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16
T he head of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti on Monday became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir. Mehbooba was adminis- tered oath of office and secre- cy by Governor NN Vohra at a simple ceremony in the pres- ence of BJP leaders Ram Madhav, Avinash Rai Khanna, and two former Chief Ministers of the State, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah. Mehbooba dropped six former Ministers who were part of her late father’s team and inducted new faces from both the BJP and PDP to give fair representation to all three regions of the State. Apart from Mehbooba and Nirmal Singh, who took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister for the second time, 21 other leg- islators took oath of office on the lawns of Raj Bhavan, end- ing the 87-day-long Governor’s Rule in the State. After the ceremony was over, Mehbooba drove straight to the Civil Secretariat and was accorded the customary Guard of Honour. She also met mem- bers of the Council of Ministers at the Civil Secretariat and told them to work hard. “This is not a challenge only for Mehbooba Mufti but for all of us. If we don’t perform, people won’t give us a second chance because there are alternatives available,” she said. The Council of Ministers also placed on record the commendable contribution of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to national and State politics, spanning over six decades. Earlier, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Jitendra Singh, who were expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony, reached Raj Bhavan at least 15 minutes behind schedule. The Congress, however, boycotted the ceremony which saw the presence of a galaxy of people from different walks of life. Compared to Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s historic oath-taking ceremony on March 1, 2015 which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top brass of the BJP, Monday’s event was a low key affair, with the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah giving it a miss. However, the PM tweeted a congratulatory message for Mehbooba and Nirmal Singh. “Congratulations and best wishes to Mehbooba Mufti, Nirmal Singh and all those who took oath today (Monday),” Modi wrote on Twitter. He also urged the State Government to work for aspirations of the people of the State. A fter tax havens of the rich and powerful were exposed in the leaked ‘Panama Papers’, the Government on Monday formed a multi- agency group to monitor the exposes in this regard and said those who did not take advan- tage of the compliance window last year to declare illegal assets abroad will find “such adven- turism extremely costly”. A national daily, based on leaked documents of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported that over 500 Indians, including some well known names, figure in the list of peo- ple having association with firms in tax havens. Post the leaked ‘Panama Papers, ‘ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the issue with him on Monday morning and on his advise, the group comprising agencies like Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Foreign Tax and Tax Research (FT&TR) has been set up. “The multi-agency group will comprise various Government agencies. They will continuously monitor these (accounts) and whichever accounts are found to be unlaw- ful, strict action as per existing laws will be taken,” Jaitley said. Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money also said it will probe thoroughly the reported secret list exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The leaked ‘Panama Papers’ alleged to have names of actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, DLF owner KP Singh and nine members of his family, promoters of Apollo Tyres and Indiabulls to Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani. The report said Onkar Kanwar, chairman of Apollo Group, and his family members floated an offshore entity in British Virgin Islands in 2010 and two trusts in 2014. Reacting to it, an autho- rised spokesperson for the Kanwar family said, “India lawfully permits foreign investments in accordance with certain regulations. Any investment abroad, that the Kanwar family may have, is in due compliance with Indian laws, where applicable, includ- ing making disclosures wher- ever required.” Related reports on P12 T riggering unprecedented jolts around the world over the new tax haven in Panama, 11.5m files from the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore Panama- based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, were released to cer- tain media houses by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which gave it the name “Panama Papers”. The docu- ments, from around 2,14,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years since 1977, came from Mossack Fonseca, a law firm with offices in more than 35 countries. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the ICIJ. The ICIJ worked with journalists from 109 media organisations in 76 countries, including UK newspaper the Guardian, to analyse the documents over a year. Then ICIJ shared the doc- uments with a large network of international partners, includ- ing the Guardian and the BBC. Panama is one of a num- ber of popular tax havens in the Caribbean. Although there are legitimate ways of using tax havens, most of what has been going on is about hiding the true owners of money, the origin of the money and avoiding paying tax on the money. The documents show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive off- shore tax regimes. The files show how Mossack Fonseca clients were able to launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax. A local court on Monday con- victed six people in the murder case of a Super Class contractor in 2010. Sambalpur Additional District Judge-1 Ambuja Mohan Das pro- nounced the verdict. The judge awarded life term imprisonment to the six persons, including the prime accused Sanjay Ghosh. However, two accused were acquitted due to want of evidence. “Anup Babu was brutally murdered in 2010. His body bore multiple injuries. I had prayed the court to pronounce death penalty to the accused. But the court awarded life sen- tence to six of the accused and imposed a fine of 50,000 each failing which the sen- tence will be increased by two years. Two others were acquitted due to lack of evi- dence,” Public Prosecutor Gouramohan Das said. It may be recalled that unidentified miscreants had hacked Super Class contractor Anup Babu to death on October 7, 2010, here. His body was found behind the Jyoti Bhavan in the Sakhipara area here. “We are happy with the ver- dict. My brother Anup Babu was into real estate business. The prime accused used to take lakhs of rupees from him amounting to a total of over 1 crore. Even after my brother got proof, he didn't get money or land back. Sanjay Ghosh mur- dered him along with his eight associates so that he wouldn’t have to repay the money,” said Anup Babu's brother Swarup Kumar Babu. T he Orissa High Court on Monday issued notices to the State Government asking it to furnish a detail list of all the present and former MLAs who have allegedly occupied more than one Government quarter in Bhubaneswar. Taking up a PIL filed by a retired Government official, Pradyumna Kumar Mishra, a Division Bench of Justices Vinod Prasad and BN Rath issued the notice to the Chief Secretary and three other Secretaries, informed Mishra’s counsel BP Tripathy. Mishra in his petition has urged the High Court to direct the State Accountant General (AG) to conduct a special financial audit for the last 25 years to find out the loss incurred by the Government on account of the illegal possession of more than one quarter by present and former MLAs. The petitioner has also urged the court to initiate criminal proceedings against the illegal occupants after eliciting from the Government as to how many MLAs have so far been allot- ted multiple plots under var- ious Government schemes. T he Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has convened a meeting of its examination committee on Tuesday to find out a solution to the problem created due to non-participation of 488 & 662 category college teachers in the Plus-II answer-sheet evaluation which started on Monday. According to information, evaluation was hampered in the Bhubaneswar, Baleswar and Baripada zones as teachers con- tinued their cease-work agita- tion demanding withdrawal of Block Grant and instruction of full Grant-in-Aid. “Even now, I am urging my teacher colleagues to withdraw their stir. They should priori- tise students’ future over their self interests. At any cost, we have to publish the results in time to help students go for higher studies. I have con- vened a meeting of the exam- ination committee tomorrow, and whatever decision is taken will be communicated to the teachers,” said CHSE Chairman Basudev Chhatoi. He said he has written to ADG (Law and Order) Satyajit Mohanty to see that interested teachers are not hindered by agitating ones to go to evalua- tion centres. Meanwhile, the Coordination Committee of the Private College Lecturers- Employees’ Coordination Committee in a statement said the teachers would continue boycotting evaluation till their all four demands are met. “The Government doesn’t know that we are not bound to evaluate answer-sheets as per law. We will continue boy- cotting the evaluation,” said 488 Category Coordination Committee general secretary Dr Atal Bihari Bal and Dr Kamal Mohanty. They too informed that the Retired Lecturers’ Association has not agreed to the Government proposal to eval- uate answer-sheets. “We don’t want any discus- sion now. We want a final call regarding our demands,” said members of the committee. Because of this boycott, only 20 per cent of the teach- ers are engaged in evaluation, according to sources. Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Dr Pradip Panigrahi said that stringent action would be taken against the teachers who have remained away from evaluation. “Reports have been sought on absence of allocated teachers. Action will be taken after receipt of the report,” he said. A t a time when Opposition parties have been demand- ing his head for his alleged links with arrested dreaded criminal Dhalsamant brothers, Cuttack- Barabati BJD MLA Debasis Samantray landed in a fresh con- troversy on Monday with her sis- ter-in-law lodging a harassment and life threat petition against him at the State Commission for Women (SCW) here. Sikha Samantray, wife of the MLA’s younger brother, alleged that her elder brother-in-law (the MLA) and her father-in-law and former MLA Nityananda Samantray have been torturing her for years mentally and even denied money for treat- ment of her husband. She along with her son, who works in Defence, lodged the complaint with the SCW. She charged that Debasis Samantray had engaged goons to eliminate her and her only son as they protested the injus- tice meted out to them. “They have been torturing me for years. Debasis Samantray has even taken 32 lakh from my family. He is harassing me by not only pro- viding me money for treatment of my husband but also depriv- ing us of our paternal proper- ty. He even used slangs taking my caste,” said Sikha. She said, “Whenever I have gone to my father-in-law for help, he sends me to Debasis Samantray saying that ‘go to him and ask for help with folded hands.’ When I go to him (Debasis), he started shouting at me even taking my caste (Karan).” She further charged that the MLA has links with the Astha International chit fund company and the Dhalsamant brothers and is a habituated cocaine and drug taker. “He has good links with goons and collects extortion money. Many girls and women visit her at night which was unbearable for me,” said Sikha. Bhubaneswar: An intense heat wave prevailed across the State while the temperature in west- ern Odisha crossed 40 degrees Celsius on Monday making life unbearable. Bhawanipatna recorded the highest tempera- ture of 43.2 degrees Celsius fol- lowed by Balangir with 43 degrees. The other places that recorded the above 40-degrees mark were Jharsuguda (42.6), Hirakud (42.5), Sundargarh (42), Sambalpur (42), Keonjhargarh (40.1),and Malkangiri (41). The Capital city of Bhubaneswar recorded 38.7 degrees while Cuttack recorded 37.4 degrees. The Meteorological Department predicted that the heat wave condition is likely to continue. PNS

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The head of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)

Mehbooba Mufti on Mondaybecame the first woman ChiefMinister of Jammu & Kashmir.

Mehbooba was adminis-tered oath of office and secre-cy by Governor NN Vohra at asimple ceremony in the pres-ence of BJP leaders RamMadhav, Avinash Rai Khanna,and two former Chief Ministersof the State, Farooq Abdullahand Omar Abdullah.

Mehbooba dropped sixformer Ministers who werepart of her late father’s teamand inducted new faces fromboth the BJP and PDP to give

fair representation to all threeregions of the State.

Apart from Mehbooba andNirmal Singh, who took oath asthe Deputy Chief Minister forthe second time, 21 other leg-islators took oath of office onthe lawns of Raj Bhavan, end-ing the 87-day-long Governor’sRule in the State.

After the ceremony wasover, Mehbooba drove straightto the Civil Secretariat and wasaccorded the customary Guardof Honour. She also met mem-bers of the Council of Ministersat the Civil Secretariat andtold them to work hard.

“ This is not a challenge only for MehboobaMufti but for all of us. If we

don’t perform, people won’tgive us a second chancebecause there are alternativesavailable,” she said.

The Council of Ministersalso placed on record thecommendable contribution oflate Mufti Mohammad Sayeedto national and State politics,spanning over six decades.

Earlier, Union MinistersVenkaiah Naidu, HarsimratKaur Badal and Jitendra Singh,who were expected to attendthe swearing-in ceremony,reached Raj Bhavan at least 15minutes behind schedule.

The Congress, however,boycotted the ceremony whichsaw the presence of a galaxy ofpeople from different walks of

life. Compared to MuftiMohammad Sayeed’s historicoath-taking ceremony onMarch 1, 2015 which wasattended by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and top brassof the BJP, Monday’s event wasa low key affair, with the PrimeMinister and BJP chief AmitShah giving it a miss.

However, the PM tweeteda congratulatory message forMehbooba and Nirmal Singh.

“Congratulations and bestwishes to Mehbooba Mufti,Nirmal Singh and all those whotook oath today (Monday),”Modi wrote on Twitter. He alsourged the State Government towork for aspirations of thepeople of the State.

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After tax havens of the richand powerful were

exposed in the leaked ‘PanamaPapers’, the Government onMonday formed a multi-agency group to monitor theexposes in this regard and saidthose who did not take advan-tage of the compliance windowlast year to declare illegal assetsabroad will find “such adven-turism extremely costly”.

A national daily, based onleaked documents of Panamalaw firm Mossack Fonseca,reported that over 500 Indians,

including some well knownnames, figure in the list of peo-ple having association withfirms in tax havens.

Post the leaked ‘PanamaPapers, ‘ Finance Minister ArunJaitley said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi discussed theissue with him on Mondaymorning and on his advise, thegroup comprising agencies likeCentral Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT), Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and Financial IntelligenceUnit (FIU), Foreign Tax andTax Research (FT&TR) hasbeen set up.

“The multi-agency groupwill comprise various

Government agencies. Theywill continuously monitor these(accounts) and whicheveraccounts are found to be unlaw-ful, strict action as per existinglaws will be taken,” Jaitley said.

Meanwhile, the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT) onblack money also said it willprobe thoroughly the reportedsecret list exposed by theInternational Consortium ofInvestigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The leaked ‘Panama

Papers’ alleged to have names of actors like AmitabhBachchan and Aishwarya RaiBachchan, DLF owner KPSingh and nine members of hisfamily, promoters of ApolloTyres and Indiabulls to Gautam Adani’s elder brotherVinod Adani.

The report said OnkarKanwar, chairman of ApolloGroup, and his family membersfloated an offshore entity inBritish Virgin Islands in 2010

and two trusts in 2014.Reacting to it, an autho-

rised spokesperson for theKanwar family said, “Indialawfully permits foreigninvestments in accordancewith certain regulations. Anyinvestment abroad, that theKanwar family may have, is indue compliance with Indianlaws, where applicable, includ-ing making disclosures wher-ever required.”

Related reports on P12

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Triggering unprecedentedjolts around the world

over the new tax haven inPanama, 11.5m files from thedatabase of the world’s fourthbiggest offshore Panama-based law firm, MossackFonseca, were released to cer-tain media houses by theInternational Consortium ofInvestigative Journalists (ICIJ),which gave it the name

“Panama Papers”. The docu-ments, from around 2,14,000offshore entities coveringalmost 40 years since 1977,came from Mossack Fonseca,a law firm with offices inmore than 35 countries.

The records were obtainedfrom an anonymous source bythe German newspaperSüddeutsche Zeitung, whichshared them with the ICIJ. TheICIJ worked with journalistsfrom 109 media organisationsin 76 countries, including UKnewspaper the Guardian, toanalyse the documents over ayear. Then ICIJ shared the doc-uments with a large network ofinternational partners, includ-ing the Guardian and the BBC.

Panama is one of a num-ber of popular tax havens inthe Caribbean. Althoughthere are legitimate ways ofusing tax havens, most ofwhat has been going on is

about hiding the true ownersof money, the origin of themoney and avoiding payingtax on the money.

The documents show themyriad ways in which therich can exploit secretive off-shore tax regimes. The filesshow how Mossack Fonsecaclients were able to laundermoney, dodge sanctions andavoid tax.

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Alocal court on Monday con-victed six people in the

murder case of a Super Classcontractor in 2010. SambalpurAdditional District Judge-1Ambuja Mohan Das pro-nounced the verdict.

The judge awarded lifeterm imprisonment to thesix persons, including theprime accused Sanjay Ghosh. However, two accusedwere acquitted due to want ofevidence.

“Anup Babu was brutallymurdered in 2010. His bodybore multiple injuries. I hadprayed the court to pronouncedeath penalty to the accused.But the court awarded life sen-tence to six of the accused andimposed a fine of �50,000each failing which the sen-tence will be increased bytwo years. Two others wereacquitted due to lack of evi-dence,” Public ProsecutorGouramohan Das said.

It may be recalled thatunidentified miscreants hadhacked Super Class contractorAnup Babu to death on October7, 2010, here. His body wasfound behind the Jyoti Bhavanin the Sakhipara area here.

“We are happy with the ver-dict. My brother Anup Babuwas into real estate business.The prime accused used totake lakhs of rupees from himamounting to a total of over �1crore. Even after my brother gotproof, he didn't get money orland back. Sanjay Ghosh mur-dered him along with his eightassociates so that he wouldn’thave to repay the money,” saidAnup Babu's brother SwarupKumar Babu.

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The Orissa High Court onMonday issued notices to

the State Government askingit to furnish a detail list of allthe present and former MLAswho have allegedly occupiedmore than one Governmentquarter in Bhubaneswar.

Taking up a PIL filed by aretired Government official,Pradyumna Kumar Mishra, aDivision Bench of JusticesVinod Prasad and BN Rathissued the notice to the ChiefSecretary and three otherSecretaries, informed Mishra’scounsel BP Tripathy.

Mishra in his petition hasurged the High Court todirect the State AccountantGeneral (AG) to conduct aspecial financial audit for the

last 25 years to find out theloss incurred by theGovernment on account ofthe illegal possession of morethan one quarter by presentand former MLAs.

The petitioner has alsourged the court to initiatecriminal proceedings againstthe illegal occupants afterel icit ing from theGovernment as to how manyMLAs have so far been allot-ted multiple plots under var-ious Government schemes.

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The Council of HigherSecondary Education

(CHSE) has convened a meetingof its examination committee onTuesday to find out a solution tothe problem created due tonon-participation of 488 & 662category college teachers in thePlus-II answer-sheet evaluationwhich started on Monday.

According to information,evaluation was hampered in theBhubaneswar, Baleswar andBaripada zones as teachers con-tinued their cease-work agita-tion demanding withdrawal ofBlock Grant and instruction offull Grant-in-Aid.

“Even now, I am urging myteacher colleagues to withdrawtheir stir. They should priori-tise students’ future over theirself interests. At any cost, wehave to publish the results intime to help students go for

higher studies. I have con-vened a meeting of the exam-ination committee tomorrow,and whatever decision is takenwill be communicated to theteachers,” said CHSE ChairmanBasudev Chhatoi.

He said he has written toADG (Law and Order) SatyajitMohanty to see that interestedteachers are not hindered byagitating ones to go to evalua-tion centres.

Meanwhile, theCoordination Committee ofthe Private College Lecturers-Employees’ CoordinationCommittee in a statement saidthe teachers would continueboycotting evaluation till theirall four demands are met.

“The Government doesn’tknow that we are not bound toevaluate answer-sheets as perlaw. We will continue boy-cotting the evaluation,” said 488

Category CoordinationCommittee general secretaryDr Atal Bihari Bal and DrKamal Mohanty.

They too informed that theRetired Lecturers’ Associationhas not agreed to theGovernment proposal to eval-uate answer-sheets.

“We don’t want any discus-sion now. We want a final callregarding our demands,” saidmembers of the committee.

Because of this boycott,only 20 per cent of the teach-ers are engaged in evaluation,according to sources.

Meanwhile, HigherEducation Minister Dr PradipPanigrahi said that stringentaction would be taken againstthe teachers who have remainedaway from evaluation. “Reportshave been sought on absence ofallocated teachers. Action willbe taken after receipt of thereport,” he said.

� ���������+��%�����)�6)�78�(�A

At a time when Oppositionparties have been demand-

ing his head for his alleged linkswith arrested dreaded criminalDhalsamant brothers, Cuttack-Barabati BJD MLA DebasisSamantray landed in a fresh con-troversy on Monday with her sis-ter-in-law lodging a harassmentand life threat petition againsthim at the State Commission forWomen (SCW) here.

Sikha Samantray, wife of theMLA’s younger brother, allegedthat her elder brother-in-law(the MLA) and her father-in-lawand former MLA NityanandaSamantray have been torturingher for years mentally and even denied money for treat-ment of her husband.

She along with her son,who works in Defence, lodgedthe complaint with the SCW.

She charged that DebasisSamantray had engaged goonsto eliminate her and her onlyson as they protested the injus-tice meted out to them.

“They have been torturingme for years. DebasisSamantray has even taken �32lakh from my family. He isharassing me by not only pro-viding me money for treatmentof my husband but also depriv-

ing us of our paternal proper-ty. He even used slangs takingmy caste,” said Sikha.

She said, “Whenever I havegone to my father-in-law forhelp, he sends me to DebasisSamantray saying that ‘go tohim and ask for help withfolded hands.’ When I go tohim (Debasis), he startedshouting at me even taking mycaste (Karan).”

She further charged thatthe MLA has links with theAstha International chit fundcompany and the Dhalsamantbrothers and is a habituatedcocaine and drug taker.

“He has good links withgoons and collects extortionmoney. Many girls and womenvisit her at night which wasunbearable for me,” said Sikha.

Bhubaneswar: An intense heatwave prevailed across the Statewhile the temperature in west-ern Odisha crossed 40 degreesCelsius on Monday making lifeunbearable. Bhawanipatnarecorded the highest tempera-ture of 43.2 degrees Celsius fol-lowed by Balangir with 43degrees. The other places thatrecorded the above 40-degreesmark were Jharsuguda (42.6),Hirakud (42.5), Sundargarh(42), Sambalpur (42),Keonjhargarh (40.1),andMalkangiri (41).

The Capital city ofBhubaneswar recorded 38.7degrees while Cuttack recorded37.4 degrees. The MeteorologicalDepartment predicted that theheat wave condition is likely tocontinue. PNS

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, andprinters and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.

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Despite the claims of the rul-ing BJD leaders that their

supremo and Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik knows Odiavery well, the State unit of theNational Students’ Union ofIndia members on Mondayagain tried to enter the NaveenNiwas to teach the CM theregional language.

However, as usual, theywere whisked away by securi-ty personnel near the ChiefMinister’s residence.

For the fourth consecutiveday, holding slates, chalks andChhabila Madhu Barnabodha,five Student Congress activistsled by their president ItishPradhan reached near theNaveen Niwas. They appealedto the security personnel toallow them to go to the ChiefMinister. However, they weredetained by the cops.

“Though police take usaway, we will not relent. We willcompel the Chief Minister

learn Odia,” said Pradhanbefore being driven away by thepolice.

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Countering the ChhatraCongress’ attack on Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik over hislack of Odia knowledge, the BijuYuva Janata Dal has asserted thatthe CM knows the language well.

“The Chief Minister cantalk in Odia. He understands theheart of Odisha people andremains to be a popular leaderof the State,” said BYJD State gen-eral secretary Bijay Nayak in astatement on Sunday.

Nayak gave this reactionafter the National Students'Union of India (NSUI) tried toenter Naveen Niwas to ‘teach’ thelanguage to the Chief Minister.

“People will not accept theopposition party’s drama. TheCongress seems not to havelearnt anything from its loss.They have been cornering theGovernment on trivial issues.The Naveen Government hascontinued its effort for develop-ment of the language and the

State,” Nayak added. During thepast 80 years since the State wasformed, many Governmentshave ruled the State. But the paceof language development takenby this Government is more thanthat of any other previousGovernment, he claimed.

He said setting up of OdiaLanguage Institution and OdiaVirtual Akademi, revival ofBhagbat Tungi and more allo-cation to the Odisha SahityaAkademi are examples of theNaveen Government’s keennesstowards development of the lan-guage.

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Certainly not out of syncwith time, a certain mem-

bers of the political class inOdisha have, through theirbrazenly shameless acts, unrav-elled the bitter truth that crim-inal links are launch pads tothrive in politics.

Though in Odisha thecrime-politics mix is not some-thing new, but the recent cock-tail is too hard and has forcedthe peace-loving people of theState into some out-of-the-box thinking.

Gone is the time whenMLAs/MPs lived simple andthought high and were flanked

by followers for ideology-ori-ented and pro-people politics.

Today’s leaders are knownfor their fleet of costly cars,gaudy apparels, swanky hous-es and other material posses-sions. They are now in a zonepsychologically barricaded offgrassroots people.

While chit fund, mining,land, coal and food card scamshave taken the torchlight tocunningly covert links of peo-ple in the corridor of powerwith the kingpins, it has beenquite shocking to find that notjust the ruling party men, butleaders irrespective of party linesubsume in the same clan.Similarly not just the young,ambitious leaders, but the old

and seasoned ones at the costof their avowed ideology are inthe race for unethical andunscrupulous gains.

So if fairly seniors likePravat Tripathy andRamchandra Hansda are impli-cated and jailed for takingpecuniary benefits from chitfund scoundrels, it does notlook out of place when youngbrigade Sanjay Dasburma isalleged to have grabbed aPajero SUV from a fraudster.

Meanwhile, grand old manDamaodar Rout’s legs are beingpulled in to the sop controver-sy by the Ponzi masterminds.The interesting point is nonebut politicians have emerged tobe the proverbial nail for

extracting a nail.The spectacle of a humili-

ating fall and unsung demise ofonce very powerful BJD strong-man Kalpataru Das for availingflats/plots by bending laws andof his MLA son for the sameirregularities set a trend of

‘wanton gluttons’ in politics forwhom pursuing unbridled selfgrowth serves the be-all andend-all. Land scam alsobrought into limelight a fewother leaders, including a for-mer Chief Minister’s son andMinister Bijayashree Routray.However, Routray rubbished itto be a scam and said that thehouse built there was dedicat-ed for a philanthropic purposeby his doctor-wife.

Though it is a differentmatter if the accused wereconvicted for charges but theirmultifarious links give a tell-tale sign of how they let mis-creants flourish under theirpatronage and it suffices tosully their images in public eyes

instantly.The chit fund firms could

not have committed a fraud ofsuch an astounding proportionby just backing of a few polit-ical leaders, if the Governmenthad not supported them.Starting from the ChiefMinister to the who’s who in hisCabinet, they promoted thechit firms by attending theirfunctions. The Governmentalso blindly inked pacts for pro-jects worth crores of rupees byentitling them to huge conces-sions and sops. And, when thereal face of the firms likeSeashore or AT came to thefore, the Government can-celled its agreements in a hurryto save its face. Nevertheless, by

that time these thugs hadduped the poor and gullibleinvestors of the State of hun-dreds of crores of rupees.

Two recent cases ofextremely serious nature, pon-tificating unabashed stoopingin politics are the episodes ofthe Dhalsamant brothers andformer Congress MLA RameshJena. Virtually every day newskeletons tumble out of thecupboard concerning the twoincidents. In the one case, thecrime czars of Cuttack, whohappen to be siblings, had cov-ered a full circles by commit-ting all kinds of crimes fromloot, murder, ransom, tenderfixing to smuggling and armstrading. And, as if children

feeding on gripe water, mostinfluential leaders of severalparties including BJD, BJP andCongress, enjoyed proximitywith the brother duo, to comeup with excuses of their veryignorance about the duo’s crimebackground when the unholynexus went for a hype.

