0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the cheraman juma masjid in kerala,” the prime...

12
I n a daring incident in Bijnor, two unidentified motorcycle -borne assailants gunned down an NIA officer and critically wounded his wife in the wee hours of Sunday. The officer, in the rank of the deputy super- intendent of Police, along with his wife and children, was returning home from a wed- ding from Bijnor. The officer, Mohammed Tanzil Ahmad, who was a member of team probing ter- ror cases related to Indian Mujahideen, sustained as many as 24 bullet wounds while his wife Farzana was shot at four times. Scared by the showering of bullets, their 14-year old daughter and 12-year old son hid themselves under the back seat of their Wagon-R car. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is visiting his par- liamentary constituency of Lucknow was apprised of the incident. “Whatever is necessary was being done. We are talking to NIA officials,” Singh said. In a statement issued by the hospital where Farzana was admitted, “the officer’s wife has been brought in a critical condition. Our doctors are providing the best medical treatment to her. As a matter of patient confidentiality, we can- not comment any further.” According to reports, around 8.00 pm on Saturday, Tanzil along with his family left their home for attending his niece’s marriage function in Sohra village. When they were returning home, the assailants got his car stopped when he was around 300 metres away from his house. Terming the incident as a ‘planned attack’, police offi- cials did not rule out the pos- sibility of terror angle in the shootout. He was attacked from a close range. The police officials said it seemed that Tanzil Ahmad’s movement was being tracked by assailants who used sophisticat- ed weapons (one 9mm pistol) in the shootout. “Tanzil Ahmad was shot dead by two motorcy- cle borne persons on his way to home,” IG (Law and Order) of UP Police Bhagwan Swaroop said. In Delhi, NIA IG Sanjeev Kumar mourned the murder of one of the brave officer of the organisation and also termed the attack as a “planned attack”. “A planned attack was made on Ahmad and he was fired upon several times at the time of incident. In the firing, Ahmad was killed while his wife was injured. She has been admitted to Fortis Hospital, Noida. Continued on Page 4 W ooing investors with promise of an easier busi- ness environment and stable tax regime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said retrospective taxation has been made a thing of the past but he is “not able to do any- thing” on two cases inherited from the previous Government as they are “sub-judice”. Modi also held wide-rang- ing talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz on ways to expand strategic cooperation in a range of areas including trade, investment and counter- terrorism. Besides, the two nations on Sunday decided to ramp up their counter-terror- ism cooperation as they asked all countries to dismantle ter- ror infrastructures “where they happen to exist” and reject the use of terrorism against other countries, seen as an oblique reference to Pakistan. A joint statement issued after the talks between Modi and King Salman, said, “They called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they hap- pen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists operating and perpetrating terrorism from their territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice.” Inviting Saudi businesses to come and invest in India’s defence, energy, railway, health and agriculture sectors, Modi also said that a common indi- rect taxation regime in form of GST (Goods and Services Tax) was “about to happen”. He, however, refrained from giving any specific timeframe. Addressing a select group of Saudi and Indian business lead- ers on the last day of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Modi said his Government has opened up many sectors to foreign invest- ment and India stands out as a “beacon of hope” amidst global economic slowdown. He further said his Government was trying to strengthen the banking net- work in India by freeing them from non-performing assets (NPAs) of state-run electricity companies whose liabilities had gone up significantly. Modi said India has taken major policy initiatives to cre- ate favourable environment for investors besides removing administrative bottlenecks. In this regard he said the World Bank has placed India on 12th position in the list of countries that had ensured ease of doing business. “Today, the world is facing a very deep economic cri- sis and in this situation, India is a beacon of hope. Whether it is World Bank, IMF or credit rat- ing agencies, all of them con- sider India one of the fastest growing economies,” he said. Continued on Page 4 Related reports on P9 T he polling for the first phase of the Assembly elec- tions in Assam and West Bengal will kick off on Monday amid tight security. Eighteen out of the 294 constituencies in Bengal and 65 out of 126 con- stituencies in Assam would go to polls on Monday. In Assam, BJP’s star can- didate and Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal from Majuli, and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi from Titabor are the candidates in the first phase of polls. In Bengal, 18 seats in Maoist-affected areas will go to assembly polls in the first of the six-phase elections. Overall 133 candidates will try their luck from the constituencies falling under the districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Out of these, 13 have been roughly classified as Left Wing Extremism-affected areas by the Election Commission where voting will end early by 4 pm due to security reasons. While the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) and the Left-Congress alliance are the main rival in the State with the BJP looking at bettering its major gains in vote percentage in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the North-Eastern state of Assam is where the BJP is seeking to topple the long and well- entrenched reign of the Congress. The TMC is looking for a repeat victory in Bengal after ending the Left Front’s 34- year-old stranglehold on the State in 2011, as the CPI(M)- Congress alliance hopes to reverse the trend by raising the issues of corruption, Saradha scam and bad-governance under the TMC dispensation. The collapse of an under-con- struction flyover in Kolkata has also become a hot issue in the poll war in Bengal. In Assam, the ruling Congress, the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance and the AIUDF are locked in a keen battle to decide the fate of 539 candi- dates in 65 of the 126 con- stituencies in the border State where issue of illegal migrants is one of the main poll issues. The BJP’s campaign called for a ‘parivartan’ (change) to bring development while the Congress highlighted its vari- ous achievements, including improvement of the law and order situation during last 15 years of its rule in Assam. Continued on Page 4 A fter the total prohibition on country and spiced liquor in the countryside, the Government may consider banning the sale of toddy in vil- lages amid reports that people are turning towards toddy in big number after ban on liquor. Excise Department princi- pal secretary KK Pathak while interacting with District Magistrates (DMS) on Saturday evening gave this hint when some DMs told him that toddy tappers were doing brisk busi- ness after ban on country liquor. He also advised the DMs for some check on the sale of toddy and put some conditions. However, neither in the new excise policy nor in the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which was passed last week, there is no indication of any restriction or ban on toddy, the popular drink of poor peo- ple mainly OBCs and dalits. Continued on Page 4 A fter two successive rain deficient years, weather experts have predicted a “good” monsoon this year- about 89 cms, which is 100 per cent to 102 per cent of normal. This is due to drop in El Nino pattern, which may go below 0.5 by May-end and gradually become neutral. The weakening El Nino phenomenon is expected to make way for its reverse coun- terpart La Nina, when the tem- peratures of the Pacific could cool abnormally and bring plentiful rains in various Asian countries, including India. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is expect- ed to come out with its first official prediction on monsoon during the last week of April. During the last two suc- cessive years, monsoon was deficient by 14 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. When rainfall deficit in a year is 10 per cent or more in a monsoon sea- son, it is considered as a mete- orological drought year. Over the last two years, rains were particularly insufficient in the regions of northern Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh. According to weather experts, this was due to severe condition of El Nino, which was above two notches since the last monsoon. The current El Nino spell has been one of the longest and the strongest ever. This is characterised by unusual warm- ing of the sea surface in equa- torial Pacific Ocean, which is known to suppress rainfall over the Indian region besides other countries. The last year wit- nessed one of the strongest El Nino spells in 50 years that led to such a rain deficient year. However, as per experts, the severity of the phenomenon dropped to 1.0 last week, which is said to be in the category of a moderate El Nino. This is expected to decline further at the end of May, paving the way for a normal monsoon. In the rainy season, extending for four months from June- September, rains in June are expected to be the maximum. The weather experts have given more reasons for the farmers to cheer up. Declining El Nino, according to them, is likely to pave the way for La Nina that occurs due to exten- sive cooling of the central and eastern tropical regions of Pacific Ocean. Continued on Page 4 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gifted Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz a gold-plated repli- ca of Kerala’s Cheraman Juma Masjid, believed to be the first mosque built in India by Arab traders around 629 AD. “PM @narendramodi gifted His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud a gold-plated replica of the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed report on P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described an all-women IT centre set up by India’s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) as the “glory of Saudi Arabia”. “I am meeting those pro- fessionals who are now the glory of Saudi Arabia,” said Modi. “This atmosphere I am witnessing here today has the potential to give a strong message to the world.” Detailed report on P7 RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718 Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

Upload: doanxuyen

Post on 18-Apr-2018

233 views

Category:

Documents


5 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

����������������� � �������� ��������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������ �������������!

��� ����������� ��!��������������"#$"#��"������#���#����������������$%�����������������������������������������&������������������������ ������������������������!�'�����������������������������������������������������������������������&���������� ����� ����������������!

��� ��������%� ����� &����������'(��')����(��������$)������� � ��� ���������������������������*���� ���������������������������� �������������������� �+&�����"������,��������������� �-�������������������.������/��������.�������������0��� �����������������������������!

��!������!���������������������� ����"**�+�,��0����� �� ������������������ ���������������1����������������������������������������� ����&�����������%����.,�2�����.���� � ���������������������������������������������������� ������������!

���� �� ��-� � �� ��������� �� ����'(��')����"��������������������������������3�-�,�������������� �+4����������������������������5����������������������������� ����������������"�����������$% �������������������������������������������!

�������

� ������� �� �$.%126

In a daring incident in Bijnor,two unidentified motorcycle

-borne assailants gunned downan NIA officer and criticallywounded his wife in the weehours of Sunday. The officer, inthe rank of the deputy super-intendent of Police, along withhis wife and children, wasreturning home from a wed-ding from Bijnor.

The officer, MohammedTanzil Ahmad, who was amember of team probing ter-ror cases related to IndianMujahideen, sustained as many

as 24 bullet wounds while hiswife Farzana was shot at fourtimes. Scared by the showeringof bullets, their 14-year olddaughter and 12-year old sonhid themselves under the backseat of their Wagon-R car.

Home Minister RajnathSingh, who is visiting his par-liamentary constituency ofLucknow was apprised of theincident. “Whatever is necessarywas being done. We are talkingto NIA officials,” Singh said.

In a statement issued by thehospital where Farzana wasadmitted, “the officer’s wifehas been brought in a critical

condition. Our doctors areproviding the best medicaltreatment to her. As a matter ofpatient confidentiality, we can-not comment any further.”

According to reports,around 8.00 pm on Saturday,Tanzil along with his family lefttheir home for attending hisniece’s marriage function inSohra village. When they werereturning home, the assailantsgot his car stopped when hewas around 300 metres awayfrom his house.

Terming the incident as a‘planned attack’, police offi-cials did not rule out the pos-sibility of terror angle in theshootout. He was attacked froma close range.

The police officials said itseemed that Tanzil Ahmad’smovement was being tracked byassailants who used sophisticat-ed weapons (one 9mm pistol) inthe shootout. “Tanzil Ahmadwas shot dead by two motorcy-cle borne persons on his way tohome,” IG (Law and Order) ofUP Police Bhagwan Swaroopsaid. In Delhi, NIA IG SanjeevKumar mourned the murder ofone of the brave officer of theorganisation and also termed theattack as a “planned attack”.

“A planned attack was madeon Ahmad and he was firedupon several times at the time ofincident. In the firing, Ahmadwas killed while his wife wasinjured. She has been admittedto Fortis Hospital, Noida.

Continued on Page 4

����� 50*"47

Wooing investors withpromise of an easier busi-

ness environment and stabletax regime, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaysaid retrospective taxation has

been made a thing of the pastbut he is “not able to do any-thing” on two cases inheritedfrom the previous Governmentas they are “sub-judice”.

Modi also held wide-rang-ing talks with Saudi KingSalman bin Abdulaziz on ways

to expand strategic cooperationin a range of areas includingtrade, investment and counter-terrorism. Besides, the twonations on Sunday decided toramp up their counter-terror-ism cooperation as they askedall countries to dismantle ter-ror infrastructures “where theyhappen to exist” and reject theuse of terrorism against othercountries, seen as an obliquereference to Pakistan.

A joint statement issued

after the talks between Modiand King Salman, said, “Theycalled on all states to reject theuse of terrorism against othercountries; dismantle terrorisminfrastructures where they hap-pen to exist and to cut off anykind of support and financingto the terrorists operating andperpetrating terrorism fromtheir territories against otherstates; and bring perpetrators ofacts of terrorism to justice.”

Inviting Saudi businesses tocome and invest in India’sdefence, energy, railway, healthand agriculture sectors, Modialso said that a common indi-rect taxation regime in form ofGST (Goods and Services Tax)was “about to happen”. He,however, refrained from givingany specific timeframe.

Addressing a select group ofSaudi and Indian business lead-ers on the last day of his two-dayvisit to Saudi Arabia, Modi saidhis Government has opened up

many sectors to foreign invest-ment and India stands out as a“beacon of hope” amidst globaleconomic slowdown. He furthersaid his Government was tryingto strengthen the banking net-work in India by freeing themfrom non-performing assets(NPAs) of state-run electricitycompanies whose liabilities hadgone up significantly.

Modi said India has takenmajor policy initiatives to cre-ate favourable environment forinvestors besides removingadministrative bottlenecks. Inthis regard he said the WorldBank has placed India on 12thposition in the list of countriesthat had ensured ease of doingbusiness. “Today, the world isfacing a very deep economic cri-sis and in this situation, India isa beacon of hope. Whether it isWorld Bank, IMF or credit rat-ing agencies, all of them con-sider India one of the fastestgrowing economies,” he said.

Continued on Page 4Related reports on P9

����� 1+6�4+�70

The polling for the firstphase of the Assembly elec-

tions in Assam and WestBengal will kick off on Mondayamid tight security. Eighteenout of the 294 constituencies inBengal and 65 out of 126 con-stituencies in Assam would goto polls on Monday.

In Assam, BJP’s star can-didate and Chief Ministerialcandidate Sarbananda Sonowalfrom Majuli, and ChiefMinister Tarun Gogoi fromTitabor are the candidates inthe first phase of polls.

In Bengal, 18 seats in

Maoist-affected areas will go toassembly polls in the first of thesix-phase elections. Overall133 candidates will try theirluck from the constituenciesfalling under the districts ofWest Midnapore, Purulia andBankura. Out of these, 13 havebeen roughly classified as LeftWing Extremism-affected areasby the Election Commissionwhere voting will end early by4 pm due to security reasons.

While the TrinamoolCongress Party (TMC) andthe Left-Congress alliance arethe main rival in the State withthe BJP looking at bettering itsmajor gains in vote percentage

in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, theNorth-Eastern state of Assamis where the BJP is seeking totopple the long and well-entrenched reign of theCongress.

The TMC is looking for arepeat victory in Bengal afterending the Left Front’s 34-year-old stranglehold on theState in 2011, as the CPI(M)-Congress alliance hopes toreverse the trend by raising theissues of corruption, Saradhascam and bad-governanceunder the TMC dispensation.The collapse of an under-con-struction flyover in Kolkata hasalso become a hot issue in the

poll war in Bengal.In Assam, the ruling

Congress, the BJP-AGP-BPFalliance and the AIUDF arelocked in a keen battle todecide the fate of 539 candi-dates in 65 of the 126 con-stituencies in the border Statewhere issue of illegal migrantsis one of the main poll issues.

The BJP’s campaign calledfor a ‘parivartan’ (change) tobring development while theCongress highlighted its vari-ous achievements, includingimprovement of the law andorder situation during last 15years of its rule in Assam.

Continued on Page 4

����� '"�1"

After the total prohibition oncountry and spiced liquor

in the countryside, theGovernment may considerbanning the sale of toddy in vil-lages amid reports that peopleare turning towards toddy inbig number after ban on liquor.

Excise Department princi-pal secretary KK Pathak whileinteracting with DistrictMagistrates (DMS) on Saturdayevening gave this hint when

some DMs told him that toddytappers were doing brisk busi-ness after ban on country liquor.He also advised the DMs forsome check on the sale of toddyand put some conditions.

However, neither in thenew excise policy nor in theBihar Excise (Amendment) Bill,2016, which was passed lastweek, there is no indication ofany restriction or ban on toddy,the popular drink of poor peo-ple mainly OBCs and dalits.

Continued on Page 4

����� 1+6�4+�70

After two successive raindeficient years, weather

experts have predicted a “good”monsoon this year- about 89cms, which is 100 per cent to102 per cent of normal. This isdue to drop in El Nino pattern,which may go below 0.5 byMay-end and graduallybecome neutral.

The weakening El Ninophenomenon is expected tomake way for its reverse coun-terpart La Nina, when the tem-peratures of the Pacific couldcool abnormally and bringplentiful rains in various Asiancountries, including India.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) is expect-

ed to come out with its firstofficial prediction on monsoon during the last weekof April.

During the last two suc-cessive years, monsoon wasdeficient by 14 per cent and 12per cent respectively. Whenrainfall deficit in a year is 10 percent or more in a monsoon sea-son, it is considered as a mete-orological drought year. Overthe last two years, rains wereparticularly insufficient in theregions of northern Karnataka,Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana,Bihar, Jharkhand and parts ofUttar Pradesh.

According to weatherexperts, this was due to severecondition of El Nino, which wasabove two notches since the last

monsoon. The current El Ninospell has been one of the longestand the strongest ever. This ischaracterised by unusual warm-

ing of the sea surface in equa-torial Pacific Ocean, which isknown to suppress rainfall overthe Indian region besides other

countries. The last year wit-nessed one of the strongest ElNino spells in 50 years that ledto such a rain deficient year.

However, as per experts,the severity of the phenomenondropped to 1.0 last week, whichis said to be in the category ofa moderate El Nino. This isexpected to decline further atthe end of May, paving the wayfor a normal monsoon. In therainy season, extending forfour months from June-September, rains in June areexpected to be the maximum.

The weather experts havegiven more reasons for thefarmers to cheer up. DecliningEl Nino, according to them, islikely to pave the way for LaNina that occurs due to exten-sive cooling of the central andeastern tropical regions ofPacific Ocean.

Continued on Page 4

������������� �������������������

����������������������� �������������������������������������������� ��������������������!�������

���������������� ����� ��������������������� ���������������������� ������ ��������� �!��������������������������"�#�������!��� ����������$ � ���

������������� �������������������

Riyadh: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaygifted Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz a gold-plated repli-ca of Kerala’s Cheraman JumaMasjid, believed to be the firstmosque built in India by Arabtraders around 629 AD.

“PM @narendramodigifted His Majesty KingSalman bin Abdulaziz AlSaud a gold-plated replica ofthe Cheraman Juma Masjid inKerala,” the Prime Minister’sOffice tweeted.

Detailed report on P7

Riyadh: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Sundaydescribed an all-women ITcentre set up by India’s TataConsultancy Services (TCS)as the “glory of Saudi Arabia”.

“I am meeting those pro-fessionals who are now theglory of Saudi Arabia,” saidModi. “This atmosphere I amwitnessing here today hasthe potential to give a strongmessage to the world.”

Detailed report on P7

���.�/*����0$���#.�.")$�1'2)�3�"/��'1�)��,"�40'

))�(",'#���3'#*1'���.)"1+�/"1��1�5�����"$�

"�����������#�� �����$������%����������&��� ��'�!������&

�������� ��� ������������ ��������� ������ ������������������

�����������������������������������

������������������������������������������������������ ������������������������������ �������� ����

����

�����������������������������$���������� � �$ ������%����������������!��������&�� ��'��������!��� &�� �(��$������!�����������������������!����������!����� ������������)� �� �����!��� ���

(#((#(

����������� �!������� ��� �"����"� #"�� ����������������� ������������ ������� ������������$����"���������������

���� ���� ���

*+����'���,,-./0 1������������ ���23�"�%������* ���4� �������������������������������$�������������"���������5�1�����������������$������ ���!���������������� �� ��1�����,-���������!���������������������4��������(�����������!���

����� ���!����""� ��#�

���������� ��� ������������������� ���)�����������*

�$$$%���"�&�� ���%���

� ��� ��������� ���6� 789:;��-���97��8

+����+��,/7"5"��,"�"�%0�9"0�

("�6"�$1(25�$1"�+

�+�-.�/0+:'+.�"�021��70;7�(25�$'�2

<!=<>�5"�+�.$��/*�5/0

.��� <")=> ���0' ?@A"������������+&������"�������

��*�5)���'$�9?:6�#"�� ���'�����

()*+,��*-.�/0 �+/�*�+-���)10�2�2��+,�2�,-2

+��(,��2+��()+2�(-�

����������� �!����"#!���$�������%&'%���$(�

1+234�//�5$,'�21�4+(+1.+ ��50+��

�2�5+;"01�,2,+1�$,

RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

������� -� -5 ���������� ������)6. ���� �� �����

��������6��7859�-*���:/�������,95;�-*���:/�

4������ ����!� ��� 5

�������������.��������<��� �

Page 2: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

������������ ��2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

���������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

NTPC Ltd has commencedthe process for setting up the

Geo Thermal Power Plant atTatapani in Balrampur district ofChhattisgarh.

The company would com-mence the process for ThermalExploration cum ProductionWell, Resource Assessment andpreparation of Detailed ProjectReport (DPR) for the GeoThermal Power Plant atTatapani, officials stated.

It may be recalled thatNTPC's efforts during secondhalf of FY 16, as a result of ratio-nalization of coal linkages,reduction in imported coal con-sumption, enforcement of thirdparty sampling of coal and othermeasures led to reduction inenergy charges of coal stationsby nearly 20%.

NTPC shall endeavour tobring down the energy chargesfurther to help the Discoms, offi-cials stated.

With capacity addition of9550 MW during the currentplan, NTPC is all geared up toachieve the target of 11920 MWfor the 12th five year plan end-

ing 2016-17.NTPC commissioned Unit

3 and 4 at Koldam — 400 MWin Himachal , Bongaigaon unit1-250 MW in Assam,Vindhyachal unit 13 - 500MWin Madhya Pradesh, BRBCLNabinagar unit 1 - 250 MW inBihar, Kanti unit 3 - 195 MW inBihar, Mouda unit 3-660 MW in

Maharashtra during the year.Under its CSR activities,

company shall continue to pro-vide safe drinking water andfocus on training and skill devel-opment of people in the vicini-ty of its projects and stations. Theoptions of installing water ATMsand opening of generic medicineshops to provide access to low

cost medicines for them is alsobeing explored.

NTPC presently has 18 coalbased, 7 gas based, 8 solar PV,one Hydro and 8 Subsidiaries /Joint Venture power stations.Company has a capacity of over24,000 MW under differentphases of completion.

It may be recalled that

NTPC’s upcoming 1600 MWLara Super Thermal PowerProject in Raigarh district ofChhattisgarh has acquired allnecessary clearances from theUnion Ministry of Forest,Environment and ClimateChange for the project, officialsstated.

The Lara plant of NTPCwould be utilising super criticaltechnology for power genera-tion. The power to be generat-ed by upcoming project will besupplied to Chhattisgarh , Goaand Maharashtra states, officialsstated.

The project is most likely togo on stream by March 2017 .

The coal requirement for theproposed plant would be metfrom Talaipalli Coal Block ofMand in Raigarh Coalfields,officials stated.

Significantly, NTPC thelargest power utility of the coun-try recorded highest single daygeneration of 733.12 MUs, thehighest from its 18 coal based, 7gas based, 8 solar and Hydropower stations on August 27,2015. The Declared CumulativeCapability of the stations was91.10 % and Plant load factor (

PLF) of 86.34 % on the day.During financial year 2014-

15, NTPC Group contributed25% of total electricity generat-ed in India with 16% share ofCountry’s total installed capac-ity as on 31.03.2015.

NTPC recorded Gross gen-eration of 241.261 BUs (stand-alone) in FY 2014-15 registeringa growth of 3.42%. Plant LoadFactor (PLF) of NTPC’s coal sta-tions was 80.23% against nation-al average of 64.46%. Two sta-tions recorded more than 90%PLF. All NTPC stations achievedPlant Availability of or above83%. Four coal stations of NTPCfeatured among the top 10 sta-tions of the Country in terms ofPLF in FY 2014-15.

Notably, the Centre hassigned a Memorandum ofUnderstanding each with thestates of Odisha, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh for critical coalconnectivity projects to improvetransportation of coal, officialsinformed.

