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THE ASIAN AGENEW DELHI WEDNESDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2019

Sidharth Malhotra hopes to have a lovemarriage someday

Max: 30OCMin: 19OCRH: 43%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Sunny

WINDOWS

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDE

Imphal: Six people — fivepolice commandos and a

civilian — were injured in anIED blast at Imphal town of

Manipur on Tuesday, thepolice said. The explosionthat occurred at Thangal

Bazaar also damaged somevehicles. Manipur CM N.

Biren Singh said detonationof the IED was an “act of

cowardice”. The conditionof the six injured people is

reportedly stable. — PTIFull report on Page 3

In this photo uploaded on theofficial Instagram handle ofAnushka Sharma on Monday,the actress is seen with herhusband and cricket teamcaptain Virat Kohli in Bhutan.Kohli turned 31 on Tuesday.

— PTI

Vikari: DakshinayanaTithi: Kartika Shudda

Navami till 7.21 amStar: Satabhisham (full day)

Varjyam: 2.20 pm to 4.08 pmDurmuhurtam: 11.37 am

to 12.22 pmRahukalam: 12 noon

to 1.30 pmSUNSET TODAY 5.32 PM

SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.36 AMMOONRISE TOMORROW 2.23 PM

MOONSET TODAY 12.53 AM

5 cops, civilianinjured in IED

blast in Imphal

Gurgaon: A cheating casehas been filed against OYOHotels and Homes founder

Ritesh Agarwal and six others based on a com-

plaint by a Bengaluru hote-lier. OYO is planning to ini-tiate criminal proceedings

against the hotelier forusing improper legal means

to “sensationalise a civil dis-pute and get attention”.

Cheating case filedagainst OYO founder

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday

adjourned for 10 days hear-ing on a public interest suit

seeking declaration that theprohibition on the entry of

women in mosques was ille-gal and unconstitutional.

Full report on Page 4

SC defers women’smosque entry case

COUNTERPOINT

RNI No. 57290/94, Regd No: DL-SW-05/4189/15-17 Vol. 26 No. 260 | 32 PAGES | `5.00

19

AGE CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Marking yet another gen-erational shift and dynas-tic succession in a region-al party, Chirag Paswanon Tuesday took chargeas head of the LokJanashakti Party fromhis father, Union minis-ter Ram Vilas Paswan.

The senior Paswan saidthe decision was taken atthe party’s national exec-utive meeting here onTuesday.

“Chirag Paswan unani-mously elected as LJPpresident by the party’snational executive,” MrRam Vilas Paswan said.The LJP, one of the off-shoots of the erstwhilesocialist Janata Dal, pri-

marily draws supportfrom a section of dalits inBihar. It was founded byRam Vilas Paswan in2000.

■ More oon PPage 22

BHASKAR HHARI SSHARMA and SSANJAY KKAWNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

For the first time ever, the nation-al capital witnessed the wrath ofpolice personnel on Tuesday whotook to the streets to protestagainst two attacks on their col-leagues by lawyers, throwing thecity’s traffic out of gear. Theirrage was not merely confined tolawyers but was also directed atthe apathy of the government andthe top echelons of the force,including police commissionerAmulya Patnaik who had takenaction against some police per-sonnel on the directions of acourt.

The surging crowd of protestingcops, some in uniform and othersin civvies, had gathered outsidePolice Headquarters in the morn-ing and were unrelenting in theirdemand that the licences oflawyers who assaulted their col-leagues be revoked and the trans-fer of police officers involved inthe Tis Hazari clash last week berescinded. Picking the BJP gov-ernment’s cheery rhetoricalquestion, “How’s the Josh?” theyheld up placards that read:“How’s the Josh?… It’s low, Sir.”

The 11-hour long agitation,mostly by constables, assistantsub-inspectors and inspectors,was called off late evening aftersome of their demands were met.While Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal assured action, specialcommissioner of police (crime)assured them that a review peti-tion will be filed against the Delhihigh court order in connectionwith the clash between cops andlawyers at the Tis Hazari CourtsComplex. Mr Golcha also saidthat the injured policemen willget an ex-gratia of at least `25,000.

The unprecedented protest alsohad the Centre on its toes, espe-cially after police from Haryanaand Bihar extended support totheir colleagues in Delhi. Areview petion was filed and theDelhi high court issued a noticeto the top lawyers’ body — theBar Councils of India. The homeministry also called for a reporton the Tis hazari incident.

The virtual revolt by DelhiPolice’s foot soldiers was trig-gered by two sucessive attacks oncops.

On Saturday, a parking dispute

between an on-duty policemanand a lawyer at the Tis HazariCourt complex flared up into aclash in which police opened fireand ordered lathi-charge onlawyers. Two lawyers receivedbullet injuries, while several oth-ers were injured. At least 20

police personnel also receivedinjuries.

The heightened tensionbetween Delhi cops and lawyersled to another shocking incidenttwo days later. On Monday, at theSaket district court, somelawyers beat up a police officer.

The incident, caught on video,showed one lawyer elbowing apoliceman on a bike as he wastrying to leave the spot. Thelawyer then slapped the police-man a few times and threw a hel-met at the bike before the officerdisappeared.

Taking suo motu cognisance ofmedia reports on the Tis Hazariincident, the high court at a spe-cial sitting on Sunday ordered ajudicial inquiry by one of itsretired judges into the November3 clash, and asked the police com-missioner to suspend a police offi-cial and transfer two other seniorpolice officials pending inquiry.

Acting on the court’s directions,the police chief on Sunday trans-ferred special commissionerSanjay Singh for ordering lathi-charge and additional deputycommissioner Harinder Kumarfor giving permission to open fireat lawyers. One assistant sub-inspector Kanta Prasad was alsosuspended for allegedly draggingand beating up an advocate andanother, Pawan, for firing at thelawyers.

Despite this, lawyers in Delhi’s ■ Turn tto PPage 44

Khaki revolt rattles DelhiIn unprecedented protest, cops lay siegeto police HQ against attacks by lawyers

Call of 11-hr stir after assurances; BarCouncil asks ‘hooligans’ to be identified


In a nationwide opera-tion, the CBI on Tuesdaysearched over 187 loca-tions in 16 states afterregistering 42 fresh caseson bank frauds amount-ing to Rs 7,200 crores.

Sources said the exer-cise, launched early inthe morning, was heldthroughout the day, withCBI teams knocking atthe doors of the accused

to collect evidence andquestion them. The mostsearches were inMaharashtra, where CBIteams swooped in at 58locations, followed byPunjab, where 32 placeswere searched. Twelvelocations were searchedin Delhi, 17 each in TamilNadu and MadhyaPradesh and 15 in UttarPradesh. Over 1,000 CBIofficers had beeninvolved.


CBI raids at 187 locationsin bank fraud crackdown

Chirag Paswan isLJP’s new chief

New Delhi, Nov. 5: Asthe air quality in Delhi-NCR hovered between“severe” and “verypoor” category, a topagriculture ministryofficial on Tuesdaymooted crop diversifica-tion and shift to a shortduration paddy crop toreduce stubble burningin northern states thathas been primarilyblamed for pollutionduring winter months.

The pollution situationin northern India wasalso reviewed by PrimeMinister NarendraModi, a day after theSupreme Court orderedan immediate and com-plete stop to stubbleburning in Punjab,Haryana and UttarPradesh blamed for 46per cent of the pollutionin Delhi-NationalCapital Region(NCR).

The top court did sometough-talking and hadwarned that the admin-istration at large will bemade accountable evenif there is a single inci-dent of stubble burninghenceforth. It issued aslew of directions thatalso included stoppingall construction anddemolition activities aswell as garbage andwaste burning in Delhi-NCR till further orders.

— PTI ■ More oon P13

PM reviewspollutionsituation inNorth India

VINEETA PPANDEYNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Confusion and lack ofcoordination betweenIndia and Pakistan is evi-dent five days before theinauguration of theKartarpur Corridor, withsources in the Indian gov-ernment claimingPakistan hasn’t let anyIndian advance team visitKartarpur Sahib to con-firm the arrangementsmade. Islamabad also has-n’t sent any confirmationon the list of dignitariessent by New Delhi, theysaid.

“India has all alongremained strongly com-mitted to expeditiously

realise the KartarpurCorridor on time, keepingin mind the sentiments of

pilgrims. The infrastruc-ture work on our side hasbeen completed on time.We even agreed to goahead with the MoUdespite Pakistan’s insis-tence on levying a $20 ser-vice fee on pilgrims,” thesources said. They addedthat despite India’s com-mitment and efforts,“Pakistan refuses toextend full cooperation,which is against the spiritof the pilgrimage”.

India is also upsetPakistan has not yetresponded to the list ofprominent Sikh leaders■ Turn tto PPage 44

Confusion lingers on Kartarpur opening

Devotees leave for Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border on Tuesday. — PTI


Ahead of the SupremeCourt’s impending ver-dict on the sensitive RamMandir-Babri Masjid titlesuit, the RSS roped inMuslim religious leaders,scholars, intellectualsand influencers for itsefforts to maintain peaceand social harmony overthe verdict. At a meetingat minority affairs minis-ter Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi’s house here,Muslim community lead-ers stressed “unity indiversity” is India’s “cul-tural commitment” and itis the responsibility of allsections of society to pre-

serve this. The RSS hassaid that whatever theverdict, it should be“accepted wholeheartedlyby everyone”. The RSSalso issued “do’s anddon’ts” to its pracharaksand office-bearers overthe impending verdict.

From the RSS, its lead-ers Krishna Gopal andRam Lal attended themeeting with Muslim reli-gious leaders, scholars,intellectuals and influ-encers. Last week, theRSS top brass, includingchief Mohan Bhagwat,had held a meeting withrepresentatives of the

Sangh’s affiliates, includ-ing the VHP and BJP,over the issue. The BJPtop brass, including presi-dent Amit Shah, workingpresident J.P. Nadda andgeneral secretary (organi-sation) B.L. Santoshattended the meet. TheRSS leaders also held aseparate meeting with MrNaqvi, after which theRSS reached out toMuslim religious leadersand others. BJP nationalspokesperson ShahnawazHussain also attended themeeting. Participantsasked the communityleaders to beware of thosetrying to create animosityand unrest in the name of ■ Turn tto PPage 44

Ahead of verdict, RSS urges topMuslim figures to keep peace

Mumbai, Nov. 5: TheRBI on Tuesday enhan-ced the cash withdrawalfrom the scam-hit PMCBank to `50,000 peraccount.

This is the fourthincrease in withdrawallimit since the bank wasplaced under its directcontrol with an adminis-trator on September 23.Since then as many asnine depositors havelost their lives includinga 74-year-old man fromThane on Monday.

The RBI also allowedthe depositors of thebank to withdraw fromthe bank’s own ATMswithin the prescribedlimit of `50,000.


RBI raises PMCwithdrawallimit to `50,000

AGE CCORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, NOV. 5

With the cloud of uncer-tainty continuing tohover over the new gov-ernment in Maharashtraand mounting fear thatthe BJP may fail to getthe support of its alliancepartner, Shiv Sena, theswearing-in ceremony ofthe BJP government islikely to be a low-keyaffair.

The party, which earli-er wanted to hold a megaevent at Wankhede stadi-um, is now going for asubdued swearing-in atVidhan Bhavan lawns.

On Tuesday, the ShivSena termed DevendraFadnavis as the “outgo-ing chief minister”, whilethe BJP reiterated thatMr Fadnavis would leadthe next state govern-ment.

Late Tuesday evening,Mr Fadnavis visited RSSheadquarter in Nagpur tomeet Mohan Bhagwat.According to sources, MrFadnavis reached RSSheadquarter at around9.30pm and left at around11 pm. RSS functionariesin Nagpur remainedtight-lipped about whattranspired at the meet-ing.

If the saffron party

stakes claim to form thenext government, thegovernor will ask it toprove its majority withina stipulated period. If theSena decides against sup-porting its alliance part-ner, the BJP-led govern-ment will fail the floortest, which will open astring of possibilities.Shiv Sena, the second-largest party in theHouse, can get the chanceto form the next govern-ment if it manages to getsupport from theCongress and NCP.

Shiv Sena has 56 MLAsand has the support ofseven Independent MLAsin the 288-memberAssembly. If the NCP (54MLAs) and Congress (44■ Turn tto PPage 44

CM swearing-into be a subduedaffair in Maha


The Supreme Court onTuesday said that itwould “soon” pronounceits verdict on a plea by 17disqualified law makersof Karnataka Assemblyseeking the quashing ofthen Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar’s orderunseating them from thestate Assembly for therest of the term of the cur-rent House.

A bench of Justice N.V.

Ramana, Justice SanjivKhanna and JusticeKrishna Murari addedthat the verdict would bebased on the submissionsmade before the court inthe course of the hearing.

The bench said this assenior counsel Kapil Sibalurged the court to take onrecord an application stat-ing that the resignationsby the 17 now-disqualifiedlaw makers came at theinsistence of Union homeminister Amit Shah.


SC: Will decide fate of 17disqualified MLAs ‘soon’

Newly-elected LJP chiefChirag Paswan in NewDelhi on Tuesday. — PTI

Delhi police personnel display pictures of former IPS officer Kiran Bedi during a protest on Tuesday. Delhipolice commissioner Amulya Patnaik’s appeals to pacify the cops were drowned by jeers of “Go back, Goback”. And in a show of lack of faith in his leadership, the agitating police personnel held up the poster ofone of India’s super cops, Kiran Bedi, with the slogan, “We Need You”. In 1988, Ms Bedi had famouslyclashed with lawyers and had stood her ground. — BIPLAB BANERJEE

AYODHYA CASE

New Delhi, Nov. 5: After a seriesof tense events following clashesbetween lawyers and the policeat Tis Hazari courts here, theBar Council of India has askedvarious bar bodies to identifylawyers “indulging in hooligan-ism” and requested advocates toend their protests, which are“bringing bad name to the insti-tution”.

BCI chairman Manan KumarMishra said in a letter that spar-ing such “rowdy elements” istarnishing the image of theinstitution and it is the inaction

and tolerance of bar bodies thatencourage these advocates,which would ultimately resultin “contempt proceedings by thehigh courts or Supreme Court”.

“Yesterday’s (November 4)behaviour of few lawyers hasdisturbed us... Abstaining fromcourt or resort to violence willnot help us, rather by doing thiswe are losing the sympathy ofcourts... Even general public’sopinion is going adverse to us.Result may be dangerous,” MrMishra said.

— PTI

By resorting to violence we’relosing sympathy: Bar Council

� The Shiv Sena onTuesday termed

DevendraFadnavis asthe ‘outgoing

chief minister’

� Late Tuesdayevening, Mr Fadnavisvisited RSS headquarterin Nagpur tomeet MohanBhagwat

NationWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

PoliticsMP govt failed to give bonus to milkproducers, says BJP national generalsecretary Kailash Vijayvargiya

Republican Party ofIndia (A) should get aCabinet berth in new

Maharashtra govt

—Ramdas Athawale,Union minister

SHORT TAKES

Agartala: Senior Congressleader Jairam Ramesh on

Tuesday said the CitizenshipAmendment Bill (CAB), if

enacted, could be detrimen-tal to the Northeastern

region and the party wouldstrongly oppose it. Ramesh

said the CAB contradicts thevery spirit of the

Constitutional provisionsthat there should not be any

discrimination against anycitizen on the ground of reli-

gion, race, caste, sex andplace of birth. “If the

Citizenship Amendment Billis passed, there will be

adverse impact in the NEstates. More so, the

Northeast India has gotdestabilized after the BJPcame to power,” claimed

Ramesh, who is heading anAICC team set up to study

the pulse of NE states onvarious contentious issues.

— PTI

Jaipur: Stressing on theimportance of women

empowerment for nation-building, Rajasthan chief

minister Ashok Gehlot onTuesday said the custom of‘ghoonghat’ must be eradi-

cated at the earliest.Expressing displeasure at thepractice of covering women’s

faces with a ‘ghoonghat’ orveil in some rural areas,Gehlot said the custom

belongs to a bygone era.“Time has changed now but

the practice of 'ghoonghat' isstill there in villages. What is

right in confining a woman toghoonghat? Women cannotprogress till the ghoonghat

exists,” he said. — PTI

NAYEAR AZADPATNA, NOV. 5

Ahead of Bihar assemblypolls, BJP national working

President J.P. Nadda heldmeetings with the party’sstate unit leaders here onTuesday. Mr Nadda was inthe city to attend the sev-enth death anniversary of

former Gujarat governor andBJP patriarch late Kailashp-

ati Mishra. Addressing themasses and party workersduring the event he criti-

cized the Congress party forits policies. During his

speech, Mr Nadda alsospoke about the achieve-ments India made underPrime Minister Narendra

Modi’s leadership, “Remem-ber that India has taken a

centre stage in internationaldiplomacy. Our country is

developing in every field. Inthe defense sector, our

strength has also increased.The Modi government has

the ability to take decisions.India is changing and picture

of Bihar is also changing".This was his first visit to thestate after his appointment

as the working president. MrNadda later held meetingswith the party’s state corecommittee and legislators

where he discussed strate-gies for the upcoming Bihar

assembly elections.

NADDA MEETSPARTY’S BIHARUNIT LEADERS

Ghoonghat practicemust go: Gehlot

Ajmer: The much-awaitedPushkar Mela 2019 kicked

off on Monday in the districtof Ajmer, which witnessed

an overwhelming number ofenthusiastic participants

and devotees. The mela wasstarted by District CollectorVishwamohan Sharma, whostarted the ceremony with

Sarovar Pujan and flaghoisting, along with the offi-

cers of all departments inRajasthan. A number of dif-

ferent cultural dance andmusic performances took

place in the mela.Foreigners too enthusiasti-cally participated in all the

performances. —ANI

Ajmer’s PushkarMela begins

CAB detrimental toNortheast: Cong

AGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, NOV. 5

In a U-turn from its earli-er stand that it will sit inthe Opposition, the NCPhas said that it mightthink of an alternative ifthe BJP-Shiv Senaalliance fails to form thegovernment. However, theparty is learned to haveasked the Sena to snap itsties with the BJP-ledNDA, including forfeitingthe minister’s post in theUnion cabinet.

Jayant Patil, who is alsothe NCP state chief, said,“The NCP will be forced tothink about an alternativeif the BJP-Shiv Sena com-bine fails to form the gov-ernment in the state.There was no need toimpose President’s Rulein the state, as people willnot tolerate it. We will beforced to think seriouslyabout an alternative if theBJP and Sena fail to offerany solution together.”

Mr Patil said that for theNCP, there is no questionof supporting the BJP-Shiv Sena. He also saidthat the party does nothave the numbers to putup a candidate for theAssembly speaker’s post.

The NCP had earliersaid that it will sit in theOpposition as it did nothave the required num-bers to form the govern-ment. However, with thedeadlock between the BJPand Sena showing nosigns of ending, there is apossibility thatPresident’s Rule may beimposed in the state. Thishas forced the party torethink its stand on gov-

ernment formation.According to sources,

the NCP will join handswith the Sena to form thegovernment with outsidesupport from theCongress. In the VidhanSabha polls, the Sena won56 seats, whereas the NCPand Congress won 54 and44 seats, respectively.

The BJP and Shiv Senahave been bickering over

sharing the chief minis-ter’s post. The Sena wantsthe CM’s post to be sharedfor two-and-half years on arotational basis, but theBJP has rejected such anarrangement.

Senior BJP leaderSudhir Mungantiwarrecently said that the statemay see President’s Ruleif there is no governmentin place by November 7.

Amaravati, Nov. 5: Facingflak from opposition par-ties including the TeluguDesam Party, the AndhraPradesh government onTuesday cancelled a con-troversial order renamingan award named after for-mer President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam and replac-ing it with that of late Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, chiefminister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy’s father.

It also issued a neworder renaming the awardas APJ Abdul KalamVidya Puraskar.

Principal Secretary,School Education, B.Rajasekhar issued thefresh order on Tuesdayevening.

The cancellation GOissued on Tuesday merelysaid Monday’s order was

being cancelled on admin-istrative grounds.

“The chief minister hastaken a strong view of theGO, issued by SchoolEducation PrincipalSecretary B. Rajasekhar,without informing himabout the change of nameof the awards.Accordingly, he asked thatthe GO, issued on Monday,be revoked and Dr Kalam's

name retained for theawards,” municipaladministration ministerBotsa Satyanarayana toldreporters here.

The School Educationdepartment had issuedorders on Monday, renam-ing the Dr APJ AbdulKalam Pratibha Puraskaras YSR Vidya Puraskar.

The awards, instituted in2015, are presented to mer-

itorious students of gov-ernment schools whoexcel in the SSC (class X)public examinations. Theaward carries merit cer-tificate, memento andscholarships to meet thecost of higher education.

It was earlier known asPrathibha Awards' but thethen Chandrababu Naidugovernment changed thename to APJ Abdul KalamPratibha Puraskar in 2017to honour the former pres-ident. This year, theSchool Education depart-ment decided to presentthe awards on NationalEducation Day, the birthanniversary of MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad, onNovember 11. The opposi-tion Telugu Desam Partyand the Jana Sena criti-cised the move. — PTI

AGE CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday sought a statusreport on the investiga-tion by the Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI)headed Multi-DisciplinaryMonitoring Agency(MDMA) into the largerconspiracy behind theassassination of formerPrime Minister RajivGandhi.

Pointing out that the laststatus report by theMDMA was year old andat that time the agencywas awaiting response toLetter Rogatories thatwere sent to several coun-tries including Sri Lanka,and Thailand, a bench ofJustice L. Nageswara Raoand Justice Hemant Guptasought the status of theLetter Rogatory that weresent overseas.

The MDMA comprisingthe officials ofIntelligence Bureau, RAW,Revenue Intelligence andother agencies are headedby the CBI. The MDMAwas set up in 1998 on therecommendation ofJustice M.C. JainCommission of Inquirywhich had probed the con-spiracy aspect of Gandhi’sassassination.

The top court gave fourweeks to MDMA to file the

report.Besides the larger con-

spiracy behind the assas-sination of Rajiv Gandhi,the MDMA was to investi-gate the origin and makeof the IED that was usedin the assassination.

One of the accused inRajiv Gandhi assassina-tion conspiracy case A.G.Perarivalan had movedthe top court in 2016 seek-ing the suspension of hissentence contending thatinvestigation into the ori-gin and making of IED hasyet to conclude.

Perarivalan was convict-ed for supplying two 9volts batteries that wereused to for the making ofthe IED for the assassina-tion of the former PrimeMinister on May 21, 1991,at Sriperumbudur by ahuman bomb Dhanu.

He has contended thatone of the primary pur-poses of constituting the

MDMA was to investigatethe larger conspiracy,trace the origin and makeof the IED, but even after18 years, CBI has not beenable to conclude its inves-tigation.

Perarivalan has alreadyspent 26 years in jail.

He was awarded deathsentence which was com-muted by the top court onFebruary 18, 2014, on thegrounds of the long delayin deciding his and otherdeath row convicts mercypetition by the President.

Former prime ministerRajiv Gandhi was assassi-nated on the night of May21, 1991 at Sriperumbudurin Tamil Nadu by awoman suicide bomber,identified as Dhanu, at apoll rally. Gandhi's assassi-nation was perhaps thefirst case of suicide bomb-ing which had claimed thelife of a high-profileleader.

AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday said that itwould “soon” pronounceits verdict on a plea filedby 17 disqualified law-makers of Karnatakaassembly seeking thequashing of then-Speaker K.R. RameshKumar’s order unseat-ing them from the Stateassembly for the rest ofthe term of the currentHouse.

Saying that the verdicton the fate of 17 disqual-ified lawmakers ofKarnataka assemblywould be out “soon”, abench of Justices N.V.Ramana, Sanjiv Khannaand Krishna Murarisaid that the verdictwould be based on thesubmissions madebefore the court in thecourse of the hearing.

The bench said this assenior counsel KapilSibal urged the court totake on record an appli-cation stating that theresignation by the 17,now disqualified, law-makers were at theinstance of the Unionhome minister AmitShah.

Refusing to take theapplication on record,Justice Ramanawrapped up the briefhearing telling Sibal,“You have brought it toour notice …”

Appearing forKarnataka Congressleader Siddaramaiah,Mr Sibal told the courtabout a audiotapewherein the chief minis-ter B.S. Yeddyurappa isheard saying that he hadno role in the resigna-tion of 17 disqualifiedlawmakers and every-thing was done at theinstance of Union homeminister and our gov-ernment was therebecause of their resigna-tions and they even wentto Supreme Court for theacceptance of their res-ignations and now theycould not be left in lurch.

The Supreme Courthad on October 25reserved its verdict on aplea by 17 Congress andJanata Dal (Secular)rebel lawmakers.

State chief says people won’t tolerate Prez’s Rule

Maha tussle: NCPmulls forming govtAP won’t rename Kalam award

SC seeks CBI report on Rajiv’s murder plotMDMA given 4-weeks’ time to file report

Apex court order■ ■ SC bench of JusticeL. Nageswara Rao andJustice Hemant Guptasought the status of theLetter Rogatory thatwere sent to severalcountries including SriLanka, and Thailand.

SC verdicton rebelKarnatakaMLAs soon

Shahjahanpur (UP), Nov.5: The SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT)probing sexual harass-ment allegations againstformer Union ministerSwami Chinmayanandwill file a chargesheet incourt in the related extor-tion case on Wednesdayagainst six accused,including two BJP lead-ers, a senior police offi-cial said.

“The probe into thecase has been completedand chargesheet will befiled in the court tomor-row. The pen drive whichwas snatched from thevictim law student inDausa (Rajasthan), hasbeen recovered from BJPleaders DPS Rathore andAjit Singh,” IG-rank offi-cer Naveen Arora, head-ing the SIT, told reporterson Tuesday.

Mr Rathore is theyounger brother of UttarPradesh BJP vice-presi-dent JPS Rathore.

“These leaders hadsnatched the pen drivefrom the law student inDausa, Rajasthan, andhad viewed the contentson their laptop. They hadlater deleted the picturesand demanded `1.25crore from Chinmayan-and to help ensure dis-posal of the matter. Bothhave been found guilty onthis count,” Mr Arorasaid on the probe.

With this, the numberof those accused of try-ing to extort money fromChinmayanand has goneup to six.

The other four accusedare the law student, whohad charged Chinmayan-and with sexual harass-ment, Sanjay, Vikramand Sachin. Chinmayan-and was arrested onSeptember 21. Police hadon August 27 booked himunder sections 364 (kid-napping or abducting inorder to murder) and 506(criminal intimidation)of the IPC based on thefather’s complaint. — PTI

SIT to filechargesheetin extortioncase today

■ After backlash, Jagan scraps controversial govt order

AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Marking yet another gen-erational shift and dynas-tic succession in a region-al party, Chirag Paswanon Tuesday took over thereins of the LokJanashakti Party (LJP)from his father and Unionminister Ram VilasPaswan. The seniorPaswan said the decisionwas taken in the meetingof the national executivein Delhi held on Tuesday.

“Chirag Paswan hasbeen unanimously electedas LJP president byparty’s national execu-tive,” Ram Vilas said.

The LJP, one of the off-shoots of the erstwhilesocialist Janata Dal, pri-marily draws its supportfrom a section of Dalits inBihar. It was founded byRam Vilas in 2000.

Along with Chirag, hisbrother Ram ChandraPaswan, Capt. Jai NarainPrasad Nishad andRamesh Jigajinagi alsojoined the party.

The first polls contestedby the LJP was in alliancewith the Indian NationalCongress and theRashtriya Janata Dal and

it won four Lok Sabhaseats from Bihar. RamVilas remained a Unionminister in the ministryof chemicals and fertiliz-ers and ministry of steel.Through the later yearstill now, Ram Vilas hassteered it through chang-ing political scenarios byjoining hands with partieswith contrasting ideolo-gies and support groups.He is currently with theNDA and remains a UnionMinister.

The first task for ChiragPaswan, who is a second-term Lok Sabha memberfrom Jamui, would be tosecure a respectable tallyof at least six seats to fightin the coming Assemblypolls in Jharkhand.

New Delhi, Nov. 5: Thegovernment has reconsti-tuted the NMML societyremoving CongressmenMallikarjun Kharge,Jairam Ramesh and KaranSingh as its members andinducting television jour-nalist Rajat Sharma andadman Prasoon Joshiamong others.

According to an orderissued on Tuesday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isthe president of the societyand defence ministerRajnath Singh its vicepresident.

“The central governmenthas reconstituted theNehru Memorial Museumand Library (NMML)Society under rule 3 of thememorandum of associa-tion and rules and regula-tions of NMML societywith Prime Minister

Narendra Modi as the pres-ident and Defence MinisterRajnath Singh as vice pres-ident of the society,” theorder said.

Union ministers AmitShah, Nirmala Sithara-man, Ramesh Pokhriyal,Prakash Javadekar, V.Muraleedharan and Prahl-ad Singh Patel, ICCR chair-man Vinay Sahsrabudhhe,Prasar Bharti chairman ASurya Prakash, secretariesof Expenditure, Culture

and Housing and UrbanAffairs, are its members.

Besides, the chairman ofthe UGC, representative ofJawaharlal Nehru Memor-ial fund, RaghvendraSingh, director of NMMLand journalist Sharma arealso the new members.

According to the order,the other members includeAnirban Ganguly, policyresearcher and author,Sachchinanda Joshi,Member Secretary,

IGNCA, academic KapilKapoor, Lokesh Chandra,Vedic and Buddhist schol-ar, Makarand Pranjpe, aca-demic, writer, KishoreMakwana, academicKamlesh Joshipura,researcher Rizwan Kadrialong with Sahasrabuddheand Rai. “The term of themembers is for a period offive years or until furtherorders, whichever is earli-er,” the order further said.

Earlier, the Centre hadappointed television jour-nalist Arnab Goswami, for-mer foreign secretary SJaishankar, BJP lawmakerVinay Sahasrabuddhe andIGNCA chairman RamBahadur Rai as membersof NMML Society, replac-ing four members who hadopposed the move to builda museum for all PMs.

— PTI

Centre recasts Nehru memorial society■ Cong leaders Kharge, Ramesh, Karan Singh dropped

Paswan’s Chiragbecomes newLJP president

Defence minister Rajnath Singh paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the premisesof Embassy of India in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday. — ANI

Rajiv Gandhi

Newly-elected presidentof Lok Janshakti PartyChirag Paswan beingoffered sweets. — PTI

Y.S. Jagan Mohan ReddyAGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, NOV. 5

If the Congress doesdecide to support the gov-ernment led by the ShivSena, it will not be thefirst time that the two par-ties, which are the exactopposites in terms of ide-ology, will be hobnobbingwith each other.

In the past, the Sena hassupported the Congress onseveral occasions, includ-ing the presidential elec-tions of Pratibha Patil andPranab Mukherjee.

The Shiv Sena, whichwas formed in 1966, isknown as a staunch criticof the Congress with par-ty founder late Bal Tha-ckeray making a scathingattack on former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhithrough his cartoons.

Later, however, he sup-ported the emergencyimposed by Ms Gandhi in1975. In the 1977 generalelections, too, the Senadecided to support theCongress. But the decision

backfired as the Sena suf-fered heavy losses in theVidhan Sabha polls heldin 1978 and also in theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) elec-tions.

Jolted by this defeat, MrThackeray offered toresign as the Sena chief,but later withdrew hisdecision upon party work-ers’ insistence. In the 1980Lok Sabha polls, MrThackeray continued tosupport Ms Gandhi by notfielding any candidatesagainst the Congress.

The close relations heshared with Congressleader and former chiefminister A.R. Antulaywere believed to be thereason behind this deci-sion. In the presidentialelections, Sena supportedCongress candidates likePratibha Patil and PranabMukherjee. In 1989, theSena and the BJP decidedto form an alliance, whichhas since continued bar-ring the Vidhan Sabhapolls.

