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Fish lovers are a worried lotafter wholesale traders and

vendors in the national Capitalcontinue to sell fish importfrom West Bengal and AndhraPradesh without tests. This isbeing done despite the fact thatlaboratory tests confirmedpresence of high content of for-malin and heavy metals likelead and cadmium in the con-signments in Bihar falingwhich the State has recentlybanned fish sale whileJharkhand has issued alert onfish supply from these twocoastal States.

Interestingly, fish vendorsand wholesale traders inGhazipur fish market andSarojini Nagar in the nationalCapital appear to be ignorantabout the ban on fish sale inBihar. Traders say they have notbeen sounded about the for-malin content found in fishfrom Andhra Pradesh andWest Bengal.

It is estimated that 30-40per cent supply comes to Delhifrom these two coastal States.According to an estimate, Delhiconsumes 15-20 tonnes daily.

Most are brought herefrom Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra, West Bengal,Gujarat Western UP andOdisha. And given the Capital’s

distance from these States,preservation is a necessity sincesupplies take over a week toreach the city markets. Used forpreserving fish and dead bod-ies, formalin is a carcinogenicsubstance, while heavy metalssuch as lead, mercury and cad-mium affect human kidneys,bones, liver, brain and reduce

immunity.Tarak Sinha, who runs a

fish stall in Ghazipur, saidmost household consumerscheck the gills for indication offreshness. Fresh fish have redgills, while those that are olderexhibit maroon gills.

A fish vendor at SarojiniNagar market said despite thedangers posed by formalin,the Delhi AgricultureMarketing Board (DAMB) hasnot yet taken any action, unlikeBihar and Jharkhand.

Ghazipur Fish and PoultryMarket chairman Nasir Alvitold The Pioneer that he wasnot aware about the formalincontent found in the fishimport from Andhra Pradeshand West Bengal.

Alvi also claimed that onlysmall quantity of fish comesfrom these two coastal Statesand fish were tested by the sell-ers before being sold to retail-ers. “Authorities issues advi-sories from time to time buttraders do not abide them,” Alviadded. But traders said 30-40per cent fish comes to Delhifrom Andhra and West Bengal.

When asked, Delhi ChiefSecretary Vijay Dev said panicwould be created if advisory isissued. “The issue has comeinto my knowledge, I will take

up the issue with the HealthMinistry,” Dev added.

As per reports from Bihar,excess level of formalin wasfound in seven out of 10 fishsamples sent to a central labo-ratory in Kolkata in October.The test report received by thedepartment last week alsofound heavy metals like lead,cadmium and mercury in allthe samples. Six out of the 10samples were of fish fromAndhra Pradesh, two eachfrom West Bengal and localponds and rivers.

On the other hand, reject-ing the allegations that fish fromAndhra contain formalin (atoxic chemical substance)Andhra Pradesh Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu request-ed his counterpart in BiharNitish Kumar to revoke the banon the sale and transportationof fish from the State.

India is the third largestfish producer in the world.India’s share of global fish pro-duction is 6 per cent.

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In a major setback to default-ers, the Supreme Court on

Friday upheld the constitu-tional validity of the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC) inits entirety, saying, “the default-ers’ paradise is lost” and theeconomy’s rightful positionhas been regained.

A Bench of Justices RFNariman and Navin Sinharefused to alter any of the pro-visions of the IBC, which waschallenged in a batch of petitionsfiled by several companies. Thecourt said, “The flow of finan-cial resource to the commercialsector in India has increasedexponentially as a result offinancial debts being repaid”.

With regard to the contro-versial provision of section29A of the IBC, which dealtwith the rights of erstwhile pro-moters to participate in therecovery process of a corporatedebtor, the Bench said that “aresolution applicant has novested right for considerationor approval of its resolutionplan”.

The court said the workingof the Code is being monitoredby an expert committee of theCentral Government and in ashort period, amendments havebeen carried out by involvingall stakeholders.

“Earlier experiments, aswe have seen, in terms of leg-islations having failed, ‘trial’having led to repeated ‘errors’,ultimately led to the enactmentof the Code. The experimentcontained in the Code, judgedby the generality of its provi-sions and not by so-called cru-dities and inequities that havebeen pointed out by the peti-tioners, passes constitutionalmuster,” said Justice Nariman,who penned 150-page verdictfor the Bench.

It noted that approximate-ly 3,300 cases have been dis-posed of by the adjudicatingauthority based on out-of-court settlements between cor-porate debtors and creditorswhich themselves involvedclaims amounting to over �1.20lakh crore.

The Bench said 80 caseshave been resolved, of whichthe liquidation value of 63such cases is �29,788 crore.

“These figures show thatthe experiment conducted inenacting the Code is proving tobe largely successful. Thedefaulter’s paradise is lost. In itsplace, the economy’s rightfulposition has been regained,” theBench said.

Continued on Page 4

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Former President PranabMukherjee, Bharatiya Jana

Sangh leader late NanajiDeshmukh, and notedAssamese singer late BhupenHazarika were on Friday con-ferred the country’s highestcivilian award Bharat Ratna.With these three recipients, 48eminent people have been con-ferred the award so far.

The Bharat Ratna has beenconferred after a gap of fouryears. Former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee andfounder of Banaras HinduUniversity Madan MohanMalviya were given the awardby the Narendra ModiGovernment in 2015.Mukherjee, fondly known as

‘Pranab Da’, was the Presidentbetween 2012 and 2017.

The 83-year-oldMukherjee, who was alsoknown as the quintessentialMan Friday of the Congress,joins the elite club withSarvepalli Radhakrishnan,Rajendra Prasad, Zakir Hussainand VV Giri who had beenconferred the coveted award.

Mukherjee has been con-ferred the prestigious award ata time when the BJP is tryingto gain a foothold in West

Bengal. The former Presidentwas at the centre of a majorcontroversy when he attend-ed a RSS function in Nagpurlast year.

Mukherjee became India’syoungest Finance Minister in1982 at the age of 47. From2004, he went on to head threecrucial ministries — ExternalAffairs, Defence and Finance— and became the first occu-pant of the Rashtrapati Bhavanto have this distinction.

Continued on Page 4

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The CBI on Friday raidedseveral premises belong-

ing to former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda provoking a strongreaction from the Congress,which warned officials of probeagencies of consequences fortargeting political opponents ofthe Modi Government.

The CBI on Wednesdayregistered a new case againstformer Haryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda andAdditional Chief Secretary ofHaryana and then ChiefAdministrator of HUDA TCGupta for alleged irregularitiesin land allocation in Gurugramin 2009 and carried out search-es on Friday at 20 locations inDelhi-NCR including inChandigarh, Rohtak,Gurugram and Mohali. Thesearches were also conducted atHooda’s residence in Rohtak.

The CBI case relates toalleged corruption in the acqui-sition of 1,417 acres of land in2009 in Gurugram.

Besides Hooda and Gupta,the agency has also named 15builders/colonisers in the case,including DLF, Emaar MGF,Buzz Hotels, Ansals amongothers.

Continued on Page 4

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Travelling will be smooth forthe people of the twin cities

of Noida and Greater Noidaand in Gautam Buddh Nagar asthe much awaited metro linkconnecting these stretches hasfinally thrown open to thepublic by Chief Minister ofUttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanathon Friday.

The public services willopen from Saturday morning.

The corridor popularlyknown as the Aqua Line willconnect Sectior-71 station inNoida and the Depot station inGreater Noida. The newlyinaugurated 29.7 kilometresstretch will have a total of 21stations on the corridor — 15of them in Noida and six inGreater Noida.

During the visit to Gautam

Buddh Nagar, he also inaugu-rated the Noida-Greater Noidametro rail project.

He inaugurated projectsworth �283.75 crore, whichincludes two bridges that will

ease connectivity betweenNoida and Delhi.

A second bridge on theYamuna river near KalindiKunj.

Continued on Page 4

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Now, travelling will besmoother from Noida to

Delhi especially from MayurVihar and Akshardham as themuch awaited three-lane fly-over in Mayur Vihar hasthrown open to the public bythe Arvind Kejriwal on Friday.The newly inaugurated flyoverwith one kilometre long is anextension of the BarapullahPhase III flyover is expected todecongest traffic from Noidaside to Akshardham side.

Detailed report on P3

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The Raigad administrationon Friday began demolish-

ing fugitive diamond traderNirav Modi’s beach-side

sprawling illegal bungalowlocated off Khim beach, near-ly 100 km from Mumbai.

Acting on the directives ofthe Bombay High Court whichhad on January 14 ordered the

demolition of 58 illegal beach-side bungalows, a team head-ed by Alibaug’s sub-divisionalofficer Sharada Powar startedthe demolition.

Detailed report on P6

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A30-year-old man carry-ing a reward of �1 lakh

was arrested by the DelhiPolice on Friday for hisalleged involvement in aninternational drug syndicate.

The accused has beenidentified as Axat Gulia aliasAkshit alias Akshay, a nativeof Jhajjar, Haryana.

According to SanjeevKumar Yadav, DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Special Cell, Guliawas arrested on January 23after police received a tip offthat the accused was hidingin his friend's office atBaghdola village in Dwarka.

"A raid was conducted at

his friend's office in Dwarka.When police team tried toapprehend Gulia, he fledaway, however, the officialschased him for about 500meters and overpowered him.Mobile handsets and Donglewith SIM cards used for drugtrafficking recovered fromhis possession," said the DCP.

"Some of his associateswere arrested in May lastyear following which policegot to know about Gulia's rolein running this drug syndi-cate. Drugs in the tabletsand powdered form werecollected from various partsof India by these syndicatemembers and then suppliedto drug traffickers in UK,USA, UAE and other Middle-East countries," said the DCP.

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Two persons, including afive-year-old child died

while one was severely injuredafter a tractor lost control andhit their bike near Shastri Parkin New Delhi. The incidentoccurred on the interveningnight of Thursday-Friday whenall three victims riding on bikewere returning to their home.

The deceased have beenidentified as Sarfaraj (20) andhis five year-old nephew Anasboth resident of Sadar Bazar inDelhi. While the injured whowas driving the bike is identi-fied as Shehzad, cousin of thedeceased Sarfaraj.

According to Atul KumarThakur, Deputy Commissionerof Police (DCP), North-Eastdistrict, they had received aPolice Control Room (PCR)call regarding the incidentaround 12.30 am on Friday fol-

lowing which a team rushed tothe spot.

"By the time police reachedthe spot passerby had alreadyshifted them to nearby hospi-tal. In hospital the child andSarfaraj were declared broughtdead while Sehzad is stillundergoing treatment," saidthe DCP. "Initial probe suggestthat all three victims were rid-ing on Royal Enfield bike whentractor coming from behindlost control and hit them. Thechild came under rear wheel ofthe trolley which was carryingfodder," said the DCP.

"The driver of tractor iden-tified as Sandeep (30) has beenarrested. He was going towardsGhazipur from ISBT when theincident occurred. A caseunder appropriate sections hasbeen registered at NewUsmanpur police station.Further investigation is goingon," the DCP added.

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Water supply would beaffected in most parts

of the city due to discharge ofindustrial waste from neigh-bouring Haryana into RiverYamuna.

The Delhi Jal Board(DJB) has said that after rawwater quality found deterio-rated, water treatment hasbeen curtailed at "WaterTreatment Plants" (WTP) atWazirabad, Chandrawal andOkhla. Further, rationalisa-tion of drinking water is alsobeing done at other plants,the board said.

"Due to the increase inpollution, many areas, includ-

ing North Delhi, CentralDelhi, part of West Delhi, partof South Delhi and whole theNDMC areas, will remainaffected and water supplywill be available at low pres-sure," the board said.

DJB has advised citizensto make judicious use ofwater. It has also advised tocontact the helpline numbersin emergencies.

The numbers are 1916,23527679, 23634469 (CentralControl Room), 23810930(Chandrawal), 29234746/29234747(Greater Kailash),2 3 5 3 7 3 9 7 / 2 3 6 7 7 1 2 9 (Idgah), 25223658 (PunjabiBagh), 27619244/ 27617609(Burari) 27677877/ 27681578(Kewal Park).

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The Crime Branch of theDelhi Police has busted an

illegal casino at Le CastleMicasa Resort GT KarnalRoad, Alipur on Thursdaynight and 51 people, includingfive women, were arrested bythe police. Gambling chipsworth �49 lakhs and stakemoney of �5.4 lakhs wereseized from the spot.

Police said the racket hadbeen going on for months;however, the premises werebeing changed regularly by theorganisers. "The main organ-isers of the illegal casino rack-et have been identified asMukesh Kumar, SanjayAggarwal, Devraj Dabas, AjayChauhan and Love Vasisthaincluding the five women.

It was found that the ownerof the Hotel Ashok Gupta hadgiven the hotel on lease to AjayJain and his partners for �15.75

lakhs per month. Ajay Jainand manager Surender Bangerhave also been arrested alongwith 38 persons indulging ingambling," AdditionalCommissioner of Police(Crime) Rajiv Ranjan stated.

On the basis of information, a raid was con-ducted on Thursday at around11.45 pm at the premises of LeCastle Micasa Resort and theillegal gambling racket wasbusted.

"The organisers had hireda trained person namely LoveVashist to run the gamblingden. He had earlier worked

with a famous casino in Goaand also used to arrange Casinotours for Sri lanka and Ciprusin India," Ranjan said.

During investigation,police found that the fivewomen were serving tokenand chips at the speciallydesigned casino tables to playcards. Token and chips werebeing given against cash as wellas on credit and a register wasbeing maintained for the same.

"Liquor was solved illegal-ly and the party usually con-tinued all night. Often, livemusic and dance shows werealso arranged," he said.

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Three men, including a JetAirways technician, were

arrested in two separate casesfor allegedly trying to smug-gle gold at Indira GandhiInternational Airport.Custom officials disclosedthat gold worth �74.79 lakhwas seized from them.

It was reported that onWednesday, the security staffof Jet Airways informed cus-tom officials regarding theirtechnician. A detailed searchwas conducted and four goldbars weighing 1.3 kg wasrecovered from the pocket ofhis pants.

During enquiry, theaccused revealed that the goldbelonged to one Rahees whohad instructed him to handover the gold bars to a personwaiting outside Aerocitymetro station near the airport.Later, the person was alsoarrested by the officials.

In the second case, on thebasis of suspicion, a manarriving from Dubai onWednesday was interceptedby custom officials.

"His personal and bag-gage search resulted in therecovery of gold in the formof granules mixed with thickliquid, out of which one goldbar weighing 978 gram wasextracted," AdditionalCommissioner of Customs(IGI Airport) AmandeepSingh stated in the officialrelease.

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Creating hurdles in the func-tioning of the Delhi Gove-

rnment is like ‘betrayal to thecountry’, said Delhi Chief Min-ister Arvind Kejriwal whileaddressing people at Chha-trashal Stadium on the eve of70th Republic day on Friday.

The Chief Minister allegedhis Government was stoppedfrom buildings schools, hospi-tals and mohalla clinics in thecity. “I want to ask whether thisis not betrayal to the country.Why is there politics in it? If mysoldier sacrifices his life on theborder, he does not see that heis saving the life of a personfrom the Bharatiya Janata Partyor Congress or Aam AadmiParty (AAP) and instead, hesacrifices his life while pro-tecting the country.”

Expressing concern, hesaid many pro poor projectsinitiated by the AAPGovernment are stopped andhurdles are created in many ofsuch projects.

“The Government wants toprovide relief to the tune of �1 crore to soldiers who sacri-

ficed their lives while servingthe nation. Further, it alsowished to provide relief to thefarmers but all such projects arebeing stopped,” he alleged.

Delhiites changed the pol-itics of the country four yearsago and elected a newGovernment of its kind in thenational capital, he said, addingthat today, the Government inDelhi is a “revolution andmovement”.

Kejriwal said before inde-pendence, there were somepeople who used to help theBritish to weaken the fight ofrevolutionaries and today aswell, there are still some suchpeople who try to do the sameto the country.

He also exhorted the chil-dren to cultivate the feelings ofpatriotism and communal har-mony and to serve the countrywith the feelings of dedicationand sacrifice giving a helpinghand to the people of all sec-tions of the society to ensureprogress without having thefeelings of caste, creed andreligion.

Kejriwal also rememberedthe role of Mahatma Gandhi,the first Prime Minister of

India, Pandit Jawarlal Nehrufor laying foundation of freeIndia. He said that after gettingfreedom in 1947, it was dreamtthat unemployed people andthe farmers will get justice andeducation will be transformedbut it is painful that even after70 years, the dream could notbe full filled.

Remembering the sacri-fices of the freedom fighterslike Sardar Bhagat Singh,Sukhdev, Rajguru, ChandraSekhar Azad, Netaji SubhashChandra Bose, Ashfaq UllaKhan and others in liberatingMother India, Kejriwal saidthat the Delhi Governmentstepped up in bringing remark-able changes and to fulfill thedream of forefathers.

Lauding the efforts takenby Deputy Chief Minister andEducation Minister ManishSisodia, he said that Sisodiatransformed the entire the edu-cation system, atmosphere inschool, adding new curriculumsuch as “happiness curriculum”.Now, a wonderful initiative as“entrepreneur curriculum” isintroduced which will changethe fate of thousands of stu-dents as it will help them to

start their own enterprises.Kejriwal said that the AAP

Government has also ensuredbetter health facilities in all itshospitals. Mohalla Clinic facil-ity which meant to take thehealth facility at the door stepof the people has beenacknowledged internationally.

“The AAP Governmenthas given great relief to the

poor and needy people of Delhiby ensuring 24 hour electrici-ty at cheapest rate and provid-ing up to 20000 litres watersupply for free to every house-hold in the city,” he said.

He also appealed the peo-ple to save the country from thefissiparous tendencies and thedivisive forces, which are weak-ening and ruining the country

and its’ democratic and socialfabric.

