CAPSULE HOTELIER HELD FOR NDMC OFFICIAL’S MURDER New Delhi: The owner of a four- star hotel in the city and five others were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old estate officer of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), a day before he was scheduled to pass the final order on the hotel’s lease terms. WOMAN DIVORCED VIA SPEED POST, MOVES SC Jaipur: Afreen Rehman, 25, from Jaipur has moved the Supreme Court against the talaq sent via speed post. She got married in 2014 after finding a match through a matrimonial portal. “After two-three months my in-laws started mentally harassing me, demanding dowry,” she said. CONGRESSMEN REVOLT AGAINST VADRA KIN Pune: The internal discontent among Pune Congress workers came out in open during an event organised by Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla at Congress Bhavan on Tuesday where party MP Shashi Tharoor and Shehzad’s younger brother, Tehseen, were the main speakers. “You people cannot become our leaders only because you are someone’s relatives,” asked Congress workers. Tehseen recently married Robert Vadra’s cousin Monica. PNS n NEW DELHI E xtreme weather conditions in north and south India saw people dying both due to the heat and due to heavy rains on Wednesday and things are expected to get worse on both ends in the next few days. The maximum tempera- ture in India touched 50.5 degrees Celsius in Palodhi (Rajasthan) and 50 degrees Celsius in Ahmedabad fol- lowed by 49.1 at Churu, 48.8 at Jaisalmer and 48.6 degrees at Barmer. Delhi and several parts of north, north-west and cen- tral India were also reeling in the blistering heat, prompting the weather department to issue a “severe heatwave” warn- ing for the next five days. “Heatwave conditions con- tinued to prevail at most places with severe heatwave at a few places over East and West Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Vidarbha, Haryana and Delhi, East Uttar Pradesh and central Maharashtra,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. According to the IMD, the heat will remain bad till May 21 and its intensity is likely to reduce thereafter and gradual- ly abate anywhere between May 27 and 31. The Met department has predicted that the onset of monsoon will get delayed by six days. “Maximum day and mini- mum night temperatures are likely to remain markedly above normal over the entire North-West, West and Central India from May 17 to 27. They are likely to fall to their respec- tive normal or below normal values between May 27 and June 1,” the IMD said. According to private weather watch group Skymet, Gujarat and Rajasthan will wit- ness scorching weather with day temperatures reaching the higher side of 40s in places like Jaisalmer, Phalodi and Barmer. Clear skies, hot and dry winds coming from the North and North-West direction will sus- tain such high temperatures. In Gujarat, four people lost their lives due to the severe heatwave as mercury levels across many parts of the State rose to near about 47 degrees Celsius. The State has wit- nessed over 11,400 heatstroke cases due to the severe heat that gripped the State from May 1 to May 16 this year. “We do not see any respite in temperature across the State of Gujarat,” Jayant Sarkar, Met Department, Ahmedabad division, said. While northern India burns, heavy rain has lashed south India and the Government has issued a cyclone alert in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Several parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry continued to receive rainfall for the third day due to a depression but it is likely rainfall will decrease in the coming days as the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has moved toward Andhra where a cyclonic storm is expected to intensify from Thursday onwards. The IMD has advised fishermen against venturing along and off north Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh. Weather conditions are going to be better in the com- ing days in eastern India with predictions of a thunderstorm accompanied by a squall at iso- lated places over Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha. Continued on Page 7 New Delhi: Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said chanting of “Om” during yoga sessions on the International Yoga Day on June 21 is not mandatory. “Do not make yoga controversial. ‘Om’ is not mandatory. Yoga is a great ancient Indian art which will discipline both the body and the mind,” said Naidu in a tweet. Naidu’s comments come after reports about a Central Government circular that pro- posed chanting of ‘Om’ and recitation of Vedic mantras before the 45-minute yoga ses- sion on June 21. Continued on Page 7 PNS n MUMBAI B ollywood actor Rishi Kapoor on Wednesday tar- geted the Congress over the practice of naming all the major assets of the country after the Gandhi family during its rule, triggering an outcry from the party. The 63-year-old actor, who in the recent past, had been critical of the Saffron forces on issues like intolerance, minced no words as he attacked the Congress for naming roads after their leaders’ names. In a series of tweets, he sug- gested the names of the promi- nent places should be changed after those who worked for the welfare of the country. “Change Gandhi family assets named by Congress.” “If roads in Delhi can be changed why not Congress assets/property ke naam? Was in Chandigarh wahan bhi Rajeev Gandhi assets? Socho? Why? (sic),” the actor tweeted. The “Kapoor & Sons” star said people from the film industry should also have buildings named after them. “We must name important assets of the country who have contributed to society. Har cheez Gandhi ke naam? I don’t agree. Sochna log! “Film City should be named Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand,Ashok Kumar ya Amitabh Bachchan ke naam? Rajeev Gandhi udyog kya hota hai? Socho doston!,” he said. Kapoor said even Delhi’s international airport should be named after personalities like Bhagat Singh or Bhimrao Ambedkar. “Why Indira G airport International? Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar or on my name Rishi Kapoor. As super- ficial! What say?,” he tweeted. The actor said his father legendary actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor has done more good to the country than any politician. “Raj Kapoor has made India proud over the years all over even after his death. Certainly more than what has been perceived by politics (sic),” he wrote. Agreeing with his views was actor Anupam Kher. “Rishi Kapoorji has thought about it and I am sure a lot of people think about a lot of things that they put on social networking sites. It’s genuine thought. It is not necessarily against the par- ticular family...,” Kher said, adding that the achievements of other people should also be lauded. “Salutes to @chintskap for speaking the truth. The #Nehruisation of this country has to go. There is no different. between them & the Britishers,” said filmmaker and censor board member Ashoke Pandit. However, it did not go down well with the Congress activists. They protested out- side Kapoor’s home in Mumbai’s Pali Hill after a series of tweets in which the 63-year- old even commented, “‘Baap ka maal samajh rakha tha?” The tweets began in refer- ence to Union Minister VK Singh’s letter proposing that Akbar Road, a prominent tree- shaded avenue in the heart of Delhi, be renamed after Maharana Pratap, the king who fought against Mughal Emperor Akbar. PNS n CHENNAI T he 2011 “suicide” of Sadiq Batcha, a close associate of DMK leader A Raja and an accused in the 2G Spectrum scam, took a curious turn after five years with 24-year-old K Prabhakaran claiming that he helped then State police intel- ligence chief Jaffer Sait — who was close to the Karunanidhi family — and Raja’s close rel- ative Paramesh to kill Batcha. “Sadiq Batcha was killed at the office of Green House Promoters in T Nagar in Chennai on March 16, 2011. Jaffar Sait, the then head of Tamil Nadu Intelligence department, strangled him with a towel while Pramesh Kumar, a close relation of Raja, pressed Batcha’s neck with his knee and I held his legs. Later, Pramesh Kumar and his friends took Batcha’s body to his house and hung it to make it look like a suicide,” Prabhakaran told reporters at Tiruchirappalli Press Club on Tuesday. Prabhakaran said he got in touch with Raja to make some quick money. The disclosure/claim by Prabhakaran vindicates Continued on Page 7 PNS n GANDHINAGAR T he Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Gujarat on Wednesday arrested one of the key conspirators of the infa- mous Godhra train burning incident of February 27, 2002 which claimed the lives of 59 kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya. The accused, 55-year-old Farooq Mohammad Bhana, who allegedly carried kerosene to torch the S-6 bogie of the Sabarmati Express train just as it chugged out of Godhra Railway Station, was picked up in the morning from a toll booth in Kalol, around 25 km from Godhra city in central Gujarat. Bhana also faces the charge of provoking a mob of people to attack and burn the train. He, along with Bilal Haji, allegedly instructed the other accused to burn the train coach as per the instructions received from late Maulana Umarji, who was arrested as a master- mind but later released. Continued on Page 7 Palodhi in Rajasthan records 50.5 degrees Celsius; south India reels under heavy rain Delhi’s trial by fire to end with rain soon STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI D elhiites faced another hot day of the season as the Capital sizzled at 43.7 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. However, people can expect some relief as weathermen predicted showers with thun- derstorm in next two days thus reducing the temperature by four degrees Celsius. Though the India Metrological Department (IMD) said that overall maxi- mum temperature in Delhi settled at 44 degrees Celsius, other weather monitoring agencies, like Skymet, showed maximum temperature hover- ing around 46 degrees Celsius. In a weekly weather report, Met department officials confirmed that maximum temperature will oscillate around 43-44 degrees Celsius. However min- imum temperature will remain at 27 degrees Celsius. While the maximum tem- perature settled at 43.7 degree Celsius at Safdarjung observa- tory, the minimum temperature settled at 26.4 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season’s average, as per the IMD data. According to a MeT depart- ment official, relative humidi- ty was recorded at 15 per cent. RK Vishan, Scientist and Group Captain, Delhi wing of IMD, said that there is the pos- sibility of thunderstorm with rain from Friday onwards. “The maximum temperature will be reduced by four to six degrees Celsius in coming week,” said Vishan. Illustrating about weather conditions in May, Vishan said in May, the maximum temperature normally remains at 39.6 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature at 25.9 degrees Celsius. “In 1994, mer- cury crossed 45 degrees Celsius. On May 27 that year, the highest maximum tem- perature was recorded which was 47 degrees Celsius,” said the scientist. Sadiq Batcha’s death haunts Raja again Remove Gandhis’ names from national assets: Rishi ‘Om’ not a must during yoga day, Venkaiah Naidu dispels doubts Killer comes forward to reveal role in murder INDIA BOILS AS MERCURY SOARS TO 50 O C Godhra train butcher nabbed after 14 years A mirage appears on the Rajpath in New Delhi on Wednesday PTI D-day for Bengal, Assam, TN, Kerala New Delhi: Counting of votes for the high stakes Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will be held on Thursday morning with trends expected to be available by 11 am. By noon, a final picture could emerge. Counting of votes will commence at 8 am, and be over by 3 pm. According to various exit polls shown on TV channels on May 16, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have voted for change giving BJP its first Government in the North- eastern State dislodging Congress which also lost Kerala while DMK may regain power in Tamil Nadu. Only West Bengal seems to have bucked the trend by re- electing TMC. The Congress could take solace from its pro- jected victory in the tiny Union Territory of Puducherry, where it is likely to get power in alliance with the DMK. Agencies Total seats: 126 Stakeholders: BJP; Cong Total seats: 294 Stakeholders: TMC; Left+ Cong Total seats: 234 Stakeholders: AIADMK; DMK+Cong Total seats: 140 Stakeholders: UDF; LDF A funny cartoon being circulated on social media Kerala Tamil Nadu MARKETS SENSEX 25,704.61 8 69.00 NIFTY 7,870.15 8 20.60 WEATHER MAX 43.9 0 C (+4) MIN 25.7 0 C (+1) Partly cloudy sky. @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer Follow us on: } { OPINION 08 ‘RUDE CHINA' IS DRIVEN BY SENSE OF POWER WORLD 13 CHINA, INDIA FACE HUGE MENTAL HEALTH BURDEN SPORT 15 KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS PLAY GUJARAT IN IPL TODAY RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18 Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN Late City Vol. 152 Issue 136 *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable Established 1864 LUCKNOW, THURSDAY MAY 19, 2016; PAGES 16 `3 www.dailypioneer.com DIDN’T THINK I’D MARRY AY 40: DIAZ 16 VIVACITY Why Indira G airport International? Why not Mahatma Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar —TWEETS RISHI KAPOOR MoU signed for Agra theme park PNS n LUCKNOW C hief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that the theme park coming up in Agra would be an amalgamation of his- tory and culture of India and would give a new dimension to the historic Taj city. He was speaking at a function after signing of MoU to set up a theme park at Agra. The agreement was signed between Kingdom Company and the state government. The Kingdom Company is owned by cine star Sanjay Khan who signed on behalf of his com- pany while UPSIDC MD Manoj Singh signed on behalf of the UP government. “This will be one of its kind parks which will showcase India’s cultural and historical heritage. People will get to know about India in general and UP in particular. This is a unique project that will generate direct or indirect employment.” Yadav said during his address. Yadav said that this would be a joint venture with Kingdom Company. “The theme park will be an added attraction for tourists who will visit Agra in near future. Thus, there would be increase in economic activity around that region,” he said. Sanjay Khan said the ` 10,000-crore project would be unique and would give a glimpse of ancient India starting from Mohanjodaro. There will be a depiction of Ramayana and Mahabharata era too. “Mono rail will operate inside the park to take tourists to different sites. This project will give new meaning to Agra and Uttar Pradesh,” he said. Principal Secretary, Information and Tourism, Navneet Sehgal said that the theme park would promote tourism of the area. “Earlier tourists used to visit Agra and the same day went to Jaipur or other city. Now, they will be forced to stay back in Agra. This indirectly will generate employment,” he said. This project, which will have four phases, will take 10 years to complete. The first phase will complete in three years. Private partners will be invited to invest in this scheme. UP The gov- ernment will provide 1,000 acres of land on Agra ring road. The environment ministry has given NOC for the pro- ject.“This will be a totally eco-friend- ly scheme,” MD, UPSIDC, Manoj Singh said. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after signing an MoU with Bollywood of actor Sanjay Khan at 5 Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow on Wednesday for a theme park in Agra PTI
Transcript
CAPSULE
HOTELIER HELD FOR NDMCOFFICIAL’S MURDERNew Delhi: The owner of a four-star hotel in the city and fiveothers were arrested onWednesday in connection withthe murder of a 57-year-oldestate officer of the New DelhiMunicipal Council (NDMC), aday before he was scheduled topass the final order on thehotel’s lease terms.
WOMAN DIVORCED VIASPEED POST, MOVES SCJaipur: Afreen Rehman, 25,from Jaipur has moved theSupreme Court against the talaqsent via speed post. She gotmarried in 2014 after finding amatch through a matrimonialportal. “After two-three monthsmy in-laws started mentallyharassing me, demandingdowry,” she said.
CONGRESSMEN REVOLTAGAINST VADRA KIN Pune: The internal discontentamong Pune Congress workerscame out in open during anevent organised by MaharashtraCongress secretary ShehzadPoonawalla at Congress Bhavanon Tuesday where party MPShashi Tharoor and Shehzad’syounger brother, Tehseen, werethe main speakers. “You peoplecannot become our leaders onlybecause you are someone’srelatives,” asked Congressworkers. Tehseen recentlymarried Robert Vadra’s cousinMonica.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Extreme weather conditionsin north and south India
saw people dying both due tothe heat and due to heavyrains on Wednesday and thingsare expected to get worse onboth ends in the next few days.
The maximum tempera-ture in India touched 50.5degrees Celsius in Palodhi(Rajasthan) and 50 degreesCelsius in Ahmedabad fol-lowed by 49.1 at Churu, 48.8 atJaisalmer and 48.6 degrees atBarmer. Delhi and several partsof north, north-west and cen-tral India were also reeling inthe blistering heat, promptingthe weather department toissue a “severe heatwave” warn-ing for the next five days.
“Heatwave conditions con-tinued to prevail at most placeswith severe heatwave at a fewplaces over East and West
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat, Vidarbha, Haryanaand Delhi, East Uttar Pradeshand central Maharashtra,” theIndia MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) said.
According to the IMD, theheat will remain bad till May 21and its intensity is likely toreduce thereafter and gradual-ly abate anywhere betweenMay 27 and 31. The Metdepartment has predicted thatthe onset of monsoon will getdelayed by six days.
“Maximum day and mini-mum night temperatures arelikely to remain markedlyabove normal over the entireNorth-West, West and CentralIndia from May 17 to 27. Theyare likely to fall to their respec-tive normal or below normalvalues between May 27 andJune 1,” the IMD said.
According to privateweather watch group Skymet,
Gujarat and Rajasthan will wit-ness scorching weather withday temperatures reaching thehigher side of 40s in places likeJaisalmer, Phalodi and Barmer.Clear skies, hot and dry windscoming from the North and
North-West direction will sus-tain such high temperatures.
In Gujarat, four people losttheir lives due to the severeheatwave as mercury levelsacross many parts of the Staterose to near about 47 degrees
Celsius. The State has wit-nessed over 11,400 heatstrokecases due to the severe heat thatgripped the State from May 1to May 16 this year. “We do notsee any respite in temperatureacross the State of Gujarat,”
Jayant Sarkar, Met Department,Ahmedabad division, said.
While northern Indiaburns, heavy rain has lashedsouth India and theGovernment has issued acyclone alert in AndhraPradesh and Odisha. Severalparts of Tamil Nadu andPuducherry continued toreceive rainfall for the third daydue to a depression but it islikely rainfall will decrease inthe coming days as the deepdepression over the Bay ofBengal has moved towardAndhra where a cyclonic stormis expected to intensify fromThursday onwards. The IMDhas advised fishermen againstventuring along and off northTamil Nadu and coastalAndhra Pradesh.
Weather conditions aregoing to be better in the com-ing days in eastern India withpredictions of a thunderstormaccompanied by a squall at iso-lated places over Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengal,Sikkim and Odisha.
Continued on Page 7
New Delhi: Union UrbanDevelopment MinisterVenkaiah Naidu on Wednesdaysaid chanting of “Om” duringyoga sessions on theInternational Yoga Day on June21 is not mandatory. “Do notmake yoga controversial. ‘Om’is not mandatory. Yoga is a greatancient Indian art which willdiscipline both the body and themind,” said Naidu in a tweet.
Naidu’s comments comeafter reports about a CentralGovernment circular that pro-posed chanting of ‘Om’ andrecitation of Vedic mantrasbefore the 45-minute yoga ses-sion on June 21.
Continued on Page 7
PNS n MUMBAI
Bollywood actor RishiKapoor on Wednesday tar-
geted the Congress over thepractice of naming all themajor assets of the countryafter the Gandhi family duringits rule, triggering an outcryfrom the party.
The 63-year-old actor, whoin the recent past, had beencritical of the Saffron forces onissues like intolerance, mincedno words as he attacked theCongress for naming roadsafter their leaders’ names.
In a series of tweets, he sug-gested the names of the promi-nent places should be changedafter those who worked for thewelfare of the country.
“Change Gandhi familyassets named by Congress.”
“If roads in Delhi can bechanged why not Congressassets/property ke naam? Wasin Chandigarh wahan bhiRajeev Gandhi assets? Socho?Why? (sic),” the actor tweeted.
The “Kapoor & Sons” starsaid people from the filmindustry should also havebuildings named after them.
“We must name importantassets of the country who have
contributed to society. Harcheez Gandhi ke naam? I don’tagree. Sochna log!
“Film City should benamed Dilip Kumar, DevAnand,Ashok Kumar yaAmitabh Bachchan ke naam?Rajeev Gandhi udyog kya hotahai? Socho doston!,” he said.
Kapoor said even Delhi’sinternational airport shouldbe named after personalitieslike Bhagat Singh or BhimraoAmbedkar.
“Why Indira G airportInternational? Why notMahatma Gandhi or BhagatSingh, Ambedkar or on my
name Rishi Kapoor. As super-ficial! What say?,” he tweeted.
The actor said his fatherlegendary actor-filmmaker RajKapoor has done more good tothe country than any politician.
“Raj Kapoor has madeIndia proud over the years allover even after his death.Certainly more than what hasbeen perceived by politics (sic),”he wrote.
Agreeing with his viewswas actor Anupam Kher. “RishiKapoorji has thought about itand I am sure a lot of peoplethink about a lot of things thatthey put on social networkingsites. It’s genuine thought. It isnot necessarily against the par-ticular family...,” Kher said,adding that the achievementsof other people should also belauded.
“Salutes to @chintskap forspeaking the truth. The#Nehruisation of this countryhas to go. There is no different.between them & the Britishers,”said filmmaker and censorboard member Ashoke Pandit.
However, it did not godown well with the Congressactivists. They protested out-side Kapoor’s home inMumbai’s Pali Hill after a seriesof tweets in which the 63-year-old even commented, “‘Baap kamaal samajh rakha tha?”
The tweets began in refer-ence to Union Minister VKSingh’s letter proposing thatAkbar Road, a prominent tree-shaded avenue in the heart ofDelhi, be renamed afterMaharana Pratap, the kingwho fought against MughalEmperor Akbar.
PNS n CHENNAI
The 2011 “suicide” of SadiqBatcha, a close associate of
DMK leader A Raja and anaccused in the 2G Spectrumscam, took a curious turn afterfive years with 24-year-old KPrabhakaran claiming that hehelped then State police intel-ligence chief Jaffer Sait — whowas close to the Karunanidhifamily — and Raja’s close rel-ative Paramesh to kill Batcha.
“Sadiq Batcha was killed atthe office of Green House
Promoters in T Nagar inChennai on March 16, 2011.Jaffar Sait, the then head ofTamil Nadu Intelligencedepartment, strangled himwith a towel while PrameshKumar, a close relation of Raja,pressed Batcha’s neck with hisknee and I held his legs. Later,Pramesh Kumar and his friendstook Batcha’s body to his houseand hung it to make it look likea suicide,” Prabhakaran toldreporters at TiruchirappalliPress Club on Tuesday.Prabhakaran said he got intouch with Raja to make some quick money.
The disclosure/claim byPrabhakaran vindicates
Continued on Page 7
PNS n GANDHINAGAR
The Anti-Terrorist Squad(ATS) of Gujarat on
Wednesday arrested one of thekey conspirators of the infa-mous Godhra train burningincident of February 27, 2002which claimed the lives of 59kar sevaks returning fromAyodhya.
The accused, 55-year-oldFarooq Mohammad Bhana, whoallegedly carried kerosene totorch the S-6 bogie of theSabarmati Express train just as itchugged out of Godhra RailwayStation, was picked up in themorning from a toll booth inKalol, around 25 km from
Godhra city in central Gujarat. Bhana also faces the charge
of provoking a mob of peopleto attack and burn the train.He, along with Bilal Haji,allegedly instructed the other
accused to burn the train coachas per the instructions receivedfrom late Maulana Umarji,who was arrested as a master-mind but later released.
Continued on Page 7
Palodhi in Rajasthan records 50.5 degreesCelsius; south India reels under heavy rain
Delhi’s trialby fire to endwith rain soonSTAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI
Delhiites faced another hotday of the season as the
Capital sizzled at 43.7 degreesCelsius on Wednesday.However, people can expectsome relief as weathermenpredicted showers with thun-derstorm in next two days thusreducing the temperature byfour degrees Celsius.
Though the IndiaMetrological Department(IMD) said that overall maxi-mum temperature in Delhisettled at 44 degrees Celsius,other weather monitoringagencies, like Skymet, showedmaximum temperature hover-ing around 46 degrees Celsius.In a weekly weather report, Metdepartment officials confirmedthat maximum temperaturewill oscillate around 43-44degrees Celsius. However min-imum temperature will remainat 27 degrees Celsius.
While the maximum tem-perature settled at 43.7 degree
Celsius at Safdarjung observa-tory, the minimum temperaturesettled at 26.4 degrees Celsius,four notches above the season’saverage, as per the IMD data.According to a MeT depart-ment official, relative humidi-ty was recorded at 15 per cent.
RK Vishan, Scientist andGroup Captain, Delhi wing ofIMD, said that there is the pos-sibility of thunderstorm withrain from Friday onwards.“The maximum temperaturewill be reduced by four to sixdegrees Celsius in comingweek,” said Vishan.
Illustrating about weatherconditions in May, Vishansaid in May, the maximumtemperature normally remainsat 39.6 degrees Celsius andminimum temperature at 25.9degrees Celsius. “In 1994, mer-cury crossed 45 degreesCelsius. On May 27 that year,the highest maximum tem-perature was recorded whichwas 47 degrees Celsius,” saidthe scientist.
Sadiq Batcha’s death
haunts Raja again
Remove Gandhis’ names from national assets: Rishi
‘Om’ not a must
during yoga day,
Venkaiah Naidu
dispels doubts
Killer comes forward toreveal role in murder
INDIA BOILS AS MERCURY SOARS TO 50
O
C
Godhra train butcher nabbed after 14 years
A mirage appears on the Rajpath in New Delhi on Wednesday PTI
D-day for Bengal, Assam, TN, Kerala
New Delhi: Counting of votesfor the high stakes Assemblyelections in West Bengal, TamilNadu, Assam, Kerala andPuducherry will be held onThursday morning with trendsexpected to be available by 11am. By noon, a final picturecould emerge. Counting ofvotes will commence at 8 am,and be over by 3 pm.
According to various exitpolls shown on TV channels onMay 16, Assam, Tamil Naduand Kerala have voted forchange giving BJP its firstGovernment in the North-eastern State dislodgingCongress which also lost Keralawhile DMK may regain powerin Tamil Nadu.
Only West Bengal seems tohave bucked the trend by re-electing TMC. The Congresscould take solace from its pro-
jected victory in the tiny UnionTerritory of Puducherry, whereit is likely to get power in alliancewith the DMK. Agencies
Total seats: 126Stakeholders: BJP; Cong
Total seats: 294Stakeholders: TMC; Left+ Cong
Total seats: 234Stakeholders:
A I A D M K ;DMK+Cong
Total seats:140
Stakeholders: UDF; LDF
A funny cartoon being circulated on social media
Kerala
Tamil Nadu
MARKETSSENSEX 25,704.61 8 69.00
NIFTY 7,870.15 8 20.60
WEATHERMAX 43.9 0C (+4)MIN 25.7 0C (+1)
Partly cloudy sky.
@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:
}{
OPINION 08
‘RUDE CHINA' IS DRIVEN BY SENSE OF POWER
WORLD 13
CHINA, INDIA FACE HUGEMENTAL HEALTH BURDEN
SPORT 15
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERSPLAY GUJARAT IN IPL TODAY
RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18
Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
Late City Vol. 152 Issue 136*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
Established 1864
LUCKNOW, THURSDAY MAY 19, 2016; PAGES 16 `3
www.dailypioneer.com
DIDN’T THINK
I’D MARRY
AY 40: DIAZ
16 VIVACITY
Why Indira G airportInternational? Why not MahatmaGandhi or BhagatSingh, Ambedkar
—TWEETS RISHI KAPOOR
MoU signed for Agra theme park PNS n LUCKNOW
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav saidthat the theme park coming up in
Agra would be an amalgamation of his-tory and culture of India and wouldgive a new dimension to the historic Tajcity.
He was speaking at a function aftersigning of MoU to set up a theme parkat Agra. The agreement was signedbetween Kingdom Company and thestate government. The KingdomCompany is owned by cine star SanjayKhan who signed on behalf of his com-pany while UPSIDC MD Manoj Singhsigned on behalf of the UP government.
“This will be one of its kind parkswhich will showcase India’s cultural andhistorical heritage. People will get toknow about India in general and UP inparticular. This is a unique project thatwill generate direct or indirectemployment.” Yadav said during hisaddress.
Yadav said that this would be a jointventure with Kingdom Company. “Thetheme park will be an added attractionfor tourists who will visit Agra in nearfuture. Thus, there would be increasein economic activity around that
region,” he said.Sanjay Khan said the ` 10,000-crore
project would be unique and wouldgive a glimpse of ancient India startingfrom Mohanjodaro. There will be adepiction of Ramayana andMahabharata era too. “Mono rail willoperate inside the park to take touriststo different sites. This project will givenew meaning to Agra and UttarPradesh,” he said.
Principal Secretary, Informationand Tourism, Navneet Sehgal said thatthe theme park would promote tourismof the area. “Earlier tourists used to visitAgra and the same day went to Jaipuror other city. Now, they will be forcedto stay back in Agra. This indirectly willgenerate employment,” he said.
This project, which will have fourphases, will take 10 years to complete.The first phase will complete in threeyears. Private partners will be invitedto invest in this scheme. UP The gov-ernment will provide 1,000 acres of landon Agra ring road. The environmentministry has given NOC for the pro-ject.“This will be a totally eco-friend-ly scheme,” MD, UPSIDC, Manoj Singhsaid.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav after signing an MoU with Bollywood of actor Sanjay Khanat 5 Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow on Wednesday for a theme park in Agra PTI
city 02LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.
Office: Link House, II Floor, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Tel: (011) 23755271-274, 41509074.
VIRENDRA NATH BHATT ■ LUCKNOW
Facing flak from Muslim politicaloutfits and the community for
failing to fulfil the poll promise ofproviding 18 per cent reservation tothe community in government jobsand educational institutions, theSamajwadi Party government islikely to bring a ‘sankalp’ (resolution)in the Assembly in this regard.
After its passage in theAssembly, the resolution will be sentto the Centre for further action.
The Supreme Court had in1992 fixed a cap of 50 per cent onquota.
A brief session of the stateAssembly is likely to be convened inthe last week of May. The Assemblysession can be called any day bySpeaker Mata Prasad Pandey asafter the conclusion of the Budgetsession, the House, instead ofbeing prorogued, was adjournedsine die.
The Budget session had com-menced on February 18 and theHouse was adjourned sine die onMarch 26. Usually the House is pro-rogued after the Budget session.
The SP government had earlierplanned to bring this resolution inthe Assembly during the monsoonsession in August last year. However,
it was deferred without assigningany reason.
The thrust of the resolutionis likely to be on providing reserva-tion to Muslims in governmentjobs.
Official sources said the resolu-tion, to be moved in the Assemblyby Minority Affairs MinisterMohammad Azam Khan, would bea statement of the state government’sintent to implement the SacharCommittee recommendations,which includes 18 per cent reserva-tions for Muslims. The reservationswill be not just in government jobs,but in tenders and state govern-ment’s schemes too.
“The only difference between‘prorogue’ and ‘sine die adjourn-ment’ of the House is that theSpeaker has the discretion to sum-mon the House if it is adjourned sinedie but if it is prorogued, the deci-sion to summon the House is takenby the Cabinet,” said PrincipalSecretary of UP Assembly, PradeepDube.
“As per Rule 86 of the Rules ofProcedure and Conduct of Businessof the UP Legislative Assembly,1958, a prior notice has to be givento the Assembly secretariat sevendays before the commencement ofthe session. So far the secretariat has
no information about the decisionof the government but the rules canbe relaxed,” Dube said.
Muslims have been traditional-ly loyal to the Samajwadi Party andhad voted for the party in largenumbers in the 2012 Assemblypolls. But the community nowappears to be disenchanted with theAkhilesh Yadav government becauseof its failure to honour the pollpromise and also the communalriots across the state in the last fouryears.
During the last four years, theruling Samajwadi Party haspromised quota to Muslims twice –first in the election manifesto for the2012 Assembly election and later in2014 before the parliamentaryelections. It had stressed on accept-ing the Sachar Committee’s recom-mendations.
The Sachar Committee was setup in 2005 to prepare a report on thesocial, economic and educationalcondition of Muslim community inthe country. It submitted its reportin November 2006.
The committee found that thesocial, economic and educationalcondition of Muslims was poor. Itrecommended special provisionsand schemes for Muslims, propor-tionate to their share in population.
Five killed, 34 injured in road mishap
Lucknow (PNS): In a tragic incident, fivepersons were killed and about three dozenothers were injured when the tractor-trolleyon which they were travelling overturned inSidhauli township of Shahjahanpur onWednesday afternoon.
Reports said the tractor-trolley over-turned as the driver lost control over thewheel near Paina village.
Those killed in the mishap were identi-fied as Ramsaran (60), Gaurav (25), Bhailal(50), Phulandevi (40) and one an unknownperson.
Thirty-four other persons on tractor-trol-ley were injured. They were admitted to hos-pital where the condition of Vikas, RajMishra, Mansingh, Vikram, Munnalal andBachhu was stated to be critical.
Meanwhile, in Banda, a youth allegedlycommitted suicide by jumping from a bridge,while minutes later a man who had joined thecrowd gathered there was fatally run over bya truck, on Wednesday morning.
Reports said that 25-year-old HiralalKushwaha allegedly jumped into the riverfrom a bridge in Badausa area of Mathura toend his life.
Soon, a large number of locals gatheredon the bridge to see whether Hiralal wouldsurvive or not. The crowed remained on thebridge even after the youth’s body surfaced.
In the meantime, a truck passing over thebridge suddenly hit a 45-year-old onlooker,identified as Santu, leaving him dead.
The truck driver fled with the truck. Both the bodies were sent for post-
mortem.
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
Samajwadi Party chiefMulayam Singh Yadav
caused a stir in political cir-cles by saying that he faceda lot of flak for makingAkhilesh Yadav the chiefminister of UP.
“I courted a big troubleby deciding to makeAkhilesh the chief minister.The two weeks afterAkhilesh took oath of officewere very turbulent for me aspeople wondered how couldI install my son as the chiefminister when they hadvoted for me and the party.I cannot share with you howI faced that situation,”Mulayam Singh Yadav said
while addressing the stu-dents of the UP RuralInstitute of Medical Sciences(UPRIMS) at Saifai inEtawah district onWednesday.