Coal production inChhattisgarh stood at 115.19million tonnes (MT) during2014-15 ( provisional), officialsstated.

This was in comparison to110.14 million tonnes (actual)coal produced in the State dur-ing the previous year.

The State had already pro-duced 27.857 million tonnes ofcoal during the period April toJune 2015 (provisional), officialsstated.

As per Annual Plan docu-ment 2015-16 of Union Ministryof Coal, the annual target foroverall coal production for 2015-16 has been fixed at 700 milliontonnes. As action plan has alsobeen drawn by Coal India Ltd.in this regard to achieve pro-duction of 1000 Million tonnesby 2019-20, officials stated.

Agreement for World Bankloan of US $ 1100 million forEastern Dedicated FreightCorridor (DFC) (Phase-2) havealso been signed, officials stated.

Notably, the Chhattisgarhgovernment will allocate 66 acresof land for speedy implementa-tion of two key railway corridorprojects in the State.

A decision was taken duringa meeting of an inter-depart-mental committee chaired byState Revenue Minister PremPrakash Pandey here recently,

officials stated. It move will expedite setting

up of the East-West RailCorridor and East corridor, hesaid.

The 122 km long East-WestRail Corridor will be built on theGevra Road-Deepika-Katghora-Sindurgarh-Pasan-Pendra Roadsection.

The Union RailwayMinistry had already submitteda proposal to the Chhattisgarhgovernment for allotment ofland for this project.

After considering the pro-posal, it was decided to allocate52-acre land for the purpose, ofwhich 25 acres fall in Bilaspurdistrict and the rest in Korba dis-trict. For the East Corridor, theState government has decided toallocate 14 acres of land inRaigarh district. The Corridorwill be about 180 km long fromBhupdevpur-Gharghoda-Dharamjaygarh up to Korba, theofficial said.

The committee also sanc-tioned 20 acres of land for theunder-construction the rail routefrom Talaipalli to Lara villagewhere the plant of NTPC is com-ing up in Raigarh district.

Dantewada: A constable ofCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) was injured in a blastthat took place in insurgency-hitDantewada district ofChhattisgarh on Sunday, policesaid. While undertaking opera-tion in forest falling under lim-its of Katekalyan police station,a CRPF constable identified asGurwinder Singh suffered mul-tiple injuries in ImprovisedExplosive Device (IED) blast,informed police.

According to the police,during the course of operation,the trooper belonging to 195thbattalion of CRPF accidentlystepped over IED planted byultras leading to blast. Afterbeing informed about the explo-sion, security personnel wererushed to the spot for ensuringsafe evacuation of troopers. Itmay be recalled that seven troop-ers of CRPF were killed in IEDblast triggered by ultras in insur-gency-hit Dantewada district onMarch 30. ������������

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0;"57

Power generation companiesof Maharashtra and Gujarat

Governments have commencedthe process of selecting minedevelopers for the Gare Palmasector II and I coal blocksrespectively in Raigarh districtof Chhattisgarh.

Notably, the MaharashtraState Power GenerationCompany Ltd has commencedthe process for selecting anOperator for development andoperation of Gare Gare PalmaCoal Block II at Tamnar inRaigarh district of Chhattisgarh,officials informed.

It has also commenced theprocess for obtaining forestclearance for Gare Gare PalmaCoal Block II at Tamnar inRaigarh district of Chhattisgarh.

Notably, the Gujarat StateElectricity Corporation Limited(GSECL) has already com-menced the process of selectinga Mine Developer for GarePalma Sector – I Coal Block .

The Mine Developer would

be selected through‘International CompetitiveBidding’, officials stated.

Notably, the South EastCentral Sector which includesChhattisgarh is also set to playa key role in CentralGovernment’s ambitious coalloading and transportationplans.

A Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) has beensigned recently betweenMinistry of Railways and Coal

India Limited (CIL) which willlead to procurement of 2000wagons (33 rakes) in the firstoutgo, officials stated. The agree-ment which will result intospeedy supply of wagons for coalloading in dedicated circuits.

Initially, the rakes will beinducted and run in the 2 maincoal loading Zones of IndianRailways i.e South East Centralcoal sector and East Coast cir-cuit.

These rakes will be induct-

ed in circuits for transportingcoal from MCL Talcher & IBarea and SECL toParadip/Dharma ports,Vishakhapatnam area and thepower houses of Nagpur/Raipurregion.

Under this strategic part-nership, the wagons will be pro-cured by Indian Railways onbehalf of CIL, the maintenanceof these wagons will be done byRailways at its own cost. Also,

the brake vans will be providedby Railways itself.

Notably, Coal India Ltd onthe other hand is targettingproduction of 1 billion Tonnesof coal by 2020. Wagon avail-ability will be a key factor forachieving this target by CoalIndia Ltd. By signing of the MoU, the Railways and Coal India Ltdwill be entering into a strategicpartnership which would ensureadequate wagon availability for

meeting the transportationneeds of coal produced by CoalIndia Ltd. The CentralGovernment has also signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding each with thestates of Odisha, Jharkhand andChhattisgarh for critical coalconnectivity projects to improvetransportation of coal, officialsinformed.

Agreement for World Bankloan of US $ 1100 million for

Eastern Dedicated FreightCorridor (DFC) (Phase-2) havealso been signed, they stated.

Moreover, the developmentof two key Rail corridors in min-eral-rich Chhattisgarh is now setto expand the Railway line net-work by 45 per cent in the State,officials stated.

The completion of 235-kmDallirajhara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur,East and East-West Rail corridor(300 km) projects will comprisea total of 535 kilometersRailway-line during the next twoto four years, they stated.

Chhattisgarh currently hasonly 1187 route kilometers

Railway lines. Chhattisgarh isalso set to earn estimated rev-enue of �51,596 crore from itsfive mines auctioned among 29in the country under the provi-sions of Coal Mines (SpecialProvisions) Act, 2015 during themining lease period.

The specified end-users ofthe mines are in the non-regu-lated sector. The mines areChotia, Gare Palma IV-4, GarePalma IV-5, Gare Palma IV-7,Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8.

The revenue which wouldaccrue to the coal bearing StateGovernment concerned com-prises of Upfront payment asprescribed in the tender docu-ment, Auction proceeds andRoyalty on per tonne of coalproduction.

In addition, an estimatedamount of �1,41,854 croreswould accrue to coal bearingStates from allotment of 38 coalmines to Central and StatePSU’s. Out of mines included inSchedule-II of the Act and 13 arenon-operational included inSchedule-III of the Act.

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG) has

observed that no substantivetests were conducted of effluentreleased by industrial units inRaigarh district between 2012-14. In its report for financial yearending March 31, 2015, CAGobserved that only two per centof the trade effluent in Raipur,

two to seven per cent in Durgand zero to 53 per cent was test-ed in Korba district byChhattisgarh EnvironmentConservation Board (CECB).

Further ,adverse test reportsof trade effluent ranged from 35to 45 per cent in Raipur, 31 to 63per cent in Durg and 10 to 59 percent in Korba were noticed butno corrective action was taken byCECB. The compliance to envi-

ronmental rules was not ensuredby industries, the report stated.

During the exit conference,the Secretary had stated inNovember 2015 that necessarydirectives have been issued to theRegional Offices, it stated.

The fact remained that thetest of effluents was inadequateand despite adverse test reports,no corrective action was taken byCECB, the report stated.

.";�2/�+53+4��7"��21�*��62�'+5.+1��2(��7+��5"4+�+((�$+1��01

5"0'$5 ��62��2��+3+1�'+5�.+1��014$5;�"14�B+52��2�=8�'+5�.+1�6"���+��+4�01�%25/"�40��50.��

/*�.+./

�� � ��� �� � 5"0'$5

The Bharatiya Janta YuvaMorcha (BJYM) will not

tolerate the stand of peoplewho say that they will notchant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’,” stat-ed newly-appointed StatePresident of BJYM VijaySharma in Raipur on Sunday.

Strongly condemning theincident of attack on BJYMDistrict President by Maoistsin Bijapur at a press conferenceheld here on Sunday, Sharmasaid that BJYM is committedto weed out the ideology ofpeople which encouragebloodshed in Bastar and todeal with the activities ongo-ing in JNU.

Speaking about BJYM’srole in Assembly election inChhattisgarh, Sharma claimedthat the youth wing will beplaying significant role in thepolls to be held in 2018.

BJYM is going to launch a

massive campaign at grassroots as well as booth-level toensure victory of BJP inChhattisgarh for the fourthconsecutive time. Moreover,the organization will belaunching a campaign byinvolving its volunteers to dis-seminate information aboutinnovative schemes of theCentre and the State govern-ment in every village anddoor-to-door, he said.

In Chhattisgarh, BJYMemerged as very strong orga-nization and it will frequentlyundertake campaigns to linkthe masses particularly youthswith the party, stated Sharma.

Calling upon youths toenter politics, Sharma saidalthough, some people belong-ing to educated class suggestyouths to stay away from pol-itics, but they overlook the factthat participation of youths inpolitics is necessary for bring-ing significant change.

6���������������������������������C/����,��%��9��D�����

�� � ��� �� �� ;"50"/"14

Chhattisgarh StateAdministrative Reforms

Commission Chairman SKMishra urged denizens to enrolltheir children in Governmentschools. Mishra, also the formerChief Secretary of Chhattisgarhwas the Chief Guest at SchoolEntrance Fest organized atPrimary School Ground,Mainpur wherein he gave awayuniform and books to 10 newlyadmitted school goers.

Raipur DivisionCommissioner Ashok Agrawalhighlighted the improving stan-dard of education through DrAPJ Abdul Kalam QualityEducation Programme.

He said the poor grade

marked schools during the driveconducted last year have per-formed well this year. The pur-pose of hosting the SchoolEntrance Fest was to motivatechildren for attending school and

observe that none are devoidfrom basic education. It is theresponsibility of teachers toencourage children and parentsare responsible to inspect theschools at certain intervals.

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

Registration of around 2.65crore people for Aadhaar

card has been completed inChhattisgarh.

Of the total registrations,cards have been issued to asmany as 2.45 crore people inthe State, officials stated.

The benefits ofGovernment-run schemes toeligible people could only beensured by linking all schemesusing Information Technologywith Aadhaar card and for this,everyone should have Aadhaarnumber, said Chhattisgarh’sFood and Civil Supply MinisterPunnulal Mohle.

He further informed thatfor registration of Aadhaar,permanent centers have beenformed in urban areas andblock headquarters. In finan-

cial year ended on March thisyear, the State Government hasmanaged to ensure registrationof around 92 lakh childrenenrolled in Aanganwadi cen-ters and schools for Aadhaarcard by undertaking specialcampaign.

The Government has setthe target of accomplishing thetask of issuing Aadhaar card toeveryone by May this year, saidMohle, elaborating that on anaverage, registration of around3000-5000 people are beingdone in the State on a daily

basis.Notably, UIDAI having

issued first Aadhaar numberon September 29, 2010, has tilldate generated more than 92.68crore Aadhaar in just five yearstime. This success has beenpossible due to people’s vol-untary quest to empowerthemselves with the uniqueidentity that is portable andauthenticable online anywhere,anytime on a digital platform.

It has been established inno uncertain terms thatnobody can fake anybody’s

Aadhaar established identityon authentication. Hence, thetargetted delivery of directbenefits under various welfareschemes and programmesbecame a dream come truewith Aadhaar proving itself asa strategic policy tool forsocial and financial inclusion,increasing convenience andpromoting hassle-free people-centric governance, officialsstated.

Out of the 24 States/UTswhere UIDAI has been man-dated to enroll and issueAadhaar numbers, it is foundthat 16 states/UTs have morethan 100 per cent adult popu-lation saturation with Delhi onthe top with 128% followed byHimachal Pradesh (111%),Andhra Pradesh andTelangana (111%), Punjab(110%), Kerala and Haryana

(109 % each), Chandigarh andSikkim (107% each),Jharkhand, Goa andPuducherry (106%each),Tripura (105 %),Rajasthan (103%),Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra(101%); 5 states/UTs haveabove 90 per cent adult satu-ration with Andaman andNicobar Islands (97%),Karnataka and MadhyaPradesh (96% each),Uttarakhand (93%) and UttarPradesh (91%); and 3 stateshave above 80 per cent adultpopulation saturation withGujarat (89%), Daman andDiu (82%) and Bihar (80%).

In all in States/UTsassigned for the UniqueIdentification Authority ofIndia (UIDAI), Aadhaar satu-ration among adult populationis 98 per cent.

�6�7��� ����8������������8�9���6���������������

�%&'�"������ ���(��������� ���

* �����$� ������������������%��)������*����������* �������(���� ������ ���� ������������<�������4�������� ������� ���

)������*���++� �,������� +�� ���)�,+

@!E=�������������������"�����������.������� �� ��!"�!� ��� ��� ��������� �# ����"$%����!� ������& �# ���'�!� ��(���� ���(�� � ��)�!� *) ��) ���� )���

������ &�� ����!� �����*������������� ��

����!����* �����$� ����������������� �����

�������*�����$�%������=���������!�

�����������$��������������������

���� ��%"� ���% *%��&� �� ��� *���& "�!�!� ���� ��)

*�4>��������!������������)��$� ����!������!��������,-.,?.9

!��������!�������� "��� #��������������������$%&'!������(������)*�!����#�������+�,,�$����(���� ��-��#������.���/��������#������-�����0123445*�����6455,73338394�54���!�������'�� �!���������:�����*����������������%����-�����012344;:�����<$������%�����-�����:�����</���'����

Page 3: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

������������ �+2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

Chief Minister RamanSingh’s upcoming visit to

China is set to open doors forsubstantial Chinese investmentin the industrial and infra-structure sectors ofChhattisgarh.

The dates of ChiefMinister’s visit to China are yetto be officially announced,officials stated.

The visit would also pavethe way for inviting Chineseinvestors to set up units par-ticularly in the domain ofElectronic Manufacturing andSolar Energy sectors, officialsources informed.

The visit of the ChiefMinister would assume signif-icance at a time when a host ofindustrial infrastructure pro-jects in Chhattisgarh hadreceived the CentralGovernment’s green signal andthe key among them is theElectronics ManufacturingCluster in Naya Raipur.

The Chief Minister and hiscore team of officials whowould be visiting China arelikely to meet a host of Chineseinvestors and sign MoUs whilelook mutual area of co-opera-tion in other sectors.

The Chinese investors havealready evinced interest inmaking investments in a set ofsectors in Chhattisgarh.

It may be recalled that theCentral Government hasaccorded ‘final approval’ tothe proposed ElectronicManufacturing Cluster (EMC)in Chhattisgarh’s new capital— Naya Raipur.

The Greenfield EMC inChhattisgarh was accorded ‘in-principle’ approval as onSeptember 21, 2015.

The location of the EMCis at Tuta village in Sector-22 ofNaya Raipur. The chief pro-moter of the project isChhattisgarh State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(CSIDC) and the project is tobe established in an area mea-suring 70 acres.

Notably, on December 20

last year, the ChhattisgarhGovernment had informed inan official statement that theCentral Government has con-sented to provide its finalapproval to the EMC.

An assurance in this regardwas given by Union TelecomMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadto Chhattisgarh Chief MinisterRaman Singh during a meetingin New Delhi on December 20.

Providing details on the‘Electronic ManufacturingCluster’ during the meeting,Chief Minister Raman Singh hadtold the Union Minister, as perthe official statement, that asmany as 11 companies havesigned Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) to thetune of around �968 crore forsetting up projects in the cluster.

The ChhattisgarhGovernment has completedrequisite preparation for devel-opment of the ‘ElectronicManufacturing Cluster’ andwork in this regard is going tostart immediately after receiv-ing final approval from theCentre, it had mentioned.

Notably, the ChhattisgarhGovernment will also be settingup an IT SEZ in the vicinity ofthe EMC to be established atSector 22 in Naya Raipur.

Notably, CentralGovernment has approved pro-jects worth �99 crore for upgra-dation of key industrial infra-structure in Chhattisgarh.

Currently infrastructure ofUrla Industrial Area in Raipurand Sirgitti Industrial Area inBiilaspur are being upgradedwhich includes improvement ofroads, water and power supply

facilities, officials stated.The Centre has approved

an estimated �54.81 crore forupgradation of infrastructurefacilities at Urla Industrial Areaand around �44.60 crore forSirgitti Industrial Area.

Notably, the UnionMinistry of Chemicals &Fertilisers has also accorded ‘inprinciple’ approval to the pro-posed Plastic Park project inRajnandgaon district ofChhattisgarh, officials stated.

The proposed Plastic Parkwill be established by a SpecialPurpose Vehicle (SPV) withChhattisgarh State IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(CSIDC) as a partner. Around

50 units to be set up in thispark, officials stated.

The ChhattisgarhGovernment would hold amandatory 26 per cent equityin the SPV.

Notably, the ChhattisgarhGovernment sent a proposal tothe Central government for set-ting up a Plastic Park on July 7,2015. Notably, the ChhattisgarhGovernment in a bid to providea major boost to industrialdevelopment is now planningto establish many more indus-trial areas and industrial parksin the State.

Significantly, the IndustrialGrowth Centre at Urla nearRaipur is set to emerge as one

of the key industrial zoneshaving world-class infrastruc-ture in the country.

The Centre has alreadyaccorded final approval forupgradation of infrastructure atIndustrial Growth Centre, Urlain Raipur district at a total pro-ject cost of �54.81 crore .

The Central Government’sgrant approved for the projectis �12.26 crore, officials stated.

The upgradation of theinfrastructure is being doneunder Central Government’s‘Modified IndustrialInfrastructure Scheme(MIIUS).

As many as 11 projects inthe country have been accord-

ed final approval with centralassistance of �283.23 crore.

Notably, CSIDC has alsoidentified Industrial GrowthCentre at Siltara near Raipur tobe developed as a ‘ SteelCluster’ under Centre’s‘Industrial InfrastructureUpgradation Scheme’ (IIUS),officials stated.

The administrativeapproval of �54.10 crore hadbeen received from the CentralGovernment for the scheme.

A Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV)— Chhattisgarh IspatBhumi Ltd., Raipur (CIBL)has been formed under Public-Private Partnership for imple-mentation of the project. The

project would be developed byCSIDC.

The objective of the IIUS isto enhance international com-petitiveness of the domesticindustry by providing qualityinfrastructure through public-private partnership approach inselected functionalclusters/locations which havegreater potential to becomeglobally competitive.

The CSIDC has also creat-ed an Amenities zone inIndustrial Area Siltara, Phase-I.

The construction of build-ing is completed and the com-plex has shops, office spaces,ATM kiosk, restaurant etc.Allotment of spaces for shops

and offices are being done.Nearly 60% of 120 spaces havebeen allotted so far, officialsstated.

The complex is situatedadjacent to NH-6 (Ring Road1), this complex is developedon a piece of land measuring1600 sqmt. Total built up areaof the complex is an estimated3000 sqm.

It may be recalled that theChhattisgarh Government isalso mulling over plans toestablish a mega industrialzone at an estimated cost of�177 crore near Raipur.

The industrial zone wouldbe spread over 1730 hectares ofland, official stated.

The industrial zone wouldbe established for setting up ofsteel plants, power plants, cap-tive power plants and othercore industries.The zone wouldalso be developed by CSIDC.

With a view to acceleratingindustrial development inChhattisgarh, the StateGovernment will be setting upan Engineering Park in everydistrict in a sequential manner,Chief Minister Raman Singhhad stated in November lastyear.

Dedicating a newly-devel-oped Engineering Park inHathkhoj industrial area situ-ated near the Steel City Bhilai,Singh said Bhilai is famousacross the country and abroadas ‘mini India’ and the newly setup Engineering Park is going toplay a remarkable role in boost-ing-up industrial development.

He said that numerousindustrial projects are to beestablished in the EngineeringPark which is going to openemployment opportunities forlocal populace.

Aiming to create employ-ment opportunities for peoplehere, the State Government ismaking several efforts forindustrial development whichresulted in building of an opti-mistic environment for invest-ment in sectors likeInformation Technology, elec-tronic equipment, solar energyand Agri-based industries.

2������������7�����������!���:�������&

Page 4: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

!����! �,2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

Governor Balramji DasTandon has urged the

agricultural scientists todevelop paddy varieties whichcan be grown on low waterconsidering the groundwaterconservation.

In his address at the 51stAnnual Rice Research GroupMeeting's inaugural ceremo-ny held at Indira Gandhi

Agricultural University(IGAU) on Sunday, theGovernor said that the stepshould be adopted as paddy isthe staple food item in largepart of the population.

Relating such paddy vari-ety development, he focussedon producing crop which canprevent diseases.

In today’s scenario, it ishighly necessary to increasethe quality of paddy vari-

eties, Tandon said. He sug-gested of fortifying the staplecrop and utilize in getting ridof malnutrition and otherdiseases. Moreover, he said itis not important to rely ononly on one paddy variety.

The Governor said that itis important to provideadvanced equipment and lat-est discovery’s informationto the farmers for better cropproduction.

He appreciated the paddyresearch initiatives taken inChhattisgarh and said it is asatisfaction that over 23,000paddy varieties are preservedhere.

Meanwhile, StateAgriculture MinisterBrijmohan Agrawal said agri-cultural scientists should

work for the value addition ofpaddy which in turn willbenefit farmers in receivingmore production value.

He also suggestedimproving the economic sta-tus of farmers through paddyfarming.

Mathew Morel l , theDirector General of

International Rice ResearchInst itute of Manila,Philippines along with IndianCouncil of AgriculturalResearch (ICAR) DirectorGeneral cum Department ofAgricultural Research andEducation Secretar yTrilochan Mohapatra was alsopresent.

�� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

Chief Minister Raman Singhon Sunday said journalists

are free to report as they viewthe events and assured themthe State Government wouldnot interfere in their way ofReporting.

A Co-OrdinationCommittee had been consti-tuted at the Mantralaya for thisspecific purpose he said whileaddressing the scribes at thelaunch of Raipur edition of aHindi daily here.

He said that Bastar is turn-ing a new lease of life of recent-ly. Bastar is ready and ripeenough to leap into moderni-ty and progress, he said.

Singh called upon themedia personnel to portraythe real picture of Bastar'sprogress and the trials andtribulations of tribals due toMaoist violence and terror.

The nation and the entireglobe should know the truehappenings of Bastar, the ChiefMinister said.

He assured the journaliststhat those working inChhattisgarh and particularly inBastar and Surguja are free toreport as they witness the hap-penings around them. Earlieralso scribes had total liberty to

write and in future also they willhave the same freedom toreport. The State Governmentis making all efforts to establishpeace and develop Bastar. Wewill achieve our goals in thenear future, he said.

He called upon the jour-nalists to develop a distinctidentity of the newspaper.

Former Chief Minister AjitJogi presided over the inauguralfunction.

Union Minister for MinesNarendra Singh Tomar in hisaddress lauded the steps takento implement e-Auction of themining resources of the State.

He said that theChhattisgarh Government willearn revenue of �5800 crorewith the auction of lime stonemining blocks.

4�%����"����#��2����������������� ��������&�� ��2������4����������������������)����)����� �������!������������&� ��������� �����������$�� ���*�)������4�@�"��������!��� � ������� ���

4�����8���������8���&���8*�9���� � ��� �� �� 5"0'$5

Focusing on paddy, thestaple crop in most of the

countries, Matthew Morell,the Director General ofInternational Rice ResearchInstitute (IRRI) of Manila,Philippines will be meetingthe Chief Minister RamanSingh on Monday, statedIndira Gandhi AgriculturalUniversity (IGAU) officials.

“The discussion is likelyto concentrate on the welfareof farmers through paddyfarming. Also, it will relate tosome policy making issues inthe agricultural sector,” saidIGAU Public RelationsOfficer (PRO) KK Sahu.“The Director General willhold a public meeting aswell on Monday,” added thePRO.

