· cm yk followus: wednesday,march15,2017 thehindu.com facebook.com/thehindu twitter.com/the_hindu...

CMYK

wednesday, march 15, 2017followus:

thehindu.com

facebook.com/thehindu

twitter.com/the_hindu

Delhi

City Edition

24 pages � ₹10.00

Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Allahabad . Malappuram . Mumbai

The ability to use computersremains low in the country,in spite of campaigns for di-gitalisation, an analysis ofNational Sample Survey Of-fice (NSSO) data reveals.

An estimated 8.8% of therural population has com-puting ability. In urbanareas, the figure is nearlyfour times higher, at 30.2%.These findings emerge froman analysis by Md. ZakariaSiddiqui, a scholar of Ap-plied Economics from Aus-tralian National Universityand Sabir Ahamed of Prati-chi Trust in Kolkata, of NSSOdata of 2014.

Computing ability was

defined as a user’s ability tooperate a desktop, laptop,palmtop, notebook, smart-phone and tablets.

The study, supported bythe Australian Research

Council, claimed that ‘com-puting ability’ is not linkedto digital infrastructure orInternet penetration.

On computing ability, ruralIndia is lost in the woodsJust 8.8% of population can use PCs, smartphones: Study

Suvojit Bagchi

Kolkata

CONTINUED ON � PAGE 10

Hours after the SupremeCourt refused the Congress’plea to stay the swearing-inof Manohar Parrikar as GoaChief Minister, the BJP leadertook charge in Panaji onTuesday evening, along witha nine-member team. Thecourt, however, requestedGovernor Mridula Sinha tohold a floor test in the As-sembly on March 16.

The Congress had movedthe SC on March 13, claimingthat the Governor’s decisionto appoint Mr. Parrikar asChief Minister without con-sulting it — the single largestparty — was a “brazen” mis-use of constitutional office.

On Tuesday too, the Con-gress and the BJP continued

to spar over efforts at gov-ernment formation in Goaand Manipur, both insideand outside Parliament.Members of the Congress,the Nationalist CongressParty and the RashtriyaJanata Dal staged a walkout

twice after being refusedpermission to discuss the is-sue in the Lok Sabha bySpeaker Sumitra Mahajan.

While the leader of theCongress in the Lok Sabha,Mallikarjun Kharge termedthe BJP’s efforts to shore up

support and the actions ofthe Raj Bhavans a “murderof democracy,” outside theHouse Congress vice-presid-ent Rahul Gandhi said itamounted to “underminingdemocracy.”

Jaitley upsetFinance Minister Arun Jait-ley, who was present in theLok Sabha when Mr. Khargesought to raise the issue,asked for the Speaker’s per-mission to respond as Mr.Kharge had used “strong lan-guage.”

The Speaker, however, as-sured the Minister that theremarks would not be takenon record.

Parrikar takes oath in Goaas SC declines Cong. pleaCourt asks Governor Mridula Sinha to hold loor test in Assembly tomorrow

Menwhomatter:Manohar Parrikar, centre, with Amit Shah,right, and Nitin Gadkari at the swearing-in ceremony. AFP

Nistula Hebbar

Prakash Kamat

New Delhi/Panaji

FRESH START IN PUNJAB

� EDITORIAL


OPPORTUNITIES � PAGE 4

Cloud storage: The Kannur skyline on Tuesday, with the promise of summer showers. S.K. MOHAN

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Gathering storm

A high alert was soundedin Pathankot, Punjab, onTuesday after inputs of sus-picious movement, and thepolice launched a massivesearch operation.

The police said searcheswere being carried out in a4-5 km area near the Armycantonment along thePathankot-Dalhousie road.A helicopter made an aer-ial survey. The police alsocarried out searches nearthe Chakki river. The Hi-machal Pradesh policewere alerted.

On January 2, 2016, sixterrorists attacked thePathankot Air Force sta-tion. The encounter lastedfour days and left sevensoldiers dead.

High alertsounded inPathankotSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Ending days of speculation,Governor of Manipur NajmaHeptulla on Tuesday invitedthe Bharatiya Janata Party-led combination to form thegovernment.

N. Biren Singh will besworn in as the Chief Minis-ter of the first BJP-led gov-ernment in the State at 1p.m. at Raj Bhavan on Wed-nesday, along with CabinetMinisters. The 56-year-oldMLA from Heingang was

elected leader of the BJP le-gislature party on Monday.

Though the Congressemerged the single largest

party with 28 seats in the60-member house, the BJPwith 21 seats got the supportof four MLAs each from theNaga People’s Front and theNational Peoples Party andone from the Lok JanshaktiParty.

The BJP also managed toget the support of a fewother MLAs, including onefrom the Congress, which islikely to help the combinereach the magic figure of 31.

Biren Singh to be sworn in as Chief Minister today

Shiv Sahay Singh

Imphal

N. Biren Singh

BJP combine invited to formgovernment in Manipur


DELHI METRO � 6 PAGES

A 28-year-old M. Phil studentof Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-sity committed suicide at afriend’s house in south Del-hi’s Munirka area onMonday.

The family of Muthukrish-nan, however, alleged foulplay behind his death andhas demanded that an FIRbe registered in the case. Hisfather Jeevanandam, who ar-rived here on Tuesday fromSalem, filed a police com-plaint asking that an FIR beregistered under relevantprovisions. He did not say ifthe family suspectedsomeone murderedMuthukrishnan or abettedhis suicide.

Jhelum Hostel residentMuthukrishnan was a firstyear M.Phil student at theCentre for Historical Studiesof JNU’s School of Social Sci-ences, and stayed at theJhelum Hostel on thecampus.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (South) Ishwar Singhsaid that Muthukrishnan andtwo other JNU students hadbeen invited by their friendGomen Kim, a South KoreanIT professional, for lunch atthe latter’s rented accom-modation in Munirka Vihar.Kim stays with his wife andtwo children, who were alsopresent there.

“The other students —Lakshyajeet and Issac —were in another room withKim. The victim had retiredto a room, saying that he hadslept at 3 a.m. the day beforeand wanted to rest,” the po-lice said.

“The other three agreedand had lunch. decidingthey would serveMuthukrishnan his mealonce he woke up,” said Mr.Singh.

Found hangingHowever, when he did notget up by 4.30 p.m., thethree started knocking onthe door and whenMuthukrishnan did not re-spond, Issac peeped in froma small opening between thewindow panes and saw himhanging from the ceiling.

The police, who were

then alerted, arrived brokeopen the door.

Three days before hisdeath, Muthukrishnan putup Facebook posts con-demning the Hyderabadvarsity’s alleged role in Dalitscholar Rohith Vemula’s sui-cide last year, and criticisedJNU’s new admission policy.A Dalit himself, Muthukrish-nan had also recounted sev-eral instances where he hadfaced discriminationthrough his other Facebookposts.

The police, however, saidit was too early to link theposts to his suicide.

His father told The Hindu

that his son could not havecommitted suicide.

The police have consti-tuted a five-member medicalboard to conduct the post-mortem, which is likely tohappen on Wednesday.

V-C condoles deathJNU Vice-ChancellorJagadesh Kumar took toTwitter to express his con-dolence. “JNU community isgrief stricken at untimely &sad demise of ShriMuthukrishnan J. We praythat God be with his familyat this critical time,” hetweeted.

The JNU Teachers' Associ-ation held a condolencemeeting on the campus onTuesday evening.

JNUM.Phil student endslife; family alleges foul playFound hanging at his friend’s rented accommodation

Shubhomoy Sikdar

NEW DELHI

Muthukrishnan

SEE ALSO � DELHI METRO PAGE 1

Ahead of the governmentformation in Punjab, stateCongress president Capt.Amarinder Singh on Tues-day batted for the elevationof Rahul Gandhi to the postof party president.

Capt. Singh and the AICCvice-president met in NewDelhi and discussed plansfor government formationahead of the swearing-in-ce-remony on March 16. Capt.Amarinder, however, said itwas a courtesy visit.

Sources said delibera-tions were held on thenames of Manpreet Badal,Navjot Singh Sidhu, RaziaSultana, Rana Gurjit Singh,Charanjit Singh Channi,Brahm Mohindra, TruptRajinder Singh Bajwa andAruna Chaudhary for pos-sible inclusion in the min-istry. Rana K.P. Singh couldlikely be the next speaker ofthe Punjab Assembly, al-though there was no officialconfirmation.

Courtesy call“It was a courtesy call.There was no discussion oncabinet formation duringthe meeting,” Capt. Singhtold reporters, adding thatthe time was now ripe to el-evate Mr Gandhi as theparty president.

Capt. Singh lashed out atthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)for refusing to accept defeat

gracefully, saying that in-stead of acknowledging thathis party had failed to con-nect with the voters of Pun-jab, Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal was takingrefuge in making allegationsabout EVMs, which, incid-entally, his own party work-ers had been guarding.

Capt. Singh said in thelight of the state’s fiscal situ-ation he did not want anyunnecessary or wasteful ex-penditure to be incurred onthe oath taking ceremony.The party had decided to goin for a simple and low-keyswearing-in ceremony.

“I have requested all thenewly elected MLAs to alsokeep their personal invita-tions to the bare minimumto keep the ceremonysimple,” he said.

Pointing out that the Statewas reeling under debt andthere was a need for collect-ive and out-of-the-box initi-atives by all government de-partments to address thecrisis, he also called for pub-lic support for the purpose.

Amarinder bats forRahul’s elevationDiscusses govt. formation in Punjab

Special Correspondent

Chandigarh

Punjab Congress chiefAmarinder Singh in NewDelhi on Tuesday.

AAP seeks paper ballotfor civic pollsNEW DELHI

After Bahujan Samaj PartysupremoMayawati claimedthat the Uttar Pradeshelections were rigged as theelectronic votingmachines(EVMs) were tampered with,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Tuesday sought a paperballot in the upcomingmunicipal polls.

DELHI METRO � PAGE 1

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

‘8-10 lakh Jats willmarch to Delhi’Gurugram

Around 8-10 lakh Jats fromHaryana, Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh are expectedto reach Delhi in tractor-trolleys on March 20 insupport of their demands,including reservation,Akhil Bharatiya JatAarakshan SangharshSamiti national presidentYashpal Malik said.

NATION � PAGE 6

Srinagar-Jammuhighway remains shutSRINAGAR

The Srinagar-JammuNational Highway wasclosed for traffic for theseventh day on Tuesday inthe wake of landslides dueto snowfall and rains.Special air sorties havebeen arranged by thegovernment for strandedpassengers in Jammu aswell as in Kashmir.

NORTH � PAGE 2

NEARBY

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 20172EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

NORTH

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, March 15

RISE 06:31 SET 18:29

RISE 21:03 SET 08:10

Thursday, March 16

RISE 06:30 SET 18:30

RISE 21:56 SET 08:46

Friday, March 17

RISE 06:29 SET 18:31

RISE 22:48 SET 09:23 Initiating a discussion onthe State budget for the year2017-18, the leader of the op-position in Vidhan Sabha,Prem Kumar Dhumal, onTuesday blamed theVirbhadra government fornot identifying even a singlefactor for resource mobilisa-tion and depending exclus-ively on borrowings andcentral allocations.

The State, he said is de-pendent on central alloca-tions to the tune of 77.45%and has plans to borrow therest 22.55 % for meeting theexpenses.

In the budget exercise noserious effort has been

made for resource mobilisa-tion and the formation of aresource mobilisation com-mittee by government un-der the leadership of asenior minister sometimeback was a total sham, healleged.

‘Ignoring warnings’The former Chief Ministerwhile giving a detailed stat-istics from last year’s budgetsaid the government is de-pendent on borrowings andis blatantly ignoring thewarnings of Finance Com-mission and Union FinanceMinistry on relentless bor-rowings and exceeding thefiscal deficit above three percent of the GSDP.

‘H.P. budget devoid ofany inancial prudence’Dhumal targets Virbhadra govt.Staff Correspondent

Shimla

The Srinagar-Jammu Na-tional Highway was closedfor traffic for the seventh dayon Tuesday in the wake oflandslides due to snowfalland rains.

Special air sorties havebeen arranged by the gov-ernment for stranded pas-sengers in Jammu as well asin Kashmir.

“The national highway isstill closed for traffic as freshlandslides have rendered itunsafe for vehicular move-ment,” an official of theTraffic Department heresaid.

Fresh landslidesHe said landslides have oc-curred at a few places nearRamban and Ramsoo, leav-ing behind a trail of muck.

There have been freshlandslides at Mehar in Ram-ban and other places nearRamsoo on Monday whichhave blocked the highway,the official said.

He said the men and ma-chinery were on the job andauthorities were trying their

best to clear the road.The highway, the only all-

weather road link betweenthe Valley and rest of thecountry, was closed on Wed-nesday last following heavyrains and snowfall.

The road was thrownopen for one-way traffic for abrief period on Sunday after

remaining closed for fourdays.

Meanwhile, the IAF onTuesday carried out sortiesto evacuate over 500 passen-gers who were stranded inJammu following closure ofthe highway. About 830 pas-sengers, who were strandedat Jammu bus stand, were

ferried to IAF station here in17 SRTC buses. Of them 530passengers were airlifted intwo sorties by IL-76 aircraftto Srinagar, IAF officials said.

More sortiesMore sorties are likelybetween Udhampur andSrinagar , they said.

Srinagar-Jammu highwayremains shut for the 7th dayIAF airlifts over 500 passengers who were stranded in Jammu

Roadblock: Trucks stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Tuesday as the vital roadremained closed for traic due to landslides. PTI

Press trust of india

SRINAGAR

Two sisters, one of them aminor, were allegedlyraped by two youths nearShahbad Markanda in thisdistrict, following whichone of the accused hasbeen arrested, police saidon Tuesday.

According to an FIR re-gistered with the police byone of the victim, aged 19,the accused, belonging tothe same locality, enteredthe house of the two sisterswhen their parents and ayounger brother had goneto Shahbad for medicines.

They raped the sistersseparately in separaterooms.

ThreatenedThe elder sister tried toraise an alarm but the ac-cused threatened to killthem and their parents ifthey raised voice or repor-ted the matter to anyone.

The incident, however,was reported to the policeon Monday evening aftertheir parents returnedhome and came to knowabout the incident.

Police registered an FIRunder relevant provisionsof the law against theaccused.

Sisters rapedin Haryana,one arrestedPress trust of India

Kurukshetra

Three days after his electionfrom the Sayajpur Assemblyseat here, BJP MLA Mad-hvendra Pratap Singh Ranuis in the eye of a storm for al-legedly threatening a policeofficer.

An audio recording of theconversation between theMLA and Circle Officer Shah-bad, Arvind Verma went

viral on the social media andelectronic channels follow-ing which ASP B. C. Dubeyhas been asked to conductan inquiry into the matter.

‘Officer’s fault’The MLA however claimedthat he had maintained de-cency and alleged that it wasthe officer who did not acton a complaint and behavedin an irresponsible manner.

As per the purported au-dio recording, the MLAwarned the police officerthat BJP had come to powerin the State and insisted thatan FIR be lodged in connec-tion with an incident con-cerning one of his workers.

The MLA also claimedthat there were certain alleg-ations against the CO and itwas in this light that hewarned him.

New BJPMLA ‘threatens’ cop

Press trust of india

Hardoi

Recording goes viral on social media, inquiry ordered

The police on Tuesday re-gistered a case against thelocal BJP MLA K. K. Shrivast-ava’s son Siddharth andthree others for allegedlybeating up some peoplewho wanted them to lowerthe volume of music being

played at his farmhouse.Nobody has been arres-

ted yet.The case was registered

in the evening for assaultunder Section 324 of IPCand other offences, said in-spector R. P. Choudhary ofTikamgarh rural policestation.

BJP MLA’s son, friendsaccused of assaultPress trust of India

Tikamgarh

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image


THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2017 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EAST

Justice Sharma isAssam UpalokayuktaGUWAHATI

Justice (Retd) ChittaranjanSharma was on Tuesdaysworn in as Assam’sUpalokayukta by GovernorBanwarilal Purohit. JusticeSharma was administered theoath of office by theGovernor at a simpleceremony at the Raj Bhawanhere, an official release said.Justice Sharma was a formerJudge of the Gauhati HighCourt. PTI

IN BRIEF

₹4 crore demonetisednotes seizedKOLKATA

The police have seized over₹4 crore in demonetised₹500 and ₹1,000 notes froma person in the city. Acting ona tip-off, a raid wasconducted by a team of theKolkata police last night at apremises on Lee Road in theBhowanipore police stationlimits and ₹4,15,07,000 wasseized from Ashok Surana, asenior police officer said.“The entire amount is in thedemonetised currencies of₹500 (50,160 pieces) and₹1000 (16,427 pieces),” hesaid. On enquiry, Surana saidthat the money was acquiredfrom his business. PTI

Three killed inMeghalaya accidentSHILLONG

Three occupants were charredto death when an oil tankeroverturned and caught fire atMawpun in Ri-Bhoi district ofMeghalaya on Tuesday,officials said. The oil tankerwhich was coming fromGuwahati overturned afterfailing to negotiate a bendand hitting side railings atShillong by-pass, DeputyCommissioner C. P. Gotmaresaid. The deceased includedthe driver of the vehicle. PTI

Maoist surrenders inMalkangiriMALKANGIRI (ODISHA)

A wanted Maoist, carrying ₹1lakh reward on his head,surrendered before the policein Malkangiri district onTuesday. Deba Madhi (34),active in Naxal activities since2013, was allegedly involvedin about a dozen criminaloffences including killing,explosions and attack onsecurity forces, a senior policeofficial said. PTI

Aday after a potato farmer al-legedly committed suicideafter suffering heavy losses,Chief Minister MamataBanerjee onTuesday said hergovernment will purchase28,000 tonnes of potatoes,required for Anganwadicentres and midday mealprogramme, directly fromfarmers.

Her announcement comesat a time when potato farm-ers across the State are facinga severe crisis -- at least twoofthem have committed sui-cide -- due to the sharp dropin prices following this years’bumper crop.

KrishakDibas“We have decided to buy28,000 tonnes of potatoesdirectly from the farmerswhich we need every monthfor the Anganwadi centresand the midday meal pro-

gramme. The governmentwill buy potatoes at ₹4.60 perkg,” she said.

Ms. Banerjeewas speakingat a government programmeon Krishak Dibas (Farmers’Day) observed by the Trin-amool Congress governmentonMarch 14 to pay tribute tothose who died during theanti-land acquisition move-ments at Singur in Hooghlydistrict and Nandigram inPurbaMedinipur district.

As per theprojected estim-ates of the State government,the number of schools (up toClass VIII) to be covered un-der themiddaymeal schemeis 83,673 and the number ofstudents is about 1 crore. Ac-cording to potatomerchants,this is the first time that theTMC government is directlypurchasing potatoes fromfarmers.

The development comes aday after a potato farmer al-

legedly committed suicidedue to losses in farming in theAnandapur area of PaschimMedinipur district’s Keshpurblock. According to his fam-ily, Swapan Hajra (45) com-mitted suicide after sustain-ing “heavy losses” in potatofarming.

‘Heavydebt’“He incurred a large debt forcultivating potatoes in fourbighas (1.60 acres) of land,”Mr. Hajra’s son Indrajit toldjournalists.

The Opposition, however,is sceptical whether themove will be beneficial forthe potato farmers. “This isnothing but a face savingmove. If the TMC govern-ment is really bothered aboutthe farmers they would havepurchased potato from themat a much higher rate,” saidCPI-M district secretary ofPaschim Medinipur TarunRoy.

Govt to buy potatoes fromfarmers to stop suicides28,000 tonnes needed per month for Anganwadi centres, midday meal: Mamata

Mamata Banerjee addressing a government programme inKolkata on Tuesday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Soumya Das

Kolkata

A total of 2,731 km of thesanctioned 3,326-km-longfence along the India-Bangladesh border has beencompleted.

This was stated by Minis-ter of State for Home AffairsKiren Rijiju in a written replyto a question by JyotiradityaScindia of the Congress andSaugata Roy of the Trin-amool Congress in the Lok

Sabha on Tuesday.The total sanctioned

length of the fence along theIndo-Pakistan border is2063.06 km, of which2003.06 km has been com-pleted. Along the Indo-My-anmar border, a 10 km fen-cing has been sanctioned,out of which work in about 4km has been completed, arelease said.

The government has ad-opted a multi-pronged ap-

proach for security arrange-ments at the Indo-Pakistanborder.

The arrangements in-clude deployment of BorderSecurity Force personnel,construction of border fenceand border roads, installa-tion of floodlights, introduc-tion of hi-tech surveillanceequipments, providingweapons and specialisedvehicles to security forces,the PIB release said.

Major portion of Indo-Banglaborder fenced, says Rijiju

Was replying to a query by Scindia, Saugata Roy


Kolkata

Mizoram GovernorNirbhay Sharma on Tues-day claimed that the flag-ship programme, the NewLand Use Policy (NLUP),has increased rice produc-tion and reduced jhum cul-tivation in the State.

“Implementation of theNLUP has resulted in re-duction of jhum area,which reflects a shift to-wards permanent cultiva-tion,” Mr Sharma said ad-dressing the Statelegislature on the first dayof the Budget session.

The Governor said thatNew Economic Develop-ment Policy (NEDP) is alsoon in full swing. “TheNEDP aims at providingbold, practical, effectiveand comprehensivestrategies to push the eco-nomy to a high growthpath,” he said, adding that₹250 crore has been ear-marked for the policy andanother ₹27 crore to beconverged with the NLUP.

‘Land policyreducedjhum area’Press Trust of India

Aizwal

Possession of ₹10 coins con-tinues to be a headache forcitizens of Berhampur asmost traders are refusing toaccept them.

The problem started a fewmonths ago after the govern-ment announced demonet-isation of ₹1,000 and ₹500notes. There were rumoursthat some ₹10 coins werefake and these may also getdemonetised in future. Fol-

lowing this, most traders, es-pecially small retailers,stopped accepting ₹10 coins.Despite several clarificationsby the Reserve Bank of India,there has been no improve-ment in the situation inBerhampur.

Allaying fearsA few days ago, the Ganjamdistrict administration alsocome up with a declaration,quoting RBI statements, toallay fears about ₹10 coins.

“At most shops in the city,even at fish and vegetablemarkets, ₹10 coins are notbeing accepted by traders,”said Sunita Behera, a house-wife. At petrol pumps in Ber-hampur, notices have beenpasted claiming that they donot accept ₹10 coins.

On Tuesday, activists ofthe SUCI (Communist) held ademonstration in front of themain branch of the StateBank of India (SBI) in Ber-hampur to protest against

problems related to non-ac-ceptance of ₹10 coins. Theyhanded over a memor-andum addressed to the RBIGovernor to the manager ofSBI in Berhampur.

The activists demandedthat the government take im-mediate measures to makepeople aware that ₹10 coinsare still in use. The banksshould also start accepting₹10 coins as deposits, saidSUCI leader SomanathBehera.

No takers for ₹10 coins in BerhampurRumours that some coins were fake triggered the problem

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

SOUTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Janasena to contest2019 polls: PawanHYDERABAD

Congress MP and film star

Chiranjeevi is not on the radar

of the Janasena Party that

will contest the 2019

Assembly polls in both

Andhra Pradesh and

Telangana with 60% of seats

offered to the youth. “Our

paths are different. There is

no chance of us working

together,” Janasena founder

and actor Pawan Kalyan said

when asked if he and his

brother Chiranjeevi would

come together.

IN BRIEF

‘Hyderabad has beststandard of living’NEW DELHI

Hyderabad for the third year

in a row has emerged as the

best city in terms of living

standards among Indian

cities, while Vienna has been

ranked at the top globally in a

list by consultancy firm

Mercer. The National Capital

for the second straight year

hit the lowest score among

Indian cities for living

standards. PTI

Krishna to join BJP onMarch 15: YeddyurappaMYSURU

Karnataka BJP president B.S.

Yeddyurappa on Tuesday said

former Congress leader S.M.

Krishna will join the BJP on

March 15. Mr. Yeddyurappa

told this to reporters here

after addressing a rally in the

run-up to the Nanjangud and

Gundlupet bypolls. PTI

No headway in probeinto Nigerian’s deathBENGALURU

A day after a 28-year-old

Nigerian died in Kothanur,

the Bengaluru police have

made little headway in the

case. The Airport Traffic

Police on Tuesday wrote to

the Foreigners Regional

Registration office seeking

details about Ife Anyi.

While the police claim he fell

off a scooter, the African

community alleges that he

was a victim of police

brutality.

In another brazen attack ona Bengaluru city politician,the third in the last sixmonths, a Bommasandratown municipal councilmember from the BharatiyaJanata Party was hacked todeath by a gang of armedmen on Hosur Road, Bom-masandra, in the earlyhours of Tuesday.

Srinivas Prasad, 43, wasdriving to a neighbourhoodpark for a walk around 5a.m. when the assailantssurrounded his car, draggedhim out and hacked him todeath before fleeing.

‘Well planned operation’Last month, two men on abike had shot at DasanapuraAPMC presidentKadabagere Srinivas, whosustained serious injuries,but escaped. In October2016, BJP member RudreshR. was hacked to death by

two men on the busy Kama-raj Road near CommercialStreet.

Tuesday’s attack waswell-planned, said the po-lice. “The attackers armed

with long knives were wait-ing near the park. Theyknew that he would stopthere,” said a police official.

While the victim’s familyand the BJP alleged that the

murder was the result ofpolitical rivalry, Inspector-General of Police (CentralRange) Siman Kumar Singhsaid: “We have some leads,but are probing all angles.”

BJP leader killed in BengaluruCouncillor Prasad was dragged out of his car, hacked to death by an armed gang

Brazen attack: Public gathered at the spot where Srinivas Prasad (inset) was hacked to death in

Bengaluru on Tuesday. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


Bengaluru

The Press Council of Indiadirected the SP of Prakasamdistrict Trivikram Varma toappear before its inquirycommittee on Wednesdayas a respondent in a case re-lated to the attack on ajournalist in Chirala townlast month.

The Chairman of PCI, C.KPrasad, who heard the caseon Tuesday, termed thelocal police investigationand conduct “very disturb-ing”. Requesting the journ-alist, Nagarjuna Reddy, toappear before the inquirycommittee, Justice Prasadpulled up the A.P. policerepresentatives for failing totake action against the

brother of Telugu DesamParty MLA Amanchi Krish-namohan, even after videoclippings showed his in-volvement in the attack.

‘Questionable arrests’The committee memberssaid the pace of investigationand arrests in the case were“questionable” as the ac-cused were arrested aftermore than 10 days. Thechairman sought to knowwhy the investigation wascompleted in 12 dayswhereas a counter case filedagainst the journalist underthe SC/ST Act, allegedly bythe supporter of the ChiralaMLA around the time of theattack, was still underinvestigation.

Case relates to attack on journalist

Rahul Devulapalli

Hyderabad

A.P. police conductdisturbing, says PCI

Principal District and Ses-sions Judge S. Santhakumarihas found Narendra Kumar(26), a migrant labourer fromUttar Pradesh and accused ina multiple murder case,guilty.

