T he Congress-Janata Dal(S) coalition Government in Karnataka plunged into a deep- er crisis on Monday with two Ministers — H Nagesh and R Shankar, who are Independent MLAs — submitting their res- ignation to the State Governor. Thirteen other MLAs — 10 from the Congress and three from the JD(S) — have already put in their papers and are headed for Goa from Mumbai, where they were staying to ward off overtures from their respective parties. As a last-ditch effort to save the Government, Ministers from both the Congress and the JD(S) on Monday resigned “voluntarily” to induct dissi- dents in the Cabinet. However, so far there is no indication that any of the rebel MLAs are ready to reconsider their stand. The resignation of the two Ministers who were inducted into the Government last month to prevent them from going to the BJP camp has come as a major blow to the efforts of the crisis managers of the Congress and the JD(S). If the 13 MLAs who resigned earlier stick to their stand, then along with these two Ministers, they will be bring the coalition Government in minority, paving the way for either imposition of President’s rule in the State or installation of a BJP-led Government. The issue echoed in Parliament where the Government denied any role in the political turmoil even as Congress accused it of hatch- ing a conspiracy. The BJP has “nothing to do” with whatever develop- ment is taking place in Karnataka and “we never pres- surise and engineer defections”, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha as Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the BJP of “buying MLAs” in Karnataka. The Defence Minister said the Government is committed to protect the dignity of Parliamentary democracy. “Whatever is happening cur- rently in Karnataka, we have no relation with that,” he said. Chowdhury alleged the BJP-ruled Government is hatching a conspiracy to break the Congress-led Government in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. “This Government is secretly hatching a conspiracy against the State Government. They took our MLAs to a five star hotel in Mumbai,” Chowdhury said. With Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s Government appearing on the brink of collapse, the BJP on Monday demanded his imme- diate resignation. “If at all he has dignity, honour and self-esteem or if he is aware of Karnataka’s culture and traditions, he should immediately resign... Do not try to stick on to the chair. You do not have the numbers,” for- mer Deputy CM R Ashok said. The JD(S)-Congress coali- tion’s total strength after Nagesh and Shankar with- drawing their support is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker. With the support of two Independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113. If the resignations of the MLAs are accepted, the coalition’s tally will be reduced to 104. On a hectic day of political activities, the Congress took the lead to save the Government, holding the meeting at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, which was attended by senior leaders, including AICC gen- eral secretary KC Venugopal. At the end of the meeting, the party said all its 21 Ministers resigned voluntari- ly to enable a reshuffle of the Cabinet and make way for the disgruntled legislators. The JD(S) followed suit with nine of its Ministers resigning after Kumaraswamy met the Congress leaders. “For the larger interest of the party, yesterday and today, we had detailed discussions with senior leaders and Ministers,” Venugopal told reporters. The meeting was attend- ed by Congress Legislature Party Leader Siddaramaiah among others. Siddaramaiah too said all Congress Ministers have voluntarily resigned and have given “full freedom” to the party to reshuffle the Ministry. “All ministers from #JDS have submitted their resignations just like the 21 Ministers from #Congress. Cabinet reshuffle will happen soon, the CM Office said in a tweet. Under the coalition arrangement, out of the total 34 ministerial positions, the Congress and the JD(S) have shared 22 and 12 berths respectively. M arket benchmark BSE Sensex on Monday plum- meted by 793 points or 2 per cent, its biggest single-day loss this year so far, due to heavy selling in financial, auto and oil stocks as investors turned edgy after the twin impact of Budget tax proposals and a global sell- off. The 30-share Sensex tanked 907 points in the intra- day trade before settling at 38,720.57 points, showing a sharp loss of 792.82 points or 2.01 per cent. The broader Nifty of the NSE tanked 252.55 points, or 2.14 per cent, to close at 11,558.60 points. After the Budget presenta- tion on Friday, the market cap- italisation of BSE-listed firms dived 5,61,772.64 crore. Sensex had dropped 394.67 points on Friday. Among the Sensex scrips, Bajaj Finance fell the most by 8.18 per cent, followed by ONGC at 5.43 per cent. Auto stocks Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto took a beating on reports that automakers have resorted to production cuts after declining sales. Hero MotoCorp declined 5.3 per cent, Maruti by 5.2 per cent, Tata Motors by 3.4 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 2 per cent. “The Budget failed to revive bullish sentiments among the investor communi- ty. The disappointment was aggravated as the market’s expectations of a stimulus package to revive growth were not met. Further, expectations of weak earnings growth in the coming quarter are dampening sentiments,” Sunil Sharma, the Chief Investment Officer of Sanctum Wealth Management commented. Among financial stocks, HDFC dropped by 0.77 per cent, SBI by 4.14 per cent and Axis Bank by 2.84 per cent. ONGC dropped 5.43 per cent, L&T by 4.3 per cent and Reliance Industries by 0.85 per cent, dragging the index into the negative territory. A nother fatal road accident has been reported from the Yamuna Expressway. On Monday, twenty-nine people were killed and 18 injured after a State-run bus skidded off the expressway and fell into a large drain in near Etmadpur in Agra, officials said. The bus was going from Lucknow to Delhi and had at least 50 passengers on board, they said. “As per the District Magistrate (of Agra) 29 persons have died. The bus fell into a ‘nallah’ (drain),” Additional Chief Secretary Information, Awanish Awasthi, said. The Uttar Pradesh Roadways will pay ex gratia of 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased, the officials said. At least 77 people have died this year only in accidents on the 165-km expressway, according to RTI data accessed by NGO SaveLIFE Foundation. The NGO said 703 lives were lost in 4,880 accidents between August 2012, when the express- way was opened for commer- cial operations, and January last year. “DGP UP OP Singh has directed to carry out relief & rescue work in full swing and is supervising it personally. All senior officers present at the spot (sic),” the state police tweeted. The 165-km six-lane expressway connects Noida with Agra in Uttar Pradesh. Chief Minister Yo g i Adityanath expressed his con- dolences and has directed the Agra district magistrate and senior superintendent of police to ensure the injured get prop- er medical treatment. He has asked his deputy Dinesh Sharma and Minister of State for Transport Swatantra Dev Singh to immediately visit the accident site. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condoled the death of the 29 passengers. “Saddened to hear about the tragic loss of lives because of another bus accident, this time near Agra. My heartfelt condolences to the grieving families. I wish the injured a speedy recovery. Let us all follow #SafeDriveSaveLife” she tweet- ed. A tourism conclave will be organised in Jharkhand in the month of October to pro- mote tourism and invite peo- ple from tourism industry to the State. Chief Minister Raghubar Das has directed the officials to make several improvements in the tourism policy for the same. Das said that in a bid to promote tourism, government will provide land and promote construction of guest houses on a PPP mode at tourist places. During a review meeting of the work of tourism, art culture, sports and youth affairs department of the State on Monday, the CM said that the number of national and international tourists in the State have doubled since 2014. The number of national tourists in the year 2015-16 was 1.80 crore which increased to 3.54 crore in 2018-19. Similarly, the num- ber of international tourists visiting the State grew from 0.82 thousand to 1.76 lakh. Also, the jobs created through tourism in state were 31.95 thousand in 2014-15 which increased to 74.16 thousand in 2018-19. The number of hotels increased from 359 to 618 from 2014-15 to 2018-19. Talking about the upcom- ing Shravani Mela, CM said that the government would ensure that none of the devo- tees face any kind of problem. "The construction of second phase of queue complex will be done on PPP mode. The discussion on tourist circle in Deoghar will be done during the review meeting of Shravani Mela preparations to be held on Tuesday," he said. Questioning the quality and pace of rejuvenation work of Maluti Temples, Das direct- ed the concerned officers to stay in Maluti and supervise the work. "Ensure that there are no changes with the basic essence of Maluti," he said. The CM also directed the officials to construct interna- tional level Aqua Park in Ranchi and Deoghar. He also directed to develop the Audrey House in Ranchi into a cultural hub. CM also directed the department officials to get the list of sports grounds in State from Kamal club and make plans to develop them so that State can get excellent sports persons. Das said that Lunguburu has been given the status of Rajkiya Mahotsava and devel- oping it as a religious tourism spot is the responsibility of the government. He directed the PCCF Sanjay Kumar to send a team of forest department to Lunguburu and develop solar farming and roads to reach the hills. In the coming days four new tourist spots including the new tourist hub at Patratu Dam, hotel management insti- tute in Ranchi, tourist com- plex in Netarhat and Yatri Niwas at Rajrappa will come up.
Transcript
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The Congress-Janata Dal(S)coalition Government in
Karnataka plunged into a deep-er crisis on Monday with twoMinisters — H Nagesh and RShankar, who are IndependentMLAs — submitting their res-ignation to the State Governor.Thirteen other MLAs — 10from the Congress and threefrom the JD(S) — have alreadyput in their papers and areheaded for Goa from Mumbai,where they were staying toward off overtures from theirrespective parties.
As a last-ditch effort to savethe Government, Ministersfrom both the Congress andthe JD(S) on Monday resigned“voluntarily” to induct dissi-dents in the Cabinet. However,so far there is no indication thatany of the rebel MLAs are readyto reconsider their stand.
The resignation of the twoMinisters who were inductedinto the Government lastmonth to prevent them fromgoing to the BJP camp hascome as a major blow to theefforts of the crisis managers ofthe Congress and the JD(S).
If the 13 MLAs whoresigned earlier stick to theirstand, then along with thesetwo Ministers, they will bebring the coalitionGovernment in minority,paving the way for eitherimposition of President’s rule inthe State or installation of aBJP-led Government.
The issue echoed inParliament where the
Government denied any role inthe political turmoil even asCongress accused it of hatch-ing a conspiracy.
The BJP has “nothing todo” with whatever develop-ment is taking place inKarnataka and “we never pres-surise and engineer defections”,Union Defence MinisterRajnath Singh said in the LokSabha as Congress leader AdhirRanjan Chowdhury accusedthe BJP of “buying MLAs” inKarnataka.
The Defence Minister saidthe Government is committedto protect the dignity ofParliamentary democracy.
“Whatever is happening cur-rently in Karnataka, we have norelation with that,” he said.
Chowdhury alleged theBJP-ruled Government ishatching a conspiracy to breakthe Congress-led Governmentin Karnataka and MadhyaPradesh. “This Government issecretly hatching a conspiracyagainst the State Government.They took our MLAs to a fivestar hotel in Mumbai,”Chowdhury said.
With Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamy’sGovernment appearing on thebrink of collapse, the BJP onMonday demanded his imme-
diate resignation. “If at all he has dignity,
honour and self-esteem or if heis aware of Karnataka’s cultureand traditions, he shouldimmediately resign... Do nottry to stick on to the chair. Youdo not have the numbers,” for-mer Deputy CM R Ashok said.
The JD(S)-Congress coali-tion’s total strength afterNagesh and Shankar with-drawing their support is 116(Congress-78, JD(S)-37 andBSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of twoIndependents, the BJP has 107MLAs in the 224-memberHouse, where the half-way
mark is 113. If the resignationsof the MLAs are accepted, thecoalition’s tally will be reducedto 104.
On a hectic day of politicalactivities, the Congress took thelead to save the Government,holding the meeting at theresidence of Deputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwara,which was attended by seniorleaders, including AICC gen-eral secretary KC Venugopal.
At the end of the meeting,the party said all its 21Ministers resigned voluntari-ly to enable a reshuffle of theCabinet and make way for thedisgruntled legislators. TheJD(S) followed suit with nineof its Ministers resigning afterKumaraswamy met theCongress leaders.
“For the larger interest ofthe party, yesterday and today,
we had detailed discussionswith senior leaders andMinisters,” Venugopal toldreporters.
The meeting was attend-ed by Congress LegislatureParty Leader Siddaramaiahamong others. Siddaramaiahtoo said all Congress Ministershave voluntarily resigned andhave given “full freedom” tothe party to reshuffle theMinistry. “All ministers from#JDS have submitted theirresignations just like the 21Ministers from #Congress.Cabinet reshuffle will happensoon, the CM Office said ina tweet.
Under the coalit ionarrangement, out of the total34 ministerial positions, theCongress and the JD(S) haveshared 22 and 12 berthsrespectively.
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Market benchmark BSESensex on Monday plum-
meted by 793 points or 2 percent, its biggest single-day lossthis year so far, due to heavyselling in financial, auto and oilstocks as investors turned edgyafter the twin impact of Budgettax proposals and a global sell-off.
The 30-share Sensextanked 907 points in the intra-day trade before settling at38,720.57 points, showing asharp loss of 792.82 points or2.01 per cent.
The broader Nifty of theNSE tanked 252.55 points, or2.14 per cent, to close at11,558.60 points.
After the Budget presenta-tion on Friday, the market cap-italisation of BSE-listed firmsdived �5,61,772.64 crore.Sensex had dropped 394.67points on Friday.
Among the Sensex scrips,Bajaj Finance fell the most by8.18 per cent, followed byONGC at 5.43 per cent.
Auto stocks HeroMotoCorp, Maruti, TataMotors and Bajaj Auto took a
beating on reports thatautomakers have resorted toproduction cuts after decliningsales.
Hero MotoCorp declined5.3 per cent, Maruti by 5.2 percent, Tata Motors by 3.4 percent and Bajaj Auto by 2 percent. “The Budget failed torevive bullish sentimentsamong the investor communi-ty. The disappointment wasaggravated as the market’sexpectations of a stimuluspackage to revive growth werenot met.
Further, expectations ofweak earnings growth in thecoming quarter are dampeningsentiments,” Sunil Sharma, theChief Investment Officer ofSanctum Wealth Managementcommented.
Among financial stocks,HDFC dropped by 0.77 percent, SBI by 4.14 per cent andAxis Bank by 2.84 per cent.
ONGC dropped 5.43 percent, L&T by 4.3 per cent andReliance Industries by 0.85 percent, dragging the index intothe negative territory.
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Another fatal road accidenthas been reported from
the Yamuna Expressway. OnMonday, twenty-nine peoplewere killed and 18 injuredafter a State-run bus skidded offthe expressway and fell into alarge drain in near Etmadpur inAgra, officials said.
The bus was going fromLucknow to Delhi and had atleast 50 passengers on board,they said. “As per the DistrictMagistrate (of Agra) 29 personshave died. The bus fell into a‘nallah’ (drain),” AdditionalChief Secretary Information,Awanish Awasthi, said.
The Uttar PradeshRoadways will pay ex gratia of�5 lakh to the next of kin of thedeceased, the officials said.
At least 77 people havedied this year only in accidentson the 165-km expressway,according to RTI data accessedby NGO SaveLIFE Foundation.The NGO said 703 lives werelost in 4,880 accidents betweenAugust 2012, when the express-way was opened for commer-cial operations, and January lastyear.
“DGP UP OP Singh hasdirected to carry out relief &rescue work in full swing andis supervising it personally. Allsenior officers present at thespot (sic),” the state policetweeted.
The 165-km six-laneexpressway connects Noidawith Agra in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief Minister YogiAdityanath expressed his con-dolences and has directed theAgra district magistrate andsenior superintendent of policeto ensure the injured get prop-er medical treatment.
He has asked his deputyDinesh Sharma and Minister ofState for Transport SwatantraDev Singh to immediately visitthe accident site.
West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee condoledthe death of the 29 passengers.
“Saddened to hear aboutthe tragic loss of lives becauseof another bus accident, thistime near Agra. My heartfeltcondolences to the grievingfamilies. I wish the injured aspeedy recovery.
Let us all follow#SafeDriveSaveLife” she tweet-ed.
Atourism conclave will beorganised in Jharkhand in
the month of October to pro-mote tourism and invite peo-ple from tourism industry tothe State. Chief MinisterRaghubar Das has directed theofficials to make severalimprovements in the tourismpolicy for the same.
Das said that in a bid topromote tourism, governmentwill provide land and promoteconstruction of guest houseson a PPP mode at touristplaces.
During a review meetingof the work of tourism, artculture, sports and youthaffairs department of the Stateon Monday, the CM said thatthe number of national andinternational tourists in theState have doubled since 2014.
The number of nationaltourists in the year 2015-16was 1.80 crore whichincreased to 3.54 crore in2018-19. Similarly, the num-ber of international touristsvisiting the State grew from0.82 thousand to 1.76 lakh.Also, the jobs created throughtourism in state were 31.95thousand in 2014-15 whichincreased to 74.16 thousand in2018-19. The number ofhotels increased from 359 to618 from 2014-15 to 2018-19.
Talking about the upcom-ing Shravani Mela, CM saidthat the government wouldensure that none of the devo-tees face any kind of problem."The construction of secondphase of queue complex willbe done on PPP mode. Thediscussion on tourist circle inDeoghar will be done duringthe review meeting ofShravani Mela preparations tobe held on Tuesday," he said.
Questioning the qualityand pace of rejuvenation workof Maluti Temples, Das direct-ed the concerned officers tostay in Maluti and supervisethe work. "Ensure that thereare no changes with the basicessence of Maluti," he said.
The CM also directed theofficials to construct interna-tional level Aqua Park inRanchi and Deoghar. He alsodirected to develop theAudrey House in Ranchi into
a cultural hub.CM also directed the
department officials to getthe list of sports grounds inState from Kamal club andmake plans to develop themso that State can get excellentsports persons.
Das said that Lunguburuhas been given the status ofRajkiya Mahotsava and devel-oping it as a religious tourismspot is the responsibility of thegovernment. He directed thePCCF Sanjay Kumar to senda team of forest department toLunguburu and develop solarfarming and roads to reachthe hills.
In the coming days fournew tourist spots includingthe new tourist hub at PatratuDam, hotel management insti-tute in Ranchi, tourist com-plex in Netarhat and YatriNiwas at Rajrappa will comeup.
Maoist group from Gua policestation area in WestSinghbhum district. TheMaoists have been identified asKrishna Kerai and BadegaSirka. The police also recovereda gun and a rifle from anadjoining jungle in Gua aftergetting the information fromthe duo.
West Singhbhum superin-tendent of police, IndrajeetMahatha, said that they gotinformation that Kerai (26)was at his house in Badaraikavillage in Gua.
"Acting on the tip off, weset up a team comprisingOC, Gua police station, BadaJamda police station and acompany of CRPF jawansbelonging to the 107 battal-ion. After moving toBadaraika village, we sur-rounded the entire villageand subsequently raided thehouse of Kerai," said the SP.
Mahatha stated that aftertaking Kerai into their cus-tody, they interrogated himand during the interrogation,he revealed about anotheranother Maoist, Badega Sirka.
"As per our investigation,Kerai was wanted in connec-tion with about half-a-dozenMaoist-sponsored violencecommitted in Kiriburu andJateya police station area inWest Singhbhum. He revealedthat he himself and Sirka hadcome home on leave from therebel squad.
Their idea was to moti-vate youngsters in the villageto join the rebel outfit,"Mahatha said.
He said they arrestedSirka (28) on the informationgiven by Keraik.
The senior police officersaid that during interrogation,Kerai divulged that while
returning home, the duo hadhidden their firearms—a sten-gun and a rifle—in jungle ontheir way home. The policeled both Kerai and Sirka tothe spot where the firearms
had been concealed at thejungle near the Badaraika vil-lage.
The police and paramili-tary forces have also beefedup the Maoist affected areas
of West Singhbhum district.Sources informed that thepolice are frisking commutersin the bordering areas. Atsome places, common peopleare also being interrogated bypolice and paramilitary forceon suspicion. Forces havebeen deployed in strategiclocations.
“Security has been beefedup in the area and they werekeeping strict vigil on move-ment of the Maoists. Theplan is to keep a tab on thecamps being operated byultras,” said another official.
A30-year-old man, who is ameter reader, was arrested
for allegedly trying to sexual-ly abuse a minor girl atBhuiyandih under Sitaramderapolice station area. He wassent to Ghaghidih Central Jailon Monday.
The accused, identified asRabindra Kumar, works forQuess Corporation, a privateagency engaged by theJharkhand Bijli Vitran NigamLtd (JBVNL) for meter readingand billing under theJamshedpur circle.
The incident took place ata house in Chhayanagar inBhuiyandih on Sunday, but thepolice registered a case in con-nection with the incident afterthe victim's father lodged anFIR at about 10.30 pm.
The accused madeadvances when he found thatno adult person was at thehome except two minor girls-one six-year-old and anotherfour-year-old. The girls' fatherwho worked at a private firm inBurma mines had gone to dutyand mother had gone to adjoin-ing Subernarekha River for abath.
According to the familymembers, on finding the littlegirls alone at home, the accusedhad nabbed the six-year-old girland promised her chocolate andstarted undressing her.
"We are still in a state ofshock and never thought thiswill ever happen. As the girl was
being undressed, the youngerone was also standing beside.The meter reader startedundressing her, but fortunate-ly the girls' mother returnedhome. She said that on enteringinto the room, she found herelder daughter without clothes.
"On being asked, she nar-rated her plight. Out of rage, Ishouted for help, leading theneighbours to rush to myhouse. Then, some youths start-ed searching for the meterreader who had gone to ahouse nearby. They soon caughthold of him and brought himbefore me. On interrogating,the accused confessed to hisguilt," the woman said.
The victim's mother saidthat the local residents hadsubsequently handed him overto the Sitaramdera police sta-tion after a thrashing. She saidas her husband returns homelate in the night, she thoughtthat unless he comes backhome, she will not lodge anycomplaint with the police.
She said a formal complaintwas lodged with the police atabout 10.30 pm after her hus-band returned home.Moreover, as the local resi-dents had told the police to waitfor an FIR, they had kept theaccused in custody.
OC, Sitaramdera police sta-tion, Ajay Kumar, confirmedabout the arrest of a 30-year-oldyouth for allegedly trying tosexually abuse a little girl. "Soonafter the incident, RabindraKumar, who is a resident ofRamgarh district, was arrestedunder the IPC section of rapeand also POCSO Act(Protection of Children fromSexual Offence Act) beforesending him jail this morningafter production before a judi-cial magistrate," said Kumar.
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The Chas MunicipalCorporation organised a
grand plantation drive underthe Jam Shakti Abhiyaan atBazaar Samiti Campus onMonday.
Talking on the occasion,Mayor Bholu Paswan said,“Since water is essential for lifeitself, we need to conserve it forthe future generation.”
He added, “As over seven-ty percent of the earth is cov-ered in water, some people onearth wonder that why shouldwe conserve water but theyhave to understand that clean,fresh water is a limited resourceon the earth so its conservationis essential.”
The Mayor said that withthe severe drought conditionacross the world, the limitedsupply of fresh water is becom-ing one of our most preciousresources. “Every person onearth needs water to survive.Without it, many of us wouldget sick and even result indeath,” he said.
The CMC has targeted toturn the city (municipal area)into a green zone. The Mayorinformed that over ten thou-sand saplings would be plant-ed on the barren as well as
empty land under the munic-ipal area.
He urged the mass to comeforward and conserve water byplanting trees in their nearbyareas. “Aiming to turn citygreen, we are distributing freesapling too,” Paswan said.
“We will not leave anystone unturned for the suc-cesses of the campaign,” saidSashi Prakash Jha AdditionalMunicipal CommissionerCMC.
“We are also on move toturn Chas into ‘Slum Free’City; a detailed work plan isready and we are planning toassume that by the end of2022,” he said.
“Focus will be on coreinfrastructure services like ade-quate and clean water supply,sanitation and solid waste man-agement, efficient urban mobil-ity and public transport, afford-able housing for the poor,power supply, robust informa-tion technology connectivity,governance, safety and securi-ty of citizens, health and edu-cation, and sustainable urbanenvironment,” Jha added.
Chas MunicipalCorporation has to spend Rs383 crore on the beautificationof Chas City which has beendeveloped as a ‘Smart City’.
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Atotal of 15 nominationswere filed for the Ranchi
University (RU) syndicate elec-tions till the last day of nomi-nation filing on Monday.
The syndicate election ofRU will be conducted after aspan of 20 years this year. Theelection will be held during theSenate meeting on July 12.The last syndicate electionswere held in 1999.
The counting of the voteand announcement of resultswould be done on the same dayas the voting. Of the totalnominations, 10 are fromteaching and five from non-teaching categories.
As per the University Act,eight members will be electedfor the syndicate, four from theteaching category and otherfour from the non teaching cat-egory.
The four candidates fromthe teaching category willinclude two professors or read-ers who are not the head of anydepartment. They will be onefrom each category-general
and OBC. The other two nom-inees will be lecturers- one gen-eral and one SC/ ST. Only thoselecturers with minimum fiveyears of experience can contestfor the elections. These candi-dates will be elected by theteaching staffs of RU who arealso the members of the Senate.
The other four nomineeswill be from the non teachingcategory.
These candidates cannot bethe university’s teachers,employees or office bearers.Selection of these four mem-bers will be done by the nonteaching members of theSenate. These will include twofrom the general class and oneSC/ST and one OBC.
