CMYK

ND-ND

DELHI, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram • •

EMPOWER— Pages 17 & 18

SRINAGAR: Anger over the kill-ing of two schoolboys in Armyfiring on Monday eveningspilled over to the streets onTuesday with stone-throwingprotesters clashing with thepolice, forcing the authoritiesto clamp curfew in severalparts of downtown Srinagar.

In Nowgam, the home ofthe slain boys, clashes tookplace through the day.

Senior district administra-tion officials said curfew wasimposed in Khanyar, No-whatta, Mahraj Gunj, Rain-awari, Safakadal and Nowgamand there was palpable ten-sion throughout the city.

The two boys who diedwere identified as Faisal andMehrajuddin. Faisal wasstudying in class VII. He hadgone out in his father’s car tobuy curtains for the hallwhere the family was plan-ning a party on Sunday. “Fai-sal met his neighbourhoodfriends and all of them decid-ed to go to Chattargam for awhile to watch Marsiya(mourning on Muharram).

Then the Army killed him,”says Faisal’s cousin, JanMuzaffar.

According to one of theboys, who escaped unhurt,their car brushed against atipper truck on their way toChattargam and were afraidthat the driver would catchhold of them and beat themup. “They drove fast fearingthe tipper truck driver andmissed the Army signal tostop and they [the Army]killed them for it,” says Mo-

hammad Sami, a shopkeeperoutside Faisal’s home. “I sawhim when he left home andthen when they brought hisbody today, I couldn’t recog-nise him.”

Faisal’s brother, Faizan (9)could not understand why theArmy did not shoot at thetyres of the car if they wantedto stop the vehicle. “Why didthey shoot at the windows,”he wondered.

Defence Minister ArunJaitely said a fair inquirywould be held and action tak-en against those found guilty.

Curfew imposedin several partsof Srinagar

Zahid Rafiq

Kashmiris mourn thetwo boys who died in the firing at Nowgam,on Tuesday; FaisalMohamad, one of thevictims.— PHOTO: NISSAR AHMAD

Valley erupts in protestover deaths in Army firing

� SHUTDOWN TODAY | PAGE 10

Towards Security and Stabil-ity in Afghanistan,” tabled inthe U.S. Congress, the Penta-gon said, “Afghan-and-India-focused militants continue tooperate from Pakistan terri-tory to the detriment of Af-ghan and regional stability.

Pakistan uses these proxyforces to hedge against theloss of influence in Afghan-istan and to counter India’ssuperior military.”

“If the international com-munity is now acknowledg-ing the fact that terrorism

derives support from Pak, itssomething that we welcome,”Syed Akbaruddin, the officialspokesperson of Ministry ofExternal Affairs, said. “Weneed to focus on terrorism asan evil scourge against thewhole of mankind. We havealways held that the issue ofterrorism should not besegmented.”

The report hints that theterrorist attack on the Indianconsulate in Afghanistan inMay was timed to coincidewith Mr. Modi’s swearing-in.

(With additional reportingby Suhasini Haidar)

WASHINGTON: In an unusuallycandid report the Pentagonhas openly criticised Pakis-tan for using militant groupsas proxies in a war againstIndia, a step that could markgrowing strategic closenessbetween Washington andNew Delhi since Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi as-sumed office in May.

In its report on “Progress

Pentagon puts Pak. in the dockFor using militantgroups to counterIndia’s militaryNarayan Lakshman

� IN LINE WITH MODI'S REMARKS |PAGE 10

BHUBANESWAR: TheCentral Bureau ofInvestigation arrestedRamachandra Hansdah,Mayurbhanj MP from theBiju Janata Dal, onTuesday for his allegedinvolvement in a Ponzischeme here.

Two former MLAs,Subarna Naik (BJD) andHitesh Bagarti (BharatiyaJanata Party), were heldon similar chargesrelating to NabadigantaCapital Services PrivateLtd., in which the threewere directors. The CBIseized Rs. 28 lakh fromthe MP’s Rairangpurresidence on July 31.

The agency hasregistered 47 cases —three in West Bengal and44 in Odisha — in thealleged chit fund scam onSupreme Courtdirections.

The BJD suspended Mr.Hansdah and Mr. Naikfrom the party.

A few days ago, the CBIarrested Pravat Tripathy,a BJD MLA, for his allegedassociation with ArthaTatwa Group, which hadcheated thousands ofinvestors in the State.

CBI arrestsBJD MP inPonzi scamSatyasundar Barik

� RS. 100 CRORECOLLECTED FROM INVESTORS |PAGE 10

ENVOY MEETSFISHERMENPAGE 10

SETHUSAMUDRAM

Ram Sethu will not bedismantled: GadkariMANDAPAM:The Centrewill put anavigationsystem inplace in the Palk Bay asenvisaged in theSethusamudram Ship Channelproject without disturbing RamSethu, Union Minister for RoadTransport, Highways andShipping Nitin Gadkari said onTuesday. After making an aerialinspection of the project, Mr.Gadkari told a press conferencehere that the Ram Sethu wouldnot be dismantled.

NEWS | PAGE 10

NEW DELHI: Amid communaltension that has gripped differ-ent parts of the Capital, Muhar-ram was observed without anyincident on Tuesday. Unprece-dented security was in place inthe Trilokpuri and Bawana ar-eas of East and Outer Delhi thatrecently witnessed communaltension. Several companies ofthe Delhi Police and other para-military forces were deployedto thwart any untoward inci-dent.

The police also took addi-tional preventive measuresduring the procession. In Tri-lokpuri, the mourners were notallowed to carry weapons un-like the procession in Bawana.Also, the route was shortened atboth places. The policemen alsoused drones at both the placesto keep a tab on the securitysituation.

Both Trilokpuri and Bawana,have witnessed communal ten-sion in the recent days. Trilok-puri, in particular, was moresensitive as there was violenceand prohibitory orders had tobe imposed. On the other hand,in Bawana, the route of the Mu-harram processions itself hadbecome the bone of contentionbetween the two communities.

The Delhi Police, however,have managed to restore peace

in both the places. This was vis-ible at the time of processionsas well. While Trilokpuri sawHindus and Muslims taking outthe procession together, in Ba-wana Hindus extended theirsupport and maintained peacein the area.

An attempt to cause troublewas swiftly foiled by the policeas they detained a drunk mantrying to make provocativestatements about the Muslims.It was a policeman dressed inplain-clothes who noticed theman hurling expletives andalerted his colleagues.

But those living in the villag-es, who had called a Mahapan-chayat to oppose the Muharram

processions passing throughtheir areas, were not willing tosoften their stand on the issueand claimed the revised routewas a victory of sorts for them.

Earlier, too, a group of menfrom the villages had conducteda search in the resettlementcolony alleging that cow slaugh-ter was going on there.

At the receiving end were theMuslims of the resettlementcolony who said they were dis-appointed with the shortenedroute and feared that this wouldcontinue in the coming years aswell. “Do we have a choice?”asked one of them.

Muharram passes off peacefully Kritika Sharma andShubhomoy Sikdar

A drone watches over the Muharram procession inBawana on Tuesday. — PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY

� HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY | PAGE 3

NEW DELHI: Ending eightmonths of political uncertain-ty, the Union Cabinet onTuesday recommended disso-lution of the Delhi Assembly,paving the way for fresh elec-tions in the capital. Delhi hasbeen under President’s rulesince February this year.

The Cabinet meeting,chaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, gave its nodto Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung’srecommendation to dissolvethe 70-member House.

In his report to PresidentPranab Mukherjee, the L-G isreported to have mentionedthat all three major parties —the BJP, the Congress and theAam Aadmi Party — had ex-pressed their inability to formthe government because oflack of numbers.

The party leaders said thatthey were ready for fresh elec-tions. The Cabinet’s decisionwill now be referred to thePresident, who will dissolvethe Assembly. Following thedissolution, the ElectionCommission is expected toscrap the November 25 by-elections to three Assemblyseats in Delhi and order freshelections. Polls will have to beheld before February whenPresident’s rule ends.

Quick to attack the AAP,BJP leader Jagdish Mukhiblamed the former Chief Min-ister, Arvind Kejriwal, for“foisting” elections on Delhiby “running away” from gov-

ernment. “However, we areready for elections.”

“Delhi has won, the BJP haslost,” retorted Mr. Kejriwal,whose party has moved theSupreme Court, seeking freshelections. He said the BJP wasavoiding elections becausethe party was devoid of lead-ers in Delhi. “Modiji is thePrime Minister. He cannot bethe Chief Minister of Delhi,”he told reporters. With cor-

ruption as the plank, the AAPhad won 28 seats in the De-cember 2013 elections. TheBJP had won 31 seats whilethe Congress got a poor thirdwith eight seats. President’srule was imposed after theAAP, which formed the gov-ernment with the outsidesupport of the Congress, quitafter 49 days.

Gargi Parsai

AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal arrives forthe press meet at the Constitution Club on Tuesday.– PHOTO: PRASHANT NAKWE

Cabinet clears dissolution of Delhi Assembly

� “BJP HAD NO CHOICE”| PAGE 5

NEW DELHI: It isn’t just theLok Sabha where Muslimrepresentation has fallento an all-time low, Muslimrepresentation in State As-semblies is falling steadilytoo, an analysis by TheHindu shows.

After last month’s As-sembly election results,Maharashtra is down fromthree Muslim ministersand 11 Muslim MLAs in theearlier Assembly to ninelegislators and no Muslimministers in the presentCabinet. The BJP, whichswept to power in the Statewith 122 MLAs, fielded justone Muslim candidate,who lost.

Haryana, meanwhile, isdown from five MuslimMLAs and one minister tothree MLAs and no minis-ter. The BJP, which won 47seats to form the govern-ment, fielded only twoMuslim candidates both ofwhom lost.

The situation in thesetwo States is similar to thatin the other seven Stateswhere the BJP is either inpower or in alliance – Mad-hya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa,

Andhra Pradesh, andPunjab.

These nine States, whichaccount for over a third ofIndia’s population, haveonly 22 Muslim MLAsamong 1,359 legislators. Sowhile Muslims make up 8per cent of the populationof these States, they ac-count for less than 2 percent of MLAs.

Chhattisgarh and Goahave no Muslim MLAs,Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Gujarathave one each. This is a sig-nificant change from howthese States’ outgoing As-semblies looked. Leavingout Andhra Pradesh,whose boundaries

changed, there were twiceas many Muslim MLAs inthe remaining eight States’outgoing Assemblies asthere are today.

Muslim representationhas dropped further at theministerial level. Of the 151cabinet ministers and min-isters of state in the nineBJP-ruled States, just one– Yunus Khan, PublicWorks Department Minis-ter in the Rajasthan gov-ernment – is a Muslim.

On the other hand, thereare 52 ministers in the 13big States not ruled by theBJP, making up 16 per centof those States’ total minis-terial berths. While Mus-lim-majority Jammu and

Kashmir leads with three-fourth of its ministersMuslim, Kerala, Assam andUttar Pradesh follow.

Non-BJP-ruled Stateshave 300 Muslim MLAs,who make up 13 per cent oftheir Assemblies.

These States, however,also have a higher Muslimproportion in their popula-tions – 17 per cent going bythe 2001 Census – as com-pared to the BJP-ruledStates.

“The process of delim-itation has been such thatMuslims do not form asizeable number in manyconstituencies,” NavaidHamid, general secretary,Movement for Empower-ment of Muslim Indians,said.

“Added to that, there hasbeen a systematic attemptby political parties to cre-ate hate against Muslims.”These processes have led toa situation where even amajor Muslim politiciancannot win from any seatexcept one with a largeMuslim majority, he said.“If this continues, there is afear that Muslims, espe-cially youngsters, will losefaith in the electoral sys-tem,” he added.

Just one Muslim among 151Ministers in BJP-ruled StatesRukmini S.

NEW DELHI: In a verdict set togenerate debate on the ele-ment of “consent”, the DelhiHigh Court has overturnedconviction of a man in a rapeand murder case, saying evenif the sexual intercourse withthe 65-year-old woman wasforceful, it was “not forcibleand contrary to the wishesand consent of the deceased”.

Sex was forceful

but not rape: HCMohammed Iqbal

� DETAILS ON | PAGE 10

KOLKATA: The Centre has sentan alert on a possible terrorthreat targeting Kolkata. Therewas no official word on thismatter, amid reports that theKolkata Port Trust, the nearly150-year old institution, was onthe radar.

Senior officials of the Cen-tral Industrial Security Force,the Navy, Kolkata Port Trust,Kolkata police’s Special TaskForce and Special Branch offi-cials held a meeting on Mondayafter receiving an alert fromthe Centre, police sources said.

Kolkata put on terror alert Kolkata Bureau

� DETAILS ON | PAGE 10

CHAPPELLDENIES CHARGEPAGE 15

U.S. VOTES INMIDTERM POLL PAGE 12

NET WEBSITECRASHESPAGE 2

INSIDE �

GDP GROWTH

NCAER pegs figuredown to 5 per centNEW DELHI: In its mid-yearreview of the economy, theNational Council of AppliedEconomic Research (NCAER)lowered its 2014-15 growthforecast for India to 5 per cent.In July, the think tank hadforecast 5.7 per cent growth.The lower projection is despitethe 5.7 per cent growth in thefirst quarter after twosuccessive years of sub-5 percent growth. The NCAER’sprojection of slower growthduring the rest of the year is inline with the RBI’s forecast.

NATIONAL | PAGE 11

NEW DELHI: The government’s“Make in India” programmeand Russia’s “Eastern pivot”will meet as Russian DeputyPrime Minister Dmitry Rogo-zin will discuss more cooper-ation on energy, theco-production of fighter air-craft and nuclear cooperationwith Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj andNational Security Adviser AjitDoval.

During the visit on Wednes-day, Mr. Rogozin will chair the20th commission (IRIGC-TEC) along with Ms. Swaraj,as well as draw up the plan for“deliverables” for PresidentVladimir Putin’s visit to Delhi,expected in December for theannual India-Russia summit.

Russian Foreign Minister Ser-gey Lavrov is expected at theend of November as well.“Each of these fields, from de-fence production to nuclearand space programmes, are

fields India is looking to Rus-sia for closer cooperation, andso Mr. Rogozin’s visit is im-portant,” an official sourcetold The Hindu.

‘Make in India’ meetsRussia’s ‘Eastern pivot’ Suhasini Haidar

� ECONOMIC VISION | PAGE 10

FALLING PRICES

Oil hits four-yearlow to near $82LONDON: The price of Brentcrude oil fell more than 3 percent to its lowest in over fouryears near $82 a barrel onTuesday, after Saudi Arabia cutsales prices to the U.S.

BUSINESS | PAGE 13

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 4 ● No. 262 ● CITY EDITION ● 20 Pages ● Rs. 8.00 ● www.thehindu.in

CMYK

ND-ND

CITY2 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

Uncertainty over date of draw of DDA schemeWith no certainty whether the DDA would be conducting the draw forthe 2014 Housing Scheme on November 10, the applicants now havemore time to check and amend their forms on the DDA website: Page 5

BJP plans to ride Modi wave againFor the upcoming Delhi polls, the BJP plans to piggybackon the goodwill and “trust” of the Narendra Modigovernment: Page 5

NEW DELHI: The Central Board ofSecondary Education’s first at-tempt at conducting the Na-tional Eligibility Test (NET)seems to be heading towards di-saster. Its online applicationprocess is failing on manycounts. Panicked applicants onTuesday, who have had no wordfrom the Board so far, havecomplained of myriad issuesthat have cropped up while try-ing to submit their applications,the last date for which is No-vember 15.

“I have been trying to submitmy application for a week now.Every time I try to log onto thewebsite and put in my pass-word, it says that eight to 13characters are needed. Howev-er, even when I type in a full13-character it is not accepted,”said Shradda Chettri. She hadanother problem when shetried to visit the website on

Tuesday. “The website had shutdown completely.”

Other problems ranged fromthe text of the application get-ting automatically wiped out tothe website shutting down sud-denly. “When I tried to entermy M.A. marks in the space pro-

vided, it started automaticallygetting deleted,” said anotheraspirant Tashi Choden, whoadded that her friend was ableto complete the whole form butcould not upload her photo-graph as required.

All these years, the Universi-

tried filling it the whole of lastweek. This week I plan to give ita rest and try again next week,”said Bhadrajeet Naorem.

The Hindu tried to contactthe CBSE several times butcould not do so despite repeat-ed phone calls and messages.

The exam is to be conductedin 79 subjects at 89 selectedNET Coordinating Institutionsspread across the country.While there is currently no agelimit for the assistant professoror lectureship, a person beyond28 years cannot apply for thefellowship. The candidates whoqualify for the fellowship will beable to pursue research in thesubject of their post-graduationor in a related subject and arealso eligible for Assistant Pro-fessor. Universities, institu-tions, the Indian Institute ofTechnologies and other nation-al organisations usually selectthe JRF awardees for wholetime research work.

ty Grants Commission (UGC)had been conducting these ex-ams which qualify a candidateto become an assistant profes-sor or for the Junior ResearchFellowship. Although this examstill falls under the UGC, theresponsibility to conduct theexam was handed over to theCBSE this year.

“This is the third year that Iwill be attempting this exam. Ihave never encountered such aproblem while applying in thepast when the UGC was con-ducting it,” added Shradda.

“They have introduced a netpayment gateway this time. Butsince many people could notcomplete the payment processeven after completing the form,many of our friends are payingthe money physically through abank draft,” said Rachna Shar-ma, another aspirant.

Some aspirants are so fed upthat they have decided to justwait till things are sorted out. “I

Vijetha S.N

CBSE website lets down NET aspirantsNEW DELHI: The Delhi International ArtsFestival has brought to the city someunique performances from across the worldto expose the connoisseurs of art tosomething different.

One such unique performance was by theMaria Kong International MovementCollective based in Tel Aviv that brought toKamani Auditorium a dance productiontitled Open Source.

The performance told a story of a bride-to-be who realises that she exists in thevirtual world of a video game, programmedand controlled by a gamer who controls notonly her but the groom, a secretary and amessenger boy. The gamer is in love withthe bride-to-be and enters his own game inorder to win her heart. The story was toldusing dance, music and special effectscreated by a specially designed digital gloveworn by the gamer. The glove technologythat was developed by the Maria Kongcompany enabled seamless synchronisationof sound and movement on stage.

Apart from the dance skills and stagepresence, what shone out was the work ofthe production team that made effectiveuse of lights, effects, background score andwireless technology to create a feeling ofbeing inside the world of a video game.

The performance was a visual delight andopened the audience’s mind to howtechnology can be used in performance art.

A unique synchronisation Jaideep Deo Bhanj

Artistes of the Maria Kong DanceCompany from Israel presentingContemporary Dance as part of the8th Delhi International ArtsFestival at Kamani Auditorium. -

PHOTOS: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

NEW DELHI: There is nothingbetter than to start your daywith a little dose of laughterwith your morning coffee. Be-fore the internet and the era ofSMS jokes, the only way tohave a good laugh was throughcartoonis in the newspaper.

Taking a dig at the events ofthe previous day without of-fending anybody is a skill veryfew possess. By coming upwith a cartoon seven days aweek, political cartoonistshave documented the historyof our country in a unique way.

Sudhir Tailang is one suchcelebrated political cartoonistwho has managed to do justthat over 30 years of workingwith a number of publicationsin the country.

After a gap of 12 years, Mr.Tailang has put up his worksfor a solo show at the VisualArts Gallery, India HabitatCentre. The exhibition titled‘Here and Now: Rajiv to Modi’is a retrospective of his works

that provide a glimpse into In-dia’s past using satire.

Walking through the exhibi-tion you are reminded of manyevents from history and howthey have been captured withcaricatures of our formerPrime Ministers. With a littlenote about every Prime Minis-ter and his experience aboutcapturing their idiosyncrasies,Mr. Tailang highlights events,issues and the social scenarioof that time and continues to

do it today. From the snoozing H.D.

Deve Gowda, V.P. Singh andhis fur caps to Rajiv Gandhi’sgrowing belly and recedinghairline, the caricatures cap-ture unique traits of everyPrime Minister.

“External features are im-portant, but unless you cap-ture the essence of thepersonality that’s beyond thecanvas, you won’t get the truecaricature,” explains Mr. Tai-

lang. For example a politician

with a meek character willhave a reduced size and thecaricature will also evolve withtime, he adds.

Apart from political draw-ings, the exhibition also fea-tures some of his works fromhis travels and works dealingwith issues apart from politics.

The exhibition is a tribute tothe free press with the hopethat politicians will continue

to take it in the right spirit. Mr.Tailang says: “The freedom ofexpression is the life blood ofcartooning and I cannot sur-vive without the liberty to at-tack the mightiest. India is athriving democracy and in theregion it is the only successstory.”

The exhibition will be on tillNovember 7 at the IHC andwill continue after that at ArtAlive, S-221 Pansheel Park, tillNovember 15.

A cartoonist’s tribute to the freedom of pressJaideep Deo Bhanj

Visitors at a cartoon exhibition by Sudhir Tailang at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi on Tuesday. -

PHOTOS: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

CMYK

ND-ND

3THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

CITY

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DELHI TODAY

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NEW DELHI: A revised route un-der the watchful eyes of thepolice ensured a peacefulMuharram procession in Ba-wana on Monday.

Only two days earlier, aMahapanchayat attended bya large number of villagershad opposed the traditionalroute of the procession takenout by the Muslims of the re-settlement colony.

Over a dozen small and bigprocessions were taken outwithin the colony. Some ofthe pick-up trucks carryingprocessions had policemensitting in them.

Camera-mounted drones,the Delhi Police’s new sur-veillance device which wasrecently used to assistsearches in riot-effected Tri-lokpuri, was also deployed tomonitor the situation.

Even as the decision to cutshort the procession is beingdescribed as one taken unan-imously by procession orga-nisers, some like Bano, a localhousewife, could not hidetheir disappointment.

“This is all because of poli-tics that objections are beingraised now. For so long, noone had a problem,” she said.

They may not have led theMuharram procession like

the more-troubled Trilokpu-ri, but the Hindus in the re-settlement colony hereextended their support andcooperation to their Muslimneighbours. It is said that the

two communities have had aharmonious co-existencesince they started living to-gether in East Delhi nearlytwo decades ago.

“My parents tell me that

even when the atmospherewas extremely volatile in theaftermath of the Babri Masjiddemolition in 1992, there wasno trouble in our area. As amatter of fact, people tookrefuge in our colony. Nothingchanged post resettlementbut it seems politics willchange that,” said Manish, astudent.

Meanwhile, those in thevillage’s Hindu localitiesclaimed they were preparedfor “trouble caused in case ofa diversion in the route”. Thepreparations included mobil-isation of locals and armingthem with sticks. Some ofthem arrived at the resettle-ment colony since morningto keep an eye on the situa-tion and alert those in theirareas.

The largely rural OuterDelhi neighbourhood of Ba-wana has been gripped bycommunal tension in recenttimes after those from thelargely Hindu villages on theoutskirts blamed the Mus-lims in the resettlement colo-ny of carrying out cowslaughter last month.

Shubhomoy Sikdar

Security personnel keeping a vigil during the Muharram procession atBawana in Outer Delhi on Tuesday. PHOTO: R. V. MOORTHY

Bawana goes incident-free on MuharramNEW DELHI: Setting a prece-dent for communal harmo-ny in the Capital, theMuharram procession inriot-scarred Trilokpuri sawthe participation of bothHindus and Muslims. Mem-bers of the “Aman Commit-tee” formed by the localpolice in the area had onMonday volunteered to leadthe procession.

The gesture of solidaritywas in response to the “ja-gran” day, when the Mus-lims had helped with prasaddistribution.

Aman committee volun-teers, with identity cardshung around their necks,lead the procession whichstarted from near the MayurVihar police station around2-30 p.m. and ended around3-45 p.m.

A member of the commit-tee, Hans Raj said: “This is amessage to the anti-socialelements. Hindus and Mus-lims live here like brothersand we will continue to livein peace. No outsider cancreate fissures between us.”

The procession, whichtook place in the presence ofunprecedented security,was however reduced innumber this year. It saw agathering of around 700people as opposed to around

1,500 last year. The locals at-tributed it to the fear in peo-ple’s minds.

The route of the proces-sion was also cut short thistime, and participants walk-ed for around 3 km to reachthe karbala site in Mayur Vi-har on Tuesday.

For security purposes, thepolice did not even allow theparticipants to carry swordsand other weapons alongwith them, a usual fare atsuch processions.

“We had to cut short theroute because the situation

is still tense in the area. Also,we could not have allowedthem to carry weapons aspeople from other communi-ty were scared,” said a seniorpolice officer.

The Delhi Police were allready with the security ar-rangements in the area. Withsix companies of the DelhiPolice, two companies of theBorder Security Force andone crew of mounted police,the entire area resembled afortress. The police were alsousing drones every ten min-utes to monitor the situation.

Hindu-Muslim unity at Trilokpuri Kritika Sharma

A Muharram procession being taken out inTrilokpuri on Tuesday. PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT

NEW DELHI: The NarcoticsControl Bureau has arrestedthree men for allegedlysmuggling high-qualityhashish from Himachal Pra-desh to the Capital. Amongthose arrested is a 22-year-old student of Noida’s AmityUniversity who supplied thedrug to other students, saidthe police.

The Delhi Zonal Unit ofthe NCB has also purported-ly seized nearly 1.5 kg of thecontraband grown in Hima-chal and is famous as Mala-na cream among itsconsumers.

“The hashish was beingbrought from Himachal toDelhi via Volvo buses. Thedriver and helper of the bus,who were acting as carrierson behalf of their suppliersbased in Himachal, havebeen apprehended,” said

NCB Zonal Director (Delhi)Rohit Sharma.

Mr. Sharma added thattwo men, identified as Ram-lal and Krishan Chand, bothresidents of Himachal Par-desh had brought a numberof small consignments, eachweighing around 250-300grams, to be delivered to dif-ferent parties.

Based on a tip-off, an NCBteam laid a trap in Delhi’sTimarpur area, where mostof the buses coming fromHimachal come to a halt.

“Once the duo alightedfrom the bus to deliver theconsignments, NCB sleuthscaught them red-handedwhile handing over a part ofthe consignment to oneRaghav Sehajpaul, a Noidaresident and a student ofAmity University. Raghavrevealed that he had taken tosmuggling to earn quickmoney,” said Mr. Sharma.

Staff Reporter

Held for smuggling drugs

NEW DELHI: A 20-year-old BPOemployee was killed whilethree others were injuredwhen a car they were trav-elling in rammed a station-ary truck near the NehruPlace flyover in South Delhion Tuesday morning.

According to the police,the accident occurred whenthe driver of the car, in anattempt to save a pedestrian,lost control over the vehicleand hit a parked truck frombehind.

The truck was loaded withconstruction material meantfor the Delhi Metro con-struction site nearby.

The deceased has beenidentified as Vignesh Ma-hesh. The injured personshave been identified as Vig-nesh’s colleagues Sachin Ku-mar (25), Saurabh Roy (22)and driver of the taxi, Sunil

(35). All the three are under-going treatment at AIIMSTrauma Centre.

The incident took placearound 2-30 a.m. when thetaxi was headed towardsChirag Dilli to drop the callcentre staff home from theiroffice in Noida. The taxi hadreached near Nehru Placebus stop when the accidenthappened. “The car smashedinto the back portion of thetruck which was loaded withrods. The impact was sopowerful that the front por-tion of the taxi was com-pletely damaged. The policehad used gas cutters to cutthe taxi and rescue the in-jured occupants,” said theofficer.

The police have registereda case of causing death due tonegligence registeredagainst the taxi driver andhave booked the truck driverfor improper parking.

Staff Reporter

BPO employee killed,three injured in accident

NEW DELHI: Muharram proc-essions and traffic diversionsled to gridlocks across theCapital throughout Tuesday,leaving commuters fuming.

According to the trafficpolice, large swathes of arte-rial roads such as GT KarnalRoad, Ring Road and OuterRing Road witnessed mas-sive jams despite deploy-ment of personnel to managecongestion.

“There were either diver-sions that prolonged travell-ing time or led to congestionon stretches ill equipped tohandle massive footfall,”said a senior traffic police

officer.One of the worst-hit areas

was Central Delhi with jams

reported from the India GateC-Hexagon, the MandiHouse roundabout, Ashoka

Road, Baba Kharak SinghMarg and Parliament Streetamong others.

In South Delhi, the Taziaprocession at Jor Bagh andadjacent areas led to a majorspill over on Mathura Road.

“It took me three hours toget home in Greater Kailashfrom my office at ConnaughtPlace,” complained VibhorSharma (32), a softwareexecutive.

“First I got stuck at theouter circle in ConnaughtPlace and then on the BRTcorridor. There were trafficpolicemen around but theydid little to ease the situa-tion,” he added.

Commuters also had to

bear the brunt of inadequateinformation about the diver-sions that were in place withmany alleging that the trafficpolice were not helpfulenough in helping them nav-igate through these.

“Even the traffic police-men deputed at diversionsdidn’t know where theywould lead,” complainedAjay Rana (27), abusinessman.

“They just kept divertingvehicles and suggesting thatpuzzled drivers ask the nextpoliceman for directions.Basically they just wantedthe vehicle to leave theirpoint as fast as possible,” Ra-na added.

A day of traffic jams and diversions Jatin Anand

A view of the massive traffic jam on Ashoka Roadon Tuesday evening. PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Police vigil, shortened processions and peaceful public participation ensured that Muharram was observed in atension-free atmosphere in the sensitive Bawana and Trilokpuri areas. But for commuters, it was a difficult day.

India Habitat Centre: ‘Dreams toreality’ – painting exhibition byNirmala Pillai, Open Palm CourtGallery, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.India International RuralCultural Centre: Hindustani vocalrecital by Bhola Nath Mishra,Government Girls SeniorSecondary School, AH-Block,Shalimar Bagh, 9 a.m. Also atGovernment Girls SeniorSecondary School, BL-Block,Shalimar Bagh, 11 a.m. Blood Donation Week: Launch atDAV schools across Delhi,organised by Arya PradeshikUpsabha and Arya Yuva Samaj,8.30 a.m. to 2 p.m.Alcoholics Anonymous:Meetings – Aakarshan Group:Paschim Vihar, Delhi Governmentdispensary, GA2 Block, oppositeRadha Krishna Temple; LivingSober Group: Rohini Sector-13,Delhi Govt. dispensary, nearBhagwati Hospital; Sayam EkKadam Group: 68 Khyber Pass,Civil Lines; Prashanti Group: LordMahavir School, Sector-29,adjacent to BrahmaputraShopping Complex; Aajaz Group:Welcome Seelampur, Delhi Govt.dispensary, Janata Flat, 7 p.m.

IN THE CAPITAL TODAY

CMYK

ND-ND

4 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

CITY/NCR

NEW DELHI: If you have beenbattling a nagging cough/coldor worse an upper respira-tory tract infection this sea-son, the city’s poor air qualitycould be the culprit.

Official data has revealedthat since the onset of winter,the city has not managed tokeep down the level of itscancer-causing particulatematter 2.5 (or PM 2.5) withinthe safe limits of 60 micro-grams per cubic metre. Thelowest figure of PM 2.5 thisseason was recorded at 157micrograms per cubic metreon November 1.

After battling a choking Di-wali week, with the PM 2.5recorded at 732 microgramsper cubic metre, the levelshave remained anywhere be-tween 473 and 213 micro-grams per cubic metre.

Urging the Delhi Govern-ment to take immediate ac-tion to inform people aboutthe air quality on a daily basisand issue health alerts — es-pecially for children, elderly,and those suffering from re-spiratory and cardiac prob-lems to take precaution —Centre for Science and Envi-ronment’s (CSE) AnumitaRoychowdhury said: “Highlevels of PM 2.5 is a seriouscause of concern.”

“Air pollution kills and atimmediate risk are thosewith lung and cardiac prob-lems. The tiny PM 2.5 parti-cles go deep into the lungsand get trapped there. Thison a short-term basis aggra-vates lung and cardiac condi-tions and in long term isknown to cause lung cancer,”added Ms. Roychowdhury.

“Half of these milliondeaths have been caused byischemic heart disease trig-gered by exposure to air pol-lution,” it noted.