The quantum of sentiencewill be pronounced onWednesday.

The case pertains to themurder of Praveen Lal (28),who ran a laundry at Param-puzha near the town, and hisparents Lalson (71) ofMoolamprambil House, andPrasanna Kumari (62) onMay 16, 2015.

According to the prosecu-tion, Narendra Kumar, whowas working at the laundryfor a few weeks, was in dire

need of money as he was indebt of around ₹2 lakh. OnMay 16 night, he killed thethree one by one at theirhouse which was near thelaundry and escaped to hishome town in U.P. A specialinvestigating team tracedhim to Firozabad in U.P. andrecovered the money andgold ornaments.

One of the crucial recover-ies from the house of the ac-cused was the ear of the vic-tim Prasanna Kumari, whichthe accused had chopped off.

The prosecution had pro-duced strong material evid-ences, including the clothworn by the accused at thetime of crime, his mobilephone, and forensic reportsof Kumar’s samples collectedfrom the spot of crime.

Migrant labourer foundguilty of killing Kerala trio

Narendra Kumar fled to U.P. after crime


KOTTAYAM The Kerala Assembly wit-nessed noisy scenes onTuesday with heated ex-changes over the politicaltension in Tanur, Malap-puram, following the recentclashes between workers ofthe CPI(M) and the IndianUnion Muslim League.

The Opposition UDFstaged a walkout to protestagainst the Speaker’s refusalto permit leave for an ad-journment motion.

Situation ‘explosive’Terming the situation in Ta-nur ‘explosive,’ Leader ofthe Opposition RameshChennithala alleged that thegovernment was justifyingthe brutal attack by CPI(M)workers and the police on

IUML cadres. Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan blamed thesituation on the politics ofintolerance. His remark thatthe IUML had resorted to vi-olence following the victoryof the CPI(M) Independentcandidate in Tanur in thelast Assembly electionsprompted the UDF benchesto protest.

All hell broke loose afterTanur MLA V. Abdurahimanraised certain allegationsagainst IUML workers, hold-ing them responsible for theviolence.

A war of words ensuedand the Speaker could bringthe situation under controlonly after he agreed to ex-punge the remarks.

UDF stages walkout after war of words over Tanur violence


Thiruvananthapuram

The scene at a house in Tanur after a clash between CPI(M) and

IUMLworkers. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Row in Kerala Assembly

Devastating loss:Monday evening’s forest fire in the Chandradrona hill range in Chikkamagaluru

district destroyed hundreds of acres of vegetation. Officials managed to douse the fire, that had

spread to surrounding areas, by Tuesday. PTI

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Fire fury

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image




NATION

Hindi Bhavan likely atMumbai UniversityMUMBAI

The Maharashtra hovernmentis committed to building a`Hindi Bhasha Bhavan’ on theKalina campus of theUniversity of Mumbai,Education Minister VinodTawde said on Tuesday. Mr.Tawde’s assurance cameduring a special meeting heldon the issue at Vidhan Bhavanat the initiative of formerMinister and Congress leaderMohammed Arif NaseemKhan. PTI

IN BRIEF

Forest officer killed inattack by sloth bearPALANPUR

A forester was killed and twoothers injured in an attack bya sloth bear on Tuesday whenthey were camping at theKansa village in Banaskanthadistrict to trap the wildanimal, a senior official said.The sloth bear had attackedand killed two shepherds inthe same village on Monday.PTI

Man arrested forbrother’s murderMUMBAI

A 27-year-old man wasarrested on Tuesday forallegedly killing his brotherover a monetary dispute. Theaccused was identified asSana—ul—Haq Hussain. Zia—ul—Haq Hussain, his elderbrother, was found shot deadnear Milan hotel in Dharavi onMonday afternoon. The Policegot suspicious as Sana didn’tturn up to visit the familyeven after the brother’sdeath. PTI

Cop kills self accidentallyduring celebratory firingSHIVPURI

A constable was killed whenhis service revolver went offaccidentally during a Holicelebration on, the policesaid. Rajendra Jatav (38), thedeceased, was posted at therural police station here. PTI

Around 8-10 lakh Jats fromHaryana, Rajasthan and Ut-tar Pradesh are expected toreach Delhi in tractor-trol-leys on March 20 in supportof their demands, includingreservation, Akhil BharatiyaJat Aarakshan SangharshSamiti national presidentYashpal Malik said.

“The maximum numberof Jat protesters are expectedto reach Delhi from Haryanafrom Bahadurgarh andSinghu,” Mr. Malik said.While the support from Ra-jasthan would be token andmost of them would come bybus and train, the Jat leadersaid they expected a largenumber of protesters fromUP to take part in the march.

Camps to be set upAround a dozen transitcamps will be set up at sixpoints on both sides of theDelhi-Haryana and Delhi-Ut-tar Pradesh borders to sup-ply food, water and medicalaid to the protesters. The Jatleader said the protesterswould march on foot to-wards Sansad Bhawan if they

are stopped from goingahead in their tractor-trol-leys, adding that the protestwould be peaceful.

“In case the governmentdecides to use force againstthe peaceful protesters,those sitting in dharna inHaryana would shift to roadsand block traffic,” Mr. Malikwarned, adding that protestswere being held at 30 sites inHaryana.

Mr. Malik himself hasbeen going to the dharna

sites across the State, exhort-ing people to turn up in large

numbers for the march.

Mobilising support“I visited the dharna site inFaridabad on Tuesday. OnWednesday, I will visit Hisarand Jind. From March 16 on-wards, I will be visiting UttarPradesh to garner supportfor the march,” Mr. Maliksaid.

He said the Jats support-ing the BJP in the Uttar Pra-desh elections would notmake much impact to the re-servation agitation inHaryana.

Jat leader says 8-10 lakh willmarch to Delhi on March 20Agitationists expect maximum number of protesters from Haryana

Gainingmomentum: Yashpal Malik, the leader of the Jatagitation, said they also expected a large number ofprotesters fromUP to take part in themarch. FILE PHOTO: PTI

Ashok Kumar

Gurugram

The ruling People’s Demo-cratic Party (PDP) and its al-liance partner, the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), on Tues-day decided to contest theupcoming Lok Sabha by-polls for two seats in the Val-ley separately while the Na-tional Conference (NC) andthe Congress are likely tocontest together.

PDP chief spokesman Me-hboob Beg said Chief Minis-ter Mehbooba Mufti’sbrother Tassaduq Mufti, 46,will contest the polls fromthe Anantnag constituencyin south Kashmir.

Reluctant politicianA reluctant politician, Mr.Tassaduq, a Bollywood cine-matographer, joined thePDP formally on January 7on the first death an-niversary of his father.

There was speculationthat the party leaderswanted Mr. Tassaduq towork as an MLC in Kashmir,where he has already startedworking on many projectsrelated to environment andtourism through non-gov-ernment organisations(NGOs).

“It’s a bigger platform forTassaduq to pursue his ideasand implement his projectsas a Member Parliament.The PDP needs a young facewith fresh ideas to talk tofriends and foes in NewDelhi and pitch for imple-mentation of the Agenda ofAlliance (a common min-imum programme betweenthe PDP and the BJP),” saidMr. Beg.

‘Crucial’ seatFor the crucial Srinagar seat,the PDP is fielding NazirAhmad Khan, a former Con-gress leader who contestedthe polls against NC workingpresident Omar Abdullah inthe 2014 Assembly polls andbagged 22,807 votes againstMr. Abdullah’s 23,717.

Kashmir’s Srinagar andAnantnag Lok Sabha seatsare going to the polls onApril 9 and 12 respectively.

The PDP’ alliance part-ner, the BJP, has also de-cided to field its candidatesfor the twin seats. “Therewill be no pre-poll alliancewith the PDP as the partyhas decided to contest theelections independently,”said Ashok Kaul, BJP’s Stategeneral secretary.

The BJP’s high-level com-mittee will announce thecandidates soon. “The BJP’spolicies, working atmo-sphere and public dealingshave been widely acceptedby the general public,” Mr.Kaul said.

The opposition NC andthe Congress are “workingout modalities” to contestthe polls together.

The NC’s core group helda meeting in Srinagar onTuesday where both NCpresident Dr. Farooq Abdul-lah and Omar Abdullah,former Chief Ministers, de-liberated upon thecandidature.

A top NC leader said therewas a consensus on Dr. Ab-dullah’s candidature duringthe meeting.

Tassaduq Mufti will contest the poll from south Kashmir

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

TassaduqMufti

Mehbooba’s brother to make

debut, contest LS by-election

At a time when Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee haslaunched a tirade againstprivate hospitals in theState, a newborn boy was al-legedly stolen from the gov-ernment-run Calcutta Med-ical College and Hospital onTuesday.

According to police, thefour-day-old baby boy ofSaraswati Naskar, a residentof north Kolkata, was stolenby a middle-aged woman in

the afternoon.

‘Suspect a woman’“The women, who wasabout 50 years old, told methat she was taking my childto the doctor for check-up.Then she asked me to getmy blood report. By thetime I came back with thereport, she had fled,” themother told journalists. Thepolice have released CCTVfootage of the accusedboarding the Metro Railfrom central Kolkata.

Newborn boy stolen

from Kolkata hospitalStaff Reporter

Kolkata

The Centre on Tues-day reviewed the se-curity situation in theCapital and neigh-bouring States in thewake of Jats threaten-ing to lay seize to thecity next week, press-ing their demands forquota.

Union Home Sec-retary Rajiv Mehrishitook stock of the lawand order situation inDelhi, Haryana, UttarPradesh and Ra-jasthan after meetingsenior police officers.He instructed the of-ficers to prevent at-tempts to disrupt nor-mal life during theprotests. The AkhliBhartiya JatArakashan SangharshSamiti has threatenedto lay seize to the city.

Security

reviewed

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

If the BJP credits Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi for itsUttar Pradesh victory, itshould also explain the Delhiand Bihar debacles, formerJ&K Chief Minister Omar Ab-dullah said on Tuesday as heasked the Opposition to be-gin preparing for “tough”2019 polls.

“If the Modi wave suc-ceeded in UP, then why did itnot in Delhi or Bihar? Weonly count our successes and

blame someone else for ourdefeats. If the BJP creditsModi for the UP win, which itshould, then it should alsogive explanation about Biharand Delhi,” he said.

‘Lessons to be learnt’Seeking to clarify his remarksmade in the wake of the UPelection results that with noleader to take on Mr. Modi,the Opposition should forget2019 and prepare for 2024,Mr. Abdullah said he wasonly stressing the need to

learn lessons and prepare forthe difficult test that the nextgeneral elections would be.

“I said [on Twitter] that ifthe same situation prevails, Imean the defeat, which wefaced in these elections [inUP], if we did not learn fromit, then undoubtedly weshould think about 2024elections instead of 2019,” hetold reporters here.

If the same situation pre-vails, then it is obvious, saidMr. Abdullah, the workingpresident of the National

twitter,” he explained. Refer-ring to the criticism of histweets by some Congressleaders, Mr. Abdullah saidsome people disliked it, butthat would not stop him fromsaying such things.

Hoping against hope“I am hopeful that after theresults of these polls, we willchange the way of our work-ing and increase rapportwith people. We will alsopresent a tough contest tothe BJP in 2019,” he said.

Conference.

Horse-trading allegation“The way BJP swept the pollsin UP and the way theyformed the government intwo States with the help of‘jodh-todh’ [horse-trading]despite coming second, wecan conclude that 2019 willbe a tough contest,” Mr. Ab-dullah said.

“We should prepareourselves for that difficulttest from today only and thatis why I said what I said on

Says PM should explain ‘debacles’ in Delhi, Bihar; exhorts Oppn. to prepare for ‘difficult 2024 test’


Srinagar

Omar doubts Modi wave behind UP poll victory

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image




CMYK

NATION

Three more accomplicesof Prajapati arrestedLUCKNOW

Tightening the noose aroundrape-accused U.P. MinisterGayatri Prajapati, theLucknow Police on Tuesdaynabbed three more of hisaccomplices and isinterrogating his two sonsand nephew to get cluesabout his whereabouts. Thearrests were made in thecity’s Hazratganj area. PTI

IN BRIEF

Indefinite hunger stir forBodoland enters 5th dayGUWAHATI

The indefinite hunger strikecalled by ABSU and otherBodo groups in Kokrajhartown seeking a separateBodoland, on Tuesday,entered its fifth day. “We’llnot withdraw agitation tilltalk begins at political level.We need a separate BodolandState,” All Bodo StudentsUnion (ABSU) PresidentPramod Boro said. PTI

Elderly woman raped byyouth in Uttar PradeshDEORIA

An octogenarian woman wasallegedly raped by a youthhere on Tuesday, police said.The incident took place whenthe 80-year-old woman hadgone to the fields to relieveherself. The youth reportedlyraped her there, the circleofficer of Bhatpar Rani,Baijnath, said. He said thewoman has been admitted toa district hospital. The hunt ison to nab the accused, thepolice said. PTI

No let-up in coldconditionsCHANDIGARH

Most places in Haryana andPunjab continued to be underthe grip of a biting chill, withKarnal recording the lowestminimum temperature amongthe two States at 5 degreesCelsius. The cold wave sweptKarnal in Haryana, where theminimum plummeted sevennotches below normal,making it the coldest place inthe two States on Tuesday, aMeT official said. PTI

A key set of scholarships thatencourages middle schoolstudents to pursue careers inscience, collegians to opt forbasic science research andwomen to return to labsafter a break in career, willsoon require an Aadharregistration.

A March 9 notification bythe Union Ministry of Sci-ence and Technology says,“…an individual desirous ofavailing benefits under theSchemes is required to fur-nish proof of possession ofAadhaar or undergoAadhaar authentication. Theschemes are DISHA Pro-gramme, INSPIRE Award, IN-SPIRE Scholarship, INSPIREInternship, INSPIRE Fellow-ship and INSPIRE Faculty”.

The last date for applica-tion would be September 30and, were a scholarship-holder to live in a block ortaluka without an Aadhar en-rollment centre, the ScienceMinistry would be requiredto set up a facility, the noti-fication adds.

The INSPIRE (Innovation

in Science Pursuit for In-spired Research) scholar-ships and DISHA scheme (forwomen scientists) have beendesigned to reach studentsand women-researchersacross all districts.

As of July 2016, 1.3 millionstudents have benefitedfrom the three-pronged IN-

SPIRE scheme.As part of this, 10,000 stu-

dents get ₹80,000 to pursuea research career; 200,000children from every schoolin India are awarded a₹5,000 cash prize every yearto develop science modelswith 60 of them chosen todisplay it at Rashtrapati

Bhavan, and newly-mintedscientists are offered an as-sured 5-year researchcontract.

‘Not mandatory’The Aadhar link to the schol-arship comes even as a Con-stitution Bench of the Su-preme Court, led by formerChief Justice of India H.L.Dattu, said that the use ofthe Aadhaar card was purelyvoluntary and not mandat-ory.

While the Supreme Courtis yet to rule on whether theAadhar scheme is an inva-sion of a citizen’s right to pri-vacy, it has only allowed it tobe used for subsidies underthe public distribution sys-tem and for distributing LPGcylinders.

However, the governmentnow uses it to manage a vari-ety of schemes, from grantsto Bhopal gas leak victimsand the Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana to SarvaShiksha Abhiyan. It also de-cided last month that chil-dren wanting to avail middaymeals in schools need to beAadhar-registered.

No Aadhaar, no scholarshipS&T Ministry notification says students need it to pursue career in science

Key document: The SC is yet to rule on whether Aadhaarinfringes on a citizen’s right to privacy. V. RAJU

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

A 35-year-old resident doc-tor was assaulted by relat-ives of a patient at the DhuleCivil Hospital on Sundaynight. The video that showsthe mob kicking and slap-ping Dr. Rohan Mhamunkarand hitting him with a cothas gone viral, evokingstrong reactions from doc-tors across Maharashtra.

Dr. Mhamunkar, whosuffered multiple injuries,including an orbital fracture,was given preliminary treat-ment. He is recovering at hisresidence in Kandivali.

The police arrested ninepeople in the case. However,in a tragic turn of events,one of the nine committedsuicide in the police lockupon Tuesday evening. The de-ceased, Pradeep Vetal, 23,hanged himself with ablanket on the iron grill ofthe toilet window in thelockup.

It is suspected that Vetalwas riding the two wheelerand Shatrughan Lashkar

was riding pillion when theymet with an accident.Lashkar was severely in-jured and rushed to the hos-pital with a head injury.

Casualty medical officerDr. Arunkumar Nage startedpreliminary treatment. Dr.Rameez Raza, a lecturer ingeneral surgery, and Dr.Mhamunkar, a senior ortho-paedic resident doctor, alsoevaluated the patient.

The doctors decided thata CT scan would be doneafter the patient stabilised.

They told the relatives that ifthe patient required aneurosurgeon, he wouldhave to be shifted to a highercentre as the Dhule CivilHospital did not have the fa-cility.

Heated argumentOne of the relatives got intoan argument with Dr.Mhamunkar, and suddenlythe mob started beating himup. One of the doctors said itwas the eve of Holi and theentire group seemed to be inan inebriated state. Dr.Mhamunkar was slappedand kicked. Some relativesof the patient hit him with acot. The mob also ransackedthe mini operation theatre.

Dr. Mhamunkar is re-portedly in a state of shock.“He was in pain but he wascalm. But, after he saw thevideo, he went into shockand hasn’t stopped cryingsince then. He is not able tocome to terms with the wayhe was beaten up like acriminal,” his motherArchana told The Hindu.

Patient’s relatives assault

doctor in Dhule hospitalOne of the 9 arrested for attack commits suicide in custody

Jyoti Shelar

Mumbai

Dr. RohanMhamunkar

Prison produce: Convicts harvest pumpkins in the Tiruchi Central Prison on Tuesday. B. VELANKANNI RAJ

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Fruits of labour

Two killed in explosion atMoD hardware factoryKOLKATA

Two persons who sustainedinjuries in an explosion at theMetal and Steel Factory atIshapore in West Bengal’sNorth 24 Paraganas districtdied on Sunday. Theexplosion took place onSaturday at a furnace wheresteel is prepared. The factory,which is controlled by theMinistry of Defence (MoD), isone of the main producers ofraw material for militaryhardware.

Left on the streets ofMumbai as a toddler andadopted by a Swedishcouple, a 36-year-old womanof Indian descent searchingfor her biological parentshas found a smallconnection with the past onher third trip to India.

Jessica Lindher’s latesttrip united her with thepoliceman who found hernear Sion Hospital onOctober 13, 1981, when shewas just 17-months-old.

Diwakar Gaonkar, whowas then a constable, wasoverjoyed, when she methim on Monday.

“When we found her, Iremember taking heraround in Sion-Matunga areaand asking residents ifanyone had reported amissing child,” said Mr.Gaonkar, now a Sub-Inspector.

Mr. Gaonkar said hesearched for Jessica’sparents in the nearby areaand informed all policestations.

However, no missingcomplaint was found. Afterno one came forward toidentify her, she was handedover to an orphanage.

Nowmarried with twokids, Jessica was adopted bya Swedish couple from theShree Manav Seva Sanghorphanage in Sion in 1982.

Social activist AnjaliPawar, a representative ofthe NGO Against Child

Trafficking, said that Jessica,also known by her Indianname, Kamalini, is stillhopeful of finding herbiological parents.

Bears no grudge“She bears no grudge. Sheunderstands that they mayhave had their reasons fordumping her. She just wantsto meet them,” said Ms.Pawar, who facilitatedJessica’s interaction with thepolice and local officials.

Ms. Lindher first visitedIndia in 1999 to trace herparents and returned in2016.

Jessica’s story is similar tothe story of Saroo Brierley,the reel life adaptation ofwhich, released as Lion, andstarring Dev Patel and SunnyPawar, earned accolades atthe Oscars last month.

“She hasn’t given up hopeand will be in India again tofind her biological parents,”Ms. Pawar added.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

An echo of ‘Lion’ in Swedishwoman’s search for parentsAdopted after being abandoned as a toddler in Mumbai

Jessica Lindher with her family in Mumbai onMonday. PTI


Mumbai

The Central Bureau of In-vestigation has registered acase against six persons, in-cluding two employees withthe Allahabad High Court,for allegedly stealing anddestroying courtdocuments.

In September last year,the Allahabad High Courthad directed the CBI to con-duct a preliminary enquiryinto the missing High Courtand lower court documentsin a particular case. Theagency submitted its reporton January 18.

According to the CBI, thefiles were stolen in conniv-ance with two peons postedwith the High Court — DilipKumar Chandel and Naren-dra Kumar. The othersnamed in the FIR areSubhash Chandra, ChandraVeer Singh, Basudev and Ra-jvir. On further directions ofthe High Court, the CBI hasnow registered a caseagainst the accused per-sons, booking them under

various provisions of the In-dian Penal Code and thePrevention of CorruptionAct.

Untraced filesThe theft came to lightwhen a Division Bench ofthe High Court was hearinga criminal appeal. The casefiles were sent to the Courton July 25 last year. Thelower court record was re-turned to the office thesame day. The High Courtfile was returned two dayslater and the same was re-ceived in the criminal ap-peal section. However, boththe files could not be tracedlater.

The High Court, duringthe next hearing on August31 last year, observed thatthere would be no option,but to cancel the bail of theaccused persons Basudevand Rajbir, and issue a dir-ection for enquiry. InSeptember, the Court direc-ted the Registrar General tolook into the matter andsubmit a report.

6 Allahabad High Courtstaff held for theftProbe exposes conspiracy to destroy

files in connivance with appellants


New Delhi

A six-year-old girl on Tues-day died after falling into awater tank in an under-construction house in thePul Prahladpur area here,the police said. A case ofnegligence has been re-gistered and the owner ofthe under-constructionhouse is being questioned,they added.

Arpita (6) and her eldersister had gone out to buysome household items.

It appears that on theway, Arpita went to the un-der-construction house,where she accidentallyslipped and fell into thetank, the police said,adding that the tank didnot have a barrier aroundit. On returning home, theelder sister told the parentsthat Arpita was missing.

Girl dies afterfalling intowater tank


New Delhi

Recalling thedeathofHyderabadstu-dent Rohith Vemula and the recentfloggingofDalits atUna inGujarat onsuspicion of slaughtering a cow,senior Congress leader P. Chidam-baramsaidhere onTuesday that notmuch had changed since the days ofB.R. Ambedkar. He was speaking atthe release of a book The Essential

Ambedkarby former PlanningCom-mission member BhalchandraMungekar.

“Not much has changed in Indiafrom the India he [Dr. Ambedkar]portrayed,”Mr.Chidambaramsaid.

Describing the late HyderabadUniversity student Rohith Vemula’slife as a “miracle” of our times, hesaid: “He was born and raised as aDalit. Whether he was a Dalit is notimportant.His peers andhebelievedthat hewas aDalit. He crossed everyhurdlebut failedat the lasthurdleasaPhDstudent.Desperationmadehimhang himself. So, what has changedin India?”

Mr. Chidambaram also said that

Dalits in Una were first chastised,then hounded for allegedlyslaughtering cattle, and then pun-ished for saying theywould not skinanimals any longer. “All of us shouldhangourheads in shameasDalit per-secution is still on,” Mr. Chidam-baramsaid.

Commending Dr. Ambedkar’sdeep knowledge on a variety of sub-jects,Mr.Chidambaramsaid thathadhis IQ been measured, it would nothave been lower than that of scient-istsAlbertEinsteinor IsaacNewton.


NEW DELHI

‘Not much has changed

since Ambedkar’s time’

P. Chidambaram

Nitin Kapur, husband ofTelugu actor Jayasudha andcousin of Bollywood veteranJitendra, was found to havecommitted suicide inAndheri on Tuesday.

According to the police,the incident occurred ataround 1:45 p.m. Mr Kapur(58) was staying at his sis-ter’s residence in Seven Bun-galows. “He went to the ter-race of the six-storey SeaGlimpse building where hewas staying, and jumpedoff,” said Mumbai Policespokesperson DCP AshokDudhe.

Mr. Kapur was taken toCooper Hospital in Vile Parlewhere he was declared deadbefore admission.

The Versova police werethen informed and a team ofpolicemen sent to the hos-pital for inquiries.

Unemployed“He had been unemployedfor 18 years and was underdepression for the last-year-and-a-half. For the last onemonth, he had been treatedfor depression at KokilabenHospital,” said Mr. Dudhe.

No suicide note wasfound on Mr. Kapur’s personor in his house, and primafacie, his depression is sus-

pected to be the reason be-hind his extreme step.

The police have filed anaccidental death report.

“Mr. Kapur’s family in Hy-derabad has been informed.Investigations have not in-dicated anything suspiciousabout his death,” said Mr.Dudhe.

Mr. Kapur had marriedMs. Jayasudha in 1985 andthe couple has two sons.

Ms. Jayasudha, a star inTelugu cinema, is also aformer MLA fromSecunderabad.

She has starred in manysouth Indian movies and ac-ted in some Bollywoodmovies too.

‘No suicide note found; depression may be the cause’


Mumbai

Jitendra’s cousin Nitin Kapur

jumps off flat in Andheri

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image




CMYK

A ND-ND

EDITORIAL

The Congress’s victory in Punjab, bagging 77 of the

117 seats in the Assembly elections, comes as a

salve for the beleagueredparty. This is its first vic-

tory in a big State since Karnataka 2013, and it took a

particularly feisty campaign led by Amarinder Singh.

The party had to fend off not just the ruling Shiromani

Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance but also the

challenge posed by the Aam Aadmi Party, which had

made a significant foray in the State in the 2014 Lok

Sabha election. The results suggest a strong anti-incum-

bency sentiment against the SAD-BJP coalition. In its

decade-long stint inpower, itmayhavehelpedbuild the

State’s infrastructure. But during its second term, pub-

lic distaste grew over the consolidation of power in the

Badal family, and there were reports of corruption and

high-handedness. The Congress managed to convert

this disenchantment into support for itself, building a

campaign around the leadership of Captain Singh and

the promise of effective administration. The AAP, with

its focus on rural areas, especially in the south-central

Malwa region following its surprise success in 2014,

made a play for the anti-Akali vote. But infighting and

the absence of a grassroots presence or a clear State

leader tested its organisation. In the end, the AAP was

unable to substantially increase the vote share of

around 24% that it had gained in 2014: a great chunk of

the Akali-BJP vote went to the Congress.

The challenges theCongress administration faces are

formidable. Itmust address the agrarian crisis aswell as

high unemployment in the State. Punjab leads the

country in youth unemployment rate, and its urban

centres need renewal. The drug problem continues to

ravage rural Punjab, devastating families and nourish-

ing a trafficking nexus. The high debt-to-GDP ratio

(31.4% in 2015-16 against the national average of 22%)

puts further constraints on the State administration.

