nearby iaf plane shot down, pilot taken captive by pak. army · dian air force jets that coun ......

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#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE

thursday, february 28, 2019

Delhi

City Edition

24 pages O ₹��10.00

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An Indian pilot was capturedby Pakistan after a major aerial confrontation and chasebetween Pakistan Air Forceplanes, which droppedbombs in four locations ofJammu and Kashmir, and Indian Air Force jets that countered them over the Line ofControl (LoC).

The confrontation beganafter Pakistan sent severalaircraft to the LoC on Wednesday morning in retaliation for the Indian Air Forcestrike on a JaisheMohammad camp in Balakot a dayearlier.

The government said IAFjets shot down an F16 jet ofthe PAF in the skirmish, andthe wreckage had fallen onthe Pakistan side. Pakistan’smilitary, however, deniedthe loss of any aircraft.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman began tochase the Pakistani jets topush them back, when hehad to eject over the LoC af

ter the MiG21 he was fl��yingwas shot by a Pakistaniplane. He landed in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, where hewas taken into custody.

Details awaited The Ministry of External Affairs said it is awaiting detailsof Wing Commander Varthaman’s arrest and conditionthrough diplomatic and offi��cial channels, and demanded his “safe and immediatereturn.” In amateur videos,he is seen being manhandledby a crowd in the PoK.

In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held ameeting of the service chiefs,National Security AdviserAjit Doval and other senioroffi��cials to take stock of thedevelopments and his Pakistan counterpart ImranKhan’s appeal for dialogue todeescalate the situation.

IAF plane shot down, pilot taken captive by Pak. army

Suhasini Haidar

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

■ MiG21 takes a hit while trying

to intercept Pakistan’s planes

■ MEA demands ‘safe and immediate

return’ of Wing Commander

■ PAF aircraft drop bombs at four

locations in Jammu and Kashmir

■ PM holds highlevel meeting after

Imran Khan’s appeal for dialogue

PAK. JETS TARGET POSITIONS

ACROSS LOC A PAGE 11

U.K. CALLS FOR DIPLOMATIC

SOLUTIONS A PAGE 10

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

Opposition parties slammedthe Narendra Modiled government for “blatant politicisation” of the prevailing security situation and thedeaths of armed personnel,signalling that they would nolonger restrain themselvesfrom questioning the Centre.

Twentyone Opposition

parties met for over threehours and signed a jointmemorandum. Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi readout the statement to reporters.

‘Respect sacrifi��ces’“The meeting of 21 partiesexpressed its deep anguishover the blatant politicisation of the sacrifi��ces made by

our armed forces by the leader of the ruling party. National security must transcendnarrow political considerations,” it said.

The parties observed thatthe Prime Minister “regrettably” had not convened an allparty meeting as is the norm.

Blatant politicisation, says OppositionSpecial correspondent

New Delhi

‘NEED TO CHANGE NARRATIVE

OF JINGOISM’ A PAGE 10

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesdaycalled for talks with India todefuse tensions and off��eredcooperation in the investigation into the February 14 Pulwama terror attack.

In a televised address, healso warned against furtherescalation of the situation.“With the kind of weaponswe have, can we aff��ord anymiscalculation? Should wenot think about the consequences of an escalation atthis point in time? If it escalates, it will neither be in mycontrol nor [Indian PM Narendra] Modi’s. This is why Iam inviting you again: we areready to cooperate in thePulwama investigation, dialogue on terrorism. Weshould resolve our issuesthrough dialogue.”

He added that Pakistan“understands the pain of

those who lost their lovedones in the Pulwama attackbecause Pakistan, too, haslost 70,000 of our own... Weoff��ered to cooperate with India. We said this because it isnot in the interest of Pakistanfor its soil to be used for terrorism anywhere.”

As for the PAF’s violationof Indian airspace, Mr. Khansaid: “Pakistan was left withno choice but to retaliate after Indian aggression.”

Imran calls for talks Mehmal Sarfraz

Lahore

”We should resolve ourissues through dialogue,”said Imran Khan.


Six personnel of the IndianAir Force (IAF), including apilot and a copilot, and a civilian were killed in a helicopter crash in Budgam onWednesday.

According to a statementissued by the IAF, the Mi17V5 had taken off�� from Srinagar at 10 a.m. on a routinemission and crashed at 10.10a.m. at Garend Kalaan, nearBudgam.

“All six air warriors on thehelicopter suff��ered fatal injuries. A Court of Inquiry hasbeen ordered,” it said.

The police said a civilian,Kifayat Ganaie, was alsokilled. Initial reports said thehelicopter developed a snagand fell to the ground.

Two militants killedMeanwhile, two JeM militants were killed in an operation, the police said.

“Based on information

about the presence of militants in Shopian’s Memender, an operation waslaunched. The search partywas fi��red at, and two militants were killed in the retaliatory fi��re,” the police said.

One of the slain militantswas identifi��ed as Suhail Nazir Mir from Shopian’s SaidaporaPayeen and the other as a Pakistani national.“They were involved in executing militant attacks,” saidthe police.

Six airmen killed in copter crash special correspondent

Srinagar

External Aff��airs MinisterSushma Swaraj on Wednesday told the plenary foreignministerial meeting of theRussiaIndiaChina grouping that India’s air strike ona JaisheMohammad ( JeM)terror camp inside Pakistanwas a preemptive action asthere was credible information that the group, whichclaimed the Pulwama attack, was planning other

strikes in India. She said Pakistan’s inac

tion against the JeM hadforced its hand.

“The target was selectedin order to avoid civilian casualties.”

“This terrorist attack isthe direct result of the impunity and cover providedto the JeM and its leaders bythe Pakistani side,” she said.

Sushma says India’s air strike was preemptive Atul Aneja

WUZHEN


TACIT SUPPORT A PAGE 10DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

A memorial for witchhuntvictims may sound odd, butthe Odisha police havechosen this innovative wayto sensitise people to shunthe heinous practice.

The witchhunt victims’memorial, said to be the fi��rstof its kind in the country,was opened to the public inthe district headquartertown of Keonjhar onWednesday.

While it has a symbolicstatue in memory of all theinnocents who were killedafter being branded aswitch, the names of the

victims have been etched ona granite stone.

State Director General ofPolice R.P. Sharmainaugurated the statue in thepresence of 300 witchhuntvictims and members ofselfhelp groups.

In order to sensitise thepublic, Mr. Sharma and topoffi��cials of Keonjhar sat withwomen who had beenbranded as witches overdinner and discussedmeasures to rid society ofthe menace.

“The inhuman practice ofwitchhunting prevails inseveral States, includingJharkhand, Odisha,

Chhattisgarh and Assam,mainly in the tribal areas.The social evil has longvanished from most parts ofthe world, barring India andsome African countries,”said KeonjharSuperintendent of Police Jai

Narayan Pankaj.“In India, 134 people,

majority of them beingwomen, were killed afterbeing branded as witch. InOdisha last year, 18 peoplewere killed. In Keonjhar,more than 50 people havebeen killed in the last 10years,” said Mr. Pankaj.

According to the OdishaRationalist Society, anindependent body ofrationalists, the problem ismuch bigger.

“According to newspaperreports and our own fi��eldverifi��cations, Odisha losesan average of 70 lives onaccount of witchhunting

every year. In the last twomonths, 10 murders havebeen committed. While fi��vemembers of a family werewiped out in Sundargarhdistrict in January, threewere killed in Rayagada acouple of days ago,” saidORS secretary DebendraSutar.

A decorated van withawareness messages,publicity material andcopies of the OdishaPrevention of WitchhuntingAct, 2013, was also fl��aggedoff��. It will move in theinterior pockets of Keonjharto raise awareness about thesocial evil.

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A memorial to remember Odisha’s witch-hunt victims

Satyasundar Barik

BHUBANESWAR

The State loses an average of 70 lives annually on account of the heinous practice

The memorial in Keonjhar.

6.9 lakh voters addedsince 2015: Delhi govt.NEW DELHI

There has been a net increase

of 6.9 lakh electors in Delhi

from 2015 to 2018, the Delhi

government said in reply to a

question by Leader of

Opposition Vijender Gupta in

the Assembly on Wednesday.

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NEARBY

Making India’s case: Sushma Swaraj with Wang Yi, centre,and Sergei Lavrov, left, in Wuzhen on Wednesday. * PTI

Post-disaster drive: An NDRF team clearing the site where a fourstorey building collapsed inKarol Bagh on Wednesday. No casualties were reported. * R.V. MOORTHY (DELHI METRO PAGE 1)

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Reduced to rubble

Expressing grave concern atthe exclusionary thoughtguiding the ruling establishment, Nobel LaureateAmartya Sen said that“there is a connection between Hindutva psychologyand exclusion.”

He was speaking at thelaunch of a book — whosetitle is borrowed from hisown phrase ‘A QuantumLeap in the Wrong Direc-tion?’ — which aims to evaluate the promises and policies of the current BJPledgovernment.

Professor Sen argued thatthe social inequality inherent in Hindutva translatesinto an acceptance of economic inequality also. “Thisidea of progress being pro

gress for some, but not forothers — there’s an elementof religiosity in it. This basicbelief that some people’sprogress is like everyone’sprogress is something thatcan be rooted way back inour thinking,” he said.

‘Tolerance of inequality’“There is a kind of toleranceof inequality and toleranceof judging progress by whatis happening to the mostsuccessful,” he added,pointing out that the richest10% of the country are faring better than ever.

The book argues that thegovernment has failed tofulfi��l its poll slogan of “sab-ka saath, sabka vikas”, andhas also suppressed the data which shows this failure.

Professor Sen posited

that the government’s dependence on a few successstories as opposed to widerstatistics was also linked toHindutva philosophy.

Numbers game“The numbers game is really important. That’s whyHindutva is important inthis context … There’s aconnection between [Hindutva, and the idea that]‘numbers don’t matter’,and worse than that, [theidea that] ‘some peopledon’t matter’,” he said.“The most problematic aspect of Hindutva is the issueof the treatment of lowercastes and tribes. It’s notonly that you can ignoresome people, but that youidentify who it is that youcan ignore.”

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Hindutva and exclusion connected: Amartya

Modify forest dwellers’eviction order: Centre NEW DELHI

The Centre fi��led an

application on Wednesday

urging the Supreme Court to

modify its February 13 order

directing the eviction of

thousands of Scheduled

Tribes and other traditional

forest dwellers whose claims

for forest land rights have

been rejected under the

Forest Rights Act of 2006.

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The airspace north of Delhiwas a nofl��y zone for commercial airlines for nearlyfour hours on Wednesday,forcing airlines to suspendfl��ights to and from nine airports. Operations at Leh,Jammu, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Dehradun,Dharamashala, Shimla andKullu were aff��ected between10.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.

Pakistan’s Civil AviationAuthority, too, shut its airspace around 11.15 a.m. “TheCivil Aviation Authority ofPakistan has offi��cially closedits airspace until further notice and issued NOTAM,” it

said on Twitter. NOTAMstands for Notice To Airmen,or a circular. Pakistan hadnot lifted the restriction until

the time of going to press. “International fl��ights exit

ing Indian airspace north ofMumbai will have to reroute

through Muscat,” said an offi��cial of the Ministry of CivilAviation on condition of anonymity. As a result, fl��ights ofIndian and foreign carriersthat overfl��y Pakistan had totake a longer route.

An offi��cial said that somefl��ights may even be forced tostop at Ahmedabad forrefuelling.

Duty timingsA senior offi��cial of DGCA

said that it allowed airlines toextend duty timings of theircrew.

According to Air Indiasources, the airline had to reroute fl��ights returning fromthe U.S. to India via Al Mak

toum airport in Dubai andSharjah airport, where theymade a stop for refuelling. Ifthe airspace restriction is notlifted by Pakistan, Air India’sfl��ights to Europe may take upto four hours longer to reachtheir destinations due to thelonger route as well as a fuelling stop either in Europe orMiddle East.

Jet Airways said it cancelled 18 fl��ights, Air Indiasaid in a statement that nofl��ights were cancelledthough there were delays ofseveral hours. IndiGo said itwill resume fl��ights from Srinagar, Jammu, Chandigarh,Amritsar and Dehradun onThursday.

Flights to and from nine airports hit after IAF directive; carriers that overfl��y Pakistan had to take a longer route

special correspondent

NEW DELHI

A family, going to Srinagar, waiting outside the Mumbai airport.* EMMANUAL YOGINI

Airspace north of Delhi turns nofl��y zone for four hours

Shelter home case: CBIappoints 2 SPPsNEW DELHI

The CBI informed a Delhi

court on Wednesday that it

has appointed two Special

Public Prosecutors in the

Muzaff��arpur shelter home

sexual case, after which both

sides were directed to

“positively commence”

arguments on framing of

charges from March 2.

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http://www.a-pdf.com/?tr-demo


The CBI informed a Delhicourt on Wednesday that ithas appointed two SpecialPublic Prosecutors in theMuzaff��arpur shelter homesexual assault case, afterwhich both sides were directed to “positively commence” arguments on framing of charges from March 2.

Additional Sessions JudgeSaurabh Kulshreshtha toldthe CBI that if the agencywanted to fi��le a supplementary charge sheet in the matter, it has to be done within15 days.

The court was informedthat advocates Amit Jindaland R.N. Sinha have been appointed as SPPs by theagency.

Mr. Jindal told the courtthat he received the notifi��cation for his appointmentfrom the CBI on Tuesdaynight and sought time to prepare arguments. The courtthen said, “Both the partiesare directed to positivelycommence arguments on

March 2.” The CBI would advance the arguments fi��rst onSaturday, the next date ofhearing.

On Monday, the court hadrapped the CBI for the delayin notifying the SPP in thecase and warned it that anylaxity to comply with the order will amount to contemptand action would be takenagainst the agency. “Do notexpect the court to wait forone week for the notifi��cation

to come. You are as muchbound by the Supreme Courtorder as I am. Do not takeme to that stage that I shouldwrite to the SC that the CBI isin contempt of the order initiated by the court. Alreadyonce you have suff��ered contempt,” the judge had said.

The apex court had on February 7 ordered that thecase be transferred to a Protection of Children from Sexual Off��ences court at Saketdistrict court complex here,which would conclude thetrial within six months bypreferably holding a “daytoday” trial.

Several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abusedat an NGOrun shelter homein Muzaff��arpur in Bihar. Theissue had come to light following a report by the TataInstitute of Social Sciences.

Shelter home case: CBI appoints 2 SPPsArguments onframing ofcharges fromMarch 2

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

CBI and CFSL offi��cers at the Muzaff��arpur shelter home.* FILE PHOTO

A Delhi court on Wednesdaysought a detailed reportfrom Tihar jail authoritieson a plea by Christian Michel, the alleged middlemanarrested in the ₹��3,600croreAgustaWestland chopperdeal, claiming he has beenkept in solitary confi��nementin the prison.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar asked the jail superintendent or a competentauthority to appear beforethe court to respond to Michel’s allegation that he wasnot allowed to interact withcoprisoners.

“The DirectorGeneral(Prison) shall authorise jailsuperintendent or someother offi��cial who is wellconversant with facts to ap

pear before the court on February 28,” the court said.

An assistant superintendent present in the court denied the allegation. He toldthe court that the British national has not been kept insolitary confi��nement but ina highsecurity cell with allfacilities provided to prisoners. He, however, failed tostate as to why Michel hasbeen moved to the othercell.

Michel told the court thatthe new cell remains illuminated 24 hours because ofwhich he was having problems in sleeping. The plea,fi��led by advocate Aljo K. Joseph, sought direction tothe jail superintendent totreat Michel on a par withother inmates and providebasic facilities.

Court seeks report fromTihar jail on Michel‘Have been kept in solitary confi��nement’


New Delhi

A draft student startup uppolicy has been prepared inRajasthan to support innovations by the students andcreate an environment to facilitate their creative pursuits.

Governor Kalyan Singh,who is the Chancellor of theState’s skill developmentand technical universities, islikely to approve the policyshortly which was submitted to him on Wednesday.

A prudent integration ofskills in education and thebilateral exchange of students for skills training hasalso been planned in amemorandum of understanding signed betweenthe RajasthanILD Skills University and Bharatiya SkillDevelopment University

here earlier this month. TheMoU will facilitate preparation and updating of curriculum for various coursesoff��ered.

RajasthanILD Skills University VC Lalit K. Panwar,who heads the committeefor framing the policy, saidthat the students would beencouraged to become selfsuffi��cient by taking up selfemployment initiatives.“For this, we need to createa conducive environmentand make the resourcesavailable to the youths,” hesaid.

BSDU VC Surjit Singh Pabla said the students wouldbenefi��t from the updated information on potential opportunities which the twouniversities would sharewhile carrying out exchangeof students for training.

Draft student start-uppolicy prepared Special Correspondent

JAIPUR

CMYK

THE HINDU DELHI

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NORTH

DELHI Timings

Thursday, Feb. 28

RISE 06:48 SET 18:20

RISE 02:18 SET 13:02

Friday, Mar. 01

RISE 06:47 SET 18:21

RISE 03:10 SET 13:51

Saturday, Mar. 02

RISE 06:46 SET 18:21

RISE 03:59 SET 14:41

Haryana Assembly passesguest teachers’ BillCHANDIGARH

The Haryana Assembly passed

18 Bills, including the Guest

Teachers’ Bill 2019. Education

Minister Ram Bilas Sharma

said the BJP government in

the State has fulfilled the

promise made in 2014 to

contractual teachers that

their services will be

regularised. The Assembly

passed the Bill unanimously.PTI


#70929

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THE HINDU DELHI


SOUTH

Siddaramaiah’s Twitteraccount hackedBENGALURU

The Twitter handle of

Congress Legislative Party

leader Siddaramaiah was

allegedly compromised by

hackers on Tuesday. They

used his official account to

send out a message

sympathising with the

families of terrorists. The

hacker put out a tweet on Mr.

Siddaramaiah’s official

Twitter handle

@siddaramaiah stating,

“Today, Indian Air Force has

attacked on BAGALAKOT.

Deep codomienses to the

terrorists families. May their

souls rest in piece.”

IN BRIEF

There was no outbreak ofmajor fi��re for the secondconsecutive day in Bandipurbut for sporadic incidents ofground fi��re stoked by theprevailing wind.

The focus of the authorities on Wednesday was toensure that the fi��re did notspread towards Maddur andMoolehole from the Gopalaswamy Betta ranges.

Scores of forest guards,hired on a temporary basisfor the fi��re season, were deployed along the forestboundary separating Gopalaswamy Betta with Maddurrange and they took positions every 100 to 200 m,with volunteers supportingtheir eff��orts.

Drones were used frequently to ascertain if therewere any fi��re spots or ifsmoke was emanating fromany part of the forest.

T. Balachandra, who tookcharge as the Director of the

Bandipur Tiger Reserve lateon Tuesday, visited the Gopalaswamy Betta range andMoolehole to assess thedamage caused by the fi��re.

In the adjoining Nagarahole National Park, addition

al staff�� have been deployedin fi��reprone areas and abatch of 30 fi��re watchers ontraining were assigned diff��erent beats.

Severe heat

The M.M. Hills Wildlife Sanctuary is also reeling undersevere heat.

In view of ‘Mahasivaratri’,which draws devotees intens of thousands to theMale Mahadeshwara shrine,the authorities have decided

to establish temporarycamps along the steps andthe walking path stretchingto almost 18 km from thebase of the hills.

“Devotees have a tendency to leave burning camphorand incense sticks on thesteps or pathway and thiscould accidentally trigger afi��re. Hence, we have createda few sites where incensesticks and camphor could beleft behind,” according toDCF V. Yadukondalu. A teamof 60 volunteers and ForestDepartment staff�� will be onduty in these special camps,he added.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterH.D. Kumaraswamy undertook an aerial survey of theBandipur forest.

No major fi��res break out in Bandipur forestAlert in Nagarahole, M.M. Hills; additional staff�� deployed in fi��reprone areas; CM does an aerial survey

Damage assessment: H.D. Kumaraswamy during an aerialsurvey of Bandipur forest on Wednesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


BANDIPUR<> Drones were used

frequently to

ascertain if there

were any fi��re spots

or if smoke was

emanating from any

part of the forest

The Centre on Wednesdayannounced the creation of aseparate railway zone inAndhra Pradesh — a longpending demand of the ruling NDA’s erstwhile ally, theTelugu Desam Party (TDP).

The new zone, SouthCoast Railway (SCoR), wouldcomprise the existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawadadivisions. Additionally, theWaltair division would bebifurcated.

“One part of the Waltairdivision will be incorporatedin the new zone and will bemerged with the neighbouring Vijayawada division,” theMinistry of Railways said.Waltair division is a part ofthe East Coast Railway(ECoR) zone.

A separate railway zonewas one of the key promisesmade to Andhra Pradesh inthe bifurcation act.

The Railways said post bifurcation, the remainingpart of the Waltair divisionwould be converted into anew division headquarteredat Rayagada, Odisha, underthe ECoR.

“As per item 8 of Schedule13 (Infrastructure) of the

Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a newrailway zone in the successor State of Andhra Pradesh,” Minister of RailwaysPiyush Goyal said.

“The matter has been examined in detail in consultation with stakeholders and ithas been decided to goahead with creation of a newzone with headquarters atVisakhapatnam,” Mr. Goyaladded. At present, SouthCentral Railway has six divisions — Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntakal, Guntur and Nanded.With the formation of a newzone, the SCR would comprise Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.

A.P. gets newSouth CoastRailway zone It’s a longpending demand of TDP

Piyush Goyal


NEW DELHI

The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked abranch manager with theUCO Bank, the president ofthe Karnataka HumanRights Panel and anotherperson for allegedly cheating the bank of more than₹��21 crore by granting homeloans on forged documents.

It is alleged that K.R. Saroja, while functioning asthe manager of a branch inBengaluru, colluded withloan facilitator SrinivasaGowda and sanctioned₹��21.86 crore of home andproperty loans to 23 borrowers on fake papers.

Gowda is currently thepresident of the KarnatakaHuman Rights Panel. Thethird accused has been identifi��ed as H.K. Harish.

The agency, based on acomplaint lodged by thebank, alleged that Gowdaand Harish had arrangedfake bills or invoices fromnonexistent fi��rms to facilitate the release of loans tothe saving accounts of borrowers. The accused disbursed the loans to fi��ctitiousfi��rms in anticipation of undue advantage from the benefi��ciaries. Proceeds of theloans were later allowed tobe withdrawn from the saving accounts. The fundswere diverted to be used forundeclared purposes, leading to losses to the bank, it isalleged.

Based on the complaint,the CBI has invoked variousprovisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Preventionof Corruption Act againstthe accused persons.

UCO Bank manager,others booked for fraud Over ₹��21 cr. cleared on fake documents


NEW DELHI

Kanthan - the Lover of Co-lour, directed by C. Sherief,which highlights an Adivasistruggle to protect the environment, has been chosenas the best fi��lm in the KeralaState fi��lm awards for theyear 2018. Shyamaprasadwon the award for best director for Oru Njayarazh-cha, which also won theaward for the second bestfi��lm. Sudani from Nigeriawon the award for the bestfi��lm with popular appealand aesthetic value. Zachariah won the award for thebest debutant director forthe same fi��lm.

Soubin Shahir and Jayasurya shared the award for thebest actor (male). Jayasuryawon the award for his performances as footballer V.P.

Sathyan in Captain and as atransgender person in NjanMarykutty while Soubinwon the award for his moving performance as a football club manager in Sudanifrom Nigeria.

Nimisha Sajayan won thebest actor (female) awardfor Chola and Oru Kupra-siddha Payyan.

Joju George won theaward for the best characteractor (male) for his performance as a brooding policeinvestigator in Joseph andfor Chola. Savithri Sreedharan and Sarasa Balussery,who together lighted up thescreen as the mothers taking care of an injured foreign footballer in Sudanifrom Nigeria, shared theaward for best character actor (female). Carbon, directed by Venu, was another bigwinner with six awards,most of them in the technical categories.

Vijay Yesudas was chosenas the best playback singer(male) for the song ‘Poomuthole’ from Joseph whileShreya Ghoshal won thebest playback singer (female) award for ‘Neermathala poovinullil’ from Aami.

Kanthan - the Lover of Colour bagstop honours at Kerala fi��lm awardsSudani from Nigeria chosen best movie for popular appeal

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Jayasurya in a still from Captain.

In a ghastly incident, a jiltedlover doused his batchmatewith petrol and set herablaze here on Wednesday.A degree fi��nalyear studentof Vaagdevi College here, T.Ravali, 20, was set ablaze by

P. Avinash, 21. The girl sustained 70% burns and hercondition is stated to be critical. She was admitted toMGM Hospital here initiallyand later shifted to a Hyderabad hospital.

A native of Ramachandrapuram village of Sangem

mandal, Ms. Ravali was staying at a private hostel inNayeemnagar near the college.

The police said the manwas enraged after Ms. Ravali, his childhood friend, rejected his marriageproposal.

Student set ablaze in Warangal by classmateSpecial Correspondent

WARANGAL

Solid propellant‘Mrinal’ rememberedTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Fifty years after they

developed ‘Mrinal,’ the Indian

space programme's first

composite solid propellant

for launch vehicles, surviving

members of the Propellant

Engineering Division gathered

at the Vikram Sarabhai Space

Centre on Wednesday to

relive memories. The get-

together was meant to mark

the 50th anniversary of the

successful flight-test of

‘Mrinal’ - the propellant was

named after Mrinalini

Sarabhai - from Thumba

aboard an RH-75 sounding

rocket on February 21, 1969.

ISRO Chairman K. Sivan could

not attend the function, but

he addressed the gathering

over video from Bengaluru.

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DELHI THE HINDU

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NATION

Jammu-Srinagar roadopens after 3 daysJAMMU

The strategic Jammu-

Srinagar National Highway

was opened for stranded

vehicles on Wednesday, three

days after it was closed due

to multiple landslides and

sinking of its 25-metre

portion following snowfall

and rains, officials said. PTI

IN BRIEF

Two tigers killed byanother tiger in KanhaMANDLA

Two sub-adult tigers were

found dead in Kanha national

park and it is suspected they

were killed by a fully grown

tiger, an official said on

Wednesday. An adult tiger

was spotted sitting on the

carcasses. PTI

Three killed as car rollsdown a gorge in MizoramAIZAWL

Three persons were killed and

two others injured when a car,

part of the entourage of

Mizoram Home Minister

Lalchamliana, rolled down a

steep gorge in Lunglei district

on Wednesday morning,

police said. PTI

Miff��ed with the CPI(M), theWest Bengal Congress onWednesday said there willbe no seat sharing with theCPI(M) by compromisingparty’s dignity and gave anultimatum to the Left Frontto take a call on the tieupby this Sunday.

The Congress conveneda meeting of its State election committee, which waschaired by Congress incharge of Bengal GauravGogoi, to decide on election strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

State Congress sources,who spoke on condition ofanonymity, said it has beendecided that chairman ofthe State coordinationcommittee Pradip Bhattacharya and Leader of Opposition in the AssemblyAbdul Mannan will speakto CPI(M) on the issue ofthe seat sharing and thematter should be sortedout by March 3.

Cong.’s last callto CPI(M) onseat sharing

Press trust of india

Kolkata

The Congress would bebanking on the sentimentagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016 tostop the BJP from winningthe 25 Lok Sabha seatsacross the eight States in theNortheast.

On February 17, less than aweek after the Congressclaimed to have stalled theBill from being tabled in theRajya Sabha, BJP presidentAmit Shah said that his partywould bring it again if votedto power in the upcomingparliamentary polls.

“Only through manipulation can the BJP hope to win21 out of 25 seats in the region. The Congress is the only hope for the people of theNortheast against the BJP’splan that will be disastrousfor their culture, identityand tradition,” Luizinho Fa

leiro, Congress general secretary incharge of Meghalaya, Tripura, ArunachalPradesh and Mizoram, toldmedia persons onWednesday.

Unemployment crisisApart from the Bill, the Congress would also focus on theunemployment crisis in the

region as well as the rest ofthe country.

Mr. Faleiro ribbed the regional parties that are partners of BJP in the North EastDemocratic Platform, an antiCongress forum otherwiselabelled as a platform for developmental issues.

“The NEDA members cannot fool the people of the

Northeast with their opportunist politics. If they hadany values left and if theywere truly concerned aboutthe cause of the people ofthe region, they would haveresigned the very day AmitShah announced that the BJPwould bring back the Citizenship Bill if voted to power,” Mr. Faleiro said.

NEDA members such asNational People’s Party hadthreatened to pull out of theforum as well as sever political ties with the BJP if it wentahead with the citizenshipBill. The Congress has eightLok Sabha members formthe Northeast, three fromAssam which has a total 14constituencies. The BJP toohas eight seats while its NEDA partners have three. Theother seats are held by All India United DemocraticFront, the CPI(M) and an Independent.

Congress to bank on citizenshipBill to stop BJP in NortheastAmit Shah has said that his party would bring the Bill again if voted to powerRAHUL KARMAKAR

GUWAHATI

A protest in Tripura against the citizenship Bill. * FILE PHOTO

Two lynched by iratemob in Assam GUWAHATI

Two persons were lynched on

Wednesday by an irate mob

which held them responsible

for the killing a village

headman in Assam’s Chirang

district, police said. The two

men had allegedly killed the

headman of Gargaon village

under Bijni police station on

Tuesday and had buried his

body, the police said. PTI

Youth held for postingfake photos of woman BERHAMPUR

A youth who had forced a

woman to attempt ending her

life by posting doctored

photographs of her on social

media was on Tuesday

arrested by the police. The

accused was identified as

Sumit Patnaik.

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Thursday: Thundersquall/thunderstorm accompan-ied with hailstorm/lightning/gusty winds likely at isolatedplaces over sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pra-desh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Meghalayaand coastal Andhra Pradesh

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala...............0.5.... 24.0.... 17.2 Kozhikode ............... —.... 35.8.... 26.4

Ahmedabad............ —.... 29.5.... 17.3 Kurnool ................... —.... 38.5.... 23.7

Aizawl ....................3.... 26.2.... 13.2 Lucknow...................3.... 20.9.... 13.8

Allahabad ............0.3.... 21.6.... 14.6 Madurai................... —.... 38.7.... 23.7

Bengaluru .............. —.... 33.0.... 21.3 Mangaluru............... —.... 34.4.... 21.8

Bhopal.................0.4.... 26.3.... 14.8 Mumbai................... —.... 29.4.... 17.8

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 32.8.... 23.0 Mysuru.................... —.... 34.0.... 20.3

Chandigarh ..........2.3.... 18.2.... 10.1 New Delhi ............... —.... 20.0...... 9.5

Chennai ................. —.... 32.3.... 25.8 Patna .......................3.... 27.8.... 15.7

Coimbatore............ —.... 35.2.... 23.2 Port Blair ................ —.... 31.7.... 26.1

Dehradun.............6.4.... 15.4...... 9.3 Puducherry.............. —.... 33.0.... 25.0

Gangtok................. —...... 9.4...... 6.7 Pune ....................... —.... 30.6.... 12.0

Goa ....................... —.... 31.8.... 19.4 Raipur ..................... —.... 32.2.... 19.6

Guwahati ............... —.... 26.8.... 13.4 Ranchi......................3.... 28.0.... 16.0

Hubballi................. —.... 32.0.... 17.0 Shillong................... —.... 17.6...... 7.6

Hyderabad ............. —.... 33.0.... 21.5 Shimla......................4...... 2.2.....-1.4

Imphal................... —.... 22.5.... 10.8 Srinagar .................. —...... 9.6.....-1.9

Jaipur ..................0.2.... 23.4.... 11.2 Trivandrum ............. —.... 34.5.... 26.0

Kochi..................... —.... 31.4.... 25.6 Tiruchi .................... —.... 37.7.... 25.2

Kohima.................. —.... 20.4...... 8.9 Vijayawada .............. —.... 34.5.... 23.0

Kolkata..............55.2.... 27.4.... 17.1 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 31.5.... 24.8

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Patna, Biharrecorded an overall airquality index (AQI) scoreof 210 indicating anunhealthy level ofpollution. In contrast,Khanna, Punjab recorded ahealthy AQI score of 27

Ahmedabad..... 37 .61 .32 ..110 .....— ....*

Bengaluru ....... ..6 .64 .55 ....82 .104 ....*

Chennai .......... ..7 .13 .38 ....79 .....— ....*

Delhi .............. ..9 .54 162 ....56 ...62 ....*

Hyderabad ...... 40 .97 .30 ..142 .141 ....*

Kolkata........... ..3 .64 .39 ....33 ...28 ....*

Lucknow ......... 18 .42 .59 ..259 .....— ....*

Mumbai .......... 10 .25 .71 ....38 .102 ....*

Pune............... 33 .16 .94 ....79 .122 ....*

Visakhapatnam ..— ..— ...— ..... — .....— ....—

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesdayreiterated that he was making eff��orts to secure 33% reservation for women in Parliament and StateAssemblies.

Addressing a MissionShakti convention at Khaliguda in Rayagada district,Mr. Patnaik called upon women to become catalysts ofdevelopment. He praisedthe eff��orts of women towards their developmentand that of the society underMission Shakti.

Mission Shakti was started by the State government

in 2001 with the objective ofempowering women. Now,this movement includesaround six lakh women selfhelp groups.

Thousands of members of

WSHG groups from diff��erentblocks and urban areas ofRayagada district attendedthe convention.

KALIA schemeThe Chief Minister said 10lakh more farmers will beadded to the list of benefi��ciaries under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood andIncome Augmentation orKALIA scheme.

He alleged that some elements were spreading rumours that the scheme maybe stopped. “No one canstop KALIA scheme,” hesaid. The second phase ofpayments of the scheme willstart from April 1.

