Sonia, Manmohan`s role in Agusta deal exposed

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OPINION 8
WORLD 12
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THE RECORD STRAIGHT
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CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
Late City Vol. 152 Issue 114
*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable
LUCKNOW, TUESDAY APRIL 26, 2016; PAGES 16 `3
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SRK KNOWS
ORDINARINESS
THE BEST
16 VIVACITY
Sonia, Manmohan’s role in Agusta deal exposed
In its judgment convicting copter company’s chief, Italian
court says firm bribed top Congress leaders 16 mn Euro
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
n what could spell serious
IItalian
trouble for the Congress, an
court has in its judgment
convicting AgustaWestland
chopper company chief
Giuseppe Orsi described how
the firm paid bribes to top
Congress leaders in India and
lobbied with them to bag the
`3,600-crore deal.
Citing the handwritten
notes seized from middlemen,
the judgment says the political
leaders accepted commission of
15 to 16 million Euros (Around
Rs 120 to 125 crore) in the controversial purchase of the 12
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CAPSULE
MALEGAON BLASTS: 8
ACQUITTED OF CHARGE
Mumbai: Ten years after a series
of bombs exploded in Malegaon
killing 37 people, a special court
on Monday dropped charges
against eight youths due to lack
of evidence against them. The
accused, including two doctors,
were discharged by VV Patil, the
designated judge hearing cases
under the Maharashtra Control
of Organised Crime Act.
DANCE BAR JOB BETTER
THAN BEGGING, SAYS SC
New Delhi: Taking a dig at the
Maharashtra Government over
its persistence to curb dance
bars, the Supreme Court on
Monday said that it was better to
dance than go to streets for
begging or going to “places
which are not acceptable” to
earn a livelihood.
78.05% TURNOUT IN
PHASE 4 BENGAL POLLS
Kolkata: An estimated 78.05 per
cent voter turnout was recorded
in the fourth phase of West
Bengal Assembly election
covering 49 constituencies on
Monday, in sync with the high
polling trend in the previous
three rounds. 229 people were
arrested in various poll-related
incidents.
SUSHMA IN AIIMS WITH
RESPIRATORY PROBLEM
New Delhi: External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj was on
Monday night admitted to AIIMS
after she complained of
respiratory problem. Doctors at
AIIMS said her condition is
stable “as of now”.
VVIP choppers. The judgment
states how the firm lobbied
with Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and her close aides
besides then NSA MK
Narayanan and then Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.
The judgment exposes the
Congress’ role in pushing the
deal and blames the erstwhile
UPA Government for not
cooperating with the Italian
probe team. The other notes,
part of the judgment, seized
from the middlemen, say Sonia
is the “driving force” behind
this deal. Sonia’s name figures
four times in the judgment.
The 225-page judgment of
the appeal court in Milan also
annexed several documents,
including handwritten notes
exchanged between the middlemen about the deal stating
how the total commission of 30
million Euros (Rs 250 crore)
was given to India’s political
leaders, bureaucrats and Air
Force officials.
BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav
has given a Calling Attention
notice to raise the issue in the
Rajya Sabha on Tuesday even
as his Lok Sabha counterpart
Meenakshi Lekhi on Monday
raised the issue during the
Zero Hour demanding a
detailed probe. She said the
Italian court judgment shows
that the UPA Government has
shown “substantial disregard”
in arriving at the full truth
behind the multi-crore scam.
Sonia’s name is mentioned
in page 193 and 204 of the
judgment, convicting Orsi and
other officials of Finmeccania,
the firm which manufactured
AgustaWestland VVIP choppers. Orsi and other officials
were convicted for four-andhalf years.
A letter dated March 15,
2008, seized by investigators,
shows main middleman
Christian Michel, who is still a
fugitive, having written to Peter
Hulett, the then India sales head
of the chopper company, that
Sonia is the main driving force
behind this deal and she will no
longer fly in the existing MI- 8
choppers. The letter was quoted verbatim in the judgment,
detailing lobbying and corruption of Congress leadership. It
says, the then British High
Commissioner in India should
target top Congress leadership
for the clinching the deal.
“Dear Peter, since Sonia
Gandhi is the driving force
behind VIP will no longer fly in
the MI-8. Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people who
the British ambassador should
target,” said the letter of Michel
seized by the probe team. This
letter was seized from the home
of arrested middlemen Guido
Haschke in early 2013.
The judgment also says
Haschke had in the court identified all the Congress leaders,
when their photos were shown
to him during the trial by the
Italian prosecution.
Page 9 of the judgment also
affixed the handwritten note of
Michel exchanged with
Haschke on how to distribute
the total commission of 30 million Euros. Air Force officials
were allotted six million Euros
and bureaucracy, including
Defence Ministry officials, was
allotted 8.4 million Euros.
The note says political
leaders closely connected to
Sonia Gandhi were to be allotted 15 to 16 million Euros The
note also shows sharing of
commission with ‘family’ and
the judgment says it was meant
for the family of then Air
Force chief SP Tyagi.
Page No 163 and 164 name
Manmohan Singh and details
that Orsi used Italian leadership
and diplomats to contact the
then Prime Minister to scuttle
the probe by non-cooperation
from the Indian Government’s
side. In Page 163, the judgment
produces a handwritten note by
Orsi from jail in July 2013 asking his people to contact then
Italian Prime Minister Monti or
Ambassador Teracciano to call
Manmohan Singh.
“Call Monti or amb.
Teracciano in my name to ask
him to call the PM Singh,” said
the note seized from the prison
cell of Orsi. The judgment in
several areas blames the noncooperation from Indian authorities including the Defence
Ministry and other probe agencies in 2013, when the Congressled UPA was in power.
JNU rusticates 3 students India, Pak to break ice at
Umar Khalid for
one semester,
Anirban till July
14; Kanhaiya
fined `10,000
RAHIBA R PARVEEN n
NEW DELHI
racking the whip on the
students, who were
involved in the February 9
event against the hanging of
Parliament attack convict Afzal
Guru on the campus,
Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) on Monday rusticated
Umar Khalid and two other
students for varying duration
and slapped a fine of `10,000
on JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar.
Khalid has been rusticated
for one semester with a fine of
`20,000 while Anirban
Bhattacharya has been rusticated till July 14 and the campus will
be “out of bounds” for him for
the next five years from July 25.
C
UNIVERSITY FINDS THEM GUILTY! Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban
A Kashmiri student
Mujeeb Gattoo, who was found
shouting “anti-national” slogans on February 9 by the university’s High-Level Enquiry
Committee was rusticated for
two semesters. The recommendations were made by the
HLEC which was formed to
independently enquire into
“The Cultural Evening: A
country without a post office”
inside the university premises.
Kanhaiya, Umar and
Anirban were arrested on
charges of sedition in February
in connection with the controversial event and are out on
File
bail. Their arrest had triggered
widespread protests.
“Based on the report of the
high-level committee, the ViceChancellor has imposed
`10,000 fine on Kanhaiya and
ordered rustication of Khalid
for the following semester with
a fine of `20,000. Anirban has
been rusticated till July 15, he
will not be able to pursue any
course or participate in any
activity on campus for next five
years from July 25. Any students giving shelter to Anirban
shall face disciplinary action,”
a university official told
The Pioneer.
He said while Umar and
Gattoo will have the option of
resuming their courses once
the period of rustication is
over, Anirban has been given a
window of a week (July 16-23)
to complete his thesis.
Ten other students were
also penalised, including one
from the ABVP on charges
of obstructing traffic on the
campus. A high-level committee found ABVP member
Saurabh Sharma, who had
objected to the event, “guilty”
of blocking traffic on the day of
the event and penalised him
with `20,000.
Other students, who were
debarred from campus for
around one month, include
JNUSU general secretary Rama
Naga, Aishwariya Adhikari,
Anant Prakash, Chintu Kumari
and Gargi Adhikari. They were
also imposed `20,000 fine. The
campus was also made out of
bounds for two former students
— Banojyotsana Lahiri and
Draupadi. Hostel facilities were
withdrawn for Ashutosh
Kumar for a year and Komal
Mohite till July 21.
Continued on Page 7
Foreign Secy talks today
Pathankot probe
progress, NIA’s
Pak visit schedule,
CBD on agenda
PNS n NEW DELHI
he much-delayed bilateral
T
meeting between Foreign
Secretaries of India and
Pakistan will finally take place
on Tuesday when the two officials are expected to discuss
modalities of a Comprehensive
Bilateral Dialogue (CBD),
progress on Pathankot terror
attack probe and National
Investigation Agency’s visit to
Pakistan.
The meeting will take place
on the sidelines of ‘Heart of
Asia-Istanbul Process’ conference on Afghanistan at
Hyderabad House on Tuesday
evening.
However, Pakistan Foreign
Secretar y Aizaz Ahmad
Chaudhry is expected to hold
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry (right) is expected to hold talks
with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in the forenoon shortly after his arrival in
New Delhi from Islamabad
AP | File
talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in the
forenoon shortly after his
arrival in New Delhi from
Islamabad. Chaudhry will be in
New Delhi only for a day during which he is also expected
to meet Foreign Secretaries of
some other countries.
Sources in the Indian
Government said that though
the talks between Jaishankar
and Chaudhry will be all
encompassing, the focus would
remain on terrorism for India.
In this regard, India would like
to know the outcomes of
Pakistan Joint Investigation
Team’s visit to Pathankot and a
possible visit by NIA to
Pakistan in this connection.
The
two
Foreign
Secretaries will also try to work
out the modalities on how to go
about CBD.
Continued on Page 7
RS Ethics Panel for Mallya’s
ouster, final call on May 3
Bedlam in Parl over U’khand, Ishrat
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n NEW DELHI
he first day of the Parliament
Session on Monday started
along the expected stormy line in
both the Houses with the
Government and the Opposition
taking on each other over the issues
of imposition of President’s Rule in
Uttarakhand and Arunachal
Pradesh as also on the controversial
case of Ishrat Jahan, the alleged LeT
terror operative.
Waiting to make an all-out
attack on the Government over
imposition of President’s Rule in
Uttarakhand and Arunachal
Pradesh, the Congress created bedlam in Parliament from the word go
and accused the Modi dispensation
of toppling democratically-elected
Governments of Opposition parties
and “killing Constitution”. Congress
members rushed to the Well of both
iquor baron and Rajya Sabha member Vijay Mallya, facing money laundering
and loans default cases
besides a non-bailable
warrant, is set to be
expelled from the Upper
House. The Ethics
Committee of the Rajya
Sabha, examining the
matter related to Mallya’s
alleged loan default of
over `9,400 crore, on
Monday, unanimously
favoured the expulsion of
the evasive liquor baron.
However, as part of the procedure,
the Committee, headed by veteran
Congress leader Karan Singh, issued a
show-cause notice to Mallya giving
L
him a week to explain his conduct and
asking him why his membership
from the Rajya Sabha should not be
terminated.