The Congress has no option but to deliver, as its per-

formance in Punjab is the key to its revival in northern

and western India where the BJP has won most As-

sembly elections over the past five years. Success here

should also nudge the party to groom regional leaders

elsewhere instead of being dependent on its high com-

mand, and more specifically, its vice-president, Rahul

Gandhi. For the AAP, the presence of 20 members in

thenew legislature allows it anopportunity todevelopa

grassroots presence. AAP national convener Arvind

Kejriwal has sought to move the party away from its

early volunteer-driven model towards a more central-

ised organisation, with power concentrated in his

hands. Its inability to convert the momentum gener-

ated in 2014 into a win in the Assembly election was

partly a result of its failure in projecting a strong chief

ministerial candidate.

Fresh start in PunjabCongress gains a lifeline in the State, and a

nudge to empower regional leaders elsewhere

The timing of the announcement by Nicola Stur-

geon, Scotland’s first minister, to seek a second

referendum on independence for Scotland may

be no more than strategic. Her call on Monday coin-

cided with the U.K. Parliament’s adoption of a land-

mark legislation to begin talks to exit the European

Union. But Ms. Sturgeon’s move should remind West-

minster that the thought of separation from the British

union has never fully been excised from the popular

imagination in Scotland, despite the resounding 2014

vote to stay. Recent developments seem to have

hardened public sentiment against continuing in the

United Kingdom among the Scots, who had voted over-

whelmingly in June 2016 to remain in the EU. Thepopu-

larmood in favour of independencedid surge briefly, as

reflected in opinion polls soon after the Brexit vote. But

the support receded in subsequent months. The pro-

spects for a separate Scotland once again revived after

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s landmark speech

in January, in which shemade clear her decision to quit

the common market. It is futile to speculate on what

better terms might have been offered to assuage senti-

ment in the north, as Ms. May has prioritised immigra-

tion control as the red line in her negotiations with her

counterparts in the bloc. But Edinburghhas been grow-

ing more impatient of late with London over its

demands.

The greatest political challenge for the Conservative

government in London as it acts to take Britain out of

the 28-country bloc, is to put forward a coherent and

convincing case for Scotland to remain in the U.K. The

economic argument for Edinburgh to leave is appar-

ently at its weakest, given the recent slump in oil prices

and a mounting fiscal deficit. The champions of access

to the common market also run up against the argu-

ment that a large share of Scotland’s trade is within the

U.K. However, such rational arguments against inde-

pendence may not cut much ice given that London’s

steps to effect Brexit continue to be divisive nearly a

year after the vote. In fact, the advocates of independ-

ence are likely to argue that if London can rip apart a

European partnership of four decades so easily on

grounds of restoring national sovereignty, it may well

one day reconsider Scottish devolution. But the pro-

ponents of Scottish separation would be most short-

sighted to promise the moon to potential followers. In

fact, countries such as Spain that are fighting their own

secessionist movements are unlikely to back the cur-

rent bid by the Scottish National Party. Edinburgh’s EU

entry would have to be ratified by every singlemember

state, a prospect that would commit them tomake sim-

ilar concessions. Europe’s leaders, alive to the sensitiv-

ities of undermining the sovereignty of member na-

tions, have repeatedly cautioned against expectations

of an automatic guarantee of admission in the event

that Edinburgh exits Britain.

On the rocksA second referendum on independence

may not be in Scotland’s best interest

The Uttar Pradesh election res-ults are like a riddle wrappedin an enigma. The sheer scale

of the victory, the arithmetic,shows it was a tsunami that no onehad predicted.More than the act ofprediction in the form of the exitpolls that confounded us, the prob-lem lay in deciphering the results.At the macrolevel, it is like watch-ing the arrival of a juggernaut,whose presence now looks inevit-able, but which still requires an ex-planation of how it came there. At amicrolevel, one looks at pieceswhich make as little sense as thewhole picture. It is not the immedi-acy of the result that challenges usbut what it implies for the future.

This is a strange election whereone man became a national phe-nomenon. As a wag put it, Naren-dra Modi became a final cause, re-mote cause and immediate cause ofthe election results. He represen-ted the idea of India the majoritywanted. People believed hiswords,and his utterances such as develop-ment, nationalism and “Make in In-dia” acquired a shelf life beyondthe original meaning of theseterms. What Mr. Modi seemed toconvey is what I call a lowest com-mon denominator democracy. Hehas created a “roti, kapda aurmakan (food, clothing and shel-ter)” imagination for the newmiddle classes. His communalism— which he wore like a badge, pre-tending it is a patriotism — is soblatant and confident that it chal-lenges the old tenets of secularismmaking it irrelevant. When a PrimeMinister, not merely a head of aparty, refuses to allocate a singleseat to a Muslim candidate in U.P.,themessage is clear. He has pushedout an old political vocabulary

which already had a shop-soiledquality. His style of electoral am-bush of appropriating the Opposi-tion’s favourite stereotypes wasacutely tactical.

Consider the issue of demonet-isation. He was not devaluing cur-rency but instead rendering someolder political styles effete. TheCongress and the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) could no longer claimto be the spokespersons of thepoor. Ironically, Mr. Modi made de-monetisation speak a politicalrather than an economic language.He demonetised political currencyand challenged the bankability ofterms such as secularism. Simul-taneously, he appropriated thepro-poor platform by pretending to beanti-rich. He became an anti-cor-ruption crusader in that sense,telling the poor that he was theirway out of their current world. Hiscombination of patriotism andanti-poverty became a potentbrew.

The strategyLet me be clear. It is a strategy thatwe have to understand. Mr. Modiformulated a symbolic strategy,while BJP president Amit Shahspelt out the tactics on the ground.He created a sense of the new,

promising a sense of the world byappealing to demography and anew generation. He did it in twoways. He cleared the decks by treat-ing Samajwadi Party leaderAkhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi as old fur-niture. But he went beyond this bysuggesting almost blatantly that thestereotypes of caste and ideologywere outdated because change hasdated them. Such categories createthe captive minds of the old elect-oral politics.

What he was offering was asimple, aspirational, mobile soci-ety where those at the bottom ofthe pyramid — a clichéd word forthe poor — feel a different sense ofpossibilities. His overt change instyle, dress, and his muted muscu-larity all helped create an effectiveveneer around his political style.This not only added to his votecatching power among Dalits butalso made old warhorses such asBSP leader Mayawati appear likeyesterday’s newspaper. What Mr.Modi was signalling to each castecategory which had frozen into avote bank was that caste alonewouldnotwork.Oneneededdevel-opment, innovation, a newsenseofenergy, and not the old lethargy ofwaiting for reservation. Mr. Modi

hinted that the politics of ressenti-ment had to be replaced by astrategy of mobility.

Capturing the imaginationThird, Mr. Modi realised, that themedia’s understandingof the socialorder was incomplete. He had abetter hearing aid to listen towhat Icall grassroots voices. They spoke adifferent language of immediacyunembellished by the rhetoric ofconcepts.Mr.Modi’s concepts suchas “Make in India” were more per-formative, promising delivery ofthe goods and competence betterthan any of the words that the so-cialists or the Congress offered tothe people. It is in this sense thatone has to understand that his vic-tory was not merely an organisa-tional victory created by Mr. Shahand the millions of party workerson the ground but also a literal cap-turing of the mass imagination. Itwas so total that it was virtuallyemasculating to the Opposition.Brutally put, it went beyond a cap-ture of votes to a seduction of theimagination. It captured not onlythe working concepts of today’selectoral language but also the verygrids of thought that determine thethought styles of the future. It is inrecognising this that this article,which till now appears like a com-pilation of what made the BJP tick,becomes a symptomatology offears. Let me admit that I mighthave got my psephology wrong butmy intuition tells me that my senseof the future might be patheticallyand prophetically right.

An epitaph for the oldThink of a few simple facts. Here isa party which even after the Gu-jarat riots is virtually contemptu-ous or indifferent to the Muslim,clear that this critical election didnot need the help of any Muslimcandidates. Mr. Modi has also toldDalits that their politics, likeminor-itarianism, is doomed. The twogreat concepts that created thecompost heap of Indian electoralpolitics, the vote banks which have

acquired a reified life of their own,are socialism and secularism. Mr.Modi, in rendering them effete, hasalso created a set of closures wemust understand. It is clear thatwhile mobility is an aspirationaldream, dissent today is an almostextinct possibility between theinanity of the left and the liberalsand the hostility of the BJP regime.What we are facing is individual as-piration but a death of the old cat-egories which at one time createdthe romance and the Utopianaround words such as justice andequality.

The U.P. elections show that theold covenant around the conceptswe once held sacred is dead. Thehegemony of the BJP-RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh-Bajrang Dalcombine is almost clear. What weface is what I am going to call theclosure of the Indian mind. Thereare fewpossibilities of newpoliticaldreams. Mr. Modi is offering astraitjacket of a narrow idea of de-velopment and globalisationwhichcontain no alternative possibilities,no dissent, no side bets. It is not apost-truth society we are confront-ing but a creation of a captivemind.This society by choosing Mr. Modihas closed itself to many great ima-ginations.What we see is not a newgeneration speaking a new liber-atedpolitics but abowdlerised soci-ety oozing simplicities, created bythe masterminds of propaganda.India, like the United States, hastoday become a collection of hardhat minds, facing a tragedy wherethe aspiration is global but the cat-egories are parochial while mas-querading themselves as national.Mr. Modi’s victory signals the vic-tory of the parochial and affordablymediocreover anyvisionof the cos-mopolitan or plural. Deep down, itis the future which we have losttoday. This is Indian democracy’smost ironic gift.

Shiv Visvanathan is Professor, JindalGlobal Law School and Director, Centrefor the Study of Knowledge Systems, O.P.Jindal Global University

Reflections on the election of our timeNarendra Modi was better tuned into grassroots voices, who spoke a different language of immediacy

shiv visvanathan

GETTYIM

AGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas,Harnish Patel in South Caro-lina, and Deep Rai in Washing-

ton, all well settled Indians in Amer-ica, were shot at in a span of threeweeks resulting in two deaths. Thewords repeatedly used by their as-sailants were, “go back where youcame from.” While these are themost visible cases of attacks againstIndian-Americans, the harassmentof the community is far more per-vasive since Donald Trump took of-fice as U.S President.

In my own family, spreadthroughout the U.S., we are hearingstories of insults and innuendoes. Aniece in Maryland being told by aco-worker that she will have to goback where she came from, if shewas not a citizen (she is); a friend inthe DC suburb detained by the localpolice for ‘suspicious appearance’and for not carrying an identifica-tion (shewas simply taking awalk inher neighbourhood as she has donefor years). In our family WhatsAppgroup, we are constantly sharing

storieswehear in our communities,reminding each other about carry-ing identification, staying awayfrom bars in the Midwest, worryingthat hate speeches about our ‘for-eignness’ could easily end up ingunshots as it happened to the threevictims of the crime. Needless tosay, it has shaken the Indian-Amer-ican community to its core.

Faulty terms of engagement?For the longest time,wewereproudto declare that Indian Americanswere the true success story in theU.S. After all, even as a relativelyyoung immigrant group (87.2% be-ing foreign born) at 1% of the popu-lation (around 3 million), we couldclaim to have the highest per capitaincome ($88,000 median house-hold income compared to all U.S.median at $49,800) and highestlevels of education (70% of thoseage 25 and older with college de-grees, two-and-a-half times the fig-ure for overall population) of anyethnic group.

We could boast that Indians hadtruly arrived inAmerica, as promin-ent writers, business leaders, aca-demics, and even policymakers.Welived and breathed the so-calledAmerican dream; we bought ex-pensive homes in American sub-urbs, sent our children to the bestuniversities and reaped the benefits

of theAmerican system.But, by andlarge,we didn’t engage in themessyissues of civil rights, political parti-cipation, or racism. We thoughtthese were not our issues.

We remained attached to ourcountry of origin, going back andforth frequently, contributing tolocal causes (after all, our dollarscould gomuch further in India, andIndia surely needed help). Some ofus also got very active in the politicsof our homeland, especially when itcame to right-wing Hindu causes.Like other immigrants, we nostal-gically longed to hold on to oursense of belonging in the old coun-try while moving forward with ourlives in our adopted country. Securein our successful American experi-ence, we took the American part ofour hyphenated identity for gran-ted.

From my perch as a leader of aninternational organisation, I oftencriticised my fellow Indian-Americ-ans for not strengthening theirroots in America, not getting in-volved enough in the civic organisa-tions in America, and not engagingenough in the American issues ofthe day. In the age of Trump, this isno longer just a good idea. Now thestakes have become dangerouslyhigh and the need visibly urgent.While the White House, includingthe President, continues to denyany relationship between the rhet-oric and policies of the new govern-ment and the unprecedented spikein hate speech and hate crimesagainst South Asian, Arab, Muslimand Jewish communities, the truthis that the Trump presidency hasemboldened latent racist and ultra-right nativist elements to come outin the open. This has to be the realwake-up call for the Indian-Amer-ican community.

During the election, a group ofIndians, calling themselves“Hindus for Trump,” tried tomake adistinction between themselvesand other Indians, especiallyMuslim Indian-Americans, andother brown-skinned people, sug-gesting that they were different,that they should not be confusedwith Muslims and, therefore,should not be targeted. As political

scientist Sangay Mishra has pointedout, suchanapproach shows real ig-norance about the fundamental dy-namics of racism — treating allpeople of a particular colour or eth-nicity as an undifferentiated mass,“erasing individuality, distinctive-ness and humanity.”

Now, it is time for this well-to-docommunity to recognise that crim-inals who commit hate crimes areindiscriminate. As we know fromthe assailants of the three Indianvictims, they confused their targetfor Iranians andArabAmericans, orMuslims. It didn’t matter that allthree of them were well-to-do, liv-ing in comfortably prosperous com-munities.

It’s time Indian-Americansjoined hands with all Americanswho suffer from racial, ethnic or so-cial prejudice, Muslims, Arabs,African-Americans, Latinos or theLGBT community, to fight for whatmakes America the great countrythat it is, welcoming new immig-rants eager to make a new life here,and in the process, constantly re-newing the very idea of America, al-ways in the process of becoming,not somuch looking in the rear viewmirror asmoving forward.

Vishakha N. Desai, president emerita ofthe Asia Society, is senior adviser to thePresident of Columbia University

Prejudice makes no distinctionIt’s time Indian-Americans in the U.S. involved themselves deeply in civic issues

vishakha n. desai

GETTYIM

AGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Success and setbacks

The BJP needs to becomplimented for itsthumping victory in UttarPradesh which was brandedas themother of electionsand a semi-final for the 2019general election. The partycadre and its leaders haveproved that caste, creed andreligion are not the onlyfactors that influenceelectoral wins.What voters,especially the young, expectis development and promptaction.It was foolish on the part ofthe Samajwadi Party’sAkhilesh Yadav to ignore hisfather’s advice againstjoining hands with theCongress. The Congress hasstill to erase its image ofbeing deeply corrupt andhas lost its identity. Thewinshould also be an eye-opener for parties such asthe SP to pay heed to thewisdom and experience ofseniors leaders.N. Mahadevan,

Chennai

■ The BJP’s magnificent

victory, nomean feat, wasmade possible by theuntiring efforts of NarendraModi. Voters saw in him avery bold and efficientleader who is corruptionfree, has no family baggageand is an orator parexcellence. The criticismbeing levelled against theBJP, of it not having fieldedeven a single Muslimcandidate, is unfair since noone from that communitycame forward to join thatparty.It is clear that themainstreammedia failed toread themind andmood ofthose in rural U.P. whoreposed faith inMr. Modi’saim tomake the countrystrong. As usual, The Hindu,especially in its recentEditorials, has notmissedan opportunity to pillorythe BJP as amajoritarianand divisive entity out todestroy the secular fabric ofthe country.K. Chellappan,

Chennai

■ Strange are the ways of

government formation. TheCongress has emerged asthe front-runner inManipurand Goa and it is quitenatural that the Governorshould have invited thisparty to form thegovernment. If this failed, itshould have been the nextcontender. But it isintriguing that the BJP hasbeen given precedence,which has also resulted incandidates who foughtagainst it till yesterday nowjumping ship in the lust forpower and identity. That theBJP too is encouraging themis nothing short of stealingthemandate. It amounts totaking voters for a rideespecially after they havestood in queues, sometimesfor hours, in order toexercise their franchise.What happened inArunachal Pradesh is beingshamefully attempted inManipur and Goa.M.Y. Shariff,

Chennai

■ One aspect which did notreceive any attention in the

analyses of the Assemblyelections was the dismalperformance of the Left.The Communist parties arepaying a heavy price forignoring the importance ofcaste in Indian society.Their notion that classmobilisation will neutralisecaste affiliations has provedto be wrong. Onewondershow the Communist partiesare becoming irrelevant in acountry like ours wherepeople still live under sub-human conditions andeconomic disparities aremounting by the day. Theirelectoral prospects arebound to get bleaker unlessthey shed their ideologicalblinkers.Manohar Alembath,

Kannur, Kerala

Water conservation

It is happy news that thelong-forgotten“Kudimaramathu” projecthas been revived by theTamil Nadu government —to desilt canals, lakes andother waterbodies in alldistricts, with the

involvement of the localfarming community. Itwould be better still if NGOsandwelfare associationsalso joined in this effort toconserve every drop ofrainwater if andwhen the

sky opens up (Tamil Nadu,“Throwing a lifeline towaterbodies”, March 14).S. Vaithianathan,

Madurai

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

corrections & clarifications:

A sentence in the report headlined “IAS officer arrested in paperleak scamcase suspended” (March4, 2017, someeditions) stated erro-neously that “Mr. Kumar was Officer on Special Duty (OSD) with theIndian Railways when RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was the RailwayMinister.” The Sudhir Kumar who was arrested and suspended, fromthe 1987 batch of the IndianAdministrative Service, was not anOSD inthe Railways at any point.

Editing error: The report headlined “Modi felicitated by worldleaders for poll victories” (March 14, 2017) incorrectly referred toStephen Harper as Canadian Prime Minister. It should have beenformer Canadian PrimeMinister.

In “What is hyperloop? When can we see it?” (Explainer, BusinessReviewpage,March 13, 2017), the route choices proposed for India forhyperloops were given as: Bengaluru-to-Chennai (334 km in 20minutes), Bengaluru-to-Thiruvananthapuram (736 km in 41minutes),Delhi-to-Mumbai via Jaipur and Indore (1,317 km in 55minutes),Mum-bai-to-Chennai via Bengaluru (1,102 km in 50minutes), andBengaluruto Chennai (334 km in 20minutes). The fact that the Bengaluru-Chen-nai route was proposed by two companies was cut out due to an edit-ing error.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please

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

can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday

to Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:[email protected]; Mail: Readers’

Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India.

All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No

personal visits. The Terms of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on

www.thehindu.com

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

A ND-ND

OPEDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

DATA POINT

Mr. C.N. Annadurai, Chief Minister, said here [Madras] to-day

[March 14] that in the present food situation in the State, the

Government was not emboldened to lift controls altogether. At

the end of a day-long conference with District Collectors on

the food situation, the Chief Minister told Pressmen that Gov-

ernment would implement the procurement programme ef-

fectively. He hoped the food situation would improve in an-

other two years, and enable Government to lift the controls.

FIFTY YEARS AGO MARCH 15, 1967

Vigorous procurement of grain in Madras

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

FROM ARCHIVES

A pleasant informal little ceremony took place at the offices of

the “Civil and Military Gazette” on Monday afternoon (March

13, Lahore) when Sir Michael O’Dwyer unveiled the bronze

tablet commemorating Rudyard Kipling’s connection with the

“Gazette”. The tablet which was designed by Mr. Sullivan, ar-

chitect to the Punjab Government, and executed at the Mayo

School of Art, under the direction of Mr. Heath, bears the

simple inscription “Rudyard Kipling Worked Here 1882-1887.”

It has been erected by the Punjab Government and, it is be-

lieved, the first of a series which will be placed on various

buildings in Lahore to commemorate the work of distin-

guished men of the Punjab.

His Honour in unveiling the tablet said that he was there not

as the Lieutenant Governor but as one of the few men remain-

ing in the Punjab who had known Mr. Kipling in his earlier

days.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO MARCH 15, 1917

Mr. Kipling in Lahore

When the phone rings, it

could mean many things

for a journalist. At best, a

story; at worst, a PR pitch.

But sometimes, it’s also

the beginning of a lifelong

relationship.

In May 2013, on the day

the Class XII State Board

examination results were

announced, a doctor

friend called asking if the

newspaper would be inter-

ested in a story about a

young girl with cancer

who had scored high

marks. She felt if someone

wrote about the girl,

people would be moved to

contribute to help with

her treatment, as her fam-

ily could not afford it. At

that point, the story was

only lukewarm interest-

ing, and the girl’s score

was not that high at 81%. I

decided to call anyway.

Lakshmi Priya was a

revelation. She had heard

of her result when she was

undergoing chemother-

apy, and she asked if it was

okay if could we just speak

over the phone. She had

been diagnosed with

acute myeloid leukaemia

and could not go to

school. Her father Velu in-

terjected with the mild,

respectful tone I’ve come

to associate with him

since: “But she was study-

ing all the time she was in

hospital. Even when we

would ask her to rest,

she’d refuse.”

A Dalit, Velu had

struggled to give his

daughters Lakshmi Priya

and Lavanya the educa-

tion he had a mere intro-

duction to. The diagnosis

came like a bolt from the

blue for the family which

was trying to keep it to-

gether with Velu’s

monthly salary of ₹14,000.

Gradually funds poured in

and the transplantation

took place. Velu called

from time to time, to share

information about her

small milestones, the doc-

tor’s remarks, his joy, and

to seek reassurance: “All

will be well, no Madam?

She is everything to me.”

Lakshmi Priya died on

August 26, 2013. I knew

because Velu called, his

voice heavy with tears. He

called again later to say

there were funds remain-

ing in her account and

that he was writing a

cheque for a girl with can-

cer. He’d call every now

and then: when Lavanya

cleared her Class X exam-

ination with flying col-

ours, his wife Sumathi’s

sorrow, on Lakshmi

Priya’s birthdays, even

when he said he could not

take it any more. I would

listen and sometimes say

things that could not mat-

ter much. Over one con-

versation, he said he had

saved money for Lavan-

ya’s higher studies, but if

she got through admission

on merit, he was willing to

give that money to some

other deserving student or

patient. Could I recom-

mend someone?

Lavanya is writing her

final school exam and I’m

expecting a call from Velu

any time saying the same

thing he always does:

“Madam, are you fine? So

happy you picked my

call.” No Sir, I’m so glad

you called.

That one phone call

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

NOTEBOOK

Sometimes reporting can result in lifelong relationships

ramya kannan

The last of Tibet’s guerrillafightershttp://bit.ly/DalaiLamaEscape

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

MOREON THE WEB

Simpson’sParadox/Statistics

First described by British

civil servant Edward

Simpson in 1951, it is also

referred to as the Simpson-

Yule Paradox or the re-

versal paradox. The

starkest examples emerge

in medical statistics where

an aggregate of samples

may show a trend that is

the opposite of when those

samples are broken into

subgroups. For psepholo-

gists, Simpson’s Paradox

could explain why the

Muslim vote, Yadav vote

and Other Backward

Classes vote may individu-

ally suggest trends that are

different from the Uttar

Pradesh Assembly election

verdict.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CONCEPTUAL

Irony: a state of affairs or an event

that seems deliberately contrary

to what one expects and is often

wryly amusing as a result.

Now that we have the defini-

tion of irony established, let me

explain how that connects with

the disability rights movement.

But first, a little context. A landmark year for themovement

was 2015-16. A fight that was decades in themaking went from

amurmur to a resounding roar that echoed through the cham-

bers of Parliament. And that roar led to the passing of the

Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2016. From only seven

recognised disabilities in the previous archaic Act of 1995 to 21

disabilities now, the new law is a true game changer that

provides provisions that will benefit many. This isn’t just a

piece of legislation that is the politically correct thing to say. It

is the real deal which takes into account real issues like access-

ibility to infrastructure, technology and information.

We also saw the launch of the Accessible India Campaign

(Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) by the Department of Empower-

ment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) in 2015, and it was

welcomed for its spirit and intention. The campaign has a

heavy focus onnot just accessibility to physical infrastructure,

but also on Information and Communication Technologies —

which is the elephant in the roomwe need to address.

As per theRights of PersonswithDisabilities Act, 2016: “The

appropriate Government shall take steps to ensure that all

their public documents are in accessible formats.” TheAccess-

ible India Campaign itself has a separate objective and its own

targets on enhancing the proportion of accessible and usable

public documents. Fromall the other provisions laid out in the

lawand thecampaign, thisneeds a specialmention sincemore

often than not, people with disabilities miss out on informa-

tion to dowith their own lives because of lack of accessibility.

Attitudinal barriers

And there’s the connect. The irony. Recently, the DEPwDdraf-

ted the rules of the new lawwhich have now beenmade avail-

able to the public for comments. The 74-page-long compre-

hensive document will be scrutinised by many, but not by

those whose lives these rules directly impact. It’s ironic that

the rules, a public document on the department’swebsite, are

not published in an accessible format to those whose roar

made this happen.

I haveput out opinionpieces, both in long formand thoseof

the 140-character variety. And I have been apart of theAccess-

ible India Campaign and the department. I chose to play that

role to understand the dynamic of the government instead of

simply pointing fingers and playing the blame game.

And what did I learn? Attitudinal barriers are here to stay.

Formulating an ambitious campaign is a wonderful idea, but

what about the barrierswithin thewalls of the system?Change

cannot come about if it does not first begin at home. And pub-

lishing the rules of the Accessible India Campaign without

making them accessible is just ironic in a tragic way.

Parul Ghosh is a disability rights professional

Not so accessible after allThe government’s own documents arenot accessible to personswith disabilities

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

SINGLE FILE

Parul Ghosh

GETTYIM

AGES/ISTOCK

Several recent developments indicate the need for India tostrategise long term: China’s ambitious connectivity infrastruc-ture in South Asia, the arrival of a new U.S. president, and NewDelhi’s increasing political distance from Russia, a traditionalally. Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has been speakingabout careful strategising of India’s policies since the NarendraModi government came to power in 2014. In this interview, Mr.Saran, who was also a a key negotiator with the U.S. for the nuc-lear deal, assesses India’s key foreign policy choices. Excerpts:

In the context of recentdevelopments in the U.S.,what do you suggest arethe best possible optionsbefore India to strategisepriorities for its globalaims?

■ India will have to deal with

the reality of the likely per-

sistence of a Trump adminis-

tration grappling with do-

mestic political turmoil, the

resistance of the Washington

elite to several of his policies

(witness the strong blowback

on his efforts to improve rela-

tions with Putin’s Russia),

and the growing polarisation

in American society. This

could mean that external en-

gagement of the U.S. may

well suffer, with its global

profile becoming relatively

diminished.

