W ith just two phases of Lok Sabha polls remaining, there is an attempt to revive the idea of a non-BJP and non- Congress “federal front” that could occupy centre stage in the Government formation in case of a fractured verdict by the voters. After holding talks with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is trying to hold similar parleys with DMK chief Stalin in Chennai. There is no official confirmation about the meet- ing so far, but sources said it may take place on May 13 if Stalin agrees to hold talks with the TRS chief, who is seen close to the BJP camp. Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has also con- tacted KCR and expressed his willingness to hold talks with him on formulating Opposition’s future course of action in case of a split verdict at the Centre. Congress sources said the party will be ready to extend support to any formulation like a “federal front” if it could become platform to keep BJP out of power. A senior Congress leader said none of the major political parties — the BJP and the Congress — are likely to get the numbers to form a Government. “That would make the so-called fed- eral front a viable alternative,” he said. “In that case the grand old party will not hesitate to repeat Karnataka and we may extend support to the federal front,” said the leader. In Karnataka Assembly polls last year when the BJP, despite being the single largest party, could not form a Government, the Congress extended its support to the third largest party giving an opportunity to Kumaraswamy to be the CM. In March, KCR had moot- ed the idea of a “federal front” and initiated efforts to provide an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress and subse- quently met leaders of Trinamool Congress, Biju Janta Dal, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (S) and DMK. Sources said he also invited the YSR Congress Party to join the pro- posed front. “With the Lok Sabha elec- tion results to be declared on May 23, KCR is planning meet- ings with leaders of various parties to prepare the ground for formation of a non-BJP, non-Congress Government. While a National Front (NF) coalition led by Janata Dal formed a Government between 1989 and 1990 with VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar as Prime Ministers, a United Front Government was formed between 1996-98 with HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral as PMs. The parties in the Front were Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, DMK, Asom Gana Parishad and Indian Congress (Socialist). They were sup- ported from outside by the Left Front and the BJP. L aunching a blistering attack at the Narendra Modi Government, Congress gen- eral secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday invoked the fate of Mahabharata’s main vil- lain Duryodhana to warn that the country has never forgiven such arrogance. Addressing a rally in Ambala (Haryana), Priyanka, used the Mahabharata analogy to hit back at Modi over his “bhrashtachari (corrupt) No. 1” jibe at her father Rajiv Gandhi and said the Mahabharata char- acter Duryodhana too had “such arrogance”. The Congress leader also dared Modi to fight the Lok Sabha elections on issues like development rather than diverting the people’s attention. Priyanka said the country has never forgiven ego and arrogance. “History is witness to this, Mahabharata is witness to this…Duryodhana too had such arrogance. When Lord Krishna went to make him understand, he tried to take him captive,” she said. The Congress general sec- retary for UP also read out a couplet by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, saying wisdom is the first casualty before someone’s downfall, “Jab naash manush par chhata hai, pehle vivek mar jata hai...” BJP president Amit Shah slammed Priyanka for com- paring the PM with Duryodhana and said the elec- tion outcome on May 23 will determine whether Modi is Duryodhan or Arjun. “Priyanka has compared Modi ji with Duryodhana. People of the country will decide who is Duryadhana and who is Arjun on May 23? Priyanka ji, do not worry, peo- ple will tell you whether Modi ji is Duryodan or Arjun,” Shah said at an election rally in Bengal’s Midnapore. Continued on Page 4 T he former woman employ- ee of the Supreme Court who levelled sexual harass- ment allegations against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, on Tuesday sought a copy of the report of the In-House Enquiry Committee, which gave clean chit to the CJI. Meanwhile, 55 protesters, mostly women lawyers and activists, were detained outside the SC for protesting against the procedure adopted to deal with a sexual harassment case against the CJI. “If the Supreme Court itself is violating the norms, then there will be no value in the system left,” said a protester. The woman complainant said, “The in-house proceeding rules are now being used to deny me and the public a right to the report... It appears from the press release that even I, the complainant, will not to be pro- vided with a copy of the report. I have a right to the report, the reasons for the same as well as copies of the depositions of any witnesses, any other persons or any other evidence considered by the Committee.” She added if the CJI is given a copy of the report, directly or indirectly, the com- plainant too is entitled to it. The CJI on Monday got a clean chit from a three-mem- ber committee headed by Justice SA Bobde which found “no substance” in the allega- tions of the former woman employee and further ruled that the report was not “liable to be made public”. The Committee, which completed its task in 14 days, proceeded ex-parte as the woman had opted out of the enquiry on April 30 after par- ticipating for three days over feeling intimated by the panel. In a letter to Justice Bobde, the woman has alleged lack of transparency in the function- ing of the enquiry panel and said that now, not providing her a copy of the order “would be a violation of the principles of natural justice and a com- plete travesty of justice”. She alleged that in the first hearing, she was not given any clarity on whether the present proceedings were the in-house. “I find it rather strange that the complainant in a case of sexual harassment is not to be provided with a copy of the report which finds her com- plaint to be without substance and that my complaint has been held by the committee to be this without giving me any reasons for the same,” she said, adding that both the parties had a right to receive a copy of the report. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to modify its April 8 order which directed the Election Commission (EC) to increase random matching of Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to five polling booths per Assembly segment in the Lok Sabha elec- tions, and dismissed the review plea of 21 Opposition leaders seeking that it be raised to 50 per cent. As soon as hearing started, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi asked senior advocate AM Singhvi, who is represent- ing the Opposition, during the hearing, “How much counting do you want now?”. “We have asked for 50 per cent, but we can settle for 33 per cent or 25 per cent verifi- cation. My Lords had agreed with our plea in principle, but increased the counting from one VVPAT to only five,” Singhvi submitted. H undreds of sadhus on Tuesday landed in Bhopal to seek votes for the Congress Lok Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh and campaign against BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur. Digvijay’s excessive inclination to religious events is seen as a move to negate BJP’s candidate Pragya’s image as religious poster girl. Digvijaya also took part in religious rituals with his wife Amrita Singh and sought bless- ings of the sadhus who were led by Computer Baba, aka Nam- dev Das Tyagi, former close aide of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Led by Computer Baba, they will camp in Bhopal for three days. They undertook Hath Yoga on Tuesday, fol- lowed by a road show. Hath Yoga involves asanas (positions) that help in relaxing and breath- ing control. Computer Baba was bestowed Minister of State sta- tus by the then BJP-led Government in Madhya Pradesh and appointed on a panel to clean the Narmada. However, Computer Baba later switched his loyalties and backed the Congress in Assembly polls. Computer Baba told the media it was a fight of dharma and adharma. “Dharma was with Digvijay Singh,” he said. Such events would continue in favour of Singh who is a ‘dhar- ma premi’ and ‘Narmada premi’, said the seer who accused Chouhan of illegal mining in Narmada riverbed and corrup- tion in plantation along with Narmada banks. Notably, BJP candidate Pragya also has called this elec- tion against Digvijay a battle of dharma and adharma. “They (BJP) have fooled people. They have not even spared the saint community. They talked of Ram temple, they have not constructed it in five years and have come back with the same issue. The public won’t be fooled now. No temple, no Modi,” Computer Baba told reporters here. Asked if the ritual was to pray for Digvijay’s victory, he said, “The saints prayed to God that the person who is treading on the path of religion, the one who served the river Narmada and saints is Digvijaya Singh, and should win by lakhs of votes.” Asked about Pragya, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, he said one cannot become a sadhvi (saint) merely by wear- ing a robe. At the ritual, Digvijaya was seen dressed in a white kurta pyjama and seated on the ground, while the sadhus formed a semi-circle near him. V inayak Sreedhar, who idolised Stephen Hawking, scored nearly 100 in all the three subjects he appeared for during the CBSE 10 examina- tion, and passed away in March before he could write the remaining two. Sreedhar suffered from duchenne muscular dystrophy which is a genetic disorder characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and weak- ness. He scored 100 in English, 96 in Science and 97 in Sanskrit and could not appear for Computer Science and Social Studies. Topping the class 10 board exams, becoming an astronaut and a trip to Rameswaram are among some of the unfulfilled wishes of Sreedhar, who was diagnosed with muscular dys- trophy when he was two-years- old. Duchenne muscular dys- trophy is caused due to the absence of dystrophin, a pro- tein that helps keep muscle cells intact. The results for the class 10 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examina- tion were announced on Monday. The Amity International School, Noida, student appeared for the exams under the general category and not the Children With Special Need (CWSN) category. “His muscular movement was very limited. He could write slowly but since there is a time duration for exams he used a scribe to write English and Science exam. For Sanskrit, he insisted to write himself. His body movement was restricted and he was wheelchair-bound, but his mind was very sharp and aspirations very high,” Mamta Sreedhar, his mother, told PTI. “He would always say I want to become an astronaut despite all the challenges and would say if Stephen Hawkings could go to Oxford and make a name in Cosmology I can go to space too. He was confident that he will be among top rankers. We were always amazed with his confidence and would encourage him fur- ther,” she added. Legendary British theoret- ical physicist Stephen Hawking also suffered from a motor neu- rone disease. Sreedhar had plans to visit Rameswaram temple near Kanyakumari after his exams were over. “We are today in Rameshwaram and are going for darshan in the evening. It was his unfulfilled wish so we decided to not postpone the plans and do it for him,” his mother said. However, Vinayak Sreedhar is not the only one in his family to make his parents proud. His sister is an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) alum- nus and is currently pursuing her Phd at the University of British Columbia on a fellow- ship. While Vinayak’s father is vice president in GMR, his mother is a home maker by choice. “I made this choice. My entire day revolved around him. From brushing his teeth to feeding him, I did it all myself but it was his willpow- er which always gave us the strength,” his mother said. PTI T wo labourers died while cleaning a septic tank of an under-renovated building in Prem Nagar of Rohini on Tuesday. The men died of asphyxia, while three other men who had entered the septic tank to res- cue the duo fell unconscious and are undergoing treatment in hospital. According to SD Mishra, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Rohini district, police got a police control room (PCR) call around 2 pm, and a team reached the spot and took the five labour- ers to Ambedkar Hospital, where two of them Deepak (30) and Ganesh Saha (35) were declared brought dead. While Rambir (33), Sher Singh (40) and Bablu (40) are under- going treatment at hospital. They are residents of Bhagya Vihar in Prem Nagar,” said the DCP. “The owner had called these labourers to clean the septic tank of the house. Two of them had entered the sep- tic tank and they fell uncon- scious. Seeing the plight of the duo, three others who were there, entered into the tank in a bid to rescue them. The intensity of the poisonous gas was so high that they too fell unconscious,” said the DCP. “A case has been registered under appropriate sections and action will be taken as per law. It is also being ascertained whether the labourers were wearing safety gears or not,” said the DCP. Manual scavenging is an offence under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. In February, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flagged off a fleet of 200 sewer cleaning machines. On May 3, two workers died while working inside a sewage tank in Noida’s Sector 39. A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was called to pull out the two workers from the tank. It was believed that the men died due to water suddenly gushing inside the tank.
there is an attempt to revive theidea of a non-BJP and non-Congress “federal front” thatcould occupy centre stage inthe Government formation incase of a fractured verdict bythe voters.
After holding talks withKerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan, Telangana ChiefMinister K Chandrashekar Rao(KCR) is trying to hold similarparleys with DMK chief Stalinin Chennai. There is no officialconfirmation about the meet-ing so far, but sources said itmay take place on May 13 ifStalin agrees to hold talks withthe TRS chief, who is seen closeto the BJP camp.
Meanwhile, KarnatakaChief Minister HDKumaraswamy has also con-tacted KCR and expressed hiswillingness to hold talks withhim on formulatingOpposition’s future course ofaction in case of a split verdictat the Centre.
Congress sources said theparty will be ready to extend
support to any formulationlike a “federal front” if it couldbecome platform to keep BJPout of power. A seniorCongress leader said none ofthe major political parties —the BJP and the Congress —are likely to get the numbers toform a Government. “Thatwould make the so-called fed-eral front a viable alternative,”he said.
“In that case the grand oldparty will not hesitate to repeatKarnataka and we may extendsupport to the federal front,”said the leader.
In Karnataka Assemblypolls last year when the BJP,despite being the single largestparty, could not form aGovernment, the Congressextended its support to thethird largest party giving anopportunity to Kumaraswamyto be the CM.
In March, KCR had moot-ed the idea of a “federal front”and initiated efforts to providean alternative to both the BJPand the Congress and subse-quently met leaders ofTrinamool Congress, Biju JantaDal, Samajwadi Party, JanataDal (S) and DMK. Sources saidhe also invited the YSR
Congress Party to join the pro-posed front.
“With the Lok Sabha elec-tion results to be declared onMay 23, KCR is planning meet-ings with leaders of variousparties to prepare the groundfor formation of a non-BJP,
non-Congress Government.While a National Front
(NF) coalition led by Janata Dalformed a Government between1989 and 1990 with VP Singhand Chandra Shekhar as PrimeMinisters, a United FrontGovernment was formed
between 1996-98 with HDDeve Gowda and IK Gujral asPMs. The parties in the Frontwere Janata Dal, Telugu DesamParty, DMK, Asom GanaParishad and Indian Congress(Socialist). They were sup-ported from outside by the LeftFront and the BJP.
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Launching a blistering attackat the Narendra Modi
Government, Congress gen-eral secretary Priyanka GandhiVadra on Tuesday invoked thefate of Mahabharata’s main vil-lain Duryodhana to warn thatthe country has never forgivensuch arrogance.
Addressing a rally inAmbala (Haryana), Priyanka,used the Mahabharata analogyto hit back at Modi over his“bhrashtachari (corrupt) No. 1”jibe at her father Rajiv Gandhiand said the Mahabharata char-acter Duryodhana too had“such arrogance”.
The Congress leader alsodared Modi to fight the LokSabha elections on issues likedevelopment rather than
diverting the people’s attention.Priyanka said the country
has never forgiven ego andarrogance. “History is witnessto this, Mahabharata is witnessto this…Duryodhana too hadsuch arrogance. When LordKrishna went to make himunderstand, he tried to takehim captive,” she said.
The Congress general sec-retary for UP also read out acouplet by Hindi poetRamdhari Singh Dinkar, sayingwisdom is the first casualtybefore someone’s downfall, “Jabnaash manush par chhata hai,pehle vivek mar jata hai...”
BJP president Amit Shahslammed Priyanka for com-paring the PM withDuryodhana and said the elec-tion outcome on May 23 willdetermine whether Modi isDuryodhan or Arjun.
“Priyanka has comparedModi ji with Duryodhana.People of the country willdecide who is Duryadhanaand who is Arjun on May 23?Priyanka ji, do not worry, peo-ple will tell you whether Modiji is Duryodan or Arjun,” Shahsaid at an election rally inBengal’s Midnapore.
Continued on Page 4
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The former woman employ-ee of the Supreme Court
who levelled sexual harass-ment allegations against ChiefJustice of India Ranjan Gogoi,on Tuesday sought a copy ofthe report of the In-HouseEnquiry Committee, whichgave clean chit to the CJI.
Meanwhile, 55 protesters,mostly women lawyers andactivists, were detained outsidethe SC for protesting againstthe procedure adopted to dealwith a sexual harassment caseagainst the CJI. “If the SupremeCourt itself is violating thenorms, then there will be novalue in the system left,” said aprotester.
The woman complainantsaid, “The in-house proceedingrules are now being used todeny me and the public a rightto the report... It appears fromthe press release that even I, thecomplainant, will not to be pro-vided with a copy of the report.I have a right to the report, thereasons for the same as well ascopies of the depositions of any
witnesses, any other persons orany other evidence consideredby the Committee.”
She added if the CJI isgiven a copy of the report,directly or indirectly, the com-plainant too is entitled to it.
The CJI on Monday got aclean chit from a three-mem-ber committee headed byJustice SA Bobde which found“no substance” in the allega-tions of the former womanemployee and further ruledthat the report was not “liableto be made public”.
The Committee, whichcompleted its task in 14 days,proceeded ex-parte as thewoman had opted out of theenquiry on April 30 after par-ticipating for three days overfeeling intimated by the panel.In a letter to Justice Bobde, thewoman has alleged lack of
transparency in the function-ing of the enquiry panel andsaid that now, not providingher a copy of the order “wouldbe a violation of the principlesof natural justice and a com-plete travesty of justice”.
She alleged that in thefirst hearing, she was not givenany clarity on whether thepresent proceedings were thein-house.
“I find it rather strange thatthe complainant in a case ofsexual harassment is not to beprovided with a copy of thereport which finds her com-plaint to be without substanceand that my complaint hasbeen held by the committee tobe this without giving me anyreasons for the same,” she said,adding that both the partieshad a right to receive a copy ofthe report.
New Delhi: The Supreme Courton Tuesday refused to modify itsApril 8 order which directed theElection Commission (EC) toincrease random matching ofVoter-Verified Paper Audit Trail(VVPAT) slips with ElectronicVoting Machines (EVMs) to fivepolling booths per Assemblysegment in the Lok Sabha elec-tions, and dismissed the reviewplea of 21 Opposition leadersseeking that it be raised to 50 percent.
As soon as hearing started,Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi asked senior advocateAM Singhvi, who is represent-ing the Opposition, during thehearing, “How much countingdo you want now?”.
“We have asked for 50 percent, but we can settle for 33per cent or 25 per cent verifi-cation. My Lords had agreedwith our plea in principle, butincreased the counting fromone VVPAT to only five,”Singhvi submitted.
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Hundreds of sadhus onTuesday landed in Bhopal
to seek votes for the CongressLok Sabha candidate DigvijayaSingh and campaign against BJPnominee Pragya Singh Thakur.Digvijay’s excessive inclinationto religious events is seen as amove to negate BJP’s candidatePragya’s image as religiousposter girl.
Digvijaya also took part inreligious rituals with his wifeAmrita Singh and sought bless-ings of the sadhus who were ledby Computer Baba, aka Nam-dev Das Tyagi, former close aideof Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Led by Computer Baba,they will camp in Bhopal forthree days. They undertookHath Yoga on Tuesday, fol-lowed by a road show. HathYoga involves asanas (positions)that help in relaxing and breath-ing control.
Computer Baba wasbestowed Minister of State sta-tus by the then BJP-ledGovernment in MadhyaPradesh and appointed on apanel to clean the Narmada.
However, Computer Babalater switched his loyalties andbacked the Congress inAssembly polls.
Computer Baba told themedia it was a fight of dharmaand adharma. “Dharma waswith Digvijay Singh,” he said.
Such events would continue infavour of Singh who is a ‘dhar-ma premi’ and ‘Narmada premi’,said the seer who accusedChouhan of illegal mining inNarmada riverbed and corrup-tion in plantation along withNarmada banks.
Notably, BJP candidatePragya also has called this elec-tion against Digvijay a battle ofdharma and adharma.
“They (BJP) have fooledpeople. They have not evenspared the saint community.They talked of Ram temple, theyhave not constructed it in fiveyears and have come back withthe same issue. The public won’tbe fooled now. No temple, no
Modi,” Computer Baba toldreporters here.
Asked if the ritual was topray for Digvijay’s victory, hesaid, “The saints prayed to Godthat the person who is treadingon the path of religion, the onewho served the river Narmadaand saints is Digvijaya Singh,and should win by lakhs ofvotes.”
Asked about Pragya, anaccused in the Malegaon blastcase, he said one cannot becomea sadhvi (saint) merely by wear-ing a robe. At the ritual,Digvijaya was seen dressed in awhite kurta pyjama and seatedon the ground, while the sadhusformed a semi-circle near him.
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Vinayak Sreedhar, whoidolised Stephen Hawking,
scored nearly 100 in all thethree subjects he appeared forduring the CBSE 10 examina-tion, and passed away in Marchbefore he could write theremaining two.
Sreedhar suffered fromduchenne muscular dystrophywhich is a genetic disordercharacterised by progressivemuscle degeneration and weak-ness.
He scored 100 in English,96 in Science and 97 in Sanskritand could not appear forComputer Science and SocialStudies.
Topping the class 10 boardexams, becoming an astronautand a trip to Rameswaram areamong some of the unfulfilledwishes of Sreedhar, who wasdiagnosed with muscular dys-trophy when he was two-years-old.
Duchenne muscular dys-trophy is caused due to theabsence of dystrophin, a pro-tein that helps keep muscle cellsintact.
The results for the class 10Central Board of SecondaryEducation (CBSE) examina-tion were announced onMonday.
The Amity InternationalSchool, Noida, studentappeared for the exams underthe general category and notthe Children With SpecialNeed (CWSN) category.
“His muscular movementwas very limited. He could
write slowly but since there isa time duration for exams heused a scribe to write Englishand Science exam. For Sanskrit,he insisted to write himself. Hisbody movement was restrictedand he was wheelchair-bound,but his mind was very sharpand aspirations very high,”Mamta Sreedhar, his mother,told PTI.
“He would always say Iwant to become an astronautdespite all the challenges andwould say if Stephen Hawkingscould go to Oxford and makea name in Cosmology I can goto space too. He was confidentthat he will be among toprankers. We were alwaysamazed with his confidenceand would encourage him fur-ther,” she added.
Legendary British theoret-ical physicist Stephen Hawkingalso suffered from a motor neu-rone disease.
Sreedhar had plans to visitRameswaram temple near
Kanyakumari after his examswere over. “We are today inRameshwaram and are goingfor darshan in the evening. Itwas his unfulfilled wish so wedecided to not postpone theplans and do it for him,” hismother said.
However, VinayakSreedhar is not the only one inhis family to make his parentsproud.
His sister is an IndianInstitute of Science (IISc) alum-nus and is currently pursuingher Phd at the University ofBritish Columbia on a fellow-ship.
While Vinayak’s father isvice president in GMR, hismother is a home maker bychoice. “I made this choice.My entire day revolved aroundhim. From brushing his teethto feeding him, I did it allmyself but it was his willpow-er which always gave us thestrength,” his mother said.
PTI
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Two labourers died whilecleaning a septic tank of an
under-renovated building inPrem Nagar of Rohini onTuesday.
The men died of asphyxia,while three other men who hadentered the septic tank to res-cue the duo fell unconsciousand are undergoing treatmentin hospital.
According to SD Mishra,the Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP), Rohini district,police got a police controlroom (PCR) call around 2pm, and a team reached thespot and took the five labour-ers to Ambedkar Hospital,where two of them Deepak(30) and Ganesh Saha (35)were declared brought dead.While Rambir (33), Sher Singh(40) and Bablu (40) are under-going treatment at hospital.They are residents of BhagyaVihar in Prem Nagar,” said theDCP.
“The owner had calledthese labourers to clean theseptic tank of the house. Twoof them had entered the sep-tic tank and they fell uncon-scious. Seeing the plight of theduo, three others who werethere, entered into the tank in
a bid to rescue them. Theintensity of the poisonous gaswas so high that they too fellunconscious,” said the DCP.
“A case has been registeredunder appropriate sections andaction will be taken as per law.It is also being ascertainedwhether the labourers werewearing safety gears or not,”said the DCP.
Manual scavenging is anoffence under the Prohibitionof Employment as ManualScavengers and theirRehabilitation Act, 2013. InFebruary, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal flagged off afleet of 200 sewer cleaningmachines.
On May 3, two workersdied while working inside asewage tank in Noida’s Sector39. A team of National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) wascalled to pull out the twoworkers from the tank. It wasbelieved that the men died dueto water suddenly gushinginside the tank.
said that the dynastic politicsof the Gandhi family whichIndia saw after Independencehas hampered the country’sprogress.
Manohar Lal, whi leaddressing the Vijay SankalpRally at Surajpur, which ispart of Ambala Lok Sabhaconstituency from where sit-t ing MP Rattan Lal Kataria is the BJP’s candidate,said that if there had been nodynastic rule, the countrywould have been at the top ofthe world.
He said that the dynastshave derailed India’s progress.
Referring to the visit ofCongress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra toHaryana, the Chief Ministersaid that she has come to the
state searching for land forher husband Robert Vadra.
The Congress, whichruled the country for mostperiods after Independence Isresponsible for the back-wardness and poverty in thecountry today. The Gandhifamily did not want anyoneelse to attain the seat of powerat the Centre, he added.
Besides the Congress, theChief Minister attacked thetwo other opposition parties– INLD and JJP – saying thetwo parties only consideredtheir own well being. Theyfilled their homes and workedfor the welfare of their rela-tives, he said adding that onlythe sons and grandson ofleaders of the two parties areflourishing.
He further said that thetwo parties due to their fam-ily feuds are trying to out-smart each other with theresult that the state is suffer-
ing. Those parties which arefaced with internal bickeringcan never develop the state; he
said adding that time hascome to eliminate dynasticrule and family rule.
Manohar Lal said that theongoing elections are not rou-tine Lok Sabha elections. The
process of change started in2014 when Narendra Modibecame the Prime Minister.The time has come to ensurethe return of Modi so that thesystems can be further setright to ensure corruptionfree administration anddevelopment of all sections ofthe society in dif ferentspheres, he said.
The Chief Minister fur-ther said that if the BJPreturned to power the gov-ernment will give pension toall having monthly income ofRs 15,000.
Manohar Lal taking a digat the opposition said that onMay 23, on their defeat theywill put the blame of EVMs,which, however, is accept-able when the Congressrecently won the StateAssembly elections in threestates of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh.
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The Meteorological Department (Met) on Tuesday issued afresh yellow weather warning for thunderstorm in Himachal
Pradesh on May 10 and 11.The Met centre in Shimla issued the warning of thunderstorm
accompanied withhailstorm and gustywinds in the plains,low and the mid hillson Friday andSaturday.
The weathermanhas also forecast rain-fall from May 10 to13.