Deputy Chief Minister,Manish Sisodia, HealthMinister, Satyendar Jain,Minister of Labour, Gopal Rai,Minister of Social Welfare,Rajendar Pal Gautam, TransportMinister, Kailash Gahlot, ChiefSecretary Vijay Dev, also gracedthe occasion.

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Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal alleged on Friday

that Prime Minister NarendraModi was fighting his politicalbattles through law enforce-ment agencies.

Kejriwal also alleged the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah havenot spared any political oppo-nent, be it Samajwadi Partychief Akhilesh Yadav, SP supre-mo Mayawati, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee and his Aam AadmiParty (AAP).

“Modi ji is fighting polit-ical battles thro enforcementagencies. From @yadavakhilesh& Mayawati in UP to@MamataOfficial in Bengal nAAP in Delhi Modi-Shah duohas spared no political oppo-

nent (sic),” he tweeted.The Aam Aadmi Party

chief ’s accusation comes hoursafter the West Bengal chiefminister launched an attack onthe BJP-led central govern-ment, amid the CBI raids atsenior Congress leader andformer Haryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda’s res-idence.

“From @yadavakhilesh toBehen Mayawati Ji, nobody isspared. From north to south.From east to west. Politicalvendetta by BJP. Are theyscared? Are they desperate?”Banerjee tweeted.

The CBI registered a newcase against Bhupinder SinghHooda and others over allegedirregularities in land allocationin Gurgaon in 2009 and carriedout searches at 20 locations inDelhi-NCR Friday.

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The much awaited three-lane flyover in Mayur Vihar

was thrown open to the publicby Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Friday. The newlyinaugurated three-lane flyoverwith one kilometre long is anextension of the BarapullahPhase III flyover is expected todecongest traffic from Noida toAkshardham.

“I congratulate all the staffsand workers of PWD andLarsen and Tourbo (L&T) whoput their 100 percent effort tocomplete this project. Now,travel will be easy and peoplewill save their time. In the past70 years, no Government hasdone work and created facili-

ties for the welfare of the peo-ple as the present Governmentdid,” said Arvind Kejriwal.

The inauguration was also

attended by the Deputy ChiefMinister and local MLAManish Sisodia and PublicWorks Department (PWD)

Minister Satyendar Jain.Mayur Vihar flyover is the

part of Barapullah elevatedroad corridor under phase IIIextension from Mayur Vihar toSarai Kale Khan in Delhi. Thisthree lane flyover was an essen-tial project of DelhiGovernment which wasplanned and executed by PWDDelhi. The cost of the projectis approximately Rs Rs. 45crores.

“Commuters will also savetime as earlier it took onehour but now the travelbetween Noida andAkshardam will be just 15-20minutes. The project was pro-posed in 2015 and has beenconstructed and was expectedto start in 2017.

But there was so much hur-dles from the Opposition andthe Lieutenant Governor butthen also we faced challengesand completed the project,”said Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia.

The New Flyover will facil-itate signal free movement inthe area. Further, two loopsconnect the flyover in the mid-dle part to facilitate the trafficmovement for Mayur Vihar.The deck width of flyover is 12m at the approaches and at themerging part (with loops), thewidth is 15.5 m.

In order to overcome the bottlenecks caused by traffic coming from NOIDA and Mayur Vihar, willbe solved now.

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Thanks to Thursday’s rain,Delhi’s overall air quality on

Friday saw a sudden improve-ment to ‘moderate’ with AirQuality Index recorded at 151,a drastic improvement fromFriday’s ‘very poor’ air at 311.

On Friday morning, the airquality was recorded in the verypoor category (319). Consistentwind speed, however, turned itto ‘moderate’ by 4 pm.

The authorities say this isjust a temporary relief, “purelyattributable to rainfall”, and it isexpected to deteriorate slowly

due to stable winds and pre-vailing shallow fog. “The AQI islikely to deteriorate to poor forthe next two days and maybecome very poor by Monday,”System of Air Quality and We-ather Forecasting And Researchsaid in its daily pollution analy-sis. In the national capitalregion too, Faridabad at 123,Ghaziabad at 164, Greater Noidaat 143, Gurugram at 126, andNoida at 134 also had ‘moder-ate’ levels of pollutants on Friday.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has forecasta drop in the minimum tem-perature by 3-4 degrees Celsius

in Delhi in the next five days. “On January 28 and 29, the

minimum temperature in Delhiis expected to touch 4 degreesCelsius with shallow to moder-ate fog covering the skies,” anIMD official said.

“North-west winds fromthe Himalayas will lead to a dropin minimum temperature inDelhi in the coming days. Thiswill lead to the development ofcold wave to severe cold waveconditions over the plains ofNorthwest India,” MaheshPalawat, Director at privateweather forecasting agencySkymet told IANS.

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New Delhi: A day after the CBInamed banking doyen KVKamath and virtual who’s whoof the sector for questioning inthe alleged fraud case againstformer ICICI Bank CEOChanda Kochhar, union min-ister Arun Jaitley on Fridayadvised investigating agency toavoid “adventurism” and con-centrate only on the bull’s eye.

Jaitley, who is recuperatingafter a surgery in a hospital inthe US, on Twitter said one ofthe reasons for “poor” convic-tion rate in India is that “adven-turism and megalomania” over-takes investigators and profes-sionalism takes a back seat. TheCentral Bureau of Investigation(CBI) on Thursday filed a caseof criminal conspiracy and fraudagainst the Chanda Kochhar andher husband Deepak Kochhar.

The agency also saidKamath as well as present ICICIBank CEO Sandeep Bakshi,

Goldman Sachs India ChairmanSonjoy Chatterjee, StandardChartered Bank CEO ZarinDaruwala, Tata Capital headRajiv Sabharwal and Tata Capitalsenior advisor HomiKhusrokhan need to be investi-gated for high-value loans ICICIBank sanctioned under Kochaarto Videocon Industries.

It alleged that the loans wereextended in violation of bank’slending policies and in exchangefor an investment by the con-sumer electronics company’sowner in a business headed byChanda Kochhar’s husband.

“There is a fundamentaldifference between investiga-tive adventurism and profes-sional investigation,” Jaitleywrote. Jaitley, who was FinanceMinister of India till last weekand had to temporary han-dover the charge to his fellowminister Piyush Goyal for theduration of his indisposition,advised the investigators —“Follow the advice of Arjun inthe Mahabharat — Just con-centrate on the bull’s eye.” PTI

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From Page 1Nanaji Deshmukh was

associated with RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh since 1928till his death in Satna, MadhyaPradesh, in 2010 at the age of94 and was known for startingthe chain of RSS inspiredschools throughout India. Hewas one of the founder mem-bers of Bharatiya Jan Sanghwhich later evolved asBharatiya Janta Party.

He was considered to beone of the architects of the JaiPrakash Narain movementagainst Emergency in 1974and among the key persons inthe formation of Janata Partygovernment in 1977.

Born in 1926, Hazarika

was a playback singer, lyricist,musician, singer, poet and film-maker from Assam.A recipi-ent of Sangeet Natak AkademiAward (1987), Padmashri(1977), Padmabhushan (2001)and Padma Vibhushan (2012-posthumously), Hazarika wasalso awarded with Dada SahebPhalke Award in 1992.Hazarika did his Phd fromColumbia University in 1952.He died in 2011.

The cultural icon also hada brush with politics and hadunsuccessfully contested theGuwahati Lok Sabha seat on aBJP ticket in 2004. He was anindependent MLA in Assamduring 1967-72.Hazarika gavemusic in Bollywood moviesRudaali, Darmiyaan, GajaGamini, Daman and manyAssamese hits, including awardwinning film ‘Sameli Memsaab’.

Hailing PranabMukherjee, Prime MinisterNarendra said he is an out-standing statesman of presenttimes who has served thenation selflessly and tirelessly

for decades, leaving a strongimprint on the nation’s growthtrajectory.

“His (Mukherjee) wisdomand intellect have few parallels.Delighted that he has been con-ferred the Bharat Ratna,” Moditweeted.

Referring to Deshmukh,Modi said his stellar contribu-tion towards rural develop-ment showed the way for a newparadigm of empowering thoseliving in our villages.“He (Deshmukh) personifieshumility, compassion and ser-vice to the downtrodden. He isa Bharat Ratna in the truestsense!,” he tweeted.

Praising Hazarika, Modisaid his songs and music areadmired by people across gen-erations. “From them radiatesthe message of justice, harmo-ny and brotherhood. He(Hazarika) popularised India’smusical traditions globally.Happy that the Bharat Ratnahas been conferred on BhupenDa,” the Prime Minister tweet-ed.

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From Page 1The official premises of top

functionaries of the builderswere searched during the oper-ation in the morning.

Reacting to the raids,senior Congress leader AnandSharma said such actions whenthe Prime Minister and the rul-ing dispensation “target itspolitical opponents by usingagencies against them are dan-gerous for democracy in ourcountry”.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi has a mindset of target-ing his political opponents bydefaming them with the objec-tive of muzzling the voice of theOpposition and to tarnish theimage of their tall leaders.

“We condemn in thestrongest terms the actiontoday in the form of raids on former HaryanaChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda with the solepurpose of defaming him,”Sharma told reporters.

Sharma also said the “ill-will” in the mind of the PrimeMinister and BJP chief AmitShah is clear and the timing isalso very clear.

“They are converting Indiainto a police state,” Sharmaalleged, adding that the PrimeMinister has used probe agen-cies to target former ChiefMinisters be it in Rajasthan orUttar Pradesh.

“We are warning all con-cerned not to exceed theirbrief or act above the law. Allofficials must hear this thatGovernments do not havepermanency and they keepchanging....They will be heldaccountable and they will haveto answer once theGovernment changes,” he fur-ther said.

The case was registeredon the directions of theSupreme Court on November1, 2017 where the CBI wasentrusted to probe alleged

irregularities in the acquisitionprocess of 1,417 acres of landbetween 2009 and 2012 for sec-tor 58-63 and 65-67 inGurugram on June 2, 2009.

The Government hadissued notification for theacquisition of 1,417.07 acres ofland situated at sector 58 to 63and 65 to 67, Gurugram onJune 2, 2009, the CBI alleged inthe FIR. Subsequently, anoth-er notification was issued foracquisition of 850.10 acres onMay 31, 2010.

It emerged during the pre-liminary enquiry that the pur-pose of Haryana UrbanDevelopment Authority(HUDA) for acquisition ofland for ensuring availability ofdeveloped land at affordableprices to the public at large andto the economically weakersections of the society, has notbeen achieved, according to theFIR.

The agency alleged thatprivate builders entered incriminal conspiracy withHooda and Gupta with anintent to cheat land owners.

In pursuance of the con-spiracy, notifications for acqui-sition of land were issued by theGovernment triggering panicsale of land to private devel-opers at a much cheaper ratethan the prevailing marketprices, the FIR alleged.

A large chunk of land wasof no use to HUDA still it wascovered in government notifi-cation. The developers usedtheir influence to get licencesissued for pockets which werenot useful for HUDA andthose lands were released fromacquisition process.

The Government hadissued notification for theacquisition of total area of1,417.07 acre in 2009 and850.10 acre in 2010.

It has further been revealedthat during the notificationperiod, approximately 616.40acre was released in favour ofthe private developers.

Other builders booked bythe agency include RSInfrastructure, MartialBuildcon, Marconi Infratech,Commander Realtors, SUEstates Pvt Ltd, KrrishBuildtech, JMD Ltd, GuptaPromoters, H S Realty, DSSInfrastructure and SanaRealtors.

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From Page 1The court which was all

praise with the working of theIBC said that to stay experi-mentation in economic thingsis a grave responsibility anddenial of the right to experi-ment is fraught with seriousconsequences to the nation.

“We have also seen that theworking of the Code is beingmonitored by the CentralGovernment by ExpertCommittees that have beenset up in this behalf.Amendments have been madein the short period in which theCode has operated, both to theCode itself as well as to subor-dinate legislation made underit. This process is an ongoingprocess which involves allstakeholders, including thepetitioners,” it said.

The Bench said IBC is acode for reorganisation andinsolvency resolution of cor-porate debtors and unless suchreorganisation is effected in atime-bound manner, the valueof the assets of such personswill deplete. “Therefore, max-imisation of value of the assetsof such persons so that they areefficiently run as going con-cerns is another very importantobjective of the Code,” it said.

On Section 29A, the Benchsaid, “It is settled law that astatute is not retrospectivemerely because it affects exist-ing rights; nor is it retrospec-tive merely because a part ofthe requisites for its action isdrawn from a time antecedentto its passing. With regard tothe constitutional challenge tothe definition of “related party”,the Bench said that “categoriesof persons who are collective-ly mentioned under the caption‘relative’ obviously need to have

a connection with the businessactivity of the resolution appli-cant”. It said that in the absenceof showing that such person is“connected” with the businessof the activity of the resolutionapplicant, such person cannotpossibly be disqualified underprovisions of IBC.

On NPAs, the apex courtsaid that a Non-PerformingAsset (NPA) refers to theaccount belonging to a personthat is declared as such underguidelines issued by the RBI.

The court further said thata wilful defaulter, in accordancewith the guidelines of the RBI,is a person who though able topay, does not pay.

Dealing with one-yearperiod and the NPAs, theBench said, “A person is adefaulter, when an instalmentor interest on the principalremains overdue for more thanthree months, after which, itsaccount is declared NPA.

“During the period of oneyear thereafter, since it is nowclassified as a substandardasset, this grace period is givento such person to pay off thedebt.”

The Bench added thatprior to this 15 month period,banks and financial institutionsdo not declare the accounts ofcorporate debtors to be NPAs.

“This policy cannot befound fault with. Neither canthe period of one year be foundfault with, as this is a policymatter decided by the RBI andwhich emerges from its MasterCircular, as during this period,an NPA is classified as a sub-standard asset,” the court said.

The Bench also upheld theclassification between thefinancial creditor and opera-tional creditor in IBC and saidit is neither discriminatory,nor arbitrary and non-violativeof Article 14 of theConstitution.

From Page 1The six-lane bridge would

ease traffic on the existingfour-lane bridge on the Okhlabarrage, thus ensuring betterconnectivity from Noida toDelhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

The 617.8-metre-longbridge, whose work had start-ed in August 2014, has come upat a cost of Rs 119.95 crore.

Another bridge on theShahdara drain that will easeconnectivity from Noida toDelhi, Faridabad andGurugram was inaugurated bythe Chief Minister. The four-lane, 118 metre-long bridge onthe Master Plan-3 road hasbeen constructed at a cost of Rs20 crore and has been in themaking since September 2012.

“Today we dedicate theNoida Greater Noida metro railto the people of the region. TheAqua Line, which has beencompleted in record time, willprovide better connectivity tothe region and prove to a mile-stone in development of theregion,” said Yogi.

The final and mandatorysafety inspection of the corri-

dor was done in December2018 by the Commissioner ofMetro Rail Safety (CMRS)which gave its approval to theNoida Metro Rail Corporation(NMRC) for launching com-mercial operations.

As per the officials, for thenext one year, the Delhi MetroRail Corporation (DMRC)which looks after the 312 kilo-metre metro network will assistthe Noida Metro RailCorporation (NMRC) in oper-ating the Aqua Line.

The Aqua line, which willhave 19 rakes with four carseach, will halt on the Sector 76,101, 81, NSEZ, Noida Sector83, 137, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146,147, 148, and Greater Noida’sKnowledge Park II, PariChowk, Alpha 1, Delta 1,GNIDA Office and Depotmetro stations.

However, a major concernamong the people has been thatthe interchange stations of theDMRC-operated Blue Line andthe NMRC’s Aqua Line are notseamless. Commuters will haveto get down at the Sector 52metro station of the Blue Line,

which will further get extend-ed to the Noida ElectronicCity station, and reach theNoida Sector 51 station of theAqua Line, covering a stretchof around 300 metres.

Earlier, the NMRC hadsaid a skywalk or a foot-overbridge to directly link the twostations was under considera-tion but there have been talksabout it lately.

Further as compared tothe DMRC, the charges in thisLine will less. The fares for theAqua line will start from Rs 9and the maximum Rs 50. Thecommuters can further buyQR-coded paper tickets or usethe smart cards to get 10 percent discount on fares, theofficials said. The 49th battal-ion of the UP PAC has beenentrusted with the responsi-bility of security on the AquaLine, while some private secu-rity personnel will also bedeployed.

“The security personnelare being trained by the CentralIndustrial Security Force(CISF), which guards the DelhiMetro,” the NMRC had said.

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Anew 5-judge ConstitutionBench was constituted by

the Supreme Court on Fridayto hear on January 29 thepolitically sensitive RamJanambhoomi-Babri Masjidland title dispute in Ayodhya.

The Bench was re-consti-tuted as Justice UU Lalit, whowas a member of the originalbench, recused himself onJanuary 10 after expressingdisinclination to participate inthe hearing any further as hehad appeared as a lawyer forformer Uttar Pradesh chiefminister Kalyan Singh in aconnected matter “sometime inthe year 1997”.

The new bench comprisesof Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi and Justices SA Bobde,DY Chandrachud, AshokBhushan and SA Nazeer.

Justice NV Ramana, whowas in the bench which lastheard the matter on January 10,is also not a member in the newbench. Justices Bhushan andNazeer are the new members inthe bench.

A notice sent by theSupreme Court registry to var-ious parties said that theAyodhya dispute matter will belisted on Thursday, January29, 2019, in “Chief Justice’scourt before the constitutionbench comprising the CJI, andJustices SA Bobde, DYChandrachud, Ashok Bhushanand S A Nazeer.”

Justices Bhushan andNazeer were part of the 3-judgebench, then headed by ChiefJustice Dipak Misra (sinceretired), which on September27, 2018 gave a 2:1 verdictrefusing to refer to a 5-judge Constitution Benchreconsideration of the obser-vation in its 1994 judgementthat a mosque was not integralto Islam.