Nevertheless, India-U.S.

relations have become much

stronger and broad-based in

the past decade and enjoy bi-

partisan consensus. This is a

valuable asset and a factor of

stability even in uncertain

times. India should seek to

expand the relationship

wherever possible. Despite

its current preoccupations,

the U.S. is and is likely to re-

main the foremost economic

and military power in the

world and the source of cut-

ting-edge technological in-

novation. Therefore, it will

continue to be an indispens-

able strategic partner in In-

dia’s trajectory towards great

power status. Our engage-

ment with the Trump admin-

istration should reflect this.

An early visit of Prime Minis-

ter Narendra Modi to Wash-

ington would have a positive

impact.

Following the temporarysuspension of premiumH-1B visas, there are newconcerns about the futureof India-U.S. ties overInformation Technology.Is the U.S. violating tradeties by suspending thevisas? Can India take theU.S. to theWorld TradeOrganisation for violatingtrade conventions?

■ One hopes that the suspen-

sion is only temporary. The

trend towards limiting visas

to Indian IT professionals of-

fering their much sought-

after services in the U.S.

began during the (Barack)

Obama administration and is

likely to continue. Since issu-

ance of visas is considered to

be an immigration issue and

not a trade issue, one cannot

take the suspension to the

WTO dispute settlement

mechanism. What we can do

is to highlight the fact that In-

dian IT services contribute to

enhancing the global com-

petitiveness of U.S. compan-

ies, that Indian IT companies

are providing significant em-

ployment in their operations

to U.S. citizens, and U.S. tech

companies in India are some

of the most profitable in the

world. This is a partnership

in which both parties gain.

Furthermore, in negotiat-

ing with the U.S. on this is-

sue, we should leverage the

fact that India is a growing

market for U.S. products and

services, in particular for de-

fence hardware and techno-

logy. There should be some

element of trade-off. Indian

IT companies should also ad-

apt to the changed situation

by diversifying markets away

from the heavy dependence

on the U.S. There are ex-

panding opportunities in

other parts of the world and

within India itself. Advances

in digital technology should

be used to offer services over

cyberspace rather than per-

sonnel to clients abroad.

Several attacks have takenplace recently againstIndian immigrants in theU.S. Do you think thatIndiawill have to come upwith a newpolicy onimmigration and look atother parts of theworld asmore favourableimmigration destinations?

■ The hate attacks against In-

dian citizens and Indian-

Americans are most repre-

hensible. When there is a

general anti-immigration

sentiment unleashed by the

government itself, people

with prejudice feel em-

powered to abuse and attack

people who look different

from themselves. What is re-

assuring is the reaction of or-

dinary American citizens and

local communities in support

of the victims and the

promptness with which local

and central administrations

have responded. Neverthe-

less, there is an anti-immig-

rant sentiment sweeping

across the world and we

need to be mindful of that.

We do not have an official

policy to encourage emigra-

tion of Indian citizens, but it

is the duty of the govern-

ment to look after the wel-

fare of those who have

chosen to seek employment

abroad. The ideal situation

would be the availability of

employment opportunities

to all strata of society within

our country itself, so that

there is less pressure to seek

jobs abroad.

There seems to begrowing support for theposition that given theprotectionist policies ofthe U.S., India shouldavoid getting too close tothe U.S. and investmorein other internationalpartnerships, such aswith

Russia. Is it time to bemore cautious towardsthe U.S. and build amorerobust relationshipwithRussia, or a quadwithJapan, Australia andNewZealand?

The premise behind this

question appears to be that

we have neglected our rela-

tions with the other coun-

tries referred to, in favour of

strengthening relations with

the U.S. In fact, the objective

of Indian foreign policy has

been to develop and expand

a diversified set of relations

with all major powers and

with countries in the devel-

oping world. These relations

are never mutually exclusive,

nor do they constitute a zero-

sum proposition. Even if pro-

tectionist trends are visible

in some sectors in the U.S.,

there are opportunities to ex-

pand trade and investment

in other sectors. We have

concluded Comprehensive

Economic Partnership

Agreements with Japan and

South Korea and a Free

Trade Agreement in trade,

investment and services with

the ASEAN. Similarly with

Russia, we have been ex-

panding our trade and in-

vestment relations, particu-

larly in the energy field.

However, we must acknow-

ledge the fact that India is no

longer a priority country for

Russia in the commercial

field. Its focus remains on

China and Europe.

Have developments in theU.S. left Indiamorevulnerable to China’saggressive trade andterritorialmoves?

■ It is too early to say how

developments in the U.S. will

affect global geopolitics. If

the global footprint of the

U.S. and its Western allies di-

minishes, this may create

spaces for other major

powers to play a bigger role.

We see this already in Rus-

sian activism in West Asia

and recent Chinese initiatives

on the Afghanistan issue.

However, it is not clear

whether the U.S. under Mr.

Trump will reduce its global

engagement, so we should

wait and see. Furthermore,

not all Chinese activism

should be considered negat-

ive from an Indian perspect-

ive. For example, if China is

able to contribute to peace in

Afghanistan and is able to re-

strain Pakistani meddling,

that should be welcomed.

While India-China rela-

tions are influenced by In-

dia’s relations with other ma-

jor powers, it would be a

mistake to look at these rela-

tions as a mere derivate of

the state of Indo-U.S. rela-

tions. The future of India-

China relations will be de-

termined by how the two

countries handle the several

bilateral issues between

them and whether there is a

readiness, despite differ-

ences, to seek areas of con-

vergent interest and shared

concern and develop a habit

of working cooperatively on

them. There is an outstand-

ing border issue between the

two countries and China reit-

erates its territorial claims,

such as on Arunachal Pra-

desh, regularly. Recently, the

former State Councillor and

Special Representative for In-

dia-China border talks, Dai

Bingguo, stated that India

should make concessions in

the eastern sector, including

Tawang, and China would re-

spond by making appropri-

ate, though unspecified, con-

cessions in the western

sector. This is despite the fact

that in 2005, in the Political

Parameters and Guiding

Principles concluded

between the two countries, it

was agreed that settled popu-

lations would be taken into

account in any settlement.

Both sides understood that

this referred to Tawang,

which is the only area with a

significant population in the

border area. We should con-

tinue to reject Chinese claims

even while seeking an early

settlement. At the same time

we must strengthen our bor-

der defences and capabilit-

ies, so that we are able to ef-

fectively foil any aggressive

moves by China on our bor-

ders. Having said that, we

should welcome the fact that

the India-China border has

remained peaceful over the

past four decades.

As far as trade is con-

cerned, enhancing the com-

petitiveness of Indian goods

and services, developing a

modern infrastructure, and

improving trade practices

and support facilities will be

the keys to confront the

Chinese challenge. India’s re-

lations with other countries

is not really a factor.

Compared to trade andimmigration, there isgreater convergence overcounterterrorism andsecurity between Indiaand the U.S. Yet, India’sconcerns on Pakistaniinvolvement in terrorismseems to not be gettingthe necessary supportfromBeijing, andsurprisingly fromMoscow.

■ Since the Mumbai terrorist

attack in 2008, India-U.S. co-

operation on counterterror-

ism has expanded signific-

antly and has contributed to

the security of both coun-

tries. Such cooperation is

likely to continue and even

expand under the Trump

presidency. To the extent

that Mr. Trump considers ji-

hadi terrorism a threat which

needs a robust response, this

is positive because it also

puts pressure on countries

like Pakistan. Some recent

measures announced by

Pakistan, including the arrest

of the Lashkar-e-Taiba chief,

Hafiz Saeed, are a response

to the likelihood of Pakistan

being targeted on the issue of

terrorism. While this is wel-

come, we will have to tackle

crossborder terrorism on our

own. It cannot be outsourced

to the U.S. or any other coun-

try. India has garnered sup-

port from the international

community on the issue of

terrorism and no country

needs convincing that

Pakistan is the breeding

ground of terrorism. China,

in fact, has isolated itself,

and its credibility as a part-

ner in the war against inter-

national terrorism has taken

a dent as a result of its brazen

move to prevent the inclu-

sion of JeM chief Masood

Azhar in the UN terrorists

list. This is a blow to China’s

credibility, not India’s.

Russia has not joined

Chinese efforts to shield

Pakistan. It has, however,

changed its position on the

Afghan Taliban and has

joined China in initiating

peace negotiations between

the Taliban and the Afghan

government. There is no

reason for India to object to

this. However, it is true that

Russia has recently improved

relations with Pakistan and

entered into a military hard-

ware relationship with it for

the first time in several dec-

ades. This is a matter of con-

cern for India and should be

clearly conveyed to our Rus-

sian friends. Our response

should be to enhance our en-

gagement with Russia rather

than react by limiting it.

The full interview is available onwww.thehindu.com

‘Early visit of PMModi to the U.S. would have a positive impact’The former Foreign Secretary says he remains optimistic about India-U.S. ties and that India should reject China’s territorial claims

Kallol Bhattacherjee

<> China’s credibility as

a partner in the war

against international

terrorism has taken

a dent as a result of

its move to prevent

the inclusion of

Masood Azhar in the

UN terrorists list.

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | SHYAM SARAN

R.V.MOORTHY

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

A ND-ND




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

Later, after the two walkoutsby the Congress on the is-sue, Mr. Jaitley took to Face-book to take on the Con-gress’ charge.

In a blog entitled “LargestSingle Party Vs A Combina-tion with Majority Support”he accused the Congress of“complaining too much”over the events in Manipurand Goa. “The Assemblyelections in Goa producedan inconclusive verdict,there was a hung Assembly.The BJP managed to form analliance and presented tothe Governor 21 out of 40MLAs. The Congress did noteven submit a claim to theGovernor [as] it had the sup-port of only 17 MLAs,” hewrote.

He also gave instanceswhere this rule was invokedand Congress or Congress-backed governments cameto power. “In 2005, BJP won30 out of 81 seats inJharkhand, the JharkhandMukti Morcha ( JMM) leader

Shri Shibu Soren, with thesupport of 17 of his ownMLAs plus others was in-vited to form the govern-ment. In 2002, in Jammuand Kashmir, the NationalConference had 28 MLAsbut the Governor invited thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) and the Congresscombinations of 15 + 21MLAs to form the govern-ment,” he said.

He also quoted formerPresident K.R. Narayanan’scommuniqué from March1998, which said, “when noparty or pre-election alli-ance of parties is in a clearmajority, the Head of Statehas in India or elsewhere,given the first opportunityto the leader of the party orthe combination of partiesthat has won the largestnumber of seats subject tothe Prime Ministers so ap-pointed obtaining majoritysupport on the floor of theHouse within a stipulatedtime. ”

Parrikar takes oath asChief Minister of Goa

Speaking to journalists atthe Raj Bhavan, Ms. Hep-tulla said she was aware thatthe Congress had emergedthe single largest party but itwas not “incumbent on aGovernor” to necessarilycall the single largest party.

“The responsibility of theGovernor is to see who hasgot the majority, who will beworking for the interest ofthe State and have the stabil-ity,” she said.

“I feel that it is very ne-cessary that we have stabil-ity in the State,” Ms. Heptul-lah said.

Asked about allegationsmade by the Congress, theGovernor said that she hasbeen in Parliament in 37years and 17 years in thechair (Deputy Chairpersonof Rajya Sabha) and neverduring the period had anyallegations of bias beenraised against her.

“I am a very straight for-ward person and I go by the

book,” she said. “The BJPhas requisite numbers,” shesaid, adding that, “they havemore than 30 and that isenough.”

Ms. Heptulla also addedthat she wants Mr. BirenSingh to prove his majority“as soon as possible” as thenew government shouldstart work at the earliest.“May be soon after the ChiefMinister is sworn in, he canprove his majority on March23 or 24,” the Governorsaid.

Meanwhile, the Congressleadership said they wouldnot disrupt the swearing-inprocess scheduled for Wed-nesday. “We will play therole of a responsible Opposi-tion and since the BJP gov-ernment has a very thin ma-jority, if the BJP unable toprove its majority the Con-gress will once again stakeclaim,” a senior ManipurCongress leader told The

Hindu.

BJP combine to formgovt. in Manipur

“It is about use of gadgets,”Dr. Siddiqui said. “But if anyone of the gadgets — espe-cially a smartphone — istaken out, then the measureof computing ability will gofurther down.” The data wascollated from the NSS 71stround of 2014.

Kerala on topAmong the major States,Kerala has the highest com-puting ability at 32.3% inrural areas, while Chhattis-garh has the lowest, 2.9%. Inthe urban areas, Kerala is insecond position, after Delhi.Tamil Nadu and Punjab arein the middle of the table.

Computing ability, meas-ured from NSS data on So-cial Consumption and Edu-cation, was found to be thelowest in the tribal popula-tion. The researchers saidvillage or urban blocks wereidentified to ensure repres-entation of all districts, andfor each of these, only eight

households (in some cases avarying number) werechosen for the final survey.

The extraction and trans-fer of raw data from theNSSO into spreadsheets isongoing, and the research-ers would give their findingsat a workshop in April.Scholars from research insti-tutes like the Centre forStudy of Regional Develop-ment [CSRD] of JawaharlalNehru University, IIM-Cal-cutta, International Instituteof Population Sciences[IIPS] are expected to parti-cipate, said Amirul Alam,workshop coordinator.

Cooking fuel gapData on access to gas, elec-tricity or kerosene for cleancooking indicate a wide gapbetween rural and urbanconsumption. While 14.9%of rural population has ac-cess to clean cooking, thefigure goes up to 76.4% inurban areas.

Rural India poor incomputing ability

The Supreme Court on Tues-day requested Goa GovernorMridula Sinha to hold a floortest in the Assembly onMarch 16 for parties to provetheir majority.

“This sensitive and con-tentious issue can be re-solved by holding a floor testat the earliest... We requestthe Governor to hold thefloor test at 11 a.m. on March16, 2017,” the Supreme Courtrecorded in its order.

A Bench of Chief Justice ofIndia J.S. Khehar and JusticesRanjan Gogoi and R.K.Agrawal refused to stay theswearing-in of BJP Legis-lature Party Leader ManoharParrikar as the ChiefMinister.

The Congress won 17 seatswhile the BJP came secondwith 13 in the election to the40-member Goa Assembly.The Governor invited Mr.Parrikar, who resigned asUnion Defence Minister, toform the government in theState on March 12 after heparaded a majority of 21elected members, includingthree each from the Maha-

rashtrawadi Gomantak Partyand the Goa Forward Partyand two Independents.

The Congress moved theSC on March 13, claiming theGovernor’s decision to ap-point Mr. Parrikar as ChiefMinister without consultingthe single largest LegislativeParty (Congress) was a“brazen” misuse of constitu-tional office.

The court said it was notpossible to stop the oath-tak-ing ceremony as the Con-gress has so far done nothing

to prove that Mr. Parrikar’sclaim was wrong. Neitherdid the Congress, since thepoll results were announcedon March 11, call on the Gov-ernor to prove its majoritynor had it led arguments orplace any record before theSC to prove that Mr. Parrikardid not enjoy the majority.

SC questions Congress“On what satisfaction do westop the oath-taking... Youhave not raised any argu-ment here on the numbers

[of members] you have. Wecannot stop the formation ofthe government,” Justice Go-goi told Congress counseland senior advocate Ab-hishek Manu Singhvi and ad-vocate Devadatt Kamat.

The Bench said it couldeven dismiss the petitionfiled by the Goa Congress Le-gislature Party leaderChandrakant Kavlekar fornot impleading Mr. Parrikaras a party in the petition.

Senior advocate HarishSalve and Additional Soli-citor General ManinderSingh, representing theUnion of India and Goa, ini-tially suggested this Fridayor Monday as suitable daysfor holding the floor test.

Pointing to the Congress,Chief Justice Khehar ad-dressed Mr. Salve: “They[Congress] are saying you[BJP] are a very powerfulparty and you can manipu-late a majority.” “But we arenot opposing a floor test,”Mr. Salve replied.

“The situation is fluid. In afloor test, the House will de-cide whether the Governor’sdecision was right,” JusticeGogoi explained.

SC allows Goa swearing-in,orders Thursday floor testSays Congress has so far done nothing to prove that Parrikar’s claim was wrong

Green light: Lawyers emerge from the Supreme Court afterthe hearing on the Congress plea on Tuesday. R. V. MOORTHY

Krishnadas Rajagopal

New Delhi

The Shiv Sena on Tuesdaydemanded renaming of thecity’s five railway stationsthat have a colonial imprint.

The Sena’s Arvind Sawantsaid in the Lok Sabha thatthe Mumbai Central stationshould be rechristened afterJagannath Shankar Seth forhis contribution to the cityand the growth of railways inits pioneering years.

Seth is known for his con-tribution to the Victoria Ter-minus station, now known as

are identified with Lalbaug,Dongri and Girgaum and notwith the names of any ofthese stations,” Mr. Sawantsaid.

RechristenedLast year, the Ram Mandirstation was created on thecity’s suburban railwaytrack.

Victoria Terminus was re-christened as the Chhat-rapati Shivaji Terminus dur-ing the earlier Shiv Sena-BJPregime between 1995 and1999.

the Chhatrapati ShivajiTerminus.

Rename demandMr. Sawant also demandedthat Charni Road station berenamed as Girgaum, El-phinstone Road asPrabhadevi, Curry Road asLalbaug, and SandhurstRoad as Dongri.

“Most of these railway sta-tions have colonial names.Curry Road is in Lalbaug,Sandhurst Road is in Dongri,Charni Road is in Girgaum.The addresses and pin codes

Sena wants five Mumbai stations renamedCharni Road, Elphinstone Road, Curry Road, and Sandhurst Road in the list

Jagannath Shankar Seth is known for his contribution to theVictoria Terminus station, now known as CST. FILE PHOTO


New Delhi

The Centre said on Tues-day that it would act to in-quire into the circum-stances surrounding thedeath of Jayalalithaa onlyafter the State governmentreceived the report of itsown inquiry.

In the Lok Sabha, Parlia-mentary Affairs MinisterH.N. Ananth Kumar was re-sponding to AIADMK MPP.R. Sundaram’s demandfor a CBI probe. “Her sud-den demise is of great con-cern to the Centre, too,and there is a feeling thatthe death occurred in mys-terious circumstances. TheState government hasalready ordered a probe,and the Centre can act onlyafter the report is in,” Mr.Kumar said. Mr. Sundaram,said to be close to the Pan-neerselvam faction of theAIADMK, alleged that noone was allowed to meetJayalalithaa in the hospital.

‘Wait for TNprobe intoJaya’s death’Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Internationally renownedhuman rights crusaderIrom Sharmila has ques-tioned the democratic con-victions of the BJP, whichhas staked claim to formthe government in herhome State, Manipur. Shehas alleged that it is moneyand muscle power thathelped the party “usurppower”.

Speaking to The Hindu

after reaching a rehabilita-tion centre here where shewill recuperate for amonth, Ms. Sharmila saidthe BJP’s assuming ofpower in the north-easternState would further erodethe its fragile socio-politicalequilibrium, already viti-ated by the special powersenjoyed by the Army.

‘Communal designs’The activist, who securedjust 90 votes, also chosethe occasion to appeal tomajor secular and demo-cratic forces in the countryto rally against the “com-munal designs of Hindutvaforces”.

“Indian politics is turn-ing extremely complexwith communalists usingfacilities of corporate agen-das to turn popular man-date in their favour. Polit-ical parties must engage inserious introspectionabout their follies apartfrom evolving strategies tocounter the communaldesigns,” she said.

When asked about herfuture course of action, Ms.Sharmila said she wouldcontinue her struggle. “Iam here for a month’sbreak. During this stay, Iwould ponder over the wayI can continue thestruggles,” she said.

Irom slamsBJP actionin ManipurK.A. Shaji

Attappady (Palakkad)

Home Minister RajnathSingh on Tuesday called for“introspection” followingthe killing of 12 CRPF per-sonnel in an ambush byMaoists in Chhattisgarh lastweek and said he hadordered an inquiry toidentify lapses behind it.

He told the Lok Sabhathat the attack on securitypersonnel in the Sukmaforests was an outcome ofdesperation among the LeftWing Extremists (LWEs) asthey had suffered unpreced-ented losses last year.

“However, there is a needfor introspection over thisincident. I have directed theDG, CRPF, to conduct a de-tailed inquiry into the incid-ent so that the lapses that

led to it can be identified, asthis will reduce the possibil-ity of repetition of such in-cidents in future,” he said.

Unprecedented successThe unprecedented successof the security forces of latehad led to “evident uneasi-

ness” among the LWEgroups, he told the LokSabha.

Security forces hadachieved tremendous suc-cess in 2016 in all LWE-af-fected States, particularly inChhattisgarh, where 135LWE cadres were killed, 779arrested and 1,198 sur-rendered, Mr. Singh said.

The number of violent in-cidents in Chhattisgarh alsodropped by 15% from 466 in2015 to 395 in 2016.

The number of LWEskilled increased by 150% (89in 2015 to 222 in 2016) in2016, while surrenders andarrests registered a com-bined increase of 47% over2015 (2,238 to 3,282), hesaid. Only three security per-sonnel lost their lives in 2016against 15 in 2015, he said.

12 CRPF personnel were killed in Maoist attack last week


New Delhi

Rajnath Singh

Introspect over Sukma: Rajnath

Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi broke his si-lence on Tuesday almost 72hours after results of the fiveAssembly elections came in,acknowledging that struc-tural and organisationalchanges were needed in hisparty.

He, however, stressedthat the Assembly poll res-ults were “not bad” thoughthe party was “a littledown” in Uttar Pradesh, aState where the Congresswon just seven of the 403Assembly seats after a tie-upwith the Samajwadi Party(SP). Simultaneously, hehailed the role of regionalleaders who had fought As-sembly polls and emergedvictorious.

‘Ups and downs’Seemingly oblivious of theextent of defeat in U.P. — forwhich the strategy wasdrawn up by him with sisterPriyanka Vadra — Mr.Gandhi said there are “upsand downs” for every party.

“We had a little down inUttar Pradesh which is fine,we accept it. But we have anideological fight with the

BJP and we will continue todo that.”

Meanwhile, on Tuesday,many Congressmenprivately expressed dissatis-faction with Mr. Gandhi’sleadership not just aboutthe U.P. results but the lack-adaisical manner in whichthe party had treated gov-ernment formation in Ma-nipur and Goa. In bothStates, the Congress was thesingle largest party, fallingshort of simple majority byjust four seats in each State.

The sense that emergedfrom conversations withsenior party leaders wasthat Mr. Gandhi had simplynot taken the matter seri-ously.

Rahul says polloutcome not badBreaks silence 72 hours after results

Smita Gupta

New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi

Cool heads: Schoolgirls return home at Kanidajan in Budgam district of central Kashmir on Tuesday. The Srinagar-JammuNationalHighway remained closed for traffic for the seventh day due to snowfall and landslides. NISSAR AHMAD

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Braving the chill

Heirs of those who migratedto Pakistan and China dur-ing Partition will have noclaim over the properties leftbehind in India, with Parlia-ment on Tuesday passing aBill to amend a 49-year-oldlaw.

The Enemy Property(Amendment and Valida-tion) Bill, 2016, whichamends the Enemy PropertyAct, 1968, was passed byvoice vote in the Lok Sabha,incorporating the amend-ments made by the RajyaSabha last week. The LS hadpassed the Bill earlier butcertain amendments wereintroduced to it in the RS, on

the recommendations of aSelect Committee. Thoseamendments had to be ap-proved by the Lower House,which was done on Tuesday.

Seeking clarityRSP member N.K. Prem-achandran had moved a stat-utory amendment seeking tointroduce clarity with regardto those properties whichhad already been acquiredby the heirs of the ‘enemy’property owners, a refer-ence to nationals of Pakistanand China.

According to the Bill, “en-emy property” refers to anyproperty belonging to, heldor managed on behalf of anenemy, an enemy subject or

an enemy firm. The govern-ment has vested these prop-erties in the Custodian of En-emy Property for India, anoffice instituted under theCentral government.

After the Indo-PakistanWar of 1965, the EnemyProperty Act was enacted in1968, which regulates suchproperties and lists the Cus-todian’s powers.

“The purpose of [the] Billis to clarify the 1968 Act. In-heritance law will not be ap-plicable on Enemy Proper-ty...This will put an end tothe long-pending issuewhich should have ideallyhappened in 2010 when theBill was introduced,” HomeMinister Rajnath Singh said.

Lok Sabha clears amendedEnemy Property BillApproves changes introduced in the Rajya Sabha last week


New Delhi Citing the importance of thewaterways around SriLanka, Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe on Tues-day argued for a greaternaval role for safety of civil-ian traffic. Addressing acounter-terror conferencehere over video link fromColombo, Mr. Wickremes-inghe said more terror at-tacks were likely to targetthe maritime sector in thefuture.

“Non-state actors target-ing logistics and infrastruc-ture sector will become anightmare in the future.Complexities of maritime se-curity require navies to re-think their role,” the Prime

Minister said during his ad-dress at the leadership sec-tion of the annual counter-terror conference by the In-dia Foundation.

The connectorIndicating at Sri Lanka’s rolein ensuring global maritimesecurity, Mr. Wickremes-inghe said the Indian Oceanregion was the connectorbetween the energy sourcesof the Gulf region and en-ergy consumers of Asia. Inthis context, he lauded theMarch 5-7 conference of theIndian Ocean Region inJakarta where the Ministersalso adopted the “IORA De-claration on Preventing andCountering Terrorism andViolent Extremism”.

‘Naval rethink neededfor maritime security’

Sri Lanka bats for safety of civiliansKallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK




NEWS

Bangladesh PM on 3-dayvisit to India from April 7DHAKA

Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina will pay a statevisit to India from April 7 to10 to further expand therelationship between the twoneighbours, an officialstatement said on Tuesday.Ms. Hasina will travel to Indiaafter seven years. PTI

IN BRIEF

Three Union Bank staffbooked for illicit depositsNEW DELHI

The CBI has registered acorruption case against threeemployees of the Kanpurbranch of the Union Bank ofIndia for allegedly exchanging₹1.17 crore in demonetisednotes in violation of the ruleslast November. Without thereceipt of the required forms,they allegedly allowed theexchange of notes.

No shortage of coronarystents: govt. tells LSNEW DELHI

There is no shortage ofcoronary stents in the marketafter substantial reduction ofits price and the governmentis closely monitoring theiravailability, the governmentinformed the Lok Sabha onTuesday. PTI

Police install CCTVsin Delhi marketsNEW DELHI

Seeking to check crime andterror strikes, the Delhi Policehas installed over 2,400CCTV cameras at variousmarkets of the city, Ministerof State for Home HansrajAhir informed the Lok Sabhaon Tuesday. Government’santi-terror measures includecheck posts, forming armedresponse teams, he said. PTI

Bharatiya Janata Partyleader and Rajya Sabhamember SubramanianSwamy said on Tuesdaythat he had written toPrime Minister NarendraModi alleging that seniorgovernment officials wereholding up action on In-come Tax Department in-vestigations into the com-panies owned by KartiChidambaram, son offormer Finance Minister P.Chidambaram.