“IGAU marks anachievement in producingthe high zinc content rice

benefiting the diarrhea, mal-nutrit ion and pregnantwomen,” maintained Sahu.

�))��2������4���������� ���������

� ��-.�(�!����!��""����� ��( *��!��!����'��( �� �����!���%�)� #�� �����$���#�� $'�$��� ��

���( /��%��((�����!� ���

����*�� �� ��� %�'!���# ���$'� �(����! �# �

��!(� (��%) ����

)��!�*�� ��� ��������2!�� �������� ������� ���� �� ������������$����?����������������������������������� ����������%� ��!������!���������!��� � ������� ���

&������������)�"����������������)��$����#%��������������"������ ��������)����)����� ����������* ���

��������)��������$

��� � .7"140;"57

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)on Sunday said that the

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) andits political leaders weredeceiving Punjabis in the nameof fund collection by makingcollections through dinnerprogrammes in Punjab andnow, embarking on a foreignspree to fill their coffers.

In a statement, senior SADleader Mahesh Inder SinghGrewal said Kejriwal and histeam had earlier virtuallyforced party cadre andprospective candidates to forkup �5,000 per plate for food ina State which prided itself onrunning community kitchens.

He said that now the sametactic was being played abroadwith all senior leaders includ-ing party State convenorSuchha Singh Chhotepur hold-ing such programmes inEurope from Sunday onwards.

The SAD leader said see-ing the prospect of rich col-lections from gullible Punjabis,even AAP Convenor ArvindKejriwal was likely to visit theUnited Kingdom soon.

Grewal urged Punjabis tounmask the AAP representa-

tives during their trips abroad.“They need to ask the AAPrepresentatives how they aimto use the money so collected.

“Till now Kejriwal hasused money, including that ofthe tax payer, only for hisself-glorification and donenothing for the people ofDelhi, what to speak aboutPunjab”, he added.

The SAD general secretarysaid earlier social activist AnnaHazare had also condemnedKejriwal for misusing moneywhich was collected by IndiaAgainst Corruption at Hazare’sagitation for his own electorpurposes.

On the current visit ofsenior AAP leaders’ to foreigncountries, Grewal said thatelections were to be contestedin Punjab but he (Kejriwal)and his team were collectingmoney from USA, UK andother places.

He said there should be aprobe on the sources fromwhich money was being col-lected by AAP. AAP shouldalso divulge the collectionsand come clean on the mannerin which money collected fromthe people was being used byit, he added.

��2���������������A�����%��$��!�#����� �!$ ��!�������������=

From Page 1An electorate of 95,11,732

including 45,95,712 women,will exercise their franchise in12,190 polling stations withthe number of hyper-sensitiveand sensitive booths yet to bereleased by the election officein Assam.

The Congress is contest-ing in all the 65 constituenciesin the first phase in Assamwhile BJP is contesting in 54and its alliance partners -- theAGP in 11 and the BPF inthree--, the AIUDF in 27, theCPI and the CPI(M) in teneach with CPI(ML)(L) in sixalong with 60 others ofunrecognised parties and 13Independents.

Security has been tight-ened across the State with theIndo-Bangla border alongBarak Valley's Karimganj dis-

trict sealed and more than40,000 security personneldeployed in the 65 con-stituencies spread acrossUpper Assam, hill districts,northern banks and BarakValley.

More than 48,000 pollingpersonnel have been deployedin the first phase with those inremote areas leaving for theirrespective polling booths sinceFriday evening.

The first phase will wit-ness mostly direct contestbetween the ruling Congressand the BJP-AGP-BPF alliancethough the AIUDF has put upcandidates in 27 constituen-cies where the fight is expect-ed to be triangular.

Among the 539 candi-dates in the fray, 496 aremales and 43 women in 45constituencies of the

Brahmaputra Valley, five inthe two hill districts of KarbiAnglong and Dima Hasaoand 15 in the Barak Valley.The prominent Congress can-didates in the fray are ChiefMinister Tarun Gogoi fromTitabor, Speaker of the out-going Assembly Pranab Gogoifrom Sibsagar, former UnionMinister and prominent teatribe leader Paban SinghGhatowar and AssamMinisters Gautam Roy, SaratBarkotoky, Ajanta Neog,Khorsingh Engti, SiddequeAhmed, Bismita Gogoi,Sumitra Patir and GirindraMalik among others The BJP'sstar candidates in the firstphase are Union Minister andparty's Chief Ministerial can-didate Sarbananda Sonowalfrom Majuli, Jorhat LS MPKamakhya Prasad Tasa against

the Chief Minister fromTitabor, sitt ing MLAPrashanta Phukan Dilip Paul,along with former AGP min-ister Hiten Goswami andthose who joined the party lastyear, including sitting AGPMLAs Padma Hazarika andNaba Doley, Congress dissi-dent and disqualified MLAsKripanath Mallah, BolinChetia and Pallab Lochan Dasand former ULFA militantKushal Duwari.

The run-up to the poll inboth the State was marked bya high-pitched campaign withhigh-profile national and Stateleaders — including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,Congress president SoniaGandhi and party vice-presi-dent Rahul Gandhi — leadingthe campaign trail for theirrespective parties.

From Page 1wife was injured. She has

been admitted to FortisHospital, Noida. He was anassistant commandant withBSF and was on deputationwith NIA." He said.

Police sealed borders ofdistrict and launched a mas-sive manhunt in search ofassai lants . AdditionalDirector General of PoliceDaljit Chowdhry said "noth-ing can be ruled out," whenasked about the possibility ofterror angle behind the attack.

"The body has been sentfor post-mortem and detailsof what actually happenedwill soon come out. Bordersof the State have been sealedand police teams are con-ducting checking. We are try-ing to find out the motivebehind gruesome killing," hesaid. He added that investi-gations were on and UPPolice, UP ATS, NIA, theDIG of NIA from Lucknowand his team were on the spot.

Chowdhry said the UttarPradesh Police was also try-ing to ascertain whether the9 mm pistol used for thecrime was country-made orfactory-made.

UP Director General ofPolice Javed Ahmad said IGSpecial Task Force (STF) andIG Anti Terrorist Squad(ATS) have been dispatchedto Bijnor to probe the inci-dent. "We are also in touchwith NIA officers and coor-dinating with them. We will

go deep into it and ensurethose involved are arrested",Ahmad said.

Superintendent of Police,Bijnor, Subhash Singh Baghelsaid, Tanzil Ahmad visitedBijnor on Friday to attend hisniece's marriage at a guesthouse in Sohara village,around nine killometres fromtheir residence.

Meanwhile, the slain offi-cer's body was on Sundayevening brought to Abul FazalEncalve in Okhla where hehas been living for the last fif-teen years or so. Thousands ofpeople gathered at BatlaHouse graveyard to pay theirlast respect to the officer.

Ahmad was posted as anassistant commandant in BSFand was on deputation toNIA. He was posted asInspector initially with theNIA's Intelligence wing andlater in its investigationdepartment.

He was with the NIA eversince the inception of theorganisation in February 2009and had been investigatingmany cases especially relatedto operational activity ofbanned Indian Mujahideenterror outfit. His superiorstermed him as a true profes-sional in intelligence gather-ing as well in carrying outinvestigation. He was also inthe delegation of Indian offi-cers which is coordinatingwith Pakistan's JointInvestigation Team probingthe Pathankot terror attack.

*������������ ����$� �+�,� -���...

+/!��������� ��$�/� ����������01������

From Page 1On roll out of the much-

delayed GST, Modi said, “GSTwill happen. I cannot give atimeframe, but it will happen.It was our commitment, andit is about to happen.”

To a question on retro-spective tax, Modi said it willnever be brought back again.He said two cases were “sub-judice” and it would not beproper for him to commentfurther. “As far as retrospec-tive tax is concerned, it is athing of the past. We haverepeatedly said this inParliament and I am repeat-ing here again today.

There were two incidentsthat took place under the lastGovernment. These are sub-judice. So, I am not being ableto do anything on them. Inone of the cases, positive out-come has come. Retrospectivetax does not exist in Indiaanymore.

It has become a thing ofthe past. It won’t come,” hesaid. Although the PM didnot specifically name thepending cases, the major ret-rospective tax disputesinclude those involvingVodafone and Cairn.

“I think in internationalrelations, the taxation systemshould be predictable. If

somebody wants to come (toIndia) after 10 years, heshould know India’s tax struc-ture is like this. That’s why weare working on a long-termtax system and we are imple-menting and I do not thinkthere will be any problem inthat,” Modi said.

A Saudi businessman hadasked Modi about retrospec-tive tax regime, GST, bankingsystem and some other issuesand wondered whether Modiwill be able to address theirconcerns. Incidentally, CairnEnergy CEO Simon Thomsontold PTI in an interview inLondon today that interna-tional investors want theModi Government to walkthe talk on resolving retro-spective tax issues and send aclear signal that things arechanging under the new dis-pensation.

Cairn, which gave Indiaits biggest onland oil discov-ery that now accounts for afifth of the country’s oil pro-duction, will press ahead withthe arbitration challenginguse of a legislation to taxinternal business reorganisa-tion with retrospective effectand will seek $1 billion indamages, he further said.

Eyeing billions of dollarsof investment from Saudi

Arabia, which is setting up aUSD 2 trillion public invest-ment fund, Modi invited topCEOs to invest in defence,energy, railway, health andagriculture sectors in India.Holding that there was hugeopportunity to ramp up tradeties, he said time has come tomove from ‘buyer-seller rela-tionship’ to chart a new pathof growth and developmentwhich will benefit people ofboth the countries.

“We have to look beyondthe buyer-seller relationship,because that will be an obsta-cle in the path of progress,” hesaid at the interaction organ-ised by the Council of SaudiChambers.

The two countries alsocalled on states to cut off anykind of support and financingto terrorists operating andperpetrating terrorism fromtheir territories against otherstates and bring perpetratorsof acts of terrorism to justice.

The pacts signed includ-ed one on cooperation in theexchange of intelligence relat-ed to money laundering, ter-ror financing and relatedcrimes and another relating torecruitment of Indian work-ers in Saudi Arabia, home toaround three million Indianworkers.

From Page 1Pathak has, however, not

directed the district officials forany ban on toddy but reported-ly suggested that some restric-tions could be imposed on its saleand consumption. A restrictionhas already been imposed on itsconsumption at public places.There is also an apprehensionthat the toddy tappers might bemixing country liquor or otherchemicals in the toddy.

The senior officials in theCM Secretariat feigned igno-rance about the possibility of banon toddy. One official even indi-cated of a social unrest in thecountryside if such a ban wasconsidered. Senior officials of theExcise Department were notavailable for comment because ofSunday.

It is to be recalled that toddyhad been exempted from taxduring the regime of Lalu Prasadin early nineties on the plea thatsince this drink was used by verypoor people, they could not paytax. According to a survey ofNSSO, Bihar is among fourStates where toddy is in high usebut Andhra Pradesh tops the listand Bihar comes fourth afterKerala, Assam and Jharkhand.

There are reports that sale oftoddy in villages has gone up andalso the toddy tappers haveincreased its price in view of highdemand.

From Page 1The last La Nina episode was

seen in 2011-12, which followedthe 2009-10 El Nino. The prob-ability of the emergence of LaNina conditions between Augustand September augurs well forrain in India, said the experts.

Meanwhile, the IMD haspredicted a hotter summer thanlast year. The mean, maximumand minimum temperatures inall the sub-divisions of the coun-try are likely to be above normalthis summer.

"���,�� -�.����/��,��0���� 1�,+��,

+�������������������������/���F

7����!�;;;

Page 5: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678� !����! �0

�����9,�)���������Samajwadi Party’s popular face on television

debates and Uttar Pradesh Government’syoungest Additional Advocate General (AAG)Gaurav Bhatia recent-ly circulated a mes-sage to all his mediafriends that he hadquit protesting oversome malfunction-ing in the State’sLegal Department.Upon enquiry, it surfacedthat Bhatia was sacked a dayearlier from the AAG post by a UPGovernment circular dated March 22. ForBhatia, this came as a shock, and for lawyersa surprise. He was recently in the news afterthe president of Supreme Court Bar Association(SCBA) Dushyant Dave offered to quit over dif-fernces with Bhatia, the SCBA Secretary. Davelater withdrew his offer after speaking to ChiefJustice of India.

���� ������� �������

The five-member Pakistani JointInvestigation Team that visited India to

carry forward its probeinto the Pathankot

airbase attackcase, wanted toudnertake asightseeing tripto Taj Mahal inAgra and theDargah of

Maulana MoinuddinChisti at Ajmer. But the

Indian authorities denied permission as thesame could have diluted the seriousness of pur-pose of the team’s visit here. The NDAGovernment was already facing flak from theOpposition parties over the visit of the JIT, andthe sightseeing tours by the visiting team couldhave further strengthened the perception thatthe visit was conducted as mere optics andnothing substantive could be achieved.

������������������

Commodore Joginder Chandna, a servingNaval officer and a fitness freak, has

turned his passioninto a social cause —to feed poor chil-dren. Along with achartered accoun-tant MeenalKotak, Chandna ranmarathons in variousparts of the NationalCapital Region for the lastnine days, culminating in thefinale last weekend. Naming their run“Ours Miles Their Smiles”, the runners urgedspectators and fellow participants to feed at leastone hungry child each day during the event.Chandna hosted a langar for hundreds of chil-dren on the final day.

������ ���

Panchjayana and Organiser, both consideredmouthpieces of the RSS, invited leaders of

as diverse political parties as Congress and

CPI(M) to write for them on Freedom ofSpeech and Sedition. While Abhishek ManuSinghvi penned a column for the two weeklies,CPM leader Sitaram Yechury refused to takethe offer.

�����������

The process for filling up the two-year-oldvacant post of Chairperson for CBSE, lay-

ing vacant sinceDecember 2014, hasrun into fresh hurdle.The HRD Ministry’sAdditional SecretaryYSK Seshu Kumar,who has just got another six months extensionafter the search committee could not find a suit-able person to head the CBSE, has so far man-aged the organisation without any controver-sy. Grapevine has it that the search-commit-tee zeroed in on a JNU academician for thepost, but for obvious reasons his name had tobe dropped.

�� ����������

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy lostcool on Saturday evening when he boy-

cotted the candidate selection process for theforthcoming Assembly elections. Chandy wasupset with the high command for directing himto deny tickets to some Ministers. Grapevinehas learnt that Chandy bluntly told the centralleaders that he would not be a part of the selec-tion process and left in huff for Kerala onSunday morning.

�������

With great pomp and show, the ChineseEmbassy in New Delhi last week cele-

brated the first anniversary of opening of newpilgrimage route to Mansarovar via Nathu-Lain Sikkim. Chinese Ambassador Le Yucheng,who was the first Chinese passport holder tocross over from the Nathu-La border to TibetAutonoous Region, said he felt purified afterthe visit to Mansarovar. Happy with theresponse by Indian pilgrims, the Chinese arenow planning to launch souvenirs related toMansarovar. To begin with, the water ofMansarovar Lake will now be available inpacked bottles.

����!��"����

At a Press meet organised by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)

on diabetes recently, health-conscious scribes were pleas-antly surprised when theyfound their Press kit contain-ing fitness goodies like skip-ping rope and inch tapemeasurement besidesawareness materialabout diabetes.The messagewas loud andclear : Tacklediabetes byadopting healthy habits. “BeatDiabetes” is the theme of theWorld Health Day this year beingobserved on April 7.

����� 1+6�4+�70

The Environment Ministryreleased new rules for man-

agement of hazardous wastes,which for the first time includea separate category of items liketyre, metal scrap, paper and cer-tain electronic goods, that canbe recycled and reused. Thesehave been included under thecategory of “other waste”.

While releasing the newrules, Environment MinisterPrakash Javadekar on Sundaysaid they are “environmentand industry friendly, in linewith this Government’s prior-ity for ease of doing businessand Make in India, but withresponsible concerns for sus-tainable development.” He alsosaid the rules will ensureresource recovery and dispos-al of hazardous waste in envi-ronmentally sound manner.

Further, import of metalscrap, paper waste and variouscategories of electrical and elec-tronic equipments for re-usepurpose has been exemptedfrom the need of obtaining theMinistry’s permission under theHazardous and Other Wastes(Management & TransboundaryMovement) Rules, 2016.

They have also revised allforms for permission, trans-portation, those related to importand export amongst others. Thenew rules have adopted a morestringent approach for manage-ment of such wastes.

“Procedure has been sim-plified to merge all the approvalsas a single window clearance forsetting up of hazardous wastedisposal facility and import ofother wastes,” said the rules.

The rules further state thatwaste management hierarchyin the sequence of priority ofprevention, minimisation,reuse, recycling, recovery, co-processing and safe disposalhas been incorporated.

The rules provide for co-processing as preferential mech-anism over disposal for use ofwaste as supplementary resource,or for recovery of energy hasbeen provided. The approvalprocess for co-processing ofhazardous waste to recover ener-gy has been streamlined and puton emission norms basis.

It said that the basic neces-sity of infrastructure to safeguardhealth and environment fromwaste processing industry hasbeen prescribed as SOP, specif-ic to waste type, which has to becomplied by stakeholders andensured by Pollution ControlBoard/ State Pollution ControlBoard while granting suchauthorisation.

���������� ����� 1+6�4+�70

RSS outfit Bharat VikasParishad (BVP) is walking

extra mile in “incentivising” vil-lages which have tuned into“inter-caste harmony”progammes and seeking an“integrated social and eco-nomic growth” by organisingfunding of projects in theserural areas.

RSS has been campaigningfor encouraging participationof all communities in festivals“where caste does not becomea barrier” and insisting that atleast one festival be celebratedin villages by all together.

Pointing out the “connect ofRSS in rural areas”, sourcespointed out that the RSS pub-lished “Jagaran Patrikas” in locallanguages are going “directly” toover 2,30,000 villages in thecountry. This is besides the reg-ular RSS-inspired publications.These “Jagaran Patrikas” are

running into eight to 24 pagescarrying dialogues, stories, andarticles on rural issues thoseappeal to rural masses.

In Rajasthan villages, itgoes by the name of Pather kan,in Marathi it is titled SanskriticVarta Patra, Telugu Vijay Vaniand Tamil Vijay Bharatas.

“These magazines are com-municated by collective read-ings by prominent people of vil-lages either at ‘chaupal’ or anyother community centre whereideas on positive social changesare also exchanged,” they said.

According to sources, theRSS has analysed “prant-wise”scrutiny of caste discriminationagainst Dalits and other com-munities and sought to give apro-active encouragement to‘integrated villages’ which areadopting ‘ek mandir, ek talab,ek shamshan’ programme ini-tiated by the Sangh.

In return, the BVP is “help-ing in promotion” of water

management, agriculture andcommunity development pro-gramme, they said. “The pre-condition is establishing har-mony by way of implementingtogetherness”, sources said.

By now the main work of theBVP was on the promotion of“the Jaipur foot” for the disabled.Under its fresh social harmonyprojects, leaders of all commu-nities are called and ways aregradually worked out to establishcaste harmony in villages.“Workers of BVP have stayed inthe houses of dalit communitiesand attempted to bring abouttogetherness,” they said.

RSS reach in rural areas, par-ticularly in the mandal levels,have increased with a manifoldincrease, during last one year, inthe number of their ‘Vistaraks’(working people spending 15days outside their regions to ini-tiate new Sakhas) who laterassume the role of ‘Pracharaks’in the Sangh Parivar.

����� 1+6�4+�70

Can yoga help prevent orrelieve diabetes? With dia-

betes emerging as a major diseaseburden for India over the pasttwo decades, the Union AYUSHMinistry has asked the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR), a research wing of theHealth Ministry, to conduct astudy to assess the impact of yogaon diabetes.

A senior official from theICMR said, “we have been askedto look at impact of yoga on dia-betes. We will soon finalise a pro-tocol in this direction. Afterwhich we will rope in experts toconduct the study.”

So far the effect of yogicpractices on the managementof diabetes has not been inves-tigated well, though therehave been sporadic studieshere and there carried out inour country to evaluate theeffect of yoga on diabetes. Butmostly they were done onsmall number of patients.

This is for the first timethat the premier healthresearch agency such as ICMRhas been involved to look intothe impact of Yoga, which is oneof the many Indian AlternateTraditional medicine system ofIndia, on the diabetes which israpidly spreading its wings acrossthe country.

Yoga got a major boost at theworld level due to concentratedefforts from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi under whoseendevaour last year UN agreed tohold June 21 as World Yoga Day.

Since then, various schemesand activities have been under-taken to push the Yoga which isseen as useful system for thetreatment of certain diseases andpreservation of health in normal

individuals. BK Sahay, former

Professor of Medicine,Osmania MedicalCollege, Hyderabadand Chief Investigator,Diabetes and YogaProject, Vemana YogaResearch Institute,Hyderabad in a reviewarticle in a journaltalked about the usefulrole of yoga in the con-trol of diabetes melli-

tus. He said their study hasshown that due to yoga fastingand postprandial blood glucoselevels came down significantly.

“Good glycaemic status canbe maintained for long periods of

time. There was a lowering ofdrug requirement and the inci-dence of acute complicationslike infection and ketosis was sig-nificantly reduced. There weresignificant changes in the insulinkinetics and those of counter-reg-ulatory hormones like cortisol.”

“There was a fall in free fattyacids suggesting a better insulinsensitivity and decrease in insulinresistant, with a probable protec-tive effect on beta cell function.There is a beneficial effect on theco-morbid conditions like hyper-tension and dyslipidemia. Yogicpractices are useful in all agegroups and can be performed in allseasons and are useful for peoplewho travel frequently,” he added.

����� 1+6�4+�70

India is all ready with itsaction plan to replace the

present polio vaccine by astronger version in its routineimmunisation programme.The move is as per globalpolio end-game strategy adopt-ed by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO).

At present, Trivalent OralPolio Vaccine (tOPV), which isbeing used in routine immu-nisations and polio campaigns,contains all three types ofPolioviruses — type 1, 2 and 3.Since the polio type 2 has beeneradicated from the world,bivalent oral polio vaccine(bOPV) will totally replacetOPV throughout the world.

Switch to bivalent is neces-sary keeping in view low immu-nisation coverage (just 71 percent kids are covered under theprogramme due to various rea-sons), live vaccine virus used inOral polio vaccines (OPV) canmultiply for long and undergomutations to gain neuro-viru-lence. This can cause paralysis

and circulate in the communi-ty to cause outbreaks.

As per the WHO strategy,polio type 3 virus would beremoved from the vaccine tooas next step because not a sin-gle case of this virus had beenreported from anywhere in theworld during the past two years.

At the third dose of bOPV,the kids will also be adminis-tered an injection with inacti-vated polio vaccine (IPV), adead virus, which has already

been introduced in the coun-try’s national immunisationprogramme.

By 2020 all OPVs will becompletely stopped and onlyInactivated Polio Vaccine,which is a dead virus, will beused all over the world.

As per the Government’saction plan, by April 25, all vac-cines having tOPV will bedestroyed. Type 2 virus will alsobe destroyed in all laboratories( except Pune Virology Institute

) to eliminate the chances of itsspread again, said a senior offi-cial from the Drug ControllerGeneral of India (DCGI).

The DCGI is already intalks with the vaccine manu-facturers and drug controllersat Zonal and District level toensure availability of bOPV twoweeks prior to switch.

“It must be ensured thatsecondary packaging of bOPVis not opened before switchdate,” the drug controller hasmade it clear.

The DCGI will also cancelall licenses for manufacturing aswell as import of tOPV for usefrom 25 April 2016 onwards.

It was in 2011, the lastpolio case was reported inIndia. India attained polio-free status on 27 March 2014,but threat looms large due tovaccine-derived polio and alsofrom two of its neighbors (Pakistan and Afghanistan)which remain polio-endemic.

