P rime Minister Narendra Modi invented a contro- versial acronym — sarab — for the Opposition coalition in Uttar Pradesh at his election rally in Meerut to launch a scathing attack on the Samajwadi Party, the RLD and the BSP that have come togeth- er to take on the BJP. A furious Congress demanded his apology and accused him of stooping to a new low. “Sapa (Samajwadi Party) ka ‘sa’, RLD ka ‘Ra’ aur Baspa (BSP) ka ‘ba’, matlab ‘sarab’. (Take the ‘Sa’ of Samajwadi Party, ‘Ra’ or Rashtriya Lok Dal and ‘Ba’ of Bahujan Samaj Party),” PM Modi said to a large public gathering as he launched his campaign in Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha election. “For UP’s good health and for India’s future, should you not stay away from sarab? Sapa, RLD, Baspa, ye ‘sarab’ aapko barbaad kar degi (this sarab will destroy you),” the Prime Minister said. Barely had he finished speaking, the Congress addressed a Press conference condemning Modi for likening three political parties to “sharab” or liquor. “Does this kind of talk befit a Prime Minister? You are calling three political parties sarab? Is this the way a PM talks? Can the people accept this,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. “Take back your words and apologise to 130 crore people, or the nation and Uttar Pradesh will never forgive you,” he added. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, however, tweeted that the PM confused “sarab (mirage)” and “sharab (liquor)” because of the teleprompter. “Teleprompters exposed how those who pro- mote hate don’t know differ- ence between ‘sarab’ and ‘sharab’; ‘Sarab’ means mirage which the BJP has been show- ing for the last five years,” Akhilesh said. Describing the PM as “drama king” and “flop film actor”, Surjewala said despite his party’s differences with Mayawati, he addressed her as “ji” and this is “Indian culture”. Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi’s theatre jibe over PM Modi’s address to the nation after India’s successful testing of anti-satellite missile on Wednesday, Modi said , “When I was speaking about A-SAT (anti-satellite missile), some intelligent people got confused. They thought that I was speak- ing about sets used in theatres.” “They got confused A-SAT with set used in theatres. Whether we should cry or laugh at their intellect for con- fusing space mission with the- atre,” Modi said. In a veiled attack to the Opposition, Modi said he will give clear “hisaab” of all that his Government did. He said, “Chowkidar hoon bhai, hisaab hoga, sabka hoga, baari baari se hoga.” Lambasting the Opposition while keeping the focus on a strong Government, Modi said that his Government had shown the courage to conduct a surgical strike in all spheres — land, sky and space. The contest is between a “a decisive Government and an indecisive past,” Modi said a day after announcing that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite. D ays after a unanimous announcement by all the stakeholders of Bihar Mahagathbandhan, the RJD and the Congress on Thursday entered into a fresh round of sparring over two Lok Sabha seats. The development forced RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and HAM leader Jitam Ram Manjhi to cancel their election cam- paigns in the State and rush to Patna, while Bihar Congress leaders flew to Delhi to brief party high command of the “arm-twisting” by the RJD. In the centre of the row is Congress’ insistence on fielding from Darbhanga sitting local MP and former test cricketer Kirti Azad, who recently joined the Congress after resigning from the BJP. The two parties are also at loggerheads over RJD’s threat not to back Congress MP Ranjeeta Ranjan from Supaul after her husband, Pappu Yadav, filed nomination from Madhepura as an Independent candidate against veteran Sharad Yadav, who is contest- ing on a RJD ticket. The RJD has staked claim to both the Darbhanga and Madhepura seats due to size- able numbers of Muslims and Yadav votes. Sources said the matter may be resolved amicably by Friday morning and Kirti may be fielded from either Valmiki Nagar or West Champaran. However, it is not cear what could both the parties do to persuade Pappu Yadav to with- draw from the race. While the RJD has been playing the master in the grand alliance, several Congress lead- ers of Bihar claimed the party was “not getting a fair deal” in the seat-sharing arrangement and urged the high command to step in before it was too late. Congress sources said the crisis aggravated to a level that the RJD and the Congress almost decided to part ways, however, a communication was established between Congress leaders with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad currently serving a jail term to defuse the situation. C ongress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the “Nyay” scheme will remon- etise what the Prime Minister demonetised and asserted that his party’s anti-poverty pro- gramme has thrown the BJP into total disarray. In an exclusive interview to PTI ahead of the 17th general election beginning April 11, Rahul said the Nyay scheme has the twin objectives of giv- ing money to the 20 per cent poorest families in India and remonetising the economy “damaged” by demonetisation. “What the PM has done over the past five years is to remove all money from the economy with failed policies like demonetisation and a poorly executed Gabbar Singh Tax (GST). Informal sectors have been badly hit. “The aim of the ‘Nyay’ scheme is two-fold. First is to guarantee a minimum income to the bottom 20 per cent fam- ilies. The second is to remon- etise the economy that has been demonetised by Modiji,” Rahul said. The Congress chief said there is a reason why the party christened the scheme Nyay, which translates to justice in Hindi. “There is another aspect to calling the scheme ‘Nyay’. Why have we chosen to call this scheme ‘Justice’? Because over the last five years, Mr Narendra Modi has simply snatched from poor and given nothing back. “He has taken away from the farmers, he has snatched from the small and medium businesses, he’s taken away from the unemployed youth, he has extinguished the savings of mothers and sisters of this country. We want to return to India’s deprived sections what Modiji has snatched from them,” he said. Terming Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojana) a “game changer” and a “final assault” on pover- ty, Gandhi said the scheme is “fiscally perfectly doable” and will not be implemented “rash- ly like demonetisation and GST of the BJP”. Asked about apprehen- sions of some economists that “Nyay”, which entails an expen- diture of 3.6 lakh crore annu- ally, could aggravate India’s fiscal deficit position, Rahul said, “No, that’s not right.” He said the party consult- ed a large number of econo- mists and experts, studied numerous papers and other research material on this subject and run an extensive financial modelling exercise before deciding to include the plan in its Lok Sabha manifesto. S tepping up the internation- al pressure to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global ter- rorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, has direct- ly moved a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group’s chief. Two weeks after China put a hold on a proposal to list Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Council, the US circulated the draft resolution to the power- ful 15-nation Council to black- list the leader of the terror group and subject him to a travel ban, an assets freeze and an arms embargo. UN sources told PTI that this is the “first time” the US, the UK and France have moved a draft resolution directly in the Security Council to designate Azhar as terrorist. Unlike a list- ing proposal, which is generally under a 10-day no objection period, the draft resolution is not under any no-objection provision. Reacting to Washington’s move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang in Beijing said, “This is not in line with resolution of the issue through dialogue and negotiations. This has reduced the authority of the Committee as a main anti-terrorism body of the UNSC and this is not conducive to the solidarity and only complicates the issue.” “We urge the US to act cau- tiously and avoid forcefully moving forward this draft res- olution,” Geng said. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an apparent reference to China blocking the proposal when he said Wednesday that China abuses over a million Muslims at home, but “protects” violent Islamic terror groups from UN sanctions. Sources in New York said that the draft resolution will be discussed informally and then it goes to the Council. However, it is not yet decided by when a vote would be held on the draft resolution, during when it could again face a veto by China, which has in the past blocked bids to blacklist Azhar. Sources said the draft res- olution would condemn “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly suicide bombing” on February 14 in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF personnel. In New Delhi, sources said, they were aware that a draft has been initiated for consideration of Council members to list Azhar in the sanctions regime as part of global efforts to fight against terrorism. C ongress apparently exer- cised its franchise in favour of “not-so-strong candidates” just before the parliamentary polls — an act that the party claimed resulted in its defeat in 2012 Punjab Assembly polls. Leaving nothing to chance after a fresh survey indicated the slip-ups in the decision making process, the party has decided to start from the scratch. Holding cards close to its chest waiting for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to cut the first turf, Congress has, in fact, re-strategized after the possibility of SAD president Sukhbir Badal also throwing his hat in the electoral ring. There are reports that Sukhbir may contest from Ferozepur while his Union Minister wife Harsimrat Badal may seek re-election from Bathinda for the third consec- utive time. It has also been learnt that the Congress central leadership has get a fresh sur- vey conducted in the State, which turned down the prob- ables names proposed by the state party unit, except Preneet Kaur from Patiala and Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana. During the screening committee’s meeting, All India Congress Committee’s general secretary in-charge of organi- sation KC Venugopal, state party affairs’ in-charge Asha Kumari, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and state unit president Sunil Jakhar reviewed the potential candi- dates on all seats. As of now, Congress has proposed sitting MP Jakhar’s name from Gurdaspur, while a section of party leaders are now insisting that Punjab Congress president should be fielded from Ferozepur in case Sukhbir enters the electoral fray. Jakhar, who is keen to con- test from Gurdaspur, main- tained that he would contest from any seat from where his party would ask him to. However, Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and his son Anumeet Sodhi have staked claim on the tick- et from Ferozepur, while the SAD rebel and sitting MP Sher Singh Gubhaya, who recently joined the Congress, has already started campaign- ing confident of getting the ticket. On the other hand, the Congress wanted to field Finance Minister Manpreet Badal from Bathinda, but he has expressed his unwillingness to contest. At the same time, the state Health Minister Brahm Mohindra’s son, Mohit Mohindra, has been shortlist- ed for the seat. Bathinda had witnessed a fight within the Badal family in 2014 elections, in which Harsimrat defeated her estranged brother-in-law Manpreet, by a narrow margin. And considering the dimin- ishing winning margins from 1,20,948 votes in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 19,395 votes in 2014, SAD is now mulling to shift Harsimrat to the neigh- bouring Ferozepur which is seen as a safer bet this time. Congress candidates from Ferozepur and Bathinda will depend on the Akali Dal’s move to shift Harsimrat to Ferozepur from Bathinda — which has been the epicentre of anti-sacrilege protests against the Badals, or Sukhbir may himself decide to throw his hat in the electoral ring from Ferozepur retaining Bathinda for Harsimrat.
versial acronym — sarab — forthe Opposition coalition inUttar Pradesh at his electionrally in Meerut to launch ascathing attack on theSamajwadi Party, the RLD andthe BSP that have come togeth-er to take on the BJP.
A furious Congressdemanded his apology andaccused him of stooping to anew low.
“Sapa (Samajwadi Party) ka‘sa’, RLD ka ‘Ra’ aur Baspa(BSP) ka ‘ba’, matlab ‘sarab’.(Take the ‘Sa’ of SamajwadiParty, ‘Ra’ or Rashtriya Lok Daland ‘Ba’ of Bahujan SamajParty),” PM Modi said to a largepublic gathering as he launchedhis campaign in Uttar Pradeshfor the Lok Sabha election.
“For UP’s good health andfor India’s future, should younot stay away from sarab?Sapa, RLD, Baspa, ye ‘sarab’aapko barbaad kar degi (thissarab will destroy you),” the
Prime Minister said.Barely had he finished
speaking, the Congressaddressed a Press conference
condemning Modi for likeningthree political parties to“sharab” or liquor. “Does thiskind of talk befit a Prime
Minister? You are calling threepolitical parties sarab? Is thisthe way a PM talks? Can thepeople accept this,” Congress
spokesperson Randeep SinghSurjewala said. “Take backyour words and apologise to130 crore people, or the nationand Uttar Pradesh will neverforgive you,” he added.
Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, however,tweeted that the PM confused“sarab (mirage)” and “sharab(liquor)” because of theteleprompter. “Telepromptersexposed how those who pro-mote hate don’t know differ-ence between ‘sarab’ and‘sharab’; ‘Sarab’ means miragewhich the BJP has been show-ing for the last five years,”Akhilesh said.
Describing the PM as“drama king” and “flop filmactor”, Surjewala said despitehis party’s differences with Mayawati, he addressedher as “ji” and this is “Indianculture”.
Hitting out at RahulGandhi’s theatre jibe over PMModi’s address to the nationafter India’s successful testing ofanti-satellite missile onWednesday, Modi said , “When
I was speaking about A-SAT(anti-satellite missile), someintelligent people got confused.They thought that I was speak-ing about sets used in theatres.”“They got confused A-SATwith set used in theatres.Whether we should cry orlaugh at their intellect for con-fusing space mission with the-atre,” Modi said.
In a veiled attack to theOpposition, Modi said he willgive clear “hisaab” of all that hisGovernment did. He said,“Chowkidar hoon bhai, hisaabhoga, sabka hoga, baari baari sehoga.”
Lambasting the Oppositionwhile keeping the focus on astrong Government, Modi saidthat his Government hadshown the courage to conducta surgical strike in all spheres— land, sky and space.
The contest is between a “adecisive Government and anindecisive past,” Modi said aday after announcing that Indiahad demonstrated anti-satellitemissile capability by shootingdown a live satellite.
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Days after a unanimousannouncement by all the
stakeholders of BiharMahagathbandhan, the RJDand the Congress on Thursdayentered into a fresh round ofsparring over two Lok Sabhaseats. The development forcedRJD leader Tejashwi Yadav andHAM leader Jitam Ram Manjhito cancel their election cam-paigns in the State and rush toPatna, while Bihar Congressleaders flew to Delhi to briefparty high command of the“arm-twisting” by the RJD.
In the centre of the row isCongress’ insistence on fieldingfrom Darbhanga sitting localMP and former test cricketerKirti Azad, who recently joinedthe Congress after resigningfrom the BJP.
The two parties are also atloggerheads over RJD’s threatnot to back Congress MP
Ranjeeta Ranjan from Supaulafter her husband, PappuYadav, filed nomination fromMadhepura as an Independentcandidate against veteranSharad Yadav, who is contest-ing on a RJD ticket.
The RJD has staked claimto both the Darbhanga andMadhepura seats due to size-able numbers of Muslims andYadav votes.
Sources said the mattermay be resolved amicably byFriday morning and Kirti maybe fielded from either ValmikiNagar or West Champaran.However, it is not cear whatcould both the parties do topersuade Pappu Yadav to with-draw from the race.
While the RJD has beenplaying the master in the grandalliance, several Congress lead-ers of Bihar claimed the partywas “not getting a fair deal” inthe seat-sharing arrangementand urged the high commandto step in before it was too late.
Congress sources said thecrisis aggravated to a level thatthe RJD and the Congressalmost decided to part ways,however, a communication wasestablished between Congressleaders with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad currently servinga jail term to defuse the situation.
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Congress president RahulGandhi on Thursday said
the “Nyay” scheme will remon-etise what the Prime Ministerdemonetised and asserted thathis party’s anti-poverty pro-gramme has thrown the BJPinto total disarray.
In an exclusive interview toPTI ahead of the 17th generalelection beginning April 11,Rahul said the Nyay schemehas the twin objectives of giv-ing money to the 20 per centpoorest families in India andremonetising the economy“damaged” by demonetisation.
“What the PM has doneover the past five years is toremove all money from theeconomy with failed policieslike demonetisation and a
poorly executed Gabbar SinghTax (GST). Informal sectorshave been badly hit.
“The aim of the ‘Nyay’scheme is two-fold. First is toguarantee a minimum incometo the bottom 20 per cent fam-ilies. The second is to remon-etise the economy that hasbeen demonetised by Modiji,”Rahul said.
The Congress chief saidthere is a reason why the partychristened the scheme Nyay,which translates to justice inHindi. “There is another aspectto calling the scheme ‘Nyay’.Why have we chosen to call thisscheme ‘Justice’? Because overthe last five years, Mr NarendraModi has simply snatched frompoor and given nothing back.
“He has taken away fromthe farmers, he has snatched
from the small and mediumbusinesses, he’s taken awayfrom the unemployed youth, hehas extinguished the savings ofmothers and sisters of this
country. We want to return toIndia’s deprived sections whatModiji has snatched fromthem,” he said.
Terming Nyay (Nyuntam
Aay Yojana) a “game changer”and a “final assault” on pover-ty, Gandhi said the scheme is“fiscally perfectly doable” andwill not be implemented “rash-ly like demonetisation andGST of the BJP”.
Asked about apprehen-sions of some economists that“Nyay”, which entails an expen-diture of �3.6 lakh crore annu-ally, could aggravate India’sfiscal deficit position, Rahulsaid, “No, that’s not right.”
He said the party consult-ed a large number of econo-mists and experts, studiednumerous papers and otherresearch material on this subject and run anextensive financial modellingexercise before deciding toinclude the plan in its LokSabha manifesto.
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Stepping up the internation-al pressure to designate
Jaish-e-Mohammed chiefMasood Azhar as a global ter-rorist, the US, supported byFrance and the UK, has direct-ly moved a draft resolution inthe UN Security Council toblacklist the Pakistan-basedterror group’s chief.
Two weeks after China puta hold on a proposal to listAzhar under the 1267 al-QaedaSanctions Committee of theCouncil, the US circulated thedraft resolution to the power-ful 15-nation Council to black-list the leader of the terrorgroup and subject him to atravel ban, an assets freeze and
an arms embargo.UN sources told PTI that
this is the “first time” the US,the UK and France have moveda draft resolution directly in theSecurity Council to designateAzhar as terrorist. Unlike a list-ing proposal, which is generallyunder a 10-day no objectionperiod, the draft resolution isnot under any no-objectionprovision.
Reacting to Washington’smove, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang in Beijing said, “This isnot in line with resolution ofthe issue through dialogue andnegotiations. This has reducedthe authority of the Committeeas a main anti-terrorism bodyof the UNSC and this is notconducive to the solidarity and
only complicates the issue.”“We urge the US to act cau-
tiously and avoid forcefullymoving forward this draft res-olution,” Geng said.
Meanwhile, US Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo made anapparent reference to China
blocking the proposal when hesaid Wednesday that Chinaabuses over a million Muslimsat home, but “protects” violentIslamic terror groups from UNsanctions.
Sources in New York saidthat the draft resolution will be
discussed informally and thenit goes to the Council. However,it is not yet decided by when avote would be held on the draftresolution, during when itcould again face a veto byChina, which has in the pastblocked bids to blacklist Azhar.
Sources said the draft res-olution would condemn “in thestrongest terms the heinousand cowardly suicide bombing”on February 14 in Jammu & Kashmir’s Pulwamadistrict that killed 40 CRPFpersonnel.
In New Delhi, sources said,they were aware that a draft hasbeen initiated for considerationof Council members to listAzhar in the sanctions regimeas part of global efforts tofight against terrorism.
Congress apparently exer-cised its franchise in favour
of “not-so-strong candidates”just before the parliamentarypolls — an act that the partyclaimed resulted in its defeat in2012 Punjab Assembly polls.Leaving nothing to chanceafter a fresh survey indicatedthe slip-ups in the decisionmaking process, the party hasdecided to start from thescratch. Holding cards close toits chest waiting for theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) tocut the first turf, Congress has,in fact, re-strategized after thepossibility of SAD presidentSukhbir Badal also throwinghis hat in the electoral ring.
There are reports thatSukhbir may contest fromFerozepur while his UnionMinister wife Harsimrat Badalmay seek re-election from
Bathinda for the third consec-utive time. It has also beenlearnt that the Congress centralleadership has get a fresh sur-vey conducted in the State,which turned down the prob-ables names proposed by thestate party unit, except PreneetKaur from Patiala and RavneetSingh Bittu from Ludhiana.
During the screeningcommittee’s meeting, All IndiaCongress Committee’s generalsecretary in-charge of organi-sation KC Venugopal, stateparty affairs’ in-charge AshaKumari, Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh and stateunit president Sunil Jakharreviewed the potential candi-dates on all seats.
As of now, Congress hasproposed sitting MP Jakhar’sname from Gurdaspur, while asection of party leaders are nowinsisting that Punjab Congresspresident should be fielded
from Ferozepur in case Sukhbirenters the electoral fray.
Jakhar, who is keen to con-test from Gurdaspur, main-tained that he would contestfrom any seat from where hisparty would ask him to.
However, Sports MinisterRana Gurmeet Singh Sodhiand his son Anumeet Sodhihave staked claim on the tick-et from Ferozepur, while theSAD rebel and sitting MP SherSingh Gubhaya, who recentlyjoined the Congress, has already started campaign-ing confident of getting theticket.
On the other hand, theCongress wanted to fieldFinance Minister ManpreetBadal from Bathinda, but hehas expressed his unwillingnessto contest. At the same time,the state Health MinisterBrahm Mohindra’s son, MohitMohindra, has been shortlist-
ed for the seat. Bathinda hadwitnessed a fight within theBadal family in 2014 elections,in which Harsimrat defeatedher estranged brother-in-lawManpreet, by a narrow margin.And considering the dimin-ishing winning margins from1,20,948 votes in 2009 LokSabha elections to 19,395 votesin 2014, SAD is now mulling toshift Harsimrat to the neigh-bouring Ferozepur which isseen as a safer bet this time.
Congress candidates fromFerozepur and Bathinda willdepend on the Akali Dal’smove to shift Harsimrat toFerozepur from Bathinda —which has been the epicentre ofanti-sacrilege protests againstthe Badals, or Sukhbir mayhimself decide to throw his hatin the electoral ring fromFerozepur retaining Bathindafor Harsimrat.
that the party would not with-draw the candidature of for-mer Army chief General JJSingh from Khadoor Sahibparliamentary constituencyin support of PunjabDemocratic Alliance (PDA)candidate Bibi Paramjit KaurKhalra “under political com-pulsions”.
Even as majority of theparty leaders are of the viewthat the Taksali party should
support Bibi Khalra consid-ering her contribution to thepanth, the SAD (Taksali) pres-ident and sitting KhadoorSahib MP Ranjit SinghBrahmpura has ruled out anysuch move.
“The decision for notwithdrawing General JJSingh’s candidature in favourof Bibi Khalra has been takenin the party’s core committeemeeting. The issue has beensettled once and for all.General JJ Singh will contestfrom Khadoor Sahib againstBibi Khalra,” SAD (Taksali)leader told The Pioneer.
It has been learnt thatduring the party’s core com-mittee meeting on Tuesday,the matter was discussed indetail and different points ofviews surfaced on the issue ofextending support to PDAcandidate Bibi Paramjeet KaurKhalra from Khadoor Sahibconstituency.
Available informationsuggests that while a sectionof party leaders, includingformer Minister Sewa SinghSekhwan and All India SikhStudent Federation’s (AISSF)former head Karnail SinghPeer Mohammad, had pressed
for supporting Bibi Khalra,but Brahampura vetoed theproposal.
“Bibi Khalra is contestingas a candidate of Punjab EktaParty (PEP) under the bannerof PDA. We would have con-sidered withdrawing our can-didate in case she was con-testing as an independent. Itis more of a political compul-sion for us,” said the SADTaksali leader.
It has also been learntthat the Taksalis have pro-posed to withdraw its candi-date from Khadoor Sahib inBibi Khalra’s support, if the
PDA withdraws its candidatefrom Sri Anandpur Sahib LokSabha segment in favour of itscandidate Bir Devinder Singh.However, the things failed tomaterialise.
Under the PDA, SriAnandpur Sahib constituencywas allotted to the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) from whereit has fielded internationalPolo player Vikram SinghSodhi.
Initially when the PDAwas formed, Taksalis were itspart. But parted ways after itfailed to arrive at consensusover seat sharing formula.
