T he security establishment in India is mulling over options to avenge the killing of 44 CRPF personnel in a suicide attack in Pulwama on Thursday. The Services Chiefs briefed the political leadership on Friday about their pre- paredness to carry out any punitive strikes. The options include cross-border raids or surgical strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), air strikes to destroy camps of well-known terror outfits, or something more “deterring”. However, none of these options are easy for want of ele- ment of surprise, and inclement weather conditions. Determined to punish the perpetrators, officials said the Government has also not ruled out opting for an unconven- tional response which may not entail using military option. These options could include intelligence-based action which may be covert in nature. Also, the retaliation by India may not come soon as the decision makers will weigh all conse- quences before launching any punitive action, officials said. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took stock of the sit- uation in the wake of the attack and options to be exercised, sources said. Modi later said in a public rally here that the secu- rity forces were given a free hand for the job at a place and timing of their choosing. Elaborating upon various alternatives, sources in the security establishment said while surgical strikes by the elite Special Forces are on the table, it may be difficult at this point of time due to inclement weather along the Line of Control (LoC). Most of the mountain passes are snow- bound, making movement of commandoes to carry out any operation across the LoC dif- ficult. If helicopters are used to drop the commandos close to the LoC, the Pakistan Army will be immediately alerted, they said. Officials also admitted that surprise element as regards surgical strikes this time unlike two years back is not there, and the Pakistan Army will be fully geared to thwart any such move. The Pakistan Army is now deployed in full strength along the LoC and swift raids by the Indians may not be pro- ductive, they added. On using air power, be it helicopters or fighter jets, to take out terrorist camps of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Muridke in POK, officials said — India has the weapons and capability such an action across the border — may be construed as an act of war and also lead to escalation of hos- tilities between India and Pakistan. Taking these factors into consideration, the Government decided to move step by step and immediately try to isolate Pakistan diplomatically and withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation status on Friday. More diplomatic actions in the coming days were not ruled out, sources said. T alking tough after an unprecedented terror attack on security forces in Kashmir that killed 44 CRPF jawans on Thursday, the Government on Friday removed “Most Favoured Nation” (MNF) priv- ilege accorded to Pakistan. All steps will be taken to ensure the neighbouring coun- try’s isolation globally, the Government said after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met here to review the situation following the terror strike reportedly had a backing of the Pakistan- based Jaish-e-Mohammad. After the CCS meeting at Prime Minister’s residence, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said all efforts will be made to ensure that perpetrators of the attack are brought to book. P rotests broke out in several parts of the country on Friday against the terror attack in Pulwama district of South Kashmir. Jammu was the epi- centre of the people’s outburst as curfew had to be imposed there following massive vio- lence during the day-long bandh call given by Chamber of Commerce and Industries. Protesters burned dozens of vehicles and shops and dam- aged properties. In Delhi, protesters gath- ered at India Gate on Friday afternoon raising anti-Paksitan slogans. A group of protesters demonstrated outside Pakistan’s embassy in Delhi. Spontaneous protest also broke out in Mumbai, Am- ritsar, Patna, Varanasi, Ranchi, Hyderabad and several other cities. But it was Jammu, which saw massive arson and violence through the day. The situation became explosive after scuffle broke between members of two groups during the bandh call. As police authorities deployed in the area failed to contain the situation, even after lobbing teargas shells, angry protesters resorted to violence and torched vehicles parked outside Jogi gate area. A day after the deadly strike on a CRPF convoy that took lives of 44 paramilitary jawans, the security agencies have identified Jaish-e- Mohammad (JeM) comman- der Abdul Rasheed as the mas- termind of the Pulwama terror attack. Pakistani national Rasheed is suspected to have been trained in Afghanistan. An IED expert, he is suspected to have planned the terror attack in December last year. He is suspected to have also acted as a handler of the slain Adil Ahmad Dar, alias Waqas Commando who rammed his explosive-laded Scorpio SUV into a bus of the CRPF convoy on Thursday. Intelligence estimates sug- gest 35-40 fidayeen of Jaish are active in South Kashmir. Inputs also suggest motor- cycle-borne fidayeen could be on the prowl in the Valley, a reason why convoy movement was banned across Kashmir by the State police. “The chatter inputs reveal that Jaish-e-Mohammad has hinted to carry out IED attacks along the routes of security forces across Jammu & Kashmir. It is as such suggest- ed that security forces need to put on alert to thwart any such attempt by terrorists,” warned a Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) alert a day before the Pulwama attack, asking all the J&K- based units to remain on high- est alert and maintain constant liaison with the State police. “…it is requested to issue necessary guidelines and instructions and to all unit commanders of J&K-based units to be on highest alert to avoid any untoward incident. Constant liaison must be main- tained with the local police and other intelligence agencies for sharing of information and coordinate action. Any signif- icant information in this regard should be immediately inti- mated to all concerned,” read the alert. The J&K Police had on February 8 issued an alert ask- ing the CRPF to sanitise area of deployment. “Before occupying your place of deployment, please sanitise the area properly as there are inputs of use of IEDs. Matter most urgent, read the February 8 alert flashed through the police control room to the various formations of CRPF, Srinagar Sector, BSF, ITBP and police formations in the State,” it said. A few days after a massive fire in Karol Bagh took 17 lives, the Delhi Government on Friday cancelled the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for fire clearance of 30 hotels. Pertinently, the Government audited hotels/ guest house in the vicinity after a magisterial probe ordered by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Home Minister Satyender Jain said the fire department will intensify its drive against errant hotels across the city to prevent recurrence of Karol Bagh-like incident. “45 hotels have been inspected in Karol Bagh area, 30 were found to be violating rules and hence, safe- ty certificates have been can- celled,” said Jain. Persona International, Danish Residency, Hotel Mid Town, Sunrise Karol Bagh, MS Regency Hotel, Hotel Apra Inn, GH TJS Royal, Rockwell Plaza, Kyron, Sun Star Height, JP Residency, Hotel Metro Continental, Hotel Royal Garden, Arihant Inn, Hotel Krishna Palace, Hotel Majastic are a few of the violators. According to Jain, munic- ipal corporations and police have been asked to seal these establishments. As per the observations submitted to the Delhi Government, a large number of deaths at Hotel Arpit Palace occured due to suffocation which happens due to presence of carbon monoxide and other toxic and poisonous gases. Hotel Arpit Palace inferno has taken lives of 17 occupants of the hotel. As per the Delhi Government audit report on February 13, 23 hotels were inspected by the fire depart- ment and of this, 13 were found violating fire safety norms. Next day, 17 hotels out of 22 were found to have violat- ed rules. We have written to municipal corporation and police to take steps to seal them, he said. The Minister said that in its report the fire department said that hotel management used carpets and covered walls with wooden material, which fuelled the flames. The Minister added that a magisterial inquiry is underway in the matter. A nnouncing a massive crackdown on those accepting funds from the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to carry out nefarious activities in the Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said strict action will be taken against them. Making another signifi- cant announcement in Srinagar, Rajnath said the civilian traffic would be stopped during the movement of convoys of Army and para- military. “In the wake of the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy on Thursday, it has been decided that the civilian movement will be stopped for some time when a large convoy of secu- rity forces passes through an area,” Rajnath told at Press conference. He said that the civilians will face a little difficulty because of the restriction. “We apologise for it,” he added. Earlier, on his arrival in Srinagar, the Home Minister attended a high-level security review meeting and also visit- ed Command hospital where he interacted with the injured CRPF jawans. Rajnath also shouldered mortal remains of CRPF jawans along with senior police/Army and CRPF offi- cers after attending a solemn wreath-laying ceremony. P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack will pay “a very heavy price” and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with terrorists. In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the “blood of the people is boiling” and forces behind the act of ter- rorism will definitely be punished. “I want to tell the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them that they have made a big mistake. They will have to pay a very heavy price for their actions. Let me assure the nation that those behind this attack, the perpetrators of this attack will be punished,” Modi said at a function to flag off the Vande Bharat Express, India’s fastest train from Delhi to Varanasi. He was speaking just after the Cabinet meeting. “Security forces have been given complete freedom, the blood of the people is boil- ing...Our neighbouring coun- try, which has been isolated internationally, thinks such terror attacks can destabilise us, but their plans will not mate- rialise,” Modi said. “My condolences to fami- lies of those martyred in Pulwama attack; those behind the terror strike will pay a very heavy price,” Modi said. “I am thankful to all nations which condemned the Pulwama attack and I urge them to come together to crush terrorism,” he said. Appealing to his critics to not politicise the tragedy, Modi said the attacks have left the country emotional. “I under- stand the sentiments of those criticising us but I urge them that it is an emotional time, so stay away from political one- upmanship,” he said. Addressing a public meet- ing in Jhansi later in the day, the PM again did not name Pakistan but said the attack was an outcome of the neighbour’s desperation as it is in a bad shape and has been forced to go to different countries with a “begging bowl” to meet even its daily expenses. A jay Bisaria, India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, was on Friday called back to Delhi for consultations after a Pakistan-based terror group killed over 44 CRPF soldiers in a massive car bombing in Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday. A n all-party meeting has been called by the Government on Saturday to discuss Thursday’s terror attack against a convoy of CRPF. This meeting will be first of its kind called by the NDA Government led by Narendra Modi. T he international com- munity has strongly condemned the terror attack, with US President Donald Trump asking Pakistan to “end immedi- ately” the support and safe haven provided to all ter- rorist groups operating on its soil. C hina on Friday indicat- ed it would continue to block India's bid to declare Masood Azhar as an inter- national terrorist whose out- fit JeM has claimed to plot the worst-ever attack in J&K.
Transcript
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The security establishment inIndia is mulling over
options to avenge the killing of44 CRPF personnel in a suicideattack in Pulwama onThursday. The Services Chiefsbriefed the political leadershipon Friday about their pre-paredness to carry out anypunitive strikes. The optionsinclude cross-border raids orsurgical strikes on terroristinfrastructure in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK), airstrikes to destroy camps ofwell-known terror outfits, orsomething more “deterring”.
However, none of theseoptions are easy for want of ele-ment of surprise, and inclementweather conditions.
Determined to punish theperpetrators, officials said theGovernment has also not ruledout opting for an unconven-tional response which may notentail using military option.These options could includeintelligence-based action whichmay be covert in nature. Also,the retaliation by India may notcome soon as the decisionmakers will weigh all conse-quences before launching anypunitive action, officials said.
The Cabinet Committeeon Security (CCS) chaired byPrime Minister Narendra Modion Friday took stock of the sit-uation in the wake of the attackand options to be exercised,sources said. Modi later said ina public rally here that the secu-rity forces were given a freehand for the job at a place andtiming of their choosing.
Elaborating upon variousalternatives, sources in thesecurity establishment saidwhile surgical strikes by theelite Special Forces are on thetable, it may be difficult at thispoint of time due to inclementweather along the Line ofControl (LoC). Most of themountain passes are snow-bound, making movement ofcommandoes to carry out anyoperation across the LoC dif-ficult. If helicopters are used todrop the commandos close tothe LoC, the Pakistan Armywill be immediately alerted,they said.
Officials also admitted thatsurprise element as regardssurgical strikes this time unliketwo years back is not there, andthe Pakistan Army will be fullygeared to thwart any suchmove. The Pakistan Army isnow deployed in full strengthalong the LoC and swift raidsby the Indians may not be pro-ductive, they added.
On using air power, be ithelicopters or fighter jets, totake out terrorist camps ofJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) inMuridke in POK, officialssaid — India has the weaponsand capability such an actionacross the border — may beconstrued as an act of war andalso lead to escalation of hos-tilities between India andPakistan.
Taking these factors intoconsideration, the Governmentdecided to move step by stepand immediately try to isolatePakistan diplomatically andwithdrawing the MostFavoured Nation status onFriday. More diplomaticactions in the coming dayswere not ruled out, sourcessaid.
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Talking tough after anunprecedented terror attack
on security forces in Kashmirthat killed 44 CRPF jawans onThursday, the Government onFriday removed “MostFavoured Nation” (MNF) priv-ilege accorded to Pakistan.
All steps will be taken toensure the neighbouring coun-try’s isolation globally, theGovernment said after theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) met here toreview the situation followingthe terror strike reportedlyhad a backing of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
After the CCS meeting atPrime Minister’s residence,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid all efforts will be made toensure that perpetrators of theattack are brought to book.
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Protests broke out in severalparts of the country on
Friday against the terror attackin Pulwama district of SouthKashmir. Jammu was the epi-centre of the people’s outburstas curfew had to be imposedthere following massive vio-lence during the day-longbandh call given by Chamberof Commerce and Industries.Protesters burned dozens ofvehicles and shops and dam-aged properties.
In Delhi, protesters gath-ered at India Gate on Fridayafternoon raising anti-Paksitanslogans. A group of protesters
demonstrated outsidePakistan’s embassy in Delhi.
Spontaneous protest alsobroke out in Mumbai, Am-ritsar, Patna, Varanasi, Ranchi,Hyderabad and several othercities.
But it was Jammu, whichsaw massive arson and violencethrough the day. The situationbecame explosive after scufflebroke between members oftwo groups during the bandhcall. As police authoritiesdeployed in the area failed tocontain the situation, evenafter lobbing teargas shells,angry protesters resorted toviolence and torched vehiclesparked outside Jogi gate area.
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Aday after the deadly strikeon a CRPF convoy that
took lives of 44 paramilitaryjawans, the security agencieshave identified Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) comman-der Abdul Rasheed as the mas-termind of the Pulwama terrorattack.
Pakistani national Rasheedis suspected to have beentrained in Afghanistan. AnIED expert, he is suspected tohave planned the terror attackin December last year. He issuspected to have also acted asa handler of the slain AdilAhmad Dar, alias WaqasCommando who rammed hisexplosive-laded Scorpio SUVinto a bus of the CRPF convoyon Thursday.
Intelligence estimates sug-gest 35-40 fidayeen of Jaish are
active in South Kashmir.Inputs also suggest motor-
cycle-borne fidayeen could beon the prowl in the Valley, areason why convoy movementwas banned across Kashmir bythe State police.
“The chatter inputs revealthat Jaish-e-Mohammad hashinted to carry out IED attacksalong the routes of securityforces across Jammu &Kashmir. It is as such suggest-ed that security forces need toput on alert to thwart any suchattempt by terrorists,” warneda Multi-Agency Centre (MAC)alert a day before the Pulwamaattack, asking all the J&K-based units to remain on high-est alert and maintain constantliaison with the State police.
“…it is requested to issuenecessary guidelines andinstructions and to all unitcommanders of J&K-based
units to be on highest alert toavoid any untoward incident.Constant liaison must be main-tained with the local police andother intelligence agencies forsharing of information andcoordinate action. Any signif-icant information in this regardshould be immediately inti-mated to all concerned,” readthe alert.
The J&K Police had onFebruary 8 issued an alert ask-ing the CRPF to sanitise area ofdeployment. “Before occupyingyour place of deployment,please sanitise the area properlyas there are inputs of use ofIEDs. Matter most urgent, readthe February 8 alert flashedthrough the police controlroom to the various formationsof CRPF, Srinagar Sector, BSF,ITBP and police formations inthe State,” it said.
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Afew days after a massivefire in Karol Bagh took 17
lives, the Delhi Government onFriday cancelled the NoObjection Certificate (NOC)for fire clearance of 30 hotels.
Pertinently, theGovernment audited hotels/guest house in the vicinityafter a magisterial probeordered by Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal.
Home Minister SatyenderJain said the fire departmentwill intensify its drive againsterrant hotels across the city to
prevent recurrence of KarolBagh-like incident. “45 hotelshave been inspected in KarolBagh area, 30 were found to beviolating rules and hence, safe-ty certificates have been can-celled,” said Jain.
Persona International,Danish Residency, Hotel MidTown, Sunrise Karol Bagh, MSRegency Hotel, Hotel ApraInn, GH TJS Royal, RockwellPlaza, Kyron, Sun Star Height,JP Residency, Hotel MetroContinental, Hotel RoyalGarden, Arihant Inn, HotelKrishna Palace, Hotel Majasticare a few of the violators.
According to Jain, munic-ipal corporations and policehave been asked to seal theseestablishments.
As per the observationssubmitted to the DelhiGovernment, a large number ofdeaths at Hotel Arpit Palaceoccured due to suffocationwhich happens due to presenceof carbon monoxide and othertoxic and poisonous gases.
Hotel Arpit Palace infernohas taken lives of 17 occupantsof the hotel.
As per the DelhiGovernment audit report onFebruary 13, 23 hotels were
inspected by the fire depart-ment and of this, 13 werefound violating fire safetynorms.
Next day, 17 hotels out of22 were found to have violat-ed rules. We have written tomunicipal corporation andpolice to take steps to sealthem, he said.
The Minister said that in itsreport the fire department saidthat hotel management usedcarpets and covered walls withwooden material, which fuelledthe flames. The Minister addedthat a magisterial inquiry isunderway in the matter.
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Announcing a massivecrackdown on those
accepting funds from thePakistan’s Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) to carry outnefarious activities in theKashmir, Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh onFriday said strict action will betaken against them.
Making another signifi-cant announcement inSrinagar, Rajnath said thecivilian traffic would bestopped during the movementof convoys of Army and para-military.
“In the wake of the suicideattack on a CRPF convoy onThursday, it has been decidedthat the civilian movement willbe stopped for some timewhen a large convoy of secu-rity forces passes through anarea,” Rajnath told at Pressconference.
He said that the civilianswill face a little difficultybecause of the restriction. “Weapologise for it,” he added.
Earlier, on his arrival inSrinagar, the Home Ministerattended a high-level securityreview meeting and also visit-ed Command hospital wherehe interacted with the injuredCRPF jawans.
Rajnath also shoulderedmortal remains of CRPFjawans along with seniorpolice/Army and CRPF offi-cers after attending a solemnwreath-laying ceremony.
responsible for the Pulwamaterror attack will pay “a veryheavy price” and security forceswill be given a free hand to dealwith terrorists. In a hard-hittingspeech, Modi said the “blood ofthe people is boiling” andforces behind the act of ter-rorism will definitely be punished.
“I want to tell the terroroutfits and those aiding andabetting them that they havemade a big mistake. They willhave to pay a very heavy pricefor their actions. Let me assurethe nation that those behindthis attack, the perpetrators ofthis attack will be punished,”Modi said at a function to flagoff the Vande Bharat Express,India’s fastest train from Delhito Varanasi. He was speakingjust after the Cabinet meeting.
“Security forces have beengiven complete freedom, theblood of the people is boil-ing...Our neighbouring coun-try, which has been isolated
internationally, thinks suchterror attacks can destabilise us,but their plans will not mate-rialise,” Modi said.
“My condolences to fami-lies of those martyred inPulwama attack; those behindthe terror strike will pay a veryheavy price,” Modi said.
“I am thankful to allnations which condemned thePulwama attack and I urgethem to come together to crushterrorism,” he said.
Appealing to his critics tonot politicise the tragedy, Modisaid the attacks have left thecountry emotional. “I under-stand the sentiments of thosecriticising us but I urge themthat it is an emotional time, sostay away from political one-upmanship,” he said.
Addressing a public meet-ing in Jhansi later in the day, thePM again did not namePakistan but said the attack wasan outcome of the neighbour’sdesperation as it is in a badshape and has been forced to goto different countries with a“begging bowl” to meet even itsdaily expenses.
�����������������������������Ajay Bisaria, India’s High
Commissioner toPakistan, was on Fridaycalled back to Delhi forconsultations after aPakistan-based terror groupkilled over 44 CRPF soldiersin a massive car bombing inJammu & Kashmir onThursday.
�������� ���������������An all-party meeting
has been called by theGovernment on Saturdayto discuss Thursday’s terrorattack against a convoy ofCRPF. This meeting will befirst of its kind called by theNDA Government led byNarendra Modi.
�������������� �!"#�$"��!�%��"%%�%& � The international com-
munity has stronglycondemned the terrorattack, with US PresidentDonald Trump askingPakistan to “end immedi-ately” the support and safehaven provided to all ter-rorist groups operating onits soil.
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China on Friday indicat-ed it would continue to
block India's bid to declareMasood Azhar as an inter-national terrorist whose out-fit JeM has claimed to plotthe worst-ever attack in J&K.
It is said that the Bengalis havenever been a practical race.
They have not thrived much inthe domains of commerce andpolitics. Rather, they haveflourished most in the realmsthat give precedence to radicalidealism over the severity ofpractical worldliness. The poetsare dearer to the race than thepoliticians and industrytycoons. While dwelling onthe peculiar propensity in theBengali psyche–which hetermed ‘suicidal’ in some sense-
writer Nirad CChaudhury wrotethat those, who areintellectually alive,ready to sacrificematerial interests, arethe true Bengalis. Hestressed that mindand its developmentthrough relentlessintellectual pursuitsmarks the manifes-tation of humanity inman. According tohim, one bereft ofthis belongs to thesub-human genre.The aspiration for
the light from the mind for-getting the material imperativeto survive physically placesman in a class by himself,apart from the animal racewhich lives in its physical/vitalself with mind remaining un-manifested. The bovine genrelives on grass while the com-mon run of men does thesame indirectly and thrives intheir professions. Remainingtethered to the physical/vitalround of life is how they live.They are materially successfulas they perpetuate the life-cycle by procreation. But things
end here. Those who havetheir minds awakened canhardly be satisfied with thismechanical round of life. TheBengalis who survive in timeyears after they die are thosewho leave the beaten tracks andopt for ventures fusing mindwith heart, forgetful of thematerial returns from life,Chaudhury wrote.
What is generally found isthat the revolt of the mentallyawake Bengalis against mate-rialistic obsession takes theform of ideological radical-ism-a non-conformism to theexisting order and a dream forbetter things. Chaudhury saidthis was what had led to a sec-tion of the Bengali intellectu-als turning to Marxism.
Bengali radicalism is aninteresting subject to study —the evolution of the radicalpropensity in course of timeand through the travails of his-tory leading to the presentphase when it seems to havebeen wallowing in a swamp ofidle rhetoric, a kind of an inef-fectual beating of the wingswhile looking up to the sky tofind the glory of the past.
