CAPSULE CITY ACHIVERS SHINE IN ISC, ICSE RESULTS Lucknow: Lucknow students excelled in the ICSE and ISC exams, results of which were declared on Monday. Three students of the city achieved the joint first all-India rank in ISC (Class 12) scoring a whopping 99.50 per cent while two were close second with 99.25 per cent marks. In ICSE (Class X), Lucknow girls grabbed the first two positions in UP circle by scoring 98.8 per cent and 98.6 per cent, respectively. City Montessori School came out with flying colours with 14 students from the various branches bagging the top three all-India ranks (AIR) in ISC. nDetails on Page 3 MODI TO VISIT RUSSIA FOR INFORMAL SUMMIT New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The summit, which will be held at the summer beach resort of Sochi, is being held at the invitation of President Putin. INDIA’S RETAIL INFLATION RISES TO 4.58% IN APRIL New Delhi: India’s retail inflation rose to 4.58 per cent in April from a rise of 4.28 per cent in March and 2.99 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year, data revelaed. SAUGAR SENGUPTA/PNS n KOLKATA/NEW DELHI P anchayat poll violence in West Bengal on Monday claimed lives of at least 18 peo- ple, mostly political workers and voters, with reports sur- facing from Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas that local CPI(M) leader Debu Das and his wife — who earlier refused to join the TMC — were allegedly locked inside a room and then burnt alive by the henchmen of local Trinamool candidate. As per the report, Trinamool goons killed at least 16 people. More than 200 people have been hurt, some of them sus- taining life-threatening injuries. With reports of violence from across the State, sources said the State Election Commission (SEC) might order re-polling in 8-10 booths. However, State Election Commissioner Amrendra Kumar Singh refused to com- ment on the number of casualties. He said, “I will make no comment today. Whatever I will speak I will speak tomorrow.” Incidently, Bengal State Election Commission had ear- lier rejected demand for deployment of Central forces apparently at the behest of the ruling Trinamool Congress.” By late noon on Monday, the Union Home Ministry sought a report from the State Government regarding the incidents of violence, sources said. Earlier in the day, Opposition leaders, like Left Front chairman Binan Bose and BJP leaders Dilip Ghosh and Mukul Roy, rushed to Bengal Governor KN Tripathi seeking his intervention. Even as Calcutta High Court judges watched the vot- ing proceedings live, a group of lawyers from the Bar Association moved the court seeking permission to start contempt proceedings against the SEC and the Mamata Government, which had earli- er been warned by the HC that any violence would make the senior officers personally and jointly liable. Voter turnout was about 70 per cent by 5 pm when reports last came in the State where normally turnout is anywhere between 80 and 90 per cent. In Kultali, a TMC sup- porter was shot dead by alleged SUCI members. The latter, however, dismissed the charges. At Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, a CPI (M) support- er Tahifur Rehman was bombed to death by TMC goons; whereas in Nandigram in East Midnapore, two Left supporters who refused to quit the voting queue were shot dead by one of Trinamool’s many biker gangs that literal- ly dominated the State with impunity. In Beldanga in Murshidabad district, BJP worker Tapan Mandal was shot dead by Trinamool goons whereas at Naoda in same district a supporter of an Independent candidate was gunned down by TMC miscreants. Murshidabad alone saw seven people, including two children, shot at by rampaging Trinamool goons. All the victims are in critical condition and being treated in a local medical college. At Nakashipara in Nadia alleged CPI(M) men shot dead TMC’s Bhola Tarafdar. Again at Raiganj, a voter was shot dead inside the booth by alleged Trinamool goons. The same district witnessed about 239 incidents of booth capturing. Continued on Page 7 STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI T he Delhi Police has chargesheeted Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for abet- ting the suicide of his wife Sunanda Pushkar under Sections 306 and 498A (hus- band or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Soon after the report, Tharoor tweeted saying he will “stay off Twitter for a while as one encounters too much epicaricacy!” “On the basis of medico- legal and forensic evidence analysed during investigation as well as opinion of psycho- logical autopsy experts, case FIR No. 04/15 of PS Sarojini Nagar, investigated by the Special Investigation Team of South District, has been chargesheeted under Sections 306/498-A IPC. The matter now is sub judice,” said Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and chief spokesper- son Dependra Pathak. The investigating officer (IO) of the case on Monday told the court that custodial inter- rogation of Tharoor is necessary as investigation is yet to be con- cluded. The Delhi Police named Tharoor as the only accused in its voluminous 3,000-page chargesheet. The IO claimed there is enough evidence to pro- ceed against Tharoor. Police alleged that Tharoor had sub- jected his wife to cruelty. Tharoor has not been arrest- ed in the case so far as he had joined the investigation when required. Meanwhile, sources said the judge may order Tharoor to be taken into custody if it finds that the accused can influence witnesses. The chargesheet in the mysterious death of Pushkar was filed before Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Dharmendra Singh, who will consider it on May 24. The IO urged the court to summon Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, as an accused as the investigation is yet to be completed in the case. Couple’s domestic servant Narayan Singh is one of the key witnesses in the case. It may be recalled that Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014. The suite was sealed that night itself for investigation. Continued on Page 7 PNS n NEW DELHI F ormer Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior Congress leaders have written to President Ram Nath Kovind, asking him to caution Prime Minister Narendra Modi against using “unwarranted, threatening and intimidating” language to attack them. The BJP has hit back at the former Prime Minister and said those who initiated a culture of abu- sive comments are now giving the BJP lectures on propriety. The Congress leaders referred to Modi’s speech on May 6 at Hubli in Karnataka in which he is quoted as saying, “Congress ke neta kaan kholkar sun lijiye, agar seemaon ko paar karoge, to yeh Modi hai, lene ke dene pad jayenge (Congress leaders should clear- ly hear out, if you cross limits, then this is Modi and you will have to pay a price)”. The ex- PM’s letter has also given a YouTube link to the speech. Singh alleged that the “threat” given out by Modi to leaders of the party needs to be condemned as it does not behove the Prime Minister of a “constitutionally governed democratic country of 1.3 bil- lion people”. Reacting to Manmohan’s attack on Modi, BJP spokesper- son Sahahnawaz Hussain and Sudhanshu Trivedi said the Congress has used highly improper terminology against Modi in the past and cited comments like “khoon ka saudagar”. They said even the BJP president was described in most improper way by the Congress leader. Continued on Page 7 PNS n NEW DELHI A fter three months of inves- tigation, the CBI on Monday filed the first chargesheet in the `13,000 crore PNB scam, naming the bank’s former chief Usha Ananthasubramanian and 24 other top bank officials, and declaring billionaire diamond tycoon Nirav Modi as “a want- ed’ accused. Nirav left India in January this year. Usha, who is currently serv- ing as CEO and MD of Allahabad Bank, had held the same post in PNB from August 2015 to 2017. She is accused of not complying with a 2016 cir- cular of the Reserve Bank of India on the Swift (Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunications) system. The CBI will file second chargesheet in the case, involving Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems Ltd, by the end of this week. Along with Usha, three other top officials, PNB exec- utive directors KV Brahmaji Rao, Sanjiv Sharan, and gener- al manager (International Operations) Nehal Ahad, have been named for lapses in han- dling of the Swift system under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal breach of trust and Section 420 of the IPC for cheating. Continued on Page 7 ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI T aking note of the general refrain that private hospi- tals prefer wealthier foreign patients to Indians when it comes to heart and kidney transplants, the Union Health Ministry has firmed up guide- lines to ensure that Indians, NRIs and PIOs are given pref- erential treatment over for- eigners in receiving organs donated by Indian donors. The Centre has asked the States to ensure financial assistance to the poor Indian applicants. “Top preference should be given to Indians, followed by NRIs and PIOs. Foreigners should be the last priority. But we have noted that some hos- pitals are ignoring Indians and giving priority to foreigners who have deep pockets. This is against ethics and rules,” said Dr Vimal Bhandari, head of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) under the Union Health Ministry. “Heart and kidney are pre- cious. There is a wide gap between the number of appli- cants and organs available. At a time when our own people are waiting for transplants, choosing a foreigner is not cor- rect…We have reports where hospitals, particularly in met- ros like Chennai and Mumbai, gave foreign nationals prefer- ence for transplants,” Dr Bhandari said. Of the 2 lakh in queue for kidneys, only 8,000 manage to get the organ; while only 50 hearts are available for trans- plants against the demand for 50,000 in a year. Now, foreigners applying for donated organs have to be registered with NOTTO. Anil Kumar from the Ministry (organ transplant) said States have been asked to send month- ly reports on foreigners waiting to receive organs from deceased donors in India. It is preferable that such waiting list is given in real time for the organs for which digital national registry is functional, he added. “Foreigners shall be con- sidered for organ allocation from deceased Indian donors only when no suitable Indian/NRI/PIO recipient is available throughout the coun- try. Such foreigners have to be registered with endorsement from Embassy concerned. All details like type of visas, pass- port number, embassy endor- sements, etc, shall be provided to the NOTTO,” said the official. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by the head of Directorate General Of Health Services, Promilla Gupta, and attended by the rep- resentatives from Regional Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (ROTTO) State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (SOTTO). TMC goons unleash terror, butcher 16 Bengal polls marred by violence, 2 Opp leaders immolated, toll reaches 18 q CBI will file second chargesheet in the case, involving Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems Ltd, by the end of this week q The chargesheet, however, did not name Nirav’s wife Ami and his uncle and business partner Choksi q Nirav left India in Jan this year q The CBI has registered three separate FIRs in connection with the alleged fraud of $2 billion in the public sector bank by the companies of Nirav and Choksi Tharoor tortured Sunanda, says chargesheet; ‘epicaricacy’, retorts Shashi CBI chargesheet names ex-PNB chief Usha, calls Nirav ‘wanted’ Mind your language, Manmohan asks PM in letter to President Central Govt guidelines to ensure foreigners not given preference over poor Indians seeking transplants Smriti removed as I&B Minister M MADHUSUDAN n NEW DELHI J ust a year to go for the next Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday carried out a surprise reshuffle in his Council of Ministers shunting out Smriti Irani from the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, apparently for her continued face-offs with public broad- caster Prasar Bharati and her controversial attempt to rein in journalists on the pretext of tackling “fake news”. While Irani is now left only with the Textile portfolio, her deputy Rajyvardhan Singh Rathore is the new I&B Minister with Independent charge. This is Modi’s fourth rejig in his four years in office. With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley having successfully undergone a kidney transplant during the day in AIIMS, the late evening rejig too saw Railway Minister Piyush Goyal being given the additional charge of the Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs. Incidentally, Goyal also holds the key portfolio of Coal. He will be in charge of the twin responsibilities “during the period of Jaitley’s indisposition”. The reshuffle further saw Minister of State SS Ahluwalia being relieved of his charge in the Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry and assigned the portfolio of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology in the same capacity in place of Alphons Kannanthanam. The latter is now left with the port- folio of Culture and Tourism. Besides its media blitzkrieg plans for the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the elevation of Rathore, an MP from Jaipur Rural, is being seen as show- casing Rajasthan, which is going to elections later this year. Continued on Page 7 Shashi Tharoor charged with abetting Pushkar’s suicide 24 other top PNB officials indicted Piyush Goyal takes FinMin charge till Jaitley recuperates The injured sit by the roadside as a vehicle is set on fire during panchayat polls in Nadia district of West Bengal on Monday PTI m SEC might order re-polling in 8-10 booths m By late noon, the Union Home Ministry sought a report from the State Government regarding the incidents of violence, sources said m Voter turnout was about 70 per cent by 5 pm when reports last came in the State where normally turnout is anywhere between 80 and 90 per cent m Earlier in the day, Opposition leaders, like Left Front chairman Binan Bose and BJP leaders Dilip Ghosh and Mukul Roy, rushed to State Governor KN Tripathi seeking his intervention Take ‘heart’, pvt hospitals can’t keep Indians waiting for kidney File photo @TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneer Follow us on: SPORT 16 KNIGHT RIDERS HOST ROYALS IN IPL CLASH RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18 Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPUR CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN Late City Vol. 154 Issue 131 *Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable Established 1864 LUCKNOW, TUESDAY MAY 15, 2018; PAGES 16 `3 www.dailypioneer.com } } WORLD 12 2 FAMILIES STAGED INDONESIAN SUICIDE BOMBINGS: POLICE OPINION 8 ROHINGYA REFUGEES: A THREAT TO JAMMU RICHA CHADHA WANTS TO LEAVE A MARK 14 VIVA CITY Storm claims 83 lives; 54 killed in UP PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW A s many as 83 people have been killed in five states due to thunderstorms and lightning strikes since Sunday,, with Uttar Pradesh alone recording 54 deaths, the Home Ministry said on Monday. Fourteen people died in West Bengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh, two in Delhi and one in Uttarakhand, a ministry spokesperson said. With normal life remaining paralysed for the second day in over two dozen districts of the state, including the NCR region, the death toll figure fur- ther mounted to 54 people while 84 others were injured. The highest causalities were reported from neigh- bouring Barabanki district where 13 people lost their lives on Sunday. Eight of them died when they slipped into the Ghaghra river as they lost their balance due to strong winds, officials said, adding that the local administration was prob- ing the matter. Besides loss to human lives, 121 houses were damaged and 17 animals died in various parts of the state in Sunday’s storm. Reports confirmed that
Transcript
CAPSULE
CITY ACHIVERS SHINEIN ISC, ICSE RESULTSLucknow: Lucknow studentsexcelled in the ICSE and ISCexams, results of which weredeclared on Monday. Threestudents of the city achieved thejoint first all-India rank in ISC(Class 12) scoring a whopping99.50 per cent while two wereclose second with 99.25 per centmarks. In ICSE (Class X),Lucknow girls grabbed the firsttwo positions in UP circle byscoring 98.8 per cent and 98.6per cent, respectively. CityMontessori School came outwith flying colours with 14students from the variousbranches bagging the top threeall-India ranks (AIR) in ISC.
nDetails on Page 3
MODI TO VISIT RUSSIAFOR INFORMAL SUMMIT New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will visit Russiaon May 21 for an informalsummit with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin. The summit,which will be held at the summerbeach resort of Sochi, is beingheld at the invitation of PresidentPutin.
INDIA’S RETAIL INFLATIONRISES TO 4.58% IN APRILNew Delhi: India’s retail inflationrose to 4.58 per cent in Aprilfrom a rise of 4.28 per cent inMarch and 2.99 per cent in thecorresponding period of theprevious year, data revelaed.
SAUGAR SENGUPTA/PNS nKOLKATA/NEW DELHI
Panchayat poll violence inWest Bengal on Monday
claimed lives of at least 18 peo-ple, mostly political workersand voters, with reports sur-facing from Kakdwip in South24 Parganas that local CPI(M)leader Debu Das and his wife— who earlier refused to jointhe TMC — were allegedlylocked inside a room and thenburnt alive by the henchmen oflocal Trinamool candidate. Asper the report, Trinamoolgoons killed at least 16 people.
More than 200 people havebeen hurt, some of them sus-taining life-threatening injuries.
With reports of violencefrom across the State, sourcessaid the State ElectionCommission (SEC) mightorder re-polling in 8-10 booths.However, State ElectionCommissioner AmrendraKumar Singh refused to com-ment on the number of casualties. He said, “I willmake no comment today.Whatever I will speak I willspeak tomorrow.”
Incidently, Bengal StateElection Commission had ear-lier rejected demand fordeployment of Central forcesapparently at the behest of theruling Trinamool Congress.”
By late noon on Monday,the Union Home Ministrysought a report from the State Government regardingthe incidents of violence,sources said.
Earlier in the day,Opposition leaders, like LeftFront chairman Binan Boseand BJP leaders Dilip Ghoshand Mukul Roy, rushed toBengal Governor KN Tripathiseeking his intervention.
Even as Calcutta HighCourt judges watched the vot-ing proceedings live, a group oflawyers from the BarAssociation moved the courtseeking permission to start
contempt proceedings againstthe SEC and the MamataGovernment, which had earli-er been warned by the HC thatany violence would make thesenior officers personally andjointly liable.
Voter turnout was about 70per cent by 5 pm when reportslast came in the State wherenormally turnout is anywherebetween 80 and 90 per cent.
In Kultali, a TMC sup-
porter was shot dead by allegedSUCI members. The latter,however, dismissed the charges.At Amdanga in North 24Parganas, a CPI (M) support-er Tahifur Rehman wasbombed to death by TMCgoons; whereas in Nandigramin East Midnapore, two Leftsupporters who refused to quitthe voting queue were shotdead by one of Trinamool’smany biker gangs that literal-
ly dominated the State withimpunity.
In Beldanga inMurshidabad district, BJPworker Tapan Mandal was shotdead by Trinamool goons whereas at Naoda insame district a supporter of an Independent candidatewas gunned down by TMCmiscreants.
Murshidabad alone sawseven people, including two
children, shot at by rampagingTrinamool goons. All the victims are in critical conditionand being treated in a localmedical college.
At Nakashipara in Nadiaalleged CPI(M) men shot deadTMC’s Bhola Tarafdar. Again atRaiganj, a voter was shot deadinside the booth by allegedTrinamool goons. The samedistrict witnessed about 239incidents of booth capturing.
Continued on Page 7
STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI
The Delhi Police haschargesheeted Congress
leader Shashi Tharoor for abet-ting the suicide of his wifeSunanda Pushkar underSections 306 and 498A (hus-band or his relative subjectinga woman to cruelty) of theIndian Penal Code (IPC). Soonafter the report, Tharoor tweeted saying he will “stay off Twitter for a while as one encounters too muchepicaricacy!”
“On the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidenceanalysed during investigationas well as opinion of psycho-logical autopsy experts, caseFIR No. 04/15 of PS SarojiniNagar, investigated by theSpecial Investigation Team ofSouth District, has beenchargesheeted under Sections306/498-A IPC. The matter
now is sub judice,” said SpecialCommissioner of Police(Traffic) and chief spokesper-son Dependra Pathak.
The investigating officer(IO) of the case on Monday toldthe court that custodial inter-rogation of Tharoor is necessaryas investigation is yet to be con-cluded. The Delhi Police namedTharoor as the only accused inits voluminous 3,000-pagechargesheet. The IO claimedthere is enough evidence to pro-ceed against Tharoor. Policealleged that Tharoor had sub-jected his wife to cruelty.
Tharoor has not been arrest-ed in the case so far as he hadjoined the investigation whenrequired. Meanwhile, sourcessaid the judge may orderTharoor to be taken into custody
if it finds that the accused caninfluence witnesses.
The chargesheet in themysterious death of Pushkarwas filed before MetropolitanMagistrate (MM) DharmendraSingh, who will consider it onMay 24. The IO urged the courtto summon Tharoor, the LokSabha MP fromThiruvananthapuram, as anaccused as the investigation isyet to be completed in the case.
Couple’s domestic servantNarayan Singh is one of the keywitnesses in the case.
It may be recalled thatSunanda Pushkar was founddead in a luxury hotel room onthe night of January 17, 2014.The suite was sealed that nightitself for investigation.
Continued on Page 7PNS n NEW DELHI
Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and other
senior Congress leaders havewritten to President Ram NathKovind, asking him to cautionPrime Minister Narendra Modiagainst using “unwarranted,threatening and intimidating”language to attack them. TheBJP has hit back at the formerPrime Minister and said thosewho initiated a culture of abu-sive comments are now givingthe BJP lectures on propriety.
The Congress leadersreferred to Modi’s speech onMay 6 at Hubli in Karnataka inwhich he is quoted as saying,“Congress ke neta kaan kholkarsun lijiye, agar seemaon kopaar karoge, to yeh Modi hai,lene ke dene pad jayenge(Congress leaders should clear-ly hear out, if you cross limits,then this is Modi and you willhave to pay a price)”. The ex-PM’s letter has also given aYouTube link to the speech.
Singh alleged that the“threat” given out by Modi to
leaders of the party needs to becondemned as it does notbehove the Prime Minister ofa “constitutionally governeddemocratic country of 1.3 bil-lion people”.
Reacting to Manmohan’sattack on Modi, BJP spokesper-son Sahahnawaz Hussain andSudhanshu Trivedi said theCongress has used highlyimproper terminology againstModi in the past and citedcomments like “khoon kasaudagar”. They said even theBJP president was described inmost improper way by theCongress leader.
Continued on Page 7
PNS n NEW DELHI
After three months of inves-tigation, the CBI on
Monday filed the firstchargesheet in the `13,000crore PNB scam, naming thebank’s former chief UshaAnanthasubramanian and 24other top bank officials, anddeclaring billionaire diamondtycoon Nirav Modi as “a want-ed’ accused.
Nirav left India in Januarythis year.
Usha, who is currently serv-ing as CEO and MD ofAllahabad Bank, had held thesame post in PNB from August2015 to 2017. She is accused ofnot complying with a 2016 cir-cular of the Reserve Bank of
India on the Swift (Society forWorldwide Inter-bank FinancialTelecommunications) system.
The CBI will file secondchargesheet in the case, involving Mehul Choksi ofGitanjali Gems Ltd, by the endof this week.
Along with Usha, threeother top officials, PNB exec-utive directors KV BrahmajiRao, Sanjiv Sharan, and gener-al manager (InternationalOperations) Nehal Ahad, havebeen named for lapses in han-dling of the Swift system under
Section 409 of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) for criminal breachof trust and Section 420 of theIPC for cheating.
Continued on Page 7
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
Taking note of the generalrefrain that private hospi-
tals prefer wealthier foreignpatients to Indians when itcomes to heart and kidneytransplants, the Union HealthMinistry has firmed up guide-lines to ensure that Indians,NRIs and PIOs are given pref-erential treatment over for-eigners in receiving organsdonated by Indian donors. TheCentre has asked the States toensure financial assistance tothe poor Indian applicants.
“Top preference should begiven to Indians, followed byNRIs and PIOs. Foreignersshould be the last priority. Butwe have noted that some hos-pitals are ignoring Indians andgiving priority to foreignerswho have deep pockets. This is
against ethics and rules,” saidDr Vimal Bhandari, head of theNational Organ and TissueTransplant Organisation(NOTTO) under the UnionHealth Ministry.
“Heart and kidney are pre-cious. There is a wide gapbetween the number of appli-cants and organs available. Ata time when our own peopleare waiting for transplants,choosing a foreigner is not cor-rect…We have reports wherehospitals, particularly in met-ros like Chennai and Mumbai,gave foreign nationals prefer-ence for transplants,” DrBhandari said.
Of the 2 lakh in queue forkidneys, only 8,000 manage toget the organ; while only 50hearts are available for trans-plants against the demand for50,000 in a year.
Now, foreigners applyingfor donated organs have to beregistered with NOTTO. AnilKumar from the Ministry
(organ transplant) said Stateshave been asked to send month-ly reports on foreigners waitingto receive organs from deceased
donors in India. It is preferablethat such waiting list is given inreal time for the organs forwhich digital national registry is
functional, he added. “Foreigners shall be con-
sidered for organ allocationfrom deceased Indian donorsonly when no suitableIndian/NRI/PIO recipient isavailable throughout the coun-try. Such foreigners have to beregistered with endorsementfrom Embassy concerned. Alldetails like type of visas, pass-port number, embassy endor-sements, etc, shall be providedto the NOTTO,” said the official.
The decision was taken ata meeting presided over by thehead of Directorate General OfHealth Services, PromillaGupta, and attended by the rep-resentatives from RegionalOrgan and TissueTransplantation Organisation(ROTTO) State Organ andTissue TransplantationOrganisation (SOTTO).
TMC goons unleash terror, butcher 16
Bengal polls marred by violence, 2 Opp leaders immolated, toll reaches 18
q CBI will file secondchargesheet in the case,involving Mehul Choksi ofGitanjali Gems Ltd, by the endof this week
q The chargesheet, however, didnot name Nirav’s wife Ami andhis uncle and businesspartner Choksi
q Nirav left India in Jan this year
q The CBI has registered threeseparate FIRs in connectionwith the alleged fraud of $2billion in the public sectorbank by the companies ofNirav and Choksi
Just a year to go for the nextLok Sabha elections, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi onMonday carried out a surprisereshuffle in his Council ofMinisters shunting out SmritiIrani from the Information &Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry,apparently for her continuedface-offs with public broad-caster Prasar Bharati and hercontroversial attempt to rein injournalists on the pretext oftackling “fake news”. WhileIrani is now left only with theTextile portfolio, her deputyRajyvardhan Singh Rathore isthe new I&B Minister withIndependent charge. This isModi’s fourth rejig in his fouryears in office.
With Finance MinisterArun Jaitley having successfullyundergone a kidney transplantduring the day in AIIMS, thelate evening rejig too sawRailway Minister Piyush Goyalbeing given the additionalcharge of the Ministries ofFinance and Corporate Affairs.Incidentally, Goyal also holdsthe key portfolio of Coal. Hewill be in charge of the twinresponsibilities “during theperiod of Jaitley’s indisposition”.
The reshuffle further sawMinister of State SS Ahluwaliabeing relieved of his charge in
the Drinking Water andSanitation Ministry andassigned the portfolio ofMinistry of Electronics &Information Technology in thesame capacity in place ofAlphons Kannanthanam. Thelatter is now left with the port-folio of Culture and Tourism.
Besides its media blitzkriegplans for the run-up to the 2019Lok Sabha polls, the elevationof Rathore, an MP from JaipurRural, is being seen as show-casing Rajasthan, which isgoing to elections later this year.
Continued on Page 7
Shashi Tharoor charged with
abetting Pushkar’s suicide
24 other top PNB
officials indicted
Piyush Goyal takes
FinMin charge till
Jaitley recuperates
The injured sit by the roadside as a vehicle is set on fire during panchayat polls in Nadia district of West Bengal on Monday PTI
m SEC might order re-polling in 8-10 booths
m By late noon, the UnionHome Ministry sought areport from the StateGovernment regarding theincidents of violence,sources said
m Voter turnout was about 70per cent by 5 pm whenreports last came in theState where normally turnoutis anywhere between 80 and90 per cent
m Earlier in the day, Oppositionleaders, like Left Frontchairman Binan Bose andBJP leaders Dilip Ghosh andMukul Roy, rushed to StateGovernor KN Tripathi seekinghis intervention
Take ‘heart’, pvt hospitals can’t keep Indians waiting for kidney
File photo
@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:
SPORT 16
KNIGHT RIDERS HOSTROYALS IN IPL CLASH
RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18
Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
Late City Vol. 154 Issue 131*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
Storm claims83 lives; 54killed in UPPIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
As many as 83 people havebeen killed in five states
due to thunderstorms andlightning strikes since Sunday,,with Uttar Pradesh alonerecording 54 deaths, the HomeMinistry said on Monday.Fourteen people died in WestBengal, 12 in Andhra Pradesh,two in Delhi and one inUttarakhand, a ministryspokesperson said.
With normal life remainingparalysed for the second day inover two dozen districts of thestate, including the NCRregion, the death toll figure fur-ther mounted to 54 peoplewhile 84 others were injured.
The highest causalitieswere reported from neigh-bouring Barabanki districtwhere 13 people lost their liveson Sunday. Eight of them diedwhen they slipped into theGhaghra river as they lost theirbalance due to strong winds,officials said, adding that thelocal administration was prob-ing the matter. Besides loss tohuman lives, 121 houses weredamaged and 17 animals diedin various parts of the state inSunday’s storm.
Reports confirmed that
city 02LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
PNS n LUCKNOW
Twelve candidates are in thefray in the bypoll to
Kairana Lok Sabha seats aftertwo candidates withdrew theirnominations on the last day ofwithdrawal of papers onMonday.
There are 10 candidates inthe fray for the NoorpurAssembly seat in Bijnor dis-trict of western UP.
All eyes will be on theKairana Lok Sabha seat afterthe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty lost the Gorakhpur andPhulpur parliamentarybypolls.
The bypolls to Kairanaand Noorpur seats werenecessitated following thedeath of the BJP lawmakers.
BJP has fielded AvaniSingh from Noorpur seat andMriganka Singh fromKairana. Avani Singh is thewidow of BJP’s late MLA fromNoorpur, Lokendra Singh,who died in a road accidenton February 21. Mriganka isthe daughter of BJP’s late MPHukum Singh.
Mriganka had lost the2017 state Assembly electionto Nahid Hasan of SamajwadiParty from Kairana assemblyseat.
In Kairana, TabassumBegum is the joint oppositioncandidate. Tabassum has been
PNS n LUCKNOW
Questioning BharatiyaJanata Party government’s
decision to demolish templesin Varanasi, Aam Aadmi Partysenior leader and Rajya Sabhamember Sanjay Singh saidthe ruling party was betrayingpeople in the name of religionand was using it for politicalgains.
“While on the one side theruling party is fighting for theconstruction of Ram temple inAyodhya, on the other, the BJPgovernment is demolishingtemples in Varanasi, the par-liamentary constituency ofPrime Minister NarendraModi, in the name of develop-ment,” Sanjay Singh said whileaddressing a press conferencehere.
Singh said the authoritiesin Varanasi were demolishingBharat Mata, Lord Ganeshand other temples and this wasnot acceptable.
“The BJP leaders shouldclarify why they are demolish-
ing these temples?” he asked.Attacking BJP on the all-
round failure of the NarendraModi government in the pastfour years of its rule, the AAPleader said now the BJP wasraking up communal issues towin the 2019 elections.
“As they have failed in allfields and know that the peo-ple will not vote them ondevelopment, Modi is nowtrying to create communal dis-turbances in the country todivert the attention of thepeople,” he alleged.
Condemning the BJP andits sister organisations for rak-ing up the issue ofMuhammad Ali Jinnah’s por-trait in Aligarh MuslimUniversity, the AAP leaderasked, “Why did the BJP gov-ernment not remove the por-trait of Jinnah from SabarmatiAshram?”
“The portrait of Jinnah inAMU was more than 80 years’old but now they are demand-ing its removal. This demandlooks weird,” he said.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has directedofficials to prepare an a
action plan to save villages inflood prone areas and send itsdetailed report by June 15 sothat the menace of floods couldbe controlled this monsoon.
The Chief Minister issuedthe guidelines for the work planduring a review meeting withthe district magistrates offlood-prone districts here onMonday.
“There are 26 districtswhich are ‘very sensitive’ vis-à-vis floods and 14 which are‘sensitive’.
The focus is on these dis-tricts so that destruction duringfloods can be controlled andhuman and animal lives saved,besides protecting the standing
crop,” Yogi said while interact-ing with the officials.
The district magistrates ofdistricts ravaged by the thunder-storm that hit parts of UP onSunday were asked to stay backand monitor relief work andtheir juniors attended the meet-ing. The Chief Minister said thatlast year 22 districts faced themenace of flood.
“Many bunds and barrageswere damaged in the floodswhich inundated large swathesof farmland, particularly in east-ern Uttar Pradesh,” Yogi point-ed out.
“The government releasedmoney by November last tomake preparations for floodprevention. Monitor all thesebunds and ensure that the workis done as per specifications,”Yogi said.
The officials have been
asked to submit their compli-ance report by June 15 to thestate government. “Any laxity onthis part will not be toleratedbecause this concerns lives oflakhs of people. We need towork in advance to ensure thatlives and property are saved,”Yogi said.
The Chief Minister saidthat last year the para-militaryforce, including the flood wingof PAC, had done exemplarywork. “Three companies of StateDisaster Response Force (SDRF)have been constituted and theywill work with PAC to providerelief to the people, he added.
The Chief Minister saidthat departments likeAgriculture, Horticulture,Animal Husbandry, Home,Health and Food and CivilSupplies would work in tandemto extend relief to the villagers.
Lucknow (PNS): HinduYuva Vahini (HYV), foundedby Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, hassplit with Sunil Singh, a closeconfidant of the GorakhnathPeeth Mahant, forming a par-allel outfit.
The split in the HYV isbeing seen as a setback for YogiAdityanath as he himself wasleading the organisation sinceits formation in 2002.