The Met officeissues colour-codedwarnings to alert the public ahead of severe or hazardous weath-er which has the potential to cause "damage, widespread dis-ruption and/or danger to life."
Yellow is the least dangerous out of the weather warnings.It indicates the possibility of severe weather over the next fewdays that could affect the public.
On Tuesday, the highest temperature in the state was record-ed in Una at 40.8 degrees Celsius, while the lowest was registeredin tribal district Lahaul-Spiti's administrative centre Keylong at3.2 degrees Celsius.
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Himachal GovernorAcharya Devvrat and his
wife Darshana Devi used theirfranchise by using the option ofpostal ballot to cast their votesduring Lok Sabha Elections-2019.
The Governor and his wife,who were enrolled in the list ofKurukshetra parliamentaryconstituency, sent their postal
ballots by Post to ReturningOfficer, Kurukshetra. Electionsfor 10 Lok Sabha seats ofHaryana State will be held onMay 12. The postal ballot wascertified by the Secretary of RajBhawan.
Governor said that theyhave taken this decision tosave the expenses and timespent on travelling toKurukshetra for voting. Hesaid that this avoided unnec-
essary expenditure on travel-ling with security and person-al staff and also have reducedthe burden on the local pollingbooth as he is under “Z” cate-gory protectee.
The Governor has alsoappealed to the voters to takepart in this great fest of democ-racy and use their franchise,which would be a productivestep towards strengthening ourdemocratic system.
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Ayear after joining theShiromani Akali Dal
(SAD), the sister of slain gang-ster Jaswinder Singh Rocky,Rajdeep Kaur, on Tuesdayjoined the Congress — adevelopment described as“serious blow” to Akali Dal inthe party president SukhbirBadal’s Ferozepur constituency.
Notably, Rocky was shotdead in Par wanoo inHimachal Pradesh in 2016.Facing over 20 cases includingthose of murder, the 39-year-old Rocky had been acquittedin 18 before his death.
He had hobnobbed withall political parties and in2012 state assembly elections,he contested as an indepen-dent candidate from Fazilka,and came second close to
BJP’s winning candidate SurjitJyani by bagging 39,000 votes.He lost by just 1600 votes.
As Rajdeep joined theCongress along with a largenumber of supporters, ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh welcomed her into theCongress fold.
Rajdeep had contested the2017 assembly polls fromFazilka as an independentcandidate, polling over 38,000votes. Rajdeep’s mother,Harmander Kaur, also joinedthe Congress.
With more and moreleaders and workers fromother parties deciding to puttheir weight behind theCongress, the party was clear-ly dominating the Lok Sabhapoll scene, said the ChiefMinister, adding that he washappy to have Rajdeep join thePunjab Congress’ efforts to
clean the state of the destruc-tive and divisive Akali forces.
“If such is the extent ofdisillusionment in Sukhbir’sown constituency, one couldgauge which way the wind isblowing across the state,” saidCapt Amarinder asserting thatthe SAD president would beignominiously voted out bythe people of Ferozepur.
Rajdeep thanked the ChiefMinister for giving her theopportunity to serve the peo-ple of Punjab. She blamedSukhbir Badal's autocratic andhighhanded style of func-tioning for Akali Dal's down-fall.
“There are many who,like her, are feeling disen-chanted and suffocated in theSAD and wanted to join theCongress, which stands fordemocracy and inclusiveprogress,” she said.
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The Supreme Court Tuesdaytransferred a case related to
alleged custodial death of anaccused in gang-rape and mur-der of a minor school girl inHimachal Pradesh's Kotkhai in2017, from Shimla toChandigarh.
A bench headed byChief Justice Ranjan Gogoitransferred the case toChandigarh after the CBI andthe accused said they have noobjection if the case was trans-ferred from Shimla.
"We order transfer of thecase to a competent CBI courtin Chandigarh," the bench,which also comprised JusticesDeepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna, said.
The counsel appearingfor the CBI informed thebench that charge sheet hasbeen filed in the case againstseveral police officials rangingfrom constable to formerInspector General of Police(IGP).
The apex court had lastmonth granted bail to formerHimachal Pradesh IGP ZahurHaider Zaidi, an accused in thecase, and said that it wouldlater deal with the aspect oftransferring the trial from acourt in Himachal Pradesh.
The top court had inNovember last year soughtresponses from Zaidi, Deputy
Superintendent of Police(Theog) Manoj Joshi and sixother Himachal Pradeshpolicemen as to why the trialagainst them be not trans-ferred from Shimla.
The CBI had earlier toldthe court that though thecharge sheet has been filed, thetrial in the case "has not seenthe light of the day" and hencethe matter be transferred toother court for expeditiousdisposal.
Zaidi and seven otherswere arrested in the custodialdeath case of Suraj, who wasfound dead at the Kotkhaipolice station on July 18, 2017.
A 16-year-old girl hadgone missing in Kotkhai onJuly 4, 2017 and her body wasfound from the Halaila foreststwo days later on July 6.
The post-mortem reporthad confirmed rape and mur-der and a case was registered.
Amid a huge public out-cry in the state, a SIT headedby Zaidi was constituted by thethen Virbhadra Singh-ledCongress government.
The SIT arrested six per-sons, and after the custodialdeath of one of the accusedSuraj, the high court had hand-ed over the investigations ofboth the cases to the CBI.
The CBI had arrestedZaidi, DCP Joshi and otherpolicemen in connection withthe custodial death.
Jannayak Janta Party andLoktantra Suraksha Party andtheir respective new alliancesmay have changed the land-scape of Haryana politics butthe new political players areunlikely to make any majorimpact in the Lok Sabha pollsin the state.
In general elections 2019,Haryana is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with BJP,Congress, Indian National LokDal, Jannayak Janta Party-AamAadmi Party combine,Loktantra Suraksha Party-Bahujan Samaj Party combine,
flexing muscles to win the 10Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The political analysts, how-ever, believe that the newalliances of JJP-AAP and LSP-BSP will not be a big factor inHaryana that goes to polling onMay 12. Also, with the INLDbattling a crisis of existence fol-lowing its split, the contest ismostly confined to BJP andCongress in the state, they say.
The political scene in thestate had taken an interestingturn last year with the split ofgrand old Jat-centric partyINLD and formation of JJP ledby Dushyant Chautala, grand-son of INLD chief OPChautala.
For both Lok Sabha pollsand State Assembly polls due to
be held later this year, the JJPhas forged an alliance withAam Aadmi Party of DelhiChief Minister ArvindKejriwal. The JJP is contestingon seven Lok Sabha seats whileAAP is fighting on three seatsin Haryana.
The other new alliance inHaryana’s electoral arena is ofMayawati’s BSP with LSPformed last year by Raj KumarSaini, rebel BJP MP. The BSPand the LSP are contesting oneight and two seats respective-ly in the parliamentary elec-tions.
While the JJP-AAP allianceis eyeing the youth vote bank,the LSP-BSP tie up is formed toconsolidate Dalit and backwardclasses voters in the state.
The state has 1.80 crorevoters including 97.16 lakhmale, 83.40 lakh female.Among them, Schedule Castevoters form around 19 percentin the state.
Out of total electors, thereare 1.60 lakh new electorswhile 38.96 lakh electors are inthe age group of 20-29 yearsand 44.38 lakh in the age groupof 30-39 years. The group inthe age brackets of 18-19, 20-29 and 30-39, categorized asyoung voters form around 47percent of the total voters.
AAP had in 2014 pollsunsuccessfully contested on all10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryanawhile JJP will contest for thefirst time in 2019 parliamentarypolls. The BSP, on the other
hand, had won once on theAmbala constituency seat(reserved) in 1998 Lok Sabhapolls while the LSP will makeits debut in Lok Sabha polls.
After its alliance with JJP,Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP hashigh expectations from thestate because of its proximity tothe national capital, whereAAP is heading the StateGovernment. Haryana is alsothe home state of ArvindKejriwal.
Notably, JJP’s supportedcandidate had earlier this yearperformed well in Jind bypollsfinishing at second spot leavingbehind other mainstream par-ties including Congress andINLD in Haryana.
Looking to boost party’s
prospects in parliamentarypolls, Delhi Chief Minister andAAP convener Arvind Kejriwalis busy in hectic campaigning,holding election rallies androadshows in Haryana whileBSP supremo Mayawati is alsoholding rallies to woo the Dalitand OBC vote bank in the state.
Prof Ashutosh Kumar,Department of PoliticalScience, Panjab Universitywhile talking to The Pioneer,said that there is a direct fightbetween Congress and BJP onmost of the 10 seats inHaryana. Barring one or twoconstituencies, JJP-AAPalliance is unlikely to make amajor impact in Lok Sabhapolls. On the other hand, theBSP-LSP combine will not
make any big difference in theJatland-Haryana,” he said.
He said, “Winnability fac-tor matters a lot and peoplehave this general perception ofnot wasting their vote. So theygenerally go for a winningparty or candidate. Havingsaid that, JJP-AAP joint candi-date Dushyant Chautala, whois seeking re-election fromHisar is seen as a strong con-tender and probably win theseat. However, on other seats,the JJP-AAP alliance candi-dates will not make muchimpact in terms of voting per-centage.”
As far as BSP-LSP is con-cerned, their alliance is eyeingabout 19 percent Dalit votebank in Haryana. But the
alliance is not in a position tocompletely swing this votebank in its favor in the state noteven on two reserved seats ofAmbala and Sirsa, he added.
Professor Aswini KumarNanda, Population ResearchCentre, CRRID (Centre forResearch in Rural andIndustrial Development) saidthat the JJP may cut into INLDJat vote bank but this is unlike-ly to turn into a victory whileits alliance partner AAP doesnot have a strong base inHaryana.
Similarly, BSP’s base inHaryana has weakened overthe years. Its alliance with LSPis not seen as a threat to anymajor political party in thestate, Prof Aswini said.
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Hisar Lok Sabha con-stituency is witnessing a
“mother of all electoral battles”with three political dynastslocked in a triangular contest inthe Lok Sabha elections.
Personal prestige has takenprecedence over collectivepolitical stakes at Hisar, wherethe financial and political mus-cle of the Bishnois, theChautalas and the BirenderSingh family in Haryana will bethe X-factor in shaping the polloutcome.
The Jannayak Janta Party-Aam Aadmi Party’s joint can-didate and outgoing MPDushyant Chautala, great–grandson of former DeputyPrime Minister Devi Lal isfacing a tough electoral fightagainst political greenhorns–BJP’s Bijender Singh, formerIAS officer and great grandsonof acclaimed farmer leader SirChhotu Ram and Congress’nominee Bhavya Bishnoi,grandson of former ChiefMinister Bhajan Lal.
These three scions, all withforeign degrees are slugging itout in the general elections topreserve their political legacy.
Dushyant, while repre-senting the undivided IndianNational Lok Dal (INLD) in2014 polls had defeated theBJP-HJC joint candidateKuldeep Bishnoi, son of formerChief Minister Bhajan Lal, tobecome the youngest everelected MP to the Lok Sabha.
But this time, it is totally adifferent ball game for Chautalascion Dushyant, 31, who is nowa leader of Jannayak JantaParty, a splinter group of INLDand facing two opponents fromequally influential politicalfamilies of Haryana.
Among other 26 candi-dates in the fray from Hisar seatincluded INLD’s Suresh Kothand Loktantra Suraksha Party-Bahujan Samaj Party’s jointcandidate, Surinder Sharma.
Hisar parliamentary seat isknown as epicenter of strongcaste polarization in Haryanapolitics and with two Jats andone-non Jat candidate fromthree mainstream parties in thefray, the political analysts seemdivided in drawing a conclu-sion to the poll outcome andsee it as a contest betweenDushyant and Bhavya, withthese two, likely to divide theJat and non-Jat voters respec-tively in their favor in the con-stituency.
Dushyant, a Jat, comesfrom influential Chautala clanand is a grandson of formerChief Minister and INLD’ssupremo Om PrakashChautala. Leading the JJP,which has an alliance withAAP in Haryana, Dushyantvows to take forward the lega-cy of Chaudhary Devi Lal andis seeking his re-election fromHisar with a promise to takeforward the developmentworks undertaken by him inthe last five years.
The JJP leader is also hop-ing that resentment among Jatcommunity against the BJPcould be the ace-in-the-hole for
him in the elections.On the other hand, Bhavya
Bishnoi, 26, who is among theyoungest candidates in the fray,is contesting from Hisar to takerevenge of his father Kuldeep’sdefeat in 2014 polls from thesame constituency.
Bhavya’s grandfather for-mer Chief Minister Bhajan Lal,was a prominent non-Jat leader,who had managed to becomea potential non-Jat option andled the Congress for years,bringing together non-Jats likeDalits, Yadavs and other Hinducastes in Haryana.
The third-generationpolitician, Bhavya is also bank-ing upon the caste based polit-ical alignments to register amaiden victory in Hisar, wherehis father and grandfather hadwon in the past.
The BJP’s candidate,Brijendra Singh, son of UnionMinister and Rajya Sabha MPBirender Singh is hoping that“Modi factor” in Lok Sabhapolls will help him sail throughthe ballot tussle.
A Haryana cadre IAS offi-cer of 1998 batch, Brijendra, 46,has voluntarily retired from theHaryana Government to carryforward the political legacy ofhis great grandfather and peas-ant leader Sir Chhotu Ram. Hisfather, Birender Singh being aprominent Jat leader inHaryana, Brijendra is also pos-itive of getting support of Jatcommunity.
Interestingly, mothers ofthese three key candidates arelegislators in HaryanaAssembly. Dushyant’s motherNaina Chautala is MLA fromDabwali assembly constituen-cy, Bhavya’s mother RenukaBishnoi is legislator from Hansiassembly segment and PremLata, mother of Brijendra Singhis MLA from Uchana Kalanassembly segment.
As per the political experts,Hisar is a Jat-dominated con-stituency having more than 5
lakh Jat voters, more than80,000 Brahmins, over 36,000Bishnois, 65,000 Punjabis whileScheduled Castes andBackward Classes constitute asizeable number of more than5 lakh voters.
Kulwant Singh Nehra,Assistant Professor, RBI chairat Chandigarh-based Centrefor Research in Rural andIndustrial Development(CRRID) while talking to ThePioneer said, “In Hisar, the bal-lot fight is mainly betweenDushyant and Bhavya. Asstrong caste polarization isworking across Haryana, thesame factor will also decide theelection outcome in Hisar.”
Dushyant seems to have anedge over his rivals. With Jatcommunity already unhappywith the BJP over their unful-filled demands and BJP field-ing a debutant Brijendra Singh,the saffron party is facing atough situation in Hisar. Jat andnon-Jat divide that usuallydominates the electoral arenain Hisar will go in favor ofeither Jat Dushyant or non-JatBhavya, he added.
Sociologist, JitenderPrasad, a former professor ofSociology at MaharshiDayanand University (MDU),Rohtak, said that as per thecaste arithmetic, Bhajan Lal’sgrandson Bhavya seems tohave an advantage over theother two Jat candidates in thefray from mainstream politicalparties.
“Bhajan Lal had won fromHisar in 2009 and before thatCongress had won the seat in2004.
The polarization of Jat votehad worked in favor ofDushyant last time. But withINLD divided and Dushyantrepresenting JJP now, andanother Jat candidate BrijendraSingh in the fray, BhavyaBishnoi has a good chance ofmaking a successful debut,”Prasad said.
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Being the first to raise the banner ofrevolt against the SAD leadership
the eventually led to the formation ofits another faction, party’s ‘rebel’ RajyaSabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa onTuesday broke his silence and soughtvotes for the BJP and its allies.
“Since the BJP has taken numer-ous steps for the welfare of Sikhs, bothBJP and its allies deserve votes,” saidDhindsa who had resigned from allparty positions last year due to dif-ferences with SAD chief SukhbirBadal.
Dhindsa was not even campaign-ing for his son, Parminder SinghDhindsa, who is contesting as SAD-BJP combine candidate from SangrurLok Sabha seat “against his wishes”.
He said that during five-year ruleof the BJP, the Sikhs, particularly the1984 riots victims, were given justice.“The government had constituted SITthat re-investigated the riot cases andone of the prime accused, SajjanKumar, besides others were punished.They are behind the bars. The other
accused will also be punished,” he said.Dhindsa added that the work to
construct Kartarpur corridor has beenstarted and it will be completed soon.He said that during the BJP govern-ment a major function to mark GuruNanak Dev birth anniversary wasalso held in Dubai.
When asked why SAD is not con-testing parliamentary elections inDelhi, he said that the party hasalliance with the BJP which is con-testing on all seven seats in the nation-al capital.
Asked about Punjab where SAD isan ally of BJP and that he resignedfrom all positions of SAD last year,Dhindsa said that the SAD-BJPalliance is very old and I along withSAD leaders have met with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi many timeson these issues.
“Since SAD is alliance partner ofBJP, its candidates also deserve votes.I have sought votes for all allies,including SAD in Punjab, because tostrengthen BJP and to save the coun-try. People should vote for its allalliance partners also,” he said.
Tuesday vowed to make every-one, from Prakash Singh Badaldownwards, pay for theircrimes, including the desecra-tion of the holy scriptures tocreate a communal divide inthe state to woo Sikh votes dur-
ing their rule.Capt Amarinder, address-
ing an election rally at ZiraDana Mandi in support ofCongress candidate fromKhadoor Sahib Jasbir SinghDimpa, sought votes for theparty to protect the nationfrom the divisive BJP and theirallies such as SAD, and also tosafeguard India from the secu-
rity threats at the border.“IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap,
who was transferred by the ECunder pressure of the Badals,exerted through the UnionGovernment, would be back inthe SIT to complete the probeon the 29th of May, the day thecode of conduct is lifted. IfPrakash Singh Badal is foundguilty, he will go behind the
bars,” said the Chief Minister,asking the Akali supremo,“How long do you think youcan save yourself from theconsequences of your actions.”
Pointing out that there hadnot been a single case of sacri-lege under the CongressGovernment, the ChiefMinister said that it was obvi-ous that the desecrations dur-
ing the Akali rule were delib-erately triggered to divide voteson communal lines.
Citing the total devastationof Punjab during the BJP-SADrule, the Chief Minister calledon the people to strengthen theCongress hands and let theBadals know where Sikhs andPunjab stands today. The wholeof Punjab wants to get rid of the
Badals and the only way to doit in a democracy is to votethem out, he said, quipping thathe would personally go toFerozepur and Bathinda todayto turn the tide against Sukhbirand Harsimrat Badal.
Lashing out at the misuseof SGPC and Akal Takht by theBadals for political gains, theChief Minister stressed the
need to send all 13 CongressMPs to the Parliament toensure that the SGPC elections,now due, are conducted with-out delay. He reiterated that hewould support anyone whocan help take SGPC out of thecontrol of the Akalis.
Lashing out at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s divi-sive politics, the Chief Minister
warned that he would ruin thecountry completely if allowedto get a second term as thePrime Minister.
“India is facing threatsfrom all sides, but Modi canonly think in terms of ‘my fauj(army)’, which is a crap...theArmed Forces do not belong tothe PM but is India’s pride,” hesaid.
laundering case involving thenephew of Congress leader andformer railway minister PawanKumar Bansal, the Chandigarhcandidate hit back at the BJP forraising the issue of Railgate scamin the Lok Sabha elections.
The former MP on Tuesdaysaid that the BJP is dragging memischievously in the case and try-ing all desperate means to defameme.
"I am a prosecution witnessin the case. But the BJP and party’scandidate MP Kirron Kher, aftersensing the defeat in Chandigarhare now trying to mislead peopleof Chandigarh," Bansal said whilereacting to news pertaining toEnforcement Directorate havingattached cash worth Rs 89.68 lakhin a money laundering caseinvolving his nephew Vijay Singla.
Addressing mediapersons,Bansal said, “Six years back thecase filed against me by CBI whenI was the Union Railway Minister
was blown out of proportion. Forover eight hours continuously, Iwas interrogated by CBI butnothing was found against me.On the contrary I was made the“prosecution witness” in thatcase completely acquitting me ofall the charges.”
“Had I got anything to dowith that case, do you think theBJP government over the last fiveyears would’ve spared me?” headded. Slamming BJP, the formerUnion Minister said, ever since Iwas announced the Congresscandidate to contest Lok Sabhaelections from Chandigarh, theBJP has been trying hard tosmear my name in one way or theother. BJP has accepted its defeatalready otherwise instead of find-ing ways to attack me, theywould’ve concentrated on talkingabout their own achievements inthe last five years. The truth, how-ever, is that our sitting MP hasdone nothing for the develop-
ment of Chandigarh, the four-time former MP added.
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To keep a check on the fake or manipulated videos on the socialmedia like Twitter or WhatsApp especially on the poll day
on May 12, Haryana chief electoral officer Rajeev Ranjan hasasked all the Deputy Commissioners-cum- District ElectionOfficers (DEOs) to constitute dedicated teams in their respec-tive districts. The DEOs would also send an action taken reportafter ascertaining the authenticity of the videos within two hours,he added.Rajeev Ranjan who was addressing the DeputyCommissioners-cum- District Election Officers (DEOs) throughvideo conferencing here directed them to personally examine suchvideos.
From Page 1Priyanka’s veiled attack at Modi came
a day after Congress chief Rahul Gandhiused the boxer analogy at a rally inHaryana, referring to the alleged mis-treatment meted out to veteran LK Advaniin BJP.
Rahul had said in Bhiwani that the
Prime Minister is a “boxer”, who with his56-inch chest entered the ring to fightunemployment and corruption but insteadpunched his own coach and veteran BJPleader LK Advani.
Continuing the tirade against BJP,Priyanka said, “This election is aboutachievements of the BJP-led Central
Government. But to hide their failures,they try to divert the attention of peopleof country.”
“You are the PM, you are a big leaderof the BJP, You should understand this…Otherwise the people will teach you a les-son. You cannot mislead the people. Thepeople of this country make every leaderanswerable and they will make you answer-able as well,” she said while hitting out atModi.
Attacking the PM for recently sayingformer Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s lifeended as ‘bhrashtachari number 1’, shesaid, “These polls are not about one fam-ily, this election is about crores of familieswhose hopes and aspirations have beencompletely broken by this Governmentand the Prime Minister.”
Priyanka addressed two election ral-lies each at Ambala and Hisar on Monday.
In Ambala, Congress candidate Rajya
Sabha MP Kumari Selja is pitted againstBJP’s Rattan Lal Kataria while at Hisar,Congress’ Bhavya Bishnoi is locked in a tri-angular fight against BJP’s Brijendra Singhand JJP-AAP joint candidate DushyantChautala.
She also held a roadshow in theevening at Rohtak in favour of party can-didate, three-time MP Deepender SinghHooda, who is facing a tough electoral fightagainst BJP’s Arvind Sharma.
At Hisar rally, Priyanka said thedemocracy of the country is in dangertoday. The PM is seeking votes in thename of our martyr of Army and on theother hand dishonouring them, she said.
She said the country does not need a“Shahnshah” rather it requires a democ-racy. Modi had shattered the economy ofthis country, she said while asking whereare the two crore jobs promised by theBJP.
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Challenging the SAD’s power-couple ofSukhbir and Harsimrat Badal in their
own constituencies, Punjab Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh on Tuesdaylaunched scathing attacks against the“corrupt and power-hungry couple” say-ing that they need to be taught a lesson inthese elections for their attempts to dividethe State on communal lines.
Capt Amarinder, addressing massiveelections rallies in Sukhbir’s Ferozepur andHarsimat’s Bathinda constituencies, askedthe people to defeat such leaders who usedPunjab and their power for promotingtheir vested interests and not for the State’swelfare.
In Bhuchho, the Chief Minister wasaccompanied by his Cabinet colleagueManpreet Badal, and senior Congressleader and Rajasthan Minister HarishChoudhary.
Seeking votes for the Congress candi-dates — Sher Singh Ghubaya in Ferozepurand Amarinder Singh Raja Warring inBathinda, the Chief Minister alleged that
the Badals had made hotels and proper-ties at the cost of Punjab’s people duringtheir tenure. “Even now, I have heard thatAkali leaders are threatening people notto vote for Congress,” said the ChiefMinister, asking the crowd for the namesof the trouble makers.
“I know how to set them right, I know
how to put the Badals in their place,” hedeclared.
“If they (Badals) and other Akalis lead-ers like Bikram Singh Majithia think theycan go around scaring people into votingfor SAD, they are mistaken...Muscle powerand arm twisting does not work in ademocracy. They will all be taught a les-son in these elections,” he said.
These tactics showed that the Badalswere running scared in the face of immi-nent defeat as they knew they would haveto face the consequences of their actions,Capt Amarinder said that nobody whoallowed holy scriptures like Sri GuruGranth Sahib, the Geeta, the Bible and theQuran to be desecrated will escape pun-ishment. Punjab has been through badtimes, which the Badals tried to furtheraggravate with their divisive agenda andattempts to create hatred through byallowing acts of sacrilege, he added.
“These elections are our chance tosecure the future of our children and ourcountry, and the Congress needs the sup-port of the people to strengthen its handsin ensuring the same,” he said.
The BJP on Tuesday lashedout at the Opposition for its
“silence” over the content of avideo clip in which Tej BahadurYadav, whose candidature onan SP ticket from VaranasiLok Saba seat was rejected, isreportedly talking about assas-sinating Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.
“It’s a very serious matter.It is about the Prime Minister’ssafety. It is about conspiracy toassassinate an elected primeminister. Why is the oppositionsilent?” BJP spokespersonSambit Patra said here at a pressconference.