Dr. Swamy told the me-dia that he had urged thePrime Minister to inter-vene as this was an ex-ample of the fight againstcorruption being hijackedby some civil servants ow-ing allegiance to theerstwhile Congress-ledUPA government.

“The Income Tax invest-igation wing in Chennaihas, after seizure of docu-ments and hard disks fromthe companies and resid-ence of Mr. Karti …, foundand compiled the huge il-legal investments abroadand established the illegal,secret foreign bank ac-counts,” Dr. Swamy hadwritten in his letter datedMarch 7.

Dr. Swamy said he wasapprised of such a reportby a whistleblower in theI-T Department in Chennai.

Swamy asksPM to speedup I-T probeSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Uncertainty looms overSouth Block with ManoharParrikar leaving charge ofthe Defence Minister. Hisexit could not have come at aworse time for the Ministry,several officials said.

Mr. Parrikar’s sudden de-parture has put the brakeson several major initiativesto overhaul defence procure-ment, indigenisation, civil-military relations and so on.

“Continuity is required inthe Defence Ministry, espe-cially when projects have along gestation period. So un-less they are pushed con-tinuously, the time lag willkeep increasing and the pro-cess of indigenisation willkeep getting delayed,” theformer Chief of the ArmyStaff Deepak Kapoor toldThe Hindu.

He cautioned that delayswere “detrimental to na-tional security”.

Among the top prioritiesis the policy on the strategic

partnership model, part ofthe Defence ProcurementProcedure, which will spellout guidelines for tie-upsbetween foreign manufac-turers and the private sectorin high technology areas tobuild military hardware inIndia.

Officials said that thepolicy, after much delibera-tions and delays, was readyand was expected to be re-leased after the elections.

But a question mark hangson it now.

Not an add-onDefence is too important tobe handled as an add-on, es-pecially by the Finance Min-ister, said Air Vice-MarshalManmohan Bahadur (Retd),Distinguished Fellow at theCentre for Air Power Studies.

“Major decisions are re-quired which are in the finalstages such as strategic part-

nerships, procurements andanomalies in the SeventhPay Commission. They willnow get delayed,” he said.

Pay revisionThe other major issue is im-plementation of the SeventhPay commission for the ser-vices, which was alreadydone for their civilian coun-terparts.

The issue is being lookedinto by the anomalies com-mittee and there is growingresentment among the ser-vices over the delay.

He said these issues hadto be sorted out quickly,which was best done with afull-fledged DefenceMinister.

Beyond procurementsand the implementation ofthe pay commission propos-als, Mr. Parrikar had spentconsiderable time and efforton issues such as reorgan-ising the military to make itlean and lethal and the ap-pointment of a Chief of theDefence Staff.

Uncertainty in South BlockOfficials say Parrikar’s exit could not have come at a worse time for Ministry

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

Make in India: The Indian-bult INS Khanderi. The DefenceMinistry is now focussing on indigenisation. PRASHANT NAKWE

The fight for being recog-nised as the real AIADMKand capturing the party’spopular ‘Two Leaves’ sym-bol ahead of the bypolls tothe Dr. RadhakrishnanNagar Assembly constitu-ency has intensified with thefaction led by former ChiefMinister O. Panneerselvam(OPS) set to meet the ChiefElection Commissioner inNew Delhi on Wednesday.

Ahead of his visit, histeam submitted a rebuttal tothe response given by jailedleader V.K. Sasikala to theElection Commission totheir petition challengingher appointment as the in-terim general secretary ofthe AIADMK.

A senior leader of the OPScamp said that a point-by-point rebuttal running into61 pages was submitted tothe Election Commission inDelhi on Tuesday.

A copy of the same wassent to the Bengaluru prisonwhere she is serving a four-year jail term.

“We are also meeting theChief Election Commis-sioner to give oral evidenceover the matter. OPS Annan

would be there with all ofus,” he said.

‘Glaring mistakes’Another leader of the OPScamp and former Memberof Parliament K.C. Palanis-

amy, said that Sasikala hadmade “several glaring er-rors” in her response to theCommission and the OPSteam had pointed them outin their response to theCommission.

“She has made some glar-ing errors in her response tothe Commission. She hasmade mistakes even in theyears when founder leaderMGR was the general secret-ary of the party and theChief Minister. Though he

became the CM only in 1977,Sasikala has said he becameCM in 1972, which is wrong,”Mr. Palanisamy said.

In her response, Sasikalahad admitted that she wasonly the interim general sec-retary of the party, he poin-ted out, and said: “We havesubmitted to the Commis-sion to declare her electionas null and void, since shewas not elected by thoseholding the primary mem-bership of the party and not

by its General Council.”The founder was the head

of the party only till 1977 butshe had stated that he wasthe head till 1987, whereasother leaders held the postduring those years.

“She cited that the partyhad reunited after a split in1989. But at that time, Amma

( Jayalalithaa) was electedunanimously by both fac-tions [led by Jayalalithaa andJanaki],” Mr. Palanisamysaid.

TeamOPS counters Sasikala’s reply to Election CommissionFormer Chief Minister to meet Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi today to give ‘oral evidence’


CHENNAI

In the four months since thegovernment scrapped theold ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes,the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) and the police have de-tected fake ₹2,000 with aface value of ₹66 lakh acrossthe country.

The government informedthe Lok Sabha that investiga-tions were on to determinewhether the security fea-tures of the new currencynotes were compromised.

On November 8, 2016,Prime Minister NarendraModi announced the with-drawal of the old notes andthe introduction of ₹2,000notes to weed out blackmoney and fake currencynotes.

The Prime Minister saidthe measure would helperadicate corruption and ter-ror funding.

The Union Home Min-istry’s reply in the Lok Sabhasaid that from November 9,2016 to March 7 this year,

3,346 pieces of fake ₹2,000notes were recovered. Thehighest number — 1,323notes with a face value of ₹26lakh — was recovered in Gu-jarat, followed by Delhi(1,261 notes with a face valueof ₹25 lakh) and Karnataka(266 notes).

Smuggled inUnion Minister of State forHome Hansraj GangaramAhir said there had been in-

stances in which the fakenotes had been smuggledfrom the neighbouring coun-tries. An investigation wason to find out if the fakenotes were scanned or pho-tocopied versions of thegenuine note or if the secur-ity features had beencompromised.

Recently, the Bengal po-lice, with the NIA, had seizedfake notes with a face valueof ₹3.9 lakh.

Now, fake ₹2,000 notesturn up like a bad pennyAgencies probing if security features were compromised

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Spot the original: There were instances of counterfeit notesbeing smuggled from neighbouring countries. K R DEEPAK

Former Chief Minister andNational Conference (NC)working president OmarAbdullah on Tuesday saidthat the tough measure ofthe Army Chief, GeneralBipin Rawat, to namepeople converging near en-counter sites as over-ground workers has failedto yield any result.

“The Army Chief ’sthreat was aimed at keep-ing protesters away fromencounter sites. Hethought the threat willkeep people indoors. How-ever, this threat is notworking. Instead, moreand more people are join-ing the protests near theencounter sites,” said Mr.Abdullah in Srinagar.

He also expressed ap-prehensions over deterior-ating security in the State.“The militancy is on therise. Leave aside panchesand sarpanches, formerministers’ security is beingwithdrawn. It’s incumbentupon the EC to create aconducive atmosphere,”said Mr. Abdullah.

Army chief ’sthreat has noresult: OmarSpecial Correspondent

Srinagar

After absconding for threemonths in a case of rape ofthe minor daughter of aformer Bihar Minister, aPatna-based businessman,Nikhil Priyadarshi, and hisfather, Krishna BihariPrasad, a retired IAS officer,were detained by the Ut-tarakhand police onTuesday.

Vehicle checkSenior Superintendent of Po-lice (SSP), Pauri, MukhtarMohsin told The Hindu,“During a regular vehiclecheck near the Chilla area[in Pauri district], we spot-ted an Audi car with a Hary-ana number ... When westarted questioning, the two[Priyadarshi and his father]seemed quite nervous and

that is when we decided tointerrogate the two personsfurther.”

A Google search with Priy-adarshi’s name showed upthe history of the “high-pro-file rape case” in which he isa main accused and hisfather a co-accused, Mr.Mohsin said.

“The confirmation camefrom the Patna SSP [ManuMaharaj] to whom I had sentpictures [of the two ac-cused],” Mr. Mohsin said.

Priyadarshi, an auto-mobile businessman ofPatna, was absconding in thecase of sexually abusing theDalit girl on the pretext ofmarriage.

Sex racketA case under the Protectionof Children from Sexual Of-fences (POSCO) Act and theIndian Penal Code has been

registered against Priyadar-shi in a police station inPatna.

Priyadarshi has also beenaccused of running a sexracket.

The name of the Congressleader Brajesh Pandey toohad come up during the in-vestigation into the case, buthe is yet to be arrested.

The victim had said in herpolice complaint that shehad come into contact withPriyadarshi after a missedcall on her phone.

Earlier, a Patna court hadrejected Priyadarshi’s bailpetition twice.

The father and son havebeen lodged at the Laksh-man Jhula police station inPauri district.

“SIT members have goneto Uttarakhand to bringthem to Patna,” Mr. ManuMaharaj told The Hindu.

Google search leads toarrest of rape accusedNikhil Priyadarshi, his father to be brought back to Patna

Amarnath Tewary

Kavita Upadhyay

Patna/Dehradun

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley on Tuesdaytook additional charge ofthe Defence Ministry, for thesecond time in three years.This follows the resignationof Manohar Parrikar.

On his arrival at the Min-istry in South Block, Mr. Jait-

ley was received by UnionMinister of State SubhashBhamre, Defence SecretaryG. Mohan Kumar and otherofficials. Later, he met thethree service chiefs. Afterthe BJP came to power inMay 2014, Mr. Jaitley was incharge of Defence till Mr.Parrikar took over inNovember that year.

Meets service chiefs and officials


New Delhi

More responsibility: Arun Jaitley taking additional charge ofthe DefenceMinistry in NewDelhi on Tuesday. PTI

Jaitley takes upadditional charge

The Congress on Tuesdayserved a privilege noticeagainst Odisha AgricultureMinister Pradeep Maha-rathy, accusing him of mis-leading the State Assemblyon the recent suicide of afarmer in Bargarh district.

Moving the privilege no-tice, Leader of the Opposi-tion Narasingha Mishrasaid action should be takenagainst the Minister and of-ficers responsible for mis-leading the House aftermaking an inquiry by thePrivileges Committee.

Countering the Minis-ter’s statement that KhainuBagarti committed suicideon March 4 following a dis-pute with his wife, Mr.Mishra said an Advocates'Committee had found thatthe farmer committed sui-cide due to crop failureand loan burden.

PrivilegenoticeagainstMinisterSpecial Correspondent

BHUBANESWAR

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

A ND-ND




WORLD

Seema Verma confirmedfor health care postWASHINGTON

The U.S. Senate hasconfirmed Indian-AmericanSeema Verma for a top healthcare position in the Trumpadministration. The secondIndian-American in theadministration to beconfirmed by the Senate —after UN Ambassador NikkiHaley — Ms. Verma wouldhead the $1 trillion Centers ofMedicare and MedicaidServices that provides healthcare to 130 million people. PTI

ELSEWHERE

Malaysia to deport 50N. Koreans despite banKUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia will deport 50 NorthKoreans for overstaying theirvisas, the Deputy-PrimeMinister said on Tuesday, inan apparent exception to adeparture ban after theassassination of Kim Jong-nam. Ahmad Zahid Hamiditold reporters that 50 NorthKoreans working in Sarawakon Borneo island would bedeported from Malaysiadespite the ban. REUTERS

Israel closes Palestinianmap bureau, arrests headJERUSALEM

Israeli police closed onTuesday a Palestinianresearch centre in Jerusalemand arrested its director, aprominent cartographer.Israeli officials accused itshead Khalil Tafakji of workingwith the Palestinian Authorityto monitor the sale of land byPalestinians to Israeli Jews ineast Jerusalem. AFP

Sharif orders action against‘blasphemous’ contentISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif on Tuesdayordered authorities to takeimmediate action against“blasphemous” content onthe social media, days after aHigh Court order. “Thosebehind this heinous crimeshould be dealt with, withoutany delay,” said Mr. Sharif toInterior Minister ChaudharyNisar Ali Khan. PTI

Religious organisations andrights groups have expressedconcerns about a “disturb-ing” European Court ofJustice ruling on Tuesdaythat enables European com-panies to ban employeesfrom wearing visible reli-gious signs. The court ruledthat employers can ban thewearing of visible political,philosophical or religioussigns, so long as it wasalready included in com-pany laws, and equally ap-plied. While the cases con-sidered by the ECJ involvethe headscarf, the ruling willalso apply to other religioussymbols such as Sikhturbans, Christian crucifixes,or Jewish Kippahs.

The ruling could be usedas a “licence to discriminateat the point of hire”, saidMejindarpal Kaur, interna-tional legal director of thenetwork, United Sikhs, in anemailed statement. “The rul-

ing is disturbing as it has al-lowed an employer’s free-dom to conduct business tooverride an employee’s fun-damental human right topractice her faith.”

The ruling gave employersthe leeway to “discriminateagainst women — and men —on the grounds of religiousbelief”, said John Dalhuisenof Amnesty International.“At a time when identity and

appearance have become apolitical battleground,people need more protec-tion against prejudice.”

“We fear that this rulingwill serve as a green light tothose wishing to normalisediscrimination against faithcommunities,” said a spokes-person for the Muslim Coun-cil of Britain.

“Many will be worriedthat this action will prevent

Muslim women who choseto wear the scarf from secur-ing jobs.”

Two casesThe Luxembourg-basedcourt’s ruling involves twocases: that of Samira Achbitawho was dismissed from herrole with Belgian firm G4SSecure Solutions in 2006after expressing her intent tostart wearing a headscarf.The second involved AsmaBoughnaoui, who was dis-missed by French firm Mi-cropole in 2009, after a cli-ent complained about herwearing of the headscarf.

In the case of Ms. Achbita,the court noted that therewas an internal G4S rule thatemployees were prohibitedfrom wearing visible signs ofpolitical, philosophical or re-ligious beliefs in the work-place without distinction.Prohibiting wearing a head-scarf, under such circum-stances where the rule wasapplied in a “consistent and

systematic manner” did not“constitute direct discrimin-ation based on religion orbelief,” it concluded.

However, in the case ofMs. Boughanaoui, the courtconcluded that the bancould not be based on “sub-jective considerations” suchas the employer’s willing-ness to listen to the custom-er’s demands.

“The ECJ has qualified itsruling by saying that a banon religious signs by an em-ployer can only be justified ifit is based on an internalrule… However, we fear thatemployers will treat it as a li-cence to discriminate at thepoint of hire,” said Ms. Kaur,from United Sikhs.

“Instead of seeking tomake us all look the same,governments and employersshould focus on protectingour fundamental right tofreely express our faith,’ saidMartha Spurrier, director ofU.K. civil liberty and humanrights body Liberty.

EU religious signs ban sparks outrageRights groups raise concerns after court rules that employers can ban staff from wearing such symbols

Fears of discrimination: A protest in Brussels in March 2010against the prohibition of headscarf in schools. AFP

Vidya Ram

LONDON

British Prime MinisterTheresa May scored a parlia-mentary victory as bothHouses of Parliamentpassed the Brexit bill un-amended late on Monday,leaving her free to triggerArticle 50 by the end ofMarch as planned. Therehad been speculation thatBrexit talks could betriggered as early as Tues-day, but it is now expectedto take place at the end ofmonth, following a meetingof EU heads of governmentsin Rome on March 25 tomark the 60th anniversaryof the Rome Treaties, thefounding treaties of theEuropean project.

The parliamentary vic-tory was somewhat over-shadowed by Monday’s an-nouncement by ScottishFirst Minister Nicola Stur-geon of plans to hold asecond referendum beforethe end of Brexit talks in2019. Ms. Sturgeon arguedthat her government hadfaced a “brick wall of in-transigence” in Westmin-ster, and a lack of willing-ness to engage with thedevolved assemblies as hadbeen promised, particularlyon the issue of single marketaccess. Also complicatingmatters was the call by theSinn Fein, the secondlargest party in NorthernIreland, for a vote on unify-ing Northern Ireland withthe Republic of Ireland.

Vote on legislationThe legislation on Brexit hasmade rapid progressthrough the Houses of Par-liament from late January.The Brexit bill first made itthrough the House of Com-mons unchallenged, butpeers in the House of Lordswere successful in introdu-

cing two amendments guar-anteeing the right to remainof EU citizens in the U.K.,and requiring Parliament tobe given more of a voicethrough the negotiations.The government hadalready pledged a vote toParliament, but peerssought to ensure it was ameaningful one rather thanone that was done on a“take it or leave it basis”,leaving Parliament with thechoice between the deal be-ing proposed and revertingto WTO rules. However,when the bill was returnedto the House of Commons,these clauses were re-moved, and the House ofLords subsequently chosenot to make another chal-lenge, passing the bill by amajority of 274 to 118.

The lack of any amend-ment to the original legisla-tion means that the govern-ment will be able tocommence Brexit talksalong the lines outlined byPrime Minister Theresa Mayin January and in a sub-sequent white paper, takingBritain out of the Europeansingle market and the cus-toms union to enable thegovernment to end freedomof movement from the EU.

U.K. Parliament clearsway for Brexit talks

PM Theresa May is expected to triggerArticle 50 by month-end as planned

Vidya Ram

London

Tourist post cards at a shopin London. GETTY IMAGES

Fourteen million Americanswould lose medical insur-ance by next year under aRepublican plan to dis-mantle Obamacare thatwould also reduce thebudget deficit, a non-par-tisan congressional researchoffice said on Monday,throwing U.S. PresidentDonald Trump and Repub-licans on the defensive asthey press forward with re-placement legislation.

The U.S. CongressionalBudget Office (CBO) forecastthat 24 million more peoplewould be uninsured in 2026if the plan being consideredby the House of Representat-ives to replace the 2010 Af-fordable Care Act were to beadopted. Obamacare, asPresident Barack Obama’s

signature piece of domesticpolicy is commonly called,expanded insurance toabout 20 million Americans.

Hearing postponedHours after the CBO reportwas released, the HouseBudget Committee post-poned its consideration ofthe Republican Bill toThursday from Wednesday.Prior to the report, Repub-licans had been planning tovote soon on the Bill in theHouse, where it is likely topass, and send it to the Sen-ate, where its outlook is un-certain. The CBO projectedthat 52 million people wouldbe uninsured by 2026 if theBill became law, comparedwith 28 million who wouldnot have coverage that yearif the law remainedunchanged.

Two House of Represent-atives committees have ap-proved the legislation to dis-mantle Obamacare that wasunveiled by Republican lead-ers a week ago, but it facesopposition from not onlyDemocrats but also medicalproviders including doctorsand hospitals and many con-servatives. The CBO report’sfindings could make the Re-publican plan a harder sellfor lawmakers, particularlyin the U.S. Senate. The CBO,however, said federal defi-cits would fall by $337 billionbetween 2017 and 2026 un-der the Republican Bill.

The Affordable Care Actaimed to help restrain U.S.healthcare spending, whichis about 17% of the nation’seconomy, but it has contin-ued to grow faster thaninflation.

‘14 million will lose coverageif Obamacare is repealed’Report comes as Trump prepares to dismantle the plan

Reuters

Washington

The bicentennial of the birthof Karl Marx was supposedto bring his hometown,Trier, Germany, an import-ant exhibition about his lifeand an increase in tourism.

But an offer from China topresent the city with anearly 20-foot-tall bronzestatue of Marx, the 19th-cen-tury intellectual who wasone of the writers of TheCommunist Manifesto, isovershadowing the festivitiesa year before they begin.

Months of discussionAfter months of discussionand more than an hour oflively debate, the City Coun-cil in Trier, in western Ger-many near the border withLuxembourg, decided onMonday to accept the giftfrom the Chinese govern-ment, by the sculptor Wu

Weishan. However, the coun-cil left open the thorny ques-tions of how large it wouldbe and where in the city itwould stand.

“Karl Marx is one of themost important citizens ofthis city, and we should nothide him,” the Mayor ofTrier, Wolfram Leibe, toldthe public broadcaster SWRbefore the vote.

The debate over the giftbegan last year when Chinaannounced that on the occa-sion of Marx's 200th birth-day on May 5, Beijing wouldpresent the his hometownwith a bronze statue.

Statues of Marx, who wasborn in Trier on May 5, 1818,and later lived in Berlin, Lon-don and Paris, were com-mon throughout EasternEurope during the Cold War,and several still survive inGermany’s formerly com-munist eastern states, in-

cluding in Berlin. But hisbirthplace, firmly in theformer West Germany, hasstruggled with how best toremember its famous son.

The city, which is on thebanks of the Moselle Riverand in an important wine-producing area, has increas-ingly become a destination

for tourists from China, butmany residents are never-theless uncomfortable withaccepting a gift from theChinese government.

“China is not a free coun-try, quite the opposite,” aTrier newspaper quoted To-bias Schneider of the FreeDemocratic Party in Trier assaying on Monday.

“We could draw up a longlist of human rights viola-tions. Do we want to allowsuch a rogue regime to setup a statue of Karl Marx inthe heart of our city?”

Bicentennial of MarxThe Chinese told city offi-cials they were offering thestatue to honour the bicen-tennial and as a symbol ofthe strong ties between thecountries. The Chinese gov-ernment agreed to coverabout two-thirds of the costof a pedestal for the statueand its installation, estim-ated at €1,05,000 (about$1,12,000).

But after word spreadabout the gift, many resid-ents balked at the idea of a

bronze version of the fatherof communism toweringover the Simeonstiftplatz,the city’s square, which isnamed for a church thatonce stood there. City au-thorities erected a woodenstand-in in the square to giveresidents an idea of how itmight look.

Final height unclearIn the end, a majority of thecouncil voted to accept thestatue, although perhaps asmaller version of it thanwas originally envisioned,with a final height to be de-termined later.

It would be unveiled aspart of the city’s attempt tore-examine Marx’s work andthe turbulent time in whichhe lived, through exhibitionsand intellectual discussions.

“This debate is less abouthuman rights, aesthetics orlocation” of the statue,Richard Lueckefeld of theGreen Party said. “It is aboutgetting the city out of a pre-dicament, because those re-sponsible have failed to hon-our Karl Marx.” NYT

Marx’s hometown to accept China’s gift statueBeijing offered to present the city ofTrier with a bronze statue, ahead of his200th birth anniversary on May 5

Melissa Eddy

Berlin

Birthplace: A bust at the garden of the Karl Marx Housemuseum in Trier, Germany. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Russia appears to have de-ployed special forces to anairbase in western Egyptnear the border with Libyain recent days, U.S., Egyp-tian and diplomatic sourcessay, a move that would addto U.S. concerns about Mo-scow’s deepening role inLibya.

The U.S. and diplomaticofficials said any such Rus-sian deployment might bepart of a bid to supportLibyan military commanderKhalifa Haftar, who suffereda setback with an attack onMarch 3 by the Benghazi De-fence Brigades on oil portscontrolled by his forces.

The U.S. officials said theU.S. has observed what ap-peared to be Russian specialoperations forces anddrones at Sidi Barrani,about 100 km from theEgypt-Libya border. Egyp-tian security sources offered

more detail, describing a 22-member Russian specialforces unit, but declined todiscuss its mission. They ad-ded that Russia also usedanother Egyptian basefarther east in Marsa Mat-rouh in early February.

The apparent Russian de-ployments have not beenpreviously reported. TheRussian Defence Ministrydid not immediately providecomment on Monday andEgypt denied the presenceof any Russian contingenton its soil. “There is no for-eign soldier from any for-eign country on Egyptiansoil. This is a matter of sov-ereignty,” Egyptian armyspokesman Tamer al-Rifaisaid.

The U.S. military declinedcomment. U.S. intelligenceon Russian military activit-ies is often complicated byits use of contractors orforces without uniforms, of-ficials say.

Russia ‘deploys’special forces in Egypt

Eyes role in Libya, say diplomats

Reuters

Washington/Cairo

French presidential candid-ate Francois Fillon was putunder formal investigationon Tuesday over misuse ofpublic funds in the fake jobsscandal involving his wife,the prosecutor’s office said.

The 63-year-old conser-vative candidate was put un-der formal investigation onsuspicion of diverting publicfunds, complicity in misap-propriating funds, receivingthe funds and not declaringassets fully, a judicial sourcesaid.

Mr. Fillon’s lawyer couldnot immediately be reached

for comment. Mr. Fillon,who has for weeks deniedany wrongdoing and said heis the victim of a “man-hunt”, had initially said hewould answer a summons togo and see examining magis-trates on Wednesday andnot Tuesday.

Under French law, beingput under formal investiga-tion means there is “seriousor consistent evidence” thatpoints to probable involve-ment of a suspect in acrime. It is a step towards atrial, but a number of suchinvestigations have beendropped without going tocourt.

Fillon placed underformal investigation

Suspected of diverting public funds

Reuters

Paris

The government of Nepalwill ensure greater repres-entation of the Madhesipeople in the local bodies,said the country’s DeputyPrime Minister BimalendraNidhi on Tuesday. He addedthat elections cannot bedelayed and that the Mad-hesis will have to show flex-ibility even as the Madhesimorcha leaders said thatthey are determined to pre-vent the election processwithout the constitutionalamendments.

“We will ensure greaterparticipation of the Mad-

hesis in the local bodieswhich will address the de-mand for greater representa-tion of the Madhesi popula-tion in the local bodies”,said Mr. Nidhi, adding, “weare willing to consider otherdemands like the territorialdemarcation and inclusionof Madhesi language in thecoming days”.

Mr. Nidhi, who is on abrief visit to India, said thatthe government of PrimeMinister Pushpa Kamal Da-hal ‘Prachanda’ will takeinto consideration views ofall sides before holding theelections.

The peace overture drew

a quick negative responsefrom the Madhesi leaderswho said that Kathmandu istrying to mislead the Mad-hesis. “Madhesis constitute52% of the total populationof Nepal but have barely20% representation in theNational Assembly. The locallevel elections have not beenheld for two decades butalready the government isplanning to reduce thepower of these bodies asthey are not allowing theprovinces to hold the elec-tions in the lawful manner,”said Upendra Yadav, co-ordinator of the United Mad-hesi Democratic Front.