Cong-Sena partnershipdates back to 1977

◗ ◗ The AndhraPradesh SchoolEducation depart-ment had issuedorders on Monday,renaming the DrAPJ Abdul KalamPratibha Puraskaras YSR VidyaPuraskar.

MallikarjunKharge

Jairam Ramesh

RajatSharma

PrasoonJoshi

Swami Chinmayanand

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee withCalcutta University Vice-Chancellor Sonali Chakravarti-Banerjee during a meeting with teachers of collegesand universities in Kolkata on Tuesday. — PTI

OUT IN


RestraintSri Sri Ravi Shankar calls for restraint ahead of Ayodhya verdict

We would strive toconclude the entire

Naga peace-processat the earliest

— R.N. RaviPM’s envoy for Naga peace talks

SHORT TAKES

Srinagar: Two suspected drugpeddlers were arrested

on Monday with six kilogramsof brown sugar and a largequantity of AK ammunition

and magazines in Uri sectorof north Kashmir’s Baramulla

district, police said. Thepolice also seized `3.28 lakh

cash during the operationwhich was conducted on aspecific input about illegal

smuggling of drugs and armsform across the border at vil-

lage Dulanga in Kamalkotearea near the Line of Control,a police official said. He saidthe police arrested two drug

peddlers, including a woman,along with some quantity ofbrown sugar. On questioning

they revealed that thewoman had concealed somedrugs in a cow shed near herhouse. Four more packets ofbrown sugar were recovered

during the search of theplace, he said. — PTI

Bhubaneswar: A mentallychallenged man on Tuesday

allegedly thrashed his mother to death at

Makuakateni village underKankadahada police limits in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.

The deceased was identifiedas Baidei Sahu (75). The

elderly woman tried to stophis son Bishnuprasad Sahu

when he was attempting toleave the house around 3

AM. Bishnuprasad thrashedhis mother with a stick, fol-

lowing which the womandied on the spot. On beinginformed by villagers, who

detained Bishnuprasad,police reached the spot

and started investigation.

Chandigarh: Haryana deputychief minister Dushyanat

Chautala on Tuesday toldthe state Assembly that

chief minister M.L. Khattar-led BJP-JJP coalition gov-

ernment would bring a bill inthe next session of the

House to provide 75 percent of private sector jobs to

local youths. Mr Chautalamade the announcement onthe floor of the House even

as chief minister Khattartalked of evolving an institu-tional mechanism to provide75 percent reservation in pri-

vate sector jobs to Haryanayouths. He also said that a

new policy would be framedto accord special incentives

to the private industries,willing to provide 95% jobs

to the state youths. Thechief minister also promisedto set up a panel to monitor

the implementation of theCommon Minimum

Programme of the two par-ties, the BJP and JJP, which

together formed the coali-tion government in the state.

The chief minister and hisdeputy made the announce-

ment while replying to thedebate on Governor

Satyadeo Narain Arya’saddress to the Assembly.The deputy chef minister

told the House that youthswill be focus area for the

new government. — PTI

CM FOR 75%PVT JOBS TO

HARYANA YOUTH

Mentally challengedperson kills mother

Bhubaneswar: Body of aschool headmaster was on

Tuesday found under mysterious circumstances onthe bank of Mahanadi river at

Khamaranga in Banki ofCuttack district. The

deceased identified as NimaiCharan Mohapatra was was

reportedly missing sinceSunday. According to

sources, Mohapatra hailedfrom Sahadapadar village

and was posted atSinghanathpur UGME Schoolat Patapur. Some locals spot-

ted his body today morningand informed police. Later,the police seized the body

and sent it for post-mortem.

Missing Odisha schoolteacher found dead

Drugs, ammunitionseized in Baramulla

PARMOD KKUMARNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday sought an elabo-rate report by the Jammuand Kashmir high courtjuvenile justice committeeon the veracity of the alle-gations relating to thedetention of children bythe state police followingthe abrogation of Article370 and the bifurcation ofthe state into two UnionTerritories.

A bench of Justice N.V.Ramana, Justice R.Subhash Reddy andJustice B.R. Gavai soughtfresh report from the J&Khigh court JJ committeecomprising four judges ofthe high court as it notedthat earlier report was notentirely in consonancewith the spirit of theSeptember 20, 2019 orderof the top court.

“As the issues highlight-ed pertain to allegeddetention of children, wedirect the juvenile justicecommittee of the highcourt of Jammu &Kashmir to undertake anexercise with regard tothe facts stated in the writpetition and revert to uswithin a week from today,”said the top court by itsSeptember 20, 2019, order.

The court on Tuesdayobserved that the earlierreport could not be entire-ly in accord with its direc-tions as one week timegiven to it was not enoughfor a detailed findings ofthe facts of each case.

This time court did notbind the JJ committeewith any time line askingit to submit the reportexpeditiously.

In the course of the hear-

ing, the court made itclear that it was not satis-fied with the report as thejuvenile justice committeehas not appreciated thespirit of the top court’sorder. Seeking that thematter should now be sentto J&K high court, solici-tor general Tushar Mehtasaid that the petitionerGanguly should approachthe statutorily constitutedjuvenile justice committeeand avail of the availableremedies.

As the top court madesome observation notappreciating the report,Mr Mehta urged the courtto hold its observations asit has its ramifications.

The court sought reportfrom the JJ committeeafter senior counselHuzefa Ahmadi told thecourt “How can there bepreventive detention ofchildren? The preventivedetention of the childrenis not allowed.”

Pointing to the flaws inthe report submitted bythe HC’s JJ committee, MrAhmadi took the courtthrough the details of theeach case of detention ofchildren brought beforethe court by the child rightactivist Enakshi Ganguly.

Imphal, Nov. 5: Six peo-ple — five police com-mandos and a civilian— were injured in anIED blast at Imphaltown of Manipur onTuesday, police said.

The explosion thatoccurred at ThangalBazaar at 9.30 AM alsodamaged some vehicles.

Manipur chief minis-ter N. Biren Singh saiddetonation of theimprovised explosivedevice (IED) was an

“act of cowardice”.He said, “It is a reac-

tion by people who arefrustrated and disap-pointed over the visiblechanges in the state inthe past two-and-halfyears towards bringingpeace.”

Mr Singh who becamethe chief minister inthe BJP-ruled state inMarch 2017 inspectedthe blast site and visit-ed the injured people ina hospital. — PTI

RAJIB CCHOWDHURIKOLKATA, NOV. 5

Triggering controversyyet again, West BengalBJP president DilipGhosh has claimed thatthe Indian cow milk con-tains “gold” whichmakes its colour “yel-low”. According to him,the foreign cows are not“mothers” to the Indianpeople but they are “aun-ties”.

Lashing out at the intel-lectuals, Mr Ghosh alsoasked them to eat dogmeat too when they canhave beef. “The charac-teristics of Indian cowsis that its milk has goldwhich is why its colour isyellow to some extent.

“The Indian cows havehump. But the foreigncows do not have it,” hesaid while addressing agathering at an eventGopa AshtamiKaryakram organised byGhosh and GavikalyanSamity at BurdwanTown on Monday.

Justifying his argu-ment, the BJP MP ofMidnapore reasoned,“Their back is horizontallike that of buffalos. Thehump has a vessel whichis called Swarna Nari(gold nerve). When it gets

sunlight, gold is pro-duced making the colourof milk yellow. It looksgolden. The milk withsuch characteristic carryantidotes. A humanbeing can survive drink-ing it. Nothing else willbe required. It is a totaldiet.”

Sharing his wisdom, hepointed out, “The breedsof cows which we bringfrom abroad are notcows. They are rather akind of beast. These for-eign breeds do not looklike cows at all. They arenot our Gau Mata (moth-er) but our aunties. It isalso not good for thecountry if we worshipsuch aunties.”

Mr Ghosh added, “Ourmother is cow. We sur-vive drinking cow milk.

So if anyone misbehaveswith my mother, I willtreat them the way theyshould be treated.

“On the holy soil ofIndia, cow slaughter andeating beef is a graveoffence.” He then turnedthe heat on the intellectu-als over beaf-love.

Issuing a warning tothem, the state BJP chiefsaid, “There are someeducated people who eatbeef on the road side. Iask them: Why only cow?They can have dog meattoo. Eat other animalstoo. It is good for health.But please eat at home.Our mother is cow. Indiais the place of Gopal(Lord Krishna) and therespect for Gau (cow)will remain here forever.We see cow slaughter asan anti-social activity.”

This was not for thefirst time that he madecontroversial comments.

On August 27 this year,Mr Ghosh threatened asenior police officer atMecheda in EastMidnapore that his bodywould not be traced andhis family memberswould not be able to per-form his last rites if hewould continue to harassthe BJP workers in thedistrict.

Imphal blastinjures 5 cops

‘Foreign cows are aunties,Indian cows produce gold’Bengal BJP chief also lashes out at beef-eaters

SC seeks reporton detention ofchildren in J&K

■Apex court asks JJ panel ofHC on veracity of allegations


In a nation-wide operation,the CBI on Tuesday con-ducted searches at over 187locations in 16 states in thecountry after registering 42fresh cases pertaining tobank frauds involving`7,200 crore.

According to sources theexercise, launched early inthe morning, was carriedout throughout the day,with CBI teams knockingthe doors of the accused tocollect evidence and ques-tion them. Maximumsearches were reportedfrom Maharashtra where

the agency’s teamsswooped down at 58 loca-tions followed by Punjab,where 32 locations weresearched, sources said.Twelve locations weresearched in the nationalcapital, 17 each in TamilNadu and MadhyaPradesh, 15 in UttarPradesh, five in AndhraPradesh, two inChandigarh, four each inKerala, Telangana andDadra and Nagar Haveli,five each in Gujarat andHaryana, six in Karnatakaand two each inUttarakhand and WestBengal, they added.

The operation was spread

across 16 states and UnionTerritories with as many as1,000 officers of the agencyinvolved in it making it oneof the largest coordinatedsearch this year. Sources inthe CBI said in at least fourcases, the siphoned off

funds are over `1000 crore.Among major cases, theCBI has booked promotersand directors of AdvantageOverseas Pvt Ltd ShrikantBhasi, Dinesh ArkotSelvaraj, Manish KumarSingh, Gagan Sharma andJijo John for allegedlycheating State Bank ofIndia, Bhopal, by falsifyingrecords to avail credit facil-ities of `6000 crore. Thecompany involved in bulktrading of agro commodi-ties defaulted on paymentscausing a loss of `1266crore to the bank, sourcessaid.

A separate case has beenregistered against Energo

Engineering Projects Ltdand its directors — chair-man Sujit Das, Dinesh VSingh managing directorJaya Singh — for availingcredit facilities to the tuneof `1290 crore on forgeddocuments. Later paymentdefaults caused a loss of`1266 crore to the bank.Surana Industries inChennai and its directorsDinesh Chand Surana,Shanti Lal Surana,Gautham Lal Surana,Vijayraj Surana, and oth-ers have been named in CBIFIR for allegedly causing aloss of `1083 crore to a con-sortium of 12 banks led byIDBI, sources said.

CBI raids bank defaulters in 16 statesSearches 187 locations in 42 cases pertaining to bank fraud worth `7,200cr

Vehicles move slowly after the snow was cleared from Rohtang Pass and openingof the Manali-Keylong road for vehicular traffic in Manali on Tuesday. — PTI

LARGEST OPERATION■ ■ The operation wasspread across 16 statesand Union Territorieswith as many as 1,000officers of the agencyinvolved in it making itone of the largest coor-dinated search this year

◗ ◗ J&K high court’sjuvenile justicecommittee com-prises four judgesand its previousreport on the sub-ject was not foundin consonance withthe spirit of theapex court’sSeptember order

Dilip Ghosh


Sikh valourHistory of Sikh community is tale of valour, sacrifice: President Kovind

100 days in office as CM

were like trial by fire

— B.S. Yediyurappa

Karnataka CM

SHORT TAKES

Nagpur: A 60-year-oldmotorcyclist was killed after

his two-wheeler hit a deadcow lying on Nagpur-

Jabalpur Highway nearKhapri here, police said on

Tuesday. The incidentoccurred at around 6 pm on

Monday when BhanudasRamrao Jangle, a resident ofSudarshan Nagar, was riding

towards Multi-modalInternational Cargo Hub and

Airport (MIHAN) inMaharashtra’s Nagpur

district, an official said.Jangle, a technician with aprivate company, failed to

notice a dead cow lying onthe bypass, as it was dark.He hit the carcass, fell on

the road and sustainedsevere head injuries, he

added. “Although Janglewas wearing a helmet, itwasn’t buckled properly,

causing severe head trau-ma,’’ said a police official.

Gorakhpur (UP): Six childrenwere injured after two

school buses collided headon near Haraiya village in

Sant Kabir Nagar district onTuesday morning, the policesaid. The buses belonged to

Ramnath Subhawati DeviInter College, Totha area in

Sant Kabir Nagar districtand Bombay Cambridge

School in Siddharthnagardistrict. Nitya (11), Umang

(10), Nitish (11),Krishnamohan (12), Neha(13) and Pushpa (17) hadminor injuries in the acci-dent. While five children

have been discharged afterfirst aid, one girl is undergo-

ing treatment. — PTI

■ Continued from Page 1MLAs) join, they will togetherhit the majority number of145. While there are indica-tions that the NCP is ready tojoin the Sena in the govern-ment, Congress is non-com-mittal even on the outside sup-port.

NCP leader Nawab Malik onTuesday said his party willthink of providing an alterna-tive government if Shiv Senadeclares that it has snapped itsties with the BJP-led NDA.“Under no circumstances, wewill allow the President’s ruleto be imposed in the state,” hesaid.

Earlier in the day the BJPcore committee held a meetingat the chief minister’s officialresidence “Varsha”.

CM-SWEARING-INTO BE LOW KEY...

■ Continued from Page 1religion. The Muslim leadersexpressed their commitmentto strengthening and protect-ing the fabric of the country’ssocio-communal harmony,brotherhood and unity underall circumstances.

Among those who attendedthe meeting were JamiatUlema-e-Hind’s MaulanaMahmood Madani, AnjumanAjmer Sharif president SyyedMoinuddin Chishti, JusticeZakiullah (Retired), MaulanaAthar Dehlavi, film directorMuzaffar Ali, All IndiaMuslim Personal Law Boardmember Kamal Faruquiamong others.

RSS ON AYODHYA

6 kids hurt afterschool buses collide

Chennai: A 20-year-old stu-dent of a polytechnic

college died of a bulletinjury in nearby

Kancheepuram district onTuesday, police said. The

incident happened atVenkatamangalam in the

district when Mukesh wasfound with a head injury at

his house by local peopleafter they heard a gunshot.

He was taken to a nearbyhospital and later shifted to

a city hospital where hedied, they said. The role of alocal person was suspected

in the death and a searchwas on for him, the police

added. — PTI

College student diesof bullet injury

Man killed after bike hits dead cow

New Delhi, Nov. 5: TheSupreme Court onTuesday quashed theclearance granted to anambitious housing projectof the Tata Group inChandigarh on theground that it was veryclose to a “wildlife sanctu-ary”, saying the Punjabgovernment acted arbi-trarily and failed touphold the “doctrine ofpublic trust”.

The top court upheld aDelhi high court verdictthat had revoked sanc-tions given to CAMELOT,a project of Tata HousingDevelopment CompanyLtd (THDCL) spread over52.66 acres near Sukhnalake in Chandigarh.

Observing that “theearth and human civiliza-tion” are facing “the mostpotent threat” in the formof environmental andwildlife degeneration, abench headed by justiceArun Mishra slammedthe Punjab governmentfor according sanction tothe project in which thestate MLAs were to get anapartment each.

“The entire exercise ofobtaining clearance relat-ing to the project isquashed. We regret thatsuch a scenario hasemerged in the matter and

that it involved a largenumber of MLAs ofPunjab legislativeAssembly. The entire exer-cise smacks of arbitrari-ness on the part of thegovernment, includingfunctionaries. Thus, wedismiss the appeals withthe directions mentionedabove,” the bench, alsocomprising justices M.R.Shah and B.R. Gavai, said.

The apex court’s verdictcame on the appeal ofTHDCL against a 2017judgement of the DelhiHC in which it had saidthat the project site was“found to be a part of thearea of Sukhna Lake” andthe permission granted tothe project by the NagarPanchayat was set aside.

The bench said that thecourt “has to perform itsduty” when authorities

have failed to protect thewildlife sanctuary and itseco--sensitive zone asthere was a need to stop“environmental degrada-tion and wildlife degener-ation” to protect the Earthand civilisation.

“The need to protectflora and fauna whichconstitutes a major por-tion of our ecosystem isimmediate. Developmentand urbanization comingat the cost of adverselyaffecting our natural sur-roundings will in turnimpact and be the cause ofhuman devastation as wasseen in the 2013 floods inUttarakhand and in 2018in Kerala,” it said.

The total ‘CAMELOT’housing project area,located in Mohali district,was 52.66 acres out ofwhich 41.54 acres was tobe developed for grouphousing. The parkingfacility was beingdesigned to accommodate3,645 vehicles and pro-posed maximum height ofthe building was to be92.65 metres. The bench,after dealing with factualand legal issues pertain-ing to the case, said thePunjab government hadfailed to act on the basis ofthe “doctrine of publictrust”. — PTI

Kolkata, Nov. 5: Hailingthe achievements of thecountry’s scientists,Prime MinisterNarendra Modi onTuesday saidChandrayaan-2 was asuccessful mission andit had generated curiosi-ty about science amongthe youth.

Noting that no countryin the world wouldprogress without sci-ence and technology,

he insisted that scien-tific discoveries mightnot be of immediatehelp to the present gen-eration but could be ben-eficial in the future.

“Our scientists workedhard on Chandrayaan 2(mission to the moon).Everything didn’t go asplanned but the missionwas successful. If youlook at the broader per-spective, you will see itis a major feat in India’slist of scientific achieve-ments,” Mr Modi said,while addressing IndiaInternational ScienceFestival in Kolkata viavideo conferencing.

Communications withC h a n d r a y a a n - 2 ’ sVikram lander to ISRO’sground station were lostjust before its soft land-ing on the hitherto unex-plored lunar south polein the early hours of onSeptember 7.

If the lander hadpulled off the historictouchdown, the countrycould have joined theUS, Russia and China insoft landing on the lunarsurface.

The Prime Ministersaid the Chandrayaan-2mission had generatedcuriosity among theyoung and the old alike.

“Scientific researchcannot be like preparingnoodles or buyinginstant pizza, it requirespatience and the out-come of such researchcan provide long termsolution to people,” MrModi stated.

There is no failure inscience and there areonly efforts, experi-ments and success, hesaid. — PTI

RABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURYBHOPAL, NOV. 5

An 80 km-long fortifica-tion crisscrossing throughteakwood forests andVindhyachal range ofmountains in MadhyaPradesh’s Raisen districthas remained an enigmafor archaeologists and his-torians, denying theancient gigantic wall aplace among prominentheritage sites of India.

Originating from a forestnear Gorakhpur village,nearly 150 km fromBhopal, and ending atChowkigarh, the fortifica-tion stands as high as 15 ftat some places and lies inruins in some otherplaces. A stretch of the

wall also lies unfinished.“Physical verification of

the fortification clearlyestablishes that it is a con-tinuous structure, at leastat the planning level. Avast stretch of wall isexposed prominently,while a portion of it lies inruins.

There are heaps of even-ly cut stone bricks foundat some place along itsroute indicating that theparticular stretch couldnot be completed due tosome reasons,” RajivChoubey, who along withretired archaeologist ofArchaeological Survey ofIndia (ASI) Narayan Vyasand historian VinodTiwari has recently com-pleted physical verifica-tion of the fortification,

told this newspaper onTuesday.

Mr Choubey, conserva-tion enthusiastic, has lit-erally made physical veri-

fication of “every inch” ofthe “ancient” fortification.

This would be the longestwall of India afterKumbalgarh in Rajasthan

(36 km), he said.“Preliminary examina-

tion of the structure sug-gests that the fortificationmay be 1000-year-old, built

during the rule of Parmardynasty that ruled west-Central India in 9th-13thcentury. But, more archae-ological studies are need-ed to ascertain the exactperiod when it was built”,Mr Vyas told this newspa-per. The wall is made ofsandstones, evenly cut andinterlocked.

“Remains of templesfound near the wall atsome places matches withParmar style of temples.Moreover, the fortifica-tion’s interlocked tech-nique matches the build-ing design of Bhojeswartemple, built duringParmar period, nearBhopal,” he said. “Parmardynasty had a history ofhostility with Kalchurikingdom,” Mr Vyas said.

SC quashes project by Tata near Sukhna

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatreyaduring a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI

Moon missiongenerated curiosity amongyouth, says PM

PARMOD KUMARNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

The Supreme Court onTuesday adjourned for10 days hearing on apublic interest suit seek-ing declaration that theprohibition on the entryof women in mosqueswas illegal and unconsti-tutional.

A Bench comprisingChief Justice designateJustice S.A.bonde,Justice S. Abdul Nazeerand Justice KrishnaMurari adjourned thehearing for ten daysobserving “We areadjourning it for 10 daysfor a different reason...”

Even as parties to thecase sought four weeksto file their responses onthe plea but court postedit after 10 days.

The court had in anearlier hearing said thatit would be hearing theplea for the entry ofwomen in mosques onlybecause of its judgmentin Sabarimala temple. Inlast hearing of the mat-ter on October 25, 2019,the top court had given aweek’s time to theCentre, NationalCommission for Women(NCW), Central WaqfCouncil, and All IndiaMuslim Personal LawBoard (AIMPLB) to filetheir response.

Mosque entryof women: SC adjourns hearing in case

In MP, crumbling ‘Great Wall of India’ craves attention

Lucknow, Nov. 5: Formermanaging director ofUttar Pradesh PowerCorporation Limited A.P.Mishra was arrested onTuesday in connectionwith the investment ofover `2,600 crore of thestate power employees’provident fund in thescam-hit DHFL.

His arrest came daysafter the state governmentrecommended a CBI probeinto the matter and UttarPradesh chief ministerYogi Adityanath directedthe director general of theeconomic offences wing toinvestigate the case tillthe CBI took over the mat-ter. “Mr Mishra has beenarrested. The economicoffences wing of the statepolice is probing the mat-ter and strict action willbe taken against thoseinvolved in this case,”Uttar Pradesh directorgeneral of police O.P.Singh told PTI.

An official spokesmansaid Mr Mishra, who wasclose to former CMAkhilesh Yadav andknown as “arab patiMishra”, was “sacked”from his post on March 24,2017, after the YogiAdityanath governmentcame to power.

“Apprehending his termi-nation, Mr Mishra tookaway many importantfiles. He was the first engi-neer to be promoted as theMD of the UPPCL and wasgiven extension thrice by

Akhilesh after his retire-ment,” he said, allegingthat Mr Mishra hadsought the Samajwaditicket to contest the LokSabha polls and wasinvolved in scams. — PTI

DHFL crisis spreads, UPdiscom’s ex-MD arrestedOfficer was sacked from post on March 24, 2017

Lucknow, Nov. 5:Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav onTuesday trashed allega-tions that the EPF moneyof UP power employeeswas transferred to thescam-hit DHFL in hisregime and demanded theresignation of chief min-ister Yogi Adityanath,holding him responsiblefor the “mess”.

Making a fresh demandfor a probe by a sittingSupreme Court or highcourt judge into thealleged EPF scam, MrYadav said the FIR in theEPF matter clearly stateswhen the money wastransferred to DHFL.

“No EPF money ofpower employees wastransferred to the DewanHousing FinanceCorporation Limited dur-

ing the previous SPregime,” the former chiefminister asserted at ahurriedly convened pressconference here.

“Adityanath should stepdown. The CM is so weakthat he cannot even askstate power ministerShrikant Sharma toresign,” Mr Yadav said.

Over `2,600 crore of thestate power employees’provident fund wasallegedly invested inscam-hit housing financefirm DHFL.

— PTI

EPF scam: Akhilesh holds Yogiresponsible, seeks resignation

The fortification stands as high as 15 ft at some placesbut lies in ruins in some other places.

Aurangabad, Nov. 5: Atleast ten cases of farmersuicides were reportedfrom Marathwada regionof Maharashtra in thelast four days as unsea-sonal rains damagedcrops, officials said onTuesday. In all thesecases, reasons for the sui-cide were yet to be ascer-tained.

Heavy unseasonal show-ers have laid waste toKharif crops such as soy-bean, jowar, maize andcotton in this centralMaharashtra region.

Three incidents offarmer suicide werereported in Nanded dis-trict since November 1, asenior district officialtold PTI. In Beed district,two farmers committedsuicide in the last threedays, said a senior dis-trict official. “We cannotcomment on whetherthose deaths were due todamage caused to thecrops by the rain orindebtedness,” he said. InLatur district, three inci-dents of farmer suicideswere reported. — PTI

Rain damage: 10 farmersuicides in 4 days in Maha

CHANDIGARH

Akhilesh Yogi

■ ‘Housing project close to sanctuary’

◗ The bench, afterdealing with factualand legal issuespertaining to thecase, said thePunjab governmenthad failed to act onthe basis of “doc-trine of public trust”

■ Continued from Page 1and other dignitaries whowill be part of the inauguraljatha to Kartarpur Sahib onNovember 9. Sources saidthe list was sent much inadvance to Pakistan, but noconfirmation has beenreceived on that.

Former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, Punjabchief minister AmarinderSingh, and Union ministersHarsimrat Kaur Badal andHardeep Singh Puri areamong the dignitaries whowill be travelling throughthe Kartarpur Corridor onthe inauguration day. It hasbeen made clear that DrManmohan Singh and oth-ers will travel as pilgrimsand not as invitees for theinauguration planned bythe Pakistan government.

Besides, there is also lot ofconfusion on the Indian sideafter Pakistan PM ImranKhan’s tweet on Fridaywhere he announced waiverof the mandatory 10-dayregistration process forIndian Sikh pilgrims need-ed to visit Kartarpur SahibGurdwara, and carrying ofpassports as identity proof.Mr Khan also announcedwaiver of the $20 service feefor all Indian pilgrims com-ing on the inauguration day,November 9, and on GuruNanak’s 550th birth

anniversary, November 12.“For Sikhs coming for pil-

grimage to Kartarpur fromIndia, I have waived off 2requirements: i) They wontneed a passport — just avalid ID; ii) They no longerhave to register 10 days inadvance. Also, no fee will becharged on day of inaugura-tion & on Guruji’s 550thbirthday”, Mr Khan hadtweeted on Friday.

However, sources in theIndian government said sofar no official communica-tion has reached them. Theyadded that any change, asannounced by the PakistanPM, would mean modifica-tion of the Memorandum ofUnderstanding signedbetween the two countrieson October 24. In such a sce-nario, a fresh MoU will haveto be signed.

“There is absolute confu-sion created by Pakistan PMImran Khan’s tweet that nopassports will be requiredto undertake the pilgrim-age. This requirement is,however, mentioned in theMOU. There has been nooffer from Pakistan toamend the MoU in light ofMr Khan’s tweet. Pilgrimsare, therefore, unclear onthe documents they need tocarry,” the sources added.

The Indian side is alsoupset that Pakistan unilat-

erally decided on the pro-gramme and timing of theinaugural jatha without tak-ing the Indian government’sinputs in this matter intoaccount. “Critical informa-tion such as medical facili-ties available and securityarrangements for pilgrimswere also not shared,” thesources said.

A large number of IndianSikhs on Tuesday visitedthe Kartarpur SahibGurdwara and installed agolden palanquin at theshrine.

Pakistan had on Mondayreleased the photographs ofthe illuminated GurdwaraKartarpur Sahib and thecorridor along with the offi-cial song of the opening cer-emony. On Sunday, Pakistanreleased a commemorativestamp on the occasion ofthe 550th birth anniversaryof Guru Nanak. It wasannounced Pakistan Postwill set up a post office atthe Kartarpur complex tohelp Sikh pilgrims, whileanother post office will beopened at Nankana Sahib.

Pakistan has, meanwhile,made it mandatory for touroperators to obtain a NoObjection Certificate fromits interior ministry beforetaking foreign Sikhs,besides Indians, toKartarpur Sahib.

Confusion over Kartarpur■ Continued from Page 1six district courts — TisHazari, Karkardooma,Saket, Dwarka, Rohiniand Patiala House —have been protestingagainst police brutalityand not attending courtsince Monday.

Police’s prompt actionagainst its own person-nel, and the viral video ofMonday’s seeminglyunprovoked attack on acop at Saket districtcourt, led to the outrageand protests by cops onTuesday.

Though service rulesbar police personnelfrom holding protests, onTuesday, 2,000-odd per-sonnel laid siege outsidethe Police Headquarters,rejecting their chief ’spleas. The protestorsblocked traffic at ITO,one of Delhi’s major traf-fic intersections, whiletheir families, includingwomen and children,held a candle light marchat India Gate.

The policemen saidthey were upset overwhat they perceived aslack of concern abouttheir well-being, and theyfeared being targetedwhen in uniform. Yet,taking care not to disruptthe functioning of police

stations in the city, thecops were protesting inshifts. Police personneljoined the protest afterfinishing their respectiveduties. Faced with angrycops wearing blackbands, the police com-missioner came out ofhis office to assure theagitators that their con-cerns will be addressed.“We have to behave like adisciplined force. Thegovernment and the peo-ple expect us to upholdthe law, it is our bigresponsibility. I urge youto resume duty,” MrPatnaik told the policepersonnel. “The last fewdays have been testingfor us. A judicial inquiryis underway and Irequest you to have faithin the process.”

Mr Patnaik’s appeals topacify the cops, however,were drowned by jeers of“Go back, Go back”. In ashow of lack of faith intheir leadership, the agi-tating police personnelalso held up the poster ofone of India’s super cops,Kiran Bedi, with the slo-gan, “We Need You”.They also shouted,“Humara Commissionerkaisa ho, Kiran Bedijaisa ho”. In 1988, MsBedi had famously

clashed with lawyers andhad stood her ground.

Holding up placardswith slogans such as “Weare human in police uni-forms”, “We are notpunching bags” and“Protectors NeedProtection”, some police-women urged their sen-iors to stand with them tosave the honour of theuniform. The wife of aconstable, protesting atIndia Gate, said, “Ourmen are on duty aroundthe clock so that the peo-ple can celebrate everyfestival without fear. Butwhile making those sac-rifices, they get thrashedon the roads. Don’t wehave feelings or anyrights?” As the agitationgained momentum withpolice associations fromseveral states extendingsupport and threateningto march to Delhi, homeministry stepped in totake stock of the situa-tion. The Centre rushedto the Delhi high court onTuesday, urging that itsorder for “no coerciveaction against advo-cates”, passed on Sundayfollowing the lawyers-police clash at Tis Hazaricomplex, should not beapplicable on the subse-quent incident, specifi-

cally the Saket incident. A bench of Chief

Justice D.N. Patel andJustice C. Hari Shankarissued a notice to the BarCouncils to get theirmembers to exerciserestraint and sought theresponse of the BarCouncil of India and sev-eral other bar associa-tions of national capitalon the Centre’s plea.

The Bar Council ofIndia on Tuesday wroteto bar bodies askingthem to identify lawyers“indulging in hooligan-ism” and requested advo-cates to end their protest,which is “bringing badname to the institution”.

BCI chairman MananKumar Mishra in his let-ter said sparing such“rowdy elements” is tar-nishing the image of theinstitution.

“The incidents of beat-ing policemen on bike bysome of Saket lawyers,assault of an auto driver,manhandling generalpublic are most unfortu-nate and Bar Council ofIndia is not going to toler-ate it. These are acts ofgrave misconduct,” theletter said.

