ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1a ˆ-%6 “bharat ki barbadi tak...

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A day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi has con- vened an all-party meeting to discuss the upcoming Budget Session of Parliament, an all-out political war erupted on Monday over the JNU crack- down. Hitting out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged backing to “anti- national slogans” in the JNU, BJP president Amit Shah asked the Congress leader whether he has joined hands with the sep- aratists. While Shah asked Rahul if he wanted to give the separatists a free hand “in the name of free- dom of expression” and thus seeks “another division” of the country, the Congress, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish kumar, BSP chief Mayawati and Left slammed the crackdown and sough evidence of arrested JNUSU’s leaders’ link with the LeT. In a full-fledged attack on Rahul, Shah sought an apology from him “on behalf of 1.25 bil- lion Indian citizens” for “his support to forces inimical to India’s interests.” Shah’s attack on the Congress vice-president came a day after top BJP leaders, includ- ing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the party chief had met on Sunday where, among other issues, develop- ments at the central university also figured in, sources said. Writing in a blog, Shah alleged that given “the rising level of frustration”, the Congress leader “is unable to draw the distinction between pro-national and anti national activities”. “Disappointed and frus- trated over the success of the Narendra Modi Government” at the Centre, Shah said the Congress has failed to discharge its role of a responsible Opposition party in the coun- try. “The unfortunate incident at Jawaharlal National University (JNU) cannot be condoned and considered pro- nation by any stretch of imagi- nation. The anti-India sloga- neering and open support for terrorists at India’s premier uni- versity cannot be accepted by any citizen of this country. To top it, the statements given by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders in JNU amply demonstrate yet again that they have no regard and love for the nation and its interests,” said the BJP chief. Title ‘Is this how Congress Party defines Patriotism?’, Shah said a section of students shout- ed slogans like “Pakistan Zindabad”, “Go India Go Back, “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, and “Afzal Ham Sharminda Hae Tere Qatil Zinda Hae”, saying that it was “sad” that Rahul “has been defending such students in the name of democracy”. “Is this Rahul Gandhi’s idea of nationalism and patriotism where a motley group of stu- dents aggressively talks about breaking the nation? By terming sedition as merely students’ revolution and the action taken by authorities against such anti- national stance as a harsh step to curb freedom of expression, Rahul Gandhi has shown his lack of compassion and com- mitment towards India’s unity and integrity”, the BJP head alleged. Shah further asked “if his support for such slogans means that he has joined hands with the separatists. Does he want to give a free hand to separatists in the name of freedom of expres- sion and want another division of the country?” He alleged that the incident at the JNU “is noth- ing but a conspiracy to turn this premier institution of country into a hotbed for separatism and terrorism and bring it a bad name.”Lashing out at the Congress leader for comparing the BJP Government at the Centre with Hitler’s Germany, Shah said perhaps forgot that the only period in post independent India when a comparison can be drawn with Hitler’s rule was dur- ing Indira Gandhi’s imposition of emergency in 1975. Related reports on P5 I t was a black day in judicial history after a judge of the Madras High Court did the unthinkable by staying the order of Chief Justice of India (CJI), who had transferred the former to Calcutta High Court. The embarrassment did not end there as the judge in question, Justice CS Karnan, even issued notice to CJI TS Thakur asking the top judge to file a written statement in support of the decision to transfer him and not to “inter- fere” into his jurisdiction. The “suo moto judicial order” written on the official letterhead of Justice Karnan was addressed to the CJI, with a copy marked to the President of India, the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union Law Minister, and the Chairman of National SC/ST Commission. Stunned by the unprece- dented development, the Registrar General of Madras High Court rushed with the order to the Supreme Court. A Bench headed by Justice JS Khehar put the order on hold and asked Chief Justice of Madras HC not to assign any judicial or administrative work to the judge following his transfer order issued on February 12. The sequence of events started close to 1 pm when the Registrar General of Madras HC informed the Bench of Justices Khehar and R Banumathi about Justice Karnan’s anticipated move to stay his transfer order. M ysuru in Karnataka has topped the list of the cleanest city in the country while Dhanbad in Jharkhand has been ranked as the dirtiest, being at the bottom of 73 major cities surveyed for sanitation scenario by the Urban Development Ministry. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Parliamentary constituency Varanasi too could not make to the clean city list and in fact was among the bottom ten cities. While Chandigarh came second, Tiruchirapalli stood third in the `Clean India’ race, the national Capital Delhi, which earned the fourth, according to the Swachh Survekshan 2016 which was announced on Monday by Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu at a Press con- ference. Other cities that have made to the first ten clean city lists are Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot, Gangtok, Pimpri Chindwad and Greater Mumbai. In fact, the first four cities improved their ranks to break into top 10 clean cities in this year’s survey when compared to last year’s survey conducted before the launch of the Swachch Bharat Mission (SBM) in 2014. The bottom 10 cities are Kalyan Dombivili in Maharshtra, Varanasi, Jamshedpur, Ghaziabad, Raipur, Meerut, Patna, Itanagar, Asansol and Dhanbad which ranked 73. Fifty-three cities with a population of above ten lakh each and 22 Capitals with less- er population were selected for the survey to assess the impact of SBM. NOIDA and Kolkata had desired to participate in the next round of survey. Last cleanliness survey was conducted in 2014 among 476 cities with a population of one lakh and above each and results were announced last year. From the results of 2014 survey which was based on a large number of parameters, 476 cities were ranked based on their performance with regard to the components of SBM like construction of toilets, solid waste management and inde- pendent observation. This enabled comparison of results of both the surveys for assess- ing the impact of the Mission. T he Patiala House Courts on Monday turned into a bat- tleground as people in black coats ran riot attacking jour- nalists, teachers and students who were standing in the vicinity of the court premises where the sedition case against Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar was to be heard. Violence broke out when a group of lawyers objected to the presence of mediapersons in courts’ complex. The posse of reporters from print and electronic media was covering the hearing of the case. The lawyers chanting ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ and Vande Mataram chased and thrashed all those who they found in the vicinity. The Delhi Police per- sonnel who were present in large number remained mute spectators while the rampage was on. Meanwhile, several jour- nalist bodies on Monday con- demned the attack on scribes and demanded strict action against the accused, while alleging dereliction of duty on part of the police. Patiala House Courts extended the custody of Kanhaiya Kumar by two days. JNU students were also attacked by rampaging lawyers inside and outside a Patiala House court. BJP MLA OP Sharma, who had come to Patiala House Courts to attend the hearing of the defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Arvind Kejriwal, allegedly roughed up Ameeque Jamai, who is said to be a CPI activist. The commotion began when a group of women teach- ers from the Delhi University and the JNU, including JNU senior professor Ayesha Kidwai, were sitting inside the courtroom to witness the pro- ceedings when a group of lawyers started screaming at them for sitting on the chairs ‘reserved for lawyers’. T he kin of Parliament attack martyrs on Monday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and demanded stringent action against the “anti-national” stu- dents in JNU for organising event supporting Afzal Guru. The delegation was led by for- mer Youth Congress president and All-India Anti-Terrorism Front Maninderjit Singh Bitta. “We demand stringent action against those who had raised slogans against India, the judicial hanging of terror con- vict Afzal Guru, in support of Pakistan and demanded free- dom of Kashmir. They have insulted the sentiments of those families whose sons, brothers or husbands have sacrificed their lives during the 2001 Parliament attack,” Bitta told reporters here. Talking to the media after meeting the Home Minister, the relatives said they would protest if no action was taken against those guilty of holding an event in support of the Parliament attack convict. Y et another associate of mafia Dhalsamant brothers was arrested by the Commissionerate Police here on Monday, taking the total arrests in the case to eight. Briefing reporters, city DCP Sanjeev Arora said one Sulekha Sahoo alias Sula was arrested following raids conducted in his Ranihat house on Sunday night. “Three firearms, including a sophisticated pistol, and 15 live ammunitions were seized from his possession,” Arora said, adding that the accused was involved in two criminal cases. Similarly, the police on Sunday night had also con- ducted raids in the house of another associate of the Dhalsamant brothers in the Badambadi area. Since the sus- pect, who is alleged to have busi- ness links with the mafia broth- ers, was absconding, a manhunt is on to nab him, police said. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the police have moved yet another petition before the local SDJM Court to take the arrest- ed brothers on a further remand for seven days in a separate case. The brothers would be physi- cally produced before the court on Tuesday, the sources said. Sources further said that while the court is likely to hear the remand petition of police on Tuesday, it is also likely to hear the petition filed by Dhalsamant brother’s counsel, who had ear- lier alleged violation of court orders by the police during the previous remand periods. It was alleged that the police had not allowed the accused per- sons’ lawyer to meet them dur- ing the time of remand as was allowed by the court. The mafia siblings Sushant and Sushil were arrested on January 29 last for their alleged involvement in abduction and murder of their two former estranged associates, way back in November 2013. The police in the meantime had taken the duo on remand for 12 days in two phases. T he Ethics Committee of the Odisha Assembly will meet at 11.30 am on Tuesday over the alleged porn video watching by Congress MLA Naba Kishore Das in the House during its last session. Members of the Ethics Committee headed by Ranendra Pratap Swain have been intimated about the schedule of the meeting by the Assembly Secretariat, according to sources. It may be noted that ruling BJD MLAS had demanded action against Das after a TV channel telecast him watching some ‘obscene’ pictures in his personal mobile. Speaker Niranjan Pujari had suspend- ed Das for seven days after sending the allegation to the Ethics Committe for investigation. However, both Congress and BJP members had opposed the suspension of Das. They even boycotted the House demanding withdrawal of the suspension order. They argued that while the matter was with the Ethics Committee for con- sideration and Das was not given a chance to clarify his stand, the suspension order was not appropriate Das had ‘clarified’ that his finger touched the YouTube button on the touch-screen mobile by mistake. T he agitating Block Grant (BG) Lecturers of the 488 and 622 Category Colleges on Monday decided to continue their strike as the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee headed by Finance Minister Pradip Amat yielded no results. The Government has sought time till February 25 to find a solution to the teachers’ demands, said 662 Category College Lecturers’ Association secretary Gagan Behera. “We will not budge from our strike decision. They (Ministers) appealed to us to resume our duties, but we can- didly intimated our decision to them. We will join examination duties startingTuesday by wear- ing black badges,” said Behera. “It was a step forward, but the meeting today was not successful. The Government discussed various matters, but there was no decision on any of the issues,” added Behera. “Discussions and argu- ments were held on abolition of the Block Grant system. However, in the absence of the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary and the Development Commissioner no decisions could be arrived at. The Government has sought time till February 25, and we will continue our stir till then,” informed Behera. He also informed that the teachers would boycott upcom- ing Plus II examinations. Meanwhile, the 488 Category Block Grant Lecturers’ body announced to boycott the Plus III examina- tions starting Tuesday. Notably, a five-member inter-Ministerial Committee, headed by Finance Minister Pradip Amat, has been formed by the Chief Minister to look into the demands of the Block Grant Lecturers. Law Minister Arun Sahoo, Technical Education Minister Sanjay Dasburma, Higher Education Minister Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy and Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das are the other members of the panel. Sanskrit Colleges set to join BG teachers’ protest P3 A t least six Bengali-speaking Muslim youths claiming to be natives of different parts of neighbouring West Bengal were arrested here by the Commissionerate Police on Monday on the charges of house- breaking and theft. “These are the members of a gang involved in housebreak- ing and theft at the CDA’s satel- lite city at Abhinav Bidanasi,” informed Cuttack DCP Sanjeev Arora, adding that a key accused believed to be the gang leader escaped from the police dragnet. Describing their modus operandi, Arora said these rogues move around as vendors throughout the day identifying the vulnerable and locked hous- es. Later at night, they break open the window grilles of the target- ed houses to commit robbery. Police seized from them some grill cutting instruments, stolen jewelleries and cash. On inter- rogation, they admitted their involvement in several cases reported within the Markatnagar police limits, police said. Interestingly, these criminals, when confronted about their identities, promptly pulled out suspicious voter identity cards from their pockets to claim that they are from West Bengal. A proper scrutiny of these doubt- ful I-cards may reveal the nation- ality of these rogues as many Bangladeshis are now roaming in the city as vendors. B hubaneswar has grabbed the 24th position in the Swachh Sarvekshan-2016 and the Top Mover (East Zone) Award. Cuttack has ranked the 59th position in the list of 73 cities. The two cities got their ranks, respectively, on clean- liness and sanitation. Cities with over 10-lakh population were surveyed to check how clean or filthy they were, said Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday. BMC Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and Municipal Commissioner Krishan Kumar received the Top Movers Award (East Zone) from Naidu in New Delhi. Mysore of Karnataka topped the list of 10 cities while Chandigarh emerged second and Tiruchirappalli the third. New Delhi came fourth in the list, whereas Visakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot and Gangtok were in fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth posi- tions, respectively. In 2014, the Ministry had carried out a similar exercise in 476 cities and municipalities with a pop- ulation of over 1, 00,000.

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Page 1: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

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Aday before Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has con-

vened an all-party meeting todiscuss the upcoming BudgetSession of Parliament, an all-outpolitical war erupted onMonday over the JNU crack-down. Hitting out at Congressvice-president Rahul Gandhifor his alleged backing to “anti-national slogans” in the JNU,BJP president Amit Shah askedthe Congress leader whether hehas joined hands with the sep-aratists.

While Shah asked Rahul ifhe wanted to give the separatistsa free hand “in the name of free-dom of expression” and thusseeks “another division” of thecountry, the Congress, BiharChief Minister Nitish kumar,BSP chief Mayawati and Leftslammed the crackdown andsough evidence of arrestedJNUSU’s leaders’ link with theLeT.

In a full-fledged attack onRahul, Shah sought an apologyfrom him “on behalf of 1.25 bil-lion Indian citizens” for “hissupport to forces inimical toIndia’s interests.”

Shah’s attack on theCongress vice-president came aday after top BJP leaders, includ-ing Prime Minister NarendraModi, Home Minister RajnathSingh, External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and the partychief had met on Sunday where,among other issues, develop-ments at the central universityalso figured in, sources said.

Writing in a blog, Shahalleged that given “the risinglevel of frustration”, theCongress leader “is unable todraw the distinction betweenpro-national and anti national

activities”. “Disappointed and frus-

trated over the success of theNarendra Modi Government” atthe Centre, Shah said theCongress has failed to dischargeits role of a responsibleOpposition party in the coun-try.

“The unfortunate incidentat Jawaharlal NationalUniversity (JNU) cannot becondoned and considered pro-nation by any stretch of imagi-nation. The anti-India sloga-neering and open support forterrorists at India’s premier uni-versity cannot be accepted byany citizen of this country. Totop it, the statements given byRahul Gandhi and otherCongress leaders in JNU amplydemonstrate yet again that theyhave no regard and love for thenation and its interests,” said theBJP chief.

Title ‘Is this how CongressParty defines Patriotism?’, Shahsaid a section of students shout-ed slogans like “PakistanZindabad”, “Go India Go Back,“Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak JangRahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki AzadiTak Jang Rahegi Jari”, and “AfzalHam Sharminda Hae Tere QatilZinda Hae”, saying that it was“sad” that Rahul “has beendefending such students in thename of democracy”.

“Is this Rahul Gandhi’s ideaof nationalism and patriotismwhere a motley group of stu-dents aggressively talks aboutbreaking the nation? By termingsedition as merely students’revolution and the action takenby authorities against such anti-national stance as a harsh stepto curb freedom of expression,Rahul Gandhi has shown hislack of compassion and com-mitment towards India’s unityand integrity”, the BJP headalleged.

Shah further asked “if hissupport for such slogans meansthat he has joined hands withthe separatists. Does he want togive a free hand to separatists inthe name of freedom of expres-

sion and want another divisionof the country?” He alleged thatthe incident at the JNU “is noth-ing but a conspiracy to turn thispremier institution of countryinto a hotbed for separatism andterrorism and bring it a badname.”Lashing out at theCongress leader for comparingthe BJP Government at theCentre with Hitler’s Germany,Shah said perhaps forgot that theonly period in post independentIndia when a comparison can bedrawn with Hitler’s rule was dur-ing Indira Gandhi’s impositionof emergency in 1975.

Related reports on P5

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It was a black day in judicialhistory after a judge of the

Madras High Court did theunthinkable by staying theorder of Chief Justice of India(CJI), who had transferred theformer to Calcutta HighCourt.

The embarrassment didnot end there as the judge inquestion, Justice CS Karnan,even issued notice to CJI TSThakur asking the top judge tofile a written statement insupport of the decision totransfer him and not to “inter-fere” into his jurisdiction.

The “suo moto judicialorder” written on the officialletterhead of Justice Karnan

was addressed to the CJI,with a copy marked to thePresident of India, the PrimeMinister, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, BSP chiefMayawati, Union MinisterRam Vilas Paswan, the UnionLaw Minister, and theChairman of National SC/STCommission.

Stunned by the unprece-dented development, theRegistrar General of MadrasHigh Court rushed with theorder to the Supreme Court.A Bench headed by Justice JSKhehar put the order on holdand asked Chief Justice ofMadras HC not to assign anyjudicial or administrativework to the judge followinghis transfer order issued onFebruary 12.

The sequence of eventsstarted close to 1 pm when theRegistrar General of MadrasHC informed the Bench ofJustices Khehar and RBanumathi about JusticeKarnan’s anticipated move tostay his transfer order.

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Mysuru in Karnataka hastopped the list of the

cleanest city in the countrywhile Dhanbad in Jharkhandhas been ranked as the dirtiest,being at the bottom of 73 majorcities surveyed for sanitationscenario by the UrbanDevelopment Ministry.

Incidentally, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’sParliamentary constituencyVaranasi too could not make tothe clean city list and in fact wasamong the bottom ten cities.

While Chandigarh camesecond, Tiruchirapalli stoodthird in the `Clean India’ race,the national Capital Delhi,which earned the fourth,according to the SwachhSurvekshan 2016 which was

announced on Monday byUrban Development MinisterVenkaiah Naidu at a Press con-ference.

Other cities that have madeto the first ten clean city lists areVisakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkot,Gangtok, Pimpri Chindwadand Greater Mumbai. In fact,the first four cities improvedtheir ranks to break into top 10clean cities in this year’s surveywhen compared to last year’ssurvey conducted before thelaunch of the Swachch BharatMission (SBM) in 2014.

The bottom 10 cities areKalyan Dombivili inMaharshtra, Varanasi,Jamshedpur, Ghaziabad,Raipur, Meerut, Patna, Itanagar,Asansol and Dhanbad whichranked 73.

Fifty-three cities with a

population of above ten lakheach and 22 Capitals with less-er population were selected forthe survey to assess the impactof SBM. NOIDA and Kolkatahad desired to participate in thenext round of survey.

Last cleanliness survey wasconducted in 2014 among 476cities with a population of onelakh and above each and resultswere announced last year.

From the results of 2014survey which was based on alarge number of parameters,476 cities were ranked based ontheir performance with regardto the components of SBM likeconstruction of toilets, solidwaste management and inde-pendent observation. Thisenabled comparison of resultsof both the surveys for assess-ing the impact of the Mission.

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The Patiala House Courts onMonday turned into a bat-

tleground as people in blackcoats ran riot attacking jour-nalists, teachers and studentswho were standing in thevicinity of the court premiseswhere the sedition case againstJawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents’ Union (JNUSU)president Kanhaiya Kumarwas to be heard.

Violence broke out when agroup of lawyers objected tothe presence of mediapersonsin courts’ complex. The posseof reporters from print andelectronic media was coveringthe hearing of the case.

The lawyers chanting‘Bharat mata ki jai’ and VandeMataram chased and thrashedall those who they found in thevicinity. The Delhi Police per-sonnel who were present inlarge number remained mutespectators while the rampagewas on.

Meanwhile, several jour-

nalist bodies on Monday con-demned the attack on scribesand demanded strict actionagainst the accused, whilealleging dereliction of duty onpart of the police. PatialaHouse Courts extended thecustody of Kanhaiya Kumar bytwo days. JNU students werealso attacked by rampaginglawyers inside and outside aPatiala House court.

BJP MLA OP Sharma,who had come to PatialaHouse Courts to attend thehearing of the defamation casefiled by Finance Minister ArunJaitley against Arvind Kejriwal,allegedly roughed up AmeequeJamai, who is said to be a CPIactivist. The commotion beganwhen a group of women teach-ers from the Delhi Universityand the JNU, including JNUsenior professor AyeshaKidwai, were sitting inside thecourtroom to witness the pro-ceedings when a group oflawyers started screaming atthem for sitting on the chairs‘reserved for lawyers’.

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The kin of Parliament attackmartyrs on Monday met

Home Minister Rajnath Singhand demanded stringent actionagainst the “anti-national” stu-dents in JNU for organisingevent supporting Afzal Guru.The delegation was led by for-mer Youth Congress presidentand All-India Anti-TerrorismFront Maninderjit Singh Bitta.

“We demand stringentaction against those who hadraised slogans against India, thejudicial hanging of terror con-vict Afzal Guru, in support ofPakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They haveinsulted the sentiments of thosefamilies whose sons, brothersor husbands have sacrificedtheir lives during the 2001Parliament attack,” Bitta toldreporters here.

Talking to the media aftermeeting the Home Minister,the relatives said they wouldprotest if no action was takenagainst those guilty of holdingan event in support of theParliament attack convict.

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Yet another associate ofmafia Dhalsamant brothers

was arrested by theCommissionerate Police here onMonday, taking the total arrestsin the case to eight.

Briefing reporters, city DCPSanjeev Arora said one SulekhaSahoo alias Sula was arrestedfollowing raids conducted in hisRanihat house on Sunday night.“Three firearms, including asophisticated pistol, and 15 liveammunitions were seized fromhis possession,” Arora said,adding that the accused was

involved in two criminal cases.Similarly, the police on

Sunday night had also con-ducted raids in the house ofanother associate of theDhalsamant brothers in theBadambadi area. Since the sus-pect, who is alleged to have busi-ness links with the mafia broth-ers, was absconding, a manhuntis on to nab him, police said.

Meanwhile, it is learnt thatthe police have moved yetanother petition before the localSDJM Court to take the arrest-ed brothers on a further remandfor seven days in a separate case.The brothers would be physi-cally produced before the courton Tuesday, the sources said.

Sources further said thatwhile the court is likely to hear

the remand petition of police onTuesday, it is also likely to hearthe petition filed by Dhalsamantbrother’s counsel, who had ear-lier alleged violation of courtorders by the police during theprevious remand periods. Itwas alleged that the police hadnot allowed the accused per-sons’ lawyer to meet them dur-ing the time of remand as wasallowed by the court.

The mafia siblings Sushantand Sushil were arrested onJanuary 29 last for their allegedinvolvement in abduction andmurder of their two formerestranged associates, way backin November 2013. The policein the meantime had taken theduo on remand for 12 days intwo phases.

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The Ethics Committee ofthe Odisha Assembly will

meet at 11.30 am on Tuesdayover the alleged porn videowatching by Congress MLANaba Kishore Das in the Houseduring its last session.

Members of the EthicsCommittee headed byRanendra Pratap Swain havebeen intimated about theschedule of the meeting by theAssembly Secretariat, according to sources.

It may be noted that rulingBJD MLAS had demandedaction against Das after a TVchannel telecast him watchingsome ‘obscene’ pictures in hispersonal mobile. SpeakerNiranjan Pujari had suspend-ed Das for seven days aftersending the allegation to theEthics Committe for

investigation.However, both Congress

and BJP members had opposedthe suspension of Das. Theyeven boycotted the Housedemanding withdrawal of thesuspension order. They arguedthat while the matter was withthe Ethics Committee for con-sideration and Das was notgiven a chance to clarify hisstand, the suspension order wasnot appropriate

Das had ‘clarified’ that hisfinger touched the YouTubebutton on the touch-screenmobile by mistake.

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The agitating Block Grant(BG) Lecturers of the 488

and 622 Category Colleges onMonday decided to continuetheir strike as the meeting ofthe Inter-MinisterialCommittee headed by FinanceMinister Pradip Amat yieldedno results.

The Government hassought time till February 25 tofind a solution to the teachers’demands, said 662 CategoryCollege Lecturers’ Associationsecretary Gagan Behera.

“We will not budge fromour strike decision. They(Ministers) appealed to us toresume our duties, but we can-

didly intimated our decision tothem. We will join examinationduties startingTuesday by wear-ing black badges,” said Behera.

“It was a step forward, butthe meeting today was notsuccessful. The Governmentdiscussed various matters, butthere was no decision on any ofthe issues,” added Behera.

“Discussions and argu-ments were held on abolition ofthe Block Grant system.However, in the absence of theChief Secretary, the FinanceSecretary and the DevelopmentCommissioner no decisionscould be arrived at. TheGovernment has sought timetill February 25, and we willcontinue our stir till then,”informed Behera.

He also informed that theteachers would boycott upcom-

ing Plus II examinations.Meanwhile, the 488

Category Block GrantLecturers’ body announced toboycott the Plus III examina-tions starting Tuesday.

Notably, a five-memberinter-Ministerial Committee,headed by Finance MinisterPradip Amat, has been formedby the Chief Minister to lookinto the demands of the BlockGrant Lecturers. Law MinisterArun Sahoo, TechnicalEducation Minister SanjayDasburma, Higher EducationMinister Pradeep KumarPanigrahy and Energy MinisterPranab Prakash Das are theother members of the panel.

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At least six Bengali-speakingMuslim youths claiming to

be natives of different parts ofneighbouring West Bengal werearrested here by theCommissionerate Police onMonday on the charges of house-breaking and theft.

“These are the members ofa gang involved in housebreak-ing and theft at the CDA’s satel-lite city at Abhinav Bidanasi,”informed Cuttack DCP SanjeevArora, adding that a key accusedbelieved to be the gang leaderescaped from the police dragnet.

Describing their modusoperandi, Arora said theserogues move around as vendorsthroughout the day identifying

the vulnerable and locked hous-es. Later at night, they break openthe window grilles of the target-ed houses to commit robbery.Police seized from them somegrill cutting instruments, stolenjewelleries and cash. On inter-rogation, they admitted theirinvolvement in several casesreported within the Markatnagarpolice limits, police said.

Interestingly, these criminals,when confronted about theiridentities, promptly pulled outsuspicious voter identity cardsfrom their pockets to claim thatthey are from West Bengal. Aproper scrutiny of these doubt-ful I-cards may reveal the nation-ality of these rogues as manyBangladeshis are now roaming inthe city as vendors.

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Bhubaneswar has grabbedthe 24th position in the

Swachh Sarvekshan-2016 andthe Top Mover (East Zone)Award. Cuttack has ranked the59th position in the list of 73cities.

The two cities got theirranks, respectively, on clean-liness and sanitation. Cities

with over 10-lakh populationwere surveyed to check howclean or filthy they were, saidUrban Development Minister

M Venkaiah Naidu onMonday.

