PNS n NEW DELHI

In what could be termed as amove to eliminate regional

imbalance in people’s repre-sentation between Jammu andKashmir regions, the Centre ismulling to appoint a newDelimitation Commission.The Commission will redrawthe size of Assembly con-stituencies and determine thenumber of seats to be reservedfor SCs and STs in the Valley.

According to highly placedsources, the proposed delimi-tation exercise was discussed ina series of recent meetingschaired by Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, andattended by Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik,Home Secretary Rajiv Gaubaand Intelligence BureauDirector Rajiv Jain.

The high-level meetingdecided to explore legal optionson the appointment of the newDelimitation Commission, asthe Farooq AbdullahGovernment had in 2002passed a law in thAssembly tofreeze delimitation up to 2026,which enabled the status quogiving greater number ofAssembly seats to the Kashmirregion. The last delimitationtook place in the State in 1993.

Currently, of the total 87

elected members of the Jammu& Kashmir Assembly, Kashmirregion has 46 seats but morepopulous Jammu region hasonly 37 seats.

As the State is underPresident’s Rule, withGovernor’s report andPresidential assent, the Centrecan bring a new DelimitationCommission and implementsame parameters in the entireState, which would result inincreasing the number of seatsin the Jammu region.

Apart from number para-meters, area factor was also tilt-ed in favour of Kashmir regionwhen last delimitation processwas undertaken in 1993.

The maximum number ofvoters in the Assembly seg-ments in the Kashmir region isnever more than 80,000.Certain Assembly segmentslike Gurez in the KashmirValley is having around only25,000 voters. But nearly allAssembly segments in Jammuregion have more than 98,000voters each and majority of theseats have more than 1.25 lakhvoters.

In nutshell, Jammu regionhas 37 seats with around 38lakh voters and Kashmir regionhas 46 seats with more than 40lakh voters, including morethan 1.2 lakh Kashmiri Hindu

votes, who were driven outfrom the Valley two decadesago when terrorism started.

Srinagar Lok Sabha con-stituency has 12,94,560 votersand Anantnag constituencyhas 13,97,272 voters. BaramullaLok Sabha constituency in theKashmir region has 13,17,738voters. The number of voters inJammu-Poonch and Kathua-Udhampur Lok Constituenciesis 20,47,299 and 16,85,779,respectively.

If the new DelimitationCommission implements sameparameters across both thedivisions in the State, the num-ber of seats would raise up toaround 50 seats in the Jammu& Kashmir Assembly with totalnumber of 87 seats, leading tothe total change in the politi-cal landscape.

Jammu to get justice in Assembly

PTI n NEW DELHI

Kashmiri separatists ShabirShah, Asiya Andrabi and

Masarat Alam Bhat werearrested on Tuesday in con-nection with a terror fundingcase and produced before aDelhi court which allowed theNational Investigation Agency(NIA) their 10-day custodialinterrogation.

The case relates to allegedterror funding in the Valley andinvolves Jama’at-ud-Da’wah(JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the2008 Mumbai terror attackmastermind based based inPakistan.

The NIA arrested the trioduring in-chamber proceed-ings before Special JudgeRakesh Syal and sought 15-day

custodial interrogation, advo-cate MS Khan, appearing forthe accused, told PTI. Shah andAndrabi were already in cus-tody in separate cases, whileAlam was brought fromJammu & Kashmir on transitremand where he was lodged in jail for alleged terror activ-ities. Both Shah and Andrabiwere produced before the courtfrom jail in pursuance to theproduction warrants issuedearlier.

The NIA had filed achargesheet in January 2018against Saeed, another terrormastermind Syed Salahuddinand 10 Kashmiri separatists ina case of alleged terror fundingand secessionist activities in thevalley. While Shah was in judi-cial custody in a decade-old

money laundering case foralleged terror financing,Andrabi was in jail in a case ofallegedly waging a war againstthe country and deliveringhate speeches in Jammu &Kashmir.

According to the NIA,Shah had received `10 lakhfrom hawala operator ZahoorAhmad Shah Watal, a co-accused in the case. Besides, themoney was also sent to thebanned outfit Dukhtaraan-e-Milat of which Andrabi was thechief, the NIA said.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n NEW DELHI

BJP president Amit Shah onTuesday pulled up Union

Minister Giriraj Singh for mak-ing a provocative tweet withpicture of Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar and his deputySushil Modi attending an iftarparty. Giriraj wondered whythey don’t celebrate “Navratri”with as much devotion, a com-ment which triggered a sharpcounter-attack from the JD(U),already upset with not havingdesired berths in the NarendraModi Cabinet.

The acerbic commentsfrom the Minister came daysafter the Modi Governmenttook charge at the Centre withthe Prime Minister himselfcautioning party MPs and lead-ers from making controversialcomments.

The BJP president’s inter-

vention looked a damage con-trol exercise and also anattempt to send down a mes-sage to all the leaders andMinisters not to make sensa-tional comments impactingthe Government adversely.

Taking a potshot at Nitish

Kumar, Sushil Modi and otherleaders for attending iftar,Giriraj tweeted, “How beauti-ful would this picture havebeen if a Navratri meal wouldhave been organised with thesame eagerness. Why do wehold back on our own faith and

get into pretence,” he wrote in Hindi.

A known detractor ofNitish since the days when heserved in the State cabinetunder the JD(U) chief, Singhappeared to have aimed hisbarb specifically at the ChiefMinister as all photographsfeatured him wearing a skull-cap and a namaz kerchief cov-ering his shoulders.

The Opposition RJDsought to send feelers to theBihar Chief Minister in view of“humiliation” unleashed by the NDA partner.

Besides Shah, Giriraj wasalso rebuked by his BJP col-league Sushil Modi as well asally Nitish Kumar over hisprovocative tweet.

“Giriraj Singh makes suchremarks deliberately, so thatyou (media) make news out ofit,” Nitish said in response to

the Minister’s tweet.The Minister’s party col-

league Sushil Modi had asharper response. “I don’t knowwhat he tweeted. Let me say, Iam proud to be a Hindu. I takepart in Holi programmes too,not just iftar. I have been a partof iftar celebrations for 25years. People who never host-ed a Holi Milan party are rais-ing questions today,” remarkedthe Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister.

JD(U) spokesperson SanjaySingh hit back at Giriraj. “He’sin the habit of making suchstatements and needs a mentalcheck-up now,” Sanjay said.

LJP leader Chirag Paswansaid, “Everyone knows whatkind of man Giriraj Singh ji is”and the party “would like to tellhim that we observe all festi-vals, whether Navratri orRamzan”.

Shah reprimands Giriraj for iftar jibe at Nitish

PNS n NEW DELHI

With more than 24 hoursgone without any trace of

the missing AN-32 aircraft inArunachal Pradesh, the IAF onTuesday intensified the searchoperations by deploying a long-range maritime reconnaissanceaircraft of the Navy besides ot-her aircraft. The Army and In-do-Tibetan Border Police (IT-BP) too have joined the mas-sive search operations and arepatrolling the area where theill-fated transport aircraft car-rying 13 on board, includingsix crew members, is feared tohave crashed on Monday.

Besides the induction ofthe P-8I long-range reconnais-sance aircraft of the Navy, theIAF itself pressed into servicetwo MI-17 helicopters, twoadvanced light helicopters, a C-130J plane and SU-30s. Theycarried out sorties in an effortto track down the plane nearMechuka advanced landingground in Arunachal Pradesh.

In fact, the C-130J planeequipped with synthetic aper-ture radars flew throughoutMonday night.

Continued on Page 7

AN-32 traceless,

Navy joins IAF

in search op

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

It’s going to be “Jai Shri Ram”vs “Jai Maa Kali” in West

Bengal. While the BJP is rais-ing the war cry of Jai Shri Ramin Bengal, the TMC hasresponded saying Jai Maa Kaliis a Bengali catchphrase andwould be used by its support-ers to counter Jai Shri Ram.

The TMC’s response cameafter BJP’s observer for theState Kailash Vijayvargiya said,“Bengal is the land of Mahakaliand we need her blessings,”adding his party would use JaiMaa Kali in tandem with JaiShri Ram to end the TMC’smisrule.

He said the slogans wouldbe used by the BJP workers tillthe TMC was not shoved out ofpower. “I wonder why MamataBanerjee is irked hearing JaiShri Ram slogans,” he said ask-ing whether such anger was a

pretension to appease an alter-nate section of the society.

“We are against the TMC’sappeasement and terror tactic,”he said, adding it was the twoissues of “appeasement andterror” that hastened thedecline of Mamata Banerjee inthe State.

Quickly reacting to theBJP’s proposal to “hijack” JaiMaa Kali, TMC youth wingleader and MP AbhishekBanerjee on Tuesday directedhis party men to counter JaiShri Ram with Jai Maa Kali.Abhishek is nephew of ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.

“Our slogan will be JaiMaa Kali which will be chant-ed against Jai Shri Ram,” hesaid, adding the “TRP of JaiShri Ram is down and the TRPof Jai Maa Kali is up because itreflects our Bengali culture.”

Elsewhere reacting to therecent outbreak of the trend

where religious sloganeeringwas considered the best way topolarise people, Bengal cinestar and director Aparna Sensaid, “By giving ‘knee jerk andimpulsive reactions’ to the JaiShri Ram slogans, MamataBanerjee was doing a great dis-service to her own politicalcause.”

The people are upset by theway she reacted recently byleaping off her car to confrontbystanders shouting Jai ShriRam, Sen said, adding, “She isturning her own voters against

her (party). She is digging herown grave.”

The actor said Mamatahad done enough develop-mental works to win her votesbut to do so she should stop

giving impulsive response toprovocations.

“Before giving any reactionshe should consult people likeAmit Mitra and Saugato Roy,”Sen said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

The suspense over the fate ofthe Uttar Pradesh gath-

bandhan ended on Tuesdaywhen BSP chief Mayawatimade it official that her partywill contest all the 11 Assemblyseats in the coming bypolls inthe State. However, Mayawation Wednesday kept the roomfor future alliance with the SP,advising SP chief Akhilesh toset his “house” in order for that.

Unfazed by Mayawati’svolte face, Akhilesh said hisparty is ready to fight thebypolls on its own.

Reacting to announcementby the BSP supremo, Akhileshon Wednesday said, “If thecoalition has broken, I willreflect deeply on it and if thecoalition is not there in the by-elections, then Samajwadi Partywill prepare for the elections.The SP will also fight on all 11seats alone.”

“We will contest bypoll onall 11 seats after consultingparty leaders soon. Even if ourpaths are different, we welcomeit,” Akhilesh said.

Mayawati’s decision to go italone in the bypolls is not justsurprising for the SP leadersbut also for the BSP cadre as theBSP never fought any bypollsin the past. The former UPChief Minister said if the SPdoes not learn from the mis-takes it made in the Lok Sabhaelection, both parties will even-tually contest independently inthe future also.

She said SP chief AkhileshYadav needs to set his party inorder and weed out those whowere responsible for failing toget their supporters’ vote enbloc during the Lok Sabhaelections. “It’s not a permanentbreak up. If we feel in futurethat the SP chief succeeds in his

political work, we’ll again worktogether. But if he doesn’t suc-ceed, it’ll be good for us to workseparately. So we have decidedto fight the by-election alone,”Mayawati said to a news agencyin New Delhi.

Claiming that the BSP hasnot benefited from the alliancewith the SP in the recently con-cluded elections, she said thetransfer of votes between thetwo parties did not take place.She even claimed that the SPcould not even manage tomaintain its hold on Yadavseats as well as the constituen-cies on which Akhilesh’s fam-ily members were contesting.

“We can’t ignore politicalcompulsions. In the Lok Sabhaelections, base vote ofSamajwadi Party, the ‘Yadav’community, didn’t support theparty. Dimple Yadav, Dha-rmendra Yadav and AkshayYadav have lost elections fromKannauj, Badaun and Firo-zabad respectively, and it hasmade us think a lot,” she added.

Stating that she has per-sonal ties with Akhilesh andDimple, Mayawati said theygave her a lot of respect. “Eversince the SP-BSP coalition tookplace, SP chief Akhilesh Yadavand his wife Dimple Yadav havegiven me a lot of respect. I alsoforgot all our differences in theinterest of the nation and gavethem respect. Our relation isn’tonly for politics, it’ll continueforever,” she said.

Continued on Page 7

Akhilesh retortsto Bua, says SPtoo will go solo

O THE PROPOSED EXERCISE WAS DISCUSSED IN

RECENT MEETINGS CHAIRED BY UNION HOME

MINISTER AMIT SHAH, ATTENDED BY J&K

GOVERNOR SATYA PAL MALIK, HOME

SECRETARY AND IB DIRECTOR

O THE MEETING DECIDED TO EXPLORE LEGAL

OPTIONS ON THE APPOINTMENT OF THE NEW

DELIMITATION COMMISSION, AS THE FAROOQ

ABDULLAH GOVERNMENT HAD IN 2002

PASSED A LAW TO FREEZE DELIMITATION

PROCESS UP TO 2026

O THE LAST DELIMITATION TOOK PLACE IN THE STATE IN 1993

O CURRENTLY KASHMIR REGION HAS 46 SEATS, BUT MORE POPULOUS JAMMU REGION HAS ONLY

37 SEATS IN 87 ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE JAMMU & KASHMIR ASSEMBLY

Beset by Jai Shri Ram, TMC invokes KaliBJP too plans to raise ‘Jai Maa Kali’

Shabir, Andrabi sent to 10-dayNIA custody for terror fundingMASARAT ALAM BHAT BROUGHT FROM J&K ON TRANSIT REMAND

‘Our slogan will beJai Maa Kali whichwill be chantedagainst Jai ShriRam,’ Mamata’snephew said,adding the ‘TRP ofJai Shri Ram isdown and the TRPof Jai Maa Kali isup because itreflects our ownBengali culture’

Shah plans to end inequityin J&K representation, toend freeze on delimitation

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OPINION 6

TANGO WITHPAKISTAN

PNS n LUCKNOW

There is a good news and abad news for vehicle own-

ers. Good news is that the Yogigovernment has announcedportability of vehicle registra-tion number and the bad newsis that drivers will now have tocough up more for the violationof traffic rules.

The decisions were takenin the state Cabinet meetingchaired by Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Tuesday.

Briefing reporters, govern-ment spokesperson SidharthNath Singh said that henceforthvehicle owners can port theirold vehicle number in theirnew vehicle. “There areinstances where vehicle ownerwants to retain old number ofhis vehicle once they switchover to new vehicle. They cando it now. They will get the oldregistration number for theirnew car while the new regis-tration number will be given tothe old car which they have dis-carded so there will be nochange in the break,” thespokesman said.

He said the governmenthad carried out an amendmentin the Motor Vehicle Act-1988which also allowed increase infinancial penalty for any viola-tion of traffic rules. In mostcases it has been doubled.

The penalty for drivingvehicle without the registrationnumber has been increasedfrom ` 300 to ` 500 while fortalking on mobile phone whiledriving and driving withouthelmet the fine has been dou-bled to ` 1,000 from the exist-ing ` 500. “This decision hasbeen taken to curb traffic vio-

HOLIDAY NOTICEThe press and offices of ThePioneer will remain closed onaccount of Eid-ul-Fitr onJune 5 (Wednesday). Therewill, therefore, be no issue ofthe newspaper on June 6(Thursday).

lation as the number of viola-tions has increased. Peoplehave developed a penchant toviolate rules and then driveaway after paying a penalty.Thus, the government has nowdecided to increase the penal-ty so that it should pinch thepocket of the violator and theshould follow the rules,” thespokesman said.

In another decision, thegovernment has hiked the feefor fancy or VVIP registrationnumbers. While for four-wheelers, the fees will bebetween ` 15,000 and ` onelakh and for the two-wheelersit will be between ̀ 20,000 and` 30,000.

Earlier, the fee for the two-wheelers and four-wheelerswas the same. With thisamendment different rate willcome into play for two-wheel-ers and four-wheelers.

The government also gaveapproval to a set up a specialpurpose vehicle (SPV) for massrapid transport system in thestate which will constructMetro rail. “The Cabinet hasdecided to set up a special pur-pose vehicle (SPV), UP MetroRail Corporation (UPMRC)will look into the constructionof mass rapid transport system,including Metro rails in thestate, excluding Noida andGreater Noida,” he said.

The Cabinet also extendedthe norm for submission offorms for the OBCs to get sub-sidy for daughters’ marriage.Earlier, the last date was May 31but now it has been extendedto June 30. “Because of modelcode of conduct this decisioncould not be taken. But now thegovernment has decided togive a rebate of one month,” hesaid.

The state government hasalso approved a 200 kilometres-long sewage line in Mirzapurunder Atal urban sewage pro-gramme at a cost of ` 264.76crore.

the pioneerwishes its reader

EidMubarak

Decisions takenin Cabinetmeeting toensure strictcompliance oftraffic rules

Traffic rules violators in UP to pay more

city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

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WANTED

Alliance collapse gives SP a blow

PNS n LUCKNOW

The collapse of the alliancewith the Bahujan Samaj

party has given a big jolt to theSamajwadi party ChiefAkhilesh Yadav. AkhileshYadav had kept all eggs in onebasket and he was caught offguard. He had no inkling of thesudden development is provedby the fact that a huge portraitof Mayawati was on the dais inAzamgarh where SP chiefaddressed a public meeting onMonday.

What is particularly gallingfor the Samajwadi Party is thelong list of the prescriptiongiven by Mayawati to AkhileshYadav for reforming his party.Mayawati assertion that “evenYadavs have deserted theSamajwadi Party and they didnot vote for Dimple Yadav inKannauj leading to her defeat”has offended the rank and file

of the SP.“Mayawati by harping that

Yadavs have deserted theSamajwadi Party is only assert-ing her claim that only theDalit-Muslim combine led bythe BSP can take on the BJP,”said SP leader who lost therecent Lok Sabha elections. Healso accused the BJP offomenting fresh trouble tobreak the alliance. Mayawatiannouncement that her partywill contest byelections to 11Assembly seats in UP has alsointrigued the Samajwadi Party.The BSP when out of powernever contests byelections inthe past. SP leader saidMayawati had tried to insulateher from criticism for breakingthe alliance. “Her claim thatthere is no permanent break inalliance and her personal rela-tions with Akhilesh and hiswife will continue makes nosense in electoral politics. We

will together celebrate Holi andDiwali but will contest elec-tions separately. She used to tierakhi to senior BJP leaderLalji Tandon but it neverimpacted the politics of boththe parties,” said the SP leader.

A close aide of AkhileshYadav said Mayawati is in thehabit in blaming somebodyafter every election. “After thedefeat of her party in 2012Assembly elections, she hadblamed Muslims for not sup-porting her candidates. AfterBSP drew blank in 2014 LokSabha elections, she had blamedthe EVMs and now she is blam-ing the Samajwadi Party and thelack of transfer of Yadav votes,”said the SP leader.

Mulayam’s close relativeand SP MLA blamed ‘maha-gathbandhan’ for spelling adoom for the Samajwadi Party.Hari Om Yadav, SP MLA fromShikohabad Assembly con-

stituency in Firozabad, said:“Had the SP contested alone, itwould have got 25 seats whilethe BSP would have won zeroseats.”

Akhilesh Yadav is facingtough questions from his fatherMulayam Singh Yadav about thealliance with the BSP. The BSPemerged as a clear gainer fromthe alliance by taking its zerotally in 2014 to 10 in 2019 whilethe SP remained stagnant withonly five seats.

A political analyst said:“Never in the history of inde-pendent India, barring thealliance of the Janata Dal(United) and Rashtriya JanataDal in Bihar, the alliance of theregional parties in any stateworked.” The analyst said: “TheJD (U) and RJD alliance inBihar lasted for over a yearbecause JD (U) leader and RJDchief Lalu Yadav are the prod-uct of the same family.”

PNS n LUCKNOW

Taking a jibe at Mayawati’sdecision to break alliance

and contest bypolls on its own,the state unit of the BJP said thatits prediction about the SP-BSPmahagathbandhan going in adisarray would prove true afterthe Lok Sabha results.

“It is the family drama of theSP-BSP. The Bua-Bhatija willcome up with more episodesand will expose each other inthe public,” said governmentspokesperson Srikanth Sharmahere on Tuesday.

Sharma, who is also PowerMinister in UP government,said that people had rejected the

opportunistic alliance whichjoined hands in the Lok Sabhapolls. “They knew that this wasnot gathbandhan but thagband-han. And now when it failed,they are blaming each other,” hesaid.However, the BJP leader wasmore critical about SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav saying the elec-tions had put a big questionmark over his leadership quali-ty. “The day Akhilesh took the

reins of the SP, the party is goingdown . Akhilesh has no confi-dence,” he said while talking toreporters.

“Akhilesh first allied withthe Congress when they were inpower in 2017 but failed total-ly. Now again in 2019, they setup a mahagathbandhan butagain failed. This shows hispolitical incompetence and lackof people’s connect, “ he said.

BJP mocks at SP-BSP tieup‘Prediction

comes true’

Congress leaders advocating

skipping of byelections

PNS n LUCKNOW

In the wake of the recentdrubbing in parliamentary

elections as well as confusionover who will lead the party andhow the organisation will takeshape in the coming days, somesenior Congress leaders areadvocating to drop the idea ofcontesting the byelections. Theelection to 11 Assembly seg-ments have been necessitatedafter 11 legislators from the statewon the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders gave advisethat it would be better that firststrengthen the organisation andthen before the public withsome public-related issues. Theworkers and leaders are demor-alised not just with the recentdefeat but also over uncertain-ty over Rahul Gandhi continu-ing as president. Rahul Gandhihad already submitted his res-

ignation and refused to bow tothe demand to withdraw it.Delay in his decision has alsobadly affected the state-levelorganisations as almost all theunits, including UP, are to berevamped.

Sources in the party con-firmed that some veteran partyleaders, including some for-mer state presidents, sent a let-ter to Rahul Gandhi, urging himto concentrate on building theparty organisation before con-testing elections. “The byelec-tions to 11 Assembly segmentswill not change the complexionof the state Assembly since theBJP is way ahead of the halfwaymark but if the Congress doesnot fare well then the party willface maximum embarrassment,”claimed a former state presidentwho was against contestingbypolls under present circum-stances. The veteran party

leader feel that it is better thatthe Congress should startpreparing for the 2022Assembly elections which isstill two-and-a half years away.“We have enough time till thenext Assembly elections, so weshould learn from the BJP whenit comes to mobilising partycadres. The party should take upone Assembly segment at atime and ensure that the organ-isation is built down to thebooth level,” the leader saidwhile stressing on strengthen-ing of organisation.

“There are 403 Assemblysegments. And even if wedevote one day to one segment,we will build up the organisa-tion within 13 months afterwhich the party can start selec-tion of candidates,” claimed aformer minister in the UnitedProgressive Alliance govern-ment at the Centre. “There is no

doubt that every Congressworker and leader now feels thattime has come for us to end ourdifferences and work collective-ly towards strengthening theparty. I agree that we shouldavoid contesting byelectionsunless we are very sure of theresults,” the former ministeradded.

It may be mentioned thatby-elections to 11 Assemblysegments are to be held in UP.Rita Bahuguna Joshi, a legisla-tor from Lucknow Cantt, hasbeen elected to the Lok Sabhafrom Allahabad and herAssembly seat has fallen vacant.Similarly, Satyadev Pachauriwon from Kanpur and hisAssembly seat Govind Nagarwill fall vacant. SP Singh Baghelhas won from the Agra LokSabha seat and his Assemblyseat Tundla will face a byelec-tion.

RLD opting for wait

and watch policy

over SP-BSP breakup

PNS n LUCKNOW

With alliance between theSP and BSP heading

towards endgame and likely tobe snapped following the polldrubbing in Lok Sabha elec-tion, its alliance partnerRashtriya Lok Dal had cometo play the role of a fence-sit-ter right now.

In the Lok Sabha election,RLD bigwigs lost their seatsfrom Mathura, Baghpat andMuzaffarnagar. RLD supre-mo Ajeet Singh contested theelection from Muzaffarnagarwhile his son and vice-presi-dent of RLD JayantChowdhury fought fromBaghpat. RLD’s strongman inWest UP Narendra Singhfought from Mathura. TheRLD had got seats under apact and Samajwadi Party hadshared to RLD seats from itsown kitty as the BSP wasreluctant on seat-sharing. Onthe other hand, SP bagged fiveseats loosing one seat inKannauj while the BSP bagged10 seats improving its poll tallyin 2014 Lok Sabha election.

“The alliance suffered asetback after the BSP supremoalleged that SP votes were nottransferred to the BSP in theelection and this was the rea-son of poll debacle. She also

claimed that Yadav voters didnot vote to SP even and thatwas why SP lost Kannauj. Thealliance further reached thebrink of collapse when BSPsupremo Mayawati said shewould go all alone in thebyelections to 11 seats in UttarPradesh,” the sources in theRLD said.

Now the blame gamebetween the SP and BSP isunderway, the RLD leaders areopting for wait-and-watch pol-icy instead of taking any ini-tiative to save the alliancefrom falling apart. “The RLDtop leaders felt obliged whenSP supremo Akhilesh sharedseats to the RLD from his kitty.This way RLD’s top leaders aremore on the side of the SPthan the BSP. But RLD supre-mo Ajeet Singh, who is a sea-soned politician and nevermind turning up the applecartin his interest, has decided towait and watch which way theongoing alliance fiasco isheading.

RLD spokesman AnilDubey said the party leaderswere mulling over the courseof action in the ongoingdilemma over the alliance’sfuture. “We are yet to find outif the Jatav voters cast theirvotes for RLD contestants inWest UP,” he said.

Muzaffarnagar riots: 5 arrestedover youth’s killing

Muzaffarnagar (PTI):Police on Tuesday arrestedfive people accused of killinga man whose death was a trig-ger for the Muzaffarnagarriots in 2013.

According to the prosecu-tion, the five — Prahlad,Bishan Singh, Tendu,Devender and Jitender — werearrested when the policereached their homes in Uttar

Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar dis-trict to execute a court orderto attach their properties.

They were produced in acourt, where Acting ChiefJudicial Magistrate VipinKumar rejected their bail plea,saying there was no case ofbail. They were sent to judicialcustody till Friday, said advo-cate Mohsin Raza Zaidi, thecomplainant’s lawyer.

Dry weather inUttar Pradesh

Lucknow (PTI):Maximum temperatures roseby a few notches at manyplaces in Uttar Pradesh as theweather remained dry in thestate. Jhansi was recorded as thehottest place in the state at 45.7degrees Celsius, an official atthe MeT department said.

Allahabad recorded a highof 42.8 degrees Celsius, fol-lowed by Kanpur 42 degreesCelsius, Varanasi 41 degreesCelsius and Lucknow 40degrees Celsius, he said.

According to a forecast bythe MeT department, theweather is likely to remain dryover eastern Uttar Pradesh,and rains/thunderstorm arevery likely at isolated placesover western Uttar Pradesh inthe next few days.

Meanwhile, it was a warmTuesday morning in thenational capital, with partlycloudy skies, as the minimumtemperature settled one notchabove the season’s average at28.7 degrees Celsius.

OBITUARY

OBITUARY

NOTICE

It is notified for information thatmy original certificate for all Indiasenior school certificate examina-tion 2009 and Ro No.- 5710492has been lost. Gargi Pathak D/oSmt. Kirti Pathak and AshokKumar Pathak C-I/130 VikrantKhand Gomti Nagar Lucknow-226010, Mo-9453040009.

NOTICE

I , Lal i t Singh S/o HavPushkar Singh Adhikari, R/o-Vi l l -Kanole, Post-Banku,District-Champawat. State-Uttarakhand, India have correct-ed my name from Lalit Singh toLalit Adhikari, through affidavitdated 03-06-2019 before collec-trate court Lucknow.

NOTICE

I, Prangya Paramita D/o HavPabittara Kumar Sahoo, R/o-Vill-Kalibir, Post-Bindhanima, District-Cuttack, State-Odisha, Pin-754030, have corrected myname from Prangya Paramita toPrangyaParamita Sahoo, throughaffidavit dated 03-06-2019before collectrate court Lucknow.

NOTICE

I, Biswas S/o hav PabitraKumar Sahoo, R/o Vill-Kalibir,Post-Bindhanima, District-Cuttack, State-Odisha, Pin-754030, have corrected myname from Biswas to BiswasSahoo, through affidavit dated03-06-2019 before collectratecourt Lucknow.

city 03LUCKNOW I WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The IITR pre-monsoon reportwhich was released onTuesday showed Vikas

Nagar as the most polluted in theresidential areas and Charbagh themost polluted in the commercialareas in both the PM10 and PM2.5 levels. The maximum 24 hourmean concentration of PM10observed in Vikas Nagar was 185.7μg/m3 in residential areas and inCharbagh it was 190.9 μg/m 3 incommercial areas. The maximum24 hour mean concentration ofPM2.5 observed in Vikas Nagarwas 88.2 μg/m3 in the residentialareas and in Charbagh 92.0μg/m3 in the commercial areas.

In terms of noise pollution,Gomti Nagar is the noisiest dur-ing daytime and Indira Nagarduring night time in the residen-tial areas. Charbagh is the noisiestduring daytime as well as at nightamong commercial areas.

Gomti Nagar recorded 66decibels in the morning and IndiraNagar recorded a maximum of62.9 decibels at night in the resi-dential areas. Charbagh recordeda maximum of 86.6 db in themorning and 67.9 decibels atnight. The report, however, showsthat there is a slight decreasingtrend in air pollution though thereadings at all the locations wereabove the minimum standard.Head of Environment Division SCBurman said that this might bedue to the full-fledged operationof Metro rails, cleanliness of road-

side areas, restriction of municipalsolid waste burning and prevailingmeteorological conditions.

“Construction, industrial,commercial and road transporta-tion activity-based airborne parti-cles mainly affect the city’s ambi-ent environment. The summerseason of the city has a greaterinfluence due to dust storm anddry soil dust entrainment due tothe natural winds which affect themovement of vehicles on theroad,” he said.

He said that the rapid growthof population concentration andtheir activities and a larger demandfor goods and services in Lucknowcity had led to an increase in pol-lution. The results revealed that theRSPM (PM10) level at all the mon-itoring locations of residential,commercial and industrial areaswas higher than the NAAQS.The mean level of fine particles(PM2.5) at all the monitoringlocations of residential, commer-cial and industrial areas was high-er than the NAAQS (NationalAmbient Air Quality standards.Also, the noise level at all the loca-tions during the day and night wascomparatively higher than theirrespective permissible limits whichwas 100 μg/m3 for PM10 and 60μg/m3 for PM 2.5.

The study was carried out dur-ing the months of April-May,2019, to assess the status of airquality by monitoring and assess-ing some selected air pollutants likeRespirable Suspended ParticulateMatter (RSPM or PM10), Fine

Particulate Matter (PM2.5), gasesand metals. Nine air quality mon-itoring locations representing dif-ferent activity areas, four in resi-dential, four in commercial-cum-traffic and an industrial area wereselected for the study.

The results revealed the 24-hour concentration of PM10should be in the permissible rangeof 102.3 to 290.5 μg/m3 with anaverage of 178.5μg/m3 .

In the residential areas Aliganj,Vikas Nagar, Indira Nagar andGomti Nagar, the 24-hour averageconcentrations of PM10 were inthe range of 170.7 to 185.7 μg/m3with an average of 180.1 μg/m3. Incommercial areas Charbagh,Alambagh, Aminabad and Chowk,the average concentrations ofPM10 were in the range of 151.1to 190.9 μg/m3 with an average of174.3 μg/m3 respectively.

