5°c - 19°c aqi 267 bse sensex 35,656.70 368.84 nse n ifty...

OpiniOn

In an election year, mounting dues of sugarcane farmers is a source of serious concern for the government, writes Siraj Hussain P8

CityDelhi BJP election in-charge Nirmala Sitharaman will conduct a ‘popularity test’ of the seven MPs before finalising candidates P2

indiaAmit Shah says Modi government implemented OROP for ex-servicemen while Cong’s version is ‘Only Rahul Only Priyanka’ P5

wOrldProminent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for state ‘subversion’ P7

spOrtsCheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten 131 ensures Saurashtra beat Karnataka to enter the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha P10

inside

Patriotism rules at the box office, as Manikarnika and Uri keep the tricolour flying high over the Republic

Day weekend

Afterhrs

Alia acquires her third flat in Juhu building for `13 croreMumbai: Actor Alia Bhatt has recently bought a 2,300-

sqft apartment in Juhu for a whopping Rs 13.11 crore — almost double the ready

reckoner rate (Rs 7.86 crore) for the area. Her latest acquisition is on the first floor of a posh Juhu society. Interest-ingly, this is her third property in the same building, as she already owns flat

2A and 2B on the second floor, which she bought over from Anupam and Kirron Kher in 2015. report, P12

United we stand, Sena MPs remind UddhavSanjay Jog [email protected]

Mumbai: A majority of Shiv Sena’s parliamentarians want the party to form an alliance with the BJP for the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections to avoid any division of Hindu votes, and to jointly take on the Congress-NCP combine.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray clarified on Mon-day that he’s not averse to any pre-poll arrangement but in-

sisted that the BJP safeguard Sainiks’ sentiments and be ready for an arrangement that’s acceptable to both parties. If such a deal doesn’t work out, he said, Sena wouldn’t mind going it alone.

He clarified that the party won’t toler-ate the humiliation and neglect meted out by the BJP since four-and-a-half years. They haven’t received any oral or written offer from

the BJP, he said, while all al-liance talks are being dis-cussed in the media alone.

Even if the BJP offers him the post of chief

minister of Maha-rashtra, he said, he won’t accept the pact if BJP doesn’t give Sena enough seats to

contest from in the 288-seat Assembly.

At a time when various BJP leaders are claiming the alliance is a foregone conclu-

sion, Monday’s meeting ac-quires significance.

A senior Sena MP said, “Uddhav recalled emotionally how seat-sharing used to be a smooth affair. That was be-cause of the personal rapport party founder Bal Thackeray had with BJP veterans like LK Advani and the late Atal Bi-hari Vajpayee. Uddhav hoped Narenbhai would also conduct talks in a cordial manner, as a BJP leader and not as Prime Minister.” turn to P4

29 Tuesday January 2019

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Rest assuRed, india cLinch seRies

Virat Kohli (R) plays a shot past New Zealand wicketkeeper Tom Latham during the third ODI in Mount Maunganui on Monday. India won the match by 7 wickets to clinch the five-match series 3-0. Kohli will now take a break and will not feature in the remaining two ODIs and the following three T20Is in New Zealand —AFP reports P10

Cong promises minimum wage to poor if votedAmrita Madhukalya [email protected]

New Delhi: Unveiling the Congress’ agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Con-gress president Rahul Gan-dhi on Monday created a stir when he said that if voted to power, his party will come up with a minimum income guarantee for the impover-ished people.

“We have now taken a step that no government has tak-en before. We have decided to give every poor person a min-imum income guarantee when we form the govern-ment. This is a historic step taken to eradicate hunger and poverty,” Rahul said at a farmer’s rally held in Raipur on Monday.

Apart from farm loan waiver and the minimum in-come guarantee, the Con-gress party is also consider-ing bringing in a system that aids agriculture in ways where debts are not a burden for the country’s farmers. The triumvirate of these promises could give the Con-gress a big boost, especially ahead of expectations that the Modi government could bring in some solid offerings in the Budget.

SC to decide if Sanskrit shlokas in school is religious impositionAbraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Can the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas from Hindu Upanishads during the morning assembly at Kendriya Vidyalayas be con-sidered a religious exercise, and does it go against the secular ethos of the Constitu-tion? A petition filed in the Supreme Court, by one Vee-nayak Shah, claims they do. To buttress his point, Shah cited Article 28(1) of the Con-stitution, that says, “No reli-gious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly main-tained out of State funds.”

The education code for the Kendriya Vidayalaya Sanga-

than was revised in Decem-ber 2012, making it manda-tory for students and teach-ers to recite shlokas from the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad and the Krishna Yajurveda Taittriya Upanishad.

The petitioner said the practice of making students of all religions recite these

shlokas with folded hands amounts to imposition of re-ligion or religious instruc-tion that’s prohibited under the Constitution.

But the Centre, represent-ed by solicitor general Tush-ar Mehta, said the chants don’t identify with any par-ticular religion. Mehta also gave the example of a shloka written under the emblem of the Supreme Court which reads, “yato dharmasto jaya” (where there is justice, there will be victory).

But the bench of justices Rohington F Nariman and Vineet Saran felt the issue is a constitutional question of law, and should hence be addressed by the Constitution Bench of a minimum of five judges.

Maid, son held for murdering elderly coupleNew Delhi: A 50-year-old woman and her juvenile son were apprehended on Mon-day for killing the septuage-narian couple in South-East Delhi’s Mount Kailash socie-ty in Amar Colony. The semi-decomposed bodies Virender Kumar Khaneja (77) and his wife Sarla (72) were discov-ered at their residence on Saturday morning after a relative informed the Delhi Police that their was no re-sponse to phone calls. The arrested woman has been identified as Salma, a domes-tic help who visited twice a week to massage Sarla. Police said that the juvenile stayed with the two bodies in the house for 24 hours before flee-ing there. report, P3

‘Snapdeal is inflating MRPs for discounts’DNA Correspondent [email protected]

Ahmedabad: In its bid to be competitive, according to a new study, online portal Snapdeal is giving discounts disproportionate to its com-petitors, displaying higher MRPs to inflate discounts, and many of its cosmetics products do not show an ex-piry date.

Conducted by Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), the body has now urged the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) to ensure that Snapdeal withdraws all prod-ucts with incomplete label-ling and inflated prices. It has also called for a recall of products already sold to con-sumers along with compen-sation for purchase of poten-tially harmful products. It also seek that the company be mandated to have a transpar-ent policy for selection of vendors and products, and take strict action against ven-dors violating the policy.

According to a survey by CERC, price of one unit of hair oil on Nykaa is Rs. 432 whereas on Snapdeal, two units are available for Rs. 279, indicating a 68 per cent dis-count. “This raises doubts whether the product is origi-nal or counterfeit.” turn to P4

Kumaraswamy threatens to quitDNA Correspondent [email protected]

New Delhi: The tumultuous alliance in Karnataka saw turbulence yet again on Mon-day as CM HD Kumaraswa-my threatened to step down from the Chief Minister’s position after Congress MLA ST Somashekar said that un-der the coalition, develop-ment works seem to have hit a roadblock.

A visibly angered Kumar-aswamy told reporters, “We are doing a good job, but if my way of functioning is not acceptable to everyone, then I am ready to quit. I don’t want to continue also. I am not ready to stick to the chair.”

Meanwhile, in a bid to quell the war of words, AICC in-charge for Karnataka KC Venugopal told DNA he is “very confident” that the coa-

lition government is stable and secure. “I had a word with the CM and then with the state president Dinesh Gundu Rao. We will also initi-ate disciplinary action

against the MLA,” said Venu-gopal.

Soon after, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge issued a gag order on the party MLAs. “They should

not react openly to the media. We have all come together to fight the BJP-RSS. It is not advisable for any member to speak against the wishes of the party high command. Such situations create confu-sion in the coalition,” said Kharge.

The Congress-JDS coali-tion in Karnataka has been on a rocky boat ever since it formed the government. Par-ty insiders said that disgrun-tled MLAs close to Siddara-maiah, have been restless. The expansion and reshuf-fling of the cabinet, too, has led to disgruntlement.

“The coalition govern-ment is in power for the past seven months but not a single work has taken place. It is Siddaramaiah who set up the Kempegowda Development Authority. He should be made chief minister,” Somasekhar had said.

Rocky JD(S)-Congress alliance comes to a head as MLA attacks CM Kumaraswamy

the chief minister draman Party insiders said that MLAs close to Congress’ Sid-daramaiah have been restless

n The expansion and reshuf-fling of the cabinet, too, has led to disgruntlement

n Former CM Siddaramaiah, rubbished the demand; said there was no question of it

We are doing a good job, but if my way of functioning is not acceptable to everyone, then I am ready to quit. I don’t

want to continue also. I am not ready to stick to the chair.HD Kumaraswamy, Karnataka Chief Minister

Pooja Salvi [email protected]

Jaipur: The 2019 Jaipur Lit-erature Festival came to a fast-paced end on Monday. Manisha Koirala, Germaine Greer, Mad-havi Menon and Sonal Mansin-gh were in conversation with Sharad Paul on ‘Breaking Free: A New Kind of Beauti-ful’, where they discussed if women are under pressure to conform to others’ ideas of beauty. “It’s your art and per-sonality which should appear as beautiful,” Koirala said.

After this, Sohaila Abdu-

lali, in conversation with Na-mita Bhandare, discussed ‘What we talk about when we talk about rape’, touching on several aspects of sex and rape. “When I was raped (at the age of 17), my father gave me the choice to deal with the situation the way I wanted; he is a textbook example of how one should treat survivors. It was left up to me if I wanted to press charges or if I want-ed to move on with my life and live it the way I envi-

sioned it. And I chose the lat-ter,” she said.

The day ended with a dis-cussion on ‘Do Liberals Stifle

Debate?’, where the high-profile panel had a raging debate, like the ones broadcasted on TV news channels.

And right here lay the true essence of art festivals — coming to-gether on one platform to exchange ideas, thoughts, and stories

— a promise JLF has strived to fulfil with every year, and the years to come!

Jaipur bids farewell to literature’s brightest closing lines Jaipur Literature festivaL ends on a high, with promise of more

@

An artist at work on the last day of Jaipur Literature Festival

If you can’t deport, don’t detain, court tells AssamAbraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Over the next few weeks, when Parliament is expected to take up the Citizenship Bill, the Assam government will be busy collect-ing data about per-sons with the “for-eigner” tag who are awaiting orders from the State Foreigner Tri-bunals, and on the number of those repatriated in the last decade.

The exercise comes after the Supreme Court passed an order on Monday on a PIL

filed by social activist Harsh Mander that focused on the condition of detention cen-tres in Assam.

In six such centres, Man-der’s counsel Prashant

Bhushan said, in-mates are either awaiting orders from the Foreigner Tribunals or have

remained in India for an indefinite peri-

od of time since their country of origin refused to accept them.

turn to P4

inside‘Will repeal Citizenship Bill’ P5

ZEE shares bounce back, close 17% higher after agreement with lenders DNA Money Correspondent [email protected]

Mumbai: Shares of ZEE En-tertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) bounced back on Monday, after the business conglomerate Essel Group’s management arrived at an understanding with lenders, which are holding pledged shares of the promoters.

The share price of ZEE Entertainment, the flagship company of the Essel Group, rose 19.24 per cent to Rs 380.80 intra-day before closing at Rs 372.50, up 16.64 per cent, on Monday. Dish TV India rose

9.95 per cent at Rs 24.85 before closing the session 5.53 per cent up at Rs 23.85 a share.

Shares of Essel Propack, another group company, closed 9.43 per cent up at Rs 107.35 per scrip. It touched an intra-day high of 12.94 per cent at Rs 100.80.

The broader market ended in red on Monday with the BSE Sensex plunging over 368 points to close at 35,657 amid volatile market senti-ment, days ahead of the Un-ion Budget.

Essel Group stocks wit-nessed a drop on Friday after reports alleged links between the group and Nityank In-frapower and Multiventures, a company under scrutiny of the Serious Fraud Investiga-tion Office. Both ZEEL and Dish TV have assured that they had no dealings whatso-ever with any of the two com-panies. report, DNA Money

The share price of ZEE Entertainment rose 19.24 per cent to Rs 380.80 intra-day before closing at Rs 372.50, up 16.64 per cent

inTRA-DAY gAin

SC’s ‘backhand shot’ keeps Karti in check

Abraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Taking note of Karti Chidambaram’s fre-quent foreign trips to attend tennis matches, the Supreme Court on Monday gave an as-surance to the Enforcement Directorate that Karti will not be permitted to travel abroad if he is trying to evade their questioning under the pretext of attending tennis matches. Karti, son of Con-gress leader P Chidambaram is facing probe in the INX Me-dia and Aircel Maxis cases.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the ED to specify the dates for questioning Karti in relation to the cases pending against him within a day or two. Karti had moved an ap-plication seeking permission to travel to four countries in relation to tennis matches being organised by a UK-based company “Totus Ten-nis Limited”.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Karti submitted that his cli-ent was a former tennis play-er, a sports administrator and entrepreneur and wished to attend the tennis matches played abroad in this connec-tion. turn to P4

Trouble mounting for Chidambaram & sonSumit Kumar Singh [email protected]

New Delhi: The troubles of former union minister P Chi-dambaram and his son Karti seem to be mounting with probing agencies finding more evidence against them. The CBI, ED, Delhi Police and Income Tax are probing more than a dozen cases against them. In the Aircel-Maxis scam, a Delhi court on Mon-day extended till February 18, the interim protection from

arrest granted to P Chidam-baram and Karti. Special CBI Judge OP Saini extended re-lief to Chidambaram noting that he will not be available on February 1. The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promo-tion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Last week, both, the CBI and ED had already told the Delhi High Court that they require custodial interroga-tion of Chidambaram in the INX Media case. turn to P4

Court warns him, say no tennis tour if he is trying to evade ED probe

ED seizes MP’s assets worth `239 crNew Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached assets valued at over Rs 239 crore of a firm linked to now sidelined TMC MP, KD Singh, in con-nection with a money laundering probe into an alleged ponzi scam case, currently pegged at over Rs 1,900 crore, the agency said. report, P6

TRAvEL TRAiLn Karti travelled to the UK

from Sept 20 to Oct 1, 2018 to attend tennis matches

n Previously, he attended the ATP tournament at Lyon from May 20-26 for matches

n He also went to the ATP tournament at Stuttgart from June 11-17; WTA tournament at Mallorca from June 18-24

VHP’s ‘Dharma Sansad’ to push for ram templeNew Delhi: Ahead of the Dharma Sansad of the Vish-va Hindu Parishad, a three-day ‘Param Dharma Sansad’ — organised by a group of seers led by Shankacharya Swaroopannand Saraswarti — started on Monday on the sidelines of the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

The Sansad aims to dis-cuss an 18-point agenda that includes Ram Janmabhoomi, Save Ganga, gauraksha (cow protection), anti-conversion, ‘save temples’, ‘save the envi-ronment’, ‘cultural educa-tion’, ‘religious education’, and other issues, sources said. report, P12

02 DEL iwww.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindiadaily news & analysis i

in brief

Four arrested for extortion of 50 cement bagsFour men have been ar-rested on the charge of extortion after they al-legedly unloaded some bags of cement from a truck here, police said on Monday. The accused have been identified as Satyawan (47), who had posed as a Sub-Division-al Magistrate, Dalip Sin-gh (43), Devender (23) and Pankaj (22), they said. The driver in his police complaint said that he was driving the truck from Alwar in Ra-jasthan with 200 bags of cement, when around 11.30 pm Thursday he noticed a car following his vehicle from Dhab-wapur village. When he was near Bamnoli Vil-lage, two cars overtook the truck and forced it to stop, Deputy Commis-sioner of Police (Dwar-ka) Anto Alphonse said. One of the accused, pos-ing as a SDM, told the driver that he would be challaned as he was driving an overloaded truck and directed him to unload 50 bags, the DCP said.

40-year-old held for kidnapping A Forty-year-old man, who wanted to have a daughter, has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping two girls from west Delhi, police said Monday. The accused has identified as Krishan Dutt Tiwari (40), a driver and a resident of Rajouri Garden, they said. A resident of Jawahar Camp in Kirti Nagar, on Friday filed a missing complaint of his 8-year-old daughter who had gone to a nearby public toilet, police said, adding early morning the next day, the girl returned home safely on her own. On enquiry, the girl revealed that she had gone to the toilet where one person lured her to his home on his bike.

new delHi i Tuesday, January 29, 2019

BJP to conduct popularity test for seven Delhi MPsLS polls in-charge Nirmala Sitharaman to take feedback from party functionariesDNA Correspondent [email protected]

Starting today, Defence Minister and Delhi election incharge for the BJP Nir-mala Sitharaman will con-duct ‘popularity test’ of the seven MPs, an exercise which is a precursor to fi-nalising candidates for up-coming Lok Sabha elec-tions. ‘Lok Sabha Pravesh’ as it is titled will assess the elected representatives on various parameters, the re-sults of which will have a bearing on fielding them again.

Nirmala will take feed-back from different party functionaries like mandal president, ward council-lors, sitting MLAs, Lok Sabha prabharis and even councillors and legislators who lost elections.

ccording to sources, dur-ing the interactive session which is likely to last for a few hours, she will only lis-ten to the party members

and not address the gather-ing. Senior Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajesh Bhatia said, “West Delhi is the first constituency that Nirmala will cover where she will meet everyone in the hierarchy of the party structure.” Son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma Parvesh Sahib Singh represents this con-

stituency. She will visit North West

and Chandni Chowk on Wednesday. These are rep-resented by Dr Udit Raj and Dr Harshvardhan respec-tively. Nirmala will be ac-companied by co-incharge Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya. The exercise is expected to complete in a week and the feedback will be sent to na-

tional party president Amit Shah. The timing of the de-velopment assumes signifi-cance as speculations are rife that the party may drop some of the sitting MPs in the impending general elec-tions.

The BJP is gearing up to take on Aam Aadmi Party and Congress together. The local wing has already slot-ted 13,500 booths depending on their ability to secure a win for the party. Those in category D are those where the BJP has never won, C is for uncertain areas. While type B is for booths where the party has won with thin margin and type A is for booths where they have reg-istered comfortable win.

A similar survey was conducted by the party in September last year to gauge the public mood with an eye on the LS polls. The questionnaire assessed the MPs on work done by them, ease of accessibility and popularity.

DNA Correspondent [email protected]

Delhi’s air quality was record-ed in the ‘poor’ category on Monday and is expected to dete-riorate slightly over the next three days, according to the authorities. As per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data, the overall air quality index (AQI) in the city was 267, which falls in the ‘poor’ category.

An AQI between 100 and 200 comes under ‘moderate’ catego-ry, 201 and 300 is considered ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, while that between 401 and 500 is ‘severe’. In the National Cap-ital Region, Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida also record-ed ‘poor’ air quality, it said.

The overall PM2.5 level -- fine particulate matters in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers -- in Delhi was 123, while the PM10 level was 206, it said.

The Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Fore-casting (SAFAR) said current air quality of Delhi is in ‘poor’ category. “The moderate wind speed is preventing it to cross to next level (very poor). Cold wave conditions and moderate fog is likely to prevail for next

two days. Hence, air quality is predicted to deteriorate slightly but will fluctuate between very poor to poor for next three days,” the SAFAR said. Cold wave conditions remained una-bated in the city with the mini-mum temperature settling at 5.5 degrees Celsius, three notch-

es below the season’s average. The maximum temperature was recorded at 18.9 degrees Celsius, also three notches be-low the normal, said a Met de-partment official.

The humidity oscillated be-tween 94 and 51 per cent. Ac-cording to the Met office, cold wave conditions are likely at isolated pockets of the city.”There will be shallow fog in the morning. Gusty winds likely to prevail during the day and cold wave conditions likely to prevail at isolated pockets. “The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hov-er at 19 and 5 degrees Celsius respectively,” the weatherman said.

Cold wave to have negative effect on air quality index

According to the Met office, cold wave conditions are likely at isolated pockets of the city. There will be shallow fog in the morning. Gusty winds likely to prevail, said the weatherman

Breezy

Restrictions on movement of vehicles in central Delhi due to Beating Retreat rehearsal and breakdown of a few clus-ter buses led to traffic jams at major intersections on Mon-day.

The Delhi Traffic Police has been constantly updating commuters about the conges-tion through its twitter han-dle.

“Traffic movement has been closed on Gurugram Road to Thimayya Marg by lo-cal police. Traffic has been diverted towards Station Road and Sadar Bazar Road,” it said.

Traffic restrictions have been imposed in central part of the city due to rehearsal of the Beating Retreat ceremony.

Vijay Chowk will remain closed for general traffic from 3.30 pm to 9.30 pm, according to a traffic advisory.

Movement of vehicles on parts of Rafi Marg, Raisina

Road, Krishna Menon Marg, ‘C’ Hexagon and Dara Shikoh Road will also be restricted, it said.

Parking will be available for those coming to see the lighting behind the water channels between Rafi Marg and ‘C’ Hexagon after 7 pm, it said.

The traffic police have ar-ranged for buses to avoid tak-ing the ‘C’ Hexagon and some nearby roads from afternoon till evening.

Breakdown of a cluster bus at Pamposh Enclave added to traffic woes for people travel-

ling from Nehru Place to-wards Chirag Delhi.

“Major traffic jam in Delhi Cantonment (Sadar Bazar Road), have been stuck here for more than an hour!,” a commuter tweeted.

Commuters were stuck for long hours at Kalandi Kunj stretch from Delhi to Noida due to heavy traffic jam. While a DTC bus break down at Yamuna bridge, Vikas Marg, also caused a chock-a-block situation.

“I was not getting cabs in the morning. There was a waiting of 22 minutes to get a

cab for a distance of five kilo-meters,” Rahul, who was trav-elling to Noida from Mayur Vihar, said.

Commuters have been alerted to avoid the stretch between Kondli towards Ghazipur as traffic remains affected due to breakdown of a loaded truck near Kondli Chowk.

“Traffic movement was also closed from Loni to Shah-dara carriageway due to ongo-ing Delhi Jal Board work. Traffic was moving in one carriageway. Kindly avoid the stretch,” the traffic police tweeted.

According to the advisory, roads to be avoided include Akbar Road, Ashoka Road, Tilak Marg, KG Marg, Prithvi Raj Road, Mathura Road, Shahjahan Road, Sher Shah Suri Marg, Bhairon Marg, Pu-rana Qila Road and Subrama-nia Bharti Marg.