“Post Wild Polio Virus(WPV) eradication, Vaccineassociated paralytic polio(VAPP) and Vaccine-derived

polio virus (VDPV) are the lastformidable opponents in India’swar against Polio.

“The Global strategy mustbe customised in line with ourlocal considerations.Administration of additionalearly dose of IPV at 6 weeks ofage (other than the mandato-ry dose at or after 14 weeks ofage) will ensure an early,stronger and more widespreadprotection against the risks ofVAPP and VDPV,” said pedia-tricians Manoj Grover fromNiti Aayog and NidhiBhatnagar from Army Collegeof Medical Sciences, New Delhiin a journal Indian Pediatrics.

Moreover, launch of massIPV campaigns in states withpoor routine immunizationcoverage before the tOPV-bOPV switch will help pre-empt any emergence of VDPVin susceptible populations. Theadditional costs of an extra IPVdose in the UIP and masscampaigns may be justified asit is an ethical obligation on usto eliminate the iatrogenic riskof VDPV, they noted.

����� 1+6�4+�70

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sundayassured full security to NIT students in Srinagar,

saying they should not worry about their safety inthe wake of clashes between two groups after theIndia-West Indies cricket match on Thursday.

Singh called up Jammu & Kashmir GovernorNN Vohra and Director General of Police (DGP)K Rajendra Kumar and asked them to ensure prop-er security to the students.

“I assure the students that they should not worryabout their security. I have spoken to the Governorand the DGP regarding the situation. I haveinstructed the DGP to send a team of officers to NIT,Srinagar to assure the students of their safety andsecurity,” he tweeted. Later Home Minister spoke tomedia in Lucknow about the directions given by himto the J&K administration.

The Home Minister’s statement came after clash-es occurred at NIT, Srinagar following team India’sdefeat against West Indies in the World Cup T20semi-final. Two group of students, one fromKashmir and another from other states, fought aftersome students burst crackers after India’s defeat, lead-ing the shut down of the institute. Students from out-side Kashmir alleged about the partisan attitude fromthe J&K Police.

����� 1+6�4+�70

Contrary to the news in for-eign media that the Indian

priest abducted by gunmen inYemen last month was killed,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj, reportedly, tolda Catholic group that FatherTom Uzhunnalil is safe and theIndian Government is trying toensure his release soon.

Father Uzhunnalil was cap-tured from Aden in Yemen bygunmen, believed to be fromISIS, when they attacked a oldage home run by Missionariesof Charity. They had killed 15people, including one Indiannun and taken away FatherUzhunnalil in a car.

However, some newsreports by foreign mediaclaimed that Father Uzhunnalilwas possibly killed by ISIS onGood Friday, though the IndianGovernment doubted suchclaims. While the foreign mediahad quoted Archbishop ofVienna, who during the EasterVigil Mass made the announce-ment, Indian officials said therewas no proof that the Indianpriest was dead or was in ISIScustody. Officials said Indiawas trying to locate him and

secure his release at the earliest.On Sunday, the Catholic

Bishops’ Conference of India(CBCI) said their delegationthat met Swaraj was assured byher that the Government wasworking to secure the priest’ssafe return. “She has assured usFather Tom is safe and negoti-ations are on for his releasewhich could happen very soon,”said Father Joseph Chinnaiyan,deputy secretary of the CBCI.

Meanwhile, four Indiansdetained by Syria have beenreleased. These four men werearrested in Damascus inJanuary when they were

allegedly on their way to joinISIS. The Syrian Deputy PrimeMinister during his recent visitto New Delhi had informedabout the detention to Swaraj.

“We have secured the releaseof four Indian nationals fromSyria,” Swaraj said in a tweet. “Ihad requested (the) Deputy PMof Syria for their release duringhis visit to India in January thisyear. Thank you Syria…Welcome home Arun KumarSaini, Sarvjit Singh, KuldeepSingh and Joga Singh. I appre-ciate the officers who facilitatedtheir journey from Syria toIndia,” said in another tweet.

���������������8������.�������!�*� �������� ��4�%��� ��$����$��<�� ������@� !��������������B�9������������������������

*����������������!�����������$�������� �����!��������

5-���������������������������������10����������

73� <- ��+ 6�1+234�6��0���67<

=��������8���������9������������49��� ���� ����������;������������������49���������������!�!!���������6% ��� ��������������������!������!�&����������&'

"3���������������� � ���� �����!������������������������� ���!��$���������$�������2�� ������!��� ����

�����$���)� �����""�����������"������

*� ��2���� +��������+�,3�!45�6��,�,��*.(�+���� ���0+

2 ���!������������� =��������������&'

��!������!!����!&� ���8���������������� ������!������������������������� ��������

� (�����$)�������� ���������������"�������*������������� ������������������0�0� � ����������������������������������,��������������.������ ������� ������������������������������������(�����$)�������� �������������������0�0�����;����(���� �����������0�����;���������������������������� 2������� �����.�������/��������.�������������0�������������������������������� �-� �����������������������;��������� �� ����������������������������������������

<�� ������@� !������ �!� �������#

Page 6: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

Much of the presentgeneration ofactive politicianswas born afterIndia became

independent, following the sacri-fices of many freedom-fighters. Inthose early years, corruption wasa stray creature. When JawaharlalNehru was Prime Minister, evena whiff of corruption was enoughfor anybody, be it a bureaucrat ora politician, to lose his position.After the death of Nehru and hissuccessor Lal Bahadur Shastri, thegovernance of India passed intothe hands of lesser leaders. Suchpeople could not look beyondtheir coterie of sycophants.

This continues to be the situ-ation even today, especially whenit comes to cushy post-retirementjobs, either for politicians orbureaucrats. All that suchappointees have to do is pleasetheir political masters or masters-to-be. They say goodbye gover-nance and focus on pleasing theboss. Since this writer does notcare much for any politician, theonly question he has is this: Do ourpoliticians stand by their convic-tions, or do they prefer to run withthe hare and hunt with thehounds, or do they just toe the lineof their party bosses irrespectivenational interest?

As Antonio says in WilliamShakespeare’s Merchant of Venice,“The devil can cite Scripture for his

purpose. An evil soul producingholy witness Is like a villain witha smiling cheek, A goodly applerotten at the heart. Oh, what agoodly outside falsehood hath!”

A former Union Minister forHome Affairs has said that it ispossible to hold an “honest opin-ion” that the Afzal Guru case was“perhaps not correctly decided”and there were “grave doubtsabout the extent of his involve-ment” in the Parliament attack.Afzal Guru was hanged onFebruary 9, 2013. The formerHome Minister is a lawyer, and ifwhat he says now he also felt at thetime of the trial, then he shouldhave issued written orders to dropthe case.

Justice PV Reddi, who head-ed the two-judge Bench whichupheld Afzal Guru’s conviction,has said, “The judgement speaksfor itself. Those who celebrateAfzal martyrdom day must pickup the judgement and read it thor-oughly before making commentsor criticism. Fair criticism ofSupreme Court judgements is thehallmark of our democratic systemthat zealously guards the right tofree speech. But to term it a judi-cial hanging is crossing the limit.The criticism must be decent andin public interest. If not, then itcould hit at the root of democra-cy, of which Supreme Court is animportant pillar.”

In view of the above observa-

tion of the former judge, it appearsthat India has a great numbers ofenemies, within. Indeed, the rot setin right after Nehru — and nowa former Home Secretary hasspilled the beans on his politicalmaster. The latter has, of course,denied any wrongdoing.

The affidavit in the IshratJahan case was changed by theCentre. The UPA Governmentrevised its position that IshratJahan was a member of a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba squad that was movingaround the country, and said thatthere was no evidence to supportsuch a conclusion.

Many petty functionaries,have criticised the retired UnionHome Secretary and wonderedwhy he did not say the samethings when he was in service.Perhaps, they are not aware thatcriticism of the Government bya serving bureaucrat is against thelaw. Besides, what the retiredHome Secretary has said is notsomething new. I myself defiedthe then Prime Minister in oneto one conversation about theprincipal accused in the fodderscam. I found myself transferred,on my return to India from anInterpol conference.

Many of the so-called VIPshave feet of clay. Loyalty to thecountry is far from their mind.Once I asked a Minister, why hevisits his home State almost everyweekend? He frankly confessed

that it was because he was elect-ed from that State. He said that hisvisits to other parts of the coun-try are few.

What I have said above is large-ly the position of the vast majori-ty of leaders, irrespective of theirparty. While going through someof my old files, I was shocked to dis-cover the number of committeesand panels that have been set up toassist with governance.

The easiest way to pass on thebuck of poor governance is to setup committee or a commission. Iwonder how long my countrymenwill have to suffer corruption? Itis said that that, in England,“Everything which is not forbid-den is allowed”, while, in Germany,“Everything which is not allowedis forbidden”. This may be extend-ed to France where, “Everythingis allowed even if it is forbidden”and Russia where “Everything isforbidden, even that which isexpressly allowed”. In North Korea,it is said that “Everything that isnot forbidden is compulsory”.

In India, even if something isallowed, it is forbidden by therules of multiple Governmentdepartments, which undo thework of each other. The heavenswould not fall, if all the commit-tees, except the ParliamentaryCommittees, and at least half ofthe bureaucratic posts are abol-ished. Let the Government try outthis prescription."

������ ������������� ��������������������������������������������0���������������������������������� �����������������0����������� �����������������������������������������������������������������

����������������������!�� �����������������������������0���G�������D�(���� ����+��1�������������� � �����������������������������������������������#�������������������������'������2��� ���� ����������� �������������������������������� ���� �������!�����"��������/��������,������������������������������������'���������������������������������9�����@<H= ��������+�1�������������������������������������������,�!��������������������������1������������� � ����������������������������+��1�������������� ��������� �������������������������������!�"����������1�������&�������������������"����� ��������������������������������������������.������'����������.������������1������2���������"�����������"��������������������$�����������!.���������������������������� ����������� ��� ���� ����������� ����������������!������������������+��1���� �������������������������������������

0��� � ���������� ���� ��� �������#�������� ���������� ����� ,� � ��&������ ����������������������������#����������������������!�"��� �����+�1���������1������-����� ��������������&�������������������������#�������� �������������������������������������������������������������#�����!�"���������������������������#���������������� ���G������ � �������0�����,�������������4������������������ ��������� ��������!�0���G������������� ��� ���� ������ ���� � �����������������������������������0,4� �������������!�

6������������� ���������������������� ������ ����� ���� ����� � �������������������������������������������������!�"�������� ������������ ���� �������������G������������#

��������������������������� !����������������������������������������������������I����������������� ���������� �������������������������������������������I ���������������-����������������������������������� ������� ��������#���I������������ ��������������� ������������������!�0����� ����,�����G�������� � ��������������������������������������HEE��������������������������������� ����������������������!��������������������� ���������������������� ���� ������������������������������������������� ������������������� �������������� ������������!������������,������G��,��� �������� ����������������������� ����������������������������J�������������� ����������������������������������������������� ����� �����������������������!���������� ������� ��������������������������,��� ������������ �������,���� �����"�������������������#����������� �������6����/���� /�������2����!�2������������������������������� ������ ������������������,������������� ������9��������������� � �������������������!�

����4����$�����4����G����������������,�����������������������C��������������G�������������������������������������������0�����������������������������!������������G����� � ����������������������������

������������������� ����,������������� ��������������������������������!C���������������� ���������������� ����������������������������������������������J�,������0���!�"��� �������������������������������������������#������������������ ������� ��������������������������������������������#�������C,������0���G������ �������������������������������������C���G��������#����!�0���� ���������� � ������������4�����������������������/������������������������������������������������!�����C���������������� ���������������������������������#����������������������������������� �������#�������0����� ������������������������"�����(�����!�"����������������������������������������������������!���������������������C��������G����������������#���J��������� ������� � ����,������������������ ����������������������#�������������������������5�������� ������������������,����/�� ����������������������������������������������0�������������������������#�������������������������������C���������������� ���"���0����,-���#�#

0�������� ,��������� �������"�������� 2 ���� ������������������������������������������������� ������������������!�������������������������������������� � ���J����4����$�����4����G���&��#������J�������������,�����������������������������������������������������������������������!��������#���������������������������������"����� ������ ������������ 0��� ����������������� �����������������#�����������������!�0������������������������������������������� �,������������� ��� ����#������� ������������������������������������� ���������#���� � ���������� ������� ��� ��� ������������� ��� � ��� ���������� � ���������������������������������#���!�1�������/�� �����������������

������� ����������������������K�������������������������������������/������9���'����������������L� ������������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������!�����5�������������������������������������������������������������������������������#��������!�0�������������������������������������������������������� ����������������� ���������������&�����������������������������������������

/������� ���������#)�����������������������������������������!���������� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ �����������������������������0������������������������������ �������������������������������������������������������������������!/���� ���������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������&������ ����������� ������������������������������������������������������������!��������������������#�������������������������������������#�������������������������������������� ��������������������������������&������������������������� ��������������������������������!����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������!

��������������������������$������2������������� ������������������

�$�!��! �12�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

�����������������#��,�����$�������"�+��%�������������������������� ������������&��C����� ����������� ������&�������������� ������� ���!��!����������&���������� ��5�D���� ��4�%�������� ��!��� �����������

��8��� �!������������������������� � ��) �����$��"� ����#��"������

����������� �

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).In view of the upcoming poll inWest Bengal, Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee was quick toannounce compensation to thevictims of the flyover tragedy.Moreover, she also shifted theblame to the previous Left FrontGovernment. This is not some-thing unusual. Politicians (nomatter which party is in power),to gain public sympathy, announcelarge sums of aid to the affected.No amount of compensation canmitigate the grief of the affectedfamilies. The least the MamataGovernment can do is to ensuresevere punishment for the culprits.

Gulab Shanker SinghLucknow

���� ���� ���� ���

Sir — This refers to the editorial“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The editorial has rightly called foraccountability. Collapse of flyovers,bridges, buildings, roads and canalsare common across the country,and precious lives are lost.

Both the Trinamool Congressand IVRCL are responsible for thisincident. They could have been vig-

ilant, especially when the projectwas located in a densely-populat-ed area like Burrabazar.

The fact is that the TMC wasin a rush to complete the project.Moreover, the project failed tomeet several deadlines. Why didWest Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee not take note ofthe dangerous situation that wasvisible even to a layman? A por-tion of the bridge was seen hang-ing perilously. This was a warningof the impending danger in a high-ly vulnerable spot.

PN SaxenaVia email

��������������

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Criminal callousness” (April 2).The crashing of an under-construc-tion flyover in Kolkata is unfortu-nate. What is all the more tragic isthat the narrow stretch of the fly-over has made rescue operations allthe more difficult. On top of it, theHyderabad-based company,IVRCL, has categorised this tragedyas an ‘act of god’ to shy away fromtaking ownership of the accident.

On the other hand, this tragedyhas once again highlighted the factthat disaster management is stillvery poor in our country. After eachtragedy, we talk about improving

disaster management, but we sub-sequently forget about it and brushit under the carpet. The UnionGovernment must now ensurestrict monitoring of constructionsites and safety norms for construc-tion workers on the site.

Bal GovindNoida

�� �������

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Purging truth of Netaji”(April 1). The fact is that no seri-ous attempt has been made tounearth the mystery behind thedisappearance of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose. The files declas-sified by the Modi Governmentare hardly relevant as far as hisdisappearance is concerned.

There are some who say thatthe declassification of Netaji fileswill affect India’s relations withother countries. This shows that,indeed something is fishy. TheGovernment must choosebetween the two — internationalrelations or to get enlightened onthe fate of Netaji, who sacrificedhis life for this country.

Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata

///������� �������

8 � 8 � � � � � � 8 � � � � � �

&�-���� ����-�

������� �2��7+�+40�25

����������+������!7�0+�+������,� ������8��������� �+�� ��� 2���� ������+8 ��,�� 9���,� �+�2�18� 2�0,�+����++� +�� /����,��1��

6!.:�;�������<9�+� �(���.� =��

��,+� ������������ +�� ,��������� ����+� 2����� ���� 0+7�����8 �+������1����,�2 � 2� �+������������������

!�+��<�� ��,����� ��

�+��,�1���������0+�+�,����02�����0�+�� ,� ��0�� 0�������,� ��0 �,,�+��5��� ��(0,,���������������+������+���/��

5������,��� +< ������$����

"(�+5��7+�4+"�72(�1+75$�"14�70�

�$..+��25��"�/"7"4$5��7"��50 �7+�;23+51"1.+2(�0140"�'"��+4

01�2��7+�7"14��2(�+��+5��+"4+5�!

�7+�+�'+2'�+.2$�4�12���22%

/+*214��7+05.2�+50+�2(

�*.2'7"1��

�.���2��

�����������* #���������������� �8����7���

�������������������������� ��5���� ���������� ���K,����8<L!����� ���������������������������������������� �����$�������.�����.����������������������� ��������� ������!������ ��������������������

���������������������������������� ���������������������������������� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������������� ����������������-����������������������������������������� ������� �!���������/��������������������������!

6��������������������������������������������������������� ���� ���������������������������������������������.��������������������������$�����;��������������������������G������������,�������������� �������� �������������!�1� ��������������������&������ ������������������������!�7� ���� �����$�����;���������� ����������� ����������� ������������������������� ���������������������������������������!

@��1�����#����

����� �!��������������>�)'**'1�*"2�"#''1A.,��)=3",�

Page 7: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

<������

���<&��� �

The Union Governmentneeds to pursue policiesthat can ease inflation

and reduce prices to lubricatethe economy. The trap laid byprevious Governments isseemingly tightening.

It is not just the fuel pricethat firm up prices. Though itremains the base, there areother factors like continuousincrease in insurance premia,toll taxes, banking, parking, air-port charges, tuition fee,dynamic railway fare, high taxiand bus fare apart from highcommodity prices, that lead thecountry to a phenomenon ofprice rise.

The flak for this is borne bythe Government as it is blamedfor not controlling the situation.It also has to bear the cost by pay-ing its staff more to sustainunhindered profiteering of theunscrupulous. The Governmenthas taken a view that it will notintervene to facilitate business.

Business in this countrythrives on the poor man’smoney, and loans are easilyavailable through certain ques-tionable bank practices. Morethe inflation, higher thecharges, more the banks gob-ble up public funds; their cof-fers grow and so do theirexploitative practices. All thesame, the private reserveseither remain intact or increase.Who suffers? The commonman and the Government ofthe day.

The Government itself hassealed itself out through a sys-tem of regulators. The latter,whether in insurance, elec-tricity or telecom sectors, attimes act in favour of the per-petrators and are casual inprotecting consumers. Thelogic seems to be that the ‘theconsumer has to pay moreand more to keep businessesprofitable’ — or stated differ-ently, the consumer can be

exploited at all times and if heseeks a relief, it is to be denied,as being ‘unsustainable’.

Should we really have suchregulators or go back to the ear-lier system of people’s(Government) control? It needsto be pondered seriously.Regulators are primarilyresponsible for higher powerbills, higher insurance premiaand most other hikes.

Just go to any city, and par-ents are to be found fightingwith schools who arbitrarilyraise fees, force students to buybooks and stationery, uniformsetc. A failure to do so can costthe students dearly, includingthe school’s refusal to handover their results, cancellationof admission and many otherretributive practices.

Is there a remedy? StateGovernments have expressedtheir inability on many countsto help the parents or the stu-dents. Officials may say this is

not part of the economy. Thisis a grave fallacy.

The high cost of educa-tion is causing severe stressamong the middle-class citi-zens. They have stopped goingto the market for buying any-thing except which is utterlynecessary. Even there, theyhave been reducing neces-sary consumption of essentialitems. This affects the PrimeMinister’s concept of Make inIndia. Such reduction indemand affects production.The nation needs to serious-ly reconsider whether the costof education should be low ornot. The institutions at all lev-els have devised methods topay less to the teachers — theyare even asked to refund apart of their salary credited totheir bank accounts — andincrease management profits.

The insurance companiesand the insurance regulatorhave been raising premia every

year from third party motor-vehicle claims to health, fire,property etc, on unjustifiablepretexts. The claims in thiscountry are at their lowest butthe regulator allows insurancecompanies enormous increas-es, forgetting that this finallyimpacts industry and individ-uals alike. It increases cost ofoperations and leaves themwith less spare money to sus-tain the market. The regulatorhas itself stated that “incurredclaims ratio of the motor seg-ment came down by two per-cent in 2015 against 2014”.Then why has it hiked the thirdparty premium? It hits thetransport sector heavily, whichthen hikes its tariff.

No less illogical is the deci-sion to disallow registration ofhigh-powered diesel vehicles inDelhi. The courts are sup-posed to go by the provisionsof the Motor Vehicles Act, thatallows all vehicles to ply all the

24 days — a provision thathelps production of new vehi-cles and the creation of jobs.The National Green Tribunal isplaying havoc with the production process.

If everything is to bebanned, then let us start withbanning the NGT. In no coun-try are vehicles junked in themanner that the NGT sug-gests. It hurts the economyand wealth creation.

The Niti Ayog and theUnion Government have toconsider various aspects that arehindering economic growthand creating an inflationaryprocess. They also need to lookat how they can keep businessexpenses low — an essentialcondition for ease of doingbusiness. A new holistic look atthe economy and those addingto inflation, is needed. A stableand judicious pricing system isrequired to keep the economyon rails and cut fiscal deficit.

"��� ������������������������������������������������������������������ ����������!�"���������-���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

(�������!!������8�����>������

+�(�)� �32�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

��( �%����( ��� ����� �� ��!"�!� �*�'���� #%)� ��4� #�'%�) (����!5 2'� *) ���� ��"�

0�-1� $�� ��!� �# /��& ��( *��! (�!�56���!�"��% ��!����� ������ 2���7.����7�7

8��" �'(�$4� �����"�!�9 �� *���"�� ���� �����"��� �� ��!"�!� /�� �/��� ���� �(������� ��'%( ��$$�!5 �) (�(!4� �� ���:62�!��% ��!����� ����#���� ��.����7

��%� ��� ��%�*�! ��#�����!� ����� /�) ��

��� !��������!���*%�9 ��� �#���!�����!�% �!��)

�� ��!"�!� (���!�� �� � �������� � � ��*%�

$����#'% ��!#%�������%�"�!� $%�! !���!) � �������!�/�� �������)5

����9 ��� $�%�����%9���!�"�� �!(

�����% �!��� �!((����!��!� �! �

%���� ������! �# ����#���! $��$%�9 ���!�� *��! $��$��%)

�((�����(

�$����.������$����

There are a number of ways tounderstand a peace processwhich finally leads to agree-ments that are formal con-tracts, meant to end violent

conflicts. Peace agreements during apeace process may include pre-negotia-tion agreements, interim agreements,framework agreements, and implemen-tation agreements. Each has a specific pur-pose. However, sometimes, one agreementmay overlap the other. Pre-negotiationagreements are ‘talks about talks’ as theytend to deal with issues such as who isgoing to negotiate with what status andwhat is the agenda of negotiations. At thisstage, negotiations discuss the pre-condi-tions of talks such as the release of polit-ical prisoners, or cessation of hostilities orceasefire during peace negotiations. Butthe Afghan peace process is still stuck inthe primary stage and is yet to reach thelevel of pre-negotiation deal.

The Quadrilateral CoordinationGroup which includes Afghanistan,China, Pakistan and the US, has taken amuch-needed initiative to pacify theconflict-ridden Afghanistan. The QCGmechanism became operational inJanuary when it met for the first time. Andjust before the fourth round of QCG dis-cussions in February, Pakistan Army chiefRaheel Sharif travelled to Doha to per-suade the Taliban factions and groups toreturn to the negotiating table. But it is nothard to believe that any substantial break-through in peace negotiations is asremote as ever.

