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C ongress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday expressed regret in the Supreme Court over his remarks attributing certain comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the basis of a recent order of the top court in the Rafale deal case, but wasted no time in repeat- ing his “Chowkidar chor” jibe against the PM in Amethi. Rahul expressed “regret” in the Supreme Court for claiming SC had justified his “Chokidar chor hai” allega- tion in its order. He said the comment was made in the “heat of political campaigning”. The apex court on April 15 had given a categorical clarifi- cation that in its Rafale verdict there was no occasion for it to make a mention of the con- temptuous observation that “chowkidar Narendra Modi chor hain” as has been attrib- uted to it by Rahul. The court had directed Rahul to give his explanation on April 22 on a petition filed by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi seeking crim- inal contempt action against him for his remarks. It is sched- uled to hear Lekhi’s petition on Tuesday. Rahul, who filed an affi- davit in response to the apex court’s order, said his statement was “purely political” and was made to counter the “misin- formation campaign” being led by senior BJP functionaries as well as the Government that the December 14 last year judgment gave a “clean chit” to the Modi Government on the Rafale deal. He also referred to a media interview by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he had said that the apex court had given a clean chit to the Government in the Rafale deal. He maintained that there was no “slightest intention” to “insinuate” anything regarding the Supreme Court proceed- ings in any manner as he holds the top court in the highest esteem. Clarifying further, Rahul said he had made the statement after filing his nomination paper on April 10 without “having seen or read the order” of the apex court passed on that day relating to the admissibil- ity of certain documents relat- ed to the Rafale case in the review petition. However, on the issue of slogan “Chowkidar chor hai”, Rahul in his affidavit re- affirmed his stand and belief and that of his party that Rafale deal is a “tainted transaction” and a “gross and brazen abuse of executive power and a lead- ing example of the corruption of the BJP Government led by Prime Minister Modi, which deserves to be investigated thoroughly by a Joint Parliamentary Committee and proceeded against thereafter”. Away from the SC pro- ceedings, Rahul once again raked up his often-repeated poll theme of alleged corrup- tion in the Rafale deal and and exhorted people to ask the Prime Minister what he got in return for benefiting Anil Ambani with 30,000 crore in the fighter jet deal. Mocking at the PM’s “Main bhi chowkidar” campaign, Rahul said, “When his (Modi’s) theft was caught in the Rafale deal he says “hum sab chowki- dar hain.” Addressing an election rally in his parliamentary con- stituency here, Rahul said, “When the PM comes and makes false claims, just ask him why he gave 30,000 crores to Ambani and what Ambani did for him in return... Soon after the Congress comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections, an enquiry would be institut- ed in the Rafale deal and the truth will be before everyone.” T he Sri Lankan Government on Monday accused a pre- viously little-known Islamist outfit called the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) of having carried out the Easter Sunday attacks, and said an international terror group might have been behind the atrocities, the worst in the country’s history. However, neither the NTJ, nor any other group, has admit- ted carrying out the wave of bombings which tore through the island nation, killing 290 people and injuring nearly 500 others. Seven suicide bombers of the NTJ carried out a series of devastating blasts, authorities said on Monday. As many as 87 bomb detonators were found on Monday at a bus station in Colombo, police said. Police have so far arrested 24 people — mostly members of NTJ — in connection with the blasts that also killed eight Indian nationals. Police said that 9 out of the 24 arrested for involvement in the blasts were ordered to be remanded by the Colombo magistrate’s court till May 6. Government’s spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said NTJ is suspected of plotting the blasts that struck three churches when the Easter Sunday mass were in progress and three five-star hotels. “All suicide bombers involved in the blasts are believed to be Sri Lankan nationals,” said Senaratne, who is also the Health Minister. Speaking at a press con- ference here, Senaratne said the Government was investigat- ing whether the group had “international support”. “There may be international links to them,” he added. The “conditional state of emergency” in force since Monday midnight would target terrorism and would not limit freedom of expression, said a statement from the President’s media unit. “These will be limited to counter terrorism regulations. This is being done to allow the police and the three forces to ensure public security.” The Government has also declared Tuesday as a nation- al day of mourning. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said that 24 arrest- ed suspects have been trans- ferred into the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department for further inves- tigations. President Sirisena has appointed a three-member committee to conduct investi- gations. The committee will submit its report to him with- in two weeks. Health Minister Senaratne said the Chief of National Intelligence had warned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding the probable attacks before April 11. “On April 4, international intelligence agencies had warned of these attacks. The IGP was informed on April 9,” he said. He demanded resignation of police chief Pujith Jayasundera in view of the major security lapse. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that an investigation must be launched as to why intelligence reports of the attack was not taken seri- ously. Rauff Hakeem, a Government minister and the leader of the main Muslim party — Sri Lanka Muslim Congress — said that it was lamentable that no preventive action had been taken despite the inputs. A ll 26 constituencies of Gujarat and 20 of Kerala will go to polls on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls for 116 seats spread over 14 States. BJP president Amit Shah, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as several Union Ministers and senior Opposition leaders are contesting the Tuesday poll. The polling in Tripura East constituency, which was earlier scheduled for April 18, will be held in this phase, as also in a part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir, where election is being held in three phases. This phase is seen crucial for the NDA, which won 66 of the 116 seats in 2014 and BJP made a clean sweep of winning all the 26 seats of Gujarat. The Congress and its alliance part- ners won 27, and the rest went to other opposition parties and Independents. Besides all seats of Gujarat (26) and Kerala, four seats in Assam, five of Bihar, seven of Chhattisgarh, 14 each of Karnataka and Maharashtra, six of Odisha, 10 of Uttar Pradesh, five of West Bengal, both seats of Goa, and one each of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Tripura will go to polls on Tuesday. While the Congress is hop- ing to make dent in the BJP tally in Gujarat after the grand old party put up an impressive show in the 2017 assembly polls. Congress hopes to cash in on the resentment of the patidars and rural-urban divide to win at least five to six seats in the State. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have made repeat- ed pleas to the voters to make sure than the Congress didn’t open its account from the state. While Shah, who replaced LK Advani as the party nom- inee from Gandhinagar, Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Jaswantsinh Bhabhor, is the BJP nominee from Dahod seat. About 18.56 crore voters are eligible for voting in this phase and the Election Commission has set up 2.10 lakh polling booths/stations and has made elaborate secu- rity arrangements. In the first two phases, election was held to 91 and 96 seats on April 11 and April 18 respectively. Elections are being held in seven phases and with the completion of third phase, the election process will be completed in southern states. The Congress also hopes to imp0rove its tally in Kerala, where the cadre is galvanised by Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad besides his traditional Amethi. While the fight is between the traditional rivals UDF and LDF, the BJP has also aggres- sively campaigned in the hope of opening its account in the southern state by capitalising on the Sabarimala shrine women entry issue. W ith the Congress announcing its list of six candidates for the general elec- tions on Monday, the North- East Delhi seat appears to be set for a humdinger of contest between Delhi Congress pres- ident and three-term Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi BJP president and the sit- ting Member for Parliament (MP) Manoj Tiwari. Apart from Sheila, former Union Minister Ajay Maken has been fielded from New Delhi seat, Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia from North west seat, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi, five-term Lok Sabha MP JP Agarwal from Chandni Chowk and former Delhi Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely will test waters from the East Delhi constituency. Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to field sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi from the New Delhi seat and former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir from the East Delhi seat. The party did not declare the name of its candidate for the North West constituency. Sitting MP Udit Raj has raised the banner of revolt as he feels that the party has not been fair to him. Former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Udit Raj posted a series of tweets on Monday to express his concern as the BJP has not declared his candidature. Udit held a Press confer- ence later in the evening to air his grievance and asked the party leadership to come clean on his nomination from the North West Lok Sabha seat. He took the names of senior party leaders including BJP president Amit Shah and Home Minister Rajnath Singh and claimed that he was promised re-nom- ination. Sources said BJP may field popular Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans from the North west seat and announcement to this regard is likely to be made by Tuesday morning as both the party president and the Prime Minister were not in the national Capital. Sheila has been Chief Minister for three terms between 1998 and 2013. The eighty-one-year-old leader, who took over from Maken as the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president earlier this year, was last a Member of Parliament from 1984-89 from Kannauj. Dikshit had unsuccessfully contested from East Delhi constituency in 1998. Again in 2013 Assembly polls, she lost to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from Gole Market assembly seat. Since then she has not con- tested any election. Sheila will take on BJP’s sit- ting MP Manoj Tiwari and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Dilip Pandey. “We will begin campaigning soon by high- lighting achievements of Congress governments in Delhi as well as at the Centre,” Dikshit said after her name was declared as a candidate from North East Delhi. She also said her party was prepared to face the challenge of a trian- gular contest in Delhi. Interestingly, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal has not been named from the Chandni Chowk seat from which he has been fighting since 2004. After two terms, Sibal had lost to Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in 2014. In fact he came third with journalist turned politician Ashutosh being second. This time, Congress party has fielded Agarwal, who had also won from North East seat in 2009 and will take on Vardhan of the BJP and Pankaj Gupta of the AAP. C hief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday accompanied three senior leaders -- Laxman Gilua, CP Chaudhary and Pashupati Nath Singh, while they filed their nomination for Singhbhum, Giridih and Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. The three con- stituencies are going to polls on May 12 in the third phase of polls in the State. Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) candidate and sitting MP of Dhanbad constituency PN Singh along with nine others filed their nomination on Monday for Dhanbad Lok Sabha con- stituency. Other candidates who filed their nom- inations are Heeralal Sankhwar from All India Forward Bloc, Bamapado Bauri of Indian People's Liberation Front and Sudhir Kumar Mahato from Bahujan Mukti Party. Siddarth Gautam, Mantosh Kumar Mandal, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Sanjay Paswan, Varun Kumar Paswan and Umesh Paswan filed nominations as independent candidates. While three others bought the nomination paper today, informed Isha Khandelwal DPRO Dhanbad. Three-time MLA and two-time MP from Dhanbad, Singh said, “People of the con- stituency love me. They are satisfied with my work and progress of the constituency. People elected me as MLA in 1995 then in 2000, 2005; later as MP in 2009 and 2 0 1 4 .” State Cabinet Minister Chandra Prakash Choudhary along with four others today filed their nom- inations for Giridih Lok Sabha con- stituency before K N Jha, DC Bokaro- cum- Electoral Officer. Ramgarh MLA, Choudhary, from AJSU Party, filed his nomination as an ally of BJP under their alliance deal. The other can- didates who filed their nominations for Giridih Lok Sabha constituency are Ahmad Ansari form Bharat Lokmat Party, Rasul Baksh form BSP while Nilkanth Mahato and Sanjeev Kumar Mahato filed nominations as independent can- didates. Meanwhile, State BJP president Laxman Gilua also filed his nomination accompanied by CM Raghubar Das and other senior leaders. Addressing the gathering on the occasion Das said that the Congress, JMM and RJD are anti- Jharkhand powers. “Jharkhand could have come to existence in 1993 itself but the MPs sold the dignity of the State for Rs 2 crore each. I chal- lenge the JMM to tell what they have done for the betterment of tribals in the State,” he said. The CM said that there should be develop- ment of culture and lauguage. “Santhal culture should remain untouched and for this the BJP will recommend to include ‘Ho’ language in the 8th schedule of the Constitution. Also, recommendation will be sent for ‘Sarna reliogion code. BJP does what it says. For encouragement and conservation of tribal languages these are being encouraged at the uni- versity level,” he added.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Monday

expressed regret in theSupreme Court over hisremarks attributing certaincomments against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on thebasis of a recent order of the topcourt in the Rafale deal case,but wasted no time in repeat-ing his “Chowkidar chor” jibeagainst the PM in Amethi.

Rahul expressed “regret”in the Supreme Court forclaiming SC had justified his“Chokidar chor hai” allega-tion in its order. He said thecomment was made in the“heat of political campaigning”.

The apex court on April 15had given a categorical clarifi-cation that in its Rafale verdictthere was no occasion for it tomake a mention of the con-temptuous observation that“chowkidar Narendra Modichor hain” as has been attrib-uted to it by Rahul. The courthad directed Rahul to give hisexplanation on April 22 on apetition filed by BJP MPMeenakshi Lekhi seeking crim-inal contempt action againsthim for his remarks. It is sched-uled to hear Lekhi’s petition on

Tuesday.Rahul, who filed an affi-

davit in response to the apex

court’s order, said his statementwas “purely political” and wasmade to counter the “misin-

formation campaign” being ledby senior BJP functionaries aswell as the Government thatthe December 14 last yearjudgment gave a “clean chit” tothe Modi Government on theRafale deal.

He also referred to a mediainterview by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in which hehad said that the apex courthad given a clean chit to theGovernment in the Rafale deal.

He maintained that therewas no “slightest intention” to“insinuate” anything regardingthe Supreme Court proceed-ings in any manner as he holdsthe top court in the highestesteem.

Clarifying further, Rahulsaid he had made the statementafter filing his nominationpaper on April 10 without“having seen or read the order”of the apex court passed on thatday relating to the admissibil-ity of certain documents relat-ed to the Rafale case in thereview petition.

However, on the issue ofslogan “Chowkidar chor hai”,Rahul in his affidavit re-affirmed his stand and beliefand that of his party that Rafaledeal is a “tainted transaction”and a “gross and brazen abuse

of executive power and a lead-ing example of the corruptionof the BJP Government led byPrime Minister Modi, whichdeserves to be investigatedthoroughly by a JointParliamentary Committee andproceeded against thereafter”.

Away from the SC pro-ceedings, Rahul once againraked up his often-repeatedpoll theme of alleged corrup-tion in the Rafale deal and andexhorted people to ask thePrime Minister what he got inreturn for benefiting AnilAmbani with �30,000 crore inthe fighter jet deal.

Mocking at the PM’s “Mainbhi chowkidar” campaign,Rahul said, “When his (Modi’s)theft was caught in the Rafaledeal he says “hum sab chowki-dar hain.”

Addressing an electionrally in his parliamentary con-stituency here, Rahul said,“When the PM comes andmakes false claims, just ask himwhy he gave �30,000 crores toAmbani and what Ambani didfor him in return... Soon afterthe Congress comes to powerafter the Lok Sabha elections,an enquiry would be institut-ed in the Rafale deal and thetruth will be before everyone.”

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The Sri Lankan Governmenton Monday accused a pre-

viously little-known Islamistoutfit called the NationalThowheed Jamath (NTJ) ofhaving carried out the EasterSunday attacks, and said aninternational terror groupmight have been behind theatrocities, the worst in thecountry’s history.

However, neither the NTJ,nor any other group, has admit-ted carrying out the wave ofbombings which tore throughthe island nation, killing 290people and injuring nearly 500others.

Seven suicide bombers ofthe NTJ carried out a series ofdevastating blasts, authoritiessaid on Monday. As many as 87bomb detonators were foundon Monday at a bus station inColombo, police said.

Police have so far arrested24 people — mostly membersof NTJ — in connection with

the blasts that also killed eightIndian nationals.

Police said that 9 out of the24 arrested for involvement inthe blasts were ordered to beremanded by the Colombomagistrate’s court till May 6.

Government’s spokesmanRajitha Senaratne said NTJ issuspected of plotting the blaststhat struck three churcheswhen the Easter Sunday masswere in progress and threefive-star hotels.

“All suicide bombersinvolved in the blasts arebelieved to be Sri Lankannationals,” said Senaratne, whois also the Health Minister.

Speaking at a press con-ference here, Senaratne said theGovernment was investigat-ing whether the group had“international support”. “Theremay be international links tothem,” he added.

The “conditional state ofemergency” in force sinceMonday midnight would targetterrorism and would not limitfreedom of expression, said astatement from the President’smedia unit. “These will belimited to counter terrorismregulations. This is being doneto allow the police and thethree forces to ensure publicsecurity.”

The Government has alsodeclared Tuesday as a nation-al day of mourning.

Police spokesman RuwanGunasekera said that 24 arrest-ed suspects have been trans-ferred into the custody of theCriminal InvestigationsDepartment for further inves-tigations. President Sirisenahas appointed a three-membercommittee to conduct investi-gations. The committee willsubmit its report to him with-in two weeks.

Health Minister Senaratnesaid the Chief of NationalIntelligence had warned theInspector General of Police(IGP) regarding the probableattacks before April 11.

“On April 4, internationalintelligence agencies hadwarned of these attacks. TheIGP was informed on April 9,”he said.

He demanded resignationof police chief PujithJayasundera in view of themajor security lapse.

Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe said that aninvestigation must be launchedas to why intelligence reports ofthe attack was not taken seri-ously.

Rauff Hakeem, aGovernment minister and theleader of the main Muslimparty — Sri Lanka MuslimCongress — said that it waslamentable that no preventiveaction had been taken despitethe inputs.

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All 26 constituencies ofGujarat and 20 of Kerala

will go to polls on Tuesday inthe third phase of Lok Sabhapolls for 116 seats spread over14 States.

BJP president Amit Shah,Congress chief Rahul Gandhiand Samajwadi party patriarchMulayam Singh Yadav as wellas several Union Ministersand senior Opposition leadersare contesting the Tuesdaypoll.

The polling in TripuraEast constituency, which wasearlier scheduled for April 18,will be held in this phase, asalso in a part of the AnantnagLok Sabha seat in Jammu andKashmir, where election isbeing held in three phases.

This phase is seen crucialfor the NDA, which won 66 ofthe 116 seats in 2014 and BJPmade a clean sweep of winningall the 26 seats of Gujarat. TheCongress and its alliance part-ners won 27, and the rest wentto other opposition partiesand Independents.

Besides all seats of Gujarat(26) and Kerala, four seats inAssam, five of Bihar, seven ofChhattisgarh, 14 each ofKarnataka and Maharashtra,six of Odisha, 10 of UttarPradesh, five of West Bengal,both seats of Goa, and oneeach of Dadra and NagarHaveli, Daman and Diu andTripura will go to polls onTuesday.

While the Congress is hop-ing to make dent in the BJPtally in Gujarat after the grandold party put up an impressiveshow in the 2017 assembly

polls. Congress hopes to cashin on the resentment of thepatidars and rural-urbandivide to win at least five to sixseats in the State.

On the other hand, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andAmit Shah have made repeat-ed pleas to the voters to makesure than the Congress didn’topen its account from thestate.

While Shah, who replacedLK Advani as the party nom-inee from Gandhinagar, UnionMinister of State for TribalAffairs Jaswantsinh Bhabhor, isthe BJP nominee from Dahodseat.

About 18.56 crore votersare eligible for voting in thisphase and the ElectionCommission has set up 2.10lakh polling booths/stationsand has made elaborate secu-rity arrangements.

In the first two phases,election was held to 91 and 96seats on April 11 and April 18respectively. Elections arebeing held in seven phases andwith the completion of third phase, the election processwill be completed in southernstates.

The Congress also hopesto imp0rove its tally in Kerala,where the cadre is galvanisedby Rahul Gandhi’s decision tocontest from Wayanad besideshis traditional Amethi.

While the fight is betweenthe traditional rivals UDF andLDF, the BJP has also aggres-sively campaigned in the hopeof opening its account in thesouthern state by capitalisingon the Sabarimala shrine womenentry issue.

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With the Congressannouncing its list of six

candidates for the general elec-tions on Monday, the North-East Delhi seat appears to be setfor a humdinger of contestbetween Delhi Congress pres-ident and three-term ChiefMinister Sheila Dikshit andDelhi BJP president and the sit-ting Member for Parliament(MP) Manoj Tiwari.

Apart from Sheila, formerUnion Minister Ajay Maken

has been fielded from NewDelhi seat, Delhi Congressworking president RajeshLilothia from North west seat,Mahabal Mishra from WestDelhi, five-term Lok SabhaMP JP Agarwal from ChandniChowk and former DelhiMinister Arvinder SinghLovely will test waters from theEast Delhi constituency.

Meanwhile, the BJP hasdecided to field sitting MPMeenakshi Lekhi from the NewDelhi seat and former Indiancricketer Gautam Gambhirfrom the East Delhi seat.

The party did not declarethe name of its candidate forthe North West constituency.Sitting MP Udit Raj has raisedthe banner of revolt as he feelsthat the party has not been fairto him. Former Indian RevenueService (IRS) officer Udit Raj

posted a series of tweets onMonday to express his concernas the BJP has not declared hiscandidature.

Udit held a Press confer-ence later in the evening to airhis grievance and asked theparty leadership to come cleanon his nomination from theNorth West Lok Sabha seat. Hetook the names of senior partyleaders including BJP presidentAmit Shah and Home MinisterRajnath Singh and claimedthat he was promised re-nom-ination.

Sources said BJP may fieldpopular Punjabi singer HansRaj Hans from the North westseat and announcement to thisregard is likely to be made byTuesday morning as both theparty president and the PrimeMinister were not in thenational Capital.

Sheila has been ChiefMinister for three termsbetween 1998 and 2013. Theeighty-one-year-old leader,who took over from Maken asthe Delhi Pradesh CongressCommittee (DPCC) presidentearlier this year, was last aMember of Parliament from1984-89 from Kannauj. Dikshithad unsuccessfully contestedfrom East Delhi constituency in1998. Again in 2013 Assemblypolls, she lost to Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal fromGole Market assembly seat.Since then she has not con-tested any election.

Sheila will take on BJP’s sit-ting MP Manoj Tiwari andAam Aadmi Party’s (AAP)Dilip Pandey. “We will begincampaigning soon by high-lighting achievements ofCongress governments in Delhi

as well as at the Centre,” Dikshitsaid after her name wasdeclared as a candidate fromNorth East Delhi. She alsosaid her party was prepared toface the challenge of a trian-gular contest in Delhi.

Interestingly, seniorCongress leader Kapil Sibalhas not been named from theChandni Chowk seat fromwhich he has been fightingsince 2004.

After two terms, Sibal hadlost to Union Minister DrHarsh Vardhan in 2014. In facthe came third with journalistturned politician Ashutoshbeing second.

This time, Congress partyhas fielded Agarwal, who hadalso won from North East seatin 2009 and will take onVardhan of the BJP and PankajGupta of the AAP.

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Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Mondayaccompanied three senior leaders -- Laxman

Gilua, CP Chaudhary and Pashupati NathSingh, while they filed their nomination forSinghbhum, Giridih and Dhanbad Lok Sabhaconstituencies respectively. The three con-stituencies are going to polls on May 12 in thethird phase of polls in the State.

Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) candidate andsitting MP of Dhanbad constituency PN Singhalong with nine others filed their nominationon Monday for Dhanbad Lok Sabha con-stituency. Other candidates who filed their nom-inations are Heeralal Sankhwar from All IndiaForward Bloc, Bamapado Bauri of IndianPeople's Liberation Front and Sudhir KumarMahato from Bahujan Mukti Party. SiddarthGautam, Mantosh Kumar Mandal, RajeshKumar Singh, Sanjay Paswan, Varun KumarPaswan and Umesh Paswan filed nominationsas independent candidates. While three others

bought the nomination paper today, informedIsha Khandelwal DPRO Dhanbad.

Three-time MLA and two-time MP fromDhanbad, Singh said, “People of the con-stituency love me. They are satisfied with mywork and progress of the constituency. People

elected me asMLA in 1995then in 2000,2005; later asMP in 2009 and2014.” StateC a b i n e tM i n i s t e rC h a n d r aP r a k a s hC h o u d h a r yalong with fourothers todayfiled their nom-inations forGiridih LokSabha con-

stituency before K N Jha, DC Bokaro- cum-Electoral Officer. Ramgarh MLA, Choudhary,from AJSU Party, filed his nomination as an allyof BJP under their alliance deal. The other can-didates who filed their nominations for GiridihLok Sabha constituency are Ahmad Ansari form

Bharat Lokmat Party, Rasul Baksh form BSPwhile Nilkanth Mahato and Sanjeev KumarMahato filed nominations as independent can-didates. Meanwhile, State BJP president LaxmanGilua also filed his nomination accompanied byCM Raghubar Das and other senior leaders.Addressing the gathering on the occasion Dassaid that the Congress, JMM and RJD are anti-Jharkhand powers. “Jharkhand could havecome to existence in 1993 itself but the MPs soldthe dignity of the State for Rs 2 crore each. I chal-lenge the JMM to tell what they have done forthe betterment of tribals in the State,” he said.

The CM said that there should be develop-ment of culture and lauguage.

“Santhal culture should remain untouchedand for this the BJP will recommend to include‘Ho’ language in the 8th schedule of theConstitution. Also, recommendation will be sentfor ‘Sarna reliogion code. BJP does what it says.For encouragement and conservation of triballanguages these are being encouraged at the uni-versity level,” he added.

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JMM leader and SeraikelaMLA Champai Soren on

Monday filed his nominationfor Jamshedpur seat. He went ina procession to Gandak Roadground in Sakchi accompa-nied by Congress state presidentAjoy Kumar, Congress MLAand CLP leader Alamgir Alam,Pradeep Balmuchu, RJD statepresident Gautam Sagar Rana,JVM central committee secre-tary, Abhay Kumar Singh andJMM central secretary, SupriyoBhattacharjee and BaharagoraMLA Kunal Sarangi.

“I promise the people thatif I am elected no houses ofpoor will be demolished incity areas and corporate will notexploit temporary workers inthe name of making registrationcards. No one will be displacedfrom their houses,” saidChampai Soren. He expressedconcern over mass resentmentin non-company areas inJamshedpur especially inBagbera and Birsanagar afterdemolition of houses citing

them as illegal and for devel-opment projects.