In the second case, nosponsorship, rather it is directinvolvement of a formerCongress MLA in severalcrimes jolts the expectation ofhigh standards of ethics andmorality from public repre-sentatives.

To conclude, one hopesthat Odisha political firmamentgets shorn of the tainted minor-ity sooner than later.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

All the land records and casesof the Revenue Department

would be made online andaccessible to public soon.

Board of Revenue MemberAshok Kumar Tripathy onMonday issued a direction inthis regard at a meeting held

here under his chairmanship.Bhubaneswar Land ReformsCommissioner NK Sundaray,Consolidation CommissionerCTM Suguna, Central RDCAB Ota, Western RDC NBSRajput, Southern RDCBhaskarjyoti Sharma andsenior scientists of the NICwere present.

Tripathy held talks withNational Information Centre(NIC) senior scientists aboutcorrective use of technology inmaking land records and relat-ed petitions online and avail-able to public. Once the systemcomes into being, it would bethe first of its kind in thecountry.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

Questioning the efficiency ofthe police for being unable

to file a chargesheet againstMaoist leader D Keshav Raoalias Azad, who is on hungerstrike for last six days demand-ing speedy trial of the caseagainst him, Azad’s lawyer onMonday alleged that a conspir-acy was hatched by the Odishaand Andhra Pradesh police toput the surrendered Maoistbehind bars for a long period.

Azad’s lawyer Dilli Rao toldreporters that they have filed acriminal case against the police,who said that they arrested

Azad in Bhubaneswar.“The fact is that Azad was

taken from the office of theDeputy Superintendent ofPolice (DSP), Palasa in thepresence of the SP, local MLAand some other leaders. He wasthen handed over to the Odishapolice. There was a conspiracybetween the Odisha and APpolice,” said the lawyer.

Accusing the Odisha policeof delaying the case of Azad,Rao stated that the police havefailed to produce witnesses asmandated by the court of law.

“If the Odisha police behavelike this, they will criminalisethe society. In my clients’ case,for the last one year, they havebrought one witness over threemonths. It is quite painful thatthey are making no effort toexpedite the trial,” he stated.

From the day of the arresttill now, Azad is under judicialcustody for last five years.

The lawyer also said that ifcases are so strong against him,he must be chargesheeted.

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There are severalGovernment owned com-

panies , whose annualaccounts are pending final-ization for last 49 years andhave been declared as “NonWorking”.

Glaring examples of casesof violations of CompaniesAct have come to fore as thePrincipal Accountant Generalof Odisha has pointed out itto the State Government.

Little known Governmentcompanies such asManufacture Electro Limited,Premier Bolts and NutsLimited which were PilotProject Companies and are

now under liquidation, theiraccounts have not been final-ized for last 49 years, point-ed out the Principal AG.

Orissa Electr icalManufacturing CompanyLimited, which is under liq-uidation, has not finalizedits accounts for last 48 years.Gajapati Steel IndustriesLimited also under liquida-tion has its accounts pendingfor last 46 years.

Mayurbhanj Texti lesLimited, which was produc-ing quality fabric and hosieryproducts and known of itsdurability is now defunct andits accounts have not beenfinalized for last 44 years.

Similarly the NewMayurbhanj Textiles Limitedis a non working companyand its accounts are pendingfinalization for last 32 years.

The Principal AG has

pointed out that the accountsof 22 non working companies,which are under variousstages of liquidation, includ-ing seven pilot project com-panies, are in arrear for theperiod ranging from 42 to 49years.

The remaining 15 nonworking companies havearrears in accounts for peri-od ranging from 5 to 44 years.

In fact non-updating theaccounts by these non work-ing companies are one of thereasons for delay in winding up of these institu-tions, besides violation of theprovisions of the CompaniesAct.

Principal AG Devika haswritten to the StateGovernment that some of theworking companies of theState Government are alsofailing to update their annu-

al accounts.Out of 39 State

Government owned compa-nies and corporations only 22working companies and twocorporations have finalizedtheir accounts up to 2014-15.

While two working com-panies have three years ofarrear, seven working com-panies have two years arrearand seven working companieshave arrear accounts for oneyear.

So she has asked the StateGovernment to take up anaction plan for the both work-ing and non working compa-nies to finalize the accounts,which is fundamental to goodcorporate governance.

Unless the accounts ofthe non working companieswill be finalized, their wind-ing up will not be possible, thePrincipal AG said.

He is no blowhard. He has struggled, suffered,hoped and endured from the age of 21 beinginspired after reading the book A call to the nationby Swami Vivekananda. The book that turned thecourse of his life and career, remembers wistful-ly Akshya Kumar, “The love I bore for my moth-erland India became a thousand fold after I hadgone through the book of Swamiji. He was equal-ly fascinated towards Gandhian dialectics and hadhis initiation in Gandhism at Wardha at the insti-tute of Gandhian studies and had successfullycompleted the course; a diploma in Gandhian phi-losophy under the tutelage of noted GandhianRabindra Verma. Here, he came in contact withtwo friends from MP and Maharashtra, Amit andRaju, and they travelled throughout the nook andcorner of the country to study the intricate prob-lems of Indians. “If your mission is true, helpscome from unseen corners,” the words of Swamijireverberated through Akshya Kumar’s ears, andthat indeed came true. People came in numberswith benevolent gestures and offered them food,clothing, shelter and even the money necessary tokeep them going on their mission. The trio workedfor restoration of peace in Assam and worked incritical times in vulnerable areas of Maharashtra.The key to a prosperous India rests on the shoul-ders of kisans, they were convinced while study-ing the plight of farmers. Akshya Kumar was alsoemboldened by the spiritual teachings of PraveenaTaidesai, disciple of Vinoba Bhave. He was alsoinspired by the late Bimala Thakar, an ardent dis-ciple of Jayaprakash Narayan. He spoke toSugyan Choudhury of The Pioneer from his officeat Patia, Bhubaneswar.

How did you come to work in your home Statefrom the national scenario?

I had completed my Bharat Darshan from1993 to 1996. I was a leading Gandhian activistin the Assam Peace Process from 1996 to 1998.In the wake of the 1999 Super Cyclone inOdisha, my spiritual guide Praveena Taidesaidirected me to work in the process of relief oper-ation and rehabilitation in my home State. Ialong with my friends rushed to Ersama inJagatsinghpur district, where at least ten thou-sand people had died. We saw crores of rupeesboth from the governmental and nongovern-mental organisations pouring in. It was the righttime to work for relief and rehabilitation. Butwhile reconstruction works were on, corruptionbecame rampant. We demanded housing andthe Government informed us that only six thou-sand houses could be rebuilt. But we along with30,000 people at a meeting concluded that outof the same resources 24,000 houses could bebuilt. The Government didn’t pay heed to ourformula and arrested 27 of us including myself.When we were released from jail, people in largenumbers joined us to work hand in hand. Thus,a movement was born, called NavnirmanSamiti, on December 26, 1999. We demandeda roof overhead for every family, irrigation facil-ities for farmers, right to work for everyone,information to one and all. With massive pub-lic support, Navnirman Krusaka Sangathanawas formed out of the parent body NavnirmanSamiti in 2010 at Jagatsinghpur. The conceptwas that unless the farmers’ plights areimproved, the country will never prosper. Wehave three demands for Odisha’s agrariancommunity, namely, price, prestige and pension.When industrial items are manufactured, theytake into account many things like profit, riskfactors and taxes and thereafter they put theprice tag as MRP. But when the farmer producespaddy or any such produce, the CentralGovernment fixes the price with the concept ofminimum support price (MSP), not minimumjustified price. So, our fight is between MSP forfarmers vis-à-vis the maximum retail price(MRP) for industrialists. Why should there bea maximum price tag for industrialists whenthere is the concept of no minimum justifiedprice but the MSP? Why should there be oneset of rules for industrial houses and anotherfor kisans who constitute 80% of the country’spopulation? A farmer is doubly empowered (a)for having a vote (b) bring the producer and

provider of food to fight against hunger. If thefarmers unite, all discrepancies and anomaliesfrom our nation will disappear. We look forwardto that day when Gandhiji’s Ramrajya or theEldorado will happen in reality. Take for exam-ple the 1972 index when paddy per quintal wasRs 80 only. An officer was getting Rs 120 to Rs150 while a peon was getting Rs 18 per month.Gold for 10 grams was made available at Rs 240.Now, look at the glaring discrepancies. In caseof salary, it has been multiplied by a thousandtimes, and in case of gold, it has been increasedby 100 to 120 times. But in case of paddy, it hasincreased by only 15 times.

What are the other two points you are goingto talk about?The other two are prestige or dignity and pen-sion of the farmer. A farmer possessing the twinpowers of a vote in hand and the owner of thefood has to salute at least thrice to a block peonfor ventilating his grievances before the BDO or

the agriculture extension officer. Neither thepeon nor the officer offers him a seat. He isharassed and humiliated. Even socially, when hegoes to his father-in-law’s house, he is lookeddown upon for being a farmer. That is why afarmer never tells his son to be a farmer. Whyshould a farmer do so, when a lawyer asks hisson to be an advocate, a doctor asks his son tobe a doctor and a brazen faced politician askshis son or daughter to be a politician? This isbecause our attitude to the farmer has notchanged. Shastriji had given two clarion calls tothe nation, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”. The problemsof Jawans are taken care of, but what about theproblems of Kisans? The welfare government hasprobably no real agenda for transforming agri-culture and the agrarian community. While anofficer draws Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 as social secu-rity allowance, the farmer has none. Hence, eachfarmer from the age of 20 should be providedRs 5,000 per month till the age of 60, after whichthey should be supported by a fairly descent pen-sion. Gandhiji’s mantra for Ramrajya will thenbe not a dream but a reality.

What are your significant achievements so far?We have achieved small demands. For

example, when the FCI is giving Rs 22.50 per bagto the miller and when the miller instead of usingFCI bags are taking the farmer’s bag, they shouldreturn some portion of the money to farmers.They were not doing so, but after our persistentagitation, now the millers have agreed to returnRs 6 to Rs 7. Similarly, when societies and themillers were procuring paddy from farmers, theyuse to deduct 10 kg to 7 kg per quintal main-taining that they were not as per FAQ standard.We protested this nexus between millers, soci-eties and officers. The result is there is no cut perquintal although we had protested the earlier sys-tem in Jagatsinghpur district alone.

What are your other visions for farmers?We demand that social security allowance

at the rate of Rs 5,000 a month be provided toeach farmer family so that by spending Rs 21,600crore, the State can cover 36 lakh farmer fam-ilies. What’s wrong in it when the Governmentis bearing a burden of Rs .27,500 crore annual-ly for the 2% of employees only. We also demandon similar lines before the Union Governmentfor realising the practical Gandhian concepts ofa vibrant and prosperous India by applying thesame principle of extending social securityallowance to each farmer family.

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To celebrate the Utkal Divasand District Foundation

Day on Friday, the districtadministration here hadarranged several cultural pro-grammes. But people are stillnot happy with the progresscard of the district in the last 23years. The district was formedin 1993.

The coastal district, whichplayed a major role in the Statepolitics, has been well-neighignored. Except constructingsome roads, bridges and stadiaalong with implementing someGovernment sponsored hous-ing schemes, no eye –catchingdevelopment took place.

There is still no industry inthe district and its economy istotally based on agriculture.Besides, it is the home to fre-quent natural calamities. Noeffective flood control mea-sures were taken up to stop theannual flood in the district.Only 35 per cent of agriculturefields are irrigated.

Former Chief Minister BijuPatnaik, during the 90s, haddreamt of setting up the secondmega steel plant of the State atKendrapada in order to devel-op his favourite electoral dis-trict. And in this regard, lateBijubabu had also selected a sitefrom Haldiagada toNaladiagada, which is situatednear the Paradip-DaitaryExpress Highway, to set up asteel plant keeping in mind thatthe transport of the goods willbe made through NH-5(A)and through Paradip port. But

ironically, Bijubabu’s dream inthis regard is yet to be fulfilled.

According to intellectualmasses, rapid growth in agri-culture was seen during imple-mentation of the first Five Year

plan in the district. But afterthat the growth of economy onagriculture decreased slowlydue to flood, cyclone anddrought in regular intervals.The Pattamundai canal and the

Kendrapada canal, which wereestablished during the Britishera in 1885 by the BritishIrrigation Company, are lyingdefunct as the longevity of thecanals was 100 years.

Several villages are stillwaiting to get electricitythrough rural electrificationschemes. The drinking waterscarcity situation is also grim inthe coastal villages of the dis-trict as hundreds of villagesunder 26 gram panchayats areyet to get potable water supply.Communication facility is yetto be developed and the river-side villagers still depend onferry service.

Most of the doctors andpara medical staff posts arevacant in the district hospitalsdue to slipshod attitude of theState Government.

Though the denizens havebrought the matter before the

State Health Department, localMinisters, MP and MLAs, butin vain, alleged the DistrictCitizen Forum.

On the other hand, thesenior officials of the districthand in glove with the politi-cal leaders are looting theGovernment doles meant forpoverty stricken people.Whether it is the RevenueDepartment or the Police, theofficials are dancing to thetune of the people’s represen-tatives of the ruling party andhave allegedly become aninstrument for all illegal works.

Schemes like the IAY,MPLAD and GopabandhuGramin Yojana have becomean instrument for corruptionwith several irregularities beingcommitted. Locals blamed thatthe political leaders and theMLAs of the district have failedto raise their voice.

����� 6��A!C�8

The pathetic condition ofnewly constructed roads

under SHDP scheme,Umarkote-Papadahandi-Yerla(PUY), is a common sight.

There are allegations thatthe PWD contractors engagedin the work openly flout roadconstruction norms and are notmaintaining the quality of thework. A large portion of theroads has been constructed asper the wish of the contractorsand not according to the spec-ifications laid down by thePWD, alleged Jyotindar Swain,a local denizen.

Some residents ofSanabharandi village claimedthat though a road in theirlocality was constructed only acouple of weeks back, it did notlook to be new and the roadusers did not get any satisfac-tion. The quality was compro-mised to such an extent that thenew road was no better than itsearlier shape.

Sources said the adminis-tration has proposed to widen

the road to 33 feet, but the mea-surement is not the same for alllocations in the town. This dis-similar measurement in widen-ing the road has not onlyraised eyebrows but also creat-ed doubts on the efficacy of theproject. It seems the adminis-tration buckled under pressurefrom some influential personsand politicians having vestedinterest therein.

The highway in the townhas turned utterly dusty. Whena vehicle passes through theroads, suddenly a cloud ofdusts appears creating muchinconvenience to the passers-by. Environmentalist NarayanSahu said there is a provisionof sprinkling water on the roadso that dust gets settled down,but the contractors avoid it. Itnot only pollutes the town’s air,but also poses health threat topeople residing here.

Though the PWD officialsare claiming that they arecleaning the road regularlyand sprinkling water on it, butthe real situation is different.The residents have threatenedto hold an agitation if theproblem is not sorted out, saidadvocate of Umarkote barAshok Padhy.

����� )A����?6A

Children from 30 slums hereon Sunday published the

10th edition of wall magazineAame Kahuchhu Aam Katha intheir respective slums.

In the edition, members ofvarious child clubs focused onwater issues like water scarci-ty and poor water supply.Community leaders and chil-dren inaugurated the maga-zines at Gramdevati BauriStreet, Goudabandh Street,Lanjipali Telugu Street,Dhimira Bauri Street,Jagannath Nagar, Raghupati

Nagar, Ambapua, OldBrahmapur, etc in the presenceof slum communities.

Notably, the Youth forSocial Development (YSD)working with more than 2000children in 30 slums here hasbeen able to form 27 childclubs and a city-level chil-dren’s federation. Child clubmembers Bala Das, SmrutiSahu, Pinky Das, Muna Das,Suraj Das, Rinky Patra,Mamali Das and Radha Dastook active part in the event.Members of the YSD facili-tated the children in makingthe wall magazine.

��� � !8C75��A

Four labourers were serious-ly injured in an industrial

accident while they were work-ing in the premises of theBand Alloys Industry atMurusuan near PalaspangaApril 1.

Dipa Munda, NiranjanNaik, Dushashan Mahanta andGurubari Munda received burninjuries and had to be admit-ted to the district hospital herethe same day. Three of theminjured labourers had to beshifted to Cuttack for spe-cialised treatment while theother was transferred to a pri-vate nursing home here.

Demanding compensationof Rs 10 lakh for the victimsalong with all their medicalexpenses, hundreds of localdemonstrated in front of theindustry gate. They allegedthat the company has beenrunning the plant withoutexperienced and qualified staff,for which accidents are occur-ring at regular intervals in the

industry premises. The com-pany has also failed to imple-ment pollution control mea-sures, for which the nearbyriver, streams and villages arebadly polluted, they furtheralleged.

A senior manager of BandAlloys, PK Sahoo, discussedwith the agitating villagers butcould not reach any solution ofthe issues. The villagers havedemanded a high-level inquiryby the Director of Factory andBoilers, the SPCB and theLabour Department regardingthe safety and pollution controlmeasures by the company.

The normal factory workwas hampered by the agitation.

��� � )�6)�78�(�A

The Odisha Human RightsCommission (OHRC) has

directed the ADG (Prison) foran action-taken report (ATR)over water scarcity at theBrahampur Circle Jail inGanjam district.

The commission directedthe top cop to submit ATR byApril 25 and posted the mat-ter for next hearing on thatday.

Angul-based HumanRights Watch secretar ySangita Swain had moved theNHRC seeking action in thisregard which transferred thecase to the OHRC directing itto dispose of the same inaccordance with the law.

The petitioner had allegedthat though nearly 750 pris-oners are staying at theBrahmapur Circle Jail butthey are facing severe drink-ing water crisis due to the fre-quent breakdown of watersupply from the Rushikulyariver.

“There is no water storagesump at the jail. Non avail-ability of drinking water facil-ity amounts violation ofhuman rights of the prison-ers,” the petitioner had con-tended.

She demanded actionagainst the concerned officialsand also urged the commis-sion to take immediate mea-sures to put an end to thewater scarcity problem.

����� ?�A��:?

Noted environmentalist andBhumiputra Multipurpose

Cooperative Society presidentSankhanada Behera hasdemanded construction of abarrage over the Mahanadi nearBhutamundai to solve water cri-sis and conserve water resources.

Behera mentioned thenecessity of rainwater and riverwater reservation and utilisa-tion of water for farmers andindustries. Behera haddemanded the same back inMarch 2012 and written several

letters to the Central and StateGovernment authorities in thisregard. Though the UnionGovernment had respondedto the matter, it is the job of theState Government to do.

Notably, all local industriesdepend on the TaladandaCanal for their water require-ments. But the canal does notflow all over the year. Hence theParadip Refinery Project issupplying water from CuttackHadia Patha through a 90 kmpipeline, which is costly.

“If a barrage will be con-structed over the Mahanadi,

the river water will be sufficientfor industries. Besides, a newcanal should be constructedfrom Bhutamundai toChandikhol near NH-5A sothat farmers of Kendrapada,Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur will bebenefited and the rain waterand over flows Mahanadi waterwill stocked at the barrage andutilized by farmers and indus-tries,” Behera said.

The environmentalisturged Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik for construction of anew barrage over the Mahanadinear Bhutamundai.

����� ���)�9?6A

The Mahanadi CoalfieldsLimited (MCL) felicitated

three Padma Shri awardees ofOdisha as it celebrated its 25thFoundation Day.

Padma Shri Dr PK Jena(science & technology) wasfelicitated by MCL Director(Technical/Operations) AKTiwari while Jagriti MahilaMandal president Dr NishaThakur felicitated Padma ShriTulshi Munda (social service).MCL Director(Technical/Projects andPlanning) JP Singh honouredPadma Shri Haldar Nag (poet)in the presence of Director

(Finance) KK Parida andDirector (Personnel) LNMishra.

Former MCL CMDs, DrAS Prasad, SN Sharma, SRUpadhaya and AN Sahay werealso felicitated.

Later, a performance ofRaw Star famed RiturajMohanty enthralled the audi-ence who could not stop danc-ing to the melodies.

A series of programmes tocreate awareness on variousCentral Government pro-grammes, performance analy-sis within the company, pro-motion of art and cultural arepart of the silver jubilee cele-brations in the company.

����� 6��A!C�8

Abar manager of Singsariunder Umarkote tehsil,

Deepak Singh, was shot deadby unknown assailants atKaragam village under theDabugam police station onMonday morning.

Sources said Singh was pro-ceeding to Umarkote on his biketo deposit some cash in a bank.The assailants who were fol-lowing him came from his backside by a bike and opened fireat him from pointblank range,leaving him dead on the spot.

According to eyewitnesses,the assailants were three innumber wearing masks. Afterthe incident, they fled towards

Singsari village with the cashbag of Songh.

Nabarangpur SP B JugalKishor, Umarkote SDPOGopinath Manipatro and IICs ofUmarkote and Dabugam policestations rushed to the spot andrecovered a bullet and seized thebody and launched investigationinto the incident.

��� � )�6)�78�(�A

Non-resident Odia (NRO)Prof Digambara Patra of

the American University ofBeirut, who is a native ofKalahandi, has lamented theshifting of the much-toutedrailway wagon maintenanceworkshop from the district,urging the Government ofIndia to reconsider its decision.

In a letter to the President

Pranab Mukherjee, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andRailway Minister SureshPrabhu, Patra said since thewagon unit is a much desiredproject for Kalahandi, knownfor its endemic poverty andbackwardness, the Governmentshould not go for shifting it.

He said the project wasokayed in 2010-11 RailwayBudget in the form of a wagonfactory.

However, due to State pol-itics the wagon factory wasshifted to Ganjam district,which is under construction. Asubsequent strong public andintellectual protest in

Kalahandi region resulted infurther announcement of arailway wagon maintenanceworkshop in 2013. ThenRailway Minister was MamataBanerjee and Mukherjee wasFinance Minister. However,recently the Railway Ministryhas clarified about shifting ofthe workshop toVisakhapatnam citing feasibil-ity study.

Parta questioned how theproject was announced in theParliament without a feasibil-ity study then? Since such anannouncement was especiallymade after keeping strong pub-lic reaction in mind, railway

should have taken utmost careabout the feasibility and othertechnical study beforeannouncing any new project inKalahandi. Now Kalahandishould not be penalized for themistake made by the RailwayMinistry, Patra argued.

The educationist alsomaintained that keepingstrong public and regionalsentiment of one of the back-ward pockets in India in view,shifting of such establishmentto a neighbouring State with-out even considering alterna-tive location in the same dis-trict is completely immoraland unethical.

����� ?�69)�7:

Kandhamal district CollectorYamini Sarangi on Monday

dismissed two Junior Engineers,Babulal Palai and PitambarHembram and suspended Oragram panchayat SarapanchMinati Pradhan and ExecutiveOfficer Premananda Pradhan onthe charge of misappropriatingGovernment money.

As per information theGovernment had sanctioned Rs2,40,000 for construction of a CCroad and Rs 2,30,000 for con-struction of Ora GP office underthe Tumudibandha block. Butthe record shows that the twoworks were done at Rs 10,53,000and that too without knowledgeof the district administration.

During investigation, it wasrevealed that the four accusedgrabbed extra money spent forthe two projects. The Collectortook actions against the abovepersons on the advice ofPanchayati Raj Department.

��� � )�6)�78�(�A

Rejecting the StateGovernment’s contention

for nonpayment of compensa-tion to the next of the kin of adeceased, who died of electro-cution in Bhadark district, theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC) hasdirected the Chief Secretary tosubmit compliance of pay-ment of compensation Rs1lakh within six weeks posi-tively.

Acting on a petition filedby rights campaigner SubashMohapatra, the apex rightspanel found the State guiltyand rejected the State’s con-tention.

“The reply furnished bythe Executive Engineer, BSED,Bhadrak is unacceptable,” theNHRC observed in its report.

“The commission afterrelying on the enquiry reportsubmitted by the AdditionalSecretary to the Governmenthas categorically held that

there was negligence on thepart of the concerned ElectricalSection which should haveverified the snapped line andtaken precautionary measuresto prevent any untoward inci-dent but they have failed to dothe same,” the NHRCobserved.

However, the ChiefEngineer-cum-Chief ElectricalInspector reported that thevictim is supposed to receivesome financial compensation.

Notably, on October 22,2013, one Jayanti Nath, a res-ident of Badamanhisagatho inBanta block in Bhadrak dis-trict, died of electrocutionafter she came in contact withhanging live electric wire.

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����� )�6)�78�(�A

Chief Secretary Aditya ParsadPadhi on Monday inaugu-

rated the groundbreaking cer-emony of the software devel-opment block of the Mind Treehere amidst chanting of versionsfrom Veda, Koran and Bible.

IT Principal SecretaryPradeep Kumar Jena, Women &Child Development SecretaryVishal Dev, BMC MunicipalCommissioner Kishan Kumarand Mind Tree cofounder DrSubroto Bagchi participated inthe ceremony. The Mind Treewould start a special learningprogramme on various ITthemes for IT engineers from thecurrent year. Replying to amedia query, Mind Tree CentreHead Anindya Mitra Maitrasaid the present project wouldbe the Second Phase SoftwareDevelopment Block, whichwould provide the space andfacility for 1,500 IT engineers todesign and develop varioussoftware applications. The ini-tial estimate of the project isover Rs 50 crore.

����� !87�A�?���

In yet another man-animalconflict, a male wild boar was

lynched to death at Gajarajpurvillage under the Rajnagar policestation in Kendrapada district onSunday.

Sources said the wild boarweighing around 80 kg enteredinto the Gajarajpur village aftersneaking out of GobardhanpurForest under the BhitarkanikaNational Park. After unearthingit on the village road, the villagerswent on attacking the animal andlynched it to death.