“I had to do a lot ofexplaining to the leadersand the party cadres as they
taunted me for selecting myson for the office of thechief minister. It took a greatdeal of effort to convincepeople about my decision,”the SP chief said.
He, however, added that“had I taken over as the chiefminister, I would havebecome inaccessible to you’’.
Yadav added that “thosewho had questioned my wis-dom in choosing Akhileshfor the chief ministershiplater praised my decisionand this vindicated my deci-sion’’.
Yadav also expressed hispain for failing to becomethe prime minister of India.He then consoled himselfsaying that he would have
become inaccessible to thepeople after occupying thehigh office.
“I have served as chiefminister of UP three timesand as the Defence Ministerof India but I missed thechance to become the primeminister of India,” Yadavsaid.
Lashing out at his polit-ical opponents for maligninghim, the SP chief said, “Istarted my public life fromthe socialist movementunder the leadership of RamManohar Lohia but myopponents unsuccessfullytried to link my name withdacoits.”
Tracing the history ofUPRIMS, which was set up
during the previous SPregime in 2005, Yadav saidlots of people used toapproach me to recommendtheir wards for admission tomedical colleges inKarnataka. “It was then thatI decided that UP shouldhave its own medical collegehaving facilities of globalstandards,” he said.
The SP chief said hewanted to see at least 40medical colleges in the stateso that the students frompoor and rural backgroundcould also dream of pursu-ing medical education.
He said so far 22 medicalcolleges had been opened inthe state and two were underconstruction.
Lucknow (PNS): ChiefSecretary Alok Ranjan sus-tained minor injuries whenhe slipped at his residencehere on Wednesday.
“He (Ranjan) sustainedminor injuries on the headand sprained his left handafter he fell at his residenceon Wednesday morning,”District MagistrateRajshekhar said, adding thatthe Chief Secretary was
admitted to Ram ManoharLohia Hospital.
Rajshekhar said the X-ray and CT scan of the ChiefSecretary were normal andthe doctors had advised himrest.
“He is fine now and isrecovering,” the DM said.
After Ranjan slipped andfell. he was rushed to RamManohar Lohia Institute ofMedical Sciences hospital
where he was admitted in thecritical care unit.
Senior officers rushedto the hospital soon aftercoming to know about theincident. KG MedicalUniversity Vice-ChancellorRavikant was among thosewho visited the ChiefSecretary in the hospital.
Ranjan was dischargedfrom the hospital in theevening.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■LUCKNOW
Senior leader of theSamajwadi Party and
Minority Affairs MinisterMohammad Azam Khan crit-icised the nomination of AmarSingh as party candidate for theRajya Sabha.
SP leader in Rajya Sabha,Ram Gopal Yadav, who isbrother of Samajwadi Partychief Mulayam Singh Yadav, isalso vehemently opposing thecandidature of Amar Singh.
“It is the most unfortunatething to have happened in theSamajwadi Party. It will badlydamage the party in the longrun. ‘Lekin yah faisala malik kahai (but this is the decision ofthe top boss of the party),Azam Khan said in Rampurlate in the evening of Tuesday.
Azam Khan left forRampur on Tuesday after theSP Parliamentary Board meet-ing. He had strongly protestedin the meeting when AmarSingh’s name was proposed forRajya Sabha. SP general secre-tary Ram Gopal Yadav had alsosupported Azam Khan butdecided to stay cool and soonafter the meeting he left forDelhi.
Sources in the SamajwadiParty said that leaders likeAzam Khan were more con-cerned for their own clout, sta-tus and survival rather than thewell-being of the party.
“Mulayam Singh Yadav’sdecision to nominate AmarSingh as one of the seven can-didates for the Rajya Sabha isthe political resurrection ofthe 60-year-old master strate-gist Thakur ahead of the 2017Assembly elections in UP. Theparty needs the services ofAmar Singh for the crucial bat-tle ahead,” said a senior SPleader. Questioning the politi-
cal acumen and relevance ofAzam Khan in the party, the SPleader said, “SP was a tradition-al party till 1996. The basicorganisational network of theSP was in rural and semi-urban areas, but after AmarSingh joined the party in 1996,he brought in glamour, politi-cal connections, Bollywoodand a network with big indus-trial houses. He managed tochange the basic image of theparty,” the SP leader said oncondition of anonymity.
Defending the nominationof Amar Singh, the SP leadersaid, “There is one quality inMulayam Singh Yadav thatcannot be matched by anyother politician. If a person hasbeen with Mulayam SinghYadav during the latter’s goodand bad times, the SP chiefdoes not forget it. He does notcare if the public perception ofthe person is good or bad. Hereadily returns the favour if hethinks the person has servedhim well. And Amar Singh isone such person who continuesto remain very close toMulayam Singh Yadav.”
Echoing similar senti-ments, other Samajwadi Partyleaders said the some partyleaders, including Ram Gopal
Yadav and Azam Khan, maynot be very pleased withMulayam Singh Yadav’s deci-sion, but they also know thatthe entire organisation revolvesaround the patriarch.
These leaders opined thatearlier Amar Singh had becomethe eyes and ears of MulayamSingh Yadav and this had mademany leaders jealous of him.
Amar Singh’s politicalcareer saw a downward slideafter his expulsion from the SPfollowing his differences withYadav in January 2010. AmarSingh had then floated hisown political party, theRashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011,and had unsuccessfully fieldeda number of candidates in the2012 UP Assembly elections.Amar Singh tried to revive hiscareer again in 2014 ahead ofparliamentary elections, whenhe and former Bollywood starJaya Prada joined Ajit Singh’sRashtriya Lok Dal. But thisexperiment failed again asSingh lost the Lok Sabha pollfrom Fatehpur Sikri.
By nominating him for theRajya Sabha, Mulayam SinghYadav has given a new lease toAmar Singh’s political life.
This will be his fourthterm in the Rajya Sabha.
CS sustains minor injuries, recovering
Choosing Akhilesh as CM was not easy: MSY
PREETAM SRIVASTAVA ■ LUCKNOW
Awell organised racket has been run-ning in the state with the connivance
of policemen, doctors, advocates, officialsof claim settlement courts, resulting inhuge financial losses to insurance compa-nies.
This sensational fact came to light dur-ing inquiry by a Special Investigation Team(SIT) formed on the direction of theLucknow bench of the Allahabad HighCourt. The SIT team headed by AdditionalDirector General (Special Inquiry Cell)Chandra Prakash, reportedly made abreakthrough in cracking the syndicate andhas so far registered eight cases in which42 accused, including doctors, advocates,policemen, have been named.
Prakash said that investigations wereon and they were trying to gather somemore facts before arresting the accused.
Prakash revealed how a well-organisedsyndicate was operating in Uttar Pradesh.He said the syndicate took “contract” tofacilitate insurance claim to any victimwhen legally the person was not entitled
to it.According to Prakash, in October last
year, a leading insurance company movedthe High court, seeking probe against oneRamwati of Rae Bareli, who filed insuranceclaim of Rs 35 lakh for the death of herhusband in an accident. The company sub-mitted to the High Court that the incidentcited by Ramwati that led to her husband’sdeath was fake. Besides Ramwati, theinsurance company cited about 45 morecases that were fake but still claims weremade by the kin of the victims.
The High Court formed a SIT to probeall the cases and made Prakash head of theteam with the power to take up more sim-ilar cases surfacing during the investiga-tion and to initiate legal proceedings in the
matter. During the probe, the SIT asked other
prominent insurance companies to for-ward to it all suspected cases of claims. Thisinitiative led to 700 cases of insuranceclaims being recommended for probe byalmost all major insurance companies ofthe country.
The probe so far has revealed sensa-tional facts — how the sequence of eventsleading to accidents are changed, how wit-nesses are created, how doctors issue fakemedical certificates to facilitate claims, howadvocates take “contract” on basis of per-centage of the total claim money, how thepolice shake hands with the gang to filefavourable reports and lastly how the offi-cials in court help to recover the claimmoney.
Prakash said that another interestingfact that also came to light in many caseswas that the lawyers gave their false reg-istration number, mobile number and eventheir names so that no legal proceedingscould be initiated against them even if theircriminal conspiracy was exposed at anystage.
During the probe, theSIT asked otherprominent insurancecompanies to forward toit all suspected cases ofclaims.
SIT cracks ‘claims’ racket in UP
SP govt may bring resolution on Muslim quota in Assembly
AMAR’S NOMINATION FOR RAJYA SABHA
Azam against but other SP
leaders back decision
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav giving away the cheque of Rs 20 lakhs to the kin of journalist, who died of illness
vko';drk gS
city 03LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
Saini sets bar high for newmanzilSSP talks of techno policing, serving the needyPNS n LUCKNOW
Efforts will be made toenhance credibility ofpolice and make it more
sensitive to crimes. Womenissues will be given top prior-ity while controlling crime andmaintaining law and order willbe among the top priorities.This was stated by new SSP ofLucknow Manzil Saini duringher interaction with newsper-sons here on Wednesday.
She said traditional polic-ing needed improvement in thepresent scenario. “It is an age ofmodern gadgets and we willblend traditional policing withtechno policing to make policemore effective in dealing withcrime,” she added.
She pointed out policingshould be aimed at serving theneedy and policemen shouldnot have arrogant demeanour.
She disclosed that shewould be making surpriseinspection of police stations tofind out how policemen werebehaving with the commonman.
The SSP said that there wasan upsurge in property-relateddisputes in the state capital andthe Lucknow Police wouldchalk out a strategy to deal withthat.
In reply of a question ifthere was political interfer-ence in Lucknow policing, shesaid that good work was alwaysappreciated. “I have come fromEtawah,” she said in a lightervein.
The new SSP spoke ondifferent issues, includingheinous crime and cases, whichwere yet to be worked out. “Ifa case is too old, then it is dif-ficult to crack. But even then,we will make an effort to cracksuch cases ,” she said.
Manzil Saini has becomethe first lady officer who isholding the post of SSP in thestate capital.
Known for dedication andbeing tough with law-breakers,the lady officer switchedcareers to become a cop andtook challenging task in hercareer so far. She is married ina business family. She remained
in news for unearthing the sen-sational kidney racket.
A science graduate and agold medalist from DelhiSchool of Economics anddaughter of a policeman, sheworked with private companiesfor nearly three years beforejoining the elite Indian PoliceService (IPS). She studiedphysics at St Stephen’s Collegebefore going to the DelhiSchool of Economics - whereshe was a gold medalist.
Breaking the myth that awoman’s career comes to anend after marriage, Saini madethe transition from a market-ing executive to a cop trailingcriminals.
Saini, an IPS officer ofUttar Pradesh cadre, was theonly married woman with a kidamong eight other women inthe 2005 batch.
In 2013, the lady officerwished to go to the Centre ondeputation in the CBI but herrequest was turned down then.
Manzil was SSP, Etawah,before joining on the same postin Lucknow. New SSP, Lucknow, Manjil Saini, occupying the hot seat on Wednesday Pioneer
PNS n LUCKNOW
Lucknow Metro RailCorporation managing
director Kumar Keshav saidhere on Wednesday that therewere 21 women drivers,among 97, who had beenrecruited for the LucknowMetro. While briefing themedia about the progress ofthe Lucknow Metro project, hesaid that the new recruitmentswere currently undergoingpsychoanalysis and medicaltests. He said that once thenew recruits joined the LMRC,they would be given theoret-ical training by it after whichthey would be trained by theDelhi Metro Rail Corporation.
“A total of 21 women dri-vers (train operators-cum-sta-tion controllers) have beenselected ad they will be under-going the medical and thepsychoanalysis tests. The newrecruits after being selectedwill be given training undervarious categories to whichthey belong. The train opera-tors will undergo 22 weeks’training. Currently, the docu-ment verification of the newrecruits is going on and near-ly 190 have joined from a totalof 247,” he said.
Keshav added that thenew hands would be given acomputer-based theoreticaltraining in June. “After this,they will be sent to the DelhiMetro Rail Corporation for ahands-on training and by thetime they return they wouldhave been appropriatelytrained to handle the train,” hepointed out. The managingdirector said that the station-finishing work had begun.“The first set of the electricalequipment have reached atthe Krishnagar Metro stationand they will be used in theauxiliary sub-station whichwill convert the powerreceived from the power sub-station for its various require-ments. Work of laying cablesfrom the station to the powerstation at Sarojininagar hasalso begun,” he said.
He added that by thebeginning of June the first lift
would be installed at theKrishnanagar andTransportnagar stations. “Thiswill help us in knowing theinterphase problems whichare occurring during theinstallation of the lifts andwhen we find solutions tothem we will use them for theother stations too,” he added.
Regarding the under-ground Lucknow Metro sta-tion at the Chaudhary CharanSingh Airport, he said thatthey had not received anyreply from the AirportAuthority of India to the pro-posal they had already sent.
On media queries regard-ing the collapse of shutteringat the Alambagh Bus MetroStations which took place onApril 17, he said that they hadreceived a report in thisregard. “We have received thereport and the accident hadoccurred due to some defi-ciencies in the support struc-ture,” he said.
Commenting on theprogress of work at Mavaiyyastation, he said that the issueof land had been resolved.
“A total of 21
women drivers
(train operators-
cum-station
controllers) have
been selected ad
they will be
undergoing the
medical and the
psychoanalysis
tests. The new
recruits after
being selected
will be given
training under
various
categories to
which they
belong.
Metro: 21 womendrivers recruited
Rains in east UP
likely: Met dept
PNS n LUCKNOW
There is finally some relief instore for the people with
the Met department forecastingrain and thundershowers at iso-lated places in eastern UttarPradesh. In the city, there is aforecast of cloudy skies.
Director, Met office, JPGupta said that the maximumtemperature will decrease inthe coming days. The cityrecorded a maximum of 43.3degree Celsius on Wednesdaywhich was three degrees abovenormal.
The local forecast is ofpartly cloudy sky with maxi-mum and the minimum tem-perature being 42 degree and25 degrees Celsius respective-ly.
There is a warning thatdust storms and thunderstormsaccompanied by squalls willoccur in isolated parts of east-ern Uttar Pradesh and heatwave will prevail in isolatedplaces in western UttarPradesh.
In the state, Bandaremained the hottest with 47.2
degree Celsius. Allahabadrecorded a maximum temper-ature of 46.7 degree Celsius,Jhansi 46.4 degree Celsius andVaranasi recorded 43.5 degreeCelsius.
Power consumers allegefault in meter readingPNS n LUCKNOW
Raising the issue of electric-ity meters showing sudden
jump, UP Rajya VidyutUpbhokta Parishad onWednesday met the UPElectricity RegulatoryCommission officials andhanded over a memorandum.
UP Rajya Vidyut UpbhoktaParishad president AvadheshKumar Verma claimed thatthe electricity meters of a com-pany that were being installedin households by LESA wereshowing higher units thanbeing consumed. “LESA offi-cials themselves have beenreporting instances of electric-ity meters not showing actualreading and most of the metershave the problem of suddenjump recording more powerunits than consumed in a
household. LESA has got manycomplaints from householdswhere these meters wereinstalled,” he alleged, whilepresenting a written evidenceof complaints against the com-pany to the UPERC. Vermaalso questioned why no legalaction was taken against thecompany.
Verma also raised theissue of dwindling power sup-ply in the state capital when ahefty amount was spent onimproving the power situationhere. “Lucknow is supposed toprovide 24-hour power sup-ply. An amount running to thetune of several crore has beenallocated to LESA so as toensure proper maintenanceof the system. LESA has anadvance SCADA system(RAPDRP-B) on which over
Rs 453 crore were spent.Despite all measures beingtaken to improve the powersupply, consumers are stillfacing the heat in the warmsummer months,” he dis-closed, adding if the systemcould not provide comfort tothe consumers, it was of nouse. Moreover, Verma raised aserious concern on the sensi-tivity of LESA officials sayingthe authority had a strong con-sumer base of more than sevenlakh consumers but to handletheir complaints, it had yet notestablished its own controlroom.
Meanwhile, UPERC offi-cials said that the issue wasdirectly linked to the public.“Officials concerned will beasked for clarification on thematter,” they said. Divisional Commissioner T Venkatesh assuming charge of his office on Wednesday Pioneer
Airport conducts mock aircraft crash exercise
PNS n LUCKNOW
An aircraft crash mock exercise was carriedout by Chowdhary Charan Singh Airport
authorities on Wednesday. It saw the partici-pation of AAI, all airline agencies, ground han-dling agencies, district administration, Policedepartment and Health department.
The exercise took place between 11.10 hrsand 11.44 hrs. The operations involved the crashof airlines Air Alfa and the type of aircraft beingATR72 with 20 persons on board. The crash tookplace within the operational boundary with the
aircraft having two hours fuel on board. Five per-sons died and 15 persons were rescued.
Director, Airport, PK Srivastava said that theexercise was carried out to study the prepared-ness of the ground agencies and the effective-ness of the contingency plan.
A senior airport official said that in com-pliance with the ICAI and DGCA, Civil Aviationdirections the emergency exercise must be con-ducted in order to ensure adequacy, efficacy andeffectiveness of Airport Emergency Plan andaction taken by participating agencies andorganisations.
Airport personnell conducting crash mock exercise at CCS Airport on Wednesday Pioneer
HC directives on supply of drugsLAW REPORTER n LUCKNOW
The Lucknow bench of theAllahabad High Court
directed the Union of Indiaand state authorities to ensureuninterrupted supply ofhaemophilia medicines topatients throughout the statewithin the shortest possibletime. The court sought anaffidavit by the state within10 days stating therein thesteps taken in compliance ofthis order.
A divis ion bench ofJustice Devendra KumarUpadhyaya and Justice RajanRoy gave the order on a PILfiled by the HaemophiliaSociety.
The petitioner’s counselsubmitted referring an emailcommunication that responseof the nodal officer was thatthere was no buffer stock asthe same had a l l beenexhausted and further thatthe next grant was expectedin July-August.
“Let the aforesaid matterbe brought to the notice ofSecretary/Principal Secretaryof the department concernedwho shall look into the mat-ter and do the needful andsubmit his report to thecourt,” the court said.
Cobra rescued from
police officer’s house
PNS n LUCKNOW
Afive-feet-long cobra wasrescued by the Wildlife
SOS rapid response unit fromthe official residence of a seniorpolice official of Agra.
According to members ofthe rescue team, the snake wasfound to be in good health andwas released back into its nat-ural habitat shortly after.
The Wildlife SOS rapidresponse unit responded to adistress call about a large cobrathat had wandered into the offi-cial residence of theSuperintendent of Police inAgra. “The snake was report-
edly being pursued by a cat andit had taken shelter in a nookunder a tree. On discoveringthe cobra, the panic-strickenstaff rushed for help,” the SOSsaid.
A two-member rescueteam was dispatched immedi-ately and upon arrival, it care-fully transferred the cobra intoa safe transport container. TheIndian cobra (naja naja) is oneof the four venomous snakespecies to be found in theIndian subcontinent. They arerevered in Indian mythologyand culture and are protectedunder the Indian WildlifeProtection Act 1972.
Save water, rally studentsLucknow: The students and staff of Lucknow Public Schoolorganised a rally with great zeal and fervour in order to createawareness about the importance of ‘saving water’. The rally wasflagged off by founder manager of Lucknow Public School andCollege SP Singh, accompanied by Neha Singh, head of theInnovation Wing of the Lucknow Public School and College, fromthe Telibagh crossing and culminated at the Indian SugarcaneResearch Institute. It marked the presence of students of thesenior wing carrying placards, banners and confettis with thought-provoking messages on water conservation. Students sang a songon ‘Saving Water’ and staged a ‘nukkad natak’ whose theme was‘every drop counts’ at three places. Ishika Sengar, a student ofClass IX, at a temple on the way spotted water flowing from anopen tap and went ahead to close it. The rally was successfullyguided by Harmesh Singh, PET of the school. Principal and coor-dinator of the rally Rupali Patel expressed gratitude to dignitariesand the parents and guardians who supported the cause.
No breakthrough yet in Hazratganj loot casePNS n LUCKNOW
Investigations into the daringloot of Rs 20 lakh from secu-
rity agency owner PankajMishra in Hazratganj havemade no headway even afterone week and the police are yetto get a whiff of miscreants.
Police teams working onthe case failed to get any impor-tant lead though the ModernControl Room officials pro-vided them the footage of twosuspects moving on a bikealongside the victim and
snatching the cash bag fromhim on the day of the incident.
When asked, SHO,Hazratganj, Vijaymal Yadavwas evasive and just said thatpolice were working on thecase. Sources in the Policedepartment disclosed that thesame group of miscreants hadcommitted a loot of Rs 1 lakhfrom a private companyemployee on Laxman MelaGround. “A footage of CCTVshowed two miscreants withthe same features as that of thesuspects in Hazratganj loot,”
sources disclosed.They added the police had
no detail of suspects whosefootage was captured in theCCTV. “Under these condition,it was practically difficult toreach to the miscreants,” theysaid.
On May 12, two unidenti-fied bike-borne miscreants hadlooted Rs 20 lakh in cash fromPankaj, a security agency ownerin Hazratganj. To downplay theincident, the police initiallyhad disputed claims made bythe victim but later lodged a
case when the media high-lighted the issue.
Pankaj of Sushant GolfClub in PGI police station arearuns his security agency onPark Road in Hazratganj. Onthe day of the incident, he,along with his supervisorDiwakar, was returning to hisoffice when he was targeted.
WOMAN ENDS LIFE: A 28-year-old woman ended her lifeat her house in Para police sta-tion area on Wednesday.However, no suicide note was
recovered from the room.Babita lived with her hus-
band Subhash and children ata rented house in Para. Thefamily belong to Sant KabirNagar district and Subhashworks as a painter.
He told police that hefound Babita hanging fromceiling with a saree tied aroundher neck on Wednesday morn-ing. “I called neighbours forhelp and later a police teamreached my house on infor-mation,” he told.
The SO Para said no sui-
cide note was recovered fromthe room. “Prima facie itseemed that the woman com-mitted suicide,” he said. He,however failed to give reasonbehind the suicide. “We areworking on the case,’ he said.
Police action came as a bigsurprise to cops in Lucknowpolice. “At a time when thenews SSP Lucknow is stressingon dealing the woman relatedissues with sensitivity, some sta-tion officers hardly care the topcop’s concern,’ a police officertold.
city 04LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
Lucknow (PNS): ‘In view of theexpected heavy vehicular movementtowards Kanpur for an IPL match,Traffic Police have enforced a slew uptraffic regulations. The traffic regulationswill be enforced on Thursday.
Heavy vehicles coming fromFaizabad will be diverted to Kursi roadvia Deva road overbridge. Heavy vehi-cles coming from Faizabad and goingtowards Kanpur or Rae-Bareli will bediverted to Satrik crossing where furtherdiversions would be placed.
Heavy vehicles coming fromSultanpur will be diverted from
Haidergarh.Traffic coming from Sitapur will be
stopped at Atariya.Traffic coming from Faizabad will be
diverted towards Madiyaon.Heavy vehicles coming from Hardoi
will be diverted towards Hardoi-Sandeelapolice station. Heavy vehicles comingfrom Mohan road will be divertedtowards Kati Baghiya.
Heavy vehicles coming from Rae-Bareli and going towards Gosainganj willbe diverted from Mohanlalganj to fur-ther Rae-Bareli road. Vehicles going toRae-Bareli from Chinhat will be divert-
ed towards Shaheed Path Heavy vehiclescoming from Kanpur to Lucknow willvbe diverted from Tikoniya crossing.
Heavy vehicles coming fromLucknow to Kanpur will be divertedtowards Utrathiya and further toShaheed Path. Heavy vehicles comingfrom Lucknow to Rae-Bareli via SarojiniNagar will be divereted towards Baniroad.
Heavy vehicles coming fromLucknow going towards Kanpur viaKrishna Nagar will be diverted towardsRama Bai Rally Sthal and Utretia andfurther to Shaheed Path.
SOLAR LIGHTS TO BE INSTALLEDA decision regarding installation of 500 solar
lights in the state capital has been taken by theCentral Ministry of Energy Resources and thePower Grid Corporation has been given a greensignal regarding the same. BJP city unit presi-dent Mukesh Sharma and MP Rajnath Singh’srepresentative Diwakar Tripathi launched theprogramme in Mankameshwar Temple.
PRE-MATURE BABY FINEDoctors at the RML Hospital gave a new life
to a pre-mature infant who was born after sixmonths of pregnancy on May 8 with a weight ofjust 800 grams. Under the treatment of Dr MNMishra, the baby has recovered fast in NICU andgained a weight 120 grams. Dr Mishra said thatin such a case the chance of survival was slim andpegged at a meagre 20 per cent. CMS Dr OmkarYadav said that the infant was kept on 1/5 fluidand after some time the baby was fed with RTfeed and mother feed.
PROTESTPressing their demands for promotion and
integration, scores of clerical staff working in theHealth department staged a protest at SwasthaBhawan on Wednesday. Employees under theaegis of UP Public and Health MinisterialAssociation organised a general body meetingat 11 am.
DEMAND FOR MINIMUM WAGES UP Domestic Workers’ Union held a demon-
stration in front of the Collectorate on Wednesdaydemanding legislative action to introduce laws toprotect domestic workers against abuse and reg-ulate minimum wages, health and accidents insur-ance cover, weekly holidays, pensions, and PFs
for workers. The union declared that if no actionwas taken by the government, there would beprotests on a bigger scale.
NEW TRAINNorthern Railway will run a new Suvidha
Express (05527/28) from Anand Vihar termi-nal to Jayanagar for two trips between Sundayand Wednesday.
AMARNATH YATRASanathan Mahasabha held a protest meet-
ing at GPO Park on Wednesday to demand gov-ernment assistance in Hindu pilgrimage tripslike the Amarnath Yatra asking that there be a50 per cent decrease in travel expenditure andassistance be provided in boarding and lodgingfacilities too. A memorandum detailing theissues discussed was handed over to the ChiefMinister. The Mahasabha was joined by otherorganisations like Sri Barfanishwar MahadevSeva Samiti, Bharatiya Seva Sanstha and BharatRaksha Dal.
THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE Playwright Daario Fo’s play ‘Ek Akeli Aurat’
will be staged at Sant Gadge auditorium inGomti Nagar on Thursday from 7 pm onwards.The production will be organised by the SrijanShakti Welfare Society to create awarenessabout the fight for women’s rights.
YOGA CAMPRamakrishna Mission Sevashram
Vivekananda Polyclinic and Institute of MedicalSciences is organising a yoga camp free of costfrom May 21 to June 20, 2016, from 7 am to 8am. The camp will conclude on InternationalYoga Day on June 21.
Lucknow (PNS): Twounidentified miscreants snatched agold chain from a woman inJankipuram on Wednesday night.Reeta Srivastava of Jankipuram,along with her son Vaibhav, hadgone to a clinic to consult a doctorand she was returning home whenmiscreants targeted her. Reeta toldpolice that she was on a rickshawand she stopped at Chuiyapurcrossing when her son insisted onbuying ice-cream. “The miscreantscame from behind and snatchedthe gold chain,” she told police.Police had registered a case in thisconnection.
Two unidentified miscreantslooted a car from a resident inThakurganj on Wednesday night.Mohammed Azimmuddin ofBazaarkhana had placed a requestat an online shopping site to sell hiscar. On his request, a man, alongwith his associate, contacted himand reached his shop on Tuesdaynight. The miscreants asked Aminthat they want to go on a test driveand fled with the car. Policeadmitted that such an incident hadtaken place and added that a casehad been registered in thisconnection.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Afire broke out at UP SkillDevelopment Mission
office at State IndustrialTraining Institute in Aliganj onWednesday morning. Propertyworth several lakh was gutted.
As per reports, the staffspotted smoke billowing outfrom the account section of theoffice. The staff swung intoaction and doused the fire ontheir own. Around 9.33 am,security guard Dharmendraspotted fire flames and heinformed the police controlroom for help.
By the time, the police andfiremen reached the place,flames were leaping high andgradually engulfed the entiresection.
Important files, computers,furniture and other valuableitems were gutted. Police saidthe fire broke out due to shortcircuit. “We are investigatingthe case,” the police said.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Governor Ram Naik will inaugurate the craftexhibition being organised by a private
institute at the Tourism department auditori-um here on May 24. Fashion designer AsmaHussain, main organiser of the programme,while talking to The Pioneer, said that the inau-guration would be followed by an exhibition ofdifferent crafts of UP.
“A competition will be held for the already-established designers who will present a collec-tion of five garments each. The event will bejudged by fashion designer, Nida Mahmood.This event will have a cash prize of Rs 50,000.A kids’ fashion show will also be organised onthe occasion. Kids between the age of 4 and 9years will walk the ramp and show off their flairin an effort to become the next AIFT Prince andPrincess-2016.
She said that the festival would be held fromMay 24 to 30 and several competitions wouldbe organised. On the last day, Bollywood actressSoha Ali Khan will be the show-stopper, sheadded. She added that a photography compe-tition would also be organised on the occasion.
“We will keep posting entries on our web-site with the photographers’ name. The photowith the most likes by 11:59 pm on May 28 will
be the winner of ‘The Popular Click.’ A pho-tography exhibition will be held on May 30 atthe Indira Gandhi Pratishthan and a prize willbe given to the winner. She said that her insti-tute would complete 21 successful years on May30.
“Every year approximately more than 3,500youngsters from different colleges and institu-tions participate in various events of the fash-ion festival. This year too we invited all collegesto come and participate in it. It generates aware-ness and gives coverage to youths. This year’stheme for the fashion festival is Istanbul and afull ambience of this city is created at the venuewith beautiful arches, chandeliers and fountainsgiving you a glimpse into the culture andgrandeur of this city,” she said.
Soha Ali Khan will also give away awardsto outstanding students. The models in thisyears’ grand finale on May 30 are from Russia,Bombay and Delhi. Jesse Randhawa, AlesiaRaut, Sonalika Sahay to name a few along withsome international models will be the other starattractions at the grand finale.
She said that a Campus Princess-2016 fordirect entry into Miss Diva (Miss UniverseIndia) in Mumbai would be organised the win-ner of which would eventually move on to par-ticipate in the Miss Universe-2016.
CMS PRINCIPAL GETS ‘LIFETIMEACHIEVEMENT AWARD’
Principal of CityMontessori School’sKanpur RoadCampus, Dr (Mrs)Vineeta Kamran, hasbeen honoured with‘ L i f e t i m eAchievement Award’for her exemplary ser-vices in the field ofeducation. EduAceServices and Centrefor Education Growth& Research (CEGR),educational organisa-tions jointly gave thisaward to Dr Kamran at a grand function heldrecently in Lucknow. The award was given awayby UP’s Minister for Skill Development andVocational Education, Abhishek Mishra. DrKamran has been an advocate for quality edu-cation and has made all possible efforts tospread and establish the concept of Students’Quality Control Circles, internationally. She hasearned fame for her unmatched efforts, as shehas always prioritised on nurturing young gen-eration as Total Quality Personby making surethey have access to meaningful and quality edu-cation.
SAVE WATER RALLYStudents and staff of Lucknow Public
School’s Vrindavan Yojna campus took out arally to spread awareness of the need to savewater. The rally was flagged off by LucknowPublic Schools & Colleges founder manager SPSingh and head of innovation wing, Neha Singh,from Telibagh crossing. The rally culminatedat Indian Sugarcane Research Institute inCantonment. Students of senior wing carry-ing placards, banners and confettis with thoughtprovoking messages on water conservation tookpart in the rally. They also staged nukkad natak‘Every drop counts’ at three places. The rally wasguided by Harmesh Singh (PET). Principal ofthe school and co-ordinator of the rally RupaliPatel expressed her gratitude to the dignitariesand parents and guardians who supported thecause.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Head of the ChemistryDepartment, Lucknow
University, Sudha Jain saidhere on Wednesday that theNuclear Magnetic Resonancespectroscopy was a milestone.
Talking to ‘The Pioneer,’she said that it was the first timethat any university in the statewas having such an equip-ment. She added that it was oneof the most essential tools inChemistry and related fieldsand would boost research inthe department.
She pointed out: “It is com-monly used for determiningthe purity of molecular struc-tures and their confirmation. Itcan also be extended as a toolto study the mechanism ofchemical reactions and therate at which they occur.
Access to NMR spectrom-eters is vital for the researchand development in organicsynthesis, solar energy conver-sion, electronic materials, pro-tein chemistry and catalysts forfuel and chemical production,”she said.
She added that the NMRfacility would be utilised by stu-dents in the Chemistry andother departments.