Lawyers, however, saidthey would continue toboycott work.

Khaki revolt rattles capital city

During her recent concert inDelhi, “Nightingale of theSouth” Bombay Jayashri,who is an ambassador for the

US-based Earth Day Network, spoke ofthe song she has composed and sungfor the network, a salutation toMother Earth “Dharti Ma”. (Theother artiste ambassadors areKaushiki Chakravorty and Ricky Kej.)

The simple yet poignant lyrics ofthe under-two-minute song are“Dharti Ma pranaam, tujh par nirb-har hum, sadeeyon se tummne sabhiko dee jeevan”. As the video opens,there is a stark message “The Earthcan outlive us, we need it more than itneeds us.”

The haunting strains of the sarangiplayed by Ustad Murad Ali Khan,accompanying the song in music

inspired by Raga Kalyani (or Aimanin the North) combined with the beau-tiful visuals of the green trees, rain-drops falling, a sunset, a turtle swim-ming add to the power of BombayJayashri’s molten, unusually tim-bered voice. Jayashri shared “M.T.Aditya played the percussion andmixed and mastered the song,,Chetana Shrikant wrote the lyrics,Rathna compiled the video and Amritarranged the music. The inclusion ofthe chorus sung by children from achoir put together by Sudha Raja ofChennai was important to awakenawareness on environmental issuesamongst the young. The entire teamwas young, under 25 years.”

Continuing, Jayashri said, “I feelvery strongly about the misuse ofmaterials in our world — we live in asociety that uses and throws awaywithout thinking through the conse-quences of that misuse. Nothing goesaway ever; it just adds to the wasteMother Earth is collecting. We need todo this right now; we have alreadydone too much damage, and every dayeach one of us needs to do something,even if it’s within a 5 km radius

around us. I saw lots of audio andvideo presentations from all over the

world, done by musicians and dancerson the issue of preservation, and it

was inspiring, but it’s not enough.Each one of us has to be consciousand act responsible every day”.

I asked what led to the song.Jayashri replied: “The Earth DayNetwork representatives in Indiaasked me to compose and sing a songthat could be used as a rallying cho-rus at all the events the Networkholds all over India. We all feel thesame way about needing to conserve,and protect but maybe I have a loudervoice that is heard more often, theysaid. So I agreed. For me it’s a way ofigniting people’s consciousness to thecause musically. I feel it’s my duty towhatever I can to contribute to acause as important as this. It took metime to work out how to structure thesong – it needed to be very simple andeasy to remember and sing to. Yet themelody needed to be something thatwould not be forgotten. I also wantedto create something that reflects mypersonality as the composer andsinger. I tried out 2-3 options beforezoning in on this tune.”

Continuing her memories of makingthe song, the diva said “then the lyricswere the next issue – the suggestions

Earth Day Network sent me in Englishdid not lend themselves to easy trans-lation. Though I have grown up inBombay and am no stranger to Hindi,I don’t really think in Hindi, if youknow what I mean! So for me to com-pose in Hindi was a challenge. Finallyafter several trials and errors I askeda friend with whom I have grown up inBombay, Chetana Shrikant to composethe lyrics for me, and I think they con-vey what I wanted.”

Jayashri added earnestly, “I believethis ancient land of ours with all itswisdom needs to be preserved. I singall the time on “bhakti”, but this sub-ject is as important. We should plantmore trees, use less water – all theselittle things add up. I hope “Dharti Maacts as a reminder to everyone wholistens to it to be caring of eachspecies on our planet, to avoid usingsingle use plastic, and to consumeless. We will formally be launching itsoon.” (“Dharti Ma” is now availableon all the usual platforms.)

Shailaja Khanna writes on music,musicians and matters of music

PAGE

5Culture+WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Saluting Mother Earth, song by song, to save the planet

While great western minds likeGoethe and Forster have eulo-gised Kalidasa’s Abhijnana-sakuntalam as a jewel in theworld of drama literature —

“kavyesu natakam ramyam tatra ramyasakuntala”, for some of the lofty minded inIndia who scoff at Sanskrit for being a deadlanguage which few Indians can relate to, theevening at the Convention Hall of the JawaharLal University, where Kalidasa’s Abhi-jnanasakuntalam Natakam in its Sanskrit andPrakrit version was staged, would have provedan eye-opener. Titled Rasa-Kirti, The Natakam,a joint venture by the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity and Satraranga (a Trust forCultural Relations) celebrating the goldenjubilee year of JNU, it was an exceptionalexperiment at several levels.

The presentation was based on the KashmiriShaaradaa script (the first descendent of theBrahmi script of Ashokan inscriptions)ascribed to the seventh century and the oldestof the known recensions of the work in otherscripts like the Maithili, the Bengali, the SouthIndian and the Devanagari (the last being theshortest and the most popular was created in aslate as the 16th century).The entire credit fordiscovering and procuring this script afteryears of search, and critically editing it, goes toProf. Vasantkumar M. Bhatt whose herculeantask apart from tracing recensions from thescript written on birch bark preserved in theBodleian University and one at BhandarkarOriental Research Institute at Poona amidstothers finally succeeded in procuring theShaaradaa version referred to by ancientKashmiri scholars like Vaamana,Aanandavardhan and Abhinavagupta ofKashmir, Bhojaraja of Madhya Pradesh andHemchandra Acharya of Gujarat. That thismost authentic script of AbhijnanasakuntalaNatakam should be staged in the Sattriya formin the typical Ankia-Nat performance traditioncreated by Sankaradeva and followed in theSattras, under the direction of Dr BabhanandaBarbayan of Uttar Kamalabari Sattra, madethis a unique occasion. The Satraranga is alsointroducing Citrabhagavata through a panel ofpaintings by Rajib Kakoti onAbhijnanasakuntalam.

Sankaradeva being primarily a preacherwhose literary works spread his ekasarandharma, a play like Abhijnanasakuntalamneeded some adjustments, its literary Sanskritexcellence different from the Vrajaboli (withthe sutradhar using Sanskrit) language usedby Sankaradeva in what he called his natakas,based on Krishna episodes from the BhagavataPurana.

The play in the traditional Ankia Bhaona pat-tern in Vrajboli and Assamese had its PurvaRanga in the typical Sattra tradition withDhemali — with the Gayan-Bayan troupe com-prising rhythm keepers, six playing the Kholwith two keeping time on the Khartal in therear — all artists from the Uttar KamalabariSattra, being led by Prof. BhabanandaBorbayan. The absorbing rendition simultane-ously combining Khol playing with specifiedfoot movements and chalis with hands held inhastas was charged with vivacity, while exud-ing an all-pervading inner serenity.

After the Purva ranga the shloka in Sanskritfollowed with the sutradhar or sutradhari inthis case, entering, explaining the shloka andthe situation in the play. Sutradhari Naach hadtypical Sattriya dance movements, though inoriginal Sanskrit natakam, the sutradhar’sintroduction is largely through gestures or has-tas. The narrative began with hero Dushyanta,

while hunting, straying into anashram in the process of chasing a

deer — to be firmly told that on thisnon-violent soil, killing animals

was prohibited. The dance in the narrative

as one of the main compo-nents was of a muted char-

acter — with foot move-ments, and gaits for dif-

ferent characters,postural changes,

hand gestures and facial expressions — andless of vigorous sweeping over stage space withintricate footwork, barring occasions.

The language teaching experts did a wonder-ful job with the spoken Sanskrit diction. AbhaySingh as Dushyanta was impressive as wasPragya in the role of Sakuntala. JhilmilPathak and Sumanya Kashyap as Anusuya andPraiyambada and the other two maids, alsoexcellent singers, impressed. Actors as the deerand the lion were quaint. But above all in thesheer expertise of enactment was Sanjay Yadavas Vidhusaka, his malleable face mappingevery moment beautifully (in original AnkiaNat plays, a regular character like the jester, sotypical of Sanskrit theatre, was absent —though post Sankardeva particularly, some reg-ular characters were given a comic dimension.)

The familiar theme — and the scene ofSakuntala, trying to convince Dushyanta in astate of amnesia, that she is his wedded wife,was very moving. After involved circum-stances result in the ring that had slipped fromSakuntala’s finger reaching Dushyanta, recol-lection sets in with deep remorse at the harmdone. Once again on the Ashram territory, hesees young Bharat playing with a lion cub —and finally comes the recognition that this ishis son — and reconciliation. Simple props likea movable tree, round which so much actiontakes place, flower pots, elegant white archesformed by pleated white cloth strung betweentwo poles suggesting the palace interior, werevery imaginatively conceived.

Most impressive and contributing handsome-ly to the performance tone was the music — inthe typical Assamese style with words inVrajboli — even while the spoken dialoguewas in Sanskrit and Prakrit. And rightfrom the start after Hari Bol, starting withraga Saranga, music it was that evoked

the required mood

and state of mind. Vocalists Dibakar Das,Dr.Rishiraj Pathak, Rinja Risa Kaushik,Sumaya Kashyap, led by BhabanandaBarbayan on Khol assisted by Mridanga andKhol by Niranjan Saikia Bayan, GovindaKalita bayan and Manto Baruah providing softcymbal taal, and the very melodious flute andviolin interventions by Bitual Duwari andDwipendra Sarma made for a truly sensitivecombine.

Barring the odd whistle and catcall, whichone puts down to an exuberance of animal spir-its of youth, the complete attention in whichthe proceedings were watched by the packedhall of students, was a feather in the cap of theactors, and kudos to the JNU authorities forthinking of an effort of this nature for the cen-tenary celebrations!

The week’s similar aesthetic continuum inthe Natya Shastra style of enactment based on“Karna Gatha”in Hindi by playwright Asif AliHaider Khan, saw a power-packed presentationat Abhimanch by the second year students ofNSD — the play designed by Rita Ganguly withher visualisation, choreography, music, designand direction.

Sanskrit theatre combining the heard(sravya) and the seen (drishya) was describedby Bharata in his oft quoted statement in theNatya Shastra “Na tajjaana natacchilpa na savidya na sakala (There is no wise maxim, nolearning, no art or craft, no device, no actionthat is not found reflected in drama)”. Natyamas bhavanukirtanam is not reality but an aes-theticised concept, and an art construct of uni-versalised mental states of being. The idea ofsadharanikarana or a process of universalisa-tion and becoming one with this (tanmayibha-vana) is what acting is all about, involvingabhinaya which has four expressional modes— through the body (angika) through speech(vacika), true expression (sattvika) andthrough the costumed body with ornaments(aharya) setting in motion an entire processenabling the actor’s alienation — becoming onewith the role stepping away from his persona.Abhinaya through hand gestures plays a veryimportant role. Rita Ganguly’s imaginativechoreography, in the excellent movement visu-alisation had a minimalism — like a few ChhauHathyadhara steps accompanied byKunhiraman’s Chenda rhythm evoking the feelof a whole edifice of a bitterly fought war.Along with wonderfully designed costumes byDolly Aluwalia Tiwari carried with easy graceby the actors, and Kajal Ghosh’s superb musicarrangement with the bhav-soaked singing andpercussive interludes creating mood, and aboveall Souti Chakraborty’s light designing — allcame together to create magical feel of abygone era.

The entire auditorium ambience with Ajantapaintings on the wall and delightfully envi-sioned set executed by Sagnik Chakraborthyset the tone for the Natya Sastra mode ofPurvaranga, Nandi with the important charac-ter’s Praveshika with Jarjara Sthapana to wardoff all evil with Rita Ganguly’s voice on thesound tape singing Saraswati Vandana“Yakundendu” in Shivaranjani, followed byRavana’s ‘Prachanda Tandavam Shivam’slokam. Prerna Joshi as sutradhar introducedthe characters.

Characters appearing hidden behind thetiraisheela (screen held on both sides)

made for some indelible images likethe feet underneath moving in excel-lent rhythmic coordination, or justhand gestures and mimetic faces

above the curtain telling the story. Actor Vikas as Karn, with his perfect

ardhamandali stance many dancerswould be proud of, evocatively under-lined the melancholia and aloneness

of his existence. In a uniformly well-directedcast, one specially appreciates Bhushan SanjayPatil who as Karn’s horse was out of the ordi-nary. Quivering nostrils, with feet shuffling orin a canter or a gallop, he became one with hischaracter.

The tempo never sagged in a smoothly mov-ing narrative — so painstakingly rehearsedwere the actors in what was not their usual the-atre form. Kudos to the entire team!

The writer is an eminent dance critic

ShailajaKhanna meanwhile

■ Based onKalidasa’sworld-famousplay, Rasa-Kirti,the Natakam,was an exceptionalexperimentwhich mesmerisedaudiences atJNU as did theNatya Shastra-style enact-ment of KarnaGatha by NSDstudents. Areview of bothperformances.

Scenes from Karna Gatha (above) andAbhijnanasakuntalam

Bombay Jayashri

Recapturing in Sanskrit, Pali and Hindithe old vibes of India’s total theatre

LeelaVenkataramanfocus

The debate between free trade and protection for the domestic econo-my is not a new one. Its shadow loomed over India as it declined atthe last minute to become a party to the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership agreement, which 15 other leading nations

subscribed to on Monday.India participated in the negotiation, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

who was at the regional summit in Bangkok where the RCEP was deliber-ated, pulled out at the last minute, arguing that India’s concerns had not been met.

Signatures are to be affixed to the agreement in 2020 and many among theparticipants, notably Australia, expressed the hope that when India comeson board, the RCEP will be a richer partnership.

There is a lurking fear among many of the “10 plus 6” — the 10 Asean coun-tries and six of their partners — that China will seek to dominate RCEP.With the burgeoning trade dispute between the United States and China,there is concern that China would try to cut itself some slack by seeking totake advantage of RCEP to the detriment of others. If India were in, it mighthelp balance the equation.

The discussions around globalisation at the turn of the century broughthome the reality that if a developingnation opted for globalisation, it shouldprepare itself by improving its exportcapacity and infrastructure, else it willsuffer over balance of payments, and thiswill have a widening negative impact,hurting domestic producers and con-sumers. Such a situation would be ready-made for political discontent.

After dithering, it’s just as well thatIndia chose to stay out of RCEP, billed asthe world’s most significant trade deal.The 16 participating nations made upnearly half the world’s population and 30per cent of its GDP. Such a large free tradearea is likely to confer economic benefitsall around, provided the participants

export with as much vigour as they import to meet the requirements of anexpanding economy.

However, the picture the Indian economy now, following a series of mis-conceived policy steps in the past five years, didn’t place it in the rightframe to take advantage of the free trade area. Manufacturing and exportdata have been plunging for two years. The banking sector is in turmoil.Agricultural productivity and wages are down. At such a time, joining afree trade area comprising some of the world’s boldest economies is toinvite trouble.

No wonder, the Congress Party campaigned against India’s entry intoRCEP, and rallied other Opposition parties which had planned a nationwide campaign against the economic situation from Tuesday. A PMOstatement Monday morning said the PM “sought to dispel the notion thatIndia is reluctant to join the RCEP trade deal”. Two days earlier, commerceminister Piyush Goyal targeted Congress president Sonia Gandhi onTwitter for opposing India joining RCEP. Just as well, though, that bravadotook a backseat.

6 NOVEMBER 2019

One of the biggest continuous concerns of most citizens of Indiaacross all regions, strata and political inclinations has been corrup-tion. Seasons of sudden hope for a fightback came sporadically,

turning an unknown person into an icon, but they faded without deliver-ing much. Institutionalised corruption only became stronger, rent seek-ing a given.

In Telangana, chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, emerging strongerfrom his stern, no-nonsense response, airing a politically incorrect replyto the arm-twisting tactics of RTC trade unions, is now on the cusp of mak-ing history by seeming firmly to go ahead and break the most corrupt ofsystems in any state government — land revenue.

The tragic incident, in which Ch. Vijaya Reddy, mandal revenue officerof Abdullapurmet in Telangana, was burnt to death in her office onMonday, has our heartfelt condolences, but the accused, who suffered par-tial burns, was apprehended by police within less than an hour. The three-day bandh call by revenue officials is prompted not by any love for thememory of their colleague but is a disguised resort to putting pressure onthe government to not bring in the new Land Revenue Act.

No citizen has yet recorded her or his name in history for having gotland registered, bought or sold it, or had grievances settled, without hav-ing to pay a bribe. Let an inhuman murder not distract us from thetragedy that is corruption by MROs, VROs and the like.

Mr Rao, who has long ago etched history by successfully leading an agi-tation for a separate Telangana, must now storm ahead and stamp out cor-ruption in revenue. Mr Rao can, and should, revolutionise our revenuesystem; land records must be digitised, buying, selling, managing, owningand renting land or property in Telangana must be made a 21st centuryexperience. We can learn from the Indian passport issuance experience.

“Kill Corruption in Revenue” — that should be the new identity for KCR.Other Indian states would be grateful to Telangana for leading the way.

Can KCR kill revenue graft?

Prudence wins as govtstays out of RCEP

THE ASIAN AGET. VENKATRAM REDDY

Editor in Chief

Printer & Publisher: T. VENKATESWARLU

THE ASIAN AGE offices are located at:New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi-110002. Phone: (011) 23211124.Mumbai: Sigma House, # 43, Ground Floor, R. A. Kidwai Marg, Near Wadala Rly Station, Wadala (West), Mumbai -400 031 Phone (022) 24195301 Fax (022) 24195347Kolkata: 4th Floor, Chowdhury Building, 8/1A Little Russel Street, Kolkata 700 071.Phone: (033) 2289 0676/77 Fax (033) 2289 0686Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office in the United KingdomAir surcharge for Kathmandu and J&K `1Published and Printed on behalf of and for◗ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002 at BFL Infotech Ltd., C-9, Sector-III, Noida -201301.◗ Mumbai: Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, Plot No 22, Digha MIDC, TTC Industrial Estate Area, Vishnu Nagar, Digha, Navi Mumbai-400708.◗ Kolkata: Satyajug Employees Cooperative Industrial Society Ltd, 13/A, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata 700 072. ◗ London: Quickmarsh Ltd, 8th Floor, Block 2, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ.RNI Registration number: 57290/94Postal registration numbers: DL(S)-05/4189/15-17

Manufacturing andexport data are

plunging. The bankingsector is in turmoil.

Agricultural productivityand wages are down. At

such a time, joining afree trade area compris-ing some of the world’sboldest economies is to

invite trouble.

c m y k c m y k

Welfare is bad is because it is at odds with theway human beings come to live satisfying lives

Love is what you’ve been through with somebody

CHARLES MURRAYMIND POWER

JAMES THURBER PAGE

6EditWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

The dharna began and seemsto be ending just as inexplica-bly if maulana’s garbledSunday night speech is any

indication. The ‘long march’ or dhar-na has now become a part of post-2008 politics. From the PPP govern-ment in 2009 to the PML-N in 2014and now the PTI, each governmenthas faced an onslaught of protestersroughly a year after coming intobeing.

Each dharna, sadly, is triggered bya false sense of overconfidence on thepart of the newly elected; the PPPwent back on its promise to restorethe judiciary and aggravated theproblem by sacking the PML-N gov-ernment in Punjab; the PML-Nignored the PTI’s rona dhona (lamen-tations) over the four constituenciesand the PTI’s short-sightedness hasbeen its unwarranted aggressiontowards the opposition. If it wasn’tenough to imprison the major leader-ship, it added to the problem byname-calling, threatening to with-draw facilities in jail, refusing to

issue production orders, etc.Of course, it has to be said that a

march is also triggered by what ishappening behind the scenes — forinstance, it is now widely believedthat the 2014 march/dharna wasused to pressure the then PML-Ngovernment and weaken its resolveto try Gen Musharraf. The dharnaended in the beginning of 2015, and ayear later, the former dictator left thecountry. Similarly, the 2009 marchalso weakened the PPP governmentconsiderably and there are chancesthe fate of the present governmentwill be no different.

But despite the behind-the-scenesmachinations, one is tempted toask if each government wouldhave faced a less uncomfortableposition if it had not been so dis-missive of other political partiesand opponents initially. But, onealso needs to see the other side.Compared to 2009 and 2014, there isdefinitely less uncertainty andpanic in the air. Fewer people arepredicting the end of a govern-

ment. Indeed, glancing back, itseems as if the uncertainty was atits height in 2009 when the marchwas about to begin. Back then, itwasn’t just Islamabad but alsoLahore which was under siege andthe government did its best to stopthe charge on Islamabad. The fearof the government being sent homewas palpable.

In 2014, there was a similar senseof uncertainty but it was less sothan in 2009. In contrast to the PPPcase, however, the PML-N govern-ment seemed to have learnt from2009 and didn’t put up much resis-tance. Protesters from Lahore aswell as Khyber Pakhtunkhwareached Islamabad quite smoothly.There was fear of the governmentbeing sent packing but somehow itseemed less probable than in 2009.

This time around, the uncertain-ty is even less so. Partly, this is dueto smoother civil-military ties —hence some are arguing that theuncertainty was higher in 2009 and2014 because the civilian govern-

ment wasn’t facing an invisibleenemy. However, it is also becauseit is now easier to assume that gov-ernments will complete theirterms. This could not be said withany certainty back in 2008. It is theproverbial silver lining.

But this is not to say that we, as asociety, should now consider routineprotesters demanding a govern-ment’s end. Apart from being wrongin principle, this should be a reasonfor worry, regardless of the crowdsor the government. Accidents canhappen and any government shouldbe wary of loss of life or injuries tothe innocent, which are possible ifthe state has to control or stop acrowd. It should never come to this.After Sunday night, it seems it will not.

Perhaps the maulana blinked onSunday because he is a politician;and politicians, however much theymay rant and threaten, will alwaysfind a way out. Politics is aboutcompromise and not a war to an end.

Despite his thundering, no politi-cian with stakes in the electoral sys-tem can blithely lead his supporterstowards a confrontation which cancost lives. Every voter matters;every life matters. And similarly, agovernment (even if it is led by aseemingly uncompromising ImranKhan) will opt for negotiations andhopefully provide face-saving to theprotesters. Indeed, we should neverunderestimate the innate commonsense of our politicians, howevermuch they may disappoint us. Andthere has been much to disappointus in the recent past.

Postscript: In all the chaos of thepast few days, the maulana may haveimpressed many with his politicalacumen but he has also revealed hisbigoted views on religion and gen-der, which prove why he will neverbe a mainstream leader. Such viewsdo not gel with the idea of democra-cy, however, much one harps oncivilian supremacy.

By arrangement with Dawn

Dharna politics:Push come to

shove, politicoscertain to blink

Toxic air, hungry kids:Divisive politics rules

Delhi hasrecently had aburst of unsea-sonal rain – abig relief amid

the dangerous air pollu-tion, officially labelled apublic health emergency.Perhaps, folks in othercities with blue skies willtake a temporary breakfrom trolling its resi-dents. The real worry isthat despite all the hand-wringing and non-stopcoughing, Delhiites andresidents of all the othercities in the country withdangerous levels of airpollution will settledown once again to afamiliar angst-laced res-ignation.

The story is the sameevery year.

Malnutrition and airpollution are among thetop health risks facingIndia. But in this coun-try, sadly, both are atrisk of being turned intosectarian, “us andthem”, either/or, binaryissues.

Listening to some of thepublic discourse aroundthese issues, you wouldnot think that they posesuch a grave threat toIndia’s present andfuture.

Take air pollution,which has been a topheadline grabber. Indiahas some of the world’smost polluted cities butevery Diwali, in recentyears, there is a templateresponse from a sectionof the populace who seebursting crackers as anessential part of being agood Hindu. This yearwas no different, despitethe Supreme Court’s rul-ing about “green fire-crackers” and mandatedtimes for bursting them.

Many people violatedthe rules. Some wereeven triumphalist. Theargument is that it is notonly firecrackers thatcontribute to poisonousair. The problem withthis argument is that noone ever said firecrack-ers alone were responsi-ble for foul air.

Different factors at dif-ferent times of the year

cumulatively contributeto making Delhi and somany other Indian citiessmokestacks, shaving offyears of the lives of theirresidents. There is cropburning, currently a keyreason for the noxiousair in much of northIndia; there is vehicularemission, road dust, andother factors. Togetherthey make life and theair we breathe hellish.

There has been endlessdiscussion on whatshould be done but thediscussions come tonothing because eachcontributory factor is pit-ted against the other, andin the politicallypolarised milieu in Indiatoday, this also meansthat the Central govern-ment and governmentsof the affected states areunable to brainstormtogether meaningfully.

Polluted air has wide-ranging health impacts— an elevated risk forheart attacks andstrokes, a higher risk ofasthma, reduced foetalgrowth, stunted develop-ment of children’s lungs,and cognitive impair-ment which can impactone’s life chances.

Twenty-two of world's30 most polluted citiesare in India, according toa recent report byGreenpeace.

“In 2016, a WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) study found that14 of the 20 world’s mostpolluted cities belongedto India. Kanpur, inUttar Pradesh, emergedas the city with the high-est PM2.5 level, standingat 173 (17 times higherthan the limit set for safe-ty). It is estimated that in2016, over nine lakhdeaths were caused dueto air pollution in India.Some other cities withhigh PM 2.5 levelsinclude Faridabad,Varanasi, Gaya, Patna,Delhi, Lucknow andAgra. Delhi, as the capi-tal of the country, toogained notorious reputa-tion as a result of itsseverely poor air quali-ty,” a report by Observer

Research Foundation, athink tank, noted.

Delhi grabs the head-lines but the poor airquality affects residentsof the other cities just asmuch.

The other big issuewhich is critical toIndia’s future is childunder-nutrition.

The latest GlobalHunger Index rankedIndia at the 102nd posi-tion, trailing its SouthAsian neighbours. Theindex is a weighted aver-age of stunting and wast-ing rate, and the indexnoted that the percentageof wasted children inIndia increased from 16.5to 20.8 between 2008-12and 2014-18.

Poor nutrition in earlylife is extremely damag-ing and leads to stuntingand loss of IQ, which hasconsequences for theindividual, the commu-nity and the country. Arecent nutrition surveyby the health and familywelfare ministry has alsofound that 35 per cent ofchildren under the age offive years in India arestunted, while 17 per centare wasted and 33 percent are underweight.

But guess what is thebig controversy inMadhya Pradesh, whichhas a large number ofundernourished chil-dren, especially in thetribal areas?

The Madhya Pradeshgovernment’s plan toprovide eggs to childrenin anganwadis is beingslammed by theBharatiya Janata Party(BJP), currently in theOpposition in the state.

Madhya Pradesh BJPleader Gopal Bhargava isin the news for his state-ment that making chil-dren eat eggs and meatcan turn them into “can-nibals later in life”. MrBhargava also says eat-ing non-vegetarian foodis against Indian culture,a statement that is both absurd and totally

inaccurate.“What else can you

expect from this mal-nourished government?They are now feedingchildren eggs… forcethem to eat chicken, mut-ton. Indian culture does-n’t allow eating non-veg-etarian food. If theybegin to eat eggs andmeat from childhood…they may become canni-bals later,” Mr Bhargavatold reporters.

Eggs are universallyrecognised as a source ofcheap protein. How doeggs in the diet of chil-dren at anganwadisbecome a political issue?Once again, it is the sametemplate — a seriousissue being framed as asectarian one, stokingdivisive passions.

Unsurprisingly, thosepitching politics againstnutrition and rooting foronly vegetarian fooddon’t actually go downand see the quality ofvegetarian food that thepoor children typicallyeat. More often than not,they don’t get the neces-sary nutrients.

The losers are the chil-dren.

The BJP state unit hasdescribed the MP gov-ernment’s move as“interfering with thefaith and religiousbeliefs of the people” andhas sworn to oppose theproposal.

Under the previousBJP government, a simi-lar scheme was proposedin 2015. But ShivrajSingh Chouhan, the thenchief minister, junked it.

Which brings me to themoot point.

In which other countrydo polluted air and eggsbecome polarising issueswith political parties andinterest groups engagedin perennial finger-point-ing at each other whilethe people continue tosuffer?

It’s time to say “stop”and not let anyone getaway with a diversion-ary narrative or withthwarting public healthgoals in the name of reli-gion and culture andparty politics. Our livesand livelihoods are atstake.

The writer focuses ondevelopment issues in

India and emergingeconomies. She can be

reached atpatralekha.chatterjee

@gmail.com.

How do eggs in thediet of children at

anganwadisbecome a politicalissue? Once again,

it is the same template — a seri-

ous issue beingframed as a sectar-

ian one, stokingdivisive passions.

WHITHER FEMINISM?IN A HEART-WRENCHINGincident, a woman in a MadhyaPradesh village was allegedlystarved for delivering her seconddaughter, leading to her death. Forall those who once presumed thatpost-feminism has arrived, perhapsat the start of the last decade of theprevious millennium when societystood on the cusp of the second andthe third waves, such a case 30 yearshence is a rude eye-opener. Thecourts are our last resort, but first letus boycott these bigots who feelcalled upon to commit such inhumancrimes.

M. Hasan QasmiBengaluru

BREATHE EASYTHE SUPREME COURT’S direc-tions to the state administrationand the police of Punjab, Haryanaand Uttar Pradesh to end stubbleburning or face the consequenceshave not come a moment too soon.The court has rightly pointed outthat the state governments areresponsible for creating the “gaschamber” in Delhi, and no visiblesteps have been taken to rein in thepollution. Meanwhile, the “odd-even” scheme seems to be having asalubrious effect on Delhi's atmos-phere. Finally, it is time for the citi-zens of the national capital tobreathe easy.

N.J. Ravi ChanderBengaluru

LETTERSSHOW OF SPINEIndia declining to sign theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP) pact is definitelya bold move on the partof the Narendra Modigovernment. At a time ofdownturn and distress, ithas come as the greatestof relief to Indian industryand the rain- anddrought-hit farmers.Pulling out of the dealdespite the presence ofChina and Australia was atough call to make. Butgood sense seems tohave prevailed on theModi government and nocompromise on coreinterests now seems tobe its new motive.

Kavya ShahUjjain

Every Monday the best letter ofthe week wins `500. Email:

[email protected] Else, sendto Jawaharlal Nehru NationalYouth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal

Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110002

Subhani

Arifa Noor

Patralekha ChatterjeeDev 360

View from Pakistan

OpedWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

CRY-IT-OUTER INSOMNIA IDENTITYWord SPY

A person who practises or advocatesletting babies cry themselves to sleep

The erroneous belief that one has trouble sleeping, whichleads to symptoms experienced by true insomniacs

America’s waron Iraq sig-nalled theend of theUnited Na-tions as themain inter-n a t i o n a l

peacekeeping mechanism. It’snot that nations have not defiedthe United Nations before.Israel has been doing it fordecades. Even India has, fromtime to time, cocked a snook atthe UN. But this was the firsttime that a permanent memberof the UN Security Council hadso blatantly and wantonly dis-regarded the prevailing worldsentiment and opinion.

Even though the UN was fash-ioned by the victors of WorldWar II, its birth had its originsin the darkest days of that peri-od when leaders of nine occu-pied countries in Europe —Belgium, Czechoslovakia,France, Greece, Luxembourg,Holland, Norway, Poland, andYugoslavia — met representa-tives of Britain and theCommonwealth nations inLondon on June 12, 1941, andsigned a declaration pledging towork for a free world, where allnations could live in peace andsecurity. This was called theInter-Allied Declaration andwas the first step towards theestablishment of the UN. Two

months later, US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt andBritish Prime MinisterWinston Churchill announcedthe Atlantic Charter, not onlyexpressing similar hopes, butalso eventual disarmament andfull economic cooperation. OnJanuary 1, 1942 they signedwhat came to be known as theDeclaration of the UnitedNations, approving the aims ofthe Atlantic Charter.

