c m y k - the pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, circular road...

16
M ore than 150 military vet- erans, including eight for- mer chiefs, have written a let- ter to President Ram Nath Kovind expressing concern over the “use” of the armed forces for “political purposes” and urged him to intervene in preserving the “apolitical” char- acter of the armed forces. They said such misuse of the Services may affect the morale of the men and women in uniform and adversely impact their fighting efficiency. However, at least two of the former chiefs, including NC Suri (IAF) and SF Rodrigues (Army), whose names were in the list, said they had not signed the letter dated April 11. Former Army vice chief Lt General ML Naidu too said his consent was not taken before including his name in the let- ter as one of the signatories. Suri said the armed forces are apolitical and report to the democratically elected Government. Elaborating upon the need for writing the letter, the vet- erans said it was written to the President to express sentiments of the former soldiers on an important issue. Moreover, the letter was addressed to the President as he is the custodi- an of the Constitution and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. It said, “We hereby respect- fully urge you to take all nec- essary steps to urgently direct all political parties that they must forthwith desist from using the military, military uniforms or symbols, and any actions by military formations or personnel, for political pur- poses or to further their polit- ical agendas.” The veterans referred to the “unusual and totally unaccept- able practice” of political lead- ers taking credit for military operations like cross-border strikes and even being called “Modi ki sena” referring to recent comments by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. They stated that such mis- use of armed forces “would impinge on the morale and fighting efficiency of the serv- ing men and women in uni- form. We, therefore, appeal to you to ensure the secular and apolitical character of our armed forces is preserved.” The veterans urged the President to take all necessary steps and urgently direct all political parties to desist from using the military for political purposes or to further their political agendas. The letter cites examples of the military being allegedly used for political purposes, including Yogi’s referring to the armed forces as “Modiji ki sena” and the display of images of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman at political events. Referring to the alleged misuse, the letter said, “This is in addition to media pictures of election platforms and cam- paigns in which party workers are seen wearing military uni- forms and posters and images with pictures of soldiers, spe- cially of Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, displayed.” Varthaman was captured by Pakistan after an air combat with India on February 27 and subsequently released. In their rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of BJP leaders have been refer- ring to IAF’s Balakot strikes besides mentioning the valour of the armed forces in defend- ing the country. The Election Commission has already taken note of the Prime Minister’s comments asking first-time voters to ded- icate their votes to those who carried out the air strike in Balakot. The letter mentions the Election Commission’s notifi- cations to those violating the model code of conduct, includ- ing to Adiyanath, but adds that the actions do not have any impact on the ground. “Indeed a notification has been issued asking for an expla- nation from those responsible for these statements, including from the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,” the letter said. “However, we regret to state that these do not appear to have resulted in any substantive change of behaviour or practice on the ground,” it added. When contacted, several veterans, including former Army chiefs General Deepak Kapoor and General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, acknowl- edged writing the letter. Reacting to the controversy over Suri and Rodrigues not signing the letter, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman called it “condemnable”. “Two senior officers said they have not given consent. It is worrying that fake letters are being signed by vested groups,” she said. The Defence Minister did not respond when asked about those veterans who said they signed the letter. The former military chiefs endorsing the letter included Admiral L Ramdas, Admiral Arun Prakash, Admiral (retired) Vishnu Bhagwat and Admiral Sureesh Mehta. F ormer Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Friday dropped a bombshell claiming that poll strategist Prashant Kishor had met her husband Lalu Prasad with the proposal that the RJD and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) merge togeth- er and the new entity thus formed declare its “PM candi- date” for the Lok Sabha polls. If Kishor denies having met Prasad with such a pro- posal, he is speaking a “blatant lie”, she said. “I got infuriated and asked him to go away as I had no trust left in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar follow- ing his betrayal,” the RJD national vice-president, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council, told a regional news channel here. Nitish had in 2017 walked out of the Grand Alliance, which was formed upon his party’s partnership with the RJD and the Congress. He re- joined the BJP-led NDA. “All our staff and security personnel deployed here are witnesses. He called on us at least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi- dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga- low allotted to her younger son Tejashwi Yadav),” Rabri said. “Kishor was sent by Nitish with the proposal — ‘let us merge both parties and declare a PM candidate’. He came in broad daylight and not clan- destinely in the dark of night,” she asserted. Rabri’s revelation came close on heels of Prasad in his recently-published auto- biography, claiming Kishor — now the JD(U) national vice- president — had met him as an emissary of Nitish with the pro- posal for the merger. Continued on Page 4 I n a recognition of the invalu- able services provided by the forces for the conduct of elections, the Election Commission has directed all the States and Union Territories to pay honorariums to the Central Armed Police Forces (paramilitary) and State Armed Police (SAP) deployed on elec- tion duty for the ongoing Parliamentary polls and Assembly polls in four States. According to the rate finalised by the Election Commission, 2,500 will be paid to Gazetted Officers like Assistant Commandant, Medical Officer, Deputy Commandant deployed for a period of 15 days or less, 2,000 for Subordinate Officers like Assistant Sub Inspector, Sub Inspector and Inspector and 1,500 for Other Rank such as Constable and Head Constable. For Gazetted Officers deployed for over 15 days, the honorarium amount will be 1,250 per person per week, 1,000 per person per week for subordinate officers and 750 per week for every Other Rank staffers. “The payment of such honorarium shall not exceed the total pay of one month of the officer/personnel con- cerned,” reads the Election Commission order issued on Wednesday. The expenditure incurred on the honorarium will be borne to the tune of 100 per cent by the Union Government in case Lok Sabha polls and in case of Assembly polls it will be incurred by the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration, according to the order. In case of simultaneous elections for the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and the State/UT Legislative Assembly, the expenditure will be shared between the Central and State/UT Administration on 50:50 basis. Continued on Page 4 J et Airways, facing its worst existential crisis in its over 25-year-old history, on Friday extended suspension of its international operations till Monday due to severe liquidi- ty issues. Incidentally, the stake sale bid invited by the SBI-led consortium of bankers, which manages the day-to-day oper- ations of the airline, also closed on Friday, after being extend- ed by two days. Airline founder Naresh Goyal, the UAE carrier Etihad Airways, Air Canada and the country’s national investment fund among others are report- ed to have submitted bids. On Thursday, the airline had announced temporary grounding of its international operations for a day — Jet was the largest international airline from the country till the finan- cial crisis — when it had also suspended operations to the entire Eastern and Northeastern markets as Jet was forced to ground 10 more aircraft following default of lease rentals. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has called an urgent meeting to discuss the crisis in Jet, which is facing acute financial woes. The meeting was called after Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu asked the sec- retary of the department to review issues concerning Jet Airways. I n a veiled threat to Muslims, BJP candidate from Sultanpur and Union Minister Menaka Gandhi on Thursday asked Muslims to vote for her otherwise she will not help them once they come to her for help because every relation works on the give and take principle. In Muslim-dominated Turabkhani area, Maneka said, “We are not Mahatma Gandhi’s children that we keep giving and not get anything in return.” Considering Maneka’s statement as against the model code of conduct, the Election Commission of India issued a show-cause notice to her. The BJP candidate from Sultanpur Lok Sabha con- stituency claimed she is all set to win and told the Muslim audience that “you might need me tomorrow.” The Congress reacted strongly with spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala say- ing she is trying to divide peo- ple on the basis of caste and community. “I am winning. I am win- ning because of the help and love of the people,” Maneka said at the meeting in Sultanpur, a constituency ear- lier held by her son Varun Gandhi. “But if my victory is with- out the Muslims, I will not feel very good,” she said, adding she will be left with a bitter feeling. “If Muslims come for some work after this, I will think why bother, what difference will it make,” said Maneka. The Minister asked Muslims to check with the people in Pilibhit, her earlier constituency. “If there is even one person who says there had been something wrong on my part, don’t vote for me,” she said. Maneka said she had come with an “open mind” and they may feel that they “might need me tomorrow.” “This election I have already won, and you will need me and want to lay the foundation for this.” She also asked people to pass on this message to others. Maneka’s remarks follow other controversial references to the Muslim electorate during the Uttar Pradesh campaign. At her recent election meeting in Saharanpur’s Deoband, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati asked Muslims to support her alliance with the Samajwadi Party instead of splitting their vote by opting for the Congress. In a rejoinder to this remark, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath brought up the controversial “Ali-Bajrang Bali” reference at an election rally. “If the Congress, the SP and the BSP have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrang Bali,” Yogi said. Lord Hanuman is called Bajrang Bali while Ali is a revered figure in Islam. The Election Commission has sent Adityanath a notice on what could be a violation of the model code of conduct. T he Congress on Friday moved the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah for allegedly invoking Armed Forces in their poll speeches. A Congress delegation, comprising Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Randeep Singh Surjewala, gave a memoran- dum to EC over Irani’s con- tradictory affidavits, demand- ing that she should be dis- qualified from contesting. “PM Modi, BJP chief (Amit Shah) and other leaders of the ruling party are shame- lessly and openly, for the first time in 70 years, are dragging the forces into cheap politics,” Singhvi told reporters outside the Election Commission. “Dragging the armed forces in political crossfire, asking for votes and doing cheap politics (using the forces), only Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have done this,” he said. The Congress attacked the Government, saying, “It’s clear that soldiers stand with India and not the BJP”. CPI(M) general secretary of Sitaram Yechury asked the Election Commission to act strongly against the ruling BJP for its “despicable attempts” to politicise and misuse the forces during the ongoing election campaign. Singhvi said the Congress has asked the EC to stop such violations and also requested the commission to not just censure or pull up those vio- lating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), but punish the guilty. “If the person makes another violation, he/she should be barred from two days of campaigning, similar- ly three and four days for third and fourth violation,” he said. Singhvi said the Election Commission should also put a stop on the web series on Modi, citing the commission’s order stalling a biopic on the Prime Minister. T he AICC has on Friday named three more candi- dates for Madhya Pradesh including the high profile name of former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna. The BJP is yet to announce eight candidates out of total 29 seats. Despite Congress announce- ment, both the political rivals are yet to name anyone from pres- tigious Indore seats. Entangled in age factor, Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan had celebrated her 77th birthday on Friday. It was widely speculated that Scindia could be asked by the party to contest from any other seat than Guna. Sources had claimed that the party wanted him to contest from Indore or Gwalior. However, Scindia seems to have stood his ground and remained adamant on re-nom- ination from Guna, his family bastion, also represented by her grand-mother Vijaya Raje Scindia and father Madhav Rao in the past. Still the party decided to hold Bhind and Gwalior in the region. Three-time party nom- inee Ashok Singh is in the hunt from Gwalior while the party seems to be adamant on field- ing Scindia’s wife Priyadarshini from Gwalior. Bhind seat also seems to have been held back due to lack of consensus between Scindia and Digvijaya Singh. It was speculated that Congress could field BJP rebel Ashok Argal from Bhind. Besides, the party also held back Dhar and Indore seats. Tribal outfit JAYS is also adamant on fielding one of its candidate on Congress ticket from Dhar, the region where the outfit is primarily based. The party has nominated former Ichhawar MLA Shailendra Patel from presti- gious Vidisha seat presently represented by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. She has declined to contest this time over health grounds. The Congress has nominated Mona Sustani, a Digvijaya loyalist, from latter’s home town Rajgarh. RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

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Page 1: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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More than 150 military vet-erans, including eight for-

mer chiefs, have written a let-ter to President Ram NathKovind expressing concernover the “use” of the armedforces for “political purposes”and urged him to intervene inpreserving the “apolitical” char-acter of the armed forces. Theysaid such misuse of the Servicesmay affect the morale of themen and women in uniformand adversely impact theirfighting efficiency.

However, at least two of theformer chiefs, including NCSuri (IAF) and SF Rodrigues(Army), whose names were inthe list, said they had notsigned the letter dated April 11.Former Army vice chief LtGeneral ML Naidu too said hisconsent was not taken beforeincluding his name in the let-ter as one of the signatories.Suri said the armed forces areapolitical and report to thedemocratically electedGovernment.

Elaborating upon the needfor writing the letter, the vet-erans said it was written to thePresident to express sentimentsof the former soldiers on an

important issue. Moreover, theletter was addressed to thePresident as he is the custodi-an of the Constitution and theSupreme Commander of theArmed Forces.

It said, “We hereby respect-fully urge you to take all nec-essary steps to urgently directall political parties that theymust forthwith desist fromusing the military, militaryuniforms or symbols, and anyactions by military formationsor personnel, for political pur-poses or to further their polit-ical agendas.”

The veterans referred to the“unusual and totally unaccept-able practice” of political lead-ers taking credit for militaryoperations like cross-borderstrikes and even being called“Modi ki sena” referring torecent comments by UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.

They stated that such mis-use of armed forces “wouldimpinge on the morale andfighting efficiency of the serv-ing men and women in uni-form. We, therefore, appeal toyou to ensure the secular andapolitical character of ourarmed forces is preserved.”

The veterans urged the

President to take all necessarysteps and urgently direct allpolitical parties to desist fromusing the military for politicalpurposes or to further theirpolitical agendas.

The letter cites examples of

the military being allegedlyused for political purposes,including Yogi’s referring to thearmed forces as “Modiji kisena” and the display of imagesof Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthaman atpolitical events.

Referring to the allegedmisuse, the letter said, “This isin addition to media pictures ofelection platforms and cam-paigns in which party workersare seen wearing military uni-forms and posters and imageswith pictures of soldiers, spe-cially of Indian Air Force Wing

Commander AbhinandanVarthaman, displayed.”

Varthaman was capturedby Pakistan after an air combatwith India on February 27 andsubsequently released. In theirrallies, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and a numberof BJP leaders have been refer-ring to IAF’s Balakot strikesbesides mentioning the valourof the armed forces in defend-ing the country.

The Election Commissionhas already taken note of thePrime Minister’s commentsasking first-time voters to ded-

icate their votes to those whocarried out the air strike inBalakot.

The letter mentions theElection Commission’s notifi-cations to those violating themodel code of conduct, includ-ing to Adiyanath, but addsthat the actions do not have anyimpact on the ground.

“Indeed a notification hasbeen issued asking for an expla-nation from those responsiblefor these statements, includingfrom the Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh,” the letter said.“However, we regret to statethat these do not appear to haveresulted in any substantivechange of behaviour or practiceon the ground,” it added.

When contacted, severalveterans, including formerArmy chiefs General DeepakKapoor and General ShankarRoy Chowdhury, acknowl-edged writing the letter.Reacting to the controversyover Suri and Rodrigues notsigning the letter, DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamancalled it “condemnable”.

“Two senior officers saidthey have not given consent. Itis worrying that fake letters arebeing signed by vested groups,”she said.

The Defence Minister didnot respond when asked aboutthose veterans who said theysigned the letter. The formermilitary chiefs endorsing theletter included Admiral LRamdas, Admiral ArunPrakash, Admiral (retired)Vishnu Bhagwat and AdmiralSureesh Mehta.

����� �� ���

Former Bihar Chief MinisterRabri Devi on Friday

dropped a bombshell claimingthat poll strategist PrashantKishor had met her husbandLalu Prasad with the proposalthat the RJD and NitishKumar’s JD(U) merge togeth-er and the new entity thusformed declare its “PM candi-date” for the Lok Sabha polls.

If Kishor denies havingmet Prasad with such a pro-posal, he is speaking a “blatantlie”, she said.

“I got infuriated and askedhim to go away as I had notrust left in Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar follow-ing his betrayal,” the RJDnational vice-president, who isalso the leader of theOpposition in the BiharLegislative Council, told aregional news channel here.

Nitish had in 2017 walked

out of the Grand Alliance,which was formed upon hisparty’s partnership with theRJD and the Congress. He re-joined the BJP-led NDA.

“All our staff and securitypersonnel deployed here arewitnesses. He called on us atleast five times, mostly here(her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two timesat paanch number (5,Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low allotted to her younger sonTejashwi Yadav),” Rabri said.

“Kishor was sent by Nitishwith the proposal — ‘let usmerge both parties and declarea PM candidate’. He came inbroad daylight and not clan-destinely in the dark of night,”she asserted. Rabri’s revelationcame close on heels of Prasadin his recently-published auto-biography, claiming Kishor —now the JD(U) national vice-president — had met him as anemissary of Nitish with the pro-posal for the merger.

Continued on Page 4

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In a recognition of the invalu-able services provided by

the forces for the conduct ofelections, the ElectionCommission has directed allthe States and Union Territoriesto pay honorariums to theCentral Armed Police Forces(paramilitary) and State ArmedPolice (SAP) deployed on elec-tion duty for the ongoingParliamentary polls andAssembly polls in four States.

According to the ratefinalised by the ElectionCommission, �2,500 will bepaid to Gazetted Officers likeAssistant Commandant,Medical Officer, DeputyCommandant deployed for aperiod of 15 days or less, �2,000for Subordinate Officers likeAssistant Sub Inspector, SubInspector and Inspector and�1,500 for Other Rank such asConstable and Head Constable.

For Gazetted Officersdeployed for over 15 days, thehonorarium amount will be

�1,250 per person per week,�1,000 per person per week forsubordinate officers and �750per week for every Other Rankstaffers. “The payment of suchhonorarium shall not exceedthe total pay of one month ofthe officer/personnel con-cerned,” reads the ElectionCommission order issued onWednesday.

The expenditure incurredon the honorarium will beborne to the tune of 100 percent by the Union Government

in case Lok Sabha polls and incase of Assembly polls it will beincurred by the concernedState Government/UnionTerritory Administration,according to the order.

In case of simultaneouselections for the House of thePeople (Lok Sabha) and theState/UT Legislative Assembly,the expenditure will be sharedbetween the Central andState/UT Administration on50:50 basis.

Continued on Page 4

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Jet Airways, facing its worstexistential crisis in its over

25-year-old history, on Fridayextended suspension of itsinternational operations tillMonday due to severe liquidi-ty issues. Incidentally, the stakesale bid invited by the SBI-ledconsortium of bankers, whichmanages the day-to-day oper-ations of the airline, also closedon Friday, after being extend-ed by two days.

Airline founder NareshGoyal, the UAE carrier EtihadAirways, Air Canada and thecountry’s national investmentfund among others are report-ed to have submitted bids.

On Thursday, the airlinehad announced temporarygrounding of its internationaloperations for a day — Jet wasthe largest international airlinefrom the country till the finan-cial crisis — when it had alsosuspended operations to theentire Eastern and

Northeastern markets as Jetwas forced to ground 10 moreaircraft following default oflease rentals.

The Prime Minister'sOffice (PMO) has called anurgent meeting to discuss thecrisis in Jet, which is facingacute financial woes.

The meeting was calledafter Civil Aviation MinisterSuresh Prabhu asked the sec-retary of the department toreview issues concerning JetAirways.

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In a veiled threat to Muslims,BJP candidate from

Sultanpur and Union MinisterMenaka Gandhi on Thursdayasked Muslims to vote for herotherwise she will not helpthem once they come to her forhelp because every relationworks on the give and takeprinciple.

In Muslim-dominatedTurabkhani area, Maneka said,“We are not Mahatma Gandhi’schildren that we keep givingand not get anything in return.”

Considering Maneka’sstatement as against the modelcode of conduct, the ElectionCommission of India issued ashow-cause notice to her.

The BJP candidate fromSultanpur Lok Sabha con-stituency claimed she is all setto win and told the Muslimaudience that “you might needme tomorrow.”

The Congress reactedstrongly with spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewala say-ing she is trying to divide peo-ple on the basis of caste andcommunity.

“I am winning. I am win-ning because of the help andlove of the people,” Manekasaid at the meeting inSultanpur, a constituency ear-lier held by her son VarunGandhi.

“But if my victory is with-out the Muslims, I will not feelvery good,” she said, adding shewill be left with a bitter feeling.

“If Muslims come for somework after this, I will think whybother, what difference will itmake,” said Maneka.

The Minister askedMuslims to check with thepeople in Pilibhit, her earlierconstituency. “If there is evenone person who says therehad been something wrongon my part, don’t vote for me,”she said.

Maneka said she had comewith an “open mind” and theymay feel that they “might needme tomorrow.” “This electionI have already won, and you

will need me and want to laythe foundation for this.”

She also asked people topass on this message to others.Maneka’s remarks follow othercontroversial references to theMuslim electorate during theUttar Pradesh campaign.

At her recent electionmeeting in Saharanpur’sDeoband, Bahujan Samaj Partyleader Mayawati askedMuslims to support her alliancewith the Samajwadi Partyinstead of splitting their vote byopting for the Congress.

In a rejoinder to thisremark, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathbrought up the controversial“Ali-Bajrang Bali” reference atan election rally. “If theCongress, the SP and the BSPhave faith in Ali, we have faithin Bajrang Bali,” Yogi said.

Lord Hanuman is calledBajrang Bali while Ali is arevered figure in Islam. TheElection Commission has sentAdityanath a notice on whatcould be a violation of themodel code of conduct.

����������� ����� ������������������������������ ���������������������� ���������� ����������������������������������

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The Congress on Fridaymoved the Election

Commission against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP chief Amit Shah forallegedly invoking ArmedForces in their poll speeches.

A Congress delegation,comprising Abhishek ManuSinghvi and Randeep SinghSurjewala, gave a memoran-dum to EC over Irani’s con-tradictory affidavits, demand-ing that she should be dis-qualified from contesting.

“PM Modi, BJP chief(Amit Shah) and other leadersof the ruling party are shame-lessly and openly, for the firsttime in 70 years, are draggingthe forces into cheap politics,”Singhvi told reporters outsidethe Election Commission.

“Dragging the armedforces in political crossfire,asking for votes and doingcheap politics (using theforces), only Narendra Modiand Amit Shah have donethis,” he said.

The Congress attacked the

Government, saying, “It’s clearthat soldiers stand with Indiaand not the BJP”.

CPI(M) general secretaryof Sitaram Yechury asked theElection Commission to actstrongly against the ruling BJPfor its “despicable attempts” topoliticise and misuse the forcesduring the ongoing electioncampaign.

Singhvi said the Congresshas asked the EC to stop suchviolations and also requestedthe commission to not justcensure or pull up those vio-

lating the Model Code ofConduct (MCC), but punishthe guilty.

“If the person makesanother violation, he/sheshould be barred from twodays of campaigning, similar-ly three and four days forthird and fourth violation,” hesaid.

Singhvi said the ElectionCommission should also put astop on the web series onModi, citing the commission’sorder stalling a biopic on thePrime Minister.

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The AICC has on Fridaynamed three more candi-

dates for Madhya Pradeshincluding the high profile nameof former Union MinisterJyotiraditya Scindia from Guna.

The BJP is yet toannounce eight candidatesout of total 29 seats.

Despite Congress announce-ment, both the political rivals areyet to name anyone from pres-tigious Indore seats. Entangled inage factor, Indore MP SumitraMahajan had celebrated her77th birthday on Friday.

It was widely speculatedthat Scindia could be asked bythe party to contest from anyother seat than Guna. Sourceshad claimed that the partywanted him to contest fromIndore or Gwalior.

However, Scindia seemsto have stood his ground andremained adamant on re-nom-ination from Guna, his familybastion, also represented by hergrand-mother Vijaya RajeScindia and father MadhavRao in the past.