There are 46 voters fromthe non teaching category and45 voters from the teaching cat-egory in the Senate. The datefor filing the nominations wasfrom July 6 to July 8. “The listof valid nominations will bedeclared on July 9 while thefinal list of contesting candi-dates will be announced on July10,” a university officialinformed.
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Have you known peoplewho repeat often that they
‘are not feeling too good’ andfor no particular reason. I havehad relatives and friends, allaround my age repeat the ‘I’mnot feeling too good’ rant often.After having rounds of discus-sions with many of my peers,finally, I have come to this con-clusion that most peoplearound my age are not havingenough fun to feel happydespite being in good healthand having a loving and caringfamily.
The above situation is truefor most of the middle agedindividuals. The sole reasonbehind not being in a happystate is that most of us aftercrossing say 45 years of ageseize to have fun in our ownway and presume the word ‘fun’is only for youngsters. We letlife and responsibilities takeover, deprive ourselves fromindulging in fun activities for
ourselves and often wonderwhy we suffer from fatigue,maybe even depression.
There are some greatexamples too. Like my friend–let’s call her Ms Banerjee. In hermid-fifties, single all her life, aschool teacher and an avidreader. I always admire her lifestyle and give credit to herinnovative ideas to remain fitand happy. Every year, she cel-ebrates her birthday in a uniqueway. She buys new clothes forherself, goes to temples for herown well being and preparesthe traditional kheer for herself.She in fact loves herself.
Occasionally, I visit herhome and find though she issingle she maintains the prop-er decorum of an ideal familyand treats herself so well.During lunch or dinner thedining table is properly laiddown with proper table nap-kins and cutlery just for herself.
She is a pet lover and hasa dog. Her morning starts withthe joyride on her scooter withher pet. Being an avid reader,she always has books for com-pany. Instead of confining her-self in a corner of her homewith her books she takes themto nearby coffee shop, parks orto a good safe nearby location.
According to Ms Banerjee–ageing doesn’t mean you needto have a boring life. You can
make life enjoyable, as well asmake time for fun in your ownway, whatever be your cir-cumstances. Recently she hasstarted visiting not so famoustemples and mosques aroundthe city. She takes snaps of thestructures, enquire about thehistory and importance of theplace from the residents near-by. She writes small articles onher findings about these infa-mous places, and gathered asmall following on social mediafor her adventures. I could seea little spark in her eyes whenshe showed me some positivecomments on her photographs.
Her latest passion is that ofa solo traveler. She is current-ly an extremely busy person,balancing her job and manyinterests. She is full of con-tentment and positivity reflectsin her personality.
I am extremely impressedwith this individual who knowsthe art of being happy and hav-ing fun, and I wanted to sharethis with anyone who might befeeling ‘not too good’ today. Allwe need is to give our ownselves some importance, dosome soul searching andexplore the best way of livingour life. Happiness is within us,it’s a choice we make and ageshould not come in the way ofour pursuit of fun and happi-ness.
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Shatakshi Shekhar, an emi-nent lawyer who represent-
ed India in the HarvardUniversity, a human rights andsocial activist addressed thestudents of classes 11 and 12 ofDPS Bokaro with the aim toupdate them with careeroptions—to break the stereo-type and encourage out-of-box thinking. In a 'GuestSpeaker Session', she deliber-ated on the need to be zealousand explore varied avenueswhich we want to opt for careergrowth as well as for profes-sional satisfaction.
Enlightening the studentswith her stimulating words,Shatakshi made the studentsrealise that they all have their
personal benchmarks whichare not enough to leaveimprints on the sands of time.She emphasised that one mustlearn to discipline oneself to geta perception of life. Talkingabout multiple career options,she highlighted that one shouldalways begin by asking oneselfwhat they want the most in life."If you pursue your passionwith perseverance, you willdefinitely excel in your field ofchoice", she stated.
She stressed on the impor-tance of reading habits, com-municative skills and keepingabreast with the latest infor-mation in this fast-changingworld. She urged students tofocus on diverse career optionsincluding Foreign Policy Affairsand International Relations.
The programme concludedwith an interactive session
wherein children put forwardtheir queries and Shatakshi
enhanced their understandingof various career opportunities.
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The State BJP, with an aim toconquer Santhal Pargana,
has made strategy of workingin mission mode to strengthenthe party in the region. Holdingthe Cabinet meeting inDeoghar on Tuesday will proveto be a major step in thisdirection.
The Saffron party, euphor-ic with its performance in therecently concluded Lok Sabhaelection, where it won twoseats (Dumka and Godda) outof three seats in SanthalPargana, has set a target to winat least 12 seats in the region inthe upcoming AssemblyElections. Out of total 18 seatsin Santhal region, the BJPpresently has eight MLAs,Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(JMM) seven seats, Congresstwo and JVM (P) one seat.
State Welfare Minister andMLA from Dumka, LouisMarandi said, “The BJP has
made strategy for Santhalregion. As an outreach pro-gramme in Santhal theGovernment is holding Cabinetmeet scheduled on Tuesday(July 9). Through Cabinetmeet, the Government wants tosend the message thatGovernment is at people’s doorstep.”
Apart from holding theCabinet meet in Deoghar, ChiefMinister Raghubar Das willalso hold the review meeting ofShravani Mela preparation intemple town. Das will alsoreview the membership driveof BJP. The BJP has set a targetto make 30 lakh new membersacross the State. MLAs have
been assigned the task to make50,000 members from theirAssembly segments. The BJPmembership drive which com-menced on July 6 will run tillJuly 30.
Sources said that the BJPhas prepared a strategy tosnatch at least six seats fromOpposition camp. The seatswhich the BJP has targeted areJarmundi, Poreyahat,Maheshpur, Shikaripara, Jamaand Nala. The party apartfrom these six Assembly seatshas also decided to make fourcorner strategy for JMM exec-utive president Hemant Sorenand JMM patriarch ShibuSoren’s daughter-in-law SitaSoren.
Hemant Soren in lastAssembly elections had con-tested from Dumka andBarhait, but lost to LouisMarandi from Dumka, how-ever he was successful in win-ning Barhait, while Sita Sorenis MLA from Jama.
To check the influence of
Hemant and JMM, the BJP hasasked its party leaders andcadres to spread the word thatthey are the real well wisher oftribals. A senior BJP leaderrequesting anonymity said,“The BJP cadres will reach outto tribals convincing the peo-ple that JMM’s politics revolvesaround Soren’s family. JMMnever wants tribal to be edu-cated and develop. At the sametime party cadres will highlightthe various schemes taken upby Modi and Raghubar DasGovernment for the uplift andemancipation of tribal’s.”
The BJP leader furthersaid that after thumping vic-tory in Lok Sabha elections inState the morale of JMM andCongress is down. “The defeatof JMM patriarch Shibu Sorenfrom Dumka in Lok Sabhaelection has established the factthe JMM has lost ground inSanthal. As Hemant doesn’tenjoy the charisma like ShibuSoren, the people are lookingfor an alternative.”
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Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Monday said that
Amins (land measurers) will berecruited through campusselection from RanchiUniversity.
Reviewing the works ofrevenue, registration and landreforms department onMonday Das said, "There is acrisis of Amins at various blockoffices which leads to problemsin measuring of land. AminRegulation will be amendedand recruitment of Aminswould be done through cam-pus selection in RU to deal withthis crisis."
He also directed the offi-cials to introduce Amin train-ing course at State Institute ofRural Development (SIRD).
Talking about the facilitiesprovided to Tana Bhagats, theCM said that cess has beenrevoked for their lands. "Thetax and registration of theirlands should be regularised.
The circle officers shouldorganise camps and sort out theproblems of Tana Bhagats," hesaid.
Talking about the regularcomplaints of wrong informa-tion related to land beinguploaded online, Das said, "Asthe work of correction is doneat State level, it gets delayed.The additional collector shouldbe given the authority to cor-rect these problems at districtlevel after doing proper inves-tigation."
The CM informed that
honorarium given to theManaki, Munda, GramPradhan and Dakuas have beendoubled as compared to 2014.The department officialsinformed that out of 21,000such people, 18,000 are beinggiven the honorarium. Dasdirected that the remainingofficers should be given thehonorarium soon. He also saidthat those districts were theseposts are vacant, there the eli-gible candidates can submit anapplication for recruitment tothe deputy commissioners.
Mukti Morcha (JMM) onMonday said that it will verysoon reveal the loot of landdone by the presentGovernment, supported withall the documents.
Addressing a press meet onMonday, JMM GeneralSecretary, Suprio Bhattacharya,said that as State Assembly elec-tions are round the corner, theState Government, under itsplanned conspiracy, is targetingthe executive president of theparty, Hemant Soren allegingthat he violated ChhotanagpurTenancy Act and SanthalParagana Tenancy Act (CNTAct and SPT Act) and boughtlands of tribal and locals.
“We will soon unmask thisGovernment using the docu-ments and Governmentrecords to show the massiveland loot of tribal and locals
done by many present andformer Lok Sabha MPs, RajyaSabha MPs, Ministers andMLAs,” said Bhattacharya.
He added, “The State gov-ernment has started dupingpeople on the name of land lootof tribal and local but there area large numbers of cases wherethe people in and supported bythe present Government havebought lands of tribal andlocals, violating CNT and SPTAct. We have all the recordsand documents to support this.We are today showing the doc-uments proving that BJP RajyaSabha MP, Samir Oraon andhis brother violated the said Actand bought land of tribal.”
The General Secretary fur-ther said that he will very sooncome up with documents with
case related to land loot in theState capital at Hehal Mouja. “Alarge numbers of governmentsupported leaders have boughtlands of tribal on the name oftrusts and it is matter of inves-tigation,” he added.
“The Government has con-stituted a Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) to investigate casesof violation of CNT Act andSPT Act but it did not disclosethe SIT’s report. We aredemanding that the govern-ment should publish a whiteletter on the issue which willmake many things clear,”Bhattacharya said.
Hitting hard on the StateGovernment, Bhattacharya saidthat since the formation of theState, the government is work-ing with planned conspiracy ofmaking Ranchi a tribal freezone and to ensure that thishappens, the government hassold a large numbers of triballands and green lands to itsbusinessmen friends fromChhattisgarh and Gujarat.
decided to increase the pace ofongoing developmental worksfor the welfare of ScheduledCaste/ Scheduled Tribes andminority and has set up adeadline of 100 days for com-pletion of these projects. Theschemes which are in pipelineinclude commencement of newnursing colleges, EklavyaVidyalaya, Birsa Awas,Astroturf hockey stadiumsamong others.
Departmental MinisterLouis Marandi, while high-lighting the works and achieve-ments of her department topress on Monday, said that theongoing projects under variouswelfare department schemeswill gain momentum in next100 days. Marandi the BJPMLA from Dumka said, “Asthe per the directions of ChiefMinister Raghubar Das, thedepartment has prepared 100days deadline for execution ofvarious projects of welfare
department. These schemeaims at addressing the welfareand development of SC/STand minorities.” The schemesincludes starting up academicactivities at five nursing collegesat Gumla, Itki (Ranchi),Rajnagar (Saraikela), Chaibasa(West Singhbum) andBhognadih (Sahebganj) andcompletion of constructionworks of nearly 4000 housesunder Birsa Awas yojana.
Under the Birsa AwasYojana, houses are provided toparticularly vulnerable tribalgroup (PVTG) (earlier primi-tive tribal group) as they are atthe bottom among other trib-al group in social and economicconditions.
The ministry of homeaffairs has put nine tribalgroups in the category ofPVTG. The minister said, “TheCentre and State Governmentis committed to improve theliving conditions of PVTGs andin this direction in the finan-cial year 2018-19 the bud-getary allocation in Birsa AwasSchemes has been raised to Rs
60 crore from Rs 7.5 crore inthe year 2014-15.” Also thedepartment with an estimatedcost of Rs 524 crores is goingto set up 523 Ekalavya ModelResidential School (EMRS)across the State so that tribal getaccess to quality education inremote areas.
Also within 100 days dead-line, 450 Sarna and Masna
Sthal will be demarcated withan aim to protect the religiousand cultural identity of tribals.The construction of 100Dhumkudia Bhavan, the placewhere tribals exhibit the reli-gious and cultural activities, toowill be completed.
The Minister flanked bydepartment secretary HimaniPande, special secretary Brajesh
Das talked about the turn-around the department haswitnessed in last four and halfyears.
Marandi said, “In last fourand half years the departmentshas achieved success due to itsset goals. The welfare depart-ment in association with vari-ous other departments is run-ning various schemes. In thisconnection the financial assis-tance for bicycle schemes forschool students has beenincreased from �3,000 to�3500.”
The Minister claimed thatdue to initiatives of welfaredepartment the number ofbeneficiaries for scholarshipin pre-matric and competitiveexaminations have been goneup to 2.54 lakh in 2018-19 from1.64 lakh in 2014-15.
With an aim to promotesports activities among tribals,the department has decided toset up stadiums across thestate. In this direction thehockey stadium at Khunti withan estimated cost of � 7 croreis coming up.
and Industries (FJCCI) hasraised concerns over the fre-quent power cuts in the State,claiming that the business fra-ternity had to not only paymore for arranging alternativesfor power generation but alsoincur losses as diesel-run gen-erators reduced productivity.
The Chairperson of FJCCI,Deepak Maroo on Mondaysaid that the federation hasalready met all the top officialsof the State and sought betterpower supply. However, theentire state is still hit by inter-mittent power supply, which isaffecting the business fraterni-ty the most, he added.
“The cost for per unit ofelectricity supplied to us is �6.This amount skyrockets to �25for each unit if the power isgenerated through diesel-runmachines. So, technically we
are paying four times the price,”Maroo said.
He added that the pro-ductivity considerably reducedwhen factories ran on genera-tors instead of direct powersupply from the Government.“We must also realise thatpower generators cause a lot ofpollution, which is not goodfor the environment,” saidMaroo.
Chief Minister RaghubarDas on Friday asked all powerofficials to ensure uninter-rupted power supply in Ranchiby July 31. He added that therest of Jharkhand should alsoget uninterrupted power sup-ply and set a deadline ofSeptember end for the same.
Since May this year, theresidents of the State Capitalhave been facing frequentblackouts. The power cuts havealso affected the upscale andposh localities of Ranchi. In theintervening night of Saturdayand Sunday, the residents of
several localities near KankeRoad were faced against fre-quent power failures. KankeRoad is one of the posh local-ities in Ranchi.
“Today, most of the resi-dential complexes are relyingheavily on generators. The sit-uation is same with factoriestoo. But we have to realise thatif industries do not get unin-terrupted power supply, it willaffect employment in the state,”said Maroo.
The FJCCI has decided to
launch a campaign to highlightthe greatest challenges for busi-nessmen in the state. The fed-eration, FJCCI officials said,will raise the issues on theground, which include powerfailures and alleged corruptionin land and revenue depart-ment. “We have prepared a listof around eight or nine pointsthat we want the Governmentto address for betterment of thebusiness community in thestate,” Maroo said.
The FJCCI is the largestbody of businessmen andindustrialists in Jharkhand.The federation has on a num-ber of occasions in the pastraised issues concerned busi-nessmen in the State.
Delegations of the FJCCIhave also met top officials andministers of the State on severalinstances and soughtGovernment’s intervention inensuring easy business forsmall and medium enterpriseshere.
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Seeing the success of theGPS-enabled ‘Smart Bikes’
in the State capital, the Stategovernment is all set to launchthe second phase by the end ofthis year.
According to the informa-tion available, 600 more cyclesare likely to be inducted in thesecond phase.
Data provided by the bicy-cle operators of Ranchi SmartCity Corporation (RSCCL)show that the service is beingused by around 1250 ridersevery day. Following theincrease in demand of thesesmart bikes, the survey ofroutes where the second phaseis to be introduced has beendone by the RSCCL and a pro-posal of the plan has been sentto the Ranchi MunicipalCorporation, which will beproving a no objection certifi-cate (NOC) for the new phase.
There is a plan to install 60
cycle parking docks for the 600new cycles. The tentative routesfor the second phase includesroad from Karamtoli Chowk toBooty More via Bariatu, RatuRoad Chowk to Birsa Chowkvia Harmu Chowk andShehjanand Chowk, uptoDhurwa sector 2 and 3 andHatia on the other side. Oncethe second phase is started, thetwo phases together will coverthe entire city area.
The first phase of theproject includes a total of 60cycle docks accommodatingaround 600 bicycles which arealready accessible at variousroutes of the city where onecan pick or drop bicycles asper their convenience.
Amit Kumar, PublicRelations Officer, RSCCLsaid, “The second phase ofthis project is a much wel-come step to connect theremaining areas of the city,making short travels cheapand pollution free. This is notjust easier on the pocket but
also a healthy way to com-mute.”
In order to use thesecycles, a person has to applyfor subscription which costs�30 per day, � 200 a month or�1,000 for a year inclusive ofadditional GST charges. Oncesubscribed, the first 30 min-utes of all rides are free.Thereafter a nominal chargeof � 5 per hour is levied. A
penalty of �5,000 is to beimposed on users by the RMCif the cycle is damaged or notreturned. All the cycles havebeen equipped with GPSreceivers so as to ensure theirlocation. “The cycles havefeatures that allow them to belocked and unlocked viamobile application by gener-ating a unique bar code as thekey,” Kumar added.
In this age of electronic giz-mos, with children getting
glued to different gadgets thepower of storytelling is oftenoverlooked. However helpingchildren get an extra learningboost by telling stories them-selves, several Jamshedpur-based young women havetaken on the challenge to devel-op the skills of storytelling.
Taking the lead, The StoryMunch has embarked on ajourney to revive the art of ver-ball storytelling. Brainchild ofRicha Sinha, The Story Munchis a theatrical creative story-
telling venture.“We intend to revive the art
of storytelling in the vibrantcity of Jamshedpur. We alsoincorporate public speaking,elocution, theatre, role plays,creative writing and story art tomotivate people, boost confi-dence, instil values towardsmaking critical thinkers andchange agents,” said RichaSinha.
She went on to informthat the sessions are conduct-ed at various centres includingBaug-E-Jamsheed School.Storytelling sessions are alsoconducted for entire familymember at parks and otherpublic places.
“Storytelling is the need ofthe hour. The best way to pre-serve culture and tradition,propagate values and wisdom.We take sessions for kids asyoung as 3 years who alongwith their parents participate instorytelling sessions,” saidSinha.
The Story Munch helpsstudents develop their own
storytelling talents, apply thetechniques of storytelling, cre-ate storytelling guides, andperform a story for an audi-ence.
Thirty-five-year old PriyaGandhi, who conducts classes
at her residence in Sakchi saidthat the stories are most pow-erful means of communication.They teach lessons of life, thevalues. Telling stories is a largepart of what makes peopleconnected to each other. “We
teach kids to intricate tale withtheir voice. Using facial expres-sions, gestures and even propswe develop skills,” sheinformed.
City-based philanthropist,Divya Taneja, who daughterMaya has been a regularlyattending story sessions saidthat oral storytelling itself is agreat way to improve chil-dren's oral fluency and helpthem understand concepts thatunderpin literacy and literature.
“While I advocate for read-ing to children from whenthey are babes, I also believe it'simportant to tell our kids sto-ries. For a start, this showsthem how to tell stories andthey can use parents' andgrandparents' tales as modelsfor their own storytelling. It'salso an important way to trans-mit our family's culture.Children love to hear storiesabout family events, aboutwhat Daddy did when he waslittle, or about the day momcaught her first fish,” saidTaneja.
area of the State Capital, theState Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) attacked Congress Partyon Monday alleging them ofinstigating anti-national socialorganisations to disturb com-munal harmony in the city.
Hitting hard on Congress,State BJP Spokesperson PratulShahdeo said that Congress haschanged its strategy after ahumiliating defeat in therecently concluded Lok Sabhaelections.
“Now it is supporting theso called anti-social organisa-tion to disturb peace in theState. There are some Congresssupported organisations whichare being instigated by bigminority community leaders ofCongress party which lead tothe communal tension inDoranda and Main Road Area,”
he said.“Congress tried to disturb
communal harmony usingthese organisations. They havecrossed all borders andCongress leaders did not justdisturb the communal harmo-ny but also instigated vandal-ism. A named FIR has alsobeen registered against theseleaders in connection with thevandalism case,” Shahdeo said.
Criticising the CongressParty, the party Spokespersonsaid that Congress is onceagain supporting the anti-national social organisationswhich were involved inPathalgadi movement inKhunti.
“It had become clear dur-ing the Lok Sabha electionsthat these organisations open-ly worked for the Congress.Once again Congress has triedto disturb communal harmo-ny from behind the curtains inthe area using these social
organisations,” he added.Warning the anti-social
elements, Shahdeo said thatsuch kinds of activity will notbe tolerated during the tenureof Raghubar Government.“Chief Minister Raghubar Dashad hit the road some yearsearlier when some anti-socialelements tried to disturb com-munal harmony in the cityand he visited minority dom-inated and majority domi-nated areas and appealed peo-ple to maintain communalharmony in the city. It isbiggest example of Rajdharmabut Congress does not under-stand the def inition ofRajdharma.
Leaders of Congress andother opposition parties haveplayed appeasement card inthis incident but theGovernment’s intention isclear, it will not let anti-national elements succeed,”he added.
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From rain friendly clothesto monsoon accessories, themarket is full of varied options.Retailers of the city are cater-ing to people of all demo-graphics. Monsoon fashion isundoubtedly trending high thistime.
Loose fitted clothes andeasy going flip-flops are theprime choice for the season.Youngsters are opting for brighthues especially neons, not let-ting the rain damp their spir-it. “Gone are the days whenpeople had to succumb to therains for staying indoors. Todaywith so many options of deal-ing with the season available,monsoons have become asmuch fun as other seasonsand there is definitely a need togo out shopping for it,” saidAnu Chaudhary, a young res-ident of the State Capital.
Monsoon accessories haveflooded the market - umbrel-las starting from Rs. 80 to Rs.700 come in different coloursand types. “There is a demand
for transparent umbrellas thisyear; people are going for aclear canopy over their head.We have kept different varietiesfor our customers,” toldRamesh Kumar, a local vendor.Other accessories include waterproof shoes, gloves, bags andcovers.
Raincoats and rain friend-ly clothing are coming in a widerange of variety too. Fromsportswear brands to local ven-dors, there are ample options tochoose from. “Rain jackets areno more exclusive to the rains;it has become a trending casu-
al wear for these months.Wearing them, you can lookcool and be safe at the sametime,” told Aditya Kumar, a col-lege going student.
Raincoats and umbrellasfor children have a major mar-ket share in the monsoon fash-ion business. “Animated char-acters of their favourite car-toons and TV shows are amajor attraction for children,hence the raincoats, monsoonaccessories and umbrellas allcome with themes and charac-ters to please the kids,” addedRamesh Kumar.
Jharkhand (CUJ), as the var-sity is going to offer classesfrom its new sprawling cam-pus at Cheri-Manatu—RingRoad, Kanke.
The CUJ, which started itsacademic activities in 2009,has been running from rent-ed accommodation atBrambe.
Currently, the varsity
offers post graduate studies in24 departments with studentsstrength of around 2,500.
Talking to The Pioneer,CUJ Public Relation Officer(PRO), Narendra Kumar saidthat classes will start from July22 at main campus of CUJ.“Decks have been cleared forthe new classes and basic for-malities have been completed.
The varsity was since2014 was trying to shift to itspermanent campus, but dueto legal tangles the construc-tion work of the new campus
was delayed. Students as wellas other staffs and facultieswill be happy to shift tosprawling campus with State-of-Art facilities.”
CUJ Vice Chancellor,Nand Kumar Yadav ‘Indu’on July 3 had met ChiefMinister Raghubar Das andbriefed him about theprogress of construction workof campus.
The CM had assured VCthat Government will providefull support to the varsity inits smooth functioning.
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Personally affected byCongress national presi-
dent Rahul Gandhi’s decision toquit, party’s legislator in PunjabKuljit Singh Nagra on Mondayresigned as the All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)secretary.
“I am personally affectedby your decision to not con-tinue as the AICC president...Ifirmly believe that the per-
ceived defeat is our collectiveresponsibility and your firmdecision does not permit me tocontinue as secretary, AICC. I,thus, hereby tender my resig-nation forthwith as secretary,AICC,” said Nagra, theFatehgarh Sahib MLA.
With his decision, Nagrahas joined the list of Congressleaders who have resigned fromthe party posts over the last fewdays in solidarity with RahulGandhi.
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As discontentment brews inthe Services and amongst
veterans over a recent order towithdraw income tax exemp-tion on disability pension,Defence Minister Rajnath Singhinformed the Rajya Sabha onMonday he has asked his offi-cers to seek clarification fromthe Central Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) over its directive.He also assured the Elders thatthe government will protect alllegitimate and justified disabil-ity pension recipients.