BMC Mayor AnantaNarayan Jena and Municipal

Commissioner KrishanKumar received the TopMovers Award (East Zone)from Naidu in New Delhi.

Mysore of Karnatakatopped the list of 10 citieswhile Chandigarh emergedsecond and Tiruchirappallithe third.

New Delhi came fourth inthe list, whereasVisakhapatnam, Surat, Rajkotand Gangtok were in fifth,sixth, seventh and eighth posi-tions, respectively. In 2014, theMinistry had carried out asimilar exercise in 476 citiesand municipalities with a pop-ulation of over 1, 00,000.

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, andprinters and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.

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Ram Vilas Paswan is currently the UnionMinister of Food and Public Distribution. An

eight-time Lok Sabha member and a former RajyaSabha member, Paswan is now the president ofthe Lok Janshakti Party. He started his politicalcareer as a member of Samyukta Socialist Partyand was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assemblyin 1969. Later, he joined the Lok Dal upon its for-mation in 1974 and became its general secretary.He opposed the iron curtains imposed by IndiraGandhi and was arrested in 1975 and languishedbehind the prison till the Emergency era ended.He entered the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a JanataParty member from the Hajipur constituency andwas chosen again in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1996 and1998.

In 2000, he formed the Lok Janshakti Party(LJP). Subsequently, he joined the ruling UnitedProgressive Alliance Government and was UnionMinister Chemicals and Fertilisers and SteelMinister. He won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

In 1977, Paswan had been elected to the LokSabha obtaining the highest number of votes bycreating a world record. Paswan was UnionMinister of Labour and Welfare in the VP SinghGovernment in 1989. In 1996, he led the rulingalliance in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Ministerwas a member of the Rajya Sabha. In 2000,Paswan drifted away from the Janata Dal to formthe LJP. Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections,he joined the UPA Government. He has left hisimprints by serving as a Union Minister underfive different Prime Ministers.

In an interview to The Pioneer, Paswan spoketo Sugyan Choudhury on February 12 inBhubaneswar.

What are the noticeable changes in yourGovernment under the leadership of Modiji?

The changes under the BJP Government arenot only noticeable but also remarkable. In past,our Prime Ministers used to visit foreign coun-tries but there were hardly few listeners. Buttoday, you see our Prime Minister visits foreigncountries, be it Russia, France, Canada or theUS, or be it our neighbouring countries likeNepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka; there are lakhs of lis-teners sharing our PM’s ideas. This is certainlya remarkable facet of our PM’s kaleidoscopic per-sonality. You see, our Government under theeffective leadership of Modiji has taken the foodsecurity burden of 20 crore families by provid-ing them khatas or cards.

The Central Government claims a lion’s sharein the popular rice distribution schemes of thepresent BJD regime in Odisha. What is yourresponse to the same?

The Central Government under the BJP ruledoesn’t believe in beating its own drums sincewe believe in delivering services to our people.You must know that our department is provid-ing �27 per kg of rice while the consumer pays�1. The remaining �2 per kg of rice is being paidby the Naveen Patnaik Government here inOdisha. The gullible masses are swept by pro-paganda and believe that the Naveen PatnaikGovernment is providing them rice at �2 per kgwhich is only a myth. “Isko khatam honachahiye” (This propaganda should be broughtto an end). I don’t understand why mediamendo not cut any ice here! It is the duty of the mediato educate the people in this regard.

There are a lot of scams relating to ration cardsin every State. For example, Didi has stoppedissuing new cards and is depending on the oldration cards in WB. Is there no effective con-trol of the Central Government over the sys-tem that the poorest of the poor reap thebonanza out of the National Food SecurityAct?

We only frame the policy. The implemen-tation part rests with the State Governmentssince ours is a Federal structure. We have noinstrument at our disposal to check the effec-tiveness of the system excepting stopping sup-ply of the food grains, in case there is a com-

plaint regarding any State. Look then, in sucha scenario the poor only will be at the receiv-ing end. That again, we worsen the plight of thepoor in the country. The only remedy availableto us is for complete digitalisation, In thisprocess, four crore false ration cards have beenweeded out from the system so far. Besides, twoportraits or photographs of the consumer willbe at the top of the ration card. Thereafter, it isthe bounden duty of the State Government tosee through their public distribution system ifthe food grains delivered reach the poor in everynook and corner of the state. Again, I should sayit depends on end-to-end computerisationunder the present food security Act in order toreach its desired mission.

Odisha is more known for rice production, andthere is a little of wheat production here. Whydon’t you sanction more wheat to meet theState’s requirement?

I have met your Chief Minister. There areno complaints with regard to this. We used tosend more food consignments and your Stateis in the habit of returning the food grains sincethe despatch is always more than the State’srequirement. For example, we had despatched21,78,000 tonnes of food grains, but your Statecould receive only 20,77,000 tonnes and returnedthe rest. Thus, where does the question ofneglecting Odisha’s requirement in wheat sec-tor lie?

When shall Bharat be self-reliant in food sector?

There is no question of will be or shall be.We are already self-sufficient in food sectorexcepting dal and edible oils, which we areimporting. India is surplus in other food sec-tors.

What are the food items we are exporting?We are exporting many food items includ-

ing rice on demand from outside. We are alsoexporting quality sugar and many such otheritems.

Crude oil prices have come down in the inter-national market, but the prices of petrol anddiesel for the consumer remain unaltered herein India. What is your opinion on this?

I have to meet your query although this isnot my subject area. You know that in ourdepartment we are giving �1,31,000 crore as sub-sidy to meet the demands of our people in thefood sector. Similarly, subsidies are required forgas, petroleum and for Pradhan Mantri SadakYojana and for such other innumerable welfaremeasures. The Central Government has to col-lect the revenue for such welfare schemes andas a part of its duty has to pay 42% of the Centralrevenue to the States. If all the prices come down,how then will the welfare measures be under-taken for people?

In your home State Bihar, there are disturb-ing reports of the ritual drama of dominanceand death. What is your considered opinionto this?

As a mediaman, you must be well aware ofthe fact that the RJD’s rule is the rule of the jun-gle. How can the RJD work in tandem withthe rule of law! Every day, there are reportsof rape, robbery, murder and the like. Thereare murders of engineers, murders of busi-nessmen, murders of journalists and murdersof policemen. People are now repenting forhaving cast their votes in favour of the RJD.JDU workers are now dominated by RJDmafias. Nitishji is probably fully demoralisedby now. People of Bihar are now living in astate of utter hallucination. Previously, crim-inals ran away after sensing the presence ofpolicemen, but now look at the difference.Now, the Bihar police take to their heels onseeing the advent of a criminal. The reasonis simple. When the criminals are going ontheir spree with their AK-47 rifles, policemenare poorly adorned with their moribund riflesand ramshackle vehicles.

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interview of the weekpioneer

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The State Governmentwould declare the names of

the qualified bidders for theGhorhaburhani-Sagasahi ironore block in Sundargarh dis-trict’s Koida mining sectoronFebruary 25.

Mines Director DeepakMohanty said this after the firsttechnical committee meetingheld at the State Secretariat hereon Monday.

“Documents of all sevencompanies who have bid forthe mines will be examined. Ofthem, we will announce names

of the technically qualifiedbidders on February 25,”Mohanty said.

When asked about whennext auction to begin, he saidcurrent mines are beingupgraded from G3 to G2 level.It is expected that next auctiondates would be announced by

August or September, he said.According to sources, the

JSW Steel Ltd, the Jindal Steeland Power Ltd, the RashtriyaIspat Nigam Ltd, the EssarSteel, the Bhushan Steel Ltd, theBhushan Power and Steel Ltdand the Tata Steel have partic-ipated in the bidding process.

While financial bids wereinvited in digital format only,technical bids are invited bothin digital and physical formatfrom eligible bidders.

Sources said iron ore blockwould be offered in the form ofprospecting licence (PL)-cum-mining licence (ML).

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The Academy of Yoga andOriental Studies (AYOS)

organised a seminar on“Sanskrit as MIL in theCurriculum” here on Sunday.

Former IPS officer andeminent Sanskrit scholar ArunKumar Upadhyaya presidedover the meeting and formerIAS officer and renownedSanskrit scholar S Sundar Rajanwas the chief guest. AYOSdirector Dr Indulata Dasanchored the programme.

Upadhyaya narrated anexperience of his own. He hadauthored a book in Odia, whichwas in the press for publication.A professor of Odia wasrequested to do the proofread-ing of the book. In course ofcorrection, he incorporatedmany more mistakes to thebook than before. The personwho had typed the text wasmuch less educated but hadsome elementary knowledge ofSanskrit. He discarded the cor-rected copy of the book and didthe proofreading himself. Thisis the result of a little knowl-edge of Sanskrit, Upadhyayasaid.

“The knowledge of ourmother tongue is enriched andis more fortified if we learnSanskrit,” he remarked.

Prof Pratibha ManjariRatha of Vani Vihar said thatearlier a student of science inthe college level could not geta chance to read Sanskrit if he

or she desired. But after theintroduction of Sanskrit as anMIL, the science students gota scope to offer Sanskrit as asubject.

Dr Pratima Sadangi,Reader in Sanskrit, BJBCollege, said many brilliantstudents are offering Sanskrit astheir MIL subject. Names of 12students of her class figured inthe list of the first twenty in theCouncil examination.

Anupam Bose, an AYOSmember, said, “Sanskrit hasentered so intimately into ourlives that it is impossible to livewithout it. No rite can be per-formed without Sanskrit.”

Manaswini Sadangi, a fac-ulty of Sanskrit Department,Vani Vihar, said, “Sanskrit isour pride and our identity out-side India. In foreign countrieswe Indians are known by thisgreat language and not by anyof the regional languages.”

Dr Indulata Das said amother can never have ani-mosity with her children. Soalso, Sanskrit can’t have any

animosity with any of theregional languages. If somepeople ever discover any imag-inary danger from Sanskrit toany regional language, it issurely prompted by some ulte-rior reason, she said.

Former OAS officerBhaskar Chandra Pattnaik saidmany more steps should betaken to popularise Sanskritamong students. Classroom isthe only place to learn the greatlanguage Sanskrit, which isthe repository of Indian ourculture and tradition.

Sundar Rajan said lan-guages like Hindi, Bengali,Asamiya, Telugu, Tamil, etc.,are nurtured by Sankrit, whichis the lifeblood of all the region-al languages.

Other speakers alsoextolled Sanskrit in glowingterms and welcomed theGovernment’s step to includeSanskrit as an MIL in the cur-riculum in the +2 and +3classes. They viewed unani-mously that the students wouldbe greatly benefitted by this.

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Constructions of the pro-posed Post Graduate

Institute at the Capital Hospitalis likely to be completed byFebruary 2019 as the process forthis has already begun, accord-ing to official sources.

The GeneralAdministration Department onMonday alienated a total of 4.45acres of land at GangnagarMouza in favour of the Healthand Family Welfare Departmentfor construction of the proposedinstitute. However, it has warned

that the land must be used with-in 36 months for the purpose itwas allotted, otherwise it wouldbe de-alienated.

“The land shall be utilizedexclusively for the purpose forwhich it is alienated and in caseof non-utilization the land shallbe reverted back to the G.A.Department. The constructionwork over the allotted area shallbe completed within 36 monthsfrom the date of issue of thisorder,” instructed a letter issuedby the GA Department.

It further informed thatthe land would be demarcatedand physical possession given toauthorised officers/ representa-tive of Health Department bythe concerned RevenueInspector of the GADepartment.

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The Vedanta would set up analuminium park in

Jharsuguda district in the State.Vedanta CEO

(Aluminimum) Abhijit Patisaid it would soon sign an MoUwith the State Government toset up the aluminum parkover 240 acres of land inJharsuguda. It was revealed atthe Odisha Investors’ Meet inMumbai.

The proposed park hasthe potential to attract over Rs1,000 crore of investmentwhich can be operationalisedwithin a relatively short time-frame, said Pati, adding thatwith this kind of infrastruc-ture, Odisha can become the

aluminium hub of the world.He also said that the park

can generate direct and indi-rect employment to about17,000 people.

The park will facilitateeasy transport of aluminium inliquid form, which would pro-vide substantial cost savingsfor the downstream indus-tries.

The proposed aluminiumpark will be adjacent toVedanta’s 1.6-mtpa smelteralong with 3,600 MW ofpower generation facilities.

The State Governmentwould provide necessary infra-structure for setting up theindustries with incentives asper the Industrial PolicyResolution (IPR), in the formof land, electricity and others,the cost of which will berecovered from the investorswho shall establish their units.

The Solon India wouldalso set up solar energy man-ufacturing unit of 400mw inthe State.

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In order to provide hassle freeenvironment to the industry

and business, OdishaGovernment has unveiled eBiZPlatform, Common InspectionPlatform and GOiPlus.

Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik unveiling the e-initia-tives said that the StateGovernment has embarked onbettering governance by lever-aging technology in a big way.

The State Government hasallocated two per cent of theannual budget of the State forpromotion of IT and e-gover-nance in the State to make itcitizen and investor friendly.

“The launch of eBiZ plat-form, a common inspectionframework and GOiPlus - aweb enabled land informationsystem are some of the initia-tives to enable a hassle freebusiness environment in theState, Patnaik said.

“Odisha is the first State inthe country to map theCombined Application Formand 14 services on the e-Biz plat-form,” the Chief Minister said.

“We have launched anonline portal for centralinvestment programme. Thecentral inspection frameworkwill make the system fair andhelp reducing any scope forexploitation or repetition,”Chief Secretary Aditya PrasadPadhi told reporters in Mumbaiat the ongoing Make in India(MII) Week.

“We have also launched‘eBiZ’, which is a step ahead of

single window system. Under‘eBiZ’, we will reduce humancontact and all clearances willbe made online. It will also beutilized for any queries andpayments,” he added.

Padhi said instead of mak-ing announcements about thenumber of agreements signed,the State would rather focus onconversion of the agreementsinto projects at the ground level.

“We have the highest rateof Memorandum ofUnderstandings (MoUs) get-ting implemented. Of the 92MoUs signed, 52 have beenconverted into projects in theState,” he added.

According to Padhi,Odisha has the advantage ofnatural minerals along withhuge land bank as well as acoastline to attract domestic aswell as foreign investors.

“We have 1 lakh acres landavailable for setting up ofindustries, of which 10,000acres can be used immediate-ly,” he said.

The State is also planningto develop a defence and aero-space park in Gopalpur.

“We have Sure SafetySolutions (SSS), a Mumbai-based firm in collaborationwith UK-based MeggittDefence Systems setting up adefence unit for manufacturingof aerial target systems in theSpecial Economic Zone.

“We are trying to get morecompanies to invest inGopalpur so that we can devel-op a defence and aerospacepark. It can either be inside the

existing SEZ or outside,” hesaid.

The State is also planningto come up with a start-up pol-icy to encourage entrepreneursand new businesses.

“We will be announcing astart-up policy in another 3-4months that will encourageentrepreneurs in the State to setup business,” he said.

Odisha has undertakenseveral inspection relatedreforms, primary one being thesetting up of a CentralInspection Framework (CIF).The CIF was created to addressthe common complaints aboutambiguity, duplication andoverlapping mandates betweeninspection authorities, and per-ceived lack of co-operation andco-ordination. Through CIF,the Government eliminates theprocess of multiple visits to thesame enterprises and synchro-nizes various inspections. Thisframework aims to achieve theobjective of simplifying busi-ness regulations and bring intransparency and accountabil-ity in inspections.

The Government has con-stituted the Central InspectionCo-ordination Group (CICG)which co-ordinates theinspection related activities forall the listed enterprises. CSMTechnologies, one of the bestIT Majors of Eastern India,has been roped in for such ini-tiatives. CSM is a pioneer inproviding IT consulting ser-vices, which has been laudedfor its citizen centric applica-tions and solutions.

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The Special CBI Court hereon Monday allowed the

CBI to take another AsthaChit Fund company director,Chandrasen Sivaji Chouhan,on remand till February 22.

The Bhubaneswar wing ofthe Central investigatingagency, probing the chit fund

scams, had brought Chouhanto the city from the Surat jailamid tight security and pro-duced him before the SpecialCBI Court.

Chouhan was arrested bythe Surat police in connectionwith the chit fund scam there.

In September last, the spe-cial court on chit fund hadordered attachment of proper-

ties of the Astha International.According to the court’s order,movable and immovable prop-erties worth �7 crore wereconfiscated.

The properties included abuilding in Bhubaneswar, landworth �43 crore in Odishaand West Bengal and cash indifferent bank accounts and aMercedes car.

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Police on Monday tookJhasaketan Sahu, prime

accused in the murder of fourpersons of Kushakila andKukurpeta villages, on a three-day remand for interrogation.

Police would try to get thedetails of the murder of twocousin brothers — JogeswarSahu and Hiranakhya Sahu ofKushakila under the JarpadaPolice Station and take theprime accused to the placewhere he had buried themafter pushing them into a pit.

Police would also conductinvestigation into the doublemurder of Abala Gadnayakand her nephew Kumuda Sahuof Kukurpeta village under theChhendipada police limits whowere murdered and buried byJhasaketan in May last year.

Jhasaketan, who wasarrested on February 10, hasalready admitted that he had

killed Jogeswar (35) andHiranakhya (34) on February4 night and buried them.Jogeswar was the son of formersarpanch Rajkishore Sahu andHiranakhya his cousin, policesaid.

The accused, during inter-rogation, had said revenge overmonetary issues was the motivebehind the murder.

Rajkishore had sold sevenacres of land to Jhasaketan.Later, on scrutiny, it was foundthat about 2.9 acres of the soldland had already been gifted toan institute. Jhasaketan askedRajkishore to arrange for 2.9acres of land elsewhere orreturn the total amount of Rs35 lakh. But neither Rajkishorenor his family responded to hisdemand.

On February 4 night,Jhasaketan called the twobrothers to a site near the vil-lage on the pretext of dis-cussing the issue. There he hit

Jogeswar on the head with ashovel and threw him into thepit he had dug up earlier.When Hiranakhya came to thesite, Jhasaketan killed him in asimilar manner and threw himinto the well.

Two days after his arrest,the prime accused told thepolice that he had murderedtwo more persons Abala andKumuda of Kukurpeta in asimilar manner last year andburied them a few meters awayfrom the place where he hadburied Jogeswar andHiranakhya.

Jhasaketan had borrowedaround �2 lakh from the aunt-nephew duo a few years ago.Asked to repay the moneyalong with interest, he flatlyrefused to do so. After analtercation with Kumuda,Jhasaketan planned to elim-inate the duo to escape theirconstant badgering, policesaid.

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Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Monday

announced ex-gratia of �1 lakheach to the family of the fivepeople who died in the ambu-lance accident in AndhraPradesh on Sunday.

The medical expenses of allthe injured undergoing treat-ment in Andhra Pradesh wouldalso be borne by the OdishaGovernment, Patnaik said.

Four members of a familyfrom Baleswar and the driverof the ambulance died when

the van fell into a culvert andoverturned near Elamanchilion the NH 16, around 60 kmfrom Vishakhapatnam.

Three including the driverdied on the spot while theinfant and another succumbedto injuries at the King GeorgeHospital in Visakhapatnam.

The tragedy took place when10 members of the family werereturning to their native place atAruhabruti village under Bhograiblock in Baleswar district fromHyderabad in an ambulance car-rying the dead body of an oldman of the family.

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The Central Governmenthas given approval for

inclusion of the BrahmapurMunicipal Corporation (BMC)along with eight other cities ofthe State under the AmrutCity scheme.

According to BMCsources, a total of nine projectsfor Brahmapur included underthe Amrut City scheme havebeen approved for implemen-tation from the current year. Atotal �58.11 crore central assis-tance will be spent during the

current year for this.As per the letter received

from the BMC, the approvedscheme includes �54.75 croresfor four water supply pro-jects, �2.38 crore for garbageand waste management, �27lakh for development of BijuPattnaik Park at CorporationRoad, �26 lakh for develop-ment of Priyadarshani Park,�28 lakh for renovation ofDhoba Bandha (tank) com-pound passage, �17 lakh forconstruction of a park inBaikunthanagar.

The scheme aims to pro-vide qualitative civic services,uninterrupted drinking watersupply, effective drainage sys-tem, park, sewerage and play-ground using smart technolo-gies and ICT including prepa-ration of vision document for

the above civic amenities.For successful implemen-

tation of the scheme, theHome and UrbanDevelopment Departmenthave already signed an agree-ment with the Engineers IndiaLimited (EIL), a Governmentof India undertaking, to act asconsultant for the scheme.The EIL will provide consul-tancy service to BMC for fouryears for successful imple-mentation of the scheme forBrahmapur; and if necessary,the tenure of the scheme canbe extended to two more years.

The Government wouldsoon appoint a team leaderand deputy team leader tomonitor the scheme and toensure its proper implemen-tation, the communiquéadded.

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State Block Grant SanskritCollege Sangha have joined

the movement of Block GrantCollege staffs’ 662 category.

The Sangha has beendemanding 100 per cent BlockGrant since last three years, butthe Government has yet to ful-fil the demand, said Sanghapresident Golaka Nayak.

Members of the organisa-tion also informed that theywould present their demandsbefore the Government withBlock Grant College staffs’ 662category.

The Government hadgiven 40 per cent Block Grantto 662 category and 40 per centgrants to the Sanskrit collegesin the year 2009. In 2014, theGovernment extended 100 percent Block Grant to the 662 cat-egory colleges, but Sanskritcolleges did not get any grant,complained Sangha workersin a Press release.

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Mushroom cultivationcould be an additional

source of livelihood for thepeasants of Baleswar besidesnutrition supplement, observedPranjal Barua, an expert aftermaking a field visit to somegram panchayats of northBaleswar.

Barua, known asMushroom man of India, wasinvited to Baleswar by MP RKJena to explore potential and

possibility of mushroom cul-ture in scientific manner in thedistrict.

After making preliminaryground survey in Basta andBaliapal, Barua said mush-room could be grown here as

the climate was conducive.“Paddy straw is abundantlyavailable with the farmers andthe temperature here general-ly remains between 20 and 40degree Celsius. Oyster, Paddystraw and milky varieties of

mushroom while are com-monly grown in India, all ofthem can be grown in Baleswaras well,” said Barua.

“Even in a space of 10-12feet, a farmer can earn up to Rs1 lakh by growing the crop atleast thrice a year,” he added.

MP Jena said “As a pilotproject, we plan to motivateand train at least 50 farmers ofNorth Baleswar on mushroomculture. The long-term plan isto bring them up for sustain-able farming inculcating organ-ic farming culture. On the suc-cess of the prototype, moreareas would be taken for repli-cation.”

Barua, who has been in thefield of mushroom for last 23years, also advocates for organ-ic and sustainable farming.

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Taking a serious view ofgirls strip searched by the

employees of a shopping mallin front of CCTV cameras atDhenkanal town, the NationalHuman Rights Commission(NHRC) has sought an action-taken report (ATR) from thedistrict Superintendent ofPolice (SP).

Acting on petition filed byHuman Rights Watch secretarySangita Swain, the apex humanrights watchdog has asked theSP to submit report within fourweeks.

“Two girls were stripsearched in front of Close

Circuit TV camera by the staffsof Bazar India shopping mallwhich is set up illegally atDhenkanal town. The victimswere assaulted physically andmentally which amounts vio-lation of human rights,” thepetitioner contended.

She urged the Commissionto investigate the matter and �2lakh compensation to each ofthe victim.

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The core banking system atthe Khariar Post Office is

not working for last eight daysdue to failure of internet link.People, who are interested toopen accounts and passbooks orwant to buy NSCs, are not ableto get any such services.

On inquiry, the postmastersaid that they have reported aboutthis to the higher authorities, butthe situation has not changed.

Another problem is thatone of the two computers in thepost office is defunct since lasteight days and it has not beenrepaired although reported tothe office of the Superintendent

of Post Offices at Bhawanipatna.“With one computer we

are doing the regular postalworks. The other with the post-master is defunct hampering theworks of issuing NationalSavings Certificates, openingof accounts and collectingdeposits, “ said the postmaster.

This correspondent tried tocontact the Superintendent ofPost Offices at Bhawanipatna, butno one picked up the phone.

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The CRPF 4th Battalion heredistributed several items

like radio sets, blankets, mos-quito nets, polythene sheets inthe Maoist-affected villageslike Sana Raising, Ranaguda,Seiskhal villages inJemadeipentha GramPanchayat under the Seiskhalpolice limits.

Several sets of badmintonbats with nets and corks, caromboards, cricket bats, etc werealso distributed in the schoolsin the presence of localSarpanch Dwarika Nilamma,Sana Raising’s ward memberChampa Sabara, village head EShaankar Rao and InspectorRama Oraon, besides CRPFpersonnel and police.

The programme waslaunched with the objective ofcombating LWE and bridging

the gap between villagers andsecurity personnel throughwining their hearts.

A reality check by a teamof scribes revealed that therewas hardly any coordinatedeffort among the stakeholderslike CRPF personnel, Statepolice, PRI representatives, vil-lage committees, school man-agement committees, teach-ers, local Government officialslike Panchayat ExecutiveOfficer, Sports Officer, etc.

Sana Raising village, whichis hardly 14 km from the dis-trict headquarters, has a dilap-idated primary school buildinghaving only one teacher namedSantosh Pattanaik and only sixstudents. Pattanaik regularlycommutes from his house inRayagada. The school hasreceived a carom board and aset of badminton bat, a net andpack of corks. In the tworoomed school building, onedoor is broken and the room isnot used for long and severalabandoned materials aredumped. The other room isclean and almirahs, chairs,

tables, sports materials, etc arekept over the cracked floor atmany places. The teacher ringsthe bell but no student is seencoming to school.

Pattanaik, who receivedthe sports materials from theCRPF personnel, agreed that

there was no space near theschool for the badminton courtand he was also not aware ofthe measurement of the bad-minton court and the height atwhich the net should be hung.We also noticed that the size ofthe badminton bats, the height

at which the net should be tied(5 ft) did not commensuratewith the heights of the tiny tots.Hence, all the sports materialsdid have no relevance as far asthe tiny students are concerned.

Pattanaik said that he wasnever consulted before the dis-

tribution. He was called to thespot and was given the sportsmaterials. The DistrictEducation Officer (DEO) wasalso not aware about distribu-tion of sports materials byCRPF. The need assessmentwas never done.

Pattanaik said that theschool will be closed from thenext session as a non-optimalschool and may be mergedwith the school inJemadeipentha which is aroundtwo km from Sana Raising vil-lage. Whether the tiny totswill traverse through jungleand undulated terrain to go toJemadeipentha is altogetheranother issue.

A detailed discussion withthe villagers revealed that eachof the ousehold has received aradio set of Santosh make.Some of the families have puccabuildings which have also gotradio sets. Upon inquiry, wecame to know that the villagehas ten TV sets which runthrough satellite antennas. Therest of sixteen households shareviewing the TVs as neighbours.

