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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 DELHI

CITY EDITION

24 pages • t 10.00

PRINTED AT CH ENNAI CO IMBATO RE BENGALURU H YDERABAD MADURAI NO IDA VIS A KHAPATNAM · THIRUVANANTH APURAM l<OCHI VIJAYAWADA MANGALURU TIRUCHIRAPALLI · KOLKATA HUBBALL I MOHALi MALAPPURAM MUMBAI TIRUPATI LUCKNOW

NEARBY

Sri Sri to head for Ayodhyatoday LUCKNOW

Even as Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar pitches for an out- of-court settlement in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi issue, he said on Wednesday that he was yet to propose a compromise formula to the stakeholders. NEWS• PAGE 10

Parking lot a must to protect Taj: U.P. to SC NEW DELHI

Oust-free adequate parking facilities and an orientation centre are the immediate priorities for conserving the Taj Mahal, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

NORTH • PAGE 3

DELHI METRO• 6 PAGES

Rajasthan + conversion

Bill returnedVIJAITA SINGH

NEW DELHI

Chandy resigns as crisis deepens Pressure from CPI speeds up exit

T. NANDAKUMAR

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

In the wake of mounting public criticism and the Kerala High Court's sharp observations against him, beleaguered Transport Minister Thomas Chandy on Wednesday tendered his resignation.

On a day of high drama, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) nominee in the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front Cabinet sent in his resignation to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan through NCP State president T.P. Peethambaran shortly after the conclusion of the weekly

Cattle walk

Thomas Chandy. •Pn

Cabinet meeting which the CPI, the second largest contingent in the LDF, boycotted in protest against his continuation as Minister.

CONTINUED ON• PAGE 10

WEDGE IN LDF • PAGE 5

THE LAST RESORT• EDITORIAL

Drop 'Pappu' from poll ad, EC tells BJP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

AHMEDABAD

The Election Commission of India has reportedly asked the Bharatiya Jana ta Party to drop the word 'Pappu' from its electronic advertisement, prepared by the Gujarat unit of the party, to target Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

The word 'Pappu' is often used on social media to ridicule Mr. Gandhi.

According to sources, the BJP has since replaced the word with 'Yuvraj,' after which the advertisement was cleared by the Commission.

CONTINUED ON• PAGE 10

Miles to go: A Rabari man with his herd on the outskirts of Delhi. Rabaris, nomads from Rajasthan and Gujarat, are on constantly on the move with their livestock on the trail of seasonal rain before returning to their villages. • v.v. KRISHNAN

Zimbabwe military seizes power, says Mugabe is safe Army claims it is targeting 'crilninals' around the President; capital remains calm

REUTERS

HARARE

Zimbabwe's military seized power early on Wednesday saying it was targeting "criminals" around President Robert Mugabe, the only ruler the country has known in its 37 years of independence.

Soldiers seized the state broadcaster. Armoured vehicles blocked roads to the main government offices, Parliament and the courts in central Harare, while taxis ferried commuters to work nearby. The atmosphere in the capital remained calm.

The military said Mr. Mugabe and his family were safe. Mr. Mugabe himself spoke on the telephone to the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, and told him he was confined to his home but fine, the South African Presidency said in a statement.

Move against Grace? It was not clear whether the apparent military coup would bring a formal end to Mr. Mugabe's rule; the main goal of the generals appears to be preventing Mr. Mugabe's 52-year-old wife Grace from succeeding him.

But whether or not he remains in office, it is likely to mark the end of the total dominance of the country by Mr. Mugabe, the last of

..,..__

End of an era? Military vehicles and soldiers patrol the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. on Wednesday. • REUTERS

Africa's generation of state founders still in power.

Mr. Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as an anti-colonial hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa's most promising states.

Fresh crisis He plunged Zimbabwe into a fresh political crisis last week by firing his Vice-President and presumed successor.

The generals believed that

the move was aimed at clearing a path for Ms. Grace Mugabe to take over and announced on Monday that they were prepared to "step in" if the purges of their allies did not end.

Whatever the final outcome, the events could signal a once-in-a-generation change for the southern African nation. Once one of the continent's most prosperous, it was reduced to poverty by an economic crisis Mr. Mugabe's opponents have long blamed on him.

NO COUP: ARMY• PAGE 12

Indians safe, saysSushma PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Wednesday night that she was in constant touch with the Indian Embassy in Zimbabwe and all Indians were safe in the country. "I am in constant touch with the Indian Embassy. Our Ambassador has informed me that Indians there are safe and there is no cause for concern," she tweeted.

The Religious Freedom Bill passed by the Rajasthan Assembly in 2008, aimed at banning forcible religious conversions, was returned by the Union government as it deviated from the national policy. The Rajasthan government informed the High Court on Tuesday that the Bill was pending with the Centre.

Centre to advance BS-VI fuel launch in Delhi to 2018 Denied ration, woman starves to death

According to the Union Home Ministry, the Bill was sent back for "further clarifications." CONTINUED ON• PAGE 10

BS-VI fuel may be used in the whole of NCR from April 1, 2019. •SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Where luxury has gone to the dogs ASHOK KUMAR

GURUGRAM

Different room options, ranging from Standard to Deluxe to Balcony Suites, with a television set in each room, a swimming pool, a TV lounge, a saloon, a spa with Spanish perfumes, and a cafeteria for wedding and birthday parties.

No, this isn't a luxury hotel coming up in your neighbourhood - it is India's first five-star hotel for pets. 'Critterati' recently opened in Gurugram's DLF Phase IV. And not surprisingly,humans visiting the sixfloor, 12,000 sq. ft.property can't help but feeljealous.

"After a tour of the hotel, people tell us that they would like to be born a dog in their next birth," said Deepak Chawla, chief executive officer, Critterati.

Mr. Chawla's aim is to "redefine the pet culture" in India. "The U.S. has such hotels, but there are none in Asia or Europe."

Currently focussed on dogs, the hotel caters to all pet-related needs under one roof: day-care, boarding, a clinic, and a shop that sells everything from pet food to

The good life: Pets relax at the speciality hotel. • MANOJ

KUMAR

toys and accessories. The rooms come with a live camera so that owners can check on their pets. Boarding for cats is in the pipeline.

The hotel has a play area with trained staff, toys, and games to help the animals socialise. Swimming sessions, a bathing area, and care chambers for pets with special needs are provided. The spa offers 'pawdicure', massage, hair-colouring and makeover services.

Mr. Chawla's wife Jaanvi, the COO, said there are four packages for annual memberships. Membership for a 'small buddy' costs n3,999, and a medium buddy, t28,999. Large and extra-large buddies pay B3,999 and B8,999.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

In a bid to deal with the critical pollution situation in the national capital, the Ministry of Petroleum has brought forward the date for the rollout of BS-VI fuel for Delhi to April 1, 2018 instead of the original deadline of April 1, 2020.

The Ministry said in a statement that the decision to advance the launch, prompted by "the serious

pollution levels in Delhi and adjoining areas," was taken in consultation with the Public Oil Marketing Companies.

OMCs have also been asked to examine the possibility ofBS-VI auto fuel introduction in the whole of the National Capital Region (NCR) area with effect from April 1, 2019.

The auto manufacturing umbrella body, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), has said

that while the switch to the BS-VI fuel in Delhi can reduce the particulate emissions from the existing fleet of vehicles, there are more steps the government can take, such as stringently enforcing the order banning BS-II and earlier vintage vehicles from plying in the NCR.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS HAIL

DECISION; 'ENFORCE BS-II

VEHICLE BAN IN NCR'• PAGE 7

STAFF REPORTER

MEERUT

A SO-year-old woman, Sakina, died in Bareilly allegedly due to starvation on Tues-

day night after the ration shop owner denied ration to her family.

According to Eshaq Ahmad, her husband, Sak-

ina had been sick for five days. The family has an Antyodaya card.

DETAILS ON• PAGE7

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 20172EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EAST

DELHI Timings

Thursday, November 16

RISE 06:44 SET 17:27

RISE 04:33 SET 16:24

Friday, November 17

RISE 06:45 SET 17:27

RISE 05:27 SET 17:01

Saturday, November 18

RISE 06:46 SET 17:27

RISE 06:21 SET 17:39

Several districts in coastalOdisha received rainfall onWednesday, adding to theworries of the farmers whowere awaiting harvest oftheir standing kharif crop.

As the Met departmentpredicted heavy to veryheavy rainfall in the Stateover the next two days,Chief Minister Naveen Pat-naik asked the officials ofthe departments con-cerned to keep an eye onthe situation. Mr. Patnaiksuggested that field-levelstaff should visit the areasthat have been hit by theunseasonal rain. He alsodirected that additionalteams be mobilised fromother areas.

He also asked for cor-rective measures to be initi-ated for standing crops thatwere not ready for harvest.

Heavy rain in

coastal Odisha

Special Correspondent

BHUBANESWAR

The Opposition leaders wereallegedly heckled by the Tri-namool Congress cadres andthe police in two separate in-cidents in West Bengal onWednesday. While BharatiyaJanata Party State presidentDilip Ghosh was man-handled by the TMC cadresin Cooch Behar district,senior Communist Party ofIndia-Marxist leader BikashRanjan Bhattacharya was“forcefully stopped” by thepolice in Birbhum district.

Mr. Ghosh, who was onhis way to a party meeting atSitalkuchi block in CoochBehar, was stopped midway

by the police and TMCcadres. The incident tookplace in the Harinchowrastaarea around 11.15 a.m. In astatement issued later, theState BJP leadership allegedthat Mr. Ghosh “was abusedby the TMC goons where po-lice were mere spectators.His public meeting was alsocancelled at the very lastmoment without any validreason by the police andadministration”.

‘Also threatened’

Meanwhile, Mr. Bhat-tacharya, CPI(M) leader andformer Mayor of Kolkata,was stopped by the police inBolepur town of Birbhum

while he along with theLeader of the Opposition inthe State Assembly AbdulMannan was on his way toShibpur village to address apublic meeting.

Birbhum TMC presidentaccused Mr. Bhattacharyaand Mr. Mannan of indulgingin “dirty politics” andthreatened “to beat themup” if they try to come toShibpur again.

According to a seniorpo-lice officer, Mr. Bhattacharyaand Mr. Mannan werestopped from going toShibpur as their presencemight have jeopardised the“law and order situation” inthe area.

Opposition leadersheckled in BengalBJP, CPI(M) leaders stopped from attending public meetings

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

NORTH

Cong. releases visiondocument for polls LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh Congress

on Wednesday released its

vision document, with focus

on strong rural and urban

bodies, for the upcoming

local body elections. “The

vision document Haq Purti

Patra has its origin in the

principles of former Prime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi,” UPCC

chief Raj Babbar told

reporters. PTI

IN BRIEF

olice officer arrestedfor taking bribe PATNA

Vigilance department officials

on Wednesday arrested a

police officer in Vaishali

district of Bihar while

accepting a bribe of �10,000

in return for “help” in a case.PTI

3 students injured as manopens fire at schoolJAIPUR

A 60yearold man allegedly

opened fire at a private

school on Wednesday over a

dispute leading injuries to

three students in Rajasthan’s

Dungarpur area, the police

said. PTI

: Tourists enjoying at the tourist resort of Sonamarg after season's �rst snowfall on Wednesday. * PTI

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White blanket

A Chief Judicial Magistratecourt here on Wednesdaydecided to hear a CBI pleaseeking recording of voicesamples of eight Himachalpolice officers, who weremembers of the Special In-vestigation Team (SIT) prob-ing the Shimla schoolgirlrape and murder case, onNovember 17.

The CBI had arrestedthese police officers, includ-ing Inspector General ZahurH. Zaidi and Deputy Super-intendent of Police ManojJoshi, after the custodialdeath of an alleged accused,Suraj Kumar. The CBI willsoon place the charge sheetagainst these policemen inthe court.

The probe agency, it is be-lieved, has seized some tele-phonic conversations of SITmembers before the deathof Suraj and now it wants toverify these voice samples,which could be decisive insolving the case.

State-wide protestsThe schoolgirl’s rape andmurder four months agohad triggered a major outcryamong residents and led tostate-wide protests. The 16-year-old was kidnapped onJuly 4 and her body wasfound in a forest by her rel-atives on July 6. Angry overpolice “inaction”, the pro-testers had even burnt downthe Kotkhai police post inShimla.

Following the protests,

the SIT of Himachal Policehad arrested six persons,most of whom were resid-ents of Uttarakhand andNepal, on the basis of doubt.Accused Suraj, a Nepalese,died in police custody onJuly 19 and the SIT claimedthat a co-accused, Rajenderalias Raju, had killed him.This claim was rejected bythe CBI which started invest-igations into the case on thedirections of the HimachalPradesh High Court.

Policemen arrestedThe probe agency arrestedeight police officers in thecustodial death case on Au-gust 29. Chief Judicial Magis-trate Ranjeet Singh deniedbail to the SIT members, butgranted bail to the six ac-

cused arrested by the SIT.A police guard, Dinesh

Kumar, who was on dutywhen the custodial deathhappened on July 18, deniedany kind of fight or scufflebetween any of the accusedwho were in the lock up.

He, in fact, told the CBIthat Suraj was taken away bythe police on the pretext ofinterrogation. Dinesh’s state-ment has been a vital evid-ence in the CBI probe.

He is currently in CBIsecurity.

Meanwhile, the CBI teamhas once again reached Ma-hasu and Bankufar inKotkhai where the crimehad been committed and isquestioning a number ofnearby residents and thelocal police.

Court to hear CBI’s plea for voice samples of cops

They were members of the SIT probing the Shimla schoolgirl rape -murder case

Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA

The National Green Tribunalon Wednesday issued noticeto Uttar Pradesh, Ut-tarakhand, Haryana andPunjab governments overimproper collection, segreg-ation and disposal of bio-medical and solid waste inthe States.

A Bench headed by NGTChairperson JusticeSwatanter Kumar sought theresponse from the States and

restrained them from hand-ing over any biomedicalwaste to ragpickers.

It also directed them toprovide data as to how manyhospitals, private and gov-ernment, have been inspec-ted for violation of the Bio-Medical Waste ManagementRules, 2016, along with thereports.

“Each of the State pollu-tion control boards will alsoprovide information on howmany waste processing facil-

ities exist in these Stateswith their complete detail,”the Bench said.

The green panel im-pleaded the Central Pollu-tion Control Board and theState pollution controlboards in the case.

The direction came on aplea filed by a U.P.-basedjournalist, Shailesh Singh,seeking directions for clos-ure of all hospitals, medicalfacilities and waste disposalplants which were not com-

plying with the waste man-agement rules.

It has alleged that ragpick-ers were allowed unauthor-ised transportation of wasteand they disposed of it in anunscientific manner.

“Indiscriminate disposalof bio-medical waste and ex-posure to such waste posesserious threat to the environ-ment and human health thatrequires specific treatmentand management prior to itsfinal disposal,” the plea said.

NGT restrains them from handing over any biomedical waste to ragpickers

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Notice to 4 States over biomedical waste disposal

Dust-free adequate parkingfacilities and an orientationcentre are the immediatepriorities for conserving theTaj Mahal, the Uttar Pradeshgovernment told the Su-preme Court on Wednesday.

NEERI paperThe State government,which fell afoul of the Su-preme Court for building amulti-level parking lotwithin 1 km of the Taj,quoted a NEERI concept pa-per submitted on November7 suggesting adequate park-ing facilities and an orienta-tion centre at both the sides(East and West) of Taj Mahalas “immediate priority” forthe environmental protec-tion of the monument.

“The State government isconsidering a separate mi-cro level plan only limited todue protection and preser-vation of the monument ofTaj Mahal. The State govern-ment is actively consideringengaging expert / profes-sional institutions in thefield of environment protec-tion and preservation like

Centre for EnvironmentalPlanning and Technology,Ahmedabad, or School ofPlanning and Architecture,New Delhi and/or othersuch similar reputed institu-tion,” an affidavit filed bythe Tourism department ofthe State government said.

Demolition orderedOn October 24, a Bench ofJustices Madan B. Lokur andDeepak Gupta had orderedthe demolition of the multi-level parking at a site whichis at a distance of 1000 m.from the Taj Mahal.

Justifying the project, the

State government termed ita “necessary sustainable de-velopmental activity” un-dertaken to avoid vehicularmovement in the vicinity ofthe Taj Mahal even beyondthe prohibitory limit of 500m.

“This facility will ensureeco-gestation of vehicle dueto increasing number oftourists visiting the Taj Ma-hal,” it reasoned.

Clearance givenIt said the necessary permis-sion/clearance of the TajTrapezium Zone Authorityand the Agra DevelopmentAuthority had been ob-tained for the project. TheArchaeological Survey of In-dia had also not objected.For the 11 trees which wouldbe felled, the governmentsaid it would plant 330trees.

The construction workon parking was started onJune 18, 2016 after gettingpermission of the TajTrapezium Zone Authorityand the Agra DevelopmentAuthority. The constructionwas stopped on May 20,2017, it said.

Parking lot a must toprotect Taj: U.P. to SC ‘It is a necessary to avoid vehicular movement in the vicinity’

permission for the TajTrapezium Zone had beenobtained.

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI




SOUTH

SIT questions actorDileep againKOCHI

The Special Investigation

Team inquiring into the

abduction and sexual assault

on a woman actor

interrogated actor Dileep

again for two hours on

Wednesday. The actor, an

accused in the case, is now

out on bail.

IN BRIEF

engaluru hospitals toshut outpatient services BENGALURU

Over 22,000 private doctors

from nearly 6,000 medical

establishments across the city

will abstain from work and

shut their outpatient

department services

indefinitely from Thursday.

Only emergency cases will be

attended.

away from their sons for fourdecades. They were determined to live alone but couldnot cope with old age problems, according to villagers.

Belonging to the washerman community, the couplehad two daughters and twosons. The daughters died intheir childhood but sons Latchaiah and Kanakaiah livedin the village in separatehouses.

The couple procured subsidised rice as a BPL family.

A nonagenarian couple,bogged down by illhealthand not wanting to be a burden on their children, committed suicide by consumingpoison at Venkatraopalli inRamadugu mandal of Karimnagar district late onTuesday.

Vedira Muthaiah, 95, andLatchavva, 90, who lived inan illequipped house in abject poverty were staying

Latchavva got oldage pension of �1,000 a month fromthe government. Their sonsprovided other assistancefrequently. Recently,Latchavva was bedriddenand Muthaiah struggled toassist her.

In these circumstances, itwas suspected that theymight have decided to takethe extreme step as they feltthey would have to fend forthemselves if both of themfell sick.

They could not cope with old age problems and did not want to be a burden on their sons


KARIMNAGAR

Nonagenarian couple commit suicide in Telangana

The house of the elderly couple who committedsuicide in Karimnagar. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Girl gang-raped for 10days in Bengaluru, 4 heldBENGALURU

A 17yearold girl, who went

missing from her home on

October 26, was allegedly

abducted by four men, who

raped her for 10 days at a

lodge in Whitefield. The

police, who were acting on a

tipoff, rescued her on

November 4 and arrested the

four under the POCSO Act.

A Minister, some MLAs fromnorth Andhra and other flyers went through a 35minute ordeal in the skywhen an ATR Air India flightfrom Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam touched therunway and lifted off againand hovered over the sky,due to bad weather, onWednesday.

Minister Kala VenkataRao, MLAs P.G.V.R Naidu

and Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, some other MLAs andruling party leaders were onthe flight.

Delay at Vijayawada“The flight was delayed atVijayawada and took off at 5p.m. and the first touchdown in Visakhapatnam wasat 6 p.m.,” VisakhapatnamWest MLA P.G.V.R. Naidutold The Hindu.

“Our flight touched therunway but suddenly lifted

off again. I felt the thud, usually felt when an aircrafttouches the ground,” hesaid. “An announcementwas made that the pilot wasunable to land due to badweather. The flight hoveredover the sea for about 35minutes and we were allworried whether it wouldland at all,” Mr. Naidu said.The flight finally landed at6.40 p.m.

Sources in Air India confirmed the incident.


VISAKHAPATNAM

Ordeal in the air for Minister, MLAs

Bad weather in Vizag forces �ight to hover over sea

Thomas Chandy’s resignation as Kerala Transport Minister, after a drama lastingseveral days, has left a sharpdivide in the ruling LeftDemocratic Front (LDF).

The differing perceptionsof the CPI(M) and the CPIreached a point of no returnon Wednesday, with the fourCPI Ministers boycotting theCabinet meeting and ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanmounting a thinlyveiled attack on the CPI for the stubborn stand it had taken inthe entire row.

“This is never done. Under no circumstance shouldanyone stay away from Cabinet meetings, which aremeant to discuss all issues,”he said.

The Chief Minister andthe CPI leadership have beenat loggerheads for days nowover the demand for Mr.Chandy’s resignation. Evenbefore the LDF State committee met here late lastweek to discuss the issue,the CPI leadership had madeit clear that it would notsettle for anything less than

Mr. Chandy’s resignation. Atthe LDF panel meeting, CPIState secretary Kanam Rajendran had even engagedMr. Chandy in a verbal duelon the various allegationsagainst him.

Final decisionDespite the relentless attackon Mr. Chandy, the ChiefMinister had taken care toensure that all the legal andpolitical processes and formalities were gone through before the final decision on Mr.Chandy’s continuation wastaken.

However, by Wednesdaymorning, the CPI leadershiphad run out of patience andit became evident from itsdecision to ask the party’sMinisters to stay away fromthe Cabinet meeting.

Barring Revenue MinisterE. Chandrasekharan, whohad sent in a note to Mr. Pinarayi midway through theCabinet meeting informingtheir decision not to attendthe Cabinet meeting, whichwas being attended by Mr.Chandy as well, no otherleader was ready to speak tothe media.

Thomas Chandy row drivesdeep wedge in ruling LDF CPI Ministers boycott Cabinet meet, Kerala CM attacks party for stubborn stand

Kerala Transport Minister Thomas Chandy leaveshis o�ce in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. * PTI

C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Defending the delay indemanding theresignation of ThomasChandy, Kerala ChiefMinister PinarayiVijayan said here onWednesday that thecompulsions of coalitionpolitics had forced himto accede to the NCP’sdemand for more timeto take a decision on thethorny issue.

Briefing the mediaafter a Cabinet meeting,which was attended byMr. Chandy, Mr. Vijayansaid NCP leaders T.P.Peethambaran and Mr.Chandy had sought timeto discuss the issue withtheir nationalleadership. “I could notsay no to them,” he said.

CM blames coalitionpoliticsSpecial

Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram

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: The Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala was opened on Wednesday afternoon for thetwomonthlong MandalamMakaravilakku pilgrimage season. * LEJU KAMAL

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Season begins

The Kerala government hasdecided to provide job quotafor the economically backward among the forwardcommunities in the State.The reservation process willbe rolled out in the recruitment to Devaswoms, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayansaid.

Briefing the media after aCabinet meeting here on

Wednesday, he said 10% ofthe seats in Devaswom recruitment would be reserved for the new category.The decision to begin withDevaswoms was taken sinceit would not require a constitutional amendment.

Mr. Vijayan said the Cabinet had formally approvedthe proposal that wasmooted by the LDF.

He said the State wouldexert pressure on the Centre

for a constitutional amendment to implement thequota in other sectors.

The Cabinet also decidedto enhance the reservationfor SC/ST communities from10% to 12%, Ezhava community from 14% to 17% andother backward communities from 3% to 6%.

The Devaswom Recruitment Board rules would beamended for the purpose,he said.


Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala to provide job quota forpoor among forward communities




ATION

Punjab cane farmersstage protest PHAGWARA

Several farmers staged a

protest on the Phagwara

Hoshiarpur road on

Wednesday to press their

demand for minimum State

Assured Price of cane and

served a fourday ultimatum

to the Punjab government for

accepting it.

Meanwhile, heavy police

force was deployed at all

strategic points on the NH 1

as a precautionary measure. PTI

Haryana govt. raises DA for pensioners CHANDIGARH

The Haryana government has

raised the dearness allowance

given to its pensioners and

family pensioners from 4 per

cent to 5 per cent with effect

from July 1, 2017.

The financial burden on

account of enhanced rate of

pension was estimated at

�5.60 crore approximately

per month. PTI

IIM-Lucknow studentcommits suicide LUCKNOW

A 25yearold student of the

Indian Institute of

ManagementLucknow (IIML)

allegedly committed suicide

on Wedmesday by hanging

himself from the ceiling fan

of his hostel room in the

campus in Madiyaon area,

police said. PTI

Six sent to custody forvandalising cinema hall KOTA

Six of the eight persons

detained on Tuesday night in

connection with the

vandalising of a cinema hall

here were arrested while two

of them were released after

interrogation, police said.

The six accused were on

Wednesday produced before

a court that sent them to

judicial custody till Nov 19. PTI

IN BRIEF Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 17.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Thursday: Heavy to very heavy rain likely at isolated places over Odisha and West Bengal.