The Minister’s assertioncame during Question Hourwhen Rajeev Chandrasekharraised the issue terming theCBDT order “insensitive.” TheCBDT late last month issued anorder that all Services person-nel who serve their full militaryservice and then retire will not be eligible for taxexemption on disability. It ledto an uproar amongst theServices and veterans.
In his reply, Singh said thematter was brought to him andhe had asked the defence min-istry officials to seek clarifica-tions from the CBDT and thenonly he will be able to comeback to Parliament to givedetails. He, however, said thegovernment will not allow thelegitimate and justified dis-ability pension holders to suf-fer. “I want to make it clear tothe House that the justifiedbenefits to armed personnelwith disabilities would not bereduced,” the minister said.
On the issue of disinvest-ment in public sector BharatEarth Movers Limited (BEML),the minister defended the deci-sion the disinvest 26 per centand assured the Elders all pre-cautions are being taken so thatthere are no question marks onnational security.
He said it has been the pol-icy of all Governments as wellas recommendation of the Niti
Aayog on strategic sale of assetsin public sector undertakings.“If strategic disinvestment isbeing done, all precautions arebeing taken so that there is noquestion mark on our nation-al security. We are taking allprecautions and national secu-rity is foremost for our gov-ernment,” the Minister said.
Congress MP and formerDefence Minister AK Antonysaid PSUs were started after care-fully studying national securityand national interests. However,the government is privatisingdefence PSUs and “this is the lat-est one. Why is the governmentgoing below 51 per cent and thispolicy is against national secu-rity and national interests,” hesaid. Elaborating on the BEMLdisinvestment, Singh said thestrategic disinvestment processhas 16 steps and only five stepshave been accomplished so farin this case.”
On shortage of bullet proofjackets for armed forces, Singhsaid nearly 1.86 lakhs jacketswill come in by April 2020 aftera contract was signed with anIndian firm in 2018. The cost of the deal is �639crore, he added.
Replying to supplemen-tary queries, the minister saidthere was no embargo on theimport of raw material fromChina for making such bullet-
proof jackets, and any suppli-er violating the tender normswould face action and could bedisqualified.
In 2009, there was a short-age of 3,53,755 bullet proofjackets in the country, but pro-curement was not done for along time, Singh said adding atender for 1,86,138 bullet proofjackets was issued in April2016 and the tender in thisregard was allotted on April 9,2018 to an Indian buyer.
The Minister said so far theDirectorate General QualityAssurance (DGQA) qualitychecks have been completedand 10,000 bullet proof jacketshave already been procuredand a total of 37,000 suchjackets have to be procured bythis year, by October this year.
In reply to another ques-tion on the total fatalities ofarmed personnel at higher alti-tudes including Siachen glaci-er, Singh said there have beeneight such deaths in 2018, fivein 2017 and 20 in 2016.
The government under-takes several steps to preventcasualties like pre-inductionmedical examination, strin-gent acclimatization schedule,provision of specialised train-ing, special living shelters, pro-vision of specialised clothingand high quality rations, theMinister said.
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The Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG)
has found fault with theIncome Tax Department (ITD)for a loss of nearly �2,500crore to the State exchequer onaccount of committing errorsin scrutinizing tax assessmentsof the Entertainment sectorincluding films, TV, event man-agement, sports among others.And this loss, the CAG said,was detected by an audit of justhalf of the total 13,031 assess-ments made by the Income TaxDepartment involving�47,979.44 crore.
In a stringent remark, theauditor said the ITD needs topin down the reasons for suchsubstantial errors and holdthose responsible accountablefor the “act of commission”. Italso asked the ITD to audit the remaining 6,515 casesinternally.
According to CAG, whosereport was tabled in theParliament on Monday, theassessee (M2K EntertainmentPvt Ltd engaged in the businessof running two multiplex cin-emas in Delhi had offeredincome of �39.72 crore (exclu-sive of entertainment tax) in itsprofit and loss Account for theyear 2011-12 to 2014-15 fromthe sale of tickets. However,audit noticed from the infor-mation provided by theEntertainment Tax Departmentof Delhi, that the assessee haddeposited entertainment taxof �19.36 crore against the two cinema halls during theabove period.
“As such, taking into con-
sideration the applicable 20per cent entertainment tax onsale of tickets, the correspond-ing income generated by thecinema halls worked out to�96.80 crore. Thus, there wasunder reporting of income of�57.08 crore (�96.80 crore —�39.72 crore) involving taxeffect of �24.06 crore, includ-ing interest,” the CAG said.
In the case of BCCI, theCAG said audit noticed thatassessee had credited �108.02crore towards ‘Income fromMedia Rights’ which was net ofTV and other production costof �59.32 crore. However, whilecomputing the income, theassessee had again claimed theproduction cost of �59.32 croreas expenses and the same wasallowed by AO. The mistakehad resulted in under assess-ment of Income of �59.32 croreinvolving short levy of tax of�20.16 crore.
As per report, audit noticedfrom the ledger account of theassessee (K Venugopal, pro-prietor of M/s KV Films) of2012-13 that assessee hadreceived a consideration of�2.92 crore in cash againstsale of various movie rights,however, details of purchaserswere not available in therecords. Audit further noticedthat the AO had not obtainedthe details of the film rightspurchasers, from whom thecash payments were received bythe assessee, to pass on theinformation to jurisdictionalAOs of purchaser,” the CAG said.
In another audit, CAGfound that audit noticed fromassessment records of the
assessee ( Thirupathi BrothersFilm Media of Chennai) thatduring survey, the assessee hadadmitted to have received�2.45 crore in cash from M/sStudio Green during the year
2012-13. Audit cross verifiedthe assessment records of M/sStudio Green for AY 2013-14and found that AO (assessingM/s Studio Green) had notadded back the amount of
expenses for which paymentwas made in cash by the M/SStudio Green to ThirupathBrothers Film Media, violatingthe section 40A(3) of the Act,”it said.
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The debate on the UnionBudget started in Lok Sabha
on Monday with ruling partyMPs expressing optimism andtheir Opposition counterpartsdubbing it a failure to addresskey economic issues facing theeconomy, farm distress andrise in fuel price.
Initiating the debate,Congress MP Shashi Tharoorsaid the Budget has “unneces-sarily defensive strokes,dropped catches and quite afew no balls” highlighting theproblems of farmers and com-mon man in fuel hikes.Countering the charges of theCongress, BJP MP Jayant Sinhasaid that the economy wasback on track due to the effortsof the Modi Government.
“Since cricket is on ourminds these days with WorldCup semi-final tomorrow, letme say that instead of boldboundaries we expected in thisfirst budget after the elections,what we have are unnecessar-ily defensive strokes, dropcatches and quite a few no ballsand wide,” Tharoor said.
He said the budget wascharacterised by mediocre setof announcements, distinctivemisses and deafening silence onmatters of substance. “We wereleft with a sort of ‘trishanku’budget, neither here nor there,”he said. There was hardly anymention of country’s GDPgrowth rate, he said, addingthat the word ‘GDP’ came uponly once.
“Hastily and ill thoughtthrough demonetisation bearsthe large share of responsibil-ity for shutting down lakhs ofsmall and micro enterprises,throwing many more lakhs ofpeople out of work,” he alleged.Tharoor also raised the issue ofagrarian distress and farmersuicides. “Our nation’s farmerswho provide food security havein the last five years receivedstepmotherly treatment formthis government which hasresulted in record level offarmer suicides,” he alleged.
BJP leader Jayant Sinhaexpressed confidence that theCentre will not only meet its
target of USD 5-trillion econ-omy but reach the USD 10 tril-lion mark. Rejecting theCongress’ charge that theBudget was a missed opportu-nity, he said what the partycould not achieve in 60 yearswas done by the BJP in 60months.
“When our Governmentcame to power in 2014, theeconomy was in a critical stage...It was a passenger train. Wecame and brought the train ontrack... And made that passen-ger train into Rajdhani train.And due to this visionary andeffective budget we will makethis Rajdhani train into a bul-let train. And we will make theopposition member and publicsit on that bullet train andcomplete the target of (USD) 5trillion economy,” he said.
Terming the budget as his-torical and visionary, he saidthat it promotes consumptionand investment. “And I can saywith confidence that we willachieve the target of 5 trillion.Because of the foundation laidby this budget we will notonly achieve the target of(USD) 5 trillion but we are alsogoing to achieve the economyof (USD) 10 trillion,” he said.
The GDP in 2014 was �111lakh crore, he said adding thatin five years it became �188lakh crore which has been anincrement of 70 per cent.
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After getting green signalfrom the Lok Sabha last
week, a Bill to do away withmandatory representation forpractising dentists not holdingqualification in the DentistCouncils at different levels was passed by the Rajya Sabhaon Monday.
Union Minister for HealthHarsh Vardhan introduced theDentists (Amendment) Bill,2019 that seeks to furtheramend the Dentists Act, 1948in Rajya Sabha.
“This is a very simple leg-islation. It will certainly giveproper proportion in DentalCouncil of India to qualifieddental surgeons and they will
be able to exercise their dutiesin a far better manner and itwill be reflected in better qual-ity of dental education throughthe control of the DentalCouncil of India in the coun-try,” the Minister said.
Later, replying to discus-sion on the motion for con-sideration and passage of theBill, Harsh Vardhan said theHealth Ministry was already inthe advanced stage of draftinga National Oral Health Policy exclusively dedicatedto oral health which includesdentistry.
Santanu Sen of the AllIndia Trinamool Congress,Ram Nath Thakur of JDU,Prasanna Acharya of BJD, KSomaprasad of CPI M, VVijayasai Reddy of YSRCP, KKeshava Rao of TRS, AshokSiddharth of BSP andVishambhar Prasad Nishad ofthe Samajwadi Party, among
others, supported the Bill inRajya Sabha.
The Dentists Act 1948 pro-vided for representation ofdentists registered under PartB, which include persons notholding such qualifications butare engaged in practice of den-tistry as principal means oflivelihood for a period not lessthan five years prior to the dateappointed under section 32 ofthe Act, in the Councils.
However, no person wasregistered under Part B after1972, said the Statement ofObjects and Reasons of the Bill.It said that there are approxi-mately 950 dentists registeredin Part B and 2.7 lakh dentistsin Part A, (consisting of den-tists possessing recognised den-tal qualifications.
The Bill, which was passedby a voice vote, got supportfrom all sections of the Housecutting across party lines.
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The Army has issued anadvisory to its personnel to
judiciously use social media toavoid the danger of gettinghoney trapped or inadvertent-ly leaking out informationabout their posting or move-ment which is exploited by theenemy. The two-page directiveissued to nearly 13 lakh troopsrecently also asks the personnelto avoid joining large groups onsocial media as the identity ofmany users is not known.
Explaining the rationale forissuing such a directive, seniorofficials said here on Mondaythe main objective is to maintainsecurity of data and personnel.Though there is no restrictionon personnel to use social mediabut given the nature of job, thepersonnel should avoid joininglarge groups on sites likeWhatsApp where the identity ofmany members is not known.The officers and men shouldonly those groups were theyknow the other members,sources said.
Officials said inimical ele-ments are always on the look-out for such follies committedinadvertently by personnelthereby posing a security threatand a major challenge. Anyinformation about movementof troops, convoys or postingsare exploited by the enemy.They introduce malware ormask their identity to access thedata from the user therebyposing a grave danger.
Asserting that it is not thefirst time such a directive wasissued, sources said personnelcannot reveal their professionor upload photographs in uni-form on sites like Facebook. Infact, the Services have regular-ly issued such directives since2014 and there is a detailed pol-icy on social media with theArmy.
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The Centre is in touch withthe States to jointly tackle
any drought-like situation. AndUnion Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar onMonday said delay in sowing ofKharif (summer-sown) cropswas a cause of concern.
“There is still time forfarmers to complete sowingoperations,” Tomar said on thesidelines of State AgricultureMinisters’ conference in Delhi.“We are in touch if there is anydrought like situation, we (cen-tre and States) will work togeth-er,” Tomar added. TheAgriculture Minister has askedstates to make efforts toincrease crop remuneration byhelping farmers in reducinginput cost, increasing produc-tion and promoting exports.
Area under Kharif crops hasdeclined by 27 per cent at 234.33lakh hectare till last week of theongoing Kharif season of 2019-20 crop year (July-June), asagainst last 319.68 lakh hectaresin the same period last year.
Asked about expectedKharif crop production, hesaid it is too early to comment.The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has pro-jected good rains in July andAugust which could boost sow-ing operations.
Sowing of kharif cropsbegin with the onset of south-west monsoon, which this yeararrived late delaying the sowingoperation and rainfall remaineddeficient by 33 per cent, accord-ing to the IMD data. Rice, themain kharif crop, was sown in52.47 lakh hectare till last week,down from 68.60 lakh hectarein the year-ago period.
Less area was reported fromChhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh,Haryana, Odisha, MadhyaPradesh, Karnataka, Arunachal
Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, WestBengal and Himachal Pradesh,among others.
Pulses, especially tur, uradand moong, were sown in veryless area at 7.94 lakh hectare asagainst 27.91 lakh hectare,while coarse cereals were plant-ed in 37.37 lakh hectare asagainst 50.65 lakh hectare lastyear, the data showed.
Less area under pulses wasreported from Karnataka,Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Telangana, UttarPradesh, Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu, among others.
New Delhi: Veteran Congressleader Karan Singh on Mondaysaid he is “aghast” at the dis-orientation into which the partyhas fallen since Rahul Gandhi’sresignation, and urged theworking committee to meetwithout delay under the chair-manship of former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh totake necessary decisions.
His strong remarks comeamid the Congress plunginginto a deep crisis after Gandhimade his decision to resign asparty president public last week.He had submitted his resigna-tion to the CWC on May 25which followed a spate of res-ignations by senior and middle-rank Congress leaders.
“I am aghast to see the con-fusion and disorientation into
which the party has fallensince Rahul Gandhi resignedon May 25. Instead of honour-ing his bold decision a monthwas wasted pleading him totake back his resignation,”Singh said in a statement cir-culated among reporters.
“I strongly urge the work-ing committee to meet withoutdelay, perhaps under thechairmanship of former PMManmohan Singh and takenecessary decisions,” the for-mer Union Minister said.
He also said the longer thepresent uncertainty remains,the more the Congress workersand voters around the countrywill be demoralised.
“The negative cycle mustbe reversed before its is toolate,” he said. PTI
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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath
has asked officials to ensure noliquor shops and unauthorisedslaughterhouses function onthe route of the upcomingKanwar yatras to various Shivatemples in the State.
The month-long yatra willstart from July 17 with thebeginning of the Hindu monthof ‘Saawan’.
Officials have been direct-ed to get the roads on the yatraroute cleaned and to sprinkleflower petals on devotees fromhelicopters that will also mon-itor the progress of the yatras.
Adityanath has also saidthat DJs will not be banned butthey should only play bhajansand no film song will beallowed.
The use of DJs has been apoint of discord betweenMuslims and Hindus and theprevious Akhilesh Yadav gov-ernment had banned themduring the yatra.
meetings in every zone, districtand division to coordinate witheach other to avoid any incon-venience.
Emphasising on the impor-tance of cleanliness, ge instruct-ed the officials to ban theusage of thermocol and plasticbags during the yatra.
Special security measuresshould be taken and the dignityof the devotees should beensured, he said, adding that allarrangements should be madeon the lines of Kumbh.
Adityanath also asked theofficials to identify Shiva tem-ples in their areas and ensurecleanliness, proper drinkingwater, electricity and security atthe shrines.
Since this year Bakrid orEid-ul-Zuha and the lastMonday of Kanwar yatra willfall on the same day - August12, the Chief Minister instruct-ed the officials to make prop-er security measures and checkthat no illegal slaughter takesplace. He stated that CCTVcameras should be installed incrowded areas during this peri-od to check mischief.
Lucknow: In a visible soften-ing of stand, Shivpal Yadav,who heads the PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (PSP), hassaid that he is ready to forge analliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for theUttar Pradesh assembly elec-tions, which is slated to be heldin 2022.
Shivpal, who is a youngerbrother of SP patriarchMulayam Singh and uncle offormer Chief Minister andSamajwadi Party PresidentAkhilesh Yadav, indicated thathis party could form an alliancewith SP for Assembly polls, butalso underlined that he wouldnot rejoin the Samajwadi Party.
Talking to reporters, hesaid: “When elections around,there will be talks of an alliancebut we will not go back toSamajwadi Party. We will talkto those who want to ally withus. The PSP will also be there.We can ally with SamajwadiParty as well.”
Shivpal Yadav’s statementcomes after Samajwadi patri-arch Mulayam Singh had madeefforts to bring the estrangeduncle and nephew togetherafter the SP suffered a rout inthe Lok Sabha elections inApril-May.
Three members of theYadav clan-Dimple Yadav,Dharmendra Yadav andAkshay Yadav-lost the electionsand the party’s tally in LokSabha was reduced to five.
Thereafter, the BahujanSamaj Party also snapped itsalliance with SP andannounced that it would con-test all elections on its own. TheBSP even blamed the SP for itsanti-Dalit policies.
Akhilesh Yadav, on hispart, has shown no inclinationto build bridges with his uncle.
report tabled in Parliament onMonday pointed out that therewas still a long way to go beforethe target of public healthexpenditure was achieved andthe Central allocation forhealth for 2019-20 was farshort of target.
The report also noted thatin States, health spending as apercentage of total Statesexpenditure, ranged from 3.29to 5.32 per cent which showsthat this need considerableaugmentation.
The CAG audited pre-paredness activities of selected17 Central Ministries includ-ing, NITI Aayog, Ministry ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation (MoSPI),Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare (MoHFW) and sevenStates — Assam, Chhattisgarh,Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal— being undertaken under theSustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) and specificallyfocused on ‘Good Health and
Well Being,’ targets.It found that a lot was
needed to be done to achievethe goals.
“The UN GeneralAssembly in September 2015,adopted resolution titled´Transforming our World: the2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment’ consisting of 17Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) and 169 associ-ated targets. “Efforts to raisepublic awareness about SDGsand initiatives undertaken inthe selected States were notcomprehensive, focussed orsustained,” said the report.
It further said a roadmapis yet to be aligned withdefined milestones for SDGtargets to be achieved in theyear 2020, 2025 and 2030 andthat the vision document is stillunder preparation. “States areyet to prepare policy docu-ments. Mapping of goals andtargets undertaken by NITIAayog and selected States isstill ongoing. States may needto strengthen institutionalarrangements by identifyingsupport departments anddefining roles and responsi-
bilities,” it said.The CAG report pointed
out that the strategy documentdid not project the financingand budgeting requirements.“While it is recognised thatprojecting financial resourcesfor achieving the Targets by2030 is a challenging task,Ministry of Finance and State Governments are yet tointegrate SDG related financialresources in national budgeting for implementingSDGs,” it said.
Mapping in respect ofhealth goals was not compre-hensive in selected States.Though States had indicatedactions to formulate plans andpolicies in line with the goal,delays and absence of a holis-tic approach were noted. AlsoData for certain health indi-cators were not regularly oruniformly available.
The CAG report has sug-gested framing of a compre-hensive charter and actionplan with well-defined mile-stones for implementing SDGsafter due consultations andfinalisation of the vision doc-ument should be expedited.
New Delhi: The Centre onMonday asked the States forfaster implementation of the�87,000 crore Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme to boost farm-ers’ income and urged them tosend the list of beneficiaries atthe earliest.
Till July 5, as many as 3.56crore farmers have got the firstinstalment, totalling �7,120 croreand 3.10 crore farmers havereceived the second instalmenttotalling �6,215 crore. TheCentre has recently launched thePM-KISAN scheme underwhich it will provide �6,000annually to 14.5 crore farmers inthree equal instalments.
West Bengal has not joinedthis scheme so far, the officialsaid, adding that only 43 percent beneficiaries have come sofar. Bihar has only given data of8.38 lakh farmers out of esti-mated 1.63 crore eligible ben-eficiaries. PNS
In Rottenseed! Cottonseed, Alzheimer’sand Your Brain, nutritionist BruceSemon traces the rise of Alzheimer’sto a toxin in cottonseed that goes tothe brain and randomly ties up
important structures there. Cottonseed, abyproduct of cotton farming, contains poi-son but is routinely fed to farm animals,poultry and fish, from where it enters theirflesh and reaches human beings when theyeat this meat. Dr Semon, the first writer totrace the link between toxic cottonseedsand human health, describes his experi-ments on feeding cottonseed to animals.
In India, some farmers are illicitlyextracting cottonseed oil and selling cheap-ly to vegetable oil dealers, who mix it withedible oils and sell to unwary consumers.In the past decade, cotton farming has risensharply under the influence of GM cotton,peddled by multinational firms, increasingchances of the even more lethal GM cot-tonseed oil entering the human and ani-mal food chain. In 2018, the Centre forScience and Environment (CSE) detectedBT cottonseed contamination in ediblesoils. The Food Safety and StandardsAuthority of India (FSSAI) has so far donelittle to contain this adulteration. TheGovernment must ban cottonseed forhuman or animal feed and warn against itsconsumption.
Cottonseed is also implicated in infer-tility. Male and female infertility has oftenbeen attributed to hormonal problems butSemon argues that cottonseed is loadedwith toxic chemicals. It killed many animalsto which it was fed, which led to studieson just how much cottonseed could be fedto animals without killing them.
A major cottonseed toxin is “gossypol.”Researchers have known this since 1950 butno one made it public. China is supposedto have examined gossypol as a possibleform of birth control for men (it interruptssperm formation). In women, gossypolcauses failure to ovulate. Other harmfuleffects cannot be ruled out.
Indeed, India faces grave dangers asunprecedented levels of GM genes havebeen found in Indian foods. CSE detect-ed unprecedented levels of geneticallymodified genes in Indian foods, bothimported and indigenous. CSE’s PollutionMonitoring Laboratory found 32 per centof 65 food products purchased randomlyfrom retail outlets in Delhi-NCR, Punjaband Gujarat, to be GM-positive. Amongimported samples, 80 per cent were GM-positive.
Scientist Amit Khurana said the CSEstudy revealed that in their biosafety sub-mission to the Genetic EngineeringAppraisal Committee, Monsanto/Bayerlied that “BT cottonseed oil is equivalentto natural cottonseed oil” and contains noGM traces. Moreover, the edible oil com-panies, that used transgenic BT cottonseedwithout regulatory approval, also endan-
gered public health. The IndianCouncil of AgriculturalResearch has often relied onMonsanto’s printed biosafetysubmissions.
Dr KR Kranthi, formerchief, Central Institute forCotton Research, warned ofedible oil contamination: “Thepossible routes of BT cottonprotein entering the food chainare through human consump-tion of un-refined cottonseedoil, in which traces of BT pro-tein may be present with par-ticulate seed residues orthrough consumption of meator milk of the animals whichare fed on BT cotton seed-cake.”
Biosafety expert DrVandana Shiva said, “IllegalGMO Roundup Ready BT cot-ton has spread in farmers’fields with no action from theGenetic Engineering AppraisalCommittee (GEAC). IllegalGMO foods are flooding India’smarkets with no action fromFSSAI. The Government issupposed to protect its citizensfrom harm and illegal actions.How long will it protect theGMO industry and allowIndians farmers and citizens tobe harmed?”
Dr Gilles-Eric Seralini,who was hounded by multina-tional companies and their
media acolytes until the Frenchcourts penalised his attackersfor defamation, explained theeffects of ingesting GM over afive-ten year period, “We havealready demonstrated on mam-mals that BT toxins attackmucosal and epithelial cells,inducing heavy long termchronic diseases.” GMOs andpesticides, he says, are a biolog-ical arsenal causing diseasesfrom cancers to farmers’ sui-cides.
The Indian Governmentdid not conduct any indepen-dent scientific study beforeadopting Monsanto/Bayer’sGMOs, as pointed out by theParliamentary StandingCommittee on science andtechnology (Report 301 onGM crops and their effects).FSSAI’s GM labelling rule hasbeen lambasted as too lenientand corporate-driven. A scien-tific study in the Journal ofI n t e r n a t i o n a lImmunopharmacology (August2018) found that the BT pro-tein, present in BT crops, caus-es immune reactions and trig-gers food allergy and intestinalinflammation in mice.
Meanwhile, several scien-tific studies, including onepublished by the Public Libraryof Science (July 2013), havefound compelling evidence
that the DNA of geneticallymodified foods can enter thehuman bloodstream and causemany health problems. Bloodsamples of over 1,000 partici-pants were collected and “theresults indicated that meal-derived DNA fragments (whichwere large enough to carrycomplete genes) can avoiddegradation and ultimatelyenter the human body’s circu-lation system.” Researchers saidthese are actually stretches ofDNA large enough to passcomplete genes of GMO plants(like soy, corn or canola oil) tohumans.