The radio set is of extremelylow quality without price tag.As those were available forfree, they took those thoughmany of the villagers felt thatthe radio bore less importanceas the people prefer TV toradio. Few agreed that they con-nect to Visakhapatnam AIRthrough the radio sets as almostall villagers speak Telugu. Theblankets were distributed to oldpersons and not enough for allthe needy. Same was the casewith mosquito nets. A fewfamilies were supplied withcut-pieces of tarpaulin mea-suring 2 X 6 metres each. Thegaze of the polythene wasextremely thin and it couldcover only part of the thatchedhouse.

Here also there was noneed assessment done in the vil-lage. Neither a joint planningwas done with the panchayatnor with block officials whoalso distributed blankets, tar-paulins during Hudhud. TheHealth department was notconsulted about the distributionof mosquito nets. The villagers

denied that their village wasNaxal affected.

At the Seiskhal police sta-tion, in the absence of theI n s p e c t o r - i n - C h a r g eGyanendra Sahu, ASI AMNRao clarified he was not awareof any such coordination orplanning meeting with theCRPF. As the materials for dis-tribution came from above,they were supposed to be dis-tributed.

“It is disheartening to notethat the CRPF, which has acommitment to serve the coun-try with utmost transparency,quality and accuracy, alsomanipulates the poverty of thelocal tribals by distributingcheap materials without prop-er need assessment and con-sultation with PRI membersand State Government officialsand even the State police. Theprocedures of bulk purchase ofmaterials for distribution topoor people by this para mili-tary force need to be examined,”said advocate and prominentmember of Rayagada CitizensCommittee Kedar Panda.

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Acting on a complaint filedby Odisha-based Human

Rights Watchdog, theNational Human RightsCommission (NHRC) has

asked the Chandigarh IG ofpolice (IGP) for an action-taken report over stopping ofambulances during move-ment of VVIPs resulting inthe death of patients.

Human Rights Watchdog

secretary Sangita Swain hadmoved the apex humanrights watchdog alleging thata patient died in the ambu-lance in Chandigarh recent-ly during the visit of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to

the city.“ The police of f icials

obstruct road for the smoothpassage of PM’s convoy. Anambulance carrying a patientwas also stopped by thepolice till the carcade of the

PM passed. As a result thepatient died inside the ambu-lance. It amounts violation ofhuman rights,” alleged Swain.

She too highlighted thesituation in Odisha whereambulances were stopped

during the movement ofChief Minister NaveenPatnaik’s convoy.

The commission hasasked the Chandigarh IG tosubmit a ATR within fourweeks.

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&�1�� ��"�3�1/��� ���-1/���� ��3����%(��� � �1����Angul: An undertrial prison-er (UTP) lodged at the Anguljail died at the Angul DistrictHeadquarters (DHH) onMonday after prolonged illness.

Sraban Kumar Kumar ofMadhupur village under theBantala police station had beenlodged in the jail on the chargesof raping and killing a minor

girl at his village.His health condition was

not well for last few days. Hewas admitted to DHH onSunday, said jail authorities.

Meanwhile, the post-mortem of the deceased wasconducted and the body washanded over his familymembers. PNS

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The Ganjam District VidyutKarmachari Sangh has

threatened to stage an indefi-nite dharna before the Southcooffice here from February 17 ifthe State Government doesn’twithdraw the proposed elec-tricity tariff hike forthwith.

The Sangh also cautionedthe Southco to stop exploitingemployees and consumers sim-ply on the pretext of loss andreform.

Sangh members said theseat a Press meet held here onSunday.

“The Southco has failed to

pay pension to its retiredemployees regularly for whichthey are spending a lot of dif-ficulties. The distribution com-pany’s dictatorial and unilater-al attitude is not acceptable,”they said.

The Sangh said while therewere only 2.69 lakh consumersunder 73 sub-stations managedby 4,400 employees before thepower distribution reforma-tion effected 16 years back, thenumber of consumers has nowincreased to 15 lakhs and sub-stations to 145 but the samenumber of employees are man-aging the increased sub-sta-tions. At least 20,000 employ-ees are required to manage theaffairs.

Sangh also alleged that thedistributing company is also

exploiting its more than onethousand outsourcing employ-ees which need to be probed,demanded Sangha presidentPanchanan Jena, general sec-retary Biswanath Das and jointsecretary Kalu Sahu.

Besides, they alleged thatthe Southco has also not imple-mented its assurance given tothe Sangh on November 12 lastyear.

“The Sangh has decided tostage an indefinite dharna ifpower in protest the proposedpower tariff hike and Southco’slackadaisical attitude,” saidJena.

The Advocates’ Front,Brahmapur has also threat-ened to resort to mass move-ment in protest against powertariff hike proposal.

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Page 4: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

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Addressing a seminar“ P a r l i a m e n t a r y

Democracy in Germany andIndia: A comparative analysisfrom the viewpoint of politicaljustice, fair representation andgood governance,” formerMinister and Congress leaderNiranjan Patnaik said that thesystem of election prevalent inIndia is not at all good whencompared to the ProportionalRepresentation system of elec-tion of Germany.

The Indian people andtheir leaders - both in politicsand in non-political fields - arerarely committed to ethics andeven judges, when they are inlegal profession as lawyers, donot care to give the exact

income tax on the basis of theiractual income. Introductionof Proportional Representationsystem in India is sure toensure a greater degree of polit-ical justice and fair adminis-tration, opined Patnaik.

Introducing the topic,Freethought Party of India(FPI) general secretary BRamchandra CST Voltaire saidthe Indian FPTP (First-Past-the-Post) system is the reasonfor which the BJD is having 80per cent of the seats of OdishaLegislative Assembly as againstits 43 per cent vote share in the2014 general elections. TheBJP has got 282 seats of theLok Sabha with 31 per cent ofpopular vote and the Congress‘s seat-share is just 44 per centeven though it has polled 19

per cent of the popular vote inthe 2014 general elections.“Unless there is fair represen-tation, there is bound to bepolitical injustice and lack ofgood governance in the coun-try,” Voltaire said.

Writer Dr RajendraNarayan Das, who has chosen

to become a German citizen,graced the seminar as chiefguest and eloquently pointedout that the German SecularFederal ParliamentaryDemocracy is 1,000 times bet-ter than the parliamentarydemocracy in India.

“The Germans are so

much ethically committed thatno one gets a job or an acad-emic degree by bribing the sys-tem and no German politicalleader tries to put his / herchildren into the political sys-tem by sheer manipulation asis the case in India,” Das said.

Among others, scribes

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak,Odisha Rationalist Society sec-retary Debendra Sutar, Editor“Subarta” PradyumnaSatpathy, Ambedkar intellec-tual Prafulla Kumar Jena,Harish Chandra Kar, UmaCharan Mishra, MamataSamanatray, JagabandhuSarangi, Swapan Bijayini ofAMOFOI and Badri Narayanparticipated.

It was agreed that Indiashould replace its FPTP systemof election by the Germanbrand of election for the goodof all Indians. FPI president DrBijayananda Kar presided.

CERI chief in Odisha andcolumnist Manas Jena, SubhasChandra Pattanayak andPradyumna Satapathy werefelicitated.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is scheduled to

address a farmers’ rally atBargarh on February 21. Thisday being the World MotherTongue Day, Kosli Ekta Manchhas reminded Modi of makingappropriate announcement forinclusion of Kosli language inthe 8th Schedule of theConstitution.

While demanding this at aPress conference, Kosli Ekta

Manch member and Kosal KrantiDal vice president BaidyanathMishra urged the Prime Ministerto get the farmers’ suicide case ofwestern Odisha districts investi-gated by a central agency anddeclare adequate compensation tothe victims.

Mishra also demanded theMohanty Commission report

on regional imbalance be madepublic. Citing this as a decisionof the BJD-BJP coalitionGovernment’s decision in 2004,he urged Modi to ask the BJDGovernment as to how it cansit pretty on such a sensibleissue.

Alleging that the centralsponsored KBK scheme was a

failure despite pumping inhuge funds, Mishra pleaded forcarving out the KBK districtsfrom Odisha for separate“Paschimanchal” State.

Modi should also ask theBJD Government about theRDC report on the Hirakudboat capsize tragedy that hasbeen suppressed for the last twoyears. 31 Lion’s Club membersout of whom a majoritybelonged to Marwadi com-munity known to be loyal tothe Government of the day, losttheir lives, Mishra lamented.

Kosli Ekta Manch presi-dent Mahipal Bag, general sec-retary Markanda Luha, advisorPitabas Mishra and memberSurama Mishra were present atthe meet.

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Asix-year-old girl wasallegedly raped by a youth

of Digi village in Gangapur areaof Ganjam district on Sunday.

Acting on a complaintlodged by victim’s father at theGangapur police station onMonday, police arrestedaccused Santosh Pradhan (20).The victim girl was admitted atthe Bhanjanagar Sub-

Divisional Hospital and laterreferred to the MKCG MedicalCollege and Hospital here.

Police said the accusedraped her on the outskirts ofDigi village after luring her. Thedetail of the incident would beknown only after talking to theminor girl after she recoversand interrogating the accusedperson, said Gangapur policestation IIC Chitta RanjanBehera.

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The State Government onMonday announced use of

Odia language in nameplatesmandatorily in shops and busi-ness organisations in the city.

Labour DepartmentPrincipal Secretary G Srinivas,

the Khordha Collector anddistrict labour department offi-cials were instructed to inves-tigate, review and take neces-sary action in this regard.

Persons who do not followthis order would be punishedby the Government, said a cir-cular issued by the DIPRO.

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The State Government onMonday announced cash

rewards for winners and par-ticipants of the 12th edition ofthe multi-sports event SouthAsian Games (SAG) underwayin Guwahati and Shillong.

The State Governmentannounced cash prizes of�50,000 for gold medal win-ners, �40,000 for silver, �30,000for bronze and �15, 000 for par-ticipants of the SAG.

Notably, India has so fardominated the medals tallyfollowed by Sri Lanka. Odishasportspersons have also made

it big by winning medals inthe 12-day event that willconclude on February 16.

Jauna Murmu, DuteeChand and Srabani Nandahave won medals in the SAG.While Jauna won two goldmedals in women’s 400mhurdles and 4X400 meterwomen’s relay events, Srabanihas bagged one gold medal inwomen’s 200m by clocking23.91 seconds. Athlete DuteeChand won silver. AnotherSaraswati Rout also won goldin weightlifting (women’s 58kg) and Mandakini Majhigold in Kho kho (teamevent).

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The ambulance employeeswould now have to think

twice before going in for strikeas the State Government hasincluded the emergency ambu-lance service under theEssential Services MaintenanceAct (ESMA)-1988.

The Home Departmentissued a notification to thiseffect recently. The develop-ment came after the driversengaged at 402 ambulancesunder the National HealthMission (NHM) resorted to

cease-work agitation as theGovernment transferred a fewdrivers as they were indulgedin nuisance.

The State HealthDepartment also decided toprovide 108 ambulance servicesin the waterways for the firsttime in the State through theNational Health MissionYojana. The waterways ambu-lance service would be provid-ed first in Malkanagiri,Koraput, and Kendrapada dis-trict. In every district, twowaterways ambulances wouldbe engaged.

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Odisha has been assured ofinvestments worth �56,400

crore at the Odisha Investors’Meet in the ongoing Make-in-India Week in Mumbai.

This includes the Nalco’scommitment of �20,550 crorefor expanding its alumina refin-ery at Damanjodi and setting upan aluminium park at Angul.

In this context, NalcoCMD Tapan Kumar Chandsaid, “Since the entire valuechain of Navratna Nalco, start-ing from bauxite mining to alu-minium making is based inOdisha, our major focus is tostrengthen the investment cli-mate of the State, therebyboosting Odisha’s industrialupsurge.”

Chand was addressing rep-resentatives of different indus-

tries, entrepreneurs, bureau-crats, delegates from India andabroad during the investors’meet on Sunday.

“Besides rich in mineraland water resources, Odishahas good road, rail and portconnectivity. On the ease-of-doing-business index, the Stateis bracketed with the best,”Chand remarked. “Moreover,the entire State is dotted withengineering and managementcolleges, diploma and ITI insti-tutes to source skilled man-power. At the same time, therecent ‘smartest city’ tag pinnedon State capital Bhubaneswarby the Centre is an addedadvantage,” he pointed out.

“Given the tough going inthe market, Nalco has devel-oped a new Corporate Planwith a new business model thatwill withstand marketonslaughts and keep the com-pany afloat with profitabilityeven in the slump cycle,” Chandadded.

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Yet another elderly womanSusila Kharsel (60) of

Banswara village in Kirimirablock under Laikera police sta-tion limits was killed in elephantattack on Sunday night.

While Susila was sleeping inher house, she heard an elephantdamaging the boundary wall. Tosave her life, she came out. Butthe elephant followed her andcrushed her to death.

The villagers sat in a dhar-na with the body demandingcompensation and permanentsolution of the jumbo attack. On

similar situation, on February 4last, another tribal widow KendaPing (45) of Duleshara village ofKirmira block also was tram-pled to death by an elephant.

As the incidents are hap-pening continuously, the vil-lagers demanded that unless apermanent solution by the dis-trict administration was done,

the body would not beallowed to be lifted. ACF BBarla came and assured the vil-lagers that Rs 3 lakh compen-sation would be given andround the clock patrollingwould be done. Later, the vil-lagers released the body.

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The Mahanadi CoalfieldsLimited (MCL) extended a

helping hand towards 61under-privileged farmers inSambalpur district to enablethem water their crop timelyand reap a good harvest.

The MCL has sponsoredBelow Poverty Line (BPL), SCand ST farmers of Bamra,Jamankira and Kuchindablocks of the district to availdeep B orewel l S echaKaryakrama Scheme of theGovernment and have ownbore-well in their fields.Total number of under-priv-ileged farmers sponsored bythe MCL to avai lGovernment scheme hasgone up to 378 now in

Sambalpur district.The State Government

has a scheme under which anSC, ST and BPL farmer canhave their own deep borewellon making subsidised pay-ment of �9,000. However,many farmers in the districtcould not avail this scheme

due to their low income.The district administrationrequested the MCL to spon-sor them for the DeepBorewell Secha KaryakramaScheme so that they can alsoprosp er and contr ibutetowards economic growth.

The State Governmentexecuting agency Odisha LiftIrr igation Corporat ion(OLIC) has a plan to providedeep borewells to these ben-eficiaries by April this year.

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The Utkal SammilaniMancheswar Industrial

Estate branch held its executivecommittee meeting at its officeon Sunday with branch headDillip Dashsharma presidingover it.

Members of the branchincluding vice-president SitalChandra Mohanty and jointsecretary Bibhuti Swain strong-ly opposed the nude scene in adrama staged at the RabindraMandap last week and a reso-lution to this effect was adopt-ed at the meeting.

They also condemned thefixing of political party postersnear the statue of poetMadhusudan Das here duringthe Prime Minister’s visit to theState. Executive committeemembers Dr Dwarika NathMohanty, Siba Prasad Mishraand Ashok Palatasingh werepresent.

It was also decided that thegeneral body meeting andcouncil meeting of theSammilani would be held inApril or May once a letterregarding this is received fromthe Sammilani central com-mittee.

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To promote effective par-enting amongst railway

employees, the CentralHospital of the East CoastRailway (ECoR) organised ababy health checkup andawareness programme here onMonday.

A total of 95 babiesbetween the age of six monthsand five years and their parentsparticipated in the programme.The parents were made awareof family planning, immunisa-tion, prevention of childhooddiseases, health and hygienematters, etc. Common vac-

cines to prevent diseases andnutrition of the babies were dis-cussed with the parents. Anaudio-visual show on child-hood diseases and remedies,immunisation and nutritionwas also held.

ECoR Women’s WelfareOrganisation (ECoRWWO)president Shalini Vishnoi andvice-president SuchetaPriyabadini distributed prizes.ECoR Chief Health DirectorDr A Senapati and ECoRCentral Hospital MedicalDirector Dr JP Panda andAdditional Chief HealthDirector (Paediatrics) Dr RKMohapatra were present.

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For the apathetic attitude ofthe State Government, polit-

ical parties and intellectuals,the Odia language is now in anawful condition, said BhasaSuraksha Sammilani presidentand BJD MP Baishnab CharanParida in Kolkata, while inau-gurating a Bhasa SurkshaSammilani on Sunday.

Various Odia organisationsin West Bengal held the BhasaSurksha Sammilani at theRotary Sadan in Kolkata.

While affirming that thestruggle to maintain sanctity ofOdia would continue, Paridasaid a branch of the Bhasa

Suraksha Sammilani would beestablished in Kolkata soon.

Parida also said while otherStates are using their mothertongue as official languages,Odisha people are using English.

Sharing his connection withWest Bengal, Parida said Odishahas a lot of contribution to the

development of West Bengal’sindustries, business and com-merce. But, the West BengalGovernment has not givenenough attention to the devel-opment and protection ofOdisha’s education and culture.“I have discussed with theGovernment and political peo-

ple in this regard. The OdishaGovernment should have a dis-cussion with the West BengalGovernment also,” Paridaasserted. West Bengal Police DGDurgaprasad Tarinia, SrikantPanda, Krushna ChandraBhuyan and Partha Senguptaalso spoke on the occasion.

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Bhubaneswar: Class-IX girlPriyanka Priyadarshini Prustyof the Hadagada NavodayaVidyalaya in Keonjhar district,who was rescued from theHadagarh dam bed in Bhadrakon Monday morning, later suc-cumbed to her injuries atBhadrak District HeadquartersHospital.

She had been missing fromher school for the past two daysbefore being rescued in a severe-ly injured state near the damand rushed to the BhadrakDHH. According to sources, shehad sustained severe injuries onhear head, waist and legs.Meanwhile, police seized a sui-cidal note from the dam spot.

Tensions erupted after thenews of her death reached hervillage Bangore where villagerscreated a ruckus in front of herschool. They alleged that thegirl took the extreme step dueto harassment by a schoolteacher. The Anandpur Sub-Collector and the AdditionalSP rushed to the spot andmanaged to pacify the vil-lagers. PNS

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For the first time in India, amega All-Terrain Vehicle

(ATV) Championship sched-uled to be held from March 4to 7 at the DLF Cyber City here.

The racing competition isbased on real life challengesand disaster management usingATV, informed Kalinga MotorSports Club president PraveenChandra Bhanjadeo here onMonday.

The event will be organisedby Autosports India, in associ-ation with Kalinga MotorsportsClub, supported by Ministry ofSports, Government of Odisha,FIA and FMSCI (Federation ofMotorsports Club of India).

The event would be at parwith competition standards of

UK, USA, Australia, Austria,Germany and Japan. Apartfrom sporting, the event aimsto educate the people andspread awareness regardingthe wide application of suchversatile vehicles for disastermanagement and accessingrough terrains.

The competition willencourage on engineeringdesign, manufacturing, racingand utility in which partici-pants from all over the coun-try have to design and then fab-ricate ATV and use it to servefor mankind, said AvinasSingh, an organizer.

Besides the competition,participants and general masscan interact with the top carmanufacturing giants in aunique auto expo.

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Eminent Odia writerShakuntala Baliarsingh

would get the Kendra SahityaAkademi award for translationfor the year 2015. She hasbeen chosen for the award forher novel Kaberi Bhali Jhia Tie.

The original novel waswritten by TripurasundariLaxmi in Tamil. Baliarsingh hastranslated the Tamil novel OruKeberi Yai Polar.

Baliarsingh is an eminentstorywriter and a novelist.Agyantabasa ra Iti Katha,Kalankita Jyoshna andSwaymsidhha are some of herfamous works.

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Page 5: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

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Transparency within judi-ciary hit another low on

Monday when the SupremeCourt refused to share infor-mation under the RTI Act ofcases reserved for judgment.

Closing the option for liti-gants and public spirited personsto know details of cases whichare waiting endlessly for finaldecision even though argumentsare long over, the apex courtrefused to interfere with a DelhiHigh Court decision stallingthe information under RTI.

Approaching the apexcourt against the Delhi HCorder of January 7 this year wasRTI activist CommodoreLokesh Batra, who wished toknow whether information ofsuch cases are available with thehighest court of the land and tobe supplied a copy of the same.

Dismissing the appeal byBatra, the apex Bench of JusticesPC Ghose and Amitava Royfound no fault in the HC deci-sion, which held that such infor-mation was not available withthe apex court. Interestingly,when Batra had firstapproached the CentralInformation Commission (CIC)for the above information underRTI, the Delhi High Courtreadily supplied the list whilethe Supreme Court refused.

Despite CIC’s order to part

with information, the SupremeCourt refused to budge and filedan appeal against the CIC orderof August 3, 2011. After a sin-gle judge upheld the CIC order,the SC remained adamant andfiled an appeal before theDivision Bench of Delhi HCthat finally reversed the decisionby CIC and the single judge.

Finding it strange how SCcould shut litigants from seek-ing this basic information,advocate Prashant Bhushan,appearing for Batra, found ithard to believe that apex court

did not maintain this infor-mation. According to him, inthe HC, Registrar of SupremeCourt had admitted that thesaid information exists.

He told the apex Bench thatdismissal of the appeal wouldgo against its own decision of2011 in Anil Rai v State of Bihar,where the top court noted withsome concern the undue delayin pronouncing of judgments.It said, “Delay in disposal of thecases facilitates the people toraise eyebrows, sometime gen-uinely which, if not checked,may shake the confidence of thepeople in the judicial system.”The said judgment even laiddown guidelines which set asix-month period for a judg-ment to be pronounced pur-suant to which litigants in a par-ticular case could approach theChief Justice of the particularHigh Court complaining ofdelay and even seek the casetransfer to another bench.

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The Supreme Court onMonday gave its nod to the

Army’s Command Exit Modelwhich gave preference in pro-motions from the rank of Lt Colto Colonel in the combat wingsof the armed force. The policywas challenged by Lt Cols serv-ing in non-combat arms, whofelt left out in the process.

The court, however,directed Army to create 141additional Colonel posts toaccommodate Lt Cols servingin non-combat arms, chieflyArmy Service Core, who weredue for promotion between2009 and 2014.

The judgment by a Benchof Chief Justice TS Thakur andJustice Kurian Joseph hascome as a big relief for Army,which had come to the apexcourt challenging an orderpassed by Armed ForcesTribunal that quashed theCommand Exit Model.Finding no fault with theModel, the Bench upheld thereasoning behind the policydecision to have Colonelsheading Command at ayounger age. This model

brought into force on January20, 2009 was based on thefinding by a committee head-ed by former DefenceSecretary Ajay Vikram Singhthat as seen during the KargilWar, getting top combat offi-cers to exit Command atyounger age would be pro-ductive for Army operations.

The AFT quashed the pol-icy as it felt that the said deci-sion weighed in favour ofcombat officers from Infantryand Artillery in getting quickpromotions over officers fromSupport wings such asEngineering and Medical.

The apex court whileupholding the Command ExitModel gave partial relief to theaggrieved officers fromServices Core by directingCentre to create 141 addition-al posts of Colonel for ‘CombatSupport’ wing in the Army.

The Bench further heldthat officers serving in theServices were distinct fromArms and Arms Supportwings, although they draw thesame salary, hold the samerank, wear the same uniformand serve the same employerwith similar service benefits.

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ABJP delegation led by UnionMinister and senior leader

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday metChief Election Commissioner anddemanded deployment of Centralforces to ensure “free and fair elections”in West Bengal and Kerala and regis-tered complained of “serious discrep-ancy” in voters list in the latter State.

The BJP delegation said deploy-ment of Central security forces andspecial observers is needed in boththe States during election process sothat people can participate in the vot-ing process “fearlessly and fear-freeelections are ensured.”

The Election Commissionassured the BJP leaders of ” positiveaction” on their demands . TheCommission assured that scrutiny ofvoters’ list will be held at booth-levelin Kerala. The Commission alsoassured of fair and fear-free electionsin West Bengal, said the BJP leaders.

Besides Naqvi, BJP NationalGeneral Secretary Shri Arun Singh,National Secretary Shrikant Sharmaand Spokespersons Shri SudhanshuTrivedi and Nalin Kohli were part ofthe delegation.

The BJP delegation said thatdiscrepancies on a large scale havebeen found in voters’ list published

for 2016 in Kerala. “Population of Kerala is

3,34,06,061 according to 2011 census,but 2,56,27,620 voters have beenshown in the voters list which isimpossible because people under 18years of age had also been includedin the census. Besides this, about23.63 lakh Non-Resident Keraliteshave not included in the voters list”,said the BJP leaders and demandedthat these mistakes be correctedimmediately and on-line voters’ reg-istration should continue.

Fearing that some political par-ties might “indulge in violence” todisturb election process in Kerala, thedelegation maintained communaland violent incidents have also beentaking place in various parts of WestBengal continuously with “hundredsof BJP workers killed”.

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In the first instance of sackingof the Vice-Chancellor of a

Central university, PresidentPranab Mukherjee hasapproved the dismissal of VisvaBharati V-C SushantaDattagupta. The dismissalsanction comesafter HRD MinisterSmriti Irani met thePresident last weekto convince himafter RashtrapatiBhavan and theHRD Ministry hada protracted viewon the issue.

In the wake ofserious financialand administrativeallegations against Dattagupta,the HRD Ministry last year hadrecommended to the President,who is Visitor of the universi-ty, for his dismissal. ThePresident’s Office, had, how-ever, raised certain queriesafter which the Ministry hadsought the opinion of the LawMinistry before the Presidenttook the final call on dismissalof Dattagupta. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is theChancellor of the Viswa BhartiUniversity.

“The President, who is theVisitor of Central universities,has approved the dismissal ofVisva Bharati V-C Dattagupta,as proposed by the Ministry,”Ghanshyam Goel, spokesper-

son for the HRD Ministrysaid. Dattagupta, who wasappointed in 2011 by thenPrime Minister ManmohanSingh as Chancellor, had oversix months of his tenure left.The HRD Ministry had alsoinitiated proceedings againstthen Delhi University Vice-

Chancellor DineshSingh, but he man-aged and completedhis tenure lastOctober.

Mukherjee hadtwice earlierreturned the filerelating toDattagupta to theHRD Ministry, thelatest in Novemberlast year, asking

whether denying the V-C a“hearing in person” on allega-tions levelled against him waslegally tenable, triggering spec-ulation that both were not onthe same page on the matter.However, after the LawMinistry backed the HRD’sview, the file was again sent tothe President paving the wayfor the V-C’s dismissal.

Charges against Duttaguptaincluded drawing salary fromVisva Bharati and pension fromJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) simultaneously in allegedviolation of the law. Under thelaw, he was required to have gothis pension amount deductedfrom the pay he received fromVisva Bharati.

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Aweek ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament,Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to reach

out to the Opposition by convening a meeting of lead-ers of major political parties on Tuesday. The meet-

ing is aimed at seekingcooperation for thesmooth functioning ofthe Budget Session in thebackdrop of virtualwashout of proceedingsin the last two sessionsdue to a host of issues.