Ajoy Kumar, who is a for-mer Jamshedpur MP, termedthe BJP government as majdoorvirodhi (anti-workers) and anti-tribals. The Congress state pres-ident focussed on demolition ofhouses, unemployment andclosure of schools to strike aconnect with urban voters.

On the other hand NDAleaders led by Chief MinisterRaghubar Das focused ondevelopment projects plannedfor tribal dominated rural areasin Ho-dominated SinghbhumParliamentary constituency atthe Gandhi Maidan inChaibasa.

The meeting was organisedafter filing of nomination byBJP candidate and state partypresident Laxman Gilua.

For the records, none of thesix assembly seats underSinghbhum constituency(Majhgaon, Manoharpur,Chakradharpur, Seraikela,Jagannathpur and Chaibasa)is held by BJP though LaxmanGilua is the sitting MP, givingenough reasons for the party to

draw a strategy attracting ruralvotes.

In contrast, only one seat(Baharagora) underJamshedpur Parliamentary con-stituency is held by JMM whilethe remaining five (JamshedpurEast, Jamshedpur West, Jugsalai,Ghatshila and Pokta) are heldby NDA which has made JMMcandidate and gathbandhanpartners, make strategy to woourban voters , after being con-fident of getting tribal and dalitvotes in rural pockets.

In 2014, BJP candidatefrom Singhbhum seat LaxanGilua defeated his rival and JaiBharat Samanta Party (JBSP)candidate Geeta Koda by amargin of 87476 votes. Giluahad maintained a steady lead infive of the six assembly seg-ments in the Singhbhum LokSabha constituency. The fiveassembly segments where Giluacontinued to register his leadwere Chaibasa, Jagannathpur,Seraiklea, Chakradharpur andManoharpur. There were in all12 candidates in the fray forSinghbhum Lok Sabha seat in2014 which has 9,57.406 voters.

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Ahsien International Schoolcelebrated Earth day with

great enthusiasm. The chil-dren were all dressed up ingreen and blue colour dresses.

The teachers spread impor-tance of keeping earth safe. Thestudents presented skit anddance to demonstrate and pro-

mote environment awareness.On the occasion, students,teachers and managementplanted saplings. ImtiyazHussain, administrator and Dr.Archana Dwivedi, head-mistress of the school stressedon plantation and motivatedstudents to protect the envi-ronment.

Situated at Mango, Kapali,in front of AlbelaGardens, AhsienInternational School isspread across two acresof land.

The aim of theschool is to provideworld class quality andvalue based education.The school, which isbased on CBSE pat-tern, has started admis-sions for classes L.K.G,U.K.G and class 1.

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In a shocking incident, a 38-year-old software engineer

from Adityapur killed his wifeand three children atGhaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.The software engineer, SumeetSingh, stabbed his wife andthree children - two sons anda daughter -- at his house atIndrapuram police station areaof Ghaziabad before fleeing thespot on Sunday night.

Those killed was 53-year-old Anshubala (wife ofSumeet), seven-year-old son,Prathamesh, Arav and Akriti,four-year-old twins (a son anda daughter).

“It is really shocking Icould not believe as I came toknow that Sumeet has killed hiswife and children as he wasfacing financial crisis. It's atragic incident,” said a neigh-bour of Adityapur Colony.

According to information

the accused was working inNoida and Ghaziabad frompast eight years.

After his parents’ deathduring the last three years,Sumeet locked his house atAdityapur.

Senior superintendent ofpolice, Ghaziabad, UpendraKumar Agrawal is investigatingthe incident. Sources revealedthat Sumeet used to work as asoftware engineer in Bangaloreand his family was staying at arented house in Ghaziabad.Three months ago, Sumeet losthis job suddenly and his wifestarted working at a playschoolin Ghaziabad.

“We are investigating theincident. The accused, SumeetSingh has fled his house afterstabbing his wife and three chil-dren at his residence inIndrapuram police station arealast night. We are trying todetect the killer,” said a policeofficial.

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The body of the SlainLieutenant Anurag Shukla,

native of Singra Khurd ofPalamu, who was martyredwhile saving from drowning ofthree colleagues at Jaisalmertraining camp underGanganagar district ofRajasthan, reached Daltonganjon Monday.

Thousands of peoplestanding since morning forthe last glimpse of the martyr

Anurag, reachingChandrasekhar Azad Chowk inRadma of Daltonganj town,paid last tribute to the bravesoldier. People also raised slo-gans "Bharat Mata ki jai" and"jab tak suraj chand rahegaAnurag tera nam rahega" (Your

name will stay till eternity). In shape of grand proces-

sion, thousands of people,along with hundreds of vehiclestook the soldier’s body to hisnative village Singra Khurdfrom Daltonganj. DC ShantanuAgrahari, SP Inderjit Mahatha,MP BD Ram, former ministerKN Tripathi, MLA AlokChaurasia, former MP GhuranRam, Congress leaderDinanath Tiwari, BJP leaderParashuram Ojha, KishorePandey among others accom-panied the large gathering inthe village.

Military personnel ofArmy , Urban DevelopmentMinister CP Singh, DC RaiMahimapat Ray, SSP AnishGupta, Army officers and manysocial activists paid homage tothe martyr.

23-year-old Anurag wasposted in the army as aLieutenant. This was the firstposting of Anurag in the army.About six months ago, hisposting took place inSriganganagar.

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BERMO: Two girls were killedand one received seriousinjuries in the lightning strikeat Kurumba village underDugda police station onSunday around 7:35 pm.

The injured woman iden-tified as Purnima Devi wasadmitted to a hospital fortreatment, police said.

The deceased were identi-fied as Chanda Kumari (14)and 13 year-old ChanchalaKumari. Dugda police stationin-charge Dinesh Prasad saidChanda along with his friendChanchala went to collectwater from a tap nearby vil-lage.

Sources said that as thethundery development started,all three took shelter near atap. Lightning struck the thereand all three were found lyingon ground. PNS

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Barely hours after Giridihpolice chief Surendra

Kumar Jha and SDPO JitWahan Orawn asked policeofficials to pull up their socks,a police official late on Sundaywas injured in an encounterwith criminals inMaheshmarwa village underGandey police station of theGiridih.

On a tip off Ganday policein-Charge Faiz Ahmad led ateam of policemen to arrestgangster Sahadat Ansari atMaheshmarwa riverine areaof Giridih district and engagedin encounter with them.

Police had also got infor-mation that criminals of neigh-bouring village Maheshmarwaof the district too had congre-gated at the place.

The criminals started firing

at policemen and a fierceencounter took place betweenthem late on Sunday evening.

A policeman too wasslightly injured in theencounter while a criminal toowas injured.

Later, senior police officersreached the spot with rein-forcement. Six criminals weretaken under custody and theirinterrogation is going on andintensive combing operation isalso launched by the policemenin the area, said the SDPO.

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The vice- president of theEx- Westcottian

Association (EWA) VineetaDhanani from Ranchi has beencrowned as the winner at thebeauty pageant ‘Mrs IndiaTimeless Beauty 2019’. With atotal of 50 contestants fromacross the country, the com-petition was held in Delhi onApril 20.

Dhanani (43), an ex stu-dent of Bishop Westcott GirlsSchool, Ranchi completed herschooling in 1992. Apart frombeing the vice president ofEWA, she is also the owner andprincipal of Oakville Academy,Namkom. In 2017, she washonoured with the VidhyaRatna Award for her contribu-tion in the field of education bythe mayor of Ranchi.

“When I look at thewomen around me, I feel thatso many of them have immensetalent but have still not beenable to step out of their shells.

My only thought while prepar-ing for this pageant was that ifI am able to get the crown it willbe a great source of motivationfor others to live their live theirway,” said Dhanani,.

The entire event wasspread over three days- April 18to April 20. On the first day thecontestants had a photo shootand a talent round. On the sec-ond day they were taken to aschool for the differently abledfor a brief interaction. On themain evening there were threerounds followed by a questionanswer session.

“My husband and son havesupported me immensely andhave always stood by me. It isan achievement for life and thecrown motivates me to dosomething new, give it my bestshot and achieve it,” sheremarked.

EWA was formed in 2006,is an association of old studentsfrom both Bishop WestcottBoys School and BishopWestcott Girls School.Principals of the two insti-tutes are patrons of the associ-ation. It has members from theclasses of 1927 onwards whohave constantly remained intouch. The objective of thisassociation is to provide a

forum to the alumni of the twoschools and also organise var-ious seminars, meetings, cul-tural and social programs.

“Apart from a being amother and running her ownschool, to win this title is real-ly commendable. She has set anexample for other womenentrepreneurs also”, saidGautam Kumar, president ofEWA

“Vineeta is my batch matefrom school and it is a momentof great pride for all of us. Sheis running a school, jugglingvarious things and donning somany hats. We are extremelyhappy with her achievements.Whatever we are today isbecause of our Alma Mater andwe are proud to be part ofEWA. Her achievements willalso set a president for othersto chase their dreams”, saidAsmita Srivastava, joint secre-tary EWA and an advocate atthe Jharkhand High Court.

The members of EWA wel-comed Dhanani on April 22 atRanchi airport with great zealand enthusiasm. Apart fromthe EWA president, vice pres-ident, Manish Ramsisaria, sec-retary Nikhil Modi, treasurerAbhishek Kedia were also pre-sent among others.

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Ranchi: The State BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) on Mondaycriticised Congress on spread-ing lies and said that RahulGandhi’s false allegation cameto light before people of theCountry. The State BJPdemanded that Congressshould apologies for its falsecampaign.

State BJP SpokespersonPratul Shahdeo said that theCongress national presidentRahul Gandhi spread rumoursacross the country thatSupreme Court accepted that‘the watchman is thief ’. “TheApex Court sought explanationfrom Rahul Gandhi on theissue. Today Rahul Gandhi infront of the Court accepted thatthe statement made in the heatof the election campaign. RahulGandhi has expressed regretsalso in connection of the mat-

ter,” he added.Hitting hard on the

Congress party Shahdeo saidthat all these issues exhibitthat the Congress once againtried to mislead people of theCountry. “BJP is demandingthat Rahul Gandhi shouldapologies publicly on the issue.This entire episode will beknown as black chapter in theIndian politics when a nation-al party’s president campaign iscompletely focused on lie,” headded. PNS

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Notification for fourth phase(Jharkhand) of election in

three Lok Sabha segments—Rajmahal, Dumka and Goddawas issued today. The last datefor filing nomination is April29, while the scrutiny of nom-ination papers will be done onApril 30. The last date for with-drawal of nomination papers isMay 2, while the polling will beheld on May 19.

From these three con-stituencies’ leaders whose fatewill be decided includes JMMpatriarch and senior leaderShibu Soren, JVM senior leaderPradeep Yadav and BJPNishikant Dubey among others.

On the first day of nomi-nations, JMM patriarch andparty candidate from Dumka,Shibu Soren filed the nomina-tion paper. Soren, if he winsfrom Dumka will create histo-ry in State of reaching LokSabha for ninth term. TheJMM senior leader displayingMahagathbandhan unity filedhis nomination paper accom-panied by JMM executive pres-ident Hemant Soren, seniorJVM leader and party candi-date from Godda, PradeepYadav and Congress MLA fromJamtara, Irfan Ansari.

Meanwhile, the StateElectoral Office has startedpreparations for fourth phase ofpolling in state. The StateElectoral Office has prepared6258 polling booths spread inRajmahal (ST), Dumka (ST)and Godda parliamentary con-stituencies. Of these three con-

stituencies, the maximumpolling booth is in Goddawhere 2347 polling boothshave been created. From thesethree constituencies 44,89, 630voters will exercise their fran-chise.

Chief Electoral Officer LKhiangte accompanied by

additional Chief ElectoralOfficer, Vinay Kumar Choubeyand Manish Ranjan said thatthe Election Commission iscommitted for holding freeand fair election. The threeofficers also discussed aboutthe poll preparations in state.Chief Electoral Officer L

Khiangte said, “In State around1.29 lakh polling personnelwill be deployed which is apartfrom security personnel, vol-unteers and others.” The max-imum polling personnel isbeing deployed in phase 2where 39909 polling personnelwill be deployed. Phase twoelections will be held inKoderma, Ranchi, Khunti andHazaribag.

Additional Chief ElectoralOfficer, Manish Ranjan said,“The CEC office after goingthrough the law and order sit-uation and mapping of pollingstations at various areas hasdivided several polling boothsin category of vulnerable andcritical polling booths.”

Ranjan said, “Pollingbooths which recorded over 75per cent turnout with 90 per-cent votes for a particular can-didate or witnessed any sort of

electoral violence during pre-vious elections will be identi-fied as critical polling stationsthis time.”

“Similarly, those pollingbooths having past instances ofpoll violence and reports ofintimidation of voters by can-didates will be put in the cate-gory of vulnerable polling sta-tions,” added Ranjan. Besidecentral forces, the critical andvulnerable polling stationswould have digital camera orvideo camera along with microobservers to ensure free andfair elections.

Vinay Choubey, theAdditional Chief ElectoralOfficer said, “From the day(March 10) when model codeof conduct came into force theChief Electoral Office hasseized Rs 7.20 crore as cashalong with drugs, liquor andother objects.”

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Around 10,000 BharatiyaJanata Yuva Morcha

(BJYM) members, the youthwing of BJP will line up on theroad from Birsa MundaInternational Airport to BirsaChowk for making the PrimeMinister road show a memo-rable affair here on Tuesday.

A meeting in this connec-tion was held at BJP officeunder the chairmanship ofState BJP general secretary,Deepak Prakash and mem-bers of BJYM.

Prakash said, “The BJYMworkers will line up on thestreet wearing Modi T shirt aspart of welcoming the PrimeMinister.” Prakash said, theBJYM workers carrying partyflags and traditional drumswill welcome Modi. At BirsaChowk, the PM will pay floraltributes to Birsa Munda.

Apart from BJYM and BJPworkers large number of peo-ple from all walks of society willbe present at Birsa Chowk.Modi will also interact withsome people at Birsa Chowk.As the road show is likely to beattended by large number ofpeople, the district adminis-tration for convenience of peo-ple has made temporary park-ing arrangements, where peo-ple can park their vehicles.

PM Narendra Modi’s roadshow, the first in the CapitalCity for general electionassumes importance as it islikely to send a positive mes-sage to BJP workers solicitingsupport for BJP candidateSanjay Seth. The BJP hasreplaced five time sitting MPRam Tahal Chaudhary withSeth who has worked as BJPworker for more than threedecades. The Ranchi LokSabha seat is likely to witnesstriangular contest betweenSeth, Ram Tahal Chaudharyand Congress candidate sup-ported by Mahagathbandhan,Subodh Kant Sahay.

Modi will reach Birsa

Munda International Airport at5.30 pm from where he willcarry out a road show till BirsaChowk. From Birsa Chowk,Modi will leave for Raj Bhavanpassing through Birsa Rajpathcovering a distance of nearly 5km. At Raj Bhavan, Modi willhave night stay and on next dayhe will leave for Lohardaga,where he will address a rally insupport of BJP candidate andMinister of State for Tribalaffairs Sudarshan Bhagat.

Bhagat is pitted againstCongress Sukhdeo Bhagat, theLohardaga MLA and formerState Congress president.

In Lohardaga, the PM rallywill be held at BS College sta-dium. The Lohardaga districtadministration has made elab-orate arrangement for PM’srally. Three helipads have beenconstructed near the venue.The Lohardaga district admin-istration also convened a meet-ing which was attended byLohardaga DC, SP and officialsfrom SPG. A huge pandal isbeing erected for rally. Morethan 4000 security personnelwill be deployed at the venue aspart of security arrangementsfor PM’s rally.

The Lohardaga parlia-mentary constituency is one ofthe biggest Lok Sabha seg-ment area wise in State as theconstituency touches three dis-tricts—Ranchi, Lohardaga andGumla district. Sources saidthat the BJP cadres from all fiveassembly segments have beenasked to mobilize support forModi rally. Out of five assem-bly segments, the BJP has threeMLAs (Mandar, Gumla andSisai) from parliamentary con-stituency.

Deepak Prakash said,“Though the PM rally inLohardaga will give messageacross the State especially intribal dominated Lok Sabhasegments such as Khunti,Singhbhum, Palamu andChatra constituencies whichborders Lohardaga Lok Sabhasegment.”

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Ranchi: Jharkhand MuktiMorcha supremo and GrandAlliance candidate Shibu Sorenfiled his nomination to becomeninth time Lok Sabha MP onMonday from Dumka parlia-mentary constituency.

Soren filed his nominationaccompanied by his son formerChief Minister and JMMExecutive president HemantSoren alongwith senior GrandAlliance leaders like JharkhandVikas Morcha (JVM) MLA fromPoreyahat, Pradeep Yadav JPCCchief Ajoy Kumar, JVMSupremo and former ChiefMinister, Babulal Marandi,Congress MLA, Irfan Ansariand others.

Known as one of the mostsenior leaders of separateJharkhand State movement,Soren began his political careerin early 1970s and quicklybecame popular as a mass leader.Prior to this, he became LokSabha MP eight times and waselected to Rajya Sabha once.Soren thrice became ChiefMinister of the State and also

held post of Union Minister dur-ing Manmohan Singh’s govern-ment. On the occasion theGrand Alliance held a publicmeeting. Addressing the gath-ering Soren said, “After a longstruggle we have got the separateState but the dream of formationof the State still has not beenrealized. We have to fight onceagain to materialize the goal offormation of the State. If we missthis time then we will have tolose our main treasure which is

water, land and forest.”Ajoy Kumar also addressed

the meeting. He said that bothgovernments be it Centre andState only duping people by itsfalse promises. “These govern-ments are not working for thecommon men as numbers ofunemployed increased drasti-cally. People belonging to everysection are crying foul. TheCentre government is talking onnational security but during lastfive years Chinese troops entered

more than 450 times in Indiaterritory,” he added.

Attacking on BJP govern-ment Babulal Marandi said thatthe government by using sever-al hooks and crooks acquiredlocal people’s land for powerplant of Adani in Godda in verylow price. “This government isnot working for the local, trib-al and common people of theState. It is only working for theinterests of its industrialistfriends,” he added.

Recalling olden daysMarandi said that when ShibuSoren won the seat several timeswhile contesting alone from theseat but this time he was con-testing as Grand Alliance can-didate and Congress, JVM andRJD is giving their full supportso this time he will win withhuge margin.

Hemant Soren said that theCountry is facing danger fromvarious ways and one of thebiggest threats of the country isBJP so we have to secure theCountry from these separatists’sources. PNS

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Ranchi: From Noodles Bowl toHarmonium and Violin, a vari-ety of election symbols wereallotted to different candidatescontesting election from theRanchi Lok Sabha Seat onMonday.

Deputy Commissionercum district election officer ofRanchi, Rai Mahimapat Ray onMonday said out of the 35 peo-ple who filed nomination forthe upcoming election to beheld on May 6, only 20 remainin fray after scrutiny and namewithdrawals.

“Nomination of 12 candi-dates was cancelled after scruti-ny and three independent can-didates including Arshad Ayub,Mokhtar Ahmed and Rajeshmahato withdrew their names,”DC said.

Monday was the last dayfor name withdrawals follow-

ing which symbols were allot-ted to the candidates. Apartfrom the symbol of prominentparties, the candidates wereallotted a variety of symbolslike blackboard, scissors, bot-tle, gas cylinder, auto rick-shaw, harmonium and violin.

Sitting MP RamtahalChoudhary, who is contestingas an independent candidatethis year after BJP’s refusal togive him ticket, has been allot-ted a football for symbol.

Talking to The Pioneer hesaid, “People know me for 40years and they will vote for me.This football is a symbol show-ing that the election is a matchand I will score a goal.”

Sidheshwar Singh, a can-didate of Socialist Unity Centreof India (Communist) has beenallotted scissors for symbol.

PNS

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New Delhi: The ElectionCommission on Monday cen-sured Congress leader NavjotSingh Sidhu for his remarks inwhich he allegedly warned theMuslim community that effortswere on to divide their votes inBihar, and barred him fromcampaigning for 72 hours.

The ban comes into forcefrom 10 am, on Tuesday. ThePunjab minister joins leaderssuch as Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, BSPsupremo Mayawati, Union min-ister Maneka Gandhi and SPleader Azam Khan who facedsimilar campaign ban recently.

“The Commission...Strongly condemns theimpugned statements made byhim during election campaignheld at Barsoi and Barari ofKatihar District,” the order rap-ping Sidhu reads.

It also “censured” him forthe “misconduct”. “TheCommission, under Article 324of the Constitution of Indiaand all other powers enabling inthis behalf, bars him from hold-ing any public meetings, publicprocessions, public rallies, roadshows and interviews, publicutterances in media (electronic,print. Social media) etc. In con-nection with ongoing elections

for 72 hours from 10 am onApril 23, 2019,” it said.

Addressing an election rallyin Katihar on April 16, thecricketer-turned-politician hadstoked a controversy by urgingMuslim voters of a Lok Sabhaconstituency in Bihar with size-able population of the minoritycommunity to vote en bloc anddefeat Prime Minister NarendraModi.

The comments by the for-mer test cricketer came when hewas canvassing in support of vet-eran Congress leader and formerUnion minister Tariq Anwar.

The EC said Sidhu has vio-lated provisions of the modelcode, election law and aSupreme Court direction askingpoliticians not to mix religionwith political discourse whileelectioneering.

At the rally at Barasol, inBalrampur assembly segmentfalling under the Katihar LokSabha seat in Bihar, Sidhu hadsaid, “Do not consider yourselfas being in a minority. You con-stitute the majority here. You areabout 64 per cent. Do not fallinto the trap laid down by peo-ple like Owaisi (president of AllIndia Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen). They have beenpropped up by the BJP.” PTI

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Damu Munda of GhaghraBandhtoli in Murhu block

of Khunti will have to bearhuge losses after an unseason-al hailstorm destroyed thewatermelon crop he had plant-ed on his land.

A series of hailstorms over

the last three days took thewatermelon and mango farm-ers of Khunti by surprise asnone were expecting a disasteras such.

Munda along with over 30farmers in Ghagra area of theblock had planted watermelonin their fields, investing aroundRs. 50,000 to Rs. 1.5 lakh per

head, depending on theircapacity, hoping to earn a goodprofit once they sell the fruits.

Unfortunately, things didnot go as planned and thesefarmers had to face a cumula-tive loss of more than Rs. 15lakh, as informed by Damu.

“Had the crop not beendestroyed, per head profit

would have been somewherebetween Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 5lakhs,” he said.

Vimal Soy, another farmersaid, “This is for the first timethat we had planted watermel-ons considering the huge prof-its we can make. However, thisuntimely adverse climate hasled to huge losses. Many of us

had taken loans for the plan-tation and now we will have tobear the expenses.”

As many as 3,450 familiesin Torpa, Khunti, Murhu andArki block of Khunti districthad taken up watermelonfarming this season on a totalarea of approximately 4,200acres.

Some of the most affectedvillages include GhaghraBandhtoli, Ghaghra Khas,Mahil Jamtoli and Hassa inMurhu block and Chandarpur,Sondari and Tapkara in Torpablock.

Estimate by the farmersshow that on an average afamily lost an investment worth

around Rs. 45,000 and also aloss of around Rs. 1.5 lakh prof-it which they could have earnedafter selling the produce.

Subodh Manjhi, UpPramukh of Panchayat Samitiin Murhu block said, “Not justwatermelon but mango farm-ers have also incurred hugelosses. While it is expected fora few flowers of mangoes toshed in wind and rain everyyear, this hailstorm hasdestroyed entire crop. Thefarmers are not in a soup andcould not figure out how tomake up for the losses.”

Prem Shankar of Pradan, asocial organization workingwith these farmers said thatthese farmers belong to a verypoor background and in thissituation they need to be sup-ported financially.

He pointed out that thefarmers were already facinglosses after their paddy wasadversely affected by heavyrainfall in the previous season.“They were expecting goodreturns from these summercash crops but considering thishailstorm they are now goingto fail in fulfilling their dreams,”Shankar said.

Unfortunately, these cropsare not covered under anykind of crop insurance scheme

and the entire burden of mak-ing up for the losses comes onthe farmer.

Horticulture directorRamesh Gholap said, “Whilethe crop insurance schemecovers crop like rice and maize,there is no provision for cov-ering vegetables and fruitsunder the scheme. However,there might be a provisionunder disaster managementdepartment to reimburse thelosses.”

Gholap added that thedirectorate will try to coordi-nate with the Centre and see ifthese crops can be incorporat-ed in the Pradhan Mantri FasalBeema Yojna.

Meanwhile, the State dis-aster Management departmentinformed that till date there hasbeen no such case in whichfarmers have been reimbursedfor cash crop destruction, amajor reason being that thereis no record of these crops withthe government.

Joint secretary of disastermanagement department,Manish Tiwari said, "There isno provision for reimbursingsuch losses but if the farmersare able to prove their losses tothe deputy commissioner andthe DC forwards it to us, wecan think about the next step."

