Train services in Kashmirwill resume on Tuesday,the Railway Ministry saidhere on Monday. The services were stopped nearlythree months ago, following the Union government’s decision to withdraw the special statusgranted to Jammu andKashmir under Article 370.
“After assurance by theGRP [Government RailwayPolice], J&K, regarding safeoperation of trains in Kashmir Valley between 10 a.m.and 3 p.m., the FirozpurDivision will commence alimited passenger serviceof two set of trains between SrinagarBaramullaSrinagar from November12,” a Ministry offi��cial said.
Trains to run again in Kashmir
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
DETAILS ON A PAGE 13
tuesday, november 12, 2019 Delhi
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Lata Mangeshkar
hospitalised for
breathing diffi��culty
page 9
Manmohan nominated
to parliamentary panel
in place of Digvijaya
page 12
Morales exit in
Bolivia sparks night
of violence, vacuum
page 14
Deepti spins a web
around the West Indies
as India takes a 20 lead
page 18
In fastpaced political developments in Maharashtra,Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday evening invited the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to form thegovernment after the ShivSena failed to provide the letters of support from the CongressNCP alliance.
Though the Shiv Sena hadasked for three more days toproduce the letters, Mr.Koshyari turned down therequest and invited the NCP,which is the third largest party with 54 MLAs in the 288member Assembly.
“We will discuss the proposal with our allies tomorrow and will get back withour reply to the Governor’soffi��ce before 8.30 p.m. tomorrow,” NCP State president Jayant Patil said aftermeeting the Governor late inthe evening.
In a late night development, NCP president SharadPawar called up Shiv Senachief Uddhav Thackeray toclear any misgivings and islearnt to have expressed confi��dence that the crisis wouldbe resolved by Tuesday.
Sena exits NDAThe developments came ona day when the Shiv Sena’slone representative in theUnion Cabinet, Arvind Sawant, resigned as the UnionHeavy Industries Minister,and the party severed its tieswith the National Democrat
ic Alliance. The political drama took another twist afterthe Congress announcedthat it need more time to talkto its ally, the NCP, just minutes before the 7:30 p.m.deadline that the Governorhad set for the Shiv Sena tostake claim.
“The Congress WorkingCommittee (CWC) met thismorning and had a detaileddiscussion on the situation inMaharashtra after which aconsultation was held withState leaders. The Congresspresident has spoken withSharad Pawarji. The partywill have further discussionwith the NCP,” the Congresssaid in a statement.
The statement, however,had no mention about extending support to the ShivSena. Senior leaders, including A.K. Antony, Mallikarjun
Kharge and K.C. Venugopal,are learnt to have voiced reservations at the CWC meeting. Congress leaders fromKerala, which sends thehighest number of MPs to theLok Sabha, in particular, arelearnt to have argued that atieup with the Shiv Sena willsend a “wrong political signal” and give an edge to theLeft parties.
However, a majority of thenewly elected CongressMLAs were not only in favourof supporting a Shiv Senaledalliance but also on joiningthe government.
‘Positive direction’ Top Congress sources toldThe Hindu that though“there has been a pause tothe process, it is proceedingin a positive direction” asthere have been crucial
meetings away from the media glare with serious discussions on being part of a nonBJP government. Senior party leaders Mr. Kharge,Ahmed Patel and Mr. Venugopal are expected in Mumbai on Tuesday.
While Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray, alongwith party colleague SanjayRaut, met NCP chief SharadPawar at a fi��vestar hotel inBandra, senior Shiv Senaleaders Anil Desai and Arvind Sawant met senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel inNew Delhi.
Yuva Sena chief AadityaThackeray, meanwhile, wasoptimistic while talking tothe media at Raj Bhavan afterhe met Mr. Koshyari seekingmore time.
Sena denied more time, NCP’s turn nowCong., NCP in huddle as Governor refuses Sena plea for three more days to produce letters of support
Special Correspondent
Mumbai/New Delhi
CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12
They had been stolen fromtemples across Tamil Nadu,valued for the priceless heritage of art and sculpturethey embodied in bronze,stone and wood.
But now, many of thesepriceless artefacts — seizedover the years by the IdolWing Police — lie abandoned, at the mercy of theelements, in the rear of theunit’s premises that is partof the CBCID Economic Offences Wing at Guindy inChennai.
The artefacts that includecenturiesold stone sculptures and idols, carvedstone pillars, intricatelyworked wooden pieces,temple cars, vahanas or ritual vehicles for idols,among others, are stored in
a haphazard manner in vehicle sheds and open spaceson the premises.
Treasure trove Among these are around800 antique stone idols andartefacts seized in 2016,when the Idol Wing stumbled upon a treasure troveat the godown and gallery ofthe antique dealer G. Deenadayalan in Alwarpet.
Subsequently, 200 artefacts — most of them madeof wood — were also seizedfrom a bungalowcumgallery of one Lakshminarayanan, an associate of Deenadayalan, in Kuchikaadu,near Karanai village on theEast Coast Road, on the outskirts of Chennai.
The Idol Wing also recovered 244 antique idols andartefacts from businessmanRanvir Shah’s house in Saidapet and two farmhousesin Kancheepuram district.Further investigation led tothe unearthing of 23 idolsfrom the Poes Garden premises of businesswoman Kiran Rao.
These antiques wereseized when A.G. Ponn Manickavel was Inspector General of Police of the Idol Wing.Following his superannuation, he is now the courtappointed Special Offi��cer ofthe special unit.
Long waitAs per the Criminal Procedure Code, the antiques areseized by an investigation offi��cer and are returned to therightful owner or temple on
ly after the completion of legal proceedings, including atrial, which could take several years.
In some instances, however, the Idol Wing has re
turned the items after theywere able to produce claimsfrom temple administratorsor villagers in court.
Among these are the famous Kallidaikurichi Natara
ja idol, which was retrievedfrom Australia and returnedto the Sri Kulasekaramudaiyar Temple, and another setof idols of Nataraja and consorts, which were returnedto the Narumbunathar temple in Thiruppadaimarudurin Tirunelveli.
However, a large part ofthe seized artefacts are to befound in the open, waitingfor legal proceedings againstthe dealers or off��enders tobe completed.
Bureaucratic tangleMr. Manickavel told TheHindu that the authorities ofthe Government Museum atEgmore had refused to allotspace for storing the seizedartefacts.
“We have to keep them inour car parks and in openspace exposing them to sun
and rain. What to do? At ourrequest, the HR&CE (HinduReligious and Charitable Endowment Department)came forward to allot aplace for keeping them safe.We were shown two placesin Tiruvottiyur and Thiruvanmiyur one year ago.Nothing has materialised sofar,” he said.
Idol Wing offi��cials are alsoapprehensive of the artefacts getting damaged incase of fl��oods with just acompound wall standingbetween the priceless artefacts and the Adyar river.
However, HR&CE Commissioner K. Phanindra Reddy said: “We have identifi��eda piece of land belonging tothe Kapaliswarar Temple.[But] the Idol Wing was tosend a proposal to the government to take the land
on lease,” indicating a procedural stalemate.
Experts appalledArt experts and archaeologists have raised seriousconcerns over the possibledamage to these pricelesspieces of cultural heritage asa result of having been left inthe open over a long period,especially in a coastal city.
“Effl��orescence can resultin deterioration of the surface through expansion andfl��aking. Bird droppings tooare a threat. It may needtreatment to remove salt bypoultice using paper pulp,”said Professor Sharada Srinivasan, an expert in archaeological science with the National Institute of AdvancedStudies in Bangalore.
Seized antiquities left to face the elements in a Chennai parking lotPriceless artefacts of stone, bronze and wood seized by the Idol Wing police, are out in the open, with just a wall separating them from the Adyar river
R. Sivaraman
CHENNAI
SPECIAL
Without care: Priceless heritage lies haphazard at the CBCIDEconomic Off��ences Wing premises in Guindy. * R. SIVARAMAN
CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12
Industrial activity in September contracted sharplyby 4.3%, driven by majorslowdowns in the capitalgoods, mining, and manufacturing sectors, accordingto offi��cial data released onMonday.
The contraction in the Index of Industrial Production(IIP) in September is compared with the contractionof 1.1% in August. The Indexhad grown 4.3% in September of the previous year.
“This is the fi��rst time afterNovember 2012 that allthree broadbased sectorshave contracted and thelowest monthly growth inthe 201112 base year series,”Devendra Kumar Pant,Chief Economist and SeniorDirector, Public Finance, India Ratings & Research,
said. “In the old (200405)base, IIP in October 2011contracted by 5%.”
Within the Index, thecapital goods sector saw acontraction of 20.7%, compared with shrinkage of 21%in August. The mining sector contracted by 8.5%,compared with an anaemicgrowth of 0.1% in August.The manufacturing sectorcontracted 3.9% in September, compared with a contraction of 1.2% in the previous month. The electricitysector, too, saw a continuedcontraction, shrinking 2.6%,compared with a contraction of 0.9% in August.
The consumer durablessector continued to shrinkin September, by 9.9%, compared with a contraction of9.1% in August.
All 3 major sectors saw contraction
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
IIP shrinks by 4.3%to lowest in 8 years
CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12
March halted: Jawaharlal Nehru University students being stopped by police in New Delhi on Monday as they protested against fee hike. Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal was stranded at the venue of a convocation. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR (PAGE 9)
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JNU rocks Delhi
Amid speculation ongovernment formation inMaharashtra, RajasthanChief Minister Ashok Gehloton Monday briefed theCongress MLAs, put up at aresort near Jaipur, about theparty’s stand and obtainedtheir views. Mr. Gehlot,along with his Chhattisgarhcounterpart BhupeshBaghel, reached the resortlate in the evening. TheMLAs, who were shifted tothe resort on the JaipurDelhi National Highway onFriday and Saturday, laterleft for Mr. Gehlot’s offi��cialresidence, where a dinnerwas hosted in the honour offormer President PratibhaPatil. A PAGE 12
Gehlot briefsMLAs at resort
CMYK
A ND-NDE
The Union Home Ministryhas initiated the process ofsetting up a trust to fi��x themodalities for the construction of a temple in Ayodhyaas per the Supreme Courtorder in the Ram JanmabhoomiBabri Masjid case delivered on Saturday.
Ministry offi��cials are examining the 1,045page verdict and will soon seek theopinion of the Law Ministryand the Attorney Generalon how to proceed with setting up a trust. An offi��cialsaid the technical aspects ofthe order were beingstudied.
However, another offi��cialsaid it was not clear whetherthe Home Ministry or theCulture Ministry would bethe nodal body for the trust.
In its unanimous verdict,the court said: “The CentralGovernment shall, within aperiod of three monthsfrom the date of this judgment, formulate a schemeunder the Acquisition ofCertain Area at AyodhyaAct, 1993.”
“The scheme shall envisage the setting up of a trustwith a board of trustees orany other appropriate body... The scheme to beframed by Central government shall make necessaryprovisions in regard to thefunctioning of the trust orbody including on mattersrelating to the managementof the trust, the powers ofthe trustees including theconstruction of a templeand all necessary, incidentaland supplemental matters,”the court ruled.
MHA begins templetrust formation job Offi��cials to seeks Law Ministry’s opinion
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI Eighteen passengers wereinjured, one critically, aftera local MMTS suburbantrain crashed into a Secunderabadbound HundryExpress coming from Kurnool just outside the Kacheguda station on Monday morning.
Twelve of the injuredwere discharged from theOsmania General Hospital(OGH) after fi��rst aid.
MMTS train locopilot L.Chandrasekhar, 36, whowas trapped in the mangled lead coach, was pulledout alive after an eighthour rescue operation andrushed to the hospital. Additional General ManagerB.B. Singh blamed the accident on a “manual error”.
Trains collidein Hyderabad,18 injured V. Geetanath
Abhinay Deshpande
HYDERABAD
NARROW ESCAPE A PAGE 8
Brace for ‘severe’ airquality today, tomorrowNEW DELHI
Delhi’s air quality stayed in
the ‘very poor’ category on
Monday and is expected to
fall to the ‘severe’ category
on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The air quality is expected to
come back to ‘very poor’
category on Thursday. The
city’s Air Quality Index on
Monday was 360 (very poor),
slightly up from 321 (very
poor) on Sunday, according
to the Central Pollution
Control Board.
CITY A PAGE 2DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
NEARBY
Three killed as truckrams cab in OkhlaNEW DELHI
Three men, two of them
brothers, were killed and one
was grievously injured when
a truck rammed their cab in
the Okhla area of southeast
Delhi, the police said on
Monday. The incident
happened around 11 p.m. on
Sunday. The truck driver
suddenly turned the vehicle
on Maa Anand Mai Marg and
hit the cab coming from the
opposite direction.