Still the party decided tohold Bhind and Gwalior in theregion. Three-time party nom-inee Ashok Singh is in the huntfrom Gwalior while the partyseems to be adamant on field-ing Scindia’s wife Priyadarshinifrom Gwalior.

Bhind seat also seems tohave been held back due to lackof consensus between Scindia

and Digvijaya Singh. It wasspeculated that Congress couldfield BJP rebel Ashok Argalfrom Bhind.

Besides, the party also heldback Dhar and Indore seats.Tribal outfit JAYS is alsoadamant on fielding one of itscandidate on Congress ticketfrom Dhar, the region wherethe outfit is primarily based.

The party has nominatedformer Ichhawar MLAShailendra Patel from presti-gious Vidisha seat presentlyrepresented by Minister ofExternal Affairs SushmaSwaraj. She has declined tocontest this time over healthgrounds. The Congress hasnominated Mona Sustani, aDigvijaya loyalist, from latter’shome town Rajgarh.

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Page 2: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Child rights are entitlementsevery child should have

and all children have equal rights, Michael Juma,Chief, UNICEF MadhyaPradesh said while speaking tostudents of MakhalalChaturvedi National Universityof Journalism and MassCommunications at the cam-pus of University.

He further said that proac-tive involvement of institu-tions of higher learning andmedia is critical in addressingall forms of violation of childrights particularly ending childmarriage. This was part ofspecial lecture which was onthe theme of child rights andmedia at the campus ofUniversity.

Vice Chancellor of theUniversity, Deepak Tiwari, wel-comed Michael Juma and saidthat this is important for stu-dents to learn about the workbeing done by UNICEF andhow it brings focus onstrengthening systems forwomen and children.

Students interacted withhim and had asked questionson work being done byUNICEF, what more effortsneed to be done in area to say

no to violence against childrenand how they can associatewith UNICEF. Anil Gulati,Communication Specialist,UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh andSujan Sarkar, Planning OfficerUNICEF, Deependra Bhagel,Registrar, Pavitra Srivastava,Dean Academics and DrKanchan Bhatia of theUniversity were present at thelecture along with students ofjournalism, media and masscommunications.

This was part of workbeing done to engage youngpeople as a part of effort tomark 30 years of Convention ofthe Child Rights.

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Gunga police has nabbed avehicle-lifter from

Junapani village and recov-ered a two-wheeler worth �1.15lakh from his possession onThursday.

According to the police,acting on a tip off, a youth wasdetained and when he wasquizzed, he confessed to havestolen a two-wheeler.Thenabbed accused was identifiedas Raja Khan (24).

In the initial investigation,police have recovered one bikefrom his possession which wasstolen from Unida Kalara area.The accused was trying to sellthe vehicle but was not able tofind and convince customer.Before he could sell the vehicle,he was nabbed by the police.The miscreant is a resident ofAhmedpur.

The friends and familymembers of the vehicle-lifterwould be questioned in theinvestigation which could helpin obtaining more details of hiscrimes. Police said that actingon a tip off, a miscreant wasnabbed with a motorbike bear-ing registration numberMP04QC2181.

During the investigation,police have not found that the

accused has been booked byAhmedpur Sehore police forillegal possession of arms and-physical assault. The details ofrecovered vehicles would beprovided to the respectivepolice station. The police havestarted search for other accom-plices who have helped theaccused in stealing and dis-selling the vehicles.

Meanwhile, crime branchBhopal has nabbed notoriouscriminal, Zuber Maulana, withsharp edged weapons late in thenight on Thursday.

Police suspect that theaccused was planning crimebut was nabbed before he couldexecute plans.

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Sagar Institute of Science andTechnology (SISTec),

Department of MechanicalEngineering, commenced itsNational Level Working ModelCompetition ‘Nirmaan 2019’–Innovation BeyondImagination.

The two-day event is beingorganised by SISTecMechanical EngineersAssociation (SMEA) in associ-ation with Society ofAutomotive Engineers (SAE,India) & Indian Institution ofIndustrial Engineering (IIIE)Student Chapter. This is theseventh successive year of‘Nirmaan 2019’ in which over45 Colleges/ Institutions/Schools/ Corporate are partic-ipating from Pan India toshowcase their working mod-els.

‘Nirmaan 2019’ aims atcreating entrepreneurs withtheir working models offeringsolutions to real life situationswith their innovative minds toenhance quality of life by virtueof idea generation, technicalthinking and conceptualising.

‘Nirmaan 2019’ witnessedparticipation of 750+ studentsfrom over 45 institutions withdisplay of more than 150 work-ing models in field of solarenergy, wind energy, bio-gas,agriculture, automobile,Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan,mobile applications, software,smart city etc. in over 13 cat-egories. This year, studentsfrom over 25 Institutions fromother States are also partici-

pating to showcase workingmodels and demonstratingtheir skills and knowledgeacquired. Working modelsoffering solutions of ACCatalysts, Air AC CoolerCombination, Analog DigitalWi-fi Interface Locker, Anti-Scaling Water Purifier,Automatic Board Cleaner,Automatic Glass Cleaner,Automatic Wiping Machine,ECO-BIN, E-Dustbin, E-GenoCycle, Electronic Wheel Chair,Energy Generation from theDrainage, Experimental Studyof Twisted Tape, Fire BrigadeDrone, Frost Dragon, MiniRefrigerator, Life Hope theSaver Off-Road Streeter,Robotic Inspection of RailwayTrack and others attracted stu-dents.

‘Nirmaan 2019’ com-menced by seeking blessings of‘Maa Saraswati’ and lighting ofceremonial lamp by esteemedChief Guest Prof Saptarshi

Mukherjee-Deputy DirectorIISER Bhopal and NitinSisodiya CEO, SohamInnovation Lab as its GuestSpeaker and Brigadier RajeshJoshy-President ServiceSelection Board as Guest ofHonour in presence of SudhirKumar Agrawal-Chairman,Sagar Group KeshavendraChoudhary–Principal SISTec,Dr Kulpeep Ganju Principal,SIPTec, Swati Saxena-VicePrincipal SISTec, ProfRavishanker V Choudri-HODMechanical Department &President SMEA, faculty mem-bers and students were alsopresent on the occasion.

‘Nirmaan 2019’ will con-clude on Saturday in presenceof Dr Sunil Kumar, ViceChancellor, Rajiv GandhiProudyogiki Vishwavidyalayaas its Guest of Honor withannouncement of winners andwords of encouragement dur-ing valedictory ceremony.

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Media boot camp wasorganised on the theme of

child rights, in which journal-ists from all parts of MadhyaPradesh participated. The campwas organised by VikasSamvad, in partnership withUNICEF and TDH (Terre deshommes), at Pachmari. Thiswas a part of the work beingdone to raise awareness onchild rights as part of marking30 years of signing of “TheConvention of child rights”.

Anil Gulati,Communication Specialist,UNICEF, spoke on the con-vention of the child rights, itsvarious articles, laws whichfocus on children and in rela-tion with media like IMS Act,Juvenile Justice (Care andProtection Act), PCPDNT andvarious guidelines on media inrelation to children.

He also spoke on endingchild marriage and said thatchild marriage is violation ofchild rights and how media canparticipate and support socialmedia campaign onSayNoToChildMarriage.

Sujan Sarkar, PlanningOfficer, UNICEF, MadhyaPradesh shared the data onchildren and various sourceswhich can be tapped to look fordata on children. MainakChatterjee, Health Officer,

UNICEF, Madhya Pradeshspoke on the new born care,immunisation and the need tofocus on new born care inMadhya Pradesh. He alsoshared the areas of work beingdone by the State on the issuesof child health.

Senior Journalists GirishUpdhayay and ChandrakantNaidu shared with the partic-ipants their work for childrenissues and how young journal-ists, can work on story ideas

and areas where they can focuson. They also answered queriesof the participants on variousissues impacting media.

Rakesh Malviya of VikasSamvad shared objectives of theboot camp, and the way for-ward from the camp and saidthat Vikas Samvad plans tohold another social mediacamp in coming days to helpmobilise social media champi-ons on the theme of childrights.

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Summer day was organised atCampion School, arera

colony, Bhopal, for KG II chil-dren. A New Concept wasintroduced in Campion school

KG II class this year of cele-brating different kinds of activ-ities than the regular one. Thisyear as the school re-opened,children of KG II were accord-ed warm welcome by theirrespective teachers.

Teachers of KG II dressedthemselves up as flowers, fairiesand few in joker attire, toattract children from the verybeginning so that the excite-ment of coming to school reg-ularly in maintained. Now as

the days are becoming hot andsummer has set in, KG II chil-dren celebrated summer day.The day being so special, chil-dren came in summer cottonclothes and adorned summeraccessories likes, shades, hat

cap, sandals and even umbrel-las.

Some students were camein different seasonal fruitsattires like Watermelon, grapes,pineapple, Mango etc, Theyeven brought one summer fruitin their Tiffin’s. They wereshown a movie regardingsummer season, its difficultiesin our daily life, how to com-bat it by saving water. Theywere advised to consume a lotof water to keep them hydrat-ed. They were even advised todrink homemade cold drinks.

Children gave message byputting up a show case andsinging song along with theirteacher. Few activities likedrawing summer fruits andthings were also done. The daywas spent in learning about theseason. Kids enjoyed the sum-mer special day. They wereeven treated with Ice cream.

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A50-year-old man commit-ted suicide by consuming

poisonous substance at hisJehangirabad residence onThursday. The deceased report-ed uneasiness and was taken toprivate hospital where he died.

According to the police, thedeceased, Dwarika Prasad, wasfound in an unconscious state byher wife. Police have not foundany suicide note or any reasonbehind the suicide and haveclaimed that the reason behindthe suicide would be investigat-ed.

In the initial investigation,police found that the deceasedused to drink liquor a lot andworked as a peon at MPHRC. Hewould spend his salary overliquor and after which, he woulddemand money for liquor fromhis wife Rukmani Bai who worksas domestic help.

Body was sent for the postmortem after the preliminaryinvestigation. The police haveregistered a case under section174 of the CrPC and have start-ed further investigation.

Meanwhile, Kolar policehave booked a 35-year-old mar-ried woman and four others forabetment to commit suicide ofher 60-year-old husband whocommitted suicide last year inthe month of March.

The deceased, Sitaram, mar-ried Pushpa in 2009 after thedeath of his first wife and later,his wife started to harass himdemanding money and later in2018, Sitaram committed suicide.

The accused, Pushpa, hadharassed the deceased to the levelof suicide. The police have reg-istered a case under section 304A of the IPC and have startedfurther investigation.

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�������� �)��������� ��������� ���)�-��.)����������������$�������������������'��)����$ ������ ������)�� �������������������������� ��������� ����������� ������+����)�,�$������,�����/� ��� ��������������0)����*-#� ��$ ������'����������������� ������� �������������

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AJob Fair was held in theRadharaman Group of

Institutions here on Friday.Around 30 prestigious compa-nies participated in the megajob fair.

The Radharaman group,which has consistently receivedgreat placements, has onceagain achieved this success.46 students of the group haverecently been selected in thecountry's financial servicesprovider Tridentia Research.

A close-up campus wasorganised by the company forthis purpose in which the stu-dents of MBA including allsubjects of BE were included.Officers who came from thecompany selected 46 qualifiedcandidates for the entire selec-tion process during the day-

long process through RitonTest, Group Discussion andPersonal Interview.

RR Saxena, Chairman ofRadharaman Group, has greet-ed all the selected students fortheir bright future. He has saidthat this is another achieve-ment of the group's trainingand placement cell. Over thepast years, thousands of stu-dents of the group are selectedon a great package in the coun-try's leading giants and areworking on higher positions.He also said that his grouptakes the initiative from the firstyear to prepare the studentsaccording to the demands ofthe industry, which results inthe completion of the finalyear, students are able to faceany kind of interview.

As the experts interactedwith the students they told the

students about the tricks andtips to crack the interviews. Onthe other hand, the experts alsotold them how to boost up theirmemory. It was a fun and aninformative induction pro-gramme for the participants.

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Page 3: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Bhopal: With an objective of providing simple, responsive andinnovative financial solutions to its customers with high-levelof quality services and improve customer experience, a customerservice centre was on Friday inaugurated at SBI main branchTT Nagar by Chief General Manager, SBI Rajesh Kumar.

The service is aim at providing value added services likebanking services, digital products, enquires for loans and otherproducts and along with this it would also address feedbackand complaints.

Apart from these services, it would also provide guidanceand advice on value added products and financial products. Thiscustomer service centre would serve the customers of Bhopaland customers of other cities. This centre also offers its uniquepriority banking service through its dedicated priority bank-ing centre for its customers.

+6��$��������������7��� �����������Bhopal: DK Thakur, Executive Director, BHEL, Bhopal, onFriday inaugurated the 65 Kilowatt Grid Interactive Roof TopSolar plant commissioned on Hydro Lab Roof BHEL Bhopal.On this occasion, MK Shrivastava, General Manager (WEX &MOD); PK Mishra General Manager (Hydro & Fabrication);SM Ramanathan General Manager (SOM) M Isadore GeneralManager (HR) and Additional General Manager BiplabMondal, Mahesh Ekka, Alok Johri, Arun Hemrom, VS Rao,Heera Bharani along with other senior officials were present.

Thakur, in his address, threw light on the importance ofclean & green energy and said that moving towards solar ener-gy is an important step in environment conservation.

The plant will generate around 95,000 units of electricityper year resulting in savings of �7,00,000 per year. In addition,commissioning of another unit of 230 Kilowatt Roof Top SolarPlant is in progress. Another 300 Watt is planned for installa-tion in due course of time.

01�������������� �)0����������������7��Bhopal: As many as 20 nomination papers of 12 candidateshave been received in the initial three days for the election ofthe fifth phase in the State under Lok Sabha Election-2019. Itmay be noted that in the fifth phase, 7 out of the total 29 par-liamentary constituencies of the state are Tikamgarh (SC),Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul (ST)included.

Today, 2 nomination papers of 2 candidates was receivedin Tikamgarh, 4 nominations of one candidate in Damoh, 6nominations of 2 candidates in Satna and one nomination ofone candidate in Betul were received. So far in the three daysof notification, 2 nominations of 2 candidates were receivedin Tikamgarh, 4 nominations of one candidate in Damoh, 7nominations of 3 candidates in Satna, 3 nominations of 2 can-didates in Rewa and 2 nominations each of 2 candidates eachin Hoshangabad and Betul constituencies were received.

��7�����������������������7���Bhopal: Governor Anandiben Patel extends greetings and bestwishes to the people of State on Ram Navami. Patel said thatLord Ram was an exemplar. That is why he is known as theMaryada Purushottam. He came to the Earth as an incarna-tion to give inspiration of victory of truth over falsehood.

Patel called upon the youth to inculcate the ideals of LordRam in their lives. She hoped for peace and prosperity of thecitizens on Ramnavmi festival and the development of the state.

���������� �����������7���Bhopal: Cleanliness Fortnight is being observed at IndiraGandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya from April 16 to 30under which swachhta oath, special cleanliness programme,poster-painting competition for School students on Museumand tourism, Speech Competition for Museum Staff onCleanness, Museum and Tourism, special lectures, poster-paint-ing exhibition, prize distribution etc programmes will be orga-nized.

Besides, during this fortnight, the Heritage Walk will alsobe organised on the occasion of World Heritage Day and firstprize-�1,000, second prize- � 700, third prize- �500, consola-tion prize-� 300 and certificates will be distributed to all thewinning participants at the end of the fortnight.

�������������.������ �����������������Gwalior: Renowned Hindi poet, Pradeep Choubey, died of car-diac arrest in his home here in the early hours of Friday.Choubey (70) was the younger brother of celebrated humourist,satirist and poet Shail Chaturvedi.

Choubey, known for his humorous poetry, is survived byhis daughter and son, the latter living in Mumbai, said PawanKaran, a friend and poet himself. Karan said Choubey will becremated here on Saturday.

He was in a distressed state since the last two months afterhis younger son died in Bhopal, Karan said. Born on August26, 1949 in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, Choubey shift-ed to Gwalior.

He quit his job at Dena Bank to pursue his passion of poet-ry and travelled across the nation enthralling audiences withhis punches, several of them targeted at the orthodox elementsof society, senior journalist CK Naidu said.

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Madhya Pradesh GovernorAnandiben Patel was

called on by the awardees of thePradhan Mantri Rashtriya BalPuraskar, Kartik and Adrika atRaj Bhavan on Friday. Thesechildren were awarded by thePresident on the Republic Day.

During their meeting withthe Governor, the childreninformed her that ChhattisgarhExpress was stopped at Morenaduring the violent incidents onApril 2, 2018. When both thesister and brother received thisinformation, they somehowreached the station carryingfood items in their bag and dis-tributed the items to the pas-sengers. They further narratedthat their grandfather scoldedthem first and asked themwhere they had gone while thecurfew was imposed in thetown. He became happy whenthey told him that they hadgone to distribute the food tothe starving passengers.

Kartik is pursuing studiesin class 9 and Adrika in class 6in Morena city. The courageouswork done by them withoutany selfish motto amid theviolent atmosphere to distrib-ute food among the stranded

passengers has become anexample. Besides, Adrika hasinformed the Governor thatshe holds a black belt inTaekwondo and has impartedtraining in self-defence toapproximately 20 thousandschool children. The state gov-ernment has made her a brandambassador in ‘Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao’ campaign.

The Governor, Patelbecame happy to meet thechildren and praised them fortheir noble work. Patel also pre-sented them citations andprayed for their bright future.

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From hip-hop to belly dance,modern classical, fitness

routine and more, the megadance jam 'Feel the Vibe' byWhizzwagon entertainmentbegan on Friday with morethan 90 registrations for dif-ferent dance forms at StudioJammin.

The day one of the dancejamming witnessed hugeenthusiasm with participantsbeginning from age 5 to 50years. On Friday two danceforms, Hip-hop and belly dancewere taught to over 60 partic-ipants.

Dancing to the beats, par-ticipants kept the energy highduring the sessions with shoutout 'Boht Hard'. The hip hopsession was taken by Harsh, arenowned hip hop dancer fromthe city. " The vibe is so ener-getic that I cannot stop myselffrom teaching the next move.The people here are so amaz-ing", said Harsh during his ses-sion.

The second session onFriday was of Ojasvi Verma, thegorgeous belly dancer fromBhopal. The session witnesseddetailed workshop on Orientalbelly and tribal belly fusionwith classical dance on songslike Ghar padharo and Noorie.She expressed the excitementsaying, "This is one of it's kind

event in Bhopal and it's chal-lenging and exciting at thesame time to work with suchvariation of age group".

Founder of Whizzwagonentertainment and organiser ofthe event Mohit Saxena saidthat this is the first time inBhopal when 7 dance instruc-tors will be together.

The second day will featurethree sessions of Urban danceby Ekansh, Modern classical byManish Raikwar and fitness

routine by Vita.The three day event which

end on Sunday with two ses-sions by Anoop Verma'sContemporary and Salsa andFreestyle by Rajat Khare . Theending of the mega dance jamFeel the Vibe will be with adance party on Sunday whereall the 7 instructors will cometogether for a run throughsession. The best participantfrom every session will begiven a certificate and a trophy

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Thrilling performance ofSilent Weapon Drill by

women personnel of 23rdBattalion of SAF and amazingstunts by Dog Squad at theMotilal Nehru stadium wasstaged on Friday in the pres-ence of Chief Guest MadhyaPradesh DGP VK Singh.

Performing the stunt withease three dozen women per-sonnel carrying rifles weighing4.5 kg was breathtaking andstunts on bikes made everyoneat the stadium to applaud forthe performers.

At the event three dozenbrave women from 22 to 58years of SAF participated inthe Silent Weapon Drillorganised at the MotilalNehru Stadium Lal Paradeground. The action thrilledwomen bikers of the SAFNidhi Bhatt and Pooja Singhthrilled the audience. Thewoman personnel of SAFjumped to a height of 15 ft. Atthe end of the Silent Drill thewomen divided into groupand waved National flag andflag of their unit and contin-ued to with slogans of Bharat

Mata Ki Jai Ho.The Dog squad compris-

ing 10 dogs has performedbrilliantly. At the start of theprogramme two dogs pre-sented DGP with beautifulbouquet. Later the dog squaddetected and tracked drugs.The squad was displayed itsefficiency in providing help toperson in emergency andtracking miscreants involved

in crime like robbery andother crimes.

DGP presented medals tothe dogs and their trainers onthe occasion. On the occasionCelebration fire and balloonswere released. At the pro-gramme Additional DirectorGeneral of Police ArunaMohan Rao, DC Sagar, VijayKataria, Shrinivas Rao werepresent.

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Page 4: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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The Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD), a long-time ally of

the BJP has announced to sup-port the saffron party inHaryana in the ensuing LokSabha polls. The two partiesalready have alliance in neigh-boring states of Punjab, Delhiand Uttarakhand.

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Fridayannounced that the SAD willextend its support to all BJPcandidates on 10 Lok Sabhaseats in the state.

While the SAD will sup-port BJP’s candidates in generalelections 2019, the two partieswill contest the HaryanaAssembly polls due to be heldlater this year in an alliance, theChief Minister said.

The SAD led by theBadals— father-son duo ofParkash Singh Badal andSukhbir— is a key ally of theBJP-led NDA at the Centre.The SAD in an alliance with theBJP had ruled Punjab for adecade till 2017 and is nowlooking for political expan-sion in Haryana.

In Punjab, out of the 13Lok Sabha seats, the SAD iscontesting on 10 while the BJPhas 3 seats in its kitty.

In Haryana, the SAD hadties with the Indian NationalLok Dal but both the partieshad parted ways in 2016 overthe contentious issue of SultejYamuna Link (SYL) canal.

For a long time, the SADhad been supporting the INLDin Haryana despite its alliancewith BJP in Punjab and at the

national level. In 2014 assem-bly polls in Haryana, SADpresident Sukhbir Singh Badaland party patron Parkash SinghBadal had even addressed ral-lies in support of INLD candi-dates, thereby drawing flakfrom the saffron party.

Although SAD had noseat-sharing arrangement withINLD for parliamentary pollsand only supported it throughits party network, it had got twoout of total 90 seats to contestin the 2014 assembly elections.In the past elections, the SADhad also used its influence onthe Sikh Jat voters in Sirsa,Ambala, Panchkula,Kurukshetra, Karnal andPanipat to help INLD, a tradi-tionally Jat-centric party inHaryana.

The two seats contested by

SAD in 2014 assembly pollswere Ambala and Kalanwali.The SAD has a lone member,who represents Kalanwaliassembly segment in the 90-member Haryana Assembly.

After the old political coali-tion between the Badals inPunjab and the Chautalas inHaryana had come to an end,SAD president Sukhbir Badalhad last year announced tocontest all 10 Lok Sabha and 90assembly seats in the state in2019 elections.

Eyeing the Sikh vote bankin the state, the SAD presidentSukhbir has also addressedrallies in Ambala, Sirsa andKurukshetra in the recentpast.

The SAD was howeverholding talks with the BJP toform an alliance in Haryana

to contest the polls. After theBJP insisted on going it alonein Haryana to contest on allLok Sabha seats, a consensuswas reached to form analliance with SAD for theState Assembly polls due toheld in October-November.