Odisha CM Naveen praises their eff��orts for development Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik. *

‘On the job for women’s quota’

In a major breakthrough,the Special Task Force of theKolkata police on Wednesday arrested two alleged operatives of the banned JamatulMujahideenBangladesh ( JMB) from Murshidabad in West Bengal.

Those arrested have beenidentifi��ed as Moshibur Rahman (35) alias Farooque andRuhul Amin alias Saifullah(26). Senior STF offi��cers saidthat both the accused are associates of Kauser and Sajjad, the two accused in theBurdwan blast case of 2014,

and are trained in making“acid bombs”.

“Explosives have been recovered from their possession,” an STF offi��cer said.

The arrest on Wednesdaycomes close on the heels ofthe arrest of another JMB activist, Ariful Islam, who wasallegedly directly involvedin the 2018 Bodh Gaya blast.He was apprehended in theearly hours of February 16from central Kolkata.

According to police, thethree accused — Ariful,Moshibur and Ruhul — werehatching a plot to orchestrate the escape of Kausar.

Two alleged JMB mennabbed in BengalArrests follow another catch recently


Kolkata


#70929


THE HINDU DELHI


NATION

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to budge on acontempt plea fi��led by theCBI against the West Bengalgovernment and its Statepolice until the agency’s Director himself fi��les an affi��davit placing on record adequate material to prove thatformer Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajiv Kumar connived to tamper with the calldata records (CDRs) to helpsenior State politicians accused in the multicrore Saradha and Rose Valley ponziscams.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna ordered theCBI Director to fi��le his affi��davit by March 26, the nextdate of hearing.

“We are of the view that itis obligatory on the part ofthe CBI to provide the fullfacts on the alleged acts of

the Police Commissioner toprovide false information,”the court held in its order.

Chief Justice Gogoi saidthe court was not satisfi��edwith the material placed before it by the CBI against Mr.Kumar. It asked why the CBIhad waited till February totell the Supreme Court thatMr. Kumar tampered withthe CDRs. “If the Commissioner has done this, it is very serious,” Chief Justice Gogoi observed.

The call records were

handed over by Mr. Kumarto the CBI on June 28 lastyear. He was the functionalhead of the Special Investigation Team which probed theponzi scams before the Supreme Court handed overthe investigation to the CBIin May 2014. The agency alleged that the Kumarled SITused both inaction and selective action to shield policeand chit fund nexus.

“All this happened in June2018. What stopped you(CBI) from coming to the Su

preme Court? Why are youcoming in February 2019saying all this? If this hashappened in June, whatwere you doing all thiswhile,” Chief Justice Gogoiasked Mr. Venugopal, whorepresents the CBI.

Mr. Venugopal said thecall records handed over byMr. Kumar were sent for analysis on July 12, 2018.

“But the service providertold us that we need to getpermission from the Ministry of Home Aff��airs. We gotpermission from the Ministry in November,” Mr. Venugopal explained the delay.Further, the top law offi��cersaid Mr. Kumar failed to respond to repeated summonsfrom the CBI to explain theincorrect CDRs. Mr. Venugopal submitted that Mr. Kumar was summoned twice inOctober 2017 and once in July 2018. He had never bothered to come.

‘Prove police offi��cer tampered with call data’SC pulls up CBI for not giving enough material against former Kolkata police chief

Legal correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Centre fi��led an application on Wednesday urgingthe Supreme Court to modify its February 13 order directing the eviction of thousands of Scheduled Tribes(STs) and other traditionalforest dwellers whose claimsfor forest land rights havebeen rejected under the Forest Rights Act of 2006.

Solicitor General TusharMehta made an urgent oralmention of the applicationsbefore the Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, which hadpassed the February 13 order. The Bench agreed tohear the case on February28.

In its application, theCentre said the claims oflakhs of forestdwelling STsand other traditional forestdwellers had been rejectedby the States without observing due process of law.

Referring to its letter ofSeptember 12, 2014, whichspeaks of the various injustices meted out to the tribalpopulations and forestdwellers in States hit by leftwing extremism, the Centresaid such States also havehigh tribal populations.

Low on awareness

The forest land claims ofthese tribes and forest dwellers, who live off�� the forest,are mostly rejected by theStates. Being poor and illiterate people who live in remote areas, they do notknow the appropriate procedure for fi��ling claims, the government submitted.

The gram sabhas, whichinitiate the verifi��cation oftheir claims, are low onawareness about how to dealwith these claims and rejec

tion orders are not evencommunicated to the forestdwelling STs and communities.

The Centre said the 2014letter had not produced anychange on the ground andhad been followed by a series of letters in 2015 highlighting issues like “high rateof rejection of claims, noncommunication of rejectionorder, unrealistic timelinesin deciding claims, irregularholding of State Level Monitoring Committee meetings,lack of support from the district administration concerned in providing revenueor forest maps, rejection ofclaims despite incomplete orinsuffi��cient evidence, etc.

“It was requested thattechnology such as satelliteimagery may be used forconsideration of claims,” the

Centre had suggested to theStates in one of the letters.

But no eff��orts seem tohave been taken by the Stategovernments to remedy thesituation to eff��ectively implement the 2006 Act, theCentre indicated.

“It is uncertain whetherthe data furnished by theState governments accurately indicates whether the rejection orders were passedafter observance of due process of law; compliance withprinciples of natural justiceand whether appeal mechanisms have been properly exhausted. Without suchinformation and compliancewith the mandate of law inletter and spirit, the evictionof such tribals, wouldamount to serious miscarriage of justice,” the Centreargued.

Modify forest dwellers’eviction order: Centre ‘States rejected claims without observing due process of law’

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Rescuers on Wednesdaypulled out a second bodyfrom a fl��ooded ratholecoal mine in Meghalaya’sEast Jaintia Hills, 77 days after at least 15 miners hadbeen trapped.

A spokesperson for thedistrict administration saidthe Navy’s Underwater Remotely Operated Vehiclepulled the highly decomposed body from a depthof 230 ft to the water surface. A fi��vemember teamcomprising Navy and National Disaster ResponseForce personnel then wentdown the pit on an infl��atable boat and pulled the body up. The body was handed over to the police in thepresence of the district administration offi��cials.

Second bodypulled out ofcoal mine


GUWAHATI

Reservation charts to beposted on IRCTC siteNEW DELHI

The Railways on Wednesday

said that reservation charts

for all trains would now be

made public on the IRCTC

website. This would enable

passengers to get

information about vacant

seats available on a train

after chart preparation.

IN BRIEF

ED questions Vadra inmoney laundering caseNEW DELHI

Robert Vadra, brotherinlaw

of Congress president Rahul

Gandhi, on Wednesday

appeared before the

Enforcement Directorate for

questioning for the seventh

time in connection with its

probe into a money

laundering case. The case

relates to the ownership of

overseas assets worth

£1.9 million in London

by Mr. Vadra. IANS

People enjoying a walk during snowfall in Shimla on Wednesday. * PTI

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

White wash

Prime Minister NarendraModi will be holding a mega election rally in Chennaion March 6, the secondsuch rally within the spanof a week in Tamil Nadu.

He will kick off�� the BJP’scampaign for the Lok Sabha elections in Kanniyakumari on March 1.

“This mega rally will bea turning point in Tamil Nadu politics. The NDA’s alliance partners will alsoshare the stage with ourPrime Minister,” State BJPpresident Tamilisai Soundararajan said. A BJP spokesperson said he will alsofl��ag off�� a few projects.

PM’s rally inChennai onMarch 6


CHENNAI

The Kerala government issetting up a special purposevehicle (SPV) to improve infrastructure and pilgrim facilities under the Sabarimalamaster plan.

The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to set up thecompany as a governmentowned entity to improve thefacilities at Sabarimala, Pampa, Nilackal and transitcamps for pilgrims.

The noprofi��t companywould use the budgetary allocation and funds allottedby the Kerala InfrastructureInvestment Fund Board (KIIFB) to complete the development activities at Sabarimala in a timeboundmanner.

The SPV would have a governing body chaired by theChief Secretary, with Secre

taries of various stakeholderdepartments as membersand the Commissioner, Travancore Devaswom Board,as convener.

An implementation committee chaired by the Principal Secretary, Devaswom,and Commissioner, TDB, asconvener would also be setup.

The State Budget for 201920 has earmarked ₹��739crore for various development projects at Sabarimala.

An offi��cial press note issuedhere said the governmentwould ensure that the projects were environmentfriendly and appropriate forthe forest shrine.

The Cabinet meeting alsodecided to set up land acquisition units for KIIFB projects in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha,Malappuram and Kannurdistricts.

The units would be headed by special tahsildars.

The company will be a governmentowned entity


Thiruvananthapuram

A fi��le photo of the Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala. * H. VIBHU

Special purpose vehicle to improveinfrastructure in Sabarimala

The Delhi High Court willon Thursday deliver its verdict on petitions challenging the Election Commission’s decision to allot the‘two leaves’ symbol to theAIADMK group comprisingChief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami and DeputyChief Minister O.Panneerselvam.

The petitions were fi��led

by V.K. Sasikala, former interim general secretary ofthe AIADMK, and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, now the leader ofthe AMMK.

In its order of November23, 2017, the EC allowed theEPSOPS group to call itselfthe AIADMK.

As far as the order wasconcerned, E. Madhusudanan, now chairman of thepresidium of the party, wasthe leader of the group.


CHENNAI

Delhi HC verdict on ‘two leaves’ symbol today

A herd of elephants reportedly caused damageto crops in Chintalabelagam of Jiyyammavalasamandal in Vizianagaramdistrict on Tuesday andWednesday.

The wild animals alsodamaged an autorickshawin the area.

Jumbos damagecrops in A.P.

Staff Reporter

VIZIANAGARAM

Jagan shifts base toAmaravati AMARAVATI

YSR Congress Party president

Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy

would start operating from

the Capital having shifted his

house and party office from

Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Party leaders hailed him for

being the first leader of a

major political party of

Andhra to move into his own

residence in the new Capital.

Govt. brings 42 cancerdrugs under price control NEW DELHI

Fortytwo nonscheduled

anticancer drugs have been

brought under price control

on Wednesday, capping trade

margin at 30% with the

National Pharmaceutical

Pricing Authority invoking

extraordinary powers in

public interest under

paragraph 19 of the Drugs

(Prices Control) Order, 2013.


#70929


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Shiv Visvanathan

This essay is a piece of dissentat a time when dissent maynot be welcome. It is an at

tempt to look at what I call the Pulwama syndrome, after India’sbombing of terrorist camps in Pakistan. There is an air of achievement and competence, a feelingthat we have given a fi��tting reply toPakistan. Newspapers have in unison supported the government,and citizens, from actors to cricketers, have been content in statingtheir loyalty, literally issuing certificates to the government. Yetwatching all this, I feel a deepsense of unease, a feeling that India is celebrating a moment whichneeds to be located in a diff��erentcontext.

Peace needs courageIt reminded me of something thathappened when I was in school. Ihad just come back from a war movie featuring Winston Churchill. Icame back home excitedly andtold my father about Churchill. Hesmiled sadly and said, “Churchillwas a bully. He was not fi��t to touchGandhi’s chappals.” He then added thoughtfully that “war createsa schoolboy loyalty, half boyscout, half mob”, which becomesepidemic. “Peace,” he said, “demands a courage few men have.” Istill remember these lines, and Irealised their relevance for theevents this week.

One sees an instant unity whichis almost miraculous. This sense ofunity does not tolerate diff��erence.

People take loyalty literally andbecome paranoid. Crowds attack alongstanding bakery to removethe word ‘Karachi’ from its signage. War becomes an evangelicalissue as each man desperatelycompetes to prove his loyalty.Doubt and dissent become impossible, rationality is rare, and pluralism a remote possibility. Thereis a sense of solidarity with the ruling regime which is surreal. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, who wasencrusted with doubts a week before, appears like an untarnishedhero. Even the cynicism aroundthese attitudes is ignored. Onewatches with indiff��erence as Bharatiya Janata Party president AmitShah virtually claims that securityand war are part of his vote bank.

Thought becomes a casualty aspeople confl��ate terms such asKashmiri, Pakistani and Muslimwhile threatening citizens peacefully pursuing their livelihood.One watches aghast as India turnswar into a feud, indiff��erent to awider confl��agration. The wholecountry lives from event to eventand TV becomes hysterical, notknowing the diff��erence betweenwar and cricket. It is a momentwhen we congratulate ourselves asa nation, forgetting that we are also a civilisation. In this movementof drumbeating, where jingoismas patriotism is the order of theday, a dissenting voice is not welcome. But dissent demands thatone faces one’s fellow citizens withprobably more courage than oneneeds to face the enemy. Howdoes one begin a conversation,create a space for a more criticalperspective?

What war feels likeSadly, India as a country has notexperienced war as a totality, un

like Europe or other countries inAsia such as Vietnam or Afghanistan. War has always been an activity at the border. It did not engulfour lives the way World War II corroded Germany or Russia. War is atrauma few nibble at in India.When our leaders talk even of surgical strikes, one is not quite surewhether they know the diff��erencebetween Haldighati or modernwar. They seem like actors enacting an outdated play. In fact, onewonders whether India as a society has thought through the idea ofwar. We talk of war as if it is a problem of traffi��c control. Our strategists, our international relationsexperts fetishise security and patriotism. The aridity of the idea ofsecurity has done more damage tofreedom and democracy than anyother modern concept. Security asan offi��cial concept needs a genocidal count, an accounting of thenumber of lives and bodies destroyed in pursuing its logic. Thetomtomming of such words in abandwagon society destroys thepower and pluralism of the idea ofIndia as a society and a democracy.

The biggest casualty of such enthusiasm for war is democracyand rational thought. Our leadersknow that the minute we create ademonology around Pakistan, wecease to think rationally or crea

tively about our own behaviour inKashmir. We can talk with easeabout Pakistani belligerency,about militarism in Pakistan, butwe refuse to refl��ect on our ownbrutality in Kashmir or Manipur.At a time when the Berlin Wall appears like a distant nightmare andUlster begins appearing normal,should not India as a creative democracy ask, why is there a stateof internal war in Kashmir and theNortheast for decades? Why is itwe do not have the moral leadership to challenge Pakistan to engage in peace? Why is it that we asa nation think we are a democracywhen internal war and majoritarian mobs are eating into the coreof our civilisation? Where does India stand in its vision of the civilityof internationalism which we articulated through Panchsheel? Because Pakistan behaves as a roguestate, should we abandon the civilisational dream of a MohandasGandhi or an Abdul Ghaff��ar Khan?

Even if we think strategically,we are losers. Strategy today hasbeen appropriated by the machismo of militarism and management. It has become a term without ethics or values. Strategy,unlike tactics, is a longrange term.It summons a value framework inany decent society. Sadly, strategyshows that India is moving into ageopolitical trap where China,which treats Pakistan as a vassalstate, is the prime benefi��ciary ofPulwama. The Chinese as a societyand a regime would be content tosee an authoritarian India militarised, sans its greatest achievementwhich is democracy. What I wishto argue is that strategy also belongs to the perspectives of peace,and it is precisely as a democracyand as a peaceloving nation thatwe should outthink and outfl��ank

China. Peace is not an eff��eminatechallenge to the machismo of thenational security state as idol but acivilisational response to the easybrutality of the nation state.

Dissent as survivalIn debating with our fellow citizens, we have to show through aGandhian mode that our sense ofSwadeshi and Swaraj is no less.Peace has responsibilities whichan arid sense of patriotism maynot have. Yet we are condemnedto conversation, to dialogue, to arguments persuading those whoare sceptical about the very integrity of our being. Dissent becomes an act of both survival andcreative caring at this moment.One must realise that India as a civilisation has given the worldsome of its most creative conceptsof peace, inspired by Buddha, Nanak, Kabir, Ghaff��ar Khan andGandhi. The challenge before peacedom is to use these visions creatively in a world which takes nuclear war and genocide forgranted. Here civil society, the ashram and the university must helpcreate that neighbourhood ofideas, the civics that peace demands to go beyond the currentimaginaries of the nation state.

Our peace is a testimony andtestament to a society that mustreturn to its civilisational values. Itis an appeal to the dreams of thesatyagrahi and a realisation thatpeace needs ideas, ideals and experiments to challenge the currenthegemony of the nation state. India as a civilisation cannot do otherwise.

Shiv Visvanathan is an academic

associated with the Compost Heap, a

group in pursuit of alternative ideas and

imagination

Think like a civilisation The biggest casualty of unquestioning enthusiasm for war is democracy and rational thought

GE

TT

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AG

ES/IS

TO

CK

PH

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more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications:

The second deck headline that accompanied the report, “BJPspokespersons stress preemptive focus of strikes” (Feb. 27, 2019),erroneously said that the party MPs had been asked to stick to government line. Actually it was the spokespersons who had beenasked to adhere to the government’s line.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signifi��cant errors as soon as possible. Please specify

the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be

contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to

Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; Email:[email protected]; Mail: Readers’

Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India.

All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No personal

visits. The Terms of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on www.thehindu.com

It is a time of peace and quiet forIndia on the Zika front. MadhyaPradesh and Rajasthan, which

saw large outbreaks late last year,stopped seeing new cases beforethe year end. For health authorities, the temptation may be to consider the threat past, and move onto more pressing concerns, likethe large number of H1N1 infl��uenza cases this year. The truth, however, is that this is an excellenttime to study Zika epidemiology inIndia. Public health offi��cials mustdo this while disseminating dataquickly and transparently, so thatit can be analysed by the globalscientifi��c community. This is in India’s best interests.

All strains can hurtWhat are the data that health authorities should be collecting? First,they must leave no stone unturnedin following up on every pregnantwoman who was diagnosed Zikapositive in Rajasthan and MadhyaPradesh. When the epidemics began, there were worrying indications that Central and State healthoffi��cials were downplaying the riskto pregnant women. Even thoughthere is no evidence conclusivelylinking a particular viral strain ormutation with foetal anomalies,the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the Rajasthanstrain did not have the S139N mu

tation linked to microcephaly.This is incorrect. Even though

microcephaly was fi��rst observedas a consequence of Zika duringthe 2015 Brazilian epidemic,strains other than the Brazilianstrain, which do not have theS139N mutation, have been linkedwith the abnormality. For example, in 2017, when the virus from afoetus with microcephaly in Thailand was sequenced, it did nothave the S139N mutation. Researchers also showed that a 1966Malaysian virus strain — isolatedlong before Zika was seen to causemicrocephaly in Brazil — was as effective at infecting foetal mousebrains as the Brazilian one. Inanother 2017 study, published inDevelopment, a strain from theAfrican virus lineage, which washitherto not thought to cause microcephaly, was seen to be moredamaging to mouse brains thanthe Asian lineage (to which theBrazilian strain belongs).Given thisresearch, we must assume that allZika strains can causemicrocephaly.

If this is the case, why did thelink between microcephaly and Zika become evident only in the2015 Latin American epidemic?Prior to this, numerous outbreakshad occurred in Southeast Asia.Yet, no one picked up on this phenomenon. Scientists have proposed several explanations for thismystery. One is that Zika has always caused microcephaly, although the link became obvious onlyin Brazil because so many peoplewere infected. Another possibilityis that poverty and malnutritionworsen the progression of the disease in pregnant women. This

would explain why northeast Brazil, with its widespread poverty,was the most severely aff��ected bymicrocephaly. Scientists are alsoprobing whether simultaneous infection with dengue or chikungunya make the children of Zikainfected women more prone tofoetal anomalies. Two studies published earlier this year show confl��icting evidence for the role ofdengue. The fi��rst, published in Im-munity, showed that in mice, thepresence of dengue antibodies ledto more placental damage and restricted foetal growth due to Zika.Another study in Science showedthat people infected by denguewere protected against Zika duringan outbreak in Salvador, Brazil.

Given this confl��icting evidence,scientists are very far from understanding what makes Zika deadlyto foetuses. This means that anydata on how the pregnancies of Zikainfected women pan out in India can be enlightening. Carefulstudies must be carried out to seeif there is increased prevalence ofmicrocephaly, and to understandthe riskfactors. Already, theTORCH (Toxoplasmosis, Other,Rubella, Cytomegalovirus, andHerpes) infections are known to

cause foetal abnormalities, including microcephaly, among newborns. Wherever women arescreened for TORCH, they must also be screened for Zika.

It’s also important to rememberthat the Zika risk doesn’t end afterthe baby is born healthy. The experience of Latin America showedthat even healthy newborns can goon to develop symptoms later.This has led to estimates of the incidence of birth defects being revised upwards.

Herd immunityThe other important bit of actionable information that health authorities can and should gather concerns population immunity. Tostudy immunity, authorities mustconduct seroprevalence surveys,in which they screen people in several States for antibodies to zika.Many Indians could well have suchantibodies, which means they areprotected to some extent. The reason they are likely to have antibodies is because the Rajasthan outbreak virus was around in theState since at least 2016. Moreover,as a recent paper by researchersfrom the National Institute of Virology revealed, the Rajasthanstrain is endemic to Asia, whichmeans it could have been in Indiafor decades now. Still, exposure tothe virus does not guarantee a lifetime of protection. So, seroprevalence surveys are needed to identify pockets of low immunity inIndia. Health authorities can thenfocus their eff��orts on these regions, because they would be mostvulnerable to future outbreaks.

It is true that seroprevalencestudies are not easy to do, given

the crossreactivity that plaguesfl��aviviruses. The Enzymelinkedimmunosorbent Assay (ELISA),which is commonly used in seroprevalence studies to detect antibodies, can throw up false positives for Zika if a person hasdengue antibodies. This is becausedengue antibodies can neutraliseZika and vice versa.

Separating dengue from ZikaThe good news is that researchersare working to develop alternativetests that are specifi��c to Zika alone.One multinational team, includingSwiss fi��rm Humabs BioMed, hasdeveloped an ELISA test that isable to distinguish Zika from dengue. The test was used in a surveyat Managua, Nicaragua after alarge epidemic hit the city in 2016.It found that in 2017, 56% of testedadults had antibodies to Zika, suggesting that the city wouldn’t seeanother large epidemic in the nearfuture. India should consider doing such surveys too.

The outbreaks in Rajasthan andMadhya Pradesh have seeminglyended, which is good news. But given that the virus is already inthese States, and these States havewell connected transportationlinks, there is reason to expect future outbreaks when the mosquitoseason begins again. Outbreak response should not end when anoutbreak ends, because that iswhen eff��orts to contain the nextepidemic begin. If India is lucky,the next epidemic will not be a bigone. But it is not an assumptionthat health authorities shouldmake.

[email protected]

Tailing a virus The Zika outbreak response should not end when an outbreak ends

Priyanka Pulla

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India’s responseIn the wake of the Pulwamaincident, the response fromIndia has left Pakistanisolated on every possiblefront (Page 1, “India bombsJaish camp in Pakistan’sBalakot” and “India getssupport from Australia,France”, both February 27).Economically it is on theverge of collapse. Therefore it is bound tofollow its old tactic, ofproxy war, by instigatingelements in Jammu andKashmir and existingmodules in India. Now thatthe fi��rst step, of airstrikes,has been taken, India muststrengthen its intelligenceinfrastructure so that weare prepared for theunderhand tactics ofPakistan.Ashish Kumar,

Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh

■ While many are upbeatthat India has respondedafter the Pulwama incident,we should not play down thecircumstances which led tothe situation in Jammu andKashmir. There are somequestions which needimmediate answers: whatwas the source of theexplosives used in thePulwama attack? Why hasthe government been unableto stop the alienation ofyouth in the Valley? Unlessthe government tries toaddress the fl��aws in itsJammu and Kashmir policy,ending extremism willremain a pipe dream.Vimal Vasudevan,

Alathur, Palakkad, Kerala

■ If Indian intelligenceservices had drawn fl��ak forthe security lapses in thewake of the Pulwama attack,

they have more than madeup for it with the precisionair strikes against terrorelements in Pakistan.Amid speculation of thecrisis escalating into anothermutually destructive war,India, by virtue of being thelarger country and a robustdemocracy, must agree totalks to defuse the tension inthe subcontinent. Nalini Vijayaraghavan,

Thiruvananthapuram

■ India’s predawn air strikeshould not lead totriumphalism or chestthumping. Pakistan hascaptured an Indian pilot. Inthe current highly volatilesituation, it is important toensure that the situation —with the electronic mediahaving a fi��eld day — does notescalate into war. In a conventional war,

Pakistan cannot matchIndia’s forces. Theconsequences of the use ofthe nuclear arsenal would betoo catastrophic to bearthinking about. The UN, theU.S., Russia, China andothers should impress onIndia and Pakistan, whichare home to a sixth of theworld’s population, the needto defuse the tension. Voicesurging restraint and peaceover belligerence and warshould not be dubbedunpatriotic and drowned inthe din of hypernationalism.G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

■ It is no surprise that arogue nation like Pakistanwould retaliate. However, itis disheartening that one ofIndia’s fi��ghter pilots has beentaken into custody byPakistan. The entire nation is

community dog even if theanimal has been vaccinated(Chennai, “Corporation tointensify sterilisation driveagainst stray dogs”, February27).The suff��ering can be verytraumatic. Safe living is also afundamental right, especiallyas Chennai city is estimatedto be “home to 58,000dogs”.Sampath R.,

Chennai

behind him and wants hissafe return. India should act strongly,exploring all options, againstPakistan.Sreerag Raman Sreenivasan,

Thiruvananthapuram

Dogs under checkNo doubt every livingcreature has the right tospace but people whosupport community dogsshould ask themselves howthey would feel if they arechased and bitten by a

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

In handing President Muhammadu Buhari a huge ov

erall margin in the polls, Nigeria has plumped for

political continuity. In an election that had been

postponed by a week, the anticorruption crusader

romped home with enough votes to avoid a runoff��. In

what had been set up as a close contest, Mr. Buhari,

who heads the ruling All Progressives Congress, beat

former vicepresident Atiku Abubakar by about four

million votes. The rumblings in the Opposition about

voterigging by the ruling party may continue to be

heard for a while, given the widespread delays and ir

regularities at polling booths, apart from incidents of

violence and several fatalities. But some poll observers

believe that the Opposition’s claims are not backed by

suffi��cient proof to make them legally sustainable. The

question now is whether Mr. Buhari can convert his

convincing mandate for a second term into policies that

can boost investment and growth, generate jobs and

narrow inequalities. The challenge of unemployment,

at over 20% according to offi��cial fi��gures, is made more

formidable by the rapid increase in the workingage

population. The prospects for change hinge on whether

Mr. Buhari can live down his reputation as an oldfash

ioned interventionist leader and open the economy to

competition. A test case of that makeover would be the

passage of oil sector reform legislation aimed at the

privatisation of the stateowned petroleum fi��rm. Mr.

Buhari’s record in countering the Islamist Boko Haram

in the north of the country and the confl��ict between

herdsmen and farmers in the central region remain un

fi��nished business. On the external front, of particular

interest to investors would be the new Nigerian govern

ment’s stance on joining the African freetrade agree

ment. Equally crucial would be Abuja’s backing for Mo

rocco’s membership of the Economic Community of

West African States, the 15nation trading bloc.

Exactly 20 years since the country returned to demo

cratic rule in 1999, Nigerians have decisively left behind

the uncertainties of repeated military coups that

marred their immediate postcolonial history. Equally

signifi��cant, recent elections suggest limited progress in

the conduct of transparent elections compared to the

previous decade. But the postponement of the poll by a

week, just hours before voters were to cast their ballot,

did not inspire confi��dence. In 2015, the delay was as

much as six weeks. Moreover, the large number of poll

related deaths in the last few days points to a disturbing

absence of offi��cial accountability. A peaceful election is

one of the crucial indicators of a credible transfer of

power through the ballot. Calm must return in Abuja

and the ruling party and the Opposition have a duty to

respect the rule of law. Among subSaharan Africa’s lar

gest countries, Nigeria should strive to clean up its act.

Buhari’s returnThe Nigerian President’s re-election

has raised hopes for economic reform

The Bharatiya Janata Partyled government in Ita

nagar has decided not to act on the recommenda

tions of a Joint High Power Committee granting

permanent resident certifi��cates (PRCs) to nonAruna

chal Pradesh Scheduled Tribes of Namsai and Chan

glang districts. This decision follows violence in Itana

gar, which included arson attacks on the residence of

the Deputy Chief Minister. The government took this

step to deescalate tensions despite the fact that both

mainstream parties, the Congress and the BJP, were on

the same page on the demand to grant the PRCs. The

nonAPSTs include the Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis, Mo

rans, Mishings, Adivasis and exservicemen belonging

to the Gorkha community. Successive governments and

members of these communities have said PRCs are

needed to avail of job and educational opportunities el

sewhere in the country, and currently the 26 tribes and

numerous subtribes who claim to be native to Aruna

chal Pradesh enjoy this privilege. Members of some of

the nonAPST communities have been longtime resi

dents of the reconstituted State, and to term them as

“outsiders” refl��ects a chauvinistic mindset that denies a

just demand. Previous governments, including one led

by the Congress in 2010, had also buckled under pres

sure on the issue. The indigenous tribes opposing the

move say this is one step away from providing Sche

duled Tribe status for the nonAPSTs, which they vocif

erously oppose. While this fear is overblown, the award

of PRCs could ensure land rights that are otherwise de

nied to the nonAPSTs.

The fact that the opposition to the demand took such

a violent turn could be linked to a retaliation to at

tempts by the members of the nonAPSTs to enforce an

“economic blockade” of the State from the neighbour

ing parts of Assam last month. But these incidents sug

gest that barely any northeastern State is today free of

the pattern of ethnic discord marked by some commun

ities being branded “outsiders” and sought to be denied

resident privileges. These include the Chakma issue in

Mizoram, the hill versus valley disturbances in Mani

pur, the longstanding “migration” issue in Assam, the

attacks on Sikh residents in Meghalaya, and even the

Chakma/Hajong citizenship issue in Arunachal Pradesh

itself. The pattern through all these is eerily similar,

with ethnic identities trumping civic consciousness in

bringing about discord that has even escalated into vio

lence in some cases. Arunachal Pradesh has otherwise

remained a peaceful State, and it is incumbent on the

government and the polity to foster a civic conscious

ness that allows equality of opportunity for all residents

in the State. This is a diffi��cult task as identity issues per

sist and fester when there is inadequate economic deve

lopment – which is the real bane of the Northeast today.

Calming ArunachalThe polity must foster a civic consciousness to

allow equality of opportunity for all residents


#70929


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

OPED

The Minister for External Aff��airs, Mr. Dinesh Singh, today [February 27, New Delhi] ruled out in the Lok Sabha India agreeing, now or in future, to international arbitration for settlingthe dispute on Kachchativu island with Ceylon. Mr. DineshSingh was replying to a calling attention notice tabled by Mr.George Fernandes and four others on reports in newspapersthat India had agreed to refer for arbitration the dispute onKachchativu. India, Mr. Dinesh Singh said, had not had anydoubt about (its ownership of ) the Island. If there were anydoubt on that score, India would not have talked with Ceylon.Raising the issue, Mr. Fernandes asked whether Ceylon haddemanded that the matter be settled through arbitration, thatthe Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar be partitioned in such amanner that Kachchativu should go to Ceylon and whetherGovernment was clear in its mind that the island was Indianterritory.

FIFTY YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 28, 1969

India not for arbitration on Kachchativu island

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FROM ARCHIVES

A Soldier who is bomb, bullet, and shell proof, who does notmind either liquid fi��re or the most vicious kind of gas, hasbeen invented by a Danish engineer. He has taken out patentson a device known as the “Automatic Soldier”. The “automaticsoldier” consists of a special double steel cylinder made ofshellproof Tungsten steel or the like. There is one outer stationary cylinder, and a second inner cylinder, the latter telescoping into the stationary one. The entire device is set intotrenches, the contrivance taking the place of a human soldier.When the “soldier” goes into action the inner cylinder rises 18in., which brings it above the parapet of the trench. In otherwords, the automatic soldier normally is invisible, and onlycan be seen when the inner cylinder rises. The gun, as well asthe entire mechanism, is entirely controlled by wireless.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 28, 1919

Wars Without Casualties.

The UN Security Council adopted astatement on February 21 condemning the Pulwama terrorist attack ofFebruary 14, for which the JaisheMohammad ( JeM) took responsibility. India is applauding this development and it should. A lot of diplomatic eff��ort had gone into achieving thisresult. But this statement should belooked at with a proper perspective.

Hierarchy of actionsSome media organisations and analysts have mistakenly described theCouncil as having adopted a resolution. This is not true; the Councilmade a presidential statement. Itmay be worthwhile to understandthe nuances of the action the Counciltakes in a given situation.

The least forceful action that theCouncil can take is to authorise thecurrent month’s President to speakto media representatives about theproceedings of the Council. There isno offi��cial record of these remarks.

The second level is when theCouncil adopts a presidential statement. A lot of negotiations are undertaken in the small room reserved forinformal consultations next to theCouncil chamber where only members of the Council are present. Ofnecessity, it has to be a consensus, asdistinct from unanimous, document,meaning that not all the memberssupport everything included in it butgo along since they do not have a serious problem with the text. Even ifone member has strong objections tothe text, the statement cannot be approved. The draft of the text could beprepared either by the President orby one of the members; for the mostpart, that member is the representative of one of the permanent members. Also, the statement could be issued either in the name of theCouncil or in the name of ‘membersof the Security Council’. The formeris generally regarded as carryingmore weight than the latter.

The third level is the resolution,which is the most authentic voice ofthe Council, carrying maximum

weight. Again, the resolution can beunder Chapter VI or Chapter VII ofthe Charter. Resolutions adopted under Chapter VII are enforceable unlike those under Chapter VI (Resolutions regarding Kashmir are underChapter VI).