CITY A PAGE 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
A ND-NDE
DELHI THE HINDU
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CITY
Delhi’s air quality stayed inthe ‘very poor’ category onMonday and is expected tofall to the ‘severe’ categoryon Tuesday and Wednesday.
The air quality is expectedto come back to ‘very poor’category on Thursday.
The city’s Air Quality Index on Monday was 360 (very poor), slightly up from 321(very poor) on Sunday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
The level of PM2.5 was 3.8times (229.1 ug/m3) the safelimit (60ug/m3) in DelhiNCR at 7 p.m., as per CPCBdata. ‘Severe’ air quality cancause respiratory problemsin healthy people and has serious health impact on people with lung or heart diseases, according to the EPCA, aSupreme Courtappointedpollution control body.
Avoid outdoor activityPeople are advised to avoidall outdoor physical activities, not go on morningwalks, and close windows oftheir homes, during ‘severe’air pollution.
“Stop any activity if youexperience unusual coughing, chest discomfort,
wheezing, breathing diffi��culty, or fatigue and consult adoctor,” read the ‘severe’ category advisory issued by governmentrun monitoringagency SAFAR (System of AirQuality and Weather Forecasting and Research).
The agency said that theair quality is expected to deteriorate due to low windspeed, cloudy conditions,and an increase in contribution of stubble burning inneighbouring States to Delhi’s pollution over the nexttwo days.
The contribution is expected to increase to 25% on
Tuesday, up from 18% onMonday. It was as high as44% earlier this season.
“There is a western disturbance due to cyclonic circulation over Jammu & Kashmir. Under its infl��uence, norainfall is expected in the
Delhi region but the sky willbe partly cloudy with cooltemperature during the nexttwo days,” said SAFAR.
This may lead to loweringof boundary layer height andaccumulation of pollutantsnear the surface.
Boundary layer height isthe height of the atmosphereat which pollutants arespread out. Lesser heightleads to higher pollution.
Meanwhile, the EPCA allsaid dirty fuelbased industries, hotmix plants andstonecrushers in DelhiNCRwill remain shut till Wednesday morning.
Brace for ‘severe’ air qualitytoday, tomorrow: SAFARThe AQI is expected to come back to ‘very poor’ category on Thursday
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
PM2.5 levels in the city reached nearly four times the safe limit on Monday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Delhi Environment MinisterKailash Gahlot on Mondayclaimed that the Environment Ministers of Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan did not participate in a meeting called bythe Centre to prepare a roadmap to contain air pollution.
Mr. Gahlot also wrote letters to Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and the ChiefMinisters of Haryana andPunjab over this issue.
“This lax approach — despite strict directions fromthe Supreme Court and evenafter summoning the ChiefSecretaries of the respectiveStates by the apex court —will not bring positive resultsin the eff��orts to contain pollution,” said Mr. Gahlot onMonday.
In the letter written to Mr.Javadekar, the Minister saidthat distribution of machines required for insitumanagement of crop residueis taking place at a “tardy
pace” in the districts ofneighbouring States.
Stubble burningAdding that stubble burningin neighbouring States was amajor cause of pollution, Mr.Gahlot wrote: “It is, therefore, important that strict timelines are laid down fordistribution of machines toall the farmers in the neighbouring States and responsibility be fi��xed for not adhering to timelines.”
The Minister also said thatthe there were no offi��cialsfrom the municipal corpora
tions of Delhi and the DelhiDevelopment Authority present at the meeting.
“Dust originating fromroads, particularly from unpaved roads, is one of themajor sources of pollution inDelhi. Mostly, these roadsfall under the jurisdiction ofthe municipal corporations.The patches of empty landthat create dust fall underthe DDA. Neither municipalcommissioners nor DDA offi��cials were present in themeeting. Without the cooperation of such agencies,dust sources and garbagethat causes pollution cannotbe controlled. It is unfortunate that such a serious issuehas been neglected by theseagencies,” said Mr. Gahlot.
The Minister added that itwas unfortunate that casesof stubble burning are increasing “despite the directions of the Supreme Courtto the offi��cials — startingfrom Chief Secretaries to district magistrates, gram panchayat offi��cials”.
Gahlot writes to Javadekar about lax attitude of authorities
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
Ministers of other States absentat meeting on air pollution: govt.
Kailash Gahlot
The Delhi High Court hasheld that there can be nouniformity in rates chargedby private nursing homesand hospitals as the amountwould depend upon the nature and type of disease aswell as the quality of treatment provided.
The court also noted thatcharges levied by such entities would depend on theavailable facilities.
The HC made the remarks while dismissing apetition seeking directionsto the Delhi government toissue a notifi��cation onbringing uniformity incharges levied by privatenursing homes and hospitals in the Capital.
“All private nursinghomes and hospitals cannot be equated with respectto the charges required tobe paid by the patients,” theHigh Court said.
The High Court furthernoted that the charges depend on promptness inproviding services, effi��ciency of staff�� and quality of services provided.
NGO Legal Forum forWomen Empowerment hadsought uniformity in charges, and also a mechanism tohelp the public lodge complaints or raise grievancesagainst any malpractice bysuch entities.
There can’t beuniformity inrates of privatenursing homes,hospitals: HC
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
Talk: Public Service Broadcasting Day– 2019 celebrations. On this day in1947 Gandhiji addressed more than 2lakh refugees at the KurukshetraCamp from Broadcasting House, NewDelhi. The event will begin with acommemoration choirs from schoolsof Delhi / NCR at Gandhi-King Me-morial Plaza; Usha Mehta's tryst withfreedom: Reliving the moments withRita Mukerjee, former Chief Producer,All India Radio at C.D. Deshmukh Aud-itorium; Discussion on Public ServiceBroadcasting and Speaking Truth toPower, a presentation by SuhasBorker, at India International Centre(IIC), 10:30 a.m. onwards.
Talk: 14th annual discussion on theState of Parliamentary Democracy inIndia. Discussants: Prof. SurinderSingh Jodhka, Professor, Centre forthe Study of Social Systems, JNU;Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, Senior As-sociate Editor, Frontline; and SitaramYechury, General Secretary, CPI-M atConference Room – I, IIC, 6:30 p.m.
Music: To celebrate the legacy ofBaba Guru Nanak Dev on his 550thbirth anniversary, Dr. Madan GopalSingh and Chaar Yaar present an en-semble of Odes to ecology, cosmosand the sheer diversity of life. Anevening of Kabir, Guru Nanak, GuruArjan, Tagore and many more at TheStein Auditorium, India HabitatCentre (IHC), 7 p.m.
Exhibition: “Live Unbound”, an artexhibition curated by SugandhaChagti at Modern Art Gallery, Chana-kyapuri, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
(Mail your listings for this columnat [email protected])
DELHI TODAY
Multiple Delhi Universitystudents’ groups, includingthe Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, National Students’ Union of India andothers on Monday protested the proposed construction of a 39storey buildingnear North Campus.
The protesters say thebuilding “would breach theprivacy of women’s hostelsin the vicinity and alter thecultural landscape of thearea”. A student who hadgone on a hunger strikecontinued his protest forthe second day.
The NSUI carried out a
march up to Vishwavidyalaya metro station. Thebuilding will end the dreamof creating a closed NorthCampus, said NSUI.
The Delhi University Students’ Union and the ABVPcarried out a rally from theFaculty of Arts to the construction site. ABVP Secretary Sidharth Yadav saidthe building was a “sordidepisode of legalised larceny, symbiotic corruptionand moral turpitude”.
He added that the members of the group would petition the North civic body,DMRC, the LG and the offi��cials of the Ministry of Defence to seek redressal.
DU students continuestir against high-rise Staff Reporter
New Delhi
Students of the School ofOpen Learning, Delhi University, protested outsidethe offi��ce of the Ministry ofHuman Resource Development on Monday.
They are demanding therollback of the Choice BasedCredit System, which theysaid was implemented hastily. The students were prot
esting under the banner ofKrantikari Yuva Sangathan.
The CBCS, which is already in place in for DU’s regular courses, was introducedfor correspondence coursesthis year. However, studentssaid that the SOL administration had implemented thesystem hastily.
“Many of the students donot know the syllabus andthe teachers are also unsure.
Exams are due next monthbut many of us have not received any study material.The lack of infrastructureand teaching support willlead to mass failure. It is criminal on the part of the university administration toplay with the future ofaround 1.5 lakh students,”stated the KYS. The studentshave demanded immediateintervention of the MHRD.
SOL students seek rollback of credit systemStaff Reporter
New Delhi
The IncomeTax Department on Monday surveyedonion traders in Delhi following reports of allegedhoarding of the bulb amidits skyrocketing prices.
IT sleuths checked theaccount books of somewholesale dealers againstphysical stocks of the commodity and its delivery tobuyers as part of a tax evasion investigation.
The department examining onion stocks as itsprice has shot up to ₹��100/kg. Some digital evidenceand incriminating documents were found duringinspections, they added.
I-T Departmentsurveys oniontraders in city Press Trust of India
new delhi
DELHI Timings
Tuesday, Nov. 12
RISE 06:41 SET 17:30
RISE 17:37 SET 06:11
Wednesday, Nov. 13
RISE 06:42 SET 17:29
RISE 18:15 SET 07:08
Thursday, Nov. 14
RISE 06:42 SET 17:29
RISE 18:59 SET 08:06
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THE HINDU DELHI
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CITY
Doctor assaulted bypatient’s family NEW DELHI
A resident doctor of
Safdarjung Hospital was
assaulted while on duty on
Sunday night by a few
relatives of a patient.
Following the incident, the
doctors threatened to go on
strike but were reassured of
support from the hospital
authorities after which they
resumed work. The doctors
said extreme pressure on the
hospital in terms of patient
flow is one of the prime
causes of these frequent
assaults.
IN BRIEF
Three men, two of thembrothers, were killed and onewas grievously injured whena truck rammed their cab inthe Okhla area of southeastDelhi, the police said onMonday.
The incident happenedaround 11 p.m. on Sunday.The truck driver suddenlyturned the vehicle on MaaAnand Mai Marg in OkhlaPhaseI and hit the cab coming from the opposite direction. Three of the cab occupants — Apoorv Sarkar (35),Sushankar Rai (42) and Siddhartha Rai (45) — died on thespot, while Roopam Mandal(43), a friend of Siddhartha,was admitted to a hospitalwith serious injuries, the police said. A PCR call was madeand a team reached the spot.They found that the truck hada Chhattisgarh registrationnumber and the cab bore anU.P. number plate. “Preliminary probe suggests that thetruck was coming from the
MehrauliBadarpur side andits driver negligently turnedtowards Okhla PhaseI, hitting a cab coming from theCrown Plaza side and movingtowards ESI Hospital,” saidChinmoy Biswal, DCP(SouthEast).
The car was crushed in thecollision. All the occupants ofthe car were taken to diff��erent hospitals, the DCP said.Sarkar from U.P.was drivingthe cab. He was declaredbrought dead at ESI Hospital.He was the brotherinlaw ofSushankar and Siddhartha, asenior offi��cer said. Siddhartha, who worked as a cabdriver, was declared brought
dead at AIIMS Trauma Centreafter being referred from ESIHospital.
Sushankar was declaredbrought dead at Apollo Hospital. He hailed from MP andused to do agricultural work.He had come to Delhi to meethis brother Siddhartha.
Mandal, an employee at aprivate fi��rm, has been movedto ICU at Max Hospital. Thetruck driver, Ram Rattan (32),was nabbed from the spot. Acase under Sections 279 (rashdriving) and 304A (causingdeath by negligence) of theIPC was registered at the Okhla Industrial Area police station, they said.
Three killed as truck
rams cab in OkhlaOne passenger hurt, truck driver booked for negligent driving
STAFF REPORTER
NEW DELHI
The truck and the cab at the accident spot. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
A oneyearold toddlercame under the wheels of awater tanker in Outer NorthDelhi’s Narela on Monday,the police said.
The driver, Neeraj, hasbeen arrested, they said.DCP (Outer North) GauravSharma said the incidentwas reported at 11 a.m. inNarela’s Pocket 8.
“On reaching the spot,the police were told that thetoddler had gone under theparked vehicle, which thedriver did not know. He reversed his vehicle and thechild came under thewheels,” he said.
The vehicle has beenseized. An offi��cer said aneighbour claimed that thedriver had earphones onwhile driving and hencecould not hear themscream. The body has beensent for postmortem and acase under Section 304A(causing death by negligence) of the IPC and relevant sections of Motor Vehicle Act has been registered.