Chief Minister ManoharLal describing the SAD as anatural ally of the BJP onFriday said that the SAD willplay a significant role inensuring the victory of BJPcandidates

Discussion on the exactnumber of seats as well as theassembly seats which are tothe allocated to the SAD willbe decided after the LokSabha elections. The SADhas presence in around 25assembly seats across thestate.

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As the Congress and theShiromani Akali Dal

(SAD) keep the voters inBathinda guessing, the AamAadmi Party (AAP) on Fridaydecided to field its MLA and thestate’s women wing presidentBaljinder Kaur for what expect-ed to be a high-stake political

battle in the Lok Sabha elec-tions.

While Akali Dal is waitingfor the Congress to make thefirst move, the grand-old-partyis yet to lay its hands on a suit-able and “winnable” candidatefor the coveted constituency.

Already in the field is AAP‘rebel’ Sukhpal Singh Khaira,who floated his own party early

this year. He is contesting fromBathinda as a candidate underthe banner of PunjabDemocratic Alliance (PDA).

So far, SAD has declared itscandidates for seven out of 10seats it contests in the state inalliance with the BJP, puttingthe three seats of Bathinda,Ferozepur and Ludhiana onhold.

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Pranay Khare, talented play-er of the Madhya Pradesh

State Equestrian Academy, hassecured the third place in theWorld Challenge Jumping (CatB) first and world ranking inAsia.

Pranay has also honoredthe country and the region byearning first position in ZoneNine (including countries likeIndonesia, Singapore andIndia). Pranay Khare, whoachieved this achievement inthis category, has first gainedthe distinction of being anIndian horseman. Expressinghappiness over the achievementof Pranay Khare, DirectorSports and Youth Welfare SLThoussen congratulated theromance. He has appreciatedthe magnificent performance ofPranay Khare.

Pranay Khare, talentedplayer of the Horse ridingAcademy of Madhya Pradeshhas so far earned 133 medalsincluding 63 gold, 40 silver and30 bronze. Under this, fivemedals in the InternationalEquestrian Championship,seven medals in the SeniorNational EquestrianChampionship and 20 medalsin the Junior NationalEquestrian Championship. In

national and internationalcompetitions, Pranay has madeMadhya Pradesh proud bywinning a total of 32 goldmedals including 16 gold, 10silver and 6 bronze. In additionRegional Equestrian League,Equestrian Premier Leagueand Horse Show also have 101medals.

Pranay Khare was felici-tated with Best Rider Trophyfor two consecutive years in theJunior National Championshipheld at the Eklavya Award in2015, Best Rider Trophy,Equestrian Premier in DelhiHorse Show, Bangalore.

In the junior AsianEquestrian Show JumpingChampionship held in ChineseTaipei (Taiwan), Pranay wonthe fifth and ninth positionwhile representing the country.

Pranay Khare has alsoreceived the distinction of theplayer who received the firstand the youngest Vikramaward of the Madhya PradeshHorse Riding Academy. PranayKhare DPS The school is study-ing in class XII in Nilabad.

Under the guidance ofCaptain Bhagirath, the ChiefInstructor of the Equestrianriding Academy, the next goalof being trained is to get medalfor his country by joining theAsian Games in 2022.

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The students of St Joseph’sConvent observed ‘St.

Joseph’s School Day' and‘International Workers Day’.

The event began tradi-tionally with putting onturmeric. The programmebegan with the performance byKindergarten students. Thestudents performed Yeh MatKeho Khuda se Ke MeriMushkilien Badi Hain.

All the audience applaud-ed for the confidence theyportrayed on stage and encour-aged the students. Next, thestudents performed a beautifulplay. The play was moral basedand the students gave that onemust do their job honestly butdo not be lazy and be proud.We only get the job of doing thework and the fruit of anybodyweighing it was narratedthrough the play. Through theplay the students also por-trayed to work hard.

Besides, farewell to threeteachers of the school was alsogiven. The teachers SuchitraSrivastav, Nandini Chhibberand Indu Kukreja were bidgood bye. All the three teach-ers were given retirement. Allthe other staff members wishedthem luck for their futureendeavours.

The students created anambiance of enjoyment andmusic for the seniors to enjoytheir last memories in the col-lege. Further, the event wasmade memorable with theflashback memories that wereshared by the teachers in thespeech that created an emo-tional moment.

While addressing the stu-dents, the teachers said that stu-dents should work hard all theirlife to be successful. Whenfailures come one should neverbe disappointed with it. Workin life and increase scope forsuccess. The event concludedwith Western dance perfor-mance by senior students of theschool. The efforts of the stu-dents were appreciated by theaudience.

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During a meeting of SVEEPPartners, the Chief

Electoral Officer VL KanthaRao has said that they shouldwork on a wide action plan atlocal level to generate aware-ness among the voters for theirparticipation in Lok SabhaElection-2019. Voters shouldcheck their names in voters’ listthrough NVSP portalwww.nvsp.in.

Rao further mentionedthat at least 10 percent votingmore than the last Lok SabhaElection-2014 voting should beensured in the state. All theSVEEP Partners should con-duct a wide level publicity toincrease it to about 75 per cent.Directives should be issued bythe Social Justice Departmentat district level for facilities to

Divyaang and elderly voters.NCC and NSS should work asvolunteer for PWD voters.

Food Department shouldput banners carrying date ofvoting and install banners andposters at petrol pumps toencourage people to vote.Besides, the Railway depart-ment should conduct publici-ty by putting banners and flax-es on trains passing through thestate. Similarly, the otherSVEEP Partners along withthe headquarters and districtlevel areas should conduct widepublicity of appeal to cast votesamong their beneficiaries andgeneral public.

In the meeting, the JointChief Electoral Officer AbhijitAgrawal said that jingles,videos and other material havebeen made available to theSVEEP Partners. This should

be displayed through flex andother mediums. Jingles, audiosand promos approved by thecommission should be relayedfor generate voters’ awareness.The videos/ short filmapproved by the Commissionshould be screened by displaysystem in offices. Besides, talkwith experts on various issuesrelated to voters’ awareness,group discussion, talk showshould be relayed. Slogan asregard to voters’ awarenessshould be inscribed at footer ofthe letters in official corre-spondence. Appeal related tovoters’ awareness should bewritten in notice/ letters/ adver-tisement/ bills etc.

The Deputy Chief ElectoralOfficer Sanjeev Jain andOfficers of the SVEEP Partnersdepartment were present atthe meeting.

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From Page 1“It is clarified that payment

of honorarium to theCAPF/SAP/IR BN (IndiaReserve Battalion)/BWHG(Border Wing Home Guard)personnel deployed on theGeneral Elections-2019, wouldbe borne by the StateG o v e r n m e n t / U TAdministration initially andthereafter a claim be made onMinistry of Home Affairs forreimbursement ,” added theorder.

Besides the ChiefSecretaries of all theStates/Union Territories, thecopy of the letter has been sentto the Directors General ofCentral Reserve Police Force,Border Security Force, CentralIndustrial Security Force,Sashastra Seema Bal, RailwayProtection Force and IndoTibetan Border Police and theMinistries of Home and Lawamong others.

A senior official of aCentral paramilitary, who didnot wish to be identified, saidthe honorariums will be agood morale booster to theforces’ personnel who are animportant element of the elec-toral exercise and for ensuringfree and fair polls.

From Page 1

Kishor, who became afull-time member of theJD(U) in September last year,took to Twitter admitting thathe had met Prasad “manytimes” before joining theparty, but added, “If I were totell what all was discussed, he(Lalu) would be quite embar-rassed”.

Products of 1974 “JPmovement”, Prasad andKumar had long associationwith each other before theyseparared in mid-90s.

As a key strategist, Kumarused to be known as “Lalu’sChanakya” after the latterbecame the leader of theopposition in 1989 in theBihar assembly after death ofveteran social ist leaderKarpoori Thakur.

He had also played animportant role in makingPrasad Chief Minister ofBihar in 1990.

But, by 1994, differenceshad started to crop upbetween the two top leadersof Mandal campaign, that ledto providing reservation inGovernment jobs to the OBC.

Kumar walked out ofJanata Dal to form SamtaParty with socialist iconGeorge Fernandes.

Three years later, Lalubroke away from the party toform Rashtriya Janata Party(RJD) in 1997.

The same year, Lalu lostthe Chief Minister’s chairbecause of his alleged involve-ment in the fodder scam butin an unexpected move madewife Rabri Devi the ChiefMinister.

Kumar’s Samta Partyformed an alliance with theBJP in the 1996 general elec-tions.

After a protracted fight,Kumar managed to finallyremove RJD from the powerin 2005.

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Page 5: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Toxic fumes emitted by vehi-cles on the roads are taking

a toll on the kids across theworld including India where atleast 3,50,000 children fell tochronic respiratory disease,asthma. India is second only toChina, as per a Lancet studythat analysed 194 countriesand 125 major cities worldwide.

Worldwide four millionkids get asthma every year as aresult of inhaling air pollution,said the study conducted byresearchers at the GeorgeWashington University MilkenInstitute of Public Health. Andan estimated 64 per cent ofthese new asthma cases occurin urban areas. The study basedon the data between 2010 and2015 is published in The LancetPlanetary Health journal.

The estimates suggestedthat there are 170 new cases oftraffic pollution-related asthma

per 100,000 children everyyear, while 13 per cent of child-hood asthma cases diagnosed

each year are linked to trafficpollution. India ranked secondto China where the largestburdens related to air pollutionwas at 7,60,000 cases of asthmaper year, while the UnitedStates had 2,40,000 kids fallingto the chronic disease.

Asthma is a chronic,inflammatory condition of thelungs and airways — basically,when asthma is triggered, thesymptoms make it difficult tobreathe, which can be extreme-ly dangerous and even lead todeath if attacks are severeenough and go untreated.

With 92 per cent of casesdeveloping in areas that havetraffic pollution levels belowthe World Health Organisation(WHO) guideline level, theresearcher suggest that thislimit may need to be reviewed.

“Nitrogen dioxide pollu-

tion appears to be a substantialrisk factor for childhood asth-ma incidence in both devel-oped and developing coun-tries, especially in urban areas,”said senior author of the study,Susan C. Anenberg fromGeorge Washington University,US.

“Our findings suggest thatthe World Health Organizationguideline for annual averageNO2 concentrations mightneed to be revisited, and thattraffic emissions should be atarget to mitigate exposure,”Anenberg said in a statement.

“Improving access to clean-er forms of transportation, likeelectric public transport andactive commuting by cyclingand walking, would not onlybring down NO2 levels, butwould also reduce asthma,enhance physical fitness, and

cut greenhouse gas emissions,”added Anenberg.

Our study indicates thatpolicy initiatives to alleviatetraffic-related air pollution canlead to improvements in chil-dren’s health and also reducegreenhouse gas emissions, saidlead author Ploy Achakulwisutfrom George WashingtonUniversity.

The researchers used NO2as a surrogate for the trafficpollution mixture to focusspecifically on the effects oftraffic pollution on childhoodasthma development.

As per the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), 350 mil-lion people around the worldsuffer from asthma of whichten per cent are in India. Thenumber is set to rise in view ofrapid urbanization, changinglife style and poor air-quality.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Friday moved the

Election Commission (EC) andalso the Supreme Court seek-ing action against Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi forrepeatedly calling PrimeMinister Narendra Modi “athief ” and also attributing tothe Supreme Court things it didnot say in the Rafale jet case.

A BJP delegation, com-prising Union MinistersNirmala Sitharaman, MukhtarAbbas Naqvi and its mediahead Anil Baluni, met EC offi-cials and expressed the party’s“disappointment” with the pollbody, saying it has looked theother way despite their repeat-ed pleas to it against Rahul forhis “baseless” allegationsagainst Modi.

For her part, BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi filed a con-tempt petition in the SupremeCourt against Rahul forattributing his ‘chowkidar chorhai’ comment against PM Modito the apex court. The matteris listed for April 15 (Monday)for hearing.

Pointing to Rahul’sremarks on Wednesday that theapex court has acknowledgedthat Modi is a “thief ” and thathe gave �30,000 crore to indus-trialist Anil Ambani, Naqvisaid such “lies” and “baselessallegations” are not only viola-tive of the Model Code ofConduct but also fall under“corrupt practices”, as describedin the Representation of PeopleAct. The court had never saidsuch a thing, he said.

“The Congress President isusing abusive words and state-ments that are untrue. He isrepeatedly calling the PrimeMinister ‘chor’ without anyevidence despite the SupremeCourt’s December verdict inthe Rafale case, and alsoputting words into the mouthof Supreme Court,” Sitharamantold reporters.

“We have complained tothe EC that neither theSupreme Court nor theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) have said any-thing of this kind. But the EC

did not take cognizance. Itlooked the other way. “Duringelection time if he is utteringwords which are untrue, canthe Election Commissionignore it?” the BJP leader asked.

“The Supreme Court hasmade it clear that ‘chowkidar-ji’ (watchman) has committeda theft,” Gandhi told reporters

after filing his nominationpapers in Amethi in UttarPradesh. “The way Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi hasused defamatory languageagainst Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the BJPgovernment. He has beenspreading lies repeatedly bycalling the Prime Minister a

‘chor’ in connection with theRafale deal issue, despite theSupreme Court’s order in thematter,” Sitharaman said.

She further said that theCongress leader said at a pub-lic rally that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was provenguilty of corruption in theRafale deal and giving �30,000

crore to Anil Ambani, who isthe chairman of the offset part-ner in the deal RelianceDefence.

“We all know (the)Congress president probablydoesn’t even read even half aparagraph. By saying that thecourt has said ‘Chowkidar chorhai,’ these (statements) verge oncontempt of court,” Sitharamansaid, adding that Rahul is show-ing signs of frustration.

“The person who himself ison bail, violating every norm ofpolitical decency allegingthings which the court hasnever said. He has lost allsense of decency by causingcontempt of court,” Sitharamansaid.

In the context of the firstphase of the Lok Sabha electionheld on Thursday, the ministersalso alleged that TrinamoolCongress (TMC) workers hadengaged in “rigging and boothcapturing” during the votingprocess in West Bengal. TheBJP demanded re-polling in297 booths in West Bengal’sCooch Behar Lok Sabha con-stituency that voted onThursday in the first phase ofpolling.

Appearing on behalf ofLekhi’s petition, senior advo-cate Mukul Rohatgi, told thebench that Congress presidentmade a remark that the“Supreme Court has said,chowkidaar chor hai” in theverdict.

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The controversy over theeducational qualification

of Union Minister Smriti Iranire-surfaced on Friday a dayafter she filed her nominationfrom Amethi as the BJP’s LokSabha candidate againstCongress chief Rahul Gandhi.

While the Congress allegedthat Irani, a former HRDMinister, has “falsified records”of her educational qualifica-tions and submitted contra-dictory affidavits to theElection Commission forwhich the “serial liar” shouldbe disqualified, Irani retaliat-ed saying she will emergestronger the more Congresstargets her.

Congress also complainedto Election Commission overIrani’s contradictory affidavits,demanding that she should bedisqualified from contestingelections and for misleading thepublic through her affidavits.

“Union Minister SmritiIrani, who had been rubbish-ing Opposition’s claim thatshe is not a graduate, hasaccepted that she enrolled foran undergraduate course inDelhi University but did notcomplete it,” Congressspokesperson PriyankaChaturvedi said at the AICCpress conference.

Making fun of the UnionMinister, Chaturvedi also sangthe title track of the popularsoap opera ‘Kyuki Saas BhiKabhi Bahu Thi’ by changingthe lyrics to “qualification keroop badalte hain...(qualifica-tion keeps changing)”. Irani, anactor-turned-politician, hadessayed the lead role in the hitserial.

“We have no issue with thefact that Smriti Irani is not agraduate. The issue here is thatshe has lied repeatedly on oathand to the courts. People ofIndia will see through these lies

and give a befitting politicalreply to a ‘serial liar’!” she said.

“She is also guilty of hid-ing information in the DelhiUniversity and misusing herinfluence and power as aUnion Minister.Constitutionally, legally andmorally, it would be best if shesteps down as the Union min-ister and by publicly acceptingthese lies,” Chaturvedi said.

Congress also listed thevarious affidavits submittedby the BJP leader since 2004 tohighlight the “contradictionand falsification of education-al qualifications”.

Irani hit back at theCongress saying she will con-tinue to work hard for Amethino matter what its leaders say.“In the past five years, there hasnot been any attack which hasnot been made against me bythe Congress and its ‘chelechapate’ (stooges), nor is thereany bad word or disrespectwhich has not been hurled atme,” Irani said.

“I have a message forthem... As much as you try, Iwill work for Amethi againstthe Congress. No matter whatyou say, the more you harassme, the harder I’ll work,” shesaid, adding that the Congresssupporters were targeting herbecause she was taking on the‘Namdar’ (dynast), referring toRahul Gandhi.

In 2004, Irani submitted anaffidavit to ECI as Lok Sabhacandidate from ChandniChowk, Delhi, stating that hereducational qualification asBachelor of Arts in 1996 fromDelhi University, School ofCorrespondence, Chaturvedisaid.

Irani in 2011 submitted anaffidavit to ECI as Rajya Sabhacandidate from Gujarat statingher educational qualification asB.Com. Part-I in 1994 fromDelhi University, School ofCorrespondence, she said.

Then in 2014, Irani sub-mitted an affidavit to ECI asLok Sabha candidate fromAmethi, UP, stating that hereducational qualification asB.Com.Part-I in 1994 fromSchool of Open Learning,Delhi University.

Chaturvedi said Irani wasalso quoted at a media event inAugust 2014 that she has adegree from the prestigiousYale University in the US. Inher affidavit filed on Thursdayduring her nomination, Iranisaid she passed secondaryschool examination in 1991and senior secondary schoolexamination in 1993.

She has said she did notcomplete her Bachelor ofCommerce (Part-I) — a three-year degree course — fromDelhi University’s School ofOpen Learning in 1994.

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The BJP on Friday said it willwait for the final judgement

of the Supreme Court on dona-tion in form of electoral bondsand would accept whatever isthe order from the apex court.

The Supreme Court onFriday directed all politicalparties to provide details ofdonations received in electoralbonds and the identity of thedonors to the ElectionCommission in a sealed coverby May 30, in an attempt tobring transparency

around anonymous poll funding.

“Whatever is the order ofthe Supreme Court, it has to becomplied with and it is alwayscomplied with”, said BJPspokesperson and supremecourt lawyer Nalin Kohli.

“As far as issues raised bythe government is concerned,they have been placed beforethe court for its consideration.And we will await the finaljudgement,” Kohli said.

Refusing to stay for nowthe contentious electoral bondsscheme, the court gave the

direction in an interim order inthe midst of the Lok Sabhapolls which began on Thursdayand concludes on May 19.

The political parties werealso directed to give details ofthe bank account of the donors.

The order was given on apetition filed by an NGO —Association of DemocraticReforms (ADR) — challengingthe validity of the scheme andsought a stay on the issuance ofelectoral bonds or that namesof the donors be made publicto ensure transparency in thepoll process.

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Something “very very seri-ous” seems to be going on in

West Bengal, the SupremeCourt said on Friday as itagreed to hear a plea allegingharassment of custom officialsat Kolkata Airport for checkingthe luggage of a TrinamoolCongress leader’s wife.

The top court asked theWest Bengal Government tofile its reply on the plea with-in four weeks.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna said: “Someonehas drawn our attention tosomething very very serious.We don’t know yet whose claimis bona fide but we would liketo go into the root of the mat-ter.”

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for the cus-toms department and assistedby advocate Ravi Prakash, told

the Bench that the plea pertainsto the incident of March 15-16when customs officials wereobstructed from carrying outtheir duty.

The obstruction wascaused to the officials, whentwo women including oneRujira Naroola Banerjee, wifeof Abhishek Banerjee who isTMC MP and nephew of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee,was intercepted at the airportfor checking.

Senior advocate AbhishekM Singhvi objected to theissuance of notice and said thatthe petition is not maintainableas the petitioner RajkumarBarthwal is a member ofCentral Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs and has no locusstandi to file the plea.

To this, the bench observedthat it does not know the bonafide of the petitioner but “Wecannot ignore what is going onin West Bengal. If required wecan ourselves take suo motucognizance of the events andget to the bottom of the issue”.

On March 29, the Centrehad told the apex court thatcustom officials at the NetajiSubhas Chandra BoseInternational Airport in

Kolkata were “intimidated,harassed and threatened” bythe local police for checking thebaggage of the wife of theTMC MP.

It had also alleged that“institutional anarchy” and“complete lawlessness” havebeen prevailing in West Bengal.

Mehta had told the courtthat on the intervening night ofMarch 15-16 at around 1.10AM, two women, who arrivedfrom an international flight,and their luggage were checkedby the custom officials.

“They were asked to allowchecking of their baggage butthey resisted. They were askedto show their passports afterwhich they abused the officialspresent there,” he had said.

Mehta had added that soonafter the ladies left the airport,a huge contingent of police per-sonnel entered the premisesand tried to arrest the customofficials for checking the bag-gage of the women.

“This is institutional anar-chy and complete lawlessnessgoing on in West Bengal,” hehad said, adding that customofficials tried to lodge the FIRbut no case was registered bythe police so far.

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In the backdrop of ongoingtension with Pakistan on the

border post-Pulwama incidentin February in which 44Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) men died in a suicideattack and growing militarymight of China, the ongoingArmy commanders’ confer-ence here has stressed on theneed to ensure optimum forcereadiness. The meet, whichstarted on Monday and ends onSaturday, also decided to sus-tain the pace of modernisationwith maximum utilisation ofresources with the existingBudget.

The conference, an apexlevel biannual event, whichformulates important policydecisions, comprehensivelydeliberated all aspects of extantsecurity dynamics, emergingsecurity scenarios, enhancingoperational capability in nearand long term and enhance-ment of combat edge overpotential adversaries, Armyofficials said here on Friday.

They said it was empha-sised in the conference thatIndian Army is committed topeaceful security environmentand shall holistically addressemerging threats, challengesand ensure no room for terror.

Reviews during the Conferenceincluded readiness, tri-servicessynergy, military diplomacy,joint exercises that have cre-ated capacity and environmentand supporting operationalplans that have evolved.

The deliberations in theconference validated the cur-rent course set by the militaryhierarchy, as merited by thedynamics of emerging securi-ty and operational events andthe key highlights includeopti-mum force readiness to beensured, re-prioritising theexisting requirements to ensurethat the resources allocatedfor force modernisation andcapacity building be ensured byoptimising allotted Budget.The commanders also pitchedfor increasing the content ofindegenisation in force mod-ernisation.

Reviewing the state ofexisting infrastructure alongNorthern Borders facingChina, the top echelon of theArmy decided to pursue theseprojects on higher priority.Ensure speedy move and allweather connectivity toNorthern Borders are the focusareas, officials said.

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You will never let this coun-try remain in peace,” the

Supreme Court said on Fridaywhile dismissing a plea seekingpermission to carry out reli-gious activities in nine ancienttemples situated on the undis-puted acquired land adjacent toRam Janambhoomi-BabriMasjid site at Ayodhya.

“There will always besomething,” said a bench com-prising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and Justice SanjivKhanna.