Some analysts dismiss the statements and resolutions of the Councilas of no consequence, arguing thatthe countries concerned should pursue their interests irrespective of theCouncil’s action. In practice, thecountry against which the resolutionor statement is aimed cares a lotabout the text of the resolution because countries care about their image in the international community.Israel, which has the maximum number of resolutions critical of its actions, makes strenuous eff��orts,through its protector, the U.S., tohave the resolutions moderated tomake them less critical. Hours arespent on negotiations, discussingwhether to ‘condemn’, ‘deplore’ or‘strongly deplore’ something.

The February 21 statement was inthe name of the members of theCouncil. It is not that it is not worthmuch; it is just that it is a notch belowa statement that is issued in the nameof the Council. A statement in thename of the members might also suggest that not all them were fully onboard with the entire text. A statement in the name of the Councilwould suggest that all the 15 members are in agreement with the text.

The fact that China went alongwith the statement does not signify

much of a shift in its position, sincethe Council had already declared theJeM as a terrorist organisation. Thestatement does not name MasoodAzhar. It is not known if the French,who took the initiative in this matter,had at any stage included Azhar’sname in the text and took it out atChina’s insistence. From the Frenchperspective, this initiative will earnthem brownie points from India,without having to pay much of aprice.

In 2016, India moved the sanctions committee to include Azhar’sname, with the support of three permanent members: the U.S., the U.K.,and France. Again, in 2017, Indiatook a similar initiative, supported bythe same countries. On both occasions, Russia did not actively supportthe proposal, though it went alongwith it. China vetoed it both times.

It is for consideration whether andwhy it is so important for India tohave Azhar included in the list of global terrorists. The only consequenceof naming an individual is that theperson cannot travel to other countries and his funds in foreign accounts will get frozen. In Azhar’scase, this will not cause him muchdiscomfort. Is it worth India’s whileto invest so much eff��ort and perhapspolitical capital in getting him namedan international terrorist? SupposeChina at some stage removes its vetoon Azhar’s name, which it will onlydo with Pakistan’s approval, it wouldbe doing a big favour to India. Willthat be regarded enough of a conces

sion by Pakistan for India to resumedialogue with it?

There is no doubt that India’s relations with West Asia have improvedsignifi��cantly in the past fi��ve years.The invitation to External Aff��airs Minister Sushma Swaraj from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC) to be guest of honour on March1 at the Foreign Ministers meet is ample evidence of this. The past recordof the OIC with respect to India ismost objectionable. In 2017, the OICadopted a resolution condemning“the intensifi��ed Indian barbaritiessince July 2016, after the extra judicial killing of Burhan Wani, againstunarmed and innocent civilians inIndian occupied Kashmir” and “denouncing India” for refusing the Independent Permanent HumanRights Commission of the OIC accessto “IoK”. It makes sense not to allowthe present to be held hostage to thepast. Ms. Swaraj has a challengingmission to accomplish. However, toregard the previous OIC resolutionsregarding Kashmir as of no consequence is in the nature of rationalising the current approach. Hopefully,the OIC will respect India’s gestureand refrain from embarrassing Ms.Swaraj after her departure.

Raising issues in the CouncilThe successful preventive nonmilitary strike carried out by the IndianAir Force on the JeM’s terrorist training camp in Pakistan on Tuesday undoubtedly caught Pakistan by surprise. Apart from military action,which Pakistan has already taken, itwill certainly try to raise the issue inthe Council. It may be diffi��cult to prevent it, since what has happenedwould certainly be regarded as threatening international peace and security. Pakistan’s allweather friend, China, may take the initiative on behalfof its protégé. According to Councilrules, if a member of the Council asksfor a meeting, the meeting has to becalled. India must have spoken to theU.S. and others about this possibility.If the Council does meet, it wouldgive India an opportunity to exposePakistan’s true face. It will no doubtscreen footage and photos to buttress its case in the Council.

Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, a former Indian

Ambassador to the UN, is the author of ‘The

Horseshoe Table: An inside view of UN

Security Council’

India can take up its fi��ght against terrorism at the United Nations Security Council in various ways

“The only consequence of naming Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is that hecannot travel to other countries and his funds in foreign accounts will getfrozen.” A fi��le photo of the JeM chief in Islamabad, Pakistan. * AP

The vexatious question of Masood Azhar

Chinmaya R. Gharekhan

It has the best intentions, but the Goods andServices Tax (GST) Council is neverthelesssystematically eroding the strongest featuresof the new tax regime — simplicity andtransparency.

From three to eight ratesBefore the GST was introduced, the government set up a panel under the then ChiefEconomic Adviser, Arvind Subramanian, tocome up with a suitable rate at which mostitems should be taxed under the GST. Mr.Subramanian came up with a standard rateof 15% for most items, a “low rate” for essentials, and a “high rate” for demerit goods.Presumably dissatisfi��ed with just three rates,the government chose to introduce GST withfi��ve diff��erent tax slabs: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and28%. Still not satisfi��ed, the GST Council thenintroduced two more highly specifi��c rates: anominal 0.25% for rough diamonds and 3%for gold. Those of a critical bent of mind immediately pointed out that the major benefi��ciaries of this would be Gujaratis. The latestGST Council meeting on Sunday took this astep further and introduced yet another rateof 1% for the sale of underconstruction aff��ordable houses. So, from what should have atmost been three rates, we now have eight!

To be clear, the number of tax slabs doesnot aff��ect the concept of ‘One Nation OneTax’, as a single product is still taxed at thesame rate across the country. But specifyingeight diff��erent GST rates is a blow to tax simplicity, which the GST was to provide.

That said, the GST Council has not sparedthe concept of ‘One Nation One Tax’ either.However necessary the government felt itwas to provide Kerala additional funds forrehabilitation after the devastating fl��oods of2018, it had several options available apartfrom the one it chose, which was to allow theState to impose a 1% disaster relief cess. As aresult, for two years, the Indian market willbe divided into two: Kerala, where goodsand services are 1% more expensive, and therest of India. While it can be argued that thecess in Kerala is a oneoff��, the fact remainsthat this is a bad precedent to set. It’s not toohard to imagine a situation where States startclamouring for a cyclone relief cess, drought

relief cess, fl��ood relief cess, etc. Recoveryfrom natural disasters is an expensive process, and additional funds must be madeavailable. But mechanisms for this have already been put in place. There is a NationalDisaster Response Fund at the Central leveland each State has a State Disaster ResponseFund. Increasing budgetary allocations inthese areas instead of spending on giant statues and advertising campaigns is an option.

Increasing opacityTransparency is the other casualty of theGST Council’s need to provide temporary fi��xes to problems. Sunday’s decision to removethe input tax credit provision from the realestate sector will likely go a long way in increasing opacity in an already murky sector.

The input tax credit system was designedto create a seamless chain in the entire supply process. Normally, a company can claimcredits for the tax it has paid on its inputs.Under a fully functioning GST system, thegovernment can verify the amount of creditsto be paid to the company by matching its invoices with those provided by the vendor.Such a system encourages honesty and transparency. This is the third time the Councilhas removed this vital provision, and its reason for doing so is weak. Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said that the Council had noticed that real estate developers were notdropping their prices in line with what theyshould be doing, considering they were getting the benefi��t of input tax credits. This happened before in the case of restaurants. Inboth situations, the government took the easy way out and simply removed the input taxcredit provision altogether. So, rather thanrelying on the body it had created to handlesuch issues, the National AntiProfi��teeringAuthority, the Council instead chose to weaken the entire tax system. This wouldn’thave been too much of a problem if the realestate sector was as small as the restaurantindustry or the sanitary pads industry (thethird industry where there is no input taxcredits). But the real estate industry is estimated to be at least ₹��40,000 crore in size.Not to forget the fact that cement, a huge input in real estate, is taxed at the highest rateof 28%, and will now not be off��set by credits.

In both cases — disaster relief and antiprofi��teering — the GST Council has chosen toignore established institutions designed forthose very purposes in favour of a patchworkapproach that is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

[email protected]

A patchwork approach to GST problems Transparency and simplicity in the tax regime are casualties of the GST Council’s recent decisions

T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan

Using cash or other favours asan inducement to garner votesin any election, whether to Parliament, Assembly, or the grampanchayat, is a punishable offence in India. The logic is thatvoters must exercise theirchoice based on free will andthe choice they make shouldbe an informed one using a se

cret ballot. That is a cornerstone of democracy. While inducements of every sort are endemic during elections, whatis to be done when the state itself is the inducer?

Consider this. In the runup to the Panchayat elections inTelangana, the government led by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) encouraged ‘unanimous elections’. The carrotoff��ered to those gram panchayats that elect their sarpanchsunanimously was a cash grant of ₹��10 lakh for those with apopulation less than 15,000 and ₹��25 lakh for those with apopulation more than 15,000. This had an unexpected fallout: largescale ‘auctions’, which of course are illegal, wereheld in many gram panchayats across the State. The StateElection Commission was seized of the matter when civil society groups cried foul.

This is not something new. It has a precedent. In fact,Andhra Pradesh has been encouraging unanimous electionsfor gram panchayats. A Congressled united Andhra Pradeshin November 2008 issued a government order announcing₹��5 lakh for those gram panchayats with a population lessthan 15,000 and ₹��10 lakh for those with a population morethan 15,000, that elect their sarpanchs unanimously. Thiswas revised in August 2013 to ₹��7 lakh and ₹��20 lakh, respectively. The TRSled government only made an infl��ationadjusted increase.

United Andhra Pradesh and now Telangana are not theonly ones encouraging this practice. In Gujarat, there was ascheme which began in 1992 that provided incentives for unanimous elections. It was revised and named SamarasYojana. States including Haryana and Punjab took a leaf out ofthe Andhra Pradesh strategy book, and in 2008 launchedcash grants for unanimous election schemes. There was anecho in Himachal Pradesh too. There was criticism of thisdemocracysubverting practice, but nothing seems to havecome out it.

What was purportedly meant to save precious resourcesand avoid rancour among villagers is turning out to be something akin to manufactured unanimity, or manufacturedconsent, under duress or political pressure. How is this illegal practice being encouraged by States despite posing athreat to democracy?

The writer is a Hyderabad-based Editorial Consultant with The Hindu

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SINGLE FILE

Manufacturing unanimityGiving cash grants to gram panchayatselecting sarpanchs unanimously isantithetical to democracy

Satya Naagesh Ayyagary

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IF

Sub-replacement fertilityDemography

This refers to any fertility rate below the replacement rate thatwould cause the population of a certain group of people to decrease over time. A population’s fertility rate falls below thereplacement rate when adults fail to produce enough off��spring to even replace themselves. The subreplacement fertilityrate is generally considered to be anything below the replacement fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman in developedcountries. The replacement rate, however, diff��ers across theglobe. For instance, it is much higher in developing countrieswhere the infant mortality rate is much higher than in the developed world due to various reasons.

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CONCEPTUAL

The magical eff��ects of a good surgical strike

http://bit.ly/goodsurgicalstrike

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MORE ON THE WEB 3

clude essential medicinesthat satisfy the priorityhealth needs of the population. The list is made withconsiderations of safety, effi��cacy, disease prevalenceand the comparative costeff��ectiveness of medicines,and is updated periodicallyby an expert panel set upfor this purpose under theaegis of the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare.This list forms the basis ofprice controls under theDPCO.

What is the mechanismfor price capping?The NLEM 2015 contains376 medicines on the basisof which the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fi��xed pricesof over 800 formulationsusing the provisions of theDPCO. However, these formulations cover less than10% of the total pharmaceutical market. The DPCOfollows a marketbasedpricing mechanism. Theceiling price is worked outon the basis of the simple

What has been theimpact of marketbasedpricing? The largest share of outofpocket expenditure onhealth is due to medicines(approximately 70%, according to the NSSO). Thisis a major access barrier tohealthcare, especially forthe poor. Health expertshave criticised the Drug(Prices Control) Order(DPCO), 2013 for doing little to increase the aff��ordability of medicines. Datafrom the Department ofPharmaceuticals show thatthe majority of medicineshave price reductions of20% or less.

How are pricesregulated? The DPCO controls theprices of all essential medicines by fi��xing ceiling prices, limiting the highestprices companies cancharge. The National List ofEssential Medicines(NLEM) is drawn up to in

average price of all brandshaving at least 1% marketshare of the total marketturnover of that medicine.

Have any other methodsbeen used?Prior to 2013, the DPCO followed a costbased pricingmechanism that was basedon the costs involved in manufacturing a medicinealong with reasonable profi��t margins. Health expertshave argued that this policyresulted in comparativelylower prices than the current marketbased policy.

Since the implementation of the DPCO, 2013, theNPPA has made certain departures from the marketbased pricing mechanism,which was found to be insuffi��cient for ensuring affordability. This has beendone through the use ofspecial powers to act in public interest under Paragraph 19 of the DPCO, toregulate the prices of cardiac stents and knee implants. These moves havebrought about dramatic

price reductions: 85% inthe case of stents and 65%in the case of knee implants.

What about cancerdrugs?“The government is planning to cap the trade margins for highly priced drugsfor cancer and rare diseases to bring down their prices,” says Malini Aisola,health researcher and coconvenor of the All IndiaDrug Action Network. Sheexplains that this move is inthe wake of recent amendments to the DPCO that exempted patented medicines and rare diseasedrugs from price controls.But Ms. Aisola claims thatthe trade margin cappingwill not suffi��ciently bringdown prices. “We urge thegovernment to take seriouspolicy measures to ensuretrue aff��ordability such asthrough price controls, implementation of the national rare disease policy andthe use of legal fl��exibilitiesunder patent law,” she says.

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FAQ

Regulating drug prices

More needs to be done to make medicines aff��ordable

Bindu Shajan Perappadan


#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

“India strongly objected toPakistan’s vulgar display ofan injured personnel of theIndian Air Force in violationof all norms of InternationalHumanitarian Law and theGeneva Convention. It wasmade clear that Pakistanwould be well advised to ensure that no harm comes tothe Indian defence personnel in its custody.

India also expects his immediate and safe return,”the government said in itsdemarche.

Later, the Pakistan military released a video of WgCdr Varthaman drinking teaand speaking to Pakistanimilitary personnel as proofthat he had not beenharmed.

According to a releasefrom the Pakistani ForeignMinistry, the PAF had carried out strikes withoutcrossing the LoC at “nonmilitary targets, avoidinghuman loss and collateraldamage”, in words that mirrored the MEA statement onTuesday.

Pakistan military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor also said that PAF aircraft in the operation had“locked into six targets” including supply depots inBhimber gali, Rajouri andNowshera in Jammu andKashmir, and claimed theydropped bombs in openareas “at a safe distance”from four of them in an ef

fort to “prove their capability and resolve” to retaliate ifrequired.

Rejecting the Pakistaniclaims, the MEA said thatPakistan’s aerial responsehad in fact targeted militaryinstallations on the Indianside and “due to [IAF’s] highstate of readiness and alertness, Pakistan’s attemptswere foiled successfully.”

Terming the Pakistani operations an “unprovokedact of aggression”, the government said India reserves the right to “take fi��rmand decisive action”, callingfor the immediate return ofthe pilot.

India handed over itsprotest in a demarche to thePakistan Acting High Commissioner Syed HaiderShah, who was summonedby the Joint Secretary in theMinistry Deepak Mittal.

Referring to the Indianstrikes on Balakot on Tuesday, the MEA said it had alsohanded over a dossier to Mr.Shah with “specifi��c detailsof JeM complicity in the Pulwama terror attack and thepresence of JeM terrorcamps and its leadership inPakistan” and called on Pakistan to take immediate action against terrorism emanating from its territory.

With the possibility of escalation growing, severalcountries rushed in to appeal for restraint from NewDelhi and Islamabad.

IAF plane shot down,pilot taken captive

Ms. Swaraj made it plain toMr. Wang that “the entireUN had spoken with onevoice condemning the terrorist attack.”

Despite India’s ongoingtensions with Pakistan, theChinese Foreign Ministerpointed to Beijing’s intent topursue the “Wuhan spirit”— a reference to the twodaydialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi andChinese President Xi Jinping to reboot IndiaChinaties. “Last year, President Xiand Prime Minister Modiheld a very important meeting at Wuhan, and thismeeting led bilateral relations into an honest and stable new stage. Led by theleaders, all levels of bilateralrelationship are doing well.Every level of the two countries and also internationalsociety are more optimisticof our bilateral relationship.In 2019, we are going to

keep working on the consensus of the two leaders,”Mr. Wang said in his opening remarks.

Referring to the Wuhaninformal summit, the External Aff��airs Minister said thedecision to pursue “strategic communication” by thetwo leaders provided an“important foundation forthe development of our bilateral relations.”

“This channel of strategiccommunication betweenthe two of us and betweensenior offi��cials of our twosides should always remainopen.”

Stressing the importanceof maintaining the Wuhanspirit, she said: “It is important for both sides to makesure the thorough and eff��ective implementation of guidance given by the two leaders. Both sides have madeeff��orts, and this should sustain the eff��orts.”

Air strike was preemptive:Sushma tells China, Russia

U.S. Secretary of State MikePompeo urged India andPakistan to exercise restraint and avoid escalationat any cost, after Pakistancarried out air strikes onWednesday.

Mr. Pompeo spoke separately with the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan and urged them toavoid “further military activity”. “I expressed toboth Ministers that we encourage India and Pakistanto exercise restraint, andavoid escalation at anycost,” Mr. Pompeo said in astatement.

“I also encouraged bothMinisters to prioritize direct communication andavoid further military activity,” he said.

Meanwhile, General Joseph Dunford, the top U.S.military offi��cer, called uphis Pakistani counterpartGeneral Zubair MahmoodHayat and discussed the“current security environment,” the Pentagon said.

The conversationmarked the highest level ofcontact between the twoArmies.

“Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff�� General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. spoketoday with Pakistan Chiefof Defence Gen. ZubairMahmood Hayat. The senior leaders discussed thecurrent security environment in Pakistan,” JointStaff�� Spokesperson Col. Patrick S. Ryder said in a briefstatement.

No other details wereimmediately available.

Over the years, despite adeterioration in U.S.Pakistan bilateral ties, Gen. Dunford has maintained a goodworking relationship withboth his Pakistani counterpart Gen. Hayat and Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

(With PTI inputs)

India, Pakistanmust exerciserestraint: U.S.

Reuters

WASHINGTON

China on Wednesday appeared to have walked a thinline by tacitly supporting Indian air strikes against theJaisheMohammad ( JeM)terrorist camp in Pakistan,but making it plain that itwould not label Islamabad asa state sponsor of terrorism.

China’s deft balancing actbecame visible during comments by Chinese StateCouncillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during thecourse of the RussiaIndiaChina (RIC) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the picturesque town of Wuzhen.

Without referring to thecrossborder attack by theIndian Air Force on Tuesdayon a JeM training camp in Balakot, Mr. Wang said that itwas “especially important”

to “eradicate the breedinggrounds of terrorism andextremism.”

Endorsing the Chinese Foreign Minister’s remarks, External Aff��airs Minister Sushma Swaraj on two occasions

referred to Mr. Wang’sobservation.

In response to a questionon whether there was divergence on the Pulwama attackbetween India and China,Ms. Swaraj said: “As far as

joint strategy is concerned,you just heard Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s speech. Whathe said during his concluding statement, he reiteratedhere, and he said that wewould cooperate on eradicating the breeding groundsof terrorism.”

Referring to the adoptionof a common approach bythe three RIC countries, Ms.Swaraj said that, “This is notonly a common strategy forthe three of us, but it is resolution for the three of us.”

But the Chinese ForeignMinister also said Pakistanwas opposed to terrorism.

“China, Russia and Indiahave reaffi��rmed our strongopposition to terrorism in itsvarious forms and manifestations. At the same time, webelieve that Pakistan has always been opposed to terro

rism,” Mr. Wang observed. Referring to the “recent

developments between India and Pakistan,” Mr. Wangsaid he appreciated “statements by Indian and Pakistani friends saying that theywould exercise restraint andavoid escalation of thesituation.”

‘Mutual friend’

Besides, describing China asa “mutual friend” of Indiaand Pakistan, he hoped thatboth countries “can conductdialogue to establish factsthrough investigations tokeep things under controland maintain peace and stability in the region.”

Short of off��ering mediation, the Chinese Foreign Minister said that Beijing was“playing a constructive rolenot the opposite.”

China off��ers tacit support to IndiaSays ‘terror breeding grounds should be eradicated’, but rejects labelling Pak. as a sponsor of terrorism

Atul Aneja

Wuzhen

Joining hands: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ChineseForeign Minister Wang Yi and External Aff��airs Minister SushmaSwaraj at Wuzhen in China on Wednesday. * REUTERS

The British government hasexpressed its deep concernabout “rising tensions” between India and Pakistan,and called for urgent restraint from both sides and“diplomatic solutions,” buthas steered clear from coming down on one side or theother or to play an intermediary role on the wider Kashmir issue, as it acknowledged the need to deal with“underlying” issues,” particularly with regards to that region.

Foreign Offi��ce MinisterMark Field noted that Indiawas entering a “preelection” period and that remained a “factor of concern.”

“That is one of the reasons we want to see a deescalation at the earliest possi

ble opportunity,” Mr. Fieldsaid during a question andanswer session in the Houseof Commons on Wednesday.

He also said that he wouldexpress concerns about thesafety of Kashmiri peoplebased across India who hadfaced violence and threatssince the attack.

“I am happy to express

those direct concerns when Ispeak with the High Commissioner,” Mr. Field said.The Minister urged for dialogue and for the two countries to fi��nd “diplomaticsolutions.”

The opposition LabourParty’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberrysaid that while India had

been absolutely right to takeaction against the terroristgroup and to urge Pakistanto do the same, longstanding human rights concernsalso had to be dealt with.

No active role

Mr. Field rejected calls fromsome MPs in both main political parties for Britain to takea more active role in the situation on Kashmir, insistingBritain’s position on Kashmir and bilateral relations remained the same.

However, asked by oneLabour MP about humanrights concerns and “stateviolence” in India, and whatshe described as the Indiangovernment’s “own divisiverightwing nationalist agenda,” he insisted that the situation in India wasn’t “relevant to the presentsituation.”

U.K. calls for diplomatic solutionsForeign Offi��ce Minister urges India and Pakistan to deescalate tension in region

Foreign Offi��ce Minister Mark Field noted that India was enteringa “preelection” period and that remained a “factor of concern.”

Vidya Ram

London

Opposition parties on Wednesday said there was a needto change the narrative of jingoism in the wake of the Indian counterterror operation inside Pakistan.

Congress president RahulGandhi said right now it wastime to stand by the securityforces but at the same time ifPrime Minister NarendraModi sought to take creditfor the Indian Air Force’s action against a Jaish terrorcamp in Balakot, then heshould also be held accountable for the lapses inPulwama.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury, who wasone of the fi��rst speakers, atthe 21party meet, said thatthe Opposition should buildpressure on the government

to ensure that it sticks to itsearlier stand that the airstrikes were an antiterroroperation and should not escalate the situation anyfurther.

He reportedly also pointed out that even when theentire Opposition was standing with the government itwas BJP president Amit Shahwho sought to draw political

dividends from the situation.According to sources, Tri

namool Congress presidentand West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saidthat the Opposition should

take an aggressive stand andthe BJP should be held accountable. She said that inthe joint memorandumPrime Minister Modi and theBJP should be clearly mentioned. She said that the Opposition should not concedespace to the BJP and it wastime to ask questions.

“They have shut down airports cancelled the fl��ights.What are they doing? Weneed to ask them questions,”Ms. Banerjee reportedlysaid.

Sources said Jan Loktantrik Party chief Sharad Yadav, without blaming theCongress for keeping mumafter the Pulwama attack,said that only three politicians, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechury,had asked the governmentrelevant questions.

Need to change narrative of jingoism: Oppn.Government must not be allowed to escalate situation after air strikes, says Yechury at joint meet

Taking stock: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhiduring the Opposition meet in New Delhi on Wednesday. * PTI


New Delhi

The Supreme Court’s intervention to protect Kashmirisand minorities from mobviolence in the aftermath ofthe Pulwama terror attackon February 14 has been aneff��ective deterrent, theCentre told the apex court.

AttorneyGeneral K.K. Venugopal on Wednesday informed a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoithat not a single instance ofviolence had happened eversince the Supreme Courttrained its spotlight on the issue on February 22.

On February 22, the apexcourt had fi��rmly directed theCentre, chief secretaries andpolice chiefs of several Statesto protect Kashmiris and minority communities, especially students, from anybacklash in the aftermath ofthe Pulwama terror attack

which had led to the deathsof CRPF personnel.

Responding to Mr. Venugopal’s submission, JusticeGogoi said there was nofurther need to pass anymore orders on the issue.However, the court askedthe Centre and 10 States tofi��le their responses in sevendays, explaining the violenceunleashed against Kashmiristudents.

The court had on February 22 told the States’ police

chiefs to direct their offi��cersto promptly take action oncomplaints. The nodal offi��cers appointed in the States toprevent incidents of lynching and mob violence weretasked to prevent and defusetensions.

The court’s order hadbeen in response to a petition fi��led by advocate TariqAdeeb, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, that had sought directions to the Centre to

“forthwith take steps to prevent threats, assaults, violentattacks, social boycotts, ostracism, evictions and othercoercive acts committed bygroups and mobs againstKashmiris and other minorities, particularly in the wakeof the Pulawama attack”.

The petition had referredto incidents of violenceagainst these communitiesin States like Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Jammu &Kashmir, Meghalaya, UttarPradesh, Uttarakhand andWest Bengal. Two moreStates — Punjab and Maharashtra — were added to thewatch list. The court had also asked the Delhi PoliceCommissioner to be alert.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an advisoryto the States and Union Territories on February 17 tothwart violence against vulnerable groups.

Kashmiris are safe, Centre tells SCInforms that no violent acts have been reported after the top court’s intervention

Voicing concern: A fi��le photo of a protest in Srinagar againstthe targeting of Kashmiris. * AP

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav on Wednesday took a swipe at the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi overthe capture of an Indian AirForce pilot by Pakistan, saying “when our pilot wentmissing, they were launching apps”.

While Mr. Yadav did notmention any one by name,his comment came on a daywhen Mr. Modi unveiled amobile application introduced by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), ‘Khelo India App’, aimed at creatingawareness about sports andfi��tness.

“When the allparty meethappened, they were campaigning,” Mr. Yadav postedon Twitter. “The countrydemands that petty politics

are set aside and our mediaacts responsibly so that ourbrave pilot is safely broughtback home,” he tweeted.

On Tuesday, Mr. Yadavand his ally BSP chief Mayawati had both praised theIAF for their strikes in Balakot. “IAF strike destroyingterrorist camps across LoCis welcome action,” said Ms.Mayawati.

Meanwhile, alliance talksfor the 2019 Lok Sabha election between the BJP and itsallies in Uttar Pradesh havebeen deferred due to the escalation of tensions with Pakistan. On Wednesday, theSuheldev Bharatiya SamajParty and the Apna Dal, theBJP’s allies, said they hadput on hold their upcomingprogrammes to decide thefuture course of action regarding an alliance with theBJP.

Akhilesh takes a swipe atgovt., calls for pilot’s safetyThey were launching apps: SP chief


LUCKNOW

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Aff��airs said the Pakistan Air Force took down twoIndian aircraft in Pakistaniairspace. “This was not a retaliation to the continued Indian belligerence. Pakistanhas taken strikes at [a] nonmilitary target, avoiding human loss and collateral damage. [The] sole purpose being to demonstrate ourright, will and capability forselfdefence,” it said.

Major General Asif Ghafoor, DirectorGeneral of the

InterServices Public Relations, tweeted about thestrike: “In response to PAFstrikes this morning as released by [the] MoFA, [the]IAF crossed [the] LOC.[The] PAF shot down two Indian aircraft inside [the] Pakistani airspace.”

He said one aircraft fellinside Pakistanheld Kashmir, while the other fell onthe Indian side. He latertweeted that one Indian pilot was in Pakistan Army’scustody.

Imran calls for talks, off��ershelp to probe Pulwama

Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekaron Wednesday criticisedthe statement put out by 21Opposition parties, suggesting that the BJP waspoliticising the sacrifi��ces ofthe armed forces.

Both termed the suggestion baseless, adding that itwas being interpreted bythe Pakistani establishment that the country (India) was not united behindthe armed forces.

“The crossborder terrorattack in Pulwama was areality. The Balakot operation was India’s antiterrorpreemptive strike to defend its sovereignty. Thewhole nation has spoken inone voice, why is then theOpposition alleging thatthe government is politicising antiterror operations?My appeal to the Opposition is to let India speakwith one voice — please introspect, your illadvisedstatement is being used byPakistan to bolster itscase,” said Mr. Jaitley.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Mr. Javadekarsaid, “It is a baseless allegation and that is not what ishappening and will neverhappen.” He added thatthe situation in the last twodays in the country was ademonstration of unity.

Mr. Javadekar showed aclip from a news show of aPakistani channel that wasdiscussing the Oppositionstatement in such terms.“The opposition should apply its mind to how thisstatement is being interpreted by Pakistan. The only ones who are happy withthis is the Pakistani government and media,” he said.

The BJP, meanwhile, hasdecided to go ahead withthe Prime Minister’s videoconference with boothworkers.

Oppositioncharge isbaseless: BJP


NEW DELHI

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out searches at11 locations in south Kashmir in connection with cases related to the February 14terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama and funding of separatists and terrorgroups, according to an offi��cial statement.

The houses of MudassirAhmad Khan and SajjadBhat, members of the JaisheMohammad ( JeM) andkey accused in the terror attack in Pulwama, weresearched, the NIA statement said.

Also, the residences ofactive overground workersof the Jaish in Tral, Awantipora and Pulwama areaswere searched.

The probe agency saidthe houses of three separatist leaders from southKashmir — Mohd. ShabanDar, Shawkat Maulvi andYasmine Raza — were alsosearched in connectionwith a terror funding case.

Documents related to terror funding, coded messages and Jihadi literature havebeen seized, the agencysaid. NIA teams also recovered a large number of incriminating documents, itadded.

NIA conducts searchesin south KashmirSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi


#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

A day after the Indian precision air strike on a terroristtraining camp in Balakot, Indian and Pakistani Air Forcejets on Wednesday engagedin a chase over the Line ofControl. One Indian MiG21Bison aircraft was lost and aPakistani F16 was shot. Indian Air Force pilot WingCommander AbhinandanVarthaman was arrested byPakistan and is in theircustody.

On Wednesday morning,several PAF aircraft targetedIndian Army positions following which IAF fi��ghterswere scrambled in response.“There was a lock on a Pakistani F16 by a MiG21 whichfi��red an R73 missile and hitthe target,” a defence sourcesaid on condition of anonym

ity. Wg. Cdr. Varthamanmanaged to eject but landedin Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK).

Initially, Maj. Gen. Asif

Ghafoor, Pakistan militaryspokesperson, said they shotdown two IAF aircraft andcaptured two pilots. Later,he changed the statement,

tweeting, “There is only onepilot under Pakistan Army’scustody. Wg. Cdr. Abhinandan is being treated as pernorms of military ethics.”

Wg. Cdr. Abhinandan,based in Srinagar, hails fromChennai. His father is a retired Air Marshal who wasthe CommanderinChief,Eastern Air Command.

Earlier in the day, the PAFdropped bombs at four places in Jammu and Kashmirclose to Army installations.The general area of theirbrief ingress was in theNaushara and Lam sectors inKashmir, according to defence sources.

“Today, PAF undertookstrikes across the LoC fromwithin Pakistani airspace,”the Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement said.

Around 10.30 a.m., somePAF jets came into the Krishna Ghati sector of Kashmirand went off�� from the Lamvalley in the Nowshera sector, the source stated.Among the areas targeted areNarina where the Army hasan ammunition point.

The PAF F16 which wasshot fell in the Khuretta sector in PoK, opposite the Lamvalley, the source added.

India scrambles fi��ghters as Pak. jets target positions across LoCSeveral PAFaircraft targetIndian Armypositions

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

Villagers showing the damage due to shelling in Mankote of Poonch. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Lowfl��ying jets thunderedover roofs, explosions rentthe air and smoke fi��lled theskyline along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Rajouri andPoonch districts in themountainous Pir PanchalValley on Wednesdaymorning.

An eyewitness, whoteaches in a school at Lamvillage, told The Hindu overthe phone that studentswere appearing for the examination around 10 a.m.when three jets roared lowacross the sky.

“Explosions soon followed on the hill slopes. Inthe impact, stones rolleddown the incline,” said theeyewitness.

Local people said two orthree Pakistani fi��ghter jetsviolated the air space in theNowshera sector in Rajouriand Poonch district.

An offi��cial at the district

administration offi��ce in Rajouri said a nineyearoldgirl was injured in thebombing by the jets. Lam,Jhangar, Pukerni and Kerriat Nowshera were the areaswhere around halfadozenexplosions were heard afterthe jets fl��ew in. All theseareas are within fi��ve km ofthe LoC.

Sources said one blasttook place close to an Armydepot in Rajouri. However,the local offi��cial denied anyArmy facility was hit in the

bombing by the Pakistanijets.

“Any violation and its details will be confi��rmed onlyby the Indian Air Force(IAF). However, the LoC became calm by evening.There was no report of anymajor exchange,” DeputyCommissioner, Rajouri, Mohammad Aijaz Asad told TheHindu.

The Hamirpur sector andBhimber Gali in Poonch alsoreported air space violations by Pakistani jets. Offi��cials said these jets werechased by the Air Force(IAF) planes.

After a daylong lull inPoonch, Pakistan again violated ceasefi��re after sunsetin Meandher Balakote sectors, said offi��cials.