“The NMR spectrometerwill allow students, especiallyworking in the field ofInorganic, OrganometallicChemistry to collect sensitiveheteronuclear measurements.The new equipment will enableexperiments which were previ-ously too difficult or impossi-ble,” she disclosed.
She said that as far as theirdepartment was concerned, 20research groups having approx-imately 75 PhD students andresearchers were regular usersof the NMR facility. Outside thedepartment of Chemistry,other students in Biochemistryalso used the NMR facility, shesaid, adding that the equipmenthad significantly increased theresearch capabilities of thedepartment of Chemistry.
The Department ofChemistry at LucknowUniversity also recentlyinstalled other sophisticatedinstruments like FTIR spec-trometer, UV-visible spec-trophotometer and fluores-cence spectrometer. She addedthat the instruments wereinstalled with the financialsupport from the DST-PURSE,the University of Lucknow andthe Centre of Excellence,Government of UP.
CITYBRIEFS
SCHOOLSCAN
Guv to inaugurate craft
fair at fashion fest
PNS n LUCKNOW
Village panchayat rivalryled to a violent clash that
left two dead and over half-a-dozen others injured inSaharanpur on Tuesday night.
Surprisingly, the assailants,who were supporters of theperson who had lost the recentgram pradhan election, keptfiring guns for over an hour butno policeman reached the spot.It was only when the villagerstook up the challenge that thecops reached the spot andadmitted the injured to hospi-tal.
On Wednesday afternoon,the local police claimed tohave arrested one of the shoot-ers out of the 16 personsnamed in the First InformationReport (FIR) lodged in connec-tion with the attack.
Reports said that Intezar,the sitting gram pradhan ofDhamola in Kotwali Dehatarea of Saharanpur, and Nafees,who had lost the recent gram
pradhan poll, had a bitter feud.Both the sides had clashed sev-eral times earlier and the mat-ter was also reported to thelocal police but the cops tookno preventive measures.
According to reportsreceived here from Dhamola,both Intezar and Nafees cameface to face on Tuesday nightand both started hurling abus-es at each other.
The situation took an uglyturn when Nafees called his kinand henchmen and they sud-denly opened indiscriminatefire with country-madeweapons, killing 18-year-oldGulfisa aka Moti (daughter ofIntezar’s cousin Talib) and a 40-year-old kin Gaffar, and injur-ing half-a-dozen others seri-ously.
The injured were lateradmitted to district hospitalwhere the condition ofMusarat, Zubair, Feroz, Anisand Talib was stated to be crit-ical.
A similar clash between
two groups in Rae Bareli leftone person dead and overhalf-a-dozen seriously injured.
Ramesh Tewari aka LalaTewari of Gaura hamlet inUnchahar had political rivalrywith Narendra Bahadur. Bothhad supported different candi-dates during gram pradhanelection and had even threat-ened each other.
Late Monday night, Lalaand Narendra clashed witheach other at Parsipur crossing.They were later joined by theirsupporters who opened fireand attacked each other withsticks and rods.
Over half-a-dozen personswere seriously injured in theclash. They were rushed to dis-trict hospital where Narendrawas pronounced dead whilethe condition of KalikaBahadur, Shiv Kumar, Arun, allsupporters and kin ofNarendra, was stated to be crit-ical.
A case was registered butno one was arrested.
Lucknow (PNS): The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesdayhit out at Samajwadi Party government’s insensitivity towardsthe plight of drought-hit people of Bundelkhand region, say-ing that instead of extending relief to the suffering masses, itwas only blaming the Centre.
“When people are dying of hunger and water, the state gov-ernment is shifting its responsibility on the Centre. The fact isthat the National Democratic Alliance government has releasedmoney but the state government has failed to utilise it,” BJP statespokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava said in a statement issuedhere on Wednesday.
The BJP state spokesman said the state government tookits sweet time to declare Bundelkhand drought-hit. He addedthat when rain had failed the rugged region for the last threeyears, the state government should have acted fact anddeclared it as drought-hit.
“An early decision would had helped the Centre to releasefunds a bit early,” he added.
Member of Parliament from Banda, Bhairo Prasad Mishra,said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned Rs 1,304crore for Bundelkhand area and had asked officials to depositthe money in the accounts of the farmers within a week.
“Even after a week, the money has not been deposited inthe accounts as yet. This shows the callousness of the state gov-ernment. The Chief Minister should intervene and extend helpto the drought-hit people immediately,” he said.
Mishra said Jhansi, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Banda, Jalaun,Lalitpur and Chitrakoot were among the worst-affected areas.
“Animals are dying every day because of non-availabilityof water and scarcity of fodder. In many villages, people haveallowed their animals to roam free in the village. This has cre-ated a nuisance,” he added.
The BJP parliamentarian said the situation was very criti-cal in Chitrakoot as Russsin, Ohan and Barua dams had runout of water.
BJP city unit president Mukesh Sharma and head priest Divya Giri inaugurating the installation of solar light at the main gate of Mankameshwar temple Pioneer
Huge propertygutted inAliganj
Three killed in two clashes
BJP: UP govt yet
to release Central
relief in B’khand
NMR spectroscopy a milestone at LU dept
Traffic curbs today for IPL match
Woman’s chainsnatched
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016 nation 05
PNS n NEW DELHI
Ahead of poll results in fourStates and a Union
Territory on Thursday, the BJPis expecting an electoral break-through in Assam and ‘thebest ever performance’ inKerala and West Bengal.
A positive result in Assamwill be of major significance forthe party as it wants to get overits poll defeats in Delhi andBihar Assembly elections andseeks to get back to its winningstreak again. The running anti-incumbency in Assam againstthe Congress Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi’s 14-year rulegives the BJP its best chance tooust the Congress and saddleitself in the strategically impor-tant State of the North-East.
The exit polls have pre-dicted the BJP to emerge as thesingle largest party in a Houseof 126 in Assam. During theAssam campaign, the BJP hadmade an aggressive campaignagainst the Congress with
Bangladeshi infiltration draw-ing the maximum focus.
BJP president Amit Shahbrought up Bangladeshi infil-tration, a massive political issuein lower Assam, alleging thatthe Congress Government hasleft the border open to allowillegal migrants to enter fromBangladesh so that they can beused as a vote bank. Shahpromised to electorate that ifelected to power in Assam hisparty “will ensure not a birdcan fly across”.
The BJP had compared theAssam polls with a historicalbattle between the invadingarmies of Mughals against local
Ahom rulers. In that battle,Ahoms, led by General LachitBorphukan, had repulsed theMughals and ended their dreamof expanding beyond Bengal.
All the exit polls indicatethat the BJP will either be thesingle-largest party or sweep theelection in Assam. Either way,it will get the first shot at form-ing the government in the state.Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitleymaintains that BJP will do wellin Assam and even form aGovernment in the State.
A day before the countingon Thursday,
the BJPh a d
pitched a tent in its office appar-ently to celebrate the occasion ifit scores victory in Assam.
As for other States likeWest Bengal and Kerala, the BJPis expecting to improve its pastpoll performance. The tally forthe party in Bengal and Keralais anticipated to go anywherefrom one to four seats. “Evencouple of seats in these two
States will be a moral boostingfor the party and its workers,”said a senior party leader. TheBJP expects increase in voteshare in both the States. “A goodperformance” in Kerala wouldencourage the BJP to expandand consolidate its base in theSouth where it had made a deci-sive entry by attaining majori-ty in Karnataka in the past.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court onWednesday refused to stay
the non-bailable warrants(NBWs) issued against PankajBhujbal, the son of formerMaharashtra Deputy ChiefMinister Chhagan Bhujbal, in amoney laundering case againsthim along with 53 otheraccused, including his father.
The Vacation Bench ofJustices Abhay Manohar Sapreand Ashok Bhushan directedthe NCP legislator PankajBhujbal to approach theBombay High Court challeng-ing the summons issued by aMumbai court designatedunder the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) onApril 27, 2016. It asked Pankaj’scounsel, “We don’t understandwhy are you so allergic toapproach the High Court and
have chosen instead to appealdirectly to the Supreme Court.”
His lawyers were confidentof relief as the Supreme Court ina similar case had on May 11,2016 stayed the NBW issued toone of the co-accused KrishnaChamarkar. But the apex benchsaid that the present appeal wasnot comparable with the earli-er case. “You (Pankaj) only wantto take advantage of the previ-ous court order. But what pre-vented you to approach the HCas the earlier accused had gone.”
Junior Bhujbal who hasalready evaded appearancebefore the PMLA court onMay 11, 2016 was allowed bythe Supreme Court to with-draw the petition and appealbefore the Bombay HC. Thenext date when the case againsthim will be taken up by the trialcourt is on June 13.
The EnforcementDirectorate had filed a substan-tive charge sheet againstChhagan Bhujbal, his sonPankaj, his nephew and formerMP Sameer Bhujbal, amongseveral others for receivingalleged kickbacks in awardingcontract of the new MaharashtraSadan to be constructed at Delhi.The contract was awarded byBhujbal when he was PWDMinister to the companyChamankar Enterprises, whoseowners too are facing probe inthe case.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved the
Princess Park Complex nearIndia Gate for constructingthe proposed National WarMuseum. The EmpoweredApex Steering Committee hadrecently decided that PrincessPark Complex would be thesuitable site for the museum.The Union Cabinet wasapprised of the decision of thecommittee, an official state-ment said.
The Union Cabinet had onOctober 7 last approved theconstruction of the NationalWar Memorial at ‘C’ Hexagonof India Gate, acceding to along-pending demand of the
armed forces. The total time forcompletion of the Rs 500-croreproject to build a memorial andan accompanying museum isestimated to be five years.
“The memorial will pro-mote a sense of patriotism in theminds of visitors, and will awardan opportunity to citizens of thisvast nation, to express theirtoken sense of gratitude to thebrave soldiers, who laid downtheir lives for the motherland,”a statement issued after theOctober, 2015 decision of theCabinet had said.
Post-Independence, morethan 22,500 soldiers have madethe supreme sacrifice in nation-al interest and in defence of thesovereignty and integrity of thecountry.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Public AccountsCommittee (PAC) on
Wednesday witnessed sparringbetween BJP and CongressMPs on the subjects to betaken by the panel. CongressMPs objected to their BJPcounterparts’ demand forexamining the CAG report onAgustaWestland chopper scamand instead demanded exam-ining the implementation ofPrime Minister’s pet ‘Make inIndia’ scheme.
In the meeting that wascalled to decide on subjects to betaken up during its one year-tenure, Vijay Goel (BJP) said thePAC should take up the 2013CAG report on “irregularities”in the VVIP chopper deal.
The demand was also sup-ported by BJD’s B Mahtab, whosaid that there should not be anybar on PAC taking up eventhose issues that are being inves-tigated by agencies like the CBIor those pending before the
courts. Mahtab alsocited that PAC had lookedinto CAG reports on coalblock allocation.
But Trinamool Congressmember Sukhendu Sekhar Roywondered if it will not be a“conflict of interest” to discussdefence deals in the presence ofComptroller and AuditorGeneral Shashi Kant Sharma,who was earlier DefenceSecretary. Roy noted that theCAG is examining a number ofmatters, including some dealsand has submitted a report onsome of them. He questionedhow the PAC could examinethe CAG reports on defencedeals when Sharma was earli-er Defence Secretary.
“How can the CAG sithere, when we are examin-
ing those reports,” Royasked. PAC ChairmanKV Thomas, however,reminded him that the
issue of appointment ofSharma as CAG had been
settled earlier.The issues were raised in
the presence of Sharma, whomade the customary CAGbriefing in the first meeting ofthe newly-constituted PAC headed by seniorCongress leader KV Thomas.
Thomas, however, remainednon-committal over the demandand asked the members to writeto him about the issues that theywant to discuss. Shantaram Naik(Congress) demanded that thePAC should examine the imple-mentation of Make in India pro-gramme of Centre. Naik’s insis-tence that the PAC should exam-ine the implementation of thePrime Minister’s pet programmeappeared to be a strategy to putthe BJP on defensive.
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
Unhealthy and sedentarylifestyle besides tobacco
consumption is rapidly fuellingcancer in the country. Considerthis: One in 44 women acrossthe country and 21 in thenational Capital will developbreast cancer in their lifetimewhile on an average one in 36women is at the risk of devel-oping cervix cancer.
There’s no good news forthe males either, as far as can-cer is concerned. One in 61males (one in 22 from Aizawal) and one in 106 males (one in51 males from Ahmedabad) inthe country have risk of devel-oping lung and mouth cancerrespectively, as per the dataavailable from the ICMR.
The “Three-Year Report ofPopulation Based CancerRegistries 2012- 2014” reportwhich has used data collected
over three years from 27 PBCRsin the country was released onWednesday by a team of healthexperts led by ICMR DGSoumya Swaminathan.
It points out that the high-est age adjusted incidencerate (AAR) (271/100,000) ofcancer of all anatomical sitesamong males is seen in Aizawldistrict in Mizoram State andamong females in Papumparedistrict (AAR=249.0) in
Arunachal Pradesh.In view of rising cases,
which is due to various reasonssuch has increased lifeexpectancy and increased pop-ulation, various leading healthexperts including Dr GK Rath,who heads the cancer centre atthe AIIMS have called formaking the cancer a notifieddisease. He also said that peo-ple need to adopt healthlifestyle and shed tobacco to
keep the cancer at bay.Among males, cancer of
the mouth has been found to behighest in registry areas inBarshi (Maharashtra),Ahmadabad, Nagpur, Pune,Wardha and Bhopal followedby Mumbai and Aurangabad.
Among females, highestcases of cancer of the breast wasreported from 19 of 27 PBCRsand the second or third lead-ing site in the remaining 8PBCRs. Cancer of cervix is theleading site of cancer in therural areas in Barshi district ofMaharashtra, and in Mizoram,Tripura and Nagaland. Among
females, East Khasi Hills inMeghalya had the highest AAR(9.1) for cancer of the mouth.
The estimated total burden(for the country as a whole) ofcancer for the year 2016 isaround 14.5 lakh new cases and17.3 lakh new cases in 2020, asper the report. Cancers associ-ated with use of tobacco account-ed for about 30 per cent of allcancer in males and females.
On the good note, all thePBCRs at Bengaluru, Barshi,Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi andMumbai showed a significantdecrease in the incidence rateof cervical cancer.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Government onWednesday suspended
with immediate effect UnionHome Ministry official AnandJoshi, who was arrested byCBI this week for allegedly issu-ing Foreign ContributionRegulation Act (FCRA) noticesarbitrarily to several NGOs forfinancial gains.
Joshi, who had disappearedlast week from his home inIndirapuram in Ghaziabad, waspicked upfrom TilakNagar area ofWest Delhi onSunday andtaken to theCBI headquar-ters for ques-t i o n i n g .Subsequently,he was arrestedby the agency.
The case was slappedagainst Joshi and some otherunnamed persons for allegedlyindulging in corrupt practicesand arbitrarily issuing notices toseveral NGOs, registered underFCRA, which were receivingsignificant amount of foreigncontributions.
Joshi has rejected the chargeand instead accused his senior,Additional Secretary BK Prasad,of pressuring him to give aclean chit to NGOs. Prasad,however, denied the charges.
The matter came to lightafter files pertaining to allegedFCRA violations by two NGOsrun by Setalvad went missingfrom the Home Ministry. Thefiles were traced and restored tothe FCRA division but CBI wasasked to investigate the matter.
PNS n NEW DELHI
India was the favourite touristdestination for Bangladeshis
who topped the list of foreigntourists arrivals (FTAs) (18.09per cent) followed by USA(12.24 per cent) and UK (9.58per cent) in April 2016. TheFTAs growth was by 10.7 percent in April 2016 over thesame period last year.
The country earned`11,637 crore foreign exchange
through tourism in April 2016,said a statement from the UnionTourism Ministry. It was`10,091 crore in April, 2015 and`9,179 crore in April, 2014.
FTAs during April, 2016were 5.99 lakh as compared to
FTAs of 5.42 lakh during thecorresponding period of lastyear and 5.35 lakh in April,2014. Besides, Bangladesh, USAand UK, among the top 15source countries were from SriLanka (3.71 per cent), Malaysia(3.23 per cent), China (3.14 percent), Australia (3.05 per cent)and Germany (3.02 per cent).
Pakistan was nowhereamong the top 15 countries, asper the data available from theMinistry.
New Delhi: As part of India’s ‘Act East’ policy, the Indian Navy’sEastern Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral SVBhokare, sailed out on Wednesday on a two and half-monthlong operational deployment to the South China and NorthWest Pacific. During this overseas deployment, the ships willmake port calls at Cam Rahn Bay (Vietnam), Subic Bay(Philippines), Sasebo (Japan), Busan (South Korea),Vladivostok (Russia) and Port Klang (Malaysia).
Indigenously built guided missile stealth frigates, INS Satpuraand INS Sahyadri, Shakti, a sophisticated fleet support ship andINS Kirch an indigenous guided missile corvette are participatingin this deployment, officials said here on Wednesday.
The visits to each port will last four days and are aimedat strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing inter-operabil-ity between the navies. During the stay in harbour, variousactivities such as official calls and professional interactionbetween naval personnel of both the nations have beenplanned. In addition to showing the Flag in this region of vitalstrategic importance to India, these ships will also participatein MALABAR-16, a maritime exercise with the US Navy andJapan Navy, they said. PNS
Eastern Fleet sails towards South ChinaPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
Keen to maintain its opera-tional readiness despite
delay in the submarine acqui-sition plan, the Navy has optedfor upgrade of its existing fleetand the first Russian madeplatform INS Sindhukesri willundergo major refit and lifecertification (MRLC). The sub-marine will reach Russia inMay-end and go through thetwo year overhaul costingnearly `1,000 crore.
Meanwhile, INSSindhuratna, which saw amajor fire leading to the deathof two officers on February 26,2014, has undergone a com-plete overhaul in Mumbai. Thesubmarine is expected to joinservice after ongoing opera-
tional trials. The then NavyChief Admiral DK Joshi hadresigned after the accidentowning moral responsibility.Another submarine INSSindhurakshak witnessed blastson August 14, 2013 claimingthe life of 18 navy personnel.
At present, the Navy has 15submarines and most of themare in the final stage of theiroperational life. Delay in themanufacturing and deliveryschedule of four Scorpene sub-marines made the Navy exercisethe option of upgrade, sourcessaid on Wednesday.
Soon after the NDAGovernment came to power,Defence Acquisition Council(DAC) cleared the project ofrefit and life certification in2014 for six submarines at anoverall cost of `4,800 crore.
Given the climbing rate ofdollar, the price for upgrade ofeach submarine will now touch`1,000 crore, they said. INSSindhukesri is the first sub-marine to sail to Russia foroverhaul after the DAC nod.
This submarine inductedinto service in 1989 has alreadyseen one mid life upgrade. Theforthcoming overhaul will alsosee life certification by the orig-inal manufacturer and if the
inner hull, the critical compo-nent of the submarine, is notfound up to the mark, the refitmay not take place, they said.
Elaborating the need forthis option, they said the Navy’s30-year submarine plan framedin 1999 envisaged 24 sub-marines. However, delays andcost overruns hampered thefleet strength. Moreover, theglobal tender for six conven-tional submarines to be built
here under the ‘Make in India’policy is yet to be floated, theypointed out. The total cost ofthis project named P-75I ismore than `50,000 crore.
The first Scorpene sub-marine renamed INS Kalvri,now undergoing diving trialsat Mazagon Dockyards(MDL),Mumbai is likely to be induct-ed into the Navy by July thisyear followed by next threesubmarines joining service at
a gap of six months each. Sources said if this schedule
is adhered to, the Navy will beable to maintain its force levelsand may not go in for mid-lifeupgrades of older submarines asthis process is expensive.Incidentally, the first of thenine Sindhu series of sub-marines were inducted in 1986and last platform joined in2000. With an average life of 40years, the Navy will not overhaulthe older submarines and retirethem and go for refit of relativelynewer platforms, they said.
Incidentally, the sea trialsof the first indigenouslydesigned and manufacturednuclear powered submarineINS Arihant are on and thefirst of four such submarinesare expected to become oper-ational next year. At present,Russian-made nuclear-pow-ered submarine INS Chakra isin the Indian Navy fleet. Thesubmarine was inducted threeyears back on a ten year lease.
INS Sindhukesri to undergomajor refit and life certification
Delay in acquisition leads Navy to upgrade existing fleet
* INS Sindhukesri will reach Russiain May-end and go through the two year overhaul costing nearly`1,000 crore
* INS Sindhuratna, which saw amajor fire, has undergone acomplete overhaul in Mumbai
* At present, the Navy has 15submarines and most of them are inthe final stage of their operational life
* INS Sindhukesri is the firstsubmarine to sail to Russia foroverhaul after the DAC nod
forward
Bigleap
BJP HOPEFUL OF VICTORY IN ASSAMBEST-EVER PERFORMANCE IN KERALA, BENGAL
PNS n NEW DELHI
Master poll strategistPrashant Kishor
on Wednesday deniedreports that he was part-ing ways with theCongress owing toalleged growing interference bysenior party leaders in hiswork is “wild speculation”. Onhis part, the party’s face inPunjab, former Chief MinisterAmradinder Singh too deniedreports of a rift with Kishor.
The clarifications comesafter news reports pouringattributed that all was not wellbetween Kishor and someCongress leaders of UttarPradesh and Punjab.
Kishor has been facingopposition from some sectionsof the grand old party over hisstyle of functioning. His organ-isation, I-PAC, said that Kishorwill continue to work with theCongress till Uttar Pradeshand Punjab polls.
“Question of quitting isnothing but wild speculation.We are deeply honoured by theresponsibility and totally com-mitted to the job. Grateful for theopportunity and the trust shownby the Congress, its leadershipand each and every workers fortheir faith in us,” I-PAC postedtweets in this regard.
Kishor was roped in byCongress vice-president RahulGandhi to recreate magic for theparty in next year’s Punjab andUttar Pradesh Assembly elec-tions. The Congress has beentrying to gain power in UP andPunjab for the last some years,but without success.
Amradinder Singh told aprivate news channel, “Thingsare 100 per cent fine. We’vebeen together for the whole of
yesterday (Tuesday),been together whole ofthis morning. We have no differenceswhatsoever.”
Kishore, who hadsuccessfully designedNarendra Modi’s Lok
Sabha election campaign andNitish Kumar’s 2015 BiharAssembly polls campaign, wasrecently roped in by Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhi torecreate the same magic for theparty in next year’s Punjaband Uttar Pradesh AssemblyElections.
The Congress is out ofpower in Punjab for the pastnine years and is making stren-uous efforts to oust the SAD-BJP combine from power at atime when the AAP hasemerged as a significant play-er in the State.
Kishor has taken uponhimself the task of winning UPand Punjab for the Congress,with one main condition: a freehand in decision making.“While the top leadership of theCongress party has not restrict-ed him yet, other leaders inDelhi and the two states havebeen lobbying hard to curbKishor’s influence,” said asenior Congress leader.
NO PARTING WAYS WITHCONG: PRASHANT KISHOR
Things are 100 per centfine...We have nodifferences whatsoeverAMARINDER SINGH
PAC in tug of war between BJP, CongBJP wants committee to take call onCAG report, Cong opposes demand
Agustascam
Westland
Vijay Goel (BJP) said thePAC should take up the 2013CAG report on ‘irregularities’in the VVIP chopper deal
MONEYLaundering
caseSC refuses to stay non-bailablewarrants against Bhujbals
Princess Park Complexbest suited for NationalWar Museum: Panel
THE MEMORIAL WILL PROMOTE A SENSE OFPATRIOTISM IN THE MINDS OF VISITORS, AND WILLAWARD AN OPPORTUNITY TO CITIZENS OF THISVAST NATION, TO EXPRESS THEIR TOKEN SENSE OFGRATITUDE TO THE BRAVE SOLDIERS, WHO LAIDDOWN THEIR LIVES FOR THE MOTHERLAND
Govt suspends
Anand Joshi with
immediate effect
Unhealthy lifestyle fuelling cancer in countrySPREADING TENTACLESBreast cancer, with estimated 1.5 lakh (over 10% of all cancers;1.45 in females and 0.05 in males) new cases during 2016 is thenumber one cancer overall. Lung cancer is next with estimated1.14 lakh (83,000 in males and 31,000 in females) new cases.Cancer of the cervix is the third most common cancer withestimated 1.0 lakh new cases
India favourite destination for B’deshis
nation 06LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
FAIZAN AHMAD n PATNA
Working on some tip off,the top district officials of
Siwan on early Wednesdaymorning raided the Siwan jail.This further ignited the spec-ulations that former RJD MPMohammad Shahabuddin wasunder the lens of police for hisalleged role in the murder of ajournalist Rajdeo Ranjan onFriday last.
Victim’s close relatives aswell as the BJP leaders havepublicly accused the RJDstrongman for his directinvolvement in the gruesomemurder of the Siwan bureauchief of Hindi daily Hindustan.
A few people arrested on sus-picion are also reportedly havelinks with the former MP whois also a member of the RJD’snational executive constitutedonly last month.
The Siwan DM and SP ledthe raid and searched variouswards and reportedly somemobile phones and kniveswere seized during the raid.There was no official word asto what was recovered from thecell of Shahabuddin who islodged there for over a decadeon various criminal casesincluding murder.
Sources said the call detailrecords of one of the arrestedpersons led the police to raidthe jail. The call records,sources said, showed 36 callswere made from the jailpremises to one of the arrest-ed persons and the calls hadbeen made before the murderof Ranjan as well as later on.Some calls were made when itslocation was found close to the
Siwan railway station, wherethe journalist was shot dead.
While the State Governmenthas recommended the case to beinvestigated by the CBI andissued a notification on Monday,there was still no word from theCentral probe agency. “Withthis decision (of handing overcase to the CBI) the Governmenthas admitted that people havelost faith in the police,” saidsenior BJP leader Sushil KumarModi. He demanded thatShahabuddin should be removedfrom Siwan jail and shifted tosome other central jail. Modi saidspeculations of RJD leader’sinvolvement in the murder was
getting stronger with the arrestof some people who are associ-ated with the former MP.
After interrogation of thearrested persons, the police havecome to conclusion that profes-sional shooters had been used inthis crime and they might hadbeen called from other States likeUP and West Bengal. Siwan SPsaid that the SIT constituted toprobe this murder was also intouch with the UP and WestBengal police and seeking infor-mation from them. The SP hashimself interrogated most of thearrested persons and said he hasgot some links but refused toreveal them.
Search conducted in Siwan jail
Pune: Congress workers onTuesday created a ruckus at aseminar organised byMaharashtra Congress secretaryShehzad Poonawalla at CongressBhavan where party MP ShashiTharoor and Shehzad’s youngerbrother, Tehseen, were the mainspeakers. The workers shoutedslogans saying that connectionswith Robert Vadra did not makethe Poonawallas party bigwigs.
“You people cannotbecome our leaders onlybecause you are someone’s rel-atives. What’s your contributionto the party?” asked Congressworkers when Shehzad begangiving his introductory remarksat the seminar titled, ‘Socialmedia and political communi-cation’. Tehseen recently mar-ried Robert Vadra’s cousinMonica.
The party workers, raisingslogans in support of Congresschief Sonia Gandhi and partyvice president Rahul Gandhi,contended that local figures hadnot been taken into confidencebefore the seminar and that cityleader Vishwajeet Kadam hadbeen sidelined. They did notallow Shehzad to speak, whichsaw city Congress chief RameshBagwe making an appeal tothem to stop their sloganeering.
Seeing that the party work-ers were unrelenting, Tharoortook the mike and said that nocity level official would be side-lined and that he was going tomeet Kadam. “Shehzad hasinvited me for an interaction onsocial media. If you don’t wantto listen, you can leave the audi-torium,” he said. But the work-ers were still firm that theywould not allow either of thebrothers to speak and continuedwith their slogans. Agencies
Records showcalls made from jail beforescribe’s murder
AFTER INTERROGATION OF THE ARRESTEDPERSONS, THE POLICE HAVE COME TOCONCLUSION THAT PROFESSIONALSHOOTERS HAVE BEEN USED IN THIS CRIMEAND THEY MIGHT HAD BEEN CALLED FROMOTHER STATES LIKE UP AND WEST BENGAL
MAYABHUSHA n PANAJI
AGoa lawmaker who spent12 days in police custody
for allegedly ‘purchasing’ andraping a minor girl at his farmhouse was on Wednesday final-ly released on conditional bailby a local trial court.
President of the GoaChildren’s Court PV Kamat in hisorder also directed Monserrate tosubmit a personal surety of `1 lakh, surrender his passport tothe Court and report to the GoaPolice Crime Branch everyday forthe next seven days.
The Court also grantedconditional bail to the victim’smother and an alleged pimpRosy Ferros, both of whomaccording to the police, hadconspired to sell the minor girlto Monserrate in March thisyear, before he raped her onseveral occasions, as alleged by
the victim in her FirstInformation Report (FIR) filedat the Crime Branch.
Speaking to reporters out-side the CourtroomMonserrate, who became thefirst Goan legislator to bebooked for child-rape, said thathe was “innocent” and a victimof a political conspiracy.
“I know who is behind thisconspiracy. I will expose theperson at the right time.Someone I know has tried toframe me,” Monserrate said.
According to the FIR filedagainst him, Monserrate hasbeen accused of paying `50lakh to allegedly ‘purchase’ theminor girl from her motherwith the help of a pimp RosyFerros, both of whom also gotconditional bail today.
The legislator has claimedthat on the days when he isalleged to have raped the minor
girl was when he was busycampaigning for the Panaji civicelections, where his panel wonthe highest number of seats.
When asked if the policewould appeal against the lowercourt’s granting of bail beforethe District and Sessions Court,a senior police official said that“the matter was being dis-cussed and a final decision hadnot been taken yet”.
Monserrate was elected tothe St Cruz legislative con-stituency seat on a Congressticket, but was eventuallysacked from the political out-fit for alleged anti-party activ-ities. The lawmaker is a majormove and shaker in the State’spolitical arena and in the pasthas served as a CabinetMinister in coalitionGovernment’s headed by boththe Congress as well as theBharatiya Janata Party.
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA
With the Calcutta HighCourt throwing a barrage
of uncomfortable questions tothe State counsel on allegedirregular appointment of about1.75 lakh Civic Police person-nel another feather might justhave added to the MamataBanerjee Government’s exclu-sive crown of scams.
Apparently dismayed atthe administrative irregularitywith which the appointmentswere made to accommodatethousands of civic police men— handled by the HomeDepartment — Justice SanjeebBanerjee on Wednesday saidthe way the appointments weremade pointed at large-scaleadministrative fraud. The ChiefMinister also looks after theHome Minister.
The Judge was listening toa petition filed for scrapping ofthe irregular appointments thusmade. Upon scanning the filesthe Court found numerouscases where the interviewprocess was rendered into asham. What tended to botherthe Judge was an instance of875 interviews taken on a sin-gle day.
That was not the onlyexample. Further scanning thefiles the Court found that atSarenga Police Station area inBankura district 1,351 inter-views were taken on a singleday. Similarly 900 applicantswere interviewed on the sameday at Barikul leading theJudge to comment that even if
one candidate was interviewedfor one minute the interview-ers would take more than 22hours to interview all — whichwould be a disproportionateproposition.
“At one point of time theJudge was so much astonishedat the ‘capability’ of the inter-viewers who were given tojudge the merit of the inter-viewees that he wonderedwhether their names could bereferred for the vacant posts ofjudges so that huge backlog oflaw suits could be cleared in amoment” a senior advocatesaid.
Wondering as to why suchappointments were not moni-tored when the State was pay-ing `1 crore 6 lakhs of publicmoney daily as salary to thesecivic volunteers the severelyindicted the State Government.The State was paying about `350 crore a year to the civicvolunteers.
Saying that the appoint-ments appeared to have beenmade through a “fraudulent”process the Judge asked theState counsel to explain whatmeasures they would take torectify the process. The finalverdict was to be passed onFriday.
Incidentally cases of large-scale bungling were earlierreported in the appointment ofschool teachers throughTeachers’ Eligibility Test examswhere about 18 lakh candidateswere called for tests and onlyaround 17,000 were taken.Anywhere between `5 and 10lakhs changed hands in suchappointments it was alleged inlawsuits that were subsequent-ly filed.
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
Jammu & Kashmir ChiefMinister Mehbooba Mufti
on Wednesday asked all DistrictMagistrates and AdministrativeSecretaries to set-up internalcomplaints committees to lookinto and prevent sexual harass-ment of women at workplaces.The instructions, thoughalready circulated by theGovernment, but observed inbreach alone, after a sexualassault case came to fore in anIndian System of Medicineshospital in Srinagar outskirts.