In some blood samples, therelative concentration of plantDNA was higher than humanDNA. The researchers saidthat participants with inflam-matory bowel disease and auto-immune disease had the high-est concentration of transgenicgene. Previous studies showthat GMOs can change thebeneficial bacteria in the smallintestine and trigger auto-immune diseases and inflam-mation, making it difficult toabsorb the real nutrients infood. These findings vindicatethe claims of independent sci-entists and researchers whohave long warned the regulato-ry bodies and biotech industrythat GMO genes can be trans-
ferred from dairy and animalproducts to people.
After prolonged resistance,the European Food SafetyAuthority was forced to admitthat DNA from food (GMO ornon-GMO) could end up inanimal tissues and milk andother dairy products consumedby people. The GMO compa-nies are strenuously resistingthe findings and investing mil-lions of dollars to hide theirtoxic GMOs and defeat theGMO labelling movement,even as people eating these hid-den toxins are getting sickerand sicker.
Many scientists andactivists now feel that the timefor labelling GMOs is over;Governments must simply banthem. This is also the time forthe Government of India toorder a scientific study of thediseases (cancer, diabetes, auto-immune, organ failure) that fol-lowed introduction of theGreen Revolution. The artificialself-sufficiency wrought by thechemical fertiliser and pesti-cide-based agriculture has long devastated the health ofanimals, humans and the verysoil.
(The writer is Senior Fellow,Nehru Memorial Museum andLibrary; the views expressedare personal))�� ��������*���������������������
Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Neither good nor bad”(July 6). Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman got thesymbolism entirely wrong.Going back to ‘bahi-khaata’ inan electronic age, when even‘aadhtiyas’ have discarded thecumbersome ‘bahis,’ did seemincongruous. A briefcase isalways handy to carry papersand small files, especially for theBudget speech.
Sitharaman ought to havestuck to it — everything our colo-nial rulers did need not be dis-carded. Just when the focus is ondigitising all facets of governmen-tal activity, Finance Minister car-rying a ‘bahi-khata’ on the mostimportant day in her annual cal-endar does seem rather odd.
As for the Budget, as always,it is a mix of good, not-so-goodand completely negative. Giventhat this was the first budget ofa Government which had justwon another five years in power,Sitharaman could have beenbolder in pushing the reformagenda, lowering corporate taxesacross the board, doing awaywith irksome exemptions which
deface the entire taxation systemand provide fillip to mid-levelbusinesses and industries togrow more. At this rate, we willcontinue to play catch-up withChina indefinitely.
J AkshobhyaMysuru
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Sir — After scoring five fantas-tic centuries, including threeconsecutive ones, in the ongoingCricket World Cup and accumu-lating 647 runs, ‘hitman’ Rohit
Sharma has deservedly grabbedall the headlines. Captain ViratKohli, whose team has finishedat the top of the points table andcruised its way to the knockoutstage, has aptly said that Rohitis the best ODI batsman in theworld today. The opener’s bat-
ting is a blend of classic strokes,scintillating shots and lightningsixes, making him a modern-daygreat. Further, Rohit’s post-match press conferences give aglimpse of his commitment anddedication to the team. Cricketfans across the country wouldwant his consistency to fetchIndia World Cup glory.
M Pradyu Kannur
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Sir — The Congress-JD(S)Government is tottering after afew of its MLAs sent their resig-nation letters. From the veryoutset, the Congress and theJD(S) had formed an oppor-tunistic alliance, with the onlyaim to not let the BJP form aGovernment over there.Members of both parties werefighting for survival. The alliancehad no agenda for the State’sdevelopment. It was an unholyalliance and the Lok Sabha elec-tion was the last straw.
Modi would be damned if taxes on themiddle class were to be raised. It wouldequally be damned for taxing the emerg-
ing category of the Highest High Net WorthIndividuals (HHNIs), comprising a minusculeuniverse of 8,000 people. The fact is that eventhe rich have not been touched by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2019-20. Only the super rich have been asked to shellout more. This was the most inoffensive way ofconforming to Chanakya’s prescription that“taxes should be collected the way a bee collectshoney, without damaging the flower.” So, how dowe term “Sithanomics” for inconveniencingonly the poor-rich people, who comprise 0.01 percent of the population, to raise the much-need-ed resources for the 99 per cent, who have beenallocated welfare spends of �1.30 lakh crore forincreasing rural jobs and livelihood? Elitist/pro-capitalist or socialist? She is neither, veeringtowards being a pragmatist.
The actual disappointment of the Budget layin not having reduced corporate taxation acrossthe board to 25 per cent, which excluded 0.7 percent of the firms above the �400 crore turnovermark. That should make socialists happy as the6,000 largest firms will continue to be taxed at30 per cent, as compared to 17-21 per cent in thedeveloped countries. However, in the interest ofgood economics, this was a big opportunitymissed in kickstarting a virtuous cycle of invest-ments and India cannot afford to be left behindif it wants to remain the fastest growing econo-my. Because, in comparison to its Asian peers,our country has the highest corporate tax rates,cost of land, cost of capital and electricity as alsohighest pendency of 3.5 crore cases under liti-gation — all of these lower the country’s globalcompetitiveness.
To take advantage of the US-China trade warand to make India the preferred manufacturingdestination, as also to give a boost to the exportssector, which has stagnated since 2013, it madesense that potential revenue losses, which wouldaccrue by extending the 25 per cent corporatetax uniformly, would have been more than com-pensated by reviving the animal spirits of bigindustries. Because the largest corporates wouldhave been tempted to loosen their purse stringsfor capital expenditure and job creation. Thereobviously was little headroom to reduce tax ratesfor large corporates as every one per centreduction in rates means �15,000 crore loss tothe exchequer.
Modi 2.0 is obsessed with a single-mindedmantra that the Prime Minister chants fromJapan to Varanasi: To nudge India towards a $5trillion economy by 2024. At present, the goal ofdoubling the $2.8 trillion economy in the nextfive years may sound an anachronism, given thecurrent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growthtrend of six to seven per cent annually. Achievingsustained growth rates upwards of eight per centis now an imperative, year on year, so as to raiseper capita income and transit towards the UN’sSustainable Development Goals and to becomea middle-income economy. And if we don’t setthe bar higher, we will never actualise that goal.
The Budget provides a fairly coherent roadmap for #India @$5 trillion by giving a boost tosectors that propel growth and job creation, like
infrastructure and affordable housing;lowering cash transactions and goingdigital; going for e-assessments; creat-ing a favourable ecosystem for start-upsby easing angel tax and simplifying reg-ulatory hurdles for Foreign DirectInvestment (FDI) in aviation, mediaand insurance as also easing norms forsingle-brand retail that will enhance theemployment potential.
Working backwards from thePrime Minister’s stated goal needssome “blue-sky thinking” on part ofpolicy makers, tinged with pragmatism.Blue-sky thinking is about dreaming theimpossible, yet finding a way to getthere. We know all too well that thereare compelling reasons for theGovernment to factor in expenses torevive falling consumption and addressrural distress, while sources of revenueare restricted.
So where can the additionalresources have come from? It was butnatural to pluck from the low-hangingfruit of taxing the super-rich withoutmaking the middle class bear the bur-den in order to balance the outgoing forwelfare schemes, which is at 7.5 per centof the GDP and increasing the outlaysfor health, housing and education.
Contrary to the elitist mindsetthat thinks taxing the creamiest layeris a regressive “Robin Hood” tax,extortionist, or socialist, taxing freshincome was a sounder concept than re-imposing wealth tax or estate duty thatwas done away with years back. WT orInheritance tax is tantamount to triple
taxation because when people acquireany asset from disposable income,they do so after having paid income taxat applicable levels as also other levieslike GST and stamp-duty among otherat the time of acquisition.
For those with incomes between �2crore and �5 crore, will shell outbetween 39 per cent and 42.74 per cent— the highest tax rate imposed since1992. This is absolutely in sync withchanging realities of higher incomesearned like never before. Progressivetaxation makes for sound economics.Besides, the extra revenue in absoluteterms is expected to yield �12,000 crore.When earnings are �3 crore a year, or�25 lakh a month, there is little causeto feel bad for “the poor, rich lad.” Thoseaffected make for a small percentage ofthe 1.3 billion Indians. As per data onreturns filed in 2016-17, of the 46.6 mil-lion taxpayers, only 16 per cent report-ed gross income between �1 and �5crore.
Let us also understand the behav-ioural dynamics of the super-rich:When billionaires inherit or generatewindfall profits, those one per cent ofthe privileged have a distinct edge overthe 99 per cent through the compound-ing power of money, opportunity tonetwork and influence policy makingand are empowered with highest liter-acy. The system is then conducive to a“winner takes all” to amass fortune. Sowhen fresh income is made, taxesmust be progressively imposed onthose accruals. Thus far, it has been a
predatory system of wealth concentra-tion in the hands of the few andinequality can only get bridged throughpolicy interventions, not by whimsicalgenerosity or CSR of the few.
According to a 2018 Oxfam Reportreleased at the World Economic Forum(WEF) in January 2019, “Indian billion-aires saw their fortunes swell by �2,200crore a day last year, with the top 1 percent of the country’s richest getting rich-er by 39 per cent, as against just threeper cent increase in wealth for the bot-tom-half of the population.”
Following international best prac-tices, for example of the US, the rich-est one-tenth of the most affluent oneper cent of Americans voluntarilyoffered just last week that “the next dol-lar of tax revenues should come fromthe most financially fortunate, insteadof middle income taxpayers.”
India has done well to adopt thismodel of progressive taxation by cre-ating a fourth slab of taxation toimpose on super high net worth indi-viduals. In the Finance Minister’sacknowledgement that “wealth is not abad word”, it shows a shift in mindsetfrom the socialist Nehruvian era. Butwith windfall personal gains comehigher duties on part of the super afflu-ents toward helping mainstreamingthose financially excluded: The “gaon,garib and kisan.”
(The writer is an author, columnistand Chairperson for NationalCommittee on Financial Inclusion at NitiAayog)
The Modi 2.0 Government’smaiden Budget has peggedIndia’s finances on its villages
and farms — a visible shift from theNehruvian economic policy of pro-moting industrialisation. The ModiGovernment’s Budget was trulyfocussed on agriculture and ruraldevelopment. At the same time, theGovernment wants the private sectorto be in the driver’s seat. This toachieve the target of Indian becom-ing a $3 trillion economy in theimmediate future and $5 trillion in thecourse of time. Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said, “In pur-chasing power parity, we are, in fact,the third largest economy already,next to China and the US.”
This sounds good to achieve thetwin objectives of growth and inclu-siveness. Sitharaman’s �27.86 lakhcrore Budget has interesting features:It is ambitious and plans to investwidely, covering almost all sectors.
So, there were plans to boost theeconomy along with the empower-ment of villagers, women and farm-ers. Schemes such as the PradhanMantri Gramin Awaas Yojana andthe Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak asalso the Bharatmala, Sagarmala andUDAN, are designed to bridge therural-urban divide and improvetransport infrastructure. The 1.25lakh km of roads across the countrythat will be upgraded entail aninvestment of �80,000 crore.
The Scheme of Fund forRegeneration of TraditionalIndustries (SFURTI), launched in2005, which envisions 100 new clus-ters in 2019-20, will facilitate 50,000artisans in making the traditionalindustries more productive. Underthe ASPIRE scheme, 100 businessincubators will be set up to enable75,000 entrepreneurs in the agro-rural industrial sector. Further, the
Government plans to form 10,000farmer producer organisations(FPOs) in the next five years, appar-ently with corporate interface, toensure economies of scale for farm-ers over the next five years. Otherslike the Pradhan Mantri GraminDigital Saksharta Abhiyan, the waterconservation campaign, ‘Jal ShaktiAbhiyan, which will focus on 256districts, will spur rural growth.
Many of these schemes will helpin the development of the rural sec-tor and mitigate rural distress, bridgeurban and rural divide, createdemand and spur the growth of theindustry and allied sectors.
All of this is fine. But the FinanceMinister has thrown a spanner, too.Additional taxes, duties and cesses onthe rich and on commodities such asfuel will have an inflationary effect.First and foremost, transport expens-es will see a rise. Already, cess dutieswere high on fuel. Tolls and taxes haveseen atrocious rates, too. This calls fora relook and withdrawal of the pro-posal to keep the economy on trackas also to fulfill the vision of Indiabecoming a $5 trillion economy.
Another decision that will havea negative impact is to raise customsduty on gold from the existing 10 percent to 12.5 per cent. Gold is mistak-enly considered an item of consump-tion by the rich. As a matter of fact,no marriage in poor or rural house-hold is complete without purchasingof gold. The NDA-I of Atal BihariVajpayee had taken the prudentdecision of having “zero duty” ongold import to keep a check onsmuggling. Higher duties bode wellfor smugglers, who have links withgun and drug leaders as also terror-ist organisations.
Though the Government’s aim isto raise revenue, it may end upincreasing surveillance at multiplesectors, thus causing revenue loss.Ideally, this needs to be rolled backas losses outweigh gains. Similarly,TDS on cash withdrawals of over �1crore, not a large sum for even smallbusinesses, to discourage businesspayments in cash, may actually leadto an economic slowdown. TheGovernment should not be in ahurry to digitise the economy. Cashis the fastest transaction method.
Linking it to black money — simplymeaning untaxed — is a misnomer.
Let the cash lubricate and speedup the economy. Digitisation shouldbe a normal and automatic process.Apprehensions for digitisation, too,have been raised as many Aadhaar-linked accounts are now beingdefrauded. The Government needsto go slow and withdraw such strangerules that make dealings and tax fil-ing cumbersome.
It was expected that the FinanceMinister would make an announce-ment regarding abolishing theincome tax. Instead, Sitharamanincreased the 15 per cent personaltax surcharge on top-end incomebrackets — for incomes between �2crore and �5 crore, the new surchargeis 25 per cent and for incomesabove �5 crore, the new surcharge is37 per cent. High taxes reduce dis-posable income and are a dampen-er for the people to consume.
The Indian economy needs sim-plicity in tax administration. Besides,full tax rebate for citizens with netannual taxable income up to �5 isarbitrary. They, too, should be taxed
as this will burden the tax office withlittle benefits in hand.
Taxing the bank deposits does notsuit the welfare nature of the NarendraModi Government. It may give smallrevenues but cause immense hardshipto those who save. Savings, the FinanceMinister says, have to be encouragedto boost the economy. TDS and lowinterest rates dampen the enthusiasmof savers. The Government’s wordsmust match its deeds. It’s a necessitynot only for the savers but for a nationthat is pining for funds.
If savings are taken care of, theGovernment will not have to look forborrowings abroad to spur growthand fiscal management. Thisswadeshi move will make easyfinance available to Governmentand save forex. The Finance Ministermay do some reworking. It will con-tain inflation, which after thisBudget, is likely to rise to 5 per cent.For a $5 trillion economy in nineyears, India requires a growth rate ofat least 11 per cent not eight per cent, as the Economic Survey indi-cated.
68.66 against the US dollar, cut-ting short its three winning rundue to a massive selloff inequities and weakening expec-tations of a rate cut by the USFederal Reserve in near future.
Foreign institutionalinvestors pulled out �401.99crore Monday, hitting the rupeesentiment.
Emerging market curren-cies took a hit after the US jobdata fuelled expectations thatthe Federal Reserve will not cutinterest rates quickly in nearfuture. The US dollar tradedstrong against its rivals, andAsian currencies.
Investors sentiment wassubdued on concerns thatincreased surcharge on super-rich could affect foreign fundsinvesting in India, which couldlead to flight of foreign fundsfrom the domestic markets,currency traders said.
The rupee opened lower at68.49 from the last close of68.42 at the inter-bank foreignexchange (forex) market.
The local unit lost furtherground to touch a session lowof 68.76 before closing at 68.66,marking a fall of 24 paise overits previous close. The rupee onFriday settled 8 paise higher at
68.42 against the dollar.“Rupee follows the path of
emerging-market currencies,as markets start to rethink theextent and speed of rate cuts bythe Federal Reserve. Regionalstocks also traded weaker asbudget Blues continue,” V KSharma, Head PCG & CapitalMarkets Strategy, HDFCSecurities, said.
The 30-share Sensextanked 907 points in the intra-day trade before settling at38,720.57 points, showing asharp loss of 792.82 points or2.01 per cent. The broaderNifty of the NSE tanked 252.55
points, or 2.14 per cent, to closeat 11,558.60 points.
The 10-year Governmentbond yield was at 6.60 per cent.
“...Bond market traded high-er amid lower than estimated fis-cal deficit number and propos-al of foreign currency bondissuance. Finance SecretarySubhash Chandra Garg saidthat government is targetingthe second half of the fiscal yearto raise funds through overseasbond sales,” Sharma said.
Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, slipped0.16 per cent to $64.33 per bar-rel.
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CB D TChairman P C
Mody on Mondaysaid theGovernment willsoon issue a clari-fication on theincrease in tax rateon foreign portfo-lio investors toallay their con-cerns.
On whether the clarifica-tion will be issued soon or afterdiscussion on Budget inParliament, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said it isnot required at the moment.
“I don’t think clarificationat the moment is all that’srequired. Let’s see as it goes.You think it is required?” shesaid.
There were concerns thatthe increased surcharge onsuper-rich could also affectforeign funds investing in Indiasince a same tax structuresapply for individuals, HinduUndivided Family andAssociations of Persons (AoPs).
Experts said some ForeignPortfolio Investors (FPIs) fol-low trust structure and, hence,would be classified as AoPs.
“The matter has beenbrought to our notice now. Wewill issue a clarification soon,”Mody said at an Assocham
event.Markets continued to tum-
bled for the second straight ses-sion on Monday with theSensex plummeting 793 points.
According to traders, theUnion Budget’s proposals toraise public shareholdingthreshold and higher tax inci-dence for FPIs and high net-worth individuals continued tospook investors.
In the Budget 2019-20,tabled in Parliament last week,Sitharaman proposed toincrease surcharge from 15per cent to 25 per cent on tax-able income between �2 croreand �5 crore, and from 15 percent to 37 per cent for incomeabove �5 crore.
The effective income taxrate for individuals with a tax-able income of �2-5 crore willgo up from 35.88 per cent to 39per cent, and for those above �5crore, it would go up to 42.7 percent.
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Shares of Punjab NationalBank on Monday dived over
11 per cent after the companydetected a fraud of more than�3,800 crore by Bhushan Power& Steel Ltd (BPSL).
The scrip tanked 11.19 percent to �72.60 on the BSE.
At the NSE, shares of thepublic sector lender dropped11.24 per cent to �72.60.
PNB said SaturdayBhushan Power & Steel Ltdmisappropriated bank fundsand manipulated its books ofaccounts to raise funds fromconsortium lender banks.
“On the basis of forensicaudit investigation findingsand CBI filing FIR, on suomoto basis, against the com-pany and its directors, allegingdiversion of funds from bank-ing system, a fraud of �3,805.15crore is being reported by bankto RBI (Reserve Bank of India).
“It has been observed thatthe company has misappropri-ated bank funds, manipulatedbooks of accounts to raisefunds from consortium lenderbanks. At present, the case is atNCLT which is in advancestage and the Bank expectsgood recovery in the account,”Punjab National Bank (PNB)said in a regulatory filing.
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After delivering three back-to-back rate cuts, the
Reserve Bank on Monday saidit expects a quicker transmis-sion of the interest rate cuts bybanks to consumers by way ofcheaper home, auto and per-sonal loans.
During this year, the RBIreduced the key policy ratethrice with an aggregate reduc-tion of 0.75 percentage point inthe repo rate, the rate at whichRBI lends to banks.
“In the last MPC meeting(June 6) I had said that by thattime 50 basis points of repo ratecut had been announced, andout of this 21 basis points hadbeen transmitted. And onepositive thing that is happen-ing now is, earlier it used totake six months for transmis-sion, now the transmission istaking a much shorter periodof 2-3 months,” RBI GovernorShaktikanta Das said.
“Thereafter we announced25 basis points cut. So, it’snow entirely 75 basis point cut.We are collecting the data andalso you have to keep in mindthat right from the month of
June, in fact, June 1, the systemis more than adequately surplusin liquidity,” he said whileaddressing media after the cus-tomary post-budget meetingwith Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman.
He further said overall thesystem liquidity is hugely insurplus and if individual bankshave liquidity issue, the RBI willprovide liquidity support tothem.
The Budget has announceda 10 per cent backstop for thebanks to implement NBFCpackage as part of a series ofsteps to give relief to non-bank-ing financial companies facingcash crunch following the col-lapse of IL&FS last year.
In a bid to address the stressin the sector, the Governmentin the Budget proposed thatpublic sector banks would pur-chase high-rated pooled assetsof financially sound NBFCs,amounting to a total of �1 lakhcrore during the current finan-cial year.
For this, the Governmentwill provide one time sixmonths’ partial credit guaran-tee to public sector banks forfirst loss of up to 10 per cent.
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RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Monday said the
central bank will discuss withthe Government the issuance ofoverseas sovereign bonds, ainstrument that will helpreduce dependence on thedomestic market for bridgingfiscal deficit.
The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) issues bonds on behalf ofthe government as part of theresource mobilisation exerciseto fund gap between revenueand expenditure.
Expressing his satisfactionover the Government’s move toslash fiscal deficit target, Dassaid it will help improve invest-ment by the private sector ascrowding out impact will beless.
After the customary post-budget meeting with FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman,he said, “The Government hasmade a budget announcementand we will interact with thegovernment. I am sure thegovernment will have a dis-cussion with the RBI. Whateverwe need to discuss with theGovernment, will be discussed
internally.”Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman in Budget 2019-20announced that the govern-ment will start raising a part ofits gross borrowing programmefrom external markets in for-eign currencies.
She added that the coun-try’s sovereign external debt-to-GDP ratio level is among thelowest globally at less than 5 percent.
It is not often that the gov-ernment taps the foreign mar-kets to raise funds.
On the fiscal deficit, Dassaid the RBI will always behappy if it is maintained.
“In this case, fiscal deficithas been improved actuallyfrom 3.4 to 3.3 per cent of theGDP. The RBI will be happymainly because it limits so-called crowding out effect. So,that’s something positivebecause it gives more space formeeting the private sector bor-rowing,” he said.
Overall, there is fiscal glidepath which the Government ismaintaining in the last fiveyears, he said adding that theGovernment started with a fis-cal deficit number of 4.5 per
cent.“Now, it has gone down to
3.3. There is a glide path whichis being maintained. I think,overall, it will be good formicroeconomic situation,” headded.
The Centre has committedto reduce the fiscal deficit, thegap between total expenditureand revenue, to 3 per cent of thegross domestic product (GDP)by 2020-21, and eliminate theprimary deficit as per the FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Act.
Primary deficit refers to thedeficit left after subtractinginterest payments from the fis-cal deficit.
With regard to additionalresponsibility given to the cen-tral bank for regulating housingfinance companies (HFCs), hesaid it has been given after a lotof deliberation within the gov-ernment and also with the RBI.
“The RBI will do its best tolive up to expectations of theadditional responsibility whichhas been given to the RBI andI am quite confident that wewill be able to deal with thisadditional responsibility affec-tively,” he said.
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AGovernment panel isexamining all issues relat-
ed to crypto currencies, includ-ing the pros and cons of theintroduction of an official dig-ital currency in the country.
Crypto currencies are notrecognised as legal tenders inthe country and the issue ofallowing trading in such cur-rencies is being examined bythe government, UnionMinister Anurag Thakur saidMonday.
The Minister of State forCorporate Affairs told the LokSabha that no decision onlicensing and authorising anyentity or company to dealwith Bitcoins or any othervirtual currency has beenmade yet.
The issue of permittingtrading in crypto currencies isunder examination by theGovernment which has con-stituted an Inter-MinisterialCommittee (IMC) under thechairmanship of Secretary,Department of EconomicAffairs.
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Greece’s new conservativeprime minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis was sworn inMonday after a sweeping elec-tion victory put him in chargeof the EU’s most indebtedmember with promises to enda decade of economic crisis.
“The Greek people gave usa strong mandate to changeGreece. We will honour it to thefull,” Mitsotakis said after tak-ing his oath of office in a tele-vised ceremony.
“Hard work begins today. Iam completely confident thatwe will prove equal to thechallenge.” The cabinet will besworn in on Tuesday and willmeet on Wednesday, he said.
The 51-year-old Harvardgraduate and former McKinseyconsultant took the oath ofoffice in the presidential man-sion in the presence of his wifeand three children.
He then walked next doorto the prime minister’s office,where he had a brief discussionwith defeated leftist premierAlexis Tsipras.