More interestingly, this wasthe first time the phrase“United Nations” was used. Butthe creation of the UnitedNations Organisation for pre-serving world peace had to waittill October 30, 1943, whenBritain, China, the SovietUnion and the United Statessigned the Moscow Declarationon General Security. The signa-tories to the MoscowDeclaration then met continu-ously from August to October1944 in Washington D.C. andfashioned a basic plan for aninternational peace-keepingorganisation. The centrepieceof this plan was a SecurityCouncil, in which the US, theSoviet Union, Britain, Chinaand France would be perma-nent members. Fifty nationsthen met in San Francisco onApril 25, 1945, 12 days beforeGermany surrendered and fourmonths before Japan was

defeated, to consider this plan.After much deliberation the dif-ferences, mostly over the vetopower demanded by the BigThree — US, USSR and UK —were papered over and on June26, 1945 all the 50 nations pre-sent signed the charter and theUN formally came into being.

The UN has grown muchsince then, reflecting thechanges in the world mostlydue to decolonisation, fragmen-tation of the USSR, and the divi-sion of some founder memberstates like Yugoslavia. The UNnow has 191 members, andSwitzerland was the last to joinon September 10, 2002. Theworld has also changed in othersignificant ways. But most sig-nificant of all was the demise ofthe USSR and the end of theCold War. The Cold War andthe balance of power betweenthe two super-powers ironicallyenough served as a guarantor ofthe peace and security ofnations that came under accept-ed spheres of influence. Withthe world poised a button pushaway from Armageddon, theUN, and especially the SecurityCouncil, became a ready forumto facilitate constant dialoguebetween the superpowers, andit admirably served this pur-pose.

True, it did not preventregional wars from eruptingconstantly, but it did prevent ageneral war of ruinous dimen-sions. Both superpowers usual-ly heeded the UN because theother was there. The veto pow-ers ensured that one bloc couldnot override the interests of theother one. The veto thus cameto be used 252 times since 1946.It was used the maximum in thefirst decade of the UN, between

1946 and 1955, when it was exer-cised 83 times, with the USSRalone using it 80 times. Thisdropped off to 31 and 26 respec-tively between 1956-65. TheWest, led by the US, came to usethe veto more often since 1966,using it 115 times as opposed to15 by the USSR. Since 1996,Russia has not exercised theveto even once, while the UShas used it six times and Chinatwice. This presumably reflectsthe shape of the world order tocome!

As an immediate response to adestructive world war, the UNreflected the reality and ethosof that age. Nothing reflectedthis more than the compositionof the permanent members ofthe Security Council. Four outof the five were “white”nations. Two, China andFrance, were defeated nations.Two, Britain and France, werecolonial powers. The other 10members of the SecurityCouncil are elected membersfrom the various regions. Theseare members are without theveto and with little voice orclout. Their plight is best illus-trated by the admission of theColombian representative,Ambassador Jaramillo, that

even as president of theSecurity Council he was“forced to stand outside thechamber where the PermanentFive were meeting, and beg forpieces of information as a per-sonal favour from the perma-nent representatives as theywere leaving”.

Thus, it is very ironical thatwhile the Cold War assured rel-evance of the UN and maskedthe basically flawed nature ofthe Security Council, its endseems to have made the UNincreasingly irrelevant. Thelatest decision of the US andBritain to bypass the SecurityCouncil and seek the disarma-ment of Iraq on their ownunderscores this irrelevance. Itis even more ironic thatFrance’s threat to use its vetohas forced the US and Britain tobypass the Security Council,where it is most likely that theUS even now has majority sup-port for its increasingly unpop-ular course of action.

Most members of the UN,including long-time Americanhangers-on like Australia andNew Zealand, would like to seethe veto go. On the other hand,by doing so and by equatingtiny countries like Seychelles(pop. 79,000) with India (pop.1.03 billion), it will end up mak-ing the unequal equal, which isas undesirable as making theequal unequal. While the singleveto does not reflect a desirabledemocratisation, to have aSecurity Council of electedequals will only render it moreineffective and irrelevant. Thericher countries, for one, willfind themselves even more rep-resented than now. A few yearsago, Japan defeated India’s bidto become an elected member of

the Security Council by offer-ing Toyota limousines to for-eign ministers and ambas-sadors of voting countries.Many accepted. Even withinthe Security Council, the abili-ty of some countries to havetheir way will make it vulnera-ble to unwise choices. Morerecently, the US ambassador tothe UN snarled over an openmike to the Yemeni ambas-sador that his vote just cost thatcountry $100 million. The fol-lowing week the US suspendedits aid package to Yemen.

Thus, while a SecurityCouncil of a smaller number ofcountries is desirable to makethe UN effective, it must alsoreflect world realities and bemore representative of itsdiversity. For instance, Africaand Latin America are not rep-resented in the PermanentFive. Likewise, the Islamicworld does not find a place.India, which has a fifth of theworld’s population, does notfind a place. The biggest econo-my in Europe, Germany, doesnot find a place. On the otherhand, with two members,Britain and France, WesternEurope is over-represented.With Russia added, Europe hasthree members. Clearly this isnot a satisfactory arrangement.

Indian diplomacy in the pastfew years has centred more onsecuring the permanent mem-bership of the UN SecurityCouncil. Partly in response tothis and similar pressures fromJapan, Brazil and Germany, weoften hear of a proposal to makesome larger nations permanentmembers, but without vetopowers. It seems that our lead-ers are so desperate for someinternational recognition that

they are quite willing to accepteven a second-class permanentmembership. This would beunfortunate, as rather thanmaking the UN more democrat-ic; it will make it even morestratified. What we need to seekis the reform of the UN, by elim-inating the single veto, while atthe same time ensuring that theSecurity Council does notbecome victim to the tyranny ofa simple majority.

The first step will be to makethe Security Council more rep-resentative by accommodatingnations, reflecting the econom-ic, geographical and culturaldiversity of the United Nations,as well as relative power andsize. Thus, major political andeconomic groupings such as theEuropean Union, the NorthAmerican Free TradeAssociation (NAFTA), theAssociation of Southeast AsianNations (Asean), South AsianAssociation for RegionalCooperation (Saarc), theOrganisation of AmericanStates (OAS), the Organisationof African Unity (OAU) or AsiaPacific Union (APU) could eachchose a member in the SecurityCouncil. Instead of a single vetobeing able to derail its inten-tions, a certain minimumthreshold, say of three or fourmembers, should only thwartthe Security Council’s majori-ty. This will prevent thePermanent Five from insistingthat world affairs are shapedonly according to their wishes.

The writer, a policy analyststudying economic and securi-ty issues, held senior positions

in government and industry.He also specialises in the

Chinese economy.

Wait, this does notrefer to any con-fusion enter-tained by meover my identity

but that which has followed meliterally like a shadow for thegreater part of my life. Yes, thisrefers to the perplexed impres-sion entertained by most per-sons over the information theygather from me, regarding A toZ about me, after literally bom-barding me with series of ques-tions. The only issue whichthey don’t refer to is gender.Nowadays, most have ceasedposing questions about age. Iguess the trend is not to do so,lest their own is asked. Ofcourse, this scribe has learntthrough the experience of tak-ing interviews of elderlyIndian generation is that yes,there is a set of questions onemust be prepared to answerbefore posing those that one isall prepared to ask the intervie-wee. Well, this refers to one-to-one interviews and not press-conferences or other gather-ings. But that era of refined,homely interviews of thosegentlemen, posing questionswith a fatherly air, seems tohave been lost to history. Now,

these carry a little professionaland also commercial air aboutthem. Not all, but the business-like air about them, despitetheir appearing not to be so,cannot be missed.

Well, here, my concern is notprofessional interviews but theapparently socio-friendly ones,with the put-on, half or literal-ly frozen smiles. Of course,memories of a few still bring agenuine smile, but most stillleave me fairly perplexed. One,which still leaves me laughing,is the awed expression on theface of a computer-techie. I hadtaken his services for thendesk-tops in use, when laptopshad not entered the field. Theyoung man was fairly delight-ed to have come across, in hisopinion, such a “high-casteBrahmin”. His understandingwas based on his pronuncia-tion of my surname. Hethought of it as not Dwedi,Trivedi, Chaturvedi but asSolavedi. Oh dear, he tookquite some time in understand-ing and accepting thatSuhrawardy was not Solavedi.He assumed Solavedi to be aBrahminical caste nominally linked with 16 Vedas as Dwedis are with two,

Trivedi three and Chaturvediwith four.

My parents and sister raninto a similar experience dur-ing their brief visit to Odisha.The religious priests assumedthat they were there for reli-gious purposes and not fortourism. Oh dear, they refusedto believe that they wereMuslims. The priests claimedthat they had all “records” oftheir religious background. Inthose priests’ opinion, my fam-ily was “hiding” its religiousidentity to avoid paying them any money for religiouspurposes.

Interestingly, this scribe hasalso come across persons,largely from semi-literateclasses, who view Muslims asanother caste withinHinduism. Of course, in thepresent phase, this confusionhas been considerably erodedowing to anti-Muslim phobiaraised by right-wing elements.This has, incidentally,enhanced not mine, but others’confusion about my “identity.”Now and then, we do have

bearded men coming to ourhomes. But down four genera-tions, from my grandfather,father, brother to his son,nobody has kept a beard. Ofcourse, we are in touch withquite a few veiled ladies butagain, for several generations,the veil and/or burkha has notbeen the dress-code of ladies inour family. Of course, we allare as religious as we can be,but the dress and appearancecan hardly be viewed as reflec-tive of most Indians’ religiousidentity in general, at least inthe present era.

It is possible, not having acommon Muslim surname hasmade most confused about myreligious identity, at least theones not familiar with thisname’s linkage with a Sufiorder. Nevertheless, one doesremain perplexed about peopledeliberating on my religiousidentity, posing questions onits linkage with Pakistan,Kashmir, Bangladesh, all theplaces but to my native roots,that is Uttar Pradesh. Of late,fear is being spread question-ing national identity of IndianMuslims and their patriotism.There is sudden increase innature of communal “mes-sages” being spread throughWhatsApp and other outlets ofcommunication blamingMuslims for plundering thecountry, increasing their popu-lation to become majority here,not paying income tax and soforth. I presume, other IndianMuslims are facing a similarsituation.

Being a journalist, at times, I

have also had to answer for-eign media for communal mis-siles targeting Indian Muslims.Let others be as perplexed asthey wish to be about my iden-tity. I am not. I was and Iremain an Indian Muslim.With respect to communal“messages,” rather thanremain quiet, I have respondedpolitely by asking for names of“Muslims” assumed to be“plundering” the country sothat action is taken againstthem. I don’t need to explainmy patriotism to any person. Iam descendents of those whopreferred partition of theirfamilies to stay behind here asIndian Muslims. Wherein for-eign media is concerned, myanswer is, each and everyHindu cannot be blamed forbeing anti-Muslim and/or par-ticipating in anti-Muslim activ-ities. If he/she were, my fami-ly, me and other Muslimswould not have been livinghere amidst a secular atmos-phere. Secular Hindus outnum-ber Muslims in demonstra-tions against anti-Muslim com-munal activities. Yes, secular-ism still retains its roots here.Besides, bias of some nature israising its head in other partsof the world too. Let the worldremain perplexed about myidentity. I am doing my job asan Indian Muslim and soshould every Indian!

The writer is a journalist withspecialisation in communica-

tion studies and nuclear diplomacy. She is also the

author of several books.

“I wish that life should not be cheap, butsacred. I wish the days to be as cen-turies, loaded, fragrant.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever looked aroundand wondered why every indi-vidual is glued to his social gad-get? You may dismiss it as a

normal routine, but it signifies a greatbehavioural aberration. We’re all miss-ing out on a life that is unfolding in frontof us, one that is so wonderful and yetwon’t be there later on.

It’s not that digital communication isbad — it’s just that it can’t replace the

bustling, lively in-person interactions.Once in a moment ofprivacy, I looked tosee whether anyoneelse realised thesun’s golden glow,but everyoneseemed to be shuf-fling in great hurry,most with their eyesfixed on the ground, confused and dazed,immersed in the smartphones. Theywere all oblivious of the beauty andtrance of that wondrous hour.

Life’s gifts are precious and abundant— but we are too heedless of them. In thebustle of our everyday strife, we fail tounderstand the world when it beckonsus to savour its wonders. Referring tothe whole paradox, Thomas Mertondescribes the rush and pressure of mod-ern life as a form of contemporary vio-lence. He says, “… to be surrendering totoo many demands, too many concerns,is to succumb to the violence.”

At times likes this we must rememberthis old advice: Never be too busy to

deprive yourself of the wonder andthe awe of life. Be reverent to eachmoment. Embrace each wonderfulhour. Seize each golden minute. Evenordinary things have the power totouch and elevate our heart. We arehere on earth as voyagers — we mustrelish every moment of our journey.

The next time you’re on a bus, trywatching people who are sittingbeside you on your commute. Strike

up a conversation with them. Whoknows — they might say something thatyou’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Don’t cocoon yourself like most vanillapeople. Develop diversity in feelings andemotions. Don’t spend your time doubletapping a picture of friends laughingtogether when you could be laughingwith someone in real life. It’s not that weenjoy the enormous time-suck that digi-tal life has become. It’s not that we preferto look down at a three-inch screeninstead of at the world around us. It’sjust that the compulsion to stay connect-ed is a habit that’s become hard and awemust learn to break it!

Life is pulsating all around you. Don’t

look down — you might miss it. Andremember, you will never get it back.Don’t allow our life to get automatedthrough chips and controlled by bits andbytes.

Pause for a moment beside a tree andsavour its verdant leafy munificence.Look at the humble serenity of a flower,the vibrant rainbow of a butterfly. Sparethem some moments of silent thought.Try to be in love with your life and withthe present moment so deeply that youmake complete peace with whatever isunfolding. Open your heart so deeply towhere you are that you truly feel youdon’t want to be anywhere but here.This is true living. This is where youfind all you are seeking. These momentsreassure us that the world is in harmonywith its denizens. It is only humans whohave lost their rhythm. As the Buddhaproclaimed, “As you walk and eat andtravel, be where you are. Otherwise, youwill miss most of your life.”.

Moin Qazi is a well-known banker,author and Islamic researcher. He can

be reached at [email protected].

Savour life, relish the moments

It’s high time to push UN’s democratisationOur leaders are so des-perate for some interna-tional recognition thatthey are willing to accepteven a second-class permanent membership.This would be unfortu-nate, as rather thanmaking the UN moredemocratic; it will makeit even more stratified.

The young man was fairly delighted to havecome across, in his opin-ion, such a ‘high-casteBrahmin’. His under-standing was based onhis pronunciation of mysurname. He thought ofit as not Dwedi, Trivedi,Chaturvedi but asSolavedi.

MoinQazi

Nilofar Suhrawardy

Mohan Guruswamy

Don’t question my identity! Setting the record straight in dismal times

TechnomicsWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Genuine dataAdobe, Twitter, and The New York Times have announceda new system for adding attribution to photos, which provides for verifying authenticity online

SHORT TAKES

GOOGLERS CALLFOR CLIMATE

CHANGE ACTIONSan Fransico, Nov. 5: Googleemployees are demanding thecompany issue a climate planthat commits it to zero emis-sions by 2030.

An online petition bears sig-natures from more than athousand Google employees. Italso calls on Google to declinecontracts that would supportthe extraction of fossil fuelsand to avoid collaboratingwith organisations involvedwith the oppression ofrefugees.

Amazon and Microsoftemployees have similarlycalled on their employers totake steps for climate changeaction. Workers from bothcompanies joined climatemarches in September.

Google employees have beenespecially vocal in issuingdemands and calling forchange within the company.Employees have protested sex-ual misconduct and forcedarbitration practices withinthe company and Google’streatment of contract work-ers. — AP

PHOTOSHOPRELEASES AI

SELECTION TOOLWashington, Nov. 5: The latestPhotoshop Creative Cloudupdate is expected to haveexciting new features. Adobeis likely to release a new sub-ject selection tool which nowtakes the top spot under themagic wand tool, lets you draga box around an object, andPhotoshop will automaticallycreate a selection around theborders of the object it thinksyou're highlighting.

The tool will be of great helpas users won't have to spendtime mousing around theedges of an object.

Another highlight of the lat-est update is that the homescreen will get faster.

The gradients and pre-setsinterface wears a completelynew look, with dozens of newpre-set gradients. The app alsosupports live previews of pre-sets, which let you quicklyapply a number of coloradjustments to a photo.

Photoshop for iPad is finallyreleased. The tablet app is farfrom complete but it includesmany of the core features onwhich users rely.

The iPad app also introducescloud PSD files, which syncbetween the tablet and desk-top. This updated version ofPhotoshop includes supportfor those too. Users can sync aPSD file between multipledesktops in the same CreativeCloud account, making work-ing across multiple devicessimpler. — Agencies

FACEBOOKLAUNCHES NEWCOMPANY LOGO

Washington, Nov. 5: FacebookInc unveiled a new logo for thecompany to distinguish itfrom its apps.

The social media companysaid it would start using thenew brand within its productsand marketing materials andwould update the Facebookfor Business website over thecoming weeks.

In June, the company beganincluding ‘from Facebook’within its apps that includesMessenger, Instagram andWhatsApp. — Reuters

Bengaluru, Nov. 5: By2024, the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) willidentify online shoppingas an addictive disorder, asmillions abuse digitalcommerce and encounterfinancial stress, predictsresearch firm Gartner.

Consumer spending viadigital commerce plat-forms will continue togrow over 10 per cent yearafter year through 2022,according to its top strate-gic predictions for 2020and beyond.

The ease of online shop-ping will cause financialstress for millions of peo-ple, as online retailersincreasingly use artificialintelligence (AI) and per-sonalisation to effectively

target consumers andprompt them to spend dis-cretionary income thatthey do not have, it said.

The resulting debt andpersonal bankruptcieswill cause depression andother health concernscaused by stress, which iscapturing the attention ofthe WHO, Gartner said.

By 2023, the number ofpeople with disabilitiesemployed will triple due toAI and emerging technolo-gies, reducing barriers toaccess, Gartner predicted.

“People with disabilitiesconstitute an untappedpool of critically skilledtalent,” said distinguishedvice-president andGartner Fellow, DarylPlummer.

“AI, augmented reality(AR), virtual reality (VR)and other emerging tech-nologies have made workmore accessible foremployees with disabili-ties. For example, select

restaurants are starting topilot AI robotics technolo-gy that enables paralysedemployees to controlrobotic waiters remotely,”he said.

By 2024, AI identification

of emotions will influencemore than half of theonline advertisements yousee.

Artificial emotionalintelligence (AEI) is thenext frontier for AI devel-

opment, especially forcompanies hoping todetect emotions in order toinfluence buying deci-sions. By 2025, 50 per centof people with a smart-phone but without a bankaccount will use a mobile-accessible cryptocurrencyaccount, and by 2023, aself-regulating associationfor oversight of AI andmachine learning design-ers will be established inat least four of the G7countries, Gartner said.

By 2023, up to 30 per centof world news and videocontent will be authenti-cated as real byblockchain, counteringdeep fake technology.

By 2023, individual activ-ities will be tracked digi-

tally by an ‘Internet ofBehaviour’ to influencebenefit and service eligi-bility for 40 per cent ofpeople worldwide.

Through facial recogni-tion, location tracking andbig data, organisations arestarting to monitor indi-vidual behaviour and linkthat behavior to other digi-tal actions, like buying atrain ticket, the firm said.

The Internet of Things(IoT), where physicalthings are directed to do acertain thing based on aset of observed operatingparameters relative to adesired set of operatingparameters, is nowbeing extended to people,known as the Internet ofBehaviour (IoB). — PTI

Online shopping may be an addictive disorderEase of online shopping will cause financial stress for millions of people, suggests researchDIGITAL | ABUSE

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Colu-mbia Global Centres,Mumbai announces thelaunch of the Urban Wo-rks Innovation Challenge2019-2020 for transform-ing India’s cities into safeand sustainable placesthrough technical innova-tion.

The challenge, which ispart of a three-year pro-gram the inaugurated in2018 and supported by theRMZ Foundation, givesyoung innovators a glob-ally competitive opportu-nity to receive mentor-ship from faculty andalumni of ColumbiaUniversity’s prestigiousFu Foundation School ofEngineering and AppliedScience as well as fromdistinguished entrepre-neurs and academics inIndia.

Winning teams can alsoavail of unrestricted capi-tal from a total annualfund of `1.2 crores, andpeer networks and infra-structural support from atech-first collaborativeworkspace at The CoWrksFoundry for a six-monthperiod.

Patricia J. Culligan, pro-fessor of civil engineer-ing at ColumbiaUniversity, noted, “Thereis a huge opportunity in

this country to harnessthe imagination, invigor-ation, and forward-look-ing vision of the youth inIndia to think about howIndian cities can be at thefoundation of a globaleconomy that advanceshuman development.”

Almost 600 millionIndians will live in citiesby 2030. Rapid urbanisa-tion poses serious envi-ronmental and societalchallenges, includingdegrading air quality, ris-ing plastic waste, hin-dered mobility, mentalhealth problems, andreduced safety forwomen.

In this evolving land-scape, there is growingrecognition that the coun-try’s urban workforcerequires workplaces andcity-wide ecosystems to become more produc-tive, innovative, andinclusive.

According to Dr. RavinaAggarwal, Director ofColumbia’s MumbaiCentre, solutions makinguse of contemporarytechnology can play acritical role in addressingthese needs, making ourcities and work environ-ments sustainable andsafe for all.

— PTI

Seoul, Nov. 5: SamsungElectronics Co. Ltd. saidon Tuesday that it willshut down a CPUresearch division at oneof its US facilities, a movethat analysts saiddimmed prospects for thetech giant’s Exynos-branded mobile chips.

Exynos mobile proces-sor chips are considered ahallmark of the SouthKorean firm’s attempts toreduce its reliance onmemory chips andincrease sales of logicchips used to powermobile devices andautonomous vehicles.

But the proprietarychips, found in Samsung’sflagship Galaxy seriessmartphones and compet-ing against QualcommInc’s (QCOM.O) marqueemobile processors, havestruggled to find externalcustomers.

The decision to shutdown the division, whichwill make some 300 jobsredundant, point to chal-lenges Samsung faces inpromoting Exynos chips,analysts said.

“(Exynos) chips are notreally used anywhere elseand continue to loseground in the mobileprocessor market, raisingconcerns about the com-pany’s competitiveness,”said Park Sung-soon, ananalyst at CapeInvestment & Securities.

The move has led tospeculation that Samsungwill use core designs fromARM or semi-customdesigns. Park added thatSamsung is not likely togive up the Exynos busi-ness entirely.

Samsung said it willcontinue to develop and

produce Exynos chipsregardless of the termi-nation of CPU (centralprocessing unit) coreprojects, and some of the300 affected employeescould be relocated to dif-ferent projects.

“Based upon a thoroughassessment of our SystemLSI business and the needto stay competitive in theglobal market, Samsunghas decided to transitionpart of our US-based R&Dteams,” it said, referringto its logic chip business.

Affected employees willmostly come from itsAustin R&D Centre,which had been research-ing CPU core since 2010,while a small number ofemployees at its CPU proj-ect team at AdvancedComputing Lab in SanJose will be let go or relo-cated to other divisions, acompany spokeswomansaid.

“Core research broughtless value than expectedto Samsung’s entire logicchip business,” said asource with direct knowl-edge of the matter whowas not authorised tospeak to the media.

The termination of itsCPU core projects comesafter Samsung, theworld’s largest memorychipmaker, said in Aprilthat it plans to invest $116billion in logic chipsthrough 2030. — Reuters

SoftBank to pay a pricefor betting on startupsTokyo, Nov. 5: SoftBankGroup Corp and itsfounder, Masayoshi Son,face a day of reckoningwhen the investment jug-gernaut is likely to postweak quarterly results,hit by hefty falls in thevaluation of some of itsbiggest tech bets.

SoftBank has comeunder renewed investorscrutiny after it wasforced to bail out one ofits best known portfoliocompanies — the cash-burning, office-sharingfirm WeWork — for $10billion.

That has deepened con-cern about Son’s strategyof pouring billions of dol-lars into unproven,money-losing startups at atime it is getting squeezedby a sell-off in most of itslisted bets.

Uber Technologies Inc.posted a wide quarterlyloss, sending its sharessliding in after-hourstrading. SoftBank’s $100billion Vision Fund has a$7.7 billion investment inthe US ride-hailing firm.

SoftBank’s quarterlyresults come at a crucialtime for Son, when he istrying to raise capital fora successor to the SaudiArabia-backed Vision

Fund. SoftBank is expect-ed to post an operatingloss of 48 billion yen ($442million) for the July-September quarter onWednesday, according tothe average forecast offour analyst estimatescompiled by Refinitiv.

That would be its firstquarterly loss in 14 years,Refinitiv data shows, andcompares with an operat-ing profit of 706 billionyen a year earlier.

SoftBank has deliveredmultiple quarters of sec-tor-beating gains, drivenby internal revaluationsof tech bets by the VisionFund, which had its first

major close in May 2017.Analysts estimates vary

widely, in part becauseSoftBank provides littledetail on how it accountsfor those gains or losseson its books.

A further lack of disclo-sure over valuationswould “risk losing thetrust of investors,” saidAmir Anvarzadeh, marketstrategist at AsymmetricAdvisors.

Given its falling shareprice — down around 30%since July — the conglom-erate may unveil a sharebuyback of around 500 bil-lion yen to try and stemthe slide, Anvarzadehsaid. SoftBank announceda 600 billion yen buybackin February.

Investors will be lookingclosely at how SoftBankaccounts for the value ofits stake in WeWork, intowhich it has poured $13billion to take a majoritystake. WeWork was valuedby SoftBank as high as $47billion as recently asJanuary but is currentlyvalued at just $8 billion.

The Japanese companyis expected to announce awritedown of at least $5billion due to a slump inthe values of WeWork andothers. — Reuters

Columbia launchesurban works event

San Francisco, Nov. 5:Researchers at theUniversity of Michigan andJapan’s University ofElectro-Communicationshave discovered they canuse lasers to silently ‘speak’to any computer thatreceives voice commands,which included smart-phones, smart speakers likeAmazon Echo, and GoogleHome, and Facebook’sPortal video chat devices,according to media reports.Revealing results of a shock-ing experiment, theresearchers noted it waspossible to make micro-phones respond to light as ifit were sound, which essen-tially means that anythingthat acts on sound com-mands will act on light com-mands.

Cybersecurity researcher,Takeshi Sugawara, visitingfrom the Tokyo-basedUniversity of Electro-

Communications, alongwith Kevin Fuand, fromUniversity of Michigan havefound a spy trick lets themsend light commands fromhundreds of feet away; theycan open garages, makeonline purchases, and causeall manner of mischief ormalevolence.

The attack can easily passthrough a window, when thedevice’s owner isn’t home tonotice a telltale flashingspeck of light or the targetdevice’s responses, Wiredreported on Monday.

According to theresearchers, the experimentwas conducted on GoogleHome, Google Nest Cam IQ,multiple Amazon Echo,Echo Dot, and Echo Showdevices, Facebook’s PortalMini, the iPhone XR, and thesixth-generation iPad, andthe mentioned devices werefound to be vulnerable too.

— Agencies

Harvard researchers have developed a tiny robotic flier that uses soft, arti-ficial muscles to fly without getting damaged.

Lasers can hack Amazon Echo, Google Home Researchers observed that it was possible to make microphones respond to light as if it were sound

AMID RISING CONCERNS OVER DATA SECURITY AND USAGE OFPERSONAL DATA BY TECH COMPANIES, THE NEWS OF GOOGLE’SACQUISITION OF FITBIT HAS BECOME A CAUSE OF WORRY FORUSERS OF THE FITNESS TRACKING DEVICE.

FITBIT ACQUISITION WORRIES USERS

However, Google is making all efforts toallay fears of data misuse even as scores ofFitbit users are planning to move to AppleWatch, which comes across as one of themost reliable products in the health moni-toring range.

Experts say it is highly advisable to deleteFitbit accounts to erase their data beforemoving on to another health tracker.

It is always a good idea to downloadexisting data before deleting accounts. The‘Data Export’ option in Settings on the Fitbitdesktop dashboard allows users to down-load fitness data.

We will neversell personal

information toanyone. Fitbit healthand wellness datawill not be used forGoogle ads. And wewill give Fitbit usersthe choice to review,move, or delete theirdata

RICK OSTERLOH,Google’s senior V-P,

devices & services

TINY ROBOT CAN FLY WITHOUT DAMAGE

■ ■ SOFTBANK is setto book a massivewritedown onWeWork, Uber

■ ■ Masayoshi Son’sfortune is down 30%from July to about$13.8 billion

■ ■ Investors are wondering if WeWorkis just the tip of the iceberg forSoftBank’s trouble

A team ofengineers fromMIT and FordMotor Companyhave created atechnique thatallows robots tonavigate viaclues, ratherthan maps.

The technique resolves the challenge in large-scalemonitoring of robots amid privacy concerns.

The clues address small details like navigating therobots through directions within a house, like frontdoor and living room.

Even if a robot is delivering a package to anenvironment it's never been to, there might be cluesthat will be the same as other places it's seen, MIT’sresearchers say.

The robot can smack into walls, crash-landor even collide with a fellow flier withoutgetting hurt.

Soft-muscle fliers have existed before, butthis is the first with enough power densityand control to hover — that is, it's not justflying wildly.

Harvard wants to use therobots for search-and-rescue missions, where arobot might have tonavigate dangerous rubblelooking for survivors.

ROBOTS TO NAVIGATE USING CLUES

THE MOVE, analysts say, dimsprospects for thetech giant’s Exynos-brandedmobile chips

■ ■ THE resulting debt andpersonal bankruptcies willcause depression and otherhealth concerns caused bystress, which is capturing theattention of the WHO

■ ■ Consumer spending viadigital commerce platformswill continue to grow over 10 per cent year after year through 2022

Samsung US CPUR&D to close down

WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHI

■ Goyal says India hasn’t got credible assurance on mkt access, barriers

FC BUREAUNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal saidon Tuesday hinted thatIndia could re-consider itsdecision to keep off theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP) trade deal in thefuture if its demands are'suitably accommodated.''

Briefing the press hereabout India's participationin the three-day trade talksin Bangkok that concludedon Monday, Goyal said, "Atthe moment, our decisionto not join (the RCEP) isfinal. However, in interna-tional negotiations, younever close the door. Ifother countries suitablyaccommodate ourdemands, then we will con-sider it in consultationwith the stakeholders."

He said India was firm onits stand in the RCEP nego-tiations not to join theChina-led mega trade dealin the national interest.

The minister also saidIndia did not receive anycredible assurance on mar-ket access and non-tariffbarriers.

Goyal said PrimeMinister Narendra Moditook a tough stand to pro-tect the interest of thedairy sector, farmers anddomestic industry.

The minister dismissedapprehensions that keep-ing off the RCEP wouldjeopardise the country'sgrowth prospects. He saidthe previous ManmohanSingh government had ini-tiated the discussions formaking India a part of theRCEP grouping, ignoringthe fact that the country

had huge trade deficit withthe member nations.

The trade deficit with theRCEP grouping soaredfrom $7 billion in 2004 to$78 billion in 2014.

He also said the Modi gov-ernment was reviewingvarious free trade agree-ments (FTAs) signed by theUPA government withSouth Korea and the Aseanwith a view to safeguardthe interest of nation andpave the way for makingIndia a $5-trillion economy.

The government's deci-sion to skip the mega tradedeal has been lauded byfarmers and businesses.

In a tweet late Monday,the country's largest dairyproducer, Amul, applaudedModi's "exemplary leader-ship and support" to dairyfarmers, who would havebeen exposed to more com-petition under the RCEP.