The Bench was hearing anappeal filed against the January10 order of the Lucknow benchof the Allahabad High Court,which had dismissed the pleaseeking its nod to offer prayerin the nine temples there andhad also imposed a cost of �5lakh on the petitioner.

New Delhi: CBI told theSupreme Court on Friday thatit had closed in 2013 a prelim-inary inquiry against formerUttar Pradesh chief ministerMulayam Singh Yadav and hisson Akhilesh in a dispropor-tionate assets case.

Taking note of the oral sub-mission of the agency, a benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi asked the CBI to file itsresponse within four weekson a fresh plea filed by aCongress activist seeking toknow the status of probe in theassets case against the familymembers of the SamajwadiParty patriarch including hissecond son Prateek.

The bench, which alsoincluded Justice Sanjiv Khanna,had on March 25 granted twoweeks to CBI, represented bySolicitor General TusharMehta, to file the response tothe plea.

Yadav, who is contestingLok Sabha polls from Mainpuriseat in Uttar Pradesh, in itsreply has alleged that the peti-tion, filed on the poll eve, waspolitically motivated.

He said the petition againsthim and his family was filed in2005 and the CBI and theIncome Tax Authorities did notfind anything adverse. PTI

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The Supreme Court onFriday agreed to hear on

April 15 a plea challenging theElection Commission’s ban onthe release of a biopic on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi till thegeneral election is over.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said it willhear the plea filed by thebiopic’s producers.

The poll panel had onWednesday banned the screen-ing of the biopic during thecurrent poll period, saying anysuch film that subserves pur-pose of any political entity orindividual should not be dis-played in the electronic media.

The Commission, in a sep-arate order, had also directedthe producers “not to exhibitthe film titled ‘PM NarendraModi’ till further orders.

The Commission’s ordercame on April 10, a day beforeit was to be released, coincid-ing with the first phase of LokSabha elections. Votes for all543 seats will be counted onMay 23 after the end of the seven-phase pollingon May 19.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday stayed arbitralproceedings between the Noidaauthority and private firmNTBCL over issues related totoll collection on Delhi-NoidaDirect Flyway.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna passed the orderwhile hearing an interim appli-cation filed by the Noidaauthority which has challengedthe arbitral proceedings.

The interim applicationwas filed by the authority in apending appeal filed by NoidaToll Bridge Company Ltd(NTBCL), which was runningthe flyway, in the apex courtagainst the Allahabad HighCourt’s order.

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Page 6: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

Today marks the 100th anniver-sary of one the goriest episodesin human history and the dark-est chapter of the British rule inIndia when an unarmed peace-

ful gathering of thousands of people wasfired upon at Jallianwala Bagh on theinstructions of General Reginald Dyer,leaving several hundreds dead and manymore wounded.

It was Baisakhi on April 13, 1919, andthe thousands who assembled, includingchildren and women at Jallianwala Bagh,were apparently unaware of the restrictionsimposed on such gatherings. Without anywarning, the gathering was fired upon,which continued for 10 minutes and till theammunition was exhausted.

The genocide shocked the entire worldand marked a turning point in India’s free-dom struggle by creating an upsurge ofnationalist sentiments across the country.Deeply anguished by the British brutality,Gurudev Rabindranth Tagore addressed aletter to Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy ofIndia, renouncing the Knighthood con-ferred upon him.

It would be appropriate to recall por-tions of that letter to acquaint the presentgeneration with the pains and sufferingsinflicted on Indian masses by a callous andstone-hearted British administration.Tagore said, “The enormity of the measurestaken by the Government in the Punjab forquelling some local disturbances has, witha rude shock, revealed to our minds thehelplessness of our position as British sub-jects in India. The disproportionate sever-ity of the punishments inflicted upon theunfortunate people and the methods of car-rying them out, we are convinced, are with-out parallel in the history of civilisedGovernments, barring some conspicuousexceptions, recent and remote. Consideringthat such treatment has been meted out toa population, disarmed and resourceless,by a power which has the most terribly effi-cient organisation for destruction of humanlives, we must strongly assert that it canclaim no political expediency, far less moraljustification.”

Asking the Viceroy to relieve him of thetitle of Knighthood, Tagore stated, “Thetime has come when badges of honourmake our shame glaring in the incongru-ous context of humiliation, and I for mypart wish to stand, shorn of all special dis-tinctions, by the side of those of my coun-trymen, who, for their so-called insignif-icance, are liable to suffer degradation notfit for human beings.”

Even though 100 years have lapsedsince that inhuman massacre happened, thepain and agony continue to rankle in theheart of every Indian to this day. Historyis not a mere chronicle of events. It showsus the depths to which depraved minds canplunge and cautions us to learn from thepast. It also tells us that the power of evil

is transient. This was summedup most succinctly by theFather of the Nation, MahatmaGandhi, who had once said:“When I despair, I rememberthat all through history, the wayof truth and love has alwayswon. There have been tyrantsand murderers and for a timethey seem invincible, but in theend, they always fall... think ofit, always”.

India and the world havetravelled a long distance sincethe massacre at JallianwalaBagh. Mahatma Gandhi hasshown to the rest of the worldhow through peaceful meansand non-violence even a pow-erful colonial power can bebrought to its knees. No doubt,colonialism has become a relicof the past. But it is importantfor everyone to draw lessonsfrom history and shape a bet-ter future for humanity. Today,more than at any other time,the world community needs tocome together to promoteeverlasting peace in all thecorners of the globe and ensurethat sustainable development ofthe planet becomes the watch-word at all times and at all lev-els, from schools to summits ofglobal leaders. Progress cannotbe achieved without peace.

All countries should unitein establishing a new and equi-table world order where power

and responsibilities, opinionsand voices are respected andwealth and earth’s resources areshared. In other words, the newworld order must create a level-playing field for all countries.

We should ensure thatmulti-lateral forums are notdominated or influenced by afew powers and communities.The voice of every nation willhave to be taken into account.It is this approach and perspec-tive which India applies when-ever reviewing or addressingglobal issues. It is against thisbackground that India andsome other countries havebeen asking for a more impor-tant and significant role in theUN Security Council.

In fact, from timeimmemorial, India believed inthe philosophy of VasudaivaKutumbakkam and viewed theentire world as one family. Intune with its civilisational val-ues, India never nurtured anyaggressive or hegemonisticdesigns at any point of timealthough it was once known as‘Vishwaguru’ and contributedabout 27 per cent of the glob-al GDP. Despite its pacifisttradition and remaining wed-ded to the philosophy of non-violence, India became a victimof successive foreign invasionsin the past and of terrorism inthe past few decades.

Terrorism has become thebiggest threat to humanitytoday. Several countries acrossthe globe had to grapple withan upsurge in mindless vio-lence while India had been vic-tim of numerous terroristattacks for decades. Stampingout the scourge of terrorismbrooks no delay. The UnitedNations and the world leadersneed to accord highest urgencyto completing the delibera-tions on the ComprehensiveConvention on InternationalTerrorism (CCIT), which hasbeen pending with UN for toolong — ever since India pro-posed it in 1996. Nations,which use terrorism as a statepolicy, should not be allowedto hold the rest of the world toransom and need to be isolat-ed internationally.Fundamentally, the channelsfor financing terrorism have tobe cut off and sanctions needto be imposed on such nations.To accomplish this objective,the international communityhas to come together as one toensure that no single countrypromoting terrorism feels safeand insulated from punitiveaction. All countries mustremember that terrorismspares no one in the finalanalysis. No one can quite pre-dict when it could afflict acountry, which may choose to

look the other way today. It canbe wiped out only throughmutual understanding of thereal threat that terrorism posesto humanity and a true appre-ciation of the need to battle itunitedly.

With technology revolu-tionising every aspect of mod-ern life on an unprecedentedscale and virtually reducing theworld to a global village, theinternational communityshould seize this opportunity totransform the lives of millionsof people in the poor, underde-veloped and developing nations.All countries should cometogether in combating climatechange and sustaining the nat-ural resources as nobody has theright to jeopardise the life offuture generations and the plan-et itself. Once again, I would liketo recall the profound words ofthe Mahatma, who had said thatthe earth provides enough tosatisfy every man’s needs but notevery man’s greed.

Before concluding, Iwould like to appreciate theefforts of the Government inshowcasing photographs,paintings and newspaper clip-pings depicting the authenticaccount of Jallianwala Baghmassacre at Yaad-e-JallianMuseum in Delhi.

(The writer is Vice Presidentof India)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“No wave keeps poll outcomeunder wraps” (April 12). Thefestival of democracy has begunwith the first phase of votingbeing completed peacefully. Theabsence of any “wave” this timehas given the voters an oppor-tunity to make the decision onvoting preference dispassion-ately. It’s good that the voterturnout in the first phase of elec-tions remained more or less thesame as it was in the 2014 LokSabha election.

India is the only country inthe Asian region which adopteda parliamentary form of democ-racy on getting independencefrom foreign rule. Today, we canproudly say that democracy hasbloomed, flourished, sustainedand has taken deep roots insidethe country in spite of numer-ous attempts being made bydisruptive forces to derail it.

Heavy voter turnout in elec-tions reasserts people’s faith inthe system of democracy. Longqueues of women voters in thepoll booths across the length andbreadth of the country are mostencouraging and a shining fea-

ture of our elections. This sub-stantiates awareness and theresolve of the so-called aadhiaabaadi (half the population) foractive participation in the demo-cratic process.

Which party wins the elec-tions is immaterial. The ultimatewinner will be that of the Indiandemocracy.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “For the sake of Rafale”(April 11). By overruling theUnion Government’s objectionsover the admissibility of somedocuments pertaining the Rafaledeal, which they claimed, weresensitive in nature and had beenobtained through “unauthorised

photocopying and leakage”, theSupreme Court has unwittinglyprovided the kind of opening theOpposition was desperatelywaiting for. Rafale is not a cor-ruption scam. For, nowhere inthe mountain of invective andallegations in the Rafale deal hasanyone even remotely provideda shred of evidence that illicitmoney changed hands.

By agreeing to relook at its

own December order in theRafale deal in the light of the filenotings, published subsequent-ly in a tangential manner by TheHindu, the court has in a wayintervened in the poll process.Plain common sense demandedthat it reserve its order whetheror not to reopen the case afterthe end of the campaigning.

KS JayatheerthaBengaluru

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Sir — It’s not just the two main-stream parties, the BJP andCongress, who indulged in com-petitive populism but regionalparties, too, do not lag behind inannouncing freebies. The needof the hour is to keep the nationdebt-free. But going by theannouncement of free sopsannounced by political parties,India will soon become debt-laden. It is only our descendantswho are going to suffer in thelong run if this loot and plunderisn’t stopped right now.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Page 7: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Ahundred years ago this dayoccurred the massacre at JallianwalaBagh, Amritsar, which remains oneof the worst crimes of British impe-rialism in India. On that day, offi-

ciating Brigadier, Reginald Dyer, orderedGurkha soldiers under his command to fire ona peaceful and unarmed gathering of men,women and children to celebrate Baisakhi. Thefiring continued for 10 minutes and wasdirected at places where the concentration ofpeople was the heaviest.

The toll, according to official figures, was379 killed and about 1,100 wounded. Unofficial— and by all accounts more correct — countsput the figure above 1,000 dead and 1,200wounded. Outrage among Indians was coun-trywide and intense. Prominent among thoseexpressing it were Pandit Motilal Nehru, SirShankaran Nair, who resigned his membershipof the Viceroy’s executive council in protest,Punjab legislative council members, Nawab DinMurad and Karter Singh and, of course,Rabindranath Tagore, who renounced theknighthood conferred upon him by the BritishGovernment through an open letter to theViceroy, Lord Chelmsford, published in TheStatesman (June 3, 1919) and Modern Review(July, 1919).

The letter, reflecting the deepest feelings ofanguish and anger, began thus: “The enormi-ty of the measures taken by the Governmentin the Punjab for quelling some local distur-bances has, with a rude shock, revealed to ourminds the helplessness of our position as Britishsubjects in India. The disproportionate sever-ity of the punishments inflicted upon the unfor-tunate people and the methods of carryingthem out, we are convinced, are without par-allel in the history of civilised governments, bar-ring some conspicuous exceptions, recent andremote. Considering that such treatment hasbeen meted out to a population, disarmed andresourceless, by a power which has the most ter-ribly efficient organisation for destruction ofhuman lives, we must strongly assert that it canclaim no political expediency, far less moral jus-tification.”

Stating that the “accounts of insult and suf-ferings” borne by “our brothers in Punjab” andthe universal agony and indignation aroused“in the hearts of our people” had been ignoredby the rulers, who were possibly congratulat-ing themselves for having taught the people asalutary lesson, he added, “This callousness hasbeen praised by most of the Anglo-Indianpapers which have in some cases gone to thebrutal length of making fun of our sufferings,without receiving the least check from the sameauthority — relentlessly careful in smotheringevery cry of pain and expression of judgementfrom the organs representing the sufferers.”

Finally, declaring his decision to renouncehis knighthood, he had stated, “The time hascome when badges of honour make our shameglaring in the incongruous context of humili-ation, and I for my part wish to stand, shornof all special distinctions, by the side of thoseof my countrymen, who, for their so-calledinsignificance, are liable to suffer degradation

not fit for human beings.”The stray attacks, including that

on a woman English missionary, thatpreceded the Jallianwala Bagh mas-sacre had its roots in the agitationagainst the draconian Rowlatt Act(1919) — ostensibly aimed at squash-ing sedition. It turned British-ruledIndia much more of a surveillance-cum-police state than it had ever been.In protest, Mahatma Gandhi called fora nation-wide strike which drew anoverwhelming response. In Punjab,the movement peaked in the first weekof April when rail and telegraph ser-vices were disrupted. The PunjabGovernment, headed by theLieutenant-Governor, Sir MichaelFrancis O’Dwyer, imposed martial lawto maintain order and sought toteach the people of the province a les-son. The massacre followed.

Shamefully, the horror did not endwith it. On the following day, Dyerissued a public statement in Urdu inwhich he asked (in English transla-tion) the residents of Amritsarwhether they wanted war or peace. Ifthey wanted war, the Government wasprepared for it. If they wanted peace,they would have to open shops andmarkets. Otherwise, they would beshot.

Next came a most humiliatingmeasure, which lasted from April 19to 25, 1919. From 6 am to 8 pm every

day, people traversing the street onwhich the woman English missionarywas attacked had to crawl on all foursfor the entire length. Even doctorswere not allowed to enter the streetand the sick went unattended.

The mass murder and the threatsand measures that followed wereemblematic of the merciless exploita-tion and repression that characterisedBritish rule in India under the cam-ouflage of discharging its benignimperial mission of making this coun-try fit for self-rule. The fundamentalgoal of the imperial Government wasexploiting to the hilt India’s resourcesfor Britain’s benefit. The draining ofIndia’s wealth, which reduced thecountry, once celebrated for its pros-perity, to utter poverty, has beenexhaustively documented by RomeshChunder Dutt in his classic, TheEconomic History of India, in two vol-umes.

Coming to specifics, MadhusreeMukerji has shown in Churchill’sSecret War: The British Empire and theRavaging of India During World WarII, how British policies led to frequentfamines in India from the second halfof the 18th century to 1943 whenbetween 1.5 to three million peopledied during the Great Bengal Faminewhich was primarily caused by theBritish Prime Minister WinstonChurchill’s cynical measures.

A number of Britishers, includ-ing Edwin Samuel Montague, secre-tary of state for India, criticised Dyer.But he also had his staunch support-ers, including Rudyard Kipling andremained a hero to Colonel Blimpsand allied circles. He was, by way ofpunishment, relieved of his com-mand, denied promotion, made toretire prematurely and barred fromfurther employment in India. Thiswhen he should have at least beencashiered and prosecuted for massmurder.

Michael Francis O’Dwyer, whofully supported Dyer’s action, wasassassinated in London on March 13,1940, by the fearless revolutionary,Udham Singh, who made no attemptto escape after the shooting and toldthe court during his trial that he washappy for what he had done and wasnot afraid of death. He ended by ask-ing what greater honour could bebestowed on him than death for thesake of his motherland.

He was executed by hanging.PS: British Prime Minister

Theresa May has described the massslaughter as a “shameful scar” onBritish Indian history. She shouldknow that the scar will heal only afterBritain formally apologises for thecrime, which it has not done.

(The writer is Consultant Editor,The Pioneer, and an author)

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For those innocent souls stillblissfully ignorant of what Non-Functional Financial Upgrade

(NFU) implies, in brief, it simplyensures that when an IAS officer froma particular batch (one that includeseveryone who joins service the sameyear) is promoted to a certain rank, allbatchmates from Group A Central ser-vices automatically start drawing thesame pay-scale two years after thatindividual’s promotion. Even as thoseofficials continue to discharge earlierfunctions, they are upgraded to a high-er pay grade. Thus, nearly all civil ser-vices officers, regardless of what rankthey may retire with, get pension at thehighest level of HAG+ or what thosefew appointed as Cabinet Secretaries

are granted. If that isn’t hitting the jack-pot, then what is?

One doesn’t need to be a guru tofigure out that such a system is con-trary to all principles of managementand without precedent anywhere inthe world, either in the Governmentor corporate sector. As a matter of fact,Vivek Rae, the IAS member in the sev-enth Pay Commission, recommend-ed that NFU be done away with ongrounds that “to strive for uniformcareer progression across such adiverse set of services and cadres, withwidely varying functions, violatesfundamental management principlesrelating to organisational structures.Such a dispensation, with automaticcareer progression till the HAG level,completely buries the concept ofmerit-based career progression andundermines considerations of efficien-cy and accountability.”

Singh’s motivation for approvingthis, despite pretensions to intellectu-al and moral honesty, is not difficultto guess. Pragmatism required a veilto cover the scandalous actions of hiscoalition partners, which the bureau-cracy willingly provided, obviously in

exchange for a quid pro quo. ThatPrime Minister Narendra Modirefused to do away with NFU, as themajority members of the seventh PayCommission recommended, obvi-ously suggests that he and his col-leagues are as much a hostage tobureaucracy as was the previousGovernment, despite all his blatherabout good governance.

It is in the nature of the beast thatwhen hogs are given unlimited accessto the feeding trough, other hogs willfollow, even those, who may not seethemselves as hogs as well. It was justa matter of time before the CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPF) and thearmed forces approached theGovernment for their inclusion and onrefusal, approached the courts. Whilethe apex court has already directed theGovernment to commence NFU forCAPF — something the Governmentrecently approved for implementation— the case of the armed forces stilllingers with that august body.

The irony in all this is difficult tomiss. NFU was granted in order toaddress the wide disparity in careerprogression across different Organised

Group ‘A’ services (Central services)and to bring parity between them andthe IAS. It was accepted despite its“wide-ranging financial, organisa-tional and governance implications”as the seventh Pay Commission put itespecially with regard to inter-se sta-tus between various services andtheir military counterparts, which hadbeen sacrosanct till then since inde-pendence.

To quote Rathin Roy, the othermember of the seventh PayCommission, the “broad parity wasdisturbed by granting NFU to IPS,IFoS and organised group ‘A’ servicesafter the sixth Central PayCommission report, without a simi-lar dispensation being extended to theDefence Forces. Consequently, theDefence Forces officers, who are in noway lower in status or responsibilitythan Group ‘A’ Central services,though not classified as such, have fall-en steeply behind IPS/IFoS and 49organised group ‘A’ services.”

Again, as it was bound to happen,all of this has had a particularly dis-astrous impact on the “armed forces’morale, status, cohesion and nation-

al security”, to quote the seventhCentral Pay Commission. In the pre-sent circumstances, especially giventhat it is an election season, it is morethan likely that the issues raised willbe disregarded, more so in light of theextraordinary performance of thearmed forces over the past couple ofyears, despite acute deficits in weapons,equipment and ammunition. After all,it is not just coincidence that everyparty attempts to include “surgicalstrikes” in its outreach — be it the fightagainst poverty or the measure of theleaders’ strength of character, as Modihas so effectively done till now.

Unfortunately, this bombast bypoliticians, especially of the rulingparty, is difficult to balance against theGovernment’s extensive efforts todeny NFU to the armed forces. ThePress Information Bureau (PIB) onMarch 25 stated, “In the instant case,the recourse to judicial review wastaken as per the existing policies andat the decision of the Government ofIndia. Certain facts have been twist-ed and misrepresented in the mediawith the purpose of misleading theuniformed community and the gen-

eral public. One, the Central PayCommission has been incorrectlyquoted to have recommended NFU/NFU for the armed forces.

“Two, there has been no attemptto malign the uniformed communi-ty or quote them as staying in ‘pala-tial houses’ as the hardships faced bymilitary fraternity are well-known anddeeply respected by everyone, includ-ing those in the Government. Thecounsel of the Government of Indiahas only read out the recommenda-tions of the seventh Central PayCommission as the argument of thecase in the apex court….”

Clearly, the PIB’s statement isdisingenuous. For one, it denies theexistence of Para 17.55 of the seventhCentral Pay Commission report thatcategorically states, “The Chairman isof the considered opinion that …thesame will be available not only to allorganised Central group ‘A’ servicesbut also members of CAPFs, ICG andDefence forces.” Second, the PIB’sdefence of the Government counsel’sarguments is at complete variance tothe tweet by advocate for the litigants,Col Mukul Dev: “March 12, 2019, the

Black Day in the history of Indianarmed forces, which I must observeit as, when I had to hear the mostdemoralising and damaging argu-ments of the Ministry of Defence(MoD)… the MoD babus have gotobjection to the CSD facilities, theArmy public schools, the officersinstitutes, the free travel passes (in theirterminology), the concessional airtravel scheme, the grant of MilitaryService Pay, the free rations and the so-called palatial houses in which we aremade to stay….In essence, the samevery babus, who are entrusted to lookafter the interests of soldiers, are nowtrying to usurp everything. Times havedefinitely changed.....”

While the Prime Minister canhold forth on how much better wewould have fared if the Rafale hadbeen in our inventory during therecent spat with Pakistan, he would dowell to remember that the basic tenetof warfare is that the man behind thegun matters more than the gun.

(The writer is a military veteran,a consultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and Visiting Senior Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation)

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Page 8: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Bijnor: With polling in the sug-arcane belt of western UttarPradesh over, farmers hope thenext Government would ensurethat sugar mills clear their pend-ing dues which have run intothousands of crores.

Non-payment of dues tosugarcane farmers dominatedthe electoral discourse in thisLok Sabha constituency in therun up to the April 11 polls.

Bijnor, one of the fiveAssembly segments under thisconstituency, has a total of15,62,065 voters.

"It was an important elec-tion issue for us. We honestlydon't have much hope from anyparty but we voted in hope of abetter tomorrow, for a change,"said Pankaj, a sugarcane farmerin Jamalpur here.

Rajendra Singh, nationalconvener of Azad Kisan Union,said pending arrears is a big issuefor farmers.

Farmers have cast theirvotes hoping for a Governmentthat would not make falsepromises and have concreteplans for them, he said.

Uttar Pradesh is the largestproducer of sugarcane in India,

accounting for 45 per cent of thecountry's output in 2018-19,according to data on the websiteof the Indian Sugar MillsAssociation.

Sugar mills owe �10,000crore to farmers in westernUttar Pradesh alone and asmuch as �250 crore is pendingfrom the previous season, offi-cial data shows.