All schools falling withina fi��ve km of the LoC inPoonch and Rajouri havebeen closed. In Uri, offi��cialssaid, Pakistan resorted to“lowcalibre fi��ring” at night.

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

A worker paints a red crosson the rooftop of a hospitalin Srinagar. * NISSAR AHMAD

Shock and awe in Poonch, Rajouri

Hospitals in J&K asked tostock up on medicines NEW DELHI

Following the tense situation

on the Pakistan border, staff

members working in the

District Hospital, Udhampur,

Jammu have been directed

not to leave the station and

not to avail any kind of leave,

according to a circular by the

medical superintendent. The

circular comes after the State

government issued an order

earlier this week stating that

all Chief Medical Officers

should collect available

supplies of medicines and

surgical items for their

districts.

Tighter security forPakistani prisonersKOLKATA

The West Bengal government

has decided to increase the

security of Pakistani prisoners

in the correctional homes of

the State, Minister Ujjwal

Biswas said. Mr. Biswas said

that after the alleged killing

of a 50-year-old Pakistani

convict by fellow inmates in

the Jaipur central jail, security

of foreign inmates had been

stepped up.“We have not

many Pakistani prisoners.

Most of our foreign prisoners

are Bangladeshi and

Nigerian,” the Minister said.

BJP misusing the Army,says Congress leaderPANAJI

Congress secretary A.

Chellakumar on Wednesday

alleged that the Pulwama

terror strike could have been

manipulated like the 2002

Godhra train burning incident,

which sparked communal

riots in Gujarat. At a press

conference here, he said the

BJP was misusing the

institution of the Army also

for political gains, Mr.

Chellakumar said, “Yes.

People are feeling so. Modi

and Amit Shah will go to any

extent.” Referring to a recent

video in the public domain, he

recalled the Godhra carnage

and tried to compare it to the

recent Pulwama terror strike.

Villagers near Balakot townin northeast Pakistan wereshaken out of their sleep bywhat seemed like an earthquake in the early hours ofTuesday, only discoveringonce dawn broke that therehad been an Indian airstrike.

India has said the raiddestroyed a training campof JaisheMohammed. Thevillagers, however, said onlyone person was wounded inthe attack and they knew ofno fatalities.

A resident, who did notwant to give his name, saidthere was a nearby madrasarun by Jaish, though mostvillagers were guarded talking about their militantneighbours.

Another person, who also declined to give hisname, said the militants hadhad a presence in the areafor years.

“I know for sure thatthere has been a trainingcamp. It used to be there. Iknow Jaish people ran it,” hesaid.

“This camp was turnedinto a madrasa several yearsago, but no one would still

be allowed to get close tothis infrastructure. Thereare scores of students in themadrasa at any given time,”he said.

From what villagerscould see, the Indian attackhad missed its target as thebombs dropped explodedabout 1 km away from themadrasa. Mohammad Ajmal, a 25 yearold villagernear Jabba Top, where theattack took place, said hehad heard four loud bangsin succession just before 3a.m. local time.

“We saw fallen trees andone damaged house, andfour craters where thebombs had fallen,” he said.

Fida Hussain Shah, a 46yearold farmer, said he andother villagers had foundpieces of Indian ordnancethat had splintered pinetrees on the hill but the onlycasualty was a man sleepingin his house when shrapnelbroke the windows.

Villagers jolted awakeby Indian bombsThey are guarded about militant camp

Reuters

BALAKOT <> The only casualty

was a man sleeping

in his house when

shrapnel broke the

windows

Fida Hussain Shah

Farmer

On the trigger: A CISF man keeping vigil at the Delhi International Airport on Wednesday after Pakistani jets intruded intoIndian air space, escalating tensions. * R.V. MOORTHY

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At the ready

“We had a strong guide inAir Marshal Simhakutty Varthaman, and he had given usseveral inputs on the IndianAir Force. He has been a very great source of inspirationfor us,” fi��lmmaker ManiRathnam had said about thefather of Wing CommanderAbhinandan Varthamanduring the audio launch ofhis 2017 movie KaatruVeliyidai.

Eerily similar to the fi��lm’sstoryline, Wg. Cdr. Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by the Pakistan Armyafter his MiG21 crashed.

While it is a trying timefor the family members ofthe Wing Commander, theymust have sought a measureof reassurance after Pakistanreleased a video message inwhich he is heard saying that

Pakistani Army offi��cers werethorough gentlemen andwere looking after him well.

Speaking to The Hindu inthe evening after the External Aff��airs Ministry briefedpresspersons that one IAFpilot was missing in action,Air Marshal Varthaman saidhe was not willing to talk,asking the media to respecthis sentiments.

Raju Srinivasan, an IAFveteran, said he was ac

quainted with Air MarshalVarthaman’s professionalcalibre.

Test pilot“He was an experienced experimental test pilot, andhad fl��own many of the aircraft in the IAF’s inventory.He was a very professionaloffi��cer. I don’t know muchabout his son, Abhinandan.Air Marshal Varthaman is amuch decorated IAF offi��cerand a thorough gentleman,”he said.

The Air Marshal, a resident of Chennai, is a recipient of the Param VishishtSeva Medal, Ati Vishisht SevaMedal and Vishisht Seva Medal.

DMK MLA S.R. Raaja andMP K.N. Ramachandran visited his residence but wereunable to meet the family,police sources said.

Abhinandan’s father adecorated IAF offi��cerRetired Air Marshal is Param Vishisht Seva Medal recipient


CHENNAI

Simhakutty Varthaman

Security agencies have identifi��ed four routes along theLine of Control in Kupwarathat were being used byJaisheMohammad ( JeM)cadres trained at the Balakotcamp in Pakistan to infi��ltrateinto India.

A note prepared by the Intelligence agencies on thecamp that was hit by IndianAir Force jets in the earlyhours of Tuesday said theterrorists were shown videosof the Babri Masjid demolition and that of the hijack ofthe IC814 Indian Airlinesfl��ight in 1999 to radicalisethem.

The note was preparedbased on the interrogation ofa JeM terrorist arrested in India. They were shown videosof alleged atrocities againstKashmiris by the Army.

Madrasa coverSpread over six acres, thecamp has six buildings witha capacity to house 600 people.

“It is suspected that thecamp is functioning undercover of the Madrasa AyeshaSadiq,” the note said.

It said the JeM terroriststrained at Balakot fi��rst travelled to Kel in Pakistanoc

cupied Kashmir and fromthere, infi��ltrated into Indiafrom the Kupwara side.

The infi��ltration routespassed through Dudhniyal,the Kainthawali forest, theMagam forest, Lolab and Kachama and Kralpora.

The LoC is manned by theArmy.

At the Balakot camp, theJeM cadres undergo diff��erenttypes of training coursessuch as a threemonth advanced combat courseknown as Daura-e-Khas, anadvanced armed trainingcourse called Daum-al-Raadand a refresher training programme, the note said.

“Militants there are beingtrained in handling weaponssuch as AK 47, machineguns, rocket launchers, underbarrel grenade launchers and grenades. Apartfrom basic training in weapon handling, they aretrained in jungle survival,ambush and communication, using GPS and mapreading,” the note said.

It said the terrorists started their day at 3 a.m. withnamaaz and reading of theKoran, followed by threehours of rigorous physicalexercise.

They were trained in camoufl��aging, besides operat

ing wireless sets and matrixsheets. Leisure activities included football.

As reported earlier, the facility was headed by by Jaishchief Masood Azhar’s brotherinlaw Yusuf Azhar. It waslocated on a hilltop in a forest far from the civilian areain Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’sBalakot, around 200 kmfrom Islamabad.

Aquatic trainingSituated on the banks of theKunhar river, the camp offered the possibility of aquatic training to terrorists. Thetrainers at the camp were“exArmy personnel”.

Home Minister RajnathSingh reviewed the securitysituation in Jammu andKashmir and also the Statessharing borders with Pakistan.

He, however, proceededto attend a political rally inBilaspur in Chhattisgarh during the day even as new details of an IAF fi��ghter pilotbeing captured by the Pakistan Army poured in.

A senior BSF offi��cial saidthat though security hadbeen heightened along theInternational Border in Jammu, Punjab, Rajasthan andGujarat, the situation was“calm”.

Four infi��ltration routes from BalakotHilltop camp trained militant recruits in combat and use of weapons

Cordoned off��: Pakistani soldiers patrolling an area near theBalakot camp on Wednesday. * AP

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi Russia on Wednesdaycalled upon both India andPakistan to deescalatetensions in South Asia thatintensifi��ed after Pakistancarried out a raid insideKashmir.

In a statement, DmitryPeskov, Press Secretary ofthe Russian President,said, President VladimirPutin was following the developments including India’s strike on the Balakot,safe pad for terror suspects, and Pakistan’s raidinside Kashmir on Wednesday. “We are extremelyconcerned about the newscoming in, we are veryclosely monitoring the situation and, of course, weurge all parties to showrestraint,” said Mr. Peskov.

Iran asked for restraintwith Foreign Minister Javad Zarif urging both sidesto ensure peace in the region. Iranian news outletsreported that Mr. Zarif hadstated he would speak tohis Indian counterpart,Sushma Swaraj.

Nepal asked for “utmostrestraint” and dialogue.Sri Lanka called for peacein the region, and asked India and Pakistan “to act ina manner that ensurespeace and stability”.

Russia, Iranadviserestraint

Special COrrespondent

NEW DELHI

India, Pak. must exerciserestraint: Farooq SRINAGAR

National Conference

president Farooq Abdullah on

Wednesday called for de-

escalation of tensions

between India and Pakistan

and asked both the countries

to maintain “maximum

restraint” for the “greater

good of humanity”. “History

bears testimony to the fact

that war did not help both

the neighbours resolve their

long pending issues,” he said.

IN BRIEF


#70929

CMYK

WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


25 killed in crash atCairo train stationCAIRO

At least 25 people were killed

and 50 injured when a

locomotive smashed through

the buff��er stop at Cairo’s

main train station on

Wednesday, causing an

explosion and a fi��re, state

television and witnesses said.

The Transport Minister said

the train’s diesel tank had

exploded. Reuters

ELSEWHERE

Indian student held fordamaging 50 computersNEW YORK

Vishwanath Akuthota, an

Indian student, was arrested

on February 22 after being

charged with intentionally

causing damage to over 50

computers owned by a

college in New York capital

Albany, offi��cials said on

Wednesday. He entered

numerous locations in the

college and inserted a device

resembling a USB stick, says

the complaint. PTI

North Korean leader KimJongun and U.S. PresidentDonald Trump met in Vietnam on Wednesday for a second summit that the UnitedStates hopes will persuadeNorth Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in exchangefor promises of peace anddevelopment.

Mr. Kim and Mr. Trumpshook hands and smiledbriefl��y in front of a row oftheir national fl��ags at the Metropole hotel in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, beforeheading to dinner together.

Mr. Trump told reportershe thought the talks wouldbe very successful, andasked if he was “walkingback” on denuclearisation,said “no”. At their historicfi��rst summit in Singapore lastJune, Mr. Trump and Mr.Kim pledged to work towarddenuclearisation and permanent peace on the Koreanpeninsula but little progresshas been made.

‘A courageous decision’Mr. Kim said they had overcome obstacles to hold theirsecond summit and praisedMr. Trump for his “courageous decision” to begin a dialogue. “Now that we’re meet

ing here again like this, I’mconfi��dent that there will bean excellent outcome thateveryone welcomes, and I’lldo my best to make it happen,” he said.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Kimheld a 20minute, oneonone chat before sitting downto dinner with U.S. Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo, Mr.Trump’s acting Chief of Staff��Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Kim’stop envoy, Kim Yongchol,

and North Korean ForeignMinister Ri Yongho.

On Thursday, the twoleaders will hold a series ofmeetings, the White Housesaid. “We’re going to have avery busy day tomorrow ...Probably a very quick dinner,” said a smiling, relaxedlooking Mr. Trump, seatedbeside Mr. Kim at a round table with the other four offi��cials and two interpreters.“Our relationship is a very

special relationship.” Mr. Kim also appeared at

ease. “We’ll have a very interesting dialogue,” he toldMr. Trump.

In the runup to this summit, Mr. Trump has indicated a more fl��exible stance,saying he was in no rush tosecure North Korea’s denuclearisation. He repeatedthat on Wednesday, sayingwhile some people believedthe talks should be moving

more quickly, he was satisfi��ed. Mr. Trump has held outthe prospect of easing sanctions if North Korea does something “meaningful”.

Asked if he would declarea formal end to the KoreanWar, which North Korea haslong called for, Mr. Trumpsaid: “We’ll see.”

The Vietnam exampleDespite little progress on hisgoal of ridding North Koreaof its weapons programmes,Mr. Trump appeared to bebetting on his personal relationship with the North Korean leader, and the economic incentive after 70years of hostility betweentheir countries.

“Vietnam is thriving likefew places on earth. NorthKorea would be the same,and very quickly, if it woulddenuclearise,” Mr. Trumpsaid on Twitter ahead of themeeting. “The potential isAWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friendKim Jongun. We will knowfairly soon — Very Interesting!” For Mr. Trump, a dealthat eases the North Koreanthreat could hand him a bigforeignpolicy achievementin the midst of domestictroubles.

We’ll have an interesting dialogue: KimTrump calls relationship with North Korea leader ‘special’, says he’s in no rush to secure denuclearisation

Reuters

Hanoi

Another handshake: U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jongun inHanoi on Wednesday, the fi��rst day of a twoday summit between the two sides. * AFP

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif onWednesday.

Mr. Zarif — a U.S.educated veteran diplomat whohelped craft the pact thatcurbed Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief — announced hisresignation on Monday.

Two days later, he wasback with his positionstrengthened by the President’s endorsement as wellas a chorus of support frommoderate lawmakers, a senior Revolutionary Guardscommander and, implicitly,Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei.

“As the Supreme Leaderhas described you as a‘trustworthy, brave and religious’ person in the forefront of resistance againstwidespread U.S. pressures, I

consider accepting your resignation against nationalinterests and reject it,” Mr.Rouhani said in a letter.

On Wednesday, Mr. Zarifthanked Iranians for theirsupport.

Senior RevolutionaryGuards commander QassemSoleimani said Mr. Zarif wasthe main person in chargeof Iranian foreign policy andhe was supported by Ayatollah Khamenei.

‘It would be against national interests’

Reuters

Dubai/London

Iranian President HassanRouhani and ForeignMinister Javad Zarif. * AP

Rouhani backs Zarif,rejects resignation

Nepal’s Tourism and CivilAviation Minister RabindraAdhikari was among sevenpeople killed on Wednesdaywhen a helicopter crashedin the country’s hilly east,offi��cials said.

Rescue workers retrievedthe bodies of Mr. Adhikari,49, the pilot and fi��ve otherpassengers from a hillside inTaplejung district where theAir Dynasty chopper wentdown. “The respected Minister’s body has been identifi��ed,” said Home Aff��airs Ministry spokesman.

The Minister’s personalbodyguard has been identifi��ed as among the dead. Theowner of the helicoptercompany was also aboardbut his body has not beenformally identifi��ed. Mr. Subedi said two Army helicopters had been dispatched tobring the bodies back to thecapital Kathmandu.

Locals alert authoritiesA search and rescue teamwas deployed to the area after locals alerted authoritiesto fl��ames and smoke risingfrom a hillside. “The helicopter is in pieces, and scat

tered all over. Everythingwas in fl��ames,” said SurajBhattarai, a witness.

The helicopter crashedinto the hillside minutes after taking off�� from a nearbytemple, a local offi��cial said.The Minister was on a trip toscope out a new airstrip inthe region. The exact causesof the crash are unknown.

It is just the latest aviationaccident to plague Nepal.

Nepal has some of theworld's most remote andtricky runways, fl��anked bysnowcapped peaks with approaches that pose a challenge for even accomplished pilots. The countryhas a booming private helicopter industry, fl��ying tourists and goods to remotecorners, where road accessis limited or nonexistent.

Chopper crash kills NepalAviation Minister, 6 othersIncident happened at a hillside

Agence France-Presse

Kathmandu

Rabindra Adhikari.

An Indian national held inSri Lanka over an allegedplot to assassinate PresidentMaithripala Sirisena was acquitted on Wednesday,court offi��cials said.

Marceli Thomas, fromKerala, was arrested in October following a complaintby Namal Kumara, a policeinformant, who had allegeda plot to assassinate Mr. Sirisena and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former top Defence Ministry bureaucrat.

When the case was takenup for hearing on Wednesday, the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court acquittedMr. Thomas of the chargesof conspiring to assassinatethe VIPs. The CID has notbeen able to produce anyevidence against Mr. Thomas implicating him in theconspiracy charges.

Considering the facts inthe case, the Magistrate saidhe cannot order to keep aperson in remand withoutevidence as the policewanted.

Indian held over plot tokill Sirisena acquittedMarceli Thomas was arrested in Oct.


Colombo

4 killed in Indonesiacoal mine collapseNORTH SULAWESI

Indonesian rescuers

scrambled on Wednesday to

fi��nd dozens buried in the

collapse of an illegal gold

mine that killed at least four

people, the disaster agency

said. More than three dozen

people may still be trapped at

the site in the Bolaang

Mongondow region of North

Sulawesi. AFP

Venezuela calls forTrump-Maduro talksGENEVA

In an address at the UN

Human Rights Council,

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister

Jorge Arreaza on Wednesday

called for direct talks

between President Nicolás

Maduro and his U.S.

counterpart Donald Trump,

to help ease the crisis

gripping his country. AFP

Michael Cohen told Congress on Wednesday he hadno direct evidence that President Donald Trump coordinated with Russia duringthe 2016 presidential campaign, but spoke of his “suspicions” that his former bosswas involved in collusion.

Delivering uncomfortablyblunt testimony about his

decadelong professional relationship with Mr. Trump,the disgraced lawyer provided examples of how Mr.Trump or his family haddealings with Moscow orwith Russian fi��gures duringthe 2016 campaign.

“Questions have beenraised about whether I knowof direct evidence that Mr.Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia,” Mr. Co

hen told the House Oversightand Reform Committee. “Ido not, I want to be clear.But I have my suspicions.”

Mr. Cohen, who is aboutto go to jail for three years after admitting fi��nancialcrimes and lying to Congress, said he believes Mr.Trump had advance knowledge of a June 2016 meetingbetween campaign members, including his son, and

Russians peddling “dirt” onelection rival Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Cohen also said thethencandidate “knew ofand directed” negotiationsfor a Trump Tower in Moscow through the campaigneven while denying any business ties with the Russians.

A day earlier, Mr. Cohenprovided closeddoor testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he

was likely to have beengrilled in private about whathe knows regarding theTrump campaign’s ties toRussia.

He told lawmakers he was“ashamed” of his decadelong role as the President’spersonal lawyer. “I am ashamed because I know whatMr. Trump is. He is a racist.He is a conman. He is acheat,” Mr. Cohen said.

Trump is a conman, a racist and a cheat, says CohenAgence France-Presse

Washington

Muhammadu Buhari was onWednesday reelected Nigeria’s President after a delayed poll that angered voters and raised politicaltemperatures, but the Opposition immediately vowed tochallenge the “sham” resultin court.

It was the second victoryat the ballot box for Mr. Buhari, a onetime military ruler who was fi��rst elected in2015 to lead Africa’s mostpopulous nation and top oilproducer. With ballotscounted in all of Nigeria’s 36

States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Buhari triumphed with some15.2 million votes over hisnearest rival Atiku Abubakar, who trailed by nearlyfour million votes.

“Muhammadu Buhari... ishereby declared winner andis returned elected,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman ofNigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) announced early on Wednesday.

Rigging claimsHowever, Mr. Abubakar rejected the result of the vote,

which has been marred byclaims of rigging and corruption.

“I hereby reject the resultof the February 23, 2019sham election and will bechallenging it in court.”

A total of 72.7 million people were eligible to vote inthe presidential poll as wellas parliamentary electionsheld at the same time.

Low voter turnout — at35% across the country —was blamed on a combination of voter apathy becauseof the delay, organisationaland logistical problems, aswell as unrest.

President Buhari wins 2nd termNigerian Opposition vows to challenge ‘sham’ result in court


Abuja


#70929

CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.25. . . . . . . . . 1.75

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1405.70. . . . . . . . . 3.70

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 718.20. . . . . . . . . 8.05

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2914.70. . . . . . . 55.40

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6419.85. . . . . . -32.80

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2642.00. . . . . . -15.75

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320.15. . . . . . . . . 4.70

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330.70. . . . . . . . -5.95

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551.90. . . . . . . . . 1.50

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.45. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2646.90. . . . . . . . -0.90

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 20407.75. . . -212.25

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335.70. . . . . . . . . 2.25

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782.40. . . . . . . . . 1.40

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1060.35. . . . . . . . . 1.50

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1841.00. . . . . . -12.65

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2092.25. . . . . . -18.40

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2678.55. . . . . . -10.50

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.95. . . . . . . . -0.55

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.65. . . . . . . . -3.20

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1736.50. . . . . . -35.75

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 658.90. . . . . . . . -0.35

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345.55. . . . . . . . -2.65

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1476.70. . . . . . . . -1.40

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 296.75. . . . . . -11.25

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735.25. . . . . . . . -7.25

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 140.90. . . . . . . . -1.35

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.10. . . . . . . . -0.40

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284.00. . . . . . . . -0.50

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216.15. . . . . . -20.00

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1284.70. . . . . . . 18.85

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656.15. . . . . . . . . 4.85

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6968.50. . . . . . . 64.20

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138.75. . . . . . . . -1.80

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148.00. . . . . . . . . 0.50

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 181.45. . . . . . . . . 0.25

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223.50. . . . . . . . . 3.25

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267.65. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442.70. . . . . . . . . 6.95

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177.35. . . . . . . . -5.30

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507.10. . . . . . . . . 3.50

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2058.10. . . . . . . 19.40

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 825.60. . . . . . . . -7.70

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1016.25. . . . . . -22.10

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 3889.10. . . . . 100.55

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 869.30. . . . . . . 14.25

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.65. . . . . . . . -5.05

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374.40. . . . . . -13.25

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228.20. . . . . . . . -1.30

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 463.40. . . . . . . . -5.80

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on February 27

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 71.02. . . . . . . 71.34

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 80.91. . . . . . . 81.28

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 94.56. . . . . . . 95.02

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 64.24. . . . . . . 64.55

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.63. . . . . . . 10.68

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 71.25. . . . . . . 71.57

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 52.70. . . . . . . 52.94

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 54.08. . . . . . . 54.33

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 17.47. . . . . . . 17.59

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

February 27 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.6. . . . . . . (43.4)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3193. . . . . . (3182)

market watch

27-02-2019 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 35,905 ddddddddddddd-0.19

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 71.24 ddddddddddddd-0.23

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 34,650 ddddddddddddddd0.34

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 66.53 ddddddddddddddd1.89

The norms proposed by theRBI for compensation ofchief executives and boardmembers of private sectorbanks has been viewed as aneff��ort to improve transparency and accountability ofthe banking system.

Variable payIn a discussion paper, RBIhad proposed that 50% ofthe compensation should bevariable and that employeestock options (ESOPs)should be a part of the variable pay. The new norms propose variable pay to becapped at 200% of fi��xed pay,compared with the 70%

now. Also, ESOPs are not apart of variable pay now.

RBI had also proposedthat if there is divergence ina bank’s asset classifi��cationor provisioning from thecentral bank’s norms that exceeds the prescribed threshold for public disclosure, thelender shall not pay the unvested portion of the varia

ble compensation for the assessment year.

There have been instances wherein some banks hadreported signifi��cant divergence in disclosing bad loansand provisioning.

Welcoming the proposednorms, bankers said thesewere part of a global trendwhere the banking regulatorwas imposing stringentnorms for compensation ofchief executives. “Thismakes the chief executivesmore accountable,” said thesenior executive of a privatebank. “It is part of a globaltrend. They have made thenorms more specifi��c,” saidRajiv Lall, nonexecutivechairman, IDFC First Bank.

Proposals to help improve transparency in banking system

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

‘RBI pay norms may make privatebank CEOs more accountable’

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd. (DHFL) has expressed concern over ratingsagency ICRA’s downgrade ofthe company’s commercialpaper (CP), calling the moveunwarranted and not basedon merit.

‘No material event’“This comes barely threeweeks after the companywas downgraded and kepton watch by all the ratingsagencies. Since then, no material event has taken placewhich would have compelled the ratings agency toreview the ratings in lessthan a month’s time,” KapilWadhawan, chairman andmanaging director of DHFL,said.

DHFL’s shares plunged 8%on Tuesday and another 2%on Wednesday.

DHFL said it was surprising that ICRA did not consider the company’s commitment towards its obligationsthrough sustained eff��orts, including asset sale and reduced CP exposures. Also,

DHFL’s progress towardsfundraising transactionswas not taken into consideration. Following the stakesale of Aadhar, the company’s aff��ordable housing fi��nance arm, DHFL has suffi��cient cash reserves andinvestments today are equivalent to about ₹��4,500 crore.

“With regard to liquidity,almost ₹��13,000 crore of theportfolio is available for selldown right now, if we wereto exercise that option,” Mr.Wadhawan said.

₹��7,000 cr. payout “Overall, the company hasnearly ₹��33,000 crore of retail portfolio with requiredseasoning. At the same time,in the next six months, wehave almost ₹��7,000 crore ofpayout, which the company

can comfortably managewith infl��ows of more than₹��2,000 crore per monthfrom the regular EMI/PMIs.”

He added that DHFL waslooking for a strategic partner and an announcementwould be made as soon as adevelopment was fi��nalised.

Mr. Wadhawan said thatDHFL had extinguished almost 98% of its commercialpapers and cleared obligations worth almost ₹��18,000crore till December 31, 2018.This included ₹��9,965 crore ofcommercial papers.

“We will take all remedialmeasures to protect the interests of all our stakeholders and continue to serviceall our obligations as we havedone in this industry crisissince September 2018,” thechairman said.

ICRA downgrade unwarranted: DHFLRatings agency did not consider asset sale, reduced CP exposures, says fi��rm

Kapil Wadhawan

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

The benchmark BSE Sensex surrendered earlygains on Wednesday to endin the negative terrain aftera 600point swing amid escalating crossborder tension between India and Pakistan. Investor sentimenttook a beating after Pakistani fi��ghter jets violated Indian air space in Poonchand Nowshera sectors, experts said.

After opening on a positive note, the 30share Sensex swung over 600 pointsas it turned volatile triggered by acrossthemarketselling by participants, fi��nally settling 68.28 points,or 0.19%, lower at35,905.43. The gauge hadlost 239.67 points on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the rupeedived 17 paise to close at71.24 against the dollar.

LoC tension:Sensexextends losses


Mumbai

SpiceJet Chaiman and Managing Director Ajay Singhsaid on Wednesday that theaviation sector was reelingunder high costs because ofpoor “leadership” and decision making.

“The issue we had whenwe started SpiceJet in 2005seems to be the same we hadin 2018. Clearly, this needs tochange. We have this bad habit of shooting ourselves inthe foot, this needs to stop.We need to take quick decisions,” Mr. Singh said at a CIIevent. He cited the delay ingetting aviation turbine fuelunder the GST regime as anexample.

“We struggled with thatforever,” he added. “Our civilaviation policy says that itsobjective is to reduce cost,we are actually going on ad

ding costs. I think this is amindset issue. People, politicians and bureaucrats, stillbelieve mistakenly that thisis something airlines can afford…I think we our shooting ourselves in the foot,”Mr. Singh said.

He said that ‘very little’

was being done to ‘encourage airlines to grow profi��tably’ and this needed to beaddressed. “It can’t be thatyou have to wait 18 years fora simple little reform. It justshows poor leadership andlow priority given to the[aviation] sector.”

‘Poor decisions harming aviation’SpiceJet chairman points to delay in bringing aviation turbine fuel under GST

Many a slip: Our aviation policy says its objective is to reduce cost, but we are actually adding costs, says Ajay Singh. * AFP

JAGRITI CHANDRA

NEW DELHI

The government has detected ₹��20,000 crore worth GSTevasion so far this fi��scal andwill take more steps to checkfrauds and increase compliance, a senior tax offi��cersaid on Wednesday.

Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs Member(Investigation) John Josephsaid that between AprilFebruary 201819, GST evasionworth ₹��20,000 crore hadbeen detected, of which₹��10,000 crore was recovered. He said the tax offi��cers on Tuesday detected afake invoice worth ₹��1,500crore, which was used toclaim illegal GST credit of₹��75 crore. “We have alreadyrecovered ₹��25 crore and therest is on the way,” he said.

Stating that only 510% ofthe businesses are “blacksheep” and bring bad nameto the industry, he said thegovernment would takemore measures to increasecompliance, and act againstevaders in a way such thatgenuine businesses do notsuff��er. The departmentwould soon call a meeting ofthe representatives of thereal estate sector to under

stand transition issues facedby the sector post reductionin GST rates, he said at anAssocham event here. TheGST Council, earlier thisweek, cut tax rates on underconstruction apartments and aff��ordable housing to 5% and 1%respectively.

However, builders will notbe able to claim credit forthe taxes paid on inputs,such as steel, cement. Theearlier GST rate on underconstruction apartmentsand aff��ordable housing was12% and 8% with input taxcredit (ITC), respectively.

On demand for giving ITCrelief to builders of the underconstruction fl��ats, hesaid the sector would have toraise the issue with the Urban Development Ministry.

Talks soon on transition issues faced by realty sector Press Trust of India

New Delhi

* GETTYIMAGES/ISTOCK

Govt. detects ₹��20,000 cr. GSTevasion, ₹��10,000 cr. recovered

SpiceJet announced thelaunch of daily directfl��ights to the newlybuilt Veer Surendra SaiAirport in Jharsugudain Odisha from Delhi,Hyderabad and Kolkataunder regionalconnectivity schemeUDAN. This will be theairline’s tenthdestination underUDAN. The operationsto Jharsuguda willbegin from March 31.

SpiceJet’stenth UDANdestination

Special

Correspondent

MUMBAI

The government on Wednesday said it had brought 42nonscheduled anticancerdrugs under price control,capping trade margin at30%, which would reducetheir retail prices by up to85%.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority(NPPA) has invoked extraordinary powers in public interest, under Para 19 of theDrugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 to bring 42 nonscheduled anticancer drugsunder price control throughtrade margin rationalisation,an offi��cial release said.

“Invoking paragraph 19 ofDPCO, 2013, the governmenthereby puts a cap on trademargin of 30% and directsmanufacturers to fi��x their re

tail price based on price atfi��rst point of sale of product... of the nonscheduledformulations containing anyof the 42 drugs,” the Department of Pharmaceuticals(DOP) said in a notifi��cation.

105 brandsAs per data available withNPPA, the MRP for 105brands will be reduced up to85%, entailing minimum savings of ₹��105 crore to consumers, it added. Currently, 57anticancer drugs are underprice control as scheduledformulations. Now, 42 nonscheduled anticancer medicines have been selected forprice regulation by restricting trade margin on the selling price (MRP) up to 30%,the notifi��cation said.

“These would cover 72formulations and 355 brands

as per data available withNPPA. More data is beingcollected from hospitals andmanufacturers to fi��nalise thelist,” it added.

The drug manufacturershave been given seven daysto recalculate the prices andinform the NPPA, state drugcontrollers, stockists and retailers, it said. The revisedprices shall come into eff��ectfrom March, 8, it added.

The NPPA currently fi��xesprices of drugs placed in theNational List of EssentialMedicines (NLEM) underScheduleI of the DPCO. Sofar, around 1,000 drugs havebeen brought under pricecontrol under the initiative.

Nonscheduled drugs areallowed an increase of up to10% in prices every year,which is monitored by theNPPA.

Centre brings 42 non-scheduledcancer drugs under price control Move by NPPA may reduce retail prices by up to 85%


New Delhi

The government has extended the deadline to impose retaliatory customs duties on 29 U.S. products,including almonds, walnutand pulses, till April 1.

As discussions are underway between India and theU.S. for a proposed tradepackage, the Commerce Ministry had asked its fi��nancecounterpart to again deferthe implementation of anotifi��cation to impose highduties on U.S. products.

A notifi��cation said thatimplementation of increased customs duty onspecifi��ed imports originating in USA has been postponed from March 2, 2019to April 1, 2019.

In June 2017, India decided to impose retaliatory tariff��s after the U.S. imposed

high customs duties on certain steel and aluminiumproducts. As part of the imposition of higher importduties, New Delhi has notifi��ed higher tariff��s on severalproducts. While import duty on walnut has been hikedto 120% from 30% currently,duty on chickpeas, Bengalgram (chana) and masur dalwill be raised to 70% from30% currently.

India delays retaliatorytariff��s levy on U.S. goodsDefers implementation till April 1


New Delhi

Regulator SEBI plans to putin place a stricter framework for providing exemption from open off��er requirements with respect tocorporate debt restructuring activities, a senior offi��cial said.

The markets watchdoghas proposed that relaxation might not be given toentities other than lendersin certain conditions, aswell as do away with the reference to ‘competent authority’ in the context of exemptions provided underits takeover regulations.

Board meetingThe proposals are expectedto be taken up by the SEBIboard at its meeting scheduled to be held on March 1,the offi��cial said.

Under SEBI norms, an entity has to make an open off��er in case its shareholdinggoes beyond a certainthreshold. The open off��erexemptions under Issue ofCapital and Disclosure Requirements (ICDR) regulations as well as under takeover norms could becontinued for allotment ofshares to lenders pursuantto debt conversion in accordance with RBI norms, theoffi��cial said.

Another proposal is thatthe open off��er exemptionmight not be made availableto persons (other than lenders), the offi��cial added.

