copies of false certificates, while Congressleaders, including party chief Rahul Gandhi andCM Kamal Nath, claim that the Government haswaived loan of up to �2 lakh as promised, whichis actually false," Chouhan alleged.

Referring to the power outages in the state,he said, "It reminds us of the 'Bantadhar Yug'(ruined state) when electricity cuts had becomeroutine."

Chouhan's 'Bantadhar Yug' remark indirectlyreferred to former MP Chief Minister DigvijaySingh's rule.

He said, power had tripped even when Nathhad gone to cast his vote in his constituency.

"It shows the kind of situation in the Stateand the Government is blaming BJP for it insteadof tackling the issue...They are so afraid of powercuts that now the CM has provided a mobile gen-erator to (Digvijay) Singh for his campaign todeal with power cuts," Chouhan added. PTI

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Page 5: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Saturday minced

no words in accusing theElection Commission (EC) ofbeing "completely biased" whenit comes to matters related to theOpposition. His remarks comein the wake of clean chits givenby the EC to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP chiefAmit Shah on various com-plaints of Model Code ofConduct violations.

Rahul also said Congress'sinternal assessment after fourphases of polling shows that theBJP will lose in the Lok Sabhaelections and he sees a "scaredPrime Minister" unable to facethe onslaught of the Opposition.

At the same time, theCongress president lashed outModi saying the Indian Army isnot the Prime Minister's "per-sonal property". And seeking tocounter the BJP's zero-toler-ance policy against terrorism, hesaid the Congress will deal withit "more sternly" than Modi.

On the EC, Rahul said,"When it comes to issues of theBJP, the EC is absolutely on thestraight line, when it comes tothe Opposition's issues, it iscompletely biased."

"The working style of Modi,the ruling BJP and the RSS is toput pressure on institutions.This is evident everywhere —SC, EC, Planning Commission,RBI. That is their approach. Wedo not expect that the EC willnot be affected by that pressure,"Rahul said. However, he assert-ed that the EC has to commit to

its responsibility and carry it out. "All this institutional capture

that is taking place and all thenegative effects of it will haveconsequences in the future. Weare not going to allow Indianinstitutions to be disturbed,controlled, crushed and anybodywho colludes, anybody whofalls to this pressure, is com-mitting a crime," the Congresschief said.

Addressing a press confer-ence at the Congress headquar-ters in Delhi, he launched anoth-er attack on Modi for "insulting"India's armed forces. TheCongress does not politicise thearmy, Rahul said, and it is notanyone's property as PM Modiquestioned the Congress' claimsthat the UPA government hadcarried out six surgical strikesduring its tenure. "The army, airforce or navy are not the per-sonal property of NarendraModi ji like he thinks," he said.

Referring to the six surgicalstrikes the Congress had listed

as carried out under the UPArule, he said those were not con-ducted by his party, but by theArmy. "When he (Modi) says theIndian Army's surgical strikeswere video games, he does notinsult the Congress, but theIndian Army. "The Army haddone this (surgical strikes). It istheir job. We do not politicise theArmy," Rahul said.

He also took a swipe at theBJP on the release of Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azharback in 1999. "Who sentMasood Azhar to Pakistan? DidCongress send him to Pakistan?Which Government negotiatedwith terrorism? Congress didn'tsend him there. The reality isthat BJP compromises with ter-rorism," Rahul said.

The Congress chief alsodeclared that it was clear the BJPwas losing the Lok Sabha polls".He said it was the "assessment"of the Congress that the BJP waslosing. Rahul also said he willstand by his "Chowkidar Chor

Hai" jibe as it is a reality and con-tinue using the slogan againPrime Minister Narendra Modi.Rahul said he apologised to theSupreme Court as he felt he hadmade a mistake.

"There is a process is goingon in the Supreme Court and Imade a comment attributed toSC so I apologised. I did notapologise to the BJP or Modi ji.'Chowkidar Chor Hai' willremain our slogan," he said."More than half of the electionsare over and there is clear cutfeeling that Modiji is losing …Our general assessment is clear-ly saying that BJP is losing theelections," Rahul said.

"The reality is that Modiji islosing the elections and it's vis-ible on his face," he said.

The main issues facing thecountry, he said, were unem-ployment and the crisis facingthe farmers of the country butthe Prime Minister said nothingabout the concerns of the com-mon people.

Hitting out at the PrimeMinister, Rahul said: "Modiji'sentire strategy is to distract. Wehave fought four to five electionswith him. We have foughtagainst him in Gujarat,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. As soon as herealises that he is not going towin then he brings somethingnew like he brought seaplane inGujarat." The Congress chief 'sremarks come a day after thePM said during a public meet-ing in Rajasthan's Sikar that theparty which questioned the sur-gical strikes is now saying "metoo, me too".

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Virtually describing Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi a defence deal pusher

or facilitator of defence offset contracts, BJPon Saturday sought to counter Congresson the Rafale controversy by alleging thatRahul was instrumental in getting anScorpene submarine offset contracts to hiscompany's partner in a deal which Indiahad with France during the UPA regime.

In a counter-offensive on the eve of the5th phase of polling, BJP rejected Rahul'sclaim that BJP was losing as per Congressparty's "internal assessment" and stated thateven Congress president was set to loseAmethi, his home constituency in UttarPradesh.

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley soughtto draw Rahul's attention to the chargesagainst him that his American associatewho was a partner in his now-defunctLondon-based company had got an offsetsubmarine contract and demanded an"structured response" from him and hisparty.

" How come the company throughvicarious ways get the offset contract ?" ,he asked addressing a press conference andposed a counter to what he called CongressPresident's wild and baseless allegation ona private Indian company getting Rafaleoffset contract signed between the BJP andthe French Government. He said it was aserious charge.

Finance Minister cited a media reportand gave more information that he said he

had found out to take a swipe at Gandhi,saying it is story of a man who aspired tobe a defence deal pusher and is now aspir-ing to be prime minister.

Detailing the allegations Jaitley saidRahul and his sister Priyanka GandhiVadra were directors in Backops ServicesPvt. Ltd. Registered in India in 2002 andthen a firm of a similar name was regis-tered in the UK in which Rahul Gandhiand Ulrik Mcknight were directors.

It was an "influence for cash" company,Jaitley alleged, adding that Mcknight wasmarried to a Congress leader's daughterand was part of Rahul Gandhi's "socialgang".

Rahul and Mcknight registered thesame London address, which Jaitley saidwas owned by Ajitabh Bachchan, brotherof actor Amitabh Bachchan. In 2009Rahul Gandhi left the UK firm and theIndian company wound up in 2010 but hispartner remained associated with differ-ent firms, he said. Mcknight won an off-set contract with a French firm awardedan Indian Navy deal to build submarines,he said.

Jaitley asked, "The question is how willyou like now to be judged. You are judg-ing others when there is no evidence. Youdistance yourself from a shady companylaunched by

you and then your partner gets an off-set contract."

"What was his (Rahul) own role? Didhe want to start off as a defence dealer. Itis a very serious subject and we will want

top Congress leadership to respond at theearliest," he said. Taking a dig at theCongress president, he wondered if itwould have been better had he remain inthe defence business and not joined poli-tics.

In another pincer attack by BJPspokesperson G V L Narasimha Raotermed Congress president's attacks onPrime Minister, outcome of frustration asthe party is not only losing elections acrossthe country in a big way but its "so-calledbastion Amethi is also crumbling."

Addressing a press conference, Raosaid the remarks by the Congress chiefindicate "desperation because the party isseeing not only its fortunes crumble all overIndia but also seeing its so called bastionsin Amethi and Rae Bareli crumbling".

"People of the country want Modijiback. Rahul Gandhi knows the reality andis scared of losing Amethi, and out of des-peration is making such claims which arefactually incorrect," he added.

"Congress is facing extinction in thiselection. Despite a series of lies uttered byGandhi over the last several months, hesimply has not been able to bring the partyback to life and is literally on the death-bed in this election," Rao said.

Responding to questions by theCongress leaders as to why national secu-rity was an issue, he said it is the top issuefor the BJP and dominant issue for thecountry unlike the Congress, duringwhose regime there have been several ter-ror attacks.

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In another clean chit to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,

the Election Commission (EC)on Saturday said PM did notviolate the mode code of con-duct at his speech in which hesaid he had kept Pak on toesfor safe release of IAF pilot

Wing CommanderAbhinandan at Patan inGujarat on April 21.

"The matter has beenexamined in detail in accor-dance with the extant advi-sories, provisions of the ModelCode of Conduct. After exam-ination, the Commission is ofthe view that in this matter no

such violation of the extantadvisories/provisions is attract-ed," EC says.

Sources in EC said thatChief Electoral Officer ofGujarat had sent a detailedreport on the alleged violationsof advisories of theCommission and Model Codeof Conduct in a speech deliv-

ered by PM Narendra Modi atPatan.

PM Modi had in his Patanspeech took on Pakistan anddescribed how his governmenthad kept the Pakistan govern-ment on its toes to ensure thesafety of Wing CommanderAbhinandan in the aftermath ofBalakot air strikes.

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Following the ElectionCommission notice for chil-

dren in campaign video, BJPcandidate Kirron Kher onSaturday apologised and saidthat it was done "unintention-ally", acknowledging that itwas "wrong". "Some partyworker sent it and my socialmedia team sharedit...Sometimes because of rushof work and enthusiasm, peo-ple do it and which is wrong.Children should not be usedfor this at all. I agree with thatand it was not done uninten-tionally...So it was very bad, notgood and it should not havebeen done," Kher said in herreply to Election Commission(EC).

Earlier, the EC issued anotice, seeking reply of BJP's

Chandigarh candidate KirronKher after she shared a videoon twitter in which childrenwere seen campaigning forher. The poll panel has askedthe actor-turned-politician toreply within 24 hours.

"You have shared a videoon your twitter account whichshows that children are beingused for election campaign inyour favour through slogan'Vote for Kirron Kher' and 'AbKi Baar Modi Sarkar'," thenotice, issued on May 3, said.

In the notice, it was men-

tioned that the NationalCommission for Protection ofChild Rights in January 2017had requested the EC to ensurethat children are not involvedin any form with election-relat-ed activities, by either electionsofficials or political parties.

The EC had subsequentlyinstructed that it should beensured by all political partiesand election officials that chil-dren are not involved in anyelection-related activity, as perthe notice.

Kher is seeking re-elec-tion from the Chandigarh LokSabha seat and is pitted againstfour-time MP and Congresscandidate Pawan Kumar Bansaland AAP's HarmohanDhawan.

Chandigarh will vote in thelast phase of Lok Sabha elec-tions on May 19.

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With assets worth over�374 crores, Congress

candidate from GunaJyotiraditya Scindia is the rich-est candidate contesting in LokSabha sixth phase electionswhile BJP's cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir isthe second in the list with assetsover �147 crore. IndianNational Lok Dals (INLD) can-didate Virender Rana is thethird richest candidate withassets worth over �102 crore.

In its latest report on can-didates contesting 6th phase ofthe Lok Sabha polls, theAssociation for DemocraticReforms (ADR) said Scindia,who is also in-charge of theCongress in western UttarPradesh, topped the list of 967candidates. The Harvard andStandford alumnus declaredmovable assets of �45,58,00,245and immovable assets of�3,28,98,18,500.

The ADR has analysed theself-sworn affidavits of 967 outof 979 candidates, who arecontesting in the sixth phasethat goes to polls on May 12.Second on the list is Gambhirwith assets over �147 crore,including �1,19,15,87,789 mov-able assets and �28,00,00,000immovable assets. The formernational-level cricketer alsohas the highest liabilities of over�34 crore and highest annualincome of over �12 crore forfinancial year 2017-18 asdeclared in the ITR amongcandidates contesting in LokSabha sixth phase elections.

With total assets worthover �102 crore, IndianNational Lok Dals (INLDs)Virender Rana is the thirdrichest candidate in sixth phase

Lok Sabha poll.There are 12 candidates

who have not been analyseddue to unavailability of theirproperly scanned and completeaffidavits, at the time of mak-ing this report," it said. Amongthe major parties 46 out of 54candidates from BJP, 37 out of46 candidates from Congress,31 out of 49 candidates fromBSP, six out of 12 candidatesfrom AAP and 71 out of 307Independents have declaredassets worth more than Rs 1crore.The average asset percandidate contesting in sixthphase is �3.41 crores," it said.

It also said Shiv Sena'scandidate Rajib Mahato fromWest Bengal's Purulia con-stituency has declared zeroassets. The ADR said 395 can-didates have declared theireducational qualification to bebetween Class 5 and 12, while509 candidates have declaredthey are graduate or hold a bet-ter degree. A total of 35 candi-dates have declared just thatthey are literate while 10 saidthey are illiterate. In the sixthphase there 83 female candi-dates when 59 constituenciesfrom seven States.

In the 6th phase polls, as

many as 189(20%) out of 967candidates analysed havedeclared criminal cases againstthemselves. Nearly 146(15%)out of 967 candidates analysedhave declared serious criminalcases against themselves.Among the major parties,18(33%) out of 54 candidatesfrom BJP, 12 (26%) out of 46candidates from INC, 17(35%)out of 49 candidates from BSP,5(31%) out of 16 candidatesanalysed from SHS, and 27(9%)out of 307 independent candi-dates have declared seriouscriminal cases against them-selves.

New Delhi: Former UnionMinister MJ Akbar, whorecorded his statement beforea Delhi court on Saturday in adefamation case filed by himagainst journalist PriyaRamani, replied that he doesnot remember their meetingand other details after he wascross-examined by Ramani’scounsel.

Appearing beforeAdditional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate Samar Vishal,Akbar said that his defamationcomplaint against Ramani,who has accused him of sexu-al misconduct 20 years ago,was “correct” as his public lifehas been “adversely affected”and “lifetime’s good reputa-tion” damaged by her “offen-sive words”. PTI

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New Delhi: The Centre hastold the Supreme Court that"categorical and emphatic"findings recorded by the topcourt in its December 14 lastyear verdict in the Rafale dealcase has no apparent errorwarranting its review.

It said the petitioners, inthe garb of seeking review ofthe verdict and placingreliance on some press reportsand some incomplete internalfile notings procured unau-thorisedly and illegally, cannotseek to re-open the wholematter since the scope ofreview petition is "extremelylimited".

The Centre's reply cameon pleas filed by former UnionMinisters Yashwant Sinha,Arun Shourie and activist-advocate Prashant Bhushanseeking review of theDecember 14 verdict by whichtheir plea seeking probe intoalleged irregularities in themulti-crore Rafale fighter jetdeal was dismissed.

Two other review peti-tions have been filed by AAPleader Sanjay Singh and advo-cate Vineet Dhandha.

All the review petitionsare scheduled to be taken upfor hearing next week by abench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi.

"The review petition...Isan attempt to get a fishing and roving inquiry ordered,which this court has specifically declined to gointo based on perception ofindividuals. A non-existentdistinction is sought to be cre-ated between an inquiry bythe CBI and the court byplaying on words," theCentre's affidavit said. PTI

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Amethi, on Saturday, was thefocus of election activity in

Uttar Pradesh. With barely afew hours left for polling in theconstituency, leaders of boththe Bharatiya Janata Party andCongress were seen cam-paigning here fiercely.

BJP president Amit Shaharrived in Amethi on Saturdayevening and held a road showfor Union Minister Smriti Irani.As the roadshow wound its waythrough the district, chants of“Jai Shri Ram” rent the air.Several state Ministers andsenior party leaders partici-pated in the event.

Shah said Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi, who isseeking a re-election from theLok Sabha seat here, had failedto ensure development of theconstituency and asked peopleto let the lotus (BJP symbol)bloom in Amethi.

Smriti Irani recalled theabsenteeism of Rahul from hisconstituency.

Congress GeneralSecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra was also in Amethiwhere she addressed a series ofmeetings during the day.

She went from village tovillage but refused to climb onto the dais. She stood aroundthe people and asked who theywould vote for.

She said, “Kyun pade hochakkar mein” and the peopleresponded with ‘Koi nahin haitakkar mein”, and “Apna netakaisa ho” completed with

“Rahul Gandhi jaisa ho”.Priyanka then listed the

projects that had been with-drawn from Amethi after theModi Government came topower and rebutted the allega-tions levelled by Irani thatRahul Gandhi does not visit hisconstituency.

“She (Irani) has come here16 times in the past four yearsand that too, for four hours each.Rahulji has come almost doublethe time and has spent moretime with you,” Priyanka said.