Significantly, this isthe first such meeting

convened by the Prime Minister, who has comeunder attack from a section of the Opposition, espe-cially the Congress which has accused him of beinghell-bent on confrontation and failing to take otherparties into confidence.

The Government managers have time and againmaintained that the key reform GST Bill was top ofthe agenda of the Government in the three-month-long Session which starts on February 23. SeniorCabinet Ministers maintained that it is not an all-partymeeting and the Bills the Government seeks to intro-duce or pass in the Session will not be discussed.

“He will seek their cooperation to run the Housessmoothly,” said a senior Minister. The meeting comesat a time when Government wants to push keyreform Bills like GST and labour laws in the session.

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The Ministry of ExternalAffairs will host the 8th edi-

tion of Delhi Dialogue, anevent between India andASEAN, from February 17 to19. The theme this year isASEAN-India Relations: A newparadigm.

According to MEA officials,political leaders, policy makers,senior officials, diplomats, busi-ness leaders, think tanks and aca-demicians will have intense dis-cussions on improving traderelations between ASEAN coun-tries and India and having secu-rity co-operation.

Discussions in businesssession scheduled for February17, will focus on co-manufac-turing, promoting cross bordertrade, start-ups and digitaliza-tion, infrastructure and sus-tainable energy and econom-ic integration. On February 18,there will be ministerial sessionhosted by EAM SushmaSwaraj, while the AcademicSession on February 19 willdiscuss ASEAN and the secu-rity of Asia Pacific, ASEAN-INDIA and the OceanEconomy Dynamics.

Apart from experts andmedia persons, some promi-nent Parliamentarians ofSingapore, Vietnam, Cambodia,Thailand, Myanmar, Lao DPRwill be participating in thethree-day event.

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In the backdrop of BJP chiefAmit Shah attacking

Congress vice-president RahulGandhi, the Congress onMonday targeted the top lead-ership of the BJP, includingPrime Minister Narendra Modiand former PM Atal BihariVajpayee and also raked upissues like Kandahar and Kargil.

Targeting PM Modi andformer PM Vajpayee, theCongress alleged that those“whose quest for propagatingpersonal leadership surpassedthe interest of the Nation” andwhich led to the Kargil Warfirst and then attacks inDinanagar, Udhampur andfinally Pathankot, should notteach lessons of patriotism tothe Congress.

AICC spokesman RandeepSurjewala said it was “distress-ing and condemnable” that“those who helped British andsided with them” in the freedommovement and whose parent

organisation RSS did not hoistthe national flag at its head-quarters in Nagpur were teach-ing nationalism to the Congress.Surjewala also recalled the ter-ror strike on Parliament andfreeing dreaded terrorists likeMasood Azhar in Kandaharduring the Vajpayee regime.

Hitting hard at Amit Shah,the Congress spokesperson saidthose once “externed by theSupreme Court over criminalcharges” should not teach patri-otism and love for the nation tohis party. He said it is ironicalthat those who are “inheritorsof the thought process ofNathuram Godse” are givingnew definition of patriotismand love for the nation.

Asserting that the Congresshad played a “stellar role” in thefreedom movement with itsleaders living and dying for thecause, Surjewala said it is also“great inheritor” of the ideologyof Indira Gandhi, who made thesupreme sacrifice for the nation.

He alleged there was a pat-

tern to the row in JNU whichshowed a “concerted conspir-acy” of the Modi Governmentand its attitude of “intolerance”.He recalled the problems facedby students earlier at FTII,Ambedkar Periyar Centre andthe Hyderabad Universitywhere a Dalit scholar RohithVemulla committed suicide.

Seeking to dismiss criti-cism on the Afzal Guru issue,Surjewala said the partybelieved that Indian Union, 67years after Independence, isstrong enough that “we willgive fair treatment and a fair

trial to worst of our enemiesand if that was not our beliefand if that was not part of ourfounding ethos, then terroristAfzal Guru would not havebeen convicted up to theSupreme Court and punishedthrough due process.”

Surjewala said that when ahandful of people raised anti-India slogans on the JNU cam-pus, the Congress strongly con-demned it and demanded thataction should be taken againstthem. He alleged that Shah andModi are levelling “unjustifiedand unwarranted” allegations to

divert attention of the peoplefrom the core issues of gover-nance and delivery as they have“failed on every single index ofdevelopment and governance.”

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BJP leader SudhanshuTrivedi on Monday defend-

ed Home Minister RajnathSingh’s comment over hisremarks that LeT founder HafizSaeed’s support to the JNUincident, saying people shouldprotest this in unison ratherthan questioning it.

“As per a political view-point, the Home Minister hadappealed to people from dif-ferent areas of society to comeand protest against anti-nation-al powers. But sadly, ratherthan protesting, why are youbecoming advocate for a ter-rorist who has made a state-ment,” Trivedi asked.

Rajnath claimed that theJNU event in Delhi in memoryof Parliament attack convictAfzal Guru had received “sup-port” from terror outfit LeT’sfounder Hafiz Saeed, a statement

that sparked a political slug-festwith Opposition parties askinghim to provide evidence.

Dismissing the Oppositioncharges, Trivedi, BJPspokesman, said “This couldnot be a subject of public dis-course. The ways, timings andthe medium that terrorist andanti-national activities use is asubject of consideration forintelligence and security agen-cies and cannot be a subject ofpublic discourse.”

Describing theOpposition’s reaction as “unfor-tunate”, Trivedi said, “Despite

this, to blame the Governmenton a particular issue, withoutgoing into details is utterlywrong and unfortunate.”

Making a counter-attackon Congress, Trivedi said thisis “very surprising in itself ”.

“I would like to say thatthose who talk about blaming arethe same people who had saidHafiz Saeed as Hafiz Sahab.These are the same people whohad merged their voices, whilesitting in India, with Hafiz Saeedwho was the sole person tooppose PM Narendra Modi’sPakistan tour in December lastyear,” he said targeting formerUPA Home Minister.

Amid a rising controversyover an event at JNU, RSS leaderDattatreya Hosabale has allegedthat it was a result of a “con-spiracy” and those who raisedslogans in support of Pakistanand Afzal Guru are “traitors” andshould be charged with treason.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday dismisseda plea seeking CBI probe intothe 2002 hit-and-run case onthe ground that corruptmeans have been adopted insecuring the acquittal ofBollywood superstar SalmanKhan.

“Theseare all wildallegations.He musthave spent�25 croreon lawyers,”a Bench comprising Justices JSKhehar and R Banumathiobserved when the lawyersaid there were news reportsquoting Salim Khan that theyhad to spend �25 crore insecuring acquittal for hissuperstar son. PTI

New Delhi: The mortalremains of nine Siachen brave-hearts, who were buried aliveon February 3 in an avalanchein the world’s highest battle-field, were on Monday broughthere to be flown to their respec-tive States.

A wreath-laying ceremonywas also held at the PalamTechnical Airport which wasattended by Minister of Statefor Defence Rao Inderjit Singh,Army chief Gen Dalbir SinghSuhag, IAF chief Air ChiefMarshal Arup Raha amongothers. One of nine whose mor-tal remains were brought wasSubedar Nagesha TT, a highlymotivated Junior CommissionedOfficer, also known as ‘Rambo’.

The JCO had served 12years in tough field areas out ofhis 22 years of service. Duringhis career, he had taken part in‘Operation Parakaram’ wherehe laid and recovered largenumber of mines, officials said.

He also participated inOperation Rakshak atMendhar in Jammu & Kashmirfor two years where he wasactively involved in counter-insurgency operations. He vol-unteered to serve withRashtriya Rifles in Jammu &Kashmir for two years.

The JCO also volunteered toserve as a Commando in NSGfor three years. Later, he went toNorth East from 2009 to 2012 totake part in ‘Operation Rhino’where he was part of several suc-cessful operations against themilitants as the ghatak platoon

JCO, they said.His colleagues remember

him as ‘Rambo’ who used to liftothers weapons as well as loadin addition to his own. He washighly adventurous and also dida para-motor course with out-standing grading. He is survivedby wife Asha and two sons AmitTN and Preetham TN aged sixand four respectively.

Havildar Elumalai M, a

Non Commissioned Officer(NCO) who had high level ofinitiative and was always will-ing to carry out any taskassigned to him, was alsoamong the dead.

He joined 19th BattalionThe Madras Regiment onOctober 28, 1996 and ever sincehe became an inseparable part ofthe battalion. The NCO hadalways displayed high degree of

courage and had conducted sev-eral successful small team oper-ations against terrorists in bothJammu & Kashmir and North-East during his nine years of fieldservice, the officials said.

Because of his ability tomotivate his juniors and leadthem from front the NCO wasselected to be part of SonamPost which required men withnerves of steel and high level of

physical fitness.He attained Instructor grad-

ing in Weapon Course atInfantry School, Mhow and wasposted as Instructor at TheMadras Regimental Centre,Wellington where he trainedseveral recruits and his work waspraised by his superiors. He wasalso part of the Unit TrainingTeam prior to induction of theunit to Siachen Glacier. PTI

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Lending support to thearrested JNUSU president

Kanhaiya Kumar and the stu-dents who allegedly raised anti-India slogans on universitycampus, Chief Minister NitishKumar on Monday askedUnion Home Minister RajnathSingh to come up with evi-dence that the student leaderwas involved in an act of sedi-tion and also prove his chargethat LeT chief Hafiz Saeed wassupporting the students.

“A nefarious campaign hasbeen unleashed to defame aprestigious institution like JNUand impose the RSS backedideologies. The Centre for noreason is unhappy with JNUand trying to blur its character.There are people who thinkthat only their ideology ispatriotic and others anti-

national. All is being done atthe instance of RSS throughABVP,” Nitish alleged.

Supporting KanhaiyaKumar, who hails fromBegusarai in Bihar, and the Leftparties, the CM said nobodycould believe that they areinvolved in anti-national activ-ities despite having differenceswith their ideologies.

Nitish posed a question toBJP leadership why their leaderRam Madhav had discussionwith the Independent J&KMLA who has been cam-paigning in favour of Afzal

Guru during the formation ofa Government there and whataction was taken against him.

He said he was opposed tothe raising of anti-India slogansadding, the incident should bethoroughly investigated. Healso lashed out at efforts toeulogise Gandhi’s murdererNathuram Godse and partici-pation of certain BJP leaders inthose events.

“They should not havethink that being in power theycan impose their ideologieson others. The ABVP wants torun all the universities on its

whims. Sedition is wrong ifproved but before labeling thischarge on any individual orparty one should show con-vincing proof,” Bihar CM said.

Nitish also announced legalaction against all those whowrongly quoted him on IshratJehan, the girl from Bihar whowas killed in an encounter inGujarat. “I never said that shewas ‘Bihar ki beti’ (Bihar’sdaughter) and anyone whowrongly quoted me as sayingthis and publishing or airing it,I will proceed legally againstthem. The legal proceeding isunder way,” he said.

After David Headley’s rev-elation that Ishrat was associ-ated with LeT, someOpposition leaders had soughtNitish’s apology for calling her`Bihar ki beti.’

Nitish who was interactingwith the media on the sidelinesof his weekly janata darbar aftera long gap, said there wasnothing unusually wrong inBihar and his Government wascommitted to take on criminalsirrespective of their positionand party affiliation.

Asked about the failure ofBihar police in nabbing RJD

MLA Rajballabh Yadav who isaccused in a rape case, he said,“Action is under way and hewould be arrested and therewill be speedy trial. Whosoever breaking law andinvolved in heinous crime willbe taken to task without anydiscrimination.”

Briefing about his meetingon law and order, the CM saidall aspects are being studiedand action plan being pre-pared. All the SPs have beendirected to send crime reportof their districts by seekingdetails from each police stationand send it to the headquartersand a 24/7 helpline has beenarranged in the office of theDGP which will be strictlymanaged and action initiated.“On Wednesday again I willhold day-long meeting on lawand order and will speak to allzonal IGs and SPs throughvideoconferencing, he said.Asked about the demand of theimposition of President’s rule,he laughed, “Let them do it, Iwill get some time to relax.” Headded, “Nothing is unusuallyabnormal in Bihar. There maybe something wrong in theminds of some people.”

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Patna: Chief Minister NitishKumar on Monday hit out atthe Centre for not permittingBihar to excavate its archivesand bring before the world itsancient heritage.

Attacking the Ministry ofCulture and its Minister MaheshSharma without taking name, hesaid the excavation work atTelhara in Nalanda district con-ducted by the State Governmenthas been stopped by the Centre.

The CM said during theinitial excavation at Telhara, theremains of a first century edu-cational institution were foundand it was reported to the

Archaeological Survey of India(ASI). If it is fully excavated itwill be a major revelation forthe world because the ancientNalanda University dated backto fifth century, he added. TheASI, he said, wanted a finalreport on Telhara which is notpossible without full excava-tion. ASI itself has not submit-ted final report about theNalanda ruins, he added.

Nitish said Bihar has a lot ofold heritage sites which neededto be excavated to open new his-torical chapters. “But the ASI isneither interested in excavationnor allowing us to do it. When

we started doing this after duepermission the excavation workat Telhara was stopped. They arenot interested to find the his-torical heritage but interestedonly to search jungle raj inBihar,” the CM said.

Similarly, the CM said thatremains in Raj Ballabh Garh inMadhubani district were sup-posed to be 2,000 years old butASI despite requests did nottake up it. He said he had alsowritten to then PM about it but to no avail. He aid at anyhigh level meeting he wouldtake up this matter of nation-al importance. PNS

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The Congress and the Leftparties on Monday jointly

sponsored a “citizen’s rally” toprotest against police actionJNU students over alleged anti-india sloganeering at universitycampus in Delhi, exploiting the opportunity to buttress an alliance ahead of 0Assembly election.

Launching a scathingattack on the Centre for “try-ing to control JNU by pushingin policemen and trampleupon people’s right to freedomof speech,” State Congressleader OP Mishra said anyarrest without proper inquiryand just on the basis of hearsayevidences was not acceptablein free India.

Professor Moidul Islam ofPresidency College said therewas no difference between theBJP Government in the Centreand the Trinamool Congress inBengal which was also guilty of

“desecrating campuses” bysending policemen in Jadavpurand Presidency Universities.

Among those who partic-ipated in the long march fromCollege Square to DorinaCrossing in Kolkata wereSomen Mitra, Abdul Mannan,Pradip Bhattacharya of theCongress and Manju KumarMajumdar, Sujan Chakrabarty,Bikash Bhattacharya, NarenDey and Ritabrata Banerjee ofthe Left Front.

“We had invited all thelike-minded secular partiesagainst the BJP Government’sdesigns to saffronise Indianuniversities but some partiesare conspicuously absent fromtoday’s march proving therebythat they are also hand-in-glove with the RSS,” formerKolkata Mayor and Left leaderBhattacharya said apparentlytargeting the TrinamoolCongress and playing at theminority gallery.

The Monday’s walk tend-

ed to assume importance notso much for the stated soli-darity shown in with the JNUstudents as the cause of aCongress-Left Alliance it but-tressed at a time when the topleadership of the both thegroups were discussingprospects of a mutual tie-up.

The Monday’s march isalso seen as a bid to exercisepressure on the CPI(M) polit-buro and the Congress highcommand by the respectiveState leaders of these parties sothat the top leadership of theseparties agree to a Congress-Left electoral alliance inBengal. The Congress and Leftleaders of Kerala are not infavour of an alliance in Bengal.

“Such marches are orga-nized only after the minds ofthe people unite vis a vis agiven situation and if it pavesthe way for a broad basedunderstanding of the peoplethen there is no harm in it”said CPI(M) leaders.

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In a move that might resolvethe ongoing crisis in

Arunachal Pradesh, a jointdelegation of members ofArunachal Pradesh LegislativeAssembly on Monday metArunachal Pradesh GovernorJP Rajkhowa at the Raj Bhavanand submitted a memoran-dum, staking claim to form theGovernment in the State.

A statement issued by theArunachal Pradesh Raj Bhavansaid this while adding that thedelegation led by Kalikho Pulcame with 22 Congress legis-lators, ten BJP legislators andtwo independent legislators.

“Member of the Assembly,Chowna Mein along with 4other MLAs, also submitted amemorandum to the Governorstating that they are withKalikho Pul. They reaffirmedtheir support to the leadershipof Kalikho Pul to be the headof the Council of Ministers andthat that may be sworn in at theend of the President’s rule inthe State,” the statement said.

Further Leader of theOpposition in the Assembly,Tamiyo Taga, also came alongwith other ten BJP legislators

and submitted a memoran-dum extending their uncondi-tional support to Pul.

“In affirmation of this sup-port to Kalikho Pul, we, theeleven members belonging tothe BJP in the ArunachalPradesh Legislative Assembly,hereby sign this document andwe urge you to kindly inviteKalikho Pul to form theGovernment in the State assoon as the Proclamationunder Article 356 is revoked orwhenever it ceases to operate,”the memorandum said.

“The two IndependentMLAs, Paknga Bage andTsering Tashi also submitted aMemorandum to the governorextending their support to Pul.They affirmed their support toPul to be the leader of thehouse and to be the next ChiefMinister of the State whenev-er the Proclamation under arti-cle 356 of the Constitutionthat is currently operative isrevoked or ceases to be opera-tive,” said the statement issuedby Raj Bhavan.

The Governor assured thedelegation to put forward theirclaims to the President of Indiafor information and directionif any after duly examining andconsulting legal experts. Headded that it is for thePresident of India to decidewhether to lift the PresidentRule (PR) in the State or notand when.

“Again, it is for the

President of India to make adecision on reviving the life ofthe Assembly by revoking thesuspension order. TheGovernor hoped that therewill be a stable, solid anddemocratically elected people’sGovernment in the state onrevocation of the PR,” the state-ment said.

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Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi on Monday

indirectly blamed the RSSand the BJP for the recent sui-cide of Dalit student RohitVemula and police actionagainst JNU students.

“Friends, I have gone toHyderabad a few days ago. ADalit student Rohit Vemula hadcommitted suicide there. Hedid nothing wrong. He only saidwhatever he had in his heartsand whatever he has to say. TheMinisters of the Government ofIndia ordered the universitythat he is a traitor and so he mustbe banned from the university,forcing him to commit suicide,”said Gandhi.

“In IITs, the youth stood upand tell about the Dalits,Government of India says he isa traitor. The president of JNUstudents’ union gave a goodspeech — he spoke about poorpeople, weak people, progress,Adivasis and development etc.

What the Government of Indiasays—it terms them a traitors.So wherever the youth goesagainst or speaks against theideologies of the RSS and theBJP, they term them as traitors.It seems the RSS has openedthe shop of deshbhakti, onlythey can say who is a patriotand a traitor. Friends, we mustsee who are these people (readBJP and RSS). They are thepeople who shot three bulletsto Mahatma Gandhiji. Theseare the people who bowedtheir heads to the British. Nowthey tell us to take license ofDeshbhakti?” said the AICCleader.

“But this is not fair. I want totell them that as much they willpressurize the youth, more youthwill stand up against them andchallenge them,” he said.

“What is the meaning ofindependence if the RSS cantake away the voice of theyouth. Friends, they have onlyone agenda—they want power,”he said.

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In an effort to retain the Congress’ teatribe vote bank in Assam, AICC vice-

president Rahul Gandhi on Mondaylaunched the party’s poll campaign in thetea belt of Assam even as he said that theBJP might try to trigger communal ten-sion in the poll-bound State.

Rahul Gandhi embarked on a two-dayAssam visit on Monday and addressed atleast three meetings in tea rich UpperAssam. While Gandhi addressedCongress’ booth level workers at Gohpur,he also addressed the women workers ofthe party at Bihpuria and addressed a pub-lic rally at Titabor — the home con-stituency of Assam Chief Minister TarunGogoi. Later, the AICC leader also met agroup of tea tribe leaders at Jorhat.

“Wherever BJP goes and contests anelection, it engineers violence. This is thedifference between the Congress and theBJP. While we work for peace, the BJPwants to spread violence and destroy thebrotherhood between communities. Theywant to make the Hindus fight againstMuslims. You can see in Bihar,Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana-wherever they (BJP) had gone, they trig-gered clashes between communities byspreading hatred,” said Gandhi.

“However, Laluji, Nitishji andCongress joined hands in Bihar and wespread brotherhood there and won theelections, the same will be repeated here.

Their perception was that by turning theHindus against the Muslims, they willwin. Now, the same thing is going to hap-pen in Assam,” said Rahul Gandhi.

It may be mentioned here thatalthough the tea belt in Assam is a tradi-tional vote bank of the Congress, theCongress-which has been in power inAssam since 2001-fared badly in the tea beltareas in the last Lok Sabha polls in 2014.

The AICC leader also attacked thePrime Minister Narendra Modi and saidthat the Prime Minister only makes loftypromises but never fulfills them. “Iremember Modiji came here ahead of theLok Sabha polls and assured that Rs. 15lakh will be deposited in the account ofeach Indians. Have anyone of you got theamount?” he asked.

“He had assured jobs for the youthand to contain price rise. However, theprices of pulse have reached Rs. 200now and the BJP government had notbeen able to give jobs,” he said addingthat when Modiji became PrimeMinister, he also withdrew the specialcategory status to Assam and othernortheastern States.

“You all know what the situation inAssam was like 15 years back. Youremember those violent days when youwere afraid of going out of your home. Buttoday you are not afraid. The reason isGogoi and the Congress, who had beenworking for peace and development of thestate,” Gandhi said.

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New Delhi: ArunachalPradesh Governor was not theaggrieved party, the SupremeCourt said on Monday as itfocussed on the decisions ofGovernor JP Rajkhowa toadvance the Assembly sessionand fix the agenda of the House.

"In the facts of the case, theaggrieved party is either theCongress party or the MLAs(who had been disqualified bySpeaker Nabam Rebia), thenhow does the Governor comesinto picture, he is not aggriev-ed by anything," a five-judgeconstitution bench headed byJustice J S Khehar said.

The bench did not agreewith the submission that theSpeaker was under clout andhence, Governor was justified infixing the agenda that the Houseshould first decide as to whetherRebia enjoyed majority supportas the Speaker or not. PTI

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Sunday’s fire at a culturalevent organised at the

Girgaum Chowpatty in southMumbai by the MaharashtraGovernment had no bearing onthe the third day proceedingsat the “Make-In-India” Weekbeing held at the MMRDAgrounds at Bandra-KurlaComplex (BKC) here onMonday, even as the Mumbaifire brigade began a probe intoall aspects relating to the inci-dent, including sabotage angle.

Though the mishap didhave have minor psychologicalimpact on the organisers, theprogrammes and events sched-uled at the “Make In India”Week venue for the day threewent on as per schedule.

“As many as 25,000 peoplehave been registered and all thesessions are full and are beingover-subscribed. We havearound 1,200 to 1,300 foreigncompanies participating fromBrazil, Korea, UK, Japan, Spainand others. From tomorrow, theevent shifts to become youthcentric with hackathons andevents on start-ups,” AmitabhKant, Secretary of Departmentof Industrial Policy &Promotion (DIPP), said.

Kant also said that theevent was a platform forMinisters to meet investorsand businessmen, listen tothem and address any issuesthat they might have. “Neverbefore in India have we seen somany states come together foran event. Twelve ChiefMinisters are expected to be atthe event and understandinvestor pulse,” he said

Not wanting to take anychances – especially in thebackdrop of Sunday’s fire at the

Girgaum Chowpatty in southMumbai, the organisersreviewed the fire safety mea-sures and fire proofing systemsat the MMRDA grounds innorth-central Mumbai.

“The main venue of theMake In India Centre at theMMRDA Grounds at BandraKurla Complex is safe. Securityand fire safety measures havebeen reviewed.

The disaster managementteam has deployed over 500 fireextinguishers and 60 fire mar-shals at the venue. “If anunforeseen event occurs, evac-uation can be done without anycasualty,” Atul Chaturvedi, theJoint Secretary of DIPP, said.

Maharashtra Chief MinisterShri Devendra Fadnavis, whose

Government is hosting the“Make In India” week, hadtweeted last night that Make InIndia events at the main venuewould go on as planned.

Union Ministers RaviShankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal,Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman andDharmendra Pradhan were pre-sent at the venue attending var-ious sectoral seminars beingheld at the Make In India Centre.Defence Minister ManoharParrikar visited the Make InIndia Expo and the DRDOPavilion in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Mumbaifire brigade personnel began acomprehensive inquiry intoSunday’s fire at the GirgaumChowpatty in south Mumbai,where a massive fire had bro-

ken on the stage of a culturalprogramme “MaharashtraRajani” when Marathi actressPuja Sawant was performing aLavani dance. However, noone was injured in the incident.

Three theories haveemerged as to what might haveled to the fire at the GirgaumChowpatty. They are: short-cir-cuit in the electrical systemsand equipment connecting thesound and light, improper stor-ing and handling of cylindersused for pyrotechnics and asuspected sabotage.

Maharashtra ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavis,who was present at the mishaptill late on Sunday reviewingthe fire-extinguishing and evac-uation operations, held a

detailed meeting both MumbaiPolice Commissioner DattaPadsalgikar, MunicipalCommissioner Ajoy Mehta andChief Fire Officer PSRahangdale.

“We are going into allaspects of the fire,” Rahangdalesaid, as his department

In a related development,noted Bollywood set designerNitin Desai, who had designedthe stage at the GirgaumChowpatty cultural event andMessrs Wizcraft InternationalEntertainment Pvt Ltd, theevent manager – claimed thatthey were not at fault.

“There were no problems,issues with set design, set con-struction. This is for the firsttime such a thing has happenedin my career,” said Desai, whohas in the past designed sets forBollywood movies like Lagaan,Jodhaa Akbar, Devdas, MissionKashmir and Lage RahoMunnabhai.

The stage erected for theGirgaum chowpatty event wasaround 160 ft x 120 ft. “Thedetailed planning, both withregard to smooth execution ofthe event and disaster man-agement in case of an unfor-tunate incident, ensured thatthere were no casualties and noinjuries. Prior to the event allsafety checks and audits weredone during rehearsals andprior to the show. All fire andsafety norms prescribed havebeen followed,” Wizcraft said ina statement.

There were in all 50 to 60artistes on stage, while therewere 300-odd artists in thenearby green rooms when thefire broke out on the stagewhen “Maharashtra Lokdhara”(folk dances of Maharashtra)event was underway.

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Come April 11, 2016, normallife in the country will go

haywire following the indefinitestrike call given by 47 lakhCentral Government employeesincluding 14 lakh workers ofthe Indian Railway to protestagainst the “retrograde recom-mendations of the Seventh PayCommission” and the failure ofthe Union Government to meettheir “Charter of Demands”.

“This Government at theCentre is worried only about theinterests of the corporates and itis totally against the welfare of theworkforce,” alleged N Kannaiah,working president of the AllIndia Railwaymen’s Federationwho declared at Chennai onMonday the decision of theJoint Council of Action to go onan indefinite strike. Kannaiahsaid he would call on the south-ern railway general manager onMarch 11 to hand over themandatory strike notice. .