Taksalis wanted Sri Anandpurseat, so was the BSP. But it wasSAD Taksali’s move toannounce Bir Devinder Singhas its candidate from SriAnandpur Sahib that resultedin end of talks.
Taksalis later tried to forgean alliance with the AamAadmi Party (AAP), whichalso failed as both the partieshad already announced theirrespective candidates fromSri Anandpur Sahib, and laterrefused to withdraw in favourof the other.
Notably, PEP presidentSukhpal Singh Khaira had
appealed the Taksalis to with-draw their candidate in BibiKhalra’s support. Khaira hadalso made it clear that theappeal was not because ofSAD candidate and his archrival Bibi Jagir Kaur, but “inthe larger interest of the State,so that we would be able todefeat these anti-Punjab forcesin Khadoor Sahib”.
Khaira said that BibiKhalra stand a very goodchance “because of her con-tribution or the fight forhuman rights and the way shelost her husband, and theyhave been consistently fight-
ing for human rights”. He argued that Bibi
Khalra is a very good and apanthic candidate. “Ourappeal to the SAD (Taksalis)is why you are dividing votes.Even as the Taksalis say thatit is a panthic party, why theyare opposing Khalra who is apanthic candidate? Somebodywho has contributed so muchshould not be opposed. What General JJ Singh has todo in KhadoorSahib...Nothing! That’s whythe appeal. It is not because ofBibi Jagir Kaur as she is noentity there,” he said.
The representatives of variousbanks in the union territory
of Chandigarh have been direct-ed to keep a strict vigil on theelection-related expenditure bythe candidates and political par-ties during the Lok SabhaElections 2019 as per the guide-lines of the Election Commissionof India.
A meeting was held here onThursday under the chairman-
ship of Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Electoral Officer,Mandip Singh Brar with the rep-resentatives of various banks inthe city to discuss the imple-mentation of guidelines con-tained in the compendium ofinstructions on election expen-diture and standard operatingprocedure for transportation ofcash by ATM vans.
During the meeting, thebanks were asked to reportunusual and suspicious cash
withdrawals or deposit of cashexceeding Rs 1 lakh during theprocess of election, unusualtransfer of amount by RTGS tothe account of several personswithout any precedent of suchtransfer, or suspicious transac-tions which might be used tobribe the electors during the elec-tion process.
The representatives werealso informed about the properimplementation of the standardoperating procedure for trans-portation of cash by ATM vans.Directions were given to ensurethat the cash vans of outsourcedagencies or companies carryingthe bank's cash shall not, underany circumstances, carry cash ofany third party agencies or indi-viduals except the bank.
The outsourced companiesshall carry letters or documentsincluding the authorization let-ters and also the personnel of theoutsourced agencies accompa-nying cash van shall carry iden-tity cards issued by the respec-tive agencies, the banks weretold. The district electoral officeralso directed the banks to openhassle-free bank accounts for thecandidates who have filled theirnomination papers and set upspecial counters for them.
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In a major break-through,Special Task Force (STF) of
Haryana Police has arrestedJoginder, a wanted criminalwho carried a bounty of Rs50,000, along with his threeaccomplices from police stationDharuhera area in Rewari dis-trict after a brief encounter.
Giving details, a spokesmanof Police Department said thatransom money of Rs 49.70lakh along with four illicit pis-tols, 10 live cartridges, 12 emptykhol and two looted Xcent andTata Zest cars were also recov-ered from their possession.
Joginder had beenabsconding for the last aboutfive years. The other threeaccused arrested were identifiedas Shiv Kumar alias Shibba ofGannaur, Deepak of JantiKalan, Kundli, Sonipat andKamal Malik, a native of Risaluin Panipat, he said.
Initial investigationrevealed that all the accusedwere wanted in various crimi-nal cases pertaining to murder,attempt to murder, extortionand loot. Atleast two dozencases were registered againstthem in various police stationsin the state and Delhi.
All the accused were arrest-
ed by STF team after gettingspecific inputs, the spokesmansaid.
He further said that theaccused are persons of criminalnature and also remainedinvolved in loot of vehicles, ran-som and other criminal activ-ities in the past. With the helpof others, they had shot dead aresident of Bandepur inNovember 2018, followingwhich a case was registeredagainst them in Sadar PoliceStation, Sonipat.
Fatehgarh Sahib HarinderSingh Khalsa on Thursdaybecame the part of the saffronbrigade. Struggling to find asuitable candidate for the cru-cial Amritsar Lok Sabha seat,the BJP may field its new Sikhface from the holy city.
Khalsa, who won theFatehgarh Sahib seat in 2014general elections routing tra-ditional parties, was suspend-ed from the party’s primarymembership by AAP in 2015
for “anti-party activities”, andinitiated disciplinary proceed-ings against him.
He joined the saffron partyin the presence of UnionMinisters Arun Jaitley, HardeepPuri and the party’s general sec-retary (organisation) Ram Lal.
Notably, BJP is consideringto add star power to its electioncampaign in Amritsar by field-ing actress Poonam Dhillon orIndian cricketer HarbhajanSingh. However, after receivingadverse reports, BJP hasreportedly dropped Dhillon’sname from the list.
Besides, name of Union
Minister and party’s Sikh MPHardip Puri was also doingrounds for the seat.
As the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhuwas winning the prestigiousAmritsar seat for BJP, the partyis finding it tough to find hisreplacement. During previousgeneral polls, BJP laid its bet onthe party stalwart Arun Jaitleybut lost to Congress veteran
Capt Amarinder Singh.In 2017 bye-election, BJP
fielded its Sikh leader RajinderMohan Singh Chhina, whoalso lost to Congress’ GurjitSingh Aujla.
Now, to win back the seat,BJP is looking for a strong pan-thic leader to represent the con-stituency, and Khalsa fits theprerequisites for the same.
A former Indian ForeignService (IFS) officer, Khalsaresigned in protest against the1984 Operation Blue Star. Atthat time, he was posted inNorway.
As the Congress govern-
ment filed some cases againsthim, he stayed in Norway,running an eating joint andworking as a postman there.
He returned to India in1990, after being assured thatthe cases against him would bedropped.
Later, he served as thechairman of Punjab HumanRights Organisation, an NGOthat highlighted the “excessescommitted by the state gov-ernment during the anti-insur-gency operations”, and as sec-retary of the ShiromaniGurdwara PrabhandakCommittee (SGPC).
Mohan, who hogged the lime-light for giving up his politicalcareer, family and religion forlove in 2008, is keen on con-testing the ensuing Lok Sabhapolls on a Congress ticket fromKarnal parliamentary seat.
Once known as ChandMohammad, husband of lateFiza Mohammad aliasAnuradha Bali, ChanderMohan is looking to make astrong comeback in the statepolitics by entering the electoralfray in Lok Sabha polls.
“If the Congress partyreposes its faith in me, I aminterested in contesting fromKarnal Lok Sabha constituen-cy,” says Chander Mohan, whiletalking to The Pioneer.
Chander Mohan, the elderson of three-time formerHaryana CM Bhajan Lal, hadserved as Deputy ChiefMinister during BhupinderSingh Hooda’s first term as
Chief Minister of Haryana.In his last election outing,
Chander Mohan had lost in2014 assembly polls fromNalwa assembly constituency,which was his first politicalventure outside Kalka. He wasearlier elected to the HaryanaAssembly from Kalka con-stituency, adjoiningChandigarh, in a 1993 by-elec-tion and again in 1996, 2000and 2005.
Reacting to the reportsthat he has staked his claim on
Congress’ ticket from Hisarparliamentary seat, from wherehis younger brother KuldeepBishnoi is seen as a frontrun-ner as party candidate,Chander Mohan says, “No,this is not true. I am interest-ed to contest from Karnal.”
Karnal being ChiefMinister Manohar Lal’s hometurf is likely to witness a pres-tige political battle in the par-liamentary polls. Karnal is rep-resented by Manohar Lal in theState Assembly and BJP is like-ly to field a political heavy-weight to retain this seat wonby BJP’s Ashwini KumarChopra in 2014 polls.
In Congress, formerSpeaker and Ganaur MLAKuldeep Sharma is learnt tohave sought a ticket for his sonfrom Karnal seat.
Caste equations havealways played a key role in thisconstituency with Brahmincommunity playing the pre-dominant role and electingnine Brahmin candidates out of12 elections in Karnal since1976.
Chander Mohan, aBrahmin himself had attempt-ed to contest from Karnal in2014 Lok Sabha polls but hadto withdraw his candidature,only a day after he was nomi-nated as Haryana JanhitCongress candidate for theconstituency.
Interestingly, the Karnalseat was left by the BJP for itsalliance partner HJC in 2014Lok Sabha polls but after thecontroversy surroundingChander Mohan, the HJC hadopted to take the Sirsa LokSabha seat instead and the BJPhad immediately announcedAshwini Chopra as its candi-date for Karnal. HJC had in2016 merged into the Congress.
Chander Mohan’s fatherBhajan Lal had won the Karnalseat in 1998 elections and hadalso faced defeat for the firsttime in his political career in1999 elections from the sameseat.
As the Congress gears up totake on BJP and other politicalparties on 10 Lok Sabha seatsin Haryana, Chander Mohan
says that the party is in astrong position and will win onall seats in the state.
He also hits out at BJPGovernment at the Centre andin Haryana for their poor per-formance during their tenure.
“The BJP has done nothingduring its tenure in Haryanaand at the Centre. They (BJP)were zero,” the former DeputyCM says.
When asked about specu-lations that his brother KuldeepBishnoi might join the BJPsoon, Chander Mohan says,“This question should be askedto him not me.”
He, however, clarifies, thatKuldeep has time and againdenied such reports and he isa Congressman.
A day ahead of Congresschief Rahul Gandhi’s visit toHaryana to join party’s‘Parivartan Yatra’, he tells, “Theparty workers are enthusiasticas the party president will alsovisit Jagadhri.”
The Congress will performwell in the elections under theleadership of Rahul Gandhi, he
adds.Once known as stalwart of
Haryana politics, the four-timeformer MLA Chander Mohan’scontroversial love life hadeclipsed his political career.
He had suddenly wentmissing when he was thedeputy Chief Minister inHaryana Government led byBhupinder Singh Hooda in2008 and had resurfaced asChand Mohammad afterembracing Islam and marryingformer assistant advocate gen-eral, Anuradha Bali, who hadchanged her name to FizaMohammad.
Chander Mohan had latersplit from Fiza as the couple’stumultuous relationship didnot last long and he had alsolater returned to his family.
His controversial love lifehad however cost him party’sticket in 2009 State Assemblyelections.
Before Fiza’s mysteriousdeath in 2012, Chander Mohanhad separated from her andalso converted back toHinduism in 2009.
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The Bharatiya Janta Partywill organise a countrywide
“Main Bhi Chowkidar” cam-paign on March 31 to counterthe alleged false and mislead-ing propaganda of the opposi-tion Congress.
The campaign will be orga-nized at every district head-quarters in Haryana, saidPanchkula MLA and convenorof the programme, Gian ChandGupta on Thursday,
“Standing as a Chowkidar,Narendar Modi is fightingpoverty, corruption, dirt, ter-rorism and other evils, but theCongress is indulging in falsepropaganda and using abusivelanguage against the PrimeMinister,” he said.
The BJP will give a befittingreply countrywide to theCongress’s propaganda onMarch 31 when Modi willinteract with the massesthrough digital platform. Theone hour programme wouldcommence at 5 pm duringwhich details of the Main BhiChowkidar campaign would begiven, Gupta said.
Modi will also address theworkers and the general mass-es after which through videoconferencing he will interactwith those present at differentlocations.
Gupta said in Haryanaministers, MLAs, Chairmenof Boards & Corporations andother party office bearers willbe present at party headquaters.
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Stop faking! That’s the mes-sage the Congress party has
for its rival BJP. Bombardedwith what it calls fake news onsocial media, the Congress hasmade a debut on Instagramwith ‘Shut The Fake Up’ cam-paign — party’s first online pollcampaign.
The campaign has beenlaunched recently to attractand involve young Instagramby the Twitter handle —@STFUIndianMedia.
Claiming it to be an initia-tive to call out the BJP regimeand the fake news propagandaof the last five years, theCongress party has come upwith the campaign to showhow the trend of unverifiednews and information hasaffected the people of India.
“The first issue taken up asa part of this campaign wasunemployment, whereCongress targeted the NarendraModi Government and mediachannels on the issue of notaddressing the youth on theconcern,” said Naresh Arora,the political strategist who isworking closely with theCongress party and is lookingafter its digital marketing andsocial media campaigns.
The first post from this
campaign brought about50,000 views within the firsthour of its launch, and thehashtag #ShutTheFakeUpmanaged to trend among thetop 10 trends on Twitter dur-ing the day.
“Fake news and informa-tion has been in trend last fiveyears, not anymore! Today, welaunch a surgical strike againstthis fake propaganda with#ShutTheFakeUp. No morefake, no more fraudulent!,” readthe tweet, which was postedwith a short film on fake news.
Another tweet added,“When Unemployment HitsNation and hits bad, mediachannels must sense an oblig-ation to highlight this for themasses rather than focus overthe attention seeking tactics ofthe ruling party.”
The campaign has beenlaunched to counter BJP andmedia channels propagation offake news and in the comingdays, with the Congress partyplanning to bring forth moresuch issues in a creative man-ner. For the purpose, theCongress has selected threecompanies — Designboxed,Silver Push and NixonAdvertising — to handle itsdigital, social media and out-door campaigns for the LokSabha polls.
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Aletter writing completionis being organized in
Haryana to encourage theyouth to get their names reg-istered in the electoral rollsahead of polling day on May12 in Haryana.
The winners of the com-petition will get Rs 31,000 asfirst prize and Rs 21,000 assecond prize. Similarly, twoprizes of Rs 11,000 each willbe given under the third prize.Apart from this, 30 prizes ofRs 500-500 will be given asconsolation prizes.
“The last date for sendingletters for the competition isApril 30. The last date for get-ting the name registered invoters' list is April 12,” said aspokesman of the office of
chief electoral off icer,Haryana.
The spokesman said thatthe youth who are in the agegroup of 18 to 25 years as onJanuary 1, 2019 and who havegot registered their names inthe electoral rolls before send-ing the letter, can participatein the competition.
The letter have to beaddressed to the chief elec-toral officer, Haryana and willhave to express his or heropinion regarding the impor-tance of getting registered inthe voting list and also, theimportance of exercising theirfranchise in Lok Sabha andAssembly elections.
The participants wouldalso have to take a pledge thatthey will cast their vote in LokSabha and Assembly elec-
tions, which should reflect intheir letter. The letter shouldbe brief and well-document-ed. The contestant has towrite his letter on a postcardor on inland letter, and belowit, the contestant will have tomention his name, address,name of the assembly con-stituency, number, part num-ber of voter list and voternumber, the spokesmanadded.
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Haryana Chief ElectoralOfficer, Rajeev Ranjan onThursday reiterated that theelectronic voting machine(EVM) is technically com-pletely secure and nobodycould hack or temper it.
“There is a doubt in the
minds of the people that soft-ware of EVM could bechanged or hacked. But it iscompletely impossible to dothis as there is no connectiv-ity of any kind in the EVM.”he said adding that connec-tivity is required to hack anydevice.
EVM did not have anykind of connector, receiverand meter and therefore, it isnot possible to hack themachine, he said.
Ranjan further said thatfrom time to time, it is statedthat EVM could be hacked ortempered but it is completelyimpossible. EVM is secure andits ballet unit and control unitare connected with each otherwith an encryption coding. Asdifferent encryption codes aregenerated after pressing the
button each time, any type oftempering with the EVM is notpossible, he added.
The chief electoral officersaid that in elections this time,besides the EVM, Voter verifi-able Paper Audit Trail(VVPAT) machines are alsobeing used to bring more trans-parency in the system.
VVPAT machine is a print-er on which the voter could seethe vote cast by him and ensurethat his vote actually goes onlyto that candidate to whom hevoted for. The voter could seehis vote on the VVPAT screenfor seven seconds, Ranjan said.
He further said that whichEVM machine would go towhich polling station is a ran-domization process. Selectionof person for operating theEVM is also a part of the same
process. Under this process,nobody has prior informationthat which EVM would go towhich polling station and whowould operate it.
He said that before takingthe EVMs to polling stations,an inspection is made in thepresence of representatives ofpolitical parties under theobservation of CCTV cam-eras. Thereafter, again onreaching the EVMs on pollingstations, mock polling is con-ducted on EVMs in the pres-ence of polling agents of polit-ical parties.
Their signatures are alsotaken that EVMs are workingproperly. Apart from this, GPStracking of entire movement ofEVMs right from the ware-house to polling stations is alsodone, he added.
Expressing deep anguish overthe burgeoning incidents
of suicides committed by thestate’s over-stressed farmers,the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)on Thursday slammed the sub-sequent sleepy governmentsfor their deadly slumber overthe deaths thus aggravating theproblem.
Not a day passes whenhundreds of reports on thedeaths by suicides are notreported from across country,
said the Leader of Oppositionin Punjab Vidhan Sabha HarpalSingh Cheema.
“The preceding BJP-SADgovernment and the rulingCapt Amarinder Singh gov-ernment are solely responsiblefor forcing the beleagueredfarmers, already over-stresseddue to heavy farm loans ontheir heads, to commit sui-cides,” he said. Blaming theCapt Amarinder governmentfor backtracking on thepromise of a complete loanwaiver to bail out the farmers
from the heavy debt liabilities,Cheema cited reports to claimthat during Congress’ two-year regime, as many as 77farmers and farm labourershad committed suicides inBathinda district only.
Cheema said that the onlyway forward was to implementSwaminathan Commission rec-ommendations, taking a cuefrom the Arvind Kajriwal-ledGovernment in Delhi whichhad already implemented therecommendations to addressthe farm distress.
Aday before Congress pres-ident Rahul Gandhi’s visit
to Haryana, Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Thursday heldrallies in Jhajjar and Karnal.
The Gandhi scion will onFriday hold three public meet-
ings in Haryana and a road-show from Jagadhri to Karnal,which is represented by ChiefMinister Manohar Lal in theState Assembly.
Manohar Lal, whileaddressing a rally in Matenhail,Jhajjar called upon the elec-torate to ensure the victory of
Lotus in the Lok Sabha andstate assembly elections duelater this year.
“Not only Haryana theentire country wants to seeNarendra Modi coming back topower in the forthcoming LokSabha elections. In this direc-tion the Haryana BJP was
working to win all the 10 seats,”he said.
The Chief Minister saidthat Prime Minister NarendraModi had made India a SuperPower with the successfuldemonstration of anti-satellitemissile test.
The anti-satellite missile
test had bolstered country’ssecurity in space besides bring-ing the country at par with theUS, Russia and China – theonly three countries to haveachieved this feat earlier, hesaid.
The development showsthat if given proper atmosphere
Indians are capable of achiev-ing anything, he said.
He further said that thecountry or the state neither hasa credible opposition nor anyissue against the ruling party.
Manohar Lal said that dur-ing the 2014 elections, the BJPnot only brought a change atthe Centre bus also in Haryana.The BJP converted power intoservice for the people andchanged the administrativesystem of the previous gov-ernment as it was in doldrums,he added.
He said that BJP govern-ment had brought about achange in all the sectorswhether employment, trans-parency in administration,checking misuse of officialmachinery, worked for theupliftment of the poor, help tothe farmers, welfare of the
labour class and the masses.Taking a veiled dig at INLD
and JJP, Manohar Lal said thatthere chashma (spectacle) hasbroken and now they are withchappal (slipper).
Addressing the rallyAgriculture Minister OmParkash Dhankar said that thistime Rohtak will also bloomthe Lotus and ensure win ofBJP candidate.
He said that in the land ofwarriors the BJP governmenthas ensured setting up of aSainik School which was along pending demand of resi-dents of Jhajjar district.
Finance Minister CaptAbhimanyu said that it wasthe BJP government thatensured implementation ofOne Rank One Pension – along standing demand of ex-servicemen.
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From Page 1For Bathinda seat, the
name of Nirvan Singh, theChief Minister Capt AmarinderSingh’s grandson, was alsodoing the rounds. With CaptAmarinder talking in terms ofhanging his boots sooner, hemay decide to introduce hisdaughter Jai Inder Kaur’syounger son Nirvan as hispolitical heir.
It has also been learnt thatparty may also ask its Ministers— Navjot Singh Sidhu andVijay Inder Singla — to contestfrom Amritsar and Sangrur,respectively, as the Congress isfinding it tough to zero in ona winnable candidates on bothseats. While Congress hasshortlisted sitting MP GurjitSingh Aujla’s name fromAmritsar, the name of party’sformer MLA Kewal SinghDhillon was selected fromSangrur.
referred to as Lok MitraKendras, will facilitate the vot-ers pertaining to various elec-toral services and online filingof various registration forms onminimum charges, ChiefElectoral Officer of Himachal,Devesh Kumar said onThursday.
The charges for transactionfor electoral registration appli-cation form, printing of elec-toral roll per page, submissionof form for Electoral PhotoIdentity Cards (EPIC), trackingof application status and regis-tration of complaints will notexceed rupees one.
Kumar said if an onlineapplication is submitted, pro-vided that soft copy is attachedby the applicant, along with thephotograph for enrolment, thecost would not exceed rupeesone. Similarly, rupees two willbe charged for photographsthrough Web camera and scan-ning of the documents foruploading. However, no hardcopy of the photograph will betaken from the applicant or pre-served in the computer at suchcentres. The applicants arerequired to submit proof of dateof birth for fresh enrolment atCSCs.
The cost of preparation ofEPIC through these centres, willnot exceed Rs. 30. These cardswill be generated in seven daysand additional eight days isallowed for delivery to theapplicant at door step. It is per-tinent to mention here that ifthe time line is not adhered toor not met, no charges will bepayable to CSCs. However, ifthe collection is done by theapplicant at the CSCs, then thecost would not exceed Rs. 25, hesaid.
The CSCs will be promi-nently popularized as ECIvoter’s facilitation centres byway of putting a board in frontof the centre and displaying ofposters, banners and publicitymaterial inside the centre. Theelectoral date, NationalGrievances Services and voterhelpline 1950 will be integrat-ed with CSCs.
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Bollywood actor VivekOberoi and producer of
film “PM Narendra Modi”,Sandeep Singh on Thursdaymet the Election Commission(EC) after complaints werefiled over the release of theupcoming movie “PrimeMinister Narendra Modi” thebiopic on the life of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andban of its trailer in light of theModel Code of Code (MCC)being in force ahead of the LokSabha election. The duo haddiscussions with the poll offi-cials on the release date of theModi’s biopic which is set torelease on April 5, merely aweek before the first phase ofLok Sabha elections on April 11.
Accompanied with hislawyer Hitesh Jain, actor VivekOberoi met officials of the ECand responded to all queriesraised by the Commission.Speaking to the media, Oberoi’slawyer, Hitesh Jain said thatthat they have filed a detailedresponse to the notice receivedfrom the EC. “We have sub-mitted that biopic PMNarendra Modi is not in vio-lation of Model Code ofConduct.”
When asked, whether themovie would be released as onits scheduled date, Oberai’slawyer said: “ We have alreadyannounced the release date.However we will wait andwatch”. The EC has earlier senta notice to four producers ofthe upcoming film ‘PMNarendra Modi”. EC had ear-lier sent notices to two news-papers on 20 March over pub-lishing ‘PM Narendra Modi’film’s poster for promotions.