The Congress in-chargefor eastern Uttar Pradesh andyounger sibling of the partychief also said while RahulGandhi had sent a letter to thepeople of Amethi but the BJPwas sending Rs 20,000 inenvelopes.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhialso visited his constituencyand held a meeting withwomen’s groups. He told medi-apersons that he had no ani-mosity towards Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“I will fight with him onissues and not at a personallevel. I believe that you can winwith love and not hatred. I tellmy party men also not to useharsh words but when thingsgo beyond limits, I even takeaction,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said a goodleader should own up to hismistakes and try to rectifythem. Talking about terroristAzhar Masood, Rahul Gandhiasked: “Who had sent AzharMasood to Pakistan? TheCongress did not do this.”

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday accused

the Samajwadi Party of goingsoft on the Congress, saying thetwo parties are playing a “biggame” against Bahujan SamajParty chief Mayawati.

Addressing BJP rallies inPratapgarh and Basti, Modisaid the SP-BSP alliance part-ners will be at each other’sthroats when the results are outon May 23. He said whileMayawati is openly targetingthe Congress and its policies, aCongress leader is sharing thestage with the SP.

The apparent reference wasto Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra’s pres-ence at an SP meeting in RaeBareli on Thursday.

“The SP is going soft on theCongress, but its alliance part-ner BSP chief Mayawati isattacking the Congress,” Modisaid in Pratapgarh. He claimedthe SP had derived advantageout of the alliance, talkingabout “respect” towards her.

“It was said you (Mayawati)will be made the prime minis-ter, but now ‘Behenji’ hasunderstood that the SP and theCongress are playing a biggame with her,” he said.

Modi said the Congress hasbeen reduced to the status of a

‘vote katwa’ party, suggesting itsonly relevance now is to queerthe pitch for other parties.

Accusing the Congress andits president Rahul Gandhi ofharping on the acquisition ofRafale aircraft only to tarnishhis image, Modi took a swipeat former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

“Your father was termed‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, buthis life ended as ‘BhrashtachariNo 1’ (corrupt number 1),”Modi said. He claimed that theCongress chief had admitted inan interview that his only aimis to tarnish Modi’s image.

“By hurling abuses, youcannot turn the 50 long yearsof Modi’s tapasya (struggle)into dust,” Modi said. “By tar-nishing my image and by mak-ing me look small, these peo-ple want to form an unstableand a weak Government in the

country,” he said.“The naamdaar must clear-

ly listen that this Modi was notborn with a golden spoon, norwas he born in any royal fam-ily,” he said, referring to Gandhi.Modi claimed that the Congressis known for dividing the coun-try, and charged it with bring-ing down coalitionGovernments in the past.

Referring to the UN listingof Jaish-e-Mohammed chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist, he said it was a “major vic-tory in India’s fight against ter-ror”. He attacked the Congressover its own record in tacklingterrorism. “These people hadcreated the hype of Hindu ter-rorism. Today, the terrorists andtheir masters are praying thatModi should not come to power,but the country is saying ‘Phir ekbaar, Modi sarkaar’,” he said.

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Epicentre of home grownmilitancy — Pulwama and

Shopian — two South Kashmirdistricts are set to witness lowvoter turnout, in the last leg ofthree phase polling for theAnantnag Lok Sabha seat dur-ing fifth phase of polling inJammu & Kashmir on May 6.

In the run up to the 2019Lok Sabha polls, dastardlyattack on a CRPF convoy inPulwama, leading to martyr-dom of 44 jawans, had changedthe political discourse acrossthe country. But on groundzero, as the entire Governmentmachinery is gearing up to holdpeaceful polls, the commonvoter remains elusive.

In the absence of high-octave electioneering in thearea even the ‘passionate’ vot-ers are showing little or nointerest in reaching out to thepolling booths to cast theirvotes. Despite huge presence ofsecurity forces, fear is still lurk-ing in the minds of commonpeople over the outcome ofparticipating in the ongoingpoll process.

It is the young brigade of‘home grown’ militants who arestill ruling the roost and settingthe agenda. They had pastedposters and issued diktatsagainst participation in theongoing poll process.

At last count, around 100local militants were still activein the area. The current crop oftop militant commanders,active in Kashmir Valley, allcome from Pulwama district.

Hizbul Mujahideen’s posterboy Burhan Wani, followed byhis successor Sabzar Bhat bothwere natives of Tral area inPulwama. Riyaz Naikoo andZakir Musa,active militantcommanders, also hail fromPulwama.

Compared to first tworounds of polling in Anantnagand Kulgam, which witnessed13.6 and 10.42 per cent polling,Pulwama, Shopian — hot bedsof militancy — are set to wit-ness sharp decline in the voterturnout. Pulwama district com-prises four Assembly segmentsof Tral, Pampore, Pulwamaand Rajpora, while Shopiandistrict has two Assembly seg-ments of Shopian and Wachi.

These two districts alwaysplayed a pivotal role in electingPDP representatives duringAssembly polls as it remainedPDP’s strong hold.

Mehbooba Mufti’s fate toois hanging in balance due topoor voter turnout in first twophases. Poor turn out in thesetwo pockets does not augurwell for her political survival inthe State politics.

In the aftermath of killingof HM Commander BurhanWani in July 2016, the equationchanged on ground zero dras-tically. Unrest in the area pre-vented the Election commis-sion of India from holding by-polls to the Anantnag LokSabha seat after the same wasvacated by Mehbooba Muftibefore occupying ChiefMinisters chair in the state.

Political observers inKashmir claimed the votingmay not touch double digit fig-ure in these pockets. Theyattribute large-scale militancyrelated violence and crackdown by the security forces inthe aftermath of killing ofHizbul Mujahideen poster boy,Burhan Wani as the main rea-

son behind disenchantmentwith the poll process.

Meanwhile, in order torepose faith of the voter in theelection process, the Electioncommission of India hadrecently rushed around 300additional companies of paramilitary forces to ensure inci-dent free polling in the area.

Barring few election meet-ings, organised in the partyoffices or residences of sup-porters/officer bearers of thesepolitical parties no other sig-nificant political assembly hasbeen reported in the area.

The local politicians in thearea too have failed to changethe narrative. This is evidentfrom the participation of sup-porters during campaign meet-ings of rival political parties.

PDP Chief MehboobaMufti, stayed away from theseareas fearing backlash fromcommon people, angry with herover her decision to align withthe BJP after the death of PDPPatron Mufti Mohd Sayeed.She had joined protest demon-stration in support of Jamat-e-Islami in Pulwama. NC topbrass, including Farooq

Abdullah and former CM OmarAbdullah held closed doormeetings in secure zones toensure safety of political work-ers. Similarly Congress candi-date GA Mir focused on door-to-door campaign and avoidedbig election meetings due topresence of foot prints of localmilitants in the area.

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Pulwama: National Conferenceleader Omar Abdullah onSaturday said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was harping onthe Pulwama terror attack andsubsequent air strikes inPakistan’s Balakot to hide hisfailures on economic front, jobcreation and alleviating agrar-ian distress.

The former CM said whileKashmir was no more an elec-tion issue in Pakistan, it wasPrime Minister Modi whofocussed his election campaignon the situation in the Valley.

“There was a time whenJ&K used to dominate electionsin Pakistan but now it is PMModi who is going to town withJ&K in the election campaign.The PM is raking up Balakotand Pulwama terror attack tohide his Government’s failureson economic front, employ-ment generation and the agrar-ian distress in the country,”Abdullah said. PTI

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Gaza terrorists on Saturdayfired dozens of rockets at

Israel, which responded withstrikes that killed a Palestinian,officials said, as another esca-lation between them threateneda fragile ceasefire.

The latest flare-up camewith Hamas, the Islamist move-ment that rules the blockadedGaza Strip, seeking furtherconcessions from Israel underthe ceasefire.

Israel said around 150rockets were fired from thePalestinian enclave by lateSaturday afternoon and its airdefences intercepted dozens ofthem. One woman was seri-ously injured in a rocket strikeon the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat,some 20 kilometres from theGaza border, police said.

Police said a man was alsohospitalised in the city of

Ashkelon and spoke of otherinjuries without providingdetails.

A house near Ashkelonwas damaged, while otherrockets hit open areas.

The Israeli army said it hadtargeted two rocket launchersin Gaza with an air strike in animmediate response and itstanks and planes later hit some30 military targets for Hamasand its ally Islamic Jihad.

A Gazan security sourcesaid a series of Israeli strikestargeted at least three separateareas of the Gaza Strip and thatthree “resistance fighters” werewounded. The Gaza healthministry reported one personkilled and seven wounded.

Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu was hold-ing consultations with securi-ty chiefs. A statement fromIslamic Jihad claimed respon-sibility for at least some of therocket fire and said it was pre-

pared for more if necessary.Its armed wing distributed

a video showing militants han-

dling rockets and threateningkey Israeli sites, including Ben-Gurion international airport

near Tel Aviv.A source in the group said

Egypt was engaged in discus-

sions to calm the situation, asit has done repeatedly in thepast. Israel announced onSaturday afternoon that it wasclosing its people and goodscrossings with Gaza as well asthe zone it allows for fishermenoff the enclave until furthernotice due to the rocket fire.

The escalation follows themost violent clashes along theGaza border in weeks onFriday.

Four Palestinians, includ-ing two Hamas militants, werekilled after two Israeli soldierswere wounded in a shootingduring weekly protests on theborder.

Israel and Palestinian mil-itants in the Gaza Strip havefought three wars since 2008and fears remain of a fourth.

A ceasefire between Israeland Hamas brokered by Egyptand the United Nations had ledto relative calm around Israel’sApril 9 general election.

But on Tuesday, Israelreduced the offshore fishinglimit it imposes for vesselsoperating out of Gaza after a

rocket was fired from the ter-ritory. Israel’s Army blamedIslamic Jehad for the rocket,which fell into theMediterranean.

On Thursday, Israel said itsaircraft struck a Hamas militarycompound after balloons car-rying firebombs and explo-sives were launched across theborder.

Palestinians in Gaza havefrequently fitted balloons withfirebombs in a bid to damageIsraeli property and have in thepast succeeded in setting fire tolarge areas of farmland.Following that air strike, Israelsaid two rockets were launchedfrom Gaza.

With the ceasefire at risk,a Hamas delegation led by itsGaza head Yahya Sinwar leftthe enclave for Cairo onThursday for talks withEgyptian officials.

The ceasefire has seenIsrael allow Qatar to providemillions of dollars in aid toGaza to pay salaries and tofinance fuel purchases to easea severe electricity shortage.

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King Maha Vajiralongkorn,Rama X of Thailand, was

crowned on Saturday in a daz-zling show of pageantry, lacedwith Hindu and Buddhist rit-ual, vowing to reign “withrighteousness” on behalf ofthe Thai people.

Starting at the auspicioustime of 10:09 am (0309 GMT),the public was granted a rarewindow into the cloisteredhalls of Thai power as the keyrituals of the three-day coro-nation began. KingVajiralongkorn is the tenthmonarch of the Chakri dynasty,which has reigned since 1782.

He ascended the throneover two years ago followingthe death of his beloved father,but waited until after a longmourning period before settinghis coronation date.

Saturday’s sombre cere-mony opened with the white-gowned king — the folds of hisrobe leaving one shoulderbared — receiving sacred waterfrom across Thailand and dab-bing it gently across his face ata shrine inside the GrandPalace complex.

A cannon salute markedthe moment as pipes playedand Buddhist monks chanted.

Several grey-haired Hindu

Brahmins were also in atten-dance at the syncretic ceremo-ny, which symbolises RamaX’s transformation from ahuman to divine figure.

He later took his seat underthe umbrella of state and washanded the Great Crown of

Victory, a tiered gold 7.3-kilo-gram (16-pound) headpiecetopped by a diamond fromIndia.

Uttering his first, briefroyal command he vowed toreign “with righteousness” forthe benefit of the Thai people.

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Dhaka:At least 14 people werekilled and 63 others injured ascyclonic storm ‘Fani’ barrelledinto Bangladesh on Saturday, aday after leaving a trail ofdestruction in eastern Indiancoastlines, media reports said.

However, BangladeshDisaster Management Ministryofficially confirmed four deaths— two in Barguna and oneeach in Bhola and Noakhali —on the basis of “initial reports”from the three coastal districtsand said it was yet to compilethe details of the casualties anddamages caused by the cyclone.

“The detailed informationfrom all the affected districts isyet to reach us,” State Ministersaid. PTI

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Police in Sri Lanka onSaturday asked members

of the public to hand overswords or other large knives tothe nearest police station aftera haul of such blades wererecovered from mosques andhomes during searches follow-ing the Easter Sunday suicidebomb attacks.

Announcing the amnestyscheme, police spokesmanRuwan Gunasekara that theknives which are used for day-to-day “domestic” and “justifi-able” purposes were notrequired to be handed over topolice.

Apart from large blades,

Gunasekara said that policeand army uniforms or suchcamouflaged materials, whichare in possession with thecommon people should also behand over to the police.

“This will be in effect fromtoday until tomorrow”, he said,adding, “If you are havingpolice or camouflaged militaryuniforms, please hand themover to the nearest police sta-tion”.

The move came after policerecovered a large haul ofweapons, including swords,and camouflaged materialsduring searches of mosquesand houses following the EasterSunday’s suicide attacks, whichclaimed 250 lives.

Islamabad: The Taliban onSaturday said the gap is nar-rowing in talks withWashington’s special peaceenvoy over a timetable for thewithdrawal of U.S. Troops fromAfghanistan. The two sides arecontinuing to meet in Qatar,where the insurgent movementmaintains a political office.

In a voice message to AP,the Taliban spokesman inDoha, Suhail Shaheen, saidboth sides have offered newproposals for drawing downU.S. And NATO forces.

This would be a significantinitial step toward a deal to endnearly 18 years of war andAmerica’s longest militaryengagement.

“There are proposals tolower the gap between the twosides, but (it) still needs nego-tiation to reach a final agree-ment,” he said. AP

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Acharter plane carrying 143people and travelling from

Cuba to north Florida endedup in a river at the end of a run-way Friday night, though nocritical injuries or deaths werereported, officials said.

A Boeing 737 arriving atNaval Air Station Jacksonvillefrom Naval StationGuantanamo Bay, Cuba, with136 passengers and seven air-crew slid off the runway intothe St. Johns River, a NASJacksonville news release said.

The Jacksonville Sheriff ’sOffice posted on Twitter that amarine unit responded toassist. The plane was in shallowwater and not submerged.Everyone on the plane was aliveand accounted for, the agencyposted, with 21 adults trans-

ported to local hospitals ingood condition.

A photo posted by deputiesshows a Miami AirInternational logo on the plane.

The company didn’t imme-diately respond to messages

from The Associated Press.Capt. Michael Connor, the

commanding officer of NASJacksonville, said during a newsconference that passengerswere a mix of civilian and mil-itary personnel.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan on

Saturday called for the opposi-tion’s local election victory inIstanbul to be declared invalidand the vote re-run, increasingthe pressure on the country’selectoral authorities.

“Clearly, there were irreg-ularities and corruption,”Erdogan said in a speech at abusiness leaders’ meeting.

“If the Supreme ElectoralCouncil could dissipate all this,that would ease the conscienceof our fellow citizens,” headded.

The electoral body, theYSK, is due to meet on Mondayto examine a request byErdogan’s AKP party to cancelthe result of the March 31 localelections which the party lost in Istanbul, where themain opposition candidateEkrem Imamoglu won the mayoral race by a tightmargin.

Several partial recountshave so far supported the ini-tial results in both Ankara andIstanbul, with the main oppo-sition CHP party callingErdogan a “bad loser” willingto do anything to hold on topower in the country’s eco-nomic capital.

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London: The top-secret leakthat Britain had conditionallyallowed China's Huawei todevelop its 5G network, whichbrought down the defence min-ister, does not amount to acriminal offence, police con-cluded Saturday. Theresa Mayon Wednesday sacked GavinWilliamson as defence secre-tary over the leak last month ofthe bitterly-disputed decisionmade at the April 23 meetingof the National SecurityCouncil (NSC).

Following the policeannouncement, Williamson,who has strenuously protestedhis innocence, said he was thevictim of a shabby "witch-hunt". AFP

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Page 8: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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After a section of employeesfloated the proposal to

take over management controlof the grounded Jet Airwaysand arrange up to �3,000 crorefrom external investors, a groupof frequent flyers of the cash-strapped airline has approachedthe key lenders, including

State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and PunjabNational Bank, to submit the ‘Revival of Jet AirwaysPlan’ or ‘Roja’.

Claiming to be reputed

professionals and minorityshareholders in Jet Airways aswell as nine banks that havelent money to Jet, the group hasproposed a leveraged buy-outplan (LBO) to revive thegrounded airline.

The group of professionals,led by Sankaran PRaghunathan, has given a presentation on the airline’srevival plan to various stake-holders, including pilots, engi-neers, employee unions andbankers.

As per the plan, theemployees of Jet Airways would

first take control of the com-pany. They will take loan fromexisting lenders and invest inthe company, eventuallybecoming part-owners.