“We have examined
the entire issue related to
Mallya’s case. The documents that we had sought
from banks have also
come. There was a unanimous view in the panel
that he should be expelled
from the House membership. But still we have
decided to give him a
week time to tell us whatever he has to say. The
next meeting of the committee has
been fixed on May 3, when we will
take a final decision,” Singh said after
the meeting.
Continued on Page 7
PNS n NEW DELHI
MPs united against
odd-even scheme
T
Members protest in the Well of
the Rajya Sabha on Monday PTI
Houses raising slogans.
Ishrat Jahan (alleged terror
operative killed in a controversial
encounter in 2004) was another
flash point between the BJP and the
Congress as the former raked up the
issue in the Lok Sabha accusing a
former Home Minister in the
UPA of playing with national security by seeking to dub “a terrorist
as a martyr.”
Continued on Page 7
New Delhi: Barring the Aam Aadmi
Party, Parliamentarians across the
political spectrum closed ranks on
Monday to slam Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s oddeven scheme and sought exemption
even as around 10 MPs flouted the
rules with BJP MP Paresh Rawal
being fined. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha,
Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav,
said Kejriwal had introduced the
scheme to gain “cheap popularity”.
In the Rajya Sabha, Naresh Agrawal
from (SP) made a strong pitch for
exempting MPs a view that found
resonance among most of parties as
well as Deputy Chairman of the
House PJ Kurien.
In U-turn, India cancels visa to Chinese dissident Terrified cops run for life as
VINEETA PANDEY n NEW DELHI
ndia on Monday cancelled
the e-visa issued to Chinese
dissident Dolkun Isa last
week following an objection
from Beijing.
“We have cancelled the
visa given to Dolkun Isa,” the
Union Home Ministr y
spokesperson said on Monday
without giving details or reasons for cancellation though it
is clear the step is based on
Chinese objections.
However, later reacting to
questions on why India has cancelled the visa given to Dolkun
Isa, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju
said, “He (Dolkun Isa) had
given wrong information on
why he wanted to visit India.
The e-visa application said he
wanted to come as a tourist
though he was coming here to
Dolkun Isa is a
Germany-based
leader of World
Uyghur Congress
and a prominent
activist fighting for
Uyghur cause
in China’s
Xinjiang province
I
attend a conference and that is
why we had to cancel his visa.”
Dolkun is a Germanybased leader of World Uyghur
Congress (WUC) and a prominent activist fighting for
Uyghur cause in China’s
Xinjiang province. He was to
attend a conference organised
by US-based ‘Initiatives for
China’ in Dharamsala for
which the Indian Government
had issued him an e-visa last
week. However, following
China’s objections, India withdrew his travel permit.
India’s decision to allow
WUC leaders whom China
considers as supporters of terrorism in the volatile Muslim-
dominated Xinjiang province
had come in the backdrop of
Beijing blocking India’s bid to
get Pathankot terror attack
mastermind Masood Azhar
designated as a terrorist by the
United Nations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry
Spokesperson Hua Chunying
had objected to India’s move to
grant visa to Dolkun, who is, at
present, a German national.
“What I want to point out is
that Dolkun is a terrorist in red
notice of the Interpol and
Chinese police. Bringing him to
justice is due obligation of relevant countries,” Hua had said.
Reacting to the latest development, Dolkun said he was
disappointed by the visa cancellation which was possibly
due to Chinese pressure on the
Indian Government. “On April
23, I got a very short note by
the Indian side that my visa is
cancelled. There was no explanation,” Dolkun said.
“The Indian Government
had granted me a tourist e-visa,
but it was cancelled after my
visit was widely reported in the
Indian Press. I understand the
difficult position that the
Indian Government found
itself, and regret that my trip
has generated such unwarranted controversy,” Dolkun
said in an emailed statement.
He added this was not the
first time he had faced difficulties in international travels
to advocate Uyghur rights. “In
September 2009, I was detained
briefly and denied entry to
South Korea while travelling to
attend the World Forum for
Democratisation in Asia, to
which I was an invited guest.
Continued on Page 7
goons shoot S-I during raid
ABHISHEK BYAHUT n
GREATER NOIDA
a shocking incident, a
Itheirndozen
police officials took to
heels after their team
leader, a sub-inspector, was
surrounded and shot by criminals during a raid on a house
in Greater Noida’s Dadri on
Monday around 4.30 am. As
the bullet-ridden cop was
struggling for life, the miscreants fled the spot.
The sub-inspector, Akhtar
Khan (40), was taken to hospital by a PCR van that reached
the spot after around one and
a half hour. He was declared
brought dead at hospital.
The police team led by
Khan had gone to raid the
Kith & kin of slain SI Akhtar Khan (inset) take out a
protest march on Monday
Pioneer photo
house in Nai Abadi village of
Dadri where dreaded gangster of
Western Uttar Pradesh Furkaan
and his five henchmen were
reported to be staying on Sunday
night. As the SI tried to capture
Furkaan alive, his accomplices
surrounded Akhtar Khan and
opened indiscriminate firing.
Continued on Page 7
city 02
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
Now poster depicts Uneasy calm on
Maya as ‘Maa Kali' AMU campus
PNS n LUCKNOW
lose on heels of a poster
depicting Bharatiya
Janata Party state chief
Keshav Prasad Maurya as 'Lord
Krishna' and opposition party
leaders as Kauravas raised a
storm, another poster has surfaced, this time depicting
Bahujan Samaj Party chief
Mayawati as 'Maa Kali'.
The controversial poster
was put up for a dekko on a
tableau taken out to celebrate
the 125th birth anniversary of
Dr BR Ambedkar in Sadabad
area of Hathras on Sunday
evening.
The poster depicts
Mayawati as 'Maa Kali' stomping on Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat
and holding the severed head of
Union HRD Minister Smriti
Irani with blood dripping from
it. Even PM Narendra Modi figures in the poster.
The poster hails Mayawati
saying, “Sherni ki tarah sansad
me dahari Mayawati”
(Mayawati roared like a lioness
in Parliament). It goes on to say
that “Behenji hume maaf karo,
hum aarakshan khatam hone
nahi denge” (Behenji forgive us,
we will not allow reservations
to end).
After noticing the poster,
the Hathras district authorities
swung into action and imme-
C
PNS n LUCKNOW
BJP flays BSP chief’s silence E
Lucknow (PNS): The Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has
lambasted Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati for her silence
on a poster depicting her as Goddess Kali, saying that it speaks
volumes about the mentality of the BSP workers.
“It is shameful that the BSP workers have depicted
Mayawati in Kali’s avatar. She is shown stomping on Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat and carrying the
severed head of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in her hand.
More shameful is Mayawati's silence and that of other state leaders in this case,” BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak
said in Lucknow on Monday.
A picture has gone viral in the social media in which
Mayawati is shown as Goddess Kali. The poster was taken out
in a tableau at a programme at Hathras on Sunday evening but
was promptly removed by the district administration officials.
Pathak said the BJP had a strong inkling that such a poster
was released with Mayawati's nod because she had said in
Parliament that no BSP leader issued statement without her permission.
“Earlier, she had claimed herself to be a 'devi' and now the
BSP workers have only acted to please her and depicted her as
a 'devi',” he added.
diately removed it from the
tableau.
Akin to BJP brass, the BSP
too promptly distanced itself
from the poster and party's
state chief Ram Achal Rajbhar
said the party had nothing to
do with such posters.
Meanwhile, Balmukund
Dhuria posted a similar poster
showing Mayawati as 'Maa
Kali' holding the severed head
of the HRD Minister Smriti
Irani and standing on Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
The
post
read:
"Bhajapaiyon hoshiyar, nahin
chalega jhuth, beimaani ka vyapaar, Behenji hain taiyar, abki
bar Basapa sarkar".
Earlier this month, the BJP
state unit had to warn party
workers not to depict party
leaders as god or goddess after
new UP chief Keshav Prasad
Maurya was depicted as 'Lord
Krishna' during his visit to
Varanasi.
ven as an uneasy calm prevailed on Aligarh Muslim
University campus which witnessed a clash that claimed two
lives, the teachers' association of
the Central university on
Monday demanded a CBI probe
into Saturday night violence.
Even 48 hours after the violence, the police have failed to
nab any of the 40 named troublemakers.
Meanwhile, IG (Public
Grievances) Ashok Mutha Jain
told media persons in Lucknow
on Monday evening, "The situation remains tense but under
control on the AMU campus
and a heavy force, including
Rapid Action Force, has been
deployed there to prevent any
fresh trouble.”
Jain said that four separate
cases had been registered and
investigations were underway.
He also admitted that despite
"best efforts", no one could be
arrested so far in connection
with the violence.
On Monday, a resolution
passed by AMU Teachers'
Association executive committee in an emergency meeting
said that illegal occupants of university hostels were acting with
impunity as they were getting
"patronage from some sections
of the university administration".
The common refrain was
Teachers demand
CBI probe
that the present crisis on the
campus was the result of a
"power struggle" within the university administration for peddling favours and obliging
favourites.
The resolution further said
that only a CBI probe would
"reveal the sponsors and
financiers" of the conspiracy
that led to such large-scale violence on the campus.
Meanwhile, AMUTA secretary Mustafa Zaidi told news
persons that the violent outburst
was a fallout of accumulated
mishandling caused by "gross
violation of norms and procedures" by the university brass in
recent years.
On Saturday night, two student groups had clashed on the
AMU campus during which
students torched the proctor's
office and vehicles parked there.
The clash, in which guns were
freely used, left an expelled student dead along with another
youth while a student sustained
critically injuries.
The violence started at the
Aftab Hall when warring students clashed over a verbal spat
which occurred a few days back
at the Maulana Azad Library
canteen.
Admission test for BVA, BFA courses on June 6
PNS n LUCKNOW
ucknow University NK
Pandey said on Monday
L
that the admission test for
undergraduate courses for the
Faculty of Fine Arts would be
held on June 6.
He added that the admission test for degree courses
(BVA and BFA) would be held
on June 6 from 9 am and for
the diploma and certificate
courses on June 7 from 9 am.
“The entrance test of the
BVA/BFA and all diploma and
certificate courses will be based
on practical and written examinations. There will be three
parts of the examination,” said
Pandey.
“The dean, Faculty of
Fine Arts, has volunteered to
assist students in filling up the
online application forms for
admission. He will be available
in the College of Arts and
Crafts from 11 am till 2:30 pm
on all the working days for the
applicants to the courses in the
Sarus chicks born
at Lucknow zoo
PNS n LUCKNOW
vko';drk gS
t’s good news for
the wildlife lovers.
The
Lucknow
Zoological Gardens
had new inmates in
the form of sarus
chicks which were
born recently. The
zoo authorities said
that it was a great
achievement to have
sarus chicks because
their breeding is difficult. Currently the
soo has six sarus cranes.
Interestingly, sarus is also the state bird of UP.
Director, Lucknow zoo, Anupam Gupta said
that the Sarus pair had given eggs last month.
“The chicks which have come out are healthy and
alert and are moving freely with their mother. The
cage has been designed in such a manner that the
birds can enjoy their slushy surroundings,” he
added.
The zoo authorities said that sarus breeding
was a tedious job.