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The ongoing Lok Sabha elec-tions have raised a lot of

hopes from the governmentamong the common masses,especially women. The womenresidents of Devi Mandap Road,in Ratu Road locality of theCapital City, raised their variousconcerns which include issuesregarding women’s safety, con-struction of the roads of theirarea, uplift of the poor and manyothers.

Soni Balla, who runs herown garment shop and beautysalon in the area expressed herconcern regarding the issue ofcleanliness and said, “The arearight in front of my shop isextremely dirty. People dump allthe waste here and nothing isdone to clean the area. There arealso no regular cleaning vehiclesthat would come and pick up thedirt,” “I hope that governmentlooks after this issue as thematter of cleanliness is becom-

ing a huge crisis,” said Balla. Shealso mentioned about the pen-sion scheme of the governmentand how it had helped manypeople and hopes that theupcoming government wouldintroduce such beneficial pro-grammes in the near future.While the issue of cleanlinessremains a common one for theresidents of the area, KavitaSharma, who owns a tailoringshop, spoke about her faith inthe government in improvingbad condition of the roads.“The roads are in such a terri-ble state that it makes it extreme-ly difficult to walk. Drains are

dug at several places due towhich roads are dirty and bro-ken. I believe that the govern-ment will look after this and dosomething to improve the con-dition of the roads,” said Sharma

She also spoke about the dis-advantage of changing the gov-ernment every five years,” Thegovernment obviously takestime to accomplish its objectives.If we change the governmentevery five years, the hard workof the previous government willgo to waste as their work willstop mid way and the progresswill remain incomplete,”

Jhanu who works as a

house help in the area said.“Earlier I was living on theroads. It was due to the variousprogrammes of the PrimeMinister that I received ahouse,” Giving importance toher concern regarding theuplift of the poor, Jhanu saidthat there are still a lot of peo-ple that live on the roads andare unemployed. She expectsthe elected government tointroduce such schemes thatwould help the unorganisedsector like them to get employ-ment and lead a comfortablelife.

Expressing similar con-

cerns, Munni Devi, resident ofthe area who also works as ahouse help, spoke aboutwomen’s safety as well. “Everyday we see so many caseswhere women are molested orraped. All this makes us feelunsafe as we are scared to goout after dark,”

Women’s safety has been anissue for the country for avery long time and instead ofgetting better, the condition isbecoming worse. The govern-ment should take more actionsto resolve this issue and makewomen feel safe in their owncountry added Devi.

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As the BJP demanded anapology from Rahul

Gandhi and called him “liar ofthe first order” in public opin-ion after the Congress presidentexpressed regret in theSupreme Court on Mondayover his remarks in connectionwith the Rafale judgment, themain opposition partydescribed the saffron inter-pretation as “blasphemous”amounting to criminal con-tempt of court proceedingseven as it insisted “ek hi chowki-dar chor hain”.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, BJP spokespersonGVL Narsimha Rao said,“Today, by filing an affidavit inthe honourable SC, RahulGandhi accepted that he hadlied on his allegations againstPM Modi on the Rafale deal.”

“This was an attempt byRahul Gandhi to manufacturea lie and create a controversy inthe Rafale deal... He shouldapologise to the people of thiscountry,” he said adding “Inpublic opinion, Rahul Gandhiis a liar of the first order”.

Stating that Rahul stands

guilty in the “court of publicopinion”, Rao added that allCongress cadres across thecountry hang their heads inshame that there leader hasbeen blatantly lying on theRafale jet dea.

While senior BJP leaderand union defence ministerNirmala Sitaraman said theCongress leader’s lie has givena big hit to his credibility in thepublic eye, BJP MP MeenakshiLekhi said Rahul expressing“regret” over his remarks onRafale verdict was an “admis-sion of his guilt” and “wrong-doing” by him. It was Lekhiwho had filed the criminalcontempt petition against him.

The Congress, however,said it did not agree with BJP’sinterpretation of Rahul’s regretas submitted with the apexcourt.

“Issue is sub-judice, stoppassing verdict today! We reit-erate -- ek hi chowkidar chorhai (only one watchman is athief)!” , said Congress’ chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala.

Surjewala hit out at the BJPsaying, “Fakery has no bound-aries. Lies no limitations, dis-information no confines! BJP’sblasphemous misrepresenta-tion of Rahul ji’s reply to the SCis itself a criminal contempt ofcourt proceedings.”

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In the backdrop of the serialblasts in Sri Lanka on

Sunday, the Indian CoastGuard has intensified patrollingto prevent terrorists responsi-ble for the dastardly act fromescaping from there and sneak-ing into India through the searoute. The precautionary stepwas taken on Sunday itselfafter the enormity of the situ-ation became clear and morefast patrol boats besides sur-veillance planes and helicopterswere deployed.

Maintaining high alert, theCoast Guard has mountedround the clock vigil all alongthe Indian maritime boundarywith Sri Lanka to thwart anyattempt by the terrorists toavoid the security dragnet in SriLanka and infiltrate into Indiathrough sea, officials said hereon Monday.

They also said all shipsfrom Coast Guard stations atTuticorin, Mandapam andKaraikal were pressed into ser-vice for heightened patrollingalong the sensitive sea lanes.Medium range maritime sur-veillance aircraft were provid-ing aerial support to the shipsin an effort to detect any hos-tile movement and alert thepatrol boats for interception.

Vigil was increased soonafter Sri Lanka said a localextremist group NationalThowheed Jamath (NTJ) maybe responsible for the blasts

which claimed nearly 290 lives.Sri Lanka PresidentMaithripala Srisena declared anationwide emergency onMonday.

The preventive measure inIndia was also taken to avoid arepeat of 26/11 Mumbai terrorattacks in 2008 when Pakistaniterrorists managed to reach themetropolis through sea andlaunch a series of attacks inwhich 166 people were killed.There were concerns that ter-rorists escaping from Sri Lanka

may try to engineer terrorattacks in India, sources said.

Keeping this in view, secu-rity was ramped up around alldefence and other vital instal-lations including naval bases incoastal region, they said.Moreover, all the stake holdersin coastal security including thelocal police increased patrollingat all landing points in thecoastal region especially inTamil Nadu and deployedsecurity pickets to prevent infil-tration.

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The Supreme Court onMonday directed the

Madras High Court to decideon April 24 a plea of TikTokapp seeking vacating of its banorder.

A Bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi said if theMadras High Court fails todecide on the plea of TikTokapp then its ban order willstand vacated.

The apex court had earli-er refused to stay the MadrasHigh Court order that direct-ed the Centre to ban the“Tiktok” app over concernsabout access to pornographiccontent through it.

Senior advocate AbhishekManu Singhvi, appearing forthe Chinese companyByteDance, had told the topcourt earlier that there wereover billion downloads of themobile app and ex-parte orderswere passed by the MaduraiBench of the Madras HighCourt.

He had said the court didnot even issue notice in thematter and an order was passedwithout hearing them.

The High Court had onApril 3 directed the Centre toban mobile application“TikTok” as it voiced concernover “pornographic and inap-propriate content” being madeavailable through such apps.

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Over two weeks before thedeadly suicide bombings

in Sri Lanka, India had alert-ed Colombo of possible terrorhits at churches and prelimi-nary findings suggest the slainsuicide bomber and chief ofthe National Tauheed JamathWhavan Hashim alias ZahranHashim had attempted tocarry out blast at the Indianembassy and at the USembassy earlier this month.

However, given the tightsecurity at these two installa-tions, the bomber decided tohit three luxury hotels and twomajor churches taking a toll ofover 200 and injuring about500 others.

The National TauheedJamat is a breakaway faction ofSri Lanka Tauheed Jamat,branch of Tamil Nadu TauheedJamat under the scanner of theIntelligence agencies at leastsince 2016.

Sources in the securityagencies said the Indianembassy in Sri Lanka is heav-ily fortified and armed withanti-aircraft batteries of aCentral paramilitary force and

has put in place a tight secu-rity cordon and sophisticatedaccess control paraphernalia.

Following the inputs of theimpending terror strike, the SriLankan police had also issuedan alert to the effect but couldnot assess the magnitude of theproblem that was in the mak-ing. Initial assessments heresuggest the serial suicidebombings in and aroundColombo were essentially anoutcome of Islamist versusBuddhist conflict.

Hashim is said to haveundergone treatment earlierfor mental illness and wantedto become a social worker in2011. However, Hashim joinedreligious groups like the SriLanka Tauheed Jamat and sub-sequently got in touch with theISIS especially those based inthe UAE and went on tobecome the chief of Khorasan

Sri Lanka of ISIS. Estimates here suggest

Hashim has a follower base ofnearly 400 radicals and theattack on the churches couldbe a tactical ploy to deflectattention of the aggrievedBuddhists against the Muslimswho are lesser in number inthe island nation than the for-mer, sources said.

Pakistan’s covert agencyInter-Services Intelligence (ISI)in Colombo might have pro-vided facilitation for logisticssupplies to Hashim through itsterror proxies like the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and its humanitar-ian assistance arm Jamat-ud-Dawah that has been presencein Sri Lanka since the 2005tsunami. The JuD had pur-chased a number of orphansfor the purpose of radicaliza-tion from Sri Lanka and othercountries hit by tsunami.

The terror targets whichinclude three luxury hotels-Shangri La, Kingsbury andCinnamon Grand-and StAnthony Church Zion Churchand St Sebastian church wereidentified after the failed bidsat the Indian and Americanmissions in Colombo.

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The repercussions ofSunday’s serial blasts in

Colombo that claimed morethan 200 lives could have amajor effect in Tamil Nadu,according to intelligence andsecurity experts in the State.Thowheed Jamath, an Islamicterrorist organisation, the nameof which is linked to the serialblasts in Sri Lanka, has a strongpresence in Tamil Nadu. Theopen sea between Tamil Naduand Sri Lanka offers immensescope to the volunteers of thisorganisation to shift from oneplace to another. It is an opensecret in Tamil Nadu that allanti-national and extremistorganisations work in unison.

The fact that Thowheed

Jamath is a name which caus-es fear and terror in the mindsof the people was made knownby the then Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa her-self while speaking to reportersin January 2013.

“There are more than 7.5lakh active Thowheed Jamathactivists in Tamil Nadu,”Jayalalithaa had told a Pressmeet specially convened byher to explain the reasonsbehind banning Viswaroopam,a Tamil movie produced byKamal Haasan. About 24Islamic organisations hadexpressed their opposition tothe release of the moviebecause they alleged that thefilm contained anti-Islam ref-erences and they wanted suchscenes to be deleted from thefilm.

Of the scenes were notdeleted, the organisations, ledby Thowheed Jamath hadthreatened to stage demon-strations in front of the 524 the-atres where the movie was to bereleased. “We need 56, 440policemen to ensure securityand law and order in these the-atres on a round-the–clockbasis and hence we decided toeffect the ban in the movieunder Section 144 of the IPC,”Jayalalithaa had told during thepress briefing.

She said she was very muchworried about the law andorder situation at that time asthere were many instances ofthrowing of petrol bombs andvandalising film theatres. Butthe frequent shuffling andtransfer of intelligence offi-cials (both in State and Central

services) is coming in the wayof tracking the real activities ofThowheed Jama’ath which areshrouded in mysteries, accord-ing to insiders in these depart-ments.

Since then the strength ofThowheed Jama’ath hasincreased manifold in TamilNadu. Though the organisationis not visibly active in theState, it is very much present inareas of conflict between casteHindus and Dalits. TheThowheed Jama’ath is activelypropagating Islam among theDalits by distributing the Holybooks and religions literature.

A status report prepared bya Chennai based intelligencethink tank for the union homeministry has this to tell aboutthe state of affairs in TamilNadu.

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The Election Commissionon Monday submitted its

detailed report to the SupremeCourt on the biopic of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi took theEC’s report on Modi’s biopicand asked the poll panel to sup-ply a copy of the report to theproducer of the movie.

The bench, which alsocomprised justices DeepakGupta and Sanjiv Khanna, hasnow fixed the plea of produc-ers challenging the EC’s ban on the movie for hearingon Friday 26.

The apex court had onApril 15 directed the ElectionCommission to re-examine itsearlier order and take aninformed decision on banningpan-India the release of thebiopic on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi after watchingthe full movie.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for filmproducers who have challengedthe EC’s ban on the biopic’srelease till the current generalelections are over, had told the

top court that the poll panel hastaken the decision after watch-ing the promo, and not theentire movie.

EC’s counsel Amit Sharma

had said that the entire moviewas not available and a decisionto ban the release was taken after watching thetrailer.

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Former deputy election com-missioner Vinod Zutshi was

on Monday appointed as spe-cial observer for Tripura wherethe Lok Sabha polls to one ofthe seats was postponed in viewof the law and order situation.On Tuesday last, the ElectionCommission had postponed

polling in the Tripura (East)Lok Sabha seat to the thirdphase on April 23 (Tuesday)from April 18, saying the pre-vailing law and order situationthere is not conducive for hold-ing free and fair polls. ECsources said, the Commissionhas issued orders appointingZutshi as special observer forTripura.

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New Delhi: The EC on Monday issued the notification for theseventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections in which 59constituencies spread across eight states and union territories willgo for polls. While the first phase of election was held on April11, the last phase will be held on May 19. So far, two phases havetaken place, while the third phase of polling is on Tuesday. Allthe 13 seats of Punjab, four in Himachal Pradesh and one inChandigarh will go for polls in a single phase on May 19. PNS

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Two lawyers’ bodies of theSupreme Court on Monday

disapproved of the manner inwhich Chief Justice RanjanGogoi dealt with the sexualharassment allegations againsthim, calling it “proceduralimpropriety” and “violation” ofprocedures.

As the apex court reassem-bled after the weekend recess inthe backdrop of the stunningallegations by a former courtstaffer, the Supreme Court BarAssociation (SCBA) and theSupreme Court Advocates onRecord Association (SCAO-RA) urged the Full Court totake all such necessary steps asmay be required in law to dealwith the charges.

The allegations croppedup against Justice Gogoi onSaturday prompting him toconvene an urgent extraordi-nary hearing by a three-mem-ber bench headed by him dur-ing which he asserted that thecharges against him were“unbelievable”.

The allegations by thewoman, who had worked atJustice Gogoi’s home office inDelhi, dates back to Octoberlast year, days after he wasappointed the CJI.

After an emergent meetingof its executive committee, theSCBA said in a statement thatwithout prejudice to anyenquiry which may be initiat-ed the full court should collateall the materials and facts with

regard to the allegations fromelectronic, print, social mediaand other available sources forconsideration at its next meet-ing.

“The executive committeehas resolved that procedureadopted for conducting thecourt proceedings on April 20in the matter of allegationsmade by ex-employee of theSupreme Court against theChief Justice of India is in vio-lation of procedure establishedby law as well as principles ofnatural justice,” SCBA SecretaryVikrant Yadav said.

In a resolution, the SCAO-RA, the top court lawyers’

body, said in a resolution thatthe allegations against the CJIhave to be dealt with as per theestablished procedure of lawand law must be applied in eachand every case uniformly.

The Supreme CourtEmployees Welfare Associationon its part came out in supportof Justice Gogoi, claiming thatthe allegations were “false andfabricated”.

The association, in a reso-lution, said it strongly con-demned the “false, fabricatedand baseless allegations”against the CJI which is aimedat maligning the institution ofjudiciary.

“The Supreme CourtEmployees Welfare Associationon behalf of all the employeesstrongly condemns the false,fabricated and baseless allega-tions against Chief Justice ofIndia Ranjan Gogoi,” it said.

The SCAORA, which is abody of lawyers comprisingadvocates empowered by theapex court to file pleadings onbehalf of parties in the topcourt, sought immediateappointment of a committeeheaded by full court of the apexcourt to impartially investigateand inquire into the allegationsand give an independent find-ing.

“Supreme Court AdvocatesOn Record Associationexpresses its deep reservationagainst procedural improprietyshown by Justice Ranjan Gogoiin the suo motu proceedingsheld on April 20 in the issuerelating to allegations of sexu-al harassment against JusticeRanjan Gogoi, by an ex-Supreme Court employee,” theSCAORA resolution said.

“It is therefore resolvedthat the SCAORA strongly dis-approves the manner in whichthe complaint was dealt withand seeks enquiry and action inthe above matter...” it added.

Justice Gogoi said duringthe Saturday hearing that theallegations were part of a con-spiracy by some “bigger force”to “deactivate” the CJI’s office.

The CJI also said he wouldnot stoop too low even to denythem.

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The Supreme Court onMonday issued notice to

Union Minister Smriti Iranithat pertains to two crossdefamation complaints filedby Congress leader SanjayNirupam and the BJP leaderagainst each other.

In one case, the Delhi HighCourt had quashed the sum-mons issued to Irani in adefamation complaint filedagainst her by Nirupam.

The High Court had how-ever dismissed a similar plea ofNirupam seeking to set asidethe summons issued againsthim in a cross defamationcomplaint filed by Irani.

The High Court, onDecember 19 last year, had saidthe case against Nirupam willcontinue.

On Monday, a Bench head-ed by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi issued the notice toIrani on two appeals filed byNirupam.

The Congress leader hadchallenged a magisterial court’sMarch 11, 2013 order sum-moning him in Irani’s defama-tion complaint against him. Hehad also sought quashing of theJanuary 1, 2013 complaint filedby Irani.

In her plea, Irani hadsought quashing of the sum-mons issued to her by a trialcourt on June 6, 2014.

She had also sought quash-ing of the complaint filed byNirupam.

New Delhi: The Congress onMonday attacked the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi overhis remarks on nuclear arsenal,saying his “boastful claims” ofbeing “ready for an atomicmissile attack” on Pakistan areuncalled for and not in theinterest of national security.

Slamming Modi for hisremarks, the party said PM’selection speeches and irrespon-sible statements point to thegrowing desperation in the BJP.Modi, at an election rally inRajasthan’s Barmer on Sundaysaid India is no more afraid ofnuclear threats of Pakistan.“Otherwise, Pakistan used togive nuclear threats. What dowe have? Have we kept it for‘Diwali’,” the PM had said.

Anand Sharma said theCongress would like to remindModi that these elections areabout unemployment, farmdistress and the betrayal of thevoters on electoral promises.Every Indian is proud of thevalour of our forces and ournuclear capabilities, but thegovernment cannot hidebehind this, he said.

Sharma targeting the PMfor his “boastful remarks” wasalso in reference to Modi’scomments in Gujarat’s Patan inwhich he stated that afterIndian Air Force pilotAbhinandan Varthaman washeld by Pakistan, a seniorAmerican official on the sec-ond day said that “Modi haskept 12 missiles ready andmight attack . PNS

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will file hisnomination from Varanasi onApril 26 and will be accompa-nied by the party’s top brass,including BJP national presi-dent Amit Shah.

Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states and BJP allies areexpected to attend the event,party sources said.

Modi will file the nomina-tion papers from Varanasi inUttar Pradesh on April 26,they said, adding a road showwill be held there on April 25.

Various leaders of theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA), including Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar, areslated to attend the road show,the sources said.

“Honourable PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willbe filing his nomination laterthis week and given his trackrecord as a Member ofParliament and Prime Minister,Varanasi will be looking for-ward to welcoming him,” BJPspokesperson Nalin Kohli said.

Modi represents Varanasiin the Parliament. The city oftemples votes on May 19.PTI

New Delhi: After Arun Jaitleycriticised him for his recentremarks on Pakistan, seniorCongress leader PChidambaram Monday hitback saying that the Unionminister must explain whyinfiltration, the number ofinfiltrators and casualties lastyear were highest under theBJP government.

Slamming former Unionminister P Chidambaram’sstatement that

India must “change itsbehaviour” towards Pakistan,Jaitley said, “Why Mr PChidambaram is siding withPakistan by asking India tochange its behaviour? Shouldwe remain victim of terrorism& not do anything?” PTI

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Wayanad: All eyes are on theWayanad parliamentary con-stituency on the slopes of theWestern Ghats in Kerala, cho-sen by Congress chief RahulGandhi to seek people’s man-date, besides his family bastionAmethi in Uttar Pradesh.

He is facing CPI’s PP Suneerfielded by Kerala’s ruling LDF inthe April 23 election on the soilof legendary king Pazhassi Rajawho fought a guerilla war againstBritish colonialists. The NDA hasfielded Thushar Vellappally of

Bharat Dharma Jana Sena(BDJS) from the constituencycomprising seven assembly seg-ments in Wayanad, Malappuramand Kozhikode districts.

The Wayanad seat, whichwas created in 2009, shares itsborders with the Nilgiris ofTamil Nadu and the Mysururegion of Karnataka. It is pre-dominantly rural and of itsseven assembly segments, threeare in Wayanad district, threein Malappuram and one inKozhikode district.

Two Assembly segments inthe constituency — SulthanBathery and Mananthavady —are reserved for tribals whoconstitute around 18 per centof the Wayanad’s population.Vandoor in Malappuram dis-trict is reserved for ScheduledCaste. Female voters are morein number compared to malevoters in the Lok Sabha seatwhich has a total of 13,57,819electors. There are 6,84,807females, there are 6,73,011male voters. While the differ-ence is 11,796, there is only onethird gender elector in theconstituency.

Out of the 13,57,819 vot-ers, 2,951 are overseas electors.Senior Congress leader MIShanavas, who died last year,had been winning the seatever since the constituencywas carved out in 2009.

He had trounced CPI’s MRahmatullah by over 1.5 lakhvotes in 2009 and defeatedCPI leader Sathyan Mokeri bya margin of 20,000 votes in2014. Political analysts say

Wayanad, a bastion ofCongress-led UDF, is a safe seatfor Gandhi. According to them,the one thing that matters is thewinning margin.

Senior Congress leader andINTUC state president RChandrasekharan, who cam-paigned for his party chief inWayanad, said Gandhi’s candi-dature has given a new dimen-sion to the constituency. Hisvision is upliftment of peopledependent on farm, labourand rural sectors.

“People have faith inGandhi. Many of them aresmall and marginal farmers,who grow mostly hill produceand coffee, in Wayanad.Gandhi understands theirproblems due to the fall inprices of agriculture produceand crop loss caused by natur-al disasters and extreme weath-er events,” Chandrasekharantold PTI.

CPI(M) leader P KrishnaPrasad, who is campaigning forLeft’s candidate Suneer, said itis not going to be easy for

Gandhi as people feel that theysuffer due to the anti-farmer

policies of both the Congressand the BJP governments at theCentre. “There is no Congresswave in Wayanad. TheCongress or its leader RahulGandhi have no specific plansfor addressing their problems.Farmers are on the verge of sui-cide due to the wrong policiesof the Governments led by theCongress and the BJP,” Prasad,a former MLA, told PTI.

What Rahul is seeking is alifelong relationship with thepeople of Wayanad,Chandrasekharan said, refer-ring to the Congress president’sspeech at an election rally atSulthan Bathery Assemblysegment on April 17.

“I just don’t want to have arelationship of just few months.I want a lifelong relationshipwith you. I want the sisters ofWayanad to say that I am liketheir brother, the fathers andmothers to say that I am theirson,” Rahul had said.

Wayanad has significantMuslim and Christian populations.

Ahmedabad: Withmemories of the 2017Assembly polls fresh inmind, the Saurashtraregion, which has seven LokSabha seats, will be the real testfor the ruling BJP when ballot-ing is held in Gujarat tomorrow.

The region, which used tobe a BJP bastion since 1995,gave jitters to the ruling partyin the Assembly polls held justover 17 months back, as it lost14 of the 35 seats it had wonfrom among the total 54 seatsin the region in the 2012Assembly elections.

In those polls, the Congresshad doubled its tally to 32 seatsfrom 16 it had won in the pre-vious elections. Because of thereverses in this region in theDecember 2017 Assembly polls,the ruling BJP had come closeto losing power in the state forthe first time in three decades.

In the 182-memberAssembly, the party won 99seats, just 7 more than the sim-ple majority and 16 less thanthe previous time.

The key reasons for thisreversal were farm distress,

unemployment andadverse impacts oftwin blows of

demonetisationand Goods and

Services Tax (GST)on the small scale and mediumscale industry as well as thetrading class.

The Congress kept harpingon these issues which are stillvery much alive.

Besides this, firebrandyouth leader Hardik Patel’smassive agitation for reserva-tions to his Patidar (or Patel)community made a hugeimpact in Saurashtra which hassizeable population of thePatidar community. And nowHardik Patel is in the Congress.

Clearly cognizant of this,the BJP pulled out all stops inSaurashtra this time, with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi him-self holding as many as sevenrallies in this region only.

Electoral performance ofthe BJP in Gujarat is a person-al prestige issue for Modi whowas the CM of the State forthree consecutive terms beforehe became the PM. IANS

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The second phase ofelections is a crucial

test for the BJP inKarnataka. MumbaiKarnataka, Central Karnatakaand Hyderabad Karnataka willgo to the polls in the secondphase on April 23. Riding on aModi wave the BJP bets big on14 seats in these areas, a spacethe saffron party thinks it cando well. They are in a processof consolidating votes againstthe united might of theCongress and the JDs.

For the first time the BJP isfacing the challenge of twoforces, one is a vokkaliga(Gowda) party and second oneis the ‘secular Congress’. It meansCongress leader Siddaramaiahand Kumaraswamy are bettingbig to lure minorities (politics ofAHINDA) and other commu-nities in the name of secularismto take on and break the BJP’svote bank, the Lingayats.Congress hopes to with theunited force and Rahul Gandhiand Devegowda, break thesupremacy of the “communalparty BJP”, in the northern dis-tricts of the State.

