˝˙˛ˆ˚˜ ˘ ˆ ˘ˆˆ...according to a letter, writ-ten to the cm by governor ram naik, which...

�� !�� "

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

��#�� #��(��'�!�� !�� !�� !�� '��!��" �"

��

�� )�*+�,$-

The reverberation of formerPresident Pranab

Mukherjee’s visit on Thursdayto the RSS headquarters and hisspeech to the graduating RSScadre there has continued inthe political corridor amidwild speculation about hisfuture political moves.

In what is seen as a note-worthy reaction, BJP patriarchLK Advani, who rarely com-ments on any contemporaryissues, described Pranab’sspeech and his visit to the RSSheadquarters as significantevents in the contemporaryIndian history. Advani’s reac-tion was put up on the officialwebsite of the BJP even asmajority of senior BJP leader-ship maintained a curioussilence on the issue.

The political circlesremained abuzz with subtlesuggestions that the 82-year-oldformer Congressman — whoafter the assassination of IndiraGandhi, could have even be acandidate for the post of PrimeMinister — may even be a con-sensus nominee for the PMpost, acceptable to theOpposition and not opposed bythe present ruling dispensation.The news highlighted by morethan one TV channel wassource-based, but it wasenough to set the social mediaon fire.

Pranab’s visit to the RSShead office in Nagpur cameagainst serious reservation of‘secular circles’, but he silencedthem by highlighting their

concerns on “intolerance” and“pluralism”. At the same time,Pranab also kept his hosts ingood humour by describingRSS founder Keshav BaliramHedgewar “as the great son ofMother India”.

The controversy that pre-ceded Pranab’s visit to Nagpurhas kept dogging him eventhough he is back to Delhi. OnFriday, a “morphed picture”showing Pranab in RSS-style ofsalutation appeared on social

media. RSS joint general sec-retary Manmohan Vaidhyablamed “divisive politicalforces” for first trying to makeformer President “refrain” fromattending its event and then forposting a morphed photographshowing him in a prayer posi-tion identified with the organ-isation.

“Some divisive politicalforces have posted a morphedphoto of former PresidentPranab Mukherjee standing in

a prayer position with a fold-ed hand during recitation ofSangha prarthana (prayer) atThursday’s RSS function atNagpur,” Vaidya said in a state-ment. Pranab’s daughterSharmistha Mukherjee, aCongress leader who hadopposed his visit to the RSSevent, had highlighted the pho-tograph and said, “See, this isexactly what I was fearing &warned my father about. Noteven a few hours have passed,

but BJP/RSS dirty tricks dept isat work in full swing!”.

On Thursday, Pranabaddressed the RSS cadre pass-ing ‘Tritiya Shiksha Varg’ (threeyear graduation course), one ofthe most important milestonesin the life of an RSS cadre. Onlythe third-year graduates in theSangh can become RSSpracharaks or full-timers.

Pranab, who has been forlong the main strategist of theCongress and two successiveUPA Governments, has beenlauded by Advani for acceptingthe invitation of the Hindutvaorganisation.

The senior BJP leader alsopraised RSS chief MohanBhagwat for inviting him, say-ing there was significant con-cord and resonance in theviews expressed by both ofthem.

As a lifelong ‘swayamsevak’of the RSS, BJP veteran Advanisaid he believed that Pranaband Bhagwat have truly set apraiseworthy example of dia-logue transcending ideologicalaffiliations and differences.

“Both of them highlightedthe essential unity of India,which accepts and respects alldiversities, including the plu-ralism of faiths,” Advani said ina statement.

Advani, who has served asthe BJP president for thelongest period, expressed hishappiness over the RSS underBhagwat expanding and inten-sifying its efforts to reach outto various sections of the nationin the spirit of dialogue.

Continued on Page 4

�� )�*+�,$-

Paying a visit to the LordJagannath Temple at Puri

may now become easier fordevotees who have to faceextreme hardship in offeringprayers there. The SupremeCourt on Friday directed boththe Odisha Government andthe Centre to set up separatecommittees to study the bestmanagement practices followedby shrines of national impor-tance across the country andrecommend changes to be car-ried out in administration ofthe temple by June 30.

The direction came on aPIL that highlighted poorhygiene, harassment faced bydevotees, malpractices bysebayats (sevaks) who performrituals, and misappropriation ofofferings made to the templeoffertory.

A Vacation Bench ofJustices Adarsh K Goel andAshok Bhushan ordered aprobe by the District Judge,Puri, into these allegations andsought an interim report fromhim by July 5. For suggestingmeasures to reform the exist-ing practices followed in thetemple, the Bench directedboth the Odisha Governmentand the Centre to set up sepa-rate committees to study thebest management practices fol-lowed by shrines such asVaishno Devi in Jammu &Kashmir, Somnath temple inGujarat, Golden Temple inPunjab, Tirupati temple inAndhra Pradesh and

Dharamsthala temple inKarnataka.

The elaborate orders werepassed on a PIL filed by a prac-tising lawyer Mrinalini Padhi,who is a member of the OdishaLegal Services Committee. Thelawyer approached the apexcourt after coming across anews item about the missingkeys of the Ratna Bhandar atthe Lord Jagannatha Temple.

This came to light after theOrissa High Court in a PILproceeding directedArchaeological Survey of India

(ASI) to inspect the temple forrenovation and restorationwork. The ASI team was deniedinspection of the RatnaBhandar. Later it came to lightthat the keys to the Bhandarhousing priceless jewels, orna-ments offered to the temple wasmissing and there is noaccounting of it since 1984.

The apex court kept thisissue open to be considered bythe Orissa HC and focusedinstead to end the exploitativepractices against devotees.

Continued on Page 4

$�� ./��0

After giving a befitting replyto “unprovoked” border

shelling from the Pakistaniside and smashing bunkersoccupied by Pakistan Rangers,the Union Home Ministry hasreadied a foolproof plan to startconstruction of communityand individual bunkers on ‘warfooting’ in the region to ensuresafety of border residents. TheCentre has also decided todeploy bulletproof ambu-lances/mobile bunkers to ferryinjured persons and evacuatestranded residents duringcross-border shelling.

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh, who arrivedhere on the second day of histrip to the State, visited RS Puraarea on Friday and labelled res-idents of border villages as“strategic assets”.

Acknowledging their sac-rifices, Rajnath said these peo-ple have made lot of sacrificesbut their resolve to standupfront was never shattered. “I

salute their courage. I am proudof their commitment towardsmother Nation”.

To motivate the borderresidents, Rajnath also made aslew of announcements,

including raising of two borderbattalions for the unemployedyouth of the border area anddeployment of bulletproofambulances and mobilebunkers.

Addressing a Press confer-ence, Rajnath said the UnionHome Ministry has sanctionedconstruction of 14,460 bunkers,including 1,431 communityand 13,029 individual bunkers

at an estimated cost of �415crore, to ensure safety of bor-der residents living in the directline of enemy fire.

These bunkers would beconstructed across border dis-tricts of Jammu, Samba,Kathua, Rajouri and Poonchacross Jammu province.

Since beginning of holymonth of Ramzan, the entireborder belt across Jammu fron-tier witnessed intense cross-border shelling in which ninecivilians lost their lives whilefour BSF jawans attained mar-tyrdom.

Reading out a list of deci-sions of his Ministry, Rajnathsaid, “We have decided to raisea total of nine battalions,including two border battal-ions, two women battalions andfive battalions of IndianReserve Police to help theunemployed youth from these

border areas.”Rajnath said a quota of 60

per cent has been fixed for bor-der residents in 5 IRP battalionsand two women battalions,one each for Jammu andKashmir province.

“During my interactionwith the border residents, thelocal villagers had raised theissue of shortage of bullet-proof mobile bunkers andambulances in the area. Afterunderstanding their hardships,I have directed the authoritiesto provide five bulletproofambulances for residents ofborder areas in Jammu,” hesaid.

The Union Home Ministeralso announced a landmarkdecision to give financial assis-tance of �5.5 lakh per family toWest Pakistan refugees settledin Jammu & Kashmir.

Continued on Page 4

�� ,0�1)2*

The controversy over allegeddemand of bribe by UP

Chief Minister’s PrincipalSecretary SP Goel took a dra-matic turn on Friday asLucknow police “swung intoaction” and took the whistle-blower businessman into cus-tody. Police booked AbhisekhGupta, picked him up from hishouse and detained at thepolice station in the name ofrecording his statement underSection 161 of the CrPC.

According to a letter, writ-ten to the CM by GovernorRam Naik, which was leaked tothe media, Goel had demand-ed �25 lakh from the busi-nessman to clear his file regard-ing sanctioning of gram samajland to him for construction ofa petrol pump in Hardoi.

Interestingly, CM YogiAdityanath too responded tothe allegations by asking ChiefSecretary Rajeev Kumar toprobe the facts and submit areport for further action. In themeantime, the kin of thewhistleblower staged a dharnanear the CM’s residence inKalidas Marg, demanding jus-tice and his release.

�� # �� 0�3/-

Pune police investigating theJanuary 1, 2018 Bhima-

Koregaon caste riots haverecovered from a laptop ofone of the five arrested activistsan incriminating letter, whichuncovers a plot by the Maoiststo carry out “Rajiv Gandhi-type” assassination of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

The purported letter, whichwas produced by police beforea Pune court on Thursdaywhile seeking the custody offive “Maoist-linked” activists,including a professor fromNagpur University, for theirrole in Bhima-Koregaon riots,speaks of “targeting his(Modi’s) roadshows as an“effective strategy” to eliminatethe Prime Minister.

Pune’s Joint Commissionerof police Ravindra Kadam con-firmed that a scanned copy ofthe incriminating letter wasrecovered from the laptop ofhuman rights activists RonaWilson Jacob, who is one of thefive persons with alleged

Maoist links arrested onWednesday in connection withthe Bhima-Koregaon riots.

The scanned copy of theletter was among the virtualand physical documents recov-ered by the investigators dur-ing their simultaneous raidsconducted by the investigatorson April 17 in Mumbai, Puneand Nagpur on residences ofvarious Dalit leaders and otherfunctionaries associated withthe Elgaar Parishad organisedin Pune ahead of the January 1,2018 caste riots.

Apart from Jacob, fourother arrested activists, whohave been remanded in policecustody by the Pune court tillJune 14, are: Surendra Gadling,general secretary IndianAssociation of People’s Lawyersfrom Nagpur, Sudhir Dhawale,Editor Vidrohi from Mumbai,Prof Shoma Sen, Head ofDepartment of English, NagpurUniversity and Mahesh Raut,anti-displacement activist fromBharat Jan Andolan.

The letter, written by “R”(which the investigators suspectmight be Rona Jacob himself)and addressed to one comradePrakash, states, “We are think-ing along the lines of another

Rajiv Gandhi-type incident. Itsounds suicidal and there is agood chance we might fail butwe feel the party must deliber-ate over our proposal.

Continued on Page 4

�� )�*+�,$-

An 18-year-old girl, whochecked into a five star

hotel in East Delhi’s MayurVihar with her boyfriend of 10months on Wednesday, wasfound dead under mysteriouscircumstances on Thursdayevening, police said.

Preliminary investigationsuggests that there is no injurymark on the body of the girl,identified as Neelima, who fin-ished her Class XI from OpenSchool and was employed witha beauty parlour in South Delhiand lived at her relative’s homein Chanakyapuri area.

After coming to knowabout the incident, the foren-sic team of the Delhi Policerushed to Hotel Holiday Inn toinspect room no 1137 whereNeelima was living with herboyfriend Uday, a resident ofDelhi’s Shahdara.

Police detained Uday and

questioned him to know thesequence of the event that ledto death of the girl, whobelonged to Uttarakhand.

Speaking to the media, thegirl’s mother said she was indepression as Uday had refusedto marry her.

Senior police officersinvolved in the probe said theyhave not got anything so far tosuggest that there was any foulplay because the room waslocked from inside and herfriend had gone home for someurgent work.

However, the incident isbeing probed on all possibleangles involving drug overdoseand suicide as forensic expertsdid collect some suspicioussubstance that could be a drugor poison. The substance hasbeen sent for testing.

They had checked into thehotel room and submitted theiridentity cards as proofs, said theofficial, adding that around4.30 pm, the male friend left,saying his father was unwelland was admitted to a hospital.

Continued on Page 4

��

�� !��

� ��

�� !��"

��#��$��

��

�� )�*+�,$-

As the national Capital con-tinues to reel under intense

heat, city’s power demand brokeall previous records with thepeak power demand reaching6,934 MW at 3.28 pm on Friday,the highest ever recorded in thecity. Last summer, it was record-ed at 6,526 MW.

The peak power demandhad soared to 6,651 on June 1this year and broke the previousrecord of 6,526 MW recordedon June 6, 2017. “This is thefourth time in the currentmonth that last year’s all-timehigh record of peak powerdemand of 6,526 MW has beenbroken,” a senior BSES officialsaid.

To meet the demand ofaround 40 lakh consumers,arrangements have been firmedup by BRPL and BYPL to sourceadequate electricity, said theofficial. “It includes long-termPower Purchase Agreements(PPAs) and banking arrange-ments with other States, includ-ing Himachal Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Andhra Pradesh,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu andBhutan,” the BSES official said.

Detailed report on P3

�� %��&�'()��*

��

�� !��" ��

�� #�$ %� �� &

��'��

��

��

� 3.�!��,1/��4��!�� ''��5�� ! ��-��

� (��! �� 66#��

�� ! ��!�� 2!! �� !! ��!��!��

� 2� ��7� �!��!��8�� #��''&�� !!��

� �� !��!��'' � �� 9��:' ��! �� ! �� !��!� � �� +��;��''�� )�!��8

� � ( � � ) * + � $ �

�� "��

��

�� +��%��,

!�-./�0)(�/��2 -,�<

%��/)=2)/�2,,

�� !"��#$%��

��

��

>,�� %�&�?@�''(� AB@>/��'��C��/!!��

�')�*��'��+,-"

�.��/�� #�� #��0/�12+,3�� +-��4

!"��#$��% !&��

��*-.1��00

%D'0��-(<,�(�0''-/3�3/�1�'/='(�0��

-�2$2-$�3'�/'2 (�203,�<*�)��+(2/�()2*

�� !"#$�%&'�!'��(�#)*'+�+�%��&

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 � �� ,-

�� !��"��#��$�%�&'��())***�� +$�� ,��-��./0"10��.02,��**,��-��0��!�� &��%��-��3��-��4 �5.�4�� "��-�� !�$��5��-��6��'�� 7��-,�.!8(9*:;9)**�� :;;�:)(:9�<=:)� 9�:)��&>��-9��"��"��$��? �0��&(��@*)@�7��-*;��(� 9@99 �� 9@999�� 9@99;�

�� !��"�� #�� $��%��&�� '�� "��(��

�� )�*+�,$-

Aformer student of IndianInstitute of Technology

(IIT)-Delhi ended his life onFriday by jumping from abuilding on the campus insouth Delhi, police said.Identified as Anshuman Gupta(31), he was unemployed andstayed with his family inGreater Kailash area of Southeast Delhi.

A police official said thatthey have not recovered anysuicide note. Anshuman, whohad completed B.Tech in 2010from IIT Delhi, was foundlying in a pool of blood around11 am after he jumped off theseventh floor of a campusbuilding.

Anshuman was declaredbrought dead at the nearby hos-pital, Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP) South west dis-trict, Milind Mahadeo

Dumbere said.“He was unemployed and

had left his house early morn-ing after telling his familythat he was going to meetsome college friend,” the DCPsaid.

“We are trying to ascertainthe reason for his extremestep. Prima facie, it appearsthat he was disturbed over hisjob. We are questioning hisfamily members,” the officeradded.

�� )�*+�,$-

Lawyers observed a com-plete strike in all six district

courts in the national Capitalon Friday to protest against thelaw and order situation inDelhi after an attack on the res-idence of Shahdara BarAssociation president.

Advocate Jaiveer Chauhan,secretary-general of the coor-dination committee of DelhiBar Association, said the attackon the residence of ShahdaraBar Association president,Pramod Nagar, in Bhajanpurain northeast Delhi has raisedsecurity concerns, which iswhy lawyers collectively decid-ed to abstain from work onFriday.

The strike hit judicial workin district courts at PatialaHouse, Tis Hazari, Saket,Rohini, Karkardooma andDwarka. The lawyers, howev-er, appeared for arguments inbail and custody cases.

“Nagar's house wasattacked with stones and sev-eral rounds of gun shots were

fired at his house by 40-50 per-sons in retaliation to his requestto four drunk persons not tomake noise outside his resi-dence late at night,” Chauhansaid.

He said several rounds ofgun shots fired fearlessly atsomeone's house, showed theirwas no fear of law. “ T h i sprotest is to wake up the policeand get some action on law andorder situation in the city,”Chauhan said.

In a circular issued by thecoordination committee of allDelhi district court bar associ-ations, members had yesterdaycalled for a strike and demand-

ed action against the culprits.Chauhan narrated how on

the night of May 28, up to 50persons attacked Nagar's resi-dence with weapons, includingpistols and lathis.

They fired at his houseafter Nagar's son allegedlyobjected to the members of thegang partying and consumingliquor in the car. The men inthe car returned with about 40-50 persons armed with ironrods, pistols and lathis, andattacked Nagar's residence ashis family was locked inside,Chauhan said.”Three personshave been arrested so far,” headded.

�� Gurugram

Aday after the GeneralManager Human

Resources of MitsubishiCorporation Private Limited, aJapanese company inGurugram, was shot at, thepolice have arrested the twoaccused persons. One of theaccused was sacked by the vic-tim over his alleged “unprofes-sional behaviour”, officials said.

The accused persons wereproduced before the districtcourt on Friday and sent tothree days police remand forfurther questioning. The policesaid further efforts are on toapprehend others who wereinvolved in the crime.

Those arrested have beenidentif ied as DayachandMaster and Joginder. “Thematter is under investigationwe are questioning Joginderwhether he shot the victim orhe had hired someone. Also,hunts are on to nab other cul-prits,” Arun Kumar, StationHouse Officer (SHO) ofBilaspur police station said.

Both men have beennamed in the FIR registered at

the Bilaspur police station onThursday by the family of thevictim, Binesh Sharma, who isthe HR head at MitsubishiCorporation's.

Sharma's family allegedthat Binesh had been receivingthreats from Joginder and hisfriends. Joginder worked as anapprentice at the company andhad been sacked three monthsago on the grounds of indisci-pline and unprofessional atti-tude.

“Joginder, DayanandMaster, Krishan Kumar alongwith others had threatened myson' on Wednesday eveningnear Bilaspur on Delhi-Gurugram National Highway.They threatened him with dire

consequences if Singh was notreinstated,” claimed Sharma'sfather.

“Apart from these two men,other accomplices who wereinvolved in the incident willalso be identified and arrestedsoon. Strict action will be ini-tiated against all those respon-sible,” the SHO, said.

Meanwhile, Gurugram'sDeputy Commissioner VinayPratap Singh along with theCommissioner of PoliceSandeep Khirwar visited thevictim on Friday morning atRockland Hospital, where heis undergoing treatment.

Speaking about the inci-dent, the DC said, “We willfocus on ensuring that relations

between the labour and com-pany management remainhealthy. So that such type ofincidents could not take placein the future. It was an unfor-tunate incident”.

The incident occurred ataround 8.30 am on Thursdaywhen Binesh Sharma was goingtowards his company locatednear Pathreri village in a car onthe Bilaspur-Tauru road.

Two persons on a bikehad opened fire at him. Despiteinjuries, the victim managed todrive to his office where hiscollege admitted him toRockland Hospital. HoweverBinesh is still undergoing treat-ment, doctors have said he isout of danger.

!�� "��

�� !��

�� %$/E-/3/+

Two persons were killedwhile four others sustained

injuries when a pickup vanrammed into a tractor trolleyaround 7 am on Friday onNational Highway-24. Thetractor was loaded with irongirders protruding outside it.

The deceased were identi-fied as Ravi Shankar Mehra, thedriver, and the helper GanpatMehra, while the four personssitting on rear seats includingJitendra Mehra, Leela Ram ,Ram Bhul sustained injuries.The fourth person was a UPpolice Sub Inspector who tooka lift just a few kilometersbehind.

The incident took place onNH-24 near Royal College inKavi Nagar area. The police

said that the commuters, whowere residents of Patel Nagarin Central Delhi, were going toNainital in Uttarakhand whenthe tractor trolley came on tothe road via a cut in a dividerfrom another side on NH 24and suddenly the tractor driverturned his tractor towards leftside without giving any signal.due to which the pickup vandriver couldn't control thevehicle rammed into trolleyfrom behind. The iron girderswhich were about five feetbeyond the trolley lengthpierced into the to the pickupvan after smashing windscreen.The collision was so severe thatthe driver and the helper of thevan died on the spot, policesaid.

The impact of accidentwas so fierce that the persons

working on a construction site,quite far away from the acci-dent spot, heard the sound andthey informed the controlroom.

The police, after reachingspot sent the injured people ina nearby Columbia AsiaHospital. One of the passengersJitendra Mehra lodged a com-plaint with Kavi Nagar policewhich named a tractor driverresponsible for the accident. Acomplaint has been lodgedand the police seized the trac-tor and trolley.

“The injured persons arebeing treated in the hospitaland deceased were sent forpostmortem. Their familymembers have been informedabout the accident”, said PKTripathi Inspector of KaviNagar police station.

�� )�*+�,$-

Delhi Police’s Special Cell(anti-terrorist unit) on

Friday claimed to have arrest-ed two gunrunners and recov-ered 31 country-made pistolsfrom them. They were inter-cepted on the basis of a specif-ic information that the gangwas in touch with criminalsand gangsters active in theDelhi and National CapitalRegion. The seized weaponswere meant to be supplied tothe gangs.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (DCP) Special Cell,Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said,“Mohammad Azam Saifi, 52,and his accomplice Akbar, 28,are natives of Uttar Pradesh'sMeerut, and were arrestedduring raids in Delhi andMeerut on Tuesday andThursday”.

“Akbar was arrested on atip-off on Tuesday when he vis-ited east Delhi's Loni flyoverarea to deliver a consignment

of illegal firearms to a contactAkram. Akbar was asked tosurrender but he pulled out apistol in a bid to escape but wasoverpowered,” As many as 24more pistols concealed in acloth were seized from him”,Yadav said.

“Akbar told police that heworked as a courier for a gangled by Saifi who, he said, wasa blacksmith and manufac-tured illegal firearms at hisMeerut residence. Police raid-ed Azam's residence andarrested him,” Yadav said. Sixcountrymade pistols alongwith a drilling machine andtools used in the manufactureof illegal firearms were seizedfrom Saifi.

�� )�*+�,$-

Abody of a man was foundinside the servant quarters

of the Rashtrapati Bhavan,police said on Friday. The manwas a Class IV employee andworked at the President'sSecretariat. He was unwell forsome time, police added.

Foul stench was emanatingfrom the servant quarters onThursday, following which theneighbours alerted the policecontrol room (PCR). A policeteam that reached the spot foundthe room was locked from inside.Body of the employee was foundafter the door was forced open,police said.

The body was sent forautopsy and no foul play issuspected, they said. Policesuspect that the body waslying there for two-three daysand the man's family was outof town.

?��F��!��!�� #�� )$&?F

,'-. �. ��/'��0*)'��. 1�2��/1�/'��3��'

�� "��4�� 22/5��

�� )�*+�,$-

It was a hot day in the nation-al capital on Friday and the

weatherman forecast the possi-bility of a thunderstorm bytonight and light rains forSaturday. The maximum tem-perature was recorded at 40.5degrees Celsius, normal for this

time of the year.It was a hot and humid

morning in the city with theminimum temperature settlingat 32 degrees Celsius, four notch-es above the season'snormal.Humidity level oscillat-

��"#�� $�� %�� &��

��"�%��"��%��"��"

.��&� ��/��$�� +��&� �

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 � �� ,0

1�� 2�1 ��0

�� )�*+�,$-

As the city continues tosimmer under the intense

heat, peak power demand inthe national Capital reachedto 6,934 MW at 3.28 pm onFriday, the highest everrecorded in the history of thecity. The peak power demandhad earlier soared to 6,651 onJune 1 this year and broke theprevious record of 6,526 MWrecorded on June 6 last year.

A senior BSES official said,that this is the fourth time inthe current month that lastyear's all-time high record ofpeak power demand of 6,526MW has been broken. “It was6,562 MW on June 5 and 6568MW on June 7, other thanFriday's highest level of 6934MW and previous high of 6651MW on June 1,” he said.

The Power discoms in thecity had expected the peak

demand to breach 7,000 MWmark in June this year. Jain hadearlier predicted 7,000 MWpower demand saying enoughelectricity was available to meetthe rising demand.

“Highest electricity loadever of 6934 MW At 15:28:33hrs on Friday in Delhi. Maycross 7000 MW this year (sic),”

Delhi's Power MinisterSatyendar Jain tweeted.

Announcing the actionplan for electricity supplyarrangements in summermonths, Jain had in March said,“We have enough backhandarrangements to meet thepower demand that is expect-ed to soar up to a historic 7,000

MW level in June this year.” This year, the peak power

demand crossed the 6,000MW mark eight times, theBSES spokesperson said.Power demand had crossedthe 6,000 MW only twice(6,021 MW on May 16 and6,001 on May 26, in 2017. In2016 too, the peak powerdemand had crossed the 6,000MW twice (6,044 on May 19and 6,188 on May 20).

The fact that the city'spower demand crossed the6,600 MW shows the robust-ness of the capital's distributionand transmission system,which has been able to measureup, the BSES spokespersonsaid.

The peak power demand inBSES discom BRPL areas --South and West Delhi -- hadreached 2,745 MW during thesummers of 2017 and is expect-ed to cross 2,880 MW this year.

In BYPL's areas of East andCentral Delhi, the peak powerdemand which had reached1,469 MW last year is expect-ed to touch around 1,670 MW,he said.

The BSES official furthersaid that to meet the demandof around 40 lakh consumers,arrangements have beenfirmed up by BRPL and BYPLto source adequate electricity.“It includes long-term PowerPurchase Agreements (PPAs)and banking arrangementswith other States, includingHimachal Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Andhra Pradesh,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu andBhutan,” the BSES officialsaid.

The official also said thatBSES discoms will get up to665 MW of power throughbanking arrangements.Additionally, around 150 MWof renewable energy fromHimachal Pradesh and around20 MW from Rajasthan willfurther boost the powerarrangements. In case ofunforeseen contingenciesbecause of low generation andoutages of power plants, thediscoms will purchase short-term power from the exchange,he added.

Official said that the BSESdiscoms invested substantial

resources to strengthen thenetwork. Also, to ensure reli-able supply, it has also takenseveral steps such as preven-tive maintenance, strength-ening of call the centre, loadbalancing at substations,deployment of additionalmanpower, setting up of ded-icated team for monitoring ofcomplaints, deployment ofmobile transformers, anddeployment of quick reactionteams to tackle exigencies,establishment of war room toreview complaints and theirresolution etc.

A Tata Power DelhiDistribution (Tata Power-DDL)official said that last year, thehighest peak demand registeredin Tata Power-DDL's area was1852 MW and in overall Delhiit was 6526 MW. However, wehave made adequate arrange-ments of power of up to2,200MW, along with contin-gency planning, through long-term tie-ups and power bank-ing arrangements, and upgrad-ed network to ensure regularsupply in our area of distribu-tion, he said.