The US-educated conserv-ative faces a hefty challenge ashe takes over from Tsipras, whoimposed austerity measuresrequired under a bailout tokeep Greece in the eurozone.
The country’s public debtlast year stood at 335 billioneuros (USD 376 billion), or 180per cent of the GDP.
The debt load is forecast tofall to 168 per cent of the GDPthis year, but only under belt-tightening brought in underTsipras’s Syriza party — some-thing that Mitsotakis’s NewDemocracy party says is stiflinggrowth.
The tricky job of keepingGreece’s international credi-tors onside while easing thehardship on Greeks — by low-ering taxes and renegotiatingfiscal targets — could result ina short honeymoon phase forMitsotakis.
The former banker haspledged to create jobs and“steamroller” obstacles to busi-ness.
Those pledges wooedGreek voters, who handed him40 per cent of the votes inSunday’s election, well ahead ofthe 31.5 per cent given toTsipras.
“It’s a strong message forchange in Greece,” Mitsotakistold reporters on Sunday.
Last week he told AFPthat he saw it as his mission “tomake sure we restart the econ-omy” with “ambitious growthdriven by private investments,exports and innovation”.
He predicted that he couldpersuade Greece’s creditors toaccept the easing of tight fiscaltargets if “a comprehensivereforms package” was presented.
Tsipras, for his part,warned that Mitsotakis woulddo away with the social spend-ing he brought in to helpGreece’s vulnerable groups.
He portrayed theMitsotakis family — one ofGreece’s leading political dynas-ties — as part of a failed systemthat bankrupted the country in2010, which he blamed for thehumiliating bailout.
Mitsotakis is the son of for-mer prime minister ConstantineMitsotakis, one of the country’slongest-serving parliamentari-ans. His sister Dora Bakoyannisis a former minister and Athens’sfirst female mayor.
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Fearing for their jobs, theover a dozen employees
and officers unions of AirIndia Monday came out strong-ly against the Government’ssecond bid to sell the finan-cially-crippled national carrier,union sources said after ameeting with the management.
Acting quickly on the bud-get announcement, Air Indiachairman Ashwani Lohani hadcalled on Friday itself called ameeting of all the 13 RPT 13unions of the airline Monday todiscuss the privatisation plan.
Showing its keenness to getout of the aviation business,
which for many decades havebeen a big drain on publicmoney, the budget for FY20 hasset aside just a paltry �1 lakh.
Media reports Mondaysaid, the government has set anOctober deadline to completethe process.
“The forum of 13 unionshave decided to oppose the pri-vatisation move,” a union func-tionary told PTI over phonefrom New Delhi after the meet-ing with the management.
During the meeting, whichlasted for about 2 hrs, variousunion representatives told themanagement that they areready to do anything to turn-around the carrier but will not
“accept” privatisation at anycost, the source said.
The Modi Government inits first term had also tried toexit from the airline businessbut failed to get a buyer, forc-ing it to defer the plans.
Presenting the budget,Sitaharaman had said, “in viewof the current macroeconom-ic parameters, the Governmentwould not only re-initiate theprocess of strategic disinvest-ment of Air India, but wouldalso offer more central enter-prises for strategic participationby the private sector.”
The 13 AI unions are AirCorporation Employees Union,Air India Employees Union,
Indian Airlines TechniciansAssociation, All-India AircraftEngineers Association, IndianCommercial Pilots Association,Indian Pilots Guild, Air IndiaAircraft Engineers Association,Air India Cabin CrewAssociation, Air IndiaEngineers Association, AviationIndustry Employees Guild, All-India Service EngineersAssociation and United AirIndia Officers Association.
The AI unions have con-sistently been opposing any bidto sell the Maharaja claimingthat privatization is not a rem-edy pointing to the wayKingfisher and Jet Airwayswent belly up.
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The Government has a tar-get to achieve 6-7 million
sales of hybrid and electricvehicles by 2020 under theNational Electric MobilityMission Plan (NEMMP),Parliament was informedMonday.
The plan has beendesigned to enhance nation-al fuel security, to provideaffordable and environment-friendly transportation and toenable the Indian automotiveindustry achieve global man-ufacturing leadership.
“Under the NEMMP
2020, there is an ambitioustarget to achieve 6-7 millionsales of hybrid and electricvehicles by the year 2020,”Union Heavy Industries andPublic Enterprises MinisterArvind Sawant said in awritten reply in the RajyaSabha.
Based on the experiencefrom Phase-I of FAME IndiaScheme, it has been observedthat sufficient number ofcharging infrastructure isrequired to achieve expectedoutcome of the plan, beingaddressed presently in Phase-II of FAME Scheme, headded.
Jammu & Kashmir was onhigh alert Monday in view of
the third death anniversary ofBurhan Wani, once a posterboy of terrorist group HizbulMujahideen, as authorities sus-pended movement ofAmarnath pilgrims and secu-rity forces convoys on thenational highway for the day asa precautionary measure.
The Amarnath Yatra wasput on hold following a strikecalled by separatist in theKashmir valley to mark Wani’sdeath anniversary, officials said,adding the annual pilgrimageto the cave shrine, situated at analtitude of 3,880 metre, in thesouth Kashmir Himalayas willresume on Tuesday.
The officials said theAmarnath-bound convoy,which usually leaves theBhagwati Nagar base camp herefor Kashmir in the early hoursof the day, was not allowed tohead for the cave shrine to avoid
any untoward incident.“The Yatra is suspended
from Jammu for the day andwill resume on Tuesday,” apolice official said. The author-ities also suspended movement
of security forces convoys for theday without assigning any rea-son. “No security forces convoyshall be allowed from bothsides (Jammu and Srinagar) ofthe highway on Monday,” a
police spokesman said Sunday.The Government had to
impose restrictions in parts ofSrinagar as normal life came toa standstill in Kashmir due to theshutdown call by the separatists.
Restrictions were imposedin four police station areas ofNowhatta, Khanyar, Safakadaland Maharajgunj in Srinagar,they said. Curbs were imposedas a precautionary measure tomaintain law and order andavoid any untoward incident,the officials added.
Wani, once a poster boy ofmilitancy in the Valley, waskilled in an encounter withsecurity forces on 8 July, 2016,in Kokernag area of southKashmir’s Anantnag district.His killing triggered massiveprotests and a prolonged peri-od of curfews and shutdownsacross the valley.
Over a period of morethan four months, 85 peoplewere killed and thousand oth-ers injured in clashes betweensecurity forces and protestors.The separatists, under the ban-ner of the Joint ResistanceLeadership (JRL), appealedpeople to observe a completeshutdown on Monday, andasked those living in Tral and
adjoining areas to “pay tributesto every martyr in their vicin-ity” and take a pledge to carrythe mission of the “martyrs” toits logical end.
Shops, fuel stations andother business establishmentswere shut across Srinagar, theofficials said. While publictransport remained off theroads, a few private cars andauto-rickshaws were seen plyingin some parts of the city. Theofficials said similar reportswere received from other districtheadquarters of the valley.
Mobile internet serviceswere suspended in the foursouth Kashmir districts —Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopianand Pulwama — while internetspeed was throttled in otherareas of the valley, they added.
Security forces weredeployed in strength at sensitiveplaces across the Valley to avoidany untoward incident, while nomovement of convoys of thearmed forces was allowed on theSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway, the officials said.
On Sunday, DirectorGeneral of Police Dilbag Singhsaid every step had been takento ensure that the day passes offpeacefully.
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Already juggling with intra-party rebellions post gen-
eral elections — which saw theBengal ruling outfit conceding12 Lok Sabha seats to a surgingBJP — another TrinamoolCongress leader has unfurledthe banner of revolt question-ing the propriety of using “pub-lic money” to purchase advicefrom professional electionstrategist Prashant Kishore.
Though Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee would notmince words, rebellious MLAand Salt Lake-Rajarhat MayorSabyasachi Dutta has beenasked by the top TMC leader-ship to quit the party and hisMayoral chair for doing anti-party activities.
Hitting back Dutta knownfor his close chemistry withsenior BJP leader Mukul Royhas said a number of TMCleaders including ministers are
in touch with him and are sup-porting his stance.
Dutta a leader with largesupport base in the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata onMonday questioned the pro-priety of “spending publicmoney to purchase the adviceof Prashant Kishore who hasnot contested even a Panchayatelection.” Paying from the partyfund means paying from thepocket of the public, reasoned.
Things came to a flashpoint when Dutta led hundredsof State electricity boardemployees to gherao the VidyutBhavan demanding upwardrevision of wages leading theruling party to interpret the actas an anti-party activity.
Reacting to the cluster ofdevelopments involving Duttasince the past several days,Kolkata Mayor and State UrbanDevelopment Minister FirhadHakim said “he is behaving likea Mirzafar and should imme-
diately quit the party.”What added fuel to fire was
a sudden meeting between Royand Dutta inside an up marketclub on Sunday night. Even asthe TMC disciplinary com-mittee led by senior MinisterPartho Chatterjee met to dis-cuss the issue on Mondayinside sources said Dutta hadalready been asked to quit theMayoral chair. When askedwhether he would quit he said,“I have not received any com-munication from the leader-ship” adding he was ready toface the no trust motion in SaltLake Corporation.
Meanwhile, taking theleadership by surprise Duttasaid a number of ministerswere sympathizing with him.When asked to name suchministers he said “RajibBanerjee (Irrigation Minister)is one of those who has spokento me.” Banerjee however dis-missed his claims.
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There was more problem forthe ruling Trinamool
Congress as the EnforcementDirectorate probing Rose Valleyand Sharada chit fund cases onMonday grilled senior leaderand former Minister MadanMitra for more than four hours.
Mitra was questioned forthe first time for his allegedinvolvement in the Rs 27,000crore Rose Valley case, sourcessaid adding he was asked aboutthe nature of his dealings withthe RV chief Gautam Kunduwho was currently in jail.
Mitra was in jail for hisalleged involvement in theSharada chit fund case formore than two years and was
currently on bail. Mitra had afew days ago expressed hisdispleasure with the party lead-ership which he claimed had“made me a scapegoat.”
The ED has also issuedsummons to TMC’s BirbhumMP Shatabdi Roy, insiders saidadding she has been asked toappear before the investingagency on July 12. Roy had ear-lier been questioned on herdealings with the Sharada com-pany. ED sources said they hadfound cash transactionsbetween RV accounts and theMPs accounts. “She will beasked questions as to whymoney was transferred from RVaccount to her account,” sourcessaid. The MP could not be con-tacted for her comments.
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The BJP has “nothing to do”with whatever development
taking place in Karnataka and“we never pressurise and engi-neer defections”, Union defenceMinister Rajnath Singh said onMonday in Lok Sabha asCongress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury accused BJP of“buying MLAs” in the state.
The Defence Minister saidthe government is committedto protect the dignity ofParliamentary democracy .
“Whatever is happeningcurrently in Karnataka, wehave no relation with that,” hesaid, replying to the issue raisedby Chowdhury.
Chowdhury alleged theBJP-ruled government is hatch-ing a conspiracy to break theCongress-led government inKarnataka and MadhyaPradesh.
“This government is secret-ly hatching a conspiracy againstthe state government. Theytook our MLAs to a five starhotel in Mumbai,” Chowdhurysaid during Zero Hour.
He also said that immedi-ately after the MLAs met theGovernor, vehicles, Aeroplaneand hotel facilities were alreadythere.
The Congress leader inthe Lok Sabha said if one has10 silver and gold coins eachbut not facility to secure them,it does not mean that an out-sider will steal them. He saiddespite collecting 303 LokSabha seats, greed the BJP wasincreasing. He accusing BJP of“ buying MLAs”.
The Congress-JD (S) gov-ernment has plunged into a cri-sis with 13 MLAs of the alliancesubmitting their resignationto the Speaker. 12 of them didit on Saturday. Karnatakaassembly Speaker RameshKumar who is yet to accept theresignation has said “Whetherthe government will fall or sur-vive” would be decided “in theassembly” which is to begin itssession on July 12.
In an apparent swipe, thedefence minister said “ we didnot trigger resignations and thedrive was started by Congressleader Rahul Gandhi. “Bigleaders of Congress are resign-ing,” said Rajnath.
Immediately after the min-ister’s reply, Congress memberswere displaying ‘Save democ-racy’ paper slogans and beganshouting slogans with Congressleaders Sonia and RahulGandhi present in the houselooking on.
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Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) president
Raj Thackeray on Monday metUPA chairperson Sonia Gandhiin the national Capital in hisfirst visit here in 14 years. TheAssembly election inMaharashtra is likely to beheld at the year-end andThackeray-Sonia meeting isbeing considered as an attemptto build a reliable front againstthe ruling Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena Government.Earlier in the day, Thackeraymet Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora anddemanded that the Assemblypolls be conducted throughpaper ballots instead of EVMs.
Sources said the two lead-ers discussed various politicaldevelopments along with theissue of EVMs. During the LokSabha polls, MNS was willingto be the part of the Congress-NCP alliance in the State butthe Congress was reportedlyaverse to such a proposal.
Thackeray was quite vocalagainst the BJP Government and
especially Prime MinisterNarendra Modi during the 2019Lok Sabha elections despite notcontesting on even a single LokSabha seat in Maharashtra. TheMNS-Congress alliance willhelp the division of Marathasvotes in the State. NCP and theCongress may join hand inMaharashtra ahead of theAssembly polls.
During the meeting withCEC, Thackeray submitted aletter to the ElectionCommission, demanding it toswitch back to the traditionalpaper ballot. He termed themeeting “mere formality”.
“There are doubts in theminds of voters that the votesthey cast do not go to their cho-sen candidates. In such a sce-nario, the EC should switchback to paper ballots and con-duct the Maharashtra pollsthrough it. We strongly feel thatthe EVMs can be tamperedwith,” Thackeray said after themeeting.
Thackeray also cited mediareports which stated that therewas a difference in the tallybetween the votes cast andvotes counted in nearly 220 LokSabha constituencies. “This gaverise to suspicion in our minds.The doubts over credibility ofthe EVMs further increasedwhen the Election Commissionremoved this data from its web-site,” he said in the letter.
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Two aspiring army men anda few brave villagers, out for
morning ablutions, wereamong the daredevils whorisked their lives to save around20 people after their bus fellinto a gorge on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway early onMonday.
The double-decker buswith 53 passengers on boardwas on its way to Delhi fromLucknow when it hit a dividerand fell into the 40-feet-deepgap between two flyovers onthe Yamuna Expressway nearmilestone 161 (Jharna nallah)under Etmadpur police juris-diction of Agra district ataround 4.15 a.m.
At least 29 people werekilled in the accident. Policereports said that 20 passengershad been rescued and effortswere on to rescue the rest.
Villagers from Chaugan,near the ‘deadly’ YamunaExpressway entry point, saidthey rushed to the accident siteafter hearing shrill wails andcries for help.
Nihal Singh jumped intothe nallah, broke open thewindow panes of the bus andextricated several bodies in
the dark, while some rushed toinform the police and the grampradhan, who immediatelyrushed two JCB machines. Twoboys, practising for armyrecruitment, also joined therescue work.
While the injured wererushed to nearby KrishnaHospital and the seriouslyinjured ones to SN MedicalCollege, the bodies were sentfor post-mortem.
“Those of us who saw theinjured or the dead, couldn’tbelieve life could be so uncer-tain. Most were asleep, unawareof what had transpired, as it was still dark,” said an eye-witness.
Prime Minister NarendraModi expressed grief over thetragedy. Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath too
condoled the deaths andannounced an ex-gratia of Rs5 lakh each for the victims’ kin.
He also instructed officialsto expedite rescue and reliefwork at the spot, adding thatproper treatment should be pro-vided to the injured. A specialhelpline number — 1800102877— was also announced to giveinformation about the victims.A list of the injured and thedeceased has also been circu-lated by the police.
Onlookers blamed theaccident on the YamunaExpressway, which has taken aheavy toll of lives since itsopening in 2012. “Earlier wehad only Yamuna Expresswaybut now the Agra LucknowExpressway is competing in thekilling spree,” said social activistShravan Kumar Singh.
New Delhi: Stalemate betweenthe Centre and the DelhiGovernment over financialaspects of Delhi Metro’s 104-km phase-IV came under thescanner of the Supreme Courtwhich said Monday it wouldpass order in the matter as the“project cannot wait”.
A Bench comprisingJustices Arun Mishra andDeepak Gupta was told bysenior advocate Aparajita Singh,who is assisting the top court asan amicus curiae in pollutionmatter, that the project is “crit-ical” and the pending issueshould be resolved soon.
Singh referred to a recentreport of EnvironmentPollution Control Authority(EPCA) which said that theapproval for “103.94 km phaseIV of the Delhi metro hasbeen held up since 2014, whenthe project was submitted tothe Union Government for itsapproval”.
The report said: “There is astalemate in the discussionsbetween the UnionGovernment and the Delhi gov-ernment on different financialaspects of the project.” PTI
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More than 2,000 peopledied in India in the last
one year due to extreme weath-er events, the EnvironmentMinistry informed Rajya SabhaMonday but denied any directconnection to the global issueof climate change.
In a written reply to aquery, MoS in EnvironmentMinistry Babul Supriyo said,“As per the informationreceived from the Ministry ofHome Affairs, 2,405 lives havebeen reported to be lost duringthe financial year 2018-19 inthe country due to cyclonicstorm/flash f lood/land-slides/cloudburst etc.”
He said global warmingmay lead to increase in fre-quency or intensity of weath-er events.
of 29 people on Monday, seemsto have become a highway ofaccidents. At least 77 peoplehave died this year only in acci-dents on the 165-kmexpressway, accordingto RTI data accessedby NGO SaveLIFEFoundation. TheNGO said 703 liveswere lost in 4,880 accidentsbetween August 2012, whenthe expressway was opened forcommercial operations, andJanuary last year.
Built at a cost of Rs 12,839crore, the expressway in west-ern Uttar Pradesh is managedby Yamuna ExpresswayIndustrial DevelopmentAuthority (YEIDA). However,the six-lane high-speed corridorhas been severely criticised forits poor safety parameters andalso because of the high num-ber of accidents and deaths.
Another set of dataaccessed by Agra-based activistand lawyer Krishna Chand Jainfrom YEIDA via RTI had infor-mation until March last year. Itshowed 4,956 accidents werereported on the expresswaysince its inception until Marchlast year, in which 718 peopledied and 7,671 were injured.The RTI response Jain receiveddetailed that 1,161 (almost 24per cent) of the accidents werecaused due to over-speeding,while 595 (12 per cent) were due
to bursting of tyres and 235(4.74 per cent) due to fog.“There were no detail on causeof the remaining 2,965 accidents(59.82 per cent cases), neither byYEIDA nor Jaypee Infratech,which has constructed theexpressway,” Jain, Secretary of
NGO AgraD e v e l o p m e n tFoundation, claimed.
YEDIA hasidentified three“black spots” on the
stretch between Greater Noidaand Agra where rumble stripshave been created to keep thedriver awake in case they getdrowsy. “There’s an urgentneed to improve enforcementon our highways. This is not aone-off incident. In 2017, over9,000 people have lost theirlives in preventable bus crash-es,” SaveLIFE Foundation CEOPiyush Tewari said.
“The other urgent actionrequired is on engineeringissues. Most of our highwaysare missing crash barriers andother infrastructure measuresthat can prevent a crash frombecoming fatal,” Tewari said.
Tewari said the missingsafety infrastructure on high-ways is a pandemic thatrequires urgent attention. “Wehope the UP Government aswell as the Union Governmentwill take urgent policy and on-ground measures to control it.”Separately, a media report stat-ed that 110 people were killedin 659 accidents in 2018 on theexpressway.
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Securing 97 per cent in theClass XII board examina-tion, Anusha (name changed)
was one of the school-toppers. Shewas eagerly waiting for DelhiUniversity to release its cut-off list,hoping that she might get admis-sion in English literature at a topcollege under the very first list.Finally, when the first list was outon June 27, she was shattered tosee that the marking criteria toalmost every course started at awhopping 98 per cent.
With the DU cut-offs rising ashigh as 99 per cent this year, thequestion about our flawed educa-tion system comes to the fore,where even the bright studentswould find it hard to get admis-sions. As the cut-offs keep increas-ing each year, one can’t help butwonder how students can scorehigh in subjects like Social Scienceand English, which are dependenton relative understanding andinterpretation. The increasingmarks slab requirement for theuniversity means that a growingnumber of students is compelledto opt for private universities.
There are over 2.58 lakh appli-cants competing for around63,000 seats this year and out ofthis, 23,000 seats were filled afterthe first cut-off itself. On July 3,when the second list was released,most of the seats were filled andadmission to top colleges had
been closed. While Hindu Collegehad the highest cut-off for PoliticalScience starting at 99 per cent,Lady Shri Ram, on the otherhand, for the same subject start-ed the list at 98 per cent and 98.75per cent for Psychology. Jesus andMary College’s cut-off forPsychology started at 99 per cent.
For Anusha, there wasn’t anyway that she could qualify for anyof her dream colleges. She man-aged to secure a seat in HansrajCollege. “Despite getting 97 percent, it was a struggle getting intocolleges of the university. It mademe feel below average,” she says.
A parent, whose son is cur-rently studying in a private univer-sity, questions, “How does onemanage to score 99 per cent insubjects like English, SocialScience or even Sociology?Despite my son getting a decent
percentage, he can’t even dream ofgetting into DU after one look atthe cut-off list this year. Goingabroad is too expensive. So theonly option that is left is to applyat private colleges and universities,which is again not a very econom-ically viable option.”
Nandita Narain, professor atSt Stephen’s College and formerpresident of Delhi UniversityTeachers’ Association (DUTA),feels that students from across thecountry are attracted to DUbecause it is “a combination of alot of things — for instance, thefees are within affordable limitsand lecture timings are very flex-ible and workable. It also providesa good extra-curricular exposurethrough its various cultural soci-eties.” She says, “Over the years, Ihave seen students always prefer-ring DU over private universities.
The prime reason being the qual-ity of education. Despite manyproblems such as the govern-ment cutting down funds forinfrastructure, we haven’t gonebelow a certain level of expecta-tions.”
However, talking about howthe system of marking needs to belooked upon again, she says thatthe solution is not in changing theway we mark the students for theirboards. “We need more govern-ment-funded universities to offeradmissions for deserving stu-dents. Good quality and affordablegovernment universities should bemade and promoted. Thereshould be more of investment ineducational institutions as educa-tion is the most important thingto invest in right now.”
Narain thinks that there is nouniformity and proper system
that the CBSE is following, “whichis why students are scoring high-er marks in even Humanities andScience. The absurd marking sys-tem of CBSE has forced us tointroduce entrance examinationsand prepare such high cut-off lists.I agree that it isn’t fair for the stu-dents. But there’s only much wecan do.”
“The marks required eachyear and for every course at DelhiUniversity are getting higher,”feels Sana Singh, a student ofInternational Affairs at OP JindalGlobal University, Sonepat. Herinitial plan was to get into DU butthat seemed to be the stuff ofdreams. Not surprisingly, sheopted for a private university at aphenomenally higher fee as com-pared to DU. Sana tells us that thecut-off for Psychology at LSRwas around 98 per cent last year.She says, “I was getting a betteroffer at a private university whereI could even choose elective sub-jects offered by various othercourses such as English literatureor Designing.” She feels that tak-ing up an elective subject helps astudent broaden his/her hori-zons. “I am not bound to a strin-gent curriculum,” Sana adds.
She says, “Another advantageis that the student also gets anopportunity to study at a well-reputed university abroad for onesemester.”
If we talk about drawbacks,studying at a private university,beyond the expense, is seen asmore of a comfort pad than acredible thinkpad as it comeswith air-conditioned classrooms,world-class infrastructure, hostelfor students, a low student toteacher ratio and many interna-tional tie-ups to prestigious for-eign universities. Anusha feels thata central university’s degree is ofmore worth as compared to a pri-vate university’s. “A lot of exposureis involved as well,” says she.
The admission procedure forDU is said to be very cumbersomeand includes waiting in queues forlong hours in the heat, whichsometimes ends up in being askedto go home and come back thenext day. Whereas the private uni-versity’s admission proceduresare said to be much easier andsmoother, one of the disadvan-tages of having a higher fee, ofcourse.
Both private and central uni-versities come with their pros andcons. Private universities seem tobe more promising in the futurebut the hefty price that comes withthem will always be an issue.Although these universities claimthat most of their students are onsome scholarship or have takenloans, many students prefer DelhiUniversity due to the low fees andmost importantly, the name.
American author Jeannette Wallsonce said that life is a drama full of
tragedy and comedy. Comedians KennySebastian, Zakir Hussain and NeetiPalta couldn’t agree less but could add arider: You should learn to enjoy thecomic episodes a little more.