He questioned if SP presi-dent Akhilesh Yadav and BSPsupremo Mayawati will apolo-gise for projecting him as theiralliance’s candidate againstModi in Varanasi.
The “sponsored attack” onDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal echoes for days but theOpposition is silent at thisthreat to Modi, he said.
The Prime Minister isbeing attacked even thoughwhat he said about formerprime minister Rajiv Gandhiwas a “statement of fact”, Patra
claimed. On Supreme Court reject-
ing the opposition’s review pleaon VVPAT, he said their attackon electronic voting machinesis an attempt to get an “antici-patory bail” for their impend-ing loss in the general election.
The BJP is going to winmore than 300 seats in the 543-member House, Patra claimed.
On other hand, BJP Vice-President Baijant Panda saidWest Bengal Chief Ministerwas disturbed as the groundhas shifted in the state infavour of the BJP.
Accusing the oppositionparties of targeting PrimeMinister with a torrent of“abuses” in frustration overtheir “poor” show in the ongo-
ing Lok Sabha polls, the BJPleader said people will givethem a befitting reply on May23 when votes are counted.
Panda and BJP media headAnil Baluni claimed that the“Modi wave” will help the saf-fron party gain many seatsfrom states like Odisha andWest Bengal, leading it to bet-ter its tally of 282 seats in 2014.
Panda said the opposition,which is in “panic mode”, hasbeen “abusing” Modi, referringto Congress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra’s comparison ofthe prime minister withDuryodhan, the antagonist torighteous Pandavas in epicMahabharat.
He also referred to West
Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee’s remarks that Modishould get a “tight slap ofdemocracy” to attack the oppo-sition.
Baluni said Congress lead-ers have “abused” Modi as hehad spoken about their pastmisdeeds, a reference to hisattack on former prime minis-ter Rajiv Gandhi.
“Why are Congress leadersapprehensive of their past?Their language is reflective oftheir frustration at theirimpending defeat. We repeatour challenge to the Congressto debate with us on the per-formance of its governments,”he told reporters.
To a question about BJP
general secretary RamMadhav’s reported remarksthat the saffron party may notget a majority on its own,Panda said Madhav has alsoclarified that he was misquot-ed, and asserted that no one inthe party has any doubt overcrossing the half way mark inLok Sabha.
INSETNew Delhi, May 7 (PTI)
Congress MP Sushmita Dev onTuesday claimed before theSupreme Court that theElection Commission has failedto appreciate that the alleged“hate speeches” by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP Chief Amit Shah are “cor-rupt practices” and promote thefeeling of enmity on religiousgrounds. In an affidavit, Dev,who placed before the apexcourt various orders of thepoll panel on complaints ofmodel code violation againstModi and Shah, said that theElection Commission haspassed orders in a “crypticmanner without mentioningany reason whatsoever, in starkviolation of the law laid downby this court” while disposingof some complaints.
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More than one million ofthe estimated eight mil-
lion plant and animal specieson earth are at a risk of van-ishing- many of them withindecades -because of lopsidedhuman activities, a UN reporthas warned.
Painting a grim picture, theUN global assessment reportprepared by over 100 scientistsfrom the IntergovernmentalScience-Policy Platform onBiodiversity and EcosystemServices (IPBES) said that thebiomass of wild mammals hasfallen by 82 per cent, naturalecosystems have lost abouthalf their area and a millionspecies are at risk of extinction- all largely as a result ofhuman actions.
Compiled over three yearsby more than 450 scientists anddiplomats, the report ), thesummary of which wasapproved at the 7th session ofthe IPBES Plenary, meeting last
week (29 April - 4 May) in Parissaid that the average abun-dance of native species in mostmajor land-based habitats hasfallen by at least 20 per cent,mostly since 1900.
“More than 40 per cent of
amphibian species, almost 33per cent of reef-forming coralsand more than a third of allmarine mammals are threat-ened. At least 680 vertebratespecies had been driven toextinction since the 16th cen-
tury and more than 9 per centof all domesticated breeds ofmammals used for food andagriculture had become extinctby 2016, with at least 1,000 morebreeds still threatened,” it said.
The overwhelming evi-dence of the IPBES GlobalAssessment, from a wide rangeof different fields of knowledge,presents an ominous picture,noted IPBES Chair, Sir RobertWatson. “The health of ecosys-tems on which we and allother species depend is deteri-orating more rapidly than ever.We are eroding the very foun-dations of our economies,livelihoods, food security,health and quality of lifeworldwide,” he added.
Based on the systematicreview of about 15,000 scien-tific and government sources,the Report also draws (for thefirst time ever at this scale) onindigenous and local knowl-edge, particularly addressingissues relevant to IndigenousPeoples and LocalCommunities.
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The Supreme Court onTuesday transferred a case
related to alleged custodialdeath of an accused in gang-rape and murder of a minorschool girl in HimachalPradesh’s Kotkhai in 2017,from Shimla to Chandigarh.
A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi trans-ferred the case to Chandigarhafter the CBI and the accusedsaid they have no objection ifthe case was transferred fromShimla.
“We order transfer of thecase to a competent CBI courtin Chandigarh,” the bench,which also comprised JusticesDeepak Gupta and SanjivKhanna, said.
The counsel appearing forthe CBI informed the benchthat charge sheet has beenfiled in the case against sever-al police officials ranging fromconstable to former Inspector
General of Police (IGP).The apex court had last
month granted bail to formerHimachal Pradesh IGP ZahurHaider Zaidi, an accused in thecase, and said that it would laterdeal with the aspect of trans-ferring the trial from a court inHimachal Pradesh.
The top court had inNovember last year soughtresponses from Zaidi, DeputySuperintendent of Police(Theog) Manoj Joshi and sixother Himachal Pradeshpolicemen as to why the trialagainst them be not trans-ferred from Shimla.
The CBI had earlier toldthe court that though thecharge sheet has been filed, thetrial in the case “has not seenthe light of the day” and hencethe matter be transferred toother court for expeditiousdisposal.
Zaidi and seven otherswere arrested in the custodialdeath case of Suraj, who wasfound dead at the Kotkhaipolice station on July 18, 2017.
A 16-year-old girl had gonemissing in Kotkhai on July 4,2017 and her body was foundfrom the Halaila forests twodays later on July 6.
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The Enforcement Directoratehas attached cash worth
�89.68 lakh in a money laun-dering case involving VijaySingla, nephew of Congressleader and former railway min-ister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
ED initiated investigationunder the provisions of PMLAon the basis of FIR andchargesheet filed by CBI underIPC section relating to criminalconspiracy and for provisions ofthe Prevention of CorruptionAct. The CBI had chargesheet-ed Mahesh Kumar Member(Staff), Railway Board, VijaySingla, Sandeep Goyal andseven other accused persons.
CBI investigation revealedthat Mahesh Kumar, a 1975batch officer of Indian Railway
Service of Signal Engineers(IRSSE), was posted as GeneralManager, Western Railways.He wanted to get himselfappointed as Member(Electrical), Railway Boardinstead of Member (Staff). Forthis he was in touch with NManjunath, who was further intouch with Sandeep Goyal, afriend of Vijay Singla.
Vijay Singla demanded �10crore through Sandeep Goyalfrom N Manjunath to getMahesh Kumar posted asMember (Electrical). Whiledelivering a token amount toVijay Singla and SandeepGoyal, the CBI team raided thepremises of office of VijaySingla at Sector 28, Chandigarhand recovered �89,68,000.During the relevant period,Pawan Kumar Bansal was the
Railway Minister and hisnephew Vijay Singla wascaught red handed whileaccepting a bribe of �89,68,000,the ED said in a statement.
ED probe revealed that N.Manjunath on behalf of MaheshKumar was persuading variousRailway vendors/S&T manu-factures/contractors for makingarrangement of bribe amount forpromotion of Mahesh Kumar asMember (Electrical) by alluringthem that all the contributorswould be taken care of/benefit-ed from the desired posting ofMahesh Kumar, the agency said.
Investigation furtherrevealed that first installment ofbribe amount of �89,68,000 wascontributed by N Manjunath,MV Murli Krishna, Sushil Dagaand private firm VenketeshwaraRail Nirman Pvt. Ltd.
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The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has seized
a flat in posh Vasant Kunj areaof Delhi and a land in Haryanaworth �1.48 crore in connec-tion with a FEMA and hawalacase against Harish Gahlot,brother of Delhi ministerKailash Gahlot.
The agency said it issued aseizure order under section37A of Foreign ExchangeManagement Act (FEMA)freezing the flat and a land inChauba village in Haryana inlieu of alleged illegal assets heldabroad.
“Investigation was initiat-ed under FEMA based on theinformation received from theIncome Tax Department
informing about transfer ofmoney to the tune of �1 crorefrom India to Dubai throughhawala channel by HarishGahlot through a Delhi-basedhawala dealer for makingadvance payments toward pur-chase of two flats in Dubai inSeptember, 2018,” the ED said.
Premises linked to the fam-ily and associates of KailashGahlot, Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) MLA and DelhiTransport minister, were raid-ed by the I-T Department inOctober last year. The proper-ties of his brother HarishGahlot were also searched dur-ing the action by ITDepartment.
The tax departmentsearches were conducted aspart of a tax evasion probe
against two firms — BriskInfrastructure and DevelopersPvt Ltd and CorporateInternational Financial ServicesLtd — that are reportedly oper-ated and owned by the familymembers of Kailash Gahlot.
Kailash Gahlot had deniedany wrongdoing and the AAPhad termed the action “politi-cal vendetta.”
The ED probe revealedthat in September, 2018 HarishGahlot had given �1 crorecash to his younger son NiteshGahlot, who is an NRI andstudying in Dubai, for sendingthis money to Dubai alleged-ly through unauthorisedhawala channel, that denotesskirting legal banking route totransfer money, the agencysaid.
“Nitesh Gahlot, throughhis contact, approachedInderpal Wadhawan, a Delhi-based hawala dealer for trans-ferring the amount.Wadhawan kept �4 lakh withhim as commission and ille-gally delivered Dirhams equiv-alent to �96 lakh in Dubaiwhich was collected by thefriend of Nitesh Gahlot anddeposited the said amount inthe Dubai bank account ofNitesh Gahlot,” the agencycharged.
Out of these funds, NiteshGahlot made payment toDubai-based developers forbooking of two flats in thename of himself, his fatherHarish Gahlot, his mother andhis elder brother, the agencysaid.
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The Supreme Court onTuesday directed the
Centre to review within a weekthe threat perception and con-sider granting adequate secu-rity to a person, whoseunequivocal testimony in thesensational Nitish Katara mur-der case had led to the convic-tion of three accused.
A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi took noteof the submission of one AjayKatara that either he be grant-ed “round the clock” security orbe relocated to a “safer place”by the security agencies con-sidering the threat to his life.
He was the key witness inthe murder case of NitishKatara who was kidnappedand killed by Vikas Yadav, sonof controversial Uttar Pradeshpolitician D P Yadav, VishalYadav and Sukhdev Pehalwanin 2002.
It was Ajay who had testi-fied that he had last seen thevictim along with the accusedbefore his murder and this hadnailed the case leading to theconviction of the three accused.The convicts are serving vary-ing jail terms in the case.
The witness, who hasalready been provided fourPersonal Security Officers(PSOs), has now moved the apexcourt for enhanced security.
New Delhi: A delegation of 22opposition parties, led byAndhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu, onTuesday approached theElection Commission request-ing for verification of all Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail(VVPATs) in an assembly seg-ment if discrepancy is found incounting of VVPAT slips of fiverandom machines.
The delegation met the ECimmediately after the SupremeCourt dismissed a plea by oppo-sition parties to review its judg-ment rejecting 50 per cent ran-dom physical verification ofEVMs using VVPATs.
The delegation alsodemanded that the EC “suomotu” increase the physicalcounting of VVPAT slips withElectronic Voting Machines(EVM) vote count in order torestore voters’ confidence, cred-ibility, transparency and robust-ness of institutional mecha-nism of counting process.
The Supreme Court hasdirected the EC to count VVPAT
slips of five random EVMs ineach assembly segment.
Senior Congress leadersAhmed Patel and Abhishek MSinghvi as well as NationalConference leader FarooqAbdullah, CPI parliamentarianD Raja and AAP MP SanjaySingh were among other lead-ers present in the meeting.
“After the SC dismissed our
petition, we came to the EC andrequested it clearly that if anydiscrepancy is found in fiveVVPATs then what action itshould take. Some of the boothsare manipulated. Our demandis clear that all VVPATs in theentire assembly segment shouldbe verified,” Naidu told reportersafter the meeting.
Naidu said the delegation
told the EC that it is possible tocount 50 per cent of VVPATslips easily.
“There are 14 tables inevery counting hall for anassembly constituency.Therefore the amount of timeand energy in which slips fromone VVPAT machine can besupervised by returning officerand observer is same for 14VVPAT machines.
“Therefore slips from atleast 70 VVPAT machines canbe counted in the same time. Ifthey are counting 5 VVPATs,then they can count 70 VVPATsat a time,” he said.
The Telugu Desam Party(TDP) chief said that the EChas been requested to honourthe demand of a candidate forrecounting.
The delegation not onlyurged the EC to come outwith revised guidelines in thisregard at the earliest, but alsoasked it to investigate and pub-lish on its website all cases ofdiscrepancies found during thecounting process. PTI
Suppression of the In-HouseInquiry Committee report
giving clean chit to ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi on alle-gations of sexual harassmenthas dented the “prestige, cred-ibility and integrity” of thejudicial system, noted juristRakesh Dwivedi said onTuesday.
The senior lawyer, whohad earlier advocated “impar-tial enquiry” into the allega-tions, made scathing observa-tions on the inquiry proceed-ings and non-disclosure of thereport saying “scrutiny by peo-ple is the hall mark of Justice”.
The CJI Monday got aclean chit from a three-mem-ber Inquiry Committee head-ed by Justice S A Bobde whichfound “no substance” in the
allegations of a former womanemployee of the apex court andfurther ruled that the reportwas not “liable to be made pub-lic”.
“It has been the trait ofMonarchy, Imperialism,Dictatorships andAuthoritarian Empires to shutout information and knowl-edge about what may suppos-edly impact them adversely soas to avoid scrutiny,” Dwiveditold PTI.
“Why has our HighestJudiciary relapsed into thisMonarchical and DictatorialScheme of dispensing justice byseeking refuge behind thesmokescreen of informal inhouse enquiry at a time whenthe credibility of the Institutionis at stake,” he said.
The apex court shouldundergo ‘Agni-Pariksha’ and
share the report with the pub-lic for larger interest of the judi-ciary, the noted jurist said.
The CJI, the person com-plained against, would get tosee the report but not thecomplainant, nor the nation, hequipped.
“Please do not shirk col-lective responsibility. Judicialpower vests there (full court).We look up for a responsibleand democratic Judiciary.Please for God sake remove theblindfold from our eyes. Trustthe people. People needJudiciary. They want its inde-pendence. They trust theirjudges. Do not betray theirtrust. You stand at the brink.
Don’t run away from theAgni-Pariksha. Disclose thereport to the people,” he said.
He was critical of the argu-ment that as the inquiry was
“informal and in-house”, thecommon public was “personanon grata” (unwelcome person).
An attempt has been madesince beginning to “shut out theinquiry,” Dwivedi said.
“Lets recall the Saturdayemergent sitting of three judgeswith the CJI presiding to clearhimself. Protests led to a panelof enquiry ratified by fullcourt... The lady was deniedlawyers assistance despite heavyatmosphere of deposing beforethree judges against their ownsenior most. This was difficultto understand...,” he said.
Citing example, he saidJudge Kavanaugh was exam-ined by the US Senate in theprocess of appointment and theprocess “instilled confidence inthe judicial System” and insti-tutional integrity and credibil-ity was preserved.
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The Government is learnt tohave returned to the col-
legium names of two highcourt chief justices recom-mended for elevation as judgesof the Supreme Court, sourcesaware of the development saidTuesday.
On April 12, the SupremeCourt collegium had recom-mended the names ofJharkhand High Court ChiefJustice Aniruddha Bose, andGauhati HC Chief Justice A SBopanna for elevation to thetop court.
Seniority and representa-tion of regions have been citedas reasons behind the govern-ment’s decision, the sourcessaid.
While Justice Bose whoseparent high court is Calcutta,is at number 12 in all-India
seniority of judges, JusticeBopanna, whose parent highcourt is Karnataka, stands atnumber 36.
Last year, the governmenthad returned Justice Bose’sname to the collegium when hewas recommended to head theDelhi high court.
“While recommending thenames of Mr JusticesAniruddha Bose and A S
Bopanna, the collegium hastaken into consideration, apartfrom their merit and integrity,combined seniority on all-India basis of chief justices andsenior puisne judges of highcourts.
“The collegium has alsokept in mind the desirability ofgiving due representation onthe bench of the SupremeCourt, as far as possible, to allthe high courts,” the collegiumresolution had read.
The Calcutta High Court isrepresented in the SupremeCourt by Justice IndiraBanerjee. Justices S MMallikarjnagouda and S AbdulNazeer represent the KarnatakaHC.
At present, the SupremeCourt has a working strengthof 27. Its sanctioned strength is31 judges, including the chiefjustice.
State BJP leaders in Jammu &Kashmir have been caught
‘red handed’ distributingenvelopes, allegedly filled with currency notes, toreporters in Leh.
On May 3, Press Club Lehhad accused the BJP of tryingto bribe its members by offering “envelopes filled with money”.
On the same day, StateBJP leaders had denied theseallegations claiming they were“politically motivated”.
On Tuesday, a CCTVfootage, surfaced in publicdomain which clearly exposesBJP MLC, Vikram Randhawa,handing over envelopes to journalists after the Pressconference.
State BJP Chief RavinderRaina is also seen standing inthe hall.
In the same CCTV footage,two other BJP leaders VikramRandhawa and Narinder Singh,party general secretary, can beseen pacifying local reporters inLeh after they refused to acceptthe currency notes.
Some of the journalistscan be clearly seen returningthe packets and placing it on atable in the hall in the presenceof every one present there.
When this correspondenttried to contact State BJP ChiefRavinder Raina for his com-ments he refused to take thecalls. His alternate mobile tele-phone number was alsoswitched off.
Earlier, State BJP ChiefRavinder Raina had also threat-ened to file a defamation suitif the Press Club Leh did notissue a public apology.
“The BJP will not toleratesuch allegations. It will file adefamation suit in the highcourt against the press club ifit fails to make a public apolo-gy,” Raina had stated whileresponding to different queries.
Several members of PressClub Leh had also approachedDeputy Commissioner, Leh with their complaint seek-ing registration of FIR againstRavinder Raina and MLC
Vikram Randhawa for alleged-ly trying to bribe journalists byoffering money in envelops to influence the out-come of elections.
Press Club, Leh, presidentMorup Stanzin said the letterwas written but said they hadnot lodged the complaint withthe police.
“We have lodged our com-plaint with deputy commis-sioner, Leh, who is also thereturning officer on Friday...After a press conference,Randhawa handed over theenvelops filled with money tosome journalists who returnedthese to him immediately,”Stanzin added.
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The shadow boxing within thecollation partners, the JD(S)
and Congress is an early indi-cation of the instability of ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy ledJD(S)-Congress Government inKarnataka. Many CongressMinisters and legislators are alsoopenly pitching for former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah as theChief Minister again to lead theparty and the Government.
Many observe in the polit-ical circles that the mandate inthe Hassan, Mandya andTumakuru (it’s now popular-ly called HMT) where JDS iscontesting with the help ofCongress might hold the key tothe survival of collationGovernment led by HDKumaraswamy of the JDS.
In Hassan Prajwal Revannagrandson of HD Deve Gowdaand son of HD Revanna a PWDMinister, in Mandya con-stituency Nikhil Kumaraswamyson of HD Kumaraswamy andanother grandson of DeveGowda and at Tumakuru HDDeve Gowda are contesting.
The well-known rivalry betweenSiddaramaiah and Deve Gowdahas trickled down to the grassroots and party workers in boththe Congress and the JDS areworked against each other inthese constituencies.
The results in the theseconstituencies are expected toprovide some hints about howpowerful dominant Vokkaliga(Gowdas) and Kuruba (shep-herd) communities have voted.
Deve Gowda, the JD(S)supremo leads a family partyJDS and has the support ofvokkaligas one of the dominantcommunities and Siddaramaiahwho belongs to Kuruba com-munity made them a dominantcommunity and made thempolitically strong.
In another significantdevelopment Karnataka HomeMinister MB Patil on Tuesdaymade a pitch for Siddaramaiah“as Chief Minister again,” butclarified the present coalitionGovernment under HDKumaraswamy would com-plete its full term.
“What’s wrong in that?Siddaramaiah is our leader in
the Congress. People want tosee him as Chief Minister again.
“Even we too want to seehim as Chief Minister again. Hegave good governance for fiveyears. He should have comeback again,” Patil told reportersin Bengaluru.
He was responding to aquery on “growing demand”among the Congress MLAs tosee Siddaramaiah occupy thetop post again. His statementresonates with ChikkaballapuraCongress MLA K Sudhakar’sremarks on Monday that itwould be good if Siddaramaiahbecomes CM again.
“Siddaramaiah had done alot of good work. He deservesone more term... But we haveto accept people’s mandate...When we come to power onour own... but presently thatquestion does not arise.. Thisgovernment has to completefive years,” he said.
“Siddaramaiah has got theeligibility (for the second termas Chief Minister),” Patil added.
After the Congress andJDS formed the coalitionGovernment following the May
2018 Assembly elections,Kumaraswamy took over as theCM of the State. The coalitionpartners also fought the LokSabha elections together
though there have been strainsbetween the two ever since.
Many Congress MLAswere not content with the pre-sent arrangement and had stat-
ed that Siddaramaiah was theirleader and they would like tosee him as the chief ministeragain, an issue that has irkedJDS leadership.
Meanwhile, BJP strong-man Yeddyurappa predicts‘political ups and downs’ afterMay 23. He strongly ruled outany truck with JDS to form thegovernment in case the presentcoalition Government falls withthe disgruntled Congress leg-islators. He said in Kalaburagithat BJP was not in a hurry toform the Government.
“I want to say one thingclearly: Kumaraswamy hadbetrayed me after deciding toshare power 20 months each(in 2006). There is no questionof coming to an understandingwith JDS. There is no questionof coalition Government (withthat party),” Yeddyurappa said.
“It’s too early to say any-thing... I have never said theGovernment will collapse andI shouldn’t say it also. What I’msaying is there will be politicalups and downs after May 23results, anything may happen.I’m not saying we will form the
government or we willcome to power,” headded.
In 2006, the BJPand a section of JDSMLAs forged an allianceto form a Government onthe basis of a power-sharing deal, accordingto which Kumaraswamy andYeddyurappa will be the CMfor 20 months each.
As JDS refused to transferpower to Yeddyurappa after 20months, the BJP in October2007 decided to withdraw sup-port to the KumaraswamyGovernment, ending an uneasyand often bitter relationship,accusing the regional party of“betrayal.”
Pointing out that there is a“lot of confusion” in the statepolitics, Yeddyurappa said it iscertain that Narendra Modiwill become the PM of thecountry once again, and theresults of Lok Sabha polls willhave an implication on the pol-itics here.
“I’m not day dreaming tosay that their (Congress andJDS) Government should col-
lapse. Let them con-centrate on them
being together. AmI responsible for
Congress and JDS fight-ing each other; amI responsible for
differences betweenthem?” he ques-
tioned.Predicting the defeat
of former Union MinistersVeerappa Moily inChikkaballapur and KHMuniyappa in Kolar,Yeddyurappa said, in Tumkurthe chances of our candidatewinning is more against formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda, in Mandya indepen-dent candidate SumalathaAmbareesh supported by theparty will win “100 per cent”against Kumaraswamy’s sonNikil, while there is a fight inHassan, where Gowda’s othergrandson Prajwal Revanna isthe JDS nominee.
Yeddyurappa also said theparty high-command will decideon the next state unit president,and he would continue as theLeader of the Opposition.
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Till the turn of the millen-nium, film stars guaranteed
crowds and votes in politics.Political parties wooed themardently. As a result, top starslike Rajesh Khanna, VinodKhanna, Shatrughan Sinha,Raj Babbar, Dharmendra,Hema Malini, Jaya Prada,Govinda and Jaya Bachchanbraved the heat and dust ofcampaigning for their politicalparties.
Some like Dharmendraand Govinda could not under-stand the manipulations ofpolitics and called it a day afterone term. Others like RajBabbar, Shatrughan Sinha,Hema Malini and JayaBachchan continue to standtheir ground.
However, if various politi-cal parties are to be believed,the stardust is losing its glitterand film stars can no longerguarantee a win on the seatsthey campaign for.
A clear indication of this isthe fact that the demand forfilm stars as campaigners israpidly going down in theseelections.
A BJP candidate said:“There is no use getting filmstars to campaign because theycannot give speeches and donot leave any impact on voters.”
Explained senior journal-ist RK Singh: “The stars are los-ing their credibility becausethey lack conviction in whatthey say. People know that inmost cases stars take money tocampaign and this erodes theirsincerity. Some stars like Ravi
Krishna and Manoj Tiwarihave changed more partiesthan they have delivered hits.”
Besides, he explained, theglamour factor has alsoreduced because film starswere now seen 24x7 on thesocial media and television.
“Earlier, people would waitfor hours to catch a glimpse oftheir favourite actor but not any
more. You just need to get onto the Internet and you canhave your fill,” he added.
Bhojpuri stars Ravi Kishanand Dinesh Yadav Nirahua,who are contesting theGorakhpur and Azamgarhseats respectively, are alreadyfinding the going tough.