"Your vision of support-ing their livelihood willhelp (in) doubling theirincomes and make Indiastronger," it said.

Praveen Khandelwal,Secretary General of the

Confederation of All IndiaTraders (Cait), said a dealwould have allowedChinese manufacturers tooverwhelm "the Indianmarket with Made InChina products at very lowprices... Thereby creating adisequilibrium".

B. M. Singh, Convenor ofthe All-India KisanSangharsh CoordinationCommittee, said the rejec-tion of the deal was "a hugevictory for farmers",according to an AFPreport.

"We should not go for anopen agreement like theRCEP simply because wecan't compete with otherbig countries," Singh said.

"It's like throwing some-one who is 25 KG into a box-ing ring and asking him tocompete with an opponentweighing 100 KG."

Some small businessowners welcomed the movebut said it would not beenough to sustain theirindustries or make themcompetitive.

Experts were divided onModi's decision, with some

warning that New Delhimay lose out as it tries tobecome a more globallycompetitive economy.

"In an era in which manu-facturing requires the abil-ity to become more -- notless -- integrated into globalsupply chains, this deci-sion appears for themoment to make it harderto boost manufacturing inIndia," Council on ForeignRelations' senior fellowAlyssa Ayres wrote.

Others cautioned thatIndia was not ready to copewith the influx of cheaperproducts amid the down-turn.

"India's economy is cur-rently reeling under somestress and it wouldn't havebeen the right time to takea decision which possiblycould have had a largeimpact on various sectorsof the economy," DripCapital Co-FounderPushkar Mukewar said.

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, NOV. 5

The Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) on Tuesdayraised the withdrawallimit for account hold-ers of crisis-hit Punjaband Maharashtra Co-Operative Bank (PMCBank) to Rs 50,000 fromthe earlier limit of Rs40,000. With the higherlimit, more than 78 percent of the depositors ofthe bank will be able towithdraw their entireaccount balance, theRBI said in a statement.

“The RBI after review-ing the bank’s liquidityposition and its abilityto pay its depositors hasdecided to furtherenhance the limit forwithdrawal to Rs 50,000inclusive of Rs 40,000allowed earlier,” the RBIsaid in a statement.

The RBI has alsoallowed PMC Bankaccount holders to with-draw money from thebank's own ATMs with-in the prescribed limitof Rs 50,000. “This isexpected to ease theprocess of with-drawals,” RBI added.

This is the fourth timethat the regulator hasincreased the withdraw-al limits since itclamped down on thebank on September 23and capped withdrawallimit at Rs 1,000 per cus-tomer for six months.

Meanwhile, angryPMC Bank accountholders held a dharnaoutside the centralbank’s office at BandraKurla Complex inMumbai asking it toapprise them on a dailybasis on the develop-ments taking place inthe PMC Bank case.

RAGINI SAXENAMUMBAI, NOV. 5

India won’t back downfrom collecting $13 billionof past dues from debt-laden telecom carriersbecause the industry is notunder stress, a govern-ment official with knowl-edge of the matter said, amove that could deepenBharti Airtel andVodafone Idea’s financialwoes.

India expects the carriersto pay up within 90 days asordered by the SupremeCourt last month, the offi-cial said, asking not tobe identified, as thediscussions areprivate. A panelof top bureau-crats couldlook atdeferred pay-ment plan forsome of the dues,the person said.

The government’sstand about the health ofthe industry mirrors com-ments made by billionaireMukesh Ambani’sReliance Jio Infocomm,which has said it has a“divergent view” from itsrivals. High fees, frequentflip-flops and endless taxdemands over the yearshave driven most opera-tors aground. From over 10operators few years ago,India has just three non-state players left with twoof them saddled with amountain of debt.

Vodafone Group Plc’sIndian venture has $14 bil-lion worth of obligations,while Bharti Airtel is ratedjunk by Moody’s InvestorsService. “All telecom oper-ators have asked for requi-site help in reducing” thefinancial stress, VodafoneIdea said last month.

The “extraordinary sce-nario” being shown is“just a machination to

extract relief,” RelianceJio said in a letter to theminister of communica-tions on October 31.

In the latest instance, thecourt ordered operators topay dues using a disputedmethod for calculating theannual adjusted gross rev-enue, a share of which ispaid as license and spec-trum fees. It upheld thegovernment’s method thatincludes income from non-telecom businesses likedividend from income andcapital gains from the saleof assets while rejecting aplea to exclude them.

Still, the official saidthe government is

working on aplan to reducethe licence feeand providinga two-yearmoratorium onpending spec-

trum payments.The proposal will

be sent to theFinance Ministry before itis taken up by the Cabinet,the official said, addingthat this may happen inthe current financial year.

The Telecom Ministryspokesman didn’t respondto requests for a comment.

A panel of officials isexamining feasibility ofdeferring payment for air-waves that are due byMarch 2021 and March2022 as demanded by com-panies, a government offi-cial told reporters lastweek. It will also considerthe demand for reductionin spectrum usage leviesand the Universal ServiceObligation Fund charge.

On the introduction of5G airwaves, the officialsaid there will be no delayin auction, which is duethis financial year, andthat the government isn’tpresuming the telecom sec-tor is under stress.

—Bloomberg

Over 1,300start ups, 7unicornsadded in2019

RCEP door is closed,but not forever: Govt

PMC Bank:Withdrawallimit raisedto `50,000

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Annual gold demand islikely to fall to 2016 levelsas the consumption in Q3dipped by 32 per cent. TheWorld Gold Council hasrevised down its demandprojection for the year byaround 100 tonnes.

At the end of June quar-ter, WGC had projected theannual demand to be in therange of 750 to 850 tonnes.However, by Q3 the opti-mism diminished andWGC has brought the pro-jection down to the rangeof 700-750 tonnes.

In Q3, the demand wasdown by 32 per cent at 123.9tonnes and with this the

total demand for the threequarters of 2019 stood at498 tonnes. “Even if youpresume the Q4 demand tobe around last year levelsof 236 tonnes, the totaldemand would be in thevicinity of 735 tonnes,’ saidSomasundaram P.R., MD,India, World Gold Council.

“Our full year golddemand estimate is 700-750tonnes, although more like-ly at the lower end of therange. This will be a littleabove the 2016 level, whichfaced disruptions due tojewellers’ strikes, the intro-duction of PAN anddemonetisation,” he said.

According to him, Q3demand weakened due toweak consumer sentiment

and high prices. Theincrease in custom duty inthe July budget from 10 percent to 12.5 per cent alsoadded to the prices.

Rally in gold prices madecustomers postpone theirpurchases. Gold pricesbreached the Rs 35,000/10glevel in mid-July and con-tinued to climb to Rs38,795/10g by the end ofAugust. It further movedabove Rs 39,000 levels inSeptember. Q3 demanddrop this year has been sig-nificant, making it one ofthe lowest third quarterssince 2005. Overall jew-ellery demand fell by 32 percent to 101.6 tonnes andbars and coins by 35 percent to 22.3 tonnes.

Annual gold demand set to dipMICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, NOV. 5

With its single productcalled Kia Seltos, a com-pact SUV, the new entrantKia Motors has become thefifth largest car maker in afiercely competitive carmarket in the country. Itsold 12,850 cars last month.

The first biggest carmaker by sakes is MarutiSuzuki which sold 1,39,121units last month, followedby Hyundai 50,010 units,Mahindra 18,460 units andTata Motors 13,169 units.

With robust sales KiaSeltos is poised to takecompeition to MarutiVitara Brezza and theHyundai Venue, the top

two SUVs in the best-sell-ers’ list.

What is helping the BS VI-ready Kia Seltosmake headway in the com-petitive SUV market is itsvery aggressive pricing.

The Korean carmaker'spricing strategy for all of16 variants covers virtuallyevery price point and startsfrom Rs 9.69 lakh for theentry level petrol modeland goes up to Rs 15.99 lakhfor the diesel.

With this, it takes onrivals like the HyundaiCreta, MG Hector, NissanKicks, Mahindra XUV500and the Renault Captur inIndia.

Now to meet the growingdemand, Kia Motor has

started the second shift toramp up production at itsfactory in Anantapur inAndhra Pradesh. It has aninstalled production capac-ity of 3 lakh units annually.

The world's 8th largestKorean car maker sold12,850 cars last month butaveraged 8,880 units amonth since August in aprolonged slowing market.

Cumulative sales for theAugust-October 2019 periodadd up to 26,640 units,which constitutes a month-ly average of 8,880 units.

"There is a great demandfor our single productcalled Kia Seltos,” saidManohar Bhat, Head,Marketing and Sales at KiaMotors India.

Kia moves to 5th slot

ANIRBAN NAGNOV. 5

India’s main servicesindex signaled a contrac-tion for a second straightmonth, the weakest stretchsince 2017, amid a pro-longed economic slow-down.

The IHS Markit IndiaServices Index rose to 49.2in October from 48.7 inSeptember, but still belowthe 50 reading that indi-cates a contraction. Theindustry accounts formore than half of thenation’s gross domesticproduct. The compositePMI fell to 49.6 from 49.8,weighed by slowing facto-ry output.

“Anecdotal evidencehighlighted subdueddemand conditions, com-petitive pressures and afragile economic situa-tion,” IHS Markit econo-mists led by Pollyanna deLima said in a statement.

The weak reading inOctober belies any hopefor signs of recovery inIndia after high-frequencyindicators in Q2 suggesteda continued lack of growthmomentum.

“It’s somewhat worryingto see the Indian servicesector stuck in contrac-tion, as firms react tomuted demand by lower-ing business activity,” saidLima, Principal Economistat IHS Markit. “Perhaps

even more concerning wasthe downward revision tofuture expectations, giventhe possible detrimentalimpact of subdued busi-ness confidence on invest-ment and job.”

—Bloomberg

Govt may not waive$13 bn telecom dues

Services index contracts in Oct. Mumbai, Nov. 5: FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitha-raman on Tuesday said thegovernment and RBI areworking to resolve theissues being faced by realtysector.

Admitting that realty sec-tor has been left out of thebooster measures, she saidthe sector has a spillovereffect on many sectors,especially the core sector.

"The government is verykeen and is working very

clearly together with theRBI to see how best we can,where necessary, tweak theexisting norms to help thepeople who are affected inthe realty sector," she saidat an NSE event.

After the July budget, thegovernment has rolledback many of the tax meas-ures and also drasticallycut corporate tax to 22 percent. Admitting that themeasures have not helpedrevive the sentiment in the

real estate, she said "oneparticular sector which Ihave not touched, butwhich has a lot of positiveimpact and also can effectan impact for the stockmarket, is the real estatesector."

"There are many alterna-tive funds which are nowapproaching us saying wewould like to do somethingwith you all so long as thereis some supporting mecha-nism,” she said. —PTI

FM hints at realty booster

FIONA MACDONALD &LAYAN ODEHNOV. 5

Qatar Airways is planninga code-share partnershipwith IndiGo, a move thatwill funnel more trafficfrom the fast-growingIndian air-travel market tothe Gulf carrier’s net-work.

“It is not something aboutbuying a stake, it’s com-mercial,” Chief ExecutiveOfficer Akbar Al Baker

said in an interview inKuwait on Tuesday, refer-ring to an announcementplanned for Nov. 7.

Qatar Airways has beenlooking to expand in thefast-growing Indian mar-ket, yet plans to start a newcarrier there have beenfrustrated over rules sur-rounding foreign owner-ship. Instead, the airlinehas asked local authoritiesto temporarily allow it toadd more seats on high-vol-ume routes to fill the gap

left by Jet Airways, a part-ner of rival EtihadAirways, which went bustin April.

Indigo has emerged as thebiggest Indian airline fol-lowing the collapse of JetAirways.

Qatar Airways couldbreak even within the nexttwo years, the CEO said,even after full-year lossesincreased by near ten-foldon higher fuel costs and aweaker regional economy.

—Bloomberg

Qatar Air teams up with IndiGo

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 40,248.23 -0.13Nifty 50 11,917.20 -0.20S&P 500 3,073.84 -0.14Dollar (`) 70.69 -0.11Pound Sterling (`) 91.14 -0.05Euro (`) 78.51 -0.32Gold (10gm)* (`) 39,213▼101 -0.25Brent crude ($/bbl)* 62.91 +1.26IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.514 +0.665US 10-Yr T-bill yield 1.818 +1.678

* As of 9:30 pm IST

Sugar outputseen at 3-yearlow of 26 mtSugar output is estimated tobe at a three-year low of 26million tonnes in the ongoingmarketing year on account ofpossible fall in cane acreage inMaharashtra and Karnataka aswell as diversion to ethanolmanufacturing, according toindustry body Isma. The outputprojected for current year islower by 21.5 per cent from33.16 mt achieved in 2018-19.

Tool-downstrike at HMSI’sManesar plant

Around 2,500 contractualworkers at Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India's (HMSI) Manesarplant observed a tool-downstrike against retrenchment ofaround 400 contract workers.HMSI Employee Union leadersalleged that the company hasreduced production of thefacility by 50 per cent and is inthe process of retrenchingmore contractual workers.

New base yearfor GDP in a fewmonths: OfficialThe Ministry of Statistics andProgramme Implementationwill decide on a new base yearfor the GDP series in a fewmonths, a senior official said.The ministry is working tobring in a new series of nation-al accounts, which would resultin change in the existing baseyear of 2011-12. The ministry isconsidering 2017-18 as the newbase year.

Chhattisgarhbecoming apower hub

Printed & Published by T Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printed atBFL Infotech Ltd, C-9 Sector 3, Noida-201301. Published at 219, N D Tiwari

Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,New Delhi-110002.

Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNIRegistration number 30074/09, Air sur-

charge Re 1. © All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part with-out written permission of The Editor,Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

Overleaf

Chhattisgarh State PowerGeneration Company ChairmanShailendra Shukla said thestate, which contributes 12-13%to the national power pool, istaking shape as a power hub.When the state came into exis-tence 19 years ago, the genera-tion capacity was mere 1360MW, which has now reached3424.7 MW. Shukla said surpluspower availability helped agri-cultural and industrial sectors.

Beijing, Nov. 5: Chinasaid on Tuesday that itwill follow the principle of"mutual understandingand accommodation" toresolve the outstandingissues raised by India fornot joining the Beijing-backed RCEP.

China also said it wouldwelcome India joining thedeal at an early date.

Chinese Foreign Mini-

stry Spokesman GengShuang told the mediathat China welcomesIndia. "The RCEP is open.We will follow the princi-ple of mutual understand-ing and accommodationto negotiate and resolvethose outstanding prob-lems raised by India andwe welcome an early join-ing by India," he said.

—PTI

Will resolve issues: ChinaISABEL REYNOLDS &EMI NOBUHIRONOV. 5

India's exit from RCEPtrade talks appeared toleave China and Japan atodds over whether topress ahead with theremaining members, orto try to find aworkaround that includesPrime Minister NarendraModi's government.

Japanese Trade Minis-ter Hiroshi Kajiyama saidon Tuesday that Tokyowould work toward a dealincluding India. Thiswould keep India withinthe RCEP framework andbe in line with PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe'spolicy of bolstering tieswith India to balanceBeijing's growing power.

"Our country wants toplay a leading role towardreaching an early agree-ment between all 16 coun-tries, including India,with the aim of signing itin 2020," said Kajiyama,

who wasn't present at thelatest negotiations inBangkok, told reportersin Tokyo.

India's exit from negoti-ations coincided with themost recent meeting ofofficials from the so-called Quad: Japan,Australia, the US andIndia, a security-focusedgrouping seen as a count-er to China that hasdrawn Beijing's ire. Thegroup was upgraded toministerial level inSeptember.

China has sought toaccelerate the RCEP dealas it faces slowing growthfrom a trade war with theUS. A China-led pushwould not necessarily sat-isfy the Japanese, whoinvited India to be a partof the negotiations.

"It's not desirable tohave an agreement thatsuits China's purposes,"former Japanese DefenceMinister Takeshi Iwayasaid in an interview.

—Bloomberg

Japan seeks to get India in

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Almostall domestic companiesare optimistic abouttheir growth next year,claims a report.Companies are buoyantabout the prospect ofentering new markets,getting high-quality sup-pliers and plans to investin technologies that willpave the way for newproducts and services,says an HSBC reportreleased on Tuesday.

The report also claimsthat nearly all of thosepolled—as much as 96percent—are expectinghigher growth next year,markedly higher thanglobal and Asian peers(79 per cent and 77 per

cent, respectively).The report, based on a

survey of business lead-ers from over 9,100 com-panies across 35 marketsglobally, gauges businesssentiment and growthprospects.

Over the next fiveyears, half of the compa-nies surveyed in thecountry are expectingsales growth of 15 percent or more. This opti-mism extends to exportprojections as well, withnearly 98 per cent ofthem with overseas oper-ations expect exports togrow over the next twoyears, higher than globalpeers (81 per cent).

— PTI

Firms see growth in 2020

Govtis working on

a plan to cut thelicence fee and

providing a 2-yearmoratorium onspectrum pay-

ments

Green shootsvisible incommercialvehicles

WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHI

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, NOV. 5

VE Commercial Vehicles,India’s third big player, isupbeat with overall sales im-proving this festive season,saying that the green shootsin the market are visible.

“We have seen some uptickin sales this festival seasonand the green shoots in themarket are now showing,”Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEOat VE Commercial Vehiclestold Financial Chronicle.

He said Q3 and Q4 of thisfiscal would be certainly bet-ter compared to the sales inthe Q1 and Q2.

VE Commercial is a jointventure between the VolvoGroup and Eicher Motors.

The slowdown blues hadhit hard the commercialvehicle industry, the barom-eter of economic activity inthe country, as a whole drag-ged down by Tata Motors,the top player, and AshokLeyland, the second biggest,which together commandabout 70 per cent of market.

Overall, sales of the com-mercial vehicles, the barom-eter of economic activity, inthe 5-tonne and above rangein the first six months ofthis fiscal had dropped 36per cent, while VE Comme-rcial Vehicles was better offat 30 per cent decline.

“We have performed betterthan the industry. With salesnow picking up from Sept-ember right from Navratri,

Dussera and Diwali, weexpect that Q3 and Q4 willbe better than Q1 and Q2,”Aggarwal pointed out.

According to him saleswould also pick up becauseof the pre-buying of the BS-IV vehicles would have to besold before the March 31,2020 deadline. These vehi-cles cannot be sold in Indiaonce the stringent BS-VIfuel emission norm kicks infrom April 1, 2020.

The major differencebetween the existing BS-IVand forthcoming BS-VInorm is the presence of sul-phur in the fuel. These emis-sion standards were set bythe government to keep acheck on the pollutant levelsemitted by vehicles that usecombustion engines.

The BS-VI compliant vehi-cles are expected to reducepollution in the air by 80-90per cent.

“We expect pre-buying ofBS-IV vehicles by fleet own-

ers and other to pick up asBS-VI compliant commer-cial vehicles will cost morein the range of 7-15 per centof the cost of the vehicledepending on the tonnagemodel,” Aggarwal said.

Also, there are other posi-tives in the market like inte-rest on loans going down, li-quidity being available andan excess monsoon rains byover 10 per cent whichwould lift up market senti-ment and boost sales even asfloods had impacted miningactivity at present, he said.

“Though transportation isidle at about 35 per cent, weexpect gradual pick up as e-commerce, FMCG, steel andcement industry was pick-ing up boosting sales ofcommercial vehicles,”Aggarwal said. However, carand two-wheeler transporta-tion was down by about 20per cent, he said.

Aggarwal said his compa-ny’s experience in supply-

ing Euro-VI engines manuf-actured at its factory in Pith-ampur, near Indore to theVolvo Group in Europe andAsia would come in handywhile producing BS-VI vehi-cles for the local market.

“As far as BS-VI is con-cerned, we are in an advan-tageous position comparedto rivals,” he said, addingthat the company had pro-duced and delivered morethan 1 lakh Euro-VI enginesto Volvo globally for morethan six years.

“We understand the nuan-ces of the BS-VI technology.We have a lot of learningand experience from theVolvo Group and those havebeen incorporated in our de-velopment for BS-VI inIndia,” Aggarwal said.

He said VE CommercialVehicles was the first com-pany in India to unveilIndia’s first BS-VI compli-ant CV range, in June thisyear, with the introductionof Pro2000 series trucks.

The company is alreadytesting these vehicles acrossthe country.

“Once the BS-VI fuel ismade available, we are allready to sell these vehicles,”Aggarwal said.

While this fuel is availablein Delhi from Oct 1 to curbpollution, Union MinisterPrakash Javadekar hadannounced in Septemberthat the BS-VI fuel will bemade available in the coun-try from April 1 next year.

Financial

OPENING

PROJECTION FOR TODAYBELL

The benchmark Sensexsnapped its longest win-ning streak sinceMarch as someinvestors gauged theindex has gained toomuch, too quickly afterit closed at a recordhigh on Monday.

The Sensex fell 53.73points, or 0.13 per cent,to 40,248.23 after swing-ing between gains andlosses at least four timesfollowing a seven-daywinning streak. TheNifty 50 slipped 24.10points, or l 0.2 per cent,to close at 11,917.20.

On the Sensex chart,top losers includedIndusInd Bank, SunPharma, Infosys, TataSteel and M&M, shed-ding up to 2.40 per cent.

Globally, bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul settledhigher on optimism overthe US-China trade deal.

The Sensex’s 14-dayRelative Strength Indexrose to 71, above thelevel of 70 that someinvestors read as a sig-nal to sell.

The earnings seasonis turning out to begood, with 20 out of 31Nifty firms reportingquarterly earnings thathave either beaten ormatched the averageanalyst estimates.

Technical View

“The ongoing corporate-earnings season andglobal developments arelikely to dictate the mar-ket trend in the comingsessions,” said AjitMishra, Vice Presidentof Research at ReligareBroking Ltd. “After adecent run-up over thelast few sessions, someconsolidation cannot beruled out in the near-term,” he said.

Analysts see animportant support levelfor the Nifty at 11,859.73points, after which11,802.27 could be anoth-er support zone. Keyresistance levels seenare 11,976.83 and12,036.47 points.

Market View

Shrikant Chouhan,Senior Vice-President,Equity Technical Rese-arch, Kotak Securities,said: “The market hastaken a breather andthis happens wheneverwe see profit-taking inauto stocks. In fact it'smost sensitive sector forany economy and now adays along with marketexperts even retailersare tracking it closely.”

He said that excite-ment is missing in themarket as majority ofthe index participantshave already declaredtheir Q2 numbers andnow traders will waitfor either domesticdevelopments or globaldevelopment on thetrade tariff front.

Market consolidationlikely near-term

Green shoots visible incommercial vehicles

■ VE Commercial Vehicles chief says Q3 & Q4 would be better

FC BUREAUCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Around 1,300 startups wereadded to the tech startupecosystem so far in 2019.India also witnessed emer-gence of seven unicorns thisyear.

With the addition of 1,300ventures, the total numberof tech startups in the coun-try has grown to 8,900-9,300.By the emergence of 7 uni-corns, India now has a totalof 24 unicorns. In terms ofstartups as well as unicorns,India continued to hold thethird position in the globe,according to Nasscom. The-se startups have created anestimated 60,000 direct jobsand 1.3-1.8 lakh indirect jobs.

Around 450 startupsreceived investments valued$4.4 billion betweenJanuary-September thisyear — up 5 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Early stage fund-ing saw 70 per cent spike to$1.6 billion. This year,investments have been flow-ing largely into B2B spaceand almost half of the coun-

try’s start-ups are offeringenterprise focused services,it said.

Over 18 per cent or 1,600startups are now leveragingdeep-tech and this hasgrown from 8 per cent in2014 and has seen a 40 percent CAGR over the past fiveyears, the report said.

According to NasscomPresident Debjani Ghosh,the start-up ecosystem isinnovating and bringing outsolutions for locally relevantissues. “However, to simu-late innovation, governmentand corporates need to focuson increasing their role asprominent stakeholdersplaying the part of venturecapitalists and providing theappropriate market access,funding, and guidance toseed stage start-ups,” shesaid.

Nasscom aims to acceler-ate the startup ecosystem inIndia significantly by 2025.This includes increasing thenumber of unicorns to 95-105 potentially and thecumulative valuation to$350-390 billion.

Over 1,300 startups, 7 unicornsadded in 2019

MATTHEW TOSTEVINBANGKOK, NOV. 5

Although India pulled out atthe last minute, China and14 other countries agreed inBangkok this week on plansfor what could become theworld’s biggest trade agree-ment — the RegionalComprehensive EconomicPartnership (RCEP).

They aim to sign it nextyear to start freeing up tradebetween mem-bers that incl-ude the 10-me-mber Associa-tion of South-east Asian Nations (Asean),Japan, South Korea,Australia and New Zealand.

What will RCEP do?Exact details have yet to bereleased, but it will progres-sively lower tariffs acrossmany areas.

Its backers say that just asimportantly it will let com-panies export the sameproduct anywhere withinthe bloc without having tomeet separate requirementsand fill out separate paper-work for each country.

“For a goods producer it’shuge,” said Deborah Elms ofthe Asian Trade Centre.“What we don’t have now isa lot of Asian trade for finalmarkets in Asia. This sets

that up.”It gives an incentive for

companies to build supplychains within the regioneven if they export outside.

The agreement also touch-es on services and on pro-tecting intellectual property.

What doesn’t it do?RCEP is not seen as such a“high quality” trade agree-ment as the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement

for Trans-Pa-cific Partner-ship, among11 Asia-Paci-fic countries,

because it does not cover orharmonise as much.

Tariffs are agreed betweencountries rather than acrossthe board. For some coun-tries, sensitive issues suchas agriculture won’t betouched. It lacks provisionsfor liberalising state enter-prises or protecting workersand the environment.

What economic impact willit have?Even once signed, imple-mentation would takemonths to start and years tocomplete. The complexitymakes precise calculationshard, economists say.

The 15 participating coun-tries make up nearly a thirdof the world’s people (it

would have been nearly halfwith India). RCEP membersaccount for nearly a third ofglobal domestic product,with India’s departure mak-ing less of a difference.

What does India’s absencemean?India can join later andother countries — notablyIndonesia and Japan — havebeen lobbying it hard to stay.But Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi was emphaticabout rejecting terms theother members agreed.

“While India’s exit deval-ues the pact, it also removesthe single biggest obstacle toits completion,” saidAnthony Nelson of consul-tancy Albright Stonebridge.

India’s biggest concern isa wave of cheap goods fromChina and elsewhere. Forother countries, losing Indiameans they won’t access amarket that is notoriouslyhard to get into, but alsothey won’t be able to includeIndia as easily in supplychains. Supporters of thedeal argue that India willlose investment while itsconsumers will pay morethan they should.

Southeast Asian countriesalso see India as a counter-weight to China’s growingdominance.

— Reuters

RCEP pact shapes up without India

DAVID FICKLING

From a political perspec-tive, India’s decisionovernight to walk awayfrom immediate involve-ment in a trade zoneencompassing half theworld’s population and athird of its economy isgood for almost everyone.

The Prime MinisterNarendra Modi govern-ment no longer needs tomake difficult concessionson agricultural trade.Other members of theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnershipgroup, or RCEP, won’t needto open their home mar-kets to India’s thriving,and low-cost, services sec-tor. China, the linchpin ofa zone that also includesthe Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations,Japan, South Korea,Australia and New

Zealand, will be able tomove forward faster withan agreement that was atrisk of being jeopardizedby India’s foot-dragging.

The US, meanwhile, cantake satisfaction from thefact that its key regionalally in New Delhi isremaining outside ofBeijing’s orbit. A strongerRCEP that included Indiawould almost certainlyhave revived politicallyfraught question ofwhether Washingtonshould rejoin the rivalTrans-Pacific Partnershipagreement or TPP, whichdied in Congress under theObama administration andwas formally killed off byPresident Donald Trump.

That’s precisely the prob-lem, though. Trade agree-ments are hard preciselybecause deals that areworthwhile economicallytend to be politically haz-

ardous, and vice versa.India’s pause on the RCEPisn’t the cause of the par-lous state of internationalcommerce in 2019, but it’sanother telling symptom ofa global trading systemwhere volumes are nowfalling at the fastest pacesince the 2009 financial cri-sis.

Both the RCEP and thepared-down, US-free version of the TPP are better

understood as attempts toharmonize trading stan-dards than reduce tariffbarriers.

In part this is a result ofthe success ofprevious tradea g r e e m e n t s ,which have low-ered borderlevies to the point wherethe more potent restrainton commerce is often non-tariff barriers, governingareas such as food safety,licensing, and rules of ori-gin. Even within the moreprotectionist RCEP zone,the median trade-weightedtariff had fallen in 2017 toabout 5.15 per cent, a loweraverage rate thanAustralia or Canadaimposed in the mid-1990s.

Still, the effect of harmo-nizing standards at theregional-agreement ratherthan global level is theopposite of an opening of

trade. The objection to theoriginal TPP - that itresulted in the US impos-ing its standards on othereconomies within the bloc -

comes with theterritory insuch deals.The standardsthat are estab-

lished across the zoneinevitably resemble thoseof its largest member. Thatwould be fine in a globalagreement, but in a region-al deal the effect is to raisebarriers to nations outsidethe bloc with differentrules.

In the case of RCEP, thatmeans smaller and lower-income countries inSoutheast Asia are likelyto become more closelyentwined with China,while their links withpotential partners outsidethe zone will fall behind.The reformed TPP, like-

wise, will bind thosenations closer to eachother than to the rest ofthe world. Only the hand-ful of countries in bothblocs - Japan, Australia,New Zealand andSingapore - stand a chanceof benefiting as much asChina.

The result suggests thattrade is moving in a simi-lar direction to tech, withthe world bifurcating intoseparate zones as tensionsbetween China and the USforce nations to take sides.It’s a path that’s grimlyreminiscent of the after-math of World War II,when the US-led MarshallPlan and Soviet-centeredComecon developed intorival trading blocs. Thatdivision split the globaleconomy for the durationof the Cold War. We should-n’t welcome its revival.

— Bloomberg

Asia’s big trade pact will hurt the global economy

PAGE

10

—FC BUREAU

Apollo Tyresnet falls 43%

Divi’s Lab Q2 net dips12% to `357 crore

Suzuki Motor Q2 operating profit down 32%

Apollo Tyres reported43.15 per cent decline in itsconsolidated net profit atRs 83 crore for the secondquarter ended September30, hit by weak performan-ce in the domestic market.

The company had posteda net profit of Rs 146 crorefor Q2 of 2018-19. Net salesdeclined to Rs 3,926 croreas against Rs 4,192 crore in2018, Apollo Tyres said.

The tyre major said itsEuropean operations repo-rted single-digit growth inrevenue, both in the sec-ond quarter and in firsthalf of the fiscal.

TechM Q2 netrises 5.6%Tech Mahindra posted 5.6per cent increase in consol-idated net profit at Rs 1,124crore for the Septemberquarter, and said it willacquire US-based Born Gr-oup at an enterprise valueof $95 million (approxi-mately Rs 671 crore).

The company had regis-tered a net profit of Rs1,064.3 crore in the July-September 2018 quarter,Tech Mahindra said.

Its revenue from opera-tions grew 5.1 per cent toRs 9,070 crore from Rs8,629.8 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Divi’s Laboratories reported an 11.62 percent dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs356.78 crore for the second quarter versusRs 403.72 crore a year ago. Revenue fromoperations rose to Rs 1,445.57 crore ascompared with Rs 1,323.93 in the year-agoperiod. The firm said its capex pro-grammes in Hyderabad and Visakha-pat-nam were going as per schedule.

Japanese auto majorSuzuki Motor Corporationreported 31.83 per centdecline in operating profitat 55.90 billion yen (aroundRs 3,630 crore) in the sec-ond quarter ended Septem-ber 30, mainly hit by slow-down in India.