In the industrial area(Amausi), the average concentra-tion of PM10 was 189.2 μg/m 3.The maximum 24-hour meanconcentration of PM10 wasobserved in Vikas Nagar (185.7μg/m3 ) in the residential areas andCharbagh (190.9 μg/m 3 ) incommercial areas. The 24-hourconcentration of PM2.5 was foundto be in the range of 51.5 to 130.7μg/m3 with an average of 84.3μg/m3. In the residential areasAliganj, Vikas Nagar, Indira Nagarand Gomti Nagar, the 24-houraverage concentrations of PM2.5were in the range of 83.0 to 88.2μg/m3 with an average of 85.2μg/m3 . In commercial areas like

Charbagh, Alambagh, Aminabadand Chowk, the average concen-trations of PM2,5 were in the rangeof 75.3 to 92.0 μg/m3 with an aver-age of 84.7 μg/m3 respectively. Inindustrial area (Amausi), the aver-age concentration of PM2.5 was79.8 μg/m3. The maximum 24-hour mean concentration ofPM2.5 was observed in VikasNagar (88.2 μg/m3 ) in the residen-tial areas and Charbagh (92.0μg/m3 ) in the commercial areas.All the values of PM2.5 wereabove the prescribed NAAQS of 60μg/m3 for industrial, residential,rural and other areas

Noise levels during day andnight time were found to be in therange of 65.3 to 86.6 dB (A) and56.0 to 67.9 dB (A) respectivelywhich was above the respectivepermissible limits

In the residential areas the dayand night time noise levels wererecorded between 65.3 and 72.7and 56.0 to 62.9 dB(A) respective-ly. All the values were higher thanthe prescribed limits of 55 and 45dB(A) for day and night timerespectively. In commercial andtraffic areas, the day and night timenoise levels were recorded between67.2 and 86.6 and 60.1 to 67.9dB(A) respectively. Noise level atall the pre-monsoon 2019 com-mercial sites during day and nighttime were found above the pre-scribed limits of 65 and 55 dB(A)respectively. In the industrial area,Amausi, the day and night timenoise levels were recorded at 76.2and 66.4 dB(A) respectively.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The IITR report shows that high-er levels of air pollutants. includ-

ing metals, have adverse effects onhuman and environmental health.

Head of the EnvironmentDivision of IITR, SC Burman saidthat air pollution created a series ofsignificant health problems such aspremature death, aggravated asthma,acute respiratory symptoms anddecreased lung function in the formof shortness of breath and chronicbronchitis etc.

“Particulate matter is also a majorcause of visibility impairment.Further fine particles can remain sus-pended in air and travel long dis-tances across regional and interna-tional borders without sinking andsettling. Numerous epidemiologicalstudies indicate that an increase inparticulate matter concentration isassociated with increased mortality,increased hospitalisation for respira-tory and cardiovascular diseases,increased respiratory symptoms anddecreased lung functions,” he point-ed out. The scientist said that it was

a known fact that PM10 and PM2.5levels increased the mortality andmorbidity in the exposed people. Fineairborne particulate matter for thediameter 2.5 μm, when inhaled wouldpenetrate beyond the larynx. “Smallparticles penetrate deep into thelung and can cause a respiratory dis-ease like bronchitis and aggravate theexisting heart disease. Ultra fine par-ticles ranging from 0.001 to 0.1micron in diameter are able to pen-etrate deep into the lungs and to thealveolar sacs where gaseous exchangeoccurs,” he said.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

The IITR pre-monsoonreport makes certain recom-

mendations for improvement inthe ambient air quality. Scientistssaid as per recommendationsmade in the previous reports,the district administration hastaken measures to minimise airpollution which also helpedimprove the air quality of thecity. High levels of air pollutantsand their effects on humanhealth is a serious issue and toresolve this, comprehensivestudies are required with respectto present status of different pol-lutants and their trends, sourcesof pollutants, and public healthrisk assessment for future plan-ning urban areas.

“Major roads of the cityshould be widened as far as pos-sible, suitable modification oncrossing for smooth traffic flow,encroachments be removed forsmooth flow of traffic, restorefootpath for pedestrians, provi-sion of parking facilities by pri-

vate operators on vacant privateland and increase in the parkingcharges on hourly basis to discourage the use of personalvehicles in congested areas,” he said.

Among other recommenda-tions are strengthening of sub-sidised public mass transport tominimize the use of personalvehicles, improvement in trafficmanagement, public awarenessprogramme of air pollution andits health effects, reduction ofautomobile pollution by propermaintenance of vehicles, drivingskills, to systematically develop

residential complex at theperiphery of the city with allfacilities to reduce crowd fromcentral areas of the city and pro-vision of bus stands on all theoutgoing highways to reducetraffic load inside city.

The scientists have also rec-ommended removal of garbagedumps along the roads, ban onburning of dry leaves, tyres orany other type of solid waste andarrangement for its proper dis-posal, plantation of trees wher-ever possible in parks, openspaces and road side areas,more CNG filling stations acrossthe city, encouragement for bat-tery-operated or hybrid vehicles,promoting solar energy as analternate to diesel generatorsets, pressure horns to beremoved from all vehicles andavoid or minimise use of horn,connectivity to Metro stationsfrom surrounding areas by elec-tric vehicles and heavy dustremoval system to be installedat major traffic point which maybe operated during peak hours.

In pre-monsoon IITR report,

Vikas Nagar most polluted

‘Higher levels of air pollutants can endanger human health’

Scientists recommend measures

for improvement in air quality

Confronted for eve-teasing, youths run riot

Lucknow (PNS): Over adozen youths ran riot, peltingstones and lobbing crude bombsat the houses in sector-G ofJankipuram on Monday nightafter they were confronted for eve-teasing at a ‘Tilak’ ceremony in thelocality. Several people wereinjured and window panes ofmany houses were broken. Theattackers reigned terror for hours,forcing the residents to remainconfined to their houses beforefleeing the scene unchallenged.

As per reports, a youth actedfresh with a girl at the ‘Tilak’ cer-emony. Some neighbours of thegirl confronted the youth whenthe girl raised an alarm. Thissnowballed into a verbal spat asthe aides of the accused alsojoined in. A youth of sector Gcalled the police after which theaccused and his aides fled thescene. A police team reached theplace but had to return as theaccused had already escaped.

After the police left, theaccused youth, along with over adozen aides, reached the sceneagain. “The youths started throw-ing stones at the house where thefunction was underway. The ter-rified guests started fleeing thescene, resulting in a stampede-likesituation. However, the attackersdid not stop and also attackedadjacent houses with crudebombs,” a resident said, addingthat the entire area wore a desert-ed look after the horror ended andeerie silence prevailed. “After awhile, some residents came outand showed us the cracks in thewindowpanes at their houses,”said a member of the family thathad organised the function.

Six cops suspended for givingspecial treatment to undertrial

Lucknow (PNS): Six con-stables, including two womenof Reserve Police Lines, weresuspended on Tuesday for giv-ing ‘royal treatment’ to anundertrial lodged in Lucknowjail and was to be presentedbefore a court in Faridabad dis-trict where he is named in acase of fraud.

As per reports, constablesArun (I), Arun (II), Ramesh,Rajan, Preeti and Sushila wereasked to escort accusedAbhinav Mittal, named in acase of fraud registered at

Soorajkund police station ofFaridabad. Later, the constablestook Abhinav Mittal to Noidaafter he was presented in thecourt in Faridabad. “The policeteam took the accused to arestaurant where he was givena royal treatment and allowedto move freely. Some com-muters made a video andshared it on social media.Taking a strong note, SSP(Lucknow) Kalanidhi Naithaniordered suspension of the con-stables in question,” policespokesman AK Dwivedi said.

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali trying to sight the crescent moon on theeve of Eid-ul-Fitr in Lucknow on Tuesday. The moon was sighted and the festival,marking the end of Ramzan, will be celebrated on Wednesday Pioneer

city 04LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

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PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Lucknow DevelopmentAuthority (LDA) has

chalked out plans to keep itsupcoming residential coloniesand those still incomplete inproper hygienic condition with-out depending on governmentagencies or private partners. Ithas enunciated garbage man-agement plans and alsodesigned a special sewer treat-ment plant, and are engaged indeveloping the technique relat-ed to recycling of water andgarbage dumping grounds.

The aim to develop andintroduce the latest technologyfor recycling of water is to makethe residential colonies andother establishments self-reliantin terms of potable water. There

is a scarcity of drinking waterat LDA’s housing schemes andits administration is seekingtechnical assistance from aprestigious research institute ofthe city.

Vice-Chairman PN Singhsaid the LDA administrationwas unable to maintain hygien-ic conditions at its residentialcolonies as it had to depend onother government, semi-gov-ernment and private agencies.He pointed out that the LDAofficials were not empowered totake action against them in caseof unsatisfactory work.

Gomti Nagar Extensionwill be the first to have a spe-cial treatment plant, garbagemanagement system andround-the-clock potable watersupply. A garbage dumping

ground will also be developedthere for the first time.Lucknow MunicipalCorporation is engaged incleaning these localities butthe work is said to be unsatis-factory and below par. Once thegarbage management system isin effect, the situation willimprove. The garbage dumpingground is the top-priority forquick disposal. Meanwhile, theLDA administration haschanged the blueprint of a pro-ject under Prime Minister AwasYojana (PMAY) on SultanpurRoad to set up sewer treatmentand garbage management sys-tems. The LDA administrationhas taken permission from theUnion Housing DevelopmentMinistry for making thechange.

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

There has been a 40 per centdecrease in neonatal mortal-

ity in just 21 months in fourblocks of the Lucknow districtthrough simplified treatmentof possible serious bacterialinfection (PSBI) along with sup-portive supervision of home-based newborn care.

Dr Shaily Awasthi ofKGMU’s Paedriatics depart-ment, while giving this informa-

tion, said these were the prelim-inary results of the implemen-tation of their research project.She said the project was start-ed in June 2017 and lasted for 21months. “It ran in four blocks ofLucknow district —Sarojininagar, Kakori, Maal andGosainganj — covering a pop-ulation of 8.56 lakh in 780 vil-lages. These areas have fourCHCs and 14 PHCs. In thesehealth facilities, there are 57 doc-tors, 142 ANMs and 780 ASHA

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Thieves stole 60 taps from thehouse of Justice Rakesh

Srivastava in Vishal Khand local-ity of Gomti Nagar on Mondayafternoon. However, police didnot disclose details of the inci-dent to mediapersons until acase was registered in this con-

nection on Tuesday.Sadashiv of Vishal Khand

locality told the police that helooks after the house of JusticeSrivastava. “Around 10 am onMonday, I went out for somework after locking the main gateof the house. When I returnedaround 6 pm, I was shocked tonotice that all the taps in the

bathroom were missing. I wentinto the kitchen and other bath-rooms and came to know that allthe taps were missing. The mis-creants also decamped withbathroom showers,” he said,adding that he called JusticeSrivastava and later informed thepolice. The police developedcold feet on getting the informa-

tion. A team was sent to theplace for investigation. As theincident involved the house of ajudge, the police tried to hush upthe case. However, a case wasregistered in this connection andthe police started investigations.The police said they were scan-ning CCTV footages to trackdown the thieves.

Lucknow (PNS):Mutilated bodies of two menwere recovered from railwaytracks in Banthra. Police saidthe victims met a mishapwhile traveling by a train.However, no travel ticket wasrecovered from their posses-sion. Guard Santosh Kumarof Lonha village spotted thebodies lying at Lonha railwaycrossing near Harauni railwaystation. “I was going towardsthe forest area alongside therailway tracks when I spottedthe bodies lying some 500metres apart,” he told thepolice. The police spokesmansaid identities of the deceasedcould not be ascertained.“One of the deceased had RSPinscribed on his right hand.No documents were recov-ered from them,” he said.Ruling out the possibility offoul play, he said the victimsfell down from train anddied.

CMS DELEGATION TO LEAVE FOR USAA five-member delegation of City Montessori School,

Aliganj Campus I, will be leaving shortly for USA to partici-pate in the Children’s International Summer Village Camp(CISV). The delegation comprises four students and one teacher.The student members of the delegation are Shrey Shukla,Sanskriti Chandel, Aashifa Ansari and Pranav Singh, led byteacher Megha Thakur. The camp is being organised under theaegis of CISV, England, in which several student delegationsfrom different countries will be participating.

SUMMER CAMP AT EXCELLIA SCHOOLThe 9-day summer camp organised by Excellia School con-

cluded on Tuesday. The children had several activities to choosefrom. On the last day of thecamp, parents were invited towitness the presentation bytheir wards. The beautiful art& craft work to fun-filleddrama and from foot-tappinginstrumental presentationsto dance performances hadthe parents mesmerised.

ENVIRONMENT WEEKLucknow Metro is cele-

brating ‘Environment Week,2019’ to spread awarenessamong people about the con-servation and protection ofenvironment. All the officialsand employees, includingmanaging director KumarKeshav, on Tuesday took oathto keep the biodiversity viablefor better life on earth.Saplings were also distributedamong the workers.Competitions like poster-mak-ing, debate and on-spot slo-gans were also organised at theHazratganj station. June 5 iscelebrated every year as ‘WorldEnvironment Day’. LMRC isorganising different pro-grammes from June 3 to 9spread awareness among peo-ple about their role in reduc-ing environmental pollution.

MAHINDRA GROUP

On World EnvironmentDay, Mahindra Group rein-forced its commitment towardsenvironment with theannouncement of its ‘Citizens’Movement’ initiative to moti-vate people to plant a trees.Individuals who are not able todo so can like share or com-ment on #CelebrateDifferentlyand Mahindra will plant a treeon their behalf as a part of theMahindra Hariyali initiative.

workers. All of them were givenskill training for execution ofhome-bases newborn care andto provide WHO-simplifiedtreatment for PSBI,” she said.

She pointed out that a sim-ilar training was also given to thehealth functionaries of the otherfour rural blocks of Lucknow.Besides, all the pediatriciansposted in Lucknow district in2017 attended the three-dayskill workshop on training oftrainers. “During the project,there were 24,448 live births, giv-ing a crude birth rate of 19.1 per1,000 of population. As a part ofthe HBNC programme, ASHAsvisit newborns in their homes ondays 1 (only for home deliver-ies), 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42. Theproportion of neonates visited inthe first week increased from 78per cent to 86 per cent. The pro-portion of sick young infantsincreased from four per cent to11 per cent. This was possiblethrough supportive supervisionby project staff during field vis-its of ASHA workers and rein-forced skills. This increasedconfidence in ASHA workersand helped them work with

motivation. There were 1129cases of PSBI, of which 90.6%were identified by ASHA work-ers and ANMs,” she said. Sheadded 72.5 per cent did notagree for referral to the districthospital for treatment.

“They were treated byWHO-simplified treatment attheir homes. In this regime,Gentamicin injection is givenonce a day and oral AmoxicillinDT twice a day for up to sevendays. For receiving Gentamicininjection, the parents took theirneonates to CHC or PHC and infew cases, the ANMs went totheir homes and administeredthe injection. Among the 819cases, there were just 14 deaths,”she added. Dr Awasthi said thatthere were 118 very sick childrenwho were either convulsive ornot feeding at all or no move-ment at all. “Their mothersagreed to go to district hospitalfor treatment. Of the 118 cases,there were 18 deaths. However,223 went to private hospitals fortreatment. Of them, there were47 per cent deaths. Thus com-bining all 1,129 PSBI cases,there were 139 deaths,” she said.

‘40% decrease in neonatalmortality rate in 21 months’

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

Judge’s house burgled, 60 taps stolen

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya distributing prasad among devotees at a bhandara organised in Hazratganj on the occasion of Bada Mangal Pioneer

Mutilated bodies

recovered from

railway tracks

LDA chalks out plan to ensure

basic amenities in colonies

nation 05

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Minister PrahladSingh Patel, who took

charge of the Tourism Ministryon Tuesday, said his endeavourwould be to take forward thework done in the sector in thelast five years and break thestereotypes associated withBundelkhand region ofMadhya Pradesh and Northeastto promote the regions as trav-el destinations.

Patel, a BJP MP fromDamoh in Madhya Pradesh,who has also managed theparty’s affairs in Manipur, saidmore tourism opportunitiesare now opening up inNortheast region with “insur-gency being reigned in”.

He was interacting withreporters at his office inTransport Bhawan here, aftertaking charge as the Minister ofState for Tourism (IndependentCharge).

“There is this wrong per-ception that people have about

Bundelkhand, that there is a lotof poverty there and migrationis happening, but its rich historyand heritage has not received itsdue. One of my priorities as aminister would be to get theplace its due,” Singh said.

“Northeast too is a big,beautiful region and has somuch more tourism opportu-nities after insurgency has beenreigned in,” Singh said.

Asked about apprehensionbeing raised in the past about“saffronisation” being intro-duced in the name of promot-ing cultural and tourism sites,he said, “Those detractors needto do introspection.”

“When one talks abouttourism, a culturally rich anddiverse country that India is, theelement of celebrating our cul-ture automatically comes in...Look what happened in KumbhMela, the scale with which itwas organised by the govern-ment, and the message that itconveyed to the society and theworld at large,” Singh said.

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

J&K polls likelylater this year

Kerala Govt confirms Nipah

virus, 311 under observation

PTI n KOCHI

Ayear after two north Keraladistricts were hit by Nipah

claiming 17 lives, the diseaseresurfaced in the State with a23-year-old student here con-firmed to be infected with thepotentially deadly virus.

The Government said 311people from various districtswith whom the student hadinteracted were under obser-vation. The student, who isbeing treated at a private hos-pital here, is slowly improvingand his fever subsiding, accord-ing to a medical bulletin.

The results of blood sam-ples of the student, which weretested at the National Instituteof Virology in Pune, have con-firmed Nipah, State Healthminister KK Shailaja said here.

The result came this morn-ing, she added. Earlier, bloodsamples examined at two virol-ogy institutes — ManipalInstitute of Virology and KeralaInstitute of Virology and

Infectious Diseases — hadindicated Nipah.

The Government said fourpeople — three who attendedto the student initially andone person who studied withhim — were suffering fromfever and sore throat.

They were shifted to theisolation ward set up at theKalamassery Medical CollegeHospital here for detailed med-ical examination. Their healthcondition is satisfactory,according to authorities.

Shailaja said the conditionof the student is stable and hewas not put under any supportsystem like ventilator. “Goodcare is being given to thepatient. The patient sometimesbecome restless due tofever...We expect a good result,”she told reporters.

A medical bulletin issuedby the hospital late in the nightsaid he was admitted on May30. “At present, the patient isclinically stable, slowly improv-ing and his fever is subsiding,”

it said. The DMO has supplied

the necessary anti-viral med-ications as soon as the case wasnotified and the hospital wasable to start medicationspromptly, it said.

The hospital is strictlyabiding by all public health pro-tocols as suggested by the dis-trict and State health authori-ties and closely coordinatingwith them in the best interestof patient and community, itadded.

A Government bulletinsaid a list of 311 people, whohave interacted with the stu-dent, has been prepared andthey were under medical obser-vation. The student, hailingfrom North Paravur inErnakulam, is studying in a col-lege in Thodupuzha in Idukkidistrict.

The student, who was suf-fering from fever, had gone toThrissur district with a groupof students to attend a trainingprogramme.

IANS n NEW DELHI

The pre-monsoon seasonthis year is the second dri-

est in 65 years, with grossrainfall deficiency recorded at25 per cent, said private fore-caster Skymet.

The country witnessed 99mm of rainfall in the three-month pre-monsoon seasonthat ended on May 31, againstthe average of 131.5 mm, it said.

All the four regions of thecountry — Northwest India,Central India, East andNortheast India as well asSouth Peninsula — haverecorded deficit rains of 30 percent, 18 per cent, 14 per centand 47 per cent respectively.

“This has been the seconddriest pre-monsoon season inthe last 65 years, with the low-est being recorded in 2012when countrywide cumulativerainfall deficiency had mount-ed to 31 per cent,” Skymet said.

“In fact, pre-monsoonrains in 2019 have exactly per-formed the same as in 2009.That year too saw similar rain-fall, resulting in 25 per cent lag

in rains.”It also said there was sim-

ilarity between 2009 and 2019as “they have been El Niñoyears. Thus, rains have beenreacting in a somewhat identi-cal pattern”.

El Niño is a sea surfacetemperature situation over thePacific Ocean that is said tohave strong negative influenceon Indian monsoon.

Skymet has expressed con-cerns over the performance ofmonsoon this year, saying the“mere presence” of El Niñocould affect it. “We had seenmild El Niño in 2009, with

Niño 3.4 indices jugglingbetween 0.5 degree Celsius and0.7 degree Celsius. However, itresulted in a severe drought tothe tune of 22 per cent,” it said.

“Coming to 2019, therehas been excessive warming inthe Pacific Ocean and Nino 3.4indices have been settling in therange of 0.7 degree Celsius to0.9 degree Celsius so far. It isalready affecting monsoon sea-son as we expect below normalrains during the onset monthof June by at least 23 per cent.”

Skymet has predicted“below normal” monsoon thisyear to the tune of 93 per centof the long period average(LPA) of 887 mm.

The average or normalrainfall in the country isdefined between 96 per centand 104 per cent of the 50-yearaverage for the entire four-month monsoon season.

It also said that this year thecountry’s southern and centralstates might witness late andweak monsoon and advisedfarmers to postpone the sow-ing of kharif crops to at least thesecond week of June.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Experts from the IndianMedical Association, Delhi

Medical Association and doc-tors from a private hospitalgathered Tuesday on the eve ofWorld Environment Day toraise awareness about air pol-lution and its impact on health.

The event was in line withthis year’s theme of ‘Beat AirPollution’ and a call to actionfor all citizens to combat thisglobal crisis at an individuallevel as well. Experts high-lighted how much each indi-vidual on average contributesto air pollution and ways toreduce air pollution with col-lective efforts of the society.

Dr Girish Tyagi, president,Delhi Medical Association said,

“Burning waste in the open isone of the factors for increas-ing pollution levels. Organicwaste in landfills release harm-ful dioxins, methane and blackcarbon into the atmosphere.”

The event was held byApollo Hospitals in collabora-tion with the IMA.“Understanding the differenttypes of pollution and how haz-ardous it is to our health andenvironment will help us totake steps towards improvingthe air quality around us.

“Often we can’t even see it,but air pollution is around useverywhere. We can’t stopbreathing, but we certainly cantake small initiatives at our endto improve air quality,” said DrAnil Goyal, Convenor, WorldEnvironment Day, IMA.

PTI n JAIPUR

BJP leader Vasundhara Rajedemanded resignation of

Chief Minister Ashok Gehloton Tuesday over rape cases inthe State.

She said the Governmenthas lost confidence of MLAsand Ministers and the ChiefMinister should resign.

“Almost 12 cases of rapesare happening in the statedaily. After Thanagaji rapecase, another big incident ofgang rape came to light in Pali.It is the failure of the AshokGehlot government,” the for-mer Chief Minister said in astatement here.

A woman was allegedlygangraped in Pali and shelodged a complaint against fivemen on Sunday.

SUMEET ONKA nVISAKHAPATNAM

Asoftware engineer, AvinashKuna, 30, hailing from

Vizag city drowned in a UnitedStates lake while he was on aboat ride with his friends tocelebrate his birthday.

Sources said the NewJersey police fished out thebody of Avinash Kuna onMonday. He reportedlydrowned after diving off arental pontoon boat in LakeHopatcong, New Jersey and gotstuck in a weed on Saturday.

After the tragic incident,his friends started an onlinefundraiser to send the bodyback to India for his family andwell-wishers to perform the lastrites. So far $37,000 has beencrowd sourced.

According to sources, Kuna

had rented the boat and invit-ed eight friends from his work-place at the UPS TechnologyCenter in Parsippany, for asunny Saturday afternoon rideon New Jersey’s largest fresh-water lake.

During the boating, Kuna,who loves swimming, jumpedoff the boat. But, he got caughthis leg in the weed, and heseemed to have drowned rightaway, according to his friends.

Avinash was working as asoftware engineer at UPSTechnology Centre inParrsippany and his father KVenkata Rao is a senior fore-man with Visakhapatnam SteelPlant (VSP) here in Vizag city.

Avinash had gone to USA fiveyears back to pursue MS andlater joined UPS Technology assoftware engineer.

Family members and rela-tives of Avinash said that thetragic incident took place twodays after his birthday cele-brations (May 28).

Avinash dived in the waterwhich is only about 6 to 7 feetdeep, but the weeds are around3 feet high. Avinash was caughtin the mire of the lake and hedidn’t resurface. The NewJersey police launched a searchand rescue operation and theyfinally retrieved the body.

Parents and sister of Avinashare in a deep shock after theyreceived the tragic informationfrom their son’s friends andemployer. This is the third inci-dent that a Vizag youth died ofdrowning in the US.

IANS n AHMEDABAD

The Ahmedabad MunicipalCorporation (AMC) is

launching for the first time indecades a massive Sabarmatiriver clean-up campaigninvolving around 20,000 peo-ple on the World EnvironmentDay on Wednesday.

Municipal CommissionerVijay Nehra told reporters hereon Tuesday that the five-daySwachh Sabarmati MahaAbhiyan would be kicked off byChief Minister Vijay Rupani atSubhash Bridge.

“We had invited people’svoluntary participation in theeffort on the first day of the cam-paign. But looking at the over-whelming response, it will be forfive days till June 9,” he said.

“Against the expectationof some 200 to 300 people, wehave received an overwhelmingresponse from some 10,000 to20,000 people during the last 8-10 days,” the MunicipalCommissioner added.

Nehra said the AMC had

contacted religious, social andindustry associations and invit-ed them to participate. “Wehave made elaborate planningand made arrangements todeploy sufficient equipmentand machinery.”

The clean-up drive will betaken in the stretch betweenSubhash Bridge and DadhichiBridge on the first day.

The AMC has madearrangements to provide drink-ing water, butter milk andmedical assistance at 10 pointson the entire stretch in view ofthe hot weather.

Nehra said the campaignhad started by first flushing outthe water in the river to down-stream area by opening thegates of Vasna barrage andalso by deploying heavy dutypumps to clear dead water.

He said the AMC haddiverted waste water lines andprevented dumping of waste inthe Sabarmati on permanentbasis. “Garbage collection driveis the final phase of SwachhSabarmati Maha Abhiyan,which marks the 150thanniversary of MahatmaGandhi,” Nehra said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Indian Navy has for-mulated an environment

conservation roadmap aimed atreducing energy consumptionand diversifying its supply, anofficial statement said.

The Indian NavyEnvironment ConservationRoadmap (INECR), with spe-cific action plans, covers theentire gamut of operations,maintenance, administrationand infrastructure, and com-munity living, the Navy said inthe statement.

The roadmap envisionsreduction in energy consump-tion and diversification of energy supply as key resultareas, it said.

While the existing military,diplomatic, constabulary and

benign roles envisioned in theIndian Navy’s MaritimeDoctrine define the objectivesof its operations, the GreenInitiatives Programme of theIndian Navy has added a newdimension i.e. Social responsi-bility, to it, it added.

Under the INECR, numer-ous policies aimed at reductionof energy consumption andenvironment sustenance have been formulated and dis-seminated to all ships as well asshore establishments, the Navy said.

As a progressive step, theNavy has pledged 1.5 per centof its ‘Works’ Budget towardsrenewable energy generation, itadded. Solar photovoltaic pro-jects have been one of thefocus areas of the Navy sincethe inception of the INECR.

IANS n AGRA

Green activists on Tuesdaycriticised an action plan

launched here to control airpollution in Agra, one of India’smost polluted cities and hometo the Taj Mahal, for ignoringthe contribution of the Yamunariver to the present mess.

The Clean Air Action Planwas launched with a lot of fan-fare and hype on Saturday butfailed to convince local activistsof its effectiveness and approach.Experts say that air pollution hasstunted the growth of tourismsector in Agra.

“They failed to note that allMughal monuments thatattract the tourists were sitedalong the Yamuna’s banks. Anda dry polluted river cannot onlyfoul up the ambience but provea threat to the survival of theseprecious heritage assets,” agroup of environmentalists saidahead of the World

Environment Day on June 5.Agra is notorious for heaps

of garbage that are openlyburnt, illegal colonies andstructures in reserved forestareas and large-scale con-struction on Yamuna’s floodplains, a meeting held along theYamuna was told by greenactivists.

They said the chief con-tributors to the air pollution inAgra were the dry river bed andthe westerly winds from theneighbouring Rajasthan desertthat bring tons of dust, raising

the SPM (suspended particu-late matter) level in the TajTrapezium Zone, spread over10,400 sq km.

The Saturday launch ofthe action plan was attended byUttar Pradesh Chief SecretaryAnup Pandey, senior officials ofthe union Ministry ofEnvironment and Forest aswell as UN representatives.

A clean Air Action Planwas adopted for Agra.

Pandey admitted that whilenoxious gas emissions wereunder control, it were thealarming levels of SPM andRSPM that were a challenge.

The Action Plan coversvehicle emission control, sus-pension of road dust, emissioncontrol such as biomass, cropresidue, garbage and municipalsolid waste burning, industri-al emissions, air pollution fromconstruction and demolitionactivities and monitoring of airquality among others.

Officials claimed thatAgra’s tourism industry hadbeen hit hard due to high airpollution which had causedhurt to the Taj Mahal.

Green activists RanjanSharma and Shailendra SinghNarwaar told a meeting onTuesday that till the Yamunariver was cleaned and filledwith water, all 12 months, “nostrategy to fight air pollutionwill succeed”.

Devashish Bhattacharya,an environmentalist, blamedthe authorities for failing toprotect the eco-sensitive TajTrapezium Zone’s green coverand water bodies fromencroachment.

“Instead of green, the dom-inant colours all around aregrey and brown. If they are seri-ous about controlling air pol-lution in Agra, they must notonly clean, desilt, dredge theYamuna river but ensureexpansion of the green cover.”

New Delhi: Union Minister forInformation & Broadcastingand Environment, Forest andClimate Change, PrakashJavadekar will plant a sapling atPrayavaran Bhawan Complexin the national Capital onWednesday on the occasion ofWorld Environment Day. Inthis endeavour, he will bejoined by cricketer Kapil Dev,actor Jackie Shroff and folksinger Malini Awasthi.

On Tuesday, Javadekarlaunched a people’s campaign#SelfiewithSapling urging all tojoin and plant a sapling andpost the selfie with the saplingon social media. He stressedthat ‘Jan Bhagidari’ is integraltowards tackling the environ-mental issues and environ-ment protection has to be apeople’s movement. PNS

Javadekar to

plant sapling at

Prayavaran Bhawan

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Election Commissionon Tuesday said it will

announce the schedule forJammu & Kashmir Assembly polls after theAmarnath Yatra, which beginsnext month, making it clearthat the electoral exercise couldbe held sometime later this year.

In a statement, the pollpanel said it has unanimouslydecided that “holding ofAssembly elections in Jammu& Kashmir shall be consideredlater in this year”.

Jammu & Kashmir doesnot have an elected dispensa-tion since the PDP-BJP coali-tion Government fell apart inJune 2018.

The State was placed underGovernor’s Rule, as provided bythe Constitution of Jammu &Kashmir, on June 19, 2018,after the BJP withdrew from itscoalition with the PDP.

