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FRANCE DENIES PAK PILOTSTRAINING ON RAFALE New Delhi: French AmbassadorAlexandre Ziegler dismissed as“fake news” reports that a batchof Pakistani pilots was trained onRafale fighter jets being procuredby Qatari Air Force. Aviationindustry website ainonline.Comreported the first batch of pilotstrained on the Rafale fighter jetfor Qatar in November 2017 were“Pakistani exchange officers”.

NO POLITICAL CONTENT ONNaMo TV: EC TO DELHI CEONew Delhi: The EC said sinceNaMo TV is sponsored by theBJP all recorded programmesdisplayed on the platform shouldbe pre-certified by mediacertification and monitoringcommittee of Delhi and allpolitical publicity contents beingdisplayed without pre-certification be removedimmediately.

CAPSULE

PTI n LONDON

AUK court on Thursdayfound Julian Assange guilty

on the charge of breaching hisbail conditions after theWikileaks co-founder wasarrested by Scotland Yard offi-cers from his Ecuador Embassyhideout in London as the SouthAmerican country withdrewthe asylum granted to him.

Assange, who has also been arrested on a provi-sional US extradition warrant,was produced beforeWestminster Magistrates Courtin London where he pleadednot guilty to the charge of fail-ing to surrender.

Describing his behaviouras that of a “narcissist who can-

not get beyond his own selfishinterest”, District Judge MichaelSnow ruled Assange was guiltyfor breaching bail and ordered him to appear viavideolink on May 2 for anextradition hearing.

The court heard that dur-ing his arrest at the embassyafter nearly seven years in hid-ing, the 47-year-old had to berestrained as he shouted: “Thisis unlawful, I am not leaving.”

Scotland Yard said afterhis initial arrest on breach ofbail conditions in the UK,Assange was further arrestedon behalf of the US authoritiesafter his arrival at a centralLondon police station on anextradition warrant. BritishPrime Minister Theresa May

confirmed the arrest inParliament, describing it as a“legal matter” as Assange nowfaces extradition proceedingsto the US on “charges relatingto computer offences”.

“He has also been arrestedin relation to an extraditionrequest from the United Statesauthorities,” May told theCommons in a statement.“This goes to show that in theUnited Kingdom, no one isabove the law,” she said.

Assange, who was seen inpublic after many years as hewas dragged out of the EcuadorEmbassy, appeared visibly agedand sporting a long whitebeard. He waved a thumbs-upsign at the public gallery incourt as he was produced in

court. He now faces a 12-month sentence in the UK onthe charge of failure to surren-der and will remain in judicialcustody until he is sentenced atSouthwark Crown Court inLondon next month.

According to details thatemerged in court, his extradi-tion to the US is sought onalleged conspiracy chargesrelated to one of the largestleaks of Government secrets.

Earlier on Thursday, theMetropolitan Police said itsofficers had executed a warrantagainst Assange dating back toJune 29, 2012 for “failing to sur-render” before a UK.

The Australian-born cam-paigner has been holed up in aback room of the Ecuadorembassy in central London fornearly seven years since his

arrest on sexual assault chargesin Sweden.

He had claimed asylumon the grounds that he fearedultimate extradition to the US,

where he claims to face a pos-sible death sentence or torturefor Wikileaks’ alleged leak ofAmerican secrets.

Continued on Page 7

RAHUL DATTA/MOHIT KANDHARIn NEW DELHI/JAMMU

Even as the killers of RSSleader Chandrakant Sharma

from Kishtwar are yet to beidentified, security forces aredesperately hunting for a groupof seven to eight terrorists whoare believed to be tasked by theirPakistani handlers to targetleaders of a particular commu-nity and desecrate their placesof worship in an effort to stokecommunal strife.

Alarm bells have startedringing in the security estab-lishment as the heavily-armedgroup is still at large after infil-trating into the region fromacross the Line of Control(LOC) from launch pads inPakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK) about a week back.

Intelligence reports saidterrorists are likely to carry outattacks in Batote andUdhmapur regions besidesKishtwar.

All these regions in Jammuregion south of Pir Panjal havenot seen terrorist related inci-

dents in the last one and halfdecades thereby posing a freshchallenged to the security forces.

Not ruling out more attacksin the coming days, sources inthe security establishmentsaid on Thursday themain aim of the ISI andPakistan Army is to upthe ante in all the dis-tricts South of PirPanjal in Jammu divi-sion.

Elaborating uponthe “deadly” game plan,officials said the terroristswho infiltrated into theregion were specificallyinstructed to targetminority group leadersand desecrate religiousplaces. This region has so farseen communal harmony andvirtually no terrorist relatedincidents even as North of PirPanjal region including theSrinagar valley and otherregions are witnessing terror-ism.

Given the geographicalspread of South of Pir Panjalregion comprising Doda,Kishtwar, Rajouri and Poonch,they said this area is much big-ger and rugged than theSrinagar valley and other dis-

tricts in North of Pir Panjal.

In this backdrop, the Armyhad to create three controlcentres of its own, includingRomeo force to take care of

Rajouri, Delta Force forDoda region andUniform centre for other

regions.All these centres com-

prise Rashtriya Riflestroops of the Army.

Incidentally, they are onlytwo such centres in North ofPir Panjal as the area issmall.

The early 1990s hadwitnessed large scaleinfiltration in South of

Pir Panjal and terrorist relatedincidents and relentless oper-ations over the years broughtthe situation well under controlafter a few years.

In fact, the region had notseen any incidents in the lastone decade.

Taking note of the threatposed by Pakistan renewedeffort to increase levels of vio-lence in this region, sourcessaid it may pose a far biggerchallenge given the vastness ofthe area. The security estab-

lishment will undertake areview of its counter-insur-gency and counter-infiltrationstrategy in the background ofthe emerging situation, theyadded.

Meanwhile, the mortalremains of Sharma and hisPersonal security Officer(PSO), Rajinder Kumar, killedin a terrorist attack inside dis-trict hospital on Tuesday, wereconsigned to flames at a his-toric Chougan parade groundin Kishtwar.

In effort to prevent anycommunal strife in the wake ofthe murder, the district admin-istration continued with curfewrestrictions in Kishtwar regioneven on Thursday. KishtwarDeputy Commissioner A SRana said there was no reportof any untoward incident fromanywhere in the district andstrict vigilance was being main-tained in all sensitive areas.

Situation in the area wasvolatile despite heavy presenceof security forces onWednesday as a group of agi-tated local residents peltedstones on the office ofSuperintendent of Police near

Continued on Page 7

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onThursday brought down

the curtain on the case ofalleged corruption involvingpoliticians, bureaucrats andcorporates in the Enron-Dabhol power project, sayingthat “long delay” of over 25years, will serve no “usefulpurpose” in continuing with the judicial commission ofenquiry.

The SC was faced with thesole question as to whether thejudicial commission of enquiry,which was set up on November7, 2001 under the chairmanshipof former apex court judge SPKurdukar, should continuewith the probe to ascertain cul-pability of various public ser-vants in the 1993 case.

Detailed report on P5

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Ministry onThursday clarified that

media reports on the greenlight beaming on the head ofCongress chief Rahul Gandhiduring a media interaction inAmethi was not a sniper’s lightbut was merely the light of themobile phone of the AICCphotographer who was video-recording his impromptu Pressconference.

The Ministry spokespersonsaid the SPG Director enquiredthe matter and found that thegreen light originated fromthe mobile phone of the AICCphotographer. He also saidthat Congress did not complainto Home Minister RajnathSingh on this incident.

The Home Ministry saidthey had contacted the SPGchief, after the media reportedon the complaint of Congress

on breach of security afterRahul came out from filingnominations from Amethi onWednesday.

It is learned that certainCongress leaders raised con-cern when the laser light wasseen pointed at Rahul’s head.This led to security concernswithin the party, but it was laterfound that the light was froma camera.

When contacted, a HomeMinistry spokesperson said assoon as the Ministry’s attention

was drawn to reports about theincident, the Director (SpecialProtection Group) was asked toverify the factual position.

“Director (SPG) hasinformed MHA that they havegone through the video clip-ping of the incident very close-ly. The ‘green light’ shown inthe clipping was found to bethat of a mobile phone used bythe AICC photographer, whowas video-graphing theimpromptu Press interaction ofRahul Gandhi near the collec-

torate at Amethi.“The Director (SPG) has

also informed the MHA thatthis position was conveyed tothe personal staff of RahulGandhi. The Director (SPG)has confirmed that there wasno security implication what-soever,” the spokesperson said.

Congress chief spokesper-son Randeep Surjewala theparty has written no letter per-taining to alleged securitybreach to Home MinisterRajnath Singh.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The turnout dipped heavilyin North-East States of

Assam, Arunachal, Sikkim,Meghalaya, Nagaland — a pos-sible outcome of unrest over thecontentious Citizenship Bill —in the first phase of Lok Sabhaelections. The region saw noupswing in turnout with Statessuch as Tripura, Manipur andMizoram recording status quo.

Maharashtra, Odisha saw aslight decline in turnout whilethe politically explosive regionof western Uttar Pradesh sawno major change in compari-son to 2014. However, with 53per cent polling, Bihar saw 2per cent rise in turnout as com-pared to the 2014 LS polls.

With TDP presidentChandra Babu Naidu and hisbitter rival Jagan Mohan Reddyof YSR Congress going all out formassive mobilisation, AndhraPradesh saw improvement in thepolling percentage. AndhraPradesh CEO Dwiwedi said thepercentage may come out to be80 per cent, six per cent morethan 2014 general elections.

There was high voterturnout of 81 per cent for twoLok Sabha seats of Bengal and72 per cent for one Jammu seat.

One thing was distinctlyclear: There was no majorupswing in the voters’ turnoutin major part of the country.This marked the absence of any“wave” in the polls — some-thing can be interpreted ineither way by both the rulingBJP and the Opposition parties.

Meghalaya recorded an

average turnout of 62 per centon two LS seats as against 69per cent witnessed in 2014,while turnout out fell by near-ly 10 per cent in Nagaland from88 per cent in 2014 to 78 percent this time around. InSikkim, the turnout was 74 percent as against 83 per centrecorded in 2019.

In Assam, where pollingwas held for five Lok Sabhaseats — Dibrugarh, Jorhat,Kaliabor, Tezpur andLakhimpur — the turnoutslipped to 68 per cent from 80per cent in 2014. ArunachalPradesh saw a decline of near-ly 12 per cent votes at 66 percent in comparison to 78 percent recorded in 2014.

However, Tripura recordedan impressive turnout of 81 percent, marginal decline of threeper cent whereas Manipurmatched the 2014 turnout of 79per cent as was the case withMizoram which recordedturnout of 61 per cent.

About 64 per cent of votersexercised their franchise till 6pm on Thursday in eight LokSabha constituencies of westernUttar Pradesh that went to pollsin the first phase. Estimating anaverage voter turnout of 63.69per cent, the poll officials saidthe percentage is likely toincrease when total is compiled.

Poll officials said till 6 pmSaharanpur recorded maxi-mum voter turnout at 70.68 percent, while the least turnoutwas reported for Ghaziabadwhere it stood at 57.60 per cent.

Continued on Page 7Related reports on P6

NO WAVE KEEPS POLL OUTCOME UNDER WRAPS

Voter turnout intact inwestern UP; slight risein Bihar; dip in Assam

RAJESH KUMAR n NEW DELHI

With the drug haul going upto 27,184 kg before the

first phase of polls itself, theElection Commission (EC) hasstrictly prohibited grant ofparole by States to drug offend-ers. The EC also instructedStates that parole should begranted to imprisoned convictsduring the ongoing poll seasononly in cases of “extreme emer-gency” and it should be ensuredthat they do not participate inelection-related affairs.

As per EC’s data, theCommission has seized drug

worth `1,091.93 crore sincethe announcement of the LokSabha polls on March 10.

In a letter to chief secre-taries of all States and UTs, theEC said the model code of con-duct should be applied in casesof release of convicts on parole.

The enforcement agenciesare worried as 27,184 kg ofdrugs/narcotics were seizedacross the country during thefirst phase of elections. As perreports, tablets of anti-depres-sants alprazolam, tramadol,heroin, opium, ganja, cocaine,denatonium benzoate,methamphetamine and brown

sugar form the part of theseizure.

The EC officials feel thathuge quantity of drug may beused by political workers orpoliticians to influence thevoters during the poll seasons.

The Commission has alsomade a special reference for thegrant of parole to drug offend-ers, saying this should be“strictly prohibited”, and incase they are granted this leavefrom jail under special cir-cumstances, police and anti-narcotics sleuths should beinformed in advance.

Continued on Page 7

Enraged locals stormKairana polling booth

EC bans drug offenders’ paroleas narcotic haul rises to 27k kg

Shutterbug’s laser gun pointed at Rahul!Green light on Cong

chief’s head from

lensman’s phone,

clarifies MHA

RSS leader’s murdera bid in that direction

SC closes Enron

case over delay Assange held guilty of breach of bail in UKWikileaks co-founder faces extradition to US

Julian Assange gestures as he arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in Londonon Thursday AP

Pak handlers trying communal riots in J&K

Voters click a selfie after casting their vote in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya on Thursday PTI

PNS n AMARAVATI/HYDERABAD

Three persons — twobelonging to the YSR

Congress and one TeluguDesam Party — were killed inpoll-related violence betweenthe two parties in AndhraPradesh that registered a 73 percent polling for the simultane-ous elections for 175 Assemblyand 25 Lok Sabha seats. Amongthe injured included AssemblySpeaker K Siva Prasad Rao.

In Telangana though, thepolling process passed offpeacefully with over 60 per centvoter turnout.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefElectoral Officer Gopal

Krishna Dwivedi said therewere some glitches in the func-tioning of 381 EVMs whichwere rectified soon. This is thefirst general election in the Stateafter bifurcation of AndhraPradesh and the creation ofTelangana in June 2014.

In Guntakal (AP), JanaSena Party candidate and for-mer MLA Madhusudan Guptasmashed an EVM in a fit ofrage alleging that the partysymbol was not properly print-ed on the ballot unit. He alsoshouted at the polling person-nel. Gupta was immediatelytaken into custody, police said.

The polls will decide thefate of Andhra Pradesh CMand TDP president NChandrababu Naidu andOpposition YSR Congress chiefJaganmohan Reddy.

3 killed in AndhraAssembly Speaker

among several hurt

SP SINGH n KAIRANA

In first phase of the 2019 gen-eral elections, tension

gripped Raulpur Gujranpolling station in UttarPradesh’s Kairana after the

Border Security Force (BSF)fired five shots in the air to dis-perse an agitated crowd, whopolice officials said, tried toenter the polling booth withoutcarrying voters’ cards.

According to an official,the election process remaineddisrupted from 11.05 am to12.30 pm. However, the situa-tion was brought under control.

Two villagers Ajmer Singhand Pahal Singh alleged thatthe polling staff had askedthem to cast their vote for jointcandidate of the Samajwadi

Party (SP) and Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) and they had toreturn without casting votes.Following which some vil-lagers were enraged and theyturned up at the polling boothsituated in a primary schooloutside the village in Kairanaand started raising slogansagainst staffers.

When crowd soared, a BSFjawan opened fire in the airafter which the crowd dis-persed and calm prevailed atthe polling station.

Continued on Page 7

Protest ensues as 2 claim

staff asked them to vote

for SP; BSF opens fire

o With 53 per cent polling,Bihar saw 2 per cent risein turnout as compared tothe 2014 LS polls

o In Jammu, 72.16 per centof voters turned up at thepolling stations, ascompared to 69.17 percent last time

o Two seats in West Bengal— Cooch Behar andAlipurduars — went topoll in the first phase. Thestate will have polling in allseven phases

o The voting percentage inKairana was 62.10 percent, Muzaffarnagar 65.66per cent, Bijnor 65.40 percent and 60.15 per cent inGautam Buddha Nagar

o There was no majorupswing in the voters’turnout in major part ofthe country

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SUDAN ARMY TOPPLES VETERAN LEADER BASHIR

OPINION 8

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SPORT 15

BARCELONA BEATMAN UTD 1-0

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Late City Vol. 155 Issue 98 *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN HYDERABAD VIJAYWADA

Established 1864

RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2019-21

LUCKNOW, FRIDAY APRIL 12, 2019; PAGES 16 `3

BOND WITH

CO-ACTOR IS

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QUICK TAKES

PNS n LUCKNOW

United ProgressiveAlliance chairpersonSonia Gandhi remind-

ed Prime Minister NarendraModi that he was not “invinci-ble” and referred to BharatiyaJanata Party’s ‘India Shinning’campaign in 2004 when theUPA defeated the Atal BihariVajpayee-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA).

After filing her nominationfor a fourth time from RaeBareli on Thursday, Sonia,while replying to a question onModi returning to power,reminded, “During 2004 polls,everyone was speaking aboutAtal Bihari Vajpayee returningto power through the ‘IndiaShinning’ campaign. Everyoneknows what happened afterthat.”

Claiming that the UPAwould repeat the feat of 2004,Sonia said that this time theCongress was sure to post ahandsome victory.

Congress president RahulGandhi, who was by the side ofhis mother, later added thatevery egoistic person believedthat he could not be defeated,but this time he would bedefeated.

Rahul once again reiterat-ed that the Prime Ministerwas involved in corruption inthe Rafale aircraft deal and noweven the Supreme Court hadconfirmed that “Chowkidar

chor hi hai”. Reiterating his challenge to

the Prime Minister for an opendebate on Rafale, Rahul said

that he was ready even to go tothe Prime Minister’s residenceat 7, Race Course in NewDelhi for the debate over cor-ruption.

“I guarantee that Modi willnot look anyone in the eye afterthe debate and I challenge thePrime Minister to take anyaction against me,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi questionedhow the offset contract underRafale deal with French firmDassault went to Anil Ambani,whom Modi considers his“friend and brother”.

Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhifiled her nomination papersfrom her traditional familyseat Rae Bareli on Thursday.

Accompanied by her sonand Congress chief RahulGandhi, daughter PriyankaGandhi Vadra, the latter’s hus-band Robert Vadra and their

two children, Sonia followedthe old tradition of performing‘puja’ and ‘hawan’ at the districtparty office. Later, the UPAchairperson took part in abrief roadshow before filing hernomination papers at the dis-trict collectorate.

Congress supporters alsowaved massive flags that por-trayed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and industrial-ist Anil Ambani embracingeach other.

People from “PriyankaYouth Front” squatted on theroad. They wore shirts with thepicture of the Congress gener-al secretary. Party workers hadeven installed devices thatshowered flower petals onparty leaders. Stalls distrib-uted water packets to workers.

Earlier on Wednesday,Rahul Gandhi had filed his

nomination papers from theadjoining Amethi constituen-cy where his family membersjoined him for a roadshow.

Talking to media personafter filing her nomination,Sonia claimed that there was nosuch contest in Rae Bareli.

“People of the country arefed up with the Bharatiya JanataParty and Narendra Modi andthey have made up their mindsto replace him,” she said.

In Rae Bareli, the BJP hasfielded old Congressman andMLC Dinesh Pratap Singhagainst Sonia Gandhi, makingthe contest interesting. In the2014 polls, Sonia Gandhi haddefeated BJP candidate AjayAgarwal by over four lakhvotes. Polling in Amethi andRae Bareli constituencies willbe held in the fifth phase onMay 6.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Promising reservations forDalits and Muslims in

Aligarh Muslim University(AMU), Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that theBharatiya Janata Party wascommitted to providing quotato that section of society whichdeserved it.

Addressing two poll ralliesin Aligarh, Yogi said that AMUwas a central university but wasdenied the status of minorityinstitution. “Therefore, thebenefits of reservation forDalits and Muslims have beendenied here. We are committedto extending this benefit to thedeprived section,” he promised.

Realising that he wasspeaking in the region of for-mer BJP leader and presentRajasthan Governor Kalyan

Singh, Yogi said that the landwas a testimony of sacrifices ofKalyan Singh, who had to go tojail for the construction ofRam temple in Ayodhya.

“From this rally ground, Ideclare that only the BJP gov-ernment can ensure construc-tion of Ram temple atAyodhya,” he said.

About Congress, Yogi saidthat during the UnitedProgressive Alliance regime,China used to browbeat Indiabut in the Narendra Modi rule,China had been thrown out ofDoklam.

“Similarly, it is the Modigovernment which gave a befit-ting reply to Pakistan by carry-ing out air strikes across theinternational border inBalakot,” Yogi reminded thepeople.

“The Congress used to say

that the first right on govern-ment resources was that ofMuslims, but the BJP says thatevery person has equal right ongovernment resources,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Yogitook part in a roadshow in

Amethi where Union TextilesMinister Smriti Irani filed hernomination paper.

“Rahul has no time forAmethi. He has not sent a pro-posal for development ofAmethi,” Yogi said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Claiming that the first phasepoll had set the tone and

tenor of polling in UttarPradesh, Samajwadi Party pres-ident Akhilesh Yadav said thatit was mandatory for develop-ment of India to defeat theBharatiya Janata Party as itindulged in the politics of hate.

Addressing an election rallyin Sambhal, Akhilesh said theBJP was following the principleof divide and rule and thereforetrying to divide society in thename of religion and caste.

“The need of the hour is toexpress unity so that we candefeat the nefarious designs ofthe BJP,” the SP chief said.

“The alliance of SamajwadiParty, Bahujan Samaj Party andRashtriya Lok Dal will bringabout a ‘mahaparivartan’ whichwill usher in an era of prosper-

ity in the country. Therefore, itis the responsibility of everyvoter to vote en bloc in favourof the alliance,” Akhilesh said.

Hitting out at the BJP, the SPchief said that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi always playedwith the sentiments of people.

“First, he spoke about ‘achhedin’ but actually took awayemployment by banning highdenomination currency notes.This resulted in closing down offactories. In UP, the state govern-ment has failed to control themenace of stray cattle. Whilefarmers are forced to do ‘chowki-dari’ of their fields, the BJPworkers call themselves a‘chowkidar’,” he said.

Speaking about his govern-ment’s achievements, Akhileshreminded, “No government hasever made a highway as good asAgra-Lucknow Expressway. TheSP regime started Samajwadi

Pension Scheme but it was with-drawn by the present BJP gov-ernment. Our government dis-tributed laptops among stu-dents but this regime did noth-ing. This government talks aboutimprovement in power supplybut has not set up any powerplants.”

“The BJP government hasdefrauded Shiksha Mitras. Thisis the time to teach a lesson tothe BJP. Therefore vote in favourof our alliance,” he exhorted thevoters.

PNS n LUCKNOW

All-India Power EngineersFederation (AIPEF) sub-

mitted a memorandum toCongress general secretary in-charge UP east, PriyankaGandhi Vadra, against thepower sector privatisation poli-cies which include outsourcingand demanding regularisationof contract workers.

A delegation of AIPEF ledby its chairman ShailendraDubey discussed with Priyankaissues concerning the powersector and handed over thememorandum. The othermembers of the delegation wereRajeev Singh, HN Pandey, AjayDwivedi, PK Pandey and ReenaTripathi.

Dubey said that Priyanka

assured the delegation that theCongress would oppose thetransfer of public sector prop-erty to private players andwould strengthen the state rolein power sector.

When the AIPEF apprisedthe Congress leader of black-mailing of public sector banksand state power utilities by bigindustrial houses in the nameof stressed assets, she assuredthe delegation that the Congresswould investigate all scandals.

About restoration of oldpension scheme, the Congressleader said that a supplemen-tary manifesto would be issuedand it would also cover regularrecruitment and regularisationof existing contractual staff.

In its memorandum, theAIPEF demanded that a high-

powered committee with rep-resentatives of all stakeholdersincluding consumers andpower engineers be set up toreview the present situation.

It said the unification ofunbundled power boards wasthe need of hour for better co-ordination and to avoid waste-ful expenditure.

“This is very critical sincea new government would betaking over shortly and it wouldbe prudent to resolve some ofthe long standing problems.The most critical of these is thereview of impact of ElectricityAct, 2003 and attempt to fur-ther amend it with the intentionto facilitate privatisation ofpower supply,” Dubey said in astatement issued in Lucknow onThursday.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Leading a massive roadshowin Amethi, Union Textiles

Minister Smriti Irani filed hernomination papers with theresolve to defeat Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi in a con-stituency considered to be thebastion of the Congress party.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath accompanied Iraniin the 4-km-long roadshowwhich passed through the mainthoroughfare of the town.

“Rahul Gandhi does nothave time for Amethi. I hadsought proposals for develop-ment from him a number oftimes, but he did not give (anyproposal). Whenever SmritiIrani used to meet me, shetalked about the developmentof Amethi and facilities beinggiven to its people,” he said.

“I am confident that ifbehen (sister) Smriti Irani iselected as the Lok Sabha MPfrom here, there will be all-round development ofAmethi,” he added.

“You know Rahul is alsocontesting from Wayanad inKerala as he knows that thistime Amethi will vote againsthim. People will teach this‘missing MP’ a lesson as he hasneglected development in thisregion,” Irani said after filingher papers.

The Bharatiya Janata Partyleader, who lost to RahulGandhi by over one lakh votesin 2014, also questioned theCongress president’s silenceover the recovery of unac-counted Rs 280 crore from anaide of Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath. “This isthe true face of Congress andRahul’s silence has exposed thereality,” she said.

Irani filed the nominationafter a roadshow which start-ed with prayers at Budhanmaaitemple in Gauriganj along withher husband. She submittedfour sets of nomination papersto district election officer RMMishra.

Enthusiastic BJP workers

danced to the beats of drumsand the road was painted in saf-fron hue. Party workers carriedflags, women were clad in saf-fron sarees and men in saffronbandanna carried placardswhich read ‘Main bhi chowki-dar’.

“This is not a roadshowbefore filing the papers, it is avictory procession. This timeSmriti Irani will win fromAmethi,” BJP worker ManishSharma prophesied.

As the motorcade crawledthrough the crowd of enthusi-astic party workers and sup-porters, people showered theBJP leaders with petals.

Waiving a BJP flag, NareshSonkar (52) said Smriti hadbeen working in the area forthe last five years and this timeshe would get returns for herhard work.

Situated 120 km south-eastof Lucknow, Amethi is betterknown as a seat of power of theGandhi dynasty since 1980.Congress lost elections inAmethi only twice — in 1977and 1998. In these years, theCongress governments tried toset up industries and ancillaryunits but they were closeddown leaving the regionimpoverished. The BJP cashedin on the prevailing poverty in

the area and accused Congressleaders of apathy.

Despite losing in 2014,Smriti Irani nurtured the con-stituency in the last five yearsand visited Amethi with giftsof projects like roads, waterand uninterrupted power sup-ply.

Irani’s frequent visits toAmethi and her camaraderiewith villagers has given a newhope to BJP workers that theycan beat Rahul this time. TheBJP has even coined a slogan‘Ab ki baar Amethi hamaar’.

Driving around Amethione would encounter pro-Congress and pro-BJP sup-porters, both of them beingvocal. The decision of RahulGandhi to contest fromWayanad in Kerala along withAmethi has become a hot issuefor debate in the area.

“Rahul’s decision to contestfrom Wayanad is an insult toAmethi because this gives animpression that the Gandhifamily is looking for a secondoption,” Surendra Tiwari ofBehta said.

His neighbour Uttam nod-ded in agreement saying:“Probably Rahul also knowsabout it (his defeat) and hastherefore decided to contestfrom another constituency.”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Rashtriya Lok Dalspokesman Anil Dubey

said that the SP-BSP-RLDalliance would win all eight LokSabha seats which went topolls on Thursday.

“The end of the BJP rule atthe Centre has begun. Thecandidates of the alliance willwin all eight seats with hugemargin in west UP,” he said.

Dubey said that the peopleof west UP had completelyrejected the BJP and had givena strong message to those whocheated people by making falsepromises and played divisivepolitics. “Such parties have noplace in west UP,” Dubey said.

The RLD leader thankedthe west UP voters and saidthat the public had given awarning to those propagatingcommunal tension to gainpolitical mileage from it.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident

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The Original Allotment / poses-sion Letter, Lease Deed of PropertyBearing No. B 2/187 Vijay Khand isLost. A Lost & Found report for thesame made on 02.04.2019, anyonefound to be in Posession of samewill be deemed illegal.

Modi not ‘invincible’, says Sonia

Files nomination from Rae Bareli

UPA chairperson and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, second left, stands with her daughter and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, her son-in-law RobertVadra and grandson Raihan Vadra after filing her nomination papers in Rae Bareli on Thursday AP

Sonia declares assetsworth `11.82 crore

Rae Bareli (PTI): UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi onThursday declared personal assets worth `11.82 crore, accord-ing to the affidavit she submitted while filing her nominationpapers here. During the 2014 general elections, she had declaredtotal assets worth `9.28 crore.

Gandhi’s movable assets stand at `4.29 crore, according tothe affidavit. She has given a loan of `5 lakh to her son andCongress president Rahul Gandhi, the affidavit says. She hascash worth `60 lakh and bank deposits of `16.5 lakh.

In 2014, she had declared assets worth ̀ 9.28 crore that com-prised movable assets of `2.81 crores including 1267.3 gramsgold, 88 kg silver and `66 lakh in bank accounts.

She has one criminal case against her, filed by BJP MPSubramanian Swamy.

Irani files nomination with resolve to win from Amethi

Yogi promises reservations

for Dalits, Muslims in AMU

First phase poll has set

the trend: Akhilesh

AIPEF delegation discusses

power issues with PGV

Alliance to win allseats of 1stphase polls: RLD

LEOPARD STRAYS INTO VILLAGE,KILLS THREE HEAD OF CATTLE

Allahabad: A leopard killed at leastthree heads of cattle and attacked some vil-lagers in Shahabpur village under theKunda police station in Pratapgarh districton Wednesday night. On getting informa-tion about it, the Forest department offi-cials reached the spot and put a cage thereto trap the feline. The leopard reportedlyentered the cowshed of Gagan Shukla andattacked two cows and calf. It also devouredthe calf partially before Shukla and othervillagers reached the spot. However, theleopard chased the villagers away and thenfled towards the forest. Forest ranger VijayShankar reached the village in the morn-ing and confirmed the presence of the leop-ard after checking its pugmarks. He saidthat combing operation had begun and acage had been put there to trap it. It isbelieved that the leopard strayed into thevillage from the nearby forests through adrain which passes through it.

MAN SHOT AT IN SHAMLIMuzaffarnagar: A man was serious-

ly injured after two unidentified men shot

at him in Kudana village of Shamli district,police said on Thursday. The accusedopened fire at Kapil Kumar after pickinghim up from his house on Wednesdayevening, station house officer SubhashSingh Rathore said. Kumar was rushed tohospital and is stated to be in a serious con-dition, the SHO said. A case was registeredand efforts are underway to nab theaccused, he added.

MAN SHOOTS BROTHER-IN-LAW Varanasi: The police detained some

persons for interrogation but failed toapprehend the miscreant who shot hisbrother-in-law dead in Ramrepur, underCantonment police station on Wednesdaylast. Mritunjay Singh shot dead his broth-er-in-law Chandan Singh when he was athis home in Ramrepur, under theCantonment police station on Wednesday.Chandan was living with his wife Priya andtwo wards at Ramrepur. It is said that oftenboth husband and wife used to have heat-ed exchange of words. According to infor-mation, both husband and wife had a heat-ed exchange of words on the first day ofNavratri over some issue The situation

took an ugly turn when Priya informed herbrother Mritunjay about the tiff with herhusband. Mritunjay, who lives in Mau,reached the residence of Chandan with hisother sister Shilpi and two others onWednesday afternoon. When Mritunjaywas holding talks with Chandan to sort outthe matter, Mritunjay took out pistol andopened fire, killing him.

WOMAN KILLED FOR RESISTINGROBBERY

Muzaffarnagar: A 48-year-oldwoman was allegedly strangled to death forresisting robbery at her house here, policesaid on Thursday. Four persons allegedlykilled the woman, identified as Huma, andlooted cash and valuables from her housein Ambar Vihar colony on Tuesday night,they said.

MAN HELD IN UP FOROBJECTIONABLE POST

Muzaffarnagar: A man, Amit Kumar,was arrested from Miranpur town onWednesday for allegedly posting an objec-tionable content against a particular religionon the social media, police said Thursday

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

city 03LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Awoman advocate ofSupreme Court and aformer IRS official were

among some of the candidateswho filed their nominationpapers for the forthcomingLok Sabha elections atCollectorate on Thursday.

SC advocate SangeetaSingh and former IRS officialGirish Narayan Pandey filedtheir nomination papers from35 Lucknow Lok Sabha con-

stituency while regional pres-ident of Lok Dal Shatrohan LalRawat filed his papers for 34Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha con-stituency.

Pandey, who is a memberof Sarvodaya Bharat Party, saidhe was contesting elections forthe third time. “I first contest-ed the Vidhan Sabha electionsin 2017 from Gaura constituen-cy in Gonda and then fromGorakhpur in bypolls whenChief Minister YogiAdityanath’s seat was vacated,”

he said. Talking to mediaper-sons, he said he had a humblebeginning at a “desi pathshala”under a mango tree in a remotearea where there was no infra-structure. “Later, I went on topursue MSc in Physics fromAllahabad University and thenbecame IRS officer after clear-ing Civil Services examina-tion and finally retired as a sec-retary to the Government ofIndia. “I had never thought thata farmer’s son would becomean IRS official,” he said about

himself. “It is important toobserve that in the last 18years, so many farmers havecommitted suicide. The mainissue is that the Constitutionhas not reached the people ofIndia. We have been going tovillages in the past four years,singing tales of Constitution.We ask people whether theyknow about the Constitution ofIndia and only 2-3 people sayyes,” he pointed out. Asked asto what he wanted to do forLucknow, he said it was impor-

tant to ensure education foreach and every child and med-ical care for all.

The assets which hedeclared included Rs one lakhcash in his name, 1.3 lakh in hiswife’s name, shares worth Rs112 lakh in his name and Rs125.5 lakh in his wife’s name.His saving bank account has Rs3.6 lakh while that of his wifehas Rs 4 lakh.

Sangeeta Singh, who filedher nomination as a candidateof Rashtriya RashtriyawadiParty, said that the main aim ofthe party was to get the electionsymbols removed from theelection process.

A native of Gonda anddaughter of petro-chemicalengineer Amar Bahadur Singh,Sangeeta pursued Law fromLucknow University. A residentof Mall Avenue, she shuttlesbetween Lucknow and Delhi.

The assets she declaredincluded a 2,000 square feetland in Lucknow and 1 acreland in Moradabad. She alsohas Rs 2.5 lakh in her savingbank accounts. This is the firsttime that she is contestingelections and she has not evenstood for Bar Council elections.

A single mother of threechildren, Sangeeta, while inter-acting with mediapersons, saidby standing for elections, shewas trying to send across amessage to BJP MP fromLucknow Rajnath Singh thathe should come here andunderstand the pain of locals. Shatrohan Lal Rawat’sassets included Rs 2,000 incash and a house worth Rs 2crore. Rawat, who previouslyfought the elections in 2014 asa member of BharatiyaSangathit Party, said he want-ed to establish a ‘labour mandi’where any registered labourer would not be withoutwork and would be given Rs200 per day.


Aday after the powerfulexplosion at a house in

which six persons had sufferedinjuries and the neighbouringhouses damaged, Mohanlalganjresidents took to social mediaon Thursday and exposed thepolice claim, that the blastoccurred after an LPG cylindercaught fire, by posting severalphotos from the site.

Pushed on the back foot,the police admitted that theexplosion followed after thestockpile of firecrackers storedin Shakil’s house caught fire.

Mohanlalganj SHOGaudeen Shukla said a case

under 4/5 Explosive Act andother counts was registeredagainst Shakil and his familymembers. “The case was regis-tered on the complaint ofMohammed Rizwan, who suf-fered injuries along with four ofhis family members and theirhouses were destroyed in theexplosion. The fire first brokeout in an LPG cylinder atShakil’s house and then itengulfed the firecrackers andexplosives stored in a room,”the SHO said.

An investigation of thecase revealed that Shakil alsoused to store firecrackersbesides manufacturing them.Shakil also was into LPG refill-

ing business. “We had madeserious objections and had alsocomplained to police. ButShakil was never questioned bythe police due to his good rap-port with low-rung cops,”Rizwan alleged. It surfacedthat Shakil had secured a 3-daylicence for sale of firecrackerson Diwali.

“Shakil secured the licencefrom the district administra-tion. The police are investigat-ing if Shakil had stored the fire-crackers in his house,” policespokesman AK Dwivedi said.About illegal refilling of LPG

cylinders, the policespokesman said was also reg-istered on that count.

The disclosure that Shakilhad an expired licence for saleof firecrackers exposed theLucknow police claim regard-ing regular drives against ille-gal manufacturers and hoard-ers of firecrackers.

“In residential colonies,hoarding and manufacturing offirecrackers is not allowed. Is isbaffling why Shakil was notchallaned for the offence,”sources pointed out. They saidthe Local Intelligence Unit

(LIU) sleuths were askedrecently to remain vigilant andcollect input of wrongdoings intheir respective areas.

The sources claimed thatthe LIU sleuths were ignorantto the activities of Shakil whileevery second person in thelocality knew that he wasinvolved in illegal manufactur-ing and hoarding of firecrack-ers.

Rizwan, Sultan and hiswife Tabassum, their sonMohammed Hammar andtheir nephew Usman andSultan’s sister Hina are recuper-ating at a hospital. Shakil andhis wife Maroofa had also suf-fered injuries in the blast.


Asecond year student of BSc(Nursing) fell down from

the 6th floor of Era’s LucknowMedical College in Sarfarazganj(Thakurganj) under mysteriouscircumstances and died onThursday morning. Policeclaimed it was a case of suicideand denied reports of ragging.However, they failed to explainwhy the student jumped todeath. Also, no suicide note wasrecovered by the police.

The deceased was identi-fied as Sudhir Pal (20), who wasa resident of Durgapuri Colonyunder PGI police station area.Around 10 am, some of the col-lege security personnel heard aloud sound after which theyreached the spot and foundSudhir lying in pool of bloodand gasping for breath. Thesecurity personnel informedthe college administration andSudhir was rushed to theKGMU Trauma Centre wherehe was declared brought dead.

“Sudhir suffered multiplefractures in his limbs and hishead was smashed,apparently after it hit a hardsurface or object,” doctorsopined. Initial probe revealed

that Sudhir was walking on thesixth floor’s terrace talking onhis mobile phone. “A few sec-onds before he fell down, wesaw him taking strides andtalking on phone,” some eye-witnesses told the police.

Chowk circle officer DPTiwari claimed Sudhir jumpedoff the sixth floor to end his life.“Sudhir and his friends wereattending classes and he sud-

denly came out and laterjumped off the sixth floor,” theCO said while sharing detailsof the investigation.

He said since the police didnot recover any suicide note,the cause was yet to be ascer-tained. Asked as to why Sudhircame out of the class and whydidn’t the lecturer stop him, theCO said that the police were yetto talk to Sudhir’s classmatesand the lecturer. He deniedreports that Sudhir took thestep after being bullied orragged. There were reportsthat Sudhir was anxious abouthis performance. His friendssaid Sudhir got low marks inthe exam and was upset. “Hemay have taken the step due tothis,” some of his classmatessaid. The Chowk CO saidinvestigations were underway.“A team will go to the collegeon Friday to talk to themedicos,” he said, adding thathe did not endorse reportsthat Sudhir was upset due toragging. Thakurganj inspectorsaid Sudhir was staying in ahostel. “His father is into trans-port business while his moth-er is employed at SGPGI,” hesaid, adding that the body hadbeen sent for autopsy.


In a tragic incident, a 2-and-a-half-year-old Assamese boy

was crushed to death in VastuKhand under Vibhuti Khandpolice station area on Thursdaymorning. The victim was iden-tified as Nayan Ali. Reports saidNayan, along with his parentsLalchand Ali and Jamila, wasinside an under-constructionhouse where the couple wereworking as labourers. The fam-ily belongs to Assam and livesin a slum area in the locality.Around 7 am, Nayan came outof the house while playing andreached the middle of the roadas his parents were busy work-ing. In the meantime, a speed-ing van ferrying children of aprominent school ran over theboy. The critically injured boywas taken to Ram ManoharLohiya hospital where he wasdeclared brought dead. Policearrested the van driver, identi-fied as Surendra of GomtiNagar, and impounded thevehicle.

Meanwhile, a policemansaved a lawyer from drowningin Indira Canal in Chinhat onThursday morning. Reportssaid the policeman, identified asAnirudh Yadav, was going toconduct checking of banks afterhe was assigned the day task.When he reached near IndiraCanal (near BBDU police out-post), he spotted a lawyer park-ing his bike. The lawyer later

jumped into the canal. Yadavalso jumped into the canal andraised an alarm. With the helpof villagers, Yadav rescued SunilKumar Chaudhary ofBarabanki. Sunil said he had averbal spat with his wife afterwhich he decided to take theextreme step.

Meanwhile, timely responsefrom a ‘UP 100’ team saved thelife of a man who was going tocommit suicide in Jankipuramon Thursday. Reports saidSaurabh Dayal ofSaraswatipuram attempted sui-cide after locking the doorsfrom inside. His neighboursheard him crying and theydialled the police control room.A team consisting of constablesSandeep, Ajay and Sudhirreached the scene. On findingthe door bolted from inside, theybroke it open and found himhanging from the ceiling with arope tied around his neck. Thecops let him off the noose andrushed him to KGMU TraumaCentre where his condition wassaid to be improving.


To settle their scores, two bike-borne youthsattacked a school van driver ferrying chil-

dren in Bakshi-Ka-Talab police station area onThursday morning. They later attempted toabduct the driver but a timely response fromvillagers foiled their bid. One of the miscreantswas apprehended by the villagers and laterhanded over to police.

As per reports, when van driver PankajKumar reached Nandna village in BKT, the mis-creants overtook the vehicle. They forcedPankaj to stop the van and later startedthrashing him with belts. The children sittingin the van started crying for help and localsresponded to the distress call. They assembledat the scene and caught hold of one of the mis-creants, identified as Anoop Singh of BKT. Thereason behind the attack was found to be anold enmity. A month back, Pankaj had crushedthe mobile phone of Anoop under the wheelsof his van. Anoop told the police that a monthback, his mobile phone slipped out of pocketand fell on the road. He said Pankaj crushedhis mobile under the wheels of his van even

though he repeatedly asked him to stop thevehicle. Anoop and Pankaj also had a verbalspat over the issue as the former asked for compensation. According to the police,Anoop, along with his aide, planned the attackto exact revenge.

SUB-INSPECTOR SUFFERS CARDIACARREST, SUCCUMBS AT HOSPITAL

A sub-inspector posted in the CrimeBranch of Pune suffered cardiac arrest beforeboarding a flight at CCA Airport in SarojiniNagar and succumbed at a private hospital inKrishna Nagar on Thursday. Krishna Nagarinspector DC Mishra said S-I Ajay RamMhatre, along with a constable, had visitedLakhimpur Kheri to trace a criminal wantedin a dacoity case in Pune. “Mhatre and Imranhad to board a train from Charbagh station onWednesday but they missed the train. Theybooked air tickets and reached the airport onWednesday night. Before boarding the flight,Mhatre complained of chest pain. Imransought help from the airport staff and Mhatrewas rushed to a hospital in Krishna Nagarwhere he succumbed,” Mishra said.


Elaborate security arrange-ments have been made to

protect the newly-createdurban forest area at JaneshwarMishra Park from undesirableelements who may damageproperty and misuse facilities.

The project is sponsored bythe Central government with aview to making urban areaslook clean and green and min-imising pollution. The projectis funded by the UnionMinistry for Environment.

The urban forest area is yetto be formally inaugurated inview of model code of conductbut it was opened for the pub-lic as the project was complet-ed in record time. Projectincharge SS Sisodhia said therewould be ticketed entry once itwas formally inaugurated afterthe Lok Sabha elections.

The project was launchedin mid-December last year andcompleted within 14 weeks.The LDA administration hasdeveloped the area with thehelp of experts from

Chandigarh, Mumbai andDelhi. Now, the LDA adminis-tration has made securityarrangements to safeguard theinterests of visitors. The projectincharge said efforts were beingmade to block the entry ofundesirable elements.

The urban forestry planwas conceived by the UnionMinistry of Environment andForest in 2017 to promotegreenery and pollution-freeurban areas. The decision wastaken in the wake of deteriorat-ing air pollution levels.

SC advocate, former IRS officer

among others file nominations

Nomination papers were filed at Collectorate amidst tight security on Thursday Pioneer

(Top) Commuters being made to take alternative routes in view of the traffic diversions enforced in view of the nominationprocess. (Above) District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma administering ‘pledge to vote’ to members of State Employess’ Unionat Jawahar Bhawan on Thursday Pioneer

Nursing student falls to

death from sixth floor

COPS RULE OUTRAGGING, BUTFAIL TO EXPLAINREASON FORSUICIDE

Neighbours punch holes in police claimMOHANLALGANJ EXPLOSION

Toddler crushed by school van;driver arrested

Nayan Ali, son of a

labourer couple

working at an under-

construction house,

reached middle of

the road while

playing and was run

over by a school van

Elaborate security for urban forest area

Van driver ferrying school kids

thrashed, abduction bid foiled

THE HEAT IS ON!

Schoolchildren with their heads and faces covered riding pillion on their way back home from school on a hot day Pioneer

city 04LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019


Lucknow Metro RailCorporation’s chief safety

commissioner Umesh ChandraShrivastava, along with securi-ty commissioner IndrajeetSingh Rawat had a formalmeeting with SP (Traffic)Punendra Singh in his office.

“The major reason for themeeting was to take sternaction against vehicles parkedin front of entry and exit pointsof Metro stations” an LMRCofficial said. Rawat pointedout that they had taken actionon several occasions but now itwas time for the police to

intervene. Both the securitypersonnel met the SP (Traffic)

to inform him about actions tobe taken against the illegally-

parked vehicles outside Metrostations.


The department ofCommerce and Business

Management, IntegralUniversity, organised a sensiti-zation workshop on financialinclusion in collaboration withSIDBI Centre for Innovationsin Financial Inclusion, IndianInstitute of Management,Lucknow.

Prof Sanjeev Kapoor (IIM-L) was the chief guest on theoccasion. Atulya Mishra, con-sultant, Microsave Consulting,was the guest speaker whileProf M Ashraf Rizvi, chairmanof MaxCell Group, and ProfAqil Ahmad, acting Vice-

Chancellor of IntegralUniversity, were also the guestspeakers. Dean, Faculty ofCommerce and Management,Prof AK Saxena welcomed theguests and said the term finan-cial inclusion was as old ascivilisation which embraces allsocietal ideology where allindividuals should have equalopportunities and resources.Prof Ashraf Rizvi explainedwhat exactly financial inclusionis by giving the example ofMahatma Gandhi. He said inthe context of financial inclu-sion, the future depends onwhat we do today. “It is ourdecision today to bring insome financial discipline that

will bring prosperity to ourown future,” he added.

Prof Aqil Ahmad said:“We need to be more educat-ed about the financial servicesin India to save our lives fromthe negative effects and theeconomy in general.” ProfSanjeev Kapoor explained theconcept of financial inclusion.

Atulya Mishra said: “Thefinancially excluded segment isfrom the lower and middleincome groups”. He talkedabout various schemes of thepresent government likeMUDRA Yojana, Atal PensionYojana, PMJDY and manymore and explained the bene-fits of these schemes.

Lucknow (PNS): ActressHelly Shah said she lovedLucknow for its chikankari andcuisine. In the city for the firsttime for the promotion of hershow ‘Sufiyana Pyaar Mera’, theactress said she loved the showbecause she was playing dou-ble role in it.

The show is a love twistbetween Saltanat (HellyShah) and Zaroon (RajveerSingh). “The show opens on aninteresting note that highlightsa woman’s right to ‘inkaar’ and‘iqraar’ for marriage. BothSaltanat and Zaroon findthemselves in an unusual twistof fate where neither want togive up on their principles anddecisions,” she added.

Lucknow (PNS): A 50-year-old woman was found hangingfrom a tree on outskirts of Nigohaon Thursday morning. Policesaid the woman was sufferingfrom some mental disorder andcommitted suicide. The body wassent for autopsy and further inves-tigations were started. The womanwas reported missing from herhouse on Wednesday night. “OnThursday morning, her husbandreached the spot while searchingfor her and found her hangingfrom a tree with a saree tiedaround her neck. He sought thehelp of the gram pradhan, wholater informed the police,” a policespokesman said. “We are waitingfor the autopsy report. The fam-ily has not suspected any foul playas yet,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the Nagrampolice recovered the highlydecomposed body of a man fromIndira Canal on Thursday. “Thebody was first spotted by local res-ident and village guard GayaPrasad. The body was fished outfrom the canal and it appeared tobe about five-day old. Prima facie,no injury marks were found onthe body,” the police said. Thebody was sent for autopsy whileefforts to ascertain the identitywere on.


Athree-day ‘Summer PlantScience Fest-2019’, organ-

ised by CSIR-NationalBotanical Research Institutewas inaugurated at theNational Botanical ResearchInstitute (NBRI) on Thursday.Prof AK Tripathi, Director,Institute of Science, BHU,Varanasi, was the chief guestat the function. Prof AlokDhawan, Director, IITR, andProf VP Kamboj, formerDirector, CDRI, was also pre-sent on the occasion.

The programme startedwith a Hindi seminar on‘Paadap Anusandhan meinNaye Aayam’ in which 40research scholars and expertspresented their work on var-ious topics in Hindi. In all 25oral presentations were madeon the first day.

In his inaugural addressProf Tripathi said that sciencewas consistently expandinghence we must explore the

new dimensions for innova-tions. “As a premier and lead-ing institute in the field ofplant sciences, NBRI has theresponsibility to ensure thefuture direction of plant sci-ence in the country,” he said.

He stressed the need forregularly monitoring andupdating of the subject con-tents related to botany orplant science in different uni-versities and institutes toguide its direction as per thecurrent requirements of thecountry.

He said that there wasenormous potential in youngresearchers for innovativeresearch which should beidentified and encouraged.

He mentioned the bottle-necks in the acceptance ofgenetically-modified plantspecies and said that theseconcerns could be answeredby focusing on the genetical-ly-modified plant specieswhich were not used as afood source.

He explained it with theexamples of plant specieswhich were useful in combat-ing environmental pollutionand suggested that we couldenhance their pollution-com-bating potential. “Once sucha plant species can be success-fully utilised this strategy canhelp in handling various con-cerns related to the GM foodcrops,” he said. Prof SK Barik,Director, CSIR-NBRI, whilewelcoming the guests saidthat the main objective ofthis programme was to high-light and encourage the hid-den talents of the researchers.

“This event will help themin facing various challenges oflife,” he added. The entireprogramme was organisedand conducted primarily bythe research scholars of theInstitute under the guidanceof Dr Vidhu Sane, Sr. Pr.Scientist. In the end AnandPrakash, Secretary, RajbhashaCommittee, proposed the voteof thanks.


An 87-year-old IGNOUstudent, Laxmi Srivastava,

who took admission in thesix-month Certif icateProgramme of Food andNutrition (CFN) offered byIGNOU in the January 2019session, participated in thefirst counselling class organ-ised at IGNOU Study Centrehere on Thursday. As many as20 students attended the class,including Laxmi Srivastava.

Dr Kirti Vikram Singh,Assistant Regional Director,introduced Laxmi Srivastavato the other learners. He saidthat Laxmi Srivastava was asource of inspiration for

everyone because at the age of87 years she was determinedto enhance her knowledgeand skills through education.He said that Laxmi was anacademician, who after retire-ment from government ser-vice, was living in AasthaHospital and Old Age Home.

Dr Manorama Singh,Regional Director, told thelearners about the impor-tance of food and nutrition ineveryone’s life. She said that inthe CFN Programme learnerswould be informed about theimportance of food and itseconomic aspects, consumerrights etc. She encouragedthe learners to complete theirCertificate Programme with-

in a minimum duration of sixmonths and submit theirexamination forms beforeApril 15 to the RegionalCentre if they were interestedin participating in the June-2019 Term End Examination.

Laxmi Srivastava atten-tively heard the lecture of thesubject expert and interactedwith the teachers and stu-dents. She said that everyIGNOU learner must studythe Self-Learning Material(SLM) before attending thecounselling classes if he or shewas willing to attain the max-imum output in the class.She appreciated the supportservices given by IGNOU toits learners and also submit-ted her June 2019 examina-tion form to the officers of theRegional Centre.

Dr Manju Dixit, principal,Maharaja Bijli PasiGovernment PG College,Lucknow, appreciated theefforts taken by IGNOU forspreading higher education atthe doorsteps of the learners.

Dr Balram Singh, coordi-nator, IGNOU Study Centre,proposed the formal vote ofthanks. The staff membersand functionaries of theIGNOU Study Centre werepresent on the occasion.

Meet in LU toreview NAACpreparations

Lucknow (PNS): A meet-ing regarding the preparationsfor NAAC was held in the com-mittee room of LucknowUniversity recently. It waschaired by Vice-Chancellor SPSingh. The meeting was attend-ed by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor,Deans of Faculties and heads ofDepartments and wasaddressed by the Vice-Chancellor and the Director ofIQAC. The media incharge,Lucknow University, NKPandey, said that the prepara-tion of NAAC had been a con-tinuous process for theUniversity.

“Development of infra-structure, course design andlibrary upgradation are a partof the ongoing NAAC prepara-tions. The first NAAC accred-itation for the University washeld in 2002 and the secondone in 2014. The secondaccreditation is still valid up to5 May, 2019. “University gotthe B grade with CGPA of 2.70in 2002 and B grade withCGPA of 2.76 in 2014,” he said.

Woman found

hanging

87-yr-old IGNOU studentattends counselling class

Devotees throng a temple in Chaupatiyan area in Old City on the sixth day of Navratri Pioneer

Summer Plant ScienceFest-2019 inaugurated

Love Lucknow

for chikankari,

cuisine: Helly

Actors Helly Shah and Rajveer Singh strike a pose for shutterbugs Pioneer

Workshop on financial inclusionLMRC officials meet SP (Traffic)

A programme on World Health Day organised at the Family Welfare Centre of Group Centre, CRPF, in Lucknow

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrate,

Bhanu Chandra Goswami con-ducted a surprise inspection onThursday to get a first-handinformation regarding thepreparations for the Lok Sabha-2019 election. The districtadministration was committedto ensuring a free, fair andtransparent election, theDistrict Election Officer said.

He reached the MunderaMandi, where electronic votingmachines (EVMs) and voterverifiable paper audit trail(VVPAT) would be kept andcounting would take place, tosee the ongoing preparationshimself.

The entire Mundera Mandiis under the surveillance of theclosed-circuit television(CCTV) cameras. He inspect-

ed them and their functioning.He said that the recording ofCCTV cameras of each dayshould be preserved and a fileshould be prepared for it. Hedirected the authorities con-cerned to ensure the appoint-ment of an incharge of CCTVcameras for their proper func-tioning, monitoring andrecording. Thereafter he visit-ed the strong room, inspectedthe arrangements and issued

necessary directives to the offi-cials concerned. He said thatproper sanitation of MunderaMandi premises and its sur-roundings should be ensured.

Thereafter the DistrictElection Officer visited thefar-flung areas ofDhoomanganj, Bhiti andLakhanpur villages to reviewthe preparations at the pollingcentres. He also educated thevoters about the importance of

the right of franchise andappealed to them to cast theirvotes in large numbers. Heasked the voters to cast theirvotes of their own accord with-out any fear and favour and notto get influenced by any person.

He also enquired aboutthe welfare of the womenfolkand appealed to them not to getintimidated by anyone. If any-one tried to do so they shouldimmediately inform theadministration about it, headded. On the occasion he alsoinquired about the sensitiveand hypersensitive polling cen-tres and assured the villagersthat adequate force would bedeployed to ensure that theyexercised their right of fran-chise in a free and fair manneron the polling day. He issuednecessary instructions to thepolice officers in this connec-tion.

DEO reviews preparations for LS poll

Niranjan Patel hits out at PMPNS n ALLAHABAD

Launching the roadshowafter being fielded by

Congress-Apna Dal (Krishnafraction) for the Phulpur seatPankaj Niranjan Patel hit outat Prime Minister NarendraModi for not coming clean onbasic issues of employment,medical treatment and pover-ty. Modi was repeatedly seek-ing an account of works doneby Congress during the past 60years but was not able to replyto the queries raised by theopposition on various issues

pertaining to his five-year-long tenure.

He was also not comingclean on issues of employ-ment, medical treatment andpoverty and instead was tryingto divert the attention of vot-ers by playing up issues like thesurgical strike on Pakistan andfailures of the first PrimeMinister of the country, PanditJawaharlal Nehru, he said dur-ing one of his roadshows. Itmay be pointed out here thatthe road show started from theNehru-Gandhi home of AnandBhawan where Pankaj Niranjan

Patel garlanded the statues ofthe father of the nation,Mahatma Gandhi, and PanditJawaharlal Nehru. Thereafterthe procession passed throughColonelganj, University Road,Katra, Manmohan Park,Kanpur Road, Railway Station,Nakkhas Kohna, Khuldabad,Himmatganj, Sulem Sarai andDhoomanganj and ended atMundera. This informationwas given to newspersons byUttar Pradesh CongressCommittee (UPCC)spokesperson, KishoreVarshney.


On the eighth day of the 9-day International

Children’s Film Festival (ICFF-2019), organised by CityMontessori School, theKanpur Road auditoriumoverflowed with joy andenthusiasm of thousands ofstudents of various schools ofLucknow and surrounding

areas. The films packed withhealthy entertainment and adose of human values inspiredthe young kids. The presenceof actors Darsheel Safari,Prabhjot Singh and AnirudhDave raised the glamour quo-tient. Earlier, the day com-menced with the inaugurationby registrar of Firms, Societiesand Chits Anil Kumar Mishraand others.

Children joyous at ICCF

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019 nation 05

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has car-

ried out searches at six loca-tions in Mumbai in connectionwith a `1,400-crore allegedloan default by an aluminiumfoil manufacturing firm, offi-cials said here on Thursday.

The CBI searched thepremises of Kamlesh Kanungogroup, Kirti Kedia Group andJK Shah group as the ParekhAlumunium allegedly divertedto these firms a sizeable portionof `1,400 crore loan takenfrom 22 banks.

Officials said the ParekhAluminium availed of the loanfrom the 22 banks from 2004-12 and diverted a major por-

tion of the fund to the threegroups.

Based on cases registeredin 2017, the searches began ear-lier this week and completedWednesday night, officials said.

The officials are scrutinis-ing the seized materials andfurther action like summoningthe suspects would begin soon,sources said.

As per the banking norms,the loan amount has to beutilised for the purpose thefund has been taken. Diversionof loan fund is against thebanking norms and falls in theambit of criminality.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n

NEW DELHI

Even as a US website report-ed that a batch of Pakistani

pilots were trained on Rafalefighter jets being procured byQatar Air Force, FrenchAmbassador to New DelhiAlexandre Ziegler on Thursdaydismissed it as “fake news.”This categorical denial came asthere were concerns in theIndian military establishmentover the report.

In an effort to set the pos-sible controversy at rest, theFrench ambassador tweeted “Ican confirm that it is fakenews.” French diplomaticsources further said noPakistani pilot was ever trainedon Rafale jets in France.

American aviation industrywebsite ainonline.Com reportthat the first batch of pilotstrained on the Rafale fighter jetfor Qatar in November 2017were Pakistani exchange offi-cers. The report further said“Escadron de Chasse 04.030was established at Mont-de-Marsan as the Qatar RafaleSquadron on Oct. 1, 2017.”

Qatar which is the othercountry besides India to ink adeal for Rafale jets, took the

delivery of first Rafale onFebruary 6 this year. In a pressstatement, Dassault had saidQatar had signed for 24 Rafalefighters in May 2015. InDecember 2017, it ordered anadditional 12 fighters. The dealfor the first 24 fighters is valuedat euro 6.3 billion. India hasinked a contract for 36 Rafalejets at a cost of `59,000 crores.

The Government to gov-ernment contract is dogged bycontroversy with the Congresscharging the NDA Governmentwith wrong doing in the dealand favouring industrialist Anil

Ambani’s firm RelianceDefence bag an offset contractwith Dassault Aviation, themanufacturer of Rafale jets.

On Friday, the SupremeCourt also rejected the centre’sargument that classified doc-uments accessed by the mediaon the Rafale fighter jet dealcannot be evidence. The courtsaid it will examine the secretdocuments while consideringpetitions asking for a review ofits order giving the govern-ment a clean chit on the dealthat the opposition allegeswas corrupt.

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

On World Parkinson’s Daymarked on Thursday, doc-

tors said that the neurodegen-erative disorder, commonlyaffecting elderly population, isnow taking toll on even peopleless than 40 years in the coun-try. Those who have a familyhistory of Parkinson’s are moreat risk much like those who areexposed to environmental tox-ins such as insecticides, cont-aminated water and man-ganese, they said.

The progressive neurode-generative disease is caused bythe deficiency of dopamine, achemical produced by nigros-triatal neurons of the brain.Degeneration of these braincells marks the onset of the dis-ease that can be treated butdoes not have a cure.

“We receive about 25 casesof Parkinson’s every monthand it is certainly no longer ageriatric disease. While three-fourth of the patients are

between 40 and 60 years, therest comprise patients as youngas 20 years,” said Dr AKSahani, Head Neurology,Delhi-based Indian SpinalInjuries Centre.

But one must be aware ofthe warning signs. (See Box)

People should try to avoidexposure to insecticide, herbi-cides, and toxic heavy metalssuch as manganese, said DrSahani.

Dr Rajesh Garg, Directorand HOD, Neurology, FortisHospital Shalimar Bagh was ofthe opinion that the vast major-ity of Parkinson’s cases are notdirectly inherited while about 3per cent to 5 per cent of peoplewith Parkinson’s report havinga relative with the disease. Also,people with an affected first-degree relative, such as a parentor sibling, have a four to ninepercent higher chance of devel-oping the disease.

In advanced cases, Deepbrain stimulation (DBS), whichinvolves minimal permanent

surgical changes to the brain, isprescribed to treat symptomslike tremor, rigidity, stiffness,slowed movement and walkingproblems.

In fact, introduction ofApomorphine that stimulatesthe production of dopamine bynerve cells in the brain, provid-ing quick and effective relief topatients and improving theirquality of life is now a buzz inthe sector. Bengaluru-basedVikram Hospitals last year in

association with the UK-basedpharma firm BritanniaPharmaceuticals launched thedrug in the country.“Apomorphine, available both asinjections and infusion pumps,has been popular in the West forover 15 years in the managementof Parkinson’s, but Indianpatients could not benefit fromit until now,” said Dr. SomeshMittal, CEO, Vikram Hospitals,Bengaluru. On the other hand,Rusan Pharma, is said to become

a first Indian pharma companyto indigenously develop andlaunch the new approved drugfor the treatment of Parkinson’sin the country.

Dr Shivam Om Mittal,Parkinson’s Disease &Movement Disorders Specialist,Vikram Hospitals, Bengalurupointed out that the currentprevalence of PD in India isaround 300-400 out of 100,000,which is expected to more thandouble by 2030. It will be amajor non-communicabledegenerative disorder alongwith dementia to burden thehealthcare system of India.Experts like Tejali Kunte,Clinical Psychologist, Danceand Movement therapist atParkinson’s Disease andMovement Disorder Society(PDMDS) have also recom-mended complementary ther-apies such as exercise, boxing,yoga, and Tai chi and mindful-ness techniques such as medi-tation, manual practices such asacupuncture and massage.

New Delhi: The Uttar PradeshGovernment on Thursday toldthe Supreme Court that formerMP Ateeq Ahmad, who waslodged in Deoria jail, hadindeed assaulted and kid-napped a businessman onDecember 26 last year.

Confirming the incident,the UP government said CCTVcameras in the jail complexwere tampered with at the time.

A bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and justicesDeepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna said it would consid-er the report submitted by UPgovernment on April 23.

In a report submittedthrough senior advocate VijayHansaria, appointed as amicuscuriae (friend of court), thestate government said depart-mental action against five jailofficials has been initiated.

Hansaria, assisted by advo-cate Sneha Kalita, told the benchthat jail norms were relaxedwith respect to visitors meetingthe former parliamentarian.

In his submission, thesenior advocate said there are109 cases registered againstAhmad from 1979 to 2019which include 17 murder cases,12 cases under UP Gangster

Act, eight under Arms Act andfour under UP Goonda Act.

Hansaria said eight casespending investigation were reg-istered against Ahmad between2015 and 2019 of which two aremurder cases.

The report said the stategovernment has constitutedtwo committees which primafacie found names of two per-sons, including businessmanMohit Jaiswal’s, in visitors reg-ister for meeting Ahmad.

It said the committees havefound the jail superintendentand other jail officials guilty forthe assault on the businessman,and departmental proceedingsagainst five officials and thestate government has sus-pended three persons.

The report further saidthat after the incident wasreported in media and FIR waslodged by the businessman,Ahmad was transferred fromDeoria jail to Bareilly jail in UPand efforts were being made toarrest the associates of the for-mer lawmaker, who wereinvolved in the incident.

Ateeq Ahmad was a five-time MLA and one-time MPand has been jail since Feb 11,2017. PTI

PTI n NEW DELHI

Holding that there was clearabuse of public power, the

Supreme Court on Thursdayimposed a `20-lakh fine onWest Bengal Government overnot allowing screening of satir-ical film “Bhobishyoter Bhoot”and castigated the state police,saying its action poses a gravedanger to personal liberty andfree speech and expression.

In scathing remarks, thetop court said that by pullingdown the film from the the-atres, the West Bengal policeoverreached their statutorypowers and became “instru-ments in a concerted attempt tosilence speech, suborn viewscritical of prevailing culturesand threaten law abiding citi-zens into submission”.

The top court alsorestrained the West Bengal gov-ernment from using “extra con-stitutional” means to stop thescreening of the film and saidthe state shall specifically ensurethat the properties of the theatreowners are duly protected andviewers safety is looked after.

“We have no manner ofdoubt that this was a clearabuse of public power. Thepolice are entrusted withenforcing law. In the presentcase, the West Bengal policehave overreached their statu-

tory powers and have becomeinstruments in a concertedattempt to silence speech, sub-orn views critical of prevailingcultures and threaten law abid-ing citizens into submission,” abench comprising Justices D YChandrachud and HemantGupta said in its verdict on aplea by the filmmakers.

The apex court said thefine amount would be given toproducers and cinema hallowners as compensation forviolation of right to freedom ofspeech and expression. It alsoawarded Rs 1 lakh as litigationcosts to the producers.

It said that the petitionershave suffered violation of theirfundamental right to freespeech and expression and oftheir right to pursue a lawfulbusiness.

The apex court said thatthe state of West Bengal hadinformed it that it had nottaken recourse to its statutorypowers either under state orUnion legislation.

“If that be so, there has tobe some explanation forth-coming before the court whythe film was simultaneouslyremoved from the theatres, atone stroke, shortly after release.

Former MP kidnapped,assaulted businessmanin jail: UP Govt tells SC

France denies Pak pilots

trained on Rafale report

SC slaps `20 lakh fine on WB for stoppingscreening of film, says clear abuse of power

PNS n NEW DELHI

The HRD Ministry onThursday appointed vice

chancellors to three universitiesafter the Election Commissiongave its nod as the ModelCode of Conduct is in placedue to the Lok Sabha elections.The three universities are JamiaMillia Islamia, MahatmaGandhi Central University inMotihari and Mahatma GandhiAntarrashtriya HindiVishwavidyalaya in Wardha.

“Najma Akhtar has beenappointed as the VC of Jamiawhile names of Sanjiv Sharmaand Rajaneesh Kumar Shuklahave been approved for the toppost at Motihari Central uni-versity and Wardha’s MahatmaGandhi varsity,” a senior HRDministry official said.

While no appointments areallowed during this period, theHRD Ministry had approachedthe Election Commission seek-ing its nod arguing that theselection process was completebefore the model code cameinto place.

PTI n NEW DELHI

If the identity of the pur-chasers of electoral bonds

meant for transparent politicalfunding is not known, then theefforts of the Government tocurtail black money in electionswould be “futile”, the SupremeCourt said Thursday.

The top court reservedverdict on the plea of an NGOwhich has challenged the valid-ity of the scheme and hassought that either the issuanceof electoral bonds be stayed orthe names of donors be madepublic to ensure transparencyin the poll process.

The Centre vehementlysupported the scheme sayingthat the purpose behind it is toeliminate the use of blackmoney in elections and askedthe court not to interfere withit at this stage and examine thewhether it has worked or notonly after the elections.

“So far as the electoralbond scheme is concerned, it isthe matter of policy decision of

the government and no gov-ernment can be faulted fortaking policy decision,” it toldthe bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices Deepak Gupta andSanjiv Khanna.

The bench asked AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal, repre-senting the government, as to

whether bank knows the iden-tity of purchasers at the time ofissuing the electoral bonds.

Venugopal answered inaffirmative and then said thebanks issue bonds after ascer-taining KYC which is applica-ble for opening the bankaccounts.

“When the bank issues theelectoral bond, does the bankhave details on which bond wasissued to ‘X’ and which bondwas issued to ‘Y’,” the benchasked.

On getting the response innegative, the bench said, “If theidentity of purchasers of bondsis not known then there will begreater ramification on theIncome Tax law and all your(government’s) efforts to cur-tail black money will be futile”.

Venugopal said bonds arepurchased through properbanking channels by usingwhite money and throughcheques, demand drafts andelectronic means and no thirdparty cheques are allowed toprocure bonds.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court onThursday brought down

the curtain on the case ofalleged corruption involvingpoliticians, bureaucrats andcorporates in the Enron-Dabhol power project, sayingthat “long delay” of over 25years, will serve no “usefulpurpose” in continuing withthe judicial commission ofinquiry.

The top court was facedwith the sole question as towhether the judicial commis-sion of inquiry, which was setup on November 7, 2001 underthe chairmanship of former

apex court judge SP Kurdukar,should continue with the probeto ascertain culpability of var-ious public servants in the1993 case.

“In view of the long delayand in view of the fact that dueto non-availability of manypersons involved, no usefulpurpose would be served incontinuing with the judicialcommission of inquiry, weclose the petition in the pecu-liar facts and circumstances ofthe case,” said a bench of ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices Deepak Gupta andSanjiv Khanna.

The plea for judicialinquiry was raised before the

apex court in view of the find-ings of a committee headed byMahdav Godbole, formerHome Secretary.

The Godbole Committee,in its report to theMaharashtragovernment in 2001, had indi-cated serious illegalities in thematter of award of the contractand processing of approvals,which were prima facie againstpublic interest.

It said that “failure of gov-ernance” was “broad and across

different governments and atboth administrative and polit-ical levels”.

According to the sugges-tion of the GodboleCommittee, a one-man enquirycommission headed by JusticeKurdukar was appointed.

The report had dealt withhandling of the issues duringthe tenure of Sharad Pawar asthe Chief Minister when he wasin Congress Party, the 13-day-long BJP-led Union govern-ment which had reworked thedeal in 1996, the then Shiv Senasupremo Balasaheb Thackerayand his government inMaharashtra headed byManohar Joshi.

While declining the pleafor judicial inquiry, the apexcourt, however, said that nor-mally a probe was needed insuch cases.

“We are of the consideredview that though normally insuch a case a judicial inquiryshould have been conductedbut as far as the present case isconcerned, more than a quar-ter of century has elapsed sincethe first PPA was executed.

“The foreign corporationand the original project pro-ponents are no longer available.Most of the senior officialswould have retired and virtu-ally no action can be takenagainst them.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court hasset aside the Centre’s order

suspending the passport of theson of International drugsmuggler Iqbal Mirchi for notjoining the ED’s investigation ina money laundering case.

The court said the passportof Junaid Iqbal MohammedMemon, a Non-ResidentIndian (NRI) who has beenresiding permanently in UAEsince 1993, could not havebeen suspended in public inter-est.

It noted that the Memonhad voluntarily agreed toappear by tele-conferencingand to make arrangements forit but that was not accepted bythe agency.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru reliedon a judgement of the DelhiHigh Court division bench inLalit Kumar Modi’s case inwhich it was observed that

Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA) didnot entail custodial interroga-tion and, therefore, a requestfor an alternate mode of exam-ination by video conferencingought not to be shrugged aside.

“This court is of the viewthat the controversy involved inthe present petition is coveredby the decision of the divisionbench in Lalit Kumar Modi(supra) and the petitioner’s(Memon) passport could notbe suspended in public inter-est,” the judge said.

“The impugned order sus-pending the petitioner’s pass-port is set aside. However, it isclarified that respondent no.3(ED) is not precluded from ini-tiating any other proceedings aspermissible in law,” the courtsaid.

The court disposed ofMemon’s plea challenging sus-pension of his passport by theCentre in August 2015, on the

ED’s request to revoke thetravel document for his refus-ing to join the investigationdespite issuance of summons.

He had submitted that hehas been carrying on businessin property development andhospitality in UAE since 2011and he was an NRI and notcovered by the provisions ofFEMA.

He claimed that the actionof the authorities to impoundhis passport was arbitrary as itwas not based on any relevantmaterial and was completelycontrary to the records.

The ED had alleged thatMemon has been involved inmoney laundering and hastransferred the sale proceeds ofassets in India, belonging to hislate father to foreign countries.

Pursuant to these allega-tions, certain directives wereissued to him by the agencyand summons were issued ask-ing him to appear in person.

Jamia, CUB,MG varsityget new VCs

Effort to curb black money futileif donors’ identity not known: SC

Union Minister and BJP candidate Smriti, Irani along with her husband Zubin Irani, performs puja before filing her nomination papers for Amethi Lok Sabha seat inAmethi on Thursday PTI

HC sets aside order suspending passport ofIqbal Mirchi’s son in money laundering case

SC closes case of corruption due to long delay

ENRON-DABHOL

CASE

Neurodegenerative disorder takes toll on young: Docs

CBI searches 6 locations in Mumbai

in `1,400-crore loan default case

The CBI searched the

premises of Kamlesh

Kanungo group, Kirti

Kedia Group and JK

Shah group as the

Parekh Alumunium

allegedly diverted to

these firms a sizeable

portion of `1,400 crore

loan taken from

22 banks

v It is a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affectsmovement. vEarly symptoms: Slowness in activity (Akinesia) such as walking,performing any activity with hands like writing, tremor i.e. shaking of handsand legs and stiffness of muscles. Other symptoms include slowness invoice, loss of blinking, absence of expressions on the face, lack of swingingmovements of hand during walking, slowness in thinking, depression, lossof smell sensation, sleep disturbances, among others.vTreatment: Over the years, treatment has become better - newer andmore effective treatment methods such as deep brain stimulation (DBS),duodopa infusion, Apomorphine injection, and newer drugs such assulfonamide are widely utilised.

Know about Parkinson’s disease

The top court

reserved verdict on

the plea of an NGO

which has

challenged the

validity of the

scheme and has

sought that either

the issuance of

electoral bonds be

stayed or the names

of donors be made

public to ensure

transparency in the

poll process

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019 06

RAJESH KUMAR/ TN RAGHUNATHA

n NEW DELHI/MUMBAI

The Naxal attack inDantewada, a couple of days

ago, failed to deter the voterswho were enthusiastic to casttheir ballot as they came out indroves to register an impressive77 per cent turn out at theShyamgiri polling station in thefirst phase of Lok Sabha pollingon April 11. But north easternStates unexpectedly recorded alower turn out this time around.

While Bihar witnessed anunenthusiastic response fromthe voters with just about 50 percent of them coming to exercisetheir franchise, West Bengalrecorded 81 per cent turnout. 4seats in Bihar and 2 in Bengalwent to polls in the first phase.Interestingly, 7-8 polling stationsin Odisha went with zero pollingdue to naxal fear.

According to ElectionCommissioner, Umesh Sinha,about 56 per cent turnout wasrecorded in Chhattisgarh'sBastar Lok Sabha seat with theShyamgiri polling booth wherethe Maoist attack two days agohad left a BJP MLA dead.

In 2014, the turnout hadbeen 59 per cent. Barring a fewminor incidents, the overallpolling in the Maoist-affectedarea was peaceful, the poll panelsaid. "Long queues of voters wereseen outside the polling stationsin several Maoist-affected areas,"

he added. "Of the 28 Assemblyconstituencies that went to pollsin Odisha, 20 were in Maoist-affected areas of the State. Except7-8 polling booths inChitrakonda block' whichrecorded zero per cent votingbecause of naxal fear, peoplecame out in large numbers in theMaoist belts to exercise theirfranchise," the EC said.

An improvised explosivedevice (IED) blast was reportedin Maharashtra's Gadchiroli dis-trict as voting was underway inthe Maoist-affected district. No

one was injured in the incident.A similar blast was triggered byMaoists in Chhattisgarh'sNarayanpur district in BastarLok Sabha constituency in thewee hours of Thursday but noinjury or casualty took place dueto special security measures asthere was deployment of 80,000security personnel, it said.

As the voter turnout was69%, 60% and 78% in Sikkim,Mizoram and Nagaland respec-tively, the highest turnout amongthe North Eastern States was inTripura with 81.80% of voters

exercising their voting rights forchoosing their representativefor the 17th Lok Sabha. Thevoter turnout was 78.20%, 68%,66% and 67.16% in Manipur,Assam, Arunachal Pradesh andMeghalaya respectively.

Altogether 56 per cent vot-ers exercised their franchise inthe first phase of polling in sevenLok Sabha constituencies inMaharashtra. According to EC,Naxal-hit Gadchiroli-ChimurLok Sabha seat witnessed animpressive 61.33 per cent voterturn-out, while 60.50 per cent

electorate exercised the franchisein Bhandara-Gondiya.Chandrapur recorded 55.97 percent polling, followed by 55.36per cent in Wardha, 53.97 percent in Yavatmal- Washim, 53.13per cent in Nagpur and 51.72 percent in Ramtek (SC) seat.

According to EC, there havebeen some incidents whereEVMs have been damaged. 6incidents in Andhra Pradesh,five in Arunachal Pradesh, onein Bihar, two in Manipur andone in West Bengal.

An estimated 69 per cent ofthe voters in Sikkim have exer-cised their franchise till 5 pm toelect a 32-member StateLegislative Assembly as well asthe lone Lok Sabha memberfrom the State. In 2014, voterturn out was 83.65 per cent.Chamling, who is seeking aneighth successive term as anMLA, is contesting from twoAssembly seats — Poklok-Kamrang and Namchi-Singhithang. Former Indianfootball captain BhaichungBhutia, the working president ofthe Hamro Sikkim party (HSP)has entered into fray from twoAssembly seats as well, includ-ing the Gangtok Assembly con-stituency, reserved for theindigenous Bhutia-Lepcha com-munities.

Voting for two Lok Sabhaconstituencies and 60 Assemblyseats in Arunachal Pradesh wit-nessed 66 per cent voter turnout

this time as compared to 80 percent in 2014.

As per EC, Odisha wit-nessed 68 per cent voter turnoutwhich is lower than 73 per centof 2014. BJD chief, NaveenPatnaik, is seeking fifth term inthe State. As per the trendobserved over the last generalelections, higher turnout inOdisha cannot be categorised asanti-incumbency or pro-incum-bency, but a certain inferencecould easily be drawn out.Higher turnout in Odisha givesa decisive mandate to a party.

Of the 70 lakh people,around 50 per cent voted by theend of the day in the Maoist-affected districts of Gaya,Nawada and Jamui in the firstphase of Lok Sabha elections inBihar.

According to EC, an over-all 56 per cent of the votes werecast in Jammu & Kashmir'sJammu and Baramulla LokSabha constituencies. Voterturnout in Jammu is recorded72.16 per cent and 35.01 per centin Baramulla.

Over 57 per cent of the elec-torate in Uttarakhand cast theirvote on Thursday to seal thefates of 52 candidates as pollingwas held in the first phase of thegeneral elections to its five LokSabha seats.

The turnout recorded at 5pm across the five seats was57.85 per cent, Chief ElectoralOfficer Soujanya said.

PNS n AMARAVATI/HYDERABAD

The killings of three persons— two of the YSR Congress

and one of the Telugu DesamParty — in Andhra Pradeshmarred the election atmos-phere in the State with bothparties accusing the other oftriggering violence. AssemblySpeaker, K Siva Prasad Rao,was among the several injuredin the clashes between the twoparties.

The clash occurred atVeerapuram village underTadipatri Assembly con-stituency in the afternoon.

The YSRC alleged that fol-lowers of local TDP MP andMLA, the JC brothers (MP JCDiwakar Reddy and MLA JCPrabhakar Reddy), tried to rigthe votes in a polling booth atVeerapuram.

Another YSRC worker wasalso injured in the incident, theparty alleged in a statement.

Additional police forceshave been rushed to the villageto bring the situation undercontrol.

Noteworthy, clashes hadbroke out between workers ofTDP and YSR Congress at var-ious places in the State as vot-ing got underway.

A mandal parishad mem-ber of YSRC was seriouslyinjured when TDP workersallegedly attacked him at apolling station in Eluru city.

In Jammalamadugu inKadapa district, tension pre-vailed in Ponnathota village asYSRC and TDP workersindulged in stone-pelting.

In Narsaraopet con-stituency of Guntur district,YSRC leaders alleged TDPmen ransacked a polling stationin Yelamanda village and dam-aged the furniture.

Police personnel were alsopreventing YSRC sympathisersfrom entering the pollingbooth, they alleged.

Minor trouble was alsoreported at a few other con-stituencies in Guntur,Prakasam and Anantapuramudistricts as well but neither theelection authorities nor thepolice confirmed the reports.

TDP president and ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu condemned the killingof his party worker and accusedthe YSR Congress of indulgingin violence to win the election.

In neighbouringTelangana, the polling processpassed off peacefully with avoter turnout of over 60 percent.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO), GopalKrishna Dwivedi, said therewere some glitches in func-tioning of 381 ElectronicVoting Machines which wererectified immediately. This isthe first general election in theState after bifurcation ofAndhra Pradesh and creationof Telangana in June 2014. Ina statement, the CEO askedpeople not to believe inrumours as the poll process wasgoing on peacefully.

In Guntakal (AP), formerMLA and contesting candidateof Jana Sena Party,Madhusudan Gupta, smashedan EVM in a fit of rage alleg-ing that party symbols were notproperly printed on the ballotunit. He also shouted at thepolling personnel on duty.Gupta was immediately takeninto custody, police said.

The election will decide thefate of incumbent ChiefMinister N ChandrababuNaidu and main OppositionYSR Congress chiefJaganmohan Reddy, son of lateChief Minister Y S RajasekharaReddy. Other contendersinclude the Congress, BJP andthe Jana Sena of Pawan Kalyan,who has tied up with BSP.

Chandrababu Naidu andhis family members exercisedtheir franchise at a polling sta-tion in Undavalli village in Statecapital region Amaravati.

His son, Nara Lokesh, inci-dentally, is the TDP candidatefrom Mangalagiri Assemblysegment that covers Undavalli.

A tribal woman shows the ink mark on her index finger after casting her vote in Hyderabad on Thursday AP

Naxal attacks fail to dampen voters’ zeal

TDP, YSR fightpitched battle as3 workers killedAndhra witnesses

simultaneous polls for

25 Lok Sabha and

175 Assembly seats

Jammu: Avtar Krishen's lastwish is to live the remainder ofhis life at his ancestral home inKashmir, and like several dis-placed Kashmiri Pandits, theseptuagenarian said he voted onThursday hoping a newGovernment ends his three-decades "exile".

Krishen is among the sevenlakh-odd Kashmiri Pandits whohad to flee the Valley in thewake of spread of terrorism in1989-90.

The Baramulla and Jammuparliamentary seats in Jammuand Kashmir went to polls in thefirst-phase of the general elec-tions along with 89 other LokSabha seats in India onThursday. "I have again votedwith the hope that a newGovernment will ensure myreturn and rehabilitation in mynative place in Kashmir," saidKrishen, who casted his vote at

the polling booth in Jagati campin Jammu for a candidate inBaramulla in Kashmir.

The camp is one of four thathouses displaced Kashmiri pan-dits. Jagati has around 15,000residents.

The 79-year-old, who fledhis home in a remote hamlet innorth Kashmir's Kupwara dis-trict in 1990, said he has votedwith one wish— returning to hisroots."I have voted in 1996,2002, 2008 and 2014 Assemblyelections and 1999, 2004, 2009,2014 parliamentary elections.See how many governmentswere formed since then. But myvote for 'ghar wapsi' has notbeen addressed at all," saidKrishen.

He said he wants to take hislast breath in his ancestral placeand "this may be the last timethat I will vote...My only wish isto return back to my roots"

Returning officer PankajAnand told PTI that as many as4,593 voters as per M-formprocedures are entitled for vot-ing at 26 polling stations inJammu, Udhampur and Delhi.

The Election Commissionin a notification said 21 specialpolling stations have been set upfor Kashmiri Pandit migrantvoters in Jammu, one inUdhampur and four in Delhi.

Kashmiri Pandits livingacross India, including Jammuand Udhampur, continue tovote for candidates in theirhome constituencies in Kashmirto keep their connect with theValley However, they rue thatrespective governments at theCentre and in the state haveassured but not ensured theirreturn to their ancestral landwith full dignity and security.

Kashmiri Pandits every yearJanuary 19 mark their "exile"

from the Valley and this yearthey completed 30 years.

From a remote area inKupwara's Wadipora belt, fallingin the Baramulla constituency,Chuni Lal, also an elderly,believes that his vote will ensurehis return to his native place forpermanent rehabilitation beforehis death. Though Lal andKrishen believe that voting forcandidates in their home con-stituencies will fulfil their wish,Santosh from Sopore inBaramulla said it is futile as theirdemands have failed to find tak-ers. "Who does not want toreturn to their homes in theKashmir valley. We have votedfor returning in past elections,but no government has ensuredour return for the past 30 years.

"What am I voting for again.It is futile, but we still have faith.They don't want us to return",he said. PTI

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Peaceful polling process ontwo Lok Sabha seats of

Baramulla and Jammu-Poonch, which recorded 54.49per cent polling in the firstphase, ended on a violent noteafter one minor boy was killedand another received injuriesduring clashes in Langate areaof Kupwara district onThursday.

According to groundreports, clashes broke out inthe Mandigam area ofLangate, falling underBaramulla Parliamentary con-

stituency, after the poll processwas over.

According to thesereports, a group of youthreportedly pelted stones onsecurity forces who werereturning after dischargingtheir poll duties. As clasheserupted security forces tried tocontain the situation. Duringclashes, a 13-year-old boy,identified as Owais Mir,received critical injuries andlater, he succumbed to injuriesin district hospital, Handwara.Police has registered an FIR tocarry out detailed investiga-tions in the case.

Minor killed in pollviolence in J&K

Kashmiri Pandits vote for returning to their ancestral land

Itanagar: A good job, politicalstability and peaceful environ-ment are on the wish list ofmany first time voters inArunachal Pradesh, wheresimultaneous Lok Sabha andassemly polls are being held onThursday.

They want upcoming law-makers of the state to change thenarrative for a better tomorrow,saying the state's developmentshould be their main agenda.

Kalung Pinky, who cast hervote at Government SecondarySchool polling station at P-Sector here, said she had exer-cised her franchise according to

her conscience."People should vote for

those persons, irrespective oftheir party affiliations, who canreally work in the interest of thepeople.

"I hope the first time vot-ers will elect those candidateswho will be able to change thestereotype political scene in thestate so that people can lead apeaceful life without any dis-crimination in the develop-mental process," 21-year-oldPinky said.

Another first time voterYari Nabam who cast her voteat Arunudaya Higher

Secondary School at VivekVihar here, said she wants a sta-ble government in the statethis time.

Norbu Tsering, who cast hisvote at Niti Vihar secondaryschool polling booth here, wasof the view that the new gov-ernment in the state should cre-ate enough employmentavenues for the youths. "We areall concerned about jobs. Thepolitical leaders and lawmakers,we elect, should work onimproving the employment sce-nario," Norbu a student ofEnglish literature in a privatecollege here said. PTI

Hyderabad: Nizamabad LokSabha constituency inTelangana, which went to elec-tions on Thursday, may well getinto the Guiness Book of WorldRecord for the use of largestnumber of electronic votingmachines (EVMs).

With a high number of185 candidates, including 178farmers, in the contest, theElection Commission used 12EVMs in each booth in the con-

stituency.Election officials have

approached the Guinness Bookof to recognise the usage of largenumber of Electronic VotingMachines (EVM) in a con-stituency.

Telangana Chief ElectoralOfficer Rajat Kumar said theyused nearly 27,000 Ballot Unitsfor Nizamabad where the largenumber of farmers jumped intothe fray to highlight their

demand for remunerative pricefor turmeric and red sorghumand setting up of a TurmericBoard there.

We have approached to theconsultant (of Guinness Book)who is based out of Hyderabad.They have given us a question-naire and the answers to someof the questions I have approvedand submitted to them. Theprocess is in motion, RajatKumar told PTI. PTI

EC seeks Guinness record forNizamabad for maximum EVMs

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, waves to his supporters during an election rally in the interiors of Dal Lake inSrinagar on Thursday AP

VOTERS WANT JOBS, POLITICAL

STATIBILITY IN ARUNACHAL

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019 07

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

Mamata Banerjee and AmitShah on Thursday

engaged in a furious war ofwords from two different elec-toral rallies in Darjeeling withBengal Chief Minister vowingto form a Trinamool Congress-led Government in the Centreand the BJP president callingupon the people of Bengal to“drive away a corrupt, crimi-nalized and chit fund-aidedTrinamool Congress” dispen-sation from the State.

Shah speaking from a rallyat Kalingpong said duringMamata regime Bengal hadseen a steady flight of capitalleaving back a “syndicate raj.”There was “no industry exceptthe bomb-making industrythriving in Bengal” he saidadding “law and order situationin the State has deteriorated fur-ther from what it was earlier.”

Attacking the ChiefMinister for “presiding over a

Government of thugs and chitfund dealers” Shah said thepoor man’s interest featuredthe least in Banerjee’s agenda.“She has done nothing for thetea workers, she has brought theState economy down as there isno employment, the people ofBengal have to go out to otherStates for employment,”

Shah said there was nodemocracy in the State and theruling party was “clinging on to

power by unleashing a goondaraj,” adding this time round theBJP would clinch 23 seats whichwill pave the way for Banerjee’sdownfall in Bengal.

“Come May 23 it will be thebeginning of TMC’s end inBengal,” he said, the grandalliance of the Opposition par-ties which Banerjee was tryingto lead would fall apart.Reacting sharply to Shah’sspeech Banerjee who spokehours later at Darjeeling daredthe BJP to “save Delhi firstbefore eying Bengal.”

She said “TMC will lead thecoalition of parties to form aGovernment in Delhi,” askingthe people to “vote for us as wewill lead India from Bengal.”Attacking the BJP for selling thecountry’s interests to the richBanerjee said Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was talkingabout terror and infiltrationwhile during his regime terrorattacks had increased manifoldin India.

MAMATA, AMIT SHAH

EXCHANGE POLL FIREFrom Page 1

“If a State Governmentconsiders that release of anyconvict on parole is absolutelyessential for certain compellingreasons, in that case, the StateGovernment shall consult theChief Electoral Officer (CEO)concerned before grantingparole,” the EC said.

It added that parole shouldbe given in cases of “extremeemergency and it should beensured that they do notindulge in any election-relatedactivities”.

“However, if grant of paroleto such (drug crime accused)offenders becomes necessaryfor certain reasons, thenadvance intimation shall begiven to police and drug lawenforcement agencies, includ-ing the NCB (narcotics controlbureau) zonal units, so that awatch on their activities may bekept,” the EC said.

If such a person is foundindulging in any objection-able activity, his parole “should

be cancelled forthwith”, the ECcommunication said.

“The district election offi-cers shall also apprise theObservers of the constituenciesconcerned about the release ofconvicts on parole, if any,” theEC added.

As per the EC, the flyingsquad has seized 14,604 kgdrug from Maharashtra, 6,551kg from Madhya Pradesh,5,371 kg from Punjab, 146 kgfrom Karnataka, 111 kg fromGujarat, 108 kg from Bihar; 46kg from Himachal Pradeshand 10.4 kg from Jharkhand.The EC has deployed hundredsof general observers, expendi-ture observers and static andmobile surveillance teams inthe country to keep watch onthe flow of black money andother illegal gratification so thatthe level playing field of hold-ing fair polls is not disturbed.

During the election to fiveState Assemblies last year, theEC had seized drugs and nar-cotics worth Rs 17 crore.

From Page 1Assange sought refuge at

the Ecuador Embassy inKnightsbridge in June 2012,having lost an appeal againstextradition to Sweden forquestioning on allegations ofrape and sexual assault thatwent up to the UK SupremeCourt.

While the Swedish casehas since been dropped,

Assange was wanted byScotland Yard for breach ofbail and faced arrest themoment he stepped out of thediplomatically immune terri-tory. But once that immunitywas lifted, he was taken intocustody.

The UK Government wel-comed the arrest, which it saidwas the result of “extensivedialogue” between the UKand Ecuador. A DowningStreet spokesperson stressed

that the UK did not lobby forhis arrest in any way and the“decision to revoke asylum”was entirely made by Ecuador.

“Ecuador’s actions recog-nise that the UK’s justice sys-tem is one in which rights areprotected and in which, con-trary to what Mr Assangeand his supporters may claim,he and his legitimate interestswill be protected,” UK homesecretary Sajid Javid said in astatement to Parliament.

From Page 1As the news of firing was

flashed on wireless, the districtmagistrate Akhilesh Singh andthe Senior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP) Ajay Kumar rushedto the spot and found the peacerestored at the polling station.

The DM asked the votersto cast their votes and the re-polling started in the presenceof the District Magistrate. “Thepolling remained suspendedfor 25 minutes,” said the DM.

The DM had also sum-moned the BSF command-ment Virendra Dutton took

over the command and processof polling restored.

Kairana and seven otherseats in western Uttar Pradesh- Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat,Ghaziabad and GautamBuddha Nagar - voted in thefirst of the seven phases in theLok Sabha election. UttarPradesh, which has 80 parlia-mentary seats, will see pollingin all seven phases of the LokSabha election.

In Kairana, the SP is field-ing Tabassum Hasan, the sittinglawmaker from the Rashtriya

Lok Dal (RLD), as a joint can-didate of the Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati-Ajit Singh combine.Hasan had won the KairanaLok Sabha by-election last yearwhen she contested on an RLDticket and as a joint candidateof the Opposition.

Kairana, 119 km fromDelhi, became a test case for asuccessful Opposition collabo-ration to defeat the BJP in itsown seat. For the BJP, Kairanaholds immense significance asit was defeated in the LokSabha by-election held lastyear.

From Page 1The polling percentage in

Meerut and Baghpat stood at 63around 63.90 per cents respec-tively. The voting percentage inKairana was 62.10 per cent,Muzaffarnagar 65.66 per cent,Bijnor 65.40 per cent and 60.15per cent in Gautam BuddhaNagar, they said.

At a Kairana polling booth,a BSF jawan fired in air to dis-perse some people, who were notcarrying their identity cards andtried to forcibly enter the premis-es to cast vote, police said.

The incident took place at apolling booth in RasoolpurGujran village under Kandhlapolice station around noon.

In Muzaffarnagar, BJP MPSanjeev Balyan stoked a con-troversy by demanding thatmale officials check the identi-ty of burqa-clad women at pollstations where women securitypersonnel had not been posted.

“If someone comes in aburqa, whether the same personis coming four or five times, howwill you check,” Balyan toldreporters in Muzaffarnagar.

Three Union Ministers -VK Singh (Ghaziabad), SatyapalSingh (Baghpat) and MaheshSharma (Gautam BuddhaNagar) - are in the fray in the firstleg of the seven-phase polls.

The BJP had won all theeight seats in 2014 Lok Sabhaelections but lost Kairana seatin a bypoll held later. The com-munally sensitive seat ofMuzaffarnagar is witnessing aclash between RLD chief AjitSingh and Balyan. Some secu-rity personnel on election dutyin Noida were served meals in

packets labelled “Namo Foods”,triggering criticism from theOpposition even after the localpolice said the packs only dis-played the name of the foodshop. Sporadic violence marredthe polling to Assembly and LokSabha elections in AndhraPradesh, reportedly leaving twoYSR Congress and one rulingTDP member dead as the Statewitnessed over 77 per cent voterturnout. Incidents of EVM dam-age and stone-pelting markedthe high octane polling that sawa large number out of the over3.97 crore eligible voters turningup braving the scorching sum-mer heat. The election willdecide the fate of incumbentChief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu and main OppositionYSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late ChiefMinister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.Other contenders include theCongress, BJP and the JanaSena of Pawan Kalyan, who hastied up with BSP. Polling wasalso held simultaneously for175 Assembly and 25 Lok Sabhaseats in the State, in the first gen-eral election after bifurcation ofAndhra Pradesh and creation ofTelangana in June, 2014.

The ruling TDP raised a hueand cry over malfunctioning ofelectronic voting machines(EVMs) and blamed theElection Commission for failingto conduct the elections prop-erly. An estimated 61 per cent ofvoters cast their votes onThursday in Lok Sabha electionsin Telangana, exercise passed offpeacefully, officials said. All the17 segments, includingNizamabad that saw over 170farmers contesting demandingremunerative price for theirproduce, went to polls in the sin-gle phase and till 5 pm, 60.57 percent voting was recorded. InMaharashtra, altogether 55.78per cent voters on Thursday

exercised their franchise in thefirst phase of polling in sevenLok Sabha constituencies in theVidarbha region. This is 6 percent lower turnout in compari-son to 2014. The State ChiefElectoral office said Naxal-hitGadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabhaseat witnessed an impressive61.33 per cent voter turn-out,while 60.50 per cent electorateexercised the franchise inBhandara-Gondiya.

Chandrapur recorded 55.97per cent polling, followed by55.36 per cent in Wardha, 53.97per cent in Yavatmal-Washim,53.13 per cent in Nagpur and51.72 per cent in Ramtek (SC)seat.

Prominent candidates inthese constituencies were UnionMinisters and senior BJP lead-ers Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur) andHansraj Ahir (Chandrapur). Anestimated 53.06 per cent voterturnout was recorded in fourLok Sabha constituencies ofBihar which went to the polls inthe first phase on Thursday, atop election official said.Altogether 70.52 lakh voterswere eligible to exercise theirfranchise in the four Lok Sabhaseats which had 44 candidates inthe fray. “A total of 53.06 per centvoting was recorded in four LokSabha constituencies ofAurangabad, Gaya, Nawada andJamui. It was 2.27 per centhigher turnout in these fourseats in comparison to 2014 gen-eral elections,” Chief ElectoralOfficer (CEO) HR Srinivas toldreporters here. This is a declineof three per cent in comparisonto 2014.

Brisk polling was recordedin Odisha on Thursday with 68per cent of the over 60 lakh elec-torate casting their votes in fourLok Sabha seats and 28Assembly constituencies. In2014, the State had recordedturnout of 73 per cent.

NO WAVE KEEPS

POLL OUTCOME

UNDER WRAPS

EC bans drugoffenders’...

Assange held...

Enraged locals storm...

From Page 1Chougan parade ground

during the funeral proces-sion. Police had to resort touse of tear smoke shells to dis-perse the crowd.

Rana said the situation

was brought under control assome protesters pelted stonesafter the cremation ceremonywas over. He said the armycolumns remained deployedin the area and no major inci-dent of violence was reported

in the area. Earlier, districtauthorities prevented largegathering of mourners in thearea anticipating violence dur-ing the last rites. Severalsenior BJP leaders and localresidents were not allowed toproceed towards Chougan bythe local authorities in thewake of curfew restrictions.

EX-BJP MLA ShaktiParihar, along with his sup-porters, was not allowed toproceed towards Kishtwarfrom Doda by the districtauthorities and preventedfrom travell ing on the highway.

Similarly, chairman of theDogra SwabhimaanSangathan party Lal Singhwas taken in to preventivecustody while he too wasmoving towards Kishtwar toattend funeral procession ofRSS leader.

As regards the investiga-tions into the killing of theRSS leader, the police havepicked up several over groundworkers (OGWs) for ques-tioning. “We have picked upsome people, mostly known asover ground workers(OGWs). They are beinginterrogated,” the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP),Jammu zone, M K Sinha toldreporters on the sidelines ofhis visit to a polling station tooversee the security arrange-ments, reported PTI onThursday.

Pak handlers trying

communal...

Alot has been said about theNDA government’s strategytowards doubling farmers’income and the subsequentrecommendations by a special-

ly constituted committee on it. Unlike inthe past, the core theme of this round ofpolicy recommendations has been to con-sider farmers’ income as the fulcrum ofstrategy. The report has laid out multiplerecommendations for achieving the goal ofdoubling farmers’ incomes by 2022.However, it must be noted that most ofthese recommendations are the outcomeof a top-down approach at the Union level,even though much of these policy decisionsneed to be undertaken by StateGovernments. Moreover, only some ofthese recommendations pertain to partic-ular States and these are to be identifiedafter examination at the ground level,which was not undertaken in the commit-tee’s deliberations. Out of the seven-yearperiod set for doubling of farmers’ income,three full agricultural years have alreadygone. There is, therefore, a daunting taskahead. Finally, even though committeereports provide estimates of the investmentrequired to double farmers’ income, noattempt has been made to sequence invest-ment needs. After all, given the fund con-straints for investment and time limitation,the top priority should have been to iden-tify the most binding constraints forincreasing farmers’ income state-wise andallocate funds accordingly.

The binding constraints to farmers’income or economic activity at the Statelevel differ depending on the natural, polit-ical and institutional settings. A betterunderstanding of these constraints helps todevise appropriate policy for efficientallocation of scarce financial resources. Themethodology of growth diagnostics isconceptualised as a decision tree, which fol-lows a top-down approach. This method-ology developed by Hausmann et al (2008)considers the hierarchy of distortions,from the largest to the smallest. The strat-egy could be to start reducing the largestdistortion to the level of the next largest andthen proceed in a similar way in the sub-sequent round. This strategy is found tohave welfare-improving effects. However,this requires a complete list of constraints,which is difficult to obtain and is unknownexplicitly.

According to Hausmann et al (2008),the best strategy, therefore, is to focus onreforms that would alleviate the most bind-ing constraint. The relaxation of the mostbinding constraint is guessed to have thelargest direct effects on farmers’ income/welfare. Since it is impractical to identifythe full list of constraints, it is useful to startfocussing on proximate determinants ofeconomic growth (e.g. infrastructure).After identification of proximate determi-nants, one should search for their associ-ated economic distortions (e.g. tax, corrup-tion, finance), the removal of which wouldhave the largest impact on farmers’ eco-nomic growth. Of course, it is not easy toidentify these distortions.

The strategy is to startwith aggregate outcome such aseconomic growth (agricultur-al income growth in case ofagricultural sector) and itsproximate determinants. Inthe context of a particularcountry, Hausmann et al(2008) began the diagnostic ofeconomic growth throughthree proximate determinants— returns on accumulation,private appropriability and costof financing accumulation. Thefirst stage is to identify whichof these three factors is thegreatest obstacle to economicgrowth. In the next stage, dis-tortions associated with mostbinding constraints or mostsevere of these constraints areto be identified. The mostcommon distortions includeinadequate infrastructure, poorproperty rights and corruption.In short, the growth diagnos-tic approach starts with deter-minants of economic growthand then role of distortions thatunderline the binding con-straints.

A proper diagnosis of eco-nomic growth involves identi-fication of the correct maladies(binding constraints). As dis-cussed earlier, the idea ofgrowth diagnostics is that notall the constraints affect eco-nomic growth equally and thatan appropriate strategy should

consist of identifying mostserious constraints. Hence, suc-cess of growth diagnosticsdepends on identification ofdrivers of growth and thenmost binding constraints ongrowth drivers. Policy reformscan be prioritised for unleash-ing the most binding con-straints on growth. Economictheory and evidence help inidentification of growth driversand binding constraints.

The discussion in theabove sections providesinsights into the details ofgrowth diagnostics frameworkand possible analytical toolsthat can be used to identify thedeterminants of agriculturaloutput growth. Since the prof-it-maximising objective func-tion behind a producer is toequate marginal revenue tomarginal cost, a producerwould produce to the pointwhere this condition holds.Of course, the producer aswell as policy makers can makeinterventions to shift the pro-ducing point by removing con-straints.

What are the binding con-straints for raising agricultur-al income on the input and out-put side? Agricultural outputgrowth depends on farm size,yield (technology), price andcrop/enterprise diversification.Similarly input use depends on

availability of seed, fertiliser,pesticide, labour, machinery,irrigation and credit. Supposethat the overarching problem iswhy has agricultural growth instates slowed down during therecent years? Application ofgrowth diagnostics involvesasking a series of questionsabout the binding constraintson growth determinants. Forinstance, if the problem seemsto be a low scale of farming, isthat due to poor soil quality,inadequate irrigation facility,expensive labour and govern-ment restriction on a particu-lar cropping pattern? Is the lowscale of farming also due toinsecure land tenure, frag-mented land holdings, higherrent or restrictions on landleasing? Yield is an importantdriver of output growth. If lowcrop yield appears to be aproblem, is that due to lack ofaccess to new technology, highcost of technology, failure oftechnology, poor training offarmers to use the technology,low agricultural research anddevelopment expenditure, hightaxes or poor definition ofproperty rights? Similarly,binding constraints on otherdeterminants of output growthcan be identified and then theremedies worked out.

On the input side, farmerscould face a situation where

they get lower returns from themodern inputs and hence lowmotivation, resulting in under-investment on high pay-offinputs. If the problem is withnon-availability of qualityinputs, is that due to corrup-tion, poor quality control, poordelivery system and high cost?If the problem is over the useof inputs affecting sustainabil-ity of production, is that due tosubsidy, poor regulation orlack of awareness? Similarly, ifhigh cost of financing is aproblem, is that due to poorintermediation, low bankingdensity or dominance of infor-mal financing? In a similar way,binding constraints on specif-ic inputs such as fertilisers,seed, labour, irrigation andmachinery can be identifiedand suitable remedies designedto remove the constraints.

Understanding uniquebinding constraints in order ofpriority, State by State, is a firststep towards raising agricultur-al income. The policy actionsaiming at removing distor-tions or making investmentform the next step.

(The authors are AssociateProfessor, Centre for the Studyof Regional Development,School of Social Sciences, JNUand Professor, NCAER respec-tively. The views expressed arepersonal).

The countrywide Income Tax raids on polit-

ical parties, their allied networks and the

seizure of massive amounts of unac-

counted cash this election season are not the

tip of an iceberg or a scam that has just been

unearthed. The use of unaccounted money

during elections is an open secret consider-

ing the ridiculously low limits on spending —

`70 lakh for Lok Sabha and `28 lakh for

Assembly — and the improbability of sustain-

ing a long-drawn campaign with it. Of

course, there is a need to address this issue

through an electoral reforms process where realistic spending limits and full dis-

closure of corporate donations would ultimately ensure transparency. But till that

happens, every party and candidate is liable to come under the arc of suspi-

cion. However, this is not a defence but an explanation of the largescale abuse

of a system that encourages rather than discourages the use of black money.

There is no doubt that the corrupt need to be punished, considering a faulty sys-

tem has bred an equally strong underbelly. But to assume that only Opposition

leaders are prone to wrong-doings and the ruling party and its allies are a dis-

ciplined lot while co-existing in the same eco-system is a tad too far-fetched.

Media reports say that over the last six months, the IT department has conduct-

ed 15 searches on Opposition leaders and only one on a BJP leader.

So as tax raids appeared concentrated on the Congress in Madhya Pradesh,

Karnataka and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh, it did compel

the Election Commission (EC) to make a realistic assessment that the raids should-

n’t be seen as targetting the Opposition as part of political vendetta. Particularly

when Madhya Pradesh, which slipped out of the ruling BJP’s grasp in the Assembly

elections, and TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, who walked out of the NDA, have left

the party bitter. The Congress-JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka is also a

sore point. It isn’t rocket science to understand that the righteousness of the move

would have influenced the voter for whom corruption is still a deciding concern.

So when the revenue department, which is under the Finance Ministry, coun-

tered the EC’s advisory, saying it should ask its field officers to take immediate

enforcement action at their end on unaccounted cash instead, it amounted to

administrative insolence of a lame-duck regime. The EC, which is empowered

to take decisions while enforcing the Model Code of Conduct, rightly reprimand-

ed that it did not need referees and that it could be as “ruthless” but would act

without bias. And it has with its own raids across the spectrum. As it is, the EC

has had its hands full recently, dealing with transgressions about subtle cam-

paigning through TV programming, films, channels and communal remarks made

by various leaders. People have already questioned its credibility and lambast-

ed its toothlessness in the face of a determined government. It would do best

for both institutions to avoid a public spat over their differences. The corrupt need

to be punished regardless of their political affiliations. Period. This is what the

BJP itself had done when its chief Bangaru Laxman was caught taking money

in a sting operation. Selective raids, particularly during election time, will raise

questions even in genuine cases. Also, these clampdowns should not be con-

fined to the poll season but be a continuous process of evaluation. Many sur-

veys have shown how legislators pile up a more than 100 per cent growth in

assets in a five-year term. Surely, everybody has a right to build personal wealth

but if it happens uniformly for all legislators, then there is reason to go to the

roots of the fastest returns. That would help in eliminating financial jugglery in

a system, which needs reforms on a priority basis.

Just before the 50th anniversary of man’s

adventure to the moon, scientists have

announced that they have successfully

managed to capture an image of a black hole.

This celestial object, predicted in so many

physics equations all the way from Albert

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, has finally been

manifest in physical form, albeit in a blurry pic-

ture that looks like the corona during a solar

eclipse. The flurry of spherical images andthe attendant data are helping scientists devel-op new insights into the mysterious environ-

ment close to black holes, where the pull of gravity is so intense that it hasthe power to destroy all known realities. This will also help us understand theorigin of jets of radiation that are blasted out from the black holes close tothe speed of light, creating colourful flashes across the cosmos. This is an

amazing achievement that also highlights just how far astronomical observation

has come in the 400 years since the invention of the telescope by Dutchman

Hans Lippershey, not Galileo as many wrongly believe. This discovery just high-

lights why mankind should keep on exploring the planets and why this should

be a global quest.

The remarkable progress we have made in the past few decades in astron-

omy has been in no small part due to the tremendous public success of space-

based observatories such as Hubble, Chandra and Kepler. Events such as this

photograph will hopefully drive more young people to discover the wonders of

science and engineering. It might also provide an impetus to those who feel that

man should once again leave the bounds of earth’s gravity, this time not just to

go to the moon but further afield. Particularly due to the fact that mankind is vir-

tually killing the planet which has nurtured life, the stars that we look up to might

have to be our home soon enough unless we turn back the tide on the destruc-

tion here. Many people who believe in astrology say that our future is written in

the stars, which is correctly dismissed as bunkum by those of a scientific bent.

Some astrologers are, in fact, interpreting the black hole lying in the constel-lation of Virgo as a sign that we all need to use our higher mind and knowl-edge to assess our emotions. But our future is definitely in the stars, and while

many nations, now led by China, continue to search for extra-terrestrial intelli-

gence, it may not be too far-fetched that it will be humankind that will colonise

the stars eventually. And for that we must keep exploring the universe and answer-

ing some fundamental questions. Not just of science but also philosophy, as the

Nasadiya Sukta of the Rig Veda says,“Who really knows? Who here will pro-

claim it? Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? The Gods came

afterwards with the creation of this universe. Who then knows whence it has

arisen?” May be one day we will find out the answers to the questions that our

most enlightened of ancestors asked. For that day to come, mankind has to keep

exploring the heavens. At the same time, we must take care of where we live

and we must not forget the earth.

Heart of darkness

In a truly remarkable feat of astronomy, scientists have forthe first time taken a picture of a black hole

The poll panel is right in striking a cautionary note that taxraids on candidates should not appear selective

Voters can’t be fooled

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Muscular pledge” (April 10). TheBharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP)manifesto or Sankalp Patra as theparty likes to call it, has laid to restfears of competitive populism. Infact, the vision document is notmuch different from its earlierversion. On such seminal issueslike the construction of a RamTemple at Ayodhya, even thewording of the two manifestoes issimilar. Further, it is replete withpromises of other largesse such aspensions for different segmentsand waiver of interest on farmloans up to `1 lakh. For the ruralpoor, there is a promise of provid-ing piped water to all householdsby 2024 and to link all panchay-ats by high-speed optical fibre by2022. Then there is, of course, thecommitment to fight terror withan iron hand and to deal withexternal enemies sternly.

However, by now, voters havebecome cynical enough to take allmanifestoes with more than apinch of salt. Parties must, hence,take the promises seriously andendeavour to implement them.

J AkshobhyaMysuru

No reprieve

Sir — The apex court has direct-ed a somewhat reluctantElection Commission toincrease by five times the num-ber of Electronic VotingMachines (EVMs), whose votecount must be matched withvoter-verified paper audit trail(VVPAT) slips in each Assembly

segment. This despite the persis-tent confirmation by virtuallyevery serving and former ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC)about the soundness of EVMs.However, the 21-party opposi-tion front is not entirely satisfied.

Apparently, political partiesare difficult to convince. If onlyhad their lordships been as con-fident about the incorruptibili-ty of the EVMs — as Nirvachan

Sadan contends — they ought tohave forcefully rejected theclaims of Opposition partiesand directed them to desistfrom being obstructionist. Yet byordering a less-than tokenincrease in the number ofVVPAT devices, the court haspermitted a continuance of the“no smoke without fire” theory.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

Welcome move

Sir — The Election Commission’sdirective to stall the release ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi’sbiopic, which was supposed to bescreened on April 12, is welcome.Any sort of wrong or unethicalmove during election time canintensely tarnish the image of thecandidates in no time. PrimeMinister Modi is admired forbeing a true patriot and a law-abiding citizen. He should havehimself expressed his reluctanceto the release of the biopic.

Tushar AnandPatna

Bag of lies

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Muscular pledge” (April 10).Briefly, while not enough hasbeen promised for the next fiveyears in the BJP’s election mani-festo, there certainly is an attemptto sharpen communal polarisa-tion in the country.

AnandVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N


facebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionLUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

08

Alternative farm strategyUnderstanding unique binding constraints in order of priority, State by State, is a first step

towards raising agricultural income. Policy intervention should come later

It is our commitment tobring in NRC to chuck outeach and every infiltrator.Unlike Mamata Banerjee, we don't treat infiltrators as our vote bank.

BJP chief —Amit Shah

They (BJP) ignite fire in Darjeelingduring polls. People in Delhi (BJP) instigate problems. Themore the problems, the better arethe party's chances of takingadvantage of the situation.

WB Chief Minister—Mamata Banerjee

Everybody said you can'thave peace in the MiddleEast with Israel andPalestinians. I think we nowhave a better chance (onNetanyahu win).

US President—Donald Trump

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

A shot in the arm for investigative journalism

This refers to the editorial, “For the sake of Rafale”(April 11). In its order on the Rafale deal, theSupreme Court rightly took note of a parallel with

the US Supreme Court's verdict on unhindered publi-cation of the Pentagon Papers case and held that thepublication of the three documents by The Hindu onRafale was in consonance with the right to freedom ofspeech as guaranteed by the Constitution. We know aboutthe historic legal battle between the US executive andthe fourth estate in 1971. At that time, the US SupremeCourt had turned down the Nixon administration'sattempt to block the publication of information on theVietnam War. Our Government's plea that the review peti-tion on Rafale was not maintainable as it was based on“stolen” documents was rejected by the court. It is clearthat the Government's argument is about ethics — aboutthe way those documents had been procured — andnot about their authenticity.

The question is: Can the fourth estate investigate

the dealings of the executive, even sometimes crossingthe boundary of the Official Secrets Act? The answer liesin the counter question: What then is investigative jour-nalism all about? It is true that one is not supposed topeep inside another's bedroom but if someone has hearda rattling noise coming out from someone's bedroom,must not he/she peep inside and raise an alarm?

Sujit DeKolkata

Send your feedback to:[email protected]

EC versus I-T

My fans expect to see me all thetime and they love the way I talk,so hosting is something I amvery good at. I enjoy it verymuch. I'm glad that I have beenaccepted in all media.

Actor—Gauahar Khan

ELUMALAI KANNANAND

SANJIB POHIT

The curious case of F-16

THE MAHAMILAVATI GANG IS ACTUALLY AFRAID OF

SOMETHING ELSE THOUGH IT MAY HAVE OTHER

PRETENSIONS WHILE SCARE-MONGERING.

—PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

MANY PEOPLE IN INDIAN HISTORY HAVE HAD THE

ARROGANCE TO BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE

INVINCIBLE. NOBODY IS BIGGER THAN THE PEOPLE.

—UPA CHAIRPERSON

SONIA GANDHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

In the aftermath of India’s Mars mission a fewyears back, the New York Times had publisheda cartoon to mock our space endeavours. The

caricature was of an Indian in rustic attire, rep-resenting the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) with a cow beside him, trying to knockon a door of a room in which were seated someelite White people who, perhaps, depictedWestern aerospace agencies. The cartoon spokevolumes about the racist and White supremacist(sic) mentality that still exists in the West andmore so among a section of media over there,which still finds it difficult to acknowledge theaccomplishments of Asian countries like India inspheres, hitherto a monopoly of the West.Therefore, it was not surprising that typical ofproverbial habit, a section of Western mediadoubted the Balakot airstrike and the downingof a Pakistan F-16 jet by an Indian Air Force (IAF)MiG-21 despite its limited understanding of manyaspects of tactical air operations.

The Washington-based Foreign Policy mag-azine recently published an article titled, ‘DidIndia Shoot Down a Pakistani Jet? U.S. Count SaysNo’ with an effort to drive home the point thatIndia may not have shot down a Pakistani F-16since, as per the magazine, “senior US defenceofficials with direct knowledge of the situationtold Foreign Policy that US personnel recentlycounted Islamabad’s F-16s and found nonemissing.”

Even though the Pakistani establishment wasquick to latch on the report in its rush to scorebrownie points, and some in India, too, duringelection time were frothing in their mouth to pinthe Indian armed forces down by referring to thearticle, it did not quite have the intended impact.Later, however, it was also reported that the US’Defence Department officially stated that it wasnot aware of any such head count of F-16 fleetof Pakistani Air Force having been done by itsauthorities, thereby totally shattering the credi-bility of the Foreign Policy article.

IAF did it in 1965 War, too: The pertinentquestion is, where does the truth lie and why aresome having difficulty in accepting it? In the firstplace, this was not the first time that IAF pilotsshot down far superior combat jets even whilethemselves flying more vintage ones. In the 1965India-Pakistan war, there are well-documentedreports of IAF Gnats checkmating technological-ly superior Pakistani F-104 Starfighters and F-86Sabres in aerial combats and downing several ofthem, leading to the depletion of the Pakistan AirForce combat fleet by around 17 per cent by theend of war.

The other important thing to remember isthat IAF pilots are thorough professionals. Theydon’t take up to the sky for jingoism but for seri-ous business. Wing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman would not have crossed the Line ofControl (LoC) at the cost of irrefutable mortaldanger to his life, had he not radar-locked aPakistani F-16 with his short range R-73 missile.Radar locking on a target is like a hunter gettingthe irresistible scent of blood. Wing CommanderAbhinandan could have easily returned to thebase once the Pakistani F-16 had crossed the LoCbut the reason he did not do so was because hewas sure of the kill.

The Indian objective: In spite of themassive End-Use MonitoringAgreement (EUMA) violation byPakistan and feat of IAF in downing anF-16, India, having already shared allevidence with the US, including radarsignatures, visual records and interceptsof Pakistani defence communications,perhaps would not push it too hard toacknowledge the crash. At stake are bil-lions of dollars of business and credi-bility of some of America’s finest aero-space and defence firms. To officiallyacknowledge that a fourth generationand highly upgraded F-16 was shotdown by a third generation Mig-21 andthat the F-16’s evasive manoeuvres orelectronic warfare measures failed tododge a short range R-73 kind ofWithin Visual Range (WVR) missile,would have serious ramifications for theAmerican aerospace industry in termsof business and its halo of invincibili-ty. India’s objective is not that but tofight terror that emanates fromPakistan.

For both India and US, there areother priorities: Having acknowledgedthe feat of IAF, both India and US wouldprefer the matter to slowly get into thebackburner and focus on other majorissues where Indians have convergencewith Americans. The most criticalamong them is surely that of designat-ing Masood Azhar as a global terroristin the UN Security Council wherein theUS has now taken a new approach tonegate the Chinese resistance to themove in the past.

Blacklisting Pakistan by FATFhigh on agenda: The second key issuewhere India is working closely with theUS is in the realm of making a solid case

for blacklisting Pakistan by the FinancialAction Task Force (FATF). This is a crit-ical step in taking forward the fightagainst terrorism emanating fromPakistan. The blacklisting would severe-ly hurt its ability to continue with itssupport of terror infrastructure at thecost of a massive financial catastrophesince blacklisting by FATF can severe-ly impede Pakistan’s already depletedchance of getting financial bailouts fromglobal financial institutions or invitingForeign Direct Investment. As per thePakistan Foreign Office, greylistingalone is costing Pakistan an annual lossof around $ 10 billion.

Defence cooperation: Besides, inthe field of aerospace development,defence cooperation and nuclear powergeneration, several Indian companiesand Government agencies are workingclosely with their American counter-parts. In all these areas, there arestrong dynamics, which is far more crit-ical for India than to push the US intoadmission that a US F-16 was shotdown by the IAF. As a strategic partnerof the US, India has shown enoughmaturity in dealing with the issuerather than creating a ruckus over it.One would also not be surprised if a dis-creet note of applause would also havebeen passed on informally by theAmericans in admiration of the feat ofIAF.

India’s objective is clear andaccomplished: India’s Balakot strikeinto the epicentre of Pakistan’s terrortraining bastion has altered the thresh-old of India’s counter-terror responsemechanism by raising the bar of con-sequence on Pakistan through ‘NonMilitary Pre-emptive Strikes’. This is the

new-normal and this would be thequantum of India’s response every timethere is a major cross-border terrorattack emanating from Pakistan.

However, that does not mean thatsome in the Western or Pakistanimedia would not come up with articlesto discredit India. That is part of theinformation warfare that has to becountered in a different way. Such plant-ing of doubts on India’s abilities has hap-pened for the last 70 years and in spiteof that, India has steered forward.

Will Western media now do somereal journalism? Till date, however,Pakistan has failed to account for thesecond pilot, which both their Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)Spokesperson Gen Asif Ghafoor as wellas Pakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan had emphatically claimed ofbeing in a Pakistani hospital after hisplane had been shot down. Where is henow? Was that a case of mistaken iden-tity of a Pakistani pilot being wronglypresumed to be Indian? Is he still alive?

Or is it that he, the Pakistani pilotof F-16, has died of his wounds andbeen quietly buried to bury the truth?What about the visuals of frantic effortsby Pakistani men in uniform to removedebris of what seemed to be remnantsof a Pakistani F-16 shot down by WingCommander Abhinandan? Which for-eign journalist would dare to investigatethese? Which foreign magazine woulddare to investigate where exactlyPakistan channelised the $33 billion aidfrom the US that it got for fighting ter-ror but did everything else apart fromfighting terror?

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedstrategic affairs analyst)

It is high time that Indians shed their admiration for some of the Western mediahouses which have an unabashed tendency to mock truth and plant lies

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

Vaping: Sinner or

sinned against?

Although not harmless, e-cigarettes are definitelysafer than smoking. Like many countries, India,

too, must look at them as harm-reductionalternatives, says DEEPAK MUKARJI

PATHIKRIT PAYNE

BOTH INDIA ANDUS WOULD

PREFER THEMATTER TO

SLOWLY GET INTOTHE BACKBURNER

AND FOCUS ONOTHER MAJOR

ISSUES WHEREINDIANS HAVE

CONVERGENCEWITH

AMERICANS. THEMOST CRITICAL

AMONG THEM ISSURELY THAT OF

DESIGNATINGMASOOD AZHAR

AS A GLOBALTERRORIST IN

THE UN SECURITYCOUNCIL

WHEREIN THE USHAS NOW TAKEN

A NEWAPPROACH TO

NEGATE THECHINESE

RESISTANCE

Vaping is rapidly becoming a victim of polyphony. This is

where the choice of what suits the ‘political narrative’

becomes clear. The problem is that if it is stated often

enough, people begin to believe it is a rule. But scientific facts

around vaping stand to the contrary. An executive agency of

the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom,

Public Health England (PHE), in its reports of 2015 and 2018

firmly declared that vaping is 95 per cent safer than smoking

and as such encouraged it as a harm reduction product for smok-

ers, who cannot or find it difficult to quit smoking tobacco.

In recent times, a number commentators has taken obfus-

cated positions on vaping. The truth is simpler: The vaping device

was an invention made in 2003 by a pharmacist called Hon Lik

in 2003. Ever since, this device has spawned an industry that

is globally valued at under $10 billion with most manufacturing

happening in China. Given the confusion being raised by vest-

ed interests, legislation for this industry has been slow in com-

ing and in some cases, has been regressive in the shape of bans.

As a consequence, vaping devices are almost cottage-indus-

try products with low-production quality, resulting in unreliable

and poor performance. Therefore, there is a crying need for reg-

ulation of production standards for these harm-reduction prod-

ucts. Ironically, the product that vaping devices are supposed-

ly replacing are cigarettes, which are still sold legally, provid-

ing tremendous tax revenues to Governments across the world.

The undeniable reality is that tobacco is bad for health.

Several researches have proved beyond doubt that smokers are

more prone to cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. The world

must move to becoming tobacco-free. Tobacco companies have

rightfully been accused of manipulating science and misrep-

resenting facts that were misguiding consumers. But they have

been brought to heel as it were. Yet today, vested interests are

behaving in exactly the same manner when it comes to vap-

ing devices, to the detriment of smokers.

The freedom of adult choice is the cornerstone of human

existence in a civilised world. Despite information being avail-

able and marketed, many adult smokers would like to quit but

lack the will. Estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

state that by 2025, the world will still have one billion smok-

ers even though the number of people giving up tobacco is

increasing every year. Progressive governments are recognis-

ing the issue and attempting to address it through taking anoth-

er look at vaping as a harm-reduction alternative.

Nicotine is a naturally-occurring substance found not just

in tobacco but also in vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, broc-

coli and eggplant among others. The WHO maintains that nico-

tine can be consumed through nicotine-delivery substitutes devel-

oped by large pharma companies such as gums, patches and

sprays that are easily available. Vaping devices (incorrectly but

commonly referred to as e-cigarettes) have nothing to do with

cigarettes. The fundamental difference lies in smoke. Cigarettes

deliver smoke by actual burning of tobacco at over 750°C. Vaping

devices do not generate smoke. By using an electric charge to

heat liquid pharma-grade nicotine to between 100-150°C, these

devices create vapour. This pharma-grade nicotine with

polypropelene glycol (a food processing additive) and glycer-

ine make it usable in vaping devices. A 2018 study by PHE on

emissions from cigarettes and e-cigarettes calculated life-time

cancer risks. It was found that cancer potencies of e-cigarettes

was under 0.5 per cent of the risk of smoking.

In favour of a tobacco-free world, Konstantinos Farsalinos

from the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and University of Patras

(Greece) believes consumers should be offered a third option

to “quit or die”. According to him, “Study after study shows

that eight out of 10 smokers are unable to quit on their own,

or after using pharmaceutical products such as patches or pills.

And if they don’t quit, those studies also show that 50 per cent

of them will die from tobacco-related diseases.” The UK is prob-

ably ahead of the pack of countries who are seriously looking

at harm-reduction products for smokers and who lack the will

to quit because they derive a subjective pleasure from the sim-

ulated action. Vaping devices mimic the smoking action.

The Indian tobacco scenario is complex. While cigarettes

represent the most common face of tobacco, in reality, the over

100 million cigarette smokers represent a mere four per cent

of the overall Indian tobacco market. Others are khaini (11.2

per cent of tobacco use), bidi (7.7 per cent), gutka (6.8 per

cent) and betel quid with tobacco (5.8 per cent). Given the ter-

rible harm tobacco causes, India must strike at all tobacco use.

However, it must more urgently enact a regulation to manufac-

ture 95 per cent safer harm-reduction products like vaping

devices and make these products at home instead of letting

customers access them illegally through smuggled products.

Prejudice and polyphony cannot become an excuse to curtail

scientific development of harm-reduction alternatives to an

absolute killer like tobacco.

(The writer is a freelancer)

Many believe that militarycoups have become a passé.Due to the rapidly chang-

ing dynamics of international pol-itics and economics after the end ofthe Cold War in 1990, the world sawa dramatic decrease in militarycoups. According to the anthology,Sociology of the Military, edited byG Caforio and Marina Nuciari, the20th century was an era of militarycoups. According to the book, themilitary coup was the most fre-quently attempted method ofGovernment change in the men-tioned century — especially betweenthe 1950s and 1980s. There were 112coups in the 1960s, 89 in the 1970s,and 68 in the 1980s. Caforio andNuciari confirmed that there was adrastic decline in the number ofcoups after the 1990s.

The politics of the Cold War(1949-1990) and that of the post-Second World War decolonisationprocess actually encouraged thetwo superpowers — the formerSoviet Union and the US — to facil-itate and even finance militarycoups in various countries as a wayto mark their areas of influence.

According to Caforio andNuciari, over 90 per cent of thecoups between the 1950s and 1990stook place in the so-called ‘ThirdWorld’ and/or developing countries.Yet, it is also true that the mecha-nisms of the military coups in suchnations were inspired by four pre-1950s coups in European countries:Italy (1922), Portugal (1926),Germany (1933) and Spain (1936).On all four occasions, legitimacy formilitary-backed takeovers wasderived from claims of political andeconomic chaos and the need toinstill staunch forms of nation-alisms. In the many Asian, SouthAmerican and African countries,where military coups became anorm between the 1950s and 1990s,legitimacy for military coups wasestablished on similar pretexts.Many political analysts, who have

recently commented on the rise ofnationalism in Europe, the US andIndia, equate this rise with the eco-nomic and political conditionswhich triggered (fascist) coups inEurope in the 1920s and 1930s.Cafiorio and Nuciari wrote that theUS has remained virtually coup-freethroughout. But has it really?

In 1964, Hollywood releasedtwo major films. One was directedby the celebrated film-maker StanleyKubrick and was called DrStrangelove, and the other, SevenDays in May, was directed by anoth-er famous director, JohnFrankenheimer. Kubrick’s film wasa cutting satire on Cold War poli-tics in which a Right-wing US mil-itary general (who is also a vehe-ment conspiracy theorist) attemptsto overthrow the US Government bytriggering a nuclear war against theSoviet Union.

In Seven Days in May, after theUS President signs a peace agree-ment with the Soviet Union, thecountry’s Air Force chief plans totopple the Government through acoup d’etat. Both the films were saidto have been influenced by the tenseevents of the 1962 Cuban Missile

crisis that had nearly caused anuclear showdown between the USand the USSR.

Indeed, the mentioned episodedid influence the making of thesetwo films, but there was more to itthan just this. In 2004, the best-sell-ing American author Philip Rothwrote a novel called The Plot AgainstAmerica. In the novel, real-life USaviator Charles Lindberg, who issaid to have had a soft corner forHitler, wins the 1940 US election. Hesigns a peace treaty with NaziGermany and halts any possibilityof the US entering World War II. Butthen Lindberg’s plane goes missingand Vice-President Wheeler takesover. Meanwhile, German radiosays that Germany has evidence thatthe plane’s disappearance was aJewish plot. This causes widespreadanti-Semitic riots in the US.

The tome was clearly inspiredby a 1935 novel, It Can HappenHere, by Sinclair Lewis, in which aRight-wing populist wins the USpresidential election and imposes anauthoritarian regime through aruthless paramilitary force. In boththe novels, there are no coup d’etatsas such. But these novels and the two

aforementioned films were influ-enced by a lesser known true eventin which a military coup did becomea possibility. It is remarkable howthis event, that has inspired numer-ous works of fiction, is still kept outfrom most American history books.

In 2012, American investigativejournalist, historian and authorSally Denton published his book,Plots Against the President. Thebook is the result of Denton’spainstaking investigation into anevent in which (in 1933) a group ofpowerful American businessmenplotted to finance a coup againstPresident Franklin D Roosevelt.Denton wrote that when theDemocratic Party nomineeRoosevelt won the election in 1932,he inherited a country facing anunprecedented economic depres-sion, widespread unemploymentand a banking crisis threatening thecountry’s monetary system.

What’s more, in Europe at thetime, the same issues were bringingto power populist nationalists andfascists and wiping out democracies.Roosevelt initiated ambitious legisla-tive programmes and reforms, manyof which became blueprints for

future welfare states. The President’sreforms did not go down well withbig businesses and their backers inthe Senate and the Congress.Denton wrote that critics ofRoosevelt’s reforms “feared thatRoosevelt was a communist, asocialist or the tool of a Jewish con-spiracy.”

A plan was hatched in someinfluential circles to removeRoosevelt. Today, it is known as ‘theWall Street putsch.’ According toDenton, the plot was conceived by‘a group of Right-wing financiers.’The idea was to convince thePresident to step down so that a‘military-type dictatorship’ couldbe imposed. Upon the President’srefusal, he was then to be removedthrough a military coup. The groupformed an organisation called theAmerican Liberty League (ALL) forthis purpose. It invested ‘several mil-lions of dollars’ and a stockpile ofweapons.

Denton narrated that chiefs ofmany major American businessesand industries were part of ALL alongwith some anti-Roosevelt politiciansand former military men. An exclu-sive militia of 500,000 men was also

planned, which was to storm theWhite House during the coup. To leadthe militia, ALL approached Major-General Smedly Butler. Butler waspromised three million dollar for theoperation. The group had believedthat Butler was anti-Roosevelt. Whatthe group didn’t know was that,indeed, he was a Republican, but hadturned pro-Democrat in 1932! Butleragreed to lead the militia but almostimmediately leaked the plan to theauthorities.

In 1934, an investigation waslaunched. But to Butler’s disap-pointment, no arrests were made. Acommittee released a report of itsinvestigation but the names of theplotters were blacked out. There arevarious theories as to why such luke-warm action was taken for such aserious plot. The most prominentone is that Roosevelt did not wantto create commotion during his firstterm. Once the plot was curbed, heknew the plotters would stay in line.However, according to Denton, hadButler not leaked the plot, the USmay have become a fascist state, thusaltering the course of 20th centuryhistory.

(Courtesy: The Dawn)

A failed coup: The Wall Street putschA plot by a group of Right-wing financiers to remove President Roosevelt by staging a coup could have changed America’s history

NADEEM PARACHA



money 10LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

PTI n NEW DELHI

The government needs tobring out a policy on solar

module waste managementand standards for use of mate-rial for manufacturing, accord-ing to consultancy Bridge ToIndia on Thursday. “There is anurgent need to formulateappropriate quality standardsfor use of environmentally sus-tainable materials in manufac-turing of modules. This willhelp in minimising potential-ly hazardous end-of-life mod-ule waste in India,” said a BTIstatement.

The European Union (EU)already has an Eco-DesignDirective 2009, a policy instru-ment to reduce environmentalimpact of energy-related prod-ucts throughout their life cycle,the statement added. Bridge ToIndia (BTI) Managing DirectorVinay Rustagi said while thesolar sector continues to growrobustly, from a mere threegigawatt (GW) in 2014 to over28 GW currently, there is stillno clarity on solar waste man-agement in India.

“To make solar a trulygreen source of energy, it isimperative for the industry asa whole to work together andproactively towards ensuring asustainable waste managementplan for solar energy systems,”he said. India has set an ambi-

tious target of having 100 GWof solar energy by 2022. BTIhas estimated the solar modulewaste volume to grow to 1.8million tonne by 2050, whichis close to the total e-waste vol-ume being annually generatedin India currently. Solar mod-ules use potentially hazardousmaterials, including lead com-pounds, polymers and cadmi-um compounds. If disposed ofin an inappropriate way, poten-tial leaching of those haz-ardous materials can have neg-ative environmental and healthimpacts. Currently, India nei-ther has a requisite policyguideline nor the minimaloperational infrastructure toensure recycling of modulewaste using conventional recy-cling technologies.

Most of the central biddingdocuments rest the responsi-bility of handling and dispos-ing photo voltaic (PV) waste onthe developers as per E-waste

(Management and Handling)Rules, 2011. It said, “The e-waste rules make no mentionof solar PV waste. Even theconventional recycling facilitiesfor laminated glass and e-wasteare unavailable in the country.”

Solar module recycling isstill not commercially attrac-tive. Cost of recycling is esti-mated to vary between USD250 and USD 300 per tonne inEurope and the US.Transportation cost can add 60to 100 per cent to this costdepending on distance. Bycomparison, the value of recov-ered materials is estimated tobe only about USD 45-130 pertonne depending on the recy-cling technology used for crys-talline silicon (c-Si) modules.Various attempts are beingmade, especially in the EUand the US, towards ensuringa higher recovery of raw mate-rials in a cost-effective manner,it added.

PTI n MUMBAI

The government is likely toreview Jet Airways’ eligi-

bility to continue its interna-tional operations after it gets areport from the regulatorDGCA on the issue, a top min-istry official said on Thursday.On the verge of going belly upamid acute cash crunch, theairline has reduced its fleet tojust 14 planes as of Thursday—way down from 123 planes inoperations at the peak.

“We have sought for all thedetails from Jet. The DGCAhas asked for the details. Afterwe get those details, we will seeto it,” aviation secretaryPradeep Singh Kharola toldPTI over phone, when askedwhether the ministry is plan-ning to review Jet’s eligibility tocontinue its international oper-

ations in view of the almostnegligible fleet. Jet Airways,which is currently under themanagement control of theSBI-led consortium of lenders,has been struggling to carryout operations as most of itsfleet are grounded due to pay-ment issues.

The government rules stip-ulate an airline must have atleast 20 planes for operatinginternational operations. Ofthe 14 aircraft that it is oper-ating as of Thursday, eight arewide-body B777s (seven) andan A330 — generally used forlong-haul international oper-ations. The remaining sixplanes are three B737s, whichare largely used for flying ondomestic routes besides onshort-haul international routesand the rest three are region-al ATRs.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Luxury sports car makerPorsche on Thursday

launched the all new 911range in India with pricestarting at Rs 1.82 crore (ex-showroom). The 911 CarreraS is priced at Rs 1.82 crorewhile the 911 Carrera SCabriolet is tagged at Rs 1.99crore. The rear-engine modelrange has been redesigned tohave a muscular look.

“Just like the first genera-tion, the latest 911 is a sportscar for the new era. Our iconhas once again evolved and isnow more powerful, more

emotional, and more efficientthan its predecessors,” PorscheIndia Director Pavan Shettysaid. The eighth generationmaintains the 911’s status as apure driver’s car that also

offers everyday usability andunique design, he added. Thetwo variants now come with450 HP of power which is 30HP more than as compared tothe previous version.

‘India needs policy on solar

PV waste management’

Govt awaits report totake a call on Jet’sinternational ops

New Delhi (PTI): MarutiSuzuki India (MSI) on Thursdayhiked the prices of its popularmodel Alto K10 across thecountry following the additionof various safety features and thehatchback will be costlier by upto Rs 23,000 in Delhi-NCR.Depending on the variant, theex-showroom price in Delhiand NCR region shall vary fromRs 3.65 lakh to Rs 4.44 lakh. Forthe rest of the country, therevised price range is Rs 3.75lakh to Rs 4.54 lakh, the com-pany said.

The new prices are effectiveimmediately from Thursday, itadded. The high-selling modelnow comes with various safety

features like ABS (anti-lockbraking system) with EBD (elec-tronic brake force distribution),driver airbag, reverse parkingsensor, seed alert system and dri-ver and co-driver seat beltreminder. “This will result inprice increase in all variants ofAlto K 10 model,” MSI said in aregulatory filing. While thecompany did not specify theincrease in prices, industrysources saidthe hike willrange fromRs 15,000to Rs23,000 inthe Delhi-NCR mar-

ket, depending upon the variant.The auto major last monthlaunched an updated version ofits multi purpose vehicle Eecowith various safety features,including reverse parking assistand co-driver seat belt reminderas standard fitment. As a result,the price of the model hasgone up in the range of Rs 400to Rs 23,000 across variants.Earlier this month, MSI had

increased prices by up to Rs689 across models on

account of manda-tory high secu-rity registra-tion platesfrom April 1.

Porsche drives in latest 911 range

in India priced at `1.82 crore

Alto K10 costlier with more safety features

Script Open High Low LTPSUZLON 6.75 6.83 6.53 6.70JPASSOCIAT 5.74 5.74 5.55 5.61SPICEJET 94.00 103.85 93.75 101.25IBREALEST 120.90 125.90 116.75 118.75DHFL 168.00 174.45 163.25 172.65TATAMOTORS 216.60 219.25 213.30 218.20DLF 180.60 182.25 175.50 177.60PCJEWELLER 98.00 98.35 93.95 95.75YESBANK 269.00 270.15 264.10 268.90IBULHSGFIN 833.00 849.75 827.05 845.85JETAIRWAYS 263.00 267.90 256.00 260.40BHARTIARTL 341.00 351.00 337.30 347.50ASHOKLEY 91.60 94.65 91.40 94.30VEDL 188.25 188.25 179.60 181.30RELIANCE 1332.80 1351.70 1328.70 1346.15WIPRO 283.50 284.55 280.25 281.30RPOWER 9.95 9.95 9.42 9.65TCS 2048.00 2055.30 2012.35 2019.05ITC 294.95 297.25 293.00 296.30IOC 157.30 161.60 156.60 157.65INFY* 753.00 753.00 740.05 743.15SBIN 311.20 315.00 308.95 314.70RELCAPITAL 187.90 188.15 181.65 184.45UJJIVAN 341.30 355.70 339.00 346.85MANAPPURAM 120.00 129.80 119.55 127.30RELINFRA 131.70 132.20 127.65 128.95HINDUNILVR 1699.40 1715.00 1699.15 1707.50TATASTEEL 541.60 546.40 534.80 537.15WOCKPHARMA 450.00 457.80 445.00 447.10BDL 295.00 321.15 289.40 309.85IBVENTURES 350.00 354.00 342.25 349.05JINDALSTEL 182.90 182.90 175.15 177.00NATIONALUM 56.50 56.50 54.85 55.15CROMPTON 227.20 235.00 225.25 233.55HDFCLIFE 377.35 396.95 373.90 393.30ZEEL 412.95 415.55 406.00 410.35SHANKARA 482.00 529.90 475.50 527.10AXISBANK 760.10 760.65 747.05 752.05MARUTI 7175.00 7213.80 7146.80 7179.30NBCC 61.60 62.20 61.30 61.85ABCAPITAL 97.00 99.45 95.50 98.55BANKBARODA 129.85 130.15 127.70 128.70SUNPHARMA 464.90 470.70 461.70 464.95BHEL 72.05 74.75 71.30 74.30PNB 93.45 93.60 91.95 92.75M&M 666.15 679.20 666.15 672.15ASIANPAINT 1411.45 1431.60 1409.65 1422.65RAIN 107.70 111.50 107.00 109.50ICICIGI 1096.00 1109.55 1061.70 1062.40DMART 1522.00 1525.00 1471.00 1477.25LT 1371.50 1386.50 1371.50 1377.80PVR 1690.00 1729.10 1684.75 1711.95FSL 52.80 54.20 51.80 53.30IDEA 16.40 16.50 15.90 16.30CGPOWER 38.50 40.15 37.45 39.80SAIL 58.05 58.30 56.45 56.65BALKRISIND 965.00 969.35 950.10 951.20TATAMTRDVR 103.45 104.10 101.95 103.85RCF 61.80 63.80 61.70 62.15GODREJPROP 943.90 949.00 912.00 918.45BAJFINANCE 3002.75 3053.55 2993.25 3048.80STRTECH 201.30 207.45 201.00 201.80GRAPHITE 464.40 466.55 455.50 459.95TATAPOWER 71.05 73.15 70.65 73.05BEL 95.60 95.65 93.00 93.50INFIBEAM 46.00 46.25 44.40 45.00RCOM 2.71 2.74 2.68 2.68DISHTV 38.50 38.50 36.65 37.75IDFC 46.00 47.15 45.50 46.15HDFCBANK 2249.00 2262.50 2237.00 2253.20GODREJCP 667.70 669.70 659.00 665.50IFCI 12.80 12.90 12.60 12.65JUSTDIAL 585.20 597.80 584.30 593.05PERSISTENT* 634.70 634.70 620.10 621.75IRB 138.90 139.00 132.85 135.50HDFC 2031.90 2047.00 2017.85 2021.15ICICIBANK 394.35 395.00 387.75 390.10ADANIPOWER 46.55 50.60 46.55 50.35PNBHOUSING 863.05 865.20 835.00 839.10BOMDYEING 137.40 137.40 134.50 135.60HINDPETRO 256.90 261.50 255.55 260.00CIPLA 546.10 554.40 542.25 544.35WELCORP 143.20 146.50 136.70 138.60L&TFH 146.35 147.80 144.50 147.05DRREDDY 2766.05 2815.00 2758.80 2810.20KOTAKBANK 1350.00 1350.00 1334.00 1342.35POWERGRID 199.00 199.30 195.55 195.85JUBILANT 691.00 700.70 682.40 687.05TATAGLOBAL 207.05 215.00 207.05 214.60RADICO 382.00 382.05 368.00 370.20INDIGO 1390.00 1414.00 1385.00 1402.00NCC 103.00 105.70 102.00 105.10JAICORPLTD 125.10 126.50 120.50 122.00HEG 2072.00 2089.40 2054.65 2065.55GRANULES 112.35 114.20 111.25 112.00INDUSINDBK 1745.00 1753.90 1729.00 1740.80BANKINDIA 100.90 101.20 98.85 99.45MPHASIS 994.95 1012.50 985.05 1010.40BPCL 357.90 363.80 357.40 361.10SUVEN 269.60 273.20 268.95 270.10BAJAJ-AUTO 2940.00 3002.50 2935.35 2986.90MFSL 413.15 439.15 413.15 436.20HINDALCO 211.00 213.00 209.70 211.45JUBLFOOD 1410.45 1415.50 1370.15 1379.00TITAN 1102.00 1108.00 1090.95 1107.00LAKSHVILAS 88.70 90.80 88.20 89.90STAR 497.70 503.15 489.40 497.45APOLLOHOSP 1242.95 1254.60 1235.00 1242.80

ACC 1639.60 1680.00 1636.45 1673.75UNIONBANK 93.10 94.05 91.95 93.15TECHM 792.95 795.40 777.20 780.95LICHSGFIN 530.00 536.80 521.40 532.65BAJAJFINSV 7391.00 7580.00 7391.00 7556.00CEATLTD 1100.00 1101.70 1074.40 1101.20CANBK 284.00 284.00 278.00 279.20HEXAWARE 347.55 350.80 341.00 342.20MRPL 70.70 71.15 70.10 70.35GRASIM 848.10 852.00 845.25 850.00HEROMOTOCO 2599.70 2614.20 2593.00 2602.90IDFCFIRSTB 54.60 54.85 53.75 54.50MUTHOOTFIN 604.05 615.45 596.00 610.35GMRINFRA 18.60 19.35 18.55 18.70NTPC 134.70 136.35 134.50 135.65SRTRANSFIN 1199.45 1223.50 1194.95 1210.15HFCL 22.80 23.30 22.70 23.15ESCORTS 772.00 784.00 762.15 770.20PHILIPCARB 172.40 172.50 169.00 170.45INDIACEM 108.00 110.00 105.70 109.50GNFC 332.00 337.65 324.50 326.65ADANIPORTS 381.85 384.00 377.55 380.10SUNTV 598.95 606.70 591.00 599.95EDELWEISS 187.90 189.55 181.85 183.65LUPIN 805.05 812.00 803.25 810.00IDBI 44.10 44.40 43.35 43.80PETRONET 236.80 241.45 235.70 239.00ICICIPRULI 363.20 369.15 360.35 368.80CENTURYTEX 900.00 912.00 883.00 912.00COALINDIA 239.55 241.20 238.50 240.45SIEMENS 1172.95 1178.25 1161.20 1170.10ONGC 158.20 159.20 156.00 158.55AUROPHARMA 792.00 796.90 775.50 783.95JISLJALEQS 56.95 57.30 55.15 55.90BEML 975.50 979.15 965.45 971.00LTTS 1605.00 1647.20 1601.60 1636.90MOTHERSUMI 148.90 151.05 148.85 149.70OBEROIRLTY 564.60 577.00 562.35 565.50FEDERALBNK 97.90 98.15 95.95 96.15AMBUJACEM 224.20 228.05 222.75 226.65DELTACORP 257.30 261.75 257.05 257.75KEI 397.90 401.90 388.00 397.85

RBLBANK 675.90 675.90 660.15 664.00KTKBANK 133.20 135.20 131.80 134.55SOUTHBANK 17.40 17.50 17.25 17.40MINDTREE 975.00 979.00 971.15 973.00J&KBANK 64.25 64.45 62.35 62.70JSWSTEEL 288.40 289.65 285.25 287.30BIOCON 628.00 633.90 624.10 629.65EXIDEIND 221.40 223.50 219.40 222.75RECLTD 151.95 152.50 149.50 151.55DEEPAKFERT 135.95 140.40 135.90 137.55AMARAJABAT 688.00 692.80 678.65 682.50EQUITAS 134.10 136.80 132.50 134.00ORIENTBANK 111.75 111.80 108.90 110.35COLPAL 1212.00 1237.80 1208.20 1231.65GSFC 105.25 107.10 105.25 106.15PFC 120.75 120.90 117.95 119.20DABUR 404.95 406.10 399.75 403.55RAYMOND 783.95 783.95 770.30 780.80ULTRACEMCO 4101.00 4164.90 4095.50 4150.00FORCEMOT 1799.90 1800.00 1765.20 1770.70OMAXE 212.70 213.40 211.10 211.40NIITTECH 1300.00 1304.20 1291.50 1295.85NOCIL 143.00 144.55 140.20 141.45VOLTAS 612.35 619.00 609.35 616.80BRITANNIA 2959.00 2977.15 2945.00 2951.00PEL 2683.00 2692.30 2648.00 2670.00M&MFIN 413.95 418.65 409.85 414.00HAVELLS 761.00 761.00 750.50 751.85TATACHEM 613.90 613.90 602.55 604.50AVANTI 395.00 395.65 388.30 391.60BHARATFORG 499.40 503.05 495.00 496.00CANFINHOME 346.10 351.40 344.00 349.40ALBK 53.25 54.25 52.75 53.60PIDILITIND 1289.85 1295.10 1274.05 1278.70MCX 779.00 793.05 766.00 788.10GUJGAS 153.00 158.40 150.95 156.85KSCL 473.25 480.25 462.80 478.30EICHERMOT 20919.95 21077.00 20824.85 20935.05CHAMBLFERT 168.00 171.50 165.65 168.55

TEJASNET 182.55 195.40 182.00 190.25SPARC 183.50 186.10 183.50 185.45IBULISL 362.00 376.00 357.15 361.20TAKE 143.00 143.00 139.50 140.35VGUARD 218.40 223.85 218.00 220.05ABB 1377.05 1418.00 1370.60 1403.40GAIL 338.50 343.50 338.30 342.30VENKYS 2137.15 2149.50 2105.00 2119.35INOXLEISUR 320.00 323.55 315.15 317.45SUNTECK 490.25 492.85 484.90 489.75FINCABLES 487.45 488.55 476.10 480.90TATAELXSI 965.00 965.90 956.00 956.55GODFRYPHLP 1150.25 1167.10 1135.00 1140.85CADILAHC 344.40 346.20 342.90 345.35BATAINDIA 1385.00 1390.45 1368.50 1383.50INDIANB 272.15 273.40 266.70 269.45ITI 101.10 101.10 99.50 100.05NMDC 104.20 104.55 103.20 103.60LTI 1640.20 1665.00 1640.15 1663.00SBILIFE 622.70 629.00 622.00 623.15VIPIND 473.50 475.00 467.20 472.05CHOLAFIN 1476.00 1507.00 1461.25 1491.00DIVISLAB 1722.00 1725.00 1704.05 1719.40PAGEIND 23999.00 24049.35 23408.70 23462.95ASHOKA 130.45 132.10 127.95 128.70WESTLIFE 414.65 419.85 407.00 415.40UPL 926.90 930.30 919.05 922.20WELSPUNIND 57.95 59.40 57.45 58.25ADVENZYMES 188.80 193.75 187.50 192.50HSCL 119.45 119.95 115.50 115.50ENGINERSIN 116.90 118.25 116.15 117.10BANDHANBNK 543.95 547.25 538.00 540.00TORNTPHARM 1862.90 1862.90 1816.70 1834.30APOLLOTYRE 215.90 216.15 212.80 213.75KAJARIACER 605.00 615.00 600.00 605.95MEGH 60.90 61.80 60.60 60.90HCLTECH 1099.00 1100.65 1085.20 1087.80MGL 1004.00 1029.00 994.50 1003.55REPCOHOME 448.70 448.75 434.00 438.80SYNDIBANK 42.00 42.25 41.05 41.55CUMMINSIND 745.25 749.95 735.55 749.90ABFRL 221.10 224.10 220.30 222.10NAVKARCORP 39.45 40.00 38.80 39.35SRF 2445.00 2476.85 2445.00 2465.05CYIENT* 590.75 597.00 580.05 582.20UBL 1429.95 1429.95 1399.85 1417.65RAMCOCEM 759.85 759.85 745.60 757.50COROMANDEL 427.85 441.00 427.85 435.90TVSMOTOR 482.75 487.60 482.00 486.00NESTLEIND 10793.60 10882.30 10705.10 10761.55IPCALAB 945.60 952.25 937.30 942.10TORNTPOWER 254.80 256.50 252.00 252.75IGL 310.55 312.20 306.25 307.95AJANTPHARM 1011.00 1021.05 1010.95 1014.00PRESTIGE 265.25 274.65 264.55 266.15KANSAINER 446.10 460.00 445.00 456.35SYMPHONY 1345.50 1407.50 1340.15 1388.30HINDCOPPER 49.80 49.90 49.15 49.35RAJESHEXPO 660.55 672.00 658.00 672.00CASTROLIND 165.45 166.60 164.60 166.40GICRE 247.40 250.45 242.00 246.00OIL 178.80 179.30 176.25 177.25MANPASAND 114.95 116.20 113.00 114.10MARICO 359.00 360.80 353.50 357.50GLENMARK 648.80 652.20 646.55 651.00LINDEINDIA 505.00 519.25 496.70 498.95MERCK 3882.45 3969.95 3864.20 3898.95CAPPL 381.45 393.00 381.45 390.00RNAM 198.95 199.00 194.75 195.40GRUH 281.00 283.50 276.10 278.05TATACOMM 575.25 591.00 575.25 587.50DBL 628.50 628.50 610.00 623.00BAJAJCON 321.85 326.00 319.95 326.00TV18BRDCST 35.40 35.40 34.75 35.25HINDZINC 281.80 282.75 280.00 281.40HSIL 273.00 274.15 268.30 269.35WABAG 312.00 313.50 305.95 307.40NAUKRI 1929.90 1930.00 1890.60 1907.40PARAGMILK 250.80 251.25 245.40 247.35INDOSTAR 404.85 410.65 400.00 404.50CONCOR 519.65 522.00 514.00 519.70HAL 717.50 729.90 710.00 715.90BAJAJELEC 544.00 552.80 539.30 548.60EIHOTEL 190.05 192.60 188.60 191.10EMAMILTD 405.25 405.95 400.00 401.50NATCOPHARM* 567.95 569.90 562.60 566.60INTELLECT 224.00 227.90 222.00 224.20BALMLAWRIE 182.30 182.65 178.55 179.50JINDALSAW 83.20 83.65 81.75 82.15BHARATFIN 1100.00 1105.10 1090.80 1100.90DCBBANK 196.40 200.35 196.25 199.25ISGEC 548.00 563.90 545.10 552.05NIACL 187.60 194.00 185.15 190.35IEX 155.40 156.80 155.05 155.60SWANENERGY 110.25 111.05 108.50 110.75NAVINFLUOR 712.00 724.05 711.65 718.40GHCL 239.10 240.45 235.55 236.75OFSS 3570.90 3579.45 3533.00 3560.00GDL 136.45 140.95 136.00 139.40KEC 288.00 288.60 281.60 282.15MAGMA 122.20 122.25 118.00 119.00HUDCO 44.65 44.85 44.10 44.40FCONSUMER 43.20 43.35 42.85 43.10ISEC 223.00 227.70 223.00 227.70TRIDENT 67.00 67.05 66.50 66.70AUBANK 580.15 591.65 578.05 590.80SJVN 24.20 24.20 24.10 24.10JMFINANCIL 88.05 88.85 87.20 87.55GODREJIND 529.00 533.30 526.30 527.25

JSL 40.40 40.45 39.75 40.20ASTRAZEN 2024.00 2085.00 2001.10 2057.05THOMASCOOK 250.00 250.55 247.70 249.50CENTURYPLY 193.90 194.35 188.10 189.75MOIL 162.90 163.00 160.60 161.10ADANIGREEN 37.45 37.45 35.00 36.10ANDHRABANK 29.30 29.50 28.65 28.95GREAVESCOT 149.10 151.50 148.60 149.55JKTYRE 92.40 92.50 91.50 91.95NHPC 24.10 24.20 23.95 24.00JAGRAN 118.65 119.95 118.30 119.95SCI 35.65 35.70 35.00 35.05SHK 156.70 158.90 155.40 156.05HEIDELBERG 177.75 179.00 176.15 178.30FORBESCO 2429.85 2500.00 2380.00 2458.60FORTIS 136.00 137.30 136.00 136.50JSWENERGY 72.35 73.00 71.65 72.30INDHOTEL 153.40 153.40 151.00 151.70MMTC 28.00 28.05 27.75 27.90BASF 1381.00 1395.00 1373.00 1392.15DCMSHRIRAM 402.00 406.05 392.50 393.95VINATIORGA 1720.00 1721.30 1661.15 1680.95DEEPAKNI 270.00 272.00 266.75 267.20BERGEPAINT 319.10 322.50 318.20 321.00ESSELPRO 117.80 124.45 116.85 122.30QUESS 711.35 717.05 705.25 713.85CRISIL 1498.95 1527.00 1496.35 1520.00SOBHA 494.65 505.00 494.60 501.80AARTIIND 1668.00 1668.00 1639.25 1641.00LEMONTREE 78.75 79.15 76.50 79.00BOSCHLTD 17800.10 17954.00 17758.35 17940.00JBCHEPHARM 346.75 351.55 344.95 347.95FDC 165.25 165.65 163.70 165.15FRETAIL 430.80 434.00 426.00 427.40CUB 199.05 200.25 197.00 197.00PHOENIXLTD 651.80 668.00 643.60 647.00BAJAJHLDNG 3329.10 3332.55 3291.05 3325.00TATAMETALI 664.15 668.00 656.00 660.00BBTC 1282.95 1287.50 1270.15 1274.00GSPL 181.90 183.50 181.60 183.10BIRLACORPN 507.00 513.25 496.55 509.10TNPL 209.45 212.00 208.95 211.00EVEREADY 186.45 187.70 180.60 184.95HIMATSEIDE 218.80 218.80 209.10 214.40SONATSOFTW 334.90 339.90 331.05 334.90SREINFRA 28.80 28.95 28.20 28.35SYNGENE 575.70 584.85 573.00 577.00TATACOFFEE 90.85 92.30 90.85 91.60UFLEX 246.00 246.00 239.50 240.40JSLHISAR 89.35 90.40 88.00 89.15SKFINDIA 2120.00 2164.50 2105.30 2105.30MAHINDCIE 222.50 223.55 220.50 222.00GUJALKALI 480.10 486.05 476.50 480.00INFRATEL 315.90 317.00 312.05 314.45GICHSGFIN 262.35 264.60 259.00 260.25GODREJAGRO 509.50 514.05 508.70 510.65CHENNPETRO 252.75 258.00 252.40 256.20BLISSGVS 177.95 177.95 176.10 176.10PTC 73.75 73.90 73.00 73.05ALLCARGO 118.40 118.40 114.60 115.10COCHINSHIP 401.50 402.50 392.40 394.90TRENT 348.80 357.00 348.75 353.35NILKAMAL 1378.00 1403.20 1355.00 1363.15GPPL 96.50 98.30 96.20 96.25LAURUSLABS 405.00 407.50 397.25 397.25PRSMJOHNSN 93.40 94.75 92.00 93.90MRF 57899.95 58070.75 57305.00 57500.00THERMAX 981.90 986.40 975.00 985.15ATUL 3520.00 3527.95 3475.00 3508.60WABCOINDIA 6305.00 6360.00 6305.00 6360.00ALKEM 1749.00 1760.00 1733.80 1754.45DCAL 237.00 237.00 229.80 231.35JYOTHYLAB 188.00 188.00 185.00 185.90JKCEMENT 867.80 887.15 867.80 870.00JAMNAAUTO 59.50 59.60 58.90 59.00CORPBANK 28.05 28.35 27.95 28.20MINDAIND 343.70 343.70 335.05 336.65SUNDRMFAST 561.50 571.00 560.05 565.00GEPIL 868.30 877.05 858.70 862.50LUXIND 1315.20 1351.70 1310.00 1349.90GUJFLUORO 1079.30 1079.30 1046.20 1046.20SUDARSCHEM 361.70 367.15 359.05 365.00ORIENTCEM 98.90 98.90 92.50 95.50PIIND 1009.45 1042.90 1009.45 1022.00NETWORK18 35.00 35.40 34.80 35.00HERITGFOOD 511.00 512.45 497.10 501.00JKLAKSHMI 354.55 364.00 354.55 360.00CENTRALBK 34.70 34.70 34.00 34.25KRBL 323.95 325.10 318.60 319.10UCOBANK 18.80 18.95 18.65 18.70EIDPARRY 205.20 205.25 202.10 202.80FINOLEXIND 490.00 493.00 481.30 482.20MAHABANK 14.40 14.49 14.04 14.35PFIZER 3260.00 3265.00 3220.20 3224.70NLCINDIA 68.00 68.00 67.20 67.20GREENPLY 169.60 169.95 163.50 167.00RALLIS 160.20 160.25 158.70 159.65ADANITRANS 215.05 220.50 214.75 217.45AEGISLOG 210.50 212.00 208.00 208.00ECLERX 1127.00 1127.00 1120.00 1123.00LALPATHLAB 1033.15 1036.35 1021.00 1021.00SCHNEIDER 104.00 104.30 103.00 103.50GMDCLTD 79.45 79.45 77.40 77.50IOB 14.84 14.90 14.64 14.80SHILPAMED 339.00 345.00 337.00 340.00GRINDWELL 587.25 605.70 586.80 599.40APLAPOLLO 1487.15 1492.05 1447.55 1447.55GESHIP 301.80 302.00 296.60 298.00CARBORUNIV 374.00 380.60 374.00 380.00

3MINDIA 24407.80 24697.00 24400.00 24500.05GSKCONS 7142.00 7186.25 7115.15 7145.60VBL 857.85 864.85 846.10 847.00ZENSARTECH 232.85 239.00 229.70 231.55KNRCON 249.50 252.55 244.00 244.00WHIRLPOOL 1448.60 1448.85 1430.00 1435.00MOTILALOFS 663.75 677.70 660.00 672.35SOMANYCERA 435.00 440.00 417.10 419.35BLUESTARCO 694.80 694.80 682.15 682.85FLFL 477.75 488.00 477.75 485.00SUPREMEIND 1133.00 1134.30 1127.00 1130.00SUPRAJIT 227.85 232.60 226.00 232.00MINDACORP 132.35 133.00 129.80 131.00COFFEEDAY 275.00 275.45 272.60 274.00MAXINDIA 69.45 70.05 69.25 69.70ASTRAL 1193.05 1203.95 1187.85 1200.25ITDC 279.70 279.70 274.55 276.70NBVENTURES 102.80 103.20 101.90 102.00BAYERCROP 4237.40 4263.15 4177.25 4260.00ASTERDM 156.80 160.00 153.25 153.70SIS 837.20 844.30 830.00 843.00GET&D 278.00 281.10 275.80 277.20KPRMILL 565.00 573.75 563.20 567.00DBCORP 196.45 196.50 193.25 195.90SHREECEM 18961.30 19000.00 18852.70 18904.55LAXMIMACH 6140.00 6140.00 6051.00 6118.95GALAXYSURF 1002.50 1005.50 990.65 991.00REDINGTON 96.75 97.25 96.35 96.35GLAXO 1293.15 1300.00 1290.05 1290.05PGHH 10750.00 10750.00 10660.15 10700.00MAHLIFE 367.85 375.00 367.85 371.00SADBHAV 247.00 250.00 239.70 242.00KIOCL 115.00 142.00 115.00 139.15CARERATING 993.00 994.50 986.55 986.60TRITURBINE 108.00 109.50 105.95 106.75VTL 1127.05 1133.00 1119.50 1133.00UNITEDBNK 11.05 11.30 10.96 11.00AKZOINDIA 1787.50 1791.70 1761.00 1761.10CCL 276.00 276.00 272.55 276.00VMART 2567.00 2614.70 2535.00 2572.00ITDCEM 126.00 126.00 122.65 124.15GILLETTE 6940.00 6966.00 6917.60 6966.00MAHLOG 521.20 523.00 516.20 522.00MAHSCOOTER 3586.05 3680.00 3581.55 3652.35SANOFI 5780.00 5838.75 5780.00 5820.00TEAMLEASE 2965.30 2969.20 2870.00 2871.00APLLTD 540.00 540.00 533.80 537.00AIAENG 1769.30 1781.25 1750.00 1750.05SHOPERSTOP 445.30 452.70 445.30 452.70SHARDACROP 386.70 408.45 386.70 408.45KALPATPOWR 478.30 478.30 473.60 474.35ELGIEQUIP 265.95 265.95 247.25 252.50CERA 2800.00 2817.50 2732.00 2748.75INOXWIND 69.00 69.10 67.85 67.95TTKPRESTIG 8421.15 8436.15 8381.15 8396.45SHRIRAMCIT 1723.10 1736.30 1723.10 1732.00RELAXO 839.20 850.00 838.00 850.00THYROCARE 520.00 524.50 518.80 519.10SCHAEFFLER 5438.65 5439.00 5399.50 5408.10TIINDIA 378.00 382.00 377.10 377.10TATAINVEST 859.90 862.30 855.10 857.05ERIS 631.00 636.50 628.95 636.50TVTODAY 310.00 310.00 302.95 305.00ENDURANCE 1170.50 1172.00 1160.40 1165.00PNCINFRA 147.55 149.60 147.50 148.50NH 219.55 219.55 216.20 216.50ASAHIINDIA 247.60 253.60 247.60 249.45MHRIL 236.00 240.95 236.00 240.95SOLARINDS 1070.00 1077.45 1060.00 1074.75NESCO 469.00 469.50 463.05 463.10HONAUT 24100.00 24189.90 23900.60 24008.15TIMETECHNO 95.05 96.00 95.05 96.00ZYDUSWELL 1315.75 1315.75 1298.95 1299.55GULFOILLUB 875.00 884.85 875.00 875.00ABBOTINDIA 7315.00 7391.95 7315.00 7375.00TIMKEN 585.00 586.85 581.10 581.60GAYAPROJ 172.35 174.50 170.15 170.15NAVNETEDUL 110.20 111.00 109.20 109.20CHOLAHLDNG 485.00 494.95 478.00 482.00SUNCLAYLTD 2749.05 2810.00 2748.00 2750.00TVSSRICHAK 2219.70 2219.75 2195.00 2208.65CENTRUM 34.00 34.00 33.65 33.75IFBIND 878.50 878.50 866.10 874.85JCHAC 1966.00 2049.75 1966.00 1975.10RATNAMANI 892.00 892.00 883.95 890.00MONSANTO 2555.10 2572.55 2542.00 2542.00LAOPALA 205.00 205.05 204.50 204.90DHANUKA 389.40 390.45 388.25 388.25BLUEDART 3289.20 3289.20 3250.25 3254.10STARCEMENT 99.50 99.50 98.50 98.75HATSUN 758.65 760.00 755.30 760.00SUPPETRO 218.75 218.75 217.60 217.60SFL 1355.00 1355.00 1355.00 1355.00

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11592.55 11606.70 11550.55 11596.70 12.40IBULHSGFIN 832.70 848.80 826.60 845.35 20.95BHARTIARTL 341.70 351.25 337.15 346.80 6.80BAJAJFINSV 7419.50 7590.00 7396.20 7560.00 136.70BAJAJ-AUTO 2940.90 3000.00 2939.00 2992.10 49.20DRREDDY 2772.65 2815.00 2757.85 2808.00 43.00GAIL 338.40 343.55 337.80 342.70 5.00SBIN 311.00 315.40 308.70 315.40 4.50RELIANCE 1332.95 1353.00 1329.00 1350.00 18.60BAJFINANCE 3008.00 3055.00 2992.00 3037.10 38.75HINDUNILVR 1703.00 1716.50 1698.05 1712.00 17.85NTPC 134.95 136.40 134.40 136.00 1.40TATAMOTORS 216.60 219.20 213.30 218.25 2.20HDFCBANK 2244.90 2263.00 2236.95 2258.60 21.25ITC 294.55 297.45 293.00 297.45 2.75BPCL 358.50 364.00 356.00 361.05 3.30ASIANPAINT 1409.70 1431.95 1408.00 1422.00 12.15IOC 156.60 161.80 156.15 157.90 1.30ONGC 158.00 159.40 155.90 159.30 1.30YESBANK 268.75 270.25 264.00 270.10 1.85M&M 669.30 679.75 669.30 674.00 3.75TITAN 1106.95 1106.95 1090.10 1105.10 4.90ULTRACEMCO 4140.00 4161.00 4093.85 4149.00 17.95LT 1371.65 1387.95 1371.65 1376.50 4.95COALINDIA 240.10 241.60 238.60 240.85 0.80GRASIM 848.00 853.00 843.35 850.00 2.70HEROMOTOCO 2600.00 2612.00 2589.65 2600.00 5.60WIPRO 283.50 284.60 280.15 281.40 0.40MARUTI 7186.95 7220.00 7150.00 7196.00 9.65HINDALCO 211.00 212.55 209.70 211.70 0.00EICHERMOT 20900.00 21073.90 20810.40 20970.00 -3.75CIPLA 546.35 554.70 542.00 545.30 -1.15INDUSINDBK 1748.90 1752.90 1727.80 1743.00 -4.45INFRATEL 315.35 317.00 311.05 314.00 -1.30UPL 925.80 930.70 918.25 922.00 -3.95BRITANNIA 2964.00 2974.05 2940.00 2945.00 -13.80JSWSTEEL 288.00 289.70 285.05 287.00 -1.55HDFC 2028.00 2048.00 2017.50 2018.10 -11.15KOTAKBANK 1349.70 1349.95 1333.55 1341.30 -8.60ZEEL 413.00 415.60 406.10 409.85 -2.70TCS 2045.00 2055.00 2013.65 2025.00 -15.25HCLTECH 1092.30 1101.10 1085.00 1088.90 -9.80ICICIBANK 394.50 394.50 387.55 390.00 -4.20ADANIPORTS 382.50 383.00 377.50 379.20 -4.25TATASTEEL 541.00 546.40 533.50 537.95 -6.45INFY 751.75 751.75 740.05 743.40 -9.30AXISBANK 760.50 761.35 747.00 751.25 -9.60TECHM 790.40 795.75 778.60 780.00 -10.25POWERGRID 199.15 199.40 195.65 195.95 -2.70SUNPHARMA 465.25 470.90 461.60 465.30 -6.65VEDL 188.45 188.45 179.40 181.35 -7.15

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28069.80 28181.15 27993.30 28148.55 91.75HDFCLIFE 378.65 397.45 373.60 394.60 17.55BHEL 72.10 74.80 71.30 74.75 2.55ASHOKLEY 91.60 95.00 91.30 94.75 3.20ACC 1645.00 1681.25 1636.05 1678.00 41.35ABB 1382.95 1418.20 1374.75 1409.15 27.60HINDPETRO 256.00 261.85 255.15 260.95 5.00AMBUJACEM 224.05 228.80 222.60 228.00 4.10PETRONET 235.00 241.60 234.95 240.20 4.25NIACL 187.85 192.40 186.30 191.20 3.35SRTRANSFIN 1198.00 1224.00 1197.70 1217.00 20.10COLPAL 1210.00 1233.00 1208.05 1232.00 18.60MCDOWELL-N 545.80 556.25 542.00 555.10 7.95HDFCAMC 1524.10 1567.00 1520.00 1559.80 20.00L&TFH 145.55 147.25 144.45 146.90 1.75MOTHERSUMI 148.60 151.00 148.30 149.70 1.55UBL 1404.00 1422.45 1399.20 1419.00 13.00LUPIN 805.00 812.70 802.50 811.10 6.35BAJAJHLDNG 3304.10 3346.60 3279.55 3330.00 25.25ICICIPRULI 362.10 369.60 360.45 366.60 2.75SIEMENS 1166.30 1179.00 1160.45 1172.15 6.50CADILAHC 344.90 346.35 342.45 345.00 1.60INDIGO 1390.00 1414.90 1381.80 1400.35 6.35SBILIFE 624.90 629.70 621.55 624.15 2.80BOSCHLTD 17800.00 17951.95 17732.00 17841.00 52.35GODREJCP 666.90 670.70 658.20 665.00 1.75BIOCON 628.75 634.00 623.60 629.30 1.50DABUR 403.50 406.20 399.30 404.20 0.90SHREECEM 19000.00 19050.00 18856.05 19015.25 23.25MRF 57600.00 57991.00 57304.05 57470.00 -21.75CONCOR 520.00 520.45 513.00 519.20 -0.20MARICO 359.90 360.00 356.50 359.25 -0.15IDEA 16.40 16.45 15.90 16.30 -0.05DIVISLAB 1715.50 1723.95 1704.05 1717.00 -5.55PEL 2691.80 2695.00 2645.55 2675.00 -8.90PIDILITIND 1281.00 1295.55 1270.05 1277.35 -4.80OFSS 3569.00 3595.00 3528.00 3542.00 -16.20HAVELLS 756.70 759.90 750.95 753.55 -3.95HINDZINC 280.35 282.80 279.80 280.80 -1.65NHPC 24.15 24.20 23.95 24.00 -0.15BANKBARODA 129.55 130.20 127.70 128.70 -1.00NMDC 104.00 104.60 103.15 103.50 -0.80AUROPHARMA 794.25 797.00 775.20 782.80 -7.25PGHH 10750.00 10798.55 10635.00 10651.00 -106.75PAGEIND 23821.00 24078.95 23425.00 23459.10 -359.60GICRE 250.00 250.55 241.55 245.00 -3.90SAIL 58.00 58.35 56.40 56.85 -1.10DLF 180.50 182.45 175.80 176.60 -3.50BANDHANBNK 543.00 547.75 537.10 539.00 -10.65ICICIGI 1093.00 1110.50 1060.00 1068.00 -21.35DMART 1521.00 1527.35 1465.00 1472.00 -50.30

world 11LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

GLOBE TROTTING

AFP n KHARTOUM

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir was ousted by the

army on Thursday, broughtdown by months of anti-gov-ernment protests against histhree decades of iron-fistedrule. “I announce as minister ofdefence the toppling of theregime and detaining its chiefin a secure place,” DefenceMinister Awad Ibnouf said ina sombre televised address tothe nation.

A transitional militarycouncil would replace Bashirfor two years, he said, addingthat the country’s borders andairspace would be shut untilfurther notice. The veteranleader, who swept to power ina 1989 coup, was one of Africa’slongest serving presidents. Heis wanted on charges of geno-cide and war crimes by theInternational Criminal Court.Since early morning hugecrowds of jubilant Sudanesehad begun thronging squaresacross the centre of Khartoumon Thursday as the armypromised an “importantannouncement”.

Chanting “the regime hasfallen,” thousands poured intothe open ground outside armyheadquarters where defiantprotesters have braved tear gasto keep up an unprecedentedsit-in now in its sixth day. Theprotests, which erupted inDecember over the govern-ment’s tripling of the price ofbread, were the biggest chal-lenge yet to Bashir’s long rule.The security agency alsoannounced it was freeing allpolitical prisoners. Army vehi-cles carrying troops were seen

deploying across the centre ofKhartoum from earlyThursday.

Troops raided the offices ofthe Islamic Movement, the ide-ological wing of Bashir’s rulingNational Congress Party, wit-nesses told AFP. And martialmusic was played on state tele-vision as soldiers ordered theTV to halt its normal pro-gramming. Outside armyheadquarters, dozens of joyfulprotesters climbed on top oflandcruisers and armouredvehicles that had been postedto protect them from inter-vention by other branches ofthe security forces.

Braving the searing 42

degree Celsius (108 degreeFahrenheit) heat, protestershugged and kissed soldiers inthe crowd.

Sudan’s feared intelligenceservice said it was freeing all thecountry’s political prisoners,state media reported. “TheNational Intelligence andSecurity Service has announcedit is releasing all politicaldetainees across the country,”the official SUNA news agencysaid. But in the eastern cities ofKasala and Port Sudan, pro-testers stormed NISS buildingsafter the releases failed to mate-rialise, witnesses said.Protesters approached the NISSbuilding in Kasala demanding

that officers free their prison-ers, a witness told AFP bytelephone from the city.

“But NISS officers fired inthe air after which protestersstormed the building and loot-ed all the equipment inside,” hesaid. Protesters chanting slo-gans against Bashir alsostormed an NISS building inPort Sudan, a witness said.

The raids on NISS build-ings came despite a call byprotest organisers for demon-strators to refrain from attack-ing government figures orbuildings.

“We are calling on ourpeople to control themselvesand not to attack anybody or

government and private prop-erties,” the Alliance forFreedom and Change (AFC),the umbrella group that isspearheading the protest move-ment, said in a statement.

“Anyone found doing thiswill be punished by law. Ourrevolution is peaceful, peaceful,peaceful.” “We had enough ofthis regime — 30 years ofrepression, corruption, rightsabuses, it’s enough,” said oneprotester at the sit-in.

Demonstrators have spentfive nights defiantly campedoutside the sprawling head-quarters complex, which alsohouses Bashir’s official resi-dence and the defence ministry.

There has been an oftenfestive mood at the sit-in, withprotesters singing and dancingto the tunes of revolutionarysongs. The demonstrators havebraved repeated volleys of teargas from members of the NISSsince they began camping out-side the complex on Saturday,protest organisers say. Officialssay 49 people have died inprotest-related violence sincedemonstrations first erupted inDecember.

“I hope our revolution willachieve its goal,” said AlaaSalah, dubbed the protestmovement’s “Nubian queen”,after a video clip went viral ofher conducting chants withdemonstrators outside armyheadquarters.Earlier this week,the US, Britain and Norway forthe first time threw their weightbehind the protesters.“TheSudanese authorities must nowrespond and deliver a credibleplan for this political transi-tion,” the countries’ Khartoumembassies said in a statement.

Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas part of 2019

Met Gala Host Committee

Los Angeles: Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas will be a part ofthis year’s Met Gala Host Committee, the actor has revealed. The

couple, who first posed for the shutterbugs on the 2017 MetGala red carpet in Ralph Lauren designs before tying the knot

last December, feature in the list presided over by Vogue edi-tor Anna Wintour. Chopra took to Instagram to share the

news Wednesday. “From walking the prestigious carpet forthe first time, to meeting my husband and many friendsfor life... Nick and I are honoured to be on the BenefitCommittee for this year’s Met Gala. Looking forward tothe first Monday in May,” the actor wrote.Chopra and Jonaswill be joined by other high-profile names in the committee

include the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, LenaWaithe, Katy Perry and Jared Leto.According to The

Hollywood Reporter, Wintour is co-chairing the gala withSerena Williams, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles and exhibit spon-sor Gucci’s Alessandro Michele. With 183 people from differentwalks of life such as showbiz, fashion, philanthropy and sport,actors comprise the largest group with 48 per cent attendingthe gala.Bradley Cooper, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds,Chadwick Boseman, and Lupita Nyong’o will also walk the redcarpet. Organised by Metropolitan Museum of Art, the galais scheduled to be held on May 6 in New York.

Sudan army topples leader Omar Bashir

Sudanese celebrate after officials said the military had forced longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step downafter 30 years in power in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday. AP

Hindu sisters not forciblyconverted: Pakistan courtPTI n ISLAMABAD

APakistani high court onThursday declared that the

two Hindu teenage sisters werenot forcibly converted fromHinduism to Islam, and per-mitted them to live with theirspouses, according to a mediareport. The two girls, Raveena(13) and Reena (15), and theirspouses petitioned theIslamabad High Court onMarch 25 against allegedharassment by police days aftertheir father and brother allegedthat the girls were underage,abducted, forced into changingtheir religion, and then marriedoff to Muslim men.

In their plea, the girlsclaimed that they belong to aHindu family of Ghotki, Sindhbut converted willfully as theywere impressed by Islamicteaching, Dawn reported. Thecounsel for the girls’ parents,however, asserted that the casepertained to forced conver-sion. Chief Justice AtharMinallah constituted a five-member commission to probewhether the conversion of theHindu sisters to Islam wasforced or otherwise. The com-mission comprising HumanRights Minister ShireenMazari, prominent Muslimscholar Mufti Taqi Usmani,Human Rights Commissionof Pakistan Chairperson DrMehdi Hasan, NationalCommission on the Status ofWomen Chairperson KhawarMumtaz and veteran journal-ist and human rights activistI.A. Rehman probed the mat-ter and concluded that it was

not a forced conversion, thereport said.

The secretary interior,Azam Suleman, apprised thethe high court about the find-ings of the commission, andtold the court that as per thecommission’s opinion, it was afacilitated conversion, thereport said. Rehman pointedout in court that “there is nolaw in Pakistan against forcedconversions” and sought acourt decree in this regard.Minallah remarked that thecase of the Ghotki sisters wasa simple one and would havebeen decided in a day or so, buta commission comprising emi-nent professionals and scholarswas constituted keeping inview the sensitivity of the casesince “the court wanted toensure this was not a forcedconversion”.

Regarding the issue offorced conversions, the courtsought the commission’s rec-ommendations within fourweeks and adjourned the caseuntil May 14. The teenage sis-ters were allegedly kidnappedby a group of “influential”

men from their home inGhotki district in Sindh on theeve of Holi. Soon after the kid-napping, a video went viral inwhich a cleric was purported-ly shown soleminising theNikah (marriage) of the twogirls, triggering a nationwideoutrage.Prime Minister ImranKhan also ordered probe toascertain if the two girls wereabducted and forcibly con-verted and married.

A war of words broke outbetween India’s External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj andPakistan’s Information MinisterFawad Chaudhry over thereported abduction, forcedconversion and underage mar-riages of the two Hinduteenagers.The spat started soonafter Swaraj sought details fromthe Indian envoy in Pakistaninto the reported abduction oftwo Hindu teenaged girls.

Swaraj tweeted that shehas asked the Indian HighCommissioner in Pakistan tosend a report on thematter.Hindus form the biggestminority community inPakistan.

‘UK govt must apologise for Jallianwala Bagh massacre’PTI n LONDON

Pakistan on Thursdayendorsed the demand that

the UK government must apol-ogise for the 1919 JallianwalaBagh massacre and the famineof Bengal ahead of the 100thanniversary of the mass killing.

While endorsing thedemand for apology from theBritish government over theJallianwala Bagh massacre ontwitter, Information MinisterFawad Chaudhry also said theUK must return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to Lahoremuseum. “Fully endorse thedemand that British Empiremust apologise to the nationsof Pakistan, India andBangladesh on JallianwalaMassacre and Bengalfamine...these tragedies are thescar on the face of Britain, alsoKoh-e-Noor, must be returnedto Lahore museum where it

belongs,” he tweeted.The Pakistani minister’s

statement came a day afterBritish Prime Minister TheresaMay described the JallianwalaBagh massacre in Amritsar asa “shameful scar” on BritishIndian history but stoppedshort of a formal apologysought by a cross-section ofParliament in previous debates.In a statement, marking the100th anniversary of the mas-sacre at the start of her week-ly Prime Minister’s Questions

in the House of Commons, shereiterated the “regret” alreadyexpressed by the BritishGovernment.

May’s statement came afterBritish MPs at WestminsterHall of the Parliament complexdebated the issue of a formalapology for the massacre tomark its centenary thisSaturday.

The massacre took place inJallianwala Bagh in Amritsaron Baisakhi in April 1919 whenthe British Indian Army troops,under the command of ColonelReginald Dyer, fired machineguns at a crowd of peopleholding a pro-independencedemonstration.

Historical records claimthat Dyer had fired on theBaisakhi gathering withoutwarning and continued to firefor 10 minutes even as theywere trying to escape, while heblocked the main exit with his

soldiers and armoured vehicles.The massacre saw more

than 1,000 unarmed men,women and children killed bythe British army riflemen. TheBengal famine left about 3million people dead in 1943-44.Then British Prime MinisterWintston Churchill hadordered the diversion of foodfrom starving Indian civiliansto well-supplied British soldiersand even to top up Europeanstockpiles in Greece and else-where.

When reminded of thesuffering of the Indian victimsduring the famine, his responsewas that the “famine was theirown fault for breeding likerabbits”. Koh-e-Noor, whichmeans Mountain of Light, is alarge, colourless diamond thatwas found in Southern India inearly 14th century. The 108-carat Kohinoor gem, whichfell into British hands during

the colonial era, is the subjectof a historic ownership disputeand claimed by at least fourcountries including India.

The giant diamond wasacquired by Britain in 1849when the East India Companyannexed the region of Punjab.Since then, India has laidclaims to the diamond, urgingthe British government toreturn the gem which cur-rently stays on display in theTower of London.

The jewel, once the largestknown diamond in the world,is set in a crown last worn bythe late Queen Mother duringher coronation and was dis-played on top of her crownwhen her coffin lay in stateafter her death in 2002. A peti-tion seeking return of the jewelfrom the British governmenthas also been pending in theLahore High Court for the lastfour year.

Syria Kurdssay deal madefor displaced31k Iraqis togo home

AP n QAMISHLI (SYRIA)

Syria’s Kurds on Thursdayannounced a deal with

Baghdad for 31,000 displacedIraqis, mostly women and chil-dren, in camps in northeasternSyria to return home to Iraq.Tens of thousands of people livein the camps, which swelledenormously during themonths-long battle that cul-minated in the defeat of the lastvestige of the Islamic Stategroup’s “caliphate” by aKurdish-led alliance. “A dele-gation from the Iraqi cabinetvisited the autonomous admin-istration to discuss the returnto Iraq of displaced Iraqis,estimated to number 31,000,and an agreement was reached,”Kurdish official Mahmud Kerotold AFP. “So far 4,000 peoplehave signed up and we are wait-ing for the Iraqi government toopen up the Iraqi border tostart,” he said.

Kero said many of the dis-placed did not have Iraqi iden-tity papers, including childrenborn on Syrian soil.“We haveasked the Iraqi government tofind a solution,” he said.AnIraqi official said on Tuesdaythat Baghdad was makingpreparations for the return oftens of thousands of citizens,most of them “women andchildren”.Those expected toreturn do not include suspect-ed IS fighters being held inKurdish-run jails, after sur-rendering or being caught flee-ing the jihadists’ last stand. “Wehave asked for the return of allIraqis including those accusedof belonging to IS,” Kero said.

The Kurdish-led SyrianDemocratic Forces announcedthe defeat of the IS “caliphate”last month after tens of thou-sands of people streamed out ofthe last patch of jihadist terri-tory in the eastern village ofBaghouz near the Iraqi border.

But the jihadists maintaina presence in Syria’s vast Badiadesert as well as sleeper cells inpopulated areas, and have con-tinued to claim deadly attacksin areas controlled by the SDF.

The jihadists swept acrossa swathe of Syria and Iraq larg-er than Britain in 2014, declar-ing a “caliphate” in territorythey held, but have since lost allof it to multiple offensives.

Netanyahu looks to form right-wing government after victory

AFP n JERUSALEM

Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu sought to form a

right-wing governing coalitionon Thursday after securing vic-tory in a high-stakes Israelielection despite a strong chal-lenge from a centrist alliance.The results from Tuesday’s votecame despite corruption allega-tions against the 69-year-old pre-mier and kept him on course tobecome Israel’s longest-servingprime minister later this year.

The allegations are likely toplay an important role in coali-tion negotiations as many ana-lysts expect Netanyahu todemand pledges from potential

partners to agree to remain in hisgovernment if he is indicted.

Netanyahu will rely in parton politicians of the nationalistright opposed to a Palestinianstate to put together his gov-ernment.His current govern-ment is already seen as themost right-wing in Israel’s his-tory, and his next is expected tobe similar if not even further tothe right.Netanyahu himself, ina campaign pledge just threedays before polling day, pledgedto begin annexing settlements inthe occupied West Bank.Applying sovereignty in theWest Bank on a large scalecould effectively end remaininghopes for a two-state solution

with the Palestinians.Netanyahu’s pledge was

widely seen as an appeal to thefar right, and it appears to haveworked: he boosted the numberof parliamentary seats for hisLikud, while smaller, far-rightparties struggled. The Likudsaid late on Wednesday thatNetanyahu “will form a right-wing government and he isalready in advanced negotiationswith the national camp part-ners.”

Throughout the campaign,Netanyahu highlighted his bondwith US President DonaldTrump, who has swung US pol-icy sharply in Israel’s favour andopenly backed the prime min-

ister. On Wednesday, Trumpsaid the incumbent’s election toa fifth term gives the WhiteHouse’s long-awaited peace plan,expected to be released in thecoming weeks, a “better chance”.It was not clear what he meant.He also tweeted a picture of aNetanyahu supporter waving aTrump flag and telephoned thepremier to offer congratula-tions.

The election was seen as areferendum on the veteranprime minister, who has built areputation as guarantor of Israel’ssecurity and economic growth,but whose divisive right-wingpopulism and alleged corruptionled to calls for change.

Russian MPs approve bill restricting internetMoscow (AFP): Russian law-makers on Thursday approved ina key second reading a controver-sial bill that would allow Moscowto cut off the country’s internet traf-fic from foreign servers.Lawmakers in the State Duma, par-liament’s lower house, voted 320 to15 to pass the proposed bill. It is setto take effect on November 1 onceit formally becomes law.

The proposed measureswould create technology to mon-itor internet routing and steerRussian internet traffic away fromforeign servers, ostensibly to pre-vent a foreign country from shut-ting it down. Authors of the ini-tiative say Russia must ensure thesecurity of its networks after USPresident Donald Trump unveileda new American cybersecuritystrategy last year that said Russiahad carried out cyber attacks with

impunity.The legislation has been

dubbed a “sovereign internet” billby Russian media. Critics sayimplementing the measures wouldbe expensive and give vast cen-sorship powers to the government’snew traffic monitoring centre. “It’sa bill on digital slavery and theintroduction of censorship for theweb,” said Sergei Ivanov, a mem-ber of the nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party.

The bill’s authors insist how-ever that the measures only outlinea plan to make Russian internet“more secure and reliable”.

“The bill’s popular name —‘The Chinese Firewall’ — hasnothing to do with our initiative,”said Leonid Levin, a lawmakerfrom the ruling United Russia partywhich dominates Russian parlia-ment.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuposes for a photo with his wife Sara aftervoting during Israel's parliamentary electionsin Jerusalem, Tuesday. AP

Lack of nutritious food hamperslearning in Indian teens: StudyLondon (PTI): Food insecuri-ty — limited access to sufficientsafe and nutritious food athome — negatively impacts thelearning ability of adolescentsin India, a study has found.Researchers from BITS Pilaniin Goa and Imperial CollegeLondon in the UK investigat-ed inequalities in learningachievements at 12 years byexamining test scores.

The study, published inthe journal Economics ofEducation Review, looked atwhether food insecurity athome at the ages of 5, 8 and 12was linked to lower test scoresat age 12. Some 47 per cent ofchildren studied had experi-enced household ‘food insecu-rity’ — including skippingmeals, eating less when need-ed and families not havingenough money to put food onthe table — at some stage dur-

ing the observation peri-od.“Our findings really high-light how even very early expe-riences of food insecurity canhave a lasting impact on out-comes across the life course,”Jasmine Fledderjohann, ofLancaster University in theUK, said in a statement.

About 18 per cent of thewealthiest of families in thestudy had also experiencedinsecurity, highlighting that

food insecurity is not exclu-sively a matter of poverty.

Food insecurity at all ageshampered learning.

The data showed lowervocabulary, reading, maths,Telugu and English scores inearly adolescence. Childrenwho suffered food insecurity atage five or chronic food inse-curity had the lowest scoresacross all outcomes. Early andchronic food insecurity were

the most consistent predictor ofimpaired cognitive skills at 12years, particularly reading andvocabulary development.

Food insecurity in mid-childhood and early adoles-cence were associated withimpaired ability in maths andEnglish. These differences bysubject suggest that the influ-ence of food insecurity is notuniversal throughout child-hood.

For subjects such as read-ing and vocabulary, establish-ing foundational skills early onis very important.

Early life food insecuritymay disrupt building thesebaseline skills. For subjectssuch as maths, where learningat one level builds directlyupon learning at the previouslevel, food insecurity at anytime may derail current andfuture learning.

world 12LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

Polar bears Nanuq and Vera play in their enclosure at the 'Tierpark' zoo ofNuremberg, Germany, Thursday. AP

A visitor looks at a painting from artist Karin Kneffel at the ART COLOGNE fair in Cologne, Germany, Thursday. The yearly art fairfor international galleries present art of the 20th and 21st centuries since 1967 in Cologne. AP

Traffic pollution caused asthma in 350,000 Indians in 2015PTI nWASHINGTON

Traffic-related pollutioncaused asthma among

350,000 children in India in2015, second only to China,according to a Lancet studyunveiled Thursday that analysed194 countries and 125 majorcities worldwide.

The first global estimates oftheir kind published in TheLancet Planetary Health journalsuggest that more than one in tenchildhood asthma cases could belinked to traffic-related air pol-lution every year.

With 92 per cent ofcases developing in areas thathave traffic pollution levels belowthe World Health Organization(WHO) guideline level, theresearcher suggest that this limitmay need to be reviewed.

“Nitrogen dioxide pollutionappears to be a substantial riskfactor for childhood asthma inci-dence in both developed anddeveloping countries, especiallyin urban areas,” said SusanAnenberg from GeorgeWashington University, US.

“Our findings suggest thatthe World Health Organizationguideline for annual averageNO2 concentrations might needto be revisited, and that trafficemissions should be a targetto mitigate exposure,”Anenberg said in a state-ment.“Our studyindicates thatpolicy initiativesto alleviate traffic-related air pollu-tion can lead toimprovements inchildren’s health

and also reduce greenhouse gasemissions,” said lead author PloyAchakulwisut from GeorgeWashington University. Traffic-related air pollution may result inasthma development as pollu-tants may cause damage to theairways, leading to inflammationthat triggers asthma in geneticallypredisposed children.

The researchers used NO2as a surrogate for the traffic pol-

lution mixture tofocus specifical-

ly on theeffects oftraffic pol-lution onc h i l d -h o o da s t h m adevelop-

m e n t .NO2 is a pol-

lutant formed mainly from fos-sil fuel combustion, and trafficemissions can contribute up to 80per cent of ambient NO2 in cities.

NO2 is just one componentof air pollution, which is made upof many pollutants (includingparticulate matter, ozone, carbonmonoxide), which are known tohave numerous adverse effects onhealth. The researchers com-bined a global dataset of ambientNO2 — modelled from ground-level monitors, satellite data, andland use variables such as roadnetworks — with data on popu-lation distribution and asthmaincidence to estimate the num-ber of new traffic pollution-related asthma cases in childrenaged 1-18 years. Globally, theestimates suggest that there are170 new cases of traffic pollution-related asthma per 100,000 chil-

dren every year, and 13 per centof childhood asthma cases diag-nosed each year are linked to traf-fic pollution. The country withthe highest rate of traffic pollu-tion-related childhood asthmawas Kuwait (550 cases per100,000 children each year), fol-lowed by the UAE (460 per100,000), and Canada (450 per100,000).

The largest number of casesof traffic pollution-related asth-ma were estimated for China(760,000 cases), which is likely aresult of China having the secondlargest population of children andthe third highest concentrationsof NO2, researchers said.Although less than half the sizeof China’s burden, India had thenext largest number of cases(350,000) due to its large popu-lation of children, they said.

New ‘Brextension’ gives UKOctober 31 Brexit deadlinePTI n LONDON

It is neither as short as BritishPrime Minister Theresa May

had hoped for - until June 30,or as long as some EU leaderswere in favour of, but afterhours of deliberation inBrussels, the 28-member eco-nomic bloc gave the UK sixmore months to thrash outBrexit. The latest extension,being dubbed a “Brextension”and also drawing inevitableHalloween analogies with thedate coinciding with the festi-val celebrating scary and night-mare scenarios, comes just aday before the April 12 dead-line from the first extensionagreed by the European Union(EU) to the official Brexit Dayof March 29.

“Vitally, the EU has agreedthat the extension can be ter-minated when the WithdrawalAgreement has been ratified —which was my key request ofmy fellow leaders,” May said ina statement in the early hoursof Thursday at the end of aEuropean Council summit. “Iknow that there is huge frus-tration from many people thatI had to request this extension.The UK should have left theEU by now and I sincerelyregret the fact that I have notyet been able to persuadeParliament to approve a dealwhich would allow the UK toleave in a smooth and orderlyway. But the choices we nowface are stark and the timetableis clear,” she said. The BritishPrime Minister, set for a Houseof Commons statement to for-mally update MPs on the lat-est development, continues tobattle mounting pressure fromdifferent sides of her ownConservative Party to stepaway from Downing Streetand make way for a differentTory leader to deploy a freshstrategy to Brexit. The latestextension will only intensifythese voices, with May herselfon record as saying that asPrime Minister, she could notagree to a longer extensionthan June 30 – the date beforeMembers of European

Parliament (MEPs) take theirseats in a newly-formedParliament following Europeanelections set for May 23.

The latest extension untilOctober 31 makes it morelikely that the UK would haveto contest the European elec-tions next month, somethingnone of the British politicalparties were looking forward toin light of the June 2016 refer-endum in favour of Brexit.European CommissionPresident Jean-Claude Junckersaid: “There will probably be aEuropean election in the UK –that might seem a bit odd, butrules are rules and we mustrespect European law and thenwe will see what happens”.However, the latest EU offerdoes mean that the fear of ano-deal crash-out of the UKfrom the 28-member bloc hasbeen averted for the momentbut the EU stressed that onceagain the ball was in Britain’scourt and it must make thebest use of the extra time.

European Council presi-dent Donald Tusk was cate-gorical in his message: “Thecourse of action will be entire-ly in the UK’s hands: They can

still ratify the withdrawalagreement, in which case theextension can be terminated.“Let me finish with a messageto our British friends: Thisextension is as flexible as Iexpected, and a little bit short-er than I expected, but it’s stillenough to find the best possi-ble solution. Please do notwaste this time”.

The EU itself had beensplit over the length of delay tooffer the UK and by law theyhad to reach a unanimousdecision. Although other EUcountries backed a longerdelay, French PresidentEmmanuel Macron pushed fora shorter extension, withOctober 31 being settled uponas a compromise.

MPs in Britain continue tobe opposed to the WithdrawalAgreement finalised by Maywith the EU in November2018 and have rejected the so-called divorce bill three timessince January this year.

One of the most con-tentious parts of the plan is theIrish backstop, an insurancepolicy that aims to prevent ahard border returning to theisland of Ireland between EU

member-country — the IrishRepublic and UK territory —Northern Ireland.

Brexiteers fear it would beused by the EU to keep Britaintied to its norms even afterBrexit. With the House ofCommons also stronglyopposed to crashing out of theEU without a deal, havingrejected that prospect in par-liamentary votes, May reachedout to the Opposition LabourParty to hold cross-party talksin an attempt to find a solutionto the parliamentary dead-lock.

Reflecting some of herown frustrations over the issue,she admitted that the next fewweeks will not be easy andthere was no “simple way tobreak the deadlock inParliament”. “But we have aduty as politicians to find a wayto fulfil the democratic deci-sion of the Referendum, deliv-er Brexit and move our coun-try forward. Nothing is morepressing or more vital,” Maysaid.As the UK Parliamentbreaks up for its Easter breakuntil April 23, the cross-partytalks will carry on in the hopefor a breakthrough.

Imran Khan’s statement on Modi

taken out of context: Qureshi

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan Foreign MinisterMahmood Qureshi on

Thursday said Premier ImranKhan’s statement regarding theoutcome of general elections inIndia was taken out of contextas “everyone knows” aboutKhan’s reservations regardingPrime Minister NarendraModi, according to a mediareport. During an interview toforeign journalists, Khan saidthat Islamabad and New Delhihave a better chance of peacetalks and settling the Kashmirissue if Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s party BJPwins the general elections.

Khan’s remarks drew sharpreactions from opposition par-ties in Pakistan as well as inIndia. The foreign minister,addressing the Senate’sStanding Committee onForeign Affairs on Thursday,accused the Indian media of“sensationalising everything”,the Dawn reported.

He said the premier’s state-ment was “published out of

context”.He said that Prime

Minister Khan’s reservationsregarding Modi “are on therecord and everyone knows his(Khan’s) opinion of him”.Qureshi said that only theIndian public will decide thewinner and loser of the ongo-ing elections.

The Pakistani daily report-ed that Senators in Pakistanduring a session of the SenateStanding Committee onForeign Affairs on Thursday

criticised Prime MinisterKhan’s statement, saying Modiis a “danger to Pakistan”.

“You (Qureshi) said thatIndia is getting ready for anadventure, (then) why did theprime minister say that dia-logue can only take place ifModi wins the Indian elec-tions?” asked PPP SenatorSherry Rehman.

“A state has friendly rela-tions with another state, notwith a personality,” she wasquoted as saying. In the inter-

view, Khan had said “Perhapsif the BJP (Bharatiya JanataParty)....wins, some kind ofsettlement in Kashmir could bereached.”

Khan’s statements werelatched on to by the oppositionin India to target Modi with theCongress party on Wednesdaysaying Pakistan has now “offi-cially allied” with him and avote for him would mean a votefor the neighbouring country.Referring to a dossier sent byIndia containing evidence ofPakistan’s involvement in theFebruary 14 Pulwama attack,Qureshi dismissed it as a “joke”.

India on February 27handed over to Pakistan thedossier on “specific details” ofinvolvement of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in thePulwama terror attack onCRPF as also the presence ofcamps of the UN-proscribedterror outfit in the country.TheJeM had taken the responsi-bility of the terror strike inKashmir’s Pulwama district onFebruary 14, in which 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, leaves with her delegation at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday,

China says trade talks

with US ‘moving forward’

Beijing (AP): China saidThursday that trade talks withthe U.S. are “moving forward”after nine rounds of consulta-tions aimed at ending a stand-off that has shaken the worldeconomic outlook.The latestdiscussions had achieved “newsubstantial progress,” ForeignMinistry spokesman Lu Kangsaid at a daily news briefing.

“We also feel that the con-sultation is moving forward.We hope that the two sides cancontinue to work together toproperly address each other’sconcerns on the basis of mutu-al respect, equality and mutu-al benefit,” Lu said. Lu’s com-ments were echoed by thosefrom Commerce Ministry

spokesman Gao Feng, who said“new progress” had been madeat the talks.

Gao said the sides werenow in “close communicationswith all effective approaches.”“They will spare no efforts forthe negotiations and workingtoward the direction of imple-menting the important con-sensus reached by both leaders,”Gao said at a weekly briefing.

The three days of talks inWashington last week dealtwith issues including technol-ogy transfer, intellectual prop-erty rights protection, non-tar-iff measures, agriculture andenforcement of agreements.Leading the delegations areU.S. Trade Representative

Robert Lighthizer and TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin andChinese Vice Premier Liu He.White House press secretarySarah Sanders earlier said “sig-nificant work remains” beforean agreement can be reached.

The dispute centers on theTrump administration’s allega-tions that China steals tech-nology and coerces U.S. com-panies to hand over tradesecrets — all part of Beijing’szeal to overtake U.S. techno-logical dominance. To pres-sure China, the United Stateshas imposed tariffs on $250 bil-lion in Chinese goods. TheChinese have counterpunchedby taxing $110 billion in U.S.imports.

India’s population grew at 1.2 % annual rate between 2010 and 2019PTI n UNITED NATIONS

India’s population grew at anaverage annual rate of 1.2 per

cent between 2010 and 2019 to1.36 billion, more than doublethe annual growth rate ofChina, according to a report bythe United Nations PopulationFund. India’s population in2019 stood at 1.36 billion,growing from 942.2 million in1994 and 541.5 million in 1969.India’s population grew at aver-age annual rate of 1.2 per centbetween 2010 and 2019, theUN sexual and reproductivehealth agency said in the State

of World Population 2019report. In comparison, China’spopulation stood at 1.42 billionin 2019, growing from 1.23 bil-lion in 1994 and 803.6 millionin 1969.

China’s population grewat an average annual rate of 0.5per cent between 2010 and2019, the report said.According to the report, inIndia, total fertility rate perwoman was 5.6 in 1969, drop-ping to 3.7 in 1994 and 2.3 in2019.

India recorded an improve-ment in life expectancy atbirth. The life expectancy at

birth in 1969 was 47 years,growing to 60 years in 1994 and69 years in 2019.

Giving a snapshot of India’spopulation composition in2019, the report said 27 percent of the country’s populationwas in the age bracket of 0-14years and 10-24 years each,while 67 per cent of the coun-try’s population was in the 15-64 age bracket.Six per cent ofthe country’s population was ofthe age 65 and above.

Indicative of the improve-ment in the quality of India’shealth care system, the reportnoted that Maternal Mortality

Ratio (MMR) in the countrydropped from 488 deaths per100,000 live births in 1994 to174 deaths per 100,000 livebirths in 2015.

Director of UNFPAGeneva Monica Ferro said thefigures were “worrisome” andit was essential to raise the levelof consent and access to vitalhealth services for millions ofwomen around the world.“Don’t forget: each one of thesenumbers is a person,” she said.The findings, relating towomen aged between 15-49years, were published for thefirst time as part of United

Nations Population Fund’s(UNFP) State of WorldPopulation 2019 report.

The report includes, for thefirst time, data on women’s abil-ity to make decisions overthree key areas: sexual inter-course with their partner, con-traception use and health care.

According to the analysis,the absence of reproductive andsexual rights has a major andnegative repercussions onwomen’s education, incomeand safety, leaving them“unable to shape their ownfutures”. Early marriage con-tinues to present a major cul-

tural obstacle to femaleempowerment and betterreproductive rights, theUNFPA report said.

“A girl who marries whenshe is 10 will probably leaveschool. And because she leavesschool, she won’t get the nego-tiating skills, and she won’t getthe specific skills which willallow her to then get a better-paid job,” Ferro said. Thosewomen and girls left behind“are typically poor, rural andless educated,” Ferro said,adding that “two-thirds of allmaternal deaths today occur insub-Saharan Africa”.

‘North Koreaurges ‘tellingblow’ to forcesimposingsanctions’ Seoul (AFP): North Koreanleader Kim Jong Un has strucka defiant note over his failedsummit with US PresidentDonald Trump in Hanoi andinsisted Pyongyang wouldovercome the effect of sanc-tions, state media reportedThursday.

The remarks were Kim’sfirst official comment on theNorth’s position since talks ondenuclearisation withWashington broke down inVietnam in February, in partover Pyongyang’s demands forimmediate sanctions relief.Trump is set to host SouthKorean President Moon Jae-inat the White House later onThursday, seeking to rekindledialogue with the North.

Kim told top officials of theruling Workers’ Party onWednesday to push ahead with“self-reliance” to underminethe sanctions, the KoreanCentral News Agency (KCNA)said. He said developing thesocialist economy would “deala telling blow to the hostileforces who go with bloodshoteyes miscalculating that sanc-tions can bring the DPRK to itsknees,” the report said, using theacronym for the North’s officialname. Kim made no mention ofnuclear weapons, nor did hecriticise his US counterpart,according to KCNA.

Washington: Students fromIndia are advised to “exercisetheir due diligence” before seek-ing admission into Americanuniversities, the Indian Embassyhere has said, months afterover 100 Indians landed introuble for enroling at a fakeeducational institution set up byUS authorities to expose immi-gration fraud. In the unusualadvisory, Indian students areadvised to take into account sev-eral factors, in particular threequestions. “Does the university

function from a campus ormerely maintains a web-site and has admin-istrative premis-es only? Ifnot, suchuniversities arenot to be regardedas a bonafide edu-cational institu-tion andadmissioninto suchuniversitiesshould be

avoided. “Does the universityhave a faculty and regularinstructors/educators? If not,

admissions to such universi-ties should be avoided. It

may be noted that suchuniversities typically employonly administrative staff andtheir websites have no infor-mation in respect of faculty,”

the advisory said. “Does theuniversity have a propercurriculum, hold regularclasses and actively imple-ment academic or edu-

cational activity? If not, admis-sions to such universities may beavoided. “Students admitted tosuch universities, even if inpossession of regular studentvisa, may be tried for violationof visa norms and subjected todetention and subsequentdeportation from the US,” itsaid. In January, the US author-ities busted a “pay to stay” visaracket and arrested 129 Indianstudents for enroling at a fakeuniversity allegedly to remain inthe US.

Prince Harry, Meghan wantbaby’s birth kept ‘private’London (AFP): Britain’s PrinceHarry and his wife Meghanwant to keep the arrival of theirbaby later this month “private”,Buckingham Palace said in astatement on Thursday.

This would contrast withthe births of the three childrenof his brother Prince Williamand his wife Kate, immediatelyafter which the babies wereshown off by the couple infront of the world’s media. “TheDuke and Duchess of Sussex arevery grateful for the goodwill

they have received from peoplethroughout the United Kingdomand around theworld as they pre-pare to welcometheir baby,” thestatement said.“Their RoyalHi g h n e ss e shave taken apersonal deci-sion to keep theplans around thearrival of their baby private. “TheDuke and Duchess look forward

to sharing the exciting news witheveryone once they have had an

opportunity to celebrate pri-vately as a new family,” it

said. Some Britishmedia have reportedthat the royal coupleare considering ahome birth, which

would also break withthe tradition followed

by William and Kate ofgiving birth in the private

wing of St Mary’s Hospital inLondon.

Indian students urged to ‘exercise due diligence’before taking admission in US varsities

vivacity {food} 13

CHIPOTLE CHICKEN BURGER

WHAT YOU NEED

● Premium Burger bun● Onion slices: 10 gm ● Chipotlemayonnaise: 20gm ● Tomato slices:20 gm ● Lettuce: 10gm METHOD

● Take a largemixing bowland add theground chicken,onion, bell peppercilantro, chipotles, adobo sauce,salt and pepper then use your hands tocarefully mix until well incorporated.Don’t over mix. ● Divide the mix into four equal portionsand form into patties. Place these ontothe grill pan and cook for six minutes.

● Turn down the heat to low and top theburgers with the cheese.

● If you like, you can putseasoning — salt

and pepperon thepatty, butresist theurge topressdown, ifyou want a

juicierburger.● Grillthe buns

similarly,for about

two minutes.Now place the patty on top of one

slice of the bun. Pour Chipotlemayonnaise sprinkled with green chilliflakes, peppercorn. Add a piece or twoof sliced onion, tomato and lettuce andserve.

Courtesy: LA Americana Burger, Dwarka.

RAW MANGO

MARTINI

WHAT YOU NEED

● Gin: 60 mlLime Juice: 30 ml Aam panna mix: 15 ml Dry Vermouth: 15 ml

METHOD

● Rim the martiniglass with rock salt,cumin powder and redchilli powder mix. Chillthe glass.Add gin, vermouth andlime juice in shaker.Add Aam panna mix to shaker.Shake the mix till it smooth and chilled.Pour in a chilled martini glass.Garnish with raw mango slices and prepare skewer with asprinkle of rim mix.

Courtesy: Bartender, Puneet Kaushal, The Deltin, Daman.

KUTTU ATTA PIZZA

WHAT YOU NEED

● Kuttu atta: 300 gmSalt: 5 gmSugar: 10 gmYeast: 5 gmMozarella cheese: 100 gmPeeled tomato: 200 gmBasil: 15 gmCottage cheese: 50 gmGreen chillies chopped: 10 gmOlive oil: 25 gmSalt: to tasteBlack pepper: 10 gmOregano: 5 gm

METHOD

● Make a smooth dough usingkuttu atta, salt, sugar, yeast, andolive oil.

● Let itferment forat leastfour hours.● Knockback thedough andlet it restfor half anhour.● For pizzasauce choppeeledtomatoes.● Add oilin a pan.Addtomatoeschopped basil, green chillies,black pepper, and cook for 15minutes. Add salt to taste.● Roll the dough and spread pizzasauce on it, put diced cottagecheese and bake at 250 degree

celsius for five to seven minutes.● Take it out, sprinkle choppedbasil and oregano. ● Pizza is ready to serve.Courtesy: Chef Amit Kumar, Jaypee Greens

Golf & Spa Resort.


R E C I P E S

gorge us

Do you think a chef ’sgender affects thefood in any way? How

do you think men’s cookingis different from that of awomen’s?

I believe cooking is some-thing that requires a lot of pas-sion, ef fort, hard work,courage as well as determina-tion. It is sheer determinationof an individual that makesone a successful chef, it real-ly doesn’t matter if you aremale or female or the thirdgender.

It really does not play anyrole in determining the won-ders that a chef can showcaseon 10 inch diameter.

How did you land in thisprofession? Were there anygender-specific stereotypesthat you had to face?

Women are as good asmen and trust me as I alreadymentioned that gender doesnot play even a minisculerole when it comes to cookingskills. My love for food can betraced to my genes. I inherit-ed it from my parents, espe-cially my mother and grand-mother. They are the oneswho made delicious foodevery single day at home. Ilearned the basics of thekitchen from them andrealised my love for food andingredients. If I would havebeen bothered by the stereo-types in the society, I wouldnot be marshalling an army of150 fine chefs in my team,today. I always brushed themaside.

Tell us about your stint atlearning French cuisine.Why did you only choosethat as your field of special-isation? Why not Indian?

Indian cuisine is one ofthe finest cuisines in the worldand that will always be myfirst choice. When I firstentered the hotel industry, Ifound French cuisine as allur-ing as Indian. I decided toinvest more time in Frenchcuisine and was totally mes-merised with the fine play ofbasic ingredients. Respect forfood takes the highest rank inmy repertoire, be it from anycuisine.

How did you prepare thedishes to present at Pluck?What is your strategy?

I keep it very fundamen-

tal at Pluck. First, we work onthe taste of the food and oncewe achieve the desired taste of

any dish, we start playingwith the edimentals at our dis-posal. The concept is very raw,

it’s all about the freshness,cooking them à la minute(preparing quickly and serv-ing immediately), ensuringthe right balance of flavours,textures and colours beforeserving it for the guests.

What is your signature dishand how did you come upwith the experiment?

Trilogy of Lamb is the onethat I flaunt to the world.There is a lot of thought givento this dish; it’s an amalgama-tion of the three differentcooking methods coming onone plate giving the dish mostversatile flavours.

What is your take on Indiancuisine? When do you thinkit will become the worldfavourite?

Indian cuisine is one ofthe oldest and varied cuisines,influenced by travellers andrulers of India in the medievalera. From the Royal kitchen ofMughals, langars of Sikhismto the bhandaras of Hindus, ithas all in it. This is the veryfirst cuisine I was exposed toat my home and it is still asfascinating as it was hun-dreds of years ago. I believe itis still the world’s favourite.

In this age of food bloggersand reviewers, do you thinkit is an injustice to the chefswho prepare a dish that adish is photographed anduploaded on social mediaeven before it is tasted?

Yes, I do have a feelingthat this injustice should bestopped as soon as possible asit is actually ruining the beau-tiful art of cooking food.Nowadays, it is getting morecommercial. Bloggers andreviewers are the ones whoactually influence the choiceof food or restaurant for manypeople. So, if the job is notdone on merits than it’s acomplete waste of skills.Anything that gets posted onsocial media should be firsttasted for its flavours andtextures. Later, it should beposted on various forums.

What do you think could bethe greatest cause of failurein a chef ’s dish?

Lack of compassion anddetermination are the twogreatest cause of failure in achef ’s dish. The food that ismade without compassionwill never come out beautiful.Further, if the chef is notdetermined towards makingthe food that he/she is offer-ing to the guest taste sublime,it will one day lead to a faileddish being served to themwhich can be disastrous.

(The chef is the Director of Culinary atPullman and Novotel,Aerocity.)

Once in a while one findssomething interestingby accident. It happenedto me recently whenexploring the white,

wide and winding blocks ofConnaught Place, I stumbled uponthe red-and-grey gates of a Frenchbut surprisingly vegan café called theBrioche Dorée. The fact that it wasa Parisian bakery café was reinforcedby its glass window sills at theentrance and yellow-striped andgrey walls. Of course what made itmore attractive was that I could keepmy Navratra pact intact.

Unlike India, Continental fooddoes not have rice, curry, lentils orpickle but even then the croissants,baguettes and tarts seemed to holdwarm memories of home. I beganwith Spinach and corn quiche. Thosewho dislike vegetables shouldabsolutely try this one. It mightchange your perspective on veggies.The quiche was served hot withbaked cheese over the top andcrushed spinach and corn as its fill-ing. It was scrumptious and I canvouch that I could go back to eat iteven on a full stomach.

Next up was the exotic Pestosandwich which had an abundanceof ingredients and vegetables.However, my heart still lay with thequiche and the second pick couldn’tcompete with my previous one.

Surprisingly it didn’t even comeclose to to it. A classic French pestobread, the burgwich, was stuffed withexotic greens like pumpkin and bellpeppers, coated in pesto mayonnaise.Its filling was indeed fresh but thesandwich couldn’t make a mark onthe taste quotient. Truth be told, I wasleft wondering what it tasted like.This made me a little apprehensiveif the next dish would turn out to beunusual or at least, better than thisone.

I was curious to try some of thebeverages like a fruit Sangria or aMasala Iced Tea, but I skipped thepage and turned to soups. Making achoice between tomato and basilsoup and its Navaratra specialPumpkin Soup was quite difficult.Eventually, I chose the latter.Presented in a white coffeemug, the yellow-coloured, creamy soup,with roasted babypumpkin, was gar-nished with freshcream and Italian pars-ley. It tasted like a throw-back to the times when wehad fallen sick and ourmothers would prepare some-thing soothing and warm tonurse us back to health. But if youthink it was tasteless or worse ‘sick-ly’, banish the thought. It was some-thing that one can happily embrace

even in health.Moving ahead, I ordered a

Classic Croissant. The flaky pastry,layered with fine French butter,made its way to my heart at the veryfirst bite. Crispy on the outside andsoft inside, the croissant looked andtasted fresh. It could make for a sim-ple and delicious start to the meal atthis place. Or even feature as a greatbreakfast.

The Roasted Veg and Olive Pizzawas the next in line. What made itstand out was the base which waspuffy and flaky like a patty ratherthan a regular pizza. It was crispy andseemed to become even more so withevery bite. Layered with pilati, toppedwith cheese and oven-roasted veggieslike olives, mushrooms, bell peppers,and pumpkins, the rectangular pizza

seemed to be a blast of exoticflavours in my mouth.

I was moving towardsthe end of a satisfying

meal and ordered theMexican Burritobowl. The dish hadthe best of every-thing — layers offresh ingredients, rice

flavoured with spices,olives, kidney beans, fine-

ly-chopped tomatoes, a fewnacho chips with white mayon-

naise to complement it, choppedcoriander, chipotle chilli along with

crushed cumin and salt. If only Icould describe its flavourful taste!The bowl was irresistibly delectableand nothing like anything that I havetasted before.

It was time for the desserts,which I couldn’t resist since I wasalready impressed with what I had tillnow. I ordered a Chocolate bananatart and a Caramel romance cake.The two put me in the ultimatedilemma — because there isabsolutely no way that I can comparethe two or even choose one. Eachscored brownie points on its ownstrengths. While the former was notjust picture perfect but had a perfecttart crust, crispy and smooth, withdark chocolate and banana slicescomplementing each other; the lat-ter, was a burst of caramel and milkchocolate. If one sentence coulddescribe what I went through, it issheer gluttony. I polished off bothwithout leaving behind a scrap.Never mind the diet I have beenplanning for a while.

Deeply satisfied, the epicureandelights left a deep impression on me.I certainly believe that this place,manages to blend the best of bothworlds — French perfection withIndian flavours — which makes itextraordinary. Now I know, what theother Brioche Dorées around theworld would taste and look like —heavenly.

The HighSpirits bar

is ready tomakeweekdaysmore vibrantand excitingwithThursdaysocial nightsand DJeveningsevery Friday.Relish hand-craftedcocktails,local beersand winescomplemented by an assortment of bar snacks. Date: Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 19 Time: 7.30pm onwards Price: Drinks starts at `249 plus taxesVenue: The High Spirits Bar, Hilton Garden Inn, Saket.

The Pasta Bowl Company, the authentic trattoria in thecapital, serves you classic Italian delicacies enriched in

tradition. It has a delectable range of pasta bowls whichinclude Spaghetti, Fettuccini and Bucatini with signaturesauces like Frutti Di Mare, Nocerini and Aglio-e-OlioParmesano. Date: Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 19 Time: 7.30 pmonwards Price: Drinks starts at `249 plus taxes Venue: TheHigh Spirits Bar, Hilton Garden Inn, Saket.

One thing that gets people going throughout the week arethe weekends and Vagator is all up for making your Friday

and Saturday nights fun with their live gigs. It is calling themViva La Vagator Night and Beach Bum Saturdays. This Friday,the uber cool band, Himanshu Devgan Project, is going toperform. Date: Every Friday Time: 8 pm onwards Price:

`1,500 plus taxes Venue: South point Mall, Golf Course Road,Gurugram.

Q’LA is all geared up to serve patrons with its signaturemixes. It offers an array of delectable drinks and

exceptional cocktails infused with spice and herbs, freshlyplucked out of their kitchen/in house garden. One can sip andsavour the scrumptious food and laidback set-up, whereEuropean vibe meets nature’s bounty. Date: Thursday, April18 and Friday, April 19 Time: 12 pm to 12.30 am Venue: TheKila, Seven Style Mile, Kalka Das Marg, Mehrauli, Next toQutab Minar.

Parisian bakery caféBRIOCHE DORÉE

makes one runacross the streets of

nostalgia. Itscroissants,

baguettes andquiches hold warmmemories of home,says CHAHAK MITTAL

FAMILIAR BUT DIFFERENTTHE SPINACH AND CORN

QUICHE WAS SERVEDHOT WITH BAKED

CHEESE OVER THE TOPAND CRUSHED SPINACH

AND CORN AS ITSFILLING. THOSE WHODISLIKE VEGETABLES

SHOULD TRY THIS ONE.IT MIGHT CHANGE YOUR

PERSPECTIVE

‘Gender doesn’t matter’Chef AJAY ANAND says that he finds French cuisine as alluring as Indian and that is thereason he decided to invest more time in refining it. By TEAM VIVA


Actor VARUN DHAWAN, whomade her Hindi filmdebut with Student ofThe Year, said he neverthought that sequel ofhis romantic-comedydrama film willhappen so soon.Varun said, “Ithink Tiger(Shroff), Ananya(Panday) andTara (Sutaria) arelooking superb inthe film. Alia, Sidand I are equallyproud and happyabout it. We neverthought that there willbe a sequel of our filmand that too reallysoon. People still callus 'student' and Idon't think that tag willgo away from us andwe never know inStudent of The Year 3we might go back toschool.”

Actress GAUAHAR KHAN says host-ing a live game show on a digitalplatform is challeng-ing.The actress is seenhosting one titledKnock Knock at 2pm for a travel app. Gauahar said, “Thepressure is differentwhen you are doinga live show. There's no scope formistakes. People need to get hookedon to it at that very second andshould stay with us for 30 minutes.Your energy has to be bang on andlanguage has to be absolutely properand you cannot fumble as there areno retakes. So yes, it's challenging.It is a very unique and interestingconcept that I got really hooked onto. Also, it's something that I haven'tattempted before.”

Linda loves acomplex hero

Actress LINDA

CARDELLINI, who playsthe role of the motherwho goes up against LaLlorana in The Curse ofthe WeepingWoman, says shecouldn't resistthe complexhero at theheart of thehorror film.That's the reasonshe said yes to theproject. “When I read thescript, I loved that itwas not about beingsomeone's wife orbeing someone's sis-ter. It's really aboutthis woman who isfighting the odds tokeep her familytogether, and the lengthsshe's willing to go toprotect her children,”Cardellini said.

‘Rapport with my co-actor makesa hugedifference tomyperformance.It brings somuch to thescene whenyou knowthe co-actor is givingyou the room toimprove yourperformance. Whenyou share a chemistryand a certain warmthwith your actor, thescene comes out to beway more organic.’—Alia Bhatt

vivacity 14

‘Never thought SOTY

sequel will happen’

KUSHAN MITRA

There are very, very fewtimeless cars. Thanks toadvancements in engine

technology, demands of luxuryand the need for modern safety,a car today looks very differentfrom a car in 1963. But thenthere is the Porsche 911. If youhave ever been to the PorscheMuseum in Stuttgart, which isone of the best automotive muse-ums in the world (alongside theMercedes-Benz Museum in thesame city), you will see an exhib-it which is nothing more thanline drawings of Porsche’s evolu-tion, from the original Porsche356 to the latest 911, and yourealise that the car’s designershave always followed the mantraof “evolution, not revolution.”

Its engineers, on the otherhand, have not, and that isapparent when you get behindthe wheel of the latest, eighth-generation iteration of thePorsche 911. This car is techni-cally called the Porsche 992series to define it as a separatemodel from the seventh gener-ation, which was the 991 series,and the sixth generation, whichwas the 997 series, and so on. Butplace it next to an earlier gener-ation and while the physicalsimilarities are obvious, the dif-ferences from the earlier 991 arefairly subtle to the naked eye. Onthe inside and to drive, howev-er, there is a world of difference.The first is of course the new dig-ital console. The Porsche

Communication Managementsystem, which now has a muchlarger screen and is laid out farstraighter than the earlier layout,is a sort of homage to the earli-er 911 designs.

The Carrera 2, two-wheeldrive variant of the new Porsche911 that was launched at the BIC,will set you back by `1.82 crorewith the Cabriolet, with its fancymulti-panel folding fabric roofcosting `17 lakh more. While thecars have a flat six-cylindertwin-turbo-charged engine likeits predecessor, the 450 horse-power is 30 horsepower more,and this means it can go fromzero to 100 kmph in 3.7 seconds,and even faster if you get thesports chrono package. Try theLaunch Control feature and youwill feel your spine meld into theseat. But any car can go very fastin a straight line. The beauty ofthe modern 911 is that theresponsive engine not only goesfast around corners, but acceler-ates like its pants are on fire outof the corner. And despite onlyrear-wheel drive, and the factthat it has that heavy lump of anengine at the back, the shaman-ic rituals that the Porsche engi-neers must have conducted todefy the concepts of inertia andmomentum pay off. You do notneed to be trained in the darkarts to be able to drive this car,anybody can drive this 911, eventhough very few can afford it inIndia.

The 911 though is a smallpart of Porsche’s sales in India.The bulk of the sales for thesportscar firm are from the big,bruising Cayenne Sports Utility

Vehicle, whose third iterationwas launched by the carmaker inIndia last year. The Cayenne,whose diesel-powered modelwas the company’s bread andbutter, lost the oil burner thisgeneration, a direct result of theemissions scandal after whichPorsche said that its future waspetrol and electric. But despitethere not being a diesel option ofthe new car, the Cayenne wassold out for three months. This,according to Pavan Shetty,Director, Porsche India, isbecause, “Porsche does not standfor diesel or petrol, or evenelectric or hybrid. Porsche standsfor the promise of the brand.That is performance, that islongevity.” Porsche also show-cased the second-generation oftheir smaller SUV, the Macan.“We will be bringing that toIndia later this year and it will becompetitively priced.”

Shetty, speaking exclusivelyto The Pioneer, also revealed thatPorsche is unveiling a new “dig-ital showroom” in central Delhi.Opening by the end of 2019, herecustomers and fans alike can notonly experience some ofPorsche’s products but also havean immersive dive into thebrand. “They will be able to dig-itally configure their cars. Dothings like select the colour ofthe seat belts they want, forexample. But we realise that weget a lot of our brand relevancefrom fans, so yes, we will alsowelcome fans into this new con-cept of a showroom.” Delhi willhave only the sixth such digitalshowroom for Porsche in theworld.

Beyond the glitz and glamour ofit being the capital, the denizensof Delhi NCR region considerthe poor air quality a glaringproblem and an impediment to

their continued stay here. A recent sur-vey conducted by Nagarro, an IT consult-ing firm, reveals the severity of the issue.In the survey done among 1,383 employ-ees of the company in Delhi NCR, peo-ple expressed their willingness to do any-thing to fix the air quality index of the city.Around 74 per cent of the respondents arewilling to skip their next salary incrementsif they have to choose between money andgetting rid of the pollution. This clearlyindicates the increasing awareness levelabout pollution and armed with it, theyare ready to find a solution.

Over 49 per cent of the respondentssaid that at least one person in their fam-ily suffers from air-borne allergies —chronic cough, asthma, bronchitis or sim-ilar breathing issues. The extent of theproblem is such that more than 75 percent of the people have considered mov-ing out of Delhi NCR for their family’shealth, especially during winters due tosmog. A significant number of these wasparents of young children.

Rahul Rakesh, an executive at a lead-ing media agency in Gurugram says, “Airpollution is adversely affecting the livesof people, especially infants and elderly.When people travel long distances forwork, it further increases the risk to theirhealth. I have been living here for the past20 years but in the last few years the sit-

uation has worsened. Around 75.2 percent respondents including many of myfriends are considering moving out ofDelhi NCR because of air pollution. I mayalso consider it, if the situation does notimprove.”

Air pollution is causing an increasein the household expenditure too as thesurvey reveals that a household spends`16,187 on an average, yearly to fight airpollution, which includes cost of air puri-fiers, medicines, visits to doctors and soon. This amount rose to `18,498 if therewere children and senior citizens in thehousehold and further rose to `22,501 ifsomeone in the family had breathing trou-ble.

Manas Fuloria, CEO, of the epony-

mous organisation says, “The results ofthe survey highlight that the city’s wors-ening pollution is disrupting health andbusiness. Even the direct financial burdenon families fighting air pollution proba-bly far exceeds the government’s spend onthe issue. On top of that, you have latenthealthcare costs of associated diseases likecancers and the negative impact ontourism industry. The government mustspend more on fighting air pollution andalso impose higher penalties on polluters.

“We also need to change our mind-set. We need to discourage plastic wastethat often gets burnt and encouragecomposting instead of burning the organ-ic waste. Today, we try to fix traffic jamsby destroying green belts and wideningroads, kicking up a lot of dust andencouraging private vehicle use, insteadwe need create awareness and emphasiseon using public transport, car-pooling,walking or cycling and discourage the useof private vehicles for commuting,” headds.

Did you know? India has the dubiousdistinction of being home to 22 of the 50most polluted cities globally and almost6,27,000 premature deaths are attributableto ambient, or outdoor pollutants. Whena household or indoor pollution is addedto this figure, it rises to 1.6 million.

Venturing out on a busy road in Delhican now be equated to being exposed toHitler’s gas chambers as the levels ofVOCs, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide,carbon monoxide and ground level ozoneare very high.

How did you first conceptualisethe idea of the Swaniti initia-tive? Where did you draw the

idea from?As a graduate student at Kennedy

School, we conceptualised the idea ofsupporting Parliamentarians at the con-stituency level. We wanted to bringtogether the best talent from acrossIndia and embed them in rural commu-nities. I envisioned a programme wherewe could have young people leveragingdata and key insights at the grassrootlevel by working in partnership withparliamentarians. In 2009, we had a fewHarvard Graduate school students workwith parliamentarians and we noticedthat the impact was truly phenomenal.Key insights in the constituencies couldbe very powerful. After mulling on Indiafor two years, in 2011 I started workingpart-time with MPs on constituencydevelopment myself (while still at theWorld Bank). I really enjoyed the kindof work I was pursuing. Subsequently in2012, I left the World Bank inWashington DC and came back to Indiato jump in, head first, in to SwanitiInitiative. Its focus is to deliver devel-opment solutions to the base of the pyra-mid. We leverage data and technologyand work with governments to createsustainable impact.

What are the two most importantissues that need to be addressed whenbridging gaps and promoting develop-ment in the country?

v Use of facts and data in deci-sion-making: One of the key gaps thatexists is that we don’t provide enoughinformation at the local level to effec-tively take best decisions. These contin-ue to be taken by gut feel instead of con-crete insight in ground conditions.Knowing, for example, how manyunemployed people there are in specif-ic communities and what are theresources available to remedy this, canbe powerful. This would enable deci-sion-makers to take more immediatedecisions.

v Having talent equally spreadacross districts: If you go to Godda inJharkhand, it would be hard to findsomeone with a stellar academic andprofessional background. Most of ourtalent prefers living in the cities becausemost amenities like good schools andhospitals are available there. Godda’sstory is prevalent across India. But with-out talent on ground, it is difficult togrow communities. We need to find away to get our talented men and womenat grassroots to help build infrastructure.We particularly need them in govern-ment because without talent, we will notbe able to build sustainable systems inthe government.

What were the biggest challenges thatyou faced while implementing yourideas?

The government is huge and can

make a tremendous impact. However,it also takes a while to move and youneed to be very patient when workingwith them. For example, something assimple as implementing a new financialmanagement system can take sevenmonths (changes that might take a fewweeks in the private sector). But theincredible thing about the governmentis that when these changes are imple-mented, they impact a lot of people. Andthat kind of impact is powerful.

Being a woman, were there certainstereotypes that people labelled youwith especially when you startedworking on your own ideas?

As is often the case, a womanentrepreneur hears things that are lessthan kind about herself. There were peo-ple in the government who said theydidn’t want to work with women. Orthat women were too gentle to managethe tough realities of field. However, Iam fortunate to come from a family ofstrong women. And men in my family(including my husband) are the pillarsof our lives. It is with this strength thatSwaniti and I have been able to grow.

How do you think stereotypes affect awoman’s right to equality and hergrowth?

Beyond stereotypes, I think it is theexpectations that we have of women thatare appalling. We expect the woman totake care of the home, her family andon top of that work and be competitivein the professional field. On the otherhand, with men we are happy if theyexcel only in their profession. Keepingthese double standards for women willaffect our growth in the long term andnot create the ecosystem that we needfor them to thrive and grow.

Any car can go very fast in a straight line. The beauty ofthe modern 911 is that the responsive engine not only goes

fast around corners but accelerates like its pants are on fire out of the corner

TEDEx speaker RWITWIKA BHATTACHARYAtells CHAHAK MITTAL that once Parliamentariansbegan to take decisions based on key insightsfrom the grassroots, they affected thecommunity phenomenally

Breaking the barriers

A recent survey reveals that 75.2 per cent people are

considering moving out of Delhi NCR because of pollution

A HOUSEHOLDSPENDS `16,187 ON

AN AVERAGEANNUALLY TO FIGHT

AIR POLLUTION,WHICH INCLUDES

COST OF AIRPURIFIERS,

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Faster than ever. At 56!

sport 15LUCKNOW | FRIDAY | APRIL 12, 2019

AFP n AMSTERDAM

Cristiano Ronaldo was againhailed by Juventus coach

Massimiliano Allegri after scor-ing with his side's only shot ontarget to earn a 1-1 draw awayto an excellent Ajax in the firstleg of their quarter-final inAmsterdam on Wednesday.

On his return from a thighinjury, Ronaldo subdued the50,000 home fans in the JohanCruyff Arena when he headedJuventus in front on the strokeof half-time to take his recordgoal tally in the competition to125.

However, Brazilian wingerDavid Neres conjured a stun-ning equaliser almost immedi-ately after half-time to give Ajaxa draw that was the very leastthey deserved.

Despite that, it is Juventus— for whom substitute DouglasCosta struck a post late on —who hold the upper hand head-ing into next Tuesday's return inTurin, with the winners of thistie facing Manchester City orTottenham Hotspur in the lastfour.

Ronaldo had not playedfor his club since scoring a hat-trick to dump out AtleticoMadrid in the last 16, and hisgoal here saved the visitors in theface of another fine Ajax perfor-mance.

Ronaldo won the trophy inthe last three seasons with RealMadrid, but a fearless Ajaxended the Spanish side'sEuropean hegemony in the pre-vious round after a thrilling 4-1 victory in Spain.

This result allows them tomaintain hope ahead of thereturn, even if they might feelthey should have won here.

Ten Hag's brilliant youngside is likely to be broken up atthe end of this campaign, so thismay be the Amsterdam club'sbest chance in a long time to wina fifth European Cup.

DE JONG RUNS THE SHOWFrenkie de Jong is leaving

for Barcelona, and the 21-year-old's eagerness to get on the balland start moves here underlinedwhy the Catalans were preparedto pay an initial 75 million euros($84.5 million) in January tosecure his signa-ture.

However,it was theM o r o c c a ninternational,Hakim Ziyech, whowas the most prominentgoing forward in the firsthalf — one curling effort inthe 18th minutewas heading forthe top corner

before being tipped over byWojciech Szczesny.

Donny van de Beek thenput a great chance agonisinglywide after being teed up byDusan Tadic, while Juventusonly displayed their attackingthreat in patches.

Ronaldo was largely quiet,but he was afforded too muchtime and space by the Ajaxdefence as he opened the scor-ing right on half-time.

He collected a RodrigoBentancur pass, spread the playto Joao Cancelo and then ranunhindered in a straight lineinto the box to head home hiscompatriot's cross.

It was his 25th goal of theseason — he has now scored sixChampions League goals at theJohan Cruyff Arena, as many asex-Ajax star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Ajax fans greeted theirteam's return for the second halfwith a rendition of Bob Marley'sThree Little Birds, and theywere still belting out the wordsto their adopted hymn whenthey equalised within a minuteof the restart.

Neres robbed Cancelo bythe left touchline just inside theJuventus half and advancedbefore curling a shot beyondSzczesny and into the far corner.

Exerted home pressure fol-lowed, although Costa nearlydelivered a late sucker punch ashe hit the woodwork at the otherend.

Ajax are still right in the tie,but left-back Nicolas

Tagliafico will besuspended for thereturn afterbeing booked

here.

AFP n SHANGHAI

Lewis Hamilton sounded a warning aheadof the 1,000th grand prix on Sunday, say-

ing he was focused only on victory, adding:"I'm not one for special days like this."

The Mercedes star from Britain is facingmultiple challenges this season, primarilyfrom Ferrari, who go into the third race ofthe season with the fastest car.

But that did not stop the 34-year-old win-ning in Bahrain two weeks ago after theFerrari of Leclerc lost power towards the end.

Hamilton, a five-time world champion,was dismissive on Thursday of the partyatmosphere surrounding this weekend'smilestone Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

"I'm not one for birthdays, I'm not onefor anniversaries, I'm not one for special dayslike this," said Hamilton, who is a pointbehind his team-mate Valtteri Bottas at thetop of the early drivers' standings.

"It's absolutely no different to any otherrace weekend for me.

I'm here to do one job, and one job only,and that's win.

"It does not matter if it's the 1,000th,2,000th or 10,000th (race), it's an irrelevantfigure for me."

That steely resolve looks set to be put tothe test this weekend in Shanghai, where theBriton has triumphed five times and is acrowd favourite.

Shanghai has one of the longest straightsin F1, which will suit Ferrari's searing pace.

Hamilton does not expect hisMercedes team to have closed thegap in that department, and sees the

Red Bull team as a seriousthreat too.

Cautioning howeverthat the season is in itsinfancy, Hamilton said thathe hopes to beat the Ferrarisof Leclerc and SebastianVettel fair and square, ratherthan hope they suffer somekind of mechanical problem.

"I hope that we do nothave to rely on reliability andhope that we have a muchcloser race," he said.

"Qualifying was ok inthe last race, but the race was a

big delta (to the Ferrari speed)."I hope this weekend is closer between

us because this is a great track to have a realrace.

"The closer it is, the better."

AFP n SHANGHAI

Fast-rising Ferrari starCharles Leclerc said on

Thursday that he must shut outthe growing hype surroundinghim if he is to win his maidenFormula One race.

The 21-year-old fromMonaco came an agonisingthird last time out, in Bahrain,

after leading for much of therace until his Ferrari lost power,allowing Mercedes' LewisHamilton to snatch victory.

Speaking in Shanghai, thethird race of the season, Leclercconceded that getting himselfon the podium for the first timehad propelled him into thespotlight.

"After the first race

(Australia, where he was fifth)nobody sees me as a title con-tender," he said.

"After the second race,everyone sees me as a title con-tender so things can go(change) very quick in FormulaOne.

"I need to keep the focus onwhat I'm doing in the car, workas hard as possible and try to do

the best job in the car and out-side the car, and I'm pretty surethe results will come."

Leclerc, in only his secondseason in F1 and first with thefamed Ferrari team, added:"The win was very close (inBahrain) and hopefully I'll getmy first win soon.

"That's the target and that'swhat I'm working for."

AFP n MADRID

Atletico Madrid striker DiegoCosta will miss the rest of the

season after being handed an eight-match suspension by the SpanishFootball Federation on Thursday.

Costa was sent off in the first halfof Atletico's 2-0 defeat to Barcelonaon Saturday for directing a crudeinsult towards referee Gil Manzano.Manzano also reported that Costahad "grabbed" him by the arms dur-ing the incident.

The lengthy ban means Costawill not play again this season asAtletico have seven games left in LaLiga, having been knocked out of theChampions League and Copa delRey.

According to the match reportsubmitted by Manzano, Costa insult-

ed his mother in a foul-mouthed out-burst before "grabbing me by thearms to prevent me showingcards to numbers 24 and 2respectively".

The RFEF ruledCosta should therefore besuspended for four match-es for "clear insults andoffensive expressionsmade by the playertowards the referee" andanother four, after "meet-ing the referee with mildviolence, without aggres-sive spirit, but in a mannerthat is reflected in the act ofgrabbing".

Costa has endured a difficult sea-son, having scored only five goals inall competitions and missed almosttwo months at the start of the year

due to a foot injury.Atletico signed Alvaro Morata

on loan from Chelsea inJanuary and the 26-year-old is now likely to begiven an extended run inthe starting line-up.

Costa is no strangerto controversy. He movedto Atletico after falling outwith Chelsea coachConte in 2017, a disputethat saw the forward relo-cate to Brazil and refuse toplay for his club.

He was also twicehanded three-match sus-

pensions by the Football Associationin England, for stamping onLiverpool's Emre Can in January2015 and kicking Arsenal defenderGabriel Paulista nine months later.

PTI n SINGAPORE

The Indian trio of P V Sindhu, SainaNehwal and Kidambi Srikanth con-

tinued their impressive run and pro-gressed to the singles quarterfinalsof the $ 355,000 Singapore Openhere on Thursday.

The fourth-seeded Sindhu, took39 minutes to get the better of worldnumber 22 Mia Blichfeldt 21-13, 21-19, her second straight win over theDanish shuttler, who had clinched theSpain Masters earlier this year. She willnext face China's Cai Yanyan.

Sixth seed Srikanth survived ascare in the second game before over-coming Denmark's Hans-KristianSolberg Vittinghus 21-12, 23-21, settingup a meeting with top seed Japan'sKento Mamota, who ended HSPrannoy's campaign with a straightgame victory.

Sixth seed Saina had to work hardin her bid to avenge a Malaysia Openfirst-round loss to PornpaweeChochuwong before pulling off athrilling 21-16, 18-21, 21-19 win overthe Thai shuttler in the second round.

Nehwal will next square off againstsecond seeded Nozomi Okuhara.

While Saina was plotting the down-fall of Chochuwong, her husband andfellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, waslocked in a fierce battle with reigningOlympic champion, Chen Long ofChina.

Kashyap stretched Chen to threegames before losing 9-21, 21-15, 16-21to the fourth seeded Chinese, who hadreached the finals at Malaysia Open lastyear.

It was curtains for Prannoy too,after 11-21, 11-21 defeat at the handsof the world No 1 Japanese.

Sameer Verma continued hisimpressive run, beating China's LuGuangzu 21-15, 21-18, to set up a clashwith second seeded Taipei player ChouTien Chen.

Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N SikkiReddy also entered the quarterfinalsafter stunning world No 11 HongKong pair of Tang Chun Man and TseYing Suet 21-17, 6-21, 21-19 in a 50-minute clash.

PINKI, SAKSHI ASSURE 2 MORE MEDALS Cologne: Commonwealth Games Bronzemedallist Pinki Rani (51kg) and reigning youthworld champion Sakshi (57kg) assured India oftwo more medals at the Cologne Boxing WorldCup by entering the semifinals on Thursday.Continuing her impeccable form, Pinki Rani put upyet another dominating performance to blankThailand's Phunsang Cahiranchaya 5-0 in thequarter-final bout. The 18-year-old Sakshi won incontrasting fashion as she faced some stiffresistance from Cecille Kelle of Denmark. TheIndian had to dig deep to stave off the Dane'schallenge before she won by a split decision onpoints. India is already confirmed of at least aSilver and a Bronze after Meena Kumari Maisnamand Pwilao Basumatary reached the final andsemis in the 54kg and 64kg respectively.

WFI BOLSTER STAFF AHEAD OF OLYMPICS New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India(WFI) on Thursday invited applications for multiplepositions, including mental conditioning coaches,physios, and nutritionists, to bolster preparationsfor the 2020 Olympics. The WFI has decided tohire support staff in all three categories — men'sfreestyle, greco roman and the women's team."The WFI has invited applications for the posts ofPhysios, Nutritionist/ Dietician, Masseurs andMental Conditioning Coaches in all the threecategories. The WFI will also hire a professionalmanager for the national team," the nationalwrestling body said in a statement. The WFI,following its association with Tata Motors andSporty Solutionz, already offers annual contractsto its leading wrestlers across all age categories,including stipends for select junior athletes.

INDIA BEAT MALAYSIA, WIN SERIES 4-0Kuala Lumpur: The Indian women's hockeyteam beat Malaysia by a solitary goal to completea 4-0 win in the five-match bilateral series onThursday. It was Navjot Kaur's fine field goal in the35th minute and a good defensive display thathelped India win. India did well to create scoringopportunities with substantial circle entries butcould not convert enough chances. Speakingabout the tour which saw India win 3-0, 5-0, draw4-4 and win the last two matches 1-0 respectively,Marijne said, "This tour gave us more insight onhow to play against a very defensive team likeMalaysia. Also it was good that some of our youngplayers experienced what it takes at internationallevel and this will really help us to create depth inthe squad." Agencies

SINGLES

Vinicius Junior models the new jersey that Brazil willwear at this years' Copa America tournament. Thetournament will be played June 14 to July 7 in fiveBrazilian cities. AP

AFP n MANCHESTER

Manchester United haveanother monumental taskon their hands in the

Champions League after Luke Shaw'sown goal gave Barcelona a 1-0 quar-ter-final, first leg lead at Old Trafford.

Shaw turned Luis Suarez's head-er into his own net after just 12 min-utes and despite being far from theirbest, Barca comfortably held out toedge towards a first semi-final in fouryears.

United produced one of theEuropean Cup's finest ever come-backs from a 2-0 first-leg defeat athome to Paris Saint-Germain in thelast 16.

However, on the ground wheremanager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer com-pleted another famous fightback towin the competition as a player in1999, United must repeat the trick atthe Camp Nou in six days' time.

Much has been made of Suarez'sChampions League goal drought onthe road and while the Uruguayan hasstill not officially netted an away goalin the competition since September2015, he had a huge hand in Barca'swinner.

Lionel Messi drifted in behind theUnited defence and his cross hung upto the back post was headed goal-wards by Suarez, the ball flicking offShaw on its way past David de Gea.

An errant offside flag brieflythreatened to spoil Suarez's delight.However, the goal was quickly givenon a VAR review and the formerLiverpool striker took extra glee athaving the last laugh with a fist pumpin front of the Stretford End.

The early goal should have settledthe Spanish champions into theirstride as their dominance of posses-sion touched close to 90 percent inthe opening stages.

Yet, they offered United plenty ofencouragement with Sergio Busquetsin particular off the pace.

Marcus Rashford shrugged off anankle injury to start and provided bya distance United's biggest threat.

A free-kick from the Englandinternational flew just wide inside thefirst five minutes and he sent anoth-er dipping effort from range just overMarc-Andre ter Stegen's crossbar.

United defender Chris Smallinghad said "bring it on" at the prospectof facing Messi on the eve of thegame.

MESSI ROUGHED UPAnd he left the Argentine blood-

ied from the nose as he careered intoan aerial challenge on the half-hourmark.

Messi was quickly back on his feetand into the heart of the action, but itwas Philippe Coutinho who cameclosest to extending Barca's advantagebefore the break with a thunderous lowshot that De Gea did brilliantly to repelwith his feet.

Moments later United could easi-ly have been on level terms, but thehosts' best chance of the half fell to thewrong man as Rashford picked outDalot only for the Portuguese to com-pletely miscue his header across goal.

Rashford, though, also failed tomake proper contact with his bigchance early in the second-half whenTer Stegen could only punch a crossinto his path.

Barca boss Ernesto Valverde intro-duced midfielders Sergi Roberto andArturo Vidal from the bench in orderto restore to control.

And as United chased in vain foran equaliser, the visitors began to cre-ate chances again in the final quarter.

Suarez fired into the side-nettingbefore De Gea used his feet to goodeffect once more to deny Jordi Alba.

Anthony Martial had one final bigopportunity to send United toCatalonia next week on level terms, buta heavy touch allowed the faultlessGerard Pique to intervene and con-demn the Red Devils to a fourthdefeat in their last six home ChampionsLeague games.

MOUNTAIN TO CLIMBShaw’s own goal puts Barcelona on brink of first semi-final in 4 years as Man Utd face another tough challenge

"It leaves a good

taste in the mouth to

win here, but we

know it is not a big

enough lead given

what happened (with

United) in the last

round."

— Ernesto Valverde

"I think it

was a

good

game. We

were

playing against one

of the best teams in

the world, but we

gave them some

problems as well.

They gave us some

but we know where

we can hurt them."

—Paul Pogba

Ronaldo heads

high on return

"Happy to come backand score another goal

in this amazingcompetition. Well done

team! #finoallafine(until the end),"

—Cristiano Ronaldo on Twitter

Diego Costa handed 8-match ban

COSTA WAS

SENT OFF IN

THE FIRST HALF

OF ATLETICO'S

2-0 DEFEAT TO

BARCELONA

FOR DIRECTING

A CRUDE

INSUULT

TOWARDS

REFEREE

Sindhu, Saina andSrikanth seal q/f spots

Hamilton focused only on victory

LECLERC VOWS TO SHUT OUT HYPE

"It does notmatter if it'sthe 1,000th,2,000th or10,000th

(race), it'san irrelevant

figure. I'mhere to do

one job, andone job only,

and that'swin”


16

}RUNS 349 David Warner (SRH)

WICKETS 11 Kagiso Rabada (DC)

6S 296

4S 698{LEADERBOARD

We are led by the best in the worldand that attracts everyone. a lot ofthem are just Dhoni fans.— DWAYNE BRAVO

PTI n KOLKATA

Swashbuckling AndreRussell's big-hitting prowess

will be pitted against KagisoRabada's inch-perfect york-ers for the second time whenKolkata Kight Riders faceDelhi Capitals in a return-legfixture of the IPL at EdenGardens on Friday.

Away from the match, thespotlight will also fall on whereformer KKR and India captainSourav Ganguly sits during thematch. Ganguly will be a 'vis-itor' at his 'home' ground ofEden Gardens as he is current-ly donning the advisor's hat inthe Delhi franchise, which hasdrawn 'conflict-of-interest'charges against him.

Second in the IPL tablewith eight points from sixmatches, KKR's season so farhas been a Russell show withthe Jamaican amassing 257runs from five innings, out ofwhich 150 have come in sixesalone.

His average has been128.50 while the strike rate isa mind-boggling 212.39,something that has left theopposition clueless on how tostop him.

Mahendra Singh Dhonidid it with perfect execution bystranding Dre-Russ (as Russellis known to KKR fans) with hisspin-heavy attack en route tohanding KKR a crushingseven-wicket defeat inChennai in their last match.

KKR's second defeat thisseason has been at the handsof Delhi Capitals in a dramat-ic Super Over finish at Kotlawith Rabada winning the bat-tle against Russell.

Tasked to defend 11 runsin the Super Over, Rabada wassmashed for a four by Russellin the first ball, but returnedstrongly to uproot the middlestump with an inch-perfectyorker, something Gangulyhas termed as the "ball of thetournament".

While KKR will look to

avenge their first leg defeat,Delhi, who have six pointsfrom as many matches, will belooking for their fourth win ofthe league to return to top-five.

While the KKR fans maybe anticipating a Russell-maniaat the Eden, the nature of thewicket will also play an impor-tant role in Friday's match.

With Delhi Capitals boast-ing a world class pace attackspearheaded by the 23-year-old South African Rabada, afew insiders at CricketAssociation of Bengal haveclaimed that its presidentGanguly may have a 'say' in thepitch which could assist pac-ers.

"You will know about thenature of the wicket on the dayof the match. Whatever it is,whichever team plays well willwin, it's simple," Ganguly said.

PTI n KOLKATA

Kolkata Knight Riders onThursday signed uncapped

Australian pacer Matt Kelly toreplace their injured South Africanimport Anrich Nortje in the ongo-ing tournament.

The 24-year-old Kelly, a right-arm pace bowler, has played 16 First-Class matches, five List A games and12 T20s so far and has not featuredin the past editions of the IPL, thefranchise said in a statement.

The 25-year-old Nortje was

ruled out of the tournament right atthe start when he sustained a shoul-der injury. Nortje was bought by theKKR at his base price of ` 20 lakh.

HARSHAL RULED OUTDelhi Capitals seamer Harshal

Patel was also ruled out of theremainder of the IPL owing to a frac-ture in his right hand, coach RickyPonting said on Thursday.

"He has suffered a fracture in hisright hand in the game againstKings XI (on April 1). It took us afew days to actually get to the bot-

tom of that fracture. He's had someX-Rays. He's been ruled out forthree-four weeks which basicallyruled him out of the tournament. Weneed to find a replacement," Pontingsaid at the pre-match conference.

Patel has featured in two out ofthe six games for the Delhi-basedoutfit this season, picking up 2/40 inthe tied game against the KolkataKnight Riders, which Delhi won inthe super over. He had conceded0/37 in the 14-run dramatic lossagainst the Kings XI Punjab inMohali.

PTI n MUMBAI

His whirlwind 83 pow-ered Mumbai Indians to

a last-ball three-wicket winover Kings XI Punjab andstand-in skipper KieronPollard said the key to the suc-cessful chase was staying cooland collected under immensepressure.

Pollard, who led the teamin place of the injured RohitSharma, smashed 10 toweringsixes and three fours in his 31-ball innings to take MI to thedoorsteps of victory.

Once he departed early inthe last over, it was AlzarriJoseph (15 not out), whotook MI home, chasing downKings XI's target of 198 off thelast ball.

"You can say yes, you cansay no (whether it was his bestknock ever). It's more impor-tant that we won the game. Istayed calm under pressure. I

wanted to finish off the game.Keeping that calm head in theend was good," Pollard said atthe post-match press confer-ence.

"The guys rallied reallywell. That's why it's a teamsport," the 31-year-oldTrinidadian complimentedhis team mates.

PTI n KOLKATA

Delhi Capitals head coach RickyPonting is not worried about

Rishabh Pant's inconsistency andjust wants the dashing wicketkeep-er batsman to play with completefreedom.

Once the left-hander gets going,he becomes a nightmare for thebowlers but the 21-year-old oftengets criticised for playing rash shots.

"I am not going to curb the wayhe plays. I am not going to tell himto slow down and settle downbecause I know if he plays his besthe wins games for us," Ponting saidon the eve of their return leg matchagainst Kolkata Knight Riders at theEden Gardens.

"I want him to go out there with

pure freedom and with no otherthought in the back of his head otherthan trying to hit the ball for six."

Pant smashed a 27-ball 78against Mumbai Indians in theiropening game of IPL 2019 but sincethen he's been struggling for runsbut the Aussie great hoped he wouldcome good at the back end of thetournament.

"You don't want to take thataway from him but what we wantfrom him is, he has to understandthat we need him batting in the lastfour overs of every game we play.

"So far the difference has beenin some of the close games that wehave played, our best batsmenhaven't been in at the back end of theinnings and that's what we need andcertainly what we expect from our

better players."We are less than halfway

through the tournament and I amsure he will win another three-fourfor us as we go along."

With three losses from sixmatches, Ponting said it's the battingthat has let the team down.

"We feel like we've got a reallyrounded attack and the bowling sofar for has been pretty good rightthrough the tournament. It's beenour batters who have let us down acouple of times and they're veryaware of what to expect and they arevery aware of what the team needsthem to do as well.

"We haven't been brilliant yet,but I think we've got a group goingforward, they can play some brilliantcricket and it's really exciting to be

around this around this time at themoment. It's about putting a teamtogether that's got the right balanceof youth and experience. We feel thatwe've got it in our team."

PTI n KOLKATA

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav saysVirat Kohli has a different

kind of hunger when he plays forIndia, refusing to believe that theIPL losing streak will affect theskipper's form going into theWorld Cup.

The Kohli-led RoyalChallengers Bangalore have lostsix matches on the trot this IPLseason but Kuldeep backed hiscaptain.

"He's one of the best in theworld, has broken so manyrecords I don't think he will beaffected by this," Kuldeep said.

"He has a different hungerwhen he plays for India.Everyone is highly motivated todo well in the World Cup."

The 24-year-old fromKanpur feels lack of team com-bination is the main reason

behind RCB's failure."With 5000-plus runs, indi-

vidually he's doing his best. Butmaybe his team combination isnot clicking. Maybe somewheredown the line he's lacking inteam combination. It's a teamcombination.

"He's in great touch and if hekeeps doing well like that it willbe good for India in WorldCup."

PTI n KOLKATA

Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary was a prominentface in the Delhi Capitals trials along with

bustling Mumbai fast bowler Tushar Deshpande atthe Eden Gardens on Thursday.

The other notable face during the trials wasPunjab pacer Manpreet Singh Gony.

However DC management has not yet takenany decision on replacements as there is anotherround of trials setto be held onFriday morning.

"Manoj willtravel with theteam to our nextmatch againstHyderabad onApril 14. He willcontinue trainingand then we willtake a final call,"DC advisor SouravGanguly said.

With pacerHarshal Patel ruledout with a hand fracture and batsman Manjot Kalraalso likely to sit out, DC will need at least tworeplacements.

Tiwary, who has been a part of past 11 IPL edi-tions, missed out at the auction and was doingBengali commentary for the host broadcaster whenhe was summoned for the trials.

"Yes, I attended the trials. I felt that it went offwell. I had a chat with DC advisor Sourav Gangulyand coach Ricky Ponting. I have not been official-ly told anything. Hoping for the best," Tiwary said.

If Tiwary makes the cut, it will be in place ofleft-handed Kalra. The Bengal skipper has playedfor Delhi franchise on two separate occasions apartfrom KKR, KXIP and Rising Pune Supergiants.

PTI n KOLKATA

Ahead of India's World Cup squad announce-ment, Kolkata Knight Riders mentor

Abhishek Nayar Thursday backed Dinesh Karthikto make the UK-bound team, saying he is a ver-satile player who can also bat at number four.

Karthik had found himself out of favour asthe selectors dropped him for India's final fiveODIs before the World Cup.

"I think in the past two years he has showedus how versatile he is. He is not only a finisherbut even batting up the order. I think he givesyou that versatility also being a wicketkeeper anda very good fielder," Nayar said of Karthik.

"He is not only a keeper backup but also abatsman backup who can come and field. We'veseen how well he fields and the kind of catcheshe has taken. He is also ideal to bat at numberfour because of the kind batsman he's you canuse him anywhere in the batting order. So for mehe is someone I feel he should be definitely inthat World Cup squad."

KKR lost their last round match againstChennai Super Kings after being restricted to 108for nine.

"I think one game doesn't define this team.Even in the last game, we fought till the end

defending a small total and showed characteroverall," Nayar said, hoping for a turnaroundagainst Delhi Capitals.

In their return leg clash, the spotlight is onCricket Association of Bengal president SouravGanguly, who will be sitting in the opponents'dug-out as their advisor.

"We are fine as long as he's not playing.Having someone like Sourav is a great USP, butit's about the cricketers on that particular day thatshowcases their skill that wins the game," Nayarsaid without reading much into the scenario.

PTI n KOLKATA

Andre Russell has showed signs of weakness againstthe turning ball, feels Kuldeep Yadav, insisting he has

enough tricks up his sleeves to outwit the big-hitting WestIndian in the World Cup.

Russell has been a picture of consistency for KolkataKnight Riders, amassing 257 runs from just 121 balls witha stunning ball striking rate of 212.39 in this IPL.

However, his KKR teammate Kuldeep said he hasfound a chink in Russell's armour which he will look toexploit during the May 30-July 14 showpiece event.

"He has some problems facing a turning ball. If theball is turning, then he has a weakness," he said.

"It's not just this, I've different plans to unleash againsthim in the World Cup. I know how to stop him and I'mvery clear in my mind," the 24-year old added.

He has been sharing the dressing room with Russellbut Kuldeep conceded that he has never bowled to himat the nets.

"He does not take chance against spinners. He's a ter-ror for pacers. And I've never bowled him at the nets.You are always under pressure when you're hit for twosixes in a row," he said.

"It's important how you comeback. All it takes is oneball to get the batsman out. You can assess a player's char-acter by that."

Kuldeep has so far taken just three wickets from sixmatches but the India wrist spinner said he is happy withhis performance and he has matured as a cricketer.

"If I'm not getting wickets it does not mean I'm notbowling well. Now I play as a matured cricketer and thinkmore about the team. Even as I'm not taking wickets, myeconomy rate is tight," he pointed out.

PTI n JAIPUR

Chennai Super Kingsproved their might asthey romped home to a

spectacular four-wicket winover Rjasthan Royals in Jaipuron Thurday.

In a thrilling last ball win,Mitchell Santner hammered asix off Ben stokes to see hisside romp home after need-ing three runs of the lastdelivery.

Stokes’ last over was event-ful — featuring an openingball six from Jadeja, skipperDhoni’s big wicket off a per-fect yorker, a no-ball and acontroversial ‘no’ no-ball, awide and the winning maxi-mum from Santner off thefinal delivery for a four-wick-et vcitory.

Earlier, Chennai SuperKings produced yet anotherdisciplined bowling effort torestrict Rajasthan Royals toa modest 151 for seven in an Indian Premier League encounter here onThursday.

Save Jos Buttler (23 off 10balls) at the top of the order,none of other Royals batsmenlooked the part as CSK skip-per Mahendra Singh Dhoni'simmaculate reading of thetrack once again helped thedefending champions.

Lef t-arm spin duoRavindra Jadeja (2/20 in 4overs) and Mitchell Santner(1/25 in 4 overs) checkedthe run-flow as Royals bats-men were always playing acatch-up game.

Even Imran Tahir (0/28in 4 overs), who went for afew more runs compared to

the other two spinners, endedwith decent enough figures.Royals skipper AjinkyaRahane (14 off 11) failedonce again with seamerDeepak Chahar (2/33 in 4overs) trapping him legbefore.

Buttler belted Shardul

Thakur (2/44 in 4 overs) fora few boundaries before hemistiming one which waseasily caught by AmbatiRayudu.

Once Buttler was gone,Royals lost the momentum aswickets fell at regular imter-vals. Steve Smith (15,22 balls)

struggled once again as heslog swept Ravindra Jadejatowards deep mid-wicketonly to find Rayudu. Samsonalso top edged a sweep whichwas caught by substitutefielder Dhruv Shorey.

Rahul Tripathi's strug-gles in the middle-order con-

tinued while Ben Stokes' 28off 26 balls wasn't goodenough.

It was Shreyas Gopal,who struck a few meaty blowsen route his 19 off 7 balls totake the target past 150despite the home team play-ing as many as 42 dot balls.

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Live on Star Sports 1& 2

KOLKATA

KKR vs DC

FRIDAY | 8:00 PM

HEADTO

HEADM 22

KKR 13

DC 9

LAST MEETING

* Delhi Capitals beat KolkataKnight Riders in Super overafter match ended in a tie.atDelhi.

FOR THE RECORD

* Andre Russell scored 257runs off 121 balls at a strikerate of 212.39. His strike rateis the highest among thebatsmen who scored over 200runs in this IPL.

*Ami Mishra who took 149wickets at 24.13 in 138innings of as many matches,needs just one wicket tobecome the second bowlerafter Lasith Malinga (157wickets in 113 matches) tocomplete 150 wickets in IPL.

FAISEL FEATURES

DC need Pant to bat in last 4overs of every game: Ponting

CSK steal the thunder

Matt Kelly replaces injured Nortje in KKR

Russell-Rabada battle on cards

Turning ball is Dre Russ'weakness: Kuldeep

Manoj Tiwary,

Deshpande

attend DC trials

‘Kohli has different kind ofhunger when playing for India’

I stayed calm under pressure: Pollard

MUMBAI: India vice-captainRohit Sharma missed out theIPL match against Kings XIPunjab due to a leg injury buthis Mumbai team-mate KieronPollard said it was just a"precautionary measure" andhe should be back in the nextgame."Obviously, Rohit is the captain

of the team and it was only aprecautionary measure for theteam. He should be back in thenext game," stand-in skipperPollard said after leading MI tothree-wicket win over KXIP."I would gladly give it back tohim and field at the boundary,while also thinking of what tocontribute to the team." PTI

ROHIT SHOULD BE BACK IN NEXT GAME

Karthik should be in World Cup squad, says Nayar

Chennai Super Kings' players celebrate the dismissal of a Rajasthan Royals' batsman during Indian Premier League clash at Jaipur on Thursday AP

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