Stating that world-over ci-ties issue smog and haze

alerts almost instantly whenpollution reaches alarminglevels, Ms. Roychowdhuryadded: “With the wind goneand high pollution fromcrackers and vehicles build-ing up quickly very close tothe ground level, Delhi is en-veloped in a thick blanket ofpollution. Every winter, thecalm and cool weather makespollution hang heavy, but theseverity of the smog dependson the actual pollution levelthat is already unacceptablyhigh and rising in the city.’’

“While the serious concernover very high levels of tinyparticles persists, elevatedlevels of other pollutantshave been now added to thetoxic cocktail,’’ shecautioned.

The city has also recordedhigh levels of nitrogen diox-ide, carbon monoxide andPM 10. Said Dr. Anil Bansal ofthe Delhi Medical Council

said: “Calm weather condi-tions, increased crop burningby nearby States and spike inlocal pollution levels has leftthe Capital choked. The cityhospitals are reporting largenumber of lung, eye and skin-related complications andone of the reasons could bethe bad quality of air in theCapital.”

Dr. Neeraj Jain, seniorconsultant chest medicine,Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said:“Post-Diwali, the number ofpatients we are getting withcompromised lung functionhas definitely gone up. Worsthit are those with asthma andother breathing problems.Even healthy persons havereported upper respiratorytract infection and cough.What is worrying, however, isthe fact that city dwellers arelosing lung function, whichadversely hits the quality oflife.’’

Pollution chokes the Capitalas respiratory diseases rise‘Particulate matter in air not within safe limits’

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: Advocate Ravinder Raj haswritten to Delhi Lt.-Governor Najeeb Jungdemanding night sweeping to curb highpollution levels that the city encountersduring early morning hours. He sought theL-G’s immediate attention andintervention in the matter.

Stating that the public should be keptsafe from this daily manmade dustpollution, which is raised during peakmorning hours between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.through city sweeping, Mr. Raj noted thatthe worst hit were the elderly and those outfor their morning walks and school-goingchildren.

“Morning hours are the freshest timeduring the day. Sadly, no city dweller is ableto enjoy it because of the sweeping thattakes place at that time. The clouds of dustleave us choked hitting us with dustallergies, asthma, bronchitis and otherbreathing problems,’’ he noted in his letter.

He added that the health reforms willnot only prove preventive and curative butalso serve as a security measure to preventthefts.

While the Corporation has maintainedthat they have mechanised night sweeping,the workers stated that night sweepingdisturbed their family life, besides facingthreat of accidents and dog attacks.

Noting that both quality of life andhealth of the city dwellers is taking abeating because of the early morningpollution, which can be easily prevented,Mr. Raj said: “When pubic health is anissue, the Delhi Government should ensurethat we follow world standards.’’

Refusing to buy into the excuse given byCorporation staff about the problemsassociated with night shift, Mr. Raj said:“Indian Railways, Indian Airlines, Air Indiaand many industries in various fields andinfrastructure operations have night shift.The health benefits are too many to ignoreand stop night sweeping in the city.”

Night sweeping mooted tocurb dust level in morningBindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: Over three yearsafter moving into its newheadquarters, the North Del-hi Municipal Corporation isyet to clear bills for con-structing the sprawling CivicCentre complex.

Civic Centre on MintoRoad is owned and run by theNorth Corporation andhouses the offices of theSouth Delhi Municipal Cor-poration as well as the In-come Tax Department.Offices of the erstwhile Mu-nicipal Corporation of Delhistarted moving to the newbuilding in November 2010from the historic Town Hallin Chandni Chowk. In 2011,when all offices had moved tothe complex, an additionalRs.24.36 crore as charges forfacility management wasadded to the project’s cost.

The initial cost of the pro-ject was supposed to beRs.410.56 crore as approvedby the MCD in 2005. Later,the Standing Committee ap-proved a revised cost ofRs.643.45 crore. But, expen-diture went up to Rs.686.88crore as certain costs, includ-ing for an auditorium, an ex-

tended basement andshifting of an electric sub-station, were added to theplan later.

Now, the Engineering De-partment of the North Cor-poration is seekingpermission to pay contrac-tors the remaining amount ofRs.43.43 crore.

The proposal is listed un-der “urgent business” beforethe Standing Committee,which will meet on Wednes-day. An additional Rs.67crore as escalation in costs

has also been mentioned inthe proposal. Standing Com-mittee chairman MohanBhardwaj said: “As far as weare concerned, we have clear-ed all the dues. We don’tknow how the contractorsare claiming escalation in thecost.”

However, Corporation of-ficials said the civic body didowe contractors for con-struction, furniture, facilitymanagement and consult-ants for architecture and pro-ject management.

Damini Nath

Municipal corporation yet toclear bill for Civic Centre

erage is 17,963.44 squaremetres of the 28.43 acre(1,15,035.46 square metres)premises. The college has pro-posed increasing the groundcoverage from the existing15.61 per cent to 22.71 per cent.A basement of 9,929 squaremetres, including a parking lot,has also been mooted.

The plan will come up forapproval in the North Corpo-ration’s Standing Committeeon Wednesday and officialssaid it will most likely becleared.

“The plan only envisages in-creasing the premises as per

the building norms so thereshouldn’t be any objections,”said a senior Corporationofficial.

The proposal includes addi-tional floors on the existing sci-ence block, four blocks of staffquarters and a block each forclassrooms, auditorium, recre-ation, hostel and administra-tion.

The Delhi Urban Arts Com-mission sent the Corporation aset of approved drawings forthe layout plan on June 4 thisyear and the Chief Fire Officergave a no-objection certificateto the project on January 20.

NEW DELHI: The historic build-ing of St. Stephen’s College inDelhi University could get anew basement parking lot, ascience block and an auditori-um, with the college proposinga revision in its layout plan.

As per a proposal submittedto the North Delhi MunicipalCorporation, the North Cam-pus college is looking to ex-pand its premises to make useof the increased floor area ratioand ground coverage allowedunder Master Plan-2021.

Currently, the ground cov-

Basement parking, new science blockproposed at St. Stephen’s College Staff Reporter

GURGAON: Deputy Commis-sioner (Gurgaon) Shekhar Vi-dyarthi on Tuesday held ameeting with various depart-ments to review the progressmade in connection with theconstruction of the Hero Hon-da Chowk flyover on NationalHighway-8.

During the meeting, Nation-al Highways Authority of Indiaofficials told Mr. Vidyarthi thata memorandum of under-standing was already signedbetween the Haryana Govern-ment and the NHAI in this re-

gard and the contract was alsoawarded. It was further ap-prised that the Haryana UrbanDevelopment Authority offi-cials were yet to remove fiveencroachments near the pro-posed site of the flyover. HUDA(Estate Officer-I) Satish Singlainformed that notices were al-ready served in this connectionand the encroachments wouldsoon be removed.

NHAI officials further toldthe meeting that permissionwas granted to remove the es-sential services coming in theway of the project and they hadalso received the estimates.

Ashok Kumar

Hero Honda Chowkflyover project reviewed

CMYK

ND-ND

5THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

STATE

NEW DELHI: Setting the themefor the forthcoming DelhiAssembly elections, AamAadmi Party (AAP) leaderand former Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal on Tuesdaysaid that the BJP-led NDAgovernment was forced totake the decision to dissolvethe Assembly because de-spite repeated attempts, theparty could not succeed inpoaching its MLAs.

“It is first time in historythat not a single AAP MLAcould be bought with money.It proves that not everythingis purchaseable. The love forthe country cannot bebought…this will onlystrengthen the people’s faithin us,” he said at a pressconference.

Acknowledging the Su-preme Court’s intervention,he said that the BJP had nochoice but to accept the rec-ommendation for dissolu-tion of the Assembly.

Mr. Kejriwal, who led a 49-day government with out-side support of the Congressafter the Assembly electionslast year, accused the BJP of

spreading communal ten-sion in the city and said thathis party would set up “AmanSamitis” in every constituen-cy and encourage eminentreligious leaders to partici-pate in every event.

Accusing the NDA govern-ment of failing to check pricerise and deteriorating lawand order situation, he re-minded the people that dur-ing the 49-day rule of theAAP in Delhi, corruption hadcome down and prices of es-sentials were in check as alsothe tariffs for power and wa-ter. “In the last elections, anew politics was voted topower. A party that came outof Anna Hazare’s anti-cor-ruption movement andstood against corruption andprice rise was supported bythe people,” he said.

Expressing confidencethat the AAP will win morethan 45 of the 70 seats inDelhi, he said that when theparty would win a majority itwould pass the Delhi LokpalBill. Failing to garner sup-port on the Lokpal Bill in hislast stint, Mr. Kejriwal hadresigned abruptly from pow-er.

“Repeated attempts to poach AAP MLAs proved futile”Special Correspondent

SMILE OF CONFIDENCE: AAP national convenerArvind Kejriwal during an interaction with peopleafter a press conference at the Constitution Hall in Delhi on Tuesday. — PHOTO: PRASHANT NAKWE

BJP had no choice, but to decidedissolution of Assembly: Kejriwal

quired, could be done till No-vember 5.

On Monday, it asked theapplicants to check the dataas given in their applicationforms and uploaded on theDDA website by November 4,and in case of discrepancies,get them corrected by No-vember 5 in their respectivebanks. The corrected datawill be updated on the DDAwebsite by November 7.

DDA officials, however,said that the draw would beheld tentatively on November10. The draw, as and when ithappens, can be watched liveonline.

The civic body said it hasreceived a record number of9.85-lakh applications . “Thisis for the first time that suchlarge numbers of applicationshave been received,” it said.

The DDA had sold over 17-

lakh forms for the much-hyped housing scheme thatoffers 25,034 flats, a majorityof them in low-income groupcategory. The agency had tak-en steps to evince interest inthe scheme by simplifying theforms, empanelling banks forits submission, and uploadingvideo on ‘how to fill in theform’. It had also extendedthe date of submission offorms from October 9 to 15.

NEW DELHI: With no certaintywhether the Delhi Develop-ment Authority (DDA) wouldbe conducting the draw forthe 2014 Housing Scheme onNovember 10, the 9.85 lakhapplicants now have moretime to check their applica-tion forms on the DDA web-site and get the correctionsmade. The amendments, if re-

Uncertainty over date of draw for DDA scheme Akanksha Jain

NEW DELHI: For the upcomingDelhi polls, the State unit ofthe Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) plans to piggyback onthe goodwill and “trust” ofthe Narendra Modi govern-ment built over the past fourmonths and will fight elec-tions without a chief minis-terial candidate like theparty did in Haryana andMaharashtra.

Senior BJP leader JagdishMukhi, who was Haryanapoll in-charge, told report-ers that the party had tri-umphed in States thatrecently went to polls,thanks to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, and the Del-hi unit too would benefit im-mensely when hecampaigned for the party inthe Capital. “If you ask me,the real issue is that of‘trust’,” said Delhi BJP chiefSatish Upadhyay.

“The residents of Delhitrusted Congress for 15years and then trusted the“new change” that the AamAadmi Party promised.However, the AAP resignedfrom government and be-trayed the people. The trustwe build will be based ongood governance which the

Central government hasachieved in such a shorttime,” he said.

Mr. Upadhyay said thatfor the time being, the partyis going to fight elections onthe BJP’s party symbol ‘TheLotus’ and remained non-committal on the questionof a chief ministerial candi-date.

“The Delhi BJP presidentcannot decide but it will be acollective decision . Theparty will decide at the righttime and will choose a lead-er through a democraticprocess. However, for ourchoice of candidates, “win-nability” will be an impor-tant criterion and those whocan perform well,” he said.

A day after Mr. Upadhyaymet Lieutenant-GovernorNajeeb Jung and expressedhis party’s inability to forma government here, theState unit chief said the par-ty was not to blame for thepolitical mess that the Cap-ital found itself in over thepast eight months.

“We have always main-tained that as soon as theL-G approaches us we willtake a decision. It took onehour of analysis to make adecision to go in for freshpolls,” he said.

Assembly polls: BJP toride Modi wave againSowmiya Ashok

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) convener Arvind Kej-riwal, the Delhi Congress be-lieves, is ‘shying away from abattle he knows he can’t sur-vive’ in the very constituencythat had propelled him to theChief Minister’s office lastNovember.

This was the reason Mr.Kejriwal ‘deliberately keptinvoking the name of BJPleader Jagdish Mukhi’, MLAfrom Janakpuri, Congressparty insiders said.

“On the face of his politicalcampaign, Mr. Kejriwalwants to retain the personaof the giant killer that hegained after defeating thethen Delhi Chief Minister,Sheila Dikshit; that is why heis issuing a public challengeto the BJP’s most powerfullocal leader,” said a DelhiPradesh Congress Commit-tee (DPCC) member.

“But he is well aware thatthe mood in the New Delhiconstituency is certainly an-ti-AAP and so he must lookfor a different constituencywhere he can make newempty promises – maybepeddle some old ones – tofool the electorate again dur-ing the upcoming elections,”the leader said.

Last year’s Assembly elec-tions saw Mr. Kejriwaltrump Ms. Dikshit by over20,000 votes.

The New Delhi constitu-ency is an eclectic mix ofmiddle-class voters, a major-ity of them are either bu-reaucrats or governmentemployees. According toDPCC leaders, while an over-

whelming sentiment of anti-incumbency had carried Mr.Kejriwal to victory then, hisunpopularity as an MLA andnon-performance as CMduring his 49-day stint ingovernment would workagainst him this time in theNew Delhi constituency.

“What is also botheringhim (Mr. Kejriwal) is the factthat his non-performance asan MLA has made the con-stituency reminisce aboutMs. Dikshit and the years ofservice and developmentthat she had brought to themand the Capital as a wholeover three consecutiveterms,” said another DPCCleader.

“She (Ms. Dikshit) is still apopular political leader inDelhi and certainly has thecharisma to overshadow theAAP in her home constitu-ency,” the leader added.

Asked about the DPCC al-legations, an AAP spokes-person said, “Mr. Kejriwalhas already declared that hewill contest the Assemblyelections from the same con-stituency as before. The AAPis afraid of no one.”

The challenge that theCongress faces this time isincreasing the tally of itsseats. The party has eightMLAs in the 70-memberHouse, which is its lowestseat tally ever.

Kejriwal avoiding NewDelhi seat: CongressJatin Anand

NEW DELHI: Rejecting the“speculative reasoning” onthe appropriateness of tech-nology, the Delhi High Courthas set aside an order of theCentral Administrative Tri-bunal (CAT), by which it haddirected the Delhi TransportCorporation (DTC) to con-duct a fresh round of medicaltests to confirm if about 600of its drivers were colourblind.

A Division Bench, compris-ing Justice S. Ravindra Bhatand Justice Vipin Sanghi, saidin its recent judgment thatthe CAT could not act as anauthority over the medicalexperts without a strong rea-

son and could not hold thatthe technology used by threeseparate medical teams totest colour blindness was in-appropriate or outdated.

The DTC drivers were laidoff after the DTC found themsuffering from colour blind-ness in the third round ofmedical tests conducted lastyear. As they challenged thedecision in the CAT, the HighCourt said the CAT could nothave issued directions for afourth round of tests becausethe decision to hold a thirdround had not violated anyrule, administrative circular,

law or guidelines.The DTC had decided to

conduct medical examinationas one of the drivers, involvedin an accident, was found tobe suffering from colourblindness.

Since the driver belongedto a batch of about 600recruits, who were initiallyfound colour blind and laterdeclared fit by a panel of doc-tors, the DTC decided to havea third round of tests to re-examine all the drivers.

When the drivers were laidoff from work in 2013 afterbeing found medically unfit in

the third round, they chal-lenged the decision in theCAT, which directed the DTCto conduct a fourth round oftests using the infrastructureof the Guru Nanak Eye Cen-tre here.

The court said vision was acrucial part of medical pa-rameters required for dis-charge of duties attached tothe post of drivers. “Colourblindness is an unacceptablecondition...Having under-gone the medical examin-ation, in which they weredetermined to be colour blindby three separate boards’ in-dependent appraisal, the ap-plicants (drivers) could nothave legitimately challengedthe results of the decision.”

CAT order for medical test of DTC drivers set asideSpecial Correspondent The CAT could not act as an authority over the

medical experts without a strong reason: HC

“Mr. Kejriwal has

declared that he will

contest the Assembly

elections from the

same constituency as

before”

CMYK

ND-ND

6 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

PATNA: After recuperatingfrom cardiac surgeries, Rash-triya Janata Dal chief LaluPrasad has geared up to playthe role of a ‘big brother’ un-der a grand alliance to contestthe Bihar Assembly poll, duenext year. After their crushingdefeat in the last Lok Sabhapoll, all the three parties RJD,JD (U) and Congress hadforged a “grand secular alli-ance” to take on the BJP in theState.

The RJD chief would meetsenior party leaders on No-vember 6 at his New Delhi res-idence to discuss the numberof seats his party would like tocontest under the alliance.

Party sources, however,told The Hindu that RJD hasdecided to contest almost 50per cent of the total 243 seatsin the Assembly polls. A partyinsider said that RJD hasidentified 120 seats to contestwhile leaving 93 seats to alli-ance partner JD (U) and 30seats to the Congress.

“In the coming State As-sembly elections, RJD willplay the role of a big brothercontesting more seats than itsjunior partners,” said seniorRJD leader Raghuvansh Pra-sad Singh. Mr. Singh furthersaid that the performance of2014 Lok Sabha polls would bethe basis of seat-sharing for-mula among the alliance

partners.Another RJD leader Bhag-

wan Singh Kushwaha saidthat in Bihar “RJD remains amighty political force with itsgrassroots connections intactand we’ll be meeting our lead-er Lalu Prasad soon to mullover the seats the party wouldcontest”.

The RJD leaders also be-lieved that the spectacularperformance of ruling partyJD (U) in the last Assemblypoll of 2010 was due to its alli-ance with BJP. In 2010, JD(U) had won 115 seats out of141 it contested whereas itsthen alliance partner BJPbagged 91 seats out of 102.

Significantly, the RJD —that had its alliance with LokJanshakti Party — had con-tested 168 seats and perform-ed poorly winning just 22seats.

The LJP had won just 3seats out of total 75 it contest-ed and the Congress partywhich had fielded its candi-dates for 240 seats had man-aged to bag only 4 seats.

“But the RJD candidates

were at second position on120 seats in 2010 and that willbe our basis to contest moreseats in the forthcoming 2015poll,” said an RJD leader.

However, the JD (U) andCongress leaders have so farkept mum over the seats shar-ing plan along with the RJD.“Its too early to make anycomment on this but let theRJD proposal come first tous,” said a State JD (U) leader.

Meanwhile, leaders of boththe parties RJD and JD (U),Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumarare believed to set off on theirjoin campaign in JharkhandAssembly poll soon. The five-phase elections in tribal-dom-inated Jharkhand begins onNovember 25 and ends on De-cember 20. In all likelihoodboth the parties would con-test poll in Jharkhand in alli-ance with the Congress.

But leaders of oppositionparties in Bihar have cast seri-ous doubt over the continua-tion of the alliance till the nextyear’s Assembly elections.“Lalu Prasad and Nitish Ku-mar cannot contest together.Earlier, in the State by-pollthey had come together due toNarendra Modi…their unity isnot going to last this time tillthe upcoming Assembly poll,”said LJP chief Ram Vilas Pas-wan. He added that the “grandsecular alliance” would fallflat once seat-sharing talksbegan.

Amarnath Tewary

Lalu plans to play ‘big brother’in grand alliance for Bihar polls

CMYK

ND-ND

7THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

VARIETY/SOUTHERN REGION

Spiritual truths are subtle and beyond rational reach.Therefore the Lord takes the responsibility to revealthem time and again to deserving disciples and thespiritual tradition is thus kept alive. Adi Sankaraembodies the qualities of a merciful Guru who is keento lead mankind to the path of liberation through hislife and teachings. This acharya reiterates thatrenunciation is the hallmark of realisation and tries toinculcate the values of Vairagya and Viveka in histeachings, said Goda Sri Venkateswara Sastrigal in alecture. While living in this world, one has to realisethat this is only a temporary state and not get attachedto its attractions and temptations.

The terms Paramahamsa and Parivraja are usedwith reference to realised souls who have dissociatedthemselves from worldly pulls. Hamsa means a swan,and this bird is believed to be gifted with the peculiarpower of separating milk from water. It is representedin poetic conventions as symbolic of one who is able todiscriminate and identify the true values in life. But aParamahamsa is one who rises above the desire forexternal objects like a swan that is not desirous ofeither the milk or water it has separated. Parivrajarefers to total giving up. There is no thought of whathappens to one’s possessions.

Adi Sankara teaches that only the knowledge of theAtma and of the permanent bliss of realisation canmotivate one to seek the path of renunciation.Contemplation on the Atma helps to dissociate oneselffrom worldly activities and cut the bonds ofworldliness. A wise man, who approaches a high-souled teacher steeped in Brahman and becomesabsorbed in the truth taught by him, can learn todiscriminate between the ephemeral and the eternal.

The merciful guru

FAITH

Note: Some locationsmentioned in this puzzleare not very far fromone another

Across1 Join! Before I divide The

Constitution State (11)9 Remove insects from Budge

Budge (5)10 Reconstitution of shire was

followed by monarch lettingout a cry (9)

11 English town has male deer(Indian) with great smokedmeat (10)

12 Go after a flower and get ajumping toy (4)

13 Ensure, without having right,what may happen later (5)

15 My laptop has no top and is kepton some mineral matter in alocality having a famoustemple (8)

17 Long race held in Myanmar athoneymoon time (8)

19 Roman marketplace forprimarily unique merchandise(5)

22 Right before pie is cut up andready for consumption (4)

23 Why main hag turns into arobber? (10)

26 Cancelled out: “Ill, unfed Itravelled around” (9)

27 Tin and aluminium are found in awaterway (5)

28 Intoxicated, Big Ben raidssuburban station (5,6)

Down1 Little one in charge of things

shaped lie a die (5)2 Careless to hide books under

underwear endlessly (9)3 Standard symbol below a small

dash (6)4 Circular hot tray may be rough

(7)5 I left chief and cook (4)6 Auditor's attempt to lead

officer with our French flag,for example (9)

7 Stew wildebeest (after bits ofwaste are thrown away) and itbecomes fit for consumption(6)

8 Tailless bird carries doctor torailway station (6)

14 Remove paint from golfingequipment at anentertainment venue (5,4)

16 Betrothed, a couple of femalesand I danced around engineer(9)

17 Scattered rain in Massachusettsharbour (6)

18 Conclusion: Greek characterconsumes bulb? Actually, theother way round (7)

20 Town in HP has male boxer (6)21 Loose cloak-like garment found

in a bivouac hadornamentation (6)

24 Pulverise rodents with a pole(5)

25 Assumes a horizontal positionand fibs (4)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 112321 2 3 4 5 6

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B M E D R L NR U B O F F F L A M I N G O

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O A T I UG A S L A M P I N S H O R T

S A S I SS T A L I N T A L E N T E D

I D A A DE J E C T I O N S A U C E R

A K B D C I XA C M E L I B R A S E A T

K D E Y R M M

Incognito

Solution to puzzle 11231

President Johnsonswept back

Mr. Lyndon B. Johnsonand Mr. HubertHumphrey led theDemocrat Party onNovember 3 to a landslidevictory over theGoldwater Republicansand in the process setseveral new landmarks inAmerican electionhistory. The 15 millionvote margin by which Mr.Johnson prevailed overhis conservativeopponent broke previousall-time records held byMr. Franklin D. Rooseveltwhose plurality in 1936was only 11 million. Mr.Goldwater who carriedonly five Southern Statesand his own homeprovince of Arizonareceived only 52 of the532 electoral votes. Onlyonce before has acandidate been routed atthe polls so decisively –that too was in 1936 whenMr. Alf Landon whoopposed Mr. Rooseveltgot only the seven

electoral votes of Maineand Vermont (the lattertoo incidentally mademinor history last nightby voting Democrat forthe first time). Thecrushing Johnson victoryalso scotched the politicalambitions of severalRepublican aspirants forlesser office.

Shastri for avoiding waste

The Prime Minister,Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri,stressed on Monday theneed for a change in theoutlook of people,particularly officials andMinisters, to avoid “wasteand pomp” in view of theeconomic condition of thecountry. Striking apersonal note in thisconnection whileaddressing Congressworkers in Bombay, Mr.Shastri said that onassuming office as PrimeMinister, he was“bewildered” by thechange in the appearanceof his office and home,which were “flooded”with costly anddecorative articles offurniture and fittings.Some of them, he said,were “so fine to look at.”

(dated Nov. 5, 1964)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

JODHPUR: Camels may soonhave to make space for sandscooters for patrolling the in-ternational border inRajasthan.

With the number of camelsdeclining sharply in the Stateand security forces going infor modernisation, the BorderSecurity Force (BSF) is in theprocess of experimentingwith sand scooters for patroll-ing in the Thar desert, whereeven highly specialised de-fence vehicles find it difficultto ply.

Trials are on since 2012 butno manufacturing companyhas been shortlisted so far.Two companies, including anAmerican firm, tested theirsand scooters a couple ofweeks ago. The latest trialswere conducted on two andfour wheeled scooters thatcan negotiate steep sanddunes easily. The 900-cc en-gine, four-seater scooters cancarry armed personnel and

move swiftly across the des-ert. The use of a six-seaterRange Cruise is under consid-eration while technical eval-uation is under way for use ofthe Maruti Gypsy.

While all vehicles failed inthe initial trials done in 2012,several trials were done in2013 also and the process hasbeen on since then. “We in-tend to reduce the number ofcamels used for patrolling butcamels can never be totallyphased out,” sources said. Ve-hicle trials failed in 2012.

Camels have traditionallybeen used for patrolling bythe BSF and it is the onlyforce in the country to do so.However, in addition to de-clining number of camels,training and maintainingthem is proving to be expen-sive now. “But there are sit-uations where only camelscan help,” sources said.

The camel was declaredState animal by Rajasthan re-cently as its number has beendeclining over the years.

Sand scooters may replace

camels along desert border

A patrol vehicle being tested in Rajasthan’s Thardesert on Monday. — PHOTO: ROHIT JAIN PARAS

Aarti Dhar

From green to brown

(Left) Lush greenery covers Andhra University in Visakhapatnam in a photo dated October12, 2014, before cyclone Hudhud uprooted many of the trees on the now bare campus. — PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has beenasked to investigate a cyber crime thatUnion Minister for Health and FamilyWelfare Harsh Vardhan allegedly fellprey to last month.

In a written complaint sent to DelhiPolice Commissioner B.S. Bassi, theUnion Minister has alleged that he wasbeing defamed through a fake profile onsocial networking website facebook.

“We received the complaint on Octo-ber 22 and, after adequate initial in-vestigation, a criminal case has beenregistered by the Economic OffencesWing (EOW),” said a senior policeofficer.

According to the said complaint,which was despatched through one ofhis acquaintances, the minister has al-leged that the operator of the fake pro-

file befriends people in his garb beforeoffering them ‘paid services’ in hisname.

“Upon establishing contact (with oth-er users), the operator of the account

offers various commercial services,” theFIR states, adding: “The minister hastaken strong exception to this illegal ac-tivity by some unscrupulous elementand has desired that the matter be in-vestigated on priority and the respon-sible person be brought to justice.”

Police sources said the EOW washanded over the investigation by PoliceCommissioner Bassi himself. “Investi-gation revealed that the operator of thesaid facebook account intended to de-fame and annoy the minister. So wehave registered a case under section 66(A) of the Information Technology (IT)Act against unknown persons,” said theofficer.

The police said they would seek de-tails pertaining to the location of thecreator of the fake profile from the com-pany’s servers in the U.S. and investiga-tions were underway.

Police to probe Vardhan’s fake facebook profile Jatin Anand

Harsh Vardhan

NEW DELHI: A 41-year-old manhas been arrested for dupingover 300 people of Rs.6 croreby persuading them to investin Ponzi schemes of a market-ing company on the pretext ofdoubling their money.

The accused identified asSukhdev was arrested by theEconomic Offences Wing ofthe Delhi Police on Saturdaynear Dwarka Sector 14 wherehe had gone to meet someone.

“Sukhdev, Narender Sato-ha and his wife Anita Satohahad started a company in2008 in the name of Alman-dine Marketing Pvt. Ltd.Their office was in DwarkaNorth from where they cre-ated a Ponzi scheme with thepromise to double theamount within six months.More than 300 people invest-ed over Rs.6 crore in the com-pany and the owners fledafter collecting the amount,”said Joint Commissioner ofPolice (Crime Branch) Ravin-dra Yadav.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudu-lent investment plan promis-ing high rates of return.

“Sukhdev was the managerand the networking head ofthe company. He hails fromPunjab and now lives inDwarka in South-West Delhi.A cash reward of Rs.20,000was declared on his arrest,”Mr. Yadav added.

Man arrestedfor dupingpeople of crores Staff Reporter

DEATH

LUCKNOW: The Uttar PradeshChief Minister, Akhilesh Ya-dav, on Tuesday slammed theBharatiya Janata Party for vi-tiating the communal atmo-sphere in the State andblamed the party for ruptur-ing the social fabric. Mr. Ya-dav said the BJP’s ideologyhad created disharmony at alllevels, be it the Vidhan Sabha,the administration or the po-lice stations.At the inaugura-tion of 100 administrative andhousing buildings of the po-lice department on Tuesday,Mr. Yadav said that loud-speakers have now becomethe medium for creating com-munal discord. He lampoonedthe BJP for its “love jihad”campaign and lauded the po-lice for thwarting the party’sdesigns in some cases of al-leged “love jihad”.

Even as the Chief Ministerattacked the BJP, he also tar-geted the media, particularlythe electronic media, for itsreportage on the law and or-der situation in the State. Inan implied reference to theBudaun incident involvingtwo sisters whose bodies werefound hanging from a tree inKatra Saadatganj village inMay, Mr. Yadav mocked at themedia for enabling the worldto know about the SamajwadiParty. “Even the United Na-

tions took cognizance of it,”he said. The reports were laterfound to be untrue, Mr. Yadavadded.

Addressing the gathering ,the Chief Minister said the Di-rector General of Police want-ed to tell the truth (about theBudaun incident), “but the

media did not want the truthto emerge”. “Which forceswere behind the news is moreimportant,” Mr. Yadav said.Referring to the law and ordersituation, Mr. Yadav saidmany incidents were blownout of proportion by the TVchannels.

The Chief Minister reiter-ated that the maintenance oflaw and order and peace arethe top-most priority and saidthe Government is activelyworking on it. The modern-isation of the police in theform of ultra-modern controlrooms and modern weaponswas an effective medium ofcontrolling law and order.Time lost by the Governmentwill not be to its advantageand if the people gave anotherchance, the SP will return topower ( “janata ne mauqa diyato phir lautenge” ), Mr. Yadavsaid.

He stressed on good rela-tions between the police, poli-ticians and Press (“PPP”) andsaid maintenance of law andorder is not possible withoutthe cooperation of the policeand the press.

Speaking on the occasion,the Public Works DepartmentMinister, Shivpal Singh Yadavemphasised on good relationsbetween the police and public.He stated that the policeworking should instil a senseof fear in criminals whereasthe people’s confidence in thepolice should be restored.

The 100 police buildings indifferent districts inaugu-rated by the Chief Minister in-clude administrative blocksfor mahila thana, fire services,housing for police personneland barracks.

Atiq Khan

Akhilesh blames BJP for vitiating social harmony

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav alongwith veteran Congress leader N. D. Tiwari duringthe inaugration of a rail over bridge in Lucknow onTuesday. – PHOTO: PTI

LUCKNOW: The 655.95 metrelong four-lane rail over-bridge (ROB) on MahatmaGandhi Marg built adjacentto the State headquarters ofthe Bahujan Samaj Partyand at a stone’s throw fromMayawati’s residence wasinaugurated by the UttarPradesh Chief Minister,Akhilesh Yadav onTuesday. It has beenconstructed at a cost of Rs.42.05 crore.

As compared to the otherROBs in the city conceivedwhen former PrimeMinister Atal BihariVajpayee was the LucknowMP, or when MulayamSingh was the ChiefMinister in 2003, whichhung in the air for manyyears before theircompletion, this ROB hasbeen completed in a recordtime of 16 months. Work onthe ROB commenced inJune 2013 and it wascompleted in October 2014.The rail over-bridge runsfrom the Loreto Conventcrossing to theCantonment side on theMG Marg.