Toddler comes
under water
tanker, dies;
driver arrested
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
Delhi Weather
Delhi City
Safdarjang
Palam
max
29
29
27
min
13
13
14
© Copyright Skymet Weather 2019
All rights reserved.
Delhi Palam Today28ºC Shallow fog/mist during cool morning is likely. Day will be slightly warm with sunny sky.
Delhi Palam Tomorrow 28ºC Dry weather with shallow fog/mist would persist during morning. Day will be slightly warm. A mainly clear sky.
Vendors to go on strikefrom tomorrowNEW DELHI
Street vendors from different
parts of Delhi, under the
banner of National
Association of Street Vendors
of India (NASVI), said they
will go on an indefinite strike
at the civic centre, starting
Wednesday, demanding
evictions be held off till
surveys of vendors are
completed.
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DELHI THE HINDU
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A ND-NDE
CITY
Setting the goals of enhancing liveability, economic activity and sustainability ofthe National Capital Region,the process of preparing a20year plan — the NCR Regional Plan 2041 — by September 2021 was kickstarted by the government hereon Monday.
Speaking at an inauguralconclave on NCR2041 by theNCR Planning Board(NCRPB), Union Housingand Urban Aff��airs MinistrySecretary Durga ShankerMishra said the regional planwould have to be drafted“keeping citizens at thecentre”. He added that improving the ranking of NCRcities on the ease of living index, boosting economic activity and opportunity, andfurthering sustainability,would be the focus of theplanning process.
Archana Agrawal, Member Secretary of the NCRPB,said the population of the
NCR, which comprises Delhi, 13 districts of Haryana,nine of Uttar Pradesh andtwo of Rajasthan, spread over 55,083 sqkm, was expected to increase from six crorenow to 11 crore in 2041.
Mr. Mishra added thatwith that population, theNCR would have a population similar to some countries like France and Italy.
The NCR Regional Plan2021, which was supposed toguide the development of
the region from 2001 till2021, was only notifi��ed in2005. When asked whetherthe 2041 plan would be ready in time, Mr. Mishra said itshould be. Ms. Agrawal saidthe target would be September 2041.
Taking a critical look atthe regional plan 2021, Mr.Mishra said many projections made in the plan hadnot come true and there wasa need to “diagnose” this.
Apart from boosting employment overall, Mr. Mishra said there was also aneed to integrate rural andurban sections of the NCR.He added that the concept ofa natural conservation zonethat was introduced in the2021 plan for the fi��rst timeneeded to be made moreeff��ective.
Starting the process ofcollecting public feedback,the NCRPB invited suggestions on what the planshould include via a form onits website, Ms. Agrawalsaid.
Centre begins work onNCR Regional Plan 2041 Improving rank of NCR on ease of living index will be priority
The population of NCR isexpected to increase from 6crore now to 11 crore in2041. * FILE PHOTO
Damini Nath
NEW DELHI
LieutenantGovernor AnilBaijal on Monday directedDelhi government offi��cialsto fi��rm up processes andmobilise adequate resources in a timebound mannerto provide ownership rightsto residents of close to2,000 unauthorised colonies in the Capital.
Mr. Baijal, the Raj Niwassaid in a statement, also directed that a digital surveyof these colonies be carriedout and their boundaries bedelineated to ensure thesmooth implementation ofthe PMUDAY (Unauthorized Colonies in Delhi AwasAdhikar Yojna) “in missionmode”.
The development comesin the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s felicitation by a delegation of residents and members ofresidents’ welfare associations from unauthorised colonies, on Friday, for his government’s move to conferon them ownership rights.They were also assured that
a Bill to this eff��ect would bepassed during the upcoming Winter Session ofParliament.
Review by L-GAt a meeting attended bythe Chief Secretary and offi��cials representing other departments concerned, Mr.Baijal reviewed the steps tobe taken with the objectiveof giving ownership, transfer and mortgage rights tothe residents of an estimated 1,797 such colonies, thestatement by Raj Niwas said.
The LG, according to thestatement, emphasised onaccess to social infrastructure and basic civic amenities for the residents ofthese colonies.
‘Implement PMUDAY in mission mode’
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Anil Baijal *
Firm up regularisationprocess, LG tells govt.
The Delhi Metro’s line utilisation fi��gures have seen asteady rise from 47.37 lakhper day in April to 54.26lakh per day in Septemberthis year, show data provided by the Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC).
Line utilisation is a concept used by the DMRC torecord a person’s commuteacross corridors as againstthe ridership fi��gures, whichcount a particular commuter once, irrespective of thenumber of lines used by thecommuter to travel to a particular destination.
Data provided by theDMRC show that while thedaily average line utilisationin May was 48.40 lakh, itwas 48.75 lakh in June. July,August and September sawa daily average of 51.73 lakh,52.47 lakh and 54.26 lakhrespectively.
DMRC offi��cials maintained that the increase inline utilisation is a result ofthe expanding metro network in the National CapitalRegion and refl��ects the“ease in commute” forpassengers.
“With the new enhancedreach and feasibility of travel by the metro in all directions of DelhiNCR after theopening of Phase III, the ridership fi��gure alone doesnot any more refl��ect howpopular the lines are amongusers. Rather, it is the utilisation of the lines by passengers which shows how themetro network is easing thecommuting experience for
those residing in DelhiNCR,” a DMRC offi��cial said.
With the completion ofPhase III, the DMRC network has expanded to over391km with 286 stationsacross DelhiNCR.
While stating that lineutilisation helps in recording how connectivity for aparticular commuter has“signifi��cantly gone up”, theDMRC offi��cial said: “Earlier,a passenger who lived inGTB Nagar and had to go toChirag Delhi for work had touse the Yellow Line [tillHauz Khas] and then usesome other mode of transport to reach offi��ce. However, now his entire journeycan be completed via themetro if he uses the Magenta Line to reach Chirag Delhiby interchanging trains atHauz Khas.”
“In this case, there is noincrease in ridership observed in the metro systembut defi��nitely the same passenger has benefi��ted a greatdeal and line utilisation ofthe metro has increasedfrom one [Yellow] to two[Yellow and Magenta],” theoffi��cial added.
DMRC line utilisationsees steady rise due to network expansionDaily fi��gure jumps from 47 lakh to 54 lakh
Shinjini Ghosh
NEW DELHI
The Aam Aadmi Party onMonday criticised the BJPand Congress on regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the city, sayingthat the Congress had distributed “false” provisionalcertifi��cates and now theBJP will distribute “false”numbers from a website.
AAP MP Sanjay Singhsaid that before the 2008election, Sheila Dikshit’sgovernment had distributed provisional certifi��catesto several unauthorised colonies. “At that time, it waspromised that after theelection, the colonies willbe registered. But the Congress failed to keep the promise,” he said.
“Now the BJPled Centralgovernment will open awebsite to fool people andthey will ask all to apply onthat website,” he added.
AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai, said, “As per sources, the BJP has no intentionof getting the registrationdone”
Regularisation:AAP slams BJP,Congress for‘fooling people’
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
The Delhi government onMonday asked the DelhiMetro Rail Corporation(DMRC) to expedite its decision on the appointment offour political nominees onits board while assertingthat the DMRC’s decision toseek legal opinion on thematter was “illegal”.
Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said the DMRCboard of directors had meton September 26 and tookseveral crucial decisions,passing them without anyrepresentation from theDelhi government whichhas 50% stake in the DMRC.
‘Decisions illegal’Such decisions, he alleged,were “illegal and voidable”.
“We came to know fromthe minutes of the boardmeeting held on September26 that the matter of Delhigovernment’s nomineeswas on the agenda but thedecision [their appointment] was deferred,” Mr.Gahlot said at a press conference.
The DMRC refused to
comment on the TransportMinister’s allegations.
In July, the Delhi government nominated AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Atishi in addition to DelhiDialogue and DevelopmentCommission (DDC) ViceChairman Jasmine Shahand Navin Gupta to the corporation’s board.
However, a decision ontheir appointment is yet tobe taken by the DMRC. Inthe meantime, the Housingand Urban Aff��airs Ministryobjected to the nominationof nonbureaucratic persons to the DMRC board.
In September, the HUAMinistry sought legal opinion on the Delhi government’s four “political”nominations, according tosources.
On Monday, Mr. Gahlotalleged that the DMRC seeking legal opinion on the Delhi government’s recommendation was “illegal.”
“I am writing to the Managing Director of theDMRC to expedite the decision and appoint the government nominees,” Mr.Gahlot added.
‘Name political nomineesfor metro board quickly’ Delhi government tells DMRC
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
In a suspected case of an accident, three persons, including a minor, were founddead near a drain in outerDelhi’s Nihal Vihar on Monday morning, the policesaid.
Additional DCP (Outer)Rajendra Singh Sagar saidthe victims — Harji (22), Kapil (15), and Vishaluddinalias Vishal (20) — are allfrom Nihal Vihar. The casecame to fore when at 8 a.m.,an ASI saw three persons lying dead near a sewageplant in Nihal Vihar. “A motorcycle was also found atthe spot in accidental condition,” he said.
The bodies were shiftedto Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.
“No other vehicle was
found involved in the accident. It appears that thetwowheeler was being driven at a high speed. There isa curve near the drain andthe driver might have lostcontrol of the vehicle,” Mr.Sagar said, adding that theincident is expected to havehappened post 12 a.m.
During probe, it wasfound that the bike belonged to Vishal. Kapil’smother told the police thathe had left home saying thathe was going out for dinnerwith friends. Harji workedat a cloth shop and Kapilwas a school dropout.
“A case under Sections279 (rash driving) and 304A(causing death by negligence) of the IPC has beenregistered and a probe isunder way,” the offi��cer said.
Three found dead insuspected accident caseStaff Reporter
New Delhi
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As many as 45 policemenwere suspended on Mondayfor giving illegal entry tooverloaded trucks on Mahatma Gandhi Setu whichconnects Patna to north Bihar.
Among the suspendedpolicemen are 32 constablesand 13 personnel of the rankof SubInspector and Assistant SubInspector.
Patna Superintendent ofPolice (Traffi��c) Amarkesh D.suspended the policemenafter getting reports of regular movement of overloadedtrucks and heavy vehicleson the dilapidated bridgebuilt over the Ganga.
Bridge under repairThe overloaded trucks weresaid to be crossing the 5.7kmlong bridge after allegedly greasing the palms of
policemen deputed there tocheck the movement of vehicles. The dilapidatedbridge, thirdlongest in India, is undergoing reconstruction and heavy vehicles are banned on it.
Recently, videos of policemen accepting moneyfrom truck drivers had goneviral on social media.
FIR lodged“We have been getting information for the past few daysthat there was movement of100150 heavy vehicles andoverloaded trucks on thebridge… so after inquiry wetook action and suspendedthe policemen postedthere,” said a senior policeoffi��cer at the State policeheadquarters.
“An FIR has also beenlodged against them and departmental action too willbe taken,” he added.
45 policemen suspendedfor dereliction of dutyIllegal entry of heavy trucks on bridge
Special Correspondent
Patna
Jailed Rashtriya Janata Dalsupremo Lalu Prasad’syounger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was at the receiving end of the Opposition ireon Monday after pictures ofhis 30th birthday celebration in a chartered planewent viral on social media.
In the pictures, Mr. Tejashwi is seen with his closeaides Sanjay Yadav and ManiYadav and Lalu Prasad’s associate Bhola Yadav. However, the day when and wherethese pictures were clickedis not yet known.
Lashing out at Mr. Tejashwi, Bihar BJP spokespersonNikhil Anand said: “Theseleaders were born with silver spoons, they not onlymake fun of the poor but arealso the black spots in thename of a political party.”
The RJD leader had on Sa
turday celebrated his birthday by planting 30 saplingsat his 1, Polo Road bungalowhere. He also cut a 30pound cake during thebash, which was attendedby senior RJD functionaries.
The RJD, however, defended Mr. Tejashwi. “TheOpposition parties are suffering from Tejashwiphobia.Why can’t a leader whotalks about the poor celebrate his birthday?” saidRJD spokesperson Mrityunjaya Tiwari.
Tejashwi draws fl��ak forbirthday bash in planeRJD defends Lalu’s younger son
Indo-Asian News Service
Patna
Tejashwi Yadav
Hundreds of migratorybirds of over a dozen species have been found deadin Sambhar Lake areanear Jaipur.
Water contamination issuspected to be the causebehind the birds’ death,said offi��cials, adding, theexact reason, however,would be clear only aftertesting their viscera.
The birds, numberingaround 1,500, were founddead on Sunday in an fi��veto seven square km areaaround the lake.
After receiving the information from local residents, a team of revenue,forest and veterinary offi��cials visited the area andfound around 1,500 carcasses of 15 species, including those of northernshovelers, ruddy shelduck, plovers, avocets andothers.