HYV’s Uttar Pradesh unitpresident Sunil Singh hasdeclared himself as the nation-al president of the organisation,replacing Yogi,
Singh, once a close confi-dant of Yogi, said here onMonday that he was forced to
float a parallel outfit after YogiAdityanath removed him fromthe organisation.
“Yogiji was my politicalguru but the way he removedme after he became the ChiefMinister has annoyed theactivists of the HYV. Thisforced me to form a new organ-isation with the same name,” hesaid.
Singh said that after YogiAdityanath became the ChiefMinister, the HYV activistshad been sidelined and even itsactivities had stopped. “Onthe request of HYV workers, Ihad to take this decision, whichwas harsh but was required,” hesaid, claiming that YogiAdityanath was still his guru
and his act was not againsthim.
The decision to form a sep-arate outfit has angered ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath as hehas ordered suspension of thecaretaker of VVIP Guest Housewhere Sunil Singh held themeeting on Sunday evening.
“This decision of the gov-ernment has come as a big sur-prise. The room in the guesthouse was booked by BharatiyaJanata Party Member ofParliament from Mohanlalganj,Kaushal Kishore, who alsomade payment for the food. Itis unfortunate that a govern-ment officer has been punishedfor political reasons,” Singhsaid.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Union Minister of State forRailways Manoj Sinha said
that Indian Railways had madehistorical progress in the pastfour years as many facilities hadbeen introduced for commoncommuters during this time.
Addressing a gathering inBasti while inaugurating manyfacilities for passengers at therailway station there, Sinha saidthat after taking charge in 2014,Prime Minister Narendra Modihad been frequently asking theRailway Ministry to improve
facilities for the passengers.He said `1,100 crore was
used for development of rail-ways in 2014 and this amounthad increased to ̀ 7,200 crore inthe current fiscal.
Sinha claimed that rail-ways had introduced manyfacilities and upgraded metergauge to broad gauge, besidesintroducing electrification anddoubling of tracks.
Speaking about achieve-ments of North EasternRailway, Sinha said that 410 kmnew tracks were laid, 576 kmtracks were doubled, 293 km
tracks were turned into broadgauge and 2,156 km trackswere electrified in these pastfour years.
He added that keeping thehuge population in mind, rail-ways had to expand further.
The Union minister saidthat Indian Railways had toupgrade 600 railway stations asper international norms. Hesaid that 92 over bridges wereconstructed in Uttar Pradesh inrecent years. He said that rail-way officers were working likeIndian army men for the devel-opment of this sector.
PNS n LUCKNOW
Aday after the BJP statepresident Mahendra Nath
Pandey warned dissident lead-ers of the ruling party and itsallies, Suheldeo Bharat SamajParty president and Cabinetminister Om Prakash Rajbharsaid whatever be the politicalconsequences, he would con-tinue to fight for the rightsand the dignity of Dalits andOBCs in UP.
“We do not practice thepolitics of comfort and privi-leges. We are in politics to fightfor the rights of the poor andthe downtrodden. Whatever bethe consequences my strugglewill continue as the fight for thedue share of Dalits and OBCsin the power structure is themotto of my politics,” Rajbharsaid in Jaunpur on Monday.
BJP state president had onSunday that such leadersshould mend their ways other-wise the party leadership wouldtake a tough stand on this issue.
For the last two months,Rajbhar is running a relentlesscampaign against ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath andcreating embarrassing situationfor the government. He hasalleged that the Chief Ministerhas no control over the bureau-cracy and there is a sharp risein corruption ever since the BJPcame to power.
Rajbhar said that all thecastes listed in the OBC listwere not getting a fair share inthe 27 per cent quota in gov-ernment jobs and educationalinstitutions.
Rajbhar, however, claimedthat BJP president Amit Shahhad assured that quota withinquota would be implementedsix months before the LokSabha election.
The Suheldeo Bharat SamajParty chief, a vocal proponentof breaking up the 27 per centquota into three subcategories— backward, extremely back-ward and most backward, saidhe had worked out the formu-la based on the extent of back-wardness and population ofcommunities. He said it wasnot a new formula as it wasrecommended by the Social
Justice Committee appointedby then BJP Chief MinisterRajnath Singh in 2001.
“It is high time that thisformula of OBC reservation isimplemented in UP. Twelveother states, including Bihar,Rajasthan, Maharashtra, TamilNadu, Kerala and AndhraPradesh, have implemented itsuccessfully. It is a must that allcommunities get a fair share inthe social justice system. It isalso important that the formu-la is implemented before theLok Sabha election,” Rajbharsaid.
The SBSP leader said thecastes listed in OBC categorywere not getting their fairshare. He said the dominantOBC castes — Yadav, Sonar,Jat and Patel — had corneredthe major share of benefits ofreservation, much higher totheir share in states popula-tion.
He said based on figuresthat were given to theAllahabad High Court in 2013,Sonars had availed 61 percent more benefit than whataccrued to them as per theirpopulation; Jats had got 51 percent more and Yadavs nearly50 per cent more share.
“The same is the caseamong Dalits, Jatavs, Chamarsand Dhusiyas who have cor-nered most of the benefits ofSC/ST quota. In the process,the other backward and weak-er communities have been rel-egated to the sidelines withoutgetting the benefits due tothem,” he said, and added, “Weonly want that each communi-ty should get its due share.”
Lucknow (PNS): The out-come of Karnataka polls, theresults of which will come onTuesday, will play a major rolein the proposed unity of oppo-sition parties in Uttar Pradesh.
Congress leaders, whosilently supported the BahujanSamaj Party-backed SamajwadiParty-Rashtriya Lok Dal candi-dates in Kairana parliamentaryand Noorpur Assembly byelec-tions, claimed that the forma-tion of a new government incase of hung Assembly inKarnataka, would have a directimpact on opposition unity forthe 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“In case of a hungAssembly in Karnataka, thetie-up between SP and BSP willlargely be affected by which wayformer Prime Minister HDDeve Gowda’s JD(S) will go,”said a senior Congress leaderand a former MLA.
He said the two main oppo-sition parties in UP — SP andBSP — had joined hands forGorakhpur and Phulpur parlia-mentary bypolls and managedto defeat Bharatiya Janata Partycandidates after bothannounced to continue theiralliance for 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.
“While SP and BSPannounced to be on the sameplatform in 2019, the two par-ties were against each other inthe recent Karnataka Assemblypolls”, he pointed out.
PNS n LUCKNOW
The joint opposition candi-date of Rashtriya Lok Dal
for Kairana Lok Sabha bypollfaces an uphill task in restor-ing the party’s social coalitioncomprising Jats, Gujjars,Dalits, OBCs Brahmins andRajputs.
This social coalition wasweaved by late Prime MinisterChaudhary Charan Singh afterhe deserted the Congress in1967. It was a coalition of farm-ers drawn from all the commu-nities of Hindus and Muslims
The social base of the RLDwas shattered following theworst-ever communal riots inMuzaffarnagar and Shamli dis-tricts in September 2013. Thethen Akhilesh Yadav govern-ment had drawn flak from allsides for its failure to containthe violence which claimed 67lives and huge loss of privateand public property besidesdisplacing thousands of per-
sons from their villages. Though the compulsions
of binary of secular-communalelectoral politics of UttarPradesh saw the entire blamefor the communal riots beinglaid on the Bharatiya JanataParty, the RLD had thenaccused the Samajwadi Partygovernment of engineeringthe riots with a clear politicalmotive.
The 2014 Lok Sabha elec-tion vindicated the allegationsof the RLD as the party waswiped out in west UP and alsoin the 2017 UP Assembly elec-tions in which RLD could winonly one seat. Its lone MLA has
now joined the BJP.The political compulsions
have now forced the RLD toknock at the doors of the SPand the Bahujan Samaj Partyfor its revival in western UP. Itis in this context that the per-formance of the joint opposi-tion candidate in Kairana LokSabha and Noorpur Assemblybypolls will decide the founda-tion of the alliance for the 2019Lok Sabha polls.
The success of the SP can-didates in Gorakhpur andPhulpur Lok Sabha bypollshas paved the way for thecoming together of the oppo-sition parties.
The RLD chose formerBSP MP Tabassum Begum forthe Kairana bypoll. She wasalso in the SP earlier. Her sonNahid Hasan is the SP MLAfrom Kairana. Tabassum’sselection was dictated by theexigencies of coalition politics.While she has links with theBSP, the challenge was toensure Jats voted for her andthat’s why the RLD symbol.Tabassum is the wife of formerSP MP Munnawar Hasan.Thus with Tabassum as its can-didature, the RLD hopes tobring the dominant Jats togeth-er with Muslims and Dalits ona platform to withstand thechallenge from the BJP.
For the opposition, it willnot be easy to repeatGorakhpur and Phulpur inKairana as it was much easierfor the BSP to transfer its ded-icated votes to the SP to defeatthe BJP in its stronghold butthis will not be the case for theRLD and Congress.
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.
Caste of my daughter AditiJaiswal DOB 26/11/2001 iswrongly mentioned as gener-al instead of Other BackwardCaste. In future she shall beconsidered as OBC. - VikasJaiswal S/o Lt Bhola NathJaiswal R/o 599 BM/005/002Jahidnagar. Alambagh,Lucknow.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday
CM seeks action plan
to tackle floods
Will continue to
fight for Dalits,
OBCs: Rajbhar
Sinha inaugurates severalfacilities at Basti rly stn
Hindu Yuva Vahini splits
AAP leader questions
demolition of temples
in PM’s constituency
Bypolls: 12 in fray
for Kairana seat
fielded by Ajit Singh-ledRashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
Samajwadi Party candi-date Naeemul Hassan is thejoint opposition candidate fromNoorpur seat.
A former MP of BahujanSamaj Party from Kairana,Tabassum (47), had later joinedthe Samajwadi Party. Afterbeing fielded from Kairana,Tabassum had joined the RLDearlier this month. She is a pop-ular face in the Jat-dominatedconstituency in western UttarPradesh.
BSP and Congress havenot fielded their candidates inthese bypolls and have extend-ed their support to the SP andRLD candidates.
The Kairana Lok Sabhaseat has around 17 lakh voters,including three lakh Muslims,four lakh backward classes (Jat,Gujjar, Saini, Kashyap, Prajapatiand others) and about 1.5 lakhDalits. Voting for the Kairanaand Noorpur bypolls will beheld on May 28 and the resultswill be declared on May 31.
Restoring social coalition uphill
task for RLD in Kairana bypoll
RLD confident of victoryLucknow (PNS): The Rashtriya Lok Dal on Monday exud-
ed confidence of wresting the Kairana Lok Sabha seat from theBharatiya Janata Party in the bypoll. “We have an upper handand we will win the election,” RLD national spokesman AnilDubey said, adding that in this election, Muslims and Dalits willalso vote for the RLD besides its committed supporters.
Karnataka pollresults to decidefate of UP tie-up
city 03LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Lucknow shone through inthe ICSE and ISC exams,results of which were
declared on Monday. Threestudents of the city achieved thejoint first all-India rank in ISC(Class 12) scoring a whopping99.50 per cent while two wereclose second with 99.25 per centmarks.
In ICSE (Class X), Lucknowgirls grabbed the first two posi-tions in UP circle by scoring98.8 per cent and 98.6 per cent,respectively. City MontessoriSchool came out with flyingcolours with 14 students fromthe various branches baggingthe top three all-India ranks(AIR) in ISC. Radhika Chandra,Saman Waheed, SakshiPradyumn secured AIR 1stwith 99.50 per cent each whileSanjeevani Hajra and MansiAcharya AIR 2nd with 99.25 percent each. The third positionwith 99 per cent marks wasshared by nine students —Muskan Tandon, Ibrahim Kaul,Shashwat Kumar, AshutoshSinghal, Swasti Arya, SaumyaShikhar Mishra, UtkarshNigam, Bhagyashree andShreshtha Gupta.
Shreya Bhagat of CMSachieved the first position inUttar Pradesh with 98.8 per centmarks while Kushi Verma (alsoof CMS) was close second with98.6 per cent in ISCE exams.The third position was sharedby Himanshu Ranjan, Anushka
Singh and Komal Haswani (allof CMS) with 98.2 per cent each.
A total of 2682 students ofCMS had appeared in ISCexaminations and 1,059 (40%)secured 90% and above while362 (13.5%) scored a whopping95% and above marks.
A total of 3,117 CMS stu-
dents took ICSE examinationsand 1,204 (39%) secured 90%and above while 313 (10%) got95% and above marks.
At Seth MR Jaipuria School,teachers and children wereglued to a huge screen set up inthe lobby to view the results. Aloud applause rented the air as
students came out with flyingcolours with a 100% result.Jeevesh Saxena with 98% wasthe school topper in ICSE whileYash Verma with 97.8% was atthe second spot and AditiChaudhary stood 3rd with96.8% marks. As many as 261students had appeared in the
ICSE exams and 128 got above90% marks. As many as 35 stu-dents scored 95-99 %marks.The school average inICSE stood at 87.25%.
In ISC, Fiza Khan (99.25%)from Humanities stream scoredAIR 2nd while SanjeeviniChanana, Atharv Tiwari andAbhinav Pandy scored above98.5% each. As many as 77 stu-dents got above 90%.
The SKD Academy stu-dents also performed well. TheISC results 2017-18 were 100%.Hasan Azim Ansari and SatyamMishra secured 98.75% eachachieving first position in thecollege while Harsh Tripathisecured 98.50% for second spot,Anas Khan third with 97.50%marks, Prakhar Mishra IV with96.75% marks and Laiba Fatima& Mohd Harish V with 96.5%marks each in ISC. In ICSE,Nipurn Mathur secured firstposition in the college with98.40% while Shreya Singhsecured second with 97.80%,Arushi Yadav & Tareeshi Mittalthird with 96.60% each, andAbhinav Singh fourth with 96%.
At Lucknow Public School,Lipika Agarwal of Lakhimpurbranch got AIR 1st in ISC with99.5% marks while Nidhi Priyaof Sahara States branch achievedAIR 2nd with 99.25% marks inICSE. As many as 29 studentsscored 95% and above markswhile 155 students got 90% andabove marks. In ISC, 35 studentsgot above 95% marks and 121got 90% and above marks.
With 99.50%, 3 city students share top spot in ISC
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
The young achievers want to servethe country in a big way and plan
to do it through a range of profes-sions which they have planned forthemselves. The toppers said theyworked hard to score excellent works.Fiza Khan from Seth MR JaipuriaSchool, who secured AIR 2nd in ISCwith 99.25 per cent marks, said shewanted to make the country a bet-ter place to live. “I am not happy withthe current state of affairs and thereis much that I would like to do,” she
said. A student of humanities, shesaid she wanted to take up psychol-ogy and later enter civil services. Shesaid she wanted the government towork for education uplift.
Jeevesh Saxena from the sameschool secured 98 per cent marks andgot first position in ICSE. He he wasinterested in having a start-up of hisown. “I am not interested in work-ing under someone else but want tobe my own boss. Artificial intelli-gence is one area where I can makea mark and want to create entrepre-neurship in the field of data analy-
sis. I have read a book called ‘RichDad and Poor Dad’, which I am try-ing to follow in my life,” he added.
Yash Verma, who secured 97.8per cent marks in ISCE, said heexpected the government to focus onnon-engineering institutes and thosewhere research could be carried outin development areas,” he said,adding that he had a special interestin cosmology.
Sanjeevini Chanana, whosecured 98.5 per cent marks in ISC,said she wanted to do research onhuman behaviour and take up civilservices. About her expectationsfrom the state government, she saidthe extremely vast syllabus needed to
Want to make country a better place to live: Fiza
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Daughter of a neurologist atBalrampur Hospital,
Radhika Chandra from CMSMahanagar fully supportsChief Minister YogiAdityanath’s vision of doctorsserving in rural areas. Theyoung achiever, who securedthe first rank with 99.50 percent, said she could onlydescribe her reaction aseuphoric.
Talking to The Pioneer,Radhika said she had greatconcern for people in vil-lages. “They are poor and donot have any medical facilities.There is a need to reach out tothese people. I completelyagree with the Chief Minister’svision of doctors serving inrural areas,” said Radhika whoappeared in NationalEligibility-cum-Entrance Test(NEET) recently. She said shewas aspiring for All IndiaInstitutes of Medical Sciences(AIIMS).
Attributing her success toteachers, she said the key tosuccess was attending all theclasses. “One must go fordaily revisions of studies andkeep away from social net-working sites. I used to put innearly 10-12 hours of studiesand never had a smartphone,”she added. The young student
secured 100 marks in foursubjects except for English inwhich she scored 98 marks.
Meanwhile, SamanWaheed of City MontessoriSchool was beaming themoment she came to knowthat she had secured AIR 1stin the ISC exams with 99.5 percent marks. Saman, a studentof Mahanagar branch, said sheput in five to six hours of stud-ies and was clear that revisionwas the key to getting goodmarks. “I always revised thor-oughly whatever I was taughtin the school and kept awayfrom social media,” she said.
The young achiever saidshe wanted to become anengineering and appeared inJEE recently. Daughter of acivil engineer, Saman said shewas supported in all herendeavour by her family.
About her expectationsfrom the state government,she said there was a need to
work to make people literate.“The government should pro-vide free education to thepoor students and encouragegirls as well,” she added.
Son of an RDSO employ-ee, Sakshi Pardayumn of CMSKanpur road was extremelyhappy over getting the firstAIR in ISC with 99.50 per centmarks. The young achiever,who has scored the 2196thrank in JEE (Mains), said hewas looking forward to acareer in engineering. Hescored 100 in Physics,Chemistry & Mathematicswhile 98 in English and 99 inHindi.
“Apart from studying, oneshould also pursue hobbies. Iused a smartphone,” he said,adding that he was focusingon a career in engineering. “Ian planning to do BTech fromIndia itself though I will pur-sue higher education andMTech from abroad,” headded.
Toppers have varied fields in mind
Radhika Chandra Saman Waheed Sakshi Pardayumun
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Shreya Bhagat from CityMontessori School
achieved first rank in UttarPradesh in the ICSE examina-tions with 98.80 per centmarks. Daughter of an IPSofficer, the young girl wholooked dazed admitted thatshe had not been expectingsuch a good result.
“I am very surprised bythe marks that I have securedand it was beyond my expec-tations,” she said. Her break-up of marks is commendable.She secured 95 marks inEnglish, 100 in Mathematics,99 in Science, 100 in History,Civics and Geography, 100 inComputers and 98 in Hindi.
About her mantra of suc-
cess, the topper said it wasessential to keep quiet andfocus on studies. “You shouldnot get distracted if you wantto secure good marks and it isimportant not to talk unnecessarily. It is also impor-tant to be clear about what youstudy,” she said.
Shreya said her aims kept
changing as far as her choiceof profession was concernedand that she was still thinkingwhat profession to choose. “Iwant to take up engineering asa profession but I may welltake up civil services at the endof the day. I am still trying tofigure out what exactly I wouldlike to do,” she added.
Shreya Bhagat tops UP in ICSE
“I AM NOT HAPPY
WITH THE CURRENT
STATE OF AFFAIRS
AND THERE IS MUCH
THAT I WOULD
LIKE TO DO”
“You should notget distracted ifyou want tosecure goodmarks and it isimportant not to talkunneccessarily”
CMS (top) and LPS students (above) exult after results of ISC and ICSE were declared on Monday Pioneer
Lucknow (PNS): Illegal structures havecome up on a large-scale in flats of prominentapartments owned by Lucknow DevelopmentAuthority (LDA). The LDA administration isserious about checking illegal and unauthorisedstructures and has issued 29 notices to ownerswho have their flats in the Saraswati andMansarovar apartments in Gomti NagarExtension. The engineers have stopped work atdozens of flats located in these apartments wherethe premises are being extended.
LDA Vice-Chairman PN Singh said it wasindeed a matter of concern and stringentaction would be taken to check the trend andadded that it was the first time that residents ofthe flats were engaged in extending their hous-es. It has been seen in the past that only house-owners in different housing schemes areinvolved in grabbing the LDA land to extendtheir premises.
It is said that the structures will collapse asthey will not be able to withstand the addition-al load. The flat owners are reportedly involvedin extending their balconies as well as serviceplaces for their personal use. This trend wasbrought to the notice of officials and engineersabout two months back. The flat owners havebeen given a period of three weeks to removetheir illegal structures or the LDA administra-tion will demolish them within a two-hournotice. Interestingly, such illegal structureshave come up in all types of houses, that is, frompent houses to those meant for the underpriv-ileged people. It is said that the illegal structures,which have sprung up on a large-scale, are dueto the lenient approach of their incharge andengineers. They never check them at the initialstage due to which encroachers get emboldenedand extend their shelters. The Vice-Chairmanhas turned down the proposal of owners to reg-ularise their illegal structures by paying thepenalty. Such structures will not be acceptableto the LDA administration and will be pulleddown soon, the Vice-Chairman added.
LDA issues notices
to flat owners
Fiza Khan of Seth MR Jaipuria with her family Pioneer
city 04LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
OFFICE OF THE EXECU-TIVE ENGINEER, ELEC-TRICITY TEST & COM-MISSIONING DIVISION,
PO-D.L.W., VARANASI, 221004 U.P.POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORA-TION LTD. SHORT TERM TENDERNOTICE NO. 02-ET&CD. Vns/2018-19Sealed tenders are invited from reg-istered Service provider/tour opera-tors/travel agencies on their own let-ter headfor providing vehicle forElectricity Test & CommissioningDivision Varanasi. TENDER NO02/2018-2019 Providing 10 no. lightmotor vehicle/ jeep/car in good condi-tion with Fuel & driver on average permonth for the use of MRI recording andemergency breakdown testing & essen-tial work for Ten months.(01.06.2018 to31.03.2019) Cost of tender form is Rs.100.00 and GST extra as per rule, avail-able for sale in this office from 17-05-2018 to 25-05-2018 up to 12:00 pmevery working day with Tender fee.Terms & Condition: 1- Tender must besubmitted in two envelopes together.First envelope should contain earnestmoney of Rs.2000=00 ( Rs. TwoThousand) only in the form of Bank draft/ Fixed deposit / Bankers Chequepayable in favor of "ExecutiveEngineer, Electricity Test &Commissioning Division, Varanasi".Second envelope should contain ratesin the prescribed format as above.Tender no., date & due date of open-ing should be clearly superscripted onboth the envelopes. During the processof opening of tenders, at first, the firstenvelope will be opened, and if foundin order, then only the second envelopewill be opened. 2- Tender will beaccepted in this office till 02:00 pm ondate 25.05.2018 which shall be openedat 03:00 pm on the same day in thepresence of renderers or their autho-rized representatives who wish to bepresent. In case of holiday, the tenderwill be opened in the next working day.3- Successful enderer will have to enterinto an agreement with the undersigned,The undersigned reserves the right to.cancel one or all the tenders. 4- Vehicleshould be in good running condition. Allits documents must be valid and com-plete. 5- The enderer shall be respon-sible for supply of lubricant, driver, repairof vehicle and safety of driver with thevehicle. 6- G.S.T will be extra on pre-sented rates. 7 - The owner have to fol-low central/state govt labour rule timeto time. 8- Vehicle Driver must havevalid Driving license 9- The insuranceof vehicle is must, if any accident hap-pens Corporation is not responsible inany way 10- Vehicle requirement ofvehicle will be initiated 04 hrs before thestart of the journeys, if vehicle is not pro-vided in time then earnest money con-fiscated and contract will be cancelled.EXECUTIVE ENGINEER No. 188 Date14.5.2018 Electricity Test &Commissioning Division, UPPTCL,Hydel Colony P.O.-D.L.W., Varanasi.Save electricity in the interest of Nation.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
The city will soon have pas-senger buses driven by
electricity plying on 10 promi-nent routes by June-end thisyear. This was disclosed bymedia incharge of theTransport department SKumar on Monday. He saidthat a fleet of 12 buses wouldarrive here by June first week.“The vehicles will ply on eightprominent routes while two ofthem will be kept in reserve toreplace ones which developtechnical snags,” he added.
The charging station willcome up on the land locatedbehind the Dubagga bus standwhich incidentally is owned bythe Transport department. Itis said that the proposed sitewas bought to construct aworkshop there and had beenlying vacant for several yearsas the plan had not materi-alised. The electric supplyagency has been asked to pro-vide a 15 KV power transmis-sion line to the station. Its
engineer has assured theTransport department that itwill provide a power transmis-sion line within a period of 10days. Initially, the capacity ofthe station will be of 12 busesat one time but it will increaseto 40 by December this year.The electric supply agencyhas said that the chargingpoint will be directly connect-ed with the nearest substationin order to ensure uninter-rupted power supply.
The number of electricbuses will increase if it isfound that they are deliveringthe goods to the people andyielding positive results. Thecharging points will be set upin different parts of the city incase of emergency. It is saidthat a strict vigil would be kepton the charging stations toensure that they were notmisused. This step had beentaken to check power pilferage.The aim behind introducingelectric buses is to check theincreasing pollution in thecity.
Lucknow (PNS): With thearrest of a miscreant and hisminor accomplice on Monday,the PGI police claimed to havebusted a gang of involved inthefts of water coolers from dif-ferent houses in the locality.
Those arrested were iden-tified as Kartan Singh ofTelibagh and his aide, who is aminor. Police recovered 10water coolers costing morethan Rs 1 lakh. Police said theygot a tip-off about a thief whowas in the plan to commitcrime. “He owned up his crimeduring interrogation and dis-closed that he had hiddenstolen water coolers on a vacantplot,” the police said. The policeadded that the stolen watercoolers were later recovered.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Unidentified miscreantstook away a four-year-old
son of a pavement dweller inVibhuti Khand on Sundaynight. As per reports, the boyidentified as Jeetu was sleepingbeside his mother Shakti Devion Sunday night. Around 4am, when Shakti Devi wokeup, she found Jeetu missingand searched him but in vain.She then informed otherdwellers who later informedthe police.
The police spokesman saida case of kidnapping was reg-istered against unidentifiedmiscreants. Police had
detained some of the pavementdwellers and were interrogat-ing them. Police sources saidsome disgruntled pavementdwellers would be behind thecrime.
Meanwhile, a four-year-old boy, identified as Kanhaiyaof Kakori, went missing froma temple in Gudamba onSunday evening. The policespokesman said Kanhaiya aliasVishal’s grandmother had vis-ited the temple to attend a sat-sang and she had taken the boyalong with her. He said thepolice made announcementin the locality and a team waspressed into the job to searchthe missing boy. “On Monday
afternoon, a woman spotted aboy who was loitering near theKhatri police outpost and wasweeping. The womaninformed the police and apolice team recovered the boy,”the police spokesman said.
ALLEGED A Kanpur girl accused a
constable of taking Rs 10,000from her to get her FIR regis-tered in a case in which her plotwas grabbed by land mafias inKrishna Nagar on Monday.The victim, identified as DeepaJaiswal, who had reached thecamp office of SSP, Lucknow,alleged that her father hadpurchased a land in Alinagar
Sunhara locality under VijayNagar police outpost area. “Ilive in Kanpur where I teach ata private school and so I did notget time to come tot Lucknowand look after the plot. A fewmonths back, I visited my plotand found that some personshad raised a boundary wallaround the plot,” she said. Shealleged that when she went tothe police station, she met aconstable, whom she identifiedas Awadhesh, and narratedher problem. “The constabletook the cash from me to getmy FIR registered but failed todo so. Later, when I asked himto pay back the cash, hereneged,” she disclosed.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Four miscreants looted Rs 1lakh from a cashier of Prime
Mega Mart while holding himon the gun-point at Aliganj onMonday afternoon. Police ini-tially disputed the claims of thecashier saying he was trumpingup a story to usurp the compa-ny’s cash but later registered acase of loot.
Virendra Nath Maurya(25) of Ambedkar Nagar wasworking at a showroom locat-ed in Vikas Nagar. Around 1.30pm, he left the showroom todeposit the company’s cash atHDFC Bank’s branch inAlkapuri of Aliganj locality.Around 2 pm, when he reacheda cold storage in sector G of
Aliganj, the miscreants ridingtwo bikes accosted him. “Twoof them trained pistol on mewhile other two frisked me andtook out the cash I had beforethey fled the scene,” he toldpolice. He said he dialled thepolice control room and ateam reached the place forinvestigation. “Later, I wastaken to Aliganj police stationwhere the police officers inter-rogated me about the sequenceof the incident,” he said.
Initially, it surfaced thatMaurya was in the need of cashand so the police suspected thathe would be concocting a storyto usurp the cash. The SSI, whois holding the charge of SHO,Aliganj, admitted that Mauryadisclosed the same initially.
“But it was confirmed that aloot did take place,” he said.
Police spokesman ArunKumar Singh said the CCTVfootages were scanned to ver-ify the claims made by Maurya.“As of now, the police did notget any clinching evidence tosubstantiate claims made byMaurya. He also failed toexplain in details about hismovement towards the coldstorage though he should havetaken another route to reachthe bank to deposit the cash,”he said. Sources in Policedepartment disclosed that fourmiscreants were seen arrivingat the scene and interceptingthe victim. One of them wasseen pummeling the victimafter he resisted the loot and
later two of them looted thecash,” the sources said.
SUICIDEAditya Kashyap, aged 16,
ended his life at his house inGauribheet village of Madiaonon Monday. His father VijayKumar Kashyap is a securityguard. Reports said Aditya wasa drop-out and was workingwith a private company. He didnot wake up late in the morn-ing on Monday and when hismother went to the room, shefind found him hanging. Policesaid Aditya was hanging witha scarf tied around his neck.“No suicide note was recoveredfrom the room and the policehad sent the body for autopsy,”the police said.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
With the controversy loominglarge over the Krishna Nagarencounter in which a hardcore
criminal suffered injuries before hisarrest on Sunday morning, the Lucknowpolice are mulling to issue a legal noticeto an NGO which is propagating that theencounter was staged.
ASP (East) Sarvesh Mishra said thepolice would issue a legal notice to theNGO spreading a canard about fakeencounter. “Every details related to theincident is documented by the police.Shubhkaran, who suffered firearminjuries, was asked to surrender and wasgiven time to do so. The police openedfire only after he opened fire on the policeteam,” he said. The ASP said the policewould explain everything related to theencounter if some authorised body askedfor the same. He added that the policeteams were hunting for Harpreet akaRinkle of Thakurganj who escaped arrestduring the encounter.
Earlier, the family of the criminal hadalleged that a police team raided theirhouse around 3.30 am on Sunday andlater rounded up Shubhkaran. Theyadded that they had faxed about the policeaction to senior police officials around6.30 am on Sunday. The family of thehardcore criminal later took help of the
NGO engaged in safeguarding humanrights. On Sunday morning, the policehad nabbed hardcore criminalShubhkaran, who was carrying a cash
prize of Rs 25,000 on his head, and twoof his aides, identified as Sanjay Shuklaof Wazirganj and Virendra of Sitapur, dur-ing an encounter in Kaliya Kheda local-ity of Krishna Nagar police station.Shubhkaran aka Karan Yadav sufferedinjuries on his leg when the policeopened fire in retaliation. He was lateradmitted to a hospital.
Shubhkaran was said to have execut-ed the murder of property dealer RajBahadur Yadav in Krishna Nagar andagainst whom the then police had initi-ated action under the Gangster Act. Thepolice later had announced the reward onShubhkaran, who with the help of hispolitical mentors, had evaded his arrest.Shubhkaran and his gang had looted Rs1.7 lakh from a man outside the PublicConvenience Centre in Bakshi-Ka-Talabon April 10. They also had committeddacoity in Sitapur and they extorted ahuge cash from traders in Naka.
Meanwhile, it surfaced during inves-tigation that Shubhkaran was hiding inMadiaon locality for the last one-and-a-half year since his name surfaced in prop-erty dealer Raj Bahadur murder case andwas involved in criminal activities andalso in property dealing business. The rev-elation put a question mark on the policeefficacy and its tall talk about the driveit was carrying against those wanted inheinous crime.PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
Congress Legislature Partyleader Ajay Kumar Lalu
attacked Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and RailwayMinister for being insensitivetowards the families whichlost their children in a tragicaccident at an unmanned rail-way crossing at Duddhi area ofKushinagar on April 26 thisyear. The CLP leader said thatthese families were runningfrom pillar to post to get theircompensation chequesencashed but so far theirefforts were in vein.