The announcement ofthe ROB’s construction in2012 had stirred acontroversy with the BSPthreatening to stall work onthe bridge. The BSP saidthe bridge posed a securitythreat. An officialspokesman said heavyvehicles from Sultanpur,Varanasi, Rae Bareli,Kanpur and Allahabad plyon the MG Marg and theROB would help in easingthe traffic jam from theLoreto Convent crossing toTelibagh. Besides, since thenumber of trains passingon the Lucknow-Dilkusharail section is quite large,the frequent closure of thelevel crossing number 214(special) caused trafficjams. The elevated road onthe right side of theGomtinagar rail over-bridge was alsoinaugurated by the ChiefMinister. Work on theelevated structure, whichpending since 2005, startedagain in September 2013and was completed inSeptember 2014. Theelevated road has beenbuilt at a cost of Rs. 868.35lakh.

ROB completed in record time

Atiq Khan

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minis-ter Tarun Gogoi on Tuesdaysaid that his governmentwould not follow the Centre’spolicy of clamping a blanketban on recruitment in centralgovernment departments andhas decided to fill up 53,420vacant posts in various depart-ments of the State govern-ment.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, Mr Gogoi said theModi government’s decision ofnot filling up vacant posts andnot creating any new postwould adversely affect the rail-ways, banking and other cen-tral government services in theNorth-eastern region.

“We have decided to fill up53,420 posts lying vacant invarious state government de-partments. The Cabinet has al-ready cleared recruitment for8,000 posts in the police de-partment,” he said.

The Chief Minister said thatunlike States like Gujaratwhere the private sector has abig presence, the scope ofrecruitment in private sector islimited in Northeastern States.

Assam to fillover 50,000govt. postsSushanta Talukdar

CMYK

ND-ND

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

8 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

EDITORIAL

In deciding to break away from the Congress in

Tamil Nadu, former Union Minister G.K. Vasan is

following the example that his father, G.K. Moopa-

nar, set in 1996. But even if some of the person-

alities are the same, the circumstances are very different

18 years on. Mr. Moopanar formed the Tamil Maanila

Congress protesting against the party high command’s

decision to ally with the AIADMK against the wishes of

large sections of the party’s supporters in the State.

Inner-party democracy, functional autonomy for State

units, an anti-corruption crusade, all these were issues

that motivated Mr. Moopanar, a loyalist of the Nehru-

Gandhi family who found himself out of sync with the

Congress led by P.V. Narasimha Rao. Now, however, the

problem is that no alliance that would help it win even a

few seats is in sight for the Congress in Tamil Nadu. The

erosion of popular support for the party coincided with

the rise of a chauvinistic attitude on the Sri Lankan

Tamils issue after the decimation of the Liberation Ti-

gers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. Although the LTTE enjoyed

the support of only fringe groups in Tamil Nadu after the

assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, during the final

phase of the war in Sri Lanka and later, the Congress-led

UPA government was accused of having supported the

Sri Lankan government to the detriment of the cause of

the Tamils in the island.

At the head of his own party, Mr. Vasan will have the

manoeuvrability to forge alliances with the other major

political players in the State. Discarding the perceived

problematic baggage of the Congress while retaining its

core support base, is the challenge before Mr. Vasan and

his supporters. Although the AIADMK does not seem all

that keen to piece together an alliance after having won

37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats on its own, the DMK, which

drew a blank by going it alone, is in the process of

building a mega-alliance. The BJP, which put together a

third front with the DMDK, the MDMK and the PMK for

the Lok Sabha polls, is also looking for new allies, espe-

cially since the MDMK is likely to exit the alliance. Mr.

Moopanar resisted the temptation to ally with the BJP

during the first two terms of the National Democratic

Alliance, even breaking the alliance with the DMK on

this very issue. Whether Mr. Vasan sticks to the same

stand based on the secular traditions of the Congress

remains to be seen. Unlike Mr. Moopanar, who took with

him almost the entire support base of the party, he will

have a tougher time winning friends and influencing

people. Many senior members who were with the father

are not with the son now; and the political scene is more

crowded with the entry of the DMDK and the new push

by the BJP. While Mr. Vasan’s political options have

increased after his bold attempt to form a new party,

those are not by any means easy.

Bold gamble in Tamil Nadu

There is undeniable euphoria in Mah-arashtra and elsewhere in the coun-try over the political arrival ofDevendra Fadnavis. Having a bub-

bly fortysomething on the country’s politicalscene may not exactly be a novelty, but what isstriking is that Mr. Fadnavis comes with nobaggage that weighs down some others his agealready in the arena and who have professedto make a difference. They either allowedthemselves to be sucked into the quagmirethat is Indian public life, or had not beenpermitted to perform — even though theypossessed the right pedigree — for reasonsother than merit, by individuals or groups whofelt threatened.

The young and the old alike are both ec-static about the young leader from Nagpurand have been bowled over by the confidencehe exudes and the promise he holds out intransforming the polity in the whole of India,especially in one of its more important States,Maharashtra. Mr. Fadnavis must succeed ifwe want to bring about a sea change in thequality of our public administration. In ourview, having him as an example is somethingthat will definitely rub off on others who areitching to serve the country selflessly.

Politicisation of force

Mr. Fadnavis has the potential to alter thedestiny of Maharashtra, provided he works toa plan. He should remain focussed on govern-ance and not allow his energies to be dis-sipated in futile, controversial publicdiscourses that are easy meat for the Opposi-tion and the media. These are days of highexpectations and no consumer of public ser-vice is willing to wait to be served. The newMaharashtra Chief Minister no doubt has thesupreme advantage of age and a squeaky cleanimage. This can however dissolve in no time ifhe does not organise his priorities in an in-telligent way or if he unwittingly gives elbowroom to the sharks around him.

One of his first moves has been delightfullyheartwarming — choosing to keep the Homeportfolio to himself. His predecessors hadbartered it away for dubious, external politicalsupport that came with a tag. The recent his-tory of the State is pockmarked by many un-fortunate episodes, which had been the result

of politicisation of the police force. The com-munal riots of 1992-93, the Bombay blasts of1993, 26/11 and other terrorist attacks inMumbai and the rest of the State … eachstands out for failure or passivity of a policeforce that was once noted for its commend-able professionalism and high standards ofintegrity.

In dissecting what is wrong with the Mah-arashtra/Mumbai police, Mr. Fadnavis wouldgreatly benefit from a heart-to-heart chat witha group of retired police officers known fortheir integrity and track record in objectivepolicing. There are indeed several of them inMumbai available for an intelligent and point-ed debate that we propose as the very firstexercise that the Chief Minister should under-take. Many former officers are appalled by thelows to which the police have reached due to

widespread corruption and political manip-ulation that the force has been subjected to.While this may not be very different fromwhat it is in many other police forces in thecountry, in the case of Mumbai, more than therest of Maharashtra, the fall has been griev-ously steep, leading to unforgivable despond-ence all around.

Need for merit

We must acknowledge that it is not thevenal and unscrupulous politician alone whohas to be blamed for this sorry situation. Asubstantial number of police leaders them-selves have been more than willing accomplic-es in recent years.

Two developments have specifically hurtthe Mumbai police the most. The self-aggran-disement of the Home Department at the cost

of professional police leaders has been colos-sal. The authority to post even inspectors tovarious police stations has been usurped bythe mandarins in Sachivalaya (State Secretar-iat), thereby emasculating the Commissionerof Police and destroying the chain of com-mand in a rigid hierarchy that the police is.Worse still is the sale of prized field jobs to thehighest bidders. There are incredible tales ofvenality which would make even the mostbrazen politician squirm in his seat. Thingshaven’t changed despite there being manysane and credible voices. Mr. Fadnavis has torestore the primacy of police leadership if ithas to deliver. This applies especially to theMumbai Police Commissioner who should beappointed on merit. In the recent past, someof the appointments to the vital job have re-sulted in disastrous consequences. The Com-

missioner’s appointment is fortunately notseniority-driven unlike the DGP’s. So, theChief Minister has some flexibility in gettingto choose the right candidate, even if an offi-cer so anointed is relatively junior to othersstaking claim to the job solely on the basis ofseniority.

A carefully chosen commissioner of policeneeds enough autonomy to either perform orperish. Constricting his moves by dictating tohim on whether a procession should be per-mitted or banned in Mumbai city cannot be apolitical decision as is the case now. Remember how a Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS) procession was banned by theCommissioner in August 21, 2012? Yet, theparty went ahead in organising the rally, andno action was taken against its organisers.Obviously the decision to ban it was at the

instance of the political executive over whichthe Commissioner had no say.

Political interference does not stop withpostings. It envelops the recruitment of theconstabulary as well. There have been numer-ous scandals all over the country that have ledto dilution of the quality of intake. Many menand women who find a place in the final list arethose who have been sponsored either by theChief Minister or the Home Minister, and hadeven ‘paid to be favoured.’ This evil is endemicto both the Maharashtra and Mumbai Police,bringing disrepute to the whole process ofrecruitment.

Restoring credibility

The Central government has been rightlyhighlighting the need to convert the countryinto an investor-friendly nation by ensuring astable public order situation. This cannot hap-pen if India’s financial capital, Mumbai, re-mains a poorly policed city. A hugeinvestment in technology and processes iscalled for. Mindless austerity here can causeharm to police standards. Fortunately, thereare blueprints available to move things for-ward. These have remained essentially on pa-per. There is tremendous talent availablewithin the department to exploit state-of-the-art technology which would sharpen policeservice to aid victims of crime. What is neededto improve the police image in the city is forswifter professional response to calls for helpfrom citizens in distress and the efficient solv-ing of crime and restoration of stolen propertyto lawful owners. The Mumbai police havedone some creditable work to educate thecommon man on how to protect himself fromcrime. There is a case for expanding instruc-tion to the community online as well asthrough group meetings for citizens. If thenew government sends out the message that itwill not be statistical in assessing police per-formance, but would rather go by periodicsurveys of community opinion, we can hope tosee a free registration of crime, somethingthat would enhance public faith in the police.A crime survey by a non-police agency of thekind that exists in the United States and theUnited Kingdom will greatly enhance thecredibility of the Mumbai police.

Housing

Police morale is a very sensitive aspect ofpolice administration. If neglected, it can leadto disastrous consequences, including delib-erate non-cooperation by the police at thegrass-roots level during a crisis. One crucialarea is the provision of more housing for theconstabulary. While it is true that hundred percent satisfaction of the target of requiredhousing units is not possible because of thecontinual growth of the force, a substantialnumber of additional tenements each yearwill help. It may be shocking for outsiders toknow that some policemen in the city livecheek by jowl in slums with persons who havea criminal record. If Mr. Fadnavis has to en-dear himself to the police community, he hasto somehow find the money to expand housingfor the police.

The task of injecting more professionalisminto the Mumbai police force is an enormouschallenge. The infrastructure to build on thisexists. The problem may not be one of findingthe resources, but primarily one of changingattitudes, both at Sachivalaya and the policeheadquarters. The much bandied about ex-pression these days, “trust deficiency,” appliesvery much to the police as well. Mr. Fadnaviscan bring about a change where we have apolice force that is trustworthy, provided hetrusts them and gives them enough operation-al autonomy. We are certain that he under-stands that more autonomy for the police doesnot mean less accountability.

(Dr. R.K. Raghavan is a former CBI Director, and D. Sivanandhan is a formerMumbai Police Commissioner and a formerDGP of Maharashtra.)

More autonomy, not less accountabilityThe task of injecting more professionalism intothe Maharashtra police force is an enormouschallenge. The problem may not be one of findingthe resources, but primarily one of changingattitudes at the top

R.K. Raghavan and D. Sivanandhan

“A free registration of crime is something that would enhance

public faith in the police.

”

Delhi electionsIt is good news that fresh electionsto the Delhi Assembly are likely tobe held after the principal partiesexpressed their inability to form agovernment (“Delhi headed forfresh polls,” Nov.4). The onlysticking point is that the pollprocess will have to be started allover again, which will entail hugemonetary expenditure. This time,people must vote clearly in order toensure a clear majority.

S. Sankaranarayanan,Chennai

Reforming MGNREGAThe article, “How to reform andhow not to” (Nov.4), sheds light onvarious reforms needed tostrengthen the MGNREGA acrossIndia. As India is a diverse countryin terms of resources and thedemand for labour, reforms shouldbe carried out in view of problemsthat exist in a specific region ratherthan reforming the programmeuniversally. The success of theMGNREGA in various States showsthat any programme targeting therural poor can be implementedsuccessfully only with greaterpolitical commitment andempowering grass-roots levelinstitutions. In India, there is theproblem of disguised employmentin agriculture, and the MGNREGAshould be reorganised in order toattract such unproductive labourfrom agriculture into moreproductive work in the rural areas.It should not remain as anemployment-supply programmeproducing unskilled labour. Theremust be innovation so that labourshould learn some skills whileworking. The MGNREGA can alsohave a greater role to play in thenew flagship programmes.

Balaji Akiri,Hyderabad

The implementation of theMGNREGA in my village, Mannarin Alappuzha district of Kerala, hasseveral shortcomings. First, theidentified beneficiaries are notgenuine or deserving. They areundertaking unproductive workthat is of no use either to thevillagers or even to themselves, anexample being pavement cleaning.This is done every day and is not anisolated case. My enquiries showthat this is what happens in mostvillages in Kerala.

Vijaya Krishna Pillai G.,Alappuzha

MGNREGA has affected farmers,especially those who have faced anatural calamity. It has directlycontributed to labour scarcity,besides leading to an abnormalincrease in the daily wages oflabourers. Farmers are entirelylabour-dependent, especially in theearly and later stages of cultivation.Finding labour is therefore aHerculean task. Most labourersprefer work under the MGNREGAas it has flexible working hours withthe least amount of physical work,even at above the wage rate offeredunder the Act. In order to achievefood security and protect theinterests of farmers, authoritiesmust monitor the programme atdifferent levels and ensure thatMGNREGA work is not undertakenduring the season of peak farmingactivity.

Poola Ramesh,Hyderabad

The first thing that struck me afterreading the article was howdisconnected urban India is fromrural communities across India.Most of us hardly know about theother India (the rural Bharat) andits concerns. I always thought thatthe MGNREGA was just anotherpopulist programme that robbed

the national treasury. I was evenscornful of it being a source ofemployment. I stand corrected andam glad to know that it is bringingsome positive change to the lives offellowmen who have been leftbehind in the growth story.

Gaurav K.,Rohtak

Two faces of ModiI would like to recall what thescientist and Kalinga Prize winner,Fred Hoyle, said in Delhi once whenreporters asked him to suggestsome topics for science fiction inIndia (“The two faces of Mr. Modi,Nov.1). “Why not try Hanuman?” heasked. Science fiction, which, bydefinition, is not verifiable byscientific methods, is essential topromote a scientific temper tobroaden the search for new ideas. AsStephen Hawking says in hisforeword to The Physics of StarTrek by Lawrence M. Krauss, “Toconfine our attention to terrestrialmatters would be to limit thehuman spirit.” To assume thatexamples of what is really sciencefiction as established fact iscontrary to the commendableintellectual leaps of ancient India.Promoting science fiction, which issadly neglected in the country,rather than fiction would constitutean appropriate counterpart to Mr.Modi’s digital face.

Mohan Sundara Rajan,Bengaluru

I do recollect an report in The Hindu many decades ago thathighlighted excavations somewherein Tamil Nadu throwing light onVaimanika Sastra (aircraft science).Over the years, our minds have beendiverted from our pastachievements by placing too muchemphasis on modern science andimported technology. I admire thesincere efforts of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi in trying to inspirethe common man by giving usspecific examples from history andmythology. How can a veteranjournalist like Karan Thaparcontest the freedom of expressionof a country’s Prime Minister whenhe, the Prime Minister, was onlyemphasising positive things about agreat country like India?

K. Ramakrishna,Visakhapatnam

I agree with letter writerVijayalakshmi Raghavan (Nov.3)that personalities like Mr. Thaparpractise an elitist agenda and don’twant to experience pride in theirown rich history which evenwestern scholars recognise. Oneneeds to read The Yoga Tradition:Its History, Literature, Philosophyand Practice, by Georg Feuersteinwhich gives us a “a bird’s-eye viewof the cultural history of India.” Mr.Modi’s examples relate to theAtharva-Veda, where one can findthe earliest recorded speculation onanatomy, and curative andpreventive medicine. How does oneterm something as mythology whenthere are scriptures to authenticateour traditions and practices?

Ashok Suri,New Delhi

Mr. Modi’s examples need not beviewed as “right-wing propaganda”,because these references weremade without any bias. They weremeant to motivate and evinceenthusiasm about the past. Mr.Modi’s actions bank on science ashis flagship programmes such asDigital India, Swachh Bharat,Sramev Jayate show.

Prafulla K. Rai,Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh

Why do journalists have to alwaysbe the “know-it-all” people? It isobvious that Mr. Thapar displays

sparse knowledge about what isbelieved to have existed. Belittlingthe Indian way (thinking, science,and so on) seems fashionable, andjournalists get away with it becausethey hardly ever have to face thosewho are knowledgeable. Let menarrate this example: the Frenchsurgeon who performed the first-ever case of plastic surgery inmodern times was asked about hisfeat. His simple reply: he had thenotes of Shusruta in front of himand did not deviate from them.

Trigunesh Mukherjee,New Delhi

Mythological stories that boast ofour proficiency in genetics andplastic surgery are without anybasis and against the spirit of ourConstitution. Glorifying our pastwithout any basis is of no use. It isonly a forward-looking scientificapproach as elaborated in Article 51A(h) of the Constitution that willkeep us on the path to progress.

Anil Kumar Karra,Guntur

Tendulkar’s bookFrom the little nuggets ofinformation that have flowed outfrom Sachin Tendulkar’s yet-to-bereleased autobiography, Playing ItMy Way, it is evident that this is onebook that cricket aficionados wouldlike to pick up in a hurry (“Sport,”Nov. 4). The “Little Master’s” attackon Greg Chappell, his startlingdisclosure that the coach plotted toremove Rahul Dravid from hiscaptaincy before the 2007 CricketWorld Cup, and his confession thathe felt so “scarred” and“devastated” by the Indian team’sineptitude under his captaincy thathe wanted to completely move awayfrom the sport, are intriguing andwill make for compelling reading.

N.J. Ravi Chander,Bengaluru

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the fullpostal address and the full name or the name with initials.

The austerity measures unrolled by the Finance

Ministry last week send out a clear signal that

all is not well with government finances; at

least, not yet. Though business sentiment has

improved noticeably and some key indicators point to a

pick-up in growth, government expenditure is running

well ahead of revenues, which have not grown at the

expected pace. Thus, the Finance Ministry has been

forced to order a cut in all discretionary spending; the

target is to prune expenditure, other than Plan-related,

by 10 per cent. The only exceptions are interest payments,

debt repayments, defence capital, salaries, pensions and

grants to States. These occupy a large proportion of non-

Plan expenditure, which means that the savings might

not be much. Yet, the fact that the government deems this

necessary shows the seriousness of the problem that it

faces in keeping the fiscal deficit in check. Indirect tax

collections have grown at just 5.8 per cent in the first half

of this fiscal compared to the budgeted target of 25.8 per

cent. On the direct taxes front, refunds have eaten away

almost half of the incremental collections, which have

otherwise been on target. Adding to the government’s

woes is the sharp rise in defence pensions due to the

implementation of the ‘one-rank, one-pension’ scheme.

Outgo on this is expected to shoot up by 40 per cent, or

Rs.16,000 crore, this fiscal. Importantly, this was not

budgeted for fully.

It is not all gloom, though. The fall in global commodity

prices, notably of crude oil, and the freeing of diesel

prices, have given elbow room to the government in

pruning subsidies. The subsidy on cooking gas and kero-

sene, as also on fertilizers, will fall significantly. Oil prices

are down by about a quarter since the time the new

government assumed office and look set for a subdued

phase, barring a rise in geopolitical tensions in the Middle

East. Meanwhile, the government should push forward

on disinvestment, receipts from which are budgeted at

Rs.58,425 crore this year. After an initial burst of activity

in September, action appears to have slowed down on this

front. The markets are on song now and this is the best

time to capitalise by offloading stakes in public sector

undertakings to retail investors. Experience shows that it

is not a great idea to push back the share-sale process

closer to the end of the fiscal. The spectrum auction,

expected in February 2015, is another big revenue source-

in-waiting. With 83 per cent of the fiscal deficit already

reached by the end of September, the government will be

hard-pressed to keep the deficit down to the target of 4.1

per cent of GDP for this fiscal. While austerity will help,

all possible avenues to boost revenues have to be explored

so that capital spending does not suffer.

Growth andausterity

CARTOONSCAPE

CMYK

ND-ND

9THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

COMMENT

If there is any party which can hopeto make electoral gains from hold-ing Assembly elections in Jammuand Kashmir at this moment, it is,

undoubtedly, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). It seeks to ride on what it claims is a‘Modi wave’ and is hoping to at leastemerge as the single largest party in theState. Due to the breaking of the Con-gress-National Conference (NC) alliance,many constituencies are likely to witnessa multi-cornered contest with the two na-tional parties and the primary regionalparties — People’s Democratic Party(PDP) and NC — in the fray.

Needless to say, the competition wouldbecome tight with the presence of manyother minor players like the Panthers Par-ty. No wonder the BJP has already an-nounced its decision to contest theelections without any ally on all 87 As-sembly seats. It is the only party whichseems to be happy with the sudden an-nouncement of dates for the Assemblyelections, just a few days after Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s recent trip.

Only a few months ago, Kashmir hadsuffered major devastation due to massivefloods and questions were being raised if itwould be appropriate to hold elections insuch a situation. The displacement causedby the natural disaster could affect turn-out in the valley and it could drop belowthe lowly figure of 31.2 per cent recordedin the region in the 2014 general elections.

Memories of the massive floods

The ruling party in the State, NationalConference, had expressed its displeasureover the Election Commission (EC)’s de-cision to conduct elections in Kashmir asper schedule. With memories of the floodsstill fresh in the minds of the people, theBJP is likely to highlight the relief oper-ations and aid provided by the Centre towoo voters. Alongside, Mr. Modi wouldcontinue to use the slogan used in Harya-na and Maharashtra, which had called forthe same party both at the State and in theCentre. The nature of the electoral con-test is going to be very different in thethree regions of the State.

The prospects of the BJP depend heavi-ly on its performance in the Jammu re-gion (where Hindus are present in largenumbers), which accounts for 37 Assemb-ly seats.

In the general elections, the party hadled in 24 seats in the region and had polledalmost half the votes (48.2 per cent) whileits nearest rivals — the Congress and NC —together managed to lead in only 11 seatswith a combined vote share of 34.4 percent. The PDP’s performance here was

below par with a vote share of less than 10per cent. The BJP needs to sweep theregion if it wants to emerge at least as akingmaker.

In the valley region (mainly Srinagar),which comprises 46 Assembly segments,the contest is primarily among the NC, thePDP and the Congress. Here, the BJP isnot even a marginal player as reflected inits performance in the general elections.The party had been able to gather slightlymore than one per cent of the votes anddid not lead in any Assembly segment.

Considering how weak the BJP is in theregion, the PDP seems to be the likelybeneficiary of the NC-INC split and State-level anti incumbency. The PDP had per-formed exceedingly well here in the gen-eral elections with a vote share of 46.3 percent and had led in 39 segments.

Still, the BJP is hoping to spring sur-prises in some seats with support frommigrant Kashmiri Pandits who are likelyto vote for it in big numbers. As seats inthe valley are decided by small margins, alow turnout of residents and enthusiasticpostal votes from Kashmiri Pandits mayswing some seats in BJP’s favour. Its ‘Mis-sion 44’ would not be successful if itdoesn’t manage to win at least some seatsin the valley.

The smallest region of the State, La-dakh, has seen good performance by inde-pendent candidates in the past. The BJPmanaged to win the Lok Sabha constitu-ency by a narrow margin of only 36 votesand led in only one out of the four As-sembly segments. Recent incursions bythe Chinese army in the region could be animportant electoral issue. Unlike Maha-rashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand, the BJPis definitely not a frontrunner to emergevictorious with a majority of its own inKashmir. But one can safely predict that itwould improve upon its 2008 tally of 11seats and could become a kingmaker.

The BJP should hope that the NationalConference doesn’t collapse completelyand that there is a fragmentation of seatsin the valley. This could allow the BJP toplay a role in government formation in aState which was considered well beyond

its reach till May 2014. The two regionalparties seem to be playing safely consid-ering the possibility of falling short of thehalfway mark. One cannot rule out a post-poll alliance between the BJP and thelargest regional party.

The Congress seems set to fall well be-low its earlier performances and in alllikelihood it would finish fourth.

Multi-polar scenario expected

Overall, in the absence of pre-poll alli-ances and in the presence of multipleplayers, Kashmir, like Maharashtra,seems to be heading toward its first elec-tion with an Uttar Pradesh-like multi-po-larity. In such a scenario, it would bedifficult to say which party gets a majority,as seats would depend largely upon theconcentration of votes. But even in suchscenario, the BJP seems to be the front-runner and may emerge as the single-largest party, as its votes are likely to beconcentrated in Jammu and Ladakh re-gions. The big question remains: will itcome anywhere close to the majoritymark?

(Sanjay Kumar is Director, Centre forthe Study of Developing Societies; PranavGupta is researcher at Lokniti, a ResearchProgram of CSDS)

Will the Modi wave work in J&K?The big question is if the BJP will come anywhere close to the majority markSanjay Kumar and Pranav Gupta

Displacement caused by thefloods could affect turnout,which could drop below thelowly figure of 31.2 per centrecorded in the 2014 generalelection

In the late 1970s, Prof. Rajan, our Headof Department in the faculty of Mil-

itary History and International relationsat the National Defence Academy, alwaysurged us to look at military history not asan isolated discipline, but as an adjunct ofpolitical strategy and diplomacy. Thiscontextual relationship, he said, was im-perative for a clearer understanding fail-ing which it would remain only adescription of battles and campaigns. Ihave never forgotten that advice. Sincethen, I have always looked at militarycampaigns through the lens of multipleprocesses of statecraft without ignoringthe heat and grime of battle.

Military history, a laggard

I have always wondered: why has thediscipline of military history, particular-ly in the post-independence era, re-mained a laggard in India’scontemporary historical discourse? Hasit to do the ‘pacifist’ tag attached to mod-ern Indian strategic thinking or to a re-luctance to showcase the exploits of amilitary that still carries a perceived co-lonial legacy?

My gut feeling is that political and so-cial historians who have dominated mod-ern Indian historical discourse have beenmore comfortable writing and teachinghistory that is socially relevant; politi-cally engaging; and that showcases In-dia’s rich civilisational heritage and itsmulticultural, vibrant democracy. Mak-ing matters difficult for a minusculenumber of military historians has beenour archival carelessness and opaque-ness when it comes to periodic de-classi-fication of military matters.

Many global universities look at mil-itary history as a clear subset of historyfocussing on strategy, operational art,campaign studies and tactical battles. Iguess it just did not make sense for Indi-an universities to devote time to thisgenre of history when other topics wereattracting greater attention.

India’s military history and wars sinceIndependence have been well-chroni-cled, though in a piecemeal manner,within the country and abroad by schol-ars like Sumit Ganguly (The Origins ofWar in South Asia); Stephen Cohen(Arming without Aiming); and NevilleMaxwell (India’s China War).

However, only a handful of civilianwriters like P.V.S. Jagan and Samir Cho-pra (Eagles over Bangladesh: The IndianAir Force in the 1971 Liberation War)have written extensively about specificcampaigns and battles.

Conflicts of all genres have only beencovered in a single offering, albeit verybriefly — in the most critically acclaimedbook on modern Indian history, India

after Gandhi, by Ramachandra Guha.While there have been laudable contri-

butions by a number of soldier-scholars— like Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal (MyYears with the IAF); Lt. Gen. S.K. Sinha(A Soldier Recalls); and Vice Admiral Mi-hir Roy (War in the Indian Ocean) —these have generally been service-specif-ic or personal perspectives on the con-duct of India’s modern conflicts.

Some exhaustive joint narratives havealso been written by Ministry of Defencehistorians like Dr. S.N. Prasad and Dr.Thapliyal (Official Histories of the 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 conflicts), and one can-not but appreciate the attempts of jour-nalist-scholars like Inder Malhotra, D.R.Mankekar, Shekhar Gupta and NitinGokhale to keep the military discoursegoing. However, no one has really fo-cussed on giving a fillip to the study ofmodern Indian military history, either inour war colleges or in our universities.

Having taught extensively at one ofIndia’s flagship institutions of Profes-sional Military Education, I remain un-happy at the manner in which modernIndia’s military history is being studiedat our war colleges and universities — nota single university or college has a de-partment dedicated to it like the ones atKing’s College, London (War Studies); orOxford University (Changing Characterof War). Strategic studies, which allowsscholars to prognosticate about the fu-

ture rather than rummage through ar-chives for lessons from the military past,seems a more fashionable genre.

Absence of a focussed discourse

With that as a backdrop, I have oftenwondered: how are we going to sensitiseIndia’s youth in the years ahead on theexploits of India’s armed forces and therole they have played in nurturing andprotecting its vibrant, secular and multi-cultural democracy? Will the absence of afocussed military discourse lead to a con-tinual decline in the attractiveness of thearmed forces as a career option? I hopenot!

Modern theories of international rela-tions — that look at balance of power andnational interest, or universalism andcollective security as a final objective ofstate policy — invariably have had themilitary as a tool to achieve it, though it isalways articulated as the last and theleast-preferred option.

The West has for long considered thestudy of war as being vital for survival ofthe state in the face of periodic threatsfrom totalitarian forms of invasive politi-cal philosophies. Nations like the U.S.,Great Britain, France have government-backed institutions that take great pridein chronicling wars and saving the les-sons for posterity.

Writers and scholars like William Dal-rymple (Return of a King); and Chris-topher Bayly (Forgotten Armies) havechronicled wonderfully the military ex-ploits of the British Raj even when it wasin its death throes. Sir Michael Howard(War in European History); John Keegan(A History of Warfare); and WilliamsonMurray (War in the Air: 1914-1945) have

made a name for themselves as militaryhistorians of rare pedigree; and journal-ist-scholars like Rick Atkinson (The Lib-eration Trilogy) continue to tell the storyof the exploits of American soldiers inWorld War II through masterfulnarratives.

Unfortunately, India has no such sys-tem in place where scholars, wanting toshowcase the operational exploits of freeIndia’s military campaigns in the form ofeasily digestible narratives, are encour-aged by mainstream academia.

It is understandable that India doesnot want to abandon its overarchingprinciples of non-violence and peacefulcoexistence as key determinants of itspolitical philosophy. However, consider-ing the realities of modern geostrategiccompulsions and expanding national in-terests, it is high time that it institutesradical changes in the way it records,analyses and disseminates its militaryhistory.

Indian tales of courage, valour andbravery in the face of insurmountableodds are not an exclusive preserve of thewarrior princes of ancient and medievalIndia, but also of soldiers, airmen andsailors of a secular, democratic and mod-ern India.

One of the ways of upholding the prideof India’s armed forces is by telling itsrecent stories to people at large via in-teresting narratives that are neither self-adulatory, nor derogatory or scathinglycritical, but in ways that allow us to learnfrom our mistakes and take pride in pastaccomplishments.

(The author is a serving Air Vice Mar-shal in the Indian Air Force. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Military history as adjunct of political strategy

INTERESTING NARRATIVES NEEDED: Tales of Indian soldiers’ courage, valour and bravery deserve to be toldthrough interesting narratives. Picture shows Indian soldiers in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA)area in November 1962. — PHOTO: THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES

Military campaigns must be seen through the lens of multiple processes of statecraft withoutignoring the heat and grime of battle

Arjun Subramaniam

Only a handful of civilianwriters have writtenextensively about specificcampaigns and battles

Over the past decade or so, political campaigns have become morescientific. Campaign consultants use sophisticated data to micro-

target specific demographic slices. Consultants select their ad buys moreprecisely because they know which political niche is watching which TVshow. Campaigns trial test messages that push psychological buttons.

Discussion around politics has also become more data-driven. Opinionwriters look at demographic trends and argue over whether there is anemerging Democratic majority. Pundits like me study the polling crosstabs, trying to figure out which way Asian-Americans are trending here andhigh-school-educated white women are trending there.