As mandated by theConstitution, the State wasbrought under President’s Ruleon December 19, 2018.

The term of the CentralRule ends on June 19 which isset to be extended.

“The Commission willkeep on regularly, and on realtime basis, monitoring the sit-uation in Jammu & Kashmir,taking inputs from all necessaryquarters and after the conclu-sion of Amarnath Yatra willannounce the election schedulefor the conduct of Assemblyelection in Jammu & Kashmir,”the statement said.

The 46-day-longAmarnath yatra will begin onJuly 1, the day of MasikShivratri, and would concludeon August 15, the day ofShravan Purnima.

EC to announce

schedule after

Amarnath Yatra

Navy formulates environmentconservation roadmap

THE TURMERIC FESTIVAL

Devotees throw the spice turmeric on a horse as an offering during the celebration of the Bhandara Festival, or the Festival ofTurmeric, at the Jejuri temple in Pune. During the festival, devotees use the golden powder to worship the deity LordKhandoba, widely known as a descendant of the sun, and to celebrate his victory over the demons Mani and Malla AP Devotees smeared in turmeric join a procession AP

UN-supported clean air action plan for Agra questioned Birthday celebration turns watery

grave, Andhra man drowns in US lake

He reportedly drowned afterdiving off a rental pontoon boat inLake Hopatcong, New Jersey andgot stuck in a weed on Saturday

Vasundhara Rajedemands Gehlot’sresignation overrape cases in Raj

This pre-monsoon seasonsecond driest in 65 years

IMA, DMA experts assemble toraise awareness on air pollution

Sabarmati river clean-up

campaign begins today

Will make Bundelkhand,

N-E travelers charm: Min

nation 06

PTI n SRINAGAR

Mainstream parties inKashmir on Tuesday

reacted sharply to reports thatthe Centre was planning delim-itation in the State, saying it wasan obvious attempt to "inflictanother emotional partition" onthe State "on communal lines".Earlier on Tuesday, UnionHome Minister Amit Shah wasgiven a detailed presentation onthe situation in Jammu &Kashmir, where the BJP hasbeen pushing for carrying outa delimitation exercise for get-ting more seats for Jammuregion in the State Assembly.

"Distressed to hear aboutGoI's (Government of India)plan to redraw assembly con-stituencies in J&K. Forceddelimitation is an obviousattempt to inflict another emo-tional partition of the state oncommunal lines. Instead ofallowing old wounds to heal,GoI is inflicting pain onKashmiris," former chief min-ister and Peoples DemocraticParty president MehboobaMufti said on Twitter.

Officials said there was nodiscussion on constituting adelimitation commission dur-ing the meeting with Shah.However, they said, againstthe backdrop of delimitationdemands by the State BJP, therewas a possibility of the newCentral Government consti-tuting a delimitation commis-sion to redraw the scope andsize of the Assembly segmentsand determine the number ofseats to be reserved forSchedules Castes.

PNS n NEW DELHI

If his senior DrHarshvardhan, Union Health

Minister, cycled his way to hisoffice in Nirman Bhawan onthe first day of his takingcharge of the Ministry, AshwiniKumar Choubey, the Ministerof State for Health, boarded theMetro from his residence toreach Udyog Bhawan stationfrom where he walked down tothe Ministry’s headquarter.

Before taking charge, theMinister also performed anelaborate puja and planted five trees in the NirmanBhawan campus.

Choubey has been againgiven the health portfolio in the Modi Government’s sec-ond term.

He said ‘sarve santu nira-maya’ (health for all) is the pol-icy mandate of theGovernment and he will makeall efforts towards realising it.

“The Prime Minister hasvisualised a New India and thusit is our responsibility that wetake a pledge to work towardsrealising this vision of NewIndia, a Healthy India.Environment affects our healthand hence, we should makeefforts to keep it clean andgreen by planting trees,” he said.

He appealed to everyonefor adopting the habit of briskwalking or cycling for at least20-30 minutes each day forgood health.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Maharashtra to con-duct the final round of counselling for admissions to post-

graduate medical and dental courses in the State for the acade-mic year 2019-20 and complete the process before June 14.

A vacation Bench comprising Justices Indu Malhotra and MRShah passed the order on pleas filed by some medical students seeking fresh round of counselling after re-drawing ofthe merit list for dmissions to PG medical and dental coursesfor 2019-20.

The students approached the top court after the apex courtstayed the State Government’s decision to grant 10 per cent quotato students of economically weaker sections in PG medical anddental courses for the current academic year.

The Bench also directed that no further petition or appli-cation with regard to PG medical and dental admissions inMaharashtra for the present academic year will be entertainedby any other court.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday issued noticeto Puducherry Chief MinisterV Narayanasamy in the power tussle matter in theUnion Territory.

The Madras High Courthad recently held thatLieutenant Governor KiranBedi “cannot interfere” in theday-to-day affairs of the elect-ed Government there.

A vacation Bench com-prising Justices Indu Malhotraand MR Shah also directed thatany decision having financialimplication, which could betaken in the Cabinet meeting ofJune 7 in Puducherry, shall not

be implemented till June 21.The apex court was hearing

applications filed by the Centreand Bedi seeking that the situ-ation prevailing before the HighCourt’s April 30 verdict berestored in the Union Territorysince the administration therehas come to a standstill.

The Bench soughtresponse from Narayanasamyon the plea, which said theChief Minister should beimpleaded as a party in thematter. On May 10, the apexcourt had sought responsefrom Congress MLA KLaksminarayanan, on the pleasof the Centre and Bedi. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Social Justice andEmpowerment Ministry

has drafted a “new fund-shar-ing formula” wherein the Centrewill shoulder a majority of thefinancial burden of its post-matric scholarship scheme forScheduled Caste students.

As of now, the scheme isbeing run on the concept ofcommitted liability, underwhich a majority of the finan-cial burden was on the states asthey struggled to meet thedemands due to limited budget.

If the draft proposal goesthrough, the Centre will fund75 per cent of the scheme andthe rest would be borne by theState, said Union Minister forSocial Justice andEmpowerment ThaawarchandGehlot, who took charge of theoffice on Tuesday, said

According to sources, theMinistry is likely to move acabinet note over the propos-al which is currently awaitingapproval of the ExpenditureFinance Committee.

Gehlot, who has beenassigned the Social Justice and

Empowerment portfolio for asecond term, said clearingarrears to the tune of Rs 3,000crore under the post-matricscholarship scheme is high onthe agenda of his ministry forthe next 100 days.

“There was a major prob-lem regarding clearing ofarrears and our ministry had tostruggle with the FinanceMinistry throughout the yearto get requisite funds for dis-bursal to states under the post-matric scholarship scheme forSC students.

“When we took charge in

2014, an arrear of Rs 7,500 crorewas due which was clearedover the years. Now, Rs 3,000crore is still due, and clearingthis amount is a priority for usin the next 100 days,” he saidafter taking charge.

Reintroduction of theTransgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill,2016, seeking to define trans-genders and prohibit discrim-ination against them, which gotlapsed with the 16th Lok Sabhagetting dissolved, is anothermatter of primacy for theMinistry, Gehlot said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on

Tuesday confronted RobertVadra, brother-in-law ofCongress president RahulGandhi, with multiple state-ments of other suspects andaccused reportedly known tohim and voluminous docu-ments gathered during themoney laundering probe relat-ed to purchase of alleged ille-gal assets abroad.

Vadra (50), husband ofCongress leader PriyankaGandhi, arrived at the agency’soffice around 11 am and wasgrilled for over five hours.

The Investigating Officer(IO) of the case presented him

about statements of about halfa dozen of his alleged aides whoare purported to be the “link”between him, absconding armsdealer Sanjay Bhandari,Bhandari’s associates and othersuspects, sources said.

Vadra either denied orclaimed ignorance of havingany dealing or connectionswith Bhandari or others.Vadra’s statement was record-ed by the IO under Section 50of the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) whichstipulates “powers of authori-

ties regarding summons, pro-duction of documents and togive evidence”.

Vadra was also shown anumber of e-mails, bankingand financial transactionpapers that are purportedlylinked to him as part of themoney laundering probe.Property documents pertainingto at least four alleged illegalassets were presented to Vadrabefore his statement wasrecorded, sources said.

Before deposing before theagency, Vadra issued a state-ment on social media saying hewas being subjected to “sensa-tion and unnecessary drama”.He also said he was beingquestioned for the 13th time foralmost 80 hours.

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN nCHENNAI

Thol Thirumavalavan, VCKleader, who was elected to

the Lok Sabha fromChidambaram Constituencyin Tamil Nadu by a margin ofabout 3,000 votes has landedhimself in trouble by declaringthat North Indians were notwelcome in Tamil Nadu.

“They are a danger to theTamil society,” he said whilespeaking at a public meeting inChennai on Monday. Lawyersand leaders of some of thepolitical parties described it asa hate speech and said the VCKleader was trying to divide thesociety in the name of caste and religion.

Thirumavalavan, a strongproponent of Dravidian ruleand describes SanatatanaDharma as a major threat toTamil Nadu , said people fromnorth India should not beallowed to settle down in theState. “The North Indians com-ing to Tamil Nadu and settlingdown here is dangerous toTamil Nadu,” he said whileaddressing a public meetingorganised at Chennai by theDMK to commemorate the96th birth anniversary of formerDMK chief M Karunanidhi.

He accused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and the pro-ponents of the SanatanaDharma of encouraging NorthIndians to settle down inTamil Nadu as part of theBJP’s designs to get entry intothe State. More and more peo-ple from other States are set-tling here. It is dangerous,”said Thirumavalavan.

The Dalit leader allegedthat the Ganesh Chathurthi fes-tival and imposition of Hindiwere attempts of a cultural

invasion by the north Indiansand ended up in failure.“Having failed in theseattempts, they are makingmore and more people fromother States to come and settlesdown in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Thirumavalavan alsocharged that people from NorthIndia were given preferenceduring appointments to NeyveliLignite Corporation, Railwaysand other public sector enter-prises. C Unnikrishnan, HighCourt lawyer , who is also aConstitutional expert said thatThirumavalavan has courtedcontroversy by making unsub-stantiated allegations.

“His charge that people ofnorth India were danger toTamil Nadu is violation of IndianConstitution. Thirumavalavancould be dragged into the courtfor impropriety if the reportedcomments are true. His motiveis to create fear and hate amongpeople of the country,” saidUnnikrishnan. The lawyer point-ed out the legal proceedings ini-tiated against Kamal Haassan aswell as Sadvi Pragya Thakore fortheir outbursts.

Narayanan Thiruppati, BJPspokesman, said he was shockedto hear the speech delivered byThiruvalavan. “I shudder whenI think about Tamils settled inother parts of the country. Ifpeople in that States too startthinking in the lines ofThirumavalavan , what is instore for out brethren in thatStates?” asked Narayanan whodisclosed that his party was inconsultation with legal expertsover the course of action to betaken against Thirumavalavan.The BJP spokesman saidThirumavalavan was trying todestabilise thepce prevailing inTamil Nadu by raking up casteand religion.

KESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU

Ahead of the proposedCabinet expansion in

Karnataka to douse the fire, theCoalition Government led byChief Minister HDKumaraswamy is in fresh trou-ble as senior Congress leadershave hit out at the leadership.Both the coalition partners —the JD(S) and the Congress —are reeling under defeat anddrubbing in the recently con-cluded Lok Sabha polls by theBJP and the Modi wave.

Senior party leaderRamalinga Reddy hit out at thetop brass, blaming lack of coor-dination between seniors andthe leadership for the humili-ating loss in the State. He tookto Twitter to attack theCongress leadership and spokeagainst the likely induction ofIndependent legislators intothe Cabinet.

Reddy, however, expressed

his disregard at not beingamong the preferred candidatesfor a ministerial berth. “I’m aseven-time MLA but they areneglecting me. This is also thecase for senior leaders like HKPatil, Roshan Baig and others,”he said, adding he was notagainst the induction of newmembers but neglectingseniors while promoting new-

comers was unfair.Reddy lashed out at Rahul

Gandhi, holding him respon-sible for the massive debacle inthe 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

He also blamed seniorMinisters in the JDS-CongressGovernment for the defeatalleging that they have noorganisational vision and pas-sion to take the party forward.

He asked the high com-mand to “set things right” andalso said party must address thefact that seniors have beenignored. He also suggested thatMinisters who failed to deliv-er in the Lok Sabha pollsshould be relegated to organi-sational positions in the party.

As part of the plan to savethe coalition Government theCongress and the JDS havebeen mulling over a Cabinetexpansion in order to induct RShankar and H Nagesh bothIndependents among othersto halt the BJP from increasingits strength in the Assembly.

The supporters of Reddyhave protested in front of theCongress office demanding aCabinet birth for their leader.

After the clean sweep in theLok Sabha polls by the saffronparty, the coalitionGovernment in Karnataka is indeep water. The BJP had alsowon one of the two Assembly

seats for which bypolls wereheld simultaneously. With thatwin, the party has 105 MLAs inthe 224-member KarnatakaAssembly, eight short of a sim-ple majority.

In another major develop-ment, JD(S) State president HVishwanath has resigned fromhis post, accepting moralresponsibility for the defeat. Ina letter to Deve Gowda, he said,“It is my moral responsibility...I have raised issues about thecoordination committee. Thepeople of Karnataka are enjoy-ing the alliance Government.The coordination committee isheaded by Siddaramaiah butboth partners should be a partof it. Even the common mini-mum programme has not beenimplemented.” He directlyblamed Siddaramaiah and sub-mitted his resignation to DeveGowda who had humiliatingdefeat in Tumakuru by theBJP candidate Basavaraju.

Trouble brews for Cong-JDS GovtIn TN, N Indiansnot welcome: MPcourts controversy

MoS Ashwini

boards Metro to

reach his Udyog

Bhawan office

SC issues notice to

Puducherry CM in

power tussle matter

SC tells Maha to conduct final

round of counselling for PG

medical, dental admissions

ED confronts Vadra with voluminousstatements in money laundering case

Vadra either denied or

claimed ignorance of having

any dealing or connections

with Bhandari or others

Union Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Nitin Gadkari takescharge of his office as MoS for MSME Pratap Chandra Sarangi and officials lookon, at Udyog Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday Ranjan Dimri | Pioneer

Centre plans new-sharing formula for SC matric scholarship

p Both the coalition partners — the JD(S) and the Congress —arereeling under defeat and drubbing in the recently concluded Lok Sabhapolls by the BJP and the Modi wave

p Senior party leader Ramalinga Reddy hit out at the top brass, blaminglack of coordination between seniors and the leadership for thehumiliating loss in the State

p Reddy lashed out at Rahul Gandhi, holding him responsible for themassive debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

p He asked the high command to “set things right” and also said partymust address the fact that seniors have been ignored

p JD(S) State president H Vishwanath has resigned from his post,accepting moral responsibility for the defeat. He said, “The people ofKarnataka are enjoying the alliance Government. The coordinationcommittee is headed by Siddaramaiah but both partners should be apart of it”

J&K delimitationplan draws strongreactions frompolitical parties

‘Cyclone man’

Mrutyunjay

Mohapatra

to head IMD

New Delhi: Renowned scien-tist and cyclone warning spe-cialist Mrutyunjay Mohapatrawas on Tuesday appointed asthe chief of IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), according to aPersonnel Ministry order.

Mohapatra and his team atthe Cyclone Warning Divisionof the IMD have earned praisefor their accurate forecasts oncyclones, its wind-speed andlikely impact on life and prop-erty including during the recentcyclone ‘Fani’, when their time-ly warnings enabled the author-ities to ensure early evacuationof millions of people.

The 54-year-old Scientist‘G’ and Additional DirectorGeneral in the IMD has beenappointed as Director Generalof Meteorology, IMD, for aperiod of five years, the ordersaid. He will assume charge inAugust. The IMD is responsi-ble for weather and climate-related forecasts in the country.It is also mandated to issuewarning to people about severeweather phenomenon likecyclones, dust storms, heavyrain and snow, cold and heat-waves, among others.

Besides strengtheningIMD’s infrastructure, he said hispriority will be to improve dis-semination of weather-relatedinformation — from nowcasts toweather forecasts — focus onsector-related forecast and giveimpact-based prediction in allareas. Through sector-relatedforecasts, IMD intends to givepredictions on specific arease.g. Information for transportsystems like trains. PTI

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

BJP, Cong among partiesyet to submit details to EC on electoral bonds

MHA refuses to share details on notice to RahulGandhi on complaint questioning citizenshipPTI n NEW DELHI

The Home Ministry hasrefused to share details on

its notice to Congress presidentRahul Gandhi following a com-plaint questioning his Indiancitizenship, citing provisions ofthe RTI Act barring disclosureof information that will, amongother things, impede the inves-tigation.

In April, the HomeMinistry served a notice toGandhi, asking him to clarifywithin a fortnight his “factualposition” on a complaint byBJP’s Rajya Sabha MPSubramanian Swamy ques-tioning his citizenship status.

In an RTI application, theministry was asked to providea copy of the notice to Gandhiand details of the responsereceived from him.

“The information soughtcannot be disclosed underSection 8 (1) (h) and (j) of theRTI Act,” it said in response tothe application filed by PTI.

Section 8 (1) (h) bars dis-closure of “information whichwould impede the process ofinvestigation or apprehensionor prosecution of offenders”.

Provision (j) bars “infor-mation which relates to per-sonal information the disclo-sure of which has no relation-ship to any public activity orinterest, or which would causeunwarranted invasion of theprivacy of the individual...”.

Citing Swamy’s letter, theHome Ministry said in itsnotice that it has been broughtout that a company namedBackops Limited was regis-tered in the United Kingdomin 2003 with Gandhi as one of

its directors.Swamy’s letter also men-

tioned that in the British com-pany’s annual returns filed onOctober 10, 2005 and October31, 2006, Gandhi’s date ofbirth has been given as June19, 1970, and he declared hisnationality as British, the min-istry said.

“Further, in the dissolutionapplication dated February17, 2009, of the above referredcompany, your nationality hasbeen mentioned as British.

“You are requested tointimate the factual position inthe matter to this ministrywithin a fortnight of thereceipt of this communica-tion,” the notice said.Congressgeneral secretary PriyankaGandhi had then said, “I havenever heard such rubbish. Allknow Rahul Gandhi was born,

raised here”.“The entire Hindustan

knows that Rahul Gandhi is aHindustani...he was bornbefore them...he was broughtup before them...he grew upbefore them...what rubbish isthis,” she said.

In November 2015, theSupreme Court dismissed apublic interest litigation seek-ing a CBI investigation into theCongress chief ’s citizenship. Itnoted that PIL pleas were notmeant to target one individualor organisation but were amedium to resolve human suf-fering through good gover-nance.

Replying to another queryin the RTI application, theHome Ministry said it is notrequired to maintain records ofnotices issued to individuals ontheir citizenship status.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The BJP, the Congress andthe DMK are among the

parties which are yet to submitdetails of donations receivedtill date through electoralbonds to the ElectionCommission, sources saidTuesday. May 30 was thedeadline to submit thedetails as per a SupremeCourt directive.

Last month, the EChad written to all recog-nised political parties tocomply with the SupremeCourt directives.

Sources aware of thedevelopment said the BJP,Congress and DMK “atleast” have not yet com-plied with the direction.

Lifting the veil ofanonymity from the gov-ernment’s political fundingscheme, the Supreme Courthad on April 12 directed par-ties to furnish by May 30 alldetails of funds receivedthrough electoral bonds to theElection Commission in asealed cover. Explaining itsstand, the EC said it was“exclusively confined to one oftransparency in political fund-ing and not on merits of thescheme”.

As per the scheme, elec-toral bonds may be purchasedby a person, who is a citizen ofIndia or an entity incorporat-ed or established in India

A person being an indi-vidual can buy electoral bonds,either singly or jointly withother individuals.

Only parties registeredunder Section 29A of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct, 1951 and which securednot less than 1 per cent of votespolled in the last general elec-tion to the House of the Peopleor the Legislative Assembly of

the State, will be eligible toreceive electoral bonds.

As per the notification,electoral bonds will beencashed by an eligible politi-cal party only through a bankaccount with an authorisedbank. The State Bank of India(SBI) in the 6th phase of salehad been authorised to issueand encash electoral bondsthrough its 29 authorisedbranches from November 1-10,2018. The Centre and the EChad taken contrary stands inthe court over political fund-ing with the government want-ing to maintain anonymity ofdonors of bonds and the pollpanel batting for revealingnames of donors for trans-parency.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The CBI has booked a rail-way official and three

companies in Secunderabadfor allegedly siphoning off`2.20 crore from railways’accounts to fake firms usingfraudulent bills, officials saidTuesday.Now suspendedaccounts assistant V GaneshKumar, who was posted in theExpenditure Section, SouthCentral Railway, and fakefirms — Sai Balaji Pharma andSurgical, Vinayaka Agenciesand Sri Thirumala Enterprises— have been named in the FIR

lodged on a complaint fromthe railways, they said.

During a test check, therailways had found that 31alleged fake bills without GSTnumbers were allegedlycleared in six months fromOctober, 2018 to April, 2019,they said.

It is alleged that Ganesh, incriminal conspiracy with oth-ers, allegedly generated andpassed these bills in the nameof fake firms to transferaround Rs 2.20 crore into theaccounts of these firms inAxis Bank.“The preliminaryenquiry also suspects involve-

ment of more officials of SouthCentral Railways and privateindividuals,” they said.

In its complaint, the rail-ways said bill registration,internal check, passing andconfirmation are the main

stages in passing the claimsand each function needs tobe performed by differentofficials.

“However, in these casesapparently all the activitieswere performed by the sameaccounts assistant.

How he was assigned allrights in Integrated Pay Rolland Accounting System thuscircumventing the multiplestages in internal check sys-tem is being inquired into inconsultat ion with CRIS(C entre for R ai lwaysInformation Systems),” itsaid.

CBI books railway officials in ` 2.20 crore fraud

nation 07LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

Mahagathbandhan goes soft on Nitish

PTI n PATNA

With the BJP-JD(U) tiesunder apparent strain,

senior RJD leader leaderRaghuvansh Prasad Singh hasextended an olive branch toBihar Chief Minister NitishKumar, saying non-BJP partiesincluding the JD(U) shouldjoin forces against the BJPand that his party is “not aller-gic” to anyone.

Union Minister Ram VilasPaswan, whose LJP is a con-stituent of the 3-party NDAbloc in the state apart from theJD(U) and the BJP, however,asserted the alliance is “intact”.

Down in the dumps fol-lowing the Mahagathbandhan’sLok Sabha poll whacking,Singh’s comments are beingseen as indicative of a shift inhis party’s tough stance onKumar, after he spurned theoffer of “symbolic” presence ofhis party in the Modi cabinet,insisting on “proportional rep-resentation”.

“All non-BJP parties,whether Nitish or a, b or cshould come together on a sin-gle platform to provide anational alternative. We are notallergic to any particular partyor leader,” Singh said onMonday when asked aboutKumar’s acceptability in theMahagathbandhan.

“It would be even better ifall small parties merge togeth-er and become a single entityto take on the humongous

challenge posed by the BJP,” headded.

Responding to a questionabout whether his views hadthe approval of jailed RJDsupremo Lalu Prasad, Singh, aformer union minister, said hehad made public his personalviews. He, however, went on toadd that since he and Prasadhad worked together for along time, they thought alike“on most occasions”.

Former chief ministersRabri Devi and Jitan RamManjhi of RJD and HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM), alsoappeared to have mellowedtowards Nitish Kumar.

Manjhi, a former protegeof Kumar, greeted the ChiefMinister with a warm hug atthe Iftar the HAM leader hadhosted on Monday.

“I had my differences withthe JD(U) chief over the man-

ner in which I was removedfrom the post of ChiefMinister.

But it has been four yearsand much water has flowndown the Ganges,” Manjhitold reporters.

Formerly with the JD(U),Manjhi became the ChiefMinister in 2014 when he waspropped up by Kumar whostepped down taking moralresponsibility for the partysdrubbing in the general elec-tions.

Less than a year later, whenManjhi was asked to step downand make way for the return ofhis mentor, he revolted, quitthe JD(U) and formed his ownoutfit.

Manjhi had also attendedan Iftar party hosted by theJD(U) the previous day and hispictures in the media exchang-ing pleasantries with Kumar

raised many eyebrows since theBJP and JD(U) leaders hadstayed away from Iftars host-ed by each other.

Minutes before Kumarsarrival, Rabri Devi and herelder son Tej Pratap Yadav leftManjhis residence, and whenshe was queried about possiblerealignment with the JD(U)chief an old associate of herhusband Lalu Prasad she firsttried to dodge it with theremark “better ask Manjhi.

When pressed further, shesaid, “Any decision on inclu-sion of new allies can be takenonly in consultation with allallies.”

Rabri Devi’s commentswere a far cry from the timewhen her party had accusedKumar of “betraying people’smandate” after he bolted out ofthe Mahagathbandhan in July2017, resigned as the chiefminisgter, and formed a newgovernment with the BJP—allwithin 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Paswan, atwhose Iftar party Kumarshared space with BJP leaderslike Deputy Chief MinisterSushil Kumar Modi, main-tained the “NDA is intact”. Aday before, he had asserted,”All is well in the NDA in Biharand Nitish Kumar is ourleader.”Paswan evaded queriesabout leaders of the JD(U) andBJP skipping each other’s Iftarparties and said, “I attendedboth. And leaders of both par-ties are here as all of us have

seen.”He also declined to com-

ment on the bonhomie seenbetween Kumar and Manjhi atthe Iftar hosted by the latterwhere the Chief Minister wentshortly after attending the oneorganised by Paswan.

After attending the swear-ing-in ceremony of theNarendra Modi government,Kumar had said there was no“unease” between the twoalliance partners and the deci-sion against joining the min-istry was taken as the JD(U)’spresence there would havebeen merely “symbolic”.

BJP chief Amit Shah hadmade repeated attempts tobring Kumar around to accept-ing his proposal for one berthin the Modi cabinet for theJD(U) but the Chief Ministerspurned the offer insisting on“proportional representation”for his party.

Many saw in this an indi-cation of a rift between the twodominant NDA partners inBihar which appeared to haveonly widened when Kumarexpanded his cabinet onSunday with the induction ofeight new ministers—all fromthe JD(U).

In an apparent tit-for-tataction, Kumar had offered oneCabinet berth to the BJP, whichit declined.

The NDA had won all butone of the 40 Lok Sabha seatsin Bihar, decimating the grandalliance, which landed justone that went to the Congress.The RJD, theMahagathbandhan spearheadin Bihar, drew a blank.

... says ‘not allergic’ to anyone PNS n NEW DELHI

In a stern message to his offi-cers and men, the new Navy

chief Admiral Karambir Singhhas asked them to stop fawningover him and do away withostentation and get down toserious work.

Issuing these directives fourdays after taking over as theChief, Singh also asked his mento cut out subservient behaviourand be professional. He tookcharge on May 31 after thenchief Sunil Lanba retired.

Giving this clear messageduring interaction with officersand men, Singh also stressedupon the urgent need to ensureoptimal utilization of manpow-

er and resources for opera-tional preparedness to meetany challenge. Ordering thatformalities should be done awaywith, the Chief ’s directive forausterity include scrapping thepractice of providing multiple orstandby cars on formal occa-sions for senior officers.

He also ordered that repeat-ed references to senior officersby their "full title" in speechesand citation of official decora-tions outside of formal corre-spondence and occasionsshould stop henceforth.

In an obvious step to ensureequality in the ranks, the newChief ’s guidelines prescribedthat food, drinks and cutlery ofthe same "standard" be provid-

ed to all ranks of Navy person-nel attending a particular func-tion. They also mandated thatthe refreshments or meals pro-vided be simple and "devoid ofostentation", and curtailed thepresentation of bouquets toofficers or their spouses duringvisits. The guidelines issued bySingh also asked that the tradi-tional practice of lining upwomen and children to receiveor see off dignitaries, andordered that there should be"minimal disruption" to day-to-day activities on such occasions."Ladies should also remain seat-ed except when the President ofIndia or Governor enters theauditorium/venue," the ordersaid.

Stop fawning: NewNavy Chief to force

AN-32 TRACELESS...The radar is capable of

picking up signals on theground, but the dense forests,rugged terrain, dense cloudsand rains made the task oflocating the missing aircraftdifficult. The AN-32 had takenoff from Jorhat in Assam at12.25 pm on Monday forMechuka advanced landingground. The plane was last intouch with radars and radiocontact till 1.00 pm and thenwent missing. The flying timebetween Jorhat and Mechukais about 50 minutes and whenthe plane did not land at thescheduled time, the IAFlaunched the search operation.The distance between Jorhatand Mechuka is 206 Km as thecrow flies. Navy SpokespersonCaptain D K Sharma Sharmasaid here on Tuesday that theP-8I aircraft took off from INSRajali in Tamil Nadu’sArakonam around 1 PM tojoin the search and rescueoperation to trace the missingAN-32. He said the longrange reconnaissance aircraftwill carry out search opera-tions with electro optical andinfrared sensors fitted onboard the plane.

Elaborating upon thestrategy adopted for the ongo-ing search and rescue efforts,officials said at present theplanes are flying sorties overAlong, Tato and Payum nearMechuka in West Siang dis-trict. Elaborating on the rea-son behind focusing on thesethree areas forming a triangle,they said the areas fall in theflight path of the aircraft.Moreover, after it lost radiocontact, the plane, which obvi-ously could not have turnedback, may have continued onthe designated route and mayhave gone down there, officialssaid. The entire area is divid-ed into air lanes with thespecified planes and heli-copters flying sorties in their

demarcated zones to and fromany times to pick up any sig-nal from ground.Unfortunately, the emergencylocator transmitter fitted onthe AN-32 has so far notemitted any signal, they said.

Equipped with infraredsensors, the P-8 I will try topick any heat signatures whichare abnormal in nature indi-cating any burning metal partsof the AN-32 and pass on theinformation to the groundtroops to search the area.Incidentally, an AN-32 hadcrashed in the same region ofMechuka in 2009 killing all 13onboard.

Mechuka advanced land-ing ground is the lifeline fortroops deployed on the Line ofActual Control (LAC) facingChina and the AN-32s andhelicopters ferry personneland logistics including foodand ammunition. The LAC isabout 30-odd km as the crowflies from Mechuka therebymaking it strategically impor-tant to sustain troops. Thereare seven more such advancedlanding grounds in ArunachalPradesh.

The IAF has more than100 AN-32 aircraft of Russianorigin and were inducted intoservice in 1984. Since then atleast ten planes have met withmishaps. In 2009, India inkeda 400 million dollar deal withUkraine to upgrade the AN-32fleet and 50 of them have beenretrofitted so far. The missingplane on Tuesday was yet to beupgraded.

SHABIR, ANDRABI...The NIA arrested them

before the court and soughttheir custodial interrogationfor 15-days. The NIA’s sub-mission was opposed bydefence advocates who saidthat the accused were alreadyin custody and the NIA couldinterrogate them and there wasno need of custodial interro-

gation. The case in which theaccused were arrested onTuesday relates to alleged con-spiracy to wage a war againstthe Government (Section 121of Indian Penal Code) by car-rying out terrorist and seces-sionist activities in Jammu &Kashmir.

The probe agency haschargesheeted 12 persons,including Saeed, and HizbulMujahideen chief SyedSalahuddin. Other offencesfor which the accused werechargesheeted include thosepunishable under sections120-B of IPC (criminal con-spiracy) and various provi-sions of the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act,1967.