Since the reference of‘competent authority’ hasnot been defi��ned, thewatchdog is planning to delete it with respect to openoff��er exemption under takeover regulations.

SEBI to amend norms for corporate debt rejig Open off��er exemptions to get stricter


New Delhi


#70929


DELHI THE HINDU


BUSINESS

IN BRIEF

Wipro to sell Workday,Cornerstone On Demand NEW DELHI

IT services major Wipro said

it would sell its Workday and

Cornerstone On Demand

business to Illinoisbased

Alight for cash consideration

of up to $110 million.

Following the closing of its

10year agreement, that was

announced in September,

Alight and Wipro continue to

explore additional strategic

opportunities and possible

alignment of portfolios,

Wipro said in a regulatory

fi��ling. PTI

Croma plans to have 130 stores by MarchCHENNAI

Tataowned Infi��niti Retail

Ltd, which owns the Croma

electronics retail chain, is

planning to run both large

and small format stores to

cater to diff��erent segment of

households. “We started the

retail chain for consumer

electronics and durables with

a large format stores of

10,000 sq.ft. each,” said

Ritesh Ghosal, chief

marketing offi��cer. “By March

2019, we will have 130 stores

across the country.”

Shriram Properties ties up with Kotak IndiaCHENNAI

Shriram Properties Ltd. (SPL)

has partnered with Kotak

India Aff��ordable Housing

FundI (KIAHF) for

development of its next

phase of aff��ordable housing

project in Kolkata named

Shriram Grand 2. KIAHF, an

aff��ordable housing fund that

is managed by Kotak

Investment Advisors Ltd. and

CDC Group, would invest up

to ₹��40 crore. This housing

project will have over 3,000

units and aggregate saleable

area of over 2.1 million sq.ft.

IT industry body NationalAssociation of Software andServices Companies (Nasscom) is working closely withthe U.S. government tochange its perception thatIndian fi��rms and workerstake away most of the jobs inthe U.S. information technology sector.

According to Nasscom, Indian IT companies take lessthan 12% of the 65,000 H1Bvisas. More than 70% of thevisas are given to Indians,but not to Indian IT fi��rms.“There is a shortage of talentin the U.S. and Indians or Indian IT fi��rms do not takeaway U.S. jobs. We are asking

for a levelplaying fi��eld andnot for special treatment atall,” Nasscom chairman Rishad Premji told The Hindu.

According to data with theU.S. Department of State and

Department of Labour, therewill be a shortage of over twomillion digitally skilled workers by 2020 in the U.S.

Nasscom has roped inSpencer Abraham, chairman

and CEO of strategic consulting fi��rm, The AbrahamGroup, to change the perception of the U.S. government towards the $180 billion Indian IT industry.

Exciting yearAccording to Nasscom, 201819 was an exciting year forthe industry, as the exportsector crossed $137 billion ofrevenue and marginallygrew above Nasscom’s guidance of 79%. Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh said,“There was a 9.2% growth inIT exports. So, we are doingphenomenally well in all thecountries that we are in andwe are expanding our footprint across the world.”

Nasscom wants U.S. to providelevelplaying fi��eld for Indian fi��rms‘Indian IT companies get less than 12% of H1B visas, not taking away U.S. jobs’

Short of hands: U.S. will fall short of over two million digitallyskilled staff�� by 2020, a government data show. * SHAJU JOHN

Piyush Pandey

Mumbai

The Chennai Bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed initiation of insolvencyproceedings against The Jeypore Sugar Company Ltd.

The petition was fi��led byIDBI Bank Ltd. for nonpayment of dues to the tune of₹��183.75 crore as on October1, 2018.

According to the petition,the company availed loansto the tune of ₹��165.37 crorefrom the bank in the form ofworking capital and rupeeterm loans, among others.

IDBI Bank has classifi��edthe loans as nonperformingassets (NPA) on June 30,2015.

As per the petition, the

company had off��ered a onetime settlement proposal,which did not materialise.

The company argued thatthe petition should be dismissed on grounds that thedebt claim was barred bylimitation as the default occurred on June 30, 2015 andwhereas the petition wasfi��led on October 24, 2018.

NCLT rejected the argument and ordered the initiation of insolvency proceedings. It had appointed V.Venkata Sivakumar as interim insolvency professionaland also declared a moratorium. Under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code, amaximum of 270 days are given for fi��nding a suitable resolution plan for revival ofthe fi��rm.

NCLT order follows IDBI Bank petition


CHENNAI

Jeypore Sugar comesunder insolvency action

Leading real estate agentAnarock Property Consultants has announced thesuccessful closure of 300mandates to market residential projects across Indiaand in the Gulf. The cumulative market value of the inventory sold to date is morethan ₹��22,000 crore, thecompany said.

300 residential projects“Anarock has strategicallypartnered with over 150 topdevelopers across 13 Indiancities and in the Gulf. Themarket value of the overallmandated inventory wehave sold since our launchin 2017 exceeds ₹��22,000crore across 300 residential

projects,” Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock PropertyConsultants, said.

Interestingly, 11,000 unitsof these, with a value of₹��10,000 crore, were sold inthe current fi��nancial year(FY1819) itself. The combination of focused experienced brokerage and ourbespoke technology hasbeen a winning combination,” he added

The company currentlysells housing inventory at arate of 1,000 apartments(approx. 1,000,000 sq.ft.)per month.

The cities which haveyielded the highest and fastest closure of projects mandated exclusively are Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune,Chennai and Delhi NCR.

Anarock sells propertyworth ₹��22,000 croreIn partnership in 13 Indian cities, Gulf


MUMBAI

Music streaming serviceSpotify on Wednesday announced its foray into the Indian market, where it willcompete with players suchas JioSaavn, Amazon Musicand Gaana.

The Swedish fi��rm said itwould off��er local and international music for Indian listeners with the app availableto download for free. Userscan also upgrade to SpotifyPremium for ₹��59 onwardsper month.

Talking about the opportunity in the Indian market,Spotify India managing director Amarjit Singh Batrasaid a 2018 report by IMI andIFPI stated that an averageIndian Internet user spent

21.5 hours listening to musicper week.

“The same report alsosays that the income fromsubscription audio streamstripled from 2017, to ₹��220crore; that number gives asense of how Indians arestarting to consume musicdigitally,” he told PTI.

While the national number of people paying for

music was small, statisticsshowed that there was defi��nitely a growing section ofusers, who were seeing thevalue in subscriptions, hesaid.

“...we believe the marketis maturing and ready totransition from a priceconscious to a valueformoneymindset,” he added.

Spotify said it had redesigned the music experiencefor India with exclusive features such as multilanguagemusic recommendationsand city playlists that listedout trending music in various cities.

Users would get access tomore than 40 million songsand 3 billion playlists acrossIndian and internationalmusic, he added.

Spotify enters India, to takeon Amazon Music, JioSaavn Users can access over 40 million songs and 3 bn playlists Press Trust of India

New Delhi

India Inc. took to Twitter toapplaud the action of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in striking terror camps across theLine of Control (LoC) in Pakistan, in the aftermath ofthe Pulwama ambush.

“We congratulate the PMand the IAF for the successful air strikes on the terroristtraining camps which Pakistan has claimed never existed! India is proud of the fi��rmaction taken in retaliation tothe suicide attack on our soldiers a few days ago,” RatanTata, Chairman of Tata Sons,tweeted.

“The message from ourarmed forces is strong andresonates the pulse of theworld’s most populous democracy. The nation continues to stand fi��rmly behind

our armed forces. #JaiHind#IndianAirForce,” AdaniGroup chairman GautamAdani said in his tweet.

‘Feat in itself ’Mahindra Group chairmanAnand Mahindra tweeted,“And they returned safely...which is a feat in itself. Let uspray for the continued safetyof those who protect us.”

RPG Group chairmanHarsh Goenka’s tweet read;“#IndianAirForce showmoves from Bangalore to#Balakot. #SwachhBharatcampaign moves to#SwachhPakistan. ‘Josh’converts to start of end ofJaish. #SurgicalStrike2.”

“We salute & stand fi��rmwith the valour of our security forces for their sustainedcommitment to protect ourfreedom For the families ofthe #Pulwama martyrs asmall token of gratitudefrom everyone,” AdityaGhosh, CEO India and SouthAsia, OYO Hotels andHomes, tweeted.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited chairman Naveen Jindal off��ered salute to the Indian Air Force and the teamthat carried out the airstrikes in Balakot.

India Inc. lauds Operation Balakot Proud of action in retaliation to suicide attack: Ratan Tata

Piyush Pandey

MUMBAI

Ratan Tata


#70929

For the brave, pressure is aprivilege.

For the Indian team thatwas reeling under considerable pressure after the goldmedals and Olympic quotashad dried up after the fi��rsttwo days, it was a memorable climax as Manu Bhakerand Saurabh Chaudhary lifted the sagging spirits toclinch the mixed air pistolgold in the shooting WorldCup that concluded at theDr. Karni Singh Range, Tughlakabad, on Wednesday.

It was the second gold forthe 17yearold Saurabh, theAsian Games champion, after the individual gold in airpistol earlier. For Manu, itwas a fi��ghting performanceas she handled the crunchwith poise, releasing thebest shots, and cancellingher aim and starting afreshwhenever required, despitethe possibility of getting intotime pressure.

Even though it was Saurabh who pulled the teambetter and delivered the big10s to help the team surge,Manu played her part wellwhen Saurabh himself shotthe 8s and the 9s in the gripping fi��nal.

The Indian team logged483.4 points to beat ChineseJiang Ranxin and Zhang Bowen comprehensively by 5.7points.

After winning her fi��rstmedal in the third event, Manu was understandablyrelieved.

“At last, there is a medalfor me. I am happy that wecould win gold for India. It isa special moment as we canhear the national anthem,”said Manu.

She had placed fi��fth insports pistol and had missedthe fi��nal by one point in airpistol.

The second Indian teamof Heena Sidhu and Abhishek Verma shot 770, with 384and 386, and missed the fi��nal by two points. It was a remarkable fi��ghtback for theseasoned Heena after thedisappointment of the individual event.

In mixed air rifl��e, Anjum

Moudgil and Ravi Kumarshot 836.7 and missed the fi��nal by 0.2 point in a strongfi��eld of 54 teams, in whichthe Chinese bagged the gold.

The results: Mixed team airpistol: 1. India (Manu Bhaker,Saurabh Chaudhary) 483.4(778 EWR); 2. China (JiangRanxin, Zhang Bowen) 477.7(775); 3. Korea Kim Bomi, HanSeungwoo) 418.8 (773); 9. In-dia-A (Heena Sidhu, AbhishekVerma) 770.

Mixed team air rifl��e: 1. China(Zhao Ruozhu, Liu Yukun)503.6 WR (841.1); 2. Romania(Laura-Georgeta Coman, AlinGeorge Moldoveanu) 496.2(836.9); 3. Korea Keum Jihye-on, Choo Byounggil) 433.4(836.5); 7. India (Anjum Moud-gil, Ravi Kumar) 836.3; 25. In-dia-A (Apurvi Chandela, Dee-pak Kumar) 831.0.

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI

Special: Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary lifted saggingspirits to clinch the mixed air pistol gold in the shootingWorld Cup. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Manu and Saurabh bag goldSHOOTING WC

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

An extraordinary hundredfrom Glenn Maxwell powered Australia to a sevenwicket victory over India anda fi��rst T20 series win in thecountry.

Set a target of 191 in the second T20I at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, Australia rode onMaxwell’s unbeaten 113 (55b,7x4, 9x6) to sail home by seven wickets, with two balls tospare. The Victoria batsmanhas not always been treatedfairly by Australia’s selectorsbut this assault — studdedwith some of the cleanest hitsover the fence — was a demonstration of why he cannot be ignored for the WorldCup.

India struck early in therun chase, reducing Australiato 11 for two, but D’Arcy Shortand Maxwell dragged theirside back into the contest, adding 73 runs off�� 43 balls forthe third wicket. The hometeam replaced Mayank Markande and Umesh Yadav withVijay Shankar and SiddharthKaul, but it did not changethe fact that there were onlyfi��ve bowlers at Virat Kohli’sdisposal.

If one of his key personnelhad a bad day, the captainwould have no one else toturn to. As it turned out, Yuzvendra Chahal had a roughevening, fi��nishing with nonefor 47 from his four overs,and there were no alterna

tives. Short and Maxwellscored eff��ortlessly throughthe middle overs, before theformer was dismissed by Vijay Shankar for 40 (28b).

Costly ChahalMaxwell, though, would notbe stopped. With Peter Handscomb playing the perfectfoil, he went on the attack.Australia needed 60 off�� the fi��nal fi��ve overs, when Maxwellslammed successive sixes off��Chahal — the fi��rst over fi��neleg, the second reversesweptover third man — as the legspinner bled 16 runs. JaspritBumrah and Kaul had 44 todefend off�� the fi��nal four overs, but with Maxwell in suchform, there was little they

could do.At the heart of the Indian

innings was a rapid 100runpartnership (50 balls) for thefourth wicket between Kohliand M.S. Dhoni. The pair wasunited at the crease just asAustralia had begun applyingthe brakes in the middle overs; soon the fi��elding sidewould be scrambling for cover.

K.L. Rahul had given hisside a brisk start with a 26ball47, after India had beensent in, but the Karnatakabatsman's dismissalstemmed the fl��ow of runs.Shikhar Dhawan, who replaced Rohit Sharma in theside, was out for 14, held byMarcus Stoinis as he ran in

from the cover boundary; thecatch was referred to thethird umpire but the fi��elderwas deemed to have got hisfi��ngers under the ball.

There were no suchdoubts about Rishabh Pant’sdismissal, though. Frustratedby three dot balls, the Delhibatsman swiped at the nextdelivery, only to be caught bya diving Jhye Richardson,who had hared to his leftfrom longoff��. India had lostthree for 13 in 23 balls.

Dhoni’s laboured eff��ort inVisakhapatnam may havesparked some questions overhis place in this Indian T20side, but he demonstratedhere that he could still makean impact in the shortest format. Dhoni was severe onShort’s parttime leftarmspin, launching him twice into the secondtier on the leg

side, en route to his 40 (23b).Kohli had observed at the

toss that this pitch looked likethe ‘Bangalore wicket of old’,full of runs. He batted withgreat fl��uency, hitting throughthe line, trusting the bounce,and being violent on anything remotely loose.

Stunning shots Kohli played some stunningshots, including a hattrick ofsixes off�� Nathan CoulterNile:the fi��rst sent over deep midwicket with a fl��ick of thewrists, the second drivenbeyond extracover, and thethird again whipped over thelegside boundary. He remained unbeaten on 72(38b).

India had smashed 116runs off�� the last nine overs,including 91 off�� the last six,but it would not be enough.

The Maxwell show leaves India stunned as Australia sweeps series His unbeaten 113 came off�� just 55 deliveries; Kohli and Dhoni’s century stand to no avail

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

On fi��re: Glenn Maxwell simply tore into the Indian attack. * K. MURALI KUMAR

AUS IN INDIA

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal andmiddleorder batsman Vaibhav Kandpal, both aggressive lefthanders, notchedup a century each as Indiaunder19 continued to dominate South Africa on the second day of the warmupmatch at the Sports Hub, Kariyavattom, on Wednesday.

At close, the visitors werereeling at 50 for two in theirsecond innings, still needing193 more to avoid an inningsdefeat. India, resuming at112 for two, fi��nished with395 in its fi��rst essay.

Yashasvi, 81 overnight,fl��ourished yet again andheld the innings together af

ter the hosts lost three wickets for the addition of 65runs. Vaibhav, who joinedYashasvi at this stage,played perfect foil.

They added 90 for thesixth wicket before Montgomery, bringing himselfon, separated the pair byhaving Yashasvi (173, 220b,24x4, 1x6) caught off�� hisown bowling. Vaibhav, however, continued in thesame vein and galloped tothe threefi��gure mark,thanks to support from Anshul Khamboj and Manishi.His 120 off�� 170 deliveries had17 fours and two sixes.

The scores: South Africa 152and 50 for two in 21 overs(Matthew Montgomery 34 bat-ting) vs India 395 (YashasviJaiswal 173, Vaibhav Kandpal120, Lifa Ntanzi four for 79).

A. Vinod

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Joy! Yashasvi Jaiswal gives vent to his feelings afterreaching his hundred. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Yashasvi and Vaibhavtorment South Africa

U-19 ‘TEST’

India: K.L. Rahul c Richardson bCoulter-Nile 47 (26b, 3x4, 4x6),Shikhar Dhawan c Stoinis bBehrendorff 14 (24b, 1x4), ViratKohli (not out) 72 (38b, 2x4,

6x6), Rishabh Pant c Richardsonb Short 1 (6b), M.S. Dhoni cFinch b Cummins 40 (23b, 3x4,

3x6), Dinesh Karthik (not out) 8(3b, 2x4); Extras (lb-3, w-5): 8;Total (for four wkts. in 20overs): 190.

Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Rahul, 7.1overs), 2-70 (Dhawan, 9.2), 3-74(Pant, 10.5), 4-174 (Dhoni, 19.1).

Australia bowling: Behrendorff3-0-17-1, Richardson 4-0-45-0,Coulter-Nile 3-0-33-1, Cummins3-0-40-1, Zampa 4-0-23-0,Short 3-0-29-1.

Australia: D’Arcy Short c Rahul b

Vijay Shankar 40 (28b, 6x4),Marcus Stoinis b Kaul 7 (11b,

1x4), Aaron Finch c Dhawan b Vi-jay Shankar 8 (7b, 1x4), GlennMaxwell (not out) 113 (55b, 7x4,

9x6), Peter Handscomb (notout) 20 (18b, 1x4); Extras (lb-1,w-4, nb-1): 6; Total (for threewkts. in 19.4 overs): 194.

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Stoinis,2.2), 2-22 (Finch, 3.6), 3-95(Short, 11.1).

India bowling: Vijay Shankar 4-0-38-2, Bumrah 4-0-30-0, Kaul3.4-0-45-1, Chahal 4-0-47-0,Krunal 4-0-33-0.

Toss: Australia.

ManoftheMatch: Maxwell.

Australia won by seven wick-

ets with two balls to spare and

clinched series 2-0.

SCOREBOARD INDIA VS AUSTRALIA, SECOND T20I

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) on Wednesday assured the BCCI that ifneed arises, it will “upliftthe security based on advice of relevant agencies”to address India’s concernsduring the upcomingWorld Cup.

The discussion on security wasn’t part of the agenda but included on BCCI’sinsistence. The global bodysaid it was evaluating “riskassessment” as has beenthe norm for global events.

Will upliftsecurity, saysICC chief


Dubai

Former India cricketer S.Sreesanth on Wednesdaytold the Supreme Court thata life ban from the game istoo harsh a punishment.

“Life ban given to Mohd.Azharuddin (former Indiacaptain) was overturned,”senior advocate SalmanKhurshid, for Sreesanth,

told a Bench of Justices Ashoka Bhushan and K.M.Joseph.

Khurshid argued that despite the ban and losing thebest part of his career, Sreesanth has remained loyal tothe BCCI and wants to “reconnect” with the Board.

BCCI would begin its response in the case on February 28.

Life ban too harsh forSreesanth: counselKrishnadas Rajagopal

New Delhi

K.L. Rahul has stated that hisrecent time out of the Indianteam has “humbled” him,admitting that the off��fi��eldtroubles he faced were“hard” to deal with. Rahul,suspended by the BCCI in January returned for the Australia series after the suspension was provisionally lifted.He has been in fi��ne touch,scoring 50 and 47 in the twoT20Is.

“It has been a hard time,no doubt. Everyone has to gothrough diffi��cult times and itwas my time to go throughthat,” he said here on Wednesday.

“It has humbled me a littlebit. I obviously respect theopportunity I have got to

play for the country. It is thedream of every kid and I amno diff��erent.

“[I have learnt] just to value where I am and keepmaking the opportunitiescount, put my head downand keep working on mycricket...Things happen. Ithas been fourfi��ve years withteam India, I’ve learnt a lotabout the game, where Istand as a person andcricketer.”

Tough tourRahul had endured a diffi��culttour of Australia, which ended prematurely with his suspension. Upon returninghome he turned out for IndiaA and used his time withcoach Rahul Dravid to workon his batting.

“I got some time off�� frominternational cricket. I couldrefl��ect on what wasn’t goingright for me. Fortunately, Igot to play for India A. Somegames the pressure was a little less, so I could focus onmy skill and technique.

“I spent a lot of time withRahul Dravid, working on mygame and chatting aboutcricket. He helped me a lot inthe games I played for IndiaA. These games have helpedme,” he said.

Rahul was pleased to beback in the Indian side. “It’snice to be back with the boysand be back in blue,” he said.“I’m just happy that I havetasted a bit of success in thelast two games and my batting has come out prettywell.”

Humbled by time out of the side: RahulSays he used the period to fi��netune his game


Bengaluru

Finding his range: K.L. Rahul, returning for the T20I series,batted well in both games. * K. MURALI KUMAR

Roger Federer moved towithin three wins of a100th career title afterbeating Fernando Verdasco 63, 36, 63 to move intothe Dubai quarterfi��nals onWednesday.

In the doubles quarterfi��nal, Leander Paes and Benoit Paire lost to RajeevRam and Joe Salisbury 61,63.

Other results (round two):Hubert Hurkacz bt Kei Nishi-kori 7-5, 5-7, 6-2; Nikoloz Ba-silashvili bt Roberto BautistaAgut 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3.

Federeradvances


Dubai

Jos Buttler and Eoin Morganblazed centuries as Englandamassed 418 for six againstthe West Indies in the fourthODI on Wednesday.

Buttler led the way in arampaging innings of 150 off��just 77 balls with 12 sixes and13 fours while captain Morgan reached 103 off�� 88 deliveries with six sixes and eightfours.

Just a week after the WestIndies posted a new recordtally of 23 sixes for an ODIinnings, England surpassedthat number by one, Buttlerthrashing Brathwaite foranother huge hit over deepmidwicket before the big allrounder bowled him withthe next delivery.The scores: England 418 for six

in 50 overs (Jos Buttler 150,Eoin Morgan 103, Alex Hales82, Jonny Bairstow 56) vsWest Indies.

The Buttler did it!His 150 powers England to 418

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

ST. GEORGE’S (GRENADA)

Jos Buttler. * AFP

Smart and skilful bowlingwas the hallmark of the vastly experienced Jhulan Goswami and the perseveringShikha Pandey in the fi��rsttwo ODIs of the ICC Women’s Championship.

Bagging 11 wickets together, through bowled and legbefore dismissals, Jhulanand Shikha demonstratedthe value of bowlingstraight, giving breakthroughs while helping Indiaclinch the series. Indiawould now look forward towin the third and fi��nal matchon Thursday.

Jhulan is 35 and Shikha

29, and as newball operators, they have taken 57wickets in 20 matches, thebest ever by a pair of mediumpacers in the annals of Indian women’s cricket. Last

year, Jhulan bid adieu to T20in order to preserve herselftill the next World Cup.

Work ethicsAfter India’s second win onMonday, Shikha said thatshe had picked up a lotabout work ethics from Jhulan. “She is a seam bowlerand I am a swing bowler. Iam actually only trying tomatch. I have huge standards to meet.”

On the eve of the fi��nalODI, Jhulan acknowledgedthe contribution of Shikhasaying, “Well, I know Shikhafor almost 34 years. We areworking together and she isa very hardworking girl; sheis doing well at the momentand she should continuewith that.”

India looks to sweep series Last chance for England to make a point

G. Viswanath

Mumbai

ENG IN INDIA

Jhulan Goswami.* VIVEK BENDRE


#70929

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12560 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

A good ruler instils fear in the wicked and joy in the hearts ofthe righteous. This is explained elaborately in Vedanta Desika’s Subhashita Nivi, said M.K. Srinivasan in a discourse. Aruler may be furious in some cases, but if his ministers advocate reconciliation, then he must pay heed to them. He maybe eager for a fi��ght, but he must consult his ministers andavoid haste. A ruler should place proper persons in important posts. He must know who is worthy of being a confi��dante. A ruler who rewards those who guard state secrets,will be honoured by them. The very mention of a good ruler’s name will fi��ll the hearts of the virtuous with joy, and fi��llthe heart of the wicked with dread. A wise king will not betroubled by those who attempt to annoy him. He will brushaside their attempts as being insignifi��cant. A good ruler willnot lose his mental peace over problems placed in his path.He will treat these problems as if they are mere ant bites.The celestials reside in Mount Meru, which means Iravatham, the elephant of Indra, also lives there. Will the excretaof this elephant sully the Meru mountain? When in an aggressive mood, Iravatham will knock its head against themountain, and use its tusks to pierce the mountain.

Can these result in destruction of the mountain? Willthese actions of the elephant damage the mountain in anyway? From afar, they only appear like the playfulness andfrolicking of an elephant. A mountain is also called kshamAbhRt — supporter of the earth. A king too sustains his empire. So, he should be like the mountain, that remains unmoved by the elephant’s attacks on it. He should not beaff��ected by insignifi��cant matters. A person who is constantand fi��rm in his words and deeds will be respected by everyone.

FAITH

Firm and constant6 Advanced new creature

collared by freak (6)

7 Drug the geezer smuggled in

after social uprising (8)

8 Dreadful old sores

undetectable by Bill in the

U.S. (8)

11 Mostly uninspired cold white

wine (5)

15 Appetiser before lasagne? Not

quite (8)

16 Jointly managed depleted

uranium and fermium nucleus

with this mineral (8)

17 Has misgivings about

defective space suits missing

cores (8)

19 Direct or indirect loan shark

(8)

20 Deer sounds akin to cattle

cries (5)

22 Sweet Parisian goods (6)

24 Remains here after setback,

gutted and distraught (6)

27 Property right initially

unavailable for foreign

national (4)

28 Skirt, shirt you called for

repeatedly (4)

14 Mo gives it a go, in a manner

of speaking (5)

15 Brogues' distinctive features

(7)

18 South American maidens

besieged famous Red Indian

chiefs (7)

21 Palpitation suppressed by

smooth robber (5)

23 Venerated institution worried

about advancing bully (6,3)

25 Knights disturbing tranquillity

donning sackcloth and ashes

(7)

26 Repertoire of talents needing

special utensil (7)

29 Unplanned current spike?

(4236)

■ DOWN

1 Capable of ignoring our

patron's oddities! (2,2)

2 Extremely dry British channel

(4)

3 Discharge duty in pursuit of

revenge fi��nally (8)

4 Right of admission that's

enjoyed after 15 (6)

5 They refuse to pay queens from

Cardiff! (8)

(set by Skulldugger)

■ ACROSS

9 Drama troupe won't adapt

linguistic hybrid exemplifi��ed

by Bollywood (11,4)

10 Slower alternative: having

tubes tied (7)

12 Run away from Sun critic (7)

13 Clergies acting upset due to

this (9)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12561

Group A (Mulapadu): Jharkhand 197 for three in 20 overs(Ishan Kishan 52, Kumar Deobrat69 n.o., Anukul Roy 47 n.o.) btNagaland 143 for three in 20 overs (Abhishek Kaushik 31, Sedezhalie Rupero 38, Rongsen Jo

nathan 47). Jharkhand 4 (16),

Nagaland 0 (0).

Kerala 159 for seven in 20 overs (Vinoop Manoharan 52, Mohammed Azharuddeen 32) btJammu & Kashmir 65 in 14.2 overs (S. Midhun three for nine).

Kerala 4 (12), J&K 0 (8).

Delhi 175 for eight in 20 overs(Unmukt Chand 70, Dhruv Shorey 28, Lalit Yadav 31) bt Andhra143 in 19.3 overs (Ashwin Hebbar38, Shoaib Mohammed Khan 26n.o., Subodh Bhati four for 27).

Delhi 4 (16), Andhra 0 (4).

Group B (Surat): Vidarbha161 for six in 20 overs (ShalabhShrivastava 56, Rushabh Rathod38 n.o.) bt Meghalaya 129 forfour in 20 overs (Gurinder Singh

56 n.o.). Vidarbha 4 (16),

Meghalaya 0 (0).

Tamil Nadu 138 for nine in 20overs (M. Vijay 77, Ankit Mainithree for 29) lost to Himachal139 for three in 19 overs (Prashant Chopra 68 n.o., Ekant Sen

35). Himachal 4 (12), TN 0

(8).

Gujarat 199 for four in 20 overs (Priyank Panchal 78, DhruvRaval 36, Axar Patel 29 n.o., Piyush Chawla 41 n.o.) bt Bihar 116for seven in 20 overs (KeshavKumar 61 n.o., Arzan Nagwas

walla four for 15). Gujarat 4

(16), Bihar 0 (0).

Group C (Indore): Railways175 for fi��ve in 20 overs (MrunalDevdhar 43, Pratham Singh 89,Tushar Deshpande three for 44)

bt Mumbai 118 in 18.1 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 38, Ashish Ya

dav four for 32). Railways 4

(16), Mumbai 0 (16).

Goa 196 for three in 20 overs(Amit Verma 109 n.o., KeenanVaz 32, Suyash Prabhudessai 46n.o.) lost to Madhya Pradesh 197for six in 19.4 overs (Naman Ojha36, Parth Sahani 68, Rishabh

Chouhan 28). MP 4 (8), Goa 0

(4).

Sikkim 90 for eight in 20 overs (Milind Kumar 37) lost toPunjab 95 for one in 10.5 overs

(Shubman Gill 70 n.o.). Punjab

4 (4), Sikkim 0 (0).

Group D (Cuttack): Assam142 for nine in 20 overs (Sibsankar Roy 47, Jitumoni Kalita 31n.o., Pappu Roy four for 21) lostto Odisha 143 for three in 16.5overs (Anurag Sarangi 43 n.o.,

Biplab Samantaray 49). Odisha

4 (12), Assam 0 (12).

Chhattisgarh 171 for three in20 overs (Rishabh Tiwari 33,Harpreet Singh Bhatia 79, Amandeep Khare 45 n.o.) lost to Karnataka 175 for six in 19.2 overs(Karun Nair 35, J. Suchith 34, R.

Vinay Kumar 34 n.o.). Karnata-

ka 4 (20), Chhattisgarh 0

(12).

Haryana 205 for two in 20 overs (Himanshu Rana 25, Guntashveer Singh 100 n.o., Chaitanya Bishnoi 33, Sumit Kumar 41)bt Mizoram 166 for fi��ve in 20 overs (Taruwar Kohli 63, Akhil Raj

put 59). Haryana 4 (12), Mizo-

ram 0 (0).

Bengal 234 for six in 20 overs(Wriddhiman Saha 129, Abhimanyu Easwaran 31, Vivek Singh 49,Akhilesh Sahani three for 36) btArunachal Pradesh 127 for four in20 overs (Techi Doria 43, Kshitiz

Sharma 54 n.o.). Bengal 4 (12),

Arunachal Pradesh 0 (0).

Group E (New Delhi): Tripura 79 for nine in 17 overs (ChamaMilind three for 11) lost to Hyderabad 80 for two in 13.3 overs

(Tanmay Agarwal 38 n.o.). Hyd-

erabad 4 (4), Tripura 0 (0).

Uttarakhand 89 in 18.1 overs(Rajat Bhatia 28, Vaibhav SinghPanwar 25, Satyajeet Bachhavfour for 18) lost to Maharashtra90 for no loss in 8.2 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 28 n.o., Rahul Tri

pathi 51 n.o.). Maharashtra 4

(16), Uttarakhand 0 (16).

Pondicherry 126 for fi��ve in 20overs (D. Rohit 37, Paras Dogra41) lost to Baroda 128 for six in19.4 overs (Kedar Devdhar 51).

Baroda 4 (12), Pondicherry 0

(4).

Uttar Pradesh 138 for fi��ve in20 overs (Samarth Singh 70, Rinku Singh 56 n.o.) bt Services 137for six in 20 overs (Rahul SinghGahlaut 27, Rajat Paliwal 30, Vi

kas Hathwala 39 n.o.). UP 4

(16), Services 0 (12).

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

\ MUSHTAQ ALI SCORES \

Group A (Mulapadu): Kerala vsNagaland; J&K vs Manipur;Jharkhand vs Andhra.

Group B (Surat): Meghalaya vsBihar; Himachal vs Rajasthan; TamilNadu vs Vidarbha.

Group C (Indore): Railways vsSikkim; Punjab vs Goa; Mumbai vsSaurashtra.

Group D (Cuttack): Assam vsHaryana; Chhattisgarh vs Bengal;Odisha vs Karnataka; Mizoram vsArunachal Pradesh.

Group E (New Delhi): Pondicherry vs Tripura; Uttarakhand vs Uttar Pradesh; Hyderabad vs Services; Baroda vs Maharashtra.

THURSDAY’S MATCHES

Opener Unmukt Chand’sstrokefi��lled knock (70, 35b,4x4, 6x6) and an impressivespell by mediumpacer Subodh Bhati (four for 27), Delhirecorded a 32run win overAndhra in the Syed MushtaqAli Trophy T20 cricketchampionship league matchat Mulapadu Cricket Complex here on Wednesday.

Electing to bat, Delhi lostopener Hiten Dalal (0) topacer Ayyappa Bandaru inthe fi��rst over before Unmuktand Dhruv Shorey (28, 21b, 3x 4, 1 x 6) put on 74 runs forthe second wicket to keepAndhra bowlers at bay.

Later on, Lalit Yadav (31,19b, 1 x 4, 2 x 6) propped thetotal with a breezy knock.

In reply, once pacer IshantSharma forced Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari to snickto wicketkeeper Anuj Rawatin the fi��rst over, Andhra wasnever really in the hunt losing wickets at regular intervals. The only notable contribution came from AshwinHebbar (38, 29b, 1x4, 1x6).