The company had postedan operating profit of 82billion yen (around Rs 5,330

crore) in the same periodlast fiscal. Net sales stoodat 847.9 billion (around Rs55,110 crore) yen as against941.9 billion yen (about Rs94,190 crore) in the year-agoperiod.

“Slowdown since 2Q ofFY2018, owing to producti-on decrease in Japan, in ad-dition to slowdown in Indi-an automobile (is) continu-

ing from previous year,”the company said in a pres-entation on its website.

SMC said its global salesdeclined 17.2 per cent to14.08 lakh units owing todecrease in India andJapan.

Sales in India, where MSIhas nearly 50 per cent mar-ket share, were down 26.5per cent at 6.75 lakh units.

Godrej Properties reported a 66 per centincrease in its consolidated net profit at Rs34.19 crore for the second quarter of thisfiscal. Its net profit stood at Rs 20.57 crorein the year-ago period, the company said.

Total income declined to Rs 395.11 crorein the July-September period of this fiscalfrom Rs 487.07 crore in the correspondingquarter of the previous year.

Godrej Properties Q2profit up 66% to `34 cr

Tata Group firm Titanposted a 3.5 per centincrease in its consolidatednet profit at Rs 311.65 crorefor the second quarter com-pared to Rs 301.11 crore forthe July-September periodof 2018-19. Its total incomerose to Rs 4,693.34 crorefrom Rs 4,595.13 crore.

“The company has donewell across all its business-es in the second quartergiven the subdued marketand consumer sentiments.The jewellery business hasdone better than most play-ers in the industry," MDC. K. Venkataraman said.

Titan Q2 netrises to `312 cr

PERFORMANCE STREET

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, NOV. 5

Merger and acquisitiondeals have witnessed sig-nificant erosion of valuethis year. Deal value willfurther shrink in 2020 asglobal deal space willcontinue to slowdown.

In 2018, M&A deals hadtouched a high of $81.6billion. Global law firmBaker McKenzie expectsthe deal value to comedown to $52.1 billion bythe end of 2019. Even inSeptember quarter, thedeal value had droppedby half against the year-ago quarter.

By 2020, the total dealvalue can further comedown to $44.6 billion asthe global deal makingwill continue to slowdown because of ongoingworldwide economicuncertainty and the riskof global recession. M&Awill decline globally from$2.8 trillion in 2019 to $2.1trillion in 2020, findsBaker McKenzie.

In India, domestic dealswill dip from $36.4 billionin 2019 to $29.4 billion in2020. In 2018, domesticdeals accounted for $37.2billion. Cross-border dea-ls will continue to be sub-dued.

M&A deals toshrink furtherin 2020

Mumbai, Nov. 5: Twodays before the deadline,the Adani Group on Tue-sday sought the BombayHigh Court’s nod to com-plete its offer to buy the13.5 per cent stake heldby South African compa-ny Bidvest in Mumbaiairport, saying the GVKGroup has failed to depo-sit the money in the cou-rt-ordered escrow accou-nt on time.

With the third exten-sion, the GVK group hastime till on November 7to pay Bidvest and com-plete the deal.

The Adanis’s bid toenter the country’s sec-ond busiest airport bybuying out Bid ServicesDivision Mauritius fromthe MIAL was stalledafter the airport operatorMIAL controlled by theGVK Group chose to exe-rcise its first right of ref-usal, and matched the Rs1,248-crore or Rs 77 a sha-re, offer that Adanis ma-de to the South Africancompany in March, valu-ing MIAL at Rs 9,500crore. According to theagreement, the final pay-ment and transfer of sha-res was September 30which was later extendedtwice by consent to Nove-mber 7. — PTI

Adani seeks HCnod to closeBidvest deal

RITWIK MUKHERJEEKOLKATA, NOV. 5

Godrej Ex-pert RichCreme, fr-om the sta-ble of God-rej Consu-mer Produ-cts (GCPL),one of Ind-ia’s largestselling hair colour, hasroped in Bollywood divaAnushka Sharma as thenew face for the brand.This move is in line withmaking the brand morecontemporary and rele-vant in consonance withtoday’s lifestyle whileinfusing a youthfulappeal. With $23.4 mil-lion brand value as perCelebrity BrandValuation 2018 Rankingsby Duff & Phelps (D&P),Anushka is one of themost celebrated actress-es in the country.

Sunil Kataria CEO —India and SAARC, Godr-ej Consumer Products,said Godrej Expert RichCreme has been an expe-rt of accessible hair tran-sformation. They are thr-illed to partner with theleading superstar Anush-ka Sharma to chart ourfuture growth roadmap.

Anushka toendorse Godrejhair colour

Stall speedGlobal trade volumes have beenin the most pronounced downturnsince 2009

Note: Shows rolling three-monthaverage volumes compared to theaverage three months earlier.Source: Bloomberg

Tariffs among members of Asia’s new trade blocsare already relatively low

Over the borderline

Note: Shows average trade-weighted tariffs.Source: Bloomberg

■ RCEP ■ Revived TPP ■ Both ■ NeitherIndia

CambodiaSouth Korea

LaosChile

PhilippinesIndonesia

ThailandVietnam

MyanmarChina

MexicoAustraliaMalaysia

CanadaNew Zealand

JapanUS

BruneiSingapore

Sep2009 11 13 15 17 19

0 2 4 6 8 10 12%

6% q/q420

-2Column

Explainer

—AGENCIES

PNB clocks `507-cr net profit in Q2New Delhi, Nov. 5: State-owned Punjab NationalBank (PNB) on Tuesdayreported a profit of Rs 507.06crore for the second quarterended September 30 aidedby substantial reduction inprovisioning for bad loans.

The bank had posted a lossof Rs 4,532.35 crore in thecorresponding quarter last

year.During the quarter, provi-

sions for bad loans sharplydeclined to Rs 3,253.32 croreagainst Rs 7,733.27 crore.

The provisions during theyear-ago period included theamount for the Rs 14,000-crore fraud committed byjeweller duo Nirav Modi andMehul Choksi.

Gross non-performingassets (NPAs) amounted to16.76 per cent of the grossadvances at the end ofSeptember, lower than 17.16per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs or bad loans alsocame down to 7.65 per centas against 8.90 per cent inthe year-ago period.

— PTI

AnushkaSharma

Vinod Aggarwal

WorldWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Protest at hospitalFormer Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refuses tobe discharged from Lahore hospital in protest againstdaughter Maryam not being released despite granted bail

Ending violence andchaos and restoringorder remain priority

for Hong kong

— Xi Jinpingafter meeting Carrie Lam

IN BRIEF

MEXICO: FIVEOF FAMILYSHOT DEAD

Mexico: At least five mem-bers of a family in northern

Mexico, including two infants,were killed in an attack by

unknown gunmen, in the lat-est case of grisly violence to

hit the country. Mexicanmedia reported that the vic-

tims belonged to theLeBaron family, associatedwith a break-away Mormon

community that settled innorthern Mexico decadesago, and that the dead aswell as additional missing

family members may all beUS citizens. The governments

of Chihuahua and Sonorastates, both of which border

the United States, issued abrief, joint statement saying

an investigation into the inci-dent had been launched andthat some people were pre-

sumed dead and others miss-ing. The statement, which

noted that additional federaland local security forces werebeing sent into the area nearthe border between the twoMexican states, did not pro-

vide further details. Local TVshowed images of a burnt

vehicle that may havebelonged to the family, and

local activist and familymember Julian LeBaron was

quoted as describing the inci-dent as a “massacre.” — AFP

Johnson daresCorbyn on Brexit

Russian smugglesgold in shoes, held

Moscow: Russian customsofficers have detained a

woman at the Chinese bor-der with nearly 2kg of gold

in her shoes after sheappeared to be walking

strangely, authorities said.The Russian was detained at

a customs post in easternSiberia after officials noticed

that she “was nervous andacted in a suspicous man-ner,” said Marina Boiko, a

spokeswoman for theregional customs authorities.“The young woman unnatu-

rally placed one foot in frontof the other,” she said. A

search led to the discoveryof eight pieces of gold

weighing a total of nearly1.9kg. “The ingots had been

attached to the insoles ofher shoes with duct tape,” it

said, putting the value of thefind at $79,000.

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson,

pressed opposition LabourParty leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

on Tuesday to tell voters innext month’s election

whether he backs leavingthe EU. Johnson’s main rival

in the snap December 12 pollhas struggled with defining

his position on Brexit eversince Britons narrowly trig-gered the divorce in a 2016

referendum. Labour’s newofficial stance is to negotiate

a more EU-friendly with-drawal agreement with

Brussels and then let votersdecide whether to back it or

simply stay in the EU.But Corbyn refuses to say

whether he would then cam-paign for his own deal.

‘Baghdadi’s sisterarrested in Syria’

Beirut: Turkey captured theelder sister of the slain

leader of the Islamic State innorthwestern Syria, accord-ing to a senior Turkish offi-

cial, who called the arrest anintelligence ‘gold mine’.

Little is known about the sis-ter of Al-Baghdadi. The offi-cial said the woman, known

as Rasmiya Awad, is suspect-ed of being affiliated with

the extremist group. He didnot elaborate. Awad was

captured in a raid on a trailercontainer she was living in

with her family near thetown of Azaz in Aleppo. The

area is part of the regionadministered by Turkey after

it carried out a militaryincursion to chase away IS

militants and Kurdish fight-ers starting 2016.

A demonstrator jumps over a barricade during a protest against the economic policies of the government ofPresident Sebastian Pinera in Santiago, Chile. — AFP

US envoy was told to endorse PrezWashington, Nov. 5: Houseinvestigators released thefirst transcripts from theclosed-door impeachmenthearings into PresidentDonald Trump, providingnew details about events atthe centre of the inquiry.

In hundreds of pages,Marie Yovanovitch, theousted US ambassador toUkraine, and MichaelMcKinley, a former topaide to secretary of stateMike Pompeo, recountedmounting concerns aboutthe administration’sactions toward Ukraine,including Trump’s callwith President VoldymyrZelenskiy. Democrats planto release more tran-scripts in the coming days.

Yovanovitch told investi-gators she first becameaware of Rudy Giuliani’sinvolvement in Ukraine inDecember 2018. Theambassador knew thepresident’s personallawyer was interested ininvestigating Burisma andJoe Biden, but “it wasn’tentirely clear to me whatwas going on.”

In the months that fol-lowed, she began to under-stand Giuliani’s work out-side official diplomaticchannels with YuriyLutsenko, who at the timewas Ukraine’s prosecutorgeneral.

The core of Giuliani’sinvolvement appears torevolve around his workwith two businessmen,Lev Parnas and Igor

Fruman, arrested andcharged last month withmaking improper US cam-paign contributions. Shetestified that she wasinformed by an official inUkraine that Giuliani andLutsenko were planning to“do things, including tome.” The businessmen,she came to understand,“needed a better ambassa-dor” to facilitate theirinterests.

She was told Lutsenko“was looking to hurt me inthe US,” adding, “I could-n’t imagine what thatwas.”

Yovanovitch said sheraised concerns about theTrump administration’sactions in Ukraine and themedia reports against herwith Gordon Sondland,the US ambassador to theEU. In response, heencouraged her to tweether support for Trump.“He said, ‘You know, youneed to go big or gohome,’” she recalled. “Youneed to, you know, tweetout there that you supportthe president.” It wasadvice, she said, as a non-

partisan ambassador, “Idid not see how I couldimplement.”

At the time, some conser-vatives were saying thatYovanovitch had been bad-mouthing Trump inUkraine, which sheemphatically denied.“That allegation is false,”she testified.

The career diplomat said

she doesn’t, ‘so far’, fearfor her safety. But she saidshe has been ‘shocked’ bythe administration’sapproach to Ukraine andwas ‘surprised and dis-mayed’ by what shelearned from the tran-script of Trump’s call withZelenskiy that sparked theimpeachment probe.

On that call, Trump

called Yovanovitch ‘badnews’ and said she was‘going to go through somethings’.

McKinley, the former topaide to Pompeo, detailedhis frustration withYovanovitch’s ouster andhis concerns about theeffect that it could have onmorale in the department.He said the silence from

top leaders was ‘puzzlingand baffling’.

So McKinley pushed forthe department to put outa statement in support ofYovanovitch. Althoughseveral other top officialsagreed that it should bedone, he was eventuallytold that Pompeo haddecided against it.

— AP

Washington, Nov. 5: TheUnited States has begunthe process of pullingout of the landmark 2015Paris climate agree-ment.

Secretary of state MikePompeo said that he sub-mitted a formal notice tothe United Nations. Thatstarts a withdrawalprocess that does notbecome official for ayear. His statement tout-ed America’s carbon pol-lution cuts and calledthe Paris deal an ‘unfaireconomic burden’ to theUS economy.

Nearly 200 nationssigned the climate dealin which each countryprovides its own goals tocurb emissions of heat-trapping gases that leadto climate change.

In international cli-mate discussions, wewill continue to offer arealistic and pragmaticmodel — backed by arecord of real worldresults — showing inno-vation and open marketslead to greater prosperi-ty, fewer emissions, andmore secure sources ofenergy, Pompeo said in astatement.

The US started theprocess with a hand-delivered letter, becom-ing the only country towithdraw. — AP

Pak asks clericto end protestsIslamabad, Nov. 5: ThePakistan government hasreached out to firebrandcleric-cum-politician,Maulana Fazlur Rehman,who is leading the firstmajor bid to oust PrimeMinister Imran Khan, toend the massive protest,which entered the fifthday on Tuesday.

The right-wing JamiatUlema-e-Islam Fazl leaderis leading the protest,dubbed as ‘Azadi March’,in Islamabad, demandingKhan’s resignation,accusing him of “rig-ging” the 2018 generalelections. Opposition par-ties, including PakistanMuslim League-Nawazand Pakistan PeoplesParty have also throwntheir weight behind theanti-government rally.

Two different negotiat-ing teams of the govern-ment reached out to theJUI-F in Islamabad.

A delegation led by for-mer prime ministerChaudhry Shujaat Hus-sain met the cleric, hours

after the government’snegotiating team led bydefence minister, PervaizKhattak, held talks withthe Rehbar Committeeheaded by JUI-F leader,Akram Khan Durrani,and discussed theirdemands, it said.

However, neither of thesides showed any sign ofconceding any ground,the report said. Khattakand the Rahbar Commi-ttee will resume talks.Rehman asked his sup-porters to continue theiranti-government protestwith perseverance andcourage, after the 48-hourdeadline set by him forPM Khan’s resignationexpired. — PTI

Iran vows to enrich more uraniumTehran, Nov. 5: PresidentHassan Rouhani said onTuesday that Iran wouldresume uranium enrich-ment at an undergroundplant south of Tehran inits latest step back from atroubled 2015 agreementwith major powers.

The suspension of allenrichment at the Fordowplant in the mountainsnear the Shiite holy city ofQom was one of therestrictions on its nuclearactivities that Iran accept-ed in return for the liftingof international sanc-tions.

But Washington’s aban-

donment of the deal inMay last year followed byits re-imposition of crip-pling sanctions promptedIran to begin a phased sus-pension of its own com-mitments in May this year.

Rouhani recalled thatunder the terms of theagreement Iran hadretained more than 1,000centrifuges at the plantwhich had been runningempty since it went intoeffect.

“Starting from tomor-row (Wednesday), we willbegin injecting (uraniumhexafluoride) gas atFordo,” Rouhani said.

Iran said the wholeprocess would be carriedout transparently, wit-nessed by inspectorsfrom the UN nuclearwatchdog, theInternational Atomic

Energy Agency.The move is the fourth

announced by Iran since itbegan responding toWashington’s abandon-ment of its commitments.

Iran has repeatedlywarned the remainingparties to the deal —Britain, China, France,Germany and Russia —that the agreement canonly be rescued if theyhelp it circumvent USsanctions. — AP

The movementto oust the

Prime Minister willcontinue to moveahead and will neverbe on the back foot

– MAULANA REHMAN, Pakistan cleric

First transcript of Trump impeachment provides interesting insights into inquiry

U.S. PULLING OUT OF PARISCLIMATE DEAL

Mike Pompeo

Hassan Rouhani

Scribe sues Trump for defamationWashington, Nov. 5: Awoman who accusesDonald Trump of rapingher more than 23 years agoin a New York departmentstore sued the US presi-dent over statements hemade in June denying thatthe attack occurred andcriticising her for comingforward.

E. Jean Carroll, a long-time Elle magazine advicecolumnist, said in a com-plaint filed in a New Yorkstate court in Manhattanthat Trump lied aboutattacking her, and“smeared integrity, hon-esty, and dignity” by con-cocting a “swarm of relat-ed lies” to explain why shewould make the incidentup.

White House PressSecretary, StephanieGrisham, said that “thelawsuit is frivolous andthe story is a fraud — just

like the author.”Carroll’s account of the

alleged rape at BergdorfGoodman on Fifth Avenue,which she said occurredbetween the autumn of1995 and spring of 1996,had been published inNew York magazine in

June, excerpted from hermemoir released the nextmonth.

After the account waspublished, Trump madestatements that he did notrape Carroll and hadnever met her. He said shewas ‘totally lying’ as partof an effort to boost booksales. “I’ll say it with greatrespect: Number one, she’snot my type. Number two,it never happened. It neverhappened, OK?” he toldThe Hill newspaper.

In her complaint, Carrollsaid the attack lasted twoto three minutes, beforeshe ran out of the dressingroom and onto FifthAvenue. Carroll said in thelawsuit she soon confidedin two friends, author LisaBirnbach and formerWCBS news anchor, CarolMartin, about the allegedattack, but did not reportTrump to authorities

because she feared retri-bution.

She said she went publicafter accounts in 2017 ofalleged sexual misconductby Hollywood producerHarvey Weinstein, whichhe has denied, spawnedthe #MeToo movement.

“No person in this coun-try should be above thelaw — including thePresident,” Carroll said ina statement provided byher lawyers.

Trump has denied accu-sations by more than onedozen women who said hemade unwanted sexualadvances against themyears before he enteredpolitics. He also faces adefamation lawsuit bySummer Zervos, whoclaimed he kissed heragainst her will in 2007 inNew York and later gropedher at a Beverly Hillshotel. — Reuters

DON PLUGS SON’SBOOK WHILEACCUSING BIDENSOF SELF-DEALINGWashington, Nov. 5:President DonaldTrump has accused for-mer vice-president JoeBiden of major ethicallapses and railed againstBiden's son for allegedlyprofiting off his father'soffice.

But on Monday, Trumpused his Twitter feed topublicize a new book byhis eldest son, DonaldTrump Jr., telling his66.5 million followersthat they should "Goorder it today!"

"My son,@DonaldJTrumpJr iscoming out with a newbook, "Triggered: Howthe Left Thrives on Hateand Wants to Silence Us"- available tomorrow,November 5th!" Trumpwrote on Monday, call-ing it a "great new bookthat I highly recommendfor ALL to read."

That kind of promo-tional tweet would be aviolation of ethics rulesif it had come from anyfederal employee otherthan the president, saidLiz Hempowicz, thedirector of public policyat the Project onGovernment Oversight,a nonpartisan govern-ment watchdog group.

"Frankly he's using hisTwitter account to try tofinancially benefit hisson," she said onMonday.

— AP

E. Jean Carroll

FLIRTING WITH DANGER

XI MEETS LAM TO DISCUSSPROTESTS IN HONG KONGHong Kong, Nov. 5:Chinese President XiJinping’s surprise meet-ing with Hong Kongleader Carrie Lam was a“vote of confidence” inher government’s abilityto tackle five months ofanti-government proteststhat have rocked thes e m i - a u t o n o m o u sChinese territory, a sen-ior official said Tuesday.

Xi met Lam on the side-lines of a trade event in

Shanghai on Mondaynight amid signals fromChina’s central govern-ment that it may tightenits grip on Hong Kong toquell the unrest that hasat times challengedChinese rule.

When asked if the meet-ing reflected Xi’s worryabout Lam’s handling ofthe unrest, Hong Kongchief secretary MatthewCheung said, “Thereverse is true.” — AFP

AT THE TIME,some conservativeswere saying thatYovanovitch hadbeen badmouthingTrump in Ukraine,which she emphati-cally denied.

Islamabad, Nov. 5: Twomonths after Rabi Pirzadathreatened PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwith dire consequences forscrapping the special sta-tus of Jammu andKashmir, the Pakistanisinger has announced thatshe is “quitting showbiz”.

In a Twitter post, RabiPirzada wrote, “Main RabiPirzada, showbiz se kinarakushi ikthyar karti hoon.Allah talah mere gunahonko maaf kare aur mere haqmein logo ka dil naramkare. Watu Izzu Mantasha,Watu Zillu Mantasha. (I,Rabi Pirzada, am quittingshowbiz. May Allah for-give my sins and soften thehearts of people in my

favour. Allah honoursthose he is pleased withand disgraces those he isnot happy with.)”

This comes a week aftersome private videos and

photos of Rabi wereleaked online and wentviral. The singer, who soonbecame a victim of trolls,had reportedly also filed acomplaint with Pakistan’s

Federal InvestigationAgency.

Rabi Pirzada had inSeptember posted a videoon her Twitter accountwhere she was seen hold-

ing snakes and sittingaround a crocodile whilewarning India andNarendra Modi of direconsequences in the after-math of India’s resolutionto end the special statusgiven to J&K under Article370.

Rabi had tweeted thevideo with the caption,“All these are gifts for PMModi. My friends will feaston you.” She had also post-ed a video of herselfwearing a suicide jacketand wrote, “#ModiHitler Ijust wish huh. #kashmirk-ibeti.”

Owing to her bizarresocial media posts, RabiPirzada was often trolledby netizens. — Agencies

Singer, who threatened Modi, quits showbiz� Rabi Pirzada had inSeptember posted avideo on her Twitteraccount where she wasseen holding snakes andsitting around a croco-dile while warning Indiaand Narendra Modi ofdire consequences inthe aftermath of India’sresolution to end thespecial status given toJ&K under Article 370

Published by T. Venkateswarlu for and on behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited at Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002. and Printed by him at BFL Infotech Limited, C – 9, Sector – III, Noida – 201301. Editor – T. Venkatram Reddy,RNI Registration number 57290/94, Price in Nepal - Nep. Rs. 20.00 per copy.

PAGE

12NewsmakersWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

New projectsActor Bella Thorne is soon to stepinto director’s shoes to helm athriller written by Zander Cote

Kyoto City: Authoritiesin Kyoto have bannedphotography in parts ofthe city’s main geishaneighbourhood, amid aflurry of complaintsabout harassment andbad behaviour by for-eign tourists in the questfor the perfect selfie.

The ban, introducedrecently on privateroads in the city’s Giondistrict, includes a fineof up to 10,000 yen (£70),as Kyoto and other sight-seeing spots in Japangrapple with the down-side of a boom in visi-tors that is expected tolast long after next sum-mer’s Tokyo Olympics.

“Tourism pollution” isa growing problem inKyoto, where touristsflock to ancient shrinesand temples and, inGion, catch sight of thefemale entertainers —known locally as geiko— and maiko appren-tices dressed in elabo-rate kimono on theirway to evening appoint-ments, the Guardianreported.

In response to com-plaints by residents andbusinesses, the localward has put up signswarning visitors not totake snapshots.

The neighbourhood ishome to exclusiverestaurants where geikoand maiko entertaincustomers on tatami-mat floors and over mul-tiple course kaiseki din-ners. — Agencies

Geisha selfiesbanned in Kyoto amid plaints ofharassment

London: A Hong Kongprotest-themed cake hasbecome the latest causecélébre of the city’s five-month politicalcrisis after it was disqual-ified from a cake decorat-ing competition in the UK.

The three-tiered cakefeatures a mini black-cladprotester in a yellow hardhat, a large Guy Fawkesmask, tiny umbrellas andmini political slogans —all symbols of the ongoingprotests. It even has aminiature black LP recordplaying the unofficialanthem of the protest,Glory to Hong Kong, andemits a vapour designedto look like tear gas.

Its creator, 3rd Spacecafe, believes the cake wasthe victim of political cen-sorship. The cafe, in HongKong’s Sheung Wan dis-trict, said it received an

email from CakeInternational saying “thecontent and messagebehind the cake has beenviewed as offensive andled to complaints fromattendees”, the Guardianreported. The organisers

of the contest said in a FBpost dated Sunday that theremoval of the piece fromthe competition area “wasdue to complaints aboutits content with somethreatening to damage thepiece”. — Agencies

HK protest cake barred from UK baking contest

IN BRIEF

Beijing: The captain of aChinese airliner who alleged-

ly allowed a young womanpassenger into the cockpit

during a flight has been sus-pended for life after her

photo went viral, according to state media reports. A

photo of the woman sittingin the cockpit of the airplanewith her fingers making a V-

shaped sign and cups ofdrinks on her knees has been

circulating on social mediasince Sunday, the Global

Times reported. While thepilot was not named, the

report said the other crewmembers of Air Guilin who

were involved in the incidenthave been suspended

indefinitely. — PTI

Singapore City: Singaporebanned the riding of e-scoot-

ers on sidewalks in the city-state from Monday,

November 4 after a growingnumber of accidents involv-

ing the motorised devices.Senior minister of state for

transport Lam Pin Min said inParliament Sunday that therewould be an advisory perioduntil Dec. 31, involving warn-

ings for riders, CNN reported.But after January 1, 2020,

there would be “strictenforcement” of laws. Those

caught riding on e-scooteron footpaths will be liable for

a fine of $1,472. — Agencies

Pilot in a soup overwoman cockpit photo

Happy to become amom in my 20s. We

(daughter Suri) kind ofgrew up together.

— Katie Holmes,

Actor

After France, S’porebans e-scooters

Los Angeles: Veteran film-maker Martin Scorsese was

once actively considering todirect Warner Bros block-

buster Joker but he admitsthat he couldn’t take the finalleap. It was reported in 2017

that Scorsese was set to pro-duce the film, which wasdescribed as a character

study of The Joker, the mostnotorious villain in DC

Comics and archenemy ofsuperhero Batman. At one

point, it was rumoured thatfilmmaker might direct the

project as well but it did notturn out to be true. — PTI

Martin once thoughtof making Joker

Los Angeles: Internet canrest now as Keanu Reeves has found love in business

partner Alexandra Grant. The55-year-old actor recently

stepped out with Grant forLos Angeles County Museumof Art’s Art + Film Gala. The

rumoured couple were allsmiles while holding hands as

they madetheir way

down the car-pet. They hap-pily posed for

the shutter-bugs. For the

occasion,Reeves opted

for an all-blacksuit, while Grant,

46, lookedresplendent in a navy blue

gown with a plunging neck-line. Reeves and Grant haveknown each other for quitesome time. In 2011, the two

collaborated for Reeves’book Ode to Happiness, thatthe actor had penned whilethe illustration was done byGrant. Five years later, they

again worked together onKeanu’s follow-up book

Shadows and later launchedthe publishing house X

Artists’ Books. Reeves hasmostly been coy about hisprivate life and has never

talked about his relationshipsin the press. — PTI

KEANU REEVESAND ALEXANDRA

GRANT DATING

Keanu Reeves& Alexandra

Creator says cake victim of political censorship

Chennai: Premier techni-cal varsity, IndianInstituteof Technology,Madras, on Tuesdaylaunched the country's“first indigenously”designed standing wheel-chair, which will enable adifferently abledpersonshift from sitting to stand-ing position.

Named ‘Arise’, the stand-ing wheelchair waslaunched in the presence-of union minister ofsocial justice and empow-erment ThawarchandGehlotat the institutehere. IIT, Madras “in col-laboration with PhoenixMedical Systemshaslaunched India's firstindigenously-designedstanding wheelchair,” itsaid.

“It enables a differently-abled person requiring awheelchair to shift fromsitting to standing posi-tion, and vice versa, inde-

pendentlyand in a con-trolled manner,” a releasefrom the university said.

It was designed anddeveloped by the the insti-tute’s TTK Centre forRehabilitation Researchand Device Development,headedby Prof SujathaSrinivasan in the depart-ment of mechanical engi-

neering. Since 2015, withCSR support from TTKPrestige,the Centre wasin-volved in research relatedto human movement,influence of orthotic andprosthetic devices onhuman movement, andthe development of mech-anisms, products andassistive devices for peo-ple with impairments,itsaid.

“Thanks to a novel mass-manufacturable mechani-cal design....AndPhoenix's manufacturingcapabilities, Arise will bemade availableat afford-able prices,” it said.

Mr Gehlot lauded IIT,Madras for its initiative,and also recalled theNarendra Modi govern-ment’s various welfaremeasures for the‘divyang,’including set-ting up five national-levelsophisticated sports cen-tres. — PTI

IIT-Madras launches ‘Arise’,India’s 1st standing wheelchair

London: Lonelinessamong cardiac patients islinked with increased riskof dying within the firstyear of being dischargedfrom the hospital, accord-ing to a study.

The study, published inthe journal Heart, notedthat loneliness was associ-ated with a significantlyincreased risk of mortali-ty among women andmen.

The researchers lookedat the health outcomes ofpatients after a year of

admission to a specialistheart centre with eithercoronary heart disease,abnormal heart rhythm,heart failure, or valve dis-ease in the period between2013-14. The study noted

that most of the patients— 70 per cent — were men,and their average age was66.

More than 13,000patients (53 per cent of thetotal number) completedvalidated questionnaireson their physical health,psychological well-being,and levels of depression.

The patients were alsoquizzed about healthbehaviours, smoking,drinking, and how oftenthey took their prescribedmedicines. — PTI

Lonely cardiac patients at higher death risk

Paris: A French celebritychef who is suing theMichelin guide for sug-gesting he used cheddarcheese in a souffle wasnamed as one of the 10immortals of haute cui-sine by the rival Gault &Millau guide.

Marc Veyrat was onMonday given a perma-nent place in the newacademy of the “GoldenToque” alongside GuySavoy, Alain Passard,Alain Ducasse and otherlegends of French cuisine.

The news was seen as aswipe at its arch rivalMichelin, who Veyrataccused of “dishonour-ing” him by stripping himof his coveted third star inJanuary.

The chef — a larger thanlife figure instantly recog-nisable for his wide-brimmed black Savoyard

hat and dark glasses — istaking the guide to courtlater this month to try toforce Michelin to handover its inspectors’ notes.

Gault & Millauannounced its new acade-my featuring the 10 pillarsof French cooking as itnamed Arnaud Donckeleas its chef of the year.

They described his cook-ing at La Vague d’Orrestaurant in the chicFrench Riviera resort ofSaint Tropez as poetry on

a plate. While the prize isusually given to emergingchefs, the 42-year-old isalready a big name, hold-ing the maximum threeMichelin stars.

“Even though he isextremely well known, hemerits further praise,”Gault & Millau chiefJacques Bally told AFP.

Bally said that in a divid-ed and splintered culinaryworld “with ArnaudDonckele you will find theessence of taste thateveryone can agree on.”Donckele, who is set toopen Le Cheval Blancrestaurant in Paris nextyear, said that his wasdesigned to please every-one. Famous for his exqui-site reductions andsauces, Donckele’s signa-ture dish was inspired bya sandwich that a fisher-man once gave him. — AFP

Cape Canaveral, Florida:A dozen bottles of fineFrench wine have arrivedat the space station, notfor the astronauts, but forscience.

The red Bordeaux winewill age for a year upthere before returning toearth. Researchers willstudy how weightlessnessand space radiation affectthe aging process.

The goal is to developnew flavors and proper-ties for the food industry.

The bottles flew upaboard a NorthropGrumman capsule thatlaunched from Virginiaon Saturday and arrivedat the International SpaceStation on Monday. Eachbottle was packed in ametal canister to preventbreakage. Universities inBordeaux, France, andBavaria are taking part inthe experiment fromSpace Cargo Unlimited, aLuxembourg startup.