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala.................. -.... 26.9.... 22.6 Kozhikode ................ -.... 34.2.... 24.1

Ahmedabad............. -.... 30.5.... 16.4 Kurnool .................... -.... 32.4.... 24.2

Aizawl .................... -.... 30.5.... 15.9 Lucknow................... -.... 28.2.... 15.4

Allahabad ............... -.... 31.2.... 15.5 Madurai.................... -.... 34.2.... 23.9

Bengaluru ............... -.... 28.4.... 21.0 Mangaluru................ -.... 31.9.... 22.3

Bhopal.................... -.... 29.5.... 13.9 Mumbai.................... -.... 32.3.... 20.0

Bhubaneswar .......7.1.... 28.1.... 19.0 Mysuru..................... -.... 31.0.... 19.2

Chandigarh ............. -.... 26.4.... 12.7 New Delhi ................ -.... 28.4.... 15.0

Chennai ...............6.5.... 26.1.... 23.9 Patna ....................... -.... 30.0.... 16.9

Coimbatore............. -.... 32.0.... 22.6 Port Blair ................. -.... 31.8.... 26.5

Dehradun................ -.... 27.1.... 11.5 Puducherry............... -.... 30.5.... 23.0

Gangtok.................. -.... 17.7...... 9.9 Pune ........................ -.... 29.7.... 12.8

Goa ........................ -.... 31.0.... 21.0 Raipur ...................... -.... 30.0.... 22.0

Guwahati ................ -.... 29.2.... 15.6 Ranchi...................... -.... 26.5.... 14.0

Hubballi.................. -.... 31.0.... 19.0 Shillong.................... -.... 20.0...... 9.2

Hyderabad .............. -.... 30.8.... 20.5 Shimla...................... -.... 15.4...... 5.8

Imphal.................... -.... 26.7.... 13.8 Srinagar ................2.2.... 11.0...... 2.2

Jaipur ..................... -.... 28.7.... 17.8 Trivandrum .............. -.... 33.8.... 22.9

Kochi...................... -.... 31.0.... 24.2 Tiruchi ..................0.9.... 33.9.... 24.0

Kohima................... -.... 23.6.... 11.2 Vijayawada ............8.0.... 32.0.... 23.5

Kolkata................4.1.... 30.8.... 22.5 Visakhapatnam .......5.8.... 29.0.... 23.0

Particulate matter in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observations made at4 p.m., Ghaziabadrecordedan air quality index (AQI)score of 418, indicatinghigh levels of pollutantsin the air. In contrast,Rajamahendravaramrecorded a relativelyhealthy AQI score of 59.

Ahmedabad ....... .....-.......-.....- ........ - ........- ........-

Bengaluru...............4 ....40 ..34 ......52 ........-.......*

Chennai..................5 ....67 ..42 ......89 ........-.......*

Delhi ....................22 ....84 ..27 ....362 ........-.......*

Hyderabad............19 ....60 ..42 ......92....107.......*

Kolkata ............. .....-.......-.....- ........ - ........- ........-

Lucknow ..............13 ..102 ..69 ....435 ........-.......*

Mumbai................14 ....13 ..86 ....128....136.......*

Pune ....................32 ....16 ..92 ......63......87.......*

Visakhapatnam .......5 ....23 ..41 ......31......32.......*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Wednesday an-nounced that all jails in theState would have videocon-ferencing facility from nextyear. He also inaugurated 56telephone exchanges at 30jails, canteen facility for pris-oners in 11 jails and laidfoundation stones for mul-tipurpose auditoriums ateight Central jails of theState.

“Jail reforms have beengoing on ever since my gov-ernment had come to powerbut the biggest reform willbe when a change in prison-er’s thinking would come…by next year all jails in theState will have videoconfer-encing facility, which would

do away with the need fortaking undertrials to thecourt for hearing of theircases. This will also ensurespeedy dispensation ofjustice,” the Chief Ministersaid while inaugurating thenewly constructed buildingof Bihar SudharatmakPrashashanik Sansthan (Bi-

har Institute of CorrectionalAdministration), the State’sfirst green building, atHajipur in Vaishali district.

Mr. Kumar further saidthat he himself had gone tojail during Emergency time“had seen the problems ofnon-political prisoners fromclose quarters”, adding thathis government has intro-duced several changes in thejail manual and brought inreforms.

The Chief Minister said Bi-har was the first State whichset up an open jail at Buxar.“Tents and blankets madeby prisoners at this jail arerated as one of the finest...during my Vikas Yatra, I hadstayed at various places intents made by prisoners ofBuxar jail,” he recalled.

All Bihar jails to havevideoconferencing: Nitish‘Undertrials needn’t be taken to the court for hearings’ SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

PATNA

Kumar * FILE PHOTO

About 40% of the 8,000blood samples sent by theWest Bengal government tothe National Institute ofCholera and Enteric Diseases(NICED) have tested positivefor dengue, the institute’s au-thorities confirmed onWednesday.

Dr. Shanta Dutta, the dir-ector of NICED, said that ma-jority of the blood sampleswhich tested positive wereDen II (dengue strain typeII). “There was also a signific-ant number of DEN IV(dengue strain type IV)among the samples sent bythe State’s Health Depart-ment,” she added.

There are four serotypesof the dengue virus — DEN 1,DEN 2, DEN 3 and DEN 4.

Serotype is a distinct vari-ation within a species of bac-teria or virus.

According to the Bengalgovernment’s latest estimate

of dengue outbreak in theState, 40 people have diedbecause of the disease whileabout 20,500 have been dia-gnosed with it.

Recently, there has been acontroversy over the Stategovernment’s affidavit re-garding dengue outbreak,with the Calcutta High Courtexpressing its displeasureover the lack of clarity in thesubmission.

In its affidavit submittedon November 9, the Stategovernment stated that sinceJanuary this year, 18,135dengue cases have been re-ported at government hos-pitals. “It is unfortunate that19 patients died despiteproviding best possible carewhere the treatment is abso-lutely free of cost to any pa-tient,” the State governmentsaid.

The affidavit, however,did not mention the numberof dengue cases and deathsat private hospitals.

It also did not mentiondengue while describing thereasons behind the “fevercases” in the State. “Thefever cases during October2017 could largely be attrib-uted to a very abrupt beha-viour of climate, severe andlow rainfall conditions fa-vouring transmission of vec-tor-borne diseases, com-bined with huge movementof population during longholiday seasons,” the affi-davit said. It was submittedin relation to three public in-terest litigations filed overthe dengue outbreak in theState.

“Dissatisfied” with the af-fidavit, the Calcutta HighCourt asked the State govern-ment on Tuesday to submitupdated information regard-ing the disease outbreak.

New data deepen confusion over dengue spread in Bengal 40% of the blood samples sent to the NICED have tested positive for the disease

Left Front councillors of Kolkata MunicipalCorporation demonstrating over the spread of dengue, insidethe corporation headquarters on Wednesday. * PTI

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

Tripura Chief MinisterManik Sarkar has urged theCentre to restart peace dia-logue with the insurgentoutfits that have theirhideouts in neighbouringBangladesh.

“Following requests fromthe insurgent outfit NationalLiberation Front of Tripura(NLFT), the Central govern-ment held three rounds oftripartite talks with the out-fit and the State govern-ment,” he said. The dia-logues haven’t taken placein the past couple ofmonths.

“So, I would request theCentral government to re-start the dialogue for peacein the State,” Mr. Sarkar toldthe Assembly on Tuesdayevening.

He said the State govern-ment has intelligence inputs

that the terror outfit, whichis still using the soil ofBangladesh, would supporta non-left political party, In-digenous People’s Front ofTripura (IPFT), if it con-tested in the next Assemblyelections scheduled to beheld in February next year.

‘Peace and tranquillity’ “Peace and tranquillity wasestablished in the State aftermany decades of insurgencyand it would be disastrousfor the state if NLFT suppor-ted IPFT in the next elec-tions,” he added.

The IPFT had been cam-paigning for a separate Statesince 2009 by carving outthe Tripura Tribal AreasAutonomous District Coun-cil, which constitutes two-thirds of the State territoryand is home to the tribalpeople who form a third ofthe State’s population.

Begin talks with NLFT,Tripura urges CentrePRESS TRUST OF INDIA

AGARTALA




CMYK

NATION

Sugarcane farmers’agitation turns violentPUNE

An agitation of sugarcane

farmers demanding an

increase in the fair and

remunerative price (FRP) led

by the Swabhimani Shetkari

Sanghatana (SSS) and other

farmer outfits took a violent

turn on Wednesday with

police firing plastic bullets,

lobbing teargas and resorting

to lathi charge to rein in

restive protestors. Parts of

Ahmednagar, Aurangabad

and Solapur districts,

especially the Shevgaon

Paithan stretch, witnessed

fierce melees between

farmers and the police.

IN BRIEF

Indrani Mukerjea, key accused in the Sheena Boramurder case, has written another letter to the judge ofthe special Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) courtseeking details of her husband Peter Mukerjea’s CallData Record (CDR) for theyears 2012 and 2015.

The Hindu has a copy ofthe letter that reads, ‘‘I, In

drani Peter Mukerjeapresently lodged in Bycullaprison, submit – I havestrong reasons to believe thataccused number 4, Pritam[Peter] Mukerjea with the assistance of the other personsincluding accused number 3turned approver ShyamvarRai may have conspired andabducted my daughter,Sheena Bora, in 2012 andmade her untraceable andsubsequently destroyed

evidence.” The letter furthermentions, “I also believe thatPeter along with other persons have manipulated circumstances to frame me andhave influenced witnesses,situations and informationleading to my arrest on August 25, 2015 for a heinouscrime that they may havecommitted, aided and abetted. I am convinced that ifwe are able to obtain theCDR of Peter’s mobile num

ber, we will be in a better position to ascertain if he andother persons were involvedin the disappearance of mydaughter, Sheena, and therewill be more clarity if Peterand other persons have arole in framing me.”

Ms. Mukerjea has soughtCDR details of Peter’s mobilenumber from January 1, 2012till December 31, 2012 andJanuary 1, 2015 till December31, 2015.

She concluded the letterby saying, ‘‘I offer my innergratitude to Your Honour foryour kindness and endeavour to provide justice to mydaughter, Sheena, who mayhave lost her life on accountof greed, betrayal, jealousy,lust and illwill of personswho she dearly loved andtrusted.’’

The court now has directed Peter’s advocate to file areply to this plea.

Peter may have framed me, says IndraniSpecial Correspondent

Mumbai

A 50yearold woman, Sakina, died in Bareilly allegedly due to starvationon Tuesday night after theration shop owner deniedration to her family.

According to EshaqAhmad, her husband, Sakina had been sick for fivedays. The family has anantyodaya card. Mr.Ahmad alleged that theshopkeeper refused to givehim ration and demandedthat Sakina be present atthe shop for biometric verification.

Mr. Ahmad, a resident ofFatehganj west in Bareillydistrict, who comes froman extremely poor background, alleged that he hadpleaded with the PDS shopowner for ration but to noavail.

The district officials toldThe Hindu that at this stagethey could not say whetherSakina died of starvation asshe was sick as well. Aprobe had been ordered.

Denied ration,woman starvesto death in U.P.

Staff Reporter

Meerut

Even as the family of dairyfarmer Umar Khan, who wasshot dead in Alwar districtlast week while transportingcows, is struggling to cometo terms with his violentdeath, a police notice demanding immediate consentfor his post mortem has created a fresh spell of fear andhostility in the small village.

Situated on the RajasthanHaryana border, 95 km fromBharatpur, the Ghatmika village finds itself in the limelight following the murder of

its resident, Umar, 35, allegedly by a group of cow vigilantes. His two companions, booked by the police ina cow smuggling case, havenot returned to the villagesince the November 10 assault for fear of arrest.

Deadlock persistsA notice served Wednesdayby the Govindgarh police station on the family demandedits consent for Umar’sautopsy, failing which the police would get it conductedand bury the body after performing the rituals. A dead

lock on the postmortem hasbeen persisting in Jaipur withUmar’s relatives insisting on

the arrest of all culprits and acompensation of �50 lakh.

“We are at a loss to decide

what to do. My son wasmurdered for no fault [ofhis]. He had borrowed�15,000 from some acquaintances to buy a milch cow forhis children, but was mercilessly killed,” 80yearoldShahabuddin, Umar’s father,told The Hindu.

EighteenyearoldMaqsood, the eldest amongUmar Khan’s eight children,was unable to imagine howhe would take care of hismother and siblings.

Maqsood rushed back toGhatmika on hearing of hisfather’s death. Mr.

Shahabuddin said a job forhis grandson was the minimum he expected from thegovernment.

No word for two daysMr. Shahabuddin rubbishedthe claim that his son and hisassociates were transportingthe cows for slaughter.

“You will find cows, buffaloes and goats in each of the400 households in this village. We never eat cowmeat.”

Amid the crowd of villagers and some Meo Muslimleaders from Alwar, Mr.

Shahabuddin’s wife lay on acot, sedated.

Ghatmika sarpanchShaukat Khan said the villagers suspected that the policemen at Govindgarh werecomplicit in the crime. “Thepolice booked fellow travellers Tahir Khan and Javed ina cow smuggling case, butwere silent on Umar Khan’swhereabouts for two days.Only after making multiplerounds of Govindgarh andRamgarh police stations, wewere told that his body hadbeen found on the railwaytrack and sent to Alwar.”

Family of murdered dairy farmer asked to immediately consent to postmortem; it demands arrest of all the attackers, job for son

Mohammed Iqbal

GHATMIKA

Police ultimatum raises tensions in Rajasthan village

Umar Khan's father Shahabuddin, son Maqsood andother children at their home in Ghatmika. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Environmentalists welcomedthe Centre’s decision onWednesday to advance therollout of cleaner fuel, compliant to Bharat StageVI (BSVI) norms, in Delhi by twoyears, but added that a regional approach was neededto make it more effective.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced that BSVI fuelnorms would be implemented in Delhi by April 1, 2018,instead of the scheduleddeadline of April 2020. Forthe rest of the country, theearlier deadline would remain.

Sunita Narain, directorgeneral of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)and a member of the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority,said: “This is the kind of proactive and responsive leadership we need to see in ourgovernment. This is also thekind of drastic measure thatis required given the scale ofthe crisis.”

In a statement, the CSEsaid that it was ironic thatthe Petroleum and NaturalGas Ministry had taken thelead instead of the Ministryof Environment and Forests,which is the nodal ministryfor environment regulations.

While the complete gainsof the BSVI norms wouldonly be seen when vehiclesalso moved from BSIV to thenew norms, the decision toadvance the cleaner fuelstandards should not be underestimated, said AnumitaRoychowdhury, CSE’s exec

utive director and the headof its antiair pollution campaign. She added that thesubstantially cleaner fuelwould give some emissionbenefits, but also lead tomore advanced emissionscontrol systems being fittedto BSVI vehicles when theyare rolled out.

For others, the step,though welcome, did notcover a large enough area.With the National Capital Region facing a smog crisis dueto a combination of cropburning in Punjab and Haryana and high backgroundpollution in Delhi last week,the need for regionwide action was once again highlighted.

“We hope the governmentenacts a more comprehensive and systematic plan. Itshould be expanded to othermega cities and acrossNorthern India so there canbe a more effective reduction of emissions,” said SunilDahiya, a campaigner withGreenpeace.

Green activists hail BSVI rollout planSay norms should be expanded to other megacities for e�ective reduction of emissions

taff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Industry players, however, have said that the rollout does not mean that BSVI compliant vehicles willenter the Indian market before the stipulated deadlineof 2020.

“The early introductionof BSVI fuel gives confidence to the auto industrythat BSVI fuel will be available across the countryfrom April 1, 2020, whenthe auto industry will fullymigrate to manufacturingonly BSVI compliantvehicles on a pan Indiabasis,” Abhay Firodia, president of SIAM, said in anote.

“Directionally, we feel itis a step in the right direc

tion to fight pollution inDelhi,” Pawan Goenka, MDof Mahindra & Mahindra,said. “However, as far as theautomobile industry is concerned, we are alreadyworking on a stretcheddeadline to launch BSVIvehicles by April 2020.”

Industry players say thatthe rollout of BSVI fuel inDelhi works well for theauto manufacturers as theycan test their vehicles usingthe fuel.

Phased manner“It is part of the process torollout BSVI fuel across thecountry in a phased manner,” R.C. Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki Enterprises, told The Hindu.

The decision is a “posit

ive move,” according to industrialist Venu Srinivasan.

The Ministry has alsoasked the oil marketingcompanies to examine thepossibility of introductionof BSVI fuel in the whole ofNational Capital Regionfrom April 1, 2019.

Admitting that this couldbring some benefits toDelhi, he emphasised theneed for an approach thatencompassed all aspects toaddress the pollution issue.

Mr. Venu Srinivasan feltthat a comprehensivepolicy package must be laidout at the earliest that tookinto account issues such ascropburning, emissionscaused by old power plants,construction dust and thelike.


NEW DELHI

Enforce ban on old vehiclesin NCR, say carmakers

Rajasthan Minister KiranMaheshwari on Wednesdayjoined the chorus ofprotests against Bollywoodmovie Padmavati even asthe Shri Rajput Karni Senacalled for a countrywidebandh on December 1, theday the film is slated to bereleased.

In a social media post,Ms. Maheshwari said RaniPadmini had performed‘Jauhar’ [selfimmolation]with 16,000 women. “Deceit in any case with the history of immortal valour ofsuch women cannot be accepted,” she wrote.

Rajasthan BJP chiefAshok Parnami, member ofthe erstwhile Udaipur royalfamily Laksyaraj Singh Mewar and Congress’ RajyaSabha MP Sanjay Singh wereamong others who said noeffort to distort historic factswould be tolerated. TheCongress said if there were

any scenes that hurt sentiments they must bereviewed.

Central Board of FilmCertification chief PrasoonJoshi sought to dismiss reports that he had watchedthe film. The RajasthanState Commission for Women also wrote to the CBFCasking it to clear the ‘ambiguity’ over the film “in theinterest of law and order”.

The protests, meanwhile,reached South with KarniSena members staging ademonstration inBengaluru.

Rajasthan Minister joinsantiPadmavati chorus

Karni Sena calls bandh on Dec. 1PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

JAIPUR/BENGALURU

in Bengaluru on Wednesday.* V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

J&K schools to adoptNCERT textbooksNEW DELHI

Schools in Jammu and

Kashmir will increasingly shift

to NCERT textbooks.

Also, new schools affiliated to

the Central Board of

Secondary Education will

come up in the State. This

was agreed upon during a

recent meeting between

officials of the Union Ministry

of Human Resource

Development and the State’s

education department,

official sources say.

National Conference president and Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah saidon Wednesday that it wastime all Central laws extended to J&K after 1953 werereversed.

“Time has come to reverse Central laws extendedpost1953 through pliant regimes installed in J&Kthrough covert and undemocratic machinations todisempower the people ofthe State and rob them oftheir political identity,” saidDr. Abdullah at a public rallyin Baramulla’s Uri area.

The threetime formerChief Minister said theerosion of the State’sautonomy was the genesisof its political problems.“The restoration ofautonomy to J&K isnonnegotiable.”

He also urged New Delhiand Islamabad to start “asustained, comprehensivedialogue on Kashmir”.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speechon August 15, Dr. Abdullahsaid he should take concretesteps to engage with thepeople of Kashmir with dignity and show respect fortheir sentiments.

‘Time to reverse Centrallaws extended to J&K’

Farooq for sustained, comprehensive dialogue


Srinagar

Ignoring the Opposition’scriticism that he was trampling upon State autonomyby conducting meetingswith government officials,Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday defended undertaking“reviews” (of works), sayingsuch meetings helped himappreciate good work. Mr.Purohit said he would visitall districts in the State tolearn about the schemes thelocal administrations wereimplementing.

The Governor had on

Tuesday held a meetingwith the Coimbatore Collector, the City Police Commissioner, the CorporationCommissioner and other officials for twoandahalfhours without the presenceof Ministers, triggering apolitical row.

Raj Bhavan officials haddescribed it as a “familiarisation” meeting.

Inspected toilet On Wednesday, Mr. Purohitinspected a toilet constructed at the Gandhipuram BusStand as part of theSwachch Bharat Mission.

T.N. Governor justi�es

‘review’ meetings ‘They help me appreciate good work’


COIMBATORE/CHENNAI

Green panel pulls upAmarnath shrine boardNEW DELHI

Coming down heavily on the

Amarnath Shrine Board for

not providing enough

infrastructure to devotees,

the National Green Tribunal

on Wednesday constituted a

committee of experts to

maintain the “sanctity of the

shrine”. Directing the board to

build ecofriendly

washrooms, a bench headed

by NGT chairperson

Swatatnter Kumar said:

“There are no proper facilities

for toilets. Do you even know

how humiliating this is for

women?”

Minister offered �5 cr. to defect, claims MLAMUMBAI

Public Works Department

(PWD) Minister Chandrakant

Patil is in the news again. A

day after his controversial

comments on potholes, Shiv

Sena MLA Harshvardhan

Jadhav on Wednesday

claimed that the minister

offered him and 24 party

MLAs �5 crore each to join

the Bharatiya Janata Party.

460915




A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

here is usually little to be gained in delaying the

inevitable by a day or two. After the Kerala High

Court passed strictures against him for �ling a pe

tition against his own government, Transport Minister

Thomas Chandy should have had the good sense to

resign immediately. But, quite inexplicably, he dithered

on the issue, embarrassing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi

jayan and creating divisions within the ruling Left

Democratic Front (LDF). Indeed, once Alappuzha Dis

trict Collector T.V. Anupama submitted a report on al

leged encroachments by a company in which he holds a

stake, Mr. Chandy should have stepped down as a mat

ter of propriety. By moving the court challenging the

Collector’s report, prepared on the orders of the gov

ernment, he virtually invited the judicial reprimand on

himself. That he entertained the hope of tiding over the

political crisis engul�ng him even after the court’s stric

tures betrays a strange mix of noseintheair arrogance

and headinthesand ignorance. For the past few

months, Mr. Chandy has been caught in the encroach

ments controversy. The Lake Palace Resort, part

owned by him, came under a cloud over issues related

to reclamation of paddy land to create a vehicle park, di

version of the course of rivulets for construction activit

ies, and laying of an approach road to the resort by

�lling paddy �elds. That the Minister chose to stand by

the resort, and not with the government, was the real

shocker.

As for Mr. Vijayan, he should have sacked Mr. Chandy

instead of leaving it to the Nationalist Congress Party to

secure his resignation. That the Minister belonged to a

smaller allied party and that the LDF is bound by a coali

tion dharma are justi�cations that do not wash in the

face of a strong judicial stricture. Not surprisingly, the

Communist Party of India saw things di�erently and

boycotted a Cabinet meeting on the ground that Mr.

Chandy was a participant. The party argued that Mr.

Chandy could not be expected to discharge his respons

ibilities as a Minister after having challenged the gov

ernment in a court of law. The CPI’s strident stand can

also be explained by the fact that one of its members, E.

Chandrasekharan, holds the Revenue portfolio and was

monitoring the action against the encroachments. The

eventual exit of Mr. Chandy on Wednesday might pave

the way for the return of his party colleague A.K.

Saseendran to the Cabinet. Mr. Saseendran had to

resign following a questionable sting operation in

which he is heard allegedly seeking sexual favours from

a woman. The LDF is not short of talent, but coalition

dynamics require that Mr. Vijayan replace Mr. Chandy

with the only other MLA from the NCP. Despite a com

fortable majority, Mr. Vijayan might not want to risk up

setting the political equations within the LDF. The real

test for him will be to ensure that governance does not

su�er amid his deft political manoeuvres.

The last resortKerala Minister Thomas Chandy may

have resigned, but it is a little too late

Amonth ago, when Holland failed to make it to the

2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, there was none of

the shocked despair that hangs over Italy’s non

quali�cation following its defeat to Sweden in the two

legged playo�. Football in the Netherlands is facing its

worst crisis and its fans have perhaps become used to

underperformance. Since 1982, the team has failed to

make it to the quadrennial extravaganza on four di�er

ent occasions. Dutch footballers were always expected

to thrill but not necessarily to win. Even the legendary

Johan Cruy� didn’t bag football’s most coveted prize.

But Italy is di�erent. The Azzurri have always found a

way, regardless of the circumstances. Italy went into

the 2006 World Cup with a match�xing scandal raging

back home; it ended up lifting the trophy. Another scan

dal erupted ahead of the 2012 European Champion

ship, but Italy emerged a worthy runnerup to Spain.

Four years later, Italy went in with arguably its weakest

squad ever but still outwitted reigning champion Spain

and lost to Germany in the quarter�nals only on penal

ties. This is what makes the fourtime champion miss

ing out on the World Cup, for the �rst time since 1958,

astounding. It is true that the quali�cation process left

very little margin for error, with only the group topper

earning a direct entry. Clubbed alongside Spain, Italy

was always expected to come second and be in the play

o�. Once there, it was unlucky to draw Sweden, the

toughest of opponents. But even so, its performances

have been truly worrying.

Italian football has been stagnant for quite a while. In

recent times the national team has even registered

draws against novices such as Haiti and Luxembourg.

There have been no credible replacements in sight for

the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti, Alessandro

Del Piero and Alessandro Nesta. Only manager Antonio

Conte’s brilliance saved the country at the 2016 Euros.

There is such a dearth of emerging talent that in the �rst

leg against Sweden, seven of Italy’s starting 11 were

older than 30. Supporters even sought comfort in the

team’s unblemished record at the iconic San Siro sta

dium in Milan, causing Pirlo to remark, “I’ve never seen

a goal scored from the stands.” There is much to be

blamed on current manager Giampiero Ventura. He re

peatedly ignored players who were adept and schooled

in modernday tactical methods. Mid�elder Jorginho,

who has been excellent for Napoli, was only handed his

debut against Sweden while forward Lorenzo Insigne,

the most creative of the lot, was an unused substitute

because the formation that Ventura used didn’t suit his

best player. But history suggests Italy isn’t alone. Both

Germany and France underwent similar turbulence be

fore emerging stronger with a complete overhaul of

their footballing structures. What Italy needs is similar

soulsearching.