The 14 parliamentary con-stituencies which are going topolls are Chikkodi, Belgaum,Bagalkot, Bijapur (SC), Gulbarga(SC), Raichur (ST), Bidar,Koppal, Bellary (ST), Haveri,Dharwad, Uttara Kannada,Davanagere and Shivamoggawhere BJP is hopeful of main-taining the lead. The PM

Narendra Modi being themascot of the party hascampaigned many timesin the name ofRashtravad. He also

raked up the dynasty pol-itics and politics of “gath-

bandhan” Amit Shah, SMKrishna, Devegowda, Kumara-swamy, Siddaramaiah DKShivakumar and host of otherleaders are camping there as lastleg of elections which are crucialfor both BJP and Congress.

The back to back campaignby Modi and Rahul shows theimportance of these constituen-cies. The parties also think thatthe add-up number will play acrucial role in national politicsand government formation.While BJP hopes for “agali baarModi sarkar “ and Congress with“mahagathbandhan” pitchingfor “Make Rahul the next primeminister”. With Devegowda’sacumen in politics Karnatakabecame a platform for oppositionunity. With political permuta-tions and combinations Gowdahopes to play a major role in thenext Government formation.

The BJP is contesting all 14seats, while the Congress in 11and JD(S) in 3. In 2014 generalelections, BJP had won 11 seatsand Congress remaining 3, withnone going to JD(S). Congressis contesting in Chikkodi,Belgaum, Bagalkot, Gulbarga(SC), Raichur (ST), Bidar,Koppal, Bellary (ST), Haveri,Dharwad and Davanagere. TheJD-S is contesting from Bijapur(SC), Shivamogga and UttaraKannada.

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As an uneasy lull prevailed aday ahead of the third

phase of polling for five LokSabha constituencies in Bengalthe Election Commission madea massive bandobast coveringmore than 92 per cent of boothsby Central Armed Police Forcesleaving the remaining about 8percent to be manned by Statearmed police.

The lathi-wielding police-men have been asked to remainat least 200 metre away fromthe booths, sources said.

The fate of 61 candidateswould be decided on Mondayas five constituencies ofBalurghat, North Malda, SouthMalda, Jangipur, Murshidabadgo for polls.

Traditionally a Congressbelt with the Left place in thesecond slot things tended tohave changed in the past cou-

ple of years with both theTMC and the BJP having comeup in a big way replacing thetwo traditional outfits.

About 80,23,000 electoratewill decide the fate of the 61candidates. About 324 companies of CAPF will bedeployed for the five con-stituencies, Additional CEOSanjay Basu said.

As of now Balurghat hasthe sitting TMC MP in ArpitaGhosh while former CongressMP and now a TMC candidateMausam Benazir Noor is con-testing from North Malda.

Her uncle and outgoingMP AH Khan Chowdhury iscontesting against TMC’sMuazzam Hussein and BJP’sSrirupa Chowdhury.

Noor is pitted against herown cousin and Congress can-didate Isha Khan Chowdhuryand BJP’s Khagen Murmu, avocal former CPI(M) MLA.

Lucknow: The thirdphase of polling for tenLok Sabha seats in UttarPradesh will decide theelectoral fate of fourmembers of the SPpatron Mulayam SinghYadav’s clan besides those ofsenior party leader AzamKhan and film actor and BJPcandidate Jaya Prada.

The polling for the thirdphase is to be held on April 23for ten Lok Sabha seats in theRohilkhand region of the statealong with 105 other seatsacross 13 other States.

The BJP, which had wonseven out of the ten seats in thisregion in 2014, has a huge stakein this phase in Uttar Pradeshas the area is considered a SPstronghold as three of the totalfive members of the Yadavfamily had won from thisregion despite a Modi wave inthe last elections.

The three Yadav family

members who areseeking re-elec-tion respective-ly fromM a i n p u r i ,Badaun and

Firozabad inthis phase are

Samajwadi Partyfounder Mulayam Singh Yadavand his two nephews,Dharmendra Yadav andAkshay Yadav.

Pitted against AkshayYadav, son of Mulayam SinghYadav’s cousin Ram GopalYadav, is another brother of theparty patriarch, Shivpal Yadav,who has fallen out with SPpresident Aklhilesh Yadav, andfighting from Fiorozabad afterfloating a new political outfit,Pragateesheel Samajwadi Party(Lohia).

In 2014, Mulayam Singhhad won both the Mainpuriand Azamgarh seats, but hadvacated the first one, which was

won by his another familymember Tej Pratap Singh in thesubsequent bye-election.

The electoral fortunes ofsenior SP leader Azam Khanwill also be decided in thisphase from Rampur whichwitnessed a new low in cam-paigning this time.

Known for his controver-sial statements, Azam Khanmade an “indecent” remark,targeting his BJP opponentJaya Prada in Rampur byallegedly speculating on thecolour of her underwear andattracting the saffron partywrath, besides that of theNational Commission forWomen.

The other political heavy-weights, whose fate are in thepoll balance in the third phaseof elections here, include Unionminister Santosh KumarGangwar, who is fighting fromBareilly and BJP’s VarunGandhi from Pilibhit. PTI

Rampur: “Am I a nachne wali,am I an amrapali,” BJP candi-date Jaya Prada asked at a rally,her question referencing SPleader’s Azam Khan’s derogato-ry remark about her as a danc-ing girl and testimony to howthe electoral contest here hasbecome more about personalinsults than anything else.

The crowd at the publicmeeting in Mat Khera villageresponded to her posers with aloud “no” and the actor-turned-politician went on to narratethe harassment she faced fromthe Samajwadi Party candidate.

The contest between theone time buddies and nowarch rivals was always expect-ed to be fierce but the saga ofacrimony took an ugly turnwith the SP veteran’s ‘khakiunderwear” jibe.

Rampur, which goes to thepolls on Tuesday, was pro-pelled into the national spotlight with the furore thatfollowed and the political dis-course has since centred on just that.

While Jaya Prada has beenreminding the public about itin every meeting, Khan hasplayed the victim card after theElection Commission’s 72-hourcampaign ban was imposed onhim.

As Jaya Prada turned thiselection into a fight for women’sdignity, Khan gave it a religiouscolour with speeches seeming-ly intended to appeal toMuslims. PTI�������� ��������� ����#�� � �������������������%���������� ���

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday said his

Government had taken strongaction against terrorism andthat the Congress does notunderstand the importance of the issue because of its “nar-row mindset”.

“Modi is taking actionagainst terrorism. Modi is hit-ting them in theirhomes,” the primeminister said, in an elec-tion rally here. He saidnational security is “verymuch” the issue of LokSabha elections,but theCongress, dueto its “narrowmindset”,does notunderstandthis.

“Congress and its‘mahamilavati’ (wordplay onmahagathbandhan) say Modishould not talk about nationalsecurity and terrorism in elec-tions. Someone else may getdeceived but not Modi,” he said.It is okay if issues like nation-al security are not highlighted

in local elections, but inLok Sabha polls it is verymuch an important

issue, Modi said.“They (opposi-

tion) have narrowmindset. Even after 60

years, they do notunderstand what the

issues of the coun-try are. They are

roaming aroundthe countrywith five-sixa b u s i v ewords,” Modisaid.

TargetingCongress lead-ers for asking

for evidences ofsurgical strikes,Modi said the‘saboot gang’ hasput the countrydown, but peo-ple have nowgiven theO p p o s i t i o n‘saboot’ (evi-dence) in theinitial phases

of pollingin thecountry.“ W i l lyou betrusting‘sapoot’

(soldiers) or those whodemand ‘saboot’,” he asked.

The Prime Minister tar-geted the previous UPAGovernment, saying that itpressured the banks to giveloans to “its millionaire friends,but our Government gave loansto the poor, tribals and youthsunder the MUDRA scheme”.

“Now, if someone has fledabroad, either he will have toreturn or he will be extraditedjust like Michel ‘mama’ ofNaamdaars. If any rich does notreturn money taken as loansfrom bank, then he will not beable to sleep comfortably,” hesaid, referring to British-national Christian Michel,alleged middleman in theAgustaWestland VVIP choppercase who was arrested after hisextradition from Dubai.

He said the NDAGovernment has showed thatrunning an honestGovernment in the country ispossible. Modi said the foun-dation which will be laid in thenext five years will decide thefuture of the 21st century.

“The upcoming polls arevery important for those whoare going to vote for the firsttime. Those who are born inthe 21st century will nurturedreams and realise them in thiscentury. A strong foundationwill be laid in the next fiveyears,” Modi said.

The PM said the Congressknows very well how to spreadlies and do manipulations. Inthe rally, Modi highlighted theachievements of his govern-ment and sought vote for the BJP.

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Congress president RahulGandhi on Monday exhort-

ed the people to ask PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whathe received in return for “giv-ing” Anil Ambani Rs 30,000crore under the Rafale deal.

Addressinga poll meetingin his par-liamentary con-stituency here,Rahul said,“When the PrimeMinister comesand makes falseclaims, ask him onequestion. Why hashe has given Rs30,000 crore toAmbani and whathas Ambani donein return for him.”

Speaking inTiloi area, he said,“Soon after theCongress comes topower after the LokSabha polls, a probewill be held in theRafale deal andthe truth will bebefore every-

one...What ex-French PresidentFrancois Hollande said andwhat is in the French defencefiles will come out...Only twopersons’ names will come out,first Anil Ambani and secondNarendra Modi.”

Asking if anyone has seenchowkidar in front of a farmeror labourer’s house, he said forthe past some time, everyfarmer has been forced to do‘chowkidari’ of his agriculturefield. “Modiji had stated that hedoes not want to be made a

prime minister but a chowki-dar... When his theft hasbeen caught in the Rafale

deal, he says ‘hum sabchowkidar hain,” heclaimed.

Rahul also hit out thePM over the Goods andServices Tax, saying whenthe ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’was imposed, the moneywas taken from peopleand it went to thievesand overseas. “Themoment money wentout of your pockets,you stopped purchas-ing and the factoriesclosed down, leadingto unemployment...In every 24 hours,27,000 youths losttheir jobs... This isthe work ofchowkidar,” heclaimed.

T h eCongress presi-dent said after2019, 33 percent womenwill be seenin legislatureand Gover-

nment jobs. He promised thatrecruitment will be initiated for22 lakh vacant posts and 10lakh youths will get jobs inPanchayats.

Rahul said after coming topower, the Congress will see toit that all the people who havebeen harassed in the past fiveyears are compensated.

Addressing an electionmeeting in Barabanki earlier, hesaid the Congress will take his-toric decisions for farmers andbring a separate budget forthem. Campaigning for partycandidate Tanuj Punia, healleged that Modi ran aGovernment which helped just15 people in the last five years.

It also took a sudden deci-sion on demonetisation andmade the entire country standin queues, the Congress presi-dent alleged.

“The BJP conducted sur-gical strikes on poor people ofthe country, while we will con-duct surgical strikes on pover-ty. If the Congress is voted topower, it will give 22 lakh jobsto youngsters,” he said address-ing an election meeting inPrashedpur in Rae Bareli.

Rahul also claimed that‘chowkidaar’ has meted outinjustice to the people ofAmethi and Rae Bareli.

Later, the Congress presi-dent told reporters, “If PrimeMinister Narendra Modi sitsfor a face-to-face conversationfor 15 minutes, everything willbe clear.”

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Mamata Banerjee and AmitShah engaged in a ruth-

less war of words former accus-ing the latter of manipulatingthe elections by communallydividing the electorate and thelatter hitting out saying she wasrunning a Government of themafias in Bengal devouringwhatever democracy that wasleft by the Left regime.

Addressing rallies atUluberia in Howrah andBurdwan Shah said, “MamataDidi’s TMC stands for Tolabaji(extortioin) Mafia raj and Chitfund scam,” adding if BJPreturned to power it would“send all the perpetrators of thechit fund to jail in 90 days’ time.”

Reminding Banerjee of thestrong actions taken by theElection Commission in 2009and 2011 that eventually cata-pulted TMC to power Shah said“when the ECI acts against yourgoons you feel hurt but when ittook against the goons of the ear-lier regime that helped you rideto power you were happy.”

The Chief Minister hasstrongly reacted to ECI SpecialObserver Ajay Nayak’s state-ments that Bengal resembled asituation in which Bihar was 15years ago adding the law andorder machinery had com-pletely collapsed in the State.

Banerjee had said “the BJPis running a parallelGovernment in Bengal withouttaking the State Governmentinto confidence which is anattack on the federal structure.They have some retired IAS offi-cers to kill democracy here. Letthem bring 5 crore personnelfrom Delhi. Still we will win.”

However, Shah on Mondayretorted saying, “Didi is cryingbecause her goons are not ableto rig the elections,” adding“Bengal is going to see a bigchange after May 23 the TMC’scitadels will fall one after theother.” The BJP had convertedBengal into a lawless Statewhere only the writ of TMC’sgoons run, he said adding “thissituation will change soon asonly the BJP can remove the

TMC from power.” Attackingthe TMC for winning the pan-chayat elections by riggingwhich was why “37 per cent ofthe seats during the panchay-at elections were won uncon-tested,” he said “CRPF hasplugged that hole.”

For the rest of India thiselection is about taking thecountry to new heights but “for

Bengal, it is about establishingdemocracy,” Shah said adding“It’s high time people stoodagainst TMC’s misrule. Thiselection is not only the electionfor a Government in Delhi butthis election is also an electionfor the people of Bengal.”

On the CitizenshipAmendment Bill Shah said ifhis party came to power for thesecond time it would invokethe National Register ofCitizens throughout India. “Ican assure you that the NRCwill be implemented not onlyin Bengal, but all over thecountry if we come to poweragain,” adding however the“refugees will be safe becausethey will be given citizenship.”

Coming back hard on theBJP president Banerjee said “inBengal the BJP has joinedhands with the Congress andthe Left but the people haveunderstood their intentionsand they will defeat all ofthem. The TMC will win all the42 out of 42 seats,” Banerjeesaid daring Shah to invokeNRC in the State.”

They implemented NRC inAssam, “then they were tellingthat they will invoke it inBengal and now they are tellingthat they will do it in all overthe country. I will never let thathappen because all Indians areequals and have democraticrights protected by theConstitution. I will not letthem destroy the constitution.

“This is why I am tellingthat BJP is a dangerous partyand if they come back to powerthey will take away all yourrights, make the citizens of thiscountry foreigners like theyhave done in Assam.”

Lucknow: BSP presidentMayawati on Monday askedwhy the Election Commissionwas not cancelling the nomi-nation of Pragya Singh Thakur,the Bharatiya Janata Partycandidate from Bhopal, despitethe “BJP ratna” issuing con-troversial statements.

“Malegoan blast caseaccused and BJP candidatefrom Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya isclaiming that she is contestinga ‘dharm yuddh’. This is the realface of BJP/RSS which is beingexposed continuously. But whyis the Commission only issuingnotices and not cancelling thenomination of BJP ratna (gem)Pragya?” Mayawati tweeted.

“If the ElectionCommission is not able towork in an impartial manner tothe satisfaction of peopledespite severe criticism in themedia, it is an issue of graveconcern for democracy and noone else but BJP and PM Modi,who are surrounded by seriouselectoral allegations.” PTI

Lucknow: Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav onMonday said regional partieswill get more seats than theCongress and the BJP in theongoing Lok Sabha polls. “Ithink regional parties will getmore seats than the Congressand the BJP. The next PM willbe from the regional parties,” hesaid at a Press conference here.

When asked whether hewas in the race for the top post,Yadav said, “I am not in therace for prime ministership, butwill be happy if next PM isfrom UP. I will support thosewho want to become PM.”

On being asked if the SP-BSP alliance will supportPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, whosename is doing rounds as a pos-sible Congress candidateagainst Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Yadav ruledout any support to theCongress saying, “Our allianceis with the BSP and the RLD.We will declare candidate fromthe Varanasi seat soon.”

The SP is contesting theLok Sabha polls in an alliancewith the BSP and the RLD,keeping the Congress out of the“gathbandhan”. PTI

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Amethi: Dubbing the BJP’sAmethi candidate Smriti Iranias an “outsider”, Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi Vadraon Monday accused her ofdistributing shoes in order toinsult Rahul Gandhi and saidthe people in the Congresschief ’s Lok Sabha constituencyare not beggars.

Interacting with the votersin this key parliamentary con-stituency, the Congress gener-al secretary in-charge of east-ern Uttar Pradesh said thepeople of Amethi and RaeBareli have self-respect andthey do not beg from anyone.

“...If anyone has to beg, it isthem (BJP), who will beg foryour votes,” a visibly agitatedPriyanka told the voters in thepresence of reporters at a“nukkad sabha”.

She also slammed “out-sider” Irani for distributingshoes in Amethi. “She (Irani)thinks she can insult RahulGandhi by doing this,”Priyanka said, adding that theUnion minister was in factinsulting the people of Amethi.

“The people of Amethi arevery sensible. You all know whowas going to open a food parkin Amethi and the fact that it hasnot been opened till now. Thefood park would have benefit-ted five lakh farmers in Amethiand Rae Bareli,” she said.

Union Textiles MinisterIrani had lost against RahulGandhi from Amethi in the2014 Lok Sabha polls. Fiveyears later, she is again hopingto breach the Gandhi familybastion. PTI

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The electoral battle in theLadakh Lok Sabha seat of

Jammu & Kashmir has becomeinteresting for poll watchers,but tough for contestants.

The constituency, spreadover Leh and Kargil districts, isgeographically one of thelargest and population-wiseone of the smallest in the coun-try. Being one of the remotestareas of the country, theLadakh division has its ownissues, dissimilar to the Valleyor the Jammu division.

Politically, Ladakh hasalways been closer to New Delhithan to Srinagar or Jammu, thetwo administrative capitals ofJ&K. It has faced no separatistmovement, even as the Valleycontinues to remain in thethroes of an unabated violence.

For over four months, fromthe middle of December to theend of April, each year, Ladakhremains emotionally and eco-nomically cut off from the restof the state as snow in theZojilla Pass area snaps it’s only

surface link.Of the 1,56,888 voters

(85,763 in Kargil and 71,125 inLeh districts), 79,432 are menand 77,456 are women. Theywill vote on May 6 in the lastphase of the five-phase parlia-mentary elections.

The nomination papers ofJamyang Tsering Namgyal(BJP), Rigzin Spalbar(Congress) and fourIndependents — Haji Asgar AliKarbalai, Sajjad Hussain, KachoMuhammad Feroz and AsgarAli — were found valid in

scrutiny on Saturday.But the contest is largely

among the BJP, the Congressand the independent SajjadHussain. The regional NationalConference (NC) and thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) have not fielded candi-dates in Hussain’s support.

Traditionally, Buddhists andMuslims vote on different lines.With the Buddhist votes likelyto be divided between Namgyaland Spalbar, both Buddhistsfrom Leh, the NC and the PDPplan to consolidate Kargil votes

behind Hussain. Hussain also has the back-

ing of Kargil’s powerful reli-gious organisation, IslamiaSchool. However, what’sthrown a spanner into the NC-PDP plan is the presence ofKarbalai, former CongressMLA from Kargil, asIndependent.

Karbalai deserted theCongress after he was deniedticket. He is being backed byinfluential Imam KhomeiniMemorial Trust. Hectic effortsare on to persuade him towithdraw from the contest onMonday, the last date for with-drawal of nomination papers inthe constituency.

Ladakh’s long-standingdemand for grant of division-al status was fulfilled during thecurrent Presidential rule in thestate. Because of this PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isquite popular among Buddhistsand this will weigh in favour ofNamgyal, also the chief executive of the powerfulLadakh Autonomous HillDevelopment Council.

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Although the use of musclepower to capture booths andintimidate voters belongingto vulnerable social groupshas drastically come down in

recent years, the percentage of candidateswith criminal records still remains a mat-ter of concern. But the bigger worry ismoney power. During a recent tour ofsome constituencies in Karnataka, thiswriter heard from political leaders andthose in the know that in most constituen-cies, candidates have to spend upwards of�20 crore to be in the reckoning. There wasalso near unanimity that some candidatesin the old Mysore area had spent over �100crore! With top contenders in every LokSabha seat spending phenomenal sums ofmoney, the democratic process is now out-of-bounds for an average citizen.

The National Election Watch (NEW)and the Association for DemocraticRights (ADR) have been providingdetailed analysis of the information pro-vided by candidates in their sworn affi-davits while filing their nominations.Their analysis of the 521 members of theoutgoing Lok Sabha, based on their affi-davits, should be a matter of deep concern.

The NEW-ADR analysis found that174 of the 521 MPs had declared thatcriminal cases were pending againstthem, constituting one-third of the LokSabha. Further, among them, 106 MPs (20per cent) were facing serious criminalcases like murder, attempt to murder, kid-napping and communal disharmonyamong others. Thirty-five per cent of theMPs belonging to the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) and 16 per cent of theCongress and AIADMK MPs in the out-going Lok Sabha have criminal back-grounds. However, the Shiv Sena toppedthe list with 83 per cent of this party’s MPshaving criminal records.

As regards the financial muscle of can-didates, the survey showed that of the 521sitting MPs, 430 (83 per cent) werecrorepatis in 2014 and they had averageassets of �14.72 crore. Eighty-seven percent of the BJP MPs are crorepatis, asagainst 82 per cent in the Congress and78 per cent in the AIADMK. The averageasset base of BJP MPs was �12 crore, whilethat of Congress MPs was �15.47 crore.

A recent report by NEW-ADR, afterexamining the affidavits of candidates inthe fray in the first two phases of the cur-rent Lok Sabha election, is also revealing.Out of the 2,923 candidates, the NEW-ADR analysis of 2,856 affidavits showsthat 464 have criminal records, constitut-ing 16 per cent of the total. Of them, 313candidates have serious criminal cases. Asregards the net worth of candidates, 824of them — 29 per cent — are crorepatisand they have, on an average, assets of over�5 crore. But this is the average of 2,856candidates. The net worth of successful

candidates will be much, muchhigher when you look at theamount of money being spentin each constituency.

A comparison of criminalrecords of outgoing MPs andcandidates in this electionshows that the new Housewill have its share of such indi-viduals. Although statisticallyspeaking, criminal record ofcandidates in the present elec-tion is lower than that of suc-cessful candidates in 2014,one must remember that thewinnability of candidates withcriminal records is higher thanthose who come with a cleanslate. Therefore, we must awaitthe results and see what per-centage of the members of thenew Lok Sabha have criminalcases pending against them.

What do we do with thefact that one-third of ourMPs have criminal recordsand 20 per cent of them arefacing serious criminal caseslike murder, attempt to mur-der and kidnapping? Thisneeds to be reversed and thebest way to do it is to bar allthose, against whom seriouscriminal charges have beenframed in a court of law,from contesting elections untilthey are acquitted. In order toprevent vindictive prosecu-tion, the courts must dispose

of these cases on a prioritybasis as recommended by theNational Commission toReview the Working of theConstitution, which was head-ed by former Chief Justice ofIndia, MN Venkatachaliah.

Five decades ago, therewould be large scale violenceduring elections in the coun-try. States like Bihar and UttarPradesh were notorious forbooth capturing. Prominentcandidates in the fray wouldhave their own armed gangs todisrupt polling in boothswhich were not favourable tothem. The gangs would openfire, chase away election offi-cials and electors, capture thebooths and burn the paper bal-lots. This is now a thing of past

But the other big issue —money power — has reachedmonstrous proportions.Although muscle power hasbeen brought under control,spending in elections has gonecompletely out of control andthe Election Commissionappears to be totally helplessdespite huge deployment ofobservers and seizure of cash,gold, liquor and drugs meantfor bribing voters. In the firsttwo phases of this election, theElection Commission alreadyseized close to �700 crore incash, liquor worth �218 crore

and drugs and narcotics worth�1,152 crore. They have alsoseized gold and precious met-als worth over �500 crore.Although this is unprecedent-ed, it is still the tip of the ice-berg.

Having travelled in someStates and heard reports ofvoter bribing, one can safelysay that although the ElectionCommission has raised thepermissible expenditure in aLok Sabha constituency inlarger States to �70 lakh, thespending is upwards of �20crore per candidate. Thus, ifwe have two main contendersfor each of the 543 electedseats in the Lok Sabha, thecandidates and their partieswould have splurged over�20,000 crores, mostly tobribe voters in this election.

With feudal, caste-basedpolitical families loaded withsuch huge, ill-gotten resourcesplaying the game, democracyis becoming a no-entry zonefor an average citizen. TheElection Commission mustcome face-to-face with thisreality and find ways to stopthe bribing of voters. Failingwhich, democracy will bereduced to an absolute farce.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal)

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Sir — Priyanka Chaturvedi’s exit isdefinitely a loss to the Congress.However, she could have giventhose she had grievances againstanother chance to express theirstandpoint. The party leadershipcould have ensured this. Further,she should have waited to see fur-ther developments without quittingthe party in a huff. The fact that sherushed to join the Shiv Sena soonafter leaving the Congress is shock-ing. People have lost faith in herand will consider the entire episodea pre-planned farce.