The farmers in the regionsay they have been complainingabout non-payment of dues formonths now, but to no avail.

"I was paid last in December2017. How can we survive likethis?" another farmer fromJamalpur, Hari Singh, asks.

He claimed that his duesworth �2.5 lakh were pending.

Mill owners claim that theyare unable to pay the farmers asexcess production has led to afall in sugar prices.

However, farmers reject theargument.

They claim the sugar millsdon't pay up as the only lawwhich could keep them in check

was repealed by theGovernment.

The Sugar Undertaking(Taking Over The Management)Act, 1978, enacted after theprice of sugar was deregulated,was repealed in 2015.

The Act provided for tem-porary takeover of the manage-ment of sugar mills in case ofprolonged non-payment of duesto protect the interests of farm-ers and consumers and to rescueailing undertakings.

"After the Act was repealed,

the sugar mills became fearlessand they purposely stop pay-ment of our dues," saidTribhuvan Singh, a farmer inGopalpur village.

Reasons cited by the gov-ernment for repealing the Actincluded it's non-usage in threedecades and states having theirown laws for the sector.

"There was at least a fearamong them (sugar mills) thatthey can be held accountableunder this Act," said Tribhuvan,adding that his dues worth �1.5lakh are pending.

Farmers claimed that theGovernment is pushing them tocultivate other crops.

"The Government is nowpushing us to grow other cropsbut they don't understand thateach crop requires a favourableenvironment to grow," saidFarooq, a sugarcane farmer inAgari village here.

He said he had tried to growpoplar (used for making ply-wood) but the returns were notas lucrative. "Poplar takes eightto ten years to grow. We get �310per quintal for sugarcane andjust �80-100 per quintal forpoplar," he said. PTI

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Chennai: Senior BJP leaderPiyush Goyal on Friday saidthere is no need to scrap NEETfor medical admissions and hisparty would convince its ally,AIADMK, which has soughttemporary exemption for TamilNadu students from the test.

“I do not think NEETshould be scrapped. We willtalk to AIADMK and con-vince them,” he told reportershere.

He was responding to aquery on AIADMK manifestopitching for temporary exemp-tion for Tamil Nadu studentsfrom the National Eligibilitycum Entrance Test (NEET).

Pointing out that AIADMKhad requested that NEETshould be held in Tamil lan-guage, he said it was acceptedby the Centre and beingimplemented.

Flaying Congress PresidentRahul Gandhi over his party'spromise to replace NEET, healleged the party wanted to re-introduce the old system, underwhich managements of med-ical colleges can demand cap-itation fee and offer seats to therich.

“... The people of TamilNadu want medical seats to beoffered on the basis of merit..Poor children should also getan opportunity to pursue med-ical education," Goyal said.

Alleging that Congress

wanted to remove NEET sothat the poor do not take upmedical education, he said,"They are working for capital-ists.. So that the rich get admis-sion..."

NEET is one of the key pollissues in Tamil Nadu, wheremajor political parties haveopposed the test on the groundthat it was "discriminatory"against rural students.

The ruling AIADMK in itsmanifesto has promised to getexemption for the state stu-dents from NEET till suchtime they were able to cope upwith the improved new syl-labus.

The DMK in its manifestohas said the national entrancetest would be scrapped if itsalliance came to power.

In 2017, a 17-year-old Dalitgirl of Ariyalur district, SAnitha, who scored 1176 marksout of 1200 in her Class XIIexam committed suicide asshe could not get a good NEETscore.

Her death triggered state-wide outrage with all politicalparties and students comingtogether against the entranceexam.

After its legal efforts andlegislative measures to avoidNEET failed, the AIADMKgovernment had set up coach-ing centres to train students forthe test. PTI

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Lucknow: Accusing SP, BSPand Congress of practisingnepotism, Uttar PradeshDeputy Chief Minister DineshSharma on Friday said theseparties were contesting theelections only to defeat PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Sharma made the com-ments while addressing publicmeetings in Fatehpur Sikri,Aonla and Mainpuri, a BJPrelease said.

Polling will be held inFatehpur Sikri in the secondphase of Lok Sabha elections onApril 18 and it will held in Aonlaand Mainpuri in the third phaseon April 23.

"SP, BSP and Congress areparties that practise nepotism.While Akhilesh had sidelinedhis father Mulayam SinghYadav, Mayawati has broughther nephew into the party," therelease quoted Sharma as saying.

"Contrary to this, no one inBJP knows who will be the nextparty president," Sharma said.

"On one hand, there isModi, whose family is not tak-ing any benefits and on the otherthere are parties that are in pol-itics to promote their familiesonly," he added. The deputyChief Minister alleged that theOpposition parties did not havean agenda. "These parties arecontesting only to defeat Modijiin these elections," Sharma said.

He also hit out at Congressfor attacking the Govt overalleged irregularities in theRafale fighter jet deal withFrance. PTI

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Gandhidham (Guj): AttackingCongress over its poll promiseof repealing the sedition law ifelected to power in the LokSabha election, Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onFriday said here that the BJPGovernment would make thelaw even more stringent.

He was speaking at a gath-ering in Gandhidham city ofKutch district in Gujarat.

"Congress is saying thatthey will repeal the sedition law.I want to ask you all, should weforgive those anti-nationalswho are trying to break theunity and social fabric of ourcountry?" he asked.

"If it's within our powers, wewill make the sedition law evenmore stringent. We will makesuch a strict law that it wouldsend shivers down their spine.(Agar hamara bas chaley tohrashtradroh ko aur kadaa humbanayenge, taaki iss kanoon kiprovisions ki yaad aate hee logoki rooh kaanpe... aisa kanoonbanayenge)," Singh said.

The senior BJP leader alsoattacked former Jammu andKashmir Chief Minister OmarAbdullah over his demand fora separate prime minister forthe region.

"I want to tell these leadersthat if you continue to raisesuch demands, then we will beleft with no other option than

to abrogate Articles 370 and35A of the Constitution. Wedont want such India," saidSingh.

He also blamed formerPM Jawaharlal Nehru for theKashmir crisis.

"Had Pandit Nehru givenfull powers to SardarVallabhbhai Patel to handlethe issue, we might have got asolution at that time," saidSingh.

Speaking on the perfor-mance of the Modi govern-ment, Singh said, "I do not wantto claim that we have uproot-ed the corruption completely.But, our government has defi-nitely taken some decisive stepstowards that direction."

The minister claimed thatnobody could doubt the com-mitment and integrity of Modi.

Singh alleged that althoughIndia was capable of makinganti-satellite missile way backin 2007, the then PMManmohan Singh had stoppedthe scientists from doing so.

"At that time, only Russia,China and the US had thattechnology. When scientistsapproached Manmohan Singhfor a green signal, he stoppedthem saying such a step wouldupset those three countries. Butwhen scientists approachedModi, he immediately gave ago-ahead," Singh said. PTI

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Mamata Banerjee onFriday attacked Prime

Misister Narendra Modi andthe BJP for “using the Army toearn votes,” which was“deplorable by all standards.”

The Bengal ChiefMinister, speaking at an elec-tion rally at Kurseong inDarjeeling constituency,attacked the Prime Ministerfor “breaking the electoralcode of conduct” and “exploit-ing the sacrifices made by thearmed forces for electoralgains which have not beenheard of in India’s electoral his-tory.”

Supporting a group of vet-erans in the services whoreportedly wrote a letter to thePresident of India disapprov-ing of entangling the armedforces for political purposesBanerjee said, “I do not use thename of the Army. I respectArmy for its sacrifices. Like meall Indian respect the Armymen who make the supremesacrifice for the nation andhere the BJP is using this sac-rifice to win the elections. Icondemn this.”

Reminding the PrimeMinister that his days in officewas over she said “the BJP willnot win more than 100 seats in

the elections and it will be lefton the regional parties to formthe Government.”

Apparently ignoring theCongress she said, “the region-al parties will form theGovernment in the Centreand the Trinamool Congresswill play a pivotal role indoing so. This is why the BJPis afraid of us and they are try-ing to divide the electoratealong communal lines to winby hook or by crook.”

On the issue of primeministership she said “manypeople say that they don’thave leaders to become PrimeMinister or many of themwant to occupy the post. ButI want to make it clear thatnow the main job is to driveaway the BJP after which we

will the name of the PrimeMinister will be decided asthere are plenty of leaderswho can do the job.”

Meanwhile, Coochbeharand Alipurduar witnessed spo-radic violence even a day afterthe elections that the BJPclaimed was rigged by the

Trinamool Congress, “partic-ularly in Coochbehar.”

At least five people wereinjured and two houses weredamaged in BJP-TMC clashes,sources said.

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As the campaign for theApril 18 Lok Sabha elec-

tion in Tamil Nadu enters thelast phase, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi rocked theTamils with an offer of �3.6lakh to each of the poor peo-ple in the State over the nextfive years. Addressing a mam-moth crowd at Theni on Friday,Rahul Gandhi described PrimeMinister Narendra Modi as a‘thief, liar and megalomaniac’.

“Narendra Modi came topower with an assurance thathe would pay each of you �15lakh. But he did not paid any-thing to you or to me. He didonly one thing and that is: Only15 of his rich friends like AnilAmbani, Mehul Choksi,Neerav Modi and Vijay Mallyagot benefit,” charged RahulGandhu as the crowd cheered

him enthusiastically.He said the Congress man-

ifesto has been prepared by tak-ing into account the needs of allthe people. “It was prepared byspeaking to millions of people

all over India . Our manifestois the voice of the whole nationand not the voice of a singleman. It is not the Man Ki Baathof one megalomaniac. Ours isaKaam Ki Baath document,”said the Congress President. Healso declared that the Congresswould do away with the NEET,the common entrance test foradmission to the undergradu-ate and post graduate medicalcourses in the country.

“Tamil Nadu students donot like the NEET. If they areagainst the NEET, then therewont be any NEET in TamilNadu,” declared RahulGandhi. He paid glowingtributes to Anita , the TamilNadu girl who committedsuicide last year because she

could not clear the NEET. Theentire speech of Rahul Gandhiwas a charge sheet againstPrime Minister Modi whom hedescribed as the embodimentof all that is evil.

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Gangavathi (Karna): In ascathing attack on theCongress-JD(S) Governmentin Karnataka, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Fridaydubbed it as a "20 per centcommission Government."

Addressing a rally here innorth Karnataka, Modi said the Congress-JD(S) coalition's"only mission is commission",attacking it on the issue of cor-ruption.

Modi branded the earlier

Government (Siddaramaiah's)as a "10 per cent commision"Government, but now withCongress and JD(S) joininghands, it had become a "20 percent commission Government."

He asked whether the LokSabha elections was about"nation first or family first," ashe attacked the dynasty politicsof several anti-BJP parties.

Modi also asserted thatthere was a wave across thecountry favouring the return of

his Government.In the first phase of Lok

Sabha polls on Thursday, theopposition parties would not beable to sustain, Modi said.

"Phir Ek Bar...." Modi said,and the huge crowd roared inapproval saying, "Modi Sarkar.

The Prime Minister alsodrew huge applause when hespoke in Kannada towards theend of his speech, hailing everystrata of society and askingthem to say Chowkidhar'. PTI

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The State Government hasgiven its consent for the

conduct of elections to zillaparishads and mandalparishads as the terms ofincumbent members of thelocal bodies would end short-ly.

Recently the State ElectionCommission sent its proposalsto the Government expressingits preparedness for conduct-ing mandal parishad and zillaparishad elections.

The Central ElectionCommission agreed to theproposal to conduct mandalparishad and zilla parishadelections after completion ofelections to the Lok Sabha inTelangana State.

Against this background,Chief Minister Sri KChandrashekhar Rao held dis-cussions with the officers con-cerned on Friday at PragathiBhavan regarding conduct ofelections to mandal parishadsand zilla parishads.

The State Government hasproposed to the State ElectionCommission that the processfor conduct of zilla parishadand mandal parishad electionsmay go on from April 22,2019 to May 14, 2019.However, the results should beannounced only after theannouncement of Lok Sabhaelection results.

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Salem (TN): Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami onFriday termed Congress presi-

dent Rahul Gandhi's promise onminimum income to poor as“undoable” and claimed the

party was trying all ways to getinto power.

Campaigning for AIADMKally, Pattali Makkal Katchi'scandidate for the DharmapuriLok Sabha constituency,Anbumani Ramadoss,Palaniswami also took a dig atthe DMK for making "irrele-vant" promises in the parlia-mentary elections.

"It is all optics. A schemethat would never reach peopleis being touted as somethingthat will be implemented,"Palaniswami said.

Prompted by Ramadoss,Palaniswami said, "...Yes, itneeds �3.5 lakh crore. Where isit? They are all lies andundoable. They are trying to getinto power by trying all ways.We are not like that." Gandhirecently announced that�72,000 per year will be givenas minimum income to poorfamilies, benefiting around 25crore people, if his party is votedto power in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress Presidentsaid 20 per cent or five crorefamilies belonging to the poor-est category with monthlyincome less than �12,000 wouldcome under the scheme. PTI

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Raking up Sonia Gandhi’sforeign national issue,

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Friday tore into NCP chiefSharad Pawar for teaming upwith the Congress and stand-ing by those leaders who arerooting for separation ofJammu & Kashmir from Indiaand installation of a separatePrime Minister.

Addressing an election rallyat Ahmednagar in westernMaharashtra, Modi said: “TheCongress and NCP are stand-ing by such people who arerooting for separation ofJammu & Kashmir from Indiaand installation of a separatePrime Minister. I have absolute-ly no expectations from theCongress, because it is the rootcause of the problem. But, I donot understand as to what ishappening to Sharadrao Pawar”

“Arey Sharadrao, you hadleft the Congress on the nation-ality issue. You had brokenaway from the Congress. But,how long can keep quiet on thedemand for two PrimeMinisters in the country madeby certain leaders?, After ally-

ing with the Congress, you(Sharad Pawar), you are seeingIndia from ‘foreign’ specta-cles,” Modi asked, wanting toknow from the crowd if theyagreed with the demand fortwo Prime Ministers in thecountry and if they allowed thedivision of Kashmir for whichthe scores of Jawans sacrificed

their lives.“Aare Sharadrao, your

party’s name is NationalistCongress Party. Have younamed your party this way tothrow wool on the face of thepeople? Your friends are talk-ing about two Prime Ministerfor the country. Being a leaderfrom the land of Chhatrapati

Shivaji, how are you gettingsleep, Sharadrao?,” Modi asked,as he slammed the Congress forits promise to “repeal” ArmedForces (Special Powers) Acts(AFSPA)in Jammu & Kashmir.

Modi asked the peoplegathered at the rally to decidebetween “imandar chowkidar”(himself) and a “bhrashtachari

naamdar”, a reference forCongress president RahulGandhi.

“You will have to choosewhether you want an ‘imandarchowkidar’ (honest guard) or a‘bhrashtachari naamdar’ (cor-rupt dynast)... Do you wantheroes of Hindustan or thosebrokers working for Pakistan?,”the Prime Minister asked.

Coming down heavily onthe previous UPA Government,Modi said that during the pre-vious regime, the country wasat the receiving end of terrorstrikes and blasts be it inMumbai or Pune. “Who werekilled in these blasts?.... Traders,farmers, workers, ordinary cit-izens… On the contrary, bombblasts have stopped completedduring the last five years whenthe BJP Government has beenin power. We have struck ter-ror in the minds of the terror-ists,” Modi said.

Alluding to scams that“broke out almost every day” ofthe UPA Government, Modisaid that the people had tochoose between ‘imandarchowkidar’ (honest guard) and‘bhrashtachari naamdars’ (cor-rupt dynastic politicians).

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Salem (TN): CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi onFriday mocked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s“Make in India” slogan, sayingthe country’s market was nowflooded with Chinese prod-ucts.

Addressing a poll rallyhere, he referred to unem-ployed youth of Tamil Nadu,saying Modi had hurt them inthe last five years, giving“huge amounts of money fromthe banks to the richest peo-ple but not to them.”

“He gave you an emptyslogan called Make in India butwherever we look we see Madein China products,” he said.

Be it phone, shoes or shirt“you see made in China,” headded.

“Now we want real madein India and real made inTamil Nadu,” Gandhi said.

Under Modi, “Make inIndia” if a young Tamil entre-preneur wanted to start abusiness he had to knock onthe doors of different govern-ment offices where “he had topay bribes,” the Congress chief

alleged.“By the time he got his

permissions the business isalready failed,” he said.

Hence, the Congress cameup with a new idea in its man-ifesto for entrepreneurs, hesaid adding “when you wantto start a new business youwill not have to take permis-sion from any governmentdepartment for three years.”

They could take the per-mission once the business wasestablished and till such timethe focus could be on makingthe business work and con-solidating it, Gandhi said.

“Once your business isestablished take permission.”

Terming the GST asGabbar Singh Tax again, hesaid it comprised five differ-ent taxes and a tax rate of 28per cent wherein “evenweavers had to pay tax if theyhad to buy thread or materi-al.”

The moment his partywas voted to power it will beremoved and we will give youa “real GST, (envisaging) onetax, minimum tax and a sim-

ple tax.”Alleging that Modi “takes

thousands and thousands ofcrores and gives it to peoplelike Anil Ambani and Adani,”the Congress chief accused thePrime Minister of giving awayRs 3,50,000 crore to 15 of therichest persons in the country.

“But when Tamil farmersare protesting in JantarMantar, he has not got evenone word to say. They have totake off their clothes and stillhe does not pay any attention.He does not have decency tocall them and ask them whythey were upset.”

However, “Modi huggedevery single corrupt busi-nessman, and you can seepictures of him hugging AnilAmbani,” Gandhi said.

The Prime Minister couldalso be seen sitting with NiravModi, Mehul Choksi andVijay Mallya, but not with anypoor person, he alleged.

“There is not a single pic-ture of the Prime Ministerwith a poor farmer, or ownerof a small business,” theCongress chief charged. PTI

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($'��=���"�������������"���&�������������������Amethi (UP): Union Minister

Smriti Irani on Friday hit backat the Congress over its allega-tions that she “falsified records”of her educational qualifica-tions, saying she will continueto work hard for Amethi nomatter what its leaders say.

Dubbing Irani a “serialliar”, the Congress also allegedthat she submitted contradic-tory affidavits to the ElectionCommission for which sheshould be disqualified.

“In the past five years,there has not been any attackwhich has not been madeagainst me by the Congress andits ‘chele chapate’ (stooges),nor is there any bad word ordisrespect which has not beenhurled at me,” Irani said whenasked to comment on Congressspokesperson Priyanka

Chaturvedi’s swipe at her qual-ifications through a spoof onher hit TV serial.

“I have a message forthem... As much as you try, Iwill work for Amethi againstthe Congress. No matter whatyou say, the more you harassme, the harder I’ll work,” shesaid, adding that the Congresssupporters were targeting herbecause she was taking on the

‘Namdar’ (dynast), referringto Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier, Chaturvedi alsoalleged that Irani was misusingher influence and power as aUnion minister.

“Union Minister SmritiIrani, who had been rubbish-ing Opposition’s claim that sheis not a graduate, yesterdayaccepted that she enrolled foran undergraduate course inDelhi University but did notcomplete it,” the Congressleader said.

The Union minister andBJP candidate for Amethi LokSabha seat, Irani Thursdaysubmitted to the ElectionCommission that she did notcomplete her graduation fromthe Delhi University.

In her affidavit filed duringher nomination, Irani, who iscontesting against Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, said shepassed secondary school exam-ination in 1991 and seniorsecondary school examinationin 1993.

Irani has said she did notcomplete her Bachelor ofCommerce (Part-I) — a three-year degree course — fromDelhi University’s School ofOpen Learning in 1994.

In her 2004 affidavit, shehad claimed that she is a grad-uate.

There was a controversywhen her 2014 affidavit con-tradicted her own claim. PTI

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Shattering prevailing peacealong the Line of Control in

Sawjiyan area of Poonch sector,Pakistan Army on Friday morn-ing violated ceasefire agree-ment by resorting to heavymortar shelling.

Several civilian areas weretargeted by the Pakistan Armyduring intense round of shelling.

Three civilians includingtwo girls received injuries andwere shifted to Poonch districthospital by the local residents inthe area.

In the absence of ambu-lance facility, the local villagersused ‘charpai’ to evacuateinjured girls amid intenseshelling in the forward areas ofPoonch.

Unconfirmed reports

claimed Pakistan Army violat-ed ceasefire agreement whileproviding cover fire to a groupof infiltrators.

Sawjiyan sector remainedpeaceful for a long time with noincident of ceasefire violationreported in the area in the lasttwo years.

Pakistan Army was earlierusing the same route to pushinfiltrators inside the Indian ter-ritory.

The foot soldiers of theIndian Army were directed toremain in a state of high alertfollowing breach of ceasefireagreement.

According to police theinjured civilians were identifiedas Tasvir Begum D/O AbdulRasheed, Sabina Akhtar D/OMumtaz Ahmad and MohdHesak S/O Noor Mohd. PTI

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With about 77 per centpolling in the Assembly

and Lok Sabha elections inAndhra Pradesh, both theTDP and YSRCP on Fridayexuded confidence of formingthe next Government in theState and winning a majority ofLok Sabha seats.

While the ruling TeluguDesam Party (TDP) was con-fident of people, giving it amassive mandate for anotherterm, the main OppositionYSR Congress Party (YSRCP)was equally sure of a landslidevictory.

Violence and malfunc-tioning of Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs) marred thepoll process on Thursday,resulting in the extendedpolling time, continuing insome booths till midnight.

The main contenders ofpower claimed that the high

voting percentage will work intheir favour. They also blamedeach other for the violence thatleft two people dead and manyinjured.

TDP president andAndhra Pradesh ChiefMinister, N ChandrababuNaidu, told party leaders dur-ing a video conference early onFriday that the polling trendmade it clear that people werewith the TDP.

He believes the enthusiasmshown by voters, especiallywomen and the aged, was aclear indication of ‘pro-incum-bency’. Naidu said that TDPwill win 130 seats in 175-member Assembly and willalso bag 20-22 out of 25 LokSabha seats.

TDP leaders said the wel-fare schemes, especially pen-sions for the elderly and wid-ows and financial assistanceprovided to self-help groupswould help them retain power.

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As part of its commitment tomake farming communi-

ties more sustainable, FMCIndia today announced that ithas commissioned communitywater filtration plants in 15 vil-lages to increase access to clean,potable water across UttarPradesh. The first plant wasinaugurated on Friday in villageBeejapur (Haidergarh), Distt.Barabanki. This plant will servethe potable water requirementof nearby villages like Naraulli,Barawa, Hatipalpur, Gangapur,Sansara and others in vicinity.

With each plant having thecapacity to produce 48,000 litersof filtered water per day, the 15plants are cumulatively capableof meeting the safe waterrequirement of nearly 40,000families. The water plants madewith an investment of almost�11 million, will be operated bythe village communities on acooperative mode land areexpected to create employment

opportunities while promotingcommunity ownership.

“FMC embraces opportunitiesto better living standards wher-

ever it operates,” said PramodThota, country president, FMCIndia. “In Uttar Pradesh, FMCsupports the Government’s com-mitment to uplift health stan-dards, and we are happy to ded-icate these 15 water purifiers tosupport its cause. We believe thatthese plants will make a tangi-ble positive difference in thehealth index of the villages intime to come.”