“Sarus breeding is not easy and hence having a successful breeding of the pair is a great
achievement like the other breedings in the zoo,”
he said. Officials said that in the world the maximum number of sarus were found in India and
in India the maximum number of sarus were
found in Uttar Pradesh.
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Faculty of Fine Arts only. This
facility would be offered free of
cost,” said Pandey.
He said that the admissions
to the B Voc (Gemmology)
course was carried out at the
department level last year.
“The applications for this
course are available along with
the ongoing online admission
process for the undergraduate
courses. This course involves
a written examination along
with an inter view. The
written examination for this
course would be held on June
3, 2016, from 12 noon. The
date of the interview will
be intimated later on,” he
added.
PK teams to kick off
east UP tour today
PNS n LUCKNOW
fter interacting with leaders of
Congress and its six frontal organA
isations in UP, members of poll strategist Prashant Kishor's team would
now undertake a tour of a
dozen eastern UP districts
in three divisions to check
ground realities.
Starting their tour, eight
members of the team will
spend two days in each
district and submit their
findings on the basis of
which Kishor will draft a
`winning plan’ and forward
it to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for implementation.
Earlier, UPCC chief Nirmal Khatri
had declared that the first list of 100
party candidates would be announced
by April. But with the emergence of PK
on the scene, the list is likely to come
at least a couple of months later, only
after PK vets the names of the aspirants.
UP Congress Media Committee
vice-chairman Virendara Madan confirmed that 24 members of Kishor's
team, divided in groups of eight,
would kick off their 8-day tour of east
UP from Tuesday.
The teams will visit Gorakhpur,
Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj
(Gorakhpur division), Varanasi,
Chandauli, Ghazipur and Jaunpur
(Varanasi division), Allahabad,
Kaushambi, Pratapgarh and Fatehpur
(Allahabad division).
Madan also said that
PK’s team would later visit
the other divisions and complete the assessment of
ground realities of the entire
state by the end of May.
Besides interacting with
32 active workers provided
to them in each Assembly
constituency, the teams will
also talk to senior party
leaders and try to get from
them the reason why the Congress
failed to perform well in UP during the
last three decades and how the caste
equation could play a key role in the
candidates' victory.
Reacting to the proposed tour of
PK’s team, a senior Congress leader
said that now PK’s men would learn
that the oldest party of the country
today had no `workers’ as all were
`leaders’.
"The Congress is facing the crisis
of every worker being a self-styled
leader and no one ready to work under
anyone except the Gandhi family,” the
leader asserted.
AIPEF asks Centre to put on hold
Electricity Amendment Bill
PNS n LUCKNOW
he All-India Power
Engineers Federation has
T
asked the Centre to put on hold
the Electricity Amendment Bill
till the proposals are discussed
in detail with all states and
other stakeholders.
"The AIPEF has urged the
Government of India to put on
hold the proposed Bill till the
concerns are addressed," said
an All-India Power Engineers
Federation statement in
Lucknow on Monday.
"At a meeting in Dehradun
on Sunday that was attended by
representatives from 16 states,
the proposed amendments to
the Electricity Act, 2003 were
discussed," said AIPEF chair-
man Shailendra Dubey
"The Federation has
demanded a review of power
policies of the last two decades
before making further amendments and experiments in
the power sector, already ailing
due to wrong energy policies
of successive state and
Central governments," Dubey
said.
The All-India Power
Engineers Federation has
already submitted a memorandum of objection on Electricity
(Amendment) Bill, 2014 and
demanded that it be discussed
in detail by the Union Power
Ministry with its representatives before tabling it in
Parliament.
Dubey demanded that the
points already agreed upon by
Union Power Minister Piyush
Goyal be added to the draft Bill.
As per the All-India Power
Engineers Federation, the
agreed points include that the
amendment Bill should have an
enabling provision in the Act
and not be mandatory for
states; no cherry picking be
allowed and all supply licences
have universal power supply
obligation; no compulsion to
introduce private power distribution licences and states to
have the option to go for all
state-owned power supply
licensees.
Besides, the states will have
to submit a road map in five
years and there will not be any
time limit to implement it.
Traffic police removed cars and other four-wheelers parked on roads in Lal Kuan during a drive on Monday
Pioneer
CS sets deadline for BJP furthering its
completion of Unnao, communal agenda,
charges SP
Sultanpur trauma
centres works
amajwadi Party has charged the Bharatiya Janata
Party with spreading its communal agenda
Sunder
the cover of gramodaya and rural sanitahe Uttar Pradesh government has direct- tion programme.
The SP said that the sole aim of the BJP was
ed UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam to hand
T
over the under-construction trauma centres to further its communal agenda.
PNS n LUCKNOW
PNS n LUCKNOW
in Unnao and Sultanpur to the Health department by completing the works by the end of
April.
The UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam was
given the contract for construction of 21
trauma centres across UP and 19 centres
have been transferred to the Health
department.
Chairing a meeting of the project monitoring group here on Monday, Chief Secretary
Alok Ranjan reviewed the progress of the
ongoing projects of Health department, PWD
and Lucknow Metro Rail. He directed the
Health department to operationalise the trauma centres at the earliest.
He asked the Health officials to send a
team to ascertain whether patients were getting adequate facilities at the trauma centres
that have started functioning.
Reviewing the construction of 100-bed
maternity wing in 50 district women's hospitals, Ranjan directed the construction agency
to complete the work and hand over the building to the Health department by the end of
October.
Besides UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam,
Public Works Department, UP Housing and
Development Board have also been given contracts for construction of maternity wards in
women's hospitals.
The Chief Secretary said that in case of
delay in completion and transfer of building
to the Health department, the responsibility
be fixed and officers of the agency be held
accountable.
Regarding 10 major bridges under construction in UP, the Chief Secretary said that
all of them be completed by the end of March
next year.
Two bridges are coming up on Ganga river
in Ghazipur district, three in Mirzapur district,
one in Varanasi, besides an eight-lane bridge
in Agra which is part of Agra Inner Ring Road
project. One bridge each is under construction in Kanpur and Unnao and one in Sitapur
district.
For the four-lane road projects for linking district headquarters, Ranjan said that top
priority be accorded to pending work.
The ruling party said that with the Assembly
polls inching close, the opposition parties were getting restless. It said the stakes were high for the
BJP in UP and hence it was desperately searching
new tricks to spread communalism in the state.
SP spokesman Rajendra Choudhary said in
Lucknow on Monday, "The BJP has deployed an
army of Union ministers to campaign but does not
have the moral courage to face the ire of the masses and farmers.’’ He said after the refusal of the
Centre to extend aid, the UP government came to
the rescue of the farmers and distributed compensation from its own resources.
The SP spokesman said, "The Narendra Modi
wave lost steam soon after he became the Prime
Minister and the BJP lost Delhi and Bihar. It is now
set to be rejected by voters in West Bengal.’’
Accusing the BJP-led Central government of
discriminating against UP, the SP leader said, "The
PM speaks of rise of India by developing villages
while the priorities of the Union government are
focused on the welfare of corporate and business
classes.’’
BJP demands
SP govt’s
resignation
'Jungle raj in UP'
Lucknow (PNS): BJP Legislature
Party leader Suresh Khanna said on
Monday that after the murder of a police
officer in Dadri, Chief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav had lost the moral right to
remain in power and he should resign
immediately. “There is a jungle raj in
Uttar Pradesh. If a police officer is killed
by members of a criminal gang, how safe
is the common man here?” Khanna
asked in a statement issued to the media
in Lucknow on Monday.
Khanna said that in the last four
years, over 1,100 police personnel had
either been killed or violently targeted
by criminals. "This shows that criminals
in UP are no longer afraid of the police
because they are getting political patronage from the ruling party," he charged.
“The Akhilesh Yadav government has
lost the moral right to continue in power
and it should resign immediately,”
BJPLP leader said.
Earlier in the day, sub-inspector
Akhtar Khan was shot dead as he led a
police team to arrest wanted criminals
in a village in Dadri police station area
in Noida.
The criminals opened fire in which
the sub-inspector hit and his colleagues
left him to bleed to death at the scene
of encounter.
Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Tel: (0522) 2438656 / 9336266608.
Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: Vijay Prakash Singh. RNI No. 2016/57. Lucknow Telephones: EPABX: 4036600 Fax: 2345582. Allahabad Office: (95532) 2420818, 2421018, 3290460. Kanpur Office: (95512) 2304006, 2304416. Varanasi Office: (95542) 2414294, 2414295. Delhi
Office: Link House, II Floor, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Tel: (011) 23755271-274, 41509074.
city 03
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
CM holds impromptu Janata Darshan
Giving hope, Akhilesh
tells officials to act
WATER WOES ABOUND IN CHOWK
Water dirty, pressure low
PNS n LUCKNOW
ANUSHREE BHARADWAJ n
LUCKNOW
hief Minister Akhilesh Yadav held an
impromptu Janata Darshan at his 5, Kalidas
C
Marg residence on Monday and met over 300
aya Kashyap wakes up
before dawn everyday to
M
ensure that her children have
people and assured them to redress their grievances at the earliest.
Around 11 am on Monday, as the Chief
Minister returned to his official residence from
some place, he noticed hundreds of men,
women and children standing at the gate.
“The Chief Minister stopped the car and
enquired about the crowd. When told by his
security personnel that they wanted to meet him,
Yadav instructed his staff that those people be
ushered into the meeting hall,” a security official told ‘The Pioneer’.
As the word spread that the Chief Minister
was meeting people, more people swarmed his
residence with letters and applications. Initially
scheduled for an hour, the one on one meeting
continued for three-and-a-half hours and Yadav
met over 350 people.
Senior minister Rajendra Choudhary, who
was present at the Janata Darshan, said the Chief
Minister assured all help to the people and officials were directed to redress the grievances at
the earliest.
“As majority of these people were from outside Lucknow, the Chief Minister told the
District Magistrates of respective districts to listen to people’s grievances and redress them then
and there,” Choudhary said.
Earlier, the Chief Minister used to hold
Janata Darshan on Tuesdays or Wednesdays on
a regular basis. However, this practice was abandoned. Despite that, people come to the Chief
Minister’s residence with their applications.
Nasir Ahmad Siddiqui of Khadra had a
chance meeting with the Chief Minister on
Monday. His 12- year-old daughter needs heart
valve replacement and the SGPGIMS has suggested a surgery which will cost over Rs 2 lakh.
drinking water till evening and
goes to sleep after midnight
after handwashing the laundry
with water that her husband
brings from the community
tank.
Maya isn’t alone. The stories of households in Chowk
isn’t radically different from
hers. The water from the government supply lines is dirty,
smelly and occasionally sprinkled with tiny red worms. To
top it all, out of the promised
two hours, the water is supplied
for hardly one. Most families
have to resort to sparingly distributed community water
tanks and hand-pumps, filling
and hauling water from a hundred metres away, one bucket
at a time.