An official spokesman saidthat the Chief Minister took aserious view over non-imple-mentation of the earlier instruc-tions on setting up these com-mittees in Government offices.
Sources said that a ladyemployee working at KashmirTibbya College complained thatsuperintendent of the hospitalharassed her. The lady workingon temporary status was seekingpermanent job and that requiredthe officer’s formal consent.
Chairperson of StateCommission for WomenNayeema Mehjoor took cog-nizance of the reports aboutsexual harassment of employ-ees at the said hospital. OnTuesday Mehjoor visited thehospital and talked to femalestaff. She later asked theemployees to confide the detailsto her privately.
Sources said that the offi-cer is not working at his actu-al place of posting and a num-ber of female staff have alsobeen attached with the samehospital in contravention withthe set procedures.
The Jammu & Kashmir
Government has passed sexualharassment of women at work-places (prevention, prohibitionand redressal) Act in 2013. Theact makes it mandatory to theheads of departments to set-upmechanism for prevention andredressal of complaints ofharassment at workplaces.
The spokesman said that acircular issued by the SocialWelfare Department that over-sees the implementation of theact States that in case of pen-dency after one month, strictadministrative action shall berecommended against the con-cerned officer.
This is the third sexualassault case that surfaced in theembattled State. On Monday, aminor girl of Handwara in NorthKashmir alleged that she wasmolested by a soldier near awashroom on April 12 but wassubsequently harassed by policein custody and forced to make astatement to put the blame onlocal boys and exonerate the sol-dier. The incident led to killingof five persons including awoman in north Kashmir’sKupwara district and a string ofprotests in entire Kashmir valley.
Goa lawmaker accused of minor’srape, released on conditional bail
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav meeting the newly sworn-in Lokayukta KC Sahaduring the oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna on Wednesday. Justice Mihir Kumar Jha is also seen PTI
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
The Shiv Sena, one of the NDAconstituents at the Centre and
a ruling saffron ally in the State, onWednesday took strong exceptionto the BJP targeting the NitishKumar Government over the “dete-riorating” law and situation in hisState, saying that the concept of‘jungle raj’ had no place in democ-racy and that Bihar-like situationprevailed in other States as well.
Coming out in strong defenceof Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,the Shiv Sena — in an editorialpublished in its official mouth-piece “Saamana” — said that theefforts to the bogey of “Jungle Raj”raised by the BJP against Bihar wasunwarranted and that the effort toweaken a State Government led by
parties that were ideologicallydifferent was not a sign of ahealthy democracy.
“There is no place for ‘JungleRaj’ in democracy. ‘Jungle Raj’does not originate from ballotbox. In fact, ballot box helpseliminate ‘Jungle Raj’. If there isindeed “Jungle Raj” in Bihar, thepeople in the State are capable ofthrowing out ‘Jungle Raj’. The peo-ple of Bihar acted wisely in theAssembly polls and they will con-tinue to be wise in their approach.If there is ‘Jungle Raj’, what aboutother States?,” the Sena editorialasked.
Taking exception to the man-ner in which the BJP has goneafter the Nitish KumarGovernment on “Jungle Raj” issue,the “Saamana” editorial stated,
“After the murder of journalist inSiwan district on Friday last, theatmosphere has vitiated in Bihar.Apart from alleging that the lawand order has broken down inBihar, the BJP is attacking theNitish Kumar Government sayingthat following the recent incident,“Jungle Raj” has returned to Bihar”
“The question that arisesnow is, Did the people of Biharvote the Mahaghatbandan, led byNitish Kumar and Lalu PrasadYadav, to power to usher in‘Jungle Raj’. Why did the peopleof Bihar elect the Nitish-LaluGovernment despite the vocifer-ous ‘Jungle Raj’ campaignlaunched by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and other BJPleaders. The people of Bihar havevoted for them using their intel-
ligence and if they feel that thepresent regime is not right, theywould overthrow them,” the Senamouth-piece stated.
Maintaining that it was incor-rect to say that `Jungle Raj’ wasprevailing in Bihar just because ofsome sporadic incidents, the Senasaid that even in the BJP-ruledstates like Gujarat, Maharashtra,Haryana Madhya Pradesh andSamjawadi Party-ruled UttarPradesh.
“In a State like Uttar Pradesh,crimes like murder and kidnap-ping have become part and parcelof the lives of people. The crimelike murder in Madhya Pradeshmake it to the front pages of newspapers regularly Why only Bihar,these kind of incidents keep hap-pening in States Maharashtra and
Haryana. Such crimes do happenin States. It is for the rulers of theStates concerned to initiate mea-sures to ensure against recur-rence such incidents. TheOpposition should raise theseissues and bring pressure on theGovernment. But, the Oppositioncan not act in revengeful manner,”the Sena stated.
Citing the examples of thebrutal murder of the relative ofHindutvavadi leader PravinTogadia in Gujarat two days agoand the violence that broke dur-ing the Patidar reservation agita-tion, the Sena mouth-piece said,“How do you account for thesetwo forms of violence? It is notcorrect for us to say that there is‘Jungle Raj’ just because of theseincidents of violence”.
Sena defends Nitish, says ‘jungle raj’ has no place in democracy
Panels to monitor
sexual harassment
complaints in J&K
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
It was exactly nine years agothis Wednesday that a bomb
ripped through a Friday con-gregation in the historic MeccaMasjid of Hyderabad killingfive people and followed byanother 4 in police firing out-side the mosque on protestingworshippers. Fifty-eight otherswere injured when a bomb keptunder a stone bench in themosque court yard explodedsoon after the prayers were overand another unexploded bombwas recovered and defused.
With the scars of the inci-dent still visible, city markedthe black day with a sense ofdisquiet under the shadow ofheavy security arrangements,specially in the sensitive oldcity. More than two thousandspolice and para military per-sonnel were deployed around
Mecca Masjid-Charminarcomplex and other sensitivepoints to keep a close watch onthe situation and to prevent anyprotest. The situation remainedpeaceful and calm. The peoplewere wondering whether theincident of Mecca Masjid blastwas going the Malegaon way.
The arrest of members of aHindu terror group — AbhinavBharat — in connection withthe blast added a new chapter tothe problem of terrorism in thecountry. While initially thefocus of the investigation by thelocal police was on the terroroutfits like Lashkar-e-Tayabaand Harkat ul Jihadi Islami(HUJI), with more than hun-dred local Muslim youths werepicked up and 26 of them werecharged, the course of investi-gations now completely changedwhen the Central Bureau ofInvestigations (CBI) arrested
two members of a Hindu terrorgroup, Devender Gupta andLokesh Sharma. They wereaccused in Ajmer blast case.
Later, the NationalInvestigation Agency took overthe case due to the nationwidespread of the terror network andgroup members involvements inother incidents including theblasts in Ajmer Dargah, Malegaonand Samjhauta Express.
The NIA arrested suspectedkingpin of the conspiracy behindthe series of blasts NabakumarSarkar alias Swamy Aseemanand,Rajendar Chowdhary and BharatMohanlal Rateshwar alias BharatBhai. Wile chargesheets werefiled against all of them two otherRSS activists RamchandraKalasangar and Sandeep Dangewere shown as absconding andthey remain untraceable till now.NIA declared a reward of `onemillion on each one of them.
Congmen revolt
at seminar
by Vadra’s kin
GANDHINAGAR: At leastfour people lost their lives dueto severe heatwave across theState of Gujarat on Wednesday.
Authentic sources con-firmed that two persons inRajkot, a person inAhmedabad and a person inBanaskantha district, lost theirlives as mercury levels acrossmany parts of the state rose tonear about 47 degree celcius.
The port city of Kandlawas the hottest place in theState, with temperature risingto 48.4 degree celcius, withSurendranagar in Saurashtrawas the hottest town with tem-perature of 47.8 degree celcius.
While State capitalGandhinagar recorded a tem-perature of 47 degrees,Ahmedabad, where a 47-year-old lady lost her life due to heat,recorded a high of 46.9 degreecelcius. Amerli in Saurashtrasaw temperature at 46.6 degree,while Rajkot which saw deathsof two, had high of 45.7 degreecelcius. PNS
Heatwaveclaims fourlives in Guj
HC questions
appointment of
1.75 L civic cops
Stunned at large-scaleinterviews in a day
9 yrs on is Mecca Masjid blast
case going Malegaon way?
Massive security deployed
as WB counting begins
Amma or Thatha? Tamil Nadu awaits with bated breathKUMAR CHELLAPPAN nCHENNAI
Political leaders in Tamil Nadu,cutting across parties, are on ten-
terhooks following the differentresults of exit polls held by variousagencies immediately after the May16 Assembly election. With all set forthe counting of votes which beginsat 8 am on Thursday, the State is wit-nessing an unprecedented calm inanticipation of the major storm lyingahead. The unseasonal rains rav-aging Chennai and other neigh-bouring districts since Mondaycontinued unabated on Wednesdayalso helping to bring down the heat
of the Agni Nakshathram seasonwhich is underway in Tamil Nadu.
The Gopalapuram residence ofDMK chief M Karunanidhi(Thatha) was a beehive of activitieson Wednesday with many seniorparty leaders dropping in to greetKalaignar on the eve of counting.Since many exit polls had project-ed the DMK as the ultimate winnersin this Assembly election, mostsenior leaders who were in politicalwilderness following the “successive”failures of the party since 2011 madeit to the residence of Karunanidhi tomake the leader aware of their exis-tence. The main reason for their “pil-grimage” to Gopalapuram is the
ensuing election to Rajya Sabha fromthe State. Six members of the UpperHouse from Tamil Nadu are retir-ing by this month end. Since the exitpolls are favouring the DMK, someof the leaders like TR Balu see anopportunity to bounce back to NewDelhi. There are reports thatKarunanidhi and Stalin have start-ed discussions with party seniorsabout the composition of the nextGovernment.
But the AIADMK camp is notthat upset because of the exit pollsgiving advantage to the DMK.Reports coming from districts likeMadurai favour the AIADMK. ARMeyyammai, a senior political jour-
nalist, pointed out that there washeavy polling in rural Tamil Nadu.“I will not give the AIADMK a walkover or a landslide win. ButJayalalithaa could be the ultimatewinner though with a reducedmajority because the rural votersalways prefer Jayalalithaa,” saidMeyyamai..
V Murugan, a close confidanteof DMK chief Karunanidhi toosaid the AIADMK is all set toreturn to power. “I do not go by theexit polls. It is going to be AIADMKand Jayalalithaa this time too,” saidMurugan, a former IAS officer.
Of the 4, 28, 73674 voters whocast their votes on Monday, 2, 16,
28,807 were women and 2, 12,44,129 men. The high turnout inrural areas and women votersindicate a pro-Jayalalithaa trend asthese are her traditional areas ofstrength.
If Jayalalithaa scrapes throughthe 2016 election, she could be thefirst Tamil Nadu politician to win aGrand Slam or hat trick in electionssince 1984. Since 2011, Jayalalithaaand the AIADMK have beenunstoppable and are on a winningspree. She won the 2011 Assemblyelection, swept the 2014 Lok Sabhaelection and continued herAswamedha by winning all by elec-tions held in the State.
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA
The Election Commission has madeelaborate security arrangements to
avert blood-shed on the counting-dayeven as rampaging Trinamool Congressmen ‘celebrated’ their victory in exit-polls by felling two Opposition heads,one at Khejuri off Nandigram in EastMidnapore and the other at Malda inNorth Bengal.
While the Khejuri victim SamirMondal a CPI(M) worker was blud-geoned to death by an alleged Trinamoolcrowd a Congress panchayat memberMd Atim Sheikh was shot dead in Maldaas he defied Trinamool diktat andworked for his party during the elec-tions, said Congress block presidentAbdul Rehman. Alleged Trinamoolworkers attacked the Opposition atNatabari in North Bengal, Jagacha atHowrah, bombed CPI(M) offices at cen-tral Howrah, police said adding somearrests had been made.
About five people have died andscores injured in post-poll violence inBengal. What subaltern Trinamool lead-ers called a “trailer” of what was going tocome after the results were formallydeclared on Thursday, dozens of CPI(M)houses were ransacked and torched inMohanpur at Bhatar block in Burdwandistrict even as locals fled villages inhordes. Similar situations were witnessedin boondocks of Hooghly district beyondArambagh sub-division where oppositionhouses were raided and torched by ram-paging Trinamool men who were cele-brating the outcome of the exit polls thatpredicted a smooth-sailing for ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee.
Curiously notwithstanding repeatedcalls of all-party meeting — by theadministration — to thwart post-count-ing violence found lukewarm or noresponse from the Trinamool leadership.At Birbhum ruled by party strongmanAnubrata Mandal the district Trinamoolleadership responded to a proposedpeace-meeting by passing the buck on thehigher leadership.
“If the topmost leadership wants usto join the peace meeting then we willdo so,” said Mandal while the “top lead-ership” in Kolkata remained mysteriouslysilent apparently dropping clear hint ofwhat was going to come post Thursday.
The Chief Minister had duringnumerous of her poll rallies threatened tosettle score “inch-by-inch” once the elec-tions were over and once the Central forceswent back. Mondal on the other handthreatened to treat the opposition to“sweets and drum beats” (read attacks).
Incidentally some affected familiesfrom Jadavpur in Kolkata had alreadyappealed to the Election Commissionfor adequate compensation and securi-ty posting in the wake of midnightattacks on their houses just after the elec-tions. With the ECI yet to respond totheir petition the affected families wereplanning to move the Calcutta HighCourt.
Meanwhile, to pre-empt any violenceafter counting the ECI has made elabo-rate preparations deploying 78 compa-nies of Central Forces at 90 centres werecounting will be held on Thursday. Athree-layered security structure hasbeen thrown around Kolkata were 7companies of Central Forces will manthe counting centres.
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016 nation 07
STING OP: CBI REJECTSFRESH PLEA OF GOVT New Delhi: The CBI onWednesday rejected freshnotification of UttarakhandGovernment withdrawing anearlier request to probe stingoperation against ChiefMinister Harish Rawat. Theagency had registered aPreliminary Enquiry (PE) in thesting case following a requestfrom the State Governmentwhen it was placed underPresident's rule and furthernotification from the Centre.The agency has alsosummoned Rawat forquestioning.
PANEL FOR DEBATE ONSUB JUDICE MATTERSNew Delhi: A Parliamentarypanel has made a strong pitchfor discussing even sub judicematters in the House exceptcases of individual culpabilityand also favoured delaying realtime live telecast ofproceedings by few minutes tocheck telecast of anyunparliamentary language. TheGeneral Purposes Committeeof the Rajya Sabha headed byChairman Hamid Ansari at itsmeeting deliberated on issueslike discussing sub judicematters in the House.
APP FOR FREE LECTURESBY IIT FACULTY MEMBERSNew Delhi: Aiming to combatthe "menace of coachingindustry", the HRD Ministry iscoming up with a mobile appand portal containing freelectures by IIT faculty memberson various subjects andprevious years' questionpapers of entrance tests tothese prestigious engineeringinstitutions. HRD MinisterSmriti Irani on Wednesday saidit has also been decided thatthe questions in the IIT-JEEentrance test would conform toClass XII syllabus. She wasspeaking at an event organisedby Education Private Societyfor India (EPSFI).
DELEGATION LEAVESFOR TAIWANNew Delhi: A two-memberIndian delegation, includingsenior BJP leader Vijay Jolly,left for Taiwan on Wednesdayto attend the inauguration ofthe 14th term of President andVice-President at Taipei. ProfMadhav Das Nalapat, DirectorDepartment of Geo Politics,Manipal University is the othermember to attend the historicevent of Taiwan's First Womeninauguration ceremony.
INSHORT
Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt giving party's membership receipt to former CM Vijay Bahuguna, who joined the BJP along with eight other Congress rebel MLAs,at BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday PTI
PNS n NEW DELHI
Nine Congress rebel MLAs,including former
Uttarakhand Chief MinisterVijay Bahuguna, joined the BJPon Wednesday night. The fate ofthese MLAs was undecidedafter the Congress won thefloor test in the State Assembly.
The MLAs had met the BJPpresident last Saturday. Thedecision to induct them intothe BJP was taken after a meet-ing of party's central leadershipon Wednesday with itsUttarakhand core groupincluding all former ChiefMinisters and MPs, includingBC Khanduri, Bhagat SinghKoshiyari and RameshPokhriyal Nishank.
The rebel MLAs had pre-cipitated a political uncertain-
ty in Uttarakhand by joininghands with the BJP in Marchquestioning Harish Rawat'sstyle of functioning and brin-ing the Congress Gin minori-ty. The political developmentled to the imposition ofGovernor's rule in the hillState and subsequent inter-vention of high court andSupreme Court.
The Congress won by amargin of 33-28 in the floor test
last Tuesday. The result of thetrust vote was handed over tothe Supreme Court in a sealedcover along with video record-ing of the proceedings in theState Assembly.
The Centre had imposedPresident's rule in the State onMarch 27, arguing that theRawat Government lost major-ity when nine rebel CongressMLAs voted against the StateGovernment's annual budget.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Union Home Ministry onWednesday reviewed pre-
paredness for various naturaldisasters with StateGovernments and deliberatedon ways to tackle them, especially the preparedness forthe forthcoming south westmonsoon.
Inaugurating the annualconference of ReliefCommissioners and Secretariesof the Department of DisasterManagement of States andUnion Territories, HomeSecretary Rajiv Mehrishi saidthe disasters or adversities areincreasing in number andintensity in the country, rang-ing from earthquakes, droughts,
floods, forest fires among oth-ers. There is a need for betterpreparedness and putting com-prehensive, improved riskreduction and mitigation mea-sures in place, he said.
Mehrishi informed theparticipants that in the lastfinancial year (2015-16), 21States and one Union Territoryreported damage caused byfloods, landslides, cloudbursts
and other disasters. In thesedisasters, 1543 human liveswere lost, about 16.54 lakhhouses and huts damaged andcrops over an area of 33.57 lakhhectares affected.
Home Secretary said theMinistry of Home Affairs andagencies such as NationalDisaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA), NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) and National Instituteof Disaster Management(NIDM) are sharing long-termmeasures and training withthe States for necessary pre-paredness. He said the partic-ipants should share their expe-riences in the conference andensure that an early warningsystem is put in place.
Centre reviews disaster preparedness with States, UTs
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi addressing at the inauguration of the AnnualConference of Relief Commissioners/Secretaries, Department of DisasterManagement of States/UTs-2016, in New Delhi on Wednesday PTI
From Page 1Earlier, the AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and home-
opathy) ministry too said no attempt be made to create a controversy over the International Yoga Day, as no one will be compelled to chant “Om”. “There is no com-pulsion to chant ‘Om’ before the yoga session. It is completely vol-untary and one can remain silent. No one will object,” AYUSHministry joint secretary Anil Kumar Ganeriwala had told IANS.
From Page 1the stance of Dr
Varadarajulu Deckel, the thenGovernment Forensic Surgeonwho conducted the autopsyexpressing doubts over thecause of death. Immediatelyafter the autopsy, Dr Deckel,who had 2,500 autopsies to hiscredit, including 750 suicidecases, had asked the thenDirector of Medical Education,Tamil Nadu Government, toconstitute a team of experts to
analyse the reasons behindBatcha’s death. Dr Deckel hadtold The Pioneer that he wasnot convinced about the suicidetheory being touted as thecause of Batcha’s death. “As permy observations, Batcha diedbecause of asphyxiation. Thiscould be either due to hangingor strangulation,” said DrDeckel who quit Governmentservice immediately afterBatcha’s autopsy.
He also said that hedemanded the setting up of acommittee of experts since hedoubted the suicide theory.“Having conducted autopsieson more than 750 people who
committed suicide, I can makeout the differences in a deathby hanging and strangula-tion. A team which includedDirector, Forensic ScienceDepartment, head,Department of Pathology andDirector, Medical Education,would have been an idealbody to reach a conclusionbecause of the sensitivity ofthis case. But the thenGovernment chose to rejectmy demand,” said Dr Deckel.
Batcha was found dead onthe eve of his departure to NewDelhi as the CBI, investigatingthe 2G Spectrum scam, hadsummoned him for a second
round of questioning. He hadbeen interrogated by the CBI inDecember 2010 and it wasreported that Batcha hadspilled some beans on thefinancial deals of Raja.
Prabhakaran said onTuesday that Batcha was killedfollowing the latter’s disclosureto the CBI about Raja’s murkydeals. There were reports thatGreen House Promoters was afrontal company of A Raja. Twoof his close relations, PrameshKumar (nephew) and AKaliyaperumal (brother) weredirectors of the company. Raja’swife Parmeshwari herself wasone of the directors of the com-
pany. The company itself hadbeen launched with the kick-backs received from the tele-com spectrum allocation.
Prabhakaran’s claim thatearlier he had confided thedetails about Batcha’s murder toVaiko was substantiated by theMDMK leader himself onWednesday. “Yes, Prabhakaranhad disclosed the details to me.I had told him that the matterwould be taken up after theelection. My charge that MKStalin too had received kick-backs in the 2G Spectrumscam stands vindicated now,”Vaiko told reporters inChennai.
From Page 1Till date, 94 people have been
arrested for the Godhra train burningand 31 were found guilty. Of these, 11have been given death sentences and theremaining 20 life imprisonment. Thetrain burning incident had followed thecommunal conflagration in which over1,000 people lost their lives.
Apart from Bhana, Bilal Haji, RazakKurkur, the owner of Aman Guest
House, were found to be the main con-spirators. It was stated that Bhana,Samir Panwala, Salim Zarda and SalimBana, had met at Aman Guest House onFebruary 26, 2002, and hatched the con-spiracy to burn the coach full of karsevaks. It is believed that after theGodhra train incident, Farooq Bhanaand another conspirator Samir Panwala,left Godhra for Mumbai. He had beenon the run since the last 14 years.
The police suspected that Bhana hadtaken shelter in Pakistan and accordingly,got a Red Corner Notice issued againsthim. However, for the last six to sevenyears, Bhana is believed to have been inMumbai. According to officials he didnot visit Godhra as he was aware ofpolice attempts to nab him. As a longtime had elapsed, he is learnt to havebegun visiting his family in Godhra.
Sources in ATS said that the police
would interrogate Bhana about his rolein the conspiracy as well as his where-abouts in the last 14 years on the run.Investigating officials said Farooq Bhana,a former corporator of GodhraMunicipality, was one of the key plan-ners of the attack on the train. The ATSon its part would hand over Bhana to theSpecial Investigation Team inGandhinagar, which has been probingthe conspiracy.
Godhra train butcher nabbed after 14 years
9 U’KHAND CONG REBELS JOIN BJPThe rebel MLAs had precipitated apolitical uncertainty in Uttarakhandby joining hands with the BJP inMarch questioning Harish Rawat'sstyle of functioning and brining theCongress Gin minority
Sadiq
Batcha’s...
From Page 1Meanwhile, ten people were
killed in landslides triggered bytorrential rains in Assam whileone died of heatstroke in Odisha.
In Uttar Pradesh tempera-tures remained above normal inmost places but thundershowersare predicted for Thursday in theeastern parts of the State. UttarPradesh too witnessed heatwaveconditions at some places, withBanda being the hottest at 47degrees Celsius.
As many as 309 heat-relat-ed deaths have been reported inTelangana since the beginning ofsummer this year. However,light to moderate rain /thun-dershowers are likely to occur atisolated places over Telangana.The highest temperature of 44degrees Celsius was recorded atAdilabad. Extreme heat is dry-ing up water stocks in 91 majorreservoirs in India which hasdecreased to 29.46 Billion CubicMeters (BCM) from the previousweek’s level of 30.71 BCM.Current storage is lower than lastyear’s position of 48.29 BCM andthe average of last 10 years’ stor-age of 37.09 BCM. There are 24reservoirs with storage between30 per cent to 50 per cent, 20reservoirs having storage up to30 per cent of normal storageand seven reservoirs with no livestorage.
INDIA BOILS AS...
‘Om’ not a must during yoga...
STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI
Heavy traffic was experi-enced in parts of Delhi on
Wednesday due to the funeralprocession of spiritual leaderSatguru Baba Hardev Singh,head of the Sant Nirankarimission, at Nigam Bodh Ghat.
According to the DelhiTraffic Police, traffic had to bediverted at various locationsdue to the procession, whichled to long trail of vehicles. Thefuneral passed through BurariChowk, Outer Ring road,Kingsway Camp, DelhiUniversity Metro station, IPCollege, Chandhi RamAkhaara, Ring Road and ISBTto reach Nigam Bodh Ghat.
The procession of the spir-itual leader, who had died in aroad accident in Canada onSaturday, was carried outbetween 8 am and 12 in theafternoon. Hundreds of fol-lowers set up tents and tookpart in the funeral procession.
Traffic was majorly affectedat Kingsway Camp, Mall Road,Burari Road, Mukarba Chowk,Kashmere Gate, Libaspur andother nearby roads. Earlier, thetraffic police had issued anadvisory asking people to avoidMall Road from AzadpurTerminal to IP College from 8am to 2 pm. Commuters werealso advised to avoid OuterRing Road passing throughBurari.
Nirankari chief’s funeral chokes city
According to Delhi Traffic
Police, traffic had to be
diverted at various locations
due to the procession, which
led to long trail of vehicles
While speaking at agarden party atB u c k i n g h a mPalace, QueenElizabeth said that
certain Chinese officials had been‘very rude’ during ChinesePresident Xi Jinping’s State visit tothe UK in October 2015; it was sup-posed to herald a ‘Golden Era’ in thebilateral relations.
When introduced to theQueen, Lucy D’Orsi, a senior policeofficer responsible for the securityduring Xi’s visit, described herdealings with the Chinese officialsas ‘quite a testing time’, the 90-yearold Queen retorted: “They werevery rude to the Ambassador.”
The video of the monarch,who never makes political com-ments, went instantaneously viral.Though termed as a ‘gaffe’ by themedia, the clip was made public bythe Palace. The Queen spoke atruth that not many heads of statecan afford to utter; in fact theChinese always get away with it.
Why are the Chinese sorude? Simply because Beijingbelieves that China is the greatestworld power with the UnitedStates…and that there is no harmin showing it. As China’s econom-ic clout vanishes, one of the mostserious problems that Xi will befacing in the years to come is toshow that the Middle Kingdom isa ‘normal’, not a rude, nation.
Beijing today speaks of the‘new normal’ to describe the factthat the Chinese economicmachine runs slower than earlier;however, as far as Beijing’s behav-iour is concerned, it may takedecades for China to be ‘normal’.
What is happening in theSouth China Sea will convinceeven hard-core sinophiles. In itsrecently-published annual report tothe US Congress, the US DefenceDepartment described how China,with its rapid military growth, isusing ‘coercive tactics’ to fosterregional tensions. Can Chinabecome normal? In modern times,it is one of the most fascinatingevolving political scenarios to watch.
The leadership in Beijing isclearly aware of the dichotomy: Theimpossibility to become a ‘normal’state and simultaneously continueto bully the rest of the planet,excepting a few nations (mainly theUS and in a few cases, India).
After the Buckingham inci-dent, The Global Times, themouthpiece of the ChineseCommunist Party, said it wouldbe ‘truly boorish and rude’ if theBritish officials had intentionallyleaked the video; it added that theWestern media is “full of reckless
‘gossip fiends’ who bare theirfangs and brandish their claws andare very narcissistic, retainingthe bad manners of barbarians.”
With its declining economicalpower, what is the way forward forChina to command ‘respect’? Oneway is to reform the military andmake Beijing truly a bully.
The last war fought by China(against Vietnam in 1979) showedthe weaknesses of the People’sLiberation Army; since then the sit-uation has further deterioratedwith corruption creeping in: Duringthe last two years, more than 50 offi-cers of the rank of Major Generaland above have been purged. Xi,who cumulates all the positions inthe party, the state and the PLA,knows that if China wants to betaken seriously (and the rudenessignored), it needs to be strong, verystrong. It is not the case today.
On May 12, the CentralMilitary Commission released a13th five-year military developmentplan (2016-2020). Xinhua said thatChina’s aims were to complete mil-itary reforms and have ArmedForces capable of informationisedwarfare by 2020. It asserted that inthe next five years, the PLA willrealise a significant increase of keycombat capabilities. All theresources will be directed to projects
that “enhance combat readiness,facilitate major reforms andimprove benefits for servicemenand women,” says the paper.
The Chinese President oftenspeaks of the Chinese dream: “Adream for harmony. Unfair andunreasonable old internationalorder which has not been funda-mentally changed is the mostimportant cause of world chaosand dilemma.”
Though according to Xi, thenew world order will be based onpeaceful settlements of global dis-putes, the Middle Kingdom will beat the center of these new arrange-ments. It is worrying for India,because China remains and willremain a hegemonic state, even ifbenevolently hegemonic.
Last week, The Global Timesmentioned the new importance ofthe Tibet Military Command’s,which will now function directlyunder the jurisdiction of the PLAArmy, the ground forces’ centralcommand; the TMC won’t be a dis-trict of the defunct ChengduMilitary Command Areas any-more. An ‘analyst’ told The GlobalTimes: “China continues tostrengthen its military presence inthe autonomous region and aims toallow the military command to shoulder more com-
bat assignments.”Against whom? India? China
Youth Daily had earlier reportedthat the TMC’s political level will beelevated to a higher rank than theother Provincial military com-mands; it added that it marks a “newjourney for the Tibet military com-mand’s construction.” What does itmean for India?
The first radical change was theremoulding of the seven MACs intofive Military Theater Commands,with the entire Indian front, fromArunachal to Ladakh coming underthe same command (WesternTheater), instead of two MACs(Chengdu and Lanzhou MACs).
The Global Times noted thatborder disputes between China andIndia have not been completelyresolved, though last month ChangWanquan, the Chinese DefenceMinister, reacted positively aboutsetting up a military hotline withIndia when Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar visited Beijing.
Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, told theparty’s mouthpiece that the TMCpromotion “will significantlyimprove the command’s ability tomanage and control the region’smilitary resources, as well as pro-vide better preparation for combat.”
Song added that the TMC hasthe great responsibility to preparefor possible conflicts between Chinaand India, and currently it isextremely difficult to secure all themilitary needed resources: “Militaryaction in the TMC requires special-ist mountain skills and long-rangecapabilities, which need the deploy-ment of special military resources.”
The ‘expert’ further noted:“The promotion of the command’sauthority level shows the amount ofattention China places on thedefence of its southwestern borders.The higher the authority level, themore military resources the com-mand can mobilise.”
Zhao Zhong, DeputyDirector of the Political WorkDepartment of the TMC,remarked that the move to placethe TMC directly under the PLAArmy, “suggests that the com-mand may undertake some kindof military combat mission in thefuture.” This shows that the raisingof the Mountain Corps should bea priority for India, despite thefinancial constraints. In the mean-time, Beijing will probably contin-ue to be rude, when required, withits friends and foes. Fingers shouldbe pointed at China when itsbehaviour is not acceptable. TheModi sarkar can certainly speak afirmer language…with Indian(sweet) characteristics.P
rime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming two-day visit to Iran is crucial fora couple of reasons: It will have to set the pace for a new chapter in theIndia-Iran bilateral in the post-sanctions era, and it must breathe new life
into India's larger West Asia policy. On the bilateral front, India will have to dosome diplomatic re-positioning to fully leverage its partnership with Iran, espe-cially in the field of oil and energy. There is some reason to believe that, whileIndia managed to protect its relationship with Iran during the sanctions yearsdespite significant American pressure, it may have missed the post-sanctionsparty in Tehran with Indian businesses somewhat falling behind their Europeancounterparts. This is where a political push emanating from a prime ministeri-al visit can make a difference. Additionally, the two big projects that are on thetable are the Chabahar port and the Farzad-B gas field. Upgradation and rede-velopment of the former, which India partially built in the first place, has beenin the works for several years but made little progress. However, in recent months,in the wake of several ministerial visits to Tehran and Delhi, there has been some
movement at least on paper, with thefinalisation of a trilateral agreement onChabahar among India, Iran andAfghanistan. The Chabahar port willbe a major boost for Iran and a poten-tial game-changer for Afghanistan. ForIndia, it will be a major show of softpower. As for the other big project, theFarzad-B gas field, it too has been inthe lurch for a while now but is expect-ed to come through by the end of thisyear. But more than the deals that aresigned, the big takeaway from the Iranvisit needs to be political — and notjust commercial. Oil and energy tradehas long since been the core elementof the India-Iran bilateral and thatequation will not change any timesoon. However, political engagementbetween the two nations has shrunk
in recent years, and this is where a course correction is necessary. In fact, Modiwill be the first Indian Prime Minister to pay a state visit to Iran since 2001, whenAtal Bihari Vajpayee had made the trip (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wentto Tehran in 2012 for the Non-Aligned Movement summit meet; it was not a statevisit). Two successive Iranian Presidents have come to India since — MohammadKhatami in 2003 and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2008.