“The Chief Minister andthe Railway Minister handedover the relief of cheques of Rs2 lakh each (Rs 2 lakh by stategovernment and Rs 2 lakh bythe Railway Ministry) to thebereaved families but evenafter more than 20 days, thesecheques have not beenencashed,” Lalu said, addingthat the banks had refused to
encash the cheques citing var-ious discrepancies.
He said these families hadalready apprised the authori-ties concerned as well as thelocal administration of thefate of these cheques, but so farno one had come forward tohelp them. He demandedimmediate government inter-vene so that the bereaved fam-ilies got the compensationamounts.
Thirteen children had diedand seven were injured whena moving passenger train hit aschool van at Bahpurva railwaycrossing of Duddhi railway sta-tion under Vishnupura policestation area in Kushinagar dis-trict on April 26 last.
Meanwhile, Congressworkers and leaders onMonday staged protests at alltehsil headquarters hereagainst misgovernance of YogiAdityanath and NarendraModi governments.
According to UPCC gen-
eral secretary Vinod Mishra,the Congress workersgheraoed all the tehsil officesin Lucknow, includingMohanlalganj, Malihabad,Sarojininagar, Bakshi Ka Talaband others on Monday morn-ing in protest against risingprices of petrol, vegetables,food products and essentialcommodities; rising crimeagainst members of fairer sex;prevailing jungle raj and cor-ruption rampant in the state.He said that they handed overa memorandum in this regardto the sub-divisional magis-trates to be forwarded to thePresident and the Governor fornecessary action.
He said similar protestswere staged across the state.
Mishra said that now theCongress workers would comeout on streets and stage amassive demonstration if theModi and Yogi governmentsfailed to address the problemsof the people.
Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia during a meeting with a delegation from China at LMC on Monday Pioneer
Compensation chequesstill not encashed: Cong
Police assert encounter of
wanted criminal not fake
Cashier looted at gun-point in Aliganj
ASP (EAST) SARVESHMISHRA SAID THE POLICEWOULD ISSUE A LEGALNOTICE TO THE NGOPROPAGATING THAT THE ENCOUNTER WAS STAGED
Electric buses on10 routes likely by end of June
Pavement dweller’s son goes missing
Gang busted
Aligarh: Leaders of theAligarh Muslim UniversityStudents Union (AMUSU)held a meeting with senior dis-trict officials on Monday overthe ongoing two-week-longprotests on the campus. AMUsources confirmed that theleaders of the AMUSU metsenior district officials in a bidto end the logjam on the cam-pus. The students are reportedto have reiterated theirdemands pertaining to actionagainst those who had bargedinto the campus on May 2,seeking removal of a portrait ofPakistan founder M A Jinnahthat had been adorning a wallof the union office for decades.
They also demandedaction against those police-men who were responsible forthe lathicharge on protestingAMU students the sameevening. Meanwhile, AMUVice Chancellor Tariq Mansoorvisited the site of the dharnaand urged the protesting lead-ers to call off their agitation tohelp restore normalcy on cam-pus as admission tests andannual examinations areunderway. Prof Mansoor saidthat if the health of any studentdeteriorated during the relayhunger strike, it would have avery adverse impact on theprocess of normalcy on thecampus. PTI
AMU studentsmeet districtofficials to endcampus logjam
Murder case: Lawyers issue ultimatum to cops
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD
Advocates of the districtcourt issued an ultimatum
to the police to work out thesensational murder of theircolleague Rajesh Srivastavaand arrest his assassins with-in 10 days. They threatened tolaunch a massive agitation ifthe police failed to do so.
During a meeting of theDistrict Advocates’Association held on Monday,the members expressed resent-ment over the brutal murderof their colleague in broaddaylight. They condemned thedeteriorating law and order sit-uation in the state.
Besides, the advocatesabstained from judicial work
to give vent to their ire. RajeshSrivastava was shot dead bytwo motorcycle-borneassailants near ManmohanPark on May 10 while he wasgoing to court. After commit-ting the crime, the assailantssped away towards Katra area.Five days have elapsed sincethe murder but the policehave failed to nab the shoot-
ers. However, the police arrest-ed a hotel owner, PradeepJaiswal claiming that on RajeshSrivastava was shot at hisbehest. The hotelier confessedto his crime and was sent tojail. Besides, an employee ofAllahabad Nagar Nigaminvolved in this case wasarrested and sent to jail on thefateful day.
Members of Janata Dal (United), UP, staging a protest demanding liquor ban, at Gandhi Statue in Lucknow on Monday Pioneer
nation 05LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
INSHORT
CONG SLAMS MODI GOVTOVER FUEL PRICE HIKENew Delhi: The Congress onMonday attacked the ModiGovernment for hiking fuelprices, with party president RahulGandhi alleging that befoolingpeople is the key principle of“Modinomics”. “Karnatakafinishes voting, FUEL prices riseto a 4 year high! The KeyPrinciple of Modinomics: fool asmany people as you can, as oftenas you can,” he tweeted, usingthe hashtag “PeTrolled”.
KATHUA GANGRAPE: SC TOHEAR PLEA OF 3 New Delhi: Three college friendsof a key accused in the Kathuagangrape and murder case of aneight-year-old girl on Mondaymoved the Supreme Courtalleging torture by the Jammuand Kashmir police, and seekingprotection by a Central agency. ABench comprising Chief JusticeDipak Misra and Justices AMKhanwilkar and DY Chandrachudagreed to hear the plea of thesestudents, who hail from theJammu region of the State, onMay 16.
NAXAL KILLING: RAJNATHSPEAKS WITH ODISHA CMNew Delhi: Home MinisterRajnath Singh on Monday spoketo Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik and reviewed with himthe security situation in the Statein the wake of the killing of sevennaxals in separate encounters.During the telephonicconversation, the Home Ministertook stock of the situation in thewake of multiple encountersbetween security forces andnaxals in two districts of theState.
PM CONGRATULATESMAHATHIR MOHAMADNew Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Monday calledup newly-elected Prime Ministerof Malaysia Mahathir Mohamadto congratulate him on assumingoffice. Modi said that he lookedforward to working with him tofurther strengthen India-Malaysiastrategic partnership.
UNION MINISTERSHARMA ON GITA New Delhi: Union Minister ofState for Culture Mahesh Sharmahas said “if we look at the Gita ina limited sense, only as what wasrecited during the war ofMahabharata between Pandavasand Kauravas, we are likely tomiss its message in totality. Hewas speaking at an eventorganised by Brahma Kumaris onthe theme “Truth As Revealed bythe God of Gita”.
SC TO EXAMINE PLEARELATED TO YOGINew Delhi: The Supreme Courton Monday agreed to examine aplea challenging an AllahabadHigh Court order dismissing apetition seeking prosecution ofUttar Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath in a hate speech caseof 2007.
AMITY STUDENTSBRING LAURELSNew Delhi: Indian students fromAmity School created footprintsas budding financial experts atthe Global Level FinancialCompetition organised by theprestigious Wharton BusinessSchool in USA. A team of sevenstudents, led by Jahnvi Vig, fromthe school’s Noida branch won2nd position in the competitiontitled ‘The Alchemy ofInvestments’ where they won acash prize of $2000.
ENVIRONMENT MINISTRYLAUNCHES PROGRAMME New Delhi: The UnionEnvironment Ministry launchedits full fledged Green SkillDevelopment Programme onMonday that aims to train over5.5 lakh workers in environmentand forest sectors in the countrythrough 30 courses by 2021.New Delhi: Well-known Indiansocial scientist and founder ofsanitation pioneer SulabhInternational Bindeshwar Pathakhas been selected for this year’sJapan’s most prestigious “NikkeiAsia Prize” for culture andcommunity.
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Centre on Monday pre-sented the draft scheme
for constitution of CauveryManagement Board two daysafter elections in Karnatakacame to a close. The Court saidthat it will not examinewhether the scheme is in con-formity with its February 16,2018 direction and left it to thestakeholders — Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Kerala andPuducherry, to examine thescheme and file their respons-es by Wednesday.
The Centre was to preparethe scheme within six weeksfrom the date of judgment. Thisperiod expired on March 29following which the TamilNadu Government moved acontempt petition against theCentre in Supreme Court.
On Monday, Union WaterResources Secretary UP Singhappeared before a Bench head-ed by Chief Justice Dipak Misraalong with a copy of the draftscheme. Attorney General KKVenugopal said that the Courtmay finalise the scheme andeven propose the nomenclatureof the supervisory body,whether it should be a Board,Authority or Committee. TheWater Secretary appeared in
Court following the previousorder by Court which heldCentre to be in “sheer con-tempt” of its order and sum-moned the official to ensurespeedy implementation of itsdecision. Once the Board willbe in place, it will ensuresmooth water distributionamong the three states and oneUT.
The bench, also compris-ing Justices AM Khanwilkarand DY Chandrachud, said,“We will not go into the cor-rectness of the scheme framed
by the Centre but examinewhether the scheme conformsto our judgment (of February16) or not.”
Tamil Nadu counsel senioradvocate Shekhar Naphadeurged the Court to implementthe judgment at the earliest asthe state was in dire need ofwater. The Court in its judg-ment had modified theCauvery Water DisputesTribunal (CWDT) award of2007 and raised the 270 tmcftshare of Cauvery water forKarnataka by 14.75 tmcft andreduced Tamil Nadu’s share,while compensating it by allow-ing extraction of 10 tmcft ofgroundwater from the riverbasin.
Naphade submitted to theCourt that the Centre waspoliticizing the case as thedelay to frame the scheme bythe Centre was on account ofelections in Karnataka. Heurged the Court to considersending some of the officials tojail for contempt. The Court,however, maintained that itdoes not wish to get intoimplementing its judgment butto ensure a scheme is madeoperational at the earliest.
PNS n NEW DELHI
AGroup of Ministers (GoM),headed by Assam Finance
Minister Himanta BiswaSarma, has sought opinionfrom the Law Ministry on thelegality of imposing cess onsugar. The GoM has alsosought a report from the foodministry on the final utilisationof the proceeds from levy ofsugar cess.
“The GoM met onMonday. First question iswhether council at all has thepower to impose cess, we havedecided to refer that to the LawMinistry,” Sarma said after thefirst meeting of the panel. TheGoM will meet next on June 3in Mumbai.
The GoM was constitutedon May 4 to look into the fea-sibility of implementing theFood Ministry proposal oflevying cess on sugar to bene-fit sugar cane farmers.
The Food Ministry in itsreport to the GoM will detailout how it is proposing to dis-burse the proceeds from levy ofcess. The GoM expects the LawMinistry as well as the FoodMinistry to give their views bythe end of this month.
“We must first knowwhether legally we have thepower or not to levy cess.... Ifthe Law Ministry says there ispower, Council will exercisethat power when it serves pub-lic interest,” Sarma said.
Under the present Goodsand Services Tax(GST) laws, acess is levied on luxury, sin anddemerit goods on top of thehighest tax rate of 28 per cent.The GST Council had on May4 deliberated on the food min-istry proposal of imposition ofcess of up to `3 per kg on sup-ply of sugar over and above 5per cent GST rate.
As per estimates, the levyof cess could fetch about ̀ 6,700
crore to the Government.The Food Ministry also
recommended to the Councilto cut GST rate on ethanolfrom present 18 per cent to 12per cent.
The Council then set up a5-member GoM under Sarmato consider the issues sur-rounding the levy of cess onsugar.
The other members of theGoM include Uttar PradeshFinance Minister RajeshAgrawal, Maharashtra FinanceMinister Sudhir Mungatiwar,Kerala Finance MinisterThomas Isaac and Tamil NaduFisheries Minister DJayakumar.
Centre submits Cauverydraft scheme in SC
PNS n NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court onMonday set the ball rolling
for the auction of Unitech’sunencumbered properties byforming a one-man Committeeheaded by a retired High Courtjudge that will formulate termsand conditions to sell proper-ties situated across 600 acres.
The SC Bench headed byChief Justice Dipak Misranamed former Delhi HighCourt judge, Justice (Retd) SNDhingra to proceed with theauction as expeditiously aspossible in the interest of thou-sands of homebuyers awaitingtheir refund after Unitech failedto deliver them flats.
The Bench, also compris-ing of Justices AM Khanwilkarand DY Chandrachud askedJustice Dhingra Committee toformulate “suitable terms andconditions for auction” of prop-erties held by the company inUttar Pradesh (Agra andVaranasi) and about propertyacross 400 acres of land inTamil Nadu.
Already, public notice withregard to 230 acres out of thetotal 600 acres of unencum-bered properties submitted tothe Court has been issued.
The Bench directed the judicialcommittee to notify auction ofthe remaining properties (otherthan 230 acres) on as-is-whereis basis in the newspapers.
The Bench also directedamicus curiae PawanshreeAgarwal and counsel forUnitech Abhinav Agarwal to bepart of the Committee to aid its
smooth functioning. In addi-tion, the Committee will be freeto hire services of charteredaccountants and valuers.
The cost of the work to beperformed by the Committeewill be borne out of the accruedinterest generated from theamount deposited by Unitechwith the Court,
The Bench directed thatthe auction shall be subject toconfirmation by the apex court.The Bench posted the hearingfor July 5.
It expressed dissatisfactionover the affidavit filed byUnitech’s co-promoter AjayChandra for making vaguedisclosure of his personal assetsand said it would deal with thesame on the next date.
GoM seeks opinion from
Law and Food Ministry
SUGAR CESS UNDER GST
PTI n NEW DELHI
Prime Minister NarendraModi will travel to Russia
on May 21 for an informalsummit with Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA)announced today.
The informal summit will
be held in Russian city ofSochi.
“This will be an importantoccasion for the two leaders toexchange views on interna-tional matters in a broad andlong-term perspective with theobjective of further strength-ening our Special andPrivileged Strategic partner-ship,” the MEA said in a state-ment.
It said both the leaders willalso discuss their respectivenational developmental prior-ities and bilateral matters.
“This informal Summit in
Sochi between Prime MinisterModi and President Putin is inkeeping with the tradition ofregular consultations betweenIndia and Russia at the highest
levels,” the MEA said.Last month, Modi had
travelled to Chinese city ofWuhan for an informal summitwith President Xi Jingpin.
Modi to visit Russia next weekFor informal
summit with
Vladimir Putin
MEETING OF PARTY OFFICE-BEARERS
DEEPAK K UPRETI nNEW DELHI
While anticipating a clearwin in the Karnataka
polls, results of which will beout on Tuesday, BJP presidentAmit Shah on Monday askedparty office-bearers to gear upfor the 2019 Lok Sabha electionwith confidence as the Modi-Government has done a com-mendable work in the last fouryears.
The BJP president saidnow that 2019 is round the cor-ner it is being said it would beunlike 2014 polls which was a“fluke”. Dismissing the argu-ment, he pointed out that afterthe 2014 Lok Sabha win theBJP had scored victories in 11State elections.
Addressing party officebearers meet here, Shah saidthe BJP has to move ahead andwin not only general electionsbut more States like Odisha,Kerala, Bengal and AndhraPradesh. Shah, though, said hisparty’s main aim was ideolog-ical change and not grabbingpower.
He said that BJP would winthe Karnataka elections andthat it was a good feeling thatit was now turning to be theBJP versus all other parties inthe country as his party is win-
ning one elections after anoth-er.
Briefing newspersons afteroffice-bearers’ meet herepresided by Shah, BJPspokespersons SudhanshuTrivedi and ShahnawazHussain quoted Shah as sayingthat satisfaction from series ofpoll victories should not con-vert into self-complacency.Shah said BJP is being nowcopied by many rival politicalparties who are having evenbooth-level conferences.
Trivedi said the meetreviewed the feedback from allthe states on the implementa-
tion of party and Government’sprogrammes and use of NaMoApp within party workers forcommunication and interac-tion.
He said reporting was doneon night-stays of central min-isters and office-bearers in20000 villages.
Along with feedback , sug-gestions were also invited withthe President insisting that allshould submit their sugges-tions.
He said States came up fordiscussions and the meetappreciated BJP’s Municipalwin in Jharkhand and election
of a BJP member as ChiefExecutive member in MizoramCouncil. Trivedi said violenceagainst BJP workers in WestBengal Panchayat elections hasvirtually uprooted democracy.He said Centre has alreadysought a report on the violencein the State.
Besides election issues,party president also reviewedconstruction of BJP offices inall the districts in the country.
All BJP Morchas will havemeeting here. Shah and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi areexpected to present during themeet.
Shah sets tone for next LS polls
BJP national president Amit Shah during the BJP national office-bearers & State presidents meeting at party headquarters,DDU Marg in New Delhi, on Monday PTI
Future diplomats should be more tech-savvy and should engage with State Governments and the Indian diaspora, who are increasingly becoming important stakeholdersin the conduct of foreign relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday interacting with 39 officer trainees of Indian Foreign Service, undergoing training at theForeign Service Institute PTI
PTI n NEW DELHI
Faced with whopping cost ofmedicines for treating his
ailing mother, a law intern onMonday moved the SupremeCourt seeking a direction toban hospitals and their in-house pharmacies from com-pelling patients to mandatori-ly buy medicines from them atinflated prices.
The top court agreed toexamine the plea jointly filed bythe law student and his advo-cate father, alleging that the
prices of medicines, medicaldevices and medical consum-ables were inflated in collabo-ration and connivance with thedrug manufacturers.
A Bench of Justices S ABobde and L Nageswara Raoissued notice and sought replyfrom Centre and all states onthe matter in four weeks.
Advocate Vijay Pal Dalmia,the joint petitioner with sonSiddharth Dalmia, appeared inperson and said by takingadvantage of the ignorance,their plight and adverse cir-
cumstances of the patients inhospitals across India, peoplewere being compelled to buymedicines from there or theirin-house pharmacies.
Highlighting the problemsfaced during the treatment ofhis mother who was last yeardiagnosed with breast cancer,the law student in his plea saidshe had to undergo surgery,which was to be followed by sixrounds of chemotherapy andother treatments along withBiceltis injections every 21days.
During the course of treat-ment, it came to their noticethat Biceltis injection was soldto them at a MRP of `61,132,while the same medicine manufactured andmarketed by the same compa-ny was being sold in the openmarket at a discounted rate of`50,000.
Besides, on purchase offour injections, one injectionwas given free of cost to thepatient towards the patients’support programme by thecompany.
INFLATED COST OF MEDICINES IN HOSPITAL PHARMACY
Law intern moves Supreme Court
PNS n NEW DELHI
CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury on
Monday said the West BengalState Election Commission(SEC) will be seen as complic-it in the ruling TrinamoolCongress’ “project of destroy-ing democracy” if it does notact to restore faith in the elec-toral process. The CPI(M) willfight alongside the people torestore democracy and nor-malcy, Yechury added asreports came in of several per-sons being killed and manyinjured in violence during thePanchayat polls in the State.
“No condemnation isstrong enough to denounce thebarbarity which West Bengal iswitnessing today to ensureTMC’s project of capturing
cent per cent of elected pan-chayat bodies of the state.Despite the forcible capture of34 per cent of the seats uncon-tested, the heinous attempts tocapture the rest are in fullswing.
The blood-curdling andgruesome incident where acouple of comrades (Debu Dasand his wife Usha Das) of ourParty have been burnt to deathin Budhakhali GP, booth No.213 in Namkhana block underKakdweep PS of South 24Parganas district,” Yechury saidaccusing ruling TMC forunleashing violence.
“The scale of violencemakes it very clear that free andfair poll is impossible withsuch active involvement of theTMC-led administration.What is being played out has
been also noted strongly byboth the Kolkata High Courtand the Supreme Court.However, none of the specificdirections by the judiciary wereimplemented by those whoare responsible for securitymanagement.
The role of the StateElection Commission has beenobnoxious and the distinctionbetween the TMC, the stategovernment and the SEC hasbeen completely obliterated.The Election Commission ofWest Bengal must act to restorefaith in the process.
Else it will be seen as com-plicit in TMC’s project ofdestroying democracy.Allowing TMC to get awaywith throttling democracy hasimplications well beyond WestBengal,” Yechury added
West Bengal SEC must act to restorefaith in electoral process: Yechury
The Bench also directedamicus curiae
Pawanshree Agarwaland counsel for UnitechAbhinav Agarwal to be
part of the Committee toaid its smooth
functioning
The Court,
however,
maintained that it
does not wish to
get into
implementing its
judgment but to
ensure a scheme is
made operational
at the earliest
TWO DAYS AFTERELECTIONS IN
KARNATAKAENDED
Auction of Unitech’s 600
acres soon for payback
nation 06LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI
ASpecial NIA Court inKochi on Monday found
18 accused including fourKeralites guilty in the casepertaining to a terror trainingcamp conducted by the bannedStudents Islamic Movement ofIndia (SIMI) at Vagamonheights in Kerala’s Idukki dis-trict in December, 2007. Thecourt also acquitted 17 accusedfor lack of evidence.
The court found the 18accused guilty under UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA), Explosive SubstancesAct and various sections of theIndian Penal Code. Sources inthe NIA said the agency wassatisfied about the court’s ver-dict. The court will pronouncethe quantum of punishment forthe convicts on Tuesday.
The trial, which had start-ed on January 23, 2017, wasconducted via video-confer-encing by connecting the Kochicourt with jails in Bhopal,Bangalore, New Delhi andAhmedabad where most ofthe accused were lodged.Video-conferencing had alsobeen arranged for the pro-nouncement of the verdict.Only two of the accused wereproduced in the court onMonday.
The case pertained to asecret training camp organ-ised by the banned organisa-tion, SIMI, on the ragged rockyheights of Thangalpara,Kolahalamedu at Vagamon inIdukki district in Keralabetween December 10 and 12.According to the investigators,the camp had become the de-facto launch-pad for a series ofterror activities in the country.
The Keralites convicted inthe case are first accused Shibili,
fourth accused Shaduli (bothhailing from Irattupetta inKottayam district), fifth accusedMuhammad Ansar Nadvi andeighth accused Abdul Sattar(both natives of Aluva). AbdulSubhan Qureshi, 35th accusedand a founding member of theIndian Mujahideen, was pro-duced before the Kochi courtlast week.
The NIA had madeQureshi, an accused in con-
nection with the financial assis-tance SIMI, had received fororganising the camp. Anotheraccused, Mehaboob Malik, hadbeen shot dead in Bhopal whiletrying to escape from theCentral Prison there. WasiqBilla is the sole accusedabsconding in the terror campcase.
According to the NIAchargesheet, the organisers ofthe camp had imparted train-ing to the participants inadvanced weapons, firing,bomb-making, rope-climbing,motorcycle maneuvering onthe rocky hill of Thangalpara.The agency had found that sixengineers and three doctorshad participated in the camp.
As per the NIA’s finding,the SIMI leaders had con-spired to conduct trainingcamps for its active operativesand had held such camps inKarnataka, Madhya Pradeshand many other places. The
role of several of the accusedhad been identified in theexplosions that had occurred atBangalore, Ahmedabad, Suratand Bhopal.
The case was investigatedinitially by the anti-terror wingof the Kerala Police but theNIA took it over considering itsseriousness and nationaldimensions. The authoritieshad come under heavy criti-cism over the failure of theIntelligence agencies in acquir-ing information about such aplanned training camp.
It was alleged that office-bearers and operatives of SIMIhad entered into a conspiracyin November, 2007 at Indorefor conducting training camps.The SIMI operatives had alsoallegedly conducted classes atthe Vagamon camp for trainingthe operatives to advocate,incite and abet terror activitiesand to disrupt communal har-mony.
Kochi NIA court convicts 18
SIMI TRAINING CAMP CASE
17 acquittedKESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU
JDS chief and former ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamy’s
trip to Singapore hours afterpolls ended on Saturday has ledto political speculation in thepost poll parleys.
Most exit poll predictionshave indicated a hungAssembly and the BJP and theCongress have started negoti-ations on the formation of theGovernment. Kumaranna, he isknown as is expected to play akey role and cherishes an ambi-tion to become Chief Ministerfor the second time.
This is scenario might alsolead to revival of JDS which isknown as a family party con-trolled by former Prime MinisterHD Devegowda and his son HDKumaraswamy. His sudden tripto Singapore at this juncture hasled to speculation in the politi-cal circles and some of the lead-ers say already negotiations havestarted towards formation of a
Government. However a JDSleader told The Pioneer thatKumaraswamy has gone therefor some rest and treatment. Hesaid JDS leader will be back fromSingapore on the mid night ofSaturday and will be there inBengaluru on the D-day to wit-ness the counting of votes.
Most exit polls have pre-dicted hung House, with the JDSlikely to emerge as kingmaker inthe 224-member Assembly.Republic TV-Jan Ki Baat andABP-C Voter predicted that theBJP will emerge as the singlelargest party by bagging 104 and104-116 seats, respectively. Thetwo news channels gave theincumbent Congress 78 and83-94 seats, and the JDS 37 and20-29 seats, respectively. Anyparty or alliance will need thesupport of 112 MLAs to formthe new Government in the 224member house.
A Congress leader on thecondition of anonymity saidhis party has started consulta-
tions on formation of theGovernment in case of a frac-tured mandate. Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah had said onSunday that he was ready to stepaside for a Dalit as ChiefMinister if the party high com-mand decides as the ChiefMinister. This according topolitical leaders in the centuryold party indication of Congressready to negotiate with JDs andits leaders without Siddaramaiahnot being in the saddle.
Sources say Siddaramaiah’sremoval from ChiefMinistership could be a possi-ble rider for Deve Gowda toextend his support to theCongress. The party’s promi-nent Dalit faces include GParameshwara, MallikarjunKharge and HC Mahadevappa.
In another developmentthe confidant BJP is hoping toform the Government on itsown but they are also preparingfor looking at JDs in case of afractured mandate.
HD Kumaraswamy’s Singapore tripleads to speculation ahead of D-day
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
Congress candidateVishwajeet Kadam was on
Monday elected unopposed tothe Maharashtra Assembly fromPalus-Kadegaon constituencyin Sangli district of westernMaharashtra, after BJP’sSangram Singh Deshmukh andeight other candidates with-drew from the day on the lastday of withdrawal of nomina-tions for the May 28 bypolls.
In a development that camefour days after the ruling ShivSena announced its support tothe Congress candidate, theBJP withdrew its candidateDeshmukh from the fray.Simultaneously, eight other can-didates, mostly independents,withdrew their papers, facili-tating the unopposed election ofVishwajeet.
The Palus-KadegaonAssembly by-polls in Sanglidistrict of western Maharashtrahad been necessitated by thedemise of senior Congressleader Patangrao Kadam, whodied of renal dysfunction atMumbai’s Lilavati Hospital onMarch 9 this year. Vishwajeet isthe son of late PatangraoKadam.
The Shiv Sena had put theBJP, its senior ruling alliance
partner in the State and at theCentre, in a predicament onThursday last, when it extend-ed its “active” support toVishwajeet’s candidature in viewof late Congress MinisterPatangrao Kadam’s contributionin the education, social and co-operative sectors. The Sena hadgone to extent of mocking theBJP for not coming forward toensure the unopposed electionof the Congress candidate.
Unfazed by the Sena’s can-didate, the BJP had indirectlytried to bargain with theCongress for withdrawing itscandidate from the Assemblyby-poll. Maharashtra’s seniorState Minister Girish Bapat hadsaid that the BJP would considerwithdrawing its nominee fromthe Assembly by-poll contest, ifthe Congress extended its sup-port to its candidates in PalgharLok Sabha by-poll and otherCouncil polls.
Congress’ Vishwajeetelected unopposed
PALUS-KADEGAON ASSEMBLY BYPOLL
PNS n PATNA
After spending three dayshere and attending all the
rituals of the wedding of his sonTej Pratap Yadav, on MondayLalu Prasad went back toRanchi. He had been grantedthree days parole of whichperiod expired on Monday.However, during this paroleperiod the RJD chief, convict-ed in some cases related to fod-der scam of 1997, was grantedsix weeks provisional bail fortreatment by the JharkhandHigh Court.
He is likely to be releasedafter reporting to the Hotwarjail in Ranchi after fulfilling thebail provisions and expected toreturn here on Tuesdayevening. Family sources saidthat Lalu would be flown toMumbai for treatment.
During three days Laluhad hectic schedule attendingthe pre and post marriage rit-uals apart from being presentat the mega wedding ceremo-ny which was attended by sev-eral thousand visitors and someVVIPs including BiharGovernor Satyapal Malik andChief Minister Nitish Kumar.Many VIPs visited his residencebefore and after the marriage.Lalu, a day after wedding, wentto his samdhi Chandrika Rai’sresidence on Sunday andsavoured lunch of fish andrice. For a change Lalu brokehis resolve not to touch non-vegetarian food and ate fishserved by daughter-in-lawAishwarya Rai.
who could not reach the mar-riage venue on Saturdayevening due to heavy crowdvisited him at his residence onMonday and blessed the newlywed couple who merrily hadselfies with the actor turnedpolitician. After the visit hetweeted, “Special wedding cel-ebrations, great atmosphere,an evening for special entry ofthe bride Aishwarya, a close &special family get together forall of us. I whole heartedly con-gratulate Laluji & his entirefamily on this occasion. Whatbetter could Rabriji ask for onMothers Day.”
In another tweet Shotgunpraised Lalu’s younger sonTejashwi Prasad Yadav callinghim present and future ofBihar. “With lots of love ®ards for our friend LaluYadav, his entire family includ-ing the new Beti bahu(Aaishwarya), the beautifulperson & desirable groom ofthe day Tej Pratap & of coursethe present and future ofBiharthe golden boy TejaswiYadav & entire family.” He alsoposted photo with grand chil-dren of Lalu.
Likely to come backon provisional bail
After son’s marriage Lalureturns to Ranchi jail
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief LaluPrasad Yadav leaves for Ranchi afterthe expiry of his three-day parole inPatna on Monday PTI
NAYAN DAVE n GANDHINAGAR
As mercury is constantlysoaring in the pick sum-
mer season, the issue of waterscarcity in Gujarat too isbecoming critical as less than30 per cent water remained inmajor dams of the State.
Sources in StateGovernment said that if mon-soon would not arrive intime drinking water situationin the State, especially inarid Saurashtra-Kutch regionwould become bad to worse.Of the 203 major dams in theState, 65 have already becomecompletely empty. Other 153dams have less than 25 percent water.
Of total storage capacitiesof the State’s major dams,only 29 per cent water saved.But the officials concernedare worried about fast evap-
oration of water due to boil-ing temperature. For the pastone fortnight temperature inmost parts of the Statetouched or crossed 42 degreeCelsius.
Situation in borderingKutch district is even morecritical as only 15 per centwater remained in 20 damsthere. Same is the case with138 dams of Saurashtraregion where hardly 17 percent water remained. Peopleare facing acute water scarci-ty problems in districts likeAmreli , Botad, Dwarka,Junagadh, Kheda and ChhotaUdepur.
Only five per cent wateravailable in dams situated inAmreli district. In ChhotaUdepur district situation iseven worse as only 4.79 percent water available in damsthere. Junagadh, Porbandar,Jamnagar and Bhavnagaravailability of water is 2.78per cent, 9.72 per cent, 11.66per cent and 12.54 per centrespectively.
Sardar Sarovar Dam,which is considered as lifelineof the state is filled with31.73 per cent water of itscapacity. People will have towait for monsoon for at least
one month and during theperiod, water level in all thedams would reduce consid-erably due to high evapora-tion as well as increasingsupply.
PNS: In a novel initiative,Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani on Monday reviewedthe progress of ongoing‘Sujalam Sufalam Jal SanchayAbhiyan’ with officials at sixworks sites in six districtsthrough drone monitoringcommand control wall tech-nology from his residence inthe State capita lGandhinagar.
A direct link was estab-l ished with digging works at six water bodies inRajkot, Tapi, Sabarkantha,
Junagadh, Dahod andNarmda districts for the pur-pose.