The typical Bengali mind
has remained free down theages from the grip of cut anddried convention stereotypedas traditions. This freedomfrom the conventional clichés,nurtured as an open space inthe subjective domain,accounts for the race’s ceaselessexperimentations with themyriad forces moulding life- acertain measure of unshackledintellectual restlessness thatmoves the race to tread the leasttravelled road, signifying non-conformism that sometimesproves ‘suicidal’.
The race is known as a fineinstance of a hybrid race.Numerous races-Aryan,Dravidian, Mongoloid,Semitic, and Negroid- camehere with their peculiarities-both physical and tempera-mental-, mixed in blood andcontributed to the complexityof the race. ManyAnthropologists are of theview that such an enormousmeasure of blood-mixing hashappened to a very few amongthe races that inhabit what isknown as the Indian sub-con-tinent.
There is another factorcited to explain its extra-ordi-
nary intellectual suppleness ormobility. It is related to its pecu-liar geography. Bengal is a landof rivers. These along withtheir innumerable tributaries,changing courses frequently,kept eroding lands and build-ing new ones depositing siltsalong the banks. Things on thegeographical plane were thus ina flux and the race grew up sub-jectively in line with the cease-less and inexorable breakingand renewing of lands.
The Aryan civilizationseems to have left little influ-ence on the Bengali cultureexcept on the surface of itssuperstructure. This might bepartly because of the supercil-iousness that made the custo-dians of the former to steerclear of Bengal perched on theeastern fringe of the Aryan-dominated region. There is nomention of any warrior fromBengal fighting on any of thetwo warring sides in the epicbattle of Kuruksetra. Bengalisreciprocated in equal measureby refusing to emulate theAryan civilisational tenets forlong. Buddhism and Jainismaside from the numerous cultslike Tantra, Bajrajan,
Mantrajan, and Sahajjanemerged in this part of theworld. Buddhism flourishedin Bengal and continued forages withstanding the recon-version drive launched by leg-endary Adi Shankaracharyaon behalf of the orthodoxschool of BrahminicalHinduism. Sri Chaitanyarefused to conform to the con-servative tenets of hierarchicalsocio-religious structure reign-ing in north and south India.He stressed on the Bhakti cultthat encompasses all the stra-ta of the Hindu society withparticular emphasis on thesubaltern. This was long beforethe English rule was establishedin Bengal-signifying the adventof the Renaissance. Raja RamMohan Roy, Sri Ramakrishna,Swami Vivekananda, SriAurobindo and RabindranathTagore moulded the philoso-phy of Hinduism in their ownways, while taking theUpanishadic soul and rejectingmost of the elements whichformed the crust. They lefttheir majestic imprint onHinduism which has helped informing the present body of thereligion.
Prabhat Patnaik, therenowned Leftist intellectualand former professor, Centrefor Economic Studies,Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi, wrote in an article-“As a child in Odisha, I lookedup to Bengal like most otherOdiyas. It was a terribly mixedattitude: we resented any hintof the superciliousness amongthe Bengali elite towards theOdiyas, but at the same time,we took a vicarious pride inBengal’s achievements whencompared to other parts of thecountry…When I came to col-lege and studied economics inDelhi, most of my teachers,both in BA and MA, were fromBengal. They were brilliant:among my BA teachers wereNaresh Chandra Ray andSukhamoy Ganguly; and myMA teachers included suchoutstanding names as AmartyaSen, Sukhamoy Chakravartyand Tapan Ray chaudhury.Every single one of them, invarying degrees, inspired stu-dents with progressive think-ing. In fact, the general beliefin my student days was that ofthe main centers of economicsin the country, Bombay and
Calcutta, one produced econ-omists of the Right-of-Centre,while the other producedeconomists of the Left-of-Centre.”
Nolini Kanta Gupta, one ofthe leading figures of theSwadeshi movement who laterturned to spiritualism underthe influence of Sri Aurobindo,wrote that the Bengali’s sub-jective world is interesting.“Impulses move Bengal’sactions, emotions sway Bengal’sthinking. Bengalis do not workfor the sake of work. Nor dothey think for the sake ofthinking. Pursuing somethingsteadfastly with a definite goalkept in view and taking painsto succeed in the mission doesnot suit the typical Bengalitemperament. They are pronemore to artistry than to utili-tarian obsession. The fount ofhis action is a peculiar sense ofdelight that cannot beexplained in terms of taut prac-ticality. Bengalis craved forfreedom not because theywould be better fed and betterclad after the country becamefree but because the countrywould turn more beautifulafter it was free,” he wrote.
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The Pacific Asia TravelAssociation (PATA)
adventure travel and respon-sible tourism conference andmart-2019 concluded atRishikesh in the presence ofChief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat and others onFriday. About 300 represen-tatives from 28 nations wereamong those who attendedthe three-day event.
Referring to scope foradventure tourism in thestate, Rawat said that thePATA event will also encour-age tourism here. Apart fromthe participants learningabout the State, the eventwould also help the Stateknow better what the touristswant. Such events also helpgetting international recog-nition for the State, he said.
Addressing the media,PATA chief executive officerMario Hardy said that the aimof the event was to strength-en connection between pri-vate and public sectors andshare new ideas. He said thatconsidering the scope for
adventure tourism inRishikesh and elsewhere inUttarakhand, professionalshad arrived here for the event.Their response to the scopefor adventure tourism and thenatural splendour of the Statewas quite positive. He spe-cially thanked the State’stourism department on theoccasion.
The State’s tourism secre-tary Dilip Jawalkar said thatthe Uttarakhand TourismDevelopment Board had host-ed the event to establish thestate as a major destinationfor adventure tourism. PATArepresentatives had them-selves chosen Rishikesh asthe venue for the event aftervisiting the town. To facilitate
networking and establish-ment of connections, a her-itage walk in Chaurasi Kutiaand river rafting in Shivpuriwere also organised for thosewho attended the event.
Adventure Tour OperatorsAssociation of India headSwadesh Kumar said thatUttarakhand has everythingfor adventure tourism though
there is need for cordialbehaviour with tourists arriv-ing here from across India andabroad.
He also stressed on strin-gent implementation of safetyrules, rescue operation skillsand necessary training oradventure sports. Chief secre-tary Utpal Kumar Singh wasalso present on the occasion.
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Mohit Diwedi,the project
head of Remki-thecompany which hasbeen entrusted withthe task of sanitationand waste manage-ment in Dehradunby the civic body —said that the refuse-derived fuel (RDF)which is being pro-duced at theShishambada solidwaste managementplant is piling upcovering a largearea. He further said that RDFneeds to be rightly managedsoon after it is churned out.
He further said that thewaste management plant atShishambada is producing twothings—RDF and compost.“We sell the compost.However, RDF is heaping uphere for a long time. Things
are alarming as it is covering alarge space. We have talked tothe municipal corporation ofDehradun officers about theproblem. They have assuredthat something would be donesoon to solve the problem,” he
added.As per the information
received, talks are now goingon between MCD and Remkiabout the waste to energyplant. If the plant comes up theRDF being churned out by thewaste management plantwould be used to generateelectricity. Dwelling further
on the matter, Diwedi said,“We would meet the MCDofficials on the matter onFebruary 19. We hope thatthings would be decided dur-ing and after the meeting.”
Queried over the matter,
the municipal commissionerDehradun Vinay ShankarPandey said that they wereaware of the matter. “We knowthat RDF is collecting over alarge area. We have givendirection to the officers con-cerned about the matter and itwould hopefully resolved with-in a week,” he assured.
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The State Meteorological Centre has issued an advi-sory on Friday while sending an orange-coded
alert of heavy snowfall especially in the areas situat-ed at a height of 3000 meters and above. As per theforecast, places in districts like Uttarkashi, Chamoli,Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh are like-ly to experience heavy snowfall on February 21.
The advisory further issued a yellow-colouredwarning of hail which is likely to lash isolated placesin Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar, Nanital andUdham Singh Nagar districts from the evening ornight of February 18 and it would continue tillFebruary 20.
As per the weather forecast, light to moderaterain, thunderstorm and snowfall are likely to occurat a few places of the state especially in the higherreaches of the hills for at least three days - February18, 19 and 23. Besides, light to moderate rain, thun-derstorm and snowfall are likely to occur in most ofthe places of the state with height of 2000 meters andabove on three days from February 20.
As per the Met centre prediction, the weather isto remain mainly clear to partly cloudy on Saturday.Very light rainfall and snowfall are likely to occur atsome isolated places in the hills. Generally, the cli-mate is likely to remain dry in the rest of the state.
In Dehradun, the climate would remain main-ly clear to a partly cloudy on Saturday. The maximumand minimum temperatures of the city on the dayare likely to be around 21 degree Celsius and 9 degreeCelsius respectively.
Meanwhile, it rained in Dehradun and otherplaces intermittently throughout Friday. The skyremained overcast.
The death count due to Swine fluin the state has gone up to 27 on
Friday when the state health depart-ment reported death of a 55- year oldman on the day at Mahant IndireshHospital.
The chief medical officer (CMO)of Dehradun, Dr S K Gupta said that
21 new cases of the disease have sur-faced on the day. He further said thatso far 201 patients of the disease havebeen reported positive for Swine fluthis season.
The CMO added that all themedical professionals have beenasked to keep track of the suspectedcases of the disease and inform eachof them to the district health depart-ment. He said that the hospitals haveadequate stocks of the medicinesrequired to combat the disease andisolation wards have been set up inall the major hospitals to take onsuch cases.
Delhi Public School, Dehradunorganised a workshop on ‘How
to overcome stress and say no todrugs’ for the students of class IX &XI on Friday.
The resource person for the daywas Sona Kaushal Gupta, designat-ed CBSE counselor and NeuroPsychologist, PARI Foundation
Dehradun. Present on the occasionwas T N Johar, PARI Foundation,Dehradun.
Gupta stated that stress is aphysical, mental or emotional factorthat causes mental or bodily tension.She also shared that stress often leadsto maladaptive coping like drugabuse. The principal B K Singh saidthat such workshops are a step to helpstudents to lead a stress-free life.
The lockout call given by theUttarakhand chapter of
Indian Medical Association(IMA) has adversely affectedthe health services as privatehospitals and clinics remainedclosed on Friday. Over 2,000private hospitals and privateclinics are participating in thestrike. In the State Capital, allthe private hospitals and clin-ics, barring private medicalcolleges like HimalayanHospital and Mahant IndireshHospital, remained closed onthe day.
The general secretaryIMA, Dr D D Chaudhury saidthat the strike would contin-ue indefinitely and would bewithdrawn only after thedemand of incorporatingchanges in the provisions ofthe clinical establishment Actis accepted by theGovernment. “The strike wasthe last option we had and wehad no choice since theGovernment was not heedingto our genuine demands. Theball in now in the court of the
Government,’’ he said. The association of the pri-
vate medical practitioners aredemanding the modified clin-ical establishment Act beimplemented in the State at theearliest. It is also demandingthat the clinical establishmentsshould not be forced to adoptschemes like AyushmanBharat Yojana and Atal
Ayushman Yojana against theirwish.
Notably, IMA had sub-mitted an exhaustive draftdocument of the UttarakhandHealthcare Establishments Actin December last which,according to it, should replaceClinical Establishment Act.IMA further demands the Actnot being enforced in its pre-
sent state.It has suggested that
Uttarakhand Governmentshould follow the Haryanamodel of the Act where all theclinical establishments hav-ing less than 50 beds areexempted from the stringentprovisions of the Act. It alsowants reduction in registrationcharges.
Healthcare Establishments Actin place of ClinicalEstablishments Act, the privatemedical practitionersremained on strike on Friday.The doctors have threatenedan indefinite strike which,they said, would continue tilltheir demand is met. Thepatients faced problems withthe private hospitals, nursinghomes and clinics remainingshuttered in response to theshutdown call.
The doctors attached tothe private medical facilitiesalleged that they have beenforced to take recourse to theshutdown because of the StateGovernment rolling out falseassurances. Speaking to ThePioneer, the former districtpresident of Indian MedicalAssociation said, “TheGovernment is not seriousabout resolving the CEA-relat-ed matter. This despite the factthat the Chief Minister,Trivendra Singh Rawat, him-self committed amendmentin the CEA. We regret theinconvenience caused to all the
patients. But this is the onlyoption we are left with.”
He further said that theState Government has beensleeping over the matter forlong. “The Act came into forcein 2010.
The successiveGovernments assured ofaddressing our problems. Thistime again, the same hap-pened. The Government con-tinues to drag its feet. Thingshave turned rather worse as thedistrict magistrate has orderedsealing of establishments notyet registered under CEA,” headded.
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Alarmed over the lockout ofthe private hospitals, the
state health department hasgeared itself to ensure that thepeople do not face much ofproblems on its count. Thedirector general (DG) of healthservices, Dr T C Pant, said thatthe strike by the IMA is a clearviolation of the basic essence ofthe medical profession.
Terming the protest againstthe Clinical Establishments Actof the IMA as ‘useless’, DG saidthat since the Act has been pre-
pared by the Government ofIndia under the Article 252, theState Government has no rightto incorporate any change in it.He further said that the privatehospitals and clinics have beengiven ample time of eight yearsto implement the provisions ofthe act. “Later, the High Courttoo has directed the StateGovernment to enforce it,” hesaid.
He also took IMA to taskfor its decision not to register forthe Atal Ayushman Yojana.“This is against the medicalethics,” he said. DG further
said that the non-enforcementof the Act amounts to violationof PCPNDT Act.
He claimed that the state
health department is committedto ensuring that the health ser-vices of the State remain unaf-fected by the shutdown call.
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The Budget Session ofUttarakhand Assembly on
Friday was adjourned tillMonday after the memberspaid homage to the CRPFpersonnel martyred in thePulwama terror attack. TheBudget which was to be tabledin the Assembly on the daywould now be presented onMonday.
Paying emotional tributesto those who have been slainin the biggest terrorist attackof the recent time, the mem-bers also pledged to donatetheir one month’s salary forthe families of the deceased.The members observed asilence of two minutes as amark of respect for the mar-tyred soldiers.
In his address, the ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat said that whenever anycrisis befalls the nation, thenation becomes united.Expressing his condolences tothe families of the martyrs,the CM said that the nation isproud of its brave soldiers. Hefurther said that the Indianarmed forces are very strongand are capable of giving abefitting reply to the enemy atany point of time.
CM added that the youthsof the country are brave,courageous and brimmingwith love for the nation.Rawat said that the StateGovernment stands firmlywith the families of the mar-tyred soldiers and it has takena policy decision to provideGovernment jobs to one ofthe family members of themartyrs. He added that amajestic war memorial(Shaurya Sthal) would bebuilt in the memory of themartyrs.
The Speaker Prem Chand
Agarwal said that the wholecountry is with the grief-stricken families of the mar-tyrs. He further said thatapart from taking firm puni-tive action against the perpe-trators of the ghastly Act,steps should be taken to bringback the misguided youths ofKashmir to the mainstream.They should be prevailed overto take books, pens and toolsin their hands instead of tak-ing up guns, he said.
Earlier taking part in thediscussion, the members ofthe Assembly paid tributes tothe martyrs.
Cutting across the partylines, they demanded thearmed forces of the countrybe given a free hand to dealwith the terrorists and theirsupporters both within thecountry and outside.
BJP MLA from RoorkeePradip Batra declared thathe would donate his salary ofsix months to the families ofthe martyrs.
Similarly, Jhabreda MLA
Deshraj Karanwal announcedthat he along with some of hiscompanions would go to theWagah border in Punjab tostage demonstration againstPakistan.
Vikasnagar MLA MunnaSingh Chauhan said that thefact of a local youth havingtriggered the explosion whichkilled CRPF personnel hasrevealed the local supportbehind the terrorists.
He demanded the sleepercells of the terror outfits in thecountry be destroyed. BJPMLA, Sanjay Gupta, said thata war should be declaredagainst Pakistan.
Those who paid condo-lences to the martyrs includ-ed the Parliamentary AffairsMinister Prakash Pant, leaderof the opposition IndiraHridayesh, tourism and cul-ture minister Satpal Maharaj,Agriculture Minister SubodhUniyal, deputy leader of theopposition Karan Mahra,Govind Singh Kunjwal andHarbans Kapur.
Uttarakhand has lost two ofits brave sons in the sui-
cide bomb attack on the CRPFconvoy in which 43 soldierswere martyred on Thursday.According to the reports, oneof the martyrs, Virendra SinghRana, was a resident ofMohammandpur Budhia vil-lage of Khatima in UdhamSingh Nagar district. A pall ofgloom descended over thelocality when the news of thedeath of Virendra was com-
municated to his family onThursday night. Brother-in-law of the martyr, Ramkishansaid that the Virendra was theyoungest of three sons ofDiwan Singh. His elder broth-er Jairam Singh is a retiredBorder Security Force (BSF)personnel. The martyr is sur-vived by his wife, a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.
Ramkishan added thatVirendra had left for Jammuon Tuesday after he complet-ed a leave of 20 days.
The second martyr,Mohan Lal Raturi was a resi-dent of Bankot village ofChinyalisaur of Uttarkashidistrict. He was the assistantsub- inspector (ASI) in the76th battalion of CRPF.
The family of Mohan Lalcomprises his wife, threedaughters and two sons who
are at present living at VidhyaVihar Colony, Kargi Chowk.
While expressing hisheartfelt condolence to thefamilies of the martyrs, theChief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat has declared thatone dependent of each of themartyrs would be given a jobin the State Government. Healso declared that a sum of�25 lakh each would be pro-vided to the families of themartyrs.
appeared like supporting theterror act of killing CRPF per-sonnel at Pulwama has provedcostly for a first-year engi-neering student from Kashmir.Acting on the complaints, themanagement of the Ras BihariUniversity suspended him.The university has also soughtan explanation from the stu-dent and set up an inquirycommittee to investigate thecase.
Meanwhile, reacting to aquestion asked on the issue,Chief Minister, TrivendraSingh Rawat, said that thesecurity agencies would inves-tigate the case.
Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Fridaywarned the Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan, its ArmyChief General Qamar JavedBajwa and his “chamche” ISI adays after bloodiest terrorattack on Indian armed forcesin Jammu and Kashmir’sPulwama.
Condemning the Pak’s actin the strongest possible words,Capt Amarinder asserted that
the time for talking peace isover with the neighbouringPakistan as the “things are get-ting beyond control now”.
At the same time, he urgedthe Prime Minister to give Paka “befitting reply” so the sacri-fices of our jawans don’t gowaste.
“Their Prime Minister istalking peace and the Generalis talking war...what is this? Istrongly condemn this bar-baric attack...the time for talk-ing peace is over...this isbecoming too much...their sac-rifices should not go waste...Iurge the Prime Minister to give
Pakistan a befitting reply,” saidCapt Amarinder in the VidhanSabha.
Disturbed, CaptAmarinder lashed out at thepowers-to-be in Pakistan.“Enough is enough. They havetaken 41 young lives have gone.For what...just to please some-body...I am not able to under-stand why they killed ourjawans...Four out of them arefrom Punjab. What pleasuredoes it give them?” he ques-tioned.
Making a strongly-wordedstatement, Capt Amarinderaccused Pak Prime Minister
Imran Khan of playing a dou-ble game in his policy vis-a-visIndia. “PM is talking aboutastarting a Guru Nanak DevUniversity, and doing sewa(serving the gurdwaras). But,on the other hand, Bajwa’sArmy is killing our men,” hesaid.
“He had been made PrimeMinister by the ISI and wascompletely at their service,”said Capt Amarinder whiledubbing Imran Khan as“Army’s puppet”.
Capt Amarinder alsominced no words to warn PakArmy general. “Je tu Punjabi ae,assi v Punjabi ae...Ethe vad kdekh (If you are Punjabi, we arealso Punjabi. Dare to enterPunjab!),” challenged CaptAmarinder, amidst the thump-ing of benches, with Cabinet
Minister Navjot Singh Sidhusitting silent.
“Everyday Indian soldiersare being killed by the enemyfrom across the border...a majorand two Jawans from secondSikh regiment had lost theirlives to such attacks recently,”he said.
“Punjab has also suffered
terror in the 80s and the 90sand fought it with a strongpolice force, which had grownmanifold since then and isnow fully geared to effectivelycounter any threat,” said CaptAmarinder while issuingGeneral Bajwa and Pak PM astern warning against contin-uing with their policy of link-
ing Kashmir and Punjab sepa-rators.
“We have a force of 81,000fully with motivated men andfully equipped, who havepassed the test of fire,” said theChief Minister, declaring thatif Bajwa and ISI tried anythingnow in Punjab, they would geta resounding response.
This is not the 80s, he saidwhile talking with the mediaoutside the House, noting thatthe Punjab Police was muchbigger and better equippedtoday.
At the same time, CaptAmarinder expressed hopedthe Pulwama attack will notimpact Kartarpur Corridorand reiterated his plea for visa-free ‘khule darshan didar’ toone and all.
“I am confident that the
corridor would be well-pro-tected, but there is a need fora change in attitude on the partof Pakistan if peace between thetwo countries is to be promot-ed,” he said while replying tothe media queries.
Repeating that Islamabadwas trying to link the terroristsof Punjab and J&K, the ChiefMinister said that there arereports of the neighbouringcountry trying to foment trou-ble in Punjab, where as manyas 28 terror modules had beenbusted in recent months.
The Referendum 2020 ofSikhs for Justice (SJF), whichwas clearly working at ISI’sbehest, was also a sign oftheir continued attempts todisturb peace in Punjab, hesaid, but asserted they will notsucceed.
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Faridabad Lok Sabhaconstituency, consid-
ered a prestigious seat inHaryana has Faridabadtown, the leading indus-trial township of the state.
BJP’s Krishan PalGurjar had won this par-liamentary seat in 2014general polls with a hugemargin of more than 4.66lakh votes, the highest forany Lok Sabha seat inHaryana.
It was a strong under-current against the
Congress and a Modi wavethat helped Krishan PalGurjar, the Union Ministerof State for Social Justiceand Empowerment toscore one of the biggestvictory margins in thestate.