The QCG is not a balanced and effi-cient mechanism to bring about lastingpeace in Afghanistan as it effectivelyblocks Russia and Iran, the two mostimportant neighbours of Afghanistan,from the discussion table. Most impor-tantly, multiple rounds of talks among thequartet have failed to convince theAfghan Taliban to talk peace with theGovernment in Kabul. Although formerAfghan Prime Minister GulbuddinHekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami, formallyallied with the Afghan Taliban, hasdecided to join the peace talks, it will nothave a greater impact on the peaceprocess because Hezb-e Islami’s capabil-ity of anti-Government insurgency hasbeen increasingly declining over theyears and it has virtually no or little influ-ence over the Taliban. Why does the lat-est refusal by the Taliban, to join the peacenegotiations, seem so much frighteningtoday than it did a few years back?

There are serious concerns about thedeteriorating security situation inAfghanistan. Terrorists are posing sever-al challenges to the prospects of peace andsecurity in that volatile region. This isborne out by the recent observations ofNicholas Haysom, the special represen-tative of the UN Secretary General forAfghanistan. Haysom has painted a verygrim picture of the situation inAfghanistan where conflict has grown inintensity and scope, resulting in allAfghan governmental institutions, includ-ing security forces, being critically chal-lenged on all fronts.

The two most disturbing features ofthe report are the rise in security-relatedincidents in 2015 as compared to 2014,and the deterioration of security in areasthat have not been previously the Taliban’s

stronghold. The Taliban have undoubt-edly expanded their territorial reach lastyear, as reflected in the temporary captureof about two dozen districts in almost allparts of the country, with the temporaryseize of the Provincial capital of Kunduzbeing the most notorious and audacious.

While the Taliban are fighting theirway to the negotiating table, the AfghanNational Unity Government seems tohave neither any viable peaceful conflictsettlement plan nor any overarching warstrategy. To make matters worse, the polit-ical, economic and social angst and dis-content of a large section of the Afghanpeople as not been properly addressed,and has been exploited by the Taliban.

Faced with a rapidly intensifyinginsurgency, the country may witness thedangerous prospect of being carved upinto rival fiefdoms. The emergence of theIslamic State, which is trying to recruitfrom among the disgruntled Talibanranks and other terrorist groups, has fur-ther diminished hopes of the countryreturning to a state of normalcy.

As the Taliban have again rejected thelatest peace offers from the QCG, firm-ly insisting on their own terms and con-ditions, the already fragile peace processhas entered the most crucial phase.Under such circumstances, it will be futileto expect the inadequately-trained Afghansecurity forces with support from insuf-ficient number of US-led North AtlanticTreaty Organisation forces, to attain a mil-itary edge over their opponent. If theTaliban escalates the fight in the comingmonths, the country faces the prospect ofsliding down a perilous path towards tur-moil and mayhem. In fact, Western mil-itary support for the Ashraf Ghani regimeis more of a background psychological fac-

tor than a physical one since the US hasalmost quit Afghanistan.

The focus of attention has now againshifted back to Pakistan’s role in contribut-ing to the peace process. The convention-al wisdom is that Pakistan has a greatinfluence over the Taliban. Pakistan’sTaliban policy has shifted along withbroader geopolitical trends, with the bal-ance sometimes swinging towards clos-er alignment and at other times, at per-mitting greater autonomy.

Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Azizhas admitted to Pakistan’s influence overthe Taliban when he recently said, “Wehave some influence on them becausetheir leadership is in Pakistan, and theyget some medical facilities, their familiesare here. So we can use those levers topressurise them to say, ‘come to the table’”.

But attitudes within Pakistan’s secu-rity elite are complex; dividing betweenthose who support the resolution of con-flict at the earliest on the ground that con-tinuation of conflict will further worsenthe security situation in Pakistan, andthose who insist on first protectingPakistan’s strategic interests, defined instraight forwardly realist terms. Thusthere is a strong section within Pakistan’smilitary establishment that defends thenotion of a tightly integrated geopoliti-cal region on both sides of the KhyberPass with Pakistan’s informal control overpolicies of Afghanistan. In constantdenial about the costs and tragedies per-petrated by the India-centric ‘strategicdepth’ policy, this powerful lobby arguesthat Pakistan’s strategic needs stretch wellbeyond the Durand Line, and it is onlypragmatic to act on those needs. Afghanpolitical elite’s excellent relations withIndia has been a chronic irritant in

Afghan-Pakistan relations, makingRawalpindi profoundly paranoid aboutcollaborating in an effort that enablesIndia to have any meaningful say inAfghan political affairs. This explains thePakistan Army’s highly selective approachtowards eliminating terrorist groups itonce created and had patronised.

The Taliban can seem very power-ful now but it will wrong to think of theoutfit as invincible. There are many splitsand fissures within it. The AfghanTaliban have been going through a tur-bulent leadership transition since last yearwith the new leader Mullah Mansoor stillfacing difficulties in consolidating hisleadership position. Those who are chal-lenging Mansoor’s succession to MullahOmar are of the view that they haveacquired a decisive edge against theAfghan security forces. In order to avoidinternal rebellion and further dissension,Mansoor does not want to show any hastein joining the peace talks.

If a dominant section of the Talibanleadership is not prepared to strike a dealwith the Ghani Government on Pakistaniterms, then the very credibility of Pakistanwill be at stake. Islamabad will facetremendous pressure from Washingtonand Beijing to take action against the recal-citrant Taliban elements that are based inPakistan. Therefore, Pakistan seems to bedoubling its efforts, short of arm-twisting,to bring the Taliban leadership to thenegotiation table. But the current adversedynamic may likely continue between theTaliban and the Afghan Government.

(The writer is Assistant Professor,Department of International Affairsand Security Studies, Sardar PatelUniversity of Police Security andCriminal Justice, Jodhpur)

�����������$� �����#����������� ����3�� 7�' &!�/9 �# /� '!(�����!( �!�

;'�����! �����%)9 �%% ;'�����!���� �!�/���(5 2'� /� (�!4�

&!�/ ��/ �� ��& ��� ����� ;'�����!5�� ��& ��� ����� ;'�����! (�"�!(�� ����� (��% �# �!��%%���!�� �!(��!���� ��)5 ���� �� � ;'�����!9 �#'!(�"�!��% ;'�����!< � %�#� �����'��: � ��9 �� �� ��= �!( "�! ���%� �( �! ���� ����'��9 ��!�'���� '$�!��!�'����9 #��" �!���!� ������) ����� $����!� (�)9 �! ���!)9 �! (��$���9�! �����/= �!( �� (���!4� #�!( � /�) �'� �# ��5 �����#��� �� �! �!����(�9 ��'�����9 �%% ��� ���'�%�9 �!(�%% ���� !�!��!��9 �� �� ����$�� �!(�##���!� /�)�5

6> �����!�"'���)�$����'�% %��(��

6���'��������� �����!��-��8�6���������������������0���������� �+�����������������������������������������$���������������� �������������0������ �� ������<��B�� �B���

'������������������������"���������������M����������.�����������;�������������������������������������������������!�(����������'�����!�0���������������������������������� ��������;����;�������������'������������ �0������������������ ������������

8����.����

+������������������������������������������������0��������� ���������#�����������������������������������������������������0��!�0�� ����� ���������������������

������ � ��� ,���� @@ � ���� ���� ��������� ��� ������/������� ����������������+$ �����������)���!�/��������� ����'���������� �������� ����������������������������!�,����������#����������������������!

0�� ���� H?N<�� ��� H?O<� � ��������� ���������� �� ���"������������'��������0�����������������������������������;�������������%���������������������0���������������������������'�����G������� ��������������!����������� ����������������������#��������������� ��������� ������#���������������������������������������'������ �'�����G�����#�������������������������������������������������������#�������������"��������!

���� ;������� ��� 0����� ������ ���� ������ �������� ��"�������������������������'���������������������'���������#�������!����'�����������������������������������������"����,������������������������������������ ������������� ���������#���G���������;���������!�/����������H?O<��'������ ���������#���� �������������������#��������������� ��������"��������!

�����������������$����������������� ����������������������B����� �/�)�)����� ���������'����������������������$�;���������G��������� ��� ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������#������������������������ ��#�������������!���������������������������������������$��������&��������������� ���������������,����������������!����� �������������������������������0�����������������"�������� ��������������������������������$���� ����������&������������,���������#������������������.������"��!�"����������"���������������#�������������������������� ������������������!

2��������������� �"��M�� ������������������������� ������2���������� ��� C"�����"�� � �����!������������������������������������H<����� �����������������$����������������������������������0�������������������������"��M��!6���������$��������������������������������,����������������������������$���� ������������������������0����������� ������ ��������������� ��!

"����� "�� M��� ������� ��� ���� 6��������� ��������� ��������������?PHH��������������"�������������� �����$��)����������������������������0����������������������������������������!�����$���������������������#����"�������������������������������������������!

������������$��-��������������������������������������������#���������������������������������,������+��!�"��������������� ����$�G������������0��� ��������������������������������������#����0���������������� ����C"��M������0��� � ��������������#��������������������0����������!

1� �����+���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������!�0�����������������������������0���������� ����� ��������������������������������������� ��������������������#����!�6����������������#������������������������������+$�����������������$�#���������������������������������,������+�� ���G���&�����������������������#�����������������������������������!

0��+������������ ����� ����� ���������������� �����0���������� ��G����������������� � ������������������� ������������������!�0������������������������+���������������� ��������������� �������������������!�0���������� ��������������+����������������������������������������������������������� ����"�������K���'�����FL���������������������# ������!

������������������������������

� ��E!����������*�����������4�!���������������������$����(��!�����3��!� �.;

Page 8: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

!����! �?2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�

< �&� &�� %2.70

The infamous solar scam onSunday returned to haunt

Kerala’s beleaguered ChiefMinister Oommen Chandyahead of the crucial May 16Assembly election with a letterwritten by con woman SarithaS Nair, main accused in thescam, accusing him of abusingher sexually at his official res-idence, the Cliff House inThiruvananthapuram, appear-ing in a TV channel.

The letter, said to havebeen written by Saritha onJuly 19, 2013 when she was inpolice custody in Perumbavoorafter her arrest in the solarscam, also said that a formerUnion Minister had raped herat the house of a State Ministerand the personal assistant of akey Minister in the ChandyCabinet had tried to “gift” herto several former CentralMinisters.

“Baseless allegation,” washow Chandy reacted to thecharge as television channelscontinued airing reports quot-ing the letter allegedly writtenby Saritha, on Sunday. “Clearly,there is a conspiracy connect-ed to the election behind this.This will be probed and thetruth found out. I view this aspart of a bid to topple myGovernment,” the ChiefMinister said in Kottayam.

“I myself had written theletter,” Saritha told the TVchannel which had broughther letter to the publicdomain. “The handwriting init is mine and I own up what-ever is said in that. Every wordmentioned in it is true. I don’tdeny anything. However, I

don’t want to offer furtherexplanations on matters men-tioned in it,” she said.

Ironically, the explosive‘disclosures’ came out on anevening when Chandy was rel-ishing the joy of scoring ahuge political victory over hisfoes within the Congress afterthe party high commandreportedly bowed to the pres-sures he exerted on it to let thetainted members in his Cabinetand his loyalists fight the elec-tion as party candidates.

Describing how close shewas to Chandy, his family andthe Cliff House, Saritha says inher letter that she did notexpect such kind of an immoralapproach from a man - theChief Minister - whom she hadconsidered as a father figure.She also said that she had beenan associate in several landdeals carried out by Chandyand relatives through Benamis.

Interestingly, the chargeleveled in the letter againstChandy is in agreement withthe allegation leveled earlier bySaritha’s former live-in partnerand solar scam co-accused BijuRadhakrishnan before the judi-cial commission probing thescam that the Chief Ministerhad sexual relationship with thecon woman.

Saritha herself had reject-ed Biju’s allegation then. Bijuhad then claimed that he hadevidences to substantiate hischarge but the dramatic effortsto seize these from Coimbatorehad ended in a fiasco. However,Saritha had later accusedChandy of taking Rs 1.90 croreas bribe from her promising tohelp her in her solar powerbusiness.

������ ��� ;$6"7"�0

The ruling Congress, theBJP led three-party alliance

and the All India UnitedDemocratic Front (AIUDF)are all set to engage in the bat-tle of ballots for the first phaseof polls for 65 of the total 126legislative Assembly con-stituencies tomorrow.

There are a total of 539candidates including 43 womenare in the electoral fray thistime and a total of 95,11,732voters are expected to casttheir votes in 12,190 pollingstations set up across the 65constituencies.

Security has been intensi-fied across the 65 constituen-cies which are going to pollstomorrow even as the electionmachinery is using 535 com-panies of security forces includ-ing Central Armed PoliceForces to ensure security andsmooth conduction of thepolls.

The State’s internationalborders have been put understrict vigil so that anti-socialsfrom other side of the bordercould not sneak over to disruptthe poll process across theState.

The election to the firstphase of polls will assumes sig-nificance, particularly for theBJP as the saffron party hasbeen eyeing to capture moreconstituencies located in Upper

Assam, north bank of theBrahmaputra river and inBarak Valley. The 65 con-stituencies going to pollstomorrow are located mostly inUpper Assam, Barak Valleyand in north bank ofBrahmaputra river.

Most of the remaining 61constituencies, which are goingto polls in the second phase onApril 11, are currently beingheld mainly by the rulingCongress, the AIUDF andsome smaller parties likeBodoland Peoples Front (BPF)and some others.

While the Congress isfighting the polls with UnitedPeoples Party (UPP), the BJP,the Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) and the BodolandPeoples’ Front (BPF) is going tothe polls together.

Assam’s Chief ElectoralOfficer Vijayendra said that allthe necessary steps have beentaken by the election machin-ery to ensure smooth pollingacross the 65 constituencies.

“We are hopeful thatAssam the 65 constituenciesgoing to polls tomorrow willregister peaceful and goodpolling percentage. The pollingparties including presiding offi-cers, polling staffs and securi-ty personnel have alreadymoved to their respectivepolling stations,” he said.

“Polling will start at 7 amtomorrow and will continue till

5 pm. However, those per-sons, who stands in the queuein front of the polling stationstill 5 pm must be allowed tovote,” Vijayendra said.

He said that a total of 535companies of security forcesincluding 433 companies ofCentral Armed Police Force(CAPF) and 102 companies ofState Armed Police Force(SAPF) has been deployed asper the necessity across thepolling stations.

The election machinery isusing 2370 heavy vehicles, 3913medium vehicles, 7343 lightvehicles, 144 boats and 35 bull-cok carts for convenience of thepolling personnel and carryingof EVMs to respective pollingstations.

It may be mentioned herethat the election machinerywhich has been strictly imple-menting the model code ofconduct (MCC) across theState has so far seized over Rs.9 crore illegal money, close to8 lakh liters of illicit liquors andover 5 lakh kgs of drugs meantto be distributed among thevoters. Apart from this theIncome Tax department hadalso seized over Rs. 2 crores ofillegal money since imposi-tion of the MCC.

“Similarly, the 166 illegalarms and 538 round of illegalammunition have also beenseized from different areas ofthe State so far,” the CEO said.

����� ;"14701";"5

Suspended Gujarat cadre IASofficer Pradeep Sharma had

one more setback in muchtalked land related case as theGujarat High Court issuednotice to his wife ShyamalSharma to appear before it on15 June 2016.

Shyamal has been namedco-accused in a case wherein herhusband and former bureaucratPradeep Sharma was alleged tohave sold Government land toWelspun Group in an arbitrarymanner at a cheaper rate whenhe was the collector of Kutch dis-trict in 2003-04. This, as per thecase, caused a loss of �1.2 croreto the State exchequer at thatpoint of time.

According to the details ofthe case, Welspun on getting therequisite land made Shyamal,

who lives in US, a 30 per centpartner in one of its subsidiariesand extended benefits of �29.5lakh to her. The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) had invokedPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) in thematter in 2012. The ED allegedthat the money was initiallydeposited in Shyamal’s overseasbank account and later trans-ferred to her husband’s accountin India, violating PMLA.

Gujarat ACB had arrestedPradeep Sharma in 2009 this casebut he later received bail. ACBhad filed a petition in the Bhujcourt seeking issuance of a sum-mons to Shyamal in connectionwith the investigation of the case.But as the district court rejectedits plea, ACB moved to HighCourt. The notice is now expect-ed to be served to her in US viaUnion Home ministry.

��- ����-�����6+���,041"'25+

The sweetly garnished mudhutments and spotless inte-

riors of an adivasi householdmay often mislead you aboutthe State of its kitchen. This lit-tle Sabar village of Banspahariis one example.

Mamata Banerjee had start-ed her Jangalmahal campaignabout two decades ago fromthis village telling the wholeworld about the horrific con-ditions of the Sabars who sur-vive on the eggs of red ants. Itwas scorching Left regime then.

Many years later she cameto power in 2011. But the livesof Suku Sabar, his relatives,Madhu, Bangshi or for thatmatter a slightly ‘richer’

Fulmoni Sabar (a part timelabourer) has not changed onebit. The reason you ask and patcomes the reply.

“Kings come and go butthere is no respite for us. Thereis no one for the garib manush,”says Fulmoni who apart frombeing a little ‘rich’ is courageousalso. “Their mouths have beenmuted in the past several years.You do not have work, water,food, nothing. But when TVbabus (reporters) come you arerequired to paint a rosy pictureor else you are gone.”

Incidentally the ChiefMinister had repeatedly told inher Jangalmahal meetings thatshe was through with 90 per-cent work that she made.

And who intimidates? Theone answer is common. It is the

TMC. “They were in People’sCommittee when the Maoistscame. Then they joined theTrinamool and now they rulethe roost minting moneythrough labour contracts inhighway construction,” says aretired teacher near Belpahari.

“There is either no avail-ability of the 100-days’ workand even if we get some thereis no payment for them formonths. All the money is takenby the TMC,” says a young manfrom Belpahari refusing todeliver his name. So why don’tthey vote against the rulers?

“We do not get a chance tovote,” is the simple answer. Wecould not vote after 2004. Theonly time we voted after thatwas in 2011. But that was the lasttime. We could not vote in 2013

(panchayat polls) or 2014 elec-tions,” says Bura Soren a local.

At Lalgarh which was thehot bed of “revolution” and“counter-revolution” by theMaoists and then CPI(M)things are better though. Rulednow by the Trinamool workersaround no local would com-plain of any hardship.

“The situation is better asthere is no violence. A bridgehas been constructed across theKangsabati shortening the dis-tance between Lalgarh andJhargram. Then the roadbetween Lalgarh and Netai hasbeen constructed” says RabiMahato adding “the mostimportant thing is that we aregetting Rs 2-a-kg rice and cycleto travel distance.”

Another person at Amliya

village, “the most importantthing is that violence is gone andpeace has returned” only to bestopped by Shantanu Soren aschool teacher: “But this peacehas returned after most so-called Maoists returned to theiroriginal party TrinamoolCongress. We lived throughthose tumultuous years seeinghow TMC men tied up with theMaoists through various com-mittees, identified the Left lead-ers’ houses and got them killedin the dead of night. Now thosemen are panchayat membersand are earning in millions.”

A little bit of proddingbrings some more peoplearound. “True we have seensome development as schoolsand colleges have come up. Butthere is no staff, no jobs.

There is water line but not adrop in it. How can we live onalms of Rs 2-a-kg rice and afree cycle?” he asks a pertinentquestion.

At Netai - where CPI(M)’sharmads gunned down 9 vil-lagers mistaking them forMaoists - the locals are morevocal. “You do not have water.Though there is no water. Thepower lines are there but volt-age is very low so that you can-not see anything” saysNasimuddin a local.

Will they go to vote thistime round or sit back like theydid in 2014? “Let us see howthe Central forces act. Till nowwe have not seen them in theinterior areas. They are only sit-ting in police stations ormarching on main roads.”

��- ����-����� %2�%"�"

With a lot of heat and dustgenerated after the

Saradha, Narada and fly-overcollapse, the month-longBengal Assembly polls finallykick-start on Monday whenelections will be held for 18seats across three districts ofJangalmahal on the first day ofthe first phase.

About 40 lakh voters willexercise their franchise to electfrom a total 113 candidatesmostly from the TMC, LeftFront, Congress and the BJP.There are 4203 polling stationsand 4945 booths. With 13 seatsfalling under Left WingExtremism area, 1962 boothshave been marked as highlysensitive. Polling will end in theLWE areas at 4 pm, two hoursbefore the normal timing.

The second part of thefirst phase will be held onApril 11. Subsequent days ofpolling are, April 17, 21, 25, 30and May 5.

Each polling station will bemanned by one section or 8central forces jawans. A Statepolice constable will stand out-side the booth overseeing thevoters’ queue, ECI officials said.

Out of 294 Assembly seatsthe Trinamool which was fight-ing as an alliance partner of theCongress won 184 in 2011. TheCongress won 42 while the Leftwon 62 seats. Subsequentlythe BJP won the lone seat ofBasirhat in a by-election.

This time round with cor-ruption and violence becomingthe major issue the Left and theCongress have formed analliance against the TrinamoolCongress.

The nearly three-month-longGovernor’s rule would

come to an end in Jammu &Kashmir on Monday whenPeoples Democratic Party(PDP) president MehboobaMufti would be sworn in as firstwoman Chief Minister of theembattled State. The 56-year-old Mufti was invited by theGovernor NN Vohra to formthe Government on Saturday,a week after PDP and BJP lead-ers met him in Jammu to offerconsent to form the coalitionGovernment.

Mehbooba left for Jammuon Sunday afternoon to takeoath along with her Council ofMinisters. The coalition part-ners have not revealed thenames of Ministers but it isbelieved that a few new faces

would be introduced in thenew Council of Ministers.

Mehbooba and her topparty leaders held a meetingwith BJP’s top brass led byNirmal Singh late on Sundaynight at Circuit House to finalisethe list of Ministers, sources said.

The Governor’s rule wasimposed in J&K on January 8,a day after then Chief MinisterMufti Muhammad Sayeed’sdemise. Mehbooba refused tostep into her father’s shoes, ini-tially due to mourning, andlater citing reservations in con-tinuing alliance with BJP. Shedemanded J&K-specificConfidence Building Measures(CBMs) from New Delhibefore renewing alliance withthe right wing party. At onepoint, it seemed that thealliance was at the verge of col-lapse but on March 22, a meet-ing between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and MehboobaMufti in New Delhi changedthe scenario.

Mufti apparently dropped

her demand of CBMs andvowed to remained committedthe Agenda of Alliance formu-lated by her late father with theBJP leadership as a roadmapfor governance in J&K.

Politicians fromOpposition leader OmarAbdullah to people on thestreet in Kashmir say thatMehbooba Mufti would have toexplain as to why she wastedthree months for forming agovernment when none of herdemands was accepted by theCenter.

Mehbooba on Saturdaycalled up Omar Abdullah toinvite him on the oath cere-

mony. Omar appreciated thegesture. “Very gracious ofMehbooba Mufti Sahiba tophone & invite me to her oathtaking ceremony. I look for-ward to being there on the 4th,”Abdullah tweeted shortly afterMehbooba’s call.

Sources said that Ms Muftihas invited 20 top womenincluding four women ChiefMinisters Mamta Banerjee,Jayalalita, Anandi Ben Pateland Vasundra Raja Scindiabesides ace tennis player SaniaMirza.

Even as Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, JKPCC ChiefGulam Ahmad Mir and statelegislators of the party wereinvited for the ceremony, theparty announced in theevening that it would boycottthe oath ceremony in protestagainst “undemocratic” ways ofdestabilising Congress govern-ments in some states.

“BJP and its CentralGovernment led by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

used undemocratic ways todestabilize democraticallyelected Congress Governmentsin Arunachal Pradesh andUttarakhand,” a BJP spokesmansaid.

“PDP and BJP formed anunholy alliance in the Stateeven though the two partiescontested Assembly electionsagainst each other by project-ing different ideologies andmanifestos, but later enteredinto an alliance,” thespokesman said.