Getting information, forestpersonnel of the Rajnagar ForestRange rushed to the village andrecovered the dead boar from apond and later conducted itspostmortem.

Meanwhile, the forest offi-cials registered a case againstsome villagers under the offencesof the Wildlife Protection Act fortheir involvement in killing theboar. Inquiry is on; however, noarrest has been made so far, saidRajnagar Forest RangerHarekrushna Mallick.

��� � !8C75��AD)�6)�78�(�A

Rural sport talents of Barbiland Sialijoda in Keonjhar

district with support of theJSPL Foundation have onceagain excelled in national-levelchampionship.

The Kick-Boxing andWushu team comprising sportstalents of Sialijoda underDeojhar gram panchayat inJoda Block have bagged two sil-ver and two bronze medals inthe 15th Sub-Junior NationalWushu Championship-2016held at Patanjali, Haridwar inUttarakhand recently.

A team of 12 students,including eight from Sialijoda

and four from Barbil, repre-sented in the event. WhileKrishna Munda of Sialijoda andBapi Chatterjee of Barbil baggedone silver medal each, ManjuMunda and Kirtimayee Mundawon bronze medals. The win-ners were given grand welcomeat Deojhar railway station by theJSPL Foundation team, localleaders and sports lovers.

EVP and Unit Head TSShanbhogue congratulating thesports icons said, “It is a mat-ter of pride for Barbil andJSPL Foundation that the ruraltalents have won laurels in thenational event. This shows thatif rural students, given anopportunity, can shine in glob-al competitions. I wish all the

best to the team and hope theywill bring more medals fromglobal competitions.”

Notably, about 80 tribalstudents (boys and girls in 7 -14years age group) from the vil-lages of Deojhar GP have beenlearning and practicing kick-boxing and wushu under CoachPankaj Mahanta over the pastsix years at Sialijoda. The JSPLFoundation, Barbil has beenpromoting these popular sportsamong tribal youths by provid-ing all sorts of infrastructure andcoaching facilities required fornational and I internationallevel championships. These tal-ents have already participated inmany national-level champi-onships and brought laurels.

����� A�@�;���

The Collective Approach forTransformative Action

(CATA), a city based platform ofprogressive thinkers, organiseda one-day programme ‘Dialogueon development: Regional eco-nomic growth and development’on Sunday.

Delegates like districtCollector Jagannath Mohantyattended as chief guest and inau-gurated the workshop in thepresence of other dignitarieslike ADM Laxmin Kant Behera,former GSI Director US Mishraand NIPM Chairman DR AshokSahu. CATA director DrNarendra Kumar Mishra calledfor a progressive movement forsustainable large scale industri-alisation which opens up chan-nels of appropriate employmentopportunities for skilled tribalyouths of Rayagada.

Presiding over the meeting,Collector Mohanty besidesaddressing the problems of R&R as well as CSR on rationalhumanitarian grounds, stressedon optimum mineral resourceutilization through large andmedium scale industries.

ADM Laxmi Kanta Beheradiscussed various problems facedin the implementation of devel-opment projects in Rayagada dis-trict and the need for its eradi-cation. Former Director GSIMishra spoke on naturalresource management, whileNIPM Chairman Dr Sahu gavea vivid picture of the contribu-tion of Nalco. Dr BB Dash, for-mer Director, MSME spoke onskill development of youth. ProfBobby Shroff spoke on regionaldisparity and Prof Dr DebashisPani and RP Bisoyi presentedpapers on alternative growthmodels.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

Special Relief Commissioner(SRC) PK Mohapatra on

Monday said the StateGovernment has received Rs427.29 crore from the Centreby way of Phailin and droughtassistance on March 31.

“Out of the sanctionedamount, Rs 150.75 crore wasgiven as Phailin aid and Rs276.54 crore as drought assis-tance,” Mohapatra said.

Phailin aid of Rs 399.83crore was announced by theCentre. But the State hasreceived Rs 297.75 crore tilldate whereas Rs 102 crore is yetto be given, he added.

The Centre had announcedRs 815 crore as aid for the 2015drought. However, the Centre isdeducting Rs 212 crore out of theannounced amount to release thedrought assistance, he said.

“As per their (the Centre’s)calculation, Rs 606 crore will begiven to the State as droughtaid,” Mohapatra said.

“I have sent two letters ask-ing the Centre to release the Rs815 crore drought assistanceannounced by it earlier. Ibelieve the Centre is consider-ing our plea,” he stated.

“If need arises, the ChiefMinister will also write to theCentre asking for Rs 815 crore,”he said, adding that the State ishaving a negative balance as it

has spent a lot of money tohandle the drought situation.

Meanwhile, CongressChief Whip Tara PrasadBahinipati reacted to the rev-elation, saying, “When farmersare committing suicide inOdisha, the Centre is providinga paltry amount to the State.Despite this, the Chief Ministeris silent. I believe the BJD andthe BJP are hands in glove. TheState Government should pres-surise the Centre and try to getthe rest of the amount.”

In a veiled attack on theSRC, BJP leader PrithvirajHarichandan said, “Once utili-sation certificate is sent by theState, the Centre will sanctionmoney. In case of Phailin, moneycame in four phases. After theutilisation certificate is sent,funds will be given in the nextphase. There is no need to politi-cise it. Besides, why the SpecialRelief Commissioner was silentabout the Rs 47 crore which wasgiven on account of Phailin? Theofficial should clarify it.”

He added, “The StateGovernment has not yet dis-tributed Rs 1,000 crore amongfarmers as announced by theChief Minister to mitigatedrought.”

����� 5��A�6;6��

After a successful operation,doctors removed a six-kg

tumour from the stomach of awoman here on Saturday.

One Ankita Jaiswal ofChowkipara consulted Dr BDDash at the SamaleswariHospital complaining ofstomach ache and swelling ofbelly. Thereafter, ultrasound

and blood test of the patientwere conducted, which sug-gested growing of a tumor onher left ovary. After operationfor one and a half hours, DrDash and his associate DrAnup Kumar Deo broughtout the tumour from herstomach.

Ankita had also givenbirth to a male child at thesame hospital three months

back. But during that time nosuch pain had persisted.Tumour samples have beensent for biopsy, on receipt ofwhich the next treatmentwould start, said the attendingphysicians.

Ankita was in the ICU fora day, after which she wasshifted to a general ward. Hercondition is stated to be stablenow.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

General PH Division,Bhubaneswar Executive

Engineer Dayanidhi Samalwas arrested on April 2 by theVigi lance s leuths whiledemanding and acceptingbribe of Rs 50,000 from com-plainant Alekh ChandraMajhi, a contractor.

Samal received the bribefor crediting Rs 1, 84,468 toMajhi’s account out of total

bill amount of Rs 2, 64,381towards execution of PHworks in the Governmentquarters at Old LIC Colony,Badambadi, Cuttack.

Samal was forwarded tothe court on Apri l 3 from where he has beenremanded to jail custody tillApril16.

In this connection, theVigilance searched his resi-dential building at CDA,Cuttack, two sisters-in-law’shouse at Mahanadi Vihar and Kalyani Nagar, Cuttack,father-in-law’s house at CDA,Cuttack and paternal house inArilo village under Aul policestation.

The total immovable andmovable assets of Samal werecalculated to be Rs 2, 22,02,409.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

The BJP on Mondayslammed the State

Government for not imple-menting a helpline to providedrinking water to people undera project, for which the 14thFinance Commission has pro-vided Rs 1,400 crore.

“The 14th FinanceCommission has sanctioned Rs1,400 crore to provide drinkingwater to people. It is disap-

pointing that the helpline forthis project is not working likeother State Governmenthelpline,” alleged BJP spokesper-son Sajjan Saharma in a state-ment. He ridiculed the ChiefSecretary for announcing thedrinking water helpline number,1800234566, only recently.

Similarly, Sharma camedown heavily on theGovernment for publishingadvertisements on introduc-tion of a new education system

(Adarsha Vidyalaya) in theState. “The Government isunable to fill up 75,000 vacantteacher posts and has createddifferent categories of schoolsand teachers. In such a situa-tion, the Government shouldmake it clear to which extentOdia language will be protect-ed in the new schools,” Sharmasaid.

He said protection of Odialanguage and development ofOdias needs to be prioritised.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

The United Nation hasdeclared 2016 as the

International Year of Pulses tocombat malnutrition andundernourishment. Keepingthis in view, the OrissaEnvironmental Society (OES)organised a seminar here at itspremises on Sunday.

Attending as chief speaker,OUAT Agriculture ProfessorLalita Mohan Garnayak pre-sented a paper on the theme‘Strategies for Enhancing PulseProduction in Odisha’. He dis-cussed on different aspects ofthe need and production ofpulses in the State as well as thecountry.

“To tackle the situation ofmalnutrition in Odisha, weshould increase the production

of pulses. For saving lives ofchildren and improving thehealth of women it is also nec-essary,” Prof Garnayak said. Healso said Odisha is in lowerposition in the production ofpulses. Pulses production inIndia is near about 794 kg perhector whereas, in Odisha itsrate is less than 600 kg, he

added. OES president Dr Sundar

Narayan Patro chaired themeeting and vice-presidentLala AK Singh introduced theguests and gave welcomeaddress. OES secretary Dr JayaKrushna Panigrahi gave a briefintroduction on the topic ofdiscussion.

����� !87�A�?���

More than 50 silk sarees, eachcosting Rs 3,000 to Rs

5,000, kept in a store room ofLord Baladevjew temple, weredamaged due to negligence ofthe servitors.

These were donated by thedevotees. According to sources,

the lords’ silk sarees, valuableornaments and different veshaitems are generally kept in thestore room, located at thepremises of Baladevjew temple.The silk sarees generally kept ina sub standard dilapidated wood-en frame were damaged due totermites. The damaged sareeswould not be less than worth Rs2 lakh.

When contacted,Baladevjew Endowment TrustBoard EO Niranjan Behera stat-ed that he had directed aninquiry in the matter. Whoeverfound guilty would be liable topunitive actions, assured Behera.

Meanwhile, the store keep-er, after finding the silk sareesdamaged by termites soakedthem under the sun and cleanedthe wooden rack by taking ter-mite control steps, added Behera.

����� )�6)�78�(�A

Historians have recorded theancient history of Odisha

but left much to be desiredwhen it comes to the State’s mod-ern and contemporary history. Inthis context, as a responsible cor-porate citizen, “Nalco is keen tohelp chronicle contemporaryhistory of Odisha,” announcedNalco CMD Dr Tapan KumarChand addressing the first his-tory alumni meet of the UtkalUniversity here on Sunday.

Citing the example of greathistorians like Prof ManmothNath Das, Prof Karuna SagarBehera, Prof Atul Pradhan andProf Himansu Sekhar Patnaik,Dr Chand pointed out that stu-dents of history have an inquis-itive faculty, an analytical abili-

ty and an overall capability toserve prescription for the future.“It is incumbent upon the stu-dents of history to change theimage of Odisha,” Dr Chandexhorted. At the outset, ProfAmal Mishra, Head of the Dep-artment of History, Utkal Univ-ersity, delivered the welcomeaddress. Among others, ProfBasant Mallik, Prof KM Patraand Prof Ranjan Bal, Chairman,PG Council, Utkal University,addressed the gathering.

They opined that subjects ofhumanities like history havestaged a comeback in the variousechelons of corporate world.They cited the example of DrChand, who is heading aNavratna CPSE like the Nalco.Dr Chand was also felicitated onthe occasion.

����� A�@�;���

While four tribals ofJambuguda village under

Kashipur block in Rayagadadistrict have died of anthraxafter consuming beef within aweek, 10 more tribals of the vil-lage, suffering from the disease,have been admitted to theDistrict Headquarters Hospitalwhere their conditions are stat-ed to be critical.

Talking to TV channel,Parshu Majhi of Jambuguda vil-lage said some people of the vil-lage had consumed the meat ofa dead cow about 15-20 daysago. “Two persons died with-

in three days while two moredied after another two days.”

Another villager, ArunMajhi, said he, along withsome villagers, had consumedthe meat of a cow, which haddied of some unknown diseasetwo weeks ago.

“After a week, we fell ill.Within the next week, four vil-lagers died in quick succession.I am also feeling uncomfort-able. I have a feeling that a por-tion of my hand is paralysed,”he said.

He said following thedeaths, a team of doctors fromthe Kashipur CommunityHealth Centre (CHC) had vis-

ited the village and providedmedicines to the patients.

Kashipur CHC, in-chargeDr Shantibhusan Pathi con-firmed the death of the fourtribals and said three morepatients were found afflicted byanthrax and shifted to the dis-trict hospital.

“Generally, people sufferfrom anthrax if they consumethe meat of an animal which isaffected by the anthrax disease,”he added.

While admitting that thesituation in the village is criti-cal, Pathi said efforts are on tobring the situation under con-trol.

����� 5�5?6A�AC��

Tension prevai led inKopanda village here as a

63-year-old villager, DasarathiNayak, committed suicide byjumping in front of a runningtrain allegedly after beingtortured by a police officer.

Dasarathi had on April 1gone to the Jajpur Raod policestation as wanted by PS offi-cer Purna Chandra Patayat ona complaint lodged by hisyounger daughter-in-lawArati Nayak the previous day.He returned from the PS inthe evening and the nextmorning he jumped in frontof the train near theFerrochrome Plant.

On Sunday, Kopanda vil-lagers staged a dharna nearKopanda chhak by keepingDasarathi’s road on the roadand demanded action againstthe said police officer.

The agitating villagerscleared the road only after IICSishir Kumar Mishra assuredthem of a proper probe intothe matter and action againstthe erring police officer.

The GRP of JajpurKeonjhar Road railway stationhas filed an UD case in thisconnection.

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In a bid to minimise damagesto crops from recurring

droughts, the Government onMonday said efforts are beingmade to fast track completionof unfinished irrigation pro-jects works by 2017. The WaterResources Ministry will com-plete 40 irrigation projectsalong with States now insteadof 23 as decided earlier underthe Pradhan Mantri KrishiSichai Yojana.

Speaking at the inaugura-tion of the India Water Week,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid the Centre has made itscontribution toward improvingand creating irrigation infra-structure and NABARD hasbeen asked to create sufficientfunds for large projects.

Stressing that irrigation pro-jects are crucial to fuel economicgrowth of rural India and meetCentre’s target to double incomeof farmers, Jaitley said irrigationprojects bring faster resultscompared to infrastructure onesin terms of growth. Hepromised the Centre will helpState Governments in improv-ing irrigation system as they“alone cannot fight the chal-lenges” posed by erratic weath-

er conditions.“The objective of the entire

exercise is, even when youhave adverse monsoon condi-tions, the rain-fed areas don’tstarve. You will have a contri-bution being made by agricul-ture to India’s economy andtherefore, one of our basic tar-gets today is to make sure theincome of our rural populationdoubles over next few years. Ifthat is to double, these are thevarious instruments — includ-ing irrigation that we are usingto make sure resources are fedinto the rural areas,” Jaitley said.

Past two years have beenmost challenging due to inad-

equate monsoon resulting inmarginal growth of economy.This has also impacted on ser-vices and manufacturing sector.“Investment in irrigationalmost gets you immediateresult. If you create physicalinfrastructures in terms ofhighways, roads, railways,ports, airports, power, before itcan contribute to growth andmanufacturing, it will take acouple of seasons before theimpact is seen. Irrigation is onearea if you invest in irrigationnow, and create a facility youalmost get the impact in nextseason. And therefore, thestates which have invested in

irrigation have actually addedto the growth process,” he said.

According to UnionAgriculture Minister RadhaMohan Singh, a corpus of�20,000 crore has been plannedfor irrigation during 2016-17while �5,717 crore has beenallocated to activate newresources for water.

The event was also attend-ed by Union Ministers UmaBharti, Birender Singh, PrakashJavadekar, Sanwar Lal Jat,Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan and Israel’sAgriculture Minister Uri Ariel.Israel is the partner country for

the India Water Week.Water Resources Minister

Uma Bharti lauded Israel’s effortsin managing water anddescribed the country as a“guru” who can teach the world“how to save water” while Jaitleysaid Israel is a global leader intechnology and water technol-ogy is an area in which India andIsrael need to cooperate more.

Israel’s AgricultureMinister, Uri Ariel, who is ona visit to India to enhancecooperation between India andIsrael in the field of water, said:“Israel attributes the utmostimportance and considerationto the widening cooperationwith India… Be rest assuredthat Israeli Government and itsbusiness sector of water andagro technologies alike will bereliable partners to India in itsstruggle for sufficient watersupply and for food security.”

Daniel Carmon,Ambassador of Israel to India,“After defence and agriculture,water would be the next bigcollaboration between the twocountries. Israel is a develop-ment laboratory and we’ll makeevery effort to justify the trustIndian Government and peo-ple have entrusted upon Israel,its capabilities and experience.We’re here to share our knowl-edge and experience with India.The four dominant elements ofour water partnership: closefriendship, mutual challenges,common interests and sharedvalues are fully representedhere in India Water Week.”

��+����./����� 78(��89�:

In a bid to bring persons, par-ticularly kids with autism in

the mainstream, the Govern-ment has prepared a draft noti-fication envisaging issuance ofdisability certificate to themwhich would also help themavail the facilities, benefits orconcessions under its availableschemes. The move was long-awaited and much-needed.

Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), a little-understood con-dition, is a lifelong neurologi-cal state typically appearing inthe first three years of life. It ischaracterised by communica-tion difficulties, social andbehavioural challenges andrepetitive behaviours. Since itoften carries stigma, familiesmostly hesitate bringing suchpersons including child in themainstream, depriving themfrom early treatment and nor-mal development

In India, 10 million chil-dren have ASD and it affects 1

in every 66 children borntoday, according to a survey.However, there is no govern-ment data in this regard.

Concerned at the rise innumber of cases, the UnionSocial Justice andEmpowerment (SJE) Ministryhas drafted guidelines forassessment of autism for thepurpose of issuance of disabil-ity certificate in consultationwith Union Health Ministry."The State Governments toohave been taken on board.This will also keep a track onnumber of persons with autismin the country," said a seniorofficial from the SJE Ministry.

"The notification is under

consideration of the Minister,"he added.

If given go ahead, which islikely to happen soon, personswith autism can avail benefitssimilar to those categories ofdisabilities identified in thePersons with Disabled Act(PwDs).

The diagnostic tool hasbeen prepared by theInternational Clinical Epide-miologly Network (INCLEN) todetect autism at an earlier agewhile assessment procedure hasbeen developed by the IndianScale of Assessment of Autism(ISSA). A medical board oftraining medical professionalswill be set up in each state to

detect the persons with autism,as per the draft.

The screening tool for ASDoffers a quick way to assess aperson showing sign of autismor child's mental health. Itinvolves a checklist of 40 testitems grouped under sixdomains that measure signs ofautism. Children whose scoresshow a higher likelihood ofautism will be issued disabili-ty certificate.

The need for such a toolhas been regularly felt aspresently there is no cure forthe disorder and early detectionand treatment during toddlerand preschool years will helpreduce its effects and improvea child's development. So far,diagnosis has been difficultdue to use of different diag-nostic criteria.

The World Health Organi-sation (WHO) estimates diseaseburden for autism from 10 percent to 14 per cent over the peri-od 1990 to 2011. It is expectedto rise to 15 per cent by 2020.

����� 78(��89�:

In an effort to meet the criti-cal shortage of bullet proof

jackets, the Army is likely toissue a global tender or requestfor proposal(RFP) for morethan 1,30,000 jackets in thenext two to three days. Thesejackets are urgently needed forsecurity personnel deployedin counter-insurgency opera-tions in Jammu and Kashmirand the North-East.

Disclosing this here onMonday, officials said theDefence Ministry has instruct-ed the Army to conclude thetrials and contract negotia-tions in the shortest possibletime. The last tender was can-celled in October last yearafter none of the jackets man-ufactured by some competitorscould meet the stringent qual-itative requirements.

The new proposed tendercomes in the backdrop of theArmy facing a shortage ofmore than 1,89,000 bullet proofjackets. The authorised numberof jackets is nearly 3,54,000jackets and the ParliamentaryStanding Committee in itsrecent report also expressedconcern over such a big gap.

Meanwhile, a short termmeasure, the defence ministry

has approved an Army pro-posal to buy at least 50,000jackets at an urgent basis fromTata to meet critical operationalrequirements.

The Army wants lightweight bullet proof jackets toenable the soldiers to moveunhindered. The present lot ofjackets are heavy and cumber-some thereby hampering the effi-ciency of soldiers, officials said.

����� 78(��89�:

Senior JD (U) leader SharadYadav has decided not to

continue as party President, apost which he held for 10 years.Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar is likely to be elected asthe new president in itsNational Council meeting hereon April 10.

“Sharad Yadav as partypresident has completed histhree successive terms. He hasnow refused to make anyamendment in the party con-stitution so as to elect him forthe next coming term,” partyspokesperson KC Tyagi said ina statement.

Yadav has been at the helmsince 2006 and was reelected fora third term in 2013 by amend-ing the party’s constitutionwhich then allowed a maxi-mum of two tenures. “There aretalks within the party thatNitsih Kumar himself maybecome the party chief as heseeks to expand its footprintsbeyond Bihar with a mergerwith Ajit Singh-led RLD andformer Jharkhand chief minis-ter Babulal Marandi-led

Jharkhand Vikas Morcha,” saida party source.

Yadav is believed to haveconveyed to Kumar his viewthat he was not keen on con-tinuing after leading the partyfor 10 years and that a new per-son should be put in command.It was with the support ofKumar that Yadav became theparty chief for the first time in2006 after ousting its then headGeorge Fernandes in an elec-tion and then was elected againin 2009 and 2013.

The change of guard in JD(U) will indicate the changes inits internal dynamics at a timewhen Kumar is being seen to bepreparing the party for the2019 Lok Sabha polls alongwith election strategist PrashantKishor, who has emerged as hismost dependable ally afterplaying a vital role in the party’srout of BJP in 2015 Biharassembly polls.

Though the party chief ’stenure is of two years, electionsin several states delayed theorganisational polls and itrecently conveyed to theElection Commission that it willcomplete the process by June 30.

����� 78(��89�:

The Congress and Left par-ties on Monday lashed out

at Yogaguru Baba Ramdev forhis “beheading’ remark andasked the Government to takeaction against him. Slammingthe call for “violent action andpublic intimidation” from theYoga guru, Congress said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi musttake action against Ramdevwhile CPI-M general secretarySitaram Yechury said it was a“deliberate diversionary tactic”to take the attention away fromthe problems faced by people,especially the farmers.

Ramdev in a public func-tion at Rohtak said that had notrule of law prevented him hewould have “beheaded” lakhsof people for refusing to chantthe Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan.Ramdev’s outburst cameagainst the backdrop ofAIMIM chief AsaduddinOwaisi’s recent remarks that hewill not chant ‘Bharat Mata kiJai’ even if a knife is put to histhroat.

While CPI-M leaderBrinda Karat alleged that theModi government has given a

“virtual licence” to Hindutvaelements to selectively use slo-gans which divides the countryinstead of uniting it, JD (U)said Ramdev seems to have alicense to say and do what helikes merely because of hisproximity to BJP and RSS.

“Narendra Modi needs totell India what action will hetake against both BabaRamdev and the RSS. BabaRamdev’s threat to ‘cut heads

off ’...Is a call to violent action& public intimidation. MrModi, await your action. Now!,”Congress spokesman SanjayJha said in a tweet.

Hitting out at DevendraFadnavis and Ramdev for theirremarks on the issue of chant-ing ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ slogan,CPI(M) also asked theMaharashtra Chief Ministerto retract his comment, whiledemanding that a case be filedagainst the yoga guru.

Targeting Fadnavis, theLeft party said Fadnavis’ standis in “gross violation” of theConstitutional position heholds and reflected the “view ofan RSS activist and not that ofa Chief Minister”. “What theChief Minister has said is thatthose who do not agree withthe Hindutva version of nation-alism have no right to stay inthe country.

The party claimed the “cli-mate of hate and intolerance”being created is also illustrat-ed by “rabidly communal”stand of Ramdev. Fadnavis hadon Saturday night said thatthose unwilling to say ‘BharatMata Ki Jai’ have no right tostay in the country.

����� 78(��89�:

Minister of State forInformation and

Broadcasting RajyavardhanRathore on Monday said theMinistry is probing into theposting of a morphed pictureof Prime Minister NarendraModi on Facebook and Twitterby a journalist working with aprivate TV channel. The fakepost created by the journalisthad Modi touching the feet ofKing of Saudi Arabia leading toanger in social media.

BJP MP Maheish Girridemanded action from I&BMinistry on the incident. Res-ponding to Girri’s tweet, Rathoresaid, “Dear Shri MaheishGirri Ji,I have instructed MIB_India toreview the violations.”

Rathore added in his tweetthat he would also seek help ofCommunications and IT

Minister Ravi Shankar Prasadin this regard.

Meanwhile, the BJP alsocomplained to Delhi PoliceCyber Cell against RaghavChopa, the journalist involved inthe morphing of PM’s picture inbad taste. Chopra in the morn-ing expressed regret for his act ina tweet, saying “I sincerely regretposting a morphed picture of thePM on my Facebook page. Ishould have also verified itsauthenticity before tweeting it.”

“I apologise to everyoneconcerned for this unfortu-nate error on my part,” he saidin another tweet.

The CNN-IBN TVChannel, where Chopra worksas news editor, also expressedregret. “Our colleague RaghavChopra through his personalTwitter handle and Facebookpage put out a morphed pictureof the PM. The organisationwas not aware of this unfortu-nate lapse of judgement. Weapologise to everyone for thisconfusion & deeply regret theerror,” the channel tweeted.

����� 78(��89�:

The National Green Tribunalon Monday sought response

from Delhi Government andDelhi Development Authority(DDA) on a plea seeking reviewof its order allowing the Art ofLiving’s cultural extravaganza —World Culture Festival — on theYamuna floodplains here lastmonth.

A Bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice SwatanterKumar issued notices to theDelhi Government, DDA andArt of Living foundation and

asked them to respond to thereview plea filed by the peti-tioner Manoj Mishra of YamunaJiye Abhiyaan.

During the proceedings,

the Bench also issued notice tothe latter on a separate applica-tion filed by AOL seeking to paypenalty imposed in the form ofa bank guarantee and extension

of time for payment of theremainder amount. Advocateon behalf of Mishra stronglyopposed the plea for furnishinga bank guarantee and extension

of time. He also referred to somerecent photographs and said theevent has damaged the flood-plains of Yamuna.

����� 78(��89�:

Responding to US PresidentBarack Obama’s remarks at

the Nuclear Security Summit(NSS) that India and Pakistanshould ensure they are notmoving in wrong directionwhile they develop militarydoctrines, the IndianGovernment on Monday saidthere is a misconception withregard to India’s defence pos-ture. The Ministry of ExternalAffairs (MEA) said India hasconventionally never initiatedmilitary action against any of itsneighbour and it stronglybelieves in no-first use nuclearweapons policy.

Obama last Friday at theNSS urged India and Pakistanto contain aggressive militarydoctrines and nuclear arsenals.“Yes, we have seen thoseremarks. There seems to be alack of understanding of India’sdefence posture.Conventionally, India has neverinitiated military action againstany neighbour. We also have ano-first use nuclear weaponspolicy. Since the context was theNSS, the President’s own remarkthat ‘expanding nuclear arsenalsin some countries, with moresmall tactical nuclear weaponswhich could be at greater risk oftheft’ sums up the focus of glob-al concern,” said Vikas Swarup,official spokesperson for MEA.

At a Press conferencetowards the end of the summit,Obama said: “One of the chal-lenges that we are going to havehere is that it is very difficult tosee huge reductions in ournuclear arsenal unless the USand Russia, as the two largestpossessors of nuclear weapons,are prepared to lead the way.The other area where I think we

need to see progress is Pakistanand India, that subcontinent,making sure that as they devel-op military doctrines, that theyare not continually moving inthe wrong direction.” He also

expressed concern about“nuclear arsenals” expanding insome countries, “especiallythose with small tactical nuclearweapons that could be at greaterrisk of theft.”

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����� 78(��89�:

Disappointed by Chinablocking India’s attempt to

have Jaish-e-Mohammad chiefMasood Azhar designated as aterrorist by the United Nations,New Delhi is likely to raise theissue with Beijing this weekduring a meeting betweenExternal Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and her Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi.

Sushma is expected to meetWang in Moscow on the side-lines of RIC (Russia-India-China) ministerial meeting,wherein, sources said, she willconvey India’s “disappoint-ment” at the “political- level” atthe “first given opportunity”.

Last week, China usedtechnical points to stop UNSanctions Committee fromdesignating Azhar as terrorist,maintaining that the case “didnot meet the requirements” ofthe Security Council. The UNhad banned the JeM in 2001but India’s efforts for slappingtravel and financial sanctionson Azhar after the 2008Mumbai terror attacks and atthe Pathankot airbase this year,could not materialse as China,that has veto powers, did notallow it apparently at the behestof Pakistan again.

Last July, China had simi-larly halted India’s move in theUN to take action againstPakistan for its release ofMumbai terror attack master-mind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi,saying that its stand was “based

on facts and in the spirit ofobjectiveness and fairness” withBeijing again claiming at thetime that it was in touch withNew Delhi.

India had responding bysaying: “We find it incompre-hensible that while the Pakistanbased JeM was listed in UNSecurity Council Committee asfar back as 2001 for its wellknown terror activities andlinks to the Al Qaeda, the des-ignation of the group’s mainleader, financier and motivatorhas been put on a technicalhold. The recent terror attackin Pathankot has shown thatIndia continues to bear thedangerous consequences of notlisting Masood Azhar.

“Given the global net-working of terrorist groups, thishas implications for the entireinternational community. Itneeds no emphasis that theUNSCR 1267 regime is animportant building block of theUN global counter terrorismstrategy that should aim to pro-tect all member states andtheir citizens from the activitiesof terror groups such as JeMand its leader MohamadMasood Azhar. Its workingmethods, based on the princi-ples of unanimity andanonymity, is leading theCommittee to adopt a selectiveapproach to combating ter-rorism. This does not reflectwell on the determination thatthe international communityneeds to display to decisivelydefeat the menace of terrorism.”

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The first day’s voting for thefirst phase of Bengal

Assembly elections passed offmore or less peacefully amidsome stray complaints of spo-radic violence, rigging and idlingout by the central forces, whowere entrusted either with man-ning the booths or patrollinginterior areas where the peoplenormally cannot come out andvote against threats.

Over 81 per cent voterturnout was recorded in thefirst part of the first phaseAssembly poll in West Bengalon Monday, according to theElection Commission.

Voting took place in 18constituencies spread over WestMidnapore, Bankura andPurulia which make upJangalmahal.

More incidents of violencewere reported from Salboni inWest Midnapore, where jour-nalists were badly beaten upand their camera broken byTrinamool Congress supporterseven as they tried to report rig-ging. “One of us was given abroken hand and is currentlyrecuperating in hospital” said amediaperson of a Bengali newschannel, adding “the policeand paramilitary personnelstood as mere spectators.”

Reports of violence andbooth-capturing also came infrom Narayanpur, Taldangra,Raghunathpur, Simlapal andGopiballabbhpur. Centralforces went about shopping atSalboni and Simlapal marketseven as the Trinamool menrigged polls and attacked thejournalists, locals alleged.

At Balrampur in Purulia

alleged Trinamool men offeredfood packets to voters, sourcescomplained.

Elections were held for 18seats including 13 of the LWEareas of Jangalmahal spreadover three districts of Purulia,Bankura and West Midnapore.

“We sent repeated com-plaints to the Commission butthe Trinamool goons continuedto rig polls in a number ofbooths” Shyam Pandey theCPI(M) candidate fromSalboni said. However hisTrinamool rival claimedPandey was making such com-plaints because he knew that hewas losing.

The Election Commission

received 494 complaints and“steps were taken in more than424 cases,” EC sources saidinforming a presiding officerand a policeman who werereportedly working in the inter-est of the ruling party werepromptly removed.

By far the “polls werepeaceful” officials said. Puruliadistrict Congress presidentNepal Mahato also said that thepolls were more peaceful thanwhat it was in 2014 whenmany people could not vote.

Bengal BJP leader RahulSinha said the central forceswere not as active as theyshould have been.

Congress' Abdul Mannan

said Trinamool was controllingthe State police it's "undeclaredally BJP" was directing theCRPF "rendering the ECI intoa mere paper tiger."

Chief ElectionCommissioner of India NasimZaidi had reportedly soughtdetailed reports from the StateChief Electoral on the com-plaints received.

About 79.48 percent votershad cast their votes in Puruliawhereas Bankura witnessed78.13 percent when reportslast came in at 5 pm. About80.44 percent voters exercisedtheir voting rights in WestMidnapore.

There were still long

queues in front of the boothsand the overall percentage ofpolling was likely to go upsources said. In 2011 theseareas witnessed about 84 per-cent polling.

Meanwhile, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will arrive inBengal on April 7 and addresstwo election rallies one atBirpara in Alipurduar and theother at Gossainpur. Modi hadearlier addressed a meetingon March 27 at Kharagpur.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit north Bengal onThursday. He will first addressa public meeting at 12 noon inBirpara for BJP candidates inJalpaiguri and Alipurduar dis-tricts. From there, he will reachGossainpur and will speak atanother meeting in support ofthe candidates in Darjeelingdistrict around 4 pm,” a StateBJP leader said.

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The ruling BJP not only cre-ated dent in Congress bas-

tion but also make inroads intribal areas of Gujarat as thesaffron brigade took completecontrol over important tribaldominated Dang district pan-chayat on Monday as threemembers of the Congressdecided to join the BJP.

There was a tie in the 18-member panchayat body afterthe polls of the district pan-chayat in December last year.Both the parties — BJP as wellas Congress won 9 seats each.Though, immediately after theannouncement of result BJPtook partial control of Dang dis-trict panchayat as one Congressmember remained absent in thegeneral body meeting.

However on Monday, thesaffron party took completecontrol of the district pan-chayat as three Congress mem-bers decided to wear saffronscarf. With this developmentthe saffron party will have clearmajority with 12 members.

“The rebel Congress mem-bers of Dang district panchay-at were inducted at BJP’s head-quarters ‘Shree Kamalam’ onthe outskirts of Gandhinagar.They were inducted in presenceof Gujarat Chief MinisterAnandiben Patel and BJP’snational vice-presidentParshotam Rupala,” said officialsource in the party.

From just one, theCongress rose to annex 23 dis-trict panchayat out of 31 in thelast panchayat polls held inDecember 2015. The rulingBJP reduced to mere seven andthere was a tie in Daang districtpanchayat. However, in thespan of three months BJP’s tallyincreased to 10 as some of thecongress members decided toeither support BJP or joined thesaffron brigade.

The tally may increase fur-ther as at least three membersof Congress ruled AhmedabadDistrict Panchayat have decid-ed to join BJP. In fact becauseof this reason, the rulingCongress party couldn’t able topass Ahmedabad district pan-chayat’s budget twice.

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Over 78 per cent of the95,11,732 voters turned out

to cast their votes for the 65Legislative Assembly con-stituencies that went to polls inAssam in the first phase onMonday even as both the rulingCongress and the BJP-ledalliance claimed that they wouldsecure majority of the seats outof those polled on Monday.

The polling percentage islikely to be little over 80 percent as the election officials arestill waiting reports from somepolling stations.

The polling in Assam start-ed at 7 am and people came outin huge numbers to queuebefore the polling stationsacross the state.

“We have recorded 78.45per cent of polling till evening

but the final polling percentageis likely to cross little over 80 percent. We are still waiting forfinal reports from some pollingstations,” said Chief ElectoralOfficer Vijayendra while addingthat the poll remained peacefuland without any incident.

A total of 65 EVMs devel-oped snags in some con-stituencies but those werereplaced later and smoothpolling resumed.

The officials recordedhighest polling of 85.19 percent in Chabua constituencywhile Sarupathar (Golaghat)and Haflong (Dima Hasao)recorded lowest turnout of vot-ers of only 67 per cent.

The 65 constituencies thatwent to the polls on Mondayincluded those located inUpper Assam, north bank andin Barak valley. While ten con-

stituencies of the 65 werereserved for Scheduled Tribes(ST), three of those polled onMonday reserved forScheduled Castes (SC).

Assam Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi, who cast hisvote at Jorhat, expressed hap-piness over the large scalepolling and said that theCongress would get most of theseats of the 65. “We are happythat the polling percentage isgood. I hope we will be in aposition to get majority ofthese 65,” said Gogoi, while alsoappreciating the young votersin the State for coming out tocast their votes.

Similarly, BJP presidentSarbananda Sonowal alsothanked the people of Assamfor such large turnout of voters.“People wants a change and sothey have come out in suchgood numbers. I hope BJP willget good number of seats inMonday’s polling and will comeout as a single majority party,’said Sonowal.

Sonowal, who has contest-ed from Majuli constituency,cast his vote at Dibrugarh.

It may be mentioned herethat while the banned outfitUlfa had urged the people tovote against ‘communal’ partylike BJP, a group of intellectu-als in Assam had also recentlyappealed to the people ofAssam not to vote for the BJP,which, however, stirred adebate across the state.

Chief of Bodoland Peoples’Front (BPF), which is an ally ofthe BJP in the polls, however,said that people of Assam donot cast their vote on theadvice of the intellectuals andsaid that people of Assam aresmart enough to elect the can-didate they think best.

There were some incidentsof sporadic clashes betweensupporters of rival parties inMerapani, Majuli, Sootea andsome other places. He securi-ty forces deployed in the area,however, contained the situa-tion immediately.

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Battle lines are drawn inTamil Nadu for the

Assembly election scheduledfor May 16. Monday, the mostauspicious day in the month,saw the ruling AIADMK releas-ing its list of 227 candidates forthe election while the rational-ist DMK reaching an agreementwith the Congress over thenumber of seats to be contest-ed by the Grand Old Party.

The DMK allotted 41 seatsto the Congress out of the total234 seats at stake in TamilNadu. This is a comedown forthe Congress, which had con-tested 63 seats in the 2011Assembly election.

“There is nothing surprisingin this scenario. It is a seller’smarket for the DMK while theCongress is in a weak wicket nowbecause of the exit of the factionled by GK Vasan from the party,”N Kalyanasundaram, TamilNadu’s chronicler and a keenobserver of the Congress for thelast six decades, told The Pioneer.

Though the Congress wasbargaining hard for at least 50seats, the DMK stood itsground that the party would beoffered one seat in each of theLok Sabha constituency in theState. There are 39 Lok Sabhaseats in Tamil Nadu. It isreported that Congress got twomore seats at the instance ofKanimozhi, Karunanidhi'sdaughter by his third wife,who has good rapport withsenior leaders of the Congress.

The constituencies to becontested by the Congresswould be finalised over the nexttwo-three days , according toEVKS Elangovan. A safari-clad senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad drovedown to Karunanidhi’s palatialGopalapuram residence inChennai on Monday morningto sign the deal. He was accom-panied by Elangovan andAICC representative MukulWasnik. Karunanidhi wasjoined by son MK Stalin anddaughter Kanimozhi making ita close family affair.

“Under the leadership ofKarunanidhi ji, we had twomeetings. We met earlier ontwo occasions. Here is theyoung leadership. We havesigned a deal of 41 seats to theCongress. I am sure that underthe leadership of Sonia Gandhiat national level andKarunanidhi at State level, wewould be able to form theGovernment. In the last twodecades, the AIADMK wasnever in power for consecutive

terms. This time it is the turnof the DMK to lead theGovernment underKarunanidhi’s leadership,” saidAzad while speaking toreporters after the deal was bro-kered with Karunanidhi.

Even before the DMK andthe Congress formalised theiragreement over the number ofseats to be contested, JJayalalithaa, the AIADMK gen-eral secretary, who is also theChief Minister, released thenames of the 227 party candi-dates and the constituencies to

be contested by them.Jayalalithaa will seek re-electionfrom RK Nagar, a Chennai sub-urb from where she was elect-ed with a record margin of1,50,722 votes in June 2015after the Karnataka High Courtacquitted her of all charges inthe disproportionate asset case.

The AIADMK has allottedseven seats to its allies, most-ly fringe caste outfits.Jayalalithaa has fielded PanrutiRamachandran, Pandiarajanand Parithi Ilamvazhithi whohad crossed over to the

AIADMK from DMDK andthe DMK respectively. Thoughit was reported earlier that theTMC led by former unionminister G K Vasan may alignwith the AIADMK, the listreleased by Jayalalithaa onMonday has no mention aboutthe TMC.

While the People’s WelfareFront has reached an agree-ment over the number of seatsto be contested by the con-stituents, the BJP is yet tocome out with the full list ofparty candidates.

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In a major political row, formerPrime Minister and JDS

national president HDDevegowda was not given anaudience with KarnatakaGovernor Vajubhai Vala onMonday. The major Oppositionparties — both BJP and JDS —are opposing creation of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) by theruling Congress Governmentled by Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah which is expectedto weaken the Lokayukta.

According to Devegowdadespite seeking an appointmentto submit a memorandum toabolish controversial ACB withthe Governor, he (Governor)refused to meet the former PMciting that the Governor was“resting” and asleep. After apadayatra from the MahatmaGandhi statue to Freedom Park,Gowda tried to meet Vala toimpress upon him the need toabolish the newly formed ACB.Gowda was made to wait insidethe premises for 45 minutesbefore being turned away with-out an audience with Vala.

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At least one person was killed and 20 othersincluding a policeman were injured after

suspected militants triggered a blast at Dudhnoiin Assam’s Goalpara district.

Police said that the explosion took placearound 6.20 pm on Monday near the Dudhnoipolice station injuring a policeman and 19 other

civilians. Although all the injured were rushed tothe hospital, the doctors declared one of the injuredas brought dead. The police suspect the hands ofanti-talk faction of Ulfa militants behind the blast.

It may be mentioned here that the Goalparadistrict that borders West Garo Hills district ofMeghalaya have been ravaged by the activitiesof Garo Hills based militant outfit—GaroNational Liberation Army (GNLA).

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As part of its mission to make itspresence felt all over India, the

AIADMK led by J Jayalalithaa onMonday announced that the partywould field candidates in poll-boundPudussery and Kerala.

While the AIADMK will contestall the 30 seats in Pudussery, the partyhas fielded seven candidates inneighbouring Kerala. The PudusseryAIADMK had been strengthened bythe inclusion of P Kannan, formerMP and a senior Congress leader inthe union territory.

Jayalalithaa has released the names of all theAIADMK candidates who will be contestingfrom Pudussery and Kerala. Biju Ramesh, a lead-ing liquor contractor and son of late Rameshan

Contractor is the party's candidate fromThiruvananthapuram. BijuRamesh was the businessman whoplayed a crucial role in the resig-nation of KM Mani as the FinanceMinister of Kerala in connectionwith the liquor licence pay off.

The AIADMK is contestingfrom six other constituencies in thedistricts of Palakkadu and Idukkiwhere there is a considerable Tamilpopulation. The party had openedits account in the local body elec-tion held in Kerala in 2015 by win-ning six seats in Palakkadu and

Idukki districts. “Though the party had contestedthe 2011 assembly election, this time we havebeen enthused because of the results of the localbody election,” Venugopal Srinivasan, treasurerof Kerala AIADMK, told The Pioneer.

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After the Congress-ledOpposition staged

massive protests in theMaharashtra Assemblyover his “Bharat Mata KiJai” remark at a publicrally at Nashik,Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavison Monday hit back at hispolitical rivals, saying his state-ment was well within the ambitof the Constitution and thatirrespective of whether heremained as the CM or not, hewould continue to chant the slo-gan hailing Bharat Mata.

Justifying his statement athis Nashik public rally that“those refusing to say ‘BharatMata Ki Jai’ have no right to livein India”, Fadnavis said,“Whatever I said at the rally waswell within the ambit of the

Constitution. I have spokenagainst who make anti-nation-al statements. I have not spokenagainst any particular caste,region or individual. WhateverI said was that those who do notlove this country have no rightto live in this country. Whatwrong have I done in saying so?”

Advising theOpposition not to rakeup avoidable controver-sies and waste the timeof the House, Fadnavissaid, “I said Bharat MataKi Jai yesterday, todayand I will chant the

same tomorrow as well. So willthe entire country do”

Fadnavis’ spirited reply cameafter former CM PrithivirajChavan and senior Congressleader targeted the former say-ing, “We would like the ChiefMinister to clarify if he spoke inhis capacity as Chief Minister ofthe state or as a RSS activist? Theconstitution and the citizenshiplaws will decide who will stay ornot stay in this country”. Leaderof the Opposition RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil demanded an apol-ogy from Fadnavis.

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In a relief for Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF ahead of the May

16 Assembly election, the HighCourt on Monday dismissed apetition filed by Saritha S Nair,prime accused in the infamoussolar scam, seeking a CBI probeinto the alleged role of ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy in oneof the scam-related cases. Thecourt dismissed the plea by airingsuspicions over the petitioner’scredibility and observing that it waspolitically motivated.

The court’s decision and itsobservations against Saritha Naircame as a big relief personally andpolitically for Chandy, who was theother day accused of sexually abus-ing her at his official residence inThiruvananthapuram as per a lettershe herself had reportedly writtenwhile in police custody in July, 2013.

While considering Saritha’spetition seeking a CBI probe overone of the 33 solar scam-relatedcases involving her and MallelilSreedharan Nair, a businessmanwho had invested money in hersolar power venture allegedly onthe basis of Chandy’s advice, JusticeB Kemal Pasha of the High Courtsaid she as prime accused in thecase could not make such a request.

In the petition, Saritha hadpointed out that the role allegedlyplayed by the Chief Minister inencouraging Nair to invest in hersolar power business and her to goahead with the business had notbeen investigated by a special inves-tigation team constituted by theGovernment. It was in this contextthat she had sought a probe at a high-er level against the Chief Minister.

Saritha had sought an order fora CBI probe on the basis of the evi-dences she had submitted beforethe judicial panel looking into thescam. Pointing out that SreedharanNair, the de facto complainant inthe scam-related case, had notrequested for an investigation,

Justice Pasha asked how SarithaNair, accused in the case, could seeka probe on his behalf.

Observing that Saritha herselflacked credibility as she was anaccused in 33 fraud cases pertainingto the duping of members of thepublic of several crores of rupees, thejudge said her plea against the ChiefMinister was politically motivated.Justice Pasha said he could notallow the courtroom to be turnedinto a poll-time political play ground.

Dismissing the petition asdevoid of merits, the judge saidSaritha could raise her contentionsabout the allegedly improper natureof the probe in the trial court. Hercounsel said she was willing to pro-duce evidences to back her claimsbefore the court, but the judgerefused to entertain the argument.

The rejection of the con woman’splea for CBI probe and the sharpcriticisms the court leveled againsther are sure to be used by Chandyand his supporters to strengthentheir defences against the allegationcontained in the letter Saritha thathe had sexually abused her.

Stating that he was examiningthe option of initiating legal actionagainst Saritha, Chandy said onMonday, “There are big financialforces behind these allegations. It

is part of a conspiracy to upset theprospects of the UDF in theAssembly election.”

However, Monday saw theappearance of telephone call datarecords (CDRs) in the media sug-gesting that Saritha could have hadclose connections with the ChiefMinister, his personal staff, Cabinetmembers and senior Congressleaders. As per the CDRs, Sarithahad made called into Chandy’s offi-cial number after she was releasedon bail last year.

The CDRs released by themedia on Monday also showed that37 phone conversations had takenplace between her and Chandy’spolitical secretary. As many as 541phone conversations had takenplace between her and StateCongress general secretaryThampanoor Ravi, a close aide ofChandy, reports said.

Meanwhile, Opposition LeaderVS Achuthanandan on Mondayasked the Congress high commandto keep Chandy and the otherparty leaders against whom chargesof immorality had been leveledaway from contesting in the upcom-ing Assembly election. “A detailedprobe should be held to bringChandy and other tainted men tobook,” Achuthanandan said.

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In cases related to postGodhra train carnage riots, a

local court in North Gujarattown Thara acquitted as manyas 61 accused due to lack of evi-dences on Monday. Out ofthese accused three are dead.

In a case pertaining torioting and arson in the mar-ket place of Thara town situat-ed in Banaskantha district,there were 30 accused. Inanother case in which a mobdamaged shops and roadsidecabins, there were 31 accused.

Mohammad KhanMakarani and Shamsher KhanMakrani had lodged complaintfor these cases.

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After getting elected for the ninthconsecutive term as national

president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD), Lalu Prasad has reconstitut-ed the party’s national executive andappointed office bearers.

In the national executive apartfrom four close family members —wife Rabri Devi, two sons TejashwiPrasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadavand daughter Misa Bharti — Laluhas included former Siwan MP andstrongman MohammadShahabuddin as members.

Shahabuddin is behind bars forover a decade and convicted in somecases while many more criminalcases are still pending against him. Hehad been debarred to contest pollsand as a result RJD fielded his wifeHena Shahab in parliamentary elec-tion from Siwan twice but she lost.

It also showed that after his con-viction and sentencing, the RJD didnot expel Shahabuddin from the

party. Party leaders and evenMinisters pay visits to him in jail andseek his blessings. Recently, MinorityWelfare Minister Abdul Ghafoor ofRJD and one MLA visited him in thejail and photographs of their meet-ing went viral on the social media.After much hue and cry the govern-ment suspended the jailer but no

action was taken against the Minister.“If a convicted man (Lalu) is

heading the party, he loves to keepconvicted people in his party andgive them honour,” a comment onFacebook reads.

Senior BJP leader and formerDeputy CM Sushil Kumar Moditweeted, “By keeping 51% share in

the family, Lalu Prasad has convert-ed a political party into his privatelimited company. In the 8-membernational executive, he kept wife, twosons and daughter and among thefour outsiders one is Shahabuddinwho has convicted in the murder oftwo sons of a trader.”

A senior RJD leader who did notwant to be identified quipped, “It is his(Lalu’s) party. He is supreme and canappoint anybody. Who can object?”

Modi said had CM NitishKumar ot been working under thepressure of a family party, theMinister who met Shahabudin in theoffice of the Siwan jailer would havebeen sacked. It showed that this gov-ernment is openly patronising thecriminals, he alleged.

Lalu has appointed RaghuvanshPrasad Singh, Taslimuddin, MangniLal Mandal, Ilyas Hussain andAnnapurna Devi as vice presidentand retained Prem Chand Gupta astreasurer. S M Qamar Alam has beenappointed secretary general.

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The much-awaited report ofthe judicial enquiry com-

mission into the Forbesganj fir-ing, which had claimed fourlives in 2011, was tabled in theBihar Assembly on Monday,the last day of the over-a-month-long Budget Session.

The commission headedby retired judge MadhvendraSaran has indicted then DM ofAraria M Sarvanan and SHO ofForbesganj police station AnilKumar Gupta for their negli-gence. About Sarvanan, a 1986-batch Bihar cadre IAS officerwho is now on central deputa-tion, the report said, “There isnothing to indicate that hetook any personal interest inresolving the dispute….he didnot care to solve the road dis-pute problem at his level ….. heput the pressure upon the SDOfor getting the boundary wallconstructed without personal-ly taking any step for solving thedispute between the parties.”

The report however,absolved then Araria SPGarima Mallick and noted thatshe tried to control the situa-tion to the best of her admin-istrative capacity. The com-mission accused total intelli-gence failure in the matter.

The Government in itsaction taken report said it

accepted the observation of thecommission about Sarvananthat he took no personal inter-est in solving the dispute. Thegovernment has also directedthe general administrationdepartment to seek clarificationfrom the IAS officer and takesuitable action against him.