Unfortunately, the whole thing has been a fiasco. As politics has gottenmore scientific, the campaigns have gotten worse, especially for thecandidates who over-rely on these techniques.

That’s because the data-driven style of politics is built on a questionablephilosophy and a set of dubious assumptions.Data-driven politics is built on a philosophy youmight call Impersonalism. This is the belief thatwhat matters in politics is the reaction ofpopulations and not the idiosyncratic judgment,moral character or creativity of individuals.

Mobilisation vs. persuasion

Data-driven politics assumes that demographyis destiny, that the electorate is not best seen as agroup of freethinking citizens but as a collectionof demographic slices. This method assumes thatmobilisation is more important than persuasion;that it is more important to target your likelysupporters than to try to reframe debates orpersuade the whole country.

This method puts the spotlight on thereactions of voting blocs and takes the spotlightoff the individual qualities of candidates. It putsthe spotlight on messaging and takes thespotlight off product: actual policies. It puts thespotlight on slight differences across the socio-economic spectrum and takes the spotlight offthe power of events to reframe the whole moodand landscape. This analytic method encouragescandidates across the country to embrace thesame tested, cookie-cutter messages.

Candidates who have over-relied on thesetechniques have been hurt by them. One victimwas Mitt Romney, who ran for President not as

himself, but as a thin slice of himself. Another victim was President BarackObama. His 2012 campaign was legendary from an analytic point of view,and, of course, it was victorious. But it lacked a policy agenda and producedno mandate. Without a compelling agenda, the administration hasprojected an image of reactive drift and lost public confidence.

This year, the most notorious victim of demographic politics is Sen.Mark Udall of Colorado. He’s tried to win the female votes as if all womencared about were “women’s” issues. The Denver Post’s editorial boardwrote that he’s run an “obnoxious one-issue campaign,” which is in a deadheat.

The other victims include the Democratic senators in red states.Winning in a state that the other party dominates is a personal enterprise.It requires an ineffable individual connection with voters. It requires anidiosyncratic approach to issues. By eclipsing individual quirks withgeneric messages, the data-driven style deprives outnumbered candidatesof precisely what they need to survive. Alison Lundergan Grimes, aDemocrat, could have made a real run at Sen. Mitch McConnell inKentucky if she’d been a little more creative.

Politics, a personal enterprise

Of course, data sets are important. Obviously demography matters a lot.But, at heart, politics is a personal enterprise. Voters are looking for qualityof leadership, character, vision and solidarity that defies quantification.Candidates like Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Jerry Brown can arouse greatloyalty in ways that are impossible to predict.

In the midst of this scuffling economy, voters are thinking as Americansand not as members of a niche. They’re asking: what can be done to kick-start America? They’re not asking: how can I guarantee affordablecontraception? People who are building campaigns on micro-targeting aresimply operating on the wrong level of consciousness.

The more you look at political history, the more you see that politicalimagination is the rarest and most valuable of qualities. Voters don’talways know what they want, but they look to leaders to jump ahead of thecurrent moment and provide visions they haven’t thought of.

Some politicians, like FDR or Ronald Reagan, can reframe debates andenvision coalitions that don’t exist. Their visions emerge out of unique lifeexperiences, which are unusual but have broad appeal. They build trust notthrough a few targeted messages but by fully embodying a moment and apeople. They often don’t pander to existing identities but arouse differentidentities.

Today we have a lot of technical innovation, but not a lot of politicalcreativity. The ecosystem no longer produces as much entrepreneurship —mutations that fuel evolution.

Data-driven candidates sacrifice their own souls. Instead of being inner-directed leaders driven by their own beliefs, they become outer-directedpleasers driven by incomplete numbers. — New York Times News

Service

Death by dataWORLD VIEW

Data-driven

politics assumes

that demography

is destiny, that

the electorate is

best seen as a

collection of

demographic

slices

DAVID BROOKS

Space travel has long been the pre-serve of governments and sci-fi

fans, but in recent years a crop of com-mercial ventures, often backed by bil-lionaire entrepreneurs, has sought toget into the race.

The list of so-called ‘thrillonaires’has only grown, along with their ambi-tions: Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founderwho set up Blue Origin to lower thecost of space technology; Elon Musk,who founded SpaceX with the aim ofgoing to Mars one day; and RichardBranson, who started the space tou-rism company Virgin Galactic.

Risks and costs

But two recent accidents involvingcommercial rockets have underscoredthe risks and costs involved in anyspaceflight.

On Friday, a Virgin Galactic spaceplane exploded during a test flightover the Mojave Desert, killing onepilot and injuring another. Days earli-er, an Orbital Sciences rocket carryinga supply vessel for the InternationalSpace Station blew up seconds after itwas launched.

Both accidents are under investiga-tion. Although they were unrelated,their occurrence just days apart was astark reminder that the path to spaceis just as arduous for private compa-nies as it is for government-fundedprograms.

The common thread between thesenew space initiatives is that they allare looking for ways to sharply cut thecost of spaceflight. Without that, anal-ysts say, there is no realistic prospectof making spaceflights both routineand affordable.

The push to privatise spaceflight is

in part borne of necessity. After pio-neering space exploration and landingon the moon, NASA has had to adaptto tighter budgets and redefine itsmission. Today, one of its main goals isto encourage and fund the develop-ment of commercial space entities.

NASA is “looking for cheaper accessto space,” said Marco A. Caceres, aspace analyst at the Teal Group, a con-sulting firm in Virginia. The trouble,he said, is that reliability and price areoften tied together.

Mr. Caceres said the new space en-trepreneurs were good at creating ex-citement about their ventures. BeforeFriday’s accident, about 700 peoplehad reserved seats on Virgin Galactic,with tickets costing $250,000 each.

However, he added, “the downsideis that if you have problems, you haveall this attention focused on you.” —

New York Times News Service

Have the wings of space travel‘thrillonaires’ been clipped?Jad Mouawad

An unmanned Antares rocketexplodes seconds after liftoff atNASA’S Wallops FlightFacility in Virginia, last week.— PHOTO: NYT

CMYK

ND-ND

10 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

WASHINGTON: The Pentagonreport said that within amonth of the Herat strike,the State Department an-nounced that Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group behind the2008 Mumbai terror at-tacks, was responsible forthe violence.

The report assumes add-ed significance as Mr. Modihad used similar terms inAugust to describe Pakis-tan’s terror tactics. “Theneighbouring country haslost the strength to fight aconventional war, but con-tinues to engage in theproxy war of terrorism.”

The report focused onNew Delhi’s continued sup-port for a stable and secureAfghanistan, and in this re-gard the Pentagon said, “In-dia and Afghanistan signeda strategic partnership dec-laration in 2011, which for-malised cooperation ongovernance, economics,commerce, education, pub-lic administration, and se-curity and lawenforcement.”

Experts here appeared tobe divided upon the signif-icance of the statement onPakistan’s use of militantproxies in the conflict withIndia.

Lisa Curtis, a former Cen-tral Intelligence Agency of-ficer and currently a SeniorResearch Fellow at the Her-itage Foundation, told TheHindu, “U.S. government

officials have long knownand privately acknowledgedthat Pakistan supports mil-itant groups that attack In-dia and Afghanistan. TheU.S. may be more willing toacknowledge this fact publi-cly as it withdraws U.S.forces from Afghanistanand relies less and less onlogistical supply lines run-ning through Pakistan.”

She added that this “bluntassessment” was in linewith the Obama-Modi JointStatement, which empha-sised that the U.S. and Indiawould work together tocounter terrorist groups op-erating in the region andthat Washington viewedLeT as an internationalthreat and not “solelythrough an Indo-Pakistaniprism.” Further, Ms. Curtissaid, this perspective couldimply that the U.S. “will notshy away from taking stepsto condemn, isolate, andpunish the LeT, even if itangers the Pakistanigovernment.”

However Daniel Markey,Senior Fellow for India, Pa-kistan, and South Asia at theCouncil on Foreign Rela-tions noted that the reportreiterated sentiments thathave been voiced by the U.S.government in the past, no-tably including by formerChairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, MichaelMullen, when he testifiedabout the Haqqani net-work’s links with Pakistan’sInter-Services Intelligence.

Narayan Lakshman

Pentagon report in line with Modi’s remarks

challenge that people face,”Chief Minister Omar Abdul-lah tweeted.

The Army issued a state-ment saying it had acted fastto treat the injured at theirhospital and were investigat-ing the firing. “[The] Army hasmoved with unprecedentedspeed to initiate investiga-tions. The GOC, ChinarCorps, has promised that jus-tice will be done,” the Armysaid.

It said its personnel were intouch with the families of thedeceased. The families, how-ever, denied that the Armyhad contacted them.

“I have spoken to the De-fence Minister to ensure aprobe, but unfortunately,from my past experience, Iknow that the Army will in-voke AFSPA to protect itselfand evade justice. I have beenfighting for partial revocationof AFSPA and this incidenthas again made it clear whythe country should think hardand long about it, ” Mr. Ab-dullah told The Hindu.

He questioned the Army’saction to shoot at the carwhen they could have usedother measures to stop the ve-hicle. “How many bullets willyou fire at a suspected vehiclethat doesn’t stop at a check-point or how much does itcost to spread a strip withnails that is used to deflatetyres at checkpoints.”

SRINAGAR: All major separatistleaders have called for a shut-down in Kashmir on Wednes-day in protest against thekillings of two civilians by theArmy in Chattargam. Policesources said curfew would beimposed in several parts ofSrinagar again.

Heavy restrictions havebeen imposed in several areasof the city. “There were goingto be restrictions anyway forthe Muharram processionsbut the government had to bestricter in view of the killings.We did not want a law andorder situation with stone-throwing spilling outsideNowgam,” a senior police offi-cer said. “When the bodies ofthe boys arrived in the morn-ing, we took them to NowgamSquare because we did notwant to bury them so fast. Wewanted to carry the dead andshow the people how our chil-dren are being killed,” saidMohammad Yaqoob, aprotester.

All mainstream politicalparties offered condolencesand condemned the killings.“Such killings have no place inan otherwise improving secu-rity environment where mil-itancy incidents are at recordlow levels. These deaths haveserved to vitiate the poll at-mosphere already strained bythe post-flood reconstruction

Shutdown in Kashmir todayover killing of civilians

A soldier checks the identity of a civilian duringcurfew in Srinagar on Tuesday. — PHOTO: AP

Zahid Rafiq

BHUBANESWAR: The name ofRamachandra Hansdah, BijuJanata Dal MP, who was ar-rested on Tuesday, was linkedto Nabadiganta Capital Ser-vices Private Ltd. (NCSPL),which allegedly collectedabout Rs. 100 crore fromsmall investors by promisinghigh returns.

The CBI has charged himand two former MLAs, Sub-arna Naik (BJD) and HiteshBagarti (BJP), with criminalconspiracy, fund diversionand cheating in connectionwith the case. The MP wassummoned by the agency forthe third time to its local of-

fice here on Tuesday.During initial rounds of

questioning, the three ac-cused had maintained thatthey were made token direc-tors and they had resignedfrom the post after coming toknow of the working of thecompany. They quit as direc-tors in 2012, but the resigna-tions were accepted in 2013.

The CBI had earlier arrest-ed NCPSL chairman and ma-naging director A. K.Baliyarsingh and two other di-rectors, Kartikeya Parida andPradipta Patnaik. The CMDand the directors had hintedat ‘direct’ involvement of thepoliticians during theirinterrogation.

Satyasundar Barik

NCSPL raised Rs. 100 crorefrom small investors

KOLKATA: The Centre has sentan alert on a possible terrorthreat against the city. Therewas no official word on thismatter, amid reports that theKolkata Port Trust, the nearly150-year old institution was onthe radar.

Senior officials of the Cen-tral Industrial Security Force(CISF), Navy, and Kolkata PortTrust (KoPT), Kolkata police’sSpecial Task Force(STF) andSpecial Branch officials held ameeting on Monday after re-ceiving an alert from the Cen-tre, police sources told TheHindu.“ The alert is of a generalkind and no particular threathas been specified,” the source

said. The KoPT has decided tointensify its vigilance and pa-trolling following the receipt ofan input on ‘threat perception’at the port and its installations.The alert was received on Mon-day evening.

Sources told The Hindu thatafter receiving the alert, theport authorities held a meetingto review security arrange-ments.

The Navy pulled out INSKhukri and INS Sumitra, whichhad called on Kolkata port onMonday evening to take part inthe Navy Week observances,and deployed them to scour theseas in the wake of the terroralert.

(With additional inputsfrom S.Anandan)

Centre puts Kolkata on terror alertKolkata Bureau

MANDAPAM: The Centre will puta navigation system in place inthe Palk Bay as envisaged in theSethusamudram Ship Channelproject without disturbingRam Sethu, Union Minister forRoad Transport, Highways andShipping Nitin Gadkari said onTuesday.

After making an aerial in-spection of the project, Mr.Gadkari told a press conferencein Mandapam that his Ministrywas considering various pro-posals but asserted that theRam Sethu would not be dis-mantled.

There were four or five pro-posals, besides the report sub-mitted by RITES Limited, anengineering consultancy com-pany. He said the Ministrywould take a final decision aftera discussion with officials andRITES.

“One thing is very clear. Wewill not hurt the sentiments ofthe people of India and theirfeelings about Ram Sethu,” hesaid. He had made this clear inParliament as well, he pointedout. No questions arose aboutthe alignment (cutting throughRam Sethu) fixed by the previ-ous Congress-led UPA govern-

ment. The RITES Limited haddone a detailed study on an al-ternative alignment and pre-sented a comprehensive reportto the Ministry. He, however,did not go into the details. Thematter was sub judice, he said.His Ministry, after detailed dis-cussions, would announce thenavigation system to be put inplace after getting clearancesfrom the Cabinet and the PrimeMinister.

Accompanied by ICG In-spector General S.P. Sharmaand Commander H.H. More,

Mr. Gadkari also conducted aninspection in the Palk Straitand the Gulf of Mannar regionin an ICG Hovercraft. His visitwas mainly to understand thevarious options, implicationsand the actual situation thatprevailed on the ground, hesaid. After the inspections, Mr.Gadkari offered worship at SriRamanathaswamy temple atRameswaram. He was accom-panied by Union Minister PonRadhakrishnan and BJP Na-tional Council member K.Muraleedharan.

Navigation system will not disturb Ram Sethu: Gadkari G.J. Walter Scott

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari arrivesfor an inspection of the Sethusamudram ShipChannel project in Rameswaram on Tuesday. —

PHOTO: S.JAMES

NEW DELHI: The Defence Minis-try has issued a Request for In-formation (RFI) to domesticmanufacturers for reconnais-sance and surveillance helicop-ters for the Army AviationCorps (AAC) and the Indian AirForce (IAF).

The RFI states that “The In-dian Army and Indian AirForce are holding Chetak andCheetah helicopters. The Min-istry of Defence intends to ur-gently replace the fleet ofexisting Cheetah and Chetakhelicopters with suitable hel-icopters of modern design(hereinafter called Reconnais-sance & Surveillance/ RSHHelicopters).”

This follows the decision byDefence Minister Arun Jaitleyin August to scrap the deal for197 helicopters and go for afresh contract under the ‘Makeand Buy’ category of the De-fence Procurement Procedure(DPP). This is the third timethe RFI has been reissued forthe Light Utility Helicopters

(LUH). The RFI, issued on Oc-tober 31, has sought responsesfrom interested Indian vendorsby November 11.

The contract is open for bothsingle and twin engine variants.The RFI has not stated thenumber of helicopters whichthe government intends toprocure.

It said: “This Request for In-formation (RFI) is being issuedwith the aim of identifyingprobable Indian vendors (in-cluding an Indian companyforming joint venture/estab-lishing production arrange-ment with OEM) who canprovide the helicopters fol-lowed by licensed production/indigenous manufacture in thecountry.” The initial batch ofhelicopters will come in flyawaycondition from the OEM, whilethe remaining will be built inIndia by an Indian partnerthrough transfer of technology.

This approach is in line withthe Modi government’s policyof indigenously developing mil-itary hardware and reduce de-pendency on imports.

Defence Ministry issuesRFI for helicoptersDinakar Peri

CHENNAI: BJP leader Subra-manian Swamy has urged theparty’s central leadership to“take a call” on whether theMDMK led by Vaiko shouldcontinue in the NDA in thelight of the latter’s “crass an-ti-nationalism and covert se-cessionistpronouncements.”

In a statement releasedhere on Tuesday, Dr. Swamysaid he had spoken to BJPpresident Amit Shah and theparty’s Tamil Nadu in-charge, Rajiv Pratap Rudy onthis issue.

Pointing out that Mr. Vai-

ko had even recently ap-peared before a Tribunal(which had a sitting in Nilgi-ris) to argue that the five-year ban imposed by the Mo-di government on the LTTEshould be lifted, Dr. Swamysaid the MDMK leader hadalso been “abusive” in hisspeeches of the Prime Minis-ter for engaging with Sri Lan-ka.

“Hence the MDMK is anti-thetical to the nationalistoutlook of the NDA partiesand thus should be sent ashow-cause notice for theMDMK’s termination ofmembership,” the BJP lead-er said.

Swamy: review MDMK’scontinuance in NDASpecial Correspondent

MANDAPAM: RITES Limited,an engineeringconsultancy companyspecialising in transportinfrastructure, hassubmitted a feasibilityreport to the Ministry ofShipping, suggesting thatthe Sethusamudram ShipChannel project could beimplemented through theexisting Pamban channel,which separates themainland fromRameswaram island.

As the Centre did notwant to disturb the RamSethu and there wasopposition toimplementing the projectthrough other alignments,RITES has suggested thatthe Pamban channel couldbe dredged to 12 metresand the 65.23-metre-longrolling type Scherzer spanreplaced to pave the way

for the passage of vessels inthe 30,000 tonne class.

“We have suggested 12metre dredging in the firstphase,” a top source inRITES told The Hindu.

In the second phase,RITES Limited wouldexplore tunnel railwayunder the sea for allowingheavier class vessels topass through the channel,the sources said.

The existing manualScherzer span would bereplaced with amodernised andmechanised horizontalorientation type span afterwidening it to 90 metres.The modernised spancould be operated by thepress of a button, thesource said.Simultaneously, thenavigational spans in therail bridge would bewidened and strengthened,he said.

RITES suggests dredging of Pamban channel

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: BJP president AmitShah has asked the party’sTamil Nadu unit to intensifyits membership drive in thebackdrop of the prevailingpolitical situation in theState.

Party sources said BJPState president TamilisaiSoundararajan met Mr.Shah in New Delhi on Mon-day and briefed him aboutthe developments in TamilNadu over the last twomonths.

In particular, the positionof the AIADMK post theconviction of its general sec-retary Jayalalithaa in thedisproportionate assetscase, and the situation in theDMK where its treasurerM.K. Stalin was trying to at-tract allies, including partiescurrently in the NDA, werecommunicated to Mr. Shah.

Mr. Shah asked about thesplit in the Congress orches-trated by G.K. Vasan and theimpact it would have onState politics.

Amit Shahbriefed aboutT.N. situationSruthisagar Yamunan

NEW DELHI: Russian DeputyPrime Minister Rogozin,who came in June to meetthe new government, is ex-pected to spell out the eco-nomic vision for India andRussia, and ways of boostingtrade, which according to anofficial, is “lagging behindthe rest of our relations.”

With six billion dollars inbilateral trade in 2013-14, In-dia and Russia are not ex-pected to meet their target of$15 billion by 2015, but Indiawants to initiate a FreeTrade Agreement with theCustoms Union of Russia,Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Mr. Rogozin is not just Mr.Putin’s point person for In-dia. He is also the Chairmanof Russia’s board of the mil-itary-industrial complex,and oversees the country’snuclear and spaceprogrammes.

Russia’s recent pivot to the

east, especially in the field ofenergy and gas partnerships,is driven by sanctions on theRussian leadership by west-ern countries over the Uk-raine issue. Last month,Russia and China signedmore than 40 agreements,including a deal to boost Rus-sian gas exports, on the backof the mega 30-year, $400billion deal signed betweenthem last year.

Sources said Russia willdiscuss a new joint ventureon the lines of the Sakhalin-1gas fields, where India’sONGC has a 20 per centstake and also ground trans-portation and other routesfor energy supplies to India.Russian company Novatekhas invited Indian partnersfor the development andproduction of hydrocarbons.Mr. Rogozin’s visit may alsosee discussions on Russiaacting as an intermediary onIndian oil imports from Iran.

According to sources thefinal agreement for co-devel-opment and co-productionof the Fifth GenerationFighter Aircraft (FGFA) is“on track,” as differenceshave been sorted out.

The aircraft induction willfit in with President Putin’splan for “import independ-ence programme for the de-fence industry sector.” Othermajor deals under negotia-tion include three additional

Talwar class frigates, leasinga second Akula class nuclearsubmarine and a trilateralagreement for developmentof BrahMos-M.

“If Indian state corpora-tions, when making purchas-es, not only ask for thedelivery of goods but also thelocalisation of Russian pro-duction in India, we areready to meet them half-way,” said Minister AlexeyLikhachev in an interview toRussian agency RIR lastweek. “We are ready to com-plement our proposals on thesupply of vehicles, aircraft,and navigation equipmentfor GLONASS, with joint-venture projects in India.”While Mr. Rogozin is here, aRussian team will visit Mum-bai and meet with top offi-cials of the Department ofAtomic Energy (DAE) to dis-cuss future cooperation forIndian nuclear energy.

(With inputs from Dinakar Peri)

Rogozin to spell out economic vision India seeks FTA with Russia, Kazakhstan and BelarusSuhasini Haidar

Dmitry Rogozin

who challenged his convic-tion in the Court, to showthat there was no protest bythe woman.

The Bench, comprisingJustice Pradeep Nandrajogand Justice Mukta Gupta,said it was evident from themedico-legal examination ofappellant Achey Lal andpost-mortem of the de-ceased that both of themhad consumed alcohol.

“...the deceased wasaround 65-70 years, thus be-yond the age of menopause.We find force in the conten-tion of the learned counselfor the appellant that even ifthe sexual intercourse wasforceful, it was not forcible,”said the Court in its six-pagejudgment.

The trial court hadawarded life term to AcheyLal on charges of raping thewoman while he was in aninebriated state, resulting inher death. Allowing his ap-peal, the High Court saidthe post-mortem report hadproved beyond reasonabledoubt that the woman toohad consumed alcohol be-fore she was subjected tosexual intercourse.

The Court ruled that theappellant could not be heldguilty for offence under Sec-tion 302 (murder) of IndianPenal code as he “neitherhad any intention norknowledge” that such aforceful act of sexual inter-course would cause thedeath of the woman. Conse-

quently, he was acquitted ofthe murder charges as well.

The trial court had in2011 awarded life imprison-ment to Achey Lal and im-posed a fine of Rs.10,000 onhim, while holding that hehad committed rape of awoman older than his agewhom he used to call hismother.

According to the argu-ments put forward by theprosecution's counsel, thewoman was working as adomestic help in severalhouses in Majnu Ka Tilalocality in North Delhi.When she was found dead ather residence in December2010, an empty bottle ofliquor was found near herbody.

NEW DELHI: In a verdict set togenerate debate on the ele-ment of “consent”, the DelhiHigh Court has overturnedconviction of a man in a rapeand murder case, sayingeven if the sexual inter-course with the 65-year-oldwoman was forceful, it was“not forcible and contrary tothe wishes and consent ofthe deceased”.

A Division Bench of theHigh Court said in its judg-ment delivered this pastweek that though the force-ful penetration was evidentfrom the injuries on her pri-vate parts, there was no oth-er injury mark on the body ofthe deceased or on the man,

Forceful but was not forcible, says Delhi High Court Mohammed Iqbal

NEW DELHI: The FifthGeneration Fighter Aircraft(FGFA) being jointlydeveloped by India andRussia is once again in focusas the Russian DeputyPremier Dmitry Rogozinlands in New Delhi onWednesday, the visit comesahead of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s tour to Indiain December.

The precursor for theFGFA is the PAK-FA,acronym for PerspektivnyiAviatsionnyi KompleksFrontovoi Aviatsy (meaningprospective aircraft complexof frontline aviation) alsoreferred to as T-50 built by

Sukhoi Design Bureau andfirst flown in January 2010.Five flying prototypes of theT-50 aircraft are currentlybeing tested.

The FGFA will haveadvanced features likestealth, internal weapons bay,super-cruise (supersoniccruise without firingafterburner), highlyintegrated avionics suite,enhanced situationalawareness and network-centric warfare capability.

A new and a more powerfulengine and AdvancedElectronically ScanningArray (AESA) radar are underdevelopment for the FGFA.Next generation weapons tooare under development. India

envisions a 360 degree radarcoverage on the FGFA, whichwill be an unprecedentedcapability when eventuallyinstalled. Once India reachesa final agreement withRussia, HindustanAeronautics Limited willpartner with Sukhoi inconverting the T-50 into aFifth Gen Fighter with 43improvements requested byIndia. Specialists in India willbe developing an onboardcomputer, navigation system,data displays in the cockpitand the plane’s self-protection system in additionto co-developing othersystems.

The program project willhave equal investment

between Indian and Russia.and is likely to cost over $30billion for about 400 aircraft.India plans to induct 144 ofthese. Though initially Indiawanted a twin-seat variant itlater relented as Russiademanded an additional $1billion.

In 2010, officials signed apreliminary designagreement between HAL andRussia’s Sukhoi DesignBureau to jointly produce theFGFA for use by bothcountries. So far both sideshave invested $295 millionfor preliminary design.Differences have cropped upbetween HAL and Sukhoi onthe work share with Indiainsisting parity.

Focus on Fifth Gen fighter jets ahead of Rogozin’s visitDinakar Peri

CHENNAI: India’s High Commis-sioner in Sri Lanka Y.K. Sinhamet on Tuesday the five Indianfishermen who were awardedthe death sentence by a Col-ombo court, and assured themthat New Delhi would make allefforts for their early releaseand repatriation.

External Affairs Ministry of-ficials said the High Commis-sioner’s team found thefishermen in good health andthey sought permission formaking calls and writing totheir relatives in Tamil Nadu.The prison authorities, ForeignMinistry sources said, readilyagreed to arrange for telephonecalls in two days. The fisher-

men were free to write letterstoo.

The Ministry tweeted imag-es of Mr. Sinha exiting the We-likada prison in Colombo. TheColombo High Court sen-tenced to death Emerson, P.Augustus, R. Wilson, K. Prasathand J. Langlet on October 30 oncharges of smuggling heroin.They were arrested in 2011.

New Delhi has said it willtake all possible steps throughlegal and diplomatic channelsto “prove their innocence.”

Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to take up thematter with Sri Lankan Presi-dent Mahinda Rajapaksa whenthey meet at the SAARC sum-mit in Kathmandu later thismonth.

Indian envoy meets death convicts in Sri LankaMeera Srinivasan

CMYK

ND-ND

11THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

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NATIONAL

NEW DELHI: For Chhath Pujaand Muharram, Delhi Policesent out several “eyes in thesky” this year scouting fortroublemakers, against thebackdrop of communaltensions.

Small, low-flying drones fit-ted with cameras and sweep-ing over crowds inhard-to-access localities of thecapital are the new-age ma-chines catching the fancy ofpolice forces, as they grapplewith law and order situations.

Ahead of the Chhath puja,the Delhi police used minidrones fitted with cameras forsurveillance. They then de-ployed them in riot-hit Trilok-puri in East Delhi.

“We used one drone everyday in Trilokpuri area, bothduring the day and night. Forthe Muharram procession onTuesday, we used four or fivein the entire city to keep a vig-il,” Joint Commissioner of Po-

lice, Eastern Range, SanjayBeniwal told The Hindu.

Drones that are less thantwo metres long and one metrewide and weigh less than twokilos are preferred, to cover an

area of about 1000 sq. metres.Their real time videos are re-layed to the police controlroom. “This helps in taking de-cisions on movement of policepersonnel, to scan trouble

spots and monitor crowds,” apolice officer said.

Recent footage from the lo-calities that witnessed vio-lence or communal tensionnow forms part of the Delhipolice archive.

While there is great interestin using the new technology,Delhi Police does not have itsown drones yet. For securityarrangements in Trilokpuriand Bawana areas, the flyingmachines with night and dayvision were hired from a pri-vate agency.

“We are soon going to buyour own. The cost will dependon what kind of drones wechoose. There are some withnight vision cameras, andsome with weapons. We areworking on what will serve usbest,” Mr. Beniwal added.

Disaster management andrescue is another area wheredrones, or Unmanned AerialVehicles, can be put to gooduse. The Armed Forces oper-ate Israeli drones named Her-

on and Searcher forsurveillance, as well as the in-digenous Lakshya and Nishantmodels. DRDO is developingRustom I & II medium andlong endurance drones formilitary use. A combat UAV(UCAV) is also on DRDO’sdrawing board.

UAVs of the IAF have beenused to track movement ofMaoists in Jharkhand andChhattisgarh and DRDO hasoffered Nishant customisedfor the role.

“We are planning to demon-strate the use of Nishant fromJagdalpur in March and April.Some 16 are required to startwith, according to present es-timates,” DRDO chief AvinashChander said. But these flyingmachines have had limitedsuccess due to the dense trop-ical forests.

Recently, drones were alsoused to track tigers and spotpoachers.

(With additional inputsfrom Kritika Sharma)

Drones sharpen focus on trouble spotsThe new-age machines have caught the fancy of police forcesDinakar Peri

Police using a ‘drone’ to keep a watch on aMuharram procession in tension-hit Trilokpuri inEast Delhi on Tuesday. – PHOTO: PTI

which candidates shirkedtheir responsibilities includ-ing organising rallies in theirconstituencies,” Mr. Ranesaid.

Criticising Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis’ supportfor statehood for Vidarbha,Mr. Rane said, “Fadnavis hasno right to talk about a sep-arate Vidarbha when he isthe Chief Minister of the en-tire State.”

Mr. Rane said the ChiefMinister did not have the ad-ministrative experience torun the State and the onlystrong Minister in the Cabi-net was Revenue MinisterEknath Khadse, who hadmade a failed bid for the toppost. The latter had served inthe Cabinet when Mr. Ranewas Chief Minister in theShiv Sena-BJP government.

Mr. Rane, who lost theelection from Kudal, has alsosaid he will not contest an-other Assembly poll. “Thisdoes not mean I am retiringfrom politics. I have not de-cided about contesting legis-lative council polls or LokSabha polls.”

MUMBAI: Congress leader Na-rayan Rane charged on Tues-day that party candidateshad not received adequatefunds for the MaharashtraAssembly polls and indirect-ly blamed the former ChiefMinister, Prithviraj Chavan.

Amid speculation that par-ty funds worth Rs. 10 crorehad been stolen, Mr. Ranetold reporters: “I do notknow about money beingstolen but it is true that can-didates did not receiveenough money. The respon-sibility for ensuring they gotparty funds lay with Mr.Chavan.”

The leader claimed thatseveral party candidates hadnot contested the electionsseriously.

“There should be an inter-nal probe into why partyfunds were not received and

Congress candidates did not receive enough funds: RanePriyanka Kakodkar

Congress leaderNarayan Rane at apress conference inMumbai on Tuesday. —PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

NEW DELHI: Japan will bestowits highest imperial honouron former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh in Tokyoon Wednesday in recognitionof his efforts at bettering tiesbetween the two nations.

The Grand Cordon of theOrder of the PaulowniaFlowers will be conferred onDr. Singh at a ceremony inthe palace.

A statement by the Japa-nese Embassy said Dr. Singh“will be bestowed [the hon-our] in recognition of his sig-nificant contributions to theenhancement of relationsand the promotion of friend-ship between Japan and In-dia for about 35 years.”

Officials said Dr. Singh hadbeen selected in particularfor his work as Prime Minis-ter in building the India-Ja-pan strategic and globalpartnership signed in 2009,which became the “mainstayof bilateral ties.”

Japanese honourfor Manmohan

Suhasini Haidar

MUMBAI: In an indicationthat the Shiv Sena will jointhe Maharashtra govern-ment, party chief UddhavThackeray said here onTuesday that he would soontake 180 MLAs to the Ekviratemple near Pune.