‘Madhesis will have greaterrepresentation in local bodies’

Kallol Bhattacherjee

New Delhi

Nepal Deputy PM says civic elections cannot be delayed

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

ACC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1415.40. . . . . . . 15.40

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 309.25. . . . . . . 10.45

Ambuja Cements . . . . 233.70. . . . . . . . . 4.65

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . 1071.40. . . . . . . 41.15

Aurobindo Pharma . 662.20. . . . . . . . . 9.70

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510.90. . . . . . . -5.00

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2866.70. . . . . . . . . 2.15

Bank of Baroda. . . . . . . 161.00. . . . . . . . . 2.00

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . 361.10. . . . . . . -3.80

BHEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.35. . . . . . . . . 3.25

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22591.45. . . -169.70

BPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636.70. . . . . . . 13.35

Cipla. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600.20. . . . . . . 11.10

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294.95. . . . . -21.35

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . . 2741.00. . . . . . . 25.15

Eicher Motors . . . . . . . . . 24001.25. . . . .644.70

GAIL (India) . . . . . . . . . . . . 375.80. . . . . . . -2.45

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1033.90. . . . . . . 34.85

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853.60. . . . . . . . . 7.25

HDFC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424.15. . . . . . . 50.35

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1410.70. . . . . . . 10.60

Hero MotoCorp. . . . . . . 3357.45. . . . . . . 46.40

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.40. . . . . . . . . 2.80

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . . 913.75. . . . . . . 38.55

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287.25. . . . . . . 16.70

Idea Cellular . . . . . . . . . . . 103.05. . . . . . . -1.20

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . . 1354.20. . . . . . . 18.45

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . . 310.05. . . . . . . . . 1.60

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034.80. . . . . . . 12.95

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267.10. . . . . . . . . 3.65

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 836.15. . . . . . . . . 7.25

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1558.10. . . . . . . 66.50

Lupin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1446.95. . . . . . . -0.15

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1326.00. . . . . . . 23.25

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . . 6132.40. . . . .176.80

NTPC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.60. . . . . . . . . 2.50

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191.90. . . . . . . . . 0.30

PowerGrid Corp. . . . . . 193.65. . . . . . . . . 1.10

Reliance Ind. . . . . . . . . . . . 1289.50. . . . . . . . . 7.85

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274.65. . . . . . . . . 2.60

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . 708.20. . . . . . . 25.25

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . 469.75. . . . . . . . . 0.65

Tata Motors DVR . . . . 282.10. . . . . . . . . 2.20

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.65. . . . . . . . . 1.70

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472.55. . . . . . . . . 4.80

TCS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2567.50. . . . . . . 25.25

Tech Mahindra. . . . . . . . 479.85. . . . . . . . . 4.05

UltraTech Cement . . 3998.95. . . . .146.50

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501.35. . . . . . . 14.30

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1531.75. . . . . . . 50.40

Zee Entertainment . 522.65. . . . . . . . . 7.85

EXCHANGE RATESIndicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at4 p.m. on March 14

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.62. . . . . . . 65.94

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 69.77. . . . . . . 70.11

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 79.61. . . . . . . 80.00

Japanese Yen (100) . . .. . 57.07. . . . . . . 57.35

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 9.49. . . . . . . . . 9.54

Swiss Franc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65.05. . . . . . . 65.37

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . . .. . 46.38. . . . . . . 46.62

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . . .. . 48.79. . . . . . . 49.03

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . . .. . 14.74. . . . . . . 14.82

Source:Indian Bank

market watch

14-03-2017 %

CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,443 dddd1.72

US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd65.82 dddd1.17

Goldddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 28,900 dd -0.52

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd50.74 dd -2.70

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

March 14 rates in rupees with previous rates in paren-theses

Retail Silver (1g). . . . . . . . . . 43.30. . . . (43.30)

22 ct gold (1 g). .. . . . . . . . . . 2,739. . . . (2,742)

Retail and wholesale priceinflation accelerated in Feb-ruary, spurred by food andfuel prices, vindicating theReserve Bank of India’s de-cision to change its monet-ary stance to “neutral” amidconcerns about the “persist-ence” of price gains in cat-egories excluding food andfuel.

While retail inflation asmeasured by the ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) quickenedto 3.65%, from January’s3.2%, according to data fromthe Ministry of Statistics andProgramme Implementa-tion, wholesale price infla-tion accelerated sharply to a39-month high of 6.55%, aseparate release from theMinistry of Commerce andIndustry showed. In compar-ison, the Wholesale Price In-dex (WPI) based reading was5.25% in January.

Perishable food prices“In our view, CPI inflationtroughed in January (at 3.2%y-o-y) and will start risingdue to higher perishablefood prices, a gradual nar-rowing of the output gap,higher minimum supportprices and the recent uptickin rural wages,” Nomura eco-nomist Sonal Varma wrote ina report.

The RBI, which is aimingat CPI inflation of 5% byMarch-end with a mandateto achieve a medium-termtarget of 4% plus/minus 2%,last month cautioned thatvegetable prices may “poten-tially rebound” as the defla-tionary effects of demonet-isation wear off. The centralbank said at the time that “abroad-based stickiness is dis-cernible in inflation,” partic-ularly in housing, health,education, and miscel-laneous goods and services

consumed by households.Tuesday’s data showed in-

flation in the housing seg-ment of the CPI quickenedmarginally to 5.02% in Feb-ruary from 4.98% in January.Inflation in the food andbeverages category of theCPI was at 2.5% in February,quickening from 1.3% inJanuary.

Similarly, retail inflation inthe fuel and lighting cat-egory accelerated to 3.9%,from 3.4% in the precedingmonth.

“On the policy front, weexpect the RBI to leave ratesunchanged throughout2017,” Nomura’s Varmaadded.

Primary articles inflationin the WPI accelerated to 5%in February, from 1.3% inJanuary. Within this, infla-tion in the food articles seg-ment sped to 2.7%, from acontraction of 0.56% in Janu-ary. Non-food articles infla-tion was at 6.5% in February,

compared with 2% in Janu-ary. The minerals segmentsaw the third month of rapidinflation, with the rate accel-erating to 31% in February,from 25% in January.

“The acceleration (in theWPI) was driven by a sharprise in primary articles andfuel inflation,” Nomura’sVarma wrote. “Primary infla-tion rose to 5% y-o-y in Feb-ruary from 1.3% in January,led by a 1.5% m-o-m (month-on-month) rise in non-foodprices (flowers, rubber,coconut) and a steep 9% m-o-m rise in mineral prices(manganese ore, crude pet-roleum, copper ore). Fuelprice inflation also picked upon higher coking coal andother market-linked fuelprices.”

Wholesale inflation in thefuel and power segmentquickened to 21% in Febru-ary, from 18% in the previousmonth. Within this, coalprice inflation stood at 19%.

“We had expected an ad-verse base effect to push upWPI inflation in February2017 to 5.9%,” Aditi Nayar,Principal Economist at ICRA,said. “The lagged revision inthe minerals sub-index, par-ticularly for crude oil, con-tributed to the sharper-than-anticipated spike in WPI in-flation to 6.5% in February2017, as well as the upwardrevision in the December2016 print to 3.7%.”

Inflation in manufacturedproducts in the WPI easedmarginally to 3.7% in Febru-ary, from 4% in January.

“Manufactured inflationmoderated to 3.7% y-o-y inFebruary from 4% in Janu-ary, as prices of beveragesand tobacco, wood, leatherand basic metal products de-clined sequentially,”Nomura’s Varma wrote.“Thus, the WPI inflation up-tick was driven by higher in-put costs and not by higheroutput prices.”

Food and fuel prices spur

acceleration in inflationCPI inflation quickens to 3.65%, WPI-based figure hits 39-month high of 6.55%

Costlier calories: Economists see food prices continuing to climb as perishables become dearerleaving the RBI little option but to hold interest rates in 2017.


NEW DELHI The benchmark Sensextouched a new 52-week highon Tuesday as stocks ralliedon the back of a strong out-come for the BJP in the re-cently-concluded State elec-tions. Tuesday was the firsttrading session after the res-ults were announced on Sat-urday and the Sensex soaredmore than 600 points dur-ing the trading session.

The 30-share benchmarktouched a 52-week high of29,561.93 during the morn-ing session, before closing at29,442.63, up 496.40 pointsor 1.71%. Incidentally, theSensex is now only 582points shy of its all-time re-cord high of 30,024.74,touched on March 4, 2015.

The broader Nifty gained152.45 points, or 1.71%, toclose at 9,087. Interestingly,the India VIX index — a baro-meter for near-term volatil-ity — declined 11.2% to closeat 12.4 from the previous ses-sion’s close of 13.96.

While attributing thesurge to the positive verdictfor the BJP, market parti-cipants said that the currentrally is showing signs of sus-tainability with both foreignand domestic investors flushwith funds and waiting onthe sidelines to deploy inquality stocks.

They, however, addedthat earnings would play akey role in providing thenext set of positive triggersfor the market.

‘Inflexion point’“We think this momentum ishere to stay and think fromlong-term perspective weare on the cusp of positiveinflexion point for earn-ings,” said Motilal Oswal,chairman & managing dir-ector, Motilal Oswal Finan-cial Services.

“Domestic mutual funds

and insurance companieshave seen large and continu-ous inflows and as a result,have created large cashpools in the portfolios. Theywill have to deploy thatmoney aggressively, that willkeep the momentum of themarket high and will lookforward to the FY17 lastquarter earnings,” he added.

Data shows that foreigninvestors have invested al-most ₹10,000 crore in equit-ies in the month of March,after pouring in ₹9,902 crorein February.

In its latest India strategyreport, Bank of AmericaMerrill Lynch (BofA ML) saidthat the equity markets wereexpected to “stay strong” onaccount of the election res-ults. The global financial ma-jor said that while the Indianmarket was trading aboveaverage multiples, India’sbusiness cycle “should im-prove over the next severalquarters.”

However, it added thatthe market knows the chal-lenges of policy implement-ation and so the rally mightnot be an extended one asseen in 2014. “Market seems

susceptible to global risks.March earnings may still seethe effects of demonetisa-tion. We stay cautious in thenear term. Dec (December)2017 Sensex target of29,000,” said BofA ML.

Similarly, Kotak Institu-tional Equities opined thatthe market would now shiftfocus to earnings and anykind of “disappointment onearnings will make valu-ations look even more ex-pensive, which the marketmay not like.”

Meanwhile, the rally onTuesday was broadbasedwith 1,696 stocks gaining, asagainst 1,140 declines. Allthe sectoral indices barringBSE Telecom and BSE Metal,also ended the day in posit-ive territory.

The gains in the Sensexpack were led by ICICI Bankthat rose almost 6%, or ₹16.2to close at ₹286.75. Bankingpeers HDFC Bank and StateBank of India also gainedground.

The rupee too gained,strengthening ₹0.78 againstthe dollar on Tuesday toclose at 65.82 – a level lastseen in November 2015.

Rupee strengthens to 65.82, highest level since Nov. 2015


MUMBAI

Soaring high: The Sensex is only 582 points shy of its all-timehigh of 30,024.74, hit onMarch 4, 2015.

Sensex touches 52-weekhigh on poll outcome

Apple’s plans to Make in In-dia may get delayed, withthe Ministry of Electronicsand IT stating that it “maynot be feasible” to grant theU.S.-based technology majorexemptions from certain du-ties that it had sought.

“Apple is seeking an ex-emption from Phased Manu-facturing Programme (PMP),which means that chargers,batteries and headphonesfor manufacture of Applephones be exempted frombasic custom duty (BCD)andcountervailing duty (CVD),which may not be feasible,”the Ministry had said in itsresponse to the Apple wishlist received for commentsfrom the Prime Minister’sOffice, a senior official toldThe Hindu.

Current exemptionsPresently, all inputs for man-ufacture of mobile handsets,except chargers, batteriesand headphones, are ex-empted from BCD and CVD.Since Apple does not intendto source its componentslocally, it had asked for re-moval of all forms of duties,pre and post GST, on com-pletely knocked down andsemi-knocked down units ofits iPhones that will be as-sembled in India.

The official explained thatthe government had intro-duced the Phased Manufac-turing Programme for mo-bile handsets to increasedomestic value addition.

Under PMP, headphones,chargers and batteries aresubject to CVD of 12.5% onimport since Budget 2016-17and the domestic manufac-turers of these products areextended differential exciseduty dispensation “by virtueof which all their importsare exempted from BCD andCVD and excise duty of 2% islevied on domestically man-ufactured headphones,chargers and batteries.”

“MeitY had proposed thatthis be extended to five

more sub-assemblies of mo-bile handsets in the budget2017-18. However, the pro-posal was not agreed to bythe Department of Revenuein Budget 2017-18,” the offi-cial said, adding that Apple’srequest entailed the removalof all forms of existing andfuture duty for all compon-ents, including the threethat were subject to CVD forthe next 15 years.

On Apple’s request for ex-empting all capital goods formanufacture of mobilehandset from BCD and CVD,the Ministry pointed out thatas part of its Budget 2017-18recommendations, it had re-commended that all capitalgoods for manufacture ofmobile handsets be exemp-ted from BCD and CVD.However, the request wasnot agreed to by the Depart-ment of Revenue in theBudget 2017-18.

Wish listIn a meeting between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andApple CEO Tim Cook in May2016, there was an agree-ment to work together formanufacture of iPhones inIndia, the official said,adding that a list of requests

in this regard was receivedin the PMO via a letter datedOctober 10, 2016, which wasforwarded to the authoritiesconcerned, including MeitY,Department of Revenue,Ministry of Commerce andMinistry of Environment,Forests and Climate Change,by the DIPP for appropriateaction.

To examine the issuesraised by Apple, the DIPPSecretary had also conveneda meeting with all ministriesconcerned on January 25,2017 along with Applerepresentatives.

Manufacturing line“Apple is planning entry intwo phases. They plan tostart a manufacturing line inspring 2017 which wouldhelp them build a deeperunderstanding of manufac-turing in India as well as op-erating environment in In-dia. After, the successfulcompletion of Phase 1 andagreement on the require-ments, they would plan anexpansion of their manufac-turing capacity to poten-tially fulfil domestic demandand seek to expand to ex-port market,” the officialsaid.

iPhone maker had sought duty exemption for components

Apple of discord: The techmajor does not intend to source itscomponents locally, hence wants removal of duties. REUTERS

MeitY upsets Apple cart,says tax sops not feasible

Yuthika Bhargava

New Delhi

Tata Sons hasstrengthened the Chair-man’s office by hiring well-known investment bankerAnkur Verma to join theholding company of theTata Group. He would beclosely working with N.Chandrasekaran, who tookover as Tata Sons Chair-man on February 21, 2017.

“Mr. Ankur Verma hasjoined us effective March14, 2017, in the Chairman’sOffice,” a Tata Sons groupspokesperson said, con-firming the appointment.

Mr. Verma has joinedTata Sons from Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynchwhere he served as Man-aging Director (InvestmentBanking Division).

M&A experience“He brings with him ex-tensive experience in theareas of corporate plan-ning, strategy, investmentbanking and mergers & ac-quisitions,” the Tata Sonsgroup spokesperson said.

Mr. Verma has a PGDMfrom the Indian Institute ofManagement, Calcutta,after graduating in Mech-anical Engineering fromthe Delhi College of Engin-eering.

This is the first majorhiring at Tata Sons fromoutside the group afterformer chairman CyrusMistry was ousted from hisposition as well as from thegroup in a bitter powerstruggle.

The Group ExecutiveCouncil (GEC), which wasset up by Mr. Mistry wasdisbanded soon after hisremoval. GEC membersMadhu Kannan, ProfessorNirmalya Kumar and N.S.Rajan, who were hiredfrom outside, were askedto go and other GEC mem-bers Tata insiders MukundRajan and Harish Bhatwere transferred to differ-ent roles.

The GEC used to providestrategic support to Mr.Mistry. It is still not knownwhether Tata Sons wouldrevive the GEC or establisha similar structure.

Tata Sons

hires Verma

of BofA-MLLalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image




BUSINESS

IN BRIEF

Singapore Airlines,SilkAir, Vistara ink pactMUMBAI

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and

its subsidiary SilkAir have

signed an agreement to code

share on Indian domestic

flights operated by Vistara,

with effect from March 14,

2017. Vistara is a joint

venture between Tata Sons

and SIA. SIA will add its ‘SQ’

designator code to Vistara-

operated flights beyond

Mumbai and New Delhi to 10

destinations. SilkAir will add

its code to Vistara-operated

flights beyond Bengaluru and

Kolkata to six destinations.

TVS unveils BS-IV-readyJupiter scooterCHENNAI

TVS Motor Company, a

leading two-wheeler

manufacturer, has unveiled

its BS-IV-compliant TVS

Jupiter. The scooter comes

with auto headlamp on

(AHO) and is equipped with

sync braking system (SBS).

SBS ensures safety as it

activates the front brakes

when the rear brakes are

used. The feature, previously

available on ZX range, will

now be available on the Base

variant as well, according to

a company statement.

L&T exits realty JV withPragnya GroupCHENNAI

L&T Realty Ltd., a wholly-

owned subsidiary of Larsen &

Toubro, has decided to quit

L&T South City Projects

Private Ltd., a joint venture

with Pragnya Group. The JV

is engaged in the

development of a residential

township at Siruseri. Pragnya

Group is focussed on

property development and

fund management. L&T

Realty holds 51% stake in the

joint venture. It has now

inked a share purchase

agreement to sell its entire

stake to Pragnya Group.

BRICS nations will soon con-

sider a proposal to frame

‘guiding principles’ for in-

vestment policymaking to

boost investment flows into

Brazil, Russia, India, China

and South Africa as well as

take steps to promote e-

commerce among the five

leading emerging econom-

ies.

In addition, the BRICS

Contact Group on Economic

and Trade Issues (CGETI)

meeting – slated for early

next week in Beijing – will

also discuss measures for

closer cooperation among

the BRICS countries for de-

veloping their respective na-

tional single window for

trade facilitation, official

sources told The Hindu.

China, the current BRICS

chair, wants to push ‘invest-

ment facilitation’ and ‘e-

commerce’–related issues,

the sources said. Beijing’s

proposal for ‘Guiding Prin-

ciples for BRICS Investment

Policymaking’ is similar to

‘Guiding Principles’ agreed

by the G20 (group of 20 ma-

jor economies of the world)

Trade Ministers at Shanghai

in July 2016 under the

Chinese G20 Presidency,

they said. India was part of

that meeting. China has also

been at the forefront of a

proposal for a global pact on

‘investment facilitation and

promotion’ at the World

Trade Organisation (WTO)-

level, and is making efforts

to ensure that the proposal

on a global investment pact

gains traction before the

WTO Ministerial Conference

(MC) meeting in December

2017 in Buenos Aires (Argen-

tina). The MC meeting is the

WTO’s highest decision-tak-

ing body.

The ‘G20 Guiding Prin-

ciples for Global Investment

Policymaking’, among other

things, states that, “Govern-

ments should avoid protec-

tionism in relation to cross-

border investment” and that

“investment policies should

establish open, non-discrim-

inatory, transparent and pre-

dictable conditions for in-

vestment.”

It adds that, “dispute set-

tlement procedures should

be fair, open and transpar-

ent, with appropriate safe-

guards to prevent abuse.”

China, driving this year’s

BRICS agenda, now wants

the BRICS nations to separ-

ately adopt these principles

and enter into an ‘invest-

ment facilitation’ agree-

ment. India had recently re-

jected a proposal by the

European Union and Canada

at the WTO-level for a global

investment pact that incor-

porates the contentious In-

vestor-State Dispute Settle-

ment (ISDS) mechanism.

The ISDS mechanism allows

firms to drag governments to

international arbitration

without waiting to exhaust

the available local remedies

and seek huge

compensation.

Focus on e-commerceChina has been leading the

discussions on e-commerce

at the global level. In Novem-

ber 2016, the WTO said

China had proposed that dis-

cussions at WTO should fo-

cus on the promotion and fa-

cilitation of cross-border

trade in goods enabled by

the Internet. “It (China) said

discussions (on e-com-

merce) could also include

services directly supporting

this, such as payment and

logistic services,” the WTO

said.

Incidentally, there is a

proposal for setting up a

common payment gateway

to promote e-commerce

among BRICS.

BRICS to discuss stepsto boost investmentCoordination on e-commerce issues also on agenda

ARUN S

New Delhi

Dragon charge: China has also been leading the discussions on

e-commerce at the global level. REUTERS

Blue Star will take forward

its plans for a greenfield air-

conditioning plant in Jammu

only after assuring itself of

getting concessions under

the Central GST similar to

Cenvat benefits available

now for setting up manufac-

turing units in hill States, a

top official said.

The Cenvat benefit of 14%

remained a major attraction

for new manufacturing facil-

ities in hilly regions. Clarity

on whether the same would

be extended under the GST

regime is expected only by

July, said B.Thiagarajan, Joint

Managing Director, Blue

Star, replying to a question

on whether the company’s

plans to set up a plant in

Jammu would be dropped.

Instead, the air-condition-

ing and commercial refriger-

ation firm may go in for a

bigger facility at Sri City in

Andhra Pradesh. It had pro-

posed to set up a facility

each in the two States at a

total outlay of about ₹300

crore which would have

doubled the capacity for

room ACs to one million

units. The two were in lieu of

facilities the company had

closed in Thane and

Bharuch. Proximity to sea

ports also worked in favour

of going for a bigger facility

in Sri City where the com-

pany had acquired about 30

acres of land and proposed

to make deep freezers, water

purifiers and certain cat-

egories of ACs.

Sri City facilityIf the CGST concessions

were not available in Jammu,

then the company was likely

to opt to increase capacity

for ACs at Sri City, Mr.

Thiagarajan added.

Mr.Thiagarajan said fiscal

incentives were key to creat-

ing an eco-system for manu-

facturing air-conditioners in

hilly regions, particularly

given the challenges on lo-

gistics and warehousing

management fronts. He was

speaking after unveiling an

energy efficient air-condi-

tioner range here in Hydera-

bad on Tuesday.

He said those planning to

purchase ACs should do so

now as the GST regime

would push up the prices.

Blue Star may drop Jammu plantThe air-conditioning major is likely to go for a bigger facility at Sri City


HYDERABAD

Cold storage: Fiscal incentives were the key to creating an

eco-system for manufacturing air-conditioners in hilly regions.

The U.S. health regulator

has proposed to lift an im-

port alert on Sun Pharma’s

Mohali-based manufactur-

ing plant. The drug major

has been informed by the

U.S. Food and Drug Admin-

istration (USFDA) that it

will lift the import alert im-

posed on the Mohali plant

and remove the facility

from the Official Action Ini-

tiated (OAI) status, Sun

Pharmaceutical Industries

said in a regulatory filing.

“This proposed action will

clear the path for Sun

Pharma to supply ap-

proved products from the

Mohali facility to the U.S.

market, subject to normal

U.S. FDA regulatory re-

quirements,” it said. The

firm inherited the facility

as part of its acquisition of

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.

USFDA to liftimport alerton Sun plant

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI

City-based Pace Automation

Ltd. has partnered with IBM

to provide a cloud-based

solution to help native kir-

ana merchants turn into

e-tailers.

Pace is gearing up to de-

ploy RetailSmart, an end-to-

end integrated solution on

IBM cloud, to make kirana

stores (small neighbourhood

stores) e-commerce–ready.

“We have taken a leap of

faith,’’ said S.G. Chandru,

founder-chairman and

mentor, Pace Automation.

The product, according to

him, is entirely designed

and developed by people in

Pace and funded by internal

accruals. The entire system

would be made locally in

Bengaluru with IBM provid-

ing the cloud infrastructure.

RetailSmart is designed to

help the stores deliver con-

venient online shopping ex-

perience and enable con-

sumers to pay safely using a

convenient payment mode.

RetailSmart can also help

kirana merchants add new

revenue streams such as of-

fering micro-banking ser-

vices to residents in the

neighbourhood.

The solution helps a kir-

ana merchant log into the in-

terconnected SmartKirana

network. The merchant will

be provided with a purpose-

built point-of-sale terminal

comprising two display

screens (merchant and cus-

tomer-facing), a printer,

card reader, bar code scan-

ner and a finger print scan-

ner. According to Mr.

Chandru, the sub-systems

talk freely with each other

and the central processing

server in a wireless mode.

The tie-up with IBM gives

Pace access to its high-end

analytical tool, which multi-

plies opportunities for scal-

ing up, said Mr. Chandru.

Cloud solution to help make outlets e-commerce ready

K.T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI

Kiranamerchants can now

turn e-tailers.

Pace Automation, IBM allyto help kirana stores e-tail

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

A ND-ND




SPORT

The surface for the game isbrown and grassless but doesnot appear to be excessivelydry. The pitch could progress-ively assist spinners but maynot prove a rank tuner.

Indian coach Anil Kumblehad a look at the track beforeknocking high catches duringhis team’s practice session.The Indian spin legend com-prehends the importance ofwhat could prove a pivotalthird Test.

Reasons tobepleasedHe has reasons to be pleasedafter India’s come-from-be-hind victory in Bengaluru.Key opener M. Vijay too hasrecovered well from ashoulder injury and is set toplay his 50th Test.

Kumble, however, realisesthat tempers have to cooldown between the sides. TheIndian coach said, “I thinkwhat was important was tobring the focus back oncricket and I am really gladthat the BCCI took a maturecall along with Cricket Aus-tralia to issue a joint state-ment that cricket needs tomove on and we have movedon from whatever happenedin that background.”

He said India would con-tinue to be aggressive. “Youdon’t want to curb any nat-ural instincts of the players.As long as they go out thereand do what is expected ofthem, there are absolutely no

issueswith that.“I don’t think we need to

read too much into that ag-gression or body language. Ascustodians of this great game,we believe that it is importantthat we look after the game.

The key stakeholders are theplayers and they certainly un-derstand the responsibilityon the field.”

While vital individual duelshave to be won, Kumble em-phasised on team effort. “I

think it’s India vsAustralia. In-dividuals do stand out.We allsaw what Ashwin can do;again winning a Test matchfor India and Jadeja going sowell in the first innings. Theintensity all the four bowlers

bowled with, especially thefast bowlers… it wasbrilliant.”

On Vijay’s fitness, Kumblesaid, “He’s fine. He is a part ofthe squad, so he is good.”

Asked about Jharkhand’sbiggest star, the iconic M.S.Dhoni not figuring in the in-augural Test here, Kumblesaid, “We miss everyone butin Ranchi without MS, for thepeople, it will be different. IhopeMSwill come sometimeduring the Test.”

Asked about speculationsthat he is set to become theDirector of Cricket, Kumbleresponded, “I have also heardfrom the media, it is news tome. There is nothing else, noone has spoken about it.”

Right now, his eyes areclearly set on the crucial thirdTest. Kumble wants anothervictory.

Additional pitchesMeanwhile, curator S.B Singhhas said that, apart from themain pitch for the Test, hehad also prepared two addi-tional pitches “to meet anyeventuality.”

The pitch, he said, wouldencourage both batsmen andbowlers. The curator also ex-pected the pitch to last fivedays.

India will continue to be aggressive: Kumble‘The players, who are the key stakeholders, understand that they have to look after the game’S. Dinakar

Ranchi

Way to go: Anil Kumble was glad that the BCCI and Cricket Australia took amature call in issuing a joint statement to diffuse

tension. PTI

Force India to go pinkthis seasonSILVERSTONE

Sahara Force India’s VJM10

will race in pink, magenta and

silver this F1 season to mark

the beginning of a long-term

relationship with BWT, an

Austria-headquartered water

brand. The new livery will

make its debut at the season-

opening Australian GP in

Melbourne. Drivers Sergio

Perez and Esteban Ocon will

also sport pink helmets.