“This is the first all Indiageneral strike by theRailwaymen after the 23 daystrike in 1974 which literallyparalysed the country. Thatstrike also led to the change ofGovernment,” Kannaiah, themost feared trade union leaderin South India reminded the

Union Government.Kannaiah said the decision

to declare the indefinite strikewas taken after a secret ballotamong the Railwaymen amongSouthern Railway numbering86,724. He said 90.1 per cent ofthe total workers expressedtheir support in favour of anindefinite strike.

Kannaiah, who is also thegeneral secretary of theSouthern Railway MazdoorUnion, said that the employeeshave been demanding themerger of 100 per centDearness Allowance, paymentof interim relief, scraping ofnew pension scheme andimplementation of variousdemands which they had sub-mitted to the Government.

“Though the previousGovernment led byManmohan Singh a was sym-pathetic to our demands andthe then Railway MinisterMallikarjun Kharge took up theissue of exempting Railwaymenfrom the purview of the NewPension Scheme, the NewGovernment refused to acceptall our demands. It alsoannounced policies such as100 per cent foreign directinvestment in Railways andDefence, and also the intentionto bifurcate Postal Departmentby converting postal savingsunder postal bank. This hascreated a lot of discontentmentamong the employees,” said theleader of the AIRF.

Though the Railwayemployees had earlier decidedto go on an indefinite strikefrom November 23, 2015 the

National Joint Council of Actiondecided to postpone the strikeso that the authorities couldstudy the full impact of the rec-ommendations of the 7th PayCommission recommendation.“ We had demanded that theCentral Government shoulddeclare its intentions on the 36charter of demands we hadsubmitted and which includes aminimum basic pay of�26,000/- instead of �18,000 asdeclared by the Government,”said Kannaiah.

He pointed out that 52 kindof allowances enjoyed by theRailwayen sice the third PayCommission has been cancelledby the new Government causingsevere inconvenience to theemployees. “We want the UnionGovernment to reject theDebroy Committee reportwhich had recommended thetotal privatisation of the IndianRailways. The Bullet Train whichis being planned to betweenAhmedabad and Mumbai ismeant for the rich and power-ful in the country. A ticket bythis train would cost �8,000 andthis is not for the poor sections,”he said. Kannaiah also wantedthe Union Government to fillthe 3,00,000 lakh vacancies inthe Railways.

Since the month of Aprilmarks the mid-summer vaca-tion for educational institutionsin the country, the travel plansof the common man would goawry with the strike call givenby Kannaiah. He also said that95 per cent of the commoditiesin the country are transportedby the railway.

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After hoisting the pink flagover the Greater

Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation, the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samitiappears all set to wrest onemore Assembly seat from theOpposition Congress.

Narayankhed Assemblyconstituency in Medak dis-trict where by-election wasnecessitated by the death ofCongress MLA Kishta appearsto be heading for a clean sweepby the ruling party if the exitpolls are to be believed.

Authorities have made elab-orate arrangements for thecounting of votes in the con-stituency on Tuesday. ReturnignOfficer Venkateshwarulu saidthat the counting of votes willstart at 8 am and the result wasexpected by noon. The con-stituency had recorded 82.75per cent polling on Sunday.

While Congress fieldedSanjiv Reddy, son of thedeceased MLA Kishta Reddy,the TRS pitted Bhupala Reddy.The by election assumed sig-nificance as the constituencyfalls in CM K ChandrasekharRao’s native district Medak.Apart from the major irrigationminister T Harish Rao per-sonally leading the campaign,the CM also participated in thecampaign seeking supportfrom the people for his devel-opment and welfare program.

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After Apache it will beAirbus helicopter to be

manufactured in Hyderabad.European aircraft manufactur-ing company Airbus officialshave indicated to TelanganaGovernment their interest insetting up a helicopter manu-facturing plant near Hyderabad.

The proposal came up fordiscussion when a team of AirBus officials met Arvind Kumar,State industries department sec-retary during the ‘Make InIndia’ program in Mumbai.

Arvind Kumar briefed theofficials of helicopter divisionof Air Bus about the facilitiesavailable at the Special

Economic Zone at Adibatlanear Hyderabad for such aplant. He invited the Air Busofficials to visit the SEZ.

Airbus proposal has comeclose on the heels of the decisionof Boeing company to enter intoa tie up with the Tata AdvancedSystem to produce Apache heli-copters in Hyderabad. TataAdvanced System is a $100 bil-lion aerospace and defence armof Tata Group with a vast facil-ity in the city outskirts.

With the TAS already in a tieup with the big names of aviationindustry including Lockheedmartin and Sikorsky, Hyderabadhas already made a name as anaviation industry hub producingthe body parts of aircrafts.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has heaped praises

on Hi-Tech Robotics whichhas the potential to conductrescue operations in Chemical,Biological, Radiological,Nuclear and even Avalanche-hit areas which recentlyclaimed life of Lance NayakHanumanthappa in Siachen.

Gurgaon based Hi-TechRobotics Private Ltd has devel-oped Chemical BiologicalRadiological Nuclear (CBRN)— Unmanned GroundVehicle (CBRN) in collabora-tion with DRDO.

This robot can be used forsaving lives of defence per-sonnel in warfare and variantsof this robot can be used for

video surveillance, UXO han-dling & combat / anti-terror-ist operations. At high alti-tudes with harsh environ-ments, the robot can do sur-veillance and can aid in rescueoperations where landing isnot possible.

S Radhakrishnan, OS &Director - Industry Interfaceand Technology Management,DRDO said robotics is thefuture of surveillance and rescueoperations. “Today Militarytechnology is becoming moreand more complex and Roboticsis going to play a big role indefense technology. Todaynumber of conventional systemsis coming into autonomousmode and Hi-Tech Roboticswho has been working in thisarea has got unique capabilities.

Robotics is a multi disciplinaryfield and a good understandingof mechanics, automation, elec-tronics, image processing is amust, it is a conclusion of alltechnologies into one andHitech Robotics has excellent insight in each one ofthem,” he said.

Anuj Kapuria, Director &CEO, The Hi-Tech RoboticSystemz Limited (THRSL) said,“the state of affairs havechanged drastically in the lastone and half years, we foreseetremendous growth possibili-ties and we need to focus ourenergies to ensure a sustainedgrowth in the robotics sector.DRDO has provided us anopportunity to develop tech-nology which can strengthenour armed forces.”

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Page 8: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

Although the era ofreckless use of Article356 is now behind usever since the signifi-cant judgement of the

Supreme Court in the Bommaicase, there is no running awayfrom the fact that political ingenu-ity can manufacture situationsthat no legal draftsman or judgecan ever anticipate. The latestimbroglio in Arunachal Pradesh,leading to imposition of President’sRule in the State is a case in point.

The State has come underCentral Rule following a bizarreturn of events last December fol-lowing dissensions in the rulingCongress. The drama unfolded asfollows: Rebel MLAs wanted theAssembly to be convened to voteout the Government; theGovernment was in no hurry toconvene the Session; the Governorbypassed the State Governmentand summoned the Assembly; theSpeaker, aligned to the ChiefMinister, disqualified 14 of therebels and “locked” the StateAssembly complex; Congressrebels teamed up with BharatiyaJanata Party MLAs in the opposi-tion and some independents,“convened” the State Assembly ina community hall and“impeached” the Speaker; there-after, they met in a local hotel and“voted out” the Chief Minister andelected a rebel Congress MLA in his place.

Following these events, theGovernor sent a series of report tothe Centre and informed it of theconstitutional breakdown in theState and the Centre responded byimposing President’s Rule in theState. The Assembly has been keptin suspended animation. The mat-ter is now before a ConstitutionBench of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court virtual-ly put an end to the gross misuseof Article 356 by the UnionGovernment when a nine-judgebench delivered its verdict in1994 in what is popularly knownas the Bommai case. The conclu-sions of the court in this case canbe summarised as follows:

i) The validity of the procla-mation issued by the Presidentunder Article 356(1) is judiciallyreviewable to the extent of exam-ining whether it was issued on thebasis of any material at all orwhether the material was relevantor whether the proclamation wasissued in the mala fide exercise ofpower. When a prima facie case ismade out in the challenge to theproclamation, the burden is on theUnion Government to prove thatthe relevant material did in fact

exist and such material may beeither the report of the governoror other than the report.

ii) Article 74(2) is not a baragainst the scrutiny of material onthe basis of which the President hadarrived at his satisfaction.

iii) It will not be permissible forthe President to exercise powersunder sub-clauses (a), (b) and (c)of clause (1) of Article 356 to takeirreversible actions till at least boththe Houses of Parliament haveapproved of the proclamation. It isfor this reason that the President willnot be justified in dissolving the leg-islative Assembly by using thepowers of the governor till at least,both the Houses of Parliamentapprove of the proclamation.

iv) If the proclamation issuedis held invalid, then notwith-standing the fact that it is approvedby both Houses of Parliament, itwill be open to the court torestore the status quo ante to theissuance of the proclamation andhence to restore the LegislativeAssembly and the Ministry.

v) In appropriate cases, thecourt will have the power by aninterim injunction, to restrain theholding of fresh elections to theLegislative Assembly pending thefinal disposal of the challenge tothe validity of the proclamationto avoid the fait accompli and theremedy of judicial review being

rendered fruitless.vi) While restoring the status

quo ante, it will be open to the courtto mould the relief suitably.

vii) Secularism is a part of thebasic structure of theConstitution. The acts of theState Government which are cal-culated to subvert and sabotagesecularism as enshrined in ourConstitution, can lawfully bedeemed to give rise to the situa-tion in which the Government ofthe State cannot be carried on inaccordance with the provisions ofthe Constitution.

This is now the law of theland and this judgement has thefollowing implications in respectof the developments inArunachal Pradesh.

Article 74(2), which shieldedthe advice given to the Presidentfrom judicial scrutiny, stands par-tially breached. This Article says“The question whether any, and ifso what, advice was tendered byMinisters to the President shall notbe inquired into in any court”. TheBommai judgement has declaredthat Article74 (2) is not a bar againstthe court scrutinising the material“on the basis of which the Presidentarrived at his satisfaction”. Therefore,unlike in the pre-Bommai phase,the reports submitted by theGovernor of the State are subject tothe court’s scrutiny; Second, the

Bommai judgement prohibits theUnion Government from takingany irreversible actions like disso-lution of the State Assembly andordering of fresh elections until thetwo Houses of Parliament have rat-ified the imposition of President’sRule. Hence, the Assembly has beenkept in suspended animation.

Further, the two Houses ofParliament have to ratify theCentre’s decision within twomonths. However, in the presentcase, since the ruling coalitiondoes not enjoy a majority in theRajya Sabha, ratification ofPresident’s Rule by the upper Houseseems highly unlikely.

As regards the conduct of theGovernor, all that can be said on hisbehalf is that he did not order aparade of MLAs in Raj Bhavan likeGovernors did in the pre-Bommaiera. Instead, he wanted an earlyfloor test in the Assembly. But, couldhe convene the Assembly withoutthe advice of the State Cabinet? Andcan the Assembly meet in somecommunity hall? The conduct ofthe Speaker too will come underclose scrutiny. We must await theverdict of the Supreme Court on allthese issues and hope that advancesmade in the post-Bommai era inconstitutional law and in enforcingthe best traditions of democracy, isfurther reinforced to curtail political mischief.

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “JNU issue and beyond”(February 15). It is surprising thatvarious political parties like theCongress, the Communist Partyof India (Marxist) etc, have comeout in support of the studentswho raised anti-national slogans.Many ex-Servicemen, who are analumni of the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, too have threatened toreturn their degrees. Clearly, thesituation is being used for polit-ical benefits. It will be better if welet the law take its own course.

Srinivasan Ragothaman Ooty

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“JNU issue and beyond” (February15). Freedom of speech in ademocracy does not mean that cit-izens have the liberty to shout anti-national slogans in the very coun-try where they reside. Whatevertheir grievances may be, theymust be raised in a patriotic man-ner. It’s unfortunate that suchtragic events happen in a placemeant to spread education.

Such misguided anti-nationalpeople must not be spared. Rightly,

the Government must not keepquiet and take appropriate mea-sures to condemn such incidents.It is unfortunate that various polit-ical parties have used this event forpolitical point-scoring. Politics inIndia has fallen to a low level.

M KumarVia email

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Sir — This refers to the article,“In a name’s name, an ideologi-cal, silly war” (February 13) byAshok Malik. The Independentcan have its own view, but not atthe cost of messing with a legalname. The Government must suethe paper and make it account-able for nefarious actions.

Appu Via email

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Sir — This refers to the report,“AAP won on corruption plank,but 33 MLAs tainted: Sheila”(February 13). Undoubtedly, cor-ruption is an imperative paradoxin Indian politics and, therefore,Congress leader Sheila Dikshit’scomment is apparently farcical forconspicuous reasons.

Incontrovertibly, a substantial

number of Union Ministers as wellas Ministers at the State level, irre-spective of their political identity,hold criminal backgrounds or areblemished on various charges.

Political honchos are funda-mentally concerned about theirunassailable hegemony of thenation, rather than the sanctity ofthe party and people’s interest.

TKM KumbalamchuvattilMuvattupuzha

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Sir — Pakistan’s HighCommissioner to India AbdulBasit’s call for speedy resolutionof the Siachen stand-off betweenIndia and Pakistan is welcome. Inthe face of hostile weather condi-tions such as blizzards, avalanch-es and crevasses, soldiers locatedthere are perennially faced withinsurmountable hardships.

Not only Indian soldiers butalso Pakistani troops, who areposted on borders, have to pay aheavy price. In the light of prevail-ing circumstances, India andPakistan must find a way out todemilitarise Siachen.

Devendra Khurana Bhopal

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On December 21, 2014,Ikhlas Ahmed akaRoosi was hanged along

with three other convicts atPakistan’s Faisalabad centraljail for attempting to assassinateformer President of PakistanPervez Musharraf onDecember 15, 2003. ThoughGeneral Musharraf survivedthe suicide attack on his motor-cade, 14 people lost their lives.

Ikhlas Ahmed was calledRoosi on account of hisRussian mother who was alsoKashmiri. His father, AkhlaqAhmed, was a medical practi-tioner from Haripur (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir). IkhlasAhmed did not coordinate theattack or participate in it, butwas engaged in a conspiracy totraduce some military person-nel from their allegiance to the Government.

However, Ikhlas Ahmed’sexecution was not deplored asa ‘judicial hanging’. Nobody

organised a cultural evening ora protest rally. This may be dueto one of the three reasons —there is no Jawaharlal NehruUniversity in Pakistan; thereare no Brahmins left in thecountry so that the executioncan be conveniently blamed ona ‘Brahmanic collective con-science’; the civil society andstudents are mature enoughnot to idolise a terror convict.

Indeed, there are certainthings that happen only inIndia. A planned culturalevening to pay homage toParliament attack convictAfzal Guru and terroristMaqbool Bhat (dead for morethan 30 years) poetically titled,‘The country without a postoffice’, escalated into an anti-India, pro-Pakistan demon-stration. The poster of theevent specifically stated that itwas ‘against the Brahmanicalcollective conscience’ and insolidarity with the Kashmiri

people for their democraticright to self-determination.

Interestingly, among theorganisers and sympathisers,this writer detected severalBrahmins who are probably allLeftists. It is quite possiblethat some of their forefathershad come from East Pakistanas Hindu refugees. Such peo-ple are excellent specimens ofIslam’s useful idiots; theyremind us of Iran’s Leftist spec-trum — the Mojahedin-e-Khalq, the Tudeh Party of Iran,the Fedayeen e-Khalq, theKomala Party and the RaheKargar. These parties hadplayed a major role in thedownfall of the MohammadReza Shah Pahlavi regime in1979, thus contributing to thesuccess of AyatollahKhomeini’s Islamic revolution.

But these Left parties alsobecame the first political vic-tims of the Islamic Republic.Many of their leaders fled to

France, and some of them,more determined but less for-tunate, were executed as polit-ical prisoners in 1988. Whilethe world remembers AyatollahKhomeini’s fatwa on SalmanRushdie, it has forgotten hisdeadly fatwa, dated July 28,1988, that led to wholesaleextermination of political pris-oners, mostly Leftists.

The organisers of the eventat JNU have made much out ofthe right to freedom of speechand expression. Such freedomis indeed guaranteed by theConstitution of India — thecountry immoderately abusedin the slogans raised on theoccasion. But Article 19(1)giving freedom in matter ofspeech, assembling, formingunions and moving throughoutIndia also imposes reasonablerestrictions on that right byArticle 19(2).

Nothing challenging thesovereignty and integrity of the

country and that is prejudicialto the security of the state canbe peddled in the name of rightto freedom of speech andexpression. The students per-haps overlooked the fine print,that conditions apply to everyconstitutional right.

The organisers might feelthat Kashmiris have the rightto ‘self-determination’. I wouldnot be surprised if mostKashmiris also feel like that.Some of them are radicalMuslim and their antipathytowards Hindu-majority Indiais not unnatural. It is for thisreason that Hindus (ieKashmiri Pandits) were massa-cred in Kashmir during the1980s. They realised that theallegiance of Kashmiri Pandits,will always be towards India.

Hindu gods were the firstto disappear from Kashmir.Venerable temples wereattacked and deities vanishedor desecrated. Why did it hap-

pen in the ancient land ofShaivism? This is becauseKashmiri Muslims defied theiroriginal collective self anddecided to live by the tenets ofa religion that came fromArabia. India is accused ofmilitarily occupying Kashmir.But one should contemplate ifKashmir, the springhead ofIndian spiritual tradition, isbeing occupied by an Arabimperialist ideology.

Any separation of Kashmirfrom India will have wideranging repercussions onMuslims in India. If Kashmiris,despite enjoying Article 370,and disproportionate allocationof resources in their favour,choose to secede from India, itwill undermine the position ofthe Muslims in the rest of thecountry. The separation ofKashmir can plunge India intoserious communal trouble.Third-party Leftist advocatesmust be wary of these things.

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Now that India and Nepalhave removed the majorroadblocks at the Ruxal-Birgunj checkpost, themyth that the people of

Nepal and India are enemies must bedemolished. Nepal has a demograph-ic profile that is younger than India’s— 50 per cent of the population ofNepal is below 25 years of age group.This generation of Nepalese is literate,exposed to technology, inspired andforward looking.

Nepal’s energy industry has a hugepotential to develop throughhydropower and other non-conven-tional sources. Industries can be set upall along the India-Nepal border whichwill generate jobs and help the serviceindustry grow. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s initiative to startlong-pending projects, widen the roadsfor trade and develop multi-modeltrade hubs will give a major boost toNepal’s trade and industry.

India should also work on develop-ing rail connectivity with Nepal to boostdevelopment. Nepal, India, Bhutanand Bangladesh account for six per centof the gross domestic product of theworld and about 18 per cent of the glob-al population. The landmarkBangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepalmotor vehicle agreement, signed onJune 15, 2015, will provide great oppor-tunities for synergistic economic gain.

An India-Nepal trade and industrycorridor, with connectivity to Myanmarand the countries of the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations, has enormouspotential. India has a 1,751km borderwith Nepal and the development ofroads between the two countries willlead to the promotion of trade andtourism. This will create opportunitiesfor the youth of Nepal and India.

India and Nepal should also devel-op a joint skill development mission tohelp Nepali youth. Similarly, an India-Nepal start-up initiative, setting upentrepreneurship collaboration andstart-up incubation centres, will boostgrowth and employment. Nepal andIndia should jointly work towards set-ting up of a management institute inNepal and a Nepalese institute of tech-nology in India. India can also helpNepal with it’s expertise of organicfarming in Sikkim.

It is said that the history of Nepalis the history of its Army. The NepalArmy is known for its discipline andprofessionalism. Its contributiontowards the building the modern dayNepal is enormous. The Nepal Army,along with the Indian Army, savedmany lives in the aftermath of the2014 earthquake.

There were many hindrancestowards the emergence of the Nepal-India partnership, as India’s Nehruvianpolitical leaders for the past sixdecades, failed to give a strategicdirection to this bilateral. An ineffec-tive Indian bureaucracy has never beenable to realise the true potential of thegreat people of Nepal.

A section of the Indian media lacksthe depth of knowledge and under-standing of our common vedic culture.Insensitive reporting by such media

persons adds to the complications. The growth of the Islamic State and

radical Islam has dangerous implica-tions for both India and Nepal, accord-ing to global security experts. Illegalactivities like human trafficking, drugstrafficking, arms smuggling and thefake currency racket are endangeringNepal’s economy.

Pakistan’s Inter-ServicesIntelligence agency aims to destabilisethe region by spreading terror networksand organised crime. The increasedfocus of the Islamic State, as brought tolight by the arrest of 27 Bangladeshijihadis in Singapore, exposes thealliance of the Islamic State, the ISI andBangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami. Thedemand by Muslims in Nepal for spe-cial status and the re-arming of Maoistfactions pose a threat to Nepal.

According to Western intelligence,Islamic State-ISI network has recruit-ed Muslims from Nepal and is nowtraining them in camps in West Asiaand Afghanistan. The increase in Gulf-funded madarssas in Nepal, the spreadof Saudi-backed Wahhabi radical net-works, and the rise of foreign-fundedinstitutions and NGOs pose a challengeto Nepali sovereignty.

Such elements want a black econ-omy in Nepal that will stall develop-ment and investment in the countryand create social unrest. India andNepal need to take note of the chang-ing geo-political situation across Asia.Particularly the rise of the Islamic Stateand the increased military aggressionof China and its ally North Korea has

ramifications for South and SouthEast Asia.

Chinese companies supplied oil toNepal at double the rate of what Indiancompany had quoted. Thus, we can’texpect China or any other nation tomitigate the suffering of our own peo-ple. As pointed out by many leaders inNepal, enforcing the new Constitutionwith secular, republican character wasagainst the majority public opinion ofNepalese who favoured the preserva-tion of Nepal’s Hindu character.

According to a Pew ResearchCentre poll, which assessed the aspira-tions of the Nepali people, an over-whelming majority want Nepal to be aHindu state. However, the Maoistsand a section of the internationallobby, which were uncomfortable withthe Hindu character of Nepal and thepossibilities of a democracy with a con-stitutional monarchy, hurried the pro-mulgation of the new Constitution.

Notably, the rule of the Ranas wasnot without achievement. Till the abo-lition of constitutional monarchy in2008, the people in Nepal could alwaysfall back upon the Palace in times of cri-sis. Now, the absence of this age-oldinstitution is felt across Nepal.

Nepal, the land of the braveGurkhas and also the birthplace of LordBuddha, has a unique place in our his-tory and a special place in our hearts.Nepal is the holy place for all Hindusand Buddhists, as Mecca is for Muslimsand Jerusalem for Jews and Christians

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’ssympathy for the Maoist in Nepal had

translated into the previous Left-wingUPA Government’s unconditional sup-port for the Maoist, which helped givethe latter a strong hand to decide thepolitical agenda of Nepal.

We also need to completely free theNepal-India relationship from theclutches of the lobby at JawaharlalNehru University. We need to engageour youth, military, businesses andtechnocrats to develop a strategic rela-tionship. The people of Nepal and Indiamust not be hostage to an ideologicaldogma that’s long been dead in the restof the world.

We need to get rid of ideology thathinders economic growth and divertsour attention from the emerging eco-nomic and security challenges. TheIndian Army and the Nepalese Armyhave close and historic relations witheach other, and the Indian PrimeMinister is committed to building astrategic Nepal-India partnership.

India and Nepal are two nations butone people. We should remember thewords of the great king Prithvi NarayanShah in Divya Upadesh, and whatChanakya taught us. Nepal and Indiatoday are like a yam between two stones— West Asia’s wahhabi radicalism andChina’s military aggressiveness. Nepaland India are both democracies, andboth are part of Hindu civilisation. Bothcountries must fight all challengeswith unity and determination.

The writer is the author ofLeadership Excellence — Principles MyFather Followed. He specialises inhuman resource

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RBI Governor RaghuramRajan on Monday said he

was not in favour of stretchingnorms for non-performingassets (NPAs) or bad loans asinvestors will not get the truestate of balance sheets.

He said it is useful to keepthe NPA norms constant andby changing the definition ofbad loans will only “dilute andobscure account”.

Major State-owned banksin the country including SBIhave been reeling under NPAsleading to erosion of profits onaccount of higher provisioningfor bad loans in the thirdquarter of the current fiscal.

“NPA norms are not aboutsaying that a person is bad.They are about accountingand if we continuously stretchthe NPA norms, the investorwill have no idea about the truestate of balance sheet of thebank. That is why it is usefulto maintain a constant NPA

norms,” he said, addressing aIndia MSME summit here.

“But treat the personwhose loan is NPA in anappropriate fashion...Compassionate fashion invalue of enterprise. That iswhat we have to work outrather than changing the def-inition”.

Rajan said that by chang-ing the definition of NPA, itwould dilute an obscureaccount. “It is not the way we

need to go” he said, adding thateven if a small firm’s loanends in NPA, banks need toserve them.

He said Government wasalso thinking on the lines of aUnique ID for businessmen toenable them get finance. “Ithink it is a very importantdevelopment,” he said, addingthat the existing difficultyfaced by MSME’s in gettingloans, as all banks, collateral,can be eased

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Inflation stayed in the negativezone for the 15th month in a

row as inflation at the wholesalelevel slipped to (-)0.9 per centin January with some foodarticles turning less expensive.

Although in the negativezone since November 2014, ithad started showing a risingtrend in the past four months- from last September.

The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was (-)0.73 percent in December. In January2015, it was (-)0.95 per cent.

As per the official datareleased on Monday, food infla-tion stood at 6.02 per cent inJanuary as against 8.17 percent in December.

Expressing concern overcontinued deflationary pres-sure, industry body Ficci saidgovernment should increasepublic spending in the forth-coming Budget to boostdemand.

“The Government shouldnot shy away from recalibratingthe fiscal deficit target in orderto push public investmentswith a view to add productivecapacity to the economy,” Ficci

said.According to official data,

inflation in pulses and onioneased to 44.91 per cent and 5.51per cent respectively. The rateof price rise in the case of veg-etables was 12.52 per cent inJanuary and for fruits, it stoodat (-)2.32 per cent.

In case of potato, it was (-)17.08 per cent while for eggs,meat and fish came in at 5.69per cent.

The inflation print in thefuel and power segment was (-)9.21 per cent and for manu-factured products, it read (-

)1.17 per cent in January.“Considering that inflation

is within the target level of theGovernment and the RBI, focusof policymakers should nowshift to revive GDP and indus-trial growth,” said anotherindustry body Assocham.TheNovember WPI inflation hasbeen revised to (-)2.04 per centfrom the provisional estimate of(-)1.99 per cent.

Assocham demanded thatReserve Bank cut its bench-mark interest rate in the next bi-monthly monetary policy sinceinflation as targeted by the

apex bank is well within therange, creating a room for fur-ther rate cut to supportdemand.