Mr. Thackeray visited thetemple with the Sena’s 63MLAs, and with the BJP’s121 MLAs, the number goesup to 184.

“I visit this temple everytime when something good

happens. Today, I am vis-iting here with my 63 MLAsand soon I may visit with180 of my MLAs,” he said.

Sena MP Anil Desai saidthe talks between the es-tranged allies had conclud-ed and the party wasawaiting the BJP’sresponse.

The BJP, however, re-fused to comment on Mr.Thackeray’s statement. Theparty, with 22 MLAs shortof a majority, wants to ex-pand the Cabinet only afterwinning the trust vote in the

Assembly on November 12.However, the Sena wantsthe BJP to decide whetherto include it in the govern-ment before the vote.

The Sena has been push-ing for the Deputy ChiefMinister’s post and 10 Cabi-net berths. The BJP is yet torespond to the demand.

The Sena mouthpiece,Saamna, on Tuesday askedChief Minister DevendraFadnavis to register his pro-test against the Karnatakagovernment for changingthe name of Belgaum to Be-

lagavi and to fight for therights of the Marathi pop-ulation living in the disput-ed border area.

“Devendra Fadnavis wassworn in as Chief Ministerof Maharashtra to protectthe rights of Marathi pop-ulation. It doesn’t matterwhether Marathi people re-side in the State or outside.He is the protector of Ma-rathi pride and that is thereason he must take an ag-gressive stand against re-naming Belgaum toBelagavi,” the editorial said.

Alok Deshpande

Uddhav indicates Sena ready to join government

CHANDIGARH: Amid tight secu-rity, life returned to normalon the Indian side of the Wa-gah-Attari joint check post,which was rocked by a pow-erful blast on Sunday.

While a capacity crowdcheered Border SecurityForce jawans at the beatingretreat ceremony, a jatha(group) of 1,666 Sikh pil-grims left for Nankana Sahibin Pakistan’s Punjab by aspecial train to participate inthe 545th birth anniversary

of Guru Nanak. However,trade remained suspendedfor the second day because ofMuharram holiday inPakistan.

BSF Inspector-General(Punjab Frontier) Ashok Ku-mar told The Hindu thatstands which could accom-modate 12,000 spectatorswere packed for the retreatceremony when BSF and Pa-kistan Rangers jointly lowertheir flags at the zero line.However, the attendance onthe Pakistan side was about40 per cent.

Mr. Kumar said while theBSF was maintaining a strictvigil along the border, effortswere on to sanitise the outerzone area adjacent to the At-tari integrated check post.

Shiromani Gurdwara Par-bandhak Committee secre-tary Dalmegh Singh claimedthat no pilgrim had droppedout of the visit to NankanaSahib as religious fervourhad overshadowed fear.

Immigration authoritiessaid that of the 1,666 pil-grims, 731 were women withnine foreigners.

Normality returns to Wagah

Devotees wave from a special train at Attari station on Tuesday beforeleaving for Pakistan to celebrate Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary. - PHOTO: PTI

Sarabjit Pandher

NEW DELHI: For the Congress, the newavatar of the Tamil Maanila Congress issymptomatic of the growing unhappi-ness in the party. Five-and-a-halfmonths after the Lok Sabha electionresults, there has been very little actionon the ground to reverse the situation.

There have been splits over the yearsin the Congress, with the most signif-icant one in 1969, when Indira Gandhibroke it, severing her connection withmembers of the ‘Syndicate.’

But since the early 1990s, in the wakeof former Prime Minister Rajiv Gand-hi’s assassination in 1991, there havebeen several splits in State units. Thenew parties have had a mixed record,some flourishing, some maintaining asmall presence in the legislatures bothat State and Central, some formingelectoral alliances with the Congresslater and a few even re-merging withthe Congress.

The first off the block in the 1990swas the All India Indira Congress (Ti-wari), created by senior leaders NarainDutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh and K. Nat-war Singh in 1994. It was a challenge toP.V. Narasimha Rao, who was Congress

president at the time, and the PrimeMinister between 1991 and 1996.

Many in the Congress believe thatMr. Tiwari would have become PrimeMinister in 1991 had he not lost his LokSabha seat that year. The party mergedwith the Congress once Sonia Gandhibecame party president in 1998.

In 1996, the Tamil Maanila Congresswas launched in Tamil Nadu by G.K.Moopanar to protest against the party’sdecision to ally itself with theAIADMK. After Moopanar died in2001, his son G.K. Vasan became partypresident. However, in 2002, the partymerged with the Congress.

In 1998, the Congress’ West Bengalunit split and the Trinamool Congresswas formed with Mamata Banerjee atits helm.

The next significant departure tookplace in 1999, when Sharad Pawar, P.A.Sangma, and Tariq Anwar, after being

expelled from the Congress for disput-ing the right of Italian-born SoniaGandhi to lead the party, formed theNationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The NCP draws its significance fromMr. Pawar’s clout in Maharashtra. Amember of the United Progressive Alli-ance I and II, the NCP shared powerwith the Congress for 15 years in Mah-arashtra. The NCP parted ways on theeve of the recent Assembly elections inthe western State.

In the decade that the Congress wasin power at the Centre, there were twosplits — one in Haryana and the otherin Andhra Pradesh.

The Haryana Janhit Congress wascreated by former Haryana Chief Min-ister Bhajan Lal in 2007 after he failedto become the CM again in 2005.

Finally, in 2011, in the wake of thedeath of the Chief Minister of unitedAndhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajasekhara Red-dy, his son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddysplit the State unit to form the YSRCongress.

Each successive split in the Congresshas only weakened the party — and theVasan revolt on Monday should sendalarm bells ringing in the party’s head-quarters in Delhi.

Smita Gupta

T.N.: Congress has reasons to worryFive-and-a-half months after theLok Sabha election results, therehas been very little action on theground to reverse the situation

NEW DELHI: In its mid-year re-view of the economy, theNational Council of Ap-plied Economic Research(NCAER) lowered its 2014-15 growth forecast for Indiato 5 per cent. In July, thethink tank had forecast 5.7per cent growth.

The lower projection isdespite the 5.7 per centgrowth in the first quarterafter two successive yearsof sub-5 per cent growth.

The NCAER’s projectionis in line with the RBI’sforecast.

Another cause for con-cern, according to theNCAER, is that after re-cording a strong perform-ance of double-digit growthin May and June 2014, ex-port growth slowed downin subsequent months witha growth rate of just 2.73per cent in September.

NCAER pegsdown growthforecast to 5%Puja Mehra

CHENNAI: Karti Chidambaram,son of former Union FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram, saidon Tuesday that it was time theTamil Nadu Congress Commit-tee (TNCC) sought autonomy inits functioning from the highcommand.

In a chat with The Hindu a dayafter former Union Minister G.K.Vasan broke away from the Con-gress to float a new party, Mr.Karti said the State unit neededsomething like the Kerala model,wherein decisions were collec-tively made in the State and Delhiinformed only for approval.

“Even in Kerala, there are dif-fering opinions among leaders.But they do not allow Delhi [theAICC], especially observers, tointerfere in their functioning.The way forward for all of us is tostay united and collectively seekfunctional autonomy,” the Con-gress leader said.

“We should say in one voicethat we will not brook unneces-

sary interference, and we willtake our political lines on ourown. The dynamics of the rela-tionship with Delhi should havebeen changed on the Keralamodel,” he said.

“If someone like Mr. Peter Al-phonse feels alienated from theparty, there is something seri-ously wrong with the currentsystem,” Mr. Karti said. The rea-sons for some leaving the partywere understandable, but thetiming saddened him as Con-gress was ceding ground in theState. “By starting a small re-gional outfit, some feel they canbecome ideologically neutral andget into alliances that wouldhave been unholy in the past, forexample with the BJP,” he said,adding, someone leaving the par-ty could still impinge its for-tunes. Meanwhile, CongressMLA and Kanyakumari districtpresident J.G. Prince decided toremain in the parent party andmet TNCC chief E.V.K.S Elango-van at Satyamurthy Bhavanhere.

Sruthisagar Yamunan

Karti pitches forTNCC autonomy

CHENNAI: Veteran journalistand political commentatorCho Ramaswamy has said theformer Union Minister, G.K.Vasan, was left with no otherchoice than to quit the Con-gress as the party high com-mand looked at everyoneassociated with the erstwhileTamil Maanila Congress(TMC) as undesirable.

Mr. Ramaswamy, whoshared a personal equationwith Congress leader G. K.Moopanar and who played amajor role in the formation ofthe TMC in 1996 along withactor Rajinikanth, said Mr.Vasan patiently waited allthese days, but decided to re-volt after the high commandignored the interests of TamilNadu.

Asked whether Mr. Vasanwould be able to do a Moopa-nar, he said the Congress it-self had weakened, and Mr.Vasan had to rejuvenate hisorganisation. “I think it willnot happen overnight. It willtake its own time.”

Vasan had nooption but toquit, says Cho B. Kolappan

GUWAHATI: A day after the EastGaro Hills district police fileda chargesheet against Megha-laya’s Social Welfare Minis-ter Deborah C. Marak forallegedly taking help of themilitant outfit Garo NationalLiberation Army (GNLA)during the 2013 Assemblyelections in the State to in-timidate voters, MeghalayaChief Minister Mukul Sang-ma on Tuesday said that hewould be “guided by legalperspectives” of the case todecide the course of action.

Minister Marak has deniedthe charge against her andvowed to prove her inno-cence in court.

“The police action onlydemonstrated that there has

been no interference by thegovernment in the process ofinvestigation . I will be guid-ed by legal perspectives of thecase,” the Meghalaya ChiefMinister told The Hindu.

He, however, evaded a di-rect reply when asked if hewould ask Ms Marak to re-sign or drop his from his

ministry.When contacted, East Ga-

ro Hills Superintendent ofPolice Davis N. R. Marak saidthat the police have filed thechargesheet against Ms Ma-rak and another person Ten-nydard Marak chargingunder Section 120 B for alleg-edly “hatching a criminalconspiracy with the GNLA”;Section 171 F for “undue in-fluence on voters”: and Sec-tion 506 of Indian PenalCode for “criminal intimida-tion.”

Minister charge-sheeted for takinghelp of militant outfitSushanta Talukdar

Social Welfare MinisterDeborah C. Marak

KUMBLA (KASARAGOD): The Ja-napaksha Yatra led by KeralaPradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) president V.M. Sud-heeran was flagged off here onTuesday evening with an ar-ray of senior party and UnitedDemocratic Front (UDF)leaders present at the event.

Kerala Chief MinisterOommen Chandy kicked offthe 35-day-long Statewide ya-tra by handing over the partyflag to the campaign captain.

Outlining the major objec-tive of the campaign, Mr.Chandy targeted the Commu-nist Party of India (Marxist)and the Bharatiya Janata Par-ty for promoting the cultureof political violence.

The yatra would not onlystreamline the party machin-ery in the State, but also en-courage the party leaders inother States to bolster the ma-chinery and work to reversethe setback it had received inthe Parliament elections, Mr.Chandy said.

Mr. Sudheeran in his ad-dress said the yatra was aimedat cautioning the people onthe dangers of indulging in vi-olence, drug and alcoholabuse. The yatra would alsostress the need to shun exces-sive use of plastics, chemicalpesticides and fertilizers in abid to promote organicfarming.

BJP, CPI(M)promotingviolence:Chandy C.S. Narayanan Kutty

CMYK

ND-ND

12 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

INTERNATIONAL

MADRID: Spain’s ConstitutionalCourt is to decide whether toaccept for deliberation a

government petition to blockplans by the northeasternregion of Catalonia to hold aninformal independence poll onNovember 9. Agreement tostudy the petition wouldautomatically suspend the votewhile the court deliberates. —AP

Catalan breakup poll may be stalled

LUSAKA: Zambia’s actingPresident Guy Scott backeddown on Tuesday after hisattempt to sack the rulingparty chief sparked riots and a

rejection of his authority as awhite leader in Africa. Scott onMonday had sacked PatrioticFront secretary-general EdgarLungu just days after the deathof president Michael Sata.Hundreds of Lungu supportersrampaged overnight in thecapital Lusaka, stoningmotorists, burning tyres andsinging anti-Scott songs beforebeing dispersed by police firingteargas. — AFP

Zambia: white leader backs down

BANGKOK: Hans FredrikLennart Neij, a co-founder ofthe Swedish file-sharingwebsite The Pirate Bay, hasbeen arrested in Thailand,police said on Tuesday, after hetried to cross into the country

from neighbouring Laos. Neijand Gottfrid Warg founded ThePirate Bay in 2003. It has nowgrown into one of the world’slargest file sharing websites,allowing users to share filesthrough peer-to-peertechnology. Along with otherco-founders, Neij wassentenced to prison andmulti-million-dollar fines in2009 for copyrightinfringement related to ThePirate Bay’s activities. —Reuters

Pirate Bay co-founder arrested

TEHRAN: Thousands of Iranianschanted “Down with America”at a major anti-U.S. rally tomark the anniversary of the1979 takeover of the U.S.Embassy in Tehran. Tuesday’srally in the Iranian capital putsmore pressure on moderatePresident Hassan Rouhani, justa week ahead of a meetingbetween American and Iranianofficials over Tehran’scontroversial nuclear program.In 1979, militant Iranianstudents who claimed the U.S.Embassy was a centre of plotsagainst the Persian nation held52 Americans hostage for 444days. — AP

35 years since U.S. Embassy takeover

An Iranian standsnext to the emblemof the former U.S.Embassy on Tuesday.— PHOTO: AP

WASHINGTON: Americans votedon Tuesday in legislative elec-tions expected to inflict astinging defeat on PresidentBarack Obama, with Repub-licans poised to wrest controlof the Senate from hisDemocrats.

The party of an incumbentU.S. President historicallyfares badly in elections in themiddle of his second term,and this time is expected to beno different for Mr. Obama.

Many Republicans have es-sentially based their cam-paigns on attacks against thePresident and his policies,particularly his health careplan. And many Democratseven avoided including thePresident in their campaignrallies and photo ops.

Though the economy hasbeen improving graduallysince the recession of 2008,the national mood is far frombuoyant.

Much attention has fo-cused on recent flashpointcrises like Ebola and advanc-es by the Islamic State jiha-dists in Syria and Iraq.

Democrats currently hold a55-45 seat advantage in theU.S. Senate, while Republi-cans control the House ofRepresentatives.

If Republicans take a net

six seats in the Senate, Mr.Obama will spend his last twoyears in office facing a hostileCongress as he contends withEbola, Islamist extremistsand improving the economy.

The race for the Senate hasbeen very expensive — an es-timated $423 million in TVspots about Senate races, ac-

cording to the WashingtonPost.

Recent polls show Repub-licans pulling ahead in thebattle for power in Washing-ton despite races in Alaska,North Carolina and otherStates remaining very close,and they expressed confi-dence in the home stretch.

“We intend to be a respon-sible governing Republicanmajority,” the party’s topSenator Mitch McConnelltold ABC News as he barn-stormed his State ofKentucky.

The veteran politician islocked in the tightest race ofhis career with resilient Dem-

ocratic challenger AlisonLundergan Grimes, but twoweekend polls showedMcConnell extending hislead.

“The wind is at our backs,”Senator Rand Paul, a poten-tial 2016 Republican presi-dential candidate, told CNNon Sunday. “I think peopleare ready for new leadership.”

In the House of Represen-tatives, where all 435 seatsare in play, experts predictthe Republicans will gainmore seats. A third of the 100-seat Senate is up for grabs.

Three top forecasters nowgive Republicans between a70 per cent and 77 per centchance of winning the Senateas well.

But, however successfulthe Republicans are, a com-plete picture may not emergeon Tuesday.

There are strong prospectsfor runoffs in Louisiana andGeorgia, where rules requirea second round if winners donot earn more than 50 percent of the vote.

Add to that a probabledays-long ballot count in re-mote Alaska, where there isan unpredictable and tightrace, which would also delaymatters. — AFP

Republicans may wrest control of Senate from the Democrats

MULTILINGUAL LAND: A sign in various languages point voters to a pollingstation in New York on Tuesday. — PHOTO: AFP

Midterm polls could land a blow to Obama

The grass is greener…

The lava flow from the Kilauea volcano that has been creeping toward inhabited areas ofHawaii's Big Island is seen near the town of Pahoa. President Barack Obama on Mondaysigned a Disaster Declaration for Public Assistance as the lava flow that began on June 27continues. — PHOTO: AFP/ U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

ROME: The body of an Indianwaiter, who was the last mis-sing victim of the ship-wrecked Costa Concordia,has been found while disman-tling the vessel, nearly threeyears after Italy’s worst post-War maritime disaster.

The remains of the 32ndand last victim from the Ja-nuary 2012 Costa Concordiadisaster, Indian waiter RusselRebello, were found in a cabinin the wreck in Genoa whereit is set to be scrapped.

Russel Rebello’s brotherKevin, in a Facebook postsaid: “Costa Concordia after1,025 days. I promised myfamily that I will bring backhome my brother some day-...My younger brother RusselRebello’s body has finally

been found on deck 8 in a ca-bin of the wrecked Concordia,who guarded him for morethat 1,025 days.”

“Now we wait for the DNAtest and the procedures togive Russel his final restingplace with honour, respect

and a HEROES welcome. In-dia we are coming,” he said.

The remains of the 31st vic-tim, Sicilian passenger MariaGrazia Trecarichi, were foundin August. A year after theConcordia hit a Tuscan rockon January 13, 2012, a Span-ish diver died while workingon the salvage operation.

The incident also causedmassive economic damage forCosta Cruises and the resi-dents of Giglio Island, whichis a popular tourist destina-tion, Italian news agency AN-SA reported. Former captainFrancesco Schettino is ontrial for multiple manslaugh-ter and dereliction of duty,and could face up to 20 yearsin prison if he is found guilty.— PTI

Kevin Rebello with apicture of his brotherRussel Rebello. — FILE PHOTO: AFP

Indian waiter’s body found

LONDON: A British-Iranianwoman jailed in Iran aftertrying to watch a volleyballmatch is on a hunger strike,refusing food or liquids, herbrother told AFP onTuesday.

Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old law graduate fromLondon, is protestingagainst a judicial delay inmaking her one-year prisonsentence official, her broth-er said.

“She’s been on hungerstrike from Saturday,” ImanGhavami said in a phone in-terview. “She’s not eatingany solid foods and she’s notdrinking any liquids.”

Ghavami said that his sis-ter was “frustrated” at herdetention without an offi-cial sentence.

“The case is in limbo. Theinvestigation is over and thecase is closed and the verdict

is decided,” he said. “I don’tunderstand why they don’twant to issue the verdictwhen they have made thedecision.”

Last month a court sen-tenced Ghavami to a year injail, according to the family.She was arrested after at-tempting to attend a men’svolleyball match between

Iran and Italy in Tehran inJune. Female fans and wom-en journalists were told theycould not attend, leading toa brief protest.

Woman are banned fromattending volleyball andfootball matches in Iran,which officials say protectsthem from lewd behaviour.

No reason was given forher sentencing, but Ghava-mi was accused of spreadinganti-regime propaganda, abroad charge often used bythe Iranian judiciary. Offi-cials have said that Ghavamiwas arrested for securityreasons unrelated to thesporting event.

Ghavami previously wenton hunger strike for twoweeks before her sentenc-ing, when she was detainedfor months before going ontrial behind closed doors.

— AFP

Ghoncheh Ghavami

Volleyball woman jailed inIran goes on hunger strike PRETORIA: South African prose-

cutors called Oscar Pistorius'sfive-year manslaughter sen-tence for killing his girlfriend“shockingly light” and “inap-propriate,” as they launched aformal appeal Tuesday.

State attorneys, pressing fora murder conviction and aharsher sentence for theOlympic star, lodged papers atthe Pretoria High Court, sig-nalling a new round in thehigh-profile legal fight.

After a sensational trial thatlasted more than sevenmonths, Pistorius was foundguilty of culpable homicide —a count equivalent to man-slaughter — for shooting deadthe 29-year-old model on Val-entine’s Day 2013.

Two weeks ago, the Para-lympian was handed the five-year sentence which he start-ed serving immediately.

Under South African lawPistorius could be eligible tocomplete just one-sixth of hissentence in jail. — AFP

Appeal against

Pistorius verdict

Privacy has never been “anabsolute right”, according tothe new director of GCHQ,who has used his first publicintervention since takingover at the helm of Britain’ssurveillance agency to accuseU.S. technology companiesof becoming “the commandand control networks ofchoice” for terrorists.

Robert Hannigan said anew generation of freelyavailable technology hashelped groups like IslamicState (Isis) to hide from thesecurity services and accusesmajor tech firms of being “indenial”, going further thanhis predecessor in seeking toclaim that the leaks of Ed-ward Snowden have aidedterror networks.

GCHQ and sister agenciesincluding MI5 cannot tacklethose challenges withoutgreater support from the pri-

vate sector, “including thelargest U.S. technology com-panies which dominate theweb”, Hannigan argued in anopinion piece written for theFinancial Times just days in-to his new job.

Arguing that GCHQ need-ed to enter into the debateabout privacy, Hannigansaid: “I think we have a goodstory to tell. We need toshow how we are account-able for the data we use to

protect people, just as theprivate sector is increasinglyunder pressure to show howit filters and sells its custom-ers’ data.

“GCHQ is happy to be partof a mature debate on priva-cy in the digital age. But pri-vacy has never been anabsolute right and the debateabout this should not be-come a reason for postpon-ing urgent and difficultdecisions.”

Hannigan, who was bornin Gloucestershire, not farfrom GCHQ’s base, has ad-vised the Prime Minister oncounter-terrorism, intelli-gence and security policy,goes on to take aim at therole of major technologycompanies. A senior ForeignOffice official, Hannigansucceeded Sir Iain Lobban atthe Cheltenham-based sur-veillance agency. — ©Guardian NewspapersLimited, 2014

Ben Quinn and James Ball

The GCHQ inCheltenham, England. —

PHOTO: AP

Privacy not an absolute right,says U.K.’s surveillance chief

WASHINGTON: Amongnearly 150 ballotmeasures being decidedon Tuesday are legalisingof recreationalmarijuana use in Alaska,Washington, D.C., andOregon; anti-abortionmeasures in Colorado,North Dakota andTennessee; and labellingrequirements for certaingenetically modifiedfoods in Colorado andOregon. — AP

Also on theballot

WASHINGTON: More thantwo dozen Indian-Americans are in thefray for the U.S.elections, but all eyeswould be on SouthCarolina GovernorNikki Haley — seekingher second term —Congressman fromCalifornia Ami Bera andRo Khanna, a DemocratCongressiionalcandidate in California.— PTI

Indian-origincandidates

would have cost the U.K. £6.8billion in spending oneducation.”

The findings of the studycome at a time when the anti-EU immigration rhetoric hasreached a new high in Britishpolitics. Prime Minister Da-vid Cameron wants to im-pose limits on immigrationbefore Christmas this year, aproposal that German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel hasstrongly opposed.

She reportedly warned Mr.Cameron on the fringes ofthe latest EU summit inBrussels last week, accordingto, that she would rather seethe U.K. leave the EU thancompromise on the principleof free movement of people,Der Spiegel news magazinereported, quoting govern-ment sources.

The free movement ofworkers, along with the free-dom of movement of goods,capital and services, is a cen-tral feature of the single

market.In their study, Prof. Dust-

mann and Dr. Frattini divideand draw comparisons be-tween immigrants in threegroups. The first comprisesthose from the 10 Centraland East European countries— mostly of the former So-cialist bloc that joined the EUin 2004 (the A10). The sec-ond comprises immigrantsfrom the 15 other EuropeanEconomic Area (EEA) coun-tries (EU-15). The third

group comprises non-EEAimmigrants.

The key findings of the pa-per provide a strong counter-argument to the widespreadnotion of “benefit tourism”.Both the anti-immigrationand Eurosceptic UnitedKingdom Independence Par-ty (UKIP) and, with somevariation in emphasis, theConservative Party as well,hold by the view that immi-grants from poor EU coun-tries come to the U.K. to liveoff state benefits.

According to the researchstudy, the net fiscal contribu-tion of those immigrants whoarrived since 2000 from theA10 countries amounted to£5 billion. The same figurefor immigrants from theEU-15 was £15 billion.

“The net fiscal contribu-tion of native U.K.-born citi-zens in the same period wasnegative, in the same period,amounting to almost £617billion,” the paper notes.

Secondly, post-2000 im-migrants to the U.K. are onaverage better educated thannative populations. In 2011,25 per cent of A10 immi-grants, and 62 per cent ofEU-15 immigrants had a uni-versity degree, as against 24per cent among natives.

Third, the same groups, i.e.post-2000 A10 and EU-15immigrants together, were43 per cent less likely thannatives to receive state bene-fits or tax credits. They werealso seven per cent less likelyto live in social housing.

Co-author of the study,Professor Dustmann said: “Akey concern in the public de-bate on migration is whetherimmigrants contribute theirfair share to the tax and wel-fare systems. Our new analy-sis draws a positive picture ofthe overall fiscal contribu-tion made by recent immi-grant cohorts, particularly ofimmigrants arriving from theEU.”

LONDON: European immi-grants to the United King-dom have contributed muchmore to public finances thanthey have received in statebenefits, a new study by re-searchers from the Universi-ty of London’s Centre forResearch and Analysis of Mi-gration has established.

Professor Christian Dust-mann and Dr. TommasoFrattini’s findings on the ec-onomic impact of Europeanimmigration will be publish-ed on November 5 in the Eco-nomic Journal of the RoyalEconomic Society.

The authors of the reportargue that European immi-grants who arrived in theU.K. since 2000 have con-tributed more than £20 bil-lion to the U.K.’s publicfinances between 2001-2011.These immigrants also “en-dowed the country with pro-ductive human capital that

“European immigrants give more than they take from U.K.”Parvathi Menon According to a study, the

net fiscal contribution ofthose immigrants whoarrived since 2000 fromthe A10 and EU-15countries amounted to£20 billion while the netfiscal contribution ofnative U.K.-borncitizens in the sameperiod was negative

LAHORE: In a gruesome in-cident, a Christian couplewas on Tuesday thrashedand burnt alive by a groupof angry Muslims in Pakis-tan’s Punjab province forallegedly desecrating theQuran.

The horrific crime wasreported from the villagesof Kot Radha Kishan of Ka-sur district, some 50 kmfrom here.

Emaneul Sarfraz, a rela-tive of the deceased couple,told PTI that his cousins —Shahzad Masih, 35, and hiswife Shamah, 31, — hadbeen working in the kiln ofMuhammad Yousuf Gujjarfor sometime near Chak(village) 59.

“The couple along withtheir four children wanted

to leave the kiln as Yousufwas not paying their re-muneration. He demandedRs 5,00,000 from them, ifthey wanted to quit.

“Two days ago, after anexchange of words Yousuflocked the couple alongwith their children in aroom,” Emaneul said.

He further said that anannouncement was madefrom two mosques of Chak59 that Shahzad Masih andhis wife had committedblasphemy by burning thepages of Quran. “A largenumber of Muslims led byarea clerics reached thekiln and dragged the coupleout of the room after break-ing into it. They firsttortured them and thenthrew them in the kiln.”

“No one from the crowdlistened to the couple, whowere pleading that theywere innocent as Yousufhad levelled false allegationof blasphemy against themto settle money dispute,”Emanuel said, adding,“Thank God they did notburn the couple’schildren.”

He alleged that policefrom the nearby post hadreached there on time butdid not intervene seeingthe charged mob.

“We have taken some 50people into custody in con-nection with the killingsand raids were underway toarrest more including thekiln owner,” Jawad Qamar,police chief of Kasur dis-trict, said. — PTI

Christian couple burnt alive in Pakistan

CMYK

ND-ND

BUSINESS13THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

AstraZeneca to strengthen cancer business with new deals

AstraZeneca moved to strengthen its core oncology business with three deals. Theseinclude an agreement to buy Definiens, a private company, for an initial $150 million,and two alliances to test novel drug combinations, Reuters reports from London.

Alibaba second quarter revenue surges

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s second-quarter net income fell 39 per cent as itspent more on acquiring businesses and investing in its mobile business and marketing,but its revenue surged 54 per cent on strong user demand, AP reports from Bejing.

BRIEFLYUnited Spirits to seekshareholders’ nod toreport to BIFR

NEW DELHI: United Spiritswill seek shareholders’approval later this monthover its plans to report toBIFR, the tribunal for sickcompanies, followingerosion of more than halfof the company’s peaknetworth.In a regulatory filing to theNSE, the company said itwould seek shareholders’nod during theextraordinary generalmeeting on November 28.The company plans toreport to the Board forIndustrial and FinancialReconstruction as itsaccumulated losses as onMarch 31, 2014, haveresulted in an erosion ofmore than 50 per cent of itspeak net worth during theimmediately precedingfour financial years.Last month, the company’sboard had approvedreporting of erosion ofmore than half of its peaknet worth to the BIFR.The company is nowcontrolled by world’slargest spirits makerDiageo, which had acquiredan additional 26 per centshares in USL forRs.11,448.91 crore in Julywith an aim to take its totalstake in the Indian firm to54.78 per cent. Last month,liquor baron Vijay Mallyawas re-elected as non-executive director andChairman of UnitedSpirits. — PTI

BULLION RATES

November 04 rates in rupees with

previous rates in brackets

Chennai

Bar Silver (1 kg) 35,640 (35,640)Retail (1 g) 38.10 (38.10)24 ct gold (10 g) 26,280 (26,300)22 ct gold (1 g) 2,457 (2,459)Delhi

Silver 35,950 (36,050)Standard gold 26,350 (26,350)Sovereign 23,700 (23,700)

NEW DELHI: State refiners arereluctant to follow the Re-serve Bank of India advice tohedge part of the country’s$165 billion annual oil importbill, fearing administrativeaction if they suffer losses, re-finery sources said.

Officials in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s governmenton Monday discussed theidea, which is part of a pushby Reserve Bank of IndiaGovernor Raghuram Rajan tomake Asia’s No.3 economyless vulnerable to externalshocks.

India is the world’s fourth-largest oil consumer and im-ports 3.8 million barrels a dayof crude. Any spike in oil pric-

es can drive up the current-account deficit and inflation— both chronic ills that havelong hobbled the country’sdevelopment.

The idea of buying insur-ance against a possible oilprice rally comes onto theagenda as oil prices touchfour-year lows. But the dom-inant state refiners are reluc-tant to hedge due to thepolitical fallout that anywrong-way bets could trigger.

“The RBI has suggestedthat we should hedge ourcrude purchases... I doubtstate refiners will be doing it.It is very risky for them,’’ saidone source with direct knowl-edge of the meeting.

Further discussions couldfollow Monday’s get-togetherbetween Oil Secretary Sau-rabh Chandra, officials fromthe Finance Ministry and Mr.Modi's Cabinet Secretary, thecountry’s most senior bu-reaucrat, this source said.

Officials at the oil and fi-nance ministries and the RBIcould not be reached for com-ment because of a publicholiday.

State-owned Indian OilCorp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corpand Mangalore Refinery andPetrochemicals together con-trol about 60 per cent of 4.3million bpd in refiningcapacity.

Privately owned competi-tors Reliance Industries andEssar Oil both use hedgingtools to lock in costs, as andwhen the opportunity ariseson the international market.

India wants state refinersto capitalise on the falling oilprices, which, at $82 a barrelfor Brent crude, are at theirlowest since October 2010, tolock in their supply costs.Some already hedge their re-fining margins.

Only last month, Mr. Modideregulated diesel prices thatthe prior government hadsubjected to state controls toblunt the impact of a previousoil rally on Indian drivers andtruckers.

The policy will reduce cost-ly fuel subsidies but also ex-pose state-owned refiners togreater market risks on therefined products they sell inaddition to the cost of thecrude they process.

A parliamentary panel lastyear had raised questionsover state refiners’ reluctanceto hedge imports.

“It is a risky affair. So, attimes it can work in your fa-vour, but many times it canwork against you. If it goes

against you, then you are an-swerable to all kinds ofqueries,’’ R. K. Singh, thethen-Chairman of BharatPetroleum, said at the time.

Sources at refining compa-nies said they can hedge oilpurchases to the extent oftheir physical transactions,but unlike private refiners,they lack the flexibility andappetite to absorb losses iftheir bets go wrong.