Raj Babbar, who is present-ly seeking election for his sixth
term to Parliament and holdsthe position of Uttar CongressPresident, explains that it needsmore than just stardom to sur-vive in politics.
“Much before I startedworking in theatre and thenfilms, I was associated with thesocialist youth politics. I joinedthe Janata Dal in 1989 andactively participated in party
activities. I later joined theSamajwadi Party and then theCongress.
“I never confined myself tocampaigning and that is onereason why the parties and thepeople started taking me seri-ously,” he says.
When Raj Babbar wasappointed president of theUttar Pradesh Congress in July
2016, few took him seriously inhis own party. But two yearslater, they understood that hemeans business.
Hema Malini, Jaya Prada,Jaya Bachchan and most othershave, on the other hand, con-fined themselves to campaigning in their own con-stituencies or in select con-stituencies. They have not
actively involved themselvesin party matters.
One actress who spoke tothis correspondent on the con-dition of anonymity said: “I didtry to get my word in a fewtimes but was politely told torestrict myself to campaigning.I have understood that apartfrom my star value, I meannothing to the party.”
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Describing the ambitiousNyuntam Aay Yojana
(NYAY) promised by his partyas a “surgical strike on pover-ty”, Congress President RahulGandhi on Tuesday said anamount of Rs 3.60 lakh wouldbe given to each of the fivecrore poor families if his partywas voted to power in the LokSabha elections.
“I give a guarantee thatHindustan’s next Governmentwill give the amount to each ofthe 5 crore families — that is 25crore people in the next five
years,” Rahul told an electionrally here in support ofCongress candidate fromPurulia Nepal Mahato.
“Wah wah, this a surgicalstrike on poverty,” Rahulexclaimed.
Turning to farmers’ issues,Gandhi said the law will bechanged to ensure that farmerswere not jailed for failing torepay bank loans.
“If India’s farmer takes aloan of Rs 20,000 and fails toreturn, then are they sent to jailor not?” he asked.
Rahul said he doesn’t findit right when rich people arenot jailed after taking bigamounts while the farmers arecaught if they take loans.
“Do you think there is
Nyay (justice)? No farmerbelonging to Bengal or anystate will be sent to jail if theyfail to pay the bank loans.
He promised that the newgovernment to be formed afterthe Lok Sabha elections willhave a separate budget for thefarmers. “After 2019, there willbe two budgets, first, thefarmer’s budget will be made.
“In the beginning of theyear, the farmers will know thatthe amount of money allottedby the government, the num-ber of food processing units,how many storage facilitieswill be there and what kind oftechnology will be given for thefarmers.
“In the very first year, theywill be told about their earnings
and profits,” he said.He slammed Prime
Minister Narendra Modi andWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee for failing toprovide employment andensuring fair price for farmers.
Rahul said the BJP’s onlyaim was to ensure Modibecomes Prime Minister again.
“But I tell you no powercan make him the PM, as thecitizens are going to hit a sixerthis time,” he added.
Mocking Modi, he saidModi earlier talked about his56-inch chest, but now “twoglasses are fixed that are knownas teleprompters. He is warnedthat he should not speak aboutunemployment and farmers asthe public can become angry”.
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BJP president Amit Shah onTuesday alleged that West
Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is not allowing peopleto chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in thestate, and wondered if the Lord’sname cannot be taken in India,will it be uttered in Pakistan.
Shah also dared Banerjee toarrest him for chanting ‘Jai ShriRam’ at the multiple electionrallies he addressed in the stateon Tuesday.
“Lord Ram is a part of theculture of India... Can anybodystop people from taking hisname? I want to ask Mamatadidi, if Shri Ram’s name is nottaken in India, will it be chant-ed in Pakistan?” he said.
“I want to tell Mamata didithat this is West Bengal and notPakistan... I am going toKolkata from here (Bishnupur),put me in jail if you have theguts,” the BJP chief said.
He addressed rallies inGhatal, Keshiari and Bishnupurin West Bengal. Shah claimedthat Banerjee had stopped hercar a few days ago to tell peo-ple that they will be put in jail if they chant the name ofLord Ram.
A video had appeared inthe social media that showedBanerjee stopping her car at a
place in West Midnapore dis-trict on Saturday, and chasingsome persons who chanted ‘JaiShri Ram’ as her carcade wascrossing the area.
Shah said he has come toknow that the CM has cancelledpermission for two rallies ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiin the State — one at Puruliaand the other at Bankura,scheduled for Thursday.
“Can you (Banerjee) pre-vent your defeat in this man-ner?” he asked. On Modi invok-ing the Bofors scandal, the BJPpresident wondered if remind-
ing people what had happenedwas tantamount to insultingformer PM Rajiv Gandhi.
“What wrong has PMNarendra Modi done by sayingthat the Bofors scam happenedduring Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure...Rahul baba says his father hasbeen insulted. Is it an insult tobe reminded of what had hap-pened?” Shah said.
The BJP chief was referringto Modi’s recent remarks at arally in Uttar Pradesh, where hesaid that Rajiv Gandhi’s lifeended as “bhrashtachari no. 1”(corrupt no. 1 ).
��� � +$1#&$1'(:+$0(.1$�(�.+
Narendra Modi should get atight slap of democracy,” a
furious TMC supremo MamataBanerjee said on Tuesday, hit-ting back at the prime minis-ter for alleging repeatedly thather Government is run byextortionist syndicates.
She also questioned theBJP’s nationalistic and patriot-ic claims, saying it was an“RSS man” who killedMahatma Gandhi. “I do notbow my head in politics. WhenModi alleges that TrinamoolCongress is a party of syndi-cates...Its government is run bysyndicates, I feel he should geta tight slap of democracy (bedefeated in election),” she saidat a public meeting atRaghunathpur in Purulia.
Calling Modi a prime min-ister who is “known for tellinglies”, Banerjee said during hisvisits to West Bengal for elec-tion he says her Governmentdoes not allow Durga Pujaand other Hindu rituals to beperformed. “Do you believethose allegations?” she asked.
Joining issue with the PMover his claim that she does notallow people to chant “Jai SriRam” and throw those who dobehind bars, she said, “I will not
join them (the BJP) in shout-ing their slogan. I will rathersay Jai Hind.”
At another meeting atRanibandh in Bankura dis-trict, she questioned BJP’s claimof patriotism. “I do not knowwho Gandhiji’s killers were. Butwe know the name ofNathuram Godse, an RSS man.When you speak of patriotismand serving the nation can youtells us who was he?
“Did you fight for thecountry’s independence? You(the BJP) had supported theBritish. Don’t you feelashamed?” Banerjee said.Speaking in the same vein at
Barjora, also in Bankura dis-trict, Banerjee said, “They (theBJP) don’t revere Gandhiji andNetaji as leaders of the nation.... Modi should not sermoniseus on patriotism”.
A combative Banerjeealleged that BJP starts doingpolitics over Lord Ram duringelections. She said the saffronparty could not build even asmall Ram temple in the lastfive years.
The TMC supremo assert-ed Modi will not get a secondterm in office as he failed tobring in ‘acche din’ that he hadpromised in 2014.
Instead, more than 12,000farmers committed suicide,factories got closed and threecrore jobs were lost.
However, she claimed,while there was distress every-where, income of those livingin West Bengal went up three-fold. She accused the BJP oforchestrating riots between“Hindus and Muslims,Muslims and Christians andMuslims and adivasis” duringthe last five years.
“I don’t tolerate rioters —both Hindu and Muslim. Wewant peace not unrest. We(TMC) do not want Modi tostay in power. We will help inGovernment formation inDelhi,” she added.
State BJP leaders in Jammu &Kashmir have been caught
‘red handed’ distributingenvelopes, allegedly filled with currency notes, toreporters in Leh.
On May 3, Press Club Lehhad accused the BJP of tryingto bribe its members by offering “envelopes filled with money”.
On the same day, StateBJP leaders had denied theseallegations claiming they were“politically motivated”.
On Tuesday, a CCTVfootage, surfaced in publicdomain which clearly exposesBJP MLC, Vikram Randhawa,handing over envelopes to journalists after the Pressconference.
State BJP Chief RavinderRaina is also seen standing inthe hall.
In the same CCTV footage,two other BJP leaders VikramRandhawa and Narinder Singh,party general secretary, can beseen pacifying local reporters inLeh after they refused to acceptthe currency notes.
Some of the journalistscan be clearly seen returningthe packets and placing it on atable in the hall in the presenceof every one present there.
When this correspondenttried to contact State BJP ChiefRavinder Raina for his com-ments he refused to take thecalls. His alternate mobile tele-phone number was alsoswitched off.
Earlier, State BJP ChiefRavinder Raina had also threat-ened to file a defamation suitif the Press Club Leh did notissue a public apology.
“The BJP will not toleratesuch allegations. It will file adefamation suit in the highcourt against the press club ifit fails to make a public apolo-gy,” Raina had stated whileresponding to different queries.
Several members of PressClub Leh had also approachedDeputy Commissioner, Leh with their complaint seek-ing registration of FIR againstRavinder Raina and MLC
Vikram Randhawa for alleged-ly trying to bribe journalists byoffering money in envelops to influence the out-come of elections.
Press Club, Leh, presidentMorup Stanzin said the letterwas written but said they hadnot lodged the complaint withthe police.
“We have lodged our com-plaint with deputy commis-sioner, Leh, who is also thereturning officer on Friday...After a press conference,Randhawa handed over theenvelops filled with money tosome journalists who returnedthese to him immediately,”Stanzin added.
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The shadow boxing within thecollation partners, the JD(S)
and Congress is an early indi-cation of the instability of ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy ledJD(S)-Congress Government inKarnataka. Many CongressMinisters and legislators are alsoopenly pitching for former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah as theChief Minister again to lead theparty and the Government.
Many observe in the polit-ical circles that the mandate inthe Hassan, Mandya andTumakuru (it’s now popular-ly called HMT) where JDS iscontesting with the help ofCongress might hold the key tothe survival of collationGovernment led by HDKumaraswamy of the JDS.
In Hassan Prajwal Revannagrandson of HD Deve Gowdaand son of HD Revanna a PWDMinister, in Mandya con-stituency Nikhil Kumaraswamyson of HD Kumaraswamy andanother grandson of DeveGowda and at Tumakuru HDDeve Gowda are contesting.
The well-known rivalry betweenSiddaramaiah and Deve Gowdahas trickled down to the grassroots and party workers in boththe Congress and the JDS areworked against each other inthese constituencies.
The results in the theseconstituencies are expected toprovide some hints about howpowerful dominant Vokkaliga(Gowdas) and Kuruba (shep-herd) communities have voted.
Deve Gowda, the JD(S)supremo leads a family partyJDS and has the support ofvokkaligas one of the dominantcommunities and Siddaramaiahwho belongs to Kuruba com-munity made them a dominantcommunity and made thempolitically strong.
In another significantdevelopment Karnataka HomeMinister MB Patil on Tuesdaymade a pitch for Siddaramaiah“as Chief Minister again,” butclarified the present coalitionGovernment under HDKumaraswamy would com-plete its full term.
“What’s wrong in that?Siddaramaiah is our leader in
the Congress. People want tosee him as Chief Minister again.
“Even we too want to seehim as Chief Minister again. Hegave good governance for fiveyears. He should have comeback again,” Patil told reportersin Bengaluru.
He was responding to aquery on “growing demand”among the Congress MLAs tosee Siddaramaiah occupy thetop post again. His statementresonates with ChikkaballapuraCongress MLA K Sudhakar’sremarks on Monday that itwould be good if Siddaramaiahbecomes CM again.
“Siddaramaiah had done alot of good work. He deservesone more term... But we haveto accept people’s mandate...When we come to power onour own... but presently thatquestion does not arise.. Thisgovernment has to completefive years,” he said.
“Siddaramaiah has got theeligibility (for the second termas Chief Minister),” Patil added.
After the Congress andJDS formed the coalitionGovernment following the May
2018 Assembly elections,Kumaraswamy took over as theCM of the State. The coalitionpartners also fought the LokSabha elections together
though there have been strainsbetween the two ever since.
Many Congress MLAswere not content with the pre-sent arrangement and had stat-
ed that Siddaramaiah was theirleader and they would like tosee him as the chief ministeragain, an issue that has irkedJDS leadership.
Meanwhile, BJP strong-man Yeddyurappa predicts‘political ups and downs’ afterMay 23. He strongly ruled outany truck with JDS to form thegovernment in case the presentcoalition Government falls withthe disgruntled Congress leg-islators. He said in Kalaburagithat BJP was not in a hurry toform the Government.
“I want to say one thingclearly: Kumaraswamy hadbetrayed me after deciding toshare power 20 months each(in 2006). There is no questionof coming to an understandingwith JDS. There is no questionof coalition Government (withthat party),” Yeddyurappa said.
“It’s too early to say any-thing... I have never said theGovernment will collapse andI shouldn’t say it also. What I’msaying is there will be politicalups and downs after May 23results, anything may happen.I’m not saying we will form the
government or we willcome to power,” headded.
In 2006, the BJPand a section of JDSMLAs forged an allianceto form a Government onthe basis of a power-sharing deal, accordingto which Kumaraswamy andYeddyurappa will be the CMfor 20 months each.
As JDS refused to transferpower to Yeddyurappa after 20months, the BJP in October2007 decided to withdraw sup-port to the KumaraswamyGovernment, ending an uneasyand often bitter relationship,accusing the regional party of“betrayal.”
Pointing out that there is a“lot of confusion” in the statepolitics, Yeddyurappa said it iscertain that Narendra Modiwill become the PM of thecountry once again, and theresults of Lok Sabha polls willhave an implication on the pol-itics here.
“I’m not day dreaming tosay that their (Congress andJDS) Government should col-
lapse. Let them con-centrate on them
being together. AmI responsible for
Congress and JDS fight-ing each other; amI responsible for
differences betweenthem?” he ques-
tioned.Predicting the defeat
of former Union MinistersVeerappa Moily inChikkaballapur and KHMuniyappa in Kolar,Yeddyurappa said, in Tumkurthe chances of our candidatewinning is more against formerPrime Minister HD DeveGowda, in Mandya indepen-dent candidate SumalathaAmbareesh supported by theparty will win “100 per cent”against Kumaraswamy’s sonNikil, while there is a fight inHassan, where Gowda’s othergrandson Prajwal Revanna isthe JDS nominee.
Yeddyurappa also said theparty high-command will decideon the next state unit president,and he would continue as theLeader of the Opposition.
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Till the turn of the millen-nium, film stars guaranteed
crowds and votes in politics.Political parties wooed themardently. As a result, top starslike Rajesh Khanna, VinodKhanna, Shatrughan Sinha,Raj Babbar, Dharmendra,Hema Malini, Jaya Prada,Govinda and Jaya Bachchanbraved the heat and dust ofcampaigning for their politicalparties.
Some like Dharmendraand Govinda could not under-stand the manipulations ofpolitics and called it a day afterone term. Others like RajBabbar, Shatrughan Sinha,Hema Malini and JayaBachchan continue to standtheir ground.
However, if various politi-cal parties are to be believed,the stardust is losing its glitterand film stars can no longerguarantee a win on the seatsthey campaign for.
A clear indication of this isthe fact that the demand forfilm stars as campaigners israpidly going down in theseelections.
A BJP candidate said:“There is no use getting filmstars to campaign because theycannot give speeches and donot leave any impact on voters.”
Explained senior journal-ist RK Singh: “The stars are los-ing their credibility becausethey lack conviction in whatthey say. People know that inmost cases stars take money tocampaign and this erodes theirsincerity. Some stars like Ravi
Krishna and Manoj Tiwarihave changed more partiesthan they have delivered hits.”
Besides, he explained, theglamour factor has alsoreduced because film starswere now seen 24x7 on thesocial media and television.
“Earlier, people would waitfor hours to catch a glimpse oftheir favourite actor but not any
more. You just need to get onto the Internet and you canhave your fill,” he added.
Bhojpuri stars Ravi Kishanand Dinesh Yadav Nirahua,who are contesting theGorakhpur and Azamgarhseats respectively, are alreadyfinding the going tough.
Raj Babbar, who is present-ly seeking election for his sixth
term to Parliament and holdsthe position of Uttar CongressPresident, explains that it needsmore than just stardom to sur-vive in politics.
“Much before I startedworking in theatre and thenfilms, I was associated with thesocialist youth politics. I joinedthe Janata Dal in 1989 andactively participated in party
activities. I later joined theSamajwadi Party and then theCongress.
“I never confined myself tocampaigning and that is onereason why the parties and thepeople started taking me seri-ously,” he says.
When Raj Babbar wasappointed president of theUttar Pradesh Congress in July
2016, few took him seriously inhis own party. But two yearslater, they understood that hemeans business.
Hema Malini, Jaya Prada,Jaya Bachchan and most othershave, on the other hand, con-fined themselves to campaigning in their own con-stituencies or in select con-stituencies. They have not
actively involved themselvesin party matters.
One actress who spoke tothis correspondent on the con-dition of anonymity said: “I didtry to get my word in a fewtimes but was politely told torestrict myself to campaigning.I have understood that apartfrom my star value, I meannothing to the party.”
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Describing the ambitiousNyuntam Aay Yojana
(NYAY) promised by his partyas a “surgical strike on pover-ty”, Congress President RahulGandhi on Tuesday said anamount of Rs 3.60 lakh wouldbe given to each of the fivecrore poor families if his partywas voted to power in the LokSabha elections.
“I give a guarantee thatHindustan’s next Governmentwill give the amount to each ofthe 5 crore families — that is 25crore people in the next five
years,” Rahul told an electionrally here in support ofCongress candidate fromPurulia Nepal Mahato.
“Wah wah, this a surgicalstrike on poverty,” Rahulexclaimed.
Turning to farmers’ issues,Gandhi said the law will bechanged to ensure that farmerswere not jailed for failing torepay bank loans.
“If India’s farmer takes aloan of Rs 20,000 and fails toreturn, then are they sent to jailor not?” he asked.
Rahul said he doesn’t findit right when rich people arenot jailed after taking bigamounts while the farmers arecaught if they take loans.
“Do you think there is
Nyay (justice)? No farmerbelonging to Bengal or anystate will be sent to jail if theyfail to pay the bank loans.
He promised that the newgovernment to be formed afterthe Lok Sabha elections willhave a separate budget for thefarmers. “After 2019, there willbe two budgets, first, thefarmer’s budget will be made.
“In the beginning of theyear, the farmers will know thatthe amount of money allottedby the government, the num-ber of food processing units,how many storage facilitieswill be there and what kind oftechnology will be given for thefarmers.
“In the very first year, theywill be told about their earnings
and profits,” he said.He slammed Prime
Minister Narendra Modi andWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee for failing toprovide employment andensuring fair price for farmers.
Rahul said the BJP’s onlyaim was to ensure Modibecomes Prime Minister again.
“But I tell you no powercan make him the PM, as thecitizens are going to hit a sixerthis time,” he added.
Mocking Modi, he saidModi earlier talked about his56-inch chest, but now “twoglasses are fixed that are knownas teleprompters. He is warnedthat he should not speak aboutunemployment and farmers asthe public can become angry”.
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BJP president Amit Shah onTuesday alleged that West
Bengal Chief Minister MamataBanerjee is not allowing peopleto chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in thestate, and wondered if the Lord’sname cannot be taken in India,will it be uttered in Pakistan.
Shah also dared Banerjee toarrest him for chanting ‘Jai ShriRam’ at the multiple electionrallies he addressed in the stateon Tuesday.
“Lord Ram is a part of theculture of India... Can anybodystop people from taking hisname? I want to ask Mamatadidi, if Shri Ram’s name is nottaken in India, will it be chant-ed in Pakistan?” he said.
“I want to tell Mamata didithat this is West Bengal and notPakistan... I am going toKolkata from here (Bishnupur),put me in jail if you have theguts,” the BJP chief said.
He addressed rallies inGhatal, Keshiari and Bishnupurin West Bengal. Shah claimedthat Banerjee had stopped hercar a few days ago to tell peo-ple that they will be put in jail if they chant the name ofLord Ram.
A video had appeared inthe social media that showedBanerjee stopping her car at a
place in West Midnapore dis-trict on Saturday, and chasingsome persons who chanted ‘JaiShri Ram’ as her carcade wascrossing the area.
Shah said he has come toknow that the CM has cancelledpermission for two rallies ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiin the State — one at Puruliaand the other at Bankura,scheduled for Thursday.
“Can you (Banerjee) pre-vent your defeat in this man-ner?” he asked. On Modi invok-ing the Bofors scandal, the BJPpresident wondered if remind-
ing people what had happenedwas tantamount to insultingformer PM Rajiv Gandhi.
“What wrong has PMNarendra Modi done by sayingthat the Bofors scam happenedduring Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure...Rahul baba says his father hasbeen insulted. Is it an insult tobe reminded of what had hap-pened?” Shah said.
The BJP chief was referringto Modi’s recent remarks at arally in Uttar Pradesh, where hesaid that Rajiv Gandhi’s lifeended as “bhrashtachari no. 1”(corrupt no. 1 ).
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Narendra Modi should get atight slap of democracy,” a
furious TMC supremo MamataBanerjee said on Tuesday, hit-ting back at the prime minis-ter for alleging repeatedly thather Government is run byextortionist syndicates.
She also questioned theBJP’s nationalistic and patriot-ic claims, saying it was an“RSS man” who killedMahatma Gandhi. “I do notbow my head in politics. WhenModi alleges that TrinamoolCongress is a party of syndi-cates...Its government is run bysyndicates, I feel he should geta tight slap of democracy (bedefeated in election),” she saidat a public meeting atRaghunathpur in Purulia.
Calling Modi a prime min-ister who is “known for tellinglies”, Banerjee said during hisvisits to West Bengal for elec-tion he says her Governmentdoes not allow Durga Pujaand other Hindu rituals to beperformed. “Do you believethose allegations?” she asked.
Joining issue with the PMover his claim that she does notallow people to chant “Jai SriRam” and throw those who dobehind bars, she said, “I will not
join them (the BJP) in shout-ing their slogan. I will rathersay Jai Hind.”
At another meeting atRanibandh in Bankura dis-trict, she questioned BJP’s claimof patriotism. “I do not knowwho Gandhiji’s killers were. Butwe know the name ofNathuram Godse, an RSS man.When you speak of patriotismand serving the nation can youtells us who was he?
“Did you fight for thecountry’s independence? You(the BJP) had supported theBritish. Don’t you feelashamed?” Banerjee said.Speaking in the same vein at
Barjora, also in Bankura dis-trict, Banerjee said, “They (theBJP) don’t revere Gandhiji andNetaji as leaders of the nation.... Modi should not sermoniseus on patriotism”.
A combative Banerjeealleged that BJP starts doingpolitics over Lord Ram duringelections. She said the saffronparty could not build even asmall Ram temple in the lastfive years.
The TMC supremo assert-ed Modi will not get a secondterm in office as he failed tobring in ‘acche din’ that he hadpromised in 2014.
Instead, more than 12,000farmers committed suicide,factories got closed and threecrore jobs were lost.
However, she claimed,while there was distress every-where, income of those livingin West Bengal went up three-fold. She accused the BJP oforchestrating riots between“Hindus and Muslims,Muslims and Christians andMuslims and adivasis” duringthe last five years.
“I don’t tolerate rioters —both Hindu and Muslim. Wewant peace not unrest. We(TMC) do not want Modi tostay in power. We will help inGovernment formation inDelhi,” she added.
BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said
their alliance will “shake the very roots”of the BJP and dislodge the “chowkidarof capitalists” from the Prime Minister’s chair.
Addressing election rallies in favourof Mahagathbandhan candidates inMachchlishahr and Jaunpur seats, theyalso targeted the Congress, alleging thatit is “anti-dalit” like the BJP and wantsthe people to remain poor.
“BJP’s guru and chela are all set tobe out of power at the Centre,” Mayawatisaid at a rally in Bhadohi, attackingPrime Minister Narendra Modi and BJPchief Amit Shah.
“This alliance is so strong that in the2022 Assembly elections in UP, it willsend Yogi baba back in his mutt,”Mayawati said, referring to UttarPradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.The BSP supremo alleged that the BJPtried to break their alliance, but she“exposed” it in the media and gave a“befitting reply” to the saffron party.
“The BJP is going out of power inthese elections... It has failed to fulfil thepromises made to the poor and the mid-dle classes in 2014 elections ...Despiteall this the Prime Minister is seekingvotes again,” she said in Jaunpur.
Mayawati said, “Terror attacks aretaking place and the Government isbusy in taking mileage of the Army’svalour.” Terming Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as ‘chowkidar of capi-talists”, she alleged that he helped therich become richer. She also alleged thatthe GST and note ban were a “sourceof corruption”.
Hitting out at the Congress,Mayawati alleged “both BJP andCongress are anti-dalits”.
Referring to the Congress’ Nyayascheme, she said the party which isclaiming to provide Rs 6,000 every
month to poor families “only wants peo-ple to remain poor and helpless....There is a need to remain vigilant fromthem.”
On Uttar Pradesh, she said farmersin the state were facing immense hard-ships because of stray cattle and blamedthe Aditynath Government for it.
She also promised permanent jobsif the SP-BSP alliance is voted to powerat the Centre.
In his address, Samajwadi Partypresident Akhilesh Yadav echoedMayawati’s view that both “BJP andCongress are the same”. “Had theCongress worked earnestly since
Independence, there would not havebeen the need for formation of SP andBSP ...No one thought SP and BSPwould form an alliance. All efforts tosomehow break the alliance have failed.After five phases of polling, the BJP’smorale has also come down. Its leadersand workers are worried,” he said.