�� )�*+�,$-

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)legislators on Friday staged

a walk out from the DelhiAssembly after their request ofseeking reply on the Jan LokpalBill was turned down by theSpeaker.

The BJP MLAs alleged thata file related to Jan Lokpal Billhas been withheld with theDelhi Government for the pastnine months. However, DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodia,accused the Centre of sitting onthe file for months and raisedthe question on the power ofthe Assembly to pass it.

Speaking in the Assembly,Sisodia said that the file was

sent to the Centre throughLieutenant Governor 's officebut after sitting on the Bill foraround 21 months, the Centrequestioned whether the Billcomes under the legislativecompetence of the assembly or

not. “The Centre replied on thisissue saying that the bill hasbeen reserved for the consent ofthe President and questionedthe authority of the State assem-bly to pass the bill,” he said.

Sisodia also said that the

assembly had passed the JanLokpal Bill on December 4,2015, and sent it to the Centrethrough the Lt Governor forapproval but the Centre raisedquestion on the rights andpower of the assembly. He saidthat if Delhi was a full state, theJan Lokpal bill would havebeen enforced much before.

The Deputy Chief Ministeralso said that they (opposition)keep misleading people onevery issue including work doneto improve education systemand even on enforcing Lokpal.

As the assembly proceed-ings began, Leader ofOpposition (LoP) VijenderGupta, Manjinder Singh Sirsaand Jagdish Pradhan demand-ed a reply from the government

on the Bill. After walking outfrom the assembly, they sat ona 'dharna' outside Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal's office in theassembly premises.

Gupta also said that the JanLok Pal Bill is pending sinceSeptember 14, 2017 but noaction has been taken duringthe last nine months. “TheGovernment which came onthe wave of Jan Lokpal Bil isnow shying away from makingefforts to enforce the Bill. It isbreach of public trust,” he said.

The opposition leadershave also written to ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,demanding that files related tothe Bill be tabled in the assem-bly without any delay. Guptaalso said that Sisodia had mis-

led the House on Wednesday,saying that the Jan Lokpal Billis pending with the Centre.

“The government is run-ning away from replying on thestatus of the Bill. The CM anddeputy chief minister shouldapologies to the House over theissue,” he added.

Sirsa said the oppositionwill fight for the Jan Lokpal Billand ensure that it is imple-mented in the national capital.On Thursday, Gupta also gavea memorandum to the assem-bly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel,informing that the Delhi gov-ernment was “misleading” theassembly by leveling “false”allegations against the BJP-ledCentre during the discussionon full statehood to the city.

�� )�*+�,$-

Delhi Congress presidentAjay Maken on Friday said

that the AAP Governmentraised the demand for fullStatehood for Delhi to hide itsfailures to perform. He alsodemanded that theGovernment come out with a'White Paper' to explain topeople, about the benefits anddrawbacks of full statehood.

Maken said the city getsmany facilities from the Centrefor being Capital of the coun-try. The Central Governmenthas spent �6,953 fund for DelhiPolice in the Central budget for2017-18. The super-specialtyhospitals including AIIMS,Safdarjung Hospital, RamManohar Lohia and others arefunded by the Centre as theyreceive �3,000 crore annually.

There are three centraluniversities and Metro Railand these are because Delhi isthe national Capital. Makensaid that Delhi also has threeCentral Universities, includingDelhi University, JawaharlalNehru University and the JamiaMilia Islamia University andthses are being funded by theCentral Government. “In 2016-17, these three CentralUniversities got �2633 croreshare from the CentralGovernment. While the otheruniversities spread in otherstates such as CalcuttaUniversity which get fundingfrom the Bengal Governmentwhile the Bangalore Universityreceive funding from theKarnataka Government,” hesaid.

He further said that theDelhi metro got Rs 70,432crore from the CentralGovernment for its three phas-es, while the DelhiGovernment's contribution has

been 12.3 per cent of the totalcost, which was Rs 8,682 crore.These all advantages and aidsare given by the Government atCentre because Delhi is thenational capital,” he said.

“It is fine if any other ben-efits come besides it. AAPleaders are raising full state-hood issue to cover up thefailures of their government.”Maken said his party ruledDelhi for 15 years within thelimits of the existingConstitutional provisionswhile the AAP is complainingthat it has not been able towork due to lack of full state-hood.

“Kejriwal should comeout with a White Paper givingdetails on how Delhi will bebenefited by full statehood,”the Congress leader said. Onthe demand for statehood, hesaid, “It is a complex issue thatneeds to be deliberated as thenational capital status comeswith certain privileges thatwill have to be given up. Fullstatehood and status ofnational capital cannot co-exist.”

Maken also cornered theAAP over the Lokpal issuesaying the party walked out ofthe government in 2014, accus-ing that it was not beingallowed to table Lokpall Billdue to Congress pressure.

“Finally when they broughtthe Bill, they came up with theweakest form of the Lokpal,” healleged.

�� )�*+�,$-

While landfill sites innational Capital remain a

cause of concern for the poli-cy makers, Delhi’s huge dump-ing grounds have grown tallerthan its prescribed standards by2 metres to 15 metres in a spanof just 12 months.

Importantly, the landfillsite at Gazipur is an un-engi-neered dumping ground. Itwould be pertinent to mentionhere that the Union Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest andClimate Change (MOEF&CC)had changed Solid WasteManagement (SWM) rules.The Ministry has set a rule forthe height of landfill site andfixed a cap of 20 meters onlandfill sites.

It may be recalled that asource of air-pollution andaccidents, nearly one per centof the Ghazipur landfill col-lapsed in September 2017,claiming two lives.

Over past year, Ghazipurhas grown taller by 15 meters,from 50 metres in 2017 toabout 65 metres at present, offi-cials told. Besides, the landfill

at Bhalaswa has grown byabout two metres and that atOkhla has gained five metres inheight and acquired 14 acres ofadditional area.

“It’s gaining height ratherthan losing as planned. At pre-sent Ghazipur landfill site mustbe around 60 ot 65 metres.About 50 per cent is bio-degradable while about five toseven per cent is plastic,”Pradeep Khandelwal, ChiefEngineer of East DelhiMunicipal Corporation(EDMC), said.

“We have been successfulin avoiding untoward inci-dents; there have only been twofire incidents since October2017,” Khandelwal said, addingthat EDMC, in collaborationwith IIT-Delhi, is working ongiving a proper shape andslope to the landfill so that itdoes not collapse.

The Ghazipur landfill,

spread over 70 acres of land,holds about 150 lakh tonnes ofwaste. It was suppose to be shutin 2008 as it had been pollut-ing the air, water and soil since1984.

Officials at EDMC reiter-ated a two-year-old story thatsolid-waste from Ghazipur willbe used by the NationalHighway Authority of India(NHAI) for constructing a 74km stretch of the 137-km-longDelhi-Meerut Expressway.There's been no forward move-ment on this.

“About 2,000 tonnes ofmixed garbage is dumped hereeveryday,” Sanjay Jain,Engineer, Department ofEnvironment MaintenanceServices (DEMS) at NorthDelhi Municipal Corporation(NDMC), that managesBhalaswa landfill site, said.

The Bhalaswa landfill isspread over 40 acres and hasgained about two metres inheight since 2017, officials said.“Our plan is to cap the heighthere... a tender for waste toenergy is awaited, so that itdoes not grow any further,” Jainadded.

The Okhla landfill siteunder South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) hasstopped growing after addingfive metres in the past year.Waste is now dumped at anoth-er recently-acquired 14-acreplot.

“We have stopped furtherdumping as the landfill grew to55 metres spread over 32 acres.Additional 14 acres of area ispartially operational for now,”Tufel Ahmed, an SDMC officialsaid. He added that the plan isto reduce the height of Okhlalandfill to 30-35 metres, forwhich the process of cuttingand sloping is underway.

According to Ahmed, anew waste-to-energy plant atOkhla, for which the tenderingprocess is being worked out,will help divert 2,000 to 2,200tonnes of garbage beingdumped there every day.

Delhi is also top producerof plastic waste -- 689.52 tonnesdaily, while India producesover 25,000 tonnes every day,of which only 60 per cent is col-lected and processed, accord-ing to Union EnvironmentMinister Harsh Vardhan.

�� )�*+�,$-

The Standing Committee ofSouth Delhi Municipal

Corporation (SDMC) onFriday decided to reduce com-position fee and other chargesin respect of article seized dur-ing encroachment drive.

A senior SDMC officialsaid that overall 60 to 80 per-cent reduction has been grant-ed. “In case of hawkers andsquatters the compositioncharge has been reduced from�1500 to � 600. For shop-keepers, it has been broughtdown from �3000 to �1000.The composition charge ontransport companies, timbermerchants and heavy machin-ery dealers has been reducedfrom �15000 to �10000,” hesaid.

The official further saidthat the composition charge onworkshop repair of cars hasbeen reduced from the present�7500 to �3000.

5�� )�*+�,$-

Under the “Armed Forces”quota for admissions to

Undergraduate (UG) pro-gramme of the DelhiUniversity (DU) almost equalnumbers of applications werereceived from “Wards ofServing Personnel” and“Wards of Ex-Servicemen”.

Both these sub-categorieswere added this year to the“Armed Forces” quota whichwitnessed the highest numberof registrations among list ofsub-categories provided underthe quota. Two other broadcategories have also been addedthis year to the quota. DUreserves five per cent of seatsfor children-widows of ArmedForces category, program wisein all the colleges.

The total number of regis-trations made under the“Armed Forces” category quotawas 4754 though the totalnumber of successful registra-tions (that includes fee paid)

stood at 3558. As per the data, amid the

total registrations received (feepaid + non-paid) under thequota, 1662 registrations werefrom “Wards of ServingPersonnel” closely precededby “Wards of Ex-Servicemen”at 1626. While third highest,number of registrations weremade under the sub-category“Widows/ Wards of DefencePersonnel killed in Action”which stood at 574.

Among the “ArmedForces” category the lowestfigures stood for “Wives ofServing Personnel” in whichonly 64 total registrationswere observed. On the otherhand, 235 registrations wereunder the “Gallantry Awards”category. Under this sub-cat-egory apart from wards of Ex-servicemen and serving per-sonnel who are in receipt ofGallantry Awards , wards ofthe Police personnel who arein receipt of President's PoliceMedal for Gallantry and

Police Medal for Gallantryare also included.

Gallantry awards includesawards like Param Vir Chakra, Ashok Chakra , SarvottamYudh Seva Medal ,Maha VirChakra , Kirti Chakra , UttamYudh Seva Medal , Vir Chakra, Shaurya Chakra , Yudh SevaMedal , Sena, Nau Sena, VayuSena Medal and Mention-in-Dispatches.

While on the other hand,sub-categor y “Wards ofDefence Personnel disabled inaction and Boarded out fromservice with disability attrib-utable to military service”saw 138 total registrations.Likewise sub-categories“Widows/Wards of DefencePersonnel who died in peacetime with death attributableto military service” and“Wards of Defence Personneldisabled in peace time andBoarded out with disabilityattributable to the militaryservice” stood at 119 and 205respectively.

��%�� 5��&�'()��*'��

$� �� (��

��'$�31 /'�.!1�1��'��'�/'1��'��.��/4'5�� "�� #$��%��&��'��(��)�� (�(��

*+�, �� (��(��-��

)��&�� *!��

1�� .��3��

.��(��(��/��+��0�� %12

,��(��3��

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 ��'��,4

�� )�*+�,$-

The Supreme Court onFriday refused to pass any

interim order on a plea seekinga direction to authorities to stopalleged rampant culling of straydogs in Sitapur district of UttarPradesh following deaths ofseveral children in the region.

A vacation bench com-prising Justices Adarsh KumarGoel and Ashok Bhushan saidthe matter would be heard inJuly.

The counsel appearing forone of the parties urged thebench to pass an interim orderdirecting authorities to stopculling of dogs in the district.

“We are not issuing anydirection now. We will see it inJuly,” the bench observed.

At the outset, the counselalleged that dogs were illegal-ly culled at Sitapur due to “fearpsychosis” which was createdby the administration as thedistrict magistrate had givenstatements that children werekilled by stray dogs.

The lawyer argued thatone of the committees, whichhad gone to Sitapur to look intoreasons behind the death of

children, had said that none ofthe children were killed bydogs and perhaps some wildanimals were responsible forthese deaths.

Earlier, one of the lawyersin the case had told the apexcourt that there were two con-flicting reports on deaths ofchildren in Sitapur district.

One report said that chil-dren have died after being bit-ten by wild animals like hyenas,while the district magistrate’sreport suggested that deathshave occurred due to dog bites,the lawyer had said.

The court had earlieragreed to hear the plea filed byGargi Srivastava against allegedrampant culling of stray dogsin Sitapur.

The plea has sought adirection to the state govern-ment to ensure that no more

killings of community dogstake place in the state as anafter-effect of death of 13 chil-dren in the past seven monthsin Sitapur unless it was estab-lished that dogs were behindsuch attacks.

According to the plea, theattacks have increased due tolack of proper and timelyefforts by district administra-tion and magnitude of theproblem grew this month whenunconfirmed reports of attacksbeing carried out by stray dogsappeared in the media afterstatements given by the districtmagistrate.

It has claimed that the topcourt, in its November 18,2015 order, had categoricallydirected all local authoritiesand panchayats not to kill straydogs.

The plea has sought adirection to the state govern-ment to take immediate actionand lodge FIRs against indi-viduals who were involved inaiding and abetting the killingof stray dogs without followingdue process of law and also ini-tiate inquiry against erringofficials of the district admin-istration.

From Page 1Targeting his roadshows

could be an effective strategy.We collectively believe thatsurvival of the party is supremeto all sacrifices.”

The letter also talks aboutthe requirement of Rs 8 croreto procure M-4 rifles as anannual supply and four lakhrounds of ammunition.

Among other things, theletter states, “Modi-led Hindufascist regime is bulldozing itsway into the lives of indigenousadivasis, in spite of big defeatslike Bihar and West Bengal.Modi has successfully estab-lished BJP Government inmore than 15 States. If this pacecontinues then it would meanimmense trouble for the partyon all fronts. Greater suppres-sion of dissent and more bru-tal form of Mission 2016(OGH). Com Kisan and fewother comrades have proposedconcrete steps to end Modi-raj.”

“Defeating Hindu fascismhas been our core agenda anda major concern for the party....We are trying to consolidate tieswith like-minded organisations,political parties and represen-tatives of minorities across thecountry,” the letter stated.

The arrests of five “Maoist-linked” activists were made onWednesday under the FIR reg-istered on January 8 at thePune’s Vishram Baug policestation in connection with theElgar Parishad organised onDecember 31, 2017 by theLeftist outfit Kabir Kala Manch(KKM) and RepublicanPanthers Party ahead of theJanuary 1, 2018 Bhima-Koregaon riots. The FIR, orig-inally registered u/s 153(A),505 (1)(b), 117 and 34 of the

Indian Penal Code (IPC), wasmade a conspiracy case inMarch 2018 and now hasSections of the UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act(UAPA) added to it.

It may be recalled that onJanuary 1, one RahulPhatangale (28), a Dalit, waskilled and another 40-odd vehi-cles and some other propertywere damaged after some mis-creants attacked Dalits cele-brating the January 1, 1818 vic-tory of British troops overPeshwa Bajirao II’s army atBhima-Koregaon in Pune dis-trict of western Maharashtra.Following the incident,Maharashtra had witnessedlarge-scale Dalit protests whichturned violent at some places.

In related development,Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis hasreceived two letters of threatfrom the Maoist groups duringthe last one fortnight in thewake of the killing of 40Maoists in two separateencounters carried out by thesecurity agencies in Gadchiriolidistrict on April 22 and 23.

Confirming the develop-ment, sources in the HomeMinistry said on Friday that theState Government had orderedan enquiry into the two lettersand asked the police machin-ery attached to Fadnavis andhis family to be “more alert” insecurity matters.

In one of the lettersaddressed to Fadnavis, theauthor stated, “We are inspiredby the Maoist ideology. Byeliminating some of our col-leagues in the encounters, youcannot finish our ideology. Wewill definitely avenge thekillings in Gadchiroli district.”

+��+��,,,

From Page 1Nearly 5,764 families will

be benefited from this decision,Rajnath told reporters.

Reacting to the announce-ment, Labha Ram Gandhi,leader of West PakistanRefugees, who is spearheadinga campaign in support of citi-zenship rights told The Pioneer,“I welcome the decision of theUnion Home Ministry but wewill continue to struggle for ourcitizenship rights. We havebeen deprived of our basic cit-izenship rights since 1947, wewill not take rest, we will con-tinue our struggle for thesame.”

Rajnath said the UnionHome Ministry has revisitedscheme of giving �5 lakh forpersons killed during crossborder firing and ceasefire vio-lations.

Now this amount of �5lakh will be directly credited tothe account of next of kin andall conditions relating to fixeddeposit have been removed.

The relief given toKashmiri and Jammu migrantswas increased to �10,000 in2015. “Now we have decided togive 30 per cent hike. Thisamount will be increased to�13,000 per family per month,”he added. He said out of 36,484refugees so far 12,763 POJKrefugees have received �5.50lakh compensation packagewhile Government is issuingadvertisements seeking appli-cations from the left out fam-ilies.

!��#��

From Page 1The temple being one of

the four great ‘Char Dham’ pil-grimage sites (four divine sites)comprising of Rameswaram,Badrinath, Puri and Dwarka,considered sacred to Hindus,the Bench said, “These centresare of undoubted religious,social, historical, and architec-tural importance, represent-ing cultural heritage of thecountry.”

The petitioner alleged bla-tant commercialisation andexploitation of the devotees bysebayats who extract moneyand offerings from devotees.

There is a history of stam-pedes having taken place due toovercrowding of the passage

and slippery floors but no cor-rective measures have beenput in place.

The Bench directed theadministrator of the temple toreport on installation ofCCTVs and asked the District Judge to examine thefootage once every month toput curbs on sebayats collect-ing offerings from the devotees.

The Bench said this mustgo directly into the templehundis kept for this purpose so that properaccounting of offerings can bedone.

The court appointed senioradvocate Gopal Subramaniumto assist them as amicus curi-ae and in framing suggestionsto make the Puri Temple at parwith other shrines such asTirupati, Vaishno Devi,Somnath, Golden Temple, etc.

�� ,,,

From Page 1He told her that he would

come on Thursday and sheshould wait for him in the hotelroom, he said.

According to police, hermale friend tried to contact heron her mobile phone but didnot get any answer. He thencalled the hotel authorities andasked them to check on hisfriend.

When the hotel staffreached the 11 floor room, they

found it to be locked frominside. The hotel staff foundNeelima lying in an uncon-scious state inside the room.Alarmed over her condition,they rushed her to nearby hos-pital for the treatment. Thedoctors at the hospital declaredher dead on arrival.

The victim’s brother-in-law said the boy had allegedlycalled Neelima on her mobilephone and had asked her toaccompany him to the hotel.He further stated that after acouple of hours the familyreceived a call from the hospi-tal and said Neelima has beenadmitted in a hospital.

“When we reached thehospital, she was alreadydead,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (East) Pankaj Singhsaid they are waiting for thegirl’s autopsy to ascertain theexact cause of death. Theautopsy was conducted at LalBahadur Shastri hospital onFriday.

+��-.!��!��%�� ,,,

From Page 1“Such conversations, con-

ducted in the spirit of opennessand mutual respect, will sure-ly help in creating a much-needed atmosphere of toler-ance, harmony and coopera-tion to build an India of ourcommon dreams,” he said.

Praising Pranab, Advanisaid he showed grace andgoodwill in accepting the RSSinvite as he recalled his longassociation with him.

“His own reflective nature,combined with his long andvaried experience in public life,has made him a statesman whostrongly believes in the neces-sity of dialogue and cooperationamong people of various ideo-logical and political back-grounds,” he said of Pranab. Theformer President’s decision toaccept the RSS invite to addressits members had drawn a lot ofadverse responses from seniorCongress leaders and otherpolitical parties which hadreservations against the Nagpuroutfit.

But shortly after Pranabdelivered his written speech atthe RSS headquarters, he drewpraise from Congress leaders aswell as from those associatedwith the RSS.

��

�� G-)%+/2H�$-)/I

Top leaders of India, Russia,and China and some of

their close allies will convergehere on Saturday for the annu-al Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) Summitwhich will explore concreteways to bolster cooperation inthe fight against terrorism,extremism and radicalisationbesides deliberating on press-ing global issues.

In his address at the two-day SCO summit, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, whois arriving here on Saturday, islikely to articulate India’s posi-tion on dealing with majorchallenges facing the worldincluding ways to tackle ter-rorism, and boosting trade andinvestment in the region.

The summit in this easternChinese port city is takingplace under the shadow ofWashington’s pull out fromthe Iran nuclear deal, its sanc-tions regime against Russia,and frictions with China over

the trade tariffs.Diplomats from several

member countries said all theseissues may figure at the sum-mit as well as during delibera-tions on its sidelines.

In the wake ofWashington’s strained ties withboth Russia and China, andIran, officials said the SCOsummit will provide an oppor-tunity for President Xi Jinpingand his Russian counterpartVladimir Putin to portray acommon vision for the regionand present the bloc as a pow-erful voice to deal with press-ing global issues.

Iranian President HassanRouhani is also scheduled toattend the summit which willgive leaders of India, Russia,China and other central Asiancountries a chance to deliber-ate on the Iran nuclear deal.The US had pulled out of thedeal last month, triggeringsharp reactions from across theglobe.

The SCO leaders are meet-ing ahead of a much awaitedsummit next week betweenUS President Donald Trumpand North Korean leader KimJong-un in Singapore, and thesituation in the Korean penin-sula may also figure at themeeting here, officials said on

condition of anonymity.India became a full mem-

ber of the the China-dominat-ed grouping last year and NewDelhi’s entry into it is expect-ed to increase the bloc’s heft inregional geo-politics and tradenegotiations besides giving it apan-Asian hue.

Hours after his arrival inthis port city, Modi is scheduledto hold a bilateral meetingwith Xi tomorrow duringwhich the two leaders areexpected to explore ways todeepen ties in areas of tradeand investment besides review-ing the overall bilateral coop-eration. The meeting is takingplace weeks after the two lead-ers held an informal summit inthe central Chinese city ofWuhan during which theyexchanged views on solidifyingthe relationship between thetwo Asian powers.

In tomorrow’s meeting,Modi and Xi are likely to takestock of progress in imple-mentation of decisions theyhad taken at the informal sum-mit. About the SCO summit,officials said India will pitch forevolving effective ways to dealwith the growing challenge ofterrorism and enhancing secu-rity cooperation among SCOcountries.

��6��!�-��

�� 3�-.-)%

The entry of India andPakistan into the Shanghai

Cooperation Organisation willstrengthen security coopera-tion in the eight-membergrouping, a top Chinese officialsaid ahead of the SCO summitstarting in Qingdao city tomor-row. SCO members includeChina, Russia, India, Pakistan,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The upcoming meetingwill be the first SCO summitafter India and Pakistan wereaccepted as full members inJune, 2017 at the Astana sum-mit in Kazakhstan.

The summit will focus onenhancing cooperation toaddress the challenges of ter-rorism, drug trafficking, cross-border crimes, informationsecurity threats, Liao Jinrong,head of the international coop-eration department with theMinistry of Public Security,

said at a media briefing aheadof the summit, state-runXinhua news agency reported.

The organisation is draw-ing up measures to tackle thesechallenges, he said.

As India and Pakistan bothhave rich experience in main-taining security and combatingcrime, their entry will enhancethe development potential andexpand the room for coopera-tion between SCO members interms of security, Liao said.

After their entry, the SCOwill be able to better respond tonew expectations in the secu-rity domain from people with-in the region and the interna-tional community, he said.

Terrorism is the mostsevere security challenge theSCO faces.

Over the past years, SCOmember states have jointlymade achievements in deter-ring terrorist attacks and arrest-ing members of internationalterrorist organisations, he said.

6# 1�'��'� ��0'��/1�� -1�� /'/��.��1��1�� '��'!%�

,��(��4%5�*,��(�� " ��%��

� ��

� �� $/)+-%/�$J)�*+�,$-

Within hours of a contro-versy generated by the

issuing of a notification askingsportspersons to deposit one-third of their earnings with theHaryana Sports Council, theState Government put the noti-fication on hold.

Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar tweeted that he hadput the notification on holdand called for the file

“I have asked for the rele-vant file of Sports Departmentto be shown to me & the noti-fication dated 30th April to beput on hold till furtherorders.We are proud of theimmense contribution by oursportspersons & I assure themof a just consideration of allissues affecting them,” Khattartweeted on Friday evening.

The Haryana Governmentdrew flak from the sporting fra-ternity over its move to seekone-third earnings of itssportspersons who have gov-ernment jobs.

The State Government hadearlier on Friday defended itsdecision to do so. The notifi-cation issued by the Sports andYouth Welfare DepartmentPrincipal Secretary AshokKhemka had directedsportspersons from Haryana tohand over one third of theirearnings from professionalevents and endorsement to thesports council.

“One third of the income ofsportspersons from profes-sional sports or commercialendorsement will be depositedwith the Haryana State SportsCouncil. The money shall beused for development of sportsin the State,” the order signedby Khemka on April 27 read.

Though the move hasdrawn widespread condemna-tion from athletes, SportsMinister Anil Vij as well asKhemka, a senior IAS officer,defended the move.

“There is nothing new inthis decision. It is an old gov-ernment rule. Under Rule 56,if a government employee earns

professional or commercialincome, he has to deposit onethird of the earning with thestate government. We hadallowed (international boxer)Vijender Singh to play profes-sionally. The (Punjab andHaryana) High Court asked usto frame rules in this regard.We have brought out the rulesnow,” Vij said on Friday.

Khemka said the notifica-tion had been issued after thestate gave an assurance to thecourt that the Haryana gov-ernment would bring a policyvis-a-vis those who play pro-fessional sports.

“Normally, Governmentemployees are not allowed toplay professional sports. Themoney will be used for the ben-efit of sportspersons only,” hesaid.

On the other hand, starwrestler Geeta Phogat told aTV channel: “This new rulemakes a mockery of sportsper-sons. There is no such rule forcricketers who earn much morethan those from other sports.

�� */'$-)%(2)

Scientists have found wide-spread uranium contami-

nation in groundwater fromaquifers across 16 States inIndia, much above the WHOprovisional standard for thecountry.

The findings published inthe journal EnvironmentalScience & Technology Lettersare the first to demonstrate thepredominant prevalence of ura-nium in India's groundwater.

The researchers from DukeUniversity in the US unveilednew data showing that theoccurrence in uranium inIndian groundwater — a pri-mary source of drinking waterand irrigation — is an emergingand widespread phenomenon.

They compiled data ongroundwater uranium from 16Indian states and new datafrom 324 wells in Rajasthanand Gujarat that shows a highprevalence of uranium con-centrations above the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)provisional guideline valueacross India.

The WHO has set a provi-sional safe drinking water stan-dard of 30 microgrammes of

uranium per litre for India, alevel that is consistent with USEnvironmental ProtectionAgency standards.