“My finances will be imme-diately affected if we makelosses in hedging ... I am al-ready depending on govern-ment subsidies for myoperations,’’ an executive atIOC said.

Indian state refiners on av-erage buy 80 per cent of theiroil import needs throughterm contracts and the bal-ance through spot purchases.

Traders and private com-panies can absorb some of thelosses and they adequately re-ward their staff if they make aprofit, said a source at one ofthe state refiners.

“But for us, we have twosides of the transaction — aminus and a plus. Plus is yourduty and minus is a penalty,’’he said. — Reuters

Oil marketing companies reluctantto hedge oil purchasesReliance Industries and Essar Oil use hedging tools to lock in costs

MUMBAI: The Mahindra group,which ventured into the af-fordable housing segmentthrough its subsidiary Ma-hindra Lifespace Developers(MLDL) last year, has nowannounced plans to address anew segment at the other endof the spectrum — luxuryweekend homes.

MLDL has plans to set upvillas in its first project underthe brand ‘The Serenes’ inAlibaug, a popular beach des-tination close to Mumbai.Spread over 12 acres, thegated project will offer twoformats — Courtyard and Pat-io — with three and four bed-room villas.

Mahindra Lifespace Devel-opers Managing Director andCEO Anita Arjundas said, “in-creasingly there is a trend fora buyer who wants to own aproperty and needs to take abreak away from cities.Weekend getaways are bornout a vision to create a luxuri-ous living experience for thediscerning.’’

Speaking to this corre-spondent, Om Ahuja, CEO,Residential Services, JLL In-dia, a leading property con-sultancy, said there had been“a surprising revival in the

luxury segment post elec-tions even as the mid-seg-ment is still struggling.’’

49 villas in first phase

Ms. Arjundas said in thefirst phase, 49 villas wouldcome up and were to be deliv-ered by end-2016. The 3 BHKunits would cover 3,000-3,100 sq. ft. while the 4 BHKproperties would cover3,400-3,500 sq. ft. They willbe priced in the range ofRs.2.50-3.50 crore.

A second phase coveringfive acres for a further 25units was planned, “but therewould be more clarity in thenext six months. MLDL’s in-vestment in the project would

total around Rs.100 crore,’’Ms. Arjundas said adding thatmore projects were plannedbut “the reference pointwould be that the location bearound four hours drive froma city and present a scenicenvironment.’’

Kalpataru group

The first organised entrantinto the luxury weekendhomes segment was the Kal-pataru group with its AmodaReserve with units starting atRs.3.50 crore, and, accordingto Mr. Ahuja, the units in Lo-navala, a hill station nearMumbai, received a favoura-ble response at launch.

“The weekend or holidayhome segment is new andunique and buyers are notlooking for price apprecia-tion. Alibaug is a favoureddestination with no reputedorganised developer to date.It is a smart move by the Ma-hindras, and should elicit afavourable response,’’ Mr.Ahuja said.

Mahindra Lifespace entersnew luxury segmentRamnath Subbu

Anita Arjundas

Plans to set up villasunder the brand ‘The Serenes’ inAlibaug

CHENNAI: The payments spaceis going to see lot of inventionand disruption in the next fiveyears, a top official from on-line payment firm Paypalsaid.

“This entire space is rife fordisruption whether it is ApplePay, whether it is Paypal orsomebody. It is bound to hap-pen in the next five years thatis my forecast,” Anupam Pa-huja, General Manager, Pay-pal Technology- APAC, said.

Every time a customerbought a product for Rs. 100,he paid Rs 2 of that to a bank,he said.

For merchants, transactionfees was the fourth highestitem in their P&L after cost ofspace, cost of inventory andemployee cost, he pointedout.

“Nobody wants to pay suchtransaction fees. There is go-ing to be so much inventionand creative in this space.Fees merchants are forced topay because there is no com-petition today is going tocome down,” Mr. Pahuja said.

Payments throughmobile

He also saw lot of paymentshappening through mobilegoing forward. About $12 bil-lion or 20 per cent of totalpayments volume camethrough mobile for Paypal inthe third quarter. “From 0,we have to gone up to 20 percent in two years time in mo-bile payments,” he said.

Mr. Pahuja said India hadseen a slow pace of growth inelectronic payments becausemost payments happenedthrough cash.

“We are cash-driven econ-omy today, but five yearsdown the road, I don’t seethat happening. Will it comedown to 80 per cent mobilepayments? No. But not in na-ture today,” he added.

Once issues of easier useand security were addressed,mobile payments would pickup in India as well, accordingto Mr. Pahuja.

Paymentsspace to seedisruption innext 5 yearsSanjay VijayakumarNEW DELHI: Hero MotoCorp on

Tuesday said it would enterthe European market by theend of 2015, in line with thecompany’s effort to expandglobal footprint.

In the first phase of its fo-ray into Europe, Hero Moto-Corp plans to launchproducts in Italy, Spain andFrance, followed by the U.K.and Germany in the nextphase of expansion.

The company will initiallylaunch its hybrid scooter‘Leap’ in these markets, and

subsequently bring moremodels of its scooters andmotorcycles, it said in a state-ment. “Having alreadystamped our presence in Asia,Africa, Latin and CentralAmerica, we are now lookingat stepping into the Europeanmarket by the end of 2015with our hybrid scooter Leapmaking its debut here,” com-pany Vice Chairman, ChiefExecutive Officer and Manag-ing Director Pawan Munjalsaid.

While the company waslooking for potential part-ners, it was also open to M&A

opportunities to be able tomake quick inroads into thesemarkets, he added.

Hero MotoCorp has beenon an aggressive expansionspree over the past threeyears. The company had an-nounced an investment of$800 million recently forbuilding capacity across theglobe in the next few years. Atpresent, it is present in over20 countries. The companyplans to enter the U.S. andBrazilian market by 2016. By2020, the company aims to bein over 50 countries with 20assembly facilities globally.

Hero MotoCorp to enterEuropean market next yearYuthika Bhargava

MELBOURNE: Aditya Birla Min-erals, owned by the AdityaBirla group, is in talks with apotential buyer to sell its MtGordon copper mine inAustralia.

After putting the mine op-erations under ‘care andmaintenance’ for the last 18months, the company hassaid it has already started ne-gotiations with a ‘third party’for sale.

Aditya Birla Minerals, acopper mining company lo-cated in Australia, has oper-ations in Western Australiaand Queensland.

The company conductscopper mining and explora-tion activities at the NiftyCopper Operation in WesternAustralia and the Mt GordonCopper Operations, near MtIsa in Queensland.

“As part of the strategic re-

view of the company’s MtGordon operations, the man-agement is now in negotia-tions with a third party forthe potential disinvestmentof 100 per cent shares in BirlaMt Gordon,” the companysaid in a filing to the Austra-lian Stock Exchange.

Negotiations

“These negotiations may ormay not conclude successful-

ly, however the market will beinformed appropriately if theboard takes any decision toenter into a binding saleagreement,” it added.

The Mt Gordon operation,located in north-west Queen-sland, about 120 km north ofMt Isa, was set up to producecopper in concentrate at anannualised rate of about 1.4million tonnes per annum ofore processing.

The company did not un-dertake any field explorationon Mt Grodon since April,2013. It recently held discus-sions with the QueenslandDepartment of Natural Re-sources and Mines, and a planfor rationalisation of currentgranted regional tenure wasunder preparation for sub-mission to the authority.

Copper concentrates fromAditya Birla Minerals’ copper

mines are shipped to Hindal-co Industries’ copper smelterin India. Hindalco has 51 percent shareholding in AdityaBirla Minerals.

The company recom-menced mining operationsand production from the Nif-ty mine during the July-Sep-tember quarter after aprohibition notice was issuedby the Department of Minesand Petroleum subsequent to

a sinkhole incident in March,2014.

Copper production andsales of the company duringthe quarter ended Septem-ber, 2014 decreased by 80 percent and 98 per cent, respec-tively, during the quarterended September 30, 2014compared to the correspond-ing quarter last year, due tono production till last week ofAugust. — PTI

Aditya Birla Minerals in discussion to sell Mt Gordon mine

NEW DELHI: Stating that carmakers in India meet thecountry’s safety norms, autoindustry body SIAM onWednesday defended MarutiSuzuki and Nissan, which hadfailed crash tests conductedby Global NCAP on theirSwift and Datsun GO models,respectively.

Lashing out at GlobalNCAP, an umbrella body ofconsumer car safety testingbodies, for ‘scaremongering’,SIAM Director-General Vish-nu Mathur said: “Every coun-try has its own safetyrequirements. Our cars aremeeting safety norms set bythe government.”

He further said the proto-col followed by Global NCAPwas not designed for Indiaand tests must be conductedbased on the conditions here.Even in a developed marketlike Europe, crash test is doneat a speed of 56 km per hourand not at 64 km per hour asdone by Global NCAP.

“Our average speed in In-dia is far slower. To say that aparticular car hasn’t met its(Global NCAP) test is nothingbut scaremongering,” Mr.Mathur said.

“There is no data to provethat a particular car is dan-gerous based on how manyoccupants have been killed inaccidents,” he said, addingthat the Global NCAP had is-

sued a test result based onjust a crash test.

He said India was alreadyworking on road safety regu-lations, based not just oncrash test but after consid-ering overall safety related is-sues. Mr. Mathur alsodefended the companies stat-ing that they had not ‘dupedconsumers’.

“None of these companieshave ever claimed that theirmodels are 5 star rated onsafety. The consumers areaware what they are buying.What Global NCAP should bedoing is to spread awarenesson safety and encourage cus-tomers to buy cars with allsafety features, even if theycome at higher cost,” he said.

On Tuesday, Global NCAPhad said Maruti Suzuki In-dia’s popular hatchback Swiftand Nissan’s Datsun GO havefailed crash tests showing“high risk of life-threateninginjuries with both cars receiv-ing zero-star safety rating fortheir adult occupant protec-tion.’’ — PTI

SIAM defendsMaruti, Nissan

‘Every country has itsown safetyrequirements. Ourcars are meetingsafety norms set bythe government’

LONDON: Brent crude oil fellmore than 3 per cent to itslowest in over four yearsnear $82 a barrel on Tues-day, after top oil exporterSaudi Arabia cut sales pric-es to the United States.

Front-month Brent tou-ched a low of $82.08, its

weakest since October,2010, and was down $2.60at $82.18 a barrel by 1305GMT. U.S. light crude wasdown $2.40 at $76.38 a bar-rel. It touched a session lowof $75.84, its weakest sinceOctober, 2011, as its dis-count to Brent hovered

around $6. Top global ex-porter Saudi Arabia in-creased its Decemberofficial selling prices(OSPs), relative to bench-marks, to Asia and Europeon Monday, but loweredprices to the U.S, a smallerexport market. — Reuters

Oil hits four-year low near $82

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BUSINESS

SPORT

SNIPPETSVisa to open tech centre in Bengaluru

DUBAI: In a bid to strengthen its resources and tap India’s‘incredible’ pool of talent, global payments provider Visahas chosen Bengaluru as the site for its new technologycentre in the country. The new centre will open earlynext year and fully staffed by early 2017. “India is fastbecoming a global technology epicentre with anincredible pool of technology talent,” said Nitin Chandel,Senior Vice President of Visa’s Developer Platform basedin India. — PTI

Scott Price to head Walmart Asia

NEW DELHI: U.S. retail giant Walmart on Wednesday saidScott Price had been re-named President and ChiefExecutive Officer of Walmart Asia with immediate effect,six months after he was promoted to take up aninternational role. Mr. Price will continue to leadimportant functions in Walmart home office that span itsentire international portfolio, the company said. — PTI

QuEST Global acquires NeST Software

KOCHI: QuEST Global, a world leader in diversifiedengineering solutions, on Wednesday, announcedacquisition of NeST Software. The acquisition is asignificant move in its diversification strategy for 2020and will strengthen the engineering service offering toQuEST’s customers in terms of engineering software,embedded systems, mechanical systems and structures, apress release said. — PTI

Airtel Africa launches satellite services

DUBAI: Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Airtel, has partneredDubai based mobile satellite services provider Thuraya tolaunch its products and services in 12 African countriesand tap the growing demand for communication services.Thuraya’s satellite phones and IP+ broadband terminalscan now be purchased by Airtel’s customers through thecompany’s Africa subsidiaries. — PTI

Chowdhary CBO of Nokia Networks

NEW DELHI: Telecom gear maker Nokia Networks hasappointed Ashish Chowdhary as Chief Business Officer,who will lead its global customer operations. Theappointment will be effective from January 1 next andMr. Chowdhary will report to Nokia President and CEORajeev Suri. He will be based in Espoo, Finland, andremain on the Nokia Networks Leadership Team, thecompany said in a statement. — PTI

Thomas Cook arm to buy stake in MFXchange

NEW DELHI: Travel firm Thomas Cook India on Wednesdaysaid its arm IKYA had entered into a definitive agreementwith Fairfax Financial Holdings to acquire 49 per centstake in MFXchange Holdings, Inc (MFX), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fairfax. The integration of MFXwith IKYA will result in the formation of the GlobalTechnology Services Group (GTS Group), markingIKYA’s entry into the IT services and solutions space inthe North American market, Thomas Cook said in a BSEfiling. — PTI

CHENNAI: New capacity addi-tion in the renewable energysector was lower by 20 percent during the first half ofthis fiscal when compared to ayear-ago period.

The sector added 1,094MW of new capacity duringApril-September, 2014, asagainst 1,376 MW in the sameperiod previous year.

Of the new capacity addedduring period under refer-ence, the wind sector contrib-uted about 865 MW (808MW), while the rest was con-tributed by solar, bagasse co-generation and small hydro at135 MW (395 MW), 41 MW(55 MW) and 53 MW (94.5MW), respectively, accordingto the Union Ministry of Newand Renewable Energy(MNRE).

With the first half new ca-pacity addition, the cumula-tive grid-interactiverenewable energy installedcapacity increased to 32,780MW on September 30, 2014.

Of the total capacity, thewind sector accounts for 67per cent (21,997 MW) of totalgreen power installed capac-

ity. Small hydro power con-tributed 3,857 MW, whilesolar accounted for 2,766MW. Bagasse cogenerationand biomass contributed2,689 MW and 1,365 MW,respectively.

The new capacity additionin the renewable energy sec-tor remains in slow growthmode.

Even the annual capacityaddition target has also beenscaled down to 3,770 MW forthe present fiscal when com-pared with the target of 4,325in 2013-14.

It may be recalled that thegreen energy sector missedthe capacity addition target inthe past two years.

Renewable capacityaddition lower in H1G. Balachandar

Madurai are some of the ma-jor centres for gold recycling.Hence, the company hasopened its first outlet here.

The valuation of the goldjewellery would be based onpurity, weight and marketrate. “We want to have a na-tional-level pricing linked tothe live market rate,” he said.Cash payment would be madeup to Rs.1.90 lakh, and forjewellery worth more thanRs.1.90 lakh, payments wouldbe made through cheque.

According to a press re-lease, Muthoot Exim wouldsubsequently reprocess, re-fine and supply the refinedbars for domestic consump-tion.

COIMBATORE: Muthoot EximPrivate Limited has openedMuthoot Gold Point, a retailoutlet to buy old and usedgold items directly from retailcustomers.

Keyur Shah, Chief Execu-tive Officer of Precious Met-als Business of MuthootPappachan group, told TheHindu that the companyplanned to open two moreoutlets by the end of Marchnext. At the All India level, itis estimated that 150-200tonnes of used gold is recy-cled every year. About 40 percent of it is in the South.Chennai, Coimbatore and

Muthoot to buy usedgold items for recyclingM. Soundariya Preetha MUMBAI: Norway is looking at

newer markets like India forits growing volume of sea-food, especially NorwegianSalmon and Norwegian Codwith Russia, its most impor-tant market for seafood,slamming its doors on im-ports.Since August 7, Russiahas imposed import restric-tions on lots of products fromthe European Union (EU),the U.S., Canada, Australiaand Norway to counter eco-nomic sanction imposed onit. As far as Norway is con-cerned, the impact on seafoodexports is severe.

Norway, which exportsseafood to 140 countries, wasnow looking at newer mar-

kets such as India, Indonesia,Vietnam and countries inCentral and Eastern Europe,officials said.

“We see a huge potential inIndia and foresee similar pos-itive changes in demand forNorwegian Salmon that wehave seen in countries likeRussia and China. These arecountries where Salmon wasnot well known 10 to 15 yearsago but is now growing rap-idly,” said Norwegian SeafoodCouncil director ChristianChramer.

“India has a large popula-tion that prefers to eathealthier food, and is aware ofthe benefits of Omega 3 inseafood. At present, , peopleare having it in five-star ho-tels and may soon have Salm-

on at home or at restaurants”he added. Norway has not setany exports target for India.“At this stage, we are facilitat-ing contact between Norwe-gian exporters and the Indianseafood importers, trade andthe retail sector. We are stillat an early stage, and arebuilding up our competenceand establishing contactswith relevant partners in In-

dia step by step,” Mr. Chram-er said. He said importantmilestones needed to be reac-hed, the most important be-ing establishment of a FreeTrade Agreement betweenNorway and India before set-ting any targets.

Norway is exporting sea-food to India for over tenyears but in limited volume.The Norwegian Salmon com-ing to India is often exportedvia Denmark, Poland and theNetherlands.

“Of the limited volumes ofSalmon coming into India(about 60 tonnes in 2013), themajority is from Norway. Webelieve that there is a greatpotential for growth of theseafood market in India,” Mr.Chramer said.

Norway pushes seafood exports to IndiaLalatendu Mishra

BRUSSELS: The EU sharply cutits growth forecasts for theeurozone on Tuesday, warn-ing that France and Italy re-main huge problems for thesluggish European economywhile calling for investment.

The threat of deflation andrecession combined withstubbornly high unemploy-ment loomed large in Eu-ropean Commission’sautumn economic forecasts,problems that the EU’s exec-utive arm said had ‘no magicbullet’ solution.

But Pierre Moscovici, thenew Commissioner for Eco-nomic Affairs, said the stakescould not be higher as a frus-trated European populationmay ‘despair’ of the EU pro-ject if leaders can’t delivergrowth and jobs.

The European Commis-sion cut its 2014 growth fore-cast for the 18-countryeurozone to just 0.8 per centfrom the previous 1.2 percent, with 2015 chopped to 1.1per cent from 1.7 per cent.

Growth is seen as picking upto 1.7 per cent in 2016.

While the figures show theeurozone economy avoiding atriple-dip recession for now,they will renew global con-cerns about its sluggish re-covery from the euro debtcrisis that nearly sank the sin-

gle currency three years ago.

Spectre of deflation

“The economic and em-ployment situation is not im-proving fast enough,’’ saidJyrki Katainen, the Commis-sion’s Vice-President for jobsand growth, in a statement

announcing the bleak num-bers. Also haunting Europe isthe danger of deflation, andwhile the Commission be-lieves prices will not fall out-right, it said inflation willremain very low and also dragon growth.

The Commission said infla-tion in the eurozone this yearwould sink to a ‘very low’ 0.5per cent this year and rise on-ly to 0.8 per cent next year.Both forecasts are way off theEuropean Central Bank tar-get of just under two per cent.

Huge pressure

In its breakdown of all theEU member states, Franceand Italy stand out as the big-gest problems for a strugglingEuropean economy.

Those two countries areunder huge pressure from theCommission to cut back ongovernment overspendingand push through reformsthat Rome and Paris havepromised but largely failed toimplement. — AFP

EU slashes growth outlook ina fresh blow to eurozone The Commission says inflation in eurozone this year would sink to 0.5 %

European Commissioner (Jobs, Growth, Investmentand Competitiveness) Jyrki Katainen (left) andEuropean Commissioner (Economic and FinancialAffairs) Pierre Moscovici present at a newsconference in Brussels on Wednesday. — PHOTO: REUTERS

“So, what do you think of thePalestine issue?”That is one question Viswa-

nathan Anand would not haveto answer during his Worldchampionship match againstMagnus Carlsen at Sochi, Rus-sia, over the next three weeks.And he would appreciate that.

At the mandatory post-gamepress meets during last year’sWorld championship in Chen-nai, Anand often had to answerquestions that had little to dowith the match, or even chess.

That too when he was facingthe prospect of losing his gripon the crown that had beenwith him for the past six years.

PerturbedAt least on a couple of occa-

sions, Anand looked perturbedby the questions. He will be re-lieved that there would be nosuch media scrutiny in Sochi.

“Anand was clearly upset bysome of the questions and thatcan impact you, especiallywhen you are playing someonelike Carlsen who puts you un-der relentless pressure,” saysR.B. Ramesh, a former Com-monwealth champion and a tel-evision commentator duringthe Chennai contest. “I thinkhe would be better off withoutthe pressure of playing athome.”

Anand had been undone bythe home conditions earliertoo, in the World candidates’semifinal match against GataKamsky at Sanghi Nagar, near

Hyderabad, in 1995. He had taken a two-point

lead and was close to a win thatwould have taken him a matchaway from his first World titlegame.

“Anand was distracted by thefans in Sanghi Nagar. Beingsuch a nice man, he would notrefuse to entertain his fanseven on the eve of the gamesagainst Kamsky,” recalls veter-an Grandmaster Pravin Thip-say. “Chennai was worse, ofcourse.

“Well, one could point outthat the home conditions didnot bother Anand when heplayed at the 2000 Worldchampionship in New Delhi,but he was one of the 100 par-ticipants there and, therefore,was not constantly under themedia microscope.”

Anand has received a lot ofattention from the Russianmedia ever since he brokethrough as the ‘Lightning Kid’.The Russians have loved him,for his brilliant chess as well ashis winsome personality.

One recalls the reaction of

former women’s World cham-pion Maya Chiburdanidzewhen Anand’s name was men-tioned in an interview duringthe Delhi World championship14 winters ago.

A diamondHer face lit up and she said:

“Oh, my goodness, Vishy! Whatcan I say? I just love him. He ismy favourite chess player. Ihave known him as a 17-year-old.

“He is so wonderfully nice.He has everything: talent, am-bition and all other attributesof a champion. He is like adiamond.”

Anand has several friends inRussia like Vladimir Kramnik,Boris Gelfand and Maya. He hasalso had some great results inthe country in his career.

He was only too pleased tosign the contract to play theWorld championship match inRussia, though Carlsen wasn’t.The Norwegian wanted thematch to be held somewhereelse, and it was only through anextended deadline did he agreeto play in Sochi.

Anand will be playing at aplace where he has felt at home,while Carslen will be playing —FIDE gave him no choice —much against his will. Is that anadvantage for Anand? It maynot, but one would rather be inhis shoes than that of Carlsen’sat this point. It was in Russiathat Anand last won the Worldchampionship, when he beatGelfand in Moscow in 2012.

Could Sochi witness thegreatest comeback in chesssince Garry Kasparov de-throned Anatoly Karpov in1985?

We will soon find out.

Less pressure on AnandP.K. Ajith Kumar

Viswanathan Anand.— FILE PHOTO

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPBEGINS NOV.7

SANGLI (MAHARASHTRA): Contin-uing her fine run, Padmini Routassured herself of a maiden Na-tional women’s chess title witha round to spare after a dramat-ic sequence of results in the10th round here on Tuesday.

Padmini (8.5 points) facedunexpected resistance fromtailender Hinduja Reddy be-fore emerging triumphant in 94moves.

By this time, the second-placed defending champion

Mary Ann Gomes (7) had re-signed against 15-year-old Iva-na Furtado in a game lasting 64moves.

As a result, Padmini raisedher lead to an unsurpassable 1.5points before Wednesday’s fi-nal round.

Joining Mary in the secondspot was Nisha Mohota, who

beat Lakshmi Praneetha in 54moves. Bhakti Kulkarni spoiltS. Vijayalakshmi’s chances of apodium-finish by winning in 46moves.

The results: 10th round: PadminiRout (8.5) bt Hinduja Reddy (1.5); Ma-ry Ann Gomes (7) lost to Ivana Furtado(6); Lakshmi Praneetha (3) lost toNisha Mohota (7).

S. Vijayalakshmi (6) lost to BhaktiKulkarni (6); V. Varshini (3) bt Praty-usha Bodda (4); Swati Ghate (3) btNimmy George (5).

Padmini wins title with a round to spareClinches maidenNational crown

RAIPUR: Delhi’s Chandril Soodknocked out the champion ofthe last event, V.M. Ranjeet,6-1, 6-2 in the first round of theGondwana Cup $10,000 ITFmen’s Futures tennis tourna-ment at the VIP Club courts onTuesday.

In the pre-quarterfinals,Chandril will challenge thesixth seed and national cham-pion Vishnu Vardhan. Chan-dril’s twin brother Lakshit, whocame through the qualifyingevent, also progressed as hebeat Shaikh Abdullah instraight sets.

The results (first round):Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Jatin

Dahiya 6-2, 6-1; Sasikumar Mukund btChristopher Marquis 6-3, 6-1; KunalAnand bt Chieh-Fu Wang (Tpe) 6-3,6-4.

Sriram Balaji bt Vidit Vaghela 6-1,6-1; Akash Wagh bt Anvit Bendre 7-6(0), 6-2; Lakshit Sood bt Shaikh Ab-dullah 6-1, 6-4; Chayanon Kaewsuto(Tha) bt Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe) 7-6(4),6-7(3), 6-3.

Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt HardeepSingh Sandhu 6-3, 6-4; Jeevan Ne-dunchezhiyan bt Dalwinder Singh 6-1,6-1; Vishnu Vardhan bt Matias FrancoDescotte (Arg) 6-1, 6-2; Chandril Soodbt V.M. Ranjeet 6-1, 6-2; Suraj Pra-bodh bt Manav Kumar Chakma 6-2,6-1; Saketh Myneni bt Jajbir Saran6-2, 6-2.

TENNIS

Ranjeet bows out

NEW DELHI: For almost a decade,V.S. Surekha has been compet-ing against herself and gettingbetter. The lack of competitionwas no deterrent for the Chen-nai-based pole vaulter on Tues-day as she leaped to a newNational record of 4.15 metres,bettering her own previousmark by seven centimetres, atthe Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Surekha, who trains withP.C. Tyagi at Delhi, went pasther previous mark twice in thecourse of her achievement onthe third day of the NationalOpen athletics championships.The Railways employee tried tojump another 10 centimetresbut fell short.

“Sir (Tyagi) had set a targetof 4.15m for me here and I amhappy I could do that. Giventhat I hardly practised for thisevent, I am glad I managed toachieve my target,” said Sure-kha.

K.C. Dija and Karambir Kaurmanaged an identical leap of3.60m but the former won sil-ver by virtue of clearing themark in her first attempt.

Tough goingIt wasn’t easy for Surekha,

who has to seek special permis-sion from Railways and travelto Delhi every time she has totrain. “There are no facilities orcoaches in Chennai, so I amcompletely off training when Iam home. There is no Centre

for Excellence in Delhi either,so unless there is a National orRailways’ camp, it is difficultfor me to have extended train-ing stints here. I do not knowwhat solution can be found,”said the 29-year old, who ismarried to triple-jumper Ren-jith Maheshwari.

“The National mark was3.50m when Surekha started in2005, so she is getting better.Given that she did not train foralmost two years after theCommonwealth Games, I am

confident she would be able toreach 4.25m soon, may be evenat the upcoming NationalGames. Our main target at themoment is the Asian Cham-pionships next year,” saidTyagi.

Sudha’s meet record

In the 3000m steeplechase,Sudha Singh bettered her ownmeet mark with a timing of 10minutes, 8.50 seconds for gold.Asian Games bronze medallistand National record holder Lal-

ita Babar pulled out on the pen-ultimate lap because of lack offitness and to avoid injury.

“None of us has come herewith any preparation, so at themoment we are all equally unfitand fatigued,” admitted Sudha.

In the men’s section, JaiveerSingh of Services outpacedteammate Naveen Kumar forgold. Naveen, who finishedthird at Incheon, had met withan accident after Deepavali andwas yet to recover completelybut still managed to grabbronze.

The results:

Men: 110m hurdles: 1. K. PremKumar (Tel, 13.91s), 2. J. Surendhar(TN, 14.21), 3. A. Pinto Mathew(RSPB, 14.29). 3000m steeple-chase: 1. Jaiveer Singh (SSCB,8:53.85), 2. Sachin Patil (RSPB,8:54.12), 3. Naveen Kumar (SSCB,9:00.78). Discus throw: 1. Arjun (Har,56.45m), 2. Dharmaraj (SSCB, 55.62),3. Vikas Punia (RSPB, 53.17). Highjump: 1. S. Harshith (ONGC, 2.17m),2. Jithin C. Thomas (SSCB, 2.17), 3.Ajay Kumar (Har, 2.14).

Women: 100m hurdles: 1. G.Gayathry (TN, 13.71s), 2. JaspreetKaur (Pun, 13.81), 3. K.V. Sajitha (Ker,13.97). 3000m steeplechase: 1. Sud-ha Singh (RSPB, 10:08.50), 2. Pri-yanka Singh (RSPB, 10:35.86), 3.Parul Chaudhary (UP, 10:44.38). Ja-velin throw: 1. Anu Rani (RSPB,54.01m), 2. Rupinder Kaur (AIPSCB,52.26), S. Saraswathy (RSPB, 47.85).Pole vault: 1. V.S. Surekha (RSPB,4.15m), 2. Dija K.C. (RSPB, 3.60), 3.Kiranbir Kaur (AIPSCB, 3.60).

ATHLETICS

Surekha soars past own National markUthra Ganesan

NEW HIGH: Tamil Nadu's V.S. Surekha rewrote herown National pole vault record on Tuesday. — PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

AURANGABAD: Andhra Pradesh’sTribhuvan Reddy shocked Ath-arva Sharma of Maharashtra6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the secondround at the Yonex Sunrise un-der-14 clay-court National ten-nis tournament, conducted atthe EMMTC courts, onTuesday.

The results:Boys (second round): Siddhanth

Banthia (Mah) bt Arvind Kalyana (Kar)6-2, 6-2; Nikit Reddy (AP) bt AbhishekShukla (Mah) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; ShashankTheertha (AP) bt Ryhthm Malhotra(Del) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Vikrant Mehta (Mah) bt Rohit Men-ga (AP) 6-3, 6-1; Srivatsa Ratkonda(AP) bt Drona Waliya (UK) 7-6(3) ,6-1;Piyush Salekar (Mah) bt Madhwin Ka-mat (Guj) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; TribhuvanReddy (AP) bt Atharva Sharma (Mah)

6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Dakshikeshvar Suresh (TN) btSiddharth Thakran (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; Sac-chit Sharma (Del) bt Pagay Malhar(Mah) 6-3, 6-2.

Hritvik Choudhary (AP) bt VarunVaikodurai (TN) 6-1, 6-2; Aryan Zaveri(Guj) bt Kevin Patel (Guj) 6-2, 6-3.

Girls (first round): Shivani Shra-vya (AP) bt Kiran Kalkal (Del) 6-0, 7-5;Neha Mokashi (Mah) bt Swarda Parab(Mah) 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1.

Aliya Ibrahim (Mah) bt R. TachanReddy (AP) 6-2, 6-4; Sania Singh(Mah) bt Jamir Lenin (AP) 6-1, 6-3;Bhakti Parwani (Guj) bt Neha Ghare(Mah) 6-3, 6-1.

Ashwagandha Parade (Mah) btMushrath Shaikh (AP) 6-0, 6-3; AnayaKaka (Mah) bt Ishika Gupta (Ben) 6-1,6-4.

Tribhuvan stuns Atharva

PERTH: The Indian men’s hock-ey team suffered a 4-0 lossagainst Australia in the first ofthe four-Test match series hereon Tuesday. It was Australiawhich earned the first penaltycorner of the match in the 15thminute and forward JeremyHayward successfully convert-ed it to give his team a lead.

The second quarter also sawa fierce battle between bothteams. In the 30th minute, Aus-tralian forward Jacob Whettonsneaked into the Indian de-fence-line and scored theteam’s second goal.

Trailing 0-2, India persistedwith attack in the third quarter.Australia counter-attacked toscore in 34th minute throughJeremy Edwards. In the 39thminute, midfielder GlennSimpson converted a penaltycorner for his team’s big win.

The second match will beplayed on Wednesday. — PTI

Australiaoutplays India

MARGAO: Pune FC made it to thesemifinals of the 127th DurandCup with a solitary goal winover Vasco SC in the last matchof the Group D quarterfinalsleague here on Tuesday.