Shalini Gerald Chennai

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “On Easter, violence resurrectsin Lanka” (April 22). A series ofexplosions in churches and hotelsin Sri Lanka during an EasterSunday by suicide bombers linkedto a Muslim organisation, Jamaat,has shaken the conscience of theworld. Since it was a well-plannedattack, it is disappointing thatdespite the intelligence havingalerted the Government about the

impending disaster, no preventivemeasures were taken by theauthorities to thwart the nefari-ous designs of religious funda-mentalists. Further, it is distress-ing that more such attacks will beplanned in the near future at dif-ferent places across countries.

Along with the churches andthe hotels, the Indian HighCommission in Sri Lanka, too,was on the attack list but thank-

fully the terrorists missed the tar-get. The modus operandi of theperpetrators is very clear. TheIslamist terrorists want to bleednot only India but the rest of theworld. India must take the lead infighting terrorism and urge worldleaders to take decisive action toprevent catastrophes instead ofjust condemning incidents.

KR Srinivasan Secunderabad

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Sir — Amar Pal, the renownedfolk singer, passed away at the ageof 98. He was the first folk musi-cian, whose song was broadcastover the All India Radio in 1951.

I will always remember himfor the songs he sang in one ofSatyajit Ray’s legendary films,Hirak Rajar Deshe. All the 12

songs in this movie were writtenas well as composed by SatyajitRay himself. Ray got many awardsfor the best music direction forthis film. One of these songs,‘Kotoi Rongo Dekhi Duniyay’ (theworld is full of wonders), wassung by Amar Pal. Amar meansimmortal in Bengali. Indeed, hisvoice has immortalised the pow-erful words of Ray in this song.

Sujit DeKolkata

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Sir — It is regretful that the sanc-tity of the highest court of theland has been under threat sincethe last five years. Earlier, it wasan unprecedented January 2018revolt by four sitting judges of theSupreme Court and now, the CJIhas been accused of sexual harass-ment by a former woman staffer.The incident highlights the factthat even the office of the CJI caneasily be tarnished. A thoroughinvestigation is the need of thehour.

RaviVia email

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Every election in Kerala, whether it is to theLok Sabha or the State Legislature, bringsto mind the famous play Ezhu Rathrikal

(Seven Nights), directed by Kaladi Gopi in1963. Ezhu Raathrikal must have been the firstplay in Malayalam that was based on the livesof the marginalised and oppressed sections ofsociety. The play is set in a street-side bus shel-ter that is home to a group of beggars, road-side vendors and anti-social elements. The cen-tral character of the play is Pazhanam Varkey,a professional beggar. “Pazhanam” is theMalayalam word for “poison.” One, therefore,need not elaborate about his character.

Varkey’s style of begging is unique and that’sthe reason behind the success of the character.Even 50 years after its first show, the play andVarkey remain engraved in the minds of theatrebuffs in the State. Varkey wears a scapular thathas two pendants. One is a crucifix and the otheris that of Lord Krishna. When Varkey goes toChristian houses, he wears the scapular in sucha way that the crucifix is visible to the people.Whenever he goes to the house of Hindus, he dis-plays the locket with Lord Krishna.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI-M) is the new Varkey of Kerala because ofthe twin roles played by it in and outside the State.While in Kerala, the CPI (M) considers theCongress to be its main enemy, outside the State,it mingles freely with the latter. The CPI(M) is,perhaps, the best defender of the Congress, espe-cially the Nehru-Gandhi clan, when reports ofscams featuring the family members surface inthe public domain.

But why is that both parties pretend as if theyare at loggerheads and that, too, for the consump-tion of the public? Since the formation ofKerala in 1956, by merging the old princely Statesof Travancore, Kochi and parts of the Madrasprovince, the political centrestage has beenmonopolised by two fronts led by the Congressand the communists. Supporting charactersdiffer, depending on the political wind blowingacross the State. But the two fronts, known inmodern parlance by the names of the UnitedDemocratic Front (UDF), led by the Congressand the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by theCPI(M), are the central characters.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its pre-vious avatar, the Jan Sangh, were never a forceto reckon with in this State that has a split reli-gious demography. The State consists of nearly51 per cent Hindus, 26 per cent Muslims and 23per cent Christians. Without active support fromthe minority communities, no front can win anyelection in Kerala.

Interestingly, the CPI(M)’s vote bank is thepowerful Ezhava community, the society whichgave birth to Sree Narayana Guru, the most rev-olutionary social reformer of the 20th Century.It was his teachings and uncompromising stancethat led to the eradication of social evils likeuntouchability and marginalisation of theoppressed classes in the State. He could inspirethe people to agitate for the right to walk alongthe roads leading to the temples which ultimate-ly culminated in the Temple Entry Proclamationof 1936. At one stage, the communists hadhijacked the agitation launched by the Guru and,

thus, they could mobilise the Ezhavacommunity under the communist flag.

Over the years, however, theCPI(M) has lost its proletarian imageand become a party promoting cronycapitalists. It also ensures that the Statedoes not progress an inch, economi-cally or socially. The much-hypedKerala model of development hasended in a disaster. The last sixmonths have seen more than 40 farm-ers committing suicide because of thedebt trap they have fallen into follow-ing crop failure. And the MarxistGovernment has done nothing torevive the fortunes of either the farm-ers or the marginal entrepreneurs.Three small entrepreneurs based inKollam, too, committed suicidebecause they could not withstand theharassment of their party bosses.

Though there is a change of guardin Thiruvananthapuram every fiveyears, what generally happens is thatthe CPI(M) and Congress-led frontsalternate between themselves. Thetwo parties do not provide space fora third alternative because they knowit well that their relevance will be lostthe moment a third party finds spacehere. Hence, all elections in the Statehave followed a match-fixing arrange-ment between the Congress and theMarxists. Though the two may act asif they are arch rivals, both have anunseen umbilical chord between them.Prime Minister Narendra Modiexposed the same while he addresseda public rally at the State capitalrecently. He said, “It is kusti in Keralaand dosti in New Delhi. The CPI(M)and the Congress are the two faces ofthe same coin.”

Whenever there is a remote possi-bility of the BJP winning a seat in theState, the CPI(M) transfers its share ofvotes en masse to the Congress. This hasbeen happening with active connivanceof the local media. P Narayanan, octo-genarian journalist, reminiscences howMathrubhumi, a leading Malayalamdaily, violated all media ethics duringthe Assembly election held in 1960.“There was a big speculation that TNBharathan, the Jana Sangh candidatefrom Guruvayur, would romp homebecause of the excellent work he haddone to save the Manathala Templefrom miscreants. But on the day ofpolling, Mathrubhumi came out with abanner headline proclaiming that JanSangh supporters would vote for theCongress. This upset the party work-ers. This has been the style of Keralamedia since then,” said Narayanan.

What makes the 2019 Lok Sabhaelection in Kerala unique is a series ofreports about the BJP-led NDA open-ing its account in this State. TheSabarimala agitation and the CPI(M)’sactions, targetting Hindu places ofworship and insulting the acharyas,have hurt Hindus and has resulted inthe polarisation of the community. Soit is advantage BJP in two or three con-stituencies of the State. Congress chiefRahul Gandhi will definitely win fromWayanad because the LDF has fieldeda “decoy” candidate against him as partof a game of match-fixing between theCPI(M) and the Congress. TheMarxists want the Congress to win the2019 Lok Sabha election and that’sabout it. Card-holding members of theCPI(M) had the audacity to ask thiswriter to vote for Benny Behanan, the

Congress candidate from Chalakudy.The comrades want to ensure that theCongress’ candidate is elected with a bigmajority though the CPI(M) has field-ed cine actor, Innocent VareedThekkethala, in the constituency.

TP Senkumar, former Chief ofKerala police, articulated the Hinduangst: “It is time the majority commu-nity, too, gets the same rights and free-dom that is enjoyed by the minorities.Sabarimala is the beginning. The nextin line is Sree PadmanabhaswamyTemple in the State’s capital.” Kerala isthe only State that issues monthlypension to widows belonging to minor-ity communities. Social benefits shouldbe all inclusive.

More than 4,000 people, who tookpart in the Sabarimala agitation, arestill in jail under various charges thatare non-bailable offences. KP Sasikala,the frail looking leader of the HinduUnited Forum, has 475 criminal casesslapped against her, including that ofmurder, attempt to murder, stone-pelt-ing and other such criminal offences.These things have happened even asthose, who chopped off the righthand of Prof Joseph, are out. ThisFriday saw the Marxists publiclysilencing the chanting of God’s nameat a temple in the capital city becausethe Chief Minister does not like it.Varkey would beg in Kerala display-ing one-half of the scapular featuringthe crucifix. He can show the other halfwith Lord Krishna’s pendant while inNew Delhi and the rest of India.

Kerala goes to the polls today to elect20 members to the Lok Sabha.

(The writer is Special Correspondent,The Pioneer)

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Sattaiah, a farmer in Shivampet villageof Medak district in Andhra Pradesh,dug another borewell to save his

standing crop from drought as his existingborewell had dried up in January. Like hisprevious one, the new alternative, too, failedand he incurred huge losses. Studies con-ducted by the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research and the World Bankprove that groundwater-irrigated farmshave twice the crop productivity as com-pared to rain-fed farms. However, ground-water must not be over-exploited as it is anatural resource with limited availability.

In this context, is the TelanganaGovernment’s scheme to provide round-the-clock power supply to 2.3 millionfarmers for free just another populist pol-icy? Or is it a predominantly agricultural

State’s desperate response to climatechange? Or will it really help the farmersin the long run? Similar policies have beenlaunched in many other States, includingAndhra Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtrasince the late 1970s.

Never mind the answer, more powerdoes not equal more water in the longrun. Water being a limited resource, freeelectricity for agriculture can lead to over-extraction, failed investments and worsestill, borewell failures rather than makingthis scarce resource cheaper. Depletion ofgroundwater levels to 1,000 feet and morehas been reported in some drought-proneareas due to excessive digging ofborewells. The Telangana Government’smove to provide 24x7 free electricity tofarmers is lopsided and neglects otherwater sources such as farm ponds and vil-lage tanks. Complementary water sourcesand recharging systems are left to dry up,rather than being maintained. In the cur-rent situation, every farmer must fend forhimself, in contrast to the traditional sys-tems which usually required cooperation,whether voluntary or forced through reg-ulation.

Due to the geology of our States suchas Telangana, which have underlying hard

rock formations, farmers are competing ina game they cannot win. According to fig-ures from the Central Ground WaterBoard, farmers are not likely to hit majorwater-bearing fractures below 100-110 feet.Groundwater levels had already sunkbeyond that level in many places due toextensive well drillings when the 24x7 freeelectricity policy was implemented.

Besides poor and erratic rains, over-exploitation of water without sustainablerecharge options has led to a decline ingroundwater levels in villages. The unfor-tunate outcome is the diminishing of thecommon resource base, losses on invest-ments, crop failures and possibly, drink-ing water shortage. As of today, about 31per cent of blocks in India are at a semi-critical, critical or over-exploited stage interms of groundwater exploitation.

Fiscal costs to the Government: Thecentral electricity authority, whichannounced the details of the progress ofvarious States in the power sector for theyear 2017-18, observed that Telanganasecured the first place in the country inpower consumption and per capita powerconsumption. The free electricity schemewas introduced with an aim to reduce farmdistress but has in turn financially dis-

tressed the discoms. Distribution compa-nies were already heavily in debt when the24-hour free electricity scheme was intro-duced from December 31, 2017. Withgroundwater table declining, electricity useis bound to increase because of the extrapower needed to pump water from deep-er levels.

Discoms all around the country areadversely affected by subsidies such as freeelectricity. This is one of the factors thatcontributes to the widening gap betweenincome and cost of supply, according to theCentral Electricity Authority. One can evensay that falling groundwater levels lead tohigher levels of debt for electricity com-panies or levels of expenditure that are hardto recover.

Electricity consumption for agriculturein Telangana amounted to 29 per cent ofthe total consumption in 2016. The samesector contributed only three per cent torevenues for the electricity board. Still,there has been no policy shift to bridge thegap between electricity consumption andrevenue generation. There are many otheroptions that are more viable, environmen-tally and economically, such as construc-tion of farm ponds, reviving village tanksand promoting micro-irrigation systems.

Look for alternatives: While the pol-icy has been around too short to draw anydefinite conclusions, on their own account,farmers must shift their cropping patternsto sowing water-intensive crops such aspaddy. This is not to say that it is a sus-tainable policy or that the farmers’response is viable. High informal debts dueto investments in digging borewells wasone of the causes for farm distress.Although free electricity contributes toreduced input costs, it does little toaddress the risks and losses faced by farm-ers. There is a need to strengthen institu-tions where farmers can acquire low-riskformal loans and facilitate viable paymentconditions.

Farmers need information and educa-tion on which crops they should opt forin water-scarce conditions. They should begiven incentives to grow suitable variants.Instead of blindly digging borewells onfarmers’ fields, they must be given assis-tance by hydrologists or technical experts.Many farmers also hold the opinion thatinstead of a 24-hour electricity, about fivehours of uninterrupted electricity areenough to pump water for crops.Promoting groundwater recharging struc-tures like farm ponds and village tanks,

which reduces risk of borewell failures, isanother alternative that can be explored.

In an attempt to discourage over-exploitation of groundwater and ensure amore robust regulatory mechanism in thecountry, the Government has proposed toslap for the first time a Water ConservationFee (WCF) on extraction by all users ofgroundwater in the country, barring thearmed forces, farmers and individualhouseholds.

There are questions that are hard toaddress for State politicians but should beaddressed at the national level. Faced withthe consequences of climate change anddisintegration of the rural resource base,how can farmers and the landless ruralpopulation make a living in a sector depen-dent on monsoon rains, frequent failuresof rains, prolonged dry spells, lack of waterand decreasing hopes of livelihood?Should these forces be left to live their ownlives? Without any concerted effort, thecommon rural inhabitant will drift like asplint in the open seas tossed by the forcesof climate change, market fluctuations andshifting policy regimes.

(A Amarender Reddy is Principal Scientist,Agricultural Economics, ICAR and JinKathrine Fosli is with the University of Oslo)

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India, the second biggestbuyer of Iranian oil, has

lined up alternate sources tomake up for the likely short-fall in supplies after the USdecided not to give waiverfrom its sanctions for buyingoil from the Persian Gulfnation.

The Trump administra-tion Monday decided not torenew waiver that let countrieslike India buy Iranian oil with-out facing US sanctions.

“Our crude sources arewide. We have alternatesources lined up to make upfor any shortfall,” a top sourcesaid.

US President DonaldTrump last year withdrewfrom the 2015 nuclear dealbetween Iran and world pow-ers and revived a range ofsanctions against the PersianGulf nation. It, however, grant-ed a six-month waiver fromsanctions to eight countries -China, India, Japan, SouthKorea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italyand Greece, but with a condi-tion that they would reducetheir purchases of Iranian oil.

India, which is the secondbiggest purchaser of Iranian oilafter China, had agreed torestrict its monthly purchaseto 1.25 million tonne or 15million tonne in a year(300,000 barrels per day),down from 22.6 million tonne(452,000 barrels per day)bought in 2017-18 financialyear.

“We have optional vol-umes (over and above theterm contracts) from a num-

ber of supplier which we canexercise to make up for anyshortfall from Iran,” the sourcesaid. “We can also go to thespot (or current) market tosource crude.”

“As far as Indian Oil isconcerned, supplies will not bea problem. We have alreadylined up alternate sources,” hesaid adding the impact of theUS decision may reflect onglobal oil prices which maytemporarily go up.

The six-month waivergranted by the US to 8 coun-tries was to expire on May 2.

IOC has the option totake 0.7 million tonne of crudeoil from Mexico on top of itscommitted purchase of 0.7million tonne during the year.From Saudi Arabia, it has anoptional volume of 2 milliontonne on top of a term con-tract of 5.6 million tonne.

Similarly, it has optionalvolumes of 1.5 million tonnefrom Kuwait and another 1million tonne from the UAE.

“We have all the suppliestied up and I think globallycrude will be readily availablebut it is difficult to say whatthe impact will be on price,”the source added.

The price of Brent crude,the global oil benchmark, roseas much as 3.3 per cent to USD74.31 a barrel on Monday, thehighest intra-day level inalmost six months.

When Trump first pulledout of the nuclear deal, oil shotup to over USD 85 a barrel andit fell to near USD 50 after theUS administration unexpect-edly granted the waivers.

US sanctions on Iran’s oil

buyers snap back next monththat will block the US financialsystem for importers.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, meetsmore than 80 per cent of its oilneeds through imports. Iran in2017-18 was its third-largestsupplier after Iraq and SaudiArabia and meets about 10 percent of total needs.

US President Trump inMay withdrew from the 2015nuclear accord with Iran, re-imposing economic sanctionsagainst the Persian Gulfnation. Some sanctions tookeffect from August 6, whilethose affecting the oil andbanking sectors were to startfrom November 5, 2018. A six-month waiver was grantedthat was to expire on May 2.

Iran was India’s secondbiggest supplier of crude oilafter Saudi Arabia till 2010-11but Western sanctions over itssuspected nuclear programmerelegated it to the seventhspot in the subsequent years.In 2013-14 and 2014-15, Indiabought 11 million tonne and10.95 million tonne, respec-tively from it.

Sourcing from Iranincreased to 12.7 milliontonnes in 2015-16, giving it thesixth spot. In the followingyear, the Iranian suppliesjumped to 27.2 million tonneto catapult it to the third spot.

Iranian oil is a lucrativebuy for refiners as the PersianGulf nation provides 60 daysof credit for purchases, termsnot available from suppliers ofsubstitute crudes — SaudiArabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Nigeriaand the US.

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In a move that could haveimplications on India’s ener-

gy security, US PresidentDonald Trump on Mondaydecided not to grant sanctionsexemptions to any oil cus-tomers of Iran, further squeez-ing Tehran’s top export com-modity.

“President Donald J.Trump has decided not to reis-sue Significant ReductionExceptions (SREs) when theyexpire in early May. This deci-sion is intended to bring Iran’soil exports to zero, denying theregime its principal source ofrevenue,” White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders said.

The US re-imposed sanc-tions on Iran last November,after President Trump pulledout of the landmark 2015 Irannuclear deal.

The US’ move which isseen as an escalation ofPresident Trump administra-tion’s “maximum pressure” onIran comes after it last year gavetemporary 180-days waiver toeight countries, includingIndia, China, Turkey and Japanamong others.

As a result of this decisionall countries including Indiawould have to bring down itsimport of oil from Iran by May

2. Greece, Italy, Japan, SouthKorea and Taiwan have alreadyheavily reduced their oilimports from Iran.

Iran is India’s third-largestoil supplier behind Iraq andSaudi Arabia. Iran supplied18.4 million tonnes of crude oilduring April 2017 and January2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal).

The US, Saudi Arabia, andthe United Arab Emirates,three of the world’s great ener-gy producers, along with itsfriends and allies, are commit-ted to ensuring that global oilmarkets remain adequatelysupplied, Sanders said.

“We have agreed to taketimely action to assure that

global demand is met asall Iranian oil is removedfrom the market,” she said.

In a statement,Sanders said the TrumpAdministration and itsallies are determined tosustain and expand themaximum economicpressure campaignagainst Iran to end theregime’s destabilisingactivity threatening theUnited States, its part-ners and allies, and secu-rity in the Middle East.

“The President’sdecision to eliminate all SREsfollows the designation of theIslamic Revolutionary GuardCorps as a Foreign TerroristOrganisation, demonstratingthe US’ commitment to dis-rupting Iran’s terror networkand changing the regime’smalign behaviour. We wel-come the support of our friendsand allies for this effort,”Sanders said.

China and India are cur-rently the largest importers ofIranian oil. If they don’t goalong with Trump’s demands,that could cause tensions inboth bilateral relationships andspill over into other issues, liketrade, the Washington Postreported.

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Japanese authorities onMonday hit former Nissan

boss Carlos Ghosn with a freshcharge of aggravated breach oftrust, the fourth formal indict-ment against the auto sectortycoon.

Public broadcaster NHKand local news agency Jiji Pressreported that prosecutors filedthe new indictment that pavesthe way for his legal team toapply for bail.

The 65-year-old strenu-ously denies all allegationsagainst him and insists theyhave been cooked up in a“plot” by Nissan executiveswary of his plans to bring theJapanese car giant closer to itsFrench partner Renault.

Prosecutors are lookinginto allegations that Ghosnfunnelled funds from Nissan toa dealership in the MiddleEast and siphoned off aroundfive million dollars for his per-sonal use.

Ghosn has already wonbail once before — but understrict conditions such as agree-ing not to leave the country andliving under surveillance.

The rollercoaster case ofthe executive, once revered inJapan for saving Nissan fromthe brink of bankruptcy, hasgripped the business worldand shone a spotlight on theJapanese legal system that hascome in for some criticismespecially from abroad.

Japan’s justice allowsauthorities to keep suspects incustody for prolonged periods

and trials almost always resultin a conviction — sparking out-rage from outside the country.

When Ghosn last won bail,he walked out of the detentioncentre in front of the world’smedia dressed like a Japaneselabourer with a cap and a facemask in an apparent attempt togive reporters the slip.

Japan’s Supreme Court hasalready rejected appeals byGhosn’s lawyers against hisprolonged detention.

His wife Carole has alsobeen questioned by prosecutorsin Tokyo.

She has also denied anywrongdoing and been active inthe media in recent days, writ-ing an opinion piece in theWashington Post calling onUS President Donald Trump tolean on Japanese counterpartShinzo Abe to allow her hus-band to obtain bail.

Ghosn’s lawyers haveexpression reservations thathe will receive a fair trial as 99per cent of all cases that cometo trial end in a conviction.

The executive has gonefrom a life of luxury and privatejets as he ran three huge carcompanies to a small cell.

Nissan says an internalinvestigation has uncovered“substantial evidence of bla-tantly unethical conduct” bythe former boss.

He has already beenstripped of his position on theboard at Nissan and resignedfrom the head of Renault andthe three-way alliance the twocompanies share withMitsubishi Motors.

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Ar o u n d100 staff

members ofthe ailing JetA i r w a y sM o n d a ystaged ademonstra-tion here,urging theGovernmentto interveneand bail outthe airline.

J e tAirways hadon April 17announcedtemp orar ysuspensionof operationsafter it failedto receive emergency fundsfrom lenders, leaving about23,000 employees to face ableak future.

This evening, the employ-ees, dressed in their uniforms,staged the demonstration atTown Hall in the heart of thecity.

Holding aloft placards,they raised slogans like ‘Saveour families, save Jet Airways’,‘Don’t make us cry, give achance to fly’ and ‘HumkoTum Na Dhoka Do, Udne ka ekMauka Do’ (Don’t ditch us, givea chance to fly).

‘We pay loads of tax, Don’tget us under the Axe’ and ‘Wehave dependents to feed, pleasedon’t let our 9W bleed’ read the

messages in some of the plac-ards.

Milind Paradkar, an engi-neer with Jet Airways, urgedthe government to infuse somefunds to keep Jet Airwaysafloat.

“We want the governmentto infuse some funds instead ofour aeroplanes being takenover by other airlines and beingflown over by them,” Paradkartold PTI.

He said there wererumours that somebody hasshown willingness to take overJet Airways, but the employeeshave no information who thatis.

“The Government has tobe transparent. Presently

employees are not beinginformed. They are in thedark,” Paradkar said.

Other demonstrators saidthey had not received salariesfor the past three months andhad somehow been managingtheir family needs.

Some among them saidthey had previously workedwith the now defunctKingfisher Airlines.

On April 20, the employeeshad written to President RamNath Kovind and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, seek-ing their intervention to recov-er outstanding dues as well asto expedite the process ofemergency funds for the airline.

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Shares of Jet Airways, whichhas shut down operations

temporarily, continued to fallfor the third day in a rowMonday, closing over 6 per centlower.

The scrip nosedived 19.34per cent to �132.20 — its 52-week low — during the day onBSE. However, at close of tradeit recovered most of its sharpearly losses. It closed the day at�154.60, 5.67 per cent lower.

At the NSE, shares plunged6.15 per cent to close at�154.70.

In terms of traded volume,56.19 lakh shares were tradedon the BSE and over five croreshares on the NSE during theday.

In three days, the scrip hasplummeted 40.94 per cent.

Running into debt of morethan �8,500 crore, Jet Airwayshas shut down operations tem-porarily after lenders decidedagainst extending emergencyfunds for its survival.

Cash-starved Jet Airways,which has around 23,000employees, has delayed pay-ment of salaries to the employ-ees, including pilots.

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Adelegation led by PHDChamber President Rajeev

Talwar met RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das here on Mondayand discussed concerns related tothe growth of MSMEs, NBFCs,affordable housing and the realestate sector.

The chamber in its sub-mission has also sought furthercut in the repo rate in the com-ing quarters.

“PHD Chamber in its sub-mission has urged RBI toincrease the limit for classify-ing over dues of MSMEs to 180days from the current level of90 days as working capitalcycle of MSMEs keeps pro-longing due to delays in reali-

sation of their bills/receivables,”said Talwar.

It has also requested that atleast one year period should beconsidered for eligibility ofMSMEs’ stressed and NPAaccounts under the restructur-ing scheme.

All such Accounts whichturned into defaulters orbecame NPAs after January 1,2018 should be covered underthe policy of RBI for being eli-gible for restructuring, saidSanjay Agarwal, Vice President,PHD Chamber.