After making the audience roll in theaisle, Comicstaan season 1 is on to its sec-ond version. The contestants had to per-form seven different genres of comedyand were shaped into their better versionsthrough each episode. Kenny, the con-sistent judge of both the seasons, says,“Season 1 was like a teenager, having funand being silly. It was more of learningand exploring. We had no idea aboutwhat will happen in the next episode. Thesecond one is an adult version of it, whichsays let us not waste time and focus. Ithas got the groove.”
Bunched together with the newjudges of this season, Neeti and Zakir,Kenny throws a punch saying, “I feel likea school boy, who has failed and is nowrepeating classes,” to which everybodylaughs out loud.
The show became a cult because ofits first mover advantage of being a com-edy reality show on the web. Kenny tellsus that the whole point of stand-up com-edy is to be authentic and commentative.“In other reality shows, the outcome isimportant, while here every episode isimportant. No added drama, content isdistinctively the king. We are happy toshow little about us and more of the con-testants.”
On the evolution from a performerto a judge, Zakir guffaws and says,“Aapne suna hoga ghar wale kehte hai,chaar log kya kahenge, usme se mai teesrahu (You must have heard people say, whatwill four people of our society say, I amthe third person out of them). Judgingis an extension of my journey. I likeobserving people and try to accessthem. Many times their jokes don’twork in front of the audience but I canunderstand. I relate to them because backwhen I started, people use to say ‘you area good writer but a bad performer.’ As ajudge, my focus is on the writing,whether there is thought-provokingideas in it or not, performance is sec-ondary. The responsibility as a judge isgreater, kisi aur ki zindagi ka faisla hai.
(It is about the decision of someone else’slife).”
Sitting next to Zakir, Neeti is observ-ing him keenly as she agrees. She says,“I can laugh easily but sitting andanalysing contestants as a judge is hard.As a performer, you are responsible foryourself but as a judge you are respon-sible for the other person as well. The bet-ter the competition, the harder it is tojudge.”
Last season’s host turned judgeSumukhi Suresh giggles and tells us thatthe only differences this season are thejudges and the set, which are better andgrand. Diving through the memorylane of season 1, she shares her overrid-ing journey. Sumukhi says, “In the firsthour of the episode, I was a little nervous,ho payega ya nahi mujhse? (will I be ableto do it or not?) This self-doubt grew tosuch an extent that at a point of time, Ilooked at my production people and toldthem that I am leaving. I don’t know howto mentor.”
Talking about the challenges furthershe tells us, “It is unpaid live audience.There are technical dips and glitches inbetween, the audience might leave theshow meanwhile. It was hard to keep thatenergy intact but after I got the grip I washappy about it.
Extending the talk on challenges, thehost this season, Uroof Ashfaq, sittingright next to Sumukhi in a black dressand denim jacket, says, “During cuts, theaudience might get irritated, you have tokeep the energy up. In that sense, it ishelpful to have eight funny people sitting
there as judges and two as hosts. We arethere to entertain them during breaks.”
There is a very thin line betweenbeing vulgar and cracking dirty, sexualjokes. So how does one maintain the bal-ance between them? Sumukhi has ananswer: “What is joke to me might bevulgar to you. It is very unfair for one toask an artist ‘Ki agar mujhe nahi pasandto mat karo.’ (If I don’t like it, don’t it).As artists, we have to bring the truestform of the joke. If I am making a jokeabout body parts, it has to be extra-ordi-nary to such an extent that you pass thevulgarity of it and actually laugh. It is myjob as a comedian to creatively presentsuch jokes, if I don’t do it, then I shouldbe shameful for it. Over the years, I haveexperienced, whenever I do sexual com-edy and the audience is more women,
they enjoy it and laugh out loud.” Extending the conversation, Uroof
says, “We don’t question our governmentas much as we question our artistsbecause it’s easier.”
With the advent of digital platforms,Comicstaan has paved way for neweropportunities. As Sumukhi says, “Webhas given more visibility to the show. Ithas created avenues for disparate genresof comedy. Even if you are not a standup comic, you can be a sketch comic orcan be an improviser.”
Bouncing back to the overridingjourney of Zakir, he apprises us, “Humsab apni apni gati se chal rahe hai jeevanmei (we all are moving at our own pacein life). When I tried to do a solo showfor 40-50 minutes, only 19 people turnedup in a hall with seating capacity of 300-350. From such a situation to the personI have become today, I have put in a lotof effort. ‘Jigar ka lahu nichod ke kahaniyomei rang bhara hai syah, aur log puch liyakarte hai ye sab asliyat mei hua hai kya.’When I step on stage, I carry all my inse-curities so that I can portray my real selfin the purest form.”
Excited about including people fromall walks of life, Zakir says, “I realised late-ly that older people have started comingfor my show. Initially I only got attentionfor sakht launda from youngsters.” He iscurrently writing the script of his famousshow Chacha Vidhayak Hai Hamare sea-son 2.
Giving an insight on the future ofcomedy, Kenny says, “Comedy willgrow, the audience wants ‘brutal honestyin your face’ kind of writing. It was sim-pler initially but now the audience wantour take as well on any matter. They ques-tion, ‘Why should I listen to you whenI have 400 other choices. Make my timeworthwhile.’ That pushes us to constant-ly up our game. It is only going to get bet-ter in the coming years.”
Extending this line of conversation,Zakir says, “Comedy is an art form thatwill fade away.” To end the conversationon a lighter tone, he concludes with ajoke, “bell bottom jeans ka trend thodi haiki khatam ho jaaye.” (Comedy is not afashion trend like bell bottom jeans thatit will end).
(The show airs from July 12 onAmazon Prime)
Actress Kangana Ranaut has said that thefundamental quality of any religion was
to empower and not disempower an indi-vidual. She was reacting on Zaira Wasim’sdecision to quit acting.
Kangana was interacting with themedia at the launch of the song Wakhraswag from her forthcoming f i lmJudgeMentall Hai Kya. Her co-starRajkummar Rao, producer Ekta Kapoor,writer Kanika Dhillon, choreographerBosco Martis and director PrakashKovelamudi were also present at the event.
Zaira of Dangal fame, last month tookto the social media to announce her “dis-association from the field of acting” as it“consistently interfered with her imaan andher relationship with her religion wasthreatened”.
Asked about her views on the Kashmiriactress’ decision to quit art because of herreligion, Kangana said, “I think any religionshould empower you and it should makeyou independent and confident. It shouldmake your life fulfilling and if you thinkthat your life is already fulfilling, then thereis plenty of work to do around you.
“People should try and help their fam-ily and friends. There are so many thingsto do, so we should try and fulfill the envi-ronment around us. Essentially, the funda-mental requirement of any religion is toempower and not to disempower you.”
About her film JudgeMentall Hai Kya,she said, “I think we have made this filmvery sensibly without compromising on theart quotient, so I think people who cryabout being an artiste and being insensi-tive are just people who do not know howto handle their craft. I feel you can be con-siderate yet you can give artistically sophis-ticated films.”
Radical, revolutionaryand filled with a natur-al resonance, Joel
Rendon’s engravings at theIIC Annexe are about primalinspirations. He combines thelong-standing Mexican tradi-tion of relief print, contempo-rary techniques and motifslinked to the cultural her-itage of the country but hemoves beyond definitions. Infact, he defies them becauseyou instantly know that hisunderstanding of the power ofthe human form is what formsthe depth of his subjects.
Considered one of themost outstanding engravers inMexico, Joel Rendon (1967 —Puebla, México) creates a tran-scendental dialogue betweenart and people.
����#���(���(�����(Rendon has devoted his
life in generating a movementto revalue engraving in Mexicoand abroad by opening spacesto promote print-makingamong younger generations
through audio-visual media,graphic design, murals andtelevision programmes. In hisrevaluation, he weaves in theuse of materials and left overideas to create masterpiecesthat brim with vitality andvivaciousness. One of hisgreatest discussions has beenthe creation of art from dis-posable plates. He says, “Aftera party what is left are dispos-able plates. We can recyclethem by engraving art. We justneed a pen, scissors, a rollerwith ink, a tortillero and ofcourse washed dishes.”
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A quick look at these riv-eting engravings show thatRendon believes in raisingengraving from a minor craftto a major art form with com-pelling works like his in thissuite at the IIC Annexe. TheMexican aura, the ethos, theessence, each image is so per-fectly rendered and each workworthy of scrutiny and study,
you know that his deeplyengraved lines create a vividlinear pattern against thewhite background. But thereis very little white to see; it’smostly in slivers and tinyspaces. Rendon is a perfec-tionist when it comes to cre-ating texture. He uses aplethora of strokes — fine,long and sinuous lines thatcreate the clothes and theattire to the short flecks of thecoarsely woven hair or shortjackets; he also uses cross-hatching in the deepest shad-ows to model the forms with
an impeccable naturality thatis not often seen. Interestinglyin some images he is alsointerested in achieving thetone that would give his fig-ures a three-dimensionalpresence. He evolves a tech-nique of shading his engrav-ings with short lines of vary-ing width — a method that heseems to have derived fromthe drawing practice of earlymasters.
This show is about picto-rial directness and fervour.You witness how Rendon car-ries a basic technique to a
degree of richness and detailthat has never been surpassed.His Mexican work at the way-side bar wanting perhaps ashot of tequila contains analmost unimaginable densityof fine distinct lines and it ishis felicity with strong varietythat creates form, texture andshades simultaneously.Rendon has a very deepunderstanding of engravingand his unparallel finesse ischaracterised by long, flow-ing, gently curved strokesthat impart grace to hisdraped figures.
The Indian art world that isgaining global viewership
will feature in yet anotheravenue in October — the fourthedition of the JerusalemBiennale, which seeks to shiftthe euro-centric focus of theglobal contemporary art.
Drawing upon a thememuch-explored this year — the150th birth anniversary ofMahatma Gandhi — the coun-try pavilion promises to be anode to man’s “experiments withtruth” and striving for God, saidpavilion curator Gargi Seth.
The precursor exhibition,that opens to the public on July12 here, is titled ‘Experimentswith Truth’ after Gandhi’s auto-biography The Story of MyExperiments with Truth.
On the world stage, it is anexploration not just of Gandhibut also of his tenet of truth.
“The works are either adirect or indirect statements ofspiritual beliefs or human tribu-lations and hopes or depictionsof man’s reflections on the ulti-mate truth, imbued with won-der and now with irony.
“Some works will depict thepersona of Gandhi. Each workis true to man’s experimentswith truth and in the larger con-text of the Biennale, his eternalstriving for God,” Seth, whoheads the Indian Art Circle,said.
A selection of accomplished
Indian artists’ works is curatedfor the Biennale. These artistshave “actively explored andexpressed their creativity in thefield of religion, spirituality andphilosophy,” the art curatorsaid.
After the Biennale invitedproposals from curators, Seth’s
curation was selected as a “tan-gential, thought provoking con-cept.”
“This Biennale is an insightinto a different part of theworld and I believe it givesIndian art an audience outsideIndia. Europe has enjoyed along hegemony and for far toolong art from other parts of theworld have been considered apoor cousin. Why not think ofthis as an opportunity to set anew agenda on new stage?”
Participating artists includeSatish Gujral, Anjolie ElaMenon, Asit Patnaik, ArpanaCaur, Saba Hasan, Biman BDas, Rini Dhumal, Niren
Sengupta, Siddharth, SeemaKohli, Ambalika Chitkara,Neeraj Gupta, Kota Neelima,Avijit Roy, Shruti Chandra,Vasundhara Tewari and ShiloShiv Suleman.
The Jerusalem biennalepavilion, however, is “not somuch about seeking to depictGandhi’s ideals, it is rather atake-off point for the artists’ cre-ativity here.”
Since the theme for the2019 Jerusalem Biennale isLeShem Shamayim (ForHeaven’s Sake), the India pavil-ion will interweave Gandhi,truth and search for God. “Inmy opinion, religion is man’smost elemental and eternalsearch for, and relationshipwith the ultimate truth.”
When the country is cele-brating Gandhi, Seth also findsit appropriate that we rediscov-er his inspirational approach tothe pursuit of truth, especiallywithin the context of religionand religiosity.
“Over the leap of genera-tions, Gandhi’s ideals with-stand the testimony of time,becoming even more relevantfor the truth seekers of today, asthey seek to reinvent a globalsociety into one that coura-geously acknowledges our var-ied pasts.”
For India to participate asone of the 30 projects featuringin the Jewish art event, Seth’scuratorial approach had been to“create a deliberate diversity of
exhibited in Mexico, Cuba,Spain, Argentina, Colombia,the United States, Puerto Rico,India and the African continent.He won the José GuadalupePosada National EngravingContest in 1995. On two occa-sions, he received a grant fromyoung creators of the FONCA.He has been an illustrator inFondo de Cultura Económica,in the magazine Artes deMéxico, Letras Libres, in news-papers such as La Jornada andReforma. He recently illustrat-ed Erótica Nahuatl by MiguelLeón Portilla, as before he didthe same with Pedro Páramo byJuan Rulfo. Born in Izúcar deMatamoros, Puebla, an inhab-itant of the last frontier ofMexico City, he travels toCoyoacán frequently. Most ofthe time he smiles.
In an interview he has said,“The success of the artist is notto sell more expensive works inNew York, not to laundermoney of the English but to doa work that favours Mexicans
with a visual stimulus ofencounter, of identity.”
He has a fierce patriotismwithin. His observations of themadness of the world are suc-cinct. “In these 30 years youhave seen the ravages of neolib-eralism, the loss of identity forthe sake of globalisation.”
He was dismayed at artpedagogy which did not teachstudents how to paint. “Theysaid that experimentation wasthe course and the moreabstract, essential and spiritualyou were, the better you wouldbe. I was looking for social artand they told me that that isover. When I left the academy,I realised the social need thatthere was and the kind of artthat I was going to do to coverthat need. I gave myself to thetask of the archaeological rescueof things like the prehispanicaesthetics: Totonac, Mexica andMaya to be able to integrate itinto my current thinking. Fromthem I learnt how to be exper-imental but not to haphazard-ly throw the painting on a can-vas.”
“India is a land of soliciteddebate, shastrarth. The experi-ments are as much on a spiritu-al-philosophical level as they arewith identity, gender conformi-ty, man’s interface with otherhuman beings, nature, mytholo-gy, and society.”
The precursor show is sched-uled to be inaugurated by CultureMinister Prahlad Singh Pateland will run till July 21.
Iran’s uranium enrichmentlevel passed 4.5 per cent on
Monday, exceeding the 2015nuclear deal cap, Iranian atom-ic energy organisationspokesman BehrouzKamalvandi said.
“This morning Iran passed the 4.5 per cent level inuranium enrichment,”Kamalvandi said according tothe semi-official ISNA NewsAgency.
“This level of purity com-pletely satisfies the power plantfuel requirements of the coun-try,” he added in a hint that theIslamic republic might stick tothis level of enrichment for thetime being.
Iran announced on Sundayit would no longer adhere tothe enrichment cap in what itbilled as its second step todecrease commitments to thedeal in a bid to press other par-
ties into keeping their side ofthe bargain.
US President DonaldTrump withdrew from the deal between Iran and six world powers in May 2018 and has since reimposed sanctions on many sectors including thecrucial oil and financial indus-tries.
Iran demanded the otherparties — France, Germany,Britain, China and Russia —take steps to guarantee theeconomic benefits Iran waspromised for the drastic limi-tations imposed on its nuclearprogramme.
However after one year of what it called “strategic patience”, Tehran hasgrown increasingly frustrated about a perceivedlack of action by the Europeanside to help it economically inthe face of crippling US sanc-tions.
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A5.7-magnitude earthquakestruck southwest Iran near
the border with Iraq onMonday, causing one deathdue to a heart attack anddozens of injuries, the country’srelief and rescue organisationsaid.
The quake, whose epicen-tre was in the Masjed Soleimanarea of Khuzestan province, hitat 11:30 am (0700 GMT) at adepth of 17 kilometres, thenational seismological centrereported.
The region was rattled byseven aftershocks, the strongestof which measured 4.7 magni-tude, it said.
At least 45 people wereinjured, the head of Iran’s reliefand rescue organisation,Morteza Salimi, told state TV.
“One citizen at MasjedSoleiman also passed away dueto a heart-attack after the earth-quake,” Salimi said.
In nearby cities and villagesaffected by the quake, therewere “only minor cracks inbuildings” and roads to somevillages were cut off.
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Britain’s ambassador to the US“has not served the UK
well” Donald Trump has saidafter the envoy called thePresident’s administration“clumsy” and “inept” in leakeddiplomatic cables, promptingLondon to launch damage con-trol measures to repair its spe-cial relationship withWashington.
In secret cables and briefingnotes, the UK’s Ambassador toUS Kim Darroch warned theBritish government thatPresident Trump’s “career couldend in disgrace,” and describedconflicts within the WhiteHouse as “knife fights,” accord-ing to reports in the Mail onSunday newspaper.
“We don’t really believe thisadministration is going tobecome substantially more nor-mal; less dysfunctional; lessunpredictable; less faction riven;less diplomatically clumsy andinept,” Darroch allegedly wrotein one dispatch.
Darroch also said thatPresident Trump and his team
had been “dazzled” by theirrecent state visit to the UK butthat while “we might be flavourof the month, but this is still theland of ‘America First’.”
When asked for his reactionto Darroch’s uncharitable com-ments, Trump told reporters onSunday, “No I haven’t seen it,but, you know, we’ve had our lit-tle ins and outs with a couple ofcountries and I would say thatthe UK, and the ambassador hasnot served the UK well, I can tellyou that.”
“We’re not big fans of thatman and he has not served theUK well, so I can understand it,”Trump, who was received byQueen Elizabeth II during astate visit to Britain in June, said.
“And I can say things abouthim but I won’t bother,” the USPresident added.
CNN, quoting a UK gov-ernment source, reported thatthe memos described in theDaily Mail story, which span theperiod between 2017 to presentday, are genuine.
UK Foreign SecretaryJeremy Hunt, trying to salvagethe situation, said the memos
reflected a “personal view”, notthat of the UK government.
Hunt - who is seeking tobecome the next Conservativeleader and prime minister - saidit was the ambassador’s job togive “frank opinions” but theydid not reflect the government’sview.
The leaked cables come ata sensitive time in UK politicswith Conservative Party mem-bers currently electing a newprime minister to succeedTheresa May, who was toppledby her own lawmakers for fail-ing to deliver on her country’s2016 vote to leave the EuropeanUnion.
The favourite for the job,Boris Johnson, is seen as likelyto seek to forge a much closerrelationship to Trump thanMay, who made strenuousefforts to court the Presidentand developed a respectful rela-tionship but never really bond-ed with him politically.
If the UK leaves theEuropean Union, Britain will beseeking to seal a bilateral tradedeal with the US and Trump isexpected to drive a hard bargain.
rejected by globalisation, PopeFrancis told a special mass onMonday, saying “the weakestand most vulnerable must behelped”.
“These least ones are aban-doned and cheated into dyingin the desert,” the pope told themass to mark the sixth anniver-sary of the pope’s visit toLampedusa, where many asy-lum seekers arrive after a per-ilous sea journey from Libya.
“These least ones are tor-tured, abused and violated in
detention camps, these leastones face the waves of anunforgiving sea,” the pope toldthe mass, attended by 250 peo-ple including migrants, asylumseekers and rescue workers.
Italy has in recent weeksbeen trying to keep its portsclosed to charity ships whichhave rescued migrants from theMediterranean, usually ship-wrecked after leaving war-tornand lawless Libya.
“They are persons, theseare not mere social or migrantissues!” the pope said.
Italy’s far-right InteriorMinister Matteo Salvini hasregularly used social media to
attack migrants and the NGOsthat help them.
“Migrants are first of allhuman persons, and... They arethe symbol of all those reject-ed by today’s globalised society,”the pope said.
Francis travelled toLampedusa in July 2013, fourmonths after he was elected butbefore the 2013-2017 wave ofmigrant arrivals and ship-wrecks, condemning “the glob-alisation of indifference”towards migrants.
Since then, the pope hasrepeatedly called for the wel-coming of migrants fleeingwar or poverty.
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Dozens of powerful Afghansresumed talks with the
Taliban on Monday in Doha,where a possible ceasefire is onthe table along with key issuessuch as women’s rights.
Stakes are high for thetalks which follow a week ofUS-Taliban negotiations withboth sides eyeing a resolutionto the bloody 18-year conflict.
US Secretary of State MikePompeo tweeted that theAfghan gathering “has been along time coming” and praised the country’s“Government, civil society,women, and Taliban” for com-ing together.
Washington has said itwants to seal a political dealwith the Taliban ahead ofAfghan presidential polls duein September to allow foreignforces to begin to withdraw.
Around 70 delegates areattending the two-day gather-ing which has been organisedby Germany and Qatar.
“History will rememberthose who were able to set theirdifferences aside for the sake ofthe country” said Germanyenvoy Markus Potzel as heopened the gathering Sunday.
A German source con-firmed the second day of talksgot underway just before 0600GMT.
Delegate Asila Wardak, amember of the High PeaceCouncil established by formerpresident Hamid Karzai toengage with Taliban elements,said “everybody is emphasisingon a ceasefire” during Sunday’ssession.
The Taliban spoke about“women’s role, economic devel-opment, (and) the role ofminorities” in a future settle-ment, she added.
Qatari Foreign MinisterMohammed bin AbdulrahmanAl-Thani said on Twitter thathe looked “forward to a con-structive dialogue”.
The so-called intra-Afghanmeetings follow six days ofdirect US-Taliban talks thathave been put on hold for thetwo day Afghan conferenceand are set to resume Tuesday,according to both sides.
US lead negotiator ZalmayKhalilzad said Saturday that thelatest round of US-Talibantalks “have been the most pro-ductive of the rounds we’ve hadwith the Talibs”.
The Taliban said they were“happy with progress”.
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Maryam Nawaz, the daugh-ter of former Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,has severely criticised PrimeMinister Imran Khan anddemanded his resignation, themedia reported on Monday.
In a post-midnight rally onSunday in Mandi Bahauddin,the 45-year-old oppositionPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) VicePresident, raised slogansagainst Khan and said that the66-year-old cricketer-turned-politician does not have anylegitimate right to rulePakistan.
Addressing Khan in herspeech, she said: “Give yourresignation! Go home!” andurged the crowds to chantalong with her, Dawn newsreported. Maryam also saidthat keeping her 69-year-oldailing father Sharif in jail willbe a crime now, followingSaturday’s “evidence” allegingthat his sentencing had beengiven under “immense pressurefrom hidden hands”, a claimrejected on Sunday by the pre-siding judge, Arshad Malik.
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Five people were arrestedduring overnight clashes in
Hong Kong between riot offi-cers and anti-government pro-testers, police said Monday, asthe political violence rockingthe international hub shows nosign of abating.
The city has been plungedinto its worst crisis in recenthistory following a month ofhuge marches as well as sepa-rate violent confrontations withpolice involving a minority ofhardcore protesters.
The rallies were sparked bya now-suspended law thatwould have allowed extradi-tions to mainland China, buthave since morphed into awider movement calling for
democratic reforms and a haltto sliding freedoms in thesemi-autonomous territory.
Sunday night saw freshpolitical violence break out inthe district of Mongkok aspolice baton-charged smallgroups of masked, largelyyoung protesters who werewalking along roads andrefused to disperse followinganother massive, peaceful rallyearlier in the day.
In a statement issued earlyMonday morning, police saidthe group were taking part inan “unlawful assembly” andhad been warned that officerswould take action.
“Some protesters resistedand police arrested five personsfor assaulting a police officerand obstructing a police officer
in the execution of duties,” thestatement said.
Activists hit out at thepolice tactics, saying the pro-testers in Mongkok hadremained peaceful as theymade their way home and thatviolence was started by a shieldwall of riot officers that hadblocked the crowd’s path.
“HKers joined rally peace-fully... Against extradition billresult in being beaten andassaulted by HK Police,”democracy activist JoshuaWong wrote in a tweet accom-panying pictures of at least twoprotesters with bleeding headwounds.
“Just another example ofexcessive force used by thepolice,” he added in anothertweet.
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California’s powerful Indian-origin Democratic Senator
Kamala Harris has raised morethan USD 23 million since sheannounced her presidential bidin January.
Among over 20 Democraticpresidential aspirants, Harris, 54,whose mother had migrated tothe US from Chennai, is runningneck and neck with former USvice president Joe Biden, par-ticularly after her impressiveshow at the first Democraticdebate held recently.
Harris’s presidential cam-paign raised nearly $12 millionfrom more than 279,000 peoplein the second quarter of 2019.Almost 150,000 new donorscontributed to her campaignduring the second quarter. In
total, she has raised more than$23 million since she announcedher presidential bid in January.