—Agencies

Traffic restrictions in central Delhi lead to jams at major intersections

A newly acquired armoured hijack intervention vehicle Sherpa deployed for security at Vijay Chowk —PTI

Vijay Chowk will remain closed for general traffic from 3.30 pm to 9.30 pm, according to a traffic advisory. Parking will be available for those coming to see the lighting behind the water channels between Rafi Marg and ‘C’ Hexagon after 7 pm, traffic police said. The traffic police have arranged for buses to avoid taking the ‘C’ Hexagon and some nearby roads from afternoon till evening.

Parking availaBle

24-yr-old woman robbed at knifepoint


A 24-year-old woman who boarded an auto rickshaw from Kashmere Gate while returning home from work, was robbed at knife point and thrown out of the mov-ing auto near Shastri Park area of North east Delhi on Sunday night. Police sus-pect the role of an organ-ised gang while they have detained the auto driver and his seized his vehicle. Police said the woman es-caped with injuries.

According to the police, the incident took place at around 9:30 pm when the victim, a resident of Ya-muna Vihar, and boarded a sharing auto from Kash-mere Gate metro station.

The victim in her com-plaint stated that four men were already sitting in the auto, two of them were sit-ting in front with the driv-er, all posing as other pas-sengers. “She said that as soon as the auto crossed Yamuna Bridge near Shas-tri Park, the two men sit-ting on the rear seat started misbehaving with her. As she asked them to stop, they attempted to snatch the bag she was carrying. Showing braveness she

fought back, the two men unzipped her bag and took out her mobile phone,” said a senior police officer.

The complainant fur-ther said that there was heavy traffic on the road when she was being robbed. She tried to raise an alarm but in the mean-time the auto driver slowed down the vehicle and the other men pushed her out of the moving auto.

“The woman sustained injury in her leg. She rushed back home and called police. A case of rob-bery has been registered. We have identified the ac-cused while have also de-tained an auto driver Atul Thakur, DCP

As soon as the auto crossed Yamuna Bridge

near Shastri Park, the two men sitting on the rear seat started misbehaving with her. As she asked them to stop, they attempted to snatch the bag she was carrying. Police officer

Three held for playing loud music at midnightThree men were arrested Monday for allegedly playing loud music around midnight with speakers mounted on a pickup truck, police said.

A complaint was received around midnight about the ac-cused men causing inconven-ience to the people in Sector 10 area, going around with mu-sic blaring, the police said.

“The people were getting inconvenienced. Some of them were angry and had started assembling on the road due to the disturbance,” said Inspector Manoj Kumar Pant, the in charge of the Sec-tor 20 police station. Soon, Pant said, local police officials reached the area, intercepted the vehicle and tried to talk them through the situation.

“It was around quarter past 12 in the night and the three were unrelenting, hence they were arrested on charges under the Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and their pickup truck impounded,” he said. Those held have been identified as Aslam (22), Bunty (24) and Aman (18), all

residents of Noida, the police said.

They have been booked un-der CrPC Section 151 (arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences), 107 (se-curity for keeping the peace), and related offences, the po-lice said.

Pant said the vehicle was impounded under Section 207 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Power to detain vehicles used without certificate of registration permit, etc) after the accused failed to show necessary documents.

“The accused are being produced in a local court,” he added.—PTI

Pic for representation

DCW seeks details on rape of 5-year-oldThe Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has sought de-tails on the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old girl in northwest Delhi. The DCW took suo motu cognisance of the me-dia reports on the alleged rape and murder in Samaypur Badli area, its chief Swati Maliwal said in a notice to the Delhi Po-lice. It has been reported that the child went missing on Janu-ary 26 and her body was found the next day. Reportedly, she was raped before being killed, the notice said.

Calling it a “very serious matter”, the DCW has sought a copy of the FIR registered in the case. The DCW has also sought a copy of the post-mor-tem report. “Considering the gravity of the matter, please provide the information to the commission latest by Febru-ary 1,” Maliwal said in the notice.—PTI

delhi university’s law student commits suicide DNA Correspondent [email protected]

A 21-year-old law student of Delhi University allegedly committed suicide by hang-ing herself from a fan in her room of a paying guest ac-commodation in Sector 27 on Sunday night. Police said that initial probe has re-vealed that she had fight with a male friend before al-legedly committing the act, However no suicide note has been recovered. Police have informed the family was in-formed and the body was sent for autopsy. No case has been registered.

According to the police, the deceased has been identi-fied of Swati Sahni, a native

of Kankhal, Haridwar. She lived with a roommate who was away at the time of the incident.

“The incident came to light around 11pm on Sun-day when Swati failed to an-

swer her roommate’s call at night. Her roommate asked the cook to check on her. When Swati did not respond to repeated knocks on the door, the cook peeped in through a window and saw

her hanging from the fan af-ter which he alerted the land-lord,” said a senior police officer.

Police said that the owner made a police control room

call and a team reached the spot, broke the door open and brought the body down. Body has been sent for au-topsy while the family has been informed.

“During probe it came to light that Swati had a loud argument with someone on the phone. It seems that she was having a fight with a man she had befriended on social media sometime ago. From her WhatsApp chats, it seems that he had not been responding to her calls,” said the officer.

Police said that so far, the family has not given any for-mal complaint. We will reg-ister the case if they file one. The body will be handed over to them after the autopsy.

During probe it came to light that Swati had a

loud argument with someone on the phone. It seems that she was having a fight with a man she had befriended on social media sometime ago. Police officer

A 105-year-old man has got a new lease of life after under-going a hip replacement sur-gery at a Delhi hospital, with the doctor who operated on him, claiming that he was the “oldest person globally” to have undergone this clinical procedure.

Orthopaedic surgeon Kaushal Kant Mishra, who performed the surgery recent-ly, said he has “already ap-plied” for a Guinness World Record.

“The patient was brought to our hospital on January 19 after having suffered a fall in bathroom at his home, which left him incapacitated. The surgery was performed that day and on January 22 he was discharged in a walking con-dition,” Mishra said.

The doctor, who heads the orthopaedic department at Primus Hospital in central Delhi, said the patient, Gur-bachan Singh Sandhu, used to walk with a stick and his physical fitness aided in the surgery.

“He was born in undivided

Punjab on the Indian side, and retired in 1971 from security office of the armed forces. On March 28, he will turn 106. I have checked for documented surgeries world over for hip replacement, and I found no one as old than Sandhu to have undergone this opera-tion,” he said.

As per the existing global record, the oldest person to have had a total hip replace-ment was a British, John Ran-

dall, born in 1909, who had a “revision left total hip re-placement at the age of 102 years”, Mishra claimed.

“There are two kinds of hip replacement surgeries, cemented and uncemented. In cemented ones, there are chances of side-effects which could also be life-threatening. Sandhu underwent unce-mented hip replacement pro-cedure successfully,” he said.

The doctor said, his pa-

tient’s good bone quality even at that age, was another factor for choosing uncemented sur-gical procedure, adding, Sand-hu did not smoke or drink, and regularly went for walks.

“Most people of his age be-come weak and vulnerable, but he is full of life and ener-gy. He wanted to walk and not lay on bed with a broken hip and so readily agreed for the surgery,” Mishra said.

—PTI

105-year-old undergoes hip replacement surgery, doctor says oldest patient to do so

�� Gurbachan Singh Sandhu, used to walk with a stick and his physical fitness aided in the surgery.

�� As per the existing global record, the oldest person to have had a total hip replacement was a British, John Randall, born in 1909, who had a “revision left total hip replacement at the age of 102

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del i 03www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia I daIly news & analysIs new delHI I Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Sakshi Chand [email protected]

The Delhi Police has a dedi-cated senior citizen cell to cater to the needs of the el-derly living in the National Capital, however with the murder of the senior citizen couple the functioning of cell has come under the scanner.

As per Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) the police should pay a visit to the resi-dence of the senior citizens twice a week. However the police officers had not visited the residence of Virender and Sarla Khaneja after January 15. It was only when their relative called the police and informed them that the phone calls went unanswered is when their semi-decomposed bodies were discovered.

So far the Delhi Police have 35,626 senior citizens regis-tered with them. A checklist for the security audit of sen-ior citizens includes a check on the domestic helps, ten-

ants if any, driver, washer-man, sweeper, iron man, car cleaner and other people. Not just that if they have been verified by the police and an identification proof as well. In this particular case the po-lice has so far not revealed if they had verified the domes-tic help or had a copy of their identity proof. Besides this, the police has to also check the access and security fea-tures at the house. For exam-ple if the door has a chain or an eye hole or an electronic lock, burglar alarm etc.

The Delhi Police had also also launched a mobile appli-cation for senior citizens in October 2016. So far only 13448 senior citiznes have downloaded the application.

The senior citizen securi-ty cell was set up in June 2004 at the Delhi Police head-quarters. Apart from this the Senior citizen security cell have also been created in all the fourteen districts of the Delhi.

Doubts raised over senior citizen’s cell


A 40-year-old was relieved of a hemifacial spasm after 15 years when plastic surgeons at a Delhi based hospital treated it using non-surgical temperature controlled inva-sive radio frequency ablation (surgical removal). The pro-cedure, which has been done for the first time in the world, has relieved the patient, him-self a doctor, of the discom-fort and the need of taking Botox injections. The patient is also now able to open his left eye, which had been shut due to continuous spasm.

“The 15-year-long ordeal with hemifacial spasm has been a tough one. I took Botox injections, which merely worked as a poor quick fix, as the relief was almost always partial, and the problem re-

turned as the effect faded. This led me to socially se-clude myself. However, de-spite my condition heavily affecting my professional and social life, I could not bring myself to open brain surgery, suggested by few neurosur-geons. I am glad that an In-dian surgeon was innovative and straightforward enough to explain the procedure, which led me to give a nod to

being the first patient of this technology,” said Satish Mit-tal.

With a prevalence of 9.8 per 100,000 persons in India, the treatment of hemifacial spasm is considered rather difficult as the surgical inter-vention, which involves opening the skull, has been the only solution available till now. Temporary solutions like Botox injections and cer-tain medications are given

only to temporarily paralyse the muscles causing discom-fort. The innovation, howev-er, boasts of treating the problem without any major surgical intervention.

“Hemifacial spasm is actu-ally a nervous system disor-der in which the muscles on one side of the face twitch involuntarily, this is usually caused by a blood vessel touching a facial nerve. In this procedure, we used a nerve stimulator to locate the nerve which was causing the disturbance. After carefully isolating it, we used radio fre-quency to kill it permanently.

This is like eliminating the problem causing nerve without surgery. The proce-dure will lead to long term relief with no significant risks,” said Dr Ajaya Kashy-ap, Medical Director, KAS Medical Centre.

In a first, man treated for facial spasm through radio frequency

Botex shots were just for temporary relief

Hemifacial spasm is actually a nervous system disorder in which the muscles on one side of the face twitch involuntarily, this is usually caused by a blood vessel touching a facial nerve.

nerve issues

Chief Minister Arvind Kejri-wal Monday laid foundation stone for construction of 11,000 new classrooms in over 200 government schools in Delhi.

This is the second phase of infrastructure expansion by the Delhi government after construction of 8,000 new classrooms between 2015 and 2018.

“Building infrastructure isn’t rocket science, but the way how confidence has been instilled in the teachers of Delhi government schools, through exposures at the most reputed institutes of the world like Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard,” Kejri-wal said.

“It’s unbelievable that 300-350 students of Delhi govern-ment schools got through IIT-JEE last year. I am from IIT, I know the hard work it takes,” he added.

The foundation stone was laid at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in New Friends Colony.

“25 new schools have been built, 31 are under con-struction and the blue prints for 78 new schools have been decided,” Deputy Chief Min-ister Manish Sisodia said at the event.

“We have no illusion that having built the right infra-structure, the work on educa-tion is completed. Today Delhi government schools perform better than even pri-vate schools, selections in competitive exams from gov-ernment schools have gone up from 40-50 to more than 250,” he said.

Sisodia said the fact that education was kept away from politics is the reason why the government schools of the country are in such bad state. “It’s high time we bring education in the political discourse of the country.” —PTI

Foundation stone for new classroom laid

Delhi Police’s Special Cell has arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly supplying ammuni-tion to the CPI (Maoist) in Bi-har’s Ara, officials said on Monday.

Raj Bahadur alias Raj Kishore, a resident of Kasap village in Ara town of Bihar’s Bhojpur district, was carrying a reward of Rs 1 Lakh on his head, police said on Monday.

The arrest was made on January 23 after police got a tip-off that Bahadur will visit one of his acquaintance in the Shiv Ganj Colony area of the Ara city, police said.

A trap was laid and Baha-dur was apprehended from the spot and 35 cartridges were recovered from his pos-session, P S Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Spe-cial Cell), said.

Bahadur’s associates, who were arrested last year in con-nection with the case, dis-

closed to police that he was the main source of supplying of illegal cartridges, he said.

Investigations revealed that Bahadur was arrested earlier for supplying illegal cartridges to the Maoists in Odisha, Kushwah said. He has been supplying cartridges il-legally since 2008. He used to procure cartridges from a Patna-based man, named San-tosh, the DCP said.

The procured cartridges were then supplied to Ajeet Ray through Ram Krishna

Singh and Sanjay Singh, he said.

Bahadur came in contact with Ray in Mumbai when he used to supply labour to a con-struction company. He, along with Ram Krishna Singh, was arrested in Odisha in 2008, while he was carrying car-tridges for supplying them to Maoists, Kushwah added. Ba-hadur is also involved in vari-ous other cases, including robbery and attempt to mur-der, the DCP said. His associ-ates Ram Krishna Singh, Ray and Sanjay Singh were ar-rested last year in connection with the case, the DCP said. Ram Krishna Singh used to procure cartridges from Ara, which were supplied to a Garhchiroli-based Maoist cadre. Ray is also involved in several cases of crime in states of Maharashtra, Odis-ha and Chhatishgarh since 1990, he said. —PTI

Delhi Special Cell arrests man for supplying ammunition to Maoists

BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa has lodged a complaint with police against Aam Aad-mi Party convener and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, al-leging that phone calls were being made to voters of his Rajouri Garden constituency claiming their names had been deleted from electoral rolls by the BJP.

Sirsa alleged the AAP was “misleading” voters in his constituency through “prop-aganda” that their names were deleted because of the BJP but re-listed because of “sincere efforts” of Kejriwal.

In his complaint filed at Tilak Nagar police station on Sunday, the BJP MLA cited names of two voters who re-ceived such calls.

“It is a conspiracy to de-fame me by false representa-tion before voters of my con-stituency to lower my image before them that their MLA is weak and not capable to protect their fundamental right to vote,” Sirsa said in his complaint.

Last week, a delegation of the BJP’s Delhi unit led by its

president Manoj Tiwari had submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission seeking action against AAP over its claim of deletion of names of 30 lakh voters in Delhi, and also over phone calls being made to voters by AAP volunteers defaming the BJP. The AAP has asserted that it was no crime to tell the people who got their names deleted from electoral rolls and that it was restored due to the AAP and its leaders.

“Aam Aadmi Party, its MLAs and volunteers organ-ised camps to register those

voters again. This process is still going on. We believe that adding these genuine voters is not a crime or telling this to voters is not a crime,” AAP’s chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj had said earlier.

The party accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of being involved in the al-leged deletion of names of lakhs of voters belonging to Purvanchali, Bania and Mus-lim communities in the na-tional capital after the 2015 assembly elections in Delhi.

—PTI

Last week, BJP leaders complained to Election Commission against AAP

BJP files complaint against CM for ‘misleading’ voters

Four people have been ar-rested by the customs offi-cials in separate cases for al-legedly trying to smuggle gold and forex worth Rs 1.88 crores at the Delhi airport, ac-cording to an official state-ment issued on Monday.A man was intercepted by the customs officials on Sunday after his arrival from Riyadh via Bahrain.He was found to be carrying 1.8 kg gold, concealed inside two emergency lights being brought by him, the state-ment issued by the customs said.

The gold valued at Rs 60 lakhs was seized and the pas-senger was arrested.

In the second incident, an-other man was stopped for checking on the same day when he was proceeding to depart for Sharjah.

A detailed personal and baggage search of the passen-ger resulted in the recovery of foreign currencies -- Japa-nese Yen 3,62,000, Kuwait Di-nar 2,040, Bahrain Dinar 2,140, Omani Riyal 4,555, Eu-ros 4,905, Qatari Riyal 7,000 and USD 12,725 -- equivalent to Rs 33.51 lakhs, the state-ment said.

Another man was inter-cepted by the officials after his arrival from Riyadh via Abu Dhabi on Friday.

He was found to be carry-ing silver colour coated gold bar concealed within a black coloured torch. The gold, weighing 950 grams and val-ued at Rs 30.42 lakhs, has been seized, it said.

In the fourth case reported on Tuesday, the customs de-partment said a 31-year-old woman was stopped for checking by the customs of-ficials after her arrival from Bangkok.

She was found to be carry-ing two kilogram gold, valued at Rs 64.34 lakhs —Agencies

Four held for smuggling gold at IGIA

Cops nab maid, her son for killing elderly couplePolice recover `8.98L cash and jewellery from them; teen admits crime Sakshi Chand [email protected]

The Delhi police on Monday apprehended a 50-year old woman and her juvenile son for allegedly killing an old cou-ple in in South- East Delhi’s Mount Kailash society in Amar Colony area. According to police, the juvenile stayed in the house of Virender Kumar Khaneja (77) and his wife Sarla (72) for 24 hours after killing them. The semi-decomposed bodies of the senior citizens were discovered at their resi-dence on Saturday morning. The murder came to light after a relative informed the Delhi police that nobody was re-sponding their telephone.

Chinmoy Biswal, DCP, South-East stated that Sarla had employed a domestic help Salma (50) who along with her 17-year-old son had killed the elderly couple for cash and jewellery. The couple was found dead in the same room, with Sarla’s hands being tied in the front with a religious stole. DNA had earlier report-ed that a string made out of cloths was also lying around her neck indicating that she was strangled to death. Viren-der was also found in the same room on the other side of the bed with blood near his head. The couple has two sons – Amit, who is a doctor and settled in USA, while younger Sumit passed away last year due to illness. The police has sought Amit’s permission via e-mail to send the bodies for post-mortem.

Biswal said that Salma came twice to a week to mas-sage Sarla. On January 18, Salma reached the house as usual and let her son come inside the house and hide. Af-ter finishing her work, Sarla left. Some time later, Virender also stepped out for some chores.

Salma’s teenage son told the police that he demanded cash and jewellery from Sarla but she said that her husband knew where it was. He alleg-edly tied her hands strangled her to death around 4:30 pm. Virender returned home around 8:30 pm, only to see a stranger in his house. Viren-der pointed towards the room where the safe was with their cash and jewellery. Salma’s son took the safe and stran-gled him as well. “He left the house on January 19 morn-ing. His entry and exit is re-corded in the CCTV camera footage. He can be seen wear-ing a black cap and exiting the building with a bag on his back,” Biswal said.

Juvenile stayed in the house untill January 19

morning to avoid being checked by the guards in the night. His entry and exit have been verified with the help of the CCTV cameras.Chinmoy Biswal, DCP, South East

The Mount Kailash Society where the couple stayed

The Supreme Court on Mon-day expressed displeasure over the Delhi High Court’s recent order in a sealing mat-ter and restrained it from en-tertaining any plea related to the apex court-mandated mon-itoring committee on sealing of unauthorised construc-tions in the national capital.

“We are not happy with the way the Delhi High Court has passed the order,” a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta said.

The bench noted that the apex court had made it clear in its December 15, 2017 judge-ment and two subsequent or-ders that any challenge to the decision of monitoring com-mittee would lie only in the top court.

The issue cropped up be-fore the bench when senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, assist-ing the court as an amicus

curiae in the Delhi sealing matter, drew its attention to a report filed by the monitoring committee.

As per the report, a division bench of the high court had on January 23 passed an order in a matter related to sealing of a premises in Mehrauli here. The division bench of the high court was hearing an appeal against the September 10, 2018 order passed by a single judge who had dismissed a plea chal-lenging the sealing action un-dertaken by the monitoring committee on the ground that as per December 15, 2017 ver-dict of the apex court the rem-edy against the action of the monitoring committee would lie only in the top court.

The division bench, while hearing the appeal, had di-rected the committee to file an affidavit before it detailing the steps as to how they carry out the sealing action. —PTI

Traders protest against the sealing policy —File photo

‘Not happy’ over Delhi High Court order in sealing matter, says apex court

n During the hearing before the apex court on Monday, the amicus referred to the orders passed by the Supreme Court earlier in which it was said that other courts would not entertain pleas related to the committee.

n The apex court has posted the matter for further hearing on February 18. The top court is seized of issues related to validity of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006, and subsequent legislations that protect unauthorised constructions from being sealed in the national capital.

amicus curiae draws attention

cultural treat

1) Tableau artistes from Maharashtra perform during the interaction with Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu at his residence on Monday 2) Jammu and Kashmir state display it colourful style at the event 3) Assamese performers enthrall the crowd; 4) Artistes from Tamil Nadu entertain crowd photos: pti

1

2 3

4

United we stand, Sena MPs... From p1

Thackeray also hoped that the BJP would support the Ram Temple issue that he had taken up by visiting Ayodhya and addressing a rally at Pandharpur. But, he recalled, the BJP didn’t ex-tend its cooperation, and

though it claimed to be a strong advocate of Hindut-va, kept downplaying the is-sue.

Another MP said Thack-eray cleared the air over his purported “chowkidaar chor hai” jibe, that it was not against Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi and that his

words were twisted. The Sena chief also said the BJP tar-geted him often by terming he runs a mafia raj.

However, he concluded the meeting by reiterating that a final decision on the alliance would be taken only after tak-ing MPs and party workers into confidence.

04 c mmunitywww.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindiadaily news & analysis i new delHi i Tuesday, January 29, 2019

tenders & notices

30-minute of meditation, yoga can help your heartStudy finds meditation significantly affected blood pressure, heart rate variabilityDNA Correspondent [email protected]

A 30-minute meditative and yogic practice has a positive effect on heart rate variability and blood pressure, recent re-search conducted by the Na-tional Resource Centre for Value Education in Engineer-ing (NRCVEE) at IIT Delhi, and a private hospital group’s department of non-invasive cardiology revealed. Accord-ing to the data collated, it has been found that practices of meditation significantly af-fected the heart rate, blood pressure and heart rate vari-ability, which is an indicator of cardiovascular as well as overall health.