Winemaking uses bothyeast and bacteria, andinvolves chemicalprocesses, making wineideal for space study, saidUniversity of Erlangen-Nuremberg’s MichaelLebert. Thes p a c e - a g e dwine will becompared toB o r d e a u xwine aged onEarth.

This is the firstof six space mis-sions planned by thecompany over thenext three yearstouching on thefuture of agricul-

ture given our changingworld.

“This is a once-in-a-life-time adventure,” NicolasGaume, chief executiveand co-founder of SpaceCargo Unlimited, said in a

statement.Nasa isopening the spacestation to morebusiness opportuni-ties like this and,eventually, even pri-vate astronaut mis-sions. The Cygnus

capsule thatpulled up to thespace station onMonday con-tains multiplecommercial ven-tures. Also onboard: an ovenfor bakingchocolate chipcookies, as wellas samples ofcarbon fiberused by Italy’sLamborghini.

— AP

Wine in space: 12 bottlesarrive for year of aging

Bangkok: Three drugsuspects — including anAmerican — shot andstabbed their way out ofa Thai court beforebrazenly fleeing in apick-up truck, policesaid Tuesday.

The three were still onthe loose more than 24hours after breaking outof a Pattaya court hold-ing room on Monday,police said.

Officers were combingthe seedy beach resortcity, located two hourssoutheast of Bangkok.

“If they resist...Officials have to carryout decisive measures,”said KrissanaPattanacharoen, nationalpolice office spokesman.

The escapees are anAmerican and his Thaiwife, and a male Thaisuspect. The couple wasfacing death penaltycharges for drug traf-ficking, although sen-tences are rarely carriedout.

Krissana said their rel-atives had been contact-ed to try and urge themto surrender and avoid aviolent showdown.

Authorities said theThai man somehow gothold of a gun and knifethat he used to attack apolice officer allowingthe trio to escape. Theofficer was recovering,Krissana said. Thailandis both a producer andmajor transit hub fordrugs. — AFP

Drug suspectsshoot and stabtheir way outof Thai court

Los Angeles: Nigeria’ssubmission for best inter-national feature categoryof the Oscar, Lionheart,has been disqualified bythe the Academy ofMotion Picture Arts andSciences over its excessiveEnglish dialogues.

According to the Wrap,the film, directed by andfeaturing GenevieveNnaji, does not adhere toAcademy’s rule that a sub-

m i s s i o nfor inter-nationalf e a t u r efilm cate-g o r ym u s thave “apredomi-n a n t l yn o n -E n g l i s h

dialogue track”. The filmis about a woman trying

to keep her family’s trans-portation business afloatafter her father suffers aheart attack. It has justunder 12 minutes of dia-logue that is in the Igbolanguage, while the rest ofthe 95-minute feature is inEnglish. Lionheart wasone of 10 African filmsofficially submitted forOscar consideration thisyear, a record for the con-tinent. — PTI

Nigeria film out of Oscar for too much English

Marc Veyrat

Berlin: Birds can keeptrack of social associa-tions with hundreds ofother individuals, accord-ing to a study which rais-es doubts if large brainsare needed to form com-plex societies.

The researchers, includ-ing those from the MaxPlanck Institute ofAnimal Behaviour inGermany, found the exis-tence of a multilevel soci-

ety in as m a l l -b r a i n e dbird calledthe vul-t u r i n eguineafowlfound in parts ofNortheast Africa such asEthiopia and Kenya.

The study, published inthe journal CurrentBiology, provides a clue asto how these complex

organisations may haveevolved.

The researchers trackedthe social relationships ofover 400 adult birds in afield site in Kenya overthe course of multiple sea-sons. They found that thepopulation comprised 18distinct social groups —with 13 to 65 individualsin each — that remainedstable despite regularintermingling. — PTI

Birds may have complex societies: Research

London: Daniel Craig dis-missed a reporter’s sug-gestion that Fleabag cre-ator-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge was hired to punchup the script of the newBond movie No Time toDie and make it moreinclusive.The actor, who is return-

ing as JamesBond for thefifth and finaltime, got furi-ous during aninterview withthe SundayTimes when the questionwas posed to him.

“Look, we’re having a

c o nv e r s a t i o nabout Phoebe’sgender here,which isf****ing ridicu-lous. She’s agreat writer.

Why shouldn’t we getPhoebe onto Bond?” heasked. It was reported that

Craig was the one whobrought Waller-Bridgeonboard the film. No Timeto Die script was pennedby director CaryFukunaga and screen-writer Scott Z Burns.They expanded from adraft written by formerBond writers. — PTI

Why shouldn’t we get Phoebe onto Bond, asks Craig

Cheddar cheese row chef named an ‘immortal’ of French cuisine

Daniel Craig Phoebe

■ ■ Study noted thatwomen have largersocial networksthan men, so sepa-ration, divorce maydisadvantage menmore

A cake featuring HK protesters, disqualified from theCake International 2019 contest in Birmingham, UK.

The launch of a standingwheelchair at an event inChennai on Tuesday. — PTI

Kiernan Shipka atthe LA premiere ofLet it Snow in LosAngeles onMonday. — AP

Zosia Mamet (left) and KatieHolmes at an event in NewYork on Monday. — AP

Womenperforma tradi-tionaldance atTaunggyiinMyanmaronMonday.

— AFP

ValentinaSampaio at a

special screen-ing of Ford vFerrari in LosAngeles on

Monday.— AP

An Indian camel (left) performs during a “dance competition” and traderswith their camels at fair in Pushkar, in Rajasthan, on Tuesday. The annuallivestock fair is one of the largest camel fairs in the world. — AFP, PTI

■ ■ Nasa is openingthe space stationto more businessopportunities likethis and, eventual-ly, even privateastronaut missions

DM fines self, stafffor water wastage

New Delhi: The wife and in-laws of Gagan Gautam (39),

who committed suicide byjumping from his 10th floor

flat here, were booked onTuesday for alleged suicideabetment based on a com-

plaint by the father of thedeceased, the police said. “A

complaint was made byGagan’s father, who accused

the wife and the in-laws of hisson of pushing him to a situa-

tion where he ended his life.An FIR has been registered

under relevant section,” SHO(Expressway police station)

Bhuvnesh Kumar said. “Gaganhad come to meet us at

Shahdara a day before he tookthe extreme step and told us

that he was scared and tensedbecause of his wife and in-laws. On Monday, his build-

ing’s security guard us toinform that Gagan had been

rushed to a hospital. When wereached there, we found thathe had jumped from his bal-cony and killed himself,” the

police said. — PTI

Noida: Over 18,000 litres ofillicit foreign-made liquor

worth over `1 crore wasseized and five peoplearrested in Noida and

Greater Noida in one of thebiggest such seizures in the

region, officials said onTuesday. The recovery wasmade during an operation

carried out by the Sector 58police station in Noida and

those in Dadri and Jarcha inGreater Noida on Monday,the officials said. “It was a

massive operation during thepast 24 hours against illicit

liquor. Three trucks trans-porting over 18,000 litres of

illicit foreign-made liquorwere impounded and five

accused arrested.

Devin Booker helpsSuns end Sixers’unbeaten run

SPORT | Basketball

14 15GUIDE TO FORTUNE

SHORT TAKES

■ Vulkan ■Aesop■Owl

THE ANSWERS TO TODAY’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE

1James Bond was search-ing for what kind of air-

plane in 'Thunderball'?

■ 707■ Piper Cub■ Vulkan

2Who wrote "don't countyour chickens before

they are hatched"?

■ Aesop■ Shakespeare■ Ben Franklin

3Which kind of animaldid Florence Nightingale

often carry around in herpocket?

■ Kitten■ Puppy■ Owl

NEW DELHI WEDNESDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2019

Ghaziabad: How often do youhear an official imposing a

fine on himself? It has hap-pened in Uttar Pradesh’s

Ghaziabad district. Ghaziabaddistrict magistrate Ajay

Shankar Pandey imposed afine of `10,000 on himself

and other staff members afterhe found that water was over-

flowing from an overheadtank of the collectorate build-

ing, his personal assistantGaurav Singh said. Mr Pandey

warned all the officers andthe collectorate staff that

such wastage of water wouldnot be tolerated in future as

water conservation is theprime need of the country, Mr

Singh said. “The entire staffwas “held guilty” for the

overflowing of water from theoverhead tank. The fine willbe shared by all the officers

and staff, and would bedeposited in the treasury, Mr

Singh added. — PTI

DELHI SPECIAL Rakul inawe ofKamal

DELHI AGEMatinee 25

Man kills self; wife,in-laws booked

Illicit liquor worth`1cr seized, 5 held

Tick the answer and checkthem below.

Law and order in city was notaffected due to protest: Cops

India vs Bangladesh:Cyclone Maha threatlooms over 2nd T20I

SPORT | Cricket

■ Trend may continue for next few days

Most police personnel who participated in stir were off duty

Strong wind speed bringsdown pollution levels in city

Party slams Goel, Jaju’sfor violation of odd-even

Prez rejects petition demandingdisqualification of 11 AAP MLAsAE CCORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 5

In a relief for the AAP,President Ram NathKovind has rejected apetition demanding dis-qualification of 11 partyMLAs for allegedly hold-ing office of profit.

The October 28 decisionof the President rejectingthe plea is based on anopinion rendered by theElection Commission, thepoll panel said.

In March, 2017, a mannamed Vivek Garg hadfiled a petition before thePresident seeking dis-qualification of 11 AAPlawmakers, includingtransport ministerKailash Gahlot, claimingthat they were enjoyingoffice of profit by beingco-chairpersons of dis-trict disaster manage-

ment authorities in 11Delhi districts.

The issue was referredto the EC which gave anopinion in August thatholding the office of co-chairperson of a districtdisaster managementauthority does not attractdisqualification as MLAas there is no remunera-tion by way of salary,allowances, sitting fee.

Nor is there any otherfacility such as staff car,office space, supportingstaff, telephone or resi-dence provided.

As per law, the Presidentaccepts the opinion of theElection Commission incases of office of profit.

The Commission heldthat “item 14 of theSchedule to DelhiMembers of LegislativeAssembly (Removal ofDisqualification Act),

1997 provides for exemp-tion for the office ofchairman, director ormember of a statutory ornon-statutory body orcommittee constituted byGovernment of NCT, pro-vided that the said chair-man, director or memberare not entitled to anyremuneration.

The petitioner hadsought the disqualifica-tion of MLAs Sanjeev Jha

(Burari), Nitin Tyagi(Laxmi Nagar), PraveenKumar (Jangpura),Pawan

Kumar Sharma (AdarshNagar), Shri Dutt Sharma(Ghonda), Rajesh Gupta(Wazirpur), Sarita Singh(Rohtas Nagar), DineshMohania (Sangam Vihar),Amanatullah Khan(Okhla), Kailash Gahlot(Najafgarh) and JarnailSingh (Tilak Nagar).


Delhi’s air qualityimproved further onTuesday, giving respite topeople suffering fromacute pollution for a week.The trend is likely to con-tinue for a couple of days.

The air quality index(AQI) dropped from 365 at9.45 am to 331 at 3.45 pm,according to the CentralPollution Control Board.

The National CapitalRegion (NCR), GreaterNoida (348), Noida (358),Ghaziabad (351),Faridabad (311), andGurgaon (328) also record-ed improvement in airquality.

An AQI between 0-50 isconsidered ‘good,’ 51-100‘satisfactory,’ 101-200‘moderate,’ 201-300 ‘poor,’301-400 ‘very poor,’ and401-500 as ‘severe.’ An AQIabove 500 falls in the‘severe plus’ category.

The IndiaM e t e o r o l o g i c a lDepartment (IMD) saidthat winds gusting up to25 kmph are flushing outpollutants faster.

“There are good chancesof rain in Northwest Indiaon Wednesday night andThursday due to a westerndisturbance. The precipita-tion will cover Delhi-NCR,Jammu and Kashmir,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, andwestern Uttar Pradesh,”said Kuldeep Srivastava,the head of IMD’s regionalweather forecasting centre.

He said the situationwill not be similar to thatof Sunday, when highhumidity due to lightrains led to the formationof more potent secondaryparticles.

Secondary particles areproducts of complicatedatmospheric reactionsbetween primary parti-cles—such as particulatematter, sulphur dioxide,and nitrogen dioxide

directly emitted by stub-ble burning and vehicles— in the presence of otherfactors such as sunlightand moisture.

Examples of secondaryparticles include sul-

New Delhi, Nov. 5: TheDelhi high court onTuesday declined to inter-fere with the modifiedCentral governmenthealth services (CGHS)scheme, saying it is for theCentre to decide how togive health benefits andsupply medicines to itsserving and retiredemployees.

A bench of chief justiceD.N. Patel and justice C.Hari Shankar said thatprima facie the modifiedpolicy creates no hurdlesin supply of medicines tothe Central governmentemployees and also curbsmisuse of the scheme aswas being allegedly donein the past.

The observation camewhile dismissing a PILchallenging an e-tenderissued for empanelment ofauthorised local chemistsunder the modified CGHSscheme for the nationalcapital area. The petition

had opposed the modifiedscheme also.

Under the earlierscheme, if medicines pre-scribed by a doctor werenot available at a wellnesscentre or dispensary, anauthorisation slip wasissued to the patient forprocuring the medicinefrom a local chemist, thehealth ministry told thecourt.

Under the new scheme, itsaid, if medicine was notavailable at the dispensa-ry, the local empanelledchemist supplies it to the

wellness centre, which inturn provides it to thepatient.

The Central governmentfurther said that thescheme was modified asearlier patients used touse the authorisation slipfor buying toothbrushes,toothpaste, Horlicks andcosmetics from thechemist shop.

Noting the submission ofthe ministry, the benchsaid under the newscheme requirement ofissuance of authorisationslip has been given a go-bye and “therefore, chanceto buy toothbrushes,toothpaste, Horlicks andcosmetics has beenbrought down to zero asnow medicines will cometo wellness centre andpatients need not go to thechemists”.

The court noted the min-istry’s claim that subse-quent to the modificationin the scheme, participa-

tion by chemists hasincreased and they wereoffering better discountsthan in the past, and said,”We see no reason to inter-fere with the modifiedCGHS policy.

“The government has tobe given free movement inthe joints. The govern-ment should be given thefreedom to amend theschemes. More the misuseof a scheme, tighter wouldbe the procedural aspectin grant of benefits.Sometimes governmentmay also close down thescheme if it is being mis-used,” the bench said.

It noted under the newscheme there was no con-tact between the benefici-ary and the local chemist,due to which “loss mayhave been caused tochemists as they can nolonger sell toothpaste,toothbrushes, Horlicksand cosmetics instead ofmedicines”. — PTI

New Delhi, Nov. 5: Aspeople in Delhi and sur-rounding areas continueto breath toxic air, areview of air pollutionin North India by cabi-net secretary RajivGauba on Tuesday foundthat crop stubble burn-ing in Punjab andHaryana still continues.

The states have beenasked to take violators totask by imposing penal-ties. During the dailyreview, “It was observedthat the cases of cropstubble burning inPunjab and Haryana stillcontinues and thatthereis a need for morefocussed action”, a state-ment from the PrimeMinister’s Office said.

The states have nowbeen directed that more

monitoring teamsshould be deployed onthe field to ensure thatthe "violators are taken-to task by imposing suit-able penalties", it said.

The situation in thenational capital wheredifferent agencies arecoordinating was alsodiscussed and it was feltthat there was a need forenhanced efforts to con-trol the situation.

The states have alsobeen directed to ensurethat they are fully pre-pared for meeting anyexigency in the future, itsaid.

Earlier in the day,Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chaireda meeting to discuss thepollution situation innorthern India. — PTI

Centre can amend its CGHS scheme: HC

SHASHI BBHUSHANNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Sharp differences haveemerged in the Delhi BJPwith party media panel-list Nighat Abbas openlycriticising BJP RajyaSabha member Vijay Goeland party national vicepresident and city unit in-charge Shyam Jaju forviolating the odd-even carrationing scheme to marktheir protest against theAam Aadmi Party gov-ernment’s failure to curbair pollution in the city.

Mr Goel, who earlier ledthe Delhi BharatiyaJanata Party along withMr Jaju on Monday vio-lated the odd-even schemeby driving an SUV withan odd last digit in its reg-istration number. They

termed the scheme as apolitical stunt of chiefminister Arvind Kejriwalto woo voters ahead of theAssembly election whichis due early next year.

Criticising the move, MsAbbas sought clarifica-tion, on BJP’s WhatsAppgroup, on the party’sstand on the roadrationing scheme.

On Monday evening, shewrote, “It is getting reallydifficult to defend whatVijay Goel ji and ShyamJaju ji did today. If that’sthe party line, please tellus how to defend.”

Defending Ms Abbas’stand, a BJP MP told thisnewspaper that they (MrGoel and Mr Jaju) shouldhave followed public sen-timents on the odd-evenscheme.

‘Cases of stubble burningcontinue in Punjab, Haryana’

Vehicles wait for a signal as the city enveloped in smogin New Delhi on Tuesday. — AP

� Under the newscheme, it said, if med-icine was not availableat the dispensary, thelocal empanelledchemist supplies it tothe wellness centre,which in turn providesit to the patient.

Cong, AAP: Police on streets‘new low’, shows BJP’s failureAGE CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, NOV. 5

While unprecedentedpolice protest on Tuesdaycreated a massive chaos inthe national capital, polit-ical parties, particularlyAAP and Congress,attacked the BJP-ruledCentre for the prevailingsituation.

Congress said that thepolice protesting on theroads was a “new low” forIndia sinceIndependence.

Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSingh Surjewala askedwhether this is BJP’s‘New India’ and wonderedwhere the ruling party istaking the country to.

“A new low in 72 years —Police on protest in‘National Capital ofDelhi.’ Is this BJP’s ‘NewIndia?’ Where will BJPtake the country? Whereis Amit Shah?” he postedon Twitter. The party’sspokesman, R.P.N. Singh,said: “This is unprece-

dented. If law enforce-ment agencies are on thestreets, what will happento the common man?”

He alleged that suchthings take place whenev-er BJP is in power.

Terming the prevailingsituation “unfortunate,”deputy chief ministerManish Sisodia said theissue should have beenhandled at the appropri-ate time to avoid conflict.

Aam Aadmi Partyspokesperson SaurabhBharadwaj said that theforce has been convertedinto a “political entity”and works like an “armedwing of the BJP” while itsbasic duty of maintaining

law and order takes backseat.

He said, “The police isleast concerned aboutbasic law & order issuesin Delhi. Police officersare so arrogant. Delhipolice has been convertedinto political entity andworks like an armed wingof BJP.” MrBharadwaj also attackedBJP chief Amit Shah.

“Mr Amit Shah has com-pletely failed the law andorder situation in Delhi.Law and order situationin Delhi is at its worst inthe last 70 years. Mr Shahis busy making and break-ing state governments,”he said.

BHASKAR HHARI SHARMANEW DELHI, NOV. 5

Despite holding an 11-hour protest on Tuesdayin the national capital,the police personnelensured smooth func-tioning of their respec-tive police stationsacross the city. Thepolice personnel turnedup in shifts outside thepolice headquarters atITO to lodge theirprotest against thelawyers for assaultingtheir colleagues. Theywere also protestingagainst the action takenagainst their officersand colleagues followinga recent clash at TisHazari court complex.Most of the cops partici-pated in the protest wereoff-duty.

Despite the massiveprotest, the police per-sonnel ensured therewas adequate securityprovided to the VVIPs inthe city. “There was nocompromise on securityat all the vital establish-ments all across thecity,” a senior police offi-cer said. “There was nosecurity lapse reportedfrom any part of thenational capital,” headded.

As far as the function-ing of the police controlrooms was concerned,all its vehicles were onthe roads to attendedemergency situations.On average, the PCRreceives about 10,000calls every day. “Today,we attended and tookaction on each call,’’DCP Sharat KumarSinha (PCR) told thisnewspaper.

“I joined the protestonly after completingmy shift,” said a consta-ble posted at a SouthDelhi police station.“Some of my colleagues,who were not on duty,joined the protest withus.”

With the odd-evenscheme in the city, traf-fic police personnelensured that violators ofthe scheme were penal-ized. “In all, we fined 213traffic violators allthrough the day,” jointcommissioner of police(traffic) N.S. Bundelasaid. The traffic policepersonnel also claimedthat they ensured freeflow of traffic on a 10 kmstretch on which a majorreligious procession wascarried out.

The traffic cops alsoformed a 31-km greencorridor from Gurgaonto Fortis Hospital inNew Friends Colony fora heart transplant emer-gency.

Randeep Singh Surjewala Manish Sisodia

Police personnelgather outside thepolice headquaterat ITO during aprotest against thealleged repeatedincidents of allegedviolence againstthem by lawyers inNew Delhi. onTuesday. —PTIBIPLAB BANERJEE/

562 challansissued on 2ndday of odd-evenAGE CCORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, NOV. 5

People were “religiously”following the odd-evenrule, Delhi deputy chiefminister Manish Sisodiaclaimed on Tuesday, evenas the number of chal-lans issued for violatingthe road rationingscheme increased on thesecond day. He said thenumber of challansissued went up onTuesday as many werelet off with a warning onthe first day of rule.

According to officialdata, 562 challans wereissued on Tuesday.Traffic police, transportdepartment and revenuedepartment fined 213,157 and 192 violators,respectively.

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, NNoovv.. 55:: Goingback in time on his 31stbirthday, Virat Kohli toldhis 15-year-old self to show-er his late dad with lots oflove, giving his warm hugsprecedence over his refusalto buy the dreamy-eyed sona pair of shoes.

And Kohli also tells thesame West Delhi boy tosavour those “parathas”,for he knows they willbecome “quite a luxury” inthe years to come. And lux-ury they did become. Thesewere among a plethora ofthoughts that crossed hismind as Kohli turned 31 onTuesday.

The batting maestropenned a letter addressedto his 15-year-old version,dedicating quite a bit of itscontent to his late fatherPrem Kohli. “I know you

are thinking about thoseshoes dad did not give youtoday. They mean nothingwhen compared to the hugthis morning or the joke hecracked about your height.Cherish this,” Kohli wrotein the letter he shared on

his social media page. On his father, the India

captain continued, “I knowhe can seem strict at times.But that’s because he wantsthe best for you. “Tell Dadyou love him. A lot. Tellhim today. Tell him tomor-row. Tell him more often.”

Prem Kohli was 54 whenhe died following a stroke,and his son, who would oneday become the world’s bestbatsman, was 18. It is welldocumented that a dayafter performing the lastrites, Kohli turned up toscore 90 odd runs and savehis state team Delhi in aRanji Trophy game.

“You will fail. Everyonedoes. Just promise yourselfthat you will never forget torise. And if at first youdon’t, try again.”

— PTI

Kohli writes a letter tohimself on 31st birthday

RR aa jj kk oo tt ,,NNoovv.. 55::E x p e c -

tations willbe highfrom young-

sters ahead ofnext year’s T20

World Cup butIndia leg-spinner

Yuzvendra Chahalon Tuesday said

there is no pressurefrom the management

and they just need toensure that mistakes

are not repeated.India have a fielded a

lot of youngsters for theT20 series againstBangladesh keeping inmind the World T20 inAustralia. “The 11 that is

playing now, and theplayers who are there

in the 15-member squadthey know their roles, it isnot like someone is goingout after playing one ortwo matches,” Chahal toldreporters ahead of the sec-ond T20 Internationalagainst Bangladesh.

“A couple of matches cango wrong but there is nopressure from the manage-ment. The only thing isthat we shouldn’t repeatthe mistakes that we com-mit in any particularmatch.”

India suffered a seven-wicket loss against a new-look Bangladesh in theopening match of thethree-game T20I series inNew Delhi on Sunday andChahal insisted that theteam will look to startafresh.

“I think we are positive. Itis not like we haven’t lostthe first match of anyseries and didn’t go on towin the series. The first

match is done, if you thinkabout last match then neg-atives will come intomind,” Chahal said.

“Before we came here, wehave forgotten about thatloss and we are making afresh start and the entire15 are focussed and posi-tive, and hopefully, we willwin tomorrow,” he added.The victory wasBangladesh’s first overIndia in the shortest for-mat.

Asked if there was pres-sure on the team ahead ofthe second T20I, Chahalsaid: “It is not about pres-sure. It is a three-gameseries, not a knockoutgame, so obviously one willwin one will loss, and thatday they played better thanus.” — PTI

SHORT TAKESExclusive ‘no ball

umpire’ for IPLMMuummbbaaii:: The IPL Governing

Council is planning to have anumpire assigned specifically to

check “no balls” after a numberof howlers in the past few sea-

sons led to heightened con-cerns about quality of Indian

match officials. It was alsolearnt that the much-hyped

‘Power Player’ concept of sub-stitutions during IPL games was

shelved for the time being asthe project can’t be piloted

during upcoming Syed MushtaqAli Trophy (National T20), start-

ing later this week. The GCchaired by former Test batsmanBrijesh Patel met at the cricketheadquarters to discuss a slew

of issues including FTP window,availability of foreign players,FTP of Indian team and possi-

bility of franchises playingfriendlies abroad. However the

talking point was having anexclusive umpire to check on

the contentious front-foot andheight no balls. “If all goes well,

during the next Indian PremierLeague, you could see anotherumpire apart from the regularumpires just to “observe” no-

balls. The concept soundsweird, but this was among the

issues discussed in the first IPLGoverning Council meeting

which was held here,” a seniorGC member told reporters afterthe meet. “We want to use the

technology. We are havinganother umpire for only observ-

ing no-balls. There will be anumpire, who will be focused on

no-balls only. And he will notbe third or fourth umpire," theinfluential member said. — PTI

IPL 2020auction on Dec.19

MMuummbbaaii:: The players’ auctionfor the next Indian Premier

League (IPL) will be held onDecember 19 in Kolkata, the

event’s Governing Councildecided in a meeting here onTuesday. The glitzy league is

usually held in April-May everyyear and players’ auction is

being conducted in Kolkata forthe first time. The city is the

home ground of the Shah RukhKhan co-owned Kolkata Knight

Riders franchise. “The IPL auction will be in

Kolkata on December 19. It’s adeparture from the traditional

venue of Bengaluru,” an IPLGoverning Council member said

on conditions of anonymityafter the meeting here. Whilethe franchises were allotted `

82 crore each for IPL 2019, ` 85crore per team has been ear-marked for the 2020 season.Every franchise will also have

an additional purse of ` 3 crorein addition to the balance in

their kitties from the last auc-tion. Delhi Capitals have the

biggest balance — ` 8.2 crore,followed by Rajasthan Royals at` 7.15 crore and Kolkata Knight

Riders at ` 6.05 crore. This year's auction is the last

one before the franchises dis-band and prepare to assemble

fresh squads from 2021 at amega auction.

— PTI

PM Modi, pleasegive your time tothis and guide us

how we can makeIndia clean as well

as healthy.— Harbhajan Singh, former India

cricketer on pollution

Past & presentFormer India batsman Yuvraj Singh will be among a hostsof past and present stars who will feature in the ‘UltimateKricket Challenge’ tournament in February next year

PAGE

14WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHI

CricketTHE ASIAN AGE

RRaajjkkoott,, NNoovv 55:: After asmog-hit series openerin Delhi, there is acyclonic threat to thesecond T20International betweenIndia and Bangladeshhere on Thursday.

The cyclone Maha isexpected to make alandfall on the Gujaratcoast on the day of thematch, which couldlead to heavy rains. Asper the IndiaM e t e o r o l o g i c a lDepartment’s (IMD)latest forecast, Mahawould hit the Gujaratcoast as a ‘cyclonicstorm’ betweenPorbandar and Diuduring the earlyhours of Thursday.

The match is sched-uled to commence at 7pm at the SaurashtraCricket AssociationStadium on the out-skirts of the city. As ofnow, Maha is a an‘extremely severecyclonic storm’ overthe Arabian sea and sit-uated around 660 kilo-metres away fromPorbandar. It is predict-ed that it would weakeninto a cyclonic stormbefore hitting theGujarat coast.

The IMD, in a release,stated that light to mod-erate rain or thunder-showers would occur“at most places in alldistricts of Gujarat”,including Rajkot, onNovember 6 and 7. The

Saurashtra CricketAssociation is keepinga tab on the weatherforecasts.

“We are fully pre-pared to host the gamebut at the same timewe are keepinga close tab onthe weath-er. It isexpectedthat itmay rainin themorningon the7th butthe gameis in the

evening,” asenior Saura shtraCricket Asso ciationofficial said fromRajkot.

There was sunshineon Tuesday morning inthe city. The two teamshad reached here onMonday. The first T20international wasplayed despite smogand air pollution in thenational capital,prompting BCCI presi-dent Sourav Ganguly tothank both the teams.

Bangladesh, who beatIndia by seven wickets,lead the three matchseries 1-0. The finalmatch of the series willbe played in Nagpur onSunday, November 10.

— PTI

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, NNoovv.. 55::Australian wicket-keepinggreat Adam Gilchrist onTuesday had just oneadvice for the embattledRishabh Pant — don’t try tobe the next MahendraSingh Dhoni just as he did-n’t try to be Ian Healy 2.0.

Pant has been strugglingto hold on to his place inthe Indian team despite aresounding start to hiscareer with Test hundredson debut in England andAustralia.

In Sunday’s T20 matchagainst Bangladesh, Pantalso coped criticism for badDRS calls, something thatDhoni had mastered at hispeak. Glichrist reiteratedthat the 22-year-old Pantshould only focus on beinghis own best versioninstead of trying to ape theiconic former captain, whois on a sabbatical.

“My number one sugges-tion to Indian fans andjournalists would be: Don’tattempt to compare himwith MS Dhoni. The mouldthat they used to makeDhoni, they have mashed itup once he was made. Sothat they make sure thatthere is not another one,”he quipped.

“I know from personalexperience, I went after IanHealy, who was picked in

the best ever Test cricketteam in Australia. I justdidn’t want to try to be IanHealy. I wanted to learnfrom him but I wanted to beAdam Gilchrist and thatwould be my advice toRishabh,” he said.

Gilchrist, however, didurge the youngster to learnfrom Dhoni’s phenomenalcareer during which he ledIndia to two world titles.

— PTI

Cyclone threat to T20Gilchrist advices Pant tonot try to be next Dhoni

I just didn't want to try to be Ian Healy.I wanted to learn from him but I wantedto be Adam Gilchrist and that would be

my advice to Rishabh.—ADAM GILCHRIST,

former Australia wicket-keeper

No pressure from management: Chahal

Yuzvendra Chahal duringthe first T20 againstBangladesh on Sunday.

Virat Kohli celebrated hisbirthday with wife AnushkaSharma.

NNeellssoonn,, NNoovv.. 55:: A dramat-ic England collapsewhich saw five wicketsfall for only 10 runsallowed New Zealand tosnatch a 14-run victory intheir Twenty20 interna-tional in Nelson Tuesday.

It also put New Zealand2-1 ahead in the serieswith two games to play.

England were on trackto overhaul NewZealand’s 180 when theyreached 139 for two in the15th over, with captainEoin Morgan in full flightas he cracked sixes offconsecutive MitchellSantner deliveries.

But with England need-ing 42 off the remaining31 deliveries Santnerturned the match whenhe had Morgan caught byColin Munro off the finalball of the over.

Dawid Malan (55) andJames Vince (49) had laida solid foundation for

England at the top of theinnings.

But Morgan’s dismissalstarted a collapse whichsaw Munro run out SamBillings for one in the fol-lowing over before BlairTickner removed Vince.

In the space of twodeliveries LockieFerguson bowled LewisGregory without scoringand had Sam Currancaught for two leavingTom Curran and SaqibMahmood to strugglethrough to the end.