Despite this, uranium isnot yet included in the list ofcontaminants monitored underthe Bureau of Indian Standards'Drinking Water Specifications,researchers said.

The study suggests thatcontribution of human factorssuch as groundwater depletionand nitrate pollution may beaggravating the already presentnatural uranium contamina-tion to dangerous levels. Severalstudies have linked exposure touranium in drinking water tochronic kidney disease.

“Nearly a third of all waterwells we tested in one state,Rajasthan, contained uraniumlevels that exceed the WorldHealth Organization and USEnvironmental ProtectionAgency’s safe drinking waterstandards,” said AvnerVengosh, a professor of geo-chemistry and water quality atDuke's Nicholas School of theEnvironment.

“By analysing previouswater quality studies, we alsoidentified aquifers contami-nated with similarly high lev-

els of uranium in 26 other dis-tricts in northwestern Indiaand nine districts in southernor southeastern India,” he said.

Many of India's aquifers arecomposed of clay, silt and grav-el carried down fromHimalayan weathering bystreams or uranium-richgranitic rocks.

When over-pumping ofthese aquifers' groundwateroccurs and their water levelsdecline, it induces oxidationconditions that, in turn,enhance uranium enrichmentin the shallow groundwaterthat remains.

While the primary sourceof uranium is geogenic (natu-rally occurring), anthropogenic(human caused) factors such asgroundwater table decline andnitrate pollution may furtherenhance uranium mobilisa-tion.

Using geochemical anduranium isotope data, it sug-gests factors that may drivehigh uranium concentrationsin groundwater, including ura-nium content in aquifer rocks,oxidation state, and ground-water chemistry that promotesthe formation of soluble uranylcarbonate complexes.

Washington: The US is in dis-cussions with India and othercountries to help them identi-fy and avoid engaging withRussia in what it sees as apotentially sanctionable activ-ity, a senior US official has saidamid New Delhi’s plan to pur-chase air defence missile sys-tems from Moscow.

US President DonaldTrump in August 2017 signedinto law the CounteringAmerica’s Adversaries throughSanction Act or CAATSA thatimposes sanctions on a coun-try or utility for any significantpurchase of military equip-ment from Russia.

India is planning to buyfive S-400 Triumf air defensesystems for around USD 4.5billion from Russia, which USofficials say could be consid-ered as a significant militarypurchase. Provisions of theCAATSA threatens India andseveral other close friends andallies with sanctions.

“We’ve discussed CAATSAwith the Government of Indiajust as we have discussed it witha number of others who mightbe potentially contemplating apurchases of large defense sys-tems from the Russians. PTI

/��(��(��

�� " ��/�� 0��

�!��%��2�� /!��.��

I, Shiv Lal S/o Shri BaknuPrasad R/o House No. K.V.-43, Kondli Gaon East Delhi-110096 have changedmy name from Rinku Dass toShiv Lal for all future pur-poses.

PD(8125)C

I, Rekha Saxena D/o ShriKrishan W/o Ikrar HussainR/o 1187, Gali No.29, Block-L-1st, Sangam Vihar, NewDelhi, do hereby solemnlyaffirm and declare that I haveembraced Islam andrenounced Hinduism witheffect from 23-04-2018 andhave changed my name toNagma Hussain.

PD(8126)A

◆ ◆��

◆ ◆��

� ��,5��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0

)*�($!5��$ 6�� 5�� (�� !� �� 3��&1 �� #�� #�� #��3.�;�7� ��!��8 ��C! ��"� �� &��!'��#��73.�;��!�� !��C! ��3��&1 �� 8�� 0�� /��#��#� �� +�� #��7��8��#��7� �� #�� 8"

� ��$�� C! �� &�� -�� C! �� !��!��?��K&A��!��%� ��/��( �� '��?H%/('?I��$��"(�� #�� &��HLB!��I �� &�� #��C! �� H'$'I�� -��"

��#��/�� 7� � �� (��'�!�� !��#��5�� % �� 1�� $+1��#��;�!��.+H'I�� !��/�� "

�� )�*+�,$-

In an effort to rationalisemanpower and resources,

the armed forces have gone infor joint logistical nodes orhubs in some parts of thecountry. Two such centres willcome up shortly in Mumbaiand Guwahati wherein theNavy and the Army will be leadagencies.

Explaining the concept ofthese centres, officials said hereon Friday till now the threeServices used to procure theirown rations, critical spares andammunition for basic weaponslike rifles used by the Navy, IAFand Army thereby multiplyingchains of supply or logisticsbesides increasing manpower.

The need for enhancinginter-operability and synergyamongst the three Serviceswas a long standing issue andthe first decision in principle tohave a joint logistical node wastaken in 2008. Thereafter, astudy by the Services was con-ducted and report submitted in2011. It proposed setting up 12such stations like in Jodhpur,Ambala, Chennai and PortBlair amongst others.

The first station wasopened early last year in Port

Blair which houses the lone Tri-Service Command after theChiefs of Staff Committee gavethe go ahead in 2016. The suc-cessful venture there prompt-ed the Defence Ministry toopen two centres in Mumbai

and Guwahati. Since the Navy’s procure-

ment procedures are matured,it will procure all the itemsneeded for the Army and IAFin Mumbai, they said. It willfree up the manpower nowengaged in the Army supplydepots leading to rationalisa-tion and better deployment ofthe soldiers, they said.

Given the vast infrastruc-ture of the Army in the North-East, it will be the premieragency for all procurements ofgeneral nature and the IAF willsource them through the Army,they said. The remaining sta-tions will become functional ina phased manner in the nexttwo to three years.

�� )�*+�,$-

The world is facing a seriousmental health crisis. A little under 8,00,000 peo-

ple commit suicide each year;there are not enough healthworkers trained in mentalhealth; there is poor investmentin community-based mentalhealth facilities and just a fewcountries have suicide preven-tion strategies.

Painting a gloomy pictureof the mental health scenario,the WHO Mental Health Atlas2017 released recently alsonoted that the “Governmentexpenditure on mental healthis less than 1 US Dollar percapita in low and lower middleincome countries whereashigh-income countries spendmore than $80.

“The majority of spendingis going to mental hospitals,which serve a small proportionof those who need care.”

In low-income countries,the rate of mental health work-ers can be as low as 2 per1,00,000 population, comparedwith more than 70 in high-income countries. This is instark contrast with needs, giventhat 1 in every 10 person is esti-mated to need mental healthcare at any one time, as per thereport.

Also, despite a slightincrease in the number ofcountries reporting having anational suicide preventionstrategy since the MentalHealth Atlas 2014, only a thirdof upper-middle and high-income countries reported hav-ing such a strategy, with just 10

per cent of low — and lower-middle income countries witha strategy, the WHO reportadded.

In a statement it said thatthere is a global shortage of

health workers trained in men-tal health and a lack of invest-ment in community-basedmental health facilities.

The revelations are basedon data provided by 177 WHO

member states, representing97 per cent of the world's pop-ulation and measure the extentto which countries arestrengthening leadership andgovernance for mental healthand providing comprehensivemental health and social care.

It also took into accountthe strategies that were imple-

mented to promote mentalhealth and prevent problems,and strengthen evidence andresearch as outlined in WHO'sComprehensive Mental HealthAction Plan 2013-2020.

Less than half of the 139countries that have institutedmental health policies andplans, have these aligned withhuman rights conventionswhich stress the importance oftransition from psychiatricinstitution to community-based services and the partic-ipation of people with mentaldisorders in decisions con-cerning them.

And all too often, whenmental health plans are made,they are not supported by ade-quate human and financialresources. The global rate ofbeds in mental hospitals was

reported to be six times more(11.3 per 1,00,000 population)than the rate of beds in the psy-chiatric wards of general hos-pitals.

Dr Shekhar Saxena,Director of WHO'sDepartment of Mental Healthand Substance Abuse said thatthe latest edition of the MentalHealth Atlas provides moreevidence that scale-up ofresources for mental health isnot happening quickly enough.

In India too the scenario isdismal. An estimated 6-7 percent of the country's populationsuffers from some kind ofmental illness; in 1-2 per centof the population, the illness isacute. There are just about5,000 psychiatrists and lessthan 2,000 clinical psycholo-gists in India.

�� )�*+�,$-

As the Aircel-Maxis scamprobe involving former

Finance Minister PChidambaram gains momen-tum, frivolous petitions againstthe Enforcement Directorate’sInvestigating OfficerRajeshwar Singh have onceagain started surfacing. Thiscontinues despite SupremeCourt’s repeated orders againstsuch petitions.

This time, on the day (June5), the Investigating Officeralong with his team was inter-rogating Chidambaram, a newpetition was filed against Singhbefore the Vacation Bench ofthe Supreme Court. The peti-tion was a rehash of the con-tents of the old petitions, whichhad led the Supreme Court totake strong exception to theearlier petitioners.

The Vacation Bench head-ed by Justices Adarsh KumarGoel and Ashok Bhushandirected the new petition to betagged before the 2G Bench ofSupreme Court on its nexthearing on July 3. The newpetitioner Rajneesh Kapur’spetition made the same oldallegations that were earlier

rejected by the 2G Bench of theSupreme Court.

Apart from the old reject-ed allegations that RajeshwarSingh amassed thousands ofcrores of assets, the new peti-tion also went on with a newallegation that the probe offi-cer is a “threat to sovereignty ofthe Nation”.

The “threat to sovereignty”of the country complaint wasearlier filed by anonymouspetitioners to the FinanceMinistry, when Singh’s pro-motion as Additional Directorwas due.

A Bench headed by JusticeChelameswar had in Octoberlast year barred theGovernment from proceedingon this frivolous complaint. In

his petition to the SC, Singhalleged the complaints weregenerated at the behest ofChidambaram’s son Karti andthe fake complaint was madedays after the ED attached thelatter’s bank accounts in con-nection with the two milliondollar bribe in Aircel-Maxisprobe.

The PMO had directedintelligence agencies to probeinto the origin of the fake peti-tions. The agencies reportedthat certain bureaucrats andpower brokers were attemptingto intimidate the officer who isleading the probes againstmany corrupt politicians andcorporate bigwigs.

The fake complaints start-ed against Singh days after hesummoned controversial lob-byist Niira Radia in October2010. But in mid 2011, the

Supreme Court quashed allallegations and directed theGovernment Departments notto entertain such frivolous peti-tions without its approval. Thecourt also slapped contemptcharges against the petitionersSahara Group owner SubrataRoy and journalists UpendraRai and Subodh Jain.

In December 2013, theFinance Ministry underChidambaram ordered reliev-ing Singh from the ED and hisrepatriation to his parent cadrein UP Police. It also orderedwithholding his promotion.This strange order came afterthe UPSC absorbed the officerpermanently in ED. On BJPleader Subramanian Swamy’spetition, Supreme Courtordered the Centre to absorbSingh permanently in ED with-in three days. But the FinanceMinistry continued servicescases against him in all forumsup to Supreme Court till 2016only to lose all of them.

After seven years, UpendraRai again filed a similar petitionagainst the InvestigatingOfficer. This petition was filedin March 2018, a week after the2G Bench ordered the CBI andED to finish the probe in

Aircel-Maxis scam within sixmonths. The main petitioners,Swamy, Prashant Bhushan andSingh’s advocate MukulRohtagi, asked the SupremeCourt to verify the merit of theallegations and impose strictactions against Rai, who onFriday got bail after 40 days ofimprisonment for money laun-dering and creation of fakedocuments.

Rai had withdrawn thecomplaints, when he was caughtfor rehashing the old rejectedpetitions. Swamy and Bhushansought action against Rai forfrivolous petitions to intimidatethe investigating officers in 2Gscam. This case is now postedfor July 3 before the 2G Benchof Supreme Court headed byJustice AK Sikri.

The current petition filedbefore the Vacation Bench alsorelies on the complaints ofSubodh Jain, who faced con-tempt of court for the frivolousallegations in 2011.

Talking to The Pioneer,Singh said the he will file hisversion before the 2G Bench ofSupreme Court seeking strictaction against these repeatedoffenders trying to intimidatehim for the past eight years.

�� )�*+�,$-

Following the widespreadcomplaints about the

VVPAT machines’ malfunc-tioning in the Kairana andBhandara-Gondiya bypolls, theElection Commission (EC) hasasked the manufacturers, BELand ECIL, and the TechnicalExpert Committee (TEC) tosuggest additional designimprovements as well as sug-gestions on any layout changesin the polling stations to pre-vent any excessive exposure toillumination in future.

“Manufacturers have alsobeen asked to do a detailedtechnical analysis once theVVPATs are free from ElectionPetition (as these cannot be

currently accessed in StrongRooms till 45 days ElectionPetition period is over),” the ECsaid in a statement.

The EC had earlier set uptwo special teams to probeincidence of VVPAT glitchesduring the recently heldKairana and Bhandara-Gondiya bypolls. The prelim-inary investigation reports sub-mitted to the Commission,have indicated two major tech-nical — failure of contrast sen-sor and failure of length sensorin the VVPAT machines, formalfunctioning of VVPATmachines. This was causeddue excessive exposure to illu-mination in the Polling Station.

The Commission hasdecided to reiterate its Standard

Operating Procedures (SOPs)regarding Do’s and Don’t’s andhave also formed a Committeeto examine further strength-ening of the SOPs.

According to EC, theCommission has also decidedto make the first level checkingprocess stricter. “TheCommission has also adoptedthe hardware improvementrecommended by TEC to pre-vent auto shutdown of VVPATsdue to excessive light. TheCommission has directed thatthe training of the polling offi-cials be further strengthenedand streamlined, so that failuresdue to human errors are min-imized,” it said.

VVPAT units, also knownas Voter Verified Paper Audit

Trail units, produce a printoutof the vote cast using an EVM,which can be shown to thevoter to dispel any doubts.This printout is then deposit-ed in a box and can be used toresolve any dispute regardingthe election.

Last month, theCommission had to order re-election in 73 polling stationsof the Kairana seat, 49 inBhandara-Gondiya and one inNagaland after a large numberof VVPATs malfunctioned dur-ing the polling on May 28. Therepoll was ordered on theground that the poll officerstook inordinately long toreplace the malfunctioningVVPATs, which may haveaffected the voter turnout.

6+�7��+��*��

0��6+��((��(��(�%,��

��8�� )%��/�� '��)��9��'

:�!'�%��*�9%!��)��1��5��;�%9�)��(<!�=��%(!)�'��8�� ')!�;)��;)�%�� ')�)��'�!�<��)��%99��!'�)!>�� )%��)�=��)��=�9%!�)��<�')

�� )�>��!'

�� )�*+�,$-

Senior officials of India andMyanmar met for the 17th

round of Foreign OfficeConsultations on Thursdayduring which various aspects ofbilateral relations includingsecurity concerns were dis-cussed at length. The two sidesalso discussed developments inthe Rakhine State andMyanmar’s efforts for repatri-ation of Rohingya refugees.

The Indian side was led byForeign Secretary VijayGokhale while the Myanmarside was led by U Myint Thu,Permanent Secretary,Myanmar Ministry of ForeignAffairs.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs in a statement said thatduring the discussions, the twosides reviewed the completerange of bilateral relations,including high level visits, secu-rity and defence related issues,boundary matters and bordermanagement, trade and com-merce, development coopera-tion, connectivity, cultural andconsular matters. They also

exchanged views on sub-regional, regional and globalissues of mutual interest.

India has major concernswith regard to security in thebordering areas withMayanmar. Last month,External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj during her two-day visit to Myanmar hadextensive discussions with hercounterpart on this issue andalso that of repatriation ofRohingya refugees. India ishelping Myanmar with finan-cial aid for the resettlement ofRohingyas following their repa-triation.

� ��0'5� ��'��')71��. �'��'�� /.1�1�� /

��.)*1��(.�66��!��.�*�!)(*)*+

#%��'��'��

��.((�� .��8�9��0��:��(�+��$��;��(��:7%&��#��(��&�� (�3<�=�� (��"�� (��>�8�9��&��(�� )��)�� (�� (��"�� %12

1�� 0�234

!�� ' �� 7� ��

�� & "��

&�� -,89 �!��"��

��'�� +�' � ��

-)+-/-'$�,�-)%�=/)�/�*-($ -)/)�-/,/-+

2�($��'�((,��)(2 �2$-)%=/' 2,,2*-)%

($�-��/(�-/(-2)

5#�� *�� 6

�� #$ �� )�*+�,$-

Kendriya Vidyalaya studentsand teachers are all set to

fly, literally! With railway passenger

fares, including the expensiveflexi-fare system, burning adeep hole in the pocket, theHRD Ministry has decided toallow KV students and staff useair services instead. Some con-ditions have been laid out,though.

The Kendriya VidyalayasSangathan (KVS) can extendair travel facility to its studentsand teachers attending/partic-ipating in different activitiesorganised by the Centralschools authority at the nation-al level in different parts of thecountry.

The Ministry’s decision ofallowing KVS to use air facili-ty will lead to its otherautonomous bodies likeJawahar Navodaya Vidyalayatoo extending similar facilitiesto its students and teachers.

“For the overall develop-ment of children, KVS organ-ises various national levelevents in the field of sports,arts, culture, science and socialSciences in every academicyear. For this reason, studentshave to travel long distanceswithin the country. But takinga train was not only becomingincreasingly expensive, its inor-dinate delays too were becom-ing routine. Hence, this deci-sion was taken. This will alsogive an opportunity to studentsfrom all backgrounds to trav-el by air and realize their child-hood dreams,” said a seniorHRD Ministry official.

The official pointed outthat the Indian Railways hadsurreptitiously increased itsfares during the last couple ofyears. “Fares have almost dou-bled and on top of it, they havethe flexi fare system that putsbig a financial burden on pas-sengers. Traveling by train inrecent times has becomeuneconomical. The average

fare of �1000 (approximately),which we used to pay a coupleof years ago, now stands at�1700. A Garib Rath fare usedto be a maximum of �675 twoyears ago but it is �980 now.They have also withdrawn theconcessions between the agegroup of 5 and 12 years whichmeans, the full fare as that ofan adult has to be paid,”explained the official.

As per the order, DeputyCommissioner of the con-cerned KVS Region will assessand allow the air travel incases where cost of air travel(by any airlines operating in thesector) of the contingent is lessor equal to the total cost of

travel of the contingent byRailway 3 AC/separate RailCoach fare plus DA thereon ofestimated journey period.

The first condition foravailing air travel is that the dis-tance between the KV (startingpoint) and the venue (reachingpoint) of the event should bemore than 500 Km. Secondly,in case of exigency, naturalhazards, cancellation of trains,bad weather conditions andnon availability of confirmedtickets in III AC/II AC, theymay decide to go by Air.

“The escort teachers/offi-cials accompanying the par-ticipating students will alsobe entitled for air journey at par

with participating students.The new provisions laid downby KVS will be a great relief forthe KVs located at difficult sta-tions and remote areas and savea lot of time,” said a seniorHRD Ministry official.

The first of this kind expe-rience is to be seen in the forth-coming National Sports Meet.The KVS on Friday alsolaunched a portal for this Meetas yet another Digital initiative.The complete data manage-ment of this mega event will bedigitised from this year includ-ing travel, lodging, boarding,eligibility certificates, I-cardsand points tally of the partici-pants.

��$��')!>��%��)%�� )%��?)��!�)!�:��9�;��)>�)%�')(��)'��)��;��!'��))�� @<�!)�;�<�)�� )�%��:��;)�:�)��'

0��

7��4��

� ��,9��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0

�� %/)+$-)/%/�

On the second day of the 9thChintan Shivir main topic

of discussion was agriculture inlines with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s vision to dou-ble farmers’ income by 2022 atthe sprawling campus ofVadodara based Gujarat StateFertilizer Corporation (GSFC).

Agriculture Minister RCFaldu led the discussion on‘Possibilities in AgriculturalSector’ around the eight majorissues covered in the modelGujarat Khetiwadi Adhiniyam-2007, incorporated in the bud-get proposals for agricultureand animal husbandry. He saidthat most of the genuine prob-lems of the farmers could besolved by the district level offi-cers, well within the frameworkof rules and regulations. Heinsisted officials in the agri-culture department to work asguides of the farmers.

Deputy Chief MinisterNitin Patel said that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hasset the deadline of doubling thefarmers’ income by 2022 forwhich many innovativeschemes have to be taken up.Lands shown as grasslands forgrazing in revenue recordscould not be used for anyother purpose, but has beenused for growing fodder withgood result.

He called for the need toadopt scientific methods toincrease milk yield per cattle

and farm yield per acre. He saidthe SSP dam on the Narmadais complete, while work oncanal network is on. He sug-gested extension services toreach out to the farmers withstress on micro irrigation anddrip irrigation.

Chief Secretary Dr JNSingh suggested early steps tofirm up marketing of farmproduces and milk to ensurefarmers and cattle owners getremunerative prices.Horticulture is another way toaugment farmers’ income.There is need to create aware-ness among farmers forincreasing the scope of contractfarming, maintaining quality tofetch better prices.

Additional Chief Secretaryfor Agriculture Sanjay Prasad in

his presentation said that about96 lakh hectares of land isunder agriculture in Gujaratand the State Government’sefforts resulted in 46 per centincrease in agricultural pro-duction during the last 15 years.

Gujarat Cooperative MilkMarketing Federation(GCMMF) Managing DirectorRM Sodhi, invited as an expert,said that past efforts haveresulted in increasing milkproduction.

He said that animal hus-bandry has to be treated at parwith agriculture, motivatingnew generation take up animalhusbandry, marketing andrationalising export-importpolicy of agriculture producesto achieve doubling farmers’income.

+��8�� !��

%��9��!�� !�� M= ��4 ��?�� K��'��9�� (-

� #� ��#�� 12,1/(/

In what could provide a fillipto the moribund humanities

streams students reading artshave done exceptionally well inthe West Bengal HigherSecondary examinations, 2018.

Breaking established tra-dition an arts student hastopped the WBHS examina-tions, with near-full markswhile another arts student hasbagged the joint first rankamong the girls.

Granthan Sengupta fromJalpaiguri Zilla School hasscored 99.2 percent marks get-ting 496 out of 500. Those com-ing second and third howeverare from Science stream. RitwikKumar Sahoo has come secondwith 98.6 percent marks getting493 while Timir Baron Das andSaswata Roy have jointly come

third.Granthan who had History,

Geography, Philosophy,Computers, English andBengali and scored a perfecthundred in Geography andPhilosophy, wants to be a his-torian.

Among girls ArkadiptaGhosh and Anima Garai havejointly secured the first positionwith 97.2 percent each. Garaifrom Bankura RanibandhSchool is an arts student.

“It is a matter of pride forthose pursuing career inhumanities,” said EducationMinister Partho Chatterjeehoping “this year’s result mightthrow open a new vista forthose willing to take arts buthave to pursue science becausecareer issues. The results haveshown that those who pursuearts also have good future.”

)�� $� �� !7��*��

�� ,0�1)2*

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav has

demanded a CBI probe into the bribe charges against Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Aditynath’s principal sec-retary saying the issue is seri-ous and it should be probedthoroughly.

“It is unfortunate that thewhistle blower who had raisedthe issue has been arrested bythe police while there is noaction, not even a probe againstthe accused,” Yadav said whileaddressing reporters here onFriday.

Questioning the YogiAdityanath Government’s roleon the reported arrest ofAbhishek Gupta, who had

complained about the bribesought by a senior Governmentofficer, Yadav told media per-sons on Friday that a CBIprobe could bring out the truthinto the charges.

“The reported arrest ofAbhishek, who had complainedagainst the officer, shows howthe police and the Governmentare working. The arrest wasone-sided, even without anyprobe. As per the law, both thepeople who demand and givebribe, are punishable under thelaw,” he said.

The former UP CM saidthat several BJP MLAs andeven the ministers havecharged that the officials aretaking bribe openly and the

CM was doing nothing andnow the Abhishek Gupta inci-dent has proved that the entireadministration has crumbled.

“The corruption chargesagainst the top officer of theCM secretariat has vindicatedthe opposition charge of largescale irregularities in the state,in the present BJP regime,” hesaid.

Yadav also questioned thecorruption portal launched bythe government and its use.“The Government claims thereis no such complaint made onthis portal, but we have specif-ic information that most of thetime, the portal is closed, sohow can people lodge theircomplaint?” he asked.

The SP president has alsoquestioned the action on theDistrict Magistrates of Gondaand Fatehpur on Thursday. “When the illegal mining isrampant in several districts,action against these two DMsshows that the BJP governmenthas ignored the real problem ofillegal mining and was pun-ishing the IAS officers for notfault,” he said.

Reacting to the death of

patients at Kanpur andLucknow due to mismanage-ment of officials, the SP chiefsaid the health system in thestate is in a bad state and peo-ple were being denied treat-ment. “The free ambulancesystem has collapsed and peo-ple are not getting the facilitieslaunched by our Government,“ Yadav said.

“The Government has nottaken any lesson from theGorakhpur incident, whereseveral children died due tolack of oxygen. The incident inKanpur was a glaring example,where five people died due toAC failure while in Lucknow,strike at the King GeorgeMedical University (KGMU)resulted in death of three chil-dren on Thursday,” he said

7$)7�$:��$+��+�)*�!�:(+)/��

�� '-(/�0�

Asking Gram Pradhans toimplement Government

policies Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that an alertPradhan can change the face ofthe village because the“resources he has under himare immense” and has the“potential to extend benefits ofGovernment programmes tothe masses.”

He was addressing peoplein village Bandhera in Sitapurdistrict during Swaraj GramYoajana campaign here onFriday.

“I have no hesitation to saythat MPs and MLAs are envi-ous of gram pradhans. Theopportunities they have tousher in development in vil-lages is immense. They have

resources in form of funds.They are the last chain of thedelivery system. If they workjudiciously they can change theface of gram sabha in no time,”Chief Minister said.

During his visit he alsoinaugurated or laid foundationof projects worth �325 crore.The majority of the schemesare meant for development ofinfrastructure which includeconstruction of roads.

He said that the UPGovernment in collaborationCentral Government haslaunched many welfareschemes. All these schemes aremeant for the uplift of the pooror the BPL families.

The target of both theGovernments is to ensure thatbenefits should reach the lastman. This is the spirit of anto-

daya and the Government is following it in totality, hesaid.

Yogi spoke at length aboutUjjawala yojana, subhagyayojana, pradhan Mantri AwasYojana, ODF, , AayushmanBharat Yojana, pensionschemes, crop loan waiverschemes, Mukhya MantriSamuhik Vivah Yojana, Mudrayojana and Pradhan MantriBima Yojana.

When many of the vil-lagers told CM that they havebeen denied the benefits of theGovernment schemes, he askedthe district magistrate to ensurethat names of all the eligiblebeneficiaries are included in thelist.

The high point of ourGovernment is that we haveprovided houses to poor.

)�� 8��

�� (��0��(�;�� .��"�� 2��)�4*)��*��.��)��#2��.�?��+��0��(�� -��)��:��0�� %12

��(�*��(��/��4��.((��/��*��%��)�� (�*��,��)�� (�* ��4��"�� )��*��0�� %12

�� $�))/-

Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday

again asserted that there was noscam in the Rafale deal withFrance as being alleged byCongress and said disclosure ofspecifics about it could revealthe aircraft’s capabilities to thecountry’s rivals.