Besides Saeed andSalahuddin, the other 10accused in the final report are- Hurriyat leader Syed ShahGeelani’s son-in-law AltafAhmed Shah, Geelani’s per-sonal assistant Bashir AhmadBhat, media adviser and strate-gist of the HurriyatConference Aftab AhmadShah, secessionist outfitNational Front chief NayeemAhmad Khan, Chairman ofJammu Kashmir LiberationFront (R) Farooq Ahmad Dar,media adviser of HurriyatConference (Geelani faction)Mohammad Akbar Khanday,Tehreek-e-Hurriyat officialRaja Mehrajuddin Kalwal,hawala operator ZahoorAhmad Shah Watal and twostone-pelters --- Kamran Yusufand Javed Ahmad Bhat.

According to the NIA, thecase was registered on May 30,2017 and the first arrests madeon July 24, 2017. Over 300 wit-nesses were examined duringthe probe, it said.

The NIA said the scrutinyand analysis of the documentsand digital devices establishedthat the accused Hurriyat lead-ers, the terrorists and thestone-pelters were carrying

Kerala Govt confirms Nipahvirus, 311 under observation

out attacks and orchestratingviolence in Jammu & Kashmiras a part of their “well-planned” criminal conspiracy.

It said the conspiracy washatched with active support,connivance and funding fromterrorist organisations based inPakistan and its agencies toachieve their objective ofsecession of the Jammu &Kashmir by waging waragainst the IndianGovernment.

AKHILESH RETORTS...The SP chief added that

for the party the killing of itsworkers is more importantthan the ‘gathbandhan’, refer-ring to SP leaders who wereshot dead in Uttar Pradesh on

June 1. Akhilesh Yadav was inGhazipur on Tuesday wherethe SP leader was shot deadsoon after the Lok Sabha elec-tions.

The BSP had contestedthe 2019 Lok Sabha electionson 38 seats of Uttar Pradesh ina pre-poll alliance with theSamajwadi Party andRashtriya Lok Dal. TheSamajwadi Party contested on37 seats while RLD contestedon three seats; two seats ofAmethi and Rae Bareli wereleft for Congress. However,even after the strategic alliancewhich was considered as amega road block for the BJP,the BSP managed to win only10 seats while the SamajwadiParty bagged just five seats.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

‘New govt to retainautonomy ofPrasar Bharati’

New Delhi (PNS): Thenew government at the Centrewill retain the autonomy ofPrasar Bharati, Informationand Broadcasting MinisterPrakash Javadekar said onMonday. It was establishedthrough an act which safe-guards its autonomy, he saidafter launching state-of-the-art high-definition DSNG vansat Doordarshan Bhawan here.“Autonomy of the PrasarBharati is important. We willretain it... We want PrasarBharati to work smoothly andbring new programmes andfind new dimensions,”Javadekar said. The ministerlauded public broadcasters DDand All India Radio (AIR) fortheir credible programmes andcoverage and asked officials topromote channels like DDBharati.

PTI n KOCHI

Ayear after two north Kerala districts were hitby Nipah claiming 17 lives, the disease resur-

faced in the State with a 23-year-old student hereconfirmed to be infected with the potentiallydeadly virus.

The Government said 311 people from var-ious districts with whom the student had inter-acted were under observation. The student, whois being treated at a private hospital here, is slow-ly improving and his fever subsiding, accordingto a medical bulletin.

The results of blood samples of the student,which were tested at the National Institute ofVirology in Pune, have confirmed Nipah, StateHealth minister KK Shailaja said here.

The result came this morning, she added.Earlier, blood samples examined at two virolo-gy institutes — Manipal Institute of Virology andKerala Institute of Virology and InfectiousDiseases — had indicated Nipah.

The Government said four people — threewho attended to the student initially and one per-son who studied with him — werea sufferingfrom fever and sore throat.

Last October, I took a bet thatPakistan Prime Minister ImranKhan would be invited for theswearing-in of the new IndianPrime Minister in May 2019.

This was based on the assumption thatterrorist groups based in Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir and Pakistan would notraise the ante and they would not actautonomously — without sanction fromthe Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).Second, that Narendra Modi would be re-elected as Prime Minister but probablywith a smaller majority in Parliament. Iwas proved wrong on both counts. A localKashmiri, Adil Dar, trained by Jaish-e-Mohammad as a suicide bomber, carriedout Kashmir’s first genuine suicide attackagainst a CRPF convoy (Pulwama) killing40 troopers; and Modi was re-elected witha huge margin.

The electoral success of the retributiveBalakot airstrikes in Pakistan was a game-changer, which led the BJP to shift thefocus of its electoral campaign from thesuccess of its elaborate welfare schemes toimperatives of national security, counter-terrorism and Pakistan bashing. So, underthe altered post-election scenario, invitingKhan became a non-starter. Had Pulwamanot happened, it is conceivable, indeedpossible, that Khan would have been in theforecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan lastweek. The so-called snub to Pakistan wasdelivered using the Bay of Bengal Initiativefor Multi-Sectoral Technical and EconomicCooperation (BIMSTEC) to sideline SouthAsian Association for RegionalCooperation (SAARC), which is like cut-ting your nose to spite your face.

From day one of his election, the khakiPrime Minister Khan has kept talks withIndia his primary foreign policy goal. Hehas not missed any opportunity to urgeIndia to resolve all outstanding issues,including Kashmir, through dialogue.Even at the height of the Balakot conflict,he requested Modi for talks and releasedWing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman as a peace gesture. The Modithreat of launching 12 ballistic missiles onPakistani cities is as big a fantasy as hisavowed intention to use nuclear weapons— in reality, dangerous election rhetoric.

After the terrorist attack on theParliament in 2001 and India’s tepidresponse with Operation Parakram, theVajpayee Government paved the way fora backchannel dialogue to be started in2004 between two civilian interlocutors,which culminated in the 4/5-pointKashmir formula, the closest the twocountries have reached on a political set-tlement on Pakistan’s core issue. India’score concern of terrorism was addressedby Gen Pervez Musharraf, who was thenPakistan’s Army Chief and head of thecivilian Government by putting curbs oninfiltration, which according to the then

Indian Army Chief, Gen SPadmanabhan, reduced by anall-time high of 53 per cent.Only after Musharraf lost bothhis jobs in 2007-08, didMumbai happen. But bothsides had missed an opportu-nity which emerged fromtalks.

The third BJP-led NDAGovernment holds the dubiousrecord of not engagingPakistan in any structureddialogue in all its five years inoffice. Not for want of tryingbut due to imposing avoidableconditionalities such asPakistan interlocutors notmeeting the Hurriyat. The lastrecorded official conversationwith Pakistan was in mid-2012 as the engagementprocess was derailed by thebeheading of an Indian soldieron the Line of Control (LoC)in January 2013. Till then,three rounds of talks wereheld under the new ResumedDialogue, started in 2011 fol-lowing the India-Pakistansummit at Sharm El-Sheikh in2009. Barbarity on LoCbecame the red line for dis-rupting talks under the UPAregime even if it was one sol-dier lost —public opinion hadbecome so powerful.

When Modi tried tobefriend Nawaz Sharif in 2015,

it led to Pathankot and despiteit, Modi allowed an ISI-ledteam to investigate the Jaish-eMohammad attack. Uri andPulwama sealed the fate of anystructured dialogue; thoughthree rounds of Kartarpur cor-ridor have taken place. Giventhe international opprobriumarising from Pulwama,Pakistan’s greylisting at FATF,its dire state of economy andeven China yielding to pres-sure on listing of MasoodAzhar on UN’s 1267 sanc-tions list, it is fair to believe thatISI has put on leash its strate-gic assets, as it had done fol-lowing Mumbai, against con-ducting any high casualty ter-rorist attacks in Jammu &Kashmir and elsewhere inIndia. Mumbai happenedseven years after OperationParakram and Pulwama 10years after Mumbai. The aver-age ‘leash-cycle’ of terrorists iseight years.

Unlike Nawaz Sharif, Khanis untested in his zeal and devo-tion to the peace process. ThePakistan Army’s readiness toovercome its need for an exis-tential threat from India holdsthe key to longevity of any out-come-related dialogue process.That is why it is vital to engagethe Pakistan Army through acreative backchannel. Khan was

right in echoing a long-heldview that a Right-wing BJP-ledHindu nationalist Governmentin India was ‘better’ for peacetalks. Now that the BJP hasreplaced the Congress as India’snatural ruling party, that sce-nario may have come to stay forthe foreseeable future. But thatis only one side of the story. InPakistan, you will need a mili-tary-led Government or at thevery least, a militaryGovernment with a civilianface like the present Khan-leddispensation. When these twoconditions meet, the two cantango.

It was a tad disingenuousto keep Khan out of the Modiswearing-in by saying it wasinviting only BIMSTEC lead-ers and leaders of Mauritiusand Kyrgyzstan, the latterholding the chair of SCO,which Modi will be attendingnext week and where he is like-ly to meet Khan. The snub forPakistan is a snub for SAARC,which is the South Asianregional organisation; where-as Bimstec is the Bay of Bengalsub-regional grouping com-prising five SAARC countries— India, Nepal, Bhutan, SriLanka, Bangladesh and twomembers of Asean —Myanmar and Thailand.

BIMSTEC is no alternative

to SAARC — it can never be.It excludes Muslim-majoritycountries Pakistan, Afghanistanand Maldives which are part ofSAARC. It is described as com-plementing NeighbourhoodFirst with Act East policies.While India is the dominantcountry, China’s shadow is overboth. In SAARC, China has anobserver status and its string ofpearls connects every Saarccountry except India andBhutan. BRI does the same.Similarly, China’s primacy iswrit large over Myanmar andThailand. Both BIMSTEC andSAARC cannot escape China’soutreach.

Last month, India’sAmbassador to the US, HarshV Shringla, said in Washingtonafter Modi was re-electedPrime Minister that India willnot hold talks with Pakistanuntil it gives up its state poli-cy of supporting terrorism.Even though Modi has raisedthe bar for talks, he must seizethe opportunity to pull asideKhan at Bishkek to break theice. You cannot ignorePakistan.

(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff,currently the revampedIntegrated Defence Staff)

Politics around Hindi has been there

in India ever since independence.

Since the northern states had a

bulk of the population, most of whom

spoke Hindi, there has always been a

motivation by certain Governments to

promote the language as a national lan-

guage — one that is spoken across the

country. This has always aroused a level

of anger among other large language

populations, particularly in the south,

where many languages are from a dif-

ferent language family, mainly the

Dravidian language family. And in the

largest Dravidian state, Tamil Nadu, there has always been a massive issue

around Hindi for decades. It is the subject which gave birth to the Dravida

Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) when former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

first broached the idea of making Hindi a primary language.

The heirs of M Karunanidhi see the new draft National Education Policy

(NEP) as another attempt by the Central Government and North Indian politi-

cians to push Hindi on an unwilling people. But while we can and will debate

the politics of language in India, the fact that the issue did not generate the

level of controversy that it used to is because Hindi has become gradual-

ly more popular thanks to Bollywood. More Indians speak and understand

Hindi than ever before and credit shouldn’t just go to the movie industry

but also the massive amounts of internal migration that has taken place.

But on the language front, it is a good proposal in the draft NEP where

students in India are encouraged to learn another language outside the local

language. This should not only be Hindi for students outside Hindi-speak-

ing states but it should also give students in Hindi-speaking states the choice

of learning a language of their choice. This would do wonders for nation-

al integration and would also allow students across India to understand and

appreciate more cultures. It is said that speaking and understanding mul-

tiple languages wires the brain differently and it is not just speaking skills

but also in analytical skills. It opens up new cultures and, thus, opens the

mind to new and fresh ideas. Many Indians already speak three or more

languages and have seen the benefits of that. This is not forcing a bad idea

on children and nobody is arguing that complete fluency is required, but

this is something that should be promoted and should not be seen as the

primacy of one language over another.

Headlines are screaming about

how temperatures across the

country are hitting record highs.

On social media, users are posting pic-

tures of their car thermometers in cities

like Delhi often displaying readings of

temperatures rising above 50oC. As

many as 10 places in India currently

figure among the 15 hottest in the

world. Further, according to the Ministry

of statistics and programme implemen-

tation, heatwaves and coldwaves in the

country have increased greatly over the

past two years. While the number of

heatwaves increased 14 times in 2017

compared to 2016, the number of cold waves spiked 34 times in the same

period. The fact of the matter is that summers in India have become pro-

gressively warmer over the years. While the heat that builds up over north

and central India creates a large low pressure zone, which draws in the

rain-laden clouds from the Indian Ocean, the temperatures are now hitting

deadly levels, making living and working outside downright dangerous for

the people. Not everyone has the privilege of working indoors, sitting com-

fortably inside the office premises. From delivery boys to traffic police-

men and women as also service staffers, who work in this unbearable heat

— all risk their lives just as they are doing their daily routine jobs. They

do not have a choice and we doff our caps to these brave souls working

in these truly atrocious conditions. One irony of soaring temperatures is

that it makes those, who can afford to use air conditioners, use them more.

There is nothing wrong per se. In this heat, any creature comfort that can

make one feel cooler is a must. But air conditioners work by exchanging

heat and the exhaust from them, in homes, offices and cars make the out-

side air hotter still. And then there is the power needed to power all the cool-

ing devices, made from polluting coal as India still generates a bulk of its

electricity from thermal sources. To make matters worse this summer, when

the thin air is usually blowing around, air pollution levels normally reduce

dramatically but this year, Delhi’s Air Quality Index has been stuck in the severe

category for days. One reason for that is likely the more intense measuring

of pollution nowadays, but residents in cities across North India feel the air

they breathe and they will tell you that it is dirtier than usual.

The example of air conditioners and how their use has built up a posi-

tive feedback cycle making the heat worse is a prime example of climate

change-driven by our everyday actions. And we can feel that the average

temperature is rising year after year when we step out into the heat and feel

our skin sear and notice the roads melt. This is just another challenge for

the new Government, how to balance the needs of the population with the

environment. You can’t stop people from using air conditioners if they can

afford it and more Indians can afford it every year. But you can mandate more

efficient air conditioners alongside better building design and strive for clean-

er energy sources. One of the keys to protect oneself from the heat waves

is to avoid exposure to direct sunlight during the hottest time of the day, around

noon time. Alongside, State Governments must play a pro-active role in imple-

menting the NDMA guidelines, which lays down the measures to prepare,

protect, and mitigate the ill-effects of heat waves. With advanced meteoro-

logical forecasting systems, the public can be alerted as soon as the tem-

peratures cross the threshold limit. They must be advised about the precau-

tionary measures to be taken, especially the most vulnerable lot. It is only

a matter of time when the headlines will scream out that the temperature in

Delhi, which is after all a city of 20 million souls, will exceed 50oC at a mea-

suring station. By then, it might be too late to turn back time even as the

effects of climate change causes an increase in extreme weather-related events.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It appears that the summers are getting hotter. It is time welooked at climate change making the summers worse

The Draft National Education Policy has met with stiffresistance. Tamil chauvinist parties see it as an imposition

Against imposition

Sir — This refers to the report,“Govt alerts draft: Hindi no moremust in school” (June 4). If theModi Government eventuallyexpunged the contentious ‘Hindiclause’ from the draft new educa-tional policy in the face ofOpposition to the trial balloon(the move to impose Hindi), itwas to smooth non-Hindi speak-ing people’s ruffled feathers.

It is not a U-turn or a climb-down, but an attempt to sugar-coatthe three-language policy stillretained in the draft. It needs nogreat intelligence to identify the‘third language’ in the three-lan-guage formula and see through theploy to make Hindi learning com-pulsory through the back door.What is required is not just theomission of ‘Hindi’ from the draftpolicy, but the roll-back of thethree-language policy itself. If theModi Government is so keen on‘greater cognitive development ofchildren’ by means of ‘multilingual-ism’, it can well start with introduc-ing Tamil, Kannada, Marathi orany one of the ‘official’ languagesin Hindi-speaking States.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Alliance politics

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Nitish’s upper hand” (June 4).It is an accepted fact that in acoalition, allies should not be

taken for granted. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi had made itamply clear during his first meet-ing after the election results thathe would take the allies along inthe new Government. It was sur-prising that Bihar Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar refused the BJP’soffer for a single berth in theUnion Cabinet since he felt thatrepresentation of allies in theUnion Government should beproportional to their strength inParliament.

Nitish has been a long stand-ing ally of the BJP. By distancinghimself from the BJP, which heseems to have done with hisdecision to expand the StateCabinet offering a single berth tohis NDA ally, he seems to havereached a dead-end. Continuingwith hate-love relationship doesnot augur well either for the BJPor the Janata Dal (United). It’stime for both parties to walk thetalk and erase bitter differences.

KR Srinivasan Secunderabad

Play a constructive role

Sir — Congress president RahulGandhi’s advice to his MPs toensure that the BJP does nothave a walkover in Parliamentwill further erode people’s faithin the party. Instead, CongressMPs must be magnanimous inco-operating with theGovernment, help it pass welfareschemes and offer constructivecriticism when something isgoing wrong.

ShubhamVia email

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

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op nionLUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

08

Tango with Pakistan

ASHOK K MEHTA

Even though Modi has raised the bar for peace talks with Islamabad, he must seize the

opportunity to pull aside Khan at Bishkek to break the ice. We cannot ignore Pakistan

If you want to judge thecurrent Indian attack,they should be judgedwith rival attacks of thisgeneration only.

Cricketer—Sachin Tendulkar

I don't think I comparedmyself with star kids. I waslaunched with one. Therewas no point where I felt Ineeded to compare myself.

Actor—Kriti Sanon

S O U N D B I T E

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

English as link language is a must

In Tamil Nadu, where language is an extremely sensi-tive issue and an old slogan, “English Ever, Hindi Never,”still holds resonance, the draft national policy on edu-

cation has incensed political parties by calling for the adop-tion of a three-language formula in schools — Hindi,English and the local mother tongue in non-Hindi States.Some leaders in the State have gone so far as to invokethe threat of the infamous 1965 anti-Hindi agitation whenTamil Nadu and parts of south India had burned, whilepoliticians were playing the fiddle. The agitationsinvolved several mass protests and riots in Tamil Naduconcerning the official status of Hindi in the State.

There are some issues about which India needs tomake up its mind once and for all. The English languageis one such. The most important demerit of English isthat it is a foreign language. On the other hand, the mer-its of having English as the link language are many. Itis already playing the role of a national link language.Second, it is neutral between different regions in thecountry as no State shall be in a disadvantageous posi-tion when English is used as the link language. Third,English is a highly developed language and very rich inscience, social science and general literature. Fourth, thebulk of academic research done in India has been pub-

lished in English and the availability of textbooks is alsothe maximum in English language. More importantly,under the Official Languages Act, 1963, it is mandato-ry for Central Government Ministries/departments to useHindi along with English in files, documents and all offi-cial correspondences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’slove for Hindi could see the rule being enforced, muchto the inconvenience and displeasure of those who arenot proficient in Hindi.

JS Acharya Hyaderabad

Send your feedback to:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Hindi Hungama

If the coalition has broken, I willreflect deeply on it and if thecoalition isn't there in the by-elections, then Samajwadi Partywill prepare for the elections.

Samajwadi Party chief—Akhilesh Yadav

Autonomy of Prasar Bharati isimportant. We will retain it… Wewant it to work smoothly andbring new programmes and findnew dimensions.

Union Minister—Prakash Javadekar

Checkmate air pollution

HOW BEAUTIFUL WOULD THE PICTURE HAVE EMERGED,

HAD PHALAAHAAR BEEN ORGANISED DURING

NAVARATRA WITH THE SAME FERVOUR.

—BJP LEADER

GIRIRAJ SINGH

HE (GIRIRAJ SINGH) MAKES SUCH REMARKS

DELIBERATELY SO THAT YOU (MEDIA) MAKE

NEWS OUT OF IT.

—BIHAR CHIEF MINISTER

NITISH KUMAR

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Air pollution has become an unwitting partof our daily lives along with its health andeconomic consequences. This, despite

the tremendous efforts being made to bring downthe scale of pollution through path-breaking mea-sures aided by researched scientific studies. Today,the entire world’s attention will be focused on airpollution as it happens to be the theme of thisyear’s World Environment Day, which is beinghosted by China. World Environment Day, cel-ebrated since 1974, is the United Nations day forencouraging worldwide awareness and action toprotect the environment.

Since its inception, the World EnvironmentDay has grown to become a global platform forpublic outreach that is celebrated in over 100countries. Above all, this day has become “peo-ple’s day” for doing something to take care of theEarth. That “something” can be local, nationalor global. This year’s theme of ‘air pollution’ isapt as this issue has been causing immense con-cern to the well-being of humanity across theworld. Globally, it is estimated that air pollutionis responsible for 3.1 million premature deathsworldwide every year and 3.2 per cent of the glob-al burden of disease.

Epidemiological studies revealed that thereis a link between air pollution and diseases withpublic health importance such as cardiovascu-lar diseases for instance, stroke and ischemicheart disease, cancers and respiratory diseases.Respiratory diseases related to air pollutioninclude acute respiratory infections, chronicobstructive pulmonary diseases and asthma.India is one of the main sufferers of deteriorat-ing air quality levels. Though the Governmentis making efforts all-year round to mitigate itsaffects, no noticeable dip in air pollution levelshave been registered. This year, the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change hasreleased a song titled, ‘Hawa Aane De’ to spreadawareness among the general public regardingair pollution and its adverse effects on the eveof the World Environment Day. Even the trafficpolice has been roped in to create the requiredconsciousness regarding air pollution and asso-ciated problems.

The World Environment Day is also referredto as the ‘Action Day’ when people around theworld are expected to take meaningful action intheir own way possible and do their bit for plan-et Earth. The day symbolises the efforts to savethe environment and is the biggest annual eventfor positive environmental action. However, thecurrent state of dismal air quality levels and with-ering environment is indicative of the fact thatintense and productive action is needed almoston a daily basis to save our ambient air quality.In this regard, perhaps, it is not coincidental thatChina is hosting this year’s ‘World EnvironmentDay’. The country is increasingly being recog-nised by the world for its hard and aggressivedomestic stand on matters pertaining to environ-mental conservation.

China was at the receiving end of severe airpollution levels till recently but concentrated andnon-negotiable policies are slowly turning the tidein its favour. Besides, China is also planning toadopt more efficient and targetted measures dur-ing its continuing campaign against pollution by

not relaxing the targets or easing crack-down on violators. One of the first mea-sures adopted by the ChineseGovernment was to give autonomy toregional pollution control authorities tocurb the production of heavy industriesin their region, depending upon thelocal air quality level. This helped itbring an end to the earlier practice ofimposing nation-wide production curbson heavy industries in response to spikein air pollution levels in some region-al areas. This impacted the economynegatively than actually curbing the pol-lution levels.

The bevy of policy initiatives takenup by China has made the world sit upand take notice. The efforts of China tocontrol the pollution levels are nearly20-year-old and according to a researchconducted by UN Environment and theBeijing Municipal Ecology andEnvironment Bureau (BEE), it is evi-dent how Beijing’s air quality manage-ment programme has evolved andmakes for a sustainable strategy for thefuture. The report by BEE specificallymentions, “This improvement in airquality didn’t happen by accident. It wasthe result of an enormous investmentof time, resources and political will.”

Figures of improvement in airquality speak for themselves. Reelingunder the pressure of ever worseningair quality, Beijing adopted systematicand intensive measures in the begin-ning of 2013. Thanks to unwaveringand concentrated efforts by theGovernment — which was fully sup-ported by the disciplined population —by the end of 2017, fine particulate pol-lution (PM2.5) had fallen by 35 per centand by 25 per cent in the surrounding

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Overthis period, annual emissions of sulfurdioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx),particulate matter (PM10) and volatileorganic compounds in Beijingdecreased by 83 per cent, 43 per cent,55 per cent and 42 per cent respective-ly. Much of this reduction came frommeasures to control coal-fired boilers,provide cleaner domestic fuels andindustrial restructuring. This by itselfis an area of learning for India.

What is the backbone of thisfirm Chinese resolve to bring down airpollution levels? It is definitely not aset of token efforts played mainly foroptics by the Government as in othercountries. In fact, Beijing’s air quali-ty management system is supported bya comprehensive monitoring, evalu-ation, pollution source apportion-ment and emission inventories. It alsocontains wide-ranging legal stan-dards and strict environmental lawenforcement. Air quality work is sup-ported by economic policies, publicparticipation and coordination onair pollution prevention and controlin the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.These robust networks of actionablelaws and policies have helped Chinaachieve something that other nationssuffering from falling air quality stan-dards are still grappling with. Withoutdoubt, Beijing’s efforts, achievements,experiences and lessons in air pollu-tion control over the last 20 years areworth analysing and sharing in orderto progress global environmental gov-ernance.

Beijing has achieved impressive airquality improvements in a short span.It is a good example of how to balance

environmental protection and eco-nomic growth. India is ambitiously tar-getting aggressive economic growth thatmight outpace Chinese economy even-tually. But what will this progress costus? A country that loses its environmentand gains economic prosperity has onlywon in short-term and lost in long-term. Therefore a balance is of outmostimportance. The World EnvironmentDay in India must come to mean thesignificance of this balance.

India must rejig its environmentalpriorities and ensure that the annualWorld Environment Day is utilised forstock-taking and assessment of effortstaken in the last whole year. As a firststep, the new Government must setactionable goals that are time-boundand specify penalties for relevantauthorities for not adhering to the dead-lines. People, too, need to be heldaccountable for the environment andsufficient measures must be envisionedand implemented that seek to awakeenvironmental consciousness of thecommon man and also ensure that will-ful and deliberate polluters of environ-ment are exemplarily punished. Wouldthese measures be harsh for India?Maybe not if one factors in the suffer-ing undergone by the environment andour fragile ecosystem till now.

It is time to quantify the progressmade by us in safeguarding the envi-ronment. Celebration of a specific dayby caring for the planet for that partic-ular day is woefully inadequate. Thishas to be a year-long effort till wereclaim our environment. As China hasshown, this is very much possible.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

China is a good example of how it has balanced environmental protection andeconomic growth. India must learn from Beijing to tackle air pollution

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

Rural healthcare

needs urgent fixing

AJOY KHANDHERIA

Providing affordable services to the people is theneed of the hour. Ambulances, mobile check upvans and healthcare kiosks can help achieve this

KOTA SRIRAJ

INDIA MUSTREJIG ITS

ENVIRONMENTALPRIORITIES AND

ENSURE THATTHE ANNUAL

WORLDENVIRONMENT

DAY IS UTILISEDFOR STOCK-TAKING AND

ASSESSMENT OFEFFORTS TAKEN

IN THE LASTWHOLE YEAR. ASIMMEDIATE FIRSTSTEPS, THE NEW

GOVERNMENTMUST SET

ACTIONABLEGOALS THAT ARE

TIME-BOUND ANDSPECIFY

PENALTIES FORRELEVANT

AUTHORITIES FORNOT ADHERING

TO THEDEADLINES

For all the gratified talk about India’s health sector and the med-

ical tourism hub it has turned the country into, the truth remains

that our healthcare system is inequitable. Even today, a large

section of our population has to travel more than 100 kms to access

basic healthcare. Data collected by National Sample Survey Office

in 2010 found that 86 per cent of all trips taken for medical pur-

poses were from rural areas. According to estimates, urban cen-

tres are home to almost 70 per cent of the doctors and 65 per cent

of the country’s hospital beds despite having less than 30 per cent

of the total population. Government figures suggest that as on March

31, 2017, only 4,156 posts for specialists were filled in Community

Health Centres as against the requirement of 22,496. Patients in

rural areas face several hurdles to healthcare that limit their ability

to avail the care they need.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or Ayushman Bharat pro-

gramme, which promises to benefit 10.74 crore poor and deprived

families, has raised much hope. However, to establish an afford-

able and accessible healthcare ecosystem in the country, the need

is for a wider approach that includes creating the required human

resource and raising awareness among rural Indians.

Barriers healthcare access in rural areas: Poor health liter-

acy does not allow a patient to comprehend either the health infor-

mation or the instructions given by healthcare providers. In most

cases, due to the lack of knowledge, rural residents are reluctant

to visit healthcare facilities as they don’t have the confidence to com-

municate with professionals. At the same time, it also translates

into low awareness about chronic diseases and symptoms. It is,

therefore, important to have a functioning primary healthcare ser-

vice closer to the doors of rural people.

Long distance commutation: According to a NATHEALTH-PwC

report released in 2017, 50 per cent of the beneficiaries travel more

than 100 km to access quality medical care. About 70 per cent of

India’s health infrastructure is concentrated in the top 20 cities. Long

distance commutation increases costs and inconvenience and often

results in discontinuation of treatment. For people living with chron-

ic diseases such as hypertension diabetes and heart disease among

others, who require frequent visits to outpatient healthcare facili-

ties, this can have serious consequences on their health.

Workforce limitations: India faces a shortage of doctors and

allied healthcare professionals. This scarcity is even more glaring

in rural areas where it severely limits access to healthcare and neg-

atively impacts health outcomes. Poor medical infrastructure in these

areas also acts as an impediment in attracting qualified and trained

professionals. The Government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat

scheme, which envisages establishing of 150,000 health and well-

ness centres, cannot succeed without addressing the human resource

gap in rural areas.

Way forward: Ways have to be found out to generate trained

human resource to provide healthcare services. This can be done

by commissioning new medical colleges, providing monetary and

non-monetary incentives to doctors to work in rural areas, improv-

ing working conditions for healthcare professionals and provide them

with ancillary infrastructure to carry out basic duties. Taking trained

AYUSH practitioners on board and equipping them with the ability

to diagnose and refer conditions at primary level can also temporar-

ily fill the human resource gap.

Re-skill primary healthcare doctors: Doctors in rural areas

should also be constantly re-skilled to make them abreast with the

latest developments in medical field. With growing and improving

understanding of diseases and treatments, modern healthcare sys-

tem demands constant upgrading of skills and continuous med-

ical education. The doctors in primary healthcare setup must be

updated and be able to cope with evolving disease patterns and

epidemics and make right diagnosis and provide quality treatment.

It is important, therefore, to make CMEs mandatory for them.

Innovative approaches to healthcare: To bypass the problems

of human resource and infrastructure shortage, we need to create

innovative and low-cost solutions and technologies that can enable

us bring healthcare closer to the homes of rural people.

Ambulances, mobile check up vans, healthcare kiosks and use of

telemedicine are ways to achieve this.

Healthcare start-ups are doing their bit by opening kiosks across

various States that provide basic healthcare services to villagers

every day. These kiosks are digitised healthcare clinics that use

telemedicine to help under-served communities get access to doc-

tors. These kiosks have a nurse, who conducts physical examina-

tion and connects with the online doctor by live audio or video feed

through a technology backed platform. The services are provided

at subsidised rates. Many such initiatives and platforms must be

launched to further the goal of universal healthcare.

(The writer is founder of Gramin Healthcare)

The Congress has gone back to thetried and tested leadership ofSonia Gandhi by once again

electing her as the leader of its parlia-mentary party in its hour of crisis.Calling it “unprecedented crisis”, Soniaherself acknowledged the numerouschallenges confronting the grand oldparty. Claiming that several decisivemeasures were being mulled tostrengthen the organisation, she hint-ed that Rahul Gandhi would continueas the party chief though he hadoffered his resignation to the CongressWorking Committee (CWC) after thedefeat. In one voice, the CWC reject-ed his resignation. By now, it is clear thatneither will the party give up on theGandhi family nor will the family will

give up its power over the 132- yeargrand old party.