Azzurri, fadingItalian football has hit its lowest point

in decades and needs a thorough overhaul

Parsing Donald Trump’s statements and Twitter poststhrough his 12day, �venation

tour of Asia — the longest for a U.S.President in 25 years — to deciphera new American strategy towardsthe region can be taxing unless theidea is to cherrypick and substantiate preexisting notions.

‘Terri�c’ ChinaOne can read resistance to China’sexpansive ambitions in euphemisms such as ‘freedom of navigation’ and condemnation of ‘predatory’ economic practices, usedalong with America’s commitmentto democracy, human rights, andfree trade. When you read themalongside the U.S.Philippinescommitment to “share best practices” to prevent illegal drug use,which is a “problem a�icting bothcountries”, and Mr. Trump’s desireto be friends with the “short andfat” ruler of North Korea, the emerging picture could appear confusing, if not outlandish.

In his interactions with reporters as he travelled back, Mr. Trumpgave an overview of the “terri�c”tour and the new friendships thathe has developed, how he enjoyedthe unprecedented reception inBeijing, conversations with the“terri�c” President Xi Jinping andthe special honour he received atthe Forbidden City. What toppedthe list of achievements for himwere the business deals — he putthe �gure at $300 billion andhoped that it would exceed $1 trillion in the coming months, thoughthe actual numbers remain unclear. He said security partner

ships with these Asian partnershave also been enhanced.

Ahead of his travel, the WhiteHouse had said his speech at theAsiaPaci�c Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit in Vietnam would elucidate his vision forthe IndoPaci�c region, a term thatthe Trump administration has started using in a clear acknowledgment of India’s prominence. Administration o�cials had beenemphatic that his speech woulddemonstrate the U.S.’s continuingcommitment to the region. Hisspeech did not live up to the buildup, and may have actually added tothe nervousness among traditionalU.S. partners. Recalling the U.S.’shistorical ties to the region, Mr.Trump said it is time the terms ofengagement between these countries and the U.S. changed. In hisreckoning, the U.S. has been takenadvantage of by all countries andglobal institutions, particularly theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO).But he would not blame othercountries or their leaders for thissituation; it was all the fault of theU.S. administrations that precededhim.

“Those days are over,” he declared. He was there “to o�er a renewed partnership with America,”

the basis of which would be “bilateral trade agreements with anyIndoPaci�c nation that wants to beour partner and that will abide bythe principles of fair and reciprocaltrade... I call it the IndoPaci�cdream.”

What does he mean?The U.S. has trade de�cits with allthe �ve countries that Mr. Trumpvisited and he told four of themthat the U.S. would not tolerate this— putting China, Japan, SouthKorea and Vietnam in the samebasket on this count. In the case ofthe Philippines, which has a smallsurplus with the U.S., the relationship is less about trade, he said, butmore for “military purposes... it’scalled the most prime piece of realestate from a military standpoint.”

What are the implications of Mr.Trump’s statement that “thosedays are over?” First, America offers these countries technology,capital and access to its market.Second, America o�ers a securityguarantee and a predictable worldorder based on multilateral tradeand security pacts. China has alsobeen a bene�ciary of this system,and the rise of China has added additional buoyancy for neighbouring countries. The friction

between China and its neighboursheightened as Beijing’s ambitionsgrew after the 2008 �nancial crisis.Vietnam, Philippines, Japan, andSouth Korea started to gravitatemore towards the U.S., which wasitself alarmed by the assertivenessof China. The Obama administration announced the Pivot to Asiastrategy in response. Kurt Campbell, an Obama o�cial who is credited with drafting the policy, described it as “a multifacetedapproach that will involve a strongsecurity component, working withallies, working constructively withChina, a commercial dynamic thatis about not shipping U.S. [jobs],but U.S. exports and services toAsia; a commitment to building institutions to multilateralism; bringing other partners into Asia, likeEurope, working closely withEurope.”

Like Mr. Trump, Barack Obamaalso wanted to open the Asian markets for American companies, butthere was a broader blue print atplay. Mr. Trump has knocked itdown to a onepoint agenda: buyour goods and services. His statement that countries in the “region[should] be strong, independent,and prosperous, in control of theirown destinies, and satellites to noone,” is a call for ending multilateralism. More than a newfound respect for the autonomy of thesecountries, it re�ects American disinterest.

Mr. Trump also told his Asianhosts that they were free to pursuetheir interests solo, as he wouldpursue his. He hinted that Americais washing its hands of any leadership role, making it clear that itcould cut a deal with China on itsown, regardless of its potential impact on other countries. China isthe biggest trading partner ofSouth Korea, Japan and Vietnam.Speaking after Mr. Trump at APEC,Mr. Xi presented a case for multilateralism and open trade. China is

also willing to o�er technology,capital and market access, on itsterms under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Security concernsNow, what is America o�ering forthe security of these Asian partners? Mr. Trump asked them all tojoin hands with the U.S. in stoppingNorth Korea’s nuclear adventurism. But that apart, he told Japan,Vietnam and South Korea to buy“our weapons”.

“We make the best,” he toldthem and cited how Saudi Arabiawas using them e�ectively. In oneTwitter post during the tour, healso gave a carte blanche to theSaudi Arabian regime to chart regional politics.

Mr. Trump’s “IndoPaci�cdream” may not appear to bemuch of a dream for most countries in the region. In 2006, Mr.Trump had said he was waiting fora housing market crash, and boasted about his ability to pro�t from afalling market. Con�icts in Asia, inthe west and the east, could appearto be good opportunities for pro�tfrom the realtor’s perspective.

We may be looking for a strategythat does not exist, perhaps. American economist Lawrence Summers, now a Harvard professor,and a key player in the Americanled globalisation over the last threedecades, described the challengebefore America: “…(we) confuse astrategy with a wish list. Ourstrategy is that it is very importantthat they open their markets, that itis very important that they cooperate with us on this security issue…Well, that is a good wish list… And Ido not think we as yet have astrategy for thinking about themanagement of the global economic system that is appropriatelyrespectful of the scale and achievements of the Chinese economy.”

[email protected]

An itinerary in search of a strategyDonald Trump’s transactional diplomacy during his East Asia tour has only created confusion

varghese k. george

There is a widely held beliefthat voters in India, especiallythe poor, sell their votes in ex

change for cash, liquor, saris, andmany other such goodies. Usingevidence from the Uttar PradeshAssembly elections, we have argued that theories of large scalevote buying (patronage and clientelism) in India are myths (“Deathof patronage?”, The Hindu, May 23,2017). We received several comments from readers, some of whomremain unconvinced that moneydoes not buy votes. They asked,correctly, that if money does notbuy votes, why is there a �ow ofcash and liquor during elections?And why is there an army ofbrokers at the local level, oftenaligned with politicians andparties, helping citizens navigatethe State?

Probability stakesIt is indeed true that a candidatewith greater resources has a higherprobability of winning elections inIndia. This is true in many otherparts of the world, including in theU.S., where a candidate with a larger war chest is more likely to winelections. There is also enoughevidence to suggest that the supplyof cash and consumption of liquor(and other items such as saris) in

creases during elections, which isunexplained by a normal rise in demand of these goods.

In our view, cash �ows duringelections not to buy votes butrather to support a campaign. Cashis an important grease to run asmooth campaign machinery for anumber of reasons. First, partieshave weak organisations at thelocal level and face heavy institutional constraints. Most parties donot have enough committed volunteers to mobilise votes. Money actsas a substitute for the organisationas cash is used to engage vote mobilisers or local individuals whowill seek votes for a party and/orcandidate. Institutional constraintsalso make money extremely critical. The Election Commission (EC)allows only 14 days of o�cial campaigning, which ends 48 hours before the scheduled close of polling.The fact that parties do not �nalisetheir nominations for most constituencies until the very end putspressure on candidates to mobilisevotes as quickly as possible. Giventhe size of constituencies (both inarea and the number of voters), acandidate requires an army ofworkers during the campaignperiod. Even if a campaign decidesto pay the current minimum wagefor agricultural labourers to each ofits workers during the entire campaign period the candidate wouldend up exceeding the expenditure

limit. To avoid this, candidatesspend huge sums of money oncash, liquor and gifts that theyhand out to their middlemen.

Second, money signals resources and power, or access topowerful networks. It allows candidates to mobilise supporters whoin turn can pull a crowd together.The role of money as a symbol ofpower is especially important in ahierarchical society such as India,with the state wielding enormouspower. Moreover, in many parts ofthe country, the display of moneyduring elections is socially approved in certain ways, is a politicalnecessity, and is born of cultural expectations. Voters ask themselveswhether someone who has no clout— monetary, political, or familial —can work the levers of administration for them. In most cases, the answer is no. Witness how many independent candidates lose electionsin India, and even when they win, itis because of attributes like family

legacy, money, and muscle power.This is an important reason whyparties perceived as weak standlittle chance of winning elections,and why they are likely to witheraway even if they do win.

Studying vote banksOur arguments �nd resonance withtwo outstanding ethnographies ofvote banks and local clientelism. Inher study of the 2012 Mumbai municipal corporation election, LisaBjörkman wrote that spending ofmoney was not re�ected in the votecount. The candidate who spentthe most came nowhere near winning the seat, while the candidatewho won a landslide victory did sowith limited spending. She describes distribution of money as anuncertain investment and a leap offaith on the part of the candidate.Similarly, Mary Breeding in herstudy on the micropolitics of votebanks in Karnataka quotes a Congress worker: “Voters will take ourparty’s gift, the other party’s gift,and so on. Then they go into thepolling booth and vote howeverthey wish.... I know that manyvoters �nd these bene�ts — liquor,saris, and such — to be very insulting. They vote their minds.”

Likewise, Philip Oldenburg, whohas been studying this questionsince the 1970s, described a conversation with a Delhi politician whoexplained to him the role of money

and goodies in elections: “Votersbasically began to tell politiciansthat they had to keep the goodies(liquor, cash, and so on) �owing ifthey wanted their votes. Maybe thepoliticians would get their votesand maybe they wouldn’t, but theyde�nitely wouldn’t if they didn’tpass out the goodies.”

What does all of this tell us aboutthe role of money in elections?Cash and goodies do get distributedduring elections, but their in�uence on vote choice is marginal.Competitive populism in Indianpolitics has led to the developmentof an “anteup quid pro quo” system, with politicians and partiesforced to put money and goods intothe pot before they could play ahand. And this is ampli�ed by weakparty organisations, limited campaigning periods and the humongous size of constituencies. Thus,campaign �nance reforms shouldbegin by increasing the number ofconstituencies and the duration ofthe o�cial campaign period. Smaller constituencies with longer campaigning period are more likely tocurb the negative in�uence ofmoney in politics in comparison toputting a cap on the expenditurelimit.

Pradeep Chhibber and Rahul Verma are

with University of California, Berkeley.

Harsh Shah is an alumnus of

the same university

Money can’t always buy votesSmaller constituencies and longer campaign periods are essential reforms

Pradeep Chhibber, Harsh Shah

& Rahul Verma

For a fair hearingThe order of the SupremeCourt, on the powers of theChief Justice in preparingthe roster, does not appearto be correct given thecircumstances of the case. Itmilitates against the rights ofcitizens for a fair andimpartial hearing, when therole of the Chief Justice is inquestion. It is a universallyaccepted principle that ‘noman can be judge in his owncase’. This principle wasalso adopted at a UnitedNations sponsoredconference in Bengaluru,attended by judges fromacross the world, includingIndia. It has come to be known asthe “Bangalore Principles ofJudicial Conduct 2002”which, inter alia, coversindependence, integrity andaccountability of thejudiciary. In a number of cases, judgesof superior courts haverecused themselveswhenever there was con�ictof interest. There is,therefore, a need toreconsider the decision . M.M. Kotian,

Bengaluru

Snu�ed outEvery winter, Delhiexperiences acute airpollution. It is noexaggeration to say that it islike living in a gas chamber.Closing educationalinstitutions on the bad daysis only a temporary solution.Despite many theories, it isstill not clear what causesthis problem of smoke andsmog. Surely there areenvironmental experts whoshould be able to pinpointthe major factors that makeDelhi’s air so polluted. If theburning of stubble byfarmers in Punjab andHaryana is said to be themain reason, thenimmediate action should becalled for to stop thispractice by providing�nancial aid and suggestingalternatives to burning inorder to get rid of theresidue in �elds afterharvesting. Vehicularpollution is another majorfactor. The oddeven rule forvehicles has had no majorimpact on air pollution.There is no alternative but tolimit the use of privatevehicles by encouragingpeople to travel by public

buses and the metro, whichneeds to be strengthened assoon as possible. D.B.N. Murthy,

Bengaluru

■ Air pollution in Delhi is notof recent origin andsuccessive governmentshave failed in �ndingsolutions. It is unfortunatethat people here are caughtbetween the devil and thedeep sea and have to facehardship and healthconcerns as no authority isdirectly responsible for themess they face today. Alongterm and sustainablemovement is necessary toeducate all in Delhi aboutthe perils of unplanneddevelopment and toconserve nature by plantingmore trees. There has to bea system in place to arrestthe growth of motorisedtransport and otherpollution causing industries.There have to be adequatesafeguards to guard againstdust generation. V. Padmanabhan,

Bengaluru

■ Pollution control boardsare turning out to be

toothless tigers as they areincreasingly failing to checkviolation of pollutionnorms. Vehicles, especiallycommercial andgovernment owned, oftenply without valid pollutioncontrol certi�cates. Evenpollution checking centresare run without any propermachines and issuepollution control certi�catesin name. If a governmentcan order the closure of 800schools on account of airpollution, can it not actagainst pollution controlboards and violators? Navneet Seth,

Dhuri, Punjab

Yashwant Sinha on BJPIn his interview, “I amraising issues because I amworried about the BJP’sfuture” (November 15),former Union FinanceMinister Yashwant Sinhamakes useful suggestionssuch as the involvement ofVijay Kelkar (whosecommittee recommendedthe goods and services tax)in improving the process.But his claim that he hasgiven his “blood and sweat”to the BJP is laughable. Mr.

Sinha was a minister in theChandra Shekhargovernment till 2002. Hismove to the BJP came whenhe was past 50. In contrast,leaders such as NarendraModi and Arun Jaitley havebeen in the BJP since theiryouth. Mr. Jaitley even wentto jail during theEmergency. Mr. Modi isknown to be a workaholic.Naturally they are moreconcerned about the BJPthan Mr. Sinha is. The wayMr. Sinha is criticising hisparty leadership makes onewonder whether he has theinterests of the BJP in mind. Y.G. Chouksey,

Pune

The squat surveyThe Swachh Bharat Mission,launched with the noblevision of making the nation

open defecation free, oughtto be pursued with aqualitative rather than aquantitative approach(“Labelling versusoutcomes”, November 15).The sustainable solution inmaking people use latrineslies in wiping out the notionof “pollution” associatedwith having a toilet within ornear one’s house. Villagersmust be made aware of thelethal but preventablehealth issues stemmingfrom defecating in the open.Schools must educatechildren on sanitation andthe need to use toilets athome, thereby spreadingthe message to adults aswell. Anjali B.,

Thiruvananthapuram

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications:

In the photo caption accompanying the Sports page story headlined “Virat, you are like Dalmiya” (Nov. 15, 2017), there was awrong reference to Virender Sehwag. It was actually ThilangaSumathipala.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signi�cant errors as soon as possible. Please specify

the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be

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460915 A ND-NDE

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DATA POINT

The following memorandum by the Sanitary Commissionerwith the Government of India on the present aspect of the prevalence of plague in India is issued [in Delhi]: In no year since1904 has the plague mortality of India in the month of Octoberexceeded that of last month. There were proximately 42,600deaths reported as compared with 23,800 in the corresponding month of the previous year. A study of the behaviour ofplague in India during the last 20 years leads one to expect asteady rise in plague mortality from October to March or Apriland thereafter a rapid decline, at first sight the outlook is extremely black but the situation is not quite as serious as it appears to be. The Bombay Presidency has contributed 46 percent of the total plague mortality for October 1917. The outbreak of plague in this area usually reach their height aboutthe present season of the year. The next month or so is likelyto see a decline of plague mortality in Bombay.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 16, 1917

Plague in India.

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FROM RCHIVES

In the report of the Royal Commission on public services in India, recommendations were made for the improvement of theorganisation of the Education Department. The Governmentof India have discussed these recommendations so far as theyrelate to the main features of the constitution of Indian andprovincial services of the department, and in requesting an expression of views of the Local Government regarding the alternative schemes of reconstitution, have suggested that astrong provincial committee should be appointed to assist theLocal Government, with its advice. The LieutenantGovernorhas accordingly appointed a committee consisting of gentlemen interested in education to consider the proposals for thereorganization of Indian and provincial services of educationdepartment.

Burma news.

On the morning after Christmas2004, the staggering death toll(eventually more than230,000) from the tsunami wasstill unknown, when a call fromSri Lankan President MahindaRajapaksa to Indian envoyNirupama Rao made it clearthat island nation needed urgent humanitarian assistance.In Washington DC, Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen was alsobeing asked by the U.S. govern

ment how much India could help further a�eld, as the tsunamihad wreaked havoc across the area now called the IndoPaci�c. For India, said a senior o�cial, it was time to show thatthe Indian Ocean was in fact India’s domain, and India committed in an unprecedented manner to the e�ort. Within 12hours, Indian naval helicopters were in Colombo with reliefmaterial. By the next day, two Indian naval ships were in Galleand Trincomalee, while three others were despatched to Male.Two more, INS Khukri and INS Nirupak, were converted intohospital ships and sent to the worst hitcountry, Indonesia,within days as well. In all, about 32 Indian ships and 5,500troops were involved in the international relief e�ort, not tomention the work the armed forces carried out in Tamil Naduand the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

India’s e�ort“India’s full capabilities came as a surprise to the world,” recalls Shyam Saran, Foreign Secretary at the time, who receiveda call from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying theworld couldn’t wait, and it was up to the countries of the IndoPaci�c that had naval capabilities of scale to move in urgently.On December 29, U.S. President George W. Bush announcedthat India, the U.S., Japan and Australia would set up an international coalition to coordinate the massive e�ort required: torescue those trapped in the waters, rush relief, and rehabilitate those made homeless, and to restore power, connectivitylines as well as infrastructure like ports and roads. By midJanuary the coalition handed over charge to the UN, but whiletheir immediate mission had ended, it led to the birth of a newframework: the Quadrilateral, or Quad. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the �rst o� the block, voicing his longstanding idea of an “arc of prosperity and freedom” that encompassed India, and brought it into a tighter maritime framework, with Japan, the U.S. and Australia, which were alreadyclose military allies. The plan for a meeting of the Quad was�rmed up when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visitedTokyo in December 2006.

Even as the idea grew, however, it encountered growingconcerns in Beijing. But, the idea born of such intense urgencyas the tsunami met a lacklustre end after its meeting in May2007. Contrary to public perception, Australia wasn’t the �rstto demur. The U.S. felt that angering China with the Quadrilateral would hamper larger strategic e�orts under way, including the move for sanctions against Iran in the UN SecurityCouncil, and the sixnation talks on North Korea.

A decade later, the question is: will the Quadrilateral meltaway as before, or it an idea whose time has �nally come?

After the tsunamiHow the ‘Quad’ took shape after reliefe�orts in December 2004 SUHASINIHAIDAR

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SINGLE FILE

In the late 1990s and early 2000s,Tripura embarked on a unique pathto peace, one that was not dependentsolely on security measures but involved investment in human development and people’s participation inthe implementation of sociopoliticaland economic policy as well. Morethan a decade later, the human development consequences of peace havebeen remarkable.

In 2005 and 2006, we spent somemonths in rural Tripura as part ofwork on the Tripura Human Development Report (the Government ofTripura and the United Nations Development Programme had commissioned the Foundation for AgrarianStudies to write the report). Thethreat of violence was ever present,and elaborate arrangements had tobe made to ensure the safety of themembers of our team, mainly students and youth. Although insurgency was on the decline by the timethe Tripura Human Development Report 2007 was published, acts of insurgent violence still continued. Indeed, the idea that the people had tobe free from threats to life and limb inorder to achieve their full potentialwas an important part of the Report.

Tripura Chief Minister ManikSarkar has often said that economicand social investments and people’sinvolvement are essential components of the peace process in the State.The landmark repeal of the ArmedForces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, in 2015 in the State was an outstanding symbol of the success of thispolicy.

We returned to Tripura in the summer of 2016 to resurvey three villageswe had first surveyed in 2005. Theprincipal change was a palpable atmosphere of peace and personalsafety in the State, even in its most remote reservedforest settlements.The progress achieved over the last10years in several indicators of humandevelopment — especially in education, health, and employment — isthe State’s peace dividend, and isworthy of public attention.

Let us examine some of theseachievements.

Growing literacyLiteracy has been described as being“the basic personal skill that underlies the whole modernising sequence.” Separatist militancy inTripura was an obstacle to the spreadof literacy and schooling. Progress inliteracy has been particularly rapid inTripura over two decades. According

to the Census, the share of literatepersons above the age of seven yearsrose from 73% to 87% between 2001and 2011. We now have data from surveys conducted in 2005 and 2016 inKhakchang, a fully Scheduled Tribevillage in North district, Mainama, avillage in Dhalai district whose population is 67% Scheduled Tribe, andMuhuripur, a village in South district.

A measure of progress in schoolingof the population in these villages isthe number of years of completedschooling among women in the agegroup 18 to 45 years. In Khakchang in2005, more than 50% of women inthe age group had not completed ayear of schooling. By 2016, the median number of completed years ofschooling among women in the agegroup was seven — outstanding progress for a decade. The corresponding figure for Mainama, also a Scheduled Tribe dominated village, was sixyears in 2005 and nine years in 2016.

Data from the National FamilyHealth Survey (NFHS) indicate thatthe infant mortality rate (IMR) inTripura almost halved between20056 and 201415, declining from 51per thousand live births to 27 perthousand. According to data from themost recent Sample Registration Bulletin, IMR further declined to 20 perthousand in 2015.

Employment and labour forcePeace and security enable the expansion of employment and livelihoods.

The growth rate of per capita StateDomestic Product (SDP) has beenover 8% per annum in eight out of thelast 10 years (20056 to 201415). Inthe last four years, when per capitaNet Domestic Product of India wasgrowing only at around 5% per an

num, per capita SDP in Tripura grewat 9 to 10% a year.

For the last five to six years,Tripura has ranked first among theStates of India with respect to the implementation of the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Over thisperiod, the average number of daysof employment obtained per household in India ranged between 40 and50 days. In Tripura, from 201112 to201415, the corresponding figure wasabout 80 days a year. In 201516, thenumber rose to 94 days. The unilateral decision of the Government ofIndia to reduce the allocation of resources for the rural employmentguarantee scheme has hit the StateGovernment hard. According toGautam Das, editor of the Agartalabased daily, Desher Katha, thepresent allocation will be adequateonly to create 42 days of employmentper household in the current year.

An important feature of Tripura’seconomy over the last decade hasbeen a rise in labour force participation and work force participation,particularly among women. This is inmarked contrast to India as a whole,where data show a decline in femalelabour force participation and workforce participation over time. National Sample Survey (NSS) data showthat in rural India, female labourforce participation fell from 49% in20045 to 36% in 201112. In Tripura,however, over the same period, female labour force participation rosefrom 17% to 38% (urban areas showeda slightly lower rate of growth thanrural areas).

A labour force, by definition, includes those in work and seekingwork. The work participation rate

(WPR) rose among men and women,rural and urban, over the seven yearperiod. According to NSS data, the female work participation rate in ruralTripura rose from 12% in 20045 to31% in 201112. In rural India, it fellfrom 49% to 35% over the sameperiod. In Tripura, work participation rates rose among males, urbanand rural, and among urban femalesas well.

Looking aheadAn important factor in the dramaticrise in work participation rates, especially among women, has been theimprovement in the security environment, which encouraged women toenter the labour force in much largernumbers than before. The rise inwork and labour force participationrates, particularly among women, isboth a positive achievement and achallenge. The challenge is to generate adequate employment opportunities to absorb the increasing numberof women who will join the workforce. Tripura’s path of developmentis one that respects administrativeautonomy for regions where peopleof the Scheduled Tribes are predominant in the population, and the principle of unity of its diverse people. Aninclusive path of development, onethat encompasses the poorest in thepopulation and the most farflung offorestbased human settlements, is aprecious legacy. It would be great unwisdom to reverse or disrupt such apath.

V.K. Ramachandran and Madhura

Swaminathan are Professors at the Economic

Analysis Unit, Indian Statistical Institute.

Dr. Ramachandran is a member of

the Tripura State Planning Board

The human development consequences of peace in the State have been remarkable

The Tripura tableau, at the Republic Day Parade in 2017. * RAMESH SHARMA

The Tripura modelV.K. Ramachandran &

Madhura Swaminathan

A recent visit to a school in Dehradun to participate in a military history seminar drew attention again to the tenacious Indian indifference to history in general and recent militaryhistory in particular. My panel was on the IndiaChina relationship and the temporal review was from thetraumatic border war of OctoberNovember1962 to the more recent faceoff at Doklam. Abrief conversation with the students and theteachers highlighted one of the abiding omissions in the Indian school curriculum — thenear total absence of recent Indian militaryhistory. Recall, if any, is through Bollywood!