“These BJP people talk about secu-rity of the country but could not replyto questions of ‘roti and daal’ raised bya BSF jawan,” he said referring to dis-missed BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadavwhose nomination papers fromVaranasi were rejected.
“BJP is standing on a foundation of
lies and our alliance will shake its veryroots...Perhaps the BJP is not aware thatthis alliance is a storm.
This time round, people will snatchthe chair of the chaiwala-turned-chowkidar....
He said the alliance “will uproot theBJP which is standing on the founda-tion of lies and hatred. There is a windof change which is blowing... How canthe prime minister, who got scared ofa jawan in Varanasi, face terrorism andnaxalism.”
“Not only the public but animalsalso are unhappy with thisGovernment,” he quipped.
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Once considered to be thebastion of Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath and the safestLok Sabha seat for theBharatiya Janata Party in east-ern Uttar Pradesh, Gorakhpurhas taken a queer turn, forcingthe ruling party to deploy allresources at its command toensure the victory of its candi-date, Bhojpuri star Ravi Kishan,from this prestigious con-stituency which goes to poll inthe seventh and last phase ofLok Sabha elections on May 19.
The BJP won theGorakhpur seat from 1991 till2018, when the party lost it inthe by-election to a joint oppo-sition candidate. The bypollwas necessitated due to resig-nation of Yogi Adityanath fromLok Sabha after he was electedthe UP Legislative Councilafter becoming the ChiefMinister of UP.
“In this election, two con-stituencies, Gorakhpur andAmethi, have evoked maxi-mum interest. The interest inAmethi was due to the contestbetween Union Minister andBJP candidate Smriti Irani andCongress president RahulGandhi, who is seeking re-elec-tion from his traditional seat.In Gorakhpur, the focus is onYogi Adityanath.
“The question is whetherthe BJP will be able to wrest theGorakhpur seat from SamajwadiParty this time,” said Nomita PKumar from the Giri Institute ofDevelopment Studies.
Gorakhpur was considereda BJP bastion because politicsin this impoverished regionrevolved around GorakhnathMutt. Earlier, MahantAvaidyanath represented theGorakhpur seat in Lok Sabhabut after his death, Yogi
Adityanath kept on winningthe seat since 1998.
But in 2018, Praveen KumarNishad of Nishad Party con-tested the bypoll to Gorakhpuron SP ticket and defeated BJP’sUpendra Dutt Shukla by over21,000 votes. This was the firstexperiment of opposition unitywhich was replicated in Kairanabypoll later.
Since then, Praveen Nishadhas joined the BJP and has beenfielded from Sant Kabir Nagarconstituency.
“The opposition was ableto win the Gorakhpur seatbecause of the combination ofcastes. Nishads, Dalits andMuslims united and votedagainst the BJP. Secondly, thevoting percentage in bypollwas just 43 per cent, indicatinglack of interest among the vot-ers,” Kumar said, adding thatthe BJP leaders hadbecome complacentabout the outcome intheir ‘impregnable’stronghold, an atti-tude whichboomeranged.
The caste equa-tion in Gorakhpur iscomplex. There arearound 4.5 lakh Nishad votes
followed by 3.5 lakh Muslimsand around 1.5 lakh Dalits.The upper castes account foraround 2 lakh votes.
To take advantage of thisequation, the SP-BSP-RLDalliance has fielded formerminister in Akhilesh govern-ment, Ram Bhuwal Nishadfrom Gorakhpur. He is pittedagainst BJP’s Ravi Kishan, aBrahmin. The Congress hasfielded Madhusudan Tiwarifrom the seat.
The trouble for the BJPdoes not end here as one timeclose confidant of YogiAdityanath, Sunil Singh, toohas jumped into the fray underthe banner of Hindu YuvaVahini Bharat.
At one time, Singh wasconsidered the right hand manof Yogi Adityanath. Singh’s for-mer stature could prove detri-
mental for the BJP, as hewould definitely eat into a
chunk of BJP votes.In this scenario, BJP’s
Ravi Kishan relies total-ly on Yogi Adityanath.
Being a Bhojpuriactor, he may draw
crowd but will hischarisma translate into
votes, only time will tell.
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Accusing the Congress ofbeing far from ground real-
ity, the BJP on Tuesday said bycalling the Goods and ServicesTax (GST) as ‘Gabbar SinghTax’, the party had insultedPrime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Congress leadershipdoes not know about the issuesfaced by traders and hadunleashed inspector raj toharass them. On the contraryModi ji thinks about the wel-fare of traders,” Ravikant Garg,chairperson of UP VyapariKalyan Board told PTI here.
“What is the relevance ofcalling GST as Gabbar SinghTax. Is it (tax money) going intoModi ji’s pocket? You are insult-ing the Prime Minister by making such statement,” he added.
The Opposition partieshave spread fear and misguid-ed the people by portrayingGST as an evil whereas it hasgiven relief to the traders andbusinessmen, Garg said.
“In the past there were 9Central taxes, and 12 taxeslevied by the UP Government.Initially the traders may havefaced teething trouble, as theywere not used to it, but the
problems were technical innature. As soon as the problemswere conveyed to the govern-ment, the GST councilredressed them,” he said.
The UP Vyapari KalyanBoard functions as a linkbetween the State Governmentand businessmen and solvesthe problems faced by tradersand entrepreneurs within afixed time, he said.
Referring to the BJP’s 2019Sankalp Patra, he said that if theparty is voted to power, smalltraders and marginal farmerswill get pension benefits after60 years of age.
“Sankalp Patra talks aboutsetting up a National TradersWelfare Board, new retail pol-icy to boost retail trade, pensionscheme for small traders abovethe age of 60 years, Rs 10 lakhaccidental insurance to all GST-registered traders and creditcards to traders on the lines ofKisan Credit Cards,” he said.
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Attacking the Congress forraising questions on the
Rafale deal, Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onTuesday said the Oppositionparty must first give answers onthe Rs 3,600-croreAgustaWestland VVIP chopperdeal and Backops before talk-ing about the BJP and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on thefighter jet deal.
“The Supreme Court hasgiven its verdict on the Rafaledeal. Not just the Congress,somebody else had also gonefor a review, the Supreme Courtis seized of it. Also the CAG(Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India) has given itsreport on Rafale (deal).
“But again talking aboutit... I think it is on the Congress,
first of all, to have an enquiryand give answer onAgustaWestland (deal) andalso give answer on Backopsabout which the party has spo-ken. Before they talk about theBJP and Modi ji or the DefenceMinistry, they themselves havemore to answer,” she said inresponse to a query.
Attacking Congress chiefRahul Gandhi, Union MinisterArun Jaitley had recently saidGandhi’s former business part-ner, Ulrik Mcknight, atBackops Ltd in the UK had gotoffset defence contracts fromFrench defence supplier NavalGroup for Scorpene sub-marines in 2011 during theUPA rule.
He also alleged Gandhihad a 65 per cent stake inBackops between 2003 and2009, when it was wound up.
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The Union Home Ministryhas deployed 15 companies
of paramilitary forces duringre-polling to the Tripura WestLok Sabha seat where votingtook place on April 11, a toppolice official said on Tuesday.
“On the advice of theElection Commission (EC),the Ministry has deployed 11companies of the BorderSecurity Force and four of theCentral Reserve Police Force,”the official told IANS on thecondition of anonymity.
However, the state ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) SriramTaranikanti said that he was yetreceive an official confirmationfrom the EC on the re-polls.
“I do not know when or inhow many polling stations re-polling will be held. We havesent our reports and recom-mendations to the EC,” theCEO told IANS.
Besides the Tripura Westseat, the State has a second con-stituency — Tripura East —which went to the polls onApril 23.
The Opposition Congressand CPM has been demandingthe re-polls after they allegedlarge-scale rigging, booth cap-turing, intimidation and attacksby the ruling BJP.
Tripura Pradesh CongressVice-President Pijush KantiBiswas on Tuesday reiteratedthat if the EC did not hold there-polls, the party would movethe SC.
“We have learnt that BJPleaders in Delhi are influencingthe EC to hold re-polls only ina few polling stations to ensuretheir victory,” Biswas told themedia.
The CPI-M leaders heldseveral demonstrations inAgartala and also in New Delhito highlight their demand.
Patna/Muzaffarpur: Fourpolice personnel were sus-pended and a poll official wasissued show cause notice inBihars Muzaffarpur district onTuesday for keeping six EVMsinside a hotel room while vot-ing was on for the fifth phase,a top official said.
The district authorities were,however, quick to assert thatnone of the EVMs were used ortheir seals broken. The mattercame to light when several localleaders of the Opposition‘Mahagathbandhan’ noticed thatpoll-related paraphernalia werebeing taken inside a hotel bySector Magistrate AwadheshKumar and raised an alarm.
Sector MagistrateAwadhesh Kumar has beenserved with a show cause noticeand based on his reply, whichhas to come within 24 hours,further action will be taken,”Bihar Joint Chief ElectoralOfficer Pravin Kumar Guptatold a press conference in Patna.
“The four police personnela sub-inspector and three con-stables who accompanied himhave been suspended, he added.Muzaffarpur district magistrateand district election officer,Alok Ranjan Ghosh dismissedallegations of suspected misuseof the EVMs. “None of theEVMs were used for voting andall were sealed. These were keptin reserve meant for replacementin case of a snag being reportedfrom anywhere, he said. PTI
Neither Sherlock Holmes norAlfred Hitchcock would havebeen mystified by intelli-gence oversights that led toone of the world’s most das-
tardly terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka lastmonth. Simply because it was a case ofjust connecting the dots — so detailedand specific were the tip-offs. Accordingto a top secret intelligence memo of April9 (there were two others before the fate-ful day dawned on Easter Sunday), thecountry’s intelligence chief had warnedthe Inspector General of Police that“Zahran Hashim of the National TawheedJamaat and his associates were planningto carry out suicide terrorist attacks in SriLanka shortly.” How this classified warn-ing was not shared with PresidentMaithripala Sirisena and Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe is a riddle. Rarelyhas there been an intelligence goof-up ofthis magnitude in recent memory.
That such a catastrophic intelligencefoul-up took place in Sri Lanka, whichonly a decade ago had destroyed theinvincible Velupillai Prabhakaran-ledLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),ending root and branch a 30-year-longdeadly insurgency and becoming the firstcountry to achieve such a feat in the 21stcentury, is intriguing. The Army, Navyand Air Force have held annual interna-tional seminars in Colombo to showcasetheir military successes, including theArmy’s prowess in deep penetrationintelligence acquisition skills. Accordingto the then Defence Secretary and broth-er of former President MahindaRajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, now apresidential hopeful for the elections thisyear, the present Government dismantledthe elaborate intelligence and surveillancenetwork of 5,000 personnel he had set upin 2011 across the country, including theMuslim majority areas of the east.
Nine suicide bombers, including onewoman, struck in coordinated attacks fol-lowed by two or three hara-kiri acts byfamily members and associates of themastermind Hashim. It is now knownthat the suicide squad consisted of 15members and the support group was 150of whom 100 cadres have been arrested.Thirty-six Sri Lankans are reported tohave gone to fight with the Islamic Statein Syria and many had returned. Thepreparation for serial human bombing ofthis scale and sophistication would havetaken months if not years. Sirisena hasrevealed that planning for the attacksstarted in Syria in 2017. How this mas-sive diabolical plot escaped detection isa mystery. The Sri Lankan ArmyCommander, Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake,in an interview to BBC, has said that thesuicide bombers “got some sort of train-ing” in Kashmir and Kerala. This shouldworry India. Given the severe communal
polarisation exacerbated bythe elections, major terroristattacks are not unlikely inIndia in the near future.
In 2017, I retraced mytimes with the Indian PeaceKeeping Force (IPKF) 30 yearsago in the east, travellingthrough Muslim majorityAmpara and Kalmunai areasnear Batticaloa and saw anincreased density of popula-tion, mosques and madrassasas also prosperity and devel-opment. The Muslims weretargeted by the LTTE notablyin their massacre in SriLanka’s biggest mosque inKattankudy near Batticaloain the 1990s. (Kattankudy isthe hometown of Hashim,the mastermind of the attacksand its training ground).Later, the Sinhala Buddhistextremists Bodu Bala Sena(BBS), ostensibly supportedby the Government, targettedMuslims periodically from2013, culminating in the biganti-Muslin riots in Kandy lastyear, which led to theGovernment declaring anEmergency. The trigger forMuslim alienation and radi-calisation is the BBS attacksand objections to hijab andhalal. How the Governmentdid not pick up these straws inthe wind is an enigma.
Initially, the Government
ascribed the horrific attacks tothe Islamic State (IS)-inspiredSri Lankan Muslim NationalThowheed Jamath (NTJ) asretaliation for Christchurchtill IS supremo Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi claimed responsibil-ity as revenge for loss ofBaghouz, the caliphate’s lastbastion in Syria. Sri Lanka’sown counter-terrorism czar,the Singapore-based RohanGunaratna, confirmed that IShas created support groupsaround the world and NTJ hasjoined the IS.
The rift and infightingbetween Sirisena andWickremesinghe is a folklore.The politics of the carnage isbeguiling. Sirisena has square-ly blamed the Prime Minister,the Defence Secretary and theInspector General Police andsaid he was kept in the darkand that he would reconstitutesecurity structures. On hispart, Wickremesinghe said, “Idid not know…still we have totake responsibility for thatpart of Government machin-ery that did not work.” Sirisenais not only the DefenceMinister but has also kept theLaw and Order Ministry withhim, some say, unconstitution-ally. This has keptWickremesinghe quarantinedfrom defence and security,including national security
council meetings. That theleft hand did not know whatthe right hand was doing is theblack hole in the security sys-tem.
Former ArmyCommander General SarathFonseka was the key architectof victory of the LTTE but hefell out with the old regime’stop leaders, the Rajapaksas.The Sirisena Governmentappointed Fonseka a FieldMarshal and a Minister.Speaking in the Emergencydebate in Parliament after thebombings, Fonseka lambastedhis own Government, includ-ing Srisena, Wickremesingheand other defence and intel-ligence officials. Demands formaking Fonseka Minister forlaw and order are increasing.
Sri Lanka is underEmergency rule with thePrevention of Terrorism Actin place but is likely to bereplaced with the newcounter-terrorism Bill. It is thefirst country to ban the faceveil in South Asia. Both thecurfew and ban on socialmedia were lifted after a week.The preliminary report onthe bombings has been com-pleted, which Sirisena is keep-ing close to his chest. A newmilitary command territorial-ly, including parts of westand northwest provinces,
including Colombo andPuttalam and strangely calledOverall OperationalCommand, has been estab-lished and coastal securitybeefed up. India’s offer ofsending its elite NationalSecurity Guards has beenpolitely rejected. The joke inColombo is about how NSGmessed up in Mumbai in 2008taking four days to completethe operation. Tongue-in-cheek Sri Lankan militaryveterans say what the IPKFstarted and did not complete,we finished.
Over-indulgent in its con-quest of LTTE, Sri Lanka let itsguard down. A dysfunctionalcohabitation Government hasbeen rent apart by catastroph-ic terrorist attacks, which arelikely to take Sri Lanka adecade back. The EasterSunday self-inflicted tragedywas in military parlance atotal command failure. Thatneither the Prime Minister norPresident has resigned is toborrow a famous war timeChurchillian one liner: A rid-dle wrapped in a mystery sur-rounded by an enigma.
(The writer is a retiredMajor General of the IndianArmy and founder member ofthe Defence Planning Staff,currently the revampedIntegrated Defence Staff)
Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “A speech too far” (May 7).Dead leaders, who are widelyknown, like Hitler, Stalin,Mahatma Gandhi, JawaharlalNehru and Indira Gandhiamong others, have been derid-ed for some of their actions nodoubt. Agreed late PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi also hadhis failings. History won’t ignorethe blunders made by leadersbut there is a civil way ofaddressing them than brutename-calling.
M RatanVia email
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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Poll panel under fire” (May6). Undoubtedly, the 2019 LokSabha election is one of the dirt-iest in a long time where below-the-belt and insensitive remarkshave become the norm for ourpoliticians.
Political leaders, both in theruling and opposition parties,are to be blamed as much theElection Commission (EC) of
India. It was former chiefElection Commissioner TNSeshan, who had given themuch-needed tooth to the ECand redef ined the way elections were conducted in ourcountry.
Keeping aside the malfunc-tioning of EVMs, which couldbe attributed to faults in themachine, the Model Code ofConduct is brazenly torn by our
leaders. The flow of money andliquor during election time hasbecome way too common. Thisis especially true among ruralvoters, who become easy targetsand can be manipulated by theleaders. But it is dishearteningthat the EC has been foundwanting in all parameters.
It is not that the EC has notpunished erring leaders, it hasbarred many from campaigning
for 24 to 72 hours but has notbeen consistent. In fact, it hasdisplayed selective amnesia.
Consistency is what is theneed of the hour. Even now, twomore rounds of polling are yetto take place — one on May 12and the other on May 19. TheEC can still pull up its socks andcorrect past wrong doings.
Bal GovindNoida
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Sir — In an anti-climax of thefeverish pitch of the poll cam-paign, Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) supremo Mayawati hashinted that she is a contender forthe post of the Prime Minister.One must not be offended by hertall claims, for our polity is sofree that anyone can aspire to beanyone and, hence, politicalleaders have enough room formanoeuvre.
There’s no harm inMayawati wanting to becomethe Prime Minister but she hasto think whether she is accept-able to all across the country orhas she ever grown to become apan-India leader?
Our country is much morediverse and vibrant than UttarPradesh and Mayawati has togrow to such a national level tobe received by millions of peo-ple. So, she is free to dream butits relevance and reality are asimpractical as crying for themoon.
Education systems across democracies promiseequality of opportunity, access and success toevery child. This raises high hopes and kin-
dles bundles of aspirations, particularly among theweaker sections of society, who have waited for gen-erations for better and dignified human existence.Towards this, to begin with, the first requirementis to create a Common School System (CSS). Itmeans no child can be denied admission by anyschool in the neighbourhood, irrespective ofhis/her social or economic background. The nextstep is to ensure individual attention to every child,ascertain his/her interests and ensure that his/hercreativity and curiosity are not hindered. In sim-ple terms, it requires an inviting learning environ-ment, competent, committed and performingteachers, and a right teacher-taught ratio.
India’s public education system could not pre-vent the decline of credibility and acceptability of‘sarkari schools’ as the essential spirit of CSS wasjust ignored. Prominently included in the NationalPolicy on Education (NPE) 1968, CSS did find aplace in the subsequent policies of 1986 and 1992,but the system continuously drifted away from hon-estly implementing it. Post-independence, the expe-rience in Indian educational initiatives and expan-sion has clearly established that the elite-dominat-ed system of governance — even in the presenceof political masters — invariably succeeds in pre-serving their interests. This unstated endeavour andattitude resulted in severe decline of public-fund-ed schools, unprecedented mushrooming of pri-vate schools and rise in demand for “good quali-ty schools”, which became synonymous withhigh-fee charging schools. Government schools arenow patronised only by those, who have no otheralternative. This either because of their meagre eco-nomic resources or non-availability of a privateschool nearby. A feeble attempt was made with theenactment of the Right to Education Act, 2009, toreserve 25 per cent seats in initial classes for chil-dren of weaker sections. But a majority of schoolsfound “strategies” to hoodwink it. After the firstbatch of children admitted under this category in2010 completed Class VIII, schools asked them topay regular school fees or get lost. Such an obvi-ous concern was ignored by our policy-makers. Thepsychological and emotional damage inflicted onthe learner and his family would be anything butdevastating in such cases. This clearly indicates thecallous attitude and also prevalent ignorancewithin the education system on finer and subtleaspects of learning. Is it not amazing, if not ago-nising, that children of most functionaries respon-sible for school education policies and its imple-mentation prefer to enroll in private schools only?
Around 60-65 per cent of the school-going chil-dren still study in sarkari schools, which are invari-ably deficient on infrastructure, teachers, learningmaterials and even in basic professional require-ments. Expectedly, most of the surveys and stud-ies on learning outcomes indicate not only lowlearner attainments but also consistent annualdecline. This is indeed worrisome. In spite of sucha large chunk of school-going children complet-ing their schooling under deficient conditions andsever impediments — and only a small proportionof them getting a place in higher education insti-tutions — the educated youth of India are amongthe most sought-after in the developed countries.
They are offered really challenging assignmentsand invariably come out with flying colours, bring-ing prestige and praise to the motherland. However,there is a dimmer picture within the country.Graduates of highly coveted higher education cours-es of technical and management education arefound deficient in their readiness to accept jobresponsibility in the job market and the propor-tion may indeed be alarming — up to 80. What awastage of young manpower in an era where Indiais supposed to be in the “golden period of demo-graphic dividend”, solely because of its young man-power. Around 50 per cent of India’s populationis below 25 years of age and 65 per cent below 35years. What a great chance to make India’s pres-ence felt globally through its young ones. The basicresponsibility is to offer good quality school edu-cation and ensure dynamism and comparability inhigher education. Once access and participation ineducation is ensured with basic professional andinfrastructural inputs, the issue of nurturing indi-vidual talented deserves attention. One can recallseveral Indian initiatives on this count, two of whichdeserve special mention: The introduction theScience Talent Search — NTS — scheme in the1960s and the opening of Navodaya Vidyalayas inpursuance of the 1986 Education policy. The NTSwas later transformed to include social sciences aswell and Navodaya Vidyalayas have indeed provid-ed great opportunity to the talented children fromrural India. I have personally found lasting moti-vation among NTS scholars and the alumni ofNavodaya Vidyalayas. This in itself is a greatachievement. Numbers catered to by these initia-tives need to increase and it is encouraging that thesame is under consideration by the authorities.
It will be relevant to recall a model of talent nur-turing that was being successfully implemented onlarge-scale in the erstwhile USSR. The essence ofit can still be suitably digested and gainfully utilised.A three-member delegation of the Government vis-ited several schools over there in 1982. The objec-tive was to study the school education system that
flourished under conditions vastly different fromIndia. It was particularly indicated to the delega-tion that it would be interesting to find out howthey are nurturing talent, dealing with gifted chil-dren and the issue of a common language. Thosewere the days of a bipolar world and terms like ‘Iron’curtain were in considerable usage. In every meet-ing, the hosts spoke only Russian; translations werethe only means of interacting during official meet-ings. However, during dinners and receptions, theyspoke chaste English without any hesitation.When — and it happened on several occasions —the delegation tried to understand how Russian lan-guage was being accepted in federation units thathad their own languages, the answer was short, crispand precise: Everyone learns Russian voluntarily.The discussion on language never proceededbeyond this. However, there was much more tolearn that could be examined gainfully in Indianconditions.
One morning, the schedule included visit toa music school and a physics school. The delega-tion was told that the most important task of theteachers in every school is to observe the students,find out their inclinations and interests, keep arecord and once they find consistency, encouragethe child to go ahead and see the progress. Theremay be a change of interest area, something elsemay fascinate the child and that should be permis-sible. The idea behind the approach was that USSRneeded not only scientists, engineers and tech-nocrats but also painters, poets, scholars, musicians,folklore specialists and the like. Teachers must betrusted to ascertain the right path of passage toexcellence in each individual case. Once this wasdone, the school would send a report to the region-al level; the child in all probability would be pickedup by the State and shifted to a residential school.Here, he would study all the curricula as in otherschools but there would be big plus in his area ofhis identified interest — be it music, physics, his-tory, literature or sports. These special schools werelocated after thoughtful consideration of locally
available expertise. A physics school would be locat-ed in a town that has university department,research laboratory and other establishment con-nected with research and innovations in physics andrelated area. Same would apply to other disciplines.In the music school, eminent masters were volun-tarily helping children move ahead of the regularcurricular prescriptions.
The most significant challenge before theIndian education policy-makers and imple-menters can be summarized crisply as providing“equality of opportunity of access and success andnurturing the talented”, as said by John WGardner in his book, Excellence: Can We be Equaland Excellent Too? Though Gardner wrote theselines in the context of the US around 1984, therelevance of some of his observations remains uni-versally relevant even in current times: “Diagnosisof an individual’s future capacity to performremains a hazardous undertaking. There are mys-teries in individual development that are far fromunderstanding. No stone should be left unturnedto ensure that decisions are based on a wide rangeof evidence, carefully gathered and sifted.”
For sure, in India, marks obtained in the boardexamination are certainly no guarantee of total per-sonality development and specialised talent.However, talent identification and fulsome person-ality development have to be a continuous processthat must begin from the early stages. It shouldinclude traits of personality development, valueinternalisation and character formation as an inte-gral part of the process. The topmost national pri-ority for the investment of public funds must beteacher training and school education. This willensure highest level of returns. Let the countryrealise it. Simultaneously, no let up in locating andnurturing talent is a must. In Indian psyche, com-mercialisation of education is unacceptable andmust be discouraged effectively. Education is stillthe only ray of hope for the weaker sections.
(The writer is the Indian Representative on theExecutive Board of UNESCO)
Perhaps the ElectionCommission of India (EC) hasnever ever been under such
scrutiny as it is today. The polarisedcampaign during the ongoingGeneral Elections has put the spot-light firmly on the referee — the EC.As an impartial watchdog, it is theresponsibility of the electoral body toprovide for a level-playing filed to allpolitical parties. The perception thatthe EC has not been addressingOpposition complaints, in this caseagainst the ruling party, has beendoing the rounds.
An exasperated Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi called the pollpanel “completely biased” against theOpposition last week. He said that
when it comes to the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, the com-mission toes the straight line andwhen it comes to the Opposition, itbecomes biased. During a mediainteraction, Rahul Gandhi eventhreatened EC officials with “consequences” in the future forbeing biased.