Meanwhile, sources saidthat while PDP is likely to dropAltaf Bukhari this time, the axefrom the BJP side has fallen onthe only Muslim face of the BJPAbdul Gani Kohli. FormerState BJP president AshokKhajuria is likely to be taken in.

Meanwhile, the televisionchannels will not be allowed totelecast the oath ceremony liveeven as BJP general secretaryRam Madhav had told them tocall Out Broadcasting Vans toJammu.

�-<#++#��6+�6�(-�6<-�<+6� -�6�6+4�.6������� �������������� ���.,����9Q%

��� -������� ,$,/"0

Late television actressPratyusha Banerjee’s

boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh wason Sunday hospitalised after hecomplained of chest pain andlow blood pressure while hewas being questioned for thesecond consecutive day in con-nection with the actress’ allegedsuicide.

Rahul, whose role in thecircumstances that led toPratyusha’s alleged suicide isbeing investigated, complainedof uneasiness, chest pain andlow pressure while he wasbeing questioned in connectionwith his ex-girl friend’s death.He was immediately taken tothe Shree Sai Hospital, wherehe was admitted in theIntensive Care Unit (ICU).

Two days after the “BalikaVadhu” television serial fameallegedly committed suicideby hanging herself to a ceilingfan, the investigators searchedthe actress’ flat in Harmony res-idency building at Goregaon innorth Mumbai for clues lead-ing to Pratyusha taking theextreme step of ending her life.

Informed police sourcessaid that the investigators hadfound two mobile phones fromPratyusha’s flat. The policehave ruled out any financialangle to the circumstancesleading to the actress’ suicide.

Rahul, whom the investi-gators see as a logical suspectin the case, has come under the

intense scanner of the police forhis failed love relationship withPratyusha. Going by theaccounts provided by herfriends and those who hadknown her, Pratyusha wasreportedly upset with Rahul fornot honouring her intense lovefor him.

The investigators, whohave been mobile data of bothPratyusha and her boyfriend,have been questioning Rahulabout the nature of his relationswith the actress and the kind ofinteractions they were havingfor the past one week before heralleged suicide.

The investigators are tryingto ascertain if there was any dis-cord between the couple. Theyhave so far not found any evi-dence to suggest that Rahulabetted Pratyusha’s alleged sui-cide.

The post-mortem, con-ducted on Pratyusha’s body, hasnot revealed any foul play,Denying that there were anyinjury marks on any part ofPratyusha’s body, the policehad on Saturday attributedPratyusha’s death to asphyxia,caused because of hanging orstrangulation.

“Provisional cause of deathis ligature marks over neck andasphyxia. Final cause of deathis pending and would beknown after chemical analyser’sreport. Statements of parentsand relatives are being record-ed,” Zonal deputy commis-sioner of police Vikram

Deshmane had said onSaturday.

Meanwhile, most of televi-sion industry friends ofPratyusha have blamed Rahulfor her death. Interacting withelectronic media on Saturday,actor Ajaz Khan had gone tothe extent of claiming thatPratyusha’s death was a pre-meditated murder, while TVproducer Vikas Gupta had saidthat her relationship with Rahulhad soured.

However, Rahul’s fatherHarshavardhan Singh told thepolice that the relationsbetween his son andPratyusha were good and thathis son had sought his per-mission two months ago to getmarried.

Pratyusha’s last status mes-sage on her Whatsapp thatread: “Marke bhi muh na tuzsemodana” (even after deathwon’t be turning my face awayfrom you) with a smiley, gavean inkling to her depressedstate of mind at the time of theincident.

Meanwhile, Bollywoodactor Arbaaz Khan said thatPratyusha Banerjee and Rahullooked very much in love dur-ing the show “Power Couple”.

After he complained of chest pain,hypotension while being grilled bycops about relations with actress

��� !� �=���� ������)� !������������� ������

2����?=�����������������������������"��������������

/?�#�� ��������� ����8�������&

��@�( �$�!��! �! >�!��%"���% *�#��� $�%%� ��������+������ ������ �$�����������,�� ������������

��� �����������.7+11"0

JJayalalithaa, the AIADMKleader, on Sunday blasted

the BJP for its allegations thatshe remained inaccessible tothe Union Ministers for dis-cussing the development issuesof Tamil Nadu. An article inSunday’s Namathu MGR, theAIADMK mouthpiece, whichcould not have been publishedwithout the approval ofJayalalithaa, said the BJP wasupset and frustrated because ofits failure to cobble up analliance in poll-bound TamilNadu. Though all major polit-ical parties have forgedalliances and fronts, BJP is theonly party in Tamil Naduwhich remains without anyfriends or allies.

But the article in NamathuMGR has ridiculed the new-found aggressiveness of the BJP

which it says was in stark con-trast to the stance of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. “ThePrime Minister while launchingthe BJP’s election campaign atCoimbatore on February 2 didnot make any critical commentseither about Jayalalithaa or theAIADMK”, said the article.

The war of words betweenthe BJP and Jayalalithaa beganrecently with Union Ministerfor power Piyush Goyal’s state-ment in New Delhi that hecould not meet Chief MinisterJayalalithaa even once for dis-cussing about the Ujjwal

Disscom Assurance Yojana, aflagship programme of theCentre to help the power dis-tribution companies in thecountry which were in the red.

While Jayalalithaa deputedtwo of her Cabinet colleaguesto rebut the charges of Goyal,other BJP leaders and UnionMinisters took off from whereGoyal left. Prakash Javadekar,Union Minister for environ-ment and forests who is also incharge of BJP’s Tamil Naduunit, alleged that the AIADMKGovernment was not interest-ed in helping the poor and the

common man. He also chargedthat the Tamil NaduGovernment was foisting sedi-tion charges on those demand-ing total prohibition in theState. Pon Radhakrishnan, thelone BJP Minister from TamilNadu in the Union Cabinet toochipped in with his criticismagainst Jayalalithaa, a leaderwhom he fear most.Radhakrishnan’s charge wasabout the deployment ofmoney and muscle power bythe AIADMK.

“Radhakrishnan andVenkiah Naidu had lauded theAIADMK Government till yes-terday for redeeming TamilNadu from power crisis creat-ed by the previous DMKGovernment. Their change instance is nothing but a sign offrustration. Nobody in TamilNadu has bothered to respondto BJP’s invitation,” ridiculedthe article.

�7+�6"5�2(�6254��/+�6++1��7+�/9'�"149"*"�"�0�7""�/+;"1�5+.+1��*�60�7�'0*$�7�;2*"���

��"�+,+1��01�1+6�4+�70��7"��7+�.2$�4�12��,++��.,�9"*"�"�0�7""�+3+1�21.+�(25�40�.$��01;�"/2$���7+�$996"��40��.2,

"��$5"1.+�*29"1" �"�(�";�70'�'52;5",,+�2(��7+�.+1�5+��2�7+�'��7+�'26+5�40��50/$�021

.2,'"10+��01��7+�.2$1�5*�670.7�6+5+�01��7+�5+4

�2�(�����!����"3���������$��������$������3� ���(�4������"�����/!�����"���&�����)��� ���

"3��������������������������$���$�����$������������������������ ����$������� �,9��$���������������1����"��$������!��� � ���

"�<�� ����+�$������ ��� ��,���)�&��������������� ���4�?"3�?"�<��������������* � $����������� ��������!��� ���������������+���� ���������2�(������(�������*������)�� ��+����$��!������!��*�!������)+�*��� �������$������)�� ��,���D�������"3�������������� �� �������� ��������������� ��������������* � $�����������������!��� � ���

Page 9: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678�/��%( �A

����� 50*"47

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday gifted

Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz a gold-plated repli-ca of Kerala’s Cheraman JumaMasjid, believed to be the firstmosque built in India by Arabtraders around 629 AD.

“PM @narendramodi giftedHis Majesty King Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud a gold-plat-ed replica of the CheramanJuma Masjid in Kerala,” thePrime Minister’s Office tweeted.

The mosque in Karala’sThrissur district is believed tobe the first mosque built inIndia by Arab traders around629 AD. “Cheraman JumaMasjid is symbolic of activetrade relations between Indiaand Saudi Arabia since ancienttimes,” it said.

According to oral tradition,Cheraman Perumal was theChera King and a contemporaryof the Holy Prophet who wentto Arabia and embraced Islamafter meeting the Holy Prophetat Mecca, the PMO said.

Before he died in Omandue to some illness on the wayback to India, he wrote lettersasking the local rulers, towhom he had handed over hisempire, to extend all help they

could to Arab merchants whowere planning to visit India.

The mosque has an ancientoil lamp that is always keptburning and believed to be overa thousand years old. Peoplefrom all religions bring oil forthe lamp as an offering.

Many believe that themosque is a testimony toIslam’s arrival to India long

before the Mughals came infrom the northwest. Modi,who is on a two-day visit toSaudi Arabia, was todayreceived at the Royal Court byKing Salman. He is the fourthIndian Prime Minister to visitSaudi Arabia after ManmohanSingh in 2010, Indira Gandhiin 1982 and Jawaharlal Nehruin 1956.

��� �!���8������!�������(��������>����� �����(��

�����������������������������$�$������� �(��$������!����������������������!�����������!����� ������������� �����������������������)� �� �����!��� � ����

����� 50*"47

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday described

an all-women IT centre set upby India’s Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS) here as the“glory of Saudi Arabia”.

“I am meeting those pro-fessionals who are now theglory of Saudi Arabia,” saidModi in the first engagement ofthe second and last day of hisbilateral visit to Saudi Arabia.“This atmosphere I am wit-nessing here today has thepotential to give a strong mes-

sage to the world.” Modi said that in today’s

competitive world “we have tounite our strengths, both nat-ural and human, for optimumprogress”. He said that whenwomen power becomes part ofthe development journey, itgathers fresh momentum.

The Prime Minister saidthat the atmosphere he wit-nessed at the all-women’s centreon Sunday appeared to be a har-binger of a positive force for theworld. He invited the women ITprofessionals to visit India, andsaid their visit would make a

huge impact even in India.Modi emphasised the role

of technology in governance,and said e-governance, forhim, meant easy governance,effective governance, and eco-nomic governance. He invitedthem to see the “NarendraModi App” and even sharetheir views on women empow-erment in India.

“Vande Mataram. MatriDevo Bhavah (Salutations toMother. Mother be the god)”wrote the prime minister on the message board at thecentre.

����� 50*"47

Terming terrorism as theenemy of humanity, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi todaysaid there was a need to “delink”religion from it and assertedthat “segmented and partial”approaches to counter the men-ace will not be effective.

Pressing for united globalefforts to deal with the scourge,Modi said there can be no dis-tinction between “good” or “bad”terrorism and that it has “nocaste, colour, creed or religion”.

Appreciating SaudiArabia’s leadership role in fight-ing terrorism in the MiddleEast, Modi said India was com-mitted to working with Riyadhas well as with its partners inthe region to ensure that theworld is a better and saferplace to live in.

The Prime Minister saidIndia has sought to challengeand repudiate the terror nar-rative that global counter-ter-rorism efforts are directedagainst any particular religionor ethnic group.

“In this context, we deeplyappreciate the leadership rolebeing played by Saudi Arabia inthe region to fight this menace,”he told leading daily ArabNews in an interview duringhis two-day visit to the

Kingdom.Saudi Arabia, a country

known as the spiritual home ofIslam, recently formed a majorcoalition of 34 Muslim nationsto fight terror, particularly theISIS. Saudi Arabia and Indiahave a counter-terror mecha-nism as well.

“To defeat terrorism, allthose who believe in humani-ty have to be united. We needto delink religion from terror-ism. Terrorism should be dealtin a comprehensive manner.Segmented and partialapproaches have historicallyproven to be at best subopti-mal,” Modi said.

“There can be no distinc-tion between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ter-rorism,” he said in a veiled ref-erence to Pakistan, a close allyof Saudi Arabia. Modi said bothIndia and Saudi Arabia recog-nise that no cause can justify anact of terror.

He noted that India andSaudi Arabia have cometogether to cooperate in erad-icating the scourge of terrorism.Hailing the role of King Salmanbin Abdulaziz in nurturing theIndo-Saudi partnership, Modisaid building further on thestrategic partnership with thepowerful nation was one of theforeign policy priorities of hisGovernment.

1������������������������������������D�,���

����� 50*"47

Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has said

strengthening the strategicpartnership with Saudi Arabiawas a priority of India.“Building further on this strate-gic partnership with SaudiArabia is one of the foreign pol-icy priorities of our govern-ment,” Arab News quotedModi as saying in an interviewon Saturday.

Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabiais a part of his three nationstour which also includeBrussels and Washington.Modi, who is on a two-day visitto Saudi Arabia, has describedCustodian of the Two HolyMosques King Salman binAbdulaziz Al Saud as a vision-ary leader.

“King Salman has led SaudiArabia with great maturity andforesightedness during one ofthe most challenging times,”Modi said.

King Salman has takenpersonal interest in building theIndo-Saudi relationship andfurther strengthening bilateralcooperation and engagementsin diverse fields, he said.Replying to a question, Modi

termed terrorism as the enemyof the entire humanity. “BothIndia and Saudi Arabia havebeen victims of the acts of ter-ror resulting in the loss ofinnocent lives. The recent cow-ardly acts of terror in Lahore,Brussels, Paris, Iraq and thecontinuing violence inAfghanistan have shown thatterrorists recognise no bound-aries.”

“They have no caste,colour, creed or religion. Weneed to delink religion fromterrorism.” Modi acknowledgedand appreciated Saudi Arabia’srole in eradicating the scourgeof terrorism. “We deeply appre-ciate the leadership role beingplayed by Saudi Arabia in theregion to fight this menace,” hesaid.

Modi thanked the Saudileadership for hosting a largeIndian community and forensuring their continued wel-fare and wellbeing.

“I have heard immensepraise of our community fortheir educational and technicalachievement; for their integri-ty and sense of discipline; andfor their honesty and devotionto work. Such praise fills mewith great pride,” he said.

�� ����� ������������ ���������������'��8���&*�����

&���� ��� - �����/��"��������2$ �������������!�������

����� 50*"47

Saudi King Salman binAbdulaziz on Sunday

briefed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on his initiativein bringing together 34 coun-tries to form a powerful Islamicmilitary coalition to combatterrorism, as the two leadersagreed to strengthen coopera-tion in fighting the menace.

Modi, who is here on atwo-day official visit to theKingdom, and Salman heldwide-ranging talks and agreedto strengthen cooperation incombating terrorism, both at

the bilateral level and within themultilateral system of the UN.

King Salman briefed Modion the Kingdom’s “initiative inbringing together IslamicAlliance against terrorism,”said a joint statement issuedafter their talks.

“The Prime Minister laud-ed Kingdom’s efforts at fightingterrorism in all its aspects andits active participation in inter-national efforts towards thisend,” the statement said.

It said the two leaderscalled upon the internationalcommunity to strengthen mul-tilateral regimes to effectively

address the challenges posed byterrorism.

The two sides also agreedto work together towards theadoption of India’s proposedComprehensive Conventionon International Terrorism inthe United Nations, it added.

In December, Saudi hadannounced the formation of the34-state Islamic military coali-tion to combat terrorism. Thecoalition includes nations withlarge and established armiessuch as Pakistan, Turkey andEgypt as well as war-torn coun-tries with embattled militariessuch as Libya and Yemen.

Other members are SaudiArabia’s five partners in the GulfCooperation Council, as well asJordan, Nigeria, Egypt, Chad,Mali, Malaysia, Morocco,Senegal, Somalia and Tunisia.

Saudi Arabia’s regionalrival, Iran, is not part of thecoalition. Iraq and Syria whoseforces are battling the IslamicState terror group are also notin the coalition.

According to Saudi offi-cials, the members of the new“anti-terrorism” coalitionwould share intelligence, com-bat violent ideology and deploytroops if necessary.

��!���(��$�������������79?��������������������� ����������

����� 50*"47

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Sunday invited oil-

rich Saudi Arabia’s top businesstycoons to invest in India’s keysectors like Defence, insur-ance, Railway and oil as he pro-jected his country as an attrac-tive investment destinationeven in the face of a global eco-nomic slowdown.

Saudi Arabia is planning toset up world’s largest sovereignwealth fund of over $2 trillionand India was eyeing a majorinvestment from the countrywhich is India’s fourth largesttrading partner.

Listing policy initiativestaken by his Government toboost economic growth, Modisaid his Government was look-ing for major investment inDefence production, Railwaysand deep sea off-shore oilexploration in coal gasificationto produce clean energy.

The Prime Minister madethe pitch while interacting witha group of 30 top Saudi CEOsand Indian business leaders atthe Council of Saudi Chambersof Commerce here.

The Saudi business hon-chos, who attended the inter-action, collectively account fora major share of the SaudiGDP. Talking about hisGovernment’s initiative in “hightemperature deep sea off shoreexploration”, Modi invited Saudiinvestment in the sector whichhas been opened up for FDIfrom this month.

He said “most transparent”policy framework has been putin place and that market drivenrevenue sharing model will beadopted for such project. ThePrime Minister said India plansto build a staggering 50 millionlow cost housing, a mega pro-ject requiring huge investment

which will create massive eco-nomic opportunities besidescreating jobs.

“I want to give house toevery poor Indian. I think everyyear a new Saudi Arabia has tobe built in my country. That isa huge requirement,” he said.

Modi said railways andfood processing sectors havebeen opened up for 100 percent Foreign Direct Investmentand that there is huge invest-ment opportunity in buildingcold storage network as well asin manufacture of equipmentfor generation of solar power.

Pitching for Saudi invest-ment in the defence sector,Modi said India’s biggestimport bill after petroleumproducts is defence equipment

and asserted that the govern-ment now is focusing onindigenous production. “Weare importing everything. Whynot we develop defence equip-ment in India. Your investmentcan play a major role in this,”he said.

Talking about cyberthreats, the Prime Ministersaid major investments will berequired to ensure cyber secu-rity and Saudi Arabia can investsignificantly in the sector. ThePrime Minister also faced rangeof questions at the interactionrelating to retrospective tax,proposed Goods and ServicesTax, non-performing assets ofIndian banks and whetherIndia will allow Islamic bank-ing.

Referring to specific sec-tors, Modi said India plans togo for coal gasification in orderto be able to produce cleanenergy and invited Saudi com-panies to invest in the sector. “Ithink your companies can doa great deal in this regard.”

Seeking investment in rail-ways, he said, “Today, India’srailway is world’s secondlongest network and I wish todouble that. I wish to upgradeit. We have 50 cities in thecountry where we wish tobuild metro network.” He saidthe insurance sector has beenopened up and that there ishuge scope in it. The PrimeMinister also invited Saudiinvestment in agriculture andmedical tourism sectors.

',�������������������������������0������������

��������!���������������������������-��������� /�������������������������������������������������������%�����B������&����������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ ������ ���������������!�"����������4������6��������������������� ����������B� O< ����@O���������������/��������1���������'����K/1'L�������������� �����������������������9�����@<H=�������������#����������������� �����4����������������!��,���KB�L� ���������������������������"�����=���� ����������� ������� �����������,����������������!�����/1'������������������� ���������������,�������������������� ���� ���������� ���������������������!

������� ����������� �� ����� ����������� � ����"0�*"#C��D��"�H@#���#����,��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������$������������&� ������������������������������������������������!�6�����"���� ��O�������������������(�����.������,�����������������������������������-������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������� ������ � !"#$%��&���������!

������������� � ���� �� ��<������� ��E�"#$"#� (����������������%���,��������� ������������������������H@#H=�������������������&#������������0�������/������������������������������������������������� �����������������������-�,��!�%�� �8E ���'������6����� �88 � �������������,������&���������������������������4����������.������� ����������������������������������������������������� �� �������������������J �������������������!�%�� ��������H@#H=�������������������&���������������������� ���������'������������!

�������������������������������������������� ��������������������$�����*������1��������F�����*������!��$� ���%��������� ��*����C���)� �� �����!��� � ���

���������������������������� ���!���(��$���������������!��������!��$�� ��2���$������D�%��������&����� ��)� ���*�!�&���)� �� &���!�������������!��� ����

Kathmandu: Nepal’s pro-Hindu party, part of the rulingcoalition, on Sunday said it willtable an amendment motion inthe Parliament to reinstateNepal as a Hindu nation, warn-ing of massive street protests ifthe demand is not met.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), the fourthlargest party in the Parliament,took the decision during thecentral committee meeting ofthe party chaired by RPP-N

chairman and Deputy PrimeMinister Kamal Thapa thatconcluded in Birgunj in south-ern Nepal today.

Party sources said RPP-Ndecided to move a motionagainst the provision of secu-lar State in the Constitutionand seek returning to a Hindunation.

The party has been cam-paigning for reinstatement of aHindu State since the countrywas converted into a secular

nation through Parliament dec-laration in 2008, when monar-chy was abolished from thecountry following the successof the People’s Movement.

“The party has also decid-ed to launch street agitation forthe same purpose, if the con-stitution amendment processcould not reconvert the coun-

try into a Hindu State,” the pro-posal endorsed by the party’sCWC meeting said.

Last year, the ConstituentAssembly had overwhelming-ly rejected a proposal by pro-Hindu RPP-N to revert Nepalas a Hindu State, declaring thatthe Hindu-majority nation willremain secular.

Thapa had registered theamendment proposal demand-ing to reinstate Nepal as aHindu State in Article 4 of the

revised bill of the newConstitution.

The rejection had trig-gered violent protests amid analready volatile situation overfederal structure.

Today, the RPP-N alsoasked the Government toresolve the issues relating to theagitation launched by theMadhesis through politicalmeans of holding dialoguewith the agitating parties.

PTI

��8��'������ ����������8����������������� �<����� ���7+�'"5�*�7"��/++1�.",'"0;101;�(255+01��"�+,+1��2(�"�7014$���"�+��01.+�7+�.2$1�5*�6"��.213+5�+4�01�2�"

�+.$�"5�1"�021��752$;7�'"5�0",+1�4+.�"5"�021�01�@<<R

Page 10: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678� "�!�) B�

��� �!���!����!�% �! ���"�!���""'!��) /����� �� ��� !(��(��!� �� �� ��� �����( �! %��&�!� ������% � ��� ������$���� � ��@ ���'�/��� �����!� /���� /�'%( ��!( �$����� � ���!�% �� �%�*�% �! ���������� ���!�� ��� ���!��!� '!(�� �����'���!� �� ��!"�!�

���� �����7 ��. ��.� ��.��.�

��� #��� $�)������ ��� *��!�'�*�( '$ �� � %���� �@��!� /���

����'� %�!("��& �!������ �� ��&�!*) ��� 8��� �! ����!� ���

�$$�� �% �# #��( $��('��� �!(!'�����'����%�

8��� ��. ���� ������"$>��??�**$(�)($. 5@@

5������������ � ����� ���6*+7�)� �"������� � "�������)

Is the Idea of Mobile VirtualNetwork Operators (MVNO)too late? This question hasbecome relevant as the TelecomCommission approvedMVNOs guidelines last week,nearly sevenyears after tele-com regulatorrecommendedthat theyshould beallowed tooffer services.

MVNOs are basicallymobile telephony service oper-ators who do not own eithertelecom networks or spectrum.They lease capacities of theexisting telecom serviceproviders and sell them undertheir own brand.

When the TelecomRegulatory Authority of India(TRAI) first recommended it,in 2008, there were only fivepan-India mobile operators.Mobile penetration was com-paratively low. However, mobiletelephony had become a neces-sity so operators did not both-er about consumer satisfac-tion. Quality of services was badbut the customers had nochoice as all the operators wereequally bad. The situation issimilar even today. It has onlyworsened as call drop hasspread like epidemic, especial-ly in metros and big cities.

In developed economiessuch as Europe and the USAwhere the mobile penetrationis very high compared to Indiaand quality of services is bet-ter, MVNOs are doing well.There are more than 80MVNOs in Germany and 60in the UK. Similarly, the num-

ber of MVNOs in the USA isover 80.