The authors concluded that a 30-minute session of meditation produces signifi-cant modulation of the auto-nomic nervous system to-wards parasympathetic dom-inance, so as to favourably moderate basic vital param-eters. The results also indi-cate that these practices helped improve the feeling of overall happiness and well-being following meditation sessions, without being de-manding.

The findings of the study were authored by Narendra Kumar Arya, Kamlesh Singh and Anushree Malik, from the NRCVEE, and Rahul Mehrotra, Head, Department of Non-Invasive Cardiology,

Max Super Specialty Hospi-tal, Saket, New Delhi.

The study was conducted had a sample size of 30 volun-teers (21 males and 9 females) who have been practising these methods regularly. The volunteers were in the age range of 19-70 years and were subjected to a standard set of procedures while data were recorded on a computer. The entire procedure was per-formed in three stages of 30 minutes each: Baseline stage,

Cleaning stage, and Medita-tion stage.

The first stage was the Baseline stage where each participant was seated qui-etly with eyes open. In stage II, participants performed ‘Heartfulness’ Cleaning, and in stage III the participants performed meditation aided by yogic transmission under the guidance of a trainer.

Heart rate and BP were re-corded before and at the end of each stage. A Holter moni-

tor, attached with the help of electrodes to the subjects’ chests, continuously record-ed the ECG and heart rate variability during the stages. Finally, the trained non-inva-sive cardiology technician removed the electrodes and the participants filled a feed-back questionnaire.

Certain psychological pa-rameters were also included in the study to assess overall well-being. Cantril’s Ladder scale, the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) and the Flourishing Scale were used to assess the overall happiness and well-being of participants. A feed-back questionnaire was used to assess peace, happiness, enjoyment and effort felt by the participants during the Cleaning and Meditation pro-cesses, to support the results as assessed by HRV.

Full report on dnaindia.com

�� The authors concluded that a 30-minute session of meditation produces significant modulation of the autonomic nervous system towards parasympathetic dominance, so as to favourably moderate basic vital parameters.

the finding

New campaign aims to spread awareness on menstrual healthOver 2,000 adolescent girls in various parts of rural India were provided with sanitary kits as part of a new cam-paign that aims to spread awareness about menstrual health.

“Wind Beneath Her Wings”, a joint initiative by social enterprise Dharma Life and Spain-based wom-en’s sportswear brand Believe Athletics, seeks to address the taboo that is menstruation and teach young girls across the country to stay healthy while on their periods.

“Lack of toilets and una-wareness about menstrual hygiene has an adverse im-pact on women’s health. What we aspire to do is change the mindset of people about menstruation,” said Gaurav Mehta, founder and CEO of Dharma Life.

The initiative, which went live on January 26, stemmed from the need to make wom-en in Indian villages aware of the importance of menstrual hygiene to prevent infections and infertility.

As part of the campaign, Dharma Life, for every sale on the website of Believe Athletics, educates one young girl about menstrual hygiene and provides her with a sanitary kit.

The approach is rein-forced through various games and activities that en-courage the strengthening of relations between women, particularly between moth-ers and daughters enabling them to talk about the subject freely. —PTI

If you can’t deport, don’t detain, court tells AssamFrom p1

The bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked solici-tor general Tushar Mehta whether a survey was con-ducted on the number of in-mates, those under detention after being declared foreign-ers, and on those successfully repatriated. Mehta, appear-ing for the Assam govern-ment, submitted that such a study was not contemplated.

“Once the National Regis-ter of Citizens (NRC) exer-cise in the state is done, and a proposed legislation (of Citizenship Bill) comes in, what will be the fate of these detention centres,” the bench observed.

With NRC, those citizens who are unable to produce a residence or identity proof obtained prior to March 24, 1971, will be declared state-less. At the same time, the Citizenship Bill, pending with the Rajya Sabha, seeks to confer citizenship rights to religious minorities who en-tered India fleeing religious persecution in neighbouring countries. These include Hin-dus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Christians.

Bhushan said that despite the NRC, detention centres house close to 1,000 inmates, and if these persons cannot be repatriated, there is no point holding them under de-tention. The judges said, “If the neighbouring country cannot be convinced of tak-ing their citizens, you (As-sam government) cannot keep them indefinitely (at the detention centres).”

The bench was also of the view that it may not be re-quired to keep the detention centres open once the Citi-zenship Bill is passed.


Three arrested for thrashing cop in dwarka areaDNA Correspondent [email protected]

An assistant sub-inspector of Delhi Police was allegedly beaten in a suspected case of road rage in Dwarka dis-trict’s Baba Haridas Nagar on Sunday evening. Police have arrested three accused in connection with the case.

Both the accused identi-fied as Jitender, 24 and Ganesh Chawan, 53, father of Jitender were arrested from Bharat Vihar Dwarka.

According to the informa-tion, ASI Kishan Lal (47) who was posted with Baba Hari-

das Nagar police station was waiting for his kids near Dwarka sector 14 metro sta-tion when a cab rammed into

his car. When he got out of his car and went to confront the driver he found that the driver of the offending vehi-

cle along with one of his as-sociate were consuming liq-uor.

Kishan Lal then made a PCR call and tried to nab the

duo but in the meantime, the accused called their associ-ates, who started thrashing the ASI.

The PCR van reached the spot and tried controlling the situation but till then Kishan sustained severe injuries.

The injured ASI was rushed to the nearby hospital where the doctors declared later that he is out of danger.

Police have registered a case under appropriate sec-tions and taking strict action in the case the police have ar-rested all the three accused and further investigating on the case is on, said the police.

Image for representation

�� The PCR van reached the spot and tried controlling the situation but till then Kishan sustained severe injuries. The injured ASI was rushed to the nearby hospital where the doctors declared later that he is out of danger.

case details

SC’s ‘backhand shot’ leaves Karti...From p1

Solicitor General Tushar Me-hta representing the ED ob-jected saying Karti’s fre-quent trips abroad was com-ing in the way of the probe into the Aircel Maxis and INX Media money launder-ing cases. According to ED, companies linked to Karti benefitted from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance given to INX Media at a time when his father was the finance minis-ter.

The bench had no hesita-tion about Karti travelling abroad but set a stiff condi-tion for permitting the same. It said, “We will ensure he appears before you and joins questioning and also travels

abroad. But no tennis if he evades questioning.” Giving time till Wednesday for ED to come back with the question-ing schedule, the bench re-minded SG Mehta to bear in mind the dates when Karti will be travelling abroad.

The application filed by Karti stated that he wished to attend tennis tournaments

in France, Spain, Germany and UK over the next few months. He claimed to be as-sociated with the company, Totus Tennis situated at UK. Even in the past, he had at-tended similar tennis events on Court orders.

Karti recently travelled to the UK from September 20 to October 1. He also travelled to UK, France and the United States from July 23-31 to play tennis. On May 18, 2018, the SC allowed him to visit UK and France from May 19-27 and June 10-25. During this period, Karti attended ATP tournament at Lyon from May 20-26, ATP tournament at Stuttgart from June 11-17 and WTA tournament at Mal-lorca from June 18-24.


Karti Chidambaram

Snapdeal is inflating MRPs for discounts, finds CERCFrom p1

There are reports that ven-dors are selling similar-look-ing but fake products online through different portals. In the interest of the consumer, an investigation into the product is necessary,” said Pritee Shah, chief general manager of CERC.

Highlighting another case, CERC said that a shower gel of a particular brand on Snap-deal is priced at Rs 469 after a discount of 57 per cent on an MRP of Rs 1,095. However, the same product was sold at a much lower rate of Rs 325 on the brand’s official website. “It is very likely that the custom-er is not going to cross-check MRPs. They are taking the customers for a ride,” said Shah.

Moreover, products like lipsticks, kajals, and shower gels do not have expiry dated on the packaging — a manda-tory requirement. “Use of expired cosmetics or person-al care products can cause serious skin and health is-sues. Often, the picture of product is not consistent with the description,” added

Shah.Snapdeal, when presented

with the report, told DNA that it has taken note of the instances highlighted by CERC and will be investigat-ed, adding that all vendors are required to comply to rel-evant laws. A company spokesperson said, “To pre-vent sale of fake products, Snapdeal works closely with brands to make it simple to report any instance of coun-terfeits that may get listed on our marketplace. As per lat-est regulations on packaging, it has provided required fields to be filled by the sell-ers. However, In the case of a marketplace based model of e- commerce, the seller or manufacturer is responsible for the correctness of such declarations.”

For representation

From p1

Justice Sunil Gaur reserved the order on Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea. So-licitor General Tushar Me-hta told the bench that custo-dial interrogation of Chid-ambaram was necessary as he was evasive and had given false information during in-terrogation.

The Delhi Police has expe-dited probe into the FIR reg-istered in connection with the four missing documents considered crucial in the Ishrat Jehan encounter kill-ing probe. The FIR has been filed against unknown per-

sons after the Union Minis-try of Home Affairs ap-proached the Delhi Police in September 2016. Though, no one has not been named in the FIR, former Home Secre-tary GK Pillai has alleged that P Chidambaram as Home Minister “bypassed him” and rewrote an affida-vit submitted to a court on Ishrat Jehan.

Pillai had then alleged, “Chidambaram called a low-er functionary in the Intelli-gence Bureau and totally re-wrote the affidavit. The draft was dictated by him so no one else could say anything.”

The documents missing

from the North Block, in-clude the Ishrat affidavit, amended by Chidambaram. Ishrat was killed along with three others in 2004 near Ahmedabad by police offic-ers who claimed that she was part of a plot to assassinate then chief minister Naren-dra Modi. In 2009, the home ministry under Chidambar-am submitted an affidavit in the Gujarat High Court that referred to Ishrat Jehan’s al-leged Lashkar-e-Taiba links, citing intelligence reports. Within a month, a revised af-fidavit was filed in which all references to Ishrat’s alleged terror links were missing.

The police is probing the mo-tive behind the missing files.

In the Black Money Act case, Chidambaram’s wife Nalini, his son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi got reprieve after the Madras High Court on November 2, 2018 quashed the sanction orders issued by I-T officials to prosecute them. The three are being probed by the I-T department for having pur-chased a property in Cam-bridge, UK.

Nalini Chidambaram is also facing CBI probe in the Sharda Chit fund case. Both CBI and ED has registered cases into the matter.

Trouble mounts for P Chidambaram and his son

The Delhi government has decided to introduce Mini-mum Support Price (MSP) for farmers based on the re-port of the MS Swamina-than Commission, minister Gopal Rai said Monday.

The development minis-ter said the government will hold a meeting with agrari-an experts on Tuesday to discuss the matter.

The move comes just months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. There are about 20,000 farmers in the national Capital.

Talking to reporters, Rai said neither the Modi gov-ernment nor the previous Congress-led UPA regime implemented the Commis-sion’s report.

“Government has decided to introduce MSP for Delhi’s farmers based on the Swa-minathan Commission’s re-port. We formed a three-member committee in De-cember to study the report. The committee has submit-ted its own report on the MSP for Delhi’s farmers.”

“We will hold a confer-ence on this issue tomorrow. The three-member commit-tee’s report will be put be-fore experts for sugges-tions,” Rai said.

He said that once the MSP is finalised, the government will hold meetings with farmers, seeking their views and thereafter it will be sent to the Cabinet.

In its 2006 report, the Na-tional Commission on Farmers’ chairman M S Swaminathan suggested the Commission for Agricul-

tural Costs and Prices (CACP) to fix MSP at least 50

per cent more than the weighted average cost of production.

This recommendation was not incorporated in the National policy for farmers 2007

However, recently the government has increased the MSP for all Kharif and Rabi crops and other com-mercial crops for the season 2018-19 with a return of at least 50 per cent over the cost of production, the Un-ion agriculture ministry had said in a statement in December last year. —PTI

Govt to introduce MSP for farmers, Gopal Rai

�� Recently the government has increased the MSP for all Kharif and Rabi crops and other commercial crops for the season 2018-19

with a return of at least 50 per cent over the cost of production, the Union agriculture ministry had said in a statement in December last year.

fact box

Picture for representation

Government has decided to introduce MSP

for Delhi’s farmers based on Swaminathan Commission’s report. We formed a 3-member committee in December to study the report.Gopal Rai, Minister of Labour

SP-BSP left in quandary as Priyanka steps in equation

in brief

NDFB chief, 14 more convicted in Assam blast caseGuwahati: The chief of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), Ranjan Daima-ry, and 14 others were on Monday convicted by a CBI fast track court in the 2008 case of serial bomb blasts in Assam that had left 88 people dead. CBI Special Judge Aparesh Chakraborty convicted them under various sections of the IPC. The quantum of the punishment will be an-nounced on Wednesday. The serial blasts were triggered by the NDFB on October 30, 2008 in Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Barpe-ta, killing 88 people and injuring more than 500.

Cong MP defects to TMC in BengalKolkata: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, in a major embarrassment to the West Bengal unit of the Congress, party MP from Malda Norty, Mausam Benazir Noor defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress. On Monday, along with state transport minister and in-charge of Murshi-dabad district Suvendu Adhikari, Noor met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna. “She has been made the party general secretary,” Adhikari said. —DNA

AI offers ‘flat rate’ for mortal remains New Delhi: In order to reduce the expenses of grieving families, Air India has decided to charge a “flat rate” to bring back mortal re-mains from six Gulf countries, which have a significant number of Indian immigrants. “This flat rate would be 40 per cent lower than usual,” an official said on Monday.

indi 05www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia I daIly news & analysIs new delHI I Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Will repeal Citizenship Bill if we come to power: Cong’s NE panelAmrita Madhukalya [email protected]

New Delhi: The Congress’s Northeast wing in its first meeting, which was held last week, passed a resolution that if the Narendra Modi government brings in the Citizenship Amendment Bill during the Budget session, the Congress will repeal it if voted to power.

The Northeast Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) — a cohort of all party leaders from the region — was revived in June last year under the chairmanship of former Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma while former prime minister Dr Manmo-han Singh was appointed the body’s patron.

The meeting held on Janu-ary 24 in Guwahati saw the presence of Assam Congress president Ripun Bora, Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Ka-

lita, Pradyut Bordoloi, Tripu-ra working president Pradyot Manikya Deb Barman, Ma-nipur party president TN Haokip, apart from AICC sec-retary of the research depart-ment Ranajit Mukherjee.

Bora said all the leaders from the Northeast are united against the Bill. “Unlike the BJP’s Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA), we are unit-ed in this. They have a divid-

ed house and their allies are now worried about allying with them,” said Bora.

On the topic of the Nation-al Register of Citizens (NRC), Bora said that the party’s stand is that genuine Indians should not be left out. “There is widespread worry that sev-eral Indians have been left out, and the government should ensure that these wor-ries are ironed out,” he said.

A source in the party, how-ever, said that Silchar MP Sushmita Dev’s position on the Citizenship Bill could be different from the party’s, and that her position will be deemed as her personal stand. “She is an elected MP, and the party leaders are fine with her position on the mat-ter, but we deem it as her per-sonal opinion, and not the party’s,” said a leader.

Activists protest the Citizenship Bill 2016 in Guwahati on Monday —ANI

In early January, when the Citizenship Amendment Bill came up for a vote in the Lok Sabha, the Congress central leadership were reluctant to oppose it despite stiff resistance from Northeast MPs. Eventually, the party, abstained from voting, staging a walkout.

Party’s Past stand

PM to visit J&K for 1st time post govt collapseIshfaq-ul-Hassan [email protected]

Srinagar: All eyes are on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mission Jammu and Kashmir’ as the BJP aims at forming the next government in the state.

PM Modi will be inaugu-rating projects worth more than Rs 41,000 crore and ad-dress a public rally and pan-chayat members during his visit to all the three regions — Ladakh, Kashmir and Jammu — on February 3.

This will be the PM’s first visit to the state after the PDP-BJP government col-lapsed in June last year. PM Modi had last visited the state on May 19, 2018 to lay founda-tion of Zojilla Tunnel project.

The PM will launch pro-jects worth Rs 35,000 crore in Jammu division alone and projects worth Rs 6,000 crore in Kashmir. Most of these projects were sanctioned during the previous PDP-BJP government.

The cherry on the cake during the PM’s visit, how-ever, is the massive public rally being organised in Vi-jaypur of Jammu. The BJP is mobilising two lakh peo-ple for the rally, which is seen as precursor for the forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“This time chief minister will be from the BJP. We will not only get majority but we shall form the next govern-ment in Jammu and Kashmir along with our friends. We will make debut in Kashmir region this time too. We are confident of winning five to six seats in the Valley this time,” said Altaf Thakur, J&K BJP state spokesman.


New Delhi: With the Con-gress throwing its ace of spades Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into the political arena of Uttar Pradesh, a fresh churning has begun among the biggest stakeholders — the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) — as indications are emerging it could possibly lead to a fresh realignment between the three parties.

Sources said that though the Congress’ bargaining chip has strengthened be-cause of Priyanka’s entry, BSP supremo Mayawati is still not ready to concede much as an arrangement with the Congress could mean bringing down the list

of candidates from 38 to about 30 candidates. Before Priyan-ka’s entry, the SP and BSP had firmed up a seat sharing for-mula by equally splitting 76 seats out of 80 and leaving 2 for Congress and 2 for other smaller players.

According to sources, BSP supremo Mayawati is still keen on announcing the first list for 15 seats along with SP candidates in early February.

The two parties have almost reached an arrangement, ac-cording to which the BSP will be getting lion’s share in western UP and Bun-delkhand whereas the SP will be fielding more candidates in eastern and central UP.

The list for the 15 seats that are to be announced in-cludes seats chosen by the Congress as part of their “Mission 30” strategy. These seats include important seats which were decided as prior-ity ones by the Congress as the party had bagged more than one lakh votes in these constituencies during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said that the last bit of bargaining between the three parties could take place once Priyanka comes back to India from the US.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Now, Tej Pratap holds dangalsVithika Salomi [email protected]

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav’s elder son and former Bihar minister Tej Pratap Ya-dav is turning into a “trouble-maker” for his party with his statements against senior leadership as well as “eccen-tric activities” at the party office here.

After organising Janata Darbars at the RJD head-quarters in Patna where he hears the pleas of people from across the state, Tej Pratap, an RJD MLA from Mahua, held a dangal (wres-tling match) at the party of-fice here.

A party source said the said wrestling match was or-

ganised on January 26. “When Tej Pratap reached the party office, he found the main gate locked. After much commotion, it was opened but the office remained locked. Some wrestlers had come to greet him on the oc-casion of Republic Day and Tej Pratap didn’t waste time in asking them for some live action,” the source said and

added, “Four or five wrestlers were present on the occasion and showcased their skills.”

Earlier, Tej Pratap had lashed out at the state RJD chief Ram Chandra Purbe for keeping the party HQ shut on Republic Day. Purbe has re-portedly told Tej Pratap that some people were not happy with his Janata Darbars, and were uneasy with the young-er generation taking com-mand of the party.

On previous occasion too, Tej Pratap has made contro-versial statements against his partymen, triggering tension among the RJD rank and file.

RJD insiders believe that Tej Pratap tries to imitate the activities and oddities of his father Lalu Prasad, in a bid to garner control over the party.

Tej Pratap Yadav, RJD leader

BJP attacks Gehlot govt over Cong’s electoral promisesDNA Correspondent [email protected]

Jaipur: The BJP in Ra-jasthan has started a state-wide movement from Monday over the issue of ten per cent reservation to Economically Weaker Sec-tion (EWS), farm loan waiver and unemploy-ment allowance. Accusing the Congress government in the state of deceiving the people of the state, BJP members in all 33 dis-tricts across state agitated and handed over a memo-randum to district admin-istration officials ad-dressed to Governor Kaly-an Singh on Monday.

In the manifesto for state Assembly elections, the Congress had prom-ised to give Rs 3,500 per month as allowance to un-employed youth and waive bank loans of farmers. There is no announce-ment to give allowance to the unemployed in the state so far. The govern-ment also hasn’t fixed the criteria for farm loan waiver. With Lok Sabha elections approaching, the BJP has started attacking the Congress government

over these issues.Senior BJP leaders,

MLAs, former MLAs and MPs took part in the dem-onstration in all the dis-tricts across state.

In state capital Jaipur, BJP workers were led by former BJP state presi-dent Arun Chaturvedi. The party workers reached the Collectorate and submitted a memo-randum to district collec-tor Jagroop Singh Yadav.

BJP state president Madan Lal Saini told the media that the Congress government has made false promises and the peo-ple of the state have come to know the reality of the Congress government.

�� The Congress, in its manifesto, had promised to give Rs 3,500 monthly allowance to unemployed youth and waive farm loans.

�� The government has not declared the allowance, or set criteria for farm loan waiver as of yet.

Following uP

rG gives a peek into his big farm loan planAmrita Madhukalya [email protected]

New Delhi: While the Con-gress has made it clear that farm loan waiver will be one of the party’s solution to the agrarian distress in the coun-try, party president Rahul Gandhi said that farm loan waivers could only be ‘inter-im’ solutions.

He had earlier said that loan waiver will only be a “supporting step” and that the solution will be “more complex”. On Monday, while speaking at a farmer’s rally at Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Gan-dhi gave a peek into what the complex solution could be.

“We have now taken a step that no government has tak-en before. We have decided to

give every poor person a Min-imum Income Guarantee when we form the govern-ment. This is a historic step taken to eradicate hunger and poverty,” he said.

And if sources in the party are to be believed, the party

could be mulling a third solu-tion which could eradicate the need to have loans. Sourc-es said party leaders are try-ing to come up with a system which can be the vantage point of poor farmers and cultivators, thus stopping

them from taking up hefty loans from moneylenders.

The system could be de-vised on the lines of Kerala’s Agriculture Debt Relief Com-mission which in its exist-ence of 12 years has more than 11,000 beneficiaries and is applicable for loans be-tween Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh.

“The idea is to ensure that farmers break away from the vicious cycle of debts and loans,” said a sources in the know.

However, an announce-ment is a while away, since party leaders are still work-ing out the details to check its feasibility. In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, eight states have already an-nounced farm loan waivers to the tune of Rs 1.9 trillion.

Rahul Gandhi and Bhupesh Baghel at an event in Raipur on Monday —PTI

‘Cong’s OROP is only Rahul only Priyanka’Amit Shah attacks Cong’s dynasty policy, past recordDNA Correspondent [email protected]

New Delhi: Days after Pri-yanka Gandhi Vadra was ap-pointed as the AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh (East), BJP presi-dent Amit Shah said that un-like the One Rank One Pen-sion or OROP scheme imple-mented by the Narendra Modi government for ex-ser-vicemen, the Congress par-ty’s OROP meant ‘Only Rahul Only Priyanka’.