RBI is slated to come outwith the first bi-monthly pol-icy review for 2016-17 fiscalon April 5 and will take intoconsideration inflationarytrends and also the data forFebruary before deciding themonetary stance.

The central bank looksinto mainly retail inflationdata, based on ConsumerPrice Index (CPI), while firm-ing up its monetary policy

stance.As per the data released

last week, retail inflation hasbeen rising for six straightmonths and stood at nearlyone and a half-year high of5.69 per cent in January.

The Reserve Bank hadprojected retail inflation to bearound 6 per cent in January2016 and lower further to 5per cent by March 2017.

ICRA Senior EconomistAditi Nayar said the JanuaryWPI inflation is in line withexpectations. “We anticipatethat WPI inflation will print atad below zero in February2016 barring a sizable uptick incrude oil prices in the remain-der of this month”.

Although food prices havereported some moderation,Ficci said “in order to keep itunder check going ahead, wedo hope the Government willcontinue to take measures tomanage supply side situation”.

RBI also takes into accountindustrial production num-bers. As per the latest data,Index of Industrial Production(IIP) contracted 1.3 per cent inDecember as against a declineof 3.4 per cent in November.

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Exports continued to dip forthe for the 14th month in a

row, down 13.6 per cent inJanuary to $21 billion due tofall in shipments of petroleumand engineering goods,although trade deficit showedimprovement.

Imports shrank 11 per centto $28.71 billion last month,resulting in a trade deficit of$7.63 billion, lowest in elevenmonths.

In February last year, thedeficit was $6.85 billion.

The deficit would havebeen lower if gold importshadn’t shot up 85.16 per centlast month to $2.91 billion.

Overseas shipments ofpetroleum products shrank35.18 per cent to $1.95 billionin January, while that of engi-neering goods declined by 27.6per cent to 4.98 million.

For the first 10 months of

the current fiscal, cumulativeexports declined by 17.65 percent to $217.67 billion, asagainst $264.32 billion in April-January period of 2014-15.

As per the data released bythe Commerce Ministry,imports dipped by 15.46 percent to $324.52 billion for the10 months, leaving a tradedeficit of $106.8 billion. Thetrade gap was $119.55 billion inApril-January 2014-15.

Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO)said that going by the trend,

“we may end up the fiscalwith around $260 billion”.

“Problem of transfer ofshipping bill, delay in release ofduty drawback and interestsubsidy has seriously affectedthe liquidity of exporters,” itsaid in a statement.

Co-Chairman - CIINational Committee onInternational Trade Policy andExports Sanjay Budhia saidthat duty drawback ratesshould be restored to theiroriginal level to compensate forall taxes, duties to boost

exports.Oil imports last month

were valued at $5.02 billion -39.01 per cent lower than thesame month last year. Non-oilimports too dipped by 1.4 percent to $23.68 billion. Theother exporting sectors whichrecorded negative growth inJanuary include rice (33.46 percent), cashew (24.6 per cent),oil meals (77.57 per cent),marine products (12.29 percent), leather (12.1 per cent)and textiles (6.11 per cent).

Similarly, the sectors whereimports shrank include rawcotton (8 per cent), coal & coke(38.36 per cent), chemicals(12.87 per cent), iron & steel(16.35 per cent) and electron-ic goods (2.22 per cent).

During April-January2015-16, oil imports declined41.43 per cent to $73 billion.Non-oil imports during theperiod too dipped by 2.95 percent to $251.43 billion.

#7 ������� �.?6>@�����������%� The Centre onMonday launched a ‘fund-of-funds’ aimed at helping start-ups from the electronics and ITsector to create intellectualproperty, expressing willingnessto invest up to �2,200 crore inthe initiative.

The ElectronicDevelopment Fund (EDF)floated by the Department ofElectronics and InformationTechnology will invest in pro-fessional venture capital fundswhich will in-turn invest themoney in start-ups, Minister forIT and Communication RaviShankar Prasad said.

A senior ministry officialsaid the Government has put acap of investing up to �2,200crore in the EDF and thescheme will be operational tillMarch 2017 as of now.

However, he was quick topoint out that this is not anexplicit commitment by thegovernment to invest the sum,making it clear that the invest-ments will be done in a stag-gered manner.

He also hinted that if the�2,200 crore cap is not breachedby March 2017, theGovernment can extend thescheme as well.

After launching the EDF,which will be managed bystate-run lender Canara Bank’sventure investment armCanbank Venture Capital Fund,Prasad handed over letters ofcommitment to four VC fundstotalling �169 crore in com-mitments.

He said the EDF is separatefrom the �10,000-crore fundfor start-ups announced bythe Government earlier, butwill help in the flow of similarquantum of money into the

start-up ecosystem.“Typically, we will be tak-

ing a 20-25 per cent stake indaughter fund. This meansthat the start-ups will get�10,000 crore in commitmentsas a result of this,” the officialexplained.

Meanwhile, flagging cybersecurity as an area of concernfor which the world needssolutions, Prasad exhortedIndian start-ups to developsolutions on this front so thatwe can emerge as a leader at theworld stage on this.

The minister also pointedout chip designing, rather thanmanufacturing, as another areawhere the Indian start-ups canplay a leading role.

On the controversial issueof call drops, Prasad said telcoshave installed 34,000 mobiletowers across the country inthe recent past but under-scored the need for them to domore on it so that the servicesare better.

The ministry has cleared allthe regulatory hurdles impedingthe growth of the sector like spec-trum trading and sharing, andnow it is for the telcos to do whatis necessary for the consumer,Prasad said.

Asked about the industry’scomplaint of a high reserve pricefor spectrum in an upcomingauction, he said the ministrykeeps speaking to the telcos butunderlined that India is a hugemarket.

“I don’t think I am going togive spectrum for free,” he added.Declining to spell out what is instore in the upcoming Budget,Prasad said he hopes that theministry’s plans for creating amega electronic design and man-ufacturing hub gets a boost. ���

A,���1��1������������� �������������1� �����!� � �����������%��0�����%�UK Sinha will remain

Sebi Chairman till March 1, 2017with the Government on Mondayextending his term by over a year.

The extension for Sinha,whose current term was to end onFebruary 17, was approved by theAppointments Committee of theCabinet headed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

During his tenure, Sebi hasimplemented a number of reformsin the capital markets includingregarding IPOs, mutual fundsand corporate governance. Someof the key initiatives announcedrecently include a new regime forlisting of startups, while Sebi hasalso launched a major crackdownon market manipulators includingthose misusing the stock exchangeplatform for tax evasion andmoney laundering.

Commodities markets regu-lator FMC was also recentlymerged into Sebi, while there havealso been apprehensions that achange of guard at this time canbe avoided given the sharp volatil-ity in the capital markets globally.

“The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet hasapproved re-appointment of UKSinha, Chairman, Sebi with effectfrom February 18 up to March 1,2017 or until further orderswhichever is earlier,” a governmentnotification said.

Sinha, a 1976 batch IAS offi-cer of Bihar cadre, assumed officeas the Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) chairman onFebruary 18, 2011 when the pre-vious UPA Government was in thepower.

While Sinha was initiallyappointed with a three-year term,he was later given a two-yearextension as Chairman of the reg-ulatory body.

The Government in Augustlast year had initiated the processfor selecting Sinha’s successor at

Sebi and a search panel, headedby Cabinet Secretary, was alsoconstituted.

However, there could not beany consensus on the names sug-gested by the panel.

As per reports, the short-list-ed names included SBIChairperson ArundhatiBhattacharya, former FMCChairman Ramesh Abhishek andThomas Mathew who has earli-er served as Joint Secretary(Capital Markets) in FinanceMinistry.

With his latest extension,Sinha will become thesecond-longest serving chief of Sebi afterDR Mehta’s seven year term from1995 to 2002.

While Sinha was initiallyappointed with a three-year term,he was later given a two-yearextension. However, Sinha was eli-gible for a one-year extension asper his age.

As per the eligibility criteria,a person can hold the position ofSebi Chairman till the age of 65years.

Before joining Sebi, the cur-rent Chairman Sinha was head-ing UTI Mutual Fund. Prior tothat, he had served in FinanceMinistry, among other positions,as an IAS officer.

During his tenure, Sebi hastaken a number of steps to checkmanipulation and ensure safe-guards of the investors and over-all marketplace.

However, the most keenlywatched developments duringSinha’s tenure has been grant ofgreater powers to Sebi and theaction taken by the regulatoragainst hundreds of ponzischemes and lately against morethan 1,000 individuals and com-panies suspected of tax evasionand laundering of black moneythrough the stock exchangeplatform. ���

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��0�����%�Private sector ICICI Bank onMonday said it plans to raise up to�50,000 crore from bonds in tranches tofund affordable housing and infrastruc-ture projects.

The bank intends to seek Committeeof Executive Directors’ (COED) approvalto raise funds through issuance of longterm bonds in the nature of debenture forlending to long term projects in infra-structure and affordable housing on a pri-vate placement basis, ICICI Bank said ina regulatory filing.

The proposal would be consideredwithin a period of 10 days commencingfrom February 18, it added.

“The bank has taken the approval of

shareholders at the Annual General Meeting held on June 29, 2015, for

the Board/ Committee of the Board toborrow by way of securities including butnot limited to bonds and non-convert-ible debentures up to �50,000 crore onprivate placement basis,” the companyadded.

For the third quarter endedDecember, 2015, ICICI Bank net profitrose 4 per cent to �3,018 crore from�2,889 crore in the same period of2014-15.

Its total income on standalone basisduring the quarter under reviewincreased to �17,562.95 crore from�15,526.88 crore in the year-ago period.

As on December 31, the bank’s grossnon-performing assets (NPAs) rose to4.72 per cent of gross advances as against3.40 per cent in the same quarter of theprevious fiscal.

Its net non-performing assets alsosurged to 2.28 per cent during the peri-od under review.

Net non-performing assets as onDecember 31, 2015, were �10,014 crorecompared to �6,828 crore at September30, 2015, it said.

Provisioning for bad loans and con-tingencies rose sharply to �2,844.05crore in third quarter of the current fis-cal compared to �979.69 crore in thesame period of the last fiscal. ���

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��0�����%�Markets watchdogSebi today tightened its normsfor mutual funds’ exposure toriskier corporate bonds includ-ing by capping the investmentlimit in bonds of a single com-pany at 10 per cent in a moveto safeguard investors’ interest.

The single sector exposurelimit would also be loweredfrom 30 per cent to 25 per cent,while group-level investmentlimits of 20-25 per cent have alsobeen introduced for the mutu-al funds (MFs) investing indebt securities.

The move comes after JPMorgan Mutual Fund got intotroubles due to its exposure todebt securities of Amtek Auto,while a few other fund houseshave also faced similar prob-lems with regard to corporatebonds of other distressed firms.

The measures will miti-

gate risks arising on account ofhigh levels of exposure in thewake of events pertaining tocredit downgrades and putmutual funds in a better posi-tion to handle adverse creditevents.

It would also providemutual fund investors withenhanced diversification bene-fits, Sebi said in a circular.

The new norms will reducesector exposure limits of debtschemes to 25 per cent fromcurrent 30 per cent.

In the case of housingfinance companies, the cap is anadditional 10 per cent. Now, theregulator has decided to slashthis to five per cent.

Besides, fund houses willnot be able to invest more than10 per cent of a scheme’s cor-pus in debt securities of a sin-gle company. ���

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��0� ����%� � Reliance JioInfocomm and eight other tele-com operators from across theworld have formed an alliancethat will allow knowledge shar-ing and bringing innovativeproducts and services for cus-tomers.

Announced on Monday,members of the alliance includeBT, Deutsche Telekom,Reliance Jio InfocommLimited, Millicom, MTS,Orange, Rogers, TeliaSoneraand TIM.

The alliance could reach apotential customer base of 1billion in more than 80 coun-tries through these nine oper-ators, Reliance Jio said in astatement.

Reliance Jio Infocomm,the telecom arm of MukeshAmbani-owned Reliance

Industries, said it is set toenable each Indian to live a dig-ital life and to this end, theyhave built largest green-field 4Gand fiber network, as well as asuite of digital services thatenable entertainment, cloud,payment, among others.

“Jio has installed 90,000eco-friendly cell towers thathave a near-zero footprint, laid2.5 lakh route kms of fiber opticcable country-wide, and itsretail reach is spread over 1.02lakh villages, 18,000 citiesacross all the 29 states of thecountry,” Reliance JioInfocomm Chief Product andInnovation Officer RainerDeutschmann said.

Jio is a digital lifestyle com-pany bringing to the Indianpeople the power of cutting-edge technology through 4G-

LTE in its network, voice overLTE (VoLTE) and voice overWi-Fi through its LYF devices,he added.

The alliance focusses onexchanging best practices onhow to bring partner proposi-tions to the market, on jointefforts in partner scouting andwill also exchange knowledgeabout upcoming trends andservices amongst the group.

“As of today, the Alliancehas established relationshipswith 30 innovative partnerbusinesses including AirBnB,Celltick, Disconnect, Idoomoo,Magisto, Mojio and Spotify,” itadded.

It further said that thealliance is an open network oflike-minded operators world-wide with complementary geo-graphical footprints. ���

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Various irregularities bybanks such as non-sub-

mission and inordinate delays infiling of Suspicious TransactionReports (STRs), besides open-ing of accounts by several enti-ties without fulfilling KYCnorms, have been noticed byReserve Bank of India (RBI).

The observation came aspart of inspection done by theCentral Bank after last year’sBank of Baroda case in which�6,100-crore import remittanceswere effected by its Ashok Viharbranch. Both CBI and theEnforcement Directorate areprobing the huge remittances toHong Kong from the bank.

The amount was allegedlytransferred in the garb of pay-ments for imports that nevertook place, investigators say.After the BoB case, RBI wrotea confidential letter to chairmenand chief executives of all com-mercial banks asking them toreview existing policies and

effect necessary improvementswhere warranted to avoid recur-rence of such irregularities.

“While some banks havefiled Cash Transaction Reports(CTRs) and STRs with FinancialIntelligence Unit in time, in sev-eral cases either the CTRs orSTRs were not filed or filed withinordinate delay or closed at thebank level without proper ver-ification and regard to fre-quency of reporting in suchaccounts.

“Current accounts havebeen opened by several entitieswith banks, often even withoutfulfilling the KYC requirements.Several instances of banks notexercising proper due diligence

have come to our notice,” it saidin the letter, copy of which wasreceived in reply to an RTIquery filed by PTI.

After observing some of thetransactions of select banks,RBI found that risk categorisa-tion of accounts as well astransaction processes was notdone in a proper way.

“Advance import remit-tances have been permittedwithout verifying the bona fideof transactions and without car-rying out proper due diligenceof both the Indian clients as wellas overseas suppliers, despiteclear instructions in this regardfrom Foreign ExchangeDepartment, RBI,” it said.

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Trying to instil confidence inthe investor community,

Union Minister of State forCommerce and IndustryNirmala Sitharaman on Mondaysaid manufacturing in the coun-try is picking up and the per-ception that there is slack in thesector is wrong.

“Manufacturing is actuallypicking up. The last quarter fig-ure showed that the country’sGDP growth will be over 7 percent. It also revealed that man-ufacturing is growing over 9 percent. Actually, the perception isgoing around in the circle with-out looking at the figures,” shetold reporters during the Makein India Week. The investmentoffers and MoUs that have beensigned so far in the Make in Indiaweek are an indicator that man-ufacturing is gaining traction, sheasserted. Asked about discrep-ancies in some of the recentlyreleased data and their method-ologies to calculate, she said evenKaushik Basu - the World Bank

economist and former CEO - hassaid “there is absolutely no rea-son to doubt over the figureswhich have come out. So, Ithink in this country there canbe a lot of discussions about themethodology, the process of get-ting the numbers and there is noharm in discussing. But of course,ultimately if there is no doubtafter the due discussions, we haveto settle somewhere and startbelieving rather than keep thediscussions going on,” she added.

“At the end of the day, youare not able to sit and work onnumbers because you ques-tion everything.” Basu hadrecently said India’s GDP num-bers are very dependable andthere is no ‘rigging’ takingplace with regard to data.

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MUMBAI: The postal department has sur-passed the country's largest lender, SBI, interms of digital connectivity even before itspayments bank launch, Union IT andCommunications Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad on Monday said.

“The core banking solution (CBS) or dig-ital connectivity of the postal department hassurpassed the State Bank of India's digi-tal connectivity,” Prasad said at a spe-cial session on the third day of theongoing Make in India week here.There are over 1.50 lakh post officesacross the country, of which 1.25 lakhare in rural areas, and the departmenthad embarked on CBS connectivity afew years ago.

The department is all set to launch a pay-ments bank by March 2017. SBI ChairmanArundhati Bhattacharya had in the pastexpressed reservations about the entry of pay-ments banks.

The postal department has got in-princi-ple nod to start a payments bank, along with

10 other players, including corporate houseslike the Mahindras, the Birlas, RelianceIndustries and telecom firms with a deeperdistribution network such as Bharti Airtel.

The successful applicants have been given18 months to start operations. They arerequired to present a final plan of operationto the Reserve Bank of India before final nod.

Speaking at the special session on IT andelectronics, Prasad appealed all to invest

more in the country, saying India willbe a $1 trillion opportunity for digitalcompanies in five years.

He elaborated that electronics willbe a $350 billion industry while IT, IT-

enabled services and e-commerce wouldbring in $350 billion and $250 billion for

the communication sector. The minister said electronics and IT

manufacturing are also crucial for the successof flagship programmes such as Start-up Indiaand Digital India. He listed consumer, defence,automobile and medical electronics as the sub-sectors full with opportunities. PTI

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NEW DELHI: Assocham hasasked the Government to increasethe personal income tax exemp-tion limit in budget to �4 lakhfrom �2.5 lakh for all individualtaxpayers. The industry bodyalso demanded additional incen-tives for savings and higher taxallowance for expenditure oneducation and health, quotingfindings from its Aam Aadmi sur-vey. “Over 87 per cent respon-dents in the poll said increasingthe basic tax exemption limitfrom the present �2.5 lakh to �4lakh should be the minimum thatthe Finance Minister shouldannounce in the 2016-17 budget,”Assocham stated. The industry

chamber also recommended ahike in personal IT exemptionlimit to �4 lakh in its pre-budgetmemorandum.

“The higher exemption limitwas necessitated by increasingcost of living, particularly withregard to health, education andtransport,” it added. Besides, not-ing that the amount of medicalexpenses reimbursed by theemployer on treatment ofemployees or their family mem-bers is exempt from tax to theextent of �15,000 per annum, 88per cent of the respondents advo-cated hiking the limit to �50,000per annum as the present thresh-old was set way back in 1998. PNS

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NEW DELHI: After successful installation of LED streetlights inJodhpur, Aligarh, Varanasi etc. Eon Electric Limited (EEL) - one ofthe leaders in manufacturing a wide range of energy-efficient LEDLighting products - has reached another milestone by bagging a fur-ther contract worth around �40 crore for installing LED streetlightsin Rajasthan. Under this project, Eon will install over 1 lac LED street-lights across various cities in the state, including Jaisalmer, Gangapur,Sri Ganga Nagar, etc. Elaborating on EON's achievement, VP Mahendru, Chairman - EonElectric Limited, said: “Achieving this tender showcases EON's com-mitment towards their ever enhancing standards of LED Lights andencourages EON to continue meeting rising customers' expectations.Our vision has always been to enhance LED Lighting efficiency perwatt and provide cities with energy efficient and long life lightingsolutions. We continue to maintain our focus on quality and con-sistency in our LED Lighting products, ensuring timely delivery. PNS

Page 12: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

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Pakistan's Sindh Assembly onMonday passed the Hindu

Marriage Bill making theprovince the first in the countryto allow the minority communityto register their marriages, amidcalls from a leading Hindu groupto remove a controversial clausein the landmark bill.

The bill, moved in theassembly by ParliamentaryAffairs Minister Nisar Khuhro,will apply to entire Sindhprovince, which has a sizeablepopulation of Hindus.

"Since the creation ofPakistan, it is the first time thatsuch a law is being passed. Thedecision has been taken to pro-vide mechanism for formallyregistering Hindu marriages inSindh," Khuhro said.

It was passed after a nation-al parliamentary panel last week

cleared its draft, paving way forregistration of marriage anddivorce for the Hindu commu-nity in Pakistan.

The bill fixes the minimumage of marriage at 18. Accordingto the bill, it is necessary that amarriage is solemnised afterconsent of both male and femaleand at least two witnesses mustbe present at the time of thesolemnisation and registration ofthe marriage.

According to the bill, everymarriage being solemnisedunder this act will be registeredwith the union council/wardwithin 45 days of the solemni-sation.

The bill should have retro-spective effect for the purpose ofvalidation and registration of themarriage prior to this law. Anyperson who fails to get his mar-riage registered will be liable topay a fine of 1,000 rupees.

London: A Virgin Atlantic flightto New York with 267 people onboard was forced to return toLondon’s Heathrow airport aftera laser beam was pointed at theplane, resulting in a “medicalissue” with one of the pilots.

The incident took place latelast night (2013 GMT) shortlyafter take-off, before flight VS025returned as a precaution, the air-line said. There were 252 pas-sengers and 15 crew on board theAirbus A340 aircraft.

A Virgin Atlantic crewmember was recorded saying toIrish air traffic control that theyhad a “medical issue with one ofthe pilots after a laser incidentafter take-off”. The decision wastaken by both pilots to return toHeathrow rather than continuethe transatlantic crossing.

“The safety of our crew andcustomers is our top priority andwe apologise for any inconve-nience to those on board,” theairline said. PTI

Kiev: Turkish Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoglu on Mondayaccused Russia of acting as a“terrorist organisation” in Syriaand vowed to deliver a robustresponse.

“If Russia continues behav-ing like a terrorist organisationand forcing civilians to flee, wewill deliver an extremely deci-sive response,” Davutoglu saidthrough an official translatorduring a visit to Kiev.

Tensions between Russiaand Turkey have soared overMoscow’s backing of SyrianPresident Bashar al-Assad andRussia’s intense air campaignagainst what it claims are “ter-rorist” targets in its alliedMiddle Eastern state.

Turkey has long backedAssad’s ouster and like otherWestern nations accusesRussia of predominantlybombing Syrian rebel groupsbacked by Washington and itsallies instead of the self-pro-claimed ISIS.

Assad’s forces have mostrecently used Russian air sup-port to move ever closer to therebel stronghold of Aleppo innorthern Syria. AFP

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Karachi: A leading Hindu groupin Pakistan has demanded theGovernment to remove a con-troversial clause in the draftHindu Marriage Bill that calls forannulment of marriage if any ofthe spouses converts their religion, saying it can triggerforced conversions of minority community women.

Ramesh Vankwani, patronin-chief of the Pakistan HinduCouncil, said the Hindu com-munity in Pakistan was con-cerned about the clause. Theclause 12(iii) says a marriagewill be annulled if any of thespouses converts to anotherreligion. PTI

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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifon Monday termed

“honour killing” a blot on the society as he met Pakistan’s firstOscar-winning documentaryfilmmaker Sharmeen ObaidChinoy.

“Honour killing is a mostcritical issue and theGovernment is determined toadopt all possible ways andmeans for removing this stain from our society,” Shariftold Chinoy.

“Women are the mostessential part of our society andI believe in their empower-ment, protection and emanci-pation for achieving the sharedgoal of a prosperous andvibrant Pakistan,” Sharif said.

“Social evils can be overcome through an effectivepartnership between theGovernment and the civil society,” he said.

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Suspected Russian air strikeshit a hospital supported by

Doctors Without Borders(MSF) in Syria on Monday,killing 23 people including achild, the Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights said.

“A building that housed ahospital supported by MSFwas destroyed on Monday byaircraft, presumably Russian,”near Maaret al-Numan in thenorthern province of Idlib,said the British-based monitor.

The raids also left dozenswounded, said the Observatory,which relies on a network ofsources on the ground. MSF con-firmed in a statement that a hos-pital supported by the aid groupin Idlib province was “destroyedin air strikes” on Monday.

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The White House and theRepublican Party are brac-

ing for an epic battle overPresident Barack Obama’s planto nominate a successor toSupreme Court judge AntoninScalia who died on Saturdayamid the Republican insistence that the presidentshould leave the job to his ownsuccessor.

After Obama announcedon Saturday that he wouldmake the nomination in “duetime”, the White House hasindicated that the selectioncould come about within weekseven as legal and media circleswidely expect the president totap Indian-American jurist SriSrinivasan for the key nomi-nation.

“As the president said lastnight, he takes his constitu-tional responsibility seriouslyand will approach this nomi-nation with the time and rigourrequired,” White Housespokesman Eric Schultz said onSunday, adding: “At that point,we expect the Senate to con-sider that nominee consistentwith their responsibilities laidout in the United StatesConstitution.” The SenateRepublicans, however, remainfirm that the president shouldnot proceed with this nomina-tion of far-reaching signifi-cance in his final year in office.After Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell’s statement

that “this vacancy should not befilled until we have a newpresident”, Texas Senator andpresidential hopeful Ted Cruzhas threatened to filibuster anyObama nominee to the apexcourt.

“We’re advising that alame-duck president in an elec-tion year is not going to be ableto tip the balance of theSupreme Court,” Cruz toldNBC, while his Senate col-league and fellow-presidentialaspirant Marco Rubio toldCNN, “The next presidentshould have a chance to fill thatvoid, and not someone who’snever going to answer to theelectorate again.”

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Nepal Prime Minister KPSharma Oli on Monday

said his maiden visit to India thisweek is aimed at bringing bilat-eral ties back on track by clear-ing “misunderstandings” even ashe defended the newConstitution, opposed byMadhesis, as “inclusive anddemocratic”.

There were some misun-derstanding in the relations withour neighbour (India) and wehave to correct the misunder-standing and bring back the rela-tions on track. For that I am vis-iting India soon,” Oli said aheadof his eight-day visit to Indiastarting on February 19.

Oli’s much-anticipated visitto India at the invitation ofPrime Minister Narendra Modicomes days after agitatingMadhesis, largely of Indian-ori-gin, ended their cripplingprotests and blockade that hadsoured the bilateral ties.

“My visit to India is aimedat normalising the past uneasy

situation and also to further pro-mote our age-old ties,” Oli saidin his address at the InternationalConference of Asian PoliticalParties (ICAPP) special work-shop on “Democratic Transitionin Nepal”.