The matter arose duringthe hearing of the Ayodhyaland dispute.

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to entertain

a plea seeking forthwith refundof money into the account of aperson after a failed financial orbanking transaction.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Sanjiv Khanna, however, asked lawyer GSMani, who had filed the PIL in his personal capac-ity, to give a representation tothe Reserve Bank of India(RBI).

The lawyer said that if aperson, by using the debit orcredit card, enters into a failedfinancial transaction, then ittakes a lot of time in getting therefund or reimbursement.

He said that a direction beissued to the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) to ensure thatbanking customers get imme-diate refund after failed trans-actions.

“Heard the petitioner whois appearing in-person andperused the relevant material.The Article 32 petition is notentertained for the present and is, accordingly,dismissed.”

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to entertain

a plea seeking a CBI probe intothe murder of a security guardat former Chief Minister JJayalalithaa’s retreat home atKodanad Estate in Nilgiris dis-trict in 2017.

The PIL had sought anindependent investigation intothe allegation of involvement ofTamil Nadu Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palanisamy in thecase. Palaniswamy had deniedthe charge.

“Heard the counsel for thepetitioner and perused the rel-evant material. We do not con-sider the present to be a fit casefor admission. The writ petitionis accordingly dismissed,” abench comprising Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi and JusticeSanjiv Khanna said.

The plea filed KRRamaswamy alias TrafficRamaswamy had also soughtdirections to the State police tohand over the records relating to the Kodanad Estate’s robbery and murder ofOm Bahadur, home guard of Jayalalithaa, on April23, 2017.

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The Supreme Court onFriday refused to stay the

Modi government’s decisionto grant 10 per cent reservationto economically poor in thegeneral category but agreed toexamine the validity of the constitutional amendmentwhich paved the way for thisquota.

A Bench comprising ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustice Sanjiv Khanna issued anotice to the Government on abatch of petitions challengingthe validity of the Constitution(103 Amendment) Act, 2019which allows grant of quota injobs and education to the poorin the general category.

“We will examine the mat-ter. Issue notice,” the benchsaid, making it clear that therewould be no stay on the deci-sion. The top court asked theCentre to file its response with-in three weeks.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, said the pleas did notdeserve a hearing and vehe-mently argued that thereshould not be any stay on theCentre’s decision. The benchsaid it has merely issued thenotice. When some lawyersstarted arguing simultaneous-ly, the bench said, “Don’t cometo this court to create trouble.Call the next case”.

The bench was hearingpetitions filed by parties includ-ing organisations like ‘JanhitAbhiyan’ and NGO ‘Youth ForEquality’ challenging theCentre’s decision.

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Two Army personnel thisyear will be conferred with

Kirti Chakra, the second high-est peacetime gallantry award.The awards were for operationsagainst terrorists in Jammu &Kashmir last year. The firstrecipient is Major TusharGauba of Jat Regiment whilethe other awardee is SepoyVijay Kumar who died fightingterrorists in an operation inBaramulla in August last.Gauba led an operation inMay last year against a group ofeight militants who attemptedto infiltrate from across theLine of Control (LoC) inKupwara. The highest awardAshok Chakra will be given onRepublic Day here on Saturdayto wife of Lance Naik NazirWani, a terrorist turned soldierwho died fighting militants inNovember last year in Kashmir.

Besides these medals, nineArmy personnel will be con-ferred with Shaurya Chakra,the third highest peacetimegallantry award. They includeLt Colonel Vikrant Prasher(Special Forces), Major AmitKumar Dimri(14 Rashtriya

Rifles), Major ImliakumKeitzar( 4/4 GR), Major RohitLingwal(Special Forces),Captain Abhay Sharma(SpecialForces), Captain AbhinavKumar Choudhary(Signals),Lance Naik AyyubAli(Rajputana Rifles), SepoyAjay Kumar(posthumous) andSepoy Mahesh H N(44Rashtriya Rifles).

In all, the President hasapproved awards of 411Gallantry and other defencedecorations to Armed Forcespersonnel and others on theeve of the 70thRepublic DayCelebrations. This includes oneAshoka Chakra, four KirtiChakras, 11 Shaurya Chakras,28 Param Vishisht Seva Medals,03 Uttam Yudh Seva Medals,51 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals,oneBar to Yudh Seva Medal,nineYudh Seva Medals, twoBarto Vishisht Seva Medals, 120Vishisht Seva Medals, sixBar toSena Medals (Gallantry),103Sena Medals (Gallantry),sevenNao Sena Medals(Gallantry), twoVayu SenaMedals (Gallantry), fiveBartoSena Medals (Devotion toDuty), 35Sena Medals(Devotion to Duty), nineNaoSena Medals (Devotion toDuty) and 14Vayu Sena Medals(Devotion to Duty).

Army Chief General BipinRawat is one of the awardees ofParam Vishisht Seva Medal(PVSM).

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As many as 855 police andparamilitary personnel

were on Friday awarded policemedals, including 149 for gal-lantry in Jammu & Kashmir,Naxal violence affected areasand others, ahead of theRepublic Day.

The CRPF, the country’slargest paramilitary force, wasdecorated with maximum 44awards for bravery includingtwo paramilitary troops gettingKirti Chakra (posthumously)and one with Shaurya Chakrafor operations in Jammu andKashmir. Kirti Chakra is thesecond highest and ShauryaChakra is the third highestpeace time gallantry award.

CRPF was followed byOdisha Police at 26 medals,Jammu and Kashmir Police25 medals and Chhattisgarh 14medals.

Three Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) personnelwere also decorated posthu-mously with the top categoryPresident’s Police Medal forGallantry (PPMG).

Other gallantry medal win-ners are from Meghalaya (13),Uttar Pradesh (10), BorderSecurity Force (8), Delhi (4),Jharkhand (3) and one eachfrom the Assam Rifles and theIndo-Tibetan Border Police.

A total of 146 Police Medalfor Gallantry (PMG), 74President’s Police Medal for dis-tinguished service and 632police medal for meritoriousservice were conferred on themen and the women in khakifrom various state police andcentral police forces and orga-nizations, the Union HomeMinistry said in a statement.

On the eve of the RepublicDay, the two slain CRPF jawanswere decorated with KirtiChakra and their commander

was awarded the ShauryaChakra for displaying daredevilry in taking on heavilyarmed terrorists in Jammu andKashmir’s Awantipora in 2017.

The military honours werebestowed on constables PradipKumar Panda and RajendraKumar Nain, who were killedwhile fighting the militantswho stormed their camp inAwantipora, while their com-mander AssistantCommandant Zile Singh wasdecorated with the ShauryaChakra.

The three displayed exem-plary bravery to thwart thedeadly fidayeen attack that wascarried out on December 30,2017, and went on for over 36hours, reads the citation. Threeheavily armed terrorists werekilled by the CRPF personnelafter the gun battle ended.

Five troops of the forcewere also killed in this pre-dawn attack on the multi-acrecamp that also serves as train-ing centre for jawans inductedfor counter-militancy opera-tions in the Kashmir Valley.

CISF Jawan Sushil Bhoiwon a “Jeevan Raksha Padak”for a selfless gesture of rescu-ing a 14-year-old boy, trappedinto a crevasse at a high-risebuilding in Ghaziabad.

Twenty-eight other offi-cials of CISF have also beendecorated with various policemedals for rendering excep-tional services. CISF is the

force tasked primarily to guardcivil airports and sensitiveinstallations across the country.

Amongst the other offi-cials, Inspector General (NCR)Sudhir Kumar has been award-ed the President’s police medalfor distinguished service alongwith R C Choudhary, theCommandant of the Jaipur-based 8th battalion. Deputy IGS Ambastha, DeputyCommandant Ombir Singhand Assistant Commandant(AC) A S Samyal have beendecorated with the meritoriousservice medal on the eve of theRepublic Day.

A brave ITBP officer, partof a security forces’ team thatkilled LeT commander AbuDujana in Jammu and Kashmirin 2017, was awarded the policemedal for gallantry. Fifteenother officials of the borderguarding force were alsoawarded the medal for exem-plary services.

Assistant Commandant(AC) Anurag Kumar Singhwas deputed with the Army’sRashtriya Rifles that went intothe operation in August 2017 inPulwama where two militantseach of the Hizbul Mujahideenand the Laskar-e-Taiba, includ-ing Dujana, were killed. Dujanawas a Pakistani national.

Fifteen other officials of theforce have been decorated withthe President’s police medal fordistinguished service and thepolice medal for meritoriousservice on the eve of RepublicDay.

While Deputy InspectorGeneral (DIG) Manoj KumarSingh has been awarded thedistinguished service medal,AC Gireesh Chandra Patni hasbeen decorated for meritoriousservice. The others awarded formeritorious service areInspector NS Sati andConstable Kunwar Pal.

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Against the backdrop of theimpending Lok Sabha elec-

tions, President Ram NathKovind on Friday urged thepeople to perform the “sacredact” of voting, emphasisingthis year’s polls should be seenas a “once-in-a-centurymoment” that will shape theIndia of the remainder of the21st century.

Observing that an elec-tion is not just a political exer-cise, Kovind said it is a collec-tive call to wisdom and a col-lective call to action. He main-tained the ideas and idealism ofour democracy will come intoforce to elect the 17th LokSabha. The President saiddevelopment of the countrycannot be completed without asalute to the “spirit of inclu-siveness and pluralism whichrests on a “tripod of diversity,democracy and development”.

Kovind also pitched forthe use of modern technologyin elections, saying India’s sheersize and logistics of polls in thecountry “make it critical” toembrace the latest means.

Kovind’s remarks cameboth during his address as thechief guest on the occasion of9th National Voters Day as alsohis customary address to the

nation on the 70th RepublicDay.

Ahead of the coming LokSabha polls, the ElectionCommission (EC) is reachingout to masses through variousmodes to increase their par-ticipation of electorates., the EChas launched a toll-free num-ber in which sending a textmessage would let you knowyour status in the list.

The new facility wouldprovide a hassle-free methodfor people to know their statusas voters in any constituency.This step is expected to be amajor relief for voters whowould like to know whethereverything is correct in theElectors Photo Identity Card(EPIC) before any elections.Now, people will not berequired to visit officials toknow their names in the elec-toral roll.

The ECI released ‘My Vote

Matters’, a Quarterly Magazine.The first copy was presented tothe President.

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi too urged theyouth to enrol in the voters’ list,saying people’s participationin the electoral exercisestrengthens democracy’s foun-dation. “I urge people from allwalks of life to create awarenesson voter registration and espe-cially request my young friendsto register themselves as votersif they have not done so already.Every vote cast enhances ourdemocratic fabric,” PM Modiwrote on Twitter.

And after CEC Sunil Arorastrongly backed the use ofEVMs, Union Law andInformation TechnologyMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadalso favoured its usage, sayingthere is a need to trust theElection Commission andrespect the sanctity of the insti-tution.

“I do not wish to make apolitical comment. I wish to sayit with all respect that thesame machine has shown thevictory of my party (BJP) andalso the defeat of my party. Thesame machine has shownregional players getting successtime and time again,” Prasadsaid.

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The HRD Ministry is con-sidering a proposal to

extend the Right of Children toFree and CompulsoryEducation (RTE) Act, 2009 upto class 12, according to seniorofficials. The RTE Act currentlyapplies to children betweensix and 14 years studying from

Class 1 to 8. It requires all pri-vate schools, except for minor-ity institutions, to reserve 25per cent of seats for under-privileged children.

A sub-committee of theCentral Advisory Board ofEducation (CABE), in a reportsubmitted in 2012, when UPAwas in power, recommendedthe extension of the RTE Act.

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said it was closely monitoringthe emerging situation inVenezuela and favoured reso-lution of the political crisisthrough constructive dialogue.

In fast-paced develop-ments, head of the NationalAssembly Juan Guaidodeclared himself as “actingpresident” of the country onWednesday, plunging the SouthAmerican country into a polit-ical crisis. PTI

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In a renewed attack on theNarendra Modi Government

for dissolving the spine ofCentral Bureau of Investigationin order to perpetrate its poli-tics of vendetta against theOpposition parties and theirsupporters Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFriday said the central Agencywhich was headless earlier hadnow been rendered spineless.

Calling it an “ally” of theBJP the Chief Minister said the“headless” CBI which had nodirector had now become“spineless ally” of the BJP.

In a scathing attack on the“caged parrot” which had beenused to victimise theOpposition leaders Banerjeetweeted, “political vendettacontinues,” with the “BJP andits allies comprising multipleGovernment agencies harass-ing all allies of Oppositionfrom Kolkata to Delhi andbeyond,” wondering whetherthe BJP was scared of theOpposition unity which waswhy they were making somedesperate moves.

The BJP was sparing noone she said adding, fromAkhilesh Yadav to “BehnMayawati ji, nobody is spared.From north to south. From east

to west. Political vendetta bythe BJP. Are they scared? Arethey desperate” One headlessagency has now become spine-less BJP.”

Banerjee’s statement camehours after the houses of for-mer Haryana Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda wasraided and noted Bengali filmproducer Srikant Mohta wasarrested on ponzi fund charges.

Banerjee had on January 19organised a massive rally of allanti-BJP opposition parties atthe historic Brigade ParadeGround from where she gaveoust-BJP call.

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More than two months aftertigress Avni was shot, her

on-the run male cub that “isdoing fine” in the jungles ofPandharkawada in Yavatmaldistrict of eastern Maharashtra.

Reports reaching the Stateheadquarters from Yavatmaldistrict on Friday said that themale cub was on Thursdaysighted “hunting and eating apony”. “The male cub is doingfine and healthy. We are in theprocess of trapping and rescu-ing it,” a senior state forest offi-cial said.

On 22 December, thefemale cub of Avni had beencaught and sent to a huge enclo-sure in the Pench Tiger Reserve.

Avni, aged around 6 years,was being accompanied by hertwo cubs – both 10 month oldones, when she was shot by

sharp shooter Asgar Ali, son ofcontroversial sharp-shooterNawab Shafath Ali Khan fromHyderabad, at compartmentnumber 149 of Borati forestunder the jurisdiction of theRalegaon police station.

The two cubs had gonemissing since the tigress waseliminated on the night ofNovember 2.

The State forest depart-ment officials had launched itsmassive search to secure thetwo missing cubs.

The operation to securetwo missing cubs is being over-seen by the National TigerConservation Authority(NTCA) of the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change.

A few weeks after their dis-appearance, both the cubs weretrapped in cameras and spot-ted by forest guards.

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Well known author andpoet and regarded as the

future of Kannada literature,Jayant Kaikini, has been award-ed the prestigious DSC Prizefor South Asian Literature,2018 for his book, No PresentsPlease. The book has beentranslated into English by emi-nent translator TejaswiniNiranjana.

In a glittering award cere-mony at Tata Steel KolkataLiterary Meet here, the US$25,000 DSC Prize was award-ed to Jayant Kaikini andTejaswini Niranjana along withtrophy by eminent writer RuskinBond. As per the prize process,the prize money would be equal-ly shared between the authorand the translator. A galaxy ofwriters, publishers, media andliterary enthusiasts attended theAward Ceremony at iconicVictoria Memorial Hall.

This is the first time that atranslated work has won theDSC prize.

No Presents Please centresaround a protagonist who bat-tles for survival in Mumbai liv-ing a lonely life but carrying onwith his spirited struggle with

a touching big-heartedness.Empathy and survival are theconstant, codependent themesthat unify every strand of thisextraordinary book, creating ashimmering mosaic of a con-flicted city that is as kind as itis, at times, cruel.

The six shortlisted authorsand books in contention forthe DSC Prize this year wereJayant Kaikini: No PresentsPlease (Translated by TejaswiniNiranjana, Harper Perennial,HarperCollins India); KamilaShamsie: Home Fire(Riverhead Books, USA andBloomsbury, UK); ManuJoseph: Miss Laila Armed AndDangerous (Fourth Estate,HarperCollins, India); MohsinHamid: Exit West (RiverheadBooks, USA and HamishHamilton, Penguin RandomHouse, India); NeelMukherjee: A State OfFreedom (Chatto & Windus,Vintage, UK and HamishHamilton, Penguin Random

House, India) and Sujit Saraf:Harilal & Sons (Speaking Tiger,India).

Jury Chair RudrangshuMukherjee, speaking on behalfof the jury said, “The jury wasdeeply impressed by the quietvoice of Jayan Kaikini who pre-sented vignettes of life inMumbai and made the city theprotagonist of a coherent nar-rative. The Mumbai that cameacross through the pen ofKaikini was the city of ordinarypeople who inhabit the bustlingmetropolis. It is a view from themargins and all the morepoignant because of it.”

Malavika Banerjee,Director of the Tata SteelKolkata Literary Meet, wel-comed the DSC Prize to thecity of Kolkata.

Administered by the SouthAsian Literature Prize & EventsTrust, the prestigious DSCPrize for South Asian Literaturehas helped to raise the profileof South Asian writing aroundthe world by rewarding authorswho write about the region.The DSC Prize for South AsianLiterature which was institut-ed in 2010, is an establishedinternational literary prize thatawards the best work in South

Asian fiction writing each year.The past winners have beenfrom various countries andtheir work has reflected theimportance of South Asianvculture and literature.

Congratulating the winner,Surina Narula, MBE and co-founder of the DSC Prize said,“My heartfelt congratulations toauthor Jayant Kaikini and trans-lator Tejaswini Niranjana forwinning the DSC Prize forSouth Asian Literature 2018 fortheir brilliant book ‘No PresentsPlease’. It was a pleasure readingthe shortlist. The challengesfaced by the authors to weavetheir protests against the wave ofanti globalization into theirwritings of seemingly harmlesspieces of literature could beseen through their work, migra-tion being a major theme thisyear. The DSC Prize has com-pleted eight years and readingSouth Asian literature written inEnglish including translationshas enabled larger global audi-ences to understand the issuesglobalization has brought about.The jury as usual has to do thedifficult task of selecting the bet-ter amongst the best. My con-gratulations to the jury for theirexcellent choice of the winner.”