No recallVarious reasons were advanced for suchomission but one major gap is the lack of anadequate body of work by way of wellresearched books by professional Indian historians that could have been distilled forschool children. A wry observation is thatthere are more books on the 1857 War for Independence (aka the Sepoy Mutiny in theBritish discourse) than the wars the Indianmilitary was compelled to engage in after August 1947.

The 1962 border war with China receivesepisodic attention and it remains a traumaticmemory for the Indian collective. This yearmarks the 55th anniversary of that chapter ofnational history, and the lack of public debate on it is depressing. The brief war has aboilerplate Indian narrative to it that has acquired an inflexible index of certitude,wherein China is the aggressor and India thehapless victim. The Chinese narrative has itsown contour, dwelling in the main on Indianperfidy and the arrogance of Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. Emotive nationalism hasrendered the narratives on both sides moresacred and, equally, more brittle with everypassing year.

The younger generation in India, that isthose born after 1980, may not even recallthe border war with China except in a hazymanner. However, it merits recall that thoseresponsible for national security at thehighest level in government proved to be inept, ignorant and arrogant in the defencemanagement of the country. Nehru wasbroken by this episode, unable to come toterms with what had transpired. This is evidenced in the manner that the HendersonBrooks report undertaken by the Army wasnot tabled in Parliament — in fact, it has stillnot been declassified.

The more unsavoury part of the history ofthe 1962 war was the role played by then De

fence Minister, Krishna Menon, and his acolytes in the Army, led by Lt. General B.M.Kaul. But there is another aspect to the recallof the war and that is the forgotten heroismand gallantry of the Indian soldier in the faceof extreme adversity.

Anecdotal fragments from that war referto the grim and unpardonable reality of theIndian soldier, poorly clad in the cold andharsh terrain, marching up the icy heights ofthe Himalayas with ancient .303 rifles to facea much better equipped Chinese army.

Heroism at Rezang LaDespite such deficiencies, from Nathu La in1962 to Kargil in 1999, the Indian soldier hasremained stoic and steadfast in his commitment. Specific to the 1962 war, there weremany acts of gallantry of the highest order,and regrettably they are little rememberedtoday. One battle often recalled by professionals is that fought by a company of 13 Kumaon at Rezang La in the Ladakh region onNovember 18, 1962. Gallantry in battle cannot be meaningfully quantified, much lesscompared but the odds were against the 123men led by Major Shaitan Singh and all but14 died, rifle in hand, in battle position as theChinese overwhelmed them. Their bodieswere discovered only in January 1963 by alocal shepherd, and it was then that the texture of their indomitable heroism becamediscernible.

Independent India has faced many challenges to national security and territorial integrity, beginning with the war for Kashmirin October 1947 and through the Mumbai terror attacks of November 2008. The need tointroduce an appropriate capsule in theschool curriculum should need little reiteration, but it has remained elusive for morethan half a century. Can this project beginnow?

C. Uday Bhaskar, a retired Commodore, is Director,Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi

Strangely forgottenThe heroism at Rezang La, 55 years ago, should be inhistory textbooks

c. uday bhaskar

LeveragedbuyoutFinance

This refers to a financialtransaction wherein acompany is acquired byanother, predominantlythrough the use of debt.Leveraged buyouts, by allowing companies thatlack sufficient investmentcapital to use borrowedcapital to acquire otherlarge businesses, are saidto facilitate large financialtransactions. Many leveraged buyouts, however,fail eventually when thecash earnings from the acquired business fail to justify the debt payments incurred over a number ofconsecutive years. Sincethe lender is subject tosubstantial financial risk, itis not unusual to see theacquired business beingpledged as collateral thatthe lender can seize incase of a default.

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CONCEPTUAL

A sanctuary in AndhraPradesh is becoming a reserve of the rare fishing cathttp://bit.ly/fishingcatAndhra

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MORE ON

THE WEB 3

What are bots? A bot is acomputer programme designed to work automatically. It is mainly used togather information on theInternet or perform repetitive jobs.

Are they good or bad? Likefor every technology,there are two sides to botsas well. One of the typicalbeneficial uses of a bot isto gather information.Bots in such guises arecalled web crawlers, as cyber security solution major Norton has explainedin its blog, adding that another good use is automatic interaction using instant messaging, instantrelay chat or other web interfaces.

Dynamic interactionwith websites is yet another way bots are usedfor positive purposes.

Norton defines a malicious bot as selfpropagating malware that infects itshost and connects back toa central server(s). Malicious bots can gather pass

words, log keystrokes, obtain financial information,relay spam, and exploitback doors opened by viruses and worms, amongother things. Bots havealso come under scrutinyin relation to automatedaccounts on Twitter andFacebook. Efforts are being made to restrict thesebots from spreading misinformation on the respective platforms.

How are the ‘good’ botsbeing used? Artificial intelligencebased bots are increasingly being used byorganisations and entitiesto provide customer care,and sales and marketingservices.

Microsoft CEO SatyaNadella has said, “Bots arethe new apps.” Interestingly, according to technology research and advisoryfirm Gartner, by 2021 morethan 50% of enterpriseswill be spending more perannum on bots and chatbot creations than traditional mobile appdevelopments.

Some popular examples

of bots are Apple’s Siri, theGoogle Assistant,Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana. But thelist is getting longer. Closerhome, some banks havealso introduced AIbasedchatbots that are capableof interacting with usersand answering informationrelated queries.

How do you know yourcomputer is infected? According to Norton, symptoms such as a slow Internet or crashing ofcomputer for no apparentreason, popup windowsand advertisements appearing even when a webbrowser is not being used,friends and family receiving mails you did not send,or a fan going into “overdrive” when the device isidle may mean that yoursystem is infected.

What are the precautionsand remedies? It is important to have a good antimalware software. All softwares should be updatedand system updatesshould not be ignored.

The rise of the bots

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FAQ

Bots are shaping the Internet today Yuthika Bhargava

460915 A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

party’s national leadership.But their attempt to gaintime proved futile with thefour CPI Ministers refusingto attend the Cabinetmeeting.

Revenue Minister E.Chandrasekharan sent in anote to the Chief Ministerexplaining their party’s decision to stay away from theCabinet. The Chief Ministerthen advised Mr. Chandynot to delay his resignation,but granted him time to consult his party leaders.

The High Court, on Tuesday, had come down heavilyon Mr. Chandy for havingacted against the ‘collectivespirit of the Cabinet’ by filing a writ petition seekingquashing of the AlappuzhaDistrict Collector’s reporton the alleged land law violation by the resort ownedby him in the district.

Mr. Peethambaran andMr. Chandy called on theChief Minister at his residence to seek more time sothat they could consult the

Chandy resigns as crisis deepens

by the Assemblies that arerepugnant to Central lawsbefore they get the President’s assent to become a law.BJP president Amit Shah andRSS chief Mohan Bhagwathave batted for “anticonversion” laws at the nationallevel, but the subject is onthe State List of the Constitution and the Centre has nojurisdiction in the matter.

The Rajasthan DharmaSwatantraya Vidheyak waspassed by the Assembly in2008 during the previousstint of Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje. The Billhas provision for prisonterms of up to five years. Italso contains a clause forcancellation of registrationof organisations held guiltyof abetting conversions.

The Bill, which was sentfor the President’s approvalin 2006 too, was returnedby Pratibha Patil.

The State government hassaid that it reminded theCentre in June to clear theBill, which defined “conversion” as “renouncing one’sown religion and adoptinganother” through “fraudulent means.”

The Rajasthan government is making attempts toget the President’s nod forthe Bill that has beenpending since 2008, theyear it was passed.

The State government recently filed an affidavit inthe court in response to anotice on a habeas corpuswrit petition seeking production of 22yearoldAarifa, who has convertedfrom her religion and married a Muslim man. Thecourt had asked whetherthere was any law or procedure in force in Rajasthan thatgoverned conversions. TheMHA examines Bills passed

Rajasthan conversionBill returned

Separatist leaders MirwaizUmar Farooq and Yasin Malik, along with 30 of theirsupporters, were arrestedhere on Wednesday whenthey tried to lead a protestmarch towards the citycentre of Lal Chowk.

For many months now,the separatists have beenbarred from taking out public rallies.

Earlier, they addressed ameeting and called for ashutdown on November 27in protest against NationalInvestigation Agency raidsand the “crackdown on civilian population” duringcounterinsurgency operations in the Valley.

Earlier, Mr. Geelani addressed the meeting over thephone. The Mirwaiz and Mr.Malik were present at Abi

Guzar to jointly address themedia.

“This puppet governmenthas crossed all limits of op

pression. If they think theycan break our resolve andunity, they are mistaken. Weare not going to surrender

under any circumstance,”Mr. Malik said.

He alleged that the NIAraids and security operationsagainst civilian population insouth and north Kashmir are“aimed at forcing us to surrender”.

The trio said the shutdown on November 27 wasalso against the “maltreatment of detainees and thefabricated cases beingslapped on leaders and supporters”.

Militants heldTwo local Hizbul Mujahideenmilitants, who escaped atthe end of a daylong encounter in the Qazigund areaof Kulgam on Tuesday, werearrested from separate spotson Wednesday.

A police official saidcombing operation in theKund Nowbug area around

the encounter site was resumed in the morning. A soldier and a militant werekilled in the gunbattle onTuesday.

A police official said AqibIqbal Malik, alias Talha Bhai,of Ringet Noorabad was arrested from the area. Malik,who joined militancy earlierthis year, had been injured.

Escape by trainAnother militant, who is alsobelieved to have fled fromthe encounter site, was arrested as he was trying toboard a train in the morning.He has been identified asShams Waqar, a police official said.

The Army has identifiedthe deceased soldier as Sepoy Manjinder Singh Singh,22, hailing from Mansa inPunjab, who joined theArmy in 2015.

Mirwaiz, Malik held during marchThey had addressed a meeting and called for a shutdown on November 27 in protest against NIA raids

Jawans rush towards the encounter site atQazigund in south Kashmir on Tuesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

The Enforcement Directorate has filed a chargesheetagainst two persons allegedly linked to terror outfit Al Badr on charges ofmoney laundering.

The chargesheet hasbeen filed against KhurshidAhmad Bhat, a resident ofSrinagar, and InayatullahShah, a resident of Baramulla, under the Prevention of Money LaunderingAct (PMLA).

The case pertains to anFIR lodged by the J&K police against the accusedpersons in 2009. It was alleged that the police seizedfrom them �50,000 incash, a live Chinese grenade and some documents,including a letter of “AlBadr Mujahideen J&K”.The letter contained a message that the money andthe other articles were being sent through the two alleged conduits.

‘Documents forged’During interrogation, theaccused initially said themoney came from the saleof fruits, for which Mr.Bhat had made forged documents.

“ED investigation has established that the seizedamount of �50,000 wasproceeds of crime, derivedand obtained, directly orindirectly, by KhursheedAhmed Bhat and Anayatullah Shah as a result of criminal activity relating to thescheduled offence ofPMLA. Hence it was provisionally attached. It wasconfirmed by the adjudicating authority on June 16,”said an official.

Based on findings, theagency has sought the trialof the two accused by theSpecial Court in Srinagar.

Chargesheet�led againsttwo Al Badr‘conduits’Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The spire of the 622yearoldshrine of Saint Mir Sayyid AliHamadani was gutted andthe roof was partially damaged in a fire that broke outon Tuesday midnight.

The fire was apparentlycaused by an electric shortcircuit.

Javeed Ahmad, who livesopposite the shrine, said theflames were visible in thetop portion at 1 a.m. “It coincided with major lightningin the night. Firefighters andthe youths of the localitydoused the flames thatthreatened the entirewooden structure,” said Tajamul Ahmad, who livesnext to the shrine.

Women wailed on Wednesday as a priest held special prayers after the fire.

A police officer said the

circumstances leading to thefire were being ascertained.The fire damaged the spireof the twostorey mosquethat houses exquisite woodcarvings and papiermâchéartwork, modelled on thePersian artworks of the 13th

and 14th century. The shrine was built in

1395 by Shah Sikandar topay tribute to Mir Sayyid AliHamadani, who is believedto have led mass conversions here.

After the 200yearoldshrine of Saint Sheikh SyedAbdul Qadir Jeelani was gutted in 2012, the governmentconducted a fresh fire auditof shrines in the KashmirValley. Wednesday’s incident exposed the poor measures taken by the WaqfBoard to avert suchincidents.

Chief Minister Mehbooba

Mufti cancelled all engagements in Jammu and visitedthe shrine. She sought a detailed report from the localadministration.

‘Symbol of plurality’“The shrine symbolises thepluralistic ethos of the Kashmir society from whichevery citizen draws spiritualsolace,” she said. The localsurged Ms. Mufti to put inplace CCTVs and scientificfire protection measures.

National Conferenceleader Ali Muhammad Sagarand separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and YasinMalik visited the shrine.“Thanks to the quick actionof locals, especially theyouth, the damage was contained,” said the Mirwaiz.

Congress leader G.A. Miralso expressed anguish overthe fire.

622yearold shrine inSrinagar damaged in �reShortcircuit suspected; residents seek safety measures

Hamadani after the �re accident on Wednesday. * NISSAR AHMAD

special correspondent

Srinagar

The antimilitancy operations in Jammu and Kashmirwill not be slowed down because of the appointment ofthe former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief DineshwarSharma as the Centre’s Special Representative to carryforward the dialogue, asenior official said onWednesday.

The directive came after ahighlevel meeting to reviewthe security situation in theState. The meeting waschaired by Home MinisterRajnath Singh and was attended by Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, National Security Adviser AjitDoval, IB Director Rajiv Jain,Army chief Bipin Rawat andNIA DirectorGeneralYogesh Chander Modi.

Mr. Sharma, who wasalso present, made apresentation on his recent

visit to Srinagar and Jammuwhere he had met over 80delegations. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was to haveattended the meeting, butfor some other engagement,an official said.

‘Decrease in protests’“It was a meeting of the coregroup of Ministers to reviewthe situation in Jammu andKashmir. Though the number of protests has comedown, sustained operationshave been going on againstmilitants. Mr. Modi spokeabout the status of the investigation in the terrorfunding cases against separatists,” said a senior officialof the Home Ministry.

Jammu and Kashmir DirectorGeneral of Police S.P.Vaid said recently thataround 170 militants hadbeen gunned down by security forces in the State thisyear.

Security operationsto continue in J&KSharma makes presentation at meet


New Delhi

Rejecting allegations of theCongress on the purchase ofRafale fighter jets fromFrance, a senior Embassy official on Wednesday said theaccusations were driven bypolitics.

“This is a domestic political matter. This omnirolefighter jet has been selectedfor its outstanding performance and competitive price.It has been selected througha fully transparent and competitive process fully compliant with the rules andregulations of this country,”the official said.

The official said the 50%offset clause in the dealwhich was being executedby French companies “willhelp in the development ofthe defence industry in India in a big way”.

Congress sees scamOn Tuesday, Randeep Surjewala of the Congress allegeda “huge scam” in the Rafaledeal and accused the Modigovernment of “promotingthe interests of Prime Minister’s crony capitalistfriends.”

Stating that some factswere being floated in the air,the official said, “Just checkthe facts.”

Maintenance coveredIn September 2016, Indiaand France signed a €7.87billion deal for 36 Rafale jetsin flyaway condition andscheduled to be deliveredbetween 2019 and 2022.The deal includes aircraft,spares, weapons, maintenance and performance guarantee for five years.

France is expected tomake a strong pitch for thesale of additional Rafale jetsduring the upcoming visit ofForeign Minister JeanYvesLe Drian to India later thisweek.

‘Rafale allegationsdriven by politics’

No rules violated in jet deal: o�cial


New Delhi

the €7.87billion deal for 36 Rafale jets in 2016.

Even as Art of Living founderSri Sri Ravi Shankar pitchesfor an outofcourt settlement in the Babri MasjidRam Janmabhoomi issue, hesaid on Wednesday that hewas yet to propose a compromise formula to thestakeholders.

“Once the proposalcomes, we will talk,” said thespiritual guru hours after hecalled on Uttar PradeshChief Minister YogiAdityanath at his official residence here.

Sri Ravi Shankar is scheduled to visit Ayodhya onThursday to meet thestakeholders.

While there was no official word from the State government on the meeting, SriRavi Shankar described hisvisit as a “courtesy call”while talking to presspersons.

He said he discussed withMr. Adityanath various topics including “how we canbring peace in the nation,welfare of farmers, andcleanliness”.

Later, in a tweet, the spiritual guru said Mr.Adityanath’s “efforts to address caste conflict, corruption and farmer issues are

laudable”. This came a dayafter Mr. Adityanath welcomed Sri Ravi Shankar’s efforts at mediation for an outofcourt settlement in thecontentious issue.

Mr. Adityanath on Tuesday said he welcomed thespiritual guru’s efforts, butmaintained that a solutionthrough discussion would bepossible only if both partiesconsented to it.

“Efforts at any level arewelcome. But one side hasalways run away from thediscussion table,” Mr.Adityanath said.

ive to mediate in the case,however, did not get a positive response from the partiesin the legal case.

Sunni Board standZafaryab Jilani, representingthe Sunni Central WaqfBoard, dismissed Sri RaviShankar’s initiative saying itwas done only for media attention and pointed out thatthere was no proposal submitted by him yet.

“If he brings a solution,then there can be talks. If itis their solution that Muslimsgive up their claim for theBabri Masjid, it is not pos

sible,” Mr. Jilani said.The Vishwa Hindu Par

ishad also described the initiative as pointless, assertingthat since “facts” and the Allahabad High Court judgment in 2010 had supportedits claim for a Ram Mandir,any further negotiationwould be irrelevant.

“It is in our favour. So aRam Mandir must be constructed at the site,” saidSharad Sharma, VHP spokesperson, adding that any negotiation could involve aclimbdown by the Hindusand this was not acceptableto the outfit.

After meeting Mr.Adityanath, he attended ameeting organised by theRam Janmabhoomi MandirNirman Nyas, a lessknowntrust in Lucknow claiming toplay interlocutor betweenthe two sides.

At the meeting werepresent representatives ofthe Nirmohi Akhara, a partyin the suit, DigambaraAkhara, Shiv Sena, HinduMahasabha and theRashtriya SwayamsevakSangh. Rajya Sabha memberand founder of the BajrangDal, Vinay Katiyar, joinedthem. Clerics Khalid YusufAzizi, Imran Hasan Siddiquiand others too were present.

Art of Living founder meets Adityanath; stakeholders sceptical of initiative

Omar Rashid

Lucknow

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar leaves after a meeting inLucknow on Wednesday. * RAJEEV BHATT

Sri Sri to head for Ayodhya today

Terming it a violation ofthe right to equality anddignity, the National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) said on Wednesdaythat the nationality checksbeing conducted in Assamwere leading to “harassment of poor people”.

Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, theNHRC issued a notice tothe Assam Chief Secretaryover the alleged harassment by the police in thegarb of verification of nationality.

The Assam governmenthad set up a Foreigners’Tribunal to look into caseswhere a resident’s nationality was in question, keeping in mind the illegal immigration fromBangladesh.

While the NHRC observed that it would not intervene in the steps takenby the government toverify the nationality ofresidents, the harassmentand humiliation meted outduring the checking was aviolation of rights.

As per reports, over89,000 people are living inAssam as illegalimmigrants.

NHRC issuesnotice toAssam govt.Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Political parties are requiredto take the EC’s permissionbefore releasing any electronic or print advertisementduring the polls, when theModel Code of Conduct is inplace. “In several instances,some changes were sugges

ted by the committeewhich monitors print andelectronic advertisements,” a senior EC officialsaid. The official refused tosay whether any change inthe BJP’s script had beensuggested.

Drop ‘Pappu’ frompoll ad, EC tells BJP

Effectively freezing the Rajasthan government’s bid toprovide quotas for Gujjars injobs and education, the Supreme Court has restrainedthe State from taking any action which will have the result of pushing the total reservation beyond the 50%ceiling limit set by the apexcourt.

“We are inclined to restrain the State government

from taking any action or decision on the administrativeside or in any manner conferring the benefit of reservation, which will have theresult of crossing the total reservation beyond 50%,” athreejudge Bench led byChief Justice of India DipakMisra ordered onWednesday.

The Bench ordered theRajasthan government tomaintain status quo till theHigh Court finally decides a

The other five castes include Gujjar/Gurjar, Banjara/Baldia/Labana, GadiaLohar/Gadalia, Raika/Rebari andGadaria.

In December 2016, the Rajasthan High Court hadstruck down the State’s proposal to include these fiveunder the Special BackwardClass Reservation Act, 2015.

The State government hadmoved the SC against aNovember 9 decision of theHC to stay the Bill.

pending case before itagainst the Rajasthan Backward Classes Bill which proposes to raise the reservation for OBC category from21% to 26%.

If the Bill comes into effect, the total OBC quota inthe State for governmentjobs and seats in educationalinstitutions would have increased to 54%.

The Bill provides 5% reservation to Gujjars and fourother communities.

Rajasthan’s Gujjar quota bid stalled SC orders State to maintain status quo till High Court decides case

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

An Assam Rifles jawan andtwo militants were killed inan encounter at Sajik Tampak in Chandel district ofManipur on Wednesdaymorning, the police said.

Three other militantsand two jawans also sustained injuries in the gunbattle.

Police and Assam Riflesteams recovered one AK47rifle and three ImprovisedExplosive Devices from thespot. The jawans belongedto the 4 Assam Riflesregiment.

Search continuesM. Rajen, acting police superintendent of Chandeldistrict, said combing operations were still going on.

Condemning the attack,Chief Minister N. BirenSingh said the Army personnel had come to Manipur to protect thepeople. He said those responsible for the attackwould be madeaccountable.

There have been multiple ambushes and bombblasts in Chandel and bordering Tengnoupal districtclaiming a few lives. So far,nobody has been arrested.

2 militants,jawan killedin Manipur

Iboyaima Laithangbam

Imphal

A Delhi court on Wednesday framed charges againstMohammad Aslam Wani,an alleged member of terrorist outfit JaisheMohammad, and Kashimiriseparatist leader ShabirShah in a money laundering case.

The Enforcement Directorate had chargesheetedboth accused in Septemberthis year.

The Directorate allegedthat Wani was asked byShah to work for him (on acommission basis) in collecting hawala money fromDelhi and deliver it to himin Srinagar. The accuseddenied the charges.

Shabir Shahcharged in ED caseSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi




NEWS

The Congress on Wednesdayshot back at BJP presidentAmit Shah’s challenge toname a chief ministerial can-didate for Gujarat, saying theAssembly elections in theState were not about anyindividual.

“The contest is not aboutindividuals, as we have al-ways said. It is about ourideology, it is about thepeople of Gujarat ... Ourfight is a janandolan[people’s struggle] alongwith the people of Gujaratagainst the repressivepolicies of the government inthe State and at the Centre,”he said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Shahdared the Congress to namethe leader under whom theparty is fighting the polls.“We are clear that we arefighting under the leader-ship of Vijay Rupani. Can theCongress say who theirleader is? Is it Bharatsinh So-lanki or Shaktisinh Gohil un-der whom they are fighting,”Mr. Shah asked in a televi-sion interview.

Tit for tatMr. Singh said, “We are notasking them [BJP] how theyare fighting the elections.The BJP has fought electionsin many States, be it Hary-ana, Maharashtra orJharkhand — they did nothave a face for a CM.”

“The most glaring aspect

of ‘Modinomics’ is that it hasdiminished India’s strongtrade fundamentals and leftits image battered due to itsfaulty policies, which haveled to exports plungingmiserably and the trade defi-cit expanding. If this was notenough, a fresh crisis isbrewing with price rise (in-flation) raising its ugly head,”Mr. Singh said.

The Congress has namedChief Minister VirbhadraSingh its face for the Hi-machal Pradesh elections.

Congress riposte to Shah’s dareAsks why BJP did not have a CM face for Haryana, Maharashtra or Jharkhand elections

A mobile campaign group of the BJP in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. * VIJAY SONEJI


New Delhi

A long-time associate of theGandhis, Sam Pitroda hadushered in the telecomrevolution in India workingclosely with the then PrimeMinister, Rajiv Gandhi, in thelate 1980s. In his home Stateof Gujarat to help theCongress in the Assemblypolls, Mr. Pitroda questionsthe BJP’s development modelfor the State. Excerpts.

So you are here to play acritical role for theCongress in Gujarat?■ I don’t know about thecritical role, but I am here todo what I have been asked todo and I feel it’s my duty todo what needs to be done.At this point of time, Rahul[Gandhi, Congress vice-president] felt that we needto meet various socialgroups, listen to their voices,their issues. So we arehaving multiple meetings incities such as Vadodara,Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surat. Wejust finished a meeting withwomen and it was shockingto hear their stories. Thekind of harassment they gothrough, financialinsecurity, income disparity.It’s absolutely appalling tohear that the State does notspend money on women-centric schemes, [and]budget is cut on health andwomen and childdevelopment.

What are the main issuesthat you have heardduring your interactionswith people?■ To be very frank, shockingstories I have heard. There iscomplete negligence of theinformal sector;marginalised sections arehardly under focus of anyscheme or initiative. Ifsomeone files [an] RTI[application] seeking someinformation, harassmentstarts immediately. Weheard people complainingthat lands given by the

government some 30 to 40years back are gettingrepossessed by thegovernment for industrialdevelopment. These are thetopics we want toincorporate in themanifesto.