London: Pope John Paul II hadan intense relationship with amarried Polish-born Americanphilosopher for more than 30years, according to previouslyunseen letters featuring in aBBC documentary that revealeda rarely seen side of the late pon-tiff. The former Vatican chief ’sletters to writer Anna-TeresaTymieniecka, which feature in

the documentary being shownby the BBC, had been kept awayfrom public view in the NationalLibrary of Poland for years. Theletters do not indicate that thePope, who died in 2005 at the ageof 84 , broke his vow of celiba-cy, but the tone of some of his let-ters to her points to intense feel-ings between them, the broad-caster said. PTI

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Ankara: Turkey will continue tostrike back at Kurdish fightersof the Democratic Union Party(PYD) in Syria, Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoglu told GermanChancellor Angela Merkel onMonday, despite growing pres-sure on Ankara to stop theshelling. AFP

)������������������ �����"����!� ���"��� �����##��Riyadh: A retired security offi-

cer in southern Saudi Arabia hasbeen shot dead in an attackclaimed on Monday by the ISISgroup. Police spokesman ColonelMohammed al-Harbi said that aman in the Abu Arish area ofJazan region, bordering Yemen,reported that his father “wasbeing shot at from an unknownsource at his farm”. AFP

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Kathmandu: Unveiling anambitious energy security plan,the Nepalese Government hasproposed to import 600 MWenergy from India to lessen itsincreasing power woes.

Though Nepal at presentimports 230 MW from India,according to a Nepalese official,India will sell 80 mw electric-ity to the country from Tuesdayvia newly installed 400 KVMu j j a f a r p u r- D h a l k e b a r transmission line. Anannouncement was made onMonday to import electricityfrom India. IANS

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Tehran: The first train to connectChina and Iran arrived in Tehranon Monday loaded with Chinesegoods, reviving the ancient SilkRoad, the Iranian railway com-pany said. The train, carrying 32containers of commercial prod-ucts from eastern Zhejiangprovince, took 14 days to makethe 9,500-kilometre (5,900-mile)journey through Kazakstan andTurkmenistan. AFP

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The UK film industry showeredValentine’s Day love on The Revenant,

awarding the endurance epic five prizes,including best picture and best actor, at theBritish Academy Film Awards.

Leonardo DiCaprio cemented hisOscar-favorite status by taking the best-actor trophy for playing a bear-battling furtrapper in a brutally wild American West.Alejandro G Inarritu was named best direc-tor for what he called a “human and ten-der story,” and The Revenant also won

prizes for cinematography and sound.DiCaprio, who has been nominat-

ed three times before at the Britishawards without winning, said in hisacceptance speech that he was “absolute-ly humbled” to beat The Martian starMatt Damon, Trumbo’s Bryan Cranston,Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs, andEddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl.

He cited the influence on his workof British actors including Tom Courtney,

Peter O’Toole, Daniel Day Lewis and hisco-star Tom Hardy, and sent thanks andgreetings to his mother, whose birthday fellon Sunday.

The British awards, known as BAFTAs,are considered a portent of success atHollywood’s February 28 AcademyAwards. The Revenant has earnedDiCaprio his sixth Oscar nomination —and, many believe, his best shot at finallywinning.

DiCaprio said it was out of his hands,but expressed pride in what he called “notjust a film, but an epic journey we all wenton.”

“We put our heart and soul into thismovie ... It’s up to the world now and vot-ers to decide,” he said at a post-ceremonynews conference.

The best-actress trophy went to BrieLarson as a mother trying to shield her sonfrom a terrible reality in Room. She wonout over Alicia Vikander for The DanishGirl, Cate Blanchett for Carol, Maggie

Smith for The Lady in the Van and SaoirseRonan for Brooklyn.

Supporting performer prizes went toMark Rylance, a soft-spoken Soviet agentin Bridge of Spies, and Kate Winslet, anApple executive in Steve Jobs.

Winslet dedicated the prize to “all thoseyoung women who doubt themselves,”recalling that she once had been told togo for “the fat-girl parts.”

“Look at me now!” Winslet said.The Revenant beat several hotly

tipped awards contenders, includingSteven Spielberg’s Cold War thrillerBridge of Spies and Todd Haynes’ les-

bian romance Carol. Each had nineBAFTA nominations, but Bridge

of Spies won only forRylance’s performance,while Carol was shut out.

Irish emigrant sagaBrooklyn was named bestBritish film, a distinct cat-egory, while the documen-tary prize went to Amy, apowerful portrait of therise and fall of singerAmy Winehouse.

George Miller’sdystopian thrill ride Mad

Max: Fury Road took fourprizes: editing, production design,costume design, and hair andmakeup.

Two leading Oscar con-tenders also won awards:Spotlight, the drama about news-paper reporters investigatingsex abuses in the CatholicChurch, for original screenplay,and financial-crisis dramedyThe Big Short for adaptedscreenplay.

On a crisp, cool Londonwinter evening, hundreds of fansgathered to watch the stars arriveat the Royal Opera House.

Founder of record label, Mad Decent, Thomas Wesley Pentz akaDiplo, and lead member of the Major Lazer, is going to bring the

wildly popular concert, Mad Decent Block Party, for the first time toIndia. With their commercial hit Lean on, the group became a house-hold name as they grooved to desi dance moves and catchy lyrics amidthe backdrop of Karjat, Maharashtra. This is precisely the reason whyno DJ could skip playing the hit number at one of the biggest musicfestivals in the country — Sunburn. Diplo explains why he can’t trackcompetition and his relationship with Sorry singer Justin Bieber.

�As Mad Decent Block Party makes its India debut, what can weexpect from the big night?

America’s biggest dance event is making its India debut and yousure need to be excited. A big thumbs up to our local partner Sunburnfor making this happen, finally. It’s like a concoction of mainstreamelectronic and hip-hop music with influences from the past and pre-sent styles of electro, moombahton, dancehall, dubstep, trap, et al. Youcan expect some out of the box visual artistry, theatrical stage tactics,distilled line-up and a family-friendly aesthetic. We encourage you tobring your family along. So if your grandpa loves to do the funky chick-en to Jack U’s Take U There, this is the place to bring him. It’s not youraverage block party. Big Gigantic, Gorgon City, Giraffage, are all mak-ing their first time visits to the country.

�Is there anything special that you are going to do for your Indianfans?

Maybe come dressed in a sherwani and turbans on stage? Indiais such a majestic land filled with beautiful people. The country is spe-cial and its beauty has absolutely humbled me. When we toured thereas Major Lazer, it was mind-blowing to see our fan-base and we want-ed to keep coming back for more. The experience we got from Indiais something we’ll never forget.

�You recent mix of JustinBieber’s Where Are U Nowwith Skrilllex turned out to bereally successful. How do youreact to that?

With Justin, after we didWhere are Ü now, I feel like wereally owed him some work onhis next album, because he gaveus such a strong record. I’veknown him for six yearsthrough Usher, and I’ve alwayskept it really cool with him andhis whole squad. In retrospect,we worked on some songstogether that kind of got buriedbut we worked really hard on them and we liked what we did. So it’scool that six years later, he did this favour for me and it turned out tobe something great. Where are Ü now is the kind of thing neither ofus could have done on our own. I just listened to his music, advisedand made adjustments to new songs. I helped with the overall feel ofthe sound that we started with Jack U and raced a lot of io Hawks inthe studio. It’s one of the strongest records he had on his album, buthe had no production for it. We transformed it into something dif-ferent. It’s crazy because it’s the first radio record he’s had since Baby.Bieber’s so talented, he needs to just be himself and be by himself andwork on his craft. He has a lot of people around; he has to find theright team to help him make something that’s going to stand alone. Ifeel like Skrillex has this sort of Kurt Cobain attitude, where he’s likea spokesman for a lot of kids. And he’s so talented and positive. Hecould be a sort of star. He’s got nobody guiding him but his fan baseis rabid. I love the way he hears everything, and he’s one of the bestmixers I’ve ever worked with. Nobody’s louder and cleaner than him.

�EDM seems to be growing by the day. Do you think the genre isgoing to stay or going to vanish like a bubble?

It’s an evolution. The thing is that, every musical genre starts fromthe underground, gets trendy, becomes popular, and then it dies or itis reinvented in a different way. It keeps evolving — every year some-thing new comes up, and now it’s at the highest it ever has been. Sonow I don’t know how much higher it will get. It has been more than20-25 years that this music is existing, so it’s amazing.

�At a time where we have a new talent coming in every six months,how do you wish to sustain in this competitive industry?

It’s always about being at the top of your game. We focus on whatwe are going to put out and all our energies are focussed on creatingtimeless music and newer sounds. Where’s the time to track compe-tition?

�Any plans to collaborate with Indian artistes? Oh yes I’d love to. I think India has a bunch of talented people. I

am finishing up the next album that’s out this August or Septemberand its been a crazy time touring. You might hear a few of the songswhile we’re in India.

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There was a cosmic connection when Sonam Kapoor who playsNeerja Bhanot—a young flight attendant who saved many livesand sacrificed hers during a hijack, met Rama Bhanot (Neerja’s

mother) for the first time. “She told me, ‘Ye toh meri lado hai’. It waslovely and the love and acceptance was wonderful. Her confidence inme was what gave me the confidence to play Neerja Bhanot,” said Kapoor.

As she plays the young flight attendant in the movie, Kapoor sharedwith us that observation plays an imporatnt role rather than a researchwork. “You have to look at photographs, voice notes, talk to family andfriends. There were certain facts that happened but how do I imaginewhat she went through. To imagine that, that imagination could onlycome if I knew the kind of person she really was. I had to understoodwho she was and once I understood that, I played those facts throughthat kind of filter that who she really was. I think you have to emo-tionally connect yourself, to the character, that is the best way toprepare for any role. And when you emotionally understandwith the person, then you automotically symthasise with theperson. You have to see the life of the person through thescript,” shared the actor.

Kapoor who was dissuaded by her father to becomean actor was sent to Shabana Azmi so that she can tell hernot to take up this profession. Azmi, instead told her tofollow her heart. Not only the bonding between the two wasquite evident during the interaction but Azmi happily calledKapoor like her niece.

Excerpts from the interaction

�You were asked to council Sonam not to become an actorbut you instead convinced her to become one...

Anil and Sunita have been my very close friends, so we havea relationship of 34 years now. But Anil called me up andsaid, he wanted me to dissuade Sonam, she was only 17back then. And she wanted to be actress and Anil want-ed her to go rather go abroad and study, so I told himI will do exactly as you want me to do. And I didexactly the opposite. I told her, you don’t have tolisten to your father, you do what your heart tellsyou to. And his reaction was, ‘you betrayed me,you are my friend.’ I would say, I have a veryeasy realtionship with Sonam and she is likemy niece. Because I have seen her growingup, so there is a comfort level that we have.Though we haven’t have worked beforetogether but this didn’t seem like work. Wealso went through very intensive work-shops, through which I not onlyestablsihed a relationship with onlySonam, but also two boys who play mysons in the movie. And also, Tikku jiwho plays my husband. Because forRam, it was very imporatnt that thefamily should really seem like a fam-ily as it is the core of the film.

�How did you prepare yourself forthe role?

I was unfortunate enough to have met RamaBhanor even before there was any talk of the film.I had been invited by the family to give away theNeerja Bhanot award breavery award to RashmiAnand. When I met her, I was struck by herwarmth, her humour, her spiritedness and sowhen I was offered the role, I though there wassome cosmic connection. As I was asked tobe part of this family and this happened, butRam was very clear that the foreground ofthe movie is the hijack but at the backboneof it, it is about the relationship of a moth-er and a daughter. Because the emotion-al soul of the movie comes from there.We had to be mindful of that, so the

people who have seen it have given that remark, so I am very happywith that. I think it was helpful that I met her. Because her spirit infusedthe charcter with her.

�Why did you agree to do Neerja?Because I felt te story needed to be told. I think it is very imporat-

nt for all of us to have heroes and role models. And today, when wetalk about the value of the girl child, and the need of the society to inter-nalise the value of the girl child, I thought this would be a very goodstory. And she would amke a very good role model not only to girlsbut also boys. 50 per cent of India is under the age of 25, and the spacefor role models is shrinking and this would be one chance of gettingthat role model. That’s why I said Yes.

�Was there a sense of resposibility you felt while playing Neerja’smother?

Not only to Rama ji, but also to the whole family. I was very over-whelmed by the fact that they ahd refused earlier to filmamkers whowanted to amke the movie but there was something that he trusted andSonam and Ram who went to meet them. So, it was our resposibilityto make them feel happy that they trusted us. Because when you aremaking a film, not every incident can look exactly the same, if they sitto compare, the might say, ‘aisa nahi hota’. But they have really allowedto make it the way we wanted to because there has been a degreeof

trust.

�How would you describe the family?They are typical middle class

family,with all the right core values. Theyall were very close to the mother.Unfortunately, she passed away but evenwhen this was talked about, they said, ‘Weare ok with it but the final call has to bema’s.’ They held her in so much for respect,

and only when she looked at Sonam, shesaid, ‘ye toh meri lado hai’. So, there was an

instant connection. Thefather used to always tell

her that you should bebrave, you should do

what you need toand never be

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Rabindranath Tagore once wrote: Lest you easily fath-om me, Elaborate pretenses I do try,/Then outward-ly I have mirth, Tears inside swell in eye… Pigeon

Show: A Play of Fools, presented recently by the drama-tist and director Rontin Foreman from California, fullyvindicated what Tagore had so memorably imagined.Constantly remonstrating that he is neither a clown , nora mime, nor a mimick, nor even an actor, Foreman pro-ceeds to clown around, and mime, and mimick, and con-sistently play-act his role of a buffoon and laughs at hispersonal predilections, hiding his inward agony and sor-row. He keeps playing the paradoxical provocation of thefool: to examine an individual’s struggle for finding iden-tity and significance on this planet of ours.

In creating his tour-de-force, Freeman used a few wide-ly-known role-models. The most easily recognisable is thatof Buster Keaton: the American stunt performer of thesilent-film era, whose trade-mark was physical comedyand endearingly consistently stoic, dead-pan expressionthat had earned him the nickname ‘The Great Stone Face’.The second is the universal model of Chaplinesque slap-stick comedy. The third is miming the “invisible wall” ala Marcel Marceau; and the final one is modern dance:nearest to the style of Merce Cunningham. The other tworole-models are institutional. One is the West’s 19th cen-tury “Music Hall” legacy and its stylised dance-movements.The other is — as conceded by Foreman — the“Commedia dell’arte” from Italy and its robust humour.All other role-models are left unmentioned by him.

What Foreman achieves, however, remains phenom-enal. Pigeon Show can best be described as the mother ofall scoops, for it turns each of its role-models on its headand aims at a scoop of every scoop. He does a yoga-pos-

ture of Shrishasana in all seriousness. But when he playswith dinner-etiquette of the English with their stiff-upper-lip, or, tinkers with his many objects as well as varied cos-tumes, or, involves his unwary audience-members in manyof his funny exchanges, it’s playfulness of the highest order.

But the cutting edge of all his lampooning acts retainsa veneer of failure, as though he is just missing the point.There is always a veil of sadness, a tinge of regret. At theend, when his whole world comes crumbling down, theaudience is almost prepared for the denouement.

Excerpts from the note by the director:�What do you really aim at?

Mine is a contemporary commentary on, not of polit-ical or social struggle, but of personal dilemmma. I’m dri-ven by metaphysical hungers, into relation with time, spaceand objects. Mine is a comedy of juxtapositions and dichoto-my. Pushed to the wall, this sometimes becomes anguish.

�Could you please explain your motivation?In Pigeon Show, one of the characters declares, “I came

to go”. It’s a great dilemma. It’s what we struggle with today.To be significant in the hoary past, one’s plight was clear.It was a mattter fate: even if it was to suffer and then todie. Suffering was something. Suffering was transformedinto glory. Today, we’re not allowed to suffer; in fact, suf-fering is counted as failure. Yet today, there’s much suf-fering. So the best we can do is to ridicule suffering.

�How do you achieve your laughter?The laughtes’s not achieved by hitting a punch-line.

Comedy’s achieved by my characters that play off-balace,awkwardly, desperately.

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixoteof La Mancha (El ingenioso hidalgo don

Quijote de la Mancha) is a Spanish novelby Miguel de Cervantes. Published in twovolumes in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote isconsidered one of the most influentialworks of literature from the SpanishGolden Age and the entire Spanish liter-ary oeuvre. The narrative describes exot-ic exploits of one Alonso Guijano, whoreads so many adventures and romancesthat he loses his sanity and resolves to setout: to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, andbring justice to the world: under the nameDon Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer,Sancho Panza, as his squire, who oftenemploys a unique, earthy wit in dealingwith Quixote’s rhetorical orations on anti-quated knighthood. Quixote does not seethe world for what it is and prefers to imag-ine that he is living out a knightly story.Throughout the novel, Cervantes uses suchliterary techniques as realism, meta-theatre,and inter-textuality. It was a major influ-ence on the global literary community, andoriginated the word: ‘quixotic’.

Somewhere in Quixote, presentedrecently by Ron Lala Group from Madrid,Spain, is an utterly charming recounting ofthe deeds of this imagined knight-errant,while Cervante is writing his masterpiece.Directed by Yayo Caceres, the performanceis stylised to the core, to create a riddle onwho is real: Cervante or Quixote? Who isdreaming and who is living? As in the book

so on the stage, Quixote is a universe initself; on the pages, or, on the proscenium— spilling very often into the auditorium.The production offers a range of adven-tures, thoughts and bonds between humanbeings: as with the church-chaplain and hiscompatriot.

A very versatile actor creates — withminimum make-up, yet maximum agility— the vainglorious ‘knight’ charging atwindmills, ‘rescuing’ a herd of sheep fromtheir ‘slavery’ and, otherwise, pusuing the

futile quest for Elcinea, the ‘most gloriousmaiden on earth’. Quixote is always accom-panied by his valet Sancho, who also hap-pens, here, to be an acccomplished singerand guitar-player. While the handful ofacrobatic actors run through their routinewith break-neck speed, the audience hasa rollicking time.

Extract from interaction with thedirector:�Was it difficult to transform the famousnovel into a theatrical experince?

The stage-produciton of Quixote willalways be literally charging the windmills.For, transforming the best novel in litera-ture into a theatre-play is itself a losing bat-tle. But theatre is just that: facing all the dif-ficulties of bringing thetre alive!

�How much improvisation did you per-mit?

Once the parameters are determined,there is no more improvisation in the finalperformance.

AMidsummer Night’s Dream is aShakespearean comedy, written between

1590 and 1597. It portrays the events sur-rounding the marriage of the Duke ofAthens, Theseus, and Hippolyta. Theseinclude the adventures of four youngAthenian lovers and a group of six amateuractors (the Mechanicals), who are con-trolled and manipulated by the fairies:inhabiting the woods where most of the playis set.

An intriguing feature of theShakespearean play is that it includes a playwithin a play — performed by theMecahnicals — using the original from Ovid’sMetamorphoses. In the Ovidian version,Piramus and Thisbe, the ill-fated lovers —forbidden to meet by their feuding elders —arrange a union under a mulberry tree andstate their feelings for each other. Thisbearrives first, but upon seeing a lioness witha mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees,leaving behind her veil. When Pyramusarrives, he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe’sveil, assuming that a wild beast has killed her.Pyramus kills himself, falling on his swordin proper Babylonian fashion and, in turn,splashing blood on the white mulberryleaves. Pyramus’ blood stains the whitemulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbereturns: eager to tell Pyramus what had hap-pened to her, but she finds Pyramus’ deadbody under the mulberry tree. Thisbe stabsherself with the same sword. In the end, thegods change, for ever, the colour of the mul-berry fruits into the stained colour: to hon-our the forbidden love.

Pyramus & Thisbe, presented by CentreStage Productions from Sri Lanka, is a mag-ical experience created out of two sub-plots:first, the ‘Mechanicals’ and fairies; and, thesecond, the main-stream Shakespeareansupernatural masque: A Midsummer Night’sDream. Directed (and adapted) by JehanAloydius, the mix results in an exuberantmusical drama that borrows both fromElizabethan legacy from the 16th and 17thcentury, and from traditions of the low-coun-try Sri Lanka. Set in a forest clearing under

a large mythical tree in the centre, the playunfolds, in the first part, lyrical Shakespeareanverses: complete with the sleeping fairy queenput under a spell by the fragrance of a magic-blossom and waking up to fall in love withthe donkey-headed Bottom.

The traditional narrative follows withfusion-dance, music, acrobatics and physi-cal comedy. The second part is an unalloyedcelebration of Sri Lankan theatre-styles andforms, including Kandyan dance-gestures, rit-ual acts and masked lioness prancing around.In a charming interlude, audience-membersare brought on stage, dressed up and madeto gesticulate with theatre-characters. It’s atotal theatre phenomenon.

Extracts from the notes of the director:�Tell us about the adaptation.

I set this adaptation in the south SriLanka in a by-gone era when traditioanlcrafts, folk thatre, and ritual mask-theatrewere popular.

�What are the principal elements of yourshow?

The performance features my drama-troupe’s traditioanl narrative techniques. It iscomposed of half Shakespeare and halfdevised theatre, physical comedy and dance.This unique inter-active form of theatre istermed ‘experimental theatre.’

Theatre is supposed to be a platformfor free thinkers — for people whodare to cross boundaries and explore

not only different characters and literarytexts but also bolder subjects. Subjectseither pertaining to current socio-politi-cal issues or those of the past. So whenacclaimed Aleksander Wegierko DramaTheatre from Poland decided to stage theplay Sonka in Bhubaneshwar, it drew flakfrom not only the audience but also thestate’s cultural minister for a brief nudescene in the narrative.

The scene, which did not exceed a fewsplit seconds, was imperative to the playbecause it was based was on the tortureinflicted on a Polish woman by Nazi sol-diers during World War II. Followingprotests in Bhubaneshwar by the cultureminister and audience, the staging of theplay at the Kamani Auditorium was can-celled. But theatre thespian and NSDchairman Ratan Thiyam has given a greensignal to stage the play in the Capital aftermaking sure that the brief nude scene hasbeen removed from the 110-minute play.

Why is it that, even today, when weclaim to be more advanced and intelligentthan ever, we sneer at anything and every-thing remotely nude? Even if the narrativeof a play demands a character to drop theirclothes, we always look at it as an act of tit-illation or sensationalism. Very few of ussee it in the light of the context that it isperformed in.

In view of the same, we spoke to a fewtheatre thespians, dramatists, playwrightsand theatre directors on whether they thinkthat nudity detracts from creativity.

We have heard several love stories,some with sad endings and some

with happy endings. But there is alwayssomething special about few love sto-ries which makes it unique and differ-ent from others.

Likewise, what makes the lovestory of poet and lyricist Kaifi Azmi andShaukat Azmi different is the narrationof their love story by their daughter andson in law. Yes, veteran actress ShabanaAzmi along with his husband and lyri-sist Javed Akhtar.

This is not for the first time whenthey have narreted this story but themagic which they create everytimewhile reading it, makes it different. Thestory is set on a political backdrop ofpre-independent India.

The story is the compilation of

Shaukat’s ineteraction with Kaifi whichShaukat has written in her book YaadKi Rehguzaar along with some parts ofKaifi’s interview which was compiledtogether by Javed Akhtar.

At the second edition of Jashn-e-Rekhta, which began with the the per-formance of Javed Akhtar and ShabanaAzmi with their play Kaifi Aur Main.The festival was to celebrate Urdu.

The thing which made the play sointeresting was that the memoir wasconverted into a poem. The play startswith the first meeting of Kaifi andShaukat in a concert where Kaifi wasreading his shayari after which Shaukatasked for his autograph.

The play narrated each and everyphases of their love story before theirmarriage to the active participation ofboth of them in freedom movementand to the birth of their daughterShabana and much more.

The play transcends the entireexperience to an ethereal level. Not onlythey were reading it, but the play wasalso supported with the songs writtenby Kaifi like Tum jo mil gaye ho, Waqtne kiya kya haseen sitam, Tum itna jomuskura rahe ho, et al.

There should always be a contextwhich demands nudity. Oscar Wilde

had once said you can show anunknown lady without a robe and thatwould not be considered so but show awoman with gloves on, and she mightbe considered naked. That is notobscenity. What is to be consideredobscene or nude depends on how thecreator envisions it. If he or she thinksit is nudity then it is. The audience can-not point to what nudity is.

If the script demands nudi-ty, then the director and

the creative should have theliberty to portray it. Nudityis important for the sake ofnudity, and not for titillatingthe audience. Indian cultureis open to such interpreta-tions but we are just notready to standardise nudity.We need to realise when andwhere it is necessar y.However, the acceptance ofit varies from one place toanother and also on thekind of audience. Some willunderstand the cultural con-notations of nudity while for

others, you will have toexplain the context.

We are a land of intelligent andmature people and who are

we to decide whether nudity shouldbe allowed or not? To show or notto show skin is the absolute free-dom of the artiste and I do notbelieve any censorship is necessary.If a play has a bold content, itshould be put out as an adult play.I mean, we have temples withnude structures engraved over it.Do we stop visiting them? Do wecensor anything there? No. Becausehere, everyone understands every-thing. It is up to you to decide whatyou want to see.

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From the looks of what is happening with the Polish play,nudity is cearly not allowed in threatre. I guess it is con-

stitutionally illegal. But thenagain, the issue is subjective. It islike censorship — what might beright for me might not be thesame for you. I think the idea ofwhether or not a nude act on thestage is valid in itself is a fake idea.It’s more about how far you areready to go and torture yourselfby seeing something that clearlymakes you, and others aroundyou, uncomfortable. I believethat that of you do not want to see something that you feelis objectionable then do not see it.

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Adirector has everyright to use nudi-

ty as a tool to take thenarrative forward.People do accept nudi-ty but often, for all thewrong reasons. I haveseen plays, whichclaim to have a nudescene, run houseful forall shows where peoplebought tickets only to

see actors bare theirskin for a few seconds.Unless plays likeDraupadi, by eminentManipuri dramatist HKanhailal, whereDraupadi (played byhis wife H Sabitri) wenttopless after beingraped is done, nuditywill not be accepted asa natural process.

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If expressing nudity andusing abusive language

makes meaning to the nar-rative of the play, it shouldbe allowed. However, oneshould keep in mind and becareful to not use nudity formere titillation. It is a formof art and should be usedwisely. If Ratan Thiyamhas decided to remove thefew seconds of nude scenein Sonka, he must havedone it with wisdom as thechairperson of NSD. I donot think that there shouldbe a blanket banning onnudity and abusive lan-

guage because any sort ofbanning restricts the cre-ator’s ability to express hisor her thoughts.

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On the third and last dayof Jashn-e-rekhta,

Bollywood director ImtiazAli attended the discus-sion, Filmon mein Urdu:Kal aur Aaj. The discussionwas along with JavedSiddiqui, Shabana Azmiand Tigmanshu Dhulia. Alithinks that there is notmuch difference betweenHindi and English. Urduwas always a very inclusivelanguage, it was never for-gotten. He thinks that therehas always seen a progressin the language.

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Page 15: ˇ*!#(˜+,-./ ˆ ˙˝ - (’ 6-(6 ˆ$6> ?@’6-$6>ˆ$ -6$1A ˆ-%6 “Bharat Ki Barbadi Tak Jang Rahegi Jari”, “Kashmir Ki Azadi ... Pakistan and demanded free-dom of Kashmir. They

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The boxers hardly broke a sweat toscoop all the seven gold medalsup for grabs, while shooters

ended their campaign with an out-standing tally of 25 gold medals toensure that India’s reign at the topremained unhindered in the 12thSouth Asian Games here on Monday.