Meanwhile, the DelhiChief Electoral Office sent a
notice to the makers of thebiopic after it felt that the filmwas allegedly violating theModel Code of Conduct. On20 March, East DelhiReturning Officer K Mahesh,suo motu, issued notices to theproduction house and musiccompany behind the film, andtwo leading newspapers forpublishing advertisements ofthe biopic.
Congress and the CPMhad complained to the com-mission about the film’s release,saying it’s being done withpolitical intent. SeniorCongress leaders includingKapil Sibal had held a meetingwith the Election Commissionon Monday demanding topostpone the release of the film“PM Narendra Modi” — the
biopic on PM Modi starringVivek Oberoi and produced bySandip Ssingh — alleging thatthe film violates the modelcode of conduct ahead of theLok Sabha 2019 elections.
Speaking to reporters afterthe meeting with the ElectionCommission officers in NewDelhi, senior Congress leaderKapil Sibal not only targetedthe BJP party, but also the mak-ers (Producer Sandip Ssingh)and actors (Vivek Oberoi) ofthe PM Modi biopic saying thatthe film is a “corrupt practice”and “launch of the film ismotivated” ahead of theGeneral Elections.
A delegation of the CPIand the CPI(M) on Tuesdaymet Election Commission offi-cials and demanded that releaseof the film based on the life ofPrime Minister Narendra Modibe deferred, claiming it to be a“propaganda material”.
CPI’s D Raja and CPI(M)Polit Bureau member NilotpalBasu met the poll panel officialson March 25 and also pointedout serious law and order sit-uations in Tripura and WestBengal.
The Model Code ofConduct came into effect fromMarch 10 across the State onthe day when the ElectionCommission announced thedates for elections which arescheduled to begin from April11, while the results are to beannounced on May 23.
Directed by OmungKumar, the biopic on India’sincumbent Prime Minister -Narendra Modi - features VivekOberoi and Boman Irani inpivotal roles. Prior, it wasexpected to release on April 12,but given the elections weredue to begin a day earlier, therelease was preponed to April 5.
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Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon Thursday said Article
35A, which restricts non-per-manent residents and thoseoutside the Jammu & Kashmirto buy property in the State ,was “surreptitiously” includedby a presidential notification inthe Constitution in 1954 and is“constitutionally vulnerable”.
The BJP leader who is alsochairman of party’s campaigncommittee said the article wasalso hampering economicdevelopment of the State.
The Jammu & Kashmir iscurrently under President’s ruleafter BJP pulled the plug on thecoalition Government in themilitancy infected border State.
In a blog, Jaitley said theseven-decade history of theState of Jammu & Kashmir
confronts changing India withseveral questions.
“Was the Nehruviancourse, which the State hadembarked, a historical blunderor was it the correct course tofollow? Most Indians todaybelieve that it is the former.
“Does our policy todayhave to be guided by that erro-neous vision or an out of boxthinking which is in conso-nance with ground reality?”Jaitley wondered .
The senior BJP leader andin-charge of the party’s cam-paign committee for generalelections said Article 35A was“surreptitiously” included by apresidential notification in theConstitution in 1954.
Article 35A, he said, wasneither a part of the originalConstitution framed by theConstituent Assembly, nor did
it come as a ConstitutionalAmendment under Article 368of the Constitution whichrequires an approval by two-
third majority of both Housesof Parliament. “It came as apresidential notification and isa surreptitious executive inser-
tion in the Constitution.” Jaitley further said the
Article gives the right to theState Government to discrim-
inate between two State citizensliving in the State on the basisof declaring some as perma-nent residents while leaving out
the others. It also discriminates
between permanent residentsof the State and all other Indiancitizens living elsewhere, headded.
“Lakhs of Indian citizens inJammu & Kashmir vote in LokSabha elections but not inAssembly, municipal orPanchayat polls. Their childrencannot get Government jobs.They cannot own propertyand their children cannot getadmitted to Governmentalinstitutions.
“The same applies to thosewho live elsewhere in the coun-try. The heirs of ladies marry-ing outside the state are disin-herited from owing or inherit-ing property,” the Ministeradded.
He said the State does nothave adequate financial
resources and its ability toraise more has been crippled byArticle 35A.
No investor is willing to setup an industry, hotel, privateeducational institutions or pri-vate hospitals since he can nei-ther buy land or property norcan his executives do so, hesaid.
“Article 35A, which is con-stitutionally vulnerable, is usedas a political shield by many butit hurt the common citizen ofthe State the most. It deniedthem a booming economy,economic activity and jobs,”Jaitley said.
The Minister added thatthe present Government hasdecided that the rule of law inthe interest of the people ofKashmir valley and the largerinterest of India must equallyapply to Jammu & Kashmir.
The process of filing nomi-nations for the third phase
of Lok Sabha election involvingfive out of 40 seats scheduledon April 23 in 115 seats spreadacross 14 States. The ElectionCommission (EC) on Thursdayissued a notification for phasethree Lok Sabha polls.
All seats in Goa, Gujarat,Kerala, Dadra and NagarHaveli, Daman and Diu, andPuducherry will go for pollingin this phase. Uttar Pradesh,Bihar and West Bengal willhead for voting in all the sevenphases of the general elections.
According to the ElectionCommission, the parliamen-tary constituencies going topolls in the third phase inUttar Pradesh includeMoradabad, Rampur, Sambhal,Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah,Badaun, Aonla, Bareilly andPilibhit.
Janjgir-Champa (SC), Korba,Bilaspur, Durg and Raipur inChhattisgarh will head for vot-ing in the third phase.
The Anantnag seat inJammu & Kashmir will also gofor polls in this phase. Whilethe nominations begin onThursday, the last date for fil-ing of filing papers is April 4and scrutiny of nominationswill be held on April 5. The lastdate for withdrawal of candi-dature is April 8, the notifica-tion said.
The election will pit theBJP-led National DemocraticAlliance against mostly differ-ent Opposition groupings invarious States, including ofCongress, the Left and region-al forces who are continuing towork out a grand alliance tominimise a division of votesagainst the saffron party.
The BJP has worked out aseat-sharing formula with somenew allies and several old part-ners. However, the Oppositionparties are yet to do so in sev-eral States.
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At least 83 per cent of 521sitting MPs are “crorepatis”
and 33 per cent of them havecriminal cases against them.The Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR),has compiled the report afteranalysing self-sworn affidavitsof the 521 MPs out of 543members elected to the LokSabha in the 2014 elections.“Out of the 521 Sitting MPsanalysed, 430 (83 pc) are
crorepatis. While 227 of themare from BJP, 37 are fromCongress, 29 from AIADMK,among others,” the report said.The average assets per sittingMP for Lok Sabha 2014 elec-tions are �14.72 crore.
While 32 sitting MPs havedeclared more than �50 croreworth of assets, only two sittingMPs have declared assets lessthan worth �5 lakh. At least 33per cent sitting MPs havedeclared criminal cases againstthem in the affidavits.
“While 106 of them havedeclared serious criminal casesincluding cases related to mur-der, attempt to murder, com-munal disharmony, kidnap-
ping and crimes againstwomen, 10 sitting MPs havedeclared cases related to mur-der. Out of these, 4 sitting MPsare from BJP, 1 MP from INC,NCP, LJP, RJD, SwabhimaniPaksha each and one MP is anIndependent,” the report said.
“14 sitting MPs havedeclared cases of attempt tomurder. Out of these, eight sit-ting MPs are from BJP and oneMP each from INC, AITC,NCP, RJD, Shiv Sena andSwabhimani Paksha. 14 sit-ting MPs declared cases relat-ed to causing communaldisharmony. Out of them, 10sitting MPs are from BJP and1 MP from TRS, PMK, All
India Majlis-E-IttehadulMuslimeen and AIUDF each,”it added.
In another report on per-formances of the MPs, theADR said that seven MPs fromDelhi had the highest averageattendance and on an average,they attended 289 out of the312 sittings. On an average,MPs asked 251 questions andattended 221 out of the 312 sit-tings. Two MPs from Nagalandattended 88 sittings on an aver-age, the lowest in the last fiveyears. Among political par-ties, the maximum number ofquestions were asked by 18 ShivSena MPs, each of them on anaverage asking 639 questions.
ACentral Health Ministryprobe panel set up to audit
the country’s top Sports InjuryCentre at Safdarjung Hospitalin Delhi has found huge irreg-ularities in its functioning —ranging from violation in pro-curement of equipments andfacilities, financial mis-man-agement to serious discrepan-cies in appointments of health-care professionals.
The panel after submittingan interim report to the UnionHealth Ministry on October2018 which said that “availablerecords and evidence, prima-facie, indicate collusion of SICwith some suppliers thereby
causing loss to the patients andpublic exchequer,” has recent-ly submitted yet another exten-sive 62 pages report in the mat-ter.
The Ministry in Septemberlast year had set up a seven-member panel, headed by JointSecretary Rajeev Manjhi, totake up the special audit ofSIC’s functioning in variousareas ranging from equipmentsand facilities for operation the-atres to their procurement andmaintenance.
Both the reports have rec-ommended a detailed probeinto the matter in view of “bla-tant violation of CVCs instruc-tions and has sought immedi-ate action against those respon-
sible for irregularities”. Thematter is now under the scan-ner of Union Health MinisterJP Nadda. When contacted,Union Health Secretary PreetiSudan said appropriate actionwill be taken in the matter.
The huge gross irregulari-ties have also pointed needle ofsuspicion towards the thendirector of the SIC, Dr DeepakChaudhary.
Intriguingly, the Ministryin December 2018 had issueda notice to Dr Chaudhary toofor “taking up a commercialassignment with a private hos-pital without prior permissionfrom the Government”. Sourcessaid that pending reply, theMinistry has put on hold his
request for voluntary retire-ment from Dr RML Hospitalwhich he had joined after serv-ing several years in the SIC. Theprobe panel in its interimreport said “On scrutiny of thefiles pertaining to procure-ment of equipments and facil-ities for operation theatre andphysiotherapy units of the SIC,it has been observed that thereare blatant violations of gener-al financial rules (GFRs) andthe procedures adopted arerepugnant to CVC instruc-tions.
“With regard to usefulnessand usability of the equipmentwith almost similar functionshave been proposed to be pro-cured twice by furnishing a cer-
tificate that the said equipmentsare being procured not asreplacement or additional butas a first-time procurement.Frequent purchases have beenresorted to for certain equip-ments such as arthroscope 30and 70 degrees, and camera etc.
“It is surprising that theseequipments have been con-demned even during the man-ufacturers’ warranty period.…many equipments are not inworking conditions. There isno clarity with regard toCAMC/AMC….. It has alsobeen observed that Director,SIC indented some expensiveequipments for procurementprojecting quite high usability,whereas the same are being uti-
lized much below the project-ed usability of the equipment ieeven less than 10 per cent, thussuggesting infructuous expen-diture for extraneous consid-erations,” further said thereport.
The panel has also sus-pected nexus between SIC,SFH and M/S MahajanImaging, a private diagnosticplayer. “The centre (SIC) maderecommendations by conceal-ing some vital informationwhich resulted in extendingfavour to M/Mahajan Imagingby relaxing the terms of agree-ment and to neutralize sub-stantial amount of penaltyaccruing to the Government,which could have been
imposed because of violation ofthe terms of the contract andthe decision in this regard hasbeen taken at the level ofDirector (SIC) and MSSafdarjung Hospital. Besidesthere is no system in place tomonitor the free cases asagreed…” notes the report.
Also, “….. there is no ratio-nalized purchase procedurefollowed by procurement ofimplants in SIC. Documentsmade available to the panel evi-dently indicate of a nexusbetween SIC and a particularsupplier who has been supply-ing almost 90 per cent ofimplants at exorbitant rates.
“The records suggests thatthe provisions of the GFRs have
been twisted …while a closescrutiny of the operation the-atre records reveal that dispro-portionately large number ofsurgeries were performed byusing implants of certain makes(Depuy and Arthrex).
The final 62 pages reporttoo has recommended furtherdetailed investigation in view of“blatant violations ofGFRs/CVCs instructions” andlarge scale irregularities.
“The Indenting officer(HOD) may be made person-ally accountable for submittingfalse indents,” said the reporteven as it has sought annualaudit of the high-value equip-ments and devices among others.
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Two years after giving nodto the conversion of the
Akola-Khandawa railway line,passing through the heart ofMaharashtra’s Melghat TigerReserve, from metre gauge tobroad gauge, the StandingCommittee of the NationalBoard of Wildlife (NBWL)has recently asked the railwaysto look for alternate route.
The move follows afterthe National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA) as well as theDehradun based WildlifeInstitute of India (WII) in ameeting in February 2019 ofthe high-lavel wildlife panelheaded by Union EnvironmentMinister dr Harsh Vardhanwhich is responsible for fram-ing India’s policy and strategyfor wildlife conservation,opposed the proposal.
They asserted that theupgradation of the track willfragment the tiger habitat giventhat of the 35 km long railwaylines which falls inside theTiger Reserve and proposed tobe upgraded, 18 km passthrough the core area, thushaving serious impact on therich flora and fauna of theregion.
The NTCA recommendedthat the only feasible mitiga-tion is ‘avoidance’ of the broad-ening of gauge through the
area of tiger reserve andoptions for the alternateroutes/alignments bypassingthe tiger reserve should betaken up by the railway author-ities.
As per the minutes of theStanding Committee of theNBWL, NTCA MemberSecretary Anup Nayak point-ed out that “alternate align-ment surveyed by the railwayswhich bypasses the tigerreserve can facilitate greatereconomic development of theregion by connecting the near-by 29 villages and large popu-lation living in the area.
“After discussions, theStanding Committee recom-mended to return the propos-al to the MaharashtraGovernment with request toreview the proposal in thelight of the recommendationsof the NTCA and WII,” saidthe minutes of the meeting.
The members also noted thattwo applications were filedbefore the Central EmpoweredCommittee against theapproval of the upgradation ofthe track.
Spread over an area of1,673 sq km, the Melghat TigerReserve, which is home toabout 50 tigers is connectednorthwards to Satpuda forests.
In 2017, the Standing com-mittee of the NBWL hadapproved the proposal subjectto the mitigation measuresrecommended by the NTCAand WII.
However, wildlife activistshad slammed the move withsome of them even approach-ing the Supreme Court ledCentrally Empowered com-mittee (CEC) against the rail-way plan arguing that it shouldbe shot down as it will endan-ger the tigers besides otherwildlife in the region.
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Lok Sabha MP ShatrughanSinha on Thursday ended
speculation over his joining theCongress after meeting partypresident Rahul Gandhi andboth sides announced that theBJP rebel will induct himself inCongress next week. Sourcessaid that the joining which wasto happen on Thursday itselfhad to be delayed due to revivalof the tension within the RJDand Congress in the Biharmahagathbandhan.
After meeting RahulGandhi, Sinha announced hewill join the Congress. “Joiningwill happen soon, we will giveyou a positive news duringNavaratri. I will join Congressnow,” Sinha said talking tomedia later. AICC incharge ofBihar Shaktisinh Gohil tweet-ed that Sinha will join theparty on April 6.
Sources said that Sinha’sjoining was marred by theimmediate friction betweenthe two major grand alliancepartners while RJD complain-ing that Sinha could have beeneven RJD’s bet. Sinha, Congressand RJD finally decided toabort the move to join and buypeace for sometime.
“RJD was said to be keenon having Sinha as its candidatefrom Patna Sahib constituency.Sinha and RJD supremo LaluPrasad share a cordial relation.But the Congress has alwayscontested the Patna Sahib seatwhenever it allied with theRJD in Bihar.
So, the party wanted tofield Sinha on its own symbol.This tug-of-war had apparent-ly caused the delay in decisionof Sinha joining the grand oldparty,” said a senior Congressleader.
Sinha is a two-time sittingBJP MP from Patna Lok Sabha
seat and has been critical of theNarendra Modi Governmentfor past couple of years. He hasbeen sidelined in the BJP,which replaced him withUnion Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad as the Lok Sabha can-didate from Patna Sahib con-stituency.
On Wednesday, BiharCongress election campaigncommittee chairman AkhileshPrasad Singh had said that
Shatrughan Sinha would jointhe party “in New Delhi onMarch 28 at 11.30 am”. Singhhad also announced that Sinhawill be the Congress candidatefrom Patna Sahib.
On his part, Sinha praisedRahul Gandhi after hepromised to implement a min-imum income guaranteescheme if the Congress is votedto power in the Lok Sabhapolls.
New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Thursday said it would hearon April 8 a batch of petitionschallenging the Centre’s decisionto grant 10 per cent reservationin jobs as well as admissions toeducational institutions to eco-nomically weaker sectionsacross all classes.
A Bench comprisingJustices SA Bobde and SANazeer said it would also dealwith the contentions raised bysome of the petitioners whohave said that the matter wasrequired to be adjudicatedupon by a Constitution Bench.
At the outset, SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for the Centre, sought anadjournment saying he andAttorney General KKVenugopal were appearing in amatter on Thursday before aConstitution Bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
“I am on my legs before theConstitution Bench. Pleaseaccommodate me,” he told theBench.
Senior advocate RajeevDhavan, appearing for one ofthe petitioners, referred to theapex court’s last order passed inthe matter on March 11 andsaid the issue of whether thesepleas should be referred to aConstitution Bench should beconsidered. PTI
Rae Bareli: Congress generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhi onThursday said she has beengiven the key task of strength-ening her party in the UttarPradesh — even beyond theLok Sabha elections — andensure it comes back to powerin the 2022 Assembly polls.
Hitting out at the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), Priyanka,who is the Congress’ easternUttar Pradesh in charge, alsosaid her party which fought forfreedom does not need a “cer-tificate of patriotism” fromthose who sought to apologise
to the then British rulers.Addressing block presidents,
booth workers and the membersof gram panchayat and zila pan-chayat of the party in Rae Bareli,the constituency of her motherand UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi, she said: “I have beengiven the task to strengthen theparty in the state. And I willensure that the party comes topower in the State in 2022.
“And once the Governmentis formed in Uttar Pradesh, Ican ensure that we are not
going to be defeated for next10-15 years on the basis of thedevelopment works.”
Priyanka Gandhi hadmade the same point at herprogramme near Gauriganj inAmethi — the constituency ofher brother and CongressPresident Rahul Gandhi — onWednesday night.
“Are you preparing for theelections? I am not talkingabout 2019, but 2022,” sheasked the workers, indicatingthe reason for her appointment
in the party’s long-term strat-egy in the State.
“And we do not need cer-tificate of nationalism fromanyone who never participat-ed in the freedom struggleand who wrote letter to theBritishers seeking apology,” shesaid. IANS
paign on two Lok Sabha seatsfrom Jammu region, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday launched a ‘blister-ing’ attack on three rival polit-ical parties — the Congress, theNational Conference (NC) andthe Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and held them respon-sible for the current situation inJammu & Kashmir.
Prime Minister accusedthe Congress and its policymakers for not according toppriority to the issues ofNational Security and striking‘discordant’ notes against thewishes of the countrymen at acrucial juncture.
He also pointed fingerstowards the Congress partyfor taking support of twoKashmir-based regional partiesfor its own survival in the
electoral fray in Jammu ignor-ing the statements and standtaken by the leaders of theseparties in Kashmir valley .
The Congress had earlierfielded joint candidates, fromJammu-Poonch andUdhampur-Doda Lok Sabhaseat, after stitching a tacticalalliance with the NC to defeatthe BJP. The PDP has alsoextended support to the twoCongress candidates in Jammuprovince.
Before kick-starting hiselection campaign, PrimeMinister Modi rememberedparty stalwart Prem NathDogra and saluted members ofthe Dogra community. He alsogreeted them in chaste ‘Dogri’language amid thunderingapplause.
“I am happy that when Ihave set out to reach out to thepeople of this country ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls, I came toJammu first”, Modi said.
Addressing a mammoth
election rally in the border beltof Akhnoor Prime Ministersaid, “Congress, NC & PDP areresponsible for the problemsJammu & Kashmir faces today.It is because of them thatKashmiri Pandits faced so muchtrouble. Terrorism took roots inthe State. Sadly, national secu-rity is not a priority for them,they only care about powerand their dynastic politics”.
He said “leaders of thesethree political parties in thestate are losing their sleep fol-lowing complete crackdownby the security agencies on ter-rorist organisations and theirsympathisers in the State.
Referring to Balakotestrikes on terror factories activein Pakistan, Modi said, “eversince India demonstrated itscapacity to destroy terror infra-structure deep inside Pakistanone after the other senior con-gress leaders are speakingagainst the national interest andgiving clean chits to terrorists
and Pakistan”.He said even those parties
who ruled the State of Jammu& Kashmir for many years aredoing the same. Commentingon the language of opposition,Modi said that Pakistanapplauds such voice.
“The whole country is talk-ing in one voice and theseCongress people are talking ina different voice. Do you acceptthis language of Congress? OfPDP? of NC? Pakistan applaudstheir language,” said Modi.
Further escalating its sharpattack on the Opposition, Modisaid, “What is beyond compre-hension is Congress’ attitude. Isit the same Congress that SardarPatel was a part of? Is it thesame Congress that NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose was apart of, and fought for India’sindependence,” Modi asked.
Modi said, if you monitorsocial media and TV channelsin Pakistan, terrorists and theirhandlers are all praying to getrid of ‘Chowkidar’ and victoryof ‘mahamilavati alliace’ in LokSabha polls. In his 35 minutespeech Prime Minister also pre-sented a comprehensive reportcard of his government beforethe electorate and sought anoth-er term to carry forward thejourney on road to prosperity.
Lucknow: With electioneeringfor the 2019 Lok Sabha pollsgaining steam in Uttar Pradesh,political leaders are increasing-ly resorting to personal attackson their adversaries. If the mav-erick BJP MLA from Bairia,Surendra Singh hit the headlinesfor his remarks against BSPsupremo Mayawati, UttarPradesh Cabinet MinisterShrikant Sharma hit a new lowby making indecent commentson Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
The Bairia MLA had saidMayawati gets facials done andher hair coloured even thoughshe is 60-years-old. He alsoreportedly made offensiveremarks against UPA chair-
person Sonia Gandhi andHaryanvi singer-dancer SapnaChaudhary, evoking wide-spread criticism from politicalparties and social media users.
A media agency quoted himas saying that both Sonia Gandhiand Sapna Chaudhary used towork as dancers. “Rahul’s moth-er (Sonia Gandhi) was also in thesame profession in Italy and hisfather made her his own. He(Rahul Gandhi) should also takethe family tradition forward andmake Sapna his own,” the MLAsaid. The BJP legislator, who isknown for his controversial
statements, had earlier termedRahul and his sister Priyanka“Ravana and Shurpanakha”, andaccused Mayawati of “murder-ing” a woman’s dignity by join-
ing hands with one-time archrival SP. UP Power MinisterShrikant Sharma stirred up ahornet’s nest with his tweetterming the Congress president
a “coward and impotent”.The comments triggered a
war of words between the twoparties as well as on socialmedia platform. PTI
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In an apparent bid to hit theBJP where it hurts the most
Mamata Banerjee onWednesday questioned the saf-fron outfit’s failure to keep itspromises particularly the oneon Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
Mounting a blisteringattack on the BJP for dividingIndia in the name of religionand in the name of Lord Rambut failing to proceed a singlestep towards constructing theRam Temple in Ayodhya theBengal Chief Minister onWednesday said “when theelection comes you (BJP) goabout selling Ram’s name forvotes. But after the electionsyou forget your promises.”