Durgesh, a young chaatwala from Chowk, tried taking
the issue to the authorities. “We
took a bottle of the dirty water
to the Water Board earlier this
year to show them the kind of
water we get. Obviously, they
couldn’t drink it and told us to
“I had met minister Abhishek Mishra but
nothing tangible came up. I used to come regularly to meet the Chief Minister. Taking pity
on me, a cop took my number and promised to
inform me whenever the Chief Minister would
meet the public. Today, around 1:30 pm, I got
his call and rushed here. Chief Minister saheb
told an officer to give the money and the latter
said that the District Magistrate of Lucknow
would contact me soon. I will eagerly wait for
the call,” he said.
A delegation of Basic Shiksha Teachers’
Association also met the Chief Minister and
demanded jobs for family members on compassionate ground. The delegation was also
assured help.
Taps spewing dirty water
wait for a couple of days.”
Durgesh is still waiting. Since
most of the affected people
belong to the lower-middle
economic strata of the society,
they have neither time nor
resources to spare for a protest.
“We cannot pursue any complaints we make because of
how long it takes for the Jal
Board to respond,” says former
government serviceman Ram
Babu.
The problem doesn’t end
with the poor quality of water.
The water pressure in pipes is
so low that several houses have
to have an electric water pump
installed, increasing overhead
expenditure on electricity con-
sumption and maintenance.
“The government today seems
to only think of those who have
money to spend freely. The
poor man has to struggle
ever yday,” says Manish
Awasthi, who has to budget
finances, electricity and water
as he is the only earning member of a family of seven.
BTech
student
dies in
mishap
JANKIPURAM RAPE AND MURDER
Cops announce cash award
for recovery of cycle
PNS n LUCKNOW
cash reward of `5,000 was
announced for the recovA
ery of the cycle of Jankipuram
resident student, who was
gang-raped and murdered in
February.
ASP, Tran Gomti, Jai
Prakash said the police teams
made all efforts to recover the
bike of the victim as it was one
of the important evidences in
the case. “After failing in the
pursuit, we wrote to higher officials a week back requesting
them to order a cash award to
one who will get the cycle
recovered,” he said. The ASP
added that the senior officials
gave nod for the same and we
issued the directive to the
Jankipuram police.
The class XII girl was
found lying dead in the forest
area close to the Lucknow zoo
under Hazratganj police station
area on February 15. She was
reported missing since
February 10 from her house
after she left for her school.
Police later arrested two
rickshaw-pullers Sadguru and
Deepu and two caddies of
Gold Club Michael and Nasir
for murdering, sexually assaulting and committing necrophilia. But the cops failed to trace
PNS n LUCKNOW
roperty worth several lakh
was gutted after a fire broke
out at a grocer’s house in Aliganj
early Monday morning. Due to
the intense heat generated, an
LPG cylinder also exploded but
luckily no one was injured.
As per reports, Javed Khan
lives with his family in Banarasi
Tola area of Aliganj. He runs a
grocery shop from a portion of
his house. Around 1 am on
Monday, his wife Shama woke up
jarred by the smell of smoke
enveloping the house. By the time
P
the family could trace the fire and
take preventive measures, the fire
spread resulting in an LPG cylinder exploding. The explosion
scared the family members who
scampered out of their homes to
save themselves. They later called
the police and the fire department for help.
With firemen taking inordinate time to reach the place, the
fire engulfed the entire house and
property worth several lakh and
a motorcycle was also gutted.
Javed’s brother Arif, who also lives
in a portion of the house, suffered
heavy damages. Arif had col-
PNS n LUCKNOW
BTech I student was killed
in a road mishap in
A
Bakshi-Ka-Talab police station
the missing cycle and the
school bag of the girl till date.
The police collected several
samples and conducted narco
and polygraph tests on the
accused to retrieve information
from them about the cycle and
the school bag.
“In the narco test, the
accused failed to give any hint
about the cycle. The girl had
parked the cycle on the
road before she climbed
down the forest area to relieve
herself. Some drug addict
might have stolen the cycle
and that was why it could not
be recovered till date,” the
ASP added.
Huge property gutted
in Aliganj house
lected gifts to be given to his
daughter in her marriage next
month and had stored them in a
separate room which was worst
affected. The firemen had to face
public indignation for reaching
the scene late. The common
refrain was that had the firemen
reached there in time, the damages would have been less.
On their part, the firemen
came up with the lame excuse
that they could not locate the
house due to narrow lanes and
the lack of a milestone. Two fire
tenders contained the fire after
grappling for two hours.
Families with no water
pumps or borewells are worst
affected. “Our landlord doesn’t
allow us to install an electric
pump and the water pressure in
the pipeline is so low that in
one hour of supply, we can
hardly fill two buckets of water,”
Sunita Kashyap, mother of four
says. Even those who do have
access to underground water
worry about falling water levels. “We try not to waste any
water at all, seeing how
borewells have to be dug deeper and deeper every year,”
Richa Sharma of Kaliji Bazar
says. Neelam, of the same
neighbourhood, agrees: “I’m
very conscious of the water we
spend here. Be it washing
clothes or utensils, I make sure
that water is never left running.”
With falling water tables
and rising pollution in the
Gomti, the residents understand that the authorities have
their hands full. Brajesh Prasad
of Bagh Mahanarayan says:
“We know that the administration is trying, but they
should perhaps try harder. If
not the quantity, then at least
the quality of water can be
improved.”
Insurance clerk
found dead
PNS n LUCKNOW
Heavy police force deployed
around court complexes
n employee of an insurance
company was found dead at
A
a colleague’s house in Protest expected after lawyer’s arrest
Mahanagar on Monday. The
police termed it as a case of natural death as the victim’s family did not lodge any complaint.
Dinesh Chandra Dwivedi
(50) was working with United
India Insurance Company as a
clerk and was a resident of Palia
Kalan in Kheri. Dwivedi was living at Walda Colony house of
Shripal, who is a peon in the
same company, for the last four
years.
Shripal woke up this morning and found Dwivedi fast
asleep. When the latter did not
awake till late, Shripal went to his
room to wake him up and
found Dwivedi unresponsive
and that he had vomited in the
room. Unsure of his condition,
Shripal later informed the police.
After preliminary probe, the
Mahanagar police informed the
family of the deceased.
PNS n LUCKNOW
heavy police force was
deployed around the High
Court and sessions court on
Monday to preempt a protest
by lawyers over the arrest of
their colleague Hemant Pandey.
Pandey was nabbed for
arsoning, rioting while armed
with deadly weapons during
the advocate-police face-off
that took place on February 10.
The lawyers then had taken
on the police to protest the
murder of advocate Shrawan
Kumar Verma in Naka and
Pandey was seen brandishing
his licensed revolver during the
protest.
Giving information, SP
(West) Sarvesh Kumar Mishra
said that Hemant Pandey was
rounded up on Saturday and
A
his colleagues were to apply
for bail in the court on
Monday.
“We had a tip-off that
lawyers might take to the
streets over the issue and hence
additional police force was
deployed around the court.
The court has fixed another
date for hearing the bail application and the day passed off
peacefully,” said the SP.
Earlier, personnel from
police stations of Old City and
a contingent of PAC jawans
were summoned at the spot as
a preventive measure. The cops
were deployed at different
crossings around the High
Court and sessions court and
were asked to keep a close tab
on any development.
Around 3 pm, some of
Pandey’s colleagues moved the
bail application in the court.
The deployment of force
caused traffic jam in the area
and the same continued for
hours. Due to the presence of
police vehicles, traffic moved at
snail’s pace.
On February 10, hundreds
of lawyers torched over two
dozen vehicles, including two
Roadways buses, pelted stones
at the police, beat up employees of Health department and
mediamen breaking equipment
and laid siege to the High
Court to protest the murder of
lawyer Shrawan Kumar Verma
in Naka.
Judges and employees of
Swasthya Bhawan got stuck in
the melee and the police force
could help them come out of
the premises only after the
protestors dispersed.
area on Monday.
Pradeep Kumar Yadav (20)
of Haidergarh (Barabanki) was
pursuing a BTech course from
SR College on Sitapur Road in
Bakhsi-Ka-Talab (BKT). Early
Monday morning, he left his
house to come to the college
and was hit by a vehicle right
in front of the college around
5.30 am. He suffered critical
injuries in the mishap and was
rushed to a hospital in
Sadamau village of BKT where
doctors declared him “dead
upon arrival”.
Later, ward body Vinod
Kumar reached the BKT police
station with a memo to inform
the police. A case was registered in this connection and the
body was sent for autopsy. The
police are trying to track down
the errant driver and the vehicle. As the news of Yadav’s
death reached students, they
staged a protest and demanded the immediate arrest of the
errant driver. Police had a
tough time in handling the situation. After much persuasion, the irate students later dispersed.
DROWNED
A class XII student of
Christian College (Wazirganj)
drowned in Gomti river. His
body was fished out from
Ghaila bridge in Madiaon on
Monday.
Mohit Pal lived with his
parents in Hariom Nagar in
Madiaon. On Sunday, he left
his home to take a dip in the
river and drowned. As the
news reached the police, divers
were pressed into service to
search him but to no avail.
On Monday morning,
some residents spotted the
body stuck at one end of Ghaila
bridge across Gomti river and
informed the police. The police
sent the body for the postmortem and were probing the
case.
UP Housing Board redresses complaints
PNS n LUCKNOW
he UP Awas Vikas Parishad
organised ‘Parishad Diwas’
T
on Monday. It was presided
KGMU employees taking out a demonstration on the campus tp press their demand for pay parity with their SGPGI counterpart
Pioneer
over by the Housing
Commissioner RP Singh.
‘Parishad Diwas’ was held
at all seven zones and was
presided over by zonal level
officers with the intent of quick
disposal of disputes.
During the day, six persons
came with their grievances
and presented their cases at the
meet attended by officers of
various ranks. After a patient
hearing, the officers were able
to sort out a case of allotment
of a house in Vrindavan
scheme.
The house was allotted to
Shaheen Fatima in October
2004 but since she was unable
to pay instalments regularly, the
authorities cancelled her allotment a year ago. Fatima assured
officers that she would pay the
instalments on time and agreed
to clear the arrears pending
with the Parishad after which
the matter was sorted.
The
Housing
Commissioner instructed the
authorities in Meerut to send
documents regarding the property of Maharaja Singh who is
having a property dispute with
the Awas Vikas Parishad at
Meerut.
Singh requested the
Housing Commissioner to look
into the dispute personally as
Singh could not go to Meerut
to plead his case due to poor
health.
In case of Radhey Shyam,
the Commissioner instructed
the property officer to listen,
assess and sort out the case
within a fortnight. Shyam`s
father had purchased a residential property in Indira
Nagar in 2009. But his father
passed away in 2012 and his
mother a year later. Since then,
Shyam’s three brothers have
been claiming to register the
property in their names.
In another case, Jai Shiv
and Ashok Kumar of Indira
Nagar and Jamuna of Vikas
Nagar pleaded that their land
had been acquired in an
unlawful manner and urged
the Commissioner to rectify
the anomaly at the earliest.