“The banks can give �1,500crore loan to the employees.This is six months’ salary ofeach employee as personalloan. The employees will usethis money to buy out 51 percent stake in the companyfrom SBI and 12.5 per centfrom Etihad. The balance �200crore would be given to thecompany for new shares. Thisway the employees will control

Jet Airways,” said the presen-tation reviewed by IANS.

In the next step, the plan isto raise money involving thefrequent flyers.

Accordingly, the banks canbe persuaded to give a person-al loan to all those who want tobuy four tickets each for�10,000 which would be validfor two years. By pre-sellingthese tickets, as much as �8,000crore could be raised.

The employees, already incontrolling position, wouldpass a resolution to authorisethe additional issue of shares on

a preferential basis to all thosewho buy the ticket packets —100 shares each for �150 each— and thus raise �12,000 crore.

“The �20,000 crore raisedwill now be used for opera-tional working capital and forrepayment to creditors over fiveyears,” the presentation said.

Facing severe financial cri-sis, Jet Airways had on April 17announced to temporarily sus-pend its flight operations. Theairline continues to be ground-ed and its revival dependsupon fresh fund infusion by theinvestors.

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At $70 per tonne of carbondioxide, a carbon tax will be

most efficient means of cuttinggreenhouse gas emissions,according to an InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) reportpublished on Friday.

But for the moment, car-bon taxes remain unpopular,particularly in France, whereplans to increase it to 55 euros(or USD 61.60) from 44.60euros recently ignited theYellow Vest protest movement.

The French Governmentwas forced to suspend the planin the face of popular revolt.

The Paris Agreement,adopted in 2015 by more than200 countries, aims to capoverall increases in global temperatures at two degreescentigrade above the pre-indus-trial era.

“The 2C target wouldrequire cutting emissions by

roughly a third by 2030 and aglobal carbon price of around$70 per ton,” IMF ManagingDirector Christine Lagarde andVitor Gaspar, the fund’s head of fiscal affairs, said in ajoint blog post.

“There is a growing con-sensus that carbon pricing... Is the single most effective mitigation instrument,” they said.

It allows for a reduction inenergy consumption, favourscleaner energies and mobilis-es private financing, accordingto the IMF. “It also providesmuch needed revenues,” theysaid, adding that countriescould use that income tofinance sustainable and moreinclusive growth.

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Asserting that Asia contin-ues to be the growth

engine of the world, EconomicAffairs Secretary SubhashChandra Garg on Saturdaysaid the ADB must expand itsprivate sector operations toboost economic development.

Addressing the Board ofGovernors of the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB)here, he said there is a risingneed for the agency to focus onstrengthening human capitaland develop socialsafety nets.

“Therefore, we urge theADB management to expand itsocial sector engagements incountries like India, while atthe same time, continuing withthe focus on making citiessmart, providing 24x7 waterand power supply, enhancingconnectivity, and mitigatingthe risk of climate change. Ourregional cooperation initiatives must aim to integratethe countries of the regionwith the global value chains,” he said.

“While ADB should con-tinue helping the membercountries harness their growthpotential by providing largerfinancial resources, it mustexpand its private sector oper-ations across the region. Byinvesting more through equi-

ty and infrastructure trusts,ADB can play a meaningfulrole in development of privatesector initiatives,” Garg, India’sAlternate Governor on ADB’sBoard of Governors, said.

ADB’s private sector oper-ations reached USD 3.14 billionin 2018, a 37 per cent increasefrom the previous fiscal, andstood at 14.5 per cent of itsoverall commitment.

Emphasising that ADB hashelped the developing coun-tries in building infrastructureand reducing extreme povertyfor the past 52 years, Garg saidinnovation in financing will bethe key to success of long-termgrowth strategy.

“This will require carefulfine-tuning of both public andprivate sector financing.Private financing has to becarefully shepherded to theright sectors like manufactur-ing, services and new digitaleconomy industries with activesupport of equity financingfrom ADB and other multi-lateral agencies,” he said.

Private investment in moredifficult sectors like infra-structure and human capitalimprovement, however, willnot flow unless these projectsare sufficiently de-risked for theprivate sector with both directinvestment as well as provisionof guarantees and other struc-tured support, he said.

New Delhi: Committees ofCreditors (CoCs) should pro-vide all relevant informationand share their vision for com-panies under the insolvencyprocess, a senior official said onSaturday as he asserted that itwill be dangerous to let viablefirms to close down.

Amid rising number ofstressed assets being referred forresolution under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC),IBBI chief MS Sahoo said thelaw also gives opportunities torectify the mistakes during theinsolvency process.

The objective of the law isto rescue viable companies and

close down unviable ones, hesaid. “If due to incompetence (ofmarket participants) the reversehappens, then it is dangerous,”Sahoo said.

The Insolvency andBankruptcy Board of India(IBBI) Chairperson also notedthat CoCs must provide all rel-evant information to resolutionapplicants so that they findinterest in the companies.

He was speaking on thesidelines of a conference organ-ised by industry bodyAssocham.

The IBC provides for mar-ket-driven and time-bound res-olution of stressed assets. PTI

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The Government of France isplanning to organise an

investment conclave in Goa in October this year, toencourage French companiesto invest in various sectors inthe coastal State.

A proposal to this effectwould be submitted to theGoa government soon, ConsulGeneral of France in MumbaiSonia Barbry said here onFriday. The first such conclavewas held at Nagpur last year, inwhich Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadanavishad participated, she said.

“During that conclave, anumber of memorandum ofunderstanding (MoUs) andletters of intent (LOI) weresigned between French andIndian companies. Now, wewill try to bring in Frenchinvestment into Goa,” she said.

The ‘Franco GoaInvestment Conclave’ will lookat investment in the field ofgreen marinas, health, medicalequipment and waste man-agement besides others, Barbrysaid. “We have some companiesin France that know how tomake sustainable marinaswithout disturbing the envi-ronment,” she said.

Barbry, who was in Goa tooversee Indo-French NavalExercise ‘Varuna’, met GoaChief Secretary Parimal Rai onThursday and discussed economic interests of Francein Goa.

She said some French companies were inter-ested in investing in Goa indifferent fields.

During her visit, theConsul General also met GoaUniversity Vice ChancellorVarun Sahani to discuss aboutpreparations for the upcomingworkshop for French teachers to be held from May20-25 at Goa University.

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Vodafone Idea saidon Saturday it

will seek its share-holders’ approval onJune 6 to transferoptical fibre assets toa wholly-owned sub-sidiary, VodafoneTowers Limited.

The company has pro-posed to hive off its telecomfibre infrastructure toVodafone Towers before mon-etising it and approached theNational Company LawTribunal Ahmedabad on April11, 2019, for its approval.

“NCLT has directed ameeting to be held of the equi-ty shareholders of the ApplicantCompany... Notice is herebygiven that a meeting of theequity shareholders of theApplicant Company will beheld...On Thursday, the 6thday of June 2019,” Vodafone Idea said in a regu-latory filing.

According to an industrysource, Vodafone Idea (VIL)has received valuation ofaround �15,000 crore for its

around 1.56 lakh kilometrelong telecom fibre assets.

“ The Transferor Company(VIL) believes that it would bebeneficial to restructure itsbusiness by divesting the FibreInfrastructure Undertakinginto a separate legal entity withsharper and dedicated focus onthe fibre infrastructure businessso as to achieve greater infra-structure sharing, operationalefficiencies and cost optimisa-tion resulting in more afford-able and reliable telecommuni-cations services to its con-sumers,” the filing said.

VIL in the filing said thatthere would be neither anychange in its the capital struc-ture nor in the VodafoneTowers pursuant to the sanc-tioning of the scheme.

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Hyundai Motor India Ltd(HMIL) said on Saturday

it has stationed a dedicatedemergency road service team tosupport the Fani cyclone affect-ed customers or vehicles in thestates of Odisha and WestBengal. The ‘Hyundai Relieftask Force’ would enhance ser-vices for vehicle-owners affect-ed by Cyclone Fani.

“Hyundai has stationed adedicated emergency road ser-vice team to support the FaniCyclone affected customers/vehicles along with 26 flatbedtrucks and 21 Towing Trucks toassist the customers,” HMILsaid in a statement.

In order to ensure theavailability of services in everypart of the city, Hyundai hasactivated a toll free number(0124- 4343937 ) for towing thevehicles and over 40 techni-cians will assist the vehicleowners by offering timely deliv-ery. Special discounts on partsare being offered on repairs/restorations of cyclone-affect-ed vehicles along with 50 percent discount on depreciationon insurance claims.

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Infrastructure investmenttrust India Grid Trust

(IndiGrid) on Saturdayannounced closing of its pref-erence issue of units after rais-ing �2,514 crore (USD 363 mil-lion) from eligible investors.

As part of the transaction,global investment firm KKRand GIC have invested �1,084crore (USD 157 million) and�980 crore (USD 142 million),respectively, the trust said in arelease.

KKR has also applied tobecome a Sponsor of IndiGridand plans to acquire an addi-tional 15 per cent of IndiGrid’stotal units from Sterlite Power,

the release said. Following the closing of

transactions, KKR and GIC willcollectively own approximate-ly 57 per cent of IndiGrid’s out-standing units.

The preferential issue ofunits had opened on April 30.IndiGrid, sponsored by SterlitePower, in a regulatory filingsaid that the allotment com-mittee of the board in a meet-ing on Saturday approved theclosure of the issue followingreceipt of applications from eli-gible bidders.

The committee also deter-mined and approved the issueprice of �83.89 per unit for theunits to be allotted to eligiblebidders in the preferential

issue, the filing said. The unithad closed at �83.99 on BSEFriday.

In a separate transaction,KKR will additionally acquirea majority shareholding inSterlite Investment ManagersLimited, the investment man-ager owned by Sterlite Power.Sterlite Power establishedIndiGrid in 2016 and willremain a Sponsor and ProjectManager of IndiGrid, the trustsaid in the statement.

With the capital infusionprovided by the new unitissuance, IndiGrid will pur-chase five electricity transmis-sion assets worth �11,500 crore($1.66 billion) from SterlitePower.

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Page 9: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

After failing to make single finalappearance in the cash rich,high profile and glamorousIndian Premier League (IPL)even after being the regularparticipant in the tourna-

ment since its inception in 2008, Capital-based side Delhi Capitals (formerlyDaredevils) made a string of changes thisyear (highlight of which was changing thename) before the start of this year’s tour-nament. They retained the core this time inhope that the retention of three of India’sbrightest upcoming talents may lead to thechange of fate for the side.

Till now the kind of performance theyoung Shreyas Iyer’s side has delivered, itlooks like the change has really worked forthe new looking Delhi Capitals (DC).

After 14 games, the side is at the sec-ond spot in the points table with nine winsand has not just only secured its first play-offs berth since 2012 but also became thefirst team to do so in this year’s league.

What’s special about this time was thefact that despite not getting enough homeadvantage from the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch,Delhi won matches and that too against thehigh profile fancy opponents like MumbaiIndians, Sunrisers Hyderabad and KolkataKnight Riders, which have a perfect blendof an all-round balance in its ranks in theirown backyard.

However securing a playoffs berth is justthe first step in the path of success for anyother team playing in the competition butfor Delhi’s side that has finished at the bot-tom half of the table for half a dozen year(three times at the last spot in the past sixyears) this is certainly a moment to cheerfor.

The side is always considered as anunderachiever in this big cash-rich leagueprimarily because of the fact that they failedto make use of the best possible resourcesavailable to them.

Many of the former players performedexceptionally well in the tournament aftermoving out of Delhi, time and again leav-ing Delhi with the guilt of not keepingenough faith in its squad’s abilities to per-form and win tournaments for it.

For example, arguably one of the mostsuccessful skipper Gautam Gambhir, whowon two IPL trophies with the KolkataKnight Riders in his seven-year stay at theCity of Joy was part of the Delhi side for fourseasons (2008-10 and 2018) but the localDelhi lad who is often referred to as the mas-ter planner couldn’t help Delhi win the title.

And it’s not just about Gambhir orSehwag, but even the two most consistentand impactful overseas players of the IPLover the years — David Warner and AndreRussell were also a part of Delhi’s side beforerelocating to Sunrisers Hyderabad andKolkata Knight Riders, where they becomethe biggest match winner of their respectivesides.

The leading run scorer of this year’stournament and two time orange cap win-ner in the past, Warner (692 runs in 12innings) started his IPL journey with Delhiin 2009 and stayed here till 2013. During hisfive-year stay, the New South Wales open-er smashed 1456 runs in 56 innings at anaverage of 28.54 and with two hundreds and10 fifties. While after relocating he managed3271 runs in 71 innings an average of 55.44with 2 centuries and 34 fifties. Also, he suc-

cessfully lead Sunrisers to the winner’s tro-phy in 2016.

While, Warner stint was satisfactorywith Delhi, Caribbean powerhouse AndreRussell failed to make much an impact dur-ing his stay. He featured in seven games forDelhi wherein four innings he could onlymanage 58 runs and only one wicket. Butafter moving to Eden, he managed 1318 runsin 46 innings with a strike rate over 185. Hehas also crowned the most valuable playerof the 2015 edition.

And the way these two performed thisseason, making an impact in every game bytheir presence in the line-up, just imaginewhat Delhi could have done with these twoin its ranks.

However the way, Delhi played this sea-son with all young guys coming together andperforming consistently well throughout hasmade an impact for Delhi. Especially skip-per Shreyas Iyer, the way DC’s 12th skippertook the responsibility of leading from thefront.

The 24-year old Mumbaikar is muchdisciplined with his shot selection and haskept his nerve calm in precious situationsand time and again allowed his bat to makean impact more than his words.

In the batting front, where explosivewicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant andseasoned campaigner Shikhar Dhawan iscatching the eyeballs because of the flam-boyance, it is Iyer’s sensible cricket that hashelped Delhi to cross the finishing line onmany a times.

His three fifty-plus scores (67 vs RoyalChallengers Bangalore in Bangalore, 52 atKotla) and 58 not out vs Kings XI Punjab,along with 45 against Sunrisers, 43 in the tiedgame against Kolkata Knight Riders in Delhi,which was decided after super over finishcame in winning the cause.

And to his support in the middleorder, there is Dhoni’s Indian team deputyRishabh Pant. Delhi’s leading run-getter inthe last season (684 runs in 14 games),Pant started this season with abang, thrashing World’s Number1 bowler Jasprit Bumrah duringhis 27-ball, 78 run innings atWankhede in the first game of thisyear’s edition.

And after the World Cupsnub, he smashed 36-ballagainst Rajasthan Royals, whichearned him praise from Indianformer skipper and DelhiCapitals advisor Sourav Ganguly,who took to social media topraise the young batsman andwrote: “Rishabh Pant, youdeserve this. You are wow.”

Also adding to the list ofconsistent performersfor the Delhi side,Shikhar Dhawan is themost experienced player inthe line-up. After beingtraded from Sunrisersto Delhi in return forVijay Shankar,Shahbaz Nadeem,and AbhishekSharma, Shikharfound his mojoback andbecame the lead-ing run-scorerfor Delhi in the tour-

nament. The local Delhi boy is in the fourthplace for Orange Cap race and has alreadyscored 470 runs in 13 innings.

While, his opening partner PrithviShaw, who made sensational Test debutagainst West Indies in October 2018 by scor-ing 134 runs in his maiden innings inInternational cricket, has also played somevital knocks at the top.

But, apart his 99 against Kolkata KnightRiders at Kotla, he has not played any otherimpactful innings , but is complementingShikhar well at the top by adding quick runsin the first power play to provide Delhi asolid start at the top of the order.

Delhi’s success this time is muchbecause of the impact innings from the topfour Indian batsmen and to complementthem, the side has Kagiso Rabada in its rank,who after missing majority part of the lastseason due to injury, is back into businessand is currently the leading wicket-taker in

the tournament (25 wickets),miles ahead of his closest con-

tender and countrymen ImranTahir (21 wickets).

His excellent death bowling, per-fect yorker, and wicket-taking abil-

ity makes him stand out of therest. The South African also

defended 11 runs against big-hitting Andre Russell during

the Kolkata game in theseasons first super over.He sent Russell packing

on his 147 km/h york-er, which Ganguly

referred to as the“ball of the IPL.”

However, bythe end of the

tournament, Delhisuffered a massivesetback when

Cricket South Africacalled back KagisoRabada as a precaution-ary step keeping in mindthe ICC World Cup

starting in less than amonth time.

The pacer was suffer-ing from a stiff back issue

and was sidelined againstChennai game on May 1,

which Delhi went on to lose by

80 runs — its biggest defeat of this year’scampaign.

Though the side will miss its ace pacerduring the most important phase of the tour-nament, they still have enough players whocan step up and deliver in the big game.

It is beyond any doubt that Delhialways had some great names in its ranks,be it from the Indian subcontinent — theplayers who are traditionally the best play-ers against spin bowling or the fancy over-seas players — ones more comfortableagainst the seam.