Rahul Gandhi should learn a les-son or two from other Opposition lead-ers, who, too, were humiliated in the2019 Lok Sabha polls. Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) chief Mayawati has alreadymade changes to her party to get readyfor the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls. AamAadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal hasasked his party to be prepared for the2020 Assembly polls. West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee hasbegun her street-level fight to preparefor the Assembly polls. So, the fightingpolitician will not sulk as Rahul Gandhidid for the past few days. If the gener-al is demoralised, what happens to thefoot soldiers?

Rahul Gandhi’s pep-talk to hisparty MPs last week sent the right sig-nal that it will fight back in Parliamentand outside as that is what is expectedfrom a responsible Opposition leader.He said, “We are 52 MPs. I guaranteeyou that these 52 MPs will fight againstthe BJP every single inch. We areenough to make the BJP jump every-day.” But to do this, Rahul Gandhishould come to Parliament regularly

and lead from the front. So far he hadbeen irregular in his Parliament atten-dance. If public meetings and ralliesbrings a leader in direct contact withthe people, the Parliament is where theOpposition should take on theGovernment effectively throughdebates and discussions. Sonia Gandhioptimistically predicted that, “In anunprecedented crisis lies an unprece-dented opportunity...Undeterred bythe many challenges that lie ahead, wewill rise again,” she said.

To rise again, the party needs toreinvent itself and strengthen the

organisation. Rahul Gandhi’s first chal-lenge is to show that the Congress is nota spent-force.

Second, he should make efforts tounite the Opposition to function in acohesive manner in Parliament onissues that matter. Now that the NDAhas emerged with 352 seats in the LokSabha, passing Bills will not be a prob-lem for the Modi Government. But thisis where the Congress and otherOpposition parties should be vigilant.An effective Opposition does not neednumbers but members, who can raisethe issues effectively. Did not former

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi facesuch turbulent times in Parliament dur-ing the Bofors scam days, though hehad a brute majority of 415 members?A dozen of Opposition leaders, includ-ing Madhu Dandavate, SomnathChatterjee, Indrajit Gupta, Jaipal Reddyand KP Unnikrishnan not only raisedissues effectively but also saw to it thatRajiv Gandhi lost power in the 1989elections.

Third, the Congress shouldstrengthen the Opposition by winningcooperation of parties like the BijuJanata Dal, YSR Congress Party andTelangana Rashtra Samithi amongothers during parliamentary debatesand discussions.

Fourth, though there is no provi-sion of a shadow Cabinet in the Indiansystem, the Congress can think ofencouraging its MPs to develop exper-tise in certain domains. This will comehandy for the party. After all, it has sev-eral experienced ex-Ministers. Lastly,the party should live in the present andnot in its past glory as no legacy how-ever strong can go on forever.

The role of the Opposition is notto criticise every decision of the

Government but support issues of pub-lic interest. Boycotting the Parliament,stalling business and hitting the streetswill not work. Modi-bashing days areover after the BJP registered a stunningvictory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Itis time to look ahead. Ideas of secular-ism/fundamentalism have no longerany appeal going by the way the BJP isgrowing. What the Congress needs isto find an identity, appeal and a newnarrative. After all, it has to face sev-eral Assembly elections before thenext Lok Sabha polls in 2024. TheCongress as a credible Opposition iscritical for Indian democracy becausedespite its losses, the party still remainsthe only political force as a counterbal-ance to the BJP’s surge.

The Congress should work towardsbuilding a cohesive Opposition andtake note of what the Prime Ministersaid in a televised address: “Whateverhappened in these elections is in thepast, we have to look ahead. We haveto take everyone forward, including ourstaunchest opponents.” If he is look-ing ahead, so should the Opposition.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)

Review, revamp and re-emergeTo rise again, the Congress needs to reinvent itself and strengthen the organisation. It must play the role of a credible

Opposition not by criticising every move of the Government but by supporting it for the acts that are in the nation’s interest

KALYANI SHANKAR

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

Because much ofcybercrime is international,it requires close and quickcollaboration betweennational police forces, andeven within the EU this isnot the case. The Britishpolice are reluctant toinvestigate property crimesin the real world and stillmore so online. Thisreluctance is backed up bya lack of resources. Butuntil it can be overcome,crime will continue toflourish online since there isno detectable lawenforcement there.(The Guardian Editorial)

ENFORCE THE LAW

money 10LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019

‘Evols’ steers Sahara into auto segmentLucknow: Sahara IndiaPariwar, one of the biggestIndian business conglomer-ates, announced its foray intothe automobile sector here onTuesday, under the brandname, ‘Sahara Evols’.

The business venture willbring India’s largest range ofelectric vehicles (EVs) alongwith advanced allied services.The product portfolio of ‘SaharaEvols’ consists of variants ofelectric scooters, motorcycles,three-wheelers and cargo vehi-cles. For the first time, thegroup will also be is introduc-ing a network of battery charg-ng-cum-swapping stations.

‘Sahara Evols’, while startingfrom Lucknow, will establish itsecosystem in Tier II and Tier IIIcities of India by the end of thisfinancial year, in a phase-wisemanner. Subsequently, in thenext financial year, it will roll outits products and services, pan-India.

On the occasion, ‘Saharasri’Subrata Roy Sahara said, “Weare proud to introduce for thefirst time, a complete ecosystemof electric vehicles in India.Sustainable and environment-friendly modes of transporta-tion are the need of the time aswell as for the benefit of ourfuture generations.

The Sahara Evols range ofelectric vehicles is going to beour contribution in this direc-tion – towards alternate, sus-tainable and eco-friendlymodes of transportation.”

‘Sahara Evols’ vehicles run

on advanced electricmotors &amp; drivetraindesigned and developedby German engineering.

The technology anddesign of Evols electricvehicles provide instantpick-up, zero noise pol-lution thus soundlesscruise and lower batteryconsumption which leadsto longer driving distanceand also longer batterylife plus 5 times lowermaintenance costs ascompared to convention-al vehicles. The vehiclesare powered by dry lithi-um-ion batteries, whichare lightweight, portable,smart-looking and have alonger life than regularbatteries. These batteriesare fast charging, withup to 40% charging inone hour which can pro-vide enough power tocover between 55 Km –150 km distance in a sin-gle charge depending onthe type and category.

The cost of drivingSahara Evols electricvehicles in an averagecan go as low as 20 paiseper kilometre against thecost of Rs 2 per kilome-tre on petrol vehicles,thus entailing direct andsubstantial economicbenefits to the users.

Sahara Evols is alsointroducing a first of its

kind ecosystem for theelectric vehicles, which

along with a wide network ofservice centers across each city,also provides support facilitieslike delivery of a charged bat-tery on call as well as for thefirst time in India, a network of‘Battery Swapping Stations’ forcustomer convenience. TheseBattery Swapping Stationscharge batteries quickly with‘Evols Smart Charge DockingSystem’, or alternately, enablevehicle owners to swap theirdischarged battery with a fullycharged one.

The company has alreadystarted developing the servicesetup at Lucknow District, itsfirst target market with the set-ting up of 57 service centers aswell as providing training to thetechnicians for electric vehicles.Sahara Evols has also handedover keys to 101 inauguralcustomers at Lucknow. SaharaEvols’ vehicles are alsoequipped with Smart Tech fea-tures like GPS tracking systemthrough which the owner of thevehicle, with the help of the freedownloadable ‘Sahara EvolsMobile App’ can trace the loca-tion of their vehicle, as well asask for on-road and off-roadassistance, 24X7.

Users can also analyseonline the performance of theirvehicles and for the first timein India, can even lock the vehi-cle through the mobile app.The vehicles also have DistressAlarm Buttons for women’ssafety and anti-theft Alarm toprevent any attempt of break-in.

Saharasri Subrata Roy Sahara, Managing Worker & Chairman, Sahara India Pariwar, at thelaunch of its electric vehicle ‘Evols‘ in Lucknow on Tuesday

Sensex ends lower

on profit-booking

PTI n MUMBAI

The BSE benchmarkSensex Tuesday retreatedfrom its peak level to end

184 points lower as investorsresorted to profit taking athigher valuation.

The broader Nifty toocame off life-time highs to set-tle 67 points down.

Top losers in the Sensexpack were Hero MotoCorp,HCL Tech, TCS, Asian Paints,IndusInd Bank and Infosys,shedding up to 3.08 per cent.

On the other hand, YesBank, NTPC and Axis Bankemerged as major gainers, ris-ing up to 2.71 per cent.

The BSE gauge settled184.08 points, or 0.46 per cent,lower at 40,083.54. The broad-er NSE benchmark fell 66.90

points, or 0.55 per cent, to set-tle at 12,021.65.

Auto and IT countersmainly came under a heavyselling pressure due to profit-booking as stocks of both sec-tors had risen in the previoussession on hopes of RBI rate cutand rupee’s sustained rise.

The broader mood of themarkets remain dampenedwith a report that the pre-mon-soon rainfall in the country wasthe second lowest in 65 years,he said adding that the three-month pre-monsoon seasonMarch, April and May endedwith a rainfall deficiency of 25per cent.

Analysts said that investorsbooked profits at higher levelsafter markets soared to recordhighs on Monday amid expec-tations of an interest rate cut by

the RBI on Thursday, especiallyafter a disappointing GDPprint for the March quarter.

“Markets opened margin-ally lower, but fell later in theafternoon trade as investorsand traders awaited RBI’s mon-etary policy decision amidweak cues from global mar-kets,” said Narendra Solanki,Head Fundamental Research(Investment Services) - AVPEquity Research, Anand RathiShares & Stock Brokers.

The Indian rupee was mar-ginally lower at 69.28 againstthe US dollar.

Meanwhile, other Asianbourses ended on a negativenote, while Europe was tradingin the green in opening deals.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, fell 1.53per cent to 60.34 per barrel.

FinMin claries on accrued IGST credit New Delhi (PTI): The FinanceMinistry Tuesday assured tradeand industry that input taxcredit accrued on import ofgoods by paying GST in 2017-18 will not lapse even if the tax-payer has not claimed credit inthe same financial year.

Addressing concerns raisedby trade and industry regardingfiling of annual returns for the

first year (2017-18) of Goods andServices Tax (GST) roll out, theministry also advised taxpayersto file the correct data about taxpayment and other details asreported in monthly sales returnsin annual return GSTR-9 byomitting the auto populated data.

The ministry said that manytaxpayers have raised concernthat annual return form GSTR-

9 does not allow a taxpayer toreport details of IGST paid onimports made in 2017-18 butcredit for the same was availed in2018-19.

Issuing the clarification, theministry further said many tax-payers have reported a mis-match between auto-populateddata and the actual entry in theirbooks of accounts or returns.

Script Open High Low LTPRCOM 1.98 2.00 1.93 1.97JUSTDIAL 794.90 797.95 759.55 767.30YESBANK 148.75 153.80 148.60 152.75RPOWER 7.30 7.44 7.00 7.04PCJEWELLER 74.45 78.20 73.00 73.90SPICEJET 150.00 153.20 148.50 149.05RELIANCE 1358.00 1373.00 1347.45 1351.10DLF 195.50 202.55 194.10 195.30SBIN 354.30 357.15 351.35 352.35SUZLON 5.50 5.70 5.40 5.48INFY* 741.95 741.95 733.25 734.70LT 1559.80 1584.70 1559.55 1570.00DRREDDY 2740.00 2797.75 2447.05 2657.80ASHOKLEY 91.95 93.85 91.40 93.00WIPRO 294.40 296.00 290.85 293.90GRAPHITE 408.75 429.90 406.80 421.05RELINFRA 99.20 101.50 96.55 97.00TATAGLOBAL 244.90 258.55 244.65 253.35RELCAPITAL 119.40 126.05 118.65 120.95AXISBANK 807.80 826.40 805.55 821.40NTPC 134.90 136.35 133.65 135.00TCS 2226.00 2226.00 2175.00 2182.45IBULHSGFIN 815.00 819.90 791.85 796.30BANKBARODA 131.95 135.10 131.00 132.60DHFL 114.25 115.65 111.05 111.60ZEEL 360.00 360.00 345.00 346.15TATAMOTORS 174.00 177.00 172.55 173.40PNB 81.95 83.90 81.45 82.30JETAIRWAYS 139.00 143.10 135.25 140.70INDUSINDBK 1663.85 1672.90 1630.00 1636.10ORIENTBANK 97.80 106.85 97.75 101.15BHEL 71.75 73.00 70.60 70.85ITC 279.70 282.15 278.90 279.65ADANIPORTS 423.80 429.60 417.65 425.40HINDALCO 199.85 200.85 196.90 198.25UNIONBANK 77.00 80.85 76.05 77.90IBREALEST 124.15 126.40 122.40 123.55INDIACEM 107.30 109.20 101.50 101.90INDIANB 285.00 292.35 271.55 273.10IDBI 37.00 40.55 36.70 39.70HEROMOTOCO 2838.00 2838.00 2748.30 2754.95ULTRACEMCO 4759.95 4782.30 4680.00 4696.85UJJIVAN 362.00 371.50 360.65 365.00JPASSOCIAT 4.76 4.80 4.70 4.71TATASTEEL 498.85 502.75 492.65 497.15HEG 1696.70 1749.50 1688.50 1700.80MARUTI 7012.00 7075.70 6979.50 7049.60BIOCON 558.00 560.70 539.20 540.70MANAPPURAM 134.50 141.10 134.00 138.90NCC 99.25 100.30 97.20 97.85BOMDYEING 125.00 132.15 124.85 129.65JUBILANT 489.00 489.00 454.50 460.40BAJFINANCE 3510.05 3547.40 3510.05 3532.55SUNPHARMA 416.40 417.95 409.50 411.25PERSISTENT* 575.00 597.50 575.00 594.20HDFCLIFE 443.90 444.70 436.25 442.45COALINDIA 259.75 264.00 258.15 263.25ICICIGI 1220.00 1250.00 1212.20 1244.05AMBUJACEM 236.00 237.85 225.80 227.00ICICIPRULI 400.00 400.00 389.85 394.30HDFCBANK 2457.00 2465.00 2442.05 2454.00MAHLOG 513.00 520.00 490.00 491.95ABCAPITAL 102.35 105.80 102.35 103.90BEL 111.75 114.20 110.95 113.20ICICIBANK 416.00 422.75 416.00 418.95PFC 128.20 131.40 127.60 129.75MOTHERSUMI 114.25 117.75 113.20 115.15CANBK 273.45 280.10 271.20 274.85HINDPETRO 325.00 325.05 317.05 318.00ACC 1711.00 1736.75 1651.20 1658.00NAUKRI 2280.00 2288.00 2201.55 2251.25ASIANPAINT 1459.00 1459.00 1417.55 1421.25VEDL 164.00 167.60 164.00 165.90EDELWEISS 203.60 210.30 198.60 200.45BANKINDIA 95.00 98.50 94.75 96.15UPL 1009.95 1022.60 1002.00 1011.10TITAN 1274.00 1278.35 1243.05 1252.40IBVENTURES 313.10 319.00 303.45 305.60RBLBANK 702.00 705.00 690.30 692.10IDEA 14.05 14.39 13.80 13.84POWERGRID 193.00 195.95 192.50 193.10RECLTD 146.00 151.10 144.95 148.70BATAINDIA 1369.00 1389.90 1365.50 1374.80HDFC 2226.90 2234.00 2208.45 2224.85JISLJALEQS 49.80 50.75 48.65 48.90APOLLOHOSP 1345.10 1356.40 1324.30 1331.85PHILIPCARB 144.50 154.00 143.30 149.60IOC 170.00 170.00 165.00 165.30RADICO 334.60 339.70 329.55 330.60APOLLOTYRE 195.75 201.85 194.65 197.65INFRATEL 273.00 275.40 268.70 273.75ADANIPOWER 49.80 51.25 49.60 50.30GRUH 315.70 323.00 315.10 320.90BALKRISIND 792.55 806.40 785.60 795.00SAIL 51.30 52.20 50.00 50.55CROMPTON 247.90 251.70 243.00 248.50ESCORTS 604.00 612.75 598.50 604.20VENKYS 1941.00 2008.00 1906.00 1948.30L&TFH 136.00 137.85 135.40 136.35J&KBANK 58.70 61.75 58.55 60.95DELTACORP 206.00 213.20 204.65 207.60TVSMOTOR 501.65 511.70 490.00 493.75SUNTV 542.60 543.60 530.50 535.95BHARTIARTL 352.00 355.75 350.05 353.45HAVELLS 771.90 783.85 761.00 778.40INDIGO 1687.00 1703.75 1680.90 1685.70VGUARD 236.75 247.00 235.55 243.00NATIONALUM 50.35 51.00 50.00 50.25DBL 592.00 592.00 551.55 551.55

JSWSTEEL 274.00 275.80 272.50 274.10M&M 656.80 659.50 647.95 650.70HCLTECH 1111.00 1113.55 1079.35 1082.55GODREJPROP 901.00 923.95 861.00 881.85RAIN 112.75 117.45 112.35 115.00GREAVESCOT 154.70 157.25 152.00 153.25JUBLFOOD 1350.40 1369.90 1342.00 1356.20TATACHEM 636.00 644.90 625.60 631.40AUROPHARMA 652.00 659.75 648.55 654.10JINDALSTEL 160.45 162.80 158.15 161.65STRTECH 175.65 177.65 173.00 173.80BEML 999.70 1010.00 981.50 990.90FSL 53.00 54.60 53.00 53.50LTTS 1699.00 1709.40 1663.00 1667.40FEDERALBNK 107.50 109.60 107.50 107.90TATAPOWER 67.45 67.95 66.45 66.75NMDC 104.00 105.25 102.85 103.75EICHERMOT 19997.00 20355.15 19800.05 20075.00SOBHA 543.00 573.20 543.00 553.65HINDUNILVR 1834.00 1844.00 1808.00 1816.10JAICORPLTD 122.00 124.90 121.30 121.50TECHM 758.90 762.70 747.60 748.55ONGC 172.00 173.35 170.00 170.55DISHTV 28.60 29.00 27.20 27.50INTELLECT 261.55 272.45 260.70 269.50IFCI 9.61 9.87 9.50 9.69HFCL 21.80 22.35 21.20 21.30IGL 342.00 346.50 338.35 344.55EXIDEIND 215.00 217.75 213.15 214.80BHARATFIN 1053.60 1053.60 1026.55 1033.60NBCC 62.60 64.45 62.05 63.10PAGEIND 21050.00 21100.00 20035.00 20128.15CENTURYTEX 1060.00 1060.00 1020.00 1024.30CANFINHOME 363.55 368.80 360.05 364.75WOCKPHARMA 400.50 410.00 395.40 405.30WABAG 322.70 343.80 318.60 333.85EQUITAS 141.50 143.00 140.50 141.25KOTAKBANK 1525.00 1539.45 1523.45 1531.30COLPAL 1169.80 1169.80 1123.95 1147.85DEEPAKNI 322.65 329.60 320.00 327.25HERITGFOOD 391.00 412.65 388.00 404.15IDFCFIRSTB 45.35 46.30 45.00 45.45M&MFIN 436.30 441.85 428.20 432.55LICHSGFIN 559.00 568.35 555.00 564.70DIVISLAB 1610.00 1610.00 1581.10 1584.30OMAXE 206.80 206.80 204.50 204.80BAJAJ-AUTO 3031.70 3031.70 2976.95 2989.55CEATLTD 991.55 1016.40 988.00 1012.25SRF 2890.00 2917.00 2843.20 2898.80LUPIN 745.10 753.85 739.80 742.20GRASIM 890.00 903.95 884.50 886.90IRB 123.10 124.60 120.00 121.25ADANIGREEN 44.40 46.10 43.60 45.05RCF 63.15 64.65 62.70 63.55DCBBANK 234.90 239.30 231.60 237.70GAIL 358.00 360.25 355.50 358.50ITI 96.45 98.20 95.65 95.95DMART 1344.00 1355.15 1321.10 1330.60INOXLEISUR 379.00 382.20 364.60 371.40CADILAHC 252.50 259.80 251.20 257.40SYNDIBANK 35.95 37.90 35.65 36.70SADBHAV 260.00 264.30 253.00 257.50TRENT 412.25 424.50 408.70 412.45MPHASIS 987.00 987.00 962.65 969.70VOLTAS 594.50 601.80 591.10 598.30AVANTI 365.10 378.00 362.50 368.25WHIRLPOOL 1497.00 1544.00 1497.00 1531.90SUNTECK 500.05 507.00 492.80 501.00RAYMOND 842.00 859.90 840.75 852.45PEL 2228.00 2280.25 2187.85 2208.65DABUR 409.00 410.00 404.50 405.05BPCL 416.00 416.00 406.55 408.95STAR 433.20 436.40 425.05 432.15BAJAJFINSV 8312.55 8393.90 8304.00 8325.10TATAMTRDVR 84.80 86.55 84.40 85.50JSWENERGY 72.50 74.25 72.50 73.20SRTRANSFIN 1175.00 1187.15 1162.05 1165.75BERGEPAINT 327.10 331.80 322.00 323.55KTKBANK 113.05 115.60 112.40 113.55HEXAWARE 362.00 362.00 347.00 348.60NESTLEIND 11694.00 11694.00 11427.25 11526.00CAPPL 435.00 458.00 425.35 446.80COCHINSHIP 393.00 406.35 390.25 399.30CONCOR 532.85 543.10 530.40 536.45PETRONET 248.00 249.00 245.50 246.85BHARATFORG 465.00 467.75 460.65 463.15PRESTIGE 293.00 293.10 280.80 286.30INFIBEAM 46.00 47.30 45.40 45.75WELSPUNIND 55.25 57.20 55.25 55.90HSCL 104.00 106.85 102.75 106.10TATAELXSI 886.55 886.55 865.00 869.40ISGEC 488.00 488.00 461.50 467.00FDC 204.10 208.90 201.75 203.40ITDC 262.05 289.80 262.00 286.75SIEMENS 1270.80 1278.00 1260.20 1267.10GODREJCP 706.00 712.40 698.80 701.60ALBK 44.50 46.20 44.50 45.10OBEROIRLTY 561.05 571.05 556.00 558.55CGPOWER 35.50 36.60 35.15 35.45WELCORP 144.20 147.80 141.00 142.90SPARC 143.95 145.50 142.20 142.75UBL 1334.00 1361.20 1330.05 1339.00HINDCOPPER 43.50 45.15 43.45 44.20IDFC 37.25 39.10 37.25 38.30JKTYRE 83.40 84.50 81.40 81.90LTI 1770.00 1799.00 1768.25 1775.60ADVENZYMES 216.80 224.50 216.80 222.55MGL 890.80 905.50 884.00 889.25PNBHOUSING 835.75 855.00 829.90 846.10GNFC 289.75 294.40 286.10 287.10

GSPL 197.15 199.95 191.90 194.55MINDTREE 977.85 978.20 967.50 972.05CIPLA 568.00 574.30 562.00 563.25GLENMARK 546.55 554.00 539.30 540.45DCMSHRIRAM 547.90 556.00 521.00 524.90TRIDENT 66.50 68.60 66.20 66.55PIDILITIND 1300.00 1300.00 1274.00 1278.75JAMNAAUTO 56.35 59.10 56.20 57.15GUJGAS 186.10 190.40 184.65 185.25PVR 1771.00 1801.65 1769.60 1780.30MUTHOOTFIN 642.30 656.80 641.80 646.30BLISSGVS 160.90 163.10 159.80 161.75FORCEMOT 1540.00 1564.00 1520.00 1528.80BRITANNIA 2965.00 2985.90 2951.20 2961.00VINATIORGA 2140.00 2216.35 2060.10 2083.95GODREJIND 501.70 503.50 495.00 500.35ENGINERSIN 122.20 122.30 120.50 121.20ASHOKA 147.00 147.00 139.00 145.15GMRINFRA 15.45 15.65 15.25 15.30SOUTHBANK 14.30 14.38 13.92 14.30FCONSUMER 42.70 43.35 42.50 42.70GEPIL 925.00 930.40 895.00 905.00MMTC 25.55 26.70 25.55 26.30SUVEN 270.05 276.75 270.05 273.70PRSMJOHNSN 100.25 101.15 96.20 96.65MERCK 4040.00 4081.60 3945.00 3974.00SHANKARA 512.20 519.05 495.45 502.50ABFRL 218.40 219.00 214.75 217.50SHREECEM 21850.00 22045.45 21118.05 21211.05KAJARIACER 644.00 648.00 639.20 641.80KEI 510.55 517.50 497.95 499.60INDHOTEL 153.90 157.00 151.50 152.55CHOLAFIN 1537.00 1547.15 1514.20 1522.95WESTLIFE 346.35 349.45 342.00 343.05VIPIND 445.65 451.10 441.00 445.05NATCOPHARM 532.00 558.90 524.00 546.95MEGH 66.65 68.25 66.05 66.30ABB 1600.00 1607.00 1554.25 1560.20GHCL 262.15 267.00 260.50 263.50TV18BRDCST 28.30 29.25 27.75 29.00JINDALSAW 89.40 90.35 87.30 87.80PTC 70.85 71.25 69.30 69.95SBILIFE 692.65 700.00 689.10 697.65AJANTPHARM 1051.00 1074.50 1030.00 1033.30HUDCO 43.00 43.95 42.85 43.40NOCIL 134.50 135.50 133.00 133.50CASTROLIND 150.00 151.35 148.75 150.00MRF 56100.00 58279.95 56100.00 57561.65SYNGENE 690.00 690.00 681.65 684.80CHAMBLFERT 183.45 185.45 179.00 180.15OIL 181.50 185.65 180.40 181.60MFSL 449.85 456.00 444.65 450.40BANDHANBNK 599.85 601.05 591.40 592.90NIITTECH 1306.80 1314.70 1299.95 1302.45HINDZINC 248.75 251.80 246.00 246.55CUMMINSIND 769.90 783.10 769.90 778.95MAHABANK 15.45 16.15 15.35 15.95AMARAJABAT 644.00 645.75 635.75 637.75TORNTPHARM 1546.30 1558.70 1524.25 1531.35PNCINFRA 199.00 201.35 195.40 199.35REDINGTON 101.05 104.70 101.05 102.90RAMCOCEM 828.00 828.00 801.55 808.15KEC 321.60 321.80 314.85 315.30EMAMILTD 353.25 353.50 340.30 345.35AARTIIND 1866.00 1870.00 1837.75 1844.65TATACOFFEE 91.00 92.85 91.00 91.55TIINDIA 392.00 397.70 381.00 394.80HEIDELBERG 207.65 213.90 206.45 211.15TORNTPOWER 248.00 248.00 245.10 245.90MARICO 379.80 379.80 374.30 376.30ATUL 4005.00 4057.90 3953.80 3981.95GSFC 105.95 107.70 105.00 105.50TNPL 209.80 209.80 191.00 192.10JBCHEPHARM 373.00 388.50 371.00 381.65CENTRALBK 25.00 25.60 24.95 25.30ISEC 225.50 228.80 223.00 227.05TEJASNET 187.95 189.70 177.10 180.60BBTC 1164.00 1179.45 1147.00 1150.25PIIND 1127.65 1150.00 1127.65 1145.05MCX 821.60 826.80 809.60 815.90EIDPARRY 191.45 193.40 188.20 188.90UFLEX 268.65 276.25 265.00 268.55BAJAJHLDNG 3509.00 3594.45 3491.00 3517.65

JKLAKSHMI 390.00 395.00 377.00 379.20SCHNEIDER 101.00 102.00 98.00 99.05ZENSARTECH 253.95 254.10 250.00 253.85QUESS 647.00 652.35 645.00 647.70SWANENERGY 105.20 106.50 104.20 105.65PHOENIXLTD 676.95 679.60 664.20 667.95SYMPHONY 1489.00 1499.00 1414.00 1439.75BLUESTARCO 809.15 810.00 791.40 798.65SUPPETRO 221.00 229.00 218.85 223.80AUBANK 695.00 706.90 695.00 698.90JMFINANCIL 95.35 95.40 93.45 93.90GODFRYPHLP 918.00 933.00 916.00 922.30RAJESHEXPO 667.00 667.00 654.00 655.20GICRE 230.00 230.15 223.55 224.40GPPL 85.75 86.60 85.00 85.25NHPC 25.00 25.10 24.85 24.95LUXIND 1262.10 1269.60 1230.10 1246.75ADANITRANS 240.00 240.00 231.30 232.00KSCL 536.55 543.90 531.00 534.10NESCO 523.65 529.95 518.00 527.00NBVENTURES 94.25 94.25 91.85 92.05ORIENTCEM 118.50 125.00 117.00 119.00APLAPOLLO 1580.00 1580.00 1557.90 1560.65LAKSHVILAS 74.50 74.75 73.40 73.65TTKPRESTIG 7140.00 7293.95 7131.20 7220.40PFIZER 3110.25 3115.70 3090.00 3107.80JKCEMENT 1054.00 1054.00 1031.00 1034.45OFSS 3439.00 3445.00 3369.05 3378.35BDL 300.75 307.00 298.00 302.85SCI 32.85 33.60 32.70 33.10KALPATPOWR 519.80 520.10 511.00 514.35LEMONTREE 71.30 71.90 70.00 70.40ASTRAL 1345.00 1349.00 1312.00 1323.20TATACOMM 539.90 545.75 533.80 535.50BAJAJELEC 540.65 540.65 530.55 532.40IPCALAB 936.35 938.85 930.10 933.70THYROCARE 478.85 488.90 467.00 475.30SUPREMEIND 1070.50 1075.00 1035.50 1056.20REPCOHOME 397.85 406.00 396.40 400.75DEEPAKFERT 144.25 144.75 140.50 140.90TAKE 151.70 152.60 150.20 150.85AKZOINDIA 1799.95 1799.95 1774.00 1785.05FORTIS 125.85 126.10 123.70 124.15KNRCON 285.80 291.00 283.35 287.25ENDURANCE 1216.70 1227.60 1199.95 1206.35GMDCLTD 79.55 83.00 79.55 79.95IFBIND 752.70 773.00 730.00 739.35HIMATSEIDE 195.00 196.25 192.60 193.65INOXWIND 69.25 69.90 68.10 69.20NAVKARCORP 35.35 36.35 35.25 35.55GODREJAGRO 504.60 513.50 504.60 509.45EIHOTEL 179.40 183.40 178.40 179.90GUJFLUORO 1049.85 1061.45 1045.95 1056.40KANSAINER 464.30 464.30 454.25 457.85CHENNPETRO 225.65 227.00 218.25 218.80IEX 154.80 159.95 152.50 155.60EVEREADY 91.30 92.90 90.00 92.45AIAENG 1795.00 1824.40 1775.20 1815.35ANDHRABANK 24.75 25.20 24.70 24.80MAHLIFE 415.50 435.00 415.50 424.25FRETAIL 457.00 457.00 450.30 453.00CUB 212.05 216.65 212.05 215.40BIRLACORPN 674.45 676.20 647.10 655.50ZYDUSWELL 1307.15 1334.00 1305.55 1314.55NILKAMAL 1273.00 1275.00 1242.25 1251.40UCOBANK 17.55 17.80 17.35 17.60THERMAX 1008.30 1025.00 1002.70 1021.80NIACL 163.55 163.95 160.60 160.85SREINFRA 25.00 25.05 24.20 24.50COROMANDEL 437.05 439.00 430.55 432.45HSIL 286.80 294.00 284.25 284.85LAXMIMACH 5588.85 5588.85 5462.00 5472.40APLLTD 521.95 521.95 510.00 511.45MOIL 155.30 157.05 155.05 155.40GICHSGFIN 268.10 268.10 261.25 262.30LALPATHLAB 1076.00 1076.45 1047.05 1052.45RNAM 221.15 221.15 219.45 219.70MINDAIND 344.40 344.40 336.60 339.70MAHINDCIE 244.95 244.95 241.65 242.45BALMLAWRIE 194.75 196.00 192.10 193.30IOB 12.00 12.22 11.96 12.10KPRMILL 628.50 629.35 609.80 610.50SUNDRMFAST 540.00 546.70 539.00 543.85RALLIS 152.00 152.10 149.20 150.90DCAL 239.80 243.60 238.65 239.50MRPL 63.20 63.50 62.75 62.90GRANULES 110.15 110.90 109.50 109.80SOMANYCERA 449.00 449.00 432.00 434.30CENTURYPLY 173.65 174.25 170.95 171.50TIMETECHNO 99.00 99.85 97.20 97.85CARERATING 984.05 985.10 971.65 975.55SHK 151.75 154.00 151.70 153.25GLAXO 1275.00 1278.00 1265.00 1266.45ALLCARGO 109.00 111.55 109.00 110.10STARCEMENT 121.70 126.40 121.00 125.75BOSCHLTD 17542.30 17661.75 17347.90 17416.45GDL 144.45 149.00 144.45 147.15VBL 938.00 948.00 932.45 939.85SHRIRAMCIT 1553.80 1641.15 1537.60 1614.50GUJALKALI 546.20 556.55 544.00 546.90IBULISL 284.05 294.00 280.00 285.05SJVN 25.30 25.60 25.30 25.35JSL 37.85 38.00 37.15 37.55FINCABLES 455.00 460.00 452.05 453.85CRISIL 1490.30 1514.95 1481.50 1500.75NAVINFLUOR 734.70 735.60 723.20 726.95MANPASAND 46.45 46.45 46.45 46.45CENTRUM 29.00 29.40 28.65 28.90GESHIP 280.80 280.90 276.25 278.05FINOLEXIND 491.60 496.40 487.10 489.25