Comparing her achieve-ments in restoring places ofworships to their lost gloriesBanerjee said “Despite makingtall promises before the electionsyou (BJP) have failed to constructa Ram Temple in five years buthere. I have renovated a whole lotof places of worship — provid-ing added facilities in —Dakshineshwar, Belur Math,Tara Peeth Furfura Sharief.”
Taking an apparent dig atPrime Minister Narendra Modithe Chief Minister said “thecondition of Ganga in Varanasi— from where Modi was elect-ed — remains the same as itwas five years ago but go toGanga Sagar and you will seehow we have made it a livingparadise.” The Chief Ministerwas attending a Holi Milangathering attended by people of
all communities. Citing howthe people of Bihar, UP,Rajasthan, Gujarat and otherplaces feel “more than at homein Bengal,” she said the situa-tion in those places were notthe same.
“You will not find lynchingin Bengal like it happens inother places,” she said attackingthe BJP leaders for accusing ofstopping Durga Puja celebra-
tions in her State. “Can thesepeople say anything about thereal symbolism behind Durgaor Kali or do they rememberthe mantras (of the MotherGoddess)? I am sure they don’t.But I do though I do not sellabout my religion.”
Banerjee who once againassured the nation that GSTwill be reviewed and demon-etisation will be investigatedsaid how the BJP was drivinga wedge in the Indian societyby setting one communityagainst the other and how theyare dividing India to rule thecountry.
“We will not divide thecountry but we will reviewGST, probe demonetisation”and double MNREGA days toensure increased employment,Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister whohad earlier disapproved of thePrime Minister’s announcementof India’s path-breaking progressin the anti-satellite warfareinstead of the DRDO chief said,“the BJP is adopting all kinds ofmean ways to gain votes.”
She had earlier attackedFinance Minister Arun Jaitleywho accused her of demeaningIndia’s Defence programmes.“Jaitley ji is an educated man,a good looking man but howcan he say like that? He saidthat I am criticising India’snuclear and other programmes.Why should I do so? I onlyobjected to the announcementmade by the Prime Minister.This should have been done bythe DRDO chief,” she said.
Amethi: Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra wriggled herself out ofher party workers demand toget herself weighed in ‘lad-doos’, making the local leaderwho had planned the eventto sit on the scales instead.After day-long meetings withpartymen in her brotherRahul Gandhi’sParliamentary constituencyon Wednesday, PriyankaGandhi arrived at the resi-dence of local leader FatehBahadur around midnight,where the host had theweighing scales ready.
She, however, turneddown the request by herparty workers to sit on themagainst ‘laddoos’ and insteadgot the host to sit on them,much to the amusement ofonlookers.
She also got a promisefrom the partymen to workharder not just for theupcoming Lok Sabha elec-tions but also for the 2022Assembly polls in UttarPradesh. PTI
Thursday mobbed and heckledby supporters of a party rebel,who has filed his nominationas an Independent candidatefrom Katihar Lok Sabha con-stituency notwithstanding theseat going to alliance partnerJD(U) headed by ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar.
Rai called on BJP MLCAshok Kumar Agarwal at hisresidence and spent over twohours trying to persuade himto withdraw his nomination infavor of the JD(U) candidateDulal Chandra Goswami, who would seek to wrest theseat for NDA from TariqAnwar of the Congress.
The BJP had won the seatthree times on the trot in 1999,2004 and 2009 with support ofthe JD(U). In 2014, whenNitish Kumar went it alone, thethree-time BJP MP NikhilKumar Choudhary finishedthe runner-up while Anwarthen with Sharad Pawars NCPand a several-term MP fromKatihar, won after a gap ofmore than a decade.
The JD(U)s Ram PrakashMahto had finished third withjust over one lakh votes, waybehind the BJP candidate, whopolled nearly 3.16 lakhs.However, the seat went to theJD(U) this time after the par-tys return to the NDA as thealliance had to make manyadjustments to accommodatethe Chief Ministers party.
However, when Raiemerged from Agarwals househere, he found himself sur-rounded by hundreds of theMLCs supporters who hadkept shouting slogans outsideduring the period the state unitchief remained inside.
As Rai tried to get insidehis vehicle, he had to jostle withthe agitators who were quelled
by the police before he coulddepart. Later, Agarwal made hisintentions clear when he defi-antly said roothne manaane kadaur khatm hua (the time forsulking and cajoling is over).Besides Katihar, the BJP is alsofaced with the embarrassmentof rebellion by its leader inanother constituency Bankawhere former MP PutulKumari has filed her nomina-tion as an Independent.
On Wednesday, State vice-president and in-charge of partyheadquarters Davesh Kumarhad shot off missives to therebel candidates to withdrawtheir nominations and warnedthem of disciplinary action.
Putul Kumari had madeher electoral debut in 2010 asan Independent candidate andwon in the bypoll that wasnecessitated by the death of herhusband Digvijay Singh, whohad served as a minister in gov-ernments headed by VP Singhand Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Singh had pulled off astunning victory in the 2009Lok Sabha polls when the for-mer JD(U) leader won the seatfighting as an Independentafter falling out with NitishKumar even though the elec-tions were swept by the NDAwhich bagged 32 out of 40 seatsin the State.
Thiruvananthapuram: BJPKerala unit chief PS SreedharanPillai on Thursday said theparty will raise the Sabarimalaissue over women’s entry andthe alleged harassment sufferedby the Lord Ayyappa devoteesduring the campaign in theupcoming Lok Sabha polls.
If the law permits theCentre to intervene in the mat-ter, the BJP would take all pos-sible steps to bring a new leg-islation to protect the temple’scustoms and traditions, theleader said in a statement here.
“Each BJP candidate hasthe right to raise the issue ofassault on Lord Ayyappa devo-tees in Sabarimala and theattempts to destroy their faithduring the campaign in apeaceful manner,” he said.Pillai’s statement came hoursafter his reported remarks thatthe BJP will not use Sabarimalaas campaign issue in the LSpolls triggered a controversy.
A section of the mediareported that his statementwas contradictory to the standtaken by K Surendran, theBJP-NDA’s candidate inPathanamthitta (where theSabarimala temple is located),who had made it clear that theSabarimala row would be oneof the major campaign issues.
“I have never said any-where that Sabarimala issuewould not be raised during ourelection campaigns. The NDAcandidate in Pathanamthittaand the party cadre there haveevery right to raise the issue dur-ing campaigns in accordancewith the law,” he said. PTI
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Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadavdirected party workers not to make indecent com-ments against women after the NationalCommission for Women pulled up a party leaderfor allegedly making sexist remarks against actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada. SP Sambhal district
president Firoz Khan had allegedly said Jaya Pradawould “enthral the people of Rampur with herghungaroos and thumkas”. In a short video clip,Khan is heard saying “Rampur ki shaameinrangeen ho jaayengi ab jab chunavi mahual chale-ga (Rampur’s evenings will turn colourful this elec-tion season)”, seemingly referring to Jaya Prada,who recently joined the BJP. PTI
questioned propriety of appoint-ing a Special Police Observer forBengal who had earlier been seenattending an RSS programme inuniform, the ElectionCommission of India onWednesday replaced the seniorIPS officer with a new one.
Though the ECI would notprovide reasons it removed for-mer Director General of BSF KKSharma as the Special PoliceObserver for Bengal. VivekDubey 1981 batch IPS officer willsupervise the Lok Sabha electionin the State in place of Sharma,Additional Chief ElectoralOfficer Sanjay Basu said.
He quoted “specific orders”from the ECI but said no spe-
cific reason had been offered forthe new move. Banerjee had onWednesday cited photographsshowing how in 2018 Sharmahad joined an RSS-sponsoredprogramme in police uniform.
Apart from policeobservers the ECI has alsoappointed 44 expenditureobservers to monitor thespending of various politicalparties, sources said.
Meanwhile, the KolkataPolice on Thursday recoveredRs 35 lakh from a person atBrabourne Road in NorthKolkata. Identified as PKSharma from Odisha theaccused was taken into custody.The Thursday’s recovery takesthe total recovery of unex-plained cash to about 11 coreinthe past two weeks: highest everin Bengal, sources said.
Kaliabor/Teok: BJP chief AmitShah on Thursday accused theprevious Congress Governmentin Assam of settling illegalimmigrants in the State, as heapplauded the Narendra ModiGovernment for securing thecountry’s frontiers and aveng-ing Indian soldiers killed byPakistan-backed terror groups.
Addressing election ralliesin the state, Shah asserted, letalone infiltrators “not even abird” will be allowed to enterAssam illegally if the BJP secures
a second term at the Centre.He said only Prime
Minister Narendra Modi andthe BJP can ensure security ofthe country and not theCongress or its president RahulGandhi. “In his five years inoffice, Modi brought in a lot ofdevelopment. But most of all heensured the security of thecountry and its borders. Underhis leadership, India avengedthe blood of our soldiers killedin Uri and Pulwama attacks byPakistan-based terror ele-ments,” Shah told election ral-lies in Kaliabor and Teok.
The BJP president claimedthe way the world viewed Indiaunderwent a drastic changeunder Modi. Shah insisted thatIndia under Modi was only thethird nation after the US andIsrael to take swift revenge forthe spilling of their soldiers’blood by enemies. He criti-cised the Congress party fordemanding proof of the damagecaused by the Indian Air Force’sBalakot air strike inside Pakistanin the wake of the killing of 44CRPF personnel in Pulwama.
“Should we avenge our fall-en soldiers or not? The Congressparty cannot protect the coun-try’s borders. If we want to pro-tect India’s borders, then onlyNarendra Modi and BJP can dothat,” Shah said. PTI
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Having decided to fight allthe 48 Lok Sabha polls in
Maharashtra as a third front,the Bahujan Samaj Party andthe Samajwadi Party will con-test 44 seats and four seatsrespectively in the State.
Thirteen days ahead of thefirst phase of the four-phasedpolls in the state, the BSP andSP on Thursday announced theseat-sharing pact betweenthem. Under the pact, theSamajwadi Party will contestMumbai north-west, Dhule,Nanded and Beed seats.
Of the 44 seats that it iscontesting in the State, theBSP will release its first list of19 seats.
The seats for which theBSP it has named candidatesinclude: Bhandara-Gondia,Chandrapur, Ramtek, Nagpur,Washim, Amravati, Buldhana,Hingoli, Akolam, Parbhani,Osmanabad, Latur and Solapur.
Mayawati will launch theBSP-SP launch in Maharashtraat a rally in Nagpur on April 4.SP chief Akhilesh Yadav isexpected to attend the rally.
Both the BSP and SP donot have the following inMaharashtra that they caninfluence the Lok Sabha polloutcome. For instance, the BSPhad contested all the 48 lokSabha polls in the state. TheMayawati-led party polled apathetic 2.61 per cent – which2.22 per cent votes less than thevotes it had polled in the 2009Lok Sabha polls.
Mumbai: The BJP is bankingon the popularity of some ofBhojpuri film industry’s biggeststars to see it through a clutchof Lok Sabha seats in easternUttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The saffron outfit is tap-ping film stars Ravi Kishan,singer-actor Dinesh Lal Yadavalias ‘Nirahua’ and PawanSingh and they are expected tocontest elections from seats ineastern UP and West Bengal,which have Bhojpuri voters,party insiders said.
Singh is already in the BJP,while Yadav joined the party onWednesday in Lucknow in thepresence of Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath.
PTI
Patna: Upset over being side-lined in the party and the fam-ily, Tej Pratap Yadav, elder sonof RJD chief Lalu Prasad, onThursday resigned as patron ofthe RJD student wing ahead ofthe Lok Sabha polls, dealing ablow to Bihar’s mainOpposition party.
“I am resigning as patronof RJD student wing. Thosewho think I am naive are mis-taken,” tweeted Tej PratapYadav, a former Bihar HealthMinister who has been havingsimmering disputes with hisyounger brother and the moreactive Tejashwi Yadav.
Tej Pratap Yadav addedthat he knew who wields whatkind of influence in partyaffairs. The resignation comesin the absence of Lalu Prasad,who is undergoing treatment ata Government hospital inRanchi after being convicted infodder scam cases.
Tej Pratap Yadav hasreportedly told his aides that hewas pained because his requestto accommodate two of hissupporters as candidates inthe Sheohar and JehanabadLok Sabha seats was rejected.
RJD leaders close to himsay he is not happy the wayTejashwi Yadav has been givencommand of the party and withthe latter’s style of functioning.Tejashwi Yadav is the Leader ofOpposition in the BiharAssembly.
“In last six months, TejPratap had time and againpointed out how he was side-lined in the party” by TejashwiYadav, a former Deputy ChiefMinister. IANS
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The Samajwadi Party onThursday declared five
more candidates for Lok Sabhapolls in Uttar Pradesh, takingthe total number of it candi-dates declared so far to 27.
The list includes the namesof former MLA Puja Pal fromUnnao and one candidate forMadhya Pradesh. The partyhad earlier declared a list of 23candidates, including one from
Madhya Pradesh. Beside Pal, former SP
Minister Bhagwat SharanGangwar was been given tick-et from Bareilly, Nasir Quereshifrom Moradabad, ShyamSunder Singh Yadav fromJhansi and Nathuni PrasadKushwaha from Kushinagar.
The surprise inclusion inthe list is Bahujan Samaj Partyleader Raju Pal’s widow PujaPal. Raju Pal was shot dead indaylight by Atiq Ahmad inAllahabad. Later the BSP field-ed Puja Pal and she won the2012 Assembly poll comfort-ably but lost in the 2017
Assembly election. This time,Puja has been pitted againstSakshi Maharaj, the sitting MPof Bharatiya Janata Party fromUnnao, and former CongressMP Annu Tandon.
“Puja Pal is ‘Gaderia’ bycaste and since Unnao has asizeable population of Lodhiand Mallah, she seems to be agood bet,” a senior SP leadersaid. On the other hand, formerMLA from Nawabganj(Bareilly) and a minister inAkhilesh Yadav government,Bhagwat Sharan Singh Gangwarhas been fielded from Bareilly.
The inclusion of NathuniPrasad Kushwaha’s name in theSP list also came as a surprise.Kushwaha, a veteran SP leader,contested five elections — threeAssembly and two parliamen-tary — but lost all. He will bepitted against RPN Singh ofCongress and Vijay Dubey ofBJP from Kushinagar in east UP.
The BJP has denied ticket
to its sitting MP Rajesh Pandeyfrom Kushinagar this time andhas replaced him with VijayDubey.
The SP has also fieldedturncoat Naseer Quereshi fromMoradabad. He contested twoAssembly elections on BSPticket in 2012 (MoradabadDehat) and 2017 (Kaanth) butlost both. In 2018, he joined theSP and was selected as alliancecandidate from Moradabad.
In Jhansi, the SP has field-ed Shyam Sundar Singh Yadav,who had joined the SP afterleaving the BJP.
The SP is contesting thegeneral election in alliancewith BSP and would contest on37 seats, while the BSP wouldfield candidates from 38 seats.Rashtriya Lok Dal, the thirdpartner of the alliance, hasbeen given three seats.
SP patron Mulayam SinghYadav is contesting fromMainpuri, SP chief AkhileshYadav from Azamgarh, his wifeDimple Yadav from Kannauj,Dharmendra Yadav fromBudaun, Akshay Yadav fromFerozabad and MohammadAzam Khan from Rampur.
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Even as suspense continuesover the name of Congress
candidate from Lucknow LokSabha constituency, formerUnion Minister and party can-didate from Dhaurahra parlia-mentary seat, Jitin Prasada,has hinted at contesting fromLucknow instead of Dhaurahra.
Prasada, who was on hisway to the state capital viaSitapur on Thursday, wasstopped by Congress workerswho wanted him to contestfrom Dhaurahra. “My bodymay be present in Lucknow butmy soul will always be inDhaurahra. Give me sometime, I am standing at a polit-ical cross-roads. I am going toLucknow and will decide whatI have to do,” said Prasada as headdressed Congress workers atKanshiram Colony in Sitapur.
Jitin Prasada reached hisLawrence Terrace house inLucknow in the evening andheld a meeting with his sup-porters over the future strategy.
Earlier, there were rumoursthat Jitin Prasada was joiningthe BJP after reports emergedof his being unhappy withalleged pressure from the partyleadership to change his seatfrom Dhaurahra to Lucknow.However, he rubbished thespeculation.
Prasada was a UnionMinister in the UPAGovernment and is presentlyan invitee member of theCongress Working Committee.
As per sources, theCongress is likely to field himfrom Lucknow for a directfight with Union HomeMinister Rajnath Singh. Thesources said Congress generalsecretary incharge of easternUP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,came up with the idea of shift-ing Prasada from his presentconstituency after the former
Minister reportedly conveyedhis reservation over fightingfrom Dhaurahra.
Prasada, a Brahmin, hailsfrom a prominent politicalfamily of Shahjahanpur. Hisfather, late Jitendra Prasada,was a Congress stalwart andhad even contested the partypresidential election againstSonia Gandhi.
Jitin Prasada son won hisfirst Lok Sabha election fromShahjahanpur in 2004. In 2009,he shifted to the newly-formedDhaurahra constituency andwon but in 2014, he lost to theBJP. Dhaurahra is one of the 80Lok Sabha constituencies in UPthat will go to polls in the fourthphase. While the Congress hasdeclared Prasada as its officialcandidate from Dhaurahra, reli-able sources close to the leadersaid the party now wanted toshift him to Lucknow.
New Delhi: The CPI(M) onThursday proposed curbing ofmass surveillance, statutoryminimum wage of not lessthan �18,000 per month andchecking monopolies over tele-com and internet service plat-forms in its manifesto for thecoming Lok Sabha elections.
This is the first time whenthe Left party has mentioneddigital rights of citizens in itsmanifesto. The CPI(M) said itwould recognise digital infra-structure as public infrastruc-ture and stop mass surveillanceby State agencies under section69 of the IT Act.
“There should be clearprovisions and judicial super-vision of any surveillance thatviolates citizens privacy. Enactdata privacy laws that protectthe people against appropria-
tion/misuse of users privatedata for commercial use,” saidCPI(M) General SecretarySitaram Yechury while releas-ing the manifesto along withPolit Bureau members BrindaKarat, Prakash Karat and
Nilotpal Basu.He said the party would
curb monopoly of some tele-com majors. The manifestoalso proposed the scrapping ofthe use of Aadhaar and bio-metrics for all social welfare
measures, repeal/amend theNational Security Act, section499 of IPC (relating to defama-tion) and Armed Forces(Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).
In the declaration, the partyalso proposed alternative poli-cy platform under which itcalled for protection of the sec-ular principle and democraticrights enshrined in theConstitution and enforcementof farmers’ right to sell their pro-duce at minimum support price.
“Our main aim is to defeatthe BJP, increase the strength ofthe CPI(M) and the Left inParliament and form an alter-native secular Government,”Yechury said.
The left party said the pen-sion system would enablesenior citizens to live with dig-nity. PTI
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The Samajwadi Party is like-ly to release its manifesto
for the Lok Sabha polls,promising jobs and setting upof a youth commission, in thefirst week of April. As SP’salliance partner Bahujan SamajParty does not have a traditionto release a manifesto, AkhileshYadav will be free to announcehis party’s poll promises. TheBJP and Congress will alsorelease their manifestos soon.
The SP manifesto is like-ly to be pro-youth, with thepromise to bring a nationalyouth employment job guar-antee bill, compulsory job forevery youth and setting up ofa youth commission.
The manifesto will alsofocus on larger role to beplayed by regional parties inthe country, particularly in the
post-poll scenario.A senior SP leader said in
Lucknow on Thursday that ata time when rising unemploy-ment was a big issue, the partyplanned to catch the imagina-tion of youths, specially in thestate, by promising to enact leg-islation on national youthemployment job guarantee.
“In this legislation, theparty will make the promise ofproviding jobs to all thoseyouths who are registered inemployment exchanges with-in six months time,” he said.
Besides, the youth com-mission will be constituted onlines of the existing minorityor women’s commissions. Butthis commission will com-prise youths from universitiesand civil societies. It will advisethe government on formulat-ing policies for the youths,” theleader said.
Kolkata: Lok Sabha candidatesin West Bengal’s Birbhum dis-trict are seeking to exploit allmodes of transport to attractattention. While one candidatechose bullock cart, anotherdecided to drive an e-rickshaw.
Actor-turned-politicianSatabdi Roy, seeking to retainthe Birbhum Lok Sabha seatshe had won for the TrinamoolCongress in 2009 and 2014,was seen riding an e-rickshawall by herself while campaign-ing in villages of the
Rampurhaat locality.Roy, clad in a pink saree
and donning sunglasses, alsoparticipated in a tribal dancewith the women folk of thelocality. Not to be outdone, herBJP rival Dudh Kumar Mondalrode a bullock cart to interactwith the people of anotherPanchayat area. The Birbhumconstituency will go to polls onApril 29 in the fourth of theseven-phased Lok Sabha elec-tion in the State. IANS
The Indian sub-continent is a wound-ed region that has been subjected todangerous contextualising of terror
that is ultimately tantamount to “justifica-tion of terrorism.” The adage, “One man’sterrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”has been used and abused by both terrorgroups and roguish states, whose stated pol-icy distinguishes between “good” and“bad” terrorists. Repeated warnings todesist from such categorisation — as thesame inevitably backfires — is personifiedby Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’sroutine posting of the figure of 75,000Pakistani casualties and an economic costof $123 billion to the state, owing to itsostensible fight against terrorism.
Obviously, the Pakistani state has notcome clean on its own track record of duplic-itousness and insincerity on terror, with thethen Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’sprophetic warning that “snakes in the back-yard would not just bite the neighbours.” Thetact of selectively legitimising and deliber-ately contextualising some terror organisa-tions as “freedom fighters” or “defenders ofthe faith” comes with accompanying risks ofthese morphing and mutating intoFrankenstein monsters and turning upon itsprogenitors. The fact is that Pakistan is wit-nessing a breakdown in its social structures,economic health and political future by pan-dering to regressive “contexts” to justify itsinterferences across the Durand Line in theAfghan region, across the Line of Control inIndia as also across its Iranian border.
An unwarranted and insensitive contex-tualising of a terror act was recently madeby an Australian Senator, Fraser Anning, fol-lowing the horrific massacre of at least 50lives at Christchurch in New Zealand,which literally resulted with an egg on hisface. The Senator had incredulously stated,“The real cause of bloodshed on NewZealand streets today is the immigration pro-gramme, which allowed Muslim fanatics tomigrate to the country in the first place.”While his statement was squarely lambast-ed by the political leadership in specific andsociety in general, in both his nativeAustralia and New Zealand — the age-oldpractice of “contextualising” terror, that fur-ther divides and polarises societies, was infull display. In stark contrast was the deftstatesmanship, empathy and sensitivityshown by New Zealand Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern in handling the post-attacknarrative by unambiguously designating theincident as a “terrorist attack”, resulting in amore corrective and reformative step asopposed to the vacuous “contextualising”, aswas done by the Australian Senator.