He also talked to keyofficials of these districtsand said that funds should-n’t be an issue for completingthe deepening and cleaningworks of water bodies toensure there wouldn’t bewater crisis for next 50 yearsin the State.
The water conservationcampaign has helped create19-lakh man-days job main-ly through MNREGA.
Chief Minister reviews water
conservation work using drone
Water level dips to 30% in Guj’s dams
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018 nation 07
VR JAYARAJ n KOCHI
Even as protest is intensify-ing across Kerala against the
continuing political violence inState’s Kannur region, theCPI(M) leadership hasembarked on a campaign todownplay the killing of anRSS-BJP worker in New Mahe,Kannur last week immediate-ly after a local CPI(M) leaderwas hacked to death in nearbyMahe enclave of Puducherry.
The Marxist efforts to findjustification for the killing ofRSS-BJP worker ShamejParambath, an autorickshawdriver, had started last Fridaywith CPI(M) central commit-tee member and Kerala’s LawMinister AK Balan stating thatthe abominable act was theresult of the ‘natural’ emo-tional response of partymen tothe murder of a party leader.
The latest such justification
for Shamej’s murder by a sus-pected CPI(M) killer gang hascome from Politbureau mem-ber MA Baby, according towhom the two murders ‘couldnot be weighed in the same bal-ance’. Earlier, party centralcommittee member andFinance Minister TM ThomasIsaac and CPI(M)’s IndustriesMinister AC Moideen also hadjustified the killing.
‘Emotional response is nat-ural when a popular leader iskilled brutally. This (murder ofShamej) should be seen in thatlight,’ Baby told the media. ‘Insuch a situation, how can youweigh both the incidents in thesame balance? How can onefind similarities between thesheep and the wolf?’ the CPI(M)Politbureau member said.
Shamej (36) was hacked todeath by a suspected Marxistkiller gang in New Mahe inKannur district on the night of
May 7 while he was returninghome in his autorikshaw, with-in less than an hour of thekilling of CPI(M)’s local com-mittee secretary KannipoyilBabu (45) by a gang near hishouse at Palloor in Mahe, anenclave of Puducherry bor-dering Kannur district.
Also, the failure of MarxistChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan,a native of Kannur district, tocall on the family of Shamej onSaturday night when he had vis-ited the mother, widow andchildren of Babu is being inter-preted as an indirect bid to jus-tify the killing of the RSS-BJPworker. Shamej’s house is justtwo and a half kilometers awayfrom that of Babu.
On Friday, Minister Balanhad tried to justify the killingof Shamej by saying, ‘Ourworkers had come under attackand it is normal (for them) toretaliate as an act of self-
defence.’ Stating that Babu’smurder was preplanned, Balansaid that the killing of Shamejshould be seen as such anincident and that linking thatto the political violence inKannur was unwarranted.
Minister and central com-mittee member Thomas Isaac,considered as one of the mostreasonable faces of the CPI(M)and party-led LDF Government,also justified the killing ofShamej by suspected Marxists.‘(Shamej’s killing) was the resultof a natural and momentaryreaction to the murder of theCPI(M) leader,’ he said.
Refusing to find fault withthe killers of the RSS-BJP work-er, Isaac said that the differencebetween the two incidents wasthat while Babu’s killing was aplanned act of violence, therewas no plot behind the murderof Shamej. On Saturday itself,Industries Minister Moideen
had justified the BJP worker’skilling by defending Balan’sstatement on it.
Meanwhile, thePuducherry Police have arrest-ed three BJP workers — JerinSuresh of Panur, PK Sarath ofPanthakkal and PK Nijesh ofChokli, all from Kannur district— in connection with the mur-der of Babu, CPI(M)’s formercouncilor of MaheMunicipality. A local courtremanded all the three in judi-cial remand for 14 days.
The police had taken sev-eral BJP-RSS workers into cus-tody on Saturday and Sundayfollowing which intense protestwas staged in front of thePallur police station in Mahe inwhich hundreds of activistsparticipated. The police hadtaken Jerin on Saturday nightwhen he was to get married onSunday. Six people were still inpolice custody on Monday.
CPM justifies killing of Kerala BJP man
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
In a tragic mishap, four mem-bers of a family were killed
when they were run over by asuburban train while crossingthe railway tracks betweenKandivli and Borivli stations innorth Mumbai on Mondaymorning.
The mishap took place at6.30 am after they jumped outof a suburban local when itbriefly halted betweenKandivali and Borivali stationand they began to cross thetracks to head to their home atPoisar locality in Kandivali.However, while crossing thetracks, the four – all cousins –were knocked down by aChurchgate-bound local com-ing from the opposite direction.
The police identified thefour deceased cousins asSaiprasad Manohar Chavan(17), Manoj Deepak Chavan(17), Sagar Sampat Chavan(23) and Dattaprasad ManoharChavan (20). They were killedon the spot.
The four cousins had ear-
lier in the morning arrived atDadar railway station fromtheir native Kankavli inSindhudurg district by ShatbdiExpress. They had taken sub-urban local to Borivali to headtheir Poisar residence.
Meanwhile, the Railwaypolice said that the familymembers, who were suspectinga foul play, had refused toaccept the four bodies. ‘Thefamily members have told thatthey would not accept the bod-ies unless either they see thefootage of the incident or theRailway police ordered aninquiry into the incident,’ asenior Railway police officersaid.
The predicament that theRailway police are facing is thatthere are no CCTV cameras inthe vicinity of the spot wherethe incident took place. ‘In theabsence of CCTV footage,there is no way we can get toknow as to how the incidenttook place,’ the officer said.
The deaths on railwaytracks have unfortunatelybecome a common feature in
Mumbai over the years. As perthe response to an RTI querygiven by the GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) inJanuary this year, as many as3,014 commuters were killedon the tracks on the western,central and harbour suburbanservices in the metropolis dur-ing 2017.
Responding to an RTIquery posed by activist SamirJhaveri, the GRP had stated:‘Of the total number of deathsreported in 2017 across all thesuburban stations (on all threelines), 1,651 persons (1,467men and 184 women) losttheir lives while crossingtracks. Besides, 654 passen-gers, including 58 women,died after falling from runningtrains’.
‘There are three majorreasons (for the deaths)-sui-cide, falling from trains andbeing hit by trains while cross-ing the tracks illegally. Whilesuicides cannot be controlled,we can avoid the other two,’ aGRP official attached to theCentral Railway had said.
4 of family killed while crossingrailway tracks in Mumbai
MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU
Kashmiri migrants livinglike exiles in their own
home State have been direct-ed by the officials of theMehbooba Mufti-led allianceGovernment to fill ‘consent’forms before undertaking anannual pilgrimage to attendMela Kheer Bhawani(Tulmalla),Ganderbal.
However, the Minister forDisaster Management, Relief,Rehabil itation &Reconstruction, JavaidMustafa Mir, on Mondayissued a statement claiming noorders from the Governmentfor registration of pilgrims forvisiting Mela Kheer Bhawanihave been issued.
He said taking a seriousnote of the issuance of thenotice without any adminis-trative approval, theGovernment has initiated dis-ciplinary action against theDeputy Commissioner Relief(Migrants) Kuldeep KrishenSidha and has ordered hisimmediate attachment.
The Minister clarified thatthe Kashmiri Pandits are Statesubjects and do not need anykind of registration for theannual Kheer Bhawani Mela.‘There is no need for regis-tration of Kashmiri Pandits forvisiting the Mela,’ he said.
Every year thousands ofKashmiri pandit settled out-side the State and from Jammuregion travel to Kashmir val-ley to attend this festival asso-ciated with the HinduGoddess Ragnya Devi.
It is celebrated annually incentral Kashmir’s Ganderbaldistrict.
According to the Notice
issued by the Office of Reliefand Rehabilitat ionCommissioner (Migrant) inJammu, ‘All Kashmir migrantsdesirous of undertaking pil-grimage to Mata KhirBhawani Tulmulla(Ganderbal) / Tikker(Kupwara)/ Manzgam(Kulgam), Mattan (Anantnag)during the current financialyear of the ensuing ZeisthaAshthami which falls on 20-06-2018 are requested to pro-vide their consent on the fol-lowing format to the con-cerned zonal officer/campcommandant by or before 20-05-2018’.
The notice sparked offfresh controversy with sever-al prominent Kashmiri panditorganisations voicing theirconcern over the manner inwhich the sensitive issue hasbeen handled by the allianceGovernment in the State. ‘Wehave been attending MelaKheer Bhawani even aftermigrating from Kashmir butin the last over two decades wehave never been asked to fillin such consent forms. Wereally don't know the realmotive behind the move’, sev-eral Kashmiri pandits toldThe Pioneer while sharingtheir anger over the move.
As sharp reactions pouredin on the social media pagesand other platforms the StateGovernment immediatelywent in to damage controlmode. The said officer wasattached by the Govt and ahigh-level inquiry commit-tee was constituted to investi-gate the issuance of a notice bythe Deputy CommissionerRelief (Migrants) in thisregard.
No registration needed
for visiting Mela Kheer
Bhawani, says Minister
President Ram Nath Kovind and First Lady Savita Kovind visit the holy shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishti inAjmer on Monday PTI
PTI n MUMBAI
The Congress and the NCP onMonday hit out at the Union
Government, claiming that itspolicy of allowing the import ofsugar from neighbouringPakistan was leading to a crashin its prices in the domestic mar-ket.
The two parties questionedthe Centre over the need for suchimports when sugar productionin the country was in ‘excess’.National Congress Party chiefSharad Pawar said that there wasbound to be ‘some reaction’ ifsugar was imported fromPakistan. He said that severalstates had seen excess productionof sugarcane and have beendemanding that sugar be export-ed. ‘There is bound to be somereaction if sugar has been import-ed from Pakistan. I can under-stand that liberalisation in
import-export policies meansthat a lot of these things are notin the control of the Government.However the Indian Governmenthas the right to impose duty anddiscourage sugar imports,’ the for-mer Union Agriculture Ministersaid.
‘Maharshtra, Gujarat, TamilNadu and Karnataka have hadexcess production of sugarcaneand hence sugar production hasgone up in the country. Farmersfrom these states are demandingthat sugar be exported,’ he added.Speaking to reporters, formerState Cooperation Minister andsenior Congress leaderHarshvardhan Patil said, ‘ADelhi-based company calledSakuma Exports Limited hasexported chocolates to Pakistanand imported some 20 lakhtonnes of sugar from Pakistan.Why is this being done at the costof our farmers?’
Cong, NCP hit out atCentre over sugarimports from Pakistan
PTI n PANAJI
Arelative of Goa ChiefMinister Manohar
Parrikar has filed a complaintagainst activists of the GoaSuraksha Manch (GSM) forallegedly defaming the CMand his family members dur-ing a protest here.
The Chief Minister'snephew, Akhil Parrikar, lodgeda complaint on Sunday at theAgassaim police station inNorth Goa district, accusingGSM leader HrudaynathShirodkar and others of ‘defam-ing and maligning the image ofManohar Parrikar and his fam-ily members’.
Meanwhile, GSM workersalso lodged a counter-com-plaint against BJP activists,including Akhil Parrikar, formanhandling and assaultingthem during the protest yes-terday near the venue of ameeting of BJP president AmitShah.
The activists of GSM, apolitical party floated by a for-
mer RSS functionary, protest-ed against Shah's reportedstatement at an election rally inKarnataka that he would ensuresupply of the Mahadayi riverwater to farmers in the south-ern State, if the party wasvoted to power.
The CM's nephew, in hiscomplaint, alleged that while hewas proceeding towards thevenue of Shah's meeting, theGSM activists stopped his carand threw a water bottle at hismother. He also accused theGSM supporters of manhan-dling him and his family whilethey were travelling in the car,and shouting slogans againstthe Chief Minister and theBJP that, he claimed, wereintended to ‘defame andmalign’ the CM's image.
In the cross-complaint filedat the same police station, theGSM workers alleged that AkhilParrikar along with othersstopped at the place where theywere ‘peacefully demonstrating’and hurled abuses at them. GSMgeneral secretary Atmaram
Gaonkar demanded actionagainst those who disrupted the‘peaceful demonstration’.
When contacted, a seniorofficial at the Agassaim policestation confirmed receivingboth the complaints and saidthat an inquiry was on.
‘We have taken the state-ments of those named in thecomplaints,’ he added.
Meanwhile, the Congresshas demanded the arrest ofAkhil Parrikar for ‘taking lawinto his hands’.
‘We demand immediatearrest of Akhil for assaultingsenior citizens and creating alaw and order situation near thevenue. Any other activistindulging in such activityshould have been picked upimmediately by Goa Police,’said Congress's Goa unitspokesman Avinash Tavares.
He said Akhil Parrikar's‘arrogant act’ of trying to bullythe activists of the GoaSurakasha Manch (GSM) dis-plays ‘immaturity and frustra-tion’.
Parrikar's kin file complaintagainst GSM for ‘defaming' CM
SMRITI REMOVED...As for Irani, this is the sec-
ond time that she has beenrelieved of a key portfolio, thefirst being in 2016 when shewas shown the door from theHuman ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Ministry,where too she had her share ofcontroversies. During her two-year tenure, she hogged thelimelight for all the wrongreasons like her handling of theRohith Vemula case or JNUcontroversy. She was even inline of Opposition fire for hereducational qualifications’claims. Her ouster from theI&B Ministry in just eightmonths seems to have beenhastened due to her run-inswith the media as also with thePrasar Bharati. Her Ministry’smove to punish journalists forfake news had led to a furorewith the media fraternityterming it an attempt to curbits freedom. Left red-faced,the Government moved swift-ly to cancel the order follow-ing Modi’s personal interven-tion. Then again, Irani’sattempts at imposing her deci-sion on appointments to senioreditorial posts at Prasar Bharatiwere stalled by the publicbroadcaster, which found theproposed pay packages to thejournalists exorbitant andunjustifiable. It also saw it as amove impinging on its auton-omy. This triggered furtherface-offs between the two sideslike the issue of payments toNFDC over the coverage of theopening and closing cere-monies of the 2017International Film Festival ofIndia. The Ministry was evenaccused of withholding thesalaries of Doordarshan andAll India Radio, resulting in theCongress going full steamagainst the Government overthe issue. Another possibility,however, being discussed isthat Irani’s burden may havebeen eased so that her servicesare taken for poll campaignsacross the key States likeRajasthan, Chhattisgarh andMadhya Pradesh this year andthe general elections next year.The last rejig had seen Modielevating four into Cabinetrank, including giving India itsfirst full-time woman DefenceMinister in the form ofNirmala Sitharaman, andinducting nine new faces intohis team.
TMC GOONS...About 29 people were
admitted to the State-run hos-pital’s intensive care units,sources said. One death wasreported from South Dinajpur.
At Okrabari inCoochbehar district, votingended by 11.30 am when allvotes were polled by allegedTMC goons. The same districtwitnessed State Minister andlocal MLA RN Ghosh slappinga BJP worker when the latterquestioned his unwarrantedentry inside the booth. TheMinister later rejected thecharges. The district aloneaccounted for more than 50injuries in poll-related vio-lence. In neighbouringJalpaiguri and Alipurduar dis-tricts scores of reports of loot-ing ballot boxes poured in bymidnoon. In Jalpaiguri ballotboxes where the BJP wasreportedly doing well werelooted and put on fire. Insome places boxes werethrown in ponds and in otherplaces those who rigged pollscounted the ballots themselvesbefore putting the papers backinside the ballot boxes, pollingofficers said. Violence, bomb-ing and bloodshed werereported from Arambagh inHooghly, Bankura, Shatnipurin Nadia, Purulia, Malda andBirbhum, sources said.Notwithstanding large-scaleviolence State Minister ParthoChatterjee said “polls werelargely peaceful though therewere some unfortunate deathsout of which five belonged toour Trinamool Congress.” Hisparty colleague Derek O’Brientweeted, “To all ‘newborn’experts on Bengal PanchayatElections in State. 400 killed inpoll violence in 1990s in CPIMrule. 2003: 40 dead. Everydeath is a tragedy. Now closerto normal than earlier times.Yes, few dozen incidents. Say,40 out of 58,000 booths. What’sage?” CPI (M)’s SitaramYechury said it was an “open,naked murder of democracy...a Constitutional breakdownrather than law and orderbreakdown.”
SHASHI THAROOR...The chargesheet, which
includes several annexures,said that Pushkar died withinthree years, three months and15 days of her marriage withTharoor. The couple hadentered the wedlock on August22, 2010. An FIR was regis-
tered by the Delhi Police onJanuary 1, 2015 againstunknown persons under IPCSection 302 (murder).According to prosecutionsources, the chargesheet hasmentioned that Pushkar wasallegedly subjected to mental aswell as physical cruelty.
After all the possible andmaterial evidence collectedand verified, it was felt thatTharoor’s custodial interroga-tion would be required in thecase, the chargesheet, whichcontains several medicalreports, said. The Delhi HighCourt had last year in October26 dismissed BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy’s pleaseeking a court-monitored SITprobe into the death ofPushkar, terming his PIL as a“textbook example of a politi-cal interest litigation”.
Later, Swamy moved theSupreme Court challengingthe High Court order, but theapex court asked the BJP leaderto satisfy the court on the ques-tion of maintainability of hisplea. The special investigationteam (SIT) on April 20 hadtold the SC that a draft finalreport has been prepared afterconducting “thorough profes-sional and scientific investiga-tions” in the case relating to thedeath of Congress MP’s wife.
The Delhi Police, in its affi-davit filed in the apex court,had said that a draft finalreport has been sent to theprosecution department of theGovernment of NationalCapital Territory of Delhi for“legal scrutiny” and it would befiled in the concerned trialcourt after being vetted.
MIND YOUR...In addition to Manmohan
Singh, the letter has beensigned by senior Congressleaders AK Antony, GhulamNabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, PChidambaram, Ashok Gehlot,Mallikarjun Kharge, KaranSingh, Ambika Soni, KamalNath, Anand Sharma, MotilalVora, Digvijay Singh andMukul Wasnik. “The Presidentmay caution the PrimeMinister from using suchunwarranted, threatening andintimidating language againstleaders of the Congress partyor any other party or person asit does not behove the positionof the Prime Minister,” it said.
The Prime Minister, it stat-ed, is not expected to usemenacing language even in thecourse of an election cam-paign. This is tantamount to aPrime Minister using his pow-ers and privileges to “settle per-sonal and political scores”, theletter said. Referring to theoath of office, it said the PM ofIndia holds a very special posi-tion under the Constitution.The Congress leaders said allprime ministers of India in thepast have maintained immensedignity and decorum in thedischarge of public or privatefunctions/actions. “The threatheld out by the Prime Ministerto the INC’s leadershipdeserves to be condemned.This cannot be the language ofthe Prime Minister of a con-stitutionally governed democ-ratic country of 1.3 Billionpeople.
CBI CHARGESHEET...The country’s second-
largest State-run bank dis-closed in February that twojewellery groups had defraud-ed it by raising credit fromoverseas branches of otherIndian banks using illegalguarantees issued by roguePNB staff over several years.
The three firms mentionedin the chargesheet are:Diamonds RUs, StellarDaimonds and Solar Exports.The chargesheet, however, didnot name Nirav’s wife Ami andhis uncle and business partnerMehul Choksi. Thechargesheet says Nirav, hisbrother Nishal Modi, andSubhash Parab, an executive inNirav’s firms, conspired forissuance of fraudulent Lettersof Undertaking (LoUs). Thechargesheet primarily dealswith the first FIR registered inthe case relating to the fraud-ulent issuance over Rs 6,498.20crore worth of LoUs toDiamond R US, Solar Exportsand Stellar Diamonds.
Giving details of thecharges against Usha, the CBIsources said she was the MDand CEO of PNB when a sim-ilar case of LoU fraud wasreported from Indian OverseasBank, Chandigarh in 2016where credits were issued byPNB’s Dubai branch on thebasis of these guarantees.
The modus operandi inthe IOB case was similar to theNirav case. Hence, the topbrass of PNB had completeknowledge of the methodsinvolved by fraudsters to cheatthe banks using LoUs, sources
said. After the IOB fraud hadsurfaced, the RBI had issuedguidelines and circulars toprevent such frauds in thebanks which were allegedly notimplemented in PNB in itsentirety, they said. The agencyhas not given in detail the roleof Choksi in the present chargesheet. It is expected to come upwhen the CBI files supple-mentary charge sheets in thecase related to the probe intohis Gitanjali Group.
Both Nirav and Choksihad left the country beforePNB filed the complaint withthe CBI. Some PNB officialsalready arrested by the CBIhave also been named for mis-using official position, crimi-nal conspiracy, forgery andcheating. These arrestedaccused include GokulnathShetty, former deputy generalmanager of PNB; ManojKharat, single window opera-tor of PNB; Hemant Bhat,authorised signatory of Modi’scompany; Bechhu Tiwari, thenchief manager in the forexdepartment of PNB; YashwantJoshi, scale-II manager in forexdepartment; and PrafulSawant, scale-I officer handlingexports section. Other accusednamed in the chargesheetincluded Manish K Bosamiya,then AGM (operations) ofNirav’s Firestar International,and then finance managerMiten Anil Pandya. Theyallegedly prepared the appli-cations for fraudulent LoUssubmitted to the PNB. VipulAmbani, president, finance,Firestar International, KavitaMankikar, executive assistantand authorised signatory ofthree firms of Nirav Modi, andArjun Patil, senior executive,Firestar Group, have also beennamed. So far, the CBI hasarrested 20 people in the PNBscam. The CBI has registeredthree separate FIRs in con-nection with the alleged fraudof USD 2 billion in the publicsector bank by the companiesof Nirav and Choksi.
STORM CLAIMS...besides Barabanki, the
death toll figure from Bareillywas 8 followed by 6 in Kasganj,4 each in Lakhimpur Kheriand Bulandshahr, 2 each inPratapgarh, Jaunpur andSaharanpur, and 1 each inGautam Buddha Nagar,Etawah, Kannauj, Ghaziabad,Sambhal, Aligarh, Badaun,Mirzapur, Mathura, Shamliand Sitapur districts.
State relief commissionerSanjay Kumar told media per-sons that government hadordered the district authoritiesto give compensation in next24 hours to all families of thedeceased. Kumar said that thegovernment would provide Rs4 lakh as compensation tofamilies of the deceased, whilethe injured would receivebetween `50,000 and `2 lakh.On Sunday night, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath haddirected the districts authori-ties to provide relief to affect-ed families on a war-footing.
Meanwhile, the weatheroffice again issued alert ofthunderstorm in several dis-tricts of UP during the next 24hours. Met director JP Guptaon Monday said that that thun-derstorm accompanied withsquall and gusty winds werelikely to hit some areas of UPduring the next 24 hours. Thedistricts alerted by the weath-erman are Azamgarh,Sultanpur, Ambedkarnagar,Gonda, Basti, Faizabad,Santkabirnagar, Gorakhpur,Ballia, Deoria, Kushinagar,Maharajganj, Sidharthnaghar,Balrampur, Shraswasti,Bahraich, Shahjahanpur,Pilibhit, Bijnore, JP Nagar,Rampur, Moradabad, Bareilly,Bulandshahr, Badaun andother areas. The rail, road andair services were hit in the stateduring the storm on Sunday,while electricity supply wasdisrupted in several parts of thestate due to uprooting of elec-tric poles. A strong storm,along with rains, lashed thestate on Sunday with a wind ata speed of 50 to 70 km perhour. Several districts orderedclosure of schools in view of thethreat on Monday and Tuesday.Meanwhile, Bollywood starand BJP MP from MathuraHema Malani had a narrowescape when a tree got uproot-ed and fell in front of her con-voy in Mathura. Several vehi-cles also turned turtle and fellon each other on Delhi-Kanpurhighway following heavy rain-fall and dust storm inBulandshahr. A report fromKasganj quoting DistrictMagistrate RP Singh said thatsix people, including three of afamily, were killed in the inci-dent. He said that a compen-sation of `4 lakh would begiven to families of thedeceased.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
In an interview with Russia Today onthe crisis in Europe, French politicianMarine Le Pen said, “Immigration isan organised replacement of ourpopulation. This threatens our very
survival.” Syria’s Grand Mufti, SheikhAhmad Badreddin Hassoun, supportsNew Delhi’s view that Rohingyas are a secu-rity threat and not a religious problem. Yet,the Supreme Court has repeatedly deferredthe deportation of thousands of illegalRohingyas and is even hearing their peti-tion against expulsion.
In Jammu, the demographic and secu-rity threat posed by illegal Rohingyas andBangladeshis has reached a boiling point.Local ‘permanent residents’ (hereditaryState citizens) allege a well-funded andpolitically-backed conspiracy to settlethem across the Province and triggerHindu migration, as already reportedfrom some villages. In November 2017, theUnited Nations High Commission forRefugees visited at least five Rohingya habi-tations in Jammu and urged them to leave,promising funds to settle elsewhere. Theyrefused, saying, “We are used to Jammu, weknow everyone over here, why would weleave?” That, in a nutshell, sums up theircomfort levels in Hindu-majority Jammu,as opposed to living with their co-religionists in Kashmir.
Perhaps this is why Jammu led thecampaign to deport Rohingyas from India.As is well-known, Hindus who fled WestPakistan in 1947-48 and landed in Jammu& Kashmir were treated shabbily by SheikhAbdullah and are languishing withoutofficial recognition (identity certificates)needed for Government jobs, education inState institutions and other benefits. TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised toaddress this seven-decade-old injustice dur-ing the 2014 election, but met with fierceresistance from Kashmiri separatists, theNational Conference and the Congress; andalso the People’s Democratic Party.
At the Union Home Minister’s nudg-ing, the State Government set up a Groupof Ministers in May 2017, to examine ille-gal Rohingya and Bangladeshi settlementsin Jammu and Samba districts. But it wasnon-serious. The attack on the Armycamp at Sunjwan in February this yearincreased the clamour to evict theRohingyas, who have even settled near thecamp. A senior police official said there are“consultation camps” on the border, whichdirect the groups to settle at a particularplace or city. Jammu is preferred due toproximity with Pakistan and to “strength-en” its Muslim minority.
The infiltrators are given mobile phone,I-cards, Aadhaar cards, even ‘permanentresident’ cards, illegal power and water con-nections, and allowed to grab State landsand build houses on them. Funds for them
are raised through hawala channels androuted through local NGOs, such asJamaat Ahle Haider, Yateem Trust andKashmiri Welfare Trust. The NationalConference regime had forced schools insome localities to admit Bangladeshi andRohingya children, who comprise 80 per-cent of the student body.
Rohingyas are active in Tablighi activ-ities through local mosques in Jammu (asin Chennai and Hyderabad). Security agen-cies suspect them of having links with theIslamic State, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, Al Qaedaand Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) agency. In fact, Rakhine (Arakan) isbecoming an important node of the globaljihadist movement and is being funded byorganisations in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.Rohingyas are linked to the BangladeshIslami Chhatrashibir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. They are involved in unsavouryactivities such as trafficking girls fromMyanmar and selling drugs.
Given the inexcusable sympathy forthe infiltrators in some well-heeled sec-tions of society, it is worth recollectinghow they burst into the internationallimelight. Strategic analyst BrahmaChellaney observes that Rohingyas wereamong the first groups in Asia to be rad-icalised by the British Raj and to demandpartition; they tried to expel Burma’sBuddhist population north of Arakan(170-odd miles) to join East Pakistan.
The current crisis began on August25, 2017, when the Arakan RohingyaSalvation Army attacked police posts inMaungdaw, Myanmar; over 100 people
died. The jihadis also attacked the Hinduminority in Rakhine; over 500 wereslaughtered; the Army later found massgraves with Hindu bodies.
Many Hindu families f led toBangladesh to escape, but were again per-secuted by the 4.5 lakh Rohingya Muslimsfleeing the Myanmar Army. In the refugeecamps, Hindu women were forced tobreak their bangles, read namaz, wearburqas, and convert. They sought shelternear two temples at Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar.The Hindus said they were attacked byRohingyas and feared to return toMyanmar as several members of their fam-ilies had been slaughtered and their homesburnt down. In October 2017, Bangladesharrested 22 Rohingya Muslims posing asrefugees, but who were linked to the mas-sacre of Hindus in Myanmar. They werereportedly trained by Pakistan’s ISI.
The Jerusalem Post was the only inter-national media to assert that while it wastrue that the Myanmar Army had begunethnic cleansing of Rohingyas after theARSA assault on police posts, the ethniccleansing of Hindus in Arakan (‘RohingyaHindus’) could not be ignored. Even whilefighting the Army, jihadi groups were enter-ing Hindu areas and “stabbing, shootingand raping the residents”. One survivorreported that the terrorists would dig threeholes — one to dump the bodies ofwomen, one for children and one for men;all overflowed. The paper noted that whileconditions in Bangladesh refugee campswere tough, Hindu refugees were worst hit.Many wanted refuge in India.
By the end of September 2017, whenmatters subsided, the MyanmarGovernment urged Hindu refugees whofled to Bangladesh to return, and assuredthat they would be taken care of in Sittwe,capital of Rakhine State. So far, there hasbeen no response to this plea and it seemsunlikely that Hindus would return toRakhine. The enmity between Myanmar’smajority Buddhists and Rohingyas, mostof whom are denied citizenship on groundsof being British imports from the regionnow known as Bangladesh, has flared upintermittently since 1948 when Burma(Myanmar) became independent. Butwhat happened to the miniscule Hinducommunity was genocide.
Rohingyas are known to have settledin Jammu, Hyderabad, Haryana, UttarPradesh, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan.However, in April, Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha leader Bimal Gurung alleged thatRohingyas were being settled in Darjeelingand Kalimpong districts of the Gorkhalandregion of West Bengal, as part of a sinis-ter conspiracy to alter the demography andmarginalise the native Gorkhas, supersed-ing national interests for vote-bank poli-tics. Gorkhaland, which borders Nepal,Bhutan, Tibet and Bangladesh, is political-ly sensitive and any “replacement” of thepopulation, as warned by Marine Le Pen,could have a deleterious impact on thenation. A solution to the Rohingya threatis an urgent imperative.
(The writer is Senior Fellow, NehruMemorial Museum and Library; the viewsexpressed are personal)
There will be much howling about how despite warnings, the sudden dust and thun-derstorm that lashed Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh killed, maimedand injured so many people. At the same time, news anchors and commentators are
criticising the Indian Meteorological Department for getting the timing wrong. They are wrongon both fronts. On the latter, the fact simply is that while man has developed amazing amountsof computing power to predict weather trends for the next few centuries based on histor-ical data, indeed most of the world’s super-computers are mainly used to process long-term weather trends. Short-term weather forecasting is still a ‘dark art’ and only predic-tions can be made. A major storm was predicted in northern India after the first storm caughtpeoples unawares, but even though warnings went out, it was impossible to predict whenit would hit. As such, the storm striking on a Sunday, when most people were home, keptthe economic impact in check.
But it is the latter point that one must address. India is being struck by more and moreextreme weather phenomena and as a result,people will die; no matter how good andadvanced the warnings are. Over a 100 peo-ple were killed by lightning alone in the lasttwo storms. At the same time, extremeweather conditions will wreak havoc onlocal, State and the national economy. Makeno mistakes, the storm that struck northIndia on May 13 is a sign of climate change.The deluge that struck Mumbai a decadeago shut the city for a week; the severestorms in Delhi led to the suspension ofmetro services and huge traffic jams, letalone a huge number of flights werediverted and passengers were stranded. Weneed to understand the science behind theseextreme weather conditions and take stepsto correct our emissions which inevitablymake matters worse. India has a huge pop-
ulation living in areas that are either low-lying or on floodplains who will be immediatelyimpacted by such weather phenomena. The thought of tens of millions of people displacedby floods and rising sea levels should give our politicians palpitations but unfortunatelymost of our leaders have little or no understanding of science as their daily pronounce-ments indicate. That said, some steps like correcting high-carbon fuel sources in the kitchenthrough cooking gas distribution is a welcome start, but petcoke remains a huge pollu-tant. Not only will millions be displaced, it is almost certain that thousands will die if cor-rective measures are not taken soon to combat climate change. That will be the perfect storm.