PARAGMILK 241.00 243.00 241.00 242.40MINDACORP 115.35 119.50 115.35 117.75CORPBANK 24.80 25.50 24.70 25.15HAL 739.95 739.95 723.00 724.15APARINDS 671.00 674.25 658.00 664.10ERIS 517.80 517.80 504.00 505.95DHANUKA 380.00 392.05 380.00 388.70MOTILALOFS 783.40 798.20 781.80 791.90MHRIL 232.00 234.05 228.90 230.45SONATSOFTW 349.75 353.45 349.55 350.15BASF 1380.00 1380.00 1360.05 1366.65GSKCONS 7600.00 7699.95 7562.90 7632.75BAYERCROP 3790.05 3800.00 3681.00 3701.15CERA 3026.00 3026.00 2925.00 2939.75DBCORP 195.65 199.95 194.95 195.75NLCINDIA 66.30 66.35 65.50 65.95JYOTHYLAB 167.65 171.95 167.65 170.803MINDIA 22728.40 23126.70 22522.00 22577.00INDOSTAR 395.00 399.80 390.05 391.00COFFEEDAY 242.10 244.45 241.00 241.45CCL 264.25 265.95 263.05 263.40ECLERX 927.40 937.00 926.15 936.30LAURUSLABS 359.55 360.00 357.30 358.45GET&D 258.50 262.70 257.00 259.00KRBL 345.15 345.40 340.00 342.60JAGRAN 114.15 114.15 112.00 112.20LINDEINDIA 574.00 574.90 563.45 565.55ASTRAZEN 1951.00 1974.10 1922.00 1923.90THOMASCOOK 234.60 238.40 233.80 238.15BAJAJCON 348.50 348.50 336.55 336.85ALKEM 1784.80 1784.80 1753.90 1757.00TATAMETALI 603.20 608.10 596.10 600.45AEGISLOG 220.00 221.65 216.35 217.00LAOPALA 205.00 205.00 196.20 198.15CYIENT 558.25 561.70 557.00 560.00GILLETTE 7380.75 7448.55 7357.40 7409.45ASAHIINDIA 239.00 239.00 233.40 234.85ABBOTINDIA 7811.65 7880.15 7795.00 7850.35GALAXYSURF 1181.20 1191.85 1166.45 1170.20TATAINVEST 890.00 890.00 881.25 883.90MAHSCOOTER 4370.00 4383.75 4305.00 4333.65WABCOINDIA 6220.00 6274.95 6186.00 6198.50TVTODAY 285.05 285.20 281.80 282.45RELAXO 850.35 853.75 844.50 849.75NH 231.00 235.00 227.35 232.65ASTERDM 144.60 146.35 142.20 143.15TIMKEN 697.00 701.00 686.10 699.85JSLHISAR 85.45 85.50 83.70 83.85NETWORK18 31.90 31.90 31.10 31.15UNITEDBNK 10.83 10.95 10.80 10.83CARBORUNIV 376.00 376.75 373.25 374.60VTL 1096.65 1109.95 1081.00 1097.35GRINDWELL 590.90 592.00 582.55 585.70GREENPLY 166.00 169.80 163.20 168.85SANOFI 5465.75 5465.75 5371.50 5389.00ITDCEM 115.70 116.00 114.05 114.35BLUEDART 2682.00 2750.00 2664.00 2678.05SOLARINDS 1195.00 1195.00 1151.00 1161.10ESSELPRO 131.90 131.90 129.65 130.25SUPRAJIT 212.00 212.40 208.05 210.55

HONAUT 26881.25 27050.00 26399.95 26434.80SUDARSCHEM 335.00 337.50 333.65 334.70GAYAPROJ 185.90 187.50 180.00 180.95SIS 929.00 929.00 894.15 897.00SHARDACROP 354.85 364.90 353.30 360.90SHILPAMED 343.55 350.00 343.55 345.50FORBESCO 2088.00 2125.05 2040.00 2065.20FLFL 459.90 462.85 456.55 460.00PGHH 10922.00 10944.80 10780.00 10879.75RATNAMANI 945.00 958.95 936.00 951.55TEAMLEASE 3016.95 3016.95 2950.00 2964.05TVSSRICHAK 2047.00 2086.45 2041.00 2074.15GULFOILLUB 861.00 891.00 861.00 887.55MAGMA 131.55 131.55 128.95 129.65MONSANTO 2434.00 2434.00 2386.00 2411.45ELGIEQUIP 277.20 277.85 271.90 274.90SKFINDIA 1905.00 1905.00 1886.10 1891.70NAVNETEDUL 108.25 110.70 108.25 109.95JCHAC 1816.00 1865.50 1809.65 1818.35MAXINDIA 64.55 64.55 63.55 63.70KIOCL 134.35 137.95 134.35 137.95TRITURBINE 107.50 107.55 106.25 106.85SCHAEFFLER 5014.20 5075.00 5014.20 5073.00VMART 2403.70 2428.10 2395.25 2401.20SFL 1247.00 1278.00 1242.20 1265.75HATSUN 730.00 733.95 722.00 729.65CHOLAHLDNG 492.00 498.90 490.05 498.90SUNCLAYLTD 2583.05 2583.05 2572.00 2576.05SHOPERSTOP 483.40 484.20 481.00 483.65

NIFTY 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12052.65 12095.20 12005.85 12021.65 -66.90YESBANK 148.80 153.85 148.55 153.35 3.90INFRATEL 268.85 275.00 268.55 274.90 6.15NTPC 133.15 136.35 133.15 135.10 2.00AXISBANK 807.55 827.75 805.50 823.90 11.25COALINDIA 258.80 264.15 258.10 263.70 2.80VEDL 164.30 167.70 164.00 165.85 1.65WIPRO 294.00 295.95 290.80 293.80 2.50MARUTI 7000.00 7099.00 6971.75 7080.65 57.75LT 1561.00 1585.00 1558.00 1572.25 12.85BAJFINANCE 3514.50 3550.00 3509.55 3536.00 24.95EICHERMOT 19994.00 20360.00 19783.50 20047.00 98.85ITC 279.25 282.15 278.80 279.80 1.25UPL 1005.60 1022.85 1001.75 1011.00 3.90KOTAKBANK 1530.00 1540.00 1522.20 1534.00 2.75POWERGRID 192.55 196.00 191.95 193.35 0.30ADANIPORTS 423.40 429.85 417.40 425.10 0.35GAIL 356.00 360.35 355.10 357.50 0.05BHARTIARTL 351.00 355.95 349.75 352.75 0.00TATASTEEL 496.00 502.75 491.90 497.65 0.00HDFC 2220.00 2233.90 2209.00 2229.15 -1.30HDFCBANK 2455.00 2465.75 2441.05 2455.00 -2.10BRITANNIA 2970.20 2985.00 2951.00 2965.00 -5.20JSWSTEEL 274.00 276.00 272.40 273.90 -0.65M&M 654.80 659.40 647.80 651.00 -2.40BAJAJFINSV 8344.95 8388.00 8292.35 8310.00 -38.10RELIANCE 1357.45 1374.25 1348.10 1353.00 -7.20HINDALCO 198.85 200.50 196.85 198.00 -1.40SBIN 354.00 357.20 351.40 352.80 -2.65TATAMOTORS 174.25 177.20 172.40 173.10 -1.40GRASIM 890.00 903.90 883.30 887.50 -7.55ICICIBANK 417.70 422.75 417.50 419.00 -3.90TECHM 756.30 762.70 746.80 750.00 -7.60HINDUNILVR 1831.00 1845.50 1807.10 1821.15 -18.55ONGC 172.90 173.50 170.05 170.35 -1.80BAJAJ-AUTO 3026.20 3029.30 2970.40 2998.00 -36.60INDUSINDBK 1663.00 1672.95 1630.00 1642.40 -20.25CIPLA 564.00 575.00 561.10 561.20 -7.05TITAN 1267.00 1276.85 1243.80 1250.00 -16.25INFY 737.25 739.45 733.15 734.90 -9.75SUNPHARMA 414.80 417.90 409.10 411.25 -5.55IBULHSGFIN 814.35 819.90 791.75 799.50 -11.35ULTRACEMCO 4762.30 4782.00 4675.15 4694.00 -68.30TCS 2224.00 2224.00 2175.00 2188.00 -36.30IOC 170.00 170.00 164.70 165.90 -3.80HCLTECH 1112.40 1113.40 1081.00 1090.00 -25.20BPCL 415.40 415.90 406.75 407.50 -9.60DRREDDY 2750.00 2798.45 2400.00 2657.95 -66.15ASIANPAINT 1455.00 1455.00 1417.05 1422.65 -36.60HEROMOTOCO2833.00 2835.00 2745.00 2759.00 -81.25ZEEL 358.95 358.95 345.00 346.25 -13.30

SE 500B

NIFTY NEXT 50

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28080.50 28218.25 27950.70 27970.10 -172.95MCDOWELL-N 552.15 574.80 548.60 571.00 13.40CADILAHC 253.00 260.25 250.90 258.30 5.45MRF 56026.00 57600.00 56025.00 57130.00 1127.55ICICIGI 1224.80 1250.00 1212.40 1243.65 23.15HDFCAMC 1780.00 1815.00 1780.00 1813.00 28.75MOTHERSUMI 114.00 117.95 113.00 115.40 1.65ASHOKLEY 91.85 93.75 91.35 93.10 1.25CONCOR 527.00 544.30 527.00 538.00 7.10HAVELLS 762.00 786.40 762.00 777.00 7.05PETRONET 247.35 249.20 244.65 247.45 1.95BANKBARODA 131.60 135.10 130.70 132.45 0.90L&TFH 135.50 137.85 135.25 137.10 0.90NHPC 24.80 25.10 24.80 25.00 0.15UBL 1330.00 1362.00 1330.00 1341.10 7.60SBILIFE 690.25 700.00 687.50 699.00 3.40HDFCLIFE 442.50 445.00 435.30 444.50 0.50NMDC 103.85 105.30 102.85 103.80 0.00BOSCHLTD 17419.30 17799.90 17270.60 17397.00 -7.85MARICO 376.05 378.30 374.00 376.95 -0.50COLPAL 1169.70 1170.50 1124.10 1159.20 -1.60BAJAJHLDNG 3480.15 3598.75 3480.15 3496.05 -9.25SRTRANSFIN 1175.00 1187.00 1162.00 1165.90 -3.65DMART 1333.90 1356.40 1326.00 1336.00 -4.30DLF 195.00 202.65 194.30 195.30 -0.85HINDZINC 248.60 251.70 246.00 247.45 -1.10INDIGO 1677.30 1704.60 1677.30 1683.50 -7.85AUROPHARMA 650.00 659.75 648.40 653.70 -3.15PEL 2220.00 2241.75 2182.50 2210.20 -13.10LUPIN 746.70 755.00 738.30 740.75 -4.50DABUR 408.70 410.30 404.20 405.50 -3.30ICICIPRULI 398.50 399.20 389.70 394.95 -3.25PGHH 11047.00 11047.00 10743.00 10870.00 -99.60BHEL 71.90 73.00 70.70 70.90 -0.65SIEMENS 1280.00 1280.00 1260.00 1267.75 -12.30GODREJCP 707.40 711.25 698.05 700.05 -6.80IDEA 14.05 14.40 13.80 13.85 -0.15BANDHANBNK 599.80 600.90 590.50 592.50 -7.25NIACL 162.25 163.80 160.25 161.10 -2.15SAIL 51.25 52.25 49.90 50.55 -0.70PIDILITIND 1292.80 1293.05 1273.50 1277.15 -18.55ABB 1593.35 1609.80 1552.00 1568.00 -25.35OFSS 3415.50 3447.00 3365.55 3373.95 -62.00DIVISLAB 1610.00 1610.00 1580.40 1585.00 -31.25BIOCON 557.30 560.50 540.00 541.05 -12.35HINDPETRO 324.55 324.75 317.00 317.45 -7.30GICRE 230.00 231.40 223.05 224.30 -5.60SHREECEM 21676.00 22080.00 21125.55 21161.95 -715.70ACC 1710.00 1735.85 1650.50 1659.00 -66.20AMBUJACEM 235.25 237.85 226.30 227.70 -9.45PAGEIND 21000.00 21059.45 20000.05 20050.00 -1052.00

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019world 11

AP n LONDON

As British Prime MinisterTheresa May meets

President Donald Trump onTuesday, thousands of protest-ers plan to tell the US leader heshould have stayed at home.

Trade unions, women’sgroups, peace campaigners andenvironmentalists are gatheringin the capital to condemnTrump’s policies — andBritain’s decision to roll out thered carpet for a pomp-filledstate visit.

Protests began with theflying of a giant blimp depict-ing the president as an angryorange baby, which rose fromthe grass of central London’sParliament Square.

One group came dressedin the red cloaks and bonnetsof characters from MargaretAtwood’s “The Handmaid’sTale,” which is set in a dystopi-an, misogynist futureAmerica.

Leaders of Britain’s mainopposition party are due to joindemonstrators later at a rally inTrafalgar Square, just up thestreet from May’s Downing St.office. Police have erected bar-ricades to stop protestersmarching past the gates ofDowning St.

Labour Party leader JeremyCorbyn is due to address the

protest, which will be attendedby several senior lawmakersfrom his left-of-center party.

Emily Thornberry,Labour’s foreign affairs spokes-

woman, said Trump was “a sex-ual predator” and a racist whodid not deserve the honor of astate visit hosted by QueenElizabeth II.

Thornberry told the BBCthat the leader of Britain’s mostimportant ally should be stoodup to “the way you deal with abully” because “if you bowdown in front of them you justget kicked harder.”

Not everyone in Londonwas unwelcoming.

Lewis Metcalfe said hecame to the city from his homein northern England to showsupport for the president.

“I’m obviously going to bea minority today,” saidMetcalfe, who wore a “MakeAmerica Great Again” cap.

“I don’t agree with all hispolicies. He’s not the greatestpresident in the world, but hedoes get things done.”

Trump dined with thequeen at Buckingham Palaceand took tea with PrinceCharles on Monday, the firstday of his three-day visit.

Things are likely to becomemore awkward on Tuesdaywhen he meets May, who is inthe final weeks of her pre-miership. The two leaders havesharply differing views onissues including Iran, Brexitand Chinese telecoms firmHuawei.

Trump has already criti-cized May’s handling of Brexitand said May’s rival BorisJohnson would make an “excel-lent” prime minister.

London protests greet president

A woman holds up a banner standing next to the ‘Trump Baby’ blimp as peoplegather to demonstrate against the state visit of President Donald Trump inParliament Square, central London on Tuesday AP

China warns citizens against US travel

PTI n BEIJING

In an unusual move, ChinaTuesday issued a travel alert

for its citizens visiting the US,warning them of harassmentand public security issues in thecountry as bilateral ties toucheda new low amid a spirallingtrade war.

The warning came a dayafter China cautioned its stu-dents against going to the USfor studies.

China’s Ministry of Cultureand Tourism on Tuesday issuedthe travel alert for Chinesetourists travelling to the UnitedStates which could hit the

American travel industry badly.Noting the frequent occur-

rence of shootings, robberiesand theft in the United Statesrecently, the ministry warnedChinese tourists to fully assessthe risks of travelling to the US.

Chinese tourists are askedto learn about the informationabout the public security situ-ation and related laws and reg-ulations of tourist destinations,to raise safety awareness andstep up precautions to staysafe, state-run Xinhua newsagency reported.

The travel alert is validuntil the end of this year.

Last year, the number of

Chinese tourists visiting the USfell for the first time in 15 years,after more than a decade ofrapid growth, amid the tradefriction between the two coun-tries. The two countries havebeen locked in an escalatingconflict over trade for the pastyear. The conflict increased inrecent months as Washingtonhas tightened trade restric-tions on Chinese telecoms giantHuawei.

Hopes for an imminenttrade deal were shattered inMay after the Trump adminis-tration more than doubled tar-iffs on USD 200 billion ofChinese imports and threat-

ened additional duties. Defending the travel alert,

Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang tolda media briefing here that“China made this decision inresponse to current circum-stances”.

Asked whether the mea-sure which could hit US trav-el industry is part of the esca-lating trade war between thetwo countries, Geng said,“Chinese people travelling toUS encountered various diffi-culties during the entry andafter entry. They were interro-gated and harassed by lawenforcing agencies. So it is

only necessary for us to issuesuch a notice.”

He said China had issuedsimilar warning to studentsand scholars.

“They (US authorities)falsely claim that the Confuciusinstitute is a tool to exhortpolitical influence. They false-ly accuse Chinese scholars ofespionage and harassed them,”he said.

“For example, the USplaced visa restrictions onmany Chinese student scholars.They revoked some visas.Recently they revoked a 10year-visa for Chinese scholar toUS,” he said.

“I would like to emphasisethat we hold active attitude fornormal people-to-peopleexchanges. But it should bebased on mutual respect,” hesaid.

China on Monday warnedstudents and academics on the“risk” of studying in the UnitedStates, citing an uptick in visadenials and delays.

According to official data,about 4.58 million Chinesehave gone abroad to studysince 1998 and 3.22 million ofthem have returned. About3.63 lakh Chinese studentsreported to have enrolled tostudy in the US last year.

Trump evaded taxesin Panama: InvestorAP n NEW YORK

The majority owner of a for-mer Trump-branded hotel in

Panama alleged in a court filingon Monday that the U.S. presi-dent’s company misrepresentedfinances of the building to evadetaxes in the country.

A filing in New York feder-al court by property ownerOrestes Fintiklis alleges thatPresident Donald Trump’s hotelmanagement company evadedincome and social security taxeswhen it managed the formerTrump Ocean Club InternationalHotel & Tower.

The new accusations arepart of protracted, bitter disputebetween Trump’s company andFintiklis, the majority owner ofthe 70-story, seaside, sail-shapedbuilding. The filing says thatTrump’s company misrepresent-ed salaries paid to employees andother financial records of thehotel to cut its tax bill on fees itwas collecting for managing thehotel, slash its social security pay-ments and hand over less toowner Fintiklis. The filing doesnot state how much in taxes theTrump company allegedly shouldhave paid.

The Trump Organisationsaid that it did not evade any taxesand, if anything, Fintiklis is to

blame on tax matters.“To the extent any taxes

were to be withheld, it was theresponsibility of the condomini-um that owns the hotel. TheTrump Organization’s only rolewas to manage the property,”Trump Organization spokes-woman Kimberly Benza said inan emailed statement.

“We look forward to takingthe depositions of Mr. Fintiklis’and his partners and unmaskingtheir fraud.” The filing in USDistrict Court for the SouthernDistrict of New York follows aruling by judicial officials inPanama early last year againstTrump’s company in favor ofFintiklis. A few months later,Trump’s name was removedfrom the facade and buildingmanagement turned over to UShotelier Marriott International.

The dispute started inOctober 2017 after Fintiklis’company, Ithaca Capital Group,took control of 202 of the hotel’scondos. Fintiklis then pushed toterminate Trump’s 20-year con-tract managing the building,alleging “gross negligence andpotentially fraudulent conduct,”including “looted” bank accounts.The Trump Organization dis-puted its termination as illegiti-mate and refused to hand overthe property.

Apple previews new software asit diversifies beyond iPhonesAP n SAN JOSE

Apple, beset by fallingiPhone sales, announced

upcoming changes to its phoneand computer software intend-ed to highlight its increasingemphasis on digital servicesand to further position it as afierce guardian of personalprivacy.

The revisions previewedMonday during a conference inSan Jose, California, includeda new feature that will let peo-ple log into apps and other ser-vices with an Apple ID insteadof relying on similar sign-inoptions from Facebook andGoogle — two companies thatmine data to sell advertising. Apple said it won’t collecttracking information aboutusers from that service.

As part of that feature,Apple will also let users masktheir true email addresses whensigning into apps and services.

That will involve faux email

addresses that automaticallyforward to the user’s personalemail. When the next versionof the iPhone software comesout this fall, Apple is alsopromising to give people theoption of limiting the time appscan follow their locations andprevent tracking throughBluetooth and Wi-Fi signals.

The revisions are part ofApple’s ongoing attempts to dif-ferentiate itself from othertechnology giants, many ofwhom offer free services inexchange for personal datasuch as whereabouts and per-sonal interests, which in turnfuels the advertising that gen-erates most of their revenue.

Apple, by contrast, makesvirtually all its money sellingdevices and services, making iteasier for CEO Tim Cook toembrace “privacy is a funda-mental human right” as one ofthe company’s battle cries in anage of increasingly intrusivetechnology.

Monday’s software show-case is an annual rite thatApple holds for thousands ofprogrammers at the end ofspring. This year, however,Apple is grappling with itsbiggest challenge since itsvisionary co-founder, SteveJobs, died nearly eight yearsago.

Although still popular, theiPhone is no longer reliably dri-ving Apple’s profits the way ithas for the past decade.

Sales have fallen sharply forthe past two quarters, andcould suffer another blow ifChina’s government targets theiPhone in retaliation for thetrade war being waged byAnother potential problemlooms for Apple.

Regulatory complaints anda consumer lawsuit both ques-tion whether Apple has beenabusing the power of its iPhoneapp store to thwart competitionand gouge smaller technologycompanies that rely on it to

attract users and sell their ser-vices.

Apple is trying to adapt bysqueezing money from digitalservices tailored for the morethan 900 million iPhones cur-rently in use.

The transition includes aNetflix-like video service thatApple teased in March andthrust to center stage againMonday with a preview of oneof the new series due out thisfall, “For All Mankind.”

But the iPhone remainsApple’s marquee attraction.The next version of its iPhoneoperating software, iOS 13,manages to offer both priva-cy features and an aesthetic“dark mode” for the screen —a feature already availableon Macs.

Apple executives alsoclaimed that iOS 13 will openapps faster and features anew version of the Face IDsystem will unlock yourphone 30 percent faster.

Indian wins USD 2.7 m in raffle draw

PTI n DUBAI

An Indian expat won a stag-gering USD 2.7 million in

a monthly raffle in the UAE, amedia report said Tuesday.

Sanjai Nath R, who hadpurchased the ticket at BigTicket Abu Dhabi, wasannounced the winner onMonday of the bumper prize,10 million dirham (USD 2.7million), the Khaleej Timesreported. While Nath won thefirst prize, five other Indianexpats were in the top 10 win-ning list of the raffle, the reportsaid. The second price of100,000 dirhams was won byIndian expat Binu Gopinathan,it said Shipak Barua fromBangladesh won the luxuriousLand Rover Series 16 in the raf-fle, the report added. Lastmonth, Shojith KS, an Indiannational from Sharjah, becamefirst prize winner of the afterwinning 15 million dirhams(USD 4.08 million).

Kim’s sister back in public eye

at North Korea’s mass games

AP n SEOUL

The powerful younger sisterof North Korean leader

Kim Jong Un attended a pub-lic event in Pyongyang for thefirst time in more than 50days, casting further doubt onmedia speculation he hadordered her to lay low over thefailed nuclear summit withWashington.

North Korea’s state mediaon Tuesday showed Kim YoJong clapping aside her broth-er, his wife and other top offi-cials at the 150,000-seat MayDay Stadium where thousandsof gymnasts, dancers and flip-card-wielding spectatorsworked in precise unison toperform “The Land of thePeople.”

The official Korean CentralNews Agency said Kim JongUn was unhappy aboutMonday’s performance andhad seriously criticized thecreators for their “wrong spir-it of creation and irresponsible

work attitude” and set forth“important tasks” to correctlyimplement the country’s revo-lutionary policy on literatureand art.

State media often reportson Kim scolding factory offi-cials, educators and others per-ceived as not performing to hisstandards.

The mass games events

were once routine in NorthKorea but were on hiatus forseveral years during themourning for Kim’s father andonly returned last year.

Kim Yo Jong is a seniorofficial of North Korea’s rulingparty and is believed to be herbrother’s closest confidant.

She had accompanied himto his summits with PresidentDonald Trump and SouthKorean President Moon Jae-inand had joined other digni-taries in the stands at last year’sWinter Olympics in SouthKorea. North Korean mediahad last shown her at a meet-ing of the North’s rubber-stampparliament in April.

South Korea’s conservativeChosun Ilbo newspaper lastweek cited an unidentifiedsource to report that Kim JongUn had ordered his sister to laylow following the collapse of hissummit with Trump inFebruary over mismatcheddemands in sanctions reliefand nuclear disarmament.

Pak minister chides clerics over moon-sighting

PTI n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s Minister for Scienceand Technology Fawad

Chaudhry has hit out at clerics fortrying to detach science fromreligion, saying the religiousleaders must use “commonsense” when it comes to sightingthe moon to determine Eid-ul-Fitr.

Chaudhry, a close aide ofPrime Minister Imran Khan,has angered the clerics by dis-continuing the traditional moonsighting methods used by theRuet-e-Hilal Committee to endthe moon sighting controversyduring all important Islamic fes-tivals.

Till now, the Ruet-e-HilalCommittee, the departmentwhich announces the sighting ofthe new moon, used to deter-mine when Eid-ul-Fitr is cele-brated in Pakistan.

Chaudhry last monthannounced that the Governmentof Pakistan will observe Eid onJune 5 unlike in Saudi Arabiawhere Eid-ul-Fitr is being cele-brated on Tuesday.

The National Assembly, thelower house of Parliament, wasinformed last month thatPakistan spent Rs 3.06 million onthe sighting of the moon forMuharram, Ramazan, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha in 2018.

“It is sad to see how our reli-gious scholars have come outdeeming science to have nothingto do with moon sighting,” hesaid in a press briefing inIslamabad on Monday.

He said Muslims were pio-neers in scientific research in var-ious fields, adding that “theIslamic faith compels us to seekknowledge and apply it whereever possible”.

He said the moon for Eid-ul-Fitr had been sighted at 3:02pm,adding that the altitude of today’s(Monday’s) moon was one percent with its luminosity record-ed at 0.1 per cent.

“You see the sun and moonare both moving in their owncycles and it is imperative to doc-uments their movements,” hesaid.

“What about countrieswhere the sun and moon don’t

come out for days.... should wejust say that there’s no Eid orRamazan in these situations,”Chaudhry added.

The clerics must use “com-mon sense when it comes tosighting the moon” to determineEid-ul-Fitr, the Express Tribunequoted Chaudhry as saying.

The minister said Islam wasfor the entire world not justPakistan or a certain region.

“We are recording all of thisbut does that mean we can see themoon, because the time the sunand moon set happens to coin-cide, so the moon can’t clearly beseen,” he said.

Chaudhry said that themoon will be visible to all onTuesday with those at the coastalregions of Karachi and Gwadarbeing even able to see it with thenaked eye.

The minister noted that themeteorological department hadopened all of its observatories forthe general public so they couldcatch a glimpse of the moon.

The details, he added, hadbeen shared on social media withaddresses of closest observatories

given.On May 31, the federal min-

ister rolled out the Muslimmajority country’s first moon-sighting website as well as amobile application to help under-stand the different cycles of themoon.

However, the ministry’sefforts to modernise the moon-sighting process have not beenwell received by all clerics and alast-minute change in the date forEid-ul-Fitr cannot be ruled out.

Meanwhile, the KhyberPakhtunkhwa government onMonday officially declaredTuesday as the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr across the province.

Khyber PakhtunkhwaInformation Minister ShaukatYousufzai said provincial ChiefMinister Mahmood Khan tookthe decision after an unofficialRuet committee based atPeshawar’s Qasim Khan mosqueclaimed that it had received over100 calls from different districtsabout sighting of the Shawwalmoon.

A senior government officialtold Dawn newspaper that the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govern-ment declared Eid on Tuesdayafter getting approval from PrimeMinister Khan.

Reacting to KhyberPakhtunkhwa government’s deci-sion, Chaudhry termed it as an“inappropriate decision”.

The minister said that peo-ple can celebrate Eid wheneverthey want but it should not bebased on lies. It was not possiblefor the moon to be sighted lastnight, he claimed.

“You can’t celebrate a reli-gious festival on the basis of a lie,”he was quoted as saying bySamaa TV.

He said it was shameful thatlies have been endorsed by a gov-ernment and advised the provin-cial governments to refrain frombecoming part of local fights.

Chaudhry recently releaseda five-year calendar that has setthe dates for Eid-ul-Fitr inPakistan. According to it, thisyear’s Eid will be on June 5. Thenext five Eids are on May 24,2020, May 14, 2021, May 3,2022, April 22, 2023 and April 10,2024.

35 dead as Sudan troops moveagainst democracy protestersAP n KHARTOUM

Sudan’s ruling military movedto crush the protest move-

ment opposing its grip onpower as security forces over-ran the main sit-in site in thecapital, unleashing furious vol-leys of gunfire, burning downtents and killing at least 35 peo-ple, witnesses and protest lead-ers said.

With the assault, the gener-als signaled an end of their tol-erance of the pro-democracydemonstrators, who for monthshave been camped outside themilitary’s headquarters as thetwo sides negotiated over whowould run the country after theApril ouster of longtime strong-man Omar al-Bashir.

The head of the militarycouncil said early Tuesday thatprotest leaders shared blamefor the violence, accusing themof dragging out negotiationsand seeking to keep other sec-tors of Sudanese society out of

an interim government. Gen.Abedel-Fattah Burhan also saidthat the council was cancellingall its agreement with protestgroups and would call electionswithin seven months.