Pune FC, which topped thegroup with six points from twomatches, will play SportingClube de Goa in the secondsemifinal on Thursday. Salgao-car FC meets Bengaluru FC inthe first semifinal on the sameday.

The result: Vasco SC 0 lost toPune FC 1 (Bineesh Balan 30). —PTI

Pune to meetSporting Clubein last four

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MELBOURNE/NEW DELHI: SachinTendulkar’s scathing attack onGreg Chappell on Tuesday re-ceived the whole-hearted back-ing of two of his thenteammates — Zaheer Khan andHarbhajan Singh — even as theAustralian hit back at the bat-ting maestro’s claim that hetried to topple Rahul Dravid ascaptain.

A day after Tendulkar’s reve-lations that Chappell tried of-fering him the captaincy at theexpense of Dravid barely a fewmonths before the 2007 WorldCup, the Australian denied dis-cussing such a possibility withthe now retired legend.

In his autobiography — Play-ing it My Way — which is duefor release on Thursday, Ten-dulkar has claimed that theAustralian visited his houseand tried to convince him totake over the captaincy fromDravid.

But Chappell said he wasstunned by the claims. “WhilstI don’t propose to get into a warof words, I can state quite clear-ly that during my time as Indi-an coach I never contemplatedSachin replacing Rahul Dravidas captain,” Chappell said in astatement. “I was therefore ve-ry surprised to read the claimsmade in the book. During thoseyears, I only ever visited Sa-chin’s home once, and that waswith our physio and assistantcoach during Sachin’s rehabil-itation from injury, at least 12months earlier than what wasreported in the book,” he said.

Chappell said he enjoyed apleasant afternoon at Tendul-kar’s home and the captaincyissue never came up fordiscussion.

Tendulkar, in the book, said

that he was shocked by Chap-pell’s suggestion and the lack ofrespect shown to Dravid.

Tendulkar is scathing in hiscriticism of Chappell, who wasthe national coach from 2005to 2007, describing him as a“ringmaster who imposed hisideas on the players withoutshowing any signs of being con-cerned about whether they feltcomfortable or not”.

Other victimsHowever, Zaheer and Harb-

hajan supported Tendulkar’sversion of the events, statingthat they too had been victimsof Chappell’s dictatorial style offunctioning.

While Zaheer claimed that

Chappell tried his best to pre-vent his comeback into the na-tional team and called him a“control freak”, Harbhajan saidthat the Australian “temporari-ly destroyed Indian cricket”and targeted senior players.

“After he was appointedcoach of the Indian team, heonce came to me and told “Za-heer, you will not be playing forIndia till I remain the coach,”Zaheer said. Zaheer said thatChappell’s two-year phase inIndian cricket was “easily theworst and darkest phase” thathe could remember.

“I understood one thing.This man had agendas and wasgetting personal. He had his setideas and if you didn’t fall in

line, then you have to be pre-pared to fall by the wayside.

“He tried to finish my careerbut I believe I came back evenstronger in South Africa duringthe end of 2006,” said the left-arm pacer. “He had some issueswith the senior guys in theteam. He tried many ways tostop my comeback into Indianteam during the phase when Iwas out of the team for nearly ayear. I came to know later thateverytime when my name wasdiscussed, he (Chappell) wouldfind means to delay my come-back by 3-4 months,” addedZaheer.

Harbhajan echoed the senti-ments but added that a fewplayers in the team were com-

plicit in feeding wrong infor-mation to Chappell.

“Chappell destroyed Indiancricket to such an extent that itrequired at least three years toget back on track. The worstpart was some players in thatteam would supply selectivemisinformation creating biggerrifts,” Harbhajan said.

Damaging e-mailHarbhajan also made anoth-

er shocking claim that Chappellwas writing a damaging e-mailto the BCCI about erstwhileskipper Sourav Ganguly, whenIndia was in the midst of a Testmatch against Zimbabwe inBulawayo.

“Sourav was batting out

CRICKET

MAKING HIS POINT: While refraining from getting into a war of words, GregChappell has categorically said that he never contemplated replacing Dravidwith Tendulkar as captain. — PHOTO: SCOTT BARBOUR/GETTY IMAGES

there in the middle and thisman was typing a critical mailagainst him, sitting right therein the dressing room. He had nointerest in the proceedings ofthe match,” he recalled.

“There were several guysthat he wanted to get rid of —Sourav was his primary targetfollowed by myself, VirenderSehwag, Ashish Nehra, ZaheerKhan and Yuvraj Singh,”claimed Harbhajan, who is In-dia’s third highest wicket-takerin Test cricket.

Some former cricketers likeManinder Singh and Kirti Azadwere also critical of Chappelland said that Indian cricket de-clined during his controversialtenure. — PTI

Chappell denies Tendulkar’s claims

KHULNA: Shakib Al Hasan andTamim Iqbal scored centuriesas Bangladesh took charge ofthe second Test against Zim-babwe here on Tuesday.

The host made 433 in thefirst innings before Zimbabwefinished the second day on 53for one after left-arm spinnerTaijul Islam trapped SikandarRaza leg-before for 11. Hamil-ton Masakadza was unbeatenon 15 and Brian Chari on 21.

Bangladesh leads the three-match series 1-0 after winningthe first Test in Dhaka by threewickets.

The left-handed pair of Ta-mim and Shakib put Bangla-desh on top with afourth-wicket stand of 132 on aslow pitch.

Shakib made 137, his thirdTest century, with the help of18 boundaries and two sixes.Tamim scored a painstaking109, his fifth Test hundred andthe first in four years, with 10fours.

The slowest

When Tamim reached his100 off 312 balls, it was theslowest Test century by a Ban-

gladesh batsman. His elderbrother Nafees Iqbal needed309 deliveries to reach ahundred against the same op-ponent in 2005.

Bangladesh captain Mushfi-qur Rahim played 31 consec-utive dot balls before he wasrun out for 11, but Shakib brokefree to reach his century with astraight drive off Tinashe Pa-

nyangara. Tamim fell to part-timer Masakadza before Mal-colm Waller dismissed Shakiband Shuvagata Hom (15).

Tendai Chatara got rid ofTaijul and Shahadat Hossainwhile Natsai M’shangwe endedthe Bangladesh innings by dis-missing Jubair Hossain leg-be-fore, his maiden Test wicket. —AFP

Shakib, Tamim hammer hundreds

MAKING MERRY: Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasanflayed the Zimbabwe attack to put Bangladesh inthe driver's seat. — PHOTO: AFP

Bangladesh — 1st innings: Ta-mim Iqbal c Ervine b Masakadza 109,Shamsur Rahman lbw b Chigumbura2, Mominul Haque c & b Panyangara35, Mahmudullah lbw b Panyangara56, Shakib Al Hasan b Waller 137,Mushfiqur Rahim run out 11, S. Hom cChari b Waller 15, Taijul Islam c Masa-kadza b Chatara 32, Shahadat Hos-sain c M’shangwe b Chatara 18,Jubair Hossain lbw b M’shangwe 1,Rubel Hossain (not out) 0; Extras (b-6,lb-6, w-2, nb-3): 17; Total (in 158.5overs): 433.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-78, 3-173,4-305, 5-322, 6-376, 7-383, 8-426, 9-433.

Zimbabwe bowling: Panyangara29-10-49-2, Chigumbura 22-5-60-1,Chatara 27-7-61-2, M’shangwe 40.5-7-127-1, Waller 23-4-65-2, Raza 11-2-31-0, Masakadza 6-1-28-1.

Zimbabwe — 1st innings: S. Razalbw b Taijul 11, B. Chari (batting) 21, H.Masakadza (batting) 15; Extras (b-1,lb-5): 6; Total (for one wkt. in 19 overs):53.

Fall of wicket: 1-17.Bangladesh bowling: Shahadat

4-0-12-0, Taijul 8-2-21-1, Shakib 3-0-3-0, Jubair 3-1-11-0, Rubel 1-1-0-0.

SCOREBOARD

MUMBAI: Mithali Raj will leadthe India women in the one-offTest against South Africa atMysuru this month. The vis-itors will also play three ODIsand one T20 game.

The Indian team was chosenby the women’s selection com-mittee at the Cricket Centre.

South Africa will play a two-day warm-up game (Alur) andone-day match (Bengaluru)against India ‘A’.

The squads: India: Mithali Raj(capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pan-dey, N. Niranjana, M.D. Thirushkami-ni, Jhulan Goswami, Punam Raut,Harmanpreet Kaur, ShubhalakshmiSharma, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gaek-wad, Sushma Verma, Poonam Yadav,Swagatika Rath, and V.R. Vanitha.

Manager: Vidya Yadav; Coach:Sudha Shah; Assistant coach: De-vieka Sathe.

India A: Two-day match: GouherSultana (capt.), Kalpana R., DeeptiSharma, V.R. Vanitha, Paramita Roy,Preeti Bose, Devika Vaidya, Sneh Ra-na, Swagatika Rath, Ananya Upen-dran, Meghna Singh, Vaishali Mathur,Veda Krishnamurthy, Tejal Hasabnis.

One-day match: Smriti Mandhana(capt.), Shweta Verma, Sneha Morey,Sneh Rana, Devika Vaidya, ManaliDakshini, Saika Ishaque, TanushreeSarkar, Humera Kazi, Rizu Saha,Rakshita K., Soni Yadav, Deepti Shar-ma, Sushri Pradhan.

Mithali to lead India

VIJAYAWADA: Rahil ReyazKhan’s 108 helped Jharkhandscore 332 in 115.1 overs in thesecond innings against Andhrain the Cooch Behar under-19Group A league match that end-ed in a draw at CSR Sarma Col-lege grounds at Ongole onTuesday.

Andhra got three points byvirtue of its first innings lead,while Jharkhand settled forone.

In a drawn encounter, south-paw A.A. Pathan’s century (100,219b, 12x4) was the highlight ofBaroda’s second inningsagainst host Hyderabad.

Earlier, resuming at its over-night score of 69 for three, Ba-roda, which took the vital firstinnings lead on Monday, fin-ished its second on the final dayat 293 for nine, with Pathan thetop-scorer.

The scores: At Ongole: Jharkhand 293 & 332 in

115.1 overs (Rahil Reyaz Khan 108,Wilfred Beng 67, Imran Alam 49,Kaushal Singh 41, Girinath Reddy sixfor 94) drew with Andhra 547 in 155.5overs.

Andhra 3, Jharkhand 1. At Thalassery: Delhi 283 & 312 in

83.4 overs (K. Binduri 70, R. Sharma62, Himmat Singh 50, S. Sharma 50,R.S. Kunnumel four for 49, Akshayfour for 116) drew with Kerala 223.

Delhi 3, Kerala 0.At Kalyani: Karnataka 254 in 101

overs (P. Vishnu 54, Syed Sufiyan 54,L.M. Baannur 52, A. Gani six for 99, A.Saha four for 46) & 267 in 112 overs(S.P. Arjun 42, P. Vishnu 49, S. Sufi-yan 50, A. Saha three for 56, A. Ganithree for 85, A. Tiwari four for 86) vsBengal 221 in 93.5 overs (Agniv Pan59, Sourabh Singh 40, M. Prasidh fourfor 66, M.B. Darshan three for 52) &300 for six in 54 overs (Avijit Singh 71,A. Easwaran 62, Agniv Pan 43 n.o.,Ritwik Roy Chowdhury 40, ShubhumChatterjee 40).

Karnataka 3, Bengal 1.

At Cuttack: Maharashtra 389 in119.5 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 188,Suman Mohanty three for 43) & 254 in85.1 overs (Murtaza Trunkwala 88,Aquib Shaikh 56, Subham Nayak fourfor 46) vs Odisha 380 in 134.2 overs(Devender Kuanr 173, Sandeep Patta-naik 61, Shubham Kothari five for 54,Sahil Kothari three for 78) & 21 for noloss in 13 overs.

Odisha 3, Maharashtra 1.

At Rajkot: Saurashtra 342 in 113.1overs (Samarth Vyas 133, HimanshuSharma 90; R.B. Murasingh four for57) & 252 for six decl. in 84 overs(Samarth Vyas 82, Murasingh threefor 61) vs Tripura 380 (B. Ghosh 165,Viharsinh Jadeja six for 104) & 103 forsix in 33 overs.

Tripura 3, Saurashtra 1.

At Hyderabad: Baroda 421 & 293for nine in 93 overs (A.A. Pathan 100,Abhimanyu Singh 35, S. S. Desai 39,Y. Shravan Kumar four for 80) drewwith Hyderabad 283 in 98.4 overs.

Baroda 3, Hyderabad 1.

Rahil Reyaz Khan slams ton

LONDON: Mark Ramprakash isset to be appointed as Englandbatting coach this week, ac-cording to media reports onMonday.

Ramprakash, 45, has beentipped to be Graham Gooch’ssuccessor after the former En-gland opener was axed earlierthis year.

It is believed Ramprakashand the England and WalesCricket Board are in agreementover his move into the nationalteam set-up, but the fine detailsof his contract are still beingworked through.

The former Middlesex andSurrey batsman emerged as thestandout candidate when it be-came clear Graham Thorpe,who is highly valued at the ECBand previously worked as limit-ed-overs batting coach underAshley Giles, was reluctant tocommit to England’s gruellingtour commitments. — AFP

Ramprakashset to becomebatting coach

Mark Ramprakash. -

PHOTO: GARETH COPLEY/

GETTY IMAGES

NEW DELHI: Manavaditya SinghRathore won a three-way tie tobag the junior trap gold in thefourth Asian shotgun cham-pionship in Al Ain, UAE, onTuesday.

The 15-year-old son of Olym-pic silver medallist Rajyavard-han Singh Rathore,Manavaditya shot 24 in the lastround to tie with two others,Demyan Krivov of Uzbekistanand Mohammad Alhammli ofKuwait, on 114. In the shoot-off, the national junior cham-pion who had shot 25, 22, 21, 22in the earlier rounds, shot 4 tobeat the Uzbek (3), while theKuwaiti missed the first bird.

The results: Men: Trap: 1. Abdul-

rahman Al Faihan (Kuw) 14 (13) 122;2. Mohammed Khejaim (Qat) 10 (12)119; 3. Abdulla Buhaliba (UAE) 7(11)1 (123); 5. Kynan Chenai 11(0)120; 14. Manavjit Singh Sandhu 115;19. Prithviraj Tondaiman 113. Team:1. UAE 353; 2. Qatar 351; 3. Kuwait349; 4. India 348.

Juniors: 1. Manavaditya SinghRathore 114(4); 2. Demyan Krivov(Uzb) 114(3); 3. Mohammad Alhammli(Kuw) 114(0); 4. Akash Saharan 113;5. Kismat Chopra 105.

Women: Trap: 1. Seema Tomar 13(12) 72; 2. Mariya Dmitriyenko (Kaz)11 (12) 70; 3. Yukie Nakayama (Jpn)12 (11) 71; 8. Shreyasi Singh 68; 9.Shagun Chowdhary 67. Team: 1. In-dia 207; 2. Japan 203; 3. DPR Korea199.

SHOOTING

Manavaditya bags gold

NEW DELHI: The National Anti-Doping Agency Appeal Panel(NADAP) has provided relief toswimmer Richa Mishra in amethylhexaneamine (MHA)case just as it had done in sever-al other similar cases in recentmonths.

Accordingly, Richa’s two-year suspension, due to end onTuesday (Nov. 4) was deemedto have ended on the date of theorder (October 8), giving herthe benefit of less than a month.

The order in fact states thather suspension was to haveended on Oct. 18 and the panelwas giving her the benefit of 10days in order to help her com-pete in the trials for the Nation-al swimming championships,beginning in Kolkata from Nov.12.

The panel headed by Justice(retd.) M.L. Varma came to theconclusion that just as in otherMHA cases, Richa was entitledto a reduction of 319 days as“delays not attributable to theathlete” under Article 10.9.3. of

the NADA rules.The Richa case decision by

the appeal panel brings to anend the long-drawn MHA casesof 2010.

However, unlike in severalother MHA cases, the panel haskept pending a ruling on theannulment of her results fromsample collection date as or-dered by the disciplinary panel.

Richa had won 11 gold medalsin the National Games in Ran-chi in 2011 and if the order re-lated to annulment of allresults is not revoked shewould lose all the awards andcash prizes that she would havewon during this period includ-ing that for the Ranchi Games.

Richa’s counsel Parth Gos-wami argued that the Delhiswimmer should be given reliefin respect of the disqualifica-tion of results imposed underArticle 10.8.

It will be interesting to seewhether the NADAP makes aconcession in Richa’s case,which will come up for hearingon the question of annulmentof results on Nov. 10.

GENERAL

Relief for RichaSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Defending cham-pion Thidapa Suwannapura,Gwladys Nocera and CorlotaCiganda were among the lead-ing names who confirmed theirparticipation in the $300,000Hero women’s Indian Opengolf championship to be playedat the Delhi Golf Club coursehere from December 4 to 6.

In the field of 108 profession-als, Sharmila Nicollet and do-mestic Hero Order of Meritwinner Vani Kapoor are ex-pected to keep alive the homechallenge.

The prestigious event, sanc-tioned by the Ladies EuropeanTour (LET), Ladies Asian GolfTour (LAGT) and the Women’sGolf Association of India(WGAI), has also attractedsome of the winners from thisseason’s tour.

Kylie Walker (Deloitte Openand German Open, FlorentynaParker (Italian Open), JulieGreciet (Sberbank Golf Mas-ters) and Connie Chen (Tene-rife Open de Espana) form thelist of this year’s title-winnersexpected to tee off here.

Giving details of the event ata press conference here onTuesday, WGAI SecretaryChampika Sayal said, “to bridgethe gap between the profes-sionals and amateurs, the yar-dage of the course has beenreduced by 125 yards. The parof the course has been raised to73, with the ninth hole turnedto par-5. As a result, the ‘cut’that came at nine-over lastyear, is likely to be around five-over next month.”

Meanwhile, the three slotsfor the amateurs have been of-fered to Aditi Ashok, GauriMonga and Astha Madan. —Special Correspondent

Top womengolfers forIndian Open

NEW DELHI: The InternationalHockey Federation (FIH) haspresented the President’sAwards to Hockey India presi-dent Narinder Batra and Valen-tina Quaranta of Italy.

According to an FIH release,Batra got the recognition “forhis commitment to the devel-opment of hockey in India dur-ing the last five years, includingthe creation of the Hockey In-dia League.” — SpecialCorrespondent

FIH award for Batra

NEW DELHI: Ishaque Eqbal beatthird-seeded Anuraj Nenwani6-3, 7-6(0) in the boys’ pre-quarterfinals of the ITF grade-5junior tennis tournament atthe DLTA Complex here onTuesday.

Adil Kalyanpur beat SagarBains in three sets to set up aquarterfinal against second-seeded Sai Nikhil Mannepalliwhile National under-16 cham-pion and top seed Vasisht Che-ruku set up a quarterfinal witheighth-seeded Mayukh Rawat.

In the girls’ section, SrishtiSlaria overcame a slow start tobeat third-seeded Snehal Manein three sets.

Vaidehi Chaudhari contin-ued her good run, beating De-niz Paykoc of Turkey for theloss of just two games. She willface top-seeded Vanshika Saw-hney in the quarterfinals.

The results (pre-quarterfinals):Boys: Vasisht Cheruku bt Dheer

Anush Bhatti 6-2, 6-4; Mayukh Rawatbt Pranav Malhotra 6-2, 6-3; IshaqueEqbal bt Anurag Nenwani 6-3, 7-6(0);

Rian Pandole bt Param Pun 4-6, 6-3,6-1; Manish Sureshkumar bt Parth Ag-garwal 6-2, 6-1; Nihit Rawal bt AnirudhChandrasekar 6-2, 7-5; Adil Kalyanpurbt Sagar Bains 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; Sai NikhilMannepalli bt Mohit Jain 6-1, 6-4.

Girls: Vanshika Sawhney bt Aa-rushi Kakkar 6-1, 6-0; Vaidehi Chaud-hari bt Deniz Paykoc (Tur) 6-0, 6-2;Srishti Slaria bt Snehal Mane 4-6, 6-3,6-4; Lalita Devarakonda bt Samriti Pu-nyani 6-0, 6-0.

Sabhyata Nihalani bt KalpanaChaudhary 6-2, 6-1; Isha Budwal btRashi Shukla 6-1, 6-1; AkankshaBhan bt Alina Qureshi (Pak) 6-1, 6-0;Zeel Desai bt Aarja Chakraborty 6-2,6-4. — Special Correspondent

TENNIS

Ishaque shocks AnurajAdil overcomesSagar’s challenge

Srishti shocksSnehal

HYDERABAD: V.V.S. Laxman saidhe totally believed Sachin Ten-dulkar on the captaincy offermade by Greg Chappell. “Al-though Sachin didn’t discussthe issue with us at that time, Iwill always believe Sachin, as heis a man of great integrity,” hesaid.

Shocking questionRecalling the incident in-

volving him, Laxman said theproposal to open was made inMumbai after he was droppedfor the Mumbai Test againstEngland in 2006. When Lax-man declined to open statingthat he had decided in 2000 notto open anymore and was aconsistent performer in the

middle order, Chappell askedhim how old he was.

When Laxman said he was31, Chappell’s next questionshocked him. “Don’t you think31 is too young an age to sit athome?,” he had asked Laxman.The wristy virtuoso had to re-mind Chappell that he had beenthe team’s second highestscorer since the time he tookover as the coach, a year before.

“I was really disappointedwith his attitude. Under Chap-pell it was the worst dressingroom atmosphere I ever playedin, with the coach trying to di-vide the seniors against the ju-niors. The team was like afamily and there was no need tospoil the harmony in the side,”Laxman added.

I will always believeSachin: LaxmanSpecial Correspondent

R. VASUDEVAN, I.A.S, son of LateS. Rangarajan, Dy.Editor, The Hin-du, passed away in Delhi on 4−11−2014. Survived by wife Uma, daugh-ters Mala & Ramaa, Sister Ramaa,brothers Barath & Sarath. Tel:01129230929 / 09841599135

Mrs. VASANTHA RAGHAVAN (Jillu),83, wife of Late S. SrinivasaRaghavan, King Institute, passedaway peacefully 8.30 a.m. November4. Deeply mourned by Ravi, Bharath(Dr. Narasimha Raghavan), MythiliRajkumar (Maya), Raja, Relativesand Friends. Contact (044)24831141, 9444786283, 9940322166.

THE VOICE We Loved is Still. Wedeeply regret the demise of ourBrother Roland Gonsalves on 04−11−14. Funeral Mass today at 4pm atVotive Shrine, Kilpauk. Loving Fam-ily − Honey Coelho, Fedrick Gon-salves, Diane Sequeira&their Fami-ly. M:9840049912

P.K. RAMAN (82), Retired Sr.Manager, Logistics, The Hindu,Chennai passed away on 4−11−2014.Address: H−14, ’Chaitanya’, TheNest Apts, Rathna Nagar, Teynam-pet, Chennai−600018. Mobile:9962562265.

DEATH

REGIONAL ROUND-UP

Parampreet scoresa braceNEW DELHI: Parampreet Singhscored a double as NCCDirectorate (Junior Blue)registered a convincing 6-0victory over Motilal NehruSchool of Sports, Rai in aGroup F match and qualifiedfor the next phase of theSteelbird 43rd Nehru juniorhockey tournament at theShivaji Stadium on Tuesday.The results: Group D: Sri Guru RamDas Khalsa Senior SecondarySchool, Sri Amritsar 5 (Nishan Singh2, Harsukhpreet Singh, RavideepSingh, Jobanpreet Singh) bt StateSchool of Sports, Jalandhar 3(Jaspreet Singh, Jashanpreet Singh,Yadwinder Singh). Group E: Utkramit High School,Khagaria (Bihar) 4 (Sunny Patel 2,Nitesh Yadav, Ajay Kumar) btGovernment Boys Higher SecondarySchool, Malappuram (Kerala) 3 (AthulC., Mohammad Shafeeq K., M.S.

Imnad Farshid).

Group F: NCC Directorate (JuniorBlue) 6 (Parampreet Singh 2, HarnekSingh, Harmanpreet Singh, ManmeetSingh, Navpreet Singh) bt MotilalNehru School of Sports, Rai 0.

Monika shines inKhalsa’s winMonika scored 15 points asKhalsa College beat hostRamjas College 36-22 in theIMG Reliance Collegebasketball league at theRamjas College.

The results: Khalsa College 36(Monika 15) bt Ramjas College 22;Jesus and Mary College 29(Aishwarya 11) bt Kirorimal College12.

Rathore’s four does it for ArmyRavi Rathore struck four goalsas Army beat Sona Polo 5-4 ina league match of the Yes BankIndian Masters 14-goal polo

tournament at the Jaipur Pologround here on Tuesday.It was a remarkable finish byArmy as Rathore scored threeof his goals in the last chukkerto help his team pip Sona Polo,which led 3-2 at the end of thethird chukker.The results (league): Army 5 (RaviRathore 4, Akhil Sirohi) bt Sona Polo4 (Dhruvpal Godara 3, GauravSahgal).

Princy stuns JahnaviCHANDIGARH: Princy Panchalupset top-seeded JahnaviShivran 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in thegirls’ pre-quarterfinals of theAITA Talent series under-18tennis tournament at theCLTA Complex on Tuesday.The results (pre-quarterfinals):Boys: Archit Juneja w.o. CheeragBajwa; Mridul Kharakwal bt RaunaqSingh Marwah 6-4, 6-2; CalvinGolmei bt Savneet Singh Bajwa 6-0,6-2; Aditya Vasisht bt AbhimanyuRojra 6-2, 6-3; Sabrang Sandal bt

Sarthak Jain 6-3, 6-3; Sultan SinghAtwal bt Ramajot Dhindsa 6-4, 6-2;Kabir Manrai bt Jagdeep Singh Bajwa6-4, 4-6, 6-1; Krishna Rajput bt AdityaPratap Singh 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Girls: Princy Panchal bt JahnaviShivran 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; KhushbeenKaur bt Arti Nayan 7-5, 6-4; JannatKhurana bt Shamita Yadav 6-0, 6-0;Smera Mehta bt Prabhjeet Saraon6-4, 6-2; Harleen Kaur bt ReetinderKaur 6-2, 6-4; Tanmay Patnaik btDeepshikha 6-1, 6-0; SaumyaSaxena bt Dikshita Rana 6-2, 6-1;Seerat Kaur Pannu bt PriyankaJakhar 6-3, 6-0.

At New Delhi

Hockey: Nehru junior tournament,Shivaji Stadium, 10 a.m.

Athletics: National Open,Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, 1 p.m.

Polo: Indian Masters, Jaipur PoloGround, Race Course Road, 3 p.m.

ENGAGEMENTS

PARIS: Rafael Nadal underwentappendix surgery on Monday,with the operation passing offsmoothly, according to hismanagement company.

“Rafa feeling well, surgerywent well,” B1PR revealed ontheir Twitter page.

The Spanish 14-time GrandSlam champion ended his sea-son prematurely after a quar-terfinal loss at the SwissIndoors last month ahead of hisdate under the knife to removehis appendix.

At the time the 28-year-oldsaid: “I need to do the surgery, Ineed to work on my back nextweek before the operation.

Then I need five weeks torecover.”

Antibiotics treatment

Nadal has been taking anti-biotics to treat appendicitissince early October.

Missing last week’s ParisMasters and the season-closingWorld Tour Finals starting onSunday in London he reflected:“If I play the last two tourna-ments, I would not be compet-itive and would have no chanceto win.

“It is better for me to recover.I hope to be back at the start of2015 ready for anything.” —AFP

Nadal’s appendixsurgery goes off well

KOLKATA: Udayjit Bhalotia ofKolkata, with a steady one-overpar 72, took a three-stroke leadon the first day of the Tata Steelall-India sub-junior and feedertour final at the Golmuri GolfClub in Jamshedpur onTuesday.

Rohit Kumar Bouri of Jam-shedpur was second at four-over 75 with the trio of Jay Pan-dya, Rohan Rajware and BalaMitran placed tied third a fur-ther stroke behind at five-over76.

Bishwam Ghosh, PrateekMalik and Mahipat Singh wereall placed tied sixth, five strokesbehind the leader at six-over77.

Top scores (after 18 holes):Category A & B (combined): 72

Udayjit Bhalotia; 75 Rohit Kumar Bou-ri; 76 Jay Pandya, Rohan Rajware,Bala Mitran; 77 Bishwam Ghosh, Pra-teek Malik, Mahipat Singh; 78 Chin-maya Mahajan, Mayank Thakur,Kaustubh Mishra; 79 Anmol Handa, K.Pawan Kalyan, Rajvir Randhawa; 80Sharif Khan, Jay Vora.

Udayjit in lead

VERY BRIEFLY

R. Ashwin is the lone Indi-an to feature in the top 10 of thelatest Reliance ICC Test Playerrankings as he continues tolead the way in the allrounders’list. South Africa’s Vernon Phi-lander is second while Bangla-desh’s Shakib Al Hasan isplaced third.

CMYK

ND-ND

SPORT16 THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

Telecast scheduleAustralia vs South Africa, first T20, STAR Sports2, 2 p.m.; ISL,STAR Sports2, HD2 & STAR Gold, 7 p.m.; Champions Leaguefootball, TEN Sports, TEN Action & TEN HD, 1.15 a.m. (Thursday)

Three Ds to successThe determination, dedication and discipline led to the goody goodystuff and credit to the boys for putting up this brilliant show —Pakistancoach Waqar Younis reflects on the win against Australia

FIFA’s objections to summer WCFIFA has reportedly raised objections of holding the 2022Qatar WC in the summer in light of health risks andspeculations are that the tournament would be held in winter

A mind game and a puzzle

that you solve with

reasoning and logic. Fill in

the grid with digits in such

a manner that every row,

every column and every

3x3 box accommodates

the digits 1 to 9, without

repeating any. The

solution to yesterday’s

puzzle is at right.

su ldo lku

AHMEDABAD: India’s left-rightcombination in Shikhar Dha-wan and Ajinkya Rahane deliv-ered another emphatic victory— by 169 runs — in a one-dayinternational at the BarabatiStadium, Cuttack.

An injury to Rohit Sharma inthe first one-dayer against En-gland at Cardiff in August, hadbrought Dhawan and Rahanetogether at top of the order forthe second time at Trent Bridgeand thereafter they have notgiven a chance for the selectorsto look at another opening com-bination.

The two had opened for thefirst time in the Asia Cup matchagainst Afghanistan at Mirpurin last March, with Rohit Shar-ma at No. 3. Dhawan and Ra-hane have so far scored 693 runsin eight matches at 86.63. Theyhammered 231 for the firstwicket against the Lankans atCuttack. Their winning strikerate as openers stands at an im-pressive six matches.

India luckyDhawan — all set to touch the

50-ODI mark in the current se-ries against Lanka — was prob-ably right in saying that India islucky to have opening-pair op-tions as the ICC World Cup getsnearer.

“We are very fortunate thatwe three (Dhawan, Rahane andRohit), who can give consisten-cy, are there with the Indianteam. It’s a very good sign forthe team that our openers arescoring runs consistently.

“It’s very important to have astrong base whether battingfirst or chasing,” the maraudingDelhi left-hander said after histeam’s consummate win againstthe Angelo Mathews-led SriLanka.

Both the openers made thevisitor pay a heavy price for let-ting them off early in theirinnings.

With Rohit scoring a superbcentury for India ‘A’ in thewarm-up game against theLankans at the Brabourne Sta-dium and thereby proving hisfitness, the selectors would havea fair idea of what India’s bat-ting order would be for the tri-series in Australia before theWorld Cup. Rohit is the seniormost amongst the three (124matches, 3479 runs at 35.87 andwith 4 centuries and 23 fifties)and he maybe recalled for thelast two ODIs against Lanka.

He has scored 1512 in 39 in-nings as an opener, 715 in 26innings at no. 4 and 862 in 25innings at no. 5.

Both Dhawan and Rahanehave crossed the 1000-run markin ODIs and have made the mostof it, given the chance to open.In between, Rahane openedwith Robin Uthappa and the lat-ter, recalled after six years,made 50, 14 and 5 in the three-match series against Bangla-desh in June. As of now, it seemsonly Dhawan, Rahane and Rohtare in the picture, with Uthappaalmost sure to be in the 30 prob-ables for the World Cup.