According to a campaignstatement, Harris brought inmore than $7 million throughher digital programme alone.The campaign’s average contribution was $39, and theaverage online contribution was just $24. Harris launchedher campaign on January 21with a promise to reject money from corporate politicalaction committees and federallobbyists.
So far, Harris’ campaignhas brought in nearly half a mil-lion dollars this quarter from itsonline store, which has alreadysold 1,400 ‘That Little Girl WasMe’ t-shirts that feature a now-viral photo of Harris as a younggirl.
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Khartoum: Sudan’s top gener-al says the military council thatassumed power after the over-throw of President Omar al-Bashir in April will be dissolvedwith the implementation of apower-sharing deal reachedwith protesters last week.
The military and a pro-democracy coalition agreed lastweek on a joint sovereign coun-cil that will rule for a little overthree years while elections areorganized. Both sides say adiplomatic push by the U.S. Andits Arab allies was key to end-ing a weekslong standoff thatraised fears of all-out civil war.
Gen Abdel-Fattah Burhan,head of the military council, saidin televised comments late
Sunday that the army wouldreturn to its barracks after 21months, when leadership ofthe council passes from a mili-tary representative to a civilian.
The council will include fivecivilians representing the protestmovement and five militarymembers. An 11th seat will goto a civilian chosen by bothsides. The protesters will selecta Cabinet of technocrats, and alegislative council is to beformed after three months.
Burhan also insisted thatthe military council did not order the violent dispersalof the main protest camp lastmonth, which killed scores ofpeople and led to the collapse oftalks. AFP
was reducing the number oftroops in war-torn Yemen and moving from a “military-first” strategy to a “peace-first”plan.
“We do have troop levels that are down for reasonsthat are strategic in (the RedSea city of ) Hodeida and reasons that are tactical” inother parts of the country, asenior UAE official toldreporters.
“It is very much to do with moving from what Iwould call a military-first strat-egy to a peace-first strategy, andthis is I think what we aredoing.”
UAE troops fighting aspart of a Saudi-led militarycoalition against the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels have“totally vacated” the militarybase in Khokha, about 130kilometres south of Hodeida, aYemeni government officialtold AFP on Monday.
He added that the UAEwithdrew part of its heavyartillery from Khokha but was— along with the Saudi-ledcoalition and the government— still overseeing the militarysituation in Yemen’s westerncoast. The Yemeni official, whospoke on condition ofanonymity, also said UAEtroops vacated a military postin Sarwah, west of Maribprovince, and pulled back thePatriot missile system fromthe area.
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Ukraine’s recently electedPresident Volodymyr
Zelensky on Monday offered tomeet his Russian counterpartVladimir Putin for their firsttalks, calling for Western lead-ers to mediate.
“Now I want to address theRussian President VladimirPutin. We need to talk? We do.Let’s do it,” Zelensky said in avideo address.
The former comic actorwho was elected with a land-slide in April’s presidential pollscalled for a meeting with theRussian strongman that would
involve US President DonaldTrump and other Western lead-ers.
He proposed discussingRussian-annexed Crimea andthe conflict in eastern Ukrainewhere Ukrainian forces arebattling Russian-backed sepa-ratists.
Zelensky said on his inau-guration in May that ending thewar in the east and returningthe annexed territory toUkraine were his priority.
So far Zelensky has not metPutin and the Russian leaderhas commented that Zelensky’sacting talent does not make upfor lack of political experience.
“Let’s discuss who Crimeabelongs to and who isn’t in theDonbass region,” Zelensky said,referring to the eastern conflictzone.
Some 13,000 people havebeen killed in the conflict ineastern Ukraine that erupted in2014 after a popular uprisingousted pro-Kremlin presidentViktor Yanukovych and Russiaresponded by annexing Crimea.
Kiev and its Western back-ers accuse Russia of funnellingtroops and arms across theborder to fan the flames of theconflict. Moscow has deniedany military involvementdespite evidence to the contrary.
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Avignon (France): FormerFrench president FrancoisHollande made the first tentativestep into what may or may notbe a second career this weekendwhen he trod the boards at oneof the world’s biggest theatre fes-
tivals. The Socialist leader —who was forced from politicalstage by his one-time acolyteEmmanuel Macron in 2017 —appeared for 15 minutes in aplay at the Avignon theatre fes-tival in the South of France. AFP
What happens whenMount Cook meetsK a n g c h e n j u n g a ?
Obviously, it looks up — up above itsown high perch and wonders howthat daddy of mountains would bescaled. That’s what New Zealand willbe thinking when they meet India inthe first semi-final of the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2019 today.
On a downward spiral, openersnot firing, the skipper being bur-dened with a prolonged lone warriorresponsibility, spinners turningeverything except the ball, maraud-ers not being able to even walk. That’sthe Kiwis for you, in the second halfof the tournament.
Striding ahead, bat held high,arm doing the power round and self-belief being the most ticked box in anarmoury of youth, confidence, excel-lence and capability. That’s India foryou. The highest run getter, themost impactful wicket-taker, themaximum number of wins, a top ofthe table existence — you name it andVirat Kohli’s men have done it thisEnglish summer.
But then, this is cricket.Uncertain, levelling, cruel, unpre-dictable, fickle and demanding. Itchoses its day with impunity. Itprides in slaying the Goliaths. It playsgames with the minds of the sorted.It keeps victory away much likeCalpol, fever. So, form, run-up,belief and all the other tickedboxes are absolute essentials whicheventually become handmaidensof “on that day” mood of thegame-master himself.
Which means, predicting asemi-final is as futile as trying toescape a tsunami on a beach walk.It is in these difficult circum-stances that India and NewZealand will meet at the OldTrafford on an overcast morn-ing to launch their bid for thejourney to the mecca of crick-et and the final frontier of thisWorld Cup, the Lord’s CricketGround.
As Kohli does, KaneWilliamson too knows thestrengths and weaknesses of hissquad, more weaknesses thanstrengths if one were to see therun-up of these “yet to bemen” in this edition. After abrilliant start, the Kiwis nose-dived into doubt and troublewith three back-to-back defeats
making them breathe heavy tostave off Pakistan on the net runrate criterion.
India, on the other hand, haveRohit Sharma’s celestial run in thistournament to boast of. They havean enigma in Jasprit Bumrah to foxoppositions with. They have young
players whom they no longer needto hide in the field. They have the
chess moves of a Chahal and a con-
tainment mores of Kuldeep Yadav.They have a fire spewing HardikPandya who has come full circle as anall-rounder. They have the solidityand liquidity of a KL Rahul to fill thegaping hole left behind by an injuredShikhar Dhawan. “It is a team of ath-letes,” strengthening coach ShankerBasu says with pride, talking about thefitness quotient getting more musclethan ever before. So, you may not beblamed for feeling sorted.
But then this is cricket, mate. Ittakes one ball, one dropped catch, onemissed run, one wrong move, one big
miss — and just one split moment tomake an extraordinary team lookordinary. One day, it makes TeamIndia look perfect against the massiveAustralians; on another day, it makesthe 11 look super-bombed against theminnows Afghanistan!
Extraordinary, Rohit Sharma;Extraordinary, Jasprit Bumrah;Extraordinary, collective self-belief;Extraordinary, spin masters;Extraordinary, job discipline. “Notless, not more,” Kohli says about whodoes what in the team and when. It’sbeen an extraordinary singularity of
intent where the Men in Blue are con-cerned.
Ordinary? On that given day, itcould be the middle order that did-n’t or a Dhoni who won’t or a long tailthat can’t. Cricket can be a moodygentleman himself, but come ifs andbuts by others in the game, and it willdo what Chris Gayle can do tobowlers once he gets going, whatAdam Gilchrist often did to opposi-tions as an opener, what Yuvraj Singhdid to Stuart Broad on South Africansoil and what one Mr Martin Guptillhas the capability to do to a Chahal
or a Shami, in equal measure.So where do you think this match
between the tournament favouritesand the X-factor men at the OldTrafford taking you today? It could beto the wire, or to the dire, dependingon who gets the ticket to go to thegame without wearing pressure ontheir sleeve, well, as Mr Cricket says,“on that given day”!
So, let the bowling begin — fromwits’ end and then swing, seam,reverse swing or turn to sanity, excite-ment and the better team winning —on that day!
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MS Dhoni, the man the world loves,the team respects sky high, the cam-
eras run after, the journalists bait anddebate — Dhoni the ultimate thinker, thecaptain who originally brought mindgames and strategies as a prime tool toIndian cricket, the wicket-keeper whowould engineer wickets by directing thebowlers from behind the stumps, the skip-per who earned the respect of all othercaptains of the world, the finisher in vic-tories, the opener in thinking cricket —the man who loved his cricket but not itscoverage, the father, the biker, the paramilitary badge holder — this man ofmany faces and phases will be resting hisWorld Cup cap after four World Cups,one of which he won on home ground,the other he lost in the semi-final.
For his team and skipper Virat Kohli,there wouldn’t be a better send-off for thisman than to take him to Lord’s to play hisFinal in more ways and one. But beforethat, he has been the centre of mediaunsavouries for his lack of fire in the mid-dle and late middle overs when his strikerate of 100 plus looked slim and the needwas for a 300 per cent flourish to up thescores on sticky wickets.
Not seemingly bothered about thedisdain, but knowing it all along, Dhoniwas practising away at the nets at OldTrafford, polishing his bat to bring insome aggression. Full throated shots
turn the cameras to him as he deals withKuldeep Yadav’s containment tactics atthe nets. He then walks over in his cus-tomary style to the other end of theoptional nets to take some throws fromassistant coach Sanjay Bangar.
More importantly, between knocks,he gets into several mid-pitch huddleswith Bangar and bowling coach BharatArun, possibly to discuss the chinks aswell as the strategies that will take Indiato the Final of an English World Cup after1983.
Dhoni, who has not addressed thePress even once through the nine match-es that he has played in this World Cup,has been a constant consulting figure atnets from the Aegis Bowl inSouthampton, to the Oval to now OldTrafford. Thinking, alone and with mates,joking around with journalists fromplayers’ balconies, talking to the playersmid field when the oppositions have beenkissing boundaries, Dhoni in his ownmanner has been shaping the journeywithout intruding on the captain.
His skipper Kohli applauds him forbeing a “mentor without being assertive”,knowing fully well how difficult it is tobe just a player in a team he has for solong captained, a transition that hasearned him “sky-high respect”.
“From the respect point of view forMS, it’s always going to be sky high, espe-cially in my eyes, because I know how dif-ficult it can be to make a transition from
captaining also,” Kohli said. “It’s noteasy to be another player in the side aftercaptaining it for decades and therein liesDhoni’s greatness. Being a mentor butwithout being assertive, which the teamacknowledges,” he added at his Press con-
ference.After inheriting Test captaincy from
Dhoni in 2014 and ODIs in 2017, Kohlihas no hesitation in admitting that he willalways consider him his captain. “Withinthe same team, just playing as a player
after being captain for so many years andstill not being too assertive or too pushyin anything. He gives you space to makeyour own decisions and to actually dis-cover yourself, so I think that’s been hisbiggest quality,” Kohli says, adding quick-ly: “At the same time, I go ask him any-thing, he’s there giving me advice and he’snever shying away from that. So yeah, he’sbeen outstanding and I’m delighted thatI have been able to play for so many yearsalongside him.”
This undying respect is universal inthe team for the man who cut his 39thbirthday cake with the team on July 7. Hehas mentored many in this team, giventhem direction, taken them throughrough patches in the middle, given themspace with opportunities and investedfaith it them while shaping the team formany futures. “And now we are the oneswho are taking Indian cricket forward,”Kohli said with obvious gratitude for hisNo 5 man who has been in a spot over hisperceived sluggishness with the bat in thezone of fire.
Bangar explains that this sluggishnesswas actually his acumen to build up netrun rate on a sticky wicket, and also pro-tect the tail from being exposed with less-er runs on board, something that is asdivorced from public perception as thesun is likely to be from the skies today.
No wonder Kohli says thank you tothe journalist who takes the questioningon Dhoni from the question marks
around him to “MS the personality”.“We understand the importance of
that process (of transition). So I’m gladyou asked about MS, the personality,because a lot has been in focus otherwise.When a person has done so much for theteam you have to appreciate and acknowl-edge how he’s handled and taken therespect for Indian cricket so high all overthe world. We are all very grateful forwhat he’s done for Indian cricket and forus,” says Kohli, a day after he tweeted hisrespect, love, trust and emotion for hisformer skipper on his birthday: “Happybirthday mahi bhai @msdhoni. Very fewpeople understand the meaning of trustand respect and I’m glad to have had thefriendship I have with you for so manyyears. You’ve been a big brother to all ofus and as I said before, you will always bemy captain,” Kohli tweeted.
At the formal Press conference, how-ever, his respect was no less: “... And he’salways been in a very happy, jovial moodall the time whenever we see him.Yesterday again was a very happy momentfor him, for the whole team, to see a smileon his face and he's in a very comfortable,very happy space at the moment,” Kohlisaid.
Dhoni, meanwhile, walked with hiskit after nets at Old Trafford on match eve,not refusing autographs but saying a gen-tle no for pictures. “Not today,” he says.You can see he is saving the clicks forLord’s and the Cup in his hands.
Rain, it seems, is in no mood tolet an India-New Zealand clash
happen to the hilt. After the leagueclash against the two teams nowmeeting for the semi-finals waswashed out in Nottingham, todaytoo the clouds will be threatening thegame at Old Trafford.
The Britain weather forecastsays there will be continuous cloudcover the entire match day with rainand a couple of intervals. The
chances of this spoilsport are as highas 60% during daytime with constantdrizzle at 67 per cent possibilitytowards the night.
The good news is there is areserve day for the semi-final if thematch gets rained out. The bad newsis that Wednesday is more of a threatrain-wise with 63% chances of rainand a couple of showers in the day.
Good news again, for India, incase both days go flood out, Kohligoes to Lord's as table toppers with15 points.
New Zealand arrive in thesemi-finals as the outsiders, butmake no mistake about it, theywill still have high hopes.
When you get on a bad runas team, you have to return tothe individual.
If one man can find a per-formance, then that can perme-ate its way through to the wholeteam very quickly and buildconfidence, often within a game.
A three-match losing streakcan evaporate pretty quicklywith a great ten overs at the start.
Just look at South Africaagainst Australia this past week-end. The Proteas have been inall sorts of strife this World Cupbut the way they started thatgame gave them huge confi-dence to go on and get over theline.
That is why the start of thesemi-final between India andNew Zealand is going to be soimportant.
If New Zealand get off to agreat start, with bat or ball, thestreak will soon be forgotten.
Let’s look at the battingfirst of all.
Martin Guptill is a guy whohas so much support and faitharound him, the whole of theNew Zealand public, let alonehis teammates, will be backinghim.
He has done it before somany times, and knowing himas I do, I am sure he can turn itaround again and very quicklyit will become a different story.
Don’t forget he actuallystarted this tournament prettywell with an unbeaten half cen-tury against Sri Lanka, so he
doesn’t have to look back all thatfar for proof of what he can stilldo at this level.
England against India atEdgbaston probably showedNew Zealand the way toapproach setting a big total.
Jasprit Bumrah is basicallyunplayable at this stage, andagainst England he was hisusual economical self.
But despite that, Englandtargeted everyone else. Theywere aggressive from the offagainst the spinners, againstHardik Pandya and they evengot to Mohammed Shami at thedeath as well.
I am fairly confident Shamiwill come back into the side to
face New Zealand, he had a verygood series down there at thestart of the year.
But New Zealand have gotall the ingredients in place to puton a big total. I know theyhaven’t done it yet.
But let’s be optimistic andlook at it like this: KaneWilliamson always scores runs,and you more often than notyou can say the same about RossTaylor.
The two all-rounders JimmyNeesham and Colin deGrandhomme have bothimpressed at different timeswith the bat this World Cup andTom Latham also got someruns at last against England.
Judging by that South Africavs Australia game on the week-end, the Old Trafford pitch isgoing to be a good one.
The Black Caps have theplan in place to post somethingbig, it just all needs to cometogether at the right time.
Then with the ball, they willhave to be aggressive right fromthe outset and bowl to takewickets.
If you take early wickets andcan get at that Indian middleorder then you have a chance.
But it is all very well sayingthat, the hard part is actuallygoing out and doing it.
Some people might haveperceived the way India start
slowly as cautious, but in factwhat is actually happening isIndia are the best in the businessat assessing conditions, workingout what a good score is andthen batting accordingly.
Yes they have started slow-ly, but they always make it up atthe back end and post bigscores. And if you don’t get toRohit Sharma and Virat Kohliearly you are going to be in trou-ble.
They know who they wantto attack and when they want toattack.
That is a real credit to themas a batting unit because plen-ty of other teams go out thereand just go hard regardless ofthe conditions. India like toassess it and build what theythink is an appropriate scorefrom that.
The key will be Trent Boult,he knows these Indian batsmenextremely well at this point.They have played each othermany times in internationalcricket and the IPL and he, alongwith Kane and the coachingstaff, will have plans in place.
They have to stay aggressive,bowl to get wickets and letTrent work his magic at the start,in the middle and at the deathwhere his reverse swing, yorkersand now a knuckle ball as well,mark him out as one of theworld’s premier white-ballbowlers.
The only problem is Indiahave one of them too in Bumrah— keep a close eye on their bat-tle because whoever comes outon top will go a long way toputting their team in the ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup Final2019.
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New Zealand coachGar y Stead hopes
Lockie Ferguson can makethe difference against Indiaafter revealing the pacebowler should be fit fortheir semi-final clash.
The Black Caps werewithout their leading wick-et-taker for their finalgroup-stage game — a 119-run defeat to England atChester-le-Street.
Ferguson has been astandout performer forNew Zealand in the tour-nament as they finishedfourth in the standings,taking 17 wickets to sitjoint-third in the table forthe most wickets taken.
And after the 28-year-old was rested as a precau-tion following a hamstringstrain, Stead expects him tobe back fit and firing forthe showdown with Indiaat Old Trafford.
“I absolutely expectLockie to play. If the lastgame was a semi-final orfinal, we probably wouldhave played him, so it wasmore a precautionary measurenot to play him,” he said.
“He definitely had somehamstring tightness and heneeded 48 hours for that tosettle down. He’s in goodshape and barring gettingthrough the next couple ofdays, then I expect him toplay.
“Lockie has been enor-mous for us. It is his firstWorld Cup as well and I’vejust been delighted that everytime he’s come on to bowl, he’slooked like he’s going to makea difference out there.
“Whether that’s throughpace, whether that’s throughcreating pressure for the otherperson at the other end - healways has been looking like-ly and hopefully he can dothat again against India.”
Stead was also keen tostress his faith in openingbatsman Martin Guptill, whohas struggled for form afteropening the tournament withan unbeaten knock of 73against Sri Lanka.
“Martin’s got a lot of ODIhundreds and he has been akey player for us in the past.Our job as support staff is toget him in the right frame ofmind,” said Stead.
“He’ll go out and expresshimself and who knows, if hemakes 150 in the next game,then we probably won’t betalking about this anymore.
“People go through formslumps and heights all thetime. He’s had a tough tourna-
ment but there’s nothing frommy point of view that suggeststhat’s going to continue for along period of time.”
Having lost their last threegames of the round-robinstage, New Zealand have beendescribed by some as theweakest of the teams to qual-ify for the semi-final stage.
But Stead is more thanhappy to let the Black Caps beconsidered the underdogs asthey attempt to reach theirsecond World Cup final, fol-lowing their defeat toAustralia in the 2015 show-piece.
“We’ve got a couple ofafternoons to be ready forIndia now,” he said.
“I’m just excited about itas India are a quality team andthere’s no doubt they’ve gotmatch-winners throughouttheir line-up.
“I said from the very start,whoever we play, we’re goingto have to be somewhere nearour very best to beat them butthat’s the excitement, that’s thechallenge in front of us.
“Hopefully, you’ll see whatKiwis are made of out thereand our never-say-die attitude;we will stand up when weneed to. There are no secondchances now, are there?
“People aren’t expectingus to win and from my pointof view, I think that’s a goodplace to be because if that’s thecase, we can go out there andplay with some real freedom.”
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New Zealand arrive inthe semi-finals as theunfancied outsiders of
the quartet, but skipper KaneWilliamson insists the slate hasbeen wiped clean.
The Black Caps lost theirlast three game in the groupstage, to Pakistan, Australiaand England, but qualified forthe final four on net run rateregardless.
But that indifferent WorldCup form has already beenforgotten by the Black Caps —according to the skipper.
And today’s semi-final withIndia at Old Trafford will seeNew Zealand, runners-up fouryears ago, fully confident oftoppling the pre-matchfavourites and returning to thebiggest stage in world cricket.
“It’s one of those occasionswhere every team has workedso hard to end up in the lastfour where, to a certain extent,it all starts again where the daycomes and anything can hap-pen,” he said.
“All sides have beaten oneanother on a number of occa-sions throughout the last fewyears, so it is a really excitingopportunity for all teams.
“I think for everybody itsort of starts fresh tomorrowafter what was a very toughround-robin stage, and we werecertainly expecting that itwould be tough.
“It’s just a great occasion tobe a part of. I know the guys arereally excited by the opportuni-ty to go out and try and try andplay with that freedom thatwhen we do gives us the bestchance.”
For Williamson and oppo-site man Virat Kohli, today’sclash sees history repeatingitself.
Back in 2008, these twosides met in the ICC Under-19World Cup semis withWilliamson and Kohli bothskippering their sides.
India emerged victoriousthat day, with Kohli actuallydismissing his opposite man.
Not that Wil l iamsonremembers it all that well: “Iactually hadn't thought aboutthat at all so I guess that's kindof cool, isn't it, that a few yearslater, we're here again, perhapson a slightly different stage, butpretty special and a lot ofrespects to being able to leadyour country out in a semifinalon the biggest stage.
“He (Kohli) used to be anall-rounder I think back in theday, but hasn't bowled as muchrecently.
“He was a formidable play-er, growing up -- that seemsodd to say because we were at
the same age playing againsteach other on a number ofoccasions and then to go intointernational cricket at ayoungish age, then IPL andthese different sorts of things.
“It’s obviously been a plea-sure watching Virat play andevolve into the superstar that heis.”
If the Black Caps are todown India on Tuesday, the keywill be getting to their toporder.
Rohit Sharma has madehistory already this tourna-ment, becoming the first manto make five centuries in a sin-gle World Cup.
Kohli also made five halfcenturies on the spin during thetournament – but Williamson
knows the importance ofSharma to India’s success.
He added: “There’s a lot ofparts to (dismissing him) andas a bowling unit, first and fore-most, it's assessing conditions.Rohit has been clearly thestand-out batter in this tourna-ment so far and been battingbeautifully.
“But, as we know, we comeinto a semi-final. It is anotherday where both sides will betrying to adjust to the condi-tions as quickly as possible andboth teams will be looking forearly wickets regardless of whattheir name may be, but, with-out a doubt, he’s been superbthroughout the tournament.”
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DOWN THE MEMORY LANE
In seven World Cup meetings between these twosides, it is the Black Caps who have the better
record. They have won four clashes to India’s three inmatches dominated by the chasing side. Six of theseven encounters have been won by the team battingsecond, but as we have seen in England this summer,that has not always been the best option. And despitetheir seven previous encounters, 2019 will be the firsttime the two sides have met in the semi-finals.
MANCHESTER MATCH-UP (1975)
Coincidentally, it was also at Old Trafford thatIndia and New Zealand first locked horns in a
World Cup. In a Group A meeting that India had towin to make the knockout rounds, they could onlymanage a total of 230 from their 60 overs, Syed AbidAli clubbing a late-order 70 to get them there. Andwhen Glenn Turner anchored the Black Caps’ chasewith an unbeaten 114, victory and a semi-final spotwas theirs with four wickets and seven balls remain-ing.
LEEDS LOCKDOWN (1979)
Four years later and once again the Black Capsemerged on top, dominating the early years of this
burgeoning rivalry. India again batted first but SunilGavaskar’s stubborn half century was the best theycould manage in a total of 182 all out. In response,Bruce Edgar accrued a unbeaten knock of 84 in aneight-wicket win, although it took the Black Caps 57overs to get over the line as India were again sentpacking at the group stages while the Kiwis advancedonce more to the final four.
DOUBLE DELIGHT (1987)
Four years after becomingworld champions for the
first time, India hosted the1987 World Cup and metNew Zealand twice in thegroup stage. And both timesthey emerged on top, first ina 16-run in Bangalore thatowed much to Kapil Dev’sunbeaten later order fire-works. And then in Nagpurtwo weeks later, it wasChetan Sharma’s hat-trickthat caught the eye along
with a Gavaskar hundred in anine-wicket win.