Addressing BJP’s Panna Pramukh Sammelan at Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP president said, “The Modi government implemented OROP for ex-servicemen. The Congress, however, follows another OROP which means Only Ra-hul Only Priyanka.”

OROP was a long-standing demand of the armed forces and veterans who demanded same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, ir-respective of the date of re-tirement.

Lashing out at Congress president Rahul Gandhi,

Shah said, “In his speeches, the Congress president nowa-days brings up the issue of poverty. I just want to ask Ra-hul baba what the Congress governments did for decades to eradicate poverty. It is only the BJP government which is taking measures to eradicate the country’s poverty.”

Reiterating BJP’s slogan ‘Mera booth, sabse majboot’ to energise party workers, the BJP president said the party workers are the “basis of victory” in cadre-based BJP and that every BJP Pan-na Pramukh is determined to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again.

Around 40,000 Panna Pra-muks attended the event.

The BJP president also thanked Himachal Pradesh voters for ensuring victory of the party’s candidates in all the four Lok Sabha seats in the hill state during the 2014 general elections. He said like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also committed to the development of Himachal.

Shah said the Modi gov-ernment gave Rs 1,15,865 crore in the last five years to the hill state while the state got a paltry sum of Rs 44,325 crore from the 13th Finance Commission during the pre-vious Congress government.

In a veiled reference to for-mer Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Shah said, “No one else ex-cept raja, rani and rajkumar was given importance during the five-year term of the pre-vious Congress government.” He added that the people now feel that the BJP government led by Jai Ram Thakur is their “own government”.

�� Addressing a rally in Himchal Pradesh, the BJP chief said the Modi government in the last five years gave Rs 1,15,865 crore to the state.

�� He said the state got a paltry Rs 44,325 crore during the previous Congress government.

ComParing Funds

BJP president Amit Shah addresses Panna Pramukh Sammelan in Una, Himachal Pradesh on Monday —PTI

in brief

BJP flays Vaiko for black flag demo against PM ModiChennai: The BJP in Ta-mil Nadu Monday flayed MDMK founder Vaiko for holding a black flag demo against PM Narendra Modi during his Madurai visit, saying it was done for his own “promotion”. While Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan claimed the protest “had no effect” on the PM’s name or fame in any way, BJP’s state unit President Tamilisai Soundararajan said it was not reflective of the people’s senti-ments. Radhakrishnan said, “Yesterday’s protests that included waving black flags at PM Modi had no effect on his name and fame.” To a question on the party’s alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the minister said the announcements would be made at the ap-propriate time.

Heroin, pistol recovered near Indo-Pak border Ferozepur: Six packets of heroin weighing 2.9 kg were recovered by the BSF near the India-Paki-stan border here on Monday, officials said. A Pakistan made pistol, one magazine and five rounds were also recov-ered during the special search operation carried out near border out post (BOP) Gatti Hayat, the Border Security Force (BSF) said.

Jharkhand: Elephant calf found deadJamshedpur: A two-month-old wild elephant calf was found dead at Basadera in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district Monday, Forest depart-ment officials said. Pre-liminary investigation suggested, the death of the calf was natural, Di-visional Forest Officer (Dalbhum), Dr Abhisekh Kumar said.

06 indiwww.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindiadaily news & analysis i new delHi i Tuesday, January 29, 2019

A nomadic boy from Rajasthan leads a flock of sheep on the outskirts of Jalandahar on Monday —AFP

leading the sheeps’ way


New Delhi: After affecting a mass transfer of officials from their home districts and those who would be com-pleting three years on or be-fore May 31 in a district, the Election Commission is now approaching the final stages of announcing the poll schedule for Lok Sabha elec-tions.

The Commission had sent a letter dated January 16, 2019 to the chief secretaries and chief electoral officers of all the states and Union Ter-ritories (UT) seeking trans-fers of officials from the rank

of block development officers (BDO) and sub-inspector to the level of Additional Dis-trict Magistrates (ADM) and Range Inspector Generals (IG). The list also includes of-ficers appointed for specific election duties such as DEOs, Dy DEOs, RO/AROs, EROs/AEROs.

The Commission’s offi-cials are now busy visiting different states to monitor their poll preparations and meeting officials of various law enforcement and investi-gation agencies to fine-tune the arrangements. It is also holding parleys with top of-ficials of the union home ministry and central armed

police forces (CAPFs) to de-cide on security arrange-ments needed to hold free and

fair elections. Once the home ministry

and CAPFs commit the num-

ber of companies, which is expected to be in the range of 1.25 lakh personnel, the Com-mission will decide on the number of phases. Subse-quent to this, the Commis-sion will announce the sched-ule of the 17th Lok Sabha elections for 543 seats. The announcement of the poll schedule is expected to take place in the first week of March.

In a related development, the Commission reportedly postponed its two day visit on January 27 and 28 to Jammu and Kashmir for on-the-spot assessment of the situation regarding assembly elec-tions.

EC nears final leg of poll planningElection Commission orders transfers of officers, visits states and UTs to monitor poll-related work

Image for representation

WB BJP leaders meet to get rallies goingArshad Ali [email protected]

Kolkata: The rally of BJP na-tional president Amit Shah on Tuesday at Kanthi in East Mid-napore district, the twin events of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 2 at Bon-gaon in North 24 Parganas dis-trict, and another one in Dur-gapur, are once again stuck in the permission controversy.

State BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu and party na-tional secretary Rahul Sinha conducted meetings on Mon-day at Kanthi and Durgapur, respectively to sort out the is-sues.

At Kanthi, it was alleged that a farmland was fixed as the venue but farmers were not ready to give permission for

the rally. Besides, Shah’s heli-copter, which was earlier scheduled to land in the adja-cent helipad had not been giv-en permission. After the meet-ing today, Basu confirmed that landing permission has not been granted.

Sinha, on the other hand, af-ter a preparation meeting at Durgapur, took stock of the new venue and told DNA that the revised venue was Nehru Sta-dium because the previous ground had been pre-booked for a religious event. “Although the organisers of the religious function have no problem in let-ting us have the ground, it is the police and administration which have objections. So we have opted for this place where the function will take place at 11 am on February 2,” Sinha said.

IAF’s Jaguar aircraft crashes in UPGorakhpur: A Jaguar fight-er jet of the Indian Air Force crashed on Monday in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar dis-trict, making it the third ac-cident by this twin-engine aircraft in the last seven months.

The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely, the IAF sources said.

The aircraft crashed soon after taking off on a routine mission from Gorakhpur, they said.

Police said the plane crashed in the Hatempur area of the district at around 12:30 pm. No casualty has been re-ported, they said. The Jaguar had taken off from the Gora-khpur Air Force Station. The crash site is between Hata and Kasya villages, police said.

The IAF sources said a court of inquiry has been or-dered by the air headquarters to investigate the accident.

On June 5 last year, a Jag-uar fighter jet crashed in Gu-

jarat’s Kutch district soon af-ter it took off from the Jamna-gar air base, killing senior officer Air Commodore Sanjai Chauhan, the Air Officer Commanding Air Force Sta-tion Jamnagar.

On June 8, another Jaguar fighter jet developed a techni-cal snag during landing at the Jamnagar Air Force base and the pilot’s seat got “ejected automatically”, an IAF offi-cial had said.

—PTI

Sidhant Sibal [email protected]

New Delhi: Sri Lankan Pres-ident Maithripala Sirisena has flagged off a new train supplied by India over the weekend. The train, a self-propelled Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU), was procured under Indian concessional financing by Sri Lanka Rail-ways. The train made its maiden journey from Fort Station in Colombo to Kank-esanthurai Station in Jaffna.

Sri Lankan Transport min-ister Arjuna Ranatunga And Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu were also present on the occasion. Later the Sri Lan-kan President & Indian High Commissioner travelled on board the train for some time.

According to a release by the Indian mission in Sri Lan-ka, “The train set has best-in-class passenger amenities — fully rotating seats in air-con-ditioned chair cars, on-board infotainment system, GPS-based passenger information system and modular interi-ors.”

The train can travel at a maximum speed of 120 kmph.

In March of 2017, India’s

Rail India Technical and Eco-nomic Service (RITES) and Sri Lanka Railways signed a con-

tract for the supply of 6 DMUs and 10 locomotives to Sri Lan-ka Railways. The total con-tract, worth around $100 mil-lion is financed under Indian concessional financing. The first set of DMU arrived in Sri Lanka in December 2018, ahead of its schedule. The sup-ply of rest of DMUs and loco-motives will be complete dur-ing the course of this year.

India has committed Lines of Credit worth around $1.3 billion for the development of railway sector in Sri Lanka. New Delhi is helping restore rail networks in north and south of the country, which has been devastated due to dec-ades of conflict, through Indi-an concessional financing.

Train supplied by india to sri lanka makes maiden journey from Colombo

Sri Lanka President (C) Maithripala Sirisena with Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu (R) during the flag off of the new train

The train set has best-in-class passenger

amenities — fully rotating seats in AC chair cars, on-board infotainment system, GPS-based passenger information system and modular interiorsPress release by the Indian mission in Sri Lanka

India hands over 2 school buildingsSidhant Sibal [email protected]

New Delhi: India has stepped up its efforts in providing development and infrastructure aid to its southern neighbour Sri Lanka. On Monday, two new school buildings, which were constructed with Indian assistance, in Navatkuli and Chavakachcheri of north-ern Jaffna district were handed over to Sri Lanka.

The school buildings, in Navatkuli Mahavidyalay-am and Drieberg College were jointly inaugurated by the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lan-ka Dr Shilpak Ambule and the Governor of the North-ern Province Dr Suren Ra-ghavan. These buildings are part of new class room buildings currently being constructed in overall 27 schools in the Northern Province at a cost of 250 million Sri Lankan rupees.

Over 70% voter turnout at crucial Jind assembly bypollJind: Over 70 per cent turn-out was reported on Monday in the by-election to the Jind assembly constituency in Haryana, dubbed as a pres-tige battle for all four major contenders ahead of parlia-mentary and assembly polls.

The ruling BJP, Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which was formed after a split in the INLD, have pulled out all the stops for a victory, which could prove to be a morale booster for the rank and file.

As per preliminary fig-ures, poll percentage at 5 pm has crossed 70 per cent.

According to the officials, the final turnout is likely to be higher as there were peo-ple in queues in several booths after 5 PM, the sched-uled time for voting to end. The polling began at 7 am.

The bypoll was necessi-tated following the death of INLD MLA Hari Chan Mid-dha, whose son Krishna Middha recently joined the BJP and is the saffron par-

ty’s candidate for the by-election.

The Congress fielded chief national spokesperson and sitting MLA from Kaithal constituency Ran-deep Singh Surjewala.

The INLD is banking on Umed Redhu to retain the seat. The JJP has put its weight behind Digvijay Chautala, the younger son of jailed leader Ajay Singh Chautala, who broke away

from the INLD and floated the party. Twenty-one candi-dates including two women are in the fray.

In the 2014 Haryana As-sembly polls, Jind constitu-ency had registered 75.91 poll percentage. In the final two hours of polling, there was a rush outside booths, especially in rural parts of the assembly constituency, as voters queued up to exer-cise their franchise. —PTI

Voters show their fingers marked in indelible ink after casting votes for Jind bypoll elections, at Kandela village in Jind on Monday —PTI


Jaipur: Alwar’s Ramgarh assembly seat that went to poll on Monday recorded 79.12 per cent voting, al-most four per cent higher than the state and Alwar district’s average regis-tered in the recent general assembly elections.

With polling over, all eyes have shifted to the counting that will take place on January 31.

In the assembly elec-tions held in December last year, the state wit-nessed 74.96 voting per-centage while Alwar, the district in which Ramgarh falls, had recorded 74.69 per cent polling. When Ramgarh residents came to vote on Monday, they outran both averages, re-cording 79.12 per cent poll-ing. Assembly elections were conducted on 199 seats as Ramgarh elec-tions were postponed in the wake of BSP candidate

Lakshman Singh’s death.There are 20 candidates

in the fray for Ramgarh constituency that falls in the Mewat region. Primar-ily, the fray is triangular among candidates of the ruling Congress, opposi-tion BJP and BSP. The BSP has fielded former union minister Natwar Singh’s ex-MLA son Jagat Singh, while former Alwar Zila Pramukh, Shafia Zubair Khan, is contesting as a Congress candidate. For-mer Pradhan, Sukhwant Singh is the BJP candidate.

In all, 278 polling booths were set up in the constitu-ency that had 2,35,625 eligi-ble voters. The bypoll was conducted peacefully as over 2,500 policemen were deployed to maintain law and order. There were no reports of violence during the voting. Nine magis-trates also monitored the election in the constituen-cy. Voting at all booths was conducted with EVMs and VVPAT machines.

Ramgarh records 79.12% polling

haryana and rajasthan bypolls

TMC MP in trouble as ED seizes assets worth `239 croreSumit Kumar Singh [email protected]

New Delhi: In fresh trouble for All India Trinamool Con-gress leader and parliamen-tarian KD Singh, the Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) head-ed by IRS officer Sanjay Ku-mar Mishra, has attached assets worth Rs 239 crore of a firm linked to him in con-nection with a money laun-dering probe.

It is alleged that he was involved in an alleged ponzi scam pegged at over Rs 1,900 crore and siphoned money to Europe.

The agency attached properties based in Chandi-garh, Panchkula, Derabassi, SAS Nagar (Punjab), Shimla and bank accounts at the HDFC Bank against Alche-mist Infra Realty Ltd. “The total value of the attached assets is Rs 239.29 crore,” the agency said. The properties seized include a resort in Kufri, a showroom in Chan-digarh, properties in Panchkula and Haryana, and bank accounts.

The Rajya Sabha MP has now been sidelined in TMC and party supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that she made a mistake by making Singh an RS MP.

Singh had resigned from the post of Chairman of the Alchemist group in 2012. But his RS profile shows him as the Chairman, Emeritus and founder of the business group.

The agency initiated an investigation under the pro-visions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act against Alchemist Infra Re-alty Limited and others on the basis of a complaint filed by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in Pa-tiala House, Delhi against M/s Alchemist Infra Realty Limited and its directors on March 18, 2016.

“Investigation conducted by ED revealed that the pro-

ceeds of crime generated by Alchemist Infra Realty Ltd were laundered through the web of companies,” the ED said.

Investigations also re-vealed that funds mobilised by the company from various investors were never utilised for the purpose mentioned and were instead transferred to bank accounts of other group companies, which were mainly paper compa-nies meant for systematically siphoning the money to pur-chase properties at various locations in the country.

In 2015, the firm had in-formed the SEBI that it had refunded Rs 1,077 crore after the market regulator’s inves-tigation and sought more time to restore the rest of the amount, which was turned down by the SEBI.

Subsequently, a charge sheet was filed by SEBI be-fore a court here in March, 2016.

It has been alleged by probe agencies that the company launched an illegal collective investment scheme, also called a ponzi or chit fund scheme, and mobilised funds of about Rs 1,916 crore from public in the years preceding 2015. The firm launched the scheme “without the approval” of SEBI.

the allegationKD Singh

Panaji: The opposition Con-gress on Monday said while the BJP-led Goa administration has “collapsed” and the state’s debt is mounting, the chief minister is asking about the ‘spirit’ among people in the state.

During the inauguration of third bridge on the Mandovi river in Panaji on Sunday,

Chief Minister Manohar Par-rikar had be-gun his speech with a catchy line from the re-cently released film “Uri: The S u r g i c a l

Strike”, asking the gathering “how’s the josh?” Parrikar was the defence minister at the time of the surgical strike conducted by the Army in September 2016.

Retorting to Parrikar’s re-mark, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar on Monday said while the administration had collapsed pushing the state into a “crisis”, some leaders were asking “how’s the josh”. “Pehle hosh me aao, baad me josh ki baat karo (first come to your senses and then talk about josh). Everyone is sleeping in the state,” Chodankar told re-porters. —PTI

Cong takes pot shots at Goa CM’s remark

‘Ratlam man found dead faked his murder, killed employee’ back from the dead Rss woRkeR was counting on insuRance money to pay off debtoRs

New Delhi: A week after the alleged gruesome murder of a 36-year-old Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh (RSS) worker, Himmat Patidar, in Ratlam dis-trict of Madhya Pradesh, caus-ing the BJP to target the Con-gress-led government, police believe he is alive and suspect him to have murdered him employee, Madan Malviya.

A body with multiple wounds and a face burnt be-yond recognition was found last week. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and many BJP leaders targeted the state government and Chief Minister Kamal Nath for the killing. However, according to

police, DNA tests revealed the body to be that of Malviya, who was dressed up in Patidar’s clothes.

According to the police, deep in debt, Patidar faked his own death in the hopes that it could be paid off with his life

insurance of Rs 20 lakh. After the po-lice’s claims, MP Home Minister Bala Bachchan took a

swipe at the BJP, saying, “For-mer Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should visit the house of the Dalit man who has been allegedly killed by Patidar, one of their (BJP’s) own men, and console his fam-ily members. Why he (Chou-han) has not tweeted yet?”

On January 23, it was

Patidar’s father, who informed the police about his son’s ‘death’. A police team, along with forensic experts and sniffer dogs, arrived at his home in Kamed village. Five

teams were set up for a thor-ough inquiry.

Police found Patidar’s ID cards, Aadhar card, ATM card and a diary with details of his bank accounts, loans and in-

surances. His shoes and a blood-stained belt were found near the body. His bike was also parked nearby. While in-vestigating, police found that Malviya, who worked on Patidar’s farm, had been miss-

ing since January 22, the day before the murder. When po-lice started looking for Malvi-ya, they found mud-splattered clothes and shoes around 500 metres from the crime scene. These were identified by Malviya’s family as his. That was when police started sus-pecting foul play and realised that the muddy shoe prints on Patidar’s bike’s foot-rest matched with Malviya’s shoes.

Police had a breakthrough after a DNA test confirmed that the body was Malviya’s. More inquiries revealed that Patidar had bought a life in-surance worth Rs 20 lakh on December 17, 2018. Police also found out about his debt of Rs 10 lakh, which led him to come up with the elaborate plan.

MP Home Minister Bala Bachchan took a swipe at the BJP on Monday —ANI

Police had a breakthrough after a DNA test confirmed that the body was Madan Malviya’s. Inquiries revealed that Himmat Patidar had bought a life insurance worth Rs 20 lakh on December 17, 2018. Police also found out about his debt of Rs 10 lakh, which led him to come up with the elaborate plan

dna test was key

w rld 07www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia I daIly news & analysIs new delHI I Tuesday, January 29, 2019

in brief

Ex-Starbucks CEO aims to oust Trump in 2020Washington: Billionaire former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in a TV interview that he is looking into running against Donald Trump in 2020 as an independent presidential candidate. “I am seriously thinking of running for president,” Schultz told the CBS news show “60 Minutes” late Sunday. The self-described “lifelong Democrat” said he “will run as a centrist independent outside of the two-party system.”

‘World’s loneliest duck’ Trevor dies Wellington: A lone duck named Trevor that lived on the tiny Pacific island nation of Niue has died, officials say, sparking an outpouring of grief from as far away as New Zea-land. The celebrity mal-lard found fame last year after a visiting journalist from New Zealand discov-ered that his makeshift home, near a puddle, was used for directions.

Gang snatches jailed criminalParis: Three heavily armed men attacked a van carrying a jailed criminal on his way to court Mon-day, firing shots outside the courthouse and strik-ing a guard before making their getaway in the southern French town of Tarascon, officials said. The spectacular escape took place at around 8:30 am as the prisoner was being transferred from a prison to be presented be-fore a judge.

Howard Schultz —ReuteRs

Brumadinho: Firefighters on Monday carefully moved over treacherous mud, some-times walking, sometimes crawling, in search of survi-vors or bodies, four days after a dam collapse that buried mine buildings and sur-rounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste.

The confirmed death toll rose to 58, with up to 300 peo-ple still missing, authorities said. In an ominous sign, no-body was recovered alive Sunday, a stark difference

from the first two days of the disaster, when helicopters were whisking people from the mud.

The slow speed of search efforts was due to the treach-erous sea of reddish-brown mud that surged out when the mine dam breached Fri-day afternoon. It is up 24 feet (8 meters) deep in some plac-es, and to avoid the danger of sinking and drowning searchers had to carefully walk around the edges or slowly crawl out onto the

muck. Firefighting officials said Monday they had identi-fied a bus believed to be filled with bodies and had worked

through the night trying to get through the mud.

Flavio Godinho, a spokes-man with the civil defense of the state of Minas Gerais, told the G1 news portal that the bus was near the dam that collapsed, but that it was too soon to say how many might be inside. Rescue efforts were suspended about 10 hours Sunday because of fears that a second mine dam in the southeastern city of Bru-madinho was at risk of fail-ing. —AP

Brazil dam toll reaches 58, search continues

Firefighters look for victims of the dam collapse in Brumadinho —AP

A snowman and its snowdog are seen at the Tocoskert residential area of Debrecen, some 230 kms east of Budapest, Hungary on Monday —AP

snowman’s best friend

Oslo: Paying no attention to nearby divers, a killer whale and her calf hunting for food frolic in a snowy Norwegian fjord. Their favourite meal, herring, abounds, but climate change means both predator and prey must increasingly migrate further north.

The clear and calm waters of Reisafjorden, in Norway’s Far North, have in recent years become the winter playground of the Scandinavian country’s killer whale population.

At 3°C, the cold water is perfect for the herring which, ahead of the spawning sea-son in February and March, have fattened up and make a tasty dish for the hungry

killer whales, also known as orcas.

As if they were performing an underwater ballet, the whales encircle a school of herring, forcing them up to the surface before slapping the wa-ter with their large tail fins to stun them.

“Then they all share the feast,” eating only the best parts of the fish: the eggs, meat and semen, explains Pierre Robert de Latour, founder of the organisation Undersea Soft Encounter Alliance, on board a whale-watching vessel.

“It’s food that’s easy to hunt, available in great quantities, and very high in calories,” he says. But in the past 20 years,

the herring migrated 300 kilo-metres north, leaving the Lo-foten Islands in search of wa-

ters that remain under six de-grees Celsius -- the tempera-ture required for them to re-

produce. The Norwegian killer whales, which only oc-casionally feast on seals or smaller whales, have followed the herring.

“We believe that the global warming which is responsible for the rising water tempera-tures has pushed the herring further north,” said Robert de Latour. “In the long term, they’re going to move even fur-ther north. If the stocks were to diminish it would be an en-vironmental catastrophe for whales, orcas, sea birds and cod,” he warns.