Across all cultures, the most intense personal tragedy and shattering fate to befall par-ents is to have their children go before them. It is inconceivable, therefore, for anyparent, indeed any human being, to come to grips with the fact that Indonesia, which
plays host to the world's largest Muslim population, has seen 25 deaths (including thoseof 13 Islamic militants) in separate terror attacks over May 13 and 14 in its second-largestcity, Surabaya, led by parents along with their children. What kind of cultish and perversehuman beings, if at all the perpetrators of such acts can be so called, do this? It is timethose in whose name the terrorists and their brainwashed, innocent children have launchedsuch attacks — their co-religionists and believers in an ummah — introspect deeply onwhy ISIS or its local offshoots is attracting this level of blind faith from a section of believ-ers and how they should stand against these sub-human terrorists in a substantive wayrather than restricting themselves to issuing largely proforma statements of condemnation.
What the nature and mechanics of such a stand could be need to be discussed butbefore doing so, it must also be kept in mind that with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan(Ramzan) about to begin, the attacks on churches on Sunday and police on Monday wereclearly aimed at inflaming passions. On Monday, suicide bombers on motorcycles accom-
panied by an eight-year-old child up to acheckpoint outside a police station inSurabaya and blew themselves up; thechild, who survived but is critical, can beseen in CCTV footage stumbling aroundin the aftermath. Police suspected suicideSunday's attacks on churches were carriedout by the head of a cell of the ISIS-inspired group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah(JAD), an umbrella organisation on a USState Department terrorist list that isbelieved reckoned to have drawn hundredsIndonesian ISIS sympathisers, along withhis wife and four children (two sons andtwo daughters) aged between 9 and 18.Local authorities said it's the JAD cell headmay have acted in response to a call fromISIS for “cells throughout the world tomobilise.” In another terror incident,police recovered unexploded pipe bombs
an apartment where an explosion killed three members of a family alleged to have beenmaking bombs. Three children from the family, who had also been put to terror work,survived and have been hospitalised.
These, what President Joko Widodo has termed the “acts of cowards”, are the forcesthat are claiming to act on behalf of Muslims in Indonesia and the world over. The tradi-tionally moderate form of Islam practised in the archipelago, with its accommodation of itspre-Islamic Indic and local traditions, has been in retreat over the past two decades withthe rise of political Islam and later with its radical terror manifestation. So, pledges to pushthrough new anti-terrorism laws and condemnation of the attacks from all mainstream Muslimgroups in Indonesia while important, are not enough. Acceptance and internalising the pri-macy of the nation-state by citizens, working towards a cultural synthesis with the pre-Islamicheritage of a given nation and an end to extra-territorial loyalty, whether temporal or spiri-tual, is a way forward for Muslim-majority countries of the world to both distance them-selves from the crazies and save their children.
Terror families
When children are brought up to become terrorists,
those in whose name they act must introspect
opinion 08LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
Rohingya refugees:A threat to Jammu
Stormy situation
Unseasonal storms are a warning of the perils of
global warming and how India will be impacted
Effective measures
Sir — The refers to the editori-al, “The stray problem” (May 14).The fact is that stray dog men-ace is on the rise but the need ofthe hour is immediate resolution.Dog menace can no more betreated as a “stray” case.Notwithstanding the voice ofanimal lovers, in view of the highincident of dog bites, no sympa-thy should be shown while deal-ing with stray dogs because onlythose who are bitten know thetrauma. For speedy resolution,more dog-shelters must be built.Besides making the dogs sterile,the municipal corporation mustactively drive out stray dogsfrom the streets. Indeed, dog isa pet animal as long as it remainsat home and till the time he/sheis under the control of his mas-ter. The moment it comes out, itbecomes equivalent to a straydog. Every State Governmentmust take stringent measures todeal with stray dogs.
VS Jayaraman Chennai
Tame dog menace
Sir — The refers to the editori-al, “The stray problem” (May 14).Stray dogs have become a prob-lem and its time we must acceptit . I agree with the viewsexpressed in the editorial that ifsomeone loves dogs and feedsthem on a regular basis, it ishis/her responsibility to put thedogs into a pet shelter.
The municipal corporationhas a critical role to play to tamethe growing stray problem but
beyond a point, we have to doour bit. It’s high time animal rightactivists realise the fact thathuman lives are equally impor-tant and vital.
Bal Govind Noida
Cautious move
Sir — This refers to the report,“Killer storm stops India in itstracks” (May 14). Sadly, a goodnumber of people were killed andseveral others injured across thecountry as rain, thunderstormshit various States, throwing lifeout of gear and leaving behind atrail of destruction.
Trees are elixir of life-essen-tial and are a must for good envi-ronment so that people live ahealthy and hearty l i fe.Simultaneously, there are laws toprotect them but they needamendments so as to allow theremoval of weak and dangeroustrees, ones which are likely to falleasily on low speed of air-storm.
One way is to check theirstrength at regular intervals tosee how much velocity-speed ofair it can withstand. For the weakones, necessary corrective actionsmust be taken. This way lives ofhuman beings can be saved andloss of property can be min-imised.
With weather almost becom-ing unpredictable, necessarylong-term measures are needed.Changes to the Indian Forest Acttoo are essential.
While the Government is of the view that Rohingyas are a security threat and not a religious problem,the top court has repeatedly deferred their deportation. A solution to the problem is imperative
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and I have agreed,
during his successful state
visit to Nepal, to address
outstanding tasks between
the two countries in a time-
bound manner.
Nepal Prime
Minister
—KP Sharma Oli
Sharif just said what the
world already knows
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has mustered enough courage to admitin public about Pakistan’s involvement in the 26/11 attacks. India’s stand on theMumbai attacks stands vindicated following Sharif’s confession. Now that Sharif
is a spent force, his confession has not come at a time when it had to come. He hasdenounced non-state actors for crossing the border and killing people in Mumbai.Attacks and counter-attacks keep the relationship with other countries on the boil. Thisis what has been happening with regard to the India-Pak relationship. Sharif quotedRussian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and said that it isabsolutely unacceptable to allow non-state actors to cross the border and commit ter-rorism there. But these two Presidents have not publicly condemned the 26/11 attackin the strongest possible terms.
Particularly China has never showered a sympathetic word for the victims ofthe 26/11 attack. Sharif has deplored the presence of two or more parallelGovernments in Pakistan. The entire world knows that there are parallelGovernments running in Pakistan and it is the military that has a strong say overthere than the elected Government. Confession or no confession by Sharif, it is oflittle use for India. It is disturbing that the international community has not exert-ed enough pressure on Pakistan to try and punish the likes of Hafiz Saeed and MasoodAzhar for perpetrating violence on Indian soil.
KV SeetharamaiahHassan
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The BJP Government has
suffered an irreparable
and irreversible reputa-
tional damage in the last
four years. Tide is turning
against the Narendra
Modi Government.
Congress leader
—Shashi Tharoor
I feel Indian actors are bril-
liant. Ninety per cent of the
times, we do things that are
larger-than-life, unbelievable
but we still convince people.
Indian cinema celebrates life
and that is not easy.
Actor
—Anupam Kher
Every year when the Times HigherEducation World University Rankings listis released, people start cursing the
Indian university set-up for their failure toget into the global ranking list. But no oneever tries to understand the reason behindthe poor performance of our universities.
Amongst the 13 performance indicators,research accounts for 30 per cent of the totalassessment criteria. There are three majorheads under which research is assessed —reputation survey; research income andresearch productivity. The major reason forpoor performance of our higher educationinstitutions is the assessment of research inour universities. Ranking is done on data col-lected for the last five years of the performanceof universities. Every Government makeschanges and wants the ranking to be influ-enced immediately, which is not possible.
Do we trust our university research sys-tem, admission and awards? Ask anyone inany of the academic institution or even thepublic and you will get an answer for thepoor performance of Indian institutions. Inmost merit lists and awards, are made onthe basis of region, caste, religion and gen-der. This writer has himself been a part ofvarious committees to recommend the bestreports or innovative experiments. Thecommittee invariably included names ofpeople from the North-East, members ofthe SC/ST community and also women sothat the recommendations look unbiasedand inclusive. But the recommendationsitself do not remain a list of the best. Itbecomes a politically correct list.
The nation and institutions have notdone enough for the less-privileged commu-nities. Members of the less-privileged com-munities should have been given extra aca-demic support by organising classes andcampuses so that they come up to the markand are just not included into the listbecause we must have a member from thereserved community.
If admission to the doctoral degree pro-gramme is made on the basis of considera-tions other than academic, how can univer-
sities ensure quality output? Governmentshave interfered so much with the so-calledautonomous Indian institutions that they nomore remain academic but have becomepolitical battle-fields for different parties.
There are schemes to coach the less-priv-ileged groups but not much has changed. Theschemes have become one more method tosiphon public money. Rigorous review of suchschemes should be taken up and selectedmeritorious students from the less-privilegedgroups should be given best support to com-pete on an equal basis.
Any survey will reveal that we don’t trustour doctoral thesis and awards because weall now know the degrees are awarded onconsiderations than merit. So, on the 18 percent marks on Reputation Survey, our uni-versities would perform poorly, for sure. Notonly foreign surveyors but any survey with-in the country will reveal that we hold verypoor impression of our doctoral degrees.
University research, both science andsocial sciences, should contribute to the exist-ing corpus of human knowledge which is alsoone of the criterion for ranking of universi-ties. Our research output is not used by theindustry; and in most cases, the industry toodoes not pay for conducting research to refine
their processes. They hire agencies outsidethe academia to give them suggestions.
Our universities cannot earn goodmarks on the scale of research earning, animportant criterion to assess research per-formance by scholars who manage to getresearch funding are looked upon with sus-picion of squandering money so theadministrative departments often putroadblocks and it is also reported thatresearchers have to pay bribe to get billspassed. We cannot brush aside theseimpressions and expect research perfor-mance to improve. However, it must alsobe mentioned that teachers of well supplieduniversities have misused the provisionsand used funding injudiciously.
Peer-review has been and is the pillarof academic excellence and cornerstone ofquality improvement in the best of insti-tutions. However, peer-review has lost cred-ibility in our institutions. Academics of theJawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) arefighting to deprive the Vice Chancellor ofhis right to nominate members to the selec-tion committees. It is apparent that depart-ments have formed a national coterie andwish to have only their friends as selectioncommittee members — reasons all know.
Similar is the case with PhD thesis exam-iners. The panel of examiners is often sub-mitted by the supervisor and the list oftenconsists of the same names. A quick sur-vey can be done by the University GrantsCommission (UGC).
Our social scientists are known to be ide-ologues of political outfits. They will invari-ably take a stand and express views whichwill be aligned to a political ideology.Scholars are known more as political activiststhan as scholars and academics. The glob-al academic community, by and large, doesnot trust our academic contribution. Thatis the reason why we are not quoted by otherscholars (except our research students andfriends) either within the country or abroad.This is an important pillar of academicresearch, and also of the the ranking.
We have decided on our own on a listof academic journals as AcademicPerformance Indicators (API), which is notaccepted by the world ranking. Very few jour-nals from India appear in the list of Elsevier’sScopus list which is considered for ratingresearch publication and ranking. The intro-duction of API by the UGC did more dam-age to the research and publication than good.
It is now common knowledge that
journals hire writers to write for academicson a payment so that teachers can accumu-late API and compete for teaching positionsand also promotions. There have beenscores of complaints by educators againstteachers at the JNU of plagiarising theirdoctoral thesis and also publications.Action is delayed and often no action istaken. Plagiarism is the highest form ofcrime in academia and there should nei-ther be leniency nor any delay in action.This sends a wrong message and breaks themorale of true researchers.
As an immediate measure, the UGCshould constitute a committee of scholarswho have worked in this area and ask for rec-ommendations to subvert the existing prac-tice. Research funding to universities shouldbe linked to research performance.Admission process and evaluation of doctor-al degrees should be made more rigorous sothat quality improves and scholars andstakeholders trust the degrees awarded byuniversities. Research credibility of our insti-tutions is at its lowest ebb. We must rescueor be ready to perish.
(The writer is Professor of Education atthe Indira Gandhi National Open University,New Delhi. Views expressed are personal)
Unending ordeal of children
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
Congress chief should comment and tell the entire
party and people of India whether he is going to
investigate I-T cases against Chidambaram.
—Defence Minister
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
The buzz is that Sitharaman will be removed as
Defence Minister and appointed as lawyer of the
IT department. Welcome to the bar Sitharaman.
—Congress leader
P CHIDAMBARAM
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
Certainly, the world doesn’thave a problem withregards to meeting every-one’s needs in food, shel-ter and safety. However,
there is relentless inequality in the waythe world’s resources are distributed;and this affects the children the most.No matter where we look, childrenpay a heavy price due to irresponsi-bility of the adults. Sometimes it iswars; sometimes it is poverty; andsometimes human rights’ violations.
For instance, close to 5.6 millionchildren still die every year due toentirely preventable or treatable dis-eases, including one million babieswho die on the very day they are born.Clearly, with advanced state of med-icine and technology today, thisshouldn’t be a problem.
Similarly, children are hit thehardest by poverty; according to theUnited Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), 19.5 per cent of the world’schildren, which amounts to around387 million of them, live in extremepoverty; while only 9.2 per cent of theadults live in the same conditions.
Interestingly, in all high-incomeOrganisation for Economic Co-opera-tion and Development (OECD) coun-tries, children’s poverty rates are higherthan those of adults. Far more worrying
fact is that the youngest children fare theworst. Close to 20 per cent of all childrenyounger than five in the developingworld face extreme poverty, versus 15 percent for 15 to 17-years-old.
Diseases and poverty are not theonly culprits behind the ongoing suf-fering of the children. Many parts ofour world are now a place of almostconstant conflict, civil wars, fully-fledged wars and, once again, childrenpay the biggest price.
They are targeted, injured andkilled by bombs, chemical attacks, andangry, machete-wielding, house-burn-ing mobs. Most of them who manageto escape death, suffer horrific injuries,lose limbs, or face psychologicalproblems that possibly haunt them forthe rest of their lives.
Additionally, when they sufferinjuries or are taken ill, they cannoteven go to the hospital and get prop-er medical treatment like most peoplebecause usually, there are no real hos-pitals, doctors, antibiotics or evenpainkillers at the place where they live.
For instance, in Syria, after somany years of war, children have gotused to living with bombs and a per-sistent lack of food and shelter. Andwhen their families choose to seekrefuge in other places of the world —rightly so — another troubling episodebegins for most of them.
Many of them, usually children,perish on the way. When they reachtheir destination, more often than not,they are turned down. If somehowthey manage to stay in Europe, theyface the danger of being taken awayby human traffickers.
As a matter of fact, according to the
European Union’s police force Europol,more than at least 10,000 refugee chil-dren have gone missing after theirarrival in Europe. Europol believes thatthey might be in the hands of crimi-nal syndicates, including human traf-fickers and criminal organisations thatharvest human organs.
The situation doesn’t change inother parts of the world. Since 2013,Boko Haram has abducted more than1,000 children in Nigeria. Unrest inthe Central African Republic and theDemocratic Republic of Congo has ledto the displacement of more than eightmillion people, half of whom are chil-dren.
In the Sahel, 5.4 million childrenare suffering from severe acute mal-nutrition, while cholera outbreaks arereported across the region, with48,700 cases in 2017.
In Yemen, an average of five childrenare killed or injured every day sinceMarch 2015; and “nearly every child inYemen” needs humanitarian aid, accord-ing to the United Nation’s children’sagency. The agency also reported thatongoing clashes have led to death orinjury of 5,000 children.
Furthermore, 1.8 million childrenunder the age of five face acute mal-nourishment, while 8.2 million chil-dren need humanitarian assistance toaccess safe drinking water and ade-quate sanitation in the country.
In Central America, wracked bypoverty and high crime rates, everymonth, thousands of children try toreach the US in search of better, moredignified lives, but many are injured ordie on the way. If at all they reach the US,like their Middle-Eastern peers, they are
rejected in many parts of the country. In Myanmar, the Army continues its
brazen ethnic genocide, and as a result,thousands of Rohingya children werehorribly hurt or killed, including beingburnt to death. At the moment, some7,20,000 Rohingya children inBangladesh and Myanmar are in seriousneed of humanitarian assistance.
This is only a brief summary of thesituation in only a few countries, as a rep-resentative of the ongoing ordeal of thechildren of the world.
However, no problem is unsolv-able. Although international bodiesusually fell short so far in theirresponsibilities, they still can make upfor the lost time by taking swiftaction. They can launch campaigns toraise funds for each country; andapply sanctions against those who areunwilling to support humanitariancauses in a manner proportional to therespective country’s economic power.
Refugees of the world can beequally and fairly distributed betweenthe nations of the world, with partic-ular emphasis on richer countries.People can be encouraged to donateand help the refugees through variouspayment schemes like one dollar permonth on their credit card; laws canbe amended to ensure that therefugees are treated humanely, withdignity in a number of countries.
As long as there is the will to help,there is virtually no limit to what can bedone. Let’s make the decision to changethe situation; to choose morality overmaterialistic goals and do everything inour power to help the children andeveryone else who needs our help.
(The writer is a Turkish author)
India’s quest for global rankings
Community voices
key to tackle TB
All over the world, kids pay a heavy price when adults make irresponsible choices. Aslong as there is the will to help, there is virtually no limit to what can be done
Research credibility of Indian institutions is at its lowest ebb. This is one of the reasons for the poor performance of Indian
universities globally. Overall, an attempt must be made to improve the admission process and evaluate doctoral degrees
HARUN YAHA
CB SHARMA
The Government has set an ambitioustuberculosis eradication goal by 2025.
Collaborative efforts are a must
FOR INSTANCE,PEOPLE CAN BE
ENCOURAGED TODONATE AND
HELP THEREFUGEESTHROUGHVARIOUSPAYMENT
SCHEMES LIKEONE DOLLAR PERMONTH ON THEIR
CREDIT CARD;LAWS CAN BEAMENDED TOENSURE THAT
REFUGEES ARETREATED
HUMANELY ANDWITH DIGNITY
Recently, the UnionGovernment launched aTuberculosis-free India
campaign under the NationalStrategic Plan to eliminateTuberculosis (TB) by 2025, fiveyears ahead of the global tar-get. This is a welcome step andan encouraging sign for all TBcontrol campaigners across the globe as we prepare for the UnitedNations high-level meeting on TB later this year. Ending TB in India isa real possibility, but will require a combined effort between Centraland State Governments and communities.
TB disproportionately impacts the poorest and most marginalisedsections of the society. In 2016, the disease killed 432,000 people inIndia, making it a world leader in TB-deaths across the world. Indiansliving in absolute poverty, who lack quality infrastructure, or live in remoteareas, are often deprived of quality healthcare. This increases the like-lihood of a person infected with TB going undiagnosed, unreportedand untreated. In 2012, the International Union Against Tuberculosisand Lung Disease (The Union) initiated the Stream Clinical Trial toaddress the challenges posed by the increasing number of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB cases. Grueling two-year treatment courses leavemany patients struggling to endure the complete regimen, consum-ing a total average of 14,000 pills.
The sheer logistics to ensure an adequate supply and efficient dis-tribution of drugs present a high barrier to reliable treatment, some-times resulting in serious permanent side-effects, including deafness.Many patients even struggle to complete their regimen. A lack of accessto primary health care — and unregulated private healthcare — pre-sent additional hurdles for TB patients. Over the last five years, theGovernment of India has made significant gains against the rise of MDR-TB through several new initiatives. These include a scale-up and expan-sion of drug resistant TB services to achieve nation-wide coverage;revised guidelines that help tailor patients' drug regimens taking intoaccount drug sensitivities; and the roll-out of a programme to enhanceaccess to newer drugs. These advances established a strong footingfor the rollout of Stage II of the clinical trial.
In December 2017, India screened the first patient for Stream StageII, which seeks to garner evidence and assess the success of a short-er MDR-TB treatment regimen, including an all-oral treatment option.India is the first country from the World Health Organisation's South-East Asian region to join the trial. Progress to-date has been positive.But to ensure the Stream trial's success, vital strategies and our part-ners have made community engagement a cornerstone of the pro-gramme. We know, community-led interventions can help motivatepublic health workers, and that success stories can encourage patientsand their communities to become advocates for effective TB controlprogrammes. In India, for example, we've created Community AdvisoryBoards in areas that have never hosted a clinical trial of this scope before.Members play a vital role in identifying challenges, suggesting solu-tions, planning, and ensuring optimal research implementation.
Our Community Engagement Plan involves clinical researchers,local stakeholders (from health professionals to TB/HIV activists) andprogramme managers, and outlines the necessary steps needed toensure at-risk communities are engaged. It also helps members under-stand the opportunities the clinical trial offers to improve quality of care.
In the search for a shorter regimen, these community voices arecritical, creating an opportunity for communication and cooperationamong everyone directly involved with or affected by this trial. Localcommunities can be actively involved in the study, and can, therefore,help maximise the benefits gained for the community while givingresearchers a first-hand account, and a deeper perspective, on howlocal health systems function in the places we work.
Community engagement means people will have a better under-standing of what we are doing, how it affects them, and why it mat-ters in their neighborhood. It also builds sustainable partnerships, andprovides legitimacy to the Stream trial's goals and objectives. After theclinical trial concludes, patients can become living proof of the bene-fits of this shorter regimen. If our plans are successful, we will raisethe level of participation among stakeholders to identify and addressissues and concerns. This level of participation is well-aligned with theIndian Government's National Strategic Plan which highlights com-munity engagement as a crucial element to tackle TB by 2025. Thereare no stronger advocates for TB than those affected by TB. Governmentand communities must take up the charge for improved diagnosis anda more humane treatment regimen.
(The writer is President and Chief Executive Officer, VitalStrategies and Executive Director, The International Union AgainstTuberculosis and Lung Disease)
JOSÉ LUIS CASTRO
3rdeye 09
DOCYARD
DR VIKRAM LELE
DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OFNUCLEAR MEDICINE
JASLOK HOSPITAL & RESEARCH CENTRE,MUMBAI
New scans
for tumours
Cancer is a major killer. It can affect any organ of the body.Some cancers are curable; others are controllable tillnature takes its course. Some cancers were thought to
be rare because there were no sensitive methods to detect them.Neuroendocrine cancers are such cancers.
They occur in different areas of the body arising from spe-cial neuroendocrine cells which have the ability to produceactive hormones. Symptoms occur when these hormones aresecreted in excess, like flushing, hypoglycaemia, diarrhoea.When they do not produce hormones, they just grow quiet-ly and become manifest when the size becomes big and startscreating pressure on nearby structures. By then it is alreadytoo late to cure them.
Till recently, CT and MRI were the only modalities avail-able to detect these neuroen-docrine tumours. The detec-tion efficiency was not veryhigh. Most of these tumoursexpress somatostatin recep-tors on their surface. This canbe detected by nuclear med-icine scans which target thesereceptors. About 10 yearsago, a new diagnostic scancalled Gallium-DOTATATEPET-CT scan was intro-duced.
This revolutionised thediagnosis of neuroendocrinetumors, which could now bedetected with great sensitiv-ity and specificity. Suddenly,the incidence of neuroen-docrine tumours rose andnow they are considered nolonger rare, almost equalling
other cancers in occurrence, due to the ability to detect themwith the new scans.
Several nuclear medicine centres with PET-CT scannersin India offer these scans. The radioisotope is injected intra-venously into the patient and the whole body is scanned onehour later, accurately detecting where the neuroendocrine can-cer is originating and where it has spread.
This is of great importance since the treatment of thesecancers is surgical: to remove as much of the tumour as is pos-sible, completely if it is small and localised. If the tumour hasspread extensively and cannot be removed, other options areavailable.
Aggressive tumours are given chemotherapy. Againrecently another Nuclear medicine modality called PRRT(Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy) was introducedwhere a lethal isotope called 177 Lutetium is labelled withDOTATATE and injected into the body intravenously.
This compound targets all the tumour cells expressing thesomatostatin receptors and destroys them selectively, sparingnormal body tissues. This therapy which was available onlyin Europe and would cost ` 32 lakh is now offered in sever-al centres in India for a cost ranging from `1 lakh (some gov-ernment centres) to `4 – 9.5 lakh (private centres) for the com-plete therapy, which consists of 4 cycles at two-month inter-vals.
This therapy results in arresting the progressive diseasein 80 per cent of the cases and curing it in 1-5 per cent. Thereis an improvement in the quality of life and dramatic reduc-tion of symptoms in many cases.
The speciality of Nuclear Medicine, thus has introducedthe branch of Theranostics (therapy and diagnosis of diseaseusing similar isotopes) which has revolutionised the diagno-
The speciality ofNuclear Medicine
has introduced thebranch of
Theranostics(therapy anddiagnosis of
Neuroendocrinecancers using
similar isotopes)which has
revolutionised thediagnosis and its
treatment
pioneer THE PIONEER LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018 10
According to a study published inthe journal Cell, Vitamin D is known
to treat damaged beta cells in ourpancreas that produce, store
and release the hormone insulin.This has resulted in a newapproach to treat Diabetes
Diabetescure
BAEL: Bael helps to cure tuberculosis, hepatitis,dysentery, constipation, peptic ulcer, piles and
many more health ailments. It is also useful inworm infestation and stomach relatedproblems. As per Ayurveda, the fruitbalances kaph and vata doshas, itsroots improve digestion, leaves aregood for pain, stem for heart andbael flower’s for curing of diarrhea.It is rich in alakloids,polysaccharides, antioxidants, betacarotene, vitamin C, Vitamin B, and many other bio-chemicalsubstances. It also contains tannins, calcium, phosphorous,iron, protein and fiber. It is used in the preparation of juice,candy, squash, toffee, pulp powder, and other eatable products.Bael tender leaves are used as salads. The tree cleans theatmosphere by absorbing the harmful gases around it. Itsextract oil is used to cure respiratory problems.
What is Dyslexia? How is ittreated? When challengesare present, it is important
for a child’s parents and teachers towork together to see what is caus-ing the problem.
If a child is performing poor-ly, boredom, stress or a lack of moti-vation could be one of the causes.But it’s also possible that a learningdisability is interfering with thestudy process. It is critical to seewhat is causing a child’s academicstruggles so that the right course ofaction can be taken to addressthem.
Dyslexia is a common learningdisorder — so common that it’sbelieved to occur in one out ofevery 10 people. Often thought ofas a “hidden disability,” it affects thebrain’s ability to process written andspoken language.
Dyslexia is typically thought ofas a reading disorder, but writing,spelling and speaking can also beaffected by it. It’s a condition thatlasts a lifetime, but a wide range ofteaching methods and strategieshave been developed to help thoseaffected by dyslexia to overcome itand lead successful, productivelives.
It is crucial to not view Dyslexiaas a sign of low intelligence. In fact,people with dyslexia are oftenfound to be highly intelligent andcreative. Abhishek Bachchan, filmdirector Steven Spielberg and boxerMohammed Ali — all hugely suc-cessful in their respective fields –were challenged by Dyslexia.
A better way to view Dyslexiais to think of it as a condition inwhich the brain is wired different-ly. Those who have Dyslexia sim-ply learn in a different way. Forthose with Dyslexia, letters mayappear to be rotated. For example,a dyslexic reader may see a “b” asa “p” or a “d” as a “q”. Words maylook like they’re reversed (“top” maylook like “pot”) or letters may lookas if they are moving when they’renot.
Overcoming Dyslexia requiresa different approach to learning,and finding this approach not onlyhelps an affected person learn butboosts their self-esteem.
SPOT DYSLEXIA According to The Yale Centre
for Dyslexia & Creativity, a personwith Dyslexia may display one ormore of the following traits: � Reads slowly and with much
effort.� Is often a good problem solver.� Can’t spell.� Has messy handwriting.� Writing shows terrific imagina-
tion.� Has trouble remembering dates
and names.� Thinks out-of-the-box.
� Can grasp the big picture.� Has difficulty retrieving and
pronouncing spoken words.� Has excellent vocabulary and
ideas.Note that some of the traits are
highly positive. The ability to thinkout-of-the-box, comprehend thebigger picture or apply a great imag-ination, vocabulary or ideas wouldbe considered assets at school or atwork.
In India, a widespread aware-ness and understanding ofDyslexia should be promoted. Atthe same time, it’s important toidentify strategies that can helpthose with Dyslexia work aroundtheir challenges so they can taptheir strengths and fulfill theirpotential.
In October 2015, Minister forScience & Technology and EarthSciences Dr Harsh Vardhan, intro-duced the first indigenously devel-oped and standardised tool forscreening and assessing Dyslexia.
Dyslexia Assessment inLanguages of India (DALI) con-tains screening tools for teachersand assessment tools for psychol-ogists. The introduction of the toolis welcome news for India’sDyslexic community, which isbelieved to include nearly 35 mil-lion children.
TREAT DYSLEXIA Children with Dyslexia can get
support at school if their schoolprovides instructional interven-tion for Dyslexia. Outside ofschool, there are also programmesand reading specialists that canhelp a child with Dyslexia.
One type of treatment that hasshown good results is multisenso-ry instruction. This methodinvolves different senses to help achild with reading.
Texturised letters might beused to help a child with spelling.A child might learn syllables bytapping them out with his or herfingers. Multisensory techniqueshelp with spoken and written lan-guage and can be used at home aswell.
There are many ways to helpa child with Dyslexia overcome itschallenges. If a child is strugglingwith reading, parents should seekprofessional help to determine ifDyslexia is the cause. Start with avisit to the family doctor, who mayalso make a referral to other pro-fessionals who can diagnose alearning disability. Seek profes-sional opinion as soon as possibleso the help that’s needed can beprovided without delay.
The writer is Clinical Head, Mom’s Belief
Food microwaved in plastic containers can putyou at greater risk of infertility, diabetes,obesity and cancer as per recent studies.Heating plastic containers in the microwavereleases 95% of all chemicals, which couldlead to high blood pressure, affect fertility, anddamage functioning of the brain. Padmashriawardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, president, HeartCare Foundation of India, said: “When food isheated in plastic containers in a microwave,the heat transfers the chemicals in plastic veryeffectively into the food. Indirect consumptionof these chemicals can wreak havoc on the
system. BPA & phthalates are believed to be‘endocrine disrupters’, substances that mimichuman hormones, and not essentially healthyfor the system. ‘Microwave-safe’ labelling on acontainer indicates that they won’t melt orbreak when heated. However, they don’tguarantee safety for health.”Transfer food to glass or ceramic containerslabeled for use in microwave. Don't let plasticwrap touch food during microwaving as it maymelt. Wax paper, kitchen parchment paper,white paper towels, or a domed container thatfits over a plate or bowl are better alternatives.
SLIMLINE
According to therecently launched
global map of dietary cal-cium intake by theInternational OsteoporosisFoundation (IOF), Indian adults consumeonly half the amount of calcium requiredfor healthy bones. The average calciumintake is only 429 mg per day against therequirement of 800 to 1000 mg per day.Calcium is a major component of bones,accounting for about 30% to 35% of themass and strength. Low calcium intake hasbeen linked to lower bone-mineral densi-ty, which increases the risk of osteoporo-sis and broken bones.The calcium intake of a person varies ateach stage of life. The requirements are espe-cially high in the teenage years due to therapid growth of the skeleton, and at olderage, when the body's ability to absorb cal-cium declines. In older adults, there is boneloss at the rate of about 1% per year, result-ing in calcium loss of approximately 15 gper year. Bones are empty and in a typical-ly adult male, the whole skeleton weighs lessthan 3 kg. Everyone builds bone up to theage of 30, and then, the process of boneresorption begins. It is, therefore, importantfor children to build strong bones so thatthey are not susceptible to fractures whenthey grow old.Adequate calcium intake comes from milk,curd & paneer. Ideally, one should take aglass of milk in the morning & evening andcurd & paneer in the afternoon for adequatecalcium intake. Calcium is also present inblack gram (urad daal) & sesame seeds
TIPTOPSTUDYCENTRE
It is summer and the heat iskilling your pet more thanyou. He is scratchy, irritated,
restless and angry. There areways to avoid the vet and treatthe pet at home the easy andhealthy way. Here’show:
Apple cider:After a bath,you could rinseyour dog with50-50 applecider andwater mix. Itgives instantrelief. Better still,use a spray toadminister the heal-ing liquid on the affectedarea.