“Project Samarth, FMCIndia’s corporate social

responsibility program aimedat developing the lives of farm-ing communities, is one of theenablers of our corporate phi-losophy — Pragati Aapki,Prakriti Hamaari — to driveall stakeholders to progress,rural communities being themost important one. We arecommitted to empower themfor a better living, and thesewater filtration plants are onesuch undertaking,” Thotaadded.

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Jet Airways, facing its worstexistential crisis in its over

25-year-old history, Fridayextended suspension of itsinternational operations tillnext Monday due to severe liq-uidity issues.

Incidentally, the stake salebid invited by the SBI- led con-sortium of bankers, whichmanages the day-to-day RPTday operations of the airline,also closes by the end of the dayFriday, after being extended bytwo days.

Airline founder NareshGoyal, the UAE carrier EtihadAirways, Air Canada and thecountry’s national investmentfund among others are report-ed to have submitted bids,according to media reports.

On Thursday, the airlinehad announced temporarygrounding of its internationaloperations for day — Jet wasthe largest international airlinefrom the country till the finan-cial crisis — when it had alsosuspended operations to theentire Eastern andNortheastern markets as Jetwas forced to ground 10 moreaircraft following default oflease rentals.

This has left Jet with nolarge aircraft while it had just14 planes for domestic opera-tions as of late Thursday.

“Jet has decided to extendsuspension of its international

operations till Monday, due tosevere cash crunch,” airlinesources told PTI Friday.

Jet was the largest domes-tic carrier operating in theinternational sector with a hubin Amsterdam, where a cargoagent had taken possession ofan aircraft this on Tuesdaydemanding bill payment. Thisled to the cancellation of theAmsterdam-Mumbai flightthat day.

Thursday Jet flights toLondon, Amsterdam and Parisfrom Mumbai, New Delhi andBengaluru scheduled were can-celled for operational reasons,”Je had said, adding it had alsocancelled the Bengaluru-Amsterdam-Bengaluru flightFriday.

On the domestic front, allJet operations to and from theEastern and Northeasternstates were suspended till fur-ther notice. Following this,there would no Jet flights toand from Kolkata, Patna,Guwahati and other airports inthe region, travel industrysource had told PTI.

Jet had also said itsMumbai-Kolkata, Kolkata-Guwahati and Dehradun-Guwahati-Kolkata f lightsstood cancelled till furthernotice due to “operationalreasons.”

As of Thursday, the airlinehad just 14 planes — waydown from 123 planes in oper-ations till a few months back.

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Cash-strapped Jet Airwaysis currently flying less

than 50 domestic flights, asenior official of aviationregulator DGCA said onFriday.

“Jet is currently flyingless than 50 domestic flights.The airlines has 16 aircraftavailable with them for fly-ing,” the official said.

The official did not givethe actual number of aircraftthat are currently flying.

The official said that theairline has suspended itsinternational operations tillMonday.

As the crisis in the pri-vate airline deepened, thePrime Minister’s Office hascalled an urgent meeting todiscuss the situation, officialsources said.

SpiceJet on Fr idayannounced it will induct 16Boeing 737-800 NG aircrafton dry lease to bring downf l ight cancel lat ions andexpand the airline’s interna-tional and domestic pres-ence.

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India’s retaili n f l a t i o n

saw a margin-al rise of 2.86per cent inMarch onaccount ofincrease inprices of foodarticles andfuel, accord-ing toGovernment data releasedFriday.

The inflation based onConsumer Price Index (CPI)was 2.57 per cent in Februarythis year. On yearly basis, itwas 4.28 per cent in March2018.

The data released by theCentral Statistics Office (CSO)

showed that inflation in foodbasket rose to 0.3 per cent inMarch from (-) 0.66 per cent inthe previous month.

The rate of price rise wasalso higher in ‘fuel and light’category. The inflation in thesegment rose to 2.42 per centas against 1.24 per cent inFebruary.

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AJapanese court on Fridayruled that Carlos Ghosn

will remain in detention untilApril 22, as prosecutors grillthe former Nissan boss overallegations of financial mis-conduct.

His lawyers immediatelyappealed the decision but theTokyo District Court rejectedthe appeal. They have alreadyasked the Supreme Court tointervene in his detention.

Unless the appeal to theSupreme Court succeeds, the65-year-old will be held incustody at a detention centrein Tokyo until April 22,whereupon authorities willeither have to press formalcharges, release him or re-arrest him if they feel he hasother accusations to answer.

Prosecutors are lookinginto allegations that Ghosnsiphoned off some $5 millionfrom funds allegedly trans-ferred from Nissan to a deal-ership in Oman, and spent themoney on a luxury supery-acht.

Ghosn has not been for-mally charged over these alle-gations.

But the tycoon doesalready face three separatecharges. Two of these relate tomillions of dollars in salarybelieved to have been con-cealed from shareholders. Thethird charge is that he soughtto shift personal investment

losses to company books.Ghosn denies all allega-

tions and lashed out in avideo message — shown onApril 9 — at what he termeda “plot” by “backstabbing”Nissan executives scared ofcloser integration with Frenchpartner firm Renault.

Ghosn’s wife Carole hasincreasingly become a keyfigure in the case and wasquestioned by authorities onThursday.

According to a sourceclose to the matter, some ofthe USD5 million for theyacht was funnelled to aBritish Virgin Islands-listedcompany -- which has CaroleGhosn registered as presi-dent.

The case has bewitchedJapan and the business worldsince the tycoon was arrestedout of the blue at a Tokyo air-port on November 19 andwhisked off to the detentioncentre.

He spent 108 days in aninitial period of custody, inconditions he said he wouldnot wish on his “worst enemy”,deprived of his watch, forcedto sleep with the light on andforbidden contact with hisloved ones.

He then won bail, stump-ing up $9 million for his free-dom and submitting to strictbail conditions including notusing the internet or contact-ing anyone connected to thecase.

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The World TradeOrganisation has upheld

South Korea’s import ban onJapanese seafood from areasaffected by the 2011 nucleardisaster in Fukushima, over-turning a ruling by a lowerpanel last year that said Seoulwas unfairly discriminatingagainst Japanese products.

The decision is a setbackfor Japan, which has promot-ed Fukushima’s recovery fromthe nuclear disaster and thesafety of its agricultural andfisheries products ahead ofnext year’s Summer Olympicsin Tokyo.

South Korea on Fridaywelcomed the decision andsaid it will continue to block allfishery products fromFukushima and seven neigh-boring prefectures to ensure“only foods that are confirmedas safe are put on the table.”

Japan said the WTO rulingwas “extremely regrettable” andvowed to get the import banreversed through bilateral talkswith South Korea. JapaneseForeign Minister Taro Konosummoned South KoreanAmbassador Lee Su-hoon toconvey Tokyo’s displeasure.

“The Government willcontinue to maintain andstrengthen our quarantine sov-ereignty and safety net,” saidYoon Chang-yul, an officialfrom South Korea’s Office forGovernment PolicyCoordination.

Yoon said the WTO rulingallows Seoul to maintain theban “indefinitely” until it viewsthe safety concerns as fullyresolved. When asked aboutthe possibility of the seafoodban fueling larger trade anddiplomatic disputes, he saidthat “hopefully, that won’t hap-pen.”

South Korea broadenedinitial import restrictions to ablanket ban covering allseafood products from theeight prefectures in 2013, afterthe Tokyo Electric PowerCompany revealed that highlycontaminated water leakedfrom a storage tank at a crip-pled nuclear plant inFukushima that was submergedby a massive tsunami in 2011.

Japan launched a com-plaint with the WTO over theban in 2015, saying that theradioactive levels of seafoodfrom the areas were safe. The

ruling by WTO’s appellate bodyreversed key points of a verdictby a lower dispute panel lastyear that supported Japaneseclaims that the South Koreanmeasures excessively restrictedtrade and were “arbitrarily orunjustifiably discriminating”against Japanese food products.

The appellate body said thepanel failed to considerwhether the methods of cont-amination testing proposed byJapan would fully satisfy SouthKorean protection standards.The Fukushima plant has nowbeen significantly stabilizedand radiation has come downto levels considered safe inmost areas. Still, more than 20countries and areas keep theirimport ban or restrictions onJapanese fisheries and agricul-tural products, although thenumber had come down from54 soon after the disaster.

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The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) on Friday

stayed a plea to withdraw thebankruptcy proceedings onSterling SEZ & Infrastructurefiled by Srei InfrastructureFinance, till April 25.

At the last hearing onMarch 26, the tribunal hadsought replies from all stake-holders, including the cor-porate affairs ministry, andFriday’s stay order is basedon a plea by the ministry asthe promoters are absconding.

Corporate affairs ministry’ssenior counsel Sanjay Shoreysaid, “we got stay over with-drawal of IBC proceedings onSterling SEZ”.

He said, they sought a stayas another bench of the tri-

bunal is hearing a similar set-tlement plea regarding SterlingBiotech, which is the flagshipcompany of the Sandesara fam-ily’s Sterling Group.

The plea will be heard onApril 25, the tribunal said.

On Wednesday, the tri-bunal had allowed the with-drawal of the insolvency pleafiled by Srei InfrastructureFinance against Sterling SEZ,which is owned by Nitin andChetan Sandesara, who areabsconding and are believed tobe abroad.

The Gujarat-based SterlingSEZ is a subsidiary of theSterling group and owes over�8,100 crore to its financial andoperational creditors.

Promoters are abscondingand a case is pending in a Delhicourt to declare them fugitiveeconomic offenders.

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State-run telecom productmaker ITI Ltd on Friday

said it has recorded 20 percent growth in revenue at�2,051 crore for financial year2018-19.

The company had regis-tered revenue of �1,703 crorein 2017-18.

With the revival packagesupport f rom theGovernment and execution ofBharatNet phase 2 projectsand rejuvenated manpower,the turnover of the companyhas improved, ITI said in astatement.

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The Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) has called an

urgent meeting to discussthe crisis in private airline JetAirways, which is facingacute financial woes.

According to sources, themeeting has been called afterCivi l Aviat ion MinisterSuresh Prabhu asked the sec-retary of the department toreview issues concerning JetAirways.

Crisis-hit Jet Airways isfacing acute financial crunchand has grounded several ofits flights and stopped inter-national operations.

The drastic measure wasannounced after the airlineinformed the exchanges thatit was forced to ground 10more planes due to non-pay-ment of rentals to the lessors.

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Page 11: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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President Donald Trumpconsidered nominating his

daughter to head the WorldBank, and she also would havebeen “great” as US ambassadorto the United Nations, he saidin an interview published onFriday.

“She’s a natural diplomat,”Trump told The Atlantic.

“She would’ve been great atthe United Nations, as anexample.” But if he had nomi-nated his daughter — who is asenior advisor to the president— “they’d say nepotism, whenit would’ve had nothing to dowith nepotism. But shewould’ve been incredible.”

“I even thought of Ivankafor the World Bank,” Trumpsaid. “She would’ve been greatat that because she’s very goodwith numbers.”

“She’s got a great calm-

ness... I’ve seen her undertremendous stress and pres-sure. She reacts very well —that’s usually a genetic thing,but it’s one of those things, nev-ertheless,” Trump said.

Trump ultimately nomi-nated Kelly Knight Craft, hisenvoy to Canada, to be the nextUS ambassador to the UnitedNations, while David Malpass,a senior US Treasury official,became the new head of theWorld Bank.

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President Donald Trump’smeeting with South Korean

President Moon Jae-in comesamid uncertainty over whetherthe leader of North Korea is con-sidering backing out of nuclearnegotiations or restartingnuclear and missile tests.

Trump, in his first meetingwith Moon since the unsuc-cessful US summit with Kim inHanoi, said the US wants to keepeconomic sanctions in place topressure Kim to denuclearize.But Trump said he retains goodrelations with Kim and didn’trule out a third summit or tak-ing steps to ease food or othershortages in the repressivenation.

“We want sanctions toremain in place,” Trump saidThursday at the White House. “Ithink that sanctions right noware at a level that’s a fair level.”Moon, for his part, has called foran easing of sanctions, includingthose holding back joint eco-nomic projects between Northand South Korea. But he

didn’t speak to the sanctionsissue as he and Trump spokewith reporters at the start of theirtalks.

Trump said he would favoreasing those sanctions at theright time but added: “This isn’tthe right time.” He said he wasopen to discussing smaller steps,such as helping to ease NorthKorea’s humanitarian problems,but that, in general, the U.S.Wants sanctions to remain.

“There are various smallerdeals that maybe could happen,”Trump said.

“You could work out step-by-step pieces, but at this moment,we’re talking about the big deal.The big deal is we have to get ridof the nuclear weapons.”Negotiations on Pyongyang’snuclear program appear to bestalled, and there is uncertaintyover whether Kim is consideringbacking out of talks or restartingnuclear and missile tests.

The Korean Central NewsAgency on Thursday said that ata party meeting on Wednesday,Kim stressed “self-reliance” inhis country to “deal a telling

blow to the hostile forces” that“go with bloodshot eyes miscal-culating that sanctions canbring” North Korea “to itsknees.”

Moon said it’s important tomaintain the “momentum ofdialogue” and express a positiveoutlook to the internationalcommunity that a “third US-North Korea summit” will beheld.

“I’d like to express my highregard for how you have con-tinued to express your trusttowards Chairman Kim,” Moonsaid. “And also, you have madesure that North Korea does notdeviate from the dialogue track.”Moon did not directly addressthe issue of sanctions. But several North Korea watchers, including Sue MiTerry, a North Korean expert atthe Center for Strategic andInternational Studies and a for-mer Asia analyst at the CIA, saidMoon was expected to try topersuade Trump — perhapsonly privately — to agree to ease some sanctions to keep thetalks alive.

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Pope Francis knelt and kissedthe feet of South Sudan’s

rival leaders, in an unprece-dented act of humbleness toencourage them to strengthenthe African country’s falteringpeace process.

At the close a two-dayretreat in the Vatican for theAfrican leaders, the pope askedSouth Sudan’s president andOpposition leader to proceedwith the peace agreementdespite growing difficulties.

Then he got down on hisknees and kissed the leaders’feet one by one on Thursday.

The pope usually holds aritual washing of the feet withprisoners on Holy Thursday,but has never performed sucha show of deference to politi-cal leaders.

“I express my heartfelthope that hostilities will final-ly cease, that the armistice willbe respected, that political andethnic divisions will be sur-mounted, and that there will be

a lasting peace for the common good of all those cit-izens who dream of beginningto build the nation,” the popesaid of South Sudan in his clos-ing statement.

The spiritual retreatbrought together PresidentSalva Kiir and opposition headRiek Machar. Also presentwere Kiir’s three vice presi-dents. The pope kissed the feetof all of them.

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At least 21 people were killedand 50 others injured in a

suicide bombing at a crowdedmarket in Pakistan’s restiveBalochistan province on Friday,in an attack believed to be tar-geting the Hazara ethnicminority community.

Prime Minister ImranKhan condemned the attackand ordered an inquiry.

The explosion around 7.35am took place in the busywholesale market area ofHazarganj in Quetta whereHazaras and other traderscome daily to buy fruits andvegetables to later sell at theirshops in other parts of the city.

Deputy Inspector General(DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheemasaid that the blast, whichoccurred when the vegetableand fruit sacks were beingloaded onto trucks by thetraders, targeted the Hazaraethnic community.

However, Home MinisterZiaullah Langove, in a pressconference, said that the blastwas not targeting “a specificcommunity”.

“Our guess is that no spe-cific community was targeted.Marri Baloch and FrontierCorps (FC) personnel wereamong those killed as well. Thenumbers of the Hazara com-munity were just greater,”Langove said.

He also described the blastas a suicide attack.

Officials said that 21 peo-ple have been killed and 50 oth-ers injured in the blast.

An Edhi welfare trust res-cue official at the scene of theblast said he had countedaround 21 bodies being takento hospitals.

At least eight of those killedin the bomb blast are from theHazara community, Cheemasaid. The security forces fearthe death toll may rise, GEONews reported.

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With Britain tearing its hairout over the Brexit con-

fusion, Scotland’s Governmentis biding its time as it preparesfor the ultimate prize — inde-pendence.

Scottish First MinisterNicola Sturgeon, a strongopponent of Brexit, has said shewill set out her thinking onindependence plans later thismonth.

The issue presents votersand leaders north of the borderwith another source of dispute,something that this week’s deci-sion to delay Britain’s departurefrom the European Union hasdone little to resolve.

The Government is“absolutely committed to anindependent Scotland in theEuropean Union,” ScottishMinister for Europe, Migrationand International DevelopmentBen Macpherson told AFPwhile out campaigning in Leith,east of Edinburgh.

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Page 12: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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The West Indies sacked contro-versial coach Richard Pybus

amid a f lurry of changesannounced on Thursday, onlyseven weeks before the start ofthe World Cup.

Floyd Reifer will becomeinterim head coach, with RobertHaynes replacing CourtneyBrowne as interim head of selec-tors, while the entire selectionpanel has also been changed.

"We are confident that in MrHaynes we have found an inter-im chairman who shares thephilosophy of inclusiveness andshares our selection policy,"

Cricket West Indies (CWI) pres-ident Ricky Skerritt said.

"(Reifer) has lived the sameprinciples of West Indian excel-lence that we now insist mustprevail in our cricket."

The Windies had seen anupturn in fortunes on the pitchin recent months, with a shock 2-1 Test series win over Englandand 2-2 one-day internationalseries draw.

They open their World Cupcampaign against Pakistan atTrent Bridge on May 31 — the

second day of the tournament inEngland and Wales.

The change of coach couldpotentially pave the way for starplayers to return to the team, withthe likes of Dwayne Bravo andKieron Pollard playing almostexclusively franchise Twenty20cricket, with Andre Russell alsohaving not played an ODI sincelast July.

Skerritt replaced former CWIpresident Dave Cameron lastmonth after beating him in anelection.

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Gasping for breath aftersix successive defeats,

Virat Kohli led RoyalChallengers Bangalore willlook to snap their winlessstreak and stay afloat whenthey take on an inconsistentKings XI Punjab in a must-win IPL encounter at PCAstadium on Saturday.

Nothing seems to begoing right for RCB, whoslumped to their sixthstraight loss after goingdown against Delhi Capitalsin their IPL match lastSunday.

Kohli, who was recent-ly named the LeadingCricketer of the year for thethird successive time byWisden Almanack, willhope that fortunes finallyknock at the doors of RCBas they need to win all theirnext eight matches to sal-vage any hope of making itto the play-off.

RCB have been incon-sistent with both their bowl-ing and batting faltering inmany occasions.

Yuzvendra Chahal hasbeen their top bowler withnine wickets but rest of the

bowling line-up concededfar too many runs.

RCB's batting too haslooked equally inconsistent.

KXIP, on the otherhand, have won four match-es out of seven but they havemaintained dominance onhome ground.

Despite the loss, KXIP's

batting has done well withopener K L Rahul, whoscored unbeaten century

against Mumbai, and ChrisGayle looking in devastatingform.

Kings XI also has thelikes of David Miller andMandeep Singh and theside will look forward tosome big knocks from themas well.

The pace-spin duo ofMohammad Shami andAshwin has been KXIP'sbest bowlers and they wouldlook to put another goodshow.

Among others, AnkitRajpoot, Sam Curran,Hardus Viljoen, Mujeeb UrRahman, Andrew Tyewould also look to providedepth to the Kings XI bowl-ing.

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Inzamam-ul-Haq and MarkBoucher on Friday were

inducted as the Honorary LifeMembers of the MaryleboneCricket Club (MCC).

According the MCC website,Pakistan's Inzamam and SouthAfrican Boucher have beenincluded in recognition to theiroutstanding achievements in thegame of cricket.

Former Pakistan skipper andbatsman Inzamam played 119Test matches. He captained theside from 2001-07 and scored8,829 runs at an average of 50.16,including 25 centuries.

He made his internationaldebut in 1991, featuring inPakistan's successful 1992 WorldCup campaign. He played in 378ODIs, scoring 11,739 runs at anaverage of 39.5.

The 49-year-old Inzamam

has now joined fellow Pakistancricketers — Imran Khan, WasimAkram, Waqar Younis andShahid Afridi — as an HonoraryLife Member of MCC.

Meanwhile, former SouthAfrica wicketkeeper-batsmanBoucher was the first glovesmanto take 500 catches in the longestformat.

Having made his debut in

1997, 42-year-old went on to play146 Test matches, scoring 5498runs, taking 530 catches and 23stumpings. In 290 ODIs, Bouchermade 4523 runs, taking 395catches and claiming 21 stump-ings.

He holds the combined-for-mat international record forwicket-keeping dismissals- 998 intotal.

Boucher has joined his coun-trymen Allan Donald, JontyRhodes, Shaun Pollock andDaryll Cullinan as an HonoraryLife Member of MCC.

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From the low of the NidahasTrophy final in Sri Lanka to now

being in the scheme of things as thenational selectors gear up to pick theIndia squad for the World Cup, all-rounder Vijay Shankar has come along way. While Indian fans andcricketers await with bated breathfor MSK Prasad and team toannounce the squad for the show-piece event on Monday, Shankarwants to focus on the job at hand— winning games for SunrisersHyderabad.

Shankar said that even when hewas down and out, it was the SRHmanagement which backed himand helped him come back strong-ly, so his focus is the IPL.

"Wearing the India cap is adream for every cricketer. But Ihaven't let the thought of the WorldCup team selection affect me. I havelooked to focus and contribute forSRH.

"It is very important to do well

for Hyderabad. I got into SRHbefore I made a comeback into theIndian team. So, the trust they haveshown in me, must be repaid," hesaid.

Asked if the idea to bat at No3 and 4 in the IPL is an attempt toprepare for the role (if given) in theIndian team for the World Cup, hesaid: "I have not thought about that,but it is really good that I am bat-ting up the order.

"It has nothing to do withWorld Cup, it is about doing whatsuits the team and the situations."

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West Indian duo ofKieron Pollard and

Alzarri Joseph will hog thelimelight when MumbaiIndians lock horns with anout-of-sorts RajasthanRoyals in an match wherehome skipper RohitSharma's return frominjury will also be awaitedon Saturday.

A leg spasm had forcedRohit to miss an IPL gamefor the first time in 11 sea-sons when he set out ofMumbai's last game againstKings XI Punjab.

In his absence, stand-in skipper Kieron Pollardensured MI continue itsgood run as his whirlwind83-run knock helped theside script a three-wicketwin in a humdinger onWednesday.

The winning runs werehit by 22-year-old AlzarriJoseph, who has been thenew sensation in this year'scash-rich T20 league.

After a dream debutwhere he returned withbest IPL figures of six for12 against SunrisersHyderabad, Alzarri (15 notout) played a crucial cameoagainst Kings XI to rompthe side home.

So it would be interest-ing to see whether the

Antigua-born Joseph andthe big-hitting Pollard cancarry their form intoSaturday's game.

Another West Indianwho would be in focus isJofra Archer, who hadgiven Rajasthan Royal achance to defend 151against Chennai SuperKings on Thursday with asuperb spell of fast bowl-ing.