The Commissioner sought a
fortnight to sort out the problem.
city 04
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
CISH recommends ferns as
intercrop for mango groves
PNS n LUCKNOW
he Central Institute of
Subtropical Horticulture
has recommended the plant,
fern, as intercrop for the mango
groves. Director Shailendra
Rajan said that there was a lot
of commercial value to the fern
crop which survived well under
the mango tree shade and
could be commercially cultivated by the mango grove
T
U.P.POWER TRANSMISSION CORPORATION LIMITED TENDER
NOTICE Sealed Tenders in two
parts are hereby invited from the
Experienced Firms/Contractors/
Authorised dealers/Manufacturer
for following Works/Supply. PartI of the Tender should contain
earnest money in shape of
FDR/CDR/TDR (Tender No. &
Name of firm must be mentioned
in FDR/CDR/TDR) duly pledged
in favour of Superintending
Engineer,
Electricity
Transmission Circle-Il, UPPTCL, Lucknow and technical bid
if any. Tenders without earnest
money shall not be accepted
and their tender part-Il i.e. price
bid of the tender shall not be
opened. Part-Il should contain
rates, commercial terms & conditions if any etc. Tenders will be
received up to 14:00 hrs. of date
of opening of tender and will be
opened on the same day at
15:00 hrs. publicly in the office
of the undersigned. Tender
forms can be obtained from the
office of the Executive Engineer,
Electricity 400 KV Substation
Division, 400 KV S/S
Sarojininagar, Lucknow on payment of cost of tender documents including VAT (Non
Refundable) in Cash/Bank Draft
upto one day prior to the date of
opening in any working day. (1)
Tender No. ETC-II/L/01/201617 : Loading, Unloading and
Carriage of structure from EFU
Naini Allahabad to 132/33 KV
S/S Sonik, Unnao as per tender
documents. Earnest Money Rs.
2000/- Cost of tender Rs.
285.00. Date of Tender opening
27.05.2016. (2) Tender No.
ETC-II/L/02/2016-17 : Painting
of equipments/structures
installed at 220 KV S/S
Sarojininagar, Lucknow as per
tender documents. Earnest
Money Rs. 2000/- Cost of tender Rs. 285.00. Date of Tender
opening 27.05.2016. (3) Tender
No. ETC-II/L/03/2016-17 :
Supply of 400A TPN Switch at
400 KV S/S Sarojininagar,
Lucknow as per tender documents. Earnest Money Rs.
2000/- Cost of tender Rs.
285.00. Date of Tender opening
27.05.2016. (4) Tender No.
ETC-II/L/04/2016-17 : Supply of
various type digital meters at 400
KV S/S Sarojininagar, Lucknow
as per tender documents.
Earnest Money Rs. 2000/- Cost
of tender Rs. 285.00. Date of
Tender opening 27.05.2016.
Tender documents if required by
post, Rs. 100/- shall be payable
extra. Bidders can visit our
website www.upptcl.org for
details/downloading tender documents and for any other corrections/amendments/modificationsl extensions till the date of
submission of the bids. Tender
Cost against downloaded documents must be enclosed in
separate envelope in shape of
D.D. in favour of Executive
Engineer, Electricity 400 KV
Substation
Division,
Sarojininagar, Lucknow with
Part-I of the tender. In case of
downloading the tender documents from website, Part-2 of
the tender shall not be opened
without cost of the tender. The
offer alongwith terms and conditions may be submitted in the
office of the undersigned dully
filled in. If the date of tender
opening happens to be holiday,
tenders will be opened on next
working day at the specified
time. Undersigned reserves the
right to reject any/all tender without assigning any reason thereof. Superintending Engineer,
Electricity Transmission
Circle-Il,
U.P.
Power
Transmission Corporation
Limited, B-1/6A, Sector "A",
Aliganj, Lucknow. No. 390
Date: 25.04.2016 "Save Energy
in the Interest of Nation."
owners.
He said that on the basis
of research conducted at ICARCISH, Lucknow, fern has
proved to be a highly-remunerative intercrop for mango
groves. “In general fern leaves
are used for ornamental purposes and root tubers are often
consumed by tribals to quench
their thirst. It is a shade-loving
plant. Leaves have got a good
market demand in all parts of
the country as they are used for
various decorative purposes
and also for making the base
of bouquets,” he added.
The director added that
there was immense commercial
value of the fern crop.“Fern
leaves are used for bouquet
making or for decoration of
dais, groom’s car in marriages
and other social functions.
Many times in cities like
Lucknow fern leaves are made
available from cities like
Kolkata. A bundle of fern leaves
having around 100 leafy sticks
costs around `25 to 30. During
marriage seasons the price
increases,” he said.
Theft committed
at Gomti Nagar
Lucknow (PNS): Theft
cases are witnessing a spurt
these days in the Trans-Gomti
area. In yet another case,
unidentified miscreants broke
into a house in Gomti Nagar
and made off with cash and
jewellery worth several lakh on
Monday. According to reports,
Rajesh Pandey, along with his
wife Kaveri and his son, lives at
a house on rent in Vipul Khand
of Gomti Nagar. He works with
a private company and left for
his office on Monday. Around
11.55 am, Kaveri left for the
school to pick up her son where
he studies. When she returned,
she found her house burgled.
When she checked, she found
`10,000 in cash and jewellery
missing from the house. She
informed her husband about
the same. Pandey later lodged
a complaint with the police.
Earlier, on March 28,
unidentified miscreants had
burgled a house owned by Om
Prakash Singh in Sarvoday
Nagar area of Ghazipur and
decamped with cash and valuables. The police worked on the
case but got success one month
after the theft.
Rajan said that the fern
grew well in association with
mango trees under shady conditions and had immense
potential for commercial cultivation in the mango belt.
He said that the fern as an
intercrop had the potential to
produce an average number of
9-12 lakh leaves per hectare
depending upon the care of
such plants. “Besides, new
plants are also produced
through root suckers which are
collected and planted in polybags for multiplication or in a
new field for expansion. The
returns obtainable from fern as
an intercrop in a mango grove
are in the range of 2.0 to 3 lakh
per hectare in addition to
mango fruits.”
CITYBRIEF
HOBBY CAMPS
The Regional Science City will organise four batches of vacation hobby camps this year for the students
to give them an opportunity to spend their vacation
in a creative manner. This time the number of batches has been increased so that the students have more
options available. A couple of new workshops have
also been added. This year we will be introducing a workshop on robotics also in which the students
will learn how to make robots and programme them
too for doing certain designated jobs. As the seats
are limited and admissions are being done on ‘first
come, first serve’ basis the students are requested to
get their registration proceedings completed immediately.
PETROL PUMPS CLOSURE
UP Petroleum Traders’ Association at its meeting
held here resolved that over 6,000 petrol pumps all
over UP would remain closed on May 12. Presiding
over the meeting, president BN Shukla regretted that
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav refused to talks to
delegations of the association to find out a middle
path. The proposed ‘bandh’ will be in protest against
the Chief Minister’s indifferent approach.
PAROLE GRANTED
The state government granted one-month parole to Volunteers distributing fruits to patients at Civil Hospital on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna on Monday
Mewalal, son of Hemraj, and Mukesh Singh, son of
Pioneer
Om Prakash Singh, prisoners lodged at Model Jail.
This was stated in an official press release issued on
Secondary School Teachers’ Union will stage a dayMonday. They have been granted parole on a con- DHARNA
long dharna on the premises of Education
dition that the prisoners will maintain peace and
Directorate on
May 16 in support of their
good conduct during the period of their parole.
The secondary teachers under the banner of the UP demands.
IITR to conduct study on traffic cops SCW tapping rural areas
to find gene-environment connect
for spreading awareness
SHARMILA KRISNA n
LUCKNOW
he Indian Institute of
Toxicological Research is
T
planning to carry out a study on
traffic policemen to understand the idea of gene-environment connect. Chief scientist from the IITR Devendra
Parmar, while talking to The
Pioneer on Monday, said that
they would carry out gene profiling of traffic policemen and
then study its association with
the
COPD
(Chronic
Obstructive
Pulmonary
Diseases) and cardiovascular
diseases after exposure to vehicular pollution.
The finding of this group
will be compared to three other
groups which include people
living in the rural areas who are
not exposed to pollution, people living in the city who are
exposed to vehicular pollution
and those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases. He said
that gene profiling meant studying the change in the expression
of the genes.
The scientist pointed out
that they were also in touch
with the western labs which
were also initiating studies in
that direction. “There is very little data which is available on the
gene and environment connect in the world,” he said.
He added that the geneenvironment connect was the
hottest topic of discussion in the
scientific world currently. “The
gene-environment connect is
the latest and hottest topic of
discussion currently in the scientific world. The particulate
matter which comes out from
vehicular pollution gets deposited in the arteries along with
lipids and is likely to give rise
to cardiovascular diseases. We
will be studying traffic policemen because they are exposed
to vehicular pollution frequently and then compare their
gene profiling with a second
group in a village which is not
exposed to pollution, a third
group which is in the city and
faces vehicular pollution and a
fourth one which is suffering
from cardiovascular diseases,”
he said.
Giving the methodology of
how they intend to carry out the
study, he said that they would be
collecting the blood samples of
these traffic policemen. “We
will collect the blood samples of
these policemen and then get a
gene profiling and genotyping
done with the help of the samples through the isolation of the
DNA. The blood will also be
sent to the ordinary pathological labs for other tests.
He added: “Interestingly,
there has been an association
between gene environment and
cancer. However, studies are still
being carried out to find the link
between gene-environment and
cardiovascular diseases,” pointed out the scientist.
He said that with the studies they could study several
angles. “We can study various
angles as to what is the impact
when two persons are exposed
to the same levels of pollution
and what is the impact when a
Yet another film shot in Lucknow
Stars of ‘Khel to Ab Shuru Hoga’ addressing media in connection with the promotion of their film
PNS n LUCKNOW
his is yet another movie
which has been shot in
T
Lucknow and Barabanki.
Director of the movie ‘Khel
Toh Ab Shuru Hoga’ Kunal
Singh was in the city on
Monday for its promotion
along with leading lady
Devshri Khanduri.
While talking to The
Pioneer, the director said that
they had chosen to shoot in
Uttar Pradesh because of the
state government’s announcement of helping film-makers
who were shooting there. The
film will be released on May
6.
The director said that it
was a thriller-comedy produced by Mahesh Narula who
belonged to Delhi.
The film’s story revolves
around a bank robbery in
which Ruslaam Mumtaz, playing the character of a bank
security guard, eventually robs
the bank. In this movie,
person is exposed to pollution
continuously. Through this
study, the individual variants
can be analysed,” he added.
The chief scientist said that
they were in the process of
making a proposal regarding
this. “We are in the process of
making a proposal and we have
talked informally to certain traffic policemen about the study we
intend to carry out. If things
begin it will not take less than
five to six months for preliminary studies and not less than
three years for the completion of
the study,” he added.
Devendra Parmar said that
if the gene environment connect
was established then the clinicians could advise the patients
accordingly. “The patients can be
given medicines and food supplements to bring down the levels of pollutants,” he added.
Parmar said that he first got the
idea of having this study done
following discussions on the air
quality of Delhi and how badly
it was impacting the health of the
people living there.