So there is no reason tobelieve the argument that theIndian market has maturedand there would not be manytakers for MVNO business.

MVNOs basically buybulk access to network servicesfrom the existing operators atwholesale rates. They do valueaddition and then sell servicesat their own retail prices undertheir own brands.

For example, in the USAone successful MVNO offersservices to Hispanic popula-tion by providing low callingrates between the USA andSouth America. In Europe,

s o m eMVNOs tar-get studentcommunity.

Both theE u r o p e a nand the USAtelecom mar-

kets are saturated. In Europe,MVNO are still thriving. Inthe USA, there are few successstories. Even in the Europeonly 20 per cnt of the MVNOstart ups are successful.

So what is the message forIndian market? Should weagree with the cellular opera-tors association of India(COAI) when it says that theoperators do not have spec-trum to spare and hence theyare not excited. This may beonly partially true. There willbe operators who will be will-ing to sell their capacities atwhole sale markets.

Relinace Jio, a new oper-ator, will have excess capacity.It may not be a bad idea for itgo for aggressive MVNO strat-egy.

There would be entrepre-neurs who would come outwith innovative ideas andbecome successful. It will be awin-win situation for both asentrepreneurs have limitedfinancial capacities and oper-ators are too large to serviceniche markets.

(The writer is a SeniorJournalist)

,"129�;"052�"

���� ������� With inflationunder check and Governmentsticking to its fiscal consoli-dation path, market expecta-tions are that RBI may cutinterest rate by up to 0.50 percent in its first bi-monthlymonetary policy review for2016-17 on Tuesday in orderto propel growth.

The Government has alsopared the small savings inter-est rate by up to 1.3 per centproviding cushion to theReserve Bank for cutting thepolicy rate.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley, too, had last weekexpressed desire that the RBIshould cut rate, stating "Iwant what everybody wants.

At this stage if rate cuts dotake place it's certainly goingto be helpful because youneed a more efficient econo-my and you need a morecompetitive cost of capital".

Bankers said high interestrate could make Indian econ-omy sluggish given that infla-tion is around 5 per cent.

"There is possibility ofRBI reducing rate by 0.25per cent as inflation haseased," Bank of MaharashtraChairman and ManagingDirector Sushil Muhnot toldthe news agency.

According to a seniorofficial from a state-run bank,although a 25 basis points hasbeen factored in by the mar-ket there is also a high possi-bility of RBI going for a 50basis points rate cut.

Citing various factors foreasing of monetary stance,industry chambers are pitch-ing for 0.5 per cent cut in thekey interest rate.

A 0.25 per cent cut in thepolicy rate by the RBI isalmost given, but the realimpact of falling lending cost

can be felt only if the centralbank goes in for a bold reduc-tion of at least 0.50 per cent,industry body Assocham said.

Retail inflation as mea-sured by the Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) eased to 5.18 percent in February as foodprices rose at a slower pace,

while Wholesale Price Indexstayed in the negative terri-tory for the 16th month in arow.

Industrial output for thethird month in a rowremained in the negative ter-ritory contracting 1.5 percent in January due to poor

showing of manufacturingsector raising industry clam-our for rate cut by the RBI.

RBI Governor RaghuramRajan on March 12 saidGovernment's sticking to fis-cal consolidation roadmap ofreducing deficit to 3.5 percent of the GDP in 2016-17was comforting, a statementwhich raised hope for rate cutin April 5 monetary policy.Rajan, on February 2, had leftthe key interest rateun-changed citing inflation risksand growth concerns.

As for the forthcomingpolicy review, Union BankChairman and ManagingDirector Arun Tiwari said: "Isee a 25 basis points rate cutas inflation has come underthe Reserve Bank's target."

SBI Chairman ArundhatiBhattacharya has said, mean-while, that RBI should outlinesteps to curb the volatility in

systemic liquidity."We expect RBI to address

the issues of systemic liquid-ity," Bhattacharya has said.

Currently, high volatilityin currency holdings of pub-lic (both in the form of cashand jewellery) as well as gov-ernment’s cash balances withRBI is leading to volatility insystemic liquidity, she hadsaid.

According to Citigroupreport, the RBI is expected tocut repo rate by 0.25 per-centage point given that thebudget stayed on the path off iscal consolidation andprogress has been made onthe reforms front.

The case for a rate cutbecomes even stronger con-sidering the benign CPI out-look and a strengthenedtransmission mechanism(quarterly reset in small sav-ings rate, MCLR). ���

-$8���������� ��!���8��0;@0A��������&�2#�

����� �21421

UK-based Indian steel tycoonSanjeev Gupta has come to

the rescue of the troubled TataSteel by opening discussions withowners of the steel giant to acquireits plants at Port Talbot, Britain'slargest employing some 4,000people.

The 44-year-old founder ofsteel, commodities and propertygroup Liberty House, who hasalready saved a number of UKplants from closure, has said he isready to discuss with the BritishGovernment to rescue the plantswhere thousands of jobs are atstake.

He will return here fromDubai tomorrow to meetGovernment officials and Tata togauge their support for a propos-al to keep Britain's largest steel

plant open.On the question of acquiring

the State Steel plants at PortTalbot, Gupta was quoted in theSunday Telegraph saying: "Wewould need a proper partnershipwith the Government. I don'tknow what that would entail atthis stage, We've started the dis-cussions... We are in the processof starting a discussion with Tata."

He has submitted preliminaryproposals to the Government toreplace Port Talbot's traditionalblast furnaces with modern elec-

tric arc furnaces, used to produceraw steel by melting scrap.

According to Gupta, theproblem with Port Talbot is its sizeand the fact that it is built aroundblast furnace making liquid steelfrom ores. The model that Libertyis building at Newport and else-where is built around meltingdown scrap metal - two milliontonnes a year at Newport - usingmodern electric arc furnaces.

Gupta, who is best known inWales for buying the formerAlphasteel works in Newport in2013 and re-opening productionthere last autumn, has recentlybought Tata's two rolling mills atClydebridge and Dalzell inScotland, facilitated by a tempo-rary 'nationalisation' by theScottish Government.

Tata Steel stated yesterday thatalthough there was "no fixedtimeline" for the sale process, "it

needs to be implemented urgent-ly as there are severe fundingrequirements affecting the UKoperations.

Gupta said: "I haven't madea proposition that I want to buyall of (Tata Steel UK) because that'stoo big an undertaking to even puton the table at the stage. If thecompany, its people, its workersand the Government would bewilling to consider my suggestionsthen I'm willing to engage in a dis-cussion about what role we willplay in that."

Gupta, who currently livesin the UK, was born in Punjabwhere his father owned anumber of businesses includ-ing Victor cycles. Since 1992,he has grown Liberty Houseinto a business with a 4.2 mil-lion dollars turnover, employ-ing more than 2,000 aroundthe world.

��)���3��������"8�����$��������� 9��&������ ����) �����������21421

Tens of thousands of steel-workers in the UK could

have their pensions slashedby up to 20 per cent underplans by Tata to wash itshands of the 15 bi l l ionpounds British Steel retire-ment scheme, media report-ed on Sunday.

According to a report inthe Sunday Times, the Indianconglomerate is understoodto be in negotiations with thegovernment and the PensionsRegulator over putting thescheme, which has about130,000 active and retiredmembers, into the PensionProtect ion Fund (PPF),which would mean workerssuffer cuts to their retirementsavings of as much as 20 percent.

Last week Tata said UK'slargest steelworks, at PortTalbot in South Wales, was nolonger viable and put its

entire British steel operationup for sale, leaving 15,000jobs hanging in the balance.

Sources close to thecompany said it does notplan to continue supportingthe pension fund once it hasquit UK steel, according tothe report.

"There is no possibilitywhatsoever [it will retain thepension scheme]," said onesource. "Legally it can do it."

The scheme is one ofBritain's biggest — a throw-back to when the industryemployed hundreds of thou-sands of workers.

It has a deficit of 485 mil-lion pounds, but with assetsof almost 14 billion pounds,it is in fairly healthy shape.

Amid the pension talks,Sanjeev Gupta, the Indianorigin steel tycoon, has madean alternative proposal toreplace Port Talbot's blastfurnaces with more efficientelectric arc furnaces.

2:;����� ��3���9�)�������"�� ������ �����������������) ��9

������1+6�*25%

Away from the furore overhuge loan default in India

by Vijay Mallya-led UB Group,its US-based brewery arm hassecured a complex funding thatit intends to repay later with a'bridge loan' from its parent.

C a l i f o r n i a - b a s e dMendocino Brewing Company,which sells a number of beerbrands including Kingfisher inthe US, has got Mallya as itsChairman and is owned by UBGroup through a complexshareholding structure.

In a regulatory filing withthe US markets regulator SEC(Securities and ExchangeCommission), Mendocino hasdisclosed having issued a'promissory note' to Delaware-based Catamaran Services, Inc,in the principal amount of$325,000 (over �2 crore).

It further said Mendocinohad earlier also issued fourpromissory notes to Catamaranbetween January 2014 and June2015, for principal amounts of$500,000 each.

Catamaran's sole share-holder is an entity namedCatamaran Holdings, Ltd,which interestingly "has direc-tors in common withInversiones Mirabel SA", one ofthe major shareholders ofMendocino.

The indirect beneficialowner of Inversiones is UnitedBreweries Holdings Limited(UBHL), making UBHL theindirect majority shareholder ofMendocino. Mallya chairs theboards of UBHL as well asMendocino.

Mendocino further said ithas also received a letter from

Illinois-based MB FinancialBank permitting the companyto obtain loans up to $400,000.

As per the terms of thepromissory note, Mendocinohas promised to pay the prin-cipal sum of $325,000 withaccrued interest to Catamaranwithin 6 months, subject to thereceipt by the company of abridge loan from its majorityshareholder.

This repayment is subject tothe shareholder loan amountbeing sufficient either to pay thenote through 'PermittedPayments', or to pay both thenote and certain existing oblig-ations of the company to MBFinancial Bank.

The 'Permitted Payments'on the note are payments madefrom the portion of aShareholder Loan that is inexcess of $600,000, the filing fur-ther said.

If the company is not ableto satisfy its obligations on thenote within six months, the notewill get automatically extendedfor additional six months terms"until a Shareholder Loan suf-ficient to satisfy the note isreceived or the note is otherwisepaid."

A major controversy hasbroken out back in India ever

since Mallya left the countryamid growing clamour forrecovery of dues totalling over�9,000 crore of the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines inoutstanding loans and interestamount.

Mallya and his group firmsare also being probed by mul-tiple regulators and agenciesincluding Sebi, EnforcementDirectorate and SFIO (SeriousFraud Investigations Office).Under terms of the promissorynote, interest will accruefromthe date of the note on theunpaid principal at a rate equalto the lesser of 1.5 per cent perannum above the prime rateoffered from time to time by theBank of America Corporation,or 10 per cent per annum, untilthe principal is fully paid.

The note can be prepaidwithout penalty at the option ofthe company, but can not beamended without the priorwritten consent of MBFinancial.

In another filing with SEC,Mendocino said it was unable totimely file its Annual Report onForm 10-K for the period endedDecember 31, 2015 "due todelays experienced in the col-lection of certain financial infor-mation about the Registrant's

UK subsidiaries required to beincluded in the Annual Report".

"The Registrant intends tofile the Annual Report with theSecurities and ExchangeCommission within the 15-dayextension period..." it added.

In its last annual report for2014, Mendocino had disclosedhaving paid Mallya a totalamount of $267,700 (about �1.8crore). This included $120,000per year for services rendered asMendocino Chairman and$147,700 by a subsidiary UnitedBreweries International (UK)Ltd for promoting its "productsin the Foreign Territory outsidethe United Kingdom".

The payment to him during2015 would be known after thelatest annual report is filed laterthis month.

Mallya becameMendocino's Chairman inOctober 1997 and also served asits CEO until January 2005.

Mendocino BrewingCompany was founded wayback in 1983 and it caughtMallya's interest in 1997.

Today it claims to produceover '20 nationally recognisablelabels', including Red Tail Ale,and the company says it has"trekked from a 1983 produc-tion of about 400 barrels (5500case equivalent) to the currentproduction of about 75,000barrels (over one million cases)".

Its North American oper-ations primarily consist ofbrewing and marketing pro-prietary craft beers. Its foreignoperations are conductedthrough wholly-owned sub-sidiary United BreweriesInternational (UK) Ltd and astep-down unit Kingfisher BeerEurope Ltd. ���

� ��9��"����������������� ��������������$����:� ��������"1�26�K$%L

Nearly five-years afteracquiring the strategic

Stanlow refinery from Shell,Essar Oil UK has turnedaround the loss making unitwith a record net profit of $187million in 2015-16 as it opti-mised processes, diversifiedcrude basket and invested inmargin improvement pro-grammes.

Essar Oil UK, controlled byMumbai-based Ruia family,reported highest ever EBITDAof $340 million in the financialyear ended March 31, 2016 ascompared to an EBITDA of$177 million in the previous fis-cal.

"EBITDA was negative $17million in FY12 ," said NareshNayyar, Executive Chairman,Essar Oil UK. "Net profit inFY16 is about $187 million ascompared to $70 million in theprevious fiscal."

Stanlow on Sunday pro-duces over 16 per cent of UK'stransport fuels, serving north-west part of UK.

Essar, the only Indian firmto own and operate a refineryin Europe, has also entered intoauto fuel retailing in UK, open-ing seven petrol stations andplans to raise the number to 400in three years to capture 10 percent of market, he said.

Stanlow, which operatedat a third of its stated capacityof 210,000 barrels per day inJuly 2011 when Essar boughtthe unit from Shell for $350million, clocked near 200,000bpd crude run in FY16.

"We have basically opti-mised refinery configuration todeliver better yields," he said,adding that higher marginyielding petrol and diesel pro-duction has been increased.

Also, the refinery is pro-

cessing 25 new crude oils thatgive price and yield advantageinstead of Shell's policy of rely-ing only on North Sea gradesthat did not offer better eco-nomics all the time.

"There has been a marginimprovement of $3 per barrelsince acquisition," Nayyar said,adding that natural gas is beingused as fuel to run the refinery,low margin lubes unit has beenshut, crude slate diversifiedand margin improvement pro-jects have been taken up.

Stanlow earned $8.7 onturning every barrel of crude oilinto fuel in 2015-16, $3 morethan the North West Europebenchmark Current Price (CP)Gross Refining Margin (GRM).Nayyar said a smaller crude dis-tillation unit has been moth-balled to operate Stanlow as anoptimised single train site,adding $0.4 per barrel to mar-gin and saving $0.10 a barrel inoperating expenses.

"The crude basket wasstretched by reducing the pro-portion of light crudes andintroducing medium densitycrudes, while sources werediversified by including Africanand grades," he said."Condensates were introducedinto the diet in 2015, with all ofthese moves resulting in a low-ering of the crude basket cost byabout $1.4 per barrel."

Essar has invested signifi-cantly in Stanlow, with the totalequity invested at $694 million(including acquisition) and anadditional $545 millionincurred through capital

expenditure.Stanlow is one of the

largest refineries in the UK,with the current optimisedconfiguration giving a 196,000bpd operating capacity andNelson Complexity of 10.7. Itproduces 33 per cent petrol, 57per cent kerosene and dieseland 3 per cent fuel oil

In a pioneering first crudeinventory monetisation, Essarin July 2012 entered into a dealwith Barclays Bank, whichpurchased the stocks of crudeoil and petroleum products atStanlow site and supplied therefinery with crude on a dailybasis as required.

"This transaction, the firstof its kind in Europe, helpedthe drive for more efficiency byreducing costs, reducing cap-ital employed and reducingrisk from crude price volatili-ty," he said.

When Barclays exited thecommodity business, new longterm arrangements were signedin July 2015 with J Aron &Company for inventory mon-etisation and Lloyds Bank Plc.

Nayyar said Essar willinvest about $137 million inproject 'Tiger Cub' which willsee major improvements to keyunits at Stanlow to deliverfurther reduction in crudecosts and improved yieldsacross the product slate.

"Project Tiger Cub, and theadditional works undertakenduring the major block turn-around in 2018 will drive a fur-ther $2 per barrel in marginimprovements," he said. ���

������7� ������������� ���-��3��$����� � ���������

���� ������� Lenders toJindal Steel and Power Ltd(JSPL) have approved refi-nancing of loans worth�2,500 crore, sources said.

"JSPL was talking to itslenders (banks) for thelast two months and theyhave agreed to refinanceloans worth �2,500 croreof the company," theyadded.

Talks are on to refi-nance more loans underthe Reserve Bank (RBI)scheme, they said.

For 2014-15, theNaveen Jindal-led JSPL,with interests rangingfrom power and steel tocement, had a consolidat-ed net debt of �42,929crore against a net debt of�35,419 crore in 2013-14.

When contacted, aJSPL spokesperson said:"JSPL has an excellenttrack record of meetingfinancial commitmentsand has met its financialcommitments tillNovember-December2015.

"We are in discussionwith banks, in respect ofthe 5/25 scheme and alsoexploring various optionswith all lenders to resched-ule payments consideringlikely short/medium termcash flow mis-matches.When these are complet-ed, there will not be anyoverdue situation."

As part of monetisa-tion and debt reductionplans already advised, weare looking at variousoptions diligently to meetour debt obligations andstrengthen our balancesheets, the spokespersonadded.

B �3��������88������%@00���!������� �����@C�@�������

Page 11: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678� /��%( BB

��.������.����

���������� ����� �����������"."*��������������.�����������������������������@<�������������������������������'���������9���,���������������������������G�������������� ��������("5.���������!

���������������� ���������9>

�+�$���� �������������������������� ������������"�� ��������H=������� �������������&��������!�����5���.����������������"�����"����� ��������������������������'�����"���������������������������������������-����������N��������������6�����7��������������"������������ ��������������������������������,���!

���� ���F��������� �<�����+$#'+D�"��� ������N!?#����������������������������3��������� ����������������������� ���������������������������-�����������������������������'��������������!�

� F� � ��� ��� ����� ���� ������.�$�$��0�����������������������������������������������������������0����������������-������������������������� ��������� ����������-������� ������������������!

��������������������!������ �����*�#50)��(������������������������������������������������������� �����������������������������������%�������������������������������������������� �����4������ ���������������!

������������G8��� ��� �����+$#'+� "������G������������������������� �������������������0�����2������������,�������� ��������&�����������������������������,78O< -���� ����������� �,�)��������������� �������������������������������!���������� ��������������,�����������������5��������������������������� �� �!.��!"�����������

��.2�

��� +"$�.�"05+�K$�L

Following one of the worstweeks of his campaign,

Republican presidential can-didate Donald Trump was ondefence as he kicked off athree-day sprint toWisconsin's primary.

Contenders in both partiescrisscrossed the Midwesternstate seeking an edge ahead ofTuesday's primaries, none moreactively than Trump, who'shad a rough week and faces alikely struggle against TexasSenator Ted Cruz in the state,who has passed Trump inrecent Wisconsin polls.

The Republican race isovershadowed by a persistenteffort by Trump's rivals in thecampaign and the party toforce the nomination fight intothe July convention -- and byhis equivocations on whetherhe will be loyal to theRepublican Party or bolt for anindependent candidacy if hefeels mistreated.

Trump began the after-noon with a rally in theMilwaukee suburb of Racineyesterday, where he defended aseries of controversial com-

ments in recent days on NATO,abortion and his remark thatJapan and South Korea shouldperhaps be allowed to acquirenuclear weapons.

"This politics is a toughbusiness," said Trump."Because you can say thingsone way and the press will crit-icise you horribly. You say itanother way and the press willcriticise you horribly."

Off the stage, in a morereflective moment, Trumpexpressed regret that he hadretweeted an unflattering photoof rival Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi,paired with a glamorous photoof his own wife, Melania, aformer model, as part of a bit-ter feud between the two men.

"Yeah, it was a mistake," hetold New York Times columnistMaureen Dowd. "If I had to doit again, I wouldn't have sent it."

Cruz sought favour inNorth Dakota, which is notholding a primary or caucus-es in the 2016 Republicanrace. He addressedRepublicans at a state conven-tion that is selecting delegateswho will go to the nationalconvention unbound to any ofthe presidential candidates.

Trump and Ohio Gov JohnKasich sent supporters on theirbehalf to make the case thatthey should be backed by NorthDakota's delegates at theCleveland convention in July.

The Democratic race

between Hillary Clinton andBernie Sanders has grownincreasingly bitter, too, thoughit has not matched theRepublican contest for rawhostility. Their attention willquickly turn to an even moreconsequential contest, in NewYork on April 19, where theDemocratic front-runner dear-ly hopes to avoid an upset inthe state she served as senator.Sanders, who was born inBrooklyn, can claim New Yorkas his home state.

Sanders urged rally-goersto come out in droves onTuesday.

"Here is the political real-ity," he told a young and

pumped-up crowd of thou-sands on the University ofWisconsin's Eau Claire campus."If there is a large voter turnout,if working people, many ofwhom have given up on thepolitical process, if young peo-ple come, perhaps for the firsttime we will win on Tuesday."

Clinton sought to draw acontrast with Sanders by

emphasising her Democraticbona fides. Before hundredsgathered in a hotel ballroom inEau Claire later yesterday, theformer secretary of state stressedthat she has been "a proudDemocrat all my adult life andI think that's kind of importantif we're selecting somebody tobe a Democratic nominee of theDemocratic Party."

6��8������!����%�������� �����������

)�!���������������������������2�������!���������!��$������ �����������+�$ ��� ���������!�*����&���1���������������!�� 5 � ������

Sydney: Australia opposes Donald Trump's suggestionthat Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weaponssince this would "add considerably" to the risk of regional con-flict, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today.

The Republican presidential front-runner had declaredhe would withdraw US troops from both countries and allowthem to develop their own nuclear arsenals.

But Turnbull said regional power Australia, a US ally, was"opposed to the further proliferation of nuclear weapons".

"That is absolutely not the view of Australia," the primeminister told Sky News of Trump's nuclear policy comments.

"We would not support, in fact we would strenuouslyoppose, I think, as a global community, the further prolif-eration of nuclear weapons.

"Clearly... It would add considerably to tensions and therisk of conflict in the region."

South Korea and Japan last week offered muted reactionsto Trump's comments. There are nearly 30,000 US troops per-manently stationed in South Korea and 47,000 in Japan, withlittle appetite for nuclear weapons in either nations.

The White House on Friday said Trump's policy wouldshatter doctrine held for decades with "catastrophic" conse-quences. Turnbull in February unveiled a major new invest-ment in Australia's defence capabilities. AFP

"��������������������G�"����������������D�', ��� /"%$

Azerbaijan on Sundayannounced a unilateral

ceasefire after the worst vio-lence over disputed NagornoKarabakh in more than twodecades, but Armenian forcessaid clashes were continuingdespite international appeals tostop fighting.

"Azerbaijan, showing goodwill, has decided to unilateral-ly cease hostilities", Azerbaijan'sdefense ministry said in a state-ment, warning it would "liber-ate all (Armenian-) occupiedterritories" if Armenian forces"do not stop provocations."

Baku also pledged to "rein-force" several strategic positionsit said it had "liberated" insidethe region, which is controlledby Armenia but international-ly recognised as part ofAzerbaijan.

But spokesman for theArmenian-backed rebeldefense ministry in Karabakh,David Babayan, told that fight-ing has never been halted alongthe frontline.

"Fierce fighting is underway on southestern and north-eastern sectors of the Karabakhfrontline," he said.

Earlier on Sunday,Karabakh forces claimed they

took back the strategic Lala-Tepe height in Karabakh whichwas captured by Azeri troopson Saturday.

Baku denied the report,saying that the height remainedunder its control and that rebeltroops sustained "serious man-powewr losses."