In India, too, expected apologists of ter-ror across the border and some within, lendimmediate “context” and “credence” to anyterror attack by willy-nilly justifying the sameon the pretext of the need to “introspect whyit happened?” Terrorism is a multi-dimen-sional phenomenon that breeds and survives
on popular legitimacy of itsactions among the aggrievedcommunities and the otherstakeholders — this psychoso-cial “oxygen” is the key determi-nant for its sustenance. It is thisspirit of unequivocal delegitimi-sation that was invoked byArdern when she spoke aboutthe terrorist in a deliberatelynameless way by stating, “Hemay have sought notoriety butwe in New Zealand will give himnothing. Not even his name.”
This handling was verydifferent from the terror attackin Pulwama in India, wherespotlight on the “perpetrator”was ensured by the cynicalpolitical manipulation of thesame, a 24-hour mediablitzkrieg covering the sublime-to-the-ridiculous theories andthe unashamed “sharing” oftrue and manufactured contenton the social media.
Somehow, under the garbof various “contexts”, thePulwama terror act did notunite the entirety of populacefor its sheer brutality andinhumanity but deflected theissue into unnecessary dividesof political positions, pro-and-anti-nationalism andended up polarising the mass-es even more.
A similar frenzy was instru-mental in elevating BurhanWani into a cult-like phenom-enon with a complex process ofcognitive accommodation,
It is important to recognisethat the maximum “context- set-ting” of terrorism is done by for-eign powers who have vestedinterest in the disruption ofnormalcy, national politicianswith a hovering electoral calcu-lator and finally the TRP-drivenmedia (mainstream and social)that ignites popular passions toensure that the requisite ‘fuel’ forterror justifications persists.
China’s patent realpolitikapproach in defending Pakistan,and by that extent, JeM chiefMasood Azhar on the floor ofthe United Nations, is a classiccase of a foreign power afford-ing a context of “technicality” invetoing the symbolic step thatcould have named and shamedIslamabad, which brazenlychooses to side with those whouse violence in the name of faith.
Even fringe support,applause or “context” is suffi-cient for the terror industry —it is imperative that no platformfor contextualising of terror isallowed in the aftermath of anyterror attack. Speaking aboutPakistan’s support for terror-ism, UN Secretary-GeneralAntónio Guterres had specifi-cally said that “no political rea-son…no cause, no grievance”could justify it. Former USPresident George Bush in hisaddress to the joint session ofCongress on September 20,
2001, had famously exhortedon the double-speak on terror-ism, “Every nation in everyregion now has a decision tomake: Either you are with us oryou are with the terrorists.”This nudge had led to sometemporary course-correctionin Islamabad — with Pakistanpurportedly joining the glob-al “war on terror” — but thesubsequent reversal to itspatent contextual support tothe terror industry led to itscoming under the internation-al scanner — take for examplethe ongoing Financial ActionTask Force (FATF) proceedings— and reached its pinnacle ofopprobrium when Osama binLaden was “taken out” from themilitary garrison town ofAbbottabad.
Similarly, Pakistan refusesto abandon its basic instinct ofcontextualising and interferingin the affairs of its neighbours,much to the chagrin of Kabul,Tehran and Delhi. Proverbialchickens are coming home toroost as the Pakistani establish-ment now plays the “martyrcard” on terrorism after yearsof contextual support based ona flawed interpretation of his-tory, co-religionist and “free-dom struggle” as it expectedlybackfired, giving an invaluablelesson to all apologists of ter-ror-contextualising.
(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author))��� ������ ���������� �����
Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Space superpower” (March29). Having successfully test-fired an anti-satellite missile,India has joined the elite spaceleague comprising the US, Russiaand China. Mission Shakti is theresult of nine years of hard workby our scientists. By shootingdown a low earth orbit satellite,the mission has been declaredsuccessful. India has rightlyassured the international commu-nity that it would not misuse thisnew capability.
KV SeetharamaiahHassan
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Between spirit and rules”(March 28). R Ashwin’s“Mankading” of Jos Buttler dur-ing an Indian Premier Leaguematch between Punjab andRajasthan has stirred up a contro-versy. The cricket fraternity andfans stand divided on the“Mankading” incident. However,it must be understood thatAshwin just followed the rule
book of cricket and his call wascompletely legal. He did not doanything wrong. If experts are somuch depressed by his action,then the rule of “Mankad” shouldbe removed from the law books.But until the removal of theclause, all must enjoy one of themost watched sports around theworld with passion.
Navneet SethDhuri
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Sir — This refers to the article,“The fatal game of opportunisticpolitics” (March27) by KalyaniShankar. Impartially speaking,both the BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA) andthe Congress-led UnitedProgressive Alliance are set for ahigh-octane political battle, come
May 2019. The writer’s compar-ative analysis between theCongress and the BJP holds good.For the latter, issues like anti-incumbency, agrarian crisis,demonetisation blues and mostimportantly, non-delivery of pollpromises, including jobs for theyouth, will matter.
As a united Opposition wasleaving no stone untuned to posea grave challenge to the ruling
regime, the Pulwama terror attackand the subsequent air strike inBalakot gave the latter a chanceto uplift its sagging image.Further, while the BJP hasannounced a slew of pre-pollalliances, the grand alliance hasbeen more interested in formingstate-specific partnerships. In theend, it is the electorate who willplay the role of a king-maker.
Azhar A KhanRampur
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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Between spirit and rules”(March 28). After Ashwin’s“Mankaded” dismissal of JosButtler, much talk has eruptedabout the true spirit of the game.If the rule is against the game’strue spirit then why was it includ-ed at all? Nowadays, batsmen takeadvantage of being out of thecrease even before a ball is deliv-ered. It’s time to include“Mankaded” as the 11th type ofdismissal in ICC laws.
In times of rapid globalisation, open mar-ket, technological advancements and cli-mate change, the world is getting more andmore complex day-by-day. The situationis accentuated by insecurity, apprehen-
sions, distrust and violence that confront prac-tically every nation. Further, there was never somuch competition among nations as it is at pre-sent. Indians understand these issues very wellin the context of the perpetual state of aggres-sion created by Pakistan against it.
Our country has done astonishingly well increating global goodwill during the last five yearsas was evident from the support we got for thegenuine and effective response to the Pulwamamassacre, which was a massive and unprecedent-ed act in the history of post-independent India.The strategy of renewing and refreshing past rela-tionships has proved its worth beyond doubt.However, this cannot be an occasion to becomesluggish. Instead, we must realise that much moreneeds to be done to sustain the international good-will we earned and seriously delineate the elementsrequired to further strengthen this bond. Thereare several areas of cooperation like trade andcommerce, investment and production, collabo-rations in technology, transfer and the like butthere are also long-term strategic imperatives thatremain unmatched in giving soft-power dividends.
For ages, India has gone through this expe-rience from its Asian neighbours, particular-ly the Southeast Asian segment. Indeed, we areproud of our past glory and its acceptancebeyond sea shores. To cultivate new interna-tional relationships even with old friendlynations, one must realise the importance ofacquaintance with history, culture and heritageon both sides. These play a significant role infurthering mutual understanding and refresh-ing cultural and emotional bonds. This famil-iarity is an essential support to comprehendthe current situation and visualise its importin the emerging context. Strategic readiness incurrent times requires comprehension of ‘thepace of change’ in pragmatic terms. Commonwisdom will be to learn from history, drawinspiration from it, know the present, andreshape it for a better future for the genera-tions to come.
India is fortunate to have an unimpeachableand exemplary legacy of mutual relationships withthe East Asian region. What has sustained thismutuality for ages? It cannot just be trade andcommerce alone; though they remain a very strongcementing factor. We have to only delineate theessence of mutually constructive partnerships bothin the past and the present. Initiatives like the ‘ActEast’ policy deserve appreciation and strengthen-ing, besides a constant vigil on elements who maybe apprehensive about these developments.
Rabindranath Tagore had mentioned in oneof his lectures that “it was often alleged that Asiawill never progress as it has turned its face back-ward.” This acquisition has been proved wrong byJapan, China and India. Equally, if not more effec-tively, the South-East Asia region has proved itwrong. All nations have moved ahead withouteither disregard for their past or ignoring newknowledge. People of this region are not perpet-ually lost in the sweet slumber of the glory of the
past; oblivious to the need to move ahead in timesand with times. Probably realising this, MahatmaGandhi had indicated that he would keep the win-dows and doors of his house open for fresh air— of ideas and knowledge — but refused to beblown off his feet by any. It is one thing to be proudof one’s history, culture, tradition of knowledge,growth, scriptures and literature but it is also nec-essary to examine whether all of this alone is suf-ficient for the times ahead?
Present international relationships requirea very sensitive recall of the past and a realisa-tion that these are the times of “equality of part-nerships”, which must be dexterously har-monised and sustained. There are unique fea-tures in every culture, region, religion and civil-isation. When dealing with Asian countries, oneis often tempted to recall how Indian influencehas reached far and beyond the sea shores, with-out any bloodshed and coercion. It was not partof any conquest or converting people to one pre-ferred religion or “salvaging the souls of the sav-ages” but an organised, respectful and mutual-ly beneficial interaction and exchange of ideasand knowledge among equals. Trade and com-merce featured prominently and strengthenedbonds with the international community.Knowledge exchange brought people togetherin rather close bonds that went beyond the mun-dane requirements of human existence.
This makes one understand how scholarship,knowledge and wisdom can be exchanged to ben-efit both the interacting parties, lead to better andhigher comprehension of humanity, happiness andharnessing respectfully the bounties of nature. Inknowledge exchange, one can benefit only whenboth sides are respectful to each other, none isobsessed with being the giver, but are ready toaccept knowledge and wisdom from the other sideas well. The wisdom of the East does not belongjust to one country of the region ie, India. Onewould be uncomfortable if in any reference to theglorious past of ours and its vast spread beyondthe Indian borders, it is presented as everything
flowing from “us” and being received by “them.”Take for example, Indonesia or Thailand.
One can say that these nations have far bettercomprehension of the need to sustain culturalcontinuity than we Indians. In Thailand, Ram,Ram Lila and Ayodhya enjoy respect at a levelas is not — repeat not — being extended by alarge number of Indians. The manner in whichIndonesians have sustained and refined their cul-ture presents much to be learnt by Indians. TheGita and Yoga could earn respect all around theglobe but in India, one cannot include even acouple of shlokas — fully and totally secular —in the school text books.
Who are culturally more advanced? Are weready to learn from others? Or are we too happywith our dream of becoming a Vishwa Guru again?In recollecting, refreshing and re-envisioningIndia’s relationship with Asian countries, the firstcaution is to forget the psyche of being the giver,being the Vishwa Guru. This concept — whendevoid of the connected responsibility to set ourown house in order — can create negative vibesamong other people. We must now accept thatknowledge, both secular and temporal, has beencreated and discovered in all parts of the globe —time, measure and magnitude can differ. AncientIndians had really toiled hard on the terrain ofknowledge quest and earned respect from all over.Are we doing the same now? This aspect shouldbe paramount in present-day considerations.
A strife-torn world today must be lookingtowards India, conscious of its unique historicalstanding as a nation that had learnt to live togeth-er with every conceivable diversity, like that of eth-nicity, language, religion and culture. The Westis now facing problems arising out of a necessityto learn to live together with diversities. These havereached their doorsteps because of globalisation,ease of mobility in seeking greener pastures andhave also forced migrations in search of securityand livelihood. If India was still high on its recordof social cohesion and religious amity, on adher-ence to joint family systems and social security,
on basing its democracy on values defined byGandhi and the spirit of freedom struggle, thesenations would have flocked to India to learn more.
Deeply satisfied, they declare India as theirguru without the latter itself making a claim. Ifwe were a learning hub and had ancient higherlearning institutions like Nalanda, Taxila andVikramshila among others, the continuity of ourgurudom would have been unchallenged. Indianeeds to become a great global learning hub.Swami Vivekananda presented India’s past gloryto the world, the values it had adhered to in thepast and the concern it had shown towards thewelfare of all without any discrimination.Vivekananda received global acclaim and admi-ration. He knew that this alone was not sufficient.He established the Ramakrishna Mission world-wide. Yes, you have to create institutions that pre-pare the people and give them true education. Letthem comprehend that “education is the perfec-tion already in man.”
Tagore had predicted that “India is destinedto be the teacher of the world.” He did not trav-el the globe to declare that India would be theVishwa Guru. Instead, he established institutionsthat had all the ingredients of a gurukula andevery feature of a modern-day internationalknowledge hub. Similarly, this aspect was elab-orated by Sri Aurobindo. He predicted that“India will be the moral leader of the world.”He established the Auroville Ashram inPondicherry. All of these examples must giveus an idea of how international relationships canindeed be given a sound cultural knowledge andspiritual base, to strengthen the moral basis ofrelationships. It was the continuity of this moraltradition that Gandhi included “commerce with-out morality” and “wealth without work”among the seven social sins that he publishedin 1925. Incidentally, it also included “knowl-edge without character.” India needs to relearn,and create knowledge hubs of its own.
(The writer is the Indian Representative on theExecutive Board of UNESCO)
During my last trip to the USin 2018, I noticed that thecurrent affairs sections of
almost all major book stores in theAmerican cities that I visited car-ried quite a few titles on ‘Whitepower populism.’ Most of thesebooks were alarming in their con-tent and tone. This was a stark con-trast to what one often found on thesame shelves some five years ago.Most of them used to be stackedwith books on ‘Islamic’ fundamen-talism and terrorism. The contentof these books, too, had been large-ly alarming in nature, written aswarnings about a phenomenonwhich was already tearing manyMuslim countries apart and threat-ening Western societies.
After facing numerous terrorist
attacks, death tolls and socio-polit-ical fissures triggered by extremistassaults on civilians and securitypersonnel, most Muslim countrieseventually came round to chal-lenge the grave existentialist threatand attacks posed by extremists.These states did this through someunprecedented military operationsand related political and judicialmanoeuvres. But whereas the situ-ation in the most affected countries— such as Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey,Saudi Arabia and Algeria — wasgradually brought under control andmajor extremist outfits were takenout, the situation in other affectedcountries such as Afghanistan,Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria and,to a certain extent, Mauritania, isstill somewhat precarious.
In his 1992 book, The Failure ofPolitical Islam, the French politicalscientist and author Olivier Roywrote that the more coherent ide-ologies formed from the 1940sonwards and derived from thewritings of radical Islamic scholarssuch as Rashid Rida, Hassan Al-Banna, Abul Ala Maududi, SayyidQutb, Ruholla Khomeini and Hasan
Al-Tarabi all peaked in the late1970s and across the 1980s.
They contributed in the engi-neering of what came to be knownas “political Islam”, which advocat-ed the formation of “Islamic states”through both conventional as wellas revolutionary political means.But according to Roy, as this strandof political Islam reached a crescen-do — especially during the ‘Afghanjihad’ against Soviet forces inAfghanistan — there was also itsfragmentation and eventual decline.Roy wrote that after the Sovietforces were forced to pull out ofAfghanistan, emboldened ‘Islamists’,who had fought in Afghanistan,then attempted to create ‘Islamic’revolutions in their own countries.
As the State in their respectivecountries pushed back, however, theIslamists retaliated with violencethrough terrorism. Roy wrote thatfrom being a coherently definedideology, political Islam took amore anarchic and even nihilisticturn. Roy predicted that this forcewould burn out in its own fire andfury. Interestingly, he was writingthis in 1992, nine years before the
tragic 9/11 attacks in New York. Butif we trace the rise and relativedecline of extremist terror in coun-tries such as Pakistan, Algeria,Turkey and Egypt, we can seemuch of Roy’s thesis coming true.
The outfits behind extremistterror in these countries wereentirely nihilistic. They enforcedtheir presence through three mainstratagems: (1) seeding fear throughextreme terror; (2) using variouscriminal activities to financiallysupplement themselves; and (3)manipulating non-militant person-nel in the media, religious circlesand even within the State andGovernment so that they couldrationalise this terror in the main-stream as an outcome of econom-ic issues and ‘lack of Islam’ in theworkings of the State.
But as German academicMarkus Daechsel wrote in his book,The Politics of Self-Expression, thepost-9/11 terror groups had lostinterest in the theory of 20th cen-tury political Islam and were moreinterested in filling a personal emo-tional void; even though theyexplained their acts (and their
nihilistic violence) as a global waragainst ‘infidels.’ Indeed, once theybegan to become engulfed by theirown fires and nihilistic impulses, thestate moved in to push them out.
It is remarkable how similar thetrajectories of White power pop-ulism and the terrorism that it isinspiring, and of ‘Islamic’ extrem-ism are. The narratives of ‘Islamic’extremists are a combination of asuperiority complex derived froman imagined (and largely a histor-ical) Utopian past, and a besiegedmindset — which explains theMuslims as victims of Westernmodernity and immorality. Thenarratives used by White suprema-cists, too, hark back to a past inwhich violent and destructiveevents, such as slavery in the US,apartheid in South Africa and riseof Nazism in Germany, are seen asUtopian epochs which were over-thrown by the Jews, liberals andcommunists. The supremacistsbelieve this status quo was nowbeing maintained by allowing non-White immigrants to settle on“White lands.” So this narrative, too,combines a mythical and Utopian
memory of a past with a sense ofmodern-day victimhood.
Recently, many media andpolitical commentators in the UShave been urging theirGovernment (and those in variousEuropean countries) to start treat-ing violence by individual or col-lective White supremacists just asthey have been doing the violencecoming from ‘jihadists.’ ElenaPokalova, a professor of interna-tional security studies, wrote inForeign Policy in Focus (November2, 2018) that White far-right rad-icalisation needed to be addressedat the same level as Islamist radi-calisation. In a 2018 article for theNew York Times, author and socio-political commentator JanetReitman wrote that despite the ris-ing number of hate crimes andgroups in the US, the country’slaw-enforcement agencies failed todetect their rise and influence. Shewrote that this allowed the prolif-eration of extreme White suprema-cist ideas and related violence.
It can be said that the stage thisstrand of extremism is in the West(or the stage Hindu extremism is in
India) is what ‘jihadist’ extremismwas in Pakistan some 15 years ago.It’s a confusing stage in whichmany sections of society and eventhe intelligentsia are willing to buyinto the victimhood claims of theextremist groups and even act astheir apologists. As a result, the Stateand society spiral down in a flux ofconfusion and inaction, especiallywhen politicians and influencers —who were once on the fringes ofsociety — begin to cultivate andorganise the growing extremistsentiments as a constituency.
Indeed, as Olivier Roy pre-dicted, extreme ideas and groupseventually get engulfed by their ownfires. But Western countries, nowfacing the spectre of White far-rightviolence, should not wait to addressthe problem. Before extremist ideasburn out, they leave behind a trailof death and destruction. Because,remember, before the State andGovernment of Pakistan finallydecided to act against major terrorgroups, over 70,000 Pakistanis hadalready been killed in the nihilisticflames of the extremists.
Baroda and Union Bank, onThursday received sharehold-ers' approval for capital infu-sion to the tune of �21,428crore in lieu of preferentialallotment of shares to theGovernment.
This capital infusion is forthe current fiscal ending March31, 2019.
Punjab National Bank(PNB) in a regulatory filingsaid that an extraordinary gen-eral meeting of shareholderswas held on March 28 forobtaining shareholders'approval to issue and allot80,20,63,535 equity shares at apremium of �71.66 per shareamounting up to �5,908 croreon preferential basis to theGovernment.
Bank of Baroda said theFinance Ministry informedabout its decision to infuse cap-ital of �5,042 crore in the bank.
"The capital infusion willbe by way of preferential allot-ment of equity shares (specialsecurities/bonds) of the bankduring 2018-19, asGovernment's investment,"Bank of Baroda said.
Union Bank said: "TheCommittee of Directors forRaising of Capital Funds(CDRCF) of the bank at itsmeeting held on Thursdayconsidered and approved theallotment of 52,15,62,658 equi-ty shares at an issue price of�78.84 aggregating to �4,111.99to Government in accordancewith the applicable provisions."
The board of the Chennai-headquartered Indian OverseasBank (IOB) in an extraordinary
general meeting decided to toallot preferential shares toGovernment to get capital infu-sion of �3,806 crore.
"The Board for Issue ofEquity Share Capital at itsmeeting held today has issuedand allotted 269,54,67,422equity shares at an issue priceof Rs 14.12 per equity share(including premium of �4.12per equity share) toGovernment by way of prefer-ential allotment," IOB said.
With this allotment, theGovernment holding hasincreased from 89.39 per centto 92.52 per cent in the bank,it added.
"This capital infusion willhelp the bank to shore up itscapital adequacy requirementsand enable the bank to build arobust loan book," RSubramaniakumar, MD & CEO,Indian Overseas Bank told PTI.
He also said that variousinitiatives have been taken bythe bank for turnaround andthere was a visible improve-ment in the bank's perfor-
mance as seen in the thirdquarter results.
Subramaniakumar hopedthat the bank will be able toreturn to the black in the nextfiscal year beginning April 1,2019.
Earlier, the bank raised�261 crore to its share capitalin January under EmployeeStock Purchase Scheme (ESPS)in which as much as 92 per centof the employees participatedwhich resulted into over-sub-scription of bank stock.
"With this capital infusionand taking into account thecapital raised through ESPS aswell as sale of non core assets,CRAR (capital to risky assetratio) will improve consider-ably," he said.
Central Bank of India allot-ted 68,72,48,322 equity sharesat �37.25 aggregating upto�2,560 crore.
With this allotment, share-holding of Government hasincreased from 89.40 per centto 91.20, Central Bank of Indiasaid.
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Former NITI Aayog vicechairman Arvind
Panagariya has said the imple-mentation of the CongressParty's ambitious 'Nyay' schemenot only poses a "fiscal chal-lenge" to India's economy butalso has a "serious incentiveproblem".
Congress president RahulGandhi on Tuesday said that itsminimum income guaranteescheme, Nyuntam Aay Yojana(Nyay) assures up to �72,000 ayear or �6,000 a month incometo 20 per cent of India's poor-est families if the party is votedback to power in the Lok Sabhaelections next month.
Panagariya, who served asthe first vice chairman of NITIAayog for two years from 2015to 2017, told PTI that 'Nyay' isdifficult to implement andunlikely to achieve its intend-ed objective.
"It raises three major ques-tions - the incentive compati-bility issue, the fairness issueand fiscal challenge,"Panagariya, an eminent Indian-American economist, said.
But Gandhi said the ‘Nyay’scheme has the twin objectivesof giving money to the 20 percent poorest families andremonetising the economydamaged by the demonetisa-tion in 2016.
Its aim is two-fold. First isto guarantee a minimumincome to the bottom 20 percent families. The second is toremonetise the economy thathas been demonetised byPrime Minister NarendraModi, Gandhi told PTI.
Senior Congress leader andformer finance minister P
Chidambaram on Wednesdaysaid 'enough' economists andexperts had been consultedand they broadly agreed thatIndia has the capacity to imple-ment the scheme.
Former RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan has said theimplementation of the schemeis possible, Chidambaram said.
"Our calculation showsthat it will not cross 2 per centof the GDP, it will be 1.8 percent of the GDP at any givenpoint of time," he said.
Commenting on thescheme, Panagariya said thetransfer is meant to be �6,000per month per family to 50 mil-lion families and at the sametime, it also guarantees anincome of �12,000 per monthto these families.
"What happens if one fam-ily has an income of only�4,000 and another �8,000 permonth? Will the former thenreceive �8,000 and the latter�4,000 per month? If so, whyshould anyone with incomebelow 12,000 do any work at allsince their incomes will be�12,000 regardless of what theyearn?" he asked.
Interpreted this way, "thereis a serious incentive problemwith the scheme", Panagariyaasserted.
"If the scheme is meant totransfer flat �6,000 per monthto identified families regardlessof the family's earned income,you cannot deliver �12,000per month to families earningless than �6,000," he asserted.
The programme, asannounced by the Congress,guarantees �12,000 per monthin income to the poor, which is�144,000 per year, he said,explaining the fairness issue.
The rupee slumped 42 paiseto end at 69.30 against the
US dollar on Thursday, itssecond straight session ofdecline, in line with otherAsian currencies amidstrengthening of the green-back.
Most Asian currenciesstruggled amid expectations ofdovish monetary policy stanceby central banks following adeteriorating global economicoutlook.
At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex) market, therupee opened weak at 69.04and fell further to touch theday's low of 69.35.
It finally finished at 69.30per dollar, down by 42 paiseagainst its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupeehad weakened marginally by 2paise to end at 68.88 against
the US dollar.Foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) remained netbuyers in the capital markets,putting in �1,481.11 croreWednesday, as per provision-al data.
Meanwhile, brent crudefutures, the global oil bench-mark, fell 1.08 per cent to tradeat $67.10 per barrel.
BSE benchmark Sensexzoomed over 400 points whilethe NSE Nifty reclaimed the11,500 mark Thursday onrobust buying in banking,finance, telecom and ITstocks.
The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for therupee/dollar at 69.0038 and forrupee/euro at 77.6868. Thereference rate for rupee/Britishpound was fixed at 91.0280and for rupee/100 Japanese yenat 62.69.
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Private sector ICICI Bank onThursday said it has
launched two instant homeloan products for up to �1crore.
The instantaneous homeloan facilitiy enables cus-tomers to get final sanctionletter for new home loans aswell as for a top up loan in afully-digital way, the banksaid in a release.
'Instant Home Loan'enables pre-approved salariedcustomers of the bank to availloans up to �1 crore for a tenureof up to 30 years (based on theage of the customer) usinginternet banking facility, ICICIBank said.
'Insta Top Up Loan' helpsexisting home loan customersof the bank to avail the facili-ty of topping up loan instanta-neously upto �20 lakh for atenure of up to 10 years in apaperless manner.
The facility helps the cus-tomers get the top up amountdisbursed immediately in theiraccount as compared to theindustry practice of approvingand disbursing a top up homeloan in a few working days, thebank said.
"As a result of our con-tinued endeavour, we havethe largest mortgage portfo-lio among private sectorbanks in the country with thelowest delinquency levels.Instant home loan facilitiesare extensions of this sameendeavour. These facilitieswill help new home buyers aswell as the existing cus-tomers , " ICICI BankExecutive Director AnupBagchi said.
Markets regulator Sebi hasslapped a total fine of �30
lakh on three directors of SyblyIndustries in a matter related tomanipulation in issuance of glob-al depository receipts (GDRs).
The directors — SatyaPrakash Mittal, MahendraKumar Gupta and SubodhKumar Goel — have been finedfor acting as party to the fraud-ulent scheme, Sebi said in threeseparate orders on Wednesday.
The orders came followinga probe conducted by the reg-ulator to investigate irregular-ities in the company's allotmentof 1.51 million GDR amount-ing to $6.99 million on theLuxembourg Stock Exchangein June 2008.
The entire 1.51 millionGDR were subscribed by onlyone entity, Vintage FZE (nowknown as Alta VistaInternational FZE) uponobtaining loan from EuropeanAmerican Investment Bank(EURAM).
Sebi noted that the threedirectors of the firm along withother directors in its boardmeeting in March 2008 passeda board resolution that autho-rised EURAM Bank to useSybly's GDR proceeds as secu-
rity in connection with the loan.The board also authorised
the firm's managing directorand director Umesh KumarMittal, to sign any application,agreement, etc., as may berequired by EURAM Bank.
Subsequently, a pledgeagreement was signed betweenSybly and EURAM Bankwhereby Sybly pledged theGDR proceeds against the loanavailed by Vintage FZE for sub-scribing to Sybly's GDR.
Sebi noted that Vintagewould not have been able to sub-scribe the GDR issue had Syblynot given such security towardsthe loan taken by Vintage.
The orders further notethat "the arrangement of loanand pledge agreement, whichresulted in the subscription ofGDR issue of Sybly was not dis-closed to the stock exchange ina true and complete mannerbut was reported as misleadingnews to the stock exchange."
In similarly worded sepa-rate orders, Sebi said: "theNoticee by approving the afore-said board resolution in theboard meeting held on March31, 2008, and which subse-quently led to execution of thepledge agreement ... Has actedas a party to the fraudulentscheme."
of countervailing duty onChinese tyres for buses and lor-ries, a move aimed at guardingdomestic players from importsthat are subsidised by theneighbouring country.
The Ministry's investiga-tion arm Directorate General ofTrade Remedies (DGTR) in itsfindings after a probe has stat-ed that imposition of definitivecountervailing duty is requiredto offset subsidisation.
"The authority considers itnecessary to recommendimposition of definitive coun-tervailing duty on the importsof the subject goods (NewPneumatic Tyres for Buses andLorries) from China," theDGTR has said in a notifica-tion.
It said since the productalready attracts anti-dumpingduty from China, the amountof countervailing duty to beimposed would be the differ-ence between the quantum ofspecified countervailing andanti-dumping duty payable.
The finance ministry takesfinal call for imposition of theduty.
The direc-torate carriedout the probefollowing com-plaints fromt h eAutomot iveT y r eManufacturer'sAssociation.They have fileda petition onbehalf ofdomestic pro-ducers for
imposition of the duty on theseimports.
The DGTR said thedomestic industry has con-tended that China is providingcountervailable subsidies tothe producers and exporters ofthese tyres.
According to the petitionof the association, subsidies byChina are being provided by
them under different pro-grammes such as grants, taxincentives, preferential lending,export financing and exportcredit, and equity support.
Imports of these tyres fromChina increased to 81,896tonne in 2016-17 from 30,665tonne in 2014-15.
Countervailing duty is acountry-specific duty which isimposed to safeguard thedomestic industry againstunfair trade subsidies provid-ed by the local governments ofthe exporting nations.
India has already imposedcountervailing duty as well asanti-dumping duties on variouskinds of products from China,with which India has a hugetrade deficit.
Trade deficit with Chinaincreased to $63.12 billion in2017-18 from $51.11 billion in2016-17.
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India's merchandise and ser-vices export would touch
$540-billion mark this fiscal,Commerce Minister SureshPrabhu said Thursday.
He said exports are grow-ing at a healthy pace and ship-ments of goods would reachover $330 billion.
Similarly, services exportswould touch about $200 billion,according to Prabhu.
In total, both "merchandiseand services exports puttogether will reach about $540
billion" by the end of this fis-cal, the minister said here at afunction.
During April-February2018-19, the goods exportsgrew by 8.85 per cent to$298.47 billion.
Talking about the stallednegotiations for a free tradeagreement between India andEuropean Union, the ministersaid India is keen to resume thetalks.
"We are really keen to havethis FTA with EU. India willwork to find a workable deal,"he said.
ating company in India,priced US$ 450 million 5Year bond offering in theinternational markets underits USD 6 billion MediumTerm Note (MTN)Programme on 26th March2019. NTPC’s US$ 6 billionMTN Programme was setup in 2006 and this issuancewas the tenth offering underthe Programme taking thecumulative amount raisedunder the MTN Programmeto US $ 4.30 billion.
Having updated theMTN Programme inDecember 2018, NTPC was
wel l posit ioned to takeadvantage of a supportiveprimary credit market andconducted comprehensivedeal roadshow covering inSingapore, HongKong andLondon from 21st – 25thMarch 2019 to reach out to awide range of fixed incomeglobal investors and toappraise them about compa-nies’ financials and its futureplans. Based on the investorsfeedback, NTPC launched aUSD 450 million senior,unsecured, fixed rate Reg-S 5year bond transaction withan initial price guidance ofCurrent 5Y US Treasuriesyields (CT5) plus 185 bpsarea on 26th March 2019(Asia open).
India’s second largest IT ser-vices firm Infosys on
Thursday said it would acquire75% stake in ABN AMROBank’s wholly-owned subsidiary,Stater,, for 127.5 million euros(about �989 crore). Both thecompanies have signed anagreement to this effect.Founded in 1997, Stater providesend-to-end mortgage adminis-tration services in theNetherlands, Belgium andGermany.
As part of the deal, Infosyswill acquire 75% of the share-holding in Stater, while ABNAMRO will continue to hold theremaining 25%, Infosys said ina statement. Infosys said thepartnership was in alignmentwith its strategy to strengthen itsmortgage servicing capabilitiesin Continental Europe.
The transaction is expectedto close during the first quarterof fiscal 2020, subject to cus-tomary closing conditions, itadded. “This transactionstrengthens our approach tooffer clients digital platforms andindustry focused solutions. Itbrings together our comple-mentary capabilities to enhancethe value we offer to our finan-cial services clients,” Infosys
president Mohit Joshi said.The current management
team of Stater will continue tosteer the company, Infosysadded. “While mortgages are akey product for ABN AMRO,providing administrative mort-gage services is not a core activ-ity. That’s why we are verypleased with Infosys as Stater’snew majority shareholder.
“ABN AMRO will keep astrategic interest of 25% and willcontinue to be an importantclient to Stater,” said ChristianBornfeld, member of the exec-utive board of ABN AMRO.Infosys said mortgage serviceswas a focus area for large cor-porations in the financial sec-tor, given the importance of theasset on a bank’s balance sheet.
In a regulatory filing,Infosys said it would have therights of a majority sharehold-er as part of the terms of theshareholders’ agreement. Thisincludes the right to appointmajority of directors in thesupervisory board, right to sub-scribe to new shares, right offirst refusal in the event oftransfer of shares, right torestrict amendment of articles,issuance, redemption and repur-chase of shares, merger, demerg-er, bankruptcy or Liquidationamong others, it added.
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State-owned Power FinanceCorporation (PFC) on
Thursday completed the acqui-sition of majority stake in RECLtd. by transferring �14,500crore to the government, anofficial said. The transactionhas helped the governmentmeet its disinvestment target of
�80,000 crore for the currentfinancial year.
“The entire considerationof �14,500 crore for acquiring52.63% equity of the Govern-ment of India in REC is paid byPFC through RTGS (real-timegross settlement) mode thismorning,” the official told PTI.The official said PFC chairmanand managing director Rajeev
Sharma handed over the RTGSadvice to Power Secretary AKBhalla on Thursday to com-plete the acquisition. Themoney has been transferredinto the government’s accountonline.
The official further said thegovernment’s 52.63% equity inREC would be transferred inthe name of the PFC by the
closing of the stock market onThursday. PFC has raisedmoney from Bank of Baroda,Life Insurance Corporationand State Bank of India, amongothers, to make the payment.
Earlier on March 20, PFChad inked a share purchaseagreement to acquire 103.94crore equity shares of �10 eachof REC Ltd.
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Benchmark indices ratch-eted higher on Thursdayas banking, finance and
IT stocks surged amid expiry ofMarch series derivatives con-tracts.
The BSE Sensex vaulted412.84 points, or 1.08%, toclose at 38,545.72, while thebroader NSE Nifty settled at11,570, higher by 124.95 pointsor 1.09%.
Rate-sensitive banking,realty and auto counters spurt-ed on expectations of a rate cutby RBI next week, brokers said.
Heavy short-covering onexpiry of March series futuresand options (F&O) contractsalso buoyed investor senti-ment, they added.
Global equities were mixedamid a fall in bond yields,underscoring recession fears.
The 30-share Sensex, aftera positive start at 38,208.30,stayed in the green throughoutthe session, with buying pacegathering momentum towardsthe end.
In the Sensex pack, gainersincluded HCL Tech, SBI, ITC,Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, YesBank, Axis Bank, TCS, AsianPaints, ICICI Bank, TCS, BajajFinance and Infosys, jumpingup to 3.84%.
On the other hand, TataSteel, ONGC, Bajaj Auto,PowerGrid, M&M and HeroMotoCorp fell up to 1.73%.
“Benchmark indices out-performed the broader indiceson the expiry day supported by
banks and IT. Bank Nifty pro-pelled to a new high in expec-tation of rate cut from RBI nextweek and recapitalisation ofbanks. Besides, the slide inIndia’s 10-year bond yield fur-ther raised the possibility ofrate cut.
“Global economic growthconcerns and Fed’s dovish viewon rates will give a positiveimpetus to emerging marketslike India,” said Vinod Nair,head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.
Except metal and power, allBSE sectoral indices finishedwith gains, led by realty, teck,IT, bank and finance.
On a net basis, foreignportfolio investors (FPIs)bought shares worth �1,481.11crore on Wednesday, and
domestic institutional investors(DIIs) were net buyers to thetune of �134.92 crore, provi-sional data available with theBSE showed.
The rupee, meanwhile,depreciated 11 paise against theUS dollar to 68.99 (intra-day).
Elsewhere in Asia, HongKong’s Hang Seng climbed0.16% while Japan’s Nikkei fell1.61%, Shanghai CompositeIndex declined 0.92%, andKorea’s Kospi slipped 0.82%.
In the Eurozone, Frankfurt’sDAX gained 0.50% and ParisCAC 40 was up 0.35% in morn-ing trade. London’s FTSE toojumped 0.73%.
The benchmark Brentcrude futures were tradinglower by 0.37% at USD 67.58per barrel.
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New Delhi (PTI): S&P Global Ratings has downgraded thecredit rating of Tata Motors and its wholly-owned subsidiaryJaguar Land Rover (JLR), citing weak profitability, Tata Motorssaid on Thursday. “We would like to inform that based on S&PGlobal Ratings, the credit rating of the company and Jaguar LandRover Automotive Plc has been downgraded,” the company saidin a regulatory filing. The rating agency cited weakness in prof-itability of JLR as the main reason for downgrading credit rat-ing of Tata Motors and its British arm. S&P cut its rating on seniorunsecured notes of JLR and Tata Motors to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-’.
New Delhi (PTI): Apparelbrand W, a part of TCNSClothing Co Ltd, is eyeing upto 20% of its revenue from saleof products made from sus-tainable fabrics in the next 18-24 months.
“Sustainability in fashion isa relatively newer concept. We areexperimenting with differentkind of sustainable fabrics. Weexpect revenue from productsmade from sustainable fabrics todouble in the 18-24 months to10-20% from about 5-10% at pre-sent,” TCNS Clothing Co man-aging director Anant Daga toldPTI. The company on Thursdayannounced an exclusive part-nership with Aditya Birla Group’sLivaeco brand. Last year W hadlaunched a new line of HaritKhadi products styled by thecompany. “These sustainableproducts are priced at a premi-
um, but we have seen greatresponse from customers forHarit Khadi products. We wantto give the customers the choiceabout the kind of fabric they wantto buy,” Daga added.
Aditya Birla Group seniorpresident Manohar Samuel said:“We are launching our newestoffering Livaeco exclusively withW, which has created a collectionthat embodies our focus on sus-tainability and high fashion todelight the customers”. TCNSClothing sells its productsthrough 521 exclusive brandoutlets across 1,598 large formatstores across Shoppers Stop,Pantaloons, Lifestyle, Central,among others and 1,496 multi-brand outlets as of December 31,2018. The company plans to open70-80 exclusive brand outlets inthe next fiscal for its brand W andAurelia, Daga said.
Venezuela “for as long as needed”, rejecting US President Donald Trump’sdemand that Russia remove itsmilitary from the crisis-strick-en country.
Russia’s weekend deployment of troops andequipment to bolster PresidentNicolas Maduro has ratchetedup already high internationaltensions over Venezuela where the Trump administra-tion is pushing for regimechange.
The Russian ForeignMinistry insisted Thursday the presence of its troops there did not pose a threat toanyone.
“They are involved in theimplementation of agreementsin the sphere of military andtechnical cooperation,” saidministry spokeswoman MariaZakharova, adding they wouldremain in the country “for aslong as needed.” “Russia isnot changing the balance ofpower in the region, Russia isnot threatening anyone unlikecitizens in Washington whomI have just quoted,” she toldreporters.
She was referring toTrump’s comments that “Russiahas to get out” of Venezuela aswell as to statements by USSecretary of State MikePompeo that Washington doesnot plan to negotiate withMaduro and wants to endRussia and Cuba’s influence onCaracas.
The United States andmore than 50 other countriesrecognise Venezuelan opposi-tion leader Juan Guaido asinterim president while Russia,along with China, backsMaduro.
“Neither Russia norVenezuela are provinces of theUnited States,” Zakharova said.
Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov has accusedWashington of trying to“organise a coup d’etat” in theoil-producing nation.
Venezuela’s military attachein Moscow also said Thursdaythat Russian troops were in thecountry under an agreementon military and technical coop-eration and not to carry out amilitary operation.
A Russian air forceAntonov-124 cargo plane anda smaller Ilyushin Il-62 landedat the main airport outsideCaracas on Saturday andoffloaded around 100 troops
and tonnes of equipment.“As for the presence
of Russian specialists, we aretalking about cooperation, mil-itary and technical coopera-tion,” the attache, Jose RafaelTorrealba Perez, was quoted assaying in translated commentsby RIA Novosti state newsagency.
“We are absolutely not talk-ing about Russia’s military pres-ence to carry out military oper-ations,” he added.
Venezuela’s DefenceMinister Vladimir PadrinoLopez is expected to visitMoscow in April as part of thecooperation between the twocountries, the attache said.
On Tuesday, Zakharovadeclared that Russia was “devel-oping cooperation withVenezuela in strict accordancewith the constitution of thatcountry and with full respectfor its legal norms”.
“The presence of Russianspecialists on Venezuelan ter-ritory is regulated by an agree-ment between the Russian andVenezuelan governments onmilitary and technical cooper-ation that was signed in May,2001,” she said.
In 2011, Russia gaveVenezuela a $4 billion loan tobuy Russian armaments.
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Britain’s Government said itintended to hold a third
parliamentary vote on PrimeMinister Theresa May’s Brexitdeal on Friday but was await-ing the go-ahead from Houseof Commons speaker.
“We recognise that anymotion brought forwardtomorrow will need to be com-pliant with the speaker’s rulingand that discussion is ongoing,”Andrea Leadsom, who repre-sents the government in par-liament, told MPs.
“A motion will be tabledjust as soon as possible andobviously by later today,”Leadsom said Thursday.
Commons Speaker JohnBercow has previously blockeda third vote on the deal, invok-ing a 17th-century statute thatprevents parliament from vot-ing on the same thing againand again.
“The only way we ensurewe leave in good time on May22 is by approving the with-drawal agreement by 11:00 pmon March 29,” she said.
Leadsom pointed out thatEU leaders had granted an ext-ension until May 22 “providedthat the withdrawal agreementis approved by the House ofCommons this week”.
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At least 30 indigenousGuatemalans were killed
on Wednesday night whenthey were struck on a highwayby a semi-trailer truck in thetown of Nahuala in the coun-try’s west, rescue workers said.
“Personnel from theDepartmental MunicipalFirefighters have counted atleast 30 dead people at thispoint,” spokesman CecilioChacaj told reporters.
The group had congregat-ed at the site of a hit-and-runaccident that had killed a res-ident of their neighborhoodwhen they in turn were hit bythe truck, Chacaj added.
Guatemala, a CentralAmerican country of some16.5 million people, has a poorroad safety record and trafficrules are frequently ignored.
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A44-year-old man who shotand killed five people in
northern China earlier thisweek was motivated by revengeover “trivial matters” and tar-geted specific individuals,authorities said on Thursday.
The suspect was the deputydirector of a local water plant,said the Kailu county govern-ment from Tongliao city in theInner Mongolia region.
Citing local police, officialssaid the shooter, surnamedLiang, was driven by “con-flicts created by trivial mattersin work and life”, without offer-ing more details.
Police have seized the smallcalibre rifle used in the crime,said authorities on their officialWeChat social media account.
The suspect was in policecustody and an investigationwas underway, they added.
Kailu county policedeclined to comment.
The shooting, which tookplace on Monday, was a rarecase of gun violence in China,where the Government tightlyrestricts ownership of firearms.
There are no official sta-tistics on gun-related deaths.
In November 2017, threepeople were shot dead and sixothers wounded in southernGuangdong province.
In January that same year,a high-ranking city official inthe southwestern province ofSichuan burst into a govern-ment meeting and shot andwounded the mayor and cityparty secretary before killinghimself.
Thursday Israel is prepared fora widespread military cam-paign in Gaza as tensions sim-mered following the latest flare-up -- but only after all otheroptions were exhausted.
Netanyahu has been seek-ing to head off political pressureover Gaza ahead of April 9 elec-tions, in which he faces a strongchallenge from former mili-tary chief Benny Gantz.
“In recent days I gave
instructions to fortify forces, toadd vehicles, to be prepared fora comprehensive campaign,” hesaid during the inauguration ofa new road in northern Israel.
The premier, who wasspeaking after visiting militaryforces on the Gaza border,noted however that a war wouldbe the last option.
“All Israelis should knowthat if a comprehensive cam-paign is required, we will enterit strong and safe, after we haveexhausted all other possibilities,”said Netanyahu, who also servesas defence minister.
Palestinian militants hadon Monday fired a long-dis-tance rocket from the GazaStrip, hitting a house north ofTel Aviv and wounding sevenIsraelis, triggering Israeli airstrikes and further Palestinianfire at southern Israel.
Netanyahu beefed up themilitary presence near Gaza, butby Wednesday the fighting hadabated after Hamas announceda ceasefire brokered by Egypt.
Israel has been carefullymonitoring the situation onthe Gaza border ahead ofSaturday, which will mark a year
since mass protests and deadlyclashes began there.
A demonstration on the day of the anniversary is expect-ed to draw thousands ofPalestinians.
A Hamas official said anEgyptian delegation met withthe Islamist movement’s leaderIsmail Haniya in Gaza City onWednesday night in furtherefforts to calm tensions.
The official said the dele-gation informed Hamas and itsallies in Gaza that Israel hadagreed to measures such asimproving the electricity supplyin the strip, which suffers fromsevere power shortages.
In exchange, Hamas wouldbe expected to maintain calm atthe weekly protests along theGaza border, including duringSaturday’s anniversary.
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The EU on Thursday urgedLondon to provide a way
forward on Brexit, taking notethat the British Parliament hadfailed to agree a fresh solutionto the UK’s divorce from thebloc.
“The EuropeanCommission takes note of theindicative votes in the Houseof Commons last night. Thisis part of an ongoing politicalprocess in the UK, which wefully respect,” EU spokesmanMargaritis Schinas said.
“We counted eight ‘no’slast night, now we need a ‘yes’on the way forward,” he added.
Schinas was referring tothe parliament’s unprecedent-ed step on Tuesday of votinga choice of alternate solutionsto the near-dead divorce dealMay reached with Brusselsafter 17 months of talks.
But none of the eightoptions secured a majorityand another vote has been setfor Monday on some of theproposals. A proposal to holda second referendum -- a pop-ular idea with EU supporters-- came second while thosepromoting a cleaner breakfinished near the bottom.
Belgian Prime Minister
Charles Michel told journalistsin Brussels that without asolution from Britain, EUleaders would meet again onApril 10 or 11 to discuss nextsteps.
EU leaders last weekoffered Britain a Brexit exten-sion until May 22, but only oncondition that parliamentvotes through the deal byFriday, the day Britain wasoriginally scheduled to leave
the European Union.The May Government
said Wednesday it wanted athird vote on the EU deal onFriday, but the outcomeremained uncertain.
If the vote fails a thirdtime, May will have to spell outto EU leaders what steps Britainwill take by a deadline of April12, or risk crashing out of thebloc without any arrangementsin place.
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Amassive fire engulfed a 22-storey building in Dhaka’s
posh Banani area on Thursday,killing at least 19 people, includ-ing a Sri Lankan national, andinjuring 70 others, in the sec-ond major blaze to hit theBangladeshi capital since lastmonth.
The incident, which hap-pened on Thursday afternoonin a building that houses severalgarment shops and internetservice providers, left severalpeople trapped inside as theblaze spread to two adjacentbuildings.
“Until now we can tell youthat the inferno killed 19 peo-ple, one of them being a SriLankan national. Seventy oth-
ers are wounded,” a senior fireofficial told PTI.
At least six of the killed,including the Sri Lankannational, died after they jumpedoff from various floors of thehigh-rise building for safety.
“A Sri Lankan citizen iden-tified as Niras Chandra, wasdeclared dead at KurmitolaGeneral Hospital. He fell off thebuilding while trying to escapethe fire,” Kazi Shahan Haque,officer-in-charge (OC) ofCantonment police station, wasquoted as saying by the DhakaTribune.
Another person, who wasyet to be identified by theauthorities, was declared deadat Kurmitola General Hospitalafter he fell off the buildingwhile trying to escape the fire.
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President Donald Trumprenewed on Thursday his
threat to close the vital US-Mexico border, claimingAmerica’s southern neighbourwas doing “NOTHING” to slowthe flow of illegal immigrants tothe United States.
In a flurry of early morningtweets, Trump warned: “Mayclose the Southern Border!”
“Mexico is doing NOTH-ING to help stop the flow of ille-gal immigrants to our Country.They are all talk and no action,”he added.
“Likewise, Honduras,Guatemala and El Salvadorhave taken our money for years,and do Nothing. The Demsdon’t care, such BAD laws.”
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Amilitary helicopter hascrashed in southwestern
Kazakhstan, killing all 13 ser-vicemen on board, the defenceministry said Thursday.
The crash involving theRussian-made Mi-8 aircraftoccurred on Wednesday, theministry said in a statement.
“13 servicemen werekilled... While performing theirmilitary duty,” it said.
Kazakhstan’s new presidentKassym-Jomart Tokayev tweet-ed that he had ordered aninvestigation into the crash.
A Soviet-era workhorse firstbuilt in the 1960s, the Mi-8 heli-copter is widely used to trans-port passengers and supplies toremote sites.
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At least 15 people died whena bomb exploded on a
busy street and ripped into anearby restaurant in Somalia’scapital on Thursday, medicssaid.
Security officials and wit-nesses reported bodies strewnon the ground as plumes ofsmoke rose high into the airafter the bomb detonated onMogadishu’s Maka Al-Mukarama road, one of theseaside capital’s main thor-oughfares, an area busy withbusinesses and travellers.
It struck as people wereeating lunch.
Abdulkadir AbdirahmanAdan, director of the AaminAmbulance service, said that 15 people had been killed, aswell as several more wounded
by the ferocious blast.Witnesses described scenes ofdevastation.
“The car bomb struck arestaurant along the road,” saidAbdulahi Osman, who wasnearby to the explosion. “Thisreally was a disaster.”
Vehicles were tossed intothe air by the blast, which alsodamaged surrounding build-ings. Witnesses said severalcars and three-wheeler motor-bikes were destroyed by theforce of the explosion.
“I saw 16 people carried
from the blast scene — andmore than 10 of them werealready dead,” Osman added.
Ambulance workersrushed in to help take thewounded to hospital.
“I don’t know whether theywere dead or wounded, but Icould see several people strewnin the street — some of themwere motionless,” said SuadoAhmed, another witness whowas at the scene moments afterthe blast.
Teams of ambulance work-ers carried away those killedand wounded on stretchers,while volunteers also helped byusing plastic sheeting to lift thebodies away.
The bombing is the latestin a recent string of blasts inMogadishu, which has been hitregularly by Al- Shabaabattacks.
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Israeli cave explorers saidThursday that a salt cave with
striking stalactites near the DeadSea is the world’s longest, beat-ing the previous record-holderin Iran. The cave namedMalham, stretching over 10kilometres, runs through MountSodom, Israel’s largest mountain,and spills out to the southwestcorner of the adjacent Dead Sea.
Pale salt stalactites hangfrom the ceilings, and some ofthe walls sparkle with salt crys-tals. Drops of salty water are vis-ible at the tips of some of the sta-lactites.
Malham became known toresearchers through the work of
Amos Frumkin, founder anddirector of the HebrewUniversity’s Cave ResearchCentre, who in the 1980smapped around five kilometresof it. But in 2006, researchersmapped over six kilometres ofthe N3 cave in southern Iran’sQeshm island, granting it thewidely recognised status of theworld’s longest salt cave.
Two years ago, Israeli spe-lunker Yoav Negev decided tocomplete Frumkin’s work, reach-ing out to Bulgarian cave explor-ers for reinforcements with thepromise of a warm winteradventure. Negev, founder of theIsrael Cave Explorers Club,joined forces with BoazLangford, a researcher at the
university’s research centre, toorganise a delegation of eightEuropean spelunkers and anoth-er 20 locals.
They spent some 10 daysmapping the cave in 2018.
A second 10-day expeditionthis year with 80 local andinternational spelunkers com-pleted the measuring and map-ping of the cave with lasers,determining its length at morethan 10 kilometres.
Mount Sodom is essential-ly a huge salt block covered bya thin but \resilient layer of caprock. The rare desert rains findtheir way through cracks in thecap rock and dissolve the salt toform small caves that flow downtoward the Dead Sea.
Nations said Thursday, raisingurgent new concerns aboutthe threat global warming isposing to marine life.
In its latest State of theClimate overview, the WorldMeteorological Organization(WMO) reaffirmed that the lastfour years had been the hotteston record — figures previous-ly announced in provisionaldrafts of the flagship report.
But the final version of thereport highlighted worryingdevelopments in other climateindicators beyond surface tem-perature. "2018 saw newrecords for ocean heat contentin the upper 700 metres," aWMO statement said.
They say ‘literature isthe voice of humanheart.’ As the JCB
Prize for Literature jurycomes back this year, RanaDasgupta, literary director,said, “The Jury is con-ceived to reflect a widevariety of backgrounds andexperiences. This is howwe ensure the verdicts arefresh and interesting to alarge number of readers.The members of the 2019jury are passionate readers,and eminent within theirrespective fields. They willhave fascinating debatesabout the books we send intheir direction.”
Pradip Krishen, Jurychairman, said, “I’m hon-oured and immenselypleased at this opportuni-ty to peer deeply into ayear’s worth of Indian fic-tion. It is especially grati-fying that the prize goes
out of its way to includeIndian fiction in languagesother than English, bring-ing it to the attention of awider audience. It’s goingto be intense and togetherwith a set of wonderfulcolleagues on the jury. I’mlooking forward to play mypart in this year’s selec-tion.”
The jury comprisesAnjum Hasan (author andcritic), Pradip Krishen(filmmaker and environ-mentalist), K R Meera(author), Parvati Sharma(author), and Ar vindSubramanian (economistand former chief econom-
ic adviser to theGovernment of India).
The entries for the
prize will close on April 30.The jury will announcethe list of ten titles on
September 4, followed bythe short list of five titles onOctober 4. The winner ofthe �25 lakh prize will beannounced at the awardsdinner on November 2. Ifthe winning work is atranslation, the translatorwill be awarded an addi-tional �10 lakh. Each of thefive shortlisted authors willreceive �1 lakh; if a short-listed work is a translation,the translator will receive�50,000.
The 2018 prize wasawarded to Jasmine Daysby Benyamin, translatedfrom the Malayalam byShahnaz Habib.
Comedy series Sex and theCity, is getting a follow-up, which examines love
and dating after 50. In a com-petitive situation, ParamountTelevision has land-ed the rights to itsfollow-up novel — IsThere Still Sex in theCity? which is set tobe released by GrovePress on August 6,hails from Sex andthe City authorCandace Bushnell.
The book is a take on sex,dating, and friendship in NewYork city after 50. Set betweenthe Upper East Side ofManhattan and a countryenclave known as the village,
the book looks at love and life,marriage and children, divorceand bereavement, as well as thereal pressures on women tomaintain their youth.
Bushnell will writethe pilot script andserve as an executiveproducer on the projectalong with Liza Chasinfrom 3dot Productionsand Robyn Meisinger.
“The original Sexand the City book andseries served as a
ground-breaking touchstonefor an entire generation ofwomen, myself included,” saidNicole Clemens, president ofParamount TV.
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Actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh on Thursdayunveiled his Madame Tussauds’ wax statue. Adie-hard fan of reality TV star Kylie Jenner,
Diljit wants her wax figure too, should find a spot inthe iconic Regal Building at Connaught Place.
The Udta Punjab star has said in the past, he want-ed to visit Madame Tussauds in London, but couldnot. “There was a long line. I was in London for a dayso couldn’t find the time. I tried again but the attemptswere not successful. Then I thought, I will go in likethis only,” hesaid. And nowthe singer’s waxreplica hasindeed enteredthe museum.
He actedsurprised by thestrong resem-blance betweenhim and his waxfigure, whichsports black andred casuals witha huge neckpiece and ablack turban. Itis the first tur-baned figure inM a d a m eTussauds Delhi.“Forget abouthaving a wax figure here, I had almost given up hopeof even entering Madame Tussauds,” said the artiste,who took a selfie with the figure.
Asked which actress’ statue he would like to havehere, he laughed and said, ‘Kylie Jenner.’ Diljit, whoturned up at the event all suited up, has often expressedhis “love” for the reality TV star on social media. Hisfans gathered outside the Regal building to get aglimpse of him. One of them said, “It’s an honour forall the Sikhs to have his wax figure as he is the firstSikh celebrity to get a wax statue at MadameTussauds.”
Diljit wasn’t seen interacting with his fans, but hehad a message. “First of all, there is no need to be likeme. I am just doing my job. I am working for myselfand family. Keep working hard, you will get what youwant,” he said.
The automobile hasbeen around for a125 years now, andever since BerthaBenz, the pioneer-
ing wife of the car’s inventorKarl Benz demonstrated thata vehicle could be used overlong distances, humanity hasnot been the same because thetyranny of distance was sud-denly removed. The internalcombustion engine may beloathed by misguided envi-ronmentalists but without itwe cannot imagine modernsociety. Even if we considerthat the real boom in automo-bile ownership really started acentury ago at the end of theFirst World War and the sub-sequent economic boom, thecar of those days werenowhere near the cars oftoday, even something as ele-mentary as the layout of thepedals and self-startingengines were not around.Forget a hundred years, Ihave been driving cars since Iwas just under 18, working myway up to a license at a drivingschool.
And back then, about togive my twelfth boards, I hada rather different vision for mylife, even thought that I wouldgive my IIT entrance exams.The last thing I imagined wasthat I would end up travelling
around India and the worlddriving and writing aboutcars for a living, so thingsturned out fairly alright I’d say.But back in the late-1990’s,while the Maruti 800 andZen had made their way ontoour roads and the first of thecars from the new breed ofmanufacturers like Ford, Opeland Hyundai were just com-ing in, many folks still drovethe Ambassador and thePadmini. And if you did youwould remember that chang-ing gears was a bit of a skill.Today, many cars have a rev-counter and while that issomething that you wouldmiss in a car if it was not there,unless you are out and outgunning the car, do you real-ly need it? Because in anautomatic car, the computersare so smart that they knowexactly how you are drivingand what gear you need tochange to, and even if youoverride the system, the gearschange seamlessly. That was-n’t the case in old cars, you hadto listen to the note of theengine and know just when toslot the cogs in. But synchro-mesh gears are not new, sothat is not a rabbit hole that wewill go down. But from the2000’s to today, in cars that Ihave been driving for a livingso many things have changed.
So I asked a couple of mypeers what feature of the lasttwenty-odd years in automo-tive development that theycould not live without today.Now these features are neces-sarily brand-new but havebecome far more common inthe past twenty years. MuraliSwaminadhan of the HinduBusinessLine told me that itwould be modern ClimateControl systems, whichaccording to him are nowessential thanks to hot weath-er conditions and rising dustand pollution, as well as soadvanced that you don’t real-ly need to keep on fiddlingwith them like you needed towith the sliders on the Maruti
800 for example.Adil Jal Darukhanawala,
automotive expert and histo-rian and my driving compan-ion over the past few days dri-ving a new luxury car told methat it would be the dual-clutch gearbox. This is aremarkable feature that allowsfor near instantaneous gearchanges with the car keepingthe next gear in the sequenceselected by having two clutch-es, one for odd gears and onefor even gears. Of course thatis a very simplistic way ofdescribing this but essential-ly that is what it is. While theseDCT gearboxes are standardon luxury cars, you can findthem on the Volkswagen Polo
GT TSI and Automaticoptions on the Vento, and theVW Group calls their DCTgearboxes a DSG and thetechnology was developed byPorsche for sporty versions ofthe 911. Ford had such agearbox on the earlierEcoSport and Fiesta.
For me, the feature I can’treally live without are revers-ing and even all-round 360cameras. Particularly withmodern car safety featuresironically leading to a rash ofblind spots, it is impossible tooften reverse without these,and occasionally even maketight turns. The 360 cameraon the new Nissan Kicksmight feel like a gimmick butis very useful. As I wrote in anearlier column, I have becomeso used to this that my basicreversing skills are not asgood as they used to be.
The fact is that cars todayare very advanced, very fuelefficient and very safe. Andnot only are they a worldremoved from cars of a cen-tury ago, they are a worldremoved from cars from justtwenty years ago. I like drivingclassic cars occasionally, butanyone who says that the ‘olddays’ were better has no ideaof what they are talking about.Nothing like the present andI can’t wait for the future!
Health sensibility andconsciousness hasbeen on the rise atan exponential ratein the country.
Taking the stairs instead of theescalator, accounting a trainerafter or before work hours, replac-ing soft drinks and other pack-aged drinks with health andimmunity-boosters — these aresome of the ways a fit routine andthe need for a healthy body is tak-ing over the Indian minds.
There is yet another side toIndia’s growing health conscious-ness. Actress and fitness enthusi-ast Jacqueline Fernandez saidthat the trend blazer has beenpointing upwards for people read-ing food labels and understand-ing nutrition charts before mak-ing a decision. She said that thechange has surely come in andpeople are taking their health asthe “most important factor.”
Well, it’s also one the majorreasons why ‘Delhi Gets Raw’ wasorganised in the city recently bythe Raw Pressery.
She said that cold-pressedjuices are more helpful in main-taining health as compared toother packaged drinks or every-day juices in the market, whichare made with concentrate, sta-bilisers and extra-added sugarand preservatives. “Cold-pressedjuices are never heated and con-sist 100 per cent fruit. They
retain more nutrition and livingenzymes in the juicing process. Itbasically makes your food workharder to gain more nutrition, vit-amins and enzymes to lead ahealthy lifestyle,” said she.
The actress is an extremelyavid follower of yoga, purelybecause of its “holistic health ben-efits.” She said, “I’m really glad wehosted Yoga Rise in Delhi, as thecity is now leaning towards mak-ing healthy the new sexy. Nothinglooks as good as a healthy bodyand vibe. Our aim is to go outthere and help people make theright choices. I’m grateful thatyoga has become that channel forus. The energy in Delhi is surre-al and we hope to do more of suchwellness events.”
Jacqueline, who was initiallynot so inclined towards it, now
fully embraces yoga. It is rooteddeep in her workout and fitnessregime. She not only follows itreligiously, but also suggests herfriends and family to practice it.She said, “To achieve flexibility,yoga is the best exercise. It alsoslows down your stress level.”
Talking about her fitnessmantra, Jacqueline said, “It isquite simple — one should eatright, must get adequate sleep,and exercise regularly because it’snever too early or too late to worktowards being the healthiest you.I ensure that I maintain a healthydiet, stay positive and relaxed.Being healthy is the need of thehour.” No matter how one keepsin mind the fitness mantras, shesays, there are certain things thatneed to be worked upon like “sta-mina and flexibility.”
She recalls that she discussedabout how there was a need ofcold-pressed juices with no addedpreservatives with her friendbefore the beverage brand waseven launched. “At the same time,such juices should also be conve-nient and a seamless fit in ourcurrent fast-paced life withoutmaking any compromise in qual-ity. The juices are easy to carryand can be home-deliveredwhenever required,” she suggest-ed.
Some of her fitness tips:- Always set an aim for every
week, keep tracking yourprogress.
- Have sufficient quantity ofwater, it keeps the body hydrat-ed.
- Don't push yourself beyondlimit especially after a long tiring
day. Never punish your body.- Always read the label before
buying food items.- Eat fresh, healthy and nutri-
ent-enriched foods.It’s no wonder that more
than half of us open a supplementbottle to get the nutrition weneed. Many of us take supple-ments not just to make up forwhat we’re missing, but also togive ourselves a boost. Jacquelinefeels that getting nutrients straightfrom a pill sounds easy, but sup-plements don’t necessarily deliv-er on the promise of better health.She said, “I believe in eatinghealthy and having a natural dietas that is best for the body. Whilethis might take some time toadapt, it will surely pay off in thelong run and help lead a morebalanced life.”
In my past life, I must have been bornin a country that had no food, becausefrankly, I am eternally hungry and mynear and dear ones will vouch for that.I have loved food all my life. My pater-
nal grandmother, Agnes, was a brilliant cookand I can still remember the aromas waft-ing in from her kitchen; her picking mush-rooms from the garden during the rains tomake soup and pâté. My maternal grand-mother, Rosemary, was a darling in thekitchen, and her fish curry with rice is some-thing that I would love to have just oncemore. Unfortunately, I never learnt anycooking from either of them. I wasn’t inter-ested in the process, only focussed on its eat-ing part.
My love affair with food started abouteight years ago, when I was pregnant withZene, and didn’t have much to do. Ergo, Ispent time watching travel and food showson TV, and started writing down recipes totry them out. While I expanded during mypregnancy, I started experimenting in thekitchen. Fortunately, I was travelling withArshad for the shooting of a film and wasliving at the beautiful St. James Apartments.I had plenty of time to saunter through thefarmer’s market and pick and choose freshproduce. I would cook for the cast and crewwho came over often. Initially, I wasn’t quitesure if they really loved the food or were justbeing nice, but soon, they began comingover often for a tasty meal. I realised thenthat both my grannies were sprinkling theirmagic dust on me. Today, my mother’s foodis what I actually want to learn. I love thefood my mum, Joanna, makes. She is myrecipe book and always a call away to tell meabout my next step if I ever get stuck.
A few years down the line, if anyone hadtold me that I would one day put togethera food book, I think I would have rolled onthe floor laughing. Slogging it out in thekitchen was not my style. I could eat a lot.After I discovered the joy of cooking, I did-n’t look back. I started my blog about fiveyears ago, after my domestic help decidedto leave. My friend Mini Mathur insisted thatI watch the film Julie & Julia but just would-n’t tell me why. When I did, I suddenly knewmy path. Frankly, my help leaving was thebest thing that happened to me. Suddenly,I was thrown into the thick of things — thekitchen, vegetable market, groceries, cook-ing — and to top it all, two very hungry chil-dren looking expectantly at me. (I love topicture this scene in my head.) Well!Something had to be cooked, and so I start-ed taking baby steps into the kitchen.
Gradually, I started to get seduced by thearomas, textures and the possibilities thatcould conspire in this beautiful place I dis-covered in my own home — my kitchen. Itwas like meeting a stranger and becomingfriends. Reading, googling and watchingfood became an obsession. I discovered thesecrets of fire to vegetables, yeast to flour,wine to meat, and the right amount ofkneading, whipping and marination. Itwas then that I realised I love cooking, notjust because I could really put myself intothe heat of it, but because I loved to see thefaces of the people I cooked for.
Jaya Misra, my friend, introduced meto blogging and insisted that I write aboutmy experiences. She always read my piecesbefore I uploaded them. This whole processof cooking and writing took off like beingon a surfing board, and I was busy ridingwave after wave, enjoying the thrill of cook-ing, feeding and reaching out to so manylike-minded foodies. It was catharsis that Inever thought I needed.
At one point, I needed to learn how tomake bread, because my dad used to makeit when we were kids and by the timeI wanted to learn, he said he hadforgotten how. So, I joined a oneyear part-time baking course atSophia Polytechnic and underthe tender hands of Shashi ma’am,I learnt more than I had bargainedfor. Baking taught me the art ofpatience, something that I stillstruggle with. It taught me thateverything happens when it is sup-posed to. She once caught me star-ing down at my bread that I had leftto prove. And she pointed out that if I
kept staring at the dough, it would still notrise up in a second. It would take its timeto prove so I should concentrate on doingsomething else during that time. I alwaysthink of her when I bake bread now.
In the middle of all this, I was anchor-ing a cooking show and met the lovelyShazmeen, who told me about her stint atTante Marie. In 2011, I went off to the sleepytown, Woking, and spent 11 weeks atTante Marie. With amazing teachers, I learntabout sweating onions, kneading puff
pastry, cooking meat at just theright temperature to keep it pinkin the middle, understandinghow important it was to whip
the egg whites till they had theright amount of stiff peaks for ameringue, how to debone a fish,how to cut chicken, clean thefloors, wash the fridge, do the ves-sels and much more. I also trav-elled to Paris, Budapest, Austria,
Ireland and sat for exams, andwatched every play that was worth
its salt on the weekends. All this was
possible was because Arshad, who is quitea rockstar, stayed home and looked afterZeke and Zene. My parents too set up tentat my place. And Zoya, Arshad’s niece,would ensure that they went for movies andwere occupied and happy. My friends Mini,Jaya, Sandy and Sambo came in often, tookthe kids out, and hung with them. I wouldnot have been able to go without this entireweb of support that I was lucky enough tohave. My friends in London — Lorraine,Sanjay and Rachna Narang, Junky, Pooja andEve — were my home away from home.
My life is a series of coincidences. I neverplanned a moment and whatever I plannednever happened. After years of being partof ad-films, theatre, anchoring TV shows,travelling for work and being an MTV VJ,I was ready for a new chapter in my life. Andhaving kids changed it around. Food was justa side-effect of being a mother. This was justthe perfect time to put my apron on and gofor it, all burners flaming. Arshad, who wasthe chef in my kitchen, just took a back seatand sat and watched me, as I struggled myway into food heaven. He always encouragedme even when the food was really not upto the mark. He always said that it was fan-tastic and gave me advices for somethingnew. And every time I made kheema orpaaya, he would say, “It’s lovely, but does nottaste Muslim!” Well, I really want to learncooking Mughlai and Kashmiri food one day.It’s on my bucket list. And Arshad, who is‘world famous’ within our circle of friends
for his Biryani, bowed out of my kitchen witha smile. I finally took over my kitchen.
My friend, Mini, started gifting merecipe books and my friends were alwayswilling to eat what I cooked. This encour-aged me, inspite of disasters. So post twoyears of food blogging, I finally got enticedto do a book. I remember when the first offercame, I refused because I was too scared.When the second offer came, I had, by then,digested the fact that probably somethingis right. The third offer came when I wentto Bhutan, the land of happiness. This tripfinally made me warm up to the idea of pen-ning a food book. Though it did feel like agood idea, it made me nervous. Neither wasI a chef nor a writer. I didn’t know where tobegin from. I procrastinated for six monthsand decided that because I cook only forpeople whom I love, the book should be anapt reflection of that. I then started puttingmenus in place and designing my foodaccording to the people I was cooking for.It was a tedious process writing down recipesand taking care of a teaspoon of this and atablespoon of that. I never go by accuratemeasures when I cook for myself. But to givea recipe that worked, I had to.
I had jumped into the deep end of thepool and had to swim to the shallow. Icould not think of a better photographerfor this book other than my friend, AmitAshar. He is someone who will always cap-ture what no one else sees. I remember thefirst day of shoot when we were doing theChristmas menu. I brought the bakedchicken out of the oven. It was hot,looked yummy, and Amit set up the shot,looked at me and said, “‘Do you have glyc-erine?” I asked, ‘Why?’ He explained thatfood stylists used glycerine to make thefood look shiny and moist. I was aghast!Why would anyone do that to good food?I told him to give me a minute. I took thechicken, warmed up the gravy, poured itover the chicken and we shot the dish. Thisis how we did the entire book, it is exact-ly from my kitchen to yours, what you seeis what you will get. We never used any-thing artificial to enhance the look, noth-ing was over or undercooked to look good.It was as per the recipe. I just cooked eachdish like I was going to serve it to some-one I really loved.
There is really nothing I would changeabout the book. I have kept all the recipessimple to follow. Go for it, make it yourown, tweak it, and think of me when asmile breaks on the face of the person youhave cooked for. This is me, with all myflavours and enthusiasm, cooked at tem-peratures that were sometimes too hot tohandle and sometimes like a tropical day,with the freshest of ingredients andcooked with a whole lot of love. A verywise person once said, ‘You are what youeat.’ Well then, I want to eat a ‘fit person’to be fit myself! But I am not a cannibal.So, I try and eat healthy and do my regu-lar workout and yoga. And yes, I run. It’sone of those things that makes me happy.
(Excerpts from From My Kitchen toYours, published by Om BooksInternational.)
Celebrate Navroz at the Parsispeciality restaurant SodaBottle Opener Wala with a
meal that is reminiscent of home stylecooking.
The Bhonu includes a specially-curated menu of vegetarian andnon-vegetarian options for the feast.The Vegetarian Bhonu comprises of
Saria, Sproutedkachumber salad,Gajar nu aachar,Papeta papti nu shak,Vegetable cheese patticeand Masala ni daal.The Non-vegetarianfare on the other handhas Chicken pattice,Prawns patio, Muttonmasala and Dal. Therecipes have beenpassed down from onegeneration to the nextin every Parsi house-hold.
But it is the sweet-ness spread around bythe Falooda that haspeople queuing up formore. Of course, there
is another Parsi speciality that mostpeople are familiar with, Laganucustard, that rounds of the dessertsection. There is also bottomlessSangria and cocktails, to ensure thatthis a Navroz party that does not end.
The celebrations are on till April15 at its Khan Market, Noida andGurgaon outlets.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he is"beyond excited" to be handed theManchester United manager's job
on a full-time basis as the club announcedon Thursday he had signed a three-yeardeal.
The Norwegian, 46, has inspired a dra-matic revival of United's fortunes since tak-ing over from the sacked Jose Mourinhoin December, winning 14 of his 19 gamesand leading the Red Devils to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Solskjaer, who scored 126 goals in 366appearances for United, was already a heroto fans as the man who scored the stop-page-time winner in the 1999 ChampionsLeague final to complete a historic treble.
In his short spell in charge he has lift-ed United back into contention for a top-four finish in the Premier League and ispreparing for a mouthwatering ChampionsLeague clash against Barcelona nextmonth.
"This is the job that I always dreamedof doing and I'm beyond excited to havethe chance to lead the club long-term andhopefully deliver the continued successthat our amazing fans deserve," he said ina statement on manutd.com.
Solskjaer told MUTV he had relishedthe support from the fans since he replacedMourinho.
"I've always had it but I have to say thelast few months have been absolutely crazywith the way they've taken to the players,to me and to the coaching staff. We've real-ly appreciated that support and hopeful-ly we can pay them back now."
After Mourinho was sacked followinga 3-1 loss to Liverpool on December 16,Molde boss Solskjaer was given the task ofreviving United's flagging fortunes but wasexpected to return to the Norwegian clubfollowing his caretaker spell.
���# �� ��$����At that stage Tottenham manager
Mauricio Pochettino was the firm favouritefor the permanent Old Trafford hotseatafter an impressive few years at the helmat Spurs.
But Solskjaer forced the hand ofManchester United hierarchy by sheerweight of results, becoming the firstUnited manager to win his first six leaguegames.
The Norwegian also helped cleanse thetoxic atmosphere at United, whereMourinho had fallen out with a numberof key players.
France World Cup winner Paul Pogbaand Marcus Rashford in particular havethrived under Solskjaer, who has beencredited with restoring an attacking vervemissing under a succession of managers.
United's executive vice-chairman EdWoodward said: "More than just perfor-
mances and results, Ole brings a wealth ofexperience, both as a player and as a coach,coupled with a desire to give young play-ers their chance and a deep understand-ing of the culture of the club."
Rashford on Thursday posted animage of himself and Solskjaer onInstagram with the caption: "Congratsboss."
$��������$$���Solskjaer spent 11 seasons at Old
Trafford as a player under Alex Ferguson,winning six Premier League titles and the1999 Champions League trophy.
On the pitch, the Norwegian, nick-named the "Baby-faced Assassin", becamean embodiment of United's never-say-diespirit, often scoring late goals when pointsor trophies looked to have been lost.
Solskjaer lost his battle with per-sistent knee problems in 2007 beforebecoming the United's reserve-team manager.
He won two league titlesduring a first managerialspell at Molde, but strug-gled badly during abrief stint at Cardiff in2014.
When he tookover as interim boss at OldTrafford, the club were lan-guishing in sixth place in the PremierLeague, 11 points off the top four.
But they have lost just once in theleague since then and are now in fifthplace, just two points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, with eight games remain-ing in the season.
The highlight of his reign so far wasa dramatic 3-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 in the ChampionsLeague, with United overturning a 2-0first-leg defeat to reach the quarter-finalson away goals.
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Australia have received a boost withinjured fast bowling spearheads Josh
Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc resumingbowling this week and on track to be fitfor their World Cup defence.
Hazlewood has been sidelined sinceJanuary with a back injury, while Starcpulled out of Australia's Twenty20 andone-day tour of India last month with a"substantial" muscle tear.
The pair's return to the nets is time-ly after Jhye Richardson returned homethis week from Australia's one-day seriesagainst Pakistan with a dislocated shoul-der.
"When the squad gets announced I'llprobably be 65-70 percent and I've stillgot a good four or five weeks from thatdate to get ready to play one-day crick-et," Hazlewood said in a Cricket Australiapodcast.
Australia's World Cup squad must benamed by April 23 with the tournamentstarting on May 30 in England.
Starc, the 2015 World Cup player ofthe tournament, is also faring well in hiscomeback since picking up the injuryduring the Sri Lanka Test.
"He (Starc) looks fine, he startedbowling as well this week," Hazlewoodsaid.
"He's coming off not as big a breakas me so won't take him long to get upand running. He seems to be heading inthe right direction."
���������Former India centreforward Shivendra Singh is setto be appointed assistant coachof the national men's hockeyteam and will start working withthe side next month.
A livewire during his play-ing days, Shivendra will exclu-sively work with the strikers andform an integral part of theIndian coaching staff set to be
headed by Australian GrahamReid.
Reid's appointment is just aformality now after HockeyIndia and Sports Authority ofIndia recommended his name tothe Sports Ministry.
Besides Shivendra, formerAustralian drag-flicker ChrisCiriello, who is the current ana-lytical coach, will be the other
assistant coach in new set-up."Shivendra Singh will join
the Indian team soon as an assis-tant coach soon. He will workwith the forwards under the newchief coach," a source close to thedevelopment said.
Shivendra was part of theIndian team that won a Silvermedal in the 2010 DelhiCommonwealth Games,
besides being a member of theBronze medal-winning sideof 2010 Guangzhou AsianGames.
The coaching set-up willalso have SAI coach PiyushKumar Dubey, who is alreadywith the team at the ongoingAzlan Shah Cup in Ipoh,Malaysia. He will exclusivelywork with the goalkeepers.
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India has pumped in 14 goals in fourmatches in the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah
Cup and young striker Mandeep Singh onThursday said the team is focussed on fre-quent circle penetrations, which in turn willlead to more shots at goal.
The 24-year-old Mandeep scored a hat-trick in India's 7-3 win over Canada in theirfourth round-robin league match onWednesday to seal the five-time winnersplace in the summit clash against Korea.
"We have tried to improve as a unit.Being a part of the forward-line, I feel wehave focused on making more circle pene-trations, getting more shots on target, andregaining possession quickly. If we can exe-cute these things in the next two matches,I am sure we can finish with Gold medal,"Mandeep said.
"We have had a good tournament so faras we have 10 points from four matches, butof course we would have liked to get all 12points on the board," he said ahead of India'sfinal league match against Poland on Friday.
India and Korea, the top two teams inthe league tables with 10 points each, havequalified for Saturday's final with a match
in hand.Both India and Korea are unbeaten in
the tournament so far, with three wins anda draw, and they had played out a 1-1 drawin their league match on March 24.
"We know Korea are a strong side, butwe are doing everything to minimise anyerrors in our game. It is going to be our first
final of 2019, and we are very well preparedto face them in the final," said the playerfrom Punjab.
"We have learned a lot about Korea fromthe 1-1 draw in pool stages, and I feel Friday'smatch against Poland will also give us achance to prepare well for the final."
of Kevin Anderson bigserves after the Swiss super-star sealed his place in theATP and WTA MiamiOpen quarter-finals in just61 minutes on Wednesday.
Federer is celebrating 20years at this tournamentand edged closer to hisfourth title in South Floridaas the up and comingRussian Daniil Medvedevwas swatted aside 6-4 6-2.
Next up for the 20-timeGrand Slam-winning legendis the South African world
number seven who famous-ly beat the 37-year-old atWimbledon in 2018 overfive dramatic sets.
That triumph wasAnderson's only win overFederer in six attempts - andthe only time he's won a set.
But having classily dealtwith Medvedev, the formerworld number one knows itwon't be as straightforwardwith the 6 ft 8 in Andersonat the other end of the HardRock Stadium's center court.
"I think if you beat meat Wimbledon, you've gotmy attention," smiledFederer.
"He's got a great serve
and I'm happy he's playingagain after his injury.
"So from that standpoint,I know what I'm about toexpect tomorrow. The match-es I have played against him Iknow can be extremely closealways, just because of hissheer possibilities that he hason the serve.
"I believe that probablythe best surface for him is thiskind of a type of hard courthere in the States where he'sspent a lot of his time practic-ing, as well.
"I've just got to make sureI protect my serve very welland slice maybe sometimes, getinto the rallies, and then finda way. So it will be interestingto see how it's going to go."
The key moment againstMedvedev came towards theend of the first set, Federerbreaking serve for 5-4 - agame which saw him win a 34-stroke rally - before savingthree break points on his ownserve to seal the first set.
Defending champion JohnIsner, meanwhile, powered hisway to the semi-finals asRoberto Bautista Agut, whosent world number one NovakDjokovic crashing out in theprevious round, was seen off 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 ,(7-5).
"I was pretty fortunate outthere," confessed theAmerican, who smashed down24 aces compared to theSpaniard's tally of just threeand will play the winner ofCroatia's Borna Coric andFelix Auger-Aliassime, the 18-year-old from Canada.
In the women's draw,Simona Halep moved closer toreclaiming her world numberone crown after a well-execut-ed 6-4 7-5 triumph overChina's Wang Qiang.
Following Petra Kvitova'sexit on Tuesday, Halep needsonly to reach Saturday's finalto knock Naomi Osaka off thetop of women's tennis afterbeing deposed following theJapanese's second major win atthe Australian Open earlierthis year.
Halep's recovery from 1-5down in the second set showedthe kind of mental toughnessdisplayed by only the verybest and the Romanian is look-ing in good shape to land herfirst Miami title, even if she'snot overly consumed about theprospect of reclaiming thenumber one tag.
"It doesn't mean every-thing to get back to numberone. It's more important to fin-ish the year in that position,"said the number two seed,who will face either worldnumber five Karolina Pliskovaor Marketa Vondrousova inthe last four.
Rajasthan Royalswould look to resur-rect their fortunes inFriday's IPL clashagainst SunrisersHyderabad, whowould also be aimingto put behind a disap-pointing first-day show.
Rajasthan's campaign started on a controver-sial note when Jos Buttler became the first crick-eter in the IPL to be 'Mankaded'. The incidentraked up a storm but Rajasthan will have to getover the episode to ensure that their campaignremains on track.
Buttler looked in great touch in their open-er but he would look for more support from thelikes of Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, SteveSmith and Ben Stokes in the batting department.
In particular Smith, who returned to the IPLafter missing the last edition following the ball-tampering scandal, would be eyeing more timeat the crease ahead of the upcoming World Cup.
Dhawal Kulkarni and spinner KrishnappaGowtham were brilliant upfront with the ballagainst Kings XI, but Stokes and Jaydev Unadkatleaked runs. Pacer Jofra Archer, who gave awayjust 17 runs in his four overs, looked threateningbut wickets eluded him. Just like Rajasthan,Sunrisers too didn't have a dream start to theircampaign, losing by six wickets to KolkataKnight Riders.
While the David Warner-led Sunrisers' bat-ting looked solid, the death bowling performancespoiled their chances against KKR.
Warner, who is in imperious form afterreturning to competitive cricket following the one-year ban for ball-tampering, played true to his rep-utation, smashing 85 off 53 balls against KKR theother day.
And Sunrisers' know their chances heavilydepend on Warner's success even though they alsohave the likes of skipper Kane Williamson,Jonny Bairstow, Vijay Shankar, Manish Pandey,Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan in their ranks.
Williamson wasn't available in the first gamedue to injury but head coach Tom Moody indi-cated that he in all likelihood "will be fit for Friday'sgame and lead the side".
Sunrisers' bowling unit, led by BhuvneshwarKumar, had a good outing for most part of thematch on Sunday before the Andre Russellstorm blew them away in the last three overs.
And come on Friday, Bhuvneshwar and therest of the attack, which also includes Rashid Khan,will be eyeing a much-improved death bowlingshow.
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Consecutive fifties in different battingpositions ought to be a confi-
dence-builder but Kolkata KnightRiders batsman Nitish Rana says he isoccupied by the concern of maintain-ing his form that usually "fizzles" outearly in the IPL.
As a makeshift opener in theabsence of Sunil Narine, Rana struck afine 68 in KKR's first match againstSunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.
Back at No 4 in their secondmatch, Rana scored a 34-ball 63 againstKings XI Punjab on Wednesday to over-take Delhi Capitals' Rishabh Pant (103runs in two matches) in the earlyOrange Cap race.
"I haven't thought too far ahead. Butfor the last couple of seasons, I start wellbut my form fizzles out towards the laterhalf of the tournament," Rana said afterKKR's 28-run win.
"So this time around, I want to workon this. I want to continue the kind ofform I have started in till the end of thetournament."
Having impressed at different bat-ting positions, Rana said, "That's thesign of a good team. My plan was clear— to hit a loose ball and then, let DK(Dinesh Karthik) or (Andre) Russelltake over for the last four-five overs."
Four of his seven sixes came againstIndia's top off-spinner RavichandranAshwin but Rana said the attack was notpre-planned.
"I was just trying to build myinnings. I was taking it ball by ball at thestart and then when I thought I couldcharge, I did that.
"It doesn't matter for me who thebowler is. My game plan was simple. Ithought that was the time to attack andI did. That was the plan for the two overs— of Ashiwn and South African pacer(Hardus Viljoen)."
Rana also hailed Andre Russell's 17-ball 48 and said the lifeline, when theJamaican survived owing to a no ball,gave them 20-25 runs extra.
"Having 218/4 definitely worked inour favour, how Russell got a lifeline andthat probably gave us those 20-25 runsextra.
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Hardik Pandya's muscled acouple into the stands andone out of sight as
Mumbai Indians recovered froma middle-order collapse to post adecent 187 for 8 against RoyalChallengers Bangalore in an IPL
match on Thursday.Pandya hit three sixes and
two fours in his unbeaten 32 off14 balls after Yuzvendra Chahal(4/38 in 4 overs) reduced MI froma comfortable 124 for 2 to 147 for7. MI lost five wickets in a spaceof 3.3 overs for only 23 runs.
This was after a vintage
Yuvraj Singh was raising visionsof a six sixes over with three max-imums in Chahal's 14th over.However he wasn't fourth time
lucky as Chahal's courage tomaintain flighting the ball yield-ed results.
Chahal then removed
Suryakumar Yadav (38 off 24balls) and Kieron Pollard in quicksuccession to bring RCB rightback in the match.
It was then left to HardikPandya to score the bulk of the 30runs in the final two overs to takeMI to a fighting total on a placidbatting track.
In fact, Hardik's third andfinal six went out of the stadiumas he gestured to the dressingrooms pointing his bulgingbiceps.
However at the beginning itlooked like MI would cross the200-run mark as Rohit Sharma(48 off 33 balls) and Quinton deKock (23 off 20) added 54 for theopening stand but it was foiled byChahal's lion-hearted bowling.
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Kings XI Punjab coachMike Hesson said
"game-changer" AndreRussell completelysnatched the match awayfrom his team in the IPLclash against KolkataKnight Riders and ruedthe no ball that let off theswashbuckler before hewent on a rampage.
Russell was on threeoff five balls when he wasbowled by MohammedShami with an inch-per-fect yorker on off-stumpbut it was declared a noball because the side hadthree fielders, instead ofthe mandatory four,inside the circle in the17th over.
Russell then smashedeight boundaries in arow to add 44 runs in thenext 12 balls to pushKKR to a record 218/4 atthe Eden Gardens.
"It's a fine line whenyou're bowling to AndreRussell. He's agamechanger," Hessonsaid as Russell returnedwith a second man-of-the-match award inKKR's 28-run win.
"The game changedin the 17th over.Obviously we had a planfor Russell that we exe-
cuted well, but we weren'tquite alert enough in thefield, and that's where thegame changed."
"We had that littlebit of jubilation andthen things turned pret-ty quickly (with the noball) and we weren'tquite able to turn thelast few overs for 12 or14 runs. Instead weended up giving givingaway 22 or 24 runs, andit probably changed thegame."
Skipper Ashwin'sdecision to bring ontheir �8.4 crore buyVarun Chakravarthy tobowl the second overbackfired spectacular-ly. Sunil Narine ham-mered the uncappedmystery spinner forthree sixes and a four ina 25-run over.
Defending the ploy,Hesson said: "It wasn't
so much Narine. Lynnwas on strike at the startof that second over. Thatwas the match-up wewere looking for. Andthen Narine came onstrike and you know hewas able to take a toll."
Hesson also backedChakravarthy and saidhe was nervous like any-one else playing theirfirst game.
"The way he cameback in the second andthird over was excellent.And it will give him andus a lot of confidence.You know, playing yourfirst game in front of acrowd like this is diffi-cult.
"Narine's obviouslygoing to hit you fromball one. I think he willlearn to settle down a bitquicker. But I'm stillvery pleased the wayhow he came back."
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Rajasthan Royals as ateam has moved on
from the Jos Buttler'Mankading' incident andthe focus will strictly be onwinning their next IPLencounter against SunrisersHyderabad on Friday, saidseamer Jaydev Unadkat.
Asked if the team wasaffected by 'Mankading' controversy,Unadkat said: "We haven't even men-tioned it once after that day. We havemoved on from that incident. It's timethat we focus on the game coming up.
"Every game is going to be crucialin a tournament like this. Mankading(controversy) has not really made anykind of impact on us and we are look-ing for what we can do to win the game
on Friday."Buttler looked a cut
above rest when it came toattacking the KXIP bowl-ing and Unadkat said thatthe Englishman alonecan't win the franchisegames as he would alsorequire support fromother batsmen.
"It (Buttler's form)actually adds to that con-
fidence. If someone starts like that, peo-ple can take confidence and can learnfrom the way he has been approachingthe game. He has been tremendous forus throughout the last season.
"However, there need to be others,who can also contribute as Buttleralone can't win you games. Yes, himbeing in prime form is an advantage forus."
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Martin Guptill is notamong the four first-
choice overseas players forSunrisers Hyderabad but thesenior New Zealand batsmanwants to utilise his time fac-ing Rashid Khan at the netsto prepare for the WorldCup game againstAfghanistan on June 8.
With David Warner,Jonny Bairstow, Rashid Khanand Shakib Al Hasan beingthe first choice foreignersand regular captain KaneWilliamson waiting to get fit,Guptill will have to bide histime but he wants to makeoptimal use of it.
For Guptill, Rashid is abowler he has not facedmuch save a few games in anearlier Caribbean PremierLeague edition.
"I played with him inCPL a couple of years back.He is an amazing bowler. Heis very hard to face becausehe is quick," Guptill saidduring a media interaction.
"I will be getting into thenets to figure out how to playhim because our secondgame at the World Cup thisyear is against Afghanistan.Obviously, if I can face himat the nets, may be I can putsome plans in place for the
corrected it againstBangladesh," he said.
Asked what exactly theproblem was, Guptill said:"My balance was not correct.I was not loading up well inmy set up that caused meplaying to different linesthan I would have liked to.But I did work hard with mylongtime coach at Aucklandwith whom I share a goodworking relationship."
Guptill has never been asought after player in IPLlike some of his other NewZealand team-mates but heactually has no qualms.
"I go into auctions withreasonably low expectations.If I get picked, it's good andif not can't do anythingabout it. It's my third seasonwith a third team. So I amdoing the rounds. SRH isquite a tight-knit unit andthey have had the same coreof players for a number ofyears now. I know I can't getinto the XI straightaway," hesaid.
He might get a chance inthe second half whenBairstow returns to Englandbut Guptill does not want tolook that far ahead.
"I try not to get tooahead. Cricket is a funnygame. I take each net sessionas it comes and work hard.