But what didn’t even happen in presenceof seasoned campaigners like VirenderSehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh,Zaheer Khan, Kevin Pietersen, Ab deVilliers, David Warner, and Dilshan was theresult in Delhi’s favour. So what differenthappened with time. Is it because of the pres-ence of Ricky Ponting and Sourav Gangulyin the dugout?

Certainly, the presence of two of thebiggest leaders have a great impact but whatnot to forget is the combination with whichDelhi played this time. The franchisebacked its players to perform even after fewdisappointing innings. This was some-thing which was missing in the last 11 years.

Unlike previous times, where they con-stantly used to tussle combinations for thefavourable outcomes. This time, the top four-Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyerand Rishabh Pant played every game of thisyear’s campaign even though at times it felt

like Delhi could have tried Colin Munro upthe order in place of young Prithvi, wholooked a slight off colour and hasn’t playedany such impactful innings so far apart his99 against Kolkata.

Or could have asked Rishabh Pant toadjust his game plan according to the teamsituation. Because at times the Delhi ladthrew his wicket at crunch situation by play-ing irrelevant short which could have beenavoided at that point.

But, neither of this happened and thecoaches and captain gave full freedom toeveryone in the squad, to express themselvesas per they want and that blossomed con-fidence in the players which was clearly evi-dent in the field through their body-lan-guage.

The team looks fresher this time and theplayers are giving their best to contribute inthe game not only with the bat and ball, butalso in the fielding.

The other significant change that is vis-ible this time includes the team’s strongbench strength which provides the man-agement to try out various combinations ingames based upon the nature of the wick-et. Often, it is seen that teams don’t try toalter winning combination even though itmismatched with the on-field conditions butDC has not hesitated with change and chop-ping.

In the slow track of Kotla, at times theyplayed with three spinners — Amit Mishra,Axar Patel, and Sandeep Lamichhane whilein high scoring venues of Mumbai andKolkata, they believed in the pace battery ofKagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, ChrisMorris, and Keemo Paul.

The kind of combinations with whichDelhi played shows the amount of game-changing talent present in the dugout.And that’s whats the primary element of asuccessful team.

Over the years, Delhi tried to bringimpactful players for a big price and triedto influence the result via them but everytime it turned out to be a blunder. The fran-chise spent �16 crores to land Yuvraj Singhin Delhi but the left-handed batting all-rounder could only manage 248 runs in 14games and just took one wicket. In 2018,they went with Glenn Maxwell for �9 croresbut the Aussie too failed badly and just man-aged 169 runs in 12 games.

The problem with Delhi was not justthat their big picks failed to perform but alsothe management’s lack of trust in its keyplayers. Constant changing and chopping ofthe squad and the change of the support staffalways have a bad impact.

This time neither of this happened andthe result of which is evident in the pointstable where Delhi became the first team toqualify for playoffs.

The belief in abilities is such high amongthe players that when Shikhar Dhawan wasasked about what team is expecting fromnow, the Gabbar said: “We are very confi-dent of winning the title and time and againwe have proved that in this season that weare ready to do so. The belief is such highthat we will not only play the final but willalso win it and end the barren run of tro-phy-less tenure.”

Delhi started this year’s campaign witha convincing 37 runs win against MumbaiIndians at Wankhede in a high scoring affair.Rishabh Pant was the star performer inMumbai, where the World Cup hopeful

scored 27-ball unbeaten 78 (7 fours and 7sixes) to help Delhi post-213-6 and then acombined bowling performance sent MIback to pavilion for 176 runs in 19.2 overs.This was the only game in the entire tour-nament when Mumbai was sent all packing.

But the brilliant start couldn’t last longas in the first home game at Feroz ShahKotla, defending champion Chennai SuperKings beat Delhi by 6 wickets.

However the side quickly bouncedback and halt Kolkata Knight Riders two-match winning run in the third game (sec-ond at home) after a tense super over fin-ish. Prithvi Shaw missed a well-deservedmaiden century by a run but it was KagisoRabada’s brilliant Yorkers in the one overdecider that steal the limelight. The SouthAfrican pacer defended 11 runs againstAndre Russell and lead Delhi home.

The fourth game Delhi played at Mohaliwas the reality check for them where SamCurran exposed loopholes in the batting lineup as Capitals saw shocking collapse and loseseven wickets for just 8 runs in 167 runschase and thus losing the game by 14 runs.

In the fifth game, Sunrisers keep the jug-gernaut rolling and won comfortably by fivewickets after restricting the hosts for 129 for8.

With three defeats in first five games,the ghost of yesteryears started to hauntDelhi, but before it could make an effect theteam bounced back in an amazing fashionand won the next three games on the trot.

The first was against Virat Kohli’s ledRoyal Challengers Bangalore at MChinnaswamy. Kagiso Rabada’s 21/4 firstrestrict RCB under 150 and then ShreyasIyer’s first fifty of the season, 67 runs helpDC win by four wickets.

Next stop was at Eden Gardens whereShikhar Dhawan’s 97 not out anchorsseven-wicket triumph. In the third succes-sive away game, Delhi faced Sunrisers andafter posting 155 runs on the board, Delhifought back against the likes of in-formDavid Warner and Jonny Bairstow and dis-missed last eight opposition batsmen for just15 runs to pull out result in its favour.

This was probably the game whichchanged the perception about Delhi goingahead this season. The comeback was justout of the box against Sunrisers.

However, coming back to Kotla, does-n’t worked for Delhi initially and they lostthe third home game by 40 runs againstMumbai Indians.

But, they finally manage to break theKotla code in the fifth and sixth game againstKXIP and RCB respectively with ShreyasIyer and Shikhar Dhawan leading from thefront by scoring half-centuries in both thegames. DC won by five-wickets againstPunjab and 16 runs against Bangalore.

In between both these games, theyplayed against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur,where Rishabh Pant’s 36-ball 78* outshinesAjinkya Rahane’s second IPL hundred (105not out) to help Delhi win by six-wickets.

But, in the penultimate game of theleague phase, without the likes of Rabadaand Ishant, Delhi first failed to understandthe nature of Chennai’s wicket and failed torestrict MS Dhoni to take CSK close to 180runs mark. The side suffered its heaviestdefeat of the campaign at Chepauk by 80runs where Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadejashared seven-wickets to sweep Delhi out for99 runs.

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Already assured of a playoff berth, tabletoppers Chennai Super Kings will aim

to maintain their pole position with a vic-tory over Kings XI Punjab in their last groupleague match here on Sunday.

After a defeat against Mumbai Indiansin an earlier match, Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK bounced back with a massive 80-run win over Delhi Capitals in their lastgame, to once again capture the No 1 spot.

Heavy loss against Mumbai Indians sawtheir net run-rate fallingand now with just a gameleft in the league stage, thedefending champions needa win to maintain theirdominance and cementtheir position at the top.

With 18 points from 13games, a win will give them20 points, which is unlike-ly to be achieved by any other team.

In their previous match against DelhiCapitals, skipper Dhoni and Suresh Rainaguided the team to a challenging 179/4 andthen restricted the opponent to just 99.

Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja sharedseven scalps between them as they wreckedhavoc.

Dhoni, Raina, Ambati Rayudu, ShaneWatson and Faf du Plessis will look to scorebig runs in Mohali, while Tahir andHarbhajan will aim to flummox the KingsXI batsmen with their spin magic.

In contrast, Kings XI Punjab, who are

already out of the play-offs race, would beplaying only for pride. With 10 points from13 games, they are at last spot, after RoyalChallengers Bangalore beat SunrisersHyderabad on Saturday night.

Inconsistent KXIP's hopes of making itto the playoffs were dashed in a seven-wick-et loss to Kolkata Knight Riders in their lastmatch here.

Not being in the reckoning for play-offs will be a disappointment for the homecrowd in Sunday's match but they willhope that KXIP finish on a high.

In the previous gameagainst KKR, despite post-ing a challenging 183/6,visitors' openers ShubmanGill (65 not out) and ChrisLynn (46) took the matchaway from the KXIP.

After the match, KXIPskipper RavichandranAshwin admitted that pow-

erplay has been one of his team's "massiveproblems".

Ashwin summed up his team's cam-paign this season as not up the mark.

Their in-form openers Chris Gayleand K L Rahul, who have been amongruns, would be keen to come good againstCSK.

The likes of Sam Curran, MayankAgarwal and Nicholas Pooran will have toshoulder more responsibility in the mid-dle-order.

Their bowling largely depends onskipper Ashwin and Shami.

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Delhi Capitals crushedRajasthan Royals' play-offhopes with a convincing five-

wicket victory to finish off theleague campaign in the ongoing IPLon a high note here on Saturday.

Already through to the play-offs,Delhi Capitals first rode on veteransIshant Sharma and Amit Mishra'ssuperb efforts with the bowl torestrict Rajasthan Royals to 115 fornine and then chased down the tar-get in 16.1 overs, with Rishabh Pantremaining unbeaten on a 38-ball 53.

The win lifted Delhi to the sec-ond spot in the standings with 18points from 14 games but to finishas second best side, the Capitalswould need Mumbai Indians tolose against Kolkata Knight Riderson Sunday.

A win for Mumbai would auto-matically drop Delhi to the third spotas they have an inferior net run-rate.

Rajasthan are out of the tourna-

ment, finishing with just 11 pointsfrom 14 games.

Chasing a modest target, Delhimade a quick start through ShikharDhawan (16) and Prithvi Shaw (8)before Ish Sodhi (3/26) removedboth the openers in consecutiveballs to give himself a hat-trickchance.

Sodhi first got rid of Dhawan,in the second ball of the fourth over,holed out by Riyan Parag and thenShaw played on the next delivery.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (15 off 9)and Rishabh then added 33 runs off25 balls for the third wicket beforethe former was holed out by LiamLivingstone off Shreyas Gopal.

While Delhi lost two morewickets in the form of Colin Ingram(12) and Sherfane Rutherford (11),Rishabh carried on his bat and fin-ished off the chase by hitting Sodhifor a big six over long-leg off and inthe process also notched up his fifty.

Rishabh's unbeaten knock wasstudded with two fours and five hits

over the fence.Earlier, Ishant (3/38) did the

early damage before leg-spinnerMishra (3/17) came to the party torock Rajasthan's innings.

Young Parag (50 off 49, 4x4s,2x6s) was the lone bright spot forRajasthan as he held on to one fortand notched up his maiden IPL fiftyto take the visitors close to the 120-run mark.

Rajasthan had a disastrous startto their innings after opting to batas they were reduced to 30 for fourat the end of the first six overs ofpowerplay with Ishant doing bulk ofthe damage.

Ishant struck in the secondover, removing Rajasthan skipperAjinkya Rahane (2) and then cameback an over later to clean upLivingstone (14).

To make matters worse for thevisitors, in-form Sanju Samson (5)fell victim to an unnecessary mix upwith Mahipal Lomror in the nextover.

Lomror (8) didn't help his causeeither as he handed Ishant his thirdwicket of the day, nicking one toRishabh behind the stumps.

Parag and Gopal tried to sta-bilise the innings with a 27-runfifth-wicket stand before Mishrascalped two wickets in consecutivedeliveries in the 12th over to disturbRajasthan's resistance.

Mishra first foxed Gopal (12) tobe stumped by Rishabh and theninduced a faint edge from new manStuart Binny, which again Rishabhobliged. This gave Mishra a chancefor registering a hat-trick.

The leg-spinner was well oncourse of scalping a hat-trick butTrent Boult dropped a sitter atlong-off to hand KrishnappaGowtham life.

However, Mishra got his man anover later as Gowatham gave astraight forward catch to Ishant atlong-off and Rajasthan slumped to65 for seven.

Parag opened up late andsmacked Ishant for two fours to pickup 18 runs off the 17th over andthen smashed Boult for two sixes inthe final over before perishing in thelast ball of the innings.

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Shimron Hetmyer and GurkeeratSingh Mann engineered an

incredible turnaround that will lingerlong in IPL memory, powering RoyalChallengers Bangalore to a four-wicket victory over SunrisersHyderabad here on Saturday.

Both Hetmyer and Gurkeerat hitblazing fifties as RCB recoveredfrom a hopelessly placed 20 forthree in the third over to reach the176-run target with four balls tospare.

The win meant RCB endedwhat has been a forgettable season ona positive note, while SRH's hopes ofsecuring a playoffs berth were kepton standby.

During their 144-run partner-ship for the fourth wicket, Hetmyersmashed half a dozen sixes and fourboundaries for his 47-ball 75, whileGurkeerat made 65 in 48 deliverieswith the help of eight fours and onemaximum.

This was the first time that RCBhad a hundred-plus partnershipsince 2013 when Kohli and DeVilliers were not involved.

After Parthiv Patel was snappedup early by Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Virat Kohli got began RCB's ripostewith two delightful strokes — astraight-driven boundary and aflicked six — but the mainstaynicked a length ball to stun the homecrowd.

More trouble was in store forRCB as they lost AB de Villiers, whosnicked Bhuvneshwar to the first slipwhere Martin Guptill took a neatcatch.

RCB were tottering at 20 forthree in the third over but ShimronHetmyer and Gurkeerat Singh Mannhad other ideas.

It rained sixes and fours as theduo of Hetmyer and Gurkeeratblunted the opposition attack withtheir exemplary batting, bringing thesmiles back on the face of skipperKohli and the faces of their faces.

Gurkeerat was contend to playsecond fiddle to Hetmyer initially,when the Guyanese was dealing infours and sixes, but opened up later.

Earlier, Kane Williamson dealt infours and sixes as Sunrisers

Hyderabad plundered 28 runs in thefinal over to reach a challenging 175for seven.

SRH were 147 for seven at theend of the 19th over but Williamsoncut loose after that, smashing UmeshYadav for two sixes and as many foursto finish the innings on a high.

Williamson remained not out on70 off 43 balls, hitting four sixes andfive fours at the M ChinnaswamiStadium.

To make matters worse forYadav, he was wrongly no-balled byumpire Nigel Llong.

Sent into bat, SRH were off to abrisk start with Martin Guptill andWriddhiman Saha (20) putting on 46runs for the opening wicket in 4.3overs, but the keeper-batsman failedto clear pacer Navdeep Saini as thevisitors lost their first wicket.

After addition of another 14 runs

to the team total, SRH lost their sec-ond wicket when Guptill was dis-missed by Washington Sundar for a23-ball 30.

Manish Pandey, who stretchedMumbai Indians with his brave halfcentury in their last game, fell cheap-ly, for nine, leaving the visitors insome trouble at 61 for three in theeighth over.

Picked in the World Cup boundIndian team for his 'three-dimension-al' abilities, Vijay Shankar raced to 27with the help of three sixes, but againfailed to translate the start into a bigscore.

Shankar was Sundar's third scalpof the evening and Yuzvendra Chahalpicked up his 100th wicket in IPLwhen he lured Yusuf Pathan intoplaying an irresponsible shot toleave Sunrisers at 127 for five in thefinal ball of 16th over.

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Their play-off chances hang-ing in balance, Kolkata

Knight Riders will keep no stoneunturned as they take onMumbai Indians with a prayeron their lips in a must-wingame on Sunday.

KKR defeated Kings XIPunjab to keep their play-offhopes alive till the last leaguegame and after SunrisersHyderabad failed to sneak pastRCB on Saturday, this game willbe like a quarter-final for KKRas a win will do the job.

However MI would like tocarry on the winning momen-tum as 18 points and a better netrun-rate than both first placedCSK and second placed DelhiCapitals will give them twoshots at qualifying for the final.

With Chris Lynn andShubhman Gill coming good

and the marauding AndreRussell to follow at No 4, skip-per Dinesh Karthik would fancyhis chances at the batting-friend-ly Wankhede.

If the likes of seasonedLasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah,Krunal Pandya and leggie RahulChahar have to be taken totask, then KKR batsman willhave to put up a special show.

Russell, who has been con-sistently delivering for his team,will have to showcase hisprowess and mettle once again.

For KKR, their bowling hasbeen the biggest concern as

their bowlers have been rippedapart by their opponents both inthe Powerplay as well as at thedeath.

Pacers Harry Gurney,

Sandeep Warrier, Narine andPiyush Chawla will have to bowla tight line and length to restrictthe famed Mumbai batters.

Meanwhile, Mumbai

Indians, who have already qual-ified for the playoffs will eyerevenge after KKR after they hadsuffered a 34-run defeat inKolkata.

Also the result of the matchwhich finalise on which positionMumbai finish and who will betheir opponent in the play-off.

For the hosts, Hardik (380runs from 13 matches), SouthAfrican Quinton De Kock (462from 13) has been among theruns. But others including RohitSharma (331 runs from 12),Suryakumar Yadav (292 runsfrom 13), Krunal Pandya ( 176runs from 13) and KieronPollard (240 runs from 13) needto shoulder responsibility.