From a multilateral perspective, Iran has, of course, always been a majorregional power, but its return to the international sphere in the post-sanctionsera comes at a time when West Asia and North Africa are in a flux, and Tehranhas a stake in just about every battleground in the region — be it Iraq, Syria,Yemen or Libya. India or Indian interests are not directly affected in any of thesecrises but, as an aspiring major power, New Delhi cannot be oblivious to theregion, especially given the security threats emanating from there in the formof transnational jihadi groups such as the Islamic State.
Pakistan's opposition to the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, isridiculous. The Bill is an entirely internal legislative affair of a sovereign nationand, as the Ministry of External Affairs has made clear, Pakistan has no locus
standi on the issue. As far as the contents of the Bill are concerned, here too itis the Indian Parliament that has sole authority; if any change or amendment isneeded (there are some areas of concern in the proposed legislation), it is theelected representatives of the Indian people who will debate, deliberate and decideon the matter. That said, the overall thrust and aim of the Bill is very much inthe right direction. The Government of India is well within its rights to insist thatnational borders, and other geospatial information be accurately depicted — andby extension, it is also empowered to impose penalties for inaccurate depiction.In fact, even without a geospatial-specific legislation, it has on previous occa-sions taken action against those who have wrongly depicted India's borders suchas the Internet search engine giant Google and leading international publicationssuch as The Economist. In the absence of a geospatial-specific legislation, actionwas taken under the IT Act, the Official Secrets Act etc. Notably, Google has facedsimilar issues with other countries as well — recently, there was controversy
with its depiction of Crimea after theUkraine crisis. For India, Google nowdisplays one version of the mapwhich is compatible with Governmentof India standards, to users from India,and a different one for users abroad.
This brings us to the second point:The depiction of Jammu & Kashmir inparticular and Pakistan's opposition tothe same. As far as India is concerned,entire J&K is an integral part of thecountry and, therefore, the mapsmust reflect as much. But Indiaacknowledges that the territorial issueof Kashmir is a contentious one vis-à-vis Pakistan, and the two nationshave been working together to resolveit. The two also agree that the issueis strictly bilateral, and no third party,not even the UN, has any standing in
the matter. In fact, this basic principle has already been formalised through theSimla Agreement. Pakistan's decision to move the UN over the geospatial Bill,therefore, is in violation of international diplomatic norms. Of course, this isn'tthe first time that Pakistan has sought to ‘internationalise' the Kashmir dispute— this has actually been Islamabad’s standard operating procedure for manyyears, and as expected, its efforts have always been in vain, as they will be thistime around as well.
Also, Pakistan's holier-than-thou diplomatic showmanship on this issue isa bit rich given that it has effectively leased out parts of Kashmir, which it ille-gally occupies and is part of the ‘disputed’ territory, to China. The Asian giant,which Pakistan counts as one of its all-weather friends, has invested huge sumsof money and is constructing large-scale infrastructure projects. This includesat least three power plants and the upgradation of the Karakoram Highway thatcuts through Gilgit-Baltistan. Consequently, hundreds of Chinese workers andsoldiers are currently posted in the disputed area. Thus, Pakistan can distributepart of ‘disputed’ area to a friend while India cannot even show it on its map!
Pakistan’s desperation
No takers for Islamabad protest on J&K map
opinion 08LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
‘Rude China’ is drivenby sense of powerChinese arrogance is worrisome for India because China remains and will remain a hegemonic state, evenif benevolently hegemonic. The Modi regime should speak a firmer language…with (sweet) characteristics
Bonding better with Iran
Prime Minister Modi’s visit to boost bilateral ties
Corrupt leaders
Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Revamping education” (May18). As a matter of fact, it is thepolitical leadership of our coun-try that has failed its people, espe-cially those whose interests itclaims to safeguard and whoseupliftment is uppermost in themanifestoes. However, in reality,all these platitudes are for the sakeof remaining in power.
In its 65 years of rule, theCongress made it clear that it is inthe interests of the political leader-ship to keep the people education-ally and mentally backward. Thiswas realised long back whenJawaharlal Nehru said, “The dan-ger in India is that poverty may bedeified.” Backwardness can beappropriately added to this now. Insuch a scenario, where vested inter-ests have taken deep roots in thecountry, it is difficult for any for-ward-looking leader to succeed.
BP SrivastavaNoida
Self-pride
Sir — This refers to the article,“Embrace of civilisational India”(May 18) by Anirban Ganguly. Itis high time for the Hindus to quit
seeking ‘alien’ endorsements, andinstead, focus on how to re-ener-gise themselves, regardless ofwhat others think of them.
Even within the country, thereare some who want the SupremeCourt to define Hindutva. Whatbusiness is it of the Supreme Courtjustices to tell the people how oneshould practice his/her religion?
Avinash Via web
Uttarakhand mess
Sir — The UttarakhandGovernment has decided towithdraw the notification rec-ommending a Central Bureau ofInvestigation probe into thesting video allegedly implicatingUttarakhand Chief MinisterHarish Rawat. The withdrawalwill add to the suspicion thatRawat indeed indulged in anunethical act to save his chair.
It was seemingly a procedur-al lapse on the part of the UnionGovernment to not allow a floortest before President’s Rule waspromulgated. But theGovernment stands vindicatednow. The State’s action must bechallenged in the court. The lawmust be allowed to take its course.
KV Seetharamaiah Hyderabad
Boggy prediction
Sir — Exit polls for the four Statesand one Union Territory have pre-dicted anti-incumbency in TamilNadu and Kerala. They have pre-dicted the return of MamataBanerjee in West Bengal and a winfor the BJP in Assam. However, ithas been noticed that exit pollresults often do not have any rele-vance with the final results. In Bihar,exit polls predicted that the BJP andthe JD(U) were in a neck-and-neckrace, but the Mahagathbandhanscored a convincing victory.
Sravana RamachandranChennai
Food chaos
Sir — This refers to the article,“Green Revolution that has result-ed in chaos” (May 17) by SandhyaJain. The green revolution employ-ing chemical fertilisers and pesti-cides, was in practice since the1970s. Before that, traditional meth-ods of farming were used. Why wasit then that the people went hungryand we had to import grains?
ASVia web
www.dailypioneer.com
p a p e r w i t h p a s s i o n
CLAUDE ARPI
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
This is a very special
relationship. We look
forward to continuing
to work with
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
US State Department
spokesperson
—John Kirby
I only wish I hadn't
bleached my eyebrows.
A good concealer can do
more for your complexion
than double-sided tape.
Actor
—Eva Mendes
I can't think of
anybody in my family
who got past 70. I
think it's because I
have been living in
the hill. Hills are
relatively healthy.
Author
—Ruskin Bond
THE CHINESE ARE SORUDE BECAUSE THEYBELIEVE THAT CHINA
IS THE GREATESTWORLD POWER
ALONG WITH THE US.HOWEVER, AS
ECONOMIC CLOUTVANISHES, ONE OF THE
PROBLEMS THAT XIWILL FACE IS TOSHOW THAT THE
MIDDLE KINGDOM IS A‘NORMAL' NATION
SOUNDBITE
More public schools will
serve a larger purpose
This refers to the editorial, “Revamping education” (May 18). A recent studyby Assocham has revealed that more than 5,500 business schools in thecountry are producing unemployable graduates. This casts a light on how
private educational institutions are mushrooming due to lack of Governmentparticipation and control. Sky-rocketing tuition fees come with archaic educa-tional infrastructural facilities. Since educational scholarship is not enough tomeet the demands, parents are forced to cough up a new form of dowry (edu-cational) if they want to settle their wards. This negative discrimination is destroy-ing the democratic environment and social mobility of our country.
As a first step, it needs to be ensured that meritorious students get high-er education without any economic roadblock. It is time to do away with thehuge chunk of management quota from the backyard of educational institu-tions. The need of the hour is to set up more public schools and colleges thatcan give private educational institutions a run for their money.
It is expected that nearly halfof the Indian populationwill be residing in urban
India by 2030. This pace ofurbanisation in the form ofrapid increase in population isalready causing problems byputting enormous strain onurban resources and infra-structure. Cities are increasing-ly unable to ensure steadysupply of water and energy tothe inhabitants. This is com-pounded by a crumblingmunicipal and sewage wastedisposal system. Urban areasare struggling to cope with thestress as green lungs in theform of urban forests are dwin-dling and air and water pollu-tion levels are breaching newlevels of severity.
As the urban environmentdeteriorates under populationpressure, poor sanitary condi-tions are adding to the prob-lem. According to a WHO-Unicef report, India constitutes
only 11 per cent of the world’surban population but con-tributes 52 per cent to opendefecation in the world’s urbanspaces. These conditions existbecause nearly 60 million peo-ple in urban areas lack accessto improved sanitationarrangements, as 7.87 per centof the urban households do nothave access to latrines and theinhabitants defecate in theopen. To make matters worse,only 56 per cent of the urbanwards have sewer network;this results in the untreatedsewage being let out into theenvironment, thereby pollutingland and water bodies.
Given these trying cir-cumstances, the SwachchBharat mission was launchedin 2014, with the aim, amongother things, to ensure a toi-let for every household by2019 and to educate peopleabout the long-term healthand economic benefits of
using a proper sanitation sys-tem. But, according toNational Sample SurveyOrganisation data, of the 9.5million toilets constructedduring the first year of theSwachch Bharat Abhiyan, only46 per cent are being used andapproximately 630 millionIndians continue to defecate inthe open. Quite clearly, sincethe building of toilets has notensured usage, a refreshedurban sanitation action plan isneeded that can effectivelyaddress the full cycle of sani-tation, starting from universalaccess to toilets, safe collec-tion, and conveyance, andending with the efficient treat-ment of sewage.
In order to ensure a com-prehensive urban sanitationsolution, policymakers andpractitioners in India can takea cue from Brazil while fram-ing sanitation policies andimplementing them on the
ground. Brazil has experi-mented with several models offinancing and service provi-sioning in the sanitation sec-tor, both in terms of levels ofcentralisation and decentrali-sation, besides public and pri-vate provisioning. India haslaunched many schemes suchas Ganga Action Plan,Jawaharlal Nehru UrbanRenewal Mission, NationalUrban Sanitation Policy andthe recent Swachch BharatMission, in order to establisha successful and robust urbansanitation system.Unfortunately, there is still amajor lack of functionality.
The urban sanitation suc-cess of Brazil can be an idealbenchmark for India. The basisof Brazil’s progress on theurban sanitation front is theCity Statute, premised on theidea of ‘Right to City’ of citi-zens. This statute categorical-ly states that the social function
of land supersedes its econom-ic function, which means thatsocietal land use is prioritisedover its commercial value.This has enabled Brazil toallocate land and give adequatepriority to social projects suchas sanitation programmes. Inaddition to this, Brazil hasbeen able to frame its sanita-tion policies that are based onevidence. This has ensuredthat the policies could standthe test of time and were needbased. Regular public fundingtoo has played a critical role inthe success of Brazil’s urbansanitation programme.
According to estimates,38 per cent of South Asiadefecates in the open, andIndia is responsible for a full 30per cent, despite theGovernment’s toilet-buildingefforts. The problem lies innon-utilisation of these toilets.India can draw inspirationfrom Bangladesh, which has
overcome this problem andhas set an impressive examplein freeing the country fromopen defecation.TheCommunity-Led TotalSanitation approach, pioneeredby development consultantKamal Kar in Bangladesh,advocates a 180-degree men-tal flip. It rejects sanitation sub-sidies; instead, it mobilisescommunities through localempowerment and emotionslike shame on and aversion foropen defecation.
The MillenniumDevelopment Goals enjoin uponthe signatory nations to extendaccess to improved sanitation toat least half the urban popula-tion by 2015, and 100 per centaccess by 2025. India mustmake serious efforts to achievethese goals, and this can be doneonly when it has the full partic-ipation of its people backed byan unwavering commitmentfrom the Government.
Providing improved and more widespread sanitation facilities in urban India has become a major challenge forpolicymakers and implementers. As the urban population expands massively, the task gets more difficult
Dragon appeasement pointless
3rdeye 09LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
I am shocked by the wilful and apparently
deliberate attempt by Raghuram Rajan to
wreck the Indian economy.
—BJP MP
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
Swamy should hit his real target instead of
setting up dummy targets like the RBI
Governor who cannot speak out.
—Congress leader
JAIRAM RAMESH
The fond hope
that, with
increased bilateral
trade, China will
stop its
transgressions
across the
disputed border
with India,
amounts to wishful
thinking. A case in
point is China's
relationship with
the United States.
Despite huge trade
with the US, has
Beijing relented on
its territorial
assertions in
South China Sea?
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
According to the Pentagon’srecent annual report tothe US Congress, Chinahas bolstered its defencecapabilities and force pos-
ture on the disputed border withIndia. This has raised the question:Why and how must India respond?Building defence force does not meanmuch since China has mobile, hard-hitting regular forces, which, in largenumbers (about 32 divisions or400,000 troops in two to three weeks)can be brought to the TibetAutonomous Region with road, railand air-lift capabilities.
The worrying capabilities are thehuge storage sites for ammunition, mis-siles, fuel, spares and critical assemblyparts (China has an impressive indige-nous defence industry) — togethercalled operational logistics — whichChina has built in TAR facing India.Also worrying are China’s impressivecapabilities to simultaneous fight warin the domains of land, air, sea, electro-magnetic spectrum, outer space, cyberand irregular by supporting insur-gents into India’s North-East.
Equally worrying is the interoper-ability (the capability to fight war mis-sions together) that the Chinese forceshave achieved with the Pakistan Armyand Air Force. The two have beendoing advanced exercises together innorth Kashmir since 2011. Incidentally,in December 2010, China announcedthat it did not have a border with Indiain Jammu & Kashmir (Ladakh).
The above-mentioned capabilities,though worrying, are nothing com-pared to the Chinese new force pos-ture on the disputed border. A forceposture which determines how capa-bilities will be optimally used,announces the winning side. Two crit-ical components of a successful forceposture are unity of command andjoint operations. By disclosing the cre-ation of the new and unique TibetMilitary Command on May 13, 2016,as part of military reforms byPresident Xi Jinping, India has mili-tarily been put on notice.
The Commander-in-Chief, TMC,has been placed under the highestland-force headquarters, the Peoples’Liberation Army headquarters orPLAA, based in Beijing for adminis-trative, including outside resourcesand logistics, needs. Since China hasresolved 12 of its 14 land disputes, thePLAA would ensure that the entirePLA resources are made availableagainst India and, if needed, Bhutan(which has a special military relation-ship with India). For operations plan-ning and actual combat, the TMCwould be under the Western TheatreCommand based in Chengdu. In war,the PLA chain of command would runfrom Commander-in-Chief, WTC,directly to President Xi Jinping, whois also C-in-C of the highest jointoperations command in Beijing. Thesecretariat of the joint operationscommand is provided by the tri-ser-vice Joint Work Department whichalso has the responsibility to provideseamless integration between conven-tional and nuclear war plans.
By itself, the TMC commanderwould have dedicated capabilitiesfrom Army, Air Force, missiles, airdefence, Special Forces, war-logistics,specialised equipment for high altitudewarfare and so on within his area ofresponsibility. The commander wouldtrain all forces together for decidedwar missions. This is what unity ofcommand and joint operations are allabout. The commander would alsohave under him all border guards(equivalent of India’s paramilitaryforces) and militia (equating roughlywith India’s Territorial Army) toensure internal stability within TAR.
The TMC’s area of responsibilityincludes India’s Arunachal Pradeshand a bit of Ladakh. Most of Ladakh,including Aksai Chin, is the respon-sibi l ity of Lanzhou ProvincialCommand based in Xinjiang. Unlikethe TMC, the commander of LPC hasonly border guards and militia underhim. The regular troops and warresources are directly under the WTC.
According to Chinese experts, thecommander LPC may also get upgrad-ed in rank and stature to the TMC.However, this is unlikely. Since Chinasays it does not have a border withIndia in Ladakh, it may allow thePakistani forces to take the lead againstIndia in the Kashmir war theatre bycovertly providing military support.
Why has China, that professespeace with India, created the TMC?Building military power is not about
war alone. It is about the ability to dosuccessful military coercion (Chineseregular and one-sided transgressionsacross the disputed border); enhanc-ing one’s foreign policy options; puttingpsychological pressure on adversary’spolitical leadership, military comman-ders and troops; and eventually win-ning wars without fighting.
What are India’s options in theface of growing Chinese militarypower? First, unlike what expertssay, India’s dilemma of continentaldefence cannot be offset with mar-itime options, because no other nationwill fight India’s land war.
Second, the hope that, withincreased bilateral trade, China willstop its transgressions across the dis-puted border, amounts to wishfulthinking. A case in point is China’srelationship with the United States.Despite huge trade with the US, hasBeijing relented on its territorialassertions in South China Sea?
Third, India needs to review itsmantra of cooperation and competi-tion, suggestive of equality, withChina. As long as the border disputeremains, China, which holds mostlegal, military and psychological cards,will not allow India space to grow.India needs to develop strategy tomake the cost of military coercionexpensive for China. More than mil-itary reforms and infrastructure build-ing, it requires the political leadershipto understand military power.
For example, the sanction of theArmy’s 17 Mountain Strike Corps bythe Manmohan Singh Governmentwas a panic reaction after the ChineseApril-May 2013 intrusion into northLadakh. Worried about shortage offinances, Defence Minister ManoharParikkar had told the media in April2015 that “the Government had frozenthe cost of the new 17 corps at `38,000crore over next eight years and it wouldconsist of 35,000 men”. He said that theprevious Ggovernment had estimatedthat it would cost `88,000 crore andhave 70,000 men, without makingany budgetary allocation. However, inless than a year, the Defence Ministerreversed his stance. Speaking with themedia on January 13, 2016, Army chiefGeneral Dalbir Singh confirmed that,a “target was kept of nine years and weare on target to raise it (17 MountainCorps) it by 2021”. The decision rever-sal by the Government was reflectiveof the political leadership’s unwilling-ness to know military matters.
It is time India’s political leader-ship understands that managingChina for a win-win situation requiresan understanding of military power.Depending upon defence services,whose prime motive anywhere inthe world is empire building, will notbe enough. This is also the lesson fromChina’s deep military reforms initiat-ed by Xi Jinping.
(The writer is editor, FORCE newsmagazine)
Urban sanitation a distant dream thinknow
We will freedom for freedom's
sake, in and through
particular circumstances.
And in thus willing freedom, we
discover that it depends entirely
upon the freedom of others and
that the freedom of others
depends upon our own. Obviously,
freedom as the definition of a man
does not depend upon others, but
as soon as there is a
commitment, I am obliged to will
the liberty of others at the same
time as my own. I cannot make
liberty my aim unless I make that
of others equally my aim.
—Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism is a Humanism
Trump card in race
to White House
The reasons for Donald Trump’s triumphant march tosecuring his party’s candidature for presidentship area reflection of much that has gone wrong in the US
China’s increasing military build-up along the border, its forces’ interoperability measures alongside the Pakistani Army, and itshostility on matters that are strategically crucial to India, should make our policymakers sit up and respond sensibly and firmlyHIRANMAY KARLEKAR
FIRSTCOLUMN
Now that, barring the proverbially unexpected, Donald Trump willbe the Republican candidate for the United States presidency,the talk is about what brought him so far and the chances of
his making it to the White House. As to the first, a very large num-ber of Americans believe that they have had enough of the way theircountry is run. Perhaps the most important reason is economic. ChrisHedges writes in his incisive, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Wagesof Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt:
“The rising living standards experienced by the American work-ing class in the 1950s have been in precipitous decline since the1970s. The real earnings of the median male have declined by 19per cent since 1970, and the median male with only a high schooldiploma saw his real earnings fall by 41 per cent from 1970 to2010. Moreover, the memory of the post-war moment of prosper-ity and the belief that prosperity should still be possible — alongwith the revocation of the protection under the Constitution thatmost Americans want restored — have left Americans increasing-ly alienated, frustrated and angry.”
Hedges further points out, “The poor population in the UnitedStates — 15 per cent of the total and a disturbing 21.8 per centfor the children under the age of 18 — is expanding. The 46.5 mil-lion people living in poverty in 2012 was the largest number ofpoor counted during the fifty-four years in which the decennial cen-sus have calculated poverty rates.”
Hedges points out that the masses of under-employed andunemployed have discovered the hollowness of the neo-liberalpromise that the rich will share with them the wealth accruing fromeconomic deregulation and financialisation. He adds, “In this dis-covery, this understanding that workers will never have what theyexpect, lies revolutionary fodder.”
While it is difficult to see a violent revolution sweeping the US,one can see riots becoming increasingly violent and widespreadand significant changes coming through the ballot. Who could, 20years ago,visualise an African American US President? All this isfor the future. At this moment, the fact is that a very large num-ber of Americans — not just the working poor but unemployedor under-employed college graduates and students, along withunemployed journalists, artists, lawyers and teachers— are fedup and want a major change, all the more because they believethat those responsible for the crisis unfolding from 2008 have gone— and will go — unpunished.
One result of the alienation was the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ move-ment; the surprising surge of support behind Senator BernieSanders's bid to become the Democratic Party's presidential nom-inee, is another. The third is the support behind Trump's candi-dature, which has also the backing of some of the privileged whohate President Obama's policies.
Trump's intemperate trashing of everyone and everything heperceives as standing in his way strikes a chord in many who havecome to hate existing politicians who, they feel, are rotten to thecore. The promise to expel all illegal immigrants and build a wallalong the US's border with Mexico, appeals to those who blamemigrants for their job losses or difficulty in finding employment.His promise to stop all Muslims from entering the US until theIslamist threat is over, strongly appeals to those rendered para-noid by terrorist strikes within the US.
The consequences, including the erosion of the US's stand-ing and salience abroad, do not seem to bother them. Many of thembelieve that the faster the US sheds its resources-draining involve-ments abroad, the better. Many of them, not educated beyond highschool, are unable to foresee the disastrous harvests of some ofhis breath-taking economic nostrums.
Is the coalition behind Trump large enough to ensure victo-ry? Will a section of traditional Republican supporters not votefor him? Will all Democrats — particularly Senator Sanders's sup-porters — vote for Hillary Clinton? There are yet no credibleanswers to these critical questions. Meanwhile, the commonplacefeeling is that he is unlikely to win but may spring a surprise.What then? An articulate and well-informed cab driver answered,“God save America!”
avenues 10
HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT The Hotel School, Delhi, is
offering three-year specialisa-tion course in Hospitality. Thecourse content is designed toequip students to meet thechallenges of the industry.Student will be enrolled intwo-specialisation programmeof their choice from TourismSector Skill Council and oneyear diploma in Tourism andHospitality.
Eligibility: Candidateswho have completed 10+2 andare enrolled with a Universitydegree can enroll and completethis qualification to achievespecialised skills required inHospitality sector over theperiod of their university pro-gramme.
Time: Duration of dualHospitality specialisation pro-gramme with industrial train-ing is three years along with sixmonths of industrial Training.
How to apply: Downloadthe form from the websitewww.thehotelschool.com. Youcan also visit the campus to col-lect the form. For more detailsplease visit: www.theho-telschool.com
Last date: May 31, 2016
PG IN COMMUNICATIONThe Delhi School of
Communication (DSC) invitesapplications for its 22nd PGProgramme inCommunication (PGDPC).This is integrated programmeawards PGDPC along with theMA JMC (Masters inJournalism and Mass).
The programme covers allthe relevant subjects likeAdvertising, EntertainmentMarketing, Public Relations,Digital Marketing andBranding. DSC was started bya group of industry leaders andacademicians, who felt a needto better align academics withindustry requirements.
Industry exposure viainternship is an integral part ofthe programme. Students areentitled to pursue an internship(full day work experience) forup to four months and appren-ticeship (half day work expe-rience) between three to sixmonths. During internship/apprenticeship students canalso earn attractive stipendsalongside valuable work expe-rience. This on-the- job workexperience and outstandingmentorship under the facultywith immense industrial expe-rience ensure job placement inleading agencies.
Eligibility: Graduates orstudents in the final year ofgraduation (all streams) are eli-gible to apply. Applicationforms may be downloadedand submitted online at
www.dsc.edu.in. For admis-sion to DSC, students have toclear either the MAT/CATexam or DSC’S internal admis-sion test. The test is for one-and-a-half hours based uponbasic reasoning, logic and cre-ative writing skills, in additionto basic knowledge of adver-tising and Media. Thereafter, acandidate need to take a half-hour psychological test,designed to assess a candidate’screative writing skills and emo-tional quotient. This year, boththe internal exam and psycho-logical test are available online.Personal interview is the thirdand final step towards obtain-ing admission to PGDPC.
Those interested mayemail their queries [email protected] or call at9 1 . 9 8 1 0 4 7 4 2 6 9 ,91.9958635140, 29531556/9
Last date: May 30, 2016
ENGINEERING &TECHNOLOGY
Manav RachnaInternational University,Faculty of EngineeringTechnology (FET) invitesapplications in BTech —Aeronautical Engineering,Automobile Engineering,Computer science andEngineering (with specialisa-tions in association with IBM),Civil Engineering, Electricaland Electronics Engineering(with specialisations in Powerelectronics in association withSu-kam), Electronics andCommunication Engineering,Mechanical Engineering (avail-able industry integrated inassociation with JBM),Biotechnology.
The faculty has a verystrong track record of on-campus placements withnational and internationalcompanies.
How to apply: Applicationforms can be purchased fromcampus by paying `1200 incash or one can also applyonline by paying the sameamount through debit/creditcard. Candidates are requiredto maintain minimum eligi-bility criteria of Minimum 60per cent marks or equivalentCGPA in their 10+2 examina-tion. Also, merit based on JEEmain and Uni-GAUGE results.
Last date: June 15, 2016For more information
visit: www.mriu.edu.in
Workshop on French
To ensure motivation inskill training among thestudents, teachers, tech-
nical staff members and to fos-ter innovation literacy forimproved downstream innova-tion and productivity in indus-try, National Institute ofTechnical Teachers’ Training &Research (NITTTR) Kolkata, isorganising National InnovationTalent Contest for Polytechnics in— Civil Engineering, Electrical
Engineering and MechanicalEngineering.
The objective is to identifythe levels of skill and innovationpotentials of the students, teach-ers, and technical staff membersand to develop cost effectivetechnological support to thesociety in the conventional engi-neering and technology. lAll teams will have to exhibitthe developed models physical-ly at NITTTR, Kolkata which is
through a live demonstration,presentation and question-answer session on a dateannouncedlEach team must submit areport consisting of specification,cost and manufacturing detailsof the model.lThe organiser’s decision shallbe final and binding.lThe organiser reserves theright to modify the rules of thecontest at any point of time.
Innovation contest
AasaanJobs.com, a recruit-ment company for entry-
level and mid-level jobs in India,has announced its plan to offerverified candidates for inter-views to employers (clients),simplifying the job hunting andverification process for bothjob seekers and recruiters,respectively.
Most employers conductbackground verification onlyafter a candidate has been select-ed and if the candidate fails theverification process later, then itaffects both parties. Additionally,it takes anywhere between seven
to 30 days for verification to becompleted, depending upon itscomplexity. If it’s unfavorable,the company not only has to letgo of that person, but also loseout on costs incurred while hir-ing and training them.
To eliminate this issue,AasaanJobs has tied up with sev-eral top agencies that specialisein conducting thorough back-ground verification of prospec-tive candidates. With these tie-
ups, it hopes to develop a onestop solution that encompassesrecruitment and verification forall employers, powered by ver-ification agencies which canaugment a job seeker's profile.
Vetting information likeskills, educational background,history, ID proof, address proof,Aadhar etc, will enable worthycandidates to appear more trust-worthy to employers and helpthem secure suitable jobs.
Upgrade hiring
Food processing business is coming of ageand it is placed fifth amongst industries ofIndia. One of the branches of food science,
food processing comprises of a set of methodsand proficiencies used to alter raw componentsinto food for the consumption of human beingsand creatures. The process leads to conservationof food, heightens its nip and shrinks the poi-sons in the food product. The present food pro-cessing proficiencies have lead to the feasibilityof the growth in the present day food markets.
The growing consumerism in the societiesof urbanised and budding countries has addedto the growth of food processing industries withtechniques like spray drying, freeze drying andthe opening of artificial sweetening, colorants andpreservers. In the late 20th Century, foodstuffslike dried instant soups, restructured fruits andjuices, and self-cooking meals were formulatedfor the appliance of middle class households andmothers and in particular for the workingwomen.
At present, the food processing business inIndia has been acquiring impulse as the con-sumer’s food industry. As per the informationthere are about 300 million higher and middleclass customers of processed and packaged foodin the state, and another 200 million were expect-ed to be added. 500 food parks are intended allover the country. This will promote the emer-gence and growth of food processing industriesand will produce huge employment opportuni-ties for those who have ability to this work. Thefood is processed, conserved, wrapped and storedaccording to the requirement by industry andGovernment.
SCOPEThe organisations require food technology
people to work for them in diverse sections likemanufacturing, quality assurance, research anddevelopment etc. You can work on as a productdevelopment manager to develop food productsas per the needs of the customers and success-fully put the foodstuffs in service in a ground-breaking way. You can work as a sensory scien-tist or quality manager to monitor organic prop-erties like aroma, flavour, excellence, cleanlinessetc. Food technologists also work in laboratoriesor R&D sectors to increase new products, testexisting ones, and grip the inclusive food qual-ity.
CHALLENGESHowever food technology is a versatile field,
one has to face disputes on day to day basis.Growth of new product which is pleasant to tasteand is of superior quality while being cost effi-cient is a big dispute. Asserting good supplychain with decent manufacturing practices is alsoa task. Customers now expect every food prod-uct to have outstanding taste and superiority at
a sensible cost. New food laws have allowed theuse of some ingredients in functional foods thathelp diminish the threat of certain ailments likeheart disease, diabetes and cancer. These advan-tages have to be integrated without disturbing thetaste, which is a big dispute. One more challengeis that new global foodstuffs are coming out inthe market which is why local food has to strug-gle with quality, taste and cost.
SKILLS REQUIREDAnyone with ability for scientific philosophy,
problem solving aptitude, curiosity in food nutri-tion and health, decent communication skills andteam spirit can do very well in this area.Elementary skills like curiosity, a strong cravingto learn more, eagerness and strength combinedwith set goals and hard work will lead to theaccomplishment of these goals.A food scientistmust be ready to work for long hours.
EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTPeople fascinated in working in the food
technology area normally want an associate’sdegree in applied science in food technology, but
graduate and other progressed degrees may beessential for some places. Students may select tosupplement their education with logical and mathclasses to earn a benefit in the job marketplace.
Some positions, like food inspector jobs,might involve certification, while others mightonly necessitate the two-year degree and workunderstanding. Candidates with a PG degree ordoctorates can build their professions in uni-versity, Government or pure research firm.
OPTIONSCareers in food technology normally deal
with the superiority of food before it influencesthe customer market. People in this professionmay find jobs as food research technicians, whocheck food stuffs for nutritive value and preser-vatives, or work with guidelines of the Food andDrug Administration (FDA). Others maychoose a career in food review, confirming thatfood that reaches the public is harmless forintake by successively tests on both packagingand the food itself. Additional choice is tobecome a food product progress director, a posi-tion which works to grow new food crops ormachineries to help preserve and package foodproducts.
Food research specialist: A food researchspecialist manages trials on food products.These persons may check things such as pre-servers, color, nutritious value and surface offood. A food research expert may also workthoroughly with the rules set out by the FDA.These specialists work in lab settings and mightbe part of a superior team of food technologyexperts.
Food inspector: A food inspector, at timescalled a value control examiner, makes sure foodcoming off industrial lines or in wrapping won’taffect disease or other side effects. Food exam-iners may run investigations on packaging orthe food itself. These specialists also monitorparticular guidelines fixed by the FDA to retaincustomers safe and healthy.
Food product enlargement director: Foodproduct enlargement directors also recognisedas food scientists, work to grow new food prod-ucts and habits to bundle or uphold food.Occasionally these specialists determine com-pletely new food causes or control correctamounts of fats, vitamins and food additives.Food product designers work thoroughly withthe FDAs rules defining everything from newcanning methods to enhanced food waste man-agement.