“Samples were collected by the veterinary teamand sent to the NationalInstitute of High SecurityAnimal Disease Centre,Bhopal. The result is expected in four to fi��vedays,” a Forest Department offi��cial said.
Carcasses have beendisposed and the area isbeing thoroughlycombed.
This is the second incident after a similar incident in Jodhpur’s Khinchan area, where 37demoiselle cranes werefound dead on Thursdaylast week.
Birds founddead inSambhar Lake
Press trust of india
Jaipur
Three labourers engaged indeepening a well died afterinhaling toxic gas emanatingfrom it in Rajasthan’s Barm
er district on Monday, policesaid. The incident occurredin Bansla village.
The labourers entered thewell one after the other andfell unconscious due to some
gas accumulated inside.They died soon after, saidPradeep Daga, a SubInspector posted at the Dhorimanapolice station.
The deceased were identi
fi��ed as Ram Chandra,47, hisnephew Prema Ram, 17, andNimbaram, 45. The postmortem examination wouldbe conducted by a medicalboard.
Three labourers die after inhaling toxic gasPress trust of india
Jaipur
The Neemuch police onMonday arrested two Rajputmen for allegedly thrashing aDalit youth for taking part ina rally calling for an end tocaste discrimination on November 3.
“While one of the accusedwas arrested earlier, anotheris absconding. We have declared a reward of ₹��5,000 foranyone informing the policeabout his whereabouts,” saidRakesh Kumar Sagar, districtSuperintendent of Police.
Although the incident occurred on the night of November 3, the day RahulMeghwal took part in a DalitSwabhiman rally (rally forselfrespect), he went to thepolice only on November 7.
“I was scared initially.They had threatened to killme if I fi��led a complaint,” Mr.Rahul, a resident of Ratadiyavillage, 15 km from Neemuch, told The Hindu. “Ihave never had to face even aslap. But that night, the fourmen, who were my friends,thrashed me on my backwith lathis.”
A Bachelor of Sciencegraduate, Mr. Rahul, 23, runsa news portal — Malwa 24News, and his coverage ofthe rally was well appreciated by members of his community.
While thrashing him at avillage on the outskirts ofNeemuch, the accused hurled casteist slurs on him andtold him: “Weren’t youjumping a lot in the rally?You don’t have the status tobe our equal. Don’t youknow about our clout in thisarea?”
At 8 p.m. on November 3,
Mr. Rahul was called to adhaba by his friend YogeshSingh, who was arrested onMonday.
There, he helped stop ascuffl��e between Kapil Meghwal, of his own village, andYogesh, who later asked for ajoyride on Mr. Rahul’s motorcycle, but fl��ed with it, according to the First Information Report.
Yogesh called him to theDushera ground, where,along with three others, hesnatched his two mobilephones when Mr. Rahul refused to give him Mr. Kapil’s
address. Then they forciblytook him to an empty spotnear a village.
“I shouted for help allalong the way,” said Mr. Rahul. “And there theythrashed me for hours.”
Then, Arjun Singh, alsoarrested, took out “something resembling a gun” andput it to his head, threatening to kill him if he went tothe police, said the FIR. Mr.Rahul returned home at 4.30a.m. the next day.
Father threatenedThe four also threatened Mr.Rahul’s father against fi��ling acomplaint. But as thingscame to a head on November 6 when they were threatened again, Mr. Rahul, district incharge of the BhimArmy, approached its Stateleadership.
“He was initially reluctantabout complaining againstupper caste men as they hadthreatened him. But we toldhim not to worry about consequences,” said Sunil Astay,State incharge, Bhim Army.“His own friends turned enemies when it came to caste.”
3 held for thrashing Dalit youthfor taking part in Swabhiman rally ‘Rahul Meghwal’s own friends turned enemies when it came to caste’
Sidharth Yadav
Bhopal
Members of Dalit groups taking part in the Swabhiman rally inNeemuch on November 3. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
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Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday made anaerial survey of the cyclonehit areas in West Bengal’sSouth 24 Parganas districtand held administrativemeetings at Kakdwip, where60,000 families had beenaff��ected, authorities said.
She assured the peopleaff��ected by Cyclone Bulbulthat the State governmentwould off��er compensationfor damaged houses andcrops.
“We will send a team ofexperts to assess the damage... Those whose betel nutcultivation or paddy cropshave been aff��ected will becompensated,” Ms. Banerjee told the people who mether in Kakdwip.
The Chief Minister saidthat 1.78 lakh people werestationed in relief centres orelse the causalities wouldhave been higher.
Ms. Banerjee said that 45lakh people had been aff��ected by the cyclone in the
South 24 Parganas districtalone.
Ms. Banerjee said oneperson, a fi��sherman, wasfound dead in the district after a trawler capsized.“Eight fi��shermen, who werein a trawler, are still missing.Fifteen have been rescued,”she said.
The Chief Minister metthe family members of Sk.Mubur Rehman, the fi��sherman whose body was recovered on Monday morning.
Bodies recovered
Later in the day, four morebodies were recovered bythe Indian Coast Guard.
The trawler had capsizednear Sagar on the evening ofNovember 9.
Cyclone Bulbul made alandfall between Sagar Island in South 24 Parganasand Khepupara in Bangladesh.
With fi��ve bodies of themissing fi��shermen, thedeath toll due to the cyclonehas increased from seven to12.
Mamata assures compensation
Special Correspondent
Kolkata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee meetingCyclone Bulbul victims in Kakdwip on Monday. * SUBHAM DUTTA
Death toll due to
Cyclone Bulbul rises
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The Maharashtra StateCommission forAgricultural Costs andPrices is planning to start adedicated communityradio channel to informfarmers about climatechange and help resolvetheir problems.
An expert panel on theradio channel will try toaddress the issues faced byfarmers, the commission’schairman Pasha Patel said,adding that necessarypermissions have beentaken to start the channelby the yearend. The radiostation will be based atLodaga village in Laturdistrict, he said.
“Climate change is amajor problem for theagriculture sector inMaharashtra as well as inthe country. Our State hasexperienced a moodyclimate in past fewmonths. We saw heavymonsoon rains in Satara
and Sangli and the postmonsoon showersdamaged crops inMarathwada region,” Mr.Patel said.
The radio channel willbroadcast discussions onclimate change andproblems related to it. Toaddress the issues ofcultivators, thecommission will form acommittee of fi��ve to sixmembers, comprisingexperts from Krishi VigyanKendras, the Stateagriculture departmentand private companiesworking in the fi��eld ofagriculture andtechnology, he said.
“We are in talks with aDelhibased company toset up the radio station atLodaga. We will study theproblems related toclimate change across theglobe and try to fi��nd asolution. Our team willmake sure that thesesolutions reach thefarmers,” he said.
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Radio channel toguide farmers onclimate change State panel to set up channel in Latur
Need of the hour: Heavy monsoon and postmonsoon rainhas damaged crops across the State this year. * FILE PHOTO
Press Trust of India
Aurangabad
At least seven people, including a child, were killedand three others injuredwhen their sports utilityvehicle (SUV) hit a stationary truck in Beed district onMonday morning.
The deceased also include two women, assistantinspector A. Pathan of thePatoda police station said.
Driver lost controlThe accident occurredaround 10 a.m. when thedriver of the SUV lost control over the wheel. Thevehicle hit a stationary truckon Manjursuba Road in Pa
toda tehsil, he said. All the victims were resi
dents of Vaidkini village inBeed. Around 12 people, including the driver, were inthe SUV when it met withthe accident.
Local residents laterrushed to the spot and tookthe occupants to a civil hospital in Beed, where sevenof them were declared deadby doctors, he said.
Three of the deceasedwere identifi��ed as VaijnathGyanoba Tandle, Balu Pandrinath Munde and Kesarbai Bansi Munde. The threeinjured persons were undergoing treatment at the civilhospital, he said.
Three other passengers injured
Press Trust of India
Beed
Seven killed as carhits truck in Beed
It was a day of hectic political negotiations for the ShivSena on Monday, though itdid not bear the result thesaff��ron party may have expected.
Almost every Sena leaderspent the day busy in meetings and discussions, racingthe 7.30 p.m. deadline set byGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari for the party to indicate its willingness andability to form a governmentin the State.
The day began with ShivSena MP and Union Ministerof Heavy Industries ArvindSawant announcing his resignation. He announced hisdecision through a tweetaround 7.30 a.m., and latersent a letter to this eff��ect toPrime Minister NarendraModi. The letter blamed theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)for going back on its promiseto share the chief minister’spost with the Sena and attempting to call Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray a liar bysaying this was never thedeal.
“That is why UddhavThackeray has decided notto stay with those not following the truth and promises. Idon’t think it will be rightand ethical to be a ministerhere,” Mr. Sawant said in hisletter.
‘BJP can’t blame us’As this development unfolded in Delhi, senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha memberSanjay Raut held a press conference around 10 a.m. inMumbai.
“The Governor has givenus 24 hours’ time while theBJP was given 72 hours. It isour responsibility to form agovernment, but when many people are taken together, it requires time. Some people are working to push thisState towards President’s
Rule. But we are trying untilthe last moment to give thisState a stable government.Had the Governor given usmore time, it would havebeen easier. But we are notcomplaining,” Mr. Raut said.
He asked how the BJPcould blame the Sena for notbeing able to form a government. “In fact, the BJP wasso determined not to sharethe CM’s post with us, as predecided, that it decided to sitin the Opposition. This isahankar (ego) and dwesh(hatred).”
He further said, “I appealto the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP):this is the moment to provethey will do what it takes tokeep the BJP out of power.The Shiv Sena is forming thegovernment, and the CM willbe from the Sena. We wantto build this government ona common minimum programme of farmers’ welfare,unemployment, infl��ation,education, health and development of the State. All pol
itical leaders need to cometogether to create a commonminimum programme.”
When asked about ideological diff��erences with thenonsaff��ron CongressNCP,the MP cited examples of theBJP and Mehbooba Mufti’sPDP aligning in Kashmir.“Forget that. These partiesare not seditious parties,they were formed on the Indian soil and have contributed to the country. We havehad diff��erences with the BJPalso.”
An editorial in Senamouthpiece Saamana onMonday praised Congressleader Rahul Gandhi for his“maturity” in welcoming theAyodhya verdict. “It wouldhave helped if political leaders like Asaduddin Owaisihad shown the same maturity,” it said.
Later in the day, the seniormost Sena leaders metat the Thackeray residence,Matoshree. At the sametime, party leaders Anil Desai and Mr. Sawant also met
senior Congress leaderAhmed Patel in New Delhi.
Talks with PawarMeanwhile, Mr. Thackerayand Mr. Raut met NCP chiefSharad Pawar at a fi��vestarhotel in Bandra. Mr. Raut became indisposed later in theday and could not be a partof further parleys.
Speaking during the day,Mr. Desai said, “The Governor has invited us, that iswhy we are going to meet thehim to stake a claim for government formation. Wehave 118120 [legislators].But a crucial meeting of theCongress is under way. Onthe face of it, we feel theCongress is positive.”
Another senior Sena leader, on condition of anonymity, said the Congress seemedto be divided on off��eringsupport to the saff��ron party.“That is why, today we areonly going to express abilityto form government whilerequesting for more time,”he said.
As they 7.30 p.m. deadline grew closer, the seniormost party leaders, including legislative party leaderEknath Shinde and WorliMLA Aaditya Thackeray,reached to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan.
Around the same time,the Sena legislators stayingin a Madh island resort started celebrating, shouting slogans hailing the party, itsfounder Bal Thackeray andUddhav Thackeray. They also distributed sweets andspoke to news channelsabout the late Sena founder’s dream of having a SenaCM being fulfi��lled.
‘Time not enough’Outside Raj Bhavan, however, Aaditya Thackeray announced that the Governorhad refused to grant the Sena an extension. He said theState deserves a stable government and a leadershipthat does not lie to the people. Senior Sena leaders saidthe party has the capabilityof providing that government, but the time given to itto complete the process wastoo less.
The Sena delegation hadinformed the Governor thatit had inprinciple support of162 MLAs, including those ofCongress, NCP and about 15Independents. The delegation included seven Independent MLAs. “If formed,this will be a government offarmers and labourers andthe chief minister will bewhoever Uddhav Thackeraywants to be,” said Independent MLA Bachhu Kadu.
Sena leader Anandrao Adsul said, “We have the support of 160 legislators butcould not produce letter ofsupport from the Congressand NCP.” He said the partywas confi��dent of proving ithad the numbers, soon.
“The time given to us isnot enough, but our claimstill stays,” Aaditya said.