The incident took place in

the Forbesganj under Arariadistrict on June 3, 2011 inwhich four persons including awoman and a child, all belong-ing to minority community,were killed in firing between thepolice and the unruly mobwhich allegedly attacked anupcoming industrial unit atthe industrial area. The reasonbehind the alleged incidentwas said to be the fact that thefactory reportedly obstructedthe movement of the villagersliving in nearby villagesBhajanpura and Rampur byconstructing wall over the roadpassing through the area.

After the incident, whichhad created much political hueand cry, a policeman wasshown furiously stomping onthe cadaver of a man fell dur-ing police firing. The commis-sion came to the conclusionthat, "The video footage primafecie substantiate the allegationagainst home guard SunilKumar Yadav that he hadjumped on the body of injuredMustafa Ansari." FIR was filedagainst Yadav and he wasarrested. A charge sheet hadbeen submitted ad the trial ispending in the court of addi-tional session judge at Araria.

The commission, which jus-tified the police firing, found thata group of villagers in themosque of Forbesganj instigat-ed others and "on being pro-voked the villagers turned intoa mob and some anti social ele-ments of the areas also reachedthere and due to provocation allof them demolished the wall andcommitted various offences."

Saying that the firing by thepolice was "necessary", thecommission observed, "Thepolice firing was imperative tosave lives of police personneland officers and also safeguardthe public properties. There isno cogent evidence to showthat while making such firingthe provision of police manu-al was not followed."

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Seeking to developHyderabad into number one

in the Information Technologysector in India, the TelanganaGovernment on Mondayunveiled its new IT policy.

Apart from the IT policy,the State Government has alsounveiled four sector specificpolicies for the sectors of inno-vation gaming — animation,rural technology and electron-ic designing and manufacturing.

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao unveiledthe new policy in the presenceof the state governor ESLNarasimhan and top leaders ofthe IT companies from theacross the country including theInfosys founder NR NarayanaMurthy on Monday afternoon.

Speaking on the occasionthe Chief Minister said theGovernment was going all out tofurther accelerate the growth ofthe State and IT sector had a veryimportant role to play in this.

Single window system ofclearance of the investmentproposals had proved a hugesuccess and 1,691 projects werecleared under this system with-in a very short period of 15days, he said. “There was noscope for any corruption orirregularities in this,” the Chief

Minister said.Inviting the

industry to makeHyderabad their base,the Chief Ministers said,“The policies, the environmentand the people of Telangana areall industry friendly.”

Governor ESL Narasimhanhailed the new IT policy for itsfocus on extending the ITfacilities to the rural areas. Heurged the business and theindustry to join hands with theState Government for thedevelopment of the State.

The highlight of the pro-gramme was signing of MOUsby 20 companies with the StateGovernment for setting up

new projects in Hyderabad.Leading IT entrepreneur

and the Chairman of Industrybody NASSCOM BVR MohanReddy said that �10,000 crorewill be spent on the develop-ment of “Digital Telangana”over the next three years.

Highlighting the highlydeveloped infrastructure avail-able in the State, he said, “The

State has amasing transportlink enabling the peo-

ple to reach fromHyderabad toany districtheadquarter injust two hours.”

The Statehas come up

with new IT pol-icy at a time when

Hyderabad has regis-tered IT exports of �68,250

crore this year.Apple, Amazong and

Google are among the IT giantswho have already announcedtheir plans to set up big projectsin Hyderabad.

State Minister forInformation Technology KTaraka Rama Rao, expressinghis happiness over the way theIT policy was finalised said,“Hyderabad has been numbertwo in IT sector for the last 25years. But now our goal is tomake Hyderabad number one

in the sector in India”, stressingthat the Government will pro-vide the best infrastructurefacilities to the IT companiesinvesting in the city.

He said that the new policywill encourage the youth of boththe rural and the urban areas andattract them to the IT sector.

Hyderabad has alreadyattracted a large number ofgaming and animation com-panies and many more willcome, he added.

He said that the unprece-dented sops will be extended toanimation and gaming indus-try in the State.

On the occasion the ChiefMinister and the Governoralso unveiled the first LED bulbmanufactured in the State.

Meanwhile, Microsoft,Aries Group Dubai, Max Touchand Cisco were among thecompanies which have signedMOUs or the Letters of Intentwith the Government of Indiato set up various projects inHyderabad.

Development Bank ofSingapore, largest bank inSouth East Asia in assets, willset up its first global technol-ogy development Center inHyderabad. The proposedfacility will have work force of1,500 people supporting thebank’s global IT operations.

Jammu: The advance onlinebooking for the helicopter ser-vices during this year’s AmarnathYatra began on Monday. TheYatra will start on July 2 and con-clude on August 18.

This year’s helicopter ser-vices will be provided by PawanHans Limited (PHL) andGlobal Vectra Helicorp Limited(GVHL) on Neelgrath-Panjtarni-Neelgrath sector andHimalayan Heli Services PrivateLimited (HHSPL) onPahalgam-Panjtarni-Pahalgam sector, anofficial spokesman said.

“The guidelines for book-ing the heli tickets are availableon the shrine’s board website.Links of heli operators websitesfor ticket booking are alsoavailable on the same website,”the spokesperson said.

The one-way heli fare fromNeelgrath-Panjtarni-Neelgrathsector has been fixed at �2,000and from Pahalgam-Panjtarni-Pahalgam sector at �4,300inclusive of service tax of 12.6per cent, he said. PTI

Mumbai: Authorities inMaharashtra’s Latur town,which is experiencing anunprecedented water scarcitythis summer, on Monday saidthey have decided to deploypolice at water supply spots ifthe situation demands.

“The municipal corpora-tion has already deployed homeguards at the water tanks. Ifneeded, we will deploy policethere to prevent law and orderissue over water supply,” LaturSuperintendent of PoliceDnyanesh Chavan said.

“There are six main watertanks in Latur. There is alreadya police chowki next to one ofthe tanks. We have increasedpatrolling in these areas,”Chavan said.

Amid an unprecedentedscarcity of water, district col-lector Pandurang Pol lastmonth clamped section 144 ofCrPC in drought-strickenLatur to bar assembly of morethan five people around thewells and water filling points toprevent possible violence.

The order was in force tillMarch 31. PTI

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Page 8: 1 ˙ + *$#2 * 6 ; 2&˘&2˘ 3 425, 67 :7ˆ:˙7 69: ˚C69ˆ ˙ :ˆ8 ... Singh and nine members of his family, promoters of Apollo Tyres and Indiabulls to Gautam Adani’s elder brother

On Holi, last month,Muslims in somecities stepped for-ward to shower fes-tival processions

with petals and participate in‘Holika dahan’, symbolising thetriumph of purity over evil. Thisis not the first time the commu-nity has made such spontaneousgestures of goodwill. But it is atime when voices within IndianIslam are struggling to be heardon issues of fundamentalism,terrorism, and their links withcertain preachers and madrassas,and on secular concerns such astriple-talaq that threatens thephysical and emotional securityof women and children.

It needs be said that sincePrime Minister Narendra Modiswept to power on a developmentplank, some have tried to project thevictory in triumphalist tones.Instances of harassment of personsaccused of eating or selling beef dis-turb the social fabric; mercifully, thepolice have wasted no time inapprehending such malcontents.

With Ram Navami round thecorner, it may be appropriate to askour countrymen to end the tortu-ous litigation over the Babri Masjid/Ram Janmasthan and consider thematter dispassionately. This writerdoes not favour pressuring theSupreme Court to prioritise theRam Janmabhoomi case whensuits affecting the lives of lakhs oflitigants are pending for decades.However, the Allahabad HighCourt verdict of 2010, which gaveone-third of the disputed land tothe Muslim litigant, is utterlyunsatisfactory and unworkable.Its sole merit is that it put all evi-dence regarding the dispute onrecord; this deserves careful read-ing by all interested in the subject.

Some of the most compellingevidence on Ayodhya, from thelocation of the ancient city to theownership and occupation of theland, was discovered by BR Grover(d 2001), former Chairman,Indian Council of HistoricalResearch. Grover was justlyrenowned for his archival researchand enjoyed a formidable reputa-tion as an authority on Mughalland revenue administration.

His extensive study of the orig-inal land revenue documents andmaps of Ayodhya, judicial records,accounts of eye-witnesses whotravelled to Ayodhya in earlierperiods, Babur’s memoirs, andother documents and manuscriptsin various libraries (in Persian,Arabic, Chaghatay-Turkish, Urdu,Sanskrit, Punjabi and English) havesince been published in a single vol-

ume, Rama Janamabhoomi:Professor BR Grover’s Analysis ofRevenue Records and HistoricalFacts, ed. Amrita Grover, Dr AnjuGrover Chaudhary, Originals, Delhi, 2015.

Grover spent months at the dis-trict office in Faizabad, studying theabadi maps, hadbast maps and rev-enue settlement maps of 1851,1893 and 1936-37. He examined theearliest revenue documentary evi-dence traceable to the early 18thcentury, including those of theNawabi period and the Britishascent, from 1856 onwards, that arelinked with the Mughal pattern ofrevenue administration.

Examining records relating tovillage Ram Kot, Haveli Awadh,available at the District RecordOffice at Faizabad, from 1861 to1990-91, Grover discovered thatfrom the time of the first RegularSettlement in 1861, the land wasshown as nazul (Government) andthat this had not been disputed orchallenged by anyone. The firstRegular Settlement Report of KotRam Chandra, appended by twomaps, was the most comprehensivedocument relating to theJanmasthan complex comprisingRam Janmabhoomi.

One map was prepared after anon the spot survey and measure-ment of the khasras relating to kisht-war and abadi. As per erstwhileNawabi and Mughal practice, it wasattested in every respect by the localzamindars/pattidars of variousmahalunits, the local revenue offi-cials and witnesses.

The Settlement Report of 1861was also based on previous summa-ry settlements of 1858-60, anddepicted the exact position ofJanmasthan/Masjid and neigh-bouring plots as inherited from theNawabi period. The revenue doc-uments declared the superior own-ership of the land as Sarkar BahadurNazul (Government) with theMahants as under-proprietors(malikan-i-matahit) of the entireJanmasthan complex.

The Settlement Report of 1893clearly named the sub-plot onwhich the masjid was situated asSita Ki Rasoi. SubsequentSettlement Reports of 1936-37 and1989-90 maintained the same posi-tion. There is absolutely no mentionof Babri Masjid in the documentspreserved by the RevenueDepartment at the Collectorateand Tehsil at Faizabad.

More pertinently, there is no

mention in the revenue recordsfrom 1858 to 1991 of any land inRamkot attached to the masjid as‘waqf ’, for its maintenance. In1936, the Commissioner of Waqfsordered an inquiry under the UPMuslim Waqfs Act into the own-ership of the property. The inquiryasserted that Babri Masjid wasbuilt by Babar, a Sunni Muslim, in 1528.

Even Mohammad Zaki,descendant of the Mutawalli fam-ily, claimed in 1938 that Babar builtthe mosque and appointed AbdulBaqi its Mutawalli and Khattib andprovided an annual grant for main-tenance of the mosque and the fam-ily of the Mutawalli. After the fallof the Mughals, the Awadh Nawabincreased the grant. Later, theBritish provided cash grant till1864, with some conditions, andentered the mutawalli family in therevenue records as superior propri-etors and possessors in possessionof the property (malik-i-ala qabizwa mutsarif jadaid).

The descendants argued thatproperty listed as malkiyat-i-alacould not be regarded a Muslimwaqf. Further, grants made by theBritish Government, a non-Muslimbody, could not constitute a Muslimwaqf. Neither the Sunni nor ShiaBoards of Waqfs, constituted by theUP Muslim Waqfs Act of 1936,made any provisions for the upkeepof the Masjid. Thereafter, the dis-puted mosque found no mention inthe list of waqfs published in theGovernment Gazette of 1944.

With such tenuous title,Muslims can easily relinquish claimto the site. A mosque is a congre-gational space, whereas Hindutemples are dwellings of god onearth. In Hindu law and sacredtexts, temple property cannot be lostunder any circumstances, even ifdispossessed for hundreds of years.The Dharma Shastras assert that therights of a deity are in perpetuityand cannot be curtailed even by aking. The deity (murti) is a legal per-son and the concept of juristic per-sonality extends to place (sthan), ifheld sacred by devotees.

Finally, Islamic law does notsanction creation of a mosque onan occupied site. As the Babrimosque was unambiguously erect-ed on the ruins of an extant grandtemple, Muslims should withdrawfrom the site and the dispute. KKMuhammad, former RegionalDirector (North), ArchaeologicalSurvey of India, blames Left histo-rians for instigating and manipulat-ing those who were seriously con-sidering return of the site. Muslimsshould rethink their associationwith such elements.�

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Needless over-reaction” (April 4).In a secular democracy, religionshould have secondary signifi-cance. Therefore, religious organi-sations cannot claim paramountcyover the nation. Faith is indeed aprivate affair of the citizen and reli-gious outfits cannot exist sans acountry. A democratically-electedsecular Government holds an unas-sailable authority to invalidate allreligious concepts/tenets that jeop-ardise the existence and develop-ment of the nation. Our religiousand political honchos are wellaware of the basic ethics of seculardemocracy and yet are workinghand-in-glove for disruption.

TKM KumbalamchuvattilMuvattupuzha

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Minimum Government, maxi-mum governance” (April 4) byJoginder Singh. Unless the UnionGovernment decides to rejig therecruitment policy, there will be lit-tle change in the nature of gover-nance. Public participation in gov-ernance must be widened by directentry to professionals from the pri-

vate sector in the bureaucracy,especially at middle-levels.

India must not debar the con-tributions that new talents canmake. In fact, when these newfaces, with greater competence,join the Government at the mid-dle-level, the entire image of theGovernment will change.

Anjani Kumar Via web

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The Kolkata flyover tragedy is achronicle of a disaster foretold. Theflyover was in a dilapidated condi-tion even though it had yet to becompleted. Engineers had cau-tioned the Mamata BanerjeeGovernment against the rustingframework of the flyover’s super-structure. This was compounded bythe humid conditions in the city.Apparently, the bridge collapsedbecause the pillar supporting theoverhead structure could not bearthe weight of the concrete.

What is all the more intriguingis that the collapse of the flyover sawWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee at her usualgame of trying to win cheap pop-ularity and making political gainsfrom a tragedy. Remember, her

catchy pre-poll promise was to turnKolkata into London. That dreamwill have to wait now.

J AkshayBangalore

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The Kolkata flyover tragedy is a bloton our system. As expected, theblame-game began soon after theincident, and both the CommunistParty of India (Marxist) and theTrinamool Congress, passed thebuck to to each other. However,none can escape accountability.

Agreed, the Hyderabad-basedcompany, IVRCL, was given thecontract by the CPI(M) in 2009, butwhen the TMC took over in 2011,the contract should have been can-celled and given to some reputedfirm as the construction work hadjust begun. But the MamataBanerjee Government and itsMinisters and bureaucrats werebusy with other matters and did notpay attention. IVRCL has beenblacklisted in many States andeven by Indian Railways.

Sagar SinghNew Delhi

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On the heels of PrimeMinister NarendraModi’s visit to Saudi

Arabia, Union Minister forPetroleum and Natural GasDharmendra Pradhan will visitIran from April 6 to April 7, toengage with top leadership ofthe oil and gas-rich nation.This visit is significant becauseit was only recently that P5+1powers lifted sanctions againstIran. India must now grab theopportunity under the newsituation as far as oil and gas-related issues are concerned.

India’s attempt to expediteengagement with the energy-rich country comes in thebackground of expectationsaround Iran opening up itssubstantive hydrocarbonreserves to Indian companies,which may also include pro-duction-sharing contracts.

Currently, India importscrude oil from Saudi Arabiaand Nigeria. India’s crude oil

import from Africa and SouthAmerica rose by 10 per centeach, as Indian refiners boughtheavier but cheap grade oil.

The Petroleum Minister’svisit will send good signals tothe people of Iran. India wantsto convey to Iran that it great-ly values their economic andstrategic relationship. It isexpected that in Tehran,Pradhan will meet Iran’sPetroleum Minister BijanNamdar Zangeneh and willdiscuss the possibility ofbuilding a gas pipeline fromIran to India.

Certainly, India will wooIran, after the United States andother powers removed a widerange of sanctions against Iran,once the International AtomicEnergy Agency confirmed thatTehran had met its commit-ments to rollback its nuclearprogramme, under an agree-ment with China, France,Russia, the United Kingdom,

the US and Germany.Ever since the sanctions

against Iran were lifted, Indiaand Iran have held extensivediscussions on key bilateraland regional issues includingsecurity, energy, and connectiv-ity. New Delhi is looking to re-energise its ties with Iran.During the 13th round ofIndia-Iran Foreign OfficeConsultations in February,chaired by India’s ForeignSecretary S Jaishankar andIranian Deputy Minister forAsia and Pacific AffairsEbrahim Rahimpour, the twosides reviewed the entire gamutof bilateral ties.

After India and the USsigned a civil nuclear deal in2008, several Iran-relatedIndian projects were eitherput on hold or dropped. Indiaalso focused on theTurkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipelineinstead of the Iran-Pakistan-

India gas pipeline project. When talking about

pipeline projects, one shouldkeep in mind the recent visitof Iran’s President HassanRouhani to Pakistan. InPakistan, Rouhani discussedthe pipeline project. It is notclear if India figured in theirtalks on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline issue. India hasnot taken part in the talks onthe 1,036-km Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline since 2007,citing security and commercial concerns.

Rouhani arrived inPakistan on a landmark visit,his first since he became thePresident of Iran, at a timewhen Saudi Arabia is courtingIslamabad to increase partic-ipation in a new Saudi-ledmilitary alliance of mostlySunni nations, a coalitionperceived by Tehran as ananti-Shiite block. It is hardlycoincidental that just a few

days after Rouhani’s visit toPakistan, Prime MinisterModi was in Riyadh.

Returning to India-Iranties, it is believed that withIran coming to the market,there will be a further slide inoil prices. India will be one ofthe beneficiaries of slidingoil prices.

There are also some dif-ferences between India andIran. India is going to facesome unpleasant realitiesabout its most fundamentalpolicy departure: A negativevote at the InternationalAtomic Energy Agencyagainst Iran’s nuclear record.How can New Delhi be surethat Tehran will overlookIndia’s vote at the IAEA?

It may be recalled thatIndia had cut down oil pur-chases from Iran — from 21.2million tonnes of crude in2009-2010 to 11 million tonnesin 2013-2014. Further, Indian

firms have so far shied awayfrom investing in Iran.

But after the nuclear dealwas signed, India is making arenewed pitch for rights todevelop 12.8 trillion cubic feetof gas reserves that ONGCVidesh Ltd had found in 2008.India is also likely to push forthe implementation of theIran-Pakistan-India gaspipeline. The pipeline fromthe Iranian coast via the OmanSea and Indian Ocean toGujarat is expected to carry31.5 million standard cubicmetres of gas per day.

It is high time that Indiawoos Iran. Hopefully, the visitof Pradhan to Tehran will bepath-breaking in terms ofIndia-Iran ties. It will alsopave the way for the visit ofModi to Tehran and forRouhani to visit New Delhi inthe near future.

(The writer is a member ofRajya Sabha)

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Nestled in a sleepy ruralexpanse, Goreakothi is alively village in the Siwan dis-trict of Bihar. It is not locat-ed on a highway, and you

have to negotiate serpentine roads to reachthe village. Despite this geographicalobscurity, Goreakothi is one of the mostadvanced villages in our country. It hasseveral schools, a college, a hospital, ablock development office, and otherfacilities of a town. The credit for this goesprimarily to the 100-year-old NarayanKarmyogi Vidyalaya.

NKV was founded as KarmayogiVidyalaya on January 24, 1916 by a sonof the village, Narayan Prasad Singh(1887-1950), popularly known as Narayanbabu, for his social awakening and ruralregeneration. This was before theMahatma launched a similar programmein Champaran. The influence of thenational education movement of theSwadeshi days was still in the air. On theMahatma’s call for boycott in 1921, thisschool turned into a national school andlost Government aid. However, thefounder of the school ran it with his per-sonal resources till aid was resumed. NKVthrived as a centre of cultural creativity:By 1929, Goreakothi had a library and atheatre troupe, ushering in this remoteinterior the ripples of national awakening.Narayan babu also brought out a Hindiweekly named Yogi (1933-72).

The school also aspired to be a col-lege, but in view of the growing nation-alist activities around, the colonial author-ities blocked the move. The school’sbenefactors did not lose heart though.They embarked on larger projects and thevillage became a hub of self-awakeningactivities against the British Raj. By 1939,the school had an impressive building ona huge campus, complete with staff quar-

ters and a hostel for more than 200 stu-dents, drawn from Bihar, Bengal and theUnited Provinces.

The students were expected to live asimple and disciplined life and encouragedto participate in sports, cleaning, garden-ing, and farming. But coming from well-to-do families, many of the studentsabhorred such work. Therefore, Narayanbabu stayed in the hostel to help themlearn. He would start with the daily choresand others would follow him. Emphasiswas on character-building and overalldevelopment. Though located in a village,the school welcomed modern ideas andnew knowledge. It forged a bridgebetween the traditional gurukul and amodern school.

Its infrastructure was meticulouslyplanned to reflect its ideals. The mainbuilding faced a sunlit spacious groundfor sports and extra curricular activities.The adjacent hostel, facing east, lapped upthe bounties of nature — the morningbreeze, the rising sun and the starry sky.It was laid out in E-shape, with a large ovalplatform at the centre where studentsassembled for prayer and lectures on goodliving and high thinking. Each of its roomsfaced flowerbeds and the vegetable gar-den. There were two notice boards thatdisplayed world news for the public, espe-cially during World War II.

Narayan babu admired BalGangadhar Tilak and was inspired by thephilosophy of karmayoga of the BhagavadGita. So, instead of inciting revolt againstthe Raj openly, he explained it to the stu-dents and others regularly, and exhortedthem to follow its ideals. He hosted liter-atures and reformers with social concernssuch as Sahajanand Saraswati andBanarsidas Chaturvedi.

Narayan babu supported the IndianNational Congress and actively participat-

ed in the freedom movement. He used theschool as a nursery for his party’s pro-grammes which he competently execut-ed in the district as Congress president.He was elected as a member of the CentralLegislative Assembly in 1926 and was thefirst to speak in Hindi there. Later, he waselected to the Provincial LegislativeAssembly in 1937.

But Narayan babu’s heart lay in thevillage. Therefore, he promptly respond-ed to the Congress’s village reconstructionprogramme and acted ingeniously totranslate it at the grassroots. He did notreceive any formal education, but he knewPersian, Urdu, Hindi and Bhojpuri, andgradually learned English. His talent andpragmatism found expression in hisactivities to enrich rural life in many ways.

Unlike the Mahatma, Narayan babumodeled his school on modern lines. Buthe admired the basics principles of theMahatma — self-help, cleanliness, com-munity living and holistic development.He took an exemplary initiative to pro-mote female education. His daughter,Shakuntla Sinha, became Bihar’s firstDirector of Public Instruction after inde-pendence; later, another student Shanti Raibecame Bihar’s eminent gynaecologist.

The students and teachers of theschool participated in the freedom strug-gle. They took part in the Mahatma’smovements against the British. They worekhadi, and every morning, marchedthrough the villages to motivate the peo-ple to rise against the Raj. They staged asymbolic Dandi march in 1930, and theTricolour was unfurled at the school onJanuary 26, 1931. This led to a clash withthe police. Dozens of students werearrested and the headmaster dismissed.

Many were fired by revolutionarynationalism: Chandrika Singh and SNChatterjee were in league with the coun-

try’s revolutionary cliques. The village wasoften raided by the police and residentswere sent to jail. Narayan babu was jailedseveral times; yet he realised his dreamswithout any outside support and whileencircled by the indigo planters.

Narayan babu was equally concernedabout the economic life of the area. Hestarted a cooperative dairy farm in theschool and students were encouraged towork on the farms. Later, he introducedcooperative farming in his village, usingnew techniques and tractors disposed offafter World War II. This continued till hisdeath in 1950.

Though historians are yet to take noteof Narayan babu’s contribution, he wasappreciated by his contemporaries.Rajendra Prasad and Rahul Sankrityayanwere frequent visitors to Goreakothi.Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel, Madan Mohan Malaviya, GB Pant,GD Birla and Vinoba Bhave also visitedthe school on different occasions. TheEncyclopaedia Britannica, presented byGD Birla to the school, is still preserved.In 1972, Morarji Desai inaugurated at thesame campus the long-demanded collegeNarayan Mahavidyalaya; Jagjivan Ramgraced NKV’s Diamond Jubilee celebra-tions in 1976.

Narayan babu was a home-growneducationist, whose innovations suc-ceeded because of his dedication andgrassroots approach. The original infra-structure of NKV is depleting under Statecontrol, and it’s questionable if the insti-tute still has the same values that inspiredthe people before independence. Onehopes the Government will considerreviving NKV as a heritage school.

(The writer is associate professor ofHistory at Rajdhani College, Universityof Delhi. He can be reached [email protected])

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�-����F In the biggest privateequity deal in the country, US-listed Blackstone on Mondaysaid it will invest up to �7,071crore to acquire a majoritystake in mid-sized IT servicesexporter Mphasis from HewlettPackard Enterprise.

Blackstone India willacquire HP’s 60.5 per centstake in the company at �430apiece, which will trigger anopen offer for acquiring 26 percent from other shareholders ofMphasis, for which it hasannounced a price of �457.50a share.

Depending on the out-come of the open offer, the USbased asset manager will payanything between �5,466 croreand �7,071 crore for takingcontrol of the IT company.

One of the biggest drawsfor the private equity firm wasa guarantee by HP to source atleast $990 million of workfrom the company over thenext five years as part of a 11-year contract, Blackstone India’sSenior Managing DirectorAmit Dixit told reporters overa conference call.

At present, HP accounts forover 27 per cent of the revenue,which is slated to touch $1 bil-lion this fiscal for theBengaluru-headquarteredcompany, he said.

Mphasis has reduced itsdependence on HP’s business(from 65 per cent contributionto revenues some five years agoto 34 per cent in 2014-15).Also, non-HP business hasbeen growing at 20 per centyear-on-year.