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The Raigad district adminis-tration on Friday began

demolishing fugitive diamondtrader Nirav Modi’s beach-sidesprawling illegal bungalow locat-ed off Khim beach at Alibaug,nearly 100 km from Mumbai.

Acting on the directives ofthe Bombay High Court whichhad on January 14 ordered thedemolition of 58 illegal beach-side bungalows, including thatof diamantaire, a team headedby Alibaug’s sub-divisional offi-cer Sharada Powar started thedemolition of Nirav Modi’sbungalow constructed in vio-lation of Coastal RegulationZone (CRZ) norms and theState’s regulations as well.

The demolition of stone-and-marble bungalow con-structed on a huge verdantgreen plot in the vicinity ofKihim beach began at 4 pm andit would continue for the nextcouple of days.

Nirav Modi’s bungalow,

which is spread over 33,000 sqft, is a ground-plus-one structure.

Nirav Modi, whose bun-galow has come under thehammers, and his uncle MehulChoksi are absconding accusedin the Rs.13,500 crore PunjabNational Bank (PNB) scam.

Surendra Dhavale, whoheads the NGO ShamburajeYuva Kranti that sought thedemolition of the illegal bun-galows of Nirav Modi and oth-

ers, has pegged the value of thefugitive diamond trader’s trad-er at Rs 13 crore, though thebungalow is worth over Rs100 crore.

Modi’s bungalow is among58 bungalows that have beenconstructed illegally in thecoastal regulation zone (CRZ)areas falling in the villages likeVarsoli, Sasvane, Kolgaon andDokvade in Alibaug taluka ofRaigad district.

During the hearing of a

petition filed by NGOShamburaje Yuva Kranti seek-ing directions to pull downunauthorised bungalows con-structed by “wealthy and law-breaking people” on the pretextof their being agriculturists, theMaharashtra Governmentinformed the Bombay HighCourt on January 14 that it hadissued demolition notices to 58illegal constructions carriedout within the low tide andhigh tide line in Alibaug.

On his part, theEnforcement Directorate (ED),which is investigating PNBscam involving fugitive dia-mond trader, had filed anapplication in the BombayHigh Court early this month,stating that Modi’s bungalowhas been attached by theagency as part of its moneylaundering case against him.The ED had sought a stay onthe Raigad district adminis-tration’s demolition order andrequested the court to give theagency a hearing.

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More than 500 profession-al musicians, including

instrumentalists, paid musicalhomage to Saint Thyagaraja,one of the members of theTrinity of Carnatic music, atThiruvaiyaru, on the banks of River Cauvery onFriday in connection with the171st anniversary of theSamadhi of the musical geniuswho composed hundreds of‘kritis’ known for their devotionand divinity.

Described as the world’slargest musical tributes, the

Thyagaraja Aaradhana sawmost of the leading “superstars”of Carnatic music assemblingat the Thyagaraja Temple earlyFriday morning to take part inthe poojas held as a mark ofrespect to the all time great ofmusic and recited the PanchaRatna Kriti (the five gems ofCarnatic music) which elevat-ed the temple town to hither-to unexperienced heights ofmusic.

TV Goplakrishnan, SudhaRaghunathan, Mahati,Shobhana Vignesh, BinnyKrishnakumar, PapanasamAsok Ramani, Gayathri weresome of the leading stars who

were seen singing the kirtansinn unison with more than5,000 devotees who had gath-ered on the banks of Cauvery.Senior BJP leader L Ganeshan,veteran scribe R Rangaraj and

connoisseurs of music made ita point to be there atThiruvaiyaru to pay homage tothe Saint who lived between1767 and 1847.

“This is a thanks giving day

to our great guru (teacher)because there can never be aCarnatic concert withoutThyagaraja’s compositions. Wesurvive only because of hiscompositions and this is anoccasion when we should showour gratitude to the Saint forgiving us our daily food,” saidThiruvizha Jayashankar, thelegendary Nadaswaram playerwho makes it a point to attendthe Aaradhana without fail.

For VijayalakshmiSivasubramanian, it turned outto be a disappointing day. ThisTamil scholar who has manybooks to her credit could notmake it to Thiruvaiyaru from

Chennai. “My ancestral homeis near the temple, and I grewup listening to the Thyagarajacomposition, particularly thePancharatna kritis. I was relo-cated to Chennai after marriageand could not travel toThiruvaiyaru all alone becauseof old age. But I watched theevent in television and sangalong with the ensemble,” saidVijayalakshmi.

She has decided to be onthe banks of Cauvery nextyear for the Aatadhana. “For aThiruvaiyaru born person,nothing is great than the trib-utes to Saint Thyagaraja. It is agreat feeling,’ said Rangaraj.

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Terrorists on Friday hurledthree grenades to target

security forces in Kashmir Valleyahead of Republic Day injuringa policeman. The authoritiessounded alert in the Valley in thewake of Republic Day celebra-tions to be held at summer cap-ital Srinagar and district head-quarters amid tight security.

Terrorists hurled firstgrenade at a police station insouth Kashmir’s Anantnag dis-trict. One police constable wasinjured in the attack.

The security forceslaunched a search operation inthe area after the attack.

In another incident, sus-pected terrorists carried outgrenade attack followed by fir-ing on joint camp of army andCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) at Tahab village insouth Kashmir’s Pulwama dis-trict. No damage was causedduring the attack.

In a similar attack, terror-

ists hurled hand grenadetowards CRPF security bunkernear a central bank branch inSopore area of north Kashmir’sBaramulla late in the evening.

Security sources said therewas no immediate report about

any loss of life or injuries in thelast two attacks. A cop sustainedminor injury in Sirigufwaragrenade attack in Anantnag.

Meanwhile, authoritieshave sounded high securityalert in central and southKashmir areas in view of RDcelebrations across Kashmiron Saturday.

In Srinagar, the mainRepublic Day parade will be heldat Sher e Kashmir CricketStadium ground. The tradi-tional venue Bakhshi Stadium inSrinagar is under renovationsince last year. This is the secondoccasion when the RD functionwill be held at cricket stadium.

Adequate foolproof secu-rity arrangements have beenput in place to ensure smoothand peaceful Republic Day(RD) celebrations in Srinagarand other district headquartersin Kashmir region.

Adviser to GovernorKhurshid Ganai is scheduled tounfurl tricolour and take saluteat the Republic Day parade.

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Following in the footsteps oftheir Andhra Pradesh coun-

terparts a majority of theBengal Pradesh Congress lead-ers have decided to go it alonein the coming general elections.

After a prolonged meetingin presence of the party’s cen-tral observer Gaurav Gogoisenior PCC leaders decided togo it alone in the elections“though this will not mean theparty will stop all transactionswith the anti-BJP forces,” asenior leader said, adding theCongress for the past morethan a decade had been con-testing elections as subordinatepartner to either the TrinamoolCongress or the Left Front.

“This has affected the partyorganisationally. The PCC nowwants to tone up its organisa-tional prowess for 2021Assembly elections. Going italone in this election will helpthe Congress not only to test itscapabilities when left on its ownbut also it will rebuild itsorganisation,” said the leader

present in the meeting.Though the leaders

favoured the ekla chalo policy afinal decision will be taken bythe AICC after the district partypresidents give their opinion onthe matter, insiders said. Twoprominent leaders: former PCCpresident and Behrampore MPAdhir Chowdhury and seniorleader Deepa Dasmunshi wereconspicuous by their absence inthe meeting. Known for theirstrong anti-Trinamool Congressstance these two leaders haveoften aired their preference foran alliance with the Left Front.

A majority of the PCCleaders also feel PriyankaGandhi’s joining the Congresshelp the party’s cause in Bengalwith a number of disgruntledTMC leaders preferring ahome-coming. “In fact the

PCC is also exploring possi-bilities bringing Priyanka ji toaddress a mass rally preferablyin Brigade Parade Ground. Ifsuch rally becomes a successthen it will definitely helpCongress’ cause in future,” saida PCC leader and an MLA.

Meanwhile, the BJP saidPrime Minister Narendra Modiwill address two rallies inBengal in addition to threeothers likely to be held by UPChief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Prime Minister is like-ly to hold two rallies onFebruary 2 at Asansol andThakurnagar in North 24Parganas. The UP ChiefMinister on the other hand islikely to address four rallies onFebruary 3 and 5 at Bankura,Purulia, Balurghat and Raiganj,party sources said.

Shillong: A miner, whose body was retrieved from a 370-footdeep coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district after over40 days of getting trapped, has been identified as Amir Hussainof Assam’s Chirang district, officials said on Friday.

In a joint operation, the Indian Navy and the National DisasterResponse Force pulled the body out of the mine’s shaft on Thursday,nine days after it was spotted. “The body retrieved yesterday fromKsan has been identified as Amir Hussain of Chirang district inAssam,” East Jaintia Hills District Deputy Commissioner F M Dopthsaid. The body was identified by his wife and mother who arrivedin Khliehriat, the district headquarter, earlier on Friday, he said.

Dopth said the authorities were trying to help the family intransporting Hussain’s remains for the last rites. Hussain is oneof the 15 miners who got trapped on December 13. The inci-dent drew the nation’s attention to illegal coal mining in the Stateat the cost of human lives despite NGT ban. PTI

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The Chinese use a term‘xuanchuán’, which literallymeans propaganda — an intrin-sic tact of the Communist Partyof China (CPC) to legitimise var-

ious state actions and to posture a certaininevitable destiny, muscularity and invin-cibility among all stakeholders, domestical-ly and externally. The Chinese leadershipoften teases and releases unverifiable infor-mation about its military preparedness andtechnological advancements. The deliber-ate sneak-peak of the fifth generationstealth fighter plane J-20, nuclear sub-marines, aircraft carrier programme andcruise missiles among others are all a partof the intimidation and muscle-flexing exer-cise. A carefully calibrated media environ-ment advances a narrative of the next-gen-eration capabilities like hypersonic weapon-ry, cyberwarfare and an overall securityframework that entails the most advanced‘anti-access/area-denial’ military doctrines(A2/AD). This perception of the People’sLiberation Army’s (PLA) capability (entail-ing ground forces, Navy, Air Force, rocketforce and strategic support force) then sup-ports the more political and diplomaticaggression that the Chinese leadershipindulges on its expansionist agenda inTaiwan and South China Sea belligerence.This sense of ‘war-clouds’ was implicit inthe Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first orderof 2019 to the PLA, where he stated, “Allmilitary units must correctly understandmajor national security and developmenttrends and strengthen their sense of unex-pected hardship, crisis and battle”.

Undeniably, the PLA is the largest mil-itary force in the world (two million activestrength) with the second largest defencebudget of $175 billion, annually. This is near-ly four times that of India ($45 billion) andit grew at an unprecedented rate of eight percent over the previous year. This generousoutlay was possible due to the Chinese eco-nomic juggernaut that affords the indul-gences of the interlinked diplomatic-militaryChinese footprint across the globe and fundscrucial investments for the PLA’s moderni-sation and technology development. Yet, mil-itary analysts are not entirely convinced ofthe PLA’s battle-preparedness.

For starters, the PLA is still technicallya ‘party Army’ and is given to distractive andtime-consuming indoctrination sessions atall operational levels by political officers ofthe CPC. While all career officers of the PLAare CPC members, the apex decision-mak-ing body for the PLA is drawn from the com-munist party committees that are dominat-ed by civilian party members and ideologues,as opposed to career military men. The stateis forever paranoid about regime-change(especially after the Tiananmen Squareincident), and, therefore, the top brass of thePLA is firmly reined in under the party direc-tive that could affect serious soldiering, cul-ture and professional efficacy.

The second major concernis the operational ‘jointsmanship’among various serving arms ofthe PLA as that requires a coor-dinated fighting capability,responsive command system,logistical/maintenance frame-work and inter-service interlink-ages for a seamless operation —these shortcomings have beenroutinely pointed out and inter-nally accepted with concertedefforts being made to overcomethe same. The days of Chinese‘human wave attacks’ a la 1962are passé, and the Gulf Wars ofthe 1990s exposed the hollow-ness of simple ‘numeric superi-ority’ and ‘ideological armies’ asopposed to professional soldier-ing. Islands of technologicaladvancements and advancedweaponry need to coincide withthe requisite skills, training andhandling experience of effective-ly deploying the same undercombat-stress situations by thesoldiers.

Unlike most major mili-taries (the US, NATO, Russia andIndia among others) that havepartaken in the invaluable andirreplaceable experience of com-bat operations, the Chinese PLAremains the most combat-inex-perienced major military in theworld. All four key elements ofwar — soldiering, leadership,weaponry and doctrines — areposited on conjecture and untest-ed claims. The last major com-bat for PLA was 40 years agoagainst Vietnam, where theostensibly inferior Vietnameseforces inflicted a serious blow to

the bungled Chinese invasion. Earlier still, and contrary to

1962, the Sino-Indian clashes atCho La and Nathu La in 1967had resulted in a bloody nose forthe PLA. Purely from the timeperspective, that leaves virtual-ly no one in the active PLA withany battle experience. Despitebreathing fire on Taiwan, Japanor incidents like Doklam, thePLA has not secured any tangi-ble ground on the ‘enemy’. Incomparison, the US has beeninvolved in the Middle East andAfghanistan in recent times, theIndian (and Pakistani) forceshave had Kargil and multipledomestic insurgencies that haveconsistently tested their ‘software’and ‘hardware.’ The US has test-ed its prime weaponry like theGBU-43/B (‘mother of allbombs’) in Afghanistan, its F-22Raptor stealth fighter jets in‘combat surges’ over Syria, asreportedly have the Russians,who deployed their SU-57 stealthfighter prototypes. VladimirShamanov, the Russian Duma’sDefence Committee head, hasclaimed that Russia has tested‘over 200 new weapons’ in Syria.Whereas, the efficacy ofadvanced Chinese weaponry isa matter of pure claims byBeijing.

The PLA is undoubtedlyundergoing a major overhauland investment in terms ofmaterial upgradation, trainingand integration. However, allthese investments are predicat-ed on the continuing ‘bull run’of the Chinese economy — dark

clouds of an economic slowdownloom and China has recorded itsslowest growth rate since 1990.The inevitable US-China tradewars, too, will take their own tolland can trigger unfathomableheadaches for the CPC to man-age. This could usher in a revisedset of priorities (for example, cutsfor PLA and defence industry)for the CPC in order to keep themore important lid on its restivemasses from questioning theregime during an economicdownturn. The famed ‘cheque-book’ diplomacy to ‘buy out’ sov-ereign loyalty, for exampleCPEC, Djibouti or Philippines,could also become an immedi-ate casualty. Lastly, the recentChinese belligerence has led tothe emergence of powerfulcounter-opposition to check-mate China’s ambitions. The‘Quad’ (US, Japan, Australia andIndia) is also symptomatic of thestrategic evolution that works tothe detriment of the Chinese.Perhaps like its economic jugger-naut that has apparently ‘over-heated’, China’s diplomatic-mil-itary assertions and bellicosity bythe PLA are a lot more aboutposturing than it can realistical-ly sustain or ‘bite’. It will remainthe cynosure for the US, and tothat extent, the saber-rattling bythe Chinese PLA is here to stay.A closer analysis, however, leavesa lot of unanswered questions onits battle preparedness.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

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Sir — Our country celebratesRepublic Day every year to hon-our the day when the Constitutionof India came into force. RepublicDay reminds us about the sacri-fices made by our great leadersand freedom fighters. The democ-racy received by us should be val-ued by everyone and should notbe taken for granted. Everyoneshould contribute their bit for thedevelopment of the nation andspread peace, love and harmony.

Jubel D’Cruz Mumbai

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Sir — As India celebrates its 70thRepublic Day, it would be worth-while to remember what this daystands for. Our country enjoys thesole privilege of holding the world’slargest parliamentary democracy.Indians feel proud that ourConstitution is the longest writtenamong countries across the globe.

But I wonder if we have beenfollowing our Preamble, in letterand spirit. Whereas it promises lib-erty of thought, expression, belief,faith and worship, in recent times

we have witnessed worrisome inci-dents wherein fundamentalistgroups have run amok whileGovernments remained mute spec-tators in bringing them to task.

Next, the Preamble talks aboutjustice — social, economic andpolitical — but all of them remaina mirage. Economic inequality,too, is on the rise. As regards thePreamble promising fraternity,assuring dignity of an individual,

everyone is aware of the commonman’s susceptibility. Although thephrases ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ wereincorporated in the Preamble, therehave been voices that sections inpowers-that-be are not at all com-fortable with. There have beenvoices at periodic intervals of get-ting these two words omitted fromthe Preamble itself.

Hemant KumarHaryana

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Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Priyanka’s Gandhigiri” (January25). The inevitable has happened:Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has takena plunge into the cesspool of pol-itics in what could be a definingmoment for the country in the run-up to the general election. For quitesometime before Rahul Gandhi’s

entry into politics, the Congresshad been pining openly for a par-ticular Indira Gandhi look-alike tonurture the Nehru-Gandhi legacy.But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra resist-ed all pressure and quietly proppedup her brother, and then deflectedthe calls for her to take over asRahul Gandhi initially struggled toprove his mettle.

But then Priyanka’s entry intoactive politics did not happenovernight. The Congress brass hadbeen discussing a party position tomark her entry for quite a while,even though she has been knownfor more than a decade as the maincampaigner for her mother andbrother in the Gandhi pocket bor-oughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi.

Whether the Congress wins orloses the election, and no matterhow the ‘dynasty rule’ debate pansout, the latest political entry by aNehru-Gandhi descendant is a keyevent in Indian politics.Circumstances and her own perfor-mance will determine how hercareer unfolds. But for the momenther arrival has shaken up nationalpolitics.