Rajasthan would bewary of MI's attack afterthey were reduced to a 53for three by CSK. None ofthe batsmen could score abig innings with Ben

Stokes emerging as thetop-scorer with 28 run.

RR's batting line-up,including skipper AjinkyaRahane, Sanju Samson,Steve Smith and Jos Buttlerwill need to pull up theirsocks to confront theMumbai bowlers at theWankhede Stadium.

Rajasthan Royals pac-ers Jaydev Unadkat andDhawal Kulkarni alongwith Shreyas Gopal andleggie Riyan Parag wouldhave to deliver for theirskipper if they have to stayalive and make it to thePlayoffs.

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Chennai Super Kings captain MahendraSingh Dhoni escaped a ban and was

let off with a 50 per cent fine on his matchfee for an unprecedented confrontationwith the on-field umpires during the IPLencounter against Rajasthan Royals.

In a rare instance, Dhoni, who was noteven meant to be on the field of play, losthis cool and rushed out of the dug-out tochallenge umpire Ulhas Gandhe after heflip-flopped on a no ball on Thursdaynight.

"MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kingscaptain, was fined 50 percent of hismatch fees for breaching the VIVO IndianPremier League's (IPL) Code of Conductduring his team's match against RajasthanRoyals at Jaipur," the BCCI stated.

Gandhe had tried to rule a waist high

full toss as no ball by RR all-rounder BenStokes. But he reversed his decision aftersquare leg umpire Bruce Oxenford did notsignal for it.

"Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offence2.20 of the IPL's Code of Conduct andaccepted the sanction," it further stated.

As is the case with IPL teams, it's thefranchise that will pay the fine on the play-er's behalf.

Dhoni was seen angrily gesturing atGandhe for backtracking after initially sig-nalling a no ball.

It took some convincing fromOxenford for Dhoni to head back to thedugout even though he seemed far fromconvinced.

But the confusion and the ensuingconfrontation did not have a bearing onCSK's fortunes.

Stokes failed in the final over and

Mitchell Santner finished the match witha six to take his team to a four-wicket winin a chase of 152.

According to the ICC Code ofConduct, which governs the IPL, show-ing serious dissent at an umpire's decisionby words or action can lead to a maxi-mum punishment of one-Test or two-ODI ban.

The ongoing edition of the IPL hashad quite a few umpiring controversies sofar. Not too long back, India and RoyalChallengers Bangalore skipper ViratKohli lambasted the standards after histeam was at the receiving end of a poorno ball call.

The umpire failed to spot a clear caseof over-stepping in RCB's clash againstMumbai Indians and Kohli had gone onto say that the officials "should keep theireyes open".

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Andre Russell blazed away toa 21-ball 45 after ShubmanGill's brisk half-century,

powering Kolkata Knight Ridersto 178 for seven against DelhiCapitals, in the Indian PremierLeague here on Friday.

This was Russell's sixth suc-cessive 40-plus score, his four sixesand three boundaries comingafter youngster Gill stroked 65 off

39 balls, helping the hosts recov-er from Ishant Sharma's wicket-maiden first over.

The Jamaican, who wascleaned up by Kagiso Rabada witha toe-crushing yorker in theirSuper Over defeat in the first leg,also exacted a sweet revengesmashing the South African fortwo sixes in an over that yielded16 runs.

Chris Morris removed Russellin the penultimate over when he

was caught in the deep by Rabada.Sent into bat, from batting at

No 6 in their last match againstChennai Super Kings, Gill waspromoted to open the innings andthe 19-year-old responded with afine knock, his second IPL fifty,and first this season.

Gill smashed seven fours andtwo sixes, both against spinnerAxar Patel, and along with RobinUthappa (28), added 63 runsafter a horror start.

Ishant knocked out the off-stump of Joe Denly with a fantas-tic inswinger, the Englishmanlasting just one ball on his IPLdebut.

Delhi could not have askedfor a better start with Ishantstarting the proceedings with awicket-maiden.

But KKR did well to bringthem out of the rut with Uthappaand Gill counter-attacking with aflurry of boundaries.

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Mumbai Indians Director of CricketOperations Zaheer Khan on Friday

said that skipper Rohit Sharma is availablefor the team's IPL match against RajasthanRoyals on Saturday.

A leg spasm had forced Rohit to missan IPL game for the first time in 11 sea-sons when he sat out of Mumbai's lastmatch against Kings XI Punjab at theWankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

He had sustained the injury during atraining session.

Asked about Rohit's injury status,Zaheer said, "He is definitely available forselection and he is very confident, so thatis a very positive sign right now for us.

"He is going to practice and get a bet-ter gauge of things, but we are pretty con-fident (of him playing)," said the 40-year-old former India pacer.

Rohit briefly batted at the nets at theWankhede Stadium on Friday.

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Veteran South African pacerDale Steyn on Friday

joined Royal ChallengersBangalore as a replacementfor the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile, giving a much neededboost to the bowling depart-ment of the bottom-placedteam in the IPL.

Steyn will replaceAustralian Coulter-Nile, who is

recovering from a back injury."Royal Challengers

Bangalore have signed DaleSteyn as a replacement for theinjured Nathan Coulter-Nilefor the remainder of the VIVOIndian Premier League (IPL)2019," read an IPL statement.

Steyn went unsold in theprevious two IPL auctions andlast played in the competitionin 2016 when he representedGujarat Lions.

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To grow plants in water is a greatway for gardeners to raise plantsorganically, and green thumb ornot, most people are, usuallyand successfully, growing plants

in the soil. Especially the growers who optfor fabric pots. But for those gardeners con-templating an alternative way to raise theirplants, understanding how to grow plantsin water is essential to being a successfulgrower.

Do you have a few favourite “go-to”herbs? Why not grow them in water andkeep them close at hand on the kitchenwindow sill or right on the counter? Water-grown herbs are just as flavoursome asthose you grow in the garden. You don’thave to mess with soil or worry about reg-ular watering or changing seasons.

Most herbs will be happy growing inwater, but those propagated from cuttingsare easier to start in water. Seed-grownannuals like cilantro, mustard, and dill area bit tricky because you need to sow theseeds in soil or some other medium andthen transfer the seedlings to water. Soilto water transition is not impossible, butit may not always work out because soil-grown roots are a bit different from waterroots.

For a simple herb stand in the kitchen,you can root herb cuttings in plain waterin glass bottles. Avoid using chlorinated

water directly as the bleaching chemical isnot exactly friendly to plant tissues. Tapwater that has been left to air overnight isfine, so is stored rainwater. Spring wateror well water is the best because it has someamount of dissolved minerals that may beof use to plants.

Many plants grow easily in water andan often used method of propagation aswell, with some folks choosing to roothouseplants in bottles or the like. Anindoor water garden may often consist ofclippings from existing houseplants in bot-tles covering every surface available, to acouple of growing plants in water perchedon the kitchen windowsill. Growing plantsin water allows for a greater flexibility inarrangement and can be accomplished inmost any type of receptacle that will holdwater. Growing houseplants in water maybe a slower method than soil-based plant-ing. However, the indoor water garden willremain lush for a lengthy period of time.

Growing an indoor water garden canbe completed using almost any containerthat will hold water. As mentioned, grow-ing plants in bottles is one commonoption, but many types of waterproofreceptacle will work except those forgedof copper, brass or lead. Metals may cor-rode when reacting to fertiliser and causeplant damage. Also, a dark or opaque con-tainer will help to prevent algae formation.

Once you have picked the appropriate con-tainer, fill it three-quarters full withflorist’s foam (the best bet), crumbledStyrofoam, gravel, pearl chips, pebbles,sand, marbles, beads or any similar mate-rial that sparks your imagination. Add apinch of powdered or small piece ofcharcoal to keep the water clear and cleansmelling. Soft cuttings are pretty quick toroot in water. You don’t need to use anyrooting hormones. If you have someherbs growing in the garden, snip off 6-inch sections from growing tips and putthem in the water-filled containers. Thebest part of growing herbs from cuttings

is that you can use the ones you get fromthe supermarket. Just wash them in plainwater and cut off the lower portion.

Remove lower leaves from cuttings andtrim the lower tips close to the nodes fromwhere the roots arise. When they areinserted into the bottles, there shouldn’t beany leaves touching the water. They can roteasily and spoil the water, as they do inflower vases.

Woody cuttings like rosemary maytake longer to root, so be patient. Changethe water once a week without disturbingthe cuttings. Once the roots start growing,usually between 2-6 weeks, water changesmay not be necessary.

If you have willow trees in the garden,you can steep some branches in warmwater overnight to make a natural rootinghormone mix. Place the cuttings in theinfusion to encourage rooting. Alternately,rooting hormone powder can be used.

Hanging or creeping plants from cut-tings are often the easiest to root in a waterenvironment, but rooted plants may beused as well. Wash all the soil completelyoff the roots of the “soon to be indoorwater garden plant” and cut off anydecayed or dead leaves or stems. Place theplant in the water/fertiliser solution. Youmay have to top off the solution on occa-sion due to dissipation. Replace the nutri-ents solution in the indoor water garden

every four to six weeks in its entirety. Asmentioned above, to retard algae growth,use a dark or opaque container. However,should algae become an issue, change thesolution more frequently.

Once you have decided to grow inwater, clip a segment of the existing plantand place it in a glass jar, just as youwould if you were going to trim a plantthat is in soil. Make sure you cut justbelow the leaf leaving the stem in place.That stem is considered the “leaf node”,and it is really where the majority of therooting hormone inside the plant hasalready been active and will ensure asprout. Unless you possess any of yourown existing plants or an herb garden,you can ask friends for cuttings fromtheir plants and start to grow your ownfrom their trimmings.

The water you use is important. Citywater is filtered for public consumption,meaning it usually is chlorinated andcould possess harmful chemicals to aplant and makes it void of any nutrients.Instead, using spring water or even bet-ter, well water, has higher levels of nutri-ents in it. For containers, you can use anyglass jar you have, as long as you can see-through it. It is known that red glassassists plants in growing the quickest, butany clear container will do, all that mat-ters is that the roots obtain some light.

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Bharatnatyam dancer Rukmini Chatterjee,who has performed globally and has lived

in Paris for 25 years, feels that acquaintancewith diverse cultures “gives us a big edge overothers.” She is curating Connections, a festivalwhich hosts Chinese dancers with French jazzmusicians.

Asked about the converging cultures of theworld, the choreographer who trained underMrinalini Sarabhai, said, “It should be an essen-tial part of people’s lives today since we live ina knowledge economy and a global village. Myartistic path for the past 28 years has been thatof bringing cultures together on the same stage,crossing borders of all sorts and getting artistsand art forms from across the globe to dia-logue,” Chatterjee said.

“Knowing and understanding other cul-tures gives us a big edge over others, by widen-ing our horizons and making us much morecapable of dealing with global situations, psy-chologies, economies and many otherdomains,” she added.

Her leit-motif for theConnectionsfestival, sinceits inception in2014, has beenselecting per-formances thattouch thehearts andminds of peo-ple. Lined upthis year is theBeijing DanceA c a d e m y ,whose aesthet-ics come fromtheir martialarts, acrobat-ics, ancientpoetry, paint-ing and drama,and who areperforming forthe first time inIndia.

As per theorganisers, some of the dances have been cre-ated by the choreographer of the BeijingOlympics opening ceremony. “Our endeavourhas been to bridge the gap between the old andthe new by building bridges between ourancient culture and our modern audience,” theysaid.

Chatterjee, with her vast repertoire of inter-national performances, also shared that the per-formances that excite her the most connectdeeply with audiences across cultures andcountries. “They could be profoundly anchoredin their own cultures, but are also universal innature. Two totally disparate genres can stillhave a lot in common,” she explained.

This merging of cultures is visible in herown oeuvre of performances and personal life,as she mentions Paris as a city that attractsworld cultures and the Upanishads, which pro-foundly uphold the values of the universal man,as deep influences on her work.

The three-day festival is being held at theSRCPA and will conclude on April 14. H)�#�

Somewhere in the second episodeof Delhi Crime, in the aftermathof the brutal December 2012gang rape, DCP South VartikaChaturvedi decides to address a

press conference to set the record straightabout the inaction of the Delhi Police.Shefali Shah, who plays the role in theweb series which released last month,walks to the podium and when her junior,Bhupendra Singh, played by RajeshTailang offers her a hand up, she ignoresit and climbs up on her own, setting thegender equation on an altogether differ-ent note. “It is a small thing but mattersto me in creating what Vartika became.Her sense of power is evident in the scene.But if she didn’t have the vulnerability andthe sensibility, she would not have takenthe incident personally and gone all outto investigate it,” points out Shefali. It isin the smallest of gestures that the actorimbues her characters with that has gother accolades each time that she lights upthe small or the large screen.

She goes on to point out, “All of ushave layers. The belief that if you cry orare vulnerable is bullshit. Every emotionhas strength even though its expressionvaries from person to person. Vartika isan extremely strong person and feelsacutely about this particular crime. Sheis broken and angry but she channelisesall of that in a single minded focus ofcatching the perpetrators. She does notlet her emotions overshadow her inves-tigation but that does not mean that shedoes not feel it.”

The web series as well as Shefali’s rolehas been garnering praise from critics andaudience alike. So did she imitate themannerisms or the behaviour of formerDCP South Chhaya Sharma, who led a41 member team to solve the case in arecord five days. “I had the honour ofmeeting her over coffee for two hours andit is impossible to soak in the completeperson in that time. I don’t know how shebehaved in office or at home. We were notthere so I don’t know what she did atwhich moment. It is not about trying tobe like her. It was about being Vartika,”Shefali emphasises over the phone. Shedoes feel that it was essential to maintainthe germ and the thread of her being butthen she played it from her own percep-tion. “I’m a spontaneous and impulsiveactor. There was a lot of work that I didto create her,” she says.

No stranger to the small screen hav-ing started out with Aarohan in 1993,Shefali took all of three minutes to say yesto the role. “Most of my decisions areinstinctive and impulsive. I read the firstepisode and I finished the entire series inone night. I said I have to be a part of it.It was as simple and straight.”

But that didn’t mean that the job wasdone. Richie Mehta, creator, writer and

developer of the series, worked extensive-ly with her on it. “We started question-ing, why is it this way? What is Vartikathinking? We were in touch even as hetravelling and I was working on otherprojects. Just before the shoot, every sin-gle day, even if he had just two hours, Iwould say we have to meet because Iwanted to discuss the character. A scene,after all, is the window between the actorand the person but it is not what deter-mines the character. It is the characterwhich determines how she behaves orreacts in a scene,” she says.

Recalling the actual incident, Shefaliremembers that it left everyone startledand that scar would never go away. So itwas also in a manner of reliving the inci-dent. “This was my most consuming andenriching experience and then you arejust reacting to it. In the first sequence,there is a sense of disbelief and shock. Butthen, she takes one moment for herselfand gets completely into action mode,”she says.

While at one level, Shefali played theofficer who heads the investigation, sheis also portraying a mother with ateenage daughter. “It was not just aboutthe mother and daughter relationship, butalso about what the entire generation feltin December 2012. Watching the protestfrom the police station is different fromhaving someone stand up and questionyou at home. And that was the same exactquestion that Vartika was asking and thatis why she wants to do justice and not to

prove herself or get a medal,” she says. Some critics of the show have said

that it only has a single point of view andtried to humanise the police at the costof the victim’s parents, family and media.“This story and incident has severalpoints of view. And this is the one thatthe director wants to tell. It is not aboutidealising. It is just about telling what real-ly happened which a lot of people,including me, did not know,” she says.

But having worked so closely with thestory and living with it for so long, doesshe feel that we have become even moredehumanised as a society as more casesof a similar nature have come up. “I don’tthink we have got used to it. If anything,we have become more sensitised to it. Arape case now goes into a fast track court.More incidents against women havecome within the ambit of rape. Earlier, awoman was blamed for a crime againsther. It’s changing,” she argues.

But she accepts that the change in the

system will take longer as the behaviouris embedded for generations. “Patriarchy,misogyny, the way people are brought up,the sense of privilege men have, illitera-cy, caste and class have been the normover the years. It will take time to com-pletely disappear but it is not fair to saythat things are not changing. It won’t hap-pen overnight,” she says.

Moving on to her previous outing onNetflix as Tara Shetty in Once Again,Shefali feels that it was one of the mostbeautiful characters that she has por-trayed. “I am a hardcore romantic.People always think that a strong womancannot be romantic and the two aremutually exclusive. Tara is a strongwoman. There is something lyrical andpoetic about her. She is so vulnerable andshe is ready to walk that road, take thatchance and is even ready to get hurt inthe process. The film was nuanced wherethe romance, was unsaid yet said. You canactually feel the palpitation because of theway it was shot,” she says, her excitementand passion for the film not hard to dis-cern even when heard at the other endof a phone.

Going back much in time, she recallsthe character of Saavi, another womanin love that she portrayed at the start ofa career in the serial Hasratein, which wastelecast on Zee TV in 1996-97. Whilethree other actresses had portrayed therole of a woman who leaves her husbandand has an extra marital affair with amarried man, it took Shefali to step into

Saavi’s shoes to give it the gravitas andgrace that made the actions of the char-acter seem justified. “I thought it was asweet story. And I saw her very differ-ently from the way it was being playedearlier. I did not see her as a vamp. Shewas in love. She had her reasons. Youneed to have conviction to play such acharacter. The person might be bad insomeone else’s perception but for him orher they are doing the best they can. Theyare justified as they fell in love wherethere isn’t a right or wrong,” she says.

Another role that is etched in mem-ory is that of Pyaari Mhatre in Satya(1998) for who can forget Shefalimatching each perfectly coy step toSapne Me Milti Hai so much so that shebecame an embodiment of the song. “Icannot forget it as it was my first film.It is also very special because of itsensemble cast, cult status, the way it wasshot by an international DOP. It was rawand organic. There are certain momentswhere the vision of the director comesthrough even when though the actorgets the accolades. In this, the momentwas where she slaps her husband BhikuMhatre, played by Manoj Bajpai. Onscript, it was a very powerful moment.I heard it and agreed to do it,” sherecalls.

Of course, anyone who has seenGandhi, My Father (2007) cannot helpbut be affected by the human angle atplay in the film. The Mahatma was thefather of the nation but what he was likeat home and how it affected the familyforms the crux of the story. As Kasturba,Shefali held her own and won the BestActress award at the Tokyo InternationalFilm Festival. “Of course she was a pow-erful woman but she was stuck betweenher child and her husband. She under-stands the compulsions of her husbandbut she is also a mother and nothing cantake that away from her,”

However, talking to Shefali isincomplete without a mention ofMonsoon Wedding (2001) where sheplays Riya, who has been molested as achild by a family member. It was one ofthe rare films where pedophilia was por-trayed on screen. “Mira called me andsaid that she had seen Satya and want-ed me to play Riya. She gave me a briefover the phone and I agreed because Iwanted to work with her. It was such apowerful part and the thrill of workingwith such an incredible director andinternational cast was amazing. I justhad to be a part of it,” she says.

Looking ahead, she hopes for thesecond season of Delhi Crime. “Thereare a couple of things in discussionwhich I am trying to work out,” she saysas she signs off. We can only look for-ward to characters imbued with astrong individual streak.

Initially you were notinterested in the role andthe project, Fahrenheit

451. What made you say yes?I wasn’t interested in play-

ing a figure of authority. Withwhat was going on around theworld with the police and mycommunity, as a black man, Ididn’t want to play somebodywho was an oppressor. I justdidn’t want that in my head.It was something that I was-n’t interested in playing, a fire-fighter that was going aroundburning books. That kind ofcharacter just didn’t seemright because I played OscarGrant and I was playing char-acters that meant so much tomy community. But after sit-ting down with the directorRamin and knowing MichaelShannon was going to be apart of it and understandingtheir vision, the kind ofthemes and messages that hewanted to send through themovie, I was fine. Then I

talked to my agents, talked tomy mom, dad, friends andeven people around me. That’show I made the decision. Imake decisions through mycommunity. I didn’t want peo-ple to see me dying in myroles as it has been.

What do you thinkabout the film in today’scontext?

I mean, for a book that

was written around 60 yearsago, it could have been writ-ten last year. For me, to be apart of this story that is soimportant today. Conceptsof free thought, choice, mediacontrol and anti-intellectuals,it is controlling us so much.So for me to play a characterthat challenges these ideaswas important and sends apositive message. And work-ing with HBO, co-producing

it with my own company andworking with MichaelShannon, I checked off all theboxes.

Ramin Bahrani (direc-tor) said that in your firstmeeting, you showed up inthe character of Killmonger?

Yes, I was in the middle ofproduction of Black Pantherwhen we had that meetingand I was locked in the char-

acter. It was a heavy role forme to play and I literally justforgot. I saw the look on hisface of how he was looking atme, it was a little intimidatingand I remember I had mygold fronts on. So I tookthem out and I came down alittle bit and we had a goodmeeting.

Do people still yell atyou, “Wakanda forever?”

Yes. (laughs) Yes, theydo. But they don’t under-stand. I’m not from Wakanda,technically, so — no, that’sChadwick. That’s a Chadwickthing. So, like, when theysay, “Wakanda forever,” lowkey, I’m still in the character.I’m like “Nah, that ain’t me.”(laughs) I don’t do it back tothem. That’s not my thing.

I read that you didn’treally have a social life dur-ing Black Panther becauseyou were drinking a gallon

and a half of water, so youhad to pee all the time.

Yes, that’s not fun.Especially in the middle of anight. You’re trying to sleep,you have to wake up, use thebathroom. You’re like, oh mygod, I’m just going to hold it.And then it just doesn’t quitework out. We didn’t really goby hours but by sessions. SoI worked out two to threetimes a day. Ate six times aday. It’s hard to go out to aclub or even party whenyou’re like — oh wait, mealprep. We had to pop thisthing in the microwave andeat food. So it is tough tosocialise when you’ve got toget in shape like that. Yes, andwork out three or four timesa day too. It is so damn diffi-cult. So as soon as I leavefrom here, I’m going to thegym. (Sigh)

(The film will premiertoday at 9 pm on Star MoviesSelect HD.)

As people across the globeexcitedly prepare for thefinal season of 2019’s

most anticipated series —Game of Thrones, here aresome trends from across theworld that have been noticedfor this iconic show in the last30 days.

According to the data,India has emerged as the fourthcountry where users are mostexcited about the show — thisis only preceded by USA, Braziland Great Britain — and is theonly Asian country to feature

in top five. When it comes toIndian cities, Mumbai, Delhi,Bangalore, Hyderabad andChennai top the list. WhereasJon Snow, Daenery Stargaryen,Aarya Stark, Sansa Stark andTyrion Lannister become themost talked characters acrossthe country. Based on volumeof conversations, top 10 hash-tags used across India are —#gameofthrones, #got, #jon-snow, #forthethrone, #aryas-tark, #sansastark, #winter-iscoming, #daenerystargaryen,#tyrionlannister, #winterishere.

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Page 15: C M Y K - The Pioneer · 2019-04-12 · least five times, mostly here (her 10, Circular Road resi-dence), and one or two times at paanch number (5, Deshratna Marg — the bunga-low

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Mention Bobbi Brown andyou know you have themantra to look the best ver-

sion of yourself. It is to the credit ofthe iconic make-up artist, author andformer editor that the brand shelaunched at Bergdorf Goodman, theluxury department store based onFifth Avenue in MidtownManhattan in New York City in1991, has become much biggerthan the person.