Delhi to Mumbai, a roller coaster day for SenaWhile Governor refuses to grant extension to form government, party leaders say confi��dent of proving numbers
Tanvi Deshpande
Sharad Vyas
Mumbai
Day of parleys: Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar leaves a fi��ve star hotel inMumbai on Monday after meeting Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. * VIJAY BATE.
Within hours of the Maharashtra governor BhagatSingh Koshyari refusing togrant extra time to Shiv Senaafter it failed to submit ‘requisite letter of support,’ heinvited Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) which is thethird largest in the 288member Assembly to formthe government.
The call to the NCP alsomeans that the Governorwill not be able to recommend President’s Rule in theState until 8.30 p.m. onTuesday.
Earlier party chief spokesperson Nawab Maliksaid, “The NCP held meetings throughout the daykeeping an eye on the developments. As informed earlier, the NCP and Congresswhich fought the election inan alliance had agreed totake the decision of supporting the Sena together.”
In the 288member Assembly, the NCP has 54MLAs while its prepoll ally,the Congress, has 44. Senawon 56 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)emerged as the single largestparty winning 105 seats. TheBJP has already confi��rmedthat it will not form the government, following whichthe Sena was called and given 24 hours time.
On Tuesday, the NCP hascalled a meeting of its MLAsat 11 a.m. while senior Congress leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge and Ahmad Patelare likely to be in the Mumbai to hold talks with Mr. Pawar to discuss the futurecourse of action.
Cong. leadersfrom Delhi tohold talks withNCP in city
Alok Deshpande
Mumbai
CMYK
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DELHI THE HINDU
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 20198EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
SOUTH
Maradu apartments tobe razed in JanuaryKOCHI
The four flat complexes at
Maradu here, built in
violation of the Coastal Zone
Regulation norms, will be
razed in January. Alfa Serene
(in photo) and Holy Faith
H2O will be demolished on
January 11, followed by
Golden Kayaloram and Jain
Coral Cove the next day.
IN BRIEF
Rebel BJP leader RajuKage to join CongressBENGALURU
Rebel BJP leader Raju Kage is
set to join the Congress on
Wednesday. He said he would
contest from the Kagwad
constituency as the Congress
nominee. Mr. Kage had been
upset over the BJP’s plan to
field disqualified legislator
Shrimant Patil from Kagwad.
Missing A.P. girl’s bodyfound in gunny bagVIJAYAWADA
The body of the missing
seven-year-old girl was found
in a gunny sack in her
neighbour’s house at
Bhavanipuram, Vijayawada,
on Monday. Her neighbour,
Barlapudi Pentayya alias
Prakash, was arrested. The
motive for the murder was
not known, the police said.
She went missing on Sunday.
The National Commissionfor Scheduled Castes (NCSC)will seek clarifi��cations fromthe doctors who performedthe postmortem on two minor Dalit girls, who wereraped and later found deadunder “suspicious circumstances” in Walayar in Kerala, NCSC vicechairman L.Murugan said on Monday.
The acquittal of all the ac
Mr. Murugan said the policehad failed to properly investigate the case.
‘Will speak to doctors’“There were a lot of contradictions in the police probeand building up of the caseagainst the accused. TheNCSC will seek clarifi��cationsfrom the doctors who performed the postmortem onthe girls,” he said. The nexthearing is on November 21.
One girl was found hanging in January and the otherin March 2017. The postmortem reports suggested thatthey were sexually assaulted.
The police had arrestedfour people, charging themwith abetment to suicide andrape. The POCSO court inPalakkad, while acquittingthe accused, pulled up theinvestigating team, saying itdid not present enoughscientifi��c evidence.
cused by the POCSO courthad created a lot of angerand protests by political parties and NGOs. They allegedthat the Kerala police “deliberately did a bad investigation to help the accused”.
Talking to mediapersonshere after holding a personalhearing on the case with Kerala Principal Secretary (SC/ST development) A. Jayathilak and Addl. DGP (Law andOrder) Shaik Darvesh Saheb,
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
New Delhi
SC panel fi��nds lapses in Walayar probe
Playing pranks on unsuspecting people to record videos and upload them on social media turned out to becostly for a group of sevenyouth who were arrested bypolice here early on Monday. They were later let off��on bail with a warning.
A few passersby at SharifNagar, Yeshwanthpur, whowere shocked after seeing aman dressed like a ghost,alerted the police.
The police rushed to thespot and caught Shaan Malik, 20, Naveed, 20, Sajil Mohammed, 21, Sakib, 20, SyedNabil, 20, Yusif Ahmed, 20,all residents of RT Nagar,and Mohammed Ayub, 20, aresident of Nagawara, andbrought them to the policestation.
The accused were intomaking prank videos anduploading them on socialmedia for traction. As perthe plan, one of the accused,wearing a long white kurtaand a wig and splashing redpaint over the dress to makeit look like blood, startedscaring motorists, pedestrians and people sleepingon pavements, and created
panic for some time. Theyused to upload the videos onYouTube under the title‘Ghost Prank in Bengaluru’.
The accused are studyingengineering, BBM, and B.Scin city colleges.
They even tried to scarethe police personnel in muftiwithout realising that theyhad come to arrest them,said N. Shashikumar, DCP(North).
Let off�� with warningThe police questioned theaccused to ascertain theirmotive and later summonedtheir parents to the station.The accused were made to
give an undertaking and letoff�� with a stern warning.
A cab driver who wassleeping in his vehicle by thewayside told the police thathe was scared out of his witswhen the accused walked upto him. “I was in deep sleep.I had the shock of my lifewhen a scary man was banging on the window of the carand trying to open it,” he reported to the police.
Another man fell and sustained minor injuries whiletrying to run away from the“ghost”.
A senior police offi��cer haswarned people against recording such videos.
They used to dress up as ghosts and scare motorists
Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Joke is on you: A video grab shows a person dressed as aghost trying to scare a two-wheeler rider.
Seven students arrested inBengaluru for prank videos
Suranga Bawadi, an integralpart of the ancient Karez system of supplying waterthrough subterranean tunnels built during Adil Shahiera in Karnataka’s Vijayapura, is now set to get fundingfor restoration. A New Yorkbased NGO has included it inthe World Monument Watchlist for 2020 along with 24other monuments fromacross the world.
The monument has beenselected under the “AncientWater System of the DeccanPlateau” by the World Monuments Fund (the NGO),which monitors restorationof ancient monumentsacross the globe.
With this, the Suranga Bawadi is expected to get fundsfor restoration within thenext two years. The NGOwould also coordinate withthe authorities concernedfor restoration and create
awareness on itsimportance.
250 applicationsConfi��rming this to The Hin-du, Mehriz Khatib, functionary of the NGO here, saidthey had received about 250applications from across theworld. “The applicationswere sent in February thisyear. The NGO, after goingthrough all details to meetthe requirements, fi��nally selected 25, including the Suranga Bawadi,” he said.
Mr. Khatib said the WorldMonuments Fund works incollaboration with the localstakeholders, including thedistrict administration, theArchaeological Survey of India and local explorers of ancient monuments, in highlighting the need forrestoration of ancientmonuments.
“In this case, it will beworking on the ancient watersystem ‘Karez’ which is be
lieved to the one of the bestsystems in the world. But owing to lack of maintenance,the whole structure is in badcondition,” he said.
Though the Karez systemwas built in the 16th centuryby Ali Adil Shah–I, his successor, Ibrahim Adil Shah–II,brought in several changesby adding more structures tostrengthen it.
According to historians,the Adil Shahis built the magnifi��cent underground systemto supply water to the city,which had a population ofnearly 12 lakh then.
The move has come as ashot in the arm for conservationists. “We are happy thatat least some steps have beentaken. Hopefully, this willput pressure on the administration to grant adequatefunds and take up timely restoration of the structurewhich is in a bad shape now,”Abdul Ghani Imaratwale, ahistorian, said.
‘Suranga Bawadi’ enters World Monument Watch listThe water supply structure will now get funds for restoration
Ahead of times: According to historians, the Adil Shahis built the Karez underground water system in the 16th century to supply water to Vijayapura in Karnataka. * RAJENDRA SINGH HAJERI
Firoz Rozindar
Vijayapura
Former Prime Minister andJanata Dal (Secular) national president H.D. DeveGowda on Monday saidthat the party would fi��eldcandidates in all 15 Assembly constituencies inKarnataka that are going tobypolls, and that theywould give a tough fi��ght inat least six seats.
Speaking to reportershere, he said the partywould give a tough fi��ght intwo seats in Belagavi district and four in Old Mysore region. He also saidthat the JD(S) would contest bypolls without forgingan alliance with either theCongress or the BJP.
The B.S. Yediyurappaled government in theState is stable since it doesnot face a threat from theoutside, he said. He, however, added that the government may face serioustrouble because of internalconfl��icts within the BJP. Mr.Gowda said that the BJP government in the State wason safe ground since the JD(S) would not ally with theCongress because of previous bad experiences.
Holding former ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah responsible for the collapse ofthe CongressJD(S) coalition government in theState, Mr. Gowda said thatsome of the legislators whoresigned were close to him.The Congress high command’s decision to makeH.D. Kumaraswamy theChief Minister, without taking Mr. Siddaramaiah intoconfi��dence, was wrong.
“We have got enoughtime for the next Assemblyelections (more than threeyears), and I will touracross the State to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. I will not sacrifice the party’s interests forthe sake of alliances,” Mr.Gowda added.
We will give atough fi��ght in six seats,says Gowda
Staff Reporter
KALABURAGI
Online food delivery appSwiggy has denied negotiating with the city restaurantowners even after they hadlogged off�� from the onlineapp, demanding a reductionin the commission itcharged, said VijayawadaHotel Owners’ AssociationSecretary Sanjay Mehta Jain.
“The app is playing a divide and rule policy with therestaurants. They have beenapproaching those restaurants that have logged out ofthe app individually askingthem to provide their services. However, all of us standfi��rm on our proposition,”said Mr. Jain.
Such a move came afterthe Association, at a pressconference held last week,had decided to impose an indefi��nite ban on Swiggy, Zomato and Uber Eats sayingthe online food deliveryapps had increased theircommission rates from 18 to25% on the orders. This hascompunded the hoteliers’burden in the face of risingcost of ingredients andoperations.
“We want the apps to reduce the commission to 15%.Ever since their hold has become stronger in the citysince last year, they havebeen increasing the commission rates gradually,” the association said.
“We will also ban the useof both Zomato and UberEats if they do not negotiatewith us. While Zomato is yetto reply, Uber Eats had communicated that they wereready to negotiate with us,”he said.
Delivery boys in a limboThe Association has 240 restaurants as members, andabout 270 other restaurantsin the city have extendedtheir support over the issue.
The faceoff�� between theAssociation and the aggregator has left the deliverypartners in a limbo as mostof them claimed to be fulltime partners of the food delivery apps.
Swiggy denies charges of secret parleys with restaurants
Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA
Ban on food apps: hoteliersfi��rm on commission cut
Bidar, a town in northeastern Karnataka, holds a special place in the history ofthe Sikh faith as it is connected to the life of Guru Nanakand a few other religiousfi��gures.
As the faithful celebratePrakash Purab, the 550thbirth anniversary of GuruNanak on Tuesday, Bidartown is marking the eventwith special fervour, underthe aegis of the the Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee and the Guru NanakFoundation.
Guru Nanak is believed tohave visited Bidar during the‘dakshinapatha’ or hissouthern sojourn. Legendhas it that he stopped in thehilly town of Bidar while re
turning from Sri Lanka in1512. The people of theparched land asked him forwater and he moved a stonewith his toe and an eternalspring came alive there. Thespring (jhira) that bears hisname still exists in the town
near Gurudwara Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib.
The main Prakash Purabevents in Bidar, which beganon November 9 and will culminate on Tuesday, are being held at the GurudwaraGuru Nanak Jhira in Guru
Nagar. The events includeprayers, sermons, mass singing, processions and demonstrations of martial arts.
As a precursor to the festival, a panIndia rally washeld from June to October. Ateam of around 100 devoteestravelled to all places associated with the life of GuruNanak and other places ofreligious importance. Theycarried copies of the GuruGranth Sahib from the Gurudwara Huzur Sahib inNanded and held meetingswith the youth to createawareness about Guru Nanak’s philosophy.
The Prabhandak committee said lakhs had visited Bidar since November 9, coming in from various Statesand Punjab, besides international destinations.
Bidar holds special place for Sikhs Founder of Sikhism is said to have visited here during his ‘dakshinapatha’
Devotees attend the 550th birth anniversary celebrations ofGuru Nanak in Bidar on Monday. * GOPICHAND T.