IN BRIEF

Mohd. Irfan suspended inspot-fixing caseKARACHI

The Pakistan Cricket Board on

Tuesday suspended and

charged tall fast bowler

Mohammad Irfan in the

ongoing investigation of a

spot-fixing case during its

Twenty20 league. “The

Pakistan Cricket Board in

furtherance to its

investigation issued a Notice

of Charge and provisionally

suspended Irfan under the

PCB Anti-Corruption Code,” it

said in a statement. AFP

Record-breakingmarathoner dies at 86TORONTO

Ed Whitlock, an England-

born Canadian runner who

became the first

septuagenarian to run a

marathon in under three

hours, died on Monday aged

86. Aged 72, he cracked the

three-hour mark with a run in

two hours 59 minutes 10

seconds at the 2003 Toronto

Waterfront Marathon. He

then set the World masters

marathon records for ages

75-plus, 80-plus and, most

recently, 85-plus. REUTERS

Pat Cummins is just 23 buthis has already been an in-jury-plagued career with sev-eral breakdowns.

But then, in his only Testso far — against South Africain Johannesburg in 2011 —the lanky fast bowler pickedup seven wickets to be ad-judged Man of the Match.

Flying in to replace in-jured pace spearheadMitchell Starc in the Aus-tralian team, the pacey Cum-mins is likely to play thesecond Test of his fledglingcareer here.

Cummins said he wasmentally prepared for thetour. “I think for a couple ofmonths, I knew I was going

to be [in with] a chance; Ihad to sort out visas andeverything like that a coupleof months ago. So, I think itwas always kind of part of aplan, along with playing acouple of Shield games.”

Cummins realised the In-dian pitches were not reallyconducive to pace andbounce like the surface hebowled on for his Test debut.

He said, “In some ways itdoes [feel like a second de-but]. It feels like so much hashappened in those five or sixyears. But I think since thatday this is easily the mostprepared I have been for aTest match in terms of body,form and the length that Ihave been playing the lastfew months.”

Cummins says he wasprepared for call-upSpecial Correspondent

RANCHI

For the second time in asmany weeks the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC)has given a negative ratingfor a Test match pitch pre-pared for the ongoing Testseries against Australia.

Match Referee ChrisBroad has given a “below av-erage” rating to the pitch atthe Karnataka State CricketAssociation’s M. Chin-naswamy Stadium inBengaluru where thesecond Test was played.

Officials who are privy tothe match referee reportsaid: “The pitch (atBengaluru) has been ratedbelow average, and the out-field as very good.”

The second Test ended infour days and with India lev-elling the series 1-1.

Broad had rated the pitchat the Maharashtra CricketAssociation (MCA) stadiumat Pune as “poor”; the firstTest ended in three dayswith 31 wickets falling tospinners.

Ranchi in focusThe Australian media isalready critical of the pitchprepared for the third Testat Ranchi. India playedthree Test matches againstNew Zealand and fiveagainst England last yearand one against Bangladeshin January and none of thepitches invited any adversecomments.

Chinnaswamy pitch‘below average’G. Viswanath

Mumbai

There is something about anIndia-Australia series thatseems to bring out theprimal instincts in manyprotagonists.

It appears that only re-cently we were all in Ad-elaide, outside an old build-ing, waiting for the verdicton cricketers involved in on-field spats during the Mon-keygate series.

Even as the hearing wason, emotions on both sidesran high, and there was adanger of the one-day leg ofthe tour being cancelled.The tour survived, so did thecricketers involved.

That was actually quite awhile back, in 2008, but itset the tone for the future In-dia-Australia games. Even inthis series, bad blood hasbeen evident, image of thegame has suffered.

Angry words, clenchedfists, send-offs… these haveall been in view. Both teamsare to be blamed. Cricketneeds to be back oncentrestage.

Sense of déjà vuYou couldn’t help but feel asense of déjà vu when Kohliand the Australians were at itagain on the field of play inBengaluru.

After all, it was only in2014, on the tour Down Un-der, that Kohli had ill-tempered confrontationswith David Warner andMitchell Johnson, incidentsthat made headlines.

But then, people withwhom you spoke to in Aus-tralia actually liked Kohli, ad-mired the fight and thespunk in the man when con-fronted by adversity. Muchlike the Aussies, Kohli wasvery much the ‘in-your-face’

cricketer. It’s no secret thatthe Australians sledged Kohlihard. And he gave it back tothem in kind. Here was aman who was unbothered bythe thoughts of Johnson’s re-taliation with the ball.

In fact, as the series pro-gressed, it was Johnson, en-raged by Kohli, who lost hisbowling mojo; his lengthsuffered and the pace spear-head was taken for runs byKohli.

Ugly turnSeen in that backdrop, theevents of that dramaticBengaluru Test came as nosurprise. As the pressure andthe stakes increased, thingstook an ugly turn on the be-havioural front.

The Aussies are past mas-ters at the art of saying thingsthat disintegrate a side men-tally. Steve Waugh’s menwere like a pack of wolves,and Ricky Ponting’s teamwas no different.

This time around, theyhave been taken aback bythe Indian retaliation. Keybatsmen Warner and Steve

Smith have constantly beentold rather unpleasant wordsat the crease. Kohli and Ash-win have certainly not beenkeeping quiet.

The passion and the in-tensity with which Kohliplays his cricket has to beadmired.

Kohli, however, tends tocross the line on occasionsand has to be careful. As cap-tain, he needs to send theright message to his men onconduct; every team followsits leader.

Some gripping cricket hasbeen played in the series. It’ssad that the performanceshave been overshadowed bywords and gestures.

Both the Boards havecalled a truce. Actually, theyshould never have got in-volved in things such as com-menting on umpiring de-cisions during the course ofthe Test and their role actu-ally encouraged the playersto have a go at one another.

Eventually it is the crick-eters who can make the dif-ference. Will Ranchi bedifferent?

Time to put cricket backon centrestagePerformances overshadowed by on-field incidents

S. Dinakar

Ranchi

Getting it back? Steve Smith’s menwould have been taken

aback by the intensity of the Indians. PTI

Shivnarine Chanderpauland his son Tagenarinecreated history byachieving the rare feat ofmaking half-centuries inthe same First Classmatch.

Batting for Guyana inthe regional four-daytournament at SabinaPark, Jamaica, Chander-paul brought up his136th First Class half-century only hours afterhis 20-year-old son hadreached 50 on Sunday,reported cricket.com.au.

Opening the batting,Tagenarine scored 58,while Shivnarine, whocame in third drop,scored 57.

Tagenarine, like hisfather, is a left-handerand recently captainedthe West Indies at theunder-19 level.

It is for the first timethat a father-son duohave notched up half-centuries in the sameFirst Class match sinceGeorge Gunn and hisson George VernonGunn struck tons in amatch for Nottingham-shire in 1931.

Like father,like sonANI

MELBOURNE

The smoothness with which cricket isbeing run in the country by a CEO and ahandful of General Managers in con-sultation with the Committee of Admin-istrators (CoA) raises the question: Dowe need the old-fashioned BCCI at all?

This is not as facetious as it sounds.The focus ever since the Supreme Courtdismissed the president and secretaryof the BCCI has been on cricket, notpolitics, on game-related issues, not ongarnering votes for the next election.

That is not to say everything is hunky-dory and by getting rid of a few peoplewho had overstayed their welcome, the

erstwhile BCCI was cleansed of all its illsand we have somehow attained perfec-tion in sports administration.

But one cannot help thinking thatperhaps there is much to learn from thistransition phase. Those who predictedchaos have been presented with order;those who forecast national shame haveseen anything but.

TactfulThe CEO of the BCCI, Rahul Johrihandled the ‘brain fade’ controversywith enormous common sense, unlikeboard presidents in the past who have,in similar circumstances, taken the pop-ulist route and gone about mouthing“nationalism” and “patriotism”.

Remember the Test series in SouthAfrica when the match referee hauledup half a dozen Indian players underthe code of conduct? India threatenedto pull out of the series, dropped a Testmatch, and got the match refereesacked. There were even questions

asked in Parliament.Likewise during ‘Monkeygate’ fracas

in Australia some years later. Again,threats were made, bans were rescin-ded, effigies burnt.

Elected officials see such incidents asa godsend for asserting their patriotismand whipping up the kind of nationalhysteria that keeps them in their seatsfor a while longer. After all, how can youvote a patriot out of office? Definitionsmight vary, of course. In South Africa, itwas unpatriotic to believe that SachinTendulkar could be guilty of ball tam-pering. In Australia it was unpatriotic tobelieve that Harbhajan Singh was cap-able of racist remarks.

StrangeIt was certainly strange that neither thematch referee nor the umpires had any-thing significant to say about the ‘brainfade’ in Bangalore that caused Aussiecaptain Steve Smith to look towards thedressing room for advice on the DRS.

Smith admitted to looking up, andthe rules are very clear. Yet, ChrisBroad, otherwise so proactive in Indiamatches over the years, didn’t think itfit to report Smith. Other players havepaid for lesser misdeeds, as SouthAfrica’s Faf du Plessis was quick to pointout.

Still, India had made their point,skipper Virat Kohli had made his feel-ings public at a press conference, andthere was little to be gained by any num-ber of official protests. This is what Johrirecognised — after all, intent is difficultto prove — and brought the whole sorrybusiness to an end. No posturing, nocries of “racism”, no litany of woes speltout. The need to move on wasemphasised.

This is an in-between phase of theBCCI. The new dispensation is not yet inplace, the old one has not been fullyscraped away. There is, in many areas,uncertainty, ambiguity and insecurity.There is too the suspicion that the old

order has not given up, and is shootingfrom the shoulders of some who havekept their jobs in the various associ-ations.

One pointer to this can be seen in themanner in which some of them, fromdifferent corners of the country, speakin the same voice. It is as if they arereading off the same script.

Yet in this same period, the homeTests have been conducted with theusual precision and professionalism.The domestic tournaments are onschedule. India have made their standon issues clear at the ICC meetings.

MoneymattersThe one unresolved question has beenthat of money; some State associationshave not been able to pay their players,and cash flow is a genuine problem. Butthe Supreme Court is clear that withoutthe associations following its rulings,there cannot be any money forthcom-ing from the BCCI.

Does this mean that a CEO and a fewgeneral managers are sufficient to runthe billion-plus dollar industry that is In-dian cricket? It is a thought. Administra-tion and cricket matters can be handledseparately.

The old BCCI was aware of this whenit appointed Ratnakar Shetty as its gen-eral manager administration and M.V.Sridhar, a former first class cricketer asits general manager cricket.

The difference between the old BCCIand the Lodha Committee’s BCCI is oneof degree, not kind. Office bearers areelected in both systems. A CEO and gen-eral managers who run the show assalaried professionals is not somethingthat has been contemplated for Indiancricket.

Yet the recent, low-key, professionalhandling of the sport in the countrymust give us pause. Perhaps there is an-other way. One that does not involverunning every decision through thesieve of future elections.

The recent handling of cricket suggests there is another wayThose who predicted chaos have been presented with order; those who forecast national shame have seen anything but

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Hailing the joint effort of theBCCI and Cricket Australia toresolve the DRS issue to keepthe focus on the ongoingTest series, former Australiacaptain Michael Clarke saidthe bitter ‘Monkeygate’ con-troversy involving AndrewSymonds and HarbhajanSingh should not have beendragged on for so long.

Speaking at the Indialaunch of his book My Storyat the Fanattic Sports Mu-seum here on Tuesday,Clarke said, “I think nowwhat has happened is bothBoards and captains havetaken a decision; it’s good forcricket.

“It's really important asthis series has been fantasticto watch.”

Clarke, who has made amention of the 2008 ‘Mon-keygate’ during the SydneyTest in his autobiography,

said the controversy couldhave been handledpragmatically.

“It was not about the ra-cial vilification of Andrew(Symonds). It should haveended right there.”

Ganguly’s takeAdding some lighter mo-ments, former India captainSourav Ganguly said, “I canguarantee you that Monkeyg-ate will not have its true pic-ture in the book. Becauseonly a Sardarjji would knowwhat another Sardar wassaying.

“You may call it Monkeyg-ate, Hanumangate orwhatever gate. I knew ex-actly what he meant. The in-cident was a bit more thanjust the word Monkeygate.”

Harbhajan was banned forthree matches by match ref-eree Mike Procter for raciallyabusing Symonds but thecharges were downgraded

and the ban was lifted follow-ing an appeal by the BCCI.

On the Indian team's per-formance in the ongoingseries, Clarke said, “The In-dians haven't played as wellas they can. They are goodplayers of spin. Nathan Lyonand Steve O'Keefe deserve alot of credit.”

Ganguly too credited theAustralians for giving India a

tough challenge in the firsttwo Tests. “Bengaluru couldhave been a lot better. But, inIndia you expect the ball toturn. The Aussies have com-peted remarkably well. Thereason is their spinners haveput a lot of pressure on In-dia. The series is still open.”

Sharing his ideas on thelegacy of captaincy, Clarkebacked Virat Kohli to the hilt.

“Kohli has his own style...he has the love, passion, de-sire that he wants to win atall cost. Virat has the aggres-sion to risk losing for thesake of winning. That's awonderful quality to have.”

Clarke also admired Kohlifor his show of solidarityafter the death of Australiancricketer Phil Hughes, whowas Clarke's good friend.

“It's still very emotional tosay — one of the reasons Iwrote the book... I have ut-most respect for Virat for theway he handled the situ-ation. He came to the fu-neral. India could have saidno; they didn't. I will alwaysremember that.”

Clarke — who learnt hisearly lessons of cricket froma coach of Indian origin,made his Test debut andscored his maiden Test hun-dred against India — said, “Ilove Indian food... inside, Iam an Indian.”

One dragged on while the other was settled pragmatically, says former Aussie captain

Y.B. Sarangi

Kolkata

Monkeygate should have got the ‘DRS treatment’: Clarke

That’s funny!Michael Clarke and Sourav Ganguly at the India

launch of ‘My Story’. PTI

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

A ND-ND




SPORT

SUDOKU

O L O U R S T A S H I N G

A A S T R T D A

N A N D A D E V I E J E C T

N G G A U M A I

A Z U R E S E M I C O L O N

B I E P E S G

I N S I P I D H O L I

S H A L F E

P Y R E C I S T E R N

S C I X A S T

P A L A N Q U I N W A T E R

R O G R N H I A

I N T R O B R O K E E V E N

N H U A T R A C

G R E E T I N G M A L I E

C

E

Solution to puzzle 11953 Solution to Monday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Vaduga Nambi praised Ramanuja through 108 names. Be-hind each of these names there is some incident in Ramanu-ja’s life, which justifies the name, said Aravindalochanan, ina discourse. So, reading Vaduga Nambi’s work, is like read-ing Ramanuja’s biography in brief. One of his names showshis kindness to Varadachari, and his rejection of Yechaan’sinvitation. On his way to Tirumala, Ramanuja sent two mes-sengers to Yechaan, telling him that he was likely to visithim. Yechaan enthusiastically began to make preparationsto receive the Acharya, but did not offer a warm welcome tothe messengers. When Ramanuja heard what hadhappened, he changed his plans and visited Varadachari in-stead. Varadachari had welcomed Ramanuja’s disciples, andhad honoured them. Ramanuja wanted to show Yechaanthat he should not have ignored his (Ramanuja’s) disciples.

Another name celebrates Ramanuja’s connection to hiscousin Govinda. Both Govinda and Ramanuja studied underthe same teacher — Yadavaprakasa. When Yadavaprakasa,angry with Ramanuja for disagreeing with his interpreta-tions, tried to kill Ramanuja, it was Govinda who warnedhim, and told him to escape.

Vaduga Nambi praises Ramanuja’s grasp of Vyasa’sBrahma Sutra. In the pilgrim town of Thirukkurungudi, inTamil Nadu, there is a deity called Vaishnava Nambi, who issaid to have learnt from Ramanuja! The Lord had indicatedin the Bhagavad Gita, that He was Parabrahman. But notmany had understood this. But now that Ramanuja said thesame thing, everyone understood. What was the reason?The Lord talking of His greatness, naturally will not have thesame impact as someone else speaking of the Lord’s great-ness! And so Ramanuja’s teaching had an effect which eventhe Lord’s advice did not. So the Lord became Ramanu-jacharya’s disciple in Thirukkurungudi.

FAITH

A brief biography3 Doctor under pressure to

withdraw notice for dummy

medicine (7)

4 Appeal in monastery to get

precedence (8)

5 Drunk guy's struggle to go

round like one outstanding

acrobat! (9,6)

6 Repeat performance by

upcoming amateur (6)

7 Edgy after batting gets tough

(7)

8 Firm charged one for design

(9)

14 Gripe about including corrupt

for special treatment (9)

16 Officer training the regiment's

leader to be smarter (8)

18 Weave fishing net near port

(7)

20 Schoolgirl's received high

English scores (7)

21 Encourage sport as part of

drill (6)

24 Excellent meal consumed

silently (5)

12 Can girl take break even during

lessons? (8)

13 Retired secretary's helping to

distribute (9)

15 Broadcast one made for the

press (5)

17 Bird cages exist in this part of

China (5)

19 First two seats available in

theatre's opening show (9)

22 A wire is first tied all around

climbing plant (8)

23 Dazed young woman pinched

by unpopular guy (6)

25 Boredom means primarily

being inactive after a little

time (6)

26 Overjoyed on ship to get sauce

(7)

27 Soldiers in pursuit, failing to

get renegade (8)

28 This place's tranquillity

captivates men (6)

■ DOWN

2 Take care of sister (5)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10

11 12

13 14 15

16

17 18 19 20

21

22 23 24

25 26

27 28

(set by The Phantom)

■ ACROSS

1 Grab drink to overcome sleep

(4,2)

5 Brilliant engineer designed

rectifier (8)

9 Row during telephone call

leads to yelling (7)

10 Small dog for example, that's

chewing bone (6)

11 Remote controlled shooting

star! (6)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11955

Spurs draw levelwith WarriorsLOS ANGELES

Kawhi Leonard scored 31points as Spurs downedHawks 107-99 to go levelwith Golden State at the topof the Western Conferenceon Monday.Other results: Timberwolves119 bt Wizards 104, Raptors100 bt Mavericks 78, Bulls115 bt Hornets 109, Grizzlies113 bt Bucks 93, Jazz 114 btClippers 108, Kings 120 btMagic 115, Nuggets 129 btLakers 101. AGENCIES

IN BRIEF

Olympic championRowsell-Shand retiresLONDON

Double Olympic cycling trackgold medallist JoannaRowsell-Shand brought thecurtain down on her stellarcareer on Tuesday. The28-year-old won teampursuit gold in the Londonand Rio Games. She is also afive-time World champion inpursuit events. AFP

Usain Bolt to skipWorld RelaysKINGSTON

Usain Bolt is poised to skipnext month’s IAAF WorldRelays in the Bahamas as heprepares to retire from thesport later this year. Bolt toldreporters at a track meetinghere that he was unlikely tofeature in the Jamaica squadfor the championship set forApril 22-23. “I am just tryingto stay injury free,” said Bolt,who is looking forward to hisfinal race on Jamaican soil,the Racers Track Club GrandPrix set for June 10. AFP

Billie Jean King to giveup majority WTT stakeINDIAN WELLS

US tennis legend Billie JeanKing is giving up her majoritystake in World Team Tennis,the innovative circuit sheco-founded 42 years ago. The73-year-old proposes to sellher shares to team ownersMark Ein of the WashingtonKastles, and Fred Luddy ofthe San Diego Aviators. Shewill retain a minority role inWTT. AFP

Every time he walks out tobat, Mahendra Singh Dhoniis expected to win thematch. It will be no excep-tion when he leads gutsyJharkhand against Group Atopper Vidarbha in the VijayHazare Trophy quarterfinalsat the Palam ground onWednesday.

Having qualified behindKarnataka, pipping Hydera-bad on better net run rate,Jharkhand will attempt tocapitalise on its chance toprogress.

Going by the manner inwhich Tamil Nadu playedGujarat at Palam on Sunday,one can witness some livelycricket with the perseveringbatsmen and bowlers beingrewarded for their abilityand accuracy.

Strong winds will play asignificant role and shouldbatsmen tend to ignore itand get carried away, theteam will pay a price like Gu-jarat did the other day.

Saurabh Tiwary and Shah-baz Nadeem had done verywell with the bat and ball to

garner 303 runs and 14 wick-ets respectively forJharkhand in the leaguephase. Dhoni himself hasbeen in striking form with242 runs. Rahul Shukla andVarun Aaron also did well topick up 23 wickets betweenthem.

Wicketkeeper-batsmanJitesh Sharma and AkshayKarnewar have been leadingthe statistics for Vidarbhawith 291 runs and 15 wicketsrespectively in the leaguestage. Ganesh Satish has alsobeen amongst the runs with259.

The challenge for thebatsmen may be the con-stant flypast of aeroplanes,

landing and taking-off fromthe adjacent airport almostevery fourth minute. Theflights literally skim over thesightscreen at one end.

Should the fans, driven bythe presence of Dhoni, man-age to enter and enjoy thecricket in a superb naturalsetting, they may be shockedto see some public facilitiesin a sorry state.The teams (from):

Vidarbha: Faiz Fazal (capt.),Ganesh Satish, Akshay Karne-war, Rushabh Rathod, JiteshSharma, Yash Thakur, AkshayWakhare, Siddesh Wath, Ab-hishek Chaurasia, RajneeshGurbani, Akshay Kolhar, AmbatiRayudu, Ravikumar Thakur,Shrikant Wagh and ApoorvWankhade.

Jharkhand: M.S. Dhoni (capt.),Anand Singh, Ishan Kishan, Jas-karan Singh, Monu Tomar,Pratyush Singh, Anukul Roy,Sonu Singh, Vikash Singh,Varun Aaron, Kumar Deobrat,Ishank Jaggi, Kaushal Singh,Shahbaz Nadeem, ShasheemRathour, Rahul Shukla, SaurabhTiwary and Virat Singh.

Meets Group A topper Vidarbha

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI

M.S. Dhoni. PTI

HAZARE TROPHY

Jharkhand would liketo extend its good run

A battle of equals is on thecards when Bengal takes onMaharashtra on Wednesdayfor a place in the semifinalsof the Vijay Hazare Trophyat the Ferozeshah Kotlaground. Both won five out oftheir six league matches tomake the knockouts.

Last year, though theStates failed to make it pastthe league phase, Maha-rashtra played all itsmatches in the Capital, un-like Bengal, and the experi-ence could add to the team’sconfidence.

The Kotla pitch hasplayed fair so far this season.A total of 250-260 is con-sidered par on this surface.

Bengal, with ManojTiwary at the helm, appearsa well-settled unit. OpenersShreevats Goswami and Ab-himanyu Easwaran, withSudip Chatterjee to follow,form a formidable frontline.

Among the bowlers,Ashoke Dinda and PragyanOjha, along with a more dis-ciplined Sayan Ghosh formthe core of the attack.

New-ball bowler KanishkSeth and off-spinner AamirGani are the other two regu-lars at Tiwary’s disposal.

Maharashtra has the bat-ting to deal with this threat,with Jadhav coming in at No.4. With 331 from seven out-ings, Jadhav’s form looksgood. Another positive forMaharashtra is the display ofopener Ruturaj Gaekwad,who has plundered 401 runsfrom seven innings.

With Ankit Bawne keen tojustify his presence in thisyear’s Indian PremierLeague, the side has a goodnumber of inspired bats-men.

In the bowling depart-ment, medium-pacer Shrik-ant Mundhe and left-armspinner Jadgish Zope have sofar done their job. They havescalped 14 wickets each sofar.

Overall, it promises to be

an exciting contest. Despitethe teams’ batting strength,the key could well be howthe bowlers perform.

The teams (from):

Bengal: Manoj Tiwary (capt.),Shreevats Goswami, Abhi-manyu Easwaran, Sudip Chat-terjee, Anustup Majumdar, De-babrata Das, Aamir Gani,Kanishk Seth, Ashok Dinda,Pragyan Ojha, Sayan Ghosh,Mukesh Kumar, Abhishek Ra-man and Pankaj Shaw.

Maharashtra: Kedar Jadhav(capt.), Ruturaj Gaikwad, ChiragKhurana, Ankit Bawne, RahulTripathi, Naushad Shaikh, NikhilNaik, Shrikant Mundhe, JagdishZope, Nikit Dhumal, PradeepDadhe, Vijay Zol, AnupamSanklecha, Satyajeet Bachhav,Prayag Bhati and ShamshuzamaKazi.

Bengal and Maharashtra eye last four berth

Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI

Kedar Jadhav. Manoj Tiwary.

Bowlers hold the key

Third-seeded Stan Wawrinkacontinued his dominance ofPhilipp Kohlschreiber,rolling past the German 7-5,6-3 on Monday to reach thefourth round of the ATP In-dian Wells Masters.

Wawrinka recorded hisfifth victory over Kohls-chreiber in as many meet-ings in a performance thatleft him cautiously encour-aged about his prospects ofmaking it past the quarterfi-nals in the California desertfor the first time.

“It was a really goodmatch,” said Wawrinka, whoowns three Grand Slam titlesbut has won just one of thetour’s coveted Masters titles.

“The first set was noteasy, for sure, but in generalI’m happy with my game. Iwas serving well. I think I’mmoving better and betterand it’s all positive so far.”

A break in each set was

enough for Wawrinka, whodidn’t face a break pointhimself as he advanced to ameeting with lucky loserYoshihito Nishioka of Japan,who staged a remarkablerally to get past 13th-seededCzech Tomas Berdych 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

The 21-year-old from Miesaved a match point againsthis own serve in the 10thgame of the second set.

After Nishioka forced thedecisive set by winning thetiebreaker, the two tradedbreaks to open the third be-fore Nishioka broke for a 2-1.

Although Berdych savedone match point in the ninthgame, Nishioka closed it outin the next with a love gameto reach the fourth round ofa Masters tournament forthe first time.

Eighth-seeded AustrianDominic Thiem poweredinto the fourth round with a6-1, 6-4 victory over Ger-many’s Mischa Zverev.

Thiem next faces 10th-seeded Gael Monfils, whodispatched American JohnIsner 6-2, 6-4.The results: Men: Third round:Dusan Lajovic bt Vasek Pospisil6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5; Pablo Carreno-Busta w/o Roberto Bautista;David Goffin bt Albert Ramos 7-6(3), 6-4; Pablo Cuevas bt Fa-bio Fognini 6-1, 6-4.

Stanislas Wawrinka bt Phil-ipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3;Yoshihito Nishioka bt TomasBerdych 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; GaelMonfils bt John Isner 6-2, 6-4;Dominic Thiem bt MischaZverev 6-1, 6-4.