On the penultimate day of compe-titions, the Indian contingent contin-ued to be perched at the top with 301medals (183 gold, 88 silver and 30bronze). Sri Lanka were second on thetable with 181 medals (25 gold, 60 sil-ver and 96 bronze).

The boxers were the stars of theshow on Monday in Shillong with allthe seven men in the final notching upmostly comprehensive victories.

Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg)began India’s gold rush when he thrashedPakistan’s Mohib Ulla. The LondonOlympics quarterfinalist was adjudgedthe winner on a split decision of 2-1.

Next man in was 35-year-old for-mer national champion Madan Lal(52kg) and he too prevailed overanother Pakistani opponent inMohammad Syed Asif to be adjudged3-0 winner.

World No.2 and WorldChampionships bronze-medallist ShivaThapa (56kg) prevailed over Sri LankanW Ruwan Thilina.

World no.6 Vikas Krishan (775kg)put up a brave front, fighting throughflu to down Pakistan’s Tanveer Ahmed.

Another from the Indian boxinghub of Haryana, 20-year- old DheerajRangi defeated Pakistan’s Ahmed Ali inthe 60kg gold medal bout.

Experienced boxer Manoj Kumar,the 2010 Commonwealth Games goldmedallist, was also adjudged winner inan unanimous decision of 3-0 againstDinidu Saparamadu of Sri Lanka in the64kg category.

Meanwhile, Mandeep Jangra(69kg) survived a closely-fought con-test against Afghanistan’s Rahemi AllaDad to win 3-0.

However, Afghanistan AmateurBoxing Federation president AbdullaSattari was not happy with the decisionand alleged that the referees “favoured”home favourite Jangra.

“They (judges) want the host coun-try to win all the medals. You askBhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or anyother contingent, who will here aboutwho won the bout. You will get your

answer,” Sattari told after the final bout.“I even told the Indian head coach

(G S Sandhu) why have a final event?We’re ready to co-operate and hand thegold to you,” the fuming Afghan box-ing official added.

As far as Jangra’s bout was con-cerned the Glasgow CommonwealthGames silver medalist was adjudged 3-0 winner in an unanimous decisionwith Malaysian judge SawalingamGovindswamy handing him 28-29 winin first round, while in the second toohe got an identical margin fromPakistani judge Mohammad Aslam.

In the third round, Thailand’sBorworn Boonyong adjudged him aclear 30-27 winner.

At the shooting range in Guwahati,Indian shooters made yet anotherclean sweep on the final day to sign offwith a staggering 25 out of 26 goldmedals on offer.

Rio Olympics bound Gurpreet Singhshot gold in men’s individual 25m rapidfire pistol with a total of 28 hits on tar-get, while Sweta Singh grabbed anoth-er yellow metal in women’s individual10m air pistol event with a total score of194.4. Another Olympics quota holder

Heena Sidhu had to be con-tent with the silver in thewomen’s 10m air pistol eventwith a total score of 192.5,while 18-year-old Chandigarhshooter Yashaswini Singh Deswaltook the bronze.

India also took a gold each in boththe team events to sweep aide any com-petition from other countries in the dis-cipline. India gave away just one gold —to Bangladesh — in the discipline. Thehome shooters ended the competitionwith 25 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze.

Gurpreet made up for his disap-pointing sixth-place finish in the 10mair pistol event on Saturday by winningthe gold in 25m rapid fire pistol event.

������������0�����������������������%� Indian women’s footballteam handed a fitting farewell toiconic Oinam Bembem Devi as thehosts trounced Nepal 4-0 to clinchingthe gold medal on Monday.

Young and athletic Kamala DeviYumnam was the architect of the winwith a double strike (32nd, 56thminutes) while the experienced duo ofcaptain Bembem and Ngangom Bala

Devi marshalled themidfield brilliantly tohand India its secondsuccessive title at the SAG.

However, Indianmen’s football team’s longwait for a gold in SAG

continued as they lost 1-2 againstNepal in the summit clash on Monday.

In a closely-fought final, India tookthe lead in the 31st minute withHolicharan Nazary converting apenalty kick but Nepal replied stronglyin the second half by pumping in twogoals through Prakash Thapa (66th)and Nawayug Shreshtha (72nd) to winthe match.

India thus settled for the silverwhile Bangladesh took the bronze after

defeating Maldives 7-6 via penaltyshoot-out in the third-place play-off.

India had won gold in 1995 in thethen Madras and since then they haveplayed in two finals, includingMonday’s summit clash but ended upon the losing side.

In 2004, India had lost to Pakistanin the final in Islamabad. In 2006 and2010, they had not reached the final.

���������������������Defending champions India on

Monday maintained their supremacyin kabaddi by clinching gold in bothmen’s and women’s events.

Indian men beat arch rivalsPakistan 9-7 in a closely foughtthrilling summit clash, while theirwomen counterparts hardly broke asweat in defending their gold medalwhich they had won in the previousedition by thrashing Bangladesh 36-12 in the final.

Elsewhere, Indian judokasopened their campaign with a bangwith seven gold and a silver to swelltheir overall medal tally.

Bhupinder Singh (60kg), JasleenSingh Saini (66kg), Manjeet Nadal(73kg) and Karanjeet Singh Maan(81kg) won the gold medal in men’scategory, while Sushila DeviLikmabam (48kg), Kalpana DeviThoudam (52kg) and Anita ChanuAngom (57kg) clinched the yellowmetal in the women’s section.

Also, India won a hat-trick of goldmedals on the last day, but stillfinished second behind toppersAfghanistan in taekwondo.

Women duo of Latika Bandariand Margerita Regi and male NavjeetMan won gold in their respectivecategories as India concluded theircampaign in taekwondo with fivegold, three silver and two bronzemedals. However, Afghanistan edgedout India to finish on top with sixgold, one silver and one bronze.

Also, India dethroned Pakistan inthe men’s handball, while theirwomen counterparts also clinchedthe gold after beating Bangladesh tostamp the home country’s supremacy.

Indian men beat Pakistan 32-31in a nail-biting summit clash thatwent down to the wire. The Indianmen’s team thus exacted revenge oftheir loss in the 2010 edition’s summitclash in Dhaka.

The Indian women’s side, on theother hand, defended the title they hadwon in 2010 edition, by beatingBangladesh 45-25.

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Concerned about the administrative logjam in Indianboxing, Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom on

Monday said future seems dark for the country’s pugilists,who are losing motivation to train.

India does not have a national federation after theInternational Boxing Association (AIBA) terminatedBoxing India last year. The sport is being administered byan ad-hoc committee.

The five-time world champion hoped the administra-tors would put their house in order before the much-antic-ipated Rio Olympics in August this year.

“Yes, they (the boxers) are all demotivated. There’s nocompetition, so it’s very frustrating. Whatever effort they’reputting is of no use. They’re being patient enough but thefuture is dark for them without any competition. If there’sno National Championship, we won’t have any new box-ers that means no hope for future. Future will be dark,”Kom told. “For seniors at least this South Asian Gameshave come up and the qualification (Zonal Olympic qual-ifiers in Qian’an next month) is coming up. That’s why we’retrying hard. Or else it will just be reduced to ‘time-pass’.”

However, Mary Kom strongly believed the sport won’tdie. “It won’t die but they’re suffering. They will not goimmediately change their game. Every athlete will be happyif the family is in order.”

Asked whether she’s upset, Mary Kom said: “Whyshould I? It’s not my problem, I’m doing my duty to qual-

ify for Olympics. Not getting exposure is not my problem.”Mary Kom has a new team provided by the Olympic

Gold Quest in coach Chhote Lal Yadav, senior physiother-apist Poornima Raman Ngomdir and sports science expertNikhil Late and she expressed confidence that she wouldqualify soon.

“This team has a lot of experience. We’re much bet-ter prepared now. We’re doing the same, it’s tough no doubt.But we’re doing our best to better my performance. Myhusband (K Onler Kom) is giving me full support with-out whom it’s difficult,” Mary Kom said.

�����������������������0�����5��������Making another attempt at sorting the administrative

mess in Indian boxing, representatives of 18 state units helda meeting with the AIBA ad-hoc committee and the coor-dination panel to discuss formation of a new federation.

The meeting was also attended by four governmentunits and the draft of a new constitution was circulatedto get the observations.

“The observations would be put forwarded to theInternational Federation (AIBA) within seven days for rat-ification. We’re trying our best to secure Indian boxers par-ticipation in Rio Olympics (in August this year),” chair-man of the Sports Ministry-constituted coordination com-mittee Asit Banerjee told.

The next meeting of these stakeholders would beheld within three weeks in Kolkata to take the discus-sions forward.

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Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini walked into FIFA headquarters onMonday to appeal his eight-year ban over a $2 million payment approved by

Sepp Blatter.Platini declined to be driven past waiting media and strolled from his nearby

hotel into the main entrance at FIFA Strasse on a hill overlooking Zurich.The former FIFA presidential hopeful denies wrongdoing and is challenging

the sanctions imposed after an ethics committee hearing he refused to attend. “Theywere already saying everything in newspapers so it was not worth going to hearwhat was already in the papers,” Platini said of his previous strategy. “Now it’s theappeals commission, so we’ll see what happens, but maybe it’s not over.”

FIFA’s ethics committee found Platini guilty of accepting gifts, conflicts of inter-est and breaching loyalty and general conduct rules. He was fined 80,000 Swissfrancs ($81,000).

The FIFA appeals committee, which rarely overturns rulings, could give its ver-dict this week.

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Despite enjoying a near-perfect sea-son on the pitch, Paris Saint-

Germain is dealing with a majorinternal crisis on the eve of its biggestgame so far.

The runaway French league leadershould be full of confidence as it pre-pares to welcome Chelsea at the Parcdes Princes for the first leg of theirChampions League last-16 matchup onTuesday. PSG is unbeaten in its last 44domestic matches, and key playersJavier Pastore and Marco Verrattihave recovered from injuries in time.

Instead, a poisonous atmosphereenveloped the club over the weekendafter defender Serge Aurier was sus-pended for insulting coach LaurentBlanc and some of his teammates in anonline video.

During a live session with fans onsocial media, Aurier abused Blanc andinsulted Zlatan Ibrahimovic and AngelDi Maria. Aurier has apologized butcould soon be placed on the transfer list.

Blanc refused on Monday to say ifAurier would play under him again.

“That guy, that boy, two years agoI commit myself to make him come toParis, and what I saw yesterday that’s allthe thank you I got,” Blanc said at a newsconference. “I think that’s pitiful. “Hepenalized himself, and it’s also bad forthe club, it’s harming the club’s image.”

Blanc said the incident could havehappened at any other club.

“I don’t think any club is immunefrom those things, especially withsocial media,” he said. “It’s every timemore difficult to control everything,especially communication wise.”

The video left the club’s Qatariowners unimpressed, and presidentNasser Al-Khelaifi said he would notallow anyone to get away with damag-ing PSG’s image.

Aurier has been a key player forBlanc, and is widely regarded as oneof the best right backs playing inEurope. But this isn’t his first run-inwith authorities, as he was suspendedfor three matches last year for insult-ing a Champions League referee onsocial media.

Against Chelsea, he is likely to bereplaced either by Marquinhos or

Gergory Van der Wiel. Ibrahimovicand Di Maria are expected to start upfront, with Lucas Moura and EdinsonCavani in competition for a startingposition on the left flank of the attack.

Meanwhile, the central-defensivepairing of Kurt Zouma and JohnTerry also has been integral to Chelsea’simprovement under coach GuusHiddink, but it has been split up.

Zouma was ruled out for the sea-son last week with a knee ligamentinjury, and Terry hurt his hamstringand was substituted during the 5-1 winover Newcastle in the Premier Leagueon Saturday. Terry trained on Mondaybut if he isn’t declared fit, Chelsea like-ly will throw together Gary Cahill andBranislav Ivanovic at center back tohandle the threat of Ibrahimovic.

Cesar Azpilicueta would be movedto right back to accommodate BabaRahman on the left.

Also striker Diego Costa is back tohis best, and that spells danger for PSG.He appeared to be more interested infighting than scoring at the start of theseason, but since Jose Mourinhodeparted, Costa has been more focusedon his primary job and scored eightgoals in 10 games.

Elsewhere, Zenit St. Petersburgtravel to Benfica.

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The emphatic triumph overSri Lanka giving a perfect

start to their World Twenty20build-up, Indian captainMahendra Singh Dhoni saidhis side will be one of the topcontenders at the showpieceeven though some top batsmenare yet to get enough time inthe middle.

Due to India’s deep batting,not all the batsmen have gotenough runs and overs undertheir belt in last six T20 games.

“Everybody has not got thechance to bat. But you will keepfacing this problem becauseour batting line-up is deep. Wewill have to try and give batingto players, who have not battedso far but people who are bat-ting close to 6, 7 or 8, they willhave to play big shots becausethat is going to be certainly bevery important for us,” Dhonisaid.

“It’s not how many runsyou have scored at that time butmay be if you are facing only3-4 balls and you can get 10-15runs, that will be a real bene-fit,” he said.

Dhoni said familiar condi-tions at home is also a comfort-ing factor for them for theWT20 starting March 8.

“We are always a top con-tender when it comes to theshorter format. Also the WorldCup being held in India, thespinners will come into actionand that gives us added bene-fit and also the exposure ofplaying IPL over here. Out ofeight seasons we have playedseven here and all of that willcount,” he said.

The Indian captain said thekey will be to get the danger-ous batsmen in the oppositionout early.

“What the shortest formatdoes is that it narrows down thedifference between two teams.You have to keep the big hitters(of rival team) out of the game.Also in a knockout game youhave to be at your best, you can’t

have an off day because once theknockout stage starts, it’s morelike lottery cricket, I feel moreconsistent to be important.”

Dhoni said it was helpful tohave someone like JaspritBumrah in the side, who canbowl yorkers in the death oversand give the team an option tohand the ball to someone likeAshwin early.

“It does, but usually youwould keep two overs of some-one like Bumrah or Nehra forthe death overs. In 50 overs youhave to be more careful, youhave to keep 2-3 overs of spin-ner if the death bowler is notbowling well, you have to bringhim in. What it does, you end upnot using a bowler or spinner.

“It’s something that willalways trouble us till we are cer-tain that these are the set ofbowlers who will bowl in deathfor us. In this format it is mat-ter of one bowler. In 50 overs,if you have certain bowlers whoare your death bowlers, it givesyou the liberty to use otherpeople in between the overs,”Dhoni said.

The Indian captain waspleased with the fact that “all ofhis bowlers have got a chanceto bowl” going into the WT20.

“Overall, everyone has gotto bowl, which is a good thing.In the last here games everyonehas gone for runs a bit, be itspinners or fast bowlers, whichmeans they were under pres-sure at some point of time,that’s a good thing. Overall weare looking good.”

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Having captaining the IPL teamChennai Super Kings for eightseasons, Indian skipper, Mr.

Cool on Monday got emotional andnostalgic when asked about leading anew IPL team.

“I would be lying if I say I havemoved on. That is the special part ofbeing a human being. There is got tobe an emotional connect after eightyears (with CSK),” said Dhoni at the jer-sey launch of his new team, the RisingPune Supergiants here in the capital.

Usually calm and composed onthe field, Dhoni got emotional whenasked about the team he led since thebeginning of the cash-rich league.Dhoni had been a part of CSK sincethe launch of the IPL in 2008, lead-ing the team to consecutive title tri-umphs in 2010 and 2011. But withCSK and inaugural edition winnersRajasthan Royals suspended fromthe tournament for the next twoyears due to match fixing and corrup-tion charges, the India team captainwas picked up by the Pune franchisefor the next couple of seasons.

“If you want me to be politicallycorrect, that is not how I am. Aftereight years of IPL, it feels very differ-ent to play for any other team. All ofa sudden if you want me to say that Iam very excited to play for a newteam, don’t give credit to CSK and thefans for the love and affection theyhave given us, it will be wrong.

“But as a professional, I would liketo thank the Pune team for taking me.Of course there will be added respon-sibility as captain but as a profession-al we are supposed to do the job withmore than 100 hundred percent com-mitment. And that is what we will tryto do,” said Dhoni.

Dhoni said he will miss playingalongside the likes of Suresh Raina,Ravindra Jadeja and BrendonMcCullum before exuding confi-dence in the players picked for thenew team.

“There are a lot of players we willmiss. We were together for eight years;our core group was the same. We wereso consistent and our strength wasthat we played as a team. We havetaken some former CSK players butthen at the auction, the two new teamswere expected to do most of the buy-ing. If you look at the six other fran-chisees, they have a settled lot.Therefore, the pressure will be on thenew franchise,” he felt.

On playing against longtime Indiaand CSK teammate Raina, who will

captain the other new team GujaratLions, Dhoni said: “We all know howdestructive Raina is. At the same time,he will just not be playing me and us,he will be playing against the otherteams too. He will be trying is best todo well. We have to make sure that wedo the job that is expected from us.”

Fate has also worked its magic inreuniting Mahendra Singh Dhoniand CSK’s coach Stephen Fleming.Dhoni is happy and overjoyed thatStephen is on board with the team.

“The life becomes slightly easywith him around. We know each otherfor long time. He is a fantastic coach.His management skills are very good.What I really like is that he is calm likeme. It is good to have him and hope-fully it will work for us.”

Dhoni however, pointed out that

the newly formed franchises Pune andGujarat Lions will find it difficult tofind their feet in their first year in theIPL as the other teams already havesettled squads.

“We have a good team on paper,but we will have to play to our poten-tial. The likes of Sourabh Tiwary andAlbie Morkel could be crucial incrunch situations. The IPL will beexciting this year,” he said.

“But the six original teams alreadyhave settled squads. The two newteams will have to find their balanceand settle down quickly. If you areworking with a core group of player’sright from the start, it is easier to knowyour weaknesses and how to adjust toa particular situation. But in a newteam, you have to start all over again,”Dhoni added.

The Indian skipper stayed mumand ducked questions when askedabout sweeping changes SupremeCourt appointed Lodha Commissionhas recommended on the functioningof the BCCI.

“Lodha Commission has notgiven me the report. So you have toask the BCCI (about what they planto do,” said Dhoni.

Dhoni defended the cash-richleague despite so many controversiesattached to the league.

“Yes, it (IPL) has got its share ofbad name but you have to look at thepositives as well. It is a platform whereyou can identify the players on thedomestic circuit, gauge their perfor-mance throughout the season. It isalso about how the young players han-dle pressure, you see youngstersembracing it. I think that is fantasticfor Indian cricket.

“Yes, money is a big factor. Peopletalk about cricketers getting a lot ofmoney. Yes, a lot of cricketers are get-ting a lot of money but at the sametime, thousands and thousands ofthem are not.”

This year’s IPL auction threw upseveral surprises as quite a few youngIndian players commanded higherprices than experienced internation-al stars. Rookie all-rounder PawanNegi was the second most expensiveplayer as he was bought by the DelhiDaredevils for �8.5 crore.

However Dhoni insisted that thefranchises were justified in their deci-sion to shell out big money for rela-tively unknown players.

“It all depends on the combina-tion that you are looking for in yourteam. You look for a player who maybe a bit expensive, but will provide thatcrucial balance to the team. When webrought in (Ravindra) Jadeja, we gota player who added stability to theteam with his all-round ability,” the 34-year-old said.

Dhoni also backed big-hittingKevin Pietersen for the upcoming IPL,saying he does not expect any disci-plinary issues from the formerEngland captain. Pietersen was boughtby the franchise for $514,500 at theplayer auction.

“Again, you know people areoften judged by what comes in themedia, but when you actually meetthem they are totally different. I don’tthink there will be any issue with dis-cipline. KP is a fantastic player, some-one who is very aggressive and at thesame time very expressive on the field.It is good to have him in the side,” hesigned off.

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The BCCI’s WorkingCommittee is scheduled to

meet here on February 19 aheadof the Special General Meetingthat has been convened on thesame day to deliberate on thesweeping reforms recommend-ed by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice (retired) R MLodha Committee.

“It’s a regular meeting ofthe Working Committee,which is scheduled at 11:00AM, to be followed by theSGM,” informed sources inthe BCCI on Monday.

The SGM has been con-vened to figure out a way for-ward after being told sternly by

the country’s apex court to “fallin line” with the far-reachingconsequences of the report.

Two other items on thespecial agenda of the SGM are“discussion on financial struc-ture of the Member Boards ofICC (International CricketCouncil) and the report of theAffiliation Committee of itsvisit to Chhattisgarh”.

The far-reaching effects ofthe implementation of theLodha panel’s recommenda-tions, calling for wide-rangingreforms in the BCCI’s struc-ture, and the subsequentscathing remark on the matterby the Supreme Court that hasshaken the Board members,are set to dominate the SGM.

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Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkatwreaked havoc with the ball as

Saurashtra dished out a dominantperformance to thrash Assam by10 wickets and sail into the finalof the Ranji Trophy cricket tour-nament, here on Monday.

Such was Saurashtra’s domi-nance that they wrapped up thefive-day match inside three dayswith Assam batsmen falling flat infront of the opposition bowlingunit led by Unadkat, whoreturned with impressive matchfigures of 11 for 112 runs.

Unadkat, who picked up sixwickets in Assam’s first innings,followed it up with yet anotherstellar show scalping five morevictims in the second essay by giv-

ing away just 45 runs.Resuming at the overnight

score of 254 for five Saurashtraadded 99 more runs before beingbowled out for 353 in their firstinnings in reply to Assam’s 234.

Centurion Cheteshwar Pujara(126) managed to add just 10 runsto his overnight score whileChirag Jani made 43 and Deepak

Punia was unbeaten on 42.For Assam, pace duo of

Krishna (3/80) and Arup (3/105)shared six wickets between them.

But it was all Unadkat and hispacer partner Hardik Rathod’sshow as the hunted in pair to bun-dle out a sorry-looking Assam forjust 139 runs in their second essay,thereby setting up an easy target of21 runs for Saurashtra to seal theaffair which they did woth aplomb.

Despite the loss, it was acreditable performance for Assamthis season as the North Easternside made it to the last four stageof Ranji Trophy for the first time.

Brief scoresAssam: 234 & 139 (JamaluddinSyed Mohammad 39; JaydevUnadkat 5/45) lose to Saurashtra:254 & 24/0 by 10 wickets.

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Australia inflicted a crushing inningsdefeat on New Zealand with a day

to spare in the first Test in Wellingtonwhen they dismissed the home side for327 on Monday.

In a Test that will be remembered fortwo majestic innings by Adam Voges andUsman Khawaja, as well as an umpiringhowler, Australia won by an innings and52 runs.

Nathan Lyon, Jackson Bird, MitchellMarsh and Josh Hazlewood all shared thespoils as the last six New Zealand wick-ets fell for 149 on day four.

New Zealand had been set a target of379 just to get in credit in their secondinnings after Voges’ 239 set up Australia’sfirst innings of 562.

The recognised New Zealand bats-men made starts, but were unable to turnthem into big scores.

After getting to 218-7 it was left to thelast three batsmen to add 109 runs. TimSouthee was in a one-day mood with 48off 23 and Mark Craig contributed anunbeaten 33.

At the top of the order, Tom Lathamscored 63 and Henry Nicholls, on debut,added 59 while Martin Guptill made 45and Kane Williamson 22.

Williamson and BJ Watling arerenowned as doughty batsmen capable ofoccupying the crease for a long time butneither was able to live up to their repu-

tation in the face of a tight bowling attack.Lyon occupied one end with his off-

breaks and the quicks were rotated at theother with a plan for each of the batsmen.

Watling has featured in two world-record stands for the sixth wicket at theBasin Reserve in the past two years.

He batted for 510 minutes withBrendon McCullum in a 352 -run standthat saved a Test against India in 2014 andlast year batted for 479 minutes in anunbeaten 365-run stand with Williamson

to beat Sri Lanka.But Watling was undone in 40 min-

utes by Australia when he attempted tocut a Lyon delivery and was beaten by theturn with the ball taking an inside edgeto ricochet into the stumps.

Nicholls resumed the day at 31 andwon a battle of wits with Hazlewood whofired down a series of good length deliv-eries, seaming the ball away and tempt-ing the left-hander to chase the shot.

When Nicholls refused to take the

bait, Hazlewood switched to a shortdelivery which was pulled to the square-leg boundary.

Bird eventually claimed the 24-year-oldwith a good length delivery that bowledhim as he tried to turn it to the on side.Southee and Craig delayed the inevitable,putting on 59 for the ninth wicket.

Lyon finished with four for 91 as themost successful Australian bowler, whileMitchell Marsh took three for 73.

Australia had been in charge of theTest from the time Steve Smith won thetoss and New Zealand were out withintwo sessions on a green-topped wicket.

As the wicket flattened out, Australiawere able to score more freely with theircause helped by umpire RichardIllingworth wrongly calling no ballwhen Voges was bowled by DougBracewell on seven.

The 36-year-old went on to make 239and evoke comparisons with DonaldBradman, while Khawaja added 140 tohave New Zealand effectively out of thegame after the first innings.

The second Test starts inChristchurch on Saturday and will be thelast international for New Zealand cap-tain Brendon McCullum.

Brief scoresAustralia: 562 (Voges 239, Khawaja 140,Smith 71) beat New Zealand: 183(Hazlewood 4-42, Lyon 3-32) and 327(Latham 63, Nicholls 59, Lyon 4-91,Marsh 3-73) by an innings and 52 runs.

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Riding on half-centuries from SmritiMandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur

followed by Poonam Yadav’s four-wicket haul, India Women thrashed SriLanka by 107 runs in the first ODI hereon Monday.

With this victory, India Womenhave taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series over Sri Lanka.

Put in to bat, India scored 245 forsix in their allotted 50 overs and thenbundled out Sri Lanka for a meagre138 in 45.2 overs.

Besides the two half-centurions,skipper Mithali Raj also chipped inwith a crucial 49.

Opener Mandhana anchored thefirst half of the innings with a solid 55that came off 81 deliveries and wasstudded with eight fours.

After Mandhana’s dismissal,

Harmanpreet took charge with a 61-ball 50, while Mithali’s 49 off 74deliveries also came in handy for theteam.

Chasing 246, Sri Lanka lostChamari Jayangani (1) early, but theother opener in PrasadaniWeerakkody played a patient inningsof 113-ball 69 to steady the boat.

At one stage, Sri Lanka weredecently placed at 122 for three beforeIndian bowlers led by Poonam cutthrough the middle and lower order.

Sri Lanka lost their last sevenwickets for just 16 runs.

Brief scoresIndia Women: 245 for six in 50 overs(Smriti Mandhana 55, HarmanpreetKaur 50; Shashikala Siriwardene 2/31).beat Sri Lanka Women: 138 all out in45.2 overs (Prasadani Weerakkody 69;Poonam 4/22) by 107 runs.

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