The industry body saidthat infrastructure financingshould ideally be carried out byspecialist players likeInfrastructure FinanceCompanies (IFCs).

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The India Volatility Indexshot up to a three-year

high of 24.05 on Monday, amidrising uncertainty over the newgovernment formation andsoaring crude oil prices.

The India VIX, the feargauge for domestic equities,rose 5.76 per cent to settle at24.05, after an intra-day high of24.56.

“Crude and election uncer-tainties is pushing the IndiaVIX up,” IIFL co-promoter andMD R Venkataraman told PTI.

Besides the ongoing LokSabha elections, market senti-ment was hit as macroeco-nomic worries resurfaced, fol-lowing reports that the USwill end sanctions waiver onIranian oil imports, analystssaid.

Global benchmark Brentcrude climbed to a multi-month high of $73.81 per bar-rel, a 2.56 per cent rise.

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Domestic air passenger vol-ume grew 14.25 RPT 14.25

percent to 171.25 million RPT171.25 million in fiscal 2019over the previous year, even asMarch posted the lowestgrowth rate in many years witha paltry 0.14 percent, accord-ing to the data from theDGCA.

In FY18, the passengervolume had clipped at a high-er 18.3 percent to 146.84 mil-lion RPT 146.84 million.

However, the March num-bers came as a shocker to theairline industry as the trafficthough continued to grow ingreen but almost flat at 0.14percent to 11.59 million pas-sengers up from 11.58 milliona year ago, largely due to thehuge capacity reduction fol-lowing the troubles at JetAirways in the month, showdata released by the DGCAMonday.

The cumulative traffic ofdomestic carriers stood at171.25 million for the full yearto March 2019, registering agrowth of 14.25 percent.

Budget carrier IndiGo con-tinued to be the largest playerwith a market share of 46.9 per-cent ferrying 54 lakh passen-gers during the month, while itsclosest rival SpiceJet was a dis-tant second with 13.6 percenttraffic pie as its ferried 15.81lakh passengers in the report-ing month.

The flat growth in traffic isa setback for the industrywhich had been clipping at over20 percent for more than fouryears in a row.

Significantly, betting onthe double-digits growth inthe past four years, the gov-ernment in its vision document

released this January, haspegged the traffic volume to 1.1billion by 2040.

Jet Airways, once the sec-ond largest airline after no-frillsIndiGo, lost as much as near-ly half of the market share at5.37 percent during March asagainst 10 percent in the sameperiod of last fiscal, accordingto the data.

Together with subsidiaryJetLite, consolidated traffic ofthe now non-functional carri-er was 6.71 lakh passengers inthe month, whereas in thesame period last year it hadflown 15 lakh passengers.

Significantly, national car-rier Air India, which has anumber of aircraft on groundfor quite some time now, hadthe dubious distinction ofcancelling the most numberof flights at 8.94 percent of itsscheduled departures fol-lowed by JetLite and newentrant Star Air, as per thedata.

The national carrier, how-ever, managed to get the thirdspot after IndiGo and SpiceJetin passenger volume, carrying15.19 lakh passengers with amarket share of 13.1 percent inMarch.

The passenger load factorin the month has shown fallingtrend compared to Februarydue to the end of the vacationperiod.

SpiceJet continues to clockthe highest average seat occu-pancy at 93 percent whilesmaller rival GoAir topped theon-time performance chart forthe sixth consecutive month inMarch at 95.2 percent.

Air India, on the otherhand, was forced to pay thehigest amount of �119.37 lakhto 2,508 passengers for deniedboarding.

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The Finance Ministry hasasked all departments to

undertake a review ofGovernment guarantees givenby respective ministries to theirCPSEs or entities.

The review should under-take aspects like the dischargeof repayment obligations orinterest obligations as per terms

of the loan agreement andcovenants and conditions met,the Finance Ministry said in anoffice memorandum.

Besides, the details ofCPSEs or entities due guaran-tee fee paid on time to the gov-ernment should also be sub-mitted.

The Finance Ministry hasextended date for submission ofthese details to April 30 from

April 10.Guarantees are contingent

liabilities have the potential toimpact the financial perfor-mance of the Government.

In another circular, theministry said FRBM Rules stip-ulates that Government cannotguarantee more than 0.5 percent of the GDP of the respec-tive financial year toCPSE/entities.

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��5���0��A�Members ofDignity Foundation, an NGOhelping senior citizens live alife of dignity, took a pledge tospread the message of Road &Tyre Safety. Senior citizensfrom Delhi NCR regionassembled at Bipin ChandraPal Auditorium holding plac-ards on tyre/ road safety andenlisting themselves as ambas-sadors of road and tyre safety.

PNS

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Debt-laden InfrastructureLeasing & Financial

Services (IL&FS) Monday saidGAIL (India) has emerged asthe highest bidder for its sevenoperating wind power plants.

The bidding process tothese assets having 12 sitesspread across seven states waslaunched in November lastyear.

“Gail’s offer of approxi-

mately �4,800 crore for 100percent enterprise value con-templates no hair-cut to thedebt of the SPVs, aggregatingto nearly �3,700 crore,’ thecompany said in a release.

These wind power assetshave a total generation capac-ity of 874 MW.

The proposal was approvedby the committee of creditorsof IL&FS Wind Energy(IWEL), majority owner of theSPVs, it said.

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Parkinson’s is a progressive neurodegenerative condition mostcommonly seen among the ageing population. After Alzheimer’s

disease, it is the second most common age-related neurodegener-ative disorder. An estimated seven to 10 million people worldwideare victims of Parkinson’s. Globally, neurological disorders are nowthe leading source of disability and ageing is increasing the bur-den of neurodegenerative disorders. Parkinson’s disease is one suchexample. In the year 2016, 6·1 million people had Parkinson’s dis-ease globally, compared with 2·5 million in 1990. Total number ofdeaths caused by this disease in the year 2016 is 211,296.The preva-lence of the disease varies according to age. It ranges from 41 peo-ple per 1 lakh among people in their forties to more than 1,900people per 1 lakh among those who are eighth decade of life andolder. According to several surveys conducted on this disease, menare 1.5 times more prone to have Parkinson’s than women.

Although Parkinson’s disease (PD) is progressive in natureand worsens over time, it is highly individual and affects peo-ple differently. Not everyone who has Parkinson’s disease willexperience all the symptoms, and symptoms between patients-may vary in their severity. The speed of the progression differsfrom people to people as well. However, physicians have distin-guished definite stages that describe how the disease progress-es. There are five distinctive stages that are usually seen in a per-

son with Parkinson’s disease.These five stages are known asthe Hoehn and Yahr Scale usedby physicians throughout theworld to classify patients inresearch studies.

�Stage 1: The first stageusually has mild symptoms suchas tremors along one side of thebody. Slight changes in walking,posture, or facial expressionsmay be noticed by those aroundthem otherwise often the symp-toms are mild enough not tointerfere with daily life.

�Stage 2: In this stage, bothsides of the body may be affect-ed by slightly worsened tremorsor rigidity. Everyday activitiesmay get harder to achieve andissues with posture and walkingmay become quite noticeable but

the patients are still more or less independent in this stage to dothings for themselves.

�Stage 3: In the third stage of PD, with the motor symp-toms becoming worse, patients may begin to experience loss ofbalance leading to falls and movement can become very slow.However, for many patients living independently it is still pos-sible, but they may have difficulty in everyday activities such aseating or dressing.

�Stage 4: In this later stage, patients experience extremelylimiting. With greatly impaired movement, most will need helpwith everyday activities and will not be able to look after them-selves. There are exceptions who can still stand without assis-tance.

�Stage 5: At this advanced stage of the disease, most peo-ple will require a wheelchair as they experience difficulty in walk-ing and standing. With seriously impaired motor skills, assistancewill be needed in all areas of daily life. Hallucination is an addi-tional nightmare at this stage of the disease.

Parkinson’s disease is like a doom to the ones affected andtheir dear ones as well. It affects patients’ quality of life in a hor-rible way, making social interaction more difficult and worsen-ing their financial condition, due to the medical expenses asso-ciated with the disease.

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��5����� � Kachchi kairi, or raw mango, is etched in all ofour summer memories, as strongly as are the scorching

winds, the uncomfortable heat and the relentless sun. Drinkingjuice of raw mango during summers is more than a mereexercise in palate pleasing. The drink reduces the effects ofintense heat and preventsdehydration, by stoppingexcessive loss of sodium chlorideand iron from the body. Theseminerals often tend to leach outinto your sweat, duringsummers, making youdehydrated.

Raw mango is also consumedfor its action against gastrointesti-nal disorders, which tend to go up during the summers. It is oftenprescribed to people with morning sickness, constipation, diar-rhoea, chronic dyspepsia and indigestion.

Raw mangoes are great for the liver, and are believed to treatliver ailments. Having a little bit of raw mango powder cures theafternoon drowsiness that often takes effect after your meals. Thisis because raw mango gives your body an energy boost that wakesyou up and helps you perform well.

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People who wish tolive longer mustreduce their sitting

time and replace it withjust 30 minutes of physicalactivity, according to findings of a recentstudy published in the American Journalof Epidemiology. The results highlight theimportance of movement - regardless ofits intensity or amount of time spent mov-ing - for better health. Studies indicate thatabout one in four adults spends more thaneight hours a day sitting.

Adults who sat for long stretches at atime - an hour or more without interrup-tion - had a greater risk of early death thanthose who were sedentary for the sametotal amount of time but got up and movedaround more often. Thus, even short burstsof activity - of just a minute or two – canprovide health benefits.

Tips from Heart Care Foundation ofIndia:

�Take the stairs as often as possible.�Get off the bus one stop early and

walk the rest of the way.�Have “walk-meetings” instead of

“sit-in” meetings.�Walk to the nearby shops instead of

driving.�Stand up and walk while talking on

the phone.�Walk down to speak to your col-

league instead of using theintercom/phone.

�Walk around your building for abreak during the work day or during lunch.

�Buy a pedometer.

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Summer months are fun.Kids have vacations, youcan take a break, go to the

beach and relax or just have funwith friends. But the downsideof staying out in the sun fortoo long is tanning. Butfret not. There aresimple things thatone can do to getrid of it instantly.

First, slice thelemon and rub iton the tannedregion. Leave it onfor a few minutesbefore you go for yourbath. Do this at least once aday.

You can also make a packand use this once a day. Mix atablespoon lemon juice, a table-spoon cucumber extract and atablespoon rose water. Applythis to the tanned areas. Rinseafter 10-12 minutes.

Second, mix a tablespoonmasoor daal powder, a table-spoon tomato juice and a tea-spoon aloe vera extract. Applyit on the tanned area. Leave it

on for half an hour.Wash it off with

cold water.If you are

rushed fortime, a packmade withhalf a cup ripepapaya and a

t a b l e s p o o nhoney works

wonders. Leave iton for half an hour. Wash

off with cold or lukewarmwater. Do this twice a week.

Four, one can make a packusing a tablespoon plain yogurtand a tablespoon tomato juice.apply the paste on the tannedarea. Let it dry for 30 minutes.Cleanse with water.

With sun comes tanned skin.More so if your work keeps youexposed to the sunlight for longhours. ROSHANI DEVI sharessimple home remedies that one

can use to get rid of the taninstantly

India rolled out the National ViralHepatitis Control Program (NVHCP)

last week with the aim of eliminating viralhepatitis. The disease infects and killsmore than HIV, malaria and tuber-culosis combined. The NationalAction Plan – Viral Hepatitiswas launched in Mumbai bythe Union Minister of Statefor Health and FamilyWelfare. Viral hepatitis isrecognised as an impor-tant public health problemacross the world.

According to the WHO,viral hepatitis caused 1.34million deaths globally in 2015,a number comparable to deaths dueto tuberculosis, worldwide. There areabout 4 crore people suffering fromHepatitis B in India, and another 0.6 to1.2 crore people suffering from HepatitisC.

The programme will also focus onscreening of pregnant women for hepati-tis B, in places where institutional deliv-ery is less than 80 per cent, to ensure pro-

vision of birth dose Hepatitis B vacci-nation and Hepatitis B

immunoglobulin, if required.Acute hepatitis due to any

virus is usually self-limitingand requires a good diet, bedrest and only symptomatictreatment. Urgent hospital-isation may be required incases of acute liver failure in

acute viral hepatitis. One mayalso need intensive treatment

and liver transplant. Chronichepatitis B and C can be treated with

antiviral drugs — oral and injectable.Hepatitis C virus is curable now andHBV can be controlled with medication.The vaccine is available for hepatitis Avirus and HBV only.

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Epilepsy is a central nervous system (neurolog-ical) disorder which brings about abnormal-

ity, causing seizures or periods of unusual behav-ior, sensations and sometimes loss of awareness.It can happen to anybody at any age. Epilepsyaffects both males and females.�Symptoms: Epilepsy symptoms can vary wide-ly. These can include where an individual withepilepsy may simply stare blankly for a few sec-onds before having a seizure, while others repeat-edly twitch their arms or legs. At least two unpro-voked seizures are generally required for an epilep-sy diagnosis. Some of the seizure signs and symp-toms may include:

�Uncontrollable jerking movements of thearms and legs.

�Loss of consciousness or awareness�Temporary confusion�A staring spell�Psychic symptoms such as fear, anxiety or

déjà vu.However, symptoms may vary depending on

the type of seizure. At times, a person with epilep-sy will tend to have the same type of seizure eachtime, so the symptoms will be similar from episodeto episode. Doctors basically classify seizures eitheras focal or generalised based on how the abnor-mal brain activity begins. �Focal seizures: Seizures appearing in just onearea of the brain they are called focal or partialseizures.�Generalised seizures: These appear to involvein all areas of the brain and listed below are sixtypes of generalised seizures. �Absence seizures: They often occur in childrenare characterised by staring into space or subtlebody movements such as eye blinking or lipsmacking. �Tonic seizures: These affect muscles in yourback, arms and legs and which may also cause youto fall to the ground. �Atonic seizures: They cause a loss of musclecontrol, which may cause you to suddenly collapseor fall down. �Clonic seizures: These seizures are repeated orrhythmic, jerking muscle movements. Theseusually affect the neck, face and arms.�Myoclonic seizures: They usually appear as sud-den brief jerks or twitches of your arms and legs.�Tonic-clonic seizures: These are the most dra-matic type of epileptic seizure and can cause anabrupt loss of consciousness, body stiffening andshaking and at times loss of bladder control or bit-ing of the tongue.

A strict meal plan like opting for a Ketogenicdiet can help children especially after workingclosely with a doctor and a dietician. The diet usu-ally starts with a fast that lasts 24 to 48 hours. Foodsthat are high in fat and low in carbohydrates areintroduced. If the diet is strictly followed, stud-ies showed that two-thirds of kids who follow itare able to stop their seizures.

Recently new surgical techniques haveimproved the outcomes. Depending on the typeof seizure or if the patient has tried several med-ications without success, doctors may recommendsurgery. Dos: Keep a cool head under pressure and try tokeep the person safe till the seizure stops

�Gently try to put the person onto a flat sur-face so he does not fall

�Put something soft and flat under the head. Dont’s: Don’t restrain the person or you couldinjure the person or yourself.

�Don’t offer even a sip of water as that couldcause choking

�Attempting to put an object in the individ-ual’s mouth could be dangerous for you and him

�Don’t attempt artificial respiration unless theperson is not breathing when the seizure hasstopped.

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C O N T R O L T H ESEIZURES

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Pollution, stress, hecticlifestyle and unhealthy food— all lead to various diseases

in our lives. With various treat-ments for various diseases, oneoften gets confused with whichway to opt for. This is whenHomeopathy comes to the rescue.

With so much advancement inmedicine and technology, home-opathy has also come a long way.With treatments for commoncough and cold to severe diseaseslike cancer, homeopathy promiseto provide a treatment for all.

Dr Kushal Banerjee of DrKalyan Banerjee Clinic says thatthough many people don’t go forHomeopathy as the first treatment,it is the best on to take.

“Many people are sceptical togo for homeopathy as the first andforemost treatment for any dis-ease. They think that the treatmentis very long and the results arevery slow. But, if one wants to curetheir disease and is looking for apermanent treatment instead ofjust suppressing it for the timebeing, then homeopathy is the besttreatment. For instance if someonehas migraines and he wants tocure and control it instead of justmanaging it for that particulartime that is when homeopathy ishelpful,” Banerjee explains andadds that a large number ofpatients suffering from somemajor diseases like cancer andbrain haemorrhage have respond-ed well to the homeopathic treat-ment.

“We have seen a large numberof patients who were a failure ofchemotherapy and they alsoresponded to the treatment, whichis very significant. But, not to for-get that cancer is not a single dis-ease, there are various types ofcancers. So, the treatment can beeffective in one and not another,”he tells you.

In a recent study conducted atthe Dr Kalyan Banerjee Clinic, itis found that Homeopathy can bebeneficial in kidney failure andhypothyroidism too.

The early findings have shownpositive impact on patients withkidney failure and hypothyroidism.

Banerjee says that althoughthese two diseases are very com-mon but conventional medicinehave no cure for them.“Hypothyroidism and chronic kid-ney disease or kidney failure arevery common diseases and have noresolution in conventional medi-cine. But, in our study we havefound that these two diseases canbe cured or atleast prevented fromfurther progression. In hypothy-roidism study, the data indicatesthat specific homeopathic medi-cines given to patients were able toimprove the functioning of the thy-roid gland, thereby bringing downthe Thyroid Stimulating Hormone(TSH) readings. This runs contraryto the fact that says the progressionof the disease cannot be con-trolled. The study was donebetween 2011 to 2015 and a caserecords of 2083 patients werestudied and analysed. That iswhen we came up with the results.A total of 35 per cent patients sawpositive results in their treatmentby the fourth visit to the clinic,” hetells you.

The study for chronic renalfailure was done for two monthsand the records of 61 patients wereanalysed.

“Through this study we foundthat serum urea and creatininereadings, two of the most impor-tant clinical readings while study-ing kidney failure, showed reduc-tion in them. Even a slight reduc-tion in these readings is a big thing.No currently available treatment isable to do this. These readingsshows whether a patient shouldundergo dialysis or not and home-opathic treatment may helppatients avoid going through dial-ysis,” Banerjee tells you.

Banerjee says that there arevarious causes and symptoms ofchronic renal failure.

“There are many causes of thedisease. Some of them being — ifyou are an old patient of diabetes,

the possibility of kidney failureincreases, if you have hypotensionfrom a long time then also thechances of chronic kidney failureincreases. Drug toxicity also leadsto kidney failure. If someone isusing painkillers for a long timethen kidney damage is a knownside-effect. And one of the emerg-ing cause is auto-immune condi-tion in which the immune systemautomatically decides to attackthe kidney,” he tells you and addsthat when the causes of the diseasediffers, the management and theprevention of the disease also dif-fers.

Banerjee opines that unhealthylifestyle opens door to many dis-eases.

“The most common cause formajority of diseases is unhealthylifestyle. Leading a healthy lifestylewill keep your sugar in place,your blood pressure in place andyour immune system in place.Unnecessary and indiscriminatedusage of over the counter allopath-ic medicines should be stopped.Popping painkillers for every smallthing is a habit that many of ushave, it is very bad for health andshould be stopped immediately,” hetells you.

Banerjee says that taking smallsignificant steps can help to live ahealthy lifestyle and eliminatemany diseases.

“The basic thing which weadvised to our patients is having allthe meals at the right time is amust. Skipping meals is the worstthing one can do to their body. Theother important thing is to go tobed at the right time and avoid anirregular sleeping pattern. If onefollows these two things, they cankeep many diseases at bay.Additionally, regular exercise isalso important for a healthylifestyle. Moderate amount of reg-ular exercise also helps to eliminatevarious diseases from life. If onekeeps in mind these basic point-ers of a healthy lifestyle then,medicines will work better and dis-eases will stay away,” he tells you.

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Donald Trump’s top lawyeron Sunday attacked

“calumny, lies and distortions”in the Mueller investigationreport, and said there is “noth-ing wrong” with taking hackedinformation from Russia.

Rudy Giuliani mounted acombative defense of the pres-ident in Sunday talk showappearances that took aim atSpecial Counsel RobertMueller’s investigators, the evi-dence they amassed and thewitnesses they cited.

The former New Yorkmayor heaped special scorn onSenator Mitt Romney, a former Republican presidentialcandidate who said Friday he was “sickened” by thereport’s findings and “appalled”that Trump’s election cam-paign “welcomed help fromRussia.”

“What a hypocrite. What ahypocrite. Any candidate in thewhole world in America would

take information,” Giuliani saidof Romney on CNN’s “State ofthe Union.”

He was referring toDemocratic emails that werehacked by Russian operativesand disseminated byWikiLeaks in 2016 to hurtTrump presidential rivalHillary Clinton.

“Who says it’s even illegal?”Giuliani added. “Does theinformation turn out to befalse, by the way? The infor-mation that was gleaned anddisseminated, every newspaperprinted it.”

Trump publicly encour-aged Russia and WikiLeakswhile top campaign officials,including his son and son-in-law, met in Trump Tower witha Russian promising dirt onClinton.

“There is nothing wrongwith taking information fromthe Russians. It depends onwhere it came from,” Giulianisaid, adding that as a lawyer hewould have advised against it.

“This didn’t become aninternational scandal becauseof immorality. It became aninternational scandal becausethe president was accused ofviolating the law falsely,” hesaid.

His comments echoedTrump, who mocked Romneyon Twitter Sunday, after lash-ing out Friday at the “bullshit”Mueller report. The presidentwas in Palm Beach, Floridawhere he attended Easter ser-vices.

The special counsel’s 22-month-long investigation con-cluded that Trump and histeam did not collude with theRussian effort to sway the elec-tions in his favour.

But it detailed 10 episodesof potential obstruction byTrump, including his firing ofFBI director James Comey anddemands that Mueller himselfbe removed.

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Members of Sri Lanka’sChristian minority have

been left afraid to go to churchafter deadly attacks that hitEaster services, killing nearly300 and stoking fears of com-munal violence.

“Some people might beafraid to go to church now. Atthis moment I have no ideawhat to say,” Father LourFernando told AFP by StSebastian’s in Negombo, one ofthree churches targeted Sunday.

“We have to remain strongand keep going to church andkeep praying. We can’t stop.”Ranjan Christopher Fernard, a55-year-old taxi driver fromNegombo, said he was nervousabout attending church after theattacks, which killed his friend’s11-year-old son.

“Tonight we (my family)will all go to church to pray forthe victims,” he said.

“Of course I feel afraid... butwe have to go to church, we haveto pray for the injured to get wellsoon.” The suicide bomb attackswere the worst atrocity in SriLanka since the country’s 37-year conflict with Tamil rebelsended a decade ago.

Sri Lanka’s Christians, whomake up just seven percent ofthe 21-million population, hadbeen largely spared the worst of

the country’s violence, includ-ing recent tensions betweenright-wing Buddhists andMuslims.

“We never thought wewould ever be targeted. Wenever thought we would everneed protection,” said a priest inthe grounds of St Sebastian.

But others said there hadbeen warnings, and documentsseen by AFP showed the coun-try’s police chief had issued analert on April 11 that warned aradical Muslim group plannedto hit “prominent churches.”

The government saidMonday it believed the NationalThowheeth Jama’ath was behindthe attacks.

A pastor at People’s Churchin Colombo, who declined to be

named, said police had toldchurches last week that theyshould brace for possible “inci-dents” and stay vigilant.

“We increased security atour church last week. We havealso been checking vehiclescoming into the church premis-es,” he said.

“Although there was ageneric warning to stay vigilant,some churches adopted a laxattitude because there were nodetails offered, like a possibletimeline,” he added.

“I feel more deaths couldhave been prevented if we weremore alert.” For some in theshaken Christian community,the attacks also raise the spec-tre of more widespread com-munal violence.

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Asmall group of monks insaffron robes visited the

bombed St Anthony’s Church

here on Monday and said theydont have any anger or ill willtowards anyone of any otherreligion in the Buddhist-major-ity nation. The Buddhist monksvisited the historic Catholicchurch located at Kochchikade,a day after a suicide bomberreportedly triggered a hugeblast, killing many worshipperswho had gathered for theEaster Sunday morning mass.

Venerable Prof PitigalaVijitha Thero was outside St

Anthony’s Shrine said he was“extremely saddened and griev-ed” by the incidnet.

“Since the (civil) war, peo-ple belonging to all religionsand faiths had been co-existingand living together in unity andharmony. This is not some-thing that anyone could haveanticipated,” he told the BBC.

He said he condemned theattacks, but “we don’t have anyanger or ill will towards anyoneof any other religion”.

“I pray that peace prevails- not only in this country, butin the whole world,” he said.

Sri Lanka is a country ofgreat religious diversity thatcrosses ethnic lines, and themonks’ presence at the churchwas a sign of this, CNN com-mented.

Sunday’s attacks are thedeadliest seen in Sri Lanka sincethe end of the country’s civil warin 2009. The civil war endedwith the defeat of the Tamil

Tigers, who had fought for 26years for an independent home-land for the minority ethnicTamils. The war is thought tohave killed between 70,000 and80,000 people.

The nation has seen somesporadic violence since. InMarch 2018, a state of emer-gency was declared after hard-line members of the majorityBuddhist Sinhala communityattacked mosques and Muslim-owned properties.