There was no scam in thefour-year old NDAGovernment, headed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, andtherefore the Congress wascoming up with such allega-tions, she told reporters here.

Congress President RahulGandhi had been taking fre-quent potshots over the Modi

Government on the defencedeal,alleging escalation of costsover that when UPA was inpower.

The Opposition party hasbeen demanding specificdetails in this regard.

Drawing the analogy of a

car, Sitharaman said the samebrand could cost a personmore if the buyer wanted addi-tional accessories and equip-ment fitted into it.

“These are accessories,additional fittings — he(Gandhi) just says disclose theprice. If it is done so, it willreveal what kind of technolo-gy and equipment determinedthe price of the aircraft,” shesaid.

“Ordinary citizens may notbe bothered about it, but forcesinimical to us, countries, wouldhave realised the extent of the(capabilities of) Rafale. So willthat be our strength or weak-ness?” she asked.

The Defence Minister said

any disclosure by her in thisregard may “satisfy” Gandhi“but also our rivals.”

Training her guns on theCongress for its charges onescalation of cost,Sitharamanasked how one can determineif a particular product wascheaper or costlier withoutbuying it.

“If they had purchased (theflights), had Congress con-cluded the deal and said webought so many flights at saidrate and then claimed we hadpaid more, then it is reasonable.But they did not conclude thedeal at all. When you didn’t buy(any aircraft), on what basis areyou talking about additionalcost?” she asked.

8�� (��,��5�8��

Lucknow: A Dalit outfit ofwestern Uttar Pradesh, BhimArmy, which played a pivotalrole in mobilising Dalits againstBJP in Kairana Lok Sabhabypolls, is gearing up to contest2019 Lok Sabha polls sayingdefeating BJP and RSS in gen-eral elections will be its topagenda.

Bhim Army’s national pres-ident and Chandrashekhar’sclose associate, Vinay RatanSingh, who was recentlyreleased from jail, toldreporters that the coming gen-eral elections would be crucialfor the organisation and they

have a clear agenda to defeatthe BJP/RSS at any cost.

“Our organisation played asilent, but very crucial role inKairana. Our members fannedout across villages, mobilisingvoters against the BJP. Thoughwe had nothing personal againstBJP candidate Mriganka Singh,the party she stood for, hasspearheaded caste discrimina-tion and atrocities. Besides, theappeal by our founder ‘Ravan’from the jail had worked,’’ Singhsaid. He clarified that BhimSena per se will not contestelection but will help the like-minded parties. PNS

+�(��:7%��)��:�� .� �

�� ,0�1)2*

Bahujan Samaj Partyreceived a shot in the arm

when over 200 of its workers,who left the party along withfour time MLA and party’sfounder member, IndrajeetSoroj, about a year back,returned to party fold onThursday.

The return of the workerswas seen as a big boost for theParty to further strengthenedit’s base in the State particularlyin wake of coming Lok Sabhaelections scheduled for nextyear. Sources said that inAugust last year, Saroj quitBSP alleging that the Partysupremo Mayawati was sellingtickets for the Assembly andLok Sabha polls.

3 �� 3'��?��# �� !��

Lucknow: Uttar PradeshCongress demanded immediateremoval of Minister for Medicaland Health, Siddharth NathSingh, from the Ministry alleg-ing that on one hand, thepatients in the state run hospitals were dying due toabsence of proper facilities, butstill Singh was making one afteranother undue demand fromthe health directorate. The demand was made byUPCC after another letter ofSingh’s personal staff wasleaked in the social media on

Thursday. PNS

0�� $��

�� $�))/-

Noting that �25-35 lakh feeper annum for medical

courses was “prima facie far toohigh”, the Madras High Courton Firday directed deemeduniversities in Tamil Nadu tocollect �13 lakh for MBBScourses as an interim measure,pending University GrantsCommission’s (UGC) fee fixa-tion committee’s decision.

A bench comprising ChiefJustice Indira Banerjee andJustice PT Asha gave the direc-tion while disposing of a PIL byJawaharlal Shanmugam, who

submitted that these institu-tions were charging exorbi-tant tuition fees and gave detailsin a tabular column.

“It appears to us that feesvarying between �25 lakh to �35lakh per annum is prima facie fartoo high and the fee committeeconstituted by UGC ought tomake an in-depth study and rec-ommend the fees to be collect-ed by the institutions,” the benchsaid in its order.

It recorded an undertakinggiven by the UGC to constitutea committee by June 30 to fixthe fee structure in these uni-versities. Making it clear thatr

there was a need for regulatingand streamlining the fees aftertaking into account all relevantfactors, the bench directed thatthe UGC fees committee shallpositively submit its recom-mendation within six weeksafter hearing all stake holders.

The bench said the courtwas informed that the commit-tee had earlier fixed �11.5 lakhper annum for managementquota seats, adding studentsmay now be admitted by col-lecting �13 lakh on a conditionthat once the committee deter-mined the fee, balance, if any,would have to be paid back.

8%'��9�/'�)*"'� 1��'��'��'5��!��.�/�/'� '�� /'��'3��/�1��/

�� 3�)%/,0�0

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on

Friday stepped in to check thespiralling dissident activities ofthe MLAs of ally Congress,who were unhappy with theCabinet expansion, and askedthe Congress’ central leadershipto act immediately to find asolution.

The Chief Minister andseveral state Congress leadersmet the dissatisfied lawmakers,who, however appeared to be inno mood to relent, at leastimmediately.

Kumaraswamy met M BPatil, a prominent stateCongress leader under whoseleadership a section of dissat-isfied legislators have beenholding meetings.

Senior state Congress lead-

ers, including Deputy ChiefMinister G Parameshwa,Ministers D K Shivakumar, KJ George and R V Deshpande,met M B Patil at his residenceto mollify him, but reportedlyfailed to get a positive response.

Speaking to reporters aftermeeting Patil, the ChiefMinister said though the issueis not directly related to him, hehad gone to pacify the law-makers as the leader of theCongress-JD(S) coalition, forthe stability of the government.

“This is an issue that is notrelated to me, because these aredecisions made withinCongress party...

I have understood his(Patil) feeling of pain that hehas worked for Congress partywhen it needed, but feels letdown now,”Kumaraswamy,who is the

leader of Congress-JD(S) jointlegislature party, said.

Kumaraswamy said Patilhad told him that he was notalone and would take a deci-sion after consulting other like-minded MLAs, adding, “I havegathered his feelings; I requestDelhi leaders (Congress) toimmediately act to find a solu-tion.”

A group of disgruntledMLAs, including M T BNagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi,Sudhakar and Roshan Baig,among others, had yesterdaymet at Patil’s residence.

According to party sources,several such meetings havetaken place separately, includ-ing one under the leadership ofsenior Congress leader andformer minister H K Patil, asalso by ShamanurSivashankarappa.

5�� +()�

�� 0�3/-

Aprison cellmate of TulsiramPrajapati, who was killed in

an alleged fake encounter, onFriday told a special CBI courtthat he had expressed fear forhis life at the hands of theGujarat Police and had evenwritten to the National HumanRights Commission about this.

Dinesh Gurjar (64) wasdeposing before a special court,conducting trial against sever-al Gujarat Police officials forcarrying out alleged fakeencounters of Prajapati in

December 2006, and his asso-ciate Sohrabuddin Sheikh andhis wife Kausar Bi, in 2005.

Gurjar was the co-inmateof Prajapati in 2006 in UdaipurCentral Jail. He on Friday toldthe court that Prajapati had, atthat time, told him that GujaratPolice had killed his friendSohrabuddin and his wife andthat he feared he too would facethe same fate.

The witness deposed thatPrajapati had told him that heand Sohrabuddin had tried toextort around �25 crore froma Gujarat-based businessman

who complained to a seniorbureaucrat who in turn gotSohrabuddin killed in a policeencounter.

Gurjar added that, accord-ing to Prajapati, whenSohrabuddin was picked up bythe police, his wife Kausar Biinsisted on accompanying himand, hence, she too was killed.

The witness further saidthat he had drafted letters onbehalf of Prajapati, in which thelatter express his fears, and sentit to various authorities includ-ing the National Human RightsCommission.

*��5�%��(��(��(�)�� (��

��/�'�� /'%��'��'

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 � ��,;

��

The Congress in Kerala hasfallen into a deep crisis as

revolt is spreading through theparty against the top Stateleadership for gifting its RajyaSabha seat — being vacated byPJ Kurien — to the KeralaCongress (M) of former min-ister KM Mani, which hadquit the Congress-led UDFnearly two years ago. A dayafter the Rajya Sabha seat wasgifted to it, the KC(M) on

Friday announced its return tothe UDF.

Congress workers heldprotest marches in variousplaces against the decisionallegedly of the party’s leader-ship ‘trinity’ — former ChiefMinister Oommen Chandy,Opposition Leader RameshChennithala and acting PCCchief MM Hassan — that had‘arbitrarily and unilaterally’decided to gift the Rajya Sabhaseat to Mani’s party while several leaders openly

attacked them.Coming just days after the

shocking defeat party and theUDF suffered in theChengannur Assembly by-elec-tion, the new development hashurled the Congress workersinto anxiety and confusion.“The decision on the RajyaSabha seat is a setback to oursense of political pride and con-fidence,” said a leader fromThrissur who has till the otherday been a Chandy-loyalist.

The KC(M), which hadbeen a UDF partner for overthree decades, had left thecoalition on August 7, 2016 and

its six legisla-tors had beensitting as aseparate blocin theA s s e m b l ysince then. Ithad left theUDF becausethe Congresshad allegedlybackstabbedMani in theissue of thebar briberyscandal which

forced him to resign as Financeminister in November, 2015.

Former State Congresspresident VM Sudheeran,known as Mr Clean of the Stateparty, on Friday walked out ofa UDF meeting held inThiruvananthapuram forannouncing the decision toallot the RS seat to Mani’sparty, while K MuraleedharanMLA, another former PCCchief, boycotted the meetingafter which Chandy andChennithala struggled to justifythe decision.

The opponents of the ‘trinity’, like PJ Kurien himself,are alleging that they had mis-led party president RahulGandhi, who endorsed theirdecision on Thursday, intobelieving that the re-induc-tion of the KC(M), a partybacked by the Catholic Church,to the UDF was necessary towin the minorities’ supportand that gifting the RS seat toit was necessary for this.

They are also alleging thatthe top leaders had come to thedecision as a result of a planformulated secretly by the so-called ‘Ku’ trinity of Kunjoonju,

Kunjumani and Kunhappa –Chandy, Mani and PKKunhalikutty, leader of theMuslim League. “It was a con-spiracy and the tragedy is thatnone of us could foresee it,” saida senior Congress leader.

“This decision will in noway help the Congress or theUDF. It will lead only todestruction of the Congress,”Sudheeran said after walkingout of the UDF meet just afterMani entered the venue. “Theway that decision was takenwas arbitrary, autocratic andundemocratic. Also, it was nottransparent. I am registeringmy protest against it openly,” hetold newsmen.

“Let Mani come. That isgood. But the way they choseto bring his party into theUDF is destructive. I don’t buytheir theory that this is forstrengthening the UDF. Howcan you strengthen the UDF bydestroying the Congress? Theultimate beneficiary of thiswill be the BJP,” Sudheeranadded.

“There is no party interestbehind this decision. Also,there is no UDF interest. It is

solely in interest of the leaders,”said young Congress leaderMathew Kuzhalnadan even asintense protests broke out atseveral places in the Stateagainst Chennithala, Chandyand their decision. Workersalso burned their effigies.

At the same time, Chandyand Chennithala justified thedecision to gift the Rajya Sabhaseat to the KC(M) by sayingthat it was necessary tostrengthen the UDF and thatthe seat was being given to thatparty only as a temporaryarrangement. Chennithala alsosaid that it was not always pos-sible to hold extensive discus-sions in party forums beforetaking such decisions.

“We had talked to them(Mani) several times. But theirstand was firm. That is how wereached this decision,”Chennithala said after the UDFmeeting. Reports from Delhisay that the party high command had received a flood of complaints againstthe gifting of the RS seat to theKC(M) but it has made it clearthat the decision cannot berevoked.

<� �� 1.

�� %/)+$-)/%/�

Just a couple of days after thetragic incident in which

Indian Air Force (IAF) fighterjet Jaguar crashed and its pilotAir Commodore SanjaiChauhan killed in Gujarat, inanother occurrence on Fridaya pilot of the jet narrowlyescaped unhurt.

Confirming the mishapIAF’s official sources saidaround 9.20 am, pilot of aJaguar aircraft on a routinetraining mission fromJamnagar safely ejected whenthe aircraft developed a snagduring the landing phase. It wasa minor mishap said sourcesadding that the pilot is safe ashe successfully landed the air-craft.

It was during the landingthat there was some technicalglitch and fire was seen ema-nating from underbelly of theaircraft, sources informed.

It is worth mentioning thaton Tuesday Air CommodoreChauhan, who had taken off ona routine sortie from JamnagarAir Force Base on a routinemission saw his aircraft crashat Bareja village in Mundrataluka of bordering Kutch dis-trict Kutch district. The impactof that crash was such thatdebris was seen strewn all overand other than fatal injury tothe pilot. As the aircraft felldown on a herd of cows, morethan a dozen cows were killedin that incident. IAF hasalready initiated a court ofinquiry in to the mishap toinvestigate the cause.

) ��")9%�� 1�:�7 �� ;��<��

!%(��0&12��=/�<��%)�%9�� (�!��!;!�9)�%��!%()��

)!�� =�''�%��9!%=��=�� !�'�9��>��A�;)��

��)��!;!�9)��:��%<��'�� (!�� )��

<��'�

9�� "��.!��

�� 12,1/(/

Two persons, including a 9-year-old child anda woman, were injured in what is thought

to be an accidental firing from an automatic SelfLoading Rifle possessed by a Railway ProtectionForce jawan posted at the Dum Dum Metro RailStation, police said.

According to reports, the accident occurredwhen the RPF jawan dropped his gun duringchange of duty following which its safety catchgot unlocked. When the other jawan tried topick it up his hands accidentally fell on the trig-ger and it went off.

Two bullets were fired first hitting the walland then ricocheted to hit the child in its leg.The woman, his mother was hit under her arm.“Both were immediately rushed to the RH KarMedical College Hospital,” sources said.

“It happened during when the jawans werechanging duty,” Indrani Banerjee CPRO, MetroRailways said confirming the “the safety catchof the SLR got released and it went off.” Sheadded high level inquiry had been ordered intothe incident.

The RPF jawan was later detained by thepolice and CCTV footages of the Stationpremises were being examined, sources said.“We will definitely look into every aspect of theaccident, even if it were due to negligence,” saida senior RPF official.

=��)�� (��%0��

�� # �� 0�3/-

Slamming the ruling BJP forits “selective leaks” about

threats to life faced by NarendraModi, Mumbai Congress chiefSanjay Nirupam on Fridaydemanded an enquiry intowhether “false information”was being fed to the mediaabout assassination threat facedby the Prime Minister.

Reacting to an incrimi-nating letter recovered by thePune police about the Maoists’

plans to assassinate Modi,Nirupam said, “Information isbeing leaked selectively. I donot know as to how much truthis there in it. We have been wit-nessing a trend ever sinceNarendra Modi was the ChiefMinister of Gujarat. Wheneverhis popularity takes a dent,news gets planted in the mediathat he faces a threat to his life.Today, Modi’s popularity hasgone down markedly and thepopularity of Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi has shot up

by three folds”.“An atmosphere has built up

in all sections of the societyagainst against the BJP andModi. That being the case, itneeds to be investigated if theBJP — as parts of its strategy —is feeding false informationabout threats faced by the PrimeMinister. I am not saying thateverything is wrong. But wecannot ignore the fact thatModi has in the past spreadplanted stories about threatsfaced to his life,” Nirupam said.

��&��# ��&��5�,��

�� ,0�1)2*

Sleuths of the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) are tightening

their grip around Bharatiya Janta PartyMLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, and hisclose aides after booking the MLA inthe rape case. The probing team nownamed the MLA and four others forplanting a country made revolver in thepossession of the rape victim’s father,who later died in district jail at Unnao.

CBI took Sengar and his colleaguesagain in their custody remand on Fridaymorning and they will grill him thatfrom where he procured the weapon andhow he get it planted to get the rape vic-tim’s father arrested in a fake case.Sources said that the CBI now anytime,would also include the name of Sengarin the murder of rape victim’s father inwhich his (Sengar) brother was alreadyin jail after being arrested by the CBI.

The CBI which took Tinku Singh,on four days police custody remand onThursday morning, grilled the accusedafter which he revealed the name ofMLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and thatfour others of his aides, identified asRam Saran Singh, Vinay Mishra akaVineet, Virendra Singh aka Babuwa andShashi Pratap Singh aka Suman Singh(Already arrested in the rape case),

claiming that they got a fake case reg-istered against the rape victim’s fathershowing recovery of arms from his pos-session. All the five including Sengarwere taken in custody by CBI onFriday morning and they will be nowconfronted with Tinku Singh to extractthat who provided the weapon.

Earlier the cops also took custodyof two arrested policemen in the abovecase of arms recovery and had grilledthem. “We grilled the than station offi-cer of Makhi police station, AshokSingh Bhadauriya, and sub-inspectorKamta Prasad Singh, to extract infor-mation that whom and under what cir-cumstances they shown recovery ofcountry made weapon from the pos-session of the victim’s father”, dis-closed one of the CBI sleuths who alsoquizzed the two cops. The cops had alsorecorded the statement of then SP ofUnnao, Geetanjali, as the investigationrevealed that the MLA and one of hishenchmen met her on the fateful nightat her command office regarding theabove case. It may be also mentionedhere that some audio tapes regardingconversation between the MLA and vic-tim’s uncle also revealed that how theMLA was threatening with dire conse-quences if the cases against him and hisbrother would be not withdrawn.

*�� (��4�� (��

The reported death of a whale, which hadswallowed 80 plastic bags, in southernThailand, warrants serious concern.

First, it focuses on the plight of whales.Second, its death, despite all efforts at revival,further underlines how dangerous the con-sequences of swallowing plastic can be. Third,it focuses on oceanic pollution of which thepresence of plastic bags is a major part.

As to the first, not just plastic bags, con-tainer ships are killing a growing number ofwhales through accidents. Then there iskilling for commercial purposes. Japan’swhaling expedition in the Antarctic waters,that began early this year, planned to kill 333Minke whales in four months. TheInternational Whaling Commission (IWC)imposed a moratorium on hunting in 1985.Ever since then Japan has been using a loop-hole that allows killing for scientific research.Even the International court of Justice’s (ICJ)order of 2014, directing it to halt its regularhunt in the Antarctic Waters because the pro-ject did not meet conventional researchnorms, has not deterred it. Though it can-celled its 2014-15 hunt, it renewed it the fol-lowing year in the garb of a new programme,which is widely regarded as a cover for com-mercial whaling, banned under the IWC’smoratorium. Japan’s claim that the killingsadvanced research in whale behaviour andbiology, is spurious. As Australia’s federal envi-ronment minister Josh Frydenberg has stat-ed, “It is not necessary to kill whales in orderto study them.”

Japan is unlikely to heed growing inter-national condemnation. Last year, itsParliament passed a series of laws aiming ata return to full-scale commercial whaling inthe high seas. One reason for Japan’s defianceis clearly that international criticism of itswhaling has mainly taken the form of ver-bal and/or written statements and proceed-ings before the IWC or the ICJ. Japan’sGovernment has consistently ignored orbypassed IWC’s objections and injunctionsand dribbled past the ICJ’s judgement of 2014.Moreover, after the judgement, Japan hasruled out the ICJ’s jurisdiction in any dispute“arising out of, concerning, or relating toresearch on, or conservation, managementor exploitation of, living resources of the sea”.Shamefully, no country has taken the kindof deterrent action — for example, thoseenabled by the United Nations Conventionon the Law of the Sea and direct interven-tion in the form of surveillance and headingoff of whaling vessels — that would havecounted with Japan. Whether this is becauseof concern with furthering economic ties withTokyo or not, whales pay the price.

The consequences, including fatality, ofswallowing plastic are well-known, as is thefact of the alarming global spread of plasticpollution. The havoc it plays on marine lifehas once again been underlined by ThonThamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist who

lectures at Thailand’s Kasetsart University,who said that at least 300 marine animals,including pilot whales, sea turtles and dol-phins are killed every year in Thai waters afterconsuming plastic. The total number ofdeaths worldwide would be much higherbecause there are innumerable other beach-es in the world besides those in Thailand, andmillions of plastic bags are thrown from theseinto adjacent oceans. In fact, 70 per cent ofmarine debris today is plastic, most ofwhich comes from land.

According to Susan Ronaldson, there areat least 165 million tonnes of plastic in theoceans, with eight million tonnes addedannually. She, along with two other women,Jessica Rego and Caroline Wilson, will par-ticipate in the annual Talisker WhiskeyChallenge race across the Atlantic (a distanceof over 3,000 miles) in December this yearin a mission to spread awareness of the needto end plastic being thrown into oceans.

Talking of plastic, one must dwell on thewider issue of pollution of which it is a majorcause. Pollution is a result of human activi-ty. In a paper titled “Marine Defaunation:Human caused animal loss in oceans”, theauthors—Douglas J. McCauley, Malin L.Pinsky, Stephen R Palumbi, James A Estes,Francis H Joyce and Robert R. Warner—statethat “marine defaunation” or “human causedanimal loss in oceans” today remains main-ly driven by human harvest.” The paper, pub-lished in Science 347 magazine (2015) furthersays, “Great whale species, no longer exten-sively hunted, are now threatened by noisedisruption, oil exploration, vessel traffic, andentanglement with moored marine gear.”

There are other factors. Fish farms are

destroying mangroves. Bottom trawlers,scraping ocean floors with their nets, hadalready affected 20,000 square miles andreduced tracts of continental shelves to rub-ble. The effect of this will be severe.Continental shelves teem with life becausesunlight can penetrate their shallow watersand not the depths of oceans, But then,“Trawling may represent just the beginningof our capacity to alter marine habitats.Development of coastal cities, where ~ 40 percent of the human population lives, has aninsatiable demand for coastal land”, reads thepaper. Countries like China and the UnitedArab Emirates have ambitious programmesof constructing artificial land in the oceansto meet this demand.

Such construction and coastal areahuman populations add both to pollution andadverse modification of marine life habitats.Not surprisingly, the paper in Science 347states, “Many of the most threatened groupsof marine animals are those that directly inter-act with land (and land-based humans) dur-ing some portion of their life history).”Terrestrial contact may also explain whydiadromous/ brackish water fishes are morethreatened than exclusively marine fishes”

Seabed mining threatens to destroyunique ecosystems besides taking pollu-tion to the deep sea. Contracts covering460,000 square miles—against zero in2,000 — have been signed. Rivers bringtoxic industrial waste from hinterlands. Oilspills pollute hundreds of square miles.Increasing carbon emission is making seawater acidic and hence inhospitable tomarine life. Global warming has worsenedmatters. The threat it poses to the survival

of polar marine fauna is obvious. Further,it has caused a 40 per cent decline in coralreefs besides leading to the migration ofsome fish to cooler waters. Not all breedsmay not be lucky enough to be able to doso and may become extinct. According tothe International Programme on the Stateof the Ocean, acidification, caused byexcessive carbon absorption and warming,is making oceans increasingly inhos-pitable to life, as is de-oxygenation, causedby nutrient run-off resulting from agricul-ture and climate change.

What is to be done? Marine habitatsbeing increasingly threatened by human inter-vention, the creation of marine protectedareas, where such intervention is severelyrestricted, can provide much-needed protec-tion to marine species. Unfortunately, theestablishment of these has made poorprogress covering, as the paper cited states,only about 3.6 per cent of the world’s oceansaccording to an upper-bound estimate.Further, most marine protected areas remainsmaller than the home range size of manymarine animals.

This and the fact that protected areas onland, four times larger than their oceaniccounterparts, have failed to successfully reinin defaunation, indicate that such areas can-not be the sole answer. One must also ensurethat, in areas outside these, seabed mining,energy development, and intensive aquacul-ture take important marine wildlife habitatsinto consideration, not vice versa. This is atall order, but what is at stake is the future ofmarine wildlife.

(The writer is Consultant Editor, ThePioneer, and an author)/

�� #��!!� !��. ��'��!� ��#� #�� ! �� #�� "*�� !��$�� %��3��'��

��N��#�� !� ��N� �"3�� !� �� !� �� "-�!��# ��&'�6��$ �� !�� &��!� ��"(��&'�6��#��C�� #&��! �� #�#�� #��"2�� #� �� 5�� -��O�� # ��!��&�� 0��'��#�� !� �� #�� !�� "

0�� -��# �� !�� #��! �&�� "%�� #��;��;"/��# ��& ��"/�� !�� !�� !�� # �� C�� ! �� " $ #�� 4��!�� !�� !� ��!!��#�� #�� "(�� #��# ��!�� #��# �� -��C!��" -� �� ! �� $��% �� !� ��&�� !�� &

��#��;�� 5��;#��!� �� "-�#�� 5��&�� 3��;�!��#� �� #� #�� !��"'��#��!�� '��N� ��#��!!�� *��3��-&��! �� #�� #�� ?A��"3��!�� # �� !��#�� '�� "-�� !� !��#�� '��%��#��#�� &�� ;��!�� #� �� "

��!� �� !� ��!� �� "(��#�� !! ��!�� &�� !��"3�� -��# �� !��# �� !�� !� ��"

�� #�� !� ��%��.�#��)��'��.��!��)��N� ��#��#�� -�� N��#��

� ��!�� '#��'��H�''I�� 3��#�� (��9��'��'��9�� &�� ;��5��)�!��"*��#��! ��&�� !�� "'�� #�� 3��#��#� �! �� #�� !�� #��# ��#��#��#��!��!�� -��J-��J$��H�� !��I�C��!�� &��"(��;��C��!�� !�� !��!�� &��! � �� 5�� #�� !�� "

�� -��! �� &�� ##� ��# �� #��&�� #��#��6��!�� ")�� ''� �� !��+��!��AK�L�� #��' M��; % �#�� AKB��"'��#��#��'�� ! �� !!��#�� #�� !�� 6�� # �� !��-��!��-��;��+�!��

��&�� $ �� !� ��''�� ;�� #��#��#��".�� !��#��&�� #�� # ��#��'�� &��&��#��# �� #�� '';! �� ( �� 5��&�� "3��!��!��C��!�� &�� !��'��;��#�� !� � �� &�� "

%��;��#�� #� ��#��N��''�� ,��N��C��!�� "-�� &��&�� 6�� !H��I ��!�� ! ��&��!�� %�� #�� ! �� #��&�� !! �� #��#��!!�� &��O��! �� !�� #��-��&�� !�� #��!��!�� O��&��! ��;�� #��!��&�� ! ��"

(�� P-� ��! �! ��!�� !�� !��!�� #�� !��!��"�� "

��$��+��:�� $��

��,=��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0

��0�2� ��

!��'�� :�� " ��

��

��

Sir — This refers to the report, “Soulof India in pluralism, tolerance:Pranab” (June 8). No visit of any for-mer Indian President to a socio-political organisation must havecreated as much buzz as that ofPranab Mukherjee at the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) head-quarters in Nagpur.