J Akshobhya Mysuru

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Uttar Pradesh is caught in apolitical turmoil after PriyankaGandhi was appointed as the

Congress’ general secretary in chargeof the east. Euphoria has gripped theCongress. Its workers and leaders haveclaimed that Priyanka’s entry intoactive politics is a game-changer deci-sion. It goes without saying that thedecision has invigorated party workersand the Congress, which was pushedto the wall after the Samajwadi Party(SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) ignored the grand old party whileforming alliance.

The question, however, remainswhether Priyanka’s appointment alonewill ensure the Congress’ victory in the2019 poll. Congress president RahulGandhi has already set the target offorming the next Government in Uttar

Pradesh with a mission of 30 seats.Rightly so because he wanted to sendthe right signal to party workers. Butwill mere appointments and announce-ments revive the Congress’ fortunes inUttar Pradesh? Ask anybody, the replyto this question will be negative.

Uttar Pradesh has the most com-plex political history and is difficult tounderstand. The election ‘dye’ is cast inthis politically sensitive State, whichelects the largest contingent of 80 MPsto the Lok Sabha. It was not the casein the beginning. Before the emergenceof caste-based parties, like SP and BSP,the Congress was the dominant partyin this State. Supported by uppercastes, Dalits and minority, the grandold party swept election after electiontill 1977 after which anti-Emergencywave blew the party away. It failed towin even a single seat. Even formerPrime Minister Indira Gandhi lost elec-tions from Rae Bareli.

The Congress recovered once after1984 but after 1989, it again started los-ing its hold. This was primarily becauseof the emergence of VP Singh, aMinister in the Rajiv GandhiGovernment, who rebelled against

his own party over the Bofors issue. In1990, Singh changed the political dis-course of the country when he intro-duced the Mandal Commission report.This lent voice to caste-based parties aspolitics of Other Backward Castes(OBCs) took centrestage in UttarPradesh. This tectonic shift led to theemergence of SP and BSP at theexpense of the Congress.

India’s grand old party got a bodyblow, when to counter ‘Mandal’, the BJPopted for ‘Kamandal’ politics andrevived the Ram Janmabhoomi issue.As this movement gathered momen-tum, there was considerable shift ofHindu votes from the Congress to theBJP. In this political realignment,Muslims, too, deserted the Congressand started supporting either the SP orthe BSP, depending upon who wasstrong enough to beat the BJP in thatedition of election — be it in the LokSabha or the Vidhan Sabha.

In 2009, the Congress sprang a sur-prise when its seat share rose to 26.3 percent against 11.3 per cent in 2004. Butin 2014, it again came down to 2.5 percent as the party was able to win justtwo seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli.

Interestingly, whenever theCongress did well, the BJP suffered andwhen the Congress failed, the BJP’s voteand seat share went up. Figures suggestthat in the last two elections when theCongress’ seat share was 26.3 per cent,the BJP’s share was 12.5 per cent. Butwhen in 2014, the BJP swept the elec-tions with 71 seats and its percentageshare rose to 88.8 per cent, theCongress’ share was just 2.5 per cent.

Interestingly, the BJP and theCongress’ performance have neverimpacted the SP-BSP combine. Since1996, the seat share of the BSP-SP com-bine has never felt the impact of emer-gence or fall of the BJP or the Congress.In 1996, the seat share of the BSP-SPalliance was 25.9 per cent; in 1998 it was28.2 per cent; in 1999 it rose to 47.1 percent; and in 2004 it was 67.5 per cent.In 2009, when the Congress did well,the SP-BSP alliance did better by win-ning 53.8 per cent of the seats but in2014, the alliance, too, was swept awayby the Modi wave. Its share fell to 6.3per cent, which translates to five seats— all of them won by the SP while theBSP drew a blank.

It is in this background that

Priyanka officially joined the Congress.Practically speaking, her entry into pol-itics happened much earlier thanRahul’s. She is now in charge of hermother’s constituency of Rae Bareli. Shewas also the one who introducedRahul Gandhi to the media in 2004,when he contested the Lok Sabha elec-tion for the first time. Since then,Priyanka has been actively taking partin the Lok Sabha election. But herinvolvement will be limited to RaeBareli and Amethi only.

Interestingly, voters’ loyalty in RaeBareli and Amethi towards theCongress is restricted only to the LokSabha election because in Assemblypolls, the party has suffered humiliat-ing defeats. The BJP, SP and BSP haveequally earned laurels despite Priyankaaddressing a few election meetings inselect Assembly constituencies ofAmethi and Rae Bareli. The canvas isnow bigger for Priyanka. Electionstrategy is no longer talking about merecaste equations and political messag-ing. In last two elections, the BJP haschanged poll dynamics. It is more of amarketing strategy where the focus issending right message at the right time

through different campaigns — may bepositive or negative. The strategy willnow hover around strengthening boothmanagement by making the partyleader feel important in this election.

Surely, it won’t be a cakewalk forPriyanka. One should not expect thatshe will revive a moribund Congress inone go. Her name might have createdripples but that needs to be transformedinto votes. Success will depend onwhether she will able to win urbanpockets by forming multi-caste coali-tions of upper caste, non-Yadav OBCgroups and non-Jatav Dalits. Her chal-lenge will be to stop the fragmentationof Muslim votes by sending a right sig-nal among the minority. Only then canthe Congress match the BJP at thenational level. To start with, theCongress must not aim high. It shouldtry repeating its performance of 2009when it won 21 seats. If Priyanka cando it, this will be a big achievement forher. The bottom line would be the strat-egy adopted by her, whose result willbe visible only in May.

(The writer is Executive Director(News) with Lucknow edition of ThePioneer)

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After prolonged indifference to thecontribution of the ProvisionalGovernment of Free India (PGFI)and its armed wing, the IndianNational Army (INA), on October 21,

2018, the Prime Minister hoisted the tricolourfrom the Red Fort in recognition of their con-tribution to the freedom struggle. But that ‘action’per se coming so late, and essentially symbolic,is not helpful to enable Indians appreciate theenormity of their role. It is imperative, therefore,to revisit the contemporary political activities inmainland India, where their contributions wereburied deep due to various political interests,motivated by insecurity and partisan gains.

The Cambridge dictionary defines ‘revolution’as “a change in the way a country is governed usu-ally to a different political system and often usingviolence or war.” The INA alone can be creditedto have brought the only ‘revolution’ in India. Noprevious attempt, including the 1857 mutiny, suc-ceeded. Having begun with the INA trials andended with the announcement of the CabinetMission, its duration can be considered betweenAugust 1945 and February 1946. It spanned acrossIndia to unite religious denominations, civiliansand military against the British rule.

How the INA revolution worked: The rebel-lion was born from patriotism and sacrifice of theINA that fought a four-month gruelling war alongin the Assam border in 1944. Subhas Chandra Bosefervently hoped this would lead to a massive upris-ing in India. Instead, either a stony silence or oppo-sition from Indian political parties greeted them;while the masses were kept unaware. After thou-sands of INA soldiers sacrificed their lives, the jointforce had to retreat to Burma. However, the verynext year, the INA spirit arrived in India with warprisoners and quickly transformed into a revolu-tion. The spirit connected directly with the mass-es and political parties were rendered irrelevant.In such circumstances, instead of using the ‘rev-olution’ for broader national interest, individualparties sought to use it for narrow gains .

In several communiques, Viceroy Wavellwrote to the Secretary of State (SoS) how lead-ers of the Congress were delivering violent anti-British speeches by leveraging mass sympathy forthe INA. On October 9, 1945, he wrote: “Therewere talks that Jawaharlal Nehru’s plan was tomake use of the INA and the large quantities ofarms smuggled into India from Burma, to trainCongress volunteers and use them against theGovernment. On October 22, 1945, he commu-nicated his aggravated fear that the Congress maysuborn the Army, which would be the most dan-gerous development in the near future.”

Governor of Central Provinces and Berar,Joseph Twynam, felt that the campaign against theGovernment was like the Irish revolution in theUK. On November 16, 1945, Bertrand JamesGlancy, the Governor of Punjab, wrote to theViceroy noting rising sympathy in favour of theINA men in Punjab and suggested that trials inthe future should be reduced only to a few. OnNovember 27, North-West Frontier Province(NWFP) Governor George Cunningham advisedthe then Government to not initiate any furtherproceedings against anyone as he felt that Indianopinion was clearly against the INA’s trial.

Remission of the transportation for life sen-tence in the Red Fort trial was followed by large-scale Naval mutiny and then a series of sympathystrikes in the Air Force and the Army. Hints thatBritain was considering leaving India were reflect-ed in Lord Halifax’s statement on February 2, 1946:“India’s best interests demand that completetransfer of responsibility from the British to Indianhands should be made in good order if that ishumanly possible.” Decision of the imperialGovernment on February 19, 1946, to send a teamof three Cabinet ministers was the formal admis-sion of British inability to continue to rule India.This marked the victory of the INA revolution.

The revolution and domestic politics: TheINA revolution not only mortally wounded theBritish regime but also challenged both theCongress and the Muslim League. It presented agolden opportunity to secure freedom for undi-vided India from the falling grasp of the British.This, however, challenged the League’s idea of a“separate homeland for Muslims”. The partystrove to communalise the INA issue in every pos-sible manner to tackle this challenge. On the otherhand, the Congress faced an additional and exis-tential challenge to its claim of the ideology of ‘non-violence’ as the sole driver of India’s freedom. Thismade the party engage in a process of ideologicalengineering. The process began institutionally inthe Bombay AICC session on September 1945.

The AICC, in a resolution expressing sym-pathy for the INA men, berated their methodas: “…and in view of the termination of the war,it would be a tragedy if these officers, men andwomen, were punished for the offence of hav-ing laboured, however mistakenly for the free-dom of India. They can be of the greatest ser-vice in the heavy work of building up a new andfree India.” This indicated the party’s plan toexploit the INA issue by subjugating it to theideology of non-violence.

Ideological engineering: Congress leadersfound the 1942 movement as the only one whichcould be claimed as their own while possessingattributes of revolutionary character. It was signif-

icant that in the same AICC session, leaders paidglowing tributes to 1942 and called it the real “rev-olution”. Incongruity of its violent character withnon-violence was rationalised citing self defence.

Nehru defended the 1942 violence saying:“The people organised themselves, found theirown leaders and own methods… The events inSatara, in Bihar, in Midnapore and elsewhere inBengal and in the united Provinces, have addeda glorious chapter to the history of the people’sfight for independence.” Sardar Patel compared1942 with 1857 showing the will of the peopleto be free. He said that the country in generalrose in self defence: “I cannot see anything wrongin this. We are after all human beings.”

The party seemed to bring a distinctionbetween violence for self defence and violence forliberation of the motherland. It put its seal ofapproval for the former but dubbed the latter asmistaken. The ideological engineering reached acrescendo in the Meerut annual session of the partyin November 1946, when the primacy of 1942 wasestablished irrevocably. In his presidential addressJB Kripalani said: “I believe that if the Congresshad not taken up the challenge of British imperi-alism in August 1942, we would not be occupy-ing the position we do today…our representativesand leaders have broken into the citadel ofpower. This is not the end of foreign dominationbut it is surely the beginning of the end…” A res-olution in the Subjects Committee also gave avaunted place to the constructive work ofMahatma Gandhi. In a nutshell, the Congress’ ide-ology of ‘non-violence’ was rehabilitated withoutany acknowledgement to the real revolution thatthe INA had brought.

Meek surrender: Despite usurping the con-tribution of the INA revolution, the Congressfaced a crisis on the issue of freedom for undi-vided India. Through mischievous provisions, theCabinet Mission proposals intended to facilitategreater Pakistan. There were repeated stalematesin the ‘transfer of power’ on Constitutional issues,following which the League indulged in a seriesof communal riots with the complicity of the

British to bully others on the issue of Partition.The Congress needed courage and acceptabili-ty among all sections of Indians — Muslims inparticular — to challenge this British League con-spiracy. Here, the party appeared vulnerable. Thiswas in sharp contrast to the indomitable courageand unflinching commitment to the cause ofundivided India which was the hallmark of theINA. Top Congress leaders spoke spiritedly butfailed to live up to the expectations.

In the Meerut session, Nehru declared, “I amnot afraid of bloodshed. The present civil strife inthe country has no doubt moved me but it has tobe faced with a brave heart… The Congress hasfaced many a danger in the past and will not shirkits responsibilities in a crisis like this even thoughsome of us may have to lose our lives.” Kripalanisaid: “It is quite possible that to avoid immediatetrouble we may accept principles that cut at theroot of nationality and democracy. If we do so, weshall not only be betraying the nation, but ultimate-ly, the Muslim and other communities…” However,belying countrywide expectations, the party eas-ily surrendered to the British League intrigue andsettled for Partition of India.

INA’s rightful place: It has been a nationaltragedy that the Congress, being the leader of thenationalist forces, not only failed to preventPartition but also did not acknowledge the con-tribution of the INA revolution to the freedomstruggle of India. Thus, the true reason for theBritish winding up their rule over India remainsunknown to many Indians even after sevendecades of Independence.

Rather, powers and resources of the rulers ofindependent India have been used to reinforce andperpetuate the theme of the non-violent strugglehaving fetched freedom. Such perceptions cannotbe removed by acts of symbolism or token ges-tures such as hoisting of tricolour at the Red Forton the anniversary day. It is necessary to revisit his-tory without a preconceived mindset, re-assess andrecognise the impact of the INA revolution onIndia’s freedom struggle.

(The writer is a columnist and an author)

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As the World EconomicForum Annual Meeting

2019 came to an end on Fridayafter five days of brainstormingby over 3,000 leaders acrosshundreds of sessions, theorganisers said the event thisyear made an impact on theworld in as many as 33 ways.

The WEF listed PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe of Japancommitting his country’s G20Chairmanship to launch an agen-da for global data governance.

Besides, a group of 70-pluscountries confirmed intentionsto commence WTO negotia-tions on trade-related aspects ofe-commerce following a min-isterial meeting on the marginsof the Davos meeting on Friday.

Shortly before that, mem-bers of the Forum’s businessand civil society trade com-munity issued a statement call-ing for a new digital trade dealthat should be both ambitiousand inclusive.

The community urgedgovernments to move forwardwith this agenda at the WTOin order to reduce costs andfacilitate greater participationin the global digital economy.

The leaders of Brazil,Colombia and Brazil, alongwith the Foreign Minister ofCanada, issued a joint state-ment Wednesday to offer theircountries’ backing to Juan

Guiado, leader of Venezuela’so p p o s i t i o n - c o n t r o l l e dParliament after he haddeclared himself InterimPresident.

A day earlier, ParaguayanPresident Mario Abdo Benitezcalled on Guiado to take action.

Mohammad Ashraf Ghani,President of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan, usedhis appearance at the annualmeeting to commit his countryto democracy.

Ghani used his address toremind participants thatAfghanistan has passed 390new laws since 2015 and sig-nificantly increased the num-ber of women in politics.

The President ofAzerbaijan and Prime Ministerof Armenia used a meeting atthe World Economic Forum toadvance negotiations on thesettlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakhconflict.

The Government of the UKannounced a five-year plan totackle the global threat of antimi-crobial resistance. The plan envis-ages containing and controllingAMR worldwide by 2040.

The forum continued mul-tistakeholder diplomacy dia-logues aimed at advancingpeace efforts on other keyglobal fault-lines including theWestern Balkans and Syria.

The forum also conveneda public-private community of

leaders for a Special Dialogueon Israeli-Palestinian relations.

With the help of PrimeMinister Abiy Ahmed ofEthiopia, a diplomatic dialoguewas held on the Horn of Africa.

Discussions were also ini-tiated on the Sahel, the KoreanPeninsula, European-Russianrelations and on a new devel-opment architecture for Africa-Europe engagement.

The WEF’s Closing theSkills Gap Initiative, launchedin 2017 with a target to reskillor upskill 10 million workers by2020, announced it has alreadysecured pledges for trainingmore than 17 million peopleglobally, 6.4 million of whomhave already been re-skilled.

The forum also announcedthat the initiative is now sup-porting public private part-nerships aimed at promotingfuture skills in four countries —Argentina, India, Oman andSouth Africa.

The forum also announcedit was expanding its network ofClosing the Gender Gapnational taskforces to eightcountries — Argentina, Chile,Colombia, Costa Rica,Dominican Republic, France,Panama and Peru.

The forum’s Centre forGlobal Public Goods helpedlaunch a USD 15 million pro-ject to launch a formal elec-tronic waste recycling industryin Nigeria.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said India

is on the way to becoming thefifth largest economy in theworld and the Government istaking reform measures on a“daily basis” to furtherimprove investment climate inthe country.

Speaking at the India-South Africa Business Summithere, he said India is theworld’s fastest-growing majoreconomy and the Governmentis committed to building a‘New India’ with next genera-tion infrastructure.

At $2.6 trillion, the Indianeconomy is currently rankedsixth in the world behind theUS, China, Japan, Germanyand the UK.

The Prime Minister listedout some of the Governmentflagship initiatives like boost-ing domestic manufacturingthrough Make in India anddigitising the economythrough Digital India.

“We are on our way tobecoming the fifth largesteconomy globally...We are oneof the top FDI destinationslisted by UNCTAD. But, weare not satisfied. On a dailybasis, we are making necessary

changes and reforms in impor-tant sectors of the economy,”he said.

Modi also informed thelocal and South African busi-nesses that India has jumpedto the 77th position in the lat-est edition of World Bank’sEase of Doing BusinessReport, which is an improve-ment of 65 places in the lastfour years.

“We are committed tobuilding a ‘New India’ withnext generation infrastruc-ture and with emphasis onspeed, skill and scale,” he said.

Talking about bilateral eco-nomic relations between thecountries, Modi said tradebetween India and SouthAfrica is on the upswing andhas crossed the $10 billionmark in 2017-18.