On Saturday, fierce clash-es left at least 18 Armenian and12 Azerbaijani soldiers deadand reportedly claimed thelives of two civilians after bothsides accused each other ofattacking with heavy weapon-ry across the volatile frontline.

Both Russia and the Westappealed to all sides to showrestraint.

Ethnic Armenian sepa-ratists backed by Yerevan seizedcontrol of the mountainous

region in a war in the early1990s that claimed some 30,000lives.

The foes have never signeda peace deal despite a ceasefirein 1994. The region is still inter-nationally recognised as part ofAzerbaijan and the two sidesfrequently exchange fire, butthe latest episode marked asurge in violence and sparkedfrantic appeals for peace frominternational powers.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan,whose military spending has inthe past exceeded Armenia'sentire state budget, has repeat-edly threatened to take back thebreakaway region by force ifnegotiations fail to yield results.

Moscow-backed Armeniasays it could crush any offen-sive.

!������(���������"���2��� ����� 9"������������;�����3����$���

��������������� �������

����� 4","�.$�

The Syrian army on Sundayfully captured a key city in

the central province of Homsnear the ancient city ofPalmyra, following intense bat-tles against the Islamic State(IS) militant group.

The Syrian forces backed byRussian warplanes stormed thecity of Qaryatain from a num-ber of directions, a day afterSyria's boots on the groundstormed areas in the westernparts of that key city, Xinhuanewds agency reported.

A military source said thatthe army's entry into Qaryataincame after the bomb squadsdismantled explosive devicesand other booby-traps the ISterrorists had planted to thwartthe advance of the Syrian army.

On Saturday, the Syrianforces unleashed a wide-scaleoffensive on the city, which hassucceeded in breaking throughthe IS defences in the westernpart of that predominantly-Christian city.

The Russian warplanes areplaying a significant role inhelping retake Qaryatain, thesource added.

The military campaign toreclaim Qaryatain came lessthan a week after the Syrian

army captured Palmyra, whichhad been held by the IS for 10months.

Meanwhile, the state newsagency SANA said the Syrianair force struck the IS positionsin the eastern and southernparts of the city.

Qaryatain is the last ISstronghold near the moun-tainous region of Qalamoun,north of Damascus and close tothe Lebanese borders.

The IS militants who with-drew from Palmyra have holedup in Qaryatain, 85 km south-east of Homs.

The city is strategicallyimportant due to its proximi-ty to the Syrian city of Qara, astronghold of the HezbollahShia group, which is fightingalongside the Syrian army inkey battlefields in the country.

����� 0��","/"4

Pakistani Interior MinisterChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan

reiterated that Iran was notworking hand in glove withIndian intelligence agencyRAW to stoke instability inIslamabad.

"Iran has nothing to dowith the activities of Indianintelligence network. Kite fly-ing regarding arrest of Indianspy and his links with Iran muststop now," he told reporters ata press conference here onSaturday.

The minister said that animpression was being given ina section of media that Iran wasinvolved in certain negativeactivities against Pakistan, theDaily Times reported.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khansaid some elements wanted todamage positive and historicbrotherly relations and createmisunderstandings betweenthe two countries.

Nisar Ali Khan said thematter of relations betweenthe two countries must not belinked with arrest of theIndian spy.

"I appeal to media not tocreate an impression as if Iranis facilitating RAW’s activities

in Pakistan. Pakistan and Iranare tied in decades-long reli-gious, social, cultural and polit-ical bonds and nothing cancome in way of our relations,”he said.

The issue of arrest of RAWagent was taken up by PakistanArmy chief General RaheelSharif with Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani.

“There is one concern thatRAW is involved in Pakistan,especially in Balochistan, andsometimes also uses the soil ofour brother country, Iran,”the army chief told the visitingdignitary.

“I request, they should betold to stop these activitiesand allow Pakistan to achievestability,” the army chief said,according to a release issued bythe Inter-Services PublicRelations (ISPR) after theirmeeting.

However, PresidentHassan Rouhani at a pressconference held later in the daydenied that the issue of Indianspy agency’s involvement inPakistan was discussed duringhis meeting with the PakistaniArmy chief.

“Whenever Iran comescloser to Pakistan, suchrumours are spread,” he said.

����� 0��","/"4�

Over 250 militants havebeen killed in Pakistan in

army operations in the last twomonths along the porous Pak-Afghan border, the militarysaid.

"The battle to clear thelast pocket close to the Pak-Afghan border continues," theInter-Services Public Relationssaid, adding that all heightsover 9,000 feet have beencleared.

"Major terrorist hubs" inMana, Gurbaz, Lataka, Inzarkasand Magrotai areas have beencleared of militants, it added.

"Terrorists' hideouts weredestroyed, a cache of arms andammunition recovered andthere was virtually no com-munications infrastructureremaining in the Shawal areaonce the operation waslaunched in Feb this year,"Dawn quoted the statement assaying.

Hundreds of troops,backed by fighter jets, havebeen chasing the remainingmilitants in Shawal Valleywhere they are hiding, thestatement said.

The militants have been

killed under the Zarb-i-Azbmilitary operation which waslaunched in North Waziristannearly two years ago after abrazen militant attack onKarachi's international airportand the failure of peace talksbetween the government andTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistannegotiators.

The operation entered itslast phase in February thisyear.

"During the last phase ofoperation in Shawal, 252 ter-rorists have been killed, andreportedly 160 were severelyinjured. In the last two months,valiantly fighting in Shawal,

eight soldiers of the PakistanArmy embraced shahadat(martyrdom) while 39 injured,"the statement said.

"Since the launch of the lastphase in February 2016, armytroops have been fightingvaliantly and have cleared 640square km of Shawal area," itsaid.

During the last phase ofZarb-e-Azb, return ofTemporarily Displaced Personswas progressing according toplan, as 37,012 families inNorth Waziristan Agency -- 36percent of such persons --have returned to their homes,the statement added.

��� /5$��+��

ABrussels Airlines flight tothe Portuguese city of Faro

became the first plane today totake off from Brussels Airportsince it was hit by Islamic Stateattacks on March 22.

Staff and government offi-cials at the airport marked thedeparture with a minute'ssilence and a round of applause.The passengers on board werethe first to undergo the airport'sstrict new security regime afterthe suicide bombings.

The key travel hub hasbeen closed since two menblew themselves up in the

departure hall on March 22 incoordinated blasts that alsostruck a metro station in theBelgian capital, killing a total of32 people.

The attacks at the heart ofEurope shocked the countryand many hope the airport'sreopening, albeit in a limitedcapacity and using a tent-liketemporary check-in facility,will help turn the page on thismonth's traumatic events.

Brussels Airport chief exec-utive Arnaud Feist yesterdaysaid the partial resumption ofservices would start with three"symbolic passenger flights" toFaro, Athens and Turin.

(�����������������������/�����������������

+�710.�"5,+10"1��+'"5"�0����/".%+4�/**+5+3"1��+0B+4�.21�52��01��7+�+"5�*�H??<�

�7"��.�"0,+4��2,+�8< <<<��03+�!��7+�(2+�7"3+�1+3+5��0;1+4�"�'+".+�4+"��4+�'0�+�"

.+"�+(05+�01�H??E!��7+�5+;021�0����0��01�+51"�021"��*�5+.2;10�+4�"��'"5��2(

"B+5/"09"1�"14��7+��62��04+��(5+M$+1��*+:.7"1;+�(05+ �/$���7+��"�+���+'0�24+

,"5%+4�"��$5;+�01�302�+1.+�"14��'"5%+4(5"1�0.�"''+"���(25�'+".+�(52,

01�+51"�021"��'26+5�

0�������������������� ���5"6 �����'�����

��� 0��"1/$�

Arustic, three story-Arabicbookstore in old Istanbul has

become an anchor for manySyrians who have stayed put inTurkey but crave a taste of home.

The founder and owner ofPages, Samer al-Kadri, a refugeehimself, says the store strives tobe a bridge between Syrians,Turks and the myriad of for-eigners who visit the city.

Its weekly programmeincludes music concerts and,start ing soon, languageexchanges in Arabic, English

and Turkish. Books are avail-able in all three languages. Al-Kadri is acutely aware that thelanguage barrier "has made itdifficult for Syrians to reallyintegrate into society."

Turkey is hosting 2.7 mil-lion Syrian refugees and isdue to receive many moreunder a plan with theEuropean Union that aims tohalt the smuggling ofmigrants into Europe. Thedeal stipulates that for everySyrian returned, anotherSyrian in Turkey will be relo-cated to a European country.

The plan has drawn con-siderable criticism from humanrights groups, who worry thatTurkey is not a suitable havenfor asylum-seekers and fear itcould pave the way for massdeportations.

Amnesty Internationalsays Turkey has already scaleddown its registration of Syrianrefugees and is illegally send-ing back refugees to its war-torn neighbour. Turkey hascommitted to giving workpermits to its Syrian "guests"but there are signs this perkmay be riddled with caveats.

���,+����� ����,����� ����02��,�� ��,+� �0

�)���! ��") ��$�'��� &�)��-��%( ���) !��� ��%")��

%A%����+� +,������� ��,+����,�������+��������+�� -����

����� �21421

The Moon may play a majorrole in maintaining Earth's

magnetic field that perma-nently protects us from thecharged particles and radiationthat originate in the Sun,according to a new study.

The magnetic field is pro-duced by the geodynamo, therapid motion of huge quantitiesof liquid iron alloy in theEarth's outer core.

To maintain this magneticfield until the present day, theclassical model required theEarth's core to have cooled byaround 3,000 degrees Celsiusover the past 4.3 billion years.

Now, a team ofresearchers from the NationalCentre for Scientific Research(CNRS) and Universite BlaisePascal in France suggests that,on the contrary, its tempera-ture has fallen by only 300

degrees Celsius.The action of the Moon,

overlooked until now, isthought to have compensatedfor this difference and keptthe geodynamo active,researchers said.

The classical model of theformation of Earth's magnet-ic field raised a major paradox.For the geodynamo to work,Earth would have had to betotally molten four billionyears ago, and its core wouldhave had to slowly cool fromaround 6,800 degrees Celsiusat that time to 3,800 degreesCelsius today.

However, recent model-ling of the early evolution of theinternal temperature of theplanet, together with geo-chemical studies of the com-position of the oldest carbon-atites and basalts, do not sup-port such cooling.

With such high tempera-

tures being ruled out, theresearchers propose anothersource of energy in their study.

Earth has a slightly flat-tened shape and rotates aboutan inclined axis that wobblesaround the poles. Its mantledeforms elastically due to tidaleffects caused by the Moon.

The researchers show thatthis effect could continuouslystimulate the motion of the liq-uid iron alloy making up theouter core, and in return gen-erate Earth's magnetic field.

The Earth continuouslyreceives 3,700 billion watts ofpower through the transfer ofthe gravitational and rotation-al energy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system, and over 1,000 bil-lion watts is thought to be avail-able to bring about this type ofmotion in the outer core.

This energy is enough togenerate the Earth's magneticfield, which together with the

Moon, resolves the major para-dox in the classical theory,researchers said.

Since neither the Earth'srotation around its axis, nor thedirection of its axis, nor theMoon's orbit are perfectly reg-ular, their combined effect onmotion in the core is unstableand can cause fluctuations inthe geodynamo.

This process could accountfor certain heat pulses in theouter core and at its boundarywith the Earth's mantle.

Over the course of time,this may have led to peaks indeep mantle melting and pos-sibly to major volcanic eventsat the Earth's surface.

This new model showsthat the Moon's effect on theEarth goes well beyond mere-ly causing tides.

The research was pub-lished in the journal Earthand Planetary Science Letters.

=�����8��&����&����������������� �-��D���� �����!����'

�7+��*50"1�(25.+�$1�+"�7+4�"�604+#�."�+�2((+1�03+�21�7+�.0�* �670.7�7"�

�$..++4+4�01/5+"%01;��752$;7�7+�0��4+(+1.+��01

�7+�6+��+51�'"5��2(�7"��'5+42,01"1��*#

.750��0"1�.0�*

�����������������#������������������������������������

Page 12: 0$˘ ˘#..)$1’2)˘3 ))˝(,’# / ’1 ) , 40’ the Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kerala,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted. Detailed reporton P7 Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra

����H@<#����������� ����7����,���� ������������������ �

6����0�����G�������������������@<6.��� ��������� ����G���@<

������!�������4�������4����4�����G��HHR#����������������������

������������������"������ ��������������

2�,-2�3��/�(�4 3��2,* 5��678� B�0��6"��"�'032�"��,2,+1�!�6+1++4+4�HN<#'�$���2��+��$��$'!�0�6"��40�"''201�01;�12���2(010�7��$.7�"�;224�/"��01;��04+J�"$���%0''+5�,+;��"1101;�21�("��01;��725��/*�H<#H=�5$1�G

G

8 � � � � � � �

� � � 8 � � �

Having clinched their maidenWomen's WT20 title, West Indies

skipper Stafanie Taylor today said thatthe historic triumph should act as thestepping stone for the development ofthe women's game in the Caribbeans.

"We have to move on from here notjust enjoy look at it stepping stone. Wedon't want to stuck here. We definitelyneed some infrastructure like inAustralia and England. We need youngguys coming up," Taylor said.

"When these core players go, it willdeteriorate. We need to start building.We need consistency to compete teamslike England and Australia," she added.

Taylor, who hit a 57-ball 59 today,said the mindset of targetting to batthrough instead of thinking theEngland total helped to her side winthe final match.

"It's funny, we never discussed thetotal. We just we wanted to bat through,it was good to keep wickets in hand. Wecould do that stay there and batthrough," Taylor said as the West Indieschased down the target of 149 to halt aquadruple of titles by the Australians.

Taylor said she and her team-mateswere still feeling "unreal" about winningthe title. "I don't think it has sunk in yet.When we wake up in the morning it'sgoing to be like is it real trophy. I willask myself is this real. When we touchdown at the Caribbean that's when it'sgoing to hit you. A lot of people withcameras you will realise that you havewon the World Cup," Taylor said.

Lanning heaped praise on Windiesbatter Hayley Matthews who struck a 45-ball 66 to set up her side's win.

"She's very talented, she had a goodseries against us. It was not a surprise.She played exceptionally well," Lanningsaid.

Facing criticism for Pakistan'sdismal show in the WT20,

Shahid Afridi on Sunday steppeddown as captain of the team but willcontinue to play in the shortest for-mat of the game.

The Afridi-led Pakistan failedmake it to the semifinals of the WT20in India, where his comments alsodrew the ire of former players.

The 36-year-old all-rounder andthe Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hadhinted that World T20 could well bebe his last as skipper.

"Today, I wish to inform my fansin Pakistan and all over the world thatI am relinquishing the captaincy of theT20 Pakistani team of my own voli-tion," Afridi said in a statement,released on his twitter account.

"On this day, I thank Allah(SWT) for His Kindness and Mercywhich enabled me to discharge myleadership duties, to the best of myabilities for the sake of honour andprestige of my motherland. For me itwas a great honour to lead my coun-try in all three formats of the game,"Afridi wrote in his statement.

Afridi, however, asserted that hewill be available for selection as a play-er in the team even though PCBChairman Shaharyar Khan has madeit clear that the all-rounder is nolonger a surety in the side.

"My profound thanks to the PCBand its Chairman Shaharyar Khanwho gave me the honour to lead thenational team. I would also like toinform that InshaAllah I intend tocontinue to play the game for mycountry and league cricket etc. And

request my fans for kindly keeppraying and supporting for my bestfuture performances for Pakistan (as

a player); and in all other arenas of thegame, world over."

The mercurial cricketer played 27Tests for Pakistan before retiringfrom the format in 2010 with 1716runs and 48 wickets.

Afridi found himself mired incontroversies during Pakistan's WorldT20 campaign. First, he drew flak inPakistan for stating that he and hisplayers were loved more in India thanback home.

Pakistan cricket coach WaqarYounis on Sunday refused to step

down from his position despitebeing in the line of fire for the team'sdisastrous World Twenty20 cam-paign, saying that he will not go outas a "villain".

"I am being portrayed as the vil-lain. If the Board wants to remove methey first have to inform me in writ-ing. I have no issues but I will not golike this," Waqar said.

Pakistan cricket has been throwninto disarray after the team's poorperformances in the Asia Cup andWorld T20 but Waqar said he did all

he could to arrest the slide."I didn't request for the coach-

ing job. I applied for it with the PCB.I was interviewed by Mr Najam Sethiand I submitted a comprehensiveplan to him with which he concurredand the board appointed me ascoach," Waqar said in an interview.

"Unfortunately after the WorldCup 2015 Sethi never met me anddespite me pointing out severalissues I was facing in unfolding myplan no one in the board listened tome," he said.

"Now they are trying to blameme for everything. They want to sackme. I can go tomorrow. But if thingscontinue this way in Pakistan crick-et two years down the line someother coach would also find himselfin a similar position," he added.

West Indies bowlers effected amiddle-order collapse to restrictEngland to a decent 155 for 9

despite Joe Root's attractive half-centuryin the final of the ICC World T20, here onSunday night.

It was leg-spinner Samuel Badree(2/16 in 4 overs), who inflicted the initialdamage in a splendid opening act whileDwayne Bravo (3/37 in 4 overs) and CarlosBrathwaite (3/23 in 4 overs) displayed theirvariations

While triggering a collapse during theback-10. The last five overs produced ameagre 40 runs. Just when Root (54 in 36balls) along with Jos Buttler (36), lookedset for an imposing total, Bravo andBrathwaite wreaked havoc.

England were cruising 84 for 3 in 11.1overs with Root and Buttler having added61 runs already but were soon reduced to111 for 7, losing four wickets for 27 runswithin next three overs.

Before the collapse occured, theboundaries were flowing at that time whenBrathwaite dismissed Buttler. The batsmantried to pull the bowler over deep mid-wicket only to be holed out by Bravo.

Ben Stokes (13) and Root, who had hitseven crisp boundaries had added 26 runstogether when Bravo bowled a sharpboouncer to get rid of the former.

Moeen Ali (0), who has perennialproblem with short ball tried to tuck onefired in his rib cage to Denesh Ramdin.Root, who was getting edgy then playedan uncharacteristic lap shot to be caughtat short fine-leg as England never recov-ered from the blows.

England though benifitted from DavidWilley's cameo of 14-ball 21 (1x4, 2x6)

which helped tjem get past 150-run mark.West Indies had their gameplan

straight against the spin -wary Englishmenby sticking to Badree up front and thelegspinner bowled a rare wicket maiden inhis third over by dismissing Eoin Morgan.

Continuing his lean patch with the bat,the English skipper was deceived by a goo-gly and England were staring at doom at23/3 after 4.4 overs.

Thankfully for England, Rootremained a bystander and looked at easewith three fours in the previous over byBenn. Desperately needing a partnership,England found Butler to repair the dam-age with Root.

On a track that looked batting friend-ly with little in it for the spinners, the duocleverly rotated the strikes with the oddfour or six in between to step up their run-rate. Buttler was not there to be boggeddown by the Windies and exploded againstBenn in the 11th over with two clean hitssoaring into the crowd. But just as Englandlooked to roll on there was another break-through for the Windies in the form of thebig-hitting Buttler who smacked at mid-wicket only to be caught by Bravo.

�����+�����2�+����������,�!��#�����.�����

���

�!��#�����.�����

���

������������!������H�$�������*�������>��� �� </������" ��"���������<�0=���� �

� � � 8 � �

!)(����B5����!���!C���!���%&�*!��!���!��#����������

���

�!��#����������

���

�3*�/�#$�#.�3",,�**''�05,�*��1'2"1*�*"���

6�����������������������������

'./G�� ���#�������� ��������� ������������������������������

���� '�����G�� ����� ��� � ��� 6�@<��� "��� .�� � ��� ��������� �������������',�1 )������!

S���� './� ��� �� � ������ ����������� ������������� ����� ���� '����,�������G�� ���������� ����� �� � ������ �������� ���� � �� ������������������� ����� ���� �������� ����� S� ���#�������������������'./����!

(������ ��������� ��������.������� 1���� "��� %��� ���� ��������� ���� ����� �� ���� ���� �������� ���������������������������� ���� ����� 6��� *������ ��������0������"��� ���������!

��$����H���������$������� ���1�����������* ���4� �������������� ������������ ����!��$�� ������������ ���**�1��������� ,-�,-./����������!���������������4���������(�����������!��� ��

"����������-������ �5�������/�������������+���������������������H==�������6����0�����670�+��50;;+501;�"

.2��"'�+�4$501;��7+/".%#H<!��7+��"���(03+

23+5��'524$.+4�",+";5+�E<�5$1�!�9$��67+1�522��K=E�01�8N/"���L�"�21;�60�7

/$���+5�K8NL ��22%+4��+�(25�"1�0,'2�01;��2�"� /5"32�"14�/5"�76"0�+

65+"%+4�7"32.

In a historic first, the West Indies women'scricket team ended three-time defending

champions Australia's domination by winningthe ICC World T20 title with an emphaticeight-wicket victory in the final here on Sunday.

The foundation of the successful chasewas laid by a 120-run partnership by open-ers Hayley Matthews (66 off 45) and skipperStafanie Taylor (59 off 57), who helped theteam chase a stiff target of 149.

The moment the West Indies reached thetarget courtesy an overthrow, the entiredugout jumped in joy as the team joined thetwo not out batswomen, Britney Cooper andDeandra Dottin, in the middle.

What made the celebrations more spe-cial was the men's team, led by captain DarrenSammy, bowling coach Curtley Ambrose andall-rounder Andre Russell joined everyone incongratulating the girls.

The girls, as promised to Dwayne Bravo,danced to the beats of the all-rounder's lat-est rap compilation 'Champion'.

It was also the West Indies' first win overAustralia in nine T20 Internationals.

Hayley was the star of their chase with acareer-best innings, while Stafanie continued

her sublime form with a solid knock.After Hayley holed out at the midwick-

et in the 16th over, the West Indies need-ed 29 from 26 balls and the equation wentdown to 14 from the last 2 overs but theexperienced Dottin made sure the team gothome comfortably.

With three needed from the last over,Dottin took a single to give the strike toCooper who ran a quick single and Aussiesnarrowly missed the stump as they complete

the winning run from the overthrow.Captain Meg Lanning (52) and opener

Elyse Villani (52) scored brisk half-centuriesbefore the West Indies fought back at the endto restrict three-time defending championsAustralia to 148 for five.

Villani set up the tempo with her 37-ballinnings and shared a 77-run partnership off60 balls with Lanning, who continued hergood run with second successive fifty.

Ellyse was looking dangerous with two

huge sixes but Dottin ensured that theAustralia did not do much damage in the lastover as they could muster only 36 runs fromthe last five overs, which proved to be the dif-ference. From being nine for no loss in thefirst three overs, the West Indies were quietat the start with Hayley looking dormant withtwo runs from eight balls.

In the next over, Hayley stepped on thegas taking charge on Rene Farrell with twoboundaries and in the next over she smackedSchutt over midwicket for a huge six.

But the massive turnaround came in thelast over of Powerplay when Stafanie toojoined in the act with two boundaries afterHayely's step-out six as they raced to 45/0.

Stafanie was happy to rotate the strikewhile Hayely went on the rampage as theSouthern Stars bowled too wide and full.

Hayley completed her maiden half-cen-tury in 35 balls with a six and boundaryagainst Jess Jonassen.

Earlier, opting to bat after winning a cru-cial toss in hot and sultry conditions,Australia were off to a flying start with Villanitaking charge after her opening partner AlyssaHealy (4) got out in a soft dismissal.

Villani raced to her second fifty andeighth overall in T20Is in 34 balls whileLanning was sensible at the start.

Lanning was a joy to watch as she com-pleted her second successive half-century.

�'��'<��+��1')D2>�1������������� �����������������������$�� ���**�1�,-�������$��!������� ��

�!��#�����.�����

���

�������������� �������� �1�I��J�!�������������� �� � ����������!��$�1�,-� ���