PNS n LUCKNOW
he State Commission for
Women (SCW) is currentT
ly tapping the womenfolk in village areas for spreading awareness about legal and health
rights. Chairperson, State
Commission for Women,
Zarina Usmani, while talking to
The Pioneer on Monday, said
that it was organising chaupals
in different villages across the
state in which they interacted
with women.
“We have begun this connect with village women
because they have difficulty in
approaching us in the state
capital. We hold chaupals in village areas where apart from listening to their problems, we also
spread awareness about health
and legal rights,” she said.
Usmani added that they were
also holding a health camp for
village women because they
were extremely anemic and
there they could get the right
advice,” she said.
While speaking about the
problems which these women
raise at the village level, Usmani
said: “Most of the time, they
objected to the restrictions on
their movements alone. They
also complained that their family members prevented them
from using the toilets when they
were angry so as to harass them
and also did not allow them to
visit the doctors alone,” she
added. Usmani said that they
would currently focus on those
women.
She admitted that the
women were raising their voice
against the injustices which
were being perpetrated on
them. “The women have begun
raising their voice. We have
cases where girls have protested that their studies have been
stopped after marriage when
they wanted to continue them,”
she said.
SCHOOLSCAN
actress Devshri Khanduri is
playing the role of a Muslim
girl while Rohit Pathak is
playing a negative character.
Kunal Singh, who is a
Marathi film-maker and
belongs to Mumbai, said that
he shot the movie in Uttar
Pradesh after the state government promised all help to
film-makers.
“We decided to shoot in
Uttar Pradesh after the state
government’s assurance to
film-makers that they would
be providing all possible help.
We chose Barabanki because
it carried the 1980’s feel. If you
go into the interiors you can
still watch black and white
movies. There was also a college that we converted into a
jail,” he added.
“The majority of the film
has been shot in Barabanki
while its songs have been
shot in Lucknow. The bank
robbery scene has been shot
in Mumbai,” he added.
Devshri Khanduri was
the lead in the movie
‘Chargesheet’ under the
Navketan banners. She has an
English movie ‘Taj’ as a lead
and has done several movies.
Apart from acting she writes
songs too. “I belong to
Uttarakhand,” she added.
St Francis’ College principal Fr Alwyn Moras giving away a prize to one of the winners of the competition
COMPETITION
Wiz National Spell Bee conducted the 6th
state level inter-school competition on April
24. The competition saw 1200 participants
from schools like Seth MR Jaipuria, St Francis’
College, Carmel Convent, City Montessori
School, Jaipuria, Gurukul and Seth MR
Jaipuria. Cash prizes, certificates and medals
were given to winners by principal Fr Alwyn
Moras.
OPEN DAY CELEBRATIONS
An ambulace stuck in the traffic jam in Hazratganj on Monday
about legal, health rights
Pioneer
City Montessori School’s Gomti Nagar
Campus II organised Open Day Celebrations
at it's beautifully adorned premises. Parents
and guardians were called to witness the talents and creativity of their wards who exhibited several self-made models and artifacts,
and presented dancing, vocal and instrumental music, and judo karate skills and computer
knowledge. The guests lauded the talents of
students and agreed that quality education was
the only way to bring about a positive
change in society. They felt that academics
alone was not sufficient, and it was such events
that brought out the best in children, and made
them sound and bright individuals down the
line. The Open Day Celebrations took off with
all-religion and world peace prayer. The parents were thrilled by the performances of the
students as well as the items on display in the
exhibition. The students explained their mod-
Pioneer
els, projects and experiments with great clarity and confidence and proved that their
knowledge was not superficial, that they had
a deep understanding of their lessons and had
incorporated them in their lives also.
Addressing the gathering on this occasion,
Senior Principal of CMS Gomti Nagar, Manjit
Batra said that these celebrations filled in new
energy and joy in the routine lives of students,
and gave them an opportunity to showcase
their talents. CMS Gomti Nagar (Campus II)
principal Sangeeta Banerjee said that CMS
endeavoured to make its students a gift of god
to humanity, a balanced and a Total Quality
Persons by imparting to them, material, social
and spiritual education.
nation 05
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
SC for detailed probe
into Iqbal’s dealings
PNS n NEW DELHI
nvestigation by several law
Icharges
enforcement agencies into
of money-laundering
by a former BSP MLC from
Uttar
Pradesh,
Haji
Mohammad Iqbal, has revealed
that the politician found holding stakes in 111 companies
was indulging in suspect transactions of sums running into
thousands of crores of rupees.
The disclosure came after
investigation reports by the
Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT), Serious Frauds
Investigation Office (SFIO)
under Ministry of Corporate
Affairs and the Enforcement
Directorate were submitted to
the apex court in sealed cover
on Monday. The court after
examination of the reports
allowed the agencies to submit
further progress of investigation
after three months.
Dealing with a petition
filed by a public interest litigant
Ranvir Singh who revealed the
details of the firms held by
Iqbal, the bench of Chief Justice
TS Thakur, Justices R
Banumathi and UU Lalit was
convinced that the matter
required further probe.
Appearing for the probe
agencies, Additional Solicitor
General (ASG) Maninder
Singh submitted that the SFIO
had conducted a preliminary
probe into the 111 companies
and found links establishing
Iqbal’s stake in the companies
held through his sons, daughters, brother-in-law, friends
and associates. In few cases,
SFIO found out that some out
of the 111 companies shared
common addresses. In others,
the agency found that at the
given addresses no such com-
CBDT, SFIO, ED find
links establishing
Iqbal’s stake in 111
companies held
through his relatives
BSP MLC from Uttar Pradesh Haji
Mohammad Iqbal is under lens for
amassing 10,000 cr illegally
pany or business existed.
The Income Tax authorities
too informed the Court that a
prima facie investigation into
transactions carried out by 33
out of the 111 companies alleged
to be held by Iqbal showed huge
money transfer of over `1,000
crore between the companies.
Iqbal’s lawyer, senior advocate P Chidambaram, denied
any link to the companies and
said that the PIL was a pure
case of “political rivalry”
brought up by the petitioner
who himself had several criminal cases pending against him.
While the Court agreed to
examine into cases against
Singh, Chidambaram’s appearance made the Court wary of
Iqbal’s innocence. In a lighter
vein, the Court said, “When
Chidambaram appears in a
matter for a person facing such
serious charge, it shows there
is much to be investigated.” The
Court said there is nothing to
hide for a person who is innocent. While the agencies sought
permission to file the next
progress report in sealed cover,
bench said, “Nothing should be
kept secret about persons who
engage in money laundering.”
Sacked Govt counsel
says he is a scapegoat
Nandy tenders
unconditional
apology over his
Guj remarks
Shows e-mails trail to
prove that stand taken
by him was vetted by
the Delhi Govt
New Delhi: Political critic and
psychologist Ashis Nandy has
settled a criminal complaint
pending over an article written
by him in 2008 after tendering
an “unconditional apology”
for his distasteful remarks that
portrayed Gujarat in bad light.
Settling the case before the
SC, Nandy in his apology
admitted that his article “Blame
the Middle Class” had hurt the
sentiments of many as also the
complainant, VK Saxena who
is currently the Chairman of
Khadi and Village Industries
Commission. He deeply regretted his comments in the article published in a national
daily in January 2008.
A Bench comprising Justices
V Gopala Gowda and Arun
Mishra disposed of the appeal
filed by Nandy against the 2010
decision of Delhi HC refusing to
quash criminal proceedings initiated by Gujarat Police. PNS
New Delhi: After his statement
that the AAP Government
favours Haryana in demanding
construction of Satluj-Yamuna
Link (SYL) Canal cost him his
job as Delhi Government counsel, the lawyer in question has
claimed that he was made a
scapegoat as the stand taken by
him was vetted by top officials
in the Delhi Government who
failed to find any fault.
In its latest affidavit, the
Delhi Government replaced
the written submission placed
in Court by the sacked lawyer
Suresh Tripathy and said that
he had filed the same without
taking instruction.
Incensed by the wrong alle-
Prez Rule in U’khand rocks Parliament
PM Modi hopes that members
will uphold democratic spirit
gation leveled against him,
Tripathy filed an affidavit before
the five-judge bench hearing the
Presidential Reference on the
SYL Canal case and sought to
set the record straight by revealing details of e-mail exchanged
by him to the top officials of the
Delhi Jal Board. The e-mail
showed that Tripathy wrote to
RS Tyagi, Member (Water
Supply) Delhi Jal Board (DJB)
on April 7 attaching the written
submission of the Delhi
Government for circulation to
CEO, Jal Board.
ON April 8, after Tripathy
made the statement in Court,
all hell broke loose as the AAP
Government realised that siding with Haryana would cost
the party heavy reverses in
Punjab which is bound for
elections next year. Punjab had
backed off from its commitment to construct the canal and
had recently passed a law
PC played with national
security on Ishrat: BJP
PNS n NEW DELHI
an apparent move to put
on the backfoot on
IthenCongress
Ishrat Jahan encounter
Members protest in the well of Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Monday
PNS n NEW DELHI
etermined to corner the
Narendra
Modi
D
Government on the issue of
imposing President’s Rule in
Uttrakhand and Arunachal
Pradesh, the Congress on
Monday raised a din in
Parliament. Agitated members including Congress
President Sonia Gandhi raised
slogans in the Lok Sabha while
her party colleagues repeatedly
stormed into the well of the
Rajya Sabha leading to repeated adjournments.
However, Home Minister
Rajnath Singh rejected the
Congress objections on
President’s Rule.
In the Lok Sabha, Leader of
Congress Mallikarjun Kharge
and his party colleagues staged
a dharna in the Well as their
notice for adjournment motion
on the issue was rejected by
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. “It
is a murder of democracy,”
Kharge said as the Lower
House assembled for the day
adding he had given a notice
for an adjournment motion on
the issue. Members of JD(U)
and AAP were also in the Well
along with Congress.
As the treasury benches
vociferously protested against
Congress claim, Kharge
charged that the Union
Government was purchasing
MLAs, pressurising MLAs to
install BJP Government “by
killing constitution.”
The Speaker reminded
Kharge that the matter is before
the Supreme Court and hence
he should not say anything further. Congress leader, however, contended that he was referring to the action of the Central
Government and not the ruling of Uttarakhand High Court
which had revoked the
President’s Rule. The Supreme
Court later stayed the High
Court’s order till April 27.
He said the BJP-led
Government at the Centre celebrates the Constitution Day
and birthday of key architect
of the document B R
Ambedkar, while it has “destabilised” democratically-elected Governments in Arunachal
Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
BJD’s B Mahtab said his party
has also given notice on the
issue. While expressing confidence that the court will
deliver justice, Mahtab said his
party was against “arbitrary
use of Article 356.”
Rejecting
Congress
charge, Rajnath Singh said
the “crisis” in Uttarakhand
and Arunachal Pradesh was
not been created by NDA or
BJP. “It is an internal crisis of
their party,” he said and welcomed Speaker’s decision that
the issue cannot be raised in
PTI
the present format as it is
under consideration of the
apex court.