“However, there is greatpotential still. I call upon allIndian and South AfricanGovernment agencies, invest-ment promotion organisationsas well as business leaders ofboth countries to work pro-actively to realise the truepotential,” he said.

India’s investment intoSouth Africa is constantlygrowing and this hasapproached $10 billion, creat-ing over 20,000 jobs locally.

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Okaya Power Group, a bat-tery and inverter manu-

facturing company has received“Emerging Energy StorageCompany of the Year” awardfrom India Energy StorageAlliance (IESA). IESA, a lead-ing body aimed at makingenergy storage sector in India

more competitive and effi-cient, gave the award to Okayafor its offering in EnergyStorage Solutions, and to pro-mote electric vehicles, solarpower and their applications inIndia.

The award was presentedto Anil Gupta, ManagingDirector, Okaya Power Groupat the 6th International

Conference & Exhibition onEnergy Storage EV andMicrogrids in India held at TheAshok in New Delhi.Organised by CustomizedEnergy Solutions and MesseDusseldorf India, the eventwas powered by IESA whichendeavours to carry forwardimplementation of NationalEnergy Storage Mission.

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Union Minister Arun Jaitleyon Friday welcomed the

Supreme Court decision touphold the validity of theInsolvency and BankruptcyCode, and stressed that bankdefaulters cannot get away forlong.

“The upholding of the pro-visions that bar the defaultingpromoters from bidding isboth ethical and proper —otherwise the defaulter willcontinue to manage the com-pany with only the banks tak-ing a haircut,” he said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, theSupreme Court upheld the con-stitutional validity of the IBCsaying “the defaulters’ paradiseis lost” and the economy’s right-ful position has been regained.

“The Supreme Court judge-ment upholding the validity ofthe IBC is a welcome decision.The Bank defaulters cannot getaway for long,” he said.

With regard to the contro-versial provision of section29A of the IBC, which dealtwith the rights of erstwhile pro-moters to participate in therecovery process of a corporatedebtor, the court said that “aresolution applicant has novested right for considerationor approval of its resolutionplan”.

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Search for Fbb Colors FeminaMiss India 2019 Co-pow-

ered By Sephora andRajnigandha Pearls has startedfor participants with an aim toextend whole-hearted supportto the new generation womenwho have the potential to leadand represent the country inthe future.

The winner will representIndia at Miss World pageant.The others too stand a chanceto represent the country atInternational Pageants likeMiss Grand International andMiss United Continents.

This time too, the pageantwill conduct a nationwide huntin all the 30 states (includingthe Capital, Delhi). The Top 3contestants from every statewill win a Golden Ticket to theState’s Zonal crowning cere-mony which will be held inBangalore (South Zone) on24thFebruary 2019, Delhi(North Zone) on 06TH March,2019, Pune (West Zone) on02nd April, 2019 and Kolkata(East Zone) on 23rd April,2019. Each state winner willmake it to Grand Finale whichwill be held in June.

But before that they willundergo rigorous training fromthe best in the industry. Thegorgeous Neha Dhupia andDia Mirza will mentor thegirls; East and West Zone willbe handled by Neha and whileDia will take charge of theNorth and South Zone.

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The Government is setbreach the fiscal deficit tar-

get yet again by 40 bps for2018-19, and raise the target to3.5 percent for next fiscal in theforthcoming budget that maybe skewed towards the ruraleconomy, says a foreign bro-kerage report.

In a note Friday, Bank ofAmerica Merrill Lynch, how-ever, said the fiscal “risks areoverdone”.

“We expect theGovernment to target a fiscaldeficit of 3.5 percent for FY20,after ending FY19 at 3.7 per-cent, 0.40 percent higher thanthe target,” the note said.

It can be noted that theModi Government has not metthe fiscal targets in all theseyears, barring in FY15 when itimproved upon its own targetby a tad, and missing it mar-ginally in the rest of the years.

As of November, it hasused up 115 percent of itsbudgeted market borrowingsamidst slowing GST collec-tions and a poor show on thedivestment side. Against the�80,000 crore budgeted target,it has achieved only around�15,000 crore so far.

The report, however, notesthat Government may not bor-row more to the deficit will befunded by drawing down onGovernment balances with theRBI which as of March 2018

had stood at �1.675 trillion.The net Government bor-

rowing may come in at �5.07trillion for FY20, it estimated.

It can be noted that even inthe face of the budgeted targetbeing overshot, theGovernment has been repeat-edly stressing on meeting theFY19 target of 3.3 percent.

The brokerage said eventhough the 3.5 percent target ishigher than the target, it is stillbelow the medium-term aver-age of 4.3 percent.

Seeking to allay concernson inflationary impact of thefiscal gap being breached, itsaid “slippages of 0.25-0.50percent of GDP at this level canhardly be inflationary given theslack capacity in the economy.”

It said providing the ade-quate liquidity support is moreimportant than meeting thefiscal deficit targets andpitched for a $26 billion ofGovernment bond buybacksby RBI in FY20.

At the February 1 budget,the final one before the gener-al elections, the Governmentwill try to address rural distressby interest subvention/directincome transfers supportingconsumption over investment,it said.

“The budget should ideal-ly not propose any new directtaxes, and the Finance Ministershould take steps to alleviatestress in the hinterlands,” itsaid.

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More than 18 million jobswere generated by the

country’s formal sector in a15-month period startingSeptember 2017 and endingNovember 2018, suggests astudy based on payroll data ofretirement fund body EPFO,PFRDA and Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation(ESIC).

As many as 1,84,38,748new members joined the ESIscheme run by ESIC duringthe 15 months until November2018, showed the CentralStatistics Office (CSO) studybased on payroll data of dif-ferent social security schemes.

The CSO study releasedon Friday showed that asmany as 1,79,34,300 newmembers joined the socialsecurity schemes run by theEmployees’ Provident FundOrganisation (EPFO) duringSeptember 2017 to November2018.

However, the study statedthat 1,39,31,607 members exit-ed the EPFO schemes duringthe 15-month period and33,48,093 members rejoinedthe subscription again duringthe period. Thus the net addi-tion was 73,50,786 during theperiod under review.

The study showed that asmany as 10,31,484 new mem-bers joined the ESI scheme inNovember 2018, which was12.88 per cent lower than11,84,042 new subscribers inthe same month in 2017.

The highest number of14,68,880 subscribers joinedthe ESI scheme in July 2018during the 15-month period.

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Several key WTO membernations on Friday expressed

their resolve to work towards sat-isfactory solutions for preservingthe credibility of the multi-lateralbody and increase its relevanceamid increasing uncertaintiesat global trade front.

Various issues were dis-cussed at the meeting of 32members of the World TradeOrganisation (WTO) here onthe sidelines of the WorldEconomic Forum (WEF)annual meeting.

The Ministers, who par-ticipated in the meeting,emphasised on the urgency ofrestoring a fully-functioningappellate body, according to astatement issued by the SwissGovernment.

The statement assumes sig-nificance as any delay inappointment of members in theappellate body of the WTO’sdispute settlement mechanismwould hamper its functioning.

The US has blocked theappointment of these members.

“Ministers welcomed theprocess recently initiated toaddress concerns related toWTO’s dispute settlement system.

In this regard, they under-lined the urgency of restoringa fully-functioning AppellateBody,” the statement said.

The need to reform the164-member group and toimprove its functioning waswidely acknowledged at themeeting.

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Backed by Venezuela’s mili-tary, President Nicolas

Maduro went on the offensiveagainst an Opposition leaderwho declared himself interimpresident and his US support-ers, setting up a potentiallyexplosive struggle for power inthe crisis-plagued SouthAmerican nation.

A defiant Maduro calledhome all Venezuelan diplomatsfrom the United States andclosed its embassy onThursday, a day after orderingall US diplomats out ofVenezuela by the weekendbecause President DonaldTrump had supported the pres-idential claim of Juan Guaido.

Washington has refused tocomply, but ordered its non-essential staff to leave thetumultuous country, citingsecurity concerns.

The Trump administra-tion says Maduro’s order isn’tlegal because the U.S. No longerrecognises him as Venezuela’slegitimate leader.

“They believe they have a colonial hold in Venezuela,where they decide what they want to do,” Maduro saidin an address broadcast live onstate TV.

“You must fulfill my orderfrom the government ofVenezuela.” Meanwhile, all eyeswere on Guaido whose where-abouts have been a mysterysince the 35-year-old was sym-bolically sworn in Wednesdaybefore tens of thousands ofcheering supporters, promisingto uphold the constitution andrid Venezuela of Maduro’s dic-tatorship.

Speaking from an undisclosed location, Guaidotold Univision he would con-sider granting amnesty toMaduro and his allies if they

helped return Venezuela todemocracy.

“Amnesty is on the table,” said Guaido, who justweeks earlier was named headof the opposition-controlledcongress.

“Those guarantees are forall those who are willing to sidewith the constitution to recov-er the constitutional order.”

Besides the United States,much of the international com-munity rallied behind Guaido,with Canada and numerousLatin American and Europeancountries announcing that they

recognized his claim to thepresidency. Trump promised touse the “full weight” of US eco-nomic and diplomatic power topush for the restoration ofVenezuela’s democracy.

Maduro has been increas-ingly accused of undemocrat-ic behavior by his opponents,and has presided over sky-rocketing inflation, a collapsingeconomy and widespreadshortages of basic goods.

Meanwhile, Russia, China,Iran, Syria, Cuba and Turkeyhave voiced their backing forMaduro’s government.

China’s Foreign Ministrycalled on the United States tostay out of the crisis, whileRussia’s deputy foreign minis-ter warned the US against anymilitary intervention inVenezuela. Alexei Pushkov,chairman of the informationcommittee at the RussianFederation Council, calledGuaido’s declaration “anattempted coup” backed by theUS.

Russia has been proppingup Maduro with arms deliver-ies and loans. Maduro visitedMoscow in December, seekingRussia’s political and financialsupport. Over the last decade,China has given Venezuela$65 billion in loans, cash and

investment. Venezuela owesmore than $20 billion.

Diplomats at theOrganization of AmericanStates held an emergency meet-ing Thursday on theVenezuelan crisis, duringwhich 16 nations recognizedGuaido as interim president.

Domestically, attention hasbeen on Venezuela’s military, atraditional arbiter of politicaldisputes in the country, as acritical indicator of whether theopposition will succeed inestablishing a new govern-ment.

Venezuela’s top militarybrass pledged their unwaveringsupport to Maduro, deliveringvows of loyalty Thursday beforerows of green-uniformed offi-cers on state television.

A half-dozen generalsbelonging largely to districtcommands and with directcontrol over thousands oftroops joined Maduro in accus-ing Washington of meddling inVenezuela’s affairs and saidthey would uphold the social-ist leader’s rule.

Defence Minister VladimirPadrino Lopez, a key Maduro ally, dismissed effortsto install a “de-facto parallelgovernment” as tantamountto a coup.

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More than 350 people inVenezuela have been

arrested this week duringdemonstrations againstPresident Nicolas Maduro’sGovernment, the UN rightschief said on Friday, calling forimmediate talks to defuse the“increasingly incendiary atmos-phere”.

The United Nations HighCommissioner for HumanRights, Michelle Bachelet, saidher office had “reports of large-scale detention of demonstrators— well over 350 in total (thisweek), including 320 on 23January alone”.

Bachelet called for a full

investigation into alleged viola-tions by the state, includingsummary executions. Civil soci-ety groups in Venezuela haveput the death toll from days ofstreet protests at 26.

The rights office, citing“credible local sources,” said italso had indications that atleast 20 people “have died afterallegedly being shot by securi-ty forces or members of pro-government armed groups dur-ing demonstrations on Tuesdayand Wednesday”.

Bachelet, a former presidentof Chile who dealt with Maduroin her previous role, called for“immediate talks to defuse theincreasingly incendiary atmos-phere” in Venezuela.

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Roger Stone, a confidant ofPresident Donald Trump,

was arrested on Friday morn-ing in the special counsel’sRussia investigation and wascharged with lying to Congressand obstructing the probe.

The seven-count indict-ment against Stone, a self-pro-

claimed “dirty trickster,” is thefirst criminal case in monthsfrom special counsel RobertMueller and provides the mostdetail to date about how Trumpcampaign associates were awarein the summer of 2016 thatemails had been stolen from theHillary Clinton campaign andwanted them released.

It alleges that unnamed

senior Trump campaign officialscontacted Stone to ask when thestolen emails might be dis-closed.

The indictment does notcharge Stone with conspiringwith WikiLeaks, the anti-secre-cy website that published theemails, or with the Russian

officers Mueller says hackedthem.

Instead, it accuses him ofwitness tampering, obstruc-tion and false statements abouthis interactions related toWikiLeaks’ release.

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Queen Elizabeth II hasemphasised the need for

Britons to come together to “seekout the common ground”, inwhat is being viewed as an appealto overcome bitter divisions overBrexit. Government Ministersquickly interpreted the com-ments — a rare foray for the 92-year-old monarch into the polit-ical sphere — as broadly sup-portive of their desperate searchfor a compromise over Brexit.

With Britain in limbo justtwo months before the sched-uled withdrawal from the EU onMarch 29, some lawmakers havebeen calling for the queen tointervene more forcefully andseek to reassure Britons who areworried about the future.

The queen appeared to doso obliquely in an address late onThursday to members of theWomen’s Institute (WI) near herSandringham estate in easternEngland -- an association thatshe joined while still a princessin 1943. “Of course, every gen-eration faces fresh challengesand opportunities,” she said.

“As we look for new answersin the modern age, I for one pre-fer the tried and tested recipes,like speaking well of each otherand respecting different pointsof view; coming together to seekout the common ground; andnever losing sight of the biggerpicture.

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Afghanistan is investigatingreports that at least 16

civilians including women andchildren were killed in an airstrike in southern Helmandprovince, the defence ministrysaid in a statement on Friday.

The reports come as civil-ian deaths from air strikeshave risen sharply in the pastyear, after the Afghan and USforces intensified their aerialbombardment of Taliban andIslamic State group militants.

Afghan forces backed byUS air power were conductingcounter-terrorism operations inSangin district late Wednesdaywhen the air strike was carriedout, the ministry and NATOsaid.

“Some reports have beenpublished that civilians werekilled and wounded, and thedefence ministry formed a del-egation to conduct a seriousinvestigation into the civiliancasualties,” the ministry state-ment said.

NATO’s Resolute Support

mission in Afghanistan said the“large Afghan-led, multi-dayoperation... Supported by USadvisors and coalition airstrikes” was ongoing, and thatit was still looking into theclaims. But the United NationsAssistance Mission inAfghanistan (UNAMA) saidthe reports of civilian casualties,including children, were “cred-ible”, and that it was also inves-tigating.

“I have got reports from theresidents of the area where thestrike took place. Sixteen peo-ple — ten children, fourwomen, two men, all civilians— were killed,” Afghan senatorHashim Alkozay told AFP.

Helmand provincial gov-ernor Mohammad Yasin saidthe strike “also hit an adjacentcivilian house”.

“A number” of Afghanswere killed and wounded, headded. The strike came asTaliban representatives weremeeting with US officials inQatar this week, with fourstraight days of discussion rais-ing expectations as both sidesseek a way out of the 17-yearAfghan conflict. Civilians con-tinue to pay a disproportionateprice in the fighting.

UNAMA says the numberof Afghan civilians killed byaerial bombings from Januaryuntil October 2018 reached arecord high of 313, with a fur-ther 336 wounded. The figuresrepresent an increase of 39 percent compared to the sametime period in 2017.

UNAMA data shows thatin total, 2,798 civilians werekilled and 5,252 wounded inthe first ten months of 2018.

The Taliban are responsi-ble for about half of civiliancasualties, with the remainingdeaths attributed to the Islamic State group and coali-tion strikes, according to thereport.

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Adam in southeast Brazilcollapsed on Friday,

unleashing a torrent of mudthat killed "several" people liv-ing in an area close to the cityof Belo Horizonte, an officialwith the local fire service toldAFP.

Emergency services werestill responding to the situationin and around the town ofBrumadinho and did not yethave a precise toll, the officialsaid. "According to accountsthat we are receiving, therewere several deaths," he said.

Television images takenfrom the air showed a wideswath of devastation cutthrough vegetation and farm-land in which several homeswere seen, many damaged andsome destroyed, with nothingbut their tiled roofs left sittingon mud.

A rescue helicopter wasseen hovering close to twosurvivors trapped up to theirwaist in mud, with its crew try-ing to pull them to safety.

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1� � �5�##!�"��11� � �5Fiction is said to have an indepen-

dent existence in an author’s imagina-tion as the most relatable books arefirmly grounded in the creator’s reali-ty. An expert panel at the ongoing JaipurLiterature Festival explored whether athinly disguised autobiography is arequirement for authenticity in a novel.

In the session ‘Writing aboutWriting,’ characterised by Pulitzer Prize-winning author of six works of fictionAndrew Sean Greer’s humour andauthor Anita Nair’s deep insights intowriting, the point was discussed atlength along with other salient aspectsof the craft of fiction.

Greer described his endeavour as anattempt to capture “the grand momentsbut also the small moments of a writertrying to make a living,” and has a light-hearted take on life in general. In con-trast, Nair said she explores the dark-ness that drives her protagonist-writerto suicide.

While Greer said that writing abouta writer’s life is “incredibly self-indul-gent” and something he would do onlyonce, Nair stated that she had todescend into “that excruciating set ofcircumstances” that would drive her tokill herself and immerse into the mind-set of the protagonist.

Greer also recounted that many ofthe traits of his protagonist have takenon aspects of his personality.

The panelists observed that readersand the media both tend to relate theexperiences of the characters to the lifeof the author and often to extremes.

The finest literary work that mostcaptures reader’s imagination is whenthe writing is rooted in personal expe-rience, yet doesn’t directly convey it.