So what’s your take onthe Gujarat model ofdevelopment that the BJPshowcases across thecountry?■ You know it’s one thing tolooking at top down and talkabout development from thetop. What I emphasise is thebottom-up approach ofdevelopment. The realdifference for developmentis what you look frombottom up. That is theGandhian way ofdevelopment and that’swhat the Congress party’sapproach is and will be inGujarat and elsewhere. Thiswhole business of theGujarat model ofdevelopment is all bogusand does not make sense.

But then there are manyeconomists, experts whohave lauded the Gujaratmodel and its highgrowth rate, highinvestment rate.■ High growth rate forwhom? At the end of theday, there are two ways ofgrowing. One way is you givetwo big industries lot ofsupport or five big industrieslot of support and you

create five multi-billionairesand your numbers will lookgood. But have you reallymet the needs of the people?At the end of the day, GDPdoes not matter, peoplematter. Don’t be fooled byGDP, GNP and wealthcreation if larger sections ofsociety don’t benefit from it.Please explain to me what isthe Gujarat model if it’s notabout making a fewbillionaires and a few dozenmillionaires?

Under the Gujarat model,a few people have becomevery rich, ultra rich whilelarge numbers of peoplehave become very poor. Ifind it disgusting whensomeone says nothing wasdone in 70 years in thecountry.

But now the Congress isalso in the midst ofpackaging andrebranding RahulGandhi.That’s not true. We are notpackaging or rebrandingRahul Gandhi. We arepresenting the real RahulGandhi to the people of thecountry. A bunch of clownshave defined [him] asPappu, but he is not that. Heis very educated, sincere, hemeditates, he thinks a lot,and sometimes I think hethinks too much. He reads alot and he is a scholar. I willgive you an example, duringhis recent trip in the U.S., hespent 90 minutes with a topscholar on Islam, another 90with a top scholar on Chinaand North Korea. He is verycurious. Maybe, I am biasedbecause I have seen himgrowing up since he was achild. He is a decent humanbeing, who will never lie orcheat but he will trust. Inthe U.S., whoever he metand interacted with, peopleliked him. He met the entireboard of Washington Post,New York Times and Reutersand they had longconversations andinteractions with him.

‘I have heard shockingstories in Gujarat’Congress strategist says the poor totally neglected

ahesh Langa

Ahmedabad

<> I �nd it disgusting

when someone

says nothing was

done in 70 years

INTERVIEW | SAM PITRODA

was fascist — and all otherparties. “If democracy andthe Constitution have to besaved, the RSS and the BJPmust be stopped in 2019. Forthis, it is important to beatthem on their turf, Gujarat.”

Did this mean that hewould urge people to sup-port the Congress in thepolls? “We are not going withany political party,” he said.“We want our exclusive,autonomous space. If an-other party comes to power,we will struggle on our is-sues with them too.”

He said he had faith in thepeople. They would votewisely in the polls. He, how-ever, refused to say which

Dalit activist Jignesh Mevanilaunched a scathing attackon the BJP on Wednesday,just weeks before the GujaratAssembly polls. He, how-ever, shied away fromopenly supporting the Con-gress.

Mr. Mevani, on a visit tothe capital, was interactingwith media persons.

He said there was a funda-mental difference betweenthe BJP — which he claimedwanted a Hindu Rashtra and

party they should choose tovote for. “Don’t make mename the party. But it is mygut feeling that people willnot commit any mistakenow.”

Pressed further, he finallysaid it was possible that hissupporters and he wouldone day launch their own al-ternative.

Defending Patidar leaderHardik Patel on the CD con-troversy, he said putting hid-den cameras in bedroomswas degenerate politics.Asked whether Patidars

should be given quota fromthe share of the presentOBCs, he said constitutionalexperts should brainstormon the matter, in consulta-tion with all affected groups.

Rejecting claims of devel-opment in Gujarat, Mr.Mevani cited malnourish-ment to claim the Gujaratmodel was “deceptive.”

He said Dalits, Patidars,trade unions and tribal activ-ists would hold a demonstra-tion in Ahmedabad onDecember 6, the death an-niversary of B.R. Ambedkar.

Beating BJP on its own turf pivotal: MevaniSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Alexandre Ziegler said,adding that this new cooper-ation would be discussed aspart of the strategic partner-ship along with cooperationin counter-terrorism, de-fence hardware, nuclear en-ergy and space cooperationduring the upcoming visit ofForeign Minister Jean-YvesLe Drian here.

However, senior diplo-mats clarified that Franceand India had a “special andspecific” interest in the In-dian Ocean, and wouldprefer to conduct their ex-changes across the Indo-Pa-cific bilaterally. “There is a

France will like to deepencooperation with India in theIndo-Pacific bilaterally andnot as part of a multilateralarrangement like the re-cently convened “quadrilat-eral” of India, U.S., Japanand Australia, officials saidhere on Wednesday.

“We have a growing co-operation in the IndianOcean, where both India andFrance have focal positions,and we are in the process offorming a defence and secur-ity partnership in the Indo-Pacific,” French Ambassador

very strong interest on bothsides to keep this bilateral,” aFrench Embassy official toldpresspersons. “We shouldnot forget that India andFrance have both a geo-

graphical presence as well asa traditional connection oftrust in the Indian Ocean.”

Large territoryFrance is the only westerncountry with large territoryin the Indian Ocean Region(IOR), including the ReunionIslands, that spans about twomillion square kilometres ofan Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ), and it has a popula-tion of one million FrenchCitizens in the region, in-cluding about 30% of Indianorigin.

The French Navy main-tains bases in the UAE, Dji-

bouti as well as in Reunion,with a total of 20,000 forcespermanently based in theIOR. In addition, the officialsaid, France is India’s oldeststrategic partner, and hasconducted India’s first inter-national ‘Varuna’ joint navalexercises since 1983.

“Therefore, the ideawould not be for France tojoin some other formation,but for others to join whatIndia and France are alreadydoing,” the official said inreply to a question aboutwhether France would con-sider joining the quadrilat-eral that met in Manila on

November 12. Both the official and Am-

bassador Ziegler declinedcomments on the nature ofthe projects being con-sidered for bilateral coopera-tion.

Mr. Drian, who will meetwith External Affairs Minis-ter Sushma Swaraj and otherMinisters on Friday, will bein India as part of a series oftrips by senior French offi-cials, including the DefenceMinister and the National Se-curity Adviser, who are pre-paring for a visit by France’sPresident Emmanuel Mac-ron in “early 2018.”

France wants to work with India in IndoPaci�c But not as a part of a multilateral arrangement like the ‘quadrilateral’ of India, U.S., Japan and Australia

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

In a bid to make Indianroads safer and curb fatalit-ies, a global charity on Wed-nesday unveiled an IndiaRoad Assessment Pro-gramme (IndiaRAP) that willrate highways’ safety levels,and seek to eliminate themost unsafe roads.

“Local leadership is thekey to life-saving success inall of our partnershipsacross 80 countries world-wide. As India invests inlarge-scale road upgradesacross the country, maxim-ising the safety of this in-vestment will deliver strongtransport, health and eco-nomic benefits,” said RobMcInerney, chief executiveofficer, International RoadAssessment Programme.

Since 2010, teams fromthe global organisation havealready undertaken star rat-ing assessments on morethan 10,000 km of roadsacross several states in In-dia.

The ratings are assigned

on the basis of the level ofsafety which is ‘built-in’ to aroad for vehicle occupants,motorcyclists, bicyclists andpedestrians. Five-star roadsare the safest while one-starroads are the least safe.

The IndiaRAP pro-gramme is being supportedby FedEx Express and willbe hosted by the Asian Insti-tute of Transport Develop-ment, and will work withgovernment agencies as wellas investors, researchersand NGOs to assess existinghighways and promote theuse of better design to makeroads safer.

Highways to be ratedon safety features

NGO unveils IndiaRAP assessment


NEW DELHI

star for least safe

The two ambitious projectsto equip the Army with fu-turistic combat vehicles area game changer for the In-dian industry, a senior Armyofficer said on Wednesday.

“The Futuristic InfantryCombat vehicle (FICV) andFuture Ready CombatVehicle (FRCV) programmesare going to be the biggestgame changers for the In-dian defence industry eco-system… Sometimes bigticket items take little moretime but they do not fall. Iam confident that veryshortly you will hear theFICV going into the nextlevel,” said Lt. Gen. A.B.Shivane, Director-General,Mechanised Forces, at aseminar on armouredvehicles organised by theCentre for Joint WarfareStudies.

The FICV is an ambitiouseffort to design and manu-facture indigenously a futur-istic infantry vehicle by the

private industry by roping inforeign original equipmentmanufacturers.

The Army has a require-ment for more than 2,600vehicles.

On the other hand, theFRCV is a tender for the pro-curement of futuristic tanksthrough the Strategic Part-nership model. Last week,the Army had issued the Re-quest For Information (RFI)for 1,771 tanks. Lt. Gen. Shiv-ane said the FRCV would re-place the Russian T-72 tanks

now in service.Speaking at the seminar,

the Chief of the Army Staff,General Bipin Rawat, saidthe Army was passingthrough an important phasein equipment management.

Arjun tanks to continueRejecting reports that theFRCV programme would“scuttle” the indigenous Ar-jun tank, Lt. Gen. Shivanesaid the service had alreadyinducted the Arjun Mk-1tanks.

Futuristic combat vehicleplan a game changer: ArmySays it will replace the Russian T-72 tanks currently in use

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

The Russian T-72 tanks that are currently in usewill be replaced by the FRCV. * FILE PHOTO

resignation. He was a Gu-jarat Police Service officerpromoted to the IPS in2009-10.

“He will contest the As-sembly polls and he there-fore resigned from govern-ment service,” a close aideof Mr. Baranda said.

Meanwhile, on Wednes-day, six Independent can-didates filed their nomina-tion papers for the first

P.C. Baranda, Superintend-ent of Police of Chhota Ude-pur district, has resignedfrom service and is likely tocontest the Assembly pollson the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) ticket in the tri-bal-reserved Bhiloda seat ofnorth Gujarat.

The State governmenthas accepted Mr. Baranda’s

phase of the Assembly pollsin the State.

So far, nine Independentcandidates have filed nom-ination papers.

November 21 is the lastday for the filing of nomina-tion papers for 89 seats thatwill see voting in the firstphase on December 9.

Leaders of various partiesare awaiting official nomina-tion to file papers.

SP resigns, likely to get BJP ticketSpecial Correspondent

AHMEDABAD

460915 A ND-NDE

WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Tillerson calls for probeinto Myanmar violenceNAYPYITAW

U.S. Secretary of State Rex

Tillerson called on

Wednesday for a credible

investigation into reports of

human rights abuses against

Rohingya Muslims committed

by Myanmar’s security forces

after a meeting with the

country’s civilian and military

leaders. Reuters

ELSEWHERE

Netanyahu o�ers quakeaid to archenemy IranJERUSALEM

Israeli Premier Benjamin

Netanyahu has o�ered aid to

victims of the deadly

earthquake in Iran, insisting

that enmity between the two

governments does not

prevent humanitarian

sympathy. “I’ve said many

times that we have no quarrel

with the people of Iran... our

humanity is greater than their

(the Iranian regime’s)

hatred,” he said. AFP

4 killed, many injured, inCalifornia shootingLOS ANGELES

Four people were killed and

nearly a dozen wounded,

including two children, when

a gunman went on a rampage

on Tuesday. Tehama County

Assistant Sheri� Phil

Johnston told reporters that

the assailant was killed by

police following the shooting

that happened at several

locations in the community,

including an elementary

school. AFP

Sharif gets exemptionfrom attending trialISLAMABAD

A Pakistani judge has

exempted former Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif from

attending his corruption trial

so that he could visit his wife

as she undergoes cancer

treatment in London. The

temporary exemption also

applies to Maryam, Mr.

Sharif’s daughter. Mr. Sharif’s

lawyer Amjad Pervez said the

exemption for Mr. Sharif is

for one week only but a

month for his daughter. AP

Hundreds of Christians in animpoverished county inrural China have swappedposters of Jesus Christ forportraits of President Xi Jin-ping as part of a local gov-ernment poverty-relief pro-gramme, a media report saidearlier this week.

As the local governmentin Yugan county, JiangxiProvince, redoubles its ef-forts to alleviate poverty,many believers have beentold to take down the imagesof Jesus, and hang portraitsof Mr. Xi instead, Hong-Kongbased South China MorningPost reported. About 10% ofthe county’s population isChristian.

Christian population inChina is estimated to bearound 90 million.

The report quoted a localsocial media account overthe weekend that in Yugan’sHuangjinbu township, theCPC cadres visited poor

Christian families to pro-mote the party’s poverty-re-lief policies and helped themsolve their problems.

Voluntary move?The officials successfully“melted the hard ice in theirhearts” and “transformedthem from believing in reli-gion to believing in theparty”, the report said.

As a result, more than600 villagers “voluntarily”got rid of the religious textsand paintings they had in

their homes, and replacedthem with 453 portraits ofMr. Xi.

Qi Yan, chairman of theHuangjinbu people’s con-gress and the person incharge of the township’spoverty-relief drive, said thecampaign had been runningacross the county sinceMarch. He said it focused onteaching Christian familieshow much the party haddone to help eradicatepoverty and how much con-cern Mr. Xi had shown fortheir well-being.

“Many rural people are ig-norant. They think God istheir saviour... After ourcadres’ work, they’ll realisetheir mistakes and think: weshould no longer rely on Je-sus, but on the party forhelp,” Mr. Qi said.

He said the township gov-ernment had distributedmore than 1,000 portraits ofMr. Xi, and that all of themhad been hung in residents’homes.

Jiangxi villagers asked to do so as part of poverty relief e�orts

Press Trust of India

Beijing

Xi Jinping. * AP

Chinese Christians swap Jesusposters for Xi portraits

Lebanon’s President onWednesday accused SaudiArabia of holding hostagePrime Minister Saad al-Hariri along with his family— the first time he has expli-citly said he was being held— and called this an act of ag-gression. “We will not accepthim remaining a hostagewhose reason for detentionwe do not know,” PresidentMichel Aoun said in astatement.

Mr. Aoun has said he willnot accept Mr. Hariri’s resig-nation until he returns to Le-banon to formally submit itand explain his reasons,which Mr. Hariri has said hewill do in the coming days.Lebanese politicians close toMr. Hariri said last week thatSaudi Arabia had coercedhim into quitting.

Hariri pledges to returnMr. Hariri has denied beingkept in custody by Saudi Ar-abia and pledged on Wed-

nesday to return soon. Riy-adh denies detaining him orforcing him to resign.

Saudi Arabia has longbeen considered Mr. Hariri’smain external supporter. Mr.Aoun is a political ally of Le-banon’s Hezbollah, a power-ful Shia Muslim group withclose ties to Iran.

Lebanon’s coalition gov-ernment was formed lastyear through a political dealthat made Mr. Aoun Presid-ent, Mr. Hariri Prime Minis-ter, and brought members ofHezbollah into the Cabinet.

‘Family under detention’“Nothing justifies Hariri’slack of return for 12 days. Wetherefore consider him de-tained,” Mr. Aoun said. Headded that Lebanon hadconfirmed that Mr. Hariri’sfamily were under detentionin their house in Saudi Ara-bia and were searchedwhenever they entered orleft it.

Mr. Hariri wrote on Twit-ter that he was “perfectlyfine” and would return,“God willing, to dear Le-banon as I promised”. OnWednesday he said he wouldreturn in a couple of daysbut that his family was stay-ing in Saudi Arabia, calling it“their country”.

Mr. Hariri holds Saudinationality.

Nothing justi�es his absence for 12 days, says Michel AounReuters

Beirut

Saudis are holding Haririhostage: Lebanon President

a placard calling forSaad alHariri to return. * AP

Celebrations swept acrossAustralia on Wednesday asvoters emphatically en-dorsed same-sex marriageafter more than a decade ofdivisive debate, and polit-ical leaders immediatelybegan moves to enshrinethe historic shift in law byChristmas.

Thousands of marriageequality supporters took toparks and squares acrossthe vast country, hugging,dancing and singing underclouds of glitter when theresults of the two-month-long postal survey wereannounced.

Celebrations in citiesRevellers wrapped in rain-bow colours swarmed theentertainment districts ofSydney, Melbourne andother cities, closing streetsas the party continued lateinto the evening.

“This means everything,this means everything,”shouted one partygoernamed Chris at a huge rallyin Sydney, fighting backtears and hugging his part-ner Victor.

Almost 62% of the 12.7million people who parti-cipated voted “yes” to thequestion: “Should the lawbe changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” Just38.4% voted “no”, accord-ing to the Australian Bur-eau of Statistics, which car-ried out the poll. Nearly80% of eligible voters tookpart in the poll, with the“yes” vote winning a ma-jority in all of Australia’sStates and territories.

Bill before ChristmasPrime Minister MalcolmTurnbull, a moderate con-servative who backed the“yes” camp, hailed the res-ult of the non-binding voteand vowed to pass a billlegalising marriage equal-ity “before Christmas”.

Within hours of the voteresult, Dean Smith, a Sen-ator from Mr. Turnbull’sLiberal Party who is gay, in-troduced a bill that wouldlegalise gay marriage.

Australianssay ‘yes’ tosame-sexmarriageAgence France-Presse

Sydney

A toddler writhed in pain ona hospital bed in the Yemenicapital of Sana’a, a tube run-ning through her nose, hereyes swelled shut and lasheswet with tears.

In the hallway outside,doctor Mohammed al-Ayzariwas alert, but his face lookedworn from apparent exhaus-tion. “The malnutritioncases are up more than everbefore,” he said. “There is anacute shortage of medicalsupplies and laboratorymaterials.”

Seven million at riskAfter years of war that hasseen a Saudi-led coalitionbattling Iran-backed Houthirebels impose a blockade onthe country, the UN hasalready warned that sevenmillion people in Yemen are

on the verge of starvation. But now a decision by Riy-

adh and its allies to tightenthe screws on all land, seaand air borders in responseto a Houthi missile attack hassent prices spiralling further— and ratcheted up fears of alooming famine.

Prices have soared inSana’a since the Saudi-led co-alition upped the pressureon Yemen a week ago, theUN’s Office for the Coordina-tion of Humanitarian Affairssays. The cost of fuel hasgone up by nearly two-thirds, the price of truckedwater has increased by 133%and bus fares have doubledor even tripled.

Cars could still be seen onthe roads around the rebel-held city, but many stationswere cordoned off withplastic ribbon.

On a corner where street

vendors were selling cheaphousehold items, neatlydressed government em-ployee Amer Ali echoed thedespair. “The higher price offuel is making the foodprices go way up,” he said.

“The average person can’tsurvive.”

Saudi Arabia and its alliesintervened in Yemen’s con-flict in March 2015 with thestated aim of rolling back theIran-backed Houthis and

restoring the government ofPresident Abedrabbo Man-sour Hadi to power. Morethan two and a half yearslater, thousands have died inthe conflict and the rebelsstill control Sana’a and muchof northern Yemen.

UN aid chief Mark Low-cock has told the SecurityCouncil that unless theSaudi-led blockade is lifted,Yemen will face “the largestfamine the world has seenfor many decades, with mil-lions of victims”.

Tougher checksSaudi Arabia’s Ambassadorto the UN Abdallah al-Moual-limi on Monday sought to al-lay concerns over the latestmove, noting ports in Ye-men’s government-con-trolled areas were being re-opened. But Riyadh isinsisting that there must be

tougher checks at rebel-heldports before they can open —a demand the UN contends isproving catastrophic.

Aid officials point out thatYemen’s government-heldbastion of Aden lacks the ca-pacity to ensure a steadyflow of distribution to themillions who depend on it.Rebel-held Hodeida port, onthe other hand, is closest tothe majority of people inneed.

The UN’s aid coordinatorin Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick,maintained on Tuesday thatkeeping ports closed is unac-ceptable and that the Saudi-led coalition could use cur-rent inspection mechanismsto let them work. ”We can’thave those ports closed orthose airports closed whilewe wait for discussions onnew (inspection) mandatesto go ahead,” he said.

In Yemen, Saudi blockade ratchets up fears of famineRiyadh and its allies have tightened the screws on all land, sea and air borders in response to a Houthi missile attack

Agence France-Presse

Sana’a

People collecting water from a welllocated on the outskirts of Sana’a that is allegedlycontaminated with cholera bacteria. * AP

The Zimbabwean Army,which put President RobertMugabe under house arreston Wednesday, said the situ-ation will return to normalcy“as soon as we have accom-plished our mission”.

“The President... and hisfamily are safe and soundand their security is guaran-teed,” Major General Sibus-iso Moyo said, slowly readingout a statement on nationaltelevision.

“We are only targetingcriminals around him whoare committing crimes... Assoon as we have accom-plished our mission we ex-pect that the situation will re-turn to normalcy.” Gen.Moyo said: “This is not a mil-itary takeover of govern-ment.”

But the generals’ actions

posed a major challenge tothe 93-year-old Mugabe, whohas ruled Zimbabwe since in-dependence from Britain in1980.

Tensions between Mr.Mugabe and the military es-tablishment, which has longhelped prop up his authorit-arian rule, erupted in publicover recent weeks.

The ruling ZANU-PF partyon Tuesday accused Armychief General ConstantinoChiwenga of “treasonableconduct” after he criticisedMr. Mugabe for sacking Vice-President EmmersonMnangagwa.

Government silence Mr. Mnangagwa’s dismissalleft Mr. Mugabe’s wife Grace,52, in prime position to suc-ceed her husband as the nextPresident — a successionstrongly opposed by senior

ranks in the military.As the situation deterior-

ated overnight, prolongedgunfire was heard near Mr.Mugabe’s private residence.

On Wednesday, the TVstate broadcaster played lib-eration struggle songs, while

many citizens in Harareshopped at markets, drove towork or queued outsidebanks despite the turmoil.

The U.S. embassy warnedits citizens in the country to“shelter in place” due to “on-going political uncertainty”.

Mr. Mugabe and Gracemade no public commentand their exact whereaboutswas not known, while gov-ernment and Army spokes-men were not available tocomment.

“The government’s silenceon the military deploymentsseem to confirm that Presid-ent Mugabe has lost controlof the situation,” said RobertBesseling, of London-basedEXX Africa risk consultancy.

Speculation has been rifein Harare that Mr. Mugabehad sought to remove Armychief Chiwenga, who is seenas an ally of the oustedMnangagwa, who was once aloyal lieutenant of Mr.Mugabe.

‘We need a fresh start’On Harare’s streets, many ex-pressed amazement and de-light, but people also admit-

ted the future lookedunstable. “What is good isthat this has happened at thetop and it is not affecting uspeople on the ground.People could be killing eachother,” said KeresenziaMoyo, 65, a housewife.

“Mugabe was once a goodperson but he lost it. Now weneed a fresh start,” she said.

Precious Shumba, directorof Harare Residents Trust ac-tion group, said Zimbabwewas entering “a newphrase”. “My wish is thatthey immediately announcea transitional governmentand state clearly when thecountry will have the nextelections,” she said.

Meanwhile, the head ofthe African Union said thecrisis “seems like a coup”and called on the military tohalt their actions and restoreconstitutional order.

No coup, only a clean-up drive, says Army Mugabe and his family are safe; situation will return to normalcy as soon as we accomplish our mission, say generals

A minibus adorned with picture of RobertMugabe at a bus terminus in Harare on Wednesday. * REUTERS


Harare

When he came to power, Zi-mbabwe's Robert Mugabewas feted as an African liber-ation hero in a nation thathad endured nearly a cen-tury of white colonial rule.

Educated and urbane,Mr. Mugabe took powerafter seven years of a libera-tion bush war. But nearlyfour decades after inde-pendence in 1980, many seehim as power-obsessed andwilling to unleash deathsquads, rig elections andtrash the economy in the re-lentless pursuit of control.

The 93-year-old is theonly leader Zimbabwe,formerly known asRhodesia, has known sinceindependence from Britain.While the West regards himas an autocrat, some inAfrica see him as an anti-co-lonial champion.

Born on a Catholic mis-sion near Harare, Mr.Mugabe was educated by Je-suit priests and worked as aprimary school teacher be-fore going to South Africa’sUniversity of Fort Hare,then a breeding ground forAfrican nationalism. Return-ing to Rhodesia in 1960, heentered politics but wasjailed for a decade for op-posing white rule.

After his release, he roseto the top of the powerful Zi-mbabwe African NationalLiberation Army, known asthe “thinking man’s guer-rilla”. After the long bushwar ended, Mr. Mugabe waselected as the nation’s firstblack Prime Minister.

Presidential stints After two terms as PrimeMinister, he changed theConstitution and was elec-ted President in 1987.

When, at the end of thecentury, he lost a constitu-tional referendum followedby a groundswell of black

anger at the slow pace ofland reform, his responsewas uncompromising.

As gangs of blacks callingthemselves war veterans in-vaded white-owned farms,Mr. Mugabe said it was a cor-rection of colonial in-justices. “Perhaps we madea mistake by not finishingthe war in the trenches,” hesaid in 2000.

“If the settlers had beendefeated through the barrelof a gun, perhaps we wouldnot be having the sameproblems.” The farmseizures helped ruin one ofAfrica’s most dynamic eco-nomies, with a collapse inagricultural foreign ex-change earnings unleashinghyperinflation.