However an area of concernfor head-coach MahelaJayawardene would be the fre-quent middle-order collapse andhe would like to strengthenbefore the knockouts.

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������ Kolkata Knight Ridersskipper Dinesh Karthik is notknown to lose his cool for on-fieldlapses but he doesn't mind lettingit rip occasionally if it can bring thebest out of his players.

During Friday's must-win awaymatch against Kings XI Punjab,Karthik lost his cool at the inningsbreak as his bowlers and fieldersdidn't execute his plans properly.

When asked about his frayedtemper, the KKR skipper admittedthat he wasn't happy with hisbowlers and fielders.

"It's been a hard few days. I was-n't too happy with what the bowlersand the fielders were doing, so Ithought I should let the boys knowwhat I felt at that time. It is rare, notmany people have seen me angry.If I feel I need to be angry to get thebest out of the boys, then maybe,"Karthik said after his team's sevenwicket win over KXIP.

KKR fast bowler SandeepWarrier said that the skipper wasurging his men to be on toes dur-ing crunch situations.

"He (Karthik) was telling us tobe on our toes as it was a must-wingame for us. He was telling us tofocus on every ball," said Warrier,who got the wickets of KL Rahuland Chris Gayle.

The skipper however was allpraise for young Shubman Gill, whoscored an unbeaten 65 off 49 ballsto anchor the chase of 184.

"It's fair that we have given Gilla chance at the top of the order, andhe has grabbed the opportunitywith both hands," he said. PTI

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Not known to pull backpunches, Gautam Gambhir

hit back at Shahid Afridi, offer-ing to take him for a session with"a psychiatrist" after the formerPakistan captain wrote a fewuncharitable things about theIndian opener.

Afridi, in his just-releasedautobiography 'Game Changer',sarcastically referred to Gambhiras someone who "behaves like across between Don Bradmanand James Bond," and has a "lotof attitude and no great records".

Gambhir respondedthrough his official twitter han-dle, tagging Afridi.

"...You are a hilarious man!!!Anyway, we are still grantingvisas to Pakistanis for medicaltourism. I will personally takeyou to a psychiatrist," Gambhirtweeted.

Afridi was ready with hisretort during the official launch

of the book here."He (Gambhir) has a men-

tal problem and if he wants Ican get him treated at my hos-pital," Afridi said in response tothe Indian batsman's tweet.

"If he faces any visa prob-lem I will get it processedquickly for him," Afridi said.

The duo never shared agreat rapport on and off thefield and it was reflected in

Afridi's take on Gambhir in thebook.

"Gambhir behaves like he'sa cross between Don Bradman& James Bond. In Karachi, wecall guys like him saryal(grumpy). It's simple, I likehappy, positive people. Doesn'tmatter if they are aggressive orcompetitive, but you have to bepositive & Gambhir wasn't," hewrote.

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Zinedine Zidane has playeddown speculation linking

Real Madrid with a summermove for Manchester Unitedmidfielder Paul Pogba.

Zidane said in March heknew Pogba personally andlikes him "a lot" before addingMadrid could be his next club"when his experience inManchester comes to an end".

Pogba had also added tothe doubts surrounding hisfuture by saying that "all play-ers dream of playing for RealMadrid".

But ahead of his team's LaLiga game at home toVillarreal on Sunday, Zidaneappeared to downplay thechances of Pogba moving tothe Santiago Bernabeu.

"I said Pogba was a goodplayer but I could say the sameabout other players," Zidanesaid at a press conference onSaturday.

"I know him but nothingmore. If you ask me about

Pogba, I say he is a very goodplayer but he plays forManchester United.

"At the end of the seasonwe will see which playerscome here, and who leaves,but I did not say 'We are goingto sign Pogba,' nothing likethat.

"I will not say anythinguntil the deals are done."

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Cristiano Ronaldo headed ina late equaliser to spoil

Torino's dream of a first win atcity rivals Juventus in nearly aquarter of a century on Fridayand frustrate their bid to moveinto the Champions Leagueplaces.

Sasa Lukic had fired Torinoahead after 17 minutes in amatch brought forward a day toavoid clashing with Saturday's70th anniversary of the air dis-aster that wiped out the all-con-quering 'Grande Torino' team ofthe 1940s.

But Ronaldo headed in for1-1 after 84 minutes to leaveTorino in sixth place, two pointsoff the Champions Leagueberths with three games left toplay.

Juventus have already sealedthe Serie A title for the eighthseason in a row, but Torino stillhave all to play for as they tar-get a first-ever qualification forelite European competition.

"This draw burns, we couldhave scored a secondgoal and brought thewin home," said Torinocoach Walter Mazzarri.

"The only time welet down our guard thephenomenon that isRonaldo punished us."

Torino have not won atJuventus since 1995 while theironly win since then againsttheir city rivals was at home inApril 2015.

Ronaldo — who had scoredthe only goal with a penalty inthe reverse fixture in December— was partnered up front byteenage striker Moise Kean.

Kean threatened early alongwith Torino captain AndreaBelotti.

But Serbian midfielderLukic broke through followinga Miralem Pjanic error to slot inhis first goal for Torino.

Ronaldo came close to anequaliser soon after with hispowerful strike just wide withSalvatore Sirigu denying BlaiseMatuidi.

But Juventus increased thepressure after the break withRonaldo rising hightest to latch

onto a LeonardoSpinazzola cross tobeat Sirigu and denyTorino a third consec-utive victory.

It was Ronaldo's21st league goal this

season and moves him twobehind Sampdoria's FabioQuagliarella, who leads theSerie A scoring charts.

The Portuguese superstarbrings his tally of career clubgoals to 601, edging ahead of hisArgentina rival Lionel Messi,who has 600.

"We're lucky to play withCristiano and live in this age oftwo star players," said Juventuscaptain Giorgio Chiellini.

"They're somewhat com-parable to (Roger) Federer and(Rafael) Nadal. They are bothout of this world, one seemsstronger one day and then theother replies."

For Juventus it was a secondconsecutive stalemate after lastweekend's 1-1 draw againstInter Milan.

�8�■-�*�0

Franck Ribery andArjen Robben

returned to action onSaturday as BayernMunich heaped pressureon Bundesliga title rivalsBorussia Dortmund with a 3-1 win overHanover.

The veteran wingers, both of whom areset to leave Bayern at the end of the season,returned from injury as Bayern madeheavy weather of a crucial victory over theBundesliga's bottom club.

Robben made his first appearancesince November while Ribery scored whatmay be his last ever goal at the Allianz Arenato seal a 3-1 win and put Bayern two pointsclear of title rivals Borussia Dortmund withtwo games more to go in the title race.

Hanover kept Bayern at bay for nearlyhalf an hour before Lewandowski headedthe hosts ahead from close range and LeonGoretzka curled the second in off the post.

The visitors hit back after half-time witha Jonathas penalty, the result of a highly con-troversial handball decision from VARagainst Jerome Boateng.

Ribery secured the win six minutes fromtime, and the home fans had more reasonto cheer a few minutes from time whenRobben was brought on moments later.

Borussia Moenchengladbach andHoffenheim both stumbled in the race forthe top four, as they shared the points in a2-2 draw.

Matthias Ginter cancelled out PavelKaderabek's opener, before Nadiem Amirirestored the lead with a fine volley. Yet JosipDrmic saved Gladbach's Champions Leaguehopes with a late equaliser.

At the bottom of the table, relegationlooms ever larger for Nuremberg, after goalsfrom Felix Klaus and Marcel Tisserand saw

them lose 2-0 in Wolfsburg.They and Hanover were spared relega-

tion for at least another week, however, asHertha Berlin won 3-1 at home to Stuttgart,who remain in the relegation play-offplace.

Vedad Ibisevic ended a 395-minute goaldrought for Hertha when he prodded themahead on 40 minutes. Goals from OndrejDuda and Salomon Kalou sealed the win forHertha, despite a late consolation headerfrom Mario Gomez.

�8�■ $1��1�

Mauricio Pochettino insistedon Saturday that nine-manTottenham won't let a

"cruel" 1-0 defeat at Bournemouthruin their bid to finish in the topfour and reach the ChampionsLeague final, while Fulham's 16-year-old Harvey Elliott become thePremier League's youngest everplayer in their 1-0 defeat Wolves.

Tottenham's South Korea for-ward Son Heung-min was sent offfor a needless push in the closingmoments of the first half andArgentine defender Juan Foyth sawred for a studs-up lunge soon afterthe interval.

Pochettino's side looked likethey would hold on for a point asthe match entered stoppage-time,but Bournemouth defender NathanAke ended third-placedTottenham's stubborn resistence todelay their attempt to guarantee aplace in the top four.

A win at Dean Court wouldhave achieved that aim, but fourth-placed Chelsea will now go aboveSpurs if they defeat Watford andArsenal, currently fifth, will moveto within one point of their northLondon rivals if they beat Brightonon Sunday.

"Of course it is difficult to getsomething positive. We made amassive effort," Pochettino said.

"We need to move on. We haveahead two finals. It is in our hands.If it does not happen we will beproud because nobody expectedTottenham to be in the positionthey are today."

Tottenham's ninth defeat intheir last 15 games in all com-petitions means they need towait for Sunday's results tosee if they need to win theirfinal Premier League gameof the season at home toEverton on May 12.

It was the worst possi-ble preparation for theirbid to overturn a 1-0 deficitin the Champions League semi-finalsecond leg at Ajax on Wednesday.

"We are fighting six teams. It'simpossible for all six to get the top

four, whatever happens I will feelproud and whatever happens in the

semi-final I will be proud,"Pochettino said.

����������������In their first season back

in the top-flight, Wolvesmoved a step closer to seal-ing an impressive seventh

place finish as LeanderDendoncker saw off rele-gated Fulham.

Belgian midfielderDendoncker netted in the

75th minute at Molineux to giveWolves a third successive win.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team arefour points clear of eighth placed

Everton, who only have one gameleft, and six ahead of ninth placedLeicester, who have two matchesremaining.

If Manchester City win the FACup final against Watford later on

May 18, the team which finishesseventh will go into the EuropaLeague qualifying rounds next sea-son.

In the 88th minute, Fulhamprovided an historic footnote asElliott was sent on to become thePremier League's youngest everplayer at 16 years and 30 days.

English midfielder Elliott, bornin April 2003, surpassed the previ-ous record set by former Fulhamplayer Matthew Briggs, aged just 16years and 65 days in 2007.

London-born Elliott's only pre-vious appearance for Fulham thisseason came in a League Cup winat Millwall in September.

Marko Arnautovic ended his

11-game goal drought with a bracein West Ham's 3-0 win againstSouthampton at the LondonStadium.

Arnautovic hadn't scored forManuel Pellegrini's men sinceJanuary 5, but the Austria forwardfired mid-table West Ham ahead inthe 16th minute with a clinical fin-ish from Mark Noble's pass.

Arnautovic struck again in the69th minute when he headed homeafter Arthur Masuaka's cross waspalmed into the air by Southamptonkeeper Fraser Forster.

Hammers defender RyanFredericks wrapped up the points inthe 72nd minute with his firstPremier League goal.

�8�� 7�8�($1��

Atletico Madrid missedthe chance to ensure they

finish above Real Madrid fora second consecutive year onSaturday after slipping to asurprise 3-0 defeat byEspanyol.

Atletico needed only apoint to guarantee secondplace in La Liga, with twogames left to play, butEspanyol were deserving win-ners at the RCDE Stadiumthanks to Diego Godin'sown-goal and two strikesfrom Borja Iglesias, the sec-ond a penalty.

The result meansBarcelona, already champi-ons, can move 12 points clearat the top of the table by beat-ing Celta Vigo.

Real Madrid faceVillarreal on Sunday but athird-place finish seemsinevitable for ZinedineZidane's side. To overtaketheir city rivals, Real willneed to win all three of theirremaining games and hopeAtletico lose both of their lasttwo.

Espanyol's victory isunlikely therefore to preventAtletico finishing as Madrid'stop club in La Liga for a thirdtime in four years, fourth insix, but there was a lack ofspark that has underminedDiego Simeone's team toooften this season.

Just as concerning havebeen the defensive errors,which Espanyol exploited tothe full. Godin slid the ballinto his own net beforeJuanfran conceded a latepenalty for a needless push. Inbetween, Borja had nipped

between Godin and FilipeLuis with ease.

Like at Real, changes areexpected at Atletico this sum-mer but, unlike their neigh-bours, not all of them are like-ly to be within their control.

Lucas Hernandez hasalready agreed to join BayernMunich, while uncertaintyhangs over the futures ofGodin, Filipe, Juanfran, SaulNiguez and AntoineGriezmann.

Jan Oblak has signed anew contract until 2023 butwith a release clause includ-ed, reportedly set at 120 mil-lion euros.

Alvaro Morata will hopeto stay after enjoying a resur-gence since joining on loanfrom Chelsea in January andhe might have given Atleticoan early lead against Espanyolbut was unable to find thespace from the angle.

Instead, Espanyol tookthe lead at the end of the firsthalf and while Godin turnedit into his own net, it wasAdria Pedrosa who made it.His driving run down thewing left Atletico's defencescrambling and his fired crosspanicked Godin at the nearpost.

Atletico hardly troubledtheir opponents, who dou-bled their lead shortly beforethe hour, Borja latching ontoOscar Melendo's pass beforefinishing impressively pastOblak.

Oblak saved shots fromSergi Darder and Borja butEspanyol finally added a thirdafter Juanfran knocked overJavi Puado in the 89thminute. Borja beat Oblakwith the penalty.

�8�� ��8*"

Paris Saint-Germain'sdismal recent run in

Ligue 1 continued onSaturday as EdinsonCavani missed a stop-page time penalty for theFrench champions in ascrappy 1-1 home drawwith Nice.

The Uruguayan shotweakly at Nice stopperWalter Benitez nearly fiveminutes after Neymar,who scored PSG's lev-eller from the spot 30minutes earlier, wasjudged via VAR to havebeen brought down byDante.

PSG retained theleague title two weeksago and are 17 pointsahead of second-placedLille but they have nowwon just one of their lastsix league games as theirseason continues to dis-appoint in the aftermathof their nightmare

Champions League defeatto Manchester United inMarch.

Not even Neymar —who is awaiting sanctionsafter hitting a Rennes fanin the aftermath of thecup defeat — bagging hisfirst league goal sinceJanuary was enough torouse the hosts from theirslumber.

The Brazilian struckfrom the spot on the hourmark in front of a not-full

Parc des Princes to levelIgnatius Ganago's stun-ning volleyed opener justafter half-time, butThomas Tuchel's sidewere lacklustre through-out and couldn't grab thewinner.

Patrick Vieira's Nice,who are down in seventhand seven points awayfrom the Europa Leagueplace, had a much simplerchance to double theirlead and pile the pain on

PSG 12 minutes later afterGanago's strike, but AlanSaint-Maximin couldonly watch in horror ashis shot from the barafter being served anopen goal by the dynam-ic Youcef Atal.

They were duly pun-ished seconds later byNeymar, who coollystrode up to score hisspot-kick after Angel DiMaria was hacked downby Patrick Burner.

PSG pushed for awinner without creatingmuch, and they werehanded a golden oppor-tunity to snatch an unde-served winner when ref-eree Frank Schneiderpointed to the spot, book-ing a distraught Dante inthe process.

However Cavani, inhis first start sinceFebruary, wasn't up to thetask and the hosts had tomake do with an under-whelming point.

���■ �(,��($0*

The All India Football Federation's(AIFF) technical committee has short-

listed four candidates, including two-time South Korean World Cupper LeeMin-sung and the familiar Albert Roca, forthe job of the chief coach of the men'snational team.

Besides Lee Min-sung and Roca, whotasted immense success at Bengaluru FC,

the other two aspirants in the fray are ex-Croatia national team manager IgorStimac and former Sweden coach HakanEricson.

The technical committee, headed byformer India international Shyam Thapa,will held another round of discussion withthe short-listed candidates next week, ten-tatively on May 8 or May 9.

"It will again be in the form of inter-views on Skype and then the most suitablename will be forwarded to the federation'sexecutive committee with recommenda-tions. The executive committee will takethen take the final call," Thapa said.

The Indian team is scheduled to playmatches in the Kings Cup on June 5 andJune 8, and a preparatory national campwill be held under the new coach in thethird week of May. The Kings Cup will bethe new coach's first assignment.

Owing to the Indian team's spiritedshowing in the AFC Asian Cup and a runof 13-match unbeaten streak prior to that,more than 250 candidates, includingsome top names from Europe, haveapplied for the job since StephenConstantine resigned.