Greer described how he gathersmaterial for his writing on his travels,but relies on actual things he has writ-ten down at that moment rather thanmerely on his memory. “I didn’t wantto write some fantasy of other countriesthat American writers tend to do,” hesaid of scenes written in various coun-tries. In the same vein, Nair said, “I amdrawing on reality.”

She said she writes about Keralabecause she understands the “psyche ofthe people” and can relate to them. Thatis the level of engagement with her sub-ject and characters she requires. Butsubsequently, she described the final actof creation as a weaving together of allthe disparate elements as in a “patch-work quilt.” She said she decides at thatmoment what works and what does not.

This transformation of experienceinto fiction is a challenge and ultimate-ly a pleasure, Nair noted.

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Filmmaker and lyricist Gulzar atthe festival expressed hopelessness at thenew lows that the political discourse inthe country is hitting with every pass-ing day.

Without naming any politician orparty, Gulzar said that the “kind of lan-guage” some politicians use these daysdoes not only have an adverse effect onpolitics and mutual friendship, but inthe larger picture, it “may spoil theyounger generation.”

He urged politicians to be mindfulof the fact that their words reach themasses and the youth, in particular, takea keen interest in politics these days, “sothey should not use such language.”

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Pulitzer Prize-winning authorColson Whitehead’s The UndergroundRailroad is garnering critical acclaimfrom readers around the globe whilealso bagging some of the most presti-gious literary awards. The novel simul-taneously literalises the railroad andemploys it as a metaphor — almost asa living character.

“As a kid, you think it’s a literal train,until at some point, hopefully a teacher

or an adult corrects you and tells youhow it actually worked,” saidWhitehead, referring to the fact that inreality, it was “a network of people” thathelped slaves in America to escape fromthe Southern states to the North.

The novel also looks at the dilem-mas peculiar to the experience of afemale slave. “When a slave girl becamea slave woman, she was subject to herMaster’s desires; she was expected topump out babies as more slaves for herMaster,” pointed Whitehead.

The story required a certain matu-rity to handle it, and Whitehead wasglad that he had waited for as long ashe had to write it.

Instead, Whitehead dealt with top-ics such as 19th century eugenics andthe forced sterilisation of black women,and drew parallels between this partic-ular form of hegemonic injustice andothers, such as the Holocaust. “I want-ed to blend reality with fictive imagi-nation, and deploy research in an artis-tic way,” he said.

The author said he finds himselfviewing his book differently after theTrump moment in American politics.

“Police brutality was not a surpriseto me,” he asserted, adding that the ideaconnecting his novel to present day-America is the basic element that“being black in the wrong place” is stilldangerous and even lethal.

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The 2011 Egyptian revo-lution was sparked by a Dayof Revolt on January 25, 2011when tens of thousands ofpeople stormed public spacesacross the country to protestthe oppressive regime ofPresident HosniMubarak andeight years downthe line, an expertpanel cametogether at the fes-tival to present dis-patches from thosetumultuous days.

Max Rodenbeck,South Asia bureau chiefof The Economist, mod-erated the panel thatlooked back at the events ofTahrir Square, discussingwhether it’s ever possible fora revolution to succeed, and lookedahead to what the events of the ArabSpring heralded for the global future.

Veteran Egyptian author AhdafSoueif noted that the movement was “atrue grassroots endeavour.”

She said, “For a year, people wereprepared to be out there in the street,to be in harm’s way”, highlighting howpeople from all over Egypt were “will-

ing to risk grave consequences”in an attempt “to usher in a newdawn of freedom.”

“What went wrong?” askedRodenbeck. “So much of it wasbuilt on emotional and idealis-tic energy,” author and award-winning filmmaker Omar

Robert Hamilton said. “Unless you’re able to actually

destroy the enemy, they work on atimescale that’s unavailable to a vol-unteer-based public movement.They can move against you withcalculated, mechanical preci-sion,” Hamilton added.

Egyptian author YasmineEl Rashidi’s sense of regret forthe opportunities lostseemed palpable and deeplypersonal. “I emotionally

feel that we failed due to ourinability to organise,” she said.

Soueif countered her claim that thepeople of Egypt failed their own revo-lution. “People point a finger at thestreets and the young, but they did whatthey had to do. A political leadershiphad to step forward and seize themoment,” said Soueif.

The session concluded with whatthe world learned from the Arab Springin general, and the January 25 EgyptianRevolution in particular.

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Women writers have surely crusad-ed a war against age-old prac-

tices and established systems, callingthem out and unacceptable. They have shared varied emotionsrelated to female experiences andincidents of injustice in their works.From a woman like Elizabeth Bennettrying to express her individuality ina society that demanded social confor-mity to Bertha Mason, loud, subver-sive and sexually wanton as well aswomen like Virginia Woolf who wroteabout the need for some space and aroom for themselves. These womenhad initiated the feminist movementlong ago and continue to fight for iteven today. Many writers have alsostarted a debate about the empower-ment of other marginalised sectionslike the indigenous communities.

One such is Australian writerAnita Heiss who introduced the mean-ing of ‘Mr Right’ for a woman throughher works to the world and initiated aglobal dialogue on indigenous litera-ture that talks about experiences ofinjustice against not just women butalso Aboriginal communities andsocieties, especially Australia.

As she becomes a part of the ongo-ing Jaipur Literature Festival this yearas a part of the Australia Fest in India,she talks about how she feels aboutsuch festivals creating a socio-cultur-al impact and initiating an academicdialogue. She says, “Festivals of this cal-ibre and size provide the perfectshowcase for cultural exchangebetween a number of nations. It’s aplatform where various authors as pro-ducers of cultural products — novels,poetry, memoirs, histories etc — tellthe stories of countries but holding amirror up to their society to say ‘Thisis who we are.’”

She feels that without such literaryfestivals, many stories about the whyand how of authors are left unheard.

The reading audience needs to hearindividual stories of writers and inter-act with them and know about theirresearch and literary purpose.

Featuring deeply personal expe-riences of 51 aboriginal Australiansfrom remote locations, cities and sub-urbs, Heiss’s book Growing UpAboriginal in Australia, had providedan insight into how some of them hadto deliberately play down their aborig-inality to avoid scrutiny and endurecasual racism.

She speaks about her with time theindigenous literature has evolved.“First Nations writing or Aboriginalsyllabic from Australia has been trans-lated into many languages around theworld and we have toured internation-ally in groups and as individuals.” Shegives examples, “Works like DorisPilkington Garimara’s Follow theRabbit-Proof Fence is probably the mostwell-known literary work. That storyopened up the world’s minds to thereality of generations of stolenAboriginal children in Australia. Myown work has been translated into

French, Farsi, Spanish, and Mandarinto name a few translations, and I haveperformed by work across the USA,Canada and Europe. Increasingly,international audiences are wanting tohear First Nation stories from FirstNations Peoples, not anthropologistsand historians who often have anobservers’ role.”

For someone, who has stood sostrongly for the Aboriginality culturein Australia, the main focus at the fes-tival would be to initiate a dialogue on“Aboriginal identity and getting moresuch writers into print to share theirown stories through anthologies likehers. My memoir, Am I Black EnoughFor You? will also be discussed and I’llbe reading from I’m Not Racist, But...a collection of social observations.”

The author, who is known for herseveral awards and accolades for hercontribution in standing for theAustralian Aboriginal communities,believes that her capacity to tell a storyhas developed manifolds in the last twodecades.

She says, “I can see the differencein depth of a story told from my firstadult novel Not Meeting Mr Right(2007) to my most recent novel BarbedWire and Cherry Blossoms (2016). I’vechallenged myself more with everynew title. I set for myself a new chal-lenge with every new book. Forinstance, with Tiddas (2014), I had fiveprotagonists. The challenge there wasto tell the story through each one ofthem’s perspective. I needed to makesure that they all had equal develop-ment over the course of the novel andequal say. The challenge I have setmyself for the book I am currentlyworking on is to show dialoguebetween two characters in Wiradjurilanguage.”

She adds that she is still learningthe language and “it will be an enor-mous effort for me to get it right.”

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When one enters the KisanHaat at Chattarpur, youcould get the feeling of hav-ing arrived at Dilli Haat, theusual saris, stoles, wool-

lens, handicrafts and knick-knacks on dis-play. And then there we take a closer look.Chikankaari makes a splash — and no it isnot anarkali kurtas, flowing dupattas or evenpotli bags that it decorates rather there areshoulder bags, ipad-mini sleeves and mobilecovers made of cork which are livened up bythis traditional art form.

It is clear that there has been majordesign intervention and a lot of thought hasgone into creating the product as well as qual-ity control. Traditional crafts have been rein-terpreted, combined with contemporaryelements and given a look which make themboth timeless yet modern. One also discov-ers, that most of the stores are run by small-time designers who do not have a commer-cial establishment and retail mostly throughsocial media. They manufacture the prod-ucts themselves in collaboration with the arti-sans.

The Design Fair, organised by Dastkar,is a confluence of more than 50 designers andartists with a variety of wares. Hand-craft-ed silver jewellery to leather bags, crochetedproducts, Kalamkari and block printing,embroideries, home decor, hand-painted,hand-woven saris which are curated — thereis something which is sure to catch the fancyof everyone.

One of the first stalls to catch the eye hassaris and blouses on display. Nothing out ofthe ordinary, one might say, but it is theMadhubani paintings on the back of blous-es which are hung neatly in a row on thestand which stand out. Dimple, the brainsbehind the venture says that she mixes a lotof things. “While I do the block printing andhand painting myself, the traditional art isdone by the artists. I give them the designsas well as the colour combination and theycreate the pieces which I later combine withother elements and create the products.” Forthe Madhubani work, Nandidimps, herbrand has got on board artists from Mithilaand the Kalamkari is done in AndhraPradesh.

And the results are artistic. So one canpractically carry Lakshmi on the back (of ablouse) in vivid colours of orange, green, redand black or perhaps what resembles a muralof an entire scene from the epic done intri-cately.

But this is just one of the more unusu-al shops. What draws us next is one dottedwith ajrakh and chikankaari — two absolute-ly diverse elements which have been used ina manner that are a far cry from the tradi-tional. There are bags, made of a material thatfrom a distance looks like leather, but is actu-ally cork as Nandini, who started the brandMrittika along with her friend in 2016informs us. “We wanted to start working withhandlooms and handmade fabrics but alsodo a bit of a design intervention because bothof us are design students. We wanted that

whatever we create should have the essenceof the fabric but at the same time would bepresented in a different manner,” she says.

The started with Ajrakh and initiallycombined it with PU to make bags as theywanted an alternative for leather. “We wentto Gujarat, stayed with the artists and got itdesigned. Now we are working with a craftcluster in Barabanki where we are getting thechikankari made on khadi while the ajrakhwas on regular cotton.”

They’ve also managed to combine thistraditional craft with cork, which was theoriginal material that they were looking at.“We were a small cash-strapped companyand at that time cork was not easily available.But over time it became popular and thatmade it more accessible.” So the bags havelapels that are embroidered with murrichikankari, which creates an impact.

So naturally the next question is whethercork has the strength to lug around every-thing that goes into a large-sized bag?Nandini allays the fears. “There is a fabricbacking and then it is also lined, reinforcingits strength. Moreover maintenance is not toodifficult. It can be hand-washed and spot-cleaned,” she says.

The idea to use cork occurred to themwhen they saw entire bags made from thematerial at the Coach store. “I found it to bean interesting concept especially since it wasan alternative to leather.”

Nandini says that the essence of thebrands was to engage with artisanal commu-nities and work with Indian textiles.“Traditional textiles have a lot to offer butthey are usually presented in the same oldway. Chikankari pops up in a potli bag whileajrakh is seen in a dupatta or stole. When westarted, there were very few companies whichwere combining two diverse elements. Wewanted to make it functional like a dailyaccessory but add a priceless element to it.So these bags came into being.”

What has further added to the appeal ofthe brand is that some of their customershave interpreted their products very differ-ently. “A customer bought an ipad mini sleeveand she is using it to carry her water colours

and notebooks. The brushes are placed wherethe pens are supposed to go and scraps ofpaper are stored in the slot which was cre-ated for the ipad mini. It has become multifunctional as the customer made it her own,”says Nandini. The products at Mrittika start

at �826 for a mobile cover and the highestpriced one for a bag with chikankari embroi-dery costs �4,100.

A little distance away from this displaywas one by Chaak Mati. Priya Yadav, aceramic artist, combined two things that sheloves — pottery that she made and jewellerythat she wore — to start something new. “In2017 I started experimenting with clay andmaking jewellery out of it. Whatever ideasI get about the ways to use ceramic, I craftjewellery out of those. I use ghungroos for atraditional touch and also old coins.”

There are myriad colours and combina-tions. While none can really be called tiny,the earrings start from small to really largeones as do the neck-pieces. The colours area splash of white with red, blue with greenas well as blues and oranges. Of course, itbeing ceramic makes them a little more frag-ile than your average jewellery. “The biggerpieces break more easily,” says Priya. Howeverwhat she has tried to do, successfully, is toshatter the stereotype that ceramic is veryheavy. She tries to make it light and thin sothat the earrings, especially, won’t tax the earlobes. And that is borne out when one picksit up. The earrings are priced in the range of�500-1,800 and the neck-pieces from �600-4,500.

The next store that is a head turner isanother one displaying jewellery. So whileChaak Mati was earthy (like literally) this onebrings on the bling element. Muted gold andsilver are combined with colours that seemto blend in seamlessly to create pieces thatare sophisticated and classy. Iguana bySwasti Parekh makes use of Mukaish workfor its jewellery pieces. Swasti, a fashiondesigner makes western wear with zeroembroidery. Her foray into jewellery beganwhen she had to get some mukaish workdone and she realised that her karigar pre-ferred to ply an e-rickshaw as that paid bet-ter. “I realised that I needed to revive the craftand do it in a different way and that is howIguana started,” says Swasti about the ven-ture which started last year and catered toonly the US market. The fair is her first timeout in India and already there have beenenquires by stores which want to retail herwork.

“When I researched about handmadejewellery, I realised that most people workedwith sequins and beads. Moreover, no onedoes such intricate stuff,” she says. For cre-ating a piece, she sits down with her karigarto understand whether it works. “We do dif-ferent pieces with the same kind of design.There can be smaller pieces, square ones andmore. We work on same concept and playaround it,” she says. And yes, she can cus-tomise right down to the colours and the par-ticular jewellery piece that you want. Pricedbetween �1,800 for tiny tops to �7,700-8000,these are surely conversations starters.However, she points out that it is not the sizebut the time that decides the price.

Traipsing through the fair opens up myr-iad possibilities about the way traditional ele-ments can be used and interpreted.

What can you tell us about the sto-ryline of Supernatural at the startof season 14? Everyone is in crisis mode when westart a new season. We are hell benton rescuing Dean from Michael’sthrall. Everyone has their headsdown and their shoulders to thegrindstone on this one. They are allfocussing hard and working togeth-er as a big team of hunters on thattask. Castiel is at relatively full power.He runs into some trouble prettymuch right out of the gate, but we’reall pretty focussed on that mission.

What is going through Castiel’smind at the start of the season?Aside from this mission, Castiel alsohas the looming prospect of the fallor collapse of heaven on his mind.That’s in the back of his mind, butthat’s not something that we aretackling right out of the gate. Firstof all, we’re trying to save Dean.

Will the focus shift to heavenlater in the season?That’s right. The issue of what’sgoing on with heaven will becomea bigger, more important storylinelater in the season. There are onlysix to 10 angels left in the world rightnow. And when all those angels areout of heaven, then heaven itself willdeteriorate. And the ghosts that arein heaven will be able to descend toEarth. We potentially have a bigproblem on Earth if all of theangels are gone, so it’s definitely anissue. It’s definitely a cause for con-cern.

Will Castiel work directly withSam? We’re teaming up for sure. Yes.Everybody is in hunter mode whenwe come back, because we just wantto get Dean back. We obviously runinto obstacles along the way, butthat’s our focus.

How would you describe theirrelationship? It’s great. We’re not at a point of anyconflict between the characters.We’re both watching out for oneanother and we’re both checking inwith one another. It’s a true partner-ship.

Jared has admitted that Sam hasmore of a leadership role in season14. How does that work?It feels like he’s second in commandnow, right under Castiel. In a sense,we now have a much bigger cast ofcharacters who are working on theteam because we brought all thesepeople back from the alternate uni-verse. Now, there’s a little more coor-dination needed and a little morelogistics — it feels like Sam is grab-bing the reigns on that.

How does this large group of peo-ple in the bunker play into thestory?Well, we’re not dealing with a lot ofbig questions that brings up issueslike, ‘Does the bunker really havethat many beds?’ ‘Who’s doing theshopping and the dishes?’ ‘Maybethat’s later?’ For now, it’s all aboutgetting Dean back.

How would you describe Castiel’srelationship with Jack (AlexanderCalvert) in the season? Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) neverreally got to play the father figurewith Jack. He had a couple ofscenes where he tried to pal up asthe dad, but it never really devel-oped. From the beginning, Castielhas felt a deep responsibility forJack’s well-being. He’s also beenracked with guilt that he wasn’t ableto help earlier. Back then, Sam andDean stepped in to fill that void andserved as surrogate fathers. Dean isimpaired at the moment — but col-lectively it feels like Jack has threedads. We all are shouldering a littlebit of the paternal responsibility.

At this particular juncture,Castiel is shouldering the most ofthat role because Jack is goingthrough some of the same thingsthat Castiel had gone through sixor seven years ago, when he hadlost his powers and became human.In that sense, Castiel is uniquelypositioned to help shepherd himthrough this crisis.

Supernatural will celebrate its300th episode this season. Whatcan you tell us about it? I have already been a little spoiledon that episode, so I have an idea ofwhat Andrew (Dabb) is thinking ofdoing. I can say that it sounds likea slightly meta episode. I think it’sgoing to be really cool, but I’m notthe one to spoil this. You will havehave to wait for Andrew to tell youabout what’s happening.