This was Delhi’s fourthwin in fi��ve games while, Andhra suff��ered third defeat infour matches. In another

match, Kerala scored an emphatic, 94run win over Jammu & Kashmir for its thirdwin in four matches.

Jharkhand notched up it’sfourth consecutive win when

it defeated Nagaland by 54runs.

Captain Ishan Kishan (52,39b, 6x4, 2x6) and KumarDeborah (69 not out, 32b,5x4, 6x6) scored breezy half

centuries and Anukul Roychipped with a quick fi��re unbeaten 47 (23b, 4x4, 3x6)during a 57run stand in 52balls with Ishan to help Delhipost 175 for eight.

Unmukt, Bhati star for DelhiKerala puts it past Jammu & Kashmir; Jharkhand too has it easy

Sports Bureau

Mulapadu

Fluent knock: Unmukt Chand’s strokefi��lled knock 70 helped Delhi breeze past Andhra.* FILE PHOTO

MUSHTAQ ALI

New Leicester managerBrendan Rodgers watchedon from the stands as theFoxes beat Brighton 21,while Newcastle pulledfurther clear of the relegation battle by defeatingBurnley on Tuesday.

Rodgers was confi��rmed asClaude Puel’s successor justbefore kickoff�� at the KingPower after dramaticallyleaving Celtic despite beingon course for a third straightdomestic treble in Scotland.

The Northern Irishmansaw what his new side is capable of as Demarai Gray andJamie Vardy put the host intoa 20 lead before Davy Propper pulled a goal back.

“I spoke to them aboutthe incoming manager andjust said we had to concentrate on the game. He’s giventhe players a boost. He saidhe’s excited to get started,”said Leicester’s caretakermanager Mike Stowell.

“It’s been a diffi��cult season on and off�� the pitch but Ithink we should be seventhfor the quality we have.

“Today’s win broke fourdefeats on the spin so hopefully the shackles are off�� because there’s still plenty ofgames to play —let’s look upwards not down.”

However, Brighton’salarming slide towards the

bottom three continued as itcould not fi��nd an equaliserand now has not won in seven league games.

Newcastle is headed inthe other direction as onceagain it was inspired by theperformance of record signing Miguel Almiron to endBurnley’s eightgame unbeaten run with a 20 victory.

Fabian Schar’s stunninglongrange eff��ort put RafaelBenitez’s men in front beforeSean Longstaff�� scored hisfi��rst league goal for the clubto give Newcastle a commanding halftime lead itnever looked like surrendering. “It is amazing to be playing every week, it was mydream as a young boy,” saidNewcastle native Longstaff��.

“There is something diff��erent about night games at St.James’ Park. The atmosphere is the best in the world, Igot lost in the goal. It wasamazing.”

Cardiff�� remains just apoint above the relegationzone as Everton infl��icted asecond heavy home defeaton the Welsh side in fi��ve dayswith a 30 win to boost itsconfi��dence ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derbyagainst Liverpool.

Gylfi�� Sigurdsson scoredtwice either side of halftimebefore Dominic CalvertLewin rounded off�� a badlyneeded win for managerMarco Silva in stoppagetime. Huddersfi��eld remainsrock bottom, but did secureits fi��rst win under Jan Siewert thanks to Steve Mounie’s91stminute winner to beatWolves 10.

The results: Premier League:Cardiff�� 0 lost to Everton 3 (Sigurdsson 41, 66, CalvertLewin90+2); Huddersfi��eld 1 (Mounie90+1) bt Wolves 0; Leicester 2(Gray 10, Vardy 63) bt Brighton 1(Propper 66); Newcastle 2 (Schar24, Longstaff�� 38) bt Burnley 0.

Newcastle halts Burnley’s unbeaten run


London

Goal! Jamie Vardy gets on the scoresheet for Leicester City.* REUTERS

Leicester beats Brighton

EURO LEAGUES

Qualifi��er Kristina Milenkovic of Switzerland beatSowjanya Bavisetti 62, 36,62 in the fi��rst round of the$15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Turkeyon Wednesday.Other results: First round:$25,000 ITF women, Osaka,Japan: NaLae Han (Kor) &Peangtarn Plipuech (Tha) btRobu Kajitani (Jpn) & RutujaBhosale 64, 61.$15,000 ITF women, Nan-chang, China: Xu Liu Sun(Chn) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 62, 60. Doubles:Jiahui Chen & Ziyue Sun (Chn)bt Ho Ching wu (Hkg) & Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 60,62.

Sowjanya outSports Bureau

Antalya (Turkey)

Real Kashmir and East Bengal meet in a crucial ILeague match to be held atthe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.

With both teams lockedon 33 points, it is importantto win this contest to stay incontention for the title,which, as of now, looks fi��rmly placed in the lap of Chennai City, sitting on top of thetable with 40 points from 18matches.

Real Kashmir coach, David Robertson said, “We are

in a good momentum, getting the results, playingwell. Both the teams want toplay and win.

“It's been a fantastic journey, unbeaten away fromhome. No better way tokeep the benchmark byplaying against EastBengal.”

East Bengal head coachAlejandro noted, “Whenyou play again in a shortspan of time less than 72hours, it is not enough to gethigh quality from ourplayers, but we are fully motivated and almost recovered from the last match.We are ready to play tomorrow.”

Real vs EB — lot at stake


NEW DELHI

I-LEAGUE

Jamshedpur FC bowed out ofthe ISL with a win as itdowned the current leaderBengaluru FC 51 in its fi��nalleague fi��xture here onWednesday.

The host gained from a series of successful attacks inthe second half where itscored four in a pan of sevenminutes to complete it biggest winning margin of theseason.

BFC went ahead in the fi��rstquarter of the action througha goal from ThongkosiemHaokip and then saw Francisco Marcos’ penalty savedmidway through the action.

The host made the turnaround in the injury time ofthe fi��rst half when AugustineFernandes found the equaliser.

Michael Soosairaj tookJamshedpur in the lead in the54th minute before PabloMorgado scored twice in twominutes and Carlos Calvocompleted the scoring process in the 61st minute.

BFC was reduced to 10men in the 68th minutewhen its defender GursimratSingh Gill was sent off�� aftercollecting his secondbooking.

BFC, which left the nucleus of its side back homepreparing for the semifi��nals,

fi��elded four Bteam players ascoach Carles Cuadrat madeeight changes in the side.

Despite the loss, BFC fi��nished on top of the league forthe second successive season, with 34 points from 18matches.

Jamshedpur fi��nished fi��fthwith 27 points from 18 matches to end another season ofdisappointment. It qualifi��edto the main draw of the SuperCup, which comes up laternext month.

The result: Jamshedpur FC 5(Augustine Fernandes 45+2, Michael Soosairaj 54, Pablo Morgado 56, 57, Carlos Calvo 61) btBengaluru FC 1 (ThongkosiemHaokip 16).

JFC thrashes BFCAmitabha Das Sharma

Jamshedpur

Tata Football Academy,the premier footballschool of the country, is inexpansion mode afterannouncing a tieup withLa Liga giant AtleticoMadrid.

This is good news forthe latest generation ofaspiring stars as theAcademy looks to evolve anew standard of youthdevelopment in acurriculum to bedeveloped by its Spanishpartner.

“Now it is for us tomove to the next stage andfor that we are looking forsupport from anestablished academy fromEurope. That is the reasonwe tied up with Atletico.We will have a fulltimecoach and his supportteam from Spain willsupervise the TFAcurriculum and the youthdevelopment system putin place by us,” said MukulChoudhari, CEO ofJamshedpur FC and chiefof sports excellencecentres of Tata Steel.

“Atletico, which has oneof the best academies inthe world, will off��ertechnical andadministrative inputs. Weare looking to take the bestfrom them. That may also

mean enhancing thepresent infrastructure ifwe feel so,” he said.

There will also be aselection of TFA traineesbeing absorbed to theAtletico Madrid academy,informed Choudhari.

Big contributionThe academy stands tallfor its seminalcontribution to Indianfootball over the past threedecades, having seen morethan 200 players making itto the National side. “Mostof the academies beinginstituted by the ISL clubshave reached out to us,and have taken inspirationand advice from us,” saidChoudhari.

Where does football’syouth development systemstand in the country now?“We are putting a lot ofthrust on coach educationso that we not have toimport coaches in thefuture. We have a longroad to travel if we wantthe kind of developmentwork happening in theclubs around Europe. Wehave a lot of catching up todo as the youthdevelopment system wenttotally missing in Indianfootball even though it hasbeen played in the countryfor over a century,” saidChoudhari.

Looking to take the bestfrom Atletico: JFC CEOAmitabha Das Sharma

JAMSHEDPUR

Professional domestic golfreceived a muchneededshot in the arm with TataSteel coming in as the titlesponsor of the ProfessionalGolf Tour of India (PGTI).

As per the agreementsigned by Tata Steel’s vicepresident Sanjiv Paul andPGTI CEO Uttam SinghMundy here on Wednesday, the deal is for threeyears.

At present, Tata Steel isassociated with the yearending event that off��ers ₹��1crore in prizemoney. Following the agreement, thetitlesponsor of the Tour is,at least, expected to holdthe year’s richest prizemoney event in 2019.

Last year, the Take Solutionsponsored Jeev MilkhaSingh Invitational event inChandigarh off��ered ₹��1.5crore to be the biggest onthe Tour.

Tata Steel could be expected to contribute significantly to domestic golf asit does for other sports if itssustained support to football, archery, chess, etc., isanything to go by.

Uttam and Sanjiv assured that the partnershipwould make several “valueadditions” to the Tour,particularly to the players.

Tata Steel isPGTI sponsor

Rakesh Rao

New Delhi


#70929

SPORTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


New Zealand vsBangladesh: 1st Test, SS Se-lect 1 & 2 (SD & HD), 3.30a.m.NBA: Sony Ten 1 (SD & HD),6.30 a.m.Syed Mushtaq Ali T20: StarSports 2 (SD & HD), 9 a.m. &1.30 p.m.Afghanistan vs Ireland: 1stODI, DSport, 1 p.m.Dubai Open: Sony ESPN (SD& HD), 4.30 p.m. ILeague: Star Sports 3, 5p.m.ISL: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD),7.30 p.m.

TV PICKS

Ghosal entersquarterfi��nalsCHICAGO:

Saurav Ghosal made his way

into the quarterfinal with a

hard fought win over Wales

player Joel Makin in the PSA

World squash championship

here on Tuesday. The 11th

seeded Indian won 11-13, 11-7,

11-7, 13-11. In the fourth

game, Saurav was down 5-8

and Makin looked all over.

However, experience helped

the Indian as he clawed back

earned three match balls

before ensuring a win.

Indian women lose to Uzbekistan in Turkish Cup ALANYA (TURKEY)

The Indian women’s football

team put up a valiant fight

before going down 1-0 to

Uzbekistan in the first match

of the Turkish Cup on

Wednesday. An early goal by

Burhanova Malika (fourth

minute) proved the match-

winner. Though the Indian

women played more

aggressively in the second

half, with Dangmei Grace

using her long-range

shooting abilities, they

couldn’t score. PTI

Siakam and Leonard lead Celtics routNEW YORK

Pascal Siakam and Kawhi

Leonard led the way as

Toronto Raptors kept up the

pressure on Eastern

Conference leader Milwaukee

on Tuesday with a 118-95

rout of Boston Celtics.Other results: Knicks 108 btMagic 103; Nuggets 121 btThunder 112. AFP

IN BRIEF

Dharun Ayyasamy made ittwointwo, winning the400m hurdles in the secondleg of the Indian Grand Prixhere on Wednesday and also securing qualifi��cation forthe Asian Championships inthe process.

Ayyasamy clocked 49.94s— the qualifying time was50s — to fi��nish ahead of Tamil Nadu statemates Santhosh Kumar and M. Ramachandran, improving on his50.05 performance in Patiala four days back.

Also achieving the markwas Dutee Chand in the200m, clocking exactly23.30s, the qualifying timing set by the AFI.

Ajay Kumar won the1500m, fi��nishing in 3:46.10— falling short of the qualifying mark by onetenth of asecond. Interestingly, Ajay’sname was not in the initialstarting list for the event. Also winning was Delhi’s NisarAhmed, in the 200m, hisfi��rst outing since being disqualifi��ed in the agefi��asco atthe National Youth Athleticsmeet in Raipur recently. Nisar is also a winner of theKhelo India School Games.

The AFI, while claimingthat he was clear to participate in senior events, has also admitted it would bemeeting to decide on thequantum of punishment for

those found guilty eventhough the National SportsCode 2011 has clear provision for a twoyear ban.

The results: Men: 200m: NisarAhmed (22.05s), EmmanuelPaul (22.37s), Abhinav Pawar(22.51s); 400m: Arokia Rajiv(46.49s), Jeevan KS (47.02s),Kunhu Mohammed (47.19s);400m hurdles: Dharun Ayya-samy (49.94s), Santhosh Ku-mar (50.77s), Ramachandran M(50.83s); 1500m: Ajay Kumar(3:46.10), Rahul (3:48.15), An-kit (3:49.90); Triple Jump:Mohd. Salahuddin (15.80m),Jay Shah (15.44m), PraveenChithravel (15.40m); Discus:Mithravarun S (52.62m), Ar-vind Rathee (48.98m), SurjeetGurra (47.62m); Shot Put: Par-veen (17.37m), Sahib Singh(16.53m), G. Venkatesh Naidu(13.20m); Javelin: AbhishekSingh (78.24m), Abhishek Drall(75.19m), Yashvir Singh(67.95m).

Women: 200m: Dutee Chand(23.30s), Anjali Devi (24.15s),Supriya Maddali (24.48s);400m: M.R. Poovamma(54.12s), Saritaben Gayakwad(54.61s), Prachi (54.74s);1500m: Chitra P.U. (4:20.76),Lili Das (4:20.89), Usha Sati(5:08.07); Triple Jump: Renu(12.76m), Sheena (12.45m),Sonam (12.34m); Shot Put:Kachnar Chaudhary (14.41m),Anamika Das (13.75m), SonalGoyal (13.28m); Discus: Nav-jeet Kaur Dhillon (54.92m),Nidhi Rani (45.95m), SurgyanChoudhary (25.19m); Javelin:Sharmila Kumari (50.94m), Ru-pinder Kaur (48.62m).

Ayyasamy makes thecut for Asian meetDitto for Dutee in the 200m event

UTHRA GANESAN

NEW DELHI

Fluid motion: Dutee Chand clocked the exact qualifyingtiming set by the AFI for the 200m. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Services lifter VeerenderSingh stunned twotimeCommonwealth Games medallist Vikas Thakur to winthe men’s 96kg gold medalin the National weightliftingchampionships at the Railway Indoor Sports Enclavehere on Wednesday.

Veerender’s total of350kg was good enough tofetch him the top honour asThakur could not give hisbest and managed 342kg tosettle for the silver medal.

Kojum Taba of ArunachalPradesh claimed the thirdplace with 334kg.

Unsuccessful

Veerender lifted 156kg in hisopening attempt in snatchagainst Thakur’s 151kg. Veerender did not succeedwhile trying 160kg a coupleof times, but was hardly affected as Thakur’s eff��ort of155kg was twice adjudged as‘no lift’.

Going into the clean andjerk with a defi��cit of fi��ve kg,25yearold Thakur closedthe gap by lifting 191kg whileVeerender did 188kg.

Veerender’s 194kg in se

cond try put pressure on hisfellow Services man representing Punjab.

Thakur’s push for 200kgin his two concluding eff��ortswent in vain as 29yearoldVeerender secured his maiden gold medal.

“Happy to be the champion. Thakur is a good lifterbut could not do it. Some ofmy eff��orts were wasted too.It’s part of the game,” saidVeerender.

Thakur took the defeat inhis stride. “I had done mybest, 353kg, in the Olympicqualifying event in Thailandearlier this month. Todaywas not my day,” he said.

Sahil Sharma won the102kg crown convincingly.Sahil’s 150kg in snatchhelped him establish ahandsome lead over others.He ensured the gold medalwith his second clean andjerk lift of 183kg.The result: Men: 96kg: 1. Vee-render Singh (Services) snatch156kg, clean and jerk 194, total350kg; 2. Vikas Thakur (Pun)151kg, 191kg, 342kg; 3. KojumTaba (Aru) 151kg, 183kg,334kg.102kg: 1. Sahil Sharma (SSCB)150kg, 183kg, 333kg; 2. A.R.Ramshad (Ker) 140kg, 184kg,324kg; 3. Pardeep Singh(RSPB) 138kg, 183kg, 321kg.

Veerender triumphs

Podium fi��nish: Vikas Thakur, Veerender Singh, and KonjumTaba, winners of the men’s 96kg category. * C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

WEIGHTLIFTINGY.B. Sarangi

VISAKHAPATNAM

There is always somethingnew and challenging for thedrivers in the JK Tyre Himalayan Drive each year.

And the seventh editionof the multination TSDevent, which was fl��agged off��by Manoj Verma, InspectorGeneral of Police, Darjeelingrange, turned out to be exciting with the competitorsasked to tackle the ‘tricky’terrain at night for the fi��rsttime on the opening dayhere.

Night drive, at times, canbe risky but with safety aspects in place it can only beadventurous. “The 85kmlong competitive sector from

Siliguri to Murti is designedin such a fashion that it willbe sort of a cakewalk for thedrivers if done in the morning but not at night,” said Suchandan Das, director ofJustSportz, the event organisers.

It is here that the navigators’ role come into play.Reading the ‘tulip chart’ canbe extremely diffi��cult without lights.

Interestingly, this year atime logging app was alsolaunched. It is being used forthe fi��rst time in a fullscalerally inside the country.

It was tried earlier for themarshals during the Monsoon Drive 7 (Kolkata toDigha) in August last year. “Itwas a great success despitethe partial use. Logging time

in a TSD event is of utmostimportance,” said Suchandan.

Defending champion Ajgar Ali (codriver M. Mustafa, Erode) from Haldia, whostart as favourites, welcomed the use of this app.“More than accuracy it canbring about transparency,”he said.

Talking about his titlechances, Ajgar said he wantsto keep it simple and safe onthe route. “Driving in thenight can be a bit tight butwe are sort of used on theroads.”

The 800km long event isorganised in associationwith Experience Bengal(West Bengal Tourism).

(The writer is in Siliguri atthe invitation from JK Tyre).

Ajgar-Mustafa duo starts favourite MOTORSPORTS

Rayan Rozario

Siliguri

S. Shrikrishna has a habit oftalking to himself duringmatches. “It’s almost liketalking to a third person,” revealed the Chennai youngster who won the men’s National billiards title a fewweeks ago the other day.“Sometimes, I even ask whyyou’re playing like this.”

However, on Wednesday,Shrikrishna virtually did nothave anything to tell himselfas he lost to Ben Woollaston04 in the Indian Openworldranking snooker tournament at the Grand Hyatt,Bolghatty Island.

A wild card, the 19yearold was all at sea against theseasoned Englishman in thequalifying round and had agood reason for it.

“These tables are veryfast, they are totally diff��erentfrom what we are used to,”said Shrikrishna, whose onlydecent break was a 32 in theopening frame. “I wouldhave played better had Ispent more hours on thesetables. I just got around twohours.”

Hyderabad’s HimanshuJain also suff��ered a straightframe loss to Jack Lisowski.

“The tables are quite fast,

the reactions are quite diff��erent. Everything was perfectbut we are not used to these.I got used to it after a coupleof frames,” said Himanshu.“The third frame was closeon the black ball. But, fromthis match, I know that wecan also play with them.”

Wildcards do better

Two other Indian wildcards,Asutosh Padhy and LaxmanRawat, fared better despitelosing. While Asutosh tooktwo frames against Wales’Dominic Dale, Rawat lost 14against China’s ZhouYuelong.

The luckiest Indian was16yearold Digvijay Kadianwho got into the main drawafter his opponent Jamie

Jones of Wales was disqualifi��ed on disciplinary grounds.

The big names — Scotland’s defending championJohn Higgins and England’sStuart Bingham, both former World champions — registered wins. Higgins defeatedAshley Hugill 41 in the qualifi��cation round while Bingham beat compatriot PeterLines by a similar margin.Important results: Ben Wool-laston (Eng) bt S. Shrikrishna(Ind) 4-0 (60-45, 62-12, 71-8,63-2); Jack Lisowski (Eng) btHimanshu Jain (Ind) 4-0 (63-26, 73-17, 63-58, 94-0); Do-minic Dale (Wal) bt AsutoshPadhy (Ind) 4-2 (93-13, 68-51,83-41, 19-91, 40-88, 71-42);Zhou Yuelong (Chn) bt LaxmanRawat (Ind) 4-1 (76-36, 87-6,82-16, 19-67, 110-13).

Indians fail to fl��ourishon fast tables Former World champions Higgins and Bingham progress

INDIAN OPEN

Stan Rayan

KOCHI

Bingo! Stuart Bingham got his lines right against Peter.* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


#70929

CMYK


DELHI THE HINDU


LIFE

Japan’s sumo wrestlershit by beard banTOKYO

Japanese sumo officials have

introduced a crackdown on

beards, calling them

“indecent” and telling

wrestlers they must look neat

during competitions under

strict, new rules on personal

grooming. The ban is part of

fresh regulations also barring

tattoos and long nails.

Wrestlers believe that beards

bring them luck. AFP

IN BRIEF

Nintendo to release twoPokemon titles TOKYO

Japan‘s Nintendo Co Ltd said

on Wednesday that it will

release two Pokemon role

playing titles for its Switch

console, Pokemon Sword and

Pokemon Shield, worldwide in

late 2019. The titles will

feature the chimplike

Grookey and the rabbitlike

Scorbunny. REUTERS

Indian Sign Languagedictionary gets 2nd edition NEW DELHI

The second edition of the

Indian Sign Language (ISL)

dictionary was released on

Wednesday, listing 6,000

words in Hindi and English

along with their

corresponding visual

representation. The

dictionary is also available on

ISLRTC’s YouTube channel.

Around 1,000 videos have

been uploaded already. PTI

An experimental drug couldoff��er hope for restoring damaged brain cells in Parkinson’s patients, scientists saidon Wednesday, althoughthey cautioned that a clinicaltrial was not able to provethat the treatment slowed orhalted the neurodegenerative disease.

The trial involved deliveryof a protein therapy directlyinto the brains of Parkinson’spatients. Scientists saidsome brain scans revealed“extremely promising” effects on damaged neurons ofthose who received thetreatment.

“The spatial and relativemagnitude of the improvement in the brain scans isbeyond anything seen previously in trials,” said AlanWhone, a Parkinson’s specialist at Britain’s Bristol University who coled the trial.

Researchers said the therapy warranted further in

vestigation even though itfailed to demonstrate improvement of symptoms inpatients who received itwhen compared to others given a placebo.

“The primary outcomewas disappointing,” Dr.Whone told reporters at abriefi��ng in London.

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that affects around 1% to 2% of people over age 65. It causestremors, muscle stiff��nessand movement and balanceproblems. Although somemedicines can improvesymptoms, there is no cureor treatment that can slowprogression of the disease.

Tubes in brainsThis trial involved 41 patientswho all underwent robotassisted surgery to have tubesplaced into their brains.

That allowed doctors toinfuse either the experimental treatment — called GlialCell Line Derived Neuro

trophic Factor (GDNF) or aplacebo directly to the aff��ected brain areas. GDNF ismade by privatelyheld Canadian biotech fi��rm MedGenesis Therapeutix.

Half of the patients weregiven monthly GDNF infusions and half receivedmonthly placebo infusions.After nine months, all participants were off��ered theGDNF infusions for a furthernine months.

Results showed somesigns of improvements, Dr.

Whone said, but there wasno signifi��cant diff��erence between the treatment and placebo groups. He said thiswas in part due to the sizeable placebo eff��ect in thistrial.

The placebo eff��ect hasbeen known to confoundclinical trials of treatmentsfor conditions involving thebrain, boosted by patients’expectations that a potentialtreatment will work.

But the brain scan resultssuggested the drug might bestarting to reawaken damaged brain cells. After ninemonths, there was nochange in the scans of patients who received a placebo, but those who got GDNFshowed major changes in akey area of the brain aff��ectedby the disease.

Dr. Whone said this suggested GDNF could be “ameans to possibly reawakenand restore” brain cells thatare gradually destroyed inParkinson’s.

Parkinson’s drug trial off��ersglimmer of hope for cell repairWhile clinical tests have been disappointing, brain scans show promising eff��ects

Reuters

London

Parkinson’s is aneurodegenerative diseasewith no cure as of today.

An infant born in Tokyo,weighing the same as a beetroot, has now gone homehealthy. He became thesmallest newborn boy in theworld to leave hospitalsafely.

The tiny tot weighed just268 grams when he was delivered at 24 weeks, reportedly after he stopped growingin the womb.

He was so small he fi��t inan adult’s cupped hands.

But after fi��ve months oftreatment, he now weighs3.238 kilos, is feeding normally, and has been discharged, Keio UniversityHospital said.

“I can only say I’m happythat he has grown this bigbecause honestly, I wasn’tsure he could survive,” theboy’s mother said.

Keio University Hospitalsaid the boy was believed tonow hold the record for thesmallest newborn boy to bedischarged from a hospital

in good health. The recordwas previously held by a boyborn in Germany in 2009weighing just 274 grams, thehospital said, citing a registry put together by University of Iowa for the world’s tiniest surviving babies.

The smallest surviving girlwas born in Germany in2015 weighing 252 grams, according to the registry.

The survival rate of thesmallest babies is substantially lower for boys compared with girls.

He was delivered at 24 weeks, and treated for fi��ve months


Tokyo

A baby boy weighing 268 grams when born in August 2018 and, right, at 3.2 kg now. * REUTERS

World’s smallest baby boy goes home from Japan hospital

The time to sway to the beatsof the ramba samba and enjoy four days of fun at theGoa Carnival is drawingnear.

The carnival, to be heldfrom March 2 to March 5,will begin with the fl��oat parade to be fl��agged off�� on Saturday in Panaji.

This year, Goa is celebrating an ‘accessible carnival’,with special care taken toprovide ramps and other facilities for the diff��erentlyabled.

The fl��oat parade in thecapital city will continuefrom Miramar to Dona Paula. On Wednesday, Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar released a specialsong to mark the event. Thesong is composed by Mukesh Ghatwal, with lyrics by

Roque Lazarus and MukeshGhatwal. The singers areQueeni Fernandes and Mukesh Ghatwal.

The parade in Ponda andCurchorem will be held onMarch 4 and Morjim and Shiroda on March 5.

William Anes from Panaji

has been chosen to lead thecarnival parades as ‘KingMomo’, a mythical king ofthe carnival. Mr. Anes hasparticipated in previous carnival festivities as a dancer.

The total prize money forthe fl��oat competitions hasbeen pegged at ₹��54.40 lakh.

Goa carnival off��ers four daysof fun, fl��oats and festivitySpecial eff��ort taken to ensure accessibility for all

Prakash Kamat

Panaji

Instagram time: Tourists take a selfi��e near an installation forthe carnival at Miramar in Goa. * ATISH POMBURFEKAR

Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar on Wednesday urged tourists visiting Goa to go for cashewfeni (a traditional brew)rather than indulge indrugs.

At a press conferenceheld to announce Goa’spremier food and lifestylefestival, the Grape Escapade, the Minister also promised a crackdown ondrugs and on littering anddrinking of alcohol onbeaches.

The Grape Escapadetakes place from Thursdayto Sunday. “I have instructed police that there shouldnot be any chaos at theseevents. Enjoy, enjoy music.Drink cashew feni, but donot indulge in drugs,” Mr.Ajgaonkar said.

Grape stomping and afashion show are some ofthe sessions scheduled.

Try feni, don’tgo for drugs:Goa Minister


Panaji

A mixing desk at her fi��ngertips, the artist known as Sarouna coaxed a haunting refrain from the bass track —music both about the pastand the present.

Like other popular nameson the Palestinian electroscene, the 23yearold —wearing a hoodie emblazoned with “Made in Palestine” in Arabic — createssongs by drawing on localfolk music.

“Why would I go for European styles, which I don’treally feel attached to?” shesaid, in her bedroom studiooverlooking the hills aroundRamallah. “We will live thisheritage so that we do notforget.”

The project was the idea

of Rashid Abdelhamid, a fi��lmproducer, assisted by SamaAbdulhadi, who many consider the fi��rst Palestinian woman DJ.

They assembled 10 artistsfrom the Palestinian territories, Israel, Britain, France

and Jordan at a villa in Ramallah. From this twoweekartistic residency in 2018, analbum of 18 songs was born,entitled Electrosteen — aword combining Electro and“Falesteen”, Arabic forPalestine.

Each with their own musical backgrounds, the artistsworked from hundreds ofpieces of traditional musicrecorded about 15 years agoby the Popular Art Centre, aPalestinian organisationbased in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

“I listened, I listened, thenI took a little piece of music, Iput it in the software and Iput a rhythm on it, similar tothat of the music but withmore electro accents,” Sarouna said.

“Sometimes I added qanun,” she said, referring tothe stringed instrumentused in traditional music.

On March 1, artists involved in the project willtake to the stage of the ArabWorld Institute in Paris for aperformance.

On March 1, a performance will be held at the Arab World Institute in Paris

Fresh beats: DJ Sarouna at work. * AFP


Ramallah

Palestinian DJs bring past into present

The fi��vetime OscarwinningMexican director AlejandroGonzalez Inarritu is to headthe jury at this year’s Cannesfi��lm festival, the organiserssaid on Wednesday.

The 55yearold is one ofthe “three amigos” of Mexican fi��lmmakers who havedominated the AcademyAwards in recent yearsalongside Alfonso Cuaron,the best director winner thisyear with Roma and lastyear’s victor Guillermo del

Toro for The Shape of Water.“Not only is he a daring fi��lmmaker full of surprises, Alejandro is also a man of conviction, an artist of his time,”Cannes director Thierry Fremaux said.

Mr. Inarritu, who rarelysits on festival juries, said hewould apply himself to thetask with “passion anddevotion”.

“Cinema runs through theveins of the planet and thisfestival has been its heart,”he added.

Last year, Australian actorCate Blanchett presided overthe jury, which gave the topprize to Japan’s HirokazuKoreeda’s Shoplifters. Shealso led red carpet proteststo demand an equal placefor women in Hollywood.

Filmmaker promises to bring passion and devotion to role


Paris

Alejandro Inarritu

Inarritu to head Cannes jury

China has drafted new rulesto supervise biotechnologyresearch, with fi��nes andbans against rogue scientistsafter a Chinese researchercaused a global outcry byclaiming that he geneeditedbabies.

The announcementcomes as He Jiankui’s controversial experiment continues to transfi��x the scientifi��ccommunity, with researchers saying the procedure hadthe potential of enhancing

the learning capabilities andmemory of the babies.

He announced in November that the world’s fi��rstgeneedited babies — twingirls — were born that samemonth after he altered theirDNA to prevent them from

contracting HIV by deletinga certain gene under a technique known as CRISPR.

The claim shocked scientists worldwide, raisingquestions about bioethicsand putting a spotlight onChina’s lax oversight ofscientifi��c research.

Highrisk classifi��cationThe new rules unveiled byBeijing on Tuesday proposeto classify technology usedfor extracting genetic materials, gene editing, genetransfer and stem cell re

search as “high risk”. Healthauthorities under the centralgovernment would managesuch research.

Scientists can be fi��ned 10to 20 times the amount of “illegal income” earned fromunauthorised research andbe banned from their fi��eld ofwork for six months to oneyear.

“If the circumstances areserious, their medical practice licence shall be revokedand the individual shall notengage in clinical researchfor life,” the rules say.

China to act against rogue scientists After uproar over geneediting, country drafts new rules to supervise research


Beijing


#70929

CMYK

B ND-NDE

follow us:

thehindu.com

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thursday O february 28, 2019

IN BRIEF

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Haryana landamendment BillThe Haryana Assembly

amends Punjab Land

Preservation Act, 1900 with

retrospective effect Page 2

Pleas againstmobile towersNGT directs DPCC and

SDMC to look into the issues

and furnish action-taken

reports Page 4

Truth be boldEkta on taking the side of the

‘other’ woman and breaking

the myth of emancipated

husband Page 5

From thehouse of dawnThis is the story of Apatanis,

a gentle tribe nestled in the

valleys of Ziro in Arunachal

Pradesh Page 6

Chopper case accusedwants to turn approverNEW DELHI

Rajiv Saxena, one of theaccused in the ₹��3,600croreAgustaWestland moneylaundering case, onWednesday moved a Delhicourt seeking permission tobecome approver. He is onregular bail in the case. Healso submitted that he hadfi��led the application on hisown without any coercion.

CITY A PAGE 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Patients with rarediseases appeal to PMNEW DELHI

Patients and families aff��ected

by rare diseases have

appealed to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to

immediately release ₹��100

crore allocated for their

treatment and implement

National Policy for Treatment

of Rare Diseases, 2017.

CITY A PAGE 4DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

There has been a net increase of 6.9 lakh electors inDelhi from 2015 to 2018, theDelhi government said inreply to a question by Leader of Opposition VijenderGupta in the Assembly onWednesday.

According to the data ofadditions and deletions ofelectors provided by DelhiElections Minister ImranHussain in response to Mr.Gupta’s unstarred question,there has been a total increase of 6,90,379 electorsfrom 2015 till 2018. In 2018, atotal of 3,77,349 names weredeleted and 2,35,593 addedto the rolls, the reply said. In2017, 98,363 names were deleted and 4,60,450 added. In2016, 2,27,141 names weredeleted and 4,15,856 added,while in 2015, a total of4,51,469 names were deleted, while 7,32,812 were added.