REMUNERATIONFood technology specialists are fit to work
in numerous positions in public and privatedivisions such as food packaging manager, asso-ciate managers, food scientist, productionmanagers, research and development person-nel, food expansion manager, quality controlofficers, food care examiners and the moreunusual food stylists for request. A fresher cananticipate an income package reaching between`4 lakh and `6 lakh per annum. Though, peo-ple with subsequent work knowledge can getremuneration in the range of `8 lakh to `10 lakhper annum.
(The writer is vice-president, global growth, Zomato)
The SRM University, Chennai,invite applications for its
common entrance exam to beheld on June 12 foradmission in its four-year Bachelor of DentalSurgery (BDS)programme offered atKattankulathur Dental Collegeand Hospital, and SRMRamapuram campus.
ELIGIBILITY Candidates should have completedtheir Higher Secondary Schoolwith English, Physics, Chemistryand Biology as compulsorysubjects and possessing mark asprescribed by Dental Council ofIndia (DCI). The candidates whoare awaiting the results for ClassXII are also eligible to apply.
SELECTION Selection will be made on merit,
based on themarks secured in theentrance examination conductedby the University on all India basis.
IMPORTANT DATESThe issue of application form willbe closed on May 25 and the lastdate to apply is May 30, 2016. Theexam is scheduled to take place onJune 12, 2016 from 10 am to12.30 pm at SRM University inKattankulathur.
Windows2016SRM-BDS
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The difference between school
and life? In school, you’re
taught a lesson and then given
a test. In life, you’re given a
test that teaches you a lesson
— Tom Bodett
When it comes to your job, you’relike a competitor. You didn’t
come here to make friends. You camehere to win. And that’s okay. Maybeyou don’t care if your co-workers likeyou; however, when you make your-self dislikeable, it can actually have anegative impact on your career. Sowhat makes someone unlikable and —better yet — how do you change that?Here are a few tips that you can fol-low that can change how you are per-ceived at work and how to fix it.
nYou never share the spotlight: Ifpeople are only concerned with boost-ing their own names and careers, actsuperior to others, or steal someone
else’s thunder, it’s pretty tough to likethem. How to fix it: Give credit where due.Great team members deflect attentionand give credit to their teammateswhen needed.nYou don’t own up to your mistakes:Someone who makes a mistake andrather than fessing up, tries to coverit up or even blame someone else, isgoing to be disliked. How to fix it: Let yourself be morevulnerable in the workplace by own-ing up to your mistakes, apologisingfor them and asking for help with thesolution not only will this increase yourlikeability, but also your authenticityand integrity in the workplace.
nYou’re constantly complaining:We all feel unhappy with our circum-stances at times, but a consistent pat-tern of negativity typically ruins theenvironment for others and pushesothers away. How to fix it: If you’re consistentlyunhappy at your job, it may be timeto look for a new one. In the meantime,focus on what you can do to changeyour situation now. In other words,look for solutions instead of simplyidentifying problems. nYou’re anti-social: You don’t have tobe joined at the hip with your co-work-ers, but those who don’t at least makean attempt to participate in someworkplace social activities can be
seen as isolationist, stuck-up, stuffy oreven rude. How to fix it: Make the effort to getto know your colleagues as people. Say‘yes’ to the occasional after-worksocial event or suggest lunch with acolleague. Not only will you be morelikable, but research shows bondingwith fellow employees can actuallymake you more engaged and happierat your job.nYou have bad body language: It maysurprise you to learn that bad bodylanguage can make people unlikeable.Yet, given that the majority of com-munication is non-verbal, it makessense that certain behaviours (such asrefusing to make eye contact, crossingyour hands in front of your chests,slouching, etc) can make you appearcold and unfriendly, turning others off. How to fix it: Take a yoga or balletclass to improve posture or taking aspeech class to improve the way youpresent yourself.
nYou don’t respect others’ space andtime: Bursting into someone’s office,invading someone’s space and beingloud in an office (especially in an open-floor plan) can all make someoneunlikeable.How to fix it: Don’t assume your col-leagues can drop everything at yourconvenience. Give them a heads up bygiving them a call or email and ask-ing if they have a moment to talk. Also,be mindful of the volume of your voiceand try to meet with others behindclosed doors so as not to disturb oth-ers.nYou gossip: It is one of those toxicworkplace behaviours that often fallsinto the category of bullying – andnobody likes a bully. How to fix it: Aside from not engag-ing in office gossip yourself, removeyourself from temptation by changingthe subject or finding a way to excuseyourself.
The writer is MD, CareerBuilder
TIPTOPPREMLESH MACHAMA lists down tips you can follow to change how you areperceived at work
‘Increase your likeability at work’
The NIIT and edX, the non-profit global leader in
online learning co-foundedby Harvard University andthe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT), enteredinto a strategic partnership tore-define the online educationspace in India. Through thispartnership NIIT and edXaim to create high-impactlearning experiences forlearners by offering MOOCmodel that provides an engag-ing and live interactive expe-rience that goes much beyondthe core MOOC content. Thepartnership was announced byRajendra Pawar, chairman
NIIT and Anant Agarwal,CEO edX and MIT professor.
Under this partnershipthe live synchronous deliverycapability and on-ground stu-dent servicing capability ofNIIT will be combined withthe world class MOOCs(Massive Open OnlineCourse) provided by edX andits university partners to offerfuturistic talent developmentprogrammes to learners inIndia. To start with, pro-grammes aligned to thechanging future-skill-sets
requirement of the industry inareas like Programming usingPython from MIT, HTML5from the World Wide WebConsortium (W3C), DataScience and Analytics fromColumbia University, andData Science and Engineeringwith Spark from University ofCalifornia, Berkeley will beoffered jointly by NIIT andedX. These could be availed bystudents at college, recentgraduates or working profes-sionals looking to up skillthemselves.
New MOOCs courses The ETEN, Pearson India’s a net-
work of satellite technology basedcoaching network, has entered into analliance with Khan Study Group(KSG), an IAS coaching institute thatalso mentored the national toppers ofthe Civil Services examination, 2015including AIR 1 holder Tina Dabiand AIR 2 holder Aamir Ul Shari.
ETEN introduced the V-SATenabled learning model in 2008,breaking all geographical barriers toimpart CA and IAS training acrossthe country. Over the years, the net-work has provided advanced and per-sonalised coaching to CA and IASaspirants in their home towns, notonly at a lower fee as compared to in-person classes, but also saving themthe opportunity cost and trouble of
migrating to another city for qualitytraining. The success of this blendedlearning model is reflected in thenumber of rank-holders that theinstitute has produced since incep-tion.
Under the alliance around 100learning centres will be set up toimpart best-in-class training forUPSC – Civil Services exam and var-ious State Public Service Commissionexams. By using V-SAT technology,ETEN will make quality coaching,the expertise of India’s foremostpanel of faculties including Dr Khanand a team of about fifteen other fac-
ulty members.Each of the faculty members is a
domain expert and has a vast expe-rience of teaching General Studies;the core of the most of the compet-itive examination today. The most-relevant study material will be acces-sible to IAS aspirants, even in theremote corners of the country.
In addition to giving access tobest faculty panel, ETEN offersstructured assessment, e-Learningsupport and video archives. ETENcentres are a true testament to thepath of efficacy that Pearson hasundertaken.
Rising e-learning centres
The Indian food processingindustry accounts for 32 percent of the country's totalfood market which meansthat there are plenty ofopportunities in the sector,says RITU MEHROTRA
optionA tasty
The Institut Français en Inde, Embassy ofFrance in India, in collaboration with
Centre for International Cooperation inEducation (CIEP) and School of ForeignLanguages of Amity University, Noida, isorganising a week long training programme onMay 23 at the Amity Noida campus for Frenchlanguage professionals. The course is beingconducted by CIEP’s internationally recognisedBELC.
This year’s training will benefit 125 Frenchlanguage teachers from a wide gamut of insti-tutions from India and other South-Asiancountries. Its course content is tailored to theregion-specific requirements of the partici-pating countries.
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
avenues 11
The BeineckeLibrary is offering VisitingGraduate Student SummerFellowships for the year 2016.The US as well as non-US cit-izens are eligible to apply forthis fellowship programme.
Eligibility: The followingcriteria must be met: Graduatestudents (doctoral candidates)currently enrolled in PhD orDPhil programmes fromacross the country and aroundthe world are invited to apply,The Beinecke library offers alimited number of fellow-ships for non-Yale graduatestudents (doctoral candidates)wishing to conduct primaryresearch for their disserta-tion or doctoral thesis. Theseawards are extremely com-petitive. Only applicantsdemonstrating a need for in-depth consultation ofBeinecke materials will receiveserious consideration,Graduate students (doctoralcandidates) currently enrolledin PhD or DPhil programmesfrom across the country andaround the world are invitedto apply for the fellowships,applicants from outside thehome country will need tomeet English language/otherlanguage requirements to beable to study there.
How to apply: The modeof application is online.Application materials may besubmitted by post or with the
web applicationform. Do not send hard
copies of materials if youchoose to attach your materi-als to the web applicationform.
Application deadline:Deadline is October 18, 2016.
The UNITAR KnowledgeSystems Innovation Unit(KSI) is offering an intern-ship/traineeship opportunityfor young professionals orpostgraduate students to con-tribute to the communicationand out reach activities of theInternational Law forDevelopment portfolio.
Eligibility: Applicantsshould have background in:Communications, HumanRights, International Law,Education, Psychology,Instructional and/or graphicdesign. The candidate shouldpossess organisational, ana-lytical and technical skills toassist with the delivery of theactivities. Knowledge of MSOffice package and softwaresuch as Adobe InDesign andAdobe Illustrator, and web 2.0technologies are needed. Ahigh level of individualresponsibility, commitmentand initiative is also required.
How to apply: Sendyour CV and a brief moti-vation letter to info.ilp-at-unitar.org quoting“Internship” in your sub-ject line. Only selectedcandidates will be contact-ed for an interview.
Application deadline:May 23, 2016
STUDY CENTRES
SHALINI SAKSENA n NEW DELHI
Improving the quality of education system is a priorityfor Governments and international agencies. Thesystem is only as good as its teachers and enhancing
the teacher quality at all stages is a key factor inimproving the quality of learning that the studentsreceive. With this aim, the British Council recentlylaunched a new approach to teacher education anddevelopment — Teaching for Success — andunderpinned Continuing Professional Development(CPD) frameworks for teacher educators and teachers.
The CPD is at the heart of the teaching for successapproach as well as for teacher educators. Theseframeworks represent the understanding of and global
expertise in, teaching and teacher development. Theservices and resources for the teaching of Englishlanguage and other school subjects are all mapped tothe CPD frameworks to provide clear pathways fordevelopment. The aim is to build local continuingprofessional development systems and the humanresource to maintain them, meet identified teacher needsand government priorities, have a positive and lastingimpact on quality in the classroom, manage the factorsacross the whole education system that impact onachieving the goals for teacher development and qualityin the classroom, embed equality, diversity and inclusionat every level and make the most effective use oftechnology for learning that is available today.
The goal is to have quality in the classroom where
teachers are competent, knowledgeable, highlymotivated, committed to their profession and are able toinnovate and achieve the best for their learners. Theprofessional practices include planning lessons andcourses, understanding learners, managing resources,integrating ICT and using inclusive practices.
For this, there is need for continuing professionaldevelopment for teachers. This according to thepanelists should include standards for teacherperformance, standards for trainer performance, Statespecific versions of standards, tools for assessingcurrent performance against the standards, there should
be inputs towards improved planning for qualityimprovement, need to involve leadership and keystakeholders at various levels in engaging with theoutcomes achieved till now.
Alison Barrett, who is the head of English forEducation Systems for the British Council globally and atpresent based at the British Council in New Delhi, saidthat competence is not the same as performance andhence there is need to define it. “It is equally importantto understand what learning consists of and how it isenabled in terms of whether it understands children andrelates with them, understands curriculum, generateseffective learning experiences, uses materials effectively,communicates effectively, creates conducive learningenvironment/relates with children and undertakes
assessment and evaluation, and uses outcomes toimprove learning,” Barett said.
There is also a need to look at the system as a wholeand not just teacher-student manifestation. Creating rolemodels, need to negotiate and mediate, create a spacefor teachers to think out of the box, need for technologydevelopment for teachers and a system for self-assessment for teachers of their skills and knowledge isthe need of the hours as is a proper incentive.
But these incentives may not always be monetary.“It has been found that it is not always money that willwork. There is need to raise the status of the teachers inthe society by involving the people through students,”Subir Shukla, principal coordinator of IGNUS-ERGopined.
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2016
MINDIT
nOver the years, how has the indus-try expanded?
The growth of the digital educa-tion industry has been exponential.The online classroom market is cur-rently estimated to be a $3.5 billionindustry. Evolution of technologythrough cloud computing, data centresand virtualisation are all helping builda robust educational ecosystem whichwill further fast track the industry. Theonline education industry as a wholeis estimated to grow to $40 billion by2019. nWhich schools are the ones that pri-marily use these facilities?
It is difficult to pin-point a typebecause schools have been extremelyoptimistic towards adopting theseplatforms. E-learning ensures a con-sistent, high-quality academic deliverythat is not dependent on the ability ofteachers or their skill set. In fact, overtime, e-learning will enable them toraise their game and become betterteachers. Tier II and tier III cities areas as excited about this as tier I. n Are your services present inGovernment schools as well?
Next Education has partneredwith State Governments to train anddevelop their teacher base. We havealso partnered with several organisa-tions to set up infrastructure andlearning solutions in Governmentschools. nWhat more do you think can bedone for digitisation of education?
Government initiatives like DigitalIndia are transforming and empower-ing India. However, basic necessitieslike electricity and Internet shouldreach every nook and corner. TheGovernment is laying emphasis on theeducation sector through various pro-grammes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.NCERT has already initiated digitisingtheir content as well as moving towardse-learning classes. Emphasis also needsto be laid on differentiation to ensurecredibility. The Government can definecriteria which a service provider needsto meet to be eligible to provide edu-cation services. nDo teachers also need to be trainedto impart this kind of teaching?
Yes. Training is needed to makeoptimum use of the medium and maketeachers confident of handling the
product. The products lay emphasis onease of use. Training is provided to helpteachers understand that this productis a robust support system for them anddecipher how they can best explore it.Digital education is not going toreplace a teacher it empowers theteacher and enhances the student’sexperience.nTo what extent are parents open totechnology-based learning?
Parents are extremely supportive.They understand it keeps a childinterested in studies while also bring-ing standardisation in teaching. Thedependency on a teacher’s ability toimpart knowledge has been negated.Also, technology comes naturally totoday’s kids and innovating our teach-ing methodologies with the changingtimes is imperative. n Is the hands-on learning approachof teaching better?
Since inception, Next Educationwas determined to adopt a hands-onstyle of learning. In order to make thelearning process easier we have creat-ed content in such a way that itrequires a practical approach ratherthan just theoretical book enabledanswering. A product like NextLabgives more comprehensive and prac-tical understanding of hands-on learn-ing experience whereas NextERP is anintegrated school management systemwhich streamlines all processes, depart-ments and functions of a school, andso on.nHow does the future look for tech-nology-enabled classrooms andschools?
Extremely bright. There is still 26per cent illiteracy in the country as percensus 2011. That means one in fourchildren don’t have access to a book.From a year-on-year perspective, onecan easily look at a 30 per cent growthfor the sector for the forthcoming year.
BEAS RALHAN tellsPRAKRITI ROY about the
rise of digital education in India, the
importance of technology in teaching and its reception in India
Beas RalhanCEO, Next Education India Pvt Ltd
Public Policy and governance is ofutmost importance as it an attempt bythe Government to address public
issues by instituting regulations, decisionsor actions pertinent to a given problem.Policy makers have the potential to shapethe destiny of nations and citizens. In everystate, it is the administrative executivebranches that are responsible for takingactions with respect to problems — socio-economic or political — affecting the soci-ety. Policy makers, not only in India but alsoin other countries, need to look at theseground level problems and suggest detailedpolicies to resolve the issues within the gov-ernment.
FOR SUCCESSFUL GOVERNANCEFiguring out complex public problems
in society and drafting effective solutionsplay a major role in elevating the lives andliving standards of people in that society.Every sector, including education, energy,healthcare, transportation and housing isinfluenced by public policy decisions at alllevels of government activity.
In short, in every aspect of human life,public policy decisions are crucial. Thesepolicies essentially capture the intentions ofthe Government and the success of aGovernment is gauged on the basis of howeffectively the policy maker manages to tar-get the specific areas.
OBJECTIVESTraditionally, all the policies are framed
by the government agencies and it is nec-essary that Civil servants connect the poli-cies with the grass-root level in a way thatis advantageous to the masses. If all the poli-cies are implemented successfully, only thencan one expect to see tangible results andpositive impacts on the quality of life.Therefore, all over the world, Governmentsare increasingly turning to assistance fromconsultancy firms, NGOs and individualexperts to enhance the effectiveness of poli-cies thus framed. These developments havegenerated the urgency for trained publicpolicy experts, who could operate in thecomplex terrain of public institutions andpolicies.
CAREER PROSPECTSPublic policy courses are relatively new
in India but academic programmes in thisdomain are slowly catching pace. Mid-careercivil servants, executives from public sec-tor undertakings and NGOs are showinginterest in public policy programmes. Theaim of these management courses is to helpstudents achieve excellence in all coreareas of activities related to interfacebetween effective management of public
affairs and strong grounding in public pol-icy analysis and change management.Public policy programmes offer a novelopportunity to those who are aspiring tocontribute to India’s sustained progresstowards emerging as a major player in glob-al affairs, whether it is in the fieldof managerial excellence or inthe domain of develop-ment for creating a bet-ter future for citizens.
Public policyp r o g r a m m e senhance the sensi-bility and capabili-ty of the partici-pants to bettermanage the publicprogrammes andsystems and alsomake them under-stand the global trendsand practices in theseareas to allow exploration of
innovative options and choices for the pub-lic service delivery.
THE PROGRAMMEnProvides a platform for participants fromdifferent disciplines, experiences and pro-
fessions wherein innovative ideas aregenerated for policy formulation
and implementation.nHelps in dissemination and
replication of availableresources in public policyacross the world.n Partners with agen-cies at all levels, so as toboost implementationof policies framed forthe amelioration of soci-ety.
Keeping in mind theincreasing significance
public policy programmes’syllabus is usually designed in
the form of fast-track learning
modules consisting of core themes in pub-lic policy as well as in management. Focusis more on active learning rather than pas-sive listening with a view to create leadersrather than just professionally-orientedmangers. The key features of curriculum areflexibility, innovativeness and relevance.
The purpose of a public policy man-agement course is to enhance the sensibil-ity and capability of the participants to bet-ter manage the public programmes and sys-tems as well as to make them understandthe global trends and practices in these areasto allow exploration of innovative optionsand choices.
Without a policy there can be no gov-ernance and to govern there must be a setof guidelines. The policies come up withthese guidelines. It also enables citizens tounderstand the causes and consequences ofpolicy decisions and enhances the overallfunctioning of the governance eco-system.
(The writer is chairperson, PGP Public PolicyProgramme, MDI Gurgaon)
Prof SK TAPASVI talks about the importance of public policy management, howimportant it is for governance and its scope as a possible career choice
‘Digital education
empowers the teacher’
The Wharton BusinessSchool, Jindal University and theAmerican Society ofInternational Law collaboratedin hosting the internationalconference on Business Ethicsand Corruption in the GlobalisedWorld.
Experts deliberated oncombating corruption in busi-ness practices at the joint con-ference.
Widespread prevalence ofcorruption not only makes amockery of the law but also vio-lates constitutional rights ofcitizens and intrinsically ham-pers growth and development.This was the consensus drawnover two days of deliberationsamong leading research schol-ars, industry leaders and publicpolicy practitioners at the con-ference.
EPICA, a luxury andlifestyle exhibition and carnivalby Aakriti Jain in associationwith NGO We Welfare Societyby Neha Kala have joined hands.
EPICA is a platform forinteraction for exhibitors at apocket friendly cost.
The event was inauguratedby Dr Jai Madaan (tarot andVastu expert) and was graced byMTV Splitsvilla 7 contestantJacqueline Kiare Leslie, Vikkie
After an intense battle ofargument, wit and verbal joust-ing involving more than 1000students across 20 cities,Intellebate, powered by USAUnivQuest, announced thefive winners of the NationalDebating Championship, whowill carry the Indian flag at the28th World Schools DebatingChampionship 2016, to beheld in Germany.
In the run up to the
national competition, USAUnivQuest successfullyreached out to more than amillion students across thecountry, making Intellebatethe biggest inter-school debat-ing competition. They are try-ing to popularise debating as afun way of sharpening criticaland higher order thinkingskills (HOTS), recognised byNCERT and CBSE as vital inthe overall success of a student.
LIFESTYLE EXHIBITION
DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIP
BUSINESS ETHICS CONFERENCE
IN BRIEF
Macquarie University haslaunched an immersion pro-gramme on Doing Business inIndia that aims to familiariseAustralian business studentswith knowledge of Indian busi-ness environment and culture.
A group of business stu-dents from MacquarieUniversity visited India as partof the programme. This tour isa part of the internationalstudy tour within the Bachelor
of Commerce degree which isdeveloped by the programmedirector for InternationalBusiness at MacquarieUniversity, Dr Meena Chavan.
Over the last two weeks,the student visited Mumbaiand New Delhi-Agra, thefinancial and political Capitalsof India respectively, and expe-rienced Indian business envi-ronment and culture firsthand, which will add greater
meaning to their course backhome.
As a part of the Mumbaitour, students participated in ahands on experiential activityof the Harvard developed casestudy — The DabbawalaSystem: On-Time Delivery,Every Time, and visited placeslike Bombay Stock Exchange,and IIT Bombay. In Delhi vis-its included NizamuddinDargah and Cyber Hub.
IMMERSION PROGRAMME
Ryan International Groupof Institutions recently held its10th edition of RyanInternational School ModelUnited Nations Conference(RISMUN) under the guid-ance of founder Dr AugustineF Pinto and MD Grace Pinto.
The conference saw theparticipation of over 400 stu-dents from 42 schools all overDelhi. Every year, RISMUNserves as a forum for young
students to let out their innerleader, deliberate on worldpolitics and provide ideas forsolving globally relevant issues.The conference felicitatedseven committees like HistoricMukhabharat. GauravKathuria of Class XII was thesecretary general for the con-ference.
The closing ceremony wasfilled with heightened emo-tions as the awards were given
to the meticulous delegates inthe presence of the chief guest,Dr Joan Antony, Professor ofPsychology at Jesus and MaryCollege. Dr Antony remindedthe gathering of their potentialand empathy that is presentand is a significant character-istic in all great leaders.. Theconference ended with a per-formance by the school rockband and the announcementof the Best Delegation.
10TH RISMUN AT RYAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
The TERI University con-ducted a first of its kind work-shop on Doctoral Research inArchitecture and Wider BuiltEnvironment Discipline at itsNew Delhi campus. The inter-active workshop saw participa-tion from over 40 professorsand scholars from Delhi andsurrounding regions, offeringgraduate programmes in archi-tecture, urban planning andother built environment relat-
ed disciplines, discussing topicsrelated to architecture, planning,landscape, culture & heritage,real estate, sustainable andinclusive cities etc.
Speaking at the inauguralsession, Dr Rajiv Seth, Pro-VC,TERI University said, “There isneed for advance research in thedomain of architecture andbuilt environment that will bevital for shaping Indian citiesand for issues of sustainability.”
Dr Shaleen Singhal, HOD,Policy Studies, TERI Universitysaid, “We structured the work-shop with the aim of orientingscholars to undertake highquality doctoral research. Wefocused on orientation, analyt-ical approaches, techniques andmethods for PhD research,including topics related to archi-tecture, planning, landscape,culture & heritage and realestate.”
DOCTORAL RESEARCH WORKSHOP
Manage your future
Thepurpose of apublic policymanagement
course is to enhancethe sensibility andcapability of the
participants to bettermanage the publicprogrammes and
systems
Leisure management dealswith any branch of
recreation. A degree in leisurestudies or leisure managementcan open up job opportunitiesfor you in private and publicsector recreation occupations.One may find work in placeslike rehabilitation centers,schools, camps, athleticprogrammes, fitness centres,correctional facilities, non-profitorganisations, hospitalityservices, nursing homes. Hereare some courses to study:n Indian Institute of Hospitalityand Management, Mumbai.Courses: Diploma in Recreationand Leisure Managementn Indian Institute of Tourism &Travel Management, NewDelhi. Courses: PG DiplomaTourism & LeisureManagement.n Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, NewDelhi. Courses: Diploma inTourism, Travel Management ,Aviation with German Languagen Institute of HotelManagement, Pusa, New Delhi.Courses: PG Diploma inAccommodation Operations &Management
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016 money 12
I think companies are willing toinvest in this country like neverbefore. Therefore they need acertain degree of predictabilityand comfort that revenue, whichis legitimate and genuine will betaxed and there would not beundue pressures
GE SOUTH ASIA PRESIDENT & CEO BANMALI AGRAWALA
Let larger global-sized institutionscome into existence without
adversely impacting theemployees’ working conditions.
And if it (the proposal) comes tous, I will certainly look at that.
And I will look at it very positively
FINANCE MINISTER ARUN JAITLEYCORP & GOVT
FROM
BUZZ
PNS n NEW DELHI
As bad loan crisis hasgripped almost all public
sector banks (PSBs), country’ssecond-largest PSB PunjabNational Bank (PNB) onWednesday reported recordhigh quarterly loss at `5,367crore in provisioning for badloans for the fourth quarterended March 31.
“We have done AssetQuality Review (AQR) fully.The bank has provided`11,380 crore for bad loansduring the quarter includingRs 385 crore for discoms,”PNB Managing Director UshaAnanthasubramanian toldreporters here.
The bank is of view thatwhat is worrying the bank is athree-fold surge in provision-ing for bad loans, including forpower discoms and Punjabfoodgrain related loans - themain cause for bad perfor-mance of the bank. “We expectthe pain to continue for somemore time. Besides, the bankhas made provision of `167crore for losses on Punjab
foodgrain related loans,”Ananthasubramanian added.
As part of fight againstNPAs, the PNB chief said thatthe bank sold `1,832 crore badloans to asset reconstructioncompanies (ARCs). “The bankwill be selling assets to ARCsduring the current fiscal alsobut will be difficult to give thenumber,” she said, adding thatintensification of e-auctiondrive or exploring possibilitiesin each stressed account isyielding result.
When asked about liquorbaron Vijay Mallya’s offer ofpart payment of bank loans,she said, “He must pay the fullamount and settle the dues.Although we are not leader ofthe consortium, we want heshould pay full.”
PNB had an exposure of`800 crore to the Mallya-pro-moted Kingfisher Airlines,which had to close shop underhuge debt burden and pay-ment defaults.
On capital raising, shesaid, “The bank would beseeking funds from theGovernment this year as well.
Bank is ready to shore up cap-ital at an opportune time andoption is available throughAdditional Tier 1 and Tier 2bonds. Besides, the bank isalso considering for sellingsome of its non-core business.It will sell its holding fromsome its non-core business inthe coming months.”
As far quarterly perfor-mance is concerned, the bankhad a net profit of `306.56crore in the correspondingperiod of 2014-15. Provisionfor bad loans or non perform-ing assets (NPAs) rose morethan three-fold to `11,380crore in the fourth quarter ascompared to `3,281 crore inthe same period a year ago.
Net interest margin of thebank declined to 2.95 per centin 2015-16, from 3.55 percent. Provisions for bad loansduring the entire fiscal morethan doubled to `18,469 crore,compared to `7979 crore inthe previous fiscal. Fresh slip-pages during the year rose to`41,060 crore as against`15,692 crore in the previousfiscal.
PNB posts huge Q4 loss at
`5,367 cr on NPA provisioning
RAKESH BIHARI JHA n
NEW DELHI
Against the backdrop of con-tinued SC ban on over
2000cc diesel vehicles in Delhi-NCR and its likely repercussionin other parts of the country,German Luxury carmaker hasput on hold its investment inIndia
“Most of the decisions arepostponed rather than com-pletely cancelled. If the ban con-tinues, then certainly cancella-tions will come into play,” saidMercedes Benz India ManagingDirector and CEO RolandFolger.
He also added that it aflawed approach that only bigvehicles should be punished inorder to control pollution whileleaving out mass segment cars.
“If you want to clear air, youwill have to address manythings besides automobiles,” headded.
Folger, however, said: “Wediscussed with the GovernmentSC ban on over 2000cc dieselvehicles in Delhi-NCR and it isalive to the need of car compa-nies,”
Suggesting a holisticapproach to solve the pollutionproblem, Folger said advancingimplementation of moreadvanced Bharat Stage-VI
emission standards in a stag-gered manner must be consid-ered.
“We can bring BS-VI vehi-cles as early as 2018 but we needfuel availability,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mercedes Benzon Wednesday launched GLS350 d in India priced at `80.40
lakhs ex-showroom Pune. It ispopularly known as the S-Classof SUVs.
“With the launch of theGLS, we are glad to provide themost comprehensive luxurySUV portfolio in the country toour discerning customers. Indiahas a growing penchant for theSUVs and at 100 per centgrowth achieved in 2015; it wasthe highest growing segmentfor us,” said Folger whilelaunching the product.
“The GLS has contributedto the success of our SUV port-folio in a significant way. Indiahas also emerged as one of thetop 10 markets for the GLS,globally,” he added.
The company announcedcommencement of local pro-duction of GLS 350d at itsChakan plant.
“The GLS will be locallymanufactured in our world-class production facility in Punefrom its India launch. We areconfident that the local pro-duction will make the GLS350d attractive for the eminentbuyers with additional valuepropositions and increasedavailability. This is yet anotherillustration of our vision of‘Make in India’, and gives us theopportunity to provide thenewest products for our elitecustomers here,” he addled.
Investment put on hold afterSC diesel ban: Mercedes Benz
AFP n TOKYO
Suzuki on Wednesday admit-ted to finding “discrepan-
cies” in its fuel-economy andemissions testing, but the firmdenied deliberately manipu-lating data to make cars seemmore efficient.
The remarks from theJapanese small-car maker camein the wake of rival MitsubishiMotors’ shock admission lastmonth that it had cheated onfuel-efficiency tests fordecades.
Mitsubishi said its presi-dent Tetsuro Aikawa wouldresign over the scandal, whichhas left the company’s reputa-tion in tatters.
Japan’s transport ministryhas ordered all domesticautomakers to probe their owncompliance with Governmenttesting methods followingMitsubishi’s revelations that itmanipulated fuel-economydata.
Major players Nissan,Toyota, Honda and Mazdahave already denied anywrongdoing.
Suzuki joined that list onWednesday, although it admit-ted that it was not using testsrequired by the Government.
“Any wrongdoing, such asmanipulation of fuel efficien-cy data, were not found,” itsaid.
“Some discrepancies werefound in the automobile emis-sion and fuel-efficiency testingprocess” between the methodrequired by the Governmentand what Suzuki did, the com-
pany statement added.Sixteen models and about
two million cars were affected,but the problem did not extendto cars sold outside Japan,according to Suzuki, which hasa major presence in India.
Suzuki said it has beenusing the improper testing since2010.
The firm’s shares dived asinvestors took it as the latestbad news for a global autoindustry shaken by scandalsover deadly defects and emis-sions cheating. Suzuki stockplunged as much as 15 per centin afternoon trading. It closed9.4 per cent lower at 2,613 yen($24).
Suzuki denies cheating on fuel, emissions testing
NEW DELHI: Maruti SuzukiIndia on Wednesday said theissue of using improper fueleconomy and emission testsfaced by parent Suzuki MotorCorp in Japan will not haveimplications in India citingdistinct testing regulations.
“The system of conductingvehicle mileage tests in India isdistinct from the one in Japan.In India, all vehicles are testedfor road load and emissions byGovernment approved agen-cies like ARAI, ICAT andVRDE,” a Maruti Suzuki Indiaspokesperson said in a state-ment here.
As part of the emissiontest, these agencies report fuelefficiency of vehicles as well.Basis these reports, MarutiSuzuki voluntarily declares
fuel efficiency of its vehicles,the spokesperson added.
Earlier on Wednesday inJapan, Suzuki Motor Corp(SMC) said “some discrepan-cies were found in the auto-mobile emission and fuel effi-ciency testing process betweenthe regulation by MLIT(Ministry of Land,Infrastructure, Transport andTourism) and the actualmethod carried out by Suzuki”.
While apologising for thediscrepancies in 16 models
which were subjected to inves-tigation, SMC, however saidthat the “issues do not apply toproducts sold under Suzukibadge outside Japan”.