Mukherjee’s mastery overEnglish, his ability to unambiguous-ly drive home the intended message,and, of course, a vast political careerculminating into the zenith —India’s President, make him an inter-esting speaker to lend an ear to. Hebegan soberly, touched upon histo-ry fluently and dwelt on the nuancesof Indian history. Mukherjee, wide-ly considered as one of India’s bestparliamentarians ever, spoke like awise sage and left it to the politicalparties to interpret what he meant.

On one hand, he spoke highlyof India’s path to economic recov-ery and on the other, he lamentedthe country’s lowly “HappinessIndex” rank. Mukherjee, havinggraced some top ministries of theCentre during his remarkable polit-ical journey would know well howcrucial it is to strike a balancebetween welfare and well-being.

The deft and suave politician inMukherjee came to the fore whenhe stressed on the importance of“dialogue and engagement”, throw-ing the ball into the top political par-ties’ courts to indulge in intenseguessing about what he meant, andabout whom. The phrase, “being anIndian first” of Mukherjee hasalready become a crossword puzzlewith parties trying hard to fill in theblanks with words that suit them thebest. Time will tell whether or not

his visit to the RSS had a politicalovertone. Perhaps, the man of let-ters, who authored five well-writtenbooks, may pen another in duecourse to let the cat out of the bag.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

� ��

Sir — This refers to the report, “Soulof India in pluralism, tolerance:Pranab” (June 8). After playing theglorious innings of Presidency andserving as the conscience of thenation for five years, PranabMukherjee has once again made usall proud. While indirectly con-demning the current dominantforce practicing intolerance andhatred in the crudest manner pos-sible with sole emphasis on a par-ticular religion, Mukherjee boldlybatted for pluralism and secularism.

He also pointed out that ensur-ing the happiness and welfare ofpeople should be the first priorityof any ideal State. Sooner the con-cerned authorities, obsessed withstatues, Moon exploration,Gaumata, yoga, bullet trains, learna bit from Mukherjee; the better itis for the future of the country.However RSS deserves a thank youfor showing the courage to inviteMukherjee despite knowing thatthis impeccably secular personali-ty will not endorse any divisive phi-losophy. Let’s hope that from nowon, this camp will try to work andspeak for all Indians by drawinginspiration from the historic speechof Pranab Mukherjee

Kajal ChatterjeeKolkata

:::��

� � � � % � � � � � � � �

*��((�� 5��))�!')%<�%��!B =��&;%=�

�(�*17)!�

��-�� '��. 1��/'/��.�:��'1�-�1��'1�'��':�1�

��1��'1��/�0'��2�1��'��/0'� �.�� -�.�� '1�� -'� �

��.-/;'/�.--� -'��'��/0� �':�� /'

��'��//'��/1�.�1��

� �� '55� �/1��''<��

��

$-�/)�/=9�.1:9�.

/� �� (�>�$�� >�2(�� )��

=�':�' �1'��/�- '��'��'� ':�� /��'�1��'1�� -��/:��/�'�� '�.�2

��/�'��'�� 1�1�� /'1�'��./�'��'��1

��1�1�'� >.�1�'��

$��-�'%%#�'<!. ��'��

$��"��"(

�� ! ��7' �� -��!�� <��8H.��@I"(�� #�� /��'��!'��#�� #�� &

�� !��!�� '#��'��H�''I��)�!�� ''�� 3��#��!!�� !"��#�� #�� #�� ''� ��#��13$��#��!��!��7�� -��"83 ��3��#��!��!��&�� 7��8�� &� �� "*�� ! �� C��!�� !�� &��!!��3��#��'��#�� 7�� N�� -��-��"8

(� ��#� �� ''�� !�� !� ��#�"3�� &��#�� &�� #� ��&��! ��3��#��;��") � �� 5��"

$��)��

��!!�$��(2($��+-(2��':�.�'��'1�'��11��1' �'��11��'��:�� '��/1��/'�� '�.�'?%� 1��@':�0':�:�' �1'��'��1��'� �.�'��'1�'�� -'�/1� -��'1�'A�/��

8��'55� �/1��<��> �1�'!� -�

%� /��3�1�3�/'� �'��-�12:� -'-��.�/'��'� ��/2� -'�� -'1��'��'%� /�� -'��/��'�� -'��-�1�� '1��'�.� -/'��'-�121� -'��'��1��

��1��<�� 1�'��/

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 0��1�"2� "#��$&�"�3 ,>

��$��!)6�)*�)+!

,�� )��((�� ((�� -��>�11��,��((��3<�@��33<�� AA��(,��)��,��((��((�� //��,,��

*.12*/�;;4�.�

! ��2��,��China and India are civilisational states

having some similarities but they adopt-ed different ways in the last seven decades.China vehemently rejects religion and cat-egorically terms it as an evil thing.

On the other hand, religion has got sym-pathetic treatment in the independent sec-ular India. The way of life in India hasremained deeply embedded in religion.Indian system has never suppressed any faith.Multicultural underpinning is its USP.

The Communist Party in Chinapenalised people for practicing religion. Thecase in point is recent instructions by XiJinping vis-a-vis Saka Dawa festival, con-sidered to be the holiest festival of TibetanBuddhism. China has imposed a series ofmeasures prohibiting Tibetan schoolchild-ren from participating in the festival thatbegan last week. People have been barredfrom performing Buddhist practices.

The notification is similar to one issuedby China’s education bureau in the predom-inantly Muslim Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomousRegion in the country’s northwest. China hasbanned Muslim civil servants, students andteachers from observing fast during Ramzan.

Though China is officially an atheist stateas a survey conducted in 2014 and 2015proved that more than 61 per cent ofChinese are atheist, action by Chinese rulersto suppress religious practices faces disap-proval even from the Han Chinese.

Fundamental questions are being raised:What is beyond material comforts? What isthe meaning of good life? How could weachieve it? These basic questions have rattledthe Communist Party of China which stillholds the doctrine that “religion is poison”.

Father of Xi Jinping was a prominentleader of the Communist Party of China. Hechallenged the Communist Party’s approachto the religion. In 1980s, he drafted a 20-pagereport and advocated for acceptance of faithof different religions especially three religionswhich are historically connected to China:Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

This document is known as Document

-19. In fact, one of signature lines of Xi’sfather is said to have been “If the people havefaith, the nation has hope and the countryhas strength”. But the current President isrelentless in suppressing the religious beliefsand faiths not merely in Tibet and Xinjiangbut throughout China. The desperationamong the people is equally high. At a sim-ilar or even stronger move towards spiritu-alism is emerging among the Han Chinese,the ethnic group that makes up 91 per centof the country’s population.

China is undergoing a spiritual revivalsimilar to the Great Awakening that tookplace in the United States in the nineteenthcentury. The burst of religious and spiritu-al activity poses risks for the ChineseCommunist Party.

Across China, hundreds of temples,churches and mosques open every year,attracting millions of new followers. The faithand values are returning to the centre of anational discussion over how to organiseChinese life. China’s ethnic minorities, espe-cially Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims,have long valued religion as a form of resis-tance against an oppressive central state.

The two different things are happeningin today’s prosperous China. One is thecommon people who are exploring their lostspiritual thrusts which had been suppressedby the successive regimes. Second, theCommunist regime is more determined notto allow any kind of liberal approach whichwill may challenge the Communist regime.The tussle is set to create problems in theforeseeable future in China.

The history of religious repression inChina has a long history. The first phase beganin 1912 with Sun Yat-Sen when he starteddemolishing local temples. Nationalist partychief Chiang Kai Shek who followed him in1926 started the New Life Movement tocleanse China of its old ways. On the nameof destroying superstitions, he attacked ritu-als and demolished temples. The rest was doneby the Communist Party of China.

In the late 1950s, Mao Zedong began to

suppress most religious activities. During theCultural Revolution in 1966 began the mostfurious attack on religion. Virtually everyplace of worship was closed, and almost allclergies were driven out. Priests and nunswere put behind bars.

China’s good number of Christian fol-lowers went underground during theCultural Revolution. Christianity began tospread in China’s economic heartland andamong its most influential classes. But themajor uprisings are from Tibet and Xinjiang.The reasons are very simple. In the last 65years of suppressive rule of the CommunistParty, China has failed to trample Tibetanvoice. It has miserably failed to win heartsand minds of Buddhist lamas.

China claims that the Tibetan cultureand people have been much better off sinceits occupation rule began in 1959. It claims,“Tibet’s traditional culture is well protectedand promoted, and freedom of religiousbelief in the region is respected, while its eco-logical environment is protected. The WhitePaper also presents data to justify its rule over

the last 59 years. It claims: earlier Tibet didnot have a single school in the modern sense;its illiteracy rate was as high as 95 per centamong the young and middle aged; there wasno modern medical service, and praying tothe Buddha for succour was the main resortfor most people if they fell ill; their averagelife expectancy was 35.5 years. Beijing com-pares these to the rapid development andmodernisation that has occurred in the last65 years.”

The fact of the matter is that the Tibetancommunity has been butchered and subju-gated to reduce them to slavery. Their twinidentities of faith and pastoral lives wereforcefully destroyed by the Communistregime. Tibet had been strategically divid-ed into two parts.

The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)has been converted into a nuclear dustbin,spreading deadly diseases such as cancer.Thousands of Tibetans are behind bars. Theireconomic status is very low. The policy oftransferring the Han Chinese into TAR ismaking the Tibetans a minority communi-

ty in their own region.There was further disappointment for

the Tibetans and supporters across theworld at the beginning of 2015 when Chinaannounced plans to increase the Han-Chinese population of Tibet by 30 per centby 2020, a total of approximately 2,80,000arrivals.

Difference between Modi and XiGetting June 21 declared as International

Yoga Day is a success of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s cultural diplomacy. Indianheritage of culture is based on ‘VasudhaivaKutumbakam’: The world is one. WhereasChinese cultural baggage is driven by eco-nomic confabulation.

The recent attempt of Xi to play theBuddhist card is stirred by force and coer-cion. All Buddhist countries from South Asiato South East Asia were lured and threatenedto expand the signature campaign of OneBelt One Road of Xi.

However, Modi’s approach is complete-ly different from the Chinese. During his firstNepal visit, Modi talked about Buddha andYuddha. Both cannot move together. Indiais connecting to the Buddhist countries with-out ignoring or skipping any one. How is itpossible to build the Buddhist Circuit byignoring the Dalai Lama?

India believes that the world peace andfraternity are only possible through the spir-it of spiritualism. The Yogic philosophy is thereassertion of mental fitness and thinkingbeyond your own self-interests. China isamassing economic capital by usingBuddhism as a tool. That is why China is des-perate to bring the Dalai Lama back to Tibetbefore he dies.

If his Holiness does not go there duringhis life time, the legitimacy of Tibet andsupremacy of Buddhism will remain dis-puted for China.

(The writer is Head of the Department ofPolitical Science, Central University ofHaryana)

With the establishment of the ArtificialIntelligence Task Force last year,

India has taken its first step in the simu-lated world of immense possibilities. TheMinistry of Commerce and Industry hassubmitted a detailed report speakingabout the usage of Artificial Intelligencein multiple fields and its aim to transformIndia’s economy. The report submitted bythe Ministry is meticulous and invariablystates all the aspects of human existencelike pharmaceuticals, Defence, technolo-gy, household, entertainment, education,environment, farming, finance and manymore. The report mentions the usage andbenefits of Artificial Intelligence in all thesearenas. It is definitely built with a robustand comprehensive vision. The agenda ofthe vision takes into consideration the rolea Government body must play, theemployment opportunities that can be cre-ated with any application and implemen-tation of Artificial Intelligence and resolv-ing problems on a grand scale for Indiancitizens.

This phenomenon termed as ArtificialIntelligence has been there for around 60years now. But the major reform has comeup in the last decade. The expanses likeneural networking and machine learninghave acted as a catalyst for ArtificialIntelligence to boom. Starting from resolv-ing basic problems to becoming an equiv-alent or rather smarter than humanbeings, this miracle has come a long wayin a short span.

But the vision with which this plan is launched requires more foresightand prudence.

Bearing in mind its advantages andapplication arenas, the status of this cam-paign should be perpetual in natureinstead of a 5-year plan. In this expanse,we already lag behind other developednations by a couple of decades. Theworld will again be ahead of India in these5 years given the fact that the task forceis not even one year old. A brilliant ini-tiative taken by the Artificial IntelligenceTask Force is that it is open to public opin-ion. But is the public aware of the phe-nomenon? We are still consumers of theArtificial Intelligence-based services andare yet to become potential producers ofit. Also, we have a small consumer base forArtificial Intelligence-based servicesbecause of our limited knowledge in thisfield.

As per the report, the vision advocates

a three-point agenda focusing at areaswhere the Government must play a role:employment opportunities and improvingquality of life, solving problems at scale forIndian citizens.

The vision is comprehensive in naturewhen it talks about exploiting the tech-nology to benefit the human race. Itaddresses the issue of privacy of data forthe users and the responsibility and ethicsto be followed when designing ArtificialIntelligence-based applications.

The vision must also consider the neg-ative implications of Artificial Intelligence.The society must be vigilant about thepotential threat of this enchanted tech-nology trained to do almost everything.

Machines were not intelligent eversince their inception. They were trainedand programmed to be intelligent byhumans. But have we trained them to suchan extent that we are falling prey to theirintelligence? Human beings are consideredsuperior organisms because of their abil-ity to think, learn from their mistakes,intuitive understanding and decision-making abilities. Now that machines havebecome clever enough that they outsmarttheir makers, it is a threat to our very exis-tence. The incident that the reigningChess Champion Gary Kasparov lost toDeep Blue, the supercomputer created byIBM, aptly questions this threat. Or con-sider the very recent case of GoogleDuplex, which has not yet been launchedfor public use, the robot makes calls to asalon for appointment and to a restaurantfor reservation in close to human voice.With the use of mono syllables and into-nation in voice, it can definitely replacehuman voice!

Elon Musk (CEO and product archi-tect of Tesla, an American MNC that spe-cialises in electric vehicles) and SpaceX, co-chair of a non-for-profit organisationcalled OpenAI) predicted long back thatArtificial Intelligence could be more dan-gerous than nukes!

He recently promoted the movie DoYou Trust This Computer?, which talksabout the perils of Artificial Intelligencein detail. The movie advocates the fact theintelligence of a computer grows expo-nentially and thus outsmarts human intel-lect. Job automation, big data, privacybreaches being other concerns to belooked after.

By now we realise that launchingArtificial Intelligence comes with a huge

responsibility towards mankind. We haveto determine an adequate balance betweenmerits and perils of Artificial Intelligence.In order to avail the benefits to thefullest, we must remain focused and vig-ilant at the same time.

Since India is just pacing into this newventure, it can be attentive, cautious andprogressive simultaneously.

Concentrating on the vision of theArtificial Intelligence Task Force about cre-ating employment opportunities andresolving problems of the society, it isessential to start from the grassroots. Tobegin with, not many engineering collegeshave Artificial Intelligence as a subject,others have it as an elective. There is adearth of teachers specialising in thefield. If the subject is taught in the uni-versities, we will eventually have spe-cialised teaching staff and innovators. Thecurrent situation is that there are a few pri-vate firms providing Artificial Intelligence-based services and products, and they findit challenging to hire new workforce as theskill set does not match easily. Teachingthe subject in universities, India will haveits skill specific human resource ready tolead the Artificial Intelligence movementby the time we have enough infrastructureto manufacture, test and launch ArtificialIntelligence-based products.Simultaneously, India should also lookafter formulating standards for this emerg-ing technology.

Entering the field of ArtificialIntelligence is as remarkable a step as step-ping on the moon. What was said thenholds true in this development as well:That’s one small step for man, one giantleap for mankind. What the physicistStephen Hawking once remarked “eitherthe best, or the worst thing, ever to hap-pen to humanity” there is no denying thatArtificial Intelligence will have a signifi-cant impact on our society. It is up to themankind whether it wants to use tech-nology as a blessing for itself, or a men-ace. However thin, there must exist a linebeyond which the use of technologyshould be reconsidered.

(The writer is a software engineer cur-rently working as an executive at JIRICO,OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recentvisit to Indonesia as part of his three-

nation tour to Indonesia, Malaysia andSingapore, highlighted the new-foundstrategic convergence between the twonations at a time when the centre of glob-al economic and geopolitical attention hasshifted to the Indo-pacific region. BothIndia and Indonesia are strategicallylocated at the fulcrum of global geopoli-tics as well as major trade and energy cor-ridors in the region. While India occupiesa central position in the Indian Oceanregion by virtue of being situated in closeproximity to important maritime choke-points and Sea Lanes of Communications(SLOCs), Indonesia holds an extremelycrucial geostrategic space because of thefour strategic maritime passages — name-ly the Straits of Malacca, Lombok, Sundaand Ombai-Wetar — which fall under itsmaritime jurisdiction. Its control of thesefour maritime openings makes Indonesiathe linchpin of India’s Indo-pacific strat-egy as the archipelagic state not only givesIndia unrestricted access to the Pacific, butalso offers the prospect to jointly moni-tor the shipping lanes in the region, espe-cially since Beijing’s naval footprints haveincreased dramatically over the last decade.The criticality of Indonesia is such thatwithout the country’s support and coop-eration, any strategy to link the Indian andthe Pacific Ocean cannot sustain.

It, therefore, comes as no surprise thateven though 15 agreements were signedbetween Modi and Indonesian PresidentJoko Widodo, the highlight of the visit wasIndia’s decision to invest in the Sabangport, situated at the gateway to the Straitof Malacca, the most important andbusiest shipping lane in the world. Whilenot much is known about the terms of theagreement between the two countries, thefact that there is a clear military dimen-sion to the port is evident from Indonesia’scoordinating minister for maritime affairsLuhut Pandjaitam’s statement that “theport’s 40-metre depth is suitable for allkinds of vessels, including submarines”.Expectedly, the Chinese media’s reactionwas quite vocal, threatening India andIndonesia to “steer clear of any militarycooperation”. That geopolitics dominatedthe discussions between the two leaderswas also apparent in India’s request to beallowed to join the Malacca Straits Patrol(MSP) with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singaporeand Thailand (which was, however,declined by the Indonesian side citingoperational limitations and differences).

India and Indonesia are separated bya mere 80 nautical miles of water. But themental distance between the two IndianOcean littoral states had been way too farfor much of their independent history,except for a brief period in the 1950s.Jakarta’s close ties with Beijing andIslamabad and suspicions about NewDelhi’s hegemonic ambitions in the regionput relations with India on the back burn-er for much of the twentieth century. It wasonly after the onset of democracy follow-ing the downfall of the Suharto regime in1998 and most prominently after the 2005India-Indonesia Strategic PartnershipAgreement that relations between the twocountries took a more positive turn. This

spurt in ties got further sustained by theconvergence of India’s “Look East” policyand Indonesia’s “a thousand friends andzero enemies” approach, whereby it soughtto engage with all the major powers in theregion through a “dynamic equilibrium”.

However, Jakarta’s recent clash withBeijing over fishing rights around theNatuna Islands as well as India’s growingdifferences with China in its disputed landborder and more recently in the IndianOcean has put both India and Indonesiaat odds with Beijing’s increasing belliger-ence in the region. During Modi’s visit, thetwo sides emphasised on the importanceof achieving a “free, open, transparent,rules-based, peaceful, prosperous andinclusive Indo-pacific region, where sov-ereignty and territorial integrity, interna-tional law, in particular United NationsConvention on the Laws of the Seas(UNCLOS), freedom of navigation, sus-tainable development and an open, free,fair and mutually beneficial trade andinvestment system are respected”. This wasa veiled reference to their opposition toChina’s territorial claims and militarisationactivities in the Indo-pacific region, whichnot only overlap the exclusive economiczones of states like Malaysia, Vietnam,Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, etc, but arealso in contradiction to the provisions ofthe UNCLOS.

However, Indonesia’s significance forIndia lies not just in checking Beijing’sgrowing naval ambitions in the region, butis also extremely important in addressingunconventional threats to the Andamanand Nicobar Islands. Of particular impor-tance is the Aceh province of Indonesia,located at the northern end of Sumatra.The presence of terrorist entities like Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the rise of religious fun-damentalism in the province highlights thelikelihood of these groups using the unin-habited islands of the Andaman andNicobar Islands for their nefarious activ-ities. Against this backdrop, New Delhi’sinvestment plans in the Sabang port inAceh and the recent decision of India andIndonesia to set up a special task force toenhance connectivity, promote trade,tourism and people-to-people contactsassumes a lot of importance.

For Indonesia, which stood againstIndia in its 1962 war with China and the1965 war with Pakistan, to make a strate-

gic turnaround in the twenty-first centu-ry and have a “comprehensive strategicpartnership” with New Delhi shows theincreasing recognition in Jakarta of India’sability to play a prominent role in the Indo-pacific region. Indonesia’s growing rele-vance for India is also evident from the dis-cussions between the two sides to holdannual summits between their leaders, onthe lines of the summits that India holdswith Russia and Japan. This reflects theimmense strategic value that New Delhiattaches to Indonesia. Moreover, being thelargest among the ASEAN states and themost populated Muslim nation in theworld, Indonesia offers incomparableadvantages for India not just in address-ing its security concerns but also in meet-ing New Delhi’s global aspirations.

As India gradually attains centre-stage in the Indo-pacific region, newopportunities and challenges are croppingup before it. However, what becomesextremely necessary for New Delhi in viewof the changing dynamics of the region isto shed off its image of a “rhetorical actor”in Southeast Asia and become moreactively engaged in the region. Modi’s visitto Indonesia did provide the initial sparksat a very opportune time in history, butwhether that spark can hold on to igniteand propel the relationship between thetwo countries to greater heights willdepend a lot on India’s actions rather thanrhetoric.

(The writer is a research scholar atJamia Millia Islamia)

8.B�661��.8.

:�� .*6.8�� )�22��((�� ((��2�� 88��++��

2�� 2��5 ��"

7CD12*/�.8�::/.".$.12

$�;��'��:��*�;%=��;��:�!��%( ��)%�%()'=�!)�)��!�=�8�!'&�)��'��)�!��)�)%�%(!�:�!>�?�')��;�&��;��)�)��)�)��!�� ''��=<�%��!>��'<�!%:��%')�)%��<�5�(�/�)��'(<�!;%=<()�!�;!��)��*>��5$/�<)�>�� )'�)��'�)�!��)&��(�;�� !)�9�;��)�� ;�;%=�'��)��( ��!�'<%�'�*��)>)%��!�'�=��8��&��%!��!�)%�:��)��*��9�)'�)%�)��9(��')/��=(')�!�=��9%;('��:� ��)��)�)��'�=��)�=�

.��(��2��5�1�� 0��(��

1� ��(�/��

%�� 8�� 2��%��7� ��$��.��$��,��7� �� %12E0��

��'��(��) '�*��+,��-./0 ��8,

��BB��!��#!!��&�� &��

� � �� "��&�� "�� )�� "�� "��&��'�� &��

+��$��#�).��

)�� ?��+1��&��'��=@��A��-��

��+�"�� &� ��&�

�� '�� ?�

��B��C5��;D=��

�� #��GOVT

7 � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

�� 5��5��.��$ �� $��2�� * �� +�� 2*��%�-+'��'��0��.�� '��!�� #��# �� #�� 2*��%�-+( #��!"-��!� #��&��#��#�� "(��!��!�� #�� "(��#� ��!��!��!� � �� !� �� "

��.��$�� .�� $7��(�� ,��1��/��0��4�2�� #�� 2"/��#��C�� ! ��4� ��!��-�� "/�� M-�� !�� /��# �� !��!� ��#��C�� ,��1��/��"4$��/�� # �� !��#��/��#��C�� # �� !"

�� 1�� $��#� �5 ��(��-��%��)�� /��C!�� #��C!�� !� ��#��# �� # �� -�� !�� #��&�� #��!�� ) ��-�� H$��I�� 6��' ��-��(�� H1��'��I��#��&�� #�'��#��9�� .��!�� "(��#�� # ��!�� #�� .��"

�� $�� C�� 12+,7�(�� 4�� ! ��'0-��2�� ! �� ,��"H-2�,I � �� M'! �� ?�A@4��)�#+�� ! ��!�� #� �� #�� #� ��! ��"-2�,�� ! �� "(�� #�� ! ��!�� #� ��!�� -2�,��3�� 3 !��1��!�/'��1��/��(��'��/!��3��)"'��'�/��9�� )'�� "+�� 1� ��!��+�� H$�I�-��2�� ! �� ,��"�� ! ��! �� !�� !! �� !�� ! �� "

��#$#��#�� . (��% �� -�� #��#��!�� 4�� ,��'��"(��#��$��'��# ��$�� #��3� �� .��1�� #��C��!�� &��&�� /��?F?�A�"3�� '��!�� #��6��# �� 9�� +��'��"$�J%+$��'��#�� !�� #��!!��#�� #�� !��"

�� 0�3/-

Finance Minister PiyushGoyal on Friday announced

setting up of a committee togive recommendations in twoweeks on formation of an AssetReconstruction Company forfaster resolution of stressedaccounts.

After meeting the heads ofstate-owned banks, Goyal saidthe Government “stands solid-ly behind each of the 21 pub-lic sector banks (PSBs)”.

The committee under SunilMehta, non-executive chair-man of PNB, will make rec-ommendations in two weekson setting up of an AssetReconstruction Company orAsset Management Companyfor faster resolution of stressedaccounts, he told reportershere.Most of the stressed assetshave been identified that couldfit into the ARC or AMC struc-ture, he said.

Also, banks will considerhaving oversight committeeswith external experts to helpfaster decision making andresolving stressed accountsin a transparent and speedymanner.

Goyal said discussions dur-ing the meeting focused oncredit flow and banks devisingmechanism to ensure creditflow to good borrowers shouldnot face difficulties.

Risks need to be mitigatedto support economy, he said,

adding that all bankers wishedto set up a mechanism toenable faster resolution ofstressed accounts.

He also said that all vacantpositions of PSB heads will befilled in the next 30 days.

Suggestions aboutstrengthening governanceprocess and honest recognitionof NPAs or bad loans were dis-cussed at the meeting, he said.

He assured that processeswill be streamlined and cus-tomer interest protected.

+�� .�� "

'��&� ��:��:�� 2��= �� )�*+�,$-

Tariq Premji, the youngerson of billionaire and phil-

anthropist Azim Premji, hasbeen appointed to the board ofWipro Enterprises.

Tariq will join in his fatherand brother Rishad Premji onthe board of the unlisted WiproEnterprises as a non-executivedirector.

“Wipro Enterprises (P) Ltdhas appointed Tariq Premji as anon-executive director on theboard of the company,” WiproEnterprises said in a statement.

“His independent objectiveview will add value to theboard’s deliberations,” the com-pany added.

Wipro Enterprises (P) Ltdcomprises of two main busi-

nesses -- Wipro ConsumerCare and Wipro InfrastructureEngineering.

Wipro Consumer Care isprimarily into personal careproducts, lighting solutions andoffice furniture, while WiproInfrastructure Engineering pro-vides hydraulic solutions for awide range of applicationsincluding aerospace anddefence and complete end-to-end solutions in water andwastewater treatment for indus-trial applications.

Wipro Enterprises’ boardis headed by Azim Premji.Other board members includeSuresh C Senapaty, VineetAgrawal who is he of CEO –Consumer Care & Lightingand Executive Director ofWipro Enterprises.