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Page 12: region of Madhya Pradesh ended at 5 pm on Saturday. Polling for Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, ... utes shoes and sarees. She should come and beg for votes rather than distribute

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Are you a discerning customerand wouldn’t mind paying forservices that one may not find

anywhere in Delhi-NCR? If theanswer is yes, then head to The ManiPedi Spa in Gurugram — the first nailsalon which recently opened its sec-ond outlet near Galleria Market with1,800 sq ft state-of-the art facility.

The reason why a Delhi residentshould visit this spa is because they area ‘one of a kind’ beauty service busi-ness. Mahema Bhardwaj, ManagingDirector of The Mani Pedi Spa tellsyou that the reason why she startedthis spa was because she couldn’t findthe service she wanted.

Bhardwaj says that the secondoutlet is the result of an overwhelm-ing response from their customers atour first outlet.

“Our vision is to provide ourclients with never been experiencedservices in the mani-pedi industryhere in India. Our approach towardsproviding these services is different

from what is prevalent in the market.Everything from our ambience toplacement of stations, selection andtraining cum certification of a femaledriven staff, use of top-of the lineproducts sourced internationally andutmost focus on hygiene sets us apartfrom others,” Bhardwaj tells you.

“Many salons have men. Somewomen find it uncomfortable. Also, Iwas not sure about the instrumentsand whether they were being properlysterlised. We use disposable wherepossible, rest are put in a sterliser. Theproducts used are complete safe. Onecan even eat with one’s hands and notworry about any chemicals going inthe body ensuring hygiene levels thatat par with US safety standards. Ourstaff is regularly trained in the latesttechniques used internationally,”Bhardwaj says.

The products make a huge dif-ference as one of the therapist getsworking on the feet. After the basiccleaning (they use disposable instru-ments) an egg mask put on the feetand then wrapped in cling foil (for 10minutes leaves) the feet soft. A gel nailpolish completes treatment.

Nail spa is just as thorough. Thetherapist cleans and buffs away. Don’tworry if you don’t have natural nails.The spa uses plastic nails by CNDShellac, a US-based company. If plas-tic is a no-no for you, go for foambased nails. They are just as sturdy andperfectly safe. That done, one has theoption of normal nail paint (OPI nailcollection with lacquered finish). Onecan choose from over 250 nail paints.One can even go for nail art. if youdon’t know what design to choose thetherapist will step in to help. The spaoffers many designs. One can evengive the therapist your own design.

Bhardwaj plans to open 10 moreoutlets in India and create a preferencefor this new concept of spas. WillDelhi be first in line? Hopefully, yes.

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�What is the film about?The film is directed and written by Alankrita Shrivastava.

It is an interesting take on lives of people in our country. Allmy scenes are with Konkana and the complex relationship theyhave since they are from different class.�How has your journey been thus far?

I have been in the industry for around 10 years, I wouldsay that my acting journey began only five- six years back asI have been acting seriously in the last five years.�What has been some of the ups and downs?

In the beginning, there were many downs. When I cameto Mumbai I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any work.There were many lean periods. There were times of frustra-tion. It was tough to pass time. Things changed in 2016 andluckily I started getting work, a lot more than I expected.�How tough is it to deal with this situation?

To be honest one is angry. It is easy to say have patience.But this is not easy when you see others get work and you havenone. One has to be patient in a good way. You don’t knowhow long you will last here. You have to be ready all the time.You have to keep yourself motivated at all times.�Did you always want to be an actor?

No, not at all. I was pursuing my engineering in from IIT-Delhi. I started acting doing plays where I was there— with-in the campus and outside. I even worked for a year while pur-suing theatre. But it was tough because of office hours. I wasgetting frustrated. I realised that I was missing acting and want-ed to go back to the stage. That is when I decided to take abreak. I met a few theatre people in Mumbai, quit my job andshifted here. I never went back.�Usually, films is the first step after theatre, you chose TV.Why?

This is not entirely true. I did this one TV show last yearbecause it was different, it was a conscious decision. I was doingtheatre because I love being on the stage. Many of us are notvery enthusiastic about TV since it doesn’t excite as much eventhough there is a lot of money. It was not about making money.If that I was the case I would have stuck to my job.�Is that why you did web, is offers excitement?

Yes. It offers you so much more. Not that there is any harmin doing TV shows. TV actors are so hardworking. It is justthat I don’t find any relatability. Web and theatre offers excite-ment. There is experimentation. This is why a lot of Bollywoodfilmmakers are doing web shows since they also feel that theyhave a lot more to do.�Has the change in content made you reinvent yourself?

There have been changes in web content. When I did myfirst web show things were different since the budget was smalland scales have increased. Not the case now. If players are herenow. This has opened up doors to do more on a much largerscale. This is great for actors.�What is the lesson that you have learnt?

There are lessons everyday as new things are thrown at youdaily. You have to reinvent yourself. You can’t be smug. To beflexible and have the ability to learn all the time. Things changeyou can’t say you know all.

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�How did acting happen?I knew that I wanted to be an

actor when I was two-and-a-half yearsold. I did my first stage performanceback then. My parents worked asteachers in a school and they wantedsomebody to play Lord Krishna, inhis younger years. That’s how I wenton stage for the first time. Now, I feelfortunate enough to have spent twodecades working in the industry,

doing some of my best work.�Is it hard to survive in the

industry?I am in a comfortable

place now where peo-ple would not like tocompromise withwanting somebodyelse instead of me. Ihave had made myplace in the industrywhere people showthat belief in me that

you can do this andyou should do this.

The best of opportuni-ties are coming my way. I

have produced a short film— Chutney, which was loved

by all. So things have been work-

ing out well. Competition jisko lagtaho, woh uskey bare me sochey meredimag me aisa koi khyaal nahin aatahai.�From Platform to Bioscopewala,how has your journey been?

I still feel the same excitementwhile going on the sets. I still feeldelighted to have signed a new film. Ifeel happy when people read out acertain kind of script to me. I feel joy-ful. I like playing different kinds ofpeople, that’s the thrill for me.�Do you have any regrets?

Not really. Eventually, all my deci-sions have turned out right because Iam still here in the industry.�You have shared the screenspacewith some of the prominent actorsin the industry. What is that onething that you learned from them?

I have learnt something or theother from all of them. I have recentlyworked with Akshay Kumar for a filmand he has a unique, razor-sharpfocus. He is doing about 75-80 thingsat any given time — listening to thesongs of some upcoming film, listen-ing to the narration of some scripts,meeting someone and working on thepromotions of something. He can do

multiple things at the same time. Hemanages everything so well that itdoesn’t make any difference while heis shooting. So this concentration issomething that I learnt from him.When it comes to Aamir Khan, thenof course he does a few things but hegoes deep into them, so this is what Ilearnt from him. Then, KareenaKapoor Khan was another great artistto work with. She is lovely, generous,happy, friendly and relaxed aboutbeing on sets. It feels like she was bornon the sets and it’s a part of her life.�You have worked on differentmedia — stage, TV, films and web.What is the one differnce you felt inall of them?

Films are director-oriented. He isthe one who sees the whole thing inhis head and he will shoot you andput only those parts in the film thathe likes. He will change and modifythings according to him to make theperformance work. Also everything isshot in bits and pieces. Television iswriter driven. Stage is solely an actor’smedium and there is no retake. Ienjoy films and TV for their reach.�You are now a part of SavdhaanIndia so what made you say yes to it?

This the first time that I am host-ing a crime-based show. SavdhaanIndia is an iconic show and I feel itwill probably go on for many moreyears. It is a talked-about show whereeveryone has either seen it or heardabout it. It has completed its sevenyears which is a big thing. Also, it isnot just an overnight thing, it is aclassic. I liked the idea of the showand the premise that it sets out — tobe alert. In our country, where thereis such a vast populace, there is animportant need for alertness.Furthermore, in these seven years ofthe show, they have kept up with thechanging nature of the crimes. Also itis a medium where I get to playmyself. It is my direct connect withthe audience where I can communi-cate to them ki maksad aapko darananahin, aap ko samjhana hai.�What next?

There is a web series coming outin May — Hostages. It is a dream rolefor me. I am doing a film — GoodNews with Dharma Productions. It ismy first project with them and I amexcited about it. I am writing anddirecting a feature, so that will benext.

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6���� �"�������What would your reac-

tion be if someonewere to tell you that

the Capital witnessed a stageshaw that had an all kids starcast. Incredulous, would bethe first thought to come tomind. But believe it or not theretelling of the classical —Sleeping Beauty — enthralledthe audience recently becauseits stars ranged between theages of four to 13 with the 13-year-old playing the lead inSleeping Beauty.

The musical is a brainchildof Bubbles Sabharwal (SwaraBhaskar’s mother in Veere DiWedding) and Lushin Dubey.With over 30 years experi-ence, the duo, who startedKids World back in 1990, arealso the creators of Wizwits thatperformed at Kingdom ofDreams.

Sleeping Beauty that beganas a theatrical workshop soontook the shape of a full-fledgedstage as the kids wanted to seethemselves grow.

“Entertainment should bewholesome and healthy notonly movies. There should beother avenues. Children’s per-sonality grows with leaps andbounds having gone throughtheatre. We teach confidenceand communication wherethere has to be clarity ofthought and speech. Thisempowers you,” Sabharwal says.

A majority of the inspira-tion and elements for the musi-cal came from the fairytale. Therest was from everyday life.“There are some fictional ele-ment to the play as well. Thereare a couple of characters whoare not there in the original likeFicklehead. They are like twojokers. This is to introducehumour into the play.Maleficent is an eight-headedmonster whose power is in apurple flower. The reason forthis dramatisation is to let thekids’ imagination a flight offancy,” Sabharwal tells you.Though 80 per cent of theSleeping Beauty is in English,there rest is in Hindi.

She doesn’t agree that the-atre has come of age today.

“There has always been view-ership for theatre. Back in1992, Peter Pan was staged. Wedid 30 shows. But Kingdom ofDreams gave a pan India podi-um to theatre. This has helped.School groups were coming into watch Wizwits,” Sabharwaltells you.

According to her whatbrings down theatre is the pro-hibitive cost that comes if onewants to showcase it in Delhi,not so in the case of Mumbaiwhere there are places whereone can get basic infrastructure.

Fourteen-year-old TahiraSolomon from Sanskriti Schoolwho played Aurora says: “Ihave been working with KidsWorld since I was about 6.With each play I’ve not onlycreated many new friends butI’ve also learned many newthings and have grown into amuch more confident personunder the guidance of Lushinand Bubbles ma’am and I hopeto continue my journey withthem.”

Her sister Amyra who is inClass IV tells you that she usedto watch her sister do plays inKids World since she was a tod-dler and was fascinated and thatgot her interested in work-shops. “Now , I got to be onstage and perform in front ofmany people. I have lots of funand I make a lot of new friends,”the eight -year-old student ofSanskriti Schools shares. Sheplayed the witch, Gorgon.

Anya Rastogi, a nine-year-old Class V student of ModernSchool, Vasant Vihar whoplayed Malificent says: “I havehad lots of fun performing asMalificent in Sleeping Beauty. AtKids World, they don’t push youbut make it interesting andmake you take part in the deci-sions about the play also. I havealso made a lot of new friends.I love the music and the cos-tumes as well,”

Laura Santana who gavethe music tells you that she hasben part of the Kids Worldsince she was a kid herself. Herinspiration for the musicalcomes from the fact that herfather and uncle gave music to

each and every stage play thatKidsworld has given — FromAnnie to Oye Matilda! Tu HaiUstaad!

“My inspiration has alwaysbeen the kids. I started work-ing with my uncle the minuteI passed out of college.Whenever we do a production,we make singing a little con-temporary so that the kids canenjoy and have fun while learn-ing,” Santana explains.

The challenge is that kidstoday are not exposed to jazz,western classical and or evenIndian classical. “The minutethey are exposed to music, it ispop not that there is anythingwrong here. But we should beaware of our roots as well.Sleeping Beauty is western clas-sical by Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky. The minute theyhear it, they say: ‘Oh my God!What is this? We can’t sing this.’To get them to change theirstyle of singing is challenging.But then they go back andexplore it and enjoyTchaikovsky which is satisfyingfor me,” Santana says.

The workshops that ulti-mately culminate into a pro-duction starts with introducingthe kids to an animated versionof a classical if it is available.When it comes to singing, it isnot purely classical; the musicis peppy, something that theycan identify with.

“For this stage show, wehave used instruments like thecello and the flute. This isbecause I didn’t want to tam-per with the classic too muchbut I introduced drums. Thebeat here adds a bit of a temposo that the kids find it bouncy,”Santana who also gets a lotquestions from the kids whowant to introduce their owntouch to the song.

“When they ask me this, Igive them options. if they wantit to try their way or my way ora middle path — theirs andmine. I work with each kidindividually. While workingwith the lead of Sleeping Beauty,I see what her range is and cus-tomise the song accordingly,”Santana says and tells you thatthe audience is always in awe

since the youngest star is just 4. Dubey tells you that her

background as an special edmakes her job easier. The factthat she loves children is anadded advantage. “You areworking with specially-ablekids. It can test your patienceand tolerance. I am a calm per-son and love kids. When peo-ple ask me how many kids Ihave I tell them two — biolog-ical — but tens of thousandsotherwise. The minute youtalk to children, you are on parwith them. I don’t mollycoddlethem. There is an intrinsicwisdom in kids,” Dubeyexplains.

There is an exercise thatDubey insists upon. Each of herartists have to know the lines ofother performers. If an artist isunable to perform, other onecan step in. This way each kidfeels important and knows thatnobody is a lead.

“Five-year-old Dipshiknows all the lines of the nar-rator. If today, if the narratorfalls ill, Dipshi will step in,”Dubey says.

Interestingly, the theatricalworkshop found its way on tothe stage. “We didn’t knowwhat kind of lessons the kidshad imbibed. it is easy to per-form in front of moms, dadsand chachas. The real test is tosee them perform in front of anunknown crowd,” Dubeyshares.

However, to take SleepingBeauty to other cities may notbe so easy since the cast is soyoung — 4 to 13. In the past theteam has travelled with fivemothers as guardians and ayoung starcast. At best thedirectors will take the musicalto close by places likeChandigarh or even Sohna.

To put out this stage play,it has taken the directors twoto three weeks. The kids havebeen trained for two hours eachday with no break.

“Usually we don’t want toprolong the time of the work-shops. The time that we workwith is crucial. So sometimeswe work without a break,”Dubey says.

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Bachcha Hai Ji. She speaks withMusba Hashmi about her journey in

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Iused to hate golf. I absolutelydespised it being shown on thetelly. I couldn’t imagine why peo-ple take something so boring soseriously and call it a sport. I

don’t even know why I got clicked withTiger Woods at Madame Tussaudswhen I clearly didn’t know enough toadmire him or the legacy he was creat-ing at that time. Then I grew up. Lastmonth was pivotal in the history ofgolf, in more ways than one. TigerWoods winning his fifth Masters, 14years after he last put on the GreenJacket, 11 years after last winning aMajor is nothing short of extraordi-nary, poetic, superlative, and a touchredemptive. Let’s put this into perspec-tive. Since 2009, he has seen his repu-tation severely tarnished amidst aninfidelity scandal followed by divorcewith his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren,had four back and two knee surgeries,been addicted to painkillers causinghis arrest for suspected driving underinfluence, dropped out of the world’stop 1,000 golfers, amongst many otherobstacles that makes this comeback allthe more awe-inspiring. When we talkof huge comebacks in the history ofsport — not just golf — this will rankas one of, if not the best.

Peyton Manning is talked about inthe great comebacks conversation afterhe endured multiple neck surgeries andwas dumped by the Colts but had a latecareer revival in Denver; an MVPaward in 2013 and a Super Bowl title in2015. Monica Seles was the youngestFrench Open champion at 16 years ofage and the youngest Number 1 inworld rankings at that time. She hadalready won eight Grand Slams beforeher 20th birthday. Then when she wasat her peak, she was stabbed in abizarre incident on court by a derangedSteffi Graf fan, narrowly missing herspinal cord and organs. But the damagewas done psychologically. Seles had tobattle depression and eating disorderbefore returning to the court after twoyears. She was never the same playeragain but to even come that far, win-ning the Canadian Open in 1995 andthe Australian Open in 1996, was alaudable achievement.

Niki Lauda had already won oneWorld Championship Title in FormulaOne racing in 1975. In his second in1976, his Ferrari swerved off track, hitan embankment, burst into flames andmade contact with Brett Lunger’s Ford.Unlike Lunger, Lauda was trapped in thewreckage and suffered severe degreeburns to his head and inhaled hot toxicgases, damaging his lungs and blood.

Although he was conscious in theimmediate aftermath, he later slippedinto a coma. Six weeks later, he wasbehind the wheel at the Italian GrandPrix. Lauda would go on to win twomore championship titles before retiring.