For now, the killer whale population along Norway’s coast appears to be thriving.

Robert de Latour estimates

their number at around 1,500, twice what it was two decades ago. The area “is a real nurs-ery, thanks to the abundant resources,” he says.

Some researchers say there may even be up to 3,000 orcas in the region, which runs from Norway’s northern mainland up to the Svalbard archipelago and along Greenland’s eastern coast, which has become more accessible as its ice sheet re-cedes.

In addition to global warming, fishing and grow-ing numbers of tourists who flock to the region for whale watching and diving pose a threat to the killer whales, says Robert de Latour. —AFP

Climate change pushing orcas to migrate north on the move waters in norway’s Far north become the winter playground oF killer whales

Killer Whales swim in the waters of the Reisafjorden fjord region, near the Norwegian northern city of Tromso in the Arctic Circle —AFP

Beijing: Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was sentenced on Monday to four and a half years in prison for state sub-version, sealing the fate of an-other attorney swept up in a 2015 crackdown.

Wang, 42, who defended po-litical activists and victims of land seizures, disappeared in the sweep -- known as the “709” clampdown -- aimed at court-room critics of Communist authorities. Charged in Janu-ary 2016 with alleged state sub-version, Wang had been the last of more than 200 lawyers and activists arrested in the crackdown to be tried or re-leased. The event is dubbed “709” because the arrests start-ed on July 9, 2015.

Wang was “found guilty of subverting state power, sen-tenced to four years and six months in prison, and deprived of political rights for five

years,” the Tianjin Second In-termediate People’s Court said in a statement. “He has not committed any crimes, so there shouldn’t be a sentence,” Li Wenzu, Wang’s wife, said at her home in Beijing, adding that she found out about his sen-tence over the internet. —AFP

Chinese rights lawyer jailed for subversion

Detained lawyer Wang Quanzhang (L), his wife Li Wenzu (R) and their son Wang Guangwei —AFP

London: Pro-Brexit British lawmakers were mounting a campaign Monday to rescue Prime Minister Theresa May’s rejected European Un-ion divorce deal in a parlia-mentary showdown this week.

Lawmakers threw out May’s Brexit deal two weeks ago and will debate and vote Tuesday on competing plans for what to do next about Britain’s impending depar-ture from the bloc.

May insists her agreement can still win parliament’s backing, if it is tweaked to al-leviate concerns about a pro-vision for the Irish border. The measure, known as the back-stop, would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU in order to remove the need for checks along the frontier be-tween the U.K.’s Northern Ire-land and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves the EU.

That border is crucial to

the divorce deal because it will be the only land frontier between the UK and the EU after Brexit. Border check-points have disappeared since Ireland and Britain both became members of the EU single market in the 1990s and the 1998 Good Friday peace accord largely ended decades of violence in North-ern Ireland.

Opposition to the backstop by pro-Brexit lawmakers — who fear it will trap Britain in regulatory lockstep with the EU — helped sink May’s deal earlier this month. A new proposal submitted by Conservative legislator Gra-ham Brady commits to back-ing May’s deal if the backstop is replaced by “alternative arrangements.” —AP

May under new pressure to secure EU Brexit concessions

A sign seen during an anti-Brexit demonstration in London —ReuteRs

Havana hit by rare tornado, three deadHavana: A rare tornado ripped through a number of working class districts of Ha-vana late Sunday night, leav-ing at least three dead and scores injured, state-run media and Cuba’s president said.

This was the first twister to hit the Cuban capital in decades and was described by the daily of the ruling Com-munist Party as an “extraor-dinary” event.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted that three peo-ple had been killed and more than 170 injured as he toured one of the hardest-hit dis-tricts, confirming photos and videos of the damage posted on social media.

“We are touring areas af-fected by the atmospheric phe-nomenon of great intensity. The damage is severe and up to now we regret the loss of three lives and we are attending to 172 injured,” Diaz-Canel said.

State-run media had warned residents in western Cuba that an approaching cold front from the north and winds from the south would create high winds, thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in the area.

“Those of the island accus-tomed to these warnings did not suspect the magnitude of what was coming,” the Com-munist Party daily Granma said. Pictures of destroyed housing, cars and small trucks turned upside down, flooded and rubble strewn streets were posted on Twitter under the hash tag #Havana #tornado, along with a shot of the huge twister touching down in the city. —Reuters

Islamabad: The lawyer of a Pakistani Christian woman awaiting the final ruling on her fate vowed Monday he would fight the last legal hur-dle for his client who had faced death threats from Is-lamist radicals following her acquittal in a blasphemy case last year.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is to hear Tuesday a petition for a review of its acquittal of Aasia Bibi, who spent eight years on death row for blas-phemy before being released last October.

Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death in Paki-stan and the mere rumor or accusation that someone has committed blasphemy has in the past led to lynchings. The country’s radical Islamists have made the issue their ral-lying cry. If Pakistan’s top court upholds its earlier rul-ing, Bibi will be free to leave for Canada where her daughters have already been granted asy-lum. She is currently under guard at a secret location in Pakistan, which authorities say is for her own safety.

Her attorney, Saiful Malook, who himself received death threats for defending her and who fled the country after Bi-bi’s acquittal, is now back in Islamabad for Tuesday’s hear-ing. “I am sure the review peti-tion ... will be rejected,” Ma-look told The Associated Press, adding he would be in court Tuesday. He said he has asked authorities to provide him with personal security. The pe-titioners “have no case against

my client, I am sure of that,” Malook added.

Her October 31 acquittal an-gered hard-line Islamists, who staged nationwide protests for days, demanding she be pub-licly hanged.

Pakistani police have stepped up security around the high court in Islamabad on the eve of the Supreme Court’s fi-nal decision. —AP

Pakistani lawyer returns home to defend Asia Bibi

Saiful Malook

�� Asia Bibi, a 54-year-old mother of five was arrested in 2009 after being accused of blasphemy following a quarrel with two fellow Muslim female farm workers who refused to drink from a water container used by a Christian in a village in eastern Punjab province

�� Incited by a local cleric, a mob at the time accused her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Police responded by arresting Bibi, who was sentenced to death in 2010

flashback

Kathmandu: The captain of a Bangladeshi aeroplane “seemed to have an emotion-al breakdown” before a dead-ly crash last March, Nepali investigators said in a final report on the Himalayan na-tion’s worst aviation disaster in 26 years.

They blamed the crew’s loss of situational awareness for the crash of the US-Bangla Air-lines flight to the Nepali capi-tal from Dhaka that caught fire on landing in Kathmandu, kill-ing 51 of the 71 people aboard.

“The pilot thought he could maneuver the aircraft and land. But he could not,” panel official Buddhisagar Lamich-hane, told Reuters on Monday, referring to the captain.

The captain was under stress and “emotionally dis-turbed” because he felt that a female colleague who was not

on board the fatal flight had questioned his reputation as a good instructor, Nepal’s Acci-dent Investigation Commis-sion said in the report.

“This, together with the failure on the part of both the crew to follow the standard op-erating procedure at the criti-

cal stage of the flight, contrib-uted to the loss of situational awareness,” said the report, submitted late on Sunday.

This lack of awareness meant the crew did not realise the deviation of the aircraft, a Bombardier Inc Q400 turbo-prop, from its intended path, which in turn meant they could not sight the runway, it added. Having missed the run-way, the crew was flying very low north of it in an incorrect position near hilly and moun-tainous terrain around the airport, it said. “Finally, when the crew sighted the runway, they were very low and too close to (it) and not properly aligned,” added the report, saying the captain should have halted the landing and initiated a go-around.

The plane skidded off the runway on to surrounding grass, quickly catching fire. Both pilots were among those killed.

US-Bangla Airlines expects to make an official statement later on Monday, Chief Execu-tive Imran Asif said. The flight’s captain, aged 52, was released in 1993 from the Bangladeshi Air Force be-cause he suffered from depres-sion but was later declared fit to fly civilian aircraft, the re-port said, with recent medical reports mentioning no symp-toms. —Reuters

Pilot had emotional breakdown before deadly crash, probe says

Nepalese rescuers stand near the passenger plane from Bangladesh that crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal in March 2018 —AP

�� Citing the voice recorder and the eyewitness accounts of passengers, the report said the captain was smoking in the cockpit during the flight and “engaged in unnecessary, unprofessional and lengthy conversation even in the critical phase,” violating the norm of maintaining a sterile cockpit

smoking in cockpit

Pope Francis fears bloodbath, won’t pick sidesVatican City: Pope Francis said Monday he was terri-fied the political crisis en-veloping Venezuela would descend into a “bloodbath”. “What am I afraid of ? A bloodbath,” the first Latin American pontiff told jour-nalists aboard a plane on his return trip from Pana-ma. Before flying out of Panama, he called for a “just and peaceful solution” to the crisis and said he was praying for an outcome “re-specting human rights”. Francis has been at pains not to take sides on the is-sue, even though the Church in Venezuela has been highly critical of Ma-duro’s socialist regime amid the country’s econom-ic collapse. —AFP

Caracas: Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition lead-er and self-proclaimed presi-dent, on Monday called for new street demonstrations as pressure intensified on Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro and the crisis-stricken OPEC nation.

Countries around the world have recognized Guai-do as Venezuela’s rightful leader, and the United States vowed to starve Maduro’s ad-ministration of oil revenue after he was sworn in Jan. 10 for a second term that was widely dubbed illegitimate.

Maduro says the United States is promoting a coup against him and promised to stay in office, backed by Rus-sia and China, which have bankrolled his government

and fought off efforts to have his government disavowed by the United Nations. Guaido said opposition sympathisers should take to the streets on Wednesday to pass out copies of a pamphlet proposing am-nesty that would give some legal protection to members of the military in hopes they will turn against Maduro.

“We must remain united as active agents of change in every corner of the country,” Guaido tweeted on Monday. “We’re doing well, very well, Venezuela!” —Reuters

Juan Guaido

Opposition leader Guaido calls for new street demonstrations

Caracas: Venezuelan Presi-dent Nicolas Maduro over-saw a display of the army’s Russian hardware on Sunday, with anti-aircraft flak and tank rounds pounding a hill-side to show military force and loyalty in the face of an international ultimatum for new elections.

Maduro, 56, is confronting an unprecedented challenge to his authority after opposi-tion leader Juan Guaido de-clared himself interim presi-dent, citing a fraudulent elec-tion. Guaido has won wide international support and offers amnesty to soldiers who join him.

On Sunday, Israel and Australia joined the coun-tries backing the 35-year-old leader.

Early on Sunday, alongside Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, Maduro watched a platoon of soldiers release volleys of rocket-propelled grenades, machine-gun anti-aircraft fire and tank rounds at hillside targets, the Rus-sian ordnance kicking up clouds of dust at the Fort of Paramacay, an armored vehi-cle base.

Maduro said the display showed the world he had the backing of the military and that Venezuela’s armed forc-es were ready to defend the country. Maduro says Guaido is taking part in a coup di-rected by Trump’s hardline policy advisers, who include Cold War veterans John Bol-ton and Elliott Abrams.

“Nobody respects the weak, cowards, traitors. In this world, what’s respected is the brave, the courageous, power,” Maduro said. “No-body should even think of stepping on this sacred soil. Venezuela wants peace,” he said. “To guarantee peace, we have to be prepared.”

—Reuters

Maduro flexes military muscle as West attacksAustralia joins other countries to support Opposition leader Juan Guaido

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro takes part in a military exercise in Valencia, Venezuela —ReuteRs

�� US President Donald Trump’s administration said on Sunday it had accepted a representative from Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s representative in the US

�� In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington accepted Guaido’s designation of Carlos Alfredo Vecchio, as the Venezuelan government’s charge d’affaires to the US

Us accepts gUaido ally as envoy

Vol 03 n Issue No. 110 RNI: DELENG/2016/70265. Printed and published by Rajeev Kakkar on behalf of Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., Printed at Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Plot no D- 210 & 211, Sector 63, Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201301. Published at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd, B-10, Essel House, Lawrence Road Industrial Area, New Delhi. 110035. Editor : Deepak Lokhande Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act

08 opini nwww.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindiaNEW DELHI I TuEsDay, JaNuary 29, 2019

daily news & analysis

Green stationsThe NGT directive to Railways is timely

T he National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Indian Railways to identify and develop 36 stations as ‘eco-smart stations’. The time allotted is not too much either — barely

two weeks. But, desperate situations need desperate measures. Operating on the principle of ‘polluter pays’, the NGT has asked the Railways to invoke compliance of the Solid Waste and Plas-tic Waste Management Rules, 2016. After the 36 stations are identified, an action plan may be prepared within a month. Closely connected to this, it has also asked the country’s biggest public transporter to carry out water and energy audits within the next three months at the identified stations, to reduce the use of energy and water. None of this is out of the blue. The Indian Railways, quite literally the lifeline of the country, that carries over 23 million passengers every day, is also the largest consumer of natural resources and a major contributor to green environment due to reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions. It also has a goal of turning 100 stations green in the not too distant future. Railways also has elaborate plans to change its energy mix and use green energy. It plans to install solar and wind plants for using green energy. To change the energy mix towards green in a phased manner, the Ministry of Railways plans to set up 1,000 mw solar and 200 mw wind plants. It has an ambitious goal to save Rs 41,000 crore in energy savings in the next one decade. As a matter of fact, Indian Railways al-ready has a plan to introduce energy efficiency in top 800 sta-tions in the country. Given the background, it is a surprise that the Railways has not come forward of its own accord to show-case any of its green stations so far.

royal mementos PM’s gifts are auctioned and they attract footfalls

In 2017, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj had some wonderful gifts for the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed. They were memorabilia from the 1971 War, in-

cluding military equipment used by the joint Indo-Bangladesh forces, as well as a large number of artifacts and documents, historical photographs, archival audios, video clippings, maps and battle records. In other words, a part of the modern history of a crucial period was gifted to a grateful nation. Included among other artefacts, was a pistol of 1971 vintage, which was officially presented to the prime minister by Swaraj. VIP mem-orabilia is a subject of recent vintage in India but, it nonetheless catches eyeballs. These little objects of antiquity reflect on a time that has gone by or is in the process of passing away. That is why, the decision to auction gifts that Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi received in the last four-and-a-half years, has attracted a lot of attention. The gifts, given to the Prime Minister by In-dian and foreign visitors as a token of goodwill, went under the hammer in a two-day exercise. They are truly eclectic. From an Assamese japi gifted to the Prime Minister by the Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangh in 2016 to a Buddha figurine presented by Bihar’s road transport and water resources department in 2017; from a metal sculpture of a cow and a calf offered by the Palan-pur Amul Cheese Plant to caps and pagris of various shapes and sizes. The proceeds of the auction — organised by no less than the Ministry of Culture at the prestigious National Gallery of Modern Art - will be donated to the government flagship scheme `Namami Gange’. The items are priced between Rs 500 and Rs 30,000. They are expected to be sold off at an e-auction to be held between January 29-31. The auction held so far has been full of pleasant surprises. A statue of Shivaji, base priced at Rs 1,000 went for Rs 22,000. Likewise, the then president Pranab Mukher-jee on his 79th birthday in 2014, had unveiled some of the most ‘priceless’ exhibits in the grand Rashtrapati Bhavan — of course they were not for sale and not all of them were gifts either. But the lineup was truly distinguished, showcasing one of the great-est restorations ever in the Rashtrapati Bhavan under the aegis of the then president. A painting by the famous Polish artist Feliks Topolski, which uncannily foreshadows Mahatma Gan-dhi’s assassination, arm-chairs used by the first President, Ra-jendra Prasad, over 100 photographs and select art objects, all of it represented through the newly-constructed integrated fa-cility of the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Cultural Centre. In 2009, then President Pratibha Patil was presented a rare collection of Gan-dhi memorabilia, including a bunch of letters written by the Mahatma in Urdu. These letters, advised followers like Khilafat leader Maulana Abdul Bari, about the future course of action. They were handed over to the President by NRI entrepreneurs, who had in turn procured them through an auction. India’s rich history and vast cultural mosaic provides the perfect back-ground for such activities.

The European Union will begin legal action at the World Trade Organiza-tion (WTO) this week against US du-

ties imposed on Spanish olives, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday. Malmstrom, the European Trade Commissioner, tweeted that the duties imposed by the United States were unjustified, unwarranted and went against WTO rules. “Tomorrow, we are taking this case to the WTO dis-pute settlement system, requesting con-sultations with the US,” the commis-sioner said on Twitter. “From the Com-mission side, we have already raised this case with our US counterparts at many occasions. Together with Spanish authorities, we will continue to vigor-ously defend the interests of EU pro-ducers,” she continued. U.S. imports of Spanish olives were worth $67.6 million in 2017. The US Commerce Department has concluded that Spanish olives are being sold too cheaply and benefit from unfair subsidies. It has imposed anti-subsidy tariffs of between 7.52 and 27.02 percent and anti-dumping duties of be-

tween 16.88 and 25.50 percent, accord-ing to the producer, to counteract this. Under WTO rules, the two sides have 60 days to try to settle the dispute, after which time the European Union could ask the WTO to adjudicate.

EU to challenge US duties on Spanish olives

Islamist militants prime suspects in bombing

slowburn

Investigators probing the Catholic ca-thedral bombing that killed 21 people in the Philippines’ restive south said

on Monday that a group tied to notori-ous Islamists Abu Sayyaf is the prime suspect. Two explosions tore through the cathedral on the Muslim-majority island of Jolo, killing worshippers at Sunday mass and security forces in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Authorities said the so-called Ajang-Ajang faction is a small band of several dozen that most likely carried out the bombing, the Philippines’ worst in years, in an act of revenge.

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Sugar’s very bitter challengeA government led by ‘an accidental prime minister’ announced bold re-forms for the sugar sector in April 2013. The levy obli-gation on sugar mills was abol-ished and state gov-ernments were al-

lowed to purchase sugar from open mar-ket for distribution under PDS.

The regulated release mechanism of open market sale of sugar was also abol-ished. It meant that the food ministry would not decide how much sugar a mill could sell in the open market every month.

At one stroke, the much coveted sugar division of the Ministry of Food in Kri-shi Bhawan lost its clout with sugar mills.

In June 2018, the government used the powers under the Essential Commodities Act and brought back the monthly re-lease mechanism. In order to check fall-ing prices of sugar, the government de-cided that a mill could not sell refined sugar at less than Rs 2,900 per quintal.

The idea was to check the decline in open market price of sugar. Krishi Bha-wan regained its seat on the table.

It is true that the circumstances, both global and domestic, contributed to re-versal of policy of deregulation. And it is possible that any other government may also have resorted to similar action.

The present crisis of delayed pay-ments to sugarcane farmers is caused by excessive production of sugarcane.

Since sugarcane remains the only crop, in addition to wheat and paddy, whose farmers receive a fair price, farm-ers prefer it to other crops.

Even through a crisis of cane pay-ment, the area under sugarcane has in-creased from 47.32 lakh hectare during 2017-18 to 51.58 lakh hectare during 2018-19. In 2017-18, India produced 32.2 million tonnes of sugar.

This year, despite the drought in parts of Maharashtra, the estimated produc-tion is 31.5 million tonnes. With domestic consumption of about 26 million tonnes, India is staring at another year of excess production, low sugar prices and delayed payment for cane.

The FAO sugar price index fell about 22 per cent in 2018 due to higher global production of sugar. Lower energy prices have also contributed to this, as use of sugarcane to produce ethanol goes down when crude prices are lower.

In an election year, mounting dues of sugarcane farmers would be a source of serious worry to government. In UP, the sugar mills still owe Rs 1,210 crore for cane supplied by farmers in sugar sea-

son, 2017-18. In addition, farmers are owed Rs 5,400 crore for cane supplied so far in 2018-19.

Even in Maharashtra, sugar mills owe Rs 5,320 crore for cane supplied this year. Farmers are staring at the possibility of getting cane price in installment.

The mills argue that at current fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the gov-ernment, the production cost of sugar comes to Rs 3,400 per quintal and they are in no position to pay full FRP at one go.

They want the government to raise minimum sale price of sugar from Rs 2,900 per quintal to Rs 3,400 per quintal. But in the run up to elections, it is un-likely that the government will risk infla-tion in sugar.

No other sector of agro-processing is as pampered as sugar. Ironically, no other sector is as tightly regulated as sugar.

For example, soybean farmers do not receive similar support from govern-ment when prices fall. Moreover, income from growing sugarcane is more than income from most other crops and farm-ers prefer to grow sugarcane even if cane payments are delayed.

In every cycle of low sugar prices, sugar barons, both in cooperative and private sector, have been able to obtain handsome incentives from government.

In 2017-18, the government announced

a package of incentives, including assis-tance of Rs 5.50 quintal of cane crushed for sugar season to offset the cost of cane amounting to about Rs 1,540 crore.

Reimbursement of carrying cost of Rs 1,175 crore for buffer stock of 30 LMT in sugar season 2017-18 was also announced.

In addition, the UP government pro-vided Rs 4,000 crore as soft loans to pri-vate sugar mills. Farmers of other crops used in agro-processing can only dream of such benevolence!

The most promising decision of the government was to provide soft loans of Rs 6,139 crore through banks to sugar mills for setting up new distilleries and installation of incineration boilers to increase ethanol production capacity.

Interest subvention of Rs 1,332 crore was also provided. By 2019-20, India is likely to achieve 10 per cent target of ethanol blending of petrol.

The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 envisages a target of 20 per cent ethanol

blending by 2030. Cost effective manufac-ture of ethanol from agricultural waste is still not conclusively proven so govern-ment should provide additional incen-tives for manufacture of ethanol by sugar mills. Additional ethanol capacity of 200 crore litre is expected by 2021. This will enhance blending of petrol to 15 per cent.

In the long run, the structural prob-lems of sugar sector are, however, not likely to be addressed by ad-hoc year to year decisions. The Rangarajan commit-tee had shown a way of liking sugarcane price to price of sugar.

If cane price is fixed at 70 per cent of revenue from sugar and by-products, the farmers can get FRP when sugar prices are high.

If they fall short of FRP, the balance can be met from a fund, which has to be created by a cess on consumers and gov-ernment funding. In years of high prices, a part of sugar price has to go to the fund.