Dixit added Mphasis willalso get recognised as a pre-ferred partner by HP, which

will be revenue accretive for thecompany.

Investors were not soenthused by the deal and thestock was trading 2.87 per centdown at �454 on BSE duringthe pre-close session.

Announcement of thetransaction after signing of adefinitive agreement betweenthe two parties ends specula-

tion over the suitor for the ITexporter, which was put on theblock by Hewlett Packard (HP)Enterprise.

India’s Fifth largest IT com-pany Tech Mahindra and pri-vate equity fund Apollo GlobalManagement were also in therace.

Dixit on Monday saidBlackstone, which has invested

over $6 billion in private equi-ty and realty transactions in thecountry over past decade, hastaken a long-term view whilearriving at the outbidding val-uation and was not driven byrecent performance of Mphasisscrip.

He said the fund invests fora time horizon of five-sevenyears in each investment and is

very bullish on the prospects ofIT sector, in which it has invest-ed $1.4 billion in three bets,including the BPO Intelenetand software as a service firmIBS Software and now Mphasis.Dixit said Blackstone’s globalportfolio companies haverev-enue of over $86 billion, pre-senting a potential spend of over$5 billion per year.

Citing how Intelenet bene-fitted from this in the past, hesaid all the bidding for investeecompany’s IT contracts will bedone at an “arm’s length” byMphasis.

Mphasis’ focus on the lucra-tive banking, financial servicesand insurance vertical, retentionof clients including the top-billing ones and the strong per-formance in the emerging dig-ital space were big positives, hesaid.

Terming Mphasis’ leader-ship team as a strength, Dixitsaid Blackstone will continuewith the same top manage-ment.

There will be more invest-ments in the digital side, includ-ing additional hiring andMphasis may also look forstrategic acquisitions of small-sized players to help the busi-ness, the senior managing direc-tor added.

He also counted onMphasis’ delivery capabilitiesand client satisfaction which wasestablished independently dur-ing due diligence as critical fac-tors which prompted Blackstoneto go for the company.

“All these things give thebusiness a stability, predictabil-ity and growth opportunity,” hesaid.

If there is a full subscriptionto the open offer, there is anarrangement under whichBlackstone will buy only 84 percent of HP’s overall ownershiprepresenting a little over 50 percent of the total stock of Mphasisto ensure that Blackstone’s hold-ing does not breach the 75 percent mark, after which it has to gofor a de-listing, Dixit said. ����

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� ����--��Mphasis is “excit-ed” about the transaction whereBlackstone will be acquiringmajor stake in the company, andit promises accelerated growth,stability and predictability, CEOGanesh Ayyar said.

“I feel like a kid in the toyshop, excited about the poten-tial that is ahead of us,” Ayyartold reporters here.

“....The potential is huge, I’mexcited about it...All of us want-ed to see Mphasis as a compa-ny in the top quadrant of growthand value, and this gives us thatplatform to be in the top quad-rant of growth and value as acompany....”

“I have been talking to var-ious team members and I cansay that the excitement isspreading within Mphasis...; webelieve this can set up a platformfor Mphasis for acceleratedgrowth with continuity, stabil-ity and predictability.”

Private equity firmBlackstone on Monday said itwill buy out HP Enterprise’sstake in Mphasis for up to�7,071 crore ($1.1 billion),marking the largest IT deal forthe US-based firm in India.

Pointing out that HP anddirect business are top twobusinesses for Mphasis, Ayyarsaid, “Direct business is proba-bly half of our total revenue andis growing at approximately 14per cent per annum, while HPbusiness which is about a quar-ter of our revenue is decliningbetween 19 to 21 per cent perannum.”

Speaking on the MSA(Master Services Agreement),he said “you contextualisequarter of our business (HP)which is declining between19-21 per cent...All of youhave been asking what is thepredictability of this business ,this particular transaction gives

us that base, the foundation ofminimum revenue guaranteeand the opportunity to grow itfurther.”

“This can do wonders tooverall Mphasis because thedeclining business if it sta-bilises or if it stars growing itcan have huge impact on over-all company growth,” he added.

HPE and Blackstone haveagreed on the terms of a MasterServices Agreement (MSA)which HPE proposes to signwith Mphasis, post approval byMphasis’ Board of Directorsand shareholders.

The duration of the MSAis five years with three auto-matic renewals of two yearseach. Under the MSA, HPE hasproposed to commit a mini-mum revenue amount escalat-ing year over year and totalling$990 million over the next fiveyears.

Also, Mphasis will be

included in HPE’s PreferredProvider Program opening upsignificant additional revenueopportunities.

Speaking about the oppor-tunities for Mphasis’s directbusiness, Ayyar said “...If weaccelerate the growth of directcode beyond 14 per cent that itis now, and we stabilize andbring some growth back in toHP business, this will dotremendous wonders toMphasis....”

Noting that first responsefrom the employees has beenpositive to this transaction,Ayyar said he saw no reasonwhy “we will lose top talent ormanagement as a result.”

“What this transactionpromises is accelerated growth,stability and predictability.When business becomesunpredictable, that’s when toptalent and managements startsgetting jittery.” ����

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����� 78(��89�:

Economic Affair SecretaryShakt ikanta Das on

Monday said administrativemachiner y i s ready toimplement the new indirecttax regime, which will be akey component in improvingease of doing business.

“I think the biggest con-tribution to ease of doingbusiness in our country willbe made if GST is imple-mented in time. We are quitehopeful and optimistic thatParliament will definitelyvery soon appreciate theurgency of GST and have theConstitution AmendmentBill passed,” he said.

Address ing industr yleaders at a CII event here,Das said the administrativemachinery is “fully geared”both at states and centrallevel to implement the GSTat the earliest.

“GST is critical compo-nent of improving ease ofdoing business.

Apart from having acommon market, which willmake our cost of productionand our competitiveness farmore effective...(GST) willalso make a big contributionto logistic cost and transac-tions costs that we today arefaced as economy,” the

Secretary said.Quoting an estimate,

Das said a truck carryinggoods, on an average, remainstranded at different checkpoints for 48 hours.

Implementation of theGoods and Ser vice Tax(GST) will help in removingsuch bott lenecks , theSecretary said.

The GST bill was passedby the Lok Sabha in May lastyear and is pending ratifica-tion by the Rajya Sabha orUpper House, where the rul-ing NDA does not have amajority. Congress is oppos-ing the bill in current formand demanding that a cap onGST rate be included in theConstitution AmendmentBill.

Keen on gett ing themuch delayed GST bi l lapproved by Parliament insecond half of the BudgetS ess ion beginning nextmonth, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley recently said hewi l l reach out to theCongress again to persuade itto support the legislation.

The GST Bill, India’sbiggest indirect tax reformsince independence, seeks toreplace a slew of central andstate levies, transforming thenation of 1.3 billion peopleinto a customs union.

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Two little-known financierbrothers of a UK-based

investment firm are finalisinga deal to revive the ‘BritishSteel’ brand name to buy outpart of Tata Steel’s plants in theUK, a media report said onMonday.

Marc and NathanielMeyohas, the brothers behindinvestment firm Greybull, areputting the finishing touches tobuy the Scunthorpe steelworksin the east of England from theIndian conglomerate, accord-ing to The Daily Telegraph.

Greybull plans to pump in400 million pounds into thestruggling plant, saving a totalof around 9,000 local jobs.

Scunthorpe, one of thecountry’s largest facilities andone of 12 Tata steel sites acrossthe UK, makes specialist steelproducts including wire rods,steel beams and track for thebuilding and rail industries.

The news came as steelunions in the country called onPrime Minister DavidCameron to personally inter-vene in the ongoing emer-gency talks in London to saveBritain’s steel industry from col-lapse.

Unite union assistant gen-eral secretary Tony Burke saidif the industry was “to be givena fighting chance then theGovernment and Tata need tocome clean on their intentionsand prior discussions, becauseso far all we’ve had is morequestions than answers”.

He said, “The apparentlack of urgency from SajidJavid and absence of a clearplan from the Government isdisturbing for the tens of thou-sands whose livelihoods hangin the balance and deeply trou-bling for British Steel’s 140,000pensioners.”

Roy Rickhuss, leader ofthe Community union, said:“By now, no-one underesti-mates the scale of the challengewe face. We have an entireindustry to save and not a lotof time to save it.

“We must also ensurethat we hold Tata to a com-mitment to be a responsibleseller and honour its moraland social duties to UK steelcommunities.”

UK business secretarySajiv Javid is also set to meetTata Steel’s Chief FinancialOfficer (CFO) in relation to thegroup’s plans to exit the UKsteel industry.

Business department min-ister Anna Soubry is due to visitRotherham steelworks later onMonday.

Meanwhile, Indian-origintycoon Sanjeev Gupta, founderof commodities firm LibertyHouse, has had initial talks overa potential purchase of the TataGroup’s South Wales plant.

Liberty House said the talkshad been “encouraging” and“positive” and described theresponse of ministers as “pro-active” and “keen to find solu-tions.”

Gupta is set to return toLondon from Wales this eveningto continue the negotiations.

Tata Steel announced lastweek it was selling its loss-mak-ing UK businesses and wouldclose its plant at Port Talbotunless a buyer is found.

The company directlyemploys 15,000 workers in theUK and supports thousands ofothers, across plants in PortTalbot, Rotherham, Corby andShotton.

Britain’s steel industry hasbeen thrown into crisis by acombination of cheap importsfrom China, falling globaldemand, high energy pricesand a tougher tax regime thanmany rival nations.

&'�������#���������������0�0���������������� � ,�� �+���With its plants in

Britain facing “severe cashburn”, Tata Steel on Mondaysaid it is working on a “prior-ity” basis to complete review ofits entire European operations,including UK’s largest steelplant at Port Talbot.

Tata Steel, one of the flag-ships of over $100-billion TataGroup, last week said it isexploring all options for port-folio restructuring, includingpotential divestment of TataSteel UK, in whole or in parts,amid a deteriorating financialperformance of the arm in thelast 12 months.

“In recent months, therehas been a significant cashdrain, which is why a time-bound solution is important inthis whole process. Ourendeavour will be preservingthe asset and doing this in anorderly manner as far as pos-sible.

“This is not a valuationexercise for Tata Steel. There issevere cash burn in our UKOperations. Hence, it is imper-ative to close the review on pri-ority,” a Tata Steel spokespersontold the news agency whenasked about the plans of thefirm to shut down its plans inthe UK in about six weeks.

In the last five years, TataSteel alone has suffered anasset impairment of about $3

billion on its UK business.Besides, Port Talbot -- its

largest plant as well as ofBritain’s -- is reportedly losingabout $1.4 million a day.

Asked about the company’sefforts in finding a buyer for itsUK facilities, the companysaid: “The entire Europeanportfolio is being reviewed inconjunction with stakehold-ers.”

The options will emergepost discussions and necessaryactions can be taken forEurope, especially for the UKoperations, excluding the LongSteels UK subsidiary, which isalready part of separate andadvanced discussions for sale toan investor, it added.

“As a responsible corpora-tion, our endeavour will be toensure the sale process is order-ly and the operating strategywill support that,” said thespokesperson.

On the status of the sale ofits Long Products business,the spokesperson said: “Weare in advanced stage of dis-cussion with Greybull for thesale of the Long Products UKbusiness.”

As a matter of practice, theindividual boards of the com-panies will review all optionsfor portfolio restructuring fromtime to time, the spokespersonadded. ����

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����� 78(��89�:

Sensex rose 130 points to25,399.65 on recovery in

European stocks from early loss-es and hopes that Reserve Bankwill cut interest rates on Tuesday.

Sentiment also got a liftafter a monthly survey showedthat India’s manufacturing activ-ity rose to an eight-month highin March driven by strong rise inbusiness orders, leading firms toscale up output.

“In spite of sharp increase inrisk-reward ratio, the marketcontinues to trade at the upper-end of the trend-line due to astrong expectation of RBI ratecut,” said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit BNP Paribas.

With inflation under checkand government sticking to itsfiscal consolidation path, marketexpectations are that RBI maycut interest rate by up to 0.50 percent to propel growth.

Meanwhile, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley alsopitched for easier monetary pol-icy, arguing that high interestrates can make the economysluggish.

For the day, the 30-shareSensex opened up and advancedto a high of 25,424.15, but prof-it-booking at improved levelsdragged it down to a low of25,223.49.

� ,� � �+��� Blue Collar jobprofiles are coming of ageand earning better than, or atleast on par with, the whitecollar profiles, a TeamLeasesurvey says.

According to the report,vocationally skilled blue col-lar profiles are offered fatterpay cheques than Engineersand Management graduates(MBAs).

“The pay packages ofblue collar profiles are 10 to27 per cent higher than engi-neers and almost the same asmanagement graduates indi-cating a clear preference forskills,” the report said adding

that even the salary growthrates of blue collar profileswere far higher and consis-tent than most of the whitecollar profiles.

Sectorwise, automotiveindustry topped the listwherein skills preceded overdegrees. Out of the threeblue collared profiles twofared better than engineers.They were even on par withMBAs.

“A gaping demand-sup-ply imbalance and an acuteshortage of skilled workersare driving the transforma-tional shift in payout struc-tures,” TeamLease Services

S enior Vice Pres identRituparna Chakraborty said.

Apart from doubling onthe supply side, engineershave suffered from poorquality of education and lackof employability, whereas theskilled blue collar talent hasremained stagnant , sheadded.

The report analysed theskills sets and salaries of thedifferent blue collar andwhite collar profiles across 12industries namely apparel,automotive, BFSI, construc-tion, electronics, food pro-cessing, gems & jewellery,healthcare, life sciences,

logistics, retail and traveland tourism.

Specialist job profilessuch as Advance PatternMaker (Apparel), ServiceSupervisor (Automotive) andMaster Maker (Gems andJewellery) are examples ofvocationally skilled job pro-files with salaries on parwith MBAs (typically MBA –HR or Marketing).

“The growing parity inpay will draw hordes ofyoungsters to blue collar jobsand help in improving thesocial signaling value ofvocational jobs,” Chakrabortysaid. ����

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Steel giant ArcelorMittal onMonday said its US-based

subsidiary intends to secure upto $1 billion 5-year revolvingcredit facility, which the firmwill utilise for general corpo-rate purposes.

The Luxembourg-basedsteelmaker said: “Its subsidiaryArcelorMittal USA intends toenter into a new, five-yearsenior secured asset-basedrevolving credit facility of upto $1 billion, which is expect-ed to close in the second quar-ter of 2016.”

This facility will besecured by inventory and cer-tain other working capital andrelated assets of ArcelorMittal

USA and certain of its sub-sidiaries in the US, the firmsaid in a regulatory filing.

“The facility (credit) willbe used for general corporatepurposes of ArcelorMittalUSA and its subsidiaries. Thefacility is not being guaranteedby ArcelorMittal,” it added.

The world’s largest steelproducer said, in line with itsfinancial policy, the firm doesnot intend to pursue addi-tional secured financingbeyond this single asset-basedfacility.

“Total secured debt at theend of December 31, 2015 was$625 million, 3.2 per cent oftotal gross debt and consistedprimarily of capital leases,” itsaid.

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����� 78(��89�:

Finance Ministry has drawnup a list of 16 PSUs includ-

ing ONGC, Oil India and CoalIndia for disinvestment in2016-17 which could fetch theexchequer �40,000 crore atcurrent stock value.

The list includes state-owned companies such asNMDC, MOIL, MMTC,National Fertilisers, NHPC,NALCO and BharatElectronics, sources said. Basedon the current market prices,the stake sales could fetch theexchequer around �40,000crore. The list mostly containsPSUs which were up for sale inthe last fiscal itself but volatilemarket conditions delayed theplan. Besides, the Cabinetapprovals are also in place forsome of these PSUs.

“We have cabinet approval

for stake sales. In PSUs whichhave excess cash, buy back isalso an option for which we donot need a new approval,” asource said.

At the current marketprice, 10 per cent stake sale inCoal India, NMDC and Nalcocould fetch around �18,000crore, �3,800 crore and �1,000crore respectively.

Besides, 5 per cent stakesale in ONGC, BHEL andBharat Electronics could raise

about �9,000 crore, �1,300crore and �1,400 crore.

A 10 per cent stake sale inNHPC and MOIL could fetcharound �3,000 crore and �365crore. Further, a 15 per centstake sale in MMTC, NationalFertiliser and STC could raiseabout �560 crore, �200 croreand �80 crore respectively.Besides, the government isalso considering a 5 per centstake sale in RashtriyaChemicals & Fertilizers Ltd,

12.03 per cent in ITDC and afollow on public offer ofNBCC. The Budget has set adisinvestment target of �56,500crore for current fiscal. Ofthis, �36,000 crore is estimat-ed to come from minoritystake sale in PSUs.

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����� 78(��89�:

India’s manufacturing growthrose to an eight-month high in

March driven by strong rise inbusiness orders, leading firms toscale up output, while the build-up in inflationary pressures mayresult in RBI hitting the pausebutton, says a Nikkei survey.

The seasonally-adjustedNikkei India ManufacturingPurchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) -- a composite single-fig-ure indicator of manufacturingperformance -- was up from51.1 in February to an eight-month high of 52.4. The indexregistered above the crucial 50.0threshold for a third straightmonth in March. A readingabove 50 represents expansionwhile one below this level meanscontraction. “PMI data suggestswe should expect another quar-

ter of robust economic growth inthe last quarter of the 2015-16financial year,” Pollyanna DeLima, Economist at Markit andauthor of the report, said.

On the price front, costinflation accelerated and outputcharge inflation touched a 16-month high. Moreover, falls incommodity and oil prices wereoffset by weaker rupee makingimported raw materials costlier.

“This build-up in inflation-ary pressures may lead ReserveBank to hold off from cuttingrates, especially as solid growthwas seen,” Lima added. Thesurvey noted that along withimproved domestic demand,producers also recorded anincrease in new export business.

“On the export front, it wasencouraging to see a sustainedincrease in new export orders,often attributed to the depreci-

ation of the rupee,” Lima said.Negative industrial outlook havestrengthened a case for RBI cut-ting interest rate in its first bi-monthly monetary policy for2016-17 tomorrow. RBIGovernor Raghuram Rajan onFebruary 2, left the key interestrate unchanged citing inflation

risks and growth concerns.Meanwhile, Rajan on March

12 said that Government stick-ing to fiscal consolidationroadmap of reducing deficit to3.5 per cent of the GDP in 2016-17 was comforting. On how thatwould feed into monetary poli-cy, he had said ‘wait and see’.

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��� � 78(��89�:

Government on Mondaysaid e-commerce guide-

lines have brought in ‘greaterclarity’ about the sector andthey will provide a level-play-ing field to both online andoffline stores.

“I am very enthused andencouraged by various write-ups in newspapers that theclarification indeed has broughtin greater clarity and also prob-ably checked predatory pricingand discount giving exercises,”Commerce and IndustryMinister Nirmala Sitharamantold reporters here. She said themarket is free and theGovernment does not believe ininterfering in it, adding that“somewhere we have to ensureIndian players and Indian mar-

ket situation does not get unnec-essarily skewed to distort anyfree trade practices.”

“The clarification which wehave issued has only resulted inbringing in level-playing field (to)

those in the brick and mortarbracket of the commerce. E-com-merce h as been encouraged, butobviously it’s not going to restrictthe consumer,” she said on thesidelines of a CII function.

NEW DELHI: Negotiations fora free trade agreement (FTA)between India and Australia aremoving forward and bothsides are ‘probably gettingnearer’ to conclusion oftalks, Commerce andIndustry Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Monday said.

“We have made our offers.But renewed and refined orenhanced offers are awaited. Inservices also, we are negotiatingfor a better offer from Australiahaving given our own wish-list,”

she told reporters on the side-lines of a CII function.

“So, it is at a very critical stage.We are closed to probably

getting nearer an agree-ment.” She said the tradeenvoy of Australia met

her in the morning and ‘wehope to progress’. Earlier, FM Arun Jaitley

had said he expected substan-tial headway in negotiations forthe agreement and has alsoexpressed hope for its earlyconclusion. PNS

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����� 78(��89�:

State-run Indian RenewableEnergy Development Agency

(IREDA) on Monday signed apact with Tata Cleantech Capitalto jointly develop an innovativefinancial mechanism aimed atnew projects and customers inthe renewable energy (RE) space.

“The arrangement will helpTCCL (Tata Cleantech Capital)syndicate and down sell trans-actions co-underwritten and co-financed with IREDA, while wewill be able to churn our port-folio and reach the objective ofa development institution byextending loans to newer pro-jects and newer customers,” saidKS Popli, CMD, IREDA here.

Both the organisations arespecialist cleantech financing

institutions deeply invested intheir efforts to promote devel-opment of renewable energy inIndia.

Tata Capital CEO andManaging Director Praveen PKadle said Tata CleantechCapital is excited to partnerwith IREDA to help achieveIndia's clean energy target of 175GW by 2022. TCCL is a jointventure between Tata Capital andInternational FinanceCorporation (IFC).

“This collaboration willbring the institutions togethertowards joint development ofinnovative financial mecha-nisms, co-underwriting and co-financing facilities, syndicationand social and environmentmanagement of projects beingundertaken,” he added.

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Alaska Airlines parentcompany Alaska Air

Group said on Monday itwas acquir ing Virg inAmer ica in a f r i endlytakeover worth around $4billion.

A definitive merger ofthe airlines had been unani-mously approved by theboards of both companies, itsaid in a statement. AlaskaAir will pay $57 in cash pershare for Virgin America.

“The combinationexpands Alaska Airlines' exist-ing footprint in California,bolsters its platform forgrowth and strengthens thecompany as a competitor tothe four largest US airlines,” itsaid. The newly merged com-pany will be headquartered inSeattle, it said.

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Bajaj Auto on Monday report-ed a 26 per cent increase in

motorcycle sales at 2,64,249units in March. The companyhad sold 2,09,937 units in theyear-ago period.

Total vehicle sales last monthstood at 3,05,800 units, up 22 percent, as against 2,50,604 units inthe same month a year earlier,Bajaj Auto said in a BSE filing.

The two-wheeler major saidits exports rose 3 per cent dur-ing the month to 1,01,519 unitsfrom 98,703 units in the corre-sponding year-ago period. In thecommercial vehicles category,Bajaj Auto’s sale in Marchincreased by 2 per cent to 41,551units compared with 40,667units in the year-ago month.

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India’s coffee exports jumpedby 13.39 per cent to 3,19,733

tonnes in 2015-16 fiscal overthe previous year, on slightincrease in the shipment ofinstant coffee and other vari-eties. The country had shipped2,81,987 tonnes of coffee in theprevious fiscal, Coffee Boardsaid in its latest report.

“Though unit value reali-sation remained less due to

lower global prices, the over-all quantity of exports were up13.39 per cent as there wasincrease in shipments of value-added products like instantcoffee,” a senior Board officialsaid. Instant coffee exportsrose to 97,000 tonnes from94,000 tonnes in the said peri-od, the official added.

In value terms, totalexports increased to �5,204crore in the last fiscal from�4,877 crore in 2014-15, asper the Board data. Due toweak global prices, unitvalue realisation remainedlower at �1,62,774 per tonneas against �1,72,970 pertonne in the said period.

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After an exceedingly toughweek of one political misstep

after another, Republican front-runner Donald Trump braces foran acid test in the Wisconsin pri-mary on Tuesday with some ofthe polls putting his rival, SenatorTed Cruz, way ahead.

Pundits believe that a defeatin Wisconsin could slow downTrump’s momentum and makeit increasingly difficult for him inhis march towards the magic fig-ure of 1,237 delegates to clinchthe Republican nomination.

Although his home-State ofNew York with far more dele-gates (95) could help himbounce back two weeks later, aloss in Wisconsin (42 delegates)will add to his immediate prob-lems with his growing band ofopponents within theRepublican establishmentregrouping against him.

A Real Clear Politics aver-age of polls on Monday putCruz ahead of Trump by near-ly 7 percentage points (40.2 to33.4), with the third candidate,Ohio Governor John Kasich,trailing at 18.6. At least two ofthe polls in this mix, conduct-

ed by Fox News and MarquetteLaw School, have given Cruz aclear 10 per cent lead.

On the Democratic side,front-runner Hillary Clintonalso faces a stiff challenge withher spirited rival, SenatorBernie Sanders, leading in fourof five polls. Overall, Sanders isslightly ahead of Clinton (47.2to 42.5).

Trump may have defied alladverse projections over thepast many months, but punditsbelieve that some of his recentpronouncements, notably hisadvocacy of punishment ofwomen opting for illegal abor-tion, will cost him in theremaining primaries, regardlessof his attempts to clarify his remarks.

In Wisconsin, GovernorScott Walker, who gave up hisown presidential bid lastSeptember, endorsed Cruz lastweek in a renewed bid by con-servatives to keep out Trump.Calling Cruz a “principled con-stitutional conservative”,Walker regards him as “thebest-positioned candidate bothwin the Republican nomina-tion and defeat Hillary Clinton”.

Sensing the challengeahead, Trump himself appears

to have started a course cor-rection of starts. In an interviewwith Fox News on Sundaynight, Trump admitted to somepossible missteps. As he put it,“Was this my best week? Iguess not.” He would not havejoined the “War over Wives”with Cruz, by retweeting anunflattering picture of Cruz’swife, but he still saw theSenator’s hand in the recentpublication of a nude picture ofhis own wife, Melania Trump,from her modelling days 15years ago.

On his controversialremark on punishing womenopting for illegal abortions,Trump said, “As a hypotheticalquestion, I would have rather answered it in a differ-ent manner.”

He, however, defended hisother controversial statementsover diminishing US role inNATO and proposing thatJapan and South Korea devel-op their own nukes to deal withthe North Korean challenge –a stand that came in for sharpcriticism from President BarackObama, who questioned hisknowledge of word affairs, letalone intricacies of nuclearproliferation.

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Want to own an entire vil-lage? Then rush to

Britain where the picturesequeNorth Yorkshire village hasgone on the market for a guideprice of 20 million pounds.