�� 1�'�� *�� )�*+�,$-

The GST Council could con-sider bringing natural gas

within the purview of Goodsand Services Tax in its nextmeeting, an official said onFriday.

GST Council JointSecretary Dheeraj Rastogi saidaviation turbine fuel (ATF)would be another petroleumproduct that could also bebrought within the GST ambitamong five petroleum prod-ucts.

The inclusion of naturalgas within the GST purview onan experimental basis would beput before the GST Council inits forthcoming GST Councilmeeting, a PHD Chamberstatement quoted Rastogi assaying.

He, however, did not pre-scribe a specific timeframe for

bringing natural gas and ATFwithin GST.

While petroleum productslike kerosene, naphtha andLPG are under the ambit ofGST, five items in the basket —crude oil, natural gas, aviationfuel, diesel and petrol — havebeen excluded during the ini-tial years.

“Petroleum is a consider-ably larger source for revenuesnot only for centre but statesalso and on natural gas front,there is some consensus forbringing it into GST ambit andtherefore, it could be firstpetroleum product that couldcome in well within GST net-work,” Rastogi said, accordingto a PHD Chamber release.

Addressing the workshopon GST, Rastogi also indicatedgovernment’s possible inten-tions for revision in definitionof supply under GST.

�3��',�,C'��'��/'��'��'/1�.��'�� 'D& )E'��' �1'�� -'�� '/1�1�� 1�� )�*+�,$-

The Government on Fridaysaid it has identified over

2.25 lakh companies and 7,191LLPs which have not filed req-uisite financial statement for2015-16 and 2016-17, and theymay be struck off during thecurrent financial year.

The Ministry of CorporateAffairs (MCA) has alreadystruck off over 2.26 lakh com-panies for non- filing of finan-

cial statements or annualreturns for a continuous peri-od of 2 years or more.

Also, over 3.09 lh directorswere disqualified for not filingfinancial statements or annualreturns for preceding 3 yrs.

“For the second drive to belaunched during 2018-19),2,25,910 companies have beenfurther identified for beingstruck off under section 248 ofthe Companies Act, 2013...Fornon-filing of financial state-

ments for 2015-16 and 2016-17,” a finance ministry state-ment said.

Also, 7,191 Limited LiabilityPartnerships (LLPs) have beenidentified for action under sec-tion 75 of the LLP Act, 2008 dueto non-filing of financial state-ments for the stated years, itsaid. These companies and LLPswill be given an opportunity ofbeing heard by way of noticesregarding their default and theproposed action.

��"'/��/'/��/ ��'1�'�91� �'�� /1��'�'C'��/

�� )�*+�,$-

Reliance Industries hassought shareholders’ nod to

give Mukesh Ambani anotherfive years as the Chairmanand Managing Director of thecompany.

Ambani, 61, has been onthe board of Reliance IndustriesLtd (RIL) since 1977 and waselevated as Chairman of thecompany after the death of hisfather and group patriarchDhirubhai Ambani in July 2002.

The company has in ashareholder notice for the 41st

Annual General Meeting to beheld on July 5 in Mumbai,moved a resolution to re-appoint Ambani “for a periodof five years, on expiry of hispresent term of office, i.E. Witheffect from April 19, 2019”.

The notice said he would bepaid an annual salary of �4.17crore and �59 lakh of perquisitesand allowances. Retirementbenefits are not included in theoverall ceiling of remunera-tion. He would also be entitledto receive bonus based on netprofits and “expenses incurred fortravelling, boarding and lodging,including for spouse and atten-dant(s) during business tripsand provision of car(s) for use oncompany’s business and com-munication expenses at resi-dence shall be reimbursed atactuals and not considered asperquisites,” it said.

2�+��;<=�� " �� */'$-)%(2)

Argentina and theInternational Monetary

Fund agreed on Thursday on athree-year $50 billion stand-byfinancing deal aimed atstrengthening the SouthAmerican country’s economyand helping it fight inflation.

The IMF said the staff-levelagreement will be subject toapproval by the internationalbody’s executive board, whichwill consider Argentina’s eco-nomic plan in the comingdays.

In Argentina, where manyhave criticized the Governmentfor turning to the IMF, FinanceMinister Nicolas Dujovne saidthe funds would be availableafter the executive board meetsJune 20.

CENTRAL PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTNOTICE INVITING e-TENDER

The Executive Engineer, ‘G’ Division, CPWD, East Block-II, Level-II, R.K. Puram, New Delhi-110066 on behalf of the President ofIndia invites online percentage rate tenders from the approvedand eligible contractors of CPWD for the following work:

1. NIT No.-12/EE/G-Divn./2018-19, Name of work: Upgradationof 138 Type-V & 115 Type-Vl M.S Flats at Sector-13,R.K.Puram, New Delhi dg 2018-19. (SH: Provision of GraniteStone flooring in front of Lift area of Blocks A, B, & C).,Estimated Cost:- Rs. 18,50,908/-, Earnest Money:- Rs.37,018/-, Period of completion:- 03 (Three) Month, Lastdate and time of submission of tender Upto 03.00 PM on18.06.2018

The tender forms and other details can be obtained from thewebsite www.tenderwizard.com/CPWD. The Press Notice isalso available on www.eprocure.gov.in

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 '��88

!$(!!)*+!$(!!)*++�(7��

��#$��#$#�� $�� .�'�� )%��+ ��(��!�� !�� #�� C��!� ��/��#� � ��4�� "/�� !� � ��!�� #� ��!� �� "

#��#��#��D��.�$�$5��#��)��)�%�'��(��0)%��/��3��+ ��!��%��-�� ' ��/�� &!�� '�� # ��.��"

�� $ �� 5#��E65��(*��/�-��C��+�� #�� ! ��"

� ��$�� 5��5 �� %!�� !�� !� �� #��1��!�� -��! ��!�� "

$#��7�� /� ��#��'��=�*�� !�� !��! �� 6�� !�� ! ��"

Beirut: Airstrikes thought tohave been carried out byRussian jets on a rebel-held res-idential area in northwesternSyria have killed 44 civilians, aBritain-based monitor said onon Friday. Six children wereamong those killed when thestrikes hit the Zardana area ofIdlib province late yesterday,the Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said. TheRussian defence ministry dis-missed the Observatory’sreports of strikes on Zardana ashaving “nothing to do withreality”, in a statement carriedby the TASS news agency.

Zardana is largely con-trolled by Islamist rebels, witha small presence of the HayatTahrir al-Sham alliance led bySyria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate.An AFP correspondent at thescene saw volunteers with acrane still searching the rubblein the early morning. AFP

Gaza City (PalestinianTerritories): Three Palestinians,including a 15-year-old, werekilled by Israeli fire on the Gazaborder on Friday, the territory'sHealth Ministry said, as weeksof deadly clashes with protest-ers continued.

The Ministry hadannounced a fourth man hadbeen killed but swiftly clarifiedhis heart had been restarted.Among the dead was 15-year-old Haitham al-Jamal, whowas shot on the border insouthern Gaza east of the ciy ofKhan Yunis, the Ministry said.

Around 10,000 Palestiniansgathered in five places along theborder, the Israeli Army said,with clashes ensuing.

The Army said in a state-ment its forces were using “riotdispersal means and are oper-ating in accordance with therules of engagement.” AFP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump on Friday saidhe would consider invitingNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the White House if theirSingapore summit on Tuesdaygoes well but made it clear thathe is ready to “walk away” fromthe meeting if his goals werenot achieved.

The US and its regionalallies want to see North Koreagive up its nuclear weapons.

Trump and Kim will meeton Sentosa, a smaller island offthe coast of Singapore’s mainisland. The June 12 summitwould represent the first evermeeting between a NorthKorean leader and a sitting US President.

Trump made the remarksafter meeting Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe at theWhite House to discuss theJune 12 summit. Abe’s visit is

part of a flurry of diplomaticactivity in the run-up to thesummit, as countries try toensure their interests are notoverlooked.

“Maybe we’ll start with theWhite House,” he told reportersafter he was asked whether hewould invite the North Koreanleader to the White House orhis Mar-a-lago resort inFlorida. He said it was possiblean agreement to end theKorean War could be reached,though he called that “the easypart” of the negotiations. “It’swhat happens after that that isreally important,” he toldreporters. He, however, madeit clear that he was ready to“walk away” from the meetingif his goals were not achieved.“I am totally prepared to walk.It could happen. Maybe it won’tbe necessary,” Trump said.PTI

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump will traveldirectly to Singapore fromCanada to attend the meetingwith North Korean leader KimJong Un on Tuesday, the WhiteHouse has said. Trump andKim are scheduled to meet atthe Capella Hotel onSingapore’s Sentosa Island onJune 12.

Trump is scheduled toleave the White House tomor-row to attend the G-7 summitin Canada. He would leave forSingapore from there onSaturday morning.

“President Trump willdepart the G7 Summit atCharlevoix at 10:30 amSaturday, following the ses-sion on Women’sEmpowerment,” White HousePress Secretary Sarah Sanderssaid.

�� ,/�/,3/-��G0�3��

President Donald Trumpinjected fresh drama into an

already tense meeting of theGroup of Seven major indus-trialized nations on Friday,calling for Russia, ousted for its the annexation ofCrimea, to be reinstated.

Trump made the commentat the White House on Fridayafter hours of further escalat-ing his rhetoric against long-time allies over US trade prac-tices. “Why are we having ameeting without Russia in themeeting?” Trump asked. “Theyshould let Russia come back inbecause we should have Russiaat the negotiating table.”

Solidifying his solo statuson the world stage, Trumpalso lashed out at longtimeallies over their criticism of histrade policies. He plans anearly exit from the G7 meeting.

Russia was ousted from theelite group in 2014 as punish-ment for President VladimirPutin’s annexation of Crimeaand its support for pro-Russianseparatists in Ukraine. In theUS, special counsel RobertMueller is investigatingwhether Trump’s campaigncolluded with Russia in a bid to

sway the 2016 presidential elec-tion in his favour.

Trump will arrive Friday atthe annual gathering, held thisyear at a Quebec resort, but willleave Saturday morning beforethe event is over, heading toSingapore for his highly antic-ipated summit with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un.The White House announcedhis travel plans after FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronand Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau signaled theywould use the G7 event to takea stance against new US tariffson steel and aluminum imports.

At a joint Press conferenceon Thursday, Macron said, “Atrade war doesn’t spare anyone.It will start first of all to hurt USworkers.” Trudeau said, “We aregoing to defend our industriesand our workers.”

Vienna: Austria could expel upto 60 Turkish-funded imamsand their families as part of acrackdown on “political Islam”,Interior Minister Herbert Kicklsaid on Friday.

“The circle of people pos-sibly affected by these measures— the pool that we’re talkingabout — comprises around 60imams,” said Kickl of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe),the junior partner in Austria’scoalition Government. In total150 people risked losing theirright to residence, he said at apress conference in Vienna.

Seven mosques will also beshut after an investigation bythe religious affairs authorityinto images which emerged inApril of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing deadand reenacting the World WarI battle of Gallipoli.

“Parallel societies, politicalIslam and radicalisation haveno place in our country,”Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ofthe ruling centre-right People’sParty said. In several cases theprocess of expelling imamsconnected to the Turkish-Islamic Cultural Associations(ATIB) organisation wasunderway, Kickl said.

The Interior Ministeradded the Government sus-pects them of contravening aban on foreign funding of reli-gious office holders. ATIB is abranch of Turkey’s religiousaffairs agency Diyanet.

The photos of children,published by the Falter week-ly, showed the young boys incamouflage uniforms march-ing, saluting, waving Turkishflags and then playing dead.

Their “corpses” were then

lined up and draped in theflags. The mosque in questionwas run by ATIB and is one ofthose that will be closed.

ATIB itself condemned thephotos at the time, calling the“highly regrettable” event andsaid that “called off before ithad even ended”. AFP

+;!�55�� >�� ?�� 3�-.-)%

President Xi Jinping gaveChina’s first friendship

medal to Russian counterpartVladimir Putin on Friday as theneighbouring giants toutedtheir close ties amid diplomat-ic and economic challengesfrom the US.

Xi placed the large goldenmedal around Putin’s neck atthe grandiose Great Hall of thePeople in front of dignitariesfrom both countries. China’s“highest honour” is bestowedon foreigners who have made“outstanding contributions” tothe country’s modernisationdrive and helped maintainworld peace, Xi said.

“This medal of friendshiprepresents the Chinese people’slofty respect for PresidentPutin, and symbolises the pro-found friendship betweenChina and Russia,” he said.

The most powerful Russianand Chinese leaders in decades,Putin and Xi have forged clos-er ties as US President DonaldTrump has labelled both coun-tries economic rivals that chal-lenge US interests and values.

Before the medal ceremo-ny, Putin said the two heads ofstate had enjoyed “fruitful”

talks. “The relationshipbetween Russia and China is afriendly, neighbourly one,developing... In the spirit ofoverarching strategic partner-ship,” he said.

The two leaders laterattended a youth ice hockeygame in the coastal city ofTianjin. Analysts remarked ontheir similar leadership styles.

Xi and Putin are “soul-mates who want to make theircountries great again”,Alexander Gabuev, senior fel-low at the Carnegie MoscowCentre, told AFP.

“Both share scepticismtowards American hegemonyand distrust US intentions,both are authoritarian person-alistic rulers,” he said.

Putin was re-elected to afourth Kremlin term in March.That same month, Xi was givena path to indefinite rule whenthe the Communist-led rubber-stamp Parliament lifted presi-dential term limits.

China is mired in toughnegotiations with the UnitedStates to avoid a trade war,while Moscow has deep differences withWashington on multiple diplo-matic fronts, including Syriaand Ukraine.

�./1��'1�'�9��'.�'1�'FG��/0'/�.1/'7'��/H.�/

Ankara: Turkey’s presidentialspokesman on Friday lambast-ed Austria’s decision to expel upto 60 Turkish-funded imamsand shut seven mosques as an“anti-Islam” and “racist” move.“Austria’s decision to close downseven mosques and deportimams with a lame excuse is areflection of the anti-Islam,racist and discriminatory pop-ulist wave in this country,”Ibrahim Kalin said after Viennaannounced the move in a crack-down on “political Islam”.

“It is an attempt to targetMuslim communities for thesake of scoring cheap politicalpoints,” Kalin said on Twitter.Austrian Interior MinisterHerbert Kickl said that 150people, including the imamsand their families risked losingtheir right to residence.

The clampdown comesafter Austria’s religious affairsauthority investigated imagespublished in April of childrenin a Turkish-backed mosqueplaying dead and reenactingthe World War I battle ofGallipoli. AFP

'��@� ��!"��%)��*��

!�� .��))��!"��

(�>�#��"�2��

?�� $!-��

*��9��*��?��!�� %��,�/��

9�� !�� !��",�!��Singapore: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to flyinto Singapore’s Changi airport on Sunday ahead of a high-stakessummit with US President Donald Trump, a source involved inthe planning of the trip said on Friday.

Pictures of US military aircraft at nearby Paya Lebar air base,including a white-topped helicopter commonly used for trans-porting high-ranking US officials, were published in a newspa-per on Friday. Talks between the leaders on June 12 are expect-ed to centre on ending the North’s nuclear weapons and missilesprogrammes in return for diplomatic and economic incentives.

Agencies

'��

1��.��,�/��

Washington: The US Air Forcehas temporarily grounded itsentire fleet of B-1 heavy bombersover safety concerns, officialssaid on Friday. The safety stand-down, ordered on Thursday, fol-lows an investigation into anemergency landing made atMidland, Texas on May 1.

Four crewmembers had toland their bomber after somesort of “inflight emergency,”officials said. No one washarmed. During the investiga-tion into that incident, “anissue with ejection seat com-ponents was discovered thatnecessitated the stand-down.As these issues are resolved, air-craft will return to flight,” theAir Force said in a statement.

The B-1B Lancer is asupersonic bomber that cancarry the heaviest convention-al payload of all the US mili-tary's planes. AFP

��#��?��-)0(�'

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 "�" ��140�� 3 8-

�� .�?��-)0(�'

Indian tennis great Vijay Amritraj,who was part of the James Bond film

Octopussy and was a regular character in the American sitcoms TheLast Precinct and What a Country, saysthat making a mark internationally isnot easy and one of the toughest frontiers is Hollywood.

“Having my own TV series on anAmerican channel at that time was ahuge process,” said Amritraj on thesidelines of a celebratory dinner tomark the success of Grover Zampa’sVijay Amritraj’s wine collection whichwas launched in association with theman himself in 2014.

Amritraj’s California-based company, First Serve Entertainment,is one of the leading multimedia pro-duction companies that deals with Asian-American content, and helpedDisney, Turner and ESPN enter theIndian market.

Talking about how Indian moviesare creating an impact, he said: “It isdefinitely creating an impact. It justneeds to be on a more regular basiswith worldwide distribution thatappeals to more cinemas than whatthey are today. Distribution is the key.”

Amritraj lives in California withwife Shyamala, who is a Sri LankanTamil, and sons Prakash Amritraj andVikram.

He has also been appointed aUnited Nations ambassador for peaceand has been raising awareness on theissues of drugs and HIV/AIDS and inraising funds to fight the spread ofAIDS worldwide.

He is also the founder of The VijayAmritraj Foundation in 2006, apartfrom being the first few Indians whocreated an impact on the world’stennis courts that were dominated byAmericans, Europeans andAustralians.

Amritraj had a career singleswin-loss record 384-296, winning 16singles and 13 doubles titles. He waspart of the Indian Davis Cup team thatreached the finals in 1974 and 1987.

Being one of the tennis legends,how does he see India emerging in tennis globally and why have wefailed to produce someone like RogerFederer or Andy Murray who havedone wonders in singles games? “It’sa long-term process. We really haven’thad anyone anywhere close to them.As it turns out, I am still the numberone Asian with most number of titleswon by any Asian in the Open era andI suppose that’s not a good record to

hold on to. I am looking for someoneelse to break it. I think we are a longway off to even getting anywhere near,”he said.

So what is the solution? “I thinkwe need more commitments on allsides from sponsors, from the athletes,from the families and from the associations. We haven’t really got astrong system in place for most ofthem to do well,” said Amritraj.

The Vijay Amritraj ReserveCollection has won 22 internationalawards since its inception, winning the hearts of consumers and criticsalike, around the world.

The wines are distributed in India

and across key international marketssuch as the US, UK, Australia, France,Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Singapore.

So what is the idea behind thisassociation? “My wines have wonsuccess and recognition, just like whatI have achieved for India for tennis atglobal circuits. I would love for my fansto enjoy these award-winning wineswhich share the same success story asmine, wines that are of excellent quality and great to drink. I am certain my fans would definitely enjoythese wines that I have carefully created with the oldest winery of India,Grover Zampa Vineyards,” he said.

He enjoys pairing it with differ-ent types of food. “As far as wine is concerned , you can acquire a tasteand both these wines, red andwhite, are very good for the palate.The white goes extremely well withchicken and fish depending onwhat your tastes are. It also goes wellwith light vegetarian food. The redgoes better with strong meats. So itdepends on your preference and it is something clearly worth trying,” said Amritraj.

F 2.8*

They may be apart in years but are unit-ed by their singular pursuit of gentle-manly fashion. At 49 years, actor

Bobby Deol is the more seasoned of the two,the style following some substance that hehas acquired from years of experience. Bornto a charmed life of a star son and rapid earlysuccesses with his rugged looks, he had, byhis own admission, taken his days for grant-ed. Until they slipped out of his hands com-pletely. “I wish I knew that I had reachedthe level up with two-three movies but Inever realised that. I never understood thatI had reached a certain level of stardom.I was very normal about it. I wish I hadnoticed it. May be that would have mademe focus about not losing it. I should havebeen more attentive towards it,” he sayscandidly. It took Salman Khan to convincehim to get back into the race with Race 3,not to prove a point but to clamber a wayout of an emotional trough and restore hissense of self-worth. That can-do spirit hasworked wonders as Bobby is back with hisswag and toned self, looking every bit asdesirable as he was all those years ago.

Saqib is an outsider, a youngster, whohas been battling his own lows, the big ban-ner eluding him though he has grown upon a diet of masala films. But the actingchops were latent, waiting to be tapped butfor long was compromised by circum-stance. “Collaborating with the right peo-ple helps a young actor build a stablecareer. I have taken projects where in theend, the studio or producer disowned thefilm before its release,” he says.

So when they stride into the room,endorsing a fashion line, it is about con-fidence born of patience and grit. And thatshows as they bounce off our questionswith each other.

�What is it about the new fashion collec-tion that you like the most?

Bobby: It’s all about what appeals to youwhen you walk into the store. Sometimesyou even find pieces attractive from the oldcollections. Style can never just disappear,it’s how your wear it. Years ago, I was look-ing for the blue colour I’m wearing, could-n’t find it. This collection (Blackberry’s)brings such great variety to choose from, it’sgood.

Saqib: I am a person who is very par-ticular about the fit of the trouser. I thinkthe jacket can be fixed but perfect trousersare hard to find, especially the way I want

them to be. I want them slightly taperedfrom the down. I love special Phoenix-fitpants.

�What are your personal style state-ments?

Bobby: Style for me is how you carrywhat you wear. Especially when you’re fit,anything looks good on you. So I suggestif you want to look good in your clothes, getfit first.

Saqib: Bobby’s very right, it’s importantto be fit. Even the best clothes wouldn’t lookgood on you if you are not fit. In that case,the fault is yours and not the brand’s (laughs).But my personal style statement is that I liketo express myself through my clothing. I liketo be dressed smart all the time. In my child-hood I used to

copy Salman Khan’s ganji look, butnow I am trying to build my own fashionstatement.

�How has working out together andsharing the same trainer impacted theequation that you both have?

Bobby: Ye munna hai mera! He’s tooyoung and when you work out with youngerpeople, their energy motivates you. Thesame happened with me.

Saqib: No, Bobby’s being too sweet rightnow. I’ll tell you the truth. We were shoot-ing in Abu Dhabi and I was working outwith this thought in my mind that I’m per-

fectly fit and Bobby’s going through histransformation, so I’d help him with thatextra push. Two days later the entire con-cept reversed. He was motivating me in thegym and pushing me to do more sets. Wecall him BODY DEOL now. So I think he’sbeen a huge inspiration for me on the sets.

�(To Bobby) Even though it’s not techni-cally a comeback, why did you choose Race3?

Bobby: It’s a very exciting franchise andI was looking for a big film to be a part ofso that I could show myself off to a largeraudience. Race 3 has a big following and nowSalman is a part of it. It was very sweet ofSalman to have thought of me for the filmand the only criteria was that I had to removemy shirt, haha. I’m very excited for the filmas I had the nicest time shooting for this one.Moreover, it’s in 3D! I used to always thinkabout when I’d be in a 3D film and now I’vegot this.

�(To Bobby) Has the lack of work in theseyears affected you in any way?

Bobby: When you’re mentally upset andyour heart is hurting, that is the time whenyou alone can make yourself feel better.Every human being goes through such aphase. It’s just that I created that situationfor myself, no one else did it for me. So, whenI realised I was doing this to myself, I hadto get myself out of that situation. That wasmy awakening.

In my earlier days, I never thoughtpeople were competing with me. I was likeeverybody deserves work and why shouldI come in their way. But things hadchanged, everybody was going to the pro-ducers’ office to get work, which couldhave been mine. I did not realise that andslowly started losing. I wish I had realisedthen. I wish I had a better physique but itis never too late. Then I looked around me.Salman is a big star and he still has the fire,Anil (Kapoor) has tremendous energy. Mydad is 82 years old and he wants to workevery day of his life, even my brother. Idon’t know why I did not take that posi-tivity from them.

�(To Bobby) The Bollywood that you arestepping in now is a changed and anevolved one. There are movies on socialissues and historical events and what not.What are your observations on the same?

Bobby: See, movies like these were

made earlier too but the audience was notready to accept them then. My dad did a filmcalled Satyakam, which was an amazing filmbut nobody wanted to flag that type of filmor story as path-breaking then. So, thingshave changed definitely for the better,where you can make different kinds of films.That’s a good sign but the thing is that if anactor in the industry already has an image,it’s very difficult to break that and do otherfilms. I did Poster Boys and it also had a mes-sage about controlling population but it did-n’t work out well. I would like to do moreof these films but the producers wouldn’t

want me doing that. I guess, we’ll never knowuntil we do such a film and it works well.

�(To Bobby) Can you tell us anythingabout your new projects?

Bobby: Yamla Pagla Deewana Part 3 ishappening this August. I’ve just signedHouseful 4 for which I’ll start shooting inJuly. And then I’m just hoping after Race 3,I get more work.

�(To Saqib) You’re a young actor amidthree extremely experienced ones. Howdoes that feel?

Saqib: It was a very, very big thing forme to be able to work with these guys. I’velooked up to them, I’ve idolised them.Growing up, I’ve worn those jeans and gan-jis and started working out watching SalmanBhai. I’ve been a huge fan of Bobby, I lovedSoldier but my absolute favourite was AnilKapoor’s Mr India. That movie had impact-ed me in ways I cannot express. I am get-ting to work with all three of them and theexperience is beyond amazing. Everyone waslooking out for each other.

�(To Saqib) How do you feel about livingwith Huma? Tell us about the bond youshare.

Saqib: We have our ups and downs likeany other siblings; we fight a lot. But at thesame time, we keep joking, that after you getmarried or I get married, either you have tofind a husband who’s okay with me beingin the house or I get a wife who’s okay withyou being in the house. I can’t stay withouther and neither can she. The beauty of therelationship that I share with Huma is thatwe don’t consider each other siblings. Wetalk about anything and everything andsometimes people are shocked. But it was-n’t always like that. There was a time, inDelhi, where we hated each other. We evenwanted to kill each other. But distance bringsyou closer and that’s what happened.

�(To Saqib) Is there any particular expe-rience you’d like to share with us from thesets of Race 3?

Saqib: So, I remember Anil Sir startedshooting for the film on the seventh day andhis first day happened to be with just me. Iwas nervous as I wanted him to think thatI was a good actor and think highly of me.So, I was in my van preparing the pleas-antries in my head. At the same time, therewas some issue with my pants, and the crewwas trying to fix it when the ED came run-ning, shouting, “Anil Sir’s here.” I’m like, Ishould’ve been there before him, I’m theyoung actor, and I ran to the set as I zippedmy pants, out of breath. When I reachedthere, he walked up to me and said suchgood things about the films I had done,about how I looked and this and that. Allthe nervousness I had just went out of thewindow. I was reflecting upon it the otherday and I’m hundred per cent sure that herecalled his debutant days too. May be hesensed that nervousness in me which he feltwhen he had started out, so he made surethat he made me feel comfortable. I’ll cher-ish these memories forever.

�(To Saqib) How have you managed tohold on in a competitive industry?

Film-making is a time-consumingprocess. If the producer loses interest ordirector loses its vision in the middle of theprocess, the film suffers.

With two of my films Dobaara and DilJunglee such things happened. I think thesedays, a good script is not enough for a filmto get success. There was a time when Iwould go simply with the purity of thescript. Good theatrical release and goodmarketing are also important to get a prop-er visibility. I lived under the impressionthat for the first few years people will callme for work once my film releases. SlowlyI realised that that is not how it functions.Acting skill is not enough for someone tosurvive here, networking is needed. Theproducers and directors you are workingwith are equally important.