An opportunity to reform sugar sector on the lines suggested by Rangarajan Committee was presented in 2016-17, when sugar prices rose above Rs 4,000 per quintal. But the government did not take the initiative to build consensus on re-form and instead brought back stock limits. Author is Visiting Senior Fellow, ICRIER. He retired as Union Agriculture Secretary

In an election year, mounting dues of sugarcane farmers is a source of serious concern for the govt

The present crisis of delayed payments to sugarcane farmers is caused by excessive production of sugarcane —istock

Siraj Hussain

This winter, signs in Delhi indicate that the number of days in ‘se-vere’ and ‘very poor’ air pollu-tion categories is comparatively less, as compared to the previous winter. This is en-couraging, as the

capital has to battle winter pollution every year – the air is laced with toxic emissions and dust from vehicles, in-dustries, landfill fires and ongoing construction. The cool and calm weather and inversion traps this pol-lution and worsens the health risk. To meet the challenge, Delhi has gone on an ‘emergency mode’ for the second year in a row.

While this is shaving off the pollu-tion peak, the clean air benchmark re-mains distant. The question now is this: is Delhi prepared for round-the-year action?

This year, Delhi has moved to be-come coal power-free, shut down diesel generators, put curbs on biomass use and brick kilns and halted trucks and construction on smog episodes. This mirrors desperate measures that other global cities take when pollution cross-es the safe mark. However, there have been gaps in implementation of the emergency plan.

The city could not completely stop burning of waste or construction ac-tivities. It could not intensify public transport services or hike parking fees. Diesel generators could not be banned all over NCR due to unreliable electric-ity supply. Inadequate municipal ser-vices and lack of systemic reforms proved to be key barriers to these measures, signalling the need for sus-tained round-the-year action.

The din over winter pollution has detracted attention from the Compre-hensive Action Plan that was notified last year. This plan is asking for clean energy transition in all sectors, mobili-ty transition and overhaul of waste

management practices. With both emergency and compre-

hensive plans in place, we know what to do, whom to hold responsible and have a time line for implementation.

But implementation will still re-

main a challenge. Currently, barriers are mostly understood as lack of polit-ical will and resource crunch that are certainly very valid. But action is fall-ing through several other cracks.

So far, it has been possible to some extent – despite serious push back from the industry - to implement meas-ures in the organised sector.

We could improve emission stand-ards for vehicles and fuels, close coal power plants in public sector, ban pet-coke and furnace oil, get CNG buses for state transport undertaking, natu-ral gas for the Bawana power plant and so on.

While these measures need to get even more stringent, the measures that require strong municipal inter-vention like waste and dust manage-ment, parking rules, action on small construction, footpath management or compliance measures in small in-dustrial units, have remained a seri-ous problem.

Polluting activities in unauthorised colonies are not even acknowledged.

Weak capacity and lack of accounta-bility of municipalities are responsible for this. But there is also the stark real-ity that with only little over a quarter of Delhi’s population living in planned colonies, access to municipal services for most is hugely iniquitous and inad-equate.

Another challenge is that several so-lutions have moved beyond technology to designing of strategies. It is easier to explain the need for CNG or electric vehicles than the complex design solu-tions for roads or right of way for all, multi-modal integration, urban rede-velopment projects and parking area management plans.

It is easier to increase bus numbers than improve bus service, ask for cleaner fuels in industry than get dif-ferential pricing of fuels, penal action on waste burning than implementation of bye-laws on decentralised segrega-tion and recycling, ban on dumping of construction and demolition (C&D) waste than market uptake of recycled C&D waste. Join these dots.

Global action demonstrates sus-tained systemic changes at a scale to meet clean air targets. Beijing, in or-der to meet 25 per cent pollution re-duction target, has curtailed coal consumption substantially across sectors, restructured industry, scaled up public transport and even capped car sales.

Delhi needs equally stringent ac-tion, as it has to reduce particulate pol-lution by 70 per cent to meet clean air standards.

Ultimately, growing public concern for polluted air must turn into strong-er public support for lifestyle changes. Opting for public transport, walking and cycling, ensuring community-level waste management, demanding ac-countability and public disclosure on compliance in all sectors must define public action.

This bottom up pressure can make politics work for clean air. Author is Executive Director (Research and Advocacy) at the Centre for Science and Environment

Delhi’s winter air improves but more needs to be done

Anumita Roychowdhury

QuoTE HAnGEr

narendra modi@narendramodiThanks to the power of

technology, Pariksha Pe Charcha Townhall Programme can be seen in several schools and colleges across India. This is an excellent opportunity to show solidarity with our hardworking and talented students who are preparing for exams

siddaramaiah @siddaramaiahAnanthkumar is not fit to

be MP. He should apologise and resign immediately for his insensitive comments against @dineshgrao and for his socially provocative statements

sachin tendulkar@sachin_rtCome on India, it’s time

to work on our physical and financial fitness!

anupam kher@anupamPkherIf you focus on the hurt, you

will continue to suffer. If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow

I think it’s a great thing when your partner is your best friend. You would love to come back home and spend all your wonderful time with your partner—Rajkummar Rao, Bollywood actor

t was not a re-view of a book but a critical discussion on basic hygiene in the country on Monday during

the last day of Jaipur Litera-ture festival.

The discussion revolved around, “do you know where does your shit goes,” as one of the panelist pointed out while talking about sanita-tion and large gathering of audience present also par-ticipated in it whole heart-edly.

All this and much more to do with issues related to health of the citizens were discussed in session titled ‘Swachh to Swasth Bharat’ held at Baithak.

Amitabh Kant CEO of Niti Aayog was the main panelist and informed the audience about how the lit-eracy level and health were taking the country ahead. While mentioning about Kerala, Kant, while stressing on importance of health and

literacy said, “That’s the state where physical quality of life index and human de-velopment index is far ahead of USA simply because of health and education.”

The Niti Aayog CEO while laying stress on these topics pointed out that “po-litical leadership should re-alise that India is increas-

ingly becoming a middle class country and if we are not able to bring in good po-litical governance then peo-ple will get voted out.”

He also mentioned about the National Clean Air pro-gramme which has been started by the Union govern-ment recently to tackle the problem of pollution in the

country while responding to a question asked by an audi-ence. In this session, experts and policy-makers like for-mer IAS officer Par-meswaran Iyer, Nainalal Kid-wai and social activist San-chaita Gajapati discussed objectives, strategies and critical priorities in struggle to establish a clean and

healthy living environment. The Banega Swachh India

Campaign is now in its fifth year and has been able to spread awareness about cleanliness and sanitation practices which have em-powered citizens with better health. Agenda of this ses-sion were important trans-formations such as making India open defecation-free, propagating regular wash-ing of hands and controlling the menace of air pollution.

S w a c h h t o S w a S t h B h a r a t

Swachhata takes centre stage on last day of JLF Issues of making India ODF and cleanliness were the focal point of the session, writes Abhishek Tiwari

The panellist during the Swachh to Swasth Bharat session at JLF —SantoSh Sharma/dna

That’s the state where physical quality of life

index and human development index is far

ahead of USA simply because of health and

education.

—Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Aayog

I

I daIly news & analysIs

09DAy 5 JLF24th - 28th January 2019

new delHI I Tuesday, January 29, 2019www.dnaindia.com I twitter.com/dna I epaper.dnaindia.com I facebook.com/dnaindia

@

A dancer is the ultimate liberal. I was

okay as long as I danced for SAHMAT, Russia and Cuba. But in 1993, I was labelled

‘saffron’ after I performed for a

Vivekananda centenary programme

in Chicago—Sonal Mansingh,

Dancer

QUoTe UnQUoTeKhurshid hails

PriyanKa’s arrival

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid,

expressed optimism of a change in political

scenario of country as Priyanka Gandhi arrives to mainstream politics. Talking to media on the

sidelines of JLF, Khurshid said that the Modi government has

come to cause ‘unease’ in the country and this

has even come as a concern for the ruling

party. The Congress leader was though full

of praise for Priyanka’s emergence in the party. While he shrugged the

assumptions of any shortfalls in the current

party leadership but said arrival of Priyanka

will come as an advantage for the

Congress. Khurshid, however, insisted on

need of a mega coalition

Mahagathbandhan) of political parties against the Modi government.

‘Meeting sadhus in Kumbh impacts a lot of people’

Kavita Pant [email protected]

Jaipur: The first session on the last day of JLF saw an interesting discussion on Kumbh, a pilgrimage with largest gathering on earth, where millions of people visit with just one purpose: spiritual growth and libera-tion. The participants at the session Daniela Bevilacqua, who is doing a project on Ha-tha Yoga, Deshna Mehta and Sanjana Nanodkar who have painstakingly compiled their documentation in eight books on Nasik, Ujjain and Prayagraj Kumbh. The fourth participant James Mallinson is a Sanskrit scholar and has spent many years in India living with sadhus and yogis. He was awarded the title of ‘mahant’ by the Ramanandi Sampra-daya at 2013 Kumbh.

These participants were in conversation with Harish Trivedi where they deliber-ated upon the research works they are doing on Kumbh.

Deshna Mehta and Sanja-na Nanodkar talked about how their teams went about documenting the huge con-gregation of pilgrims.

The question of where the Kumbh is being held also came up during the discus-sion where Trivedi, who is from Allahabad, told the au-dience that it is being held in Prayagraj and it cannot be held in Allahabad. He went on to add that as the name Al-lahabad was coined in the times of Akbar and before that it was Prayagraj. But Al-lahabad has been a dominant name, while Prayagraj is not a recent invention, he added. To make his point he cited excerpts from Ramayana and also from autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru.

While talking about her work Dianela said, “I do re-search on sadhus and Kumbh

is the best place for it. This apart Kumbh is a private ex-perience too for me. Intense experience of my life has been the 2013 Kumbh in Al-lahabad where the river of human beings going to take a bath looks so overwhelming.” Taking bath and attending the Shahi Snan has been an incredible experience for me, she added.

During the Kumbh any one can sit next to a sadhu and ask questions on various issues and get enlightened. We don’t realise this but this meeting impacts a lot of peo-ple. Sadly these days many people are asking for selfies with these sadhus instead of questions, she added.

James called it as purva-janam ka sanskar (past life) that made him get attracted to the Indian philosophy and met a yogi at the banks of Narmada river. He made him his guru and since then he has attended all the Kumbh.

James then talked about the akhadas and their bath-ing order that they follow to avoid any confrontation. Is fixed He found it very incred-ible and progressive signifi-cant that for the first time an akhara of kinnars (transgen-ders) got recognition at kumbh. This act will reso-nate globally as it is hot topic world over and India did a great thing in institutionalis-ing the transgender people.

the participants at a session on Kumbh held at JLF on monday

Intense experience of my life has been the 2013 Kumbh in Allahabad where the river of human beings going to take

a bath looks so overwhelming.

—Daniela Bevilacqua, researcher

army veteran tells the story of ‘Sarkari Mussalman’DNA Correspondent [email protected]

Jaipur: Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah, an Army veteran who has tak-en part in the 1971 Bangla-desh Liberation War has come up with a book, sarcas-tically named the Sarkari Mussalman.

According to the retired General, the name for the book had stuck with him from his early days in the Army when he asked a group of young men if they wanted to join the Army af-ter telling them of the great life it offers, however, the men replied by saying that he was a Sarkari Mussal-man – a government stooge.

However, it is not a mem-oir of an Army Man, rather it has a detailed account of the riots in Gujarat follow-ing the Godhra train burn-ing incident–one of the most heated times of recent mem-ory. Shah had been chosen to lead the Army Division to quell the 2002 Gujarat riots and he maintains that the state administrative ma-

chinery failed to act timely in tense scenario. Shah men-tions that there was a delay in providing the necessary things like vehicles, maps, magistrates, police men and all this while they could not move out of the Ahmedabad airport as the Army follows a protocol. It was only after a delay of nearly a day that what all he had asked for was provided and Army was then successful in putting an end to the riot.

Interestingly, Shah’s

claims in the book are ex-actly opposite to what the SIT found. However, Shah claims that it is a soldier’s word and moreover, what he has written in the book can be corroborated by 3,000 men that were under his command and sent to quell the riots. On being asked if the court asks him to testify, will he do so (since the claims he made are opposite to the SIT finding) – the Gen-eral said that if the court summons him, he will.

Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah during the session

‘Why we need to protect animals’Sangeeta Pranvendra [email protected]

Jaipur: Man animal con-flict, peaceful coexistence between man and animals and rationale of feeding animals in context of urban environs were the issues of discussion at the session titled My Husband and Oth-er Animals, at JLF where Janki Lenin and Rom Whi-taker were in conversation with Darrly Jones.

Janki, an author, is wife of Whitaker, an urban ecologist, herpetologist and wildlife conservationist. He is found-er of Madras Snake Park and Madras Crocodile Bank.

She , who described her-self as an outsider looking

in trying to understand con-servation and why the need to protect animals, spoke of her experiences about peaceful coexistence with a leopard who had eaten their pet dog. She said she was filled with anger and wanted the leopard caught and moved.

“Then Rom told me if we can’t live with a leopard who can. That made me under-stand. There were people who were losing livestock, their means of earning a liv-ing and still calm about it. If they could live with it why not us.” She described the Jhalana Park in Jaipur as an innovative experiment of survival of large animals within the city.

The panellist during the session My Husband and Other Animals

J a i p u r L i t e r a t u r e F e S t i v a L c o n c L u d e S

Not controversy, talks on science, DNA and women dominate Lit FestAbhishek Tiwari [email protected]

he Jaipur Litera-ture Festival con-cluded on Monday, this time too with-out any controversy.

On the fifth and last day there were sessions ranging from discussion on Kumbh to Pani-ni’s Sanskrit grammar to a lot of issues.

The experts also spoke about government pro-gramme of Swachh Bharat while authors spoke of Hima-laya Yatra and other sessions across six lawns at Diggi Pal-ace the festival venue.

Sources informed that close

to 5 lakh visitors came to this literary event this year, even though this time probably for the first time the online regis-tration window was closed before the festival itself. How-ever, long queues were seen for on the spot registration at the venue itself.

Sessions on science and technology were in focus this time. The key note address on the first day was given by No-ble laureate Veny Ram-akrishnan who spoke about ‘The Role of Science in Today’s World’ while there was also a session on DNA and genetics too on the first day.

On the second day session Gene Machine and the Culture

of Science set the tone for sci-entific temper in Jaipur litera-ture festival. It was only natu-ral therefore that a lot of stu-dents and teaching fraternity visited the JLF this time.

The last day of this season also saw a lot of school stu-dents visiting various ses-sions. Many school and college students on all 5 days came early morning to listen to morning music.

These were being organsied at Front Lawns daily for about 35 minutes and turned out to be an absolute hit .

Both Indian and foreign visitors from across several countries made it a point to reach the venue early to find a

palce at Front Lawns to listen to the morning raga which saw artists like Usha Uthup, Shruti Vishwanath and other aritsts practising different forms of music.

Apart from literature, since last few seasons, the fest has also been discussing issues of social importance including women issues. This time there were sessions on Child Labour while Swachh Bharat pro-gramme too a was topic of discussion.

There was also a session on Right to Information Act of the country in which experts like Harsh Mandar, social ac-tivity Aruna Roy and others participated.

T Sources informed that close to 5 lakh visitors

came to this literary event this year, even though this time probably for the first

time the online registration window was closed before the festival

itself. However, long queues were seen for on

the spot registration at the venue itself.Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje who is a voracious reader visited Diggi Palace the venue of JLF on the last

day of the literature festival on Monday. —daLbeer SinGh neGi/dna

‘Rape victim should be made powerful with support from family & friends’Kartikey Dev Singh [email protected]

Jaipur: Rape, the fourth most common crime in India, can leave a scathing mark on its victim, if the victim gives in to the psychological aspects in the aftermath of the crime.

However, this also means that one can come out of it through sheer will and steer their lives in the right course and not being affected by the heinous act.

At the ongoing Jaipur Lit-erature Festival, a session—

What we talk about when we talk about rape—was held.

Sohaila Abdulali, an au-thor and a journalist, who is a rape surviver, told her own story first hand and also through her book while try-ing to educate the people on the issue of dishonour in-volved with rape victims.

She claimed that in rape there was dishonour for the rapist and not for the victim.

Abdulali was seventeen-years-old when she was raped by four men, her friend was held hostage and the duo

were severely beaten up. She came back home to her father who in her words, “Proceed-ed to be the textbook example on how exactly you should

behave with someone you love gets raped.”

According to Abdulali, a rape victim should not be frowned upon, rather be made powerful with support from family and friends and even the close ones should know how to handle the deli-cate situation.

“Be horrified but don’t fall off your chair that she has to take care of you. Believe her, no ifs, ands, or buts. Let her take the lead, if she wants to talk Ok, if she wants to be quiet Ok. If she wants to cry

Ok, If she wants to joke Ok, If she wants to throw things Ok. Ask her what she wants, no need to help.”

“Encourage her to get help—medical, legal, physical mental—but don’t force it. Don’t ask for details but let her know you are open if she wants to elaborate. Don’t ques-tion her judgement, let her frame it the way she wants. Don’t try to understand, just be there,” were a few of the ways Abdulali said a situation like rape and the victim’s emo-tions should be handled.

She claimed that in rape there was dishonour for the rapist and not for

the victim.

Injured Dhoni misses rare ODIFormer India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was forced to skip the third ODI against New Zealand due to a ham-string strain, only the third such instance in his illustrious limited-overs career. The last time Dho-ni missed a ODI due to injury was six years ago during a 2013 tri-series in the West Indies. Known for his good fitness lev-els, Dhoni has missed only five ODIs over the last 14 years. Troubled by his hamstring, Dhoni had missed three match-es in 2013.

ICC red flags Rayudu bowlingAmbati Rayudu has been suspended from interna-tional bowling two weeks after being reported for a suspect action, the ICC said on Monday. The part-time off-spinner’s action was flagged by match officials, citing concerns over its legality, a day after the first ODI against Australia in Syd-ney on January 12. “The player elected not to sub-mit to a test of his bowl-ing action within the stipulated period of 14 days of being reported for a suspect action,” ICC said in a statement.

ball game

India women aim to clinch seriesA dominant India will look to seal the three-match ODI series with another collective effort and consolidate their position in the ICC women’s championship table when they face New Zealand in the second ODI in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. The Indian women’s team put behind off-field controversies by making a superb start to the three-ODI rubber by thrashing New Zealand by nine wickets in the opening match.

Kiwis recall Neesham, AstleNew Zealand recalled all-rounder Jimmy Neesh-am and leg-spinner Todd Astle for the remaining two ODIs against India. Neesham replaced Doug Bracewell in the team while leg-spinner Ish So-dhi made way for Astle. Astle has recovered the from the knee injury.

(All Live)CRICKETStar Sports 106:30 New Zealand vs India women’s 2nd ODISony Six10:30 & 13:30 Big Bash LeagueFOOTBALLStar Sports 2 & 319:30 Asian Cup: Qatar vs UAEStar Sports 101:15 (Wed) EPL: Arsenal vs Cardiff; Star Sports 2 01:15 (Wed) EPL: Bournemouth vs Chelsea; Star Sports Select 1 01:15 (Wed) EPL: Manchester United vs Burnley; Star Sports Select 2-01:15 (Wed) EPL: New-castle vs Manchester CityBASKETBALLSony ESPN06:30 NBA: Memphis vs Denver09:00 NBA: Clippers vs AtlantaWRESTLINGSony Six & Sony Ten 318:50 PWL

ON ThE TuBE

SCOREBOARDNew Zealand vs India

3rd ODI; Mount MaunganuiToss: New Zealand, elect to bat

New Zealand R B 4s/6s SRM Guptill c Karthik b Kumar 13 15 1/1 86.66C Munro c Sharma b Shami 7 9 1/0 77.77K Williamson c Pandya b Chahal 28 48 4/0 58.33R Taylor c Karthik b Shami 93 106 9/0 87.73T Latham c Rayudu b Chahal 51 64 1/1 79.68H Nicholls c Karthik b Pandya 6 8 0/0 75.00M Santner c Karthik b Pandya 3 9 0/0 33.33D Bracewell run out (Kohli) 15 18 1/0 83.33I Sodhi c Kohli b Shami 12 12 0/1 100.00T Boult c Shami b Kumar 2 4 0/0 50.00L Ferguson not out 2 2 0/0 100.00Extras (LB4, W7) 11 Total (all out, 49 overs) 243 (4.95 runs per over)Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Munro, 1.6 ov), 2-26 (Guptill, 6.1 ov), 3-59 (Williamson, 16.2 ov), 4-178 (Latham, 37.3 ov), 5-191 (Nicholls, 39.3 ov), 6-198 (Santner, 41.3 ov), 7-222 (Taylor, 45.1 ov), 8-239 (Sodhi, 47.6 ov), 9-239 (Bracewell, 48.1 ov), 10-243 (Boult, 48.6 ov)Bowling: B Kumar 10-1-46-2 (W1), M Shami 9-0-41-3 (W1), Y Chahal 9-0-51-2, H Pandya 10-0-45-2 (W4), K Yadav 8-0-39-0, K Jadhav 3-0-17-0 (W1)

India (target: 244) R B 4s/6s SRR Sharma st Latham b Santner 62 77 3/2 80.51S Dhawan c Taylor b Boult 28 27 6/0 103.70V Kohli c Nicholls b Boult 60 74 6/1 81.08A Rayudu not out 40 42 5/1 95.23D Karthik not out 38 38 5/1 100.00Extras (B1, W16) 17 Total (for 3 wickets, 43 overs) 245 (5.69 runs per over)Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Dhawan, 8.2 ov), 2-152 (Sharma, 28.5 ov), 3-168 (Kohli, 31.1 ov)Bowling: T Boult 10-1-40-2, D Bracewell 6-0-49-0 (W2), L Fergu-son 10-1-57-0 (W4), M Santner 10-0-45-1, I Sodhi 7-0-53-0 (W2)

Results: India win by 7 wickets; clinch series 3-0Man of the match: Mohammed Shami

1

2

3

Send in your answers to [email protected]. Names of the first 10 winners will be published tomorrow

Melbourne: Novak Djokovic sounds like a man ready to embrace the chase.

Already at 15 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic is now only two Majors behind Rafael Na-dal’s total of 17, and five shy of Roger Federer’s men’s re-cord of 20.

So a day after winning the Australian Open for his third Slam trophy in a row, Djoko-vic was asked about whether he is pursuing them.

It’s the sort of thing some athletes — including Nadal, repeatedly, over the years — downplay or try to deflect entirely. Not Djokovic. He’s owning this.

“Well, if I’m still playing and winning Slams, I think it’s logical to conclude that I am,” he said at a photo shoot on Monday. “I’m blessed to be able to win 15. I know there are two guys ahead of me now, in the history of the most Slams won, but I still have time. I’m not rushing.”