No castewise detailsIn response to a starredquestion by AAP MLA AnilKumar Bajpai, who asked forthe castewise details of voters deleted in his constituency of Gandhi Nagar, Mr.

Hussain said the electionauthorities do not maintainsuch a record.

Mr. Gupta raised the issuein the Assembly, accusingthe AAP government of nottabling a December 14 replyfrom the Election Commission to the Chief Secretary asit “exposed the lies” of theAam Aadmi Party.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP had allegedthat there had been a massdeletion of voters since the2015 Delhi Assembly elections. Mr. Kejrwal had saidthat 24 lakh voters had beenstruck off�� the rolls, whileothers in AAP had claimedthe number to be 30 lakh.AAP had also alleged that the

BJP and the EC had struck off��voters of certain communities, a claim denied by thepoll panel.

House resolutionOn November 24, the DelhiAssembly passed a resolution on the alleged voter deletion, asking for a report tobe tabled in three months.“The ECI gave its report onDecember 14, but the government refused to tableit,” Mr. Gupta said.

Mr. Gupta tabled the response in the Assembly onWednesday. He said he obtained it through a Right toInformation reply and it wasallowed by Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.

6.9 lakh voters addedsince 2015: Delhi govtBJP accuses govt of not tabling EC reply on deletion claims

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A fourstorey commercialbuilding collapsed in KarolBagh’s Dev Nagar on Wednesday morning, the policesaid. No casualty has beenreported, they said.

The fi��re department received a call at 8.40 a.m.and was informed that afourstorey building had collapsed on Padam Singh

Road in Karol Bagh. Five fi��retenders were rushed to thespot to conduct rescueoperations.

The police said that thebuilding was in dilapidatedstate for a long time and only the ground fl��oor was being used for commercialpurpose.

Locals said that thoughthe building was not declared “dangerous”, it had

been damaged heavily dueto nonmaintenance. A caseof endangering lives of others has been registeredagainst the owners.

‘Owners fl��outed norms’Locals have also claimedthat the owners of the building hardly visited the complex. The owners have fl��outed norms and constructedillegal structures in the

building, they said.Fire offi��cials said that fi��re

tenders were pressed intoservice for the rescue operations along with disaster relief teams to clear the debris. Prima facie, theinvestigation suggests thatthe building constructed inthe 1980s had developedcracks and was heavily damaged due to seepage of water into its super structure.

No casualty reported; case fi��led against owners of 4storey commercial complex

Locals said that the building had been damaged heavily due to nonmaintenance. * R.V. MOORTHY

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI

‘Dilapidated’ Karol Bagh building collapses

A massive fi��re broke out at afourstorey commercial complex in Ghaziabad’s Kavi Nagar on Wednesday morning,the police said.

A PCR call was received at7 a.m. regarding a fi��re at abuilding in CBlock market,Kavi Nagar. The fi��re department pressed 12 fi��re tendersinto service to control theblaze.

People were present inthe building were rescued intime. The fi��re broke out onthe ground fl��oor and itspread to the other fl��oors,said fi��re offi��cials.

Hightension wiresA fi��reman said that it tooktime to operate the laddermounted fi��re engine due tooverhead hightension wires.Before operating the engine,they fi��rst asked the electricity department to shut downthe power supply in the area.

Eyewitnesses claimed thatthe fi��re broke out due toshort circuit at a departmental store located on theground fl��oor and then

spread to two restaurants onthe fi��rst and second fl��oor ofthe building. Fortunately,few people were present inthe building at that time andthey were safely rescued, offi��cials said.

The fi��re was doused within two hours, but the coolingoperation continued for the

next fi��ve hours.The police said they have

summoned the buildingowner to present the fi��reNOC proof as during initialinvestigation, they found thebuilding not adhering to fi��resafety guidelines. The causeof the fi��re is yet to be ascertained, they said.

None hurt; exact cause of fi��re not ascertained yet: policeSTAFF REPORTER

GHAZIABAD

The fi��re broke out at a fourstorey commercial complex onWednesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Massive blaze at Kavi Nagar building

A week before the commencement of the board examination, the Central Board ofSecondary Education onWednesday issued instructions to candidates to stay alert regarding fake and frivolous information on socialmedia about the papers.

“It has been noticed in thepast that certain unscrupulous elements spread rumours by posting fake videos/messages on YouTube,Facebook, Twitter and othersocial media platforms, ob

viously with the intention ofspreading confusion andpanic among students, parents, schools and the public,” the Board said. It statedthat persons involved in suchactivities are warned to restrain themselves from suchactivities.

“In case any such information comes to the notice ofthe CBSE, immediate necessary action, as per the provisions of law, will be taken,”said the Controller ofExaminations.

The Board appealed to thepublic in general to cooper

ate with it for the smoothconduct of examinations bynot spreading rumours andbaseless information.

Instructions to studentsIssuing instructions to candidates, the Board said thatstudents must visit their examination centres before theexercise begins so that thereis no confusion on the day ofthe exams.

It asked the students toleave for the exam centresearly keeping in view thetraffi��c, weather conditionsand distance, so that they re

port at the centre latest by9.45 a.m. The Board addedthat no candidate will be allowed enter the examinationcentre after 10 a.m.

Students have been askedto report in school uniform,and private candidatesshould wear light clothes.“Candidates must carry onlypermissible items to the examination centres as mentioned in the admit cards. Nocommunication devices orother similar gadgets are permitted inside examinationcentres,” the Board said.

This year, the CBSE has

launched a host of technicalmeasures for smooth conduct of Board examinations.To prevent leaking of question papers and other malpractices, the Board has introduced geotagged,timebased tracking andmonitoring of confi��dentialmaterial and live webstreaming from examinationcentres.

It has also launched an examination centre locator tofacilitate the students locatetheir exam centres on Google maps using their rollnumber.

Controller of Examinations warns ‘immediate necessary action’ against those spreading rumoursStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Be wary of fake exam news on social media: CBSE to students

The Delhi High Court onWednesday ordered expeditious trial of the 2008 murder case of TV journalistSoumya Vishwanathan.

Justice Mukta Gupta directed the trial court to hearthe case at least twice everyweek.

“The trial court is directed to expedite the trial forspeedy disposal of the case,”the High Court said.

The court passed the order on a plea by one of theaccused, Baljeet Malik, seeking to expedite and concludethe trial in a fi��xed time frameon a daytoday basis.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) was alsodirected to assign the task ofmonitoring to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police

to ensure the presence ofprosecution witnesses on every date of hearing.

Advocate Amit Kumar, appearing for Malik, submittedthat the accused was in custody since 2009 and the prosecution has cited 88 witnesses, of whichapproximately 45 to 46 havebeen examined till now. Hesaid it will take another fourto fi��ve years to complete theproceedings and urged for aspeedy trial.

The High Court was informed by the trial courtthat the delay in the case wasprimarily due to nonpresence of prosecution witnesses and due to the timetaken for the appointment ofa special public prosecutor.

It had earlier sought a report from the trial court asto why the trial had not con

cluded nine and a half yearsafter the chargesheet wasfi��led.

The High Court also madeit clear that no adjournmentshall be given in the case unless there are some valid reasons. The case is listed forhearing before the trialcourt on March 8.

The High Court, however,rejected the plea of Malikseeking direction to theauthorities to compensatehim with ₹��1 crore for the unreasonable and inordinatedelay in investigation andtrial of the case.

Soumya was shot dead onSeptember 30, 2008 whileshe was returning homefrom work in her car.

The trial of the case ispending before a SessionsJudge in Saket district courthere.

HC asks trial court to hear the case at least twice every week


New Delhi

‘Expedite trial in Soumya murder case’

The Delhi High Court islikely to pronounce onThursday its verdict on aplea by National Herald publisher Associated JournalsLtd (AJL), challenging a Single Judge order to vacatethe premises here.

A Bench of Chief JusticeRajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao had reservedits decision on February 18after hearing arguments ofthe Centre and the AJL.

AJL has appealed againstthe Single Judge’s December 21, 2018 order that directed it to vacate the premises at ITO within twoweeks, after which evictionproceedings under the Public Premises (Eviction ofUnauthorised Occupants)Act, 1971, would beinitiated.

The single judge had alsosaid that by transfer of AJL’s99% shares to Young India,the benefi��cial interest ofAJL’s property worth₹��413.40 crore stands “clandestinely” transferred toYoung India.

In the order, the Singlejudge had said that AJL hasbeen “hijacked” by YoungIndia, in which the Gandhisare shareholders.

NationalHerald case:HC to giveverdict today


New Delhi

Security at the terminal forthe DelhiLahore bus servicehas been beefed up after 10passengers arrived in theCapital from Pakistan onWednesday amid escalatingtension on the internationalborder.

The bus service has witnessed a signifi��cant fall in ridership following the recentterror attack at Pulwama inJammu and Kashmir. Onlyone passenger came to thecity from Pakistan on February 16, while on February 19,the bus from Lahorereached Delhi empty.

Sources said that on Monday 12 passengers travelledin the bus from Delhi toLahore.

The bus arrives and departs from Ambedkar Stadium bus terminal near DelhiGate in central Delhi. Deployment of police personnel was increased at the terminal on Wednesday.

A Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus leaves forLahore every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and a Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC)bus arrives in Delhi everyTuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The DTC bus leavesLahore every Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday,

whereas one can take thePTDC bus for Lahore everyMonday, Wednesday andFriday.

“We have tightened security on the bus service to prevent any untoward incident.Police personnel in plainclothes have been deployedaround the terminal to detect any suspicious activity,”said a police offi��cer.

Traders in outer Delhi hadthreatened to stop the busservice to mark their protestagainst the Pulwama terror

attack, but they werestopped after the police intervened in the matter.

A red alert, meanwhile,has been sounded on the entire Delhi Metro network onWednesday, offi��cials of theDelhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said.

“As advised by securityagencies, a red alert hasbeen sounded on the entireDMRC network from 6 p.m.onwards [on Wednesday],”said a senior DMRC offi��cial.Currently, the Delhi Metro

network spans over 327 km,with 236 stations in Delhiand the NCR.

“After a red alert is sounded, all Station Controllersare required to inspect theentire station premises, including the parking lots, forany suspicious item or activity,” the offi��cial said.

He said, “Following inspection of the station premises, the Station Controllers are required to report tothe control centre every twohours.”

Red alert sounded on entire Delhi Metro network on Wednesday evening

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI

CISF personnel keeping a strict vigil at the Delhi airport on Wednesday. * R.V. MOORTHY

Security tightened at terminal for Lahore bus


#70929


DELHI THE HINDU


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Household industrylicence policy clearedNEW DELHI

The North Delhi Municipal

Corporation’s House meeting

on Wednesday passed a

policy to allow online

issuance and renewal of

licences for household

industries. Following a

notification by the Ministry of

Housing and Urban Affairs

made earlier this month, such

industries will be allowed to

employ a maximum of nine

people as opposed to five,

and will now be allowed to

consume 11 kW of electricity

as opposed to 5 kW earlier.

The policy allows for up to

112 types of activities to be

carried out. STAFF REPORTER

Former President Pranab Mukherjee presents the P.V. Narasimha Rao National Leadership and Lifetime Achievement Award toformer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Capital on Wednesday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

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Honouring a path-breaker

EDMC Mayor inauguratesfour litter picker vehiclesNEW DELHI

East Delhi Municipal

Corporation Mayor Bipin

Bihari Singh inaugurated four

litter picker vehicles on

Wednesday. He said the

machines had been

purchased as a pilot project

under the Swachh Bharat

Mission. The pickers have

been procured at a cost of

₹��12.50 lakh per unit. The

Mayor said that depending on

the success of the scheme, 16

more litter pickers would be

procured. The inauguration

was attended by other senior

leaders of the corporation.STAFF REPORTER

IN BRIEF

Amid protests by the Opposition, the Haryana Assemblyon Wednesday amended thePunjab Land PreservationAct (PLPA), 1900 with retrospective eff��ect, paving theway for “development” activities in the ecologicallysensitive areas of Aravalliand the Shivalik foothills inthe State.

Forest Minister Rao Narbir Singh presented the Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill,2019 in the House amid opposition by members of theCongress and the Indian National Lok Dal who claimedthat it had been brought tofavour the mining mafi��a andreal estate developers by allowing construction in restricted areas.

The Congress legislators,led by CLP leader KiranChoudhary, stormed into theWell of the House demanding the withdrawal of theBill. They later staged a walkout and the Bill was passedby voice vote.

Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar said that PLP(Haryana Amendment) Bill,2019 is in the interest of thepeople of the State. “We intend to bring the Bill becausethe situation has changed over 120 years. Following diff��e

rent decisions — be it of theSupreme court, High courtor the NGT — several diffi��culties are coming up. In light ofthis changes are required,”said Mr. Khattar.

‘Damage to Aravallis’Congress leaders, includingMs. Choudhary, BhupinderSingh Hooda and Karan Dalal, questioned State government's objective behind themove. “What is the intent behind this Bill? It’s a completely antienvironmentmove which will help builders and big developers anddestroy the natural conservation zone. If we tamperwith the Aravallis, our futuregeneration will never forgiveus,” said Ms. Choudhary. “Asthe amendment is beingdone with retrospective effect, it raises the question

whether the decision hasbeen taken to benefi��t themining mafi��a,” she added.

Mr. Dalal claimed that theamendment would grant legitimacy to the Kant Enclavein Faridabad, built on PLPAnotifi��ed land, which was ordered to be demolished bythe Supreme Court.

‘Need for deliberation’Asking the State governmentnot to “rush” with theamendment, Mr. Hooda demanded that the Bill be sentto a joint select committeefor deliberation.

Parminder Singh Dhul ofthe INLD said that damage tothe Aravalli forests wouldhave catastrophic impact.“What's the agenda behindthis amendment? Is it beingdone to benefi��t the miningmafi��a?,” asked Mr. Dhul.

The Chief Minister said anumber of changes hadcome to force over a periodof time with various interpretations of the PLPA provisions from time to time.

“These have also led tolarge tracts of agriculture,public infrastructure, residential, institutional, commercial and other users becoming liable to beconsidered as unauthorisedactivities and unlawful useseven where these were explicitly permitted and came upstrictly in conformity withthe then existing applicablelaw governing such land useand activities undertakenthereupon,” stated the objective of the Bill.

In this scenario, lakhs ofdwelling units, industrial units, public buildings and agriculture activities over aboutonefourth of the geographical area of the State are affected, hence the need wasfelt for amending the PLPA,it added.

The State government’sdecision to amend the Billhad been opposed by environmentalists as well as residents in Gurugram. A largenumber of people, includingstudents and activists, hadstaged a protest against theproposal on GurugramFaridabad Road on Sunday last.

(With PTI inputs)

Haryana Assembly passes landamendment Bill amid protestsOppn claims Bill favouring mining mafi��a, realtors; govt says it’s in people’s interest

The Bill may benefi��t Kant Enclave in Faridabad, built on PLPAnotifi��ed land, which is facing demolition. * FILE PHOTO

VIKAS VASUDEVA

CHANDIGARH Delhi Congress presidentSheila Dikshit on Wednesdaysaid that before presentingthis year’s budget, the AAPgovernment should havelooked back at last year’sbudget and found out howmany of the proposals madein that budget had beenfulfi��lled.

“The truth is that most ofthe budget proposals remained on paper as merehollow promises, allowingthe funds allocated for various heads, particularlyeducation and health, to belapsed,” she said.

Failed on all frontsMs. Dikshit said that boththe Modi government at theCentre and the Kejriwal government in Delhi havefailed on all fronts as theyhave done nothing for thewelfare of the common peo

ple. “Delhi has been chokingon polluted air for the pastfour years, unemploymenthas become critical, andlakhs of people have beenruined by the sealing and demolition drives,” she said.

She added that the condition of Delhi has been deteriorating with every passingday as garbage was piling upeverywhere and brokenroads have become thenorm.

“Delhi’s green cover has

depleted to a dangerous level, and the green and cleanDelhi that the Congress hadleft behind after its 15yearuninterrupted rule, has become a thing of the past,”she said.

Ms. Dikshit said that thepeople of Delhi have beencaught in the fi��ght betweenthe BJP and the AAP governments with no developmentwork happening in Delhi, asboth these governmentshave been thriving on unfulfi��lled promises and blatantlies.

Urges party workersMs. Dikshit appealed to party workers to gain the trustand confi��dence of the people with regular doortodoor interaction, to ensurethe victory of the Congresscandidates in all the sevenparliamentary seats in theupcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Says they were hollow promises that remained only on paper

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Sheila Dikshit

Delhi Congress chief criticises AAP govt over budget proposals

The Delhi Chief Electoral Offi��cer (CEO) on Wednesdayorganised a workshop for civil servants and senior police offi��cers as part of an ongoing programme by theElection Commission to“dispel misconceptions”about EVMs by creatingawareness amongstopinionmakers.

The workshop was held atthe Delhi Secretariat andsaw participation of about200 offi��cers, the Delhi CEOsaid in a statement. A presentation on EVM/VVPATwas made by Professor D.T.Shahani, Professor Emeritus, IIT Delhi, Chairman ofTechnical Expert Committeeof the ECI.

“He explained the technological features, administrative protocols and transparency aspects laid down bythe ECI for handling EVM/VVPAT and stated that it isimpossible to hack EVMs ortamper with because thesemachines have onetimeprogrammable (OTP) chipand do not have any Internet/WiFi/radio connectivi

ty,” the Delhi CEO said in astatement adding that, at every stage, political partiesand candidates wereinvolved.

The VVPATs, the statement said, had enabled voters to verify their votethrough the printed paperslip at the time of castingtheir vote.

The CEO, while speakingon the occasion. appealed tothe participants to spreadthe message that every voteridentity cardholder mustverify his or her name in thevoter list by calling the voter

helpline number 1950 or atwww.nvsp.in or by sendingSMS to 7738299899. Everyunenrolled voter and leftout voter in Delhi must enroll by submitting Form6either online or offl��ine, thestatement said further.

The Delhi Chief Secretary,while speaking on the occasion, emphatically statedthat there is no room for anydoubt about EVMs. “TheChief Secretary also calledfor keen and close observation of the election campaign to detect any malpractices,” the statement added.

Civil servants and senior police offi��cers participate in event

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Chief Electoral Offi��cer urged that every voter identitycardholder must verify his or her name in the list by callingthe helpline number. * FILE PHOTO

Delhi CEO organises workshop todispel misconceptions about EVMs

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi onWednesday have developedDotBook that has a refreshable Braille display aiming atcreating independent accessto digital content for the visually impaired.

DotBook, the institutesaid will enable visually impaired people compete andsucceed independently in an

offi��ce or educational environment and hence, comespacked with all the applications and features that a visually impaired user wouldneed to independently carryout their tasks with ease.

Social inclusion “The features include email,calculator, web browser andcomes with a QWERTY keyboard,” the institute said.

The institute said that the

device will help address issues such as social inclusionand creating equal opportunities in education andemployment.

Positive impact“DotBook is sure to create apositive impact for the visually impaired communitywhere hasslefree, independent access to the digitalworld has emerged as a keyfactor in everyday living,

education and work,” the institute said.

M. Balakrishnan, Professor at IITDelhi who led theproject said, “DotBook represents an excellent example of useroriented appliedresearch. It is not only interdisciplinary in nature as itbrings together advancedtechniques in mechanical,lowpower electronics, software and UI design together,is also a result of sustained

eff��orts over the four years ofa multiorganisational teamcomprising academics, twoindustry partners and a userorganisation.” The productwill be manufactured, maintained and marketed by aNoidabased company whileits key component, that isthe 10cell refreshable Braillecell modules, will be manufactured, maintained andmarketed by a companybased in Chennai.

Researchers launch DotBook allowing visually impaired people independent access to digital content

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

IITD helps create ‘equal opportunities’ for visually impaired

The North Delhi MunicipalCorporation House meeting passed a resolution demanding that developmentwork undertaken in its jurisdiction by members ofthe Legislative Assemblymust fi��rst be cleared bymunicipal councillors, onWednesday.

The resolution statedthat development work using MLA funds are undertaken through staff�� of thecorporation. It said thatcorporation staff�� were directly instructed by MLAseven though they were only accountable to civic body’s offi��cials.

The work gets duplicated as information regarding the development workis not being shared withcouncillors, the resolutionadded. It also said thatcouncillors of the areashould be consulted asthey were better aware ofthe problems and requirements. Not doing so led towastage of taxpayers’ money, it said.

The resolution declaredthat corporation staff�� notbe permitted to undertakework from external agencies without prior noticefrom the area councillorand if they violate the conditions, an inquiry must beinitiated against them.

Developmentwork: Northbody passesresolution

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Several projects were approved at the Delhi JalBoard’s 145th meet held under the Chairmanship of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who also heads theDJB, here on Wednesday.

In order to stop the commercial use of water andmake this potable wateravailable to consumers, theBoard decided to make apartial change in its decisionby allowing streetside watervendors to fi��ll up their vending machines from any legitimate source of water.

“It was decided to allow

them to fi��ll their vending machines, looking at the cheaprates at which they sell waterand their usability to the people, especially as summersare approaching. The Boardtoday only rectifi��ed a decision taken earlier in its meeting,” the government said ina statement.

In order to bring about anoverall improvement in thewastewater managementsystem of the DJB, the Boardaccorded approval to severalprojects. These includedproviding and laying a sewerline in Swaroop Nagar GOCunder the catchment of sewage pumping station at Guru

Nanak Dev Colony near VijayChowk in Badli constituencyat an estimated cost of ₹��81crore.

Presently, seweragegenerated in this area fl�owsthrough open drain and fallsinto the Yamuna or pollutesthe groundwater throughseptic tanks. The proposedproject aims at eff��ectiveabetment of pollution in river Yamuna and its catchmentby providing a comprehensive wastewater collectionand disposal system, thestatement said.

The DJB also sought toaugment water supplythrough an overall improve

ment in the water management system through projects such as thereplacement of a line between Prashant Vihar redlight to Peeragarhi UGR at atotal estimate of approximately ₹��25 crore among others.

The other projects included extension of the work ofoperation and maintenanceof 16 MGD recycling plantand water treatment plant atHaiderpur for fi��ve years at acost of ₹��22 crore and the rehabilitation of the water treatment plant at ChandrawalWater Works II at a cost of₹��94 crore.

Streetside vendors allowed to fi��ll up machines from any legitimate water source

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

DJB moves to stop commercial use of water

BJP councillors of Delhi’sthree municipal corporations held demonstrationsat the Vidhan Sabha over cutin funds to the civic bodiesin the 20192020 budget ofthe Delhi government onWednesday.

North Corporation MayorAdesh Gupta said that theamount fi��xed for the corporations this year, at ₹��6,380crore, was ₹��510 crore lesscompared to the previous fi��nancial year.

The councillors complained about dilution of recommendations of the FifthDelhi Finance Commissionas well. Leader of the EDMCHouse Nirmal Jain said, thegovernment had rejected asmany as 41 recommendations which were favourable

to local bodies and couldhave turned round the fi��nances of local bodies. Inplace of providing relief tolocal bodies, it will aggravate their fi��nancial crisis.

Leader of the House ofthe North Corporation TilakRaj Kataria said that the government had not fully implemented recommendations of the Fifth DelhiFinance Commission, whichwould have given a newlease of life to the fundstarved municipal corporations but “have been converted it into an instrumentof paralysing and fi��nanciallystarving them”. Speaker ofthe Delhi Assembly expressed displeasure overDelhi Police’s inaction tomanage the protesters whowere obstructing MLAs’ entry to the Assembly.

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

BJP municipal councillors march outside the Vidhan Sabha inthe Capital on Wednesday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Councillors protest cutin funds to civic bodies

The Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday approved a monthly subsidy of ₹��105/kilowatton the fi��xed charges foragricultural electricity connections, a Delhi government statement said.

The Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, approved the PowerDepartment’s proposal forproviding the subsidy. The₹��105/kW subsidy would begiven to agricultural connectionholders for 20182019 and 20192020, thestatement said.

The government will inform the Delhi ElectricityRegulatory Commission(DERC) of the decision, itadded. The power distribution companies “will haveto ensure that subsidy/relief is released only to genuine agricultural consumers/connections [sic]”, thestatement said.

The government wouldrelease the subsidy amountto the discoms and a special audit of the subsidyamount credited visavisthe amount actuallypassed on to consumerscan be done by the DERC,the statement said.

“The agriculture sectorin the country is alreadyunder distress and the Delhi government is committed to the welfare of thefarmers of Delhi, therefore,this scheme has been introduced to provide them themuch needed relief. TheDelhi government is of thefi��rm view that electricity isa basic requirement forfarming and is required forirrigation through tubewells, thrashing and related functions,” the government statement read.

Cabinet nodto farmers’electricitysubsidy

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI


#70929


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

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Four arrested for mobile phone theft NEW DELHI

Four persons were arrested

for allegedly snatching

mobile phones from Outer

Delhi’s Mangolpuri area,

police said on Wednesday.

The accused have been

identified as Mashkoor,

Shehnawaj, Irshad and

Shehnawaj. Two bikes and 23

mobile phones were seized

from their possession, they

said. The accused were

arrested from Mangolpuri

Industrial Area, PhaseI when

they went there to sell the

stolen phones, a senior police

officer said. PTI

Two arrested for stealingbike from East DelhiNEW DELHI

Two men have been arrested

for allegedly stealing a

motorcycle from East Delhi,

the police said Wednesday.

The accused have been

identified as Vijay alias Cheeli

and Farman. A bike was found

in their possession, they said.

The duo was arrested on

Tuesday night near Mayur

Vihar Phase1, the police

added. PTI

Father-son duo held fortrying to smuggle forex NEW DELHI

A fatherson duo has been

arrested by the customs

officials for allegedly trying

to smuggle out foreign

currency worth ₹��68 lakh at

Delhi airport, according to an

official statement issued on

Wednesday. While the father

had concealed the currency

in his hand baggage, a

significant amount of forex

was hidden by his son in

rectum. The duo, who had

arrived from Mumbai, were

intercepted when they were

proceeding to board a flight

to Hong Kong, the statement

issued by the customs said. A

detailed examination of hand

baggage resulted in recovery

of foreign currencies. PTI

IN BRIEF

Talk: Lecture on “Maritime Asia:Challenges and Opportunities for India, a Resurgent Maritime Nation” byAdm. R.K. Dhowan, Former Chief ofNaval Staff and currently Chairman,National Maritime Foundation, NewDelhi. Chair: Amb. Shyam Saran atGulmohar Hall, 7 p.m.

Exhibition: Yoga & Nature, a painting exhibition by Prasanth Appadaveetil at Convention Centre Foyer,India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11 a.m. –7 p.m.

Exhibition: A solo show of paintingsby Gauri Shanker Soni at All IndiaFine Arts & Craft Society (AIFACS), 1Rafi�� Marg, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

Rajiv Saxena, one of the accused in the ₹��3,600croreAgustaWestland moneylaundering case, on Wednesday moved a Delhi courtseeking permission to become approver. He is on regular bail in the case.

Mr. Saxena’s applicationin the court of Special JudgeArvind Kumar said: “The applicant humbly prays without prejudice to his defencethat he may be granted pardon approver under Section306 of CrPC subject to thecondition that he will makefull disclosure to the extentfacts are within his knowledge of which he will maketrue and proper disclosuresubject to the grant ofperson.”

“The applicant cooperated with the investigationduring the entire period ofremand before the directo

rate. The applicant hasmade a clean breast of theentire facts as known to theapplicant with regard to thecomplaint pertaining to theAgustaWestland helicoptersfi��led by the Directorate ofEnforcement to the extentknown to him,” the application further said.

Filed application himselfMr. Saxena also submittedthat he had fi��led the application on his own without anycoercion. He urged the courtto pardon and allow him to

turn approver.The Judge took his appli

cation on record and directed the Enforcement Directorate to fi��le a reply to his plea.The application will be takenup for consideration onThursday.

Christian Michel, formerAgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former Air Forcechief S.P. Tyagi and Mr. Saxena’s wife Shivani have alsobeen made accused by thedirectorate.

ED’s allegationsThe directorate has allegedthat in connivance with Gautam Khaitan, one of the accused in the case, Mr. Saxena provided a globalcorporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds ofcrime for payment to various politicians, bureaucrats and Air Force offi��cials.

Chopper case accusedwants to turn approverSaxena moves court seeking pardon under Section 306 of CrPC

Nirnimesh Kumar

New Delhi

Rajiv Saxena

An unemployed youth wasarrested from south east Delhi’s Jasola for allegedly killing a man, who had slappedhim during a family function, police said onWednesday.

According to the police,Tauffi��q alias Sonu (28), a resident of Palwal in Haryanawas arrested for murderingMohammad Rashid (35), aresident of Abul Fazal Enclave in Jamia Nagar. The accused had shot the victim onhis head after consuming liquor in a car.

Found unconscious The police said they receivedinformation about a personlying unconscious in a carnear Omaxe Square Mall inJasola on February 20. Onreaching the spot, theyfound the man in the driver’sseat of the vehicle with a bottle of liquor in his hand. Hewas taken to the Apollo hospital where he was declaredbrought dead. The deceased

was later identifi��ed as Mohammad Rashid of Jamia Nagar. A bullet was found fromRashid’s head during thepostmortem, a police offi��cersaid.

Suspecting it to be a caseof murder, the policescanned the CCTV footage ofthe area. They found that hewas last seen with a personnamed Tauffi��q outside a liquor shop at Jasola. Followingthis, Tauffi��q was detained.

During interrogation,

Tauffi��q said that he wasknown to the deceased andhis wife and on the day of theincident, he consumed liquor with the deceased. Thereafter, he left the spot andhad no clue about the deathof the deceased. However,on sustained interrogation,contradictions were found inTauffi��q’s statement. Onfurther questioning, hebroke down and confessedto have killed Rashid.

“Tauffi��q disclosed that a

few months ago, during a family function, an altercationtook place between them over a petty issue. Rashid hadslapped Tauffi��q during thefunction. Since then, he haddecided to eliminate Rashidas he was angry over his act,”said Deputy Commissionerof Police (SouthEast) Chinmoy Biswal.

On the day of crime, Tauffi��q procured a pistol and followed Rashid to the liquorshop. Both consumed liquorin the car, where Tauffi��q shotRashid in the head and fl��edthe spot, said Mr. Biswal.

Unemployed youth held for killing man Accused was angry as the victim had slapped him at a family function

Accused Tauffi��q alias Sonu after arrest. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI <> Tauffi��q disclosed

that a few months

ago, during a

family function, an

altercation took

place between him

and Rashid over a

petty issue. Rashid

slapped Tauffi��q

during the

function

Chinmoy Biswal

DCP (SouthEast)

Following allegation of plastic recycling units operatingin Nangloi, the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Delhi PollutionControl Committee (DPCC)to take appropriate action.

Recycling unitsA Bench headed by NGT judicial member S.P. Wangdisaid, “The applicant allegesoperation of a large numberof plastic recycling units inresidential areas of Nangloi.Let the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and NorthDelhi Municipal Corporationlook into the matter and takeappropriate action in accordance with law and furnish afactual and action taken report to this tribunal.”

“The DPCC shall be the

nodal agency for coordination and compliance,” theBench said, while addingthat noncompliance of orders may lead to punitive action.

“…order of the NGT isbinding as a decree of courtand noncompliance is actionable by way of punitiveaction including prosecution,” the Bench added.

Look into plastic recyclingunits in Nangloi: green tribunalNorth body and pollution control panel told to take action

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

NGT Bench warned that noncompliance of orders may leadto punitive action. * FILE PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal and other women activists during the Mahila Suraksha Yatra in the city on Wednesday. Theymarched from Vishwa Vidyalaya metro station to GTB Nagar to raise awareness on issues of women safety. * ANUJ ARORA

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Marching for a cause

Five persons were arrestedfor allegedly stealing mobile phones during liveconcerts and at large gatherings, police said on Wednesday.

The accused have beenidentifi��ed as Bhagat Singh(35), Kuldeep Singh (25),Jujhar Singh (34), BuntySingh (35) and Jagjit Singh(38). A car and 47 mobilephones were seized fromtheir possession, they said.

Acting on a tipoff�� that a‘Bhagte gang’ involved intheft of mobile phoneswould be coming to theOuter Ring Road underMangolpuri fl��yover, a raidwas conducted and fi��vemen were apprehended,Additional Commissionerof Police (Crime), Ajeet Kumar Singla said.

During interrogation, itwas revealed that the gangused to commit the crimeduring concerts and atfares where large groupscongregate. Recently, theyhad targeted a music concert held at Rose Garden,Sector10, Chandigarh,where they stole severalmobile phones, Mr. Singlasaid.

After stealing thephones, the accused usedto sell them in various regions of Delhi, the policeadded.

Five held forstealing cell phones


New Delhi

There has to be a “change inattitude” of public insurancecompanies that do not insure people disabled sincebirth on the ground that theysuff��er from congenital anomalies, the Delhi High Courtsaid on Wednesday.

“You have to change yourattitude. You are in the public sector,” a Bench of ChiefJustice Rajendra Menon andJustice V.K. Rao said to theGeneral Insurance Council(GIC) after its lawyer told thecourt that insuring personswith congenital anomalieswas a contractual matterbetween a company and theindividual.

Seeks court directionsThe observation by the courtcame while hearing a PILseeking directions to theCentre, the IRDAI and insurance companies to removecongenital anomalies, like

external or internal abnormality in the womb, fromthe list of general exclusionsin the health or life insurance policies.

The petition, by NipunMalhotra, has challenged the“arbitrary” and “illegal” mechanisms adopted by the IRDAI in denying the rights ofPersons with Disabilities(PwD) to seek insurance cover for themselves on theground that their conditionsare categorised under thescope of “congenital anomalies”, as defi��ned under a July29, 2016 circular by theregulator.