%��5�%�� ;� ��

-��"-��&�� #��#�� "3��-� �;�#�� !� �� !� #�� "-#�� "-��! �� "/��-�� "

-�� !�� !��"* ��4�-��/�� -�� 01�� ! #��&��# �� "

>�.��.�$�?�*� �2�?�:1�8@��-.��$

�� M ��'�� ;#�� #��-� ��-��;�#�� #��&�� /��&/��"-��4�#��"-#�� #��4�� "-#�� #��!��!� !��"

-� ��!�� "-��!� �� -��"(�� "-�� ;��"-�� -��/��"

>:-.>:��1--$:A

� ( $ ! � � ) $ � � ) ! �

-��#�� #��# �� "-�� "( �� ! �� #�� !�� !�� "

�12�B�+�.

>:$/1:�:$ !�$��

3233=+�2,��'/G-3'/,��!�� #��#�� !�� "3�� #��C��!��"/�� 0'1//)1/($0�-/� #��#��

*$�)=204��)(/,,=0�'�(/)+$0�(-)%�($/(-'($�(-��*$�)=20/,2)��/)�/1�=20�'�, ��,3�((��"�9��=$0�/)3�-)%%2�'($�20%$'0�$/�$/'�"-��/(�+/'-(0/(-2) 2��='�, "QQ555��

��'�� "��'�� &��#�%��'� ��)�� "� ��"��)�� &�� )�'��"�� %�� ' ��D'��&�'��'�� #�'�� A��3� �� &�� )� �� '��%��

!-$�9!?2�!2$?�

+�� -�� </��-�� #�� #��!�� !��

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0"�" ��140�� 3 80

What’s plump and round andaubergine? Well, yes, an aubergine,

of course. In India, the dish has as manyvariations as there are regions as its usecuts across caste creed and religiousboundaries. Bengal, UP, Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Chef Veena Arora, Spice Route,Imperial Hotel spent an afternoon rem-iniscing the use of eggplants in both Thaiand native Indian cuisine one summerafternoon. “Because summer is hot anduncomfortable you want to work withvegetables that do not require long peri-ods of cooking. You want to cook some-thing that is quick and non fussy, easy tofollow and simple but high on flavor,” shesaid.

She chose two recipes for cuisinelovers. The first is a Katrika Kalai Curry,a tangy and spicy eggplant recipe fromTamil Nadu that can be relished withboth rice and rotis.

“Eggplant has been misunderstoodas a vegetable but it has an importantplace in gastronomy benefits. You canhave an eggplant laced ratatouille madein the romantic city of Paris or the egg-plant parmesan made in the beautifulcliffside of Sicily or even enjoy the manyThai and Japanese dishes with eggplant.The Thai Basil eggplant and the Stir FriedEggplant are two very popular dishes inAsian cuisine,” she added.

To go down to nutritional facts egg-plant is rich in calcium, iron, magnesiumand several other important nutrientsthat aid proper functioning of our body.

In fact, one cup (or 82 gms) of egg-plant consists of 11 per cent fibre, 10 percent manganese, 5.4 per cent molybde-num, 5.3 per cent potassium, 4.5 per centfolate, 3.5 per cent vitamin K, 3.5 per centcopper, 63.5 per cent vitamin B, 3.1 percenttryptophan, 3 per cent vitamin C and2.8 per cent magnesium. Tests now statethat eggplant is beneficial for hair as wellas skin.

“The key to eggplant recipes arespeed and the wok you use,” stated thechef. For best results, be sure to use firm,unblemished, pale purple Chinese/Indian

eggplants. For Thai dishes, we use thebig round Mediterranean ones, for Indiandishes, because we want to balance thetexture, we use small. While in Thai andChinese cuisine we adjust the balance ofsweet, spicy and salty elements to our lik-ing in Indian cuisine we add spice andsour notes too so it depends on what wewant to make.”

Chef Veena mentioned that at SpiceRoute, Makhua Phad Kai, a stir friedchicken with Eggplant dish is a favourite.These are made from pale soft eggplantsthat have ben stir fried to cotton soft con-sistency and they blend with the chick-en strips that have a subtle flavour.

Eggplants must look good to eatwhich depends on how long you cookand the process you use. Quick cookingretains its juices and its plump looks asyou don’t want it to look dehydrated andlimp. Whether we make the Indian or theAsian dish, each piece of eggplant isimportant for both texture and shape.

When you serve the dish, it mustseem dark, shiny, plump and soft, withwonderful complex flavors comingthrough which could be hot and sour,perhaps salty and sweet.

For stir fry eggplants, the Chef saidwe have to pay attention to the process.“We must add the eggplant wedges andstir with a spatula in flipping and gen-tle pressing motions for two-five min-utes to expose them to the oil. We mustturn heat down to medium high andcontinue to turn and press lightly forfour-seven more minutes, until thewedges are slightly browned and flat-tened. Don’t press them hard or theymight break and become messy. Thenyou have to turn the heat back up tohigh. If you are adding sauces or sea-sonings, give the seasonings/sauces astir and pour over the eggplant. Stir inscooping and lifting motions for about30 seconds. If it is cornstarch, then givethe cornstarch mixture a stir and addto the sauce. Cook to desired donenessand serve at once. Timing is the mostvital ingredient when you cookeggplant.”

Kabir’s city of the dead and that of poetKedarnath Singh held up by ash, light,

fire, water, smoke, fragrance and upliftedhuman hands is how author and professorAshwani Kumar’s book of poetry Banarasand the other portrays the holy city, accord-ing to noted poet K. Satchidanandan.

“When I think of Ashwani, two poetscome to my mind, Arvind KrishnaMehtrotra and Shakti Chattopadhyay,” said

noted artist Jatin Das when introducing thenew poet at a reading from Kumar’s bookBanaras and the other at the IndiaInternational Centre on June 5.

For Das, Kumar is still a naughty andmischievous boy with a great sense ofhumor whom he met years ago. The painterdelivered a self-written poem for Kumarduring the evening, which also includedcritical comments from other noted poets,and the release of the Malayalam and Odiyatranslations of the book, originally writtenin English.

Kumar, who has made a buzz in thepoetry circles, recited from his book andsaid that he used the term ‘Banaras’ in a dif-ferent manner than the other eminent poetswho have written about Banaras. Thepoet’s words, woven together like a river,transported those sitting in the calm spaceto the ghats of Varanasi.

For Satchidanandan, Kumar’s poetryhas six rasas, hasya, bhayanaka, raudra, adb-

huta, little ofsringara andveera.

Former sec-retary, SahityaA k a d e m i ,Sukrita PaulKumar, beganby commentingon the word‘Banaras’ andthe stereotypicalimagery theplace evokes.She said that thepoet decon-structed eachand every

stereotype. “This book is all about contradictions,

all about paradoxes; on one hand you havea kind of linearity because there are solidreferences to history, you get a feel of thepast,” she said. “There is a timelessness thathe has captured from the history and havebeen poured into the present,” she said.

Manglesh Darbal, poet, editor andtranslator said that there was simplicity inthe way Kumar used mythological events asmetaphors for present-day prospects. “Thepoems are very anarchic and multi-layeredpoems,” he said.

One fateful evening in aladies waiting room, at aremote railway station,

five interesting women findtheir lives intersecting withcathartic consequences. Thisforms the narrative of an all-women play titled Selfie, whichis helmed by the bubbly actresswith infectious energy, TanaazIrani.

The stellar star cast includesan array of film and televisionstars Kishwar Merchant, ShwetaGulati, Priya Malik, DimpleShah and Tanaaz herself. Withthis power-packed star cast, beprepared for some wit, bitingsatire, a huge dose of gut-wrenching drama, suspenseand some full-throated laugh-ter.

D o l l ySodawaterbottleopenerwala(Tanaaz), a middle-aged nurseand home-maker with a readywit and acidic tongue, finds thatthe perfect world she thinks shelives in may not be so perfectafter all. Madhuri Kulkarni(Dimple), a good-natured ITprofessional in her late thirties,realises that all her superficialsweetness and bonhomie maynot hide the fact that her onedecision that isn’t really evenhers may slowly be destroyingher from within. ParamjitChaddha (Kishwer), anexcitable, vivacious much-mar-ried woman, hides some veryimportant secrets and choosesto give her conscience the ben-efit of doubt in the pursuit ofpleasure, but is she right?Ayesha Kapoor (Priya), thehottest, most alluring thing ontelevision, has the world eatingfrom her hand. At the top of hercareer, what is that one worry-ing reason that has sent herscurrying to this god-forsakenwaiting room? Pooja (Shweta),incredibly articulate and well-spoken, this feisty young com-pany manager should haveeverything to live for, but doesshe?

Selfie mirrors our need tobe perfect all the time. Asked ifTanaaz thinks that womenshould let go at times and alsolearn to accept their flaws ratherthan hiding them, she said,“That’s exactly what the play isabout, it encourages you toaccept your flaws. We live insuch a society where we arecrushed by social media and weall feel that our hair should bepicture perfect, our pimples ordark circles shouldn’t be visible.You have to embrace yourself asno one can play you better thanyour own self. You got to becomfortable in your skin nomatter what size you are. The

way you carry yourself com-pletes you. Selfie is about notusing filters or corrector pens tojust be yourself.”

Tanaaz gave us a glimpse ofthe audition process. “I zeroeddown on the four actressesafter a lot of filtering as I had anentirely different cast when weperformed this play two yearsback in Mumbai. Some people’sdates didn’t work out, withsome I did not like their han-dling of the role or I felt that Ineeded something less or moreout of them. And after a lot ofauditions, I selected these girls.Priya was the last girl we audi-tioned and cast for this play,which is strange, as we were justnot able to find the right girl toplay her part. Anyone whowould come for this role wouldleave us for some reason. I wasgetting hyper as we really need-ed to have a face to this char-acter so that we could all worktogether as this is not the kindof play where we could workseparately. But Priya was like ablessing in disguise. We short-listed her, the dates matchedand we were good to go.”

She added that the wholeprocess of casting was quiteinteresting. Dimple dropped into see the rehearsals where thewoman who was playing therole was not performing as perTanaaz’s expectations. That’swhen the idea struck, that shewould be perfect for this role.Dimple was quite hesitant as shehad taken a hiatus from actingfor the last 16 years but Tanaazconvinced her to come onboard. “I had full faith in herand here we are now. She isdoing a fantastic job. I must saycasting for this play by nomeans was an easy task.”

It took them a month ofrehearsals and a lot of improvi-sations along the way before theplay finally went on stage. “Wehave stuck to almost 80 per centof the original script, where thecrucial lines and interactionsare. Having said that, we haveimprovised on the situationalcomedy — how an actresswould portray a particularscene, how would she say herdialogue in an accent, how willpeople get mesmerised by heraura as she is playing an actress.The four women come fromdifferent backgrounds andcareers. There are three hugesuspense points in the play, ithas got everything.” Tanaaztold us that all the actresseswanted the final product to

come out well and were thor-ough team players. Selfie pre-sented by Felicity Theatre willbe screened for Delhiites onJune 16 at Kamani auditorium.

The actress, best knownfor comic roles in movies suchas Hadh Kardi Aapney, Kaho NaPyaar Hai, Kuch Na Kaho toname a few, has re-writtensome of the portions in the playand she has changed the endingby adding a lot more layers toit. Having wit, satire, drama and

laughter, she believes that it isthe perfect script for her todirect. “It’s the perfect script,just what the people need today.Everyone is open to learningabout women empowermentand I believe you need a plat-form in entertainment to edu-cate a man or a woman. A topiclike the menstrual cycle need-ed an actor like Akshay Kumarand Padman to take away thetaboo that is associated with it.If it wasn’t for Akshay, wouldpeople even see the movie? Oraccept it in that light?Entertainment is good forlaughter but it should also influ-ence the society. Through a lotof humour in Selfie, we havetried to do the same. Narratingmy problems can arouse laugh-ter. In this process, the otherperson can solve your problemby changing your perspective inlife.”

This is the third time she isdonning a director’s hat. Shefirst directed a play titled AskWhat Fathers Say 15 years ago for

Sandeep Sikand’s production,and then directed Dhoom MachaDe, nine years ago. Asked whatprompted her towards it, shereplied, “I was offered this scriptjust to act but was lured by therole. I haven’t done theatre for thelast 10-15 years as I didn’t like anyscript but Selfie brought me backto theatre. The person who gaveme the script said, ‘Why don’tyou direct it?’ My reply was thatI love telling stories and wouldlove to tell this story through myeyes. After having so much ofexperience in this business andthe entertainment industry be ittelevision, films or theatre and inlife per se, I thought that no onecan tell this story better than me.After all that I have seen in life,I can still smile with my teethshowing and let the world see allthe flaws on my face without giv-ing a damn.” Tanaaz feels that itwas a catharsis for her as she did-n’t know she had it in her todirect such a wonderful play.

Tanaaz has said that there isa difference of perspective whena lady director directs a film ora play. Elaborating on it, shesaid, “A female director willmost probably tell you what isgoing on in your mind. Whenan incident occurs in front ofyou, you perceive it in severaldifferent ways. But a womancan penetrate the layers.Women have this power ofretaining a lot as we are nurtur-ers by nature. We nurture peo-ple, situations and relation-ships. So our understanding islayered and that depth comesthrough in our interpretation ofstories. Therefore, for a womanto direct this play was quiteimportant as when a fight isgoing on — when somebody isshouting or complaining, actingsmart or sarcastic a woman willnot react immediately as aninherent feature of a woman isto always listen and astute thethought in her mind. She will goover the thing very fast in hermind, will then come to a con-clusion and open her mouth. Soa woman director is very essen-tial when directing a sensitivepiece. She can add so many lay-ers to it as she herself must havegone through this kind of expe-riences, a fight or problem inlife. She also knows how to keepeveryone together, work in har-mony and take care of the peo-ple she’s working with. She willnot be a harsh critic and con-vey things in a way which willnot hurt you. In the end, she willmake it look all sensible.”

We are constantly asking ourselves, firstand foremost, what is the most

(messed) up thing we can do next week?”he said in a 2014 interview with TheAssociated Press. Maybe, for AnthonyBourdain’s fans, his suicide was just it.

The American TV celebrity and foodwriter Anthony Bourdain was found deadin his hotel room in France while workingon his CNN series on culinary traditionsaround the world. He was 61.

CNN confirmed the death, saying in astatement that Bourdain was found unre-sponsive Friday morning by friend and chefEric Ripert in the French city of Strasbourg.It called his death a suicide.

Bourdain achieved celebrity status afterthe publication in 2000 of his best-sellingbook Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in theCulinary Underbelly. The book created asensation by combining frank details of hislife and career with behind-the-scenesobservations on the culinary industry. It wasa rare crossover — a book intended for pro-fessional cooks that had enormous massappeal.

Bourdain went on to achieve wide-spread fame thanks to his CNN series PartsUnknown — and was filming an upcomingsegment for the program when he wasfound dead, according to CNN.

“His love of great adventure, newfriends, fine food and drink and theremarkable stories of the world made hima unique storyteller. His talents neverceased to amaze us and we will miss himvery much,” CNN said.

And this is reflected in an old video ofhis conversation with Indian film actorMammootty, who is known for his work inMalayalam films, which has surfaced on theInternet, where the former is trying to delvedeeper into Indian movies.

Strasbourg police, emergency servicesand regional authorities did not immedi-ately have information about the death andBourdain’s assistant Laurie Woolever wouldnot comment.

Chefs, fans and US President DonaldTrump were among those stunned and sad-dened by the news. “I want to extend to hisfamily my heartfelt condolences,” Trumpsaid.

Bourdain was twice divorced and hasa daughter from his second marriage.

Bourdain’s death drew new attention tocelebrity suicides. It came three days afterfashion designer Kate Spade died of appar-ent suicide in her Park Avenue apartmentin New York. Spade’s husband and businesspartner said the 55-year-old business mogulhad suffered from depression and anxietyfor many years.

Bourdain’s Parts Unknown seemed likean odd choice for CNN when it started in2013 — part travelogue, part history lesson,part love letter to exotic foods. Each trip wasan adventure. There had been nothing quitelike it on the staid news network, and itbecame an immediate hit.

He mixed a coarseness and whimsicalsense of adventurousness, true to the rock‘n’ roll music he loved.

Besides showcasing food, a PartsUnknown trip to Japan in the series’ first sea-son included an odd show with robots andscantily clad women, a visit with a deathmetal band and a meal shared with awoman involved in the city’s sadomachis-tic community.

In 2017, he sat down for some bun cha

in Hanoi, Vietnam, with President BarackObama.

Bourdain was reluctant to analyse whyhis series succeeded.

“If you think about who the audienceis and what their expectations might be, Ithink that’s the road to badness and medi-ocrity,” he said. “You go out there and showthe best story you can as best you can. If it’sinteresting to you, hopefully it’s interestingto others. If you don’t make television likethat, it’s pandering.”

The American chef, author and televi-sion personality was born in New York Cityand was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. Hehad written that his love of food began asa youth while on a family vacation inFrance, when he ate his first oyster.

Bourdain also mentioned his youth waspunctuated by drug use and he dropped outof Vassar College after two years.

Working in restaurants led him to theCulinary Institute of America, where hegraduated in 1978, and began working inkitchens in New York City. He became exec-utive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in 1998.

In the preface to the latest editionKitchen Confidential, Bourdain wrote of hisshock at the success off his book, which hewrote by getting up at 5 am in the morn-ing to steal a couple of hours at the com-puter before appearing at the saute stationfor lunch.

He said he never intended to write anexpose or to “rip the lid off the restaurantbusiness.” He said he liked the restaurantbusiness the way it was.

“What I set out to do was write a bookthat my fellow cooks would find entertain-ing and true,” he said. “I wanted it to soundlike me talking at say ... ten o’clock on aSaturday night, after a busy dinner rush, meand a few cooks hanging around in thekitchen, knocking back a few beers and talk-ing.”

Bourdain said he really had no idea thatanyone outside the world of chefs wouldeven pay attention to his comments.

“The new celebrity chef culture is aremarkable and admittedly annoying phe-nomenon. While it’s been nothing but goodfor business — and for me personally —many of us in the life can’t help snickeringabout it,” he wrote. “Of all the professions,after all, few people are less suited to be sud-denly thrown into the public eye than chefs.”

F.%

� �� 12�$�#��

��'8��#�#��#'#+#��$'

')A))B�")A" �� ,�$��5"'"5) �?)

��/)($2)=320�+/-) #�� "$��!��"/��

!��"��

� ��/'$*/)-10�/� �� !�� !� �� #�� 9��

�2�($�%$/(' 6""%�.81�6G1�.*��#==A)�)4)�� ,�$��?+) A)"

E�� "��'�� &� �� '�� E��#�� &�� &��

��A+��H#� ��IL��B��L��'�� ?B��B�%��!��B�%��!��L�(��! #��L��( �� L��! #��'�� L�� ! #��AB�� !��A��2��

L��+��! �� ?��!��H��I

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

1/(�-1/-1/,/1/�-

LANZINI OUT OF WORLD CUP5 �� *��$��;�/��,��6��#��* ��!��'!��/�� ":��,��6�� ;�� !�� :�� #� ��(#��"(��?B&��& ��#� ��#�� ,��! �� #��!�� "$�� #� �/�� . ��'��!� ��#� �� ,��6�� !"/��;�� '�� * ��!"/��#��%� �!+�� -�� )��"

FRED INJURED IN TRAINING�� #� �� (��;� !�� ;��! ��#�� "(��#��0��!�� !�� ;�"$�#��#�� ":-�� #�� #�� !��C�?F� ��:3��6�� !�� ,�� ;�� ":$��# �� "2�'��#�#�� ##��#�� C�� ":3��6��;��# &#��!��, �� #�� /�� "

GHANA RISKS FIFA BAN �� %��!�� ?�?�* ��!� �� - /�� (�� :#��!��:� ��!�� "(�� !�� !��#� �� - /� ��"%��#��C!�� #/�� C�*�� #�� * ��!�� 0��'��C�� "(��%�� C! ��:#��!�� !�� :��%�� /�� "

PORTUGAL BEATS ALGERIA 3-0��5��*�� L&�#�� /��#��!�� * ��!"� �� #� ��;�!�� !� ��,�� ! �� ;� ��'�� ,��"$�� #�� DB��"� �� !�� A@��#�� % �� %��&!��3�� '��"3�� LD��#�� &��"

KOREA HELD BY BOLIVIA��5�#��' ��1 ��#��3 �� #��* ��!#��! �(��"' ��1 �� ! �� #��' �$��&��#� #�� "��.��$��&� �#� ��# !�� #�� '��(��&� �� F&F&?� �� C!��"' ��1 ��#��!�� '�� "-�#��#�� 3 ��#�� 5�� * ��!"

UK CONCERNED OVER SAFETY��(�� !�� C�� #��3��/�� H3/��I�� * ��!�� !�� "/��A��C!�� #��&#� ��#��3��(�� !��&��#��! �� #��'�%� ��!��" ��#�� !��9 � ��#�� ;� !��(�� .��A@�� %�� *��H* ��*��--I�� ! �� "�� #�� ?�A�� !��!� ��!�" ��

�%8��$I $#�5��!��#'��'�'��""

*1.�28"�DD8�11/6�$$�D8"�00DD15 .�� (��-��H7��I��(��

�/��0'�/'$ 2�+ ��,'$-' -)�� 2��/)�� 2�

�)%,/)+/%/-)'(�2'(/�-�/�/�� 2��,/=-)%-)

/�2��,/R�+�/))��

$/E/�++�'��/(� 2�3�,%-0�(2,-9�0�(2�R��(/(-2)'/)+)2(0)+��/�$-�9�,-1��)%,-'$M%2,+�)%�)��/(-2)4

%/��($'20($%/(�'/='+/))=�2'�$/'($� 0,,'0��2�(2 $-'�)%,/)+

(�/�&�/(�'/�20)+�2(�)(-/,�/�-'�/(*�

�2�(0%/,�2/�$ ��)/)+2'/)(2''/-+($��0�2��/)�$/��-2)'$/9��,�)(=2

�22� 2�-��29��)($�/+-)%-)(2($�(20�)�=

��'��(��)*��+,�-./084

/ : � � � � . - + 2 1 : , � > : . � � $ A

1 : / ! � / � 1 9 � � 8 - � / � � 1 � / / : . ! � / ? � / � + 1 � / / : .

�� 2'�2*

For many fans of food and foot-ball, a World Cup in Russia isunfamiliar territory. Russian cui-

sine has a reputation for being stodgy,unimaginative fare. While that mayhave been true for many in the daysof Soviet supply shortages, a new gen-eration of Russians in the WorldCup's host cities mix together influ-ences from across Europe and Asia.

Russia's imperial past also makesit a great place to encounter unfamil-iar dishes from neighboring countrieslike Georgia's spicy stews or CentralAsia's hearty rice-and-lamb concoc-tions.

Here's a look at what you can eatin Russia:

SANCTIONSRussia's food scene was shaken in

2014 when the government bannedthe import of most foodstuffs from theEuropean Union and the UnitedStates. That was in response to inter-national sanctions against Russia overits annexation of Crimea fromUkraine.

That's driven up prices for someingredients, particularly fruit anddairy products, but also stimulated arevival of Russia's agricultural sector.Cheesemaker Oleg Sirota wants to usethe World Cup to sell his tilsiter,parmesan and gouda from his cream-ery near Moscow.

“We will be testing our cheese onfootball fans who are coming to theWorld Cup. There will be lots of them,the French national team will bestaying two kilometers (1.25 miles)away from us," he told the AssociatedPress.

"I hope that even the most sophis-ticated clients won't tell our cheesefrom European ones.” Sanctions alsomean top-end restaurants, particularlyin Moscow, have started reimaginingobscure Russian dishes, working withmeats like boar, venison and even bear.

TRADITIONIn a country with a cold climate,

Russian food is big on what you mightthink of as winter ingredients - cab-bage and root vegetables - and piesfilled with beef, potato or fish. Thebeetroot soup known as borscht isactually a traditionally Polish andUkrainian dish, but expect to find itall over Russia. Another soup, shchi,is more traditionally Russian.

Don't be put off by the intimi-dating name - pronounced "shi" witha soft "sh". Cabbage is the one constantingredient, but beef, onion and mush-room can be added.

In traditionally Muslim Kazan,expect to find local delicacies such asechpochmak, triangular lambdumplings like samosas which are thelocal snack food.

THE TWISTRussia's traditionally gone easy on

seasoning because of the high cost ofspices in earlier eras, but that's start-ing to change.

While you might still see a menuwhich flags dishes up as "spicy" if theycontain so much as a little paprika,

restaurants are starting to experimentwith a little more spice.

Still, chili sauce definitely isn't astandard condiment and some dish-es may seem a little bland to fans ofMexican or South Asian food.

For a reserve option, most bigRussian cities have other options likeItalian or sushi restaurants, or aEuropean-style gastropub withgourmet burgers and craft beer.THE SNACK

After a thirsty day at the game,what do you eat along with your beer?Ever since the Soviet era, Russians gocrazy for beer snacks, typically driedfish and seafood. Some of the bestselections are in Volga River cities likeSamara, Volgograd and Kazan - all ofwhich are hosting World Cup games.

Potato chips and beef jerky havegained popularity too in recentdecades.

ROYAL EATSJust like the British Empire

absorbed food influences from India,the Caribbean and Africa, so Russia'simperial past has introduced its citi-zen's taste buds to new flavours. TheSouth Caucasus countries of Georgia,

Armenia and Azerbaijan specialize inspice, along with juicy meat-filleddumplings and succulent grilled meatknown as shashlyk. Each countryhas its own specialties and the dias-poras mean numerous restaurantsacross the host cities.

Central Asian cultures likeUzbekistan introduced Russians to thejuicy, greasy lamb-and-rice stew thatis plov, now a firm favorite. Moscowhas some more unusual options likehuge, kimchi-stuffed Korean-styledumplings from the Far East calledpyan-se, and Mongolian restaurantsspecializing in quality organic lamb.

THE CULTURERussian restaurant service has

improved hugely in recent years, witha greater focus on the customer.Don't expect staff to check in regularlyduring a meal — Russians prefer to eatand chat in peace. Moscow and St.Petersburg prices will be comparableto other European capitals, a reflectionof higher rents and wages, but inprovincial cities like Saransk a maincourse at a restaurant could easilycome in below $10.

One quirk of Russian restauran-

teurs - they prefer printing a few elab-orate, leather-bound menus over agreater number of simpler ones. Don'tbe surprised if you're left waiting to seea menu when you arrive.

RAISE A GLASSVodka's definitely still popular in

Russia, especially for ritual toasts atcelebrations like weddings - wheneveryone's expected to down a shot inone. Still, there's more to the drinkscene.

South-western Russia produces alot of wine, though many Russiansfavor sweet or fortified reds which canbe a little unusual to Westerndrinkers. Varieties from Georgia likethe saperavi red or rkatsiteli whiteoffer something dry with a littlemore depth.