The economy shrank bymore than a third from2000 to 2008, sending un-employment above 80%.Several million Zimbab-weans fled, mostly to SouthAfrica. An unapologeticMugabe portrayed himselfas a radical African national-ist competing against racistand imperialist forces inWashington and London.

Britain once likened himto Adolf Hitler but Mr.Mugabe did not mind, say-ing the Nazi leader hadwanted justice, sovereigntyand independence for hispeople: “If that is Hitler,then let me be a Hitlerten-fold.”

Anticolonial hero orpowerhungry despot? Mugabe remains a divisive �gure

Reuters

HARARE

in Sept. 2002. * REUTERS




BUSINESS

NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407.10. . . . . . . . -3.65

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 276.15. . . . . . . . . 4.80

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1181.55. . . . . . . 26.50

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 696.05. . . . . . . . -5.50

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542.00. . . . . . . . -3.65

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3212.95. . . . . . -53.60

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1713.80. . . . . . -41.10

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486.75. . . . . . -11.40

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19205.80. . . -470.35

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504.70. . . . . . . 11.65

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593.65. . . . . . . . -8.80

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272.35. . . . . . . . -1.80

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2310.15. . . . . . -10.15

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 30483.35. . . . . 393.80

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449.20. . . . . . . . -6.85

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 848.35. . . . . . -21.45

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1650.90. . . . . . -10.50

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1800.25. . . . . . . . -2.10

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3671.80. . . . . . . 16.60

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251.85. . . . . . . . -9.15

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413.80. . . . . . . . . 2.60

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1265.00. . . . . . -18.90

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1161.25. . . . . . -31.75

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315.50. . . . . . . . . 1.40

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1597.35. . . . . . -40.35

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 377.65. . . . . . -19.30

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951.80. . . . . . . . . 2.70

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 389.50. . . . . . . . . 2.55

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253.30. . . . . . . . -3.25

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011.50. . . . . . . 12.30

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1209.50. . . . . . . . -0.70

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823.65. . . . . . -11.35

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1415.25. . . . . . -14.35

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 8127.25. . . . . . . . . 4.30

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174.20. . . . . . . . -2.85

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177.55. . . . . . . . -4.45

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 207.00. . . . . . . . . 0.05

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883.70. . . . . . . . -3.00

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324.95. . . . . . . . -4.15

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504.65. . . . . . -21.40

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408.65. . . . . . . . -5.65

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677.75. . . . . . . . -7.75

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2705.30. . . . . . . . -9.30

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 496.55. . . . . . . . . 8.65

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4306.70. . . . . . -54.70

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721.45. . . . . . -21.30

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.50. . . . . . -13.45

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296.50. . . . . . . . -2.00

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.95. . . . . . . . -1.60

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 540.20. . . . . . . . -1.95

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on November 15

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.01. . . . . . . 65.33

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 76.95. . . . . . . 77.33

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 85.58. . . . . . . 86.03

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 57.64. . . . . . . 57.93

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.82. . . . . . . . . 9.86

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.88. . . . . . . 66.21

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 47.92. . . . . . . 48.18

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 51.00. . . . . . . 51.28

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 15.57. . . . . . . 15.67

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

November 15 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 43.10. . . . . (42.80)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,823. . . . . (2,812)

market watch

15-11-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 32,760 ddddddddddddd-0.55

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 65.21 ddddddddddddddd0.32

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 30,625 ddddddddddddddd0.24

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 61.56 ddddddddddddd-1.61

British aircraft engine makerRollsRoyce and softwaremajor Tata Consultancy Services said they were expanding their partnership to “exploit future data innovationopportunities.”

This included making better decisions through usinganalytics to mine hidden insights, patterns and unknown correlations fromlarge chunks of data takenfrom products, engineeringand manufacturing facilitiesof RollsRoyce. Some of theapplications include enginehealth monitoring, fuel efficiency and predicting the issues in an aircraft.

Neil Crockett, chief digitalofficer at RollRoyce said thecompany was building itsown data analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities.But, he said, the partnershipwith TCS was going to allowthe firm to create those abil

ities quickly. “We want to focus on being a trusted innovation partner for ourcustomers.... We don’t wantto become a digital technology company ourselves.”

TCS said the partnershipwould help RollsRoyce accelerate its ‘Digital First’ vision, improve existing services and create new areas of

growth. It said the digitaltransformation for RollsRoyce would be supportedby the company’s ‘Connected Universe Platform,’ aplatformasaservice. “It willallow RollsRoyce to moreeasily develop, deploy andlaunch products and services... quickly,” said RajeshGopinathan, CEO, TCS.

The company said as partof the agreement, it wouldalso provide Internet ofThings (IoT) capability,where devices communicatewith each other intelligently.The firm said that the IoT digital platform capabilitywould allow data to be captured, shared and analysedmore rapidly across RollsRoyce so that new productscan be developed quickly.

Data analytics hubTCS and RollsRoyce alsosaid they would be unveilingan analytics and agile applications capability hub inBengaluru. “Bengaluru hasbecome a key pillar in our digital strategy going forward,”said Ben Story, strategic marketing director, RollsRoyce.

He said RollsRoyce hadmore than 1,300 employeesin the country working on‘some of the most advancedtechnologies’ and helpingbuild engines of the future.

RollsRoyce, TCS ally for big data insightsIT �rm to help engine maker spot unknown correlations from large data chunks

Peerzada Abrar

BENGALURU

Rolls Royce’s Ben Story, left, and Neil Crockettwith Rajesh Gopinathan of TCS in Bengaluru. * PTI

The release of a new studyby the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) of Indiancompanies in Americaturned out to be an occasionto shore up political supportfor continuing economic engagement between the twocountries in a political climate of protectionism, onTuesday, at the Capitol.

The study “Indian Roots,American Soil,” found that100 Indian companies havecreated 1,13,423 jobs in theU.S with an investment of$17.9 billion, across allStates. Several lawmakerswho spoke at the eventpledged their support forthe IndiaU.S. partnership.

New Jersey, Texas, California, New York and Georgiaare home to the most number of workers in Americadirectly employed by Indian

companies. New York, NewJersey, Massachusetts, California, and Wyoming havethe highest foreign direct investment from Indian companies, the study found.

The fifth edition of the biennial study has political significance this year given theDonald Trump administration’s strong views on economic ties that displaceAmerican workers. “That In

dian companies are spending significant amounts inAmerica as part of their CSRinitiatives is testimony to thefact they are deeply investedin this country and society,”said Navtej Sarna, Indianambassador to the U.S.

Firms in the study spent$147 million in CSR and $588million in R&D facilities inAmerica. On average, eachAmerican state or territoryreceived $187 million in investment by Indian firms.The study found 87% offirms plan to hire more locally in the next five years.

On Wednesday, a Congressional subcommittee islikely to vote on new legislation that proposes to raisewage requirements for guestworkers and other restrictions. Though, the bill is unlikely to pass in the House ofRepresentatives, if at all itreaches the voting stage.

Indian �rms created 1.13lakh jobs in U.S., says CII‘100 companies have invested $17.9 billion across all States’

Varghese K. George

Washington

The government is planningto ask more public sectorbanks to enter into an agreement with it if they wantmore capital, providedbanks improve theirperformance.

This was communicatedby finance ministry officialsto the bankers in the twodaymeeting that concluded onNovember 12.

Earlier, the governmenthad entered into an agreement with 11 banks, and hadasked them to submit a turnaround plan and had linkedcapital infusion with thepace of turnaround.

Conditional infusionSome of the banks that hadbeen asked by the government for a turnaround planin that instance were IDBIBank, Indian Overseas Bank,Bank of Maharashtra, UCO

Bank and United Bank of India. “In the last six monthssome more public sectorbanks have reported losses.These banks also have to signan agreement with the government for capital,” said achief executive of a publicsector bank who attendedthe meeting.

“The government has said

it will support its banks withcapital,” the person added.

In the earlier round ofMoUs, banks were asked toachieve several parameterssuch as reduction in grossnonperforming assets, increase in recovery, restriction of slippages, among others. In other words, capitalinfusion in these laggard

banks were to be linked totheir performance.

Recently, the governmenthad announced a capital infusion of �2.11 lakh crore inpublic sector banks over twofinancial years, starting fromthe current fiscal. Of theamount, the governmentplans to issue recapitalisation bonds worth �1.35 lakhcrore and the remainingwould come from budgetaryprovisions and fund raisingby banks from the market.

While finance ministry officials have not committedany time frame by which thefirst tranche of capital will beinfused, bankers said theyexpected it by December.

“Else, it will be too late,”said another banker. In thepast two years, banks haveseen a sharp rise in nonperforming assets, adding totheir provisions. While thereare some signs that assetquality is stabilising, as indic

ated in the JulySept. earnings, banks are still facinghigher provisioning requirements for cases filed forbankruptcy.

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas mandated 50% provisionfor cases admitted in the National Company LawTribunal. Initially, the RBIhad handed over a list of 12companies for insolvencyand bankruptcy proceedings. It added a second listcomprising 28 companies,bad loans to which were tobe resolved by December,failing which they too wereto be referred for bankruptcy proceedings.

In the meeting, the ministry had also urged banks torevisit their loans strategy Ithad said that all banks neednot extend all types of loans.“They want midsized andsmall banks to focus on smallfirms and households,” another bank’s chief added.

More banks may sign MoUs with govt.Capital infusion exercise linked to performance; bankers expect �rst tranche by December

MANOJIT SAHA

Mumbai

In the earlier round, banks were asked to achievetargets in gross NPAs and slippages. * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

To encourage developmentof new technologies in thefield of cybersecurity, theMinistry of Electronics andInformation Technology willoffer challenge grants of upto �5 crore to startups tospur research and development, Minister for Electronics and IT, Ravi ShankarPrasad said on Wednesday.

“We are in the process ofworking with Data SecurityCouncil of India to conductchallenge grant for cybersecurity…,” the Minister said,adding that India would invite cybersecurity scholarsfrom the Asia Pacific regionto do their research here.“We will offer scholars... to

do Ph.D in any of the top100 universities in India, including IITs,” he said at theAsia Pacific ComputerEmergency Response Team(APCERT) Conference.

Stating that India wasworking on a data privacylaw, Mr. Prasad pointed outthat the same people whohad advocated RTI earlier,were now pitching for rightto privacy.

The government, he said,was also in process of setting up a centre of excellence for blockchain technology. “The technology holdsimmense potential and wepropose to use it in variousareas, including banking,entertainment, egovernance and land records.”

Centre to aid startupsin cybersecurity push

To invite scholars from APac region


NEW DELHI

Shares of all RelianceGroup companies, exceptReliance Capital, nosedived to their oneyearlows on Wednesday. Thisfollows Reliance Communications defaulting oncoupon payments to bondholders early this week.The BSE Sensex fell 0.55%,or 181 points, to 32,760.

The market capitalisation of all the group companies fell by �5,279 croreto �56,077 crore. Thegroup has outstanding debtof �1.4 lakh crore.

Reliance Communications slumped 12.2% to�10.15, Reliance Capitalshares fell 10.21% to�422.75, Reliance HomeFinance shares declined7% to �66.15, while Reliance Infrastructure sharesfell 9% to �417.4. RelianceNippon Life Asset Management shares fell 7% belowits listing price to �254.2.

RCom woestrigger fall ingroup shares Piyush Pandey

MUMBAI

Staterun general insurerNew India Assurance Company reported a 187.5% increase in net profit to�748.27 crore for the quarterended September 30, drivenby a fall in claim ratio andexpense management ratio.

The gross writtenpremium recorded a growthof 12.18% yearonyear to�6,489.15 crore.

The combined ratio fell to112.57% in Q2 as comparedto 124.24% in the year earlierperiod. The combined ratioindicates underwritingprofit or loss — a ratio above100 indicates loss. The underwriting loss for the com

pany was �627 crore in Q2 ascompared to �1,065 crore inthe same period of the previous year.

Investment income of thecountry’s largest general insurer during the quarter was�1,530 crore, as compared to�1,313 crore reported in the

same period of the previousyear.

“We have seen a fall inclaim ratio in both healthand motor segments. Profitability has largely gone upbecause of the steps we havetaken for the last one yearfor improving operating expense ratio and claim control,” said G. Srinivasan,chairman and managing director, New India Assurance.

On linking of Aadhaarwith insurance policies,which was recently mandated by the insurance regulator, Mr. Srinivasan said itwould be a ‘mammoth task’.

New India, with a 15%market share, has 2.7 crorepolicies.

Claim control steps helped improve pro�tability, says CMD


Mumbai

New India pro�t almosttriples as claim ratio falls

The Centre on Wednesdaynotified the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’slatest decisions, giving effectto the revised tax rates ongoods from November 15.The government said allproduct prices must reflectthe change.

“A consumer shall becharged the revised reducedrates of 18% on these itemswith effect from the 15thNovember, 2017. On 178items the GST rate has beenbrought down from 28% to18%,” the government saidin a release. “Accordingly,there would be a corresponding reduction in price/MRP on these goods. Consumers may take note ofthese reductions while making purchases.”

At its meeting last week,the GST Council had paredthe number of items in thehighest tax slab of 28% to50. It had also cut the rateon restaurants — except forthose in hotels having aroom tariff of �7,500 ormore — to 5% and removedtheir eligibility to claim input tax credits.

Deadline extensionsThe Council also allowedcompanies having an annualturnover of less than �1.5crore to file their JulySeptember GSTR1 forms byDecember 31, the OctoberDecember GSTR1 forms byFebruary 15, 2018, and theJanuaryMarch GSTR1 formsby April 30, 2018. Similarly,firms clocking �1.5 crore ormore a year can now filetheir forms for July to October by December 31. Thereafter, they would have to filemonthly returns, but with adelay of 40 days from theend of taxable period. Thatis, the returns for Novemberwould have to be filed byJanuary 10, those forDecember by February 10,

and so on.“Virtually all the notifica

tions that were requiredbased on the decisionstaken in the last meetinghave been issued,” said M.S.Mani, senior director, Indirect Tax, at Deloitte India.“There is no real change inthem versus the decisionsannounced at the end of themeeting.”

The latest notificationscome “as a huge sigh of relief for businesses both interms of compliance as wellas working capital loss,” Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EYIndia, said in a statement.“In furtherance to the Government’s earlier move ofexempting businesses withup to �1.5 crore from payingGST on receipt of advancesfor future supply of goods,similar exemption has alsobeen extended to all exceptthose who have opted forcomposition scheme.”

Tax consultants said thatthere were still issues thatneeded to be addressed.“There are several sectorsthat have been untouchedtill now,” Mr. Mani said. “Forexample, the car leasingcompanies are one of thelargest employment intensive sectors in the country.Every car needs a driver,every four cars needs a technician, and every 10 carsneeds a cleaner. The majority of corporates go for carleasing. These leasing firmshave to pay tax at 28%without input tax credit.This is just one example.”

Centre gives e�ectto GST rate changes‘Product prices must re�ect change’


NEW DELHI

GE

TT

YIM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

K




IN BRIEF

Feed maker Waterbaseposts fourfold rise in netCHENNAI

The Waterbase Ltd., a

manufacturer of high quality

shrimp feed, reported an

almost fourfold jump in

standalone second quarter

net pro�t at �9.49 crore, on

the back of strong volumer

growth. Pro�t was �2.60

crore in the year earlier

period. Income from

operations grew by 21% to

�97 crore from �81 crore.

Plans are on to widen the

product o�erings,

Ramakanth V. Akula, CEO,

said in a statement.

well’ at Infosys: Murthy BENGALURU

Infosys founder N.R.

Narayana Murthy on

Wednesday said all is well in

the company and its

chairman Nandan Nilekani

had the skills of simplifying

“lots” of complexities in the

software major. “Absolutely,

all is well. Remember, in my

speech with the investors, I

said now that we have

Nandan as the chairman, we

can all sleep well,” the

former Infosys chairman told

reporters here. PTI

The forging Industry, a major source of supplies to thecountry’s automobile sector,is at a crossroads due to ashortage of steel and an anticipated increase in the commodity’s prices, said a topexecutive.

“In the short term, we arefacing problems on thesetwo fronts,” said S. Muralishankar, president, Association of Indian Forging Industry (AIFI).

Annually, the forging industry needs about threemillion tonnes of steel. Indiamanufactures about 2.8 million tonnes. “So the net deficit is two lakh tonnes,” saidVidyashankar Krishnan, MD,MM Forgings and formerAIFI president. “Till recently, one million tonnes ofnonforging steel were imported. This has beenstopped, adding to the de

mand pressure.”“[For] the last three quar

ters, the forging industry hasbeen showing a growthtrend. However, the steel requirement of the forging industry is not being met bysteel manufacturers. Reasons that can be attributed tothe demand supply gap include major players reelingunder high debt, low coalproduction by Coal Indiaand a significant rise in

prices of graphite electrodes,” said Mr.Muralishankar.

As of 201617, there were378 forging units in the country with an installed capacityof 38.5 lakh tonnes, accounting for an annual turnover of�31,389 crore.

“It was growing at the rateof 10% per annum. This year,it would be about 7%8%,”Mr. Muralishankar said.

The AIFI has sought theCentre’s help by way of interest subvention andthrough the Technology Upgradation Fund, Mr. Muralishankar said.

‘Job cuts imminent’“Steel is now sold at �43,000per tonne and steel manufacturers are expected to increase it by �3,000 pertonne,” Mr. Krishnan said.“We are requesting them tomaintain the price in paritywith the rest of the world at

�43,000 a tonne, otherwiseit will be difficult to survive.This will lead to job cuts andclosure of units,” he added.

Given that AIFI catered to60% of India’s automobilefirms, Mr. Muralishankarsaid the introduction of electric vehicles — ‘a disruptiveinnovation’ — would be a bigblow to the sector.

“Currently, we have sometime, but not much. For thenext five years, we have towait and watch. We have tosee what the carmakers aregoing to do. We are askingthe Centre to be assertiveand provide a levelplayingfield to Indian manufacturers to become competitiveglobally,” he said.

“The Centre should increase the turnover limit fora company to be consideredan MSME, from �5 crore to�20 crore,” said K. VinothKumar, chairmanSouthernregion, AIFI.

‘Steel slowing forgings output’Need price parity on steel supplies with rest of the world, says industry o�cial


CHENNAI

S. Muralishankar

Cuelearn, a startup backedby CapitalG (formerlyGoogle Capital) and SequoiaIndia, is exploring the possibility of taking its fantasystorybased mathematicallearning programme toSouthEast Asian nationsand plans to recruit teachersin more Indian cities, saidManan Khurma, the company’s founder and CEO.

“This is one of the mostextensive gamification exercises undertaken in education,” Mr. Khurma said in aninterview. “We have createdall the characters and thefictional universe they belong to with immense detail,keeping in mind the triggersfor children across differentage groups.”

Three levelsThe stories were dividedinto three levels – Class K2(kindergarten to Grade 2),Class 35 and Class 68 – afteranalysing student responsesto content across mediasuch as storybooks, puzzles,games, apps and televisionprogrammes, he said. Eachstory will be released periodically over a series ofclasses to enable students tostrengthen their problemsolving ability and increasetheir affinity for math.

The stories include characters such as Thomas Tallman, a town’s problemsolver after he discovers abook on math, Zero Squad,involving Eka and Dvita whocrack cases with logic andreasoning, and Kalina andthe Shards of Singularity,which allow kids to breakcomplex codes and discoverthe mathematical origins ofstars. India’s education market is expected to almostdouble to $180 billion by2020 due to an expansion inthe digital learning marketand a shortage of trained

teachers, according to market consulting firm Technopark. “We are not a digitalkind of distribution model.The model is where we essentially tie up with teacherpartners who set up homebased learning centres usingthe learning system that weprovide to them. They teachneighbourhood kids usingthe Cuemath system. So,these teacher partners joinus and get trained in usingthe system and start classesfrom home,” Mr. Khurmasaid. “It is a partnership arrangement where whateverrevenues generated in acentre is shared 60:40between the teachers andthe company,” he said.

“The teacher retains 60%of the revenue. We providethe teachers the entire material to run the centres. In aCuemath class, the teacher’srole is very different from aconventional class. Theteacher here is more like afacilitator. The child is theprimary driver of the learning process.”

Currently, Cuelearn has anetwork of 2,500 teachersand 20,000 students for itsCuemath programme. “Weare primarily focused on sixcities — Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai

and Hyderabad. We do havepresence in some 80 citiesbut our focus is on these sixcities for now. We are actively acquiring teachers inthese six cities.” “In a citylike Bangalore, we have 500teachers. But to cover theentire city and to be able toreach to all corners we willneed about 1,500 to 2,000teachers,” Mr. Khurma said.

Most of the current teachers are women who steppedout of the workforce due tofamily reasons. “So, there isa huge talent pool out thereof individuals who are veryhighly skilled but not currently employed.” All thefeatures, including thefantasy stories, are embedded in a tablet. Cuelearnraised $19.1 million in tworounds of funding. It registered a turnover of �12crore last financial year ending March 31, 2017. “Averageprice is �1,800 per studentper month. We have a 40%take rate,” Mr. Khurma said.

“We will expand to a fewmore cities next year such asAhmedabad, Kolkata andKochi,” he said. The company is looking at opportunities in countries such asSingapore, Indonesia, Thailand and West Asia to sell itsCuemath programme.

The startup also plans to recruit more teachers for India

Jay Shankar

Bengaluru

The stories have imaginary characters, whichallow kids to break complex codes, said CEO Manan Khurma.

Cuelearn to tap SouthEastAsia with its ‘�ction math’

With the recent downswingin oil prices causing challenges for West Asia’s realestate sector, Nakheel Properties, a leading real estatedeveloper from Dubai is eyeing investors and homebuyers from India to sell someof its unsold inventory.

The company recentlyconducted a roadshow inMumbai to showcase half adozen of its under construction projects across Dubai.

‘Biggest market’“We have received encouraging response from Indianinvestors,” Sanjay Manchanda, CEO, Nakheel Properties said. India is Nakheel’sbiggest market as 11% of itscustomers are from India.

Asked how the Dubai real

estate market was doing inthe backdrop of oil pricesthat went through a downswing, he said, “The investment dollar has shrunk andwe are seeing some slowcourse. But, transactions arehappening although thevolume in Indian terms mayhave slightly moderate toslow. But yes, the flatness inthe market is noted.”

He said in the last 10 yearshis company had sold about4,500 properties, includingboth land and residentialunits, to Indians. “If we consider the value, the aggregate is $2.5 billion,” he said.

The company is offeringapartments starting from$145,000.

“We have projects thatare complete right now, valued at $1.1 billion. So, fromunder �1 crore to �7.3 crore,we have half a dozen projects all in Dubai,” Mr. Manchanda said.

He said several peoplefrom India were buyingsecond homes while somewere looking for larger family homes.

“In most cases, high networth individuals are interested in premium productsin the Palm,” he added.

Dubai �rm wooing customers for its unsold inventory: CEO

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

REUTERS

Nakheel targets Indian buyers

Crisil has agreed to acquire100% of Pragmatix Services Pvt. Ltd., a data analytics firm, for �56 crore.

Founded by bankingprofessionals, Pragmatixcaters to the banking, financial services & Insurance(BFSI) vertical. “In its shorthistory spanning sevenyears, Pragmatix has successfully built and deployed solutions across therisk, sales, and finance domains in India, Middle Eastand North America. It has110 employees as on date,”Crisil said in a statement.

It is targetting the firstquarter of 2018 to close thetransaction, post which thefounders of Pragmatix andtheir team will join Crisil.

Crisil to buyPragmatix in�56 cr. dealSpecial Correspondent

MUMBAI

USFDA lifts import alerton Divi’s Vizag facilityHYDERABAD

Divi’s Laboratories on

Wednesday said the U.S.

Food and Drug

Administration had lifted the

import alert imposed on its

UnitII in Visakhapatnam. The

drugmaker, which earlier this

month indicated that the

regulator would be lifting

the Import Alert 6640, said

in a regulatory �ling that the

FDA website had been

updated on November 14

notifying that the import

alert on UnitII was removed.

460915

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Dark skies, sharp bursts ofshowers, covers on theground and players stayingindoors… not the best newson the eve of a Test match.

It rained hard here onWednesday and more downpours have been forecastover the next two days.

The first IndiaSri LankaTest could run into roughweather.

The good news is that theentire ground has been protected by tarpaulin sheets.Unless there is seepage, playcould start within 30 minutesof the rain stopping.

It does get dark prettyearly in these parts. In thiscontext, both teams, significantly, have agreed to the useof floodlight in case the lightdeteriorates.

On an already green surface — it is now clear thatmuch of the grass would remain on the track — the teamgetting the toss right mightwant to bowl first considering there could be moistureon the pitch.

The present Sri Lankanteam might not be the mostthreatening of oppositions —in fact, the islanders over theyears are still to win a Test inIndia — but the host deservescredit for preparing agreentop.

It indicates a shift in mindset. Rather than reeling outvictories on spinnerfriendlytracks, the Indian teamwants to challenge itself. This

reflects a surge in belief.

Winning instils confidenceand confident teams winmore — the two are intertwined.

The No. 1ranked team inTests, Virat Kohli and hismen, appear keen to raisethe bar.

Playing on a lively trackwith bounce will also be agood preparation for the In

dian team ahead of the important Test series in SouthAfrica.

It would allow its batsmento get into a frame of mindwhere they would have toplay and leave, bat close tothe body and essay the horizontal bat shots when thebowlers err in length.