That’s his team’s theme.

Djokovic’s coach, Marian Vajda, couldn’t stop smiling as he dissected the unbeliev-ably lopsided 6-3 6-2 6-3 vic-tory over Nadal in the final

— and its larger significance.Yes, Vajda said, a record

seventh championship in Australia means a lot. “More important is the other num-

ber that he’s getting up to, 15. It’s an incredible, incredible number. I don’t want to go too far, but he’s in a very good position now for going for a

little bit more,” Vajda said. “But 20 is still far away. A lot of things can happen. At the moment, Novak feels really good about reaching, maybe,

another Grand Slam victory.”Just one more?“Yes, one more,” Vajda

said with a hearty laugh. “And then one more. And then one more. And then one more! One by one. Absolutely, his long-term goal is to reach Rafa’s number and, if it’s pos-sible — and his age allows it — Roger’s. Why not?”

A calendar-year Grand Slam, something no man has done since Rod Laver in 1969: Why not? Catching up to, and eventually surpassing, Nadal and Federer: Why not?

It’ll be fascinating to see where Djokovic winds up.

“I do want to definitely fo-cus myself on continuing to improve my game and main-taining the overall well-being that I have — mental, physi-cal, emotional — so I would be able to compete at such a high level for the years to come,” Djokovic said, “and have a shot at eventually get-ting closer to Roger’s re-cord.” —AP

Djoker’s serious about overtaking Nadal, Federer’s Slam show grand goals AustrAliAn Open chAmp, cOAch spell Out AmbitiOn tO chAse swiss’ recOrd

Novak Djokovic poses with Australian Open trophy at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne on Monday —AFP

Djoko firms No. 1 grip, Fed slidesNovak Djokovic strength-ened his grip at the top of the ranking on Monday. Nadal held on to second spot in the rankings while Roger Federer slipped from third to six place. ATP ranking (top 10): 1. Novak Djokovic 10,955 pts, 2. Rafael Nadal 8,320, 3. Alexander Zverev 6,475 (+1), 5. Juan Martin Del Potro 5,060 (+1), 6. Kevin Anderson 4,845 (+1), 6. Roger Federer 4,600 (-3), 7. Kei Nishikori 4,110 (+2), 8. Dominic Thiem 3,960, 9. John Isner 3,155 (+1), 10. Marin Cilic 3,140 (-3)

‘Relentless’ India seal the Kiwi dealKohli & Co keep winning streak going with another clinical display against New Zealand to pocket seriesMount Maunganui: Virat Kohli bowed out of the New Zealand tour with India in an unbeatable position after a dominant seven-wicket win in the third ODI in Mount Maunganui on Monday.

It put India 3-0 up and world player of the year Koh-li said with the series wrapped up early, it was time for him to step aside for the remaining two matches and the following T20 series.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better performance after the first two clinical perfor-mances and just the relent-lessness of the side is some-thing that really pleases me,” he said after India easily chased down New Zealand’s 243 with seven overs to spare.

“I haven’t had a break for a long time. It’s been a very hec-tic Australian tour and now I go on a break very happy, 3-0 up, sealing the series and I can relax and enjoy my break.”

Kohli’s 60 off 74 deliveries and a 113-run partnership with Rohit Sharma formed the backbone of India’s run chase.

It gave the tourists back-to-back series wins against Aus-tralia and New Zealand and ensured they will be a force to be reckoned with in the World Cup later this year.

Sharma top-scored with 62 while Ambati Rayudu was unbeaten on 40 and Dinesh Karthik on 38.

“They are teaching us a les-son and we’re required to rise to the challenge,” New Zea-land captain Kane William-son said. “The quality they brought with the ball, in par-ticular their consistency in what they’ve tried to do, they haven’t given you much.”

New Zealand, batting first, posted their highest score and longest innings in the three matches so far but they still fell short of 50 overs, their last wicket falling with six balls remaining.

Ross Taylor (93) and Tom Latham (51) gave the innings credibility but proved no challenge for the visitors.

Mohammed Shami took 3/41 while Bhuvneshwar Ku-mar, Hardik Pandya and Yuz-

vendra Chahal took two wickets apiece as India shared around the bowling honours in the New Zealand innings.

Only Taylor, and for a time Latham, offered any real re-sistance after another disas-trous start by the top order.

Both openers were gone and New Zealand were 26/2 when Taylor went to the mid-dle and Latham arrived at three for 59 with the dismiss-al of Kane Williamson (28).

Taylor and Latham mounted a rescue mission with a 119-run stand for the fourth

wicket. But after Latham was dismissed for 51 it ignited a collapse in which the last six wickets fell for only 52 runs. —AFP

Kohli hopes controversy helps Pandya scale new heightsMount Maunganui: India captain Virat Kohli on Mon-day hoped all-rounder Hardik Pandya will come out a “better cricketer” and scale new heights after making a promising return from the suspension that followed his sexist remarks on a TV show.

Pandya, who is still fac-ing an inquiry for his sexist comments on women, did not get to bat in the third

ODI against New Zealand here on Monday but the 2 5 - y e a r - o l d

bowled and field-ed with purpose,

taking two crucial wickets and a brilliant

catch to send back home skipper Kane Williamson.

Kohli, after having con-demned the comments made by Pandya and KL Rahul on the chat show, reserved words of encouragement for the all-rounder on Monday.

“In life, there are only two ways to deal with a situation like that. Either you hit rock bottom or you can learn from the situation and see it as a motivation to make things right,” said Kohli.

“For a cricketer, there is nothing more dear than the game. You put all your en-ergy in the game, if you re-

spect the game, the game will respect you back. There is no rocket science,” he added.

The Indian skipper said Pandya showed the required intensity in his comeback game and is already on the road to redemption.

“You don’t need do any-thing extra (in a situation like Pandya’s). Whoever comes out of it positive, his career can scale new heights, like we have seen with many cricketers in the past.

“I hope he goes on that right path and emerges as a better cricketer and I think he can do that,” said Kohli.

Pandya was sent back home from Australia earlier

this month after BCCI sus-pended him and Rahul pend-ing an inquiry.

Kohli said any team in the world would love to have Pandya.

“It is very good to have him. He provides balance to the team. The way he bowled today showed that he went back and was practising his skills. You can tell with his intensity, he picked up two crucial wickets as well.

“He is someone who will give you those important contributions in all three departments. The team also looks much more balanced with him around. He is in a good head space and I hope he can continue with that,” added Kohli. —PTI

In life, there are only two ways to deal with a

situation like that. Either you hit rock bottom or you can learn from the situation and see it as a motivation to make things right—Virat Kohli, on Hardik Pandya

India captain Virat Kohli (C) and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (R) celebrate after dismissing New Zealand’s Tom Latham (L) during the third ODI at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Monday —AFP

N zONE This is only the 2nd time India have won an ODI series in New Zealand, the first coming in 2009 under the

leadership of MS Dhoni. India have lost 4 and drawn 2 the other series

2 India have lost only 1 of the last 13 bilateral series they have played, stretching back to the 2016 tour of Zimbabwe.

That defeat came in the 3-match series against England last year

1

I couldn’t have asked for a better performance after the first two clinical performances and just the relentlessness of the side is something

that really pleases me—Virat Kohli, India captain

did you KNow?Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been involved in 16 century partnerships in ODIs, the joint-third in the list of most 100+ stands in ODIs with Gilchrist-Hayden. Tendulkar-Ganguly (26) and Dilshan-Sangakkara (20) top the list

Mohammed Shami picked up 3/41 on Monday —AFP

Hardik Pandya reacts on Monday

AP

Pujara finishes job, Saurashtra in final Bengaluru: The juggernaut of Cheteshwar Pujara con-tinued to roll and steered Saurashtra to the Ranji Tro-phy finals with a five-wicket victory over Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy semifinals here on Monday.

Saurashtra will now meet defending champions Vid-arbha in the final of the na-tional championship to be played from February 3-7 in Nagpur.

This is the third time that Saurashtra will be playing the finals.

Pujara remained un-beaten at 131 off 266 balls and added 214 runs with senior player Sheldon Jackson (100) to anchor another successful run chase for Saurashtra.

Needing 55 runs on the final day, it was a mere formality as Jackson duly completed his 16th first-class century.

Although they had seven wickets in hand, Pujara didn’t

take any undue risks and it took 17.4 overs for Saurashtra

to score the remaining 55 runs.

Vinay Kumar (3/75), who bowled his heart out and was unlucky af-ter Pujara was ruled not

out by the on-field um-pire despite a clear edge when he was on 32, got the consolation wicket

of Jackson. However, the match was as good as over by then. —PTI

Brief scores: Karnataka 275 & 239 lost to Saurashtra 236 & (o/n 224/3) 279/5 in 91.4 overs (C Pujara 131*, S Jackson 100; R Vinay Kumar 3/75) by 5 wickets

Ranji TRophy

new delhiwww.dnaindia.com


TENNIS Ankita Raina (in pic) jumps 35 places to 168 while Prajnesh Gunneswaran rises seven spots to 102 as the Indian duo achieves its career-best world rankings in singles

10Sri Lanka have named pacer Chamika Karunaratne to replace injured Lahiru Kumara for the second Test against AustraliaCRICKET

FOOTBALL Atletico Madrid have signed striker Alvaro Morata to an 18-month loan from Chelsea, ending his miserable stay after a club-record move from Real Madrid for $75 million

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hot on heels

Anand finishes joint thirdViswanathan Anand had to be content with a joint third place finish follow-ing a draw with compatri-ot Vidit Gujrathi in the 13th and final round of the Tata Steel Masters in Wijk Aan Zee. With three wins, a lone loss against winner Magnus Carlsen and nine draws, Anand ended the event on 7.5 points and will add six points to his existing rat-ing. He is now sixth in world rankings. Gujrathi ended sixth on 7 points.

Indian women hold Spain to 1-1 drawIndian women earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Spain in the sec-ond international hockey match in Murcia (Spain). Gurjit Kaur’s 43rd min-ute strike was nullified by home team’s Maria Tost in the 49th minute during an encounter on Sunday evening.

Ronaldo penalty seals Juve winCristiano Ronaldo con-verted a penalty to seal a hard-fought 2-1 win for Juventus against Lazio in Rome on Sunday to pull 11 points clear in Serie A. Juventus had trailed af-ter an Emre Can own-goal after an hour before substitute Joao Cancelo pulled the champions lev-el and then earned the penalty which Ronaldo slotted in with two min-utes to go.

Messi scores, Barca stay atopThe game that the Span-ish league had wanted to play in the United States still featured a traditional attraction of the competi-tion — Lionel Messi scor-ing a goal. Messi coolly put the result beyond doubt in a 2-0 victory for Barcelona at 10-man Gi-rona on Sunday, helping the defending champions to keep their five-point league lead with an eighth straight win.

Japan shock Iran to enter Asian Cup finalAl Ain (UAE): Striker Yuya Osako scored twice in 11 sec-ond-half minutes to help send four-times champions Japan into the Asian Cup final with a 3-0 victory over tournament favourites Iran on Monday.

The Werder Bremen for-ward headed the first home in the 56th minute and added his second from the penalty spot.

Genki Haraguchi added a gloss to the scoreline with a powerful run and shot in stop-

page time at the end of the match but the contest was al-ready long decided. Iran’s dreams of ending a 43-year wait for a fourth continental title were left in tatters by the clinical Japanese.

In the other semis on Tues-day, Qatar are expected to face a hostile crowd at the sold out Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, where UAE offered free tick-ets to their fans. —Reuters

reuter

s

G Krishnan [email protected]

Mumbai: In the gymnas-tics hall, Dipa Karmakar embodies the spirit of Indi-an women. When there are few takers to execute the life-risking Produnova in artistic gymnastics, the Agartala-born 25-year-old has successfully completed the two front somersaults in tucked position off a vault.

In fact, only five includ-ing Dipa have managed to complete this form of gym-nastics regularly at compe-titions.

“Look, there is difficulty in every discipline and style. But I practiced it a lot that it became easy for me,” Dipa told DNA in an exclu-sive chat during her visit to Mumbai for the launch of her biography The Small Wonder written jointly by her Dronacharya award-winning coach Bishwesh-war Nandi and journalists Digvijay Singh Deo and Vimal Mohan.

She had stopped practic-ing the ‘vault of death’ last year as she was recovering from a knee injury that kept her out of competi-tions following her historic fourth-place in vault at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

But she is back at it again. “I tried it after inju-ry (last year) and it was coming alright,” Dipa said.

It is this fearless charac-ter that has brought Dipa to the forefront in the sport

made more popular by her. And something that reflects on other woman athletes coming from North East India – Hima Das in athletics, a whole lot of weightlifters and boxers from the region, to mention just a few.

Ask Dipa the reason for the rise in woman athletes from North East, and she says: “Earlier, it was felt that girls from North East could not do much. The girls took it as a challenge and prove that they were far ahead of the rest. It was probably the reason why girls from Northeast are working hard and deliver-ing the results. Hence the rise in female sportsper-sons from Northeast.”

Dipa’s exploits in Rio 2016 — she became the first Indian female gymnast to participate in the Olympics and missed a bronze in the vault discipline by 0.150 points – has given a fillip to the sport in the country.

“My Rio participation has given a big boost to the sport in India and the gym-nastics scene has changed after that. Earlier, not many knew about gymnastics. Af-ter Olympics, 50 per cent of the people have got to know about the sport. I feel very good about it,” she said.

The change is for there all to see. “More (gymnas-tic) centres have come up. Government is also open-ing many centres. Private centres are also

‘Earlier, it was felt girls from Northeast could not do much’

coming. It is developing in a big way. Many are taking to the sport and it feels very nice,” Dipa said.

Last year, Dipa became the first Indian to win an in-ternational gold in vault at the World Challenge Cup in Mersin, Turkey. “That win has boosted my confidence tremendously. The medal was important. The World Cup went well. Now, the fo-cus is on the

qualifications for 2020 Tokyo Olympics and preparing for them. Hope that the results come good,” said Dipa.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winner in 2016 looked back at her Rio per-formance with satisfaction. Ask her if she could have won bronze, and she replies without any hesitation: “It happens in sports. The dif-

ference between fourth place and bronze medal was just 0.1 point. Whatever happened, I was happy. I gave my best performance, that was important for me.”

Listing the World Cham-pionships (in Stuttgart, Germany, Oct 4-13) and par-ticipating in the 2020 Games qualification tournaments as her goals for 2019, Dipa said “My first target is to qualify for Tokyo.”

When asked about the realistic chances of im-proving upon her Rio show in Tokyo, she said: “Am try-ing to do well. All sportsper-sons look to perform better. I also try to do the same. Let’s see what happens,” she said.

Known for her fearless character, gymnast Dipa Karmakar says she is focussed on preparing to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics

World Chall-enger Cup gold has boosted my

confidence tremen-dously. Now, focus is on the qualifications for 2020 OlympicsDipa Karmakar, gymnast

Dipa Karmakar (R) and Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai recently

PtI

Real Kashmir win to open up title raceChander Shekhar Luthra [email protected]

Srinagar: On a day when tem-perature fell to 3-degree Cel-sius despite good sunshine, Pdero Manzi Javier-led Chen-nai City FC failed to check the free run of Real Kashmir FC and the 7,000-strong vocifer-ous crowd here.

The Snow Leopards, as the players are called locally, won by a solitary goal against ta-ble-toppers Chennai to open up the title race on Monday. The match was decided by Gno-here Krizo’s header in the 82nd minute.

This is their second successive I-League game win. Kashmir now stand third in

the table behind Churchill Brothers,

only on goal difference.The local outfit did not

allow Chennai players to keep the ball in possession for so long. The visitors, already fighting against the cold conditions here,

found it hard to fend off Kash-mir’s early attacks.

The hosts almost took lead in the 13th minute follwing a goal-mouth melee from a cor-ner kick. But the ball missed the goal by a few inches.

Chennai’s only threat in the first quarter came in the 20th minute when local goal-

keeper Bilal Khan failed to collect a Sandro Rodriguez free-kick. However, two of

Bilal’s defend-ers were quick enough to clear the threat. The best chance for

Kashmir came in the 32nd minute when forward Krizo found himself in space for a shot. But Chennai custodian Nauzet Santana made an ac-robatic save.

The second half saw both teams keeping possession to frustrate each other. But it was Krizo along with attack-ing midfielder Mason Robert-son, son of the Kashmir head coach, who forced Chennai a bit deep in their defence. In the 72nd minute, Sanatan rose to the occasion again to deny Krizo yet another chance to score. But 10 min-utes later, luck finally smiled on the RKFC as Danish put a dipping cross into the box from the right corner and an unmarked Krizo didn’t miss.

Real Kashmir FC celebrate their win against Chennai City FC on Monday

tWItter

second front

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BJP is not helpless, yes we want alliance but for development of the nation. Don’t want power to go in hands of people who looted nation for long. We’re trying to get into alliance but we are not helpless. BJP is the party which reached 200 from two.—Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra CM

12 new delHI I Tuesday, January 29, 2019

snapshot

‘BJP will bag 74 seats in UP LS polls’

The Bharatiya Janata Party will go to Lok Sabha polls with a

target of bagging 74 plus seats from the state. Nothing less at all

In 2014, the strength of our party in Uttar Pradesh was 36 lakh

workers. Now, our strength is 1.80 crore workers. We will go to Lok Sabha polls with the promise of making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister again

The clean image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and

various welfare measures initiated by the Centre and the state government will en-sure Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the polls

Party workers should gear up for the Lok Sabha elections

without bothering about the rival political parties

Winning against the BJP has become a challenge for all the

parties and hence they are engaging in alliances

People who had never united in the past are now coming together

owing to the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and increasing attrac-tion of the masses towards the BJP

Union min, BJP LS election in-charge for UP JP Nadda

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Union textile min Smriti Irani with ex-indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar at Eliphanta —Hemant Padalkar/dna

waLK In stYLE

Tigers could be wiped out in Myanmar, Thailand: StudyNikhil M Ghanekar [email protected]

New Delhi: While tigers in South Asia and Russia are thriving, Thailand and My-anmar could probably see their tiger population get wiped out in 11 years and four years respectively, a risk assessment by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) revealed at the third global stocktaking meet on tiger conservation. The GTF’s assessment also showed that India topped the score on the global tiger recovery programme (GTRP), fol-lowed by Russia, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Eleven of the 13 tiger range countries are par-ticipating in the meet to review the St Petersburg declaration goal of dou-bling wild tiger population globally.

The GTF carried out a risk assessment, scientifi-cally known as population and habitat viability as-sessment, in all tiger range countries to ascertain the challenges they faced in recovery of tigers. Howev-er, the most worrying re-sults, finalised as of now, were from Thailand and Myanmar. GTF is an inter-

national intergovernmen-tal organisation that fo-cuses on global tiger con-servation.

The assessment pointed at the habitat loss and low prey base in the Southeast Asian countries as one of the primary reasons for

decline in the health of ti-ger ecosystem and high-lighted the best practices in South Asian countries. These included intensive monitoring, regional coop-eration, technical surveil-lance and habitat conser-vation.

Thailand, currently, has an estimated 189 tigers while Myanmar is said to have between 20 and 30 ti-gers as per rough esti-mates.

“A mid-term review and revisiting of the 2010 decla-ration is necessary,” said SP Yadav, former deputy secretary general, GTF and currently, secretary, UP Biodiversity Board.

The GTF carried out a risk assessment, scientifically known as population and habitat viability assessment, in all tiger range countries —File

Based on the risk assessment study, experts said the absence of political leadership on wildlife in Southeast Asian countries has hamstrung the tiger recovery programme

causal effect


New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, said that India was a strong proponent of peace but will not hesitate to take steps to ensure its national security. He announced that his gov-ernment will take all “big and tough” decisions that are necessary for the country’s security in the coming days.

Addressing National Ca-det Corps (NCC) cadets in New Delhi, the Prime Minis-ter said, in the last four years, the government has taken several decisions keeping the security of the nation on its list of priorities. He also urged the cadets to spread greater awareness about the government’s welfare schemes and to motivate the youth to vote in large num-bers in the upcoming elec-tions. The Prime Minister said his government is trying to replace the VIP culture with his EPI — ‘Every Person is Important’ ideology.

“We are strong proponents of peace but, we will not hes-itate to take any step for na-tional security. The armed forces have given a clear sig-nal that we don’t instigate but if instigated, we don’t leave them (enemies of the coun-try),” Modi said. Referring to

completion of the nuclear triad, he said India was one of the few nations that could launch nuclear weapons from land, sea, and water.

Pointing to attacks from the opposition over the Ra-fale fighter jet deal, Modi said, “Projects pending since decades related to fighter air-craft and modernisation have

materialised on the ground. Missiles, tanks, and helicop-ters are being made.” He said a lot of important decisions have been taken for defence and security in the last four-and-a-half years.

He noted that whatever the government has been able to do, has been actively supported by the youth.

Addressing NCC cadets in New Delhi, PM Modi said national security has always been his govt’s priority —PTI

India will not hesitate to take steps for national security: PM

The Indian armed forces have given a clear signal that

we do not instigate but, if instigated, we do not leave the enemies of our countryNarendra Modi, Prime Minister

The Prime Minister said his government is trying to replace the VIP culture with his EPI — ‘Every Person is Important’ ideology. He encouraged the youth to cast their votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

NO VIP cultuRe

London: Superbug genes that were first detected in New Delhi over ten years ago have now spread to the Arctic — one of the last ‘pristine’ places on the Earth, scien-tists say.

A n t i b i o t i c - Re s i s t a n t Genes (ARGs) provide multi-drug resistance (MDR) in mi-croorganisms. An example is NDM-1, which is a protein that can confer resistance in a range of bacteria. NDM-1 was first identified in New Delhi and coded by the resist-ant gene blaNDM-1. Strains that carry blaNDM-1 were first found in clinical settings

in 2008, but by 2010 blaNDM-1 was found in surface waters in Delhi. Since then, the re-sistant gene has been found in over 100 countries.

Analysing the extracted DNA from forty soil cores at eight locations along Kongsf-jorden region of Svalbard, a total of 131 ARGs were de-tected, according to the study published in the journal En-vironmental International.

Carried in the gut of ani-mals and people, blaNDM-1 and other medically-impor-tant ARGs were found in Arc-tic soils that were likely spread in animal faeces. —PTI

‘Superbug gene’ taints pristine Arctic region

London: The UK govern-ment on Monday announced funding for several organisa-tions working with the coun-try’s Hindu and Jain commu-nities to address an urgent need for ethnic minority or-gan donors.