When the ruble plunged in 2014,it sent the price of imported beer soar-ing and gave a jolt to Russia's nascentcraft beer industry. Most big citiesnow have two or three brewerieschurning out citrusy IPAs and coffeestouts. Non-alcoholic options includemors, a traditional drink made fromcranberries offering a characteristicsweet-and-sour experience.

Germany coach JoachimLoew is brimming withconfidence just over tendays before what he callsthe country's "golden

generation" begins its World Cupdefense against Mexico.

"I have a very good feeling,"Loew said at the team's trainingcamp in South Tyrol, Italy. "I don'tknow what will happen with this gold-en generation after the tournament.It's possible there will be a break-up.But all the players are on fire for theWorld Cup."

Germany is one of the favorites inRussia despite the retirements ofPhilipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteigerand Miroslav Klose since winning thetournament in Brazil four years ago.

Players like Toni Kroos, SamiKhedira, Mats Hummels and ThomasMueller have grown into leading fig-ures with the side, which wrapped upqualification with 10 wins from 10games and 43 goals, a record numberof goals for a European team in qual-ifying.

Now they are charged withattempting to make Germany the firstteam to retain the title since Brazil in1962.

"I don't have to coax new cravingor new enthusiasm from the players,"Loew said in comments reported bynews agency dpa. "The craving andambition are still there, even amongthose who became world champions."

Germany's only worries concernthe fitness of captain Manuel Neuer,defender Jerome Boateng and mid-fielder Mesut Ozil. Neuer hasn'tplayed since September with a hair-line fracture in his left foot after beinginjured in training. Boateng is stillrecovering from a thigh injury sus-tained in the Champions Leaguesemifinals. Ozil missed Arsenal's last

few games of the season with backproblems.

Team doctor Hans-WilhelmMueller-Wohlfahrt gave Ozil the greenlight to start training with the team andhe was to decide on Saturday ifBoateng should stay in Munich for fur-ther treatment or join the squad.

"We don't want to make any mis-takes," Loew said of Boateng. "I thinkhe'll be able to at least take part in someteam training next week."

Neuer, too, is being given everychance to prove his fitness. Loewnamed four goalkeepers in his 27-manpreliminary squad and was hoping thatthe 32-year-old Neuer won't be the onesent home before FIFA's June 4 dead-line for final squads to be submitted.

"He can tolerate all the strains,even the most strenuous strains likejumping," Loew said. "If he has the feel-ing he can perform at 100 percent hecan be at the World Cup."

Barcelona's Marc-Andre ter Stegenwill keep the No 1 spot if Neuer does-n't get recover fully before match.

Ter Stegen joined the rest of thesquad on Friday, along with Bayern'sHummels, Mueller, Joshua Kimmichand Niklas Suele, as well as Chelseadefender Antonio Ruediger.

"It's clear to everyone that thetraining camp is to get the requiredstrength and power for the tourna-ment. The fuel has to be there," saidLoew, who also hopes it boosts teamspirit. "Everyone has to know that heis just a puzzle piece for success.Nobody can be world champion ontheir own."

Loew recently signed a contractextension through the next World Cupin Qatar in 2022. The 58-year-old for-mer assistant coach took over after the2006 World Cup and has led Germanyto the semifinal stage or further inevery major tournament since.

MOTION PICTURE

MOTION PICTURE

9� ��C��

��8��"�� 9��(��((��(��(��(��(��*��

MUSCOB TES

C>��D ��*��! 1 2 � : .

?2>?��-2$/�(��C!�� !�� * ��!HA��I�� HA?FI �� ( ��1� ��'��1��$��(� �� #�� #��1� �� !��#��?�AF* ��!&#��!�� -��)�� !��R-�(��'�� !�(� �� * ��!��#�� A� ��# �� 1� ��4�� #��,� ��'��4�� #��(�� *�� % ��6��!��

1-*��-2$/�� #�� !��)��.�� 3 ��26�� !!,��3��'��#�� 1� ��

/��/2�F&?&L&A

%��(��1�� )�H��I�� D��*��

��#��F5� G��H ��?B��O��#5��3�� H'!��+�� I

��#5�� 12+I6+,�� AB �� @ �� ?D

�� J��$�5�.��#��K# �� F ��? �� AL� �� #� ��@BS� ��02$�#��F�"@?

$)A1�"A�'3=�+"��(=

MIDFIELDERS TO WATCH OUT FOR

�� C��7� � ��/�� (��?�&�� '!�� !�� #�� #�� !� �� #�� -�� !�� '!��

�� ,� � ��;� ��#�� !�� ! ��:(��T�� U:��:�� ":

� �� /� �� (�� L?&�� #� !�� #�� !�� '!�� "'�� A&� � � �� AB ) ��?��" $� �� C�� #�� #�� # �� ! �� !�� !�� "

� ��$��/� 5� G�� (�� ?�&�� 3��6�� 3��6�� AF'�!��?�AA��&��#��/��"$�#��

AK �� " '�� C�� !�� !�� !� �� "

$��#��G��/��$ ��26�� ) �#�� AA �� ?��K" $� �� !!�� ' �� /��" 26�� !�� #��

��!�� #�� !��"

��5�� #�/�#�#�# ��,��0��?�&�� #�� .�� 2�� (��6 � � �� ;��!� �� * �� ! 5�� 9��6�� 3 �� 2�� " $��!�� 3�� # !�� &� ��0��5��"

�#� �$��/� �� (�� L?&�� N #� �� !�� N ��5�� #��!�� #�� !� �� C�� 4 ��"(��

��!�� !� ��!�� !�� !��"

�� /� ��$ ��(�� ?�&�� +�� #� ��#��( �� $ ��!�� ,�� #�� !�� ?�A� - /* ��!��' ��/��"��#��#�� !�� * �� !�� !�� "

.�� /� 5� G�� (�� 3��6�� N �� 3��6�� N �� #N� �� !��

�� "2�� #� �� C!�� "

MUSCOB TES

0�0%0/=+� �)+��.2'��/�-/%-��)�E'/='$�-'

'2,�,= 2�0'�+2)($�*2�,+�0�V'$2*+2*)

/%/-)'(�%=�(

($�*�-)�0''-/*-,,3�-��,/)+;' -�'(/ (��($�='$2�1�+01�/-)��2/(-/�/)+(0�1�=(2(2�($�-�%�20�

3�,%-0� /)'3��/($�'-%$2 ��,-� / (��+�)

$/E/�+�2) -��'1)��-).0�=-'.0'(/�-)2�

1)2�1

2��0'*2��)4'(�/�%2/,1��$2��'2,2'/=' - /'$20,+)2(92(�0)-(�+'(/(�'/'$2'(2 ?�?�*2�,+�0�

��'��(��)*��+,�-./085

,.8.�C��."2, 0286*1�D0�0286

The 26-year old Belgian isgifted with immensetechnique on

the ball, an eye fordefence-piercingball-distributionand world classability to senda ball rocket-ing fromlong rangesto unsettleeven the moststeadfast of goalkeep-ers. Under the tutelageof Pep Guardiola atManchester City, deBruyne seems to haveunleashed his fullpotential this season,and Belgium — whohave enough ammuni-tion on their offensivefront in the form ofEden Hazard andRomelu Lukaku — cansurely use some of thatintensity to cast animpressive spell inRussia. With hismachine gun-like shoot-ing power and an X-Rayvision that sees throughburly defences, de Bruynewill be seen racking goalsand chiming assists for histeammates in Russia.

“Perhaps, the archetype of the modernattacking midfielder." Such were thewords of British writer Jonathan

Wilson when he gave an account of ToniKroos, and the statement typifies the generalopinion that surrounds the German, whoplayed a crucial role in Die Mannschaft'sWorld Cup winning campaign four years agoin Brazil. Kroos has certainly proved himselfas a master of all trades with the diverse roleshe offers to his side. These include those of acentral, deep-lying playmaker, and eventhose of a defensive midfielder which hereadily serves on the platter owing to hishigh ball-retention quality and his ability tobreak up play. With a piercing vision Krooscan find a teammate in an optimal position

to score, and the 28-year-old German isalso likely to find the back of the net himselfif the opponent is careless enough to allow aloose ball stroll to his feet by the edge of thepenalty box.

(� �� #� ��! �� "�-2)��'�2�(�� !�� !�� * ��!

1/6�2��4*2D82*1

First and foremost, Iniesta is timeless, and although the illusionist has casthis final spell at the Spanish top division to seek milder adventures inChina, he still remains the first to be mentioned when the discourse is on

the best midfielders who are bound to Russia this summer. This World Cup isgoing to be the swansong for the Spanish magician, and as long as he dons thecolours of La Roja on Russian soil, most players will simply have to play secondfiddle to his prowess. Just like he united all of Spain with the decisive goal in theWorld Cup final 8 years ago, Iniesta connects and pulls the strings of the Spanishformation on the pitch and shows up precisely when he needs to.

�� F�� H�� LF��O��#5� 3�� H'!��+�� I

�� J�#�� .��#�K# �� ? ��

� �� #� ��KAS�� #� ��DBS

.��#��?�A�*2�,+�0�*-))��*-($'�/-)*$��$�'�2��+($�+��-'-9�%2/,-)�R(�/(-��2 ($� -)/,/%/-)'(($�)�($��,/)+'

With thedist inc-

tive Brazilianmagic on his feet, whichthis season he has sprinkledpartly at Merseyside andpartly by the Mediterraneanshore of Catalonia, the 25-yearold Coutinho now sets his eyeson football's biggest event inRussia. He can break throughdefences — ball on feet — withblistering pace that almost mimicslightning, weave circles arounddefenders, wrong-footing mostof them, find a teammate evenacross complex rival formationsand — as a cherry on top —sned sweet letters of love tothe backof the net from bothlong and short range efforts.A shimmy of the hip, amomentary drop of theshoulder, a sublime turnand before you know it,the ball has already begunits graceful sojournthrough the air to send rip-ples through the net — a picture thatmight become all too familiar this yearin Russia.

��5�#��F5��#$H ��?��O��#5��H��,��I

��#5�� 12+I6+,� ��A? �� A@ �� B?

�� J�#�� .��#��K# �� L� �� #� �� @FS �� D

.��#��12+"�J�� AO �� ?O �� F��/�$�+G0/�(�� -)/,'*-($3�,%-0�

%.,6�*6116��F��$ �H� ��?@��O�,03<��H'!��+�� I

��#5�� 12+I6+,�� B �� @ �� F�

�� J#�� .��#�K# �� A

��A �� DO� �� #� ��KFS

.��#��12+"*2�,+�0�*-))��*-($%��/)=� ��?� ��F� �� D

� #��5 �F�� H� �� ?B��O��#5��0��H��,��I

��#5�� 12+I6+,�� A? �� L�

�� J#�� .��#��K# �� ? �� D

.��#��12+"<� ��< A �� A �� BO��/�$�+G0/�(�� -)/,'*-($ �/)��

0�C28"�0�68,/�.8

Much of the general opinion on theFrenchman who plays for ManchesterUnited is divided, but there remains

little doubt that Paul Pogba is bound to deliv-er crucial contributions to Les Bleus' run at theWorld Cup. The 25-year old is quite the play-maker a side needs and can also displayglimpses of a lethal goal scorer if and whenneeded. On the defensive front, the midfield-er, who can usually be seen playing a centralrole, can also provide his services both as aholding midfielder and an attacking midfielderwith a good ability to retain ball possession forhis side and excelling in the art of winning aer-ial duels along with the bravado it requiresto venture forward and break the rivals'defensive formations — something that cancome in handy for Deschamps’ side that willhave an in-form Antoine Greizmann up

front waiting with unrestrained antici-pation to combine and connect with any

ball driven forward through theopponents’ defences.

�2"/1*�$$2��""42+6�CCD4�//D�65��.�� (��(�� (��J3��020.�$��,��

��

MOTION PICTURE

��'��(��) '�*��+,�-./0 -DF)�?��"�� &�� ' �)�'��A�� #��'�� FG�1�!�� '��

- / ? : . � � � � � ��1��. �� 9��#�� /�� '��1�� /�� C) �#�� "-�� -�� #�� C��#��#�� #"3�� 0��'��!�� -�� " $�� & !�� /�� !�� *�� ' � #�� #�� ! ��" *�� /�� $�� )�� ! � �F"B! ��!��"

G�� #5�� )�# E�� # ��;� �� ! �� 2��&�� FK� � � � �� -��-��+��#��!!��'�6��3�� #��ABA&�� "(�� ! ��;*�� ;��2+-��;��" -��;�� 2+- �� FFF � � �� /�� ?�A� ��) ��"*�� )�#E��# �� #�?A&�� # �� FBB� �� .��AKKD" -�;� �� F��&!�� # ��;�2+-�"

�� $#�.�� 5�#5 ��. �� (�� % !��3�� H�%� I � ��20#��% �� 2��#�� "(�� 0#��#��'! �� = �� '�� +�!�� % !�� 3�� '�� !�� )��'! ��'��3��% !��":-�� #��% ��2�2��#�� ! !� ��# �� : % !�� " (�� 3�� ! ��-��#��!��#�� !!��'�� )��#�� 9 '�� #�� " :(�� 2��#��! ��!�� !��#�� !� � �� : ��"

�� .�� #�� G�� .�� # �� % �� -��;�� /��.�� /��!� ��!�� " �� -�� 3� �6�� -�� # % �� '�� 3� �6�" .�� !�� '�� !�� D"KK��3� �6�� D"FD�"'��#� �� @�� ! �� #��-��;�% �� *%�� !!�� *%" ��

� ) * + � � �

��0�3/-

India's chief coach Stephen Constantinehas blamed "individual errors" as the

reason behind the hosts' 1-2 defeatagainst New Zealand in theIntercontinental Cup football tourna-ment here.

The Sunil Chhetri-led India scoredresounding 5-0 and 3-0 wins overChinese Taipei and Kenya before pro-ducing a below-par performance toslump to its first defeat in the tournamenton Thursday.

And Constantine said silly individ-ual errors cost India the match.

"Look, whenever you win two games5-0, 3-0, maybe you get a little-bit car-ried away. New Zealand were a youngand disciplined side, they played quitewell. We made some mistakes. We did-n't start off as we did in the previous twogames. We scored first and we let two sillygoals in. Individual errors cost us today,"the coach told reporters on Thursday.

"This is part of the learning process.We are not going to beat every team 3-0."

The Englishman made as many asseven changes to India's starting line-upon Friday and he said it was pre-plannedafter the hosts had registered two con-vincing wins on the trot.

"It (making seven changes) wasalways going to happen, because we are

using this tournament to prepare for theAsian Cup. We were always going tochange the team. Obviously we didn't getthe result we wanted, but it was impor-tant that the youngsters got the oppor-tunity to play," Constantine said.

New Zealand scored a come-from-behind win after skipper Chhetri hadgiven India the lead in one of the mostbizarre ways immediately after theresumption of second half.

"We are going to find these playersand this is why we use these games. OnThursday some players didn't take thisopportunity to put themselves in thespotlight," Constantine said.

"We knew that we were in the finals,unless we lost 4 or 5-0 to New Zealand,that was not going to happen. It is notthe end of the world, we are into the finaland job done after the first two games.We got the first six points (and) can't askfor more," he added.

Meanwhile, Kiwi coach Fritz Schmidsaid he was proud of the performance ofhis boys.

"It's of course a fantastic feeling andI can say that the boys must be proud oftheir performance. Looking at our per-formance and the way we played on thepitch, I must say the team did a great job,"Schmid said.

�� 3�)%/,0�0

An upbeat India captain PR Sreejesh feelsthe men's Hockey team has the calibre to

finish on top in the last edition of the presti-gious FIH Champions Trophy to be held inBreda, Netherlands from June 23 to July 1.

Back to full fitness after recovering frommedial collateral ligament (MCL) injury, saidthe Champions Trophy provides India the bestchance to judge its potential ahead of the sea-son-ending World Cup.

"We have a good team balance with expe-rience and youth. Our preparations have beenearnest and the team certainly has the cali-bre to finish on top provided we play our A-game and not make silly mistakes and lose outon scoring opportunities," Sreejesh said.

"This is the best chance to see where westand against top teams in the world beforethe men's World Cup in Bhubaneswar inNovember-December and we need to makethis opportunity count," he added.

The Indian team's inefficiency in con-verting field goals despite improved circle pen-etrations cost it a medal in the Gold CoastCommonwealth Games and chief coachHarendra Singh has taken note of it and isworking hard on rectifying the error.

"We have paid a lot of attention to thepositioning of forwards in the striking circle.

The chief coach has not just drawn out theposition chart for the strikers and explainedin theory, but has also walked them throughthe positioning to ensure they don't repeat themistakes made at 2018 CWG because ofwhich we missed out on scoring critical goals,"Sreejesh said.

After the 18-member national squad wasannounced last week, the Indian team underHarendra has upped the ante, knowing wellthat world's top teams, including Olympicchampions Argentina, reigning world cham-pion Australia, world no 3 Belgium, hostsNetherlands will be fighting for top honoursat the Champions Trophy.

India will begin their campaign in theChampions Trophy against arch-rivalsPakistan on June 23.

�� )�*+�,$-

In a "good head space" after animpressive performance in the

Indian Premier League, speedsterUmesh Yadav is gearing up for the gru-elling international season ahead withfocus on "single stump training" on theadvice of Ashish Nehra.

"We all know the depth of AshishNehra's (RCB bowling coach) knowl-edge when it comes to fast bowling.During this year's IPL, I was able tospend quality time with Ashish paaji.He has given me a lot of technical sug-gestions during the course of the tour-nament. Even during IPL, I would pickhis brains about the red ball seasonahead," Yadav said in an interview justafter the conclusion of IPL.

"Ashish paaji told me that duringthe spare time after IPL, I should dosingle stump bowling to increase myaccuracy and consistency. I was toldto practise 'single wicket bowling'with both SG Test and Dukes keepingin mind the season ahead. His (Nehra)tip is to put one off-stump and main-tain the channel," the 30-year-oldYadav said.

How much Nehra's influence has

been on Yadav was evident when hewas asked about the spell against KingsXI Punjab where he got MayankAgarwal, Aaron Finch and YuvrajSingh in an over.

This year's IPL has been a stand-out one for Yadav, who got 20 wick-ets from 14 games and worked upscorching pace in some of his spells.

"Any performer is happy when hesuccessfully executes his plans. I amreally happy with my performance inthe IPL. It was unfortunate that wecould not make it to the play-offs butit was one of my best IPL seasons. Virathad one clear instruction for me. Gofor the kill. He told me 'get me thewickets and do not bother about get-ting hit'. I did as my skipper told me."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and JaspritBumrah are now ahead in the peck-ing order for the first team spots butYadav is not unduly perturbed as hecalls it a "headache of the team man-agement".

"We are five pacers - Bhuvi,Bumrah, Shami, Ishant and myself. Soit's a happy headache for the teammanagement - the coach and the cap-tain to pick the best amongst us. I ampersonally in a very good head spaceafter IPL. My job is to be ready andcaptain and the head coach havetheir job.

"We are a close-knit group andeven when Bhuvi or Jassi do well, I amproud of their achievements. My jobis to be battle ready for the seasonahead and I am doing just that," con-cluded Yadav.

�� )�*+�,$-

Afghanistan spinners Rashid Khan,Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman

have made remarkable improvements in the ICCT20I Player Rankings after playing important partsin a 3-0 defeat of Bangladesh in their series inDehradun that ended on Thursday.

Rashid Khan, 19, has consolidated his posi-tion at the top after his player of the series effortof 12 wickets. He has gained 54 points to finishwith 813 points, 80 more than second-placedShadab Khan of Pakistan. Rashid, who was namedICC's Associate Player of the Year for 2017,touched a career-high rating of 816 points aftera haul of four for 12 in the second match.

Nabi has gained 11 spots and reached a career-best eighth rank after taking four wickets andMujeeb has jumped 62 slots to 51st place in thelatest update, which also takes into account theT20I between the Windies and the ICC World XIplayed at Lord's on 31 May.

Afghanistan all-rounder Samiullah Shenwari,who top-scored in the series with 118 runs, hasgained 11 spots to reach 44th position among bats-men while the Bangladesh batsmen to advanceinclude Mahmudullah (up four places to 33rd) andMushfiqur Rahim (up three places to 41st).

Among others to improve their rankings areWindies' Evin Lewis (up one place to fifthamong batsmen), Kesrick Williams (up fivespots to 41st among bowlers) and Sri Lanka all-

rounder Thisara Perera (up three places to 38thamong batsmen).

There has been no change of places in the ICCT20I Team Rankings with Afghanistan andBangladesh retaining their eighth and 10th posi-tions, respectively. Afghanistan though havegained four points to reach 91 points whileBangladesh have lost five and are on 70, only fourmore than Scotland, who can overtake them inan upcoming two-match series against top-ranked Pakistan on 12 and 13 June.

=�'��3�'��'1�'�� /�� '1��'� '%�4'!��>�/�

.�+��/?2:��!:/�+2$�1�!?-*�-*$��2/��'��'1��/��/'��1��'� '/1��-�1'/�1/'1�'��'�� ;'��'� 1��/'�� '��

" ��0 ��

#2�� !! ��

�� /�-'

Sloane Stephens entersSaturday's French Open final

against No 1 Simona Halep witha 6-0 record in tournament titlematches.

"I'm pretty calm on the courtall the time, I'd say. I don't get tooup, too down," Stephens said. "Ithink that it has helped me."

Halep, meanwhile, is 0-3 witha Grand Slam trophy at stake.

"Hopefully," Halep said,"Saturday, I will be better than pre-vious ones."

Here's something the womenwho meet for the championship atRoland Garros do have in com-mon: They rarely seem to let apoint end quickly. Halep, a 26-year-old Romanian, and the 10th-seeded Stephens, a 25-year-oldAmerican, are among the bestthere is right now at using instinctand speed to track down tough-to-reach shots and force oppo-nents to hit another.

And that's not to say they'remerely content to push balls back.Both have learned to pick the rightspots to be aggressive and are quitecapable of switching from retriev-er to attacker in a blink.

"They obviously both movereally well. It's going to be who canstay in the point the longest," saidMadison Keys, who lost toStephens in the French Opensemifinals Thursday and in the USOpen final last September.

"Both of them are similar in

the sense that if you can get themoff of the baseline, then you canopen up the court," Keys said. "Ithink if you try to go angles withthem, you're going to be the onethat's running - and not like it."

That matchup could makefor long, riveting exchanges.Neither finalist ever seems willingto concede she's out of a point.

Halep, 16-14 overall in tourfinals, has lost twice at that stageat the French Open, to MariaSharapova in 2014, then to JelenaOstapenko after leading by a setand 3-0 in the second a year ago.Her third defeat with a major titleon the line came against CarolineWozniacki at the Australian Openin January.

��

2�� %� *��(��

��;��(��

2��*��,��H�I��*��,�� (��

4 ��C��(��

�� /�-'

Ten-time champion Rafael Nadalreached his 11th French Openfinal on Friday when he demol-

ished Juan Martin del Potro instraight sets, setting up a title show-down with Dominic Thiem, the onlyman to defeat him on clay in the lasttwo years.

Nadal, a 16-time Grand Slamchampion, claimed his 85th win inParis against just two losses afterweathering a big-hitting openingfrom 2009 US Open winner DelPotro to win 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.

In his 24th Grand Slam final,Nadal will face Thiem who endedMarco Cecchinato's French Openfairytale, reaching his first major finalwith a 7-5, 7-6 (12/10), 6-1 victory.

Seventh seed Thiem is the firstAustrian to make a final at themajors since Thomas Muster waschampion in Paris in 1995.

"It was a very difficult first set andJuan Martin had lots of opportunities.He was a little unfortunate," saidNadal, who reeled off 14 of the last17 games, having seen Del Potro failto convert any of his seven breakpoints.

Nadal is now just the second manto reach 11 finals at the same Slam,equalling Roger Federer's mark atWimbledon.

"It's impossible without hardwork and going through toughmoments. You have to be focussedand keep your passion for the game.I never dreamed in 2005 when Iplayed my first final here that I wouldbe in another one."

Thiem is the only man to beatNadal on clay in the last two seasons- in Madrid this year and Rome in2017. But the Spaniard was impres-sive on Friday, finishing with 35 win-ners and 19 unforced errors to DelPotro's analysis of 20 and 32.

"Thiem is an amazing player. Hebeat me in Madrid, he has big powerso I have to be at my best andimprove," said Nadal.

"But I believe I will be ready forthe final." World number one Nadalwent into Friday's clash with a 9-5career record against Del Potro,including all three meetings on clay.

However, it was Del Potro whowas in the ascendancy in the ralliesin the first set. The fifth seed, play-ing in his first Roland Garros semi-final in nine years, had three breakpoints in the third game and threemore in the ninth.

However, the 29-year-old wasunable to capitalise and Nadal madehim pay in the 10th game when heclaimed the opener off a nettedbackhand.

Del Potro had required the doc-tor early in the first set after appear-ing to jar his ankle in the red clay. Hesuffered a worrying power cut in thesecond set, slipping to 5-0 down ona double break, wasting his seventhbreak point out of seven on the way.

Nadal tightened his grip, going to5-1 on another double break in thethird set and sealed the match whenDel Potro hit a backhand long.

World 72 Cecchinato hadknocked out three seeded players toreach the semi-finals, including 12-time major winner Novak Djokovicin the quarter-finals.

But Thiem, 24, was too strongand now believes he has a particularlypowerful weapon on his side for thefinal - breakfast.

"I need to regenerate and have agood breakfast to keep up my goodlevel. Full power on Sunday."

Thiem, who was playing in histhird successive French Open semi-final, admitted the second set hadbeen a nervy encounter after need-ing five set points to get through it.

"The big key was the second set,"

he said. It was a really close tiebreakand I didn't want that especially afterI missed an easy volley at 6/4. Thatwas not a nice feeling."

Cecchinato had never won aGrand Slam match before this year'sRoland Garros but made the semiswith a string of stunning wins.

He put out seeded players PabloCarreno Busta and David Goffinbefore the seismic shock of knockingout 2016 champion Djokovic in thequarter-finals.

"Today, all day, on PhilippeChatrier, the fans said 'Forza, Marco',so I think this is the best moment forme," said Cecchinato.

"Against Dominic Thiem, he istop 10, and today all the people werefor me."

#��.��#5��Unseeded Japanese pair Eri

Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya willtake on sixth-seeded Czech duoBarbora Krejcikova and KaterinaSiniakova in the French Openwomen's doubles final.

Both teams are through to thefinal at Roland Garros for the firsttime after securing uspet wins onCourt Suzanne Lenglen.

The Czech pair beat second-seeded Andrea Sestini Hlavackovaand Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-2.

Earlier, the Japanese duo won 6-2, 6-2 against Hao-Ching Chan ofTaiwan and Zhaoxuan Yang of China6-2, 6-2.

Earlier, Second-seeded OlivierMarach of Austria and Mate Pavic ofCroatia also made through to theFrench Open men's doubles final,beating 2016 champions FelicianoLopez and Marc Lopez of Spain 6-4,7-5.

Marach and Pavic are going fortheir second straight major titletogether after winning the AustralianOpen in January.

*��*��(�� (�� 1��

��(��8��(��7��+��%�� (�� "��0��

˝˙˛ˆ˚˜ ˘ ˆ ˘ˆˆ...according to a letter, writ-ten to the cm by governor ram naik, which...

Documents