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Some hid their eyes, some col-lapsed in tears as gruesome

images of victims from SriLanka’s Easter massacre wereprojected on to a screen infront of distraught relatives at aColombo morgue on Monday.

The pictures of some of the290 dead are disturbing, withfaces battered and bodies miss-ing limbs. A Roman Catholicpriest and a Buddhist counter-part waited in the corner of thecourtyard to intervene when oneof scores of people in the audi-ence recognised a mother, broth-er or child.

Many of the dead fromattacks on three churches and

three luxury hotels have beentaken to the governmentmorgue and people queued inthe heat to get into the heart-wrenching identificationslideshow. Eighteen bodies werereleased on Monday morningafter relatives recognised a vic-tim from the gruesome imagesshown in a corner of the morguecourtyard.

Identification is painstaking,physically and emotionally.Many badly mutilated bodieswill only be identified with theDNA of relatives, officials said.

Janaka Shaktivel, 28, fatherof an 18-month-old son, sat inshock outside the building wait-ing for the body of his wife to behanded over.

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The seaside Sri Lankan fishing town of Negombo

has long been called “Little Rome,” a reference to its abundance of churches andits place at the center of the

country’s small Catholic com-munity.

On Monday, it was a townin mourning.

Small white flags flew inhouse after house near St.Sebastian’s Church, a sign thatsomeone who lived there had

died. Groups of people visited,paying their respects.

On Easter Sunday, a bomb blast ripped through St. Sebastian’s, one of a half-dozen coordinated attackson churches and high-endhotels that killed nearly 300people.

At least 110 were killed atSt. Sebastian’s, said CardinalMalcolm Ranjith, making itthe day’s most deadly bomb-ing.

Charles Fernando, 32, whowas among the neighbour-hood residents walkingbetween houses, pointed to ahome where he said nearlyeveryone had been killed orinjured.

“We had war for 30 yearsbut there were no bomb blastsin Negombo,” he said.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed on

Monday that the United Stateswill keep fighting “radicalIslamic terror” after devastat-ing attacks in Sri Lanka thattargeted churches and hotels onEaster .

“Radical Islamic terror remains a threat. We are continuing to do real work against these evil human beings,” Pompeo toldreporters.

“This is America’s fight,too,” added Pompeo, who saidhe had spoken by telephonewith Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe.

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The US and Canada haveissued travel advisories to

their citizens seeking to visit SriLanka, citing threats of terror-ism, a day after the calm ofEaster Sunday was shattered bygruesome bombings targetingthe country’s churches andhotels that killed at least 290people.

According to advisories,travellers should exercise ahigh degree of caution in SriLanka due the current securi-ty situation.

The US Embassy said ter-rorists may attack with little orno warning targeting touristlocations, transportation hubs,markets/shopping malls, localgovernment facilities, hotels,

clubs, restaurants, places ofworship, parks, major sportingand cultural events, educa-tional institutions, airports andother public areas.

The US citizens travellingto or residing in Sri Lanka wereadvised to enrol in theDepartment of State’s SmartTraveler Enrollment Program(STEP) in order to receive thelatest security updates, theSunday Times reported.

The situation remainsvolatile in Sri Lanka after eightexplosions rocked churchesand luxury hotels, killing up to290 people, including sixIndians, and with over 500 sus-taining injures.

The Canadian governmentalso issued a travel advisory toits nationals.

“The decision to travel isyour choice and you areresponsible for your personalsafety abroad,” the advisorysaid.

“We take the safety andsecurity of Canadians abroadvery seriously and providecredible and timely informa-tion in our Travel Advice toenable you to make well-informed decisions regardingyour travel abroad,” it said.

The death toll Mondaysharply rose to 290, includingsix Indians, from the blasts - theworst terror attack in the coun-try’s history.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, butpolice on Monday arrested 24people and declined to give fur-ther details.

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Whether it is style, fash-ion, fitness, travel, tech-nology or personalspace, men have moreoften than not taken a

lead and in the bargain evolved mani-fold. Or so believes Karan Bhardwaj, co-founder of the India Men Show.

He pointed out that despite thatthere hasn’t been a portal or space whichtalks about how men’s lifestyle and per-sonality has evolved over the years. Theshow was conceptualised keeping thisaspect about technology, food, travel,way of living, fashion, luxury, fitness,entertainment and lifestyle in mind.Karan said, “It was to provide somedirection to the lifestyle industry andgive them a new subject to work on. Theshow not just looked at how their per-sonal choices have changed with time,but also defined the ‘man of substance,’who has evolved by accepting the cur-rent scenario and change in the society.”

With so many campaigns againstthe harassment and injustice towards

women coming to the fore, the showquestioned who after all is a “man ofsubstance?” He added, “Even if the manis successful in his endeavours, heneeds to be much more accepting of thechanging roles and desires of womentoo. They need to be ‘clean’ enough totalk about society as whole. Hence, weshortlisted men from every field likefashion, technology, hospitality, fitnessand more, who aren’t controversial orhaven’t been charged of any accusationsunder the #MeToo campaign andrespect humanity and feminism. Ofcourse, they have contributed to thesociety in a great way.”

Present at a panel discussion, talk-ing about the changing trends in men’slifestyle in India, FDCI president SunilSethi said that a man shouldn’t try to bejust successful, rather be of value, quot-ing Albert Einstein. “If you are a manof value and ethics, you’re a man of sub-stance,” he said, adding that “Achieversare not necessarily defined by clothes.”

Talking about how the fashionsense in men has evolved, Sethi said thatmen haven’t been adventurous in thepast. However, today, they don’t just

wear “smart suits, blacks and whites, butchange colours to look attractive. Theyhave a style of their own. Look at howthey go to the gym and exercise reli-giously, their accessories and clotheshave matching colours, making themappear like they do have a fashionsense.”

Giving the example of Bollywood’sKing, Sethi said, “I recently attended anevent, where Gauri Khan, wife of ShahRukh Khan, told me that her husbandwould take two to three hours to getready for an event. He pays attention todetails like matching right coloured-tiewith his shoes and suits. This sensibil-ity has come with time in today’s men.”

With changing roles of both menand women today, the former’s fashionchoices have transformed as well. Men’sfashion has evolved manifold whetherit is formal suits, ties and pants or infor-mal clothing and tracksuits.

From the fitness industry, “there canbe no one better than Sangram Singh totalk about who a man of substance is?,”said Karan.

“Nothing is more fashionable thanbeing fit. No matter what you wear orbuy, the most important thing should beto keep yourself fit and healthy. Whenyou are fit, your confidence grows byleaps and bounds,” said Sangram at thepanel. He recalls that there have beendays when he was short on resources.“I didn’t have good clothes. Today, I havereached this level because I was men-tally tough. Discipline and moral valuesare important to succeed in life,” said he.

The panel also saw Rajiv Makhni,the tech guru, who talked about howpersonal looks mattered in today’ssocial media world. “I do make-up. I tellmy children that they have a father whodoes indulge in make-up to enhancelooks. So that they can brag about itrather than hide it. I think it is a greatthing. For me, a ‘man of substance’means the one who is unique and solid,learns through his life and teachesback.” He added that in an age of socialmedia, good looks matter a lot.“Instagram is the proof. There, youwould realise people who feature in toptrends are actually the ones who takecare of their looks. So in today’s time,it gives you instant attention,” saidRajiv.

Karan added that not just looks orpersonal achievements, “it’s abouttoday’s men, who are aware of theiractions and are making informed choic-es towards the society and their evolu-tion. It’s indeed a brilliant shift and theshow celebrated just that. They are notjust investing smartly but also creatingopportunities through multiple start-ups.”

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After her victory at the Filmfareand Zee Cine Awards this year forher notable performance as a spy

in Meghna Gulzar’s directorial Raazi,Alia Bhatt walked away with the BestActress Award at the Critics’ ChoiceFilm Awards ceremony here.

Alia, who opted for a denim jump-suit for the gala, took to Instagram toshare her look for the ceremony thattook place on Sunday.

Surekha Sikri, 74, was felicitatedwith Best Supporting Actress Award forher portrayal of a nagging grandmoth-er in Badhaai Ho. While receiving theaward, she got a standing ovation fromthe audience. Due to health reasons, sheattended the event in a wheel chair. Thepresenters got off the stage to hand overthe trophy to Surekha, who adorned agreen sari.

Bollywood’s first stuntwomanReshma Pathan was honoured with theExtraordinary Achievement Award.Reshma is popularly known as theSholay girl as she had playedHema Malini’s body-doublein the cult film.

In the Best Actor (Male)category, Vineet Kumarbagged the golden trophyfor his role inMukkabaaz. SriramRaghavan received theBest Director Awardfor his thrillerAndhadhun, whichfeatured actorsA y u s h m a n nKhurrana, Tabu andRadhika Apte.

After the win,Vineet took toInstagram to thank fansand the entire team ofMukkabaaz.

“This award meansso much to me andeveryone who hasworked hard for

Mukkabaaz. Thank youso much AnuragKashyap (sir), AanandL Rai (sir), my co-actors, all the boxers,my coaches and theentire team ofMukkabaaz ,” hewrote.

“And last butnot least, all myfriends and fanswho have beenpouring theirlove on me... Let

your love flow,” he added.Music composer Amit

Trivedi also bagged thetrophy for Best Song for

Halla from Manmarziyaanthat starred Taapsee Pannu,Vicky Kaushal and AbhishekBachchan.

The gala was hosted byactress Neha Dhupia but itwas superstar Shah RukhKhan who turned out as thesurprise guest of the eveningand entertained the attendeeswith his humour and wit.

In the videos from theextravaganza that have sur-faced online, SRK is seenspeaking about the craft of cin-ema.

Celebrities like ZoyaAkhtar, Jackie Shroff, AditiRao Hydari, Rasika Dugaland Richa Chadha were alsopresent.

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Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boybrought the growinghip-hop culture in

India to the fore. WhileRanveer Singh receivedglowing praise for his por-trayal of Murad, a slum boywho uses rap as an outlet forhis frustration, his mentorMC Sher played by SiddhantChaturvedi came in forpraise for his rapping skills.

Siddhant’s fan-base hasgrown substantially sincethe release of the film. Andnow, according to a daily,producer Ritesh Sidhwaniand Zoya are planning aspin-off focused on MCSher.

“The film is entirelybased on Siddhant’s charac-ter and traces MC Sher’sjourney to becoming a hero.This will also give the mak-ers a chance to delve deep-er into hip-hop culture andyou can expect many engag-ing rap battles,” says asource.

Gully Boy was inspiredby Naezy, aka Naved Sheikh,who shot to fame with thesong Aafat.

On a show, Siddhantalso opened up about hisfirst meeting with Zoya. “Itwas at a party. I was danc-ing to a Govinda song,Tujhko Mirchi Lagi TohMain Kya Karoon. I wasfull-on and she saw me.Then the DJ played GallanGoodiyaan f rom DilDhadakne Do and I went up

to her and danced with her.She was like, 'Hey, who areyou?' And I said I was anactor on Inside Edge. Sheasked me to come and audi-tion for Gully Boy,” he said.

Gully Boy, which alsostarred Alia Bhatt, crossedover �100 crore at the boxoffice in India and receivedglowing reviews from bothcritics and the audience.

On the other hand, ZoyaAkhtar too reacted to thesuccess of her last director-ial Gully Boy by saying thatwhile making a film, a film-maker shouldn't look at theend result and should enjoythe process of filmmaking.

Zoya started 2019 on apositive note as both herfilm and digital projectMade in Heaven received agood response from theaudience.

Talking about her forth-coming projects, Zoya said,“It's been a good start. Weare working on Made inHeaven season 2. We arealso working on anothershow. We are working ontwo feature films with twoother directors and we areworking on Reema's (Kagti)and my next f i lm. It 'saction-packed writing hap-pening right now."

Talking about the suc-cess of Gully Boy, whichfeatured Ranveer Singh andAlia Bhatt in lead roles,Zoya said, “It feels goodwhen it does well at the boxoffice and when you havecertain amount of criticalappreciation. I feel you haveto do something that youbelieve in and you have todo it as honestly and truth-fully as you can and then,whatever happens, happensfor the best. You can't lookat the end result. You haveto just enjoy the process.”

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Spanish classic Don Quixote, whichremains the most-translated bookin the world after the Bible, has

inspired a new novel by Man BookerPrize-winning author Salman Rushdie,publisher Penguin Random HouseIndia announced.

The publisher in a statementannounced acquisition of the novelQuichotte which is expected to hitIndian stands in August.

Inspired by the classic by the six-teenth century writer Miguel deCervantes, Rushdie’s Quichotte is thestory of “an ageing travelling salesmanwho falls in love with a TV star and setsoff to drive across America on a questto prove himself worthy of her hand”.

The publisher said that the title’s

tragicomic tale is one of a deranged timeand deals, along the way, with father-sonrelationships, sibling quarrels, racism, the

opioid crisis, cyber-spies and the end ofthe world.

Calling the book a perfect follow-on to the success of Rushdie’s 2017novel The Golden House, the publish-er’s Senior Commissioning EditorManasi Subramaniam said that theauthor remains the master fabulist.

“In Quichotte, this rich epic of theimmigrant experience in modernAmerica, we are delighted to see thatRushdie is back — with his signaturedazzling prose — to tell the tale of thehere and now within the realm that allthat could’ve been,” she said.

The book will be published underPenguin’s imprint Hamish Hamilton,which has many distinguished titles inliterary fiction. H��-�

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Tucked away in HauzKhas vi l lage, ArtKonsult has a series ofabstract works by veter-an artist Shridhar Iyer

that is a lesson in the leanings andlearnings of the abstract journeythat unravels through time andtide. Over the years, Shridhar hasprojected himself as a pilgrim insearch of the intangible. A silentvibration of a mantra emanatesfrom his countenance and youthink of discipline, simplicity anddevout absorption that transcendthe frontiers of experience to giveus a moving moment.

His profile photographs onFacebook clearly unravel a questfor something that is not merelytemporary but something that isephemeral and indeed incandes-cent in its deeply tenured terrain.His paintings are Pollockian can-vasses that are indeed not spectac-ularly beautiful but they are in-depth conversations about thespiritual leanings that are specifi-cally cited within the compart-ments of his interior journey.

���� !"# $"%�!� What meets the eye are lush-lacedfloating tendrils, which floattoward and over each other butalways in a swirl of grace, risingand falling through fields as ifswirling down against an inkyplane of deeper densities. The ele-gant tangerine and saffron shadescreate stunning contrasting islandsof tonality, even as the looped linesmeet at the stark dividing lines thatseparate different realms.

In the subsequent paintings,that continue this motif, the swirlsshapeshift. They become ethereal,

like curvilinear spirits that con-verge in flashing swirls, trans-forming again into streams ofenergy that rush through a colour-ful, charismatic world at onceordered yet uncannily infinite.

��" �$"%$" &�'�"$( Shridhar has over the years med-itated upon his own poeticallytranscendent journeys character-ising an inner spirit inspired by hisown interactions on an inwardjourney of a higher plane. You canlook at these abstractions and

know immediately that Shridhar isan artist who delves and delineateshis own intuitive journey.

Here are a series of embeddedthoughts that are made of narrowstrips of fragile and pliant strokesthat lay stretched in quadruple lay-ers of warps and wefts on the dif-ferent layers of colour that appearand disappear, bringing up thelower levels to the top, sending itback down the brims of the can-vas, bringing it up again in a dif-ferent way so that it looks like thefiber lines are meshing, tangling,

and organically growing together.Before he takes them out of ten-sion, they are aligned to certaingravitational forces that are unseenbut hold them together in a lock inembrace that tingles in its minimalmoorings.

��%$�$%)��#�$ !�"Whether you look at the colourtones or the looped linearities orthe tiny textural nuances, youthink of an ordered progression inwhich the inner being celebratesprimeval, primordial chaos that is

at once dulcet, distinct and deeplygravitas filled. These works, in anordered progression, illustrate thebirth of an inner world that is atonce elusive as well as elegant inthe many meanderings that itexplores in terms of dimensions.Shridhar explores the dichotomies— heaven and earth, male andfemale, positive and negative —that structure our existence. He, ina subtle and silent way, also unveilsthe symbolic lexicon of themantras that we use when wechant Sanskrit prayers and this iswhat he has continued to developthroughout his career as anabstractionist. You can sense therealms and the rhythmic resonancethat grows and flows. You can seethe ever-shifting primordialvignettes of experience that evolvein these works — rendered incrimson, amorphous blue, canaryyellow, and moss green. We canthink of the unity of colour tonesas much as we think of zones of

meditation that form in our innermeditative moments.

Spiral and swirl forms appearoften — a potent symbol thatShridhar has been using againand again to suggest individualpersonal spiritual growth, progress,and evolution that resides withinand without.

We can think of many things.Of the importance of the individ-ual as a being held by the spirit ofgodliness within — held by usethreads of conviction in an invis-ible realm of existence.

These works remind of the nir-gun poetry of Kabir the mystic.

Among the various collectionsof Kabir’s poems, Bijak is consid-ered the most authoritative by themembers of Kabir Panth. Theword, Bijak means a document bywhich a hidden treasure can belocated. The compiler of the col-lection probably chose this word asa title for verses which were con-sidered to reveal the hidden trea-sures of religious knowledge.

Ultimately, the abstractionist isone who conveys the spiritualworld through his own paintings,and when these paintings areshowcased in a space, it speaks likea temple that echoes the manymantras and prayers held withinthe folds of the works. This showis a must for students of the worldof art in the capital city because itspeaks at different levels about thewhy and wherefore of abstractionin a world that has been celebrat-ing stray design and strokes ofcolour for abstraction when inreality, it belongs to the pedigreeof experience and exploration overthe years instead of the overnightbubble.

For Odisha’s woman sculptorNivedita Mishra, carving is noth-ing short of a meditative process.

She is dedicated to carving and it con-nects her not just with the density andintensity of the granite blocks that sheworks upon but also the physicalityand materiality of the smaller elements.Carving as sculptural practice has adeep, ancient, global history and thisconnection between a vision for mod-ern sculpture and methods of makinghas been employed for centuries, mil-lennia even, across the globe and thatmakes her work appeal deeply to thecommon man.

Inner spirit “My connection with stone

involves spirituality and reverence forthe spirit that dwells within,” saysNivedita as she puts together her seriesOdyssey at the Lalit Kala Akademi ina small cameo and goes on to add, “Stone is about people and their jour-neys. It has been on this earth muchlonger than man and for this reasonit becomes our teacher. As a sculptor,I visualise what the stone wants tobecome and I strive to help it bloom.The granite blocks I use speak to meby their textures and grains. I look atthe characteristics of the granite andthen start carving.”

Articulating an emotionBut when you look at her polished

cylindrical series, you know that carv-ing is not simply a method of makingsculpture for her; it is an articulationof a particular vision of the sculptor’scraft: it is also inextricably bound upwith the articulation of an ‘aestheticcreed’ for what she sees as a physicalprocess of carving through simplici-ty. Her large work symbolise a cavewith apertures that capture the sensa-tions of carving temple portals withchisels, hammers and mallets fromhard, as well as resistant material.There is a fascination and critical atten-tion to the processes and concept of‘direct carving’.

“I find strength, faith, and dig-nity through my heritage, yet Ialso find these same things inother cultures — I derive inspira-tion and motivation from them aswell,” says Nivedita as she runs herhands over her own carving of atriangular, templed cave.

Stones that speakHer smaller clusters of work

appear as if the earth has created itselfinto a cathedral of beautiful treasurestones in uncountable shapes and tex-tures, each one stamped with its ownrich familial and cultural history. Nowonder so many of us pick up stonesthat speak to us and carry themhome, placing them in special nichesand treating them as our own person-al discoveries. Each offers a puzzlingmystery to explore; each tweaks ourimagination, stimulates our curiosityand raises interesting questions. In theseries that echo treasures and boxesand cavities, the set of four with lids

are the finest in finesse and fervour.In yet another pair, You and Me,

we espie the grace of the cylindricalcolumn that begins with the magic ofthe stone. We can imagine how shefills her studio with about many life-times worth of stones still waiting tobe carved. It’s the potential of eachpiece that brings her great joy. Everycarving block is filled with a silentbeauty calling for attention; every stonean invitation for creative expressionthat echoes the infinitude of man andwoman as individuals, consorts,friends walking their own paths some-times crossing sometimes melding.

Moulding triangular basesIn the cluster of stones with trian-

gular bases we see the earthiness andthe balance of vision and vitality. “I’vealways been inspired by the capacityof a block of stone,” says Nivedita andadds, “I can create one-of-a-kindgroups or single works and I like tocreate my own language when myhands touch each sculpture and workit from start to finish.”

Most sculptors in history, createda maquette of a composition in a mal-leable material, made any adjust-ments desired, then either copied it instone themselves or had it done by acraftsperson. Many sculptors in histo-ry who have been credited with carv-ing their stone works have never evenpicked up a chisel. The final stone ver-sion of their creations was carved bya craftsperson, while the artist direct-ed like a symphony conductor. Buthere we see a direct reckoning of ele-ments and journeys in the run of time.Nivedita’s series is about the odysseyof man that Lord Tennyson speaks ofin his poem, The Brook: ‘For men maycome and men may go/ But I go on forever.’

Legendary Bengali folksinger Amar Paul died ata state-run hospital on

Saturday following a celebralhemorrhage. Paul, 96, a wid-ower, breathed his last around5.30 pm at the SSKM Hospital.

Born on May 19, 1922 atBrahmanberia in undividedBengal in an area now inBangladesh, Paul took his firstlessons in folk music from hismother Durgasundari Debi,and later learnt Hindusthaniclassical music from UstadAyet Ali Khan. After shiftingbase to Kolkata, he joined AllIndia Radio as a grade artistand began lending his voice tofilms.

His rendition of the songKotoi Ranga dekhi duniai inSatyajit Ray’s Hirak RajarDeshe brought him instantfame. His songs in films direct-ed by the likes of DebakiKumar Bose and RituparnoGhosh touched the hearts ofthe music lovers. The foremosturban exponent of the Bengalifolk song today, Paul has per-formed extensively all overthe state and attended semi-nars and workshops on folkmusic worldwide, while hold-

ing concerts in Tokyo,Bangladesh and the UnitedStates in the course of a profes-sional career exceeding 50years.

Numerous songs sung byPaul were issued in the form ofgramophone records, audio-cassettes and CDs. He alsopublished books on folk musicsuch as Banglar Loksangeetand Banglaar Nadir Gaan.

A much feted man, hereceived the Sangeet NatakAkademi Award for his contri-bution to folk music of WestBengal. He was honoured bythe West Bengal StateAcademy of Dance, Music andVisual Arts, the RabindraBharati University, thePaachim Banga SangeetAcademy. He was also a recip-ient of the Lalan Puraskar forfolk music conferred by thestate government.

Condoling Paul’s death,chief minister MamataBanerjee said it was anirreparable loss to Bengali folkmusic, and recalled his popu-lar songs like Probhato SomoyeSachir Angina Majhe and RaiJago Rai Jago.

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Olympic Bronzemedallist Sakshi

Malik and World No 1Bajrang Punia will spear-head India's campaign atthe Asian WrestlingChampionships startingon Tuesday.

Besides Sakshi andBajrang, Vinesh Phogat isanother big names whowould be vying for tophonours during the mega-event.

Vinesh will hope togive a good account ofherself in the women's53kg — a relatively newweight category for her.

She had competed forthe first time in that cate-gory at the UWW DanKolov-Nikola Petrov tour-nament in Bulgaria andhad bagged a Silver medal.

In the same competi-tion, Bajrang, who wascompeting in men's 65kgcategory, clinched a Gold.

Sakshi, the Bronzewinner at the RioOlympics, also settled fora Silver, in women's 65kg,while Pooja Dhanda wonthe yellow metal inwomen's 59kg category.

At the AsianChampionships, Sakshiwill go back to her 62kgcategory, while NavjotKaur will represent Indiain women's 65kg.

Pooja Dhanda willfight in 57kg in this tour-nament.

Asian Games Bronzemedallist Divya Kakranwill return to competitivewrestling having recov-ered from an ankle injuryand is all set to compete inwomen's 68kg category.

National championAmit Dhankar will partic-ipate in men's 74kg in theabsence of two-timeOlympic medallist SushilKumar, who decided togive the Championship amiss.

Dhankar is a formerAsian WrestlingChampionship Goldmedallist at the 2013 NewDelhi edition.

Rahul Aware, thewrestler fromMaharashtra, is making acomeback to the Indianteam and will compete inmen's 61kg weight divi-sion.

In men's freestyle,Praveen Rana (79kg) andSatyavrat Kadian (97kg)are other key wrestlersfrom India who areexpected to finish on thepodium.

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Unheralded GomathiMarimuthu gaveIndia its first Gold

medal in the women's 800mrace as the country addedfour medals on the secondday of the Asian AthleticsChampionships here onMonday.

The 30-year-oldGomathi clocked a person-al best time of 2 minute 02.70seconds in the half mileevent to win a surprise Goldfor India.

Shivpal Singh thenadded a Silver in men'sjavelin throw by sending thespear to a distance of86.23m, his personal best. Inthe process, the 23-year-oldShivpal also booked a berthfor the WorldChampionships to be held atthe same venue inSeptember-October as hecrossed the qualifying markof 83m.