Rishikesh Bahadur Desai
Bidar
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddyon Monday defended theState government’s decisionto convert all governmentschools into Englishmedium schools from the next
academic year. He asked VicePresident
M. Venkaiah Naidu, TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Jana SenaParty chief Pawan Kalyan —who criticised the move — to“introspect” and tell peoplewhether their children/grandchildren were studyingin Telugu medium schools.
Mr. Reddy said educationin English was the right of allsections. The government is
sued the GO with the objective of fulfi��lling the aspirations of the poor whowanted to send their children to English mediumschools.
Telugu compulsoryEnglish was necessary if “ourchildren” wanted to compete and excel, but leaderssuch as Mr. Venkaiah Naidu,Mr. Chandrababu Naidu andMr. Pawan Kalyan had fault
ed the decision. A few vernacular dailies too had beenharsh in their criticism, hesaid. Lashing out at the JSPchief, the Chief Ministersaid, “Mr. Pawan Kalyan hasfour or fi��ve children. Inwhich medium of instruction are they studying?”
“Though the medium ofinstruction will be English,Telugu or Urdu will be acompulsory subject in all government schools,” he said.
Jagan defends English medium move A.P. CM lashes outat Naidu, Pawanfor criticism Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA
Passengers on the Lingampally to Falaknuma train inHyderabad had a miraculousescape on Monday morningas their train collided headon with the Secunderabadbound Hundry Express justoutside the Kachegudastation.
The MMTS (MultiModalTransport System) train toFalaknuma was moving fromPlatform No.2 to the mainline when it crashed into theengine of the incoming trainbound towards PlatformNo.4.
In the impact, fi��ve compartments of the MMTS trainand three of the Expresstrain, including the dieselengine were derailed.
A more serious incidentwas averted as the local trainwas yet to pick up speedwhile the oncoming Expresshad slowed down at the station.
“We felt a big jolt and loudnoise. Passengers in the forward carriages were screaming as a few were thrown outand others managed to jumpout,” said RPF Home GuardM.R.L. Reddy, who was deployed in the ladies coach ofthe MMTS train.
“I was sitting next to a
window and jumped out intime but a man next to mewas injured as he wasthrown into the oppositeseat,” said Saketh, a studentfrom Falaknuma.
Probe ordered“We suspect the loco pilot ofMMTS overshot the signaland left the platform andeven after noticing the oncoming train, he did notmanage to apply the brakes,”said a SCR offi��cial.
Ram Kripal, Commissioner Railway Safety, SouthernCentral CircleSecunderabad, will conduct an inquiry.
“The Ministry of Railwayshas taken today’s accidentvery seriously. Member(Traction), Additional Member (Signal & Telecom) andED, Safety, Railway Board,will visit the site. Ex gratiawill be disbursed to the injured passengers at the rateof ₹��5,000 to those with minor injuries and ₹��25,000 to
passengers having grievousinjuries,” said an offi��cialrelease.
Railway Minister PiyushGoyal tweeted: “Receivedthe tragic news of the trainaccident in Hyderabad & immediate instructions havebeen given to the authoritiesfor assistance & monitoring.Railway administration is extending assistance & havemade arrangements for thetreatment of the injured atthe accident site.”
Narrow escape for passengersEight coaches, diesel engine of express train derail after Hyderabad collision
V. Geetanath
Abhinay Deshpande
HYDERABAD
Mega eff��ort: The loco driver being brought out of the mangled MMTS coach by the Railway and NDRF personnel after an eight-hour-long operation. * K.V.S. GIRI
Nagaland has undertaken anexercise to cleanse theeducation system of proxyteachers “appointed” byregular employees, in orderto avoid working out of theircomfort zones.
The crackdown beganwith the State’s Directorateof School Educationordering 16 teachers to jointheir places of posting inKiphire district, borderingMyanmar, on Monday.
To send photosTo ensure that theseteachers do not go back to
their old ways of letting asubstitute teach on theirbehalf, the directorate askedthem to email theirphotographs with the schoolbuilding in the backgroundas well as photographs whiletaking classes every dayfrom November 11 to the endof the academic session thisyear.
“The reforms in theeducation sector have begunin earnest with inspection ofschools,” said MmhonlumoKikon, BJP legislator andState government’s adviserfor IT, Science andTechnology.
The crackdown started
from November 4 to 7 withMr. Shanavas undertakingschool inspections inKiphire district. He found 16teachers absent with proxiesteaching on their behalf.
“We don’t have data onhow many proxy teachersare working but thesituation is grave,” Mr.Shanavas told The Hindu.
He said district educationoffi��cials had been asked tosurvey the schools in theirareas to purge the system ofproxy teachers, many ofwhom are not qualifi��ed toteach.
Investigations by NGOshad revealed that regularteachers paid their proxies afraction of their salarieswhile staying at home inurban centres or villages in adiff��erent district andpursuing other vocations.
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Nagaland cracks down on proxy teachers
Rahul Karmakar
Guwahati
Regular employees pay them a fraction of their salary to teach on their behalf
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THE HINDU DELHI
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2019 9EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
NATION
Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday
Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)
Forecast for Tuesday: Minimum temperature very likely to fallover northwest, east and adjoining central India by 23°C duringthe next 2 days. Shallow to moderate fog very likely over northeast India during the next 2 days. In association with an activeeasterly wave, isolated to scattered rainfall with isolated heavyfalls is likely over south Peninsular India.
city rain max min city rain max min
Agartala........... 27.9....25.0....21.0 Kozhikode................. 5.2....33.0....24.0
Ahmedabad...........—....33.0....23.0 Kurnool .......................—....33.0....21.0
Aizawl................ 2.0....26.0....15.0 Lucknow......................—....30.0....15.0
Allahabad..............—....32.0....16.0 Madurai .......................—....33.0....25.0
Bengaluru .............—....29.0....20.0 Mangaluru .............. 87.0....31.0....23.0
Bhopal ..................—....29.0....17.0 Mumbai .......................—....33.0....23.0
Bhubaneswar.........—....32.0....21.0 Mysuru ..................... 1.0....28.0....19.0
Chandigarh ...........—....25.0....14.0 New Delhi ...................—....29.0....13.0
Chennai ................—....33.0....25.0 Patna ..........................—....31.0....21.0
Coimbatore ........ 5.6....33.0....23.0 Port Blair.....................—....31.0....24.0
Dehradun ..............—....26.0....11.0 Puducherry ..................—....33.0....23.0
Gangtok................—....17.0....11.0 Pune............................—....31.0....17.0
Goa.......................—....32.0....23.0 Raipur .........................—....31.0....20.0
Guwahati ........... 0.3....29.0....20.0 Ranchi .........................—....27.0....16.0
Hubballi ................—....29.0....19.0 Shillong.................... 1.0....22.0....12.0
Hyderabad ............—....31.0....19.0 Shimla.........................—....18.0......9.0
Imphal ............. 12.4....25.0....16.0 Srinagar.......................—......6.0......0.0
Jaipur ...................—....30.0....19.0 Thiruvananthapuram...... 1.0....33.0....24.0
Kochi ............... 12.3....32.0....24.0 Tiruchi.........................—....34.0....25.0
Kohima .............. 9.2....22.0....12.0 Vijayawada ..................—....33.0....23.0
Kolkata .................—....30.0....21.0 Visakhapatnam .............—....33.0....25.0
(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)
Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday
CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE
In observation made at 4.00p.m., Panipat, Haryana,recorded an overall airquality index (AQI) score of425 indicating a severe levelof pollution. In contrast,Guwahati, Assam recorded ahealthy AQI score of 27.
Ahmedabad..... ..— 189 51 ..163 .135 ....*
Bengaluru ....... ..5 .64 90 ..174 .120 ....*
Chennai .......... 14 .15 47 ..226 .....— ....*
Delhi .............. ..8 .38 71 ..410 .335 ....*
Hyderabad ...... ..5 .43 34 ..149 .113 ....*
Kolkata........... ..7 .40 21 ....46 ...76 ....*
Lucknow ......... ..2 .25 38 ..350 .....— ....*
Mumbai .......... ..7 .99 38 ..134 .126 ....*
Pune............... 79 .11 64 ....82 ...72 ....*
Visakhapatnam ..— ...— 55 ..... — .....— ....—
Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)
SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,
making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air
particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues
and monuments.
NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by
reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.
CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to
critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause
dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.
PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,
nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced
lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature
death in people with heart or lung disease
Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar was rushed to theBreach Candy Hospital earlyon Monday after she complained of diffi��culty inbreathing. A source saidthat she was brought to thehospital at around 1.30 amwith acute breathlessnessand was admitted to theICU. Her physician, Dr. Pratit Samdani said that hercondition was critical butshe was showing signs of improvement. “She has developed pneumonia and a leftventricular failure”, Dr.Samdani told The Hindu.
The 90yearold singerhad taken to the social media on Sunday to wish goodluck to Padmani Kolhapure
for her role in the upcomingfi��lm Panipat. Sources saidthat she was conscious andresponding to commands.
Her family members saidthat she was stable and recovering. “Didi is stable andon the path of recovery bygods grace. Please pray andsend your good wishes,”said a family member.
Lata MangeshkarhospitalisedHer condition is critical, doctors say
Jyoti Shelar
Mumbai
Lata Mangeshkar
Nearly 70 entities have come under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the money launderinginvestigation into the J&K Bankrelated cases registered by the AntiCorruption Branch (ACB) of theJammu and Kashmir government.
The primary allegation beingprobed is the diversion of fundsreceived from the bank in theform of credit facilities throughthese entities, which include companies that received loans. Theagency suspects that several ofthese companies were incorporated solely for the purpose of money laundering and they were later shut down after routing thefunds.
Two of the cases being investigated by the ED are related to agroup whose two companies aresaid to be involved in a bank fraudinvolving over ₹��300 crore.
One of the fi��rms did not pay upthe outstanding amount and theloan amount became nonperforming asset (NPA) and the issue wassubsequently settled in its favourthrough a onetime settlement, allegedly as part of a conspiracy withbank offi��cials.
In another case, the ACB allegesfraud involving ₹��1,124 crore.
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
The ED suspects that severalcompanies were incorporated onlyfor laundering money.
J&K Bank fraud case: 70entities under ED scanner
U.K.’s Prince Charles tovisit India this week NEW DELHI
Britain’s Prince Charles will
arrive in India on Wednesday
on a twoday trip that will
have a packed schedule,
including a meeting with
President Ram Nath Kovind,
discussions on issues like
climate change and
sustainable finance, and a
visit to a gurdwara to mark
the 550th birth anniversary of
Guru Nanak. PTI
Six infants in Odisha dieof respiratory infectionBERHAMPUR
Six infants have died of
respiratory infections in
Tamanapalli village of
Odisha’s Malkangiri district in
the last 27 days and seven
others remain sick. Chief
District Medical Officer Dr.
Ajay Kumar Baitharu said viral
infectionlike influenza may
be a major reason behind the
acute respiratory infection.
Court seeks details ofconsular access to MichelNEW DELHI
A special court told the Tihar
jail authorities to furnish
records of the meeting of the
British High Commission
officials with the VVIP
chopper case accused
Christian Michel, on an
application by him that CBI
and ED officials tried to
interfere in the meeting.
Thousands of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University,led by members of the Students’ Union, on Mondayprotested outside the All India Council For TechnicalEducation (AICTE) auditorium even as VicePresident ofIndia Venkaiah Naidu andUnion Minister for HumanResource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’were guests at University’sthird convocation.
The students are demanding a withdrawal of the drafthostel manual and the proposed hike in the hostel feessince October 28 and allegedthat ViceChancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar has not responded to their demands.
The agitated studentsbroke through barricades setup at the campus gates aswell as barricades on Nelson
Mandela Marg by midmorning and moved towards theconvocation venue, some 3km from the campus. Asprotesters clashed with thepolice manning the barricades, the latter used watercannons to disperse the
crowd.While Mr. Naidu left the
venue after the convocationjust before the protestors arrived, Mr. Pokhriyal wasstuck inside for over sixhours forcing him to canceltwo scheduled events. The
minister was able to leavethe premises only around4.15 p.m. after having a meeting with the protesters.
Though he assured thestudents that his Ministrywould look into their demands, the students were
not persuaded as the JNUViceChancellor had refusedto meet them.
In a statement on the protests, the Registrar of JNUsaid, “It is unfortunate thatinstead of participating in aconstructive dialogue forwhich the administration isalways open and has madeseveral attempts for conducting discussions, the protesting students are persistentlystaging strikes, and demonstrations and causing administrative shutdown and academic loss.”