Women: Third round: MadisonKeys bt Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4;Caroline Wozniacki bt KaterinaSiniakova 6-3, 6-1; Lauren Davisbt Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-4;Kristina Mladenovic bt SimonaHalep 6-3, 6-3; Peng Shuai btAgnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-4;Venus Williams bt Lucie Sa-farova 6-4, 6-2; Elena Vesninabt Tţmea Babos 6-4, 1-6, 6-4;Angelique Kerber bt PaulineParmentier 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Wawrinka cruises into fourth roundLucky loser Yoshihito Nishioka sends 13th-seeded Tomas Berdych packing

Agence France-Presse

Indian Wells

In good touch: Yoshihito Nishioka staged a remarkable rally to get past 13th-seededTomas Berdych. AFP

The top three seeds at the$15,000 ITF Futures event —Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Sri-ram Balaji and Vishnu Vard-han respectively — found safepassages into the last 16 fol-lowing straight set wins atthe KSLTA Stadium here onTuesday.

If Prajnesh, fresh after hisfifth singles title last week inBhilai, made short work of

German Haenle Pirmin’schallenge winning 6-3, 7-6(1),Balaji downed V.M. Ranjeet 7-6(2), 7-5.

Balaji had an early breakin the first set and evenserved for it at 5-3. But thebreak back to love, which in-cluded a double fault onbreak point, snapped thewind out of his sails. Ranjeetthough after taking the set tothe tie-break, won only twopoints. Ranjeet stayed with

Balaji for ten games in thesecond set before his resist-ance ended with a break inthe 11th game and Balajiserved the match out in thesubsequently.

The results (Round one):Singles: Siddarth Vishwakarmabt Jui Chen Hung (Tpe) 6-3, 6-2;G. Prajnesh bt Pirmin Haenle(Ger) 6-3, 7-6(1); Vishnu Vard-han bt Jayesh Pungliya 6-4, 6-1;Hadin Bawa bt Dalbir Singh 6-3,6-3; Sami Reinwein (Ger) bt Vi-

jayant Malik 6-1, 6-1; Suraj R.Prabodh bt Kunal Anand 6-2,6-4; Dakshineshwar Suresh btSivadeep Kosaraju 6-3, 6-0; N.Sriram Balaji bt V.M. Ranjeet 7-6(2), 7-5; Paramveer Singh Bajwabt Tejas Chaukular 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

Doubles: Jeson Patrombon(Phi) & Vijay Sundar Prashanthbt Aryan Goveas 3-6, 6-3,[10-5]; Jui Chen Hung (Tpe) &Hong Kit Wong (HK) bt RishabAgarwal & Karunuday Singh 7-6(3), 3-6, [10-3].

Top seeds advance with easy winsPrincipal Correspondent

BENGALURU Sashank Theertha and Sac-chitt Sharma scored singlesvictories to power India to a2-1 win over New Zealand inthe league phase of the Asia-Oceania Junior (under-16)Davis Cup tennis tourna-ment at the DLTA Complexhere on Tuesday.

Despite losing to HongKong, coached by former In-dian Davis Cupper KaranRastogi, this win keeps India

in with a fighting chance fora spot in the knock-outstage.

The host side will play Ja-pan in its final leaguematch.

The results (league):

India bt New Zealand 2-1[Sashank Theertha bt Chris WeiSheng Zhang 4-6, 6-2, 6-2;Sacchitt Sharma bt GeorgeDuncan Stoupe 4-6, 7-6(5),6-3; Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli& Sharma lost to Stoupe & WeiSheng Zhang 6-3, 3-6, (10-7)].

India beats NZSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

With eyes set on the 2020Tokyo Olympics and theWorld Cups, Hockey India,in pursuit of bigger accol-ades, has appointed newscientific advisors for themen’s and women’s seniorand junior teams.

While Australia’s ScottConway has taken chargeof the senior men’s team atthe National camp inBengaluru, South AfricanRobin Anthony Webster Ar-kell will soon join the ju-nior men.

In the women’s section,Wayne Patrick Lombard ofSouth Africa will join theseniors at the camp in Bho-pal and Australian DanielBarry comes in as a sci-entific advisor for the ju-nior team.

“We are happy to bringon board Conway, Arkell,Lombard and Barry andtheir names were approvedat the selection committeemeeting for foreigncoaches held in January.We thank the Sports Au-thority of India for com-pleting the formalities atthe earliest to ensure thenew recruits join the re-spective camps,” saidMushtaque Ahmad,Hockey India secretary-general, in a release.

HI brings onboard threescientificadvisorsSports Bureau

NEW DELHI

After four days of rain thecovers were peeled off theBasin Reserve wicket onTuesday and to SouthAfrica’s delight it was greenahead of the second Testagainst New Zealand.

The greener the betterin Wellington has beenNew Zealand’s mantra inthe past.

But the tone has beensoftened for the secondTest starting on Thursday,given the ruthlessness ofSouth Africa’s pace trioVernon Philander, KagisoRabada and Morne Morkel.

New Zealand’s situationis not helped by the loss ofbatsman Ross Taylor andinjury concerns surround-ing fast bowler Trent Boult.

South African captainFaf du Plessis, however,could barely contain his ex-citement at the state of thewicket and New Zealand’sinjury woes.

‘Surprised’“We’ve been surprised.New Zealand conditionshave changed since wewere last here,” he said,with South Africa confirm-ing it was bringing in an ex-tra spinner — Dane Piedt —for the third Test inHamilton next week.

But with the Basin Re-serve having it’s traditionalgreen cover, du Plessis saidhis seamers were lookingforward to the second Test.

South Africadelighted bygreen topAgence France-Presse

Wellington

Bhubaneswar tohost Asian AthleticsNEW DELHI

Bhubaneswar will host theAsian AthleticsChampionships in July afterRanchi pulled out of stagingthe continental event.Odisha Athletics Associationpresident Jagmohan Patnaiksaid the State governmenthad agreed to sanction therequired funds to host theevent and the AFI had clearedthe venue. PTI




SPORT

On the eve of the openingmatch of the AFC Cup,Bengaluru FC skipper SunilChhetri called on his team-mates to make a bigger im-pact on the attacking front.The players did his biddinghere on Tuesday, taking BFCto a tense 2-1 victory overMohun Bagan. It was, in fact,Chhetri who struck thematch-winner.

The impressive show inthis international club tour-nament fixture came as ahuge relief for the homefaithful, who have had to en-dure through a disappoint-ing recent run in the I-League.

After Katsumi Yusa’s pen-alty gave the visitor a 1-0 leadin 36th minute, BFC re-covered spectacularlythrough goals from SandeshJhingan and Chhetri.

Bagan, which had held thesame side to a 0-0 draw onSaturday in the domesticleague, started with confid-ence. In the 9th minute, Yusa

sent in a perfect cross to JejeLalpekhlua, who failed tomake contact. It turned outto be a night to forget forJeje, as he missed two morechances in this outing.

Before half-time, the im-pressive Bagan forward SonyNorde made a run into thebox, and was brought down

by Jhingan. Yusa stepped upand converted from the spot.

Ten minutes after the re-start, Bagan suffered a hugesetback when Yusa left thefield with an injured shin.BFC began to find its feet at

this juncture, and pulledlevel through a terrific set-piece play.

Australian Cameron Wat-son floated in a corner to theedge of the box, whicheluded the crowd near thegoal-line. Defender Jhingansprinted forward and strucka surprise low volley, which

defeated the Bagancustodian.

Just a short while later, Ch-hetri found the mark from afree-kick, sending the homecrowd into a tizzy. The Indiainternational was more re-lieved than overjoyed withthe timely goal.

In the latter stages of theencounter, a section of BFCsupporters engaged in averbal duel with the travel-ling fans, who were seatednearby.

The banter, though fierce,did not boil over to physicalaltercations.

Chhetri — at the centre ofBFC’s first home victory overBagan in six attempts — said,“When Jhingan scored, thewhole morale of the teamchanged. We became moreconfident, and everythingstarted to click. Like I saidyesterday, convertingchances is so veryimportant.”The result: Bengaluru FC 2(Sandesh Jhingan 51, Sunil Ch-hetri 57) bt Mohun Bagan 1(Katsumi Yusa 36).

Bengaluru FC prevails over BaganSkipper Sunil Chhetri scores the match-winner to the delight of the home faithful

Ashwin Achal

BENGALURU

Hitmen: Bengaluru FC got its goals from Sandesh Jhingan, second from left, and Sunil Chhetri,third from left, in the AFC Cup tie against Mohun Bagan on Tuesday. K. MURALI KUMAR

AFC CUP

Atletico Madrid will rely onleading striker AntoineGriezmann as it bids to fin-ish off Bayer Leverkusen inthe Champions League onWednesday and reach thequarterfinals for the fourthseason in a row.

Having romped to a 4-2victory in Germany in thefirst leg, Atletico has a clearadvantage and with its talis-man back in form have highhopes of progressing.

With the FrenchmanGriezmann firing six goals inhis last seven games, after aspell between Novemberand December in which heonly found the net once ineight games, Atletico looks aformidable prospect again.

However, Atletico will bewithout Gabi and FilipeLuis, who are suspended, aswell as injured duo TiagoMendes and AugustoFernandez. ForwardFernando Torres has re-

turned to training followingthe head injury he sufferedagainst Deportivo on March2.

New Leverkusen coachTayfun Korkut, appointed inplace of Roger Schmidt lastweek, insists his team willnot lose the second leg.

Meanwhile, Monaco,looking to overturn a two-goal deficit againstManchester City, will turn tothe experienced RadamelFalcao.

The Colombia striker,who endured two injury-plagued seasons in thePremier League, has beennear his best since his re-turn on a season-long loanat Chelsea. “This season,I’ve been playing consist-ently. The club has full con-fidence in me and make mefeel important,” said Falcao,who scored two goals in thefirst leg.

Griezmann will bevital for AtleticoMonaco rests its hopes on Falcao

CHAMPIONS LEAGUEReuters

MADRID

Former champion WestBengal stunned defendingchampion Services by a solit-ary goal for its secondstraight win in Group A ofthe 71st Santosh Trophy Na-tional football championshipat the GMC stadium, Bam-bolim, on Tuesday.

Moirangthem BasantaSingh scored the winner inthe 20th minute for WestBengal, which managed tosurvive a spirited fightbackfrom Services.

West Bengal executed itsgameplan better against Ser-vices, which struggled tosettle down. Its hopes of acomeback suffered a blowwhen star striker Arjun Tudu

was sent off for arguing withthe referee in the 73rdminute.

Bengal’s defensive game-plan was evident from thestart when it crowded thedefence to soak up the earlypressure, and counter-at-tacked when the opportun-ity came. It worked well asthe Services goal came un-der pressure as the trio ofManvir Singh, Moirangthemand Shaikhom Ronald madetheir presence felt.

Ronald had the first lookat the Services goal in the17th minute when he was putin position by Manvir. But heblasted it out when he had

only the goalkeeper to beat.Three minutes later,

Bengal went ahead whenRonald squeezed in a passfrom the left flank, whichbounced off a Services de-fender to an unmarked Moir-angthem Basanta Singh, whoslotted home from close.

The riposte from Serviceswas quick, and Bengalkeeper Sankar Roy punchedout a stiff shot from Jelison inthe 26th minute. Manviragain put Services underduress in the 35th minute offa swift counter attack but thestriker shot out.

Services showed positiveintent in the second-half. Butthe Bengal defence wasequal to the task and Royraised his game to thwart the

rival strikers every time.Bengal was also reduced

to 10-men when MonotoshChakladar was sent off forhis second bookable offencein the 89th minute.

In another group-A matchat Vasco, Chandigarh cameback from behind to defeatMeghalaya 2-1.

Kitboklang Pale putMeghalaya ahead in the 51stminute. Gangandeep Singhequalised in the 64th whileSehijpal Singh snatched thematch-winner.The results:

Group A: West Bengal 1 (Moir-angthem Basanta Singh 20) btServices 0; Chandigarh 2 (Gan-gandeep Singh 64, SehijpalSingh 91) bt Meghalaya 1 (Kit-boklang Pale 51).

Bengal overcomes ServicesMoirangthem strikes the solitary goal; Chandigarh rallies to defeat Meghalaya

M.R. Praveen Chandran

Panaji SANTOSH TROPHY

Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh:2nd Test, TEN 3 & TEN 1 HD,10 a.m.Champions League: TEN 1,2 & TEN 1 HD, 12.30 a.m.(Thursday)NBA: Sony Six & Sony Six HD,5.30 a.m. (Thursday)

TV PICKS

Chelsea manager AntonioConte got the upper hand onJose Mourinho for thesecond time this season ashis double-chasing side beat10-man Manchester United1-0 at Stamford Bridge toreach the FA Cup semifinalson Monday.

N’Golo Kante’s precise51st minute strike wasenough for Conte’s team tobreak United’s hold on theCup after the visitor had An-der Herrera sent off after 35minutes for a second yellowcard — both for fouls onEden Hazard.

Chelsea’s reward is aWembley clash with Totten-ham Hotspur next month,

while the other semifinal willbe between Arsenal andManchester City.

United was missing thesuspended ZlatanIbrahimovic and injured

Wayne Rooney and offeredlittle threat.

Mourinho’s frustrationboiled over at times and thePortuguese and Italian Contehad to be separated after an

angry exchange shortly afterHerrera’s sending off.

Unerring accuracy

Kante opened it up sixminutes after the break, de-livering a right-foot shot ofunerring accuracy past deGea. Diego Costa shouldhave made it 2-0 but Unitedshould have levelled whenthe galloping Rashford leftDavid Luiz and Gary Cahilltrailing but shot straight atThibaut Courtois.

The results:

FA Cup: Chelsea 1 (Kante 51) btManchester United 0.

La Liga: Osasuna 1 (Kodro 79)drew with Eibar 1 (Kike 72).

Serie A: Lazio 3 (Immobile 56,Keita 87, Anderson 90) btTorino 1 (Maxi Lopez 72).

Chelsea eases past UnitedKante’s winner sets up the Blues’ last-four date with Tottenham HotspurAGENCIES

LONDON

Hero:N’Golo Kante, right, scored early in the second half with aright-footed shot of unerring accuracy REUTERS

IN BRIEF

Ranieri sacking issurprising: SampaoliLEICESTER

Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaolihas said he was surprised byLeicester City’s decision tosack manager Claudio Ranierifollowing the ChampionsLeague encounter betweenthe teams. “When you look atwhat Claudio achieved at thisclub and in this city, hebasically changed the courseof history for this team. So it’sa little painful for me to thinkabout what has happened. Hewon the title in probably thetoughest competition in theworld,” Sampaoli said. AFP

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

CMYK

LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Scientists have discoveredthe world’s first fluorescentfrog in Argentina that sportsa muted palette of greens,yellows and reds under nor-mal light, but gives off abright blue and green glowin the dark.

The ability to absorb lightat short wavelengths and re-emit it at longer wavelengthsis called fluorescence, and israre in terrestrial animals.

Until now, it was unheard

of in amphibians. Research-ers found that the SouthAmerican polka dot tree frog(Hypsiboas punctatus) usesfluorescent molecules totallyunlike those found in other

animals. Many oceancreatures exhibit fluores-cence, including corals, fish,sharks and one species ofsea turtle.

On land, fluorescence waspreviously known in onlyparrots and some species ofscorpions. It is unclear whyanimals have this ability, al-though explanations includecommunication, camouflageand mate attraction, re-searchers said in a paperthat appears in the Proceed-ings of the National Academy

an ultraviolet flashlight (orblack light) on polka dot treefrogs collected near SantaFe, Argentina, they were as-tonished to find the animalsgave off an intense greenish-blue glow instead of a faintred. Three molecules — hy-loin-L1, hyloin-L2 and hy-loin-G1 — were responsiblefor the green fluorescence.The molecules contain a ringstructure and a chain of hy-drocarbons, and are uniqueamong the known fluores-cent molecules in animals.

of Sciences. Scientists expec-ted to find red fluorescencein these frogs from a pig-ment called biliverdin.

Unique moleculesIn some insects, proteinsbound to biliverdin emit afaint red fluorescence, saidCarlos Taboada, from theUniversity of Buenos Aires inArgentina. However, in thepolka dot tree frog, biliv-erdin turned out to be a redherring.

When researchers trained

The trait exhibited by many ocean creatures was unheard of in amphibians until now


Washington

The polka dot tree frog.CARLOS TABOADA ET AL

A glow-in-the-dark frog found in Argentina

Disney has indefinitely post-poned the opening of its filmBeauty and the Beast inMalaysia after censors in theMuslim-majority nation re-portedly cut out a “gay mo-ment” in the movie.

The cuts came after themovie ran into trouble inRussia, which slapped anadults-only rating on the filmlast week following pressureby an ultra-conservative law-maker who was pushing fora ban.

The film’s director, BillCondon, has revealed that itcontains Disney’s “first ex-clusively gay moment”, al-though some critics havesaid the reference is ex-tremely mild and fleeting.Malaysian Censorship Boardchairman Abdul Halim Ab-dul Hamid told The Starnewspaper that the film “hasbeen approved... with aminor cut”.

The cut focussed on a“gay moment” in the film,said Abdul Halim, addingthat it had been rated PG-13

— which indicates that somematerial may be inappropri-ate for pre-teens.

Postponed indefinitelyThe Malaysian release of

the movie, featuring HarryPotter star Emma Watson,was postponed by Disneyearlier this week pending“an internal review”, accord-ing to theatre chain GoldenScreen Cinemas, which wasset to show the film from

Thursday. Notices posted atthe chain’s cinemas in KualaLumpur said the film’s re-lease had been “postponedby Disney until furthernotice”.

Disney’s office in Singa-pore was not immediatelyable to confirm the censor-ship decision or say whenthe film would be released.

In a departure from previ-ous depictions of the fairytale, Le Fou, the sycophantic

sidekick to antagonistGaston, is portrayed bycomedian Josh Gad as a gayman, making him Disney’sfirst ever out LGBTcharacter.

Trouble in SingaporeThe film has also come un-der fire from religious figuresin neighbouring Singapore,with Christian clergy attack-ing Disney for deviating from“wholesome, mainstreamvalues”.

“Parents are thereforestrongly advised to provideguidance to their childrenabout this re-make of Beautyand the Beast,” said BishopRennis Ponniah, president ofthe National Council ofChurches of Singapore.

Harussani Zakaria, thesenior mufti for Malaysia’snorthern Perak state, saidthe film would “sow theseeds of destruction andnegative behaviour in our so-ciety”. “We must guardourselves from Western be-haviour, which has goneastray,” he said. “This moviemust be banned.”

The Muslim-majority nation has censored a “gay moment” in the movie


Kuala Lumpur

Taking a stand: A Beauty and the Beast poster in downtownKuala Lumpur, Malaysia. REUTERS

Beauty and the Beast: Disneyshelves release in Malaysia

Did Jane Austen die ofarsenic poisoning?LONDON

Famed British writer JaneAusten may have died ofcataracts developed due toarsenic poisoning, suggestresearchers at The BritishLibrary after examining threepairs of her spectacles.Austen, who died at the ageof 41, is known to havecomplained in letters abouther “weak” eyes. PTI

IN BRIEF

Thousands petition N.Y.for ‘Fearless Girl’ statueNEW YORK

A sculpture of called“Fearless Girl” installed inNew York to champion genderdiversity has attractedthousands of petitions,demanding it remain therepermanently. Created by U.S.artist Kristen Visbal, thebronze girl stands defiant,directly challenging the“Charging Bull” statue that isa symbol of Wall Street. AFP

Big Bang Theory sparksnew prequel seriesLOS ANGELES

CBS TV announced onMonday that it has given thegreen light to Young Sheldon,a prequel of its award-winning comedy series TheBig Bang Theory. . The newshow, expected to premierelater this year, will star IainArmitage as a nine-year-oldversion of nerdy geniusSheldon Cooper. AFP

Atop Istanbul’s iconic GrandBazaar — the scene of a high-speed motorbike chase inthe 2012 James Bond filmSkyfall — a full force drive torevamp it has begun.

The centuries-old mar-ketplace has already under-gone a security upgradeafter a spate of terror attacksin Istanbul. For the bazaar’straders, the primary con-cern now is not the restora-tion but lack of tourists.Round-the-clock workersare on shifts to renovate thebazaar, which topped thelist of the world’s most vis-ited destinations in 2014.

The roof renovation is es-timated to cost 10 millionTurkish lira ($2.7 million).Work began on July 14 lastyear — only one day before acoup attempt to oust thegovernment, but the workwent on.

The restoration of the en-tire bazaar is likely to cost200 million Turkish lira and

is expected to take fouryears to complete, but offi-cials add that there will al-ways be work needed at theGrand Bazaar because of itshistoric identity.

Historical space“The Grand Bazaar is a his-torical place. It’s not pos-sible to complete the restor-ation from today totomorrow,” said Okan ErhanOflaz, Deputy Mayor of theFatih municipality where itis located. One of the largestand oldest covered marketsin the world, the GrandBazaar was a trade hub dur-ing the Ottoman Empire.

Construction of the mar-ketplace began in 1455, twoyears after the Ottomansseized Istanbul, then knownas Constantinople, from theByzantines, under the reignof Sultan Mehmet II — Fatihthe Conqueror.

Over its long history thestructure has suffered quakeand fire damage. Today it isin dire need of a facelift.


Istanbul

Grand Bazaar ofIstanbul to get a facelift

A hacking that would allowsomeone to add extra stepsto the counter on your Fitbitmonitor might seem harm-less. But researchers say itpoints to the broader risksthat come with technology’sembedding into the nooks ofour lives.

A group of computer se-curity researchers at the Uni-versity of Michigan and theUniversity of South Carolinasay that they have found avulnerability that allowsthem to take control of orsurreptitiously influencedevices through the tiny ac-celerometers that are stand-ard components in con-sumer products likesmartphones, fitness monit-ors and even automobiles.

In their paper, the re-searchers describe how theyadded fake steps to a Fitbitfitness monitor and played a

“malicious” music file fromthe speaker of a smartphoneto control the phone’s accel-erometer. That allowed themto interfere with softwarethat relies on the smart-phone, like an app used to

pilot a radio-controlled toycar.

“It’s like the opera singerwho hits the note to break awineglass, only in our case,we can spell out words” andenter commands rather than

just shut down the phone,said Kevin Fu, an author ofthe paper, who is also an as-sociate professor of electricalengineering and computerscience at the University ofMichigan and chief executiveof Virta Labs, a companythat focuses on cybersecur-ity in health care. “You canthink of it as a musical virus.”

Remote accessThe flaw, which the research-ers found in more than halfof the 20 commercial brandsfrom five chipmakers theytested, illustrates the secur-ity challenges that haveemerged as robots and otherkinds of digital applianceshave begun to move aroundin the world.

With dozens of startupsand large transportationcompanies pushing to de-velop self-driving cars andtrucks, undetected vulnerab-ilities that might allow an at-

tacker to remotely controlvehicles are an unnervingpossibility.

Still, computer securityresearchers said the discov-ery was not a sky-is-fallingbug but rather a revealingwindow into the cybersecur-ity challenges inherent incomplex systems in whichanalog and digital compon-ents can interact in unexpec-ted ways.

Mr. Fu has researched thecybersecurity risks of med-ical devices, including ademonstration of the poten-tial to wirelessly introducefatal heart rhythms into apacemaker.

Accelerometers are instru-ments that measure accelera-tion and are frequently man-ufactured as siliconchip-based devices known asmicroelectromechanical sys-tems.

New York Times News Service

Study finds vulnerability in a range of devicesAccelerometers can allow hackers to take control of smartphones, wearables or even automobiles

John Markoff

SAN FRANCISCO

Viruses everywhere: A speaker plays a malicious music file tofool an inertial sensor into observing a false reality. NYT

A British-owned cruise shiphas smashed into pristinecoral reefs, causing extens-ive damage in a remotecorner of Indonesia knownas one of the world’s mostbiodiverse marine habitats,researchers and officialssaid on Tuesday.

Raja Ampat in eastern In-donesia has long been a topattraction for intrepid travel-lers and avid divers, home topalm-fringed islands sur-rounded by an underwaterkaleidoscope of coral andfish.

But the 4,200-tonne Cale-donian Sky slammed into thereefs at low tide around Kri,one of hundreds of small is-lands in Raja Ampat, earlierthis month after taking the

tourists aboard on a bird-watching expedition.

The boat, which was car-rying 102 passengers and 79crew, became grounded onthe reefs and had to be re-floated by a tug boat beforecontinuing on its journey.

Big impactThe accident has damagedan estimated 13,500 sq.m. ofcoral reef, which could costup to $16.2 million to re-store, according to RicardoTapilatu, a marine re-searcher from the Universityof Papua who headed ateam assessing the impact.

There has been outrage inthe local tourism industrywhich relies on Raja Ampat’snatural wonders for itssurvival.

“How can this happen?

Was a 12-year-old at thewheel?” Stay Raja Ampat, awebsite that links tourists upwith homestays, said on itsFacebook page.

“Anchor damage fromships like these is badenough, but actuallygrounding a ship on a reeftakes it to a whole newlevel.”

Environmental groupConservation Internationalsaid that the ship had goneinto an area that it shouldnot have entered.

“This is a very, very bigloss for us,” Victor Nikiju-luw, the marine programmedirector at Conservation In-ternational Indonesia, said.

“Even when (the reefs)grow back, they will not beas pristine as they were be-fore,” he added.

Outrage in the local tourism industry after incident


Sorong

Rich biodiversity: Raja Ampat has long been a top attraction for intrepid travellers but brokencorals mean a loss to ecology and the economy. AFP/INDONESIA MARINE SECURITY AGENCY/BAKAMLA

U.K. cruise ship damagesIndonesian coral reef

Boaty McBoatface is back,but this time it’s serious. Thehigh-tech remote-operatedyellow submarine, bearing aname that began as a joke,will begin its first missionthis week through a deepcurrent that starts in Antarc-tica and goes through theSouthern Ocean.

Boaty will navigatethrough underwater water-falls and rapids on a two-month mission, collectingdata to help scientists under-stand how global warmingaffects oceans.

It will depart on Fridayaboard the James ClarkRoss, a British polar re-search ship, from PuntaArenas, Chile, and will headto the Southern Ocean.

The robot submarine’smissions can last for several

months and include travel-ling thousands of miles un-der ice while reachingdepths of about 5.6 km tomeasure seabed propertieson an oceanic scale. It canthen rise to the surface totransmit data to oceano-

graphers via a radio link.The British National Oceano-graphy Centre says it hopesBoaty will be able to makethe first under-ice crossingof the Arctic Ocean.

New York Times News Service

Two-month mission set to begin in Antarctica

HANNAH OLIVENNES

London

Climate concerns: Boaty will collect data to help scientistsunderstand how global warming affects oceans. NYT

Boaty McBoatface goesfrom joke to polar explorer

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

Kamesh Mechrocks

Image

· cm yk followus: wednesday,march15,2017 thehindu.com facebook.com/thehindu twitter.com/the_hindu...

Documents