Jabir Madari Palliyaliland Saritaben Gayakwadbagged a Bronze each inmen's and women's 400mhurdles respectively to swellthe Indian medal tally.

With the four medals onMonday, India's medal tallystood at 1 Gold, 3 Silver and5 Bronze. India had won 2Silver and 3 Bronze on thefirst day on Sunday.

Sprinter Dutee Chandalso shared some of the lime-light as she smashed herown national record in 100mdash for the second time intwo days.

The first Indian medal ofthe second day came from24-year-old Gayakwad whoclocked 57.22 seconds to

finish third in women's400m hurdles, behindVietnam's Quach The Lan(56.10) and Bahrain'sAminat Yusuf Jamal (56.39).

His male counterpartJabir then added a Bronze byrunning the third fastestmen's 400m hurdles by anIndian as he clocked a per-

sonal best of 49.13 seconds.In the process, the 22-

year-old Jabir joined nation-al record holder DharunAyyasamy as the secondIndian to qualify for theWorld Championships 400mhurdles event to be held atthe same venue inSeptember-October. The

World Championships qual-ifying mark is 49.30 seconds.

Dharun, who set a newnational record of 48.80 dur-ing the Federation Cup lastmonth, missed this AsianChampionships due toinjury.

Pre-race favouriteAbderrehman Samba of

Qatar won Gold with a worldleading time of 47.51 sec-onds.

In the women's 100mdash, Dutee bettered herown national record of 11.28seconds set on Sunday dur-ing the heats by clocking11.26 seconds while winningher semifinal race onMonday. She is, however,yet to touch the WorldChampionships qualifica-tion mark of 11.24.

However in the men's400m, India suffered set-backs as defending champi-on Muhammed Anas andlast edition silver winnerArokia Rajiv failed to win amedal.

Rajiv finished fourthwith a personal best time of45.37 seconds while Anas,who has been strugglingafter a leg injury in an acci-dent last year, ended at eighthwith a time of 46.10 seconds.

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France set up a Fed Cup finalagainst Australia on Sunday

when Caroline Garcia andKristina Mladenovic, who oncewere barely on speaking terms,teamed-up to crown a 3-2 vic-tory over Romania.

Former Roland Garrosdoubles champions Garcia andMladenovic beat Simona Halepand Monica Niculescu 5-7, 6-3,6-4 to secure the winning pointand a final date against Australiain November.

Victory was a diplomaticcoup for France coach JulienBenneteau who teamed upGarcia and Mladenovic for thefirst time in Fed Cup since 2016after which the pair had a bit-ter falling out which led to a self-imposed Fed Cup exile forGarcia, her country's top play-er.

"Every match was incredi-ble," said Benneteau. "I am soproud of them. It was always myintention to put them together— and it was not hard to do."

Earlier on Sunday, FrenchOpen champion Halep wonher second singles of the week-end, seeing off Garcia 6-7 (6/8),6-3, 6-4 for a 2-1 lead in the

semi-final.Veteran Pauline Parmentier

then beat a hobbling Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 topull France level.

In a tense deciding rubber,Halep, whose doubles rankingis in the 400s, committed a dou-ble fault to concede the break inthe ninth game of the final setbefore Garcia held her nerve toserve out the victory.

"We prepared ourselves asbest as we could, we had a goodtraining session at the beginningof the week, and we were ready,maybe at the beginning wemade some mistakes," saidGarcia.

"We really made the effortfrom start to finish together, itwas intense on the court fromthe first point of the weekend tothe last. But it was a greatweekend and we can really beproud."

France, who won the last oftheir two titles in 2003, will trav-el to Australia for the final.

Six-time championsAustralia, whose most recenttitle was in 1974, reached a firstfinal in 26 years by seeing offBelarus 3-2 in Brisbane in a tiealso settled by a three-set decid-ing doubles rubber.

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India's newly-appointed men's hock-ey chief coach Graham Reid on

Monday took charge of the nationalcamp and asked his players to put theteam first in his maiden address to them.

Reid, who arrived in Bengaluru onApril 20, got down to business onMonday, meeting players for the firsttime at the SAI Centre.

"The turf here is world class. Iaddressed the players when I arrivedand expressed my expectations as oneunit, one team and that we always needto put the team first," the 54-year-oldAustralian said.

"We also spoke about the impor-tance of trust and communication andto make sure it is both ways," he said.

Reid said the available talent inIndia makes him optimistic about thefuture.

"I am really glad that I also got towatch the 33 players from the JuniorCore Group and being part of theNational Trials this morning gives mea good sense of the talent that is avail-able at the moment and it makes me feelvery positive about the future," saidReid, a former player of the Australiannational team.

Reid's first big assignment as chiefcoach will be the upcoming FIH Men'sSeries Finals in Bhubaneswar, startingJune 6 where India will vie for top hon-ours against Asian Games championsJapan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, SouthAfrica, USA and Uzbekistan.

The Indian team will go for on anexposure tour to Perth, Australiabetween May 6 and May 18 where it will

play a four-match series against theAustralian national team as part of theirpreparations for the FIH Men's SeriesFinals in Bhubaneswar.

"We extend a warm welcome toGraham Reid on his arrival to India.Many players in the senior team arealready familiar with him due to his stintas coach during Hockey India League,"Hockey India President MohdMushtaque Ahmad.

"The Australia tour will be an idealground for him to understand furtherabout the team and their temperamentand short comings ahead of the crucialFIH Men's Series Finals in Bhubaneswar.We wish him the very best in his newrole with the Indian Men's HockeyTeam," he added.

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Neymar joined the Paris Saint-Germain title party on Sunday

when he made his first appearancesince January as Kylian Mbappe sweptaside Monaco with a hat-trick in a 3-1 win for the newly-crowned Ligue 1champions.

Mbappe took his league tally forthe season to 30 following his treble,which came just hours after PSG werecrowned champions for the sixthtime in seven years when closest chal-lengers Lille dropped points.

Neymar's return at the start of thesecond half replacing Layvin Kurzawais the cherry on the cake for ThomasTuchel's side, who had been withoutthe Brazilian superstar since January23 with a right foot injury.

Edinson Cavani also returned toaction as a second half substitute, hav-ing a late strike correctly ruled out for

offside, meaning that PSG's famedfront three are back together follow-ing months apart.

Mbappe has thrived in theabsence of his strike partners, and gavehis side a 2-0 first-half lead with twoneat finishes, the first coming in the15th minute and the second sevenminutes before the break after abeautiful pass from Dani Alves.

The World Cup winner then putthe three points beyond doubt whenhe tapped in Alves' low cross nineminutes after the break.

Aleksandr Golovin rolled home aconsolation for the away side, whoremain in trouble in 16th place andare only four points away from the rel-egation play-off spot.

On Sunday afternoon Lille endedtheir challenge with a goalless draw atToulouse that left them 16 pointsbehind PSG with only five games toplay and allowed capital club to cele-

brate the title after missing chances toseal it in their previous matches.

The Parisians have struggled withkey injuries in recent weeks and theylost Italian international midfielderMarco Verratti with what looks like a

knock to his left ankle.PSG took the field wearing a shirt

with a large image of Notre Damereplacing the usual sponsor'slogo."Notre-Dame" replaced the play-er names on the back of the shirts. Theiconic Paris cathedral was damaged ina spectacular blaze last Monday.

The club said that they would puta limited edition of the shirts on saleon line during the match for 100 euroseach. The club said the money "willbe donated to associations related tofirefighters".

The club also posted a "Hommageto Notre Dame" video on their website in which players praised theteam-work of the Paris fire brigadeand made a gesture that imitates thetwo famous towers that form part ofthe cathedral's facade.

The club said it was also usingSunday's game to thank the firefight-ers.

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Ben Davies has challengedTottenham to win their

last four Premier Leaguegames as they aim to gettheir top four push back ontrack against Brighton onTuesday.

Mauricio Pochettino'sside suffered a setback intheir bid to repeat their leaguefinish for a fifth straight sea-son when they were beaten 1-0 at Manchester City at theweekend.

It was a frustrating end toa memorable week that sawTottenham reach theChampions League semi-finals with a dramatic awaygoals success at City.

Aided by Arsenal's sur-prise loss to Crystal Palace on

Sunday, Tottenham remainthird, but they will drop tofourth if Chelsea defeatBurnley on Monday.

With the race to qualifyfor next season's ChampionsLeague heating up,Tottenham defender Daviesknows his team have no mar-gin for error in their remain-ing fixtures.

Davies believes only foursuccessive victories will beenough to secure Tottenham'splace in Europe's elite clubcompetition.

"It's never easy to reflectbut look, it's about kicking onand trying to win every gamebetween now and the end ofthe season," Davies said.

"That's the target and itstarts against Brighton onTuesday."

Demanding Tottenhamdisplay a more predatoryinstinct in front of goal aftermissing a host of chances inthe City defeat, Davies said:"It's always hard to see anypositives straight after adefeat.

"We certainly createdthe chances but unfortu-nately we didn't take themthis time.

"That's the differencebetween this game andWednesday night, we were abit more clinical."

Brighton are desperatefor points as they battle toavoid relegation, but Davieshopes the feelgood factorfrom Tottenham's new stadi-um will continue to providea welcome lift.

Pochettino's men have

won all three of their match-es at the $1 billion arena, scor-ing seven goals and conced-ing none.

"It will be tough, they arefighting for every-thing and theywill go the full 90minutes to try toget something outof the game. Wehave to be ready,"Davies said.

"We've played well at thenew stadium so far and weneed to keep that momentumgoing for the rest of the sea-son." Brighton are just oneplace and three points abovethe relegation zone afterSaturday's 0-0 draw at Wolves.Chris Hughton's side haven'twon in their last six matchesin all competitions.

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Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg)upstaged reigning world cham-

pion Kairat Yeraliyev, while AmitPanghal (52kg) edged past famil-iar foe and Olympic championHasanboy Dusmatov, assuringthemselves of medals at the AsianBoxing Championships inBangkok on Monday.

In the women's draw, worldSilver-medallist Sonia Chahal(57kg) advanced to the last-fourstage at the continental show-piece.

Bisht clinched a split verdictover Yeraliyev, who hails fromKazakhstan, in a high-intensitycontest to assure himself of a

maiden Asian championshipmedal.

Panghal, who claimed a Bronzein the 2015 edition of the event,also secured a hard-fought 3-2 tri-umph over Dusmatov, the formerworld champion Uzbek he defeat-ed to claim the Asian Games Goldjust a few months ago.

Before that, the two boxers hadalso clashed in the world champi-onship quarters where Dusmatovhad emerged triumphant.

Sonia too fetched a similarlyclose victory over Korea's Jo SonHwa.

Also making the semis wasnational champion Deepak Singh(49kg), who did not have to stepinside the ring to fight for the spot

after Afghanistan's RamishRahmani gave him a walkoverowing to injury.

However, world championshipBronze-medallist LovlinaBorgohain (69kg) bowed out ofcontention after a quarterfinal lossto reigning world champion ChenNien-Chin of Taiwan.

In another women's bout,Seema Poonia (+81kg) lost toChina's Yang Xiaoli 5-0, endinganother disappointing internation-al outing for her. Poonia had got abye into the quarters.

In the last Indian bout of theday, Rohit Tokas (64kg) fought hardbut could not avert a 2-3 loss toMongolia's Chinzorig Baatarsukhin the quarterfinals.

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Tottenham Hotspur suffered afresh blow to their Champions

League hopes on Monday whenMoussa Sissoko appeared to be ruledout of the first leg of their semi-finalagainst Ajax.

The midfielder, one ofTottenham's outstanding players thisseason, suffered a groin injury in thereturn leg of the quarter-final tie atManchester City and Spurs manag-er Mauricio Pochettino believes hewill not be fit for another two weeks.

That would rule Sissoko out ofthe north London club's home legagainst Dutch giants Ajax on April 30,with Tottenham already missingSouth Korea star Son Heung-minthrough suspension.

Son has been a key man for Spurswhile England captain Harry Kanehas been sidelined with an ankleinjury.

"Moussa Sissoko is not going tobe fit, maybe for the next two weeks,we hope he can recover before but Iam not so optimistic," Pochettino saidahead of Tuesday's Premier Leaguematch at home to Brighton.

"Harry Winks we don't knowbecause it is a problem that is one dayvery good, next day not very good,it is about assessing each day.

"We hope he will be available forTuesday but we are not sure."

There are also doubts over the fit-ness of France goalkeeper HugoLloris, with Pochettino saying: "LlorisI hope yes, we are going to assess, wehave a training session and we hopeit is not a big issue, we hope he isgoing to be available."

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The Indian Premier Leaguefinal scheduled on May 12

was on Monday shifted fromChennai to Hyderabad afterthe Tamil Nadu CricketAssociation (TNCA) failed toget requisite permission fromthe government to open thethree closed stands.

While the Chennai SuperKings still have a chance to playQualifier 1 at home if they fin-ish among the top two teams inthe league but the Eliminator(May 8) and Qualifier 2 (May10) has been shifted toVisakhapatnam.

"We had to shift the match-es from Chennai to Hyderabadafter TNCA intimated us thatthey have not procured the req-uisite permission to open thethree stands I, J and K,"Committee of Administrators(CoA) chief Vinod Rai said onMonday.

"Since the gate sales of theknock-out matches is BCCI'sprerogative, we had to take acall. We would be having twoknock-out matches in Vizag,"

he added.The three stands make up

for more than 12,000 ticketsand BCCI would have lost outon a few crores of gate money.

The stands have remainedclosed since 2012 save oneinternational match betweenIndia and Pakistan when anexception was made.

Asked if all the knock-outmatches' ticket sales are BCCI'sprerogative, why was Qualifier1 allotted to Chennai, Rai rea-soned: "CSK, by virtue of beingdefending champions, wereallotted the Qualifier 1 andfinal. Now if they finish in toptwo, you cannot take away allthe games. They deserve to getat least one of the knock-outgames."

Hyderabad only got thefinal and not the Eliminator orQualifier because of the gener-al elections in the Cyber city onMay 6, 8 and 10.

The first three-team miniwomen's IPL will be held fromMay 6-10 in Jaipur with a newteam Velocity being added tothe existing Trailblazers andSupernovas.

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The wretched form ofChennai Super Kings' top

three will be primary worryfor Mahendra Singh Dhoni asChennai Super Kings aims toarrest the mini-slide whenthey take on SunrisersHyderabad in an IndianPremier League encounter atChepauk on Tuesday.

If CSK's problem is thenon-performance of the top-order, Sunrisers Hyderabad'sissues are that there are noperformers in the middle-order with bulk of the runsbeing scored by openersDavid Warner (517 runs) andJonny Bairstow (445 runs).

A win will almost ensurea play-off berth for thedefending champions, wholost back-to-back away match-es against SunrisersHyderabad and RoyalChallengers Bangalore respec-tively.

While Dhoni's Herculean

effort to pull off anothermiraculous chase has been thetalking point, it is difficult notto shed light on the poorshow of CSK's top three whichis putting the skipper underunimaginable pressure.

Last season's hero ShaneWatson (147 runs), AmbatiRayudu (192) and SureshRaina (207) haven't lived up toexpectations. The pressurehas been entirely on Dhoni,who leads the charts with314 runs and the batting unitneeds to step up.

"The top three needs to

finish more matches," Dhonisaid after CSK's one-run lossto RCB.

Back at its den after aschedule of away games,Dhoni's men will be slightfavourites as it wil l beBairstow's last game for thelast year's runners-up as heheads back to England forWorld Cup preparations.

The Chepauk pitch hasbeen sluggish in the gamesplayed so far and coachStephen Fleming attributed itto being one of the reasons fortop-order's poor show.

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David Warner and Jonny Bairstow havebeen primarily guiding Sunrisers

Hyderabad to victories in the ongoing IPL andcaptain Kane Williamson says the departureof the two openers will be a huge loss to theside.

With theODI World Cupscheduled tostart on May 30,the two prolificbatsmen will beleaving the IPLmid-way owingto national duty.

"Without adoubt Warnerand Bairstowwill be big loss-es, they areworld class play-ers. We knew atthe start of thetournament that we will lose them at the backend of the tournament and new guys will comein then," Williamson said.

Warner and Bairstow are currently sittingat the first and second spots respectively in theleading run-scorers' list in the IPL, and theirformidable partnership at the top of the orderhas been the biggest reason behind Sunrisers'five wins this season so far.

Warner, the top-scorer this season with517 runs at an average of 73.85 and a stagger-ing strike rate of 148.56 from nine gamesincluding six half-centuries and a ton, willdepart for Australia by the end of April.

Bairstow, who is at second position with445 runs, including a century, from the samenumber of matches at a strike rate of 158.36,will leave for England after Tuesday's match.

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Mumbai Indians have released allthe players for four days to

ensure that they relax, spend timewith their families and return strongfor the business end of the tourna-ment. With the 2019 World Cupstarting just after the 12th edition ofthe IPL, India skipper Virat Kohlihad time and again spoken about theneed for players to be smart andmanage their workload well to stayfresh for the showpiece event.

The only team in the competi-tion apart from Chennai to havethree Indian players who will beheaded to the World Cup — RohitSharma, Hardik Pandya and JaspritBumrah — the MI franchise madethe move keeping in mind the inter-est of the players and the need tokeep them fresh not just for the sec-ond half of the IPL, but also for theWorld Cup.

As per the sources, the manage-ment decided to release the playersafter their game against RajasthanRoyals on April 20 and the playerswill reunite in Chennai on April 25before the game against CSK.

"Players are the priority and theonly instruction to the boys was thatwhatever you do, don't get anywherenear a bat or ball. They shouldunwind, relax, switch off and focuson enjoying the four-day break," thesource said.

Asked if the move was aimed atkeeping the Indian boys fresh for theWorld Cup, the source said: "Not justthe likes of Rohit, Bumrah or Hardik.

We have the likes of Quinton deKock, Lasith Malinga and otherplayers as well who will be playingthe World Cup. The idea is to man-age their workload in such a man-ner that they can give it their bestwhen they play in the showpieceevent. While the foreign playershave mostly gone to Chennai direct-ly and are enjoying there with theirfamilies, the Indian players haveheaded home."

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Parthiv Patel, the man whose directhit gave Royal Challengers

Bangalore an improbable one-runwin over Chennai Super Kings, saidhe was left quite surprised whenMahendra Singh Dhoni missed hittingthe last ball of the cliffhanger.

Patel wasn't expecting a maraud-ing Dhoni to miss Umesh Yadav'sslower delivery before his direct throwsealed it for the home team on Sunday.

Dhoni scored 24 off the first fiveballs of the final over before missingthe last ball. A scramble for one runended in Parthiv's direct throw leav-ing Shardul Thakur short of hiscrease.

"We honestly wanted him (Dhoni)to hit through the off-side on theshorter side of the ground. If he hadhit it on the leg-side, there were tworuns because I don't think the way heruns, there was any chance of stoppingthose two," an elated Patel said at thepost-match press conference.

"So we wanted (Umesh) to bowlslower and outside the off-stump andsurprisingly he missed it. I wasn'texpecting him to miss it but surpris-ingly he missed it," he said.

Patel said if Dhoni is around then70 to 80 runs in the last five overs isalways gettable at the Chinnaswamy.

"Playing in Bangalore or Mumbai,you know that 70 runs in the last fiveovers is gettable. You need at leasthave 80-90 runs to get in last fiveovers to defend. So, we wanted tosqueeze him.

"We wanted to bowl as many dotballs to him as possible, and put pres-sure on other batsmen because every-body knows how MS is. He wantedthe game to go down to last three-fourovers and he almost won the game,"said Patel.

The wicketkeeper-batsman scoredhis second half-century of the seasonand said that coach Gary Kirsten'sadvice of choosing the correct bowlerswas key to his success.

"Before the game started, I wastalking to Gary and he said 'you don'thave worry of anything you need tochoose your bowlers' and that isexactly what I did," said Patel.

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Pacer Hamid Hassanand former captain

Asghar Afghan were onMonday named inAfghanistan's 15-strongWorld Cup squad head-lined by IPL stars RashidKhan and MohammadNabi.

Gulbadin Naib willlead the side which alsofeatures MohammadShahzad and spinnerMujeeb ur Rahman.Afghan was removed ascaptain in all formatsearlier this year.

Hassan has beenrecalled after nearly athree-year hiatus.However, his fitnessremains under scrutinyafter he had been laid lowby a thigh injury. The 31-year-old has representedAfghanistan in 32 ODIswith 56 wickets to his

credit."We selected the best

squad considering factorssuch as experience, fit-ness, team balance, cur-rent form &conditions,"chief selec-tor, Dawlat KhanAhmadzai said in a state-ment.

Ahmadzai said theside will aim to playinspirational cricket dur-ing the tournament

which starts May 30 inthe United Kingdom.

"The mission is toplay inspirational cricketin the tournament; Iknow there are strongteams but we will do ourlevel best to achieve ourgoals," he said.

Ikram Alikhil, KarimJanat and Sayed Shirzadwere named the threedesignated reserves bythe committee.

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Pakistan captain SarfarazAhmed said on Monday that

being underdogs in next month'sWorld Cup eases the pressure onhis young team, who leave for thetournament this week.

Pakistan will play three warm-up matches before taking on joint-hosts England in a five-match one-day series and a Twenty20.

The 1992 World Cup winnersstart their campaign against theWest Indies in Nottingham onMay 31.

Sarfraz he would prefer hisside to go into the tournamentunder the radar.

"Look, when we go asfavourites, then it's a problem, butif we go as underdogs then otherteams feel the danger, so I thinkbeing underdogs is good for us andeases the pressure," Sarfraz told apress conference in Lahore beforethey depart for England onTuesday.

Sarfraz, 31, was among fivekey players rested for the white-wash ODI series defeat byAustralia last month to freshen up

the squad before the competition.The high-voltage clash

between arch-rivals Pakistan andIndia scheduled for Manchester onJune 16 promises to be one of themost tense of the tournament.

But Sarfraz played down thehype, saying all games are impor-tant.

"For us all nine matches areimportant so we will take everymatch as a match against India,"he said of Pakistan's bitter rivals —

who have won all six of their pre-vious World Cup clashes.

But Pakistan took theChampions Trophy against Indiain 2017 with a stunning 180-runvictory in the final.

"We have beaten India in abigger event recently so we willhave that advantage," said Sarfraz.

H5����$�/�5��5�00IHe said the theme of

Pakistan's World Cup mission is

"we have, we will", citing theteam's previous glories.

Along with the ChampionsTrophy two years ago, Pakistanwon the 1992 World Cup and the2009 World Twenty20.

"I think these are excitingtimes for Pakistan cricket and forthe team," said Mickey Arthur,who took over as head coach inMay 2016.

"We leave on a journey forwhich we have worked reallyhard," he said, adding that theyhave "a good team, both in talentand attitude".

"The initial thing is to quali-fy for the last four and take it fromthere, so I think we have the poten-tial to certainly go all the way butbefore that we have to play verywell," South African Arthur added.

Pakistan have named twoextra players in their squad for thefive-match one-day series againstEngland, with pacemanMohammad Amir and batsmanAsif Ali in addition to the 15 forthe World Cup.

But they have until May 23 tofinalise their squad for the tourna-ment.

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Blending panache withpower, Ajinkya Rahaneroared back to form with

a scintillating century and pro-pelled Rajasthan Royals to 191for six against Delhi Daredevilsin the Indian Premier Leaguehere on Monday.

Rahane remained not outon 105 off 63 balls, decoratinghis knock with three sixes and 11fours, while Steve Smith con-tributed 50 off 32 deliveries.

Asked to bat after ShreyasIyer called correctly at the toss,Rahane spearheaded RajasthanRoyals' innings after getting a lifeon 16, the culprit being IshantSharma, who dropped a sitter atsort fine-leg. The drop hurt thevisitors, but Delhi did well toprevent RR from going past 200.

Entering the game with over650 runs against Delhi in theleague, Rahane chose hisfavourite opponents to findform, and when he walked backto the dressing room, he hadover 750 to his name.

To start with, Rahane droveIshant through a crowded off-side field for a boundary, a shotthat had his characteristic ele-gance written all over it.

Stripped of captaincy lastweek following a string of poorresults, the 30-year-old wentinto attack mode and smashedAxar Patel for a six and a four atthe Sawai Man Singh Stadium,which had a dash of pink.

Seeing the flight early,Rahane danced down the crowdto hoist's Axar ball over him andinto the sightscreen.

Unfazed by the sight ofpacer Kagiso Rabada steamingin, he smoked the SouthAfrican's short of a length deliv-ery down the ground for anoth-er maximum.

He reached his fifty by dis-patching Chris Morris over themid-wicket for a four and cele-

brated it with fist pumps. A flur-ry of boundaries followed asRahane galloped along to bringup his second IPL hundred, thefirst coming seven years ago.

He raised his bat toacknowledge the applause fromthe crowd and his dugout thatwas as relieved as the batsmanhimself.

Meanwhile, Smith, whoreplaced Rahane as captainhours before the start of their last

match against Mumbai Indians,struck medium pacer SherfaneRutherford for three consecutiveboundaries to score his secondsuccessive half century of theseason.

And even as Smith and BenStokes gout out in quick succes-sion, Rahane was going strong,swiftly hitting Morris for aboundary over mid-off. At theother end, Ashton Turner fell fora third golden duck.