The organisations are launching projects to break down myths and encourage British Hindus to become or-gan donors after bidding for a share in an over 140,000 pounds Community Invest-ment Scheme.

“The projects receiving funding will spread the mes-sage about the priceless gift of organ donation up and down the country at a com-munity level, where it has the strongest impact,” said UK Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price.

“If you are black or Asian, you will wait on aver-age half a year longer for a matching donor than if you are white. Those six months could be a matter of life or death. We must address this by empowering communi-ties to own the conversation around organ donation,” she said.

“Giving the gift of an or-gan is a deeply personal de-cision and I hope that the projects funded through this scheme will help people to make an informed choice,” the minister added. —PTI

UK promotes organ donation in Hindus, Jains


New Delhi: Ahead of the Dharma Sansad of the Vish-va Hindu Parishad (VHP), a three-day “Param Dharma Sansad” – organised by a group of seers led by Shankacharya Swaroopan-nand Saraswarti – started on Monday on the sidelines of the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

The Param Dharma San-sad aims to discuss an 18-point agenda that includes Ram Janmabhoomi, Save Ganga, Goraksha (Cow pro-tection), Anti-conversion, Save temples, Save the envi-ronment, cultural education, religious education, and other issues, sources said.

According to the sources, Param Dharma Sansad is likely to declare a “possible date” to commence the con-struction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 30, the concluding day of the event.

The saints will move to Ayodhya to do Shilanyas for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Sources also said that it would be a sort of Civil Disobedience Movement by the seers.

The VHP will hold a two-day grand Dharma Sansad in Prayagraj from January 31. The VHP’s Dharma San-sad will be attended by more than 1,000 seers from across the country. According to sources, the Hindu body will chalk out its next course of action with regard to Ayod-hya. The Supreme Court on Sunday put off the hearing for Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case scheduled for January 29 due to non-availability of one of the five judges of a Constitution bench – Justice SA Bobde.

3-day Param Dharma Sansad held in Delhi

File photo of Ram Mandir

Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0: PM to talk to pupils, parents, & teachersDNA Correspondent [email protected]

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inter-acting with a cross-section of students, teachers, and par-ents from India and abroad in an expanded edition of Parik-sha Pe Charcha 2.0 at Talka-tora Stadium, in New Delhi, on Tuesday.

Students, teachers, and parents are not only excited and enthusiastic to partici-pate in the unique event but are also looking forward to the Prime Minister’s tips.

The Prime Minister is keen to ensure that students an-swer their examinations in a relaxed atmosphere. He be-lieves that they should keep

stress at bay to ensure better results in the long run.

All arrangements are in place to conduct the event successfully that will start at 11.00 am tomorrow. There will be a live telecast on Doordarshan and it will be carried on other television channels too.

An online competition was organised from January 7 to 17 for college and school students, their parents and teachers. They participated through the website www.mygov.in.

Full report: www.dnaindia.com

There will be a live telecast on Doordarshan —twitter

By Sidhant Sibal

New Delhi: Afghanistan is all set to use Chabahar to con-nect to India. According to Iran’s ministry of Roads and Urban development, Afghan-istan is preparing to ship the first cargo of five containers through Chabahar to India and this will happen within a month’s time.

The cargo will be contain-ing beans and each container will weigh about 22 tonnes. The delivery of cargo will be

carried out under the International Road Transports system.

According to Af-ghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport, as quoted by

the Iranian ministry, “this cargo will be shipped out as a pilot from Afghanistan to In-dia.”

TIR system streamlines procedures at borders and reduces the administrative burden for customs authori-

ties.Meanwhile, India has for-

mally established shipping

lines to Chabahar. The first such ship arrived on Sunday. This was announced in a re-lease from the Iranian Prime Minister’s office.

It has been decided that regular ships from 3 Indian ports — Mumbai, Kandla, and Mundra will now regu-larly go to the Iranian port every two weeks.

The development comes a month after India took over operations at the port.

Indian ship arrives at Chabahar —iran PmO

Projects like Chabahar that help Uzbekistan

reach the international market are positiveFarhod Arziev, Uzbek ambassador to India

It’s official: Country has shipping lines to Chabahar

After 17 yrs of war, peace may return to AfghanistanHopes for stability rise as US envoy and Taliban inch closer to an agreementBy Anas Mallick

After six days of intensive negotiations between the United States and Taliban at the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, US President’s spe-cial envoy for Afghan recon-ciliation Zalmay Khalilzad flew off to Kabul directly af-ter completing the round in Doha, in what is being termed as a round of negotiations having significant progress.

This was Khalilzad’s fourth round of negotiations held with the Afghan Taliban since his appointment in Sep-tember as the special repre-sentative. It was also the long-est round of negotiations done till date between the two parties.

Both the US and Taliban have come a long way past the

hurdles. Reliable sources said that a ceasefire draft has been agreed upon as well. Khalilzad went to Afghani-stan to take their leadership into confidence on such a sig-nificant development, Af-ghan leadership have been

neglected and kept in the dark during the whole set of the ongoing dialogue.

Despite repeated attempts by the Afghan government to be made part of the process, the Taliban refuses to do so. In December 2018, during the

talks at Abu Dhabi, sources tell that representatives of Saudi Arab had persuaded the Taliban to meet with the Afghan government in Saudi Arabia, an offer which the Taliban had refused to take. The Saudi representatives then asked the Taliban to of-fer prayers together at Mak-kah, an offer that was declined by the Taliban as well.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in his tweets following the comple-tion of Doha talks said that he was “headed to Af-ghanistan for consultations. Meetings here were more productive than they have been in the past. We made significant progress on vital issues. We have a number of issues left to work out.”

Reliable sources say a ceasefire draft has been agreed by both parties

Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt pays double price for Juhu flat star struck alia Bhatt is the director of flat BUYer eternal sUnshine prodUctions pVt ltd

Varun Singh [email protected]

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt recently bought a property at Juhu, in Mumbai. The actress paid Rs 13.11 crore for the 2,300 square feet apartment. The actress paid almost double the ready reck-oner rate of the apartment, which stands at Rs 7.86 crore. The flat is on the first floor of a posh locality in Juhu.

The property was regis-tered with the sub-registrar’s office in Andheri on January 9 and the seller is Rushang Shah, director of Shimnit Fi-

nance and Investments Pvt Ltd. The buyer is Eternal Sunshine Productions Pvt Ltd, of which Alia Bhatt is the director. The registration document accessed by DNA has Bhatt’s name in it.

Ready reckoner rate is the rate annually decided by the state government for properties across the state, based on which it collects stamp duties. However, if the property purchased is at a higher rate than that of the ready reckoner rate, it collects a stamp duty ac-cording to the higher rate. Therefore, Bhatt ended up

paying a stamp duty of Rs 65.55 lakh for her purchase

of the property in Juhu. Bhatt is already a Juhu resi-

dent. Along with the flat, Bhatt has also received two

open car parks. In 2015, Bhatt had bought

two properties on the sec-ond floor of the building from Anupam Kher and Kir-ron Kher for Rs 5.16 crore and Rs 3.83 crore respective-ly. Even then, she had paid more than the ready reck-oner rate. These two flats were on the second floor of the building.

When contacted, Bhatt said that she is shoooting for a film and will get back when done. However, Bhatt has not contacted DNA after that. She has also not re-plied to the messages.

Bhatt’s newly purchased flat at Juhu —aadesH POkHare/dna

�� The actress paid Rs 13.11 crore for the 2,300 square feet apartment

�� The ready reckoner rate of the apartment stands at Rs 7.86 crore

�� Ready reckoner rate is the rate annually decided by the state government for properties across the state

a hefty sum

OpiniOn

In an election year, mounting dues of sugarcane farmers is a source of serious concern for the government, writes Siraj Hussain P8

CityDelhi BJP election in-charge Nirmala Sitharaman will conduct a ‘popularity test’ of the seven MPs before finalising candidates P2

indiaAmit Shah says Modi government implemented OROP for ex-servicemen while Cong’s version is ‘Only Rahul Only Priyanka’ P5

wOrldProminent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for state ‘subversion’ P7

spOrtsCheteshwar Pujara’s unbeaten 131 ensures Saurashtra beat Karnataka to enter the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha P10

inside

Patriotism rules at the box office, as Manikarnika and Uri keep the tricolour flying high over the Republic

Day weekend

Afterhrs

Alia acquires her third flat in Juhu building for `13 croreMumbai: Actor Alia Bhatt has recently bought a 2,300-

sqft apartment in Juhu for a whopping Rs 13.11 crore — almost double the ready

reckoner rate (Rs 7.86 crore) for the area. Her latest acquisition is on the first floor of a posh Juhu society. Interest-ingly, this is her third property in the same building, as she already owns flat

2A and 2B on the second floor, which she bought over from Anupam and Kirron Kher in 2015. report, P12

United we stand, Sena MPs remind UddhavSanjay Jog [email protected]

Mumbai: A majority of Shiv Sena’s parliamentarians want the party to form an alliance with the BJP for the upcom-ing Lok Sabha elections to avoid any division of Hindu votes, and to jointly take on the Congress-NCP combine.

Sena president Uddhav Thackeray clarified on Mon-day that he’s not averse to any pre-poll arrangement but in-

sisted that the BJP safeguard Sainiks’ sentiments and be ready for an arrangement that’s acceptable to both parties. If such a deal doesn’t work out, he said, Sena wouldn’t mind going it alone.

He clarified that the party won’t toler-ate the humiliation and neglect meted out by the BJP since four-and-a-half years. They haven’t received any oral or written offer from

the BJP, he said, while all al-liance talks are being dis-cussed in the media alone.

Even if the BJP offers him the post of chief

minister of Maha-rashtra, he said, he won’t accept the pact if BJP doesn’t give Sena enough seats to

contest from in the 288-seat Assembly.

At a time when various BJP leaders are claiming the alliance is a foregone conclu-

sion, Monday’s meeting ac-quires significance.

A senior Sena MP said, “Uddhav recalled emotionally how seat-sharing used to be a smooth affair. That was be-cause of the personal rapport party founder Bal Thackeray had with BJP veterans like LK Advani and the late Atal Bi-hari Vajpayee. Uddhav hoped Narenbhai would also conduct talks in a cordial manner, as a BJP leader and not as Prime Minister.” turn to P4


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Rest assuRed, india cLinch seRies

Virat Kohli (R) plays a shot past New Zealand wicketkeeper Tom Latham during the third ODI in Mount Maunganui on Monday. India won the match by 7 wickets to clinch the five-match series 3-0. Kohli will now take a break and will not feature in the remaining two ODIs and the following three T20Is in New Zealand —AFP reports P10

Cong promises minimum wage to poor if votedAmrita Madhukalya [email protected]

New Delhi: Unveiling the Congress’ agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Con-gress president Rahul Gan-dhi on Monday created a stir when he said that if voted to power, his party will come up with a minimum income guarantee for the impover-ished people.

“We have now taken a step that no government has tak-en before. We have decided to give every poor person a min-imum income guarantee when we form the govern-ment. This is a historic step taken to eradicate hunger and poverty,” Rahul said at a farmer’s rally held in Raipur on Monday.

Apart from farm loan waiver and the minimum in-come guarantee, the Con-gress party is also consider-ing bringing in a system that aids agriculture in ways where debts are not a burden for the country’s farmers. The triumvirate of these promises could give the Con-gress a big boost, especially ahead of expectations that the Modi government could bring in some solid offerings in the Budget.

SC to decide if Sanskrit shlokas in school is religious impositionAbraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Can the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas from Hindu Upanishads during the morning assembly at Kendriya Vidyalayas be con-sidered a religious exercise, and does it go against the secular ethos of the Constitu-tion? A petition filed in the Supreme Court, by one Vee-nayak Shah, claims they do. To buttress his point, Shah cited Article 28(1) of the Con-stitution, that says, “No reli-gious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly main-tained out of State funds.”

The education code for the Kendriya Vidayalaya Sanga-

than was revised in Decem-ber 2012, making it manda-tory for students and teach-ers to recite shlokas from the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad and the Krishna Yajurveda Taittriya Upanishad.

The petitioner said the practice of making students of all religions recite these

shlokas with folded hands amounts to imposition of re-ligion or religious instruc-tion that’s prohibited under the Constitution.

But the Centre, represent-ed by solicitor general Tush-ar Mehta, said the chants don’t identify with any par-ticular religion. Mehta also gave the example of a shloka written under the emblem of the Supreme Court which reads, “yato dharmasto jaya” (where there is justice, there will be victory).

But the bench of justices Rohington F Nariman and Vineet Saran felt the issue is a constitutional question of law, and should hence be addressed by the Constitution Bench of a minimum of five judges.

Maid, son held for murdering elderly coupleNew Delhi: A 50-year-old woman and her juvenile son were apprehended on Mon-day for killing the septuage-narian couple in South-East Delhi’s Mount Kailash socie-ty in Amar Colony. The semi-decomposed bodies Virender Kumar Khaneja (77) and his wife Sarla (72) were discov-ered at their residence on Saturday morning after a relative informed the Delhi Police that their was no re-sponse to phone calls. The arrested woman has been identified as Salma, a domes-tic help who visited twice a week to massage Sarla. Police said that the juvenile stayed with the two bodies in the house for 24 hours before flee-ing there. report, P3

‘Snapdeal is inflating MRPs for discounts’DNA Correspondent [email protected]

Ahmedabad: In its bid to be competitive, according to a new study, online portal Snapdeal is giving discounts disproportionate to its com-petitors, displaying higher MRPs to inflate discounts, and many of its cosmetics products do not show an ex-piry date.

Conducted by Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), the body has now urged the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) to ensure that Snapdeal withdraws all prod-ucts with incomplete label-ling and inflated prices. It has also called for a recall of products already sold to con-sumers along with compen-sation for purchase of poten-tially harmful products. It also seek that the company be mandated to have a transpar-ent policy for selection of vendors and products, and take strict action against ven-dors violating the policy.

According to a survey by CERC, price of one unit of hair oil on Nykaa is Rs. 432 whereas on Snapdeal, two units are available for Rs. 279, indicating a 68 per cent dis-count. “This raises doubts whether the product is origi-nal or counterfeit.” turn to P4

Kumaraswamy threatens to quitDNA Correspondent [email protected]

New Delhi: The tumultuous alliance in Karnataka saw turbulence yet again on Mon-day as CM HD Kumaraswa-my threatened to step down from the Chief Minister’s position after Congress MLA ST Somashekar said that un-der the coalition, develop-ment works seem to have hit a roadblock.

A visibly angered Kumar-aswamy told reporters, “We are doing a good job, but if my way of functioning is not acceptable to everyone, then I am ready to quit. I don’t want to continue also. I am not ready to stick to the chair.”

Meanwhile, in a bid to quell the war of words, AICC in-charge for Karnataka KC Venugopal told DNA he is “very confident” that the coa-

lition government is stable and secure. “I had a word with the CM and then with the state president Dinesh Gundu Rao. We will also initi-ate disciplinary action

against the MLA,” said Venu-gopal.

Soon after, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge issued a gag order on the party MLAs. “They should

not react openly to the media. We have all come together to fight the BJP-RSS. It is not advisable for any member to speak against the wishes of the party high command. Such situations create confu-sion in the coalition,” said Kharge.

The Congress-JDS coali-tion in Karnataka has been on a rocky boat ever since it formed the government. Par-ty insiders said that disgrun-tled MLAs close to Siddara-maiah, have been restless. The expansion and reshuf-fling of the cabinet, too, has led to disgruntlement.

“The coalition govern-ment is in power for the past seven months but not a single work has taken place. It is Siddaramaiah who set up the Kempegowda Development Authority. He should be made chief minister,” Somasekhar had said.

Rocky JD(S)-Congress alliance comes to a head as MLA attacks CM Kumaraswamy

the chief minister draman Party insiders said that MLAs close to Congress’ Sid-daramaiah have been restless

n The expansion and reshuf-fling of the cabinet, too, has led to disgruntlement

n Former CM Siddaramaiah, rubbished the demand; said there was no question of it

We are doing a good job, but if my way of functioning is not acceptable to everyone, then I am ready to quit. I don’t

want to continue also. I am not ready to stick to the chair.HD Kumaraswamy, Karnataka Chief Minister

Pooja Salvi [email protected]

Jaipur: The 2019 Jaipur Lit-erature Festival came to a fast-paced end on Monday. Manisha Koirala, Germaine Greer, Mad-havi Menon and Sonal Mansin-gh were in conversation with Sharad Paul on ‘Breaking Free: A New Kind of Beauti-ful’, where they discussed if women are under pressure to conform to others’ ideas of beauty. “It’s your art and per-sonality which should appear as beautiful,” Koirala said.

After this, Sohaila Abdu-

lali, in conversation with Na-mita Bhandare, discussed ‘What we talk about when we talk about rape’, touching on several aspects of sex and rape. “When I was raped (at the age of 17), my father gave me the choice to deal with the situation the way I wanted; he is a textbook example of how one should treat survivors. It was left up to me if I wanted to press charges or if I want-ed to move on with my life and live it the way I envi-

sioned it. And I chose the lat-ter,” she said.

The day ended with a dis-cussion on ‘Do Liberals Stifle

Debate?’, where the high-profile panel had a raging debate, like the ones broadcasted on TV news channels.

And right here lay the true essence of art festivals — coming to-gether on one platform to exchange ideas, thoughts, and stories

— a promise JLF has strived to fulfil with every year, and the years to come!

Jaipur bids farewell to literature’s brightest closing lines Jaipur Literature festivaL ends on a high, with promise of more

@

An artist at work on the last day of Jaipur Literature Festival

If you can’t deport, don’t detain, court tells AssamAbraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Over the next few weeks, when Parliament is expected to take up the Citizenship Bill, the Assam government will be busy collect-ing data about per-sons with the “for-eigner” tag who are awaiting orders from the State Foreigner Tri-bunals, and on the number of those repatriated in the last decade.

The exercise comes after the Supreme Court passed an order on Monday on a PIL

filed by social activist Harsh Mander that focused on the condition of detention cen-tres in Assam.

In six such centres, Man-der’s counsel Prashant

Bhushan said, in-mates are either awaiting orders from the Foreigner Tribunals or have

remained in India for an indefinite peri-

od of time since their country of origin refused to accept them.

turn to P4

inside‘Will repeal Citizenship Bill’ P5

ZEE shares bounce back, close 17% higher after agreement with lenders DNA Money Correspondent [email protected]

Mumbai: Shares of ZEE En-tertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) bounced back on Monday, after the business conglomerate Essel Group’s management arrived at an understanding with lenders, which are holding pledged shares of the promoters.

The share price of ZEE Entertainment, the flagship company of the Essel Group, rose 19.24 per cent to Rs 380.80 intra-day before closing at Rs 372.50, up 16.64 per cent, on Monday. Dish TV India rose

9.95 per cent at Rs 24.85 before closing the session 5.53 per cent up at Rs 23.85 a share.

Shares of Essel Propack, another group company, closed 9.43 per cent up at Rs 107.35 per scrip. It touched an intra-day high of 12.94 per cent at Rs 100.80.

The broader market ended in red on Monday with the BSE Sensex plunging over 368 points to close at 35,657 amid volatile market senti-ment, days ahead of the Un-ion Budget.

Essel Group stocks wit-nessed a drop on Friday after reports alleged links between the group and Nityank In-frapower and Multiventures, a company under scrutiny of the Serious Fraud Investiga-tion Office. Both ZEEL and Dish TV have assured that they had no dealings whatso-ever with any of the two com-panies. report, DNA Money

The share price of ZEE Entertainment rose 19.24 per cent to Rs 380.80 intra-day before closing at Rs 372.50, up 16.64 per cent

inTRA-DAY gAin

SC’s ‘backhand shot’ keeps Karti in check

Abraham thomas [email protected]

New Delhi: Taking note of Karti Chidambaram’s fre-quent foreign trips to attend tennis matches, the Supreme Court on Monday gave an as-surance to the Enforcement Directorate that Karti will not be permitted to travel abroad if he is trying to evade their questioning under the pretext of attending tennis matches. Karti, son of Con-gress leader P Chidambaram is facing probe in the INX Me-dia and Aircel Maxis cases.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the ED to specify the dates for questioning Karti in relation to the cases pending against him within a day or two. Karti had moved an ap-plication seeking permission to travel to four countries in relation to tennis matches being organised by a UK-based company “Totus Ten-nis Limited”.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Karti submitted that his cli-ent was a former tennis play-er, a sports administrator and entrepreneur and wished to attend the tennis matches played abroad in this connec-tion. turn to P4

Trouble mounting for Chidambaram & sonSumit Kumar Singh [email protected]

New Delhi: The troubles of former union minister P Chi-dambaram and his son Karti seem to be mounting with probing agencies finding more evidence against them. The CBI, ED, Delhi Police and Income Tax are probing more than a dozen cases against them. In the Aircel-Maxis scam, a Delhi court on Mon-day extended till February 18, the interim protection from

arrest granted to P Chidam-baram and Karti. Special CBI Judge OP Saini extended re-lief to Chidambaram noting that he will not be available on February 1. The case relates to alleged irregularities in grant of Foreign Investment Promo-tion Board (FIPB) approval in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Last week, both, the CBI and ED had already told the Delhi High Court that they require custodial interroga-tion of Chidambaram in the INX Media case. turn to P4

Court warns him, say no tennis tour if he is trying to evade ED probe

ED seizes MP’s assets worth `239 crNew Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday attached assets valued at over Rs 239 crore of a firm linked to now sidelined TMC MP, KD Singh, in con-nection with a money laundering probe into an alleged ponzi scam case, currently pegged at over Rs 1,900 crore, the agency said. report, P6

TRAvEL TRAiLn Karti travelled to the UK

from Sept 20 to Oct 1, 2018 to attend tennis matches

n Previously, he attended the ATP tournament at Lyon from May 20-26 for matches

n He also went to the ATP tournament at Stuttgart from June 11-17; WTA tournament at Mallorca from June 18-24

VHP’s ‘Dharma Sansad’ to push for ram templeNew Delhi: Ahead of the Dharma Sansad of the Vish-va Hindu Parishad, a three-day ‘Param Dharma Sansad’ — organised by a group of seers led by Shankacharya Swaroopannand Saraswarti — started on Monday on the sidelines of the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

The Sansad aims to dis-cuss an 18-point agenda that includes Ram Janmabhoomi, Save Ganga, gauraksha (cow protection), anti-conversion, ‘save temples’, ‘save the envi-ronment’, ‘cultural educa-tion’, ‘religious education’, and other issues, sources said. report, P12

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