Coconut oil: Not just forhumans, coconut oil is a superoil for pets too. Add a few dropsin the pet’s feed and have themsavour the relief food. Dogs, bythe way, love coconut and the oil
is excellent for their coat andoverall health. No need for adog specific coconut oil anygood quality brand will do.
nBaking soda: Discardthe misperception about not
giving your dog a fre-quent bath. If he is
itchy, you canbathe him oncea week in sum-mers and whiledoing so, here’swhat youcould addition-
ally do: Preparea thick paste by
using a 50/50 mixof baking soda and
water. Apply to affectedareas of your dog’s skin, leave for20 minutes, and rinse off. Oryou could add one cup of bak-ing soda to your pet’s bathingwater if he is itching all over.This gives a huge relief to thedog.
Your pet’s itchiness, especiallyduring summers, makes you feelhelpless & makes you run to the
vet who spares no thought beforeinjecting antibiotics or steroids.ROSHANI DEVI tells you how
to treat the dog at home
Stress has emerged as a major 21st cen-tury disease that is usually ignored dueto our busy lifestyle. The WHO has
estimated that stress-related disorders willbecome one of the leading causes of dis-ability by 2020. Though stress affectsevery profession, levels and sourcesof stress are higher among pro-fessionals in the health industry,especially nurses.
A recent research paperauthored by Dr Raja AmarnathG, Professor, Department ofPulmonology and Critical Care, SreeBalaji Medical College & Hospital,senior consultant, Apollo Hospitals,Chennai, and other researchers has conclud-ed that Heartfulness meditation can beemployed as an effective therapy to deal withstress in a clinical and learning environment.They suggest that Heartfulness Meditation
should be considered for inclusion in thestandard curriculum of nursing colleges.
Heartfulness meditation is a simplifiedform of Raja Yoga where a practitioner med-
itates on the heart. This techniqueinvolves regulation of mind by
ignoring unwanted thoughts dur-ing meditation.
According to the study,students often feel that stresslevels, both positive and nega-tive, goes beyond their capaci-
ty while struggling to managerelationships with various people in
the workplace such as patients, fellowstudents, coworkers, teachers, and otherhealth professionals. Personal factors suchas gender, age, new surroundings, difficul-ty in integration into a new system of lifeand financial concerns, among others arealso a source of stress.
DadiKaKehna
FAMILY TIMEHEALTHY TIME
PNS n NEW DELHI
International Day of Families is celebrated onMay 15, highlighting the importance of
health and nutrition for the family. Despite ourbusy schedules, doing a little extra for our lovedones to ensure they are hale and hearty is ofutmost importance. Our celebrities too have hec-tic lifestyles, but despite the demands on theirtime, they try to do their bit for their family’shealth.
ACTOR SONALI BENDRE: Sonali usually hasa busy routine owing to her various commit-ments and a family with a 12-year-old son to takecare of. She begins her day with special instruc-tions to her cook to make sure her family eatshealthy meals. She confesses: “It has been a strug-gle to ensure that my husband does not over-indulge his palate, eats his meals on time andhave healthy snacks. In addition, as a mother,a big responsibility for me is to ensure my sondoesn’t eat too much unhealthy food, which mostchildren of his age tend to do. One thing that Ihave come to depend on in my daily life isalmonds. I make sure I always keep a tiny boxwith a handful of almonds in my son and hus-band’s lunch box. Whether at home, work or onthe go, a handful of almonds are a convenientsnack that can be eaten anywhere, any time ofthe day and through the year.”
CHEF MANISH MALHOTRA: He owes his suc-cess to his strong family roots and to his asso-ciation at work in Old World Hospitality. “I grewup in a no onion — no garlic household butwhen I took on the profession of being a chefwhere we had to cook everything, my entire fam-ily, especially my elder brother, supported mewholeheartedly. My family is my pillar ofstrength. We make it a point to have at least onemeal together. My daughter, who is just nineyears old, binds us all together. We have incul-cated healthy eating habits in our daily routine,for example, we have substituted unwholesomesnacks with almonds. These nuts are easy andquick to flavour and go with just about anymasala/spices available in our kitchens. I like towhip up some flavoured almonds to serve myfamily as a snack,” he says.
PILATE EXPERT RITIKA SAMADDAR: “Mychildren have picked up my interest in nutritionand fitness. Our mornings are usually spentmaking healthy meals for the day. I do the elab-orate cooking, and my daughter will whip upsomething like tamarind flavoured almonds tokeep herself energised through the day. Researchshows that almonds, which are a source of pro-tein and high in dietary fibre, can help in main-taining healthy blood sugar levels, may improveblood sugar control in people with type 2 dia-betes and help lower the blood sugar impact ofcarbohydrate foods, which affects fasting insulinlevels. And eventually, the time that we spendcooking together is not only enriching for us,but has also helped us connect, emotionally.”
Just like for the celebrities, our families tooare more than special for us. Taking care of yourfamily’s health may not necessarily be as time-consuming as it may seem. Incorporating smallchanges in your life can make a big differenceover the long term. Adopting healthy eatinghabits, working out regularly.
O F D Y S L E X I A
DR SAPNA ZARWAL tells you how to navigate the challenges dyslexic children face during school years
D C B A
IF A CHILD ISSTRUGGLING
WITH READING,PARENTS SHOULD
SEEKPROFESSIONAL
HELP TODETERMINE IF
DYSLEXIA IS THECAUSE. START
WITH A VISIT TOTHE FAMILY
DOCTOR, WHOMAY ALSO MAKE A
REFERRAL TOOTHER
PROFESSIONALSWHO CAN
DIAGNOSE ALEARNINGDISABILITY
S U M M E R C O O L E R
money 11LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
BUSINESS CORNER
FORD INDIA EXPANDS ECOSPORTPORTFOLIO
New Delhi: Ford India on Monday launched newvariants of its compact SUV EcoSport, priced between`10.4 lakh and `11.89 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).While the petrol version of Signature edition, whichcomes with sunroof, is priced at ̀ 10.40 lakh, the dieselvariant is tagged at `10.99 lakh. Besides, the compa-ny has also introduced EcoSport S version with petrolpowered 1 litre EcoBoost engine at an introductoryprice of `11.37 lakh. The 1.5 litre diesel variant of theEcoSport S version is priced at `11.89 lakh (all pricesex-showroom). “In line with our ‘Feels like Family Promise’, we are committed to meeting diverseneeds of our customers and act on their feedback,” Ford India president and managing direc-tor Anurag Mehrotra said in a statement. The addition of sunroof, a feature that customers havebeen demanding, and EcoBoost engine technology, is an example of the company’s commit-ment, he added.
GOLD SLIPS ON EASING DEMAND FROM JEWELLERSNew Delhi: Gold on Monday softened by ̀ 115 to `32,285 per ten gram on sluggish demand
from local jewellers even as overseas trend firmed up. Silver also eased by `100 to `41,300 perkg due to reduced offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Traders said fading demand fromlocal jewellers and retailers at current higher levels led to decline in gold prices, though a firmtrend overseas capped the fall. Globally, gold rose 0.20 per cent to USD 1,320.50 an ounce andsilver by 0.15 per cent to USD 16.67 an ounce in Singapore. In the national capital, gold of 99.9per cent and 99.5 per cent purity fell by `115 each to `32,285 and `32,135 per ten gram, respec-tively. Sovereign however remained unaltered at ̀ 24,800 per piece of eight gram. Following gold,silver ready traded lower by `100 to ̀ 41,300 per kg and weekly-based delivery by `70 to ` 40,470per kg. Silver coins however held steady at `76,000 for buying and `77,000 for selling of 100pieces.
DOT APPROVES MERGER OF BHARTI AIRTEL AND TELENOR INDIANew Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) on Monday approved the merger of Telenor
India with Bharti Airtel, according to an official source. “The DoT has approved merger of TelenorIndia with Bharti Airtel this morning,” the official source told PTI. The Supreme Court lastweek rejected DoT’s petition for security deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore from the companiesand directed it to approve the merger. The guarantee included `1,499 crore for one-time spec-trum charge for the radiowaves allocated to Airtel without auction, and over `200 crore for spec-trum payment which Telenor has to make. The merger will bolster Airtel’s spectrum footprintin seven telecom circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band. TelenorIndia runs operations in seven circles — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East),UP (West) and Assam. DoT has asked Airtel to reduce it market share based on adjusted grossrevenue (money earned from telecom services) in Bihar service area to the limit of 50 per cent,within one year from the date merger of two companies is approved. The National CompanyLaw Tribunal (NCLT) had approved the proposed merger on March 8.
Reversing trend, retail inflation inches up to 4.58 pc in April
PTI n NEW DELHI
Reversing the declining trend,retail inflation moved up to
4.58 per cent in April due tohardening in prices of cereals,meat, fish and fruits.
The inflation based onConsumer Price Index (CPI), akey data factored in by theReserve Bank while decidinginterest rate, was 4.28 per cent inMarch.
The inflation was at 2.99 percent in April last year.
The CPI index had beendeclining since January this year.
As per data released by theCentral Statistics Office (CSO),the rate of price rise in the pro-
tein rich items like meat and fishinched up in April to 3.59 percent, as against the previousmonth of 3.17 per cent.
Similarly, the inflation in thefruit basket was higher at 9.65per cent compared to 5.78 percent in the previous month.
However, inflation in veg-etables segment was lower at 7.29per cent in April compared to11.7 per cent.
Overall, inflation in the foodbasket remained flat at 2.8 percent month-on-month.
The CSO data furtherrevealed that inflation in the fueland light segment also came inlower at 5.24 per cent month-on-month basis.
Rise in oil prices may add toinflation woes: India IncPTI n NEW DELHI
As inflation based on wholesale prices roseto 3.18 per cent in April, India Inc today
said the cascading impact of rising crude oilprices would be one of the key worry areas forIndia’s economy going forward.
The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) basedinflation stood at 2.47 per cent in March and3.85 per cent in April last year.
Assocham said the break down of the Aprilinflation data shows annualised inflation of
close to 10 per cent for petrol and over 13 percent for high speed diesel.
“Even more worrying is the fact that theselevels are on a very high base in the samemonth last fiscal. Going forward, increasingcrude oil prices and their cascading impactwould be one of the key worry areas for Indianeconomy,” Assocham Secretary General D SRawat said.PHD Chamber of CommercePresident Anil Khaitan termed the rise in infla-tion worrisome and hoped that prices do notincrease further in the coming months.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Housing sales increased by 25 per centin the country’s seven major cities in
April to 1,726 units over the previousmonth, driven by the Delhi-NCR marketwhich saw a sharp rise in demand, accord-ing to property consultant ANAROCK.
Total housing sales stood at 1,382units in March at seven major cities — theNational Capital Region (NCR), MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR), Kolkata,Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune,it said. Barring Pune and Kolkata, the hous-ing sales increased in all the cities duringlast month. “Buoyed by positive consumersentiments and favourable policies, theIndian real estate sector is coming back ontrack. 2018 started on a positive note withthe first quarter recording a q-o-q (quar-
ter-on-quarter) increase in housing sales,and the momentum seems to be increas-ing,” ANAROCK Chairman Anuj Puri said.April alone saw 25 per cent increase in salesacross the cities, he added.
ANAROCK said that the NCR marketstole the show even on the sales front witha whopping 153 per cent increase in Aprilas against the preceding month. Bengalurusaw a 41 per cent rise in housing sales, whileMMR witnessed a 29 per cent increase.According to the data, housing sales inBengaluru increased to 278 units in Aprilfrom 196 units in the previous month.MMR saw sales of 516 units as against 399units during the period under review. InNCR, housing sales jumped over two foldto 243 units from 96 units. Sales in Chennaiincreased to 219 units from 113 units, whiledemand in Hyderabad rose to 234 units
from 141 units. However, sales dropped inPune to 155 units from 182 units and alsoin Kolkata to 83 units from 255 units.
On new supply, ANAROCK said thatit increased by 6 per cent during April at15,155 units from 14,278 units in March.
The new housing supply infusion washighest in NCR, followed closely byHyderabad, Bengaluru and the MMR.NCR saw a whopping 59 per cent increasein its new housing stock in April as againstthe previous month.
Of the total new supply in April, near-ly 43 per cent was in the affordable hous-ing category (less than `40 lakh), followedby 33 per cent in the mid segment (`40-80lakh), 11 per cent priced in the range of ̀ 80lakh– `1.5 crore and the remaining 13 percent in the segment priced above Rs 1.5crore.
Housing sales up 25% during April
RBI may go for 3 ratehikes from Dec qtr
New Delhi: The ReserveBank is expected to begin its ratehike cycle from December quar-ter, and may go for three ratehikes by 2019 taking the keypolicy rate to 6.75 per cent, saysa Morgan Stanley Report.
According to the globalfinancial services major, a sig-nificant overshoot of inflationrelative to RBI’s target is not like-ly. Moreover, the economicrecovery will be on a surer foot-ing by the fourth quarter of 2018and this might prompt the cen-tral bank to go for a rate hike.“With end demand holding upwell, private capex appearspoised for a recovery later thisyear,” Morgan Stanley said.
Cannes: Hollywood star Salma Hayek believes disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein only respond-ed to her and Lupita Nyong’o’s sexual harassment claims becausewomen of colour are ‘’the easiest to get discredited’’.The 51-year-old actor was one of the innumerable women who cameforward last year to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment.The producer issued denials following Hayek and Nyong’o’srevelations, while he had not responded to dozens of otherwomen who had shared their stories.“He only respondedto two women, two women of colour. It was a strategy bythe lawyers, because we are the easiest to get discredited.It is a well-known fact, if you are a woman of colour, peo-ple believe what you say less. “So, he went attacking thetwo women of colour, in hopes that if he could dis-credit us, he could then maybe discredit the rest,”Hayek told Variety during Women In Motionpanel discussion at Cannes Film Festival. Theactor believes Weinstein had cast a long shad-ow over the industry. “The men are terri-fied. The predators are hiding and terrified.You feel it. It’s a very palpable atmosphere,”she added. Hayek hopes that the #MeToomovement will offer a chance to men to re-exam-ine their own roles, both in the film industry, andin society as a whole. “It’s a very exciting time formen now. Men have the opportunity, which is so beau-tiful, to rethink what does it mean to be a man,” she said.
GLOBEGLOBETROTTINGTROTTING
2 families staged Indonesia suicide bombings
AFP n SURABAYA
Afamily of five, including achild, carried out the sui-
cide bombing of a police head-quarters in Indonesia’s secondcity Surabaya on Monday,police said, a day after a dead-ly wave of attacks on church-es staged by another family.
The spate of bombings hasrocked Indonesia, with theIslamic State group claimingthe church attacks and raisingfears about its influence inSoutheast Asia as its dreams ofa Middle Eastern caliphatefizzle.
Indonesia, which is set tohost the Asian Games in justthree months, has long strug-gled with Islamist militancy,including the 2002 Bali bomb-ings that killed over 200 peo-ple — mostly foreign tourists— in the country’s worst-everterror attack.
Security forces have arrest-ed hundreds of militants dur-ing a sustained crackdownthat smashed some networks,and most recent attacks havebeen low-level and targeteddomestic security forces.
But that changed onSunday as a family of six —including two young girls —staged suicide bombings ofchurches during morning ser-vices in Surabaya, killing 18including the bombers.
On Tuesday, members ofanother family blew them-selves up at a police station inthe city, wounding 10.
“There were five people ontwo motorbikes. One of themwas a little kid,” national policechief Tito Karnavian said.“This is one family.” An eight-year-old girl from the familysurvived the attack and wastaken to hospital, while hermother, father and two broth-ers died in the blast, he said.
The church attacks were
claimed by the Islamic Stategroup. The father of the churchsuicide bombers was a localleader in extremist networkJamaah Ansharut Daulah(JAD) which supports IS, andthe second family was alsolinked to the the group.
“It ordered and gaveinstructions for its cells tomake a move,” Karnavian saidof the Islamic State’s role in thechurch attacks.
He added that the bomb-ings may have also been moti-vated by the arrest of JAD lead-ership, including jailed radicalAman Abdurrahman, andwere linked to a deadly prisonriot staged by Islamist prison-ers at a high-security jail nearJakarta last week.
Abdurrahman has beenconnected to several deadlyincidents, including a 2016gun and suicide attack in thecapital Jakarta that left fourattackers and four civiliansdead.
Despite their apparent alle-giance to IS, the church-bomb-ing family were not returneesfrom Syria, police saidMonday, correcting their ear-lier statements.
However, hundreds ofIndonesians have flocked inrecent years to fight alongsideIS in its bid to carve out acaliphate ruled by strict Islamiclaw.
Its ambitions have beenreined in after losing most ofthe land it once occupied inIraq and Syria, and there areconcerns that jihadists willnow turn their focus on estab-lishing a base in SoutheastAsia.
On Sunday evening, justhours after the church bomb-ings, a further three people inanother family were killed andtwo wounded when anotherbomb exploded at an apart-
ment complex about 30 kilo-metres from Surabaya. Thatexplosion appeared to havebeen an accidental detonationthat killed a mother and her17-year-old child who was notidentified.
The woman’s husband — aconfidante of the husbandbehind the church bombingsDita Oepriyanto — was badlyinjured in the explosion.
Police said they arrivedafter the explosion and shot theinjured man, Anton Febrianto,as he held a bomb detonator inhis hand.
“When we searched theflat we found pipe bombs,similar to pipe bombs wefound near the churches,” saidKarnavian.
Authorities said Mondaythey shot a suspect describedas the second-ranking memberof the JAD cell in Surabaya,while four others were arrest-ed.
Indonesian police havefoiled numerous terror plots,but the coordinated nature ofSunday’s church bombings andthe subsequent blasts point tomore sophisticated planningthan in the past, analysts said.
“There is definitely a grow-ing technical proficiency,” saidZachary Abuza, SoutheastAsian security expert at theNational War College inWashington.
“To pull off three nearsimultaneous bombings is hall-mark of a group that is think-ing.” Abuza questioned thepolice suggestion that theattacks were ordered by the ISleadership abroad, but said itwill likely boost its presence inSoutheast Asia as it fades else-where.
“(They’re) going to con-tinue to benefit from operatingtransnationally in SoutheastAsia,” he said.
Family members pray during the wake for Marta Djumani, one of the victims of Sunday's church attacks, at a funeral home andin (2) picture Officer stand guard outside the local police headquarters following an attack in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia,Monday. AP
Fiery cleric, paramilitary leadersurge at Iraq electionsAFP n BAGHDAD
An alliance headed bynationalist cleric Moqtada
Sadr and a rival bloc of pro-Iranian former f ightersappeared to surge on Mondayin surprise preliminary resultsfrom Iraq’s first poll since thedefeat of the Islamic Stategroup. If confirmed, the out-come would throw open therace to become the next primeminister, as internationallyfavoured incumbent Haider al-Abadi lagged behind after avote hit by record abstentions.
According to partialresults seen by AFP, theMarching Towards Reformalliance of Shiite cleric Sadrand his communist allies wasahead in six of Iraq’s 18provinces and second in fourothers.
Sadr has reinvented him-self as an anti-graft crusaderafter rising to prominence asa powerful militia chief whosefighters battled US forces afterthe 2003 invasion.
While long railing againstthe United State, the nation-alist firebrand has also dis-tanced himself from its key
rival Iran, drawing closer toregional Sunni powerhouseSaudi Arabia. Next in the run-ning is the Conquest Alliance,made up of ex-fighters frommainly Iran-backed paramili-tary units that battled IS, withresults putting them ahead infour provinces and second ineight others.
The head of the list is Hadi
al-Ameri, a long-time ally ofTehran, whose forces ended upbattling alongside the US tooust the jihadists.
Both Sadr and Ameri arelong-time political veteranswell-known to Iraqis, but theypitched themselves as seekingto sweep clean the country’sreviled elite. The complexelectoral arithmetic of the
Iraqi system, however, meansthat the final makeup of 329-seat parliament is still far fromdecided.
The ballots of some700,000 security personnelwho voted and Iraqis abroadwere yet to be tallied up,meaning Abadi could get aboost five months after heannounced victory over IS.
Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seen in the poster, celebrate in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Iraq, early Monday,
PTI n WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trumpon Monday said countries
must “open their eyes” andchange their “thought process”on how to tackle terrorism, fol-lowing the latest attack linkedto the Islamic State in France.
A Chechen-born 20-year-old man launched a stabbingspree in central Paris onSaturday, leaving one persondead and four seriouslywounded.
The knifeman, whose ram-page followed a series ofjihadist assaults in France thathave killed 246 people since2015, was shot dead by policeafter an officer failed to subduehim with a Taser.
Expressing sadness overthe latest terrorist attack inParis, Trump said, “So sad tosee the terror Attack in Paris.At some point countries willhave to open their eyes & seewhat is really going on.”
“This kind of sickness &hatred is not compatible witha loving, peaceful, & successfulcountry! Changes to ourthought process on terror mustbe made,” he tweeted.
Last year, Trump in his newSouth Asia strategy had saidthat America and ourpartners are committed tostripping terrorists of their ter-ritory, cutting off their funding,and exposing the false allure oftheir evil ideology.
“Terrorists who slaughterinnocent people will find noglory in this life or the next.They are nothing but thugs,and criminals, and predators,and — that’s right — losers.
“Working alongside our
allies, we will break their will,dry up their recruitment, keepthem from crossing our bor-ders, and yes, we will defeatthem, and we will defeat themhandily,” the US president hadsaid while criticising Pakistanfor giving safe haven to “agentsof chaos, violence, and terror.”
Earlier, the US stronglycondemned the Saturday’s stab-bing attack in Paris.
“Our thoughts and prayersare with the victims and theirfamilies,” White House PressSecretary Sarah Sanders said.
She said the US stands insolidarity with the French peo-ple and their governmentagainst the terrorist attack.
“Acts like this onlystrengthen the resolve of theglobal coalition to defeat ISISand drive it out of existence,”Sanders said.
US Secretary of State MikePompeo said that the US doesnot know much about andwho were behind the attack.
“We know that thecaliphate ISIS has claimedresponsibility. They said hewas one of their soldiers. Wecan’t verify that yet. The Frenchauthorities, with all the intelli-gence help the United Statescan provide, we’ll do our best
Trump seeks changesto the thought process on terrorism
AFP n MOSCOW
Iran’s foreign minister visitsMoscow on Monday as
Russia tries to keep the Irannuclear deal alive in the wakeof Washington’s pull-out, push-ing it into rare cooperationwith Europe. MohammadJavad Zarif ’s diplomatic tourtook him to Beijing at theweekend and will see him visitBrussels later in the week, asthe international backers of the2015 accord scrabble to save it.
After meeting his Chinesecounterpart on Sunday, Zarifsaid he was hopeful of forginga “clear future design” for theaccord. Russian PresidentVladimir Putin has alreadyspoken with Germany’s AngelaMerkel and Turkey’s RecepTayyip Erdogan about theefforts, after voicing his “deepconcern” over US President’sDonald Trump’s decision.
Trump’s move to ditch thenuclear deal has infuriatedWashington’s allies in Europeas well as China and Russia.“(European) cooperation withRussia, which until recentlyseemed impossible because ofthe Skripal (spy poisoning)case, with the expulsion ofdiplomats and the reduction ofcontact, is now receiving a
fresh boost,” consultant AndreiBaklitski of the PIR CenterNGO said.
“The Europeans, after thewithdrawal of the US from thedeal, have found themselvesforced to save the JointCooperative Plan of Actionthemselves,” he added. Moscowwould have to play a key rolein ensuring Tehran does notresume its nuclear programme,he said. On Sunday USSecretary of State MikePompeo said Washington stillwants to work with Europe tocounter Iran’s “malign behav-ior”. But while Pompeo talkedup the prospect of renewedcoordination with America’s
allies, another top aide remind-ed Europe its companies couldface sanctions if they continueto do business with the MiddleEastern power.
Russian efforts to save theaccord will boost its role as apower-player in the MiddleEast, after its intervention onthe side of Bashar al-Assad’sregime in Syria.
This, along with its diplo-matic moves to orchestrate anend to the conflict, has putMoscow at loggerheads withthe US and Europe, whichhave intervened against theregime.
Zarif will meet his Russiancounterpart Sergei Lavrov,
according to Iran’s foreignministry.
Merkel is set to visitRussia and meet Putin for aworking visit in the Black Searesort of Sochi on Friday, whileFrench President EmmanuelMacron will be in SaintPetersburg later in the monthfor an economic forum.
Putin will also meet YukiyaAmano, the head of theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency in Sochi, presidentialaide Yury Ushakov said.
Iran has said it is prepar-ing to resume “industrial-scale” uranium enrichment“without any restrictions”unless Europe can providesolid guarantees that it canmaintain trade ties despiterenewed US sanctions.
After long negotiations,Iran had agreed in July 2015 tofreeze its nuclear programmein return for the lifting ofpunishing international sanc-tions. The deal was negotiatedbetween Iran and the five per-manent members of the UNSecurity Council — Britain,China, France, Russia and theUnited States — plus Germany.
Russia and Iran once haddifficult relations but haveseen ties improve since the endof the Cold War.
Iran’s Foreign Minister in Moscow asRussia moves to save nuclear deal
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, welcomes his Iranian counterpartMohammad Javad Zarif ahead of their meeting in Moscow, Russia on Monday. AP
10 killed instampede inBangladesh
Dhaka (PTI): At least 10women were killed and sever-al others injured in a stampedeand heatstroke today as thou-sands of people had gathered tocollect Iftar essentials at a vil-lage in Bangladesh’sChattogram district.
The incident took place infront of a madrassa playgroundat Satkania Upazila,Chattogram DeputyCommissioner (DC) EliusHossain said, media reportssaid.
Around 35000 people hadgathered at the madrassa fieldto collect saris and cash beingdistributed by the authorities ofa steel factory.
Officials said nine womendied on the spot while theother died on the way to hos-pital.
The primary cause of thedeath might be heatstroke whileone or two of them might havedied in a stampede, officialssaid. A five-member committeehas been set up to probe theincident. Chattogram addi-tional district magistrate willlead the probe committee.
Beijing (PTI): A Chineseplane with 128 people on boardwas forced to divert to another air-port for an emergency landing onMonday after a cockpit windowbroke, injuring a co-pilot and acrew member, officials said. TheFlight 3U8633, operated bySichuan Airlines, was en route fromsouthwest China’s ChongqingMunicipality to Lhasa, capital ofTibet Autonomous Region. It wasforced to divert to Chengdu, cap-ital of Sichuan Province, state-runXinhua news agency reported.
According to the CivilAviation Administration of China(CAAC), part of the cockpit win-dow broke as the Airbus A319 flewover Chengdu, the report said.Other media reports said part ofthe cockpit window fell out in mid-flight.
The crew enacted emergencycode 7700 and landed in Chengdu.All passengers are safe, although theco-pilot sustained injuries on theface and waist, and another crewmember was slightly hurt duringthe emergency landing, accordingto the CAAC. Sichuan Airlinesconfirmed the diversion, and said
that an investigation is under way.The plane landed in Chengdu at7:46 am on Monday. There were119 passengers and nine crewmembers on board, according tothe airline, which has arrangedanother flight to take the passen-gers to Lhasa. Video footage shotby passengers showed baggagefalling from overhead lockers dur-ing the emergency landing andoxygen masks dropping for use.
An unnamed woman pas-senger told the Beijing YouthDaily the accident happened aboutone hour after the plane tookoff.Some passengers cried out andothers vomited and felt dizziness,she was quoted as saying. “(We)don’t know what happened to thepilot. We owe him for savingeverybody and were worried abouthim,” she said.
An aviation blogger saidonline that the pilot would havehad to land the Airbus A319 in dif-ficult conditions, with low tem-peratures in the cockpit, strongwinds and some equipment notfunctioning properly, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Postreported.
Britain’s spy chief Parkerreveals 12 terror attacksthwarted in year 2017
London (PTI): Britain’sintelligence chief on Monday dis-closed that the UK’s securityforces had thwarted at least 12terrorist attacks directed againstthe country since the IslamicState (ISIS) claimed strike on theBritish Parliament building inMarch last year. During anaddress to a meeting of Europeanintelligence chiefs in Berlin onMonday, MI5 director-generalAndrew Parker also warned thatISIS continues to aspire to com-mit “devastating” attacks inEurope after losing territory inSyria and Iraq.
“Daesh (ISIS) still aspires todirect devastating and morecomplex attacks despite territo-rial losses… and threats from AlQaeda and other Islamist terrorgroups have not gone away,” hesaid in his speech titled ‘HybridThreats’.
He said: “Whilst Daesh hasnow lost its false caliphate in itsstrongholds in Syria and Iraq,tackling the group as a move-ment will require sustainedinternational focus for years tocome.
As I speak today, they are
seeking to regroup, and thethreat seems likely to persist.
“Islamic State have beenblamed for (attacks) – that’supset a lot of Al Qaeda affiliat-ed groups who want to get backinto high-level, sophisticatedattacks like they did with the 9/11attacks, because they see IslamicState getting the media limelight.”
In December last year,Parker had revealed that nine ter-rorist attacks had been prevent-ed by the UK’s security servicesand police since 52-year-oldKhalid Masood drove a car intopedestrians before launching aknife attack after crashing intothe side of the Parliament, killingfive people on March 22 last year.
world 13LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
Pak NSC rejects Sharif’s remarks
on Mumbai attack as misleading
PTI n ISLAMABAD
Pakistan’s top civil-militarybody on Monday rejected
as incorrect and misleadingremarks by ousted prime min-ister Nawaz Sharif who criti-cised the country’s handling ofmilitant groups responsiblefor the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A meeting of the NationalSecurity Committee (NSC),presided over by PrimeMinister Shahid KhaqanAbbasi, was held to discuss thesituation arising out of therecent by Sharif about the2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sharif in an interview pub-licly acknowledged that mili-tant organisations are active inPakistan and questioned thepolicy to allow the “non-stateactors” to cross the borderand “kill” people in Mumbai.
The former premier, 68,also said that Pakistan hasisolated itself.
The NSC meetingreviewed the recent statementin the context of Mumbaiattacks and unanimouslytermed the remarks as incor-rect and misleading, said astatement issued after themeeting. The NSC said it wasunfortunate and regrettablethat concrete evidence andfacts were ignored in the state-ment.
“The participants observedthat it was very unfortunatethat the opinion arising out ofeither misconceptions or griev-ances was being presented indisregard of concrete facts andrealities.
The participants unani-mously rejected the allega-
tions and condemned the fal-lacious assertions,” Dawnnewspaper quoted the state-ment as saying.
According to the state-ment, it was recalled during themeeting that the delay in con-clusion of Mumbai attack casewas caused by India, notPakistan.
“Besides many otherrefusals during the investiga-tion, the denial of access to theprincipal accused, AjmalQasab, and his extraordinari-ly hurried execution becamethe core impediment in thefinalisation of the trial,” it said.
Pakistan continues to awaitcooperation from India regard-ing the arrest of Indian spyKulbhushan Jadhav and theSamjhota Express attack, thestatement said.
Following the meeting,Prime Minister Abbasi metSharif. The NSC meeting wasattended by Defence andForeign Minister KhurramDastgir, Finance MinisterMiftah Ismail, ForeignSecretary Tehmina Janjua,National Security Adviser(NSA) Retired Lt GeneralNasser Khan Janjua, ChairmanJoint Chiefs of Staff CommitteeGen Zubair Hayat, the direc-tor generals of Inter-ServicesIntelligence and MilitaryIntelligence, and the three ser-vices chiefs.