Muhammad Ali, widely regarded asthe “greatest of all time”, was stripped ofhis title and suspended for three yearsafter he refused to serve in the US Armyduring the Vietnam War. His comebackagainst the undefeated Joe Frazier in thematch dubbed as “the fight of the centu-ry” ended in his first ever professionalloss. He would go on to beat Frazier in arematch. Then came the much awaitedThrilla in Manila in 1975. Frazier andAli were both geared up for this, Frazierdesperately needing a win for his come-back but Ali would not be denied byhim a second time. Ali went on to winthat dramatic 14 round fight (the 15thwas stopped as Frazier’s eyes wereswollen shut and he was badly beaten)and Ali kept fighting till 1981.

Woods, though, was reluctant toclaim it was even the best comeback inhis own sport. He points to BenHogan, who won the US Open a yearand a half after nearly dying in a carcrash. He does have a point. But thecomparisons of comebacks in differentsports across different eras is not todiminish one’s significance or impactfrom the other. It is only to laud themost recent one keeping the others inmind. What separates the story ofTiger Woods from others is that he notonly suffered physically but mentally.Of course, any physical injury has itspsychological repercussions. But thegrit and determination to come out ofso many and emerge a winner yet againcannot be understated.

In a multicultural consumerist soci-ety like the US that the whole world stillpretty much aspires to model itself on, awin like this is monumental keeping inmind the brand value of Tiger Woodsbefore he was stripped of all endorse-ments following his promiscuity revela-tions. A win like this changes every-thing. It’s a literal game changer in everysense of the term. From the way peoplelook at golf to golf as a brand equityitself. In a time when majority of theAmerican intelligentsia is debating andregretting the election results while stillreminiscing about the last President,who was incidentally black, TigerWoods has given them another reasonto be proud by coming up “trumps”.

A win like this is astronomicalbecause a win like this transcendssport. With all due respect to the othergolfers devoid of such ups and downs

in life, a win for any of them wouldnever have generated this kind ofhoopla. The fact that we know all aboutTiger Woods without knowing the dif-ference between a birdie and a bogey iswhat makes us sit up and take notice.It’s what instantly puts him and thewhole of golf right back on the map.

The news of Tiger Woods winninganother Masters hit me in three stages.First was that of shock. I was (and I’msure many of you were too) genuinelysurprised to see him not only competingamongst the best but beating everyoneagain to be the best. After all, that’soccurred. After all that’s passed. After allthat he must’ve faced. After all thosenights he must’ve spent waiting for thisfine day. I cannot even fathom the tur-moil that must’ve gone through thatmind of his. Just like I couldn’t fathomhearing what all he had done to puthimself in that position. But I came to arealisation that people like him aren’tmere mortals. And maybe, just maybe,that’s the reason they don’t have flawslike the rest of us; something akin to aGreek tragedy. Their flaws are tragic andfatal. They’re capable of extraordinarythings in their field of specialty. Theyalways have that extra mile in them,whatever the circumstances. And likeany other Greek tragedy, their story hasthe element of fate centred around them.

Speaking of fate and the role it hasto play in the making or breaking of agenius, Malcolm Gladwell reiteratesover and over in his book, The Outliers,that there are no geniuses in this world,just people who happened to be in theright place at the right time. In hiswords, “No one — not rock stars, notprofessional athletes, not software bil-lionaires, and not even geniuses — evermakes it alone.” Steve Jobs, Bill Gates,the Beatles etc all had vision and talent,but they were successful only becauseof a certain turn of events that went intheir favour. Gladwell notes that suc-cess “is not exceptional or mysterious.It is grounded in a web of advantagesand inheritances, some deserved, somenot, some earned, some just plainlucky”. But for that rub of the green(the phrase ironically originating fromgolf) to even work, you have to havethe building blocks in place first —namely talent, hard work, and anundying will to succeed.

Tiger Woods had everything as domost champions in any sport. But whatmakes his story unique is that he wasbrutally brought down from hispedestal when the scandal broke out.He wasn’t the god of golf anymore. Hewas the proverbial Greek god.

Suddenly, he had everything to loseagain and had to start from scratch. Todo that at this age is what makes hiscomeback all the more commendable.

At the end, it all comes down toman’s inherent drive to be the best. Tobe better than the rest. And you can’tinculcate that drive. Another thing Iwas shocked about (albeit pleasantly)was the kind of reaction he is receiving.It’s almost as if everyone has forgivenhim for doing the wrongs he did. Hehas paid the price. He has spent histime in hell. And now it’s his time toshine. But why was I surprised thatpeople reacted so positively in the firstplace? Which brings me to the secondthing that hit me: Happiness.

Everyone wants to identify withyour success but never your failure. I’veseen that all too well from close quar-ters. Failure is an integral part of thesuccess equation. By identifying in thephenomenon of a successful comeback,we are in some way relating it to ourown journey. His victory is somehowour victory. His win is somehow ourhope. And his story is somehow oursource of happiness. People want toidentify with your story because thatmakes it more real, more tangible. Andthere’s nothing more relatable than theraw emotion of a comeback. There’s areason why the Manchester Unitedgathered an extraordinary fan followingin terms of numbers in the Ninetiesand Noughties. It’s because their goldenperiod of comebacks coincided with thestratospheric rise in TV coverage andPremier League revenues. More thenumber of exploits from the undisput-ed “comeback kings” (Liverpool fanswould argue otherwise), more the view-ers developed an affinity for the cluband hence more the fan following. It’snot as if comebacks weren’t beingaccomplished before or after that era.It’s just that in this case, they happenedto be the ‘outlier’, the club at the rightplace at the right time.

But all that is okay. The real ques-tion is how do these individualsmuster up the courage, the determina-tion, the same intensity and mindset tobe able to compete at the same leveland win against all odds? The answeragain lies with the Gladwell school ofthought. They always had it. This wasalways part of the script. The fallingdown wasn’t. Once that was dealt with,coming back up was no doubt difficultbut the most natural thing to do. Itgave him hope. It gave him purpose. Itgave him his raison d’être.

In the words of Gladwell himself:“There is something profoundly wrong

with the way we look at success. Wecling to the idea that success is a sim-ple function of individual merit andthat the world in which we grow upand the rules we choose to write as asociety don’t matter at all.”

Eldrick Tont Woods, nicknamedTiger, was always the outlier from thevery start: A child prodigy who wasintroduced to golf before the age of twoby his athletic father, Earl Woods. Healready had the proverbial ‘10,000hours’ under his belt way before hestarted competing professionally. Andalthough the 10,000-hour rule is morefiction than fact, it does hold signifi-cance. It does give you pointers. It doesgive you the extra edge before anyoneelse. He was an outlier not only interms of being an early starter and hav-ing the kind of resources and golfcourses only few could afford, he wasalso the outlier in terms of when hewas born. Augusta barred AfricanAmerican players from the Mastersuntil 1975. Augusta National had noblack members until 1990. TigerWoods’ birth year? Yep, 1975. He didn’thave to deal with the racial barriers,the death threats, the prejudice. Hestarted his career when all of that hadbeen a thing of the past and golf wasready to usher in the era of the greatestAfrican American to ever grace thesport. Was all this a coincidence? Fate.The rub of the green. Outlier.

The third and last emotion that hitme was that of belief and inspiration.His story gave me the motivation to getup from the tangles of misfortune I findmyself in. Every comeback victory has acertain human element attached to it.Everyone loves a rags to riches story, acome from behind victory, an underdogturnaround, an inspiring feat to talkabout. In more ways than one, TigerWoods was all of them. His reputationwas in tatters, his health was nowherenear the previous standards, he wasalready being tagged a “former golfer”,his comeback attempt was written offbefore he even started, no one gave hima chance of competing in the Mastersagain. But did it matter though? Andmore importantly, should it matter?What the world thinks of you shouldn’tcome in the way of your “personal leg-end”, as Paulo Coelho calls it. Becauseif it does, you’ll never achieve it. Andthen the world will have one lessinspiring thing to talk about. “Younever give up,” says Woods. “That’s agiven. You always fight. Just giving upis never in the equation.”

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All day every day, even whilethey sleep, tens of millionsof children in South Asia are

being seriously harmed by toxicair. South Asia is leading theworld and not in a good way. Here,air pollution now kills an estimat-ed 130,000 children under fiveevery single year. It is a staggeringfact that 12 million babies inSouth Asia are breathing air thatis six times more polluted than theinternational limits set by theWorld Health Organization. Thismeans that South Asia has three-quarters of the global total.

The full impact of breathingharmful air is not visible to thenaked eye, but the Air QualityIndex measures how toxic the airis. A measurement of 0-50 is‘good’, 50-100 is ‘moderate’, 100-150 is ‘unhealthy for sensitivegroups’ (including children), 151-200 is ‘unhealthy’, 201-300 is‘very unhealthy’, and 301-500 is‘hazardous’. In the four-day peri-od between January 8 and 11, thenumber reached 417 in NewDelhi (hazardous), 310 inKathmandu (hazardous), 328 inDhaka (hazardous), 510 in Kabul(hazardous), and 234 in Karachi(very unhealthy). These num-

bers mean deaths, and they meanserious, lasting harm.

In India, nearly 1.3 millionpremature deaths occurred just in2017 due to indoor and outdoorair pollution. Ten of the world’stop 20 most polluted cities are inIndia. Around 77 per cent of thecountry’s population is exposed tooutdoor air pollution levels abovethe National Ambient Air QualityStandards safe limit. The averagelife expectancy in India wouldhave been 1.7 years higher if theair pollution levels were less thanthe minimal level.

A cough, sore throat or soreeyes are the common things thatwe notice. But the real damage isfar more serious. The most danger-ous air pollutants of all are thesmallest particles. They reach deepdown into the lungs. From thelungs, they pass into the blood-stream. In the bloodstream, theycirculate around the body.

Air pollution is a severe andgrowing threat to people of all ages,but it is particularly bad for chil-

dren’s health and development. A2018 World Health Organizationstudy reveals that over one lakhchildren under the age of five diedin 2016 because of air pollution inIndia. There are three main rea-sons why children are particular-ly at risk. First, children breathefaster than adults. A typical adulttakes between 12 and 18 breaths aminute. A three-year-old childtakes 20 to 30 breaths a minute,and a newborn takes 30 to 40. Soyoung children are breathing in thepolluted air two to three times asmuch as adults.

Second, children’s lungs andother organs are developing. Thismakes them particularly vulnera-ble to damage. This can have bothimmediate effects, such as asthma,and long-term effects, such asreducing their lung volume for life.

Third, the youngest childrenare also in danger because thebarrier between the bloodstreamand brain is not yet fully formed.The air pollutants can cross fromthe lungs to the bloodstream, and

from the bloodstream to thebrain. There, they actually causebrain cells to inflame. This dam-ages the brain cells and affects thechild’s cognitive and intellectualdevelopment. Today’s generationof children will be affected for lifeand as adults, we have a pressingand serious duty to reverse thishorrendous trend.

The high exposure of India’schildren and their vulnerability toair pollution make this an issue tobe addressed with urgency. Weneed to see cleaner, renewablesources of energy and we needbetter waste management to pre-vent open burning of harmfulchemicals, but of course the pre-cise solutions vary across theregion. We cannot let childrenbreath toxic air. Speaking up forone’s children is a first step.

The Government of India’sefforts towards launching aNational Clean Air Programmewith an aim to cover 104 cities iscommendable. However, with atarget to reduce air population by

only about 30 per cent by 2024,there is need for further urgent andpro-active action to protect theyoung generation. Stringent lawenforcement regarding pollutingindustries, burning of solidwaste/residues, among others, isnon-negotiable. Policy shifts, suchas the switch from pollution fueloptions like diesel or petrol toCNG or electrical cars, increasedinvestment in public transport etcare noteworthy efforts by theGovernment. However, furtherinvestment and incentives to adoptclean energy, especially in small-er towns, are crucial. Incentivisingthe use of LPG in rural areas asagainst highly polluting fossil fuelis another critical need.

Reducing indoor and out-door air pollution must be inte-grated in all major Governmentprogrammes, such as SmartCities, rather than institutingstand-alone interventions. Thiscould go a long way in promot-ing positive behaviours, big andsmall, among all citizens andcreate a drive towards a pollution-free India for us and for the gen-erations to come.

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As young as age four,children begin polic-ing each other toadhere to strict genderrules — attentive to

point out “you can’t wear that, it’sa girl’s colour,” or “you can’t playwith that, it’s a boy’s toy.” As socialbeings dependent on adults, chil-dren carefully absorb and attune tosocial norms given their survivalrequires continued inclusion with-in their families. It is this desire tobe accepted that causes a boy tosuppress his perfectly naturalhuman inclination to cry and beheld as he becomes indoctrinatedinto the idea that these healthybehaviours are unacceptable andweak for boys and men.

When we do not prioritiseproviding counter messaging torestrictive gender rules, the silencereinforces the subconscious ideathat a child must sacrifice theirfreedom of expression and whole-some development in order toconform. The absence of thought-ful and consistent dialogue aroundgender in homes and schools is avacuum that, luckily, we can worktogether to fill.

� ����8� �������� �� �Whether at home or in school, theimportant first step is to becomeaware of double standards and notaccidentally enforce them. Holdgirls and boys to the same standardsof what it means to be a “good per-son”, instead of teaching them dif-ferent values of a “good boy” and“good girl.” For example, it isimportant that all children learnhow to be responsible by helpingmake food, not just girls. Similarly,it is important for all children to feelempowered that they can fix thingsby learning to use constructiontools, not just boys.

Girls and women are oftenlabelled bossy or a tomboy whenthey are physically active andassertive. The conservative stan-dard of a “nice girl,” where a girlis not supposed to stand up forherself, can discourage her fromthe proactive, authentic, and hard-working qualities we value inboys. It’s important to encouragea girl’s curiosity, determination,and grit, not simply her ability toplease and serve others.

It’s also crucial to encourage aboy’s empathy and capacity to col-laborate and communicate thought-fully, not simply his ability to com-mand attention and compete.When we celebrate boys from anearly age for their capacity to be vul-nerable, emotional, and ask for help— that these are signs of strengthand courage — we create betterpeople who are less likely to resortto violence when experiencingemotional turmoil and are morelikely to thrive in their profession-al and personal relationships.

�8 �%��������� ��As adults in their lives, you are a liv-ing role model who can purposelylook for ways to step outside thetypical box of gender expectations.By doing so, you will inspire thechildren in your life to dreambeyond these restrictions and dis-cover what their own authenticexpression looks like. As a parent,one place to start is by having con-versations with your partner abouthow your self-expressions andresponsibilities divide based ontraditional gender roles and wherecould be opportunities to experi-ment with new forms of expressionand distribution of responsibilities.

For example, maybe Dadmakes breakfast and Mom makesdinner, or both Mom and Dad readbedtime stories and snuggle beforebed. As a father, you can make a

conscious effort to share your feel-ings, tell your kids you love them,and make it safe for your kids to dothe same. Show your children thatresponsibilities — whether it’s car-ing for the house or earning income— are not assigned based on some-thing as arbitrary as what bodyparts one has, but instead get divid-ed based on thoughtful conversa-tions and mutual understanding.

Schools and families can also bemore intentional about providingrole models through books andfilms to help expand children’simagination for what is possible forthem and show a diversity of waysto express themselves. You canprovide more female role models forgirls who don’t fit the typical box —pioneers in science, chemistry, ath-letics, diplomats, journalists,philosophers. Provide male role

models who don’t fit the tradition-al man box — men who speak upas peacemakers, homemakers, nurs-es, teachers, and feminist activists.

��%�����&��%���������When your kids see music videos,films, commercials, and sexistmedia, engage in discussions aboutwhat they’re seeing and how whatthey’re watching makes them feel.At home and in your classrooms,show sexist memes and havedebates about the differencebetween free speech and hatespeech, objectification and how weare taught to primarily valuewomen for their bodies as lovers ormothers and value men for theircapacities to obtain wealth andwomen. Discuss unrealistic andracist beauty standards and the waymarketing uses the female body as

a means to sell products. Help kidsbe critical thinkers, questioners, anddiscern for themselves what makesthese mindsets problematic.

Even with little children, whenyou hear of a child labelling some-thing based on gender, “those areboy’s sunglasses,” use it as a learn-ing opportunity to question thatidea. Ask them what makes some-thing a boy’s sunglasses and what’sthe point of such categories? Whyis it that the blue Kinder egg is onlymeant for boys? Does this make anysense? Then show them counter-examples to these “rules”.

�������������&�����Nursery is a great time to beginteaching children about bound-aries and consent. By doing so,parents and schools can take pre-ventative measures against unnec-

essary traumas, embarrassment,body shaming, or bullying ratherthan simply reacting after the fact.