‘Unable to meet V-C’President of the JNUSU AisheGhosh said the VC was destroying the university andthat several attempts to meethim were not successful ashe did not want to have a dialogue. “The Union Ministerhas assured us that he will instruct the VC to have a dia
logue with us and we hopethat the upcoming executivecouncil meeting will not passthe draft hostel manual,” Ms.Ghosh said.
The JNUSU said the University faces an unprecedented crisis with an overwhelming number of itsstudents facing a threat totheir academic future as amajority come from the mostmarginalised backgroundsand would not be able tocontinue their studies withthe fee hike.
The Union also took onthe Delhi Police for “resorting to unprovoked violenceon the students and usingwater canons. A Delhi policeoffi��cer, however, said, “Wetried to get the students andVC to talk but the VC refused. We then set up a meeting with the Union HRD Minister. The students thendispersed peacefully.”
JNU students protest fee hike, clash with policeThey are also seeking the withdrawal of a draft hostel manual; HRD Minister stuck at convocation venue for over six hoursSpecial Correspondent
NEW DELHI
High drama: Police personnel using water cannon to disperse students protesting against theJNU administration's 'antistudents' policies on Monday. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Union Water ResourcesMinistry has fi��nalised a committee to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP). It willbe chaired by Mihir Shah,who is a former PlanningCommission member and awater expert. The committee has 10 principal members, including Shashi Shekhar, a former secretary ofWater Resources, and A.B.Pandya, former chairman ofthe Central Ground WaterBoard.
The committee is expected to produce a report within six months.
In September, Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said thatthe Centre was planning toupdate the NWP and makekey changes in water gover
nance structure and regulatory framework. A NationalBureau of Water Use Effi��ciency was also on the cards,he said.
The NWP currently inforce was drafted in 2012.Among the major innovations in the 2012 policy wasthe concept of an IntegratedWater Resources Management approach that took the“river basin/ subbasin” as aunit for planning, development and management ofwater resources.
It also proposed that a
portion of river fl��ows oughtto be kept aside to meet ecological needs. Such an approach led to the government, in 2018, requiringminimum water levels to bemaintained in the Ganga allthrough the year and hydropower projects to refrainfrom hoarding water beyonda point. That policy alsostressed for a minimumquantity of potable water foressential health and hygieneto all its citizens to be madeavailable within easy reachof households.
Centre forms committee to draft new water policyIt is expected tosubmit its reportwithin six months
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
The policy currently in force prescribes minimum water fl��owlevel for rivers to meet ecological needs. * R. ASHOK
Anaemia among men in India is an important publichealth problem with Statelevel prevalence in men varying from 9.2% (average of7.7%10.9%) in Manipur to32.9% (average of 31%34.7%) in Bihar, revealed astudy titled ‘Anaemiaamong men in India: A nationally representativecrosssectional study’ published in Lancet Global
Health recently.The report noted that
while studies on anaemia inIndia have mostly focusedon women and children,men have received far lessattention.
The study is aimed to determine the national prevalence of anaemia amongmen in India; variation inprevalence of anaemiaacross States by sociodemographic characteristics;whether these geographicaland sociodemographic va
riations are similar to thatamong women and to inform whether anaemia reduction eff��orts for menshould be coupled with existing eff��orts for women.
“In men, the prevalenceof any anaemia was 23.2%,moderate or severe anaemiawas 5.1%, and severe anaemia was 0.5%. An estimated21.7% of men with any degree of anaemia had moderate or severe anaemia compared with 53.2% of womenwith any anaemia,” notedthe study.
Anaemia among men a major public health issue At least 23.2% men aff��ected, fi��nds study
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
NEW DELHI
Populationbased studies onanaemia have largelyfocused on women so far.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday exuded confi��dence that India willemerge as a net innovator and net exporter of defence technologies, rather than anet importer, as the Ministry announcedmeasures to expand the Innovations forDefence Excellence (iDEX) initiative,which is meant to encourage startups indefence.
“I am pretty confi��dent that we can become a $10 trillion economy in the next 1015 years,” Mr. Singh said at ‘DefConnect’,organised by the Ministry.
Subhash Chandra, Secretary, DefenceProduction, said the aim was to fund 250startups and achieve 50 tangible innovations in the next fi��ve years. “The MoD is inthe process of seeking approvals of ₹��500crore for the purpose,” he said.
‘India will be netinnovator, exporter ofdefence technology’
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
101st anniversary ofWWI armistice observedPUDUCHERRY
Puducherry joined the global
observance of the 101st
anniversary of the end of
World War I. French Consul
General Catherine Suard led
the dignitaries in paying
homage at the Monument
aux Morts (French War
Memorial) on Moonday.
IN BRIEF
Woman’s legs crushed byspeeding truckCOIMBATORE
A woman’s legs were crushed
by a speeding truck when she
fell off her scooter after an
AIADMK flagpost erected on
the side of Avinashi Road in
Coimbatore tilted towards her
on Monday morning. The
victim, N. Rajeswari, 30,
worked in the accounts
section of a hotel.
After the verdictIt wouldn’t be anunderstatement to say thatthe verdict has left theConstitution defi��led anddefaced. It is true that it hasput an end to a decadesolddispute but, in the process,the Supreme Court has alsoput an end to manyprecious constitutionalvalues like neutrality andsecularism. It is mostastonishing that the apexcourt, being a neutralinstitution, has gone to theextent of directing theCentre to construct a Hindutemple in a place whereHindus and Muslims hadonce worshipped. Thecourt has issued thisdirection despite fi��ndingthat there was no proofwhatsoever that there was aHindu temple on which theBabri Masjid was built.Having condemned in nouncertain terms theHindutva forces for their
role in planting the idolsand demolishing themosque, the court bentover backwards to rewardthe perpetrators, instead ofpunishing them. Further,the unanimous nature ofthe judgment has surprisedeveryone (Editorial, “Peaceand justice,” Nov. 11).N.G.R. Prasad,
K.K. Ram Siddhartha,
Chennai
■ Thank god, the ongoingstruggle between the Hindusand the Muslims on who isentitled to construct atemple or build a mosque atthe disputed site has come toan end. The Supreme Courthas delivered its judgmentmuch to the relief of allparties. The Waqf Board hasagreed to respect the verdict.But I feel that this politicalwrangle could have beenresolved much earlier. Hadthe Supreme Court appliedits mind even more seriously,
it could have delivered thesame judgment earlier.Mani Natarajan,
Chennai
■ A unanimous 1,045pagedecision given by a fi��vejudgeConstitution Bench followinga 40day hearing is legallytoo complex for a laypersonto critically evaluate. The layquestion, rather concern,that one has is: if all otherfacts, evidence andarguments were the same,but the mosque still stoodunharmed, would theSupreme Court have stillarrived at the same decision,and ordered the destructionof the Babri Masjid forbuilding a temple? This isone question the judges mustplace to their moral andjudicial conscience, for it isthey who have held thedestruction of the mosque in1992 as an illegal act.P. Datta,
Kolkata
■ It is easy to pore over theverdict with a critical lensand indict it by applying theyardstick of loftyabstractions (Editorial page,“A reward for ‘egregious'violations’,” Nov. 11 ). Bymaking it appear asfavouring one party over theother, the article seems tohave ignored the enormity ofthe judicial task of trying toadjudicate on a faithbaseddispute which the nation’spolitical class, cultural elitesand the society at large failedto resolve out of court. Givena chance, the Supreme Courtwould prefer to stay awayfrom pronouncing onmatters of faith. Havingforsaken the spirit ofcompromise as a guidingforce to settle faithrelateddisputes, the society cannotexpect the judiciary to comeup with miraculoussolutions. It serves nobody’sinterest to continue to stokethe fl��ames of bitterness in a
phases and brooked nointerference in that. Third,he made it clear that the CECwould decide on theparamilitary forces and localpolice required for theconduct of elections and ifthey were not provided,there would be no election.One of his important reformswas given up later. Heintroduced the practice ofmixing up the ballot papersbefore counting so that noone could know which areafetched a particular numberof votes for any party. If thisreform is revived, and themachines are pooled andthen counted, secrecy in theprocess will be ensured(News page, “The man whocleaned up the Indianelectoral system,” Nov. 11).S. Pushpavanam,
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu
confl��ictweary society.V.N. Mukundarajan,
Thiruvananthapuram
Seshan’s legacyT.N. Seshan’s life is a greatbook that will teach anyonehow to be principled,focused on objectives anduncompromising even intrying circumstances. Thefact that every politician hadcriticised him at one point orother testifi��es to hisneutrality. He became amiddleclass hero across thenation in the 1990s.Unfortunately, his eff��orts tomobilise that support into amovement did not yieldfruits. He let people knowfi��rmly that he was aconstitutional authority andwas Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC), India,and not CEC, government ofIndia. Second, he assertedthat the ElectionCommission would fi��x thedates and the number of
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
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DELHI THE HINDU
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CMYK
A ND-NDE
EDITORIAL
The judgment in the hotlycontested property disputeof Ayodhya has fi��nally been
delivered by a fi��vejudge SupremeCourt Bench. Though our judgesdo take an oath to decide on caseswithout fear or favour, in whatlooks to be an unprecedented act,the judge who authored this verdict preferred not to reveal hisname. Even the author of the 116page addendum has strangely kepthis name secret.
Though the apex court accepted that a wrong had been donewhen the Babri Masjid was desecrated in 1949 through installationof idols and also held that the demolition of the mosque in 1992was illegal, in the fi��nal order, it hadto give the entire disputed site tothe Hindu plaintiff��s though law ofequity says that one who seeksequity must come with cleanhands.
Peace and tranquillityIn paragraph 799, the court explicitly said that “even as a matter ofmaintaining public peace andtranquillity, the solution whichcommended itself to the [Allahabad] High Court [division of theproperty into three parts] is notfeasible. The disputed site measures all of 1500 square yards. Dividing the land will not subservethe interest of either of the partiesor secure a lasting sense of peaceand tranquillity.” This was, thus,
the central concern of the court inthis historic dispute.
The defenders of the rule of law,minority rights and secularism ingeneral and Muslims in particularneed not feel disappointed withthis judgment though it is true thatthe court, after correctly spellingout the law, wrongly applied themto facts. Here, we will examine theseveral positive fi��ndings and observations of the court that mustbe welcomed and appreciated,which will help us retain our otherwise shaken confi��dence in themajesty of law.
Since there is worry about theVishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)’sclaim in respect of 3,000 othermosques, the court yet again reiterated that secularism is part ofthe basic structure of the Constitution and that the Places of WorshipAct, 1991, protects and securesfundamental values of the Constitution. It went on to say that, “ThePlaces of Worship Act imposes anonderogable obligation towardsenforcing our commitment to secularism under Indian Constitution... [the Act] is thus a legislativeintervention which preserves nonretrogression as an essential feature of our secular values.” This assurance by the court must put allapprehensions to rest.
Second, on the topic of freedomof religion under Article 25, thecourt categorically made a highlyappreciable observation that “wemust fi��rmly reject any attempt tolead the court to interpret religious doctrine in an absolute andextreme form and question thefaith of worshippers. Nothingwould be as destructive of the values underlying Article 25...” Accordingly, the argument put forward by some Hindus that the
Babri Masjid as per Islamic theology was not a legitimate mosquewas rejected. “Faith is a matter forthe individual believer,” said thecourt.
Third, the court accepted theSunni Waqf Board’s plea that theplace of Lord Ram’s birth is not initself a juristic person. This is a major setback to the Ram Lalla suitand will, in fact, avoid several future religious confl��icts. The courtsaid that conferral of such a rightwill impinge on the rights of people of other faiths. In Para 201, thecourt observed that “the purposefor which juristic personality isconferred cannot be evolved into aTrojan horse that permits, on thebasis of religious faith and belief,the extinguishing of all competingproprietary claims over property...” It said that a method of off��ering worship unique to one religioncannot result in conferral of an absolute title. In other words, thecourt made it clear that it couldnot accord primacy of one faith over others. This should really bemusic to the ears of proponents ofmulticulturalism who are everyday feeling the heat of aggressivemajoritarianism.
Fourth, the court categoricallyaccepted the central argument ofthe Muslim plaintiff��s that the mosque was not constructed after thedemolition of a Ram temple. Thecourt has also said that the Archae
ological Survey of India (ASI)’s report had not found any evidenceof demolition of a temple to construct the mosque. It pointed outthat the ASI’s fi��ndings had an intervening gap of four centuries. Thus,the Hindu right’s primary narrative has been clearly rejected.
No evidence on pillarsFifth, the court also said that asper the ASI report, remnants of apreexisting structure were notused for the construction of themosque. Interestingly, even aboutthe black kasauti stone pillars, thecourt held that ASI in fact foundno evidence to show that the pillars were relatable to the underlying pillar bases found during theexcavation.