In an exclusive interviewto Dawn published onSaturday, Sharif had said:“Militant organisations areactive. Call them non-stateactors, should we allow themto cross the border and kill 150
people in Mumbai? Explain itto me. Why can’t we completethe trial?”
He was referring to the
Mumbai attacks-related trialproceedings which have stalledin the Rawalpindi anti-terror-ism court.
Sharif defends his remarks Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan's
ousted prime minister NawazSharif on Monday defended hisrecent remarks about the 2008Mumbai terror attack, sayinghe will speak the truth nomatter what the consequencesare. Sharif, for the first time,publicly acknowledged in aninterview that terrorist organ-isations are active in Pakistanand questioned the policy toallow the "non-state actors" tocross the border and "kill" peo-ple in Mumbai.
Sharif 's comments havestirred a controversy inPakistan, prompting the coun-try's National SecurityCommittee (NSC) to call ahigh-level meeting and rejectthe statement as incorrect andmisleading, also saying that itwas unfortunate and regrettablethat concrete evidence andfacts were ignored in the oust-ed Pakistan PM's statement.
According to the NSC'sstatement, it was recalled dur-ing the meeting that the delayin conclusion of Mumbai attackcase was caused by India, notPakistan. "Besides many otherrefusals during the investiga-tion, the denial of access to theprincipal accused, Ajmal Kasab,and his extraordinarily hurriedexecution became the coreimpediment in the finalisa-tion of the trial," it said.
Sharif 's response today onthe controversy is contradicto-ry to the stance taken by hisparty, the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz, whose presi-dent Shehbaz Sharif said yes-terday that the party "rejects allclaims made in the report, bethey direct or indirect", Dawnnewspaper reported.
"What did I say that waswrong in the interview?" 68-year-old Sharif asked whiletalking to reporters outside anaccountability court inIslamabad, where he is facingcorruption charges.
After the publication ofSharif 's interview on Saturday,
his party issued a clarification,saying that the Indian mediahad "grossly misinterpreted"his remarks.
Sharif today dispelled thenotion that the comments werefalsely attributed to him, sayingthat he will speak the truthcome what may.
"Former president PervezMusharraf, former interiorminister Rehman Malik andformer National SecurityAdviser Major-General (retd)Mehmood Durrani had alreadyconfirmed (what I said)," headded.
Nawaz Sharif regretted thatthose who ask questions arebeing termed traitors in themedia.
"Despite our 50,000 sacri-fices (of lives), why is the worldnot paying heed to our narra-tive? And the person who isasking this question has beenlabelled a traitor."
He also called out thoselocal media outlets that hadcriticised his words. "I ambeing called a traitor on themedia -- they (the media) arebeing made to call me a traitor."
"Are those who tore apartthe country and theConstitution patriots? Arethose who pulled out judgesfrom their offices patriots?"
"Will speak the truth nomatter what the consequencesare," he said.When a reporterpointed to Sharif 's acknowl-edgment of the presence of"non-state actors" in the coun-try, his daughter Maryam, whowas accompanying him,replied: "So then who wasZarb-i-Azb (military opera-tion) conducted against?"
Operation Zarb-e-Azb wasa joint military offensive con-ducted by the Pakistan ArmedForces against various militantgroup in 2014. According toDawn newspaper, differenceswithin the ruling party surfacedfollowing the issuance of con-tradictory statements by theSharif brothers on the issue.
North Korean delegationvisits China: ReportsAFP n BEIJING
ANorth Korean delegationarrived in Beijing on
Monday, Japanese media said,as the two allies step up diplo-matic contacts ahead of a land-mark meeting between KimJong Un and Donald Trump.
Japanese broadcaster NHKshowed images of officials leav-ing the VIP area of the Chinesecapital’s airport. The broad-caster said later the group hadarrived at the Diaoyutai gov-ernment guest house althoughthe identity of the visitors wasnot immediately known. Thereport comes a week after Kim
made his second trip to Chinain less than two months toagain meet with President XiJinping.
Kim’s latest visit was to thenortheastern port city ofDalian, as the two countriesseek to mend frayed ties witha diplomatic thaw in the regiongathering pace.
Relations fell to a new lowin the past year as Beijing,angered by Pyongyang’snuclear and missile tests,backed a series of UnitedNations sanctions against itsCold War-era ally.
But Beijing is keen to avoid
being sidelined in the wake ofKim’s historic summit lastmonth with South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in andahead of his upcoming meet-ing with Trump in Singaporeon June 12.
Experts say Kim also needsto maintain good relationswith his country’s main patronto back him up as the Trumpsummit looms.
Kim, who picked Beijing tomake his maiden official tripabroad in March, has alsoinvited Xi to visit North Korea.
Mike Pompeo points to potential
security assurances for Kim
Washington (AP): The UnitedStates is offering assurances toNorth Korea’s Kim Jong Un asit seeks to put in motion thepotential for a sweeping nucleardeal. Secretary of State MikePompeo says the US will need to“provide security assurances”to Kim if they’re able to forge anagreement.
Pompeo met with Kim lastweek in North Korea, helping setthe stage for President DonaldTrump’s historic summit withKim in Singapore on June 12.Trump wants North Korea to
eliminate its nuclear weapons ina permanent and verifiable way.
Pompeo was asked on “FoxNews Sunday” if the U.S. wasessentially telling Kim he could
stay in power if he met the U.S.demands.
Said Pompeo: “We will haveto provide security assurances,to be sure.”
‘N Korea willnever fully give up nukes’
Seoul (AFP): North Koreawill never completely give upits nuclear weapons, a topdefector said ahead of leaderKim Jong Un’s landmark sum-mit with US President DonaldTrump next month.
The current whirlwind ofdiplomacy and negotiationswill not end with “a sincereand complete disarmament”but with “a reduced NorthKorean nuclear threat”, saidThae Yong-ho, who fled hispost as the North’s deputyambassador to Britain inAugust 2016.
“In the end, North Koreawill remain ‘a nuclear powerpackaged as a non-nuclearstate’,” Thae told the South’sNewsis news agency.
His remarks come aheadof an unprecedented summitbetween Kim and Trump inSingapore on June 12 whereNorth Korea’s nuclear andmissile programmes areexpected to dominate theagenda.
North and South Koreaaffirmed their commitmentto the goal of denuclearisationof the peninsula at summit lastmonth, and Pyongyangannounced at the weekend itwill destroy its only knownnuclear test site next week.
But it has not made pub-lic what concessions it is offer-ing.
Washington is seeking the“complete, verifiable and irre-versible denuclearisation(CVID)” of the North andstresses that verification will bekey. Pyongyang has said itdoes not need nuclearweapons if the security of itsregime is guaranteed.
But Thae, one of the high-est ranking officials to havedefected in recent years, said:“North Korea will argue thatthe process of nuclear disar-mament will lead to the col-lapse of North Korea andoppose CVID.” The Northwanted to ensure Kim’s“absolute power” and its modelof hereditary succession, headded, and would opposeintrusive inspections as they“would be viewed as a processof breaking down Kim JongUn’s absolute power in front ofthe eyes of ordinary NorthKoreans and elites”.
Gaza City : Palestinians fol-lowed through with their vowto protest massively along theGaza border on Monday withtens of thousands demon-strating and 37 killed by Israelifire as clashes erupted over thecontroversial inauguration ofthe US embassy in Jerusalem.
The death toll made it thedeadliest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the2014 Gaza war.
The 37, including a 14-year-old, were shot dead byIsraeli forces as clashes brokeout at five points along theGaza border hours before theopening of the embassy.
More than 900 Palestinianswere wounded in the clashes,the health ministry in Gazasaid, with the PalestinianJournalists’ Syndicate sayingeight journalists were amongthem. The Israeli army saidthat more than 35,000 people
A Palestinian woman walks through black smoke from burning tires during a proteston the Gaza Strip's border with Israel on Monday. AP
US opens new embassy in Jerusalem amid 37 deaths in Israel-Palestinian clashes
Jerusalem (PTI): The USon Monday opened its embassyin Jerusalem under a contro-versial move by PresidentDonald Trump that has infu-riated the Palestinians, whoclashed with Israeli soldierswho shot dead at least 37 ofthem in Gaza, in the deadliestescalation of violence since2014.
Trump announced thedecision to move the embassyfrom Tel Aviv to Jerusalem inDecember, when he formallyrecognised the holy city as thecapital of Israel, breaking awayfrom decades of US neutralityon the sensitive issue.
The inauguration ceremo-ny started with the singing ofthe American anthem and thepresentation of colours by USMarines. US Ambassador to
Israel David Friedman notedthat Washington, whichbecame the first country torecognise the State of Israel, hasnow taken “a step awaited,voted upon, and litigated andprayed for for all these years”.
“Again the United Statesleads the way,” in relocating theembassy, he said.
The move is the result ofthe “vision, the courage, andthe moral clarity” of PresidentTrump, to whom we own an“enormous and eternal debt ofgratitude,” the US envoystressed.Trump, in an earlymorning tweet, hailed theopening of the US embassy inJerusalem as “a great day forIsrael.” He made no referenceto the violence in an earlymorning tweet but said, “Agreat day for Israel!” A high-
level American delegation thatincludes Deputy Secretary ofState John Sullivan, Secretary ofTreasury Steven Mnuchin,Senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, senioradviser and first daughterIvanka Trump, and SpecialRepresentative for InternationalNegotiations Jason Greenblattattended the embassy openingceremony.
“An historic moment: TheUnited States Embassy is open-ing in our capital city –Jerusalem!” said Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu,who was also present.
“What an amazing day!Thank you, @POTUS Trump,”he tweeted in response toTrump’s announcement.“Today is an historic day thatconstitutes a milestone in the
history of our people, our state,and our alliance,” the Israeliprime minister said.
Meanwhile, Palestinians,who protested massively alongthe Gaza border clashed withIsraeli forces, leading to thedeath of at last 37 of them.
Hamas-run health min-istry in Gaza said that 37 peo-ple had been killed in Israeli fireso far and 1,700 others injured.
The Palestinian protestorsburned tires and threw stonesat the soldiers, trying toapproach the fence.
The Palestinian Authorityheaded by President MahmoudAbbas’ Fatah party and head-quartered in the West Banktown of Ramallah accusedIsrael of committing a “terriblemassacre” as the death tollsoared.
‘Hope to educate public about Indian community’PTI n NEW YORK
Ravi Bhalla, the first everSikh mayor of a city in
New Jersey, hopes to educatethe public about the Indian andSouth Asian community andthe rights of all Americansunder the Constitution.
Bhalla became the 39thMayor of the City of Hobokenafter winning the election inNovember last year amid a“whispering campaign” thathe was “unelectable”.
“I didn’t run as the Sikhcandidate but the candidatewho happened to be a Sikh.Being in that role and justdoing a good job has someimplicit or side benefits that Ithink will educate theAmerican public as moreSouth Asian candidates getout there,” Bhalla told PTIhere on the dichotomy of theelectoral success achieved byhim and the growing numberof hate crimes against SouthAsians.
Bhalla, 44, said his oblig-ation as an American is to“protect the rights that we allhave under our Constitution.Just by doing that I would hope
to try to educate the publicabout who I am and who theSouth Asian and the Indiancommunity is.”
Bhalla was participatingin a panel discussion organisedby The Roosevelt House PublicPolicy Institute at HunterCollege, The India CentreFoundation and The IndianAmerican Impact Project onthe topic ‘South AsianAmericans in Politics: Off ofthe Sidelines and Into theGame.’
When asked during thediscussion if he faced any kindof resistance or racism duringhis election campaign, Bhallasaid he would not describe itas “racism per se” but peoplewould say that his turban and
beard would not go “unno-ticed. That wasn’t a compli-ment.”
People questioned how hewill get his votes in Hobokenas he is not “Italian or Irish”and there is not a sizable Sikhpopulation in the city. “But likeany good Indian would do, youwork hard, you deliver yourmessage.”
Bhalla said there was a“whispering campaign” thathe is “unelectable” in Hobokenbut he remained focussed ondoing his work. “I literallyknocked on every single door,didn’t take a day off from June20 to November 7. That was arough summer but that is howyou win elections.”
Before being electedMayor, Bhalla served eightyears as member of theHoboken City Council.
He said his predecessorMayor Dawn Zimmer advisedhim to focus on his work, “get-ting out there, running a veryprofessional campaign anddoing the best you can and youcan win an election.”
He said that he was theonly candidate who ran on a
campaign of resisting USPresident Donald Trump, whohad an 80 per cent disap-proval rating in Hoboken.
“I was the only candidateto say that look I am gong tostand up, we suffered fromSuperstorm Sandy. I know cli-mate change is real eventhough he (Trump) says it is ahoax. That kind of resonatedwith people,” he said.
Bhalla also stressed that itis not enough for the SouthAsian community to justdonate to election campaignsand show up at political eventsbut not vote in elections. “IfSouth Asians (don’t vote), hon-estly they are not going to beheard and not going to betaken seriously by elected offi-cials.”
Bhalla said that since hebecame the Mayor ofHoboken, “all of a sudden”everybody in his town knowswho a Sikh is. He added thatit is also noteworthy that thestate’s chief law enforcementofficial, the Attorney Generalis Gurbir Singh Grewal, whoalso wears a turban and abeard.
South Africamourns deathof renownedmusician Johannesburg (PTI): TheSouth African Indian com-munity is mourning thedemise of musician and singerRamesh Hassan, who changedhis Muslim birth name to
foster communal harmony inthe country through hismusic. Hassan, aged 73, con-sidered the face of Hindu-Muslim unity in South Africa,died of heart attack onSaturday.
He had changed hisMuslim birth name of HassanSaib to Ramesh Hassanbecause he wanted to fosterharmony between Hindus andMuslims living in SouthAfrica through music.
Hassan had planned aseries of comeback shows overthe next few months.
He started performing atthe age of 14, belting outcover versions of popularsongs of singers like ElvisPresley and Cliff Richardamong others. He later shift-ed his skills to singing inHindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati,Urdu and the indigenous lan-guages — Afrikaans, Zuluand Sesotho. In the early1990’s, boosted by the nation-al public broadcast Indianradio station Lotus, Hassanbecame a household namewith a song about how his wifehad reacted in Tamil when shesaw him with an another girl.
He toured throughoutSouth Africa and becameone of the first local Indianartists to stage a show at thethen biggest entertainmentvenue in southern Africa,the Sun City. The songremains a favourite of bandsplaying at Indian weddingshere, decades later.
PTI n WASHINGTON
Atwo-headed baby deerfound in the US is the first
conjoined twin fawn everknown to have reached fullterm and then be delivered bytheir mother, scientists say.Although the fawns were founddead, according to a studypublished in the journalAmerican Midland Naturalist,they had been groomed and ina natural position, suggestingthat the doe tried to care forthem after delivery.
The only other examples ofconjoined twin fawns havebeen found still in utero, saidGino D’Angelo, researcher atthe University of Georgia in theUS who studied the deer.
A CT scan of the conjoinedfawns shows completely sepa-rate heads and necks.
“It’s amazing and extreme-ly rare. We can’t even estimatethe rarity of this. Of the tens ofmillions of fawns born annuallyin the US, there are probablyabnormalities happening inthe wild we don’t even knowabout,” said D’Angelo.
A full examination of theconjoined twin fawns was a
unique opportunity forresearchers to study such a rarewildlife deformity, he said.
The mushroom hunterfound the fawns in May 2016near Freeburg, Minnesota, onthe forest floor about a milefrom the Mississippi River.The fawns were clean, dry andappeared to be recentlydeceased.
The hunter called theMinnesota Department ofNatural Resources, whereD’Angelo was working at thetime. The fawns were frozenuntil a necropsy could be per-formed, so the specimen waskept in excellent condition,D’Angelo said. Researchersnot only conducted a full
necropsy, but also did a 3Dcomputed tomography (CTscan) and a magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI).
They found that the fawns- which were does - had twoseparate necks and heads, butthey shared a body. They hadnormal fur, normal heads andlegs, and even ‘almost perfect’spot patterns running up theirnecks, D’Angelo said. Lab testsof the lungs confirmed thefawns never breathed air andwere delivered stillborn, andthe necropsy found that thedoes had a malformed, sharedliver, extra spleens and gas-trointestinal tracts, as well astwo hearts that shared a singlepericardial sac.
First two-headed baby deer found
Pak’s top civil-military leadership flays Sharif ‘s ‘fallacious’ remarks on 26/11
Islamabad: Pakistan’s topcivil and military leadershiptoday condemned the “falla-cious” statement by oustedprime minister Nawaz Sharifabout the Mumbai terror attackand termed it as “incorrect andmisleading”.
Sharif, for the first time,questioned Pakistan’s policy toallow the “non-state actors” tocross the border and “kill”people in Mumbai as he pub-licly acknowledged in an inter-view that militant groups areactive in the country.
His comments stirred acontroversy, prompting theNational Security Committee(NSC) - Pakistan’s top civil-mil-itary body - to call a high-level
meeting. “The meetingreviewed the recent statementin the context of Mumbaiattacks...and unanimouslytermed this statement as incor-rect and misleading,” said astatement issued after the NSCmeeting held at PrimeMinister’s House.
“The participants observedthat it was very unfortunatethat the opinion arising out ofeither misconceptions or griev-ances was being presented indisregard of concrete facts andrealities. The participantsunanimously rejected the alle-gations and condemned the fal-lacious assertions,” it said.Thestatement said that it wasrecalled during the meeting
that the delay in conclusion ofthe Mumbai attack case wascaused by India, not Pakistan.
“Besides many otherrefusals during the investiga-tion, the denial of access to theprincipal accused, Ajmal Kasab,and his extraordinarily hurriedexecution became the coreimpediment in the finalisa-tion of the trial,” it did.
Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba mili-tants killed 166 people andwounded dozens in Mumbai inNovember, 2008. Nine of theattackers were killed by policewhile lone survivor AjmalKasab was caught. Kasab wasexecuted after a court foundhim guilty and handed downdeath sentence.
Thousands protest on Gaza border
were involved in the protestsand clashes.
It accused Gaza’s Islamistrulers Hamas of leading a “ter-rorist operation under thecover of masses of people”.
The Palestinian Authoritygovernment based inRamallah, in the occupiedWest Bank, accused Israel ofcarrying out a “terrible mas-sacre”. AFP
‘Don’t want towork for money’From playing the mother ofNawazuddin Siddiqui at the age of24 to making her presence felt atthe festival circuit as well as at thebox office, RICHA CHADHA hascarved her own niche.The actress says shewould rather opt for aproject that gives hera chance to act thanjust give her visibil-ity.“Look, if the pro-ducer is lookingfor a business of`100 crore from afilm, they need astar like DeepikaPadukone topull it off and itis purely a pro-fessional rea-son, I amokay with allthat. I am nothere to make money any-way. I want to leave a mark onevery project that I take up, everyfilm that I do”, said the actress.She has played several substantialroles in films as different asFukrey and Masaan.
MAHESH BHATT is proud as hisdaughter Alia Bhatt is “flyinghigher and higher.”“Alia my girl you are flying higherand higher! Getaddicted to betteringyourself. Love,”Mahesh tweeted,following a slew ofpositive responses thatthe actress is gettingfor her role in Raazi.Alia, daughter of Mahesh andactress Soni Razdan, plays aKashmiri girl who gets married toa Pakistani Army officer andbecomes a spy to protect herown country.
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
‘Paid littleattention to bride’
‘I don't thinkany creativeperson wouldbe fearfulenough to stopmaking filmsjust becausesome
hooligans have aproblem. Creativepersons have chosenthis field by revoltingagainst the norms ofthe society. Theyhave been rebellioussince theirchildhood’— Manoj Bajpayee
Hollywood star RYAN REYNOLDS
had a “surreal” encounter on aplane with a fan who paid littleattention to his sick bride.The Deadpool star isused to beingrecognised in public,but one encounterwith a pair ofnewlyweds wasparticularly“surreal”because itoccurred as theman's severelyill wife wasbeing carriedoff the aircraft.“I was on a planewith ahoneymooningcouple and thebride became veryill — not justthrowing up ill...,”he recalled duringan appearance onBritain's The Graham NortonShow.”However, despite the woman'shealth issues, Reynolds explainedthat the husband's attentionwasn't entirely focussed on theemergency situation.
vivacity 14
Anjali Anand loves to stretchher frontiers. She portrays
the role of the antagonistLoveleen on the show KullfiKumarr Bajewala. Earlier, sheessayed the role of a protagonistin another show but now shewants to feel the whole spectrumof human emotions. Said she,“Loveleen is raised in the way 25per cent of Mumbai individualsare brought up. They are sent tobig schools and all theirdemands are fulfilled by theirparents. Nobody educates themabout the difference betweenwrong and right.” The characterhas a lot of grey shades and lay-ers because she does everythingright based on her limitedknowledge and perception of theworld.
Anand began her careerwith a web series and thenmoved on to television. She wasunperturbed about the mediumduring her initial days as she washungry to express her passion.“I was open to all kind of offers,be it web series, televisions,advertisements or film.Anything that excited my cre-ative mind and extended mylearning graph became my des-tination. More than anything,she was eager to break the con-vention and tell the world thata plus-sized individual couldalso enter mainstream televisionand garner love from the audi-ence.
Working under producerGul Khan has been quite apleasant experience for theactress. Though she loves hercraft but the role was challeng-
ing as it was exactly opposite toher persona. “The reel characterhas a lot of anger issues whichtook a toll on my voice too,” shesays. This was in addition to theextra efforts she put in to preparefor the role.
The actress has been gettinga lot of attention for her uncon-ventional looks and admirableconfidence. She said, “I love theattention and I am glad to havebecome a role model for manygirls aspiring to join the TVindustry.Many don’t have thequintessential picture perfectpersonality but they have gainedimmense confidence seeingAnjali’s character portrayal onscreen.”
She advised the newer gen-eration of actors that hard workwas the only key to success andthat one should keep doingshows for the love of acting.“Remain focussed on your craftas that provides the experience.Constant hunger to act and thefire of determination are the onlyfactors that can take an actor tosoaring heights of success,” she says.
Rasika Dugal, the lead alongsideNawazuddin Siddiqui in Nandita
Das’ Manto was seen lending supportto the Time is Up event at Cannes. Itwas the biggest event of the festivalwhere 82 powerful women fromacross cinemas of the world took tothe red carpet, to lend their supportto the #METOO campaign globally.The event was attended by some ofthe strongest women actors like JaneFonda, Ava Duvernay, MarionCottilard, Patty Jenkins and NanditaDas. Cate Blanchett and KristenStewart lead the protest along the redcarpet before the premiere of EvaHusson’s Girls of The Sun.Dugal who is currently in Cannes forthe screening of Manto, which was inthe Un Certain Regard category,joined the protest and cheered asCate Blanchett gave many statistics
on the gender disparities of thefestival. Dugal added, “There are veryfew times when you are part of a
historical moment and you know it.This was one of those. It was a veryemotional experience holding hands
and walking in solidarity with 82women at Cannes. Not much wassaid but yet many of us were movedto tears. The unspoken regard andunderstanding and solidarity for thechallenges we have all had to face tobe here was so powerful. It was myfirst time at the Palais de festivalsred carpet at the Cannes film festivaland I shared that moment withSalma Hayek, Patty Jenkins, NanditaDas and so many other women. Icouldn’t have asked for a betterintroduction. Cate Blanchett’spowerful speech just made me feelmore than ever how important thisis. I mean we know there is rampantgender discrimination and we face iteveryday (in so many small things)but just to have the numbers likethat makes me feel like it's abouttime.”
Indians are taking off and how. Inan annual survey on flight and
hotel behaviour of travellers across23 countries in the world, it wasrevealed that Indians were thethird most frequent travellers in theAsia- Pacific region. The surveyrevealed the results of the Expediaflight and hotel etiquette study2018.
Given our gift for striking upfriendships, it is not surprising thatIndians are globally number one inengaging in a conversation, whensitting next to someone they don’tknow (59 per cent) and probablythe reason why 70 per cent Indian
travellers also dread sitting next tosomeone who talks too much.Indians find seatkicker/bumper/grabbers (32 percent), inattentive parents (30per cent) and audio insensitivepassengers (30 per cent), mostannoying in a flight or at the air-port. Despite these factors,Indians agree that generally, air-line travel is fun and exciting (89per cent), and for most part, fel-low passengers are considerate ofother passengers (80 per cent).
Indian travellers prefer bigchain hotel (29 per cent) followedby vacation/holiday rental (22 per
cent), boutique hotel (15 per cent)and short-term room rental (11per cent) the most. The least pre-ferred accommodations includehostels (39 per cent) and bed andbreakfasts with shared bath-rooms (29 per cent).
Manmeet Ahluwalia, mar-keting head, brand Expedia inIndia says, “The findings are atestimony of the growth in traf-fic being experienced by theaviation industry, as Indians arethe third most frequent travellersin Asia-Pacific region, with aver-age 7.6 flights per year afterThailand and Japan. Indians are
also increasing shifting to tech-nology as 67 per cent Indianscheck-in online while 18 per centcheck-in on mobile and the coun-try stands at second position innumber of people using the board-ing pass on a mobile device afterThailand”. He also added, “Thestudy also highlights that there isa higher preference of booking theflight first followed by the hotel (37per cent) while 36 per cent book aflight and hotel together as a pack-age. Only 15 per cent Indians aredriven by the hotel properties asthey book a hotel first followed bythe flight.”
The most talked about Bollywoodwedding was nothing like whatphotographer Anand Rathi expect-
ed. He went with the mindset that theSonam and Anand Ahuja’s weddingwould be a Bollywood affair whereeverybody would be holding their guardup while behaving in a certain way. Butall his assumed perceptions were shat-tered.
nHow was the wedding different fromyour expectations?
It was a happy wedding that mostbrides and grooms dream about.
There were no hang-ups and every-body was a regular guest who partied likethere was no tomorrow. The bride andgroom were easy people without any fuss.They were not the kind of individualswho would especially pose for the cam-era. All the pictures that are breaking theinternet like a peck on the cheek byAnand and Sonam’s giggling smileswere all natural. The Kapoors were sowarm and affectionate that the first timeI walked up to them, they hugged me andsomehow that moment set the mood forthe rest of the celebration.
The most astounding thing was thathere was a couple who knew that what-ever pictures they clicked were going togo wild. They could have easily chosenprim and proper ones yet they chose sim-plistic ones which defined them as indi-viduals. The whole celebration was a 48-hour marathon. Nobody slowed downfor even a moment and it was just likeany other Punjabi wedding.
nWhat do you hope would the coupleand the guests take back from the pho-tographs?
The theme of the wedding was veryfresh with the smell of mogra in the airthroughout. I wish that when the cou-ple look back at these photos, they stillsmell the freshness.
nThe type of pictures and the idea?Usually, at weddings you receive a
detailed brief by the happy couple aboutthe kind of pictures they want, the dress-es they are wearing and the urge to makeeveryone look thin. In this wedding,there were zero requests. They trustedour style and didn’t try to mould us
according to their needs.There was an unsaid chem-istry everytime we wereshooting them or theywere around and it did-n’t feel like we wereinvading their space.They completely forgotwe were there. I felt likea photojournalist after along time.
nHow are the memoriesdocumented?
There are pictures which aretimeless and then there are gim-micks. Gimmicks catch attention and areused as marketing tools. I feel picturesare like feathers that you pass on to thefuture generation. Twenty years fromnow, when Sonam and Anand’s childrenlook at the pictures, what would inter-est them and what they would like tolook at was the idea in our minds whenwe were clicking away. Sonam is wellaware of the angles and the differentcameras but it was astonishing to knowthat Anand was all about being under-stated.
nThere were various themes aroundthe rituals. Like the Mehendi had awhite theme, the wedding had pinktheme...how did you work on tonali-ties?
We did a run through with our light-ning technicians before the event to allowus to click the white on white imageswithout making it look jarring or gaudy.We didn’t want too many flashes going
s i mu l t an e -ously to pre-
vent it fromlooking like a
paparazzi affair.The wedding pic-
tures are very light intheir tones and pastely.
nThe journey of the photographer?Imagine walking into the Mehendi
where the bride meets you and hugs andthe groom does the same. It instantlymakes you feel like you are at a friend’swedding. With everyone, be it the DJ,wedding planner or the vendors — theymade sure everyone was comfortable andrelaxed. There was so much warmth thatvendors were on the dance floor servingappetisers and at the same time, their feetwere tapping to the beats of the groovymusic. The happy vibes were in the air.
nHow did they zero down on you as thephotographer?
We had done a few high profileevents. Rhea played a pivotal role inchoosing us along with Sunita, Sonam’smother. Both of them have a very keeneye with artistic minds. Sunita Kapoor,as we all know, has a very refined taste.Somewhere, our style matched their
taste. Weddings are a very personal affair
as you are in someone’s emotional spaceand physically very close to them on theirbig day. Hence, it was important that theyfeel the vibes that you carry and vice-versa. We never felt out of place.
nSonam as a bride?If you see any of the movies with
Sonam as the actress, there is a girl nextdoor giggle where she covers her facewith her hand. I observed her do that forthe very first time during the Mehendiceremony and I understood that this isher personality. It is very rare that youfind someone being comfortable in theirown skin at a wedding touted to be thewedding-of-the-year. Most brides andgrooms would have a game face on butthese two were just blissfully happy.
nAnand as a groom?The first time I met Anand, he told
me that I look sharp and greeted me witha hug. At a wedding, it is difficult to keepa tab on everybody but they kneweveryone. And then we had a conversa-tion about basketball, one of my favouritesports. This wasn’t a facade, it wassomething that was there throughout thecelebration.
nChallenges and obstacles?We had an instant edit team on
standby as we knew we would need pic-tures that were to be released to themedia. They weren’t fussy about the pic-tures at all. There was zero usage of pho-toshop. The Anand Karaj ceremony wasa challenge as it was a silent ceremony.We had to be practically invisible and thechoice of equipment and the lens werebasically the ones used for sports pho-tography. With Sony cameras, we couldshoot at a good speed and be totallysilent. There was no movement of thephotographers as well.
One obstacle was keeping up withBollywood on the last night. SalmanKhan would not stop singing andShahrukh Khan would not stop dancing.At 4:30, they were on stage and goingabout it like there was no tomorrow.Then, there was Ranveer Singh with awhole different level of energy. After thewedding got over, during the lunch, therewas a band playing Bollywood numbersin a slightly fusion way. Arjun andRanveer are such stand-up comediansthat they decided to do a performanceand retrieved the Maskalli song fromsomewhere. They were two jokers butnobody cared and everyone was laugh-ing uncontrollably.
INDIANS FREQUENT FLYERS
We are the third most travelling segmentin the Asia-Pacific region, says a survey
KEEPER OF MEMORIES
The man whocaptured Sonam and Anand Ahuja'swedding,photographer ANANDRATHI, takes us on abehind-the-scene tour.By RAMYA PALISETTY
ANJALI DINESH ANANDbelieves that hard workand the constant hunger toreinvent takes an actorahead. By TEAM VIVA
A matter of personalitySalma Hayek and Rasika Dugalstand up for the #Metoo movement
I N D I A A T C A N N E S
DIVYA DUTTA
Dutta channelled grace andelegance in an off white and
gold Neeta Lulla Sari at thepremiere of her film Mantodirected by Nandita Das on theFrench Riviera. A periodic biopic,Manto is part of the officialselection in the Un Certain Regardsection of the 71st Cannes Filmfestival, which premiered onSunday.Director Nandita Das along withthe Manto team — NawazuddinSiddiqui, Divya Dutta, RasikaDuggal, Purab Kohli, RajshreeDeshpande, Tahir Raj Bhasin werepresent. Also spotted was HumaQureshi, attending the screening. Later in the evening, Dutta optedfor a custom-made contemporaryNeeta Lulla sari as she attended the fashion for relief galain Cannes. The gala saw the who’s who of theinternational film world in attendance.