DUNEDIN DELIGHT (1992)
Fast forward to NewZealand hosting in
1992, and in the onlygame of the tourna-ment held inCarisbrook, it was thehome side who againdominated. SachinTendulkar made 84 outof India’s total of 230/6but the Black Capschase was smooth andserene. MarkGreatbatch was the starman with 73 as New
Zealand ended up top-ping the points tablewhile India were out
before the knockout rounds.
SUPERB DRAMA (1999)
It was in 1999, the last time the World Cup was inEngland, that India and New Zealand first met
beyond the groupstages. This time it wasin the Super Sixes andonce again the BlackCaps were moving onwhile India were giventheir marching orders.Ajay Jadeja hit a halfcentury for India asthey made 251/6 butMatt Horne and Roger
Twose’s half centuriesclaimed New Zealand afive-wicket win with ten
balls remaining.
CENTURION AUTHORITY (2003)
New Zealandmight have the
wood on India inWorld Cups overall.But the most recentclash 16 years ago atCenturion saw Indiaturn the tide in theSuper Sixes. ZaheerKhan knocked overNew Zealand foronly 146, the left-armer at the peak ofhis powers in taking4/42. And India rat-tled of the chase forthe loss of only threewickets, MohammadKaif and RahulDravid to the fore to
help India into the semi-finals and send Kiwis home. '���� ���E�G��''������ ���'��!��������6?�'�01�H
It is a strange coincidence thatVirat Kohli and Kane Williamsoncaptained their respective sides in
the Under 19 World Cup and met inthe semi-finals, with India going onto win the Cup back then.
Since then both the greats havegone places on the popularity charts,as also deserving cricketers andthis time they would be meeting asskippers in the bigger Cup with allthose years, runs, milestones andjourneys that have brought both tothe top of the ladder.
Incidentally, Kohli had backthen rolled his arm and takenWilliamson’s wicket though he does-n’t remember that on the eve of hismost crucial game which will trans-port one of them to Lord’s, and theother home.
“It’s a really nice memory andwe’ll both feel good about knowingthat this is happening and no-one,neither me nor him, could have everanticipated that one day this willhappen, but yeah it is a really nicething,” he said with a smile whenreminded of it in his pre-match Pressconference.
Kohli does not remember bowl-ing Kane out on the earlier occasion.“I got Kane’s wicket? Did I?,” he asksto laughter. “I can bowl anytime, Iam lethal,” the skipper jokes. But hedoes say with a laugh that “I don’tknow if that can happen again now.”That, however, will not stop himfrom reminding Kane about it.
“I’m sure he remembers, whenwe meet tomorrow (today) I’mgoing to remind him. It is quite anice thing to realise that 11 yearsafter, we are captaining our respec-tive nations again in a senior WorldCup from U19. We have spokenabout it before. A lot of players fromthat World Cup, from our batch,from their batch, from other teamsas well, made it to the national teamsand are still playing, which is a greatthing to see,” Kohli says.
Later in the day, Williamson,too, is indulgent to similar memo-ries. “I actually hadn’t thought aboutthat at all so I guess that’s kind ofcool, isn’t it, that a few years later,we’re here again, perhaps on a
slightly different stage, but prettyspecial and a lot of respect to beingable to lead your country out in asemi-final on the biggest stage,” hesays. As for Kohli getting him on thatday, Kane exclaims: “Oh dear! Tellme how (laughter). He used to be anall-rounder I think back in the day,but hasn’t bowled as much recent-ly,” he said amid laughter.
The two skippers had clashed inthe semis at the 2008 U-19 semi-finals in Malaysia. The others whowere and are in both the teams thenand now are Ravindra Jadeja, TrentBoult and Tim Southee. Kohli, whowas Man of the Match then, had led
his team to a three-wicket victoryagainst the Black Caps. RohitSharma, who is now in the purplepatch of his batting career, was notpart of that team as he was on anassignment to represent India in the2008 Commonwealth Bank ODI tri-series.
From that day to now, the twohave launched different journeys.Kohli grew from being brash andaggressive in person to correct anddelightful with the bat. Kane, on theother hand, shaped himself more asthe non-violent kinds, showing offa quiet consistency in his build-ups.Kohli has the pleasure of captaining
the best ODI team in the world,ranked No 1, with a batting-line-upthat has been taking the burden ofjust scoring off from the Indian skip-per’s shoulders. Kane, on the otherhand, has been battling his runenforcer Martin Guptill’s bad formand has emerged as the lone warriorsaving face and matches for his teamin this World Cup. Kohli has had theprivilege to delve more deeply intothe ticklish aspects of captaining, notbothering to be fixated on his per-sonal scoring milestones, whileWilliamson has been the whistle onthe pressure cooker all through thebusiness end of the tournament,scoring centuries Kohli says he is notmissing his first that is yet to comedespite six 50 plus scores in eightmatches.
Kohli has been part of a teamthat has long had greats to look upto, from Sachin Tendulkar to MSDhoni to Rohit Sharma to Yuvraj
Singh and many others while grow-ing up the ranks and now leads allforms of the cricket his team plays.Williamson has had not the sameprivilege and has performed almostunnoticed through these 11 yearsthat have given him captaincy of amuch lesser team on the charts ascompared to India.
This World Cup, the chirp is allaround Rohit Sharma’s centurionrun rather than Kohli’s yet to comethree figure mark. But Williamsonhas shown his quiet aggression withthe bat, pacing his century inningsto the sole focus of winning thematch, alone and unsupported manya time.
Kohli knows his opponent “anice guy” is Kane and able. Kohli saidhe knew Williamson, also NewZealand’s batting mainstay, was aspecial talent when he first saw himplay in 2007. “In an Under-19 Testmatch, he played a shot off one of
our fast bowlers off the back foot. Iremember fielding in the slips andtelling someone that I have neverseen someone playing a shot likethat. We always knew he had the spe-cial ability to go all the way. Now he’scontrolling the tempo of the gamefor NZ in every game he plays.” Theskipper expects a central role fromWilliamson today too. His and RossTaylor will be his key wickets. “Heis always been the main guy forthem, along with Ross (Taylor),”Kohli said. “From our point of view,getting them early will be crucialbecause we know how strong theycan be together in a partnership.”
Williamson too remembersUnder 19 Malaysia 2008 with fondmemories, much like Kohli thoughthe latter was the ultimate winner. Asthey meet today, after the custom-ary handshake, there will be twomen with different teams but withthe same intent: To win.
Indias limited-overs deputyRohit Sharma has been on a roll
with 647 runs from 8 innings thatincludes 5 centuries. As the teamheads into the semi-final againstNew Zealand, skipper Virat Kohlionce again acknowledged therole Rohit has played at the top ofthe order for India. In fact, Kohliwent on to add that he was notdisappointed at missing out afterscoring five fifties as his role hasbeen different.
"It's been a different kind ofrole that I've had to play in thisWorld Cup and, as the captain ofthe team, I have been open toplaying any kind of role that theteam wants me to, so it's great thatRohit is scoring so consistentlywhich means that coming in thelater half of the innings you haveto play a different role which iscontrolling the middle overs andletting guys like Hardik (Pandya),Kedar (Jadhav), MS (Dhoni) inthe past few games, and nowRishabh (Pant), come out andexpress themselves.
"Personal milestones honest-ly is something that no-one everfocuses on. Rohit said the samething the other day. He is only try-ing to do the best for the team andin that process special thingshappen which is something that
I have always believed in mycareer so far. I could never imag-ine that I could get the number ofhundreds I have and the onlyfocus has always been the team,"he smiled.
But Kohli wants Rohit tocontinue the good show and hittwo more centuries to help Indialift the trophy at Lord's on July 14.
"So, I think playing a teamsport you need to adapt and I'mvery happy doing that role and Ihope he gets two more so we canwin two more games (smiling).It's an outstanding achievement.I have never seen anyone get fivehundreds in a World Cup, be anytournament, so World Cup is allthe more pressure and he hasbeen outstanding and he deservesall the credit. According to me, heis at the moment the top ODIplayer in the world," he said.
Asked to elaborate further onhis own role, Kohli said: "So I haveunderstood that roles can vary alot in one-day cricket, dependingon the time you step into bat, andI have been very happy withholding one end and letting guysexpress themselves striking at150, 160 or 200 if the team needsand I can accelerate in the end."
But Kohli also realises that itwill not be easy against the NewZealand bowlers, especially if theoverhead conditions help them.
"The New Zealand attack hasalways been a very balancedbowling attack. Their pacers arevery consistent. Mitchell Santnerbrings in a lot of control with hisskills in the middle overs. So theyare a team which has alwaysbeen a very consistent team, so weknow that against them we'llhave to be very, very disciplined,at the same time we will have toplay very correct cricket to scoreruns against them because theyare bowling good lines andlengths and they know what theyare doing.
"So, we have to be sure ofwhat we are doing and that's thekind of challenge that the teambrings. They put the ball in theright areas and then make youplay good shots. So, it's going tobe a nice battle. We have playedagainst them a lot. But they are aquality side with very, very potentbowling attack," the captain point-ed.
Asked about the Indian bowl-ing attack, Kohli said: "Well,according to me, our bowlingattack has been up there with thebest, if not the best bowlingattack in the competition. I thinkthe way we have bowled in low-scoring games, even coming backinto the match when the guyshave been hit, I think they haveshown a lot of character."
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Pundits have spoken abouthow playing New Zealand
in the semi-final of the WorldCup could be an easier chal-lenge for Virat Kohli andboys, but the India skipperbelieves that every time histeam walks onto the field, thepressure of expectations is thesame irrespective of the teamthey are facing or the seriesthey are playing.
For the Indian team,every game is full of pressure,so we have never felt like anygame has been easy for us atall.
"I can't remember the lasttime I stepped on to the fieldand felt like 'It doesn't matterwhat happens in this game'.For the Indian team there arealways full stadia and peopleexpect you to do well, andthere is always pressure, aswell as opportunity. So as Isaid, we are well-equipped tohandle those kind of situa-tions.
"But I think a World Cupknockout game brings thatmuch more attention andexcitement on the outsideand the atmosphere is goingto be very different from abilateral series. So just to beable to soak that in and focuson what we need to do isgoing to be probably the onlychallenge that we face interms of it being different.
"But otherwise you haveto play good cricket to win agame of cricket and that'sbeen our focus this WorldCup and I don't think wewould change that because it'sa knockout game, it is veryimportant to treat it as agame of cricket and do whatwe are known to do," he said.
With the expectationscome the pressure to win andKohli said that his team is bet-ter equipped to handle thatpressure as they are now usedto it. He went on to add thatit was no secret that not goingforward from here would bea huge disappointment.
"Everyone feels disap-pointed when you come to astage of a tournament like thisand you don't make itthrough. But look, yeah, theIndian team always carries alot of pressure and expecta-tion wherever we play and weare quite used to that over theyears to be honest.
"Yeah, we are better off -
- I think we are betterequipped to react well inthese situations because weknow what these kind ofgames and our fan-base andthe expectations brings, so Ithink disappointment is equalon either side. I wouldn'tagree if you said New Zealandwon't be disappointed if theylose. Our aim and our focusis obviously on winning and,
as I said, whichever teamplays better will win," hepointed out.
India have been in thesemis in both the previousoccasions and while theresults have been contrasting-- India won in 2011 and lostin 2015 -- Kohli said the firstgoal coming into this editionwas to work towards qualify-ing for the semi-final.
"Very obviously, verycontrasting. The win inMohali was my first WorldCup and we make it to thefinals and playing at homeand the whole atmospherewas brilliant so getting toexperience that for me as ayoungster was somethingmagnificent. 2015, I was moreof an established player andnot being able to get the
team across the line was obvi-ously very disappointing forall of us.
"This time around,because the format has beendifferent, and we understandthe tournament has beenlong, guys have put in a lot ofeffort day in day out and torealise we have achieved thefirst goal that we wanted towhich was to qualify for thesemis, that gives you an extraboost of energy.
"Now we can focus total-ly on the remaining twogames that we have in thetournament and try to bringour A-game and take up theintensity even more.
I think those -- thatincentive is very important torealise as a team that you havedone what you wanted to doas a first goal. And now youcan be even more intense andenergetic when you step on tothe field. It gives you moreenergy knowing we are enter-ing the last phase of the tour-nament. Bodies are not goingto be as fresh but these kindof things motivate you evenfurther to put in more ener-gy so we are quite happy afterqualifying," he explained.
Asked about the lastminute change in travel plans,after India finished on top fol-lowing Australia losing theirlast group game against SouthAfrica on Saturday, Kohlisaid: "We are very happybecause it was only one hourcompared to three hours onthe bus."
Had India come second,they would have played inBirmingham.
"So the boys are veryhappy with the change intravel and Manchester is agreat city to be in also, so allthe guys were very happy. Themood is great. Everyone isvery relaxed, very confident.
"And look, all the teamsworked hard to get to thesemoments and now whoeverplays better on the day weknow that things are as sim-ple or as complicated as that.So, we are all looking forwardto it.
"It's been a long tourna-ment, it's been a lot of hardwork, a lot of intense games,so yeah, we are really, reallyhappy that we have made it tothe semis and now there'sonly opportunity that lies infront of us and everyone isvery excited for it," he said.
Ten-man Brazil held on to win theCopa America on home soil
despite Gabriel Jesus’s dismissal witha 3-1 victory over Peru on Sunday.
Jesus scored the decisive goalafter a penalty from Peru captainPaolo Guerrero canceled outEverton’s opener for hosts Brazil atRio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium.
A last minute penalty from sub-stitute Richarlison sealed a win forBrazil which handed the SouthAmerican giants their ninth Copa tri-umph and first since 2007.
Jesus’s evening went sour 20minutes from time as he was sent offfor a second booking.
The Manchester City striker wasin tears as he left the field, makingobscene hand gestures, angrily kick-ing a water bottle and almost knock-ing over the trophy plinth.
Brazil’s players rallied after thedismissal however to claim a battlingvictory. Earlier, underdogs Perumade a confident start and didn’t
appear overawed by either theiropponents or the occasion.
But it quickly became apparentthat they were up against moreaccomplished players.
Brazil’s opening goal came froma piece of individual brilliance byJesus, whose drag back fooled twodefenders, creating space for him tocross for the unmarked Everton todrill home at the back post on thequarter hour.
Just as it looked as if Brazil wouldstroll to victory, Peru went on theattack and a Christian Cueva cross hitthe arm of a sliding Thiago Silva, giv-ing Peru a penalty that was confirmedafter a VAR review. Guerrero sentgoalkeeper Alisson the wrong wayfrom 12 yards and Peru were back init just before half-time.
But they paid for their lack ofguile and experience with almost thelast kick of the half as Arthur wasallowed to drive at the defence frommidfield following a slip from RenatoTapia that left him space to attack.
Center-back Carlos Zambano
also slipped, allowing Arthur to feedJesus in the middle of the area andthe Manchester City striker made nomistake, finding the bottom corner.
Brazil were in complete controlin second half as Peru could hardlystring two passes together.
But the dynamic changed 20minutes from time as Jesus wasgiven his marching orders for a sec-ond yellow card after a late challengeon Cueva.
The onus was now on Peru toattack and Miguel Trauco brought anear post save out of Alisson whileEdison Flores fizzed a volley fromoutside the area just wide.
But amidst a flurry of substitu-tions, fouls and injury stoppages, thesteam went out of Peru’s efforts andthey were unable to exert any sus-tained pressure on the hosts.
Any hopes they had were extin-guished when Zambrano wasadjudged to have barged over Evertonin the penalty area and substituteRicharlison drilled home the spot-kick into the bottom corner.
Injury-hit Australia could see somenew faces play in the World Cup
semifinals against arch-rivals Englandbut coach Justin Langer is optimisticof the reinforcements filling in thevoid.
Top-order batsman UsmanKhawaja and Shaun Marsh were ruledout of the World Cup after sufferinga hamstring injury and a fractured armrespectively. Mathew Wade and PeterHandscomb have been called asreplacements for the duo.
All-rounder Marcus Stoinis wasalso hampered by a side complaint, anissue which had sidelined him for twogroup stage matches. Mitch Marsh hasbeen called up as stand by.
Australia, who were sitting com-fortably on the top of the points table,slipped in their last group game andwill face England in the semifinal andwith key players suffering injury thereigning champion will be feeling thepressure.
“It is pressure for anyone, but thereis pressure for all 22 guys on the park,”Langer was quoted as saying byCricket.Com.Au.
“Matthew Wade has played a lot ofinternational cricket if he comes in.There’s a real upside to him and he isin no doubt career-best form.
“Peter Handscomb a few monthsago helped us beat India 3-2 in Indiain their conditions and then 5-0against Pakistan in the UAE. Histemperament is excellent for it. MitchMarsh has also played a lot of one dayinternational cricket. We’re reallylucky,” Langer said.
Australia has maintained that theside is open to shuffling the battingorder according to the situation andLanger reiterated that they are a veryadaptable team.
“We’ve got so many options, andthat’s the positive thing. Whether it’sSteve Smith batting at No 3, whetherit’s Alex Carey coming up, we’ve gotso many options — it’s a very adapt-able team,” Langer said.
Australia’s batting strategy is heav-ily based on their top order firing con-sistently and their middle and lower-order finishing the game.
David Warner (638 runs at 79.75)and Finch (507 at 56.33) have struckfive centuries between them andLanger stressed they need top-orderplayers who can follow their lead.
“We’ll keep sticking to the way we
have picked over (recent) times — thetop four guys who can score hundreds.
“We’ll weigh it all up. Potentiallywith Mitch Marsh coming in giving us
some medium pace. He’s been bowl-ing as well, played four Australia Agames in pretty good form with batand ball,” he said.
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South Africa coach OttisGibson is in no mood to
call it quits despite the team’sdismal World Cup cam-paign as he believes that hedid not get enough time toprepare the Proteas for thebig event. Asked what wasthe biggest challenge of hiscoaching tenure, Gibsonsaid: “Time, I would say.Having enough time to builda team. We tried the wholepositive and aggressivebrand of cricket but youneed time.
“Sometimes it’s notgoing to work but you needtime for that to bed in, forpeople to understand what itis that you are trying to getacross and for people tounderstand their roles.”
Gibson’s contract ashead coach is set to expire inSeptember this year but hemade it clear that he wouldwant to stay on to helpSouth Africa rebuild fol-lowing the disappointingWorld Cup.
“I want my job … I lovemy job. I have to hear fromthem (CSA). The contractwas always to mid-September 2019, so we’llhave to see,” Gibson said.
“From my point of view,we have had a disappointingWorld Cup and if you takethe World Cup in isolation,you might feel the need forchange. But if you look overthe last two years, we havedone some good things aswell.” South Africa had todeal with the retirement of
the legendary AB de Villiers,injuries to some key players,and also off-field issueswhich included the financialcrunch faced by the CricketSouth Africa (CSA).
“In that time we’ve hadretirements, we’ve had somepeople go off and Kolpak,we’ve had injuries — espe-cially in the last six monthsor so. And then players thatyou felt were ready didn’t putthe runs on the board, so youfeel that you have to givethem a little more time,”Gibson said.
“All in all, looking backon it now, you feel like youjust wish you had a little bitmore time. But you didn’thave that time. The WorldCup was around the corner,and you had to deal with it.”
Gibson, who had a briefstint with England as a bowl-ing coach between March2015 and September 2017,said South Africa shouldfollow the blueprint of theEnglish side following theirearly ouster from the 2015edition.
He also believes SouthAfrica have the resources tobecome a formidable forcein the global game onceagain in the future.
“There is a lot of talentin South Africa. Whetherthat talent is ready to take thenext step is what we need tosee over the next 12 months,”Gibson said. “If you arethinking in the white-ballsense, around the WorldCup, we’ve got four years toplan for a World Cup, whichgives you a lot more time.”
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World number one AshleighBarty’s hopes of becoming
the first Australian women’s cham-pion in nearly four decades weredashed on Monday, opening the wayfor Serena Williams to potentiallyequal the all-time Grand Slam haul.
At the opposite end of the agescale to 37-year-old Williams, 15-year-old Coco Gauff could not sum-mon up yet another magical perfor-mance as the crowd-pleasingAmerican went down 6-3, 6-3, tobattle-hardened Romanian SimonaHalep.
Having looked assured last week,while Williams was not altogetherconvincing, it was 23-year-oldAustralian Barty who cracked andwent down in three sets to unseed-ed American Alison Riske 3-6, 6-2,6-2.
There was one consolation forBarty as Karolina Pliskova couldhave taken her number one spot butthe Czech third seed went out as wellin a marathon duel beaten by com-patriot Karolina Muchova 4-6, 7-5,13-11
Williams, bidding for a 24thGrand Slam title to tie withAustralian Margaret Court, will playRiske next after trouncing CarlaSuzarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2.
“It is a tough one to swallowbut I lost to a better player,” saidBarty, who had been hoping tobecome the first Australianchampion since EvonneGoolagong Cawley won hersecond title in 1980.
For Riske it was perhapsan unexpected early weddingpresent — she gets marriedafter Wimbledon StephenAmritraj, the son of for-mer Indian Davis Cupplayer Anand — butextremely well-earned.
It will be the 29-
year-old’s first appearance in aGrand Slam quarter-final.
“I had to play aggressive. I hadto take it to Ash,” said Riske
“The grass definitely brings outthe best in me. Hopefully it will ruboff and happen in other places too.”
The prospect of playingWilliams did not have her kneesknocking together in fear either:“Bring it on!”
Halep unlike Gauff 's previousopponents did not let a partisancrowd nor some audacious stroke-play by the Americanunnerve her and alwayshad the upper hand.
Gauff did save threematch points but in theend former world numberone Halep had little trouble inclosing out the match.
The American, though,leaves having given the women’s
game a much-needed shot in
the arm and announced herself asa future Grand Slam contender.
Williams, whose clay court sea-son was affected by a knee injury,said the hunger for the game and forvictory is as strong as ever.
“I always get excited,” saidWilliams after her victory which puther into a 14th Wimbledon quarter-final.
“I’m a really pumped player.That’s my personality. Of courseI still I want it or else I would-n't be here.”
Williams has teamed upwith another former world
number one Andy Murray in themixed doubles said she will not betaking Riske for granted.
“Last time I faced a fellowAmerican, I lost,” she said in refer-ence to her loss to Sofia Kenin at
Roland Garros“She’s great on the grass and
took out the number one player inthe world who’s just won a grasscourt tournament (Barty won inBirmingham).”
Zhang Shuai became the firstChinese woman since Li Na in 2013to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
World number 50 Zhang defeat-ed Ukraine teenager DayanaYastremska 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 — a resultfar from her mind when she wastalked out of retiring at her lowestpoint in 2015.
The 30-year-old, who facesHalep for a place in the semi-finals, thanked her close friend anddoubles partner Australia's SamStosur for convincing her to stickwith it.
Opener Jason Roy hasset the scene forEngland’s Ashes-
flavoured World Cup semi-final, suggesting Australiamight be suffering fromfragile confidence after theirdefeat to South Africa andsetting up a mouth-wateringknockout clash inBirmingham.
“It should be a greatgame. I think them losing toSouth Africa might haveknocked their confidence abit,” said Roy, beforeacknowledging thatEngland’s loss to Australia inthe group stage might helpbalance the books.
“When you get to thesemi-final stage any teamyou come up against isgoing to be a tough ask,mentally and physically.They hammered us at Lord’sbut who knows what it isgoing to bring?
“As exciting as it is,we’ve got to stay as relaxedas we can, understanding
that it is a World Cupsemi-final that doesn’tcome around very oftenand that we’ve been work-ing towards this for years.”
Fit-again Roy admit-ted that he feared for hisown part in the tourna-ment after tearing a ham-string while fielding againstthe West Indies, eventual-ly missing three games.
“I’ll be honest, therewas a bit of a fear I mightbe out, there was a bit of ascare there initially but Ineeded to stay positivearound the group,” he said.“I was staying around thelads and travelling withthem so I had to keep giv-ing out positive vibes andtry to help where I can.”
Australia are wellaware they will requireearly wickets on Thursday,with Roy and JonnyBairstow averaging 84.80for the opening standwhen batting together.
Roy didn’t faceAustralia in England’s lossa fortnight ago, but has
averaged 68.20 in this year’sWorld Cup, striking at arate of 114.04.
Bairstow has mean-while hit back-to-back cen-turies since that loss toAustralia, after coming outswinging against criticismfrom the likes of formerEnglish captain MichaelVaughan.
There is a belief theopener thrives on beingfired up by a verbal chal-lenge, but Australian coachJustin Langer said his teamwon’t get into a war ofwords with the hosts.
“We wont get into thatsort of rubbish,” Langersaid. “We’ve played themtwice, we’ve played them ina practice game, we beatthem twice.
“We’ve got the playersand the camaraderie andthe character and the feel-ing in the group to do itagain.
“A World Cup semifinal against England atEdgbaston — it’s going tobe great.”