And the pacemen willhave the opportunity to run

into a rhythm.

India is likely to play threepacemen and two spinnersin R. Ashwin and RavindraJadeja.

Given the conditions, thehost might have fielded anadditional paceman butwould then have to tackle theoverrate issue.

In now seems — Kohli didappear to throw a hint — that

K.L. Rahul would open withShikhar Dhawan with M. Vijay missing out.

Team policy

If this happens, it wouldmark a departure for theteam from its policy of reinstating the players returningfrom injuries into the eleven.

India might have dominated Sri Lanka of late in Tests

but Dinesh Chamdimal’s sideis no pushover. After all, following the debacle at homeagainst India earlier thisyear, Sri Lanka did outplayPakistan 20 in the Testseries in the UAE.

Chandimal is a feistystrokemaker who has showncharacter in recent games.

And the return of thebattlehardened AngeloMathews lends greaterweight to the Lankan middleorder; he will bat No. 4.

And men such as the solidDimuth Karunaratne, experienced southpaw LahiruThirimanne and the dashingwicketkeeperbatsmanNiroshan Dickwella are notwithout ability. Yet, the SriLankan lineup has shown atendency to collapse underpressure.

Skilful Fernando

And the pace attack consisting Suranga Lakmal — he canextract disconcerting bounce— leftarmer VishwaFernando and seamer LahiruGamage could probe thestrong Indian batting. Leftarm pacemen have troubledIndia in the past and

Fernando is sharp and skilful. The wily, old soldier, leftarm spinner Rangana Herathis around too.

An interesting duel beckons… if the rain abates.

The teams:

India: Virat Kohli (capt.), M. Vijay, K.L. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R.Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, RohitSharma, Kuldeep Yadav andIshant Sharma.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal(capt.), Dimuth Karunaratne,Dhananjaya de Silva, SadeeraSamarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne,Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal,Lahiru Gamage, VishwaFernando, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Dashun Shanakaand Roshen Silva.

Match starts at 9.30 a.m.

The skipper winning the toss might want to bowl �rst considering the greentop and the likely moisture thereon

S. Dinakar

Kolkata

Weather threat looms as familiar foes face o� at Eden

Not a pretty sight this on the eve of a Test match as India and Sri Lanka resume their rivalry with the openinggame beginning at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. * K.R. DEEPAK

LANKANS IN INDIACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Yet to open account

O Sri Lanka has not won

even one of the 17 Tests it

has played in India so far,

losing 10 and drawing

seven

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Eyeing 300

R. Ashwin needs eight

victims to reach the 300-

wicket mark in the longest

format of the game. He has

292 from 52.

O Quickest to 300 wickets

O 1. Dennis Lillee

(Australia, 56)

O 2. M. Muralitharan

(Sri Lanka, 58)

O 3. Richard Hadlee

(New Zealand, 61)

O 4. Malcolm Marshall

(West Indies, 61)

O 5. Dale Steyn

(South Africa, 61)


India’s opening combinationfor the first Test has beendiscussed fervently and, predictably, skipper Virat Kohliwas asked the questionahead of the match.

“The situation has alwaysbeen there. The balance hasswung every now and then,with one of them [Vijay,Rahul and Dhawan] missingout. It’s very difficult to picktwo out of three when allthree are so good and havedone so well. K.L. [Rahul]has been playing well.Dhawan’s comeback hasbeen a revelation for himselfand the team,” he said.

“Dhawan’s counterattacking skills gave all the batsmen a good platform towork on. It also deflates theopposition to a certain extent. They all have differentskills and strengths.

But the balance alwaysshifts and one of them willhave to miss out. They dounderstand so there’s noproblem.” About the surfacehere, Kohli said, “The wickethere looks sporting, has a lotof grass. I am looking forward to playing on it. Wewant to build our games insuch a way that we want tobe looking forward to playing anywhere in the world.”

He elaborated, “We don’twant to wait for conditionsto suit our games. We wantto rather develop our gamefor different conditions. Ifyou want to be the top sidein the world for a longerperiod of time, you have towin everywhere.

“If you can embrace playing in difficult conditions,that will be the difference.We want to be embrace being uncomfortable and that’sthe most important thing.”

Asked whether there wasan overkill of cricket, Kohlireplied, “It will be betteranswered by the fans whowatch the game, whether

too much cricket is beingplayed or there is a repetition of the same series.

“You don’t want the fansgoing away from the game.

We have to maintain a balance of how to engage fansand keep the players fresh atthe same time and keepcricket exciting and competitive throughout the year.That point will be discussedin future definitely.”

Workload

About managing the workload, Kohli said, “It is not thenumber of matchessomeone plays but howmuch work he has put in,the amount of time spent atthe crease or the number ofovers bowled, that should betaken into account.”

Kohli said he too wouldtake a break at some point.

“Definitely I do need rest,why don’t I? When I think ofthe time my body should berested, I will ask for it, whynot? I’m not a robot, you canslice my skin and check if Istill bleed.”

Kohli weighs in on opening combination‘With Rahul, Dhawan and Vijay doing so well, it is very di�cult to pick two’


Kolkata

India skipper Virat Kohli says you haveto win everywhere to be the top side. * K.R. DEEPAK

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has askedthe BCCI actingpresidentC.K. Khanna to serve notice for Special GeneralMeeting by November 16.

The CoA wants the BCCISGM to consider (i) proposal of the final settlement of the Kochi TuskersKerala (which is about�800 crore), (ii) revocationof the suspension of the Rajasthan Cricket Association(RCA) and (iii) the FutureTour Programme (FTP).

The RCA has given anundertaking that Lalit Modi(former chairman of theIPL governing council) is inno way associated with theState association and is notthe president of the NagaurDistrict. The BCCI had imposed a life ban on Modi asa disciplinary action.

The BCCI’s operationsteam has prepared an FTPprogramme that needs tobe approved by the SGMand forwarded to the International Cricket Council(ICC).

CoA calls forBCCI SGM G. Viswanath

Mumbai

Joshna Chinappa defeatedqualifier Hollie Naughton115, 811, 115, 811, 116 inthe first round of the HongKong Open squash tournament here.The results: First round: Wo-men: Joshna Chinappa bt Hollie Naughton (Can) 115, 811,115, 811, 116; Nour El Tayeb(Egy) bt Dipika Pallikal 114,114, 118.Men: James Declan (GBr) btSaurav Ghosal 119, 116, 119;Paul Coll (NZ) bt Harinder PalSandhu 911, 113, 115 111.

Joshnaadvances Press Trust of India

Hong Kong

For a long time, the idea ofhaving mixedgenderteams in hockey has beenfloated around but didn’thave many takers. Themain concern was the gapbetween men and womenin terms of speed, staminaand physical strength.

But the ongoing Hockey5s NationalChampionships for menand women in Pune wouldsee players turning out foran exhibition mixed teamevent on Saturday. Alleight teams participatingin the tournament wouldcompete with at least fourwomen in each ninemember squad. At leasttwo women players wouldhave to be present on thefield at all times.

“This is the first timesuch a thing is beingattempted and we aretrying to see how it goes.The International HockeyFederation (FIH) is alsokeeping a close watch tosee its potential,” HockeyMaharashtra secretaryManoj Bhore told The

Hindu. Not just the FIH,even the InternationalOlympic Committee iskeenly following thedevelopment. The mixedteam games would bestreamed live on its onlinechannel.

“The fact thatSaturday’s matches wouldbe webcast live on theIOC’s Olympic Channel isproof that the IOC isserious about this. This isjust the first step but weare looking at it positively,”a senior Hockey Indiaofficial said.

High PerformanceDirector David John,however, was noncommittal. “The YouthOlympics already featuresfiveaside competition.This may be a way to makethe core sport moreinteresting, like beachvolleyball or T20s. Maybein future, this may bereplicated internationallybut not right now. Also, Ido see it as being helpfulto our girls in acceleratingtheir development. But itcan never replace themain thing,” he declared.

HI to trial mixedgender teams Uthra Ganesan

New Delhi

Roger Federer held youngpretender Alexander Zverevat bay in a gripping conteston Tuesday to reach the lastfour of the ATP Finals andstay on course for a seventhendofseason crown.

The world number twosaw off a spirited challengefrom the German 76(6), 57,61 in front of a boisterousproFederer crowd to become the first man throughto the last four.

Both players werescratchy on serve at the startbut were quickly into thegroove in a tight first set thatsaw no breaks of serve. The20yearold third seed racedinto a 40 advantage only tosee the Swiss charge back tolead 54. Zverev earned a set

point of his own at 65 butcould not convert and Federer made his third setpoint count.

The 19time Grand Slamchampion broke in the firstgame of the second set to establish an iron grip on theroundrobin match, butZverev hit back in the fourthto get back on level terms.

The Swiss refound his focus and some consistency onserve in the decider, earningthree breaks to close it out61.

On Wednesday, Grigor Dimitrov entered the semifinals with a 60, 62 demolition of David Goffin.

The results: Pete Samprasgroup: Grigor Dimitrov bt DavidGoffin 60, 62; Boris BeckerGroup: Roger Federer bt Alexander Zverev 76(6), 57, 61.

Federer overcomes Zverev’s challenge Books a semi�nal berth

Federer, after splitting the �rst two setsagainst Zverev, was in cruise mode in the decider. * REUTERS


London

In only his tenth singlesmatch of 2017, SakethMyneni doused eighthseeded Pedja Krstin’s fire towin 46, 62, 60, and advance to the quarterfinals ofthe KPITMSLTA $50,000ATP Challenger tennis onWednesday.

The Serb, seven yearsMyneni’s junior, took thefirst set, serving it out afterbreaking the tall Indian inthe ninth game, but he fellapart as the match progressed to capitulate in 90minutes.

Yuki Bhambri did justenough to get past the bighitting Ante Pavic in a 64, 76(4) win while RamkumarRamanathan went through

to the last eight beating Brydan Klein 76(7), 63.

Bhambri won the first seton an early break, but foundthings tougher in the second.However, he recovered from03, and went on to force thetiebreak, which he clinched.

Sumit Nagal lost his temper disputing a linecall, andwent down in straight sets toAdrian MenendezMaceiras.On an outside court, SriramBalaji squandered fourmatchpoints to lose 57, 64,75 to Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

The 30yearold Mynenibegan shakily; he was twobreakpoints down, but hepulled it back to win the firstgame.

He was erratic even on hisservice games; he dropped14 in all, including three inthe ninth, and the first setwas gone. The second set

saw a remarkable change.Myneni won the first game atlove, clinching it with an ace.

Better shotselection sawhim take charge, and thingswere level in quick time. Thedecider, for Myneni, was just

a matter of capitalising onKrstin’s errors, including asequence of doublefaults,while staying solid himself.

The results:

Second round: Saketh Mynenibt Pedja Krstin (Srb) 46, 62,

60; Jay Clarke (GBr) bt EvanKing (USA) 63, 64; Nikola Milojevic (Srb) bt Hugo Grenier(Fra) 75, 63; Adrian MenendezMaceiras (Esp) bt SumitNagal 63,64.

Yuki Bhambri bt Ante Pavic(Cro) 64, 76(4); AleksandrNedovyesov (Kaz) bt SriramBalaji 57, 64, 75; Blaz Kavcic(Slo) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth(Ind) 63, 62.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: ScottClayton & Jonny O’Mara (GBr)bt Ivan Sabanov & MatejSabanov (Cro) 62, 64.

First round: Evan King (USA) &Lucas Miedler (Aut) bt DivijSharan & Mikhail Elgin (Rus) 76(9), 64; Tomislav Brkic (Bih) &Ante Pavic (Cro) bt Karim Mohamed Maamoun (Egy) & NikolaMilojevic (Srb) 61,64.

Saketh Myneni & JeevanNedunchezhiyan bt N. SriramBalaji & Vishnu Vardhan 63,64.

Myneni surges past No. 8 seed Krstin Bhambri and Ramkumar also make the last eight; Nagal and Sriram Balaji lose

PUNE CHALLENGER

G. Viswanath

Pune

Yuki Bhambri did just enough to getpast Ante Pavic, winning the �rst set on a single break ofserve, and the second on a minibreak. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Sri Lankan captain DineshChandimal said he wantedto take the confidence fromthe triumph over Pakistaninto the Test series againstIndia.

He said here on Wednesday, “We are looking at taking the positives from thatseries into the matches here.We know India is the No. 1Test side in the world. Theyare a very strong opposition.But if we play well, the results should come our way.”

The Lankans played fivebowlers in the Test serieswin over Pakistan in theUAE. Chandimal indicatedhis side would continue tofeature five bowlers. “Werealised that if we wanted towin Test matches, take 20wickets, we needed to pickfive bowlers.”

Although Angelo Math

ews would, owing to fitnessissues, no longer bowl hisseamers in Tests, Chandimalwelcomed the former SriLankan captain back in theside.

“He has done so well forus in the past. He brings a lotto the table as a specialistbatsman.”

Talking about the rainhere, Chandimal said, “You

cannot control the weather.But once we get on the field,we want to be at our best.”

There have been occasions in the past when SriLanka has put down whateventually turned out to becritical catches. In this context, Chandimal said, “Wewant to field and catch well,maintain our energy levelsover five days.”


Kolkata

Taking positives from thePakistan series: Chandimal

* K.R. DEEPAK

Pankaj Advani had to settlefor bronze in the longupformat of the IBSF Worldbilliards championship,losing to Mike Russell inthe semifinals after the latter got to the 1250markahead of the Indian.

After Advani made astrong start, Russell fired inbreaks of 551 — the highestof the tournament so far —along with a 447.

In the final he awaitseither Myanmar’s NayThway Oo or fellow Englishman Robert Hall.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Thway Oo defeatedDhruv Sitwala 1000875while Hall got the better ofSourav Kothari 1000746.

Advani gets bronze

Press Trust on India

Doha

India’s P.V. Sindhu and SainaNehwal made the women’ssingles second round withstraight game victories inthe China Open SuperSeries Premier badmintonhere on Wednesday.

The results: Men’s singles:H.S. Prannoy bt Lee Dong Keun(Kor) 1821, 2116, 2119; BriceLeverdez (Fra) bt SourabhVerma 2114, 1521, 2111;Doubles: Liu Cheng & ZhangNan bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

& Chirag Shetty 2113, 2113;Marcus Fernaldi Gideon &Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo btManu Attri & B. SumeethReddy 2118, 2115.

Women’s singles: Saina Nehwal bt Beiwan Zhang (USA)2112, 2113; P.V. Sindhu btSayaka Sato (Jap) 2422, 2321;Doubles: Ha Na Baek & ChaeYoo Jung (Kor) bt AshwiniPonappa & N. Siki Reddy 2114,2115. Mixed doubles: MathiasChristiansen & Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt Ashwini &Satwiksairaj 2119, 1721, 2113.

Sindhu, Saina throughPRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Fuzhou (China)

460915




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12163 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

There is a unique intricacy in knowing Brahman, becauseHe remains beyond the grasp of the senses, mind and intel-lect, the common aids in human understanding. So, Krishnalists Brahman’s limitless nature and auspicious qualities in averse to facilitate meditation by which it is possible to realiseHim experientially, pointed out Swami Tejomayananda in adiscourse.

Brahman is called a Kavi, a term whose literal meaning isa poet. In the Upanishads, it refers to one who is omniscient,a sarvagna. He knows the past, present and future. Brahmanis also known as ‘Purana Purusha,’ an epithet which meansancient and hence signifies His primordial existence, whichhas no beginning or end and transcends time and space. But‘Purana’ also includes the truth that Brahman is alwaysahead of time and hence is ever newer than the newest, be-sides being subtler than the subtlest and also higher thanthe highest ever.

Another amazing reality is that Brahman is not only thesole cause of this entire creation, but also sustains it meticu-lously at all times. He is the essence of consciousness onwhich the whole structure and functioning of the universerests. He is the very core of all existence. He is described as‘aditya varnam,’ one who is of the essence of the effulgenceand brilliance of the sun. But in fact, it is by the sheer bright-ness of His jnana that the sun, moon, stars, fire, and all ob-jects capable of giving light are able to do so. He is beyondMaya and the darkness of ignorance.

Brahman stands revealed to one who meditates on His in-finite nature at all times with a pure heart, mind and intel-lect. To know Him and to realise Him through love and de-votion, as well as through the practice of the yoga ofmeditation, is the purpose of every individual atma, regard-less of one’s status, birth, scholarship, etc.

FAITH

Brahman’s qualities 3 Best one at hand (5)

5 Once, rot damaged the crown

(7)

6 Bar thinly manufactured coil

(9)

7 Extract current inside circuit

(6)

8 Promising to go to corner and

study (6)

9 Difficult to increase pile (6)

15 Trace of French rope's

consumed (9)

17 Measures around couple of

holds (8)

18 Chaff obtained from train on

the French railway (8)

20 Notice a revolutionary's pain

(7)

21 Build 11 foot toll tower (6)

22 Dormant as outer layer is

brought up (6)

23 House fashionable �bre (6)

25 West has Ray's colour (5)

13 One racing to be cured of

blindness (9)

14 Disgrace to look at pulse (7)

16 Lean nurse (4)

19 Reportedly puffed like an

aristocrat (4)

21 Bismuth found outside

dilapidated home near a

historical region (7)

24 Cold nurse's cracked heel (9)

25 Good man or criminal? (5)

26 More wide perhaps (5)

27 Stone chariot placed by boy's

relative (9)

28 Eye device to �x and turn

around Buddhist school near

city (53)

29 Jumper in Garden State (6)

■ DOWN

1 Again let subordinate trainee

rest (8)

2 A hemp urn used by

neanderthals perhaps (8)

■ ACROSS

1 Infected one approximately

after a month (6)

4 Nearly climb up a swing to get

a rascal (8)

10 Pager worn by almost every

keen honey collector (9)

11 Without a barely polished gem

(5)

12 Identical in some quality (5)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12164

Amritpal Singh became thefirst Indian player to bedrafted into the startingline-up of a National Bas-ketball League (NBL) teamin Australia.

Playing for Sydney Kingsagainst Melbourne United,the 26-year-old played for14 minutes and finishedwith seven points. Amrit-pal also posted a block anda rebound in his side’s 90-108 loss.

Amritpalmakeshistory

Sports Bureau

Sydney

Having overhauled its entiresquad for the upcoming sea-son, both on and off thefield, Delhi Dynamos wouldbe hoping to finally comegood in the fourth season ofthe Indian Super League insearch of the elusive title.

As the only team not to re-tain a single player ahead ofthe Player Draft earlier thisyear, the Delhi-based fran-chise has rebuilt itself fromGround Zero. And withMiguel Angel Portugal as thenew man in charge of takingthe team past the semifinal-jinx, the new owners of theclub would be hoping thechange works for the side.

The 61-year old SpaniardPortugal has decided on amix of youth and experienceto do that, letting go of thestars from the previous edi-tions including the likes ofGhana’s Richard Gadze andBrazilian Marcelinho, the lat-ter also being the GoldenBoot winner in 2016 with 10goals.

Coming in are the likes oftalented but unproven Indi-

ans Pritam Kotal, Lallianzu-ala Chhangte, Albino Gomesand Seityasen Singh.

Among the foreign re-cruits who would be key areveteran Nigerian striker Kalu

Uche, Brazilian midfielderPaulinho Dias andVenezuelan defender GabrielCichero.

Dynamos has had a mixedbag in its pre-season travels

so far, losing three of its fivegames abroad in Spain andQatar but winning both itspractice games at home sofar. The team would play twomore friendlies — against In-

Dynamos re-designed to deliverThe team has signed a mix of youth and experience to last the distance

Miguel Angel Portugal has a fair idea about his team with pre-season gamescoming in handy.

ISL

UTHRA GANESAN

Delhi

WATCH OUT FOR

dian Air Force and Chand-igarh-based Minerva FC — be-fore its first game against FCPune City on November 22.

The talent is there, aproven match-winner is not.As one of the most consist-ent sides in the competition,DD would be hoping for thesecond.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Past seasons

O 2016: Semi�nals

O 2015: Semi�nals

O 2014: Fifth


NBA: Sony Six (SD & HD),6.30 & 9 a.m.India vs Sri Lanka: 1st Test,STAR Sports 1 (SD & HD),9.30 a.m.Badminton: China Open,STAR Sports 2 (SD & HD),10.30 a.m.World Tour Finals: SonyESPN (SD & HD), 7.30 p.m. &1.30 a.m. (Friday)

TV PICKS

11-4, 11-7, 11-5; Semifinals: D.Patil bt L. Alberto (PSPBA)11-8, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9; S.P. Raj btVishwa Deenadayalan (TN)11-8, 9-11, 5-11, 11-6, 13-11,13-11.

Sub-junior girls: Final: TrishaGogoi (ASM) bt Vanshika Bhar-gava (DEL) 11-2, 13-11, 11-4, 4-11, 9-11, 11-3; Semifinals: V.Bhargava bt Suhana Saini(HRN) 7-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-9,11-6; T. Gogoi bt Sneha Bhow-mick (WB) 11-4, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9.

Cadet boys: Final: S. PreyeshRaj (TN) bt Shantesh Mapsekar(GOA) 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3,11-8; Semifinals: S.P. Raj bt Te-jas Narang (DEL) 3-11, 11-9,11-4, 11-4; S. Mapsekar btAnkur Bhattacharjee (WB) 12-10, 11-9, 11-7.

Cadet girls: Final: Suhana Saini(HRN) bt Pritha Vartikar (MHR)15-13, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8; Semi-finals: S. Saini bt AryaSongadkar (MHR) 11-9, 11-7,11-3; P. Vartikar bt Nehal Ven-katasamy (TN) 10-12, 11-2, 11-7,3-11, 11-5.

Top seed S. Preyesh Raj ofTamil Nadu continued hisunbeaten run in cadet boysall through the national sea-son to cap off the fifth zonaltitle by winning the 11EvenSports West Zone Nationalranking table tennis tourna-ment here on Wednesday.The southpaw, however,failed to convert it into adouble crown, going downto fourth seed Deepit Patil ofMaharashta in the sub-ju-nior boys’ final.

Haryana’s Suhana Sainiavenged revenge in the lastweek’s north zone finalagainst Maharashtra’s PrithaVartikar in the cadet girls’ fi-nal while Assam’s Trisha Go-goi tamed Delhi’s VanshikaGogoi to in the sub-juniorgirls’ final to bag her secondtitle of the season.The results: Sub-junior boys:Final: Deepit Patil (MAH) bt S.Preyesh Raj Suresh (TN) 11-6,

Preyesh, Deepit winAmol Karhadkar

THANE

S.L. Narayanan, M.Karthikeyan, R. Pragg-nanandhaa and HarshaBharathakoti, with theirsecond successive wins, con-tinued to be among theopen section leaders of theWorld junior chess champi-onship here on Tuesday.

The results: Open: S.L. Naray-anan (2) bt Jan Vykouk (Cze, 1);M. Karthikeyan (2) bt LiamVrolijk (Ned, 1); R. Pragg-nanandhaa (2) bt MohammadNubaishah Shaikh (1); Peir LuigiBasso (Ita, 2) bt Kumar Gaurav(1); Filip Pavik (Cro, 1) lost toHarsha Bharathakoti (2); A.Timerkhanov (Rus, 1) drew withVaibhav Suri (1); Awonder Liang(USA, 2) bt Sidhant Mohapatra(0.5); Nie Xinyang (Chn, 0.5)lost to Shardul Gagare (1.5).

Johan Sebastian Christi-

ansen (Nor, 1.5) bt RaunakSadhawani (0.5); RuslanSezdbekov (Kgz, 0) lost to Ara-vindh Chithambaram (1); Gabri-ele Lumachi (Ita, 0) drew withKrishna Teja (0.5); Tarini Goyal(0) lost to V. Zarubitski (Blr, 1).

Girls: Iulija Osmak (Ukr, 2) btPratyusha Bodda (1); R. Vaishali

(2) bt Cagil Irmak Arda (Tur, 1).Alexandra Obolentseva (Rus, 2)bt Parnali Dharia (1); Anastasya

Paramzina (Rus, 1.5) drew withAakanksha Hagawane (1.5); In-grid Greibrokk (Nor, 0.5) lost to

Arpita Mukherjee (1.5); M. Ma-halakshmi (0.5) drew withBlion Anna Cramling (Swe,0.5); Rutumbara Bidhar (0) lost

to Olga Hincu (Mda, 1); G. Lasya(1) bt Esperanca Caxita (Ang,0); Nikolina Koljevic (Mne, 0.5)

drew with K. Priyanka (0.5);

Sayuni Gihansa Jayaweera (Sri,0) lost to Saina Salonika (1).

CHESS

Four Indians amongthe leadersTARVISIO (ITALY)

SPORTS BUREAU

Argentina striker SergioAguero collapsed in thedressing room at halftimebefore it lost 4-2 to fellowWorld Cup qualifier Nigeriaafter taking a two-goal leadin a friendly in Krasnodar,Russia on Tuesday.

Argentina coach JorgeSampaoli rested LionelMessi following the 1-0 winover next year’s World Cuphost Russia on Saturday andit seemed that it could copewithout him.

Ever Banega curled in afree kick, awarded after Ni-geria goalkeeper Daniel Ak-peyi picked the ball up out-side his area, in the 28thminute and Aguero finishedoff a sweeping counter-at-tack eight minutes later.The results:

International friendlies: Russia3 (Smolov 41, 70, Al. Miran-chuk 51) drew with Spain 3(Alba 9, Ramos 35-pen, 53-pen).