Share with children that theyget to choose whether someone cantouch their bodies and that they areallowed to choose whether or notthey want to hug or kiss someone.Saying “no” when someone pinch-es their cheeks or makes them feeluncomfortable is an important firststep to ensure that they feel reas-sured to speak up if someone doessomething inappropriate. Teachingchildren they have a right to theirbodies and should always come telltheir parents if something happensto them, is an essential part to keep-ing them safe and empoweringthem into the future. Equallyimportant is keeping your childreninformed with the proper vocabu-lary for their body parts and as theygrow, stay ahead of the game byinforming them about the changessoon to come with puberty. Whenadults withhold the scientificallyproper names for private parts, chil-dren begin to internalise that thesebody parts are shameful and secre-tive. This in turn can prevent a childfrom sharing with a trusted adultif they are touched inappropriate-ly on these private parts.

Especially ensure all children —boys and girls — learn about men-struation in order to diminish thestigma, shame, and bullying thatgirls experience. When adults keepmenstruation a secret, childrenexperience it as a bad thing and canbegin believing women’s bodiesare dirty or impure. Far too manywomen think they are dying withthe onset of their first period,given they were provided no priorwarning that one day blood wouldstart flowing from their bodies. Oneway we start creating equality is byteaching kids when they are youngthat the bodies of girls and boyshave some differences, lots of sim-ilarities, and are all worthy of equalcelebration and pride.

�������%����������The great news is that there areexperts from around the world whohave developed credible child-friendly books and curriculums forteachers and parents to learn fromand use. Some curriculums wedraw inspiration from in ourschool is ‘Live Respect’ by A Callto Men, ‘Very Young Adolescence2.0’ by Promundo, ‘The Mask YouLive In’ by the RepresentationProject, and Advocacy for Youth’ssexuality education curriculum.These resources provide teachersand parents age appropriate infor-mation on relationships, gender,and sexuality that can be altered tomeet our cultural context.� ��,������� ��0�������%�����?#�������

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The multiple bombings,including suicide blasts,

targeting the mass congregationat Catholic churches, hotelsand other public places in SriLanka have once again drawnthe concern of the internation-al community over the dangerof Islamist terrorism and radi-calisation of a section ofMuslim youths across the globe.The civilised world, includingthe Muslim religious and sec-ular intelligentsia, was swift tocondemn the abhorrent attacks,which took more than 250lives, and expressed concernedabout the failure of Sri Lankanstate to the repeated warningsfrom India and its local intelli-gent units as well as the abilityof the ISIS and other interna-tional Islamist terrorist organ-isations to wreak havoc.

While such incidents haveroutinely brought into the ques-tion the role of Wahhabi-Salafisation in raising a radi-calised generation of Muslimyouths with conception of“enemy other” to commit geno-cide, the contribution of Turkeyunder Islamist leadership ofRecep Tayyip Erdogan to theprocess of radicalisation of asection of global Sunni Muslimyouth has hardly been focussedupon. If one aspect of Islamistbombing in Sri Lanka, asclaimed by the perpetrators,was to avenge the killing ofMuslims in New Zealand bywhite supremacists, one is con-strained to bring into focus thestatement of President Erdogan,which may have implication infurther motivating the radi-calised Islamist elements tocommit barbaric acts.

During the campaign ofmunicipal election in Turkeylast month, President Erdoganlambasted the politics ofIslamophobia in the West,showed a video clipping of theChristchurch mosque shoot-ings, and stated: “Turkey wouldmake the attackers pay for hisact if New Zealand did not.”Calling upon New Zealand

authority to restore deathpenalty, Erdogan further stat-ed on March 19 in an electionrally, “You (Brenton Tarrant,the Australian attacker inChristchurch) heinously killed50 of our siblings. You will payfor this. If New Zealand does-n’t make you, we know how tomake you pay one way oranother.”

If one looks at the rhetoricand tone of these statements ofPresident Erdogan, one wouldfind that it is not different fromthe rhetoric and semantic ofnon-state Islamist radicals andterrorists. It is another matterthat statements and terroristactions of non-state Islamistactors are routinely con-demned, but world leadershardly condemn the statementand action of state actors. Ithappens because, first, terror-ism has been understoodessentially as “non-state phe-nomenon”, and second, thestate practice of political prag-matism, which tolerates suchstate figures for the consider-ation of wider economic andpolitical interest.

Such alarmist Islamist pol-itics on the part of the Erdoganregime is not difficult to under-stand. It is likely to increase innear future for three importantreasons. First, the Islamist pol-itics is centrally linked withErdogan’s personal ambition ofresurrecting the institution ofCaliphate in 1924 — the 100thyear of abolition of Caliphateby the Kemalist state of Turkey.Second, the deteriorating con-dition of Turkish economy isalso pushing Erdogan toembrace Islamist politics.Third, Erdogan is losingdomestic political ground asevident from his failure to winover mayorship in some of thelargest cities like Istanbul,Ankara, Izmir and other citiesin March 2019 local elections.The AKP defeat in Istanbul isvery symbolic for its survival.While the loss of its formerPrime Minister and Speaker —

Binali Yildirim — in Istanbulis a severe jolt to AKP’s hege-mony, rubbing salt to theirwounds is that the winnerfrom CHP has a credibleMuslim face. This explainswhy the Erdogan regime hasdecided to demand the re-election of Istanbul mayoralelection despite twice recount-ing of the ballots and even for-mally lodged the complaint toSupreme Election Board (SYK)to derecognise approximately13,500 votes, which belongedto dismissed, imprisoned offi-cials alleged to be FETO(Gulen movement) members.Interestingly the AKP candi-date, Yeldrim, lost to the CHPcandidate in Istanbul with themargin of 13,500 votes. Theprosecutors of Turkish state hasnow launched more than 32investigations into the allegedirregularities in Istanbul may-oral election held last monthand summoned more than 100polling station officials forquestioning as suspects, muchafter declaration of result !

The success of Islamist,Caliphal politics of PresidentErdogan depends upon fulfil-ment of certain conditions.One, President Erdogan mustemerge and be recognised asthe leader of Muslim world.This has pushed Erdogan toembrace aggressive, authori-tarian style of politics withforemost anti-Israel, anti-westMuslim face who is also cham-pioning the cause of Muslimminorities living into non-Muslim majority countries.With physical liquidation of AlQaeda and ISIS and the nearabsence of other anti-west,anti-Israel Muslim political fig-ure, a good section of Muslimworld looks into Erdogan amodern day Saladin. Thisauthoritarian Islamist brand ofpolitics of Erdogan demands ade-democratisation of Turkeyand freedom from any demo-cratic constraint in his gover-nance. This brought him intoconflict with the Gulen move-

ment internally, which refusedto cater to the demand ofErdogan to promote him asglobal Muslim political leaderthrough its global network ofschools and dialogue centres, atdomestic level and in theEuropean Union.

Second, the Caliphal poli-tics of Erdogan requires a thor-ough de-legitimisation, rathercriminalisation, of Arab stateactors, principally Saudi Arabiaand the UAE, with a view toremove them as legitimateleader of global Sunni Muslimcommunity. As a result, theErdogan regime has closeteditself to Islamist allay, primar-ily Iran, Qatar and Hamas, andincreased its physical inter-vention in neighbouring Syriaand Iraq to bolster it neo-Ottoman image on the onehand and leave no stoneunturned in criminalising anddiplomatically isolating SaudiArabia and the UAE.

The increase in anti- Saudi,anti-UAE rhetoric on the partof the Erdogan regime hasanother aspect also: to show tothe Muslim world that therecent embrace of pluralismand diversity by the UAE andSaudi Arabia is a weakness ofIslamic tradition and projecthis brand of Islamist authori-tarian anti-pluralism politics asreal Islamic and in line withCaliphatic tradition.

Two recent examplesexpose this mischief of theErdogan regime. The first con-cerned the Jamal Khashoggiincident, which was badlyexploited by Turkish state toexpose the Saudi state in baddiplomatic taste and deprivethe Kingdom of its Islamiclegitimacy to rule and claim therightful custodian of Meccaand Medina and leadership ofSunni Muslim world. The otheris the attempt of Turkish stateto criminalise the UAE byarresting two Palestinians forspying for the UAE in Istanbul,one of which is alleged to havecommitted suicide in jail while

in solitary confinement. Thereis a strong indication of foulplay by the Erdogan regime inthis case, which was commit-ted to defame the UAE, for thefact of the matter is that dur-ing last three years Turkey haswitnessed 51 cases of suicideinside Turkish jails, includingthe suicide cases in solitaryconfinement. In none of thesecases, the Turkish authority hasever carried out autopsy toascertain the reason of death.

Today Turkey has becomea rogue state, with its hobnob-bing with ISIS and otherIslamist terrorist elementsbeing widely reported.President Erdogan hasemerged as one of the princi-ple sources of radicalisation ofthe Muslim youth across theworld, particularly in Indiansubcontinent where the secondlargest Muslim community ofthe world is living as religiousminority with historical senseof discrimination and legacy ofKh?lafat movement. There arealready reports that publica-tions regarding Kashmir hastremendously increased inTurkey during last three years.The Government of India mustbe cautious in dealing with theErdogan regime and must denyhim the opportunity to radi-calise the Indian Muslims.

(The writer is Senior Fellowwith Policy PerspectivesFoundations. Views expressedare of the author and in no waysrepresents the view of PPF)

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The Easter Sunday fidayeenattacks in Sri Lanka are

unique for three reasons. First,the island nation — unlike itsneighbours: India, Pakistan,and Bangladesh — had notseen till then any terror act byproclaimed Islamist forces.Second, the perpetrator ISIS,despite being badly batteredand ousted from the land of itsCaliphate just a month before,has told the world loud andclear that it still has potentialto surprise new territories withits lethal action.

Third, the curious selec-tion of the island nation for thesuicide blasts by ISIS, in con-nivance with Lankan-basedNational Thowheeth Jamaath,raises a pertinent question:Whether the erstwhile ethnicdivide in Sri Lanka was rebornin religious radicalisation?

However as there has neverbeen any systemic discrimina-tion against Muslims in the SriLanka — an essential ingredi-ent for the breeding of religiousradicals — this question war-rants special attention, alsobecause experience shows thatIslamist forces, particularlyISIS, have flourished only inthose regions which are afflict-ed with pre-existing conflicts -sectarian, ethnic, or religious.

Despite local and globalIntelligence reports suggestingthat National ThowheethJamaath and its south Indiancohorts have been in touchwith ISIS for long, the choiceof Sri Lanka for the revoltingattacks is more to do with thepeaceful island nation being asafe target for ISIS, which isdesperate to stay in the reck-oning for global Islamist terrorleadership. ISIS, which wield-ed enormous control over hugearea stretching from easternIraq to western Syria till Marchthis year, is straining everynerve to peddle a global nar-rative that its loss of 88,000kmterritory doesn’t mean thatISIS has lost its Islamist appeal

for global jehad. And here itneeded a solid platform toannounce the same.

Seen in this context, thereclusive ISIS chief Abu Bakral-Baghdadi made the firstappearance in five years, beforethe global media in a videomessage to readily claim theresponsibility for the Lankanterror attacks. He used theoccasion to outline the crum-bling outfit’s vision, calling forjehad via war of attrition, andinsisting on its propaganda ofrobust presence in South-eastAsia, including the Philippines.

Baghdadi also exhortedthe “believers” for hijrah(migration) to theAfghanistan-Pakistan regionfor recruitment of jehadis. Theramifications can be found inSri Lanka Army CommanderLieutenant General MaheshSenanayake’s interview to theBBC in which he claimed thatsome of the “suicide bombersvisited Kashmir and Keralafor some sorts of training or tomake some more links withother foreign outfits”. Maybethis explains why Sri Lankabecame the sure-shot target forhomeless Baghdadi, who haslost his last redoubt in Syria.

Although Baghdadi claimscaliphate is not bound by thegeography, he is raring to gainlost ground in Iraq and Syria.ISIS already has a covert net-work in Iraq. Therefore, it isessential that the coalitionforces should maintain its holdin the areas of ISIS caliphate tillit destroys the outfit’s raisond’être.

As for Sri Lanka, the islandnation needs to ensure ISISdoesn’t succeed in having localfranchises there. Consideringthe sophistication of the high-ly coordinated attacks all byLankan nationals, the biggerriddle for Colombo is to unrav-el whether any of its citizenever fought for ISIS outside thecountry, and, more specifical-ly, to ensure, if they did, they

land in prison. Although Sri Lankan

Muslims have supported theGovernment’s crackdownmethods against the Islamistsin the wake of the Easterbombings, the success of theefforts hinges on the narrativethe Government is able toconstruct. Any ostentatiousaction against religious-cul-tural symbol is fraught with thedanger of spawning more rad-icals born out of the narrativeof the State operation.Therefore, the burqa (face veil)ban may be a pragmatic deci-sion — considering the factsthat some of women accom-plices of the suicide bombershad fled the scene in burqa —for the time being till the raidsand investigation are over, theban should be lifted as soon aspossible before Islamist outfitscan exploit the situation withnewfound purpose and energy.

(The writer is AssociateEditor & News Editor, ThePioneer)

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The recent annual Gallup Poll sug-gests that 55 per cent of Americansare subject to stress, anger, and

worry, compared to the global average of35 per cent, following negative experi-ences they undergo on various counts. Inanother study, Cigna, a wellness organisa-tion, suggests that 82 per cent of Indianssuffer from stress. These figures, based ona very small sample size, may not presenta true picture. Be that as it may, but thereis no denying the fact that general stresslevel is quite high, deserving attention.And this mental malaise is growing dayby day. In America, I observed that thosesuffering from stress and anxiety unhesi-tatingly seek expert’s help. In India, on thecontrary, majority of people try to evadeany medical help, as if that would be asocial stigma. People feel that once mentalimbalance in a person, temporary though,becomes public, they will not be takenkindly. Instead, they prefer going forbelief-driven puja.

Stress, as it stands, is a mentalpredicament. Can a pundit’s prayers enterthe victim’s mind for necessary correc-tion? It is really difficult to digest. The factremains that once a person comes understress, the first casualty is hormonal

imbalance, which in turn further com-pounds the stress. This way, a person getscaught up in a circuitous web, whenhe/she often loses sense of reason anddirection. Under such a situation, coun-selling doesn’t work, as any fresh educa-tive input doesn’t get registered in theirmind. But when hormonal balance getsrestored through medication, the personbecomes receptive, and therefore, couldrespond to counselling.

But why stress? Given a situation, realor assumed, when a person is not able tocope up, he/she comes under pressure. Itcould be because of not being able to meetaspirational urges; when met with unfore-seen circumstances and challenges forwhich one may not be prepared; unpalat-able societal atmosphere; or even assumednegative thoughts. For someone with aninflated ego, it becomes difficult to digestthings happenings beyond their prede-fined parameters. Such a situation couldlead to tremendous emotional upsurge, inturn leading to acute stress. The questionnow is: How to lead a stress-free life?That, however, is simply inconceivable.The universe is in continued motion.Human life, too, is always in action. Andno movement is possible without being

met with resistance. Even while apparent-ly idling, a person’s mind keeps flirtingwith uninterrupted streams of thoughts(some of them assumed). The mind initself is potent enough to successivelybreed contrarian thoughts. Not to men-tion being confronted with challengesthrown by competing interests andunforeseen circumstantial constraintswhile pursuing the tasks in hand.

What, however, really matters is howwe deal with the challenges. Some of usmay take it in our stride and deal withthem intelligently. Those unable to copemay stretch the problems beyond theirdue. Caught up in its melee, such peoplefail to perceive issues in hand in perspec-tive. They often come under mental, emo-tional, or physical pressure leading tomental fatigue, exhaustion, and a sense ofincapacitation. This may result in a senseof fear and insecurity. If left uncared forlong, stress may assume serious propor-tions, calling for medical intervention.The question now is in a given situation,why do individuals respond in variedways? The unique character of a being,according to one’s mind, is preconditioned— virtues and attributes; likes and dis-likes; prejudices and obsessions; habitsand attitudes — hold the key to how oneresponds to a situation. A positively ori-

ented mind can handle the usual trialsand tribulations of life logically. A nega-tively charged person may unmindfullyfall into the stress trap and start playingthe victim card. What’s the way out?

The answer lies in awareness. First,look within — the core strengths andweaknesses. Identify, acknowledge, andaddress the fault lines and optimise thestrengths. Explore the hard realities of lifeand accordingly equip oneself throughsuitable educative inputs. Many a times,one’s egotistical mind fails to acknowledgeone’s fault lines. In such a situation, astrol-ogy may prove handy, as it knows no bias.Here is a case study: Lagna and Moonsigns are both owned by Mercury, whichis conjunct headless Ketu and also oppo-site Mars. That, in the first place, impliesthat he wishes to live on his own exclusiveterms. Second, if ever faced with contrari-an views, he becomes overcritical, and in astate of anger, passes caustic remarks,often offending those around. Stress, thus,has become a regular feature of his life.

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