Raising the matter in the
R ajya Sabha, Leader of
Opposition Ghulam Nabi
Azad said the C entral
Government was not interested in smooth functioning
of Parliament and charged
the treasury benches of “deliberately provoking” the
Opposition and “inducing”
disruption so that the House
does not run.
He said the Government
“deliberately creates an atmosphere” before commencement
of Parliament session so that it
does not run as seen in the last
one year. Backing his argument, Azad said during
Winter Session, the duly-elected Arunachal Pradesh
Government was “brought
down” and the Centre did not
stop till it installed its own
Government there.
As Minister of State for
Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi objected to the
raising of the Uttrakhand issue
saying the matter was subjudice, Azad said the Centre
“which disrespects the court,
cannot be trusted.”
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M)
countered Naqvi saying Leader
of the House Arun Jaitley had
said in the last session that discussion on issues, even if sub-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flanked by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister
Venkaiah Naidu, MoSs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Jitendra Singh and Rajiv Pratap
Rudy arrive to address media on the first day of the second part of the Budget
session at Parliament House in New Delhi on Monday
PTI
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Monday
hoped that members of all
parties will discuss issues in a
democratic spirit and take
good decisions.
“The first part of the Budget
session was very productive.
All the parties helped in running
Parliament smoothly and many
important decisions were taken.
And the MPs of all parties
seemed happy about this. This
time too we will discuss issues
with similar enthusiasm and as
per the tradition of democracy
and take good decisions. This is
my belief,” he said.
judice, cannot be prevented in
the House. “Apply your own
precedents,” he said.
Anand Sharma (Congress)
said the Centre used proclamation of President’s rule to
disturb an elected Government
and said his party will raise the
issue and discuss it in the
House. Jaitley asked Congress
members to debate the issue
when the proclamation comes
up for discussion.
“It will come up for discussion before the House.
Therefore, when the proclamation comes up, please disucss it. But today, you cannot
by an alternative motion anticipate a discussion which is to
take place when the proclamation comes up. You cannot discuss it at the pre-proclamation
stage,” Jaitley said.
However, Congress members did not relent and several
of them trooped into the Well
shouting slogans. Deputy
Chairman adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes in the
Zero Hour and when similar
scenes were seen during
Question Hour, Chairman
Hamid Ansari adjourned the
House till 2.00 pm. Congress
were in mood to let the House
function in the post lunch and
Kurien finally adjourned the
House for the day at three pm
after two adjournments earlier.
800 people lost lives in Validity of Free Sale Certificate
animal-human conflict for notified devices extended
in last three years
DCGI move aims at boosting exports
PNS n NEW DELHI
2012-13 to 2014-15,
more than 800 people lost
Stheirince
lives in animal-human
conflicts. Elephant-human
conflicts claimed 769 casualties while 72 persons lost
their lives in tiger-human
conflicts. This was stated by
Environment
Minister
Prakash Javadekar said in a
written reply in Rajya Sabha
on Monday.
While 371 people were
killed after coming in contact
with elephants in 2012-13, 335
people were killed in 2013-14,
and 63 in 2014-15, he said. In
tiger-human conflicts, 22 people were killed in 2012-13, 24
in 2013-14 and 26 in 2014-15,
he said.
Javadekar said incidences
of human-wildlife interactions including loss of human
lives and damage to crops by
wild animals are reported in
various parts of the country
from time to time.
The Central Government
provides financial assistance
to states and UTs under centrally sponsored schemes of
integrated development of
wildlife habitats, project tiger
and project elephant for management
of
wildlife
and its habitats in the country which inter alia helps in
preventing human-animal
conflict,” he said.
The activities supported
under these are construction
of
physical
barriers
including solar power electric
fence and bio-fencing using
cactus, improvement of
wildlife habitat by augmenting availability of food and
water and others.
Keeping in view the losses
to crops by wild animals, the
Ministry has issued an advisory to states and also sought proposals from them, he said.
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
a move aimed to boost the
of medical devices
Ifromnexport
the country, the country’s
top drug regulator body has
extended the validity of mandatory free sale certificate for
notified gadgets from current
two years to till the expiry of
manufacturing license.
The move is in keeping
with the demand from the
country’s medical devise
players engaged in export
which rued that the cap on
validity was adversely affecting their business.
Earlier the Drug Controller
General of India (DCGI) had
extended the validity to five
years as was decided in a meeting late last year. But now it has
been allowed till the validity of
the manufacturing license, said
a senior official from the
Health Ministry.
During the meeting KL
Sharma, Joint Secretary in the
Ministry talked in details
about the steps being taken by
the Government for promotion of medical devices industry in India and to make the
country a hub for manufacturing medical devices to meet
not only the domestic but
also global requirements of
medical devices.
The DCGI has recently
issued a directive to the concerned departments in this
matter. As the Associations
(representing the medical gadgets sector) and DCGI agreed,
a circular may be issued to all
State Licensing Authorities by
Drugs Controller General
(India) for extending the validity from of Free Sale Certificate
from 2 years to till the validity
of manufacturing license held
by the firm, said the directives.
The manufactures have
been asked to pay a fee of
`5,000 per application for
obtaining the Free Sale
Certificate from the State
Licensing Authority, the directive adds.
The official said the associations representating the
industry had been raising concerns that the country was
losing a considerable amount of
export opportunity due to nonavailability of free sale certificate for medical devices that
have not been notified as drugs
by the Health Ministry. “This
is so as many importing countries require the certificate to be
issued by the Ministr y.
Associations had requested
that the certificate issued by
Director General of Foreign
Trade (DGFT) could be
endorsed by the Ministry,” said
the official.
The Associations has also
sought inclusion of brand
name of the medical equipments that are exported in the
free sale certificate.
authorising return of land
acquired for SYL canal to the
original land owners.
Tripathy was represented
by senior advocate R Basanth
who informed the bench that the
reputation of a lawyer of the apex
court was unnecessarily
maligned by filing of an affidavit
which is a “blatant lie”. He sought
withdrawal of the said paragraph
making reference to Tripathy.
Appearing for Delhi
Government, senior advocate
Indira Jaising agreed to look into
Tripathy’s grievance and sought
a copy of his affidavit. The
bench headed by Justice AR
Dave asked Jaising to deal with
the same and address the concerns expressed by Basanth.
“The decision is not intended
towards any individual but it is
on the issue. We had filed affidavit. On seeing his (Tripathy’s)
objection we will see how it can
be sorted out,” she said. PNS
controversy, the ruling BJP
raised the issue in the Lok
Sabha on Monday accusing
former Home Minister P
Chidambaram of playing with
national security by seeking to
dub a terrorist as a martyr.
Facing fire on the issue for
the last few days, Chidambaram
reacted saying the affidavit
controversy associated with the
encounter was raised to “divert
attention” from the real issue.
In his tweet message, the
Congress leader, who was
Home Minister during UPA
regime, said the main issue was
whether the Ishrat Jahan
encounter was “false” or not.
“The affidavit controversy is
only to divert attention from the
real issue in the Ishrat Jahan
case. Real issue is whether there
was fake encounter & whether
four people already in custody
were killed in that fake
encounter,” the tweet said. The
BJP has decided to raise the
issue of his tweets in the
Parliament on Tuesday.
Raising the issue during
Zero Hour, Kirit Somaiya
sought to know whether an
official committee which went
into the disappearance of four
documents in the Ishrat Jahan
issue has submitted its report.
He alleged that the former
Home Minister had dubbed
Ishrat as a terrorist in the first
affidavit but changed it in the
second affidavit. Somaiya also
MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju charged
Chidambaram with making a “delirious
attempt to escape” in the Ishrat Jahan
controversy by saying an Under
Secretary had signed second affidavit
contradicting an earlier submission that
the 19-year-old girl, killed in an alleged
fake encounter, was an LeT activist
took the name of another
Home Minister in the UPA
Tenure but Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan disallowed the names
to be taken in the House.
Meanwhile, Minister of
State for Home Affairs Kiren
Rijiju charged Chidambaram
with making a “delirious attempt
to escape” in the Ishrat Jahan
controversy by saying an Under
Secretary had signed the second
affidavit contradicting an earlier submission that the 19-yearold girl, killed in an alleged fake
encounter, was an Lashkar-eTayyaba(LeT) activist.
He was reacting to
Chidambaram’s comments on
the controversy that “the Home
Minister does not sign affidavits. It is signed by an Under
Secretary.” Rijiju said national security compromised is too
serious an issue to be diverted.
Congress cannot divert it with
an aberrant excuse. “For how
long will Congress protect a
terrorist?” Rijiju asked.
Reacting to Congress
objection that the issue cannot
be raised as it was sub judice,
Parliamentary Affairs Minister
M Venkaiah Naidu said rules
and regulations have to be fol-
lowed for taking up any issue in
Parliament and the Opposition
should be aware of it.
“But the question is if
somebody wants to discuss an
issue (Ishrat Jahan) which is
before the Supreme Court; the
procedure, the rules and regulation, the Speaker seems to
have made very clear. So, I do
not think, the opposition which
have been in power for 50
years, they must be aware of the
rules and regulations,” he said.
Targeting Congress, Naidu
said, “With regard to Ishrat
Jahan issue, some shocking
revelations have come, affidavits have been filed and
again it has been doctored and
changed also and that is now
not contested by the former
Home
Minister
(P
Chidambaram).”
He, however, said the
Speaker is the final authority on
deciding about allowing discussion on Ishrat Jahan issue. “Our
people also have given some
notices about Ishrat Jahan issue.
If the opposition also wants to
discuss Ishrat Jahan issue, there
should not be any problem
whatsoever. But it all depends
upon the Speaker,” he said.
India bans import INSHORT
of shoddy Chinese
milk, mobiles: Min
NOW IITS TO TEACH
SANSKRIT
New Delhi: IITs have been asked
to teach Sanskrit language for
facilitating study of science and
technology as reflected in its
literature, Lok Sabha was told on
Monday. A panel, chaired by former
CEC N Gopalaswami, in its report
had suggested that IITs may
facilitate study of science and
technology as reflected in Sanskrit
literature along with interdisciplinary study of Sanskrit and
modern subjects, HRD Minister
Smriti Irani said in a written reply.
PNS n NEW DELHI
enying that it has been soft
on China and allowing
D
import of substandard Chinese
goods, the Government on
Monday said India has banned
import of milk and milk products, certain mobile phones and
a few other items from China
after finding them sub-standard or not following security
codes.
Commerce
Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman said in
Lok Sabha that India was taking steps to reduce it and laying strict standards to check
quality of imports from china.
She informed the house that
India has already banned
import of milk and milk products from China as their quality was unacceptable.
The Minister was replying
to the questions from BJP and
BJD members as why India was
“so soft” on China’s “sub-standard products” and allowing
big trade deficit to persist. The
members demanded ban on
Chinese products.
Sitharaman said some
mobile phones, which do not
carry International Mobile
Station Equipment Identity
number or other security features, and some steel products
have also been banned from
importing from China.