West Heslerton, nearMalton, has a 21-bedroommansion, pub, petrol station, 43homes and 2,116 acres of land.The village has been owned bythe same family for over 150years, but has been put up forsale after the most recent ownerdied. Cundalls estate agentssaid it has already attractedinterest “from far and wide”.

Eve Dawnay owned theestate until her death five yearsago, with the family now decid-ing to sell. West Heslerton alsohas a church, primary schooland a playing field with apavilion.

Tom Watson, of Cundalls,said, “Miss Dawnay was a won-

derful lady. “She was very kindand the property rents are - andhave always been — very low.

“This has helped keep avibrant village community witha mixed group of ages and thereare obviously a lot of peoplehoping that somebody with asimilar benevolent nature willcome along to take over theestate.” More than 110 acres ofwoodland is also being sold bythe family, the BBC reported.

Watson added, “All thetenants were told it was goingon the market in September,since then the rumour mill hasstarted going about potentialbuyers. “We already have hadinterest from far and wide.”

Dawnay’s sister, VerenaElliott, said, “We all loved it andit would be very hard to find avillage with more loyal andlovely people living in it. “Thereis a real sense of communitywhich is hard to find thesedays,” she added.

Baghdad: Militants unleashedon Monday a wave of suicideattacks across Iraq, killing atleast 29 people and woundingdozens, officials said.

The deadliest attack tookplace in the southern provinceof Dhi Qar when a suicidebomber blew himself up inside a restaurant that is fre-quented by Shiite paramilitarymilitia fighters, killing at least14 people.

Another 27 people werewounded in the attack that tar-geted a famous restaurant onthe main highway that linksBaghdad with the southernprovinces, a police officer said. Dhi Qar is located about320 kilometres southeast ofthe capital.

Around the same time, asuicide car bomber set off hisexplosives-laden car in a com-mercial area in the oil-rich cityof Basra, killing at least fivepeople and wounding 10 oth-ers, another police officer said.Pieces of flesh and debris lit-tered the bloodstained pave-ment as thick black smoke bil-lowed from the area. The attackalso damaged up to 30 cars.

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Paris: President FrancoisHollande promised that a mas-sive leak of documents expos-ing the offshore dealings ofwealthy individuals would leadto legal proceedings in France.

“All the information revealedwill lead to investigationsbrought by the tax authoritiesand to legal proceedings,”Hollande said. He thanked “thewhistleblowers” for bringing theso-called Panama Papers to light.

“It’s good news that we areaware of these revelationsbecause it will bring in tax rev-enue from those who have

defrauded,” Hollande said. ThePresident said that in 2015,French individuals were foundto have hidden 20 billion euros($22.7 billion) from Frenchtax authorities and the State“has already clawed back 12 bil-lion euros”, although thosecases were not linked to thePanama Papers.

“So I thank the whistle-blowers, I thank the press whichhas taken action and I have nodoubt that the investigators areabsolutely ready and waiting tostudy these documents,”Hollande said. AFP

Beijing: Eight current or former members ofChina’s ruling CPC including brother-in-law ofPresident Xi Jinping allegedly used offshore taxhavens to conceal their wealth, a development thatcould dent his image despite overseeing the com-munist giant’s sweeping anti-graft dragnet.

Eight of the top officials of the Communist Partyof China (CPC) were among 140 political figuresaround the world said to have links to offshoreaccounts, according to the so-called Panama Papers— the leaked documents from Panama-based lawfirm Mossack Fonseca. The officials include Xi’sbrother-in-law Deng Jiagui, who reportedly set uptwo British Virgin Islands companies in 2009 whenXi was member of the powerful Standing Committeeof the CPC.

In 2014, both New York Times and Bloombergcarried reports that family members of formerChinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping had largeassets base. Chinese foreign ministry at that timetermed the allegations as smear campaigns.

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Amassive leak of 11.5 mil-lion tax documents has

exposed the secret offshoredealings of aides to RussianPresident Vladimir Putin,world leaders and celebrities,including Barcelona forwardLionel Messi.

An investigation into thedocuments by more than 100media groups, described asone of the largest such probesin history, revealed the hiddenoffshore dealings in the assetsof around 140 political figures.

The vast stash of recordswas obtained from an anony-mous source by German dailySueddeutsche Zeitung andshared with media worldwideby the InternationalConsortium of InvestigativeJournalists (ICIJ).

The documents, fromaround 2,14,000 offshore enti-ties covering almost 40 years,came from Mossack Fonseca, aPanama-based law firm withoffices in more than 35 coun-tries. The investigations allegeclose associates of Putin, who is not himself named in thedocuments, “secretly shuffled asmuch as $2 billion throughbanks and shadow companies”.

Twelve current or formerheads of state are named in theinvestigations, including thePrime Ministers of Icelandand Pakistan, the President ofUkraine and the king of SaudiArabia, as well as sporting andmovie stars like Jackie Chan.

They allege ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s familyhas links to offshore accounts,as did the father of BritishPremier David Cameron, andclaim Iceland’s Prime Ministersecretly owned millions ofdollars of bank bonds duringthe financial crisis.

The papers also cast freshlight on the corruption scan-dal engulfing football’s worldgoverning body, revealing thatFIFA ethics committee mem-

ber Juan Pedro Damiani hadbusiness ties with three menwho have been indicted overthe probe.

Disgraced UEFA chiefMichel Platini allegedly usedMossack Fonseca to adminis-ter an offshore company,while Messi and his fatherapparently own a shell com-pany not discovered in aSpanish investigation into thefootball star’s tax affairs.Platini’s communications ser-vice said in a statement sentto AFP that “all of his accountsand assets are known to thetax authorities in Switzerland,where he has been a tax resi-dent since 2007”.

“I think the leak will proveto be probably the biggestblow the offshore world hasever taken because of theextent of the documents,” saidICIJ director Gerard Ryle.

Panama’s Governmentsaid it had “zero tolerance” forany shady deals, and vowed to“vigorously cooperate” withany legal investigations.Though most of the allegeddealings are said by the ICIJ tobe legal, they are likely tohave a serious political impacton many of those named.

At least 33 people andcompanies listed in the docu-ments were blacklisted by theUS Government for wrong-doing, including dealings withNorth Korea and Iran, as wellas Lebanon’s Islamist group

Hezbollah, the ICIJ said.The leaked data, covering

1977 to the end of last year,provides what the ICIJdescribed as a “never-before-seen view inside the offshoreworld”.

The massive leak of docu-ments recalls Wikileaks’exploits of 2010 — whichincluded the release of 5,00,000secret military files on thewars in Afghanistan and Iraqand 2,50,000 diplomatic cables,and infuriated the US.

However, in terms of size,“the ‘Panama Papers’ is likelythe biggest leak of inside infor-mation in history,” ICIJ said.

“It is equally likely to beone of the most explosive inthe nature of its revelations,”the group added. Names alsofiguring in the leak includedthe president of Ukraine, theking of Saudi Arabia and thePrime Minister of Pakistan, theICIJ statement said.

More than 500 banks, theirsubsidiaries and branches haveworked with Mossack Fonsecasince the 1970s to help clientsmanage offshore companies.

UBS set up more than1,100 and HSBC and its affil-iates created more than 2,300.

The leaked documentswere reviewed by a team ofmore than 370 reporters fromover 70 countries, said ICIJ. Itwas not immediately clearwho was the original source ofthe leaked documents.

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�%���)�����.��&)$�&��F�)����.%��$�1�� Islamabad: Pakistan PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif was atthe centre of a political stormafter three of his children werenamed in the ‘Panama Papers’as having “offshore holdings”,prompting the opposition todemand a probe even as hisfamily denied any wrongdoing.

According to the docu-ments, three of Sharif ’s fourchildren — Maryam, Hasanand Hussain — “were owners or had the right toauthorise transactions for sev-eral companies”.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-InsafChairman Imran Khandemanded that the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)initiate a thorough investiga-tion into the financial holdingsof Prime Minister Sharif andhis family members.

Amid the furor, Sharif ’sson Hussain Nawaz said he hadalready stated that he ownedthe offshore companies and heowned many apartments underthem. PTI

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The Kremlin on Mondayslammed the leak of the

“Panama Papers” tax docu-ments as an attack aimed pri-marily at Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, claiming thatformer CIA officials helpedanalyse the papers.

“Putin, Russia, our coun-try, our stability and theupcoming elections are themain target, specifically todestabilise the situation,”Kremlin spokesman DmitryPeskov told journalists.

The year-long worldwidemedia investigation into mil-

lions of documents leakedfrom a Panama-based law firmexposed a tangle of confiden-tial financial dealings by closefriends and aides of Putin.

The documents analysedby Russian journalists fromNovaya Gazeta oppositionnewspaper put Putin’s closefriend at the top of an offshoreempire worth more than $2billion that has made his cir-cle fabulously wealthy.

The Kremlin spokesman,who himself figures in theleaked documents, said therewas “nothing new or concrete”about the Russian leader inthe leaks, but blamed them on

a mood of rampant“Putinophobia.”

“It’s evident that the level ofPutinophobia has reached sucha degree that it’s impossible tosay anything good about Russiaa priori,” he said. He dismissedthe reports, saying “there is alack of details,” while “all the restis based on allegations andspeculation.” Peskov alsoclaimed that the investigativejournalists who worked on theleaked Panama Papers from theInternational Consortium ofInvestigative Journalism include“former officials from the (US)Department of State, the CIAand other special services.”

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Reykjavik (Iceland): Iceland’s PrimeMinister insisted on Monday he would notresign after documents leaked in a mediainvestigation linked him to an offshorecompany that would represent a seriousconflict of interest.

News reports have alleged that PrimeMinister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugssonand his wife set up a company in the BritishVirgin Islands with the help of aPanamanian law firm at the center of a mas-sive tax evasion leak.

The reports have prompted calls for ano-confidence vote in parliament againsthim. Going on Icelandic television this after-noon, Gunnlaugsson said he would notresign and added there was nothing new inthe information contained in the PanamaPapers data leak. Iceland’s Foreign Ministeralso said on a trip to India that the PrimeMinister had not done anything illegal.

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He has twice played god on screen, and now he’s takingthe small screen route to explore The story of God in a

documentary series for which he paid a maiden visit to Indialast year.

One of American cinema’s most recognisable figures,Morgan Freeman, says he’s fascinated with the“differences”that the country has to offer and that he’d loveto return to film a movie. “I would primarily like to go toIndia and make a movie. I’d like to be there for a while. Some

time ago I had a great idea, a great movie idea. It wasn’t mine,it was someone else’s. It wasn't well thought out, but it wassuch a great idea and I would really like to do somethinglike that in India,” Freeman told IANS in an interview dur-

ing a conference call with select Indian media.During his tryst with India for National Geographic

Channel’s The Story of God, he visited Bodh Gaya and Varanasi— cities which are of religious significance — to bring forththe nation as a melting pot of myriad religions, faiths beliefsand traditions.

“India is an endlessly fascinatingplace when you go from place to place

to place to place and you see the differ-ences. For instance, all the places we werein, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi, had fascinat-ing differences. I think you would proba-bly find that all over India,” added the 78-year-old in his distinct baritone.

Freeman, who has left a lasting impres-sion with his persona in movies like TheShawshank Redemption and Million DollarBaby, visited seven countries for the seriesin a quest to find out how religion hasevolved through the course of civilisation,and how shaped the evolution of society.

He visited iconic places like Jerusalem’sWailing Wall, Mayan temples in Guatemalaand the pyramids of Egypt. In India, though,Freeman said he could not put his mind“around the traffic” in Varanasi, one of theoldest cities in the country which he found“extraordinary”. “I was a little surprised byIndia. I was trying to understand how peo-ple associate with one god to another. Itwas completely interesting and new.”

Those sentiments also describe hisjourney into some of the world’s key reli-gious sites, ruins of ancient civilizations, and in cutting-edge sci-ence laboratories for the six-part series which will go on air onApril 15. Freeman, Lori McCreary and James Younger are theexecutive producers of the series.

While religion is often seen as something that divides, theseries illuminates the similarities among different faiths.

Did The Story of God affect Freeman’s personal beliefs aboutthe Almighty? “I have been asked if my beliefs changed. I’d sayno. But affected personally? Absolutely! Learning these differ-ent cultures around the idea of God was very fascinating,” saidthe star, who found himself in a “spiritual limbo dealing withHinduism because for one thing, it seems to be a tough religion”.

Is he a god-fearing person? “No, no. The God I believe indoesn’t scare me, so I’m not god-fearing at all,” Freeman told

IANS.And every once in a while amid his busy schedule,

Freeman finds time to do documentaries such as this ashe feels there’s “an obligation to make positive changes inthe world”.

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There are no dearth of fashion storesin the city, showcasing designer and

non desiner outfits. In fact, there are somany that you would often find it diffi-cult to choose one. Some are good forWestern wear, some for traditional andethnic and some for just a mix of allthings good.

Agashe,the latest store in town,embodies pret fashion and all of theabove. But the USP of the store lies in itsunique gesture of helping a customer withstyling and beauty tips with purchases.According to the curator, SheenaAgarwal, the store will cater to the mod-ern day woman as the collection is easyto wear and designed for all occasions.

�What was the idea behind the store,Agashe?

The idea behind was to create a des-tination for fashion lovers in Delhiwhere they could find garments which isfun, easy to wear and super stylish. Werealised that, today, women have the needto look stylish not just at someone’s wed-ding but also for various events, awardfunctions et al. Not always can one wearthe very ornate variants. Hence ourstore. It’s a space where you can findsomething dressy and fun to wear for acocktail or mehendi function or to anaward function or even on a luncheonwith the ladies.

�Why did you make it pret fashion?

I believe that pret is what is in voguetoday. It’s something every woman shouldown in her everyday wardrobe. I saw thatgap in the market as there aren’t too manyoptions when one is looking out for pretwear.

�There are many designer stores in thecity. How do you aim to be different?

Every store has its own niche Ibelieve. Ours is pret. We promise ourclients the best of pret wear from the bestdesigners in the segment. Also, we havepriced our offering in a way that it does-n’t pinch the buyers.

�Who would you say is your target cus-tomers?

My target customer is a woman

who owns it every time she looks at her-self in the mirror. She is a fashion lover,she is a high on energy and she dressesup everyday of her life.

�Apart from clothes what are the otherthings that one can find in Agashe?

Apart from clothes, you are sure tofind exquisite fresh water pearl jewellery,fun fashion jewellery and accessoriesfrom a fashion website which housesbrands like Alexander McQueen, Armani(sunglasses only), Coach, Dolce &Gabbana, Etro, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu,Prada, Tory Burch (sunglasses only),Valentino and Vivienne Westwood.

�Was it difficult to get so many design-ers on board?

Honestly, not! We are fortunate tohouse designer who not only knowtheir fashion but also are extremely sup-portive towards a new venture likemine. Each of them have been extreme-ly co-operative as people. For that mat-ter, thanks to the relationship we sharewith them, if there is any garment by thedesigners stocked with us that onesaspires to own, we promise to procure itfor them.

Actors today debut on the silver screenat, what, 18? But not Boman Irani. Hestarted his career in Bollywood at a

time when most actors stop taking up bigprojects — 40. Be it J Astana in Munna BhaiMBBS or Viru Sahastrabuddhe in 3 Idiots,every character that Boman Irani portrayedon-screen seemed tailor-fitted for him. Andwhy not? Before he took his first step on theroad to stardom, he made sure to brush uphis skills real good on the theatre stage.

“I do my homework before going forshoot and may be that is one of the reasonswhy everyone liked me in Munna Bhai orin 3 Idiots or in any other film. I try to dosomething different and unique with eachof my films,” said the actor, his eyes twinkling.

Irani was in the Capital for TheEverlasting Flame International Programme,that celebrated the multicultural ethos of theParsi-Zoroastrian community at IIC.

Present at the event, he spoke about thehis role in the film Ferrari Ki Sawaari, wherehe portrayed a Parsi character. “A lot of thecredit goes to the director, Rajesh Mapuskarbecause he has a unique fascination towardsthe Parsi community,” the actor said and gaveus details about Mapuskar’s love for Parsis.“He assisted Raju Hirani in three movies —Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhaiand 3 Idiots. And if you notice closely, all ofthese films had a Parsi character. He coor-dinated for those small yet significant char-acters. He used to do research, meet Parsipeople and befriend them, especially theelder ones,” he paused to take a break.

“After that, the idea of making a movieon the community struck him and hewanted to compile it with his love for SachinTendulkar. At that time, only Sachin owneda Ferrari in India and he came up with theplot of what would to happen if the car camein the hands of a middle class man. That ishow the film was made,” he elaborated.

For years, Indian cinema has stereotypedeither a community or a place — like Goanswere, most of the times, seen as a peace-lov-ing, goofy family, speaking wrong English.And this bothers Irani. “There was more tothe stereotypical portrayal of Parsis in Hindifilms, which depicted by-and-large a Parsi

as a middle-aged man withsix children and a car. Andthere were were other films,which explored othershades of the community,”he said.

Many a times due tosuch picturisation, peopleget offended but Irani advis-es them to take it easy. “It isjust entertainment at theend of the day,” he laughedand gave the example of oneof his movies Being Cyrus, amovie about a dysfunction-al Parsi family. It drew a lotof flak when it released butIrani sees nothing offensiveabout it. “The movie narrat-ed the story of a Parsi familywhere all the members weregrey. But there is nothingoffensive in it. Aren’t therefamilies with grey shades?” theactor justified.

Since he is so well-versedin the daily life of a Parsi, per-haps it is difficult for him tomake a dramatic representation ofwhat is, in essence, his everydayness. “It isdifficult to pull off those roles as I don’tlook, speak or walk like them. You haveto be who you are not and it takes alot of research and detailing,” hepointed out.

When Irani was askedabout what he thought thereason was for no Parsisportsperson, he gave us quitea response. “Firstly, there is avery less ratio of Parsis in Indiaand secondly, Parsis have doneso well in their lives that nowthey have become a little morecomfortable than before,” he rea-soned and drew us a clear picture,“When people from smaller townscome to Mumbai they struggle for theirdreams and living. Parsis have got nice hous-es with lower rents.”

The actor recounted how he met a tal-ented Parsi cricketer who plays Under-19 forthe state. “It’s not the case that talent is notthere, but, parents would say leave cricket andtake a comfortable job,” he explained.

According to him talent is not the onlything which makes one successful in his life.“You need to work hard to achieve your goal.If you don’t work hard, your talent will nothelp you to make your way into the fieldwhere you belong. Both the things are equal-ly important,” he summed up.

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Pundit Bhimsen Joshi aptly defined him asthe “assurance for the future of Indianvocal music.” Ustad Rashid Khan, with his

distinctive and supple voice, can easily warmthe cockles of your heart. Moreover he is aunique combination of classicism and mod-ernism, be it in his thought process or music.Being the great-grandson of Ustad InayatHussain Khan, he was destined to be a musi-cian. Though once in an interview, he himselfsaid, “As a child, music did not interest me atall.” But if you belong to a family of musicians,nothing can stop you from following tradition.And it would not be wrong to say that his careeras a vocalist transformed and bloomed underthe guidance of guru and his granduncle, thelate Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.

He started his career at the age of 11 andnever looked back. His finely craft-ed voice and repertoire, be it ragas,thumris or Hindi film songs, haveallowed him to experiment withhis style of rendition. His progres-sive thought led him to collaboratewith Western music artistes likeLouis Banks. He follows the gram-mar of music in his personal life.From performing in big concertsand travelling to doing householdchores like gardening and cooking— he is a multi-tasking person.

You must know a popularphrase by Vince Lombardi,“Perfection is not attainable but ifwe chase perfection, we catchexcellence.” And this is what you feelwhen you see Ustad Rashid Khan. Here we tryto understand Ustad Rashid Khan as a personand musician and how he creates a balancebetween the two.

�There’s a popular saying, behind every suc-cessful man there is a woman. How much doyou believe in it when it comes to your wifeSoma Khan?

The adage stands true. In addition to her,I have two more important women in my life,in the form of elder daughter Suha and youngerdaughter Shaona. The three of them play anintegral role in my life.

�How did you fall for Soma Khan? In just one word, I would say perfect, and

so I married her. Even today she appears to methe same as the first day I met her.

�Given that you spend most of your timeeither in concerts or in your riyaaz, does itaffect your personal life? Normally kids com-plain when fathers are unable to give time.How do you strike a balance?

I make it a point to take one of my kidsalong with me whenever I travel. For this trip,my eldest Suha is accompanying me. But Iwould like to add that I have got lovely kids

who have never complained.

�You believe in fusion and have even sung formovies. Do you find them interesting or treatthem as just demands of time?

For me they are both interesting. I think it’sa way to connect with the next generation. Inboth of my academies in Kolkata and Tripura,we have students ranging from the age of 2-72.I found that they could hardly differentiatebetween tuneful singing and non-tunefulmusic. So to popularise music in its properform, I chose fusion and movies.

�Today’s songs are mainly dominated by a lotof hip hop and beats. How do you rate pop-ular music?

Music is something that defines everyhuman emotion. A happy number forwhen you are happy, a sad number whenyou are sad, a romantic number whenyou miss someone and so on and soforth. This is the reason why so manygenres co-exist. So for me singing in anyparticular genre would be very interest-ing because for me it’s either good musicor bad music.

�Your favourite song from any latestmovie or album?

Dilwale’s Gerua because its my sonArmaan’s current favorite. We bothmake it a point to listen to it wheneverwe are out for a drive.

�When you look at your children andrecall your childhood, how much differencedo you see in them especially in their think-ing process and their perspective towards life?

There is definitely a huge leap in their think-ing process and their perspective. They aremuch more mature, intelligent and focussed inlife than we were — at least me. I love the go-getter attitude in today’s kids in achieving theirgoals.

�Are you doing any Bollywood projectsnow?

That is under wraps.

�Life has given you a lot but do you still har-bour any regrets?

A life without regrets is not a life. But Ipraise God for whatever he has given me.

�How do you perceive the kind of musictrending in the industry?

I believe the listeners are the best decision-makers. As I always say that it is either good orbad music, and it’s up to you to chose.

�Any tip for young classical vocalist? Practice, practice, practice... with a lot of

patience. That is the mantra of success at alltimes.

At an age when people think of taking a breakfrom rigorous life, Pundit Jasraj continues hisjourney with music. His voice remains as

deep and reverberating as before, creating the samemagic and aura. The legendary vocalist, who turned86 this year, appears full of life. “What I am todayis all by the grace God,” says Pundit Jasraj. Only agreat artiste like him can hold up a tradition for solong without a pause, amidst waning public sup-port. You need to know a lot about his background,if you want to realise the enormity of the accom-plishments of the maestro. The unparalleled livinglegend, gifted with a rich and poignant voice, wasin the Capital for the Shriram Shankarlal MusicFestival organised by the Shriram Bharatiya KalaKendra. Needless to say he had the audience inthrall with his pitch play and verve. And with hishumility. A humility that saw him nurture his lega-cy-holders by giving them stage time.

Sangeet Martand Pundit Jasraj looks complete-ly satisfied with his journey as long as he says “jaiho” in his style. “I think I have received more thanenough, so no complaints,” he says. And truly, whyshould he? He is still surrounded by people wholove him to the core.

That, however, can be attributed to his unique-ness of bringing his personality to his performances.“Music is a subtle combination of personal emo-tion along with melody and pure grammar. Lackof any one makes it incomplete and you feel some-thing important is missing,” he points out.

He is an unrivalled classical singer from theMewati gharana and firmly believes in followingits tradition but with a few modifications and inno-vations. “If you belong to a particular gharana, youare expected to follow its intricacies. But changesare obvious as you grow as a musician along withthe demands of time. That is what I have done withhaveli sangeet and bandishes,” the maestro says.

Under the tutelage of his elder brother PunditManiram, he began his musical journey and itwould not be wrong to say that he helped himin framing his career and prepared him fortranscendent music. “He was a strict guru. Heused to wake me up early morning for riyaaz.He showed me the path of spirituality and toldme that classical music is the best way of reach-ing to the Almighty and attaining the ultimatetruth,” he remembers.

He recalls his childhood memories and apleasing smile comes on his face. He shares, “I usedto bunk schools. I can never forget those days. I wasor rather I am a great fan of Begum Akhtar. Hermusic touched me even at the age of six.I don’t know how many times I havelistened to Deewana banana hai todeewana bana de. Though I wasunable to understand its meaningthen, it never stopped me fromlistening to it over and overagain. I even used to stop at teashops to listen to this ghaz-al.”

The octogenarianbegan his career as a tablaplayer. He interjects, “Itwas just for the addi-tional income to sup-port my family. But itnever interested memuch as com-pared to vocalmusic and so Imoved towardsit.”

He says thescenario haschanged drasti-cally from thetime he startedout. “Earlier thereused to be baithaks andmehfils but now it hascome down to big con-certs. Now you cannot

enjoy that kind of environment, being part of a smallgathering. Today people are so busy that they haveneither the time nor the patience to sit for hoursto attend a performance. Take cricket, for example.Even that has come down to 20-over matches. Andthus, for singers, too, it has become more hectic andtiring sometimes but if you have to survive, youneed to cope with all this. Though I know youngmusicians are competent and competitive, they aretoo fast in their approach.”

He continues, “In order to promote classicalmusic, it is most necessary to teach students froma tender age. That is why I established the PunditJasraj Institute of Music. We understand the needfor the mode of teaching to be innovative becausetoday, children are exposed to a lot of influencesfrom the internet, television and social media plat-forms. Thus only something very interesting canpush them towards classical music. We should notforget they are the future of Indian classical music.If nurtured and trained in a proper way, you willget some bright talent. And thus I always say thefuture of classical music is bright but we have to takethe responsibility. My son Sharangdev is a musicdirector and my daughter Durga is also a vocalist.So it’s wrong to say that the young generation is los-ing interest in classical music. I believe we are lag-ging behind in proper guidance.”

The doyen of North Indian vocal musicstrongly comments on fusion music and says,“Fusion is not just simply a combination of two ormore forms but an intelligent and experimental con-fluence of diverse forms. I think once after every-thing settles down, and practioners have masteredmodifying different art forms, real fusion will hap-pen.”