After their protests suc-ceeded in forcing the military toremove al-Bashir, pro-democ-racy demonstrators had stayedin the streets, demanding thegenerals move to the back-ground and allow civilians tolead the transition.

The dispersal of the sit-innow risks escalating violenceeven further. Scattered by thebloody assault, protesters vowedto keep up their campaign, sus-pending talks and calling for ageneral strike and civil disobe-dience. They urged night-timemarches across the country.

“This is a critical point inour revolution. The militarycouncil has chosen escalationand confrontation,” saidMohammed Yousef al-Mustafa,a spokesman for the Sudanese

Professionals’ Association,which has spearheaded theprotests.

“Those are criminals whoshould have been treated likeal-Bashir,” he said. “Now the sit-uation is either them or us,there is no other way.” Burhan’sstatement said military leaderswould investigate Monday’sviolence. He didn’t mentionsecurity forces, but said protestsleaders bore blame for thevolatile situation, because theyhave been “extending the nego-tiations and seeking to excludeother political and securityforces” from participating inany transitional government.

The council and protestleaders had made progressduring talks in May over aninterim Cabinet and legislativebody, but they split over themake-up and leadership of asovereign council that wasbeing discussed to governSudan during a three-year tran-sition.

Trump promises May substantialtrade deal AFP n LONDON

President Donald Trumptouted a “very, very sub-stantial trade deal”

between the United States andBritain after Brexit as he metPrime Minister Theresa Mayon Tuesday for fraught talksheld amid street protests.

He joked to the outgoingBritish leader that she should“stick around” and reach amuch stronger economicalliance with the United Statesonce her country finally leavesthe European Union.

“I think we will have a veryvery substantial trade deal. Itwill be a very fair deal,” he toldher at a meeting with businessleaders and ministers, adding:“We’re going to get it done.”Despite having repeatedly crit-icised May’s Brexit strategy,Trump said she had done “afantastic job”.

Nearby, left-wing activistsinflated an orange blimp of ababy Trump dressed in a dia-per at a rally outside parliamentthat brought morning rushhour traffic to a halt.

It signalled the start ofwhat are expected to be largeprotests against the presidenton the second day of his three-day state visit.

The president’s visit istechnically centred aroundWednesday’s D-Day 75thanniversary commemorationson the south shore of England.

But it comes at an espe-cially chaotic time for Britain.

May will step down asConservative Party leader onFriday over her inability todeliver Brexit despite focusingon little else in almost threeyears in office.

She will stay on as primeminister until her successor isfound among 13 contenderswho must make some difficultchoices before the twice-delayed Brexit deadline onOctober 31.

Before he arrived, Trumpurged Britain to walk away

from the EU without an agree-ment.

He also suggested thatBrexit-backing former foreignminister Boris Johnson wouldbe an “excellent” leader to getit done.

He appeared to try to makeamends for his diplomatic fauxpas on Tuesday.

“I’d just like to congratulateyou on having done a fantasticjob on behalf of the people ofthe United States and its anhonour to have worked withyou,” Trump told May.

But the “special relation-ship” between the two sides isbeing tested over differentapproaches to Iran, climatechange and China.

Talks are likely to coverBritain’s possible use of Chinesefirm Huawei’s technology inbuilding its 5G network.

A senior UK governmentofficial told The Times news-paper that May would make“no apologies” over her report-ed decision to let Huawei buildsome non-essential parts of thenext-generation mobile ser-vice.

The US administration hasstrongly hinted that this maylimit its ability to share intelli-gence with Britain.

May told the businessbreakfast that Britain will striveto strike a “wider economicpartnership” with its closesttrading partner outside theEU. “It is a great partnership,but I think it’s a partnershipthat we can take even further,”she said.

She will give Trump a copyof one of the most significantdocuments in the transatlantic“special relationship” — aframed copy of WinstonChurchill’s personal draft of the1941 Atlantic Charter thatwhich defined the Allied goalspost-World War II.

The two will later have aprivate tour of the ChurchillWar Rooms from which thewartime prime minister ran hisoperations.

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019 avenues 12

QUOTE OF THE DAY

It's not about how much you do

but how much love you put into

what you do that counts

— Mother Teresa

Digital marketing and e-learningare two of the most fascinatingconcepts that go hand-in-

hand. From small to big, every organ-isation is hassling to rank on the firstpage of web search results and is seek-ing talented professionals who couldmake it happen.

As per a report by KPMG, theaverage attention period of digital con-sumers dropped down from 12 sec-onds in 2007, to 8 seconds in 2016.And as each year passes by, the atten-tion span of customers scrollingonline gets shorter; the requirementof professional digital marketingexperts goes wider.

To take advantage of the same,more students are enrolling in a dig-ital marketing training. Apart fromincluding the ABCs of the subject,such trainings also come up with aproject that adds value to your resume.The highly engaging concepts, acces-sibility, and affordability are few of theattractions of e-learning.

With the advancement of tech-nology, digital marketing has becomeone of the highest job-generatingindustries to work in. Doing a train-ing in the same, increases your knowl-edge and develops your skills that are

essential today to land top-notchjobs in the digital marketing industry.

Top five trending aspects of dig-ital marketingfor 2019.

nSearch Engine Optimisation(SEO): Search engine optimisation orSEO, is a process of optimising con-tent on your website or blog, based onkeywords so that your platformappears on top of search engine rank-ings. As per Marketo, around 67% ofthe total clicks go to the first 5 listingson search results. Thus, it is excep-tionally important for the organisa-tions to rank on top and seek clickswhich will lead to higher conversionsof customers. Learning SEO tacticscan help you fetch great opportunitieswith recognised organisations.

nEmail Marketing: As one of themost personalised, interactive, andinformative medium of communica-tion, e-mail always gathers instantattention of the customers. Email mar-keting has experienced exceptionalgrowth in the past few years and thus,employers are looking for smart mar-keters who can hit the bulls-eye withtheir prominent communicationstrategies.

nContent Marketing: There is athin line between promoting and

informing, and content marketing isthe art of building the latter. As per arecent article by Forbes, 82 per centof the customers made an online pur-chase on the basis of the content mar-keting done by that company.

Without content, no digital mar-keting goal can be achieved, thus, pro-ducing informative, educative, and rel-evant content is what businesses aimfor. As it is a pillar of all the otheronline marketing concepts, contentmarketing is a major skill that mil-lennials are inclined towards.

nMobile Marketing: Mobile isthe only channel of communicationthat sleeps and wakes up with the user.From being in our pockets to sittingwith us on the work desk, mobilephones are everywhere. To ensure thata fine streak of marketing campaignalways keep the audience in touch,companies are working on everythingfrom SMS and online ads to app mar-keting.

A mobile marketing training canassist you in deploying your skills ofconvincing the mobile phone basedaudience through well optimisedwebsites, email, SMS and MMS, socialmedia platforms, and apps.

nSocial Media Marketing: Apart

from posting selfies, liking memes,and making new friends, people aredoing a lot more on social media plat-forms. Showing ads between Facebookvideos is not just a new trend, but isa phenomenon that can change cus-tomers’ purchase cycle.

Businesses are constantly in searchof such smart brains who can cre-atively produce engaging content forsocial media platforms. So, if scrollingthrough Instagram and Facebookfeed in your leisure time is one of yourhabits, you can simply develop thishabit into a skill by learning socialmedia marketing and creating engag-ing content for the audience.

In the past few years, digital mar-keting has churned out countlessemployment opportunities for peoplewho are passionate and well informedabout what’s happening in the digitalworld.

With the growth of technologicalconvergence, the availability of jobprospects will certainly go higher inthis specific field. For people who loveexperimenting and following the fastpaced technological waves, digitalmarketing is the perfect sector to divein.

The writer is Founder-CEO of Internshala

With the attention span of customers scrolling online is getting shorter; the requirement ofprofessional digital marketing experts is on the rise, says SARVESH AGRAWAL

VISUAL ARTS PROGThe Manav Rachna

International Institute ofResearch invites applicationsfor admissions to its Bachelorof Visual Arts programme forthe session 2019-23.

Duration: Four yearsEligibility: Pass in Class

XII examination/equivalentexamination with at least 50 percent marks in aggregate in fivesubjects including English ascompulsory subject along withfoursubjects with the highestscore out of the remainingsubjects.

How to apply: Log on towww.manavrachna.edu.in.

AUTOMOBILE ENGThe Manav Rachna

International Institute ofResearch and Studies (MRIIRS)invites applications for admis-sions to its announcedAutomobile programmesincluding BTech — AutomobileEngineering, AutomobileEngineering (Lateral Entry)and PhD — AutomobileEngineering — MRIIRS.

Eligibility: For BTech —Automobile Engineering —candidates should have passedClass XII examination with atleast 50 per cent marks inaggregate in five subjects andeligibility shall be determinedon the basis of percentage ofaggregate marks in: English,Physics Mathematics; one sub-ject out of Chemistry,Computer Science, Biology orBiotechnology; one subject withthe highest score out of theremaining subjects.

For BTech — AutomobileEngineering (Lateral Entry) —50 per cent marks in diplomain engineering in anybranch/discipline of three yearduration, from State Board ofTechnical education, Haryanaor equivalent examination orBSc degree from a recogniseduniversity as defined by UGC,with at least 50 per cent marksand passed XII standard withMathematics as a subject.

How to apply: Log on towww.manavrachna.edu.in.

BA PROGRAMMENRAI School of Mass

Communication invites appli-cations for admissions to itsbachelor degree course inBachelor of Business

Administration.Duration: Three yearsEligibility: Class XII from

any recognised board..Last date to apply: June 15,

2019.

HOSPITALITY PROGThe Hotel School invites

applications for admission inCommis Chef/ Front OfficeAssociate/Food & Beveragecourses.

This course offers anopportunity to aim a challeng-ing career in the hotel industry.In this course students get tostudy the food ingredients,raw material method of cook-ing, and various cuisines. Thiscourse develops cooking skillsof the individual as per therequired standards of the hos-pitality industry. Students willlearn how every aspect of afood service operation con-tributes to the guest experienceand will explore unique fea-tures of a variety of food andbeverage operations.

Eligibility: Candidateswho have appeared/passedClass XII examination of anyrecognised board.

How to Apply: Log on towww.thehotelschool.com.

Last date to apply: June 29,2019.

MSC PROGRAMMEThe University of Sheffield,

UK invites applications foradmissions to its MScCybersecurity and ArtificialIntelligence course.

Duration: One yearEligibility: Holders of a

three year bachelor degree witha minimum of 60 per cent orfirst class from a reputableuniversity in a relevant disci-pline (computer science or anumerate discipline with expe-rience of software systemsdevelopment).

How to apply: Log on tohttps://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dcs/postgraduate-taught/cs-ai.

DIGITALMARKETING HASCHURNED OUT

COUNTLESSEMPLOYMENT

OPPORTUNITIESFOR PEOPLE WHOARE PASSIONATE

AND WELL-INFORMED ABOUT

WHAT’SHAPPENING IN THE

DIGITAL SPACE

Applications are openfor AsianDevelopment Bank-

Japan programme fundedby the JapaneseGovernment. In order toapply, you must have a bach-elor’s degree or its equivalentwith a superior academicrecord.

The aim of this interna-tional award is to provide anopportunity for well-quali-fied citizens of ADB’s devel-oping member countries toundertake postgraduatestudies.

Eligibility: Developingmember countries are eligi-ble to apply for free educa-tion. This will be awarded inthe field of economics, man-agement, science and tech-nology, and other develop-ment-related fields at partici-pating academic institutionsin the Asia-Pacific region.

Completed ADB-JSPInformation Sheet, Academicdocumentation, Certificateof Employment, Certificateof Income, Certificate ofFamily Incomeannual/monthly income,Copy of your Passport, ValidIELTS test. Before applyingfor the free study you musthave applied for admission atthe university. You shouldcontact the admissiondepartment to confirm theentry requirements.

Language requirement:Applicants must be profi-cient in oral and writtenEnglish communicationskills to be able to pursuestudies.

How to apply: To apply,the completed applicationform of the institution inwhich you have applied andADB-JSP Information Sheet

must be submitted.Application deadline:

July 19, 2019

The University ofSussex invites applicationsfor taking part in theExcellence Scholarship. Thepurpose of this bursary is toprovide financial help forhigh achievement aspirantsof any nationality who areready to pursue an under-graduate program for build-ing a bright future in theirchosen field.

Students will receive£2,000 cash maintenance astwo identical payments of£1,000.

Eligibility: Internationalstudents are eligible.Participants can pursue anundergraduate degree pro-gram in any subjects offeredby the university. If you arerepeating your first year andpreviously received the excel-lence grant, then you are noteligible to apply. Copy ofacademic transcripts, cur-riculum vitae, and a copy ofthe passport should be sub-mitted. Admission require-ments: You must have A*AAat A level, an overall score of36 in the InternationalBaccalaureate Diploma,D*D*D in the BTEC Level 3Extended Diploma (QCF),and 45 levels 3 credits withDistinctions in the Access toHE Diploma.

Language requirement:Facing the TOEFL andIELTS test and showing theEnglish language ability isessential to learn the pro-gram at the university.

How to apply:Applicants are suggested toregister themselves in anundergraduate degree courseat the university. They will beautomatically awarded forthe fund after registering inthe course.

Application deadline:September 1, 2019

The telecom industry hasbecome one of the fastgrowing sectors globally

since it plays a major role inour daily life. Therefore, thereis a demand for trained pro-fessionals and the importanceof TelecommunicationEngineering is growing.Telecommunications is con-cerned with all types of infor-mation and transmission net-works. Students interested inmicro-electronic devices, sig-nal processing, data network-ing, coding and transmissioncan do well in this sector.Entrance to the IIT’s isthrough the JEE and for oth-ers it is AIEEE. A few morecolleges to study are:nBhubaneswar EngineeringCollege, Bhubaneshwar.Course: MTech Electronicsand TelecommunicationEngineeringnJ.K Institute ofEngineering, Bilaspur.Course: MTech Electronicsand TelecommunicationEngineeringnDr. Babasaheb AmbedkarTechnological University,Raigad. Course: MTechElectronics andTelecommunicationEngineeringnAtal Bihari Vajpayee-Indian Institute ofInformation Technology andManagement, Gwalior.Course: MTech Networkingand TelecommunicationsnShri ShankaracharyaInstitute of Engineering,Durg. Course: ME Electronicsand TelecommunicationEngineering

STUDY CENTRES

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ATSWATI SINGHLocation: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,BengaluruStipend: `4,500 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827043Application deadline: June 12, 2019

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (SALES)AT DHOBI GLocation: Chennai, Delhi,Gurugram, Noida, BengaluruStipend: `5,000-`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827044Application deadline: June 13, 2019

MARKETING AT TATA POWERSOLAR SYSTEMSLocation: Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai,BengaluruStipend: `7,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827045Application deadline: June 12 2019

RISK MANAGEMENT & SYSTEMSAUDIT AT AJALocation: Delhi, BengaluruStipend: `6,000-`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827046Application deadline: June 8, 2019

DIGITAL MARKETING ATLEARNMALLLocation: Delhi, Pune, Mumbai,BengaluruStipend:`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827047Application deadline: June 8. 2019

WEB DEVELOPMENT AT CASHFLOLocation: Delhi, Gurugram, Pune,BengaluruStipend; `7,500-`15,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827048Application deadline: June 8, 2019

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION(SEO) AT BROKE MATELocation: Work From HomeStipend; `1,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/827049Application deadline: June 14, 2019

BUILD A

FOUNDATION

DIGITAL

BUILD A

FOUNDATION

DIGITAL

Shafaque Ahmareen a passing outBTech student of 2019 of IcfaiTech,

Hyderabad is recruited by Ministryof Education, United Arab Emiratesas a Junior Researcher in Internet ofThings (IoT) with an annual salarypackage of 1,92,000 Dirhams.(`36lakhs). Her training at IcfaiTechincluded a special project on advancedtopics.

Two more students of BTech 2019batch of IcfaiTech, HyderabadPuranam Karthik Sai RadhaKrishnaand Mani Chandra Teja Gaddam gotoffer as block chain applications LeadDevelopers from Nvest GlobalEnterprises Inc., Bengaluru with anAnnual Salary of `7.5 Lakhs. “Thesestudents are specialised in block chaintechnology through a special projectwhich is a part of the broad based cur-riculum at IcfaiTech. The training pro-vided to the students in Block ChainTechnology is excellent both throughon campus and internship programsof the institute” quoted Nvest GlobalEnterprises Inc.

Expressing his delight over theachievement, IcfaiTech Director said:“Students at IcfaiTech are trained incritical skills and tools like block chaintechnology, machine learining, IoTand others, IcfaiTech is offering twonew BTech programmes in cuttingedge areas like Mechatronics andData Science and Artif icialIntelligence from this academic year

July 2019 in order to cater to theindustry needs.”

IcfaiTech, Hyderabad: The ICFAIFoundation for Higher Education(IFHE), Hyderabad is a Deemed to-be University established under sec-tion 3 of the UGC Act, 1956.IcfaiTech, a constituent of IFHE offersthe BTech programme which is a four-year, eight-semester, full-time campusbased programme with five disciplinesnamely Civil, Computer Science,Electronics & Communication, DataScience & Artificial Intelligence andMechatronics.

Robotic cell inaugrated

Ajay Kumar Garg EngineeringCollege and Mitsubishi

Electric India (MEI) have joinedhands and signed their third MOUon March 27, 2019. On this occa-sion, Katsunori Ushiku, MD &Hisahiro Nishimoto, Director,Head — FAID Mitsubishi ElectricIndia, along with their team of offi-cials inaugurated Robotic Cell atMitsubishi Drive & Control Labestablished under AKGEC Centresof Relevance and Excellence(CORE).

This collaboration is expectedto provide a platform for industry-academia interaction and promoterobotic and factory automation tech-

nologies in engineering education andSMEs of the region. This will also helpto fill the gap related to high levels of

youth unemployment and a short-age of job seekers with criticalskills related to multidisciplinaryfield of robotics and automation inIndia. It will facilitate young engi-neers to get the chance to learnindustry oriented skills and havehands on experience with state-of-the-art tools comprising of latestsoftware /hardware provided byMEI to CORE. These facilitiesinclude most advanced PLCs andmotion controllers with touch panelHMIs and networking facility. Thelab also has servo amplifiers, vari-

able frequency drives and the latesthigh speed in its class small six axisarticulated robot.

Katsunori Ushiku, MD, Hisahiro Nishimoto,Director, MEIand AKGEC dignitaries signing MOU

Shafaque Ahmareen; (right) Mani Chandra TejaGaddam

IcfaiTech celebrates

Puranam Karthik Sai RadhaKrishna

LUCKNOWWEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019● Martin Guptill holds the record of highest individual score in WC. He scored an 237* against WI at Wellington in 201513

BUILDING UP TO THIS WORLDCUP, WE KNEW WHAT

CHALLENGES WE MIGHTFACE. WE PREPARED WELL,SO THAT GAVE US A LOT OF

CONFIDENCE AND BELIEF. WECAME TO THIS WORLD CUP

WANTING TO DO WELL— SHAKIB AL HASAN, B’DESH

ALL ROUNDER

BUILDING UP TO THISWORLD CUP, WE KNEWWHAT CHALLENGES WE

MIGHT FACE. WE PREPAREDWELL, SO THAT GAVE US A

LOT OF CONFIDENCE ANDBELIEF. WE CAME TO THISWORLD CUP WANTING TO

DO WELL— TOM LATHAM, NEW

ZEALAND BATSMAN

QUOTE UN QUOTE

MUSHFIQUR RAHIM (B’DESH)

One of the pillars of Bangladesh cricket, MushfiqurRahim has often played the role of an anchor withthe bat. His strike-rate has been a subject of somequestion, but against South Africa he showed thathe can adapt and play with more fluency. It will becrucial for Bangladesh that he maintains his form.

MARTIN GUPTILL (NEW ZEALAND)

The stylish opener put on a real display in his side'stournament opener against Sri Lanka, scoring an

unbeaten 73 off just 51 balls. Guptill was also one ofNew Zealand's key performers in the 2015 edition. He

has an opportunity to build on that when he facesBangladesh against whom he averages just under 61.

There is forecast for good cloud coverage,which should give seam bowlers somethingto look forward to on a surface that other-wise favours batsmen. Thankfully, chancesof rain are slim for most part of the day.

UNDER THE

WEATHER

nHow do you take Bangladesh as anopponent? Is that an advantage that youhave recently beaten them?

I think we’ve played Bangladesh a lotover the last couple seasons, we sort ofknow how they go about things, and recenttournaments, they have obviously playedreally well in the Champions Trophy a fewyears ago, then obviously their game herea few days ago. We know what threats theyhave on their side but hopefully we canstick to the things that we do well and keepgoing on the momentum that we built upa few days ago.nBangladesh beat South Africa in theirfirst match — Bangladesh shocked SouthAfrica. What do you think?

Bangladesh played a really good gameof cricket. I think the way they went aboutthings in that first innings, to put a good,competitive score on the board and thenobviously apply that pressure with the ball.

They played a fantastic game. They willbe coming in here with a lot of confidenceabout how they went about things againstSouth Africa, so hopefully we can stick toour things that we do well and I guess chal-lenge them all the way.nYou had Ajaz Patel bowling to you theday before. Was that a good preparationknowing you’ll face a left-hand spinnerin Shakib?

I think so. It’s always valuable when youhave, I guess, a like for like bowling to inthe nets. We know what sort of bowlerShakib is. He’s had obviously a lot of suc-cess around the world for a long period oftime, and he wasn’t in New Zealand in ourlast home summer series. I think it’simportant that, I guess, we, I guess get usedto a left-arm spinner, and we are certain-ly looking forward to the challenge of fac-ing him tomorrow.nA day/night game today. Are youexpecting that to make much difference?

I’m not 100 per cent sure on that. Youknow, sometimes it does under lights geton a little bit, so that is a fresh wicket outthere. I’m not 100 per cent sure what we’lllook to do, but if the dew does come intoplay towards the end of the evening, I thinkit’s important that we try to adapt to that.We’ve played in conditions like this beforethe ball, I guess skids on or the dew playsa factor. So it's important that we, I guessif it does come, try to adapt with it.nHave you finished your side?

We are going in with the same side. Soyeah, obviously I think the way we playedin the last game, I think, you know, bodesa lot of confidence for the group. I thinkthe way the bowlers went about things, youknow, they challenged the guys, or chal-lenged Sri Lanka much from ball one, andI’m sure the same side is looking to hope-fully repeat that today.nBoult is out to injury and Ferguson —three bowled 150 round. Do you thinkthat in the conditions — some grass willbe there, do you think that is challeng-ing for the batsman or top order?

I think Bangladesh are a quality sidewho I guess can adapt to conditions real-ly well. I think, you know, for our bowlingattack, we are used to bowling on our sur-faces that do offer a little bit in terms of ifthere is a little bit more grass. Hopefully wecan apply that pressure that we are used to,and I’m sure Bangladesh will be coming upwith plans to, I guess, try to counterattackour seam attack, and I'm sure it's going tobode for a good contest.nEarly days yet, but what’s been the mostdifficult thing about the World Cup so farfor you?

We’ve only had one game so far. Wemanaged to play a good game of cricketagainst Sri Lanka, but I guess the impor-tant thing about this tournament is you play— we play nine games at nine differentvenues around the country. It’s importantto, I guess, adapt to every surface, everyteam, as quick as possible. The way we usu-ally play a series back home, you play twoor three games against a side and you’re ableto work out the way they go about things.

— Courtesy © ICC Business CorporationFZ LLC 2018

EID GREETINGS

South Africa cricketers Hashim Amla andImran Tahir attended Eid prayers at a

Southampton mosque on Tuesday aheadof their team's crucial World Cup clashagainst India.

The two players were warmly greetedby fellow worshippers, with selfie-seekersmaking a beeline to grab a photo withthem.

Both players are veterans in the SouthAfrica side, who have lost their two open-ing matches at the World Cup in Englandand Wales.

The 40-year-old Tahir, a Pakistan-bornleg-spinner, is set to quit one-day-interna-tionals after the tournament.

Top-order batsman Amla, 36, missedthe team's second World Cup game againstBangladesh on Sunday after being hit onthe head by a bouncer in the tournamentopener against England.

Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar, who isstanding at the World Cup, also accompa-nied the South Africa duo for Eid prayers.

Pakistan players visited a Nottinghammosque a day after their dramatic 14-runvictory over tournament hosts England asfans gathered to congratulate them. Thesquad were provided with tight security fol-lowing a March attack on a mosque inChristchurch, NZ. — AFP

NEW ZEALAND TEAM IS ALWAYS

GROUNDED AND THAT’S A LOT

TO DO WITH WILLIAMSON’S

ETHOS AND THE WAY OF

THINKING THAT HE INSTILS

INTO THE TEAM

— DANIEL VETTORI

TIGERS ON KIWI HUNT

— Courtesy: © ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 18

playerspeakTOM LATHAM, NZ

AFP n LONDON

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib AlHasan has set his sights on amemorable 200th one-day inter-

national as his side chase a second suc-cessive World Cup win against NewZealand today.

Shakib was the key man whenBangladesh upset South Africa by 21runs in their opening match on Sunday.

His composed 75 helped steerBangladesh to their highest one-dayinternational total of 330 for six beforethe spinner took 1-50 to restrict SouthAfrica to 309-8.

That wicket made Shakib only thefifth player behind Sri Lanka’s SanathJayasuriya, South African JacquesKallis, and Pakistan pair Shahid Afridiand Abdul Razzaq to reach the land-mark of 5,000 runs and 250 wickets inODIs.

The 32-year-old’s next challengecomes at the Oval against a NewZealand side who crushed Sri Lanka by10 wickets in their opening match.

Shakib has experience ofupsetting the Black Caps afterinspiring their five-wicketwin over New Zealand inthe 2017 ChampionsTrophy with the mostrecent of his seven ODIhundreds.

B a n g l a d e s hmissed Shakibwhen a f ingerinjury ruled himout of the ODIseries in NewZealand earlier thisyear, in which theywere routed 3-0by the hosts andthe all-rounderh o p e sBangladeshwill put up atougher fightagainst NewZealand this time.

“Building upto this WorldCup, we knewwhat challenges we might face. Weprepared well, so that gave us a lotof confidence and belief. We came tothis World Cup wanting to do well,” hesaid.

“We are up for the challenge butat the same time we are relaxed. We

knew we had the skill to beat bigteams.

“I think that we are in a goodplace, mentally. I think if we can con-tinue in this manner, we can go a longway in the tournament.”

Shakib will become only the thirdBangladesh player to play 200 ormore ODIs, behind skipper MashrafeMortaza (210) and Mushfiqur Rahim(206). But he remains modest abouthis milestone moment.

“I’m very happy the way I con-tributed (in the last game). If I do thatevery time, the stats will take care ofthemselves,” Shakib said.

“I don’t normally look at it (his sta-tistics), but if people are talking aboutit, I obviously feel happy.”

New Zealand showed against SriLanka that they are a well-roundedteam more than capable of going along way in the tournament.

They did not miss pace spearheadTim Southee (calf) and top-orderbatsman Henry Nicholls (hamstring)in their opening game.

Matt Henr y, who replaced

3:00 pm IST

LIVE ON

UPNEXT

VS

AGENCIES n LONDON

Pat Cummins wants to avoid fastbowler rotation and play everymatch in the World Cup, and is

confident that his body is up to thetest.

Once the most injury-pronebowler in Australian cricket,Cummins has got through the pasttwo years without incident since mak-ing his return to Test cricket.

This year's World Cup presentsanother challenge with each teamguaranteed to play nine games inEngland, as well as the possibility ofa semi-final and final, leading coachJustin Langer to speculate giving hisfast bowlers a rest during the tourna-ment might be on the cards. ForAustralia and England, the tourna-ment leads into a rigorous five-TestAshes series, with just two-and-a-halfweeks between the tournament's finaland the first Test at Edgbaston.

Australia have selected two back-up quicks for the one-day tournamentwith Kane Richardson and JasonBehrendorff not playing againstAfghanistan, but Cummins said hedidn't want to spend any time on the

sidelines."I hope to play every game,"

Cummins said in an interview withAustralian cricket websitecricke.com.au. "That is the aim. It is afairly big workload but no different toan ODI series where you might playfive in two weeks. "We have ninespread out over about five weeks. So,one or two a week is pretty manage-able.

"But obviously, if anything comesup we will talk about it then but fromour point of view we want to playevery game." Australia have openedthe tournament with a light schedule,with five days between their win overAfghanistan and Thursday's clashwith the West Indies at Trent Bridge.

However, the Windies match is thestart of a run of four matches in ninedays, with games against India,Pakistan and Sri Lanka to followwith travel between each. "There's onelittle section where I think we playfour games in nine days we might haveto look at managing our bowlers,"coach Justin Langer said last week. "Ina perfect world you keep the teamtogether for the whole time. It's prob-ably unrealistic to think that will hap-

pen."We are very clear on our match

ups for different teams. There areobviously some great data around thatwe have researched thoroughly all ouroppositions." Australia coach JustinLanger is set to name an unchangedlineup for the Cricket World Cupmatch against West Indies as histeam looks to get over its "brutal" lastvisit to Trent Bridge.

The five-time world championsbeat Afghanistan by seven wickets intheir first game of the tournament andLanger says, "We're going with thesame team" on Thursday.

They will face a different test com-pared to an Afghan team containingmany spin options, with the Windies'all-pace attack having bounced outPakistan for 105 in their opener.

Langer says Australia's focus hasbeen "almost solely on playing spinbowling" after recent series againstIndia at home and Pakistan in theUAE, so "we have to adapt to WestIndies no doubt." When theAustralians last played at Trent Bridge,they were on the receiving end of aworld-record total of 481 by Englandlast year.

Brimming with confidence after edging Proteas in opener, B’desh look to

complete double against Blackcaps in Shakib’s record 200th game

HEAD TO HEAD

Played NZ B’desh

Matches 33 24 10

Day matches 8 6 2

In World Cup 4 4 0

HIGHEST TOTALS

New Zealand 341-7 in 50 overs at Christchurch 26-12-2016

Bangladesh 309-6 in 49.2 overs at Fatullah 03 -11-2013

PERFORMANCE IN WC

Team P W L T/NR Success%

Nz 80 49 30 1 61.87

B’desh 33 12 20 1 37.87

FAISEL FEATURES

Southee, took three wickets in Sri Lanka’s 136all out, while openers Colin Munro andMartin Guptill knocked off the 137 requiredin just 16.1 overs.

World Cup runners-up in 2015, NewZealand can also call on pace bowler LockieFerguson, who took three wickets against SriLanka.

“I guess you want to build that momen-tum early. If we bowl first in the next fewgames we can hopefully continue to do thatand make it difficult for the guys to score,”Guptill said.

“Then if we can come out and play witha bit of freedom like we did this afternoon withthe bat, I think we’ll have a pretty successfultournament.”

SQUADSBangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), AbuJayed, Liton Das (wk), Mahmudullah, MehidyHasan, Mohammad Mithun (wk), MohammadSaifuddin, Mosaddek Hossain, MushfiqurRahim (wk), Mustafizur Rahman, RubelHossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan,Soumya Sarkar, Tamim IqbalNew Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt), TomBlundell (wk), Trent Boult, Colin deGrandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, MartinGuptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, ColinMunro, Jimmy Neesham, Henry Nicholls,Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, RossTaylor

SHAKIB WILLBECOME ONLY

THE THIRDBANGLADESH

PLAYER TOPLAY 200 ORMORE ODIS,

BEHIND SKIPPERMASHRAFE MORTAZA

(210) AND MUSHFIQURRAHIM (206)

M E N W H O M A T T E R

Mushfiqur Rahim, right, celebrates with teammates after running out Quinton de Kock during Bangladesh first game of the campaign AP

NO TIME TO REST

Kane Williamson, NZ Captain during atraining session BlackCapsTwitter

Perfect French cut

AFP n PARIS

Johanna Konta became the first Britishwoman in 36 years to reach the RolandGarros semi-finals on Tuesday in a perfor-

mance which left US legend and seven-timeParis champion Chris Evert "speechless".

Konta, the 26th seed, swept past seventh-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States,last year's runner-up, 6-1, 6-4.

"I am speechless and not many matchesmake me speechless," Evert, an 18-timeGrand Slam champion, told Eurosport.

"Jo Konta, I take my hat off to you, I havenever seen her play that kind of tennis, shewould've beaten anybody the way she playedtoday."

The 28-year-old Konta had not won amatch at Roland Garros in any of her previ-ous four visits.

But now she has emulated Jo Durie whowas the last British woman to make the FrenchOpen semi-finals in 1983.

"I've always said that whenever I step outonto the court, I'm always going to have achance. I'm always going to have a shot," saidKonta when told of Evert's glowing praise.

"I don't think any player on tour can goon court against me and feel like they've def-initely got it.

"I definitely back myself and my abilitythat way."

Next up for Konta is a clash with eitherCzech teenager Marketa Vondrousova orCroatian 31st Petra Martic for a place inSaturday's final.

It will be her third semi-final at a majorafter runs to the last-four at the 2016Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.

"I wouldn't say it means more. It's a dif-ferent process getting here than when I got tothe semi-final at Wimbledon or even when Igot to the semi-final at Australia," added Kontaafter her third win in 2019 over Stephens.

Both players complained about the famedParis clay blowing away off the court in a stiffbreeze.

But at least they had the advantage of get-ting back into the locker room before torren-tial rain, thunder and lighting brought themen's quarter-finals to a halt later in the day.

Konta broke former US Open championStephens in the fourth and sixth games of thefirst set.

The Briton fired four aces and 12 winnerspast her 26-year-old opponent in the 35-minute opener.

Konta tightened her grip with a break inthe opening game of the second set and thatproved more than enough.

LUCKNOWWEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019● Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter for India in 2019. He scored 611 at an average of 55.54 in 11 innings14

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE

PAKISTAN TEAM FOR A GREAT

WIN. YOU HAVE THE TALENT, ALL

YOU NEED IS THE SELF BELIEF

THAT YOU CAN GO ALL THE WAY

— IMRAN KHAN

CRICKETCRADLE

Steyn out Dale Steyn was bowling well and con-sistently at South Africa nets but by theafternoon news came in that he wasleaving the tournament with his injuredshoulder, giving his team more struggleto contend with. Steyn had picked upthe injury during IPL where he playedsome matches before leaving for sus-tained and intense rehab to be fit forthe World Cup. Kohli said it was sad tosee a friend go out in pain, especiallyin the autumn of his world cup career.Steyn's skipper Faf du Plessis was inmore of a quandary as he acknowl-edged it had become a bigger chal-lenge for him to manage a team with-out Steyn and Lungi Ngidi. "He wasbowling well but concerns about himbeing able to repeat a spell continuedand we needed to go into the gamewith a fully fit squad," du Plessis toldjournalists. Steyn has been replaced byBeuran Hendricks.

Bowl you overThe Hampshire Bowl, located in WestEnd, near Eastleigh approximately10km north-east of Southampton citycentre, is one of England’s most spec-tacular grounds, what with a rush ofheady green trees encircling it from ahigh, hilly perch and the facilityperched in the wooded greens ofSouthampton. The ground wasdesigned by architect Sir MichaelHopkins, and the pavilion’s tented roofis reminiscent of the Mound Stand atLord’s which he also designed. Alongwith the cricket, the venue has a hotel,restaurant, golf course and fitness andwell-being centre opening into theground.

Stand Warned Ironically, just next to main showstop-per the Lord's like canopy ofHampshire Bowl, lies the Shane WarneStand. A double take there? What'sWarnie doing in a pride of place in theheart of an English stadium? WouldAustralia have an Ian Botham stand forwhatever reason? Or India a ShoaibAkhtar stand? No, you would agree.But Hampshire country cricket honoursits heroes and one among them hasbeen Shane Warne who has led themas captain, rather successfully.Hampshire is considered the cradle ofEnglish cricket though the ground heldits first first-class game as late as2001.

Under weather India had to abandon its practice ses-sion at Hampshire Bowl as the skiesopened up to a gentle but consistentshower in the afternoon, just whenskipper Kohli finished addressing hisfirst Press conference of the tourna-ment. The Proteans were lucky enoughto practice, play football and do theusual stretches under a brief sunnyspell in the morning when K Rabadawas seen consistently disturbing thestumps with his precision bowlingspells under the keen eye of the coach.Even day before yesterday, the weath-er had played up when the Indianscame out for their nets, cutting theirouting short.

AGENCIES

South Africa vs India3:00 pm IST

VENUE: Hampshire Bowl, Southampton

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W O R L D C U P S P E C I A L

Dale Steyn attends a training session ahead of SouthAfrica’s match against India at Ageas Bowl AP

PNS n SOUTHAMPTON

This is the city from wherethe legendary Titanic setsail for New York. So icon-ic events and failed fortunesare part and parcel of the

landscape of the big port town whereIndia start their campaign for theWorld Cup first time under the lead-ership of Virat Kohli, on a ground theylost theTest and the series to Englandmost recently in 2018.

But future, not history, beckonsthe Men in Blue who take on SouthAfrica on a solid front foot of goodrest, a crackling team and a rival suf-fering from two losses on the trot, notto mention dented armour in theabsence of fiery pacers Lungi Ngidiand veteran Dale Steyn who is out ofthe tournament due to shoulderinjury.

But even if the full Protean squadhad been staring down Kohli's boys,the contest would have been interest-ing, what with Team India sporting acarefully constructed band of young-sters adept at living with pressure,spinning well andjudiciously pacingboth the arm and the bat.Besides,theyare botoxed on self-belief, concretedby, as Kohli said, "camaraderie, discus-sions and team spirit." With a passion-ate and yet sorted Kohli on his maid-en leadership assignment in the BigGame with high personal stakes atplay, and veteran World Cup tacticianMS Dhoni looking over from behind,the cause for worry can only be self-constructed.

This will be India's first match inthe World Cup and the delay has beenworth the while. "I am happy to befinally playing. The wait has been a bitof an advantage in terms of under-standing how the games have goneunder the conditions, the pace of play,what the approach of other teams havebeen. We have had a lot to absorb and,thus, have a lot of positives out ofbeing the last to start," Kohli said athis pre-match Press conference.

But then how do you deal withweather as fickle as the smile of a col-icky infant? Only yesterday,Southampton saw all the weather con-ditions it could in a day: Morning wasbright and sunny, the afternoonalmost blew over with a hard and coldwind, then came the rain and yet at9.15 pm it was a bright sun that setinto the high skies. Kohli is aware andwary of this huge condition stumblewhich makes England the final fron-tier of the game."Dynamics willchange from morning to afternoonand bowlers will have to adapt fast,"he warned.

Match day weather is predicted toswing much like the ball does inEngland with variable cloudiness anda passing shower in the day, some-thing not as benign as it sounds whenit comes to strategizing your cricketin the middle. For one, it makes thebat-friendly pitch secondary to atmos-pherics. This, in turn, makes Kohli'schoice between spinners and seamersa difficult and calculatedone.

Good news is that SA is strugglingin the dressing room with skipper Faf

du Plessis acknowledging that itwould be challenging to have such aninjury resized team and that he woulddo his best. Kohli, on the other hand,knows that Proteans are very "talent-ed dangerous even with replace-ments,"Rabada being the danger manrunning in, not to mention the dead-ly guile of Imran Tahir fresh from Eidcelebrations on match eve and RohitSharma being rickety to leg spin.

But, KedarJadhav is in full fitnessand hitting the bowl well. Jadeja, Kohli

says, is outstanding and a guaranteedtemplate of performance. Then thereis Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal and Shankarwaiting in the wings, not to mentionBhuvneshwar rolling his arm in antic-ipation of the wind.

The skipper himself is lookingforward to the challenge with antic-ipation and nerves which is good forany player, he asserted. "Will look atthe pitch but are equipped for all con-ditions," added one of the best bats-men in the game for now. His open-ing game centuries in the previoustwo World Cups are enough to carrythe legacy to Southampton, especial-ly when the skipper is determined todo "whatever it takes to win", num-bers no bar.

Balance, acumen, calm and strat-egy — all of which have been careful-ly hemmed into the squad — willcome in handy when the clock strikes10.30 English time today. Add to thatsolid first 10 overs, rolling partner-ships with the bat and a weatherfriendly choice of bowlers, and theTitanic is sure to reach its destinationthis time, altering history and mould-ing the Cup's journey to Indianshores.

XFACTOR■ Dhawan-Rohit opening combination

■ Hardik Pandya all round performance

■ Kagiso Rabada’s pace

■ De Kock & Du Plessis batting

■ Indian pace trio of Bumrah, Shami &Bhuvneshwar

■ Virat Kohli’s leadership

WE SELECTED A SIDE THATGIVES US ALL KINDS OF

OPTIONS, DEPENDING ONCONDITIONS. WE SELECTEDTHE MOST BALANCED SIDE

WE COULD HAVE SELECTED.WITH OUR BOWLING

ATTACK, ANY SCORE ISDEFENDABLE, WITH THE

SKILL-SET THAT WE HAVE— VIRAT KOHLI, INDIAN CAPTAIN

IT IS IMPORTANT FOR USTO STAY STRONG AT THIS

TIME. IF YOU DO SLIGHTLYGO AWAY FROM THAT, THEN

AS A TEAM YOU CANCRUMBLE AND,

UNFORTUNATELY, WE ARENOT IN A POSITION WHERE

WE CAN AFFORD THAT— FAF DU PLESSIS,

SOUTH AFRICA CAPTAIN

QUOTE UN QUOTERested India ready to wrestKohli starts campaign on front foot against injury-ridden SA

PNS ■ SOUTHAMPTON

So, what is England talkingabout in these World Cupdays? Not exactly cricket, if

you please! It’s more about DonaldTrump rubbing shoulders withthe Queen of England as only thethird US President in history tohave been accorded a State wel-come. Then there is Brexit,Theresa May, French Open,Wimbledon and even Baseball ifyou don't mind.

Royalty, howsoever irrelevantin modern times, commandsenough interest for this nation tohook on to news around it and thelikes of Trumps, Melanie or oth-erwise, making it their ultimatestatus symbol to be hosted byBuckingham Palace.

Not that this could makeDonald Trump rise over commonspats with uncommon venom,making England also talk aboutthe President's dirty Twitter warwith London mayor Sadiq Khanover the latter lamenting far-right politics besieging the worldto many a dismay.

Then there is this entiregamut of emotion over Brexit andits major fallout of Prime MinisterTheresa May resigning over theissue amid uncertainty and frayedtempers and apprehension ofstreet violence, protest anddemonstrations. To be holding aWorld Cup amid such woes is anachievement in itself, one wouldsay.

Other than that, there is a lotmore of the French Open on

English imagination than theCricket World Cup where hostsEngland fell to Pakistan just theother day. Flippantly, that 14 runsloss brought the focus somewhatback on a game that boasts ofBritain as its mother country buthas long lost the battle to football,

rugby, tennis and even baseballnow, the first ever match forwhich is being touted as sold outevent already.

Wimbledon, too, is justaround the corner and we allknow how eagerly England awaitsthe strawberries and cream sport-

ing summer in sylvan GrandSlam environs. Cricket, on theother hand, comes as an inconve-nient overlap which will gainprominence in local charts only ifthe hosts reach, or look to reach-ing, the knockout round.

Within the tournament, it’s a

week into the World Cup but the10 teams vying for the top hon-ours are still struggling to findtheir groove in an English sum-mer punctuated by rain, gentlewind and a lot of fickle behaviouron-field, what with South Africalosing to Bangladesh, and

Pakistan defeating the tourna-ment favourites England afterbeing blown out by the WestIndians themselves.

The changed format has seento it that there is even play,intense competition and manychances for the biggies to not beknocked out as any group stageblunder, a ka West Indies 2007.That also makes it the most openCup in the history of cricketwith India, England, South Africa,Australia, Pakistan, New Zealandand others sporting the firstamong equals potency in equalmeasure.

On the eve of India’s openingcampaign in Southampton,against South Africa, news has notbeen so much about the gameitself as about Team India rilingthe media by sending in local netbowlers for an international Pressconference and the event beingboycotted by angry journalists.

Gags, absenteeism, keepingthe media waiting and closingICC interaction windows sum-marily has become a fine art per-fected from the Mahendra SinghDhoni days and it seems now thatit has become a routine, thoughundesired, dressing room tenet.

Seen with a glossed eye, thisNarendra Modi kind of disdainfor the media achieves nothingother than add the much-requiredsyrup to a tournament hungry forfront page bytes, side stories andsome great matches to get goingin real earnest. Over to India vsSA which may bring some juiceinto the proceedings.

TRUMP, SADIQ,

BREXIT & ONLY THEN CRICKET

People carry signs and banners as they march through central London to demonstrate against the state visit of United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Trump will turnfrom pageantry to policy Tuesday as he joins British Prime Minister Theresa May for a day of talks likely to highlight fresh uncertainty in the allies' storied relationship AP

vHashim Amla who scored 7923 runs at

an average of 49.51 in 172 innings of 175

matches, needs 77 runs to become fourth

South African and 32nd batsman overall to

complete 8000 runs in one day

internationals

FAISEL FEATURES

RecordALERT

HEAD TO HEAD

Played India South Africa

Matches 83 34 46

Day matches 32 13 19

In World Cup 4 1 3

HIGHEST TOTALS

India 401-3 in 50 overs at Gwalior 24-02-2010

South Africa 438-4 in 50 overs at Mumbai 25-10-2015

PERFORMANCE IN WC

Team P W L T/NR Success%

India 75 46 27 1 62.66

South Africa 57 35 20 2 63.15

FAISEL FEATURES

Virat Kohli, right, spends time with his teammates in the nets during a training session ahead of the opening match against South Africa at Ageas Bowl inSouthampton on Wednesday AP

AFP ■ CARDIFF

Sri Lanka denied Afghanistan afamous victory by winning a

low-scoring thriller in the WorldCup at Cardiff.

After a dismal batting col-lapse by Sri Lanka, Afghanistanneeded a rain-revised target ofjust 187 from 41 overs but werebeaten by 34 runs.

Afghanistan slipped to 54-5in their chase but a partnershipof 64 by Najibullah Zadran andcaptain Gulbadin Naib gave themhope. But Nuwan Pradeepreturned and took two quickwickets before Najibullah wasrun out by Dimuth Karunaratnefor 43. That left the final pairneeding 42 more to win butLasith Malinga bowled HamidHassan with a trademark yorkerfour balls later.

Earlier, Mohammad Nabi ranthrough a panic-stricken SriLanka top order as Afghanistanbowled their struggling oppo-nents out for 201 in a rain-affected match in Cardiff.

Sri Lanka came out of theblocks quickly under leaden skies,reaching 144 for one before thehalfway point of their inningsand were on course for a morale-boosting big score against theunfancied Afghans.

But Nabi, who had earlierremoved captain DimuthKarunaratne for 30, turned thematch in the Welsh capital on itshead, with three wickets in fiveballs as Sri Lanka slumped to 146-4. "I tried my best to turn on thispitch, loop a lot, and trying my bestto bowl on the good areas," said adelighted Nabi.

"We will try our best to achievethis total and not give away a lotof wickets to the opposition team."

Shell-shocked Sri Lanka kepton losing wickets at regular inter-vals, with 35 extras the second-highest scorer.

The turning point of the matchwas the dramatic 22nd over.

Nabi bowled LahiruThirimanne for 25 before havingKusal Mendis caught by RahmatShah in the slips for two runs.Angelo Mathews was next to go,for a duck, also caught by Shah.

Fast bowler Hamid Hassanthen had Dhananjaya de Silvacaught behind for nought byMohammad Shahzad to leave SriLanka in deep trouble.

Thisara Perera was run out fortwo before Isuru Udana wasbowled by Dawlat Zadran for 10.

Leg-spinner Rashid Khanjoined the party, having openerKusal Perera caught behind byShahzad for 78.

Rain then intervened, forcingthe players from the field, with SriLanka 182-8.

The rain delay meant thematch was reduced to 41 overs aside but Sri Lanka folded quicklyafter the resumption, losing LasithMalinga and Nuwan Pradeep forthe addition of just 19 more runs.

Afghanistan need a rain-

revised target of 187 to win.Earlier, Afghanistan captain

Gulbadin Naib won the toss andchose to field, hoping to takeadvantage of the favourable con-ditions for bowlers.

But openers Karunaratne andKusal Perera settled quickly as theyshared a stand of 92 for the out-of-form side. Both teams were sound-ly beaten in their first matches ofthe tournament in England andWales.

Former champions Sri Lanka

were thumped by 10 wickets byNew Zealand on the same groundwhile Afghanistan went down byseven wickets to defending cham-pions Australia in Bristol.

Afghanistan, playing in onlytheir second World Cup, beat1996 world champions Sri Lankasoundly in last year's Asia Cup inthe United Arab Emirates.

Sri Lanka have won only oneof their 10 one-day internationalmatches this year -- against min-nows Scotland.

LUCKNOWWEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019● Nabi’s 30-4 against Sri Lanka in Cardiff on Tuesay is the best ever perfromance by Afghanistan bowler in the World Cup15

WE AREN’T PUTTING ANY EXTRA

PRESSURE ON OURSELVES,

WE’LL JUST BE LOOKING TO

STILL PLAYING OUR BEST

CRICKET IN EVERY GAME

— CHRIS WOAKES

PTI ■ SOUTHAMPTON

Led by Jasprit Bumrah, theIndian attack is the "mostcomplete" of this era but it

must not be compared with thebowling units of 2003 and 2011when the team reached the WorldCup finals, reckons SachinTendulkar. If at all a comparison hasto be made, then the current bowl-ing unit should be compared withthe attacks of this era, he insisted.

Tendulkar, who played sixWorld Cups between 1992 and2011 and has seen different bowl-ing attacks led by Kapil Dev, JavagalSrinath, Zaheer Khan from closequarters, finds it unacceptable thatdifferent generations playing underdifferent rules are compared witheach other.

"I don't like comparisons asthose were different eras, where dif-ferent teams played on different sur-faces under different set of rules,"Tendulkar said when asked tocompare the current unit with theattacks of 2003 and 2011.

For the maestro, who was partof two of three finals that Indiaplayed, the change of rules makesit difficult to compare generations.

"We have two new balls andfielding restrictions in place (fourfielders outside 30-yard circlebetween overs 11 and 40 and onemore in the last 10 overs), it is like100m runners are now running

90m or 80m because laws havechanged.

"It is difficult for bowlers withno reverse swing which single newball offered. So if you want to judgethe current Indian attack, theyshould be judged with rival attacksof this generation only. But yes,when it comes to this era, this is avery good attack," said Tendulkar.

"However I can't take away any-thing from the contributions madeby the bowling attacks of 2003 and2011 World Cup campaign. In2003, that bowling attack (Srinath,Zaheer, Nehra and Harbhajan)took us to the final while we did onebetter in 2011 (Zaheer, Nehra,Harbhajan, Munaf Patel and YuvrajSingh)."

However, with the world's pre-mier pacer Bumrah in its rank, thisattack is as good as it can get, saidTendulkar. "What's the best thingabout this attack is the fact that theyare on top of their game. It is thethe most complete in this era.Bumrah has been world's no 1bowler in this format for some timenow. He has been our 'go to man'providing crucial breakthroughswhenever needed.

"Also the two wrist spinners(Kuldeep and Chahal) operating intandem during middle overs will becrucial as we are expected to getmore wickets in that phase. So over-all, it's a very good attack of thisera," said Tendulkar.

nDo you prefer flat or turning wicket?There was a bit of turn for the spinners

even during the England-Pakistan seriesbefore the World Cup. But a lot will dependon the overhead conditions. Personally, Idon't like rank turners. Bowling on rankturners is also an art. I love bowling on aflat wicket with a bit of bounce. Also, asa wrist spinner you do induce turn irrespec-tive of how the wicket is and I have neverbelieved in looking at tracks for assistance.

You can't bowl fast on a flat wicket. Youneed to give it loop so that the ball takesturn. On a turning wicket, the pace has tobe increased since you are getting a turn.nDoes India deserve the favourites tag?

Favourites tag comes from the outside.This is a big tournament and overall if youlook at how we have played over the pastcouple of seasons, we can say that this is astrong team. I prefer the word strong overfavourite. Also, there are quite a few goodteams apart from India and to be honest,a lot will depend on how a team plays onthe day.nHow has the journey been from play-ing chess to now leading India's spincharge in the World Cup?

It is like a dream. When I would seeIndia's World Cup games on television, Iwould think that one day I want to be a partof this. When I became a regular in theteam from 2017 onwards, I started to aimfor the 2019 World Cup and looked at beingconsistent with my performances. Today,I feel a dream has been fulfilled. Doing welloutside of India gave me the confidencethat I can compete with the best on theinternational stage.nThere is a big chance of rain tomorrowand obviously that might shorten thegame. Do you think that brings you guysin a little bit?

We not going for the weather. We willsee what’s the weather. So if we can reducethe overs it will be much better for us. Wehave potential now so like limited overs, solike everyone knows about Afghanistanbatting lineup, so it will be good.nHow do you manage highs and lows?

The more you play together, you get toknow each other and it becomes like a fam-ily. We spend a lot of time off the field aswell and when one of the players has a badday, we as a team look at ways to motivatehim. Say, if I had a bad day and then ifcoaches start scolding you, the morale goesdown further. But in this team, you aregiven confidence and told that you haveproved yourself in the past and you can doit again. There are times when you are aloneand you need some motivation as you areon the go (playing and travelling) and thisteam is really good in this.nWe know your love for tattoos...

I always wanted to get piercings andtattoos done from a young age. Got my firsttattoo in 2012 and then I got a Lord Shivaand that made me feel good as I feel con-nected to him and to get to look at his tat-too whenever I open my shirt it gives mea positive vibe. I spend a lot of time think-ing and conceptualizing before I get a tat-too made.

I have Shivansh written ( the name ofmy sister's son). I am a Leo so I also havea lion. I also have a warrior tattoo as thatgives me the spirit to fight when I am onthe field. The pain of getting inked givesme joy.

Shastri trolled

Aself-proclaimed Pakistan cricket teamfan, Australias famous Twitter person-

ality Dennis Freedman has trolled Indiachief coach Ravi Shastri on the eve of theiropening game against South Africa byposting a picture of Shastri with twowomen who seem to be excited to be shar-ing the frame with the coach. There isanother person in the frame, but he is notassociated with the Indian team.

Taking to Twitter, Freedman wrote:"India's World Cup preparations appear tobe going well."

Shastri's photo hasn't gone down wellwith fans who commented on Freedman'spost. One fan wrote: "Fielding at fine leg."Another one wrote: "We're playing both onand off thefield."

Anotheruser wrote:"They are soanxious togel in withgori's in UK.This isIndians veryn a t u r a lc o m p l e x(sic)." OnePakistani fanwrote: "Deargirls watchAzhar movieagain if youdont knowwho is Rshastri (sic)."

An Indian fan was clearly notimpressed with the photo as the commentread: "He is better than play boy Warnewho got his mms with 2 girls leaked (sic)."

Dennis also posted the photo onFacebook and the reaction of the fans isn'tsomething that augurs well for the team.One fan wrote: "Hope he creates somethingbetter than Jayasuriya." Another onewrote: "Keep it up dude, you are doingwell."

— IANS

playerspeakYUZVENDRA CHAHAL

Sri Lanka

D Karunaratne c Najibullah b Nabi 30

Kusal Perera c M Shahzad b Rashid 78

LThirimanne b Nabi 25

Kusal Mendisc Rahmat b Nabi 2

Angelo Mathews c Rahmat b Nabi 0

Dhananjaya de Silva c Shahzad b Hamid 0

T Perera run out (Shahidi/M Shahzad) 2

Isuru Udana b Dawlat Zadran 10

Suranga Lakmal not out 15

Lasith Malinga b Dawlat Zadran 4

Nuwan Pradeep b Rashid Khan 0

Extras (b 0, lb 9, w 21, nb 3, p 0) 33

Total (8 wkts, 33 Ov) 182

Fall of wickets: 92-1 (Dimuth Karunaratne,

13.1), 144-2 (Lahiru Thirimanne, 21.2), 146-3

(Kusal Mendis, 21.4), 146-4 (Angelo

Mathews, 21.6), 149-5 (Dhananjaya de Silva,

22.6), 159-6 (Thisara Perera, 25.4), 178-7

(Isuru Udana, 31.3), 180-8 (Kusal Perera,

32.2), 199-9 (Lasith Malinga, 35.6), 201-10

(Nuwan Pradeep, 36.5)

Bowling

Dawlat Zadran 6-0-34-2

Hamid Hassan 7-0-53-1

Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-0-19-1

Mohammad Nabi 9-0-30-4

Gulbadin Naib 4-0-38-0

Rashid Khan 7.5-1-17-2

Afghanistan

Mohd Shahzad c Karunartna b Malinga 7

Hazratullah Zazai c Perera b Pradeep 30

Rahmat Shah c Mathews b Udana 2

Hashmatullah Shahidi c Perera b Pradeep 4

Mohammad Nabi b Perera 11

Gulbadin Naib (c) lbw b Pradeep 23

Najibullah Zadran run out (Karunaratne) 43

Rashid Khan b Pradeep 2

Dawlat Zadran b Malinga 6

Hamid Hassan b Malinga 6

Mujeeb Ur Rahman not out 1

Extras (b 1, nb 1, w 15) 17

TOTAL 152

Fall of wickets: 1-34 (Mohammad Shahzad,

4.4), 2-42 (Rahmat Shah, 7.5) , 3-44

(Hazratullah Zazai, 8.4) , 4-57 (Hashmatullah

Shahidi, 12.5), 5-57 (Mohammad Nabi, 13.4),

6-121 (Gulbadin Naib, 24.5), 7-123 (Rashid

Khan, 26.1), 8-136 (Dawlat Zadran, 30.4), 9-

145 (Najibullah Zadran, 31.6), 10-152 (Hamid

Hassan, 32.4)

Bowling

Malinga 6.4-0-39-3

Lakmal 6-0-27-0

Udana 6-0-28-1

Pradeep 9-1-31-4

Perera 4-0-19-1

de Silva 1-0-7-0

F I G U R A T I V E L Y

Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera is congratulated by his team mates after taking the wicket of Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi, during the Cricket World Cup group stage match between SriLanka and Afghanistan at the Cardiff Stadium on Tuesday

Lanka survive Afghan scare

Photo: DennisFreedman/Twitter

PTI n SOUTHAMPTON

The prevalent overcast conditionsin Southampton may force theIndian team management to opt

for an extra seamer against SouthAfrica in the opening World Cup gameon Wednesday, indicated skipper ViratKohli.

While chances of BhuvneshwarKumar's inclusion in the playing XI lookbrighter by the minute, Kohli gave anopen-ended reply to the various ques-tions on possible team combinations.

There are indictions thatMohammed Shami may make the wayfor Bhuvneshwar but there are not anyconfirmation with regards to that. Inthat case, Vijay Shankar will pip KedarJadhav to share the third seamer'sduties with Hardik Pandya.

"We know it is a different situationin England when there is a cloud coverand when there is sun out. With twonew balls, if the pitch has somethingto offer, then an extra seamer comesinto the play big time. But even on agood pitch, on a batting-friendly pitchwith two new balls, I foresee the first10 overs to be challenging if there is

cloud cover," Kohli said, dropping abroad hint on Bhuvneshwar's possibleinclusion.

While Bhuvneshwar is a capablebatsman but seamer-friendly condi-tions may prompt India to drop a spin-ner in case a fully fit Jadhav is includ-ed.

"I think it will definitely be chal-lenging, starting at 10.30 am in themorning for the batsmen and that issomething that we have discussedand we have recognized how to goabout it, what are the plans headinginto being a bit more solid in that par-ticular phase," said the skipper with-out divulging much.

"And from the bowling point ofview as well, even if you play with twospinners, two seamers or three seam-ers, they are going to be in the gamein the first half if you start at 10.30 am.The dynamics will change from morn-ing to afternoon big time and thebowlers will have to adapt very quick-ly to that," he said.

Jadhav's all-round abilities alwayskeeps him in the mix, insisted Kohli.

"Kedar is batting in the nets nowand he is hitting the ball well, so it isalways nice to have him back in themix because of the variety he bringsinto the side. Looking at the pitch, wewill have discussions over what thebalanced combination will be, but Ithink we are equipped to handle allkinds of conditions here," Kohli signedoff.

Advantage seam

PTI n SOUTHAMPTON

Kagiso Rabada may havefound Virat Kohli's on-fielddemeanour to be "very

immature" but the Indian captainTuesday showed enoughmaturity, refraining from gettinginto a war of words ahead oftheir World Cup encounteragainst South Africa.

Rabada, in a recentinterview to a cricket website,had recalled an incident duringan IPL game when he felt thatKohli lacked maturity.

"I was just thinking aboutthe game plan, really, but Virat,he hit me for a boundary andthen he had a word. And thenwhen you give it back to him, he

gets angry. I don't get the guy.Maybe he does it because it getshim going, but that comesacross as very immature for me.He is a phenomenal player buthe can't take the abuse," Rabadahad said.

When a South Africanscribe popped the question,Kohli first denied having anyknowledge of the commentmade by the Prateas speedster,but when probed further, theIndian skipper immediatelydoused the fire.

"Well, I played against himmany times and if anythingneeds to be discussed, we candiscuss it man-to-man. I am notusing a press conference toanswer anything," Kohli replied.

In fact, he went a stepahead and praised Rabada forbeing a genuine match-winnerfor the Proteas.

"Look whether (Lungi) Ngidiplays, or (Dale) Steyn plays ornot, Rabada is always going tobe a world-class bowler and athreat to any side he playsagainst. He has the kind ofpassion and he has a kind ofskill-set that he can. On his day,he can go through any battingorder," Kohli said.

"So against guys likeRabada, who can turn up ontheir day and bowl outstandinglywell, you have to be respectfulbut have that self-belief inyourself as well and that balancewill be crucial. Whether he plays

with Dale and Ngidi or byhimself, he is going to be askilful bowler," he added.

When a beleaguered SouthAfrican skipper Faf du Plessis,already reeling under Steyn'spull-out and Ngidi's absence,was posed the question, hemanaged to keep his sense ofhumour intact.

"A lot of other things arehaunting me at the moment(smiling). Virat is a great player.Virat, whether you saysomething bad into the media,or you say something good, heis still going to rock up a goodplayer at the match. I don't thinkthat makes too much of adifference," the unassumingskipper replied.

Kohli plans man to man response

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, left, and Jasprit Bumrah attend a training session AP

All guns blazing

Virat indicates toinclude extra pacerin the line up

Mohd Shami bowls during warm up game AP

16LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5, 2019the pioneer