SMC also insisted that “asfor performance regardingemissions, it complies withthe safety standards and weconsider it does not have anyproblems”.
Maruti Suzuki India sharesclosed at `3,917 apiece, down0.81 per cent from the previousclose on the BSE. PNS
No impact of Suzuki mileage test issue in India: Maruti
NEW DELHI: The proposal of SBI to merge itsfive associate banks with itself and acquireBharatiya Mahila Bank is in line with theGovernment’s policy of consolidation as thecountry needs global-sized institutions,Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesdaysaid.
“Consolidation was part of theIndradhanush package. I had announcedabout consolidation in the Budget... Therefore,the banks have acted. It is accordance with theGovernment’s policy,” Jaitley said.
The country’s largest lender State Bank ofIndia (SBI) on Tuesday proposed merger of itsfive associate banks and the three-year oldBharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself andsought the Government’s approval for thesame.
“Let the proposal come to the Government.I had already announced consolidation as theroad map in the Budget itself. And therefore,I think the larger question (is) that India does-n’t need so many banks in the public sector,”Jaitley said in an interview to CNBC TV 18channel.
“And therefore, let larger global-sizedinstitutions come into existence withoutadversely impacting the employees’ workingconditions. And if it (the proposal) comes tous, I will certainly look at that. And I will lookat it very positively.”
He said there is a need to reduce the num-ber of banks by consolidating some of them.
Further, he said the banks have given their
own opinion and if some banks have a contrar-ian view, the Government will “certainly respectthat, look into it and take that into consideration”.
According to SBI Chairman ArundhatiBhattacharya, with the merger, the balance-sheetsize of the bank will soar to ̀ 37 lakh crore, from`28 lakh crore currently.
The five associate banks that are under pro-posal to be merged with the banking major areState Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank ofTravancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank ofMysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
Among these, State Bank of Bikaner andJaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank ofTravancore are listed on bourses.
Asked if more lenders are expected to comeout with such consolidation plans, Jaitley said theimmediate priority will be to improve the stresssituation and their economic health.
“I think the immediate priority with regardto other banks is to get them out of the stress sit-uation, improve on their economic health andthen look at a possible consolidation, whereverpossible,” he added. Asked about theGovernment’s plan on strategic sale inPSUsthrough divestment, he said suggestions fromNITI Aayog are awaited.
“Divestment is the art of the possibility.Divestment is not something which you decideand you do it. You decide to divest and privatisethem... Market conditions may not be conducive.You may have other issues related to a particu-lar proposal, how meritorious a proposal is...,”Jaitley said. PTI
Consolidation Govt policy; needglobal-sized institutions, says FM
MUMBAI: American technol-ogy giant Apple’s chief exec-utive Tim Cook onWednesday met ICICI Bank’stop brass at the country’slargest private sector lender’scorporate headquarters here.
Cook, whose everymeeting is being closelywatched here for cues aboutApple’s business plans inIndia, walked into the ICICIBank Towers in the BandraKurla Complex business dis-trict here and spent over anhour there, sources said.
He met the bank’s man-aging director and CEOChanda Kochhar and execu-tive directors at a closed-doormeeting, they said but refusedto divulge what was dis-cussed.
ICICI Bank was amongthe first to introduce a bank-ing application on the AppleWatch, even before the gad-get got launched in the coun-try.
Over the past few years,it has also introduced a slewof other initiatives on the dig-ital front, including a digitalwallet, just like the ‘Apple Pay’by the tech giant. PTI
NEW DELHI: Fear of retrospec-tive taxation “hangs like aDamocles’ Sword” over thehead of foreign firms doingbusiness in India, global techgiant Microsoft said today --joined by two other largeAmerican corporations to raiseconcerns about the country’s‘uncertain’ tax regime.
Highlighting their con-cerns, top officials of the threeglobal giants -- Microsoft, GEand Lockheed Martin -- wereunanimous at a conferencehere in seeking predictability intaxation rules to encourageinvestments in the country.
GE and Lockheed Martinalso called for removing inef-ficiencies in Government ten-dering procedures and bid-ding processes, while Microsoftsaid there was a need to over-come “trust deficit” over datasecurity issues in India.
“Tax hangs like aDamocles’ sword over our headand I’m not terribly surewhether it’s only Americancompanies but I guess it’s everycompany in this country. ThatDamocles’ sword is that sud-denly rules change and is ret-
rospective,” Microsoft IndiaChairman Bhaskar Pramaniksaid at the ‘Accelerating Indo-US Trade’ conference.
Elaborating his point, hesaid: “If you come to me andtell me that I am going toincrease your taxes by 35 percent I have no issues. I willchange my business modelaccordingly but if you comeback and say for the last tenyears I am going to charge you35 per cent more, I have a prob-lem and I can’t change that. Ithink this retrospective tax hasstill not disappeared.”
Expressing similar senti-ments, GE South AsiaPresident & CEO BanmaliAgrawala said taxationremains an issue for foreigncompanies, particularlyAmerican firms that “needcomfort” from the IndianGovernment.
“I think companies arewilling to invest in this coun-try like never before. Thereforethey need a certain degree ofpredictability and comfort thatrevenue, which is legitimateand genuine will be taxed andthere would not be undue
pressures,” he added.Lockheed Martin India
Chief Executive Phil Shawalso said that the challengesthat they see in India includethose relating to the country’staxation regime.
He said companies likeLockheed Martin would like tosee some predictability in pro-curement particularly in thedefence sector.
The comments come at atime when the NDA govern-ment is highlighting the workdone by it in its first two yearsin various areas, includingtowards improving the ease ofdoing business in the country.
Commenting on datasecurity issues, Pramanik said:“There is a trust deficitwhether it is the Snowdenreports or the current issueswhich we have. We need tobalance the privacy of datawith the security of thenation...
“One thing is very clear tous that if data is generated inthis country, it should bebased on the laws of thiscountry and based on what isright for the Indian citizen.”PTI
Retro tax hangs like Damocles’Sword in India, says Microsoft
MUMBAI: Sajjan Jindal-led JSWSteel on Wednesday reportedan over two-fold jump in con-solidated net profit at `171.25crore for the March quarterand chalked out capex of`7,000 crore over the nexttwo years.
“Our net profit increasedto `171.25 crore for the Marchquarter as compared to `62.38crore in the year-ago perioddue to increased volumegrowth,” JSW Steel JointManaging Director and GroupCFO Seshagiri Rao toldreporters here.
However, total consolidat-ed income fell by 15 per centto `10,697.52 crore in thefourth quarter against`12,599.70 crore in the sameperiod of 2014-15.
The company’s overseassubsidiaries are not operatingand hence have not contributedto the growth, Rao added.
The company recommis-sioned blast furnaces atVijayanagar and Salem inFebruary and at Dolvi inMarch. As a result, the com-pany has been able to recordcrude steel production at 3.21
million tonnes for the quarter,up 5 per cent y-o-y and 19 percent q-o-q.
Saleable steel sales volumegrew to 3.28 million tonnes, up7 per cent y-o-y and 29 per centq-o-q, he said.
The company has added 2million tonne (MT) capacity atVijaynagar and Dolvi unitseach, he added. The installedcapacity of the company hasincreased by about 25 per centfrom 14.3 million tonnes perannum to 18 million tonnes perannum with the completion ofthese low cost and returnsaccretive projects, he said.
On the capex plans, Raosaid the company looks toinvest `7,000 crore over thenext two years and will invest`4,300 crore this year and`2,700 crore next year, whichincludes setting up of 200,000tonnes tin plate unit at Tarapurin Maharashtra estimated tocost Rs 650 crore.
The firm is also investing`550 crore to resolve the watershortage issue, he said, addingit has no fund raising plans, butit is looking to refinance its debtand reduce cost. PTI
JSW Steel Q4 net surges
over two-fold to `171 cr
Apple chief Tim Cook
visits ICICI HQ, meets
top management
Most of thedecisions arepostponed ratherthan completelycancelled. If theban continues,then certainlycancellations willcome into playMercedes Benz IndiaManaging Director and CEO Roland Folger
Trai: Won’t ‘shy away’ from
protecting consumers
PTI n NEW DELHI
With its penalty provisionfor call drops annulled
by the Supreme Court, telecomregulator Trai on Wednesdaysaid it will not ‘shy away’ fromprotecting consumers and thematter is being discussed inter-nally for taking an appropriatestep in this regard. TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(Trai) Chairman RS Sharmaalso said ‘drive tests’ have beenconducted in 11-12 cities toanalyse the menace of calldrops and the results are beingprocessed before being madepublic.
Amid a huge public outcryover frequent call drops on var-ious mobile networks, Traihad put in place new regula-tions providing for penalty ontelecom operators for droppedcalls. However, this was setaside by the Supreme Courtearlier this month. Askedabout the next course of actionby Trai, Sharma said, “We arediscussing the issue internallyat Trai and we will come out
with an appropriate step at anappropriate time.” Sharma toldreporters here: “Among variousliabilities that Trai has, con-sumer protection is also one ofthem, and we cannot shy awayfrom our duty.”
The Trai regulation hadmandated mobile providers tocompensate consumers `1 forevery dropped call subject to amaximum of `3 a day.Scrapping this rule, theSupreme Court said on May 11that the regulation was ‘ultravires, arbitrary, unreasonableand non-transparent’.
Trai has also been fre-
quently conducting randomtest drive to check status of calldrop network which most tele-com operators failed to clear.The companies, however, havecontested the result findings ofthe regulator.
As per Trai benchmark,not more than 2 per cent callson a telecom operator's net-work should get automatical-ly disconnected. On test drivesbeing conducted by Trai on calldrops, Sharma said, “We haverecently tested in 11-12 cities.We are processing their results.We will publish them verysoon.”
We are discussing the issue
internally at Trai and we will
come out with an appropriate
step at an appropriate time.
‘Drive tests’ have been
conducted in 11-12 cities to
analyse the menace of call
drops and the results are being
processed before being made public
TRAI CHAIRMAN RS SHARMA
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016 world 13
Ellie Goulding wants
to take a break
London: Singer Ellie Goulding says she isplanning to take a break from recordingand performing as she feels her life hasbeen on “hold”. “I’m still going to be writ-ing, but it’s been so overwhelming the pastfew years that it’s time to go away for a lit-tle bit and be out of the limelight,”Goulding said. The 29-year-old “Burn” hit-maker said she wants to spend with timewith her friends and family now, reporteFemalefirst. “It’s really a commitment,being on the road; you almost put every-thing on hold — seeing family, seeingfriends. I’ve missed so many weddings andbirths ,i want to wake up with no work.
Kendall Jenner turns to
mother Kris for advice
London: Model-reality TV star KendallJenner turns to her mother and managerKris Jenner for advice when she getsstressed. The 20-year-old reality TV staris one of the world’s most in-demand mod-els but admitted she has days when she isdown and the only person who can helpis her mother, Kendall wrote on her web-site. “When things get really bad, and I’mreally down, I call my mom. She listens tome - which is so important - and gives real-ly good advice. I feel lucky to have such astrong support system when things getrough and feel overwhelming,” reality TVstar Kendall Jenner wrote.
Irina & Cooper couple up
for Bey’s concert!
Los Angeles: Bradley Cooper holds handswith girlfriend Irina Shayk as they maketheir way inside the Rose Bowl forBeyonce‘s Formation World Tour show onSaturday night (May 14) in Pasadena,Calif. The cute couple was joined byAshton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, as wellas Pink, Jamie Foxx, Minka Kelly, and WizKhalifa.There have been rumors in thepast that the relationship of BradleyCooper and Irina Shayk are going southbecause of the not-so-good relationshipbetween the supermodel and the actor’smother Gloria Campano.Bradley came tothe concert with Irina and her mother.
GLOBE TROTTING
Clinton wins in Kentucky
PTI n FRANKFORT (U.S)
Hillary Clinton onWednesday eked out a
narrow win in the KentuckyDemocratic primary over rivalBernie Sanders who kept hisWhite House hopes alive witha crucial victory in Oregoneven as she set her sights on anepic clash with RepublicanDonald Trump in theNovember polls.
Clinton, 68, squeezed out acliffhanger victory over Sandersin Kentucky, a result that keepsher on track to win the party’snomination for the presidentialpolls but also highlights deepdivisions in the party.
The former secretary ofstate won the state by half a per-centage point with nearly all thevotes counted. Sanders, mean-while, won the OregonDemocratic primary, bagging53 per cent votes to her 47 percent. However, despite theseries of defeats in theDemocratic primaries over thepast few weeks includingOregon and a very close finishin Kentucky, Clinton stillappears to be on her way toclinch the nomination of theDemocratic party for theNovember 8 general elections.
This is mainly because sheis way ahead of Sanders in thedelegate count and requires lessthan 100 more delegates toreach the magical figure of2,383 delegates to become theDemocratic presidential nom-inee. According to US mediaestimates, with 55 delegates upfor grabs in Kentucky, Clintonand Sanders both won 27 del-egates with one remaining to be
decided. In Oregon with 61 del-egates to be taken, Sanders won28 delegates and Clinton took24 with 9 remaining to beaccounted for.
Sanders who has 1,526 del-egates as against Clinton’s 2,289delegates, needs to win nearly70 per cent of the rest of thedelegates at stake in theremaining nine primaries.
“We just won Kentucky!Thanks to everyone whoturned out. We’re alwaysstronger united,” Clinton tweet-ed as she was declared the win-ner by just 1,923 votes.
Such a narrow win mayhave derailed some of themomentum of the Clinton
Campaign but she has set hersights on her epic clash with 69-year-old Trump in the presi-dential polls. In a tweet and anemail, she urged her support-ers to help raise funds to defeatTrump in the polls. Meanwhile,on the Republican side, Trumpgarnered nearly two-thirds ofthe total votes polled inOregon, further consolidatinghis position as the presumptivepresidential nominee.
Trump, who joined politicsless than a year ago, has defeat-ed 16 top Republican leaders toemerge as the presumptivenominee. With a win inOregon, Trump has 1,171 del-egates in his kitty and needs
just 66 delegates to reach the1,237 figure to officially clinchthe nomination. This is nowconsidered a mere formalitygiven that he is the only one leftin the race. Nearly 350 dele-gates are still to be awardedfrom the remaining primaries.
“I look so forward to debat-ing Crooked Hillary Clinton!Democrat Primaries are rigged,e-mail investigation is rigged —so time to get it on!” Trumpsaid in a tweet soon after beingdeclared the winner of theOregon primary.
“Thank You Oregon.Congratulations to the move-ment, we have just won thegreat state of Oregon. The vote
percentage is even higher thananticipated! Thank you,”Trump said in another tweet tohis 8.26 million followers.
After his morale-boostingwin in Oregon, Sanders toldthousands of his supporters inCalifornia that he is not givingup even though he has a steephill to climb. “No one can pre-dict the future, but I think wehave a real shot to win pri-maries in a number of the statesthat will be coming up. Anddon’t tell Secretary Clintonbecause she might get nervous,”he said.
“I think we’re going to winhere in California,” Sanderssaid. As many as 475 delegatesare at stake in California. Amassive win here might helpSanders to narrow the gap.Sanders said he would not giveup until the last vote is count.
“We have the possibility, itwill be a steep climb, I recog-nise that, but we have the pos-sibility of going to Philadelphiawith a majority of pledged del-egates,” he said.
“Now some people saywe’ve got a steep hill to climband that’s absolutely true. Buttogether we’ve been climbingthat steep hill from day one inthis campaign and we’ll con-tinue to fight for every last voteuntil June 14, and then we’lltake our fight into the conven-tion,” Sanders said. The nextround of eight primaries inCalifornia, Montana, NewJersey, North Dakota, NewMexico, South Dakota, PuertoRico and Virgin Island arescheduled for June 7.Washington DC would host thelast primary on June 14.
...Sanders takes Oregon to stay afloat
More than 250 feared deadin landslides in Sri Lanka
AGENCIES n COLOMBO
More than 250 people arefeared dead after they
were buried under two land-slides triggered by more thanthree days of heavy rain in cen-tral Sri Lanka , disaster officialssaid on Wednesday as rescuersraced to find survivors andrecover the dead. Torrentialrains have forced more than196,000 people from theirhomes, the latest official datashowed, with the recovery ofanother 19 bodies across theSouth Asian country bringingthe official death toll so far to135. More than 350 peoplewere plucked to safety duringrescue operations in landslide-affected areas across the coun-try early on Wednesday, offi-cials said.
Rescue efforts have focusedon the town of Aranayaka,100km north-east of the capi-tal, Colombo, where three vil-lages were buried late on
Tuesday in the central districtof Kegalle.
A Sri Lankan Red Crossofficial who attended a disas-ter meeting at the Aranayakalandslide site early onWednesday said it was fearedthe death toll was much high-er than the official figures list-ed so far. "At that meeting, itwas revealed that around 300-400 people are feared to havedied in the Aranayaka land-slide," Neville Nanayakkara,director general of the SriLanka Red Cross Society, toldReuters. Nanayakkara wasspeaking before other officialssaid that about 150 people hadbeen rescued from theAranayaka area, leaving fearsfor the safety of at least anoth-er 150 people.The Red Crosshas set up a welfare camp forsurvivors of the Aranayakalandslide.Police said anotherlandslide at Bulathkopitiya,also in Kegalle district, hadburied at least 16
people.Military spokesmanJayanath Jayaweera said troopshad recovered 13 bodies fromthe Aranayaka site and threefrom Bulathkopitiya. He saidthe 150 people who were res-cued from Aranayaka earlieron Wednesday had been sent tosix camps set up for displacedpeople in the area. Nature'sfurry can't be stopped or pre-dicted in advance. But at leasethe rescue and resettling can bedone for the survivors withhuman touch and help fromothers. Very sorry for the lostlives. Troops using boats andhelicopters also pulled to safe-ty more than 200 peopletrapped in the north-westerncoastal district of Puttalam,Jayaweera said.
Flooding and drought arecyclical in Sri Lanka, which isbattered by a southern mon-soon between May andSeptember, while a north-east-ern monsoon runs fromDecember to February.
More than 150 people are feared dead after they were buried under two landslides in Sri Lanka . AFP/ File
French police protest ‘anti-cop hatred’
AFP n PARIS
Police across France were todemonstrate on Wednesday
against the “anti-cop hatred”they say they have enduredduring a wave of anti-govern-ment protests since earlyMarch. Rallies are planned inaround 60 towns and cities,with the Paris event to be heldin the Place de la Republique,the venue of the youth-driven“Up All Night” movement thatemerged from the protestsagainst the Socialist govern-ment’s labour reforms. Activistswere denied permissionhoweer to stage a counter-demonstration against policeviolence in the same squareahead of the rally.
Some 350 members of thesecurity forces have beeninjured during the protestsagainst the labour reforms,including one who lost the useof an eye.
Eleven were injured onTuesday during the latestprotests against the reforms,which are seen as too pro-busi-ness and were forced throughwithout a parliamentary vote.“You can see why these securi-ty forces are a bit exasperated,”national police chief Jean-MarcFalcone said on French radio
on Wednesday.He noted that police have
been under “great pressure”since 167 people were killed injihadist attacks, first on theCharlie Hebdo satirical week-ly and a Jewish supermarket inJanuary 2015, followed 10months later by attacks onseveral Paris targets in
November. The anti-government
protests have often turned vio-lent, notably when small groupsof hooded youths have joinedin, apparently well organisedand determined to clash withpolice. On the other side, avideo emerged in late Marchshowing two policemen hold-
ing up a 15-year-old boy whileanother violently punched him.
The video, which wentviral, was followed in mid-Aprilby a poster printed by a unionto denounce alleged policebrutality, reading “Policeshould protect citizens, not hitthem — stop the violence”.
In the wider population
French police enjoy an enviablereputation, scoring an 82 per-cent approval rating in a recentopinion poll.
The police have called onthe government to respondfirmly to the hooded “casseurs”— literally breakers, or trou-blemakers.
“I’ve never seen thisbefore,” a riot policeman toldAFP. “The casseurs... are per-fectly organised... to hurt cops.”President Francois Hollande onTuesday warned the rioters:“Enough is enough, and it can-not go on without a response.”
Firefighters work on a police car set up on fire by counter demonstrators while police forces gather to denounce the almost dailyviolent clashes at protests against a labor reform, on Wednesday. AP
The anti-govt
protests have
turned violent,
when small groups
of hooded youths
have joined in,
apparently well
organised and
determined to
clash with police
Chibok girl found, first since
abduction by Boko Haram
Kano (AFP): The first of 219schoolgirls abducted by BokoHaram from Chibok in north-east Nigeria more than twoyears ago has been found,activists, the head of a supportgroup and a community leadersaid on Wednesday. AminaAli was discovered last night inthe Sambisa Forest area ofBorno state by civilian vigi-lantes assisting the militaryand brought back to her hometown of Mbalala, near Chibok.“She met her parents, whorecognised their daughterbefore she was taken to the mil-itary base in Damboa,” AyubaAlamson Chibok, a communi-ty leader in Chibok, told AFP.
“Her father’s name is Aliand the girl’s name is Amina. Iknow the family very wellbecause I have worked withthem, being a spokesman forthe families of the Chibokgirls.” Yakubu Nkeki, head ofthe Abducted Chibok GirlsParents’ group, also confirmedher name and said she was 17when she was abducted. He
added: “She’s the daughter ofmy neighbour... They broughther to my house.” TsambidoHosea Abana, a Chibok com-munity leader in the capital,Abuja, from theBringBackOurGirls pressuregroup, was the first to givedetails about the discovery. Allthree men said the teenagerappeared to have given birthwhile in captivity while Abanasaid other kidnapped girls werein the forest, which the militaryhas been targeting for several
weeks. There was no immedi-ate word from the Nigerianauthorities. Boko Haram seized276 students from theGovernment Girls SecondarySchool in Chibok on the nightof April 14, 2014. Fifty-sevenmanaged to escape in theimmediate aftermath. Nothinghad been heard from the 219still held captive since a videopublished by the Islamists inMay 2014 until an apparent“proof of life” message was sentto the Nigerian government.
China, India face huge mental health burdenAFP n PARIS
China and India are home to more thana third of people with mental illness,
but only a tiny fraction of them receivemedical help, according to studies releasedon Wednesday. There are more people inthe world’s two most populous nationscoping with mental, neurological andsubstance use problems than in all high-income countries combined, the researchfound. That burden will become muchheavier in coming decades, especially inIndia, where it is projected to increase bya quarter by 2025. China, meanwhile, willstruggle with the rapid rise of dementia inits greying population, a by-product in partof strict birth control policies put inplace more than 35 years ago.
Neither country is adequatelyequipped to deal with theirmental healthneeds, according the trio of reports, pub-lished in medical journal The Lancet andThe Lancet Psychiatry to mark the launchof the China-India Mental Health Alliance.In China, only six per cent of people cop-ing with common mental illnesses such asdepression or anxiety disorders, or withsubstance abuse and dementia, even seekout a doctor, researchers found.
“The lack of mental health manpow-er in rural areas” is especially acute,explained Michael Phillips, one of the leadauthors and a professor at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta and at Shanghai JiaoTong University. More than half of thosewith full-blown psychotic disorders such
as schizophrenia are not diagnosed, muchless cared for, he said in a statement. InIndia, the percentage of the populationwith untended mental health problems isequally small. By contrast, treatment ratesin rich nations is 70 per cent and up.
The divide between developed coun-tries and these emerging giants is equallysharp when it comes to money spent. Lessthan one per cent of national healthcarebudgets in China and India is allocated tomental health care. In the United Statesthat figure is nearly six per cent, while inGermany and France it rises to ten per centor more. Both India and China haverecently implemented progressive policies
providing for the needs of their mentallyill, but reality on the ground has not yetcaught up, the studies showed.
“The treatment gaps, especially inrural areas, are very large,” Vikram Patel,a professor at the London School ofHygiene and Tropical Medicine, said ofIndia.
It could take decades for each coun-try’s medical systems to fill these gaps, thereports concluded. But the researchers sug-gest that a large cadre of traditional prac-titioners - yogis in India, Chinese medi-cine doctors in China - could be trainedto recognise mental health problems andhelp with treatment.
sport 14LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
PTI n NEW DELHI
Sushil Kumar's fight for an Olympicberth suffered another blow onWednesday with the Wrestling
Federation of India (WFI) strongly hint-ing that they would prefer NarsinghYadav for the Rio Games given his "con-sistent performances" over the last year.
Following the Delhi High Courtdirective, a special WFI committee,formed on the instruction of the court,held a meeting with the two-time Olympicmedallist on Wednesday, to sort out as towho between Sushil and Narsingh wouldrepresent India in the men's 74kg freestylecategory at the mega-event in August.
"Sushil has put forward his viewsbefore the committee and has maintainedwhat he has been saying since the verybeginning that he should get a chance toundergo a trial," WFI president BrijBhushan Sharan Singh told reporters here.
"We have told him that 'you have putIndian wrestling at a pedestal and we can-not ignore your contribution and we allrespect you'. But on the other hand, thereis another wrestler who has brought theOlympic quota and also has been givingconsistent performances. So, can we beunfair to him also?," Brij Bhushan added.
Asked what if the High Court, dur-ing its next hearing on May 27, instructsthe Federation to take a final call, BrijBhushan said, "The Federation has takenits decision."
The meeting chaired by the WFI pres-ident included senior vice president IDNanavati, secretary general and the chiefcoach, besides Sushil. Sushil's mentor andfather-in-law Satpal was also present in themeeting.
"Since it was a friendly meeting, wealso allowed Satpal to be a part of it. Weheard Sushil and Satpal's point of view andwe also put forward WFI's dilemma. We
said that Federation is not just for onewrestler or one category. I asked Sushilwhat he would have done had he been inmy place with one wrestler havingimmense contribution in the past andanother with consistent performances,"said Brij Bhushan.
Asked if WFI got convinced bySushil's opinion, the president said:"Convince hone ka koi sawal hi nahinuthta hai (there is no question of gettingconvinced).
"Whatever is our view point on thematter, we will submit it to the court inour reply."
On why there has been a communi-cation gap between Sushil and WFI after
Narsingh had qualified almost eightmonths back in last September, BrijBhushan said, "I have never told Sushil orfor that matter any other perosn that WFIwill hold the trials. Whenever I have beenasked by the media if trials would be con-ducted, I had always said that if I talkabout the issue now it would hamper thetraining of the wrestlers and that's why Inever spoke about it. I said when the timewill come to take a decision, I woulddecide on the matter."
The WFI president said if the Courtorders us to conduct a trial, this matterwould not stop there.
"If the court decides that we shouldhold the trial, the matter would not stop
there. Then it will again go to theSupreme Court.
"But if court instructs WFI to conducta trial and if the higher court also says it,then we will have to listen to the court,"he said.
Brij Bhushan said Sushil would not beallowed to be in the national camp untilthe next hearing.
Sushil, meanwhile, said that he has putforward his stand that there should be atrial. "I have always wished Narsingh well.He is my collegue and he has also donewell for the country. But now what thepresent situation is in 74kg, the decisioncan only be taken after conducting thetrial," said the 32-year-old.
Asked if he was disappointed with theWFI's stance, Sushil kept up a brave front.
"No. They have always supported me.Sent me for training in Georgia. I havealways got exposures via the Federationand they have always stood by me. Mychief has also always stood by me," he said.
Sushil had moved court as his lastresort having already taken the matter tothe doorsteps of Prime Minister's Office.
He had also appealed to the SportsMinistry, IOA, WFI and fans to give hima chance to undergo a trial for the RioGames, as according to the rules, quotabelongs to the country and not to a par-ticular wrestler.
The former World champion hadargued that the government has spent asubstantial amount of money on his train-ing and even the federation has been ask-ing him to keep practising.
Narsingh, meanwhile, has been stak-ing his claim to represent India at theOlympics since last year when he secureda quota place at the World Championshipin Las Vegas after winning a bronze in74kg. Sushil, who missed the event dueto a shoulder injury, has been demand-ing a trial.
PTI n KUNSHAN (CHINA)
The Indian women's team qualified for theUber Cup badminton tournament quar-
terfinals despite suffering a narrow 2-3 loss topowerhouse Japan in its third and finalGroup D match, here on Wednesday.
The men's team, however, continued itsdismal run in the Thomas Cup and crashedout after being blanked 0-5 by Indonesia intheir third match of Group B.
The Indian men's team had lost toThailand and Hong Kong in its last two out-ings and will return winless from China.
Olympic bronze medallist, Saina defeat-ed World No 5 Nozomi Okuhara 18-21, 6-21.
In the second singles, two-time WorldChampionship bronze medallist, P V Sindhunotched up a 21-11, 21-18 win over World No11 Akane Yamaguchi to guide India to a 2-0 lead.
However, Jwala Gutta combined with NSikki Reddy, went down 11-21, 8-21 againstWorld No 1 pair of Misaki Matsutomo andAyaka Takahashi in the first women's doubles.
In the third singles, Ruthvika Shivani wentdown 7-21, 14-21 against Sayaka Sato.
In the decider, Ashwini Ponnappa pairedup with Sindhu but their gallant fight endedwith a 21-15, 19-21, 16-21 loss to ShizukaMatsuo and Mami Naito.
AP n MANCHESTER
Manchester United'sabsence from the
Champions League for the sec-ond time in three years wasconfirmed on Tuesday after a3-1 win over Bournemouth inan English Premier Leaguegame hastily rearrangedbecause of a bomb scare.
Wayne Rooney scored onegoal and played a part in theother two, scored by MarcusRashford and substitute AshleyYoung, as United finished infifth place to qualify for theEuropa League group stage.
Qualifying for theChampions League — with itsprestige and vast riches — wasUnited's priority this season,
meaning that manager Louisvan Gaal has failed to meet histargets. David Moyes was firedin 2014 for that very reason, andVan Gaal will find out after theFA Cup final against CrystalPalace on Saturday whether hegoes the same way.
"It is the highest level," Van
Gaal said of the ChampionsLeague, "and a club likeManchester United has to playat that level."
To do so, United had to beatBournemouth by a minimum19-goal margin to overtakefourth-place Manchester City.Even in the strangest season inthe Premier League's 24-yearhistory, that was never going tohappen and United wound upbehind City on goal difference.
There were some jeers fromUnited fans as Van Gaal took tothe microphone in the centercircle after the game. TheDutchman thanked supportersfor their "unconditional sup-port," adding: "Now, we want tobring the FA Cup home to you."
That still might not save hisjob, although Van Gaal answeredwith a resounding "yes" whenasked if he would still be Unitedmanager next season. He has oneyear left on his contract.
United ended the leaguecampaign with 49 goals, theteam's lowest return since 1989-90 and a paltry total compared
to the ones that United teamsunder Alex Ferguson used todeliver.
The original game onSunday was called off after OldTrafford was evacuated becausea fake bomb was discovered inthe toilets of one of the stands.Police said hours later that thedevice was left behind by a pri-vate company following a secu-rity training exercise usingsearch dogs.
It was not only an acutelyembarrassing episode forUnited, it meant the team had toreturn two days later to play thegame — disrupting prepara-tions for the cup final.
Van Gaal played a full-strength team againstBournemouth, and appeared toavoid any injuries.Bournemouth, meanwhile, hadto make a second 500-mile (800-kilometer) round trip in threedays from the south coast to thenorth, and couldn't even use itsown training pitches in betweentimes because they had been dugup in advance of preseason.
AP n BASEL
UEFA will elect a new pres-ident on Sept 14, with
former FIFA candidate Michaelvan Praag first to declare plansto replace Michel Platini in acontest likely to have severalcontenders.
Van Praag, the Dutch foot-ball leader, "expressed hisintention" to enter the contestduring an executive committeemeeting Wednesday, UEFAinterim general secretaryTheodore Theodoridis said.
The 67-year-old Van Praagwas expected to seek the jobafter raising his profile in 2014as a leading European critic ofSepp Blatter, and as a candidateagainst the then-FIFA presi-dent last year.
Other officials interested inthe UEFA race include FIFAvice president Angel MariaVillar of Spain and Slovenianfederation presidentAleksander Ceferin.
Van Praag, the former Ajaxpresident, withdrew from theFIFA contest ahead of the votelast May, has declined to speakwith reporters in Basel thisweek on the sidelines of theEuropa League final.
In a statement released bythe Dutch federation, VanPraag said he wanted to "pavethe way for a new, youngerpresident."
"UEFA needs a bridgebuilder at the moment. I wantto use my experience, net-work and knowledge in thecoming two-and-a-half years to
make UEFA a close unionagain," said Van Praag, whowould be barred by UEFA agelimit rules from re-election inMarch 2019.
The new president willcomplete the suspendedPlatini's existing term andbecome a FIFA vice president.