“I (have) really enjoyed bat-ting with both of them (Rahaneand Rohit). Hopefully, they tooenjoy batting with me. Bothhave their own styles. As far asmy opening partner is con-cerned, it’s the team’s call and Ican’t answer that. When myselfand Rohit used to open, we used

to do the same thing,” said Dha-wan after the Cuttack match.Dhawan and Rohit have tou-ched an exact 1500 runs asopeners in 32 innings with sixcenturies and fourhalf-centuries.

India has been blessed withleft-right combination, more soafter Saurav Ganguly and Sa-chin Tendulkar dominated thenew ball and aggregated 6610 in136 innings.

This record may be hard tobeat; it took some effort for theIndian pair to get the better ofAustralian openers MathewHayden and Adam Gilchrist’s5372 in 114 innings.

But if Dhawan sustains hisform, India would probably runan opening pair for many yearsto come.

CRICKET

India’s potent left-right punch G. Viswanath

AUDACITY UPFRONT: Shikhar Dhawan (right) and Ajinkya Rahane combine withgreat effect at the top of the order to augment India's batting potential. — PHOTO: PTI

MUMBAI: According to a BCCImedia release, the senior selec-tion committee meeting to pickthe team for the last two ODIsagainst Sri Lanka and the Indi-an team for the Border-Gavas-kar Trophy against Australia,has been postponed. No reasonhas been given for the same.

It is learnt that selectionpanel chief Sandeep Patil andthe four other selectors RogerBinny, Vikram Rathore, SabaKarim and Rajinder SinghHans were present at the BCCIheadquarters.

Binny for AaronStuart Binny will replace in-

jured pacer Varun Aaron in theIndian team for the second andthird ODIs against Sri Lankanfor the Micromax Cup.

The BCCI also announcedthat the Indian Premier League2015 will be held from April 8-May 24, 2015. The first tradingwindow opened on October 6,2014 and will close on Decem-ber 12, 2014.

Two players were traded sofar. Mumbai Indians acquiredVinay Kumar from KolkataKnight Riders and UnmuktChand from Rajasthan Royals,respectively. — SpecialCorrespondent

Selection meetingpostponed

Binny. — FILE PHOTO

AHMEDABAD: While the Indianplayers preferred to stay backin the hotel and spend time atthe gym, the Sri Lankans spenta little over three hours at theSardar Patel Gujarat Stadiumon Tuesday. The Lankansworked hard on their skills atthe excellent practice facilitiesavailable at Motera.

The Angelo Mathews-led team conceded lot of runsto India ‘A’ in the practicegame at the Brabourne Stadi-um (Mumbai) and was taken tothe cleaners by Shikhar Dha-wan and Ajinkya Rahane in thefirst ODI at Cuttack.

The Lankans are clearlymissing the experienced La-sith Malinga and RanganaHerath. 

“All are fit and the teamwent through a full trainingand practice session,” said Mi-chael de Zoysa, media officerof the Sri Lankan side.

Former Test cricketer Dhi-raj Parsana, in-charge of theground for many years, saidthe start of the match at 1.30p.m. will reduce the dew factorin the evening.

“The sky has been very clearand there has been no wind atall. We have used the super-sopper to remove the dew. Wehave also given the anti-dewtreatment. “There should beenough carry and bounce inthe pitch,” said Parsana. —Special Correspondent

Sri Lankanshave nets

LONDON: Sunderland climbedout of the relegation zone afterJordi Gomez’s late strike and aSteven Fletcher double in-spired a crucial 3-1 win at fel-low strugglers Crystal Palaceon Monday.

Fletcher had given Sunder-land a first half lead before WesBrown’s own goal drew the Ea-gles level soon after the inter-val. With a draw looking likely,Spanish midfielder Gomez firedhome from the edge of the areaand, after Palace’s Australia

midfielder Mile Jedinak wassent off for a second booking,Fletcher netted again in stop-page-time to seal the points.

The victory was just Sunder-land’s second in the league thisseason and it lifted it above Pal-ace into 15th place, while thesouth Londoners are now out-side the relegation zone only ongoal difference after their fifthdefeat of the campaign.

The result: Crystal Palace 1(Brown 55-og) lost to Sunderland 3(Fletcher 31, 90, Gomez 79). — AFP

Gomez, Fletcher combineto sink Crystal Palace

MADRID: Mikel Arruabarrenascored his second goal of thenight in the 86th minute to giveEibar 3-2 win at Rayo Valleca-no in the Spanish League onMonday.

Arruabarrena opened thescoring in the 37th when heconverted a penalty and Feder-ico Piovaccari doubled the leadwhen he struck the ball underCobeno as the goalkeeper cameforward in the 50th.

But Leo Baptistao pulled thehost level with two goals in less

than two minutes. His headerbounced in off the crossbar inthe 67th, and he netted theequalizer just a minute later forhis third brace of the season.Arruabarrena then netted thewinner from a counterattack.

The result: La Liga: Rayo Valleca-no 2 (Carrilho Baptistao 67, 68) lost toEibar 3 (Arruabarrena 37-pen, 86, Pio-vaccari 49).

Serie A: Lazio 4 (Mauri 7, Klose 25& 26, Ederson 90+2) bt Cagliari 2(Braafheid 48-og, Pedro 84). —Agencies

Arruabarrena stars in win

CHENNAI: Marco Materazzi,player-manager of ChennaiyinFC said the 1-1 draw with Atlet-ico de Kolkata here on Tuesdaywas like “one point won.”

“The first 90 minutes Ithought “we were going to losetwo points, but the penaltyhelped us gain a point,” saidMaterazzi at the post-matchpress conference.

On the penalty and red cardgiven to Chennaiyin FC’s goal-keeper Shilton Paul, Materazzi

said “I don’t want to discus thereferee’s decision. I respect it.

“But we abided by many ofthe referee’s decision, but thesame cannot be said of the ATKplayers.”Further he said “rulesare rules, done by FIFA. If agoalkeeper is the last person, Ithink the decision of the refer-ee to award a penalty isnormal.”

Strategic replacement

On the strategy of taking outforward Jean Eudes Mauriceafter Shilton was given a red

card, Materazzi said “Mauricecame to the city a few daysback, and I thought Mendozawas playing well up-front. Andmy decision was proved right.”

ATK’s assistant coach AngelDiaz Barrachina said he’s hap-py with the result.

“We are still at the top (of thetable).” Angel refused to bedrawn into the penalty issue.

The assistant coach praisedhis marquee player Luis Graciafor his wonderful performanceafter coming back from anhamstring injury.

It is one point won, saysMaterazziK. Keerthivasan

NAVI MUMBAI: Mumbai City FC,bubbling with enthusiasm fol-lowing a Nicolas Anelka-in-spired win over Kerala BlastersFC three days ago, faces onhome turf Delhi Dynamos, anopponent filled with players ofsubstance.

Dynamos’ Italian icon Ales-sandro del Piero is one of thetop names in Hero Indian Su-per League, around whom are afew performers showing theconsistency that Mumbai istrying hard to imbibe.

Belgian goalkeeper Kristofvan Hout is a larger-than-lifefigure for charging forwardstrying to take a shot at the goal.

The Delhi custodian hasbeen beaten four times in sixmatches so far and his presenceunder the bar reduces anxietyfor the defence. On the con-trary, his counterpart in the

Mumbai goal, Subrata Paul, isfinding it difficult to live up tothe high expectations.

Covering up for an over-worked set of defenders mar-shalled by Bundesliga playerManuel Friedrich, the homeside has so far leaked 10 goals infive games and will possibly letin more till the midfield lends asupporting hand.

However, in the last homematch against Kerala Blasters,the Mumbai defence main-tained its formation when test-ed, taking some pressure offSubrata. Delhi Dynamos at-tacks in bursts, culminating inspectacular goals, as witnessedso far. Friedrich and players in

the backline will face turbulenttimes if the visitors get crack-ing. Denmark’s Mads Junker,Brazilian Gustavo dos Santos,Spain’s Bruno Arias have en-tered their names on the scor-ing sheet in style, as did Belgiandefender Wim Raymaekerswith a stunning shot from far.

Delhi’s squad gets the depthfrom talented Indians AnwarAli, Govin Singh, Naoba Singh,Shouvik Ghosh, Francis Fer-nandes and ShyloMalsawmtluanga.

Coach Harm van Veldhovanhas given them opportunitiesand the six Indians have repaidthe coach’s faith with perform-ances, especially in the attack.Mumbai City’s over-relianceon Anelka may backfire.

The home team requires theforwards capable of cashing inon the rival team’s obsessionwith keeping the French ace incheck.

Mumbai’s over-relianceon Anelka may backfireNandakumar Marar

Today’s match

Mumbai FC vs DelhiDynamos, Navi Mumbai, 7 p.m.

CHENNAI: It was a match inwhich both Atletico de Kolkata(ATK) and Chennaiyin FCwent for caution and, rightly,the game suffered for it. It wasonly apt that it ended 1-1, withboth goals coming from thespot. Both teams also fin-ished with 10 men. 

Chennai started witha 4-3-1-2 formationwith Harmanjot Kha-bra and Denson Deva-das on either side ofMarco Materazzi protect-ing the back four. Atletico deKolkata lined up in 4-2-3-1 withBorja Fernandez and OfentseNato sitting back and perform-ing the duties of defensivemidfielders.

Much of the play was in thecentre of the pitch. But withboth sets of players sticking toeach other, neither side hadmuch time on the ball. ATK’sonly bit of creative play cameright at the start when LuisGarcia split the Chennai de-fence and Joffre Mateu slid theball across the goal-line fromthe left.

However, no striker was insight to tap it in.  The visitors,

defended in banks of four- throughout. This allowedChennai practically no chancefor playing long balls. After ini-tially attempting to despatch acouple, the idea was shunned.

Chennai, after finding ittough to break through themiddle, stretched the play a bit.

It was then that two chanc-es arrived.

Gouramangi Singhfirst, and then Khabraput impressive cross-es from the right flank.

The ATK defence, how-ever, held together. Soon,

even that channel was closeddown with wide midfielderJoffre dropping back.

Sending off

Then, ATK was handed amassive advantage on 33 min-utes, when Chennai goalkeeperShilton Paul was sent off forbringing down Mohammed Ra-fi.

The latter was through ongoal and had looped the ballabove Shilton before beingfouled. Garcia slotted the ensu-ing penalty into the bottomright corner.  Chennai, predict-ably, sacrificed debutant strikerJean Maurice to keep its defen-

sive shape and brought in Gen-naro Bracigliano to man thegoalmouth. 

But immediately after thebreak, it was even-stevens withJoffre getting a second yellowfor simulation, while attempt-ing to beat Bracigliano. As a re-sult, ATK, with a goal up,dropped further back, with thedefensive duo of Fernandezand Nato playing their roles toperfection.

Defender Bernard Mendycharged into the midfield on oc-casions, only for the oppositiondefenders to close him down.Towards the end, Chennaithrew more men behind theball by bringing in the forwardsBalwant Singh and Jeje Lalpek-hlua.

With the game drawing to aclose, ATK seemed to haveearned a crucial away win untilJohn Stiven Mendoza wasbrought down by Kinshuk Deb-nath in injury time.

Elano, who didn’t have muchluck with a slew of free-kicksearly on, scored to maintainChennai’s unbeaten homerecord.

The result: Chennaiyin FC 1 (Ela-no 90-pen) drew with Atletico de Kol-kata 1 (Garcia 35-pen).

Chennaiyin maintains unbeaten home record

TURNING POINT: Chennaiyin’s John Mendoza (centre) was brought down in the box by Kinshuk Debnath(right) in injury time, and the resultant penalty was converted by Elano. — PHOTO: R. RAGU

Elano nets a late penalty after Luis Garcia hadput Atletico de Kolkata aheadN. Sudarshan

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17THE HINDU WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

At a hotel, no two days aresimilar. I mean, each daybakes its own unique cake

since we’re in the business ofpeople. One has to take unex-pected challenges in his strideand continually strive to suc-ceed. I learnt this the hard way,early in my career. In fact, in thevery first week of my career.After graduating from a hotelmanagement institute in Pune,I had moved to Mumbai to work

at the front office of a five-starhotel. The hotel was a half hourdrive from home and on thatfateful day, I left home feelingpositive. It had just rained andas I rode my bike, I felt no lessthan a hero ready to take on theworld. Suddenly, there was asplash of muddy water, thrownup by a speeding truck. Myfreshly ironed whites hadchanged colour. So had my day.It now resembled the grey sky

above me. I had expected a chal-lenging day at work, and wasprepared. But this was out ofthe blue – out of the grey, rath-er. I informed my boss aboutmy situation, who was kindenough to let me ride backhome to change and go in towork a little bit later.

That day, I learnt that beingprepared is absolutely essen-tial. And that being prepared forthe unexpected is even more es-

sential. This lesson has helpedme through many splashes ofmuddy water on my journey. Itstill does. Recently, we hosted agrand, high-profile wedding,where 700 guests were expect-ed. We are always prepared fora few extra, guests. But 800 isway above ‘a few more’ and thatis what I was faced with that day– an unexpected turnout of1,500 guests. From cars liningup for valet service and the

crowd piling into the lobby tofood running out and guestsstanding for want of enoughchairs, we had a lot to deal with.That is when our team switchedto the ‘çan-do’ mode. Other de-partment heads stepped in andhelped deal with the demandsof the day. People ran out to themarkets to purchase provisionsand extra help arrived in thekitchen. I helped with the ser-vice. At the end of the day, the

guest had a happy smile. Ourswas wider, stretching from earto ear. On our Happy Friday,which is Hilton Chennai’sweekly coffee meet, we cele-brated the feat. Most of all, welearnt or re-learnt the wisdomof expecting the unexpected.

(Parag Sawhney, 33, is one ofthe youngest general managersof the Hilton Hotels across theAsia Pacific region.)

As told to Vipasha Sinha

When the plate is full Parag Sawhney, GM, Hilton Chennai, on the most essential ingredient of success

LESSONS FROM MY FIRST JOB

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How much should a robot beallowed to hurt its co-

workers? It’s a puzzling ques-tion facing companies devel-oping a new breed ofindustrial robots that workalongside humans on the fac-tory floor.

Setting limits on the levelof pain a robot may (acciden-tally) inflict on a human is acrucial goal of the first safetystandards being drawn up forthese “collaborative” robots,which are meant to do thingslike pass people tools or helpfit together parts on an as-sembly line.

Existing guidance fromregulators such as the UnitedStates Occupational Safetyand Health Administrationassumes that robots operateonly when humans aren’tnearby. That has meant it’smostly small manufacturersthat have adopted collabora-tive robots, said Esben Oster-gaard, chief technologyofficer at Universal Robots, aDanish company that sells ro-bot arms designed to collab-orate with humans.

For collaborative robots to

really change manufacturing,and earn significant profits,they must be embraced bylarge companies, for whomsafety certification is crucial.“We lived a happy life untilwe reached the big companies— then we got all these prob-lems about standards,” Oster-gaard said.

“It’s not the law, but the bigcompanies have to have astandard to hold onto.” Uni-versal is working with carmanufacturers includingBMW, and with major pack-aged goods companies, Oster-gaard said.

The International Stan-dards Organization is due torelease an update next year toits existing industrial-robotsafety standards, modifyingthem to cover collaborativerobots. Its rules are expectedto be influential with U.S. andEuropean safety authoritiesand more or less set the barfor how collaborative robotscan be designed and used.

At a conference on collab-orative robots run last weekby the Robotics Industry As-sociation, Ostergaard was oneof several to voice worriesthat the rules would place un-

realistic demands on robotdesigners and operators.

The ISO’s update will, forinstance, include guidance onthe maximum force withwhich a robot may strike ahuman it is working with.Those limits will be based onresearch under way at theGerman Institute for Occupa-tional Safety and Health. Onepart of that work involves us-ing a machine to touch hu-man volunteers withgradually increasing force todetermine the pressure need-ed to cause the sensation ofpain in 29 different regions ofthe body.

Björn Matthias, a memberof the group drawing up theaddition to the ISO standard,argued at the meeting that ro-bots should be permitted tohurt humans sometimes.“Contact between human androbot is going to be infre-quent and not part of normalintended use,” he said. “Iwould say that you can toler-ate being above the pain sen-sation threshold.”

The Swiss energy and auto-mation company ABB, whereMatthias works as a research-er, is set to release its first

collaborative robot in 2015.If a robot caused “a bruise a

day,” that would clearly be in-tolerable, Matthias said. Butit would be acceptable if aworker received a “substan-tially painful” blow in the caseof an accident. He and othersargue that more restrictiveguidelines would unnecessa-rily increase the complianceburden on companies thatwant to employ collaborativerobots and limit the useful-ness of their ability to workwith humans.

Collaborative robotslaunched so far, such as Reth-ink Robotics’ Baxter, are rela-tively puny and work onlywith small loads because hu-mans are expected to be with-in reach most of the time.When MIT Technology Re-view first saw Baxter in 2012,Rethink co-founder RodneyBrooks allowed the robot tostrike him in the head toprove the point. The ISO's up-dated guidelines will considerhow collaborative robotscould safely wield much moreforce, according to Pat Davi-son, director of standards de-velopment at the RoboticIndustries Association. In a

technique known as “speedand separation monitoring,”laser sensors allow a robot toperform dangerous actionswhen no one is around andthen gradually slow down andeventually stop if a human ap-proaches. “The further away Iam, the more hazardous therobot’s activity can be,” Davi-son said at last week’s meet-ing. That could allow humansand robots to collaborate ontasks such as moving and as-sembling heavy parts.

The robotics industry’sstandards problem is compli-cated by the public percep-tion of robots, which remainsmostly shaped by science fic-tion. That, and the tendencyto distrust new technologiesmore than familiar ones, canlead to unreasonable expecta-tions, said Phil Crowther, aglobal product manager atABB. “Do you think planesare safe? They sometimes fallout of the sky,” he said. “Thefundamentals are the same —you have to limit risk to anacceptable level.”

© 2014 MIT TechnologyReview

The New York TimesSyndicate

Should industrial robots be able to hurt their human co-workers?Tom Simonite

TEAM WORK: Baxter, a collaborative robot from Rethink Robotics, works on amocked-up assembly line. PHOTO: RETHINK ROBOTICS/STEPHEN F. BEVACQUA

Wal-Mart shareholders en-joyed 200,000% returns

in the 30 years following thecompany’s initial public of-fering. During that time Wal-Mart also was famous for itsmillionaire truck drivers,thanks to generous profit-sharing and stock-ownershipplans for employees.

In the 1980s and 1990s,Toyota shared its productiv-ity gains with employees andsuppliers. Looking at the to-tal value the company creat-ed alongside the valueenjoyed by its various stake-holders, the Japanese auto-maker worked to foster acooperative culture ruled byreciprocity.

An article published in TheStrategic Management Jour-nal by Roberto Garcia-Castroof the Instituto de EstudiosSuperiores de la Empresa atthe University of Navarra inSpain and co-author Ruth V.Aguilera summarises how touse a new tool called the “Val-ue Creation and Appropri-ation” model for insights intohow value is created and dis-tributed in firms. The tool isintended to help managersand researchers better un-derstand the trade-offs thatoccur among various stake-holders during a set period oftime.

In strategic management,value creation and appropri-

ation are traditionally seen intwo distinct stages: First val-ue is created, then value isdistributed. The V.C.A. mod-el is distinct from this tradi-tional view in that it looks atvalue creation and appropri-ation as intertwined. In itscreators’ view, how you dis-tribute value today partly de-termines the total value youwill generate tomorrow.

In other words, the V.C.Amodel is intended to simulta-neously measure two things:how much economic value afirm creates during a set peri-od of time and how that valueis distributed among the vari-ous stakeholders. Thosestakeholders may include

customers, employees, sup-pliers, shareholders, manage-ment and the government.

The V.C.A. model first wasdeveloped conceptually andempirically by Garcia-Castro,Marvin B. Lieberman andNatarajan Balasubramanianin two working papers. Build-ing on those two previous pa-pers, the article in TheStrategic Management Jour-nal relies on the V.C.A. modelto provide a more completecharacterisation of the trade-offs in stakeholder-value ap-propriation observed incorporations.

For simplicity’s sake, thearticle focuses on trade-offsbetween two stakeholders:

employees and capital pro-viders, a.k.a. shareholders. Inthis exercise each dollar cre-ated by a firm is either held bythe capital providers or paidout to employees as compen-sation. To classify stakehold-er trade-offs and describetheir results, the authors de-scribe the concept of V.C.A.elasticity. V.C.A. elasticity isdetermined by comparingthe percentage changes be-tween value creation and val-ue appropriation for the twostakeholders.

It captures the relation-ship between the value ap-propriated by a stakeholderand the total value created ina period of time. To illustrate,the authors highlight exam-ples that are V.C.A. neutral,V.C.A. inelastic or V.C.A.elastic at particular points intime.

For example, data from themachinery maker LincolnElectric indicates that it was

V.C.A. neutral during thetime in which managementtied employees’ compensa-tion to productivity levels.When Lincoln Electric pro-duced less welding machin-ery, it was the staff that wasmost affected by the loss invalue, leaving capital provid-ers mainly unaffected.

On the other hand, datafrom the automakers Nissanand General Motors duringthe 1980s and 1990s indicatesthat salary increases came ata cost to the firms’ profitabil-ity. In other words, they wereV.C.A. inelastic.

During boom times, exam-ples of elasticity include Wal-Mart and Toyota, as men-tioned above. In the case ofToyota, its sustained produc-tivity increases in the 1980sand 1990s were captured byboth employees and capitalproviders.

In strategic-managementliterature, there are three

theoretical lenses that pro-vide complementary expla-nations for the V.C.A.elasticity seen in the threescenarios above.

The authors loosely corre-late V.C.A.-neutral scenarioswith the property-rights the-ory of strategic management.The property-rights view hasan owner of a value-generat-ing resource keeping ormaintaining that value. Theowner has the right to ex-clude non-owners from ac-cess, as well as the right toextract value and the right tosell the resource to others.

The authors note thatover-appropriation by em-ployees often is associatedwith strong collective-bar-gaining power. In strategic-management literature, thisis described as “stakeholderpower,” and it usually existswhen property rights to re-sources are less clearly de-fined and therefore

stakeholders’ bargainingpower rises in importance. Ingeneral terms, bargainingpower may be determined bystakeholders’ capacity forcollective action, their accessto key information, their re-placement cost to the firmand their costs to exit.

The authors loosely corre-late V.C.A. elasticity with“managing for stakeholders”academic literature. Thisview holds that firms volun-tarily invest in selectedstakeholders in order tomaintain distributional jus-tice, respect reciprocity andbuild trust.

Uncovering the dynamicsat work between key stake-holders can help pinpointand advance complementarytheories of management.

From IESE Insight© 2014 Instituto de

Estudios Superiores de laEmpresa, IESE Universidad

de Navarra

Where does your firm’s value go?Studying the trade-offs between two stakeholders, employees and capital providers,is important

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it wellenough. Albert Einstein

There are two types of people who will tell you that youcannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid totry and those who are afraid you will succeed. Ray Goforth

Things work out best for those who make the best of howthings work out. John Wooden

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss ofenthusiasm. Winston Churchill

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation withthe bricks others have thrown at him. David Brinkley

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.Eleanor Roosevelt

LEADING LIGHTS

Voice-control features de-signed to make PCs and

smartphones easier to use,especially for people withdisabilities, may also pro-vide ways for hackers to by-pass security protectionsand access the data storedon those devices.

Accessibility features arethere for a good reason —they make it possible tocontrol what’s happeningon the graphical user inter-face without typing. But ifthey aren’t designed care-fully, those features can beabused.

Researchers at GeorgiaTech found that they couldsidestep security protocolsby using voice controls toenter text or click buttons.In a paper on the work, theresearchers describe 12ways to attack phones withAndroid, iOS, Windows orUbuntu Linux operatingsystems, including somethat would not requirephysical access to the de-vice.

The paper will be pre-sented next week at theCCS’14 conference inScottsdale, Arizona.

One attack showed how apiece of malware could useWindows Speech Recogni-tion to talk its way into run-ning commands thatnormally require a higherlevel of privilege.

Another demonstrationshowed how malware couldattack a smartphone. It ex-ploits the fact that GoogleNow, a voice-controlled as-sistant that comes with theAndroid operating system,can use a voiceprint in lieuof a typed passcode. The re-

searchers show how an at-tacker might record theauthentication phrase on aMoto X phone, and then usea generic text-to-speechprogram to issue othercommands as if it were theuser.

The attack is shown here.

“This is an importantwake-up call for major OSvendors: Microsoft, Apple,and the Linux community,”said Radu Sion, director ofthe National Security Insti-tute at Stony BrookUniversity.

Wenke Lee, the GeorgiaTech computer scientistwho led the work, said theproblems appear to be theresult of incorporatingspeech recognition andother features into phoneslate in the development cy-cle.

“I think there are funda-mental issues here that arehard to fix,” says Lee.“These features were addedafter the OS had been im-plemented, so these fea-tures don’t have the samekinds of security checks.”

Hackers could exploitthe vulnerabilities remote-ly to initiate or escalate anattack on a device, Lee said.Although a phone thatstarts speaking to itselfcould be fairly obvious tothe user, a malicious appcould keep track of motiondata and wait until thephone was not moving for along period, indicating thatthe user was probably notnearby, Lee said.

© 2014 MIT TechnologyReview

The New York TimesSyndicate

Computers could talkthemselves into givingup secrets: researchersDavid Talbot

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VARIETY

Shekhar Kapur to direct Tiger’s Curse

Director Shekhar Kapur is all set to direct a fantasy and adventurefilm Tiger’s Curse. The film, to be produced by Lotus Entertainment, is based on a seriesof bestselling novels by Colleen Houck.The story is of a teenage girl who, while working at a circus,encounters a white tiger named Ren whose true identity is a princeunder a 300-year curse, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

They team up to unravel a prophecy that might be thekey to breaking the curse.Kapur is best known for his films Masoom, Mr. India,Bandit Queen and Elizabeth.

He has also announced plans to direct Paani for YashRaj Films with Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead.

— PTI

Kidman may replacePaltrow in thriller

Nicole Kidman is in talks toreplace Gwyneth Paltrow in theEnglish remake of Argentinianthriller The Secret in TheirEyes. If the talks go through,Kidman would team up withJulia Roberts for the first timein the movie.Billy Ray wrote thescript and isdirecting the movie,which also will starChiwetel Ejiofor.— PTI

Christian Bale won’tplay Steve Jobs

Actor Christian Bale hasreportedly dropped out ofdirector Danny Boyle’s biopicon Steve Jobs.According to a source, theOscar-winning actor felt thathe was not the right choice forthe role and finally decided towithdraw his name, reportshollywoodreporter.com. — IANS

WASHINGTON: A bizarre objectin the centre of the MilkyWay which has puzzled as-tronomers for years is mostlikely a pair of binary starsthat merged together, a newstudy has found.

The object, known as G2,in the centre of Milky Waywas believed to be a hydro-gen gas cloud headed towardour galaxy’s enormous blackhole.

Having studied it duringits closest approach to theblack hole this summer,University of California, LosAngeles astronomers be-lieve that they have solvedthe riddle of the object.

A team led by AndreaGhez, professor of physicsand astronomy in the UCLACollege, determined that G2is most likely a pair of binarystars that had been orbitingthe black hole in tandem andmerged together into an ex-tremely large star, cloakedin gas and dust — its move-ments choreographed by theblack hole’s powerful grav-itational field.

Astronomers had figuredthat if G2 had been a hydro-gen cloud, it could have beentorn apart by the black hole,and that the resulting celes-tial fireworks would havedramatically changed thestate of the black hole.

“G2 survived and contin-ued happily on its orbit; asimple gas cloud would nothave done that,” said Ghez,who holds the Lauren BLeichtman and Arthur E Le-vine Chair in Astrophysics.

“G2 was basically unaf-fected by the black hole.There were no fireworks,”Ghez added.

Ghez, who studies thou-sands of stars in the neigh-bourhood of thesupermassive black hole,said G2 appears to be justone of an emerging class ofstars near the black hole thatare created because theblack hole’s powerful gravitydrives binary stars to mergeinto one. The research wasconducted at Hawaii’s WMKeck Observatory. --PTI

Mystery ofbizarre objectin galaxy solved

human cells, they wrote in thejournal Clinical Microbiologyand Infection.

This, in turn, was likely dueto stimulation of an enzymethat may in future be targetedfor drug treatment to inducethe same response, they said.

"This finding represents anavenue for a cure," study co-author Didier Raoult of theFrench Institute of Health and

Medical Research (Inserm)told AFP.

Neither of the men, one di-agnosed HIV positive 30 yearsago and the other in 2011, haveever been ill, and the AIDS-causing virus cannot be detect-ed with routine tests of theirblood.

In both, the virus was unableto replicate due to DNA codingchanges that the researchers

proposed were the result of aspontaneous evolution be-tween humans and the virusthat is called "endogenisation".

"We propose that HIV curemay occur through HIV endo-genisation in humans," theywrote.

The teams said they did notbelieve the two patients wereunique or that the phenom-enon was new.-- AFP

PARIS: As many as 1,482 Frenchscientists on Tuesday unveiledthe genetic mechanism bywhich they believe two menwere spontaneously cured ofHIV, and said the discoverymay offer a new strategy in thefight against AIDS.

In both asymptomatic men,the AIDS-causing virus was in-activated due to an altered HIVgene coding integrated into

Scientists find mechanism for spontaneous HIV cure

MANGALURU: When a group ofbirdwatchers sailed out fortheir fourth annual survey ofbirds in the Arabian Sea re-cently, they were in for a sur-prise. They spotted two birdsof foreign origin. The birdslive on the surface of the wa-ter, squat on floating objectsor fly over the high seas andthey come to land only fornesting.

What surprised the groupwas the presence of BrownNoddy — commonly bred inthe Australian islands —though it is not a winter mi-gratory bird. “It might havecome in search of food,” agroup member, Shivashankar,said.

Mr. Shivashankar, a soft-ware engineer, who has co-authored the book ‘Birds ofSouthern Coastal Karnataka’along with K. Prabhakar

Achar, a biologist-cum-aca-

demic, told The Hindu thatthe group spotted four BrownNoddy.

“This is the first time ourgroup has spotted this spe-cies,” he said.

The group also came acrossanother species, the Red-necked Phalarope.

Rare birds sighted off

Mangaluru coast

MANGALURU: A RedNecked Phalarope birdspotted during a birdsurvey. BY SPECIALARRANGEMENT.

Raviprasad Kamila

BALLARI: Pictographs of theSindu (Harappan) culturehave been discovered onrocks at the world famousHampi.

As many as 20 drawingswere found on a boulder ontop of a hill near Talwarghat-ta, adjacent to river Tungab-hadra.

Experts in Gondi script,including Dr. Moti RavanKangale and Sri Prakash Sa-lame of Nagpur, have identi-fied them as Sindu(Harappan) culture-basedscript in Gondi dialect.

Gond culture

They also pointed out thatsuch drawings are found inChhattisgarh and also in in-terior structures of Gotuls(which are a classic housestructure meant for youthand vital spirits learningcentre, with knowledge ofnature which preserve thegreat culture of Gonds ofCentral Indialearning cen-tres for youths) in Bastar re-

gion, K.M. Metry, Professorand Head Department ofTribal Studies, Hampi Kan-nada University told TheHindu.

“I led a team, along withthe two experts during theirvisit to the University, to thespot recently, to witness therock paintings,” said Dr.

Kangale. He identified asmany as five of the 20 pic-tographs of Gondi dialect –aalin (man), sary (road/way), nel (paddy), sukkum(star/dot), nooru (head-man). His observationsstrengthens the belief thatGond culture has been trans-mitted to the Tungabhadra

basin,” Prof. Metry said.Prof. Metry felt that with thediscovery of these rockpaintings with Gondi dialect,there was need for a thor-ough research to find out Go-tuls in and around Hampi tothrow more light in the mat-ter.

Harappan drawings found near Hampi Five of 20 pictographs drawn on a boulder deciphered by expert

Special Correspondent

Pictographs of the Harappan era in Gondi dialect found near Hampi,Karnataka.— PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT