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C yclone Fani (also known as Phani, meaning “hood of the snake” in Bengali) rolled through Odisha’s Puri on Friday, bringing rain and windstorm that gusted up to 175 kmph, leaving at least 8 people dead, and blowing away thatched houses, uproot- ing trees, electricity polls, cut- ting off power supply, and swamping towns and villages in the State. The strongest cyclone in India in 20 years made landfall around 8 am in Puri, with roar- ing winds flattening huts, enveloping the pilgrim town in sheets of rain, and submerging homes in residential areas. The extremely severe cyclone Fani, a name given by Bangladesh, weakened from an “extremely severe” to “very severe”, and is predicted to further weaken to a “severe cyclone” before moving to West Bengal. In several videos doing rounds on social media showed the impact of the powerful gale and heavy rain. In videos post- ed by Sitangshu Kar, the Director General of the Press Information Bureau, the roof of an undergraduate hostel in the Bhubaneswar AIIMS was seen being blown off. Later the wind speed of Fani came down to around 140-165 kmph. According to officials, large areas in Puri and other places were submerged with water as heavy rain battered the entire coastal belt of the State. Several trees were uprooted and thatched structures destroyed at some places, including Bhubaneswar. All flights from Bhubaneswar have been can- celled since Thursday mid- night, and Kolkata airport is shut from 3 pm on Friday till 8 am on Saturday. 140 trains, including 83 passenger trains, have been cancelled so far. In Bhubaneswar, people took shelter under shades as the heavy rain lashed the city. They said their “homes were shak- ing”. After crossing Odisha, cyclone Fani is likely to move towards West Bengal before tapering off. Cyclone Fani also triggered heavy rain in parts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, where gusty winds with speed reaching up to 140 kmph uprooted trees and electricity poles, officials said. The Odisha Government has evacuated over 11 lakh people, including at least 600 pregnant women, to camps on higher grounds. “I assure the affected peo- ple that the nation and the cen- tre are with them,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally in Rajasthan. He said over 1,000 crore had been released in advance for the states affected by Fani. The Union Health Ministry has announced can- cellation of Bhubaneswar as a centre for the AIIMS PG 2019 examination due to Fani. “AIIMS PG exam is sched- uled on May 5. Due to cyclone Fani, AIIMS Delhi is cancelling the exam centre in Bhubaneswar. Another exam will be conducted for students affected by this cancellation as soon as normalcy returns (sic),” Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan tweeted. KJ Ramesh, Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), predicted light to mod- erate rain in northeastern States — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam & Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura due to cyclone while heavy to very heavy rain predicted over Arunachal Pradesh and Assam on May 4 and 5. “After making landfall this morning, cyclone Fani has started weakening and it’s like- ly to enter Bangladesh by Saturday evening,” he said. No cyclone ever had such a long duration in April. The Home Ministry said an eye of cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ “com- pletely moved into land” by 10 am on Friday weakening its fury, but heavy rainfall is still predicted in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and parts of the northeastern States. The system is likely to weaken gradually and emerge into Gangetic West Bengal as a “severe cyclonic storm” by the early morning of May 4. Thereafter, it is expected to move further north-north- eastwards and emerge into Bangladesh by May 4 evening as a cyclonic storm. Continued on Page 4 T he Congress candidate from Lucknow on Friday took strong exception to party leader Shatrughan Sinha can- vassing for his wife, who is the Samajwadi Party candidate in the constituency. Shatrughan was present during the filing of nomination papers by his wife, Poonam Sinha. He attended an election meeting on Thursday with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav. “From the behaviour of Shatrughan Sinha, it appears that although he has joined the Congress, but has not yet resigned from the RSS,” Acharya Pramod, the Congress’ Lucknow candidate, tweeted. Shatrughan Sinha quit the BJP recently and is the Congress candidate from the Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar. Poonam is the SP-BSP- RLD alliance candidate from Lucknow, who is contesting against Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Pramod. Polling will be held in Lucknow on Monday. A day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed BJP candidate from North West Delhi Hans Raj Hans convert- ed to Islam in 2014 and there- fore can’t fight from a Lok Sabha seat reserved for the Scheduled Caste, Hans on Friday said he would file a defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders for “maligning” his image. In a tweet on Thursday, Kejriwal had claimed that Hans would be declared ineligible to contest the election for fighting on a reserved seat. Rejecting Kejriwal’s allega- tion as canard, Hans asked at a Press conference, “I am used to speaking Urdu but that does not mean I am a Muslim. Does a Muslim speaking Hindi becomes a Hindu? I was born in a Valmiki family and my mother worships Valmiki.” Continued on Page 4 A am Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Gandhi Nagar Anil Bajpayi quit his party and joined the BJP on Friday. “I worked with the AAP for many years. I was hurt by the lack of respect and the peculiar functioning of the party. AAP has deviated from its original path,” Bajpayi said. The move comes at a time when AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have accused the BJP of indulging in horse trading. Bajpai joined the BJP in the presence of party national vice- president and Delhi BJP in- charge Shyam Jaju and Union Minister Vijay Goel at the Delhi unit office here. Earlier Kejriwal had hit out at Vijay Goel for saying that 14 AAP lawmakers were in touch with the BJP and ready to switch loyalty. On Wednesday, Manish Sisodia had claimed seven AAP MLAs had been offered 10 crore each to join the BJP. Continued on Page 4 T wo sewer cleaners — resi- dents of Janakpuri in West Delhi and engaged by the Noida Authority via a con- tractor — died in a sewer tank in Salarpur in Noida on Friday, officials said. Though police are ascer- taining the cause of the death of Hamid and Aslam late on Thursday, preliminary investi- gation suggests that they suf- focated to death inside the sewer tank. Police, the Fire Department, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were called in for res- cue, officials said. The bodies of the workers were retrieved after nearly four-hour rescue operation by a team of the NDRF, said an official of the disaster response force. “We reached the spot at 3.15 am and began operations at 3.20 am. The first body was recovered at 6.25 am and the second at 7.20 am,” said Jeetender Yadav, who led the nine-member NDRF team. The Noida Authority has dismissed a contractual Junior Engineer (JE) from job and proposed police action against the contractor. “The JE has been dismissed and a com- plaint is being made against the contractor with police to reg- ister an FIR over the lapses that led to the death of the two workers,” Noida Authority’s Officer on Special Duty Rajesh Kumar Singh said. A joint team of security forces early on Friday morning dealt a body blow to top Hizbul Muhajideen (HM) commanders active in Kashmir Valley by neutralising Lateef Ahmad Dar, alias Tiger of Dogripora Pulwama, the lone surviving member of Burhan Wani group, along with two other local terrorists in a fierce firefight in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. Timing of the clinical oper- ation is set to boost the morale of the security forces deployed in the area to ensure peaceful polling in the final phase in Shopian and Pulwama districts on May 6. After the killing of HM’s poster boy Burhan Wani in July 2016, several other top com- manders were neutralised by the security forces. Lateef Ahmad Dar, killed in Shopian, was lone surviving member of the group who was still active in the area. Detailed report on P7 T he Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha seat is all set to witness a very interesting contest between two Olympians — sitting BJP MP Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Congress’ Krishna Poonia. An equally keen contest is on the cards in the neighbouring Bharatpur, a stronghold of Jats, between two Dalits — a retired bureaucrat and a daughter-in- law of three times BJP MP Gangaram Koli. Both the seats will go to polls on Monday. While Rathore is a Rajput and an Olympic gold medalist, Poonia is a Jat from Haryana and married in Rajasthan. She is also a sitting MLA and inter- national gold medal-winner in discus throw and three times Olympic participant. In 2014 Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha polls, Rathore defeated Congress veteran CP Joshi by over three lakh votes. But in the November 2018 Assembly elec- tions for the eight Assembly seats in this Lok Sabha con- stituency, four were bagged by the Congress, three by the BJP and one by an Independent. Punia has been working on a successful caste equation by banking on the support of Jats, and a combination of Ahirs (Yadavs), Dalit and Muslim. Faced with such challenging scenario, Rathore is relying on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “While Modi magic can work on youths and middle class, a large section of voters here are upset with Rathore, claiming that he confined him- self to inaugurating projects and remaining inaccessible. But Poonia worked at grass- roots with her husband (athlete Virender Poonia) and thus has a chance this time,” said Sukhbir Chauhan of village Jomwar Ramgarh. Given the caste equation of Bharatpur Lok Sabha seat, Congress candidate Abhijit Kumar Jatav, a retired bureau- crat, seems to have an edge over BJP’s Ranjeeta Koli. In the recent Assembly elections, the Congress and its alliance part- ner RLD won six of the eight Assembly seats in Bharatpur the Parliamentary constituen- cy. While the BSP bagged the remaining two seats, the BJP failed to even open its account. Ranjeeta will also have to face the backlash from the sup- porters of sitting party MP Bahadur Singh Koli, who was denied the ticket. Though the Congress has an upper hand in Bharatpur, it has to guard against BSP’s Suraj Jatav. The Congress is working hard to end the enmi- ty between Jatavs and the Jats arisen in the 1992 Kumher massacre when Jats set ablaze more than 100 houses of Jatavs. Erstwhile ruler of Bharatpur and a Minister in the Ashok Gehlot Government, Vishvendra Singh, has been deputed by the party to win over Jats for the purpose. Once represented by tall leaders of the Congress such as Natwar Singh, Rajesh Pilot, Raj Bahadur and Vishvendra Singh, the Jat Kingdom was declared a reserved con- stituency for SC in 2008 delim- itation. The Congress won in 2009, but lost to the BJP in 2014 in the heat of Modi wave.

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Cyclone Fani (also known asPhani, meaning “hood of

the snake” in Bengali) rolledthrough Odisha’s Puri onFriday, bringing rain andwindstorm that gusted up to175 kmph, leaving at least 8people dead, and blowingaway thatched houses, uproot-ing trees, electricity polls, cut-ting off power supply, andswamping towns and villagesin the State.

The strongest cyclone inIndia in 20 years made landfallaround 8 am in Puri, with roar-ing winds flattening huts,enveloping the pilgrim town insheets of rain, and submerginghomes in residential areas.

The extremely severecyclone Fani, a name given byBangladesh, weakened froman “extremely severe” to “verysevere”, and is predicted tofurther weaken to a “severecyclone” before moving to WestBengal.

In several videos doingrounds on social media showedthe impact of the powerful galeand heavy rain. In videos post-ed by Sitangshu Kar, theDirector General of the PressInformation Bureau, the roof ofan undergraduate hostel in theBhubaneswar AIIMS was seenbeing blown off. Later thewind speed of Fani came downto around 140-165 kmph.

According to officials, largeareas in Puri and other placeswere submerged with water asheavy rain battered the entire

coastal belt of the State. Severaltrees were uprooted andthatched structures destroyedat some places, includingBhubaneswar. All flights fromBhubaneswar have been can-celled since Thursday mid-night, and Kolkata airport isshut from 3 pm on Friday till8 am on Saturday. 140 trains,including 83 passenger trains,have been cancelled so far.

In Bhubaneswar, peopletook shelter under shades as theheavy rain lashed the city. Theysaid their “homes were shak-ing”. After crossing Odisha,cyclone Fani is likely to movetowards West Bengal beforetapering off. Cyclone Fani alsotriggered heavy rain in parts ofnorth coastal Andhra Pradesh,where gusty winds with speedreaching up to 140 kmphuprooted trees and electricitypoles, officials said.

The Odisha Governmenthas evacuated over 11 lakhpeople, including at least 600pregnant women, to camps onhigher grounds.

“I assure the affected peo-ple that the nation and the cen-tre are with them,” PrimeMinister Narendra Modi said ata rally in Rajasthan. He saidover �1,000 crore had beenreleased in advance for thestates affected by Fani.

The Union HealthMinistry has announced can-cellation of Bhubaneswar as acentre for the AIIMS PG 2019examination due to Fani.

“AIIMS PG exam is sched-uled on May 5. Due to cyclone

Fani, AIIMS Delhi is cancellingthe exam centre inBhubaneswar. Another examwill be conducted for studentsaffected by this cancellation assoon as normalcy returns (sic),”Union Health Secretary PreetiSudan tweeted.

KJ Ramesh, DirectorGeneral of the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), predicted light to mod-erate rain in northeastern States— Arunachal Pradesh, Assam& Meghalaya and Nagaland,Manipur, Mizoram and Tripuradue to cyclone while heavy tovery heavy rain predicted overArunachal Pradesh and Assamon May 4 and 5.

“After making landfall thismorning, cyclone Fani hasstarted weakening and it’s like-ly to enter Bangladesh bySaturday evening,” he said.

No cyclone ever had sucha long duration in April. TheHome Ministry said an eye ofcyclonic storm ‘Fani’ “com-pletely moved into land” by 10am on Friday weakening itsfury, but heavy rainfall is stillpredicted in Odisha, AndhraPradesh, West Bengal and partsof the northeastern States.

The system is likely toweaken gradually and emergeinto Gangetic West Bengal as a“severe cyclonic storm” by theearly morning of May 4.Thereafter, it is expected tomove further north-north-eastwards and emerge intoBangladesh by May 4 eveningas a cyclonic storm.

Continued on Page 4

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The Congress candidatefrom Lucknow on Friday

took strong exception to partyleader Shatrughan Sinha can-vassing for his wife, who is theSamajwadi Party candidate inthe constituency.

Shatrughan was presentduring the filing of nominationpapers by his wife, PoonamSinha. He attended an electionmeeting on Thursday withSamajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav.

“From the behaviour ofShatrughan Sinha, it appearsthat although he has joined theCongress, but has not yetresigned from the RSS,”Acharya Pramod, the Congress’Lucknow candidate, tweeted.

Shatrughan Sinha quit theBJP recently and is theCongress candidate from thePatna Sahib constituency inBihar. Poonam is the SP-BSP-RLD alliance candidate fromLucknow, who is contestingagainst Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh and Pramod.

Polling will be held inLucknow on Monday.

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Aday after the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) claimed BJP

candidate from North WestDelhi Hans Raj Hans convert-ed to Islam in 2014 and there-fore can’t fight from a LokSabha seat reserved for theScheduled Caste, Hans onFriday said he would file adefamation case against DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland other AAP leaders for“maligning” his image.

In a tweet on Thursday,Kejriwal had claimed that Hanswould be declared ineligible tocontest the election for fightingon a reserved seat.

Rejecting Kejriwal’s allega-tion as canard, Hans asked at aPress conference, “I am used tospeaking Urdu but that doesnot mean I am a Muslim. Doesa Muslim speaking Hindibecomes a Hindu? I was bornin a Valmiki family and mymother worships Valmiki.”

Continued on Page 4

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)MLA from Gandhi Nagar

Anil Bajpayi quit his party andjoined the BJP on Friday.

“I worked with the AAP formany years. I was hurt by thelack of respect and the peculiarfunctioning of the party. AAPhas deviated from its originalpath,” Bajpayi said.

The move comes at a timewhen AAP leaders, includingDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal, have accused the BJPof indulging in horse trading.

Bajpai joined the BJP in thepresence of party national vice-president and Delhi BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju and UnionMinister Vijay Goel at theDelhi unit office here.

Earlier Kejriwal had hitout at Vijay Goel for saying that14 AAP lawmakers were intouch with the BJP and readyto switch loyalty. OnWednesday, Manish Sisodiahad claimed seven AAP MLAshad been offered �10 croreeach to join the BJP.

Continued on Page 4

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Two sewer cleaners — resi-dents of Janakpuri in West

Delhi and engaged by theNoida Authority via a con-tractor — died in a sewer tankin Salarpur in Noida on Friday,officials said.

Though police are ascer-taining the cause of the deathof Hamid and Aslam late onThursday, preliminary investi-gation suggests that they suf-focated to death inside thesewer tank.

Police, the FireDepartment, and the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) were called in for res-cue, officials said. The bodiesof the workers were retrievedafter nearly four-hour rescueoperation by a team of theNDRF, said an official of thedisaster response force.

“We reached the spot at3.15 am and began operationsat 3.20 am. The first body wasrecovered at 6.25 am and thesecond at 7.20 am,” saidJeetender Yadav, who led thenine-member NDRF team.

The Noida Authority hasdismissed a contractual JuniorEngineer (JE) from job andproposed police action againstthe contractor. “The JE hasbeen dismissed and a com-plaint is being made against thecontractor with police to reg-ister an FIR over the lapses thatled to the death of the twoworkers,” Noida Authority’sOfficer on Special Duty RajeshKumar Singh said.

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Ajoint team of securityforces early on Friday

morning dealt a body blow totop Hizbul Muhajideen (HM)commanders active in KashmirValley by neutralising LateefAhmad Dar, alias Tiger ofDogripora Pulwama, the lonesurviving member of BurhanWani group, along with twoother local terrorists in a fiercefirefight in South Kashmir’sShopian district.

Timing of the clinical oper-ation is set to boost the moraleof the security forces deployedin the area to ensure peacefulpolling in the final phase inShopian and Pulwama districtson May 6.

After the killing of HM’sposter boy Burhan Wani in July2016, several other top com-manders were neutralised bythe security forces.

Lateef Ahmad Dar, killedin Shopian, was lone survivingmember of the group who wasstill active in the area.

Detailed report on P7

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The Jaipur Rural Lok Sabhaseat is all set to witness a

very interesting contestbetween two Olympians —sitting BJP MP Union MinisterRajyavardhan Singh Rathoreand Congress’ Krishna Poonia.An equally keen contest is onthe cards in the neighbouringBharatpur, a stronghold of Jats,between two Dalits — a retiredbureaucrat and a daughter-in-law of three times BJP MPGangaram Koli. Both the seatswill go to polls on Monday.

While Rathore is a Rajputand an Olympic gold medalist,Poonia is a Jat from Haryanaand married in Rajasthan. Sheis also a sitting MLA and inter-national gold medal-winnerin discus throw and three timesOlympic participant.

In 2014 Jaipur Rural LokSabha polls, Rathore defeatedCongress veteran CP Joshi by

over three lakh votes. But in theNovember 2018 Assembly elec-tions for the eight Assemblyseats in this Lok Sabha con-stituency, four were bagged bythe Congress, three by the BJPand one by an Independent.

Punia has been working ona successful caste equation bybanking on the support of Jats,and a combination of Ahirs(Yadavs), Dalit and Muslim.Faced with such challengingscenario, Rathore is relying onthe charisma of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“While Modi magic canwork on youths and middleclass, a large section of votershere are upset with Rathore,claiming that he confined him-self to inaugurating projectsand remaining inaccessible.But Poonia worked at grass-roots with her husband (athleteVirender Poonia) and thus hasa chance this time,” saidSukhbir Chauhan of villageJomwar Ramgarh.

Given the caste equation ofBharatpur Lok Sabha seat,Congress candidate AbhijitKumar Jatav, a retired bureau-crat, seems to have an edge overBJP’s Ranjeeta Koli. In therecent Assembly elections, theCongress and its alliance part-ner RLD won six of the eightAssembly seats in Bharatpurthe Parliamentary constituen-cy. While the BSP bagged theremaining two seats, the BJPfailed to even open its account.Ranjeeta will also have to facethe backlash from the sup-porters of sitting party MPBahadur Singh Koli, who wasdenied the ticket.

Though the Congress hasan upper hand in Bharatpur, ithas to guard against BSP’s

Suraj Jatav. The Congress isworking hard to end the enmi-ty between Jatavs and the Jatsarisen in the 1992 Kumhermassacre when Jats set ablazemore than 100 houses of Jatavs.Erstwhile ruler of Bharatpurand a Minister in the AshokGehlot Government,Vishvendra Singh, has beendeputed by the party to winover Jats for the purpose.

Once represented by tallleaders of the Congress such asNatwar Singh, Rajesh Pilot,Raj Bahadur and VishvendraSingh, the Jat Kingdom wasdeclared a reserved con-stituency for SC in 2008 delim-itation. The Congress won in2009, but lost to the BJP in 2014in the heat of Modi wave.

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For a working journalist it isnearly impossible to ignore

the elections even if one is notthat much interested in stereo-typical politics. Barring a fewpoliticians most have little newto offer in their speeches andideas.

To delve into somethingdifferent from what was learntin past elections, one thoughtof listening to some prominentlady politicians more this time.However, in general, observingthe prominent lady politiciansfrom different parties in the socalled Mahagathbandhan anda few others in the other party was by and large disap-pointing.

Not that they were anyworse than the male politiciansin general, but it was all themore disappointing to hearelection speeches of the politi-cian campaigning for herbrother and party.

The speeches comprisedeither of ill-timed smiles andgiggles while the translatorrendered her dialogues in thelocal language in South India orof the usual amateurish andeven false statements that seem

far from convincing to mostlevel-headed citizens.

Then there is the appar-ently fiery lady from WestBengal, whose statements inthe media and rallies wouldhave been quite comical hadthe intention and reality behindthem been so simple to explain.

Having had enough of this,instead of observing the otherstalwarts, one was reminded ofsome real women of substancehere in Uttarakhand.

There are many womenand also men with impressivecharacters, who have donegreat deeds here when thetimes were much more chal-lenging than they are now.One was reminded of a queenof Garhwal who was famous fortaking stern decisions, defeat-ing the Mughal army and alsodeveloping parts of the king-dom including what is nowDehradun.

From historical records,one learns that after the deathof Garhwal king Mahipati Shahin 1631, his wife Karnavati tookover administration of thekingdom on behalf of theseven-year old prince who wasceremoniously anointed king.Rajmata Karnavati got roadsbuilt in various parts and facil-itated irrigation to boost farm-ing as in villages locatedbetween Dehradun and Rajpurwhich at that time were not asconveniently connected as theyare now.

Karnpur, which is now alocality in Dehradun is alsostated to have been establishedby her. She also reorganised

and improved the Garhwaliarmy under its chief generalMadhosingh Bhandari. Amongher advisers was DostbeigMughal who was made a cap-tain in the Garhwali army ear-lier and probably on his sug-gestion, she started handing outstern punishments to dissentersand criminals like cutting offthe noses of those violating theState’s order.

While this led to her alsobeing referred to as Nak-KattiRani, it is also believed thatdacoity and other crimes werenearly eradicated in the king-dom.

Historians state that whenShah Jahan ruled the Mughalempire, the sixth Sikh guruHargobind Singh after fightingthree battles against theMughals between 1628 and1634 decided to visit Srinagar,Garhwal to rest.

At that time, SamarthRamdas- later the guru ofChhatrapati Shivaji- who wason a pilgrimage to Badrinath,met Guru Hargobind atSrinagar in 1634.

It is said that Karnavatihad assured Ramdas at thattime that the Garhwal armywill protect this sacred landfrom Mughal invaders.

Later, when the Mughalsinvaded this region in 1635they took over various locationsin the Doon valley and hadcrossed Haridwar. They wereplanning to move towards thecapital Srinagar which was saidto be about 55 miles fromtheir location.

There are different ver-

sion- some crediting the strat-egy of the queen, others cred-iting a combination of rains,courage and tactics of thequeen’s generals but eventual-ly the invaders were repelled.Karnavati handed over reins ofthe kingdom fully to her sonafter he reached 18 years of age.

The second lady onerecalled is the wealthy widowof the 19th century, JasuliSaukyani. It is said that indejection following the death ofher only son at a young age, thewealthy widow started to throwher large quantities of silvercoins and other valuables intothe Ramganga river. When thethen commissioner ofKumaon, Henry Ramsay sawher dumping sacks of silvercoins in the Ramganga, he wasable to convince her to use herwealth to benefit the people in stead of throwing itaway.

She then got more than 100roadside Dharmshalas or car-avansaries built along thetrade/pilgrimage route to Tibet(Kailash Mansarovar) fromHaldwani to the Johar valley inthe high Himalayas ofPithoragarh district duringBritish rule. It is another thingthat the ruins of theseDharmshalas remain mostlyignored now, despite beingpart of the State’s valuable her-itage.

However, reading aboutthese women turned out to bea much better use of time thanlistening to the politiciansgoing overboard in the heat ofelection campaign.

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Taking cognisance of a com-plaint received regarding private

hostels being operated in the State,the State Commission for Protectionof Child Rights (SCPCR) chairper-son Usha Negi has written a letterto the chief secretary Utpal KumarSingh, director general of police AnilK Raturi and other officials con-cerned to ensure registration of pay-ing guest accommodations and pri-vate hostels. The officials have beenprovided copies of the new manu-al prepared by the commissionregarding such facilities. They havebeen asked to ensure that the saidprivate facilities are registered as perthe manual.

The chairperson of the com-mission stated that crime likemolestation and harassment of boysand girls have been rising, which isan alarming situation. Also, theoperation of unregistered hostels isalso a factor affecting the effectiveprevention of such incidents.

Negi said, “The commissionhas a 28-page manual providing anoverview of the necessary factors tobe considered while registering ahostel. We along have also sent themanual to various officials con-cerned. This manual covers all thepoints from food and managementto security, cleanliness and variousother aspects. Registration com-mittees are being set in the districtsand reports being sought fromthese so that the commission canalso conduct inspections from timeto time.”

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While the Char Dham Yatrain the mountain state of

Uttarakhand will begin soon forthe spiritual seekers, the fasci-nating trek routes of the state willbe now frequented by adventureseekers from all over the coun-try and abroad. Tourists, pil-grims and trekkers swarmUttarakhand in this season andmany a quiet and remote placein the mountains comes alive fora couple of months.

Uttarakhand has alwaysbeen seen as an amazing desti-nation by trekkers and attractsthem in large numbers. Severalpopular treks are found in theregion, promising breathtak-ing views at every turn a trekkertakes. Garhwal has beendescribed as “the most beauti-ful land in the mountains of theAsian sub-continent” by TLongstaff, renowned moun-taineer and trekker. Treks areavailable throughout the year.Among the most popular arethe Nagtibba Trek which takesone from Rishikesh toMussoorie, Kedarnath-Vasukital Trek, Valley of FlowersTrek and Devi Darshan Trek.

Till the 1970s and 1980s,treks up to Mussoorie and toplaces around this famous hillstation were extremely popularamong adventure seekers. Evenschool students used to comeup here from Doon throughthe old trek routes, the mostpopular being the one fromRajpur village. However, thetrend faded away over the lastfew decades. There have beensome efforts to revive this andsome other routes but facilities

are still few and far between.Complete revamping of facili-ties on these routes can add anew dimension to adventuretourism in the state.

These routes include theones between Sartali andBhadraj Temple and Dudhliand Bhadraj Temple.Efforts arealso being made to repopularisethe treks from Rajpur toMussoorie and Raipur toSuakholi.

Amenities for trekkers and“Hawaghars” need to be set upon the trek routes as also resthouses on these routes for trekkers to stay atnight

Uttarakhand has thepotential to emerge as a majorworld class trekking destina-tion. Trekkers from all parts ofthe country and abroad comein large numbers toUttarakhand.

Many Tourist Rest Housesof the Gahwal Mandal VikasNigam and Kumaon MandalVikas Nigam have been reno-vated for the convenience oftrekkers and other visitors tothe state.

The Pauri-Khirsu -Lansdowne trekking circuit inGarhwal and the Pithoragarh-Munsyari circuit in Kumaonare spectacular. In and aroundMussoorie itself, there are 21kilometres of trekking routes.Mussoorie is a “Trekker’sDelight”. Students of schoolsfrom Dehradun and Mussooriecan be seen trekking and camp-ing on these routes duringtheir mid-term breaks.

Suakholi which liesbetween Mussoorie andDhanaulti and is twelve kilo-metres from Mussoorie is a

pristine destination, affordingcampers the delight of experi-encing nature in its purestform. These camps have noneof the trappings of a profes-sional resort. They are rawcamps with hikes and walks,

and panoramic views of theHimalayas. All aspects of envi-ronment awareness and out-door skills are taken care of atthe camps and the studentscome back well-informed.Walks and treks starting from

Mussoorie are the walk fromMussoorie to Landour, the walkfrom Mussoorie to Kemptyand walk to Clouds End.

The walk from Mussoorieto Landour begins from PicturePalace point and passesthrough the mile-long LandourBazaar known for its quaintshops, selling antiques.

The four kilometre walktakes one past the old church-es of the hill station and offersmagnificent views of the DoonValley and the splendidHimalayan range.When onereaches the Saint Paul’s Churchnear the popular “CharDukaan” one can take the roadgoing up to Sisters Bazaarwhich is also part of the can-

tonment. Around fourteen kilome-

tres from the Library Point(Gandhi Chowk), which is oneof the ends of the Mall Road,is Kempty Falls at an altitude of4500 feet on the Mussoorie-Chakrata Road. The walk tothis picnic spot is a long onebut tourists usually like to walkupto Kempty, taking a few teabreaks on the way which hasmany little tea and 'bun–makhan' joints.

The walk from Mussoorieto Clouds End is an eight kilo-metres’ picturesque walk fromthe Library Point. The bunga-low built at Clouds End by theBritish in 1835 is among thefirst four buildings ofMussoorie. It is now a resort.

The trek from Mussoorieto Suakholi is 11 kilometreslong and passes throughrhododendron forests. Theview of the Himalayas isbreathtaking along this route.The Mussoorie -Nagtibba Trekis also very popular.

The Nagtibba Trek beginsfrom Thatyur which is is thir-ty kilometres from Mussooriewhile Nagtibba is 20 kilometresahead of Thatyur.

The trek to Nagtibba (9990feet) is very steep. One can viewBanderpoonchh, Gangotripeaks, Nanda Devi andChaukhamba.

Fifteen kilometres fromMussoorie is Bhadraj. TheBhadraj temple is dedicated toBal Bhadra. Bhadraj offers acommanding view of the Doonvalley.

The temple is located onthe top of a hill. The trek goesthrough Clouds End andDudhli village.

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Customers looking for cool-ing appliances are seen

bustling about in Paltan Bazaaras temperatures continue to risein the Doon valley. Thoughspells of rain in the recent pasthave affected the sales of suchappliances, the traders expectbetter sales in the near future.Fans, coolers and air condi-tioners are in higher demandthis time compared to the cor-responding period in 2018,claim sellers.

The demand for coolingappliances in the month of Maygenerally gives sellers a tenta-tive idea of the expected salesduring the summer. However,due to spells of rain inDehradun recently, the fre-quency of customers has comedown says the owner of an elec-tronics shop in Paltan Bazaar.

The owner of another elec-tronics shop, Vinay says that hesold about 400 coolers in 2018

but expects to sell a highernumber this year. The rainsprovided some relief from the

heat in the city leaving his shopselling lesser units in recentdays. However, he is confident

that as temperatures rise, morepeople will look to buyingcoolers.

Kishore Kapoor who hasowned an electronic appli-ances shop on Chakrata Roadfor 15 years says that most cus-tomers buy coolers in the rangebetween Rs 3000 to Rs 5000.

According to him only 25per cent customers buy coolersup to the range of Rs 12,000.

Shalini, a customer saysthat she looks for offers whenbuying a cooling appliance.This helps her save money ascoolers are only used for threeto four months in the year dur-ing summer.

It is important to see thecooling features like dust andblower control of the applianceto determine its efficiency, shesays.

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DD College celebrated itsannual festival here on

Friday. The vice chancellor ofShri Dev Suman UniversityUniversity, US Rawat andchairman of Garhwal MandalVikas Nigam (GMVN)Mahavir Singh Rangad werepresent on the occasion.

Addressing the studentsduring the event Rawat spokeon the importance of hardwork and honesty. He said, “Itis important the young stu-dents work hard and withhonesty.

Also, it is very importantto save the environment forwhich we should all work as

one. The unseasonal weath-er changes which we are all

able to observe are the signthat our environment isimmensely affected. In orderto save mankind and live inthis world in a proper man-ner we should save our envi-ronment as now we havetime.”

Expressing his views,Rangad said that the stu-dents should put their heartinto studying.

The academic chairmanof DD College, VK Tyagifelicitated Rawat and Rangadon the occasion. Culturalpresentations were also heldas part of the event which alsoconsisted of distribution ofprizes to winners of varioussports and cultural events.

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In an apparent attempt todisrupt the operation of the

vital 108 ambulance service inthe state some people, whoallegedly are former workers ofthe ambulance service, aremaking fake emergency calls tosummon the ambulancesneedlessly. The districtprogramme officer ofCommunity Action andMotivation Programme (CAMP) of Pithoragarh,Parmanand Pant has submitteda complaint to the districtSuperintendent of Police. In thecomplaint he has alleged thatsome of the former employees

of GVK -EMRI, the companywhich was operating theambulance service prior toCAMP are engaged in makingfake calls to the ambulanceservice with an objective ofdisrupting the vital service.Giving details, the complainantsaid that after making fake callsand making the ambulancesrun unnecessarily for morethan 70 kms, these elements areeither switching off theirphones or making them notreachable. In the complaint, thenames and phone numbers ofthe former 108 ambulanceservice employees are alsomentioned. When contacted,the General Manager

(marketing) of the CAMP,Pradeep Rai also confirmedsuch mischievous incidents.He said that two such casesboth in Pithoragarh district hascome to his notice. “ We haveasked our district programmeofficers to take action on suchcases,’’ he said. On the effect ofthe strike of the formeremployees of the service on

operation of ambulances, Raisaid that 100 ambulances out offleet of 139 are operational. Heclaimed that the company hasso far recruited 600 employees.

Meanwhile, the agitationand Dharna of the field workersof the 108 ambulance servicecontinued on fourth day onFriday. The vice president ofstate unit of the Congress party

Surya Kant Dhasmana whoattended the Dharna on the daywarned the government thatthe interests of the youthswould not be allowed to beaffected. He said that theTrivendra Singh Rawatgovernment has become sostubborn that it is unmoved bythe agony of hundreds ofworkers who were removedfrom their jobs after workingdedicatedly for 11 long years inan organisation.

The general secretary ofthe association of field workers,Vipin Jamloki said that 717workers of the ambulanceworkers were thrown out fromthe job for no fault of theirs. He

said that the agitation of theassociation would continue tilltheir demands are accepted.

The contract of GVK-EMRI Company to operate108 emergency ambulanceservice ended on April 30 afterthe new company, CAMP tookover the operation ofambulance service.

The new company CAMPis offering less salary to theexperienced worker which isthe bone of contention betweenit and the association ofworkers. The workers aredemanding that they should beabsorbed into the newcompany on existing salaries.

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After much deliberation, the final draftof the much talked about ‘Umbrella

Act’ for all the universities of Uttarakhandis ready and is likely to be placed beforethe State cabinet anytime after the end ofthe model code of conduct enforced in thestate in view of the parliamentary elections.The state administration has also takenlegal opinion on the act which wouldgovern all private and state run universitiesas well as the medical colleges ofUttarakhand. At present differentuniversities of the state are governed withtheir own acts. The proposed act would beoverriding on all the existing acts underwhich the universities of the state are beinggoverned.

When contacted by The Pioneer, theSecretary (in- charge), Higher andtechnical education, Ashok Kumar saidthat last touches are being given to the draftof the proposed act. He said that the newact would help in removing theinconsistencies which at present prevail inthe governance of different universities.Kumar added that the objective of the actis to ensure better education and betterteachers.

The ‘Umbrella Act’ for all theuniversities of the state is the brain childof the minister of state for higher educationDhan Singh Rawat. The need for the actwas felt as complaints against autocraticfunctioning of the private universitiesbecame rampant. In many cases especiallyin private medical colleges, the fees were

raised astronomically.The act while granting maximum

autonomy to the private universities wouldat the same time give some control on theirfunctioning to the government.

The proposed act would cover all 22private universities and the all governmentuniversities of the state and would replacethe existing ‘Uttar Pradesh University Act1073, which is followed by Uttarakhandever since its creation in the year 2000.

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The state health department isgearing itself for upcoming Char

Dham Yatra which is commencing onMay 7. The department would deploy84 doctors for providing health carefacility to the pilgrims arriving for theChar Dham Yatra. These doctorswould be deployed on a rotationalbasis. The specialist doctors would bedeployed for a duration of 15 dayswhile the medical officers would beposted for 30 days on the Yatra points.

The director general (DG) ofmedical, health and family welfaredepartment of Uttarakhand, DrRavindra Thapliyal said that the

department has also decided to deploy30 specialist doctors for the Yatra.

The office of Director General ofHealth services has directed all ChiefMedical Officers (CMO), and ChiefMedical Superintendents (CMS) ofhospitals to ensure that these doctorsare relieved from the places of theirpostings to the mentioned points onChar Dham Yatra routes.

Dr Thapliyal said that the ChiefMedical Officers ( CMO) of thedistricts concerned have been asked tomake all arrangements of all medicalfacilities like oxygen cylinders andmedicines for the pilgrims. The GasAuthority of India Limited (GAIL) hasdecided to station a cardiac ambulance

at Yamunotri. The CMOs have beenasked to make arrangements forOxygen cylinders on the bridle paths.

The DG health added that theCMOs have been financial powers topurchase medicines and otherequipments for the Yatra.

The DG has tersely ordered theCMOs and CMSs to initiatedisciplinary action against the doctorswho do not join their Yatra duties. Hehas also directed the senior officers toprepare the travel plans for the doctorsdeployed on Yatra duty. Apart from thedeployment of doctors the healthdepartment has also directed the 108emergency ambulance service to makenecessary preparations for the Yatra.

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The High Court has orderedcollection of dues from ex

Chief Ministers for the officialbungalows and other facilitiesprovided to them within sixmonths. Hearing on a publicinterest litigation filed by theRural Litigation and EntitlementKendra (RLEK), the divisionbench headed by chief justiceRamesh Ranganathan quashedall the government ordersregarding facilities for ex CMsand directed that the pendinghouse rent according to currentmarket rates should berecovered within six months.Further, the State Government

was directed to calculate thedues for electricity, water,gunner, telephone, petrol andother expenses of the ex-CMsand recover the same withinfour months. Regarding thelate ND Tiwari, the divisionbench stated that if thegovernment wishes, it cancollect the dues from hisproperty.

The court observed that theex CMs got all facilitiesapproved for themselves beforethe end of their term in office.The State government hadsubmitted in the court that thedues of the five ex- CMsamounted to Rs 2.85 crore.This sum consisted of Rs 40.95

lakh due from RameshPokhriyal Nishank, Rs 46.95lakh due from BC Khanduri, Rs37.50 lakh due from VijayBahuguna, Rs 47.57 lakh duefrom Bhagat Singh Koshyariand Rs 1.13 crore due from thelate ND Tiwari. It will berecalled that RLEK had filed aPIL in the high courtcontending that the provision ofofficial bungalows and variousother facilities being provided toformer chief ministers wasagainst the rules and illegal.

The petitioner had soughtthat the rent due for the officialbungalows occupied by the exCMs should be recovered fromthem.

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The mobile eateries (foodvans) operating in the city

lack proper legal authorisationand are operating illegally inthe city. It has been learnt thatthe three departments involvedin this--the Regional TransportOffice (RTO), MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD) and the Food SafetyStandards Authority of India(FSSAI) lack a propermechanism for granting NoObjection Certificate (NOC) tothese mobile eateries and alsoto check these regularly.

It is also pertinent tomention that these mobileeateries have to mandatorilytake NOCs from thedepartments concerned. Thevans operating in the city takeregistration under the category

of retailers from the FSSAIwhich makes it difficult for theofficials to spot the vehicles indocumentation. Also as per thenorms of the FSSAI, the sellershould have medical checkupsevery six months and thecertificate should alwaysremain with the seller. None ofsuch vehicles running in thecity is registered with the RTOwhile the MCD too doesn’thave a record.

When asked about it,Dehradun assistant regionaltransport officer ArvindPandey said, ‘‘We do have aprovision for these mobilecanteens which clearly statesthat all these vehicles aresupposed to get registered inthe RTO. The fitness of thevehicle, modification ischecked by us and then theNOC is granted. Anyonecaught even changing the

vehicle colour without ourpermission has to pay a fine.

These mobile eateriesrunning in the city are allillegal as none are registered byus. A drive to impose fine andseize these vehicles will bestarted by us soon.’’

Land departmentsuperintendent of MCD,Dharmesh Painuly said, ‘‘Wedo not have a record of these

mobile eateries. We have alimited role to play in this. If avehicle is moving in the city wecannot stop it. However, if thevehicle is stationary and thenselling its products that comesunder encroachment category.We recently have imposed fineson such stationary vehicles.’’

As per a source, the FSSAIin Dehradun conducted asurvey in the year 2013 when

the mobile eateries were listedand were also given particularnumbers.

The operators of sucheateries were also giventraining to achieve thestandards set by the FSSAI.However, after that, no suchtraining was given to theseowners.

The department has sixFood Safety Officers (FSO)who are assigned for the city.The shortage of the staff andresources further preventsthese FSOs from conductingproper checks in their areas.

When asked about it, thedesignated officer, food safety,GC Kandwal said, ‘‘It is truethat we lack resources as wellas staff. We have only six FSOsassigned to different areas. Wehave sent a letter to thegovernment regarding theissue.’’

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The owner of the taxi hiredby Uttarakhand

Government for Dehradunmunicipal commissioner VinayShankar Pandey was served anotice by the RegionalTransport Office (RTO) forhaving a white number plate.

Dehradun AssistantRegional Transport Officer(ARTO) Arvind Pandey said,“We have sent a notice to theowner of the taxi UKO7 TB0625, Ameena Kauser on thegrounds that the vehicle’sregistered number plate is a taxinumber, which is supposed tobe in black colour on a yellowbackground. This number platehas the number in black colouron a white background.”

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the said vehicle isused by Dehradun Municipal

Commissioner Vinay ShankarPandey.

It is also worth mentioningthat the RTO has also issuedchallan to another taxi number

(UKO7 TA 9185) on the samegrounds.

This vehicle is reportedlybeing used by an official in thesecretariat.

Haldwani: An eight year old tiger waskilled in a fight with another tiger in theBijrani range of Corbett national park. TheCorbett warden Shivraj informed that apatrol team received information about atiger’s carcass being spotted in the Fultalarea. The Corbett director Rahul and othersreached the site. The warden informed thatall the body parts of the dead tiger werefound intact. The tiger found dead was arobust and strong male but the fight withanother tiger was so severe that its jaw wasbroken and there were severe injuries onhis body. Considering this, the Corbettadministration has deployed a team tomonitor the activity of the other tigerinvolved in the fight. Patrol on elephant-back has also been increased. PNS

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On the third day of Operation Mukti, fieldunits continued to collect information

about child beggars, regarding their parentageand detailed family history. However, somepeople are raising questions on the campaignplans. According to them, the campaign hasground level flaws as things which should bedone by the police in the first phase have beenkept for the last phase. Observers state that childbeggars being questioned by the police will mostprobably leave on the next day.

When asked about this issue, DirectorGeneral, Law and Order, Ashok Kumar said, “Ifthis an issue we will combine two phases in one.As per the requirement we will keep on addingmeasures as the campaign progresses. Thecampaign is on trial basis, if the results in twomonths are positive, we will continue this inother districts too.”

According to sources, some child beggarsusually shift from one place to another withinmonths.

They live like nomadic people, travellingfrom one place to another.

However, they are street smart because ofthe survival tactics they have to follow from earlychildhood. Due to this, if the police collectinformation by questioning them, they are likelyto move away soon after.

It is important to mention here that unlikeearlier drives that were conducted byUttarakhand Police; this drive has three phasesstarting from observation period which will befor initial 15 days to the third phase ofenforcement and rehabilitation period.According to DG, Law and Order, the idea is toremove children from begging and motivatethem towards education, to enroll them inschools so that they can have a normalchildhood too.

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After the malfunctioning ofthe CT scan machine, the

Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) machine of GovernmentDoon Medical College(GDMC) is also notfunctioning properly. It is learntthat the machine is notworking on full capacity fromlast few days due to which mostof the patients visiting thefacility are not getting theirMRIs done. Themalfunctioning of theimportant machine has madethings difficult for the patientsalready suffering due toabsence of CT scan facility.When inquired, the in- chargeof the MRI machine,Mahendra Bhandari claimedthat the machine has notdeveloped any snag. Hehowever added that due tocontinuous power fluctuationsdue to disturbed weatherconditions, the operator has tochange the power phaseregularly which is takingconsiderable time. “ We are

able to do only 7-8 MRIs in aday as compared to 20 to 25 ona normal day,’’ he said.

As the MRI machine is notoperating on its full potentialthe patients of forced to visit

the private hospitals ordiagnostic centres. The fee ofan MRI in the hospital is Rs3500 only but on the otherhand the private centres chargeabout Rs 7000 to 10000 for an

MRI scan. The associated hospital of

the GDMC is only facility inDehradun and nearby districtswhere facility of MRI isavailable in a government

centre.Meanwhile, the patients

are continuing to facingproblem as the lone CT scanmachine of department ofradiology of GDMC hospitalwhich developedmalfunctioning in last week ofFebruary has not been replacedor repaired yet. As an amountof Rs 40 Lakh was expected tothe spent on repair of thisimportant radio diagnosticmachine, the hospitaladministration has decided toreplace the old error pronemachine with a modern CTscan machine.

The new machinehowever has not arrived yet.More than 40 CT scans aredone by this machine daily andin absence of this facility thepatients are forced to visitexpensive private hospitals anddiagnostic centres to get the CTdone. In absence of CT scanfacility in the hospital thedoctors in some cases wereadvising MRI scans for thepatients resulting in extra loadon the machine.

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New Delhi: The ElectionCommission on Friday foundno violation of model code or itsinstructions on armed forces intwo speeches delivered by BJPpresident Amit Shah in WestBengal and Maharashtra.

The Commission conclud-ed that it is of the consideredview that in this matter, no suchviolation of MCC or ECI'sinstructions is made out.

Addressing a rally inKrishnanagar in West Bengal,Shah reportedly said when IAFjets pounded terror camps inBalakot, the act was mourned inPakistan and West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee'soffice.

He also reportedly said thatPrime Minister Narendra Modi"sent his Air Force" to destroyterror camps in Pakistan afterthe deadly Pulwama attack inFebruary this year.

"Forty-four of jawans weremartyred in Pulwama terrorattack. Earlier, nothing used tohappen after such incidents.Narendra Modi ordered his AirForce on the 13th day (of theincident) and our aircraft blewthe terrorists to pieces inPakistan," Shah said at the rally.

Responding to a complaintby Congress spokespersonRandeep Singh Surjewalaagainst Shah, the poll bodysaid a detailed report of theChief Electoral Officer, WestBengal was obtained.

"The matter has been exam-ined in detail in accordance with

the extant advisories, provi-sions of the Model Code ofConduct and after examinationof complete transcript of speechsent by the DEO Nadia, theCommission is of the consid-ered view that in this matter, nosuch violation of MCC or ECI'sinstructions is made out," it said.

Addressing another rallyin Nagpur on April 9, the BJPpresident reportedly said whenthe whole country was rejoicingover the air strike on a terrorcamp in Balakot, there wasmourning only in Pakistan andRahul Gandhi-led Congressparty.

Shah also took a jibe atGandhi's public rallies inWayanad. The Gandhi scion iscontesting the Lok Sabha pollsfrom Wayanad in Kerala alongwith his traditional bastion ofAmethi in Uttar Pradesh.

Shah said Gandhi's rallies inWayanad appeared as they werebeing organised in Pakistan. Healso said the Modi govern-ment's biggest success was thatit had made India secure whichwas not the case when theCongress-led UPA was inpower. PTI

New Delhi: The ElectionCommission concluded onFriday that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi did not violatethe model code or its advisoryon armed forces in his speechin Varanasi.

It also found nothingwrong in his comments madein Nanded, Maharashtra wherehe reportedly dubbed theCongress as a 'sinking Titanic'.

With this, the EC hasdecided on five complaintsagainst Modi and gave him aclean chit in all matters.

"In a matter related to acomplaint concerning allegedviolations of advisories of theCommission and Model Codeof Conduct, in a speech deliv-ered by Narendra Modi atNanded, Maharashtra on April6, a detailed report of the ChiefElectoral Officer, Maharashtrawas obtained. The matter hasbeen examined in detail ...(the) Commission is of theconsidered view that in thismatter no such violation of theextant advisories/provisions isattracted," the EC said.

In his Nanded speech,Modi had reportedly said thatthe Congress today is likeTitanic ship which is sinking.All those who are in the shiplike the Nationalist CongressParty are either sinking orjumping off to escape, he hadreportedly said.

Targeting Rahul Gandhi,he had said that the Congresschief has traced a seat usingmicroscope from which he can

take on the BJP.Modi was apparently refer-

ring to the Wayanad seat inKerala from where Rahul iscontesting, besides Amethi inUttar Pradesh.

He had reportedly saidthat in Wayanad, the country'smajority is in minority.

Referring to Modi'sVaranasi speech on April 25,where he had gone to file hisnomination for Lok Sabha elec-tions, the EC said a detailedreport of the Chief ElectoralOfficer, Uttar Pradesh wasobtained.

"The matter has beenexamined in detail in accor-dance with the extant advi-sories, provisions of the ModelCode of Conduct and afterexamination of complete tran-script, Commission is of theconsidered view that in thismatter no such violation of theextant advisories/provisions isattracted," it said.

The Congress had alsoreferred to an interview givenby the PM to Aaj Tak and saidit found nothing wrong.

Addressing a rally inVaranasi, Modi had stressed onnational security, saying a newIndia gives a befitting reply toterrorism.

At the meeting after a mas-sive show of strength in his LokSabha constituency, Modi saidhis government had dealt effec-tively against terrorism.

In an apparent reference tothe Balakot air strike afterPakistan-based militants killed40 paramilitary men inPulwama, he said the worldnow backed India in its fightagainst terror.

Modi also referred to therecent bomb blasts in SriLanka, saying innocent peopleobserving Easter lost their lives.

The Election Commissionhad on Thursday given a cleanchit to Modi, saying he did notviolate the model code of con-duct during his election speechin Rajasthan's border town ofBarmer where he invoked thearmed forces and said that India's nuclear buttonwas not kept to be used forDiwali.

Earlier, the EC had hadfound nothing wrong in theprime minister's speech atWardha on April 1 where heattacked Congress chief RahulGandhi for contesting fromm i n o r i t y - d o m i n a t e d Wayanad seat. It has alsocleared the PM for his appealto first-time voters by invokingthe Balakot air strikes and thePulwama martyrs in Latur onApril 9. PTI

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From Page 1“Modi ji, will you topple every

Government run by an Oppositionparty by buying lawmakers? Is thisyour definition of democracy? Andfrom where do you bring so muchmoney to buy MLAs? You have triedto buy our MLAs many times. BuyingAAP leaders is not easy,” the DelhiChief Minister said in a tweet.

Vijay Goel had refuted Sisodia’sallegation of the BJP offering Rs. 10crore to lawmakers to switch and saidAAP lawmakers wanted to quit theirparty out of “frustration and humili-ation”, so the BJP “did not need to buythem”. “The lawmakers want to leaveAAP because the party has strayedfrom its objectives,” Goel claimed.

“Goel, baat kahan phasi hai? Aapkitna de rahe ho? Woh kitna mang rahehain. (Where are your talks (with theAAP lawmakers) stuck? How much areyou paying? How much are theydemanding?)” Kejriwal had tweeted.

Reacting to the development,

senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said hisparty has for sometime been accusingthe BJP of trying to “buy” its MLAs.“As far as Bajpai is concerned, no per-son would say that they have takenmoney and going to another party, theywould be finding faults within theparty. Bajpai had himself come fromthe Congress, so what issue did he havefrom the alliance talks that were goingon?” he asked. AAP’s Chandni ChowkMLA, Alka Lamba who has been side-lined within the party following dif-ferences with Kejriwal and other lead-ers, claimed that Bajpai was insultedrepeatedly and he quit the party out ofself-respect. “Bajpai’s decision to jointhe BJP would negatively impact theAAP more than him. The party insult-ed him on multiple occasions. His ageand physical disability was not eventaken into consideration by the party.The AAP MLA has taken this step notfor money but for self-respect. TheAAP should definitely think over it,”she said.

From Page 1Hans said, “My mother would have killed me

had I converted to Islam.” Accusing the AAP chief of spreading fake

news, Hans said, “I am deeply hurt. I have a pass-port in the name of Hans Raj Hans. I will file adefamation case against Kejriwal and other AAPleaders.”

At a Press conference on Thursday, Kejriwal’sCabinet colleague Rajendra Pal Gautam cited newsreports claiming that Hans had converted to Islamand that the BJP candidate did not disclose thisinformation in his nomination papers.

Hans said by accusing him of converting toIslam, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders had alsohurt the sentiments of the Valmiki community.“I pity his (Kejriwal’s) intelligence. He seems tobe scared that the Valmiki community will notvote for him,” he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi AssemblyVijender Gupta said Kejriwal and his party were“losing credibility” by levelling baseless allegationson their opponents and then seeking apologies.

BJP had denied a poll ticket to Udit Raj, thesitting MP from North West Delhi, and fieldedHans from the seat. Raj joined the Congress sub-sequently.

Hans is pitted against Rajesh Lilothia of theCongress and Gugan Singh of the AAP in NorthWest Delhi. Polling for all the seven Lok Sabhaseats in Delhi will be held on May 12 and theresults will be announced on May 23.

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From Page 1Earlier on Friday morning,

Fani had crossed the Odishacoast close to Puri with sustainedwind speed of 175- to 185 km/hrgusting to 205 km/hr between 8am and 10 am and weakenedinto a very severe cyclone.

The IMD said it would con-tinue to move North-North-East over land and weaken fur-ther into a severe cyclonic stormover a period of nine hours. Thesevere cyclone would thenemerge into the plains of Bengalwith wind speeds reaching up to100 kilometres/hour (km/hr)gusting to 115 km/hr bySaturday morning.

Further movement towardsthe North-North-East wouldtake Fani as a cyclone intoBangladesh by Saturday eveningwith wind speeds of up to 70km/hr gusting to 80 km/hr.Apart from Odisha coast, Fani isexpected to affect West Bengal,Andhra Pradesh and TamilNadu.

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Patna: A senior journalist asso-ciated with a national Hindinews channel was heavily trolled,after a snide remark on a tweetby former Bihar Chief MinisterRabri Devi in which she hadtaken a swipe at Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's recent inter-view to Bollywood actor AkshayKumar. "Modi was inMuzaffarpur yesterday wherepeople expressed curiosity aboutthe way he ate litchis the fruit thetown is famous for. They hadalready known how he savouredmangoes and wondered whetherhe enjoyed litchis by biting thefruit or sucking on it or whilestanding near a wash basin,"Rabri Devi had tweeted in Hindion Wednesday.

The RJD national vice-pres-ident's comment came a day afterModi's rally in the north Bihartown. "The PM did not replysince the question had not beenposed by a hero or a heroine.Moreover, since the question wasnot pre-planned and choreo-graphed, he could not come witha reply," she added, in an obvi-ous dig at the nearly hour-long"non-political" interview of Modiby Kumar. The journalist inquestion quickly came out witha riposte on the micro-bloggingsite, saying, "So, Rabri Devi,too, tweets. Somebody shouldchallenge her to just pronouncethe word twitter thrice non-stop."

PTI

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Chandigarh: Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh saidon Friday that there was "noth-ing wrong" in seeking proof ofthe Balakot air strikes asdemanded by the Congressfrom the central government.

"If the strikes were as suc-cessful as the Modi governmentclaimed them to be, it was actu-ally a matter of immense pridefor our country and for all of us.So let us see how our forcesdestroyed Pakistan buildingsand shattered their inflatedego," the chief minister told aTV channel. He was asked tocomment on BJP's allegationthat the Congress was beinganti-nationalist by asking proofof the operation, according toa party release here.

"This is not the first timeproof had been asked. Even inthe 1965 war, an Army majorbrought chopped ears of thosekilled on the other side of theborder to put all doubts of a cer-tain Indian operation at rest,"the chief minister said.

Photographs were releasedof the Kargil operation too,Singh said, adding thatdemanding proof from the gov-ernment was not unpatriotic byany standard.

"I am very proud that ouraging MIG 21 plane broughtdown a Pak F-16 and would bedelighted to know about thesuccess of our Air Force in

Balakot," he said.Singh has been continu-

ously accusing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of taking cred-it for the actions of the IndianAir Force (IAF) and seek votesin the names of martyred sol-diers. "Have they (BJP) forgot-ten who won India its warsagainst Pakistan in 1965 and1971? I am a military historianalso and if Modi does not wantto give the proofs of the strikesto the press or the Congress, hecan send them to me," theCongress leader said.

In any case, Singh said, itwas the BJP that started thenumber game by going over-board to "usurp" the accom-plishment of the air force byclaiming "hundreds" of casual-ties in Balakot.

The Congress only coun-tered with its demand for proof,he said, adding that the BJPshould not hesitate in grabbingthe opportunity to show theworld, and all doubt-mongers,great success of the Indianforces. Singh also denied BJP'sallegations of 'tukda tukda gang'against the Congress, saying itwas the saffron party and itsleaders who were making 'tuk-das' (pieces) of the nation withtheir "divisive politics" and"nefarious agenda" to createbad blood among the people onaccount of caste, religion, etc.

PTI

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Amarried woman had recently filed a writ-ten complain in Dehradun Cantt police sta-

tion accusing a man of sending objectionablephotographs and other material to her in-lawsbecause of which she has been abandoned by herhusband. The police have filed a case under sec-tion 376 Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 67 IT Actand arrested the accused. The accused, Zeeshanwas arrested from Almora and sent to districtjail Suddhowla by the court on Friday.

Station House Officer of Cantt PoliceStation, inspector Nadeem Athar said, “The ladyfiled the complaint on the night of April 29, stat-ing that she was in a relationship with theaccused between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, shegot married in Dehradun and even after the mar-riage the accused was in touch with her.

The victim said that the accused had sent

some objectionable photographs and voicenotes to her in-laws because of which they askedher to leave. She is currently living with somerelative.”

According to the SHO, “The accused sentthose messages to the victim. According to ourinvestigation, during their relationship they triedto marry in Dharchula but the day they were reg-istering for marriage, brother in-law of the vic-tim objected, because of which they could notmarry.

The accused during interrogation said thatthey got married but he has no documents asproof. According to the accused even after themarriage of the victim they kept sharing mes-sages and the one day he sent those messagesto the victim, her in-laws saw the same bychance, resulting in the present situation. Now,we are investigating to ascertain who is tellingthe truth.”

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With polling for Lok Sabhaelections just 10 days

away in Haryana, top leadersacross the political spectrumincluding Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, BJP chief AmitShah, Congress chief RahulGandhi, Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi will hitthe campaign trail in the state.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and BJP chief Amit Shahwill be addressing eight electionrallies in Haryana, wherepolling for all 10 Lok Sabhaseats will be held on May 12.

The two top leaders of BJPwill be addressing election ral-lies in areas where oppositionCongress has fielded its stal-warts in Haryana.

Prime Minister Modi willaddress three rallies on May 8and May 10. On May 8, Modiwill be addressing public gath-erings in Fatehabad andKurukshetra while on the lastday of campaigning for the sixthphase on May 10, he will beaddressing a poll rally in Rohtakdistrict.

Former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda’s sonDeepender Singh Hooda isseeking re-election for thefourth term from Rohtak andthe Prime Minister has chosenthe last day of campaigning ofsixth phase to address a rallythere, which is considered asstronghold of the Hooda fam-ily. BJP has fielded a Brahmincandidate, Arvind Sharmaagainst Deepender Hooda nRohtak. Haryana AgricultureMinister Om Parkash Dhankarand Cooperation MinisterManish Grover have been

appointed organiser and co-organiser for the success ofModi’s rally on May 10 inRohtak, known as political cap-ital of Haryana.

Fatehabad falls in the Sirsaparliamentary constituencyfrom where the BJP has field-ed bureaucrat-turned-politi-cian Sunita Duggal to take onHaryana Congress presidentAshok Tanwar. In the outgoingLok Sabha, Sirsa is representedby INLD's Charanjit SinghRori, who is seeking re-election.

From Kurukshetra parlia-mentary seat, Congress hasfielded former Minister NirmalSingh against BJP's Nayab Saini,who is a Minister in theManohar Lal Khattar cabinet.

Haryana BJP chief SubhashBarala on Friday said that theparty national president AmitShah will also be addressingthree poll rallies on May 5 inSonipat, Panipat andYamunanagar.

Two-time former ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda is contesting from theSonipat Lok Sabha seat againstBJP’s outgoing MP RameshKaushik, who is seeking re-elec-tion for the second term. InSonipat, JJP-AAP has fieldedDigvijay Chautala, a fourthgeneration member of Chautalaclan. Panipat is part of Karnalparliamentary constituencyfrom where BJP’s candidateSanjay Bhatia is pitted againstCongress sitting MLA and for-mer Speaker Kuldeep Sharmawhile Yamunanagar forms partof the Ambala Lok Sabha seat,from where senior Congressleader and former MP KumariSelja is pitted against BJP’s out-going MP Rattan Lal Kataria.

On May 10, Shah will againvisit Haryana and address ral-lies in Hisar and Dadri.

Jannayak Janta Party’sleader Dushyant Chautala isseeking re-election from Hisarconstituency, where the BJP hasfielded Union MinisterBirender Singh’s bureaucrat-turned-politician son BrijendraSingh while the Congress hasfielded senior leader KuldeepBishnoi’s son Bhavya.

Dadri falls under Bhiwani-Mahendergarh Lok Sabha con-stituency, where Congress for-mer MP Shruti Choudhary,the granddaughter of formerChief Minister late Bansi Lal, ispitted against BJP’s outgoingMP Dharamvir, who is seekingmandate for the second term.

Barala added that the partyhas stepped up preparations forsuccessfully holding these ral-lies in the state.

Apart from PM Modi andAmit Shah, BJP’s star cam-paigners including HomeMinister Rajnath Singh, Roadand Highways Minister NitinGadkari, Finance MinisterArun Jaitley and ExternalAffairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,BJP vice president Uma Bharti,Railway Minister Piyush Goyal,HRD Minister Smriti Irani,UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will also addresselection rallies in Haryana nextweek. Notably, the saffron party,which was riding high on theNarendra Modi wave in the2014 Lok Sabha elections hadwon seven seats out of 10 seatsin Haryana.

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In a bid to boost party’s Lok

Sabha poll campaign inHaryana, Congress presidentRahul Gandhi and party gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra will tour the state overthe next few days for electioncampaigning.

The Congress chief willaddress an election rally inGurugram on May 4 in supportof party’s candidate Capt AjayYadav, who is facing a toughelectoral battle against BJP’snominee and Union MinisterRao Inderjit Singh.

Another rally of Rahul isscheduled on May 6 inMahendragarh, which fallsunder Bhiwani- MahendragarhLok Sabha constituency.

The party’s general secre-tary Priyanka Gandhi will visitAmbala, Hisar and Rohtak onMay 7 for campaigning.

Priyanka will hold publicmeetings in Ambala and Hisarto seek votes for party candi-dates Kumari Selja and BhavyaBishnoi respectively on May 7.Later in the evening, she willhold a roadshow in Rohtak insupport of party candidate,three-time MP DeependerSingh Hooda.

Former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda onFriday said that the rallies bytop party leaders would boostCongress’ poll campaign inHaryana. Hooda said that theCongress is confident of win-ning all 10 seats in Haryana.

The former Chief Minister,who is contesting from SonipatLok Sabha seat said he has beentouring various parts of the stateand people are eagerly waitingto vote out the non-performingNDA Government at theCentre.

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In a big sigh of relief for the‘worried’ saffron brigade, the

election panel has agreed tohave actor-turned-politicianSunny Deol’s screen name on theEVMs (electronic votingmachines) instead of his realname — Ajay SinghDharmendra Deol.

After finalising the list ofcontesting candidates for May 19elections, the ElectionCommission has writtenapproved BJP’s request to have“Sunny Deol” on the EVMs. Theparty had argued that the peo-ple know him by his screenname, and most of the people arenot aware of his real name AjaySingh Dharmendra Deol — thename by which he has filed hisnomination papers.

Taking his first electoralplunge, the junior ‘Punjab daputtar” filed his nominationpapers on April 29 to contest asthe SAD-BJP combine candidatefrom Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seatby the name of ‘Ajay SinghDharmendra Deol’, as he has

been registered as the voter bythe same name.

For the same, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) had urged thepoll panel to mention its candi-date’s name as “Sunny Deol”instead of his real name.

Playing a minor role inPunjab politics with just onemember in the Lok Sabha, andthree in Vidhan Sabha, the BJPis eyeing to grab a bigger and bet-ter share by riding high on theBollywood action hero SunnyDeol’s star power in the May 19Lok Sabha elections in the state.

A senior BJP leader hadcontended that the people knewhim as Sunny Deol. “They don’tknow who is Ajay Singh. Whenpeople would come to vote forSunny, they may get confusedby not finding his name there.That is why we have requestedthe election commission towrite Sunny Deol instead of hisreal name,” the leader added.

Moreover, Sunny’s realname has not been mentionedin the publicity material, andonly his screen name, “SunnyDeol”, is being publicised.

Chandigarh: PunjabCongress on Friday demandedfrom the poll panel to bar theairing of actor-turned-politicianSunny Deol’s movies on thenational and regional televisionchannels till the elections. Thestate Pradesh Congress com-mittee secretary Amit SinghMantoo had written a letter tothe Election Commission ofIndia urging it to direct nation-al and regional channels tostop airing of Sunny Deol’smovies till the elections end.

PNS

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Chief Minister Raghubar Dastoday reassured people of

the State that no Governmentwill take their land and advisedthem not to get misguided by‘corrupt politicians’. The CM,while addressing people at anelection rally in favour of for-mer CM Arjun Munda inKhunti said on Friday thatthose talking about land, jun-gle and water are the realexploiters of tribal people.

“In 2014, Congress and itsallies had said that if BJP comesto power it will snatch land oftribal people. They are againplaying the same tune, but thegovernment has not taken anyone’s land in last four and halfyears. No one can take your‘Khuntkari’ land; not even gov-ernment. But, the corrupt peo-ple are spreading rumours thatyour land will be looted. Thosewho have looted the land arelevelling allegations on BJPand trying to keep people awayfrom development,’ he said.

Hitting hard on Oppositionparties, the CM said, “Thosetalking about tribal interest,water, jungle and land shouldintrospect and find out howthey snatched land of poortribals of the State. JMM andSoren family has violatedCNT/SPT Acts and boughtland at 26 places worth Rs 500crore. It’s merely an irony thatthose talking about tribals’interest are real oppressors oftribal people. These peoplegathered on the same stage inSimdega yesterday.”

The CM said that Congressparty ruled for decades in theregion, still Khunti, Torpa andSimdega are lagging behind ondevelopment front. “They couldnot develop the country, butreached from Jeep scam to 2Gscam while giving the slogan of‘Garibi Hatao’. Why there is nochange in the life of poor peo-ple? Someone must tell this tothe thieves’ alliance,” he said.

Das said that the bugle offreedom struggle was blownfrom the land of Jharkhand byBirsa Munda, Sido Kanhu,Phulo Jhano and other martyrs.But, Nehru family never tooktheir names.

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The CBI has booked twodoctors of ESIC for

allegedly taking a bribe of �1crore from a medicine suppli-er with the assurance of get-ting him listed as an agent ofa noted pharmaceutical man-ufacturer under Central ratecontract.

Vikas Gupta and KajalGoldar, both medical officersof Employees' State InsuranceCorporation (ESIC), now post-ed at its hospitals in Tirunelveliand Kolhapur respectively,have been booked by the CBIfor alleged criminal conspira-cy, cheating and under the rel-evant provisions of thePrevention of Corruption Act.

The action has been initi-ated on a complaint from theESIC which conducted a vigi-lance probe against the two ona complaint from a Delhi-based medicine supplier.

During 2016-17 Gupta,

then working as medical offi-cer, and Goldar as Director(medical), Delhi, had alleged-ly induced the supplier to pay�1 crore as bribe for awardinga contract in Central RateContract (CRC) of ESIC forsupply of medicine and dress-ings by engaging him a agentof a reputed manufacturerduring the process of ensuingtender for CRC, according tothe FIR.

Basant Goel, the supplier,allegedly paid �1 crore toGupta — �38 lakh in hisaccount, �10 lakh in his wife'saccount and another �52 lakhin cash on various dates to bedelivered to Goldar.

On receiving complaintfrom Goel, the ESIC conduct-ed a vigilance inquiry whichconfirmed payment of �48lakh to Vikas Gupta and hiswife Geeta Gera, the com-plaint from ESIC said.

"It has also been estab-lished that Kajal Goldar and

Vikas Gupta had official deal-ings with Goel Medicos andBasant Goel, an empanelledchemist for supply of day today medicines and drugs anddressings to various hospitalsand dispensaries of Delhi andNCR. The said chemist wasallocated and was supplyingmedicines to VK Nagar dis-pensary of which Vikas Guptawas the IMO. Therefore,Basant Goel has business inter-est and dealings as well asacquaintance with both theofficers," said the complaint,which now part of the FIR.

Goel also furnished videoevidence of the negotiationswith the two doctors whoreceived the bribe from him.

The ESIC also alleged sus-picious high-value transac-tions in Gupta's accounts andproperty dealings by him dur-ing 2013 and onwards forwhich no satisfactory expla-nation could be provided byhim.

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Hailing the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM)chief

Masood Azhar as a "global ter-rorist" by the United NationsSanctions Committee two daysback, France on Friday said forthe first time, a consensus hasemerged in the world and allthe members of the UnitedNations SecurityCouncil(UNSC) stood firmlyon the issue. Moreover, Francetook the lead in getting himdeclared as a "global terrorist"in the European Union(EU)and it may also get through.

Making this assertion here,French ambassador to India,Alexandre Zeigler, said Franceplayed a vital role in gettingAzhar designated as a globalterrorist though the processwas long. Highlighting hiscountry's support in this effort,the envoy said France backedIndia in 2001 when there wasan attack on Parliament ofIndia and earlier on the Jammu

& Kashmir Assembly. Allefforts to impose sanctionsagainst JeM had earlier failed.Then France took the lead andmoved the UN body in 2017for getting Azhar listed as aglobal terrorist but the attemptdid not succeed. However, afterthe Pulwama attack, Francetook the initiative and lastyear, put Azhar on its ban list.France, the UK and the US hadmoved a fresh proposal todeclare Azhar as global terror-ist by the UN in the wake of theFebruary 14 Pulwama terrorattack.

Stressing on the pointabout consensus, the ambas-sador said it was for the firsttime that the UNSC con-demned the Pulwama attack in

a statement soon after the inci-dent on February 14. FortyCentral Reserve PoliceForce(CRPF)personnel werekilled in a suicide attack inPulwama and the JeM hadclaimed responsibility for theact.

Zeigler said France canappreciate and gauge the sig-nificance of this the UN deci-sion on Tuesday last and saidlisting Azhar as a global ter-rorist has "concrete conse-quences." These entailed freez-ing of all his assets and restric-tion on getting finances andinternational travel.

On efforts to fight terror-ism, he said India has beeninvited to attend the G-7 meet-ing in France later this year andone of the topics will be cyberspace terrorism. "The fightagainst terrorism is one of thepillars of our strategic part-nership with India. Our twoleaders had recalled this duringthe State visit of PresidentMacron and I can tell you that

we are moving very closely andvery fast with India," he said.Macron had visited New DelhiIn March last year.

Meanwhile, diplomaticsources said providing morehard credible evidence to UNSanctions Committee finallyled to the listing of Azharwhich China also backing it.Evidence by several countrieswas given after China onMarch 13 put on hold the list-ing, they said adding the pro-posal to designate Azhar has tostand stringent legal scrutiny.

Moreover, the evidencegiven to the UN clearly high-lighted link between Azharand the JeM and terrorist activ-ities, sources said adding notmentioning Pulwama andKashmir in the final proposalwas more technical but thelarger objective of listing theJeM succeeded. They also saidthe UNSC condemnation ofPulwama incident helped in thefinal process of getting theJeM listed.

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As Amethi goes to poll onMonday, BJP on Friday

claimed that its candidateSmriti Irani has an upper handin the seat and Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi was "losingsteam" in his home con-stituency.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, BJP leader andUnion Minister Piyush Goyalmaintained that the US Galluppolls survey report has givencredit to Modi-Governmentfor making people "secure" and"safe" during its tenure.

Hitting out at the Congress,

Goyal claimed that the wayparty was going it may touch alower figure than what it got inlast Lok Sabha poll. He, how-ever, did not elaborate on hisanalysis.

The BJP leader insistedthat BJP's nominee Irani waswinning from Amethi andpointed to Rahul's move to con-test from a second Lok Sabhaconstituency in Kerala. Goyalsaid Congress leader did goodby not selecting a seat inKarnataka as he claimed thatthe Congress was on a losingtracking in the southern stategoverned by Congress-JD(S)coalition.

Goyal said Rahul had wonAmethi by the margin of threelakh vote in 2009 whichdeclined to one lakh in 2014 .He said Irani would havetrounced Rahul in 2014 itselfbut for "our delay in announc-ing her name". "This time roundour sister will win", he said.

Amethi votes in the fourth-phase of polling on Monday.Rahul's sister and CongressGeneral Secretary-in-charge ofEastern Uttar Pradesh has beencampaigning in Amethi asIrani alleged that Rahul was a"missing MP". Rahul has heldAmethi for three consecutivetimes.

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CSC e-Governance Services IndiaLimited, a Special Purpose Vehicle

under the Ministry of Electronics & IT,has tied up with Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT)-Kanpur to upscale'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan', the HRDMinistry's programme which is spear-heading to evolve solutions for accel-erating sustainable growth in ruralIndia.

Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan,IIT-Kanpur has brought together 15leading higher education institutionsfrom UP who have now agreed to workwith CSC for the development of vil-lages under the scheme. IIT Kanpur hasalready adopted five villages —Hridayapur, Baikanthpur, Ishwariganj,Pratappur Hari and Saxupurva — sit-uated on the outskirts of Kanpur for itsoverall development.

"As many as 15 affiliated educa-

tional institutions under Unnat BharatAbhiyan will adopt gram panchayatsand equip them with all citizen-centricservices through CSCs. These institu-tions will train village level entrepre-neurs (VLEs) who run CSCs as part ofthe village development plan. TheVLEs will also be skilled about the useof solar energy, cleanliness, and use ofmodern technologies through inter-

ventions of IIT Kanpur," said Dr. ReetaSingh from IIT Kanpur who is headingUnnat Bharat Abhiyan project.

"All the participating institutionshave been informed about various ser-vices being delivered through CSC to cit-izens and further potential which CSCsoffer in empowering communities andoverall village development. We hopethat this relationship of IIT-Kanpur and

other leading institutions with CSCs willfurther strengthen the government'svision of Digital India. It will alsoimprove the technical skills of ourVLEs and make CSCs future-ready toimplement more government schemes,"said CSC CEO Dr. Dinesh Tyagi.

The 15 higher education institutionswhich have been associated with CSCare IIT-Kanpur; School of ManagementSciences, Lucknow; BundelkhandUniversity, Jhansi; Allahabad College ofEngineering & Management; PranveerSingh Institute of Technology, Kanpur;Kiranlata Singh Mahavidyalaya,Fatehpur; Seth Badri Prasad SmritiCollege, Jalaun; SRSSD College,Auraiya; Virendra Singh Group ofInstitutions, Unnav; Allen HouseInstitutions; Rama University; NationalPost Graduate College, Lucknow;Lucknow Polytechnic, Lucknow;Dayanand Girl's PG College and CSMDegree College, Chitrakoot.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court onFriday appointed former apex court judgeJustice AK Sikri to look into the evalua-tion process of the main exam for the postof Civil Judge (Junior Division) inHaryana, in which only nine people wereshortlisted out of more than 1,100 candi-dates. The exam was conducted to fill 107vacancies.

A Bench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi said more than 1,100 can-didates appeared for the main exam andonly nine have qualified.

The Bench said Justice (retd) Sikri willlook into whether the evaluation wasacceptable or not and will submit thereport to the apex court.

The Bench, also comprising JusticeDeepak Gupta, directed the Punjab andHaryana High Court to submit answersheets to Justice Sikri.

The top court's order came on a pleafiled by 92 aspirants to the post of CivilJudge (Junior Division) in Haryana, seek-ing quashing of the result of its Main(Written) Examination which wasdeclared on April 11. The apex court hadon April 29 directed the Punjab andHaryana High Court Registry not toappoint any civil judge in Haryana with-out its nod.

The petition challenged the selectionprocess and evaluation method adoptedin the examination on the grounds ofbeing "unreasonable, arbitrary and malafide". It alleged that if the examination'sselection process was not stayed, it wouldcause irreparable damage to the petition-ers and other un-successful candidates.

The petitioners have alleged that var-

ious RTI applications were filed immedi-ately after the result of the main exami-nation seeking disclosure of marks, copiesof answer scripts, model answers andmarking criteria, but to no avail and theinterview tests were scheduled on the basisof the already declared results.

The petitioners have also alleged thatthere was a "serious problem" with theevaluation method being conducted forselecting judicial officers in Haryana.

A total 14,301 students took the pre-liminary examination held on December22, 2018 for total 107 vacancies.

"1,282 students, out of 14,301, whowere declared successful in preliminaryexamination, took the main examinationheld on March 15 and 17, 2019," it said.

The plea further said that it was "sur-prising" and "invited disbelief " that at least20-30 candidates, who had appeared forthe main exam but were not selected forthe interview are those who have alreadycleared judicial examinations of otherstates or are sitting judges in their respec-tive States. PTI

New Delhi: In a sensationalrevelation by CBI in theSupreme Court on Friday, 11girls were allegedly murderedby key accused Brajesh Thakurand his accomplices and "bun-dle of bones" recovered from aburial ground in theMuzaffarpur shelter home sex-ual abuse case.

In its affidavit filed in thetop court, CBI stated that fromthe statement of victims record-ed during the probe, names of11 girls have emerged, whowere said to be allegedly mur-dered by Thakur and his

accomplices.The agency said that on the

pointing out of one of the

accused, a particular spot in aburial ground was excavatedfrom where a bundle of boneswas recovered.

Several girls were alleged-ly raped and sexually abused atan NGO-run shelter home atMuzaffarpur in Bihar and theissue had come to light fol-lowing a report by the TataInstitute of Social Sciences(TISS).

The probe into the case wastransferred to CBI and theagency has chargesheeted 21people, including Thakur.

"During investigation,

from the statement of victims recorded by IOs (inves-tigating officers) andNIMHANS (National Instituteof Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences) team, namesof 11 girls emerged who weresaid to be allegedly murderedby the accused Brajesh Thakurand his accomplices," the CBIsaid.

"Based on the factsrevealed by one accused, name-ly Guddu Patel during hisinterrogation, a particular spotin burial ground as identifiedby accused Guddu Patel was

excavated and a bundle ofbones were recovered fromthe spot," CBI said in the affi-davit filed on an applicationwhich had alleged that it hadnot conducted a proper probein the case.

The matter came up forhearing on Friday before abench comprising Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeDeepak Gupta.

The bench said that it wouldissue a formal notice to the CBIon the application and theagency would file its responsewithin four weeks. PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Fridayagreed to hear next week a review plea filedby 21 Opposition leaders seeking furtherincrease in random matching of VVPATslips with EVMs in the ongoing generalelections.

The apex court had on April 8 direct-ed the Election Commission to increaserandom matching of Voter Verifiable PaperAudit Trail (VVPAT) slips with ElectronicVoting Machines (EVMs) in five pollingbooths per Assembly segment from onebooth.

The top court, however, had not agreedto the demand of 21 Opposition leaders forcounting of at least 50 per cent of VVPATslips with EVMs in every Assembly seg-ment.

Opposition leaders led by AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu had sought the review of the apexcourt's order, saying the "increase from 1to 5 is not a reasonable number and doesnot lead to satisfaction desired by thiscourt".

The plea was mentioned for urgenthearing before a bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice DeepakGupta.

Senior advocate Abhishek ManuSinghvi, appearing for petitioners, told thebench that the review plea be listed for hear-ing next week.

The bench accepted Singhvi's submis-sion and said the matter will be heard nextweek.

The plea said: "The petitioners submitthat the aforesaid increase to a mere 2 percent is not sufficient and will not make anysubstantial difference to the situation thatexisted prior to the passing of the impugnedorder. PTI

New Delhi:Instant mes-saging appWhatsApp onFriday told theS u p r e m eCourt that it isconducting atrial run of its payment serviceand will comply with RBI normson data localisation beforelaunching the full service.

The trial run is likely to becompleted by July end this year,it said.

A bench of Justices R FNariman and Vineet Saran washearing a plea filed by an NGO,Centre for Accountability andSystemic Change (CASC),which has claimed thatWhatsApp has not fully com-plied with RBI's circular whichprescribed data localisationnorms.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibaland Arvind Datar, appearing forthe messenger app owned byUS-based Facebook, told thebench that they are only havinga trial run which is likely to becompleted by July and it will notlaunch payments services with-out fully complying with RBInorms.

"We cannot launch theproduct without complying withthe norms," Sibal said.

Advocate Virag Gupta,appearing for the NGO, said thatWhatsApp was allowed to runthe trial of its payments serviceswith one million users. PTI

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If India cuts down consump-tion of dirty household fuels

such as wood, dung, coal andkerosene that produce high lev-els of household air pollutionwith a range of health-damagingpollutants, it can save as manyas 2,70,000 lives every year,according to a joint study con-ducted by researchers fromUniversity of California,Berkeley and the India Instituteof Technology (IIT), Delhi.

There are 3,000 chemicalsthat have been identified inwood smoke, and if taken at amacro level, it is very similar totobacco smoke, they warned.

"Household fuels are the sin-gle biggest source of outdoor airpollution in India," said Kirk RSmith, professor of global envi-ronmental health at UCBerkeley and director of theCollaborative Clean Air PolicyCentre. "We looked at whatwould happen if they onlycleaned up households, and wecame to this counterintuitiveresult that the whole countrywould reach national air pollu-tion standards if they did that."

Smith is co-author of apaper describing the analysisthat appeared this week in thejournal Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences.

Till early 2016, nearly half ofthe Indian population wasreliant on biomass for householdfuel. In addition to generatinggreenhouse gases like carbon

dioxide and methane, thesedirty fuels kick out chemicalsand other fine particulate mat-ter that can stick in the lungs andtrigger a whole host of diseases,including pneumonia, heart dis-ease, stroke, lung cancer andchronic obstructive pulmonarydisease. In 2015, India's averageannual air pollution level was 55micrograms per cubic meter (ugm-3) of fine particulate matter.

Complete mitigation of bio-mass as fuel — which could beachieved through widespreadelectrification and distribution ofclean-burning propane to ruralareas — would cut India's aver-age annual air pollution to 38 ugm-3, just below the country'sNational Ambient Air QualityStandard of 40 ug m-3. Whilethis is still far above the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)standard of 10 ug m-3, it couldstill have dramatic impacts onthe health of the country's resi-dents, Smith said.

"You can't have a clean envi-ronment when about half thehouses in India are burning dirtyfuels every day," Smith said."India has got to do other things

to fix air pollution — they've gotto stop garbage burning, they'vegot to control the power plants,they've got to control vehiclesand so forth. But they need torecognise the fact that house-holds are very important con-tributors to outdoor air pollu-tion, too."

In 2016, India instituted anational programme to distrib-ute clean burning stoves andpropane to 80 million impover-ished households, or about 500million people. The rationalebehind this programme was toprevent illness due to cookingand heating smoke trappedwithin the home.

However, Smith hopes thestudy's findings will bolster sup-port for reducing outdoor airpollution, as well. Similar pro-grammes have been successfulin China, where air pollution isnow on the decline in 80 cities."We've realised that pollutionmay start in the kitchen, but itdoesn't stay there — it goes out-side, it goes next door, it goesdown the street and it becomespart of the general outdoor airpollution," Smith said.

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New Delhi: The BJP on Fridayattacked the Congress overunaccounted money beingtraced from "close associates" ofMadhya Pradesh Chief MinisterKamal Nath, saying the State hasbecome a "new ATM" for thegrand old party.

Addressing a Press confer-ence at the party office, BJPspokesperson GVL NarasimhaRao alleged that the Congressdispensation in the state is"minting money and divertinggovernment funds. Rs 281 croreunaccounted cash was tracedfrom his close associates".

Describing Madhya Pradeshas a new ATM of Congress, Raoalleged that as per entries in adiary traced by Income TaxDepartment, senior Congressleaders Digvijay Singh andRandeep Surjewala also got a cutfrom this unaccounted cash.

The Congress dismissed thecharge, saying it was a sign ofdesperation of the ruling party.Senior party leader AnandSharma said that raising theseissues at this stage shows themindset of the BJP and the rul-ing Government which werepanicking. PTI

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Mala, Helen, Nargis andNilofer may sound like

the names of yesteryearBollywood actors, but they are,in fact, lethal cyclones that havebrought violent winds, heavyrains and wreaked destruc-tion. As Cyclone Fani pound-ed the Odisha coast on Friday,the name ‘Phoni”, which wassuggested by Bangladesh, alsoevoked curiosity. How theCyclones named?

Mritunjay Mohapatra, theAdditional Director General ofthe India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD), said Fani,pronounced as ‘Foni’, means asnake’s hood.

The World MeteorologicalOrganisation/Economic andSocial Commission for Asia

and the Pacific Panel onTropical Cyclones, at its twen-ty-seventh session held in 2000in Muscat, Oman, agreed toassign names to the tropicalcyclones in the Bay of Bengaland Arabian Sea.

After long deliberationsamong the member countries,the naming of tropical cyclonesover north Indian Ocean com-menced from September 2004.

The eight countries alongthe Bay of Bengal and ArabianSea suggest names that aresequentially listed. The nationssuggest names alphabetically -- Bangladesh, India, Maldives,Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, SriLanka and Thailand.

The Regional SpecialisedMeteorological Centre (RSMC)based here gives a tropicalcyclone an identification from

the names list. The identifica-tion system covers both theArabian Sea and the Bay of

Bengal. So, for instance,Bangladesh suggested ‘Onil’the first in the list. Onil origi-

nated in Arabian Sea, off theGujarat coast betweenSeptember to October 2004. Itmade landfall in the state, butimpacted both India andPakistan.

Cyclone Phetai, suggestedby Thailand, originated in theBay of Bengal and made land-fall in Andhra Pradesh, rav-aging the coastal districts inDecember last year.

The next cyclone, when-ever it originates, will be named‘Vayu’, suggested by India.

Of the 64 names suggestedby these eight countries, 57have been utilised. Some of thenames suggested by India areAgni, Jali, Bijli, Akash, whileMala, Helen and Nilofar weresuggested by Sri Lanka,Bangladesh and Pakistanrespectively.

These lists are used sequen-tially and they are not rotatedevery few years, unlike theAtlantic and Eastern Pacific lists.

“A storm causes so muchdeath and destruction that itsname is considered for retire-ment and hence is not usedrepeatedly.

“If the public wants to sug-gest the name of a cyclone to beincluded in the list, the pro-posed name must meet somefundamental criteria,” a circu-lar on naming the cyclones overthe North Indian Ocean said.

“The name should be shortand readily understood whenbroadcast. Further, the namesmust not be culturally sensitiveand must not convey someunintended and potentiallyinflammatory meaning,” itadded. The name can be

communicated to the directorgeneral of the IMD.

According to the IMD, inthe beginning, storms werenamed arbitrarily. LaxmanSingh Rathore, a former direc-tor general of the IMD, said thepractice of naming the stormfirst started in the UnitedStates. This helped identify itand also aided the researchers.

Earlier, the storm wasnamed after the coast it hit,Rathore added. “Then the mid-1900s saw the start of practiceof using feminine names forstorms. In the pursuit of a moreorganised and efficient namingsystem, meteorologists laterdecided to identify stormsusing names from a listarranged alphabetically,” theIMD said explaining the gen-esis of the naming process.

“Before the end of 1900s,forecasters started using malenames for those forming in theSouthern Hemisphere. Since1953, Atlantic tropical stormshave been named from listsoriginated by the NationalHurricane Centre. They arenow maintained and updatedby an international committeeof the World MeteorologicalOrganisation,” the IMD added.

Storms over South Pacificand Indian Ocean are known ascyclones. In the North Atlantic,central North Pacific, and east-ern North Pacific, the termhurricane is used.

The same type of distur-bance in the Northwest Pacificis called a typhoon, accordingto the National Ocean Serviceof the US’ National OceanicAtmospheric Administration.

New Delhi: Due to CycloneFani that hit hard eastern coastof Odisha on Friday, the AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences, (AIIMS), Delhi hascanceled the AIIMS PG Exam2019 examination centre atBhubaneswar. In the noticereleased by AIIMS, the exam-ination, which is scheduledfor this Sunday May 5, 2019would not be conducted inBhubaneswar. Exam would beconducted on a different datefor the affected candidates.

Union Health and WelfareSecretary Preeti Sudan tweet-ed that, “AIIMS PG exam isscheduled on 5th May. Due tocyclone Fani, AIIMS Delhi iscancelling the exam centre inBhubaneswar. Another exam

will be conducted for studentsaffected by this cancellation assoon as normalcy returns”.

The examination is onlycancelled for the candidateswho were allottedBhubaneswar exam centres.

The examination at theother centres, however, wouldbe conducted as per the sched-ule. The revised dates forBhubaneshwar centre would bereleased by AIIMS New Delhiat a later date. As for theAIIMS MBBS 2019 examina-tion, there is no update.

AIIMS would be releasingthe admit cards for the MBBSexamination on May 15 onaiimsexams.org, said a seniorofficial from the HealthMinistry. PNS

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Jaipur: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said on Fridaythat the Centre stood with thepeople in states hit by cycloneFani. Modi said, “I want toassure the families affected bythe cyclone that we are withthem at this point of hour. Wehave collected fresh updatesfrom the officials and hadreleased a fund of Rs 1,000 crorefor relief work on Thursday.

“Rescue teams have beenoperationalised. The NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF), Indian Coast Guard,Indian Navy and Indian Army— all have been working withthe administration. Comingtogether to combat bad timesis the spirit of India.” IANS

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With super-cyclonic stormFani ravaging Odisha

coastal belt and appearing in nomood to spare Bengal the StateGovernment went on maxi-mum alert state with ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee can-celling her election rallies forthe coming 48 hours.

The Chief Minister whowas currently camping atKharagpur some 50 miles fromthe sea was personally moni-toring the situation even as thestate administration evacuatedseveral lakh people from thecoastal regions.

Tourists had been evacu-ated from beach joints ofDigha, Mandarmani,Shankarpur, Tajpur, HomeMinistry sources said addinghotels at the mouth of Bay ofBengal in Bak Khali, GangaSagar, Namkhana, Sajne Khali

in Sundarbans had been evac-uated and local villagers hadbeen shifted to those places.

“Taking lesson from Aila,”that struck Bengal causingextensive damages in 2009 theGovernment had takenunprecedented measures, asenior official said.

The Chief Minister said “bealert, take care and stay safe forthe next two days but don’tpanic. I am personally super-vising the situation on warfooting. All the election-relat-ed programmes have been post-poned for the next 48 hours.”

In Kolkata Mayor FirhadHakim ordered evacuation ofpeople from shanties and hut-ments. “Several thousand peo-ple have been shifted to com-munity halls and roadside shopshave been closed,” a seniorKolkata MetropolitanCorporation official said adding.

The “extremely severe”

storm is likely fade into a“severe cyclonic depression” bythe time it would enter Bengalsometime in the wee hours ofSaturday, weather office saidadvising “chances should not betaken and people should be onmaximum alert.”

The State Government haddirected owners of ‘The 42’ thetallest building in India toremove the tall crane affixed toit. While the Railways cancelleda number of local trains mov-ing down south to Sunderbanregions of Diamond Harbour,Canning, Namkhana causingmassive passenger snarl atSealdah Railway Station.“Trains are being run sparing-ly considering the entry time ofthe storm,” an Eastern Railwayofficial said. Flights out ofNetaji Subhas InternationalAirport had also been sus-pended for several hours tillSaturday causing great incon-venience to the North-Eastbound passengers sources said.

“Our flights have been can-celled and we are stranded inKolkata without any boardingfacility being provided by theairline authorities,” said aRakesh Sinharoy a passengerappealing to the authorities tomake arrangements for thetrapped passengers.Meanwhile, the with electoralcode of conduct lifted from theaffected zones political partiesfound a great opportunity of dopre-electoral service to themasses even as many of themjumped into action as hordes ofmini trucks loaded withactivists and relief materialsrushed coastwards.

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Ajoint team of securityforces early on Friday

morning dealt a body blow totop Hizbul Muhajideen (HM)commanders, active inKashmir Valley, by neutralisingLateef Ahmad Dar, alias Tigerof Dogripora, Pulwama, one oflone surviving members ofBurhan Wani group, alongwith two other local terroristsin a fierce firefight in SouthKashmir’s Shopian district.

Timing of the clinical oper-ation is set to boost the moraleof the security forces deployedin the area to ensure peacefulpolling in the final phase inShopian and Pulwama districtson May 6.

After the killing of HizbulMujahideen’s poster boy,Burhan Wani, in July 2016, sev-eral other top commanderstoo were neutralised duringsustained operations by thesecurity forces.

Lateef Ahmad Dar, killedin Shopian, was lone survivingmember of the group who wasstill active in the area.

According to police, Lateef

‘Tiger’ was reportedly involvedin grooming young recruits forpro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideenterror outfit. He was active in thearea since 2014 and was a closeconfidant of Burhan Wani.

The killing of three localterrorists also sparked offprotests in the area. Local res-idents tried to assemble nearthe encounter site provokingthe security forces to use tearsmoke shells to disperse theunruly mob. The authoritiesimmediately snapped mobileInternet services in southKashmir whereas train ser-vices through the area alsoremained suspended.

According to policespokesman, “The operation waslaunched on the basis of a cred-ible input about the presence ofterrorists at Adkhara Village inImam Sahab area of districtShopian early on Friday morn-ing.” “During searches, the hid-ing terrorists fired upon thesearch party. The fire was retal-iated leading to an encounter.Initially, with the efforts ofpolice and security forces, thecivilians trapped around theencounter site were evacuated to

safer places”. During the oper-ation, one Army jawanYugendar Kumar also sustainedgunshot injuries. He was evac-uated to hospital and is under-going medical treatment,” thepolice spokesman said.

“In the ensuing encounter,three terrorists were killed andthe bodies were retrieved fromthe site of encounter. The threekilled terrorists have been iden-tified as Lateef Ahmad Daralias Tiger of DogriporaPulwama, Tariq Ahmad Sheikhalias Mufti Waqas of MooluChitragam Shopian and ShariqAhmad Nengroo of Chotigam

Shopian,” the spokesperson said.According to the police

records, all the three terroristswere affiliated with the pro-scribed terror outfit HM andwere wanted by law for theircomplicity in a series of terrorcrimes including attacks onsecurity establishments andcivilian atrocities.

As per police records,Lateef had a long history of ter-ror crime records since 2014and was involved in planningand executing several terrorattacks in the area. Several ter-ror crime cases were registeredagainst him.

Similarly, Tariq also had along history of terror crimerecords and was involved in sev-eral terror attacks. Several terrorcrime cases were registeredagainst him. He was part ofgroups involved in planningand executing terror attacks onthe security establishments inthe area. He was instrumental inluring youth to join terror organ-isations. Moreover, he was alsoinvolved in several weaponsnatching cases reported fromthe area. Shariq was alsoinvolved in several terror attacks.

Incriminating materialincluding arms and ammunitionwere recovered from the site ofencounter. Police has registereda case. All these incriminatingmaterials have been taken incase records to probe their com-plicity in other terror crimes.

Police also appealed to cit-izens not to venture insideencounter zone since such anarea can prove dangerous due tostray explosive materials.“People are requested to coop-erate with police till area is com-pletely sanitised and cleared ofall explosive materials if any,”said a detailed police advisory.

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Aspecial CBI court on Fridaysentenced one person to

life imprisonment and imposeda fine of Rs 3.13 crore andawarded rigorous imprison-ment to four persons, includ-ing a former branch managerof Andhra Bank, for periodsranging from three years to tenyears and levied fines collect-ing amounting to Rs 3.70 lakhin a bank fraud case.

The CBI court handed outlife imprisonment to oneRajendra Marutrao Patil, a pri-vate individual, and imposed afine of Rs. 3.13 crore.

The court sentencedBandalmudi Mahipal, thenBranch Manager, AndhraBank, Ghodbundar RoadBranch, 10 years’ rigorousimprisonment with fine of Rs.3.40 lakh and awarded threeyears’ rigorous imprisonmenteach to Nizamuddin Ismail

Surve alias Majeed Naik,Reshma Kunte @ Smt. ReshmaRajendra Patil and PremnathAtmaram Nikumbhe , all pri-vate individuals and imposedfines of Rs 18,000, Rs 12,000and Rs 12,000 respectively onthem for allegedly causing ahuge loss to the Andhra Bank.

The CBI had registered acase on 30.01.2010 on a com-plaint from General Manager,Andhra Bank, Andheri,Mumbai against Rajendra Patil,Bandalmudi Mahipal, thenBranch Manager, AndhraBank, Ghodbundar RoadBranch, Thane (Maharashtra)and three others.

The Prosecution’s case wasthat the accused persons hadavailed a term loan of Rs.203.35 lakh for purchase of 15Skoda Laura Cars. However,they purchased only one car,while they allegedly siphonedoff rest of of the money wassiphoned off for other purpos-

es by the borrower. The accused also availed

another facility of SecuredOverdraft of Rs.139.95 lakhagainst term deposit worthRs.155.50 lakh which was alsonot cleared and therebyAndhra Bank was put to a totalloss to the tune of approxi-mately Rs. 2.30 crore.

After its investigation, theCBI filed a charge sheet in thespecial court against theaccused under 120-B (con-spiracy), 420 (cheating), 465(punishment for forgery), 467(forgery of valuable security,will etc) 468 (forgery for thepurpose of cheating), 471(using forged document asgenuine one) & 511 (punish-ment for attempting to commitoffences punishable withimprisonment for life or otherimprisonment) of IPC andSection 13(2) r/w 13(1) (d) ofPrevention of Corruption Act,1988 and substantive offences.

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Despite Prime MinisterNarendra Modi pitching in

with his moral support to theScheduled Castes, ScheduledTribes and BackwardCommunities, a cartel ofbureaucrats are workinground-the- clock to victimise,disgrace and humiliateGovernment officials belongingto the SC/ST and BC sections.This has been brought to lightby a Chief Secretary grade IASofficer in Tamil Nadu.

The 13-pages long com-plaint filed by Jagmohan SinghRaju, Commissioner of LandReforms (additional chief sec-retary) Government of TamilNadu, and which the TamilNadu Police refused to acceptreveals shocking developmentsand happenings in the coun-try’s civil service.

The Pioneer had broughtout the news that Raju, aPunjab-born IAS officerbelonging to the SC communi-ty is being denied promotion tothe post of additional secre-tary/secretary to theGovernment of India because ofhis status as a member of the SC

Raju , who began his er inthe civil service at the age of 22has been honoured interna-tionally and nationally for themeritorious and exemplaryservices rendered by him forthe upliftment of the society.He was due for empanelmentas additional secretary /secre-tary to the Government ofIndia in 2016.

But certain people in thecorridors of power cannotdigest the fact that an officerfrom the SC community

would occupy the post of cab-inet secretary, the topmost posta civil servant could aspire.

A group of officials gangedup and devised strategies toderail the progress of Raju’scareer by foisting false fake andfrivolous cases on him.

Though all cases werefound to be fake by the inves-tigating agencies of theGovernment of India and judi-ciary, the people responsible forremoving the blots on thecareer of the officer ganged upand retained the charges withmore vigour.

Police complaint accessedby The Pioneer threw outshocking goings on in India’sbureaucracy.

“My career has nosedivedbecause of caste based dis-crimination at the hands ofsenior government func-tionaries and others. I havebeen in particular victimised byKabindra Joshi, G Srinivasan,KV Chowdary (CVC), PKMishra (additional principalsecretary to the PrimeMinister). With the sole motiveof harming my current andfuture professional/employ-ment prospects and socialstanding they have been ruin-ing my impeccable reputationas an honest officer by givingfalse information against me topublic servants , institutingfalse and malicious inquiriesagainst me contrary to estab-lished norms and practicesand creating an atmosphere ofdistrust and prejudice to dis-criminate against me. Therebythey have committed atrocitieson me which are an offencesinter alia under Section 3 of theSC/ST (Prohibition ofAtrocities Act) 1989,” Raju said

in his complaint which theTamil Nadu police refused toaccept. Joshi and Srinivasan areunder secretaries in the centralGovernment with unlimitedpower at their disposal.

Raju’s complaint is repletewith the modus operandi fol-lowed by the quartet of Joshi,Srinivasan, Mishra andChowdary, the last namedbeing the chief vigilance com-missioner of the country.

Despite Raju being clearedin all the inquiries held by thevigilance department of thegovernment of India, theseofficials succeeded in retainingthe charges against him bytampering the VigilanceInformation System of theDepartment o Personnel andTraining (DOPT) of theGovernment of India.

The National Commissionfor Scheduled Castes (NCSC)which went into the woes ofRaju expressed its anguish andshock over the way the officerhas been subjected to the worstkind of treatment.

“What is shocking is thedenial of justice to Raju hashappened despite the PrimeMinister’s assurance to themembers of the SC, ST andOBC sections that this wasgoing to be their century,” saida senior civil service officerprivy to the goings on inIndia’s corridors of power.

People who cry fromrooftops for any alleged viola-tion of the rights of theoppressed classes have notuttered a single word in supportof Raju.

They may be indifferentbecause Raju does not com-mand any vote bank in TamilNadu.

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Mumbai’s landmark prop-erty RK Studios, which

had been up for sale ever sincea massive fire gutted thepremises in September 2017,has finally changed hands. Itsnew owner is: realty majorGodrej Properties Ltd (GPL),which is now planning todevelop a swanky residentialcomplex-cum-shopping plazaon the premises.

Confirming that it hadinked a deal with Kapoors,GPL said in a statement here onFriday that 2.2 acre RK studioproperty, located at Chemburin north-east Mumbai, wouldoffer to the new owner anapproximately 3,50,000 sq ft (33,000 square meters) ofsaleable area comprising mod-ern residential apartments ofvarious configurations as wellas a luxury retail experience.

Located on the main Sion-Panvel Road, the propertyoffers an extremely well devel-oped social and civic infra-structure with multiple schools,hospitals, retail malls, residen-tial, and commercial spaces inclose proximity.

Not surprisingly, GPL hasnot disclosed the amount atwhich it purchased RK Studios,

which had been named afterlegendary filmmaker RajKapoor.

According to informedsources in the real estate mar-ket, the estimated valued of theprized property is anywherefrom Rs 500 crore to 600 crore.The ongoing rates ofDeveloped residential-cum-commercial rates in Chemburis any where Rs 25,000 to Rs30,000 per sq feet,

“We are happy to add thisiconic site in Chembur to ourdevelopment portfolio. Thisfits well with our strategy ofdeepening our presence in keylocations across India’s leadingcities. We will seek to ensure wecelebrate the remarkable lega-cy of this site with the goal ofdelivering an outstandinglifestyle for its residents,”Godrej Properties’ ExecutiveChairman Pirojsha Godrej said.

Filmmaker and late RajKapoor’s son Randhir Kapoorof RK Studios said, “This prop-erty in Chembur has been oftremendous significance to myfamily over the many decadesthat RK Studios has operatedfrom there. We are excited tohave chosen Godrej Propertiesto script a new chapter for thislocation and build upon its richhistory”.

Significantly enough,Kapoors have sold the propertymore than six months after thelate Raj Kapoor’s widow, Krishna,passed away at the age of 87, onOctober 1, 2018 last year.

The Kapoor family hadbeen looking out to sell thefamous property ever since ahuge fire broke out on thepremises on September 16,2017. After the fire reduced thestudio and also precious mem-orabilia and costumes fromthe RK Films & Studios bannerfilms to ashes, Kapoors hadexpressed their inability torevamp and restart the studio.

So much so that after thefire mishap, senior actor RishiKapoor had gone on recordthat it had become economi-

cally unviable for his family torenovate and maintain theplace. “Even before the fire, foryears RK Studio had become ahuge white elephant, toting uplosses,” Rishi Kapoor was quot-ed as saying.

Constructed in 1948, RKStudios contributed a great dealto the Indian cinema. After thefirst film Aag made at this stu-dio bombed at the box office in1948, the Studios — whichmade films under the RK Films— tasted first success withBarsaat (1949). The bannerwent on to make successfulfilms like Awaara, Boot Polish,Jagte Raho and Shree 420.

Many RK Films moviesfeatured Kapoor oppositeactress Nargis. Raj Kapoorappeared in 15 RK films withNargis and travelled around theworld with her to promote thestudio’s films. The music direc-tor duo-Shankar Jaikishan alsoworked frequently on RK Filmsproductions during this period.

In the following decades RKFilms produced many films,including Jis Desh Men GangaBehti Hai (1960), Mera NaamJoker (1970), Bobby (1973),Satyam Shivam Sundaram(1978), Prem Rog (1982) andRam Teri Ganga Maili (1985),which was Raj Kapoor’s last film.

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Aday after Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra

impressed photographers dur-ing an interaction with snakecharmers, Modi accused her ofprojecting an image of thecountry that did not sit wellwith the reality.

“Now it is ‘mouse charm-ers’ and not ‘snake charmers’,”Modi said on Friday, referringto the young Indians in the ITsector. He did not directlyname the Congress generalsecretary. Photojournalists cov-ering Priyanka Gandhi’s elec-tion campaign in her motherSonia Gandhi’s constituencyof Rae Bareli had caught hertalking with snake charmers.

“Nothing will happen, it’sfine,” she had said when some-one warned her against holdinga snake. At an election rally here,Modi referred to a photo ofJawaharlal Nehru. “There was atime when the ̀ naamdars’ of theCongress used to feel happyshowing snake charmers to for-eign guests,” he said.

“There is popular pictureof the first Prime Ministershowing a snake charmer toforeign guests. It is available onsocial media. He was feelingproud,” he said.

Such pictures made theworld call India a country ofsnake charmers, Modi said.

“The fourth generation ofthe ‘naamdar’ family is doingthis now as well,” he added.

Modi said they forget thatthe country has moved ahead,

and Indians hold the comput-er mouse now. “Now it is‘mouse charmers’ and not‘snake charmers’.”

He said the country’syoung people have changed theimage of the country by mak-ing a name in the field of IT.

“But the fourth generation(of the family) is seeking votesby showing snake charmers,” hesaid. He also accused theCongress of doing nothing for the welfare of the nomadic community of snakecharmers.

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Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra advised

Prime Minister Narendra Modito protect the fields of farmers onFriday, saying that is nationalismas well. “You are protecting peo-ple from Pakistan’s aggression.This is a big achievement.Everyone is happy. But youshould also protect fields offarmers. That is nationalism aswell,” she told an election meet-ing in support of her mother andthe Congress candidate from RaeBareli in the ongoing Lok Sabhapolls, Sonia Gandhi.

“Loving people also meansrespecting them. If they aresaying something, you (PM) should listen to them as their

voice is the voice of democracy.What kind of nationalism is thisthat you ignore farmers, young-sters and women?,” the Congressgeneral secretary in-charge ofeastern Uttar Pradesh said.

“When you demonstrate foryour rights, your voice is curbed.Why is this done? Because theGovernment is afraid of yourpower. They know that they didnot honour any of the promises

they had made in the last fiveyears. They had a majorityGovernment, but did nothing inthe interest of people,” she added.

Claiming the Governmentonly focussed on its own pub-licity, Priyanka said, “Whereveryou go, you see his (Modi’s) face.Half of his speech targets theopposition. Everyone is a nation-alist. What does nationalismmean? It means you shouldhear the voice of the people.”

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The selection of a Prime Ministeris a relatively smooth affair in casethe results of a general election aredecisive. In such cases, the PrimeMinister virtually selects himself.

But this is not always the case. There havebeen instances post a general election, as alsoa mid-term poll, where Presidents have hadto undertake strenuous exercises before mak-ing the final selection. Some such cases —where the decision-making was not sosmooth and conventions were not followed— will be recalled in this column.

India’s Constitution is one of the longestin the world. Its drafting took almost threeyears and was debated extensively beforebeing finalised. Despite being a comprehen-sively written document, ambiguities remain,resulting in varying interpretations, some-times leading to controversies.

Article 74 of the Constitution is mod-elled on Section 9 of the Government ofIndia Act, 1935, which lays down the basisof a Cabinet system (Council of Ministers)with the Prime Minister as the head of theCabinet to aid and advise the President.Article 75 lays down that the PrimeMinister shall be appointed by thePresident. Obviously, it is left to the latterto take a decision and appoint the former.As per the Constitution, the Prime Ministerand the Council of Ministers are responsi-ble to the House of the People. Article 75(3)says such a person chosen as the PrimeMinister has to have the confidence of theHouse. Though not mentioned explicitlyin the Constitution, ultimately, it becomesthe weightiest factor in the selectionprocess with the President.

In the case of a single political party ora pre-poll alliance having majority, who havechosen a leader, the decision-making isuncomplicated and smooth. Complicationsarise in cases where claims of relativestrengths conflict and overlap. For such sit-uations, too, over a period of time, conven-tions and precedents have evolved, facilitat-ing the decision-making process.

Presidents have adopted varying yard-sticks for different situations, which are nowpart of our Constitutional history. After thesixth general election in March 1977,Morarji Desai of the Janata Party hadbecome the Prime Minister. He had to resignmid-term on July 15, 1979, on account ofcertain intra-party stress factors, eventhough he continued to be the leader of theJanata Party. The next day, the then DeputyPrime Minister Ch Charan Singh brokeaway from the Janata Party and formed hisown party. As per the convention, the thenPresident Neelam Sanjeev Reddy invitedLeader of the Opposition YB Chavan toform the Government. Expressing hisinability, Chavan suggested to the Presidentthat a combination of parties had emergedled by Ch Charan Singh, which could formthe Government. The President at this stageset a precedent when he asked for lists of

supporting MPs, both fromMorarji Desai as well as ChCharan Singh. Ultimately sup-ported by the Congress, CharanSingh was sworn in as thePrime Minister on July 28,almost two weeks after MorarjiDesai’s resignation. He was sup-posed to prove his majority dur-ing the Monsoon Session ofParliament but had to resign onAugust 20 for want of supportfrom the Congress.

While resigning, he hadadvised the President to dissolvethe House for a fresh election.Strictly following the conven-tion, the advice of a PrimeMinister, who had failed to winthe confidence of the House, wasnot binding on the President. Inthis case, President NeelamSanjiva Reddy, instead of mak-ing an offer to Jagjivan Ram,then Leader of Opposition, dis-solved the House and ChCharan Singh continued as thecare-taker Prime Minister foralmost five months till the sev-enth general elections were heldin December 1979. It has beenoften observed that this decisionwas propelled by the previoushistory of the President andJagjivan Ram from their daystogether in the Congress at thetime of its split in 1969.

The precedent of obtaininglists of MPs in support was laterrepeated in 1999 by President

KR Narayanan, when one of theclaimants was unable to furnishthe requisite numbers, leading tothe post-Kargil war general elec-tions in September 1999.

Earlier in November 1989,after the ninth general election,as no party had secured anabsolute majority, President RVenkataraman invited RajivGandhi in his capacity as theleader of the largest party inParliament to form theGovernment. After his refusal,VP Singh, with letters of supportfrom the Left Front as well asthe BJP, formed theGovernment. As the latter with-drew their support on October23, 1990, VP Singh was asked toprove his majority in the House.Having lost the vote 142 to 346,he had to resign on November7, 1990. The Congress was onceagain asked to form theGovernment, but they insteadsupported Chandrasekhar’sbreakaway group. Accordingly,Chandrasekhar was sworn in asthe Prime Minister. Later, inMarch 1991, after the withdraw-al of support from the Congress,he resigned, advising dissolutionof the Lok Sabha, which wasaccepted by the President.

At least on one occasion,the principle of making the firstoffer to the largest partyappeared to be embarrassing-ly impractical. In 1996, the then

President Shankar DayalSharma had invited Atal BihariVajpayee to form theGovernment, as the BJP wasthe largest party with 161 seats,its allies having 34, thus mak-ing it a total of 195.

On the other hand, theUnited Front had a total of 318,including the Congress’ sup-port. Embarrassingly, also forthe President, Vajpayee failed tosecure the vote of confidenceand had to resign within 13days of being sworn as thePrime Minister. Obviously,while extending the invitationto Vajpayee, his capacity to winconfidence of the House hadnot been considered.

Ultimately, what matters isthe satisfaction of the Presidentthat his choice would be able towin the confidence of the House.Based on this principle, afterIndira Gandhi’s assassination,Giani Zail Singh as Presidenthad invited Rajiv Gandhi to bethe Prime Minister in 1984, eventhough at that time, he had notbeen formally elected as theleader of the party.

In 2004, the differencebetween the Congress (145)and the BJP (138) was verysmall, but the then President,APJ Abdul Kalam had invitedthe Congress to form theGovernment not only because itwas the largest party but also

because it had the largest pre-poll support (UPA) in numbers.

The modalities of theselection process were lookedupon in detail by the SarkariaCommission, which had rec-ommended that the Presidentshould invite the leaders of theparties in the following order,(i) Leader of the largest pre-poll alliance of parties, (ii)Leader of the single largestparty, (iii) Leader of the post-poll alliance.

Later, the Commission,to review the working of theConstitution chaired by for-mer Chief Justice of India MNVenkatachaliah, had suggest-ed that in certain ambiguoussituations, the President couldsend a message to the LokSabha to choose a leader, whowould then be appointed thePrime Minister. Such a proce-dure would do away with therequirement of a vote of con-fidence in the House. Eversince our independence,despite our initial lack ofexperience in running demo-cratic institutions, it is heart-ening that we have, as theworld’s largest democracy,evolved in a manner to set anexample to the rest.

(The writer is a formerGovernor of Meghalaya andUttarakhand and a formerCommissioner of Police, Delhi)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Azhar nailed, finally” (May 3).The Pulwama terror attack onFebruary 14 was, perhaps, thedeadliest that occurred in theValley in the past three decadesof militant activity in Kashmir.This Pakistan based-terror out-fit, the Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM), claimed responsibility forthe attack and was also respon-sible for many other attacks inIndia, including on theParliament, Pathankot and Uriamong others.

For the last 10 years, Indiahad relentlessly tried to put himon the terror list but China’sopposition was the thorn inIndia’s side. It was only afterPulwama that the US, the UKand France moved a fresh pro-posal in the UN SecurityCouncil on February 27 to des-ignate JeM chief Masood Azharas a global terrorist. The effortsput by these countries as also bythe Modi Government, whichraised the costs for Pakistan’ssponsorship of terrorism, led tothis diplomatic victory. Timesare becoming harder for Pakistanday by day. It stands isolated and

if the ISI and Pakistani Army con-tinue harbouring terrorists andusing terror as a tool of state pol-icy, international sanctions maybe slapped on it.

Meanwhile, the IndianGovernment must build themomentum hereon. It must alsocontinue working with the West.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — There seems to be an acri-monious controversy over theIndian citizenship of Congresschief Rahul Gandhi. TheMinistry of Home Affairs hassought for clarification fromGandhi on the basis of allega-tions made by none other than

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. The Congress says such

doubts had been clarified in2016 itself and this charge wasold wine in a new bottle. Nowthat the Supreme Court hasagreed to hear the case in thecoming week, matters should beresolved once and for all.

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Azhar nailed, finally” (May3). Kudos to the European coun-tries, the US and the UK, whoplayed an important role inpressuring China to toe the line.New Delhi should now mountpressure on the UN as also thosenations who are a witness to ter-rorism like India, to fight collec-tively and ensure that the mostwanted terrorists are extraditedto face trial in Indian courts.

Abhinav KumarVia email

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Sir — Congress chief RahulGandhi should have put thematter to rest by admitting hismistake for attributing thephrase ‘chowkidar chor hai’ to theSupreme Court. The top court’sstand, asking him for an apolo-gy, will act as a deterrent againstbeing irresponsible.

AnishVia web

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India has secured a big diplomatic victory withthe listing of Masood Azhar, Pakistan-basedJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief, as a global ter-

rorist by the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) after China decided to lift its earlierimposed technical hold. It has been a long strug-gle for the Indian diplomatic corps since the issuehad been hanging fire for almost a decade now.Incidentally, the JeM had already been listed as aglobal terror organisation by the UN since 2002.However, Azhar continued to avoid the listing dueto Chinese patronage. The decision from the UNSecurity Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda SanctionsCommittee came after China lifted its technicalhold, imposed on March 13, on a proposal madeby the US, the UK and France to this end. Evenbefore that, China, a permanent member of theUNSC, had been blocking India’s attempts tosecure designation of Azhar for almost a decade.

Certainly, India’s consistency has paid off. Itwas not an easy task to propel China to changeits mind, especially when it had clarified after theBrics summit declaration that it was “for banningterrorist organisations but not individuals.” Chinastill had three months to lift the technical hold butstretched it to the last limit. Now that it has givenin, it is definitely a victory of the ModiGovernment. The declaration, coming as it doesin the midst of the electoral battle, indicates therespect the Chinese leadership has for the currentleadership in India with Modi at the helm. It is aspin-off of the Wuhan spirit and definitely a win-win for India.

In diplomacy, there are no clear cut winnersor losers until a decisive victory in a war has alreadydeclared the winners. In the instant case, both Indiaand China had been pursuing their national inter-ests. The latter was also treading the path very care-fully. Chinese national interests were under attackfrom America as a result of the ongoing trade warbetween the two countries that had begun muchbefore Pulwama. China’s GDP was on a decline.Many companies are contemplating shifting theirmanufacturing units to India. China, which con-siders itself as an emerging global power, can ill-afford a declining economy. Also, China’s image asa responsible member of the global community wasbeing dented due to its continuous support to Azhar,thus labelling it as pro-terror. The recently held sec-ond summit of the Belt Road Initiatives (BRI) alsoforced China for a re-think. India’s persistence tostay away from the initiative and not very encour-aging response from those who attended, includ-ing Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, made theChinese think-tank a bit nervous.

China was feeling the heat of international iso-lation with majority nations not aligning with itin the matter of terrorism. America’s threat to takethe matter to the UNSC further weakenedChina’s insistence because it was hardly left withany allies. The fear of losing a huge market likeIndia — one of the major trading partners ofChina — also weighed heavily in the minds of theChinese leadership. It was, therefore, perceived byChina that in its national interest, it can no longerafford to be seen as a pro-terrorist nation.However, it also did not want to offend its onlyally, Pakistan, with whom it pronounces itsfriendship as stronger than the Himalayas. Hence,China ensured that no reference was made to

Kashmir and Pulwama, a face-saving gimmick forPakistan, in the Sanction Committee’s declarationlisting Azhar as global terrorist.

“On this listing issue, China has been com-municating with relevant parties in a construc-tive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevantcountries revised and re-submitted the materialsfor the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee.After careful study of the revised materials andtaking into consideration the opinions of relevantparties concerned, China does not have objectionto the listing proposal,” Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said in a press statement.

“The proper settlement of the above-men-tioned issue again shows that in internationalcounter-terrorism cooperation, we have to upholdthe rules and procedures of relevant UN body, fol-low the principle of mutual respect, resolve dif-ferences and build consensus through dialogue,and prevent politicising technical issues,” he added.

In his statement, Geng pointed out thatPakistan has made “enormous contributions tofighting terrorism”, which should be recognisedby the international fraternity. Thus, it is a win-win situation as far as China is concerned. It is awin-win situation for France, the US, Britain andother members of 1267 Committee as well.

Pakistan is also claiming a win-win situationon the pretext that no mention has been made ofKashmir and Pulwama since India has been blam-ing Azhar as the mastermind and JeM as theexecutor of the dastardly Pulwama terror attack.Let Pakistan rejoice but the bare fact remains thatit has been recognised and designated globally asa fountainhead of terror. The Damocles’ Swordin the form of Financial Action Task Force (FATF)continues to hang on its head. A fragile and fail-ing economy is an issue, which cannot allow thisrejoicing to be a long lasting pleasant experience.India should also not particularly worry about thefine print because the intent was to have Azhar

declared as a global terrorist and that has beenachieved. With the JeM already on the ban list andnow its chief also meeting the same fate, it wouldbe a Herculean task for Pakistan to defy theSanctions. It will have to act, and act swiftly.

A word of caution: The deep state in Pakistanhas mastered the art of circumventing internation-al sanctions as is evident from its past behaviour.The banned organisations appear in a new avtaror with a different name and their leadersassume charge again though ostensibly of a dif-ferent outfit, generally portrayed as a philanthrop-ic organisation. But the watchful eye of FATF maymake the task difficult for Pakistan this time.

Undoubtedly, India has secured a huge diplo-matic victory but this should not be the end. Indiahas to tread its path carefully to ensure that thisvictory is not turned into defeat through a Sino-Pakistan collusion. India also has to be preparedfor the immediate consequences of this decision.The JeM sympathisers in Kashmir may carry outa sensational attack to show their solidarity withAzhar and as a protest to his listing. Pakistan isalready singing a different tune. It says that by notnaming Kashmir and Pulwama in the declaration,the global community has accepted their con-tention that what is happening inside Kashmir isan internal resistance movement. Indirectly, bothChina and Pakistan have continued to supporttheir consistent policy of “good” and “bad” ter-rorists. Pakistan has also made its intentions clearthat there would be no laxity as far as Kashmir isconcerned and that it will continue to follow itspolicy of “thousand cuts.”

India will have to ensure that Pakistan andChina are compelled to give up their policy of clas-sifying terrorists to suit their convenience. As faras China is concerned, India has to keep itscounter-narrative active and play the ‘Tibet card’tactfully. In view of the ensuing summer, whenpasses in the Himalayas are open, India will have

to be vigilant and guard against any Sino-Pakistan collusion militarily. After the Balakotstrikes, both India and Pakistan continue to main-tain the stand-off. It is the conventional edge thatthe Indian armed forces enjoy over their coun-terparts in Pakistan and the international pressurethat has kept Pakistan reined in so far. A misad-venture from Pakistan to avenge Balakot with thecollusion of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)is a possibility that cannot be ruled out straightway. A lot would also depend on the electoralresults on May 23 that would determine the newGovernment in New Delhi. Before resorting to anymisadventure, Pakistan will like to determine thethresholds of the new regime. In a nutshell, thecoming months are going to be very critical forIndia not only diplomatically but militarily as well.

Pakistan’s mindset against India will changeonly if its Army changes its attitude towards Indiaand stops projecting us as a quintessential threat.That can only happen when Pakistan’s economycannot be saved from a collapse. Fear of FATFsanctions may also, to some extent, force the Armyto concede a bit. When IMF’s bailout packagebecomes almost a certainty, the Pakistan Army willhave no option but to relent. Islamabad will beforced to denounce terrorism as the instrumentof state policy.

India has a long haul ahead. It has to ensurethat it further tightens its grip against Pakistanthrough diplomatic, economic and militarymeans. It also has to ensure that the global watchover Pakistan does not slacken. With all indica-tions that Modi may return to power and Indiacontinuing with its tough policy against Pakistan,there is a hope that coming years may see a declinein cross-border terrorism. However, the univer-sal fight against global jihadi terror will contin-ue relentlessly.

(The writer is a Jammu-based political com-mentator, columnist and strategic analyst)

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Ukraine has a new President andhe’s a comedian. Oh, wait aminute, that’s not such a big

deal. Guatemala was the first countryto elect a comedian as President:Jimmy Morales in 2015. AlthoughMorales turned sort of serious once hetook office: He’s a Right-wing nation-alist, who supports death penalty andopposes abortion. Whereas VolodymyrZelensky hasn’t turned.

Right through the presidentialelection campaign in Ukraine, Zelenskyavoided speeches. Mostly, he justtoured the country with a comedytroupe, performed in skits and didstand-up. And he’s not just a comedi-an, he’s a Jewish comedian — the verybest kind. His style is south Ukrainian,

sort of vaudeville, with a distinctiveJewish inflection and people love it.

Congratulations to Ukraine, by theway, for having Jews as both Presidentand Prime Minister (VolodymyrGroysman) at the same time in theheart of traditionally anti-semiticEastern Europe and not even makinga fuss about it. But what is Zelenskygoing to do for Ukraine now that he hasbeen swept into office with a landslidemajority (73 per cent)? Nobody actu-ally knows and this may includeZelensky himself.

When Zelensky did offer morethan jokes, in the short videos hereleased from time to time during thecampaign, it still wasn’t policies. Morelike mood music, really.

“He’s from a family of JewishSoviet intellectuals from a Russian-speaking industrial region (in easternUkraine,” Vyacheslav Likhachev of theNational Minorities’ Rights MonitoringGroup in Kyiv told the Haaretz news-paper. “He has repeatedly made fun ofover-the-top (Ukrainian) nationalpatriotic discourse.”

“Zelensky might make some sym-bolic gestures toward nationalist sen-

timent to fend off accusations that he’llsell us out to Russia,” Likhachev con-tinued, “but that seems unlikely to me.He probably realises that it’ll be hardfor him to win over the most nation-alist-oriented part of society, so he’llwash his hands of them so as not toalienate the majority.”

That will be a welcome change afterfive years of the pompous nationalistbilge of billionaire Petro Poroshenko,who won the presidency in 2014 aftera popular revolt overthrew the pro-Russian stooge Viktor Yanukovych.

In a video Poroshenko released just

before the sole presidential debate inKiev’s huge Olympic Stadium lastFriday, he tried to play the patrioticcard: “There’s no room for jokes here.Being a President and supreme com-mander is not a game... it means beingresponsible for the people, for the coun-try.” It would have sounded more per-suasive if Poroshenko had done some-thing about the corruption that hasmade oligarchs like him rich.

Zelensky’s response was lethal:“I’m not your opponent. I’m a verdicton you. I am the result of your mis-takes.” And by a majority of almost

three-to-one, Ukrainians voted to puttheir future in his hands. Although, tobe frank, most of them doubt that hecan really deliver the future of peace andprosperity that they hope for.

The only evidence they have ofZelensky’s industry, honesty and wis-dom is the television series he writesand stars in, Servant of the People. It’sa heart-warming story of a humble highschool history teacher, whose rantabout the dreadful state of the countryis secretly recorded by his students andgoes viral when they upload it to YouTube. So he is elected President ofUkraine.

Zelensky is not a high schoolteacher; he is a show business million-aire with his own production compa-ny. He may be just as warm and sin-cere in person as Vasyl PetrovychHoloborodko, the former teacher andaccidental President, whom he plays inServant of the People. (It’s one ofUkraine’s most popular series and isnow nearing 50 episodes). Or he maynot be.

Journalists are now working theirway through all the box sets of Servantof the People, trying to glean some clues

about what the new President has inmind. But that’s a thankless taskbecause a lot of the show is sheer fan-tasy (like the sequence where the frus-trated Holoborodko machine-gunsthe entire Parliament).

Ukrainian voters are not fools.They know they are buying a pig in anpoke. But they calculate that thingsmight change if Zelensky becomesPresident, whereas they certainlywouldn’t change if any of the usual sus-pects won the presidency. And thingsare certainly not good now.

Ukraine has become the poorestcountry in Europe — far poorer thanRussia. Millions of Ukrainians have leftthe country seeking work in Poland orRussia and the low-intensity waragainst the Russian-backed separatistsin the east drags on endlessly. No post-Soviet leader of Ukraine has made evena dent in the corrupt rule of the oli-garchs. Indeed, most of them have beenoligarchs themselves. So why not votefor Zelensky? Most Ukrainians feel thatthey have nothing left to lose.

(The writer’s new book is GrowingPains: The Future of Democracy andWork)

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Extramarks Education, a glob-al EdTech company, on

Friday announced the launch ofExtramarks Achieve, a uniqueprogramme to tackle learningwoes faced by students andimprove their comprehensionand confidence.

The programme providesfor personal academic gurus,who offer custom guidance andsupport to students. It aims toaddress the root of the manyproblems in the nation’s educa-tion system: lack of personalattention due to abysmalteacher-student ratio, inade-quate emphasis on self-study,absence of mentors to cleardoubts and to keep tabs on

progress.“There is hardly any con-

structive support available to stu-dents when it comes to buildingpersonalised learning plans suit-ed to their unique needs,” saidAtul Kulshrestha, founder andCMD of Extramarks Education.

He added, “ThroughAchieve, we also seek to rein-force the importance of self-study and look to meticulouslyguiding students towards acad-emic success.”

Extramarks Achieve beginswith a scientific assessment pro-gramme called SNAAP -Student Needs Analysis andAcademic Profile. SNAAP helpsidentify the learning gaps andneeds of a child, based on whichan academic profile is built.Mapped to this academic profile,an appropriate academic guru isappointed, who charts an acad-emic course for the student.Under Extramarks Achieve, aplethora of services are provid-

ed: twice a week compulsoryinteractions, unlimited doubt-clearing sessions, practice testsand worksheets, motivation andmentorship, scheduling andplanning studies, and empha-sising on the importance ofself-study.

Not just this, a monthly per-formance and progress report isalso generated, which is sharedwith parents, in order to keepthem posted about their ward’sperformance. Because of inte-gration with the learning app byExtramarks, a student avails fullbenefit of the LPT (learn-prac-tice-test) pedagogy, which isfocused on concept clarity.

The concept of Achievefunctions on the 9-9-7 model -which means that from 9 am to9 pm, all 7 days of a week, theacademic gurus are only achat/mail/call away for the stu-dents. Extramarks has alreadyimplemented a team of over 300experienced subject matter

experts to guide the students andaccompany them on the acade-mic journey towards excellence.The programme enables stu-dents to solve their doubtsinstantly, rather than waiting tomeet the teacher next day inclass, and potentially forgettingthe doubt. A personal guru alsotakes away the fear of beingjudged in public from the stu-dents by serving as a friend,motivator and guide, all rolledinto one.

Atul Kulshrestha said, “Ouracademic gurus are motivatededucators, who hold studentwelfare and success paramount.”

Launched on May 1, 2019,Extramarks Achieve is anothergame-changing offering. In a sit-uation where the deep-set fears,worries and lack of under-standing among individual stu-dents are hardly addressed, thisnew venture by Extramarks ispoised to be a plausible solutionto student woes.

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The Reserve Bank of Indiaon Friday said it has

imposed penalties on five pre-paid payment instrument (PPI)issuers, including Vodafone m-pesa and PhonePe, for violationof regulatory norms.

Also, penalties have beenimposed on Western UnionFinancial Services Inc andMoneyGram Payment SystemsInc, both US firms, for non-compliance of guidelines.

“In exercise of powersvested under Section 30 of thePayment and SettlementSystems Act, 2007, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) hasimposed monetary penaltyon...Five PPI Issuers for non-compliance of regulatoryguidelines,” the central banksaid in a statement.

A penalty of �3.05 crorehas been imposed on Vodafonem-pesa and �1 crore each onMobile Payments, PhonePe,Private and GI Technology.

Also, a penalty of �5 lakhhas been imposed on Y-CashSoftware Solutions.

In another statement, theRBI said it has imposed penal-ty of �29,66,959 and �10,11,653on Western Union Financial

Services Inc, USA, andMoneyGram Payment SystemsInc, USA, respectively, for non-compliance of regulatoryguidelines.

Penalty on Western Unionand MoneyGram has beenimposed by the RBI under theprovisions of the Payment andSettlement Systems Act, 2007,for compounding of the con-travention.

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on Friday said no

gold was shifted outside thecountry in 2014 or thereafter.

The statement comesagainst the backdrop of reportsin certain sections of the printand social media regardingthe central bank shiftingabroad a part of its gold hold-ing in 2014.

It is a normal practice forcentral banks world over tokeep their gold reserves over-seas with central banks of othercountries like Bank of Englandfor safe custody, according tothe statement.

“It is further stated that nogold was shifted by the RBIfrom India to other countriesin 2014 or thereafter. Thus themedia reports cited above arefactually incorrect,” the state-ment said.

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The Government has againextended its deadline to

impose retaliatory importduties on 29 US products,including almond, walnut andpulses, till May 16.

A notification of theFinance Ministry has said thatimplementation of increasedcustoms duty on specifiedimports originating in the UShas been postponed from May2 to May 16 this year.

These deadlines wereextended several times sinceJune 2018, when India decid-ed to impose these duties inretaliation to a move by the USto impose high customs dutieson certain steel and aluminiumproducts.

This extension comes inthe backdrop of the US decisionto withdraw export incentivesbeing provided to them toIndian exporters underGeneralised System ofPreferences (GSP) programme,which is expected to impact

India’s exports to the US worthUSD 5.6 billion under thisscheme. America has given 60days notice, which would endthis week, to withdraw thesebenefits. Amid this, USCommerce Secretary WilburRoss and Commerce MinisterSuresh Prabhu will hold bilateralmeetings on May 6 here to dis-cuss trade-related issues.

According to sources, Indiamay go ahead with its decisionto impose retaliatory tariffs ifthe US would withdraw theGSP benefits.

Further extension of GSPbenefits was part of a trade pack-age being negotiated betweenthe countries. However, thosenegotiations hit a roadblockafter the US announced its deci-sion to roll back GSP benefitsfrom Indian exporters.

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The Finance Ministry willreview the capital infusion

requirements of PSU banksafter September and there willbe separate allocation for recap-italisation in the general Budgetlikely to be presented in July.

Sources said the interimBudget did not have the provi-sion for any recap from Aprilto July as the banks were ade-quately capitalised tillSeptember.

According to officialsources, by September (end ofsecond quarter), the capitalposition with regard to the reg-ulatory requirements andgrowth of all the PSU bankswhich received funds in 2018-19 will be clear.

The remaining PCA(Prompt Corrective Action)

banks will also require freshfunds to come out of theReserve Bank of India’s (RBI)framework for weak banks.But for this, the banks wouldhave to match the performanceparameter targets required forPCA removal and would haveto show improved performance.

In 2017, the Governmentannounced its �2.11 trillion

PSU bank recapitalisation plan,in which �1.35 trillion was tocome from the sale of recapi-talisation bonds and theremaining �76,000 crorethrough the Indradhanush plan(Budgetary allocation) and fundraising from the markets bynon-core assets sales.

The bank recapitalisationpackage saw a sharp increase

over the budgetary allocation.In February 2019, the

Government had announcedcapital infusion of �48,239 croreinto 12 public sector banks tohelp them maintain regulatorycapital requirements andfinance growth plans.

Before that in December2018, the Finance Ministry hadincreased capital infusion intothese banks for FY19 by acombined �41,000 crore to�1.06 lakh crore from the originally planned �65,000crore.

Now the entire recapamount has been exhausted.After the removal six banksfrom the PCA framework,Central Bank of India, IDBIBank, Indian Overseas Bank,UCO Bank and United Bank ofIndia remain under the PCAnow.

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India’s largest telecom opera-tor Vodafone Idea Ltd on

Friday announced a five-yearmulti-million-dollar IT out-sourcing deal with tech giantIBM.

“This engagement will alsocontribute to Vodafone Idea’smerger synergy objectives byreducing its IT related costs,”the telecom firm said in a state-ment.

The company did not

divulge the size of the deal butsome reports pegged it atabout USD 700 million.

“The collaboration willprovide Vodafone Idea with ahybrid cloud based digital plat-form to enable more intimateengagement with its over 387million subscribers (as ofDecember 31, 2018), enhanc-ing business efficiency, agilityand scale plus simplification ofits business processes,” it said.

The new infrastructureplatform will remove con-

straints to exponential growthof data usage driven by increas-ing consumption of video,streaming and digital com-merce, the statement said,adding that it will also driveenhanced customer experienceto millions of connected con-sumers and businesses in India.

“Vodafone Idea is collabo-rating with leading global tech-nology partners includingIBM to deploy new age tech-nologies with built-in cus-tomisations and novel inno-

vations. We believe that use ofIBM’s hybrid and multi-cloud,analytics and AI security capa-bilities will accelerate VodafoneIdea’s progression to an open,agile and secure IT environ-ment,” the statement said.

The deal will also providea platform for fast-track jointinitiatives in ArtificialIntelligence and Internet ofThings. “This five-year col-laboration with IBM, opensnew opportunities for us topartner together in domainslike cloud, AI (ArtificialIntelligence) and IoT (Internetof Things).

“We will also be able toleverage collateral from thecloud partnership alreadyannounced between Vodafone

and IBM in Europe. Achievingsynergies post-merger fromthe combination of VodafoneIndia and Idea Cellular is astrategic priority for us and wecontinue to be ahead of track,”Balesh Sharma, CEO, VodafoneIdea, said.

IBM is supportingVodafone Idea with an optionof extended flexible paymentplan structure for the term ofthe contract through its whol-ly owned subsidiary IBMGlobal Financing.

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Hyundai Motor India onFriday said it has received

2,000 bookings of its upcomingcompact SUV Venue on thefirst day of initiating the process.

The company had openedthe pre-launch bookings forthe model on May 2. “TheDay-1 response is a recordbooking for an SUV, with anaverage of 84 Venue cars everyhour,” Hyundai Motor India Ltd

(HMIL) National Sales HeadVikas Jain said in a statement.

The company is receivingcustomer enquiries at all itstouch points across the coun-try, he added. “Further, thenotable traction in online book-ing is coming from semi-urban areas due to strong tele-com infrastructure. This show-cases emergence of new era ofconnected-mobility solutionsand acceptance of technologyin day-to-day life,” Jain said.

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FMCG major HindustanUnilever (HUL) on Friday

reported a 13.84 per centincrease in its net profit to�1,538 crore for the quarterended March 31.

The company had posted anet profit of �1,351 crore in theJanuary-March quarter of theprevious fiscal. Sales during thequarter under review stood at

� 9,809 crore, up 8.95 per cent,as against �9,003 crore in thecorresponding period a yearago, HUL said in a regulatoryfiling.

HUL’s total expenses forthe said period was �7,765crore compared to �7,181crore, up 8.13 per cent.

Shares of HUL settled at�1,692.80 apiece on the BSE,down 2.04 per cent from pre-vious close.

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Sugar output in India has reached 32.11 mil-lion tonnes in the first seven months of the

ongoing marketing year that started October2018, and the total production could touch a newrecord of 33 million tonnes, the industry bodyISMA said on Friday. Much of the sugar hasalready been manufactured and only a few millsare in operation at present, it said.

The country’s sugar output during the2017-18 marketing year (October-September)was a record 32.5 million tonnes. The annualdomestic requirement of India, which is theworld’s second largest producer, is only 26 mil-lion tonnes.

According to the Indian Sugar MillsAssociation (ISMA), mills have manufactured32.11 million tonnes of sugar between October2018 and April this year. Only 100 mills were inoperation as on April 30. The country’s top threesugar producing states — Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra and Karnataka — have produced11.26 million tonnes, 10.7 million tonnes and 4.32million tonnes, respectively, during the October-April period of the 2018-19 marketing year.

“Even though the quantum of sugarcanecrushing in the current year is less than that inthe last year, the sugar production in 2018-19 willbe marginally more than last year,” it said in astatement.

Sugar recovery in northern India has beensubstantially better than last year. In the otherparts of the country, including Maharashtra andKarnataka also, the sugar recovery is better thanlast year, though not as high as it achieved innorth India. “Therefore, the sugar production inthe current year for the whole country isexpected to be around 33 million tonnes, about5,00,000 tonnes more than last year,” the ISMApredicted.

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Market benchmarks surrenderedearly gains to end with mod-est losses on Friday, led by sell-

ing in IT bluechips, as investors await-ed fresh buying triggers amid frothyvaluations.

After trading on a positive notethrough the day, the BSE Sensex ended18.17 points, or 0.05%, lower at38,963.26.

In similar movement, the broaderNSE Nifty slipped 12.50 points, or0.11%, to close at 11,712.25. During theholiday-truncated week, the Sensex fell104.07 points, or 0.26%, while the Niftyshed 42.40%, or 0.36 per cent.

IT stocks came under pressure aftertech giant Cognizant slashed its full-year revenue growth outlook. A strongrupee also weighed on the counters.

The US-headquartered Cognizant,which has a significant portion of itsemployees based in India, revised itsfull-year 2019 revenue growth outlookto 3.6-5.1% in constant currency terms,significantly less than 7-9% projectedjust months ago.

In the Sensex pack, losers includ-ed TCS, HUL, Tata Steel, HCL Tech,Infosys, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, IndusIndBank, Asian Paints, ITC and Vedanta,shedding up to 3.70%.

HUL too ended in the red ahead ofits quarterly results.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel,ICICI Bank, NTPC, Yes Bank, TataMotors, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, M&M,Maruti, Hero MotoCorp and KotakBank rose up to 3.11%.

“Market started on a positive note

supported by strong rupee and fall inoil prices. However, gains are cappeddue to the premium valuation.

“Fall in 10-year yield led the bankindex to outperform. Market is likelyto stay range bound due to weak glob-al cues while better quarter results mayprovide opportunity to accumulate,”said Vinod Nair, head of research,Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE IT, teck, healthcareand FMCG indices fell the most, drop-ping up to 1.91%.

However, telecom, realty, auto andbankex rose up to 1.56%.

The broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices followed the bench-marks to end up to 0.31% lower.

Meanwhile, foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) bought equity worth�597.54 crore on Thursday, whiledomestic institutional investors (DIIs)sold shares to the tune of �791.69 crore,provisional data available with stockexchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Korea’s Kospiand Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended ona mixed note, while other major bours-es in China and Japan were shut for hol-idays. European equites started off ona firm footing.

The rupee, meanwhile, appreciat-ed to 69.34 against the US dollar intra-day. Global oil benchmark Brent crudewas trading 0.62% lower at USD 70.31per barrel.

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IT company Cognizant hasreported over 15% drop in net

income for the quarter endedMarch, and slashed its full-year revenue growth outlook.

The US-headquarteredcompany, which has a signifi-cant portion of its employeesbased in India, revised its full-year 2019 revenue growth out-look to 3.6-5.1% in constantcurrency, significantly less than7-9v projected just months ago.

Cognizant follows January-December as financial year.

It cited “first quarter under-performance” and likelihoodof slower growth in financialservices and healthcare as rea-sons for the massive cut in full-year outlook.

The first quarter net incomeat USD 441 million was 15%lower than USD 520 millionclocked in the year-ago period.The quarterly revenue rose toUSD 4.11 billion, up 5.1% (6.8%in constant currency) from theyear-ago period , the company’sown estimates.

“Cognizant’s growth andperformance in the quarterleave room for improvement,”Brian Humphries, chief execu-tive officer of Cognizant, said ina statement.

Humphries, who took overthe baton from the FranciscoD’Souza on April 1, admitted

that the company, despite itsclient centricity and innovativespirit, was not yet deliveringagainst the market opportunity.

“While I am encouraged byour client centricity, ouremployees’ winning spirit andour innovation, we are not yetdelivering against the marketopportunity. We are committedto strengthening our executionto invest in growth and driveshareholder value,” Humphriesadded.

Cognizant said its secondquarter 2019 year-over-yearrevenue growth was estimatedto be in the range of 3.9-4.9% inconstant currency. In the com-ing quarters, the companyintends to bring cost structurecloser in line with the revisedrevenue expectations but willcontinue to invest in growth, tal-ent, and innovation,McLoughlin said. Also, thestrong balance sheet enablesCognizant to maintain financialflexibility while returning cap-ital to shareholders.

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FMCG major HindustanUnilever (HUL) on Thursdayreported a 13.84% increase inits net profit to �1,538 crore forthe quarter ended March 31.The company had posted a netprofit of �1,351 crore in the

January-March quarter of theprevious fiscal.

Sales during the quarterunder review stood at �9,809crore, up 8.95%, as against�9,003 crore in the corre-sponding period a year ago,HUL said in a regulatory filing.

HUL’s total expenses forthe said period were �7,765crore compared to �7,181 crore,up 8.13%.

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Century Textiles andIndustries Ltd (CTIL) on Fridayreported a standalone net prof-it of �227.62 crore for the fourthquarter ended March 2019. Ithad posted a net profit of�108.69 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago,Century Textiles said in a BSEfiling.

The company’s total incomeduring the quarter was �1,008.54crore. It was �993.32 crore in thecorresponding quarter of theprevious fiscal. CTIL’s totalexpenses stood at �765.38 crore.

Meanwhile, the companysaid its results were not compa-rable as it had granted right tomanage and operate its ViscoseFilament Yarn business, part ofthe textile segment, to GrasimIndustries for 15 years fromFebruary 1, 2018, which has paidan upfront royalty of �600 crore.

The CTIL board has recom-mended a dividend of �7.50 pershare of �10 each equivalent to75% on paid-up equity sharecapital of the company for theyear ended March 31, comparedwith 65% paid for the previousyear for the year.

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Homegrown FMCG majorGodrej Consumer ProductsLtd (GCPL) on Friday report-ed a 51.53% increase in con-solidated net profit to �935.24crore in the fourth quarterended March 31.

The company had posteda consolidated net profit of�617.19 crore in the corre-sponding period last fiscal,GCPL said in a BSE filing.

However, its total revenuefrom operations during thequarter fell 3.06% to �2,481.72crore, compared with�2,560.14 crore in the corre-sponding quarter of the pre-vious fiscal.

The firm’s total expensestood at �1,974.73 crore,against �2,016.65 crore, a dropof 2.07%.

During the quarter,GCPL’s India sales were mar-ginally down 0.9% to�1,356.09 crore, comparedwith �1,369.76 crore in theyear-ago period.

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Script Open High Low LTPYESBANK 176.80 177.90 169.95 175.60RPOWER 5.48 6.67 5.41 6.48JETAIRWAYS 125.10 137.95 124.25 135.50RELIANCE 1407.00 1417.00 1401.40 1407.05DHFL 135.00 142.75 131.30 141.35TATAMOTORS 204.90 213.70 203.20 209.50SPICEJET 129.80 131.90 129.00 130.10RELCAPITAL 133.00 139.35 132.25 136.50IBULHSGFIN 685.65 710.00 672.40 705.95PCJEWELLER 113.75 115.40 108.70 109.60TCS 2191.00 2191.00 2125.15 2132.50IBREALEST 116.30 119.20 114.00 117.30BOMDYEING 134.00 134.00 125.50 126.50INFY* 723.75 730.60 719.00 723.75HDFCLIFE 402.00 418.80 402.00 413.60SUZLON 6.85 6.86 6.70 6.74RELINFRA 111.15 112.20 108.25 110.00SBIN 308.10 311.50 308.10 309.15MARUTI 6669.15 6780.00 6669.15 6710.90ICICIBANK 397.45 405.25 394.75 401.85ASHOKLEY 90.00 90.75 88.45 89.30HEG 1736.05 1801.90 1710.00 1770.05BIOCON 560.90 563.10 550.05 551.50BRITANNIA 2785.50 2801.05 2688.20 2706.00MFSL 422.00 424.95 415.00 422.25INDIGO 1550.00 1604.25 1549.75 1570.10WIPRO 293.55 293.55 289.10 291.00KOTAKBANK 1409.00 1435.50 1401.05 1418.15L&TFH 130.10 131.25 126.30 127.25AXISBANK 754.95 763.30 753.65 755.00BANKBARODA 117.00 121.00 116.55 118.95CENTURYTEX 934.00 954.00 904.25 941.40TATASTEEL 552.50 555.30 545.85 547.60HINDUNILVR 1720.00 1727.00 1683.35 1692.80PERSISTENT* 628.00 629.90 617.00 622.15HDFCBANK 2361.20 2376.00 2360.00 2368.80GRAPHITE 403.00 405.90 392.50 398.40DLF 172.05 178.95 172.00 177.90GODREJCP 652.70 653.00 627.60 642.15BHARATFORG 465.00 490.90 460.00 486.00BANDHANBNK 624.00 635.55 618.30 621.45JINDALSTEL 181.00 182.85 177.15 181.60PNB 86.95 87.75 86.30 87.20BAJFINANCE 3133.70 3162.35 3099.60 3109.25ITC 304.00 307.35 302.90 303.60ADANIPOWER 44.70 45.25 42.95 43.75INDUSINDBK 1561.30 1580.00 1549.05 1559.00VEDL 167.10 168.95 165.95 167.75BHARTIARTL 324.70 334.90 324.40 334.80HINDPETRO 284.90 290.25 281.60 285.75FEDERALBNK 94.50 98.45 94.50 97.75JPASSOCIAT 5.25 5.40 5.22 5.27TATAMTRDVR 97.90 102.90 97.10 100.40NTPC 133.00 136.70 133.00 135.55STRTECH 191.00 196.00 189.90 191.85KANSAINER 415.00 438.80 372.00 435.00DABUR 382.00 385.60 377.70 382.00GUJALKALI 496.00 535.00 496.00 525.00TATAPOWER 65.75 68.10 65.50 67.15JSWSTEEL 307.50 310.40 305.30 308.60IOC 160.00 160.00 155.55 156.15BHEL 69.65 70.65 68.40 68.55BLUESTARCO 699.00 711.25 684.35 697.00DBL 491.15 513.00 472.05 479.85ZEEL 418.45 422.45 410.00 411.10LT 1364.70 1373.20 1358.30 1361.00BPCL 383.20 386.05 378.65 380.05SUNTECK 467.95 470.45 452.20 467.45SUNPHARMA 455.20 456.00 449.40 453.00TATAELXSI 888.70 890.40 868.00 873.65ABCAPITAL 100.00 102.50 99.10 101.65TATACHEM 578.00 578.00 554.15 557.50GODREJPROP 830.00 863.00 816.00 821.10INFRATEL 274.65 278.05 270.00 273.55TRENT 366.15 392.00 361.40 384.05INFIBEAM 42.55 44.70 42.05 43.25AUROPHARMA 799.00 799.10 777.40 779.10TECHM 831.00 832.85 814.20 816.55IDEA 16.60 16.60 16.00 16.10MGL 959.95 963.75 939.75 945.70BLISSGVS 168.20 174.00 160.35 162.10GAIL 347.40 350.85 342.45 345.80LEMONTREE 74.00 77.85 74.00 74.55HCLTECH 1150.90 1150.90 1125.50 1143.65ESCORTS 680.00 685.75 663.30 665.20LTI 1713.95 1714.00 1662.55 1675.00DMART 1273.00 1280.90 1256.00 1260.15ONGC 169.50 171.75 168.00 170.10M&M 653.00 653.00 643.30 649.90SBILIFE 650.00 666.00 650.00 664.15CADILAHC 314.00 318.75 300.00 304.00CGPOWER 36.20 38.00 36.20 36.75PNBHOUSING 681.00 704.65 680.00 698.15RADICO 360.00 364.60 350.75 361.40BATAINDIA 1455.00 1478.40 1436.55 1441.25SAIL 56.40 57.20 55.70 56.90IDFCFIRSTB 50.80 51.10 50.35 50.65CANBK 264.20 269.75 262.80 267.55PEL 2363.00 2363.00 2300.60 2319.30EXIDEIND 212.60 217.65 210.00 216.65PFC 114.05 115.00 113.35 114.45FSL 50.70 50.70 48.00 48.95WELSPUNIND 52.55 54.20 52.15 53.50PIDILITIND 1263.90 1263.90 1195.05 1204.85IBVENTURES 303.90 307.20 294.00 296.10HSIL 260.10 268.70 256.10 257.45HEROMOTOCO 2565.00 2587.00 2541.00 2568.80NBCC 59.10 59.50 57.70 58.10

M&MFIN 396.40 405.80 396.40 402.10COLPAL 1198.95 1198.95 1164.00 1169.50CANFINHOME 341.80 344.60 330.75 333.30TVSMOTOR 480.00 485.00 470.05 482.00MOTHERSUMI 140.70 142.00 139.10 141.45BEL 88.30 89.25 86.85 88.35RAIN 119.95 119.95 114.80 115.55HDFC 2030.00 2038.85 2006.00 2010.00CIPLA 564.95 572.45 561.65 564.40LICHSGFIN 490.05 495.30 480.00 485.10RAYMOND 740.00 764.95 735.85 759.30EVEREADY 111.95 114.55 107.05 108.25VOLTAS 609.25 620.85 601.20 604.20NCC 97.95 98.90 95.70 96.80HEXAWARE 341.80 342.80 333.35 334.40RBLBANK 664.95 673.90 663.60 671.20COALINDIA 254.00 255.75 251.05 251.80INDIACEM 106.30 108.20 105.00 106.40ICICIGI 1105.00 1119.20 1082.35 1082.35ZENSARTECH 246.00 257.00 240.50 246.50BANKINDIA 89.10 90.65 89.00 89.65GRASIM 900.00 909.70 881.85 899.00LUPIN 879.60 880.00 865.40 870.00RECLTD 145.10 145.60 142.25 142.55JUBLFOOD 1346.00 1361.30 1321.00 1329.00INTELLECT 225.25 228.55 216.55 217.65DEEPAKNI 269.05 274.90 266.75 273.50ULTRACEMCO 4623.40 4628.70 4557.50 4566.00NIITTECH 1290.00 1290.00 1248.20 1268.15DISHTV 35.85 36.55 35.45 35.85WOCKPHARMA 406.50 410.80 402.70 407.00EDELWEISS 140.00 144.30 139.00 142.25LTTS 1765.00 1781.20 1676.50 1680.00AJANTPHARM 1063.55 1080.00 1040.80 1055.80FORCEMOT 1616.00 1635.50 1595.00 1600.65JISLJALEQS 52.90 53.40 51.80 52.15TITAN 1139.00 1153.65 1136.00 1145.55UNIONBANK 84.90 85.75 84.30 85.20RNAM 198.15 199.15 190.00 193.35APOLLOTYRE 203.10 204.50 201.10 201.55PVR 1809.85 1814.75 1793.80 1809.05DCMSHRIRAM 465.00 479.00 452.00 463.25JUSTDIAL 589.00 592.35 583.05 585.25GNFC 315.25 316.60 309.00 310.50TORNTPHARM 1758.00 1786.85 1702.80 1755.35HINDALCO 203.10 205.85 202.70 205.10ASIANPAINT 1441.00 1455.00 1433.40 1434.70SUNTV 562.00 562.00 551.40 555.70STAR 483.00 485.60 476.30 482.30TATACOMM 575.00 581.00 542.55 550.05UPL 970.00 974.75 959.00 970.00RAJESHEXPO 700.85 700.85 670.55 681.80BEML 874.95 881.35 869.00 875.40JAICORPLTD 114.85 115.65 112.20 112.70PHILIPCARB 154.95 159.00 150.50 151.45APOLLOHOSP 1190.25 1211.60 1184.65 1192.00WESTLIFE 403.00 405.90 390.60 393.35IRB 120.75 124.90 120.70 122.00JMFINANCIL 86.60 88.10 84.20 85.30DELTACORP 241.00 244.35 239.75 241.45BAJAJ-AUTO 3032.45 3068.00 3032.45 3060.00ADANIPORTS 394.30 398.10 384.60 385.80SRTRANSFIN 1090.10 1094.55 1071.00 1081.50ENGINERSIN 111.50 112.00 110.05 110.20GRUH 317.05 327.20 317.05 319.00VINATIORGA 1879.00 1935.00 1879.00 1897.05

TORNTPOWER 257.00 260.45 253.00 255.30SOUTHBANK 16.00 16.20 15.90 16.00NATIONALUM 51.70 52.35 51.45 52.20MAHABANK 16.80 16.95 16.10 16.35SHRIRAMCIT 1600.05 1670.00 1560.80 1600.00ICICIPRULI 377.95 379.00 369.90 371.55CYIENT 595.00 595.00 583.15 583.35GSPL 195.55 196.15 183.10 189.30CHOLAFIN 1337.30 1352.70 1310.00 1315.25BAJAJFINSV 7600.05 7650.00 7596.95 7618.00OIL 183.35 185.00 182.65 183.05AMBUJACEM 221.15 223.50 220.40 221.40NOCIL 131.00 132.20 127.00 127.65GSFC 96.65 97.90 96.65 97.30JINDALSAW 81.65 82.90 80.85 81.15IFCI 10.10 10.27 9.70 10.00IDBI 40.40 40.55 39.55 39.95JAMNAAUTO 54.20 54.35 53.50 53.75SHANKARA 528.20 542.00 521.75 528.65

MCX 850.20 864.00 845.00 849.65GODFRYPHLP 1104.40 1109.90 1058.80 1064.95CUMMINSIND 702.70 722.50 702.70 712.00ORIENTBANK 97.85 98.80 96.40 97.10INDHOTEL 154.30 155.50 151.35 153.35KEC 294.00 299.40 294.00 295.00LAURUSLABS 402.50 404.00 394.40 397.85INDIANB 254.35 258.25 251.90 256.60CASTROLIND 150.40 151.50 150.00 150.35MINDTREE 983.95 983.95 966.50 972.00MEGH 66.30 67.20 65.00 65.00PRESTIGE 262.00 272.15 262.00 264.20CEATLTD 1058.70 1060.70 1043.95 1052.00NMDC 100.85 102.15 99.55 99.95PETRONET 239.90 240.35 232.20 233.70DRREDDY 2920.00 2932.65 2890.45 2904.00POWERGRID 190.00 192.90 190.00 190.70AVANTI 373.00 374.50 366.30 370.70CONCOR 513.50 525.00 500.55 504.50NESTLEIND 10601.00 10636.10 10389.00 10501.90CARBORUNIV 356.00 359.80 352.80 355.00ABFRL 210.10 210.10 205.00 208.00NHPC 23.10 23.70 23.10 23.50GLENMARK 626.05 634.70 618.80 631.95TATAGLOBAL 206.40 207.10 203.15 204.00VIPIND 461.05 464.15 450.00 450.00ADANIGREEN 42.40 43.60 41.45 41.85ADANITRANS 217.15 222.50 214.30 217.70TRIDENT 66.55 67.00 66.05 66.45SPARC 169.45 169.45 165.30 168.00MANPASAND 122.90 122.90 107.00 107.00SIEMENS 1150.00 1177.65 1146.00 1172.50ACC 1614.35 1638.65 1612.10 1630.00HFCL 22.50 22.75 22.45 22.55ECLERX 1154.90 1154.90 1136.85 1141.75KTKBANK 126.00 129.40 126.00 128.90SYNGENE 610.00 615.00 588.70 600.45OMAXE 208.80 208.80 207.15 207.45PIIND 1039.25 1081.00 1039.25 1052.50BERGEPAINT 315.00 317.00 310.20 311.55RCF 56.50 57.20 56.40 56.85MANAPPURAM 118.00 119.45 117.00 117.75DCBBANK 213.35 216.60 213.35 214.15IDFC 39.50 39.85 38.75 39.00UJJIVAN 324.80 327.00 319.50 322.70MRF 52450.00 53500.00 52450.00 53307.70HSCL 108.40 113.00 107.60 109.25VENKYS 1988.00 2014.00 1960.00 1964.90MPHASIS 979.05 979.05 963.50 972.05EICHERMOT 20543.00 20563.55 20264.10 20310.00JUBILANT 655.10 657.00 647.20 650.50GUJGAS 161.50 164.75 157.45 157.50HINDZINC 272.15 274.90 268.00 274.10ABB 1474.00 1515.50 1474.00 1490.55SWANENERGY 107.50 109.40 106.10 106.50SYNDIBANK 37.20 37.95 37.20 37.35TV18BRDCST 31.10 31.50 31.00 31.25IBULISL 298.00 303.15 287.10 291.00MAXINDIA 70.70 71.90 70.05 70.10GPPL 87.00 87.00 84.00 84.50INOXLEISUR 313.90 313.90 304.90 307.35RAMCOCEM 778.00 787.85 774.20 777.00ISEC 216.00 225.00 216.00 218.25GMRINFRA 16.70 16.85 16.45 16.50GREAVESCOT 150.00 150.00 145.70 147.50CENTURYPLY 165.85 174.40 162.35 168.85CHENNPETRO 259.00 259.00 250.20 251.00MUTHOOTFIN 599.45 608.40 593.65 599.00DEEPAKFERT 133.65 136.65 132.90 134.80IPCALAB 973.70 982.05 967.45 971.10EQUITAS 129.95 130.10 127.15 128.55UBL 1411.90 1413.60 1378.85 1382.10TAKE 147.65 150.00 143.85 144.00JKTYRE 85.60 87.85 85.50 87.00PAGEIND 22550.00 22685.65 22010.75 22157.35ORIENTCEM 110.00 110.00 107.25 107.25SONATSOFTW 329.00 332.20 323.10 328.70SRF 2580.00 2590.90 2560.00 2570.10OBEROIRLTY 520.00 526.50 516.25 523.90ALBK 47.45 48.05 46.95 47.00SOBHA 488.00 498.00 480.25 485.85WABAG 276.35 295.50 269.00 270.70BBTC 1235.80 1255.00 1221.55 1225.45TATAMETALI 635.00 635.00 613.10 622.00UFLEX 222.00 230.00 211.60 222.70QUESS 694.15 696.60 674.00 676.70AARTIIND 1589.25 1609.00 1578.00 1590.35WELCORP 132.15 133.65 129.20 129.95MERCK 3681.35 3695.25 3651.20 3672.50IGL 312.30 312.30 307.25 308.05LINDEINDIA 480.55 500.65 473.00 493.30KRBL 331.20 334.20 320.00 321.25EMAMILTD 385.55 385.55 377.00 377.10KAJARIACER 615.00 618.00 600.95 604.75DIVISLAB 1714.05 1723.50 1695.90 1696.20ITI 92.50 92.50 89.70 90.20LAKSHVILAS 73.50 77.15 73.05 77.15HAVELLS 768.90 775.00 765.60 769.00BALKRISIND 895.50 909.05 891.70 893.95MRPL 71.20 72.00 70.35 70.65J&KBANK 60.90 61.00 60.15 60.50RALLIS 146.00 147.00 145.30 146.75SREINFRA 24.65 25.45 24.15 24.55HIMATSEIDE 215.15 216.40 210.15 215.00TIINDIA 379.15 381.40 370.00 372.95NAUKRI 1952.05 1998.00 1952.05 1998.00FRETAIL 423.55 423.55 415.20 417.30BHARATFIN 974.90 986.95 971.40 979.00ANDHRABANK 25.45 25.45 24.75 24.90

TEJASNET 194.95 194.95 189.90 191.05KSCL 456.10 456.40 439.00 448.15NAVKARCORP 33.95 34.65 33.40 34.55AUBANK 641.95 643.30 626.15 633.70AMARAJABAT 658.00 674.00 655.15 657.75GRANULES 111.95 113.50 110.00 112.85SUVEN 264.35 265.00 262.00 262.70TATACOFFEE 87.55 88.20 86.60 86.60HINDCOPPER 47.00 47.00 45.70 45.85NATCOPHARM* 538.00 541.80 532.00 533.50COROMANDEL 433.60 433.60 420.80 427.30VBL 889.00 910.00 889.00 902.10FCONSUMER 42.80 42.80 42.15 42.60MINDAIND 342.65 356.00 341.00 349.15GSKCONS 7100.10 7170.00 7000.00 7000.00PARAGMILK 238.10 240.15 237.00 237.70GODREJAGRO 514.00 520.75 514.00 516.70MARICO 354.95 357.60 351.50 355.50EIHOTEL 188.50 189.35 184.80 186.20PFIZER 3130.40 3150.00 3110.25 3125.00JSLHISAR 86.45 87.45 85.60 86.00TIMETECHNO 91.00 91.00 84.95 87.00MOTILALOFS 733.00 734.30 709.45 712.50JSWENERGY 70.05 70.80 69.80 70.75REPCOHOME 420.00 425.95 415.05 416.10FINCABLES 429.15 429.15 415.00 421.00COCHINSHIP 382.30 384.45 376.85 379.95CENTRALBK 31.25 31.45 30.05 30.40SCI 34.10 34.45 33.50 33.85MMTC 25.90 25.95 25.55 25.65NAVINFLUOR 677.00 681.25 670.00 679.85GODREJIND 503.80 510.00 499.00 505.25MAGMA 126.50 129.00 126.05 126.40SHARDACROP 410.00 410.00 393.55 398.90SYMPHONY 1378.75 1395.00 1337.90 1380.20RELAXO 957.00 957.00 871.00 899.95JYOTHYLAB 178.70 183.50 178.50 179.05COFFEEDAY 262.65 267.90 259.70 261.45GLAXO 1276.55 1290.00 1275.00 1280.00ASHOKA 121.25 121.25 118.65 119.15SUDARSCHEM 334.15 337.50 329.00 330.60GICRE 240.00 243.00 239.40 241.00GMDCLTD 74.00 75.10 73.65 74.00SOMANYCERA 450.00 450.00 415.00 422.00HUDCO 41.60 41.70 41.00 41.35OFSS 3440.00 3466.80 3415.00 3450.00CROMPTON 230.65 233.95 229.10 231.40APLAPOLLO 1567.95 1575.00 1536.20 1550.00PRSMJOHNSN 93.10 94.00 92.00 94.00MAHSCOOTER 3731.40 3830.00 3705.00 3800.65SJVN 23.95 24.40 23.95 24.35ASTRAZEN 2318.85 2346.90 2304.05 2329.50MINDACORP 125.50 126.00 120.00 122.00BALMLAWRIE 171.05 172.10 167.60 169.00MONSANTO 2460.30 2550.00 2442.00 2446.00KEI 411.25 414.20 402.60 406.00MAHINDCIE 225.40 226.00 221.00 222.00LALPATHLAB 1066.55 1067.85 1035.00 1046.00ALKEM 1712.30 1721.30 1701.00 1701.00TNPL 196.00 196.95 189.65 190.90PTC 69.65 70.00 69.05 69.55RCOM 1.87 1.87 1.87 1.87BAJAJELEC 574.95 574.95 556.35 557.00INDOSTAR 394.85 397.40 387.30 391.70CUB 199.00 201.40 193.50 197.00DBCORP 184.00 185.10 179.00 183.65JKCEMENT 902.00 902.00 870.95 875.95MOIL 153.00 153.20 151.90 152.55THOMASCOOK 247.80 249.35 244.20 244.95SUPREMEIND 1116.95 1116.95 1088.00 1088.00VGUARD 217.75 218.20 215.10 216.55LUXIND 1331.40 1340.00 1286.15 1339.00GESHIP 284.60 291.35 280.60 280.60DCAL 220.25 223.70 218.55 221.75HEIDELBERG 181.25 182.75 180.05 180.10EIDPARRY 198.80 198.80 191.05 192.50REDINGTON 96.35 98.70 94.50 94.60KPRMILL 600.95 604.90 596.05 601.30BAJAJHLDNG 3292.00 3292.00 3181.00 3195.05SCHNEIDER 98.00 98.00 95.65 95.95GUJFLUORO 1030.55 1060.00 1030.00 1039.85NH 205.80 205.80 195.00 200.50ENDURANCE 1165.05 1173.50 1156.05 1173.40BDL 275.05 283.05 275.05 278.00BIRLACORPN 505.00 505.25 500.00 500.00ITDCEM 118.50 125.00 118.20 122.00AKZOINDIA 1700.00 1734.40 1660.00 1660.15HAL 661.30 670.00 653.00 670.00INOXWIND 63.70 63.70 59.85 63.15JKLAKSHMI 371.00 374.75 362.05 364.05JBCHEPHARM 342.25 348.00 342.00 346.80ALLCARGO 106.90 106.95 103.75 104.75NBVENTURES 100.20 102.40 98.35 98.40ABBOTINDIA 7429.75 7455.00 7384.55 7400.00JSL 36.15 36.60 35.60 35.85MAHLOG 524.95 528.45 501.00 509.15ISGEC 551.15 558.70 545.05 550.00SUNDRMFAST 541.35 556.00 540.30 540.30ASTRAL 1224.80 1224.80 1186.85 1186.85UCOBANK 18.00 18.10 17.85 17.95FINOLEXIND 462.50 462.50 457.00 461.40WABCOINDIA 6251.95 6312.00 6251.95 6312.00SHILPAMED 376.25 380.20 375.55 378.00GET&D 254.95 255.00 250.00 250.05GREENPLY 161.95 163.35 157.25 158.30FLFL 482.10 494.80 482.10 492.85BAJAJCON 325.75 331.05 325.65 329.45CCL 259.60 260.00 258.70 259.30WHIRLPOOL 1394.40 1414.00 1387.20 1388.70

GRINDWELL 609.95 609.95 591.00 591.00SHREECEM 19850.00 20100.00 19794.95 19893.15CAPPL 352.15 360.00 350.00 351.15BAYERCROP 4090.35 4150.00 4080.50 4140.00NETWORK18 32.80 33.00 32.10 32.10IOB 14.00 14.29 14.00 14.04MHRIL 237.75 245.00 233.50 240.00SHOPERSTOP 455.00 463.00 454.30 459.00NIACL 180.50 182.90 180.05 182.90CRISIL 1442.00 1445.00 1425.00 1425.05ATUL 3416.20 3465.95 3409.00 3435.00HATSUN 720.70 748.90 709.00 724.00FORTIS 137.20 138.45 137.10 137.20TVSSRICHAK 2195.00 2195.00 2124.25 2124.25JCHAC 1880.00 1880.00 1851.05 1859.80GHCL 252.85 252.85 247.70 249.20PNCINFRA 152.00 152.45 148.35 149.50SUPPETRO 202.05 204.20 200.00 200.00GICHSGFIN 260.95 260.95 255.20 257.80NILKAMAL 1315.00 1338.00 1300.35 1309.55NLCINDIA 65.10 65.40 65.00 65.15IEX 159.50 160.45 158.50 159.00HERITGFOOD 502.05 504.30 490.00 490.00BASF 1376.00 1376.00 1346.20 1353.00SHK 148.30 149.55 147.15 148.75SKFINDIA 1966.05 1980.50 1948.20 1948.25JAGRAN 111.10 113.65 110.55 111.95ITDC 257.90 258.95 253.70 257.60ERIS 618.00 627.90 608.05 614.40AEGISLOG 195.90 197.00 194.00 194.75AIAENG 1760.00 1771.25 1741.00 1748.00CHAMBLFERT 152.10 156.50 152.00 154.35APLLTD 550.70 550.70 540.00 542.40CORPBANK 27.05 27.10 26.60 26.75THERMAX 970.00 985.00 961.55 968.00FORBESCO 2282.35 2383.95 2275.00 2324.00TRITURBINE 105.00 106.80 105.00 105.00THYROCARE 480.50 489.50 480.00 484.90SADBHAV 237.45 237.45 235.00 236.80PHOENIXLTD 605.30 605.30 595.40 595.75SOLARINDS 1063.00 1091.00 1052.00 1091.00BOSCHLTD 17950.00 18089.85 17931.50 17940.00LAOPALA 211.45 211.45 203.25 206.80CARERATING 980.00 988.25 980.00 985.00KNRCON 238.90 246.00 233.40 243.30UNITEDBNK 11.01 11.05 10.95 11.00ESSELPRO 134.65 134.90 132.10 133.35HONAUT 23900.00 24100.00 23200.00 23750.85KALPATPOWR 490.00 490.00 471.05 472.65TATAINVEST 855.00 860.00 854.00 860.00PGHH 10260.00 10448.45 10227.90 10361.003MINDIA 23103.05 23103.05 22800.00 22800.00TIMKEN 565.00 565.55 560.50 562.00TVTODAY 301.50 302.00 292.55 294.55IFBIND 867.00 870.00 858.20 858.20CHOLAHLDNG 508.00 515.00 496.00 510.00ASTERDM 144.10 146.85 142.55 142.60VTL 1120.00 1130.90 1106.60 1125.00LAXMIMACH 5750.00 5753.95 5673.00 5673.00BLUEDART 3381.95 3381.95 3130.10 3155.25MAHLIFE 385.00 385.00 376.20 377.60ADVENZYMES 192.00 192.00 190.50 190.50FDC 177.00 177.00 171.35 171.35GDL 130.00 134.95 130.00 131.40GILLETTE 7500.00 7520.00 7450.00 7480.00SANOFI 5588.70 5588.70 5511.05 5511.05SUPRAJIT 229.00 229.00 226.50 226.50TEAMLEASE 3050.00 3054.00 2952.00 3004.75CENTRUM 30.00 30.15 29.10 29.90TTKPRESTIG 8146.20 8146.20 8035.10 8070.00SIS 850.00 850.00 818.70 824.55VMART 2770.05 2788.50 2748.60 2766.50RATNAMANI 893.00 894.70 880.00 885.00ASAHIINDIA 235.65 241.60 234.90 235.05STARCEMENT 105.40 107.20 105.40 107.05NESCO 492.10 493.05 483.00 483.00SCHAEFFLER 5400.00 5480.00 5257.00 5280.00SUNCLAYLTD 2660.00 2799.95 2650.00 2765.00GALAXYSURF 1003.15 1015.10 1001.10 1006.35CERA 2806.95 2843.00 2800.00 2800.00GULFOILLUB 837.00 840.00 832.25 837.00ZYDUSWELL 1305.20 1305.20 1300.25 1302.90NAVNETEDUL 109.30 110.85 109.30 109.85ELGIEQUIP 262.10 278.00 262.05 274.45KIOCL 132.50 133.00 132.00 133.00DHANUKA 377.00 380.00 374.50 380.00GEPIL 901.65 901.65 892.00 892.00SFL 1335.00 1353.05 1335.00 1350.00

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11722.60 11770.90 11699.35 11712.25 -12.50IBULHSGFIN 681.00 710.00 671.80 707.85 28.20BHARTIARTL 324.45 333.85 324.45 332.75 8.55NTPC 133.10 136.65 133.00 135.85 2.75ICICIBANK 397.15 405.20 394.70 402.75 7.20YESBANK 177.00 177.80 169.70 175.80 2.05TATAMOTORS 205.00 213.65 203.05 209.55 2.25ONGC 168.85 171.90 168.70 170.70 1.80INFRATEL 272.55 278.55 272.10 273.75 2.90BAJAJ-AUTO 3028.00 3066.00 3020.00 3059.80 29.25KOTAKBANK 1406.40 1435.75 1400.20 1416.95 10.60JSWSTEEL 308.00 310.45 305.10 308.90 2.25TITAN 1145.00 1154.80 1135.05 1145.00 6.85BPCL 384.95 386.50 378.55 380.60 2.15SBIN 309.00 311.80 308.80 309.70 1.55HEROMOTOCO 2550.00 2587.00 2537.40 2563.20 11.50BAJAJFINSV 7595.00 7669.90 7590.00 7610.00 31.15HDFCBANK 2364.20 2378.00 2356.50 2365.00 9.20UPL 961.20 974.00 959.05 967.65 3.75POWERGRID 190.90 192.95 190.20 190.95 0.75RELIANCE 1407.95 1417.50 1402.65 1409.90 4.85AXISBANK 754.15 763.80 753.45 754.90 2.55MARUTI 6675.00 6780.00 6675.00 6705.50 22.25LT 1362.00 1373.20 1360.00 1362.50 3.75HINDALCO 206.00 206.00 202.65 205.00 0.30SUNPHARMA 455.00 456.20 448.85 452.45 0.25ASIANPAINT 1443.80 1456.00 1432.20 1436.00 -0.60M&M 645.05 652.50 642.85 645.00 -0.90ITC 304.25 307.45 303.30 304.55 -0.45GRASIM 900.00 909.95 881.55 897.00 -2.30COALINDIA 253.05 256.00 251.30 251.70 -0.65VEDL 168.70 169.00 165.80 167.70 -0.60INDUSINDBK 1565.00 1579.00 1546.80 1554.15 -7.15DRREDDY 2910.10 2932.75 2890.70 2906.10 -13.80CIPLA 568.00 573.00 561.65 562.95 -2.65GAIL 346.80 350.90 342.40 345.80 -1.75BAJFINANCE 3130.10 3165.00 3102.30 3110.90 -20.85WIPRO 293.50 293.70 288.55 291.65 -2.00HDFC 2017.50 2037.60 2000.00 2002.80 -14.60INFY 722.90 731.00 718.20 723.65 -7.15EICHERMOT 20571.00 20600.00 20340.00 20356.00 -209.10ULTRACEMCO 4620.50 4628.00 4552.00 4559.80 -56.50TATASTEEL 554.00 556.00 546.60 547.70 -7.25IOC 159.95 160.00 155.70 155.90 -2.20HCLTECH 1144.00 1149.15 1126.25 1142.00 -18.05ZEEL 418.90 422.40 410.10 411.55 -6.90HINDUNILVR 1720.00 1727.00 1682.00 1690.65 -32.90ADANIPORTS 393.00 398.40 385.05 387.30 -8.00TECHM 830.00 834.45 813.00 815.15 -21.85BRITANNIA 2782.95 2803.85 2690.00 2702.50 -80.55TCS 2185.00 2186.05 2125.00 2137.00 -78.40

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27656.30 27732.25 27486.05 27537.75 -121.35DLF 172.95 179.20 171.95 177.90 6.05BANKBARODA 117.05 120.45 116.50 119.10 3.20SBILIFE 650.00 666.00 648.95 665.00 14.50NHPC 23.10 23.75 23.05 23.60 0.50SIEMENS 1153.95 1179.25 1145.00 1174.00 24.40INDIGO 1550.00 1604.30 1546.05 1570.10 29.65MRF 52500.00 53400.00 52500.00 53300.00 875.15HINDPETRO 287.00 290.45 281.70 286.30 4.35SAIL 56.45 57.20 55.75 57.05 0.80ACC 1619.90 1637.85 1610.65 1635.00 21.90MOTHERSUMI 140.00 142.00 139.00 141.60 1.30ASHOKLEY 90.00 91.00 88.60 90.30 0.75HINDZINC 266.50 275.55 266.50 274.00 2.10ABB 1476.00 1517.80 1472.50 1487.00 10.15PGHH 10136.00 10400.00 10136.00 10330.10 69.70OFSS 3445.00 3470.60 3413.65 3459.80 20.65NIACL 180.50 181.25 179.35 180.75 0.25AMBUJACEM 221.50 223.30 220.15 221.30 0.25MARICO 355.00 357.15 350.45 355.50 0.30BOSCHLTD 18099.25 18099.25 17874.15 18000.05 14.10HAVELLS 766.25 774.35 765.55 771.00 0.00IDEA 16.25 16.50 15.90 16.20 0.00DABUR 382.15 385.90 377.30 382.00 -0.15BAJAJHLDNG 3200.35 3240.20 3175.05 3200.00 -4.55BANDHANBNK 625.25 635.90 619.00 623.50 -1.20DMART 1271.00 1282.70 1257.20 1262.00 -3.20SHREECEM 19776.00 20100.00 19776.00 19850.00 -49.90GICRE 241.35 242.85 239.15 239.25 -1.80ICICIPRULI 376.00 377.25 371.00 371.80 -3.15HDFCLIFE 402.00 419.80 401.10 413.30 -3.90DIVISLAB 1718.00 1725.00 1696.25 1698.00 -16.30PAGEIND 22430.00 22690.00 22100.50 22185.20 -252.30NMDC 101.00 102.25 99.85 100.00 -1.15BIOCON 558.00 563.00 549.20 551.40 -6.45SRTRANSFIN 1096.50 1099.00 1068.55 1079.70 -13.10LUPIN 880.00 880.80 864.80 866.35 -10.85ICICIGI 1106.00 1119.00 1082.05 1087.00 -17.20BHEL 69.70 70.60 68.40 68.50 -1.10CONCOR 514.85 516.00 501.50 505.00 -8.55UBL 1411.40 1418.00 1381.05 1386.00 -25.40COLPAL 1188.00 1193.50 1163.30 1170.00 -22.45GODREJCP 650.00 652.70 626.50 642.00 -12.30HDFCAMC 1701.10 1715.00 1650.00 1660.00 -37.55PIDILITIND 1238.45 1238.45 1193.55 1200.85 -27.95L&TFH 129.10 131.70 126.10 127.60 -3.00MCDOWELL-N 544.50 546.35 529.35 530.10 -13.60PEL 2373.00 2373.00 2302.40 2305.25 -61.35AUROPHARMA 798.80 799.30 777.35 778.60 -20.70PETRONET 239.60 240.70 232.70 232.90 -6.55CADILAHC 312.50 318.80 300.05 301.00 -13.90

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Pakistan has issued an officialorder to freeze the assets of

and impose a travel ban on JeMchief Masood Azhar after theUN declared him a “globalterrorist”.

Pakistan-based Azhar isalso banned from selling orpurchasing arms and ammu-nition.

The UN sanctions com-mittee on the Islamic Stateand Al-Qaeda on Wednesdayannounced the designation ofAzhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over itsties to Al-Qaeda.

The JeM has claimedresponsibility for the Pulwamasuicide attack that killed 40

CRPF soldiers and led to aspike in military tensionsbetween India and Pakistan.

The Security and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan(SECP) ordered all non-bank-ing financial institutions andregulating authorities onThursday to block all invest-ment accounts of Azhar.

The SECP ordered that allcompanies should scan theirdata and inform the SECPwithin three days about thenecessary action being takenagainst the accounts of Azhar.

An official of interior min-istry said that Azhar wasalready on the Fourth Scheduleof the Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA)and could not travel withoutpermission of the police. He

was also barred from havingany weapons due to the listingunder the ATA.

His name was also alreadyon the list of proscribed per-sons maintained by theNational Anti-TerroristAuthority (NACTA).

According to ForeignOffice spokesman MohammadFaisal, Pakistan would fullycooperate with the interna-tional community.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry,in a notification issuedWednesday said: “the FederalGovernment is pleased to orderthat the Resolution 2368 (2017)be fully implemented” againstAzhar.

The government directedofficials to take actions “asappropriate for the implemen-tation of sanctions” against theJeM chief, according to thenotification.

The UN designated Azharas a “global terrorist” afterChina lifted its hold on a pro-

posal by the US, the UK andFrance to blacklist him.

The US, the UK andFrance had moved the proposalto designate Azhar as a “glob-al terrorist” in the UN Security

Council’s 1267 Al QaedaSanctions Committee inFebruary, just days after thedeadly Pulwama terror attackcarried out by the JeM inJammu and Kashmir.

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US employers added a robust2,63,000 jobs in April, sug-

gesting that businesses haveshrugged off earlier concernsthat the economy might slowthis year and now anticipatestrong customer demand.

The unemployment rate fellto a five-decade low of 3.6%from 3.8%, though that droppartly reflected an increase in thenumber of Americans whostopped looking for work.Average hourly pay rose 3.2%from 12 months earlier, a healthyincrease though unchangedfrom the previous month.

Friday’s jobs report fromthe Labor Department showedthat solid economic growth isstill encouraging strong hiringnearly a decade into the econ-omy’s recovery from the GreatRecession. The economicexpansion is set to become the

longest in history in July.Many businesses say

they’re struggling to find work-ers, yet each month they seemto add a substantial number.Some have taken a range ofsteps to fill jobs, includingtraining more entry-level work-ers, loosening educationalrequirements and raising paysharply.

Years of steady hiring havesharply lowered unemploy-ment for a range of populationgroups. The unemploymentrate for women fell last monthto 3.1%, the lowest point since1953. The rate for Latinosdropped to 4.2%, a record lowsince 1973, when the govern-ment began tracking the data.

For Asians, joblessness hasmatched a record low of 2.2%.And the unemployment ratefor veterans of the Iraq andAfghan wars dropped to 1.7%,also a record low.

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New Zealand PrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern

and her long-term partnerClarke Gayford have becomeengaged to be married, heroffice said on Friday.

A spokesman for Ardernand Gayford said the couple,who have a baby daughterNeve, agreed to tie the knotover the Easter break.

He could not revealwhether a date for the primeministerial nuptials had been

set or who had proposed towhom.

“I can’t say anything aboutit other than they are engagedand it happened over Easter,”the spokesman told AFP.

Ardern, 38, had Neve lastJune, becoming only the sec-ond prime minister in theworld to give birth while inoffice and later taking theinfant onto the floor of the UNAssembly in New York.

Since the birth, Gayford, atelevision fishing show host,has taken on the role of stay-at-home dad.

The engagement comesafter a trying time for Ardern,who has been widely praisedfor her response to the March15 Christchurch mosque shoot-

ings that claimed the lives of 51Muslim worshippers.

Ardern said in an interviewlast year that she would notpropose to Gayford, eventhough she regards herself as afeminist.

“I want to put him throughthe pain and torture of havingto agonise about that questionhimself,” she told the BBC.

News of the engagementbroke after journalists noticedArdern was wearing a dia-mond ring while carrying outher duties on Friday.

London: Britain’s two mainpolitical parties, the rulingConservatives and theOpposition Labour Party, suf-fered a severe Brexit bruising aslocal election results poured infrom around the country onFriday.

The Liberal Democrats cel-ebrated a major boost to theirfigures as voters overwhelm-ingly used the polls, to electlocal councillors in nearly 250councils across England andNorthern Ireland, to punish themain parties for failing to finda solution to the ongoing Brexituncertainties.

Smaller parties like theGreen Party also gained hun-dreds of seats, but the far-rightpro-Brexit UK IndependenceParty (UKIP) lost much ground.

British Prime MinisterTheresa May, who is facingrenewed calls to resign,appeared at a Conservativeparty conference as the dam-

aging results continued to pourin and admitted that voters hadsent the “simple message” thather party and Labour had to“get on” with delivering Brexit.

“These were always going to bedifficult elections for us and therewere some challenging results forus last night, but it was a bad nightfor Labour too,” she said, amidchants of “out, out, out” from theaudience.

“I just don’t think we cancontinue like this. We needchange, we need a change ofleadership. Perhaps the time hasnow come for that,” said PritiPatel, a prominent Brexiteer andformer Indian-origin ministerin May’s Cabinet.

Speaking in GreaterManchester, Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn said he had“wanted to do better” and con-ceded that voters who dis-agreed with the party’s backingfor Brexit had deserted Labour.

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The 50-week jail sentencegiven to WikiLeaks founder

Julian Assange for breaching aBritish court’s bail conditionsseven years ago is “dispropor-tionate,” the UN WorkingGroup on Arbitrary Detentionsaid Friday.

Assange took refuge inEcuador’s London embassy in2012 after a British judgeordered his extradition to faceSwedish allegations of sexualassault and rape, which hestrongly denied.

He was arrested last monthafter Ecuador gave him up. Hewill now serve the nearly one-year jail sentence while fight-ing a separate attempt to extra-dite him to the United States.

The UN working groupnoted that the Swedish allega-tions — the initial offence thattriggered his British arrest —had been withdrawn and thatthe original bail terms shouldtherefore have been nullified.

It noted too that he hadbeen given near the maximum12-month sentence available in

the UK for breaching bail con-ditions.

The group is “deeply con-cerned about... The dispro-portionate sentence imposedon Mr Assange,” it said in astatement.

It accused Britain ofextending “the arbitrary depri-vation of (his) liberty.” Theexperts took further issue withAssange’s detention at the Belmarsh high-securityprison.

“This treatment appearsto contravene the principles ofnecessity and proportionalityenvisaged by the human rightsstandards,” the panel said.

The US has charged the 47-year-old Assange with “con-spiracy” for working with for-mer US Army intelligence ana-lyst Chelsea Manning to cracka password stored onDepartment of Defence com-puters in March 2010.

Manning passed hundredsof thousands of classified doc-uments to WikiLeaks, exposingUS military wrong-doing in theIraq war and diplomatic secretsabout scores of countries.

Moscow: Russia emerged as acrucial power broker in the cri-sis in far-away Venezuela thisweek when Washingtonaccused Moscow of convincingPresident Nicolas Maduro notto flee to Cuba.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo said Maduro had aplane on the tarmac ready to flyto Havana when “the Russiansindicated that he should stay”.

Moscow hit back, dismiss-ing the claim as fake and accus-ing Washington of supportinga coup “that has nothing to dowith democracy” by backingopposition leader Juan Guaido.

Moscow has its reasonsfor standing behind Maduro -- he’s a rare ally in LatinAmerica and Russia has pouredbillions into the Venezuelaneconomy. AFP

Pemba (Mozambique):Isabella Mussa has not set footin a classroom or read a bookfor the past week.

For the 13-year-old, dis-placed by a deadly cyclone innorthern Mozambique, it feelslike a lifetime. Yet she is calledone of the lucky ones. Morethan 1 million children havebeen affected by a pair ofcyclones that ripped intoMozambique in less than twomonths, the United Nationschildren’s agency says. AP

Addis Ababa: Dozens of civil-ians were shot dead in ethnicclashes in Ethiopia’s northernAmhara state, a regional offi-cial said, describing the attacksas retaliation for violence.

“Search and rescue mis-sions are still ongoing to findvictims and survivors fromMonday’s attack, but I canconfirm the death toll runs intoseveral dozen,” Geleta Hailu,the director of communicationsin neighbouring BenishangulGumuz state, told AFP. AFP

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Troops in Benin maintaineda tight clamp on protests

after two days of deadly vio-lence sparked by elections inwhich not a single oppositioncandidate took part.

Soldiers broke up demon-strations with gunfire onThursday around the home ofex-president Thomas BoniYayi, which had become a focalpoint of protests.

Life returned back to nor-mal in much of the economiccapital Cotonou on Friday, butsoldiers and police kept astrong presence on the streetsaround Boni Yayi’s house,according to an AFP reporter.

At least two people wereconfirmed killed in the vio-lence.

Parliamentary elections lastSunday were marked by lowturnout and widespread angerat changes to electoral rules that

effectively barred oppositionparties from fielding candi-dates.

The final results, issued lateThursday by JosephDjogbenou, president ofBenin’s Constitutional Court,showed that all seats were wonby the only two parties allowedto take part — both allied toPresident Patrice Talon.

Turnout was 27.1 percent,a record low since Benin tran-sited to democracy nearly 30years ago, although higher thanthe 23 percent given in pre-liminary results, Djogbenousaid.

The protests began hoursafter the initial results werereleased on Wednesday.

Large numbers of troopsand riot police — as well ashundreds of protesters man-ning burning barricades —squared off in the streets ofCotonou.

On Thursday, soldiers

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India has been “politicising”the proceedings at the FATF

against Pakistan, the ForeignOffice claimed on Friday, a dayafter the Indian governmentsaid it seeks downgrading ofPakistan on the global watchdog’s terrorism financing list.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley said on Thursday thatIndia will ask the global moneylaundering and terror financewatchdog to put Pakistan on ablacklist of countries that fail to

meet international standards instopping financial crime.

“We want Pakistan down-graded on the FATF list,” Jaitleytold reporters in New Delhi,adding that the Paris-basedFinancial Action Task Force(FATF) was due to meet inmid-May and India wouldmake its request then.

“The statement re-con-firms Pakistan’s longstandingconcerns that this technicalforum is being politicised byIndia against Pakistan,”Pakistan Foreign Office said.

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Ahistoric "loya jirga" peacesummit in Kabul ended on

Friday with delegates fromacross Afghanistan demandingan immediate and permanentceasefire, and President AshrafGhani saying he was condi-tionally prepared to imple-ment the call.

This week's loya jirga, orgrand assembly, saw about3,200 religious and tribal lead-ers, politicians and representa-tives try to find a breakthrough

in Afghanistan's gruelling con-flict, which is now in its 18thyear.

"The government of theIslamic Republic ofAfghanistan and the Talibanmovement should declare andimplement an immediate andpermanent ceasefire," delegatessaid in a declaration at the endof the jirga.

They said the ceasefireshould start at the beginning ofthe holy month of Ramadan,which gets underway in thecoming days.

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Super cars, classic sportscars, motors, single-seaterracing cars, immeasurablerace tracks — I had onlywitnessed them in dreams

or while scrolling through mysocial media feed, until today.Even before I entered inside themain campus of the BuddhInternational Circuit at GreaterNoida-Yamuna Expressway, thewhizz of the racing cars as they ranthrough the tracks was audible. AsI stepped into Pit 5 to attend the X1Racing League Summit, the trackswere what immediately caught myattention. But the best was yet to befor we could experience life in thefast lane in a racing car alongsidethe driver. Even from far, I couldhear the whizz of the car whichmade my spine tingle. The speedwas equally thrilling. But let meconfess, that my legs trembled atthe thought of sitting inside themean machine... yet I was extreme-ly tempted to do so.

The next moment I was sign-ing a declaration which said thatthe racing authorities wouldn’t beresponsible for any injury or death,if a mishap took place while I amon the track premises. As I sat inthe car, with the harness strappedon and the helmet tightly fitted onmy head, my heart was pounding

so hard that I could hear it abovethe din of the cars that werescreeching past. But before I couldchange my mind (not that I hadany intention to), we took off! Thefirst few moments were the scari-est but so was the thrill which wasout of this world. All I couldimagine was a huge audiencecheering for us and the checked-white and black waving flag toannounce that we had cleared thefinish line in record time. The lapended. Too soon, too fast. But it wascertainly the experience of a life-time. It was back from terra firmaand to reality.

Indian car racers and youngenthusiasts and aspirants lost theirhopes of ever witnessing a Formula1 Indian Grand Prix at the BuddhInternational Circuit after it wasbesieged with financial problemsincluding a tax dispute with thegovernment.

However, all that is set tochange. The Summit saw theannouncement of the X1 RacingLeague that begins from October2019, the biggest feature of whichis, “that it is backed by governmentand the Federation of Motor SportsClub of India (FMSCI) assuringlong-term partnership rights forcity-based 4W racing events andcompetitions in league format,” said

Indian car racer Aditya Patel, at theSummit.

Talking about what wentwrong and how it could have hadbeen encouraged after 2011-2013(the first Grand Prix in India), Patelsaid, “F1 indeed had a lot of prob-lems and unfortunately, even thegovernment did not back itenough. So they themselves weren’twilling to come back. I feel that ifthe government would have sup-ported it financially, it would havecertainly worked.”

However, he said that withgrowing technological advance-

ments, more people becomingaware, involved, and interested aswell as with more brand sponsorsand investors, the racing industryhas definitely evolved over theyears.

The racing league, he said,would be the world’s first profes-sional franchise-based motorsportleague, which will include a mix oftrack and street races. RacerArmaan Ebrahim, who is co-launching the racing league, said,“This will be a new face of car-rac-ing in the country. India has neverhad a history of racing but this willinitiate a legacy which will last foryears to come. You learn from his-tory.” Looking back, he goes on toadd, “F1 was not India-centric, hadno connection with the Indianpublic, no government backing orinternational support. These havebeen kept in mind to keep this onecompetitive.”

He added that the league,which includes participation by 32drivers including both national andinternational, males and females,had been worked to keep in focusthe factors which would “sustain inIndia and be suitable for it. We havegone in-depth to find such thingsout.”

The league, he informed us,will go on for 12 weekends, have 24

race days and 40 races. “There wasa need to revive this culture in Indiaand encourage its interest in peo-ple in order that the the charm ofthis sport is not lost. It’s an uncon-ventional sport choice which notmany opt for freely in this coun-try. To encourage more participa-tion, this was very important. Wecouldn’t have relied on F1 to comeback after years. The young talentsand aspirants need proper trainingand exposure and a platform whichis specific to India. Also, such aninitiative will bring people from thegrassroot level,” said Armaan.There are still a few training cen-tres in India, he claimed, and they“need to grow.”

For someone who has beenfollowing the evolution of racingculture as a part of the circuit for15 years, he said, “It’s been ever-evolving. There are certain com-panies who do host championshipson small scales. The only need nowis to take them to the next level.The rationale has been great sinceIndia has had so many internation-al car racers as well over the pastfew years.”

Well, the races, each of whichwill be of 45 minutes, will takeplace at the Buddh InternationalCircuit and the MMRT inChennai.

May the 4th is here to be withyou, which means it’s thattime of the year when you

must leave everything aside to cel-ebrate the iconic space saga byGeorge Lucas, Star Wars andembrace the force within you.While it all started in a galaxy, faraway, we can celebrate Star Wars ina galaxy, which is not so far away.Jatin Varma, founder of Comic ConIndia suggests five different ways tocelebrate the day.

Talk like Yoda with your col-leagues and friends the entireday

There can be no better way tocelebrate the day than starting withthe oldest, wisest and the most pow-erful Jedi from that universe. Hispeculiar language, Yodish is simi-lar to English but in a disorderedsentence structure where the objectcomes first followed by the subjectand the verb instead of the usualsubject-verb-object order used inEnglish sentences. So, ‘Yoda, talklike’ the entire day with friends/col-leagues or throw a Star Wars-themed party and’ ‘Yodish lan-guage at the party interact in’.

Invest in a Star Wars Lego Setand spend the day building it

Lego has introduced a newline of a 279-piece building setbased on Star Wars to celebrate theclassic saga’s 20th anniversary thisyear. The set comes with threeminiature figures of AnakinSkywalker, Luke Skywalker, andPadme Amidala.

The brand also has plenty ofother building sets from the chron-icle already on the shelves. So,invest in one and spend the daybuilding your own model of AnakinSkywalker’s custom-built podracer.

Do a Star Wars moviemarathon

With all the events, Cosplay,merchandise, and other celebrationstaking place everywhere, it’s easy forthem fans to miss out the crucialpart of Star Wars Day, the movies.

The celebrations will not be com-plete without revisiting all the filmsthat have made this series sobeloved. And, make sure you getsomeone from your team, who hasnever watched the series before, joinyou in the movie marathon. Watch

all of them in the mentioned order:Prequel -The Phantom Menace (Ep:1), Attack of the Clones (Ep: 2),Revenge of the Sith (Ep: 3); RogueOne (Spin-Off); Sequel - A NewHope (Ep: 4), The Empire StrikesBack (Ep: 5), Return of the Jedi (Ep:

6), The Force Awakens (Ep: 7), Thelast Jedi (Ep: 8) and The Rise ofSkywalker (Ep: 9).

Save up for a once-in-a-life-time trip to the new Star Warsland at Disney World

Your fandom for Star Warswill not be complete if you don’tvisit the much-anticipatedDisneyland’s new Star Wars-themedGalaxy’s Edge land, which willopen on May 31. Imagine getting achance to fly the MillenniumFalcon, join the Resistance, build acustom lightsaber and design adroid. Start saving up for this aonce-in-a-lifetime trip to DisneyWorld in Orlando.

Prepare for the Revenge OfThe Fifth (of May)

This unofficial fan holiday cel-ebrated on May 5, the day after StarWars Day marks the louder side ofthe film. Rhyming with the StarWars: Episode III — Revenge of theSith, this day covers the dark sideof the force universe, with all thingssilly and funny, which is not neces-sarily a part of the original trilogy.

Lastly, the nostalgia will not becomplete without rememberingLate Carrie Fisher who portrayedthe role of the popular self-rescu-ing Princess Leia and made her lastappearance in Star Wars: The LastJedi.

If Nandita had not made this film onManto, probably he (would have)died in the memories of people... A

play, movie or a series is the best way toreintroduce these great figures back tothe society,” said actor Shekhar Sumanwho will be essaying the role of late Urduwriter Saadat Hasan Manto in RandhirRanjan Roy’s play Ek Haan.

Manto, who died in 1955 at the ageof 43, penned an impressive body ofwork touching various genres. Hechurned out about 22 collections of sto-ries comprising a novel, essays, person-al sketches and movie scripts. His workalso gained attention for weaving storiesaround the ordeal of partition as well assexuality.

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui broughtthe character to life in Nandita Das’Manto, which follows the most tumul-tuous years in the life of the writer andthose of India and Pakistan whichManto inhabited and chronicled.Shekhar is glad that Nandita made thefilm.

But he has not seen it. “I haven’t seenManto though, which in a way is goodas I want to have my own interpretationof the play and not get influenced byanything that I have seen before.”Talking about Manto, Shekhar said,“Everybody knows who Manto was andnow we are making it simpler to under-stand who Manto was. An intensewriter who presented the world duringthe time when the reality was so harsh

to digest.”Shekhar also played role of poet and

lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi for a play EkMulaqat alongside Deepti Naval whoessayed the role of novelist-poet AmritaPritam.

“I enjoyed playing Sahir saab thor-oughly and have followed Manto’s workclosely. It would be interesting to playhim on stage,” said the actor, who willbegin readings and rehearsals withSuchitra Krishnamoorthi later this week.

Suchitra will play a journalist in theplay who navigates the life of the writer.She has started preparing for the role.

“My character of an Indian journal-ist visits him in Pakistan, just around thetime of partition and through his sto-ries, is trying to understand both thecountries, the socio-political and emo-tional situation. She is also trying tounderstand herself through their con-versation.

“There is a lot of imagery from thatera of how women dressed, how wouldpeople speak among a lot of other things.So while I have a few references in mindI would like to explore some more as weproceed with the rehearsals. We wouldalso be speaking a lot of Urdu and I amgoing to work very hard on my dialoguesto get them right,” said the actress.

Roy said “We will be in theatres inJune this year.” The production is byPanache Media, screenplay and directionis by Roy.

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Peter Mayhew, who becameknown to fans worldwide asthe lovable Wookiee

Chewbacca in the Star Warsgalaxy of films, has died. He was74. The actor died on Tuesday inhis North Texas home with hisfamily by his side. His officialTwitter account shared the newson Thursday, as per the reports.Mayhew had undergone spinalsurgery in July in an effort toimprove his mobility.

The actor had done someminor acting — he played aminotaur in the RayHarryhausen fantasy Sinbad andthe Eye of the Tiger (1977) — andwas working as a hospital order-ly when he tried out for the partof Chewbacca. He got the rolebased on his physique, as writer-director George Lucas was in des-perate need of someone whowould be able to play taller thanDarth Vader.

Lucas mourned the death ofthe actor, saying, “Peter was awonderful man. He was the clos-

est any human being could be toa Wookiee: big heart, gentlenature... and I learned to alwayslet him win. He was a good friendand I’m saddened by his passing.”

Star Wars veteran MarkHamill tweeted, “He was thegentlest of giants. A big man withan even bigger heart who neverfailed to make me smile and aloyal friend who I loved dearly.I’m grateful for the memories weshared and I’m a better man forjust having known him.”

Harrison Ford, who playedthe Han Solo also expressed hiscondolences.

“Chewbacca was an impor-tant part of the success of thefilms we made together. He knewhow important the fans of thefranchise were to its continuedsuccess and he was devoted tothem. I and millions of others willnever forget Peter and what hegave us all. Rest easy, my dearfriend,” Ford said. Mayhew is sur-vived by his wife Angie, and threechildren. <1��,

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The global demand forthe premiere of theeighth and final season

of Game of Thrones exceededthe global premiere demandof every other TV series —setting a new Guinness WorldRecord.

The last season premieredinternationally on April 14.

The global demand onthe day of the premiere

exceeded the global premieredemand of every other TVseries for any season across allplatforms and markets undermeasurement, as per thereports.

Parrot Analytics, a TVcontent analytics firm special-ising in global audiencedemand measurement, part-nered with Guinness WorldRecords to chart the demand

and declare it officially —‘Most in-demand’ TV pre-miere.

The Parrot methodologyclaims to use global, real-time and platform-agnosticTV demand measurements.Guinness and Parrot chartedworldwide demand for allseries premieres from April2015 to the day of Game ofThrones season eight premiereto determine the measure-ment.

“The fantasy seriesamassed a per capita globalaudience demand of 25.46 onthe premiere day. Comparedto its per capita global demandof 24.74 on the day of its sea-son seven premiere, the latestand final season has pre-miered 2.9 per cent higherglobally. Premiere daydemand has been particular-ly strong in the US, UnitedKingdom and France,” saidSamuel Stadler, Vice Presidentof marketing, ParrotAnalytics.

Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief at Guinness, said, “GoTlooks like it’s going to contin-ue breaking records right upto the final, undoubtedly dev-astating episode.”

Game of Thrones, basedon George R.R. Martin’s nov-els, is about the quest to claimthe Iron Throne. But it alsostands for complicated polit-ical gambits, scheming and thebackstabbing nature of peopleand finding love in troubledtimes. The final season willwrap up on May 19. It is airedin India on Star World.

<1��,

Actor Akshay Kumar on Friday issued a state-ment regarding the controversy over his cit-izenship. He says he has never hidden or

denied that he holds a Canadian passport and thathe doesn’t understand the unwarranted interest andnegativity about it.

“I really don’t understand the unwarrantedinterest and negativity about my citizenship.

I have never hidden or denied that I holda Canadian passport. It is also equallytrue that I have not visited Canada inthe last seven years,” Akshay tweeted.

“I work in India, and pay all mytaxes in India. While all these years, Ihave never needed to prove my love forIndia to anyone, I find it disappoint-ing that my citizenship issue is con-stantly dragged into needless contro-versy, a matter that is personal, legal,non-political, and of no consequenceto others,” he added in the statement.

He concluded by saying, “Lastly,I would like to continue contributing

in my small way to the causes that Ibelieve in and make India stronger and

stronger.”His absence from the polling booth

made netizens think that it was due to hisalleged Canadian citizenship.

In 2017, Akshay had said that he hasbeen bestowed with an honorary citizen-ship by the Canadian Government, andhence, he carries the Canadian citizenship.

Akshay, who recently grabbed head-lines for his “non-political” interview withPrime Minister Narendra Modi, waswidely trolled for not casting his vote thisyear.

“Chaliye, chaliye (let’s go, let’s go)”is how Akshay responded when at a spe-cial screening of the film Blank, amediaperson asked him about givingvoting a miss. He then walked away.

The actor has featured in many filmslike Kesari, Baby, Holiday - A Soldier

Is Never Off Duty and Airlift, withpatriotism as a theme.

<1��,

In a non-descript building inNorth Miami, two dozendancers in bouncing yellowskirts are high kicking the can-can, aerialists are spinning

perilously high from silk cords andfrantic seamstresses are hemmingoutfits in a 20,000 square-foot cos-tume shop. They are all part of acompany that puts on more live pro-ductions a year than Broadway andLondon’s West End combined.

Royal Caribbean International’scruise line directs 134 shows in 50theatres on 26 ships around theworld, including seven Broadway-originating shows, eight aqua shows,18 ice shows and dozens of originalmusicals.

“We have a nightly audience ofabout 100,000. It is by scale a very,very large operation. Probably underone roof, the biggest in the world,”said Nick Weir, senior vice presidentof entertainment. “At any one time,there’s 1,500 to 1,800 cast membersemployed to make this all come tolife.”

It takes two to four weeks for anarmy of dancers, singers and aeri-alists to learn a show before they’redispatched to ports as far away asAustralia and China.

On a recent afternoon, dancersroamed the halls in crop tops andbuns. One stretched into a wide spliton the floor. There are 14 dance stu-dios, 15 rehearsal rooms, a record-ing studio, gymnasiums and audi-torium. Exercise equipment linessome hallways. Nearby are livingaccommodations for 470 of the per-formers.

Often dismissed in the past assecond-tier, cruise entertainmenthas evolved to a genre that RoyalCaribbean says commands some ofthe best talent and technologyaround.

Several of the main charactersin Mama Mia are from theBroadway version of the show.While New York theatre has strug-gled to turn profits with its small,intimate venues, fickle crowds andfinite real estate, the cruise indus-try’s onboard audience is growingexponentially.

Royal Caribbean is buildingfive ships in the coming years, eachwith a custom-built theatre withsophisticated stages and high-techeffects. A few years ago, they builta small plane with a 22-footwingspan that now flies over theaudience in every production ofFLIGHT: Dare to Dream.

“The stages that they have onthe ships, the technology is far bet-ter than it ever was on a Broadwaystage, even 10 years ago,” said Greg

Graham, who was the residentchoreographer for Billy Elliot onBroadway before coming to thecruise line to choreographHairspray.

Roughly 3,000 hopefulls showedup to recent auditions for Hairsprayin New York and London.

Weir said the casting operationis massive, culling talent from 75cities a year auditioning nearly25,000 performers last year alone.

“At my audition, there werehundreds of girls... it’s very compet-itive. There are so many people whowant to be doing this,” said TarynBorman, a 21-year-old Australiandancer, who’s performing on a shipfor the first time in a new show withaerialists and contortionists. She’llhead to Asia with the cast in a fewweeks.

Singer and dancer Oli Reynolds,26, wrapped up a starring role inLondon’s West End production ofMama Mia and came back to RoyalCaribbean where he’s reprising thesame role.

“I think there’s still a stigmaabout cruise ship performing... his-torically, a lot of cruise lines didn’t

put the focus on the performing, itwas more about the destinations,”said Reynolds, who stressed that’schanged. “People come from Cirquedu Soleil, they come from Vegas,they come from London, they comefrom Broadway and it is a progres-sion in my career for me.”

John Kenrick, a musical theatrehistorian and adjunct professor atNew York University, says the evo-lution was inevitable as moresophisticated cruise audiences —accustomed to seeing shows inspots like Vegas and Atlantic City —are demanding better entertain-ment.

“It’s certainly upped the game.(Cruise theatre) used to be a littlebetter perhaps than summer stockjust with better costumes,” saidKenrick, adding “it’s definitelyimproved. I can’t say it’s Broadway.”

Each performance on everyship worldwide is rehearsed at theroughly 1,33,000 sq ft facility wherethe halls are literally alive with thesounds of music.

In one room, dancers withblack top hats are perfecting chore-ography to All That Jazz. Across the

hall, six singers are harmonizing anumber from Once Upon a Time. Ina recording studio next door, thewalls reverberate with what soundslike theme music from an adventuremovie.

At the massive costume shop,the hum of a sewing machine where

a seamstress works on a gold glittercostume competes with the hiss ofa steam iron. One of the headseamstresses is busy completing awhite sequin ballroom dress, withflowing feathers and a rhinestone-studded bodice. The cruise linemakes its own costumes and must

coordinate fittings for dozens ofshows.

The cast on each ship per-forms not one, but three shows —a Broadway musical like Hairsprayor Grease, a ballroom style show anda pop show. The shows are upbeatand family-oriented and chosen toappeal to a wide audience — noth-ing too sexual or intellectual.

Scheduling all the rehearsals ismore precise than the choreography.The new casts arrive, rehearse anddepart to sea at a dizzying paceevery few weeks. It takes exactly 26days to train a new cast to performthe musical Cats.

Typical theatre productions willrotate in new cast members period-ically, but Royal Caribbean prefersto sign performers to roughly nine-month contracts. They spend a fewweeks learning three shows fromscratch and then head to sea. Whenit’s over, the cruise line casts a newset of performers and begins again.

Staging a show at sea has its ownchallenges and quirks. Performersneed extra core strength to adapt torough waves and pitching ships. Ifa costume is ripped, there’s no oneto run to the store.

There are also perks that eventhe most legendary theatres onland can’t compete with — pic-turesque ports, free meals, room andboard, the chance to interact withthe audience and the sense ofonboard community not found atother venues where performerssimply go home each night.

“You definitely become more ofa family,” said Mya Carpenter, a 22-year-old dancer who performed inParis before joining RoyalCaribbean. “You come to know peo-ple inside and out. They’re friendsfor life.”

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Based on the eponymousnovel by W. BruceCameron, A Dog’s

Journey is about a dog being ona mission to protect a person.The film, sequel to the globalhit The Dog’s Purpose, is direct-ed by two times Emmayaward-winning director GailMancuso.

Producer Gavin Polonefeels that since the filminvolved protecting a younggirl it was most appropriate tohave a female director for thefilm. Polone says, “The first

film was about our dog goingfrom person to person toget back to Ethan. But withthis film, our dog is on amission to protect one per-son: a girl who becomes awoman. Of course, thedynamics of issues withyoung girls and theirmothers is a differ-ent perspective.”

Since themakers of thefilm were, in par-ticular, lookingfor a directorwith great dealof experiencewith comedy,Gail was anobvious choice.A women’s per-spective was keyfor the makers.Polan furtheradds, “I hadworked with GailMancuso onGilmore Girls, andthere are thingstonally and comed-ically that are reminis-cent of that show withthis movie”

An animal lover her-self, director Gail says, “Iloved the first film andwhen the opportunity wasgiven to me to direct thisone, it was a blessing. Ihave five dogs and trulylove animals.”

This heartwarmingadventure of Bailey (dog)through multiple lives filledwith love, friendship anddevotion music and laugh-ter is set to release in Indiaon May 17 by RelianceEntertainment.

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Yuvraj Singh, hero of India's vic-torious campaign in the 2011

World Cup, is expecting "specialperformances" from all-rounderHardik Pandya in the 2019 edition,beginning May 30.

Pandya is back to his best, atleast with the bat, following testingtimes which saw him serve aninterim suspension.

The 25-year-old has been inremarkable form this IPL and hisMumbai Indians teammate Yuvrajhopes that he extends his explosiverun to the 50-over mega event.

"I was actually having this con-versation with him (Hardik) yester-day where I told him that 'you havea great chance of performing real-ly well with the ball and bat', thekind of form he is in at the moment.

"Definitely, the way he is battingat the moment, it is phenomenaland I hope he carries that form (intothe World Cup). He has been bowl-ing well in patches but as I said itis all about how you handle the pres-sure," said Yuvraj.

Pandya has been in the form ofhis life and Yuvraj said that his 91against the Kolkata Knight Riderswas the best IPL innings he hasseen.

"It is probably the best shape asa batsman to get in. I have beenwatching since the practice games,he was hitting the ball really well. Ihad told him 'it is going to be a spe-cial tournament for you, the wayyou are hitting the ball'," said thesouthpaw.

"Over the years, as an experi-enced player you know if someoneis hitting the ball well, he is in greatshape. He got 91 from 34 ballsagainst KKR, probably that is thebest innings I have seen in the IPL

just because he hit four qualitybowlers he was batting against.

"When you are doing that, youknow that someone is batting verywell," added Yuvraj, who is knownfor hitting six sixes in the 2007 edi-tion of WorldT20 in South Africa.

The man of the tournament ofthe 2011 World Cup also backedVirat Kohli-led India, hosts Englandand Australia to do well in the megaevent.

"My first two teams are Englandand India. Obviously with (David)Warner and (Steve) Smith comingback, Australia will be in con-tention. West Indies also looked avery power-packed side. You can'tsay much at this stage. I think itwould be India and England first,third would be Australia. Fourth Idon't know," said Yuvraj.

He also backed chinamanKuldeep Yadav to do well in theWorld Cup.

"I don't asses T20 cricket (form)over 50 over (cricket). I thinkKuldeep has been a fantastic bolw-er for India and I'm sure he willbounce back quickly. He has beenvery effective against England,South Africa, Australia," said Yuvrajwhen asked whether Kuldeep's cur-rent form in the IPL was a concernahead of the World Cup.

����■ 2.��2�&'�

Steve Smith and David Warnerhave been welcomed back to

the Australian team with "no ten-sion", coach Justin Langer saidon Friday, with the World Cupoffering another opportunityfor redemption.

The duo returned to thenational side for a World Cuptraining camp on Friday inBrisbane after serving year-longbans for their part in the "sand-papergate" scandal in CapeTown.

"There is no tension," asmiling Langer told reporters."They're back in the team now.They've been selected, which isbrilliant."

The duo have enjoyed asolid comeback in IPL, withWarner in blistering form, top-ping the batting rankings with692 runs from 12 innings.

Langer acknowledged therewould need to be some adjust-ments for the former team lead-ers, but said the team would beboosted by their experience.

"When you come from thetitled position of captain thenthere is going to be a certaindegree of humility that comeswith that," he said.

"One of our really strong val-ues is humility, so there will begreat opportunity to developthat."

The Aussie coach welcomedthe selection dilemma Smithand Warner added to the toporder, joining Aaron Finch,Usman Khawja and ShaunMarsh, made it "exciting to havethose five 100-makers at our dis-posal".

Australia are the reigningWorld Cup champions and havebeen in recent red-hot form win-

ning eight one-day internation-als on the trot, against India andPakistan.

"We have had great successin the past. While we celebratethat, it means nothing on howwe play this (World Cup),"Langer said.

He said the team needed touse every tournament on the cal-endar to "make Australiansproud of us again". "We mustmake the most of every oppor-tunity that comes up, includingthis World Cup," he said.

����■ ),&!,&

Arsenal manager UnaiEmery insisted his side'sEuropa League semi-final

against Valencia is still "50-50"despite the Gunners taking a 3-1 first leg lead to Spain.

Valencia's bright start at theEmirates on Thursday wasrewarded with MouctarDiakhaby's away goal.

But Alexandre Lacazettequickly turned the game aroundwith two goals in eight first-halfminutes before Pierre-EmerickAubameyang's late strike gaveArsenal a two-goal advantage todefend at the Mestalla on May 9.

However, Emery, who man-aged Valencia between 2008 and2012, knows the tie is far fromover due to Arsenal's terribleaway record this season.

"It is a good result at home,but the second leg is going to bevery difficult and maybe differ-ent. I consider for both teams it

is 50-50," said Emery.Arsenal are desperate not

just for silverware in Emery's firstseason but the guarantee ofChampions League qualificationfor next season that winning theEuropa League would bring.

A run of three straightPremier League defeats has leftEmery's men needing morefavours from Chelsea orTottenham to stand any chance ofChampions League qualificationvia a top-four Premier Leaguefinish.

The Gunners had concededthree times in all three of thosedefeats to Crystal Palace, Wolvesand Leicester and the same defen-sive deficiencies cost them againearly on.

Valencia had already misseda glorious chance to take the leadwhen Ezequiel Garay blazed overbefore Diakhaby forced the ballhome at the back post for the vitalaway goal on 11 minutes.

Emery has been reticent to

start Lacazette and Aubameyangtogether up front, but the gameturned on one moment of magicfrom Arsenal's two prolific strik-ers.

Lacazette played inAubameyang and the Gaboninternational left his markerand Valencia goalkeeperNeto on the groundbefore squaring for hisstrike partner to roll intoan empty net.

Seven minutes later,Arsenal led as terribledefending allowedLacazette a free headerfrom Granit Xhaka'scross and a weakhand from Netocould not prevent theball crossing the line.

"We had the game complete-ly in control until their firstgoal," lamented Valencia coachMarcelino Garcia Toral.

Lacazette missed two gloriousopportunities to complete his

hat-trick as he firstly failed toconnect with an inch-perfectAubameyang cross before Netomade a brilliant save at his nearpost to keep the Spanish side inthe tie.

At the other end Petr Cechalso had to make a smart stop

as he raced from his goal todeny substitute KevinGameiro.

The veteran stopperhas announced he will

retire at the end of theseason.

And Cech's final gamecould well be against his

former club Chelsea innext month's final asthe Blues secured a

1-1 draw away atEintracht Frankfurt in the

first leg of the other semi-final.Arsenal still have work to do,

but they moved much closer tobooking their trip to Baku whenAubameyang turned home at theback post in the final minute.

����■ �.��

Roger Federer returns to clay court ten-nis for the first time in three years at

Madrid next week, admitting it feels likea journey into "no-man's land".

The 37-year-old last tested his abil-ity on European dirt at the Rome Mastersin 2016, before opting to concentrate onthe world's hard surfaces and grasscourts which have yielded the majorityof his 101 titles.

But with his career in its twilight, theSwiss has decided to re-enter a realm oftennis for so long dominated by rivalRafael Nadal — and Madrid seems thelogical venue.

Federer has won two of his 11 claytitles in the Spanish capital where thehigh altitude helps him negate the tra-ditionally pedestrian pace of the dustysurface.

"I'm very excited. It's a good chal-lenge, a good test. Confidence, I don'tknow, it's in no-man's land. I have to startfrom scratch," said Federer after winninghis most recent title in Miami.

His long-term aim this spring isRoland Garros where he was championin 2009 and where he has been a four-time runner-up in 2006, 2007, 2008 and2011, losing on every occasion to Nadal.

However, with 11-time French Openwinner Nadal in something of a claycourtslump, having been deposed as Barcelona

and Monte Carlo champion in recentweeks, Federer saw a glimmer of hope.

That shaft of light brightened whenworld number one Novak Djokovicexited Monte Carlo in the quarter-finals.

"Roger is still very hungry," Federer'scoach Ivan Ljubicic told Sky Sports Italia.

"And he has got used to playing onclay again pretty quickly."

Federer's last clay title was in Istanbulin 2015, the same year which saw his lastRoland Garros appearance end with aquarter-final exit at the hands of closefriend Stan Wawrinka.

Rome in 2016 witnessed the Swissstar's most recent competitive outing onclay, a straight sets loss to Dominic Thiemin the third round seemingly convincinghim that his dirt court career was done.

"I'm not very confident going intothis clay court season, I can tell you that— I don't even remember how to slideanymore," said Federer.

"You know, I'm taking baby steps atthis point. To be honest, I didn't play onepoint — not one shot on clay last year.Two years ago I played two days.

"Three years ago I played not feelinggreat in Monaco and Rome and all that.So it's been so little that I really don'tknow what to expect." Despite his cau-tion, his longtime rivals are wary ofunder-estimating the 20-time GrandSlam champion next week.

����■ &'(�!')*��

They have never shared a greatrapport on and off-the-field

and now former Pakistan captainShahid Afridi has gone a step fur-ther terming former India open-er Gautam Gambhir as someonewith "no great records and just alot of attitude".

In his just released autobiog-raphy 'Game Changer', Afridilaunched a scathing attack onGambhir, some of which termedout to be factually incorrect.

"Some rivalries were person-al, some professional. First thecurious case of Gambhir. Ohpoor Gautam. He & his attitude

problem. He who has no person-ality. He who is barely a charac-ter in the great scheme of crick-et. He who has no great recordsjust a lot of attitude," writes Afridi.

Gambhir played 58 Tests, 147ODIs and 37 T20 Internationalsscoring more than 10,000 interna-tional runs across formats. Afridiplayed 398 ODIs for Pakistanwith a lot of matches as opener butthe average despite 8000 plusruns stand at less than 24 com-pared to Gambhir close to 40. InTests, Gambhir has an average ofclose to 42 compared to Afridi's27 plus.

In fact, Gambhir was the topscorer with 75 against Pakistan in

the 2007 World T20 final. Heretired from all forms of cricket inDecember last year.

However that didn't stopAfridi from taking a sarcastic digat Gambhir.

"Gambhir behaves like he's across between Don Bradman &James Bond. In Karachi, we callguys like him saryal (grumpy). It'ssimple, I like happy, positive peo-ple. Doesn't matter if they areaggressive or competitive, butyou have to be positive &Gambhir wasn't," he writes.

Afridi, who also reveals hisreal age in the book making himfive years older than what the offi-cial records state, recollected the

infamous heated exchange withGambhir during an Asia Cupgame when they nearly came toblows.

"I remember the run-in withGambhir during the 2007 AsiaCup, when he completed his sin-gle while running straight into me.The umpires had to finish it off orI would have. Clearly we had afrank bilateral discussion abouteach other's female relatives,"Afridi recalled the uncharitableverbal exchange.

Afridi featured in 27 Tests,398 ODIs and 99 T20Internationals. He retired frominternational cricket after the2016 World T20 in India.

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Injured Kagiso Rabada was onFriday ruled of the rest of the IPL

after South Africa decided to call thepacer back as a precautionary mea-sure ahead of the World Cup.

Rabada had missed DelhiCapitals' last match against ChennaiSuper Kings due to stiff back and hisunavailability is a severe blow to DelhiCapitals, who are striving to win theirmaiden title.

According to a statement fromthe Delhi Capitals, Rabada, the cur-rent Purple Cap holder, has beenadvised to return home by CSA.

"It is indeed very hard for me toleave the Delhi Capitals at this stageof the tournament," said the 23-year-old Rabada, who took 25 wick-ets from 12 matches that he playedthis season.

"But with the World Cup just amonth away, a collective decision hasbeen made for me in this regard. It's

been a tremendous season for mewith the Delhi Capitals, both on andoff the field, and I truly believe thatour team can win the trophy."

Proteas team managerMohammed Moosajee said Rabada'srecall was precautionary based on hishistory.

"Kagiso experienced stiffness inhis lower back a few days ago and wastaken for scans for further investiga-tion. The scan results, combinedwith further assessment by our phys-iotherapist Craig Govender who isfortunately in Delhi, led the CSAmedical committee to the decision towithdraw him from the remainder ofthe IPL," Moosajee said in a CricketSouth Africa statement.

"Kagiso has a history with backinjuries and the CSA medical team istaking the best measures to ensure heis fully fit for the ICC Men's CricketWorld Cup next month. He willconsult with a back specialist upon hisreturn and proceed with a treatmentand rehab programme."

Delhi Capitals' head coach RickyPonting termed the development as"unfortunate".

"It's unfortunate that Rabada ishaving to leave us at this stage of thetournament. But I have full confi-dence in our team and I'm sure eachand every member of this unit willstep up to the occasion," Ponting said.

He is now banking on NewZealand pacer Trent Boult's experi-ence in the upcoming play-offs.

"It's a massive loss obviously butit's a loss that we can cover. We havesomeone like Trent Boult, who is aworld-class fast bowler. He had a ter-rific season for the Daredevils (erst-while) last year. With him coming tothe side now, we think we can coverfor the loss of Rabada quite well."

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Their play-off berthsealed, Delhi Capitals

will aim for a big winagainst Rajasthan Royalsto enhance their chances fora second-place finish whenthe two teams clash in theirfinal league match here onSaturday.

A big win on Saturdaywill not only will boostDelhi's morale after the 80-run hammering at the handsof CSK but it could also pro-pel the side to the secondposition in the eight-teamstandings.

Delhi are currently sittingthird with 16 points from 13games, just behind MumbaiIndians (16 points) and tabletoppers CSK (18 points).

A win against Rajasthanwill enhance Delhi's chancesof featuring in Qualifier 1,giving them two shots at theMay 12 final.

In the absence of Rabada,Delhi's bowling attack lookedmiserable, but it is the shod-dy performance of the battingunit which would be a causeof concern for skipperShreyas Iyer.

The likes of Prithvi Shaw,Shikhar Dhawan, RishabhPant and Colin Ingramwould like to forget the dis-astrous outing against CSKand come out afresh inDelhi's last home game.

Rajasthan, on the otherhand, are mathematically stillalive in the tournament with11 points from 13 games.

They need to win againstDelhi and hope forfavourable results from otherremaining games to secure aplay-off berth as the fourthteam.

But a win against Delhimight just not be enough forRajasthan as it will take themto 13 points, after their lastgame against RoyalChallengers Bangalore waswashed away.

With Steve Smith havingdeparted home for WorldCup preparations, AjinkyaRahane will return to cap-taincy duties. Ashton Turneris expected to replace Smithin the playing eleven.

The departure of Smith,Jos Buttler and Ben Stokeshas weakened Rajasthan'sbatting, putting more respon-sibility on the shoulders ofRahane, Sanju Samson andLiam Livingstone but theteam's bowling unit would bepumped up after the leg-spin-ner Shreyas Gopal's hat-trickin the rain-truncated matchagainst RCB.

In the last encounterbetween the two sides lastmonth, it was Delhi Capitalswho came out on top inJaipur by six wickets in ahigh-scoring affair.

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Sunrisers Hyderabadwould look to complete

the unfinished business andseal their place in the IPLPlay-offs when they clashwith laggards RoyalChallengers Bangalore, hereon Saturday.

The defeat againstMumbai Indians via SuperOver must be hurting butthey need to shrug it off andadd two points to take theirtally to 14, good enough tostay in top-4.

Despite their defeatagainst Mumbai,Hyderabad's net run rate is+0.653, which is superior toothers in contention for thePlay-offs.

Even if Hyderabad losetheir last match, they can stillreach playoffs if KolkataKnight Riders and Kings XIPunjab don't win more thanone of their last two match-es.

In the absence of theirbatting mainstay DavidWarner, young ManishPandey (71 off 47 balls)shouldered the responsibili-ty pretty well against Mumbaias he pushed the match intothe super over.

But with just nine runs towin in super over, Pandyaand Kieron Pollard took

Mumbai home with threeballs to spare.

Captain KaneWilliamson, all-rounderVijay Shankar and come-back man Wriddhiman Sahawill look to score in the keymatch.

Hyderabad bowlers haveperformed well in patchesand need to get their acttogether against Bangalore'smaster blasters AB de Villiersand Virat Kohli.

The visitors boast ofmulti-pronged attack inwhich Afghanistan's RashidKhan has been the standoutperformer.

Sandeep Sharma, KhaleelAhmed and experiencedBhuvneshwar Kumar, alongwith the Afghan spin twinsRashid and MohammedNabi add sting to Hyderabadattack.

Bangalore will be playingfor pride after their hopes ofentering playoffs went up insmoke after their matchagainst Rajasthan Royals wasabandoned due to rain.

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Sanju Samson has always beenconsidered as a bright prospect but

he has not been able to break into theIndian team and the Kerala wicket-keeper batsman on Friday saidinstead of feeling frustrated he wouldwork harder to earn a spot for him-self.

Samson, who has played just oneT20 International for India againstZimbabwe in 2015, has been one ofconsistent performers with the bat inthis IPL with 337 runs from 11 gamesthat included a century and a half-century.

Legends like Brian Lara havefound it difficult to understand whya talented player like Samson has noteven been considered in India'sWorld Cup probables.

"It feels really great when legendslike Lara talk highly of you. It boostsyour confidence. I am very confidentand happy the way I have been play-ing. But I am excitingly waiting formy opportunity to play for India," theRajasthan Royals player said.

"There is no point in getting frus-trated. You can use it as a motivationand push more. It's not easy to getinto the Indian team. You need towork hard and earn that spot."

Insisting that failure is the secretof success, Samson said he has gonethrough many tough phases in hiscareer which only made him a bet-ter, determined cricketer.

"If you talk about my career oranyone's career, there are definitelyups and downs. Going through suchphases I feel is very lucky becausewhen you go down then only you willknow how to climb up.

"I am lucky that I have gonedown many times in my career. I'mhappy to have all these experiences.

To enter the Indian team you need toknow how to make a comeback, youneed to be strong enough and youonly get strong when you fail. I faileda lot of times and now I am strongenough to play for India," he said.

Steve Smith has flown back toAustralia to prepare for the WorldCup but Samson said his team hasgood bench strength.

"Definitely, it (Smith's depar-ture) is a great loss. First Jos Buttler,Ben Stokes and now Smith but weknew this before the tournament. Wehave enough bench strength to coverthe losses," Samson said.

The Royals are mathematicallystill in the play-off hunt with 11points from 13 games but to progressany further they will first have to winagainst Delhi Capitals and then hopefor favourable results from the otherremaining league games.

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Not depending on specificindividuals and handling

the pressure situations withaplomb has been key to MumbaiIndians' Play-off journey, anelated skipper Rohit Sharmasaid.

Mumbai Indians sealedtheir place in the Play-offs witha Super Over win over SunrisersHyderabad. They still have agame in hand.

"It's a good positive for us toqualify with one game to spare.In 2017, when we won the tro-phy, we qualified with twogames in hand. As a team what

we have done well is that wehave handled the pressure situ-ations well," said Rohit.

"A lot guys have put theirhand up and taken the respon-sibility which is why we don'thave anyone, barring Quinton(de Kock), in the top five (of thehighet run scorers). It's notabout one or two individuals.

"If you want to win the tour-nament everyone needs to dowell. That's the hallmark of thisteam, whether it is (leggie)Rahul Chahar or Quinton. Wedon't believe in individuals towin the game on their own. Wewant everyone to chip in andtake us over the line," he elabo-

rated.Rohit said the eight overs of

spin bowling done in tandem byleft arm Krunal Pandya (2-22)and Chahar (0 for 21) did thetrick in stopping SRH fromwinning the game.

"They understand the con-ditions really well. Vijay Shankarand Manish were batting andthey kept varying the length.Their eight overs were probablythe turning point. They bowledreally well with a wet ball, whichis not easy," he said.

Looking ahead, Sharma saidthe team's batting order was flex-ible from positions 3-7 whichgives them the option to send

big-hitters Hardik Pandya andKieron Pollard higher.

"If you look at the wholetournament, they (Hardik andPollard) have batted around the14th or 15th overs and scored70-80 runs the maximum num-ber of times. Right from num-ber 3-7 all our batsmen are flex-ible. They can bat anywhere atany given time which makes ourjob easier.

"And Pollard and Hardik wehave that option. Polly has doneit a few times — if you remem-ber he had done that against(Kings XI) Punjab (batted at No4 and made 83 off 31 balls). Wewill keep our options open."

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�������� Ajinkya Rahane was onFriday re-appointed captain ofRajasthan Royals following thedeparture of Australian Steve Smith.

Rahane returns to lead Royalsfor the game against Delhi Capitalson Saturday after Smith replacedhim as captain in the middle of theseason following the team's disap-pointing run which saw it lose sixout of their first eight games.

However, there was a revival offortunes of the side under Smithwhich led Royals to winning threeout of the last four games, givingthem a slender hope of making theplay-offs with a game to go.

Smith has returned home to join

the Australian team ahead of theWorld Cup.

"We have requested Ajinkya totake on the captaincy of the team;as a true Royal he has shown greatcourage and character in gracious-ly accepting the responsibility,which accompanies this role, whilstit would have been easier for himto take a back seat and focus sole-ly on his batting," said ZubinBharucha, Head of Cricket atRajasthan Royals.

"A true team man and a trueRoyal, we are extremely fortunate tohave characters like him playing thissport and even prouder he is part ofRajasthan Royals franchise." PTI

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Sam Curran notched up hismaiden Indian PremierLeague (IPL) half-century as

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) posted acompetitive 183/6 in 20 oversagainst Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) in a crunch encounter at thePCA IS Bindra Stadium here onFriday.

Curran, who did not play thelast couple of matches, came in tobat when Kings XI were 140/4 after13.3 overs, having lost MayankAgarwal (36; 26 balls, 4x2, 6x1)and, more importantly, NicholasPooran (48; 27 balls, 4x3, 6x4) inquick succession.

The England all-roundersmashed an unbeaten 24-ball 55with the help of seven fours andtwo sixes as Kings XI plundered 58runs in the last five overs.

Curran made the most of areprieve after he was dropped on 17by Rinku Singh off Sunil Narine,hitting Harry Gurney for 22 runsin the final over, including threefours and a six off the last fourdeliveries.

Earlier, Pooran had set theplatform with a brilliant knock ashe shared 69 runs for for the thirdwicket with Agarwal.

Sandeep Warrier (2/31) joltedKings XI early, accounting for bothof their top-performing batsmenK.L. Rahul (2) and Chris Gayle(14). Rahul was the first to go withChris Lynn taking his catch at mid-on after the India batsman tried toclear the infield.

Warrier then set Gayle up witha short ball which the veteranWest Indies opener failed to nego-tiate, hitting straight to backward

square-leg where Shubman Gilltook an easy catch.

Kings XI were in some sort oftrouble at 41/2 after the powerplayovers. This is when Pooran came tothe party, taking the likes of PiyushChawla, who had a forgettableday, to the cleaners by scoring at abrisk rate.

The hosts were 84/2 at thehalfway stage with Pooran goinggreat guns, and KKR skipperDinesh Karthik failing to stop himeven with spinners operating fromboth ends.

This is when Karthik intro-duced Nitish Rana into the attack

and the move worked as Pooranholed out to Sandeep Warrier atdeep mid-wicket, bringing hisknock to an abrupt end.

Kings XI Struggled to get going

after Pooran's dismissal but onceCurran got going, there was nolooking back even after Gurneybowled a brilliant 18th over to leakjust four runs and take a wicket.

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