The 55 national federa-tions in UEFA will vote at anextraordinary congress inAthens, Greece, saidTheodoridis, who acknowl-edged he might be a contenderby the July 20 deadline.
"In my life I learned neverto say never, but it is not mypriority and there are plenty ofpeople there," said the Greekofficial, who was promoted tothe role of his former bossGianni Infantino.
The UEFA race is expect-ed to take shape during theJune 10-July 10 EuropeanChampionship in Platini'snative France.
AP n LONDON
Just as Russia's track and field federation wassuspended by the IAAF, some of the country's
winter sports bodies could be banned if allega-tions of state-supported doping at the 2014 SochiOlympics are proven, IOC President ThomasBach said on Wednesday.
Bach wrote in a newspaper op-ed piece thataccusations that Russian officials subverted thedrug-testing system at the Winter Games "rep-resent a shocking new dimension in doping" andan "unimaginable level of criminality."
Bach said the International OlympicCommittee will act with "all the appropriatemeasures within its powers" to deal with claimsby Russia's former anti-doping director that heran an organized doping program for Russianathletes at the Sochi Games and helped switchtainted samples for clean ones.
The IOC has asked the World Anti-DopingAgency to carry out a full-fledged investigationand plans to retest Sochi samples stored at thelab in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bach said, if the Russian doping allegationsare found to be true, the IOC would punish indi-vidual athletes and "all their entourage withinits reach." "This action could range from life-longOlympic bans for any implicated person, totough financial sanctions, to acceptance of sus-pension or exclusion of entire national federa-tions like the already existing one for the RussianAthletics Federations by the IAAF," he wrote.
The IAAF suspended Russia from globalcompetition following an investigation by anindependent WADA panel that detailed state-sponsored doping, corruption and cover-ups inthe country's track and field program.
The IAAF is scheduled to decide next monthwhether to maintain or lift the ban on the Russiansfor the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August.
Bach said the results of WADA's Sochi inves-
tigation will "greatly influence" the participationof Russian athletes in Rio.
If there is evidence of organized doping inother Russian sports, international federationsand the IOC "would have to make the difficultdecision between collective responsibility andindividual justice," Bach said.
"It would have to consider whether in such'contaminated' federations the presumption ofinnocence for athletes could still be applied,whether the burden of proof could be reversed,"he added.
The Russian sports ministry said Wednesdayit supports banning drug cheats but claimed itwould be unfair to keep a blanket ban on all trackathletes for the games.
"We strongly believe that clean athletes, whohave spent years of their lives training for thegames, should not be deprived of the right toparticipate," the ministry said. "Moreover, we arewilling to fully cooperate with WADA in theirinvestigation and we have officially informedWADA of this."
The statements came as US federal prose-cutors investigate the allegations of state-spon-sored doping of Russian athletes. The probe,launched by the U.S. Attorney's office for theEastern District of New York, is looking at ath-letes, Russian government officials, anti-dopingauthorities and people who may have benefit-ed from the doping scheme, The New YorkTimes reported.
WADA President Craig Reedie told TheAssociated Press he had not been contacted byUS authorities.
In an interview published last week in theTimes, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head ofthe Russian lab now living in Los Angeles, saidhe switched tainted urine samples for clean onesat the doping lab used for the Sochi Games, withhelp from people he believed to be officers of theRussian security services.
Sushil's Oly dream shrinks further
After holding meeting with 32-year-old, WFI sounds not to be keen on hosting trial
Narsingh has beenstaking his claim
to represent India at the
Olympics sincelast year when hesecured a quota
place at the WorldC’ship in Las Vegas
after winning abronze in 74kg
United's scored just49 in 38 leaguematches, nine fewerthan the 58 theyscored in 2004-05,
when they finished third behindChelsea and Arsenal.
United's 49 goals this seasonranks them 10th in the PremierLeague for goals scored.
United's goals have come at arate of just 1.29 a game, thelowest in the club's PremierLeague history.
It is only the third time in 28seasons that United have failedto score 50 goals or more withthe 45 they managed in 1988-89at 1.18 per game the lowest ofFerguson's then fledgling reign.
Sir Alex's last two seasons at thehelm saw the club score a totalof 175 - the three since he lefthave yielded the same number.
Manchester United finished theseason on 66 points. Only oncebefore have they ended aPremier League campaign with
fewer - the 64 points theymanaged under David Moyesand Ryan Giggs in 2013/14.
United recorded their joint-lowest number of wins in aPremier League season. Theywere victorious just 19 times -the same total they managed inthat 2013/14 Moyes campaign.
United were beaten 10 times inthe Premier League — only thesecond time they have reacheddouble figures in defeats. Theylost 12 times in 2013/14.
Van Gaal's side conjured up 312openings this season - onlyWatford, Aston Villa and WestBrom created fewer chances.
As a result, Manchester Unitedhad 430 shots on goal —ranking them 15th out of the 20Premier League clubs in thismeasure. Tottenham had themost - 229 more than United.
United finished the campaignwith the most 1-0 wins (eight)and joint-most 0-0 draws (five,same as Man City) in EPL.
BORING UNITED STATS
Federations could be bannedif Sochi allegations true: Bach
UEFA to hold prez
election in Sept
Indian evesenter quarters;men ousted
PTI n BEIJING
The Indian 4x100m women's relay team brokethe 18-year-old National record to finish in
4th position at the IAAF World Challenge, hereon Wednesday.
The 4x100m women relay team comprisingDutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, HM Jyoti andMerlin Joseph clocked 44.03s to finish the race,breaking the 18-year-old record of 44.43s creat-ed by the quartet of Saraswati Dey, Rachita Mistry,EB Shyla and PT Usha on July 22, 1998 inFukuoka, Japan.
The Indian team ran with Merlin starting therace with Jyoti running the second followed bythe Srabani with Dutee running the anchor leg.
The host nation grabbed the first and thirdpositions with China A and China B team on thefirst and third position respectively while Japanfinished second.
China A team clocked 42.65 for the goldmedal while Japan team finished the race in 43.81for the silver medal and China B team finishedthird for the bronze medal by clocking 43.89.
The team will be now flying to Taiwan for theirnext challenge on Thursday early morning at theTaiwan Open Athletics Championships 2016.
Women's 4x100mteam breaks
national record
PV Sindhu in a file photo
UEFA VP Angel Maria Villar AP
United draw curtains on disappointing season
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016
4s 2149
6s 525
boundarymeter
15
IANS n KANPUR
Gujarat Lions will look tobounce back from theirheaviest defeat this sea-
son as they take on KolkataKnight Riders (KKR) in theIndian Premier League (IPL)game here on Thursday.
Regular captain SureshRaina will be back for the tie atthe Green Park stadium toboost the team's confidenceafter skipping the RoyalChallengers Bangalore matchto be alongside his pregnantwife who gave birth to a daugh-ter recently. It was Raina's firstIPL match missed since 2008.
On the contrary theKnight's may have to go intothis game without their star allrounder Andre Russell whosuffered a hamstring pull in thelast game.
KKR have 7 wins from 12outings so far and if they graball two points against Gujaratthey will be almost sure of aplay-off spot. The Lions alsohave as many wins as KKR butthey have a lesser net run-rate.
Both teams come into theencounter after being batteredby the Royal ChallengersBangalore (RCB). First it wasthe Lions who faced the wrathof the Virat Kohli led side suf-fering a humiliating 144-rundefeat last Saturday.
Twin centuries from Kohliand AB de Villiers helpedtheir side reach a mammoth248/3 and then RCB bowledGujarat out for a paltry 104.KKR were then handed a 9-wicket thrashing.
Gujarat know they have topull up their socks in the nexttie. Raina's return can be aboon for the home side as hehas been prolif-ic over the lastnine seasons ofthe league.
And if thelikes of BrendonM c c u l l u m ,Dwayne Smithand AaronFinch fire, the rival bowlers willhave a tough time. The lasttime these two sides had met atthe Eden Gardens, the Lions
had come out on top and it willbe interesting to see whatGautam Gambhir will do toturn the tables this timearound. The home side mightlook to get in Dale Steyn andJames Faulkner in the side tostrengthen their bowling. Thewily fast bowlers might proveto be handy against the in formKKR batsmen. The Knightshave suffered problems in theirtop order but they have beenable to put healthy totals on theboard frequently.
They will want middleorder batsman Yusuf Pathan to
fire if they areto score heav-ily. However,the void leftby Russellmay be diffi-cult to fill.Spinners havebeen the main
weapon of the Knights this sea-son but the Green Park stripmay not offer much to the likesof Piyush Chawla and Sunil
Royal Challengers Bangaloreskipper Virat Kohli scored
his 4th ton before a disci-plined bowling effort to give-his team a mammoth 82-runwin in a truncated game againstagainst bottom-placed Kings XIPunjab here on Wednesday.
Virat Kohli battled immensephysical pain to script yetanother magnificent century topower Royal ChallengersBangalore to an imposing 211for 3. Kohli (113 off 50 balls)notched up his fourth centu-ry in the ongoing IPL seasonand also became the only bats-man to score more than 800runs in a single edition. Histally stands at 865 runs from13 matches.
Kohli, who had sustainedmultiple stitches due to his splitwebbing on left hand duringthe last match against KolkataKnight Riders, gestured at itonce he reached the three-fig-ure landmark in the 14th over.
The RCB skipper blasted 12fours and eight sixes as he piled96 runs in 20 scoring strokes,while his opening partnerChris Gayle smashed a scintil-lating 32-ball 73 with the helpof four boundaries and eightsixes.
The duo butchered the KingsXI Punjab bowlers with awhirlwind 147-run openingstand to lay the foundation fora huge score.
Earlier, with heavy raindelaying the start, the matchwas reduced to a 15-over affairand Kings XI Punjab skipper
Murali Vijay won the toss andelected to bowl.
Kohli continued his rampag-ing form and with Gayle fir-ing early on, the duo amassed53 runs without loss in thePowerplay overs. The RCBskipper reached his fifty in 28
balls and alongwith Gaylebrought up the team hundredin 8.5 overs at the MChinnaswamy Stadium.
Gayle reached his 50 off 26balls in the ninth over with thehelp of a flat six off Axar Patelover deep midwicket.
However, he was dismissed inthe 11th over when he wascaught by David Miller at long-off. Four balls later, AB de vil-liers (0) was sent back to thepavillion by Kyle Abbott whenthe South African was tryingto make room to play a shot
only to end up dragging it backonto the stumps. In the 14thover, Kohli blasted Sharma fora six and a four before anoth-er attempt to sent him out ofthe park ended with a mishit,which was safely caught byMiller at long-off.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court onWednesday averted a pos-
sible threat to the elevation ofBJP MP Anurag Thakur aschief of Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) byrefusing to hear a petition tostall the election scheduledon Sunday.
Thakur, who is a BJP MPfrom Hamirpur is tipped tobecome the BCCI chief after theexit of Shashank Manohar whorecently stepped down. Butchallenging his elevation fromSecretary to President, CricketAssociation of Bihar came com-plaining to the apex court alleg-ing that Thakur was unfit forthe top cricketing post due toa pending criminal chargeaccusing him of encroachingland for purpose of cricket sta-dium at Dharamsala in HP.
The Vacation Bench ofJustices Abhay Manohar Sapreand Ashok Bhushan refused toentertain the urgent request byCAB counsel suggesting that thematter should be heard by thespecial bench headed by ChiefJustice of India (CJI) TS Thakur,which is seized of the caserelating to reforms in BCCI. Theorder came as a relief to Thakuras the special bench comprisingCJI and Justice FM IbrahimKalifulla is likely to be constitut-ed only after the Court reopensby June-end.
CAB in its petit ioninformed the Court thatThakur's elevation would go
contrary to the reforms pro-posed by the Justice RMLodha Committee to ReformBCCI which specifically barscharge-sheeted persons fromassuming top post in BCCI.The petition cited details of acase of cheating and misap-propriation filed in August2013 by the State Anti-Corruption Bureau againstThakur as head of theHimachal Pradesh CricketAssociation (HPCA).
The case related to irregu-larities in allotment of land for
construction of a residentialcomplex for cricket players sit-uated three kilometers fromDharamsala stadium. However,the land was allegedly used tobuild a five star hotel.
Presently, the SupremeCourt has stayed trial proceed-ings in the case involving chargesunder IPC and Prevention ofCorruption Act.
The stay came on Thakur'spetition alleging vendettaagainst him by the state ChiefMinister Virbhadra Singh whois his political bête noire.
AFP n LEEDS
Kaushal Silva has urged Sri Lanka to fill thevoid left by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar
Sangakkara when they return to the scene of onetheir greatest triumphs for the first Test againstEngland at Headingley on Thursday.
Two years ago, Yorkshire's headquartersground was the stage where Sri Lanka clincheda dramatic victory off the penultimate ball tosecure their first Test series win in England.
But their first tour of England since that cam-paign sees them without Sangakkara and Mahela,both now retired from international duty.
"We did well here," said Silva, an openingbatsman who played in that victorious 2013team, at Headingley on Tuesday.
"We were thrilled with that, but this is a newseries. Sanga and Mahela have left now. So it'stime for all these youngsters to take their respon-sibility and do their jobs.
"We need to make sure we put up at least300 ... To put ourselves in the game."
Sri Lanka will also be without injured pace-man Dhammika Prasad, whose five second-innings wickets played a key role in the tourists'2014 victory at Headingley.
"He is one of the key bowlers, and obvious-ly we'll miss him," said Silva ahead of the three-Test series.
"But we have other very talented bowlers,"he added of an attack that also includes SurangaLakmal and Nuwan Pradeep, as well as thedecidedly sharp Dushmantha Chameera.
Sri Lanka will again be captained by AngeloMathews, with the all-rounder's excellent hun-dred paving the way for their success atHeadingley two years ago.
The once feared pitch at Headingley, in Leeds,northern England, is now generally a good sur-face to bat on, albeit one with pace and bounce,and overhead conditions largely determine howmuch assistance a seam attack will receive.
Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie said it wasimportant bowlers avoided a "pretty length".
"Sometimes if fast bowlers see the ballwhizzing through to the keeper at chest heighta bit of ego then comes into play," the formerAustralia quick told the Sunday Times.
"It is that 'pretty length'. It looks good butis it actually challenging the batsmen andputting him under pressure?"
Hampshire batsman James Vince is set to
make his Test bow, following the enforced retire-ment of James Taylor with a heart condition, ina batting line-up featuring Joe Root — recent-ly crowned England's player of the year in all for-mats — and Yorkshire colleague Jonny Bairstow.
England captain Alastair Cook needs just 36more runs to become the first Englishman toreach 10,000 in Tests.
By contrast, Alex Hales, Cook's openingpartner, and number three Nick Comptonboth go into the match badly needing rather larg-er scores to cement their places.
"There is a bit of revenge to be had," saidBroad, reflecting on a 2014 series which sawCook, severely criticised for tactical naivety, con-template resigning the England captaincy afterthe Headingley defeat by Sri Lanka.
"It was quite an emotional series, it reallyhurt us as a team to lose in our own conditions."
Tomorrow's match is set to break freshground by being the first in men's cricket wherea new points system, modelled on the one usedby England and Australia for the women's Ashes,will be employed.
In a bid to provide further "context", theresults of all the international fixtures this sea-son between England and Sri Lanka will be puttogether to produce an overall winner.
SL TO HONOUR LANDSLIDE VICTIMSSri Lanka will pay tribute to all those who
have lost their lives in landslides that have rockedthe nation when they face England today.
Rescue workers on Wednesday recoveredthe bodies of 17 villagers buried in landslidesin Sri Lanka after three days of torrential rain.
The disaster hit two small villages inKegalle, and takes the overall death toll fromflooding and landslides in recent days to 36.
DAUNTING TEST FOR
SL TO REPEAT HEIST
SC averts possible threat to Thakur
Virat slams 4th ton to script RCB’s win
Knights await roaring Lions
Parthiv Patel of Mumbai Indians along with his team members reach Rennaisance Hotel in Lucknow on Wednesday evening.Mumbai Indians will take on Gujarat Lions in Indian Premiere League match on Saturday at Green Park in Kanpur. The willalso take part in the practice session at Akhilesh Das Stadium on Thursday.
JUDO CAMPUP Judo Association & UP Blind and Para Judo
Association, is jointly organising a State Belt GradationCamp at KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium from Friday.
Nearly 150-200 judokas and officials are expect-ed to be a part of this camp. Brown belt exam will alsobe held and the judokas who pass the exam will attendthe Black belt camp to be held in Punjab.
Jyoti Cricket Club beat UP Ranger by 69 runs in aleague match of NDBG Group Cricket League at
Christian College on Wednesday.Electing to bat first, JCC scored 215 runs for the
loss of eight wickets in the allotted 30 overs. Piyushwas the top scorer with 55 runs. He was well support-ed by Manish (33) and Kritgya (26). In reply, UPRanger bundled out for 146 runs in 24.2 overs. Piyushclaimed five scalps. In another match, JaipuriaAcademy crushed Unity Academy by eight wickets.BRIEF SCORES:JCC: 215 (Piyush 55, Manish 33, Kritgya 26, Vishal23, Lalitendra 22; NP Singh 40/3, Gyan 28/2)UP Ranger: 146 (NP Singh 63, Yash 23; Piyush 42/5,Varun 25/2, Atul 27/2)
RDSO CRUSH LICRDS crushed LIC by 10 wickets in a league match
of the 7th RDSO Inter-Offices Tournament at RDSOStadium on Wednesday.BRIEF SCORES:LIC: 85 (Sunil 21, SK Sonkar 16, Amitabh 15; Sanjeev11/6, Sandeep 10/2) RDSO: 86 (Sandeep 57, Lokesh15)/
LOCAL EVENTS
Virat Kohli celebrates his century during an IPL 2016 match against Kings XI Punjab at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday
CAMERON DIAZ has revealed thatshe didn't think she would getmarried after turning 40.The actress, 43, who marriedGood Charlotte rockerBenji Madden, 37, lastyear, said that was the“biggest thing” she hasdone in her 40s. “I gotmarried last year.That was the biggestthing I've done in my40s, and it openedme up in differentways. It's prettyawesome. I didn'tthink it wassomething I woulddo, and I don'tknow if I wouldhave done it if Ihadn't met myhusband. It was asurprise,” Diaz said toa magazine. She admitted believingin “dressing your age”though her perception ofage is slightly different. “Even when you are acertain age, it's all a matterof how you presentyourself, how old yourspirit is, and where youare in your life,” she said. “Some 50-year-olds are still 35.It's about expression and whatthey can pull off,” Diaz added.
‘Diversity is notall skin colour’
‘Never thought I’dmarry after 40’
Short films isan opportunityfor actors,writers,directors,technicians. Idid a short filmbecause as an
actor, I wanted to playa different character.Web series and shortfilms give us thisadvantage. The digitalmarket is booming
— SAQIB SALEEM
For FREIDA PINTO, diversity is notabout being “black orbrown” or isn't justconfined to what one seeson camera but is whatgoes behind it. The US-based Indian actress,who found fame withthe Oscar winningSlumdogMillionaire, saysunless the debate ondiversity extendsbeyond skin colour,it is “pointless andredundant.” Freidafeels there's a needto broaden thedefinition of‘diversity'. “Everybodywants to talk aboutdiversity, but I like tobroaden the definition.It is not just diversity interms of ethnicity andskin colour, as inblack or brown. Ithas become aredundantconversation. It is notabout representing people onsexual orientation. That shouldnever be a barrier for the kind ofroles that people play,” Freida said.
An upcoming episodeof the show to betelecast on Saturdaymarks a lifetime wishfulfilment for Jugpreetas AISHWARYA RAI
BACHCHAN visited thesets of Sa Re Ga MaPa to promote her upcoming flickSarabjit along with co-starRandeep Hooda and directorOmung Kumar. His moment ofglory came when he sang the songTadap tadap ke iss dil se aahnikalti rahi from her film Hum DilDe Chuke Sanam.
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | MAY 19, 2016vivacity 16
For hundreds of years we have seen passionatepoets and their audiences gathering at royal
courts, village fairs, at mushairas and kavi samme-lans, to take part in a tradition that can be bothinsightful and entertaining. But attending a gather-ing of non-poets or eminent personalities from dif-ferent walks of life showcasing their poetry talentis really rare and an out of the world experience. Andthis was what Delhi viewers came to watch at MeraKavi Roop organised by Sakshi-SIET at AmaltasAuditorium, India Habitat Centre. Be it Kathak expo-nent Shovana Narayan, filmmaker and chairperson
of Muskan Productions Lavlin Thadani, musicol-ogist and tabla Guru Pandit Vijay ShankarMishra, Nalini, a renowned Kathak dancer,Sarawjeet Sarv, theatre personality, Sandeep
Marwah, founder Marwah Film and TelevisionInstitute, Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan, renowned clas-sical singer, moviemaker Rama Pandey and so on.All of them were there to show that this beautifulart of spoken words needs no training or experience,no conventional subjects, no limits but rather it isthe most blissful rendition of personal experience.
Shared Shovana Narayana, “Being a dancer,poetry becomes another medium of expression forme, just that there I use mudras and here words. Ihave been writing thumris and compositions forsometime and would say for me writing poetry needszeal and attitude as the key ingredients. When a poetspeaks, his voice rises and falls in a rhythm, draw-ing forth syllables like waves and the lingualmelody seems like travelling in air to reach the audi-ence. I consider poetry a strong tool of social mes-sage. Social sensitivity and concern have always hada deep impact on my writing.”
Narayan doesn’t consider herself as a great poetbut rather takes it as leisure pursuit. She added, “Iwrite because I like it but that is not meant for pub-lic consumption. I grew up attending kavi samme-lans that was part of the culture in the 60s and 70sthough later it deteriorated. I have had poetry-read-ing sessions at home though. Indian literature, bothHindi and Sanskrit, have been subjects of my inter-est. Since childhood, I have been reading poemsby Girija Kumar Mathur and am truly fond of his
writing style.”Poetry can be best considered as a stroke of
emotions on a piece of paper and this seems aptwhen we heard compositions like kaash kabhi toaisa bhi ho, aankh mundu mai tujhe pukaru bySarawjeet Sarv, a theatre person and a businesswoman. “Poetry acts as an anti-depressant pill forme and I do it when I am tired of my busy sched-ule. There are no rules or etiquette telling you whatto do and what not to do, but welcoming experi-ences in their raw form. It used to be my favouritepastime since my schooldays.”
According to Sarv, though certain people con-sider poetry as a diminishing medium or a formbeing sidelined but the reality is that with televisionand internet, it is becoming popular among all agegroups. “Increased access to internet, television,newspapers and magazines has helped poetryemerge as a popular art form especially amongyoungsters. A few years ago, it used to be limited toa certain class of people but now we can see anincrease in the number of literary forums and talksbased on poetry.”
Pandit Vijay Shankar Mishra, a musicologist andtabla guru, said, “Poetry has a long-term effect onthe mind. So the form has remained important inevery century. Poetry is eternal though a lot ofchanges has taken place in the rendering style andwriting patterns. No other medium can take its placeeven today and many performing groups use it asa potent tool of communication.”
For Dr Lavlin Thadani, a filmmaker and chair-person of Muskan Production , poetry is compan-ionship. “In moments of loneliness, poetry is clos-est to me and I have been doing it since childhood.My first poem happened at the age of 11. I wasinspired by the sunset. Earlier, I used to write inEnglish and later in Russian. And then I started writ-ing in Hindi and found it closest to my heart. ButI continue to write in English as it is understood bymost people in India and abroad. Though I mustsay there is no comparison between both, whatmatters is preference of writer.”
Similarly, for Kathak danseuse Nalini, poet-ry forms a most effective and relevant form ofexpression. She concluded, “I have been an ardentbeliever of the expressive arts and their thera-peutic value. I think our mind has a vast stor-age of thoughts and emotions and sometimesthey are craving to come out and for me poetryand dance are the best media. It keeps me pos-itive always and motivates me to do somethingconstructive. And it is there with me always, evena scribble. It is the most powerful and aggres-sive form of expression that can push all the age-old literary boundaries. Nothing can stop youfrom being poet and I start writing.”
So next time don’t hesitate and wait for astage or an occasion or any expertise to vent yourwriting talent. Just take a piece of paper andscribble whatever comes to your mind. Whoknows?
For far too long, many people have considered com-batting air pollution and promoting development to
be dissonant or opposing ideas, but promoting devel-opment and combatting air pollution are like differentsides of the same coin. Without one, you cannot havethe other. The United States Embassy with the ResearchTriangle International (RTI) and IIT, Delhi organiseda series of workshops on combatting air pollution inNorth India to be held in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur,and Lucknow over the next two weeks.
The objective of the workshops is to provide a forumto initiate and strengthen collaboration between U.S. andIndian air quality experts, consider best practices to com-bat air pollution in North India, and build consensusand strategy for follow-on action. About a dozen U.S.policy-makers, world-renowned scientists, and indus-try-sector experts are participating. The workshops willinclude presentations on the health effects of air pollu-tion, impact on industry and their mitigation efforts,and air quality management and policy.
The workshop saw multiple panel discussions withseveral Indian and American scientists and researcherswho discussed on the possible policy changes and thatthe Indian government drawing on the various pollu-tion and emission laws and policies that the US hasadopted over the years. The panel discussed how thosepolicies can be modified according to the Indian econ-omy and government, and taking into account India’sstatus as a developing economy. As India movestowards becoming a global entrepreneurial and man-ufacturing hub, there is an immediate requirement toreassess our current anti-pollution and emission laws.
A major key is public awareness which then spursscience-based policy action. For the most part, in demo-cratic countries like the US and India, action comes whenpeople understand the level of pollution they are exposedto and the health effects that result. Indian public aware-ness of air pollution has grown rapidly, in large part dueto some excellent reporting by various Indian media out-lets and studies conducted by civil society organisations.Second, the Indian government is publicly recognisingthe problem in a much more frank and open mannerthan has ever been the case in the past. EnvironmentMinister Prakash Javadekar’s assertion that “fresh air isa birth right” and the attention that Narendra Modidevoted to air pollution when he announced India’s newair quality index, shows that this issue is getting the typeof high-level political focus needed for effective action.However, Sunita Narain, environmentalist and direc-
tor general of the Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) said, “Despite the ongoing discussions on pol-lution and vehicular emission, this is a subject that willtake a long time to be part of large-scale discussion acrossthe country because it remains a non-issue during elec-tions for Indian politicians.”
As time goes on, and more and more research isdone, the direct health impact of air pollution becomesabundantly clear. Beyond the statistics of prematuredeath, there is the anecdotal information that anyoneliving in a highly polluted city knows from their day-to-day experience: in the high pollution months morepeople are sick with respiratory ailments, more workdays are lost, and the economy suffers as workers areless productive and school children miss out on theirstudies. In 2014, the Global Commission on theEconomy and Climate — headed by former MexicanPresident Calderon and made up a “who’s who” of emi-nent persons from around the world including India -estimated the economic costs of air pollution. Losses dueto premature death from air pollution alone — notincluding the costs of health care or the losses associ-ated with the grinding suffering of chronic disease —is almost six per cent of GDP, which nearly cancels outIndia’s strong rate of economic growth. That numbershould certainly attract the attention of policy makersas they assess the cost-benefit analysis of a range of pol-icy options.
Speaking on diesel vehicles, Arden Pope, a profes-sor at the Brigham Young University said, “In the US,laws on diesel cars have become stricter, which is whyautomobile manufacturers have been prompted to devel-op better engines that limit the usage of diesel and thesecars are already available in the USA.” Although suchtechnology is yet to be adopted by Indian car manu-facturers, the Supreme Court has imposed a ban on carsthat are 2000cc and above. Narain said that the Centrefor Science and Environment, based on research con-ducted has submitted its findings to the central govern-ment with the stated goal of India to reduce the ener-gy intensity of the economy by 20-25 per cent until 2020.“Through, our proposal and the plan stated in it, weintend to get the central government to create a cen-tral registry of data on fuel economy, weight and salesof each car sold in a year to make compliance and ver-ification transparent and the standards enforceable,” theenvironmentalist said.
The bottom line is that a cleaner future is well with-in our reach. The technology to identify the sourcesof the worst pollution exists, as are the useful experi-ences and lessons learned of cities around the world thathave confronted similar problems in the past and havefound ways to clean the air, grow their economies, andimprove the lives and health of their citizens.
Did you know that apart fromSarbjit and Raman Raghav2.0, about 14 Indian short
films were screened at Cannesthis year? Is the Riviera outingthen all about notching up num-bers and red carpet appearancesthan quality? Or is it that shortfilms are an easy excuse to glossover the lack of full length fea-tures in the competitive section?
“It is great that screen-ings are increasing by theyear — it only means we are
becoming more globally accept-able,” said Neeraj Gheywan, direc-tor of Masaan. Breaking the myththat producers buy their way intothe prestigious format, he explained,“People tend to judge easily thathigher numbers of entries mean itis an easy game. But the process isslightly different. True, the festivalis a free market and you can pay toget your film screened. There is,however, a special Director’s jurythat selects the movies. If you don’tmake the cut there, no way will yourmovie be screened. Raman Raghav2.0 is not part of the competitivesection but it has got rave reviewsnevertheless. There are variousways of getting rated.”
Irrespective of whether therewas money involved, the amount ofexposure that Indian cinema is get-ting only gives credence to our cre-ativity. “Gudh (a film by SRFTIalumni Saurav Rai) was purely cho-sen on merit while the rest of theshort films just about made the cut,”he added.
Piyush Puty, still riding high onwinning the National Award for hisnon-feature film Amdavad MaFamous, believes that multiple
screenings are the need of the hour.“Compared to international filmfestivals, those at home do nothave so many categories to accom-modate various genres. As filmmak-ers, we want to reach out to as manypeople as possible all over theworld. These festivals only provideus with more opportunities to pre-sent varied content.”
He didn’t agree that short filmsare a ruse to sell creativity. “Digitalfilmmaking has made it easier forpeople to experiment with shortsand ideas. Perhaps that is why theyare coming to the fore. Yes, they area stepping stone because everybodymakes short films in the Westregardless of pedigree. Shorts are ademocratic space for independentexpression,” he pointed out.
He also felt that internationalfilm festivals are a big learningground for directors and actors alikeand they should not be judged fortrying to get in through subjectiveentry points. “These festivals are theperfect place to understand what ishappening in the world and how theentertainment industry is changing.It is like a huge learning workshop,”Puty pointed out.
But one close look at the list ofmovies being screened and onewould realise that only movies witha strong financial backup havemade the cut whereas plenty ofmovies with far stronger contenthave been left behind. Somethingthat worries film critic ArunaVasudeva. “These days Bollywoodfilmmakers are using Cannes as amarketing platform. Stars walkingthe red carpet have now converteda much revered venue into an effec-tive promotional tool. Our smallbudget films and young filmmakers
can hardly come up with the nec-essary funding or lobbying. Cannesshould become a hub of meaning-ful cinema too. In this process ofmerchandising tussle, quality isbeing given the short shrift. Also themarketing logic has driven out theneed to enter the competitive sec-tion and demand appreciation, likeit used to be in the good old days,”she argued.
We also got through Vikram,producer of Aditya VikramSengupta’s movie Memories and myMother, an official selection at theCannes l’Atelier programme. Thisprogramme selects 15 of the mostpromising projects from around theworld every year and help in speed-ing up the production processamong other things. Interestingly,one can’t apply for this at randomand would have to be handpickedfrom a comparative assessment ofprojects from around the world.This is only the fourth Indian andfirst ever Bengali film selected. “Ithink we are in a very good phasewhere people are genuinely lookingfor more Indian voices. India isbecoming the focus and there is nobetter platform to be in other thanan international one,” said Vikram,not forgetting to mention thatIndian films are still, sometimes,pre-conceived as being only of songand dance. “But we have come along way and established ourselvesat a point where we are recognisedglobally and accepted,” he added.
Acceptance is one thing butacceptance of true excellence iswhat filmmakers should look for.Otherwise, the Indian film indus-try will just be reduced to wrong-ly-captioned photo-ops on socialmedia.
Multiple screenings andred carpet appearances atCannes may seem to betaking the competitiveedge off our films andmaking it tougher forindies to push realcontent. TEAM VIVA
wonders if the glut ofmarketing gimmicks isrobbing our films ofseriousness
The big picture
Environmental experts say India can still
make up for lost time on its environmental
policies. By SHARANG BHASKARAN
Clean
and clear
Play with wordsMera Kavi Roop presented some acclaimed personalities fromdifferent walks of life, showing their lesser known talent for poetry. ILA SANKRITYAYAN had a cozy chat with them about their interest andhow these metrical compositions find relevance