After receiving accolades, the maestro feelshelpless while remembering few depressingmoments of his past. “There are few phases in lifethat one can’t forget. Every time I share this mem-ory I find myself as a failure and truly wish to changethe past. I couldn’t save my father being so young;though I still have his blurred memories. But morepainful for me was to see my ailing mother. She wassuffering from cancer and I didn’t have the moneyto purchase medicines. The chemist refused to helpme. It was the generosity of one of the shop own-ers, who paid out of his own pocket, that I won’tforget ever. I couldn’t even afford a doctor for mymother as I was unable to pay the visiting fees. Onlyafter his niece Geeta Roy (later known as GeetaDutt) asked him about the state of classical musi-cians, his mindset changed and he helped us,” heshares.

But today his life is complete with his wife,children and grandchildren, “Madhura Jasraj

has always been my great support. She is verytalented and a loving mother. After mar-

riage, she carried her responsibilities verywell and gave all her attention to the

family. I wonder how incomplete Iwould be if she is not in my life. I

still remember when I first mether. She was just 17, and so

attractive. And you look at hertoday. She is still so beautiful.”

What next and he says,“Just exhausted. So need to

take rest, nothing more tosay.”

On this note, heconcludes and thegreat vocalist leavesthe auditorium,looking physically

tired but mentallyrefreshed with his per-formance. Evenflautist RakeshChaurasia, who heldthe audience captive

earlier on, took to thegallery to listen to atrue master. Like akeen student.

Ajourney started in the year 2011where curator Aditya Arya decid-

ed to re-focus the gaze of emergingphotographers who were involved ionthe genre of documenting a wide rangeof subjects and provide them a plat-form to showcase their work an den-tourage dialogue.

The journey has finally culminat-ed in the photo exhibition at IIC titledThe World of Recycle, which displaysworks of nine photographers, curatedby Arya.

“I firmly believe that photogra-phy in general and photographers, inparticular play a seminal role in shift-ing the scrutiny of society by showcas-ing and highlighting critical issues.The India Photo Archive Foundationhas been facilitating this very processby providing photographers a forumfor visual expression.”

The photographs largely capturethe daily lives of people on the streets.“As a young boy growing up in Delhi

one voice which always excited me wasthat of the kabadi wallah and theSunday kabadi Bazar at Jama Masjidthrilled me,” Arya said and added,“India has traditionally had a cultureof recycling, orchestrated by the quin-tessential kabadi wallahs. However themagnitude and diversity of new urbanwaste creates new threats and the age-old custom of recycling seems to befast fading. It is predicted that Indiais going to be the fastest producer ofwaste by the year 2050. Judging fromthe pace of urbanisation, we may wellachieve this figure in the next tenyears. Solid waste is mostly an urbanphenomenon. A city resident generatestwice as much waste as its rural coun-terpart and as urbanisation increases,so will the generation of solid waste.”

It worries him to think about themess that we are creating around us.But he is thankful to all the participat-

ing grantees and specially mentionsShweta Pandey and Rahul Sharma fortheir contributions. “They stepped outof the conventional methodology andthe comfort of the ‘Digital Zone’.While the world is celebrating thespeed of digital photography, bothShweta and Rahul’s unconventionaland creative approach slowed themdown, protracting their engagementwith their subject. The subjectivity andthe objectivity in Shweta’s images havebeen converged by using the vintagephotographic process of Cynotype.Images printed on old newspapergive a special meaning to her projectby embedding the faces of her subjectson the very rags they collect. Rahul’sage-old technique of hand coloredimages, bridge the gap between fine artand documentary photography,” Aryaexplained.

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The Spanish rivalry between Barcelonaand Atletico Madrid returns to theChampions League, this time with

gritty Atletico filled with confidence andpowerful Barcelona struggling.

The teams have been dueling the entireseason in the Spanish league, whereBarcelona had been dominant until its titlechances were dented by two consecutivesetbacks, including a home loss to RealMadrid this weekend.

Atletico routed Real Betis to finally getwithin range of the league title, and itenters Tuesday's Champions League quar-terfinals knowing that Barcelona has lostsome of its confidence and can be beaten.

Atletico eliminated Barcelona in thequarterfinals of the 2013-14 season, theonly time the teams met in the Europeantournament. They played to a 1-1 draw inBarcelona and Atletico won 1-0 win inMadrid in the return match, eventuallyreaching the final and finishing runner-upto city rival Real Madrid.

"Every game against Barcelona is dif-ferent," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said."We have to prepare as well as possible tobe able to reach our goal against them."

With Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez andNeymar thriving, Barcelona appeared tobe cruising toward its goal of repeating lastseason's treble of capturing the Spanishleague, Champions League and Copa delRey titles. Two weeks ago, however, theteam wasted a 2-0 lead and was forced tosettle for a 2-2 draw at Villarreal. Thencame the 2-1 loss to Madrid on Saturday.

Here's a look at the other matches thisweek:

,����-�A ��������Real Madrid couldn't have asked for

a better time to play its match againstWolfsburg in the Champions Leaguequarterfinals.

Madrid's 2-1 win over Barcelona at theCamp Nou on Saturday ended its rival's 39-game unbeaten streak in all competitionsand put Madrid back in the title race in theSpanish league.

Wolfsburg slumped to a 3-0 loss atBayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga onFriday. It was the squad's third game with-out a win, leaving it seven points off thelast Champions League qualification spotfor next season.

���A����+ �� ����/

Paris Saint-Germain hosts ManchesterCity in a matchup between newly richclubs that are looking to finally breakthrough in the Champions League.

Enjoying nearly unlimited funds fromtheir foreign backers, PSG and City havebecome two of the wealthiest clubs in theworld but have repeatedly failed inEurope's top competition.

Since Qatari investors took over in2011, PSG has spent heavily to assembleone of the most expensive teams in foot-ball. The investment paid dividends on thedomestic stage, but Laurent Blanc's teamhas failed to advance past the ChampionsLeague quarterfinals.

With the cash injected by Abu Dhabi'sSheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al

Nahyan, City secured two Premier Leaguetitles in 2012 and 2014. But the club hadto wait until this year to reach theChampions League's quarterfinals for thefirst time.

Both PSG and City are in fine formahead of Wednesday's game. City warmedup with a 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouththis weekend, while Zlatan Ibrahimovictook his league goal tally to 30 with a hattrick in PSG's 4-1 win over Nice.

��/ ���-���+A� ����Bayern will be trying to reach its fifth

consecutive Champions League semifinalwhen it faces Portuguese league leaderBenfica on Tuesday.

The German powerhouse kept its tre-

ble aspirations on track with a 1-0 home winover Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesligaon Saturday, when both Franck Ribery andMario Goetze underlined their starting cre-dentials with impressive performances inan otherwise flat display by the team.

��/ ���� �� ������Bayern Munich hosts Benfica for the

first leg of their Champions League quar-terfinal on Tuesday, aiming to leave the sec-ond leg a mere formality in reaching theclub's fifth consecutive semifinal.

Confidence is high among Bayern'splayers and fans of getting past thePortuguese league leader and movinganother step closer to repeating the 2013feat of Champions League, Bundesliga and

German Cup victories.The sides met three times before in

European competition. Bayern prevailedon the three occasions. The Germanpowerhouse has won all nine of its previ-ous two-legged knockout ties againstPortuguese opposition. Some things toknow ahead of Tuesday's game in Munich:

�� ��-��� � �Bayern survived a close shave against

Juventus in the previous round on ThomasMueller's injury-time equalizer and twomore goals in extra time to progress in dra-matic fashion.

The side will hope to avoid such excite-ment against Benfica by claiming anoth-er comprehensive quarterfinal victory

over a Portuguese side at home. At thesame stage last season, Bayern defeatedPorto 6-1 in Munich to recover from the3-1 loss in the first leg.

�-������F����� ���� Pep Guardiola will be in charge for his

150th competitive game at the helm ofBayern. The Spaniard so far has overseen115 victories, 14 draws and 20 defeats sincetaking over from Jupp Heynckes in 2013.

Guardiola, who is leaving at the end ofthe season to join Manchester City, is bid-ding to repeat Heynckes' feat of winningthe treble in his last season in charge.

Guardiola led Barcelona to 14 trophiesin a hugely successful four-year spell buthis tenure at Bayern will be judged on suc-cess in the Champions League, wheresemifinal defeats to Real Madrid and for-mer club Barcelona represent his biggestdisappointments at the club.

Despite claiming back-to-backBundesliga titles and being on the vergeof leading Bayern to an unprecedentedfourth successive league title, Guardiolaneeds to match the mark set by his prede-cessor to leave on a high note.

� ����F����-�� After a rocky start to the season under

new coach Rui Vitoria, Benfica has foundits form in the final third of the season. Theplayers have finally clicked and the teamhas surged into lead of the Portuguesechampionship and its first ChampionsLeague quarterfinal in four years.

Benfica overwhelmed fourth-placeBraga 5-1 last Friday to keep its two-pointleague lead with six rounds to play thoughit travels to Munich as the underdog in itsbiggest game of the season.

/ �����.����Benfica striker Jonas is top-scorer in

the Portuguese league with 30 goals in 28games, earning him a recall to the Brazilteam though he hasn't been able to repro-duce that form in the Champions League,where he has found the net just twice.

Jonas's partner in attack, KonstantinosMitroglou, has 17 league goals but may besacrificed in Munich if Benfica looks tostrengthen its defense. Ljubomir Fejsa andAndreas Samaras could form a duo in frontof the back four with Argentine playmak-er Nicolas Gaitan just behind Jonas. LisandroLopez could be back in central defense aftera thigh injury but first-choice goalkeeperJulio Cesar is out with a groin injury.

���� �:��:

World number one NovakDjokovic surpassed Roger

Federer as the highest-earning play-er in ATP Tour history after captur-ing a third consecutive Miami Opencrown with a 6-3, 6-4 victory overJapan's Kei Nishikori.

Djokovic's win — his sixthcareer victory in Miami to equalAndre Agassi's record — saw himpocket $1.028 million (902,000euros), taking him past Federer asthe all-time ATP earnings leaderwith $98,199,548 to the Swiss great's$97,855,881.

"It was my best performance ofthe tournament," the 28-year-oldSerbian said on Sunday. "It came atthe right time against a great player."

Djokovic's win also took him toa record 28th career ATP Masterstitle, one better than the old markhe shared with Spain's Rafael Nadal.

"The fact I managed to win themost Masters ever is a remarkableachievement I'm very proud of,"Djokovic said.

Sunday's victory was alsoDjokovic's 714th career win, mov-ing him to 11th on the all-time list,one more than his coach, Germansix-time Grand Slam championBoris Becker.

"I'm grateful and proud of all theachievements," Djokovic said. "To putmyself in position to have the recordsand be in the history books is a greataccomplishment ... Hopefully I canmake many more records."

Djokovic, who claimed his 63rdcareer ATP title, stretched his Miami

win streak to 16 matches with his30th victory in 31 starts over fiveyears. His first Masters win came atMiami in 2007 and still inspires him.

"It has been a springboard foreverything that has come after,"Djokovic said. "Opened a lot ofdoors for me. Made me realize I couldbeat the best players in the world."

Djokovic improved to 28-1 thisyear, the lone loss coming when aneye problem forced a Dubai quar-ter-final retirement against Spain'sFeliciano Lopez.

Djokovic, who in January wonat Doha and captured an 11thcareer Grand Slam title at theAustralian Open, also swept the US

double of Miami and Indian Wellsfor the third year in a row andfourth time overall.

"The most successful month ofmy career is March," Djokovic said."I enjoy these two tournaments themost of any in my career."

Nishikori, who made 30unforced errors against just 10 win-ners, suffered his sixth consecutiveloss in meetings with Djokovic, wholeads their career rivalry 7-2.

"It was a tough match,"Nishikori said. "Playing Novak isalways a great challenge for me."

Djokovic, who didn't drop a setat Miami, broke Nishikori in four ofhis first five service games to seizecommand.

"He played great tennis. That'swhy I couldn't play like I wanted,"Nishikori said. "My serve wasn'tgoing. It was a shame to have thatbecause he had a great return andI felt a lot of pressure on my servicegames. He played good and I couldhave played a little better."

Djokovic took advantage of aNishikori miss-hit backhand tobreak in the eighth game and heldat love to grab the opening set after34 minutes.

Nishikori, who said his leftknee was fine despite having atrainer treat it in the second set, hita forehand long to be broken to endthe match after 86 minutes.

"It's tough to find his weakness,"Nishikori said. "He has great defense.It's tough to break his game." As partof his victory celebration, Djokovickissed his left hand and patted it onthe court several times.

����� ������9��

Top Indian shutt lers,including Saina Nehwal

and Kidambi Srikanth, willlook to plug little loopholes intheir games when they starttheir campaign at the$550,000 Malaysia Openwhich starts with the quali-fiers here on Tuesday.

It is the failure to win closematches that has affected theperformance of Indian shuttlersand they would look to addressthe issue during the Super SeriesPremier event, the main draw ofwhich starts Wednesday.

Srikanth, on the other hand,has not crossed the secondround of any Super Series eventever since his India Open winlast year. His loss in the open-ing round last week will affecthis ranking and might jeopar-dise his Olympic qualification.

Two-time bronze medallistat World Championship, P VSindhu is also not gettingdesired results despite puttingall the effort. She has lost toseven different opponents inthe last few months and wouldbe looking for some big winswhen she opens her campaignagainst China's He Bingjiao.

She lost to the World No.18 twice in as many meetingsand would look for a revengeon Wednesday.

For men's shuttlers AjayJayaram and H S Prannoy,who are running in the race toqualify for the Olympics, it willall about getting as manyranking points under theirbelt to boost their position inthe BWF ranking.

World No. 24 Jayaram willopen his campaign againstHong Kong's Hu Yun, whileWorld No. 19 Prannoy willface Japanese third seed KentoMomota, who won the IndiaSuper Series last night at the SiriFort Complex in Delhi. WorldNo. 19 men's doubles pair ofManu Attri and B SumeethReddy, who are also trying toseal their spot for Rio Games,will meet Russia's VladimirIvanov and Ivan Sozonov.

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Antonio Conte will take charge ofChelsea after completing his spell as

Italy coach at the EuropeanChampionship with the task of revital-izing a team in decline.

Roman Abramovich made Conte his10th managerial appointment in 13years as Chelsea owner despite the for-mer Juventus player and coach facingmatch-fixing charges in Italy. There's apreliminary hearing in the case inCremona on Tuesday although Conte'snot required to attend.

Chelsea announced on Monday thatthe 46-year-old Conte, who has coachedItaly since 2014, signed a three-year con-tract to be Jose Mourinho's permanentsuccessor.

"Everything is clear and we can end

the speculation," Conte said. "I will con-tinue to focus on my job with the Italiannational team and will reserve speakingabout Chelsea again until after the Euros."

Conte might only have a month toprepare for the new season if Italy reach-es the Euro 2016 final on July 10, with thePremier League kicking off on Aug. 13."Antonio Conte has a record of consis-tent success in his career as a managerand as a player," Chelsea chairman BruceBuck said. "We look forward to welcom-ing him to Stamford Bridge and are con-fident he will find all he needs to main-tain that high standard of achievement."

Mourinho was fired in Decemberhalfway through Chelsea's dismal defenseof the Premier League title, with GuusHiddink returning for a second spell asinterim manager to keep the seat warmfor Conte. The London club is current-

ly 10th in the league — 25 pointsbehind leader Leicester — and will notbe playing in Europe next season.

Chelsea director MarinaGranovskaia said confirming theappointment of "one of the most high-ly regarded managers in world football... aids our future planning."

But Conte's reputation is on the linein the match-fixing case, where he is

accused ofsports fraud. The match underinvestigation involving him is Siena's 1-0 win at Albinoleffe in May 2011. Siena's2-2 draw at Novara, also in May 2011, wasdropped from the inquiry.

Conte, who has denied wrongdoing,served a four-month sports ban duringthe 2012-13 season when he was withJuventus. Conte resigned from Juventusin 2014 to take charge of Italy.Considered the best of Italy's youngergeneration of coaches, Conte won theSerie A title with Juventus in each of histhree seasons in charge. Juventus alsoachieved the rare feat of going unbeat-en in the league in his first season.

Before that, Conte steered Siena toan immediate return to the top divisionafter relegation in 2010 following spellswith Arezzo, Bari - where he won theSerie B title — and Atalanta.

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The 27-year-old was a relatively unknown figure in the cricketingworld before the Final against England. But, after striking fours sixesin the final over off Ben Stokes, on his way to a 10-ball 34 runs, theBajan all-rounder has become a household name back home inBarbados. For a player who had played just 2 T20Is for his nationalside before the WT20 started, the exploits he made in the Final willnever be forgotten. He will arguably be remembered only for his batting exploits, buthe was equally impressive with the ball with an incredible 3/23 in the same match torestrict England to a modest 154 runs. Now, one can understand why Delhi Daredevilswere prepared to pay Rs.4.2 crore in the auction for him.

�+�����/� For his usual standards, Chris Gayle was incredibly quiet

through the tournament after an initial 49-ball century againstEngland it the super 10 game. in this World T20. That put WestIndies on the right foot to achieve their targets in the WorldT20. The burly 36-year-old Jamaican also picked up two cru-cial wickets and just gave away 17 runs in the crucial win overSouth Africa in the group stage.

.�+������+�� �Who is this Charles, for heaven's sake, Indian fans were left

asking when the Windies trounced India out of the semifinal.The right-hand batsman made up for Gayle's misfortunes byconsistently providing good start at the top of the tree for theCaribbean side. Thrice he scored 20 plus runs in the tourna-ment and his 52 against India laid the platform for WIndies'successful 193-run chase in the semifinal. Charles, who is justthe second cricketer from the island of St Lucia to play for the West Indies,behind skipper Darren Sammy, will hope his performances in the this tour-nament will not go unnoticed.

�� ������/May not have been the star performer with the bat or the ball as

he scored a mere 8 runs and picked up just a wicket, but his captain-cy skills were crucial to help the Island nations win the coveted title.With this triumph, Sammy, who became the first player from the islandof St. Lucia to play international cricket, is the only captain to win theWorld T20 twice. He was the skipper as well when WIndies beat SriLanka in 2012 to get their hands to the trophy for the first time.

���- ����� The Trinidad player has proved that age is just a number with his

exceptional performances in the World T20. At the age of 35, Badreehas defied the odds that T20 is only about youngsters, picking up 9wickets for West Indies. The legbreaker has twice picked up three wick-et hauls, with 3/12 against Sri Lanka and 3/14 against Afghanistan. Hewas also equally effective in the Final with a 2/16. In what could behis final World Cup, Badree has certainly left a lasting impression amongthe cricketing fraternity with his inspiring performances.

�+�����������G����+HImpressing with the Ireland national team, Simmons was

appointed as WIndies coach in March 2015. Later that year,however, he was suspended by the West Indies Cricket Board(WICB) for his outburst on the involvement from the outsideon the team selection.

He was soon reinstated but the Caribbean side struggledto find their feet, particularly in the longer format. After com-ing as outsiders amidst all the contract situations, West Indies shook every-one to lift the trophy and his captain Darren Sammy undoubtedly had goodwords on his coach.

"I personally also want to thank the coaching staff. Coach Phil (Simmons).He's been through a lot. To come here and the way he's coached this team. He'sjust brilliant," Sammy said.

�,��� ,���G����� HThe 41-year-old not just had a huge contribution to make

with the team's performance on the field, but also off the fieldduring West Indies' successful World T20 campaign.

After rushing to Dubai for the World T20 preparations, theteam had found out they had no jerseys, thus forcing Lewis allthe way to Kolkata to get them ready. Sammy, however, did notforget to mention his contribution after their triumph onSunday.

"We had a new manager in this tournament in Rawl Lewis, who has nevermanaged any team before. He came here. We had a camp in Dubai. We hadno uniforms. No printing. He left Dubai, went to Kolkata. that's where we start-ed. The trouble he went through to get us in this uniform was tremendous,"Sammy explained.

�-��/������ �G��,���������+HThe legendary bowler's mere presence in the team was inspi-

rational for the players and add it to the experience and swag-ger he brings to the drawing board will only help the team ina positive manner. After a splendid career in which he took 405wickets, Ambrose was anointed as the Caribbean team's bowl-ing coach in June, 2014.

He struggled to make an impact immediately and beforethe World T20, WIndies bowlers' average 41.78 in Tests, 36.88 in ODIs, and36.14 in T20Is. Thus question marks remained over his head, however heresponded to them in style as the team unit fired in all cylinders to go all theway in the T20 World Cup.

Despite all the negative criticism, Ambrose was optimistic about his boyseven before the tournament started. "Look at the team that we have — half ofthe team are in demand across the world for different T20 leagues. So we havea great chance of winning this T20 tournament just look at our squad," saidAmbrose.

The West Indies Cricket Board on Monday hit backat captain Darren Sammy over his scathing attack

on it after the team's World Twenty20 victory lastnight but offered to talk to the players on how toresolve the long-standing pay dispute.

Sammy gave vent to the team's frustration with itsadministrators stating that lack of support from Boardhas been disappointing after the team's second WT20title triumph, beating England by four wickets.

Hours after this, WICB issued a statement head-lined 'WICB President has high praises for WorldTwenty20 Organisers' in which it termed Sammy'scomments "inappropriate".

WICB President Dave Cameron ignored thegrievances expressed by Sammy on the issue of lackof support to players but apologised to the organis-ers for the captain's outburst before a capacity crowdat the Eden Gardens.

"The President would like to however apologisefor what could be deemed inappropriate, commentsmade by the West Indies' male captain, DarrenSammy in a post-match interview and would like toapologise on behalf of the WICB, to the millions offans who witnessed (sic), " Cameron said in the state-ment.

"The President has pledged to enquire the rea-son and will have the matter addressed," the state-ment said.

Earlier, Sammy said: "I'm yet to hear from ourown cricket board. That is very disappointing."

Cameron also sent out a conciliatory message tothe players by inviting them for a meeting in Juneto discuss the long-pending pay dispute which is atthe heart of the current bitterness.

Cameron said the board will speak to players toensure that best talent in the Caribbean representsthe island nations.

"Coming up in May this year, the Board will hostits annual review (retreat) with the players, WIPA,selectors and the technical team to review player,management and technical plans.

"We want to see how we can find commonground in ensuring that the best players in the regionare available for selection for West Indies teams,"Cameron said.

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The Supreme Court onMonday imposed a cost of

�one crore on cricket bodyDDCA for non-compliance ofDelhi High Court order on a dis-puted structure at FerozshahKotla stadium but refrained frompassing any order to pull it downobserving that it will be a "nation-al wastage" to do so.

"People are playing cricket inthe stadium. If the said disputedstructure of the stadium isbrought down, it will serve noone's purpose. It will be a nation-al wastage," a bench headed byJustice J S Khehar observed about

the R P Mehra block at Kotla."You (DDCA) have not com-

plied with directions of HighCourt issued in 2013. Now youhave complied partially in 2016.You pay Rs 1 crore as cost for non-compliance of the orders and thenwe will see what needs to be donewith your petition," the bench also

comprising Justice C Nagappansaid. During the brief hearing, thecourt also pulled up an intervenorwho had sought that a media boxconstructed at the stadium wasnot approved as per the sanc-tioned plan.

"If the building is broughtdown, will you get a medal? Why

do you want the structure to bebrought down? What will a cit-izen benefit when the structureis brought down? It will serve noone's purpose," the bench toldthe counsel for intervenor N CBakshi on whose petition theDelhi High Court has earlierordered a status quo.

Senior advocate L NageshwarRao said MCD has declared thatall the structures were safe at thestadium and the media box, ifbrought down, will not serve anypurpose to anybody.

The bench, which was earli-er not inclined to hear the plea,said the DDCA's appeal againstthe HC order calls for "no inter-ference", as it had not compliedwith the direction issued in 2013.

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Underfire Waqar Younis on Mondayresigned as Pakistan's head coach in

the wake of team's early exit from theWT20 in India. Shahid Afridi had onSunday quit T20 team's captaincy due totheir poor performance at the prestigiousevent, where they managed just one winat the Group stage.

They lost to top teams including arch-rivals India, New Zealand and Australiawhile managed just one win againstBangladesh.

"I am resigning from my post todaywith a heavy heart," Waqar, who took

over as coach in 2014 for the secondtime , told reporters.

"I want my recommendations to beimplemented. They were not acted onwhen I first made them in 2015."

A part of his report to the PCB wasleaked to media. He had criticised the

Pakistan Cricket Board's decision tonot give him a say in the selectionprocess and also questioned the lead-ership style of Afridi.

"We lost to New Zealand, Asia Cupand the World T20 due to poor captain-cy. Over several occasions, I had made itclear that Shahid Afridi was not perform-ing with the bat, ball or as a captain butI was not listened to," he said.

"I had made a lot of recommenda-tions after the 2015 World Cup, includ-ing sending some boys back to first-classcricket for at least a season so that theycan regain their hunger for the game andre-think their approach and attitude toplay for Pakistan, but no recommenda-tion was implemented."

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India's star batsman Virat Kohli has main-tained his number one position in the

ICC T20 batsmen rankings and so haveIndia in the team charts after the conclu-sion of the World T20.

West Indies, who won the World T20title, have number-one ranked India firm-ly within their sights after they became theonly side to win the tournament twice.

The West Indies are now on 125 points,one point behind India who lost to theeventual champion in Mumbai in the sec-ond semi-final on Thursday. After finish-ing as the second best side in the tourna-ment, England are now fourth after swap-ping places with South Africa.

In the batsmen rankings, Virat Kohlihas comfortably defended his number-oneposition. India's top-order batsman, whowas adjudged player of the tournament,leads Australia's second-ranked AaronFinch by 86 points. England's Joe Root hasbroken into the top five for the first timein his career. Amongst the bowlers,Bumrah has vaulted six places to seventh,while Nehra has climbed five places andis now in 11th position, while SamuelBadree is the No 1 ranked bowler.

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