But Rahul Gandhi is not the onlyleader who has grouse against the EC.There are other Opposition leaderslike Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu, West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee,Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav, Bahujan Samaj Party supremoMayawati, Aam Aadmi Party chiefArvind Kejriwal and many otherleaders in the Opposition, who havecomplained against the EC’s biastowards the leaders of the rulingparty. The BJP, too, has been lodgingcomplaints against other parties tothe EC.
Recently, in an unprecedentedmanner, a group of 66 formerbureaucrats wrote to President RamNath Kovind, expressing concern
over what they called the question-able functioning of the Commission,requesting him to intervene to ensurefree and fair polls. The leadersincluded former National SecurityAdvisor Shivshankar Menon, super-cop Julio Ribeiro and former LtGovernor Najeeb Jung.
Why is the EC facing suchcharges? Is the Commission so help-less that the Chief ElectionCommissioner recently pleaded help-lessness in the Supreme Court,lamenting that he lacked the powersto crack the whip? The court not onlyblasted the Commission but alsoreminded it that it had adequateauthority to enforce the Model Codeof Conduct under Article 324 of theConstitution.
Even its decision to ban UnionMinister Maneka Gandhi, Mayawati,Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and Samajwadi Partyleader Azam Khan from campaignfor specific hours for violating ModelCode of Conduct came only after theSupreme Court’s nudging.
Alas, even after the apex courtpulling it up, the EC has maintained
silence on the complaints launchedby parties against alleged hatespeeches, which have piled up all themore. The Congress claims that it hasgiven more than 37 representations— ten against the Prime Minister —to the EC on violations of ModelCode of Conduct but theCommission did not act. It wasonly after Congress MP SushmitaDev approached the apex court,which directed the Commission todispose of all complaints registeredby the party immediately, that the ECgave a clean chit to the Prime min-ister in six cases last week.
Interestingly, Ashok Lavasa, oneof the Commissioners, dissented onthe decision. The Congress has notgiven up and has gone to the topcourt on the orders once again,alleging that the EC has been partialto the ruling party.
Many political parties have raiseddoubts about the functioning of theElectronic Voting Machines, too.The petition filed by 21 Oppositionparties in the Supreme Court, forcounting of at least 25 per cent EVMpaper trail machines — instead of
only five — in every Assembly seg-ment has been rejected by the topcourt. On the other hand, the ECmaintains that the EVMs are fool-proof and cannot be manipulated.
The EC has not always been sotimid. In 1989, the then ChiefElection Commissioner RVS PeriSastri had introduced wide-rangingelectoral reforms, including reducingthe voting age to 18 from 21. He alsostood his ground on his principles,which prompted the then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi to make amulti-member panel to clip thepowers of the Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC).
Similarly, in the early 1990s,former CEC TN Seshan had intro-duced a number of reforms, includ-ing the issuance of voter IDs. Hedeployed the security forces to keepa check on booth capturing and voterintimidation. He earned the nick-name of “Al-Seshan” and punishedthose who flouted the Model Codeand even recommended the sackingtwo Ministers to the then PrimeMinister Narasimha Rao for violat-ing the code. There have been other
successful CECs like Sukumar Senand SY Quraishi.
The question, however is: Has theEC played an impartial role in the cur-rent Lok Sabha polls? The Oppositionhas complained that the electoral bodyis not ensuring the rules of the gamein order to ensure parity. For instance,eyebrows were raised when it sus-pended an IAS officer for checking thechopper of the Prime Minister in thecourse of his duty.
Also, income tax raids were beingconducted only on Opposition lead-ers. It is nobody’s case that whateverthe Opposition wants, the EC mustcomply, but it should appear to havedone justice. There is still time to senda signal that the EC is impartial andit must earn the trust of theOpposition. The EC’s performancehas not always been uniform but it isa huge exercise to hold the electionspeacefully and in a free and fair man-ner. No doubt poll reforms arerequired and the EC should be givenmore teeth but within the constraints,the body can certainly perform.
(The writer is a senior political com-mentator and syndicated columnist)
a Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) initia-tive introduced by India’slargest power generating com-pany, 18 girls, out of 25, havesuccessfully qualified for theIIT JEE mains.
The year-long residentialprogram, implemented withan objective to coach studentsbelonging to economicallyweaker families, brought theseaspirants a step closer to ful-filling their dream of studyingin some of India’s premierinstitutes.
As part of this noble ini-tiative, rolled out in associationwith the Centre for SocialResponsibility and Leadership(CSRL), NTPC bears the entirecost of boarding, lodging andcoaching for the girl studentsbelonging to underprivilegedfamilies.
After an MoU was signedbetween NTPC NorthernRegion Head Quarter inLucknow and CSRL, NewDelhi, NTPC & CSRL jointlyinitiated the 77.03 lakh-pro-gram for 30 girls selected fromfamilies living in the vicinity ofNTPC plants in the northernregion.
The US wants India to elim-inate trade barriers for
American firms and removedata localisation restrictions,while expecting that the newGovernment here will addressthese issues, said visiting USCommerce Secretary WilburRoss Tuesday.
“Our goal is to eliminatebarriers to the US companiesoperating here including datalocalisation restrictions thatactually weaken data securityand increase the cost of doingbusiness,” he said here.
Ross was speaking at theTrade Winds Forum and TradeMission. He is leading a dele-gation of over 100 Americanbusinesses in India.
“We applaud India’s com-mitment to addressing some ofthese barriers once the gov-ernment is reformed probablyin the month of June,” he saidin his speech.
Ross also alleged that Indiaimposes very high importduties on goods like automo-biles, motorcycles, agri-prod-ucts and alcoholic beverages.
“As President Trump hassaid, trade relationships shouldbe based, and must be based,on fairness and reciprocity.But, currently, US businessesface significant market accessbarriers in India. These includeboth tariff and non-tariff bar-
riers, as well as multiple prac-tices and regulations that dis-advantage foreign companies,”he said.
He said that India’s averageapplied tariffs rate is 13.8 percent and remains the “highest”of any major world economy,“the very highest”.
Citing examples, he said,there is a 60 per cent tariff onauto, while the US has 2.5 percent.
India has 50 per centimport duty on motorcyclesand 150 per cent on alcoholicbeverages, “Just a few extremeexamples”, he added.
India imposes bound tar-iff rates — maximum importduty India can charge underglobal trade rules of WTO —on agricultural products atthe average of an “incredible”113.5 per cent and some are ashigh as 300 per cent, he said,adding that “they are way too high”.
However, India’s tradeexperts counter this by sayingthat India is not a ‘tariff king’and it has all the right to takeappropriate measures to protectthe interest of specific sectorslike agriculture.
“We are working diligent-ly with the Indian Governmentand our private sector partnersto address market access issuesthrough the US-India com-mercial dialogue and throughthe recently re-convened US
India-CEO forum,” Ross said.Major obstacles being faced
by the US companies includeprice controls on medicaldevices and restrictive tariffand inspections on electronicsand telecommunications products.
He noted that duties onrouters, switches and parts ofcellular phones are as high as20 per cent.
In stark contrast, he said,the duty on these productsimported by the US from Indiais zero.
“Zero versus 20 per cent.That’s not a justified imbalance.These high tariffs undermineIndia’s goal of improving digi-tal access and literacy,” Rossadded.
He expects that the newgovernment will look at thesematters.
“In the World Bank’s Easeof Doing Business report, Indiaclimbed an impressive 23 spotsthis year but it still ranks 77 outof 190 countries. So, there islots of room for furtherimprovement,” he said.
He also mentioned thatIndia is the US’ 13th largestexport market due to “overlyrestrictive” market access bar-riers.
Referring to trade imbal-ance with India, the commercesecretary said the US accountsfor 20 per cent of India’s totalexports.
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The rupee on Tuesdayslipped further by 3 paise to
close at 69.43 against the UScurrency due to fag-end dollardemand from banks andimporters amid sustained for-eign fund outflows.
Losses in the domesticequity market and a strength-ening dollar against major cur-rencies overseas amid tradeworries also weighed on thelocal unit, forex traders said.
Investor sentiment took abeating after IMF chiefChristine Lagarde said US-China trade tensions were a‘threat’ to the world economy.
Crude oil prices alsodropped further on growthconcerns. Brent crude futuresdeclined 1.19 per cent to tradeat $70.39 per barrel.
The rupee opened flat at69.40 and later rose to the day’shigh of 69.29 at the interbankforex market. However, it failedto maintain gains and touchedintra-day low of 69.46 againstthe US dollar. It finally settledat 69.43, down 3 paise from theprevious close.
The rupee had settled 18paise lower at 69.40 against theUS dollar Monday.
“Rupee is consolidating in
narrow range,” V K Sharma,Head PCG & Capital MarketsStrategy, HDFC Securitiescommented.
The rupee came under pres-sure following a massive selloffin the domestic equity markets.
The BSE Sensex ended323.71 points, or 0.84 per cent,lower at 38,276.63. The indexhit an intra-day low of38,236.18 and a high of8,835.54.
Similarly, the NSE Niftydropped 100.35 points to set-tle below the 11,500 level at11,497.90. During the day, thebourse hit a low of 11,484.45and a high of 11,657.05.
Foreign investors were netsellers in capital marketsMonday pulling out assets worthRs 948 crore on a net basis, pro-visional exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, the DollarIndex which gauges the green-back’s strength against a basketof six currencies, rose 0.04 percent to 97.55.
Meanwhile, FinancialBenchmark India Private Ltd(FBIL) set the reference rate forthe rupee/dollar at 69.3095and for rupee/euro at 77.7010.The reference rate forrupee/British pound was fixedat 90.9706 and for rupee/100Japanese yen at 62.59.
The head of the InternationalMonetary Fund said on
Tuesday that fresh trade ten-sions between the United Statesand China were the main threatto the world economy.
“Clearly the tensionsbetween the United States andChina are the threat for theworld economy,” ChristineLagarde told journalists at a con-ference in Paris, adding thatrecent “rumours and tweets”made an agreement between thecountries less likely.
President Donald Trumpjolted global markets on Mondayby threatening on Twitter thattariffs already imposed on $200billion in Chinese exports to USwould more than double to 25per cent on Friday from theircurrent level of 10 per cent.
Also speaking at the ParisForum event, French EconomyMinister Bruno Le Mairewarned about the impact of atrade war between the world’stwo biggest economies.
“We are following the currentnegotiations very closely betweenChina and the United Staters andwe want them to respect the prin-cipals of transparency and mul-tilateralism,” he said.
He called on the two sidesto “avoid taking decisions thatwould threaten and wouldundermine global growth inthe months ahead.”
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Goods and Services Tax(GST) regime in India is
not likely to reduce the deficitsof state governments signifi-cantly, amid large and growingexpenditure mandates for thesocial sector as well as capitalspending, says a report.
According to S&P GlobalRatings the institutional frame-work for Indian states is evolv-ing, but there is structuraldeficits due to persistent rev-enue expenditure mismatch.
S&P Global Ratings cred-it analyst YeeFarn Phua in thereport titled “Public Finance
System Overview: IndianStates” noted that the passageof the GST bill in 2017 is amajor overhaul of tax structureand will help to widen the taxbase and improve revenues ofstate governments.
“However, states will con-tinue to run large deficitsbecause a significant part ofthis imbalance is from theexpenditure side. States areunable to cut expendituresbecause of large and growingexpenditure mandates for thesocial sector as well as capitalspending. Therefore, the rev-enue-expenditure gap willremain large,” said Phua.
Booking.com, a digital trav-el e-commerce company,
announced the extension oftheir scholarship initiative totwo leading STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering andMathematics) studies univer-sities in India. These scholar-ships build on an initiativelaunched by Booking.com in2017 to encourage morewomen into the global techindustry by supporting theirongoing STEM education, withthe goal to help close the gen-der gap in technology andopen up more opportunitiesfor women to pursue techcareers.
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Under its Saamarth project,Rubber Skill Development
Council (RSDC), the sector skillcouncil for Rubber & Tyre sec-tor in the country, has launcheda major drive to skill up tyremechanics dotting the length &breadth of India. As many as12000 tyre mechanics are beingupskilled across the State high-ways of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Odisha under this project.
The skill training of tyremechanics popularly known astyre fitters has won RSDC thecoveted ATMA Tyre safety part-ner award at the recently heldATMA Annual Convention 2019.
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Three senior officials of theNSE resumed work at the
same position Tuesday, afterbeing getting an interim relieffrom the Securities AppellateTribunal (SAT) after beingbarred by the regulator Sebi inthe co-location case last week.
The Sebi had barred thethree NSE officials from hold-ing any office in any stockexchange for colluding withbrokerages which were found
guilty of gaining an unfairadvantage over others by plac-ing their in close proximity themain servers of the exchange.
“The three have resumedwork in the same positions asthey were holding earlier,” asource in the know of thedevelopment said.
The three are Ravi Varansi,head of business development;Nagendra Kumar SRVS, headof membership department;and Deviprasad Singh, head ofcolocation support.
Tuesday made a case for aGovernment-to-Governmentagreement between India andthe US to facilitate privatecompanies in both the countries.
“Can we have Government-to-Government agreement inwhich we will make sure that thepolicy support that is requiredfor private sector emanates fromthis umbrella agreement,” he saidhere a function, which wasattended by the US business del-egation, led by US CommerceSecretary Wilbur Ross.
Prabhu said public policiesmay sometimes create chal-lenges for corporates “but if wehave a government-to-govern-ment agreement, we can clear-ly spell out the certainty, sta-bility, forward-looking poli-cies and this will facilitatecompanies to prepare theircorporate plans”.
He also expressed hopethat issues being faced by busi-nesses in India and the US canbe sorted out in a way that ben-efits both the countries.
“I can clearly see that issuescan be sorted out in a way that
benefits both the countries,”Prabhu said one needs to lookat big picture and make surethat irritants are tackled in amanner that helps foster thisrelationship.
The remarks assumes sig-nificance as Indian companiesare raising issues like restrictivevisa regime in the US,American firms are flaggingconcerns related to India’s intel-lectual property policies and e-commerce norms.
Prabhu said India’s econo-my is expected to touch $5 tril-lion in the next 7-8 years and$10 trillion by 2035 and in this,US companies can help.
“These numbers are possi-ble to achieve only when wehave friends like you (the US).With this growth, US compa-nies will also benefit,” he added.
Further, the commerceminister said that in the US,President Donald Trump’s slo-gan that let’s “Make AmericaGreat Again”, “I would add andsay let’s Make America GreatAgain by making India-USrelationship far better again”.
Speaking on the occasion,Ross said, “I think we shouldrephrase that (slogan) to MAG-AWIC — Make America GreatAgain with IndianCooperation.”
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Maharashtra Government-backed non-banking
financial company Sicom islooking to raise around �400crore to help it come out of thelending curbs clamped on it bythe Reserve Bank, a top officialsaid Tuesday.
The company, focused onfinancing infrastructure andindustries in the State, isexpected to seek cabinetapproval for fund-raising assoon as the model code of con-duct ends.
As per the FY18 annualreport, its net NPA stood at33.77 percent down from 35.79percent March 2017.
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The lenders to the crippledReliance Communications
(RCom) on Tuesday movedNCLT to appoint a new reso-lution professional and form acommittee of creditors, thefirst step to begin the bank-ruptcy process of the AnilAmbani group company thatowes close to �50,000 croreRPT crore to 31 lenders led byState Bank of India.
Meanwhile, RComthrough the existing resolutionprofessional, sought 13 monthsexclusion in the insolvencyprocess citing the stays it hadon the process by the appellatetribunal and the SupremeCourt.
The RP sought the exclu-sion from April 30, 2018 toMay 30, 2019 as the initialinsolvency proceedings wasstayed by the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) and later bythe apex court.
RCom was in trouble foryears forcing it to discontinueoperations two years ago. Itseffort to stave off bankruptcyby selling spectrum to RelianceJio got scuttled after the longlegal and Government delaysfor approvals.
Also, the company has
not been successful to meetany of the several publiclymade promises to pay backthe lenders by monetisingreal estate and spectrum assets.
Last month companychairman Anil Ambani man-aged to avoid a contempt of theSupreme Court and a possiblejail term after a last-minutebailout by elder brotherMukesh who extended himover �480 crore to pay backvendor Ericsson, which was thefirst operational creditor todrag it to NCLT last year.
Earlier, ChinaDevelopment Bank from whichRCom had borrowed over $1
billion, had dragged it to theNCLT which was settled aftergiving a portion of its head-quarters DAKC in the nearbyNavi Mumbai.
On May 3, SBI held ameeting to shortlist an RPafter issuing a request for pro-posal in April for a new RP.
RCom’s committee of cred-itors will have to approve a newRP with a 66 percent vote afterthe NCLT starts the insolven-cy process.
The Mumbai bench com-prising of VP Singh andRavikumar Duraisamy direct-ed the existing RP to file aprogress report by May 30when it will hear the matter.
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German sports car makerand Volkswagen sub-
sidiary Porsche will pay a 535-million-euro ($598 million)fine over diesel vehicles thatemitted more harmful pollu-tants than allowed, Stuttgartprosecutors said Tuesday.
"The Stuttgart prosecutor'soffice has levied a 535-million-euro fine against Porsche AGfor negligence in quality con-trol," the investigators said.
Porsche "abstained from alegal challenge" against the deci-sion, the prosecutors office added.
Tuesday's levy againstPorsche is the latest in a stringof fines against VW over itsyears-long "dieselgate" scandal.
The auto behemoth admit-ted in 2015 to manipulating 11million vehicles worldwide toappear less polluting in labo-ratory tests than they were inreal driving conditions.
Following fines againstVW, high-end subsidiary Audiand now Porsche, no furtherinvestigations over "adminis-trative offences" remain openagainst the group, a spokesmantold AFP.
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Benchmark indices Sensexand Nifty fell for the fifthsession in a row on
Tuesday, marking their longestlosing streak in nearly threemonths, as US-China tradetiff and lukewarm corporateearnings stoked fears of uncer-tainty in markets.
Both equity gauges tradedhigher for better part of the ses-sion, only to give up gainstowards the fag-end of trade,with the BSE Sensex closing324 points lower and the NSENifty diving over 100 points.
Among other factors,depreciating rupee and weakglobal sentiment dampened themood on domestic bourses.
The Sensex was mainlydragged by Tata Motors, ICICIBank, Bharti Airtel andReliance Industries — sheddingas much as 4.60%.
The quarterly results ofICICI Bank and Bharti Airtelfailed to attract investors andboth the companies saw con-stant sell-offs during the session.
On the other hand, HUL,L&T, PowerGrid, Infosys,ONGC and Bajaj Auto endedhigher.
Indian bourses, after start-ing the session on a high, cameunder heavy selling pressure asdomestic investors’ sentimenttook a beating after IMF chiefChristine Lagarde said US-China tensions were a ‘threat’to the world economy.
Global markets have been
rattled by the concerns over thehealth of the world economyever since US President DonaldTrump on Sunday threatenedto hike tariffs on USD 200 bil-lion worth of Chinese goods.
In line with global markets,the 30-share index ended323.71 points, or 0.84%, lowerat 38,276.63. The BSE index hitan intra-day low of 38,236.18and a high of 38,835.54. Intra-day, the index swung nearly 600points.
Similarly, the NSE Niftydropped 100.35 points to set-tle below the 11,500 level at11,497.90. During the day, thebourse hit a low of 11,484.45and a high of 11,657.05.
Both Sensex and Nifty alsomarked its longest losing streaksince February 19 this year.
“Indian market has beenon a shaky ground for the pastcouple of days driven by ambi-guity associated with the US-China trade negotiations andless-than-inspiring ongoingcorporate earnings season,”said JagannadhamThunuguntla, senior vice-pres-ident and head of research(wealth), Centrum Broking.
Sectorally, BSE telecom,energy, oil and gas, bankex,metal and realty indices took abeating, ending up to 2.44%lower. In the broader market,BSE midcap and smallcapindices too ended in the red,dropping up to 0.98%.
Shares of ICICI Bank fellby nearly 4% on Tuesday afterthe company’s fourth quarter
earnings failed to impressinvestors.
Private sector lender ICICIBank on Monday posted a2.45% rise in its consolidatednet profit to �1,170 crore in thefourth quarter of 2018-19.
Bharti Airtel stock alsodeclined over 3% post theannouncement of March quar-ter results.
The company, whose prof-itability has been battered byintense price competitionposed by richest IndianMukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio,earned a net profit of �107.2crore in the January-Marchperiod as against �82.9 crore itearned in the correspondingperiod of the previous fiscal.
The Indian rupee onTuesday slipped further by 3paise to close at 69.43 againstthe US dollar amid foreignfund outflows.
In Asia, Chinese bourses,however, recovered withShanghai Composite Indexending in the green. Equities inJapan and Korea closed in thered. European stocks were alsotrading lower in early trade.
Global benchmark Brentcrude was trading 0.74% lowerat USD 70.71 per barrel.
Meanwhile, foreign insti-tutional investors (FIIs) soldequity worth �948.98 crore onMonday, while domestic insti-tutional investors (DIIs) pur-chased shares to the tune of�89.89 crore, provisional dataavailable with stock exchangesshowed.
New Delhi: Drug firm Merck Ltd on Tuesdaysaid it has been renamed as Procter & GambleHealth Ltd following P&G’s global acquisition ofthe consumer health business of Merck KGaA,Germany. “The company has received approvalfrom the Registrar of Companies, Mumbai,Maharashtra, for change of name from Merck Ltdto Procter & Gamble Health Ltd effective May 6,2019,” Merck said in a filing to the BSE. The com-pany is taking necessary steps to comply with theformalities and documentation, as may berequired by the stock exchanges to record the saidchange in its records, it added. Procter & GambleHealth Ltd managing director Milind Thatte said,“Our new name reflects our new identity as partof the P&G Group and signifies the comingtogether of strong consumer health capabilitiesand cultures”. Procter & Gamble Health Ltd willbe a part of P&G’s Personal Health CareInternational Business Unit led by UtaKemmerich-Keil (vice-president, Personal HealthCare International), the company said.
�������<6��������������4FNew Delhi: Engineering and farm equip-
ment maker Escorts on Tuesday said its netprofit rose 7.8% to �121.35 crore for Marchquarter 2019, aided by robust tractor sales. Thecompany had reported a net profit of �112.54crore for the same period of previous fiscal.Revenue from operations rose to �1,631.66crore for the period under review as comparedwith �1,436.10 crore in the fourth quarter of2017-18, Escorts said in a regulatory filing. Thecompany’s tractor sales for fourth quarter stoodat 25,136 units, up 6.7% from the same peri-od of 2017-18. For 2018-19, the companyreported a net profit of �484.91 crore, up 40.7%as compared with �344.72 crore in 2017-18.Revenue from operations stood at �6,196.36crore in 2018-19. It stood at �5,015.97 crore in2017-18. “Escorts is committed to providingstate of the art technology and unique engi-
neering solutions for mechanised and innov-ative agriculture solutions, well supportedinfrastructure and safe rail transport,” Escortschairman and managing director Nikhil Nandasaid. The company will continue to bring in newtechnologies with a blend of frugal engineer-ing and global technology collaborations fordomestic and global markets, enabled bystrong product mix and expanded distributionnetwork, he added. The company’s board onTuesday recommended a dividend of �2.50(25%) per share or �10 each for 2018-19. Theboard also appointed Sunil Kant Munjal as inde-pendent director for a period of five years.
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New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover India onTuesday said it had initiated sales of locally man-ufactured Range Rover Velar in the country withprices starting from �72.47 lakh (ex-showroom).The locally manufactured model is offered in a sin-gle trim, R Dynamic-S variant, and is available withboth petrol and diesel powertrains. The cost of thetrim has come down in the range of about 15-20per cent as compared with the completely builtunits (CBU) variants of the model. The start ofVelar’s local manufacturing would enable the com-pany gain a competitive edge within the Indianluxury SUV segment, JLR India said in a statement.The Land Rover range in India includes theDiscovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, all-newDiscovery, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.
New Delhi: Niche bike maker RoyalEnfield on Tuesday announced the recall ofnearly 7,000 units of its Bullet and BulletElectra models to rectify faulty brake caliperbolt. The company said it was undertaking aproactive field service action, concerningbrake caliper bolt on motorcycles of the twomodels manufactured between March 20, 2019and April 30, 2019. PTI
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Telecom operator BhartiAirtel and Hughes
Communications India Ltd(HCIL) on Tuesday announcedthey would combine theirVSAT (Very Small ApertureTerminal) satellite operations inthe country.
The HCIL is a subsidiaryof broadband satellite net-works and services providerHughes Network Systems.
Hughes will have majori-ty ownership in the combinedentity while Airtel will have asignificant shareholding,according to a statement.
The statement did notspell out the financial detailsof the transaction, which issubject to requisite approvals.
“The combined entity willbenefit from enhanced scale,improved operational effi-ciencies and wider marketreach. The combined entitywill be well positioned toleverage the demand forsecure connectivity in a rapid-ly growing digital economy,” itsaid.
The VSAT is used to pro-vide satellite based telecomand internet access to indi-viduals and enterprise users.
The HCIL is a broadband
satellite service operator inIndia, and offers a range ofbroadband networking tech-nologies, solutions, and ser-vices for businesses and gov-ernments.
“The combined entity willcontinue to serve existingHughes and Airtel customers,”the statement added.
Commenting on thedevelopment, ParthoBanerjee, president and man-aging director of HughesCommunications India Ltd,said these are exciting timesfor satellite broadband serviceproviders as Very SmallAperture Terminal becomesmainstream, driven by grow-ing demand from enterpriseand government segments.