Congenital anomalies arealso known as birth defectsand could be caused by single gene defects, chromosomal disorders, multifactorialinheritance and micronutrient defi��ciencies.

During the day’s hearing,advocate Jai Dehadrai, appearing for Mr. Malhotra,urged the court to pass an in

terim order directing the insurance companies to provide insurance cover to hisclient who suff��ers from a locomotor disability. AdvocateDehadrai said that Mr. Malhotra was in perfect healthand was willing to undergoany test that is required forgrant of the insurance cover.

‘Contractual matter’The counsel for GIC opposedgrant of any interim ordersaying that it was a contractual matter and the HighCourt has in the past in a similar case held that courtsshould not intervene in suchmatters.

However, the Bench saidthat the earlier High Courtdecision was pertaining tocongenital diseases and herethe petitioner was in perfecthealth. “That was a casewhere a person had a congenital disease. Here the person has an anomaly. His mobility is aff��ected. He needs a

wheelchair to move around.Otherwise he is in perfecthealth.”

“You are in the public sector. When such a situationarises, you have to deal withit practically. You are a model statutory body. You haveto change your attitude,” thecourt said.

It gave time to GIC and theLife Insurance Council to fi��letheir responses to the PILand listed the matter forfurther hearing on May 15.

Mr. Malhotra, a disabilityrights activist who suff��ersfrom locomotor disabilityfrom birth, has sought a direction to the IRDAI to remove the phrase ‘congenitalanomalies’ from the standardised defi��nition of the 2016circulars. He has also soughtdirection to take a relook atthe exclusionary clauses ininsurance contracts and ensure that insurance fi��rms donot reject claims on the basisof congenital anomalies.

Change attitude towards disabled: High CourtPetition challenges mechanisms adopted by fi��rms in denying insurance cover


New Delhi

A playschool here wasbooked for damaging publicproperty with its admissionposters after a complaintwas made against it by theNoida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), offi��cials said onWednesday.

Neglected warningThe NMRC, which operatesthe NoidaGreater Noida Metro rail, had alleged that theplayschool had pasted the

posters on its premises despite signage warning actionagainst such acts.

“Posters have been pastedillegally by the playschool onpillars between Sector 51and Sector 76 metro stationsof the Aqua Line and publicproperty has been defaced,”the NMRC said in itscomplaint.

A case was registered atthe Sector 49 police stationand Sector 76. The playschool was charged underthe Prevention of Damage to

Public Property Act, offi��cialssaid.

Posters removed“The posters were immediately removed from thepillars after we registeredthe FIR,” Station House Offi��cer Ajay Kumar Agrawalsaid. Mr. Agrawal said therehave been at least two dozensimilar complaints aboutNMRC’s public property being defaced and the policehave clubbed all complaintsfor probe.

Pasted posters on pillars of metro stations on Aqua Line


Noida

Playschool defaces public property, booked

Three robbers, wanted in adozen criminal cases in Gautam Buddh Nagar and DelhiNCR, were arrested after agunfi��ght with police here onWednesday, offi��cers said.

The encounter happenedin the evening during checking on Delhi border road inSector 14A when the policemen tried to stop a vehiclewithout registration number, they said.

“Instead of stopping, the

occupants opened fi��re at thepolice team, drawing retaliatory fi��re in which two occupants were injured,” Senior

Superintendent of PoliceVaibhav Krishna said.

While two of them wereinjured, one was arrestedand another managed to givepolice the slip, he said, adding the wounded were taken to hospital for treatment. Those arrested havebeen identifi��ed as FarhanAhmed, from Delhi, FurqaanQureshi and Rizwan Qureshi, from Bulandshahr, theSSP said.

Their fourth accomplice,who managed to escape, has

been identifi��ed as ShahzaadQureshi, also from Bulandshahr, he said.

A reward of 25,000 hasbeen announced on his arrest, police said.

According to the police,the accused have been involved in at least a dozencases of robberies in Noida,Greater Noida, Ghaziabad,and Delhi.

Three illegal fi��rearmsalong with ammunition wasrecovered from the trio , thepolice said.

Three men wanted in robberies held after gunfi��ght

2 injured in encounter on Delhi border; 1 managed to give police the slip


Noida <> Instead of

stopping, the

occupants opened

fi��re at the police

team. In retaliatory

fi��ring, two of the

occupants were

injured

Vaibhav Krishna

SSP

The Delhi High Court onWednesday sought theCentre’s response on theplea of controversial meatexporter Moin Qureshi’sdaughter for grant of anOverseas Citizen of India(OCI) card.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru,while issuing notice to theMinistries of Home Aff��airsand External Aff��airs and theForeigner Regional Registration Offi��ce (FRRO), said thatQureshi’s daughter appeared to be entitled for anOCI card according to theprovisions of the CitizenshipAct.

Pernia Qureshi, who is aUS citizen, has contended inher plea that she had applied for an OCI card in 2017after the Indian governmentin January 2015 had issued anotifi��cation which said thatall existing PIO card holders

shall be deemed to OCI cardholders. She has said in thepetition that she was a Person of Indian Origin (PIO)card holder since 2008 andthat it was valid till 2023.

FRRO non-responsiveHowever, when she came toIndia this year, immigrationoffi��cers advised her to get anOCI card before March 31,2019, as she would not be allowed to enter the countryon the basis of her PIO cardafter that, the petition saidand added that she had sentan email to FRRO to helpher but has not received anyresponse.

Central governmentstanding counsel AnuragAhluwalia told the courtthat the petitioner was a Pakistani citizen prior to becoming a US citizen and therefore, according to theCitizenship Act she was ineligible for an OCI card.

Centre’s stand sought on

plea by Qureshi’s daughter She has sought Overseas Citizen card


New Delhi A gang of robbers targetedpassengers of a DTC bus onNH9 in East Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.

The incident was reported around 2 p.m. when aDTC bus from Kapashera toAnand Vihar was near Pandav Nagar. A gang of fi��verobbers, who boarded thebus from Sarai Kale Khanstarted robbing passengers. The robbers forcedthe driver to stop it at Ghazipur crossing and fl��ed.

Victims said that therobbers were carryingknife and all of a suddenthey started beating passengers and snatched theirwallets, mobile phonesand other valuables. A fewpassengers tried to protest,but they were thrashed byrobbers.

A case has been registered at Kalyanpuri policestation.

Robbers snatchvaluables frombus passengers

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI


#70929

■ Across

1 Joyless (6)

4 Departure (5)

7 Rectangular two

dimensional fi��gure (6)

8 Soundless (6)

9 Curved structure (4)

10 Right to vote (8)

12 Royal residence in

Norfolk (11)

17 Pickpocket — set up

cru (anag) (8)

19 Edges (4)

20 Hearsay (6)

21 Inside (6)

22 Industrial centre of

the Ruhr (5)

23 Simple calculating

device (6)

■ Down

1 Residential districts

of town (7)

2 Mediumsized,

blackish aquatic bird

with long toes (7)

3 Hospital doctor (9)

4 Intense sorrow (5)

5 Japanese art of

fl��owerarranging (7)

6 Channel running

along the eaves of a

building (6)

11 Large venomous

Australian spider (63)

13 Occasionally (2,5)

14 Person in confl��ict

with Roman Catholic

dogma (7)

15 Published

reminiscences (7)

16 Not enough to

satisfy demand (6)

18 Reversal of

direction (14)

THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD13005

6

Solution will appear

in Delhi Metro dated

March 1, 2019.

Solution No.

13004

POOCH CAFE

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

TIGER

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

WUMO


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

B ND-NDE

CITY

Max temp in city sixnotches below normal NEW DELHI

The national Capital recorded

a maximum temperature of

20 degrees Celsius on

Wednesday, six notches

below normal, a

Meteorological Department

official said. “The minimum

temperature settled at 9.5

degrees Celsius, three

notches below normal,” he

said. The weatherman has

predicted shallow fog for

Thursday morning. PTI

‘Aqua Line’s fi��rst monthresponse has been good’NOIDA

Over 3.24 lakh passengers

took rides on the Noida

Greater Noida Metro in the

first month and the Noida

Metro Rail Corporation

earned a revenue of more

than ₹��1 crore, according to

NMRC official data. The Aqua

Line, the metro rail service

that was opened for public on

January 25, has recorded an

average ridership of 10,458

passengers during the first 31

days of its operations, the

NMRC data stated. PTI

IN BRIEF

In two separate complaintsagainst installation of mobile towers in residentialareas, the National GreenTribunal (NGT) has directedthe Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee and the SouthDelhi Municipal Corporation to look into the issuesand furnish actiontaken reports.

A Bench headed by NGTjudicial member S.P. Wangdi said: “Considering thefacts and circumstances setout in the application, wedeem it appropriate to forward this complaint to theDPCC and SDMC to jointlyexamine the factual aspectsset out in the applicationand thereafter, take appropriate action in accordancewith law.”

The directions camewhen the green panel washearing a complaint forwarded by a group of Dwarka residents who allegedthat a mobile tower was be

ing installed in their colonyby another resident withouttheir permission.

Adverse impact“The applicant apprehendsadverse environmental impact and health hazard dueto the tower,” the Bench observed while noting thecomplaint.

A separate complaint wasforwarded by residents ofTikri Kalan alleging that installation of a mobile tower

in Kalyan Gaon was a healthconcern for residents.

While noting that theDPCC has a policy pertaining to the installation of mobile towers, the tribunal directed the committee tolook into the allegations.

“Needless to say that theorder of the NGT is bindingas a decree of court andnoncompliance is actionable by way of punitive actionincluding prosecution,” theBench added.

Complaints against mobiletowers in residential areasNGT directs DPCC, SDMC to examine issue and take action

The complainants expressed concern over health hazards dueto mobile towers in colonies. * FILE PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Between July 2018 and January 2019, the National GreenTribunal received nearly1,700 complaints throughemail and letters, out ofwhich over 320 were admitted as “petitions”, said anNGT offi��cial.

Since July last year, theNGT started accepting complaints through letters andemails to “improve access tojustice for commoncitizens”.

Environmental issuesBetween July 2018 and January 2019, the green panel received 1,691 letters and

emails pertaining to variousenvironmental issues, including encroachment inparks, lakes, water bodies,felling of trees, sand mining,

air pollution from industries, among other issues.

“Grievances receivedthrough post or email is registered and subjected topreliminary scrutiny at theregistry level. After technicalscrutiny, genuine grievancesraising substantive issues arelisted for hearing as per thediscretion of the tribunal,”an offi��cial said.

139 action-taken reports Out of the 1,691 complaints,321 were admitted as “petitions” with submission of actiontaken reports orderedfor 139 cases. Further, 68were disposed of with “noaction” and 70 with “action”

(to be taken) said offi��cials.“The tribunal’s careful ex

amination of issues in the letters and emails shows thatthe grievances were mostlyraised because citizens didnot approach statutory authorities concerned, that arethe fi��rst responders, as suchauthorities did not act in aneff��ective manner,” said a senior NGT offi��cial.

“This clearly shows thatenforcement and locallevelvigilance and monitoring inthese statutory bodies aredefi��cient. It would be appropriate that local agenciesstrengthen their public grievance redressal division,”the offi��cial added.

Over 320 of them admitted as petitions following careful examination, says offi��cial

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

NGT gets 1,691 pleas via emails, posts in 7 months

<> Examination of

issues in the letters

and emails shows

that the grievances

were mostly raised

because citizens did

not approach the

statutory authorities

concerned, that are

the fi��rst responders,

as such authorities

did not act in an

eff��ective manner

NGT official

In command: A shepherdess herds her sheep in Hisar district of Haryana. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Sheep out

Patients and families aff��ected by rare diseases have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediatelyrelease ₹��100 crore allocatedfor their treatment and implement National Policy forTreatment of Rare Diseases,2017 (NPTRD).

Patients under the Lysosomal Storage DisordersSupport Society (LSDSS), anonprofi��t organisationworking for the rights of patients with rare diseases, intheir letter to Prime Minister’s Offi��ce, Ministry ofCommerce and Industry,Ministry of Finance and Corporate Aff��airs, Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfaresaid: “For rare disease patients in India, the government’s promise to release

₹��100 crore, under NPTRD,for treatment was the muchneeded help required forfi��ghting these lifethreatening diseases.”

‘Hopes shattered’“However, the hope wasshattered when in December 2018, the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfareannounced that the policy isbeing kept in abeyance. Thisabrupt and surprising decision of the government is abig setback for rare diseasepatients in India and haspushed their life towardsuncertainty and death. OnlyKarnataka and Kerala governments have come forward to help rare diseasepatients,’ noted a release issued by the group.

Mr. Manjit Singh, president, Lysosomal Storage

Disorders Support Societysaid: “We appeal to the Central Government for theirurgent intervention in honouring its commitment towards rare disease patientsin India. We request the government to immediatelyrevoke the ban on NPTRDand, as outlined in the policy, immediately release the

corpus fund with initialamount of ₹��100 crore towards funding treatment ofrare diseases. The NPTRD isa progressive policy and itsspeedy implementationwould ensure that treatment of rare diseases in India gets the muchneededboost that is immediatelyrequired.”

LSDSS is headed by agroup of parents of LSD patients.

The most common rarediseases recorded in Indiaare Lysosomal Storage Disorders – Hunter Syndrome,Gaucher Disease and Fabry’s Disease. “The diagnosis of LSDs unlike any otherrare disorder is the fi��rst andmost critical and frustratingchallenge for anyone with arare disorder,’’ noted thegroup.

Patients with rare diseases appeal to PM Seek immediately release ₹��100 crore allocated for their treatment under NPTRD

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI <> The NPTRD is a

progressive policy

and its speedy

implementation

would ensure that

treatment of rare

diseases in India

gets the much

needed boost that

is immediately

required

Manjit Singh

President, Lysosomal Storage DisordersSupport Society


#70929

Mostly fun and always outspoken,Ekta Kapoor is arguably the mostprolifi��c creative producer in thecountry with shows runningacross platforms. Known to dothings diff��erently, and to have aninsight into what's simmering beneath the surface, she now has acomplex love story centeringaround an older couple on her ondemandvideo platform AltBalaji.At a time when young romancesare having a moment, Kehne KoHumsafar Hain is now in its second season. Starring her favourites, Ronit Roy, Mona Singh, andGurdip Kohli, the series sends outthe message that 'happily ever after' needs work, and that sometimes life is about hard choices.Edited excerpts from a conversation.

The cast and concept giveus a sense that this is a typicalBalaji show. Why did it go to aa streaming medium?

It would not have worked on television because some time back Ihad mounted a series with SonaliBendre and Apoorva Agnihotri(Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Ye). It wasabout a married woman who develops a bond with a man afterher husband cheated on her.

When TRPs dropped, the research showed that half the

women audiences didn’twant to watch such a show.

A common response wasthat the protagonist’s husband didn’t beat her, soshe had no valid reasonto fi��nd an emotional anchor. Half the womensaid that if they watchit, their husbandswould judge them. Irealised that in ourcountry women arejudged for what theywatch. If you arewatching a showabout a woman whois having an aff��air,you become a badwoman. However, Ifelt the experienceshould not stop mefrom putting up stories that arehappening.

How does theshow see the 'other’ woman?

When I startedthis app, I wantedto tell stories fromthe point of view ofthe socalled ‘other’woman. Her image

was that of a witchwho enchanted this

married man. We tend to forgetthat it it is the man who often tellsher that the marriage is not working. I felt that this should change. Icalled up Mona (Singh) and said, ‘Iam making this show and it is important for me that somebody likeyou play the other woman.’ I wassure from the beginning that youcannot make such a show withoutstellar actors and the requiredlayering. She was not sure. I hadto convince her that as an actorshe needed to look beyond the expectations. It is a grey characterand half the audience, the women, would not identify with her,but she had to bring them to herside. She’s done an excellent job.

The series talks of a StoneAge husband!

A completely emancipated husband is a myth. There are twotypes of men that are evolving.One who says this famous line thathe allows his wife to work. It is a

terrible line. Then there is another, who is even more covert. Hedoesn’t mind if she works, but sheshould be home by the time he isback. And he would underline itsaying that it was something hismother used to do. It also tries tounderstand his point of view. Atno point am I making him lookbad. Yes, at times I make him looksilly, because he's not getting it.

Does app technology promote individualism?

Of course, it allows you the opportunity to cater to individualtastes. I want to tell diff��erent kindsof stories. You should not shyaway from anything. Punchbeat,another series on the app is pureescapism. Somebody will watch aprogramme for the guilty pleasure, someone will watch for relatability and someone will watchfor aspirational value.

You have a presence infi��lms, television, and digital.Do you see one cannibalisingthe other?

We are heading towards an erawhere all three mediums survivebeautifully. Television is for familyviewing. You still can’t see a kisswith your father in the room. Andthe remote is usually given to theeldest or immobile member of thefamily. Digital will be your individual screen. You don’t need fourpeople to like it, to watch it. Thefi��lm continues to be for communal viewing. All three tastes areimportant. The collections of lastyear show that the fi��lm business isgoing strong.

Have kids brought about achange in your personality?

I will not change. As a woman, Iam not going to have a streak ofmamta suddenly. I just have towork on time management. I lovemy child, but he should also learnhow to deal with her mother.

For the full interview, log ontothehindu.com

Ekta Kapoor onthe myths of‘other’ woman,the sacrifi��cialmother, and theemancipatedhusband

Anuj Kumar

Truthbe bold


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

B ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

“Fitness gave me a scientific approach to looking after my

self for dance,” says Vani Bhalla Pahwa, functional fitness

trainer and Bharatanayam and Mohiniyattam dancer, from

Gurugram. Between rehearsals for Samvaad — an upcoming

show organised by her guru Bharati Shivaji’s The Mohiniyat

tam Collective — Pahwa makes time for a conversation over

a bowlful of salad, and a cup of black coffee. Pahwa talks

about the show and of bridging engagement between her

dual careers of classical dancing and fitness coach.

In the show, four Mohiniyattam dancers are collaborat

ing with a Manipuri, Odissi, Attriya, and Chhau artiste each

in separate segments. Tell us how this works.

These are styles that lend very well to the mood and aes

thetics of Mohiniyattam. Unlike [a usual] jugalbandi, where

one does their bit and then the other does theirs, we were

very clear that there should be a connect — that there is a

dialogue both in terms of music and choreography. Each

segment is between 25 and 30 minutes long. Each style

stands out, and they all also complement one another.

How does fitness and dance feed into one another?

One of the simplest, but biggest takeaways that has

seeped from my dancing into my fitness has been mindful

ness. . When you’re on stage, you’re performing for an audi

ence, yes, but the hallmark of a great dancer is that you’re

also able to transcend that reality. When I took to fitness, it

was at a time when I wasn’t able to rehearse. When you

make movement intense, it makes you get in touch with

yourself, mentally and physically. So, coming from dance to

fitness, I carried that sense of mindfulness quite naturally. I

find it amusing when people make a distinction between

yoga as a mindful workout visavis gyming as a mindless

one. Even when I was lifting heavy weights, I was always

tuned in to my breath, conscious of where my movement

was taking my body.

In Samvaad, you’re collaborating with Rakesh Sai Babu,

a Chhau dancer. What have you learnt about that form?

For this generation that is looking to fitness and athlet

ics, I’d say, watch a Chhau performance! Mohiniyattam is a

softlooking style, and it totally belies the control that a

dancer has to exercise, to maintain flow and grace.

Samvaad, 1st March at 7p.m., Stein Auditorium, India Hab-

itat Centre

Vangmayi Parakala

PEOPLE

A conversation between formsFitness trainer and classical dancer Vani Pahwa on the

science of dance and art of fi��tness

Porsche Design and PUMA have collaborated on a

sportswear collection, bringing together design and per

formance across lifestyle and sports shoes and apparel.

Taped seams, innovative cushioning systems, and light ma

terials, build on both the brands’ technical knowhow. If

you’re interested, there’s more techsounding stuff to

throw at folks if you buy in: Dual ThermoR technology re

sponds to skin temperature, evoKNIT material creates

breathable knitted zones, PUMA Cell technology promises

stable cushioning. It’s not all moisturewicking tees (though

they have those too, in DriRelease fabric), it’s also about

introducing urbanites to accessories like the waterrepel

lent Pro Parka that just might drive the rainyday blues

away, at a price of course.

Available in Porsche Design stores and online at

www.porsche-design.com and at www.puma.com.

PRODUCTS

Designed to prowl

Dimitri Beck, the Director of Photography atthe Polka magazine based in Paris, France,has been running around in the humidity ofChennai all day, pausing often to click quickshots of places and people. For about 10 minutes though, he stops at a spot near a dilapidated sculpture on an open ground. As wehear students’ voices and a popular Tamilsong play in the background, Dimitri, a journalist himself, tells us about himself.

The road less travelledPhotojournalism happened by chance forthis French journalist with a strong background in economy and business. At 21, herealised that a career that actually “did something” is what he should pursue.

Photographs had always been a part of his

years that I was there, I realised that a storycan be best seen and analysed only by the people of the land. Which is why I worked withthe photographers there, to make them tellstories every day,” continues Dimitri as hetalks about the “country ruled by men”,which is “still very much a confl��ict zone.”

What was heartwrenching for him wasdocumenting the women’s lives. “I have onlyseen them struggle. Even the kids, for thatmatter,” he says. “The Taliban is killing morecivilians than soldiers or foreigners. It’s notjust a regular war between armies; it’s an unfair war where the Afghans are the targets.”

If no one heard the tree fallWhat’s his idea of the perfect photo? “The visual power of the photograph should alignwith the information,” he says, explainingthat the picture should speak for itself. “Thatis the diff��erence between photojournalismand documentary photography — or any other form of photography. The former shouldbe connected to facts: facts that can be followed easily through the picture itself. Forthe latter, the photographer is allowed to bemore personal,” says Dimitri.

He admits that it is very diffi��cult to be completely objective in this line of work. “But atthe same time, the responsibility of the photographer lies in how factual he is,” he says.As for invasion of the subject’s privacy — aquestion that invariably arises when you document lives — Dimitri has a fi��tting answer.“They are surprisingly very welcoming. People who face injustice, know that if what theyare going through is not shown visually, it’salmost as if the injustice doesn’t exist.”

work on something that would make peopleopen their eyes to happenings around them.

In 2004, he moved to Kabul, Afghanistan,where he ran a bilingual magazine, The Newsof Kaboul – New Afghanistan and was alsocoordinating with a local photography community where he trained photographers onvisual storytelling. “In the two and a half

childhood. “Pictures of injustice, of strongmoments when humanity was hit harshly —like the defence for civil rights in USA, theVietnam war and the impact of Hiroshima, allof the pictures of the Second World War; Igrew up with these images,” says Dimitri, adding that the visual memories were permanently etched in his mind. These led him to

From the streets of Kabul to thoseof Paris, Dimitri Beck’s work is all

about local perspectives of thepeople of the land

Journalismthrough a lens

Vignette of life:On the ChampsElysees,supporters waitfor the return ofthe Frenchfootball team

* DIMITRI BECK

Gowri S

UP NEXTHer next big fi��lmI am looking forward to MentalHai Kya where Raj Kumar Rao andKangana (Ranaut) are at the topof their game. It speaks aboutpeople with mental issues yet itis an exciting thriller because youdon’t know who is speaking thetruth. On working with KanganaShe is like me. What you see iswhat you get. This is my thirdfi��lm with her.On Kangana’s increasing creativeinterventionI always tell her that if there areany creative diff��erences, weshould sort them out amongourselves. No third person shouldcome and tell the world that weare having a fi��ght. I am notinsecure about my work. I amopen to making changes afterdeliberating with the creativeteam.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Old love: Mona Singh and Ronit Roy in Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, which isnow in its second season * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Lecture on global peace

Former German diplomat and Ambassador to

India Dr. HansGeorg Wieck, will give a lecture

titled Global Peace – Still Possible?. This event is

organised in collaboration with Federation of

IndoGerman Societies in India, and will be

chaired by former Indian diplomat, Ambassador

Ronen Sen.

Venue: Conference RoomII, IIC

Time: 6:30 p.m.

TALK

Individual Palettes

It is the last day of Kala Vividha Raza Utsav, a

group art show. Participating artists include

Vasundhara T Broota, Shruti Gupta Chandra,

Surinder Kaur, and Meena Deora. The group art

show is curated by Rameshwar Broota, the head

of the department and studio at Triveni Gallery,

who has mentored and trained many artists.

Venue: Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg

Time: 11 a.m. 8 p.m.

ART

Odissi

This evening, Delhibased Odissi dancer Vrinda

Chadha will feature in a solo Odissi presentation

titled Rasa Manthan – The Churning of Inner

Bliss.The performance is choreographed and

planned in the direction of Chadha’s guru, the

renowned Odissi exponent and Padmashri

awardee Ranjana Gauhar.

Venue: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre

Time: 7 p.m.

DANCE

Chezin live

Chezin will perform at Cyber Hub Social, a

franchisee of the popular panIndian bar tonight.

Chetan Dominic Awasthi, whose stage name is

Chezin, is a singer and songwriter, and has been

active in the Delhi music circuit for over 8 years.

A former lead singer of the funk band Soul'd Out,

his dabbles in both electropop, and R'n'B.

Venue: Cyber City, DLF Cyber Hub, Sector 24

Time: 9 p.m. 12 a.m.

POP

Le Poulain

Directed by Mathieu Sapin, this French film is the

story of young Arnaud, who is inexperienced in

politics, but joins the communication team of a

presidential candidate. When he discovers the

tactics of the campaign and its twists and

rivalries, he develops an attraction and

fascination for this world.

Venue: M.L. Bhartia Auditorium

Time: 6:30 p.m.

FILM

5 EVENTS WORTH YOUR WHILE


#70929

The monsoon has cast its greenspell on the dry deciduous forestof Jhalana forest reserve, barely a1520 minute drive East of thePink City.

We are on a leopard trail. Wehad seen it snoozing on a treeduring the morning safari,through a veil of leafy branches.It was also a delight to see numerous birds as they chirped, foraged for insects or fl��ew aroundthe forest, fragrant from rainsthe day before. Enthused by therare sighting of a striped hyena,we decided to push our luck andcheck out any leopard on hunt inthe evening safari.

Surendra Chouhan, local conservationist, wildlife photographer and author of Jhalana –Land of Leopard, piqued our excitement by showing us a recentpicture he had shot. It was of a leopard dragging a nilgai up a treeinthe same forest. He guided usto follow the alarmed screams ofpeafowl in our chase to see thewild cat, and manoeuvred usthrough the undulating terrain.But we would have almost missed the adrenaline rush if not forManoj Pandey, a veteran of safaris from Delhi, who caught aglimpse of the leopard lurking inthe tall grass. From then on itwas a game of hideandseek;waiting, watching and chasing.

As dusk descended over thehills of the Aravalli that bordermuch of the 24square kilometreforest, we were all ears andstraining our eyes in the fadinglight. “Hold on tight,” said Surendra as the driver raced up themuddy track and stopped at avantage point.

There it appeared onto thetrack, crossing our path gracefully just a few metres from thejeep. Suddenly it paused, turnedits head and looked straight at uswith its piercing eyes. Before ourgasps became louder, it movedon and got lost in the thick of theforest.For us, the thrill of sighting a leopard in the wildernessfor the fi��rst time was enough. Butnot for Surendra who whispered,“let’s go to the other side as itsout for a hunt”. So, we went look

ing for the leopard again, drivingthrough thickets of grassland,and trees of dhonk, babool andkhejri.

The Jhalana forest reserve isthe pilot project of the RajasthanGovernment’s Project Leopard,and is the fi��rst of its kind in India.It was open to the public for leopard safaris on May 15, 2017.When Project Leopard was announced in the 20172018 budgetsession, it comprised eight leopard sanctuaries. The leopard isan endangered animal underSchedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Chosen projectOut of the three chosen for pilotprojects, namely Jhalana ( Jaipur), Jaisamand sanctuary (Udaipur) and KumbhalgarhRaoliTodgarh sanctuary (AjmerUdaipur), only Jhalana was implemented. On World Animal Dayon October 4, it was offi��cially

launched by the then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and inaugurated by then Forest Minister GS Khimsar. “The aim is toprotect the leopard, its habitatand reduce humananimal confl��ict,” said Sudarshan Sharma,Deputy Conservator of Forests,Jaipur. Among amenities for tourists, wildlife lovers can displaytheir photographs of Jhalana atthe gallery of the newlyconstructed Interpretation Centre.

With an offi��cial estimate of 2530 leopards in Jhalana, it is rapidly gaining popularity due to regu

lar leopard sightings. Though theleopard is an elusive and solitaryanimal, that usually roams alarge area, it’s incredible that Jhalana has such a high density in asmall area. In the morning, ourguide, Rohit Gangwal, who off��ersjeep safaris (World of Wilders),was a link between us and themarvels of Jhalana’s wingedfriends. We got to spot numerousbirds, including a pair of brownish spotted owls.

It was visually pleasing to seethe bluish Eurasian roller, Indianpitta with its nine colours, junglefrancolin, greyheaded lapwing,gregarious jungle babbler, Brahminy starling, grey wagtail andgreen beeeater among manyothers. The Indian hoopoe, oncecommon in human habitats, hadto make evolutionary changes toits lifestyle and move to forests,as excessive use of pesticide hasshrunk its food base in urbanareas. “We have even driven ourbirds out of our neighbourhood,”said Rohit. On passing the Kalimata temple inside the forest,where alcohol is off��ered to thedeity, Rohit drew our attention tocarelessly scattered pieces ofglass that could injure animals.

Driving through the waterholes, we saw the shikra, a raptorperched on a tree branch nearbymunching on its prey. Known tokill prey with great speed and accuracy, it has inspired the IndianNavy to name one of its helicopter bases INS Shikra.

What was conspicuous by itsabsence were deer and sambhars, normal prey for leopards.“Sambhar is the favourite of leopards, but its absence heremakes them do with peafowl thatare found in abundance,” saidSurendra.

Their dietary spectrum includes peafowl, blue bull, langurs, hares and squirrels. A peafowl weighing four to fi��vekilograms could mitigate a leopard’s hunger for two to threedays.

Pointing at the hunting lodgestanding tall on the hill, heshared an anecdote about howthe last tigress was killed by theerstwhile Maharani Gayatri Deviof Jaipur in 1948.

Jungle tales: Leopards andpeafowl are common sights inJhalana * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK AND

KAVITA KANAN CHANDRAThere is a

pleasure in thepathless woods

Beyond the majestic forts andbustling bazaars, discover the

untamed side of Jaipur

PINK CITY

During the rule of Sawai RamSingh I, Jaipur was painted pinkto welcome AlbertEdward, Prince ofWales (who laterbecame KingEdward VII) in 1876.

Kavita Kanan Chandra

The writer is a Chennai-based photographer who is passionate about travelling andclicking pictures of people while exploring

Apatanis have followedthe tradition of facialmodifi��cation by pluggingtheir noses with wood.This was done purposelyto make women lookunattractive to malesfrom other tribes.Today’s generationrefuses to wear thesenose plugs but thiscustom has been anintegral part of itscultural history.

From thehouse of dawnThis is the story of the Apatanis, a gentle tribenestled in the valleys of Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh.They speak a local language called Tani, and worshipthe sun and the moon. The tribe has extensiveknowledge of herbal remedies to cure most of theirailments. Local ritual specialists also take part inchanting, bloodletting and animal sacrifi��ces in a bidto keep inhabitants healthy. Vignettes from the life ofthe 65,000strong community

:: Palaniappan Subramanyam

This landlocked valley has infl��uenced the pattern of settlement, land use,resource management, agricultural system and the evolution of a unique social

fabric amongst these people. The Apatanis manipulate various variety of ricecrops to capture soil nutrients, conserve water and get the best produce every

season. They also practise recycling of crops to prevent nutrient loss.

Although very painful, the Apatani women follow the custom of tattooingtheir face, which is called yaping. The tattoos usually comprise a single linerunning from the forehead to the tip of the nose and then a line runninghorizontally under the bottom lip with fi��ve vertical lines descending from it.

The men usually takepart in fortifi��cation of

the houses in themonth of December asagricultural activity is

very sparse. Whilethey aren’t fancy on

architecture, Apatanihouses are topnotch

when it comes toutility. The houses are

sturdy and everykitchen has a

dedicated garden.Sometimes, tin sheetsare used to roof these

structures, givingthem a modern touch.

Humility andtransparency arethe two distinct

qualities that onefi��nds in Apatani

women. Tribal menhave gone to

lengths where theyhave kidnappedwomen because

they were smittenby their beauty.

Teenagers in thetribe are highly

infl��uenced bymodern and

Western civilisation.Most of the younger

generation thinksthat their practices

have become datedand irrelevant in anage when more and

more locals move tocities to practisediff��erent trades.

The best way toexperience a city, is onfoot. In the US, citiessuch as Philadelphia,Seattle, Boston,Minneapolis andChicago have severalwalking paths andbicycle trails.

One can exploreBoston on foot, trolley,bike or boat. It off��erstours for all interests —historical, food andwine, architectural,fi��lm, the harbourislands, and even toursfor little feet. Boston hasa Hubway bicyclesharing system, bywhich one can explorethe famous Hatch Shell,the Boston UniversityBridge, and otherplaces. Take the 2.25mile Circuit Path Loopthrough Boston or takethe South Bay HarborTrail, which is a 3.5miletrail from the RugglesMBTA station nearNortheastern Universityin Roxbury to Fan Pier,overlooking BostonHarbor in the SeaportDistrict. Use Boston’ssubway, bus, trolley car,and boat service totravel anywhere in theGreater Boston area andbeyond.

Bostonon foot


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

B ND-NDE

TRAVEL