Faridabad constituen-cy had come into exis-tence in 1977 and hasmostly been with theCongress party, whichmanaged to secure the seatsix times out of the 11 elec-tions held here so far. TheBJP has won four timeshere.
As far as casteequation is concerned,the constituency hasaround 3 lakh Jat vot-ers followed by over2.5 lakh Gujjars, over1.5 Brahmins and over2 lakh Scheduled castevoters. The con-stituency also hasmore than one lakhMuslim voters.
The slum andmigrant voters, alsoform a sizeable per-centage in Faridabadseat.
In the multi-corneredelectoral battle in 2014Lok Sabha polls, BJP’sKrishan Pal Gurjar waspolled a whopping 6.52lakh votes (57.70) while hisnearest rival former MPAvtar Singh Bhadana, whohad contested on aCongress’ ticket hadbagged more than 1.85lakh votes (16.42). IndianNational Lok Dal’s candi-date eminent lawyer RKAnand had finished thirdwith over 1.32 lakh votes(11.71) while Aam AadmiParty’s Purshottam Dagarand Bahujan Samaj Party’sPt Rajendra Sharma werepolled 5.96 percent and5.84 percent votes respec-tively.
According to the polit-ical analysts, while the his-tory favored the Congressin the parliamentary con-stituency, former HaryanaBJP chief Krishan PalGurjar, while riding highon the Modi wave andstrong anti-incumbencyagainst the Congress, hadmanaged to wrest the seatin 2014 polls.
A huge margin of vic-tory registered by Gurjarwas also the sign of resent-ment among the votersagainst the corruption, themain election issue in 2014polls, the politicalobservers feel.
BJP’s Gurjar had led inall nine assembly segmentsincluding Hathin, Hodal(SC), Palwal, Prithla,Faridabad NIT, Badkhal,Ballabgarh, Faridabad andTigaon to register a com-fortable victory fromFaridabad Lok Sabha seat.
The Faridabad con-stituency has around 19.46lakh voters, as per the dataof Election Commission.
In the past, some high-profile leaders like formerChief Minister Bhajan Laland Avtar Singh Bhadanahave represented the seat.
BJP’s Ram ChanderBainda was consecutivelyreturned thrice toParliament from this seatin the 1996, 1998 and 1999elections. Avtar SinghBhadana represented theseat in 1991, 2004 and2009.
Chandigarh: As theymourned the loss of fourCRPF men from Punjab, thegrief of families and villagerswas etched with anger as theydemanded that Pakistan begiven a befitting reply over thePulwama attack.
The four personnelwere among the 40 killed inthe attack a Central ReserveParamilitary Force (CRPF)convoy on Thursday.
Jaimal Singh from Kotise Kham village in Moga,Sukhjinder Singh fromGandiwind village in TarnTaran, Kulwinder Singh fromRauli village in AnandpurSahib and Maninder SinghAttri from Arya Nagar villagein Gurdsapur died in theattack.
Heartbreaking sceneswere witnessed in the villagesas families mourned the loss oftheir loved ones. Locals gath-ered in large numbers to jointhe mourning and expressedpride in the jawans' sacrificefor the country and demand-ed that Pakistan be given abefitting reply.
Jaimal Singh was thedriver of the bus that wasblown up by a suicide bomberwho rammed his explosive-laden SUV into it on theSrinagar-Jammu highway in
Awantipora area. His father, Jaswant
Singh, said he was proud ofJaimal for sacrificing his life forthe motherland. He said hisson had spoken to his wife andfive-year-old son on Tuesdaynight.
In Tarn Taran'sGandiwind village, locatednear Amritsar, the family of35-year-old Sukhjinder Singhwas inconsolable. He hadrecently joined duty after along vacation, villagers said.
Panchayat memberAngrez Singh said Sukhjinderhad got married five to sixyears back and he was thefather to an infant boy.
"He was very patriotic.Since childhood, he wanted tojoin the armed forces. Theentire village is in shock anddisbelief and there is angeramong people. They want thatPakistan be given a befittingreply," he said.
Sepoy Kulwinder Singh(26), who hailed from Raulivillage Anandpur Sahib dis-trict, was engaged and he wasto get married in Novemberthis year, a local said.
Kulwinder's father wasa bus driver and his mother ahousewife, the villager said,adding that he had joined theforce four years back.
He said that while thefamily was in grief-strickenand there was anger amongvillagers, who wanted Pakistanto be taught a lesson.
The terror attack trig-gered angry protests at sever-al places in Punjab andHaryana and people burnteffigies of Pakistan and ter-rorism, raising slogans againstthe neighbouring countries.Schoolchildren also took outmarches in some areas.
"What is our govern-ment waiting for. How manysacrifices will our soldiershave to make? This needs tostop," said Jagtar Singh, whowas part of one such marchtaken out in Kurukshetra.
Earlier on Friday, thePunjab Assembly strongly con-demned the terror attack andthe House was adjourned theday. In solidarity with thosekilled, legislators cutting acrossparty lines unanimouslypassed a resolution foradjournment of the proceed-ings for the day.
Forty CRPF personnelwere killed on Thursday in oneof the deadliest terror attacksin Jammu and Kashmir whena Jaish-e-Mohammad suicidebomber rammed a vehiclecarrying over 100 kgs explo-sives into their bus.
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Punjab Vidhan Sabha onFriday adjourned for the
day after unanimously passinga resolution condemning bar-baric attack on Indian armedforces at Pulwama in Jammuand Kashmir, a day before.
Moving the resolution,Chief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh called for a befittingresponse to the enemy andwarned the Pakistan Army andISI against indulging in anysuch games in Punjab.
The Chief Minister, whoalso sought an adjournment,sought retaliation from theCentral Government againstthe neighbouring country,which had been blatantly sup-porting terror in Jammu andKashmir, as well as Punjab.
Formally moving the reso-lution, Capt Amarinder said:“The House strongly condemnsthe barbaric attack by Jaish ter-rorists on the convoy of theCRPF in Pulwama that left 41brave personnel dead and manyothers injured. Most of thesepersonnel were on their wayback to join their duties todefend the borders of India aftertheir holidays. The sacrifice ofthese martyrs should not go
waste and I urge the Centre toensure a befitting response tothis attack on our country.”
“The attack exposes thedouble standards of thePakistan government, who onone hand is talking of peaceand on the other actively sup-porting these terror outfits inJ& K. We are all with the fam-ilies of these martyred soldiersin their hour of grief andextend our heartfelt condo-lences to them,” read the res-olution, which was “unani-mously” passed, and theHouse adjourned for the day.
Before seeking an
adjournment motion, theChief Minister said that thehearts of all Indians go out tothe families of the 41 CRPFmen killed in the dastardlyattack, the toll of which wasstill being counted.
He prayed to the AkalPurukh to grant peace to thesouls of the deceased vic-tims.
Supporting the resolu-tion, Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) MLA Bikram SinghMajithia said that the ChiefMinister had spoken like a sol-dier and a true Indian. “Sucha big tragedy has neveroccurred in the past 50 years,”he said, adding that the House’srequest for condemnation ofPakistan and Prime MinisterImran Khan “in the strongestpossible words” should beplaced on record.
Dubbing Imran as an “ISIpuppet”, Majithia said that theattack had exposed their dou-ble standards.
The Leader of Oppositionand Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)MLA Harpal Singh Cheemasought Rs one crore compen-sation and a government jobfor the kin of the four deceasedvictims from Punjab, to whichthe Chief Minister later told
media persons outside theHouse that it was a small issueand would be done.
Earlier, as the House pro-ceedings started on Fridaymorning, Majithia insisted thatthe Assembly need to con-demn Pakistan, ISI and ImranKhan in strongest words, andthe session be adjourned.
Coming to his support,
Cabinet Minister Navjot SinghSidhu said: “I agree withBikram Majithia. The sessionshould be adjourned.”
On this, the ParliamentaryAffairs Minister BrahmMohindra requested to wait forthe Leader of the House ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh to come and make astatement.
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To lodge strongest protestagainst the “dastardly”
attack, Punjab AnimalHusbandry and LabourMinister Balbir Singh Sidhucancelled his scheduled visitto attend InternationalBuffalo Congress at Lahore.
“I was going to takepar t the Internat iona lBuffalo Congress which isbeing organized by theUniversity of Animal andVeter inar y S c iences ,Lahore, from February18to 20. This Congress was to
be attended by the repre-sentatives from differentcountries,” he said.
He said that he was slat-ed to go to Pakistan with theprogressive farmers of thestate to attend thisInternational congress. “Thegruesome attack on CRPFconvoy has shaken me emo-tionally and in order toshow my solidarity with thefamilies of the Jawans wholost their lives, I have decid-ed to cancel my visit toPakistan,” he said.
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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Friday
announced that a Chair on Gitawould be established inMahatma Gandhi Institute atMauritius to carry out studyand research work on Gita.
“The assistance ofKurukshetra University,Kurukshetra would be takenfor this purpose,” Manohar Lalsaid while interacting with theprominent personalities inMauritius. A Press statementissued here said that thisChair would play a vital rolein the social and moral upliftof people of India and
Mauritius.He suggested that compe-
titions on recitation of all 700shalokas and their discourseshould be organized so thatmaximum people could assim-ilate the message of Gita.
He said that the roots ofpeople of Mauritius are con-nected to India and therefore,they should visit India as thiswould open new doors ofexchange between both thecountries not only in the fieldof culture but also in trade andindustry. This would benefitboth the countries, ManoharLal added.
Acting President ofMauritius, Mr ParamasivumPillay Vyapoory said thatSanskrit is also the huge con-tribution of India to the worldand there is need to promote it.
rorism and Pakistanalong with tributemeetings were heldin Dehradun andother parts of theState following themartyrdom of CRPFjawans in thePulwama terrorattack. Apart from theMLAs donating theirone month salarytowards dependentsof the martyrs, theIAS association andpolice departmentalso took similarsteps.
At a condolencemeet at the RajBhawan, GovernorBaby Rani Maurya
termed the terrorattack cowardly andinhumane. In thismoment of grief, thewhole nation standsstrongly together, shesaid, adding that thesacrifice will not go invain.
Vidhan Sabhaspeaker Prem ChandAgrawal met familymembers of martyrMohal Lal Ratudi attheir Dehradun resi-dence.
Expressing hisgrief, he added thatthe martyrdom willnot go in vain.
At the police HQ,the director general ofpolice Anil K Raturialong with officersand staf f of thedepartment paid trib-
utes to the martyrs.The departmentdecided to providefinancial assistancefor the martyrs with50 per cent of theamount to be given toCRFP HQ and 50 percent to families of thetwo martyrs fromUttarakhand.
The IAS associa-tion, Uttarakhand,resolved to contributeone day’s salary to thefamily members ofthe CRPF martyrs.The ForestDepartment also helda meet to pay tributeto the martyrs.
The BJP held acondolence meet atits state office wherethe party’s State vicepresident Jyoti
Gairola said thatPakistan would haveto pay a heavy pricefor such terrorism.The Congress mem-bers took out a candlemarch and paid trib-ute to martyrs whilethe Shiv Sena led byits State chief GauravKumar, burnt terror-ism in ef f igy,demanding decisiveaction against terror-ists and enemies ofthe nation.
The Bajrang Dalalso staged a protestPakistan and terror-ism at Clock Tower.Concerned citizensand ex-servicemenalso gathered atGandhi Park to paytributes to the mar-tyrs on the occasion.
After vowing to avenge thekilling of 44 CRPF jawans
at Pulawama in Jammu &Kashmir, India on Fridaylaunched a major diplomaticoffensive against Pakistan tomobilise international opinionin favour of a possible punitiveaction. India briefed envoys of25 countries, including from P5nations — US, China, Russia,the UK and France — onIslamabad’s hand behind theattack. .
Ahead of the full-scalebriefing to international com-munity, Foreign Secretary VijayGokhale summoned PakistanHigh Commissioner to IndiaSohail Mahmood to his SouthBlock office and issued a verystrong demarche over the attackin which at least 40 CRPF per-sonnel were killed in Kashmir’sPulwama district.
Pakistan must take “imme-diate and verifiable action”against the JeM and that it mustimmediately stop any groups orindividuals associated with ter-rorism operating from its ter-ritories, Gokhale told the envoy.
According to sources,Indian High Commissioner toPakistan Ajay Bisaria has alsobeen called to Delhi for con-sultations in the wake of thehorrific attack.
Hours after vowing to iso-late Pakistan diplomatically inthe wake of the attack, theGovernment undertook theexercise of reaching out to theinternational community, mostof which has univocally con-demned the attack by the UN-proscribed Pakistan-based JeMterror outfit.
China expressed deep“shock” over the Pulwama ter-ror attack carried out by a Jaishsuicide bomber, but did not give
an assurance to India that it willback New Delhi’s appeal to listthe UN-proscribed Pakistan-based terror group’s chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist.
Apart from the envoys ofthe P5, Gokhale met the envoysof key countries in Europe andAsia such as Germany, SouthKorea, Japan, as well asAustralia, they said.
“All the Heads of Missionswere left in no doubt about therole played by Pakistan basedand supported JeM in the ter-rorist attack and our demandthat Pakistan ceases forthwithall support and financing to ter-ror groups operating from areasunder their control. The foreignsecretary also highlighted therole played by Pakistan in usingterrorism as an instrument of itsstate policy,” a source said.
The MEA will continue totake all steps to expose the com-
plicity of Pakistan in thePulwama terrorist attack anddemand immediate and verifi-able action against JeM and itsleader Masood Azhar, thesource added.
Countries from across theglobe condemned the terrorattack with nations such as theUS, UK, Russia and France
asserting that they stand withIndia in this hour of grief.
Condemning the attack,Russian President VladimirPutin said perpetrators andsponsors of the attack should bebrought to book and reiteratedhis country’s support for furtherstrengthening counterterroristcooperation with India.
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An all-party meeting hasbeen called by the
Government on Saturday todiscuss Thursday’s terror attackagainst a convoy of CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)in Kashmir in which 40 sol-diers were killed and manymore are still battling for theirlives.
This meeting will be thefirst of its kind called by the rul-ing National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inthe wake of a terror attack.
The agenda of the meeting,it is understood, is to seek aunanimous view of India’sfuture course of action.
Invitations have been extend-ed to all the parties.
Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh who visitedKashmir on Friday to overseethe situation there would con-vene the meeting to briefpolitical parties on the incidentso that the nation speaks in one
voice on the issue, said UnionFinance Minister Aurn Jaitleysaid after the meeting ofCabinet Committee onSecurity.
With Lok Sabha electionsclose by, the Governmentwould like to take a bipartisanview on the issue and to havethe backing of all the parties towhatever action it proposes totake following the terror attackin Kashmir.
All the parties are expect-ed to attend the importantmeet called by theGovernment.
Shiv Sena, an ally in the NDA has sought calling ofa Joint-session of theParliament to discuss thePulwama attack.
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Aday after the Pulwamaattack, Congress president
Rahul Gandhi on Friday saidhis party and the entireOpposition is fully supportiveof the Government and thesecurity forces.
No amount of hatred andanger can harm the love Indiais built on, Gandhi said at aPress conference along withformer Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and otherCongress leaders, includingGhulam Nabi Azad and AKAntony.
“This is a terrible attack,this type of violence is dis-gusting. Terrorism tries todivide the nation, we can’t bedivided by any power. Theentire opposition is with secu-
rity forces and theGovernment,” Gandhi said.
“Those who have donethis should not feel that theycan harm the country. It is atime of mourning and sadness,”he added.
Singh said the nation cannever compromise with ter-rorism.
“Terrorism is a scourgewhich we can never compro-mise...,” the former PrimeMinister said.
On Thursday, an explosivesladen truck rammed into aCRPF convoy in Pulwama out-side Srinagar, killing 37 soldiersin one of the biggest terrorattacks in recent years.
Meanwhile, NationalistCongress Party chief SharadPawar on Friday said thePulwama terror attack was anattack on the nation and thereshould be no attempts to politi-cise the issue. The formerUnion minister also took aswipe at Prime Minister
Narendra Modi over some ofthe latter’s statements aftersuch attacks during theCongress-led UPA regime.
Speaking to reporters onhome turf Baramati in Punedistrict, Pawar calledThursday’s attack on the CRPFconvoy in Jammu and Kashmiras an attack on the nation.
“I can remember, PrimeMinister Modi, before comingto power, used to say in hiselection rallies that (then PM)Manmohan Singh’s govern-ment had failed to teachPakistan a lesson (after suchattacks).
“He (Modi) used to say theManmohan Singh governmentdid not have ability to teach alesson (to Pakistan). He also
used to remark that only thosewith a 56-inch chest couldadminister a tough lesson toPakistan,” Pawar said.
Modi, in his rallies, used toexhort people to replace theUPA government with that ofthe BJP so that Pakistan couldbe given a befitting reply forsuch terror attacks, Pawar toldreporters.
“But everyone has seenwhat has happened now. Buttoday I will not repeat thatsame demand which he (Modi)had made (at that time),” Pawarsaid. The kind of imagethat Modi created of himself inthe run-up to the 2014 LokSabha polls had now become a“100 per cent failure”, he said.
The hand of state players inPakistan cannot be ruled out inthe Pulwama attack looking atits magnitude and explosivesused, Pawar said. Having such capabilities was not pos-sible for common persons oroutfits, he added.
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If you are a bird lover or/andavian expert, you have an
opportunity to be the part ofthis first ever all-IndiaFlamingo census to be carriedout in two phases—first one onFebruary 23-24, and then inApril at several sites across 12States including the nationalCapital and neighbouringHaryana.
The all India count isexpected to help in assessing thecurrent population trend ofGreater FlamingoPhoenicopterus rosues andLesser Flamingo Phoeniconaiasminor and their habitats inIndia to help prepare the speciesaction plan for their long termconservation, said an officialfrom the Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS) whichis conducting the mega census.
Greater Flamingos, whichare taller and whiter, have amixed feeding pattern. It feedson insects, small fishes andalgae. The Lesser Flamingos arecomparatively smaller andmore pink and only feed onalgae.
These two birds are alsoincluded in the India’s NationalAction Plan (NAP) forConservation of MigratoryBirds and their habitats alongCentral Asian Flyway (CAF)prepared by the UnionEnvironment Ministry.
“This is the first initiative
for a coordinated PAN-Indiaflamingo count. We have in thepast undertaken several stud-ies including colour tagging,satellite tracking of GreaterFlamingo and conservationactions in the past decades.
“Currently, we are moni-toring both migratory birdspopulation in some locationsincluding the Mumbaiseascape,” said the officialadding that as this work is ini-tiated through the citizens sci-ence, this also fulfil anotheractivity of the NAP to promotemigratory bird conservationinitiatives through raising pub-lic awareness and local peoples’participation, including citi-zen science groups.
The Central Asian Flyway(CAF), one among the nine fly-ways in the world, encom-passes overlapping migrationroutes over 30 countries for dif-ferent waterbirds linking theirnorthern most breedinggrounds in Russia (Siberia) to
the southernmost non-breed-ing (wintering) grounds in theMaldives and the British IndianOcean Territory.
The BNHS has short-listedmajor Flamingo congregationsites by referring available lit-erature, past and present BNHSstudies, Asian WaterbirdCounts (AWC) and e-birdIndia database. Majority ofthese wetland sites are inGujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthanand Telangana. In Delhi, thesebirds are sighted at Najafgarhjheel area while in Haryana thehotspots are Sultanpur NationalPark and Dighal wetlands.
“The government institu-tions, Indian Bird ConservationNetwork (IBCN) members,birdwatchers, NGOs, ornithol-ogists, researchers, academi-cians and nature lovers acrossIndia are being encouraged tovisit any of the short-listed sitesor any site of their choosingwhere Flamingos are seen,”said the official.
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In a move to make it easy forpeople to switch to electric
vehicles (EV) and to reducedependence on fossil fuels, theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs (MoHUA) has madeamendments to the ModelBuilding Byelaws (MBBL) 2016and Urban RegionalDevelopment PlansFormulation andImplementation (URDPFI)guidelines 2014 making provi-sions for setting up EVs charg-ing stations in residential andcommercial buildings, bus ter-minals and service stationsand multi-level parking lots.
The amendments includeoffering round the-clock charg-ing infrastructure facility to allelectric vehicles in residentialbuildings, increasing electrici-ty load for all buildings, settingup charging bays at 20% capac-ity of all vehicles and on-spotmetering and payment ser-vices in both commercial andresidential buildings.
If successful, this will makeEVs more attractive and cost-effective to people - changingthe way they have been drivingtill now. This will make easy forpeople to switch to EVs. Theamendments in the guidelineshave been circulated to all theState Governments and Union
Territories with the requestto amend their Building
Byelaws and Master PlanRegulations. Additionally, thebuilding premise will have tohave an additional power load,equivalent to the powerrequired for all charging points(in a Public Charging System(PCS) ) to be operated. Thereshould be sufficient space forcharging and entry/exit forvehicles. Any PCS installed atPublic/Private areas or buildingpremises of any category thatcaters to commercial mode ofcharging of EVs shall bedeemed as a Public ChargingStation and shall have to installthe minimum requirements ofchargers as specified in theguidelines.
The amendment allowsone public charging system tobe set up at every 25 kms onboth sides of highways andinter-city corridors. Similarly,one fast charging station is tobe set up at every 100 kms onboth sides of highways androads. In industrial parks or
estates, land for at least onepoint charging station is to bereserved within a grid of 10kmx 10 km. The amendment alsoallows setting up a batteryswapping station along thehighways and intercity corri-dors.
As per amendment, thetariff for supply of EVs will bedetermined by the competentauthority and CentralElectricity Authority will becreate a data base to this effect.
According to the amend-ment, the government will cre-ate ‘favourable ecosystems’ innine polluted cities having over4 million populations. It willgradually be extended to citiesthat have population of onemillion-plus. It will also coverMumbai-Pune corridor, Delhi-Jaipur expressway,A h m e d a b a d - Va d o d a r aexpressway, Delhi-AgraYamuna expressway,Bengaluru-Mysore expressway,Bengaluru-Chennai, Surat-
According to data, India’sper capita emissions are stillconsidered low at 1.9 tonnes(2013), but its total emissionsare next only to China and theUS and is likely to overtakethose of the European Unionby 2019. Delhi is on top as thebiggest emitter at over 38 38million tonnes of carbon diox-ide equivalent overall emis-sions, followed by GreaterMumbai at 22.7 million tonnesand Chennai at 22.1 milliontonnes, Kolkata at 14.8milliontonnes, Bangalore at 19.8mil-lion tonnes, Hyderabad at 13.7million tonnes andAhmedabad at 9million tonneswere the other cities whoseemissions for the year were cal-culated sector wise.
As per the statistics ofDelhi government, total num-ber of vehicles in Delhi is morethan the combined total vehi-cles in Mumbai, Chennai andKolkata. Delhi has 85 privatecars per 1000 populationagainst the national average of8 cars per 1000 population. Interms of CO2 emissions due tomotor vehicles, Delhi emitsabout 12.4 million tonnes whilethe city of Bengaluru emitsabout 8.6 million tonnes.
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Eight weeks of intensive yogapractice significantly
decreases the severity of phys-ical and psychological symp-toms in patients with activerheumatoid arthritis (RA), adebilitating chronic auto-immune inflammatory disease,according to doctors fromDelhi-based All India Instituteof Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
In their study published inRestorative Neurology andNeuroscience, the doctors saidthat marked improvementswere noticed in the levels ofcertain inflammatory bio-markers and assessments offunctional status and diseaseactivity in patients studied,demonstrating yoga’s promo-tive, preventive, curative, andrehabilitative potential forachieving optimal health.
“Our findings show mea-surable improvements for the
patients in the test group, sug-gesting an immune-regulatoryrole of yoga practice in thetreatment of RA.
“An intensive yoga regimenconcurrent with routine drugtherapy induced molecularremission and re-establishedimmunological tolerance. Inaddition, it reduced the sever-ity of depression by promotingneuroplasticity,” explained leadinvestigator, Rima Dada, MD,Professor, Department ofAnatomy, All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) here.She noted that high diseaseactivity and underlying depres-sion are associated withincreased disability, reducedquality of life, and minimizedrates of clinical remission andtreatment response. Otherresearchers included DrSurabhi Gautam, Dr MadhuriTolahunase and Dr UmaKumar.
The study was a mind-
body intervention (MBI) ran-domized trial (with parallelactive and control groups) toanalyze the effects of practicing120 minutes of yoga, five daysa week for eight weeks on 72patients with RA. Both the testand control groups were simul-taneously undergoing routinedrug therapies (DMARDs).
The findings showed sig-nificant improvement in sys-temic biomarkers of neuro-plasticity, inflammation,immune-modulation, cellularhealth integrity, and aging inassociation with the positiveclinical outcome of reductionin depression severity, diseaseactivity, and disability quo-tient in RA patients followingthe intensive yoga based MBI.The study was supported byfunding provided by theDepartment of Science&Technology, Union Ministryof Science & Technology.
Existing research has eval-
uated the role of yoga as aneffective intervention to assist the management of RAwith respect to clinical symptoms, quality of life, psy-chosocial outcomes, and func-tional ability.
This study is one of the firstto look at how yoga practiceaffects the systemic biomarkersof inflammation, cellular aging,and oxidative stress, especial-ly in RA. “Our results provideevidence that yoga positivelymodifies the pathobiology ofautoimmunity at cellular andmolecular levels by targetingmind-body communications.Further research is needed forthe exploration of possiblemechanisms underlying thecumulative effect of yoga onmultiple pathways at a cellularlevel,” added Dr. Dada. “Yogafacilitates the mind’s capacity toaffect bodily function andsymptoms mediated though avariety of downstream path-
ways and bring about naturalimmunological tolerance.”
RA is a heterogeneousautoimmune disease thatresults from the interplay ofgenetic and environmental fac-tors and causes extensive sys-temic inflammation, cartilagedamage, and synovial hyper-plasia that cause physical dis-ability and psychiatric comor-bidity. The co-existence ofdepression and RA in individ-uals poses a significant health-care burden on the patients,their caregivers, healthcare sys-tems, and society as a whole.
Existing medical therapieshave a limited scope and fail tocure the psychological compo-nent of the disease and havenumerous side effects.Depression seems to decreasepatients’ compliance andadherence to medical treatmentand results in worse health out-comes and increases diseaseseverity.
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The Supreme Court Fridaydecided to hear a fresh
plea challenging the constitutional validity of a 1993Central law by which the gov-ernment acquired 67.703 acresof land, including the disputedpremises of RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjid,in Ayodhya.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoitagged the matter with themain petition on title disputepending before a constitutionbench.
“List the matter before thebench already seized with theissue,” the bench of ChiefJustice Gogoi and Justice SanjivKhanna said.
The plea, challenging leg-
islative competence ofParliament to acquire religiousland, was filed a week after theCentre had moved the apexcourt seeking modification inits 2003 order and allow it toreturn to original owners the 67acres “non-disputed” landaround the disputed structurein Ayodhya.
The petition, filed by sevenindividuals, including twoLucknow-based lawyers claim-ing to be devotees of Ram Lalla,has contended that Parliamenthad no legislative competenceto acquire land belonging to thestate.
Moreover, it said, the statelegislature has the exclusivepower to make provisions relat-ing to the management ofaffairs of religious institutionsinside its territory.
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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on Friday
said it has attached assets worth�4.62 crore of SkylightHospitality, a firm owned byRobert Vadra, Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law, in connection with theBikaner land scam case.
“The attached assetsinclude movable assetsamounting to �18,59,500 per-taining to four individuals andone immovable property situ-ated at 268, Sukhdev Vihar inNew Delhi to the extent of�4,43,36,550 owned by RobertVadra’s company Ms Sky LightHospitality (P) Ltd (now LLP),”the agency said.
The ED had registered acriminal case in connectionwith the deal in 2015, takingcognisance of a clutch of FIRsand charge sheets filed byRajasthan Police after thetehsildar of Bikaner com-plained about alleged forgery inthe allotment of land in thearea. The area is consideredsensitive due to its proximity tothe Indo-Pak border.
“In furtherance of sale/purchase, these impugnedfraudulent lands were furthersold by subsequent purchasersto individuals and companiesand all these subsequent sellersof the impugned land generat-ed a considerable amount ofprofit. The fraudulently gener-ated profit by these entities isnothing but proceeds of crimeas defined under PMLA,” theED said in a statement.
Sky Light Hospitality (P) Ltdhad purchased 275 Bigha (69.55Hectare) land fraudulently for�72 lakh and sold the same for�5.15 crores to Allegeny Finlease(P) Ltd and illegally generatedprofit of �4.43 Crores. Fourother individuals had also gen-erated profit of �18.59 lakhs insale of fraudulent acquired land,the agency said.
On Tuesday, Vadra andhis mother Maureen hadappeared before the ED inJaipur. Congress general secre-tary and Vadra’s wife PriyankaGandhi had accompanied themto the probe agency’s office.
Last week, the ED hadquizzed Vadra in Delhi forthree days in connection witha money laundering probeagainst him for allegedlyprocuring assets abroad in anillegal manner.
Pune: As protests erupted in the city over the attack on CRPFconvoy at Pulwama, a flag-seller here did a brisk business —in Pakistani flags. Murudkar Zendewale, a famous flag-seller,sold over 100 national flags of Pakistan on Friday and gave alighter free with every flag.
Pakistani flags were burnt at many places in the city in thewake of the terror attack at Pulwama in Jammu & KashmirThursday in which at least 44 CRPF personnel were killed.People expressed anger about the neighbouring country,which is accused of harbouring Jaish-E-Mohammad, the ter-ror outfit which has claimed the responsibility for the ghastlyattack, by burning Pakistani flags.
PTI
Aligarh: The AMU on Fridaysuspended an undergraduateStudent from Kashmir forallegedly lauding a terroristoutfit in a social media postafter the terror strike inPulwama in which 40 CRPFpersonnel were killed.
Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) spokesperson OmarPeerzada told PTI that the mat-ter is being further probed and“strong deterrent action” will betaken once the investigation iscomplete. “AMU has zero tol-erance for any such perniciousactivity and anyone indulgingin such an act will not bespared,” Peerzada said. PTI
Nagpur: Rajesh Rajput spoketo his younger brother Sanjay,a CRPF jawan, on phone onThursday morning. Little didhe know that it would be theirlast conversation.
Sanjay Rajput (45) wasamong the 44 jawans of theCentral Reserve Police Forcekilled when a terrorist rammeda bomb-laden vehicle into theirbus in Pulwama on Thursday.
A pall of gloom descendedover the CRPF Group CentreColony here, where Sanjay’sfamily lives, as the news came.
Rajesh told PTI that hisbrother was attached to theCRPF’s 213th battalion, basedin Nagpur, for the last fouryears. He lived in the CRPFcolony with his two sons Jai(13) and Shubham (11) andwife Sushma Rajput.
“He left Nagpur onFebruary 11 for his new post-ing with the 115th battalion inSrinagar. I called him yesterdaymorning, around 9.30 am,when he told me he had leftJammu at 3.30 am to join hisnew posting,” said Rajesh. PTI
Agartala: Tripura ChiefMinister Biplab Kumar Debon Friday announced Rs 2-lakh compensation for eachfamily. “People of Tripura andthe State Government wouldremain behind the families of45 martyred CRPF personnel,”the Chief Minister told themedia after announcing thecompensation. IANS
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Condemning the terrorattack on a CRPF convoy
in Jammu & Kashmir’sPulwama, Ajmer SharifDargah dewan Syed ZainulAbedin Ali Khan on Fridayurged the government to notallow devotees from Pakistanto visit the shrine.
Ali Khan, the descendantof Sufi saint Hazrat KhwajaMoinuddin Hassan Chishti,paid tribute to the personnelkilled in the attack.
He urged the Governmentto not allow ‘jatha’ or group ofdevotees from Pakistan tovisit the famous shrine in Rajasthan’s Ajmer during festivals, including Urs,
which commemorates thedeath anniversary of the Sufisaint.
Describing the attack as“non-Islamic”, he said harminglives of innocent people byattacking them cowardly isagainst the fundamental prin-ciples of the religion.
Several devotees fromPakistan visit the Ajmer SharifDargah every year. OnThursday, an explosives ladentruck rammed into a CRPFconvoy in Pulwama outsideSrinagar, killing 44 soldiers inone of the biggest terrorattacks in recent years.
Pakistan-based terrorgroup Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) has claimed responsi-bility for the attack.
Guwahati: Assam ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowalannounced Rs 20 lakh to thefamily of MoneswarBasumatary, a CRPF soldierfrom the state, who was mar-tyred in the terrorist attack inJammu & Kashmir onThursday. Condoling the deathof Basumatary, Sonowal Fridaysaid his sacrifice would beremembered by the wholenation.
PTI
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Fridaysaid the terror attack in J&K on a CRPF was due to “intelligencefailure” and demanded that there be three-day nationwide mourn-ing to show respect to the martyrs.
She questioned why the Centre was not declaring nationalmourning for the CRPF jawans and said “Will mourning takeplace only when political leaders die?” “I demand 72 hoursmourning for the ultimate sacrifice of the soldiers. At least fornational respect. Only one flag is not enough for it,” she toldreporters after returning from New Delhi.
Banerjee said that the Government as well as all the politi-cal parties should put a stop to all scheduled programme in viewof the terror attack. PTI
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When Rohitash Lamba,Bhagirath Singh and
Hemraj Meena left their homesin Rajasthan earlier this weekwith the promise that they would return to theirfamilies soon, few imaginedthat it would turn out to betheir last visit.
Lamba, Singh and Meenawere among the 44 CRPF per-sonnel killed in a terroristattack in Pulwama in Jammu& Kashmir on Thursday.
Their families on Fridayrecalled their passion and lovefor the country as they griev-ed the demise of their loved
ones. Barely two months ago,Lamba had expressed his joyon becoming a father on thesocial media. He rejoined dutyon February 12 after spendingseveral days with his family,including his two-month-oldson. A pall of gloom descend-ed at Govindpura Basadi vil-lage near Shahpura, around 65km from Jaipur, as the news ofLamba’s death reached.Former Deputy Speaker ofRajasthan Assembly and for-mer Shahpura legislator RaoRajendra Singh met Lamba’sfamily members on Fridayand expressed his condolences.
He said that Lamba’s wifefell unconscious on hearing the
tragic news and had to be hos-pitalised.
The family of 27-year-oldBhagirath Singh, a resident ofJaitpur village in Dholpur dis-trict, was struggling to come toterms with the loss. On Friday,the entire village of Jaitpurmourned the death of theyoung man.
“We never knew that hewould leave us so early. He hadpromised his father and fam-ily to return soon two days agobut they had never imaginedthat it would be his last visithome,” Jaitpur sarpanch KapurChand Gurjar said.
He said Singh’s motherhad passed away when he was
a kid. His father Parshuram, afarmer, brought up his twosons alone. Singh joined CRPFfour years ago, whereas hisyounger brother Balveer joinedUttar Pradesh Police.
Singh got married Ranjnafour years ago and has three-year-old son Vinay and a-year-and-a-half-old daughterShivangi. Hemraj Meena’s wifeMadhu received a call from theCRPF camp in Jammu around10 pm Thursday, informingher about his demise.
Soon after the newsreached the area, villagerscame out their homes andgathered outside Meena’s hometo pay their tributes.
Kalabari/Guwahati: “The perpe-trators must be punished for killingmy father, our jawans, even if itmeans carrying out surgical strikesacross the border,” demanded thedaughter of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari, who wasmartyred in Thursday’s terror attackin Jammu & Kashmir.
Basumatari, the head constableCRPF 98 Battalion was among the 40soldiers who were killed in thePulwama attack. He is survived byhis daughter, Didmaswari, wife,Sunmati, and son. “We want justice.Give a befitting reply to the cowardsresponsible for the Pulwama attack,”said an inconsolable Didmaswari onFriday. Talking to reporters at thefamily’s residence in Kalabari villagein Assam’s Baksa district, she also
demanded that the Governmentshould look after the family now.
Basumatari had recently visitedhome, said the slain head constable’swife with tears running down herface. She was unable to talk further.
After the attack, there wererumours circulating on social mediathat three more soldiers from Assamhad been killed in the attack. TheCRPF jawans rumoured to havebeen killed in the blast took toFacebook on Friday to refute therumours. One of the soldiers, MizingBasumatary of Udalguri district saidin a Facebook post, “This is fakenews. I am doing fine and nothinghas happened to me. Please don’tshare the fake post.”
CRPF jawan, Pabitra Barman, anative of Bongaigaon, said, “Hi
friends...I am fully safe & sound. I’mdeployed in other district of Kashmir,which is far away from Pulwama wherethe mischief happened. Jai Hind.”
Family of the third CRPF jawan,Ananta Saiki of Nagaon district’sGorubandha, also stated that hewas safe. His sister, Purnima, toldreporters, “By God’s grace, Ananta issafe. He called us today. He was ona bus which was ahead of the con-voy of 78 vehicles, carrying 2,547CRPF jawans, that was attacked.”
Meanwhile, various organisa-tions held protests across Assam.Protesters burnt effigies of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, which claimed respon-sibility for the attack, and flags of theneighbouring country.
PTI
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With the bugler playingthe ‘last post’, Home
Minister Rajnath Singh turneda pallbearer on Friday as thebodies of 44 paramilitary per-sonnel killed in an audaciousterror strike in South Kashmir’sPulwama district were sent ontheir last journey home.
Singh, accompanied by ahigh-level team comprisingofficials from the CRPF, NIAand Home Ministry, arrivedhere on Friday afternoon anddrove straight to the adjacentCRPF campus where a wreathlaying ceremony was held forthe slain jawans.
As the bugler played the‘last post’ and guard called for‘shok salami shastra’ (reversingof arms in honour of fallen sol-diers), a two-minute silence wasobserved after which the UnionHome Minister gave a shoulderto the coffin of a jawan whichwas being taken to his nativeplace in a special aircraft. TheHome Minister, Governor SatyaPal Malik, Home SecretaryRajiv Gauba, CRPF DirectorGeneral RR Bhatnagar, Jammu& Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singhbesides others attended thewreath laying ceremony.
New Delhi: Aadhaar cards,ID cards, leave applicationsand certain other articleswere the only things left ofmost of the 44 CRPF person-nel killed in the Pulwama ter-ror attack that helped theircolleagues identify them, offi-cials said on Friday.
Officials said as the bod-ies of the troops were badlymutilated and charred due onthe impact of the RDX-trig-gered blast, it became verydifficult to ascertain theiridentities. Most of the slainjawans were either identifiedby their Aadhaar cards, forceIDs, PAN cards or leave appli-cations kept in their pocketsand bags. PTI
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Shops, vehicles and otherproperty belonging to a
particular community cameunder attack in Poonch andJammu, forcing authorities toclamp curfew in Jammu, during a shutdown todenounce a suicide bombingthat killed 44 CRPF troopersin the Kashmir Valley.
Authorities first imposedcurfew and sought the Army’shelp to restore order in the win-ter capital of Jammu & Kashmirwhere scores of youths protest-ing against the suicide attacktorched some vehicles andsmashed many more believedto be from the Valley.
Jammu District MagistrateRamesh Kumar said curfewhad been imposed in the entireJammu city to maintain peace.
Police used tear smokeand batons to disperse themobs. The curfew wasimposed initially in Jammu’sGujjar Nagar, Talab Khatikan,Janipur, Bakshi Nagar, ChenniHeemat, Bus Stand and someother places in old city areaand later extended to theentire city.
Violence also erupted inPoonch district, where too
shops and vehicles belongingto a particular communitywere attacked in Aala Peerarea, forcing police to use tearsmoke and batons.
“People are advised tomaintain calm and not play intothe hands of anti-social ele-ments who want to exploit thesituation for their nefariousobjectives,” a police officer said.
The Jammu Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(JCCI), an influential body oftraders and industrialists, hadearlier called a shutdown inJammu city against the terrorstrike in the Valley’s Pulwamadistrict on Thursday on aCRPF convoy.
Rakesh Gupta, President ofJCCI, an influential body oflocal traders and industrialists,told IANS, “I appeal to the peo-ple belonging to different sec-tions of the society to maintainthe traditional harmony andbrotherhood for which Jammuhas been known ever since thefires of violence spread in the(Kashmir) Valley.”
Meanwhile, Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh attend-ed the wreath laying ceremo-ny of the troopers at theHumhama RegimentalTraining Centre of the CRPF
in Badgam district.Rajnath Singh co-chaired
a meeting of the UnifiedHeadquarters with GovernorSatya Pal Malik here.
The Unified Headquartersis the apex anti-militancy gridin the State comprising topofficials of the Army, CentralArmed forces, local policeand State and CentralIntelligence Agencies.
Patna/Bhagalpur: One wasplanning wedding of his daugh-ter, the other eagerly awaitingarrival of his second child.
The dreams of SanjayKumar Sinha and Ratan KumarThakur went up in smoke in atrice. They were among the 44CRPF jawans who lost theirlives. Family and friends ofSinha received the earth-shat-tering news of his death withsorrow, anger and disbelief.
His father Mahendra Prasadis proud of his son but equallyconcerned about what wouldhappen to his family. “He has twogrown-up, unmarried daughters.While leaving for duty, he hadsaid that on his next visit to thevillage he will finalise marriageof elder one. We are distraught,”grief-stricken father said.
The atmosphere is sombreat Thakur’s home in Bhagalpur.He has left behind a four-year-old son and a wife who isexpecting their second child.“We were expecting a call fromRatan by the evening as he hadtold us he would speak to usafter joining duty in Srinagar.Instead, we received a call fromone of his superiors who broketo us the terrible news,” NiranjanThakur, the slain CRPF consta-ble’s father, said. PTI
wide-spread protests staged byseveral groups and politicalparties across the metropolisagainst Thursday’s Pulwamaterror attacks which left 44CRPF personnel dead, even asthe Maharashtra Governmentannounced an ex-gratia of Rs50 lakh each to the next of kinof two jawans from the statekilled in the attack.
Muslims, carrying theIndian Tricolour, banners, plac-ards and raising anti-Pakistanslogans, took out a massive pro-cession along the busyMohammed Ali Road in down-town south Mumbai.
The slogans like “PakistanMurdabad, LeT Murdabad,“Down with Masood Azharand Hafiz Saeed” and “JeMMurdabad” rented the air, as
the Muslims staged protestmarches in localities of SaifeeJubilee Street, HandiwalaMosque, Sunni Bilal Mosque.Most of these areas observed aspontaneous bandh.
In a related development,the BJP-led by Ram Kadam, RajPurohit and others –stagedprotests against the Pakistani-sponsored terror strike in dif-ferent parts of the metropolis.
The Maharashtra andMumbai Congress unitsorgainsed special condolencemeetings at the state, city anddistrict party headqua
“We are all one whomourned the death of liveunder and all are sons ofBharatMata! We should notthink of caste,a ligion or faith.We are the followers ofVasudhaiv Kutumbakam,”Fadnavis said, while describingthe Pulgama terror strikes as an“absolute cowardly and con-
demnable act”.Ruling Shiv Sena, MNS and
the NCP organised similarprotests and demonstrations atvarious parts of the city otherparts of the state, while the MNSactivists burnt the Pakistan flagsin Mumbai and Thane.
The Bharat DiamondBourse, Gem & JewelleryExport Promotion Council andMumbai Diamond MerchantsAssociation also held a jointcondolence meeting for themartyred troopers at the BDBComplex in Bandra Kurla innorth-central Mumba.
The city also witnessedprotests outside major subur-ban railway stations wherelakh home-bound commutersraised slogans against Pakistanand the perpetrators behindthe Pulgama attacks
Meanwhile, Maharashtramourned the death of twoArmy jawans — identified as
Sanjay Rajput (45) and NitinRathod from Buldhana districtin eastern Maharashtra — inthe attacks.
While Sanjay Rajput isoriginally from Malkapur, NitinRathod belonged toChorpangra village inBuldhana district.
Sanjay’s brother Rajesh saidthat his brother is survived bywife Sushma Rajput and twosons Jai (13) and Shubham(11). Sanjay said his brotherhad left Nagpur on 11 Februaryfor his new posting with the115th battalion in Srinagar. “ Icalled him morning of the dayof the incident, around 9.30 am,when he told me he had leftJammu at 3.30 am to join hisnew posting,” Rajesh said..
Nitin (36) is survived bywife Vandana, who said has anew couple have two minorchildren — Jeevan (8) andJivika (5).
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Shiv Sena president UddhavThackeray on Friday attrib-
uted the Pulwama attacks to the “intelligence failure” andsaid it was time to “strikeinside Pakistan”.
Talking to media persons,Uddhav said that those incharge of the intelligencemachinery in the valley stateshould be removed.
“The issues of alliances,elections will be there. ButPakistan must not be allowedto go scot- free. It should betaught a befitting lesson,” theSena president said, whilereplying to a question about hismeeting with Maharashtrachief minister DevendraFadnavis on Thursday.
Maintaining thatThursday’s terror attack shouldbe condemned in the strongestpossible terms, Uddhav said:“This is not just a terror attack.It has exposed the chinks in thecountry’s intelligence system”.
“You (the BJP-led Uniongovernment) conducted surgi-cal strike in Pak-occupied-Kashmir. Now the time hascome to strike inside Pakistan.The entire country supports thegovernment on this issue,” theSena president said.
“Instead of making tallclaims, Pakistan needs to betaught a lesson once and for all.If intelligence inputs were notavailable, one wonders what dothe people who are holding thereins were doing. They shouldbe removed,” Uddhav said.
The process of forming anelectoral alliance between
the AIADMK and the BJP forthe upcoming Lok Sabha pollbegan in right earnest lateThursday evening. UnionMinister for Railways PiyushGoyal who is in charge of theLok Sabha election for TamilNadu reached Chennai lateThursday evening and drovedown to the residence of lateindustrialist from south-westTamil Nadu and had a discus-sion with the AIADMK repre-sentatives — P Thangamani(Power Minister) and SPVelumani (local administra-tion minister).
This is the first officialmeeting between the AIADMKand the BJP though backroomdiscussions were on for quitesome time about the pollalliance, according to sources inboth the parties. “We do not seeany reason why there shouldnot be any alliance between theAIADMK and the BJP. A for-mal announcement about thealliance would be made soon,”said Narayanan Thiruppathi,spokesman of the BJP.
Another BJP leader toldThe Pioneer that discussionswere on with leaders of thePattali Makkal Katchi (PMK),the DMDK (led by film actorVijayakanth) and Dr
Krishnasamy’s PuthiyaTamilakam. “There is a possi-bility that Tamil Manila Congress led by GKVasan too would join theAIADMK-BJP alliance thoughit may take some more time foran announcement,” said theBJP leader.
Since Stalin is not enthusi-astic in including the TMC inhis front, Vasan is left with onlytwo options, either to pitch histent in the AIADMK-BJP frontor to sail with TTVDhinakaran’s AMMK. ButAnbazhagan, political com-mentator who is close confi-dante of Dhinakaran saidVasan would not join the BJPalliance and would join handswith the AMMK.
Goyal returned to NewDelhi early Friday morningand is expected back inChennai for further talks some-time next week. Meanwhile,the DMK –led front has start-ed its campaign for the electionbuoyed by the opinion pollresults by some of the leadingprivate agencies which forecasta total sweep in Tamil Nadu bythe DMK.
Though Stalin has notannounced the constituents ofthe rainbow alliance, it is cer-tain that the Congress, theIslamist parties, the Lefts, theVCK and the MDMK led byVaiko would figure in theDMK-led front.
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Subramanian Swamy, MP andsenior BJP leader has sought
the immediate intervention ofSushma Swaraj, Union Ministerfor External Affairs, to help theSri Lankan refugees who arestranded in Tamil Nadu for thelast four months because ofnon-availability of a ship to takethem home.
In a letter addressed toSushma Swaraj on Friday,Swamy said that during his lastvisit to Chennai, he was‘apprised by the Sri Lankanrefugees that they have been
waiting for four months for aship to be provided aspromised to return to theirhome country, Sri Lanka.’
“There appears to be somebureaucratic turf war on whocan decide when to provide theship required. Hope it will bepossible for you to interveneannsure that a ship is providedto take a batch of Sri LankanTamil refugees who have beenwaiting patiently for the last fourmonths back to their homes,”said Dr Swamy in the letter.
Though the Tamil chauvin-ist parties are in the forefront agi-tating for the rights of the Tamilsin the island nation, Dr Swamyis
the first politician from TamilNadu to take up cudgels onbehalf of the Tamils in SriLanka, pointed out Sri Lankanobservers based in the State.
The Sri Lankan HighCommissioner to India AustinFernando, has been quoted assaying that there are 97,000 SriLankan refugees in India. TheHigh Commissioner who was inChennai recently along with ateam of officials from Colomboto find out the first- hand detailspertaining to Tamil refugeeshad made it clear that Sri Lankaneeded the refugees and wouldtake all steps to ensure theirreturn to the home country .
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disgruntled Congress MLAs,against whom a disqualificationpetition is pending with theassembly Speaker, Friday metparty leader and former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah hereand reportedly pledged loyal-ty to the party. “MLA ShriNagendra and Shri RameshJarkiholi met CLPleader Shri@siddaramaiah along withminister Shri Zameer AhmedKhan,” Karnataka Congresssaid in a tweet.
Though what transpired atthe meeting was not known,party sources calling it a one-to-one meeting said, the legis-lators pledged their loyalty tothe party and requested theCLP leader to withdraw thedisqualification petition whilenarrating their grievances.
Siddaramaiah is said tohave advised both Jarkiholiand Nagendra not to take anydecision in haste until the LokSabha elections are over,according to the sources.
The CLP leader Thursdayhad said his petition seekingdisqualification of four dis-gruntled party MLAs waspending with the Speaker, whois the competent authority totake action under the anti-defection law.
The former CM said hispetition to Speaker has nothingto do with four MLAs attend-ing Session since Wednesday, ashe noted that the legislatorshave violated the whip in ear-lier instances. PTI
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Arecent PTI report citesresearchers as saying that risingsea levels, caused by climatechange, could destroy theworld’s biggest mangrove forest
— Sunderbans — spanning more than10,000 square kilometres in India andBangladesh, in the next 50 years. It quotesSharif Mukul, an assistant professor at theIndependent University, Bangladesh, assaying that analyses by researchers indicatethat the Sunderban’s tiger habitats wouldvanish by 2070. The area being perhaps themost important habitat of the majestic ani-mal, the development has serious implica-tions for the Royal Bengal Tiger’s survival.The report further quotes Bill Lawrence, aprofessor at Australia’s James CookUniversity, as stating that the animal, now“mainly confined to small areas of India andBangladesh”, is “facing a double whammy”—the increasing unavailability of theSunderbans area for themselves and theirprey as well as encroachment by industry,construction of roads and poaching.
All of this warrants concern on twocounts — the future of the Royal BengalTiger as a species, the consequences of theextinction of tigers and the developmentsleading to both. As to the first, around 97per cent of the world’s tiger population per-ished in the last 100 years and, accordingto the latest statistics, only 3,890 tigers areleft in the world. The developments lead-ing to the extinction of tigers include thedestruction of their forest habitats forhuman settlements, industry and infrastruc-ture, the consequent increase in human-tigerconflict and the extensive use of tiger partsin Chinese medicines.
Encroachments on tiger habitats areliable to grow given the continuing increasein human population, the rising demandsfor housing settlements and industrial andagricultural products arising therefrom. Theincidence of conflict between people andtigers is also set to rise as the decline in theavailability of prey, who share tigers’ shrink-ing habitats, compels the latter to targetdomesticated animals like cattle. Finally,there is no sign of any fall in the demandfor tiger parts in Chinese medicines despiteit being medically established that they haveno medicinal value at all.
China has postponed the implementa-tion of its decision to lift the ban on the useof tiger bones and rhino horns — from bothanimals bred in captivity — by hospitals, anddomestic trade in antique tiger and rhinoproducts, which would have given a coverof legitimacy to the sale of parts frompoached animals. The decision, though mostwelcome, needs to be made permanent andBeijing has to further step up its efforts tostanch illegal trade in animal parts.
The fate of the Royal Bengal Tiger willbe determined by the interplay of these fac-tors and the measures taken to conserve andincrease their number. Significant measures
have been taken towards the lat-ter. The international ban on thetrade in tigers, instituted in1993, has vastly reduced the massslaughter of the species by poach-ing and trade. Nevertheless,poaching and illegal trade con-tinue not only to provide themanufacturers of traditionalChinese medicines but fuel ademand for tiger heads andskins as status symbols and dec-orative items.
At the national level, Chinahas done much to increase itstiger population in the country’sNorth-eastern region by recent-ly establishing the Tiger andLeopard National Park — 1.6times larger than YellowstoneNational Park in the UnitedStates. India, home to 70 percent of tigers in the world,launched Project Tiger in April1973 when Indira Gandhi wasPrime Minister. It aims at ensur-ing viable population of RoyalBengal Tigers in their naturalhabitats, protecting them fromextinction and setting upreserves for the purpose. Thereare now 50 of the latter. InSeptember, 2006, it set up theNational Tiger ConservationAuthority to extend statutoryauthority to Project Tiger toprovide legal sanction to itsdirectives, foster accountabilityon the part of the Centre andthe States in the management oftiger reserves by providing abasis for MoUs among them,providing parliamentary over-
sight and address the interest oflocal people in areas aroundtiger reserves.
In June, 2007, it constitut-ed a multi-disciplinary Tigerand Other Endangered SpeciesCrime Control Bureau (WildlifeCrime Control Bureau), to com-bat organised illegal trading inwildlife and their derivatives. InMay, 2012, the Centre advisedthe States to each create, armand deploy a Special TigerProtection Force around thehabitats of the big cats. A num-ber of States, includingKarnataka, Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand and Maharashtra,have already done so.
The results have been grat-ifying. The number of tigers hasrisen from 1,411 in 2006 to 1,706in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014. Thecurrent census, which began in2018, is expected to produce ahigher figure. Yet complacencewould be disastrous. Poaching,particularly in the form of poi-soning, which causes prolongedand painful death, continues.Encroachments into tiger habi-tats continue. It would be illus-trative to cite a few examplesfrom Maharashtra which has avery poor record in this respect.Last year, it sanctioned the diver-sion of 467.5 hectares of forestland in Yavatmal district for acement plant. Also, its recom-mendation has led to the clear-ance, in principle, of 87.98hectares of land in Kondhali andKalmeshwar ranges — barely
160 km from Yavatmal — to anexplosives company in Chakdohfor manufacturing defence prod-ucts. Worse, the land earmarkedbeing reportedly in the tiger cor-ridor between Bor and Melghattiger reserves, the factory wouldprevent the movement of tigersbetween the two. Also, the pro-posal to widen, from meter tobroad gauge, the 176-km Akola-Khandawa railway, a 39 kilome-tre stretch of which passesthrough the Melghat reserve,threatens to cause more acci-dents, wildlife mortality andfragmentation of habitat.
Much of what has beenachieved in protecting the tigerwould be lost if the trend con-tinues. The results would be dis-astrous. The Royal Bengal Tigeris not only at the top of the foodchain in the wild but constitutesa vital link in maintainingnature’s rich diversity andecosystems that sustain bothnature and people. And it is notjust the tiger. Over 3,000 speciesare becoming extinct every year.Indeed, the world is now in themidst of its sixth mass extinctionof plants and animals in the lasthalf-a-billion years, and theworst since the extinction ofdinosaurs 65 million years ago.At this rate, as many as 30 to 50per cent of all species would bemoving toward extinction by themiddle of this century.
(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)
Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Comptroller revived”(February 15). Indeed, theComptroller and Auditor Generalof India’s (CAG) job is very toughconsidering the low strength of itsemployees and the amount ofscrutiny it always faces. Since theauditing body has made somegross miscalculations in the pastso as to deliver its report fast, itbecame all the more pressing forit to be impartial and accurate inits findings.
As far as Congress chiefRahul Gandhi’s obsession withthe Rafale deal is concerned, it isbut yet another ploy to find faultswith the Prime Minister and hisGovernment. Now that the CAGhas given clean chit to Modi andthe BJP, Rahul Gandhi’s criticismsounds hollow. Having said that,the Government should havereacted to all these false allega-tions smartly and not allowed itto snowball into a controversy.What a shame that a genuineneed and demand of the IndianAir force has turned into a bizarre drama.
Bal Govind Noida
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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Comptroller revived”(February 15). When it comes topublic spending, theComptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG), like any
other internal auditor, earnedthe high reputation of being‘nosy’. This time, it seems, in thenation’s interest, they closedtheir nose while preparing thereport of the Rafale deal.Selective reading makes it clearthat the Government wants tosay that they have got another
clean chit. Earlier, the SupremeCourt, too, had found no irreg-ularities in the deal. If both theConstitutional bodies have giventhe Modi Government a cleanchit over the Rafale deal, whynot close the issue and place therecords before a JointParliamentary Committee unless
the Government wants use theCAG’s report — which claimedthat NDA’s Rafale deal was 2.86per cent cheaper than the UPA’s— to safeguard their politicalinterests?
N Nagarajan Via email
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Sir — It is heartening that theSupreme Court thinks thatBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chiefMayawati should return the‘hundreds of crores’ of publicmoney she spent on statues ofherself and the BSP’s party sym-bol to the exchequer.
The apex court should lookinto similar misuse of funds —there are numerous suchinstances — by both the Centralas well as State Governmentsand hold them accountable.This will not only boost India’sfailing economy but also cometo the aid of the thousands whostill live below the poverty linein our country.
It’s been a busy week in Spain. OnTuesday, Twelve Catalan leaders ofthe attempted secession from
Spain in 2017 went on trial inMadrid, charged with rebellion, sedi-tion and misuse of public funds. Andon Wednesday the SpanishGovernment fell when two smallCatalan nationalist parties votedagainst its budget, essentially to pun-ish it for not stopping the trial.
But Prime Minister PedroSanchez’s Government couldn’t havestopped the trial at this point: Spanishcourts are independent. And the‘Catalan Twelve’ are certainly guilty ofsomething, although it isn’t ‘rebellion’,which in Spanish law involves a violentuprising. They are guilty of cheating butthere isn’t any law against that.
Sanchez’s now defunct
Government would almost certainlynot have brought such extreme chargesagainst the Catalan would-be martyrs.(Oriol Junqueras, former Vice Presidentof the separatist regional Governmentof Catalonia, faces a possible 25 yearsin prison.) But the charges werebrought under the previous Right-wingGovernment of Mariano Rajoy andSanchez couldn’t just cancel them.
Sanchez’s Socialist Party, whichtook power last June, depended on twosmall Catalan separatist parties for itsmajority. It has fallen because theCatalans felt he had done too little toprevent the trial of the ‘Catalan twelve’.The trial will continue and the snapelection that must now follow will beheld in an atmosphere of super-heat-ed nationalism. The separatists prob-ably don’t mind.
We are already being treated to afeast of nationalist rhetoric cloaked inthe idiom of democratic rights over thistrial. Former Catalan President CarlesPuigdemont, who declared Catalonia’sindependence but chose to go into exilerather than face trial when the gambitfailed, declared that the trial is “a stresstest for the Spanish democracy.”
As the trial began, Jordi Sanchez,one of the twelve, tweeted: “I am goingin with my head held high, convincedthat self-determination is not a crime.”The trial is really about “the right to self-determination and the democraticprinciple,” said defence lawyer Andreuvan den Eyde. But all this talk of highprinciple is quite beside the point.
What actually happened inCatalonia in 2017 was that Catalannationalists, unable to win a convinc-ing majority for their project of inde-pendence, decided to skip the bitabout a convincing majority. They didcontrol the regional Government, sothey declared a referendum on inde-
pendence in which only those infavour of separation would vote.
Such a referendum was illegalunder the Spanish Constitution, whichforbids secession, so the pro-Spanishparties would boycott the referen-dum. They would have to boycott it inorder to stay within the law. Whereasall those who wanted independence —almost half the population — woulddefy the law and cast their votes.
That’s exactly how it worked.Every opinion poll for years hadshown that Catalonia was split rightdown the middle, with around 45 percent for independence, 45 per centa-gainst it and 10per cent undecided. Just
45 per cent of the population voted inthe referendum and 90 per cent of themvoted for independence. Those whodidn’t vote could now be dragged outof Spain without further ado. Hurrahfor democracy!
For the secessionist leaders, it wasa two-way bet. Just possibly, the rest ofthe world would fail to notice how thevote was rigged, accept it as a democ-ratic exercise and recognise their claim.Just possibly, too, the Spanish statewould be so weak that it would fail todefend the rights of the half ofCatalonia’s population who wanted tostay in Spain. Or, more likely, theSpanish Government would interveneto stop this attempted kidnapping andarrest those who had led it. They couldthen be portrayed as pro-democracymartyrs. That would be almost as help-ful to the nationalist cause and it’s whatis happening right now.
To be fair to Catalan nationalists,most of their fellow-citizens in theregion who oppose independence areSpanish-speakers, descended frompeople who immigrated from otherregions to share in Catalonia’s indus-trial prosperity. A majority of Catalan-
speakers do back independence. Howcan you choose to disregard the viewsof the Spanish-speaking half of theregion’s current population in order tosneak your independence projectthrough? By believing that they are notentitled to a view because they are notreal Catalans. Of course, you never sayit quite like this in public.
These views persist and the‘Catalan problem’ will not go away.Neither will the ‘Basque problem’,which involves almost identical dilem-mas on the other side of Spain. It’s theclassic problem facing long-establishedethnic and linguistic groups that havebecome minorities, or just barelymajorities, in their own lands. There isno ‘fair’ solution, just endless unsatis-factory compromises.
The new Spanish Government thatemerges from the forthcoming snapelection, whatever it is (nobody knows),won’t be able to solve the problemeither. The most it can do, if it’s sensi-ble, is to commute any prison sentencesimposed on the ‘Catalan Twelve’ anddeny them martyrdom.
The deadly suicide car bomb attack on aconvoy of the Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) at Awantipora in Jammu
& Kashmir’s Pulwama district, which claimedthe lives of more than 40 troopers and leftmany injured, is a rude call to the nation tosmell the coffee and accept the fact that mil-itancy in Kashmir has been overtaken by rad-ical jihadists, who want the Talibanisation ofKashmir. The latest attack was the mostsevere of all and led to the highest number of‘deaths’. Kashmir witnessed the last suchattack in 2001, when three terrorists belong-ing to the Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out anattack on the Jammu & Kashmir StateAssembly complex in Srinagar using a TataSumo loaded with explosives that rammed intothe main gate. Around 38 civilians and threesuicide bombers were killed. The next spate ofsuch car bomb attacks was witnessed in 2005when between June and November, threeattacks on different targets killed 23 civilianand security forces personnel. Car bombattacks bear the signature of Taliban and AlQaeda style of fighting, both of whom are rad-ical jihadist terror groups.
The preferred mode of suicide attacks byterrorists in Kashmir was the attack on thesecurity forces camps termed as “fidayeen hits”and ambushes close to the Line of Control(LoC) referred to as “BAT attack” till the killingof dreaded terrorist Burhan Wani. The reasonwas obvious. Terrorists and their akas inPakistan were reluctant to cross the “threshold”fearing loss of popular public support. Till thisperiod, Kashmir was being radicalised. Theaftermath of Burhan Wani’s killing indicatedthat the enemy had succeeded in radicalisingthe Kashmiri society. Large-scale public sup-port to the terrorists, rise in stone-throwingattacks on security forces and senseless killingsof Army men, policemen and civilians notreceiving the type of condemnation theydeserved were indicators enough to assess thatjihadists had overtaken the reins of the ongo-ing movement in Kashmir. Subsequent state-ments made by Zakir Musa, one-time accom-plish of Burhan Wani, and the present self-styled commander of Al Qaeda-affiliate terror-ist organisation, Ansar Ghazwatul Hind, ridi-culing the Hurriyat leadership and the so-calledazadi movement were clear and loud enoughto be ignored but did lead to the present state.
Despite the reverses suffered by varioustanzeems due to the successful intelligencebased operations launched by the securityforces, the resolve of the jihadists did not dither.Their attacks became more deadly, barbaric anddaring. There was a clear divide in theKashmiri society between the peace-seekersand pro-jihad radicals. While the peace-seek-ers provided intelligence to the security forcesfor launching surgical operations against theterrorists, the radicalised supporters of jihadistsprovided them shelter, food and cover from thesecurity forces by resorting to stone-pelting onthose involved in anti-terror operations. Themodus operandi of the jihadists bore more andmore semblance to the Islamic State (IS), AlQaeda and Taliban style of operations.
The Kashmiri youth has been lured intojihad on the understanding that azaadi-relat-ed activism would lead them to “heaven.” As vet-eran Kashmiri politician Muzzafar Hussain Beigsaid, “It is an IS-sponsored religious war inKashmir. It is not a fight for political freedomor choice between India and Pakistan butbetween heaven and hell.” It is the race to heav-en that has brain-washed the Kashmiri youthand the likes of alleged car bomber, AadilAhmad alias Waqas Commando of Gundi Bagh,Pulwama. This also explains the fact as to howthe Jaish has been able to carry out this dastard-ly attack despite the claim by security forces ofvirtually eliminating the JeM leadership in theValley, including two close relatives of Jaishsupremo Masood Azhar. A spurt of sniperattacks on the security forces camps also indi-cated the aggressive posture adopted by thejihadists but was soon neutralised by the Armythrough its counter-strategy.
Ironically, the mainstream political lead-ership of Kashmir, which has of late becomepro-jihadist, is refusing to accept the obviousand continues to harp the same old story of a‘political problem’ and ‘misled innocent boys’who need to be dealt with sympathy ratherthan an iron hand. This attitude of theirs hasonly emboldened the jihadists. The latestattempt of to set up a communal and religiousdivide is evident from the politicking over thegrant of divisional status to Ladakh by raisingsimilar demands for Kargil and Muslim-majority districts south of Pir Panjal, mischie-vously referring to them as Chenab Valley andPanjal regions.
The Governor’s administration will haveto act firm and quick to douse the fire lit bythese forces. It may well become the alibi forspreading the wings of jihadists to these hith-erto peaceful areas. The timing of the attack
is also worth noting. It not only coincides withthe renewed efforts of peace talks with theTaliban but also with the heat building up with-in India in view of the 2019 elections.
The security forces will have to remainalive to the growing jihadist challenge and actswiftly and firmly to counter their new strat-egy. It is important to note the claim made byJeM that Adil Ahmad was inspired to becomea suicide bomber after the Taliban claimed“victory” due to the announcement by USPresident Trump to reduce the American bootstrength in Afghanistan. Any decline in res-olute and integrated response by the securityforces in Kashmir may lead them to harboursuch ideas of presumed “victory” and embold-en the jihadists further.
Though it is too early to get involved withfact-finding, many inputs lead to believe thatthere has been “negligence.” In an active con-flict zone where jihadists are purportedly fight-ing for the fulfilment of divine will — Ghazwa-e-Hind — there is no scope for negligence.Despite the warning issued by the Jammu &Kashmir Police through their signal datedFebruary 8, and circulation of a video capturedfrom terrorists showing car bomb attack inAfghanistan, there are many questions to beanswered about the sanitisation of the area andthe efficacy of Road Opening Parties. Thereonce again arises the need to review the high-er command system of the Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPFs). The present system ofdeputing Indian Police Service (IPS) officersto occupy higher ranks has been found want-ing on numerous occasions in the past as well.There is a strong case for higher commandposts to be occupied by cadre officers who havegone through the rigours of ground-level func-tioning of their respective forces instead of gen-eral cadre IPS officers who lack combat expe-
rience.Since JeM has claimed the attack, involve-
ment of Pakistan is obvious. Another fact thatis obvious and unambiguous is that in Pakistan,the reins of the Government are firmly in thehands of the notorious triad of Mullah-Military-Militants with the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) and terrorists ruling the roost and callingthe shots. The so-called peace gestures of theirPrime Minister and the Army Chief are only asmoke-screen to their real intents. India shouldnot fall prey to the trap laid by the triad in theform of opening the Kartarpur Corridor by usingtheir puppet Imran Khan.
There is no doubt that Pakistan continueswith its policy of state sponsorship of terrorismand abetting and aiding cross-border adventur-ism fully embedded with jihadi terror. Thereduction of American boots will provide ISI theadditional strength of the Taliban and otherAfghan-specific jihadist terrorists to be employedagainst India. Pakistan has been temporarily ableto tide over the economic crisis due to the hid-den Chinese support and magnanimity of itsMuslim friends. This has further emboldenedthe country to support jihadists and use themto implement their anti-India policy. Howmuch effect the Government’s decision towithdraw ‘most favoured nation’ status toPakistan will have, only time will tell.Nevertheless, its immediate response will be ofplaying the ‘victim hood’ card and further gen-erating anti-India hysteria. The Government ofIndia will have to use its diplomatic strength andinternational good will to designate Pakistan asa “terror state.” The nation needs to unite tocounter the jihadist challenge.
(The writer is a Jammu-based political com-mentator, columnist and security and strategic analyst. The views expressed are entirely personal)
“mandatory” for those filingan Income Tax Return (ITR)and this procedure has to be“completed” by March 31 thisyear.
“Constitutional validity ofAadhaar has been upheld bythe Supreme Court of India inSeptember, 2018.Consequently, in terms ofSection 139AA of Income TaxAct, 1961 and order dated June30, 2018 of the Central Boardof Direct Taxes, Aadhaar-PANlinking is mandatory nowwhich has to be completed tillMarch 31, 2019 by PAN hold-ers requiring filing of ITR,” theCBDT said in an advisoryThursday.
The Supreme Court onFebruary 6 had confirmed thatlinkage of PAN with Aadhaaris mandatory for filing of ITRs.
This reiteration of theSeptember order of the apexcourt came on an appeal filedby the Centre against a DelhiHigh Court order allowingtwo persons, to file their ITRsfor 2018-19 without linkingtheir Aadhaar and PAN num-bers.
A bench comprisingJustices A K Sikri and S AbdulNazeer said the top court hasalready decided the matter andupheld the section 139AA of
the Income Tax Act.The apex court on
September 26 last year haddeclared the Centre’s flagshipAadhaar scheme as constitu-tionally valid but struck downsome of its provisions includ-ing its linking with bankaccounts, mobile phones andschool admissions.
Former CBDT ChairmanSushil Chandra, early thismonth at an event, had saidthat just 23 crore PAN cardholders — over half of the totalPAN card holders — have sofar linked their cards with bio-metric ID Aadhaar.
He had said the I-TDepartment has so far issued42 crore permanent accountnumbers (PAN), of which 23crore have been linked withAadhaar.
Chandra said that once
Aadhaar is linked with PANand PAN is linked with bankaccount, the I-T departmentcan find out spending patternand other details of theassessee. Also since many agen-cies are linked with Aadhaar, itwould be easier to gaugewhether the benefits of welfareschemes are availed by eligiblepersons, he said.
Section 139 AA (2) of theIncome Tax Act says that everyperson having PAN as on July1, 2017, and eligible to obtainAadhaar, must intimate hisAadhaar number to tax author-ities.
While Aadhaar is issued bythe Unique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI) toa resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric numberallotted by the IT Departmentto a person, firm or entity.
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Arun Jaitley on Fridayresumed charge as the
Finance Minister after a gapof over a month, which wasthe second break within ayear that he had to take toundergo medical treatment.
The President of India,as advised by the PrimeMinister, has directed toassign the portfolios of theMinister of Finance andMinis ter of C or p orateAffairs to Arun Jaitley, anofficial statement said onFriday.
Ja i t l e y tweeted onFriday: “Resumed work atthe Ministry of Financetoday (Friday). Thankful toShri Piyush Goyal who dis-charged the responsibilityat the MoF diligently & com-petently.”
Jaitley, 66, who last weekreturned from the US afterundergoing medical treat-ment, f irst attended theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) meeting thatPrime Minister NarendraModi had called to discussthe terror attack in southKashmir’s Pulwama districtthat killed around 40 CRPFpersonnel, and then came toNorth Block — the seat of theFinance Ministry.
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The Commerce Ministrywould soon notify to the
World Trade Organization(WTO) its decision to revokethe most-favoured nation(MFN) status to Pakistan onsecurity grounds, an officialsaid Friday.
The decision would enableIndia to increase custom dutieson goods imported fromPakistan. India imported goodsworth $488.5 million in 2017-18.
“Now, the CommerceMinistry will notify to theWTO to revoke the MFN sta-tus to Pakistan by invokingArticle 21 of the WTO whichis the security exception,” theofficial said.
The Ministry would workon a list of goods importedfrom Pakistan over which Indiawould increase the customsduties.
After the Pulwama terrorattack on Thursday, India onFriday withdrew the MFN sta-tus to Pakistan. Following this,India can raise customs dutieson goods being imported fromPakistan up to the bound levelduty rates. Currently, India’s
custom duties on goods tomembers of the WTO arebelow the bound level rates.The current customs dutiesimposed are called appliedrates and the level at which onecan increase is known as boundrates.
The main items whichIndia imports include freshfruits, cement, petroleum prod-ucts, bulk minerals and oresand finished leather.
India granted the MFNstatus to Pakistan way back inin 1996, but the neighbouringcountry had not yet recipro-cated.
Total India-Pakistan tradehas increased marginally to$2.41 billion in 2017-18 asagainst $2.27 billion in 2016-17.India imported goods worth$488.5 million in 2017-18 andexported goods worth $1.92billion in that fiscal.
India mainly exports rawcotton, cotton yarn, chemi-cals, plastics, manmade yarnand dyes to Pakistan.
Trade experts said thisdecision would not have amajor implication on bilateraltrade between the countries asthe value of trade is below $3billion annually.
They said that althoughPakistan can drag India into theWTO’s dispute settlementmechanism on the matter, theircase would be weak as theyhave not yet granted the tag toIndia.
launched a new marketingcampaign, that breaks indus-try norms by addressing con-sumer needs.
The new campaign,‘Chote bathrooms ke badesolutions’ i.e. big solutions forsmall bathrooms promisesOrientbell’ s expertise inmaking even small spaceslook bigger by choosing theright colors of tiles & layingthem in a recommended way.
Building on this univer-sal truth, Orientbell and theirtile experts will make eventhe smallest room, the bath-room, look bigger by helpingchoose the right color com-bination of tiles & recom-mending the best patterns tolay them. To avail the ser-vices, Consumers can visit anOrientbell showroom or givea missed call on 8750733333.
With this brand cam-paign, Orientbell has taken arelatable yet humorousapproach to a problem mosthomeowners live with.
New Delhi: The Central Government has recently amend-ed the High Security Registration Plates (HSRPs) law andintroduced the Motor Vehicles (New High SecurityRegistration Plates) Order, 2018. As a result, HSRPs whichare supplied under the strict watch and scrutiny of the StateGovernments through manufacturers selected by the StateGovernment, would from the 1st of April be supplied throughMotor Vehicle manufacturers and affixed by their dealers.Addressing the media, international road safety expert, chair-man Raahat, Dr. Kamaljit Singh Soi said, “the move will leadto a massive increase in crimes as the forged number plateswill be easier to aquire. So, such move must be scrapped forth-with because it a national security issue too. We must let theState Govenments countinue to deal with this.” PNS
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New Delhi: Microsoft India hosted the second edi-tion of its Accessibility Summit — Empowering forInclusion on Friday in collaboration with TheNational Association of the Deaf and NationalCentre for Promotion of Employment of DisabledPeople (NCPEPD). The summit is a platform thatbrings together multiple stakeholders to spark a dia-logue on inclusive technology, evangelize accessi-bility standards & highlight inclusive technologysolutions, as well as assess policy’s role in creatingan accessible India. This includes people with dis-abilities, their support-system, developers of assis-tive technologies, policy makers, CSR profession-als and service-providers. PNS
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Friday withdrew the 20 per cent
limit on investments by FPIs in cor-porate bonds of an entity with a viewto encourage more foreign invest-ments.
As part of the review of the FPIinvestment in corporate debt under-taken in April 2018, it was stipulated
that no FPI should have an exposureof more than 20 per cent of its cor-porate bond portfolio to a single cor-porate (including exposure to entitiesrelated to the corporate).
While the provision was aimed atincentivising FPIs to maintain a port-folio of assets, market feedback indi-cates that foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) have been constrained by thisstipulation, the RBI said.
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The country’s exports grew3.74 per cent to $26.36 billion
in January on account of growthin sectors such as gems & jew-ellery, pharmaceuticals andchemicals, according to datafrom the Commerce Ministry.
Imports almost remainedflat at $41 billion during the lastmonth, narrowing the trade
deficit to $14.73 billion.The trade deficit stood at
$15.67 billion in January 2018.Gold imports also grew
38.16 per cent to $2.31 billionin January this year as against$1.67 billion in the corre-sponding month of 2018.
During the April-Januaryperiod of the current financialyear, exports grew 9.52 per centto $271.8 billion.
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US-based direct sellingmajor Amway Inc expects
India to be a huge growth dri-ver for the company and playa role in its global supply chainthrough innovative herbalproducts, a top company offi-cial said on Friday.
The company also aims asustained double-digit growthin the next five years in India,a market which it is expectingto break into its top-five glob-al markets in the mid to long
term.“Of course we do. The size
and the scope and the breadthof the Indian market, we see itas a huge growth driver for usglobally,” Amway Inc co-chair-man Douglas L DeVos told PTIhere in an interview.
He was responding to aquery on whether Amwaybelieves that India can beamong its top-five global mar-kets. Currently, the country isranked seventh after China,US, South Korea, Japan,Thailand and Taiwan.
Amway has already set atarget of USD 1 billion sales inIndia by 2025. In 2017-18, thedirect selling firm had sales of�1,800 crore and expects totouch �2,000 crore in 2018-19.
Commenting on the com-pany’s ambitions in India,DeVos said: “We have grown ata rate of 7% now, so we aregoing to have double digits inthe near future. We believe thatis the pace we can maintain cer-tainly for the next five years andhopefully even accelerate.”
The growth will be driven
by the company’s existing prod-ucts besides new introductionssuch as the locally developedherbal range.
He said some of the marketslike Thailand and Malaysia havealready expressed interest in theherbal products from India.
“Indonesia and markets inSouth East Asian region wouldbe very interested in productslike these. We see India havinga role in global supply chain,not just India for India but forother markets as well,” DeVossaid.
Last year, Amway Indiamade a foray into herbal skin-care products, positioning adominant number of itemsunder its Attitude range.
Elaborating on growingexpectations from India, hesaid: “We made investment inmanufacturing here and at thattime, it may have been moreIndia for India but I think as wetalk about the innovation side,like the (herbal) products, weare trying to use the resourcesthat we have as a global company.”
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Dalmia Bharat Sugar andIndustries Ltd has report-
ed a 20% decline in net profitat �43.36 crore for the thirdquarter ended December 2018.
The net profit stood at�54.24 crore in December quar-ter of 2017-18, the company saidin a regulatory filing.
Total revenue fell to �467.47crore during October-December quarter of 2018-19from �612.20 crore in the cor-responding period of the pre-vious year.
During April-Decemberperiod of this fiscal, net profitfell to �141.23 crore from
�146.65 crore in the same peri-od of previous fiscal.
Total income fell to�1,516.35 crore during April-December this year from�1,819.75 crore in the year-agoperiod.
“Lower sugar segment prof-itability on account of lowersugar sales realisation for thenine months has been offset toa significant extent by higherprofitability of distillery andcogeneration segments,” thecompany said in a statement.
Jawaharpur distillery hasbeen successfully expanded to120 kilo litre per day from 80kilo litre per day during thequarter and a 60 kilo litre per
day distillery has been com-missioned in Nigohi in themonth of January 2019. Thebenefits of the same wouldaccrue in the subsequent peri-ods, it added.
Dalmia Bharat Sugar &Industries has business interestsin integrated sugar (includingcogen and distillery), wind-farms, magnesite and miscella-neous businesses.
The company has threesugar factories located in UttarPradesh (Jawaharpur, Nigohiand Ramgarh) and two inMaharashtra (Kolhapur andSangli). It has aggregate sugar-cane crushing capacity of 29,500tonne per day.
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Benchmark equity indicesreeled under selling pres-sure for the seventh
straight session on Friday aspharma, metal, auto and bank-ing stocks led losses amid sus-tained foreign fund outflows,muted earnings season andweak global cues.
However, emergence ofbuying in power, energy andPSU stocks in the last one hourof the session and covering-upof short positions by speculatorswiped off most losses.
The 30-share Sensex, afterslumping 365 points to hit a lowof 35,510.97 intra-day, recoupedmost of the lost ground on fag-end buying, and finally settledwith a modest fall of 67.27points, or 0.19% down at35,808.95. The index has nowlost over 1,165 points in sevensessions. The broader NSE Nifty,after shuttling between 10,620.40and 10,785.75, settled at10,724.40 points, down by 21.65points, or 0.20%.
On a weekly basis, the BSEindex dropped 737.53 points, orover 2%, while NSE Nifty fell219.20 points, or 2%.
Market staged a sharprecovery from the bottom, con-firming support for the marketat lower levels, said SunilSharma, chief investment officer,
Sanctum Wealth Management.Investor sentiment was roiled byweakness in retail sales in theUS, and persisting worriesaround domestic debt and liq-uidity, he said. “The mid-capand large-cap divergence con-tinued, and year-to-date theNifty 50 is outperforming theMidcap 50 by 4.3%,” he added.
In stock-specific action, SunPharma was the biggest loseramong Sensex components,plunging 3.94%, followed byTata Steel falling 3.12%.
Other big losers includedVedanta, Hero MotoCorp, BajajFinance, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC,Maruti Suzuki, Yes Bank, M&M,IndusInd Bank, TCS, HUL,Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, HCLTechand ICICI Bank, losing upto 2.87%. Dr Reddy’s stockcrashed over 4% ,on massiveselling by participants.
On the other hand, NTPC,PowerGrid, Reliance Industries,L&T, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors,Coal India, Infosys, ITC, BajajAuto and Asian Paint endedhigher by up to 4.13%.
ONGC, too, gained 2.27%,after the state-owned companyon Thursday reported a 65%jump in its third quarter netprofit as higher prices made upfor a fall in oil output.
Sector-wise, the BSE metalindex emerged worst performer,tumbling 2.32%, followed by
healthcare down 2.27%, auto(1.21%), bankex (0.69%), FMCG(0.44%), consumer durables(0.29%), IT (0.22%), realty(0.18%) and teck (0.12%).
However, power indexgained the most, rising 2.17%,oil and gas (1.44%), infrastruc-ture (1.09%), PSU 0.57% andcapital goods (0.42%). A similartrend was also extended to thebroader markets with the mid-cap index falling 1.18%, andsmall-cap index shedding 0.83%.
On the macro front, risingglobal crude prices dented therupee, which depreciated byanother 28 paise to 71.44 againstthe dollar intra-day.
The Brent crude futures, theinternational benchmark,advanced to USD 65.10 perbarrel, their highest level innearly three months.
Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong’s Hang Seng dropped2.06%, Shanghai CompositeIndex fell 1.37%, Kospi wasdown 12.34%, Japan’s Nikkeished 1.13% and Singapore’sStraits Times declined 0.54%.
Among European marketswere in somewhat mixed formin their early deals with the ParisCAC 40 rising 0.24% whileFrankfurt DAX slipped 0.46%and the London’s FTSE wasalmost flat. The US Dow JonesIndustrial Average also ended0.41% lower on Thursday.
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Indian companies raised�4.57 lakh crore through
private placement of corporatebonds during the first 10months of the current fiscal tomeet business needs.
Going ahead, the debt mar-ket is expected to see furtherimpetus on Sebi’s move askinglarge firms to manage a fourthof their long-term funds fromthe bond market, MukundRanganathan, executive direc-tor at Motilal Oswal InvestmentBanking, said.
Firms raked in �4,56,962crore during the April-January
period of 2018-19 via privateplacement of corporate bonds,compared with �4,87,764 croregarnered in the correspondingperiod last fiscal, according tothe latest data available with theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India (Sebi).
In the full financial year2017-18, companies had raised�6 lakh crore through the route.
These funds have beenraised mainly for expansion ofbusiness plans and to supportworking capital requirements.
In debt private placements,firms issue securities or bondsto institutional investors toraise capital.
Washington: In a stern mes-sage to Pakistan, the WhiteHouse has asked Islamabad to"immediately end" its "sup-port" to all terror groups andnot to provide "safe haven" tothem, as the US condemnedthe brutal Pulwama terrorattack claimed the lives of at
least 40 CRPF soldiers.Pakistan-based Jaish-e-
Mohammad (JeM) has claimedresponsibility for the terrorattack in Jammu & Kashmir'sPulwama district on Thursdaythat left at least 40 CRPF sol-diers dead and five others crit-ically wounded.
"The United States callson Pakistan to end immediatelythe support and safe havenprovided to all terrorist groupsoperating on its soil, whoseonly goal is to sow chaos, vio-lence, and terror in the region,"White House Press SecretarySarah Sanders said in a late
night statement on Thursday."This attack only strength-
ens our resolve to bolster coun-terterrorism cooperation andcoordination between theUnited States and India," shesaid in a strongly-worded state-ment issued by the WhiteHouse.
Sanders said the UnitedStates condemns in thestrongest terms the heinousterrorist attack in Pulwama bya Pakistan-based terrorist
group."We express our deep con-
dolences to the victims' fami-lies, the Indian Government,and the Indian people for theloss of life in this brutal attack,"said the Press Secretary ofPresident Donald Trump.
Earlier, the US StateDepartment said in a statementthat it was "resolutely commit-ted" to working with the IndianGovernment to combat terror-ism in all its forms.
"The US condemns in thestrongest terms the terroristattack today on an IndianCentral Reserve Police Forceconvoy in the Indian state ofJammu & Kashmir," StateDepartment DeputySpokesperson Robert Palladinosaid.
"The UN designated,Pakistan-based terrorist groupJaish-e-Muhammad hasclaimed responsibility for thisheinous act. We call on allcountries to uphold theirresponsibilities pursuant toUN Security Council resolu-tions to deny safe haven andsupport for terrorists,"Palladino said.
Several US lawmakers alsoexpressed solidarity with Indiain the wake of a dastardly terrorattack and said the two countriesstand united in condemning anddefeating terror. PTI
5����� ���� ��������� ���� ����6%�� ��������Wa s h i n g t o n / M o s c o w :Countries from across the globe,including the US, Russia,Australia, France, Saudi Arabia,Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, havecondemned the brutal Pulwamaterror attack carried out byPakistan-based terror groupJaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) andextended support to India in thefight against terrorism.
At least 40 CRPF personnelwere killed and many injured onThursday in one of the deadliestterror attacks in Jammu &Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicidebomber rammed a vehicle car-rying over 100 kg of explosivesinto their bus in Pulwama dis-trict.
Condemning the attack,Russian President VladimirPutin on Friday said perpetra-tors and sponsors of the attackshould be brought to book andreiterated his country's supportfor further strengthening coun-terterrorist cooperation withIndia.
In a message to PresidentRam Nath Kovind and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, Putinsaid, "Please accept the most sin-cere condolences in connectionwith the loss of Indian lawenforcement officers in the ter-rorist act in the state of Jammu& Kashmir. We strongly con-demn this brutal crime. Theperpetrators and sponsors ofthis attack, undoubtedly, shouldbe duly punished.
"I would like to reiterate thereadiness for further strength-ening counterterrorist cooper-ation with Indian partners. InRussia, we share the grief offriendly people of India andhope for speedy recovery of theinjured," he said.
The US specifically singled
out Pakistan in its statementcondemning the attack.
In a stern message toPakistan, the White House hasasked Islamabad to "immedi-ately end" its "support" to all ter-ror groups and not to provide"safe haven" to them.
"The US calls on Pakistan toend immediately the supportand safe haven provided to allterrorist groups operating on itssoil, whose only goal is to sowchaos, violence, and terror in theregion," White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders said ina statement. "This attack onlystrengthens our resolve to bol-ster counterterrorism coopera-tion and coordination betweenthe US and India," she said inthe statement issued by theWhite House.
Oz political leaders alsocondemned the "heinous" terrorattack. "We convey our deepestcondolences to the families ofthe victims, and all thoseinjured. Our thoughts are withmy friend Prime Minister@narendramodi and the Indianpeople," Prime Minister ScottMorrison tweeted on Friday.
Opposition leader BillShorten said it was an atrociousattack. "To the family andfriends of the soldiers killed andinjured — we send our deepestcondolences, support, and hopefor a timely recovery for theinjured," he said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia said it stoodwith India's fight against ter-rorism and extremism anddenounced as "cowardly" thesuicide attack. The strong con-demnation came days ahead ofSaudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud's state visit toIndia next week for talks withthe top Indian leadership. PTI
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Beijing: China on Friday expressed deep"shock" over the Pulwama terror attack car-ried out by a Jaish suicide bomber but did notgive an assurance to India that it will backNew Delhi's appeal to list the UN-proscribedPakistan-based terror group's chief MasoodAzhar as a global terrorist.
At least 40 CRPF personnel were killedand many injured on Thursday in one of thedeadliest terror attacks in Jammu andKashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carryingover 100 kg of explosives into their bus inPulwama district.
"China has noted the reports of suicideterrorist attack. We are deeply shocked by thisattack. We express deep condolences andsympathy to the injured and bereaved fam-ilies," spokesman of the Chinese ForeignMinistry Geng Shuang told a media briefinghere when asked about the incident.
In a carefully worded response to a num-ber of questions on the Pulwama incident,Geng said China condemned the incident aspart of its overall stand on terrorism.
"We firmly oppose and strongly condemn
all forms of terrorism. We hope relevantregional countries will cooperate to cope withthe threat of terrorism and jointly upholdregional peace and stability," Geng said.
Without directly referring to India'spersistent demand to declare Azhar as a glob-al terrorist, Geng said JeM has already beenincluded in the sanctions list of the UN com-mittee but he was not forthcoming on whyChina is opposed to extend the ban on theleader of the group.
When asked about China's stand on thelisting of Azhar as a global terrorist by theUN Security Council, he said: "As for theissue of listing, I could tell you that the 1267Committee of Security Council has a clearstipulation on the listing and procedure of theterrorist organisations".
"JeM has been included in the SecurityCouncil terrorism sanctions list. China willcontinue to handle the relevant sanctionsissue in a constructive and responsible man-ner," Geng said in an apparent reference toExternal Affairs Ministry's appeal to all mem-bers of the UN Security Council to list Azharas a global terrorist.
Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump will sign anexecutive order declaring anational emergency, whichwill empower him to fundthe construction of a massivewall along the US-Mexicoborder to prevent illegalimmigrants from enteringthe country and curb drugsmuggling.
The move would helpTrump get $5.6 billion for theconstruction of the wall that,he has asserted, is essentialfor national security.
“President Trump willsign the Government fund-ing bill, and as he has statedbefore, he will also takeother executive action -including a national emer-gency - to ensure we stop thenational security andhumanitarian crisis at theborder,” White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders saidin a statement.
“The President is onceagain delivering on hispromise to build the wall,protect the border, andsecure our great country,” shesaid.
The White House state-ment came soon after SenateMajority leader MitchMcConnell made the movepublic.
“I had an opportunity tospeak with President Trump
and he, I would say to all mycolleagues, has indicated he'sprepared to sign the bill. Healso (will) be issuing anational emergency declara-tion at the same time. I indi-cated I'm going to supportthe national emergency dec-laration," McConnell said.
On the Democrats say-ing they will challenge themove in the Supreme Court,Sanders said, "We're veryprepared, but there should-n't be (legal challenges). Thepresident's doing his job.The Congress should dotheirs."
Senate Minority LeaderChuck Schumer and HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi saidthat declaring a nationalemergency would be “a law-less act, a gross abuse of thepower of the presidency anda desperate attempt to dis-tract from the fact thatTrump broke his corepromise to have Mexico payfor his wall". PTI
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Brussels: Both Britain'sMinister for Brexit StephenBarclay and Opposition leaderJeremy Corbyn will visitBrussels next week for talkswith EU negotiator MichelBarnier.
"Mr Barnier's door isalways open," an EUspokesman said, confirmingthat Barclay was expected tovisit EU headquarters onMonday and Corbyn onThursday.
Prime Minister TheresaMay is also expected in Brusselsnext week, but he visit has notbeen confirmed.
Britain is due to leave theEU on March 29, but PrimeMinister Theresa May is strug-gling to persuade parliament toback a divorce deal. EU leadersfear severe economic disruptionif London leaves the bloc with-out a follow on agreement pro-viding for a transition period tonegotiate a trade deal.
Corbyn has suggestedLabour MPs would rescue thewithdrawal plan if EU leaderspromise to allow Britain toremain in the EU customsunion. May and many of herConservative MPs reject thatidea, but Barnier and EUCouncil President DonaldTusk have described it as"interesting". AFP
��Creating the character of LadyBird was a time consuming one.How did you prepare for the same?
Lady bird had intricate character-istics, creating that or becoming herneeded time so as to ace the perfec-tion. I was in New York for anotherproject and our director GretaGerwiglives gave us both the oppor-tunity to work on the character andits emotions. We used to plan andmeet for a few weeks where we werejust hanging out with each other andwe would go down the sweet mem-ory lane of our teenage days and howthat time flew so fast. Teenage is allabout the moments we wished wehad, decisions we regret, not havingthe experience to navigate and somuch more, all of this discussion withGreta really helped me to know LadyBird and be that character. It is noteasy to bring in the complexity of thischaracter on screen but Greta was ofgreat help to make me achieve it. Thiswhole process was quite interestingand inspiring. It took about a year forme to get in the role before shootschedule started.
��How much do you relate to thecharacter of Lady Bird?
The character and I share a lot ofsimilarities. I am very assertive andoutspoken like the lady bird. Infact, Iadmire her. It’s not very often that wefind a teenager with stern principles.A person can have flaws and not beperfect, and still be really special andhave something to offer. Everyone isdealing with their own stuff, they havetheir own issues, and their sadness.Even if you don't see that directly, itdoesn't mean it's not there or it does-n't exist for someone. My character iscontent with herself and things aroundher doesn't really matter. So, it is anempowering thing in a way.
���The movie has a lot of themesand things to explore. What do youthink is the heart of this film?
In this movie, the heart of it is therelationship of lady bird with hermother where it is quite evident thatthe two of them are close and reallylove each other but there is justsomething off or not working rightbetween them. Some incidents in lifetake you to the rough road and that'swhat they have been going through inthis film. That infact is so relatable forany teenager, as there has always beensome turbulence between theguardian and the teenager because ofthat generation gap and understand-ing it which gets difficult. But thisdoesn't really mean that you abandoneach other and move on. That's evenshown in the movie that no matter thefights or arguments, the bond betweenthe mother and the daughter isbeyond breakable.
��You have been nominated for thesecond time for Oscars?
I feel obliged to be nominatedonce again and also have a betterunderstanding about it now, as dur-ing my first one, I was a kid. It real-ly makes huge impact with the sec-ond nomination but both of themwere equally fantastic. With every filmthere is a different equation and everyfilm gives you a different experiencewhich makes each and every work wedo as important and as appreciativeas it could be. With this one, I reallythink it is completely a group effort.With Timothee Chalamet, LaurieMetcalf too being nominated, it's a fullhouse.
So, it is a great job done by thewhole cast and crew. Also, it is a real-ly great feeling to see Greta nominat-ed as she is the fifth women directorto be nominated in Oscars.
��We heard that you used to visitopen houses? Is that true?
Yes, I have had some great mem-ories about the same. I used to visitopen houses with my parents just forfun as that time we really couldn'tafford those houses. We used to livein a 1970s designed bungalow andwhenever we would get a wind of newhouse on the market in the vicinity,we would go visit them. We wouldhave the attitude that we might justbuy it, thinking what if we can, oneday? This is actually one such part ofmy real life that really connected withmy character in the Lady Bird as shesees her home and on the other hand,a beautiful house marking it as suc-cess ratio which most of us do. Butlike the saying goes... Home is wherethe family is.
(Watch Lady Bird only on SonyPIX.)
There is an insatiable desire inevery jewellery designer tobetter his/her last piece. A
similar kind of zeal runs throughSmriti Sangal’s veins while work-ing to create the most intricatedesign. Each time she picks up heriron stand, heating it up in a fur-nace, she fashions yet anotherbeautiful piece of Meenakari ear-ring.
As the workshop commencedat the Jaypore store, Sangal,founder of Culture Chauraha wasready with her array of tools andequipment to help art connois-seurs learn about the Persiancraft. It began with choosing theright kind of shape one wants togive to their earrings. It’s then cuton a copper sheet, flattened by ahammer and nail, pierced througha drill machine, moving on tocleansing the black coat and turn-ing it into a shiny pink. The basecoat is prepared through whitecrystal powder before starting itspainting with powdered glasscolours.
When Sangal started learningit from her mother, Ritu Sangal,who is a master of this art since thelast 33 years, she felt the need tomake it accessible for more peo-ple. “I saw that people were fasci-nated and were eager to learnabout the entire process of jew-ellery making. Even if they don’tjoin the extensive course, theycould come to these workshopsand learn the basics. This wouldalso in turn make them connectmore to the art,” she says. She callsthe melting of glass crystal coloursas “surreal.”
Her three-hour workshopsthat also recently took place inBengaluru teach two basic tech-niques of enameling — sgraffito(decoration done by scratchingthrough a surface before firing)and paint-on. They are aimed atcreating an enameled jewellerwho is able to “notice and appre-ciate the effort and time it takes toproduce one piece of jewellery.”
Sangal lists a number ofprocesses that go through in themaking of one piece of Meenakarijewellery. She says, “Peoplethrough these workshops couldnotice the technicalities as well.For instance, how much temper-ature is it fired at, what kind ofcolours are being used, how theshape is given, what are the do’sand don’t’s, etc.”
Well, the motive of CultureChauraha was in itself to create aspace for people and teachingthem mural painting, enameling,paper crafts, fine-art sketching,drawing, porcelain painting,woodcut printing, and helpingkids to prepare for art colleges. Shesays that this was also founded “tomake people go back to their artspace that ends after school whena busy hectic schedule hits life and
you find yourself away from sucha therapeutic practice.”
Why Chauraha? Well, shesays that it was inspired from thecentral place of the city where peo-ple from all corners of the towncame together in olden days and
had a cultural extravaganza, doinga number of activities.
Among an array of her hand-made earrings and designer jew-ellery are an infusion of colours —green, yellow and shades of red —amalgamated with contemporary
architecture and traditionalPersian flower motifs. There areshapes like diamonds, hearts, but-terflies, circles, and even pyramids.
She ends with telling us thateven though the teaching hasbeen a slow journey but “it has
had been picking up very well. Atthe end of the workshop, whatmatters is that people are veryhappy with what they have creat-ed. As a mentor, you feel blissfulthat you made them learn some-thing new.”
The kids from forthcoming filmMere Pyare Prime Minister have
challenged actor Ranveer Singh withtheir Gully Boy rap.
As seen in the trailer of Mere PyarePrime Minister, the children who wentto Prime Minister’s office to requesthim to make more toilets in the slumsare not just fierce in reel life but alsoin real life.
Kanhu from the film namedKrishna took to his social media post-ing a video wherein along with hiscompanions, he challenged actorRanveer Singh by rapping in a uniqueway. He posted the video and wrote,“Hui Hai Gandi Baat Meri Gully Mein.Kya Tu Dega Mera Sath Meri GullyMein? #RanveerKoChallenge.”
The kids could completely relate tothe Gully Boy Ranveer so they made arap challenge for him, asking if he willhelp them.
The film shows the real-life prob-lems faced by people who reside in theslums. The makers of the film decid-ed to launch the trailer on VasantPachmi as it marks the beginning of theHoli season and is cited to be the har-binger of spring.
Presented by Jayantilal Gada,Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra andP.S.Bharathi, the film also stars AnjaliPatil, Om Kanojiya, MakarandDeshpande, Rasika Agashe, SoniaAlbizuri, Nachiket Purnapatre andAtul Kulkarni.
It was a range of experimen-tation and analysis of variousmedia like glass,
wood and other met-als that went beforefinalising copper tocreate the artworkthat gave the interiorsof ITC Maurya a newluxurious touch.
Designer-artistand founder of EastCraft Designs, K Rajesh finally
chose copper as he believes thatit brings “a sense of richness”
without looking gaudyor loud.
The project, thatbegan in March 2018,finally got into shaperecently. Rajesh sharesthat the idea behindPrive was to have anentrance that lookselegant and graceful
with a touch of luxury and also
portrays Delhi’s rich architec-ture. “The hotel uses a signature‘East meets West’ style ofMauryan diplomacy that com-bines a historic aura with con-temporary interiors,” he said.
He revealed that the teamdecided to recreate the iconicRashtrapati Bhawan’s architec-ture designed by Lutyen. Thedesign was inspired byEdwardian Baroque of the colo-nial British era.
The team accounted forfour sculptors. The entire muralis made in ceramic. It was givena shape through sand-castingtechnique. Well, the entire art-work that weighs 350 kgs, wasindeed a challenge, includinginstalling the artwork on thewall.
� Roma is a beautiful film.How did you not go crazyplanning every detail?
I did go crazy (laughs).Even the crew had gone crazy.Nobody knew what was therein the screenplay. I wrote avery precise script but no onehad it. We shot the film in achronological order so thatthe crew could learn it day-by-day about the film’s story.� So the actress who playedCleo had no idea what wasgoing to happen? Not to givespoilers for anyone but thatscene is so heartbreaking.
No, she didn’t know.Without ruining it for anyone,she doesn’t know how toswim.� The movie is stunningand moving at the same timebut at the crux of it, it’s sucha traditional story. Whatmade you want to do this?
Everything comes out ofmy memory of Libo. She isone of the women who raisedme. I decided to shoot at theplaces where it happened. Imade people dress in thesame way how they used todress. The same cars were keptwhich used to be in ourstreets. Every extra looks like
the neighbours. If the placesdidn’t exist anymore, we recre-ated them.� The lead character, YalitzaAparicio apparently didn’teven think she was going toaudition for this role. Is thattrue? Is she an actor?
No, she had just finishedher school to become ateacher. She was not reallyinterested. Her sister made her
give the audition for the film.She came to Mexico to meetme but she didn’t know whoI was so she had browse theweb to know about me. Shedidn’t believe it was mebecause apparently I washealthier in the photographs.She was amazing in the filmand when I offered her therole. She said, ‘I don’t haveanything better to do so let’s
do it’ (laughs).� How personal is this pro-ject to you?
I had the story in mymind for a very long time butin 2006, I seriously considereddoing it and I am happy thatI did. I don’t think I had thetools at that point. I am notjust talking about the techni-cal aspect but also the emo-tional sensibility to do it. Butit is very personal. In a way, 90per cent of the scenes comeout of my memory.� Considering Mexico citydoesn’t look the same any-more, how difficult was it torecreate that period?
It was very difficult. That’sour testament to EugenioCaballero, our productiondesigner. It was a real chal-lenge. The important thingwas to make the memorywork. We had references andphotographs but more thananything it is the memory that
brings all the details like thelittle cracks in the walls, theobjects that were used. Thechallenge for Eugenio was tobring real occasions back toperiod. We shot in most of theoriginal places and trans-forming some of them.Mexico is a big city but it alsohas a third world which hasno urban setup. For onescene, we had to producearound five blocks of the city,where Eugenio Caballero hadreproduced the same kind ofavenue, wedding dress shop,cinema, and even pharmacy.Everything was identical.�Why did you choose to doit in black and white?
It was a part of the DNAof the film. When I decided tomake the film, I didn’t want anostalgic black and white. Ididn’t want a period film.
We shot 65 mm in digitalso it was in black and whitethat could not have been doneat that time. It’s a very pristinegrainless black and white. It’sa very contemporary photog-raphy to look into the past.
(Oscars will air onFebruary 25 at 6.30 am on StarMovies and Star Movies SelectHD.)
Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory atMalmo in the Europa Leaguelast-32 first leg on Thursday to
ease some of the pressure on belea-guered coach Maurizio Sarri, whileArsenal suffered a shock loss to BATEBorisov.
Visitors Chelsea desperately need-ed a response after back-to-back humil-iating away losses, with last Sunday's 6-0 thrashing by Manchester City follow-ing a 4-0 reverse at Bournemouth.
Ross Barkley took advantage of adefensive lapse by the home team to putChelsea ahead on the half-hour mark,with Olivier Giroud adding a 58th-minute second before Malmo's late goalgave them a glimmer of hope ahead ofnext week's return match at StamfordBridge.
Chelsea face Manchester United inthe FA Cup on Monday, before facingCity again in the League Cup final on
February 24."I am happy because we played with
confidence and it wasn't really very easyafter the last match (the defeat by City),"Sarri told BT Sport.
"I think I am always confident butsometimes we had the wrong approachwith matches so we need to be carefulin every match."
Sarri named a strong team,although he did leave Gonzalo Higuainand Eden Hazard on the bench.
Chelsea found themselves upagainst a spirited Malmo outfit in thefirst half, roared on by a vociferoushome crowd, but kept the Swedes atarm's length before Barkley grabbedtheir first away goal of 2019.
Pedro swung over a cross whichLasse Nielsen should have headedaway, but the defender failed with hisattemped volleyed clearance andBarkley was on hand to control and stabinto the net.
Uwe Rosler's Malmo piled on thepressure at the end of the half, but
Barkley twice pro-duced crucial headersat the other end tokeep Chelsea in front.
But the PremierLeague giants tooktotal control of the tiein the 58th minute
with a wonderful counter-attack.Barkley led the charge before pick-
ing out Willian, and the Brazilianpowered to the byline before cutting theball back for Giroud to flick in a coolback-heeled finish.
The French striker has now scoredfive goals in six Europa League gamesthis season, despite only netting oncein 23 matches in domestic competitions.
But Malmo did grab the goal theirefforts deserved in the 80th minute, asAnders Christiansen slotted pastChelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
������������������������Arsenal face an uphill battle to
progress after a 1-0 defeat by BATE in
a game which saw Alexandre Lacazettesent off for elbowing AleksandarFilipovic with five minutes remaining.
Stanislav Dragun put BATE aheadjust before the break in Barysaw andArsenal never threatened an equaliser,with Lacazette's late dismissal also rul-ing him out of next week's second legin London.
Unai Emery's side have now wonjust two of their last nine away match-es — last weekend's victory over thePremier League's bottom clubHuddersfield and an FA Cup winagainst third-tier Blackpool.
Elsewhere, Napoli began life with-out record goalscorer Marek Hamsikwith a 3-1 win in a fiery atmosphere atFC Zurich.
Lorenzo Insigne, who has replacedHamsik as captain after the Slovakian'smove to China, scored the opening goal,with Jose Callejon and Piotr Zielinskialso on target.
Celtic's European adventuresappear to be over for another seasonafter being outclassed 2-0 by Valenciaat Parkhead.
Denis Cheryshev and RubenSobrino got the goals as the Spaniardsextended their recent unbeaten run tosix matches.
Inter Milan claimed a 1-0 win atRapid Vienna despite Mauro Icardisnubbing the trip after being strippedof the captaincy over a contract row,with Lautaro Martinez scoring thewinner from the penalty spot.
Wissam Ben Yedder's 22nd-minutestrike helped record five-time winnersSevilla take a large step towards the last16 with a 1-0 victory over Lazio inRome, while Benfica backed up their10-0 weekend thumping of Nacional bywinning 2-1 at Galatasaray.
Salzburg, semi-finalists last season,lost 2-1 at Club Brugge, while 10-manSporting Lisbon were beaten 1-0 byVillarreal in the Portuguese capital.
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Spanish championsBarcelona on
Friday announcedthat they have extend-ed the contract ofcoach ErnestoValverde for anotherseason with the optionof one more.
Valverde, whotook over at the CampNou in 2017 after joining from Athletic Bilbao, won the leagueand cup double last season.
"FC Barcelona and Ernesto Valverde, the first team coach,have reached an agreement to extend the contract between thetwo parties for another season (2019/20) with the option for onemore (2020/21)," the club said in a statement.
Valverde's previous contract would have expired at the endof this season.
He came within a whisker of leading Barca to an undefeat-ed 2017/2018 season when only a defeat late in the season atLevante prevented the team from making history.
Barca's run of scoring in 37 consecutive matches in the leaguecame to an end last Sunday with a goalless draw away to AthleticBilbao.
Earlier on Thursday Diego Simeone extended his contractas coach of Atletico Madrid until 2022.
Simeone has been in charge of Atletico since 2011 and hasturned them into one of the most feared teams in Europe.
Under him, they won the Europa League last season and LaLiga in 2014, as well as twice reaching the final of theChampions League.
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Argentina, Chile, Paraguayand Uruguay are to submit
a joint bid to host the 2030World Cup, Chile'sPresident SebastianPinera announced onThursday.
Argentina, Paraguayand Uruguay had alreadysubmitted a joint bid tohost the centenary editionof football's most presti-gious tournament, butPinera said on Twitter thatthose countries' presidentshad agreed to Chile's par-ticipation in the "jointcandidacy".
Argentina andUruguay originally announcedtheir intention to submit ajoint bid in 2017 beforeParaguay joined the coalition
later that year.Pinera said he had been
touting his idea to the presi-dents of Argentina, Paraguay
and Uruguay for severalmonths.
Uruguay hostedand won the inauguralWorld Cup in 1930,Chile was the venue in1962 and Argentina
emulated its neighbor'sachievement by lifting thetrophy on home soil in1978.
The South Americanbid faces competition
from Morocco andpotentially several otherjoint bids, including
one from Britain andIreland and another by an east-ern European confederationof Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria andRomania.
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World number three Simona Halepand three-time Grand Slam cham-
pion Angelique Kerber came throughtough tests on Thursday to reach theQatar Open semi-finals.
Also through are Elina Svitolina andElise Mertens, providing some comfortfor tournament organisers who havesomehow ended up with three of theworld's top 10 in the last four, despite ahigh number of prominent withdrawals.
Halep won in straight sets but need-ed two tie-breaks — 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (8/6)— to edge past Germany's Julia Goerges,despite racing to a 4-0lead in the first set.
However, the matchturned out to be any-thing but routine for theRomanian who wasforced to save two setpoints and break Goerges' serve in the10th game to stay in the second set.
"I am very happy, honestly," saidHalep.
"It's been a really tough match andit is always tough to play against her."
The Romanian will play Svitolina,ranked seventh in the world, in the lastfour on Friday.
Halep has lost her three last match-es against the Ukrainian, failing to wina single set in those matches, stretchingback to 2017.
Svitolina was the first player throughto the semi-finals, beating Czech qual-ifier Karolina Muchova by contrast ineasy fashion 6-4, 6-2.
"I found a way to have to beat her,"
said Svitolina. "I was very happy I coulddo it in two sets."
She was followed on court byKerber, the world number six, who won1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) in a tough and feistyencounter against another Czech,
Barbora Strycova, who was given a timeviolation in the final set.
The German not only battled backfrom being a set down, she was also abreak down in the second and third setsbefore winning through.
It will be Kerber's first semi-finalsince she won at Wimbledon last year.
She will play Belgium's Mertens, theworld number 21, in the last four, whobeat Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-3.
�������1������������Rafael Nadal's Spain will host
defending champions Croatia in theDavis Cup finals with the 17-timemajor winner set to be the only mem-ber of the sport's big four taking part inthe controversially rebooted tourna-ment.
Nadal, a Davis Cup champion in2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011, will likelyface Marin Cilic, Croatia's top playerwho won both his singles in the 2018Davis Cup final victory over France.
Russia, the two-time champions,make up Group B.
Ten-time champions France, 2010winners Serbia and Japan contest GroupA while 2016 victors Argentina,Germany and Chile are in Group C.
Group D sees Belgium andColombia pooled with 28-time cham-pions Australia while Britain, who havebeen champions on 10 occasions,Kazakhstan and Netherlands make upGroup E.
Group F sees record 32-time win-ners United States clash with Italy andCanada.
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Japan's Kei Nishikori carved out a comfortable6-1, 6-4 win over Latvian Ernests Gulbis on
Thursday to power into the Rotterdam Openquarter-finals.
Asia's top player, the world number seven,needed an hour and a quarter to advance as hebooked a third victory against former FrenchOpen semi-finalist Gulbis, who was a lucky loserat the Ahoy Arena.
Nishikori will on Friday meet HungarianMarton Fucsovics, who defeated NikolozBasilashvili of Georgia 7-6 (7/1), 6-1, for a placein the semi-finals.
Nishikori, who won his 12th ATP title inBrisbane earlier this year, earned his 10th vic-tory of the season against a single loss — whenhe retired in the Australian Open last eightagainst Novak Djokovic.
"This was so much better than my firstmatch," Nishikori said. "I was returning well andputting him under pressure.
"The second set was tight for a while but Iwas not worried even after he got the break back.
"I was able to play good tennis today, I'mvery happy with my level."
Earlier, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a lengthyopening set and then accelerated past DutchmanTallon Griekspoor for a quarter-final place.
The Frenchman's 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 victory wasa match of two parts, with the labourious firstset taking 53 minutes while the second lastedjust 23.
Tsonga, the 2017 champion in Rotterdam,will keep up his bid for a second straight tro-phy after winning Montpellier at the weekendas he continues his comeback from a seven-month absence last season due to knee surgery
and recovery.The 33-year-old also looks set for another
ranking rise from world number 140 as hiscomeback progress intensifies.
Tsonga next faces fifth-seeded RussianDaniil Medvedev who defeated Spanish veter-an Fernando Verdasco for the second time inthree meetings, posting a 6-2, 7-5 win.
Medvedev, a Rotterdam quarter-finalist onhis 2018 debut, has carried the momentum hegained from his fourth career title last weekendin Sofia.
The 23-year-old improved to 13-2 on theseason.
Bosnian Damir Dzumhur followed up onhis second-round upset of third seed StefanosTsitsipas, advancing past Kazakh MikhailKukushkin 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
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PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwalwon their respective semifinals in
contrasting fashion to set up amouth-watering women's singlessummit showdown at the 83rdYonex-Sunrise Senior NationalChampionship on Saturday.
In a repeat of last edition's titleclash at Nagpur, the two stalwarts willlook to outdo each other and writeanother chapter in their on-fieldrivalry.
While Sindhu overcame a chal-lenge from Assam's promising 19-year-old Ashmita Chaliha 21-10, 22-20 in the first semifinal, Saina got thebetter of Nagpur qualifier VaishnaviBhale, who was part of India's UberCup squad last year, 21-15, 21-14 tostorm into the finals.
Saina had the last laugh againstSindhu in the last two encounters atthe Nagpur Nationals in 2017 andthe Gold Coast CommonwealthGames Gold-medal match last year.
While Saina has won the title in2006, 2007 and 2018, Sindhuclinched the trophy twice, in 2011and 2013.
"It will be just another match andI don't think it will help me for AllEngland, I will just look to focus andgive my best," Sindhu said about thefinal.
In men's singles, Lakshya Sen,
who is Asian junior champion anda Bronze medallist at the WorldJunior Championship, secured hissecond final with a 21-15, 21-16 winover former winner and 2014Commonwealth Games champion
Parupalli Kashyap in the secondsemifinal.
The 17-year-old Sen, fromUttarakhand, had lost the finals ofthe 81st edition against SourabhVerma and he would look to settle
the scores when he faces the 26-year-old from Dhar in the finals onSaturday.
Two-time former championSourabh sealed his final spot afterbeating Mumbai's KaushalDharmamer 21-14, 21-17 in 44minutes.
Earlier in the day, former cham-pions Saina, Kashyap and Sourabhadvanced to the semifinals withcontrasting wins.
The three-time former champi-on Saina hardly broke a sweat to getthe better of former India No 1 NehaPandit of Mumbai 21-10, 21-10 in alop-sided quarter-final contest.
Kashyap, a 2012 winner, pre-vailed 21-18, 21-16 over BodhitJoshi, who had reached the finals ofIceland International last year.
Former world No 30 Verma,who had clinched Super 100 titles atRussia Open and Dutch Open lastyear, eked out a hard-fought 21-11,
21-23, 21-18 triumph over B SaiPraneeth.
In the other semi-final matchesof the day, Rohan Kapoor andKuhoo Garg lived up to their repu-tation as the top seeds in mixed dou-bles. The world No 46 pair neededonly 32 minutes to dispatchVighnesh Devlekar and Harika V 21-15, 21-16 to enter the final.
They will take on the unseededcombine of Manu Attri andManeesha K, who continued theirrampage with a fine 21-18, 21-17 winover Shlok Ramchandran andMithula UK.
In women's doubles, top seedsMeghana Jakkampudi and PoorvishaS Ram continued their quest for thetitle with a strong 21-13, 21-16 vic-tory over Kuhoo Garg and AnoushkaParikh. They will take on the unseed-ed Shikha Gautam and Ashwini BhatK in the summit clash after the lat-ter edged Aparna Balan and SruthiKP 21-19, 24-22.
Men's doubles second seedsPranaav Jerry Chopra and ChiragShetty beat Arun George andSanyam Shukla 21-17, 21-18 tosecure a place in the final.
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Former world Silver-medallist SoniaLather (57kg) was among the
three Indian women boxers whoadvanced to the quarterfinals but themen were off to a disappointing startat the 70th Strandja MemorialTournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.
World championships Bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg)and Pwilao Basumatari (64kg) alsomade the quarters of the prestigiousEuropean event on Thursday night.
Lather, who is also a two-timeAsian Silver-medallist, defeatedSerbia's Jelena Zekic 5-0. She willsquare off against American YariselRamirez in thequarters.
Borgohain,a Gold-medal-list from theIndian Open last year, got the betterof Australian Jessica Messina.
Basumatari endured a stiffer chal-lenge in Bulgarian Melis Yonuzovabefore prevailing 3-2. She hasCroatia's Marija Malencia coming upin the quarterfinals.
However, there was disappoint-ment for the country's men with for-mer Commonwealth Games Silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra (69kg)and rookie Harsh Lakra (81kg) bow-ing out following opening roundlosses.
Jangra lost 0-5 to Ukraine's ViktorPetrov, while Lakra was beaten byAzerbaijan's Rauf Rahimov.
India's best ever medal haul at thecompetition stands at 11, which wasfetched last year. More than 300 box-ers from over 40 nations are compet-ing in the ongoing edition.
Hanuma Vihari scripted his-tory by becoming the first
player to score a hat-trick ofhundreds in the Irani Cup,helping Rest of India rally andset Vidarbha a tricky 280-runtarget at VCA stadium onFriday.
Enjoying a good run of
form, the 25-year-old Viharicreated the record with a sin-gle down the ground on thefourth day, his second centuryof the match and third straightin Irani Cup.
The India player hadscored 183 for Rest of Indiaduring last year's Irani Cupmatch against Vidarbha, whorecently retained the Ranji
Trophy with another exem-plary showing.
Besides Vihari's 180,India's Test vice-captainAjinkya Rahane made 87 andShreyas Iyer raced to a 52-ball61, helping Rest of India todeclare their second innings at374 for three, a day after con-ceding a big first-innings lead.
Needing 280 for an out-right win, Ranji championsVidarbha were 37 for one atclose of play, still 243 runs shyof the target with nine wicketsin hand.
While Akshay Karnewar'sgutsy century on the third day
powered Vidarbha to a 95-runfirst-innings lead, Rest of Indiarode on a third-wicket partner-ship of 229 runs between Vihariand Rahane to grab the initia-tive on the penultimate day.
After Rahane's dismissal,Iyer took the attack to Vidarbhaas Rest of India looked for quickruns before the declaration.
Vihari struck 19 fours andfour sixes during his 300-ballknock, while Iyer smashed fiveboundaries and four sixes.During his stay in the middle,senior pro Rahane found thefence six times and cleared itonce.
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Young leg-spinner MayankMarkande scalped five wick-
ets to steer India 'A' to a series-clinching innings and 68-runwin over England Lions in thesecond and final unofficial Teston Friday.
Markande (5 for 31) spun aweb around the visitors to bowlthem out for 180 in the secondinnings on the third day of thefour-day match. England wasfollowing on.
Resuming at 24 for no lossand faced with the daunting taskof handling the Indian spinnerson a turning wicket, the Lions'batsmen came a cropper withonly Ben Duckett (50) and LewisGregory (44) showing somefight.
Besides Markande, JalajSaxena (2/40) claimed two wick-ets.
The 21-year old Markande,who performed creditably forMumbai Indians in the IPL lastyear, troubled most of theEngland batsmen with his guile.
The talented Ollie Pope was
Markande's first victim, trappedleg-before.
He then removed SteveMullaney, Dominic Bess andZak Chappell in quick succes-sion as the Lions capitulated.
Running out of partners,Gregory went on the offensiveand hit six fours and a six dur-ing his 49-ball knock beforebecoming the last wicket to fall,handing India 'A' victory with aday to spare.
Pace bowlers Varun Aaron(1/39), Navdeep Saini (1/25)and left-arm spinner ShahbazNadeem (1/25) picked up awicket each.
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Test cricket run machineCheteshwar Pujara, Olympic
medallists Mary Kom and P VSindhu figured among a host of starsportspersons nominated for thesecond edition of Indian SportsHonours which will be awarded onSaturday.
Pujara, his national team-matesRohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrahwere nominated for the Sportsmanof the Year (Team Sport) award,along with Indian football captainSunil Chhetri.
The Sportswoman of the Year(Team Sport) award will be chosenfrom among Indian women's cricket team members SmritiMandhana, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, and nationalhockey side goalkeeper Savita Punia.
Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, badminton playerKidambi Srikanth, top wrestler Bajrang Punia, rising shooterSaurabh Choudhary and ace cueist Pankaj Advani were the can-didates for the individual category of Sportsman of the Yearaward. Along with shuttler Sindhu and boxer Mary Kom, oth-ers nominated for the Sportswoman of the Year (IndividualSports) were wrestler Vinesh Phogat, sprinter Hima Das andheptathlete Swapna Barman.
The awards in 17 categories, including one Life TimeAchievement Honour, will be conferred on Saturday.
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India women's team opener SmritiMandhana, who is in blazing form,
said on Friday that the team's coach WV Raman has set her targets to bat fora specific number of overs to developher patience at the crease.
"He (Raman) has been telling meto play 30 overs in ODIs as he knowsthat if I bat till 30 overs, I will contin-ue to bat. And in 20 over games he hasbeen telling me to bat for 13 overs," the22-year-old Mandhana said.
"He's giving me targets to bat a cer-tain number of balls, because strike rateand those kinds of things never concernme, the only problem is the patienceaspect. He is helping with that and giv-ing me targets to bat through thesemany balls and that many overs andthat is being great," said the left-hand-ed batswoman.
Mandhana, asked specificallywhether the team is too dependent onher, replied that the perception is notcorrect.
"No, I don't think so. We have gota lot of match-winners in our team. Itis just that sometimes someone goesthrough a lean patch and you need to
cover up for your teammate. Andsometimes that would be the case, if Iam not going, the middle order willlook after me (help me).
"So you can't say that they (otherbatswomen) are too dependent, but Ithink the main responsibility as a bat-
ter is to win matches and dependencenever comes (in the way)," she stressed.
During last year's women's T20 tri-series, Mandhana had said that she wasthrowing her wicket away after settingherself in.
Eleven months later, she feels thatshe is being able to improve 10 per centon this aspect, but the next aim is tocarry on batting till the end of theinnings.
"Somewhat, yes, may be 10 per centI have improved on that. From 50 to60s, I have gone to 70s. But I'm stillleaving 20-30 runs when we are chas-ing. I think it will be good if I comeback not out. Hopefully I can do thatagainst England in the (upcoming) ODIand the T20 series," she said.
"Im really excited (for the Englandseries) and we are playing the ICCChampionships and we need six pointsto be up there. Hopefully we will allstick together and win the ODI series(against England). I hope that I can winmore matches for India," Mandhanaremarked.
The ODI series against Englandstarts Friday next and all the threematches in the 50-over rubber will beplayed at the Wankhede Stadium.
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Young Rishabh Pant took agiant stride towards realisinghis World Cup dream, pipping
veteran Dinesh Karthik in the 15-member ODI squad for the Australiaseries while KL Rahul all butclinched the reserve opener's slot forthe mega event by earning a recall.
While the selectors announcedtwo different teams for the first twoand last three ODIs, the side that isexpected to travel to England will bethe one for the last three games ofthe series. The engagement withAustralia starts February 24 with thefirst T20 International inVisakhapatnam, while the WorldCup is scheduled from May 30.
Rahul returned to the side afterhe was controversially called backmidway through the tour ofAustralia following his and all-rounder Hardik Pandya's loose talkon women in a TV show.
Regular captain Virat Kohli andpace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah arealso back in the squad for the entireAustralia series after a break andeven vice-captain Rohit Sharma willnot be resting.
The committee headed by MSK
Prasad also announced the T20squad for the two-match series, inwhich rookie Punjab leg-spinnerMayank Markande made the cut andKuldeep Yadav was rested.
However, all eyes were on theODI squad which is supposed to bea mirror image of the team that willbe travelling to England.
One of the biggest calls wasregarding the second wicketkeeper-
cum-reserve batsman's slot. Karthikseems to have missed the bus to amuch younger Pant, who is consid-ered to be the future of Indian crick-et and heir apparent to MahendraSingh Dhoni behind the stumps.
Karthik was criticised for his on-field decision-making during the lostfinal T20 International against NewZealand in Hamilton. The TamilNadu veteran refused a single when
Krunal Pandya was on a rampage atthe other end.
Karthik later justified the call bysaying that he was confident ofpulling off a six which didn't happenas India lost by four runs.
Pant, on the other hand, is yetto get a significant knock in ODIsbut his big-hitting prowess has madehim a potential match-winner in big-ticket events like the World Cup.
"That we have included him(Pant) considering many factors. Heis a left-hander and we needed to dis-cuss with the team management,which we have already done," Prasadsaid after the meeting.
"Virat was also a part of themeeting. We will try and figure outthe best possible batting position,because being a left-hander, there isan advantage of playing left-rightcombination, we are discussing allthat," Prasad added.
Prasad also dropped elaboratehints that Pant, who is expected tobat in the top-order, was always inthe reckoning for the Australiaseries.
"Definitely. Prior to this series,we had two series in New Zealandand Australia and that's where
Karthik was chosen because Rishabhplayed four Test matches.
"So we wanted him to get a goodbreak. He had a 20-day break, thenhe played couple of ODIs againstEngland lions where he did well,then we send him to T20 matches.We want to give him a few gamesbefore taking a final call," said theformer India stumper, informingthat 30-member probables list willbe released by March 25.
Karthik's chances of making it tothe World Cup are even more slimafter Rahul made the cut on the backof his 89 and 81 for India A againstEngland Lions.
Punjab seamer Siddarth Kaulseems to have joined the race for thefourth pacer's slot at the business endof the preparation cycle.
"Siddarth Kaul is doing well andis now a part of the mix," Prasad said.
Kaul made it to the first twoODIs from which BhuvneshwarKumar has been rested but moreimportantly, there are no left-armseamers in the line-up.
Khaleel Ahmed, who was a dis-appointment in New Zealand, hasbeen dropped and with JaydevUnadkat not considered for selec-tion, it is unlikely that the scenariowill change prior to the World Cupunless there are some ground-break-ing performances in the IPL.
"Khaleel has been playing for thelast two series and we seen him andwe would like to see SiddharthKaul also," said Prasad.
Vijay Shankar's decent run withthe bat in New Zealand has "changedthe dynamics of the squad".
With two leg-spinners KuldeepYadav and Yuzvendra Chahal beingautomatic selections, there are nofinger spinners in the squad. KedarJadhav is expected to chip in witha few overs of off-break.
Quizzed on the oft-repeatedaspect of workload management,BCCI acting secretary AmitabhChoudhary said the IPL franchis-es are being spoken to on the mat-ter.
South Africa took three SriLankan wickets in three overs
to finish in a strong position onthe third day of the first Test onFriday.
Sri Lanka, needing 304 to win,were 83 for three at the close, 221runs short of their target.
The tourists started theirchase promisingly in Durban,with captain Dimuth Karunaratneand Lahiru Thirimanne puttingon 42 for the first wicket but bothopeners were out in the space offive balls, to be followed shortlyafterwards by Kusal Mendis.
Thirimanne fell for 21 to asharp catch at second slip bySouth African captain Faf duPlessis when he edged an extrav-agant drive against KagisoRabada.
Karunaratne was out for 20 inthe next over, leg before wicket toVernon Philander for the secondtime in the match. As in the firstinnings it was a tight decisionwhich Karunaratne reviewed.
Replays showed it was "umpire'scall" with the ball flicking the bails.
Duanne Olivier replacedPhilander and struck with his fifthball when Kusal Mendis flashed ata short ball and was caught behindfor nought.
Oshada Fernando and KusalPerera, both showing a willingnessto go for their shots, saw Sri Lankathrough to an early close whenbad light stopped play.
The flurry of wickets negated
Sri Lanka's achievement in takingthe last five South African wick-ets for eight runs.
Left-arm spinner LasithEmbuldeniya, 22, playing in hisfirst Test, took five for 66 as SouthAfrica were bowled out for 259 intheir second innings.
� ������������South Africa were on course
to set the tourists a more chal-lenging target when they reached
251 for five, with captain DuPlessis and Philander lookingsolid in a sixth wicket partnershipof 60.
But Embuldeniya, whobowled with impressive control,took Philander's wicket to start acollapse in which the last fivewickets fell for eight runs.
Left-arm swing bowlerVishwa Fernando dismissed DuPlessis for 90 three overs later andthe rest of the batting crumbled.
Fernando took four for 71 tofollow up a career-best four for 62in the first innings.
Du Plessis played a solidinnings, facing 182 balls and hit-ting 11 fours before he padded upto a ball from Fernando whichswung in and trapped him palpa-bly in front of his stumps.
Du Plessis and Quinton deKock (55) put on 96 for the fifthwicket with De Kock in sparklingform in a 62-ball innings beforehe went back on his stumps toEmbuldeniya and was leg beforeto a ball which spun in to the left-hander and kept low.
National selection committeechairman MSK Prasad on
Friday said that 18 cricketershave been shortlisted for theupcoming ODI World Cup andthe BCCI is in talks with theirrespective IPL franchises to man-age their workload ahead of themega-event in England.
There have been discussionsthat India's World Cup hopefuls'workload management should bemonitored during the IPL, start-ing March 23, so that they remainfresh during the May 30-July 14extravaganza.
"We have shortlisted 18 play-ers and we will rotate them dur-ing the World Cup. As far as work-load management is concerned, itis yet to be worked out. There arediscussions happening on thatfront and we will let you know,"Prasad said after selecting varioussquads for the home series againstAustralia.
Whether the franchises willagree to rest top India players ontheir roster after paying millionsto have them has been a subject
of debate.When acting secretary
Amitabh Choudhary was askedthis question, he admitted that thefranchises have diverse views onthe matter.
"If your question suggeststhat the franchises will be wary ofresting players, it is an issue we willdeal with considering it's a WorldCup year. There have been viewsfrom franchises and I am notgoing into specifics," he said.
He also urged the franchisesto keep the national interest inmind.
"And also considering thefact that all the franchises areIndian franchises, the interest ofthe country, of doing well at thehighest international level, is para-mount," Choudhary said.