“We are very excited aboutthe synergies that this part-nership will bring to theIndian ecosystem,” Banerjeesaid.
Ajay Chitkara, directorand CEO, Airtel Business,said the partnership wouldbring synergies to the fore-front and combine the capa-bilities of both the companies.
“Customers can look for-ward to highly secure and reli-able connectivity solutionsacross the length and breadthof India,” he said.
Tuesday said that authoritieshave arrested or killed all themilitants responsible for thedeadly Easter blasts, butwarned that the country stillfaces the threat of ISIS terrorattacks.
Speaking in Parliamentduring a debate on the currentsecurity situation in the coun-try, Wickremesinghe said allthose directly linked to theEaster Sunday attacks wereeither killed or are in custody.
Nine suicide bombers car-ried out a series of devastatingblasts that tore through threechurches and three luxuryhotels on the Easter Sunday.The Islamic State claimed theattacks, but the governmentblamed local Islamist extrem-ist group National ThawheedJammath (NTJ) for the bomb-ings that killed more than 250people.
Wickremesinghe saidinvestigations had revealed thebombers had direct or indirectlinks with Islamic State and the
island nation needed sophisti-cated technology to deal withthe threat posed by such terrornetworks.
"The danger is not over, weare now a victim of global ter-rorism," he said.
He said that Sri Lankamust work with the interna-tional community to face theglobal threat from terrorism.
"Some assume workingwith the international com-munity means bringing downforeign troops. That will nothappen," he said.
His comments came as SriLankan police and militarychiefs assured that the countryis now safe and can get back tonormalcy.
Addressing a press confer-ence on Monday night, the tri-forces commanders and thepolice chief said the security ofthe country following the April21 bombings has been ensuredwith adequate measures andsteps have been taken to imple-ment a special security plan.
Acting Inspector Generalof Police (IGP) ChandanaWickremaratne said that allthose directly linked to theattacks on three churches andthree luxury hotels have beenarrested or were killed.
He also said that all theexplosives believed to be linkedto local Islamist outfit NationalThowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ),blamed for the attacks, havebeen found.
"All explosives possessedby the terrorist group has beenseized.
Almost everyone identifiedwith the group have beenarrested. Two of their bomb experts have died in theclashes. The police can happily announce that every-one with direct links have beeneither arrested or killed bynow," he said.
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British Prime MinisterTheresa May faced renewed
pressure on Tuesday from law-makers in her ConservativeParty to abandon efforts to seeka Brexit compromise deal withthe opposition Labour Party.
After several weeks of fruit-less negotiations, seniorConservative and Labour lawmakers resumed discus-sions in what appears to be onefinal push to reach an agree-ment.
The talks have been givennew urgency by last week'slocal elections, which saw theConservatives hammered andLabour also lose ground as vot-ers expressed anger at thecountry's Brexit impasse.
Almost three years afterBritain voted to leave the EU,the date and terms of Brexitremain uncertain. The U.K.'sdeparture date has been post-poned from March 29 untilOctober 31 because lawmakershave repeatedly rejected May'sdivorce deal with the bloc.
That has led her to seek a
deal with Labour. But the left-of-center opposition partyinsists it will only agree to aBrexit deal that includes a per-manent customs union withthe EU to avoid barriers to thetrade of goods.
The government wants alooser relationship with thebloc that would let Britainstrike new trade deals aroundthe world.
Foreign Secretary JeremyHunt said "compromises on allsides" were needed "because themessage of last week was thatvoters for both main parties arevery, very angry about the factthat Brexit hasn't been deliv-ered."
But suggestions the gov-ernment might soften theterms of departure from the EUhas infuriated pro-BrexitConservatives, who aredemanding May's resignation.
"The time has come for herto resign," said lawmaker BillCash.
"She needs to be given adate. The sooner the better. Butit needs to be done in anorderly manner."
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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
welcomed a controversial orderto re-run the recent Istanbulelection after complaints ofcorruption as the "best step" forthe country.
"We see this decision as the best step that will strengthen our will to solveproblems within the framework of democracy and law," Erdogan told a meet-ing of his party members inparliament.
Erdogan's comments comea day after the top electionbody cancelled the March 31vote that handed oppositioncandidate Ekrem Imamoglu anarrow lead over Erdogan'sruling Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP).
The AKP has refused toaccept defeat, citing "irregu-larities and corruption" in thevote.
Erdogan on Tuesday talkedof "organised crime" and "seri-ous corruption" during thevote.
"The documents we havepresented are quite solid andbased on concrete evidencewhich cannot be disputed," hesaid.
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The Arctic is melting, butdon't ask US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo to mentionclimate change. Nor to agree atext that mentions it.
For the Trump adminis-tration, disappearing sea ice inthe world's "high north" is firstand foremost an opportunity toexploit rather than a crisis tomitigate.
That position was madeclear by Pompeo over two daysas the foreign ministers of theeight members of the ArcticCouncil met in Finland, whichis wrapping up its two-yearchairmanship of the ArcticCouncil.
Finnish Foreign MinistryTimo Soini said Tuesday therewill be no joint declaration atthe after the summit couldn'tget the United States to agree on a text that includeslanguage about climate change. Instead, he said therewould be statements from min-isters and Finland which cur-rently holds the chair of theArctic Council.
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Indonesia has thwarted a bidby Islamic State-linked mil-
itants to stage a series of bomb-ings when it announces officialelection results this month,authorities said.
Police in the SoutheastAsian nation said Monday that they had arrested eight sus-pects at several locations overthe past week, including inSumatra and near the capitalJakarta.
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An Afghan official says theTaliban have targeted secu-
rity checkpoints in northeast-ern Takhar province, killingeight members of the securityforces.
Wafiullah Rahmani, headof the provincial council, saysthree soldiers and five police-men were killed in Monday
night's attack in KhwajaBahaudin district.
The Taliban claimedresponsibility for the attack.The insurgents stage near-dailyattacks on Afghan forces, evenas peace efforts have accelerat-ed to find an end toAfghanistan's 17-year war.
Separately, DadullahQaneh, councilman in western Farah province, sayscoalition forces on Sundaycarried out airstrikes againstTaliban-run heroin labs, killing15 laborers.
But Mohibullah Mohib,the provincial police chief 'sspokesman, says those killed inBakwa district were all mem-bers of the Taliban.
Russian investigators were onTuesday considering pilot
error as the cause of a crash-landing that saw a plane eruptin flames at Moscow's busiestairport and kill 41 people,media reported.
The Sukhoi Superjet-100had just f lown out ofSheremetyevo airport onSunday evening when it sentout an emergency signal andcircled back, bouncing on therunway and catching fire.
Sources in the investigationtold Kommersant newspaperthe Aeroflot pilots made anumber of errors includingflying into a thunderstormand landing with a full tankrather than circling to use upfuel.
Healthcare sector is one of thelargest sectors when it comesto terms and job opportunities.
If you are wishing to reach heights,then this is the perfect sector to work.The industry deals with various ser-vices like hospitals, diagnostics, med-ical tourism, and medical equipment.In recent years, the healthcare sectoris showing an exponential growth butthere is a scope of development whichis yet to be achieved.
The aspirants should know howbig and diverse this field would be bythe end of 2020. With the introduc-tion of more and more private players,this sector expected to see massivegrowth of 25 per cent in the next five-year tenure.
Most of the students often get con-fused after graduation, whether theyshould go for low salary jobs or pur-sue higher studies. To gain workexperience, a majority of the studentsopt for the job. Diagnostics is one suchpart of the sector which has brilliantprospects in the job environment anda better career option for the future.Apart from the attractive remunera-tion, this sector will help you toachieve your individual goals.
Healthcare deals in various seg-ments, currently, diagnostics is at aboom period. Pathology services, thetype of diagnostic services which pro-vides an option of being a teacher,diagnostician or an investigator.Pathologists in clinical laboratoriesanalyse the reports for the diagnosisand better treatment of the disease.
Another field of diagnosing a
disease is radiology. In this, diseasesare treated with the help of imagingmedical techniques. With the increasein demand for radiologists, the seg-ment ensures a better career path andexpected to grow faster than anyother. The radiology technician hasmany options like working as anultrasound technician, X-Ray techni-cian, MRI technician, CT technician,and medical professional. As thedemand of the radiologist is growing,there is an immediate requirement ofthe radiologist in hospitals, clinics, andphysician offices. The radiology sec-tor has shown a higher number of jobs
than any other sector in the nearfuture.
For those planning to start theircareers, job opportunities in radiolo-gy sector are likely to remain high, par-ticularly those who want to work ingeneral medical and surgical hospitals.Radiology technicians can also workin private offices, clinics, urgent carefacilities, and equipment sales.
Radiology is one of the heart-warming jobs of the world beingpositioned at world's 15th rank. It isconsidered as the smartest careeroption to opt for. Radiologic technol-ogy is a fascinating subject to study forthe students, in addition to certificateswill be provided to work in the stateof residence and prepares to work inthe healthcare sector.
According to the Indian brandequity foundation (IBEF), the overallhealth market is valued at $100 billionand is expected to reach 280 billion bythe end of 2020. Indian medicaltourism with a two-fold increase inhealth care will reach $10 billion ITmarket is expected by 2020. In the fieldof health care management, there is ahuge boom in generating employmentin the coming years.
In addition to the urgent need oftrained doctors and nursing staff,skillful management is required in dif-ferent areas of the field. With majorinvestments in the healthcare indus-try, the industry functioning hasbecome more professional, organisedand efficient.
As far as employment opportuni-ties are concerned, clinical manage-
ment professionals are required toinclude software and imaging equip-ment in clinics, hospitals, NGO’s, ITfirms such as Dell, Accenture, andmany others. In the case of a fresherwho has no experience in the fieldwould be hired as technicians andsooner with their performance andwork experience they will reachheights.
Lack of talent is still a drawbackfor the industry. The healthcare indus-try is growing at a fast pace, althoughthe talent is still lagging behind. Witha focus on quality, to sustain today'stalent for long-term, there is scope formany young minds. Being able toopen a young industry in the market,the learning curve will definitely be fastand the future experts can be preparedwith the passage of time. The indus-try is trying to find individuals who areeager to learn. This will create an effectby providing promising opportunitiesto move forward in a healthier world.With the advancement in science andtechnology, the use of medical appli-cations is increasing and IT sector. Inthe last decade or so the role of tech-nicians has been changed. Most of themodern hospitals and healthcare ven-tures require experienced techniciansand radio-interventions equipped withmulti-disciplinary skills.
Healthcare industry requires askilled staff for research and profes-sionals involved in the most importantcustomer-focused roles. India has thepotential to attract healthcare indus-try with skilled force.
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The Council of Architecture isconducting National Aptitude
Test in Architecture (NATA) foradmission to first year of five-yearBArch degree course. The test isconducted online twice a year.The first test was held on April 14,2019 and second test will beconducted on July 7, 2019.
The first test was conductedon Sunday, April 14, 2019, at 191centres all over India and one cen-tre in Dubai. 35748 candidateshave applied for the first test and32856 candidates have appearedfor the test.
The council is pleased toannounce the results of the firsttest of NATA 2019 examination.Out of 32856 candidates 27232candidates have passed in theexamination. The candidates maydownload their core cards fromNATA 2019 website www.nata.in.
In case any student(s) couldnot appear in the first test orcould not do well due to any rea-son, he/she may apply for the sec-ond test scheduled to be held onJuly 7, 2019. Last date for regis-tration for the second test is June12, 2019. For further detailsplease visit the websitewww.nata.in.
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The IIHMR University,Jaipur is inviting appli-cations for Master of
Public Health Programme(MPH).
This programme is focusedon public health capacity build-ing in India and surroundinglow-and-middle-income coun-tries, cultivate students’ andhealthcare professionals’ publichealth management skills, sothat they will be prepared toenhance the effectiveness andefficiency of public health pro-grams and services.
The programme will beable to prepare professionals forchallenging careers in the pub-lic health in the public and pri-vate sectors, nongovernmentalorganisations (NGOs), andother national and multina-tional organisations.
Duration: Two yearsHow to apply: Log on to
www.mph.iihmr.edu.in.Last date to apply: May 15,
2019.
��������������Beauness Beauty Academy
invites applications for a 360-degree smart salon groomingcourse named Boot camp tobeauty. This intense beautycourse will include all technicaland grooming session that willtrain the students in every aspectof salon management.
The main objective of theBoot camp to beauty course istoprovide extensive knowledge-base of salon management andhelp the freshers as well as pro-fessional candidates in deliverya 100 per cent satisfactory ser-vice to the end client.
Duration: One and a half totwo months
Eligibility: Both freshersand professionals can apply.
��� ���������The Manav Rachna
International Institute ofResearch and Studies invitesdapplications to admission to itsB.Tech — Electrical & ElectronicEngineering programme.
Duration: Four yearsEligibility: Pass in Class XII
with at least 50 per centmarks inaggregate in five subjects and eli-gibility shall be determined on
the basis of percentage ofaggregate marks in: English,Physics, Mathematics; one sub-ject out of Chemistry, ComputerScience, Biology orBiotechnology; one subject withthe highest score out of theremaining subjects.
How to apply: Log on towww.manavrachna.edu.in.
���������������The Entrepreneurship
Development Institute of India(EDII) invites applications forthe admission to its PostGraduate Diploma inManagement — BusinessEntrepreneurship (PGDM-BE)programme.
Duration: Two yearsEligibility: Graduates with
50 per cent marksHow to apply: Log on to
https://www.ediindia.org/acad-emics/application-form.php anddownload the application form.
Last date to apply: May 15,2019.
�������The JK Lakshmipat
University invites applicationsfor admissions to its Bachelorsof Design programme with spe-cialisations in product design,interaction design and inter-disciplinary design.
In addition to core andspecialisation courses, studentswill get to choose from a vari-ety of electives.
Duration: Four yearsEligibility: Minimum 50
per cent aggregate marks (45per cent for SC/ST candidates),with minimum 50 per centmarks from a recognised cen-tral/state Board/universityexamination in India or in anyforeign country recognised asequivalent to Class XII by theAssociation of IndianUniversities (AIU).
How to apply: Log on tohttps://www.jklu.edu.in/.
India, world’s third-largesteconomy in terms of pur-
chasing power parity is wit-nessing a huge scarcity oftravel professionals due to abig gap between the demandfor qualified personnel andsupply of qualified personnelto cater to the needs of theever-growing tours and trav-el industry.
The industry is registeringan annual growth rate of 7 to9 per cent, and according tothe World Travel and TourismCouncil (WTTC), India ismore likely to contribute �8,50,000 crore to the world’sGDP by 2020 through traveland tourism. The sector is notonly doing well in India, butits global performance is even,more better. In the year 2017,the worldwide industry turnedout to be 10.4 per cent of glob-al GDP with 313 millionemployees, as per the report ofWTTC. These growth trendsclearly depict that tourismindustry is opening new vis-tas for job seekers, equippedwith professional degrees. �Career opportunities: Inthe wake of globalisation, itappears as if people have
understood the fact that lim-ited study and knowledgegained from only a particularuniversity or institution is notgoing to take them to newerheights of success. If theyhave to make success happenand improve their employa-bility in the competitive mar-ket, they must enhancetheir knowledgeand learn newskills, tran-scending thegeographicalboundaries ifr e q u i r e d .Popularisingthe trend ofeducationaltourism, variousschools and universities inIndia have started joininghands with foreign institu-tions. On the other hand, theoutflow of Indian studentstaking courses abroad is alsoincreasing significantly. Asper the recent data, the year2018 saw 81 per cent of thestudents visiting Australia forhigher education enrolled invarious post-graduate cours-es. The reason is hands-onexperiences, cultural enrich-
ment, and attractive jobprospects that contribute tothe personal development ofan individual. The students getrelevant insights into thediverse cultures and gainmeaningful experiences fromvaried industries, eventuallyhelping them to increase thecredibility of their CVs.
Also, travel brands areturning up to tech-nology for producing
authentic and bet-ter booking
experiences. Anurgent need fordigital marketingexperts is realisedby such travelbrands who can
effectively marketthe brands online and winmore customers online. SEOexecutives, content writers,and social media managers aremassively hired to keep pacewith the growing trend of trav-el and technology. �Qualifications and skillsrequired : A programme intourism management helpsgroom one’s overall personal-ity and offers adequate knowl-edge and skills to make one
competent at the workplace.Usually, courses in tourismmanagement offer students aflexible study format whereworking executives can alsoattend lectures on weekends oras per their convenience.Apart from having interactionwith the industry-experiencedfaculty, students are exposedto practical learning througheducational tours, seminarsand workshops.
The Ministry of Tourism,approved the post-gradua-tion degree in tourism whichfurther makes the candidateseligible for a suitable job in theindustry. With a Master ofTourism Administrationdegree (MTA) from IndianInstitution of Tourism andTravel or any other recognisedinstitute, candidates can applyfor the best job positions in theindustry. Also, ticketing skills,communication skills, man-agement of foreign currencies,customer service, geographyknowledge, and expertise indigital marketing directly cor-respond to well-paid jobs intravel and tourism.
���+ ��� �7����� -�������� ��� ���� ����
��������!��Aseminar organised was
jointly by the NationalWaterways DevelopmentTechnology and All PeopleWelfare Trust to create aware-ness about Ganga-Kanyakumari waterways pro-ject, here on May 4, 2019. DrG Viswanathan, VITChancellor said that Statescan take as much water asthey want and provide theremaining water to theirnieghbouring states by inter-linking their rivers.Everybody will accept inter-linking of rivers as it will helpall people and nobody willoppose it. “The MLAs andMPs need to accord highestpriority to interlink rivers andsave water and the newGovernment which willassume charge at the centresoon should accord highestpriority to interlink rivers inthe country so that the coun-try’s people and farmers willbenefit by this,” he said.
Water is important to allcountries, especially to India.India has about 18 per cent ofworld’s population but wehave only 4 per cent of freshwater and 2.4 per cent of landarea, so we need to preserveour water and land else wewill face issues.
Recalling his interactionas Parliamentarian with thenMinister for water resources
KL Rao during 1967, DrViswanathan said that Raofelt that even though all riversin the country could be inter-linked with Ganges, it wouldbe easy to link Godavari toCauvery and South will notface any problem for water.The project can be done at aninexpensive cost and no Statewould oppose it.
“India’s Budget is about�28 lakh crore and if we allo-cate �1 lakh crore to interlinkrivers the scheme can beimplemented in one year.The Centre has spent �5 lakhcrore for Mahatma GandhiNational Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme, if thecentre had spent this amount
for interlinking of rivers, a lotof farmers would benefit,” hesaid.
He said that water shouldbe stored in reservoirs, damsand water bodies when itrains, as people have beenfacing water shortage issue inthe country. “We need to usedrip irrigation for farming aswe can save about 30 to 40per cent of water and it isbeing followed in severalplaces in the world,”Viswanathan said.
Justice T Raja released abook Towards The SecondFreedom written by ProfessorA C Kamaraj and DrViswanathan received thefirst copy of the book.
The School of Electronics & CommunicationEngineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University
(SMVDU), Katra, organised an industrial visit to Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Chandigarh, Department ofSpace, Government of India for its MTech students tofocus on design, development, fabrication, assembly andpackaging, testing and quality assurance of CMOS andMEMS devices for satellite and other various applications.
This industrial visit was coordinated by Dr SachinKumar Gupta, faculty, SoECE and Shaivya Manhas,fac-ulty, SoEM, along with BK Bhatia, T&P officer, SMVDU.The visit started with the brief profile of SCL by SanjayBhatnagar, Engineer SF’— PPMD at Semi-ConductorLaboratory.
He presented a short video clip pertaining to major
contributions, achievements, and campus life of SCL. Later,he discussed the design process for fabrication of ICs, mixedsignal and analog ASIC design, and wide spectrum indus-try standard EDA tools.
The students were taken to various labs which includes8’’ wafer fabrication facility (clean rooms of class 1, 10, 100and 1000 with controlled environmental conditions), assem-bly and packaging (fine pitch bonding capability for padsize of 57μmx57μm and 65μm pitch, low temperatureprocess for packaging large dies, multi-chip packagingprocess for ASICs and sensor devices, MIC packaging), reli-ability & quality assurance (facility for environmental test,facility for failure analysis) and others. The industrial tourwas very informative, enriching, and imparted a great learn-ing experience to the students.
Technology (KIIT) deemed to beUniversity, Bhubaneswar, has been ranked301-350 in The 2019 Times HigherEducation (THE) Asia University Rankings.KIIT is among a handful of Indian uni-versities to enter Asia University Rankings2019 of THE. The ranking results were pub-lished on May 1.
KIIT is the only Deemed to beUniversity from Odisha to make it to thelist, which also has two Government uni-versities from the State. The universities arejudged across all their core missions-teaching, research, knowledge transferand others.
KIIT deemed to be university is theonly self-financing university from easternIndia and Odisha to enter prestigious Asiauniversity rankings. Earlier, it had achievedan impressive position in The TimesHigher Education World UniversityRankings 2019 and World UniversityImpact Rankings 2019.
According to the ranking report, KIIThas been rated high on number of FTE stu-dents (19,633); Number of students per staff(14.0); international students (2 per cent)and female-male ratio (37:63). KIIT is justtwenty-two years old as an institution forprofessional education (1997) and 15 yearsold as a University (2004). But, despitebeing a very young institution, it has got aplace in the coveted Asia UniversityRankings 2019, securing a position of 301-350.
Staff, students and well wishers of bothKIIT & KISS profoundly thanked andexpressed gratitude to Dr Achyuta Samanta,Founder of KIIT & KISS for his vision toget such prestigious rankings among toplevel Universities in the world.
The Faculty ofHumanities and SocialSciences at the University ofStrathclyde, Glasgow is offer-ing Indian students theopportunity of a scholarshipaward up to £4,000 towardsthe cost of their tuition feesfor each year of the under-graduate and postgraduatePsychological Sciences andHealth courses. This is applic-able to the full-time pro-grammes beginning inSeptember 2019.
Eligibility: To be eligible,applicants must: Be a residentin India. Be available to com-mence their academic studiesby the start of the academicyear in September 2019. Beapplying for a full-timeundergraduate or postgradu-ate programme.
The University ofWarwick is offering up tofive School of Life Sciences(SLS) ExcellenceScholarships for Home, EU,and international students.Financial aid positions will beawarded as a 50% reductionof course fees.
Eligibility: Before apply-ing, applicants should have anoffer to study on a School ofLife Sciences full-time MSc
course startingOctober 2019.
Applicants should havean excellent academic trackrecord, typically the equiva-lent of a British first classhonours degree. The pro-gramme Review Panel willassess both academic achieve-ment and the supportingstatement when awarding.
For conditional offerholders, Awards will also beconditional on achieving anylanguage requirements andthe awardee’s final predictedgrade.
The studentships are forself-funded students only.Students with other partialfunding may be considered.Recipients should inform DrCharlotte Moonan([email protected]) if they are inreceipt of another scholarshipor are later awarded otherfunding.
SLS Excellence financialaid positions will be awardedacross all Life Sciences full-time MSc Programmes tomaximise nationality andgender diversity. Scholarshiprecipients will be asked tocarry out some ambassadorialduties for the School
English LanguageRequirements: Applicantsfrom outside the home coun-try will often need to meetspecific English languagerequirements in order to beable to study there.
The US has been a preferred destina-tion for education, work, business andranks high on the personal choice for
migration amongst Indian families. Thoughthere are many visa options available, theEB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program hastaken the centrestage more recently.
The regional centres (RC) are a USCISapproved private or public entity that facil-itates the process for the investor andensures that the capital invested creates jobsand promotes economic growth. The bestway to choose the right centre depends on:
Define Your Goal: The EB5 Investorsmainly focus on three goals: Will I get myGreen Card; Will my investment be safe andhow will I get my money back. Occassionalythere will be an investment that will providea safe and secure way of generating mar-ginally higher returns on that investmentalong with delivering the 3 key goals.
The outcome of all of them depends oyour choice of the regional centre and theproject they are offering. It is highly rec-ommended that an investor must carefullyevaluate the project, closely monitor the EB-5 investments and cautiously select theappropriate regional centre to minimizerisks and losses. One can browse throughthe USCIS website for designated regionalcentres.
Track Record of the Regional Centre:Before investing in a project and joininghands with a regional centre, an investormust conduct proper due diligence. Theinvestor must evaluate all aspects of the RC’shistory. Consider their pedigree, investmentphilosophy, their history of approvals, feed-back of existing clients among other keyaspects of their functioning including keydeliverables for the investor through out theprocess.
Project Due Diligence: The EB5 invest-ments could be across sectors like real estate,hospitality, education, manufacturing, etc.It is essential to know where your money willbe invested by the RC. If a project is not ableto create enough jobs or complete con-struction or remain commercially sustain-able, then one or more of your key goals(Green Card, Safety of Principal, Return ofCapital) may be at risk.
Inspecting a business’ history, under-standing it’s commercial viability, investmenttimeline and cycle, dependency on externalfunds, pedigree of the project developer,stage of construction, collaterals and guar-antees negotiated by the regional center are
some of the key aspects that should be takeninto account.
Meet the Team: Humans do businessbased on trust. When you're making a sig-nificantly large investment decision it'simportant that you build trust, faith and layout the rules of engagement with your part-ner — regional centre.
The team assisting management processof your investment plays a vital role andshould comprise of individuals who spe-cialise in employment-based and EB-5investment immigration work. They shouldbe well-versed with the rules and regulationsof both the US and your home country.
Understand the Exit Strategy: As perUSCIS data, between three-five applicationsare disapproved because of missing docu-ments, issues with the source of funds, infor-mation on the petition, improper fee pay-ments or something that has gone wrongwith the project where you’ve invested.