PAANI —A TRUESTORY
Priyanka Chopra’s PurplePebble Pictures (PPP)announced the details of
their latest Marathi filmproduction. Titled Paani, thefilm, helmed by first timedirector Adinath Kothare, isbased on a true story thatdeals with an insurmountablecrisis affecting an entireregion. This is the fourthMarathi production for PPPand is in line with theirobjective of promotingregional cinema and providinga platform for new talent.Inspired by the true story of acommon man and his village,Nagdarwadi, situated in thedrought prone Marathwadaregion of Maharashtra; thefilm is a beautifully woven taleof human struggle and true
love and aims to drive home akey message, critical to theworld we live in today. The film starring AdinathKothare, Rucha Vaidya,Subodh Bhave, KishorKadam, Girish Joshi and RajitKapoor, went on floors onMay 10.Speaking about the film,Priyanka Chopra said, “AtPurple Pebble Pictures, wewant to tell good stories, givenew talent a chance andprovide the audience with anentertaining experience. There
are many stories that reflectthe realities of the world welive in and I believe it’s veryimportant to showcase themand bring that message tomore people in a way thatthey can connect with. Paaniis one such story and we’relooking forward to workingwith Adinath.”PPP’s previous Marathiproductions includeVentilator (2016), directed byRajesh Mapuskar; Kaay ReRascala (2017), directed byGiridharan Swamy and theupcoming release Firebrand,directed by Aruna Raje. PPPstands committed tosupporting stories that arecontent-driven, irrespective oflanguage or any boundariesand has produced films inBhojpuri, Punjabi andAssamese.
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15 , 2018 sport 15
HEENA BAGS GOLD, NIVETHA BRONZE IN HANNOVERHANNOVER: Indian shooter Heena Sidhu clinched the Gold medalwhile compatriot P Shri Nivetha settled for Bronze in the women's10m air pistol at the International Shooting Competitions ofHannover (ISCH) ahead of next week's ISSF Munich World Cup.Heena was in a rollicking form in the final where she was tied withFrance's Mathilde Lamolle on 239.8 points. She won the tie to winthe Gold ahead of Mathilde. While Shri Nivetha finished on 219.2.The finish marks a strong build-up to next week's ISSF World Cupin Munich. Heena qualified for the final in the fourth place scoring572 while Shri Nivetha topped the qualification with a total of 582."I am feeling good with how my training is shaping up. Of course,it's not perfect but we are moving in the right direction so it's justa matter of time," said Heena after her Gold medal win.
MANCINI TO SIGN ITALY CONTRACT ROME: Roberto Mancini has agreed a deal with the Italian footballfederation (FIGC) to take over as national coach and will sign hiscontract on Tuesday, according to reports in Italy. The 53-year-oldformer Manchester City manager quit as Zenit Saint Petersburgcoach on Sunday, saying he now felt free to open talks with Italy.Sky Sports Italia reported on Monday that Mancini has now agreeda two-year deal and will sign a contract in Rome on Tuesday. Italyhave been without a permanent coach since Gian Piero Venturawas sacked after they failed to qualify for the World Cup for the firsttime in 60 years. Italian Federation commissioner RobertoFabbricini said last week that Mancini had agreed in principle tobecome the next manager of the four-time world champions, whofailed to qualify for the WC after defeat to Sweden.
422 PLAYERS TO FEATURE IN PKL AUCTIONS CHENNAI: The auctions for season six of Pro Kabaddi League(PKL) will be held in Mumbai on May 30 and 31 with a total of 422players set to go under the hammer. Of the 422 players who willbe drafted into the auction pool, 58 are overseas players and 87are from the Future Kabaddi Heroes Programme (FKH), anationwide talent scouting programme, a press release said. Ofthe 12 franchises, nine have chosen their elite retained playerswhile the remaining three will construct their teams from scratch.The League has introduced the concept of "Final Bid Match",whereby the franchises shall be entitled to match the final bidmade by another franchise, for one or at most two players from itsseason-V squad, in accordance with the guidelines set in the playerpolicy, the release said.
RUHAAN FINISHES NINTH IN ROUND 3LONATO: India's Ruhaan Alva did well to finish ninth (100cccategory) in the third round of the Eastkart Italian Championship atthe famed South Garda karting circuit here on Sunday. In the 18-lap final, Ruhaan, the 11-year old schoolboy from Bengaluru,supported by Play Factory and Birel Art, started ninth on the 25-kart grid. He made two places to seventh by the end of the secondlap, but could not make further progress and eventually finishedninth. Earlier, starting ninth in the pre-final, Ruhaan, who opted forthe more competitive Easykart 100 category after finishing secondrunner-up in the Cadet class last season, did well to jump fourspots to fifth, with sights on a possible podium finish. Agencies
S I N G L E S
AP n MILAN
Juventus have extended their recordstreak to seven Serie A titles after their0-0 draw against 10-man Roma on
Sunday was enough to secure the trophywith a match to spare.
There was even more reason for theteam to celebrate as coach MassimilianoAllegri, who has now won four succes-sive league and cup doubles at Juventus,suggested he'd remain in charge next sea-son despite reported interest fromArsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.
"If they don't fire me, I see myself asstaying at Juventus next year too," he said.
Second-place Napoli won 2-0 atSampdoria but Juventus got the pointthey needed at the Stadio Olimpico towin their 34th Serie A title. They havea four-point lead over Napoli with oneround left.
The result also completed anotherdouble for Juventus, who had beaten ACMilan 4-0 in the Italian Cup in the samestadium on Wednesday.
"We have to congratulate Napoli,who kept pace with a great Juventus. It'shard to see these four years beingrepeated," Allegri said. "I congratulateeveryone who works for Juventus and thefans but the most credit goes to the play-ers. With a team like this, with these menand these players, it's easier to achieveyour targets."
The end of the season has seen sev-eral twists.
Juventus were six points clear amonth ago but had their advantageslashed to a point in the space of a week.That left many pundits — includingAllegri — naming Maurizio Sarri'sNapoli as favourites for the title.
"The greatest merit of the (Juventus)team was that they were always able tokeep their calm because in football thingscan change in a second," Allegri added."You need to take it one step at a timewithout getting overwhelmed by enthu-siasm when things are going well and
you need to never stop working in thedifficult moments. You need to work wellon a mental level because if you have toomany surges and dips of mood, you'renot going to win."
At the Olimpico, Roma — who hadalready qualified for the ChampionsLeague — had the better of the game'sfew chances but their prospects of win-ning the match diminished when mid-fielder Radja Nainggolan was sent off 22minutes from time after picking up twoyellow cards in five minutes.
Despite the numerical advantageJuventus still barely threatened. Paulo
Dybala had put the ball in the back ofthe net at the start of the second half butthe Argentina forward was narrowly off-side.
It mattered little as Juventus clinchedthe title with only a match againstalready-relegated Hellas Verona to play.
No club in Europe's top five leagueshas won as many league titles, althoughReal Madrid are only one behind.
"Behind their successes there is amentality which has been built over theyears," Roma coach Eusebio DiFrancesco said. "It is also a solid and unit-ed club, even in difficult times. This
anger and this desire to win has to be anexample to all the teams."
A number of players could leaveJuventus at the end of the season,notably club captain Gianluigi Buffon,although the veteran goalkeeper has yetto confirm his retirement.
MATCH HALTEDNapoli moved to 88 points with their
victory at Sampdoria, beating their clubpoints record ahead of the final round.
Arkadiusz Milik curled a delightfuleffort into the top left corner in the 72ndminute, seconds after coming off the
bench, while Raul Albiol headed in acorner eight minutes later.
The referee halted the match forthree minutes in a period between thetwo goals because of continuous anti-Neapolitan chanting by Sampdoria fans.
Sampdoria president MassimoFerrero went over to urge the fans to stopbut was also insulted by the ultras.
FINAL RECKONINGThe contest for the last Champions
League place is heading for a thrillingfinale in Serie A after Lazio were heldto a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatenedCrotone.
Lazio remained fourth, threepoints ahead of Inter Milan, who theyface next week in the final game of theseason with a place in Europe's premierclub competition at stake.
Despite the impressive result,Crotone slipped into the relegationzone, below Spal on their head-to-headrecord. They visit Napoli in theirfinal match.
Any one of five clubs could be rel-egated on the final day of the season.
Cagliari managed a surprise 1-0victory at Fiorentina to damage theiropponent's Europa League hopes andclimb out of the bottom three.
They moved a point above Crotoneand Spal, who lost 2-1 at Torino.
Udinese are a point further aheadafter a 1-0 win at Hellas Verona endedtheir dismal run of one point from 13matches.
They are level with Chievo Verona,who had a 2-1 comeback win atBologna.
Fiorentina remained eighth, threepoints behind Atalanta and the finalEuropa League spot.
The defeat meant AC Milansecured their spot in the EuropaLeague despite Atalanta scoring late torescue a 1-1 draw in a bad-temperedmatch which saw a player from eachside sent off in separate incidents.
AFP n PARIS
Rafael Nadal's surprise quarter-final exit at the Madrid Masters
has seen the Spaniard replaced asworld number one by Roger Federerin the latest ATP rankings publishedon Monday.
Federer returns to the top spotdespite not having played since March.Former world No 1 Novak Djokovicslipped six places to 18th after his sec-ond round defeat in Madrid, his low-est ranking since October 2006.
Madrid winner Alexander Zverevremains in third, but the man he beatin Sunday's final, Dominic Thiem,dropped a place to eighth despiteknocking out Nadal on his way to fac-ing Zverev.
Thiem saw off Kevin Anderson inthe semi-finals and it is the SouthAfrican who inherits his seventhspot, the 31-year-old's highest ever
ranking.The highest mover in the men's
charts is Madrid semi-finalist DenisShapovalov with the Russian teenag-er jumping 14 rungs to a best ever29th.
WTA: KVITOVA UP TWO PLACESCzech Petra Kvitova jumped
two spots to eighth in thelatest WTA rankingsreleased Monday afterbeating Kiki Bertensto win the MadridOpen for the thirdtime on the week-end.
Kvitova, whowas also the cham-pion in Madrid in2011 and 2015, hasnow claimed four titlesin 2018 after triumphs inSt Petersburg, Doha and
Prague.Losing Madrid finalist Bertens
shot up five places to 15th, whileRussian Maria Sharapova's quarter-final showing meant she went up 12spots to 40th in the rankings headedby Romania's Simona Halep, DaneCaroline Wozniacki and Spaniard
Garbine Muguruza.
YUKI AT 94Out of action
Yuki Bhambridropped eightplaces to 94 whileSasi KumarMukund, whomade his f irstever singles quar-terf inals at
Challenger level,jumped 45 places to
career-best 377 in theATP singles chart.
Yuki has not played since winningthe Sanitaizi Challenger title in Taiwandue to a minor foot problem.
He resumed training last week andwill be back in action at the BusanOpen.
He will open his campaign againstYoshihito Nishioka in Busan onTuesday.
Yuki had returned to top-100after winning the Taiwan Challengerand has earned a direct entry into theFrench Open.
After Yuki, RamkumarRamanathan is the next best Indian inthe singles chart at number 124 andis followed by Prajnesh Gunneswaran(175), Sumit Nagal (226, -2) andArjun Kadhe, who gained 29 places tobe at number 371.
Mukund, who reached the quar-terfinals at Karshi Challenger afterqualifying for the main draw, earned22 ranking points to touch 377.
AP n BARCELONA
Without Lionel Messi to save the day, Barcelonabid farewell to their quest to make history in
Spain.Barcelona lost 5-4 in a wild game at Levante on
Sunday, ruining the champions’ chance to become thefirst team to finish a Spanish league season withouta defeat under its current format.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde left Messi — thecompetition's leading scorer with 34 goals — out ofhis squad to rest ahead of a demanding summer forthe Argentina forward at the World Cup.
The real trouble for Barcelona, however, came indefence.
Led by Emmanuel Boateng's hat trick and twomore goals from Enis Bardhi, Levante were headingtoward a historic rout of the recently crowned cham-pions when the hosts built a 5-1 advantage after 56minutes.
But Barcelona roared back, with PhilippeCoutinho adding two more goals to his first-half striketo complete a hat trick before Luis Suarez converteda penalty to cut the deficit to 5-4 in the 71st.
Suarez headed high from close range inBarcelona's last chance to snatch the draw.
Barcelona's upset against a modest Levante side— fighting to stay out of the relegation zone most ofthe season — came with just one round left after thismatch.
Two teams pulled off the feat in the 1930s whenthe competition only had 10 teams compared to 20now.
Barcelona's Liga record for undefeated gamesended at 43 straight — their previous loss was last sea-
son at Malaga in April 2017. For the 2017-18 leagueseason, Barcelona have 27 league wins, nine draws andone defeat.
Paco Lopez, the coach who has led Levante's turn-around of winning 25 of a possible 30 points since hetook over in March, said that beating Barcelona proved"nothing is impossible."
Valverde will be questioned — and not only forleaving Messi off his squad.
The manager could also be criticised for startingback-up Thomas Vermaelen and little-used Yerry Minaas his central defenders with Samuel Umtiti injured.
But even when Gerard Pique went on for theinjured Vermaelen in the 31st with Barcelona trailing2-0, the team's defensive troubles continued.
Boateng struck his first two goals in half an hourand Levante never trailed the rest of the way.
Coutinho pulled one back with a long strike thattook a deflection off a defender in the 38th, but Boatengstruck again while Bardhi got his two goals to buildwhat proved to be an insurmountable lead.
Coutinho put in a rebound from close range andstruck again with a shot that hit another player to foolgoalkeeper Oier Olazabal. Suarez then had the spot kickafter Boateng fouled Sergio Busquets while defendinga corner kick.
But that was as close as Barcelona got withoutMessi around to pull off some late magic.
PIYUSH BISHT n NEW DELHI
The InternationalBasketball Federation
(FIBA) has set up India'sbasketball fraternity with analley-oop after giving a finalnod to the country's plans tointroduce the sport's 3x3 for-mat to its population.
In basketball, an alley-oop is an offensive play inwhich a player throws the ballnear the basket towards awaiting teammate whojumps, catches and dunksthe ball down the hoop inmidair.
FIBA has executed theinitial part of the move - theball-throwing. India hascaught the ball and taken thejump, and presently lies sus-pended in midair, waiting todunk the ball down the hoopto score home. Waiting,because there remains a lot ofwork yet to be done before3x3 basketball announcesitself to a country that has notbeen much of a basketball-crazy nation.
3x3 basketball is a disci-pline of basketball that usesthree players and one substi-tute from each team to engagein play for a single period of10 minutes on half court. Ithas been around since the late1980s and today is the largesturban team sport of theworld. The discipline wasincluded in the Olympics lastyear and is set to make itsdebut at the 2020 OlympicGames.
India's connections with3x3 basketball come throughRohit Bakshi, LeagueCommissioner for the 3x3Pro Basketball League IndiaSub-continent. Bakshi, whohas himself played in Japan's3x3 league, is the owner of the
company (YKBK Enterprises)that has been granted theexclusive rights to conductthe competition in India byFIBA 3x3.
"I started playing 3x3 in2016," Bakshi reveals. "Thatyear we won the champi-onship in Japan. We went tothe World Tour, reached theWorld Tour final and becamenumber second.
"That was a huge successas an Indian origin player andbecause of this FIBA hasgranted us these exclusiverights," explains Bakshi, one ofthe four Indian origin playerswho represented Japan'sHamamatsu Team at the FIBA3x3 World Tour in 2016.
With the arrival of aFIBA-approved 3x3 basketballleague in India, Bakshibelieves that the country cantruly reach an impressive level
in the discipline at the 2020Olympics and also holds theopinion that India will have acrucial edge at that stage.
"In India we have a first-hand advantage," Bakshipoints out. "Many countries -even the US - are not yet readyfor 3x3. Their entire focus ison 5x5.
"FIBA initially startedthis process for developingcountries like India to haveinternational exposure so thatthey will be able to winmedals in basketball. Andbecause we are starting aleague this year, I believe wehave a huge advantage ascompared to other countries,"he explained.
The "international expo-sure" that Rohit refers to is thepromotion of the league's topteams for representing India's3x3 fraternity in FIBA World
Tours based on the pointsthey gather at the end of thecompetition.
Besides LeagueCommissioner Bakshi, thereare some other notable play-ers who look equally excitedfor the competition to begin.This includes Bakshi'sHamamatsu teammatesInderbir Gill and AmjyotSingh.
"Basketball in India hasgrown a lot in the last fouryears in India," says Gill, "andto be part of it is really excit-ing."
"With 3x3 India has areally good chance for win-ning the medal in theOlympics," he adds.
Indian basketball playerAmjyot Singh also believesthat the competition will go along way in promoting youngtalent for basketball in India.
The league will also seethe likes of Palpreet SinghBrar, Jagdeep Singh andGurvinder Singh compete inthe fast-paced format. Thethree players have played 5x5in the UBA Pro BasketballLeague and for them to playin a thrilling new formatlooks quite promising.
"We are excited to playwith and against some of thebest players, with some inter-national players too," Palpreetsays. "It is going to be anenjoyable experience."
"This is going to be a funleague," Jagdeep puts in. "Thecrowd is going to love it."
The league begins in June,and with all the work that isbeing done in midair, it will allcome down to how it isreceived in India and how itwill help the sport to grow inthe country. That indeedwould be the final dunk downthe hoop.
PNS n NEW DELHI
Even as the entire Indian foot-balling fraternity have gone
gaga over the Indian U-16National Team emerging cham-pions in the four-nationInternational tournament inSerbia, Head Coach BibianoFernandes isn't willing to readmuch into it.
"It actually doesn't meanmuch as this is only the processfor our main objective. We haven'tyet achieved anything much,"Bibiano told AIFF moments afterIndia beat Tajikistan 4-2 toemerge champions. "But yeah, Iam very happy that the boys areshowing great focus and hunger inthe process," he added. "Our maintarget is the AFC U-16 FinalsMalaysia 2018."
India defeated Jordan (2-1)and Tajikistan (4-2), both ofwhom have also qualified to theAFC U-16 finals before playing agoalless draw against Serbia tonotch an inspirational triumph inthe tournament.
The tournament was part ofthe series of India's exposuretours which are being arranged byAll India Football Federation and
Sports Authority of India to helpprepare the team in the best pos-sible fashion for the AFC finals.
"The boys are growing in theright direction, but we've got along way to go," Bibiano cau-tioned. "There are so many aspectson which we need to improve tac-tically. These exposure tours mak-ing the boys more confident andcapable," he stated.
"The tournament was a greatopportunity for our preparationand match temperament andgauging our fitness. The best partstays that we are improving withevery match."\
Juve Italian champions again
Allegri’s Juventus win record 7th successive Serie A title after goalless draw against Roma
Federer replaces Nadal as World No 1
Levante shatterBarca’s streak in9-goal thriller
India set to taste 3x3 flavour
THERE IS STILLLONG WAY TO GO,STRESSES BIBIANO
"It actuallydoesn't mean
much as this isonly the process
for our mainobjective. We
haven't yetachieved
anything much,"Bibiano told AIFF
moments after
FEDERERHAS
RETURNED TOTHE TOP SPOTDESPITE NOT
PLAYING SINCEMARCH
Juventus players celebrate after securing the Serie A title follwing a goalless draw against AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Sunday AP
File: Rohit Bakshi in action during his spell in Japan’s 3x3 league
HARSHIT BISHT n NEW DELHI
In what will turn out to be a virtualknockout clash to secure the remain-
ing spots in the top-4 positions,Kolkata Knight Riders will host aresurgent Rajasthan Royals in anIndian Premier League match at EdenGardens on Tuesday.
A loss at Eden on Tuesday willdash the hopes for the losing team toreach the play-off places.
After losing successive gamesagainst defending champion MumbaiIndians, KKR returned back to win-ning ways by securing victory overKings XI Punjab in a high-scoregame at Indore.
Opener Sunil Narine and skipperDinesh Karthik took the charge andproduced excellent batting per-formances to help Kolkata postthe fourth highest total of IPL(245/6), before Andre Russell'sthree-wicket spell restricted theiropponents to 214 runs.
While at the verge of beingeliminated, Rajasthan Royalsbounced back in some style andwill go into this game on theback of three consecutive wins.
In their last game againstMumbai Indians, opener Jos Buttlercontinued his terrific form after JofraArcher restricted MI for 168/8.
The explosive English wicket-keeper batsman got a new life after hewas promoted to open the innings.Since adapting to his new role, the for-mer Mumbai Indian batsman hasscore five consecutive fifty plus scores.He is currently at fifth position in racefor Orange Cap after scoring 509 runsfrom 12 games. His last five scores of67, 51, 82, 95*, 94* makes him themost feared batsman currently inIPL.
While, Royals will hope for Buttlerto continue his form in the upcominggames, a lot will be expectEd from
skipper Ajinkya Rahane and BenStokes, who have failed to perform totheir abilities this season.
The biggest pick of the seasonStokes has managed to compile just185 runs from 12 innings, whereas,Rahane let his fans down with a stringof disappointing knocks.
Adding to that tally, D'Arcy Shortand Rahul Tripathi have also failed tolive up to that billing.
However in the bowling front,English all-rounder Jofra Archer madehis presence felt after scalping 13 wick-ets from seven games.
But the lack of support from otherend has been a cause of worry for theRoyals side. Jaydev Unadkat, BenStokes, Krishnappa Gowtham andDhawal Kulkarni have not performed
consistently.On the other hand, Dinesh
Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders hadan inconsistent run in the league so far.They have won six and lost the samenumber of games so far.
But because of a slightly better netrun rate they are placed in the top halfwith 12 points.
Their batting revolves aroundskipper Karthik (371 runs) and ChrisLynn (325 runs) mainly. Sunil Narine,Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana andAndre Russell have done well in fewinstances.
In the bowling section, the spintrio of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla,Kuldeep Yadav have impressed.
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | MAY 15, 2018
If we play twogood games ofcricket, we arethrough to theplayoffs — JACQUESKALLIS ON KKR
16
4s 1319
6s 696
boundarymeter
U P N E X TF I G H T B A C K
Q U O T E U N Q U O T E
Live on Star Sports 1
KOLKATA
KKR vs RR
TUESDAY | 8:00 PM
HEADTO
HEADM 16
KKR 7
RR 7
PTI n INDORE
Royal Challengers Bangaloreproduced a dominating per-formance to outclass Kings
XI Punjab by 10 wickets and stayafloat in the Indian Premier Leaguehere on Monday.
After bundling out Kings XI forpaltry 88, RCB chased down thetarget with consummate ease,reaching 92 for no loss in 8.1 overs.
Skipper Virat Kohli led fromthe front with the bat with anunbeaten 48 while Parthiv Patelmade unbeaten 40 to help RCBromp home.
Kohli struck six fours and twotowering sixes during his 28-ballunbeaten knock, while Parthiv’sinnings was laced with sevenboundaries.
While Kings XI slumped totheir third successive loss, RCBimproved upon their net run rateby sealing the victory in 8.1 overs.
RCB now have 10 points from12 games, same as Kings XI withtwo games remaining for the bothteams.
Earlier, Sent into bat, Kings XIinnings never got going as theylost wickets like pack of cardsfrom the onset to be bowled outin 15.1 overs.
Backed by some good fielding,Umesh Yadav (3/23) came upwith an impressive bowling effortup front to destabilise the KingsXI innings.
Besides, Yadav, YuzvendraChahal (1/6), Colin deGrandhomme (1/8), Moeen Ali(1/13) and Mohammed Siraj(1/17) picked up a wicket each.
Aaron Finch top-scored forKings XI with a 23-ball 26 whileKL Rahul made 21 up the order.
RCB bowlers were very wellcomplemented by some good out-field catching and three runsouts.
Kings XI witnessed a terri-ble start to their innings afterbeing sent into bat as they lostfour wickets with the score-board reading just 50 in 6.5overs.
Rahul gave Kings XI a briskstart with a 15-ball 21 in the com-pany of Chris Gayle (18) beforeYadav struck twin blows in thefifth over, dismissing both the
openers.While Rahul pulled one
straight to de Grandhommea deep square leg, Gayledeparted in similar fashion
caught by Siraj off anothershort delivery three balls later.
To make matters worse forKings XI, Karun Nair edged adelivery straight to RCB skipper
Virat Kohli at the lone slip in thenext over. Wickets kept on tum-bling for Kings XI as MarcusStoinis and Mayank Agarwal tooperished when their team neededthem the most.
While Stoinis was cleaned upby Chahal, Agarwal got a faintedge to a de Grandhomme deliv-ery in the leg side and Parthiv
Patel did the rest behind thestumps.
From there on, Kings XI neverreally recovered and were even-tually bundled out for the secondlowest total of this years IndianPremier League, courtesy somebrilliant work at the field byRoyal Challengers Bangalorefielders.
PTI n MUMBAI
Brimming with confidence after smash-ing his fifth successive half-century, in-
form Jos Buttler said familiarity of theWankhede track helped him score runs asRajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians byseven wickets to keep play-off hopes alive.
Buttler's unbeaten 94 helped Rajasthandefeat defending champions MumbaiIndians with two overs to spare keepingthem firmly in contention of reaching theplay-offs.
"Nice to come back here, I enjoyed mytime at Mumbai and it properly helped toknow the conditions. The familiarity of theground and the wicket helped me onSunday. I'm in a good head-space and look-ing forward to the next game againstKolkata," Buttler said at the post-match pre-sentation ceremony.
Buttler, who played for Mumbai Indiansin 2016 and 2017, has been in tremendousform scoring five consecutive half centuries,including unbeaten knocks of 94 and 95 inthe previous two games against MumbaiIndians and Chennai Super Kings respec-tively. He also scored 82 against Kings XIPunjab.
"I'm really enjoying it, found some goodform, it's a do-or-die situation and I'm fullof confidence so want to keep it going," theEnglish batsman said.
The swashbuckling batsman is hopinghis experience in the middle order will helphim bat through the innings scoring moreruns.
"I've spent a lot of time batting in themiddle order, so if I can bat through the firstsix overs I can tie the two together. I try tobe there till the end," Buttler said.
PTI n MUMBAI
Having secured a hat-trick of wins,Rajasthan Royals will look to carry
the winning momentum against KolkataKnight Riders in their next IPL fixture andinch closer to a play-off berth, said RRseamer Dhawal Kulkarni.
Rajasthan kept alive their play-offhopes by beating defending championsMumbai Indians by seven wickets withtwo overs to spare on Sunday.
The Ajinkya Rahane-led side will facetwo-time champions Kolkata KnightRiders on Tuesday at Edens Gardens.
"All the games are crucial for us.Maybe, in the next game we've got a goodchance to beat Kolkata Knight Riders.With the momentum that we've got, I'msure we'll be able to do that," saidKulkarni after the Royals' victory at theWankhede Stadium.
Rajasthan Royals climbed up to thefifth spot with 12 points in as many gamesfollowing their third victory on the trotachieved riding on opener Jos Buttler'sblistering unbeaten knock of 94 in 53 balls- his second successive, unconquered 90-plus score in the competition.
On the move to promote Buttler tothe top of the order, Kulkarni said: "I think
it was a collective decision of the captain,(head of cricket) Zubin (Bharucha),(mentor) Shane (Warne) and (battingcoach) Amol (Muzumdar). So he's doingwell for us and I hope he continues to bein that form for us."
Fast bowler Jofra Archer also con-tributed with early strikes in successive
balls to send back in-form MumbaiIndians opener Suryakumar Yadav andskipper Rohit Sharma.
Kulkarni said he was not surprised bythe impact made by Archer againstRajasthan.
"I feel a bowler who's bowling at 145(kmph), it's very difficult for a batsman
to face that - especially with the way hebowls, the high arm action that he's got.Wankhede's wicket has got good bounceand good carry. He's been bowling con-sistently well. But on Sunday it was spe-cial," he said.
"The wicket assisted him really well.The way he was getting that bounce! I justwished that he got a hat-trick."
MI's Australian all rounder BenCutting felt the hosts were 20 runs shortof a winning total.
"To be honest I'm probably thewrong person to ask - I faced four ballsand I didn't bowl. From what I saw, it isalways a little difficult with little bit of dewcoming in batting second.
"We were probably 20 runs short withthe bat. And that was the difference," hesaid when asked about the track on whichhis side were restricted to 168 for 6.
He said it was a difficult task to stopan in-form batsman like Buttler.
"It's tough. I'm not sure. We were pret-ty close to our plans tonight. Missed a fewballs with execution here and there, butthat happens in Twenty20 cricket. He's inred hot form and he has scored, what, 500runs? His confidence is high and he'sstriking the ball well. He played very well,"said Cutting.
IANS n NEW DELHI
Terming Ajinkya Rahane as a "quali-ty player", spin great Shane Warne
reckons that Rajasthan Royals' skipperRahane will soon return to the Indianlimited-over squads.
After a below par show with the six-match ODI squad in South Africa earli-er this year, Rahane was excluded fromthe 16-man ODI squad for the three-match series in England in July this year.
The 29-year-old was involved in amatch-winning partnership with ViratKohli in the first ODI in Durban, play-ing a 86-ball 79 run knock but could onlymanage 11, 8, 8 and 34 (not out) runs inthe rest of the series.
Warne said, "I think he (Rahane) isobviously disappointed. But Rahane is aquality player, he is a quality act. We
know he has the class.""He will be captaining the Test side
against Afghanistan. Rahane isa wanted player and willbe back. He will beplaying ODIs andT20Is soon,"opined theR a j a s t h a nRoyals' mentor.
Warne alsoheaped praiseon Jofra Archer,the medium-pacer whomissed the firstfew games for theRoyals but lateremerged with some clin-ical shows to help the side getback on the winning track and said
Rajasthan still have a chance to enter theIPL play-offs.
"Archer is a class player, with him wehave more chance (to enter the play-offs).Disappointed not to have him for the firstfew games," the 48-year-old said.
"Our chances are pretty good as play-ers like Archer definitely help the side.He has been brilliant for us," addedWarne.
On being queried whether it has beena regret for him for not being able to leadthe Australian side, the cricketing greatsaid, "No, not all regret. Lucky to haveplayed under good captains for Australia.I enjoyed being the vice captain."
"I had a wonderful opportunity towork with captains like Mark Taylor,Allan Border. But I really enjoyed beingthe captain of Rajasthan in the first everIPL 2008," said Warne.
RAHANE FINED Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya
Rahane has been fined ` 12 lakh after histeam maintained slow-over rate duringtheir Indian Premier League matchagainst Mumbai Indians at the WankhedeStadium here.
On Sunday, the Rahane-led sideoutclassed the defending championsMumbai Indians by seven wickets.
Rajasthan Royals captain AjinkyaRahane has been fined after his teammaintained a slow over-rate during theirIPL match against Mumbai Indians at theWankhede Stadium, Mumbai on May13," an IPL release said on Monday.
"As it was his team's first offence ofthe season under the IPL's Code ofConduct relating to minimum over-rateoffences, Mr Rahane was fined ` 12 lakh,"the release said.
KXIP outplayed by RCB
Brilliant display by bowlers helps RCB bundle out Punjab for paltry 88
KKR, RR face off
in survival battle
Have momentum to win next game: KulkarniFamiliarity with Wankhedewicket helped me: Buttler
Warne backs Rahane for Indian limited-overs’ squad return
Ajinkyawill be
captaining theTest side against
Afghanistan.Rahane is a wantedplayer and will beback. He will be
playing ODIsand T20Is
soon
BACKEDBY SOME GOOD
FIELDING, UMESHYADAV (3/23) CAME UPWITH AN IMPRESSIVEBOWLING EFFORT TO
DESTABILISE THEKINGS XI PUNJAB
INNINGS
Jos Buttler speaks during press conference BCCI
Rajasthan Royals’ Dhawal Kulkarni speaks during press conference on Sunday BCCI
Rajasthan Royals’ mentor Shane Warne (Center), skipper skipper Ajinkya Rahane (Right) in a file picture PTI
Royal Challengers Bangalore players celebrate the dismissal of Kings XI Pinjab's Aaron Finch during a IPL PTI