Sixth, the argument of the Muslim plaintiff��s that a title cannot bedecided solely on the basis of faithor archaeological fi��ndings too hasbeen accepted and this is not asmall victory and will be of greatuse in future disputes.
Seventh, the Muslim plaintiff��s’argument that title of propertycannot be decided on the basis oftravellers’ accounts was also accepted and the court rightly saidthat some portions of these accounts, including one by the 18thcentury Austrian missionary, Joseph Tieff��enthaler, were based onhearsay. Ideally, the court shouldhave totally rejected Tieff��enthaler’s writings, which have many inaccurate descriptions. Even aboutthe Babri mosque, he said that Aurangzeb constructed it.
Eighth, the court also acceptedthat there is no historical recordprior to the 18th century thattalked of the demolition of a Ramtemple prior to the construction ofthe Babri mosque. The court not
ed the evidence of Hindu witnesses who testifi��ed that there is nomention of Ram’s birthplace either in Valmiki’s Ramayana or Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas.
This seems to be the most controversial part of the verdict as thecourt used freedom of religiousfaith to uphold the Hindu casewhen it said that “whether a beliefis justifi��ed lies beyond [the] ken ofjudicial scrutiny.” It went on tohold that “once the witnesses havedeposed to the basis of the beliefand there is nothing to doubt itsgenuineness, it is not open to thecourt to question the basis of belief. Scriptural interpretations aresusceptible to a multitude of inferences. The court would do wellnot to step into the pulpit by adjudging which, if any, of competing interpretations should be accepted.” But did not this verycourt interpret Koran on maintenance in the Shah Bano case (1985)and on triple divorce in the Shaya-ra Bano case (2017)? Did it not reject the Hanafi�� interpretation?
Finally, since the Muslim plaintiff��s did not claim title in this case,they should be not mind the fi��naloutcome. The relief sought bythem was just about the “deliveryof possession”. Since the court didaccept that they were wrongly deprived of their possession in 1949,ideally they should have been given possession of the inner courtyard rather than fi��ve acres of landelsewhere. Thereafter, the courtwould have been justifi��ed in invoking Article 142 to give the site toHindus or it may have asked Muslims to give up this land.
Faizan Mustafa is Vice-Chancellor,
NALSAR University of Law, where Aymen
Mohammed is a research scholar
Several positives for the Muslim plaintiff��sMinorities and defenders of the rule of law and secularism need not feel disappointed with the Ayodhya verdict
AFP
Faizan Mustafa
& Aymen Mohammed
If things go as per plan, Kerala could have nearun
iversal Internet access in a little over a year’s time.
Last week’s nod by the State Cabinet for the Kerala
Fibre Optic Network project clears the path for a Kerala
wide optical fi��bre network by December 2020. At
₹��1,548 crore, it is, without doubt, an ambitious project.
But what makes it commendable is its recognition that
Internet access is a basic human right. No other Indian
State has recognised Internet access in this manner till
now. This is also in sync with what the UN has been ar
ticulating in recent years, based on the Internet’s role in
enabling freedom of speech and reducing inequality,
among other things. And so, embedded in this plan to
touch every household in Kerala is a provision to deliv
er free Internet access to over two million BPL families.
The idea is to charge aff��ordable rates for other families.
The network, to be set up by the Kerala State Electricity
Board Ltd. and the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd.,
will also connect 30,000 government offi��ces and edu
cational institutions. When complete, Kerala, a State
that already tops in human development indicators in
the country, will be ready for a steep digital evolution.
Kerala’s plan for Internet rollout, therefore, is also
worthy of emulation by other States, given that Internet
havenots still exist in the millions. There is no doubt
that India has made huge leaps in providing Internet ac
cess to its people in recent years. To be sure, a good
part of the growth till now can be attributed to cheap
data plans, triggered in no small measure by the advent
of Reliance Jio. According to a recent study by the Inter
net and Mobile Association of India and Nielsen, the
country has 451 million active Internet users. But this
number masks huge access gaps. Internet penetration
is signifi��cantly higher in urban areas than it is in rural
areas; it is also signifi��cantly higher for men than it is for
women. The bestperforming State, DelhiNCR, has an
Internet penetration of 69%. The secondbest is Kerala,
with just 54%. Global technology companies have in re
cent years eyed the huge population of Internet have
nots as an opportunity. Some, like Facebook, even
came up with an idea of free access to a list of chosen
sites, a severely skewed version of the Internet which
endangered its basic values. While such ideas were
thankfully rejected by the government, the gaps are
there nonetheless. There is no doubt that governments
need to play an interventionist role in plugging this gap.
Kerala could set a healthy example.
Casting the Net wide Kerala’s plan for providing free Internet access
to the poor is worthy of emulation by others
For millions of Sikhs worldwide, the inauguration
of the Kartarpur corridor was a dream seven de
cades in the making. Ever since India and Pakis
tan were partitioned with an arbitrary line drawn
through Punjab, the placement of Kartarpur, where Gu
ru Nanak spent his last years, meant that while a major
ity of his devotees were left on one side of the border,
his last resting place was left just four kilometres on the
other side. Unlike the other major Sikh shrine at Guru
Nanak’s birthplace Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib
was off�� Pakistan’s highways and therefore fell into dis
use. Those keen to see it were restricted to peering
through binoculars at a border checkpost. Saturday’s
inauguration of the renovated shrine in Kartarpur by
Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the access to the corri
dor from Sultanpur Lodhi on the Indian side by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, saw the fervent hopes of all
those people being granted, timed with the 550th birth
anniversary of Guru Nanak. The corridor, which will al
low 5,000 Indian pilgrims a day to walk visafree into
Pakistan, pay obeisance and then return to India, is un
ique. If both governments are willing, it could lend itself
to other crossborder connections for Hindus and Sikhs
to visit shrines in Pakistan, and for Muslims and Sufi��sm
followers to visit shrines just across the border in Guja
rat and Rajasthan. That it was completed from start to
fi��nish in a year that saw relations between the two
countries plumb new depths, is also nothing short of a
miracle: from the Pulwama terror attack and the Bala
kot strikes; the slugfest over the government’s moves
on Kashmir; the recall of High Commissioners; and
even Pakistan’s repeated denial of overfl��ight rights to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft on foreign vi
sits, it was a downward spiral. Each event was accompa
nied by sharp rhetoric and recriminations, yet the Kar
tarpur process was not derailed.
In that sense, the Kartarpur shrine has fulfi��lled the
promise it held out to the devout, but hasn’t lived up to
its potential for diplomacy. It had been hoped, when
Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa fi��rst
conveyed Islamabad’s acceptance of India’s longpend
ing demand for the corridor, that this would lead to a
new sense of understanding between the two govern
ments as well. Instead, Pakistan’s encouragement of
Khalistani separatist groups to use Kartarpur as a plat
form has been a constant cause for suspicion for India.
On the other side, India’s misgivings have been seen as
a churlish response to Pakistan’s eff��orts on building the
corridor. The fact is that neither side has been able to
build on the goodwill for the project in both countries
to create an atmosphere for talks on other issues. This
failure was most evident when both Mr. Modi and Mr.
Khan carried out separate inauguration ceremonies,
but failed to come together at the border for the launch
of the project, though both leaders likened it to the
“coming down of the Berlin wall”. For that promise to
be realised, leaders will need to walk the extra mile,
both literally and fi��guratively.
The extra mile Kartarpur corridor has realised the dream of
devout Sikhs, but done little for IndiaPak. ties
S. Akbar Zaidi
Maulana Fazlur Rehman ofthe Jamiat UlemaeIslam(F), who descended on Is
lamabad with thousands of supporters on an ‘Azadi March’, hasmade some preposterous statements against Pakistan’s electedgovernment. His demands have included calls for an ‘immediate resignation’ of Prime Minister ImranKhan, snap elections, the insistence that there should be “no roleof the Army in the electoral process,” and the demand that theConstitution of Pakistan shouldreign supreme. Maulana Rehmanwas defeated in the 2018 electionsfrom a constituency which he hadmade his own.
How can an elected Prime Minister be asked to resign by a defeated candidate? This is unheardof. After all, Imran Khan won fromfi��ve constituencies in 2018 and hisparty, the Pakistan TehreekeInsaf (PTI), bagged the largest number of votes and seats to form a government in Islamabad and thePunjab. It was also reelected inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and, importantly, wiped out the political party which had controlled Karachifor four decades. By every ac
count, Imran Khan won a huge victory in the 2018 elections and anydemand, that too from a politicianof a marginal, provincial party, tostep down, simply because hefeels that the election results weremanipulated or that the economyis on the brink, is wishful thinking.
In 2014, even after spendingmore than four months in Islamabad in a famous dharna, the farmore charismatic and popular Imran Khan was unable to bring Nawaz Sharif ’s government down orforce his resignation. The Maulanahas been in Islamabad for less thantwo weeks. The Maulana’s insistence, after his electoral loss,sounds like complaining about thegrapes being sour. However, oneof his demands — reducing the Army’s role in politics — needs to betaken seriously.
Critical of Army’s roleBy suggesting that the Armyshould have no role in the electoral process, Maulana Rehman has,in no uncertain ways, pointed outthat the Army actually determinespolitical outcomes, both electedand unconstitutional ones. He hasboldly alleged that Pakistan’s military is a manipulator of the political process and played a role in the2018 elections which ensured thatMr. Khan would be selected asPrime Minister. There has beenample evidence which supportssuch claims, that Pakistan’s military went out of its way to broker
deals with politicians to supportMr. Khan’s party, with many abandoning Mr. Sharif ’s Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN) daysbefore the elections.
Dozens of candidates went public before the 2018 elections stating that they were threatened andintimidated for supporting Mr.Sharif. Numerous other measureswere reportedly taken to keep Mr.Sharif ’s party out of contention.There were accusations of prepollrigging, the involvement of themilitary in ensuring ‘peace’ duringvoting day, and its involvement inthe election process almost directly, with evidence provided to suggest that this was indeed the case.
Maulana Rehman‘s public statement, which resulted in a strongdenial by the military’s spokesman, only gave greater credenceto the allegations. The DirectorGeneral InterServices Public Relations issued a statement that the“Pakistan Army, as a state institution, has nothing to do with politics,” and that the “Army followsthe government’s orders.” He alsostated the obvious, that the “Pakis
tan Army always supported democratically elected governments inaccordance with the law and theConstitution.”
No support from PPP, PML-NPerhaps it is because of the Maulana’s claims that the military rigselections that the two main political parties and the real Oppositiondid not support him.
The PMLN and Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),with both its leaders in prison (Mr.Sharif has since been released onmedical grounds), have kept a conspicuous distance from the ‘AzadiMarch’. Both the PMLN and thePPP have greater street supportthan the Maulana, and had theyjoined forces with him, the threecould have posed a serious threatto the stability of Mr. Khan’s government. Leaders of both themain political parties have calledMr. Khan a ‘selected’ Prime Minister, but unlike the Maulana, havenot been as forthright. Perhapsnothing refl��ects the sad state of Pakistan’s elected politics than suchcowardice and opportunism.
What next for the Maulana? Itappears that he had no sustainableplan to ensure that his demandswere going to be met. Mr. Khandoesn’t have any reason to resign,the military is not involved in rigging or in elections, not even inpolitics, and no one seems to haveany urgency to hold midtermelections. The status quo prevails.
Both the main political partieshave had to cut deals with thepowers that be, and Mr. Sharifshould be on his way for treatmentabroad joined by his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who has played a particularly divisive role in the current scenario, forcing fi��ssures toemerge in the PMLN.
Without broadbased politicalsupport, Maulana Rehman’s dhar-na ought to fi��zzle out soon. EvenMr. Khan’s dharna in 2014, telecast24x7, ended with little change evident at that time. The Maulana’sspeeches are blocked on what Mr.Khan calls Pakistan’s ‘free media’.Social media platforms are limited. Yet, the fact that no electedPrime Minister of Pakistan has ever completed his/her fi��veyearterm hangs over all political assessments and predictions. Analysts fi��nd and create conspiracies,arguing that the Maulana wouldnot have taken such a step unlesshe had a plan or someone else hada plan for him. It doesn’t seem thateither the PPP or the PMLN has aplan, and since the military onlysupports democracy and has“nothing to do with politics,” speculation about who started this andwhy, and about what this dharnacould possibly result in, becomescuriouser and curiouser.
S. Akbar Zaidi is a political economist
based in Karachi. He teaches at Columbia
University in New York, and at the IBA in
Karachi
What the Maulana said in Islamabad The Azadi March will probably fi��zzle out but his statement against the Army must be taken seriously
AP
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