If USCIS rejects your application, yourmoney will be transferred from the escrowaccount back into your own, however onemust understand the terms and condition-al revolving such a return of capital. If anEB-5 application is approved, your trans-ferred funds will be invested for the devel-opment of your chosen project. However,not all Regional Centres provide a clear pathof return of the capital investment.
Ultimately, choosing the right region-al centre is a step towards the efficaciousimmigration process.
The NEET 2019 analysis and cut-offafter the National Eligibility cumEntrance Test (NEET) concluded
on May 5, 2019. This year, the overallNEET question paper was of moderatedifficulty level. While Physics section wasmoderate, Chemistry was easy andBiology was difficult.
The overall Physics section of thepaper was of moderate difficulty level.Up to 60 per cent questions were easy,30 per cent were of medium difficultylevel and only 10 per cent questions wererelatively tough. This year 60 per cent ofquestions were based on NCERT. While70 per cent of questions were based onnumerical, 30 per cent comprised of the-oretical questions. Also, 45 per cent ofquestions were asked from Class XI syl-labus and 55 per cent questions wereasked from Class XII. As compared tolast year, this year's paper was easy andrequired less calculations. In terms ofsubject-wise distribution, approximate-ly 40 per cent questions were asked fromElectricity and Magnetism, 40 per centfrom Mechanics and the balance 20 percent from Modern Physics.
The Chemistry section of the paperwas easy. Large majority of questionswere asked from NCERT. Almost all thechapters were covered. Mostly theorybased questions were asked and only 20
per cent questions were based onnumerical. While 55 per cent of ques-tions were based on class XI syllabus, 45per cent questions were based on classXII syllabus. Around 20 per cent ques-tions were asked from OrganicChemistry. The questions were quitefundamental and basic and were basedon NCERT. From Physical Chemistry,approximately 42 per cent questionswere asked. These comprise bothnumerical and theoretical questions.The numerical questions were easy innature and involved mostly a two-stepsolution and were direct and formulaebased. It was surprising that no ques-tions were asked from Aldehydes,Ketones and Carboxylic Acid which areconsidered to be important topics. Ascompared to last year, the Chemistrysection was easy and almost all the chap-ters were touched upon.
Biology is the most important sectionof the paper as it carries maximum weigh-tage. The Zoology part of the section wasdifficult. Around 40 questions wereasked. Some of the questions were quitetricky and difficult.
Approximately 60-70 per cent ques-tions were based on NCERT. Many ques-tions were asked outside the realm ofCBSE. Some of the questions also devi-ated from the syllabus. While 60% ques-
tions were asked from class XI, 40 per centwere asked from class XII syllabus. Morequestions were from Human Physiologyand Biotechnology.
From Botany, 50 questions wereasked. Here more than 90 per cent ques-tions were based on NCERT. More ques-tions were asked from Microbes andEcology. Though questions were askeddirectly from NCERT, they were trickyand difficult. More statement basedquestions were asked. As a result, theBotany part was lengthy.
Overall the Biology section coveredalmost all the chapters. However, ascompared to last year, the Biology sectionwas difficult.
EXPECTED CUTOFFTo qualify in NEET 2019, candidates
have to score equal to or more than theprescribed minimum percentile of marksin NEET 2019. This year, we expect astudent from general category to scoreanywhere between 120-130 marks toqualify in NEET 2019. It is to be notedthat NEET 2019 qualifying cut-off isdetermined category-wise, so whenchecking cut-off, candidates should torefer the cut-off percentile in theirrespective categories only. ���+ ��� �*�������9��������� ���� 5�������6
on Tuesday that he will leavethe club at the end of the sea-son.
Godin has been one of thebest central defenders in theworld under Atletico coachDiego Simeone, who attendedan emotional press conferenceat the Wanda Metropolitano,along with several players andpresident Enrique Cerezo.
The 33-year-old would notconfirm his next club but indi-cated regret at not being able toagree a new contract.
"I'm nervous, even more
than for a match," said a tear-ful Godin. "These will be myfinal days at Atletico Madrid. Iwant to communicate all thelove I have for this club, thisshirt.
"I am Atletico, because thisis not a club, it's a family and away of life. It has been myhome and it's very hard to saygoodbye. I never imagined thismoment would come and I amnot prepared."
Godin has made 381appearances for Atletico andremains a key figure in theteam, but the Uruguayan hasrejected offers to extend hiscontract, which expires onJune 30.
He is unlikely to be the lasthigh-profile player to leaveAtletico this summer.
After a disappointing sea-son, Lucas Hernandezhas already agreed tojoin Bayern Munich,while uncertaintyhangs over the futuresof Filipe Luis,Juanfran, ThomasPartey, Saul Niguezand even AntoineGriezmann.
"In short, I am captain ofthe team and have been heremany years," said Godin. "Wehave not reached an agreementto continue so my time here isover. It has been the best of my
career and my life."Godin added: "I would like
to play here until I'm 40 but it'simpossible. For me the priori-
ty has always been theclub, the team, myteammates.
"But we could notreach an agreement soI have decided to leave.There's nothing moreto it than that."
Since joiningAtletico from Villarreal in
2010, Godin has won La Liga,the Copa del Rey and theEuropa League twice. He alsoreached the Champions Leaguefinal in 2014 and 2016. Atleticolost both to Real Madrid.
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Manchester City managerPep Guardiola led thetributes to Vincent
Kompany after the Belgian's thun-derous strike earned a nervy 1-0win over Leicester City onMonday to move the Englishchampions to within one win ofretaining the Premier League.
City moved back onepoint clear of Liverpooldespite not being at theirfluent best as centre-backKompany unleashed a long-range shot into the top cor-ner 20 minutes from time.
Guardiola's men willbecome the first side in adecade to retain the title atBrighton on Sunday aslong as they match or bet-ter the Reds' result at home toWolves.
Kompany, who has enduredterrible luck with injuries overrecent years, was in tears as he led
a lap of honour with his childrento mark City's final home game ofthe season and may have playedfor the last time at the Etihad withhis contract expiring at the end ofthe campaign.
"There are players that help usto be where we are right now," saidGuardiola. "Vincent is one ofthem.
"When is fit he is anincredible central defender.
He is beloved, he is a leader.I'm happy for him, for theclub, for everybody."
After edging pastNewcastle 3-2 onSaturday night,Liverpool, who have notwon the league since1990, were left prayingthat former managerBrendan Rodgers could
do them a favour at theEtihad.
Leicester's marked improve-ment since Rodgers took chargein February was on show in an
impressive display from the visi-tors as City were made to sweatbut just got over the line for a vitalthree points.
And Guardiola admitted hehad urged Kompany not to shootas he lined up his first goal fromoutside the box since he wasplaying for Hamburg in 2007.
"It's not about the amount ofgoals you score it's about whenyou score them. Today it was nec-essary," said Kompany.
C7� ���� �������;"Every step in the last four
months was significant. Liverpoolkeep making the steps and nowwe have a f inal to play inBrighton, Nothing is won yet."
City have now won 13 consec-utive league games to overhaul aseven-point deficit at the top ofthe table in January and Guardiolaclaimed it is his side that have hadto play under pressure despiteLiverpool's 29-year wait to win thetitle.
"It was outstanding the waywe played in the second-half.The character, the personality,knowing how difficult it is," addedGuardiola.
"Right now Liverpool playwithout pressure. We have thepressure, we know we can lose itbecause it is in our hands."
Sergio Aguero came closest toopening the scoring before thebreak with a header that clippedthe inside of the post and waspalmed clear by KasperSchmeichel.
Yet, it was not until after thebreak that City upped the tempoto lay siege on the Leicester goal.
City thought their momenthad come when the ball fell kind-ly for Aguero inside the area, onlyfor Schmeichel to make a mirac-ulous stop.
Guardiola's men have nowscored 157 goals this season butthere will not be a more spectac-ular or unexpected one than thatwhich may deliver the title.
Kompany looked short ofoptions as he strode forwardbefore unleashing a rocket of ashot that arrowed into the top cor-ner.
"At the end of the season weare going to talk to him," saidGuardiola on whether Kompanywill be handed a new deal.
"He is an incredible humanbeing. He helped me a lot sinceI've been here. Always we cancount on him for his personality."
Leicester still had a hugechance to answer Liverpool'sprayers three minutes from time.
But against his former clubKelechi Iheanacho shot wide withjust Ederson to beat and a titan-ic tussle for the title remains inCity's hands heading into thefinal day.
"He should score, I've saidthat to him afterwards," saidRodgers.
"We didn't have manychances, but the one that camehe's got to score that."
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Tiger Woods, fresh off his epiccomeback victory in the Masters,
was awarded the Presidential Medal ofFreedom by President Donald Trumpat the White House on Monday.
Presenting the golfing great withthe nation's highest honor, Trumppraised Woods' "relentless will to win,win, win."
"These qualities embody theAmerican spirit of pushing boundaries,defying limits and always striving forgreatness," the president said.
Trump congratulated Woods on"your amazing comeback and youramazing life and for giving sports fansa lifetime of memories.
"We can't wait to see what's next,Tiger," said Trump, an avid golfer andowner of several golf courses aroundthe world.
Woods, 43, choked up as hethanked his mother, his two children,his girlfriend and his caddy during theceremony in the White House RoseGarden.
"You have seen the good and thebad, the highs and the lows," saidWoods, who battled back from injuryto win the Masters last month, his first
major title since the 2008 US Open."I have tried to hang in there and
I have tried to come back and play thegreat game of golf again," Woodssaid. "I have been lucky enough to havehad the opportunity to do it again."
He said his Masters victory was"probably the highlight of what I have
accomplished so far in my life on thegolf course.
"To have had that type of experi-ence and to be able to come out on topand win," he said.
Woods' Masters was his 15thmajor title, leaving him just three shortof the record held by Nicklaus.
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Novak Djokovic needed just65 minutes to make a
winning start at the MadridOpen on Tuesday, hammeringTaylor Fritz 6-4, 6-2 to reachthe third round.
The top seed and worldnumber one broke three timesas he schooled the American.
Djokovic won the Madridtitle in 2011 and 2016. He willbe chasing a fourth straightGrand Slam trophy at RolandGarros next month.
Third seed Roger Federerwas making his clay returnafter two full seasons off thesurface when he facedFrenchman Richard Gasquetlater in the second round aftera bye.
Unseeded treble GrandSlam champion StanWawrinka started his Madridcampaign with a 6-2, 6-3 winover Pierre-Hugues Herbert tomove into the second round.
"It was a great first match.I've been good on the practicecourt, feeling really good, so itwas important to start welltoday," Wawrinka said.
Wawrinka will next playArgentine Guido Pella, who
put out Barcelona finalistDaniil Medvedev 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.
In the women's WTAdraw, third seed and two-timechampion Simona Halep ofRomania ended the hopes ofJohanna Konta 7-5, 6-1 in thesecond round.
The Briton had made adash to Madrid on Sundayevening after playing the Rabatclay final. Konta won heropening match against AlisonRiske but could not matchHalep, the defending FrenchOpen champion.
"I feel good every timewhen I come to Madrid andI'm happy to be back andwinning matches," Halep said.
"It was a good match. Bothof us played very well and, inthe end, I was a bit strongermentally and I found arhythm."
Fourth seed AngeliqueKerber withdrew before hersecond-round match.
The defendingWimbledon champion is suf-fering from a right ankleinjury.
Kerber was to have playedin the evening session againstCroatian Petra Martic.
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India's growing strength in juniorgolf has been amplified with the
qualification of as many as 32players in various age-group com-petitions under the global bannerof the US Kids Golf. The 32 kids arefrom as many as 13 age groups —eight among boys and five amonggirls. The 32 comprise 20 boys and12 girls, who are now eligible withPriority Status for US Kids globalevents in Europe and some ofthem will also be eligible for WorldChampionships, depending ontheir status.
Of the five categories ofPriority Status, Burgundy statusholders will be eligible for US KidsWorld Championships and 13 ofthe 32 Indian players have earnedthe Burgundy status on the basis oftheir scoring. Of the remaining, 14have Orange Status and five haveBlue Status.
The opportunity to play oninternational courses also readiesthe youngsters to play on
Championship courses where theworld's best compete annually.This year the European segment ofUS Kids will see the players prac-tice and play at courses like theRenaissance, Gullane, Craigelaw,Archerfield Links and others.
Each age-group's competitionis held at a different venue and allthe events are scheduled for the lastweek of May.
Gullane is where the presti-gious Scottish Open was held lastyear with India's ShubhankarSharma playing it for the firsttime, while this year's ScottishOpen is scheduled to be held at theRenaissance, so the UK Kids Golfevents will give the teen and pre-teens a chance to see and playcourse they will hope to play on asadults later on.
A lot of the youngsters whohave achieved Priority Status thisseason will be playing in Europe forthe first time, adding to their expe-rience of playing in quality cours-es in India and Asia and nowEurope.
Mauricio Pochettino has chal-lenged Tottenham to seize
their unexpected chance to makehistory as they try to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Ajax in theChampions League semi-final sec-ond leg on Wednesday.
Pochettino is convincedTottenham can still reach the club'smaiden Champions League finaldespite losing the first leg in northLondon last week.
Many pundits and fans claimTottenham have blown theiropportunity after Donny van deBeek's strike gave Ajax a pricelesslead to defend in Amsterdam.
Tottenham go into their biggestgame for decades on a low noteafter losing 1-0 at Bournemouth onSaturday, a defeat that stoppedthem wrapping up a place innext season's ChampionsLeague via a top-four finishin the Premier League.
It was a third successiveloss in all competitions forTottenham, who fin-ished with nine menafter red cards for SonHeung-min and JuanFoyth.
Fortunately for Tottenham,they are still all but certain to fin-ish at least fourth after Arsenal andManchester United were both heldto draws on Sunday.
Tottenham are three pointsclear of fifth-placed Arsenal head-ing into their last league game ofthe season against Everton onSunday and a draw will be enoughto ensure their return to Europe'selite club competition.
But before that Tottenham,trying to reach their first Europeanfinal since the 1984 UEFA Cup,have to focus on the challenge pre-sented by Ajax's vibrant young side.
Having already eliminated RealMadrid and Juventus this season,Ajax showed their vast potential
against Tottenham in the first legand should have been furtherahead after Van de Beek's opener.
Tottenham improved slightlyin the second half, but largelylooked toothless without the sus-pended Son and injured top scor-er Harry Kane.
Crucially, Pochettino will haveSon back from his ban for the sec-ond leg and the South Korea for-ward should give his team a farmore dynamic look.
C�������7�;Pochettino remained upbeat
despite the frustration of losing toNathan Ake's last-minute goal at
Bournemouth, and theTottenham manager hopes hisconfident attitude transfersto his players against Ajax.
"We have ahead two 'finals'against Ajax and Everton and
it's in our hands to bein a good position atthe end of the season,"
Pochettino said.Although Tottenham
will know they have missed agolden opportunity to reach thefinal if they don't succeed in thesecond leg, Pochettino is adamanthis players have done more thanenough already to make him proudof their efforts this term.
"No-one believed we'd be inthis position in the last week of thecompetition," Pochettino said.
"We are in a position where itdepends on us to be in the(Champions League) final or notand then it depends on us to fin-ish in the top four.
"It's a massive week and that'swhy we need to move on, try torecover as soon as possible and beready again but whatever happensI am going to feel proud."
South Africa suffered a blow ahead of the WorldCup with fast bowler Anrich Nortje being ruled
out of the tournament due to a fractured thumb.Chris Morris has been called up as his replace-
ment for the mega-event, commencing on May 30.Nortje overcame ankle and shoulder injuries
over the course of the summer before he could makehis international debut in March this year. On thebasis of his performances, the 25-year-old was select-ed in South Africa's World Cup squad.
Unfortunately, Nortje fractured his right thumbwhile practising in the nets, and it has now been con-firmed that he would need six to eight weeks restto recover fully.
The 32-year-old all-rounder Morris, who has notplayed an ODI in more than a year, has replacedNortje in the 15-member squad.
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Considering that David Warner canbe much more destructive than any
other batsman during the field restric-tions, he must open for Australia along-side Aaron Finch at the World Cup, sug-gests former selector Mark Waugh.
Usman Khawaja has scored moreODI runs (769) for Australia this yearthan anyone else and formed a formi-dable opening combination with alongFinch during Australia's two mostrecent ODI series against India andPakistan but Waugh thinks Warner isstill the best option.
"I would definitely have him(Warner) opening. He is the number
one opener in my opinion, so he has gotto open with Finch," Waugh told the BigSports Breakfast radio program.
"He is the most dangerous when thefield is up and the field restrictions arein place and he can get the team off to
a flyer."The left-handed Warner has been
in excellent touch as he scored lot of runsat the top of the order in the IPL. In fact,all his 104 ODI innings for Australia hascome as an opener.
Waugh feels Khawaja and ShaunMarsh are the best options to bat atnumber three, while the remainder ofAustralia's batting order looks prettyclear cut.
"I think either Khawaja or ShaunMarsh bat at three and they should befighting for that spot," he said.
"The rest probably picks itself...With(Steve) Smith at four, (Glenn) Maxwell(at) five, (Marcus) Stoinis (at) six and(Alex) Carey (at) seven."
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Explosive opener ChrisGayle has been named
vice-captain of the West Indiesteam for the World Cup.
Gayle, who is set to retirefrom ODIs after his fifthWorld Cup appearance, is intop form going into the tour-nament, having scored close to500 runs in the IPL. He wasalso in devastating form in thehome series against England,hitting two hundreds and asmany half-centuries in thefive-match series.
"It is always an honour torepresent the West Indies inany format and this WorldCup for me is special," Gaylesaid after being named JasonHolder's deputy on Monday.
Gayle is a former WestIndies captain who last led theregional side in June 2010.
"As a senior player, it is myresponsibility to support thecaptain and everyone else inthe team. This will probably be
the biggest World Cup, sothere will be great expectationsand I know we will do verywell for the people of theWest Indies," said the 39-year-old, who has amassed 10151runs in 289 ODIs at 38.16.
It was also announcedthat Shai Hope will be the vice-captain in the on-going tri-series in Ireland involving thehosts and Bangladesh.
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England head coach Trevor Baylisssays Alex Hales still has an interna-
tional future despite being axed fromthe World Cup squad after he report-edly failed a second positive test forrecreational drug use.
The Nottinghamshire player wasnamed in England's preliminary 15-man squad for the tournament only tobe withdrawn last week.
Bayliss said the door is open for thehard-hitting 30-year-old batsman, whohas played 70 one-day internationalsand 60 Twenty20 internationals.
"Alex still has an internationalfuture," Bayliss told Sky Sports. "I havespoken to him and given him that mes-sage.
"It's certainly not the end of him.He's a very important player and thereis no reason why he can't come back."
He added: "I think we've come tothe right decision. Being respected offthe field as well as on it is very impor-tant."
The English head coach also saidthat the selectors would have to makea "very difficult decision" following theimpressive form of newcomer JofraArcher, who made his debut againstIreland last week.
Speaking about the Barbados-bornall-rounder, Bayliss said: "He's fitted intothe group extremely well. I thought hebowled some good spells in Irelandwithout too much luck and I thought hebowled pretty well in the T20 match acouple of days ago.
"It's all looking good. It's going tobe a very difficult decision for the selec-tors, whichever way we go."
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The road to the final hasbecome difficult but Delhi
Capitals have the means to drivetheir way through the obstacles,starting with the eliminatoragainst Sunrisers Hyderabad hereon Wednesday.
Re-branded before the start ofthe 12th season, Delhi Capitalshave been one of the top sides inthis edition, playing cricket neverseen before from them.
It is a bit harsh on DelhiCapitals that they are playing thedo-or-die game despite securing18 points after nine wins and fivelosses from 14 matches.
Despite winning three match-es more than Hyderabad, severe-ly weakened by the departure ofDavid Warner and Jonny Bairstowfor their World Cup nationalcamps, DC find themselves in thesame boat as SRH and a defeat willknock them out of the league.
Delhi Capitals have neverreached the IPL final, never madethe top-two, and ventured into thetop-four for the first time since2012.
Considering the results andconsistency, it seemed DC's searchfor that elusive winning combina-tion has finally ended, whichbrought the smiles back on thefaces of fans after years of disap-pointment.
Picked in the trading window,India opener Shikhar Dhawanlived up to the expectations of theteam management and franchise,scoring over 450 runs.
Along with the young PrithviShaw, the experienced Dhawanformed a fine opening combina-tion, and scored briskly in the
powerplay overs.Skipper Shreyas Iyer (over
400 runs) showed immense matu-rity while leading the side and alsoplayed some substantial knocks.
Ignored from the World Cupsquad, Rishabh Pant has provedhis worth in the side with hishandy cameos at crucial junc-tures.
They will miss the services ofpace spearhead Kagiso Rabadabut DC have enough firepower inbowling to surprise SRH, whobecame the first team in IPL his-tory to qualify for the playoffswith 12 points.
While the duo of Warner andBairstow played a pivotal role inSRH's performances and domi-nated the powerplay better thanother teams, the likes of ManishPandey stepped in after they leftto be with their respective nation-al teams.
In bowling, Rashid Khan,Bhuvneswar Kumar and KhaleelAhmed have done just enough tohelp Sunrisers Hyderabad keepthings.
In Kane Williamson, SRHhave a dependable captain and hewill expect a little more from hisNew Zealand team-mate MartinGuptill.
It will be another opportuni-ty for Vijay Shankar to make amark before flying to the UnitedKingdom for the World Cup.
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Injury and poor form made ita forgettable IPL season for
Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb urRahman but the time awayfrom the field was well spent ashe picked on Kings XI Punjabskipper Ravichandran Ashwin'sbrain ahead of the World Cupin England.
A shoulder injury meantthat the 18-year-old wasn't athis best during the cash-richleague, getting only three wick-ets in five games with anexpensive economy rate of10.05 runs per over.
"I have learnt a lot havingspend quality time withRavichandran Ashwin in theKXIP set-up. He has given mea lot of useful tips and I am surethat I will execute those plansin the World Cup. During thisedition of IPL, my shoulderinjury was an issue. But now Iam fully fit for the WorldCup," Mujeeb told reporters ata promotional event toannounce Amul's association
with Afghanistan nationalteam.
While he hasn't playedmany matches this year, thebest part about IPL accordingto Mujeeb is the opportunity tobowl at some of the prospectiveWorld Cup opponents.
"The IPL schedule is sohectic and you are travelling alot. It's not that you get a lot ofchance to talk about the game.But since you get a chance tobowl in matches where thereare batsmen who will be therein the World Cup, it helps a lot,"said the Afghan teenager.
Asked if he faced the sec-ond season blues, somethingwhich was evident when hewent for 66 runs in his fourovers against SunrisersHyderabad, Mujeeb said it waspart and parcel of cricket.
"You will have a few baddays and it's just that you haveto be consistent with your lineand length," Mujeeb said.
The youngster is hopefulthat along with senior spinnersRashid Khan and Mohammed
Nabi, it will be a better WorldCup for Afghanistan comparedto the 2015 edition when theywere making debut.
"Our aim is to at leastqualify for the semi-finals. Allthree of us have differentstrengths and the main thingthat we discuss on-field is tostick to our respective plans.The basic plan is to consistent-ly bowl good areas and hope-fully we will be able to do that,"he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistanchief selector Dawlat KhanAhmadzai justified the unex-pected sacking of ODI skipperAsghar Afghan ahead of theWorld Cup, saying the decisionwas taken looking at the long-term future of the team.
"We realised that we can'twin the World Cup at thismoment under Asghar's cap-taincy or anyone else whowould have been in charge. Wemade the decision not justthinking about this World Cup,we are thinking about the 2023edition.
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed tolaunch a brutal assault on a slug-gish pitch but did enough in
company of Ambati Rayudu to propelChennai Super Kings to 131 for 4 againstMumbai Indians in the first IPL Qualifieron Tuesday.
The CSK total was built largely on afifth wicket stand of 66 off 48 ballsbetween Dhoni (37 no off 29 balls) andRayudu (42 no off 37 balls) when otherbatsmen found going tough.
Dhoni smashed Lasith Malinga fortwo huge sixes in the penultimate overto provide impetus to the CSK innings,which was stymied by the MI bowlers,especially the spinners.
MI leg-spinner Rahul Chahar con-tinued his impressive season, with asuperb spell of 2 for 14 in his quota of 4overs. He kept the batsmen on a leashwith turn and bounce.
CSK didn't get off to a good start, los-ing three wickets in the Powerplay, as MIskipper Rohit Sharma used five differentbowlers in the first five overs.
The visiting team kept things undercontrol in the Powerplay, restrictingCSK to 32 runs while picking up threewickets.
At the halfway stage, CSK barelymanaged to reach 50, which was a signof their struggles.
Faf du Plessis (6) got one from Rahulthat bounced a bit more as his cut wentstraight to substitute fielder AnmolpreetSingh at backward point.
Suresh Raina's (5) attempt to slogJayant Yadav resulted in a skier which thebowler took with ease.
Shane Watson, who struggled forform, played a trademark pull off JaspritBumrah, but fell going for a big hit offKrunal Pandya, taken brilliantly byJayant Yadav running backwards from hismid-on position.
Murali Vijay attempted to consolidatein Watson's company and succeeded toan extent, before being stumped byQuinton de Kock off Rahul Chahar for26 (26 balls, 3X4).
Dhoni hit the first six of the matchin the 14th over, lofting Jayant (1/25 in3 overs) over long-on. Rayudu on theother hand hit three fours and a six andconcentrating taking the singles and dou-bles with boundaries hard to come by.
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