Over the years, you’ve not shiedaway from speaking out aboutissues close to your heart. You’veused your platform as an actor tospeak about politics and other sig-nificant subjects. Why is thatimportant to you? Honestly, I think that it’s everyone’sresponsibility to be vocal aboutthings that are important. Justbecause I happen to be on a TVshow doesn’t mean that I shouldn’tbe vocal. I think that a lot of actorsare rightfully concerned about stat-ing their positions on certain issuesbecause they don’t want to alienatetheir fan base — but I happen tothink that it’s important to have anengaged dialogue about things thatare important.

You handed out polling papers atthe Comic Con in 2018. Why wasthat issue particularly importantto you? I did that because I care about vot-ing. I think it’s a big deal. It’s keythat young people vote. Youngpeople are often not included whenthey talk about polls. They do pollsof likely voters and they oftenexclude youngsters because theytypically don’t vote, so I like theidea of turning the tables on that.I like the idea of turning youngstersinto likely voters. That’s some-thing that I wanted to focus on andtalk about for a while, because it’simportant to me. It’s important tospeak up when it’s right.

(The show premieres onJanuary 31 at 10pm on AXN.)

In a dancer’s world, taking off one’sshoes is equal to paying respector giving a grand salute. Not

many a times do we see a renownedchoreographer paying tribute tosomebody else’s phenomenal talent.However, we recently witnessedsomething like that on one of thereality TV shows.

The show Dance+ season four,that aired on Star Plus, recently sawchoreographer Remo D’souza takingoff his shoes for dancer and chore-ographer and also one of the judgeson the show, Dharmesh Yelande, tosalute him for the kind of concept hehad introduced on the stage.Dharmesh’s creativity and brilliantconcept of using a single camera inone performance on the reality TVshow made Remo offer Dharmesh anopportunity to choreograph a songfor his forthcoming dance-basedfilm, ABCD3.

While talking about how he wasgrateful for it, Dharmesh said, “It’s ahuge chance. I am very thankful forit as Remo (sir) has always been aninspiration. He is my guru.”

On the show, the first two con-testants to become finalists and in topfour belong to Dharmesh’s team,namely, V Unbeatable and VartikaJha. Adding to this, Vartika hasbeen the first ever contestant andfinalist to have won the chance ofbeing a part of Remo’s dancing filmas well.

While praising the dancer,Dharmesh said that there is no oneelse on the show currently who cancompete or beat Vartika, as “she isone of the most versatile dancers thatI have watched and known and thattoo after a very long time.”

Someone who has been a part ofnumerous reality TV shows andalso won a few, like Boogie Woogie,Dance India Dance (DID) 2, DanceIndia Dance Li’l Champs, who betterthan him can tell about how helpfulsuch shows could be for aspiringartists. He felt that all those whocome to such reality shows, theiractual journey of struggle and work-ing begins after the show is over.“They feel that post show, they’llhead back home and there will be asplash of selfies and interviews allaround them. This may happen, butwill only last for a while. I always tellthe contestants that your real jour-ney of success will begin after theshow ends,” he said.

Adding to this, he believed thateven though a reality show is indeeda platform to begin from, it won’tturn one into a celebrity or make onea master. “It just provides an initialpush that is important to grow. Bysuch applause and appreciation, oneindeed wishes to keep growing in thefield. They are mentored underexperts and get new experiences.Hence, these are an important plat-form for budding artists to followtheir dream profession. For instance,when I were a part of DID, I wasbeing mentored under Geeta(ma’am) and Remo (sir). Now, I hadgot such a huge push, that I am a cap-tain at another reality TV show. Seeit’s just one move,” he laughed.

Well, there’s not just one suchreality show that is ruling the primetime on the TV today. There are mul-

tiple dance, singing and talent huntshows on every other channel, somany that one might even get con-fused as to which one to watch.Bonus, however, is that each one ofit has unbeatable and talented per-formers.

Dharmesh felt that it’s mostlyabout business and money. Therewere only one or two shows when hefirst appeared on Boogie Woogie. Hesaid, giving an example, “If some-body opens a concept-based store atsome famous road of a city, peoplelook at him getting increasinglypopular and accepted, now they willalso want to try something similarand make the most out of it. One willgo and sell the same kind of stuff justnext to him, followed by the third,and then the fourth. Gradually, thewhole street is full of same kind ofstores.” Something similar, hebelieved, happened with the case ofreality TV shows as well.

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Novak Djokovic onFriday continued his

quest for a record sev-enth Australian Opencrown by swatting asideFrench 28th seed LucasPouille 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 to setup a final against RafaelNadal.

It was a flawless dis-play on Rod Laver Arenaby the world numberone who moves into afirst Melbourne decidersince 2016.

"It is definitely one ofthe best matches I'veever had on this court,definitely," said Djokovic,who hit 24 winners andhad just five unforcederrors.

"You know, every-thing worked the way Iimagined it before thematch and even more so.

"Tough one forLucas, but he had a greattournament, and I wishhim all the best for the rest of the season,"he added.

Djokovic lost in the fourth round lastyear, followed by elbow surgery and poor form until he wonWimbledon and turned his season around.

Djokovic will face second seed Nadal in a 53rd careermeeting and eighth in the final of a Slam.

In 2012 the pair contested the longest Grand Slam finalin terms of time at the Australian Open when Djokovic edgedan epic battle 7-5 in the fifth set after 5hr 53min. Djokovic,in his 34th Grand Slam semi-final, took just 83 minutes tooutclass his regular practice partner Pouille, who was appear-ing in his first.

Nadal holds a 4-3 win-loss record against Djokovic inGrand Slam finals, including all three meetings since theirMelbourne Park marathon seven years ago, and both play-ers are chasing milestones on Sunday.

A win for Nadal will see him become the first player inthe Open era to win all four Grand Slam titles twice, whilevictory for Djokovic will take him clear of six-timeMelbourne winners Roger Federer and Roy Emerson.

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Saina Nehwal hardly brokea sweat on way to her sec-

ond consecutive semifinal ofthe season but P V Sindhu andKidambi Srikanth lost theirrespective quarterfinals tobow out of the IndonesiaMasters badminton tourna-ment here on Friday.

Eighth seed Saina, whohad reached the semifinallast week at Malaysia Masters,beat Thailand's PornpaweeChochuwong 21-7, 21-18 tomake it to the last four ofwomen's singles.

The two-timeCommonwealth Gameschampion will next face sixthseeded Chinese He Bingjiao,a player Saina has never facedin her career.

Sindhu couldn't adjust tothe speed and precision ofthree-time Olympic champi-on Caroline Marin, goingdown 11-21, 12-21 in a lop-sided contest.

Srikanth had to settle fora second quarter-final finishafter losing 18-21, 19-21 to

local hero and Asian Gameschampion Jonatan Christie.

Saina enjoyed a good startand galloped to 11-4 lead atthe interval. The Indian con-tinued to dominate proceed-ing after the interval, movingin quick bursts of points toclose out the opening gamecomfortably.

In the second game,Chochuwong ran to 8-4 lead,but Saina caught up with herat 12-12 before going aheadand shutting the door on heropponent.

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After a near perfectbeginning, India wouldlook to tighten the

noose around a strugglingNew Zealand with a barrage ofspin in the second ODI hereon Saturday.

New Zealand batsmenlooked all at sea against India'sspin duo of Kuldeep Yadav andYuzvendra Chahal in theirown backyard following a fieryspell from pacer MohammadShami in the opening ODI onWednesday.

The hosts seemed rustyagainst a team coming off ahistoric tour of Australia andknow beating an in-form Indiawill be steep climb at the BayOval here.

Before the sun stoppedplay for more than 30 minutesin the series-opener, theIndian bowlers made merrywith Kuldeep and Chahalsharing six wickets.

Both the wrist-spinnershunt in a pack and would beitching to have another go atthe Black Caps.

India are yet to finalisetheir middle-order ahead ofthe World Cup but are unlike-ly to tinker much with theplaying eleven after just onegame.

Hardik Pandya has left tojoin the squad in New Zealandafter the Committee ofAdministrators (CoA) revoked

the interim suspension onhim and K L Rahul but mostlikely, he will be available onlyfrom the third ODI onwards.

The team managementplayed pace all-rounder VijayShankar at McClean Park butdepending on the conditions,

it can bring back RavindraJadeja.

Ambati Rayudu, whoscored an unbeaten 13 off 23on Wednesday, is expected toget another opportunity fol-lowing a not so productiverun in the ODIs againstAustralia.

For India, the biggest plusto come out of the first ODIwas Shikhar Dhawan regain-ing some form with the batfollowing a lean run DownUnder.

The southpaw scored anunbeaten 75 in the team'scomprehensive win and inthe circumstances, it was acrucial knock.

"It was a very importantinnings for Dhawan. We spokeabout how he needed to fin-ish games for India, to keephis confidence and if he's inthat mindset, he can be a greatasset," said skipper Virat Kohliafter the eight-wicket win.

More changes can beexpected in the eleven afterKohli takes a break followingthe third ODI on January 28,creating an opening for thelikes of Shubman Gill to maketheir India debut.

New Zealand won theprevious home series againstIndia 4-0 but could be head-ing towards a reverse if they

don't up their game."We were severely out-

played the other day," saidpacer Trent Boult on Friday.

"Batsmen are looking toright a few wrongs, come outand set a good platform andobviously put a good target onthe board and see what hap-pens from there," he added.

It seemed captain KaneWilliamson was batting onanother surface as the bats-men struggled at the otherend.

�� I��BIndia: Virat Kohli (captain),Rohit Sharma, ShikharDhawan, Mahendra SinghDhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav,Dinesh Karthik, VijayShankar, Shubman Gill,Yuzvendra Chahal, KuldeepYadav, Mohammed Shami,Bhuvneshwar Kumar,Mohammed Siraj, KhaleelAhmed, Ravindra Jadeja,Hardik Pandya.New Zealand: KaneWilliamson (captain), RossTaylor, Tom Latham, MartinGuptill, Colin deGrandhomme, Trent Boult,Henry Nicholls, DougBracewell, Lockie Ferguson,Matt Henry, Colin Munro,Ish Sodhi, Micthell Santner,Tim Southee.

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Opener Shikhar Dhawan onFriday said the fast-tracking

of Prithvi Shaw and ShubmanGill into the Indian team showsthat the upcoming talent is"maturing" faster than everbefore, increasing competitionwithin the team.

While Shaw made his Testdebut in October, Gill earned amaiden call-up for the ongoingODI series against New Zealand.Both batsmen had starred inIndia's triumphant campaignin the U-19 Word Cup in NewZealand 12 months ago.

Ahead of the World Cup,the competition within the teamis fierce, especially in the mid-dle-order.

"I think the youngsters arematuring really quickly in Indiancricket and that creates a lot ofcompetition in the team, every-one has to be on their toes,"Dhawan said ahead of the sec-ond ODI against New Zealandhere on Saturday.

"Someone like a PrithviShaw, the way he came into the

Test team and scored a centuryand 70 runs against the WestIndies, it shows that our benchstrength is also very good. Soeven among the 15 (squadmembers), we have very highcompetition."

On the personal front, theopener is back among runs fol-lowing a lean run in the ODIseries against Australia. En routehis unbeaten 75 on Wednesday,Dhawan completed 5000 runs inthe 50-over format.

"The milestone (5000 runs)means that I'm playing welland I am grateful for it," he said.

Did he make any changes tohis game from the ODIs inAustralia?

"I think the conditions arequite similar. I feel that I'm anexperienced player now, I camehere a few years ago. So youknow what to do and what notto do. I know my technique suitsall sorts of wickets, so I just backmyself.

"I haven't worked on anyfootwork or technique specifi-cally. Once you are experienced,your mind is calm and at ease."

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The modernisation pro-jects are being pro-gressed as per the

approved Capital AcquisitionPlans and in terms of theextant Defence ProcurementProcedure (DPP). Since thelaunch of ‘Make in India’ inSeptember 2014, several mea-sures have been taken to pro-mote indigenous design,development and manufac-ture of defence and aerospaceequipment, platforms, systemsand sub-systems in the coun-try under the programme byharnessing the capabilities ofthe public and private sector.The DPP-2016 focuses oninstitutionalising, streamliningand simplifying the defenceprocurement procedure toboost the ‘Make in India’ ini-tiative.

The government has alsopromulgated the policy ofStrategic Partnership in thedefence sector which encour-ages participation of the pri-vate sector in manufacture ofmajor defence platforms andequipment in four selectedsegments viz. submarines,fighter aircraft, helicoptersand armoured fighting vehi-cles/tanks.

During the last four years,up to October, 2018, out oftotal 188 contracts, 121 con-tracts have been signed withthe Indian vendors includingDPSUs/PSUs/OFB and pri-vate vendors for capital pro-curement of defence equip-ment for the Indian ArmedForces, such as helicopters,survey vessel, Radar, ballistichelmets, artillery guns, simu-lators, missiles, bullet proofjackets, electronic fuzzes andammunition. Currently,Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL) has firm ordersto manufacture platforms likeSukhoi aircraft, light combataircraft, Dornier aircraft,advance light helicopter,Chetak and Cheetal helicopter,which are likely to be execut-ed in the next three-four years.

While the process ofupgrading the defence equip-ments is ongoing, the IndianArmed Forces is simultane-

ously addressing new fronts ofwarfare. The Army ChiefGeneral Bipin Rawat, hadrecently stressed of the need tofocus on incorporatingArtificial Intelligence (AI) andBig Data computing into theArmed forces’ system.Speaking at the national con-ference on ‘Self Reliance inDefence Manufacturing’, theArmy Chief had pointed outthat the rapid advances intechnology necessitated incor-poration of the industrial sec-tor into defence manufactur-ing. “Apart from guns andrifles, we will see a lot of noncontact warfare happening.Future wars are going to be

fought in the cyber domain. Itis important to start under-standing the relevance of AIand Big Data computing andhow to incorporate this in intothe defence system.” He point-ed out that there is a need fora battle field management sys-tem, which would enable thecommander to incorporateand integrate all the availableinformation and hence tech-nology will play a vital part indefence. Emphasising theimportance of preparednessfor future dimensions of war-fare, the General stated thatthe Indian armed forces haveto be prepared whether it wasdefence of borders, combating

proxy wars, terrorism, insur-gencies or other internal secu-rity disturbances.

Identifying cyber securityas the future warfront, India issetting up a cyber agencyunder the Integrated DefenceStaff (IDS) to deal with potentthreats in the cyber space. TheLieutenant General M MNaravane, the General OfficerC o m m a n d i n g - i n - C h i e f ,Eastern Command, said thatthe Armed Forces were alive tocyber threats which necessitat-ed a cyber agency that will beset up by pooling talent fromall three services—Army, AirForce and Navy. “It will be aninter-services agency, notpurely Army, functioningunder the IDS and they will belooking after all the threats inthe cyber domain.” The IDS isresponsible for fostering coor-dination and enabling priori-tisation across the differentbranches of the Indian ArmedForces.

Stating that the cyberagency will not be a full-fledged command, he said itsunits will be spread across thecountry. “There will be unitsor cells or dedicated officers atevery headquarter to deal withthe aspect of cyber security,” hesaid.

The success story of India’sdefence indigenisation pro-gramme, BRAHMOS, is theworld’s fastest supersoniccruise missile which comes

with a fine combination of speed, preci-sion and power. This highly versatile mis-sile has been integrated and successful-ly test fired on platforms including theSukhoi 30MKI, giving a major fillip to the‘Make in India’ programme.

BRAHMOS is a product of the jointventure between India’s Defence Researchand Development Organisation (DRDO)and the NPOM of Russia. BrahMosAerospace, an Indo-Russian joint venture,formed in 1998, manufactures BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile,that can be launched from submarines,ships, aircraft and from land.

The missile has been operationalisedin the Indian Army, Navy and the AirForce. It has established itself as a forcemultiplier in the modern-day complexbattlefields, with its impeccable land-attack, anti-ship capabilities and multi-role and multi-platform abilities. Thecompany has established a robust MissileIndustrial Consortium (MIC) which hasgrown manifold over the years.

The BRAHMOS weapon system hasalready logged numerous milestones toits credit. It notched a record when, anenhanced version of the BRAHMOScruise missile with an Extended Range(ER), was successfully test-fired onMarch 11 in 2017. The formidable mis-sile system once again proved its mettleto precisely hit the enemy targets at amuch higher range than the current rangeof 290 km, with a supersonic speed of 2.8Mach. The technology upgrade comesafter India’s full membership to theMissile Technology Control Regime(MTCR).

The sea-launched and land-launchedvariants of the BRAHMOS are already inservice with the Indian Army, Navy andthe Air Force, empowering all three wingsof the Indian Armed Forces with an anti-

ship and land attack capability. The mis-sile operates on a ‘fire and forget’ prin-ciple and the missile’s terminal altitude isas low as ten meters. The air-launchedversion of the missile has lesser weightand additional rear fins which add aero-dynamic stability while separating fromthe aircraft. The successful test firing ofthe air launch version completes the tac-tical cruise missile triad for India. Thearmed forces now have a multi-platform,multi-mission cruise missile that can belaunched from land, sea and air.

The Indian Air Force’s Su-30MKImulti-role fighter jets armed with BRAH-MOS air-launched variant, are expectedto increase the export potential of theweapon. Several Southeast Asian andLatin American countries have expressedan interest in buying this weapon system.

BrahMos Aerospace has also devel-oped and successfully tested a missileintended for submarines. A smaller ver-

sion of the missile named BrahMos-NG,is currently under development. This mis-sile can be fitted in much more numbersin air platforms and is also planned forthe Indian made Tejas aircraft, which willmake it one of the most desired platformand weapon combination for many coun-tries. A hypersonic version of the missileis also planned in the future with a speedof Mach 7-8 to maintain the leadershipthat BrahMos possesses in the cruise mis-sile arena.

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