While the brand was sold toEstee Lauder in 1995, the productsmade by Bobbi, which suited a widevariety of skin tones and seemed tobecome a part of your own skin, lipcolour and cheeks, have proved tobe game changers. She has authorednine books about make-up andbeauty that made it to the New YorkTimes bestseller list. Along the way,she has worked her magic at inter-national fashion weeks for overthree decades. Considered as one ofthe top 10 make-up artists and beau-ty experts in the world, she hasworked with some of the biggestnames from the industry includingMichelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey,Katie Holmes, the Sex And The Citycast, Jessica Alba, Claudia Schifferand Naomi Campbell. Bobbi is vis-iting the country to be part of thefirst India Make-Up show.

How different is it to work withfaces and skin tones that areIndian? What do you modify inyour techniques?

I always start my work in thesame way — looking for the righttone and texture for the skin. Thatwill never change. You want to utiliseproducts that work for the skin typeand always start with a moisturiser.Hydrated skin is the key to yourmake-up looking its best.

What are the lip colours as well asblushes that work best with Indianskin tones?

The right lip colour for you is

based on three things — your style,natural lip colour and skin tone. Ingeneral, the most flattering naturalhue will either match or be slightlydarker than your lips. Avoid shadeslighter than your lips, especiallythose with gray or beige undertones,as they will make you look washedout. For blush, women with tan,warm skin tones should choose analmost plum shade that looks like arich pink when applied. For deeperskin tones, redder shades that havebluish tones like cranberry leave abeautiful finish.

Earlier, Indians were lookingtowards the West in terms of skincolour and features but now theyare more comfortable in theirskin. What would you attribute itto?

I think it’s a combination of pos-itive voices on social media and thebeauty industry working to becomemore inclusive. There are moreproducts, colour options, positiverole models and unique voices withlarge platforms that are changing theconversations around beauty.Realism is in.

What does it take to be rankedamong the top 10 beauty artistsin the world?

A lot of hard work anddetermination. The advice Igive is to be open. Be a spongeand absorb everything. Workhard — and for free if you haveto — when following yourdreams. Keep at it, don’t let failurestop you.

You’ve worked with some of thebiggest names. What were someprofessional and personal lessonsthat you learnt along the way?

My biggest takeaway is to benice to everyone. It’s as simpleas that. You never know whoyou are going to meet orwho knows who. Be kind,

respectful and treat others how youwant to be treated.

What is it that attracts youabout India?

Everything. I have wantedto come to India for a longtime. The people, the history,the culture, and of course, thefood is something I’m looking

forward to experiment with. Iam open to experiencing all that

India has to offer. Visually, themake-up worn by women in thecountry scales from over the top, totraditional, to a cleaner, more mod-ern look. Most importantly, every-one looks so beautiful. PriyankaChopra is someone I would definite-ly like to work with when in India.She is one of the most beautifulwomen on the planet and seemsvery down to earth and cool.

Why did you decide to collaboratewith India Make-up Show?

It’s a unique opportunity tointeract with artists and con-

sumers in this type of set-ting. I am really excited toshare my make-up tech-niques and more aboutmy career.

Any more books onthe anvil?

No new booksright now but I justlaunched a new lineof supplements. It’sa collagen-basedcollection, all

designed to target yourbeauty concerns with one

of the largest retailers inAmerica. We have an efferves-

cent tablet made with hyaluron-ic acid to boost your skin’s mois-

ture. There’s a collagen and pro-tein powder that benefitshair, skin, and nails andgives you energy. It’s allabout supporting beauty

from the inside out. I am back in thestudio creating and curating contentfor my online magazine www.just-bobbi.com as a working make-upartist. I am also creating contentaround my podcast Long StoryShort. And I’m designing new expe-riences for our guest at our hotel,The George, in Montclair, NewJersey.

What do you keep in mind whiledoing the look for any person?

I always look at make-up assomething that will enhance yournatural features, not hide them.

Looking back at your journey,when you started out, did you haveany idea that the brand would growas big as it has?

I don’t think I could have pre-dicted the career that I’ve had. If youhad told me all of this when I was a little girl growing up inChicago, I wouldn’t have believedyou. I’m proud of the work I did in building my brand and theimpact my work had on the beautyindustry.

A lookback at some of the moreiconic moments, in your opinion?

A few moments that alwaysstand out for me are working withNaomi Campbell and PatrickDemarchelier on Naomi’s first Voguecover in 1989. It happened to be myfirst Vogue cover too. I did a lot ofbeauty spreads with the magazineover the years that I am reallyproud of. There were also momentslike doing make-up for L’WrenScott’s show at London FashionWeek to doing Dr Jill Biden’s (for-mer Vice President Joe Biden’s wife)make-up during the (Presidential)inauguration in 2009 and celebrat-ing my 20-year anniversary at BobbiBrown with a film by Bruce Weber.I’ll always cherish these moments.

(The show is on April 20 in NewDelhi.)

He had watched theNaseeruddin Shah andShabana Azmi-starringAlbert Pinto Ko Gussa KyunAata Hai? in his youth and it

left a huge impression on him. “It hasstayed with me till date. At that age, I couldrelate to Naseer’s anger,” says directorSoumitra Ranade, who has re-conceptu-alised the eponymous film starring ManavKaul, Nandita Das and Saurabh Shukla.

After liberalisation and opening up ofthe economy, a major chunk of populationwas pushed away from development,believes the director. “While we were allenjoying multiplexes, mobile phones andother luxuries, a large part of humanity wasleft out,” he says while talking about howhe had discovered the theme of the filmwhile travelling in the interiors of the coun-try where he found that people were angryand frustrated with what the system hadto offer.

He explains that the 1980’s film depict-ed that there was still room for develop-ment. “However, today I don’t see anyscope. Everything is so full and has beenoccupied, I see no space for understand-ing or development. Those were simplertimes. The common man is basicallyangry with himself that he is not able todo anything and is constantly facingbacklash from the corrupt system,” he says.Ranade’s Albert Pinto presents the angstof the common man and is an “an inter-esting take on reality.”

The Indian demography is theyoungest in the world and a majority of itsyoung people are unhealthy and unem-ployed, which makes them angry. He says,“If they remain in this state, India canbecome a terrorist country. We can actu-ally see that happening right now. They areso angry that they can be easily maneu-vered by political groups. Unless this emo-tion is channelised well, we are sitting onthe brink of a volcano which can erupt any-time.”

The Jajantaram Mamantaram directorbelieves that the ones who hold the great-est power to challenge or change the exist-ing notions of the society belong to themiddle class. “Most people in India belongto the middle class — the only group whichcan change or challenge the system. Thepoor are too powerless and the rich arenever interested. Unke liye toh sab achhahi hota hai (things are always good forthem). And most of the writers, painters,poets and the like can influence the peo-ple as they are all a part of the middle class.It’s important for them to open the win-dows, see the reality and change it,” he says.

Giving an example of mass farmer sui-cides in India, he explains that the issuehas become a slogan these days. “However,”he says, “the farmers have been commit-

ting suicides since the past 25 years. It’sonly now that we have come to know aboutit. And it is so deeply rooted that we don’teven realise how grave the situation is. Welearnt about it only when the farmersmarched into our cities. This is distress-ful and sad.”

He calls cinema “an extremely power-ful medium,” but he also believes that it

needs to reframe some of its aspects. “Ifyou use cinema only for Bollywood,masala films, it would be ridiculousexploitation of the medium. Big names andfilms don’t always work. A few films thatreleased last year are examples. And I amnot surprised actually. When you keep ongiving the same thing to the audience, theywill not accept it after a point. They want

to see interesting stories, which they canconnect to,” says he.

He gives the example of Dangal,which was something new, interesting andworth showcasing. He questions, “So whynot something like that? It can’t be justcrass and beautiful bodies all the time.How long can you keep giving the audi-ence that? They need stories which could

inspire them. The change is that even theaudience is accepting new concepts. Theyare becoming smarter and are able to tellthe creators their own choices. And anexposure to international cinema throughOTT platforms is the reason behind thischange.”

With the changing society, he says,even the cinematic concepts have evolved.Ranade believes that his 2003 film,Jajantaram Mamantaram came when,although there was despair, there was stillsome innocence left. “I had young kids atthe time and I was living a different storyevery night with them. And slowly, whenmy children grew up, I also looked in otherdirections and even the world around mechanged. And that started impacting me,which is obvious,” he says and adds that afilm has to be relevant to its time. “AndAlbert Pinto... is very important in today’stime. I am surprised that no one thoughtof making it as yet. We don’t appear to bea civilised society if you see the kind ofdebates that we have on news channels. Weare literally abusing and lynching eachother. What’s wrong with our language andculture?” he questions.

The second, of course, is the virtuallynching on social media. He adds, “It hasbecome a window for anger and blurtingout impulsive thoughts. It has become anonline court of judgments and opinions.With an anonymous identity, sitting in myroom, I can abuse anybody. It’s easy. Thatrage is not the solution, but I understandit.”

Well, what could be the solutionthen? He answers, “I think the solution isequality but attaining it is very difficult. Idon’t know if we are ever going to reachthat goal. But we need to, at least, have thebasic necessities distributed equally.”

Telling us the reason why he choseManav and Nandita for the lead roles, helaughs and says that both are ”my verygood friends.” However, that is just one ofthe many reasons in the list.

“I find Manav to be a very interestingactor. He can show every emotion veryeffortlessly. His face can deal with versa-tile emotions easily. If I tell you that he isa good-hearted person, you will want tobelieve me. If I say, he is a very kameenatype ka aadmi, you would still want tobelieve me. You will believe me even if Isay that he is a very sensitive man. He isnot ‘one’ kind of a person, he is all of these.He can be a beautiful, pretty, romantic heroas well. And Nandita, she is not ‘an actor’actor. She is a thinking person, whose facereflects that intensity with which sheworks for anything. She is a writer and adirector as well who is intelligent and sen-sitive to understand a lot of things altogeth-er,” says he.

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Hairstylist Sapna Bhavnani willbe using recycled waste hair

and aesthetic masks to createunique presentations as a symbol ofbreaking stereotypes at the IndiaMake-up Show. The wardrobe willbe by Kallol Datta.

Sapna has come on board tocurate a special showcase titled#StrongIsTheWeakestLabel for theMumbai edition. The debut editionof the show is curated by BrothersIncorporated, founded by RahulTuljapurkar and Ninad Shah.

“As a child, all the superheroesI admired wore masks. I alsowanted to be one. These dayswomen are perceived as strongbecause we can run a household,raise children and husbands, earnsalary and also find time to dosome weight-lifting to get stronger,”Sapna said.

“We disguise our bruises bybuying the best foundation in themarket. Contour our cheek bonesand define our eyebrows to set ahorizon for ourselves. Perfumeshide the smell of decay and haircolour the grey skies above... I'mnot saying there is anything wrongin grooming oneself. But we startwith our face and hair and continuewith our body and soul,” she said.

“I'm not saying that is wrong aswell. It's a choice. My main reasonfor becoming a hair stylist was togive women a fringe to hide under.Over time, I changed that and said'Why should they hide?' Let's justcut it all off and show our faces,” sheadded.

The show began on Friday inMumbai. Sapna's showcase will beheld on April 13.

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PV Sindhu survived ascare before making

the semifinals but SainaNehwal was thoroughlyoutplayed in her straight-game quarterfinal loss ona mixed day for India at theSingapore Open bad-minton tournament onFriday.

Sindhu, in fact,emerged as the lone sur-vivor after India's cam-

paign in men's singles wasover following the ouster ofKidambi Srikanth andSameer Verma, and loss ofmixed doubles Indian pairof Pranaav Jerry Chopraand N Sikki Reddy later inthe day.

Sindhu defeated worldNo 18 Cai Yanyan of China21-13, 17-21, 21-14 to setup a meeting with formerworld champion NozomiOkuhara.

It is Sindhu's second

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Arsenal and Chelseaclosed in on the EuropaLeague last four on

Thursday after the Gunnerssaw off highly-fancied Napoli2-0 at the Emirates, whileMarco Alonso's late headerearned Maurizio Sarri's side ahard-fought win at SlaviaPrague.

Unai Emery's Arsenal holda healthy advantage going intonext week's second leg thanksto a fine early strike fromJuventus-bound Aaron Ramseyand an unfortunate KalidouKoulibaly own goal midwaythrough the first half, and canrue missed chances that wouldhave put the tie completelybeyond the Italians' reach.

"To keep a clean sheet andscore a couple of goals is a love-ly way to start the first leg.We're delighted with that," saidRamsey, who should haveadded the third when he blazedover with nine minutes left, toBT Sport.

"We can go into the secondleg with a little bit of a cushion,but we know it will be a diffi-cult place to go... They are aquality team."

Chelsea meanwhileescaped from Eden Arena aftera bitty display that saw KepaArrizabalaga have to makesome fine saves to keep the

Czechs out before Alonso nod-ded home Willian's pinpointcross four minutes from timeto seal a 1-0 win.

The Blues remain unbeat-en in the Europa League, keep-ing eight clean sheets in thecompetition this season, and itwas that solidity that saw themthrough on a tricky evening inPrague.

The Premier League pair

remain on a collision course forthe final in Baku, with bothsides set to avoid each other ifthey make it through nextweek's second legs.

"I was surprised by the lackof courage and personalityfrom my players at the start,"Carlo Ancelotti told Sky Sport.

"Turning this around willbe difficult now, but we'll behome at the San Paolo, and our

supporters will help us."

�����9�������� ����Arsenal will almost cer-

tainly take on Valencia shouldthey hold on at what will be anintimidating Stadio San Paoloafter the La Liga side scoredtwice in stoppage time to win3-1 at fellow SpaniardsVillarreal.

Goncalo Guedes scored

twice, including whatcould be the decisivethird three minutes intoadded time, asMarcelino's side struckwith two clinical break-away goals to give thema great chance of making thesemis.

Chelsea meanwhile willlikely play Benfica should theygo through after 19-year-oldJoao Felix became the youngestever player to score a EuropaLeague hat-trick and set up theother goal in 4-2 win overEintracht Frankfurt that leavesthe Bundesliga side, who had toplay with 10 men for 70 min-utes, with an uphill task to makethe last four in Germany nextweek.

Felix, a revelation in his first

season in the Benfica firstteam, got the ball rollingfrom the spot in the 21stminute after EvanN'Dicka was sent off forshoving over goal-boundGedson Fernandes.

He put the hosts back infront just before the break afterLuka Jovic — on loan fromBenfica — scored a shock lev-eller against his parent club inthe 40th minute.

Ruben Dias made it threewhen he headed in Felix's flick-on a from a corner, and the 19-year-old side-footed home AlexGrimaldo's cross to completehis treble nine minutes into thesecond half, before GoncaloPaciencia pulled one back withhis head from a corner to keepthe tie alive.

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Atletico Madrid coach DiegoSimeone believes Diego

Costa's eight-match ban isharsh and has dismissed sug-gestions the striker could besold in the summer.

Costa was handed thelengthy suspension by theSpanish Football Federation(RFEF) on Thursday for direct-ing a crude insult towards ref-eree Gil Manzano during thefirst half of Atletico's 2-0 defeatto Barcelona last weekend.

"It seems harsh to me,"Simeone said at a press confer-ence on Friday.

The punishment meansCosta will not play again this

season.But Simeone insists Costa

still has a future at the club."Absolutely yes, you know

what I think of Costa," Simeonesaid. "We must take care of ourown and with Costa, now morethan ever."

Atletico president EnriqueCerezo suggested on Thursdaythe club will appeal against theban.

"It's bad news," Cerezosaid. "The natural thing is forus to appeal, to ask for lenien-cy and see what happens.

"There are players who arevery temperamental. Insultsshould never happen on thefootball field but there aretimes when they do happen."

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Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac on Fridayconfirmed reports Robert Lewandowski and

Kingsley Coman were involved in a fist-fight dur-ing training, but ruled out any sanctions.

Kovac admitted the forwards traded blows fol-lowing an argument ata training sessionbehind closed doorson Thursday whilepreparing for Sunday'sleague game away toFortuna Duesseldorf.

"The three of ustalked about it, theplayers are sorry andhave apologised fortheir behaviour, there will be no financial penal-ties and the matter has been resolved," said Kovacin a press conference.

Lewandowski, 30, reportedly chastised Coman,22, during a training exercise, and the exchangeof words quickly escalated. The two players werereportedly separated by Niklas Suele and JeromeBoateng, but Kovac was evasive about the causeof the strife, saying simply "emotions" had run highin a heated training session.

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Mauricio Pochettino said it willbe "difficult" for Harry Kane to

play for Tottenham again this sea-son after the forward suffered anankle injury during theirChampions League win overManchester City.

The England captain, who suf-fered a "significant lateral ligament"injury in the 1-0 victory on Tuesday,is susceptible to ankle damage —this is his fifth ankle injury since2016 and the second to his left jointthis year.

"He was so upset after thegame, it was a difficult moment forhim," Tottenham boss Pochettinosaid ahead of his side's home matchagainst already relegatedHuddersfield on Saturday.

"We feel so disappointed and itwas difficult to accept the situation,"he added.

"He is now much better, he hadthe scan yesterday and he needs tosee the specialist next week. He is in

a good place because he is a posi-tive guy.

"It is a little bit sad but he is look-ing forward to recovering as soon aspossible."

When asked if he believes Kanecould return this season, Pochettinosaid: "We'll see, there is five weeks,it is going to be difficult.

"Next week we are going to seewith the specialist. We are going todo everything to recover him assoon as possible but there is only fiveweeks of the season to recover."

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Brazilian star Neymarwants to stay at Paris

Saint-Germain, where heis under contract until2022, according to hisfather and agent, Neymarsenior.

"We have a contract,we're not even halfwaythrough that contract,"Neymar senior told RMCSport.

Neymar arrived atPSG from Barcelona in2017, but has been at thecentre of rumours linkinghim with a move to RealMadrid.

"These rumours of

leaving will always exist,you can't have a playerlike Neymar without peo-

ple or clubs dreaming ofhaving him," saidNeymar senior.

PSG fans, he contin-ued, "can rest easy :Neymar today doesn'twant to leave PSG, hewants to continue at PSG,get back on the pitchfirst up, to be able to helpthe club claim titles andwin".

Neymar has been outwith an injured right footsustained on January 23,but the 27-year-old wasback in training onThursday and PSG willbe hoping he is fully fitfor the April 27 Frenchcup final against Rennes.

� ��� �06��

Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus head toSPAL on Saturday needing just a point

to wrap up an eighth consecutive Serie A titlein record time before their crucial ChampionsLeague decider against Ajax in Turin nextweek.

Ronaldo returned from injury to score aprecious away goal for Juventus in their 1-1Champions League quarter-final, first legdraw in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and the34-year-old can claim his first Italian leaguetitle to add to his two in Spain with RealMadrid and three with Manchester United.

It would be a 28th trophy in four coun-tries for the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, ahaul which includes five Champions League,and the Euro 2016 title with Portugal.

Juventus have a 20-point advantage onsecond-placed Napoli and a draw would sealtheir 35th 'Scudetto' with six games to spare— the earliest any team has ever sealed SerieA — thanks to their superior head-to-headrecord over Carlo Ancelotti's side.

SPAL, 16th and just four points above thedrop zone, had eased their relegation fearswith three consecutive wins that included vic-tories over Champions League-chasing Lazioand Roma, but lost last weekend at Cagliari.

Leonardo Semplici dogged side alsohave history against them, as they have beat-en Juventus just once in their history, wayback in 1957.

Given the relative weak-ness of the weekend's opposi-tion, coach MassimilianoAllegri may not want to riskRonaldo ahead of Tuesday'sChampions League deciderand could rotate his side.

Forwards Paulo Dybalaand Douglas Costa came off

the bench at Ajax ahead of highly-ratedteenager Moise Kean, who had scored fivegoals in as many games for Juventus.

All three could start against SPAL.Leonardo Bonucci looks set to work over-

time with defenders Giorgio Chiellini,Andrea Barzagli and Martin Caceres all outinjured.

"Let's close down the championship onSaturday," urged Bonucci.

Second-placed Napoli travel to bottomclub Chievo looking for a boost after theirdemoralising 2-0 Europa League quarter-final, first leg defeat at Arsenal.

Carlo Ancelotti's side are without a winin three games and next week host Arsenalin their Stadio San Paulo hoping for a mir-acle.

Inter Milan, seven points behind Napoli,can consolidate third place at second-from-bottom Frosinone after last weekend's drawagainst fellow Europe-chasers Atalanta.

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Sebastian Vettel fired a warn-ing as he powered his

Ferrari to the fastest time infirst practice at the milestoneChinese Grand Prix inShanghai on Friday.

For what will be the1,000th Formula One race, thefour-time world championclocked a best time of oneminute 33.911 seconds, with

Mercedes' reigning title-’derLewis Hamilton 0.207 secsbehind.

Third fastest was Vettel'syoung Ferrari team-mateCharles Leclerc, 0.256 secs offthe pace, followed by RedBull's Max Verstappen andValtteri Bottas in the otherMercedes.

But the session belongedto Germany's Vettel, 31, whohas been under pressure after

a series of unforced errorsstretching back to last season.

He has been strugglingwith the set-up of his Ferrariand admitted on Thursdaythat he is still not really athome in it.

Vettel finished fourth inthe season-opening race inMelbourne and was then fifthin Bahrain, where he waseclipsed by team-mate Leclerc,who is 10 years his junior.

Vettel's opening Shanghaisalvo was all the more impres-sive because the Ferraris wereon the slower medium tyres infirst practice.

The Chinese Grand Prixhas one of the longest straightsin Formula One, which willsuit Ferrari's awesome pace.

Toto Wolff, Mercedesteam principal, called Vettel'sstraight-line speed "frighten-ing".

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��������������K������������������������������semifinal of the season, fol-lowing a last-four finish atthe India Open last month.

The second-seededOkuhara, hailing fromJapan, didn't break muchsweat on her way to a 21-8, 21-13 win over sixthseed Saina.

In men's singles,Srikanth's struggle against

Kento Momota continuedas he suffered his ninthstraight loss to the Japanesetop seed, going down 18-21, 21-19, 9-21 in 66 min-utes to end his campaignwith yet another quarter-final finish.

Sameer Verma, aworld No 16, battled for anhour and nine minutes

before losing 10-21, 21-15,15-21 to second seededChinese Taipei Chou TienChen.

In mixed doubles,Pranaav and Sikki suf-fered a 14-21, 16-21 loss tothird seed Thai pair ofDechapol Puavaranukrohand SapsireeTaerattanachai to bow out

of the World Tour Super500 tournament.

Sindhu broke off at 5-5 in the opening game toearn the bragging rightsbut her Chinese rival cameback strongly in the secondgame, opening up a lead of11-6 at the break.

The Indian foughtback superbly to narrow

the lead to 15-16 beforeCai marched ahead to takethe match to the decider.

In the third game,Sindhu once again foundher bearings and surged toa lead of 11-5 before theinterval. The Indian con-tinued to move ahead andclosed out the match com-fortably in the end.

C M Y K

C M Y K