Argentina 2 (Banega 27,Aguero 36) lost to Nigeria 4(Iheanacho 45, Iwobi 52, 73, Id-owu 54); Qatar 1 (Muntari90+2) drew with Iceland 1(Kjartansson 26).

Romania 0 lost to Nether-lands 3 (Depay 47, Babel 56, deJong 81); Belgium 1 (Lukaku72) bt Japan 0; Germany 2(Werner 56, Stindl 90+3) drewwith France 2 (Lacazette 33,71); Austria 2 (Sabitzer 5,Schaub 87) bt Uruguay 1(Cavani 10); England 0 drewwith Brazil 0.

Wales 1 (Lawrence 75) drewwith Panama 1 (Cooper 90+3);Hungary 1 (Nikolic 37) bt CostaRica 0; Portugal 1 (Antunes 32)drew with United States 1(McKennie 22).

Nigeria stunsArgentinaAgencies

Moscow

Debutant Jamshedpur FCbrings with it the influenceof a footballing tradition thatmakes the tag of greenhorn,usually attached to a new-comer, redundant. After theTata Group decided tolaunch its football team, itharvested the system andvalues of managing the bestnursery of Indian football —the Tata Football Academy.

The TFA will be transmit-ting its DNA to JamshedpurFC. The balance JamshedpurFC has managed to strike inthe team formation speaks alot about the knowledge andunderstanding of the formatand requirements of thetournament.

What JFC has essentiallydone is make a meticulousnote of the performances inthe previous three seasonsand picked the good namesout it. This was evidentwhen it appointed English-man Steve Coppell, who im-

pressed with his tactical acu-men in guiding KeralaBlasters to the final lastseason.

The JFC line-up alsospeaks of Coppell’s carefulstudy of the Indian football‘ecosystem’. Given the ad-vantage of making the firstcalls in the initial rounds ofthe ‘domestic players’ draft,’JFC picked up some of thebest Indian names in everydepartment.

The Indian roster startswith E. Anas, whose gamesense and anticipation indeep defence helped ATKtriumph in the previous edi-tion. The midfield has theseasoned Mehtab Hossain,Souvik Chakraborty andBikash Jairu while in the at-tack there is the combina-tion of youth and experiencein Sumit Passi, FarukhChowdhary and AshimBiswas.

While selecting the for-eigners, Coppell has gonefor men who brought suc-

cess to their previous em-ployers. This saw the arrivalof South African wingerSameehg Doutie in midfieldwhile Cameroon’s AndreBikey and Spaniard Tiri bol-ster the defence.

In attack JFC has pickedup former Kerala Blastersforward Kervens Belfort.

JFC will be no greenhornTFA will transmit its DNA to the league debutant

Amitabha Das Sharma

Kolkata

JFC will hope that Sameehg Doutie, who shone for ATK, will continue toexcel in its colours. * PTI

South African wingerSameehg Doutie whocombines speed andskill, has been one ofthe best foreignperformers in the lastfew seasons.

Doutie’s presence inthe midfield createdthe difference for hisprevious employer,ATK. Both his previouscoaches — AntonioHabas and Jose Molina— made him start mostmatches.

Kalu Uche, the 34-yearold Nigerian, whoturned out for PuneCity FC in 2015, wouldbe the key to not justkeeping the goalscoming upfront butalso bring in theexperience needed tohold the team togetherin crunch situations,specially given the lackof experience in itsranks.

Ravi Kumar and ShahzarRizvi won the rifle and pis-tol honours in the Cham-pion of Champions com-petition in the first IndianRevenue Open shootingchampionship here.

Akhil Sheoran and Shriy-anka Sadangi won secondand third in the rifle eventwhile Abhishek Arya andVikash Kumar placed roun-ded off the top-three in thepistol competition.

Ravi Kumar,Rizvi reign Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Akhil Sheoran and Shriy-anka Sandangi shot 599and 399 while winning themen’s and women’s airrifle gold medals in thethird all-India DigvijaySingh memorial shootingchampionship, hosted bythe Billabong High Interna-tional School.

Saurabh Chaudhary andWorld junior championYashaswini Singh Deswalbagged the men’s and wo-men’s air pistol titles.The results: Men: Air rifle: 1.Akhil Sheoran 599; 2. SanskarHavelia 597; 3. Sahil 592.Air pistol: 1. Saurabh Chaud-hary 588; 2. Anmol Jain 580;3. Sahdev 578.Women: Air rifle: 1. ShriyankaSadangi 399; 2. VanshikaShahi 396; 3. Shivangi Dogra394.Air pistol: 1. Yashaswini SinghDeswal 388; 2. AakankshaBansal 383; 3. Yogita 380.

Gold forAkhil,Shriyanka SPORTS BUREAU

NOIDAPrarthana Thombare andAsian Games gold medallistLuksika Kumkhum of Thail-and made the doublesquarterfinals of the$125,000 Taipei Open WTAtennis tournament on Wed-nesday. In the $60,000 ITFwomen’s event in Toyota, Ja-pan, Ankita Raina made thepre-quarterfinals with athree-set win over qualifierMegumi Nishimoto of Japan.

In the ITF men’s Futuresin Vietnam, Sasi KumarMukund cruised into boththe singles and the doublesquarterfinals in partnershipwith Vasisht Cheruku.

The results:

$125,000 Taipei Open WTA,Chinese Taipei: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): LuksikaKumkhum (Tha) & PrarthanaThombare bt Lizette Cabrera(Aus) & Fanny Stollar (Hun)

6-4, 7-5.

$60,000 ITF women, Toyota,Japan: First round: AnkitaRaina bt Megumi Nishimoto(Jpn) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF women, Beni-carlo, Spain: First round:Vivien Juhaszova (Svk) bt Sne-hadevi Reddy 6-1, 6-1.

$15,000 ITF men, Meshref,Kuwait: Pre-quarterfinals:Marc Djikhuizen (Ned) bt Shah-baaz Khan 6-2, 6-3; Doubles:Anirudh Chandrasekar & P.C.Vignesh bt Krishna Teja Arkam& Ajay Pruthvi Nemakal 6-1,6-2.

$15,000 ITF men, Thu DauMot City, Vietnam: Pre-quarterfinals: Sasi KumarMukund bt Nathan Pasha(USA) 6-0, 6-1; Doubles: Mili-aan Niesten (Ned) & FrancescoVilardo (Ita) bt Gilles De Sousa(Fra) & Tanay Mehta 6-0, 7-5;Vasisht Cheruku & Sasi KumarMukund bt Vasko Mladenov(Bul) & Vadym Ursu (Ukr) 6-3,6-4.

Prarthana andLuksika advanceSports Bureau

Taipei

Six goals by Samir Suhagtook Delhiites Polo to a 9-7victory over Jindal Pantherin a league match of the YesBank Indian Masters 14-goalpolo championship at theJaipur Polo ground here onWednesday. Delhiites madethe final with the win in thetwo-team group.

In another league match,Achievers beat Cavalry-Pic-cadilly 7-5. It was the seconddefeat for Cavalry-Piccadily

in the three-team group.

Rajnigandha Achieverswill play Sona Polo for a fi-nal berth from the group.

The results (league):

Achievers 7 (Matthew PhilipPerry 4, Padmanabh Singh,Siddhant Sharma, Uday Kalaan)bt Cavalry-Piccadilly 5(Dhruvpal Godara 2, RaviRathore, Aman Singh, AkhilSirohi).

Delhiites Polo 9 (SamirSuhag 6, Gaurav Sahgal 2,Basheer Ali) bt Jindal Panther 7(Simran Shergill 4, PranavKapur 2, Shamsheer Ali).

Samir hits six inDelhiites’ winSPORTS BUREAU

NEW DELHI

WATCH OUT FOR

CMYK




SPORT

Captain Mile Jedinak’ssecond-half hat-trick firedAustralia into next year’sWorld Cup in Russia on Wed-nesday as the Socceroosswept past Honduras 3-1 inthe second leg of their play-off in Sydney.

The Aston Villa midfield-er’s free-kick went in offHenry Figueroa on 54minutes, and he then buriedtwo penalties in the space of13 minutes — the first whenBryan Acosta was adjudgedto have hand-balled AaronMooy’s pass in the box, andthen after Robbie Kruse wasthen brought down as heclosed in on goal — beforeHonduras scrambled a lateconsolation through AlberthElis.

The final whistle heraldeda massive roar from the77,000 home crowd at theSydney Olympic stadium asAustralia went through 3-1on aggregate following lastweek’s 0-0 first leg in SanPedro Sula.

It will be Australia’s fourthconsecutive World Cup, andfifth overall. “It’s over-whelming, to be honest.When you are coaching yourown nation the burden of re-sponsibility is even greater;you know what it means tothe nation and the game,”said Australia coach AngePostecoglou.

On Tuesday night, Chris-tian Eriksen scored a hat-trick in visiting Denmark’s5-1 thrashing of Ireland inDublin to secure the finalEuropean berth.

The results: At Dublin: Republic of Ireland 1 (Duffy 6) lost toDenmark 5 (Christensen 29,Eriksen 32, 63, 74, Bendtner

90pen).

At Johannesburg: Senegal 2(Nguette 55, M’bodji 90+3) btSouth Africa 1 (Tau 65).

At Ouagadougou: Burkina Faso4 (Nakoulma 45+1, 58, 63, Diawara 90+3) bt Cape Verde 0.

At Sydney: Australia 3 (Jedinak54, 72pen, 85pen) bt Honduras 1 (Elis 90+4).

Australia waltzesinto the World Cup Eriksen’s hattrick sees Denmark seal �nal European spot

Mile Jedinak, right, scored the �rst goal o� a freekick and then converted two penalties to see Australia pastHonduras. * REUTERS

Agencies

Sydney

WC PLAYOFS

Former national championShreyasi Singh shot the onlyperfect round in the wo-men’s event to gain a three-point lead over ShikhaBhaduria in women’s trap inthe National shotgun cham-pionship at the Dr. KarniSingh Range, Tughlakabad,on Wednesday.

On a pleasant day, when afew opted to wear the maskto escape pollution, 26-year-old Shreyasi kept her cool tostrike a round of 25. She setthe tempo for about 300shooters, but only formerworld champion ManavjitSingh Sandhu and youngAman Al Elahi could returntwo other perfect roundsthis day.

That is, three perfectrounds out of about 550.

Rajeshwari Kumari,Sukhreet Kaur, Nivetha Nen-hirasigamani, Asila FerozeKhilji, Olympian ShagunChowdhary, Aliana Paul andSharayu Dalvi followed with21. The likes of World Cup

silver medallist Seema To-mar and Manisha Keer fol-lowed a point behind.

The women will have twomore rounds on Thursday,followed by the final.

The men will have onlyone round on the morrow,and will have to negotiatethree rounds followed by thefinal on Friday.

Olympian Kynan Chenaifollowed the leaders with 48after identical rounds of 24.Zoravar Singh Sandhu, Man-

sher Singh and Mohd. SaifSheikh were on 47, followedone point adrift by YuvrajMahajan, Vishwa Kundu,and former champions An-wer Sultan and AnirudhSingh.

A regular in the nationalteam in the past, PrithvirajTondaiman was on 45 alongwith Mohd. Asab, amongothers.

In the junior men’s event,Aman Ali Elahi led with 49,three points ahead of YuvrajMahajan and Vishwa Kundu,while Akash Saharan, whogained invaluable experi-ence as a zero shooter in theWorld Cup Final at the samevenue recently , LakshaySheoran and Vivaan Kapoorhad 44, among others.

Former junior championManavditya Singh Rathorestruggled with a round of 19after having started wellwith 23.

Nivetha led among the ju-nior girls along with AsilaFeroze Khilji, SovaibaBukhari, Sharayu Dalvi with21, one point ahead of Man-isha Keer and SoumyaGupta.

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI

Shreyasi has a perfect dayNATIONAL SHOTGUN

Two-time Olympic medallistSushil Kumar’s much-awaited return to the Na-tional championship after agap of eight years has addedglamour to the event whichwill be held at the Abhay Pra-dhal Indoor Stadium herefrom Thursday.

Sushil last competed inthe Nationals in Gonda (UP)where he claimed the 66kgtop honours, following hisbronze in the 2008 BeijingGames.

Also, he will participate ina notable competition afterhis 2014 CommonwealthGames gold medal winningperformance in Glasgow.

After Narsingh Yadav se-cured an Olympics quotaplace in 74kg freestyle cat-

egory in 2015, Sushil had de-manded a trial between himand Narsingh in an attemptto take part in the 2016 RioOlympics. It had snowballedinto a major controversy.

Since then, Sushil, aformer World champion,had been out of action.

His decision to take partin the Nationals and the ProWrestling League ahead ofthe Asian Games and Com-monwealth Games next yearhas raised questions as tohow the 34-year-old star willbe able to cope with therising competition in do-mestic and internationalevents.

World championshipmedallist Geeta Phogat(59kg) is also making acomeback after a while.

The last time she tookpart in the Nationals was in2013 in Kolkata, where she

(57kg) and Hardeep (97kg)will be among the top wrest-lers to be seen in action.

Following the announce-ment changes in rules andweight categories by theUnited World Wrestling, theWrestling Federation of In-dia (WFI) decided to havecompetitions in 10 weightclasses instead of eight.

However, the new formatof completing the fights of aparticular weight over twodays instead of one will notbe applied here.

The discrepancy had be-come a source of contro-versy, but the WFI justifiedits stance saying the ruleswere meant to be appliedfrom next year and conduct-ing fights in 10 weightswould help the wrestlersprepare for the Common-wealth championship inDecember.

had taken the 59kg goldmedal.

Rio Olympics bronzemedallist Sakshi Malik (62kg)and Commonwealth Gamesgold medallist Vinesh Phogat(55kg) are the others whowill make the event a star-studded affair.

“Since we are not gettingenough competitions, Ichose to participate in theNationals.

“This will help meidentify shortcomings andrectify them,” said Vinesh,whose training was affecteddue to a recent concussionduring her training.

World championshipmedallist Bajrang Punia(61kg), who has reportedlypulled out in the last minute,will be a prominentabsentee.

In Greco Roman, the ex-perienced Ravinder Kumar

Sushil’s return adds glamour Sakshi, Vinesh are others who will make the event a starstudded a�air

Y.B. Sarangi

Indore

NATL WRESTLING

Sujjan Singh and four othersshare the lead after the firstround of the BengaluruOpen Golf Championship atthe KGA here on Wednesday.Sujjan (six-under 66) occu-pies the top spot with S.Chikkarangappa, ShamimKhan, Himmat Rai and SriLankan Anura Rohana.

Sujjan was especiallypleased with his bogey-freecard, given that his driverclub was damaged during hisflight from Manila toBengaluru. “I managed toget a replacement driver, butI only used it a few timestoday. I just wasn’t comfort-able with it,” the Chandigarh

pro said. If Sujjan was un-happy with his equipment,the opposite held true forChikkarangappa.

The Bengaluru golfer hasbeen using a new putter for

the last 18 months, to mixedresults. A missed cut at therecent Manila Mastersprompted Chikkarangappato go back to his tried andtested old putter.

two PGTI titles this season, isnot keen to make the jumpto the Asian Tour. “I’m a ve-getarian. Getting vegetarianfood in foreign countries istough, so I prefer not to playon the Asian Tour,” Shamimsaid.

Rohana — he has missedthe cut in three of the previ-ous five events – enjoyed agood day at the office. Onthe par-5 fifth hole, Rohanareached the green with twoshots, then sank a 15-feetputt to record an eagle.

The scores (top nine): 66: S.Chikkarangappa, Shamim Khan,Himmat Rai, Anura Rohana, Sujjan Singh; 67: Veer Ahlawat,Honey Baisoya, M. Dharma; 68:Mukesh Kumar, Chiragh Kumar,N. Thyagaraja, Abhijit Chadha,Harendra Gupta.

The rekindled relation-ship is off to a smooth start.“The new putter gave menegative vibes. That is why Iswitched back to my favour-ite old putter — the one Iused to win all my amateurand professional titles. Myputting was superb today,”Chikkarangappa said.

Himmat was a tad erratic,in an exciting round madeup of nine birdies and threebogeys. A bogey on the 18thand final hole robbed him ofthe chance to take the solelead. “I wanted to be ag-gressive and get anotherbirdie, but I should havesettled for a safe lay-up,”Himmat said. Shamim, thePGTI Order of Merit leader,continued his good form.The Delhi pro, who has won

A bogey on the 18th denies Himmat the chance to take sole lead

Ashwin Achal

Bengaluru

Himmat Rai, who is in joint lead, had nine birdies andthree bogeys in an exciting �rst round. * SUDHAKARA JAIN

Sujjan shares the lead with four others

BENGALURU OPEN

With hockey becoming moreand more technologically ad-vanced and coaching gettingintensive, coaches are alsogetting younger. Most of thecoaches with top teamsacross the world are belowthe age of 50 and there hasbeen a lot of emphasis in In-dia as well on bringingyounger, recently-retiredplayers into the fold.

As part of that, a three-day workshop on coachingwas organised by the SportsAuthority of India (SAI) in as-sociation with Hockey India.The workshop, held fromNovember 7-9 at the MajorDhyan Chand National Sta-dium here, saw more than45 participants being in-structed on various aspectsof coaching and team man-agement. The participantsincluded Olympians, formerplayers and coaches fromvarious academies acrossthe country.

The likes of Deepak

Thakur, Adrian D’Souza,Sameer Dad, DeveshChauhan and Vikram Pillayare all currently active onthe domestic circuit for theirrespective employers. They,however, welcomed themove.

“I think it was a greatidea. I think it is the first steptowards streamlining thecoaching structure in thecountry and bring the do-mestic game into the samescheme of things as the na-tional side. The key wouldnow be to ensure that all thatwas discussed is implemen-ted across the academiesand schools,” D’Souza toldThe Hindu.

Incidentally, the likes ofArjun Halappa, Jugraj Singh,Dad and Tushar Khandkerhave already worked withthe national teams in recenttimes. “It was a basic, re-fresher course but very use-ful in case any player wantsto get into coaching at somelater stage,” Dad added.

National High Perform-

ance Director David John ex-plained the thought behindthe event.

“It was basically for thedomestic coaches atacademies, school andclubs/departments. We haveidentified roughly 100-oddcoaches and the workshopwas a mix of both theory and

“In the longer run and asand when there are open-ings, yes. We are looking atgetting the younger playersinto coaching starting withthe sub-junior level, spendmaybe a couple of yearsthere then graduate to thejunior level and so on, pro-gressing to the top in a sys-tematic way. What we arelooking at is not just bringingabout a streamlining of thecoaching structure but alsoprovide a possible pathwayto future coaching careers,”he added.

National Hockey Academydirector MP Ganesh, whowas among the faculty forthe workshop, too welcomedthe initiative.

“It was a basic entry levelcourse that dealt with all as-pects of coaching, bothphysical and mental. Thereare more such workshopsbeing planned across thecountry at various SAIcentres and I hope it helpsbring about a uniformity inthe system,” Ganesh said.

practicals with members ofthe national teams – Haren-dra Singh, Sjoerd Marijne,myself, video analyst Aditya– talking about our experi-ences, conditioning, selec-tions etc.,” he said.

Asked if this was a way tobring younger coaches intothe structure, John agreed.

Event organised to streamline the structure and bring youngsters into coaching

Uthra Ganesan

New Delhi

ndian men’s coach Sjoerd Marijne, right, andformer India player Deepak Thakur at the workshop.

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Workshop for hockey coaches held

He has been training incold Dharamshala for thelast few weeks but onThursday afternoon,Beant Singh will be run-ning the under-20 boys1500m under a burningsun at the AcharyaNagajuna University nearhere.

The 33rd National ju-nior athletics champion-ships begin on Thursdayand over 2000 athletestaking part.

“It is going to be verytough since we have theevent at 2.45 p.m. and it’svery hot here.” Beant toldThe Hindu.

With complaints com-ing in, AFI secretary C.K.Valson said he would tryto change the timings atleast in a couple of events.

“The schedule hadbeen put up many days inadvance, we will try tochange the timings in atleast the 400m,” he said.

Schedulingworries atJr. NationalsStan Rayan

GUNTUR

Gian Piero Ventura wassacked as Italy coach onWednesday after thefour-time champion failedto reach the World Cupfinals. The veteran coach’s

fate was sealed after acrisis meeting of theItalian Football Federation(FIGC) in Rome.

The 69-year-old hadrefused to resign despite a1-0 aggregate play-offdefeat to Sweden on

Monday saw Italy miss theWorld Cup for the firsttime in 60 years.

“As of today Gian PieroVentura is no longer thecoach of the nationalteam,” the FIGC said in astatement.

Ventura axed as Italy coach Agence France-Presse

Rome




LIFE

U.K. tourist with Buddhatattoo gets reparationCOLOMBO

A British woman won $5,200

(�3.4 lakh) in compensation

from a Sri Lankan court on

Wednesday after being

wrongly deported for having

a Buddha tattoo on her arm.

Naomi Coleman was arrested,

detained and deported

“contrary to the law

governing immigration and

emigration”, the government

said. REUTERS

IN BRIEF

ope gifted Lamborghini,gives it away for charityVATICAN CITY

Lamborghini gave Pope

Francis a personalised white

car on Wednesday, but he put

it up for auction to raise

money for charity rather than

give up his trademark

popemobile. The pontiff

blessed the Huracan sports

car and scrawled his signature

on the gleaming bonnet

before sending it to Sotheby’s

auction house. AFP

disha to �le claim for itsown brand of RasagolaBHUBANESWAR

The Odisha government on

Wednesday decided to file an

application with the

Geographical Indications

Registry seeking the GI tag

for the popular sweet

Odishara Rasagola. The GI tag

has for now only been given

to the Banglar Rasogolla

specific to West Bengal, a

government release said.

day after jury chairmanSujoy Ghosh and jury mem-ber Apurva Asrani tenderedtheir resignations yet an-other member, filmmakerGyan Correa, quit from theIndian Panorama jury of theInternational Film Festival ofIndia 2017 (IFFI). The movewas in protest against the In-formation and BroadcastingMinistry’s decision to dropNude and S Durga from theoriginal line-up.

Vani Tripathi Tikoo, amember of the festival’ssteering committee, saidthat the resignations willhave no impact on IFFI. “It isnot going to cast any shadowon the festival. In the whirl-pool of who is right and whois wrong, we will have agrand festival,” she said.

Tripathi said the jurymembers were informedthat these two films were be-ing dropped and had beengiven reasons for the same.

“Every one including mewas told by the governmentabout the decision. So to saythey were not kept in the

loop is wrong,” she added.She expressed deep disap-pointment with Ghosh’sresignation in particular:“He e-mailed his resignationto the media, instead of flag-ging his concerns to the In-formation and BroadcastingMinister Smriti Irani or theMinistry officials.”

Stressing on the inde-pendence of functioning atIFFI, she added: “I can’tcomment on the demons insomeone’s head, but I cansay this for sure that in thelast four years that I workedat IFFI, no one has everpicked up the phone to tellme or others what to do.”

Filmmaker Adoor Go-palakrishnan on Wednesdaysaid the government de-cision to remove the twofilms from the Indian Panor-

ama at IFFI is both illegaland immoral.

“It nullifies the role of theselection committee. Are weto believe that from now on-wards the selection as wellas rejection of films will bedone by the government dir-ectly? The results can onlybe disastrous,” he said.

Expressing solidarityThe makers of the GoldenLotus national award-win-ning movie Kaasav, whichfeatures in the IFFI line-up,also expressed solidaritywith filmmakers Sanal Ku-mar Sasidharan (S Durga)and Ravi Jadhav (Nude).

“We strongly believe infreedom of expression,” dir-ector duo Sumitra Bhaveand Sunil Sukthankar said.

A Facebook post announ-cing that Kaasav was beingwithdrawn from IFFI wentviral on Tuesday. ButVichitra Nirmitee (produc-tion company of Bhave andSukthankar) and Dr. MohanAgashe, the producers,termed it as “misleading”and said they are in the pro-cess of assessing the facts be-hind the controversy.

Festival director says panel was kept in loop by government

Namrata Joshi

Sobhana K. Nair

Mumbai/Delhi

IFFI row: Another jurymember calls it quits

PAGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Information and Broadcast-ing Ministry officials do nothave to watch films beforerejecting their applicationsfor an exemption certificateto be screened at festivals.

As per the policy for Cer-tification of Films for FilmFestivals, the process ofclearing a film does notmandate that the film bewatched before a decision ismade. Since 2016, un-censored films can bescreened at the festival, on

the condition that they re-ceive an exemption certific-ate from the Ministry of In-formation and Broadcasting.

The policy states that thedirector of the festival has tosend in six documents: a listof films to be screened, syn-opsis of each of the films,composition of the previewcommittee, report of thepreview committee certify-ing that the films have beenrecommended for exhibi-tion at the festival, a certific-ate from the director of thefestival to the effect that the

screening of such filmswould be limited to deleg-ates and a certificate fromthe director of festival to theeffect that the festival is non-commercial in nature.

In the case of Nude, thegovernment had maintainedthat “technically” the filmwas not complete. However,according to sources, the ob-jections against Nude werethe same as Sexy Durga.“The title is vulgar and itsstoryline is objectionable,”said a senior official fromthe I & B Ministry.

O�cials not required to watch �lms before making decision

Sobhana K. Nair

New Delhi

Certi�cate policy raises concerns