“That’s one that gotaway,” England captainMorgan said, pointing tothe lack of experience inhis squad.

“We were in control forthe whole chase until wewere three or four down,probably that’s a lack ofexperience. The the guysneed to get more gamesinto them at this level.”

— AFP

England collapse to giveBlack Caps T20 series lead

CCaannbbeerrrraa,, NNoovv.. 55:: Masterbatsman Steve Smithstroked a faultless unbeat-en 80 as Australia edgedPakistan by seven wicketsin Canberra to go 1-0 up intheir three-matchTwenty20 series.

Top-ranked Pakistan set acompetitive 150 for six offtheir 20 overs, with skipperBabar Azam hitting his sec-ond consecutivehalf-century andIftikhar Ahmedclubbing a quick-fire 62.

But their bowlingattack was no matchfor Smith, whobrought up his fourth 50in the short format off 36balls, with six fours andone big six, as Australiareached 151 for three withnine balls to spare.

It put them 1-0 up after the

opening match in Sydneyon Sunday was abandoneddue to rain. The final gameis in Perth on Friday.

“Very pleasing. I thoughtwe were pretty good allday,” said skipper Finch.

“To get wickets consis-tently was key.Everyone isplaying theirroles reallywell, and we’vegot guys likeSteve, whodoes whathe doesbest.”

Australia is on a hot T20streak, having not beenbeaten in their last sevenmatches.

“Credit goes to Smith,”said Azam. “He took thegame away with a magnifi-cent innings. We are verydisappointed.”

David Warner had been infantastic touch after scor-ing 219 without losing hiswicket in four previous

innings, and he omi-nously smashed 16 offImad Wasim’s open-

ing over. However,the explosive openerwas clean bowledby MohammadAmir for 20, miss-ing a drive, andwhen Finch fellfor 17 to veteran

Irfan, Pakistan'shopes were up.

— AFP

SCA stadium Rajkot is scheduled to host the second T20 on Thursday. — BCCI

Rishabh Pant reacts afterbeing dismissed during thefirst T20 against Bangladesh onSunday. — AFP

>>>

■ The cyclone Mahais expected to make alandfall on the day ofthe match at Rajkot

Steve Smith

Smith steers Australia to comfortable win over Pak

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, NNoovv.. 55:: AdamGilchrist is hopeful ofIndia agreeing to play aDay/Night Test in hiscountry next year afterVirat Kohli and his menwere convinced to competein their maiden pink ballmatch by new BCCI chiefSourav Ganguly.

India were requested toplay a Day/Night Test inAustralia during the 2018-19 tour but the visitors had

declined the offer. A yearlater, India will be playingtheir maiden Test withpink ball againstBangladesh fromNovember 22 in Kolkata.

“They would be here nextsummer after the T20World Cup. I expect therewill be a Day/Night Testthere. I haven’t heard fromCricket Australia but Iexpect there would be one,”Glichrist said. — PTI

I expect D/N Test between Indiaand Australia next year: Gilchrist

LLoonnddoonn,, NNoovv.. 55:: GarethBale, who is strugglingwith a calf problem, hasbeen included by RyanGiggs in the Wales squadfor their must-win finaltwo Euro 2020 qualifiersagainst Azerbaijan andHungary.

The 30-year-old RealMadrid star — who has notplayed since scoring forWales in their 1-1 drawwith World Cup finalistsCroatia on October 13 — isnevertheless considered adoubt for both the game inAzerbaijan on November16 and at home to Hungaryon the 19.

The Welsh — surprisesemifinalists at Euro 2016— are presently fourth intheir group, six pointsadrift of table-toppingCroatia and four shy ofsecond-placed Hungary.

Both Croatia andHungary have just onegame remaining.

Bale returned to lighttraining with Real Madridlast week after a visit toLondon sparked more spec-ulation about his future.

This accelerated onMonday with claims RealMadrid were preparing a£70m illion ($90 million)bid plus Bale to lureEngland striker RaheemSterling away fromManchester City.

Giggs has also called upJuventus midfielder AaronRamsey, who could makehis first appearance in thequalifiers after recoveringfrom a thigh injury.

Another midfielder JoeAllen, like Bale andRamsey a pivotal figure inthe 2016 team, is named inthe squad.

The 29-year-old -- present-ly playing for second tierstrugglers Stoke City -- willreturn for the Hungarygame in Cardiff.

— AFP

Phoenix Suns too hot

PAGE

15WEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

SHORT TAKESHurdler Dawn

eyes Tokyo returnWWaasshhiinnggttoonn:: American 100mhurdler Dawn Harper-Nelson,the 2008 Olympic championand 2012 Olympic runner-up

who retired to have a baby, saidon Monday that she is training

for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.The 35-year-old was second

to Australia's Sally Pearson atthe 2017 World Championships

but missed this year’s meetafter giving birth to a baby girl

last April.Harper Nelson stepped awayfrom the sport in September

2018 but worked out during herpregnancy and returned to the

track a month after giving birth.“I still think I have it and I cankill it,” Harper Nelson said in a

posting on the US Olympicwebsite.

“All the women in my life hadsaid when they were moms

they stopped their dream. OnceI had my daughter, I looked at

her and I remember thinking, ‘Istill have this yearn to run.’ AndI refuse for her to say, when she

looked at my career, ‘My momalways said she wanted to keep

running, but she stoppedbecause she had me.’” she

added. — AFP

Olympian jailed fordrug-trafficking

AAmmsstteerrddaamm:: Dutch Olympicathlete Madiea Ghafoor has

been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail after 2 million

pounds ($2.58 million) worth ofecstasy tablets and crystal

meth were found in the boot ofher car in Germany, as per

reports.Ghafoor, 27, was stopped at aborder check in Elten in June

where 50kg of ecstasy, 2kg ofcrystal meth and 11,950 euros incash were seized by police, the

report said.The athlete, who ran for theNetherlands in the 4x400m

relay at the 2016 OlympicGames, pleaded not guilty tothe charges at Kleve District

Court and said she thought shewas carrying doping materials,the German news agency said.

The Dutch Athletics Unionsaid it was shocked by the case

and would investigateGhafoorâ’s claim concerning

doping materials to ascertainwho else might have been

involved.“We are stunned by the

judgement. With the ruling ofthe German court, the Athletics

Union rejects the actions ofGhafoor,” a statement on theorganisationâ’s website said.

— Reuters

One swallow doesnot make a spring.

It’s a win that re-ignites our

season.— Claudio Ranieri, Sampdoria

coach, after his first win

Lucky Neymar Neymar escapes prosecution for an altercation withan opposition supporter after Paris Saint-Germain’ssurprise defeat in the French Cup final in April

GamesVerona plans tocharge Balotelli

Wales name Balein Euro qualifier

MMiillaann,, NNoovv.. 55:: Verona’scity government has beenasked by a group of localcouncillors to take actionagainst footballer MarioBalotelli after he com-plained about racistinsults from the crowd dur-ing a match at theBentegodi stadium onSunday.

Balotelli, playing for vis-iting side Brescia, kickedthe ball into the crowd andthreatened to walk off thepitch early in the secondhalf because he said somefans were making monkeynoises. The referee stoppedplay for around five min-utes while announcementswere made to the crowd.

The 29-year-old, who wasborn in Sicily to Ghanaianparents and given up foradoption when he wasthree, has faced racistabuse throughout hiscareer in Italy. He wasbacked by Napoli coachCarlo Ancelotti and byrival club AS Roma, amongothers, for his action onSunday.

But the Verona club andthe city’s mayor FedericoSboarina, who said he wasat the game, denied theracist insults took place.

On Tuesday, the Gazzettadello Sport published amotion sent to the Veronacouncil by four councillors

proposing that “the mayorand the legal offices of themunicipality should takelegal action against thefootballer and all thosewho attack Verona byunjustly defaming it.”

The motion added: “It isno longer fair that Veronais put in the dock when, asin this case, nothing hap-pened.”

Italian League’s discipli-nary tribunal was due toannounce its decision —the latest in a long line ofalleged racist incidents tomar Italian football — lateron Tuesday. — Reuters

NNeeww YYoorrkk,, NNoovv.. 55::Phoenix’s Devin Bookerscored 40 points to leadthe Suns over visitingPhiladelphia 114-109 onMonday, delivering thefirst loss of the season tothe NBA’s last unbeatenteam.

Spanish guard RickyRubio added 21 points and10 assists for the Sunswhile Phoenix poured in23 points off 20Philadelphia turnovers.

Booker, who turned 23last week, became theeighth-youngest player inNBA history to crack the6,000 career points mark.The fifth-season guardwas greeted by chants of“M-V-P” for Most ValuablePlayer as he walked offthe court.

The Suns, who haven’tmade the playoffs since2010, improved to 5-2 whilethe 76ers slid to 5-1. It tookPhoenix 29 games last sea-son to reach a fifth victory.

“You can play with any-body in the freakingleague. Great job guys,”Suns coach MontyWilliams told his teamafter the game.

Al Horford led the 76erswith 32 points whileTobias Harris added 24points and 10 rebounds.

The Sixers played with-out Cameroon star bigman Joel Embiid, whowas serving the secondgame of a two-game banafter a brawl withMinnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, also sus-pended for two games.

AANNTTEETTOOKKOOUUNNMMPPOO LLEEAADDSSMMIILLWWAAUUKKEEEE CCHHAARRGGEE

Greek star GiannisAntetokounmpo scored 34points and grabbed 15rebounds to powerMilwaukee over hostMinnesota 134-106 after a49-minute delay at thestart to fix a faulty basket.

Khris Middleton added26 points and Eric Bledsoe22 for the Bucks (5-2) whileAndrew Wiggins ledMinnesota (4-2) for 25points.

HHOOUUSSTTOONN RROOCCKKEETTSS FFLLYYPPAASSTT MMEEMMPPHHIISS

Houston’s James Hardenand Brooklyn’s KyrieIrving had big nights inwins.

One night after anembarrassing 29-pointloss at Miami, theHouston Rockets bouncedback to beat host Memphis

107-100 behind NBA scor-ing leader Harden's 44points on 12-of-28 shootingand 10 rebounds in a gamewhere Russell Westbrookwas benched for a rest.

It was Harden’s 80thcareer game with 40 ormore points.

Irving scored 39 pointson 13-of-21 shooting andadded nine assists to leadthe Brooklyn Nets overvisiting New Orleans 135-125.

“This is my playgroundout here. I just love to beplaying basketball andplaying aggressive,”Irving said.

A 14-6 run to end thegame lifted the Nets overthe Pelicans, who were ledby Brandon Ingram'scareer-high 40 points on

17-of-24 shooting.Caris LeVert added 23

points, Joe Harris scored19 and Jarrett Allen had 18points and 10 rebounds forthe Nets.

PPAASSCCHHAALLLL PPRROOPPEELLSSWWAARRRRIIOORRSS TTOO WWIINN

Rookie forward EricPaschall scored 36 pointsand grabbed 13 reboundson his 23rd birthday tolead injury-hit GoldenState over Portland 127-118for the Warriors' first winat their new $1 billionhome arena in SanFrancisco.

“Great birthday gift. Wedid a hell of a job with thegroup of guys we have. Wedidn’t back down. This isspecial. We did a greatjob,” Paschall said. — AFP

TTaaiippeeii:: Chou Tien-chen is takingthe unusual step of gearing upfor the 2020 Olympics without

a coach, with his longtimephysio and confidante shep-

herding him towards Tokyogold.

The soft-spoken and boyish29-year-old, known for pointing

to heaven to thank God at theend of a match, parted ways

with his trainer early this year.Since then the world number

two has been on a hot streak,winning the men’s singles at

July’s Indonesia Open to claimhis first title in a Super 1000

level event.“I do a lot of homework a

coach does before a game andspend more time analysing

opponents and what I shoulddo under what circumstances,”he said after a practice session

in Taipei.Cheering him on from the

sidelines has been physiothera-pist Victoria Kao, who has

shouldered some of the tradi-tional roles of a coach by act-

ing as Chou’s mentor, cheer-leader and chief critic.

Kao accompanies her chargeon and off the court, handing

him drinks during match inter-vals and chaperoning him at

charity events.She says her main job is to

“maintain his health and char-acter” in a training regimen.

— AFP

SHUTTLER ONCOURSE FOR

OLYMPICS

Eric Paschall (right) of the Golden State Warriors is guarded by Anthony Tolliver of the Portland Trail Blazers dur-ing their NBA game at the Chase Centre in San Francisco, California, on Monday. The Warriors won 127-118. — AFP

Matthew McConaughey (from left), Anthony Hamilton and Lewis Hamilton celebrate Hamilton’s sixth F1 worldtitle following the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. — AFP

AAuussttiinn,, NNoovv.. 55:: LewisHamilton was still cele-brating with family andfriends in New York onMonday after clinchinghis sixth Formula Oneworld title and openinghis heart at the UnitedStates Grand Prix.

The 34-year-old Briton,now the second most suc-cessful driver of all timebehind seven-time cham-pion MichaelSchumacher, flew to NewYork with his party afterSunday’s race and anadmission that he hadbeen ‘battling certaindemons’.

“Each and every singleone of us is strugglingwith something in life. I

try to show people that,from the outside, thingsalways look great, but it’snot always the case,” hesaid.

“I am struggling withlots of different thingsand battling certaindemons. When you lookin the mirror each day,whether you feel good oryou feel bad, there isalways the darker sidethat’s trying to pull you

down — and you constant-ly have to wake up.

“I look in the mirroreach morning and I’m try-ing to lift myself up andsay ‘you can do it. Yes, youare great’,” he added.

In the aftermath of win-ning his fifth title in sixyears with Mercedes,Hamilton also revealedhow much he missed hisfriend and mentor NikiLauda, the three-time

champion who wasMercedes non-executivechairman and died inMay.

“I would say that I didn’tthink it would hit me sohard, losing Niki. I misshim dearly. I didn’t realisehow much I loved theguy,” said Hamilton.

Hamilton, now withinreach of Schumacher’srecords of seven champi-onship wins and 91 GrandPrix victories, is due backin Britain for a team cele-bration at Mercedes head-quarters at Brackley onWednesday. The team thisyear won a record sixthconsecutive drivers’ andconstructors’ champi-onship double. — AFP

Happy Hamilton clan on roll

NNeeww YYoorrkk,, NNoovv.. 55:: Cleveland Cavaliers guard KevinPorter Jr. Was suspended one game without pay bythe NBA on Monday for improperly making contactwith a game official, the league announced.

The incident took place at the end of the third quar-ter of Sunday’s 131-111 victory by the DallasMavericks at Cleveland. Porter will miss theCavaliers’ Tuesday home game against Boston.

The Cavaliers are off to a 2-4 start to the 2019-20campaign while the Mavericks are 4-2.

Porter, a 19-year-old guard, was the 30th and finalpick of the first round in this year's NBA Draft byMilwaukee but was traded to Cleveland via Detroit.

The Seattle left-hander made his NBA debut in astart 12 days ago in a loss to Orlando. Porter’s fatherwas fatally shot in July 2004 while trying to helpsomeone being attacked. Kevin Jr., only four at thetime, was raised by his mother. — AFP

ONE MATCH SUSPENSIONFOR CLEVELAND GUARD

LLoonnddoonn,, NNoovv.. 55:: Rafael Nadal has said he will travel tothe ATP finals in London after undergoing a scan onan abdominal injury that forced him to retire from lastweek's Paris Masters at the semi-final stage.

“Yesterday I had a scan in Mallorca and despite hav-ing a small strain in my right abdominal, I will travelto London,” the world number one said in a statementon his official Twitter account on Tuesday.

“On Thursday or Friday I will start training on myserve and my aim is to be able to play the ATP Finalsin London. Thanks for your support,” he added.

The ATP finals take place between Nov. 10-17. Nadalhas never won the tournament, losing in the final toRoger Federer in 2010 and Djokovic in 2013, when itwas known as the ATP World Tour finals.

— Reuters

INJURY-HIT NADAL WILLTRAVEL FOR ATP FINALS

Hosts halt Philadelphia’s unbeaten run this NBA season

RACISM || ROW

Women’s tennis player Ashleigh Barty poses with theyear-ending Chris Evert WTA World No.1 Trophy. — WTA

GIOVINAZZI WILLRETURN TO ALFAROMEO IN 2020AAuussttiinn,, NNoovv.. 55:: Italiandriver AntonioGiovinazzi will be back inthe Alfa Romeo cockpitfor the 2020 season, theFormula One outfitrevealed on Monday.

The 25-year-old has col-lected just four points sofar in 2019 but his maturi-ty, enthusiasm and poten-tial have convinced theteam to extend his deal.

“We learned a lot thisyear and I am confidentwe can make a big stepforward next season. Iwon’t be a rookie any-more so there won’t beany excuses for me,” saidGiovinazzi.

“I want to be competi-tive right from the start ofthe championship andrepay the confidence theteam has shown inme.”Team principalFrederic Vasseur said hewas extremely pleasedwith Giovinazzi, whom hedescribed as a very fastdriver.

“The way he has inte-grated into the team andhas consistentlyimproved throughout hisfirst full season in thesport are very promis-ing,” Vasseur said.

— AFP

I am struggling with lots of different things. Whenyou look in the mirror each day, whether you feelgood or you feel bad, there is always the darkerside that’s trying to pull you down — and you con-stantly have to wake up.

— LEWIS HAMILTONsix-time F1 champion

Antonio GGiovinazzi

●● The Verona cluband the city’s mayorFederico Sboarina,who said he was atthe game, deniedany racist insultsagainst MarioBalotelli in theirBrescia game.

●● The mayor and thelegal offices of themunicipality arecontemplating legalaction against thefootballer and allthose who attackVerona by unjustlydefaming it.

Alluring Ashleigh

GamesWEDNESDAY | 6 NOVEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Future planningBayern Munich president Uli Hoeness says the German giants willtake their time to find Niko Kovac’s successor, but expects themto be able to name a new head coach within three weeks

It’s a tightturnaround, butwe’ll prepare as

best we can— Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta

boss ahead of their ChampionsLeague clash with Manchester City

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: CommonwealthGames weightlifting gold medalwinner Ravi Kumar Katulu has

been banned for four yearsafter failing a drug test, a

top anti-doping official saidon Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Kumar, whowon the 69kg title at the 2010Commonwealth Games and a

silver in 2014 (77kg), testedpositive for Ostarine, media

reports said.Ostarine helps increase musclemass though is not available to

the public.“Ravi Kumar has been suspend-

ed for four years,” NationalAnti-Doping Agency (NADA)

director general Navin Agarwalsaid without naming the sub-

stance involved.Ostarine is a “selective andro-

gen receptor modulator”, orSARM, which doping experts

say has been increasingly usedas an alternative to steroids. Nocountry has yet allowed its use

as a medicine but it is widelyavailable on the black market.

The ban is a new blow for scan-dal-tainted Indian weightlifting,

which has been restricted toonly four Olympic places — two

men and two women — inTokyo next year because of itshigh number of doping cases.

— AFP

Lifter Ravi handedfour-year ban

GGuunnttuurr:: Haryana’s Rachnamarked her shift from being asingle-lapper to 800m with a

memorable victory in the 35thNational Junior Athletic

Championships, breaking TintuLuka’s 11-year-old under-20meet record with a 2:06.12

effort here on Tuesday.Luka had set the meet mark at

2:07.48 in Mysore in 2008. Witha bit more challenge and effort,

Rachna could have made acrack at Luka’s national U-20

record (2:05.21, also set in2008) but the Haryana girl had

to be content with the meetmark.

There were two national marksrewritten in the under-16 age-group. Haryana’s Parvej Khan

secured the boys 800m recordwhile Uttarkhand’s Reshma

Patel earned the girls 3000mRace Walk record with gritty

efforts.Parvej Khan tackled the two-lap

event with confidence andpoise, his time of 1:54.78

improving upon Biren Gogoi’srecord of 1:55.70 set 28 years

ago in Cuttack. He was helped,of course, by the enormous

pressure that Madhya Pradesh’sShyam Milan Bind and

Uttarakhand’s Suraj Yadavexerted on him.

In the girls’ 3000m Race Walk,Reshma Patel improved upon A.

Kumari’s record of 14:28.10 setin Muzzaafarpur in 1990 by

clocking 14:14.83. — PTI

Rachna smashesLuka’s jr record

SHORT TAKES

ASIAN SHOOTING

MMuunniicchh ((GGeerrmmaannyy)),, NNoovv..55:: Interim boss HansiFlick says ThomasMueller and JaviMartinez will start forBayern Munich inWednesday’s ChampionsLeague tie againstOlympiakos as he ringsthe changes for his firstgame in charge followingNiko Kovac’s sacking.

Kovac was dismissed ashead coach on Sunday inthe wake of Bayern’s 5-1drubbing at EintrachtFrankfurt.

His assistant Flick hasbeen appointed interimcoach for Wednesday’sEuropean tie at home toOlympiakos andSaturday’s league gameagainst Dortmund.

Flick, 54, was called toan emergency meeting byBayern’s bosses onSunday night and was“honoured” to be asked totake temporary charge.

Now the formerGermany assistant coachwants an immediateresponse from Bayern’sstars against Olympiakos.

Both Mueller, 30, andMartinez, 31, mainly start-ed on the bench underKovac, but Flick wants toutilise the experience ofthe veterans, who helpedBayern win the 2013 trebleof Champions League,Bundesliga and GermanCup titles.

Group B leaders Bayernhost bottom sideOlympiakos at the AllianzArena with a fourthstraight ChampionsLeague win in their sightsafter beating the Greekside 3-2 in Piraeus a fort-night ago.

Bayern already have onefoot in the knock-outphase as they currently sitfive-points clear of sec-ond-placed Tottenham.

— AFP

FFuuzzhhoouu ((CChhiinnaa)),, NNoovv.. 55::World Champion P.V.Sindhu suffered a shockdefeat to lower-ranked PaiYu Po of Chinese Taipei inthe opening round to beousted but India’s doublescampaign was off to a goodstart in the $700,000 ChinaOpen here on Tuesday.

World No.6 Sindhu, whomade early exits in China,Korea and Denmark, lost13-21, 21-18, 19-21 to worldNo. 42 Pai in a 74-minutewomen’s singles matchhere.

However, SatwiksairajRankireddy gave theIndian camp reason to becheerful with twin victo-ries in the men’s andmixed doubles categories.

Thailand Open champi-ons Satwik and ChiragShetty, who had reachedthe French Open finals lastmonth, defeated theAmerican pair of PhillipChew and Ryan Chew 21-9,21-15 to set up a second-round meeting with sixthseeds Japanese HiroyukiEndo and Yuta Watanabe.

Earlier, Satwik andAshwini Ponnappa, ranked30th, defeated Canada’sJoshua Hurlburt-Yu andJosephine Wu 21-19, 21-19to make a positive start inthe mixed doubles competi-tion.

They will face fifth-seed-ed Korean pair of SeoSeung Jae and ChaeYujung next.

In the men’s singles, H.S.Prannoy, who has recently

recovered from dengue, fal-tered in the opening round,losing 17-21, 18-21 toDenmark’s RasmusGemke.

The women’s doublespair of Ashwini Ponnappaand N Sikki Reddy wasblown away 9-21, 8-21 byworld No.10 Chinese pair ofLi Wen Mei and Zheng Yuin 30 minutes.

In the women’s singlesmatch, Sindhu, who hadreached the quarterfinalsat French Open in her lastouting, came into thematch with a 3-0 head-to-head record against Paibut it was the 28-year-oldTaiwanese, who took theinitiative early, opening upa 3-0 lead in the openinggame.

Though Sindhu made it 4-4, Pai was 8-4 ahead beforemaking it 11-5 at the break.The Taiwanese didn’t takeher foot off the pedal andmoved to 12-8 before reel-ing off eighth straightpoints to zoom to 20-8.

Sindhu saved five gamepoints before Pai earnedthe bragging rights aftersealing the opening game.

— PTI

DDoohhaa,, NNoovv.. 55:: Birthday boyDeepak Kumar securedIndia’s 10th Olympic quotain shooting while ManuBhaker claimed thewomen’s 10m air pistolgold medal in the 14thAsian Championship hereon Tuesday.

Deepak gifted himself abronze medal in men’s 10mair rifle on the opening dayof the championship.

The Jakarta AsianGames silver medallistshot 227.8 in the eight-manfinal to finish third on thepodium and add to India’squotas for the 2020 TokyoOlympics.

Later in the day, 17-year-old Bhaker shot 244.3 towin the top prize in herevent. The Haryana sensa-tion, though, had alreadysecured an Olympic quotaat the Munich World Cupin May.

China’s Qian wang andRanxin Jiang won the sil-ver and bronze respective-ly in Bhaker’s event.

The other Indian compet-ing in the event,Yashaswini Singh Deshwalfinished sixth in the final.

The third Indian in thefray, Annu Raj Singh shot569 for a 20th place finish.

The Indian trio claimedthe team bronze with atotal of 1731, behind Koreaand China respectively.

Deepak, who turned 32 onTuesday, qualified for thefinal in third place afterregistering a sequence ofscores that read 103.1 104.8104.6 105.0 105.6 103.7, giv-ing him an aggregate of626.8.

Deepak is the secondIndian shooter to earn anOlympic quota in the

men’s 10m air rifle eventafter Divyansh SinghPanwar, who secured it inApril.

In the women’s 10m AirRifle, the Indian trio ofElavenil Valarivan, AnjumMoudgil and ApurviChandela won the team sil-ver with a combined effortof 1883.2, finishing behindKorea (1891.7). Iran wonthe bronze.

The tournament is thelast chance for shooters toearn quotas for the TokyoOlympics, slated for nextJuly-August. — PTI

Another early exit for Sindhu

Deepak bags quotaspot, gold for Manu

Bayern interim boss to ring in changes

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, NNoovv.. 55:: Theshift in venue for thePakistan tie has broughtrelief as well asheadache for the nation-al tennis federation(Aita), the officials ofwhich are now scratch-ing their heads on teamselection.

The dynamics of theencounter has changedafter the InternationalTennis Federation shift-ed the tie out ofIslamabad as top Indianplayers, who had refusedto travel to Pakistan, arenow interested to com-pete in the November 29-30 tie.

The All India TennisAssociation officialsspent the day discussingwhether top playersshould be asked for theiravailability or notbecause if they do so, itwill amount to dumpingthe players, who showedtheir willingness to trav-el to Pakistan despitesafety concerns. The newcaptain Rohit Rajpal is

keen to have a strongside at his disposal butdoes not want the play-ers, who expressed theirwillingness to travel toIslamabad, to miss out.

Veteran Leander Paes,Saketh Myneni, JeevanNedunchezhiyan and N.Sriram Balaji had allmade themselves avail-able for selection.

Save Paes, none ofthese players would beable to make it to theteam because of theirlow ranking if top playerRohan Bopanna comes inthe fray for selection.

Paes is ranked 96th inthe world and Bopanna,who refused the trip toPakistan, is placed 39th.

Even if Bopanna andPaes are picked as a spe-

cialist pair as DivijSharan (47) is taking abreak, Jeevan (ranked110) and Balaji (137) willmiss out.

The Aita selection com-mittee largely goes bythe rankings while pick-ing the Davis Cup squad,so ignoring Bopannawould be tough if he iswilling to play.

“It’s a tricky situation.It does not feel good toditch players who werewilling to risk lives andtravel to Pakistan. Howdo you leave them out?But if top players areavailable, India shouldfield a strong team, so it’sa catch 22 situation forAita,” an official, closelymonitoring the develop-ment, said. — PTI

Aita on sticky wicketafter shift in venue

●● However,SatwiksairajRankireddy gave theIndian camp reasonto be cheerful withtwin victories in themen’s and mixeddoubles categories

●● The dynamics of the encounter haschanged after the ITF shifted the tie outof Islamabad as top Indian players, whohad refused to travel to Pakistan, are nowinterested to compete in the tie

HHyyddeerraabbaadd,, NNoovv.. 55:: High onconfidence after their firstwin in their previous game,Hyderabad FC would look tomake sure their fortuneshave indeed turnedaround after early strugglewhen they face NorthEastUnited in an Indian SuperLeague match here onWednesday.

All the negativity that sur-rounded Hyderabad FC’spoor start to the season wasdispelled by their come-from-behind 2-1 win over KeralaBlasters FC in the previousgame.

Phil Brown’s side were atthe receiving end of twoheavy defeats away fromhome before finding somerelief at home. Now, the taskfor the manager is to build onthis result and boost themorale of the squad.

However, his task is stillunenviable, given the factthat key players are stillmissing due to injury andsuspensions. The likes ofBobo, Rafael Gomez andGiles Barnes are all injuredwhile Nestor Gordillo is stillserving a ban.

The bright spot forHyderabad FC will be theform of Marcelinho. The

Brazilian forward struck abrilliant free-kick winneragainst Kerala Blasters andscored a goal in their 3-1defeat to Jamshedpur FC. Hewill be Hyderabad’s talismanagainst a solid NorthEastUnited.

The visiting side’s potentattack, led by the irrepress-ible Asamoah Gyan andMartin Chaves, will pose ahuge threat to a fragile

Hyderabad defence which isyet to keep a clean sheet thisseason. Youngster RedeemTlang has also impressed andadds to the guile and pace ofNorthEast’s attack.

NorthEast United are unde-feated in three matches sofar. Though they have onlyone win, their two drawshave come against strongsides in Bengaluru FC andFC Goa. — PTI

HYDERABAD UP FOR NEUFC TEST

CHINA OPEN || BADMINTON

INDIA VS PAK DAVIS CUP TIE

MMiillaann,, NNoovv.. 55:: Gian PieroGasperini warned that psycholo-gy will be key as Italian newcom-ers Atalanta look to avoid anoth-er huge defeat at the hands ofChampions League rivalsManchester City in Milan onWednesday.

The Premier League champi-ons can seal their ticket to theknockout rounds with a win overAtalanta, who have lost all threeGroup C games in their first everforay into the elite Europeancompetition.

Man City are top of their groupwith maximum nine points and10 goals scored, with theBergamo side bottom after con-ceding 11 goals conceded andscoring just two.

Five of those came last timeout, when an 11-minute RaheemSterling hat-trick helped City to a5-1 win in Manchester.

“The psychological aspect willbe fundamental,” said Gasperini.

“It’s a tight turnaround, butwe’ll prepare as best we can.”

Atalanta hit back in Serie Adays later with a 7-1 demolitionof lowly Udinese, but they havefelt the absence of starColombian striker DuvanZapata, who has been out with athigh injury picked up on inter-national duty last month.

Without him Atalanta haveslipped from third to fifth inSerie A, eight points behind lead-ers Juventus after a 2-0 defeat toCagliari at the weekend.

Juventus, Inter Milan andNapoli are used to measuringthemselves against the Europeanelite, but Atalanta’s only trophywas the Italian Cup back in 1963.

The turn around in their for-tunes has been orchestrated byformer Genoa and Palermo bossGasperini who took over in 2016.

The 61-year-old’s success atAtalanta came eight years afterbeing sacked by Inter Milan afterjust three months.

The northeners sprinted tothird in Serie A last season aheadof Inter Milan, their best everfinish, with the most goalsscored, and reached the ItalianCup final. This season they havecontinued on the same path lead-ing the way in the scoring chartswith 30 goals scored after 11rounds. — AFP

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Hyderabad’s RobinSingh at a trainingsession on Tuesday.

City look to seal theirticket to KO rounds

with a win over Atalanta

ManchesterCity’s Raheem

Sterling (left) attendsa team training session

in Manchester onTuesday, the eve of their

Champions LeagueGroup C match

against Atalanta.— AFP

Real Madrid players at a training session in Madrid on Tuesday. — AP

Manu Bhaker poses withher gold medal. Below:Deepak Kumar with hisbronze medal.

David vsGoliath

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