“Complete ban of import
from any country is not possible now due to WTO rules
even if we have problems diplomatically, territorially or mili-
Complete ban of
import from any
country is not
possible now due
to WTO rules even
if we have problems
diplomatically,
territorially or
militarily
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN,
COMMERCE MINISTER
tarily,” she said.
The Minister said India’s
trade deficit with China stood
at $48.68 billion during 201516 (April-February) and the
total bilateral trade was $65.16
billion during the period.
“Increasing trade deficit
with China can be attributed
primarily to the fact that
Chinese exports to India rely
strongly on manufactured
items to meet the demand of
fast expanding sectors like
telecom and power, while
India’s exports to China are
characterised by primarily
and intermediate products,”
she said.
SC PULLS UP BCCI FOR
‘MONOPOLISING’ CRICKET
New Delhi: The SC on Monday
pulled up BCCI for “monopolizing”
cricket in the country and said
several youngsters wanting to be
Dhonis and Kohlis are not given
equal opportunity if they are not on
the right side of the cricket body.
“Several youngsters in the country
want to make their career in cricket
and want to be Dhonis and Kohlis
due to the glamour and glitz
associated with it. They do not get
equal opportunity if they are not on
the right side of the BCCI. Sometimes
they are prevented by the people at
the helm of affiars,” a bench headed
by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.
NEW RAJYA SABHA
ELECTS TAKE OATH
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader
Anand Sharma besides his party’s
Pratap Singh Bajwa, SAD’s Naresh
Gujral, Shamsher Singh Dullo
(Cong), Shwatt Malik (BJP), Ripun
Bora and Ranee Narah (Cong), K
Somaprasad (CPI-M) and Jharna Das
Baidya (CPI-M) who were recently
elected or re-elected to the Rajya
Sabha on Monday took oath or
affirmation of allegiance to the
Constitution.
nation 06
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
El Nino effect: Bengaluru sizzles
MCOCA court acquits eight accused at 39.2o C, highest in 148 years
After NIA says
2006 MALEGAON TRIPLE BLASTS CASE
no evidence to
prosecute them
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
n a significant development, a
special MCOCA court on
IMonday
dropped the charges
against the eight Muslim
accused in the 2006 triple
Malegaon blasts case, after taking cognizance of the submission made by the NIA that
there was no evidence to prosecute the accused in the case.
Accepting the discharge
application made by the eight
accused on the basis of the
NIA’s written submission about
the lack of evidence against the
accused concerned, designated
Judge of Maharashtra Control of
Organised
Crime
Act
(MCOCA) court VV Patil set
the accused free by dropping the
charges against them.
In a virtual rejection of the
findings of the Maharashtra
Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS)
and CBI which had investigat-
ed the case in turns till March 22,
2011, the NIA had stated in a
submission before the court: “No
evidence was found in support
of conclusion drawn in the final
report filed by ATS and supplementary final report submitted
by CBI recommending prosecution of the nine accused”.
The NIA, which had urged
the MCOCA court to pass an
appropriate order in the case
keeping in view its submission,
had also said that the evidence
gathered by it during its investigations was not in consonance
with the evidence collected earlier by ATS and the CBI.
The judge said that he was
accepting the discharge application filed by the eight accused
as there was no evidence to
prove their guilt.
This is not for the first time
that the NIA has refused to
lend credence to the findings of
both the State ATS and CBI.
Within months after it took
over the investigations from the
CBI, the NIA had on
November 5, 2011 preferred
not to oppose the bail application of the nine accused in the
case, a fact that prompted the
MCOCA court to grant bail to
all nine accused in the case.
There were nine accused in
the triple blasts that rocked
Bada Kabarasthan, Mushawra
Chowk and Hamidiya Masjid
at Malegaon on September 8,
2006, in which 37 people were
killed and 150 others injured.
Of them, one of the accused
died during the pendency of
the case before the special
court, resulting the abatement
of the charges against him.
The eight accused who were
discharged from the 2006
Malegaon triple blasts case are:
Noor-Ul-Hooda Samshudoha
Ansari, Raees Ahmed, Dr
Salman Farsi, Dr Faroqh
Maghdumi, Mohammed Ali,
Mohammed Zahid alias Zahid
Ali, Asif Bashir Khan alias
Junaid and Abrar Ahmed Saeed.
The nine accused, including
the one who passed during the
course of the trial, had been
arrested under MCOCA within weeks of September 8, 2006
Malegaon triple blasts.
The Maharashtra Anti
Terrorism Squad (ATS), which
had initially investigated the
triple Malegaon blasts, filed a
2,800-page charge-sheet against
the nine accused in the case,
before the MCOCA court on
December 21, 2006. The day the
State ATS filed the charge-sheet
in the special court, the
Maharashtra government handed over the case to the CBI.
The NIA, which took over
the investigations from the CBI
on March 22, 2011 expanded the
scope of investigations into the
blasts in the light of a confession
made by Swami Aseemanand in
the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid
blast case under section 164 of
the CrPC before a Magistrate on
December 18, 2010.
ACCUSED CELEBRATE
PNS n MUMBAI
ight accused in the 2006
Malegaon triple blasts case
E
broke into jubilation after the
MCOCA court on Monday
discharged them of the charges
against them in the case.
Pleased with the verdict,
the accused — all of whom
were present in the MCOCA
court when designated judge V
V Patil dropped the charges
against them — were all smiles.
They hugged one another and
celebrated their discharge from
the case.
Faroqh Maghdumi, a
Unani doctor who is one of the
accused discharged from the
case, said, “From the day one,
we have been saying that we are
innocent. I had records to
prove where I was and what I
was doing. I had my patients’
record register. But at the last
truth has prevailed”.
“We had faith in judiciary,
we are confident that one day
we would be discharged. We
are innocent,” another discharged accused Raees Ahmed
said.
Salman Farsi said: “All the
charges against me were baseless. I cannot repeat the charges
against me as they were all
false....we were waiting for this
day. As soon as we were discharged, we said Allah-uAkbar....Allah is bigger than
anyone.”
India’s first IFSC at Another blow to T Cong,
GIFT crosses $250m MLA, MLC join ruling TRS
business transaction T
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
PNS n GANDHINAGAR
onsidered as Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
pet project, India’s first
International Financial Services
Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat
International Finance Tec-City
(GIFT) crossed the US$ 250
million business transaction
mark in six months’ time.
The first mark of US$ 100
million was crossed in early
February and in two months’
time, business transactions at
IFSC have more than doubled. GIFT situated on the
outskirts of Gujarat’s capital
Gandhinagar, leading financial institutions — including
YES Bank, Federal Bank and
ICICI Bank have commenced
operations with their IFSC
Banking Units (IBUs) there.
State Bank of India is also
expected to commence operations soon at GIFT. Punjab
National Bank, Corporation
Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank,
IDBI Bank and IndusInd Bank
are some of the other players
who will begin operating at
GIFT IFSC in the near future.
The major tax incentives
announced in the Union
Budget have made the IFSC at
GIFT a globally competitive
player and many more BFSI
players are swarming to this
new global financial hub. The
IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at
GIFT IFSC is equivalent to a
foreign branch and hence facilitates a bank to function as such
from within India. IBU offers
facilities like buyers’ credit;
external commercial borrowing
(ECB); accepting deposits and
providing credit facilities to
wholly
owned
subsidiaries/joint ventures of
Indian companies registered
abroad.
“After crossing the US$
C
After crossing the
US$ 250 million
business mark at
GIFT IFSC, the next
target is US$ 500
million and then the
US$ 1 billion mark
in coming months.
The tax incentives
given in the Union
Budget have now
firmly put GIFT
IFSC on the global
financial map. After
banks, we expect a
few insurance
companies to start
operations soon at
GIFT IFSC
— AJAY PANDEY
250 million business mark at
GIFT IFSC, the next target is
US$ 500 million and then the
US$ 1 billion mark in coming
months. The tax incentives
given in the Union Budget
have now firmly put GIFT
IFSC on the global financial
map. After banks, we expect a
few insurance companies to
start operations soon at GIFT
IFSC,” said MD & Group CEO
of GIFT City, Ajay Pandey.
According to him stock
and commodity market operations are the other major
focus areas and work is actively on to get this started at GIFT
IFSC. Significant volumes of
NSE’s Nifty derivatives trading
are taking place on the
Singapore Stock Exchange, said
Pandey, adding that GIFT IFSC
wants to start trading in this
segment so that this derivatives
trading business can come
back to India from Singapore.
he Congress in Telangana
suffered yet another major
blow on Monday with one
more of its MLAs Puvvada
Ajaykumar and member of legislative council (MLC) Farooq
Hussain defecting to the ruling
Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
Puvvada Ajaykumar, who
represents Khammam in the
State Assembly joined the TRS
just a couple of days before his
constituency was to host the
14th Plenary of TRS.
Both Ajaykumar and
Farooq Hussain were formally
welcomed in to the TRS fold by
the party president and Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao
at his camp office by offering
them the pink colour bandana, symbol of the TRS.
Farooq Hussain, who was
elected to the legislative council in 2011 on the Congress
ticket hails from KCR’s home
district Medak and was a friend
of KCR for many years. He also
held many senior positions in
Congress party.
Puvvada
Ajaykumar
blamed Congress leadership
for his depature saying the
young leaders were not getting
any encouragement in the
party. With his resignation the
strength of Congress in the
State Assembly has come down
to 13 from 21. Congress suffered the setback at a time
when another Assembly constituency Paleru in Khammam
district was going to by election
following the death of Congress
MLA R Venkat Reddy.
Interestingly Congress had
managed to bring all the major
Opposition parties on a single
platform against the TRS in the
Paleru by elections. It had successfully persuaded the Telugu
Desam and the CPI to extend
support to its candidate paving
way for a straight fight with the
TRS. Observers say that Puvvada
Ajaykumar’s defection was bound
to brighten the prospects of the
ruling party in the by elections.
So far 7 MLAs of Congress
and 11 MLAs of the TDP have
defected to the TRS.
KESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU
nformation Technology city
Bengaluru is no more an airIconditioned
city. It was once
called the garden city and also
air-conditioned city of the
country. Looking at the sizzling
heat wave conditions experts
say Bengaluru is hit by the
strong El Nino conditions of
2015. Bengaluru and entire
Karnataka is reeling under
severe heat wave which is driving the State towards a severe
drought condition.
According MET department records Bengaluru has
become unbearable with the
mercury level on Sunday touching a peak that was not witnessed during the last 148
years. The city has recorded
highest maximum temperature
of 39.2 degrees Celsius which is
the highest ever recorded for
the month of April and also alltime record during the last 148
years, the Meteorological
Centre here reported.
“Today, we have recorded
the highest-ever maximum
temperature of 39.2 degree
Celsius for the month of April.
It has broken the previous alltime record of 38.3 degree,
recorded on April 30, 1931,”
Meteorological Regional
Observatory Director-inCharge Geeta Agnihotri told
reporters.
For the last couple of days,
she said, Bengaluru has been
recording maximum temperature of 3-4 degrees above normal. Giving reasons for
Karnataka experiencing sizzling heat, Agnihotri said it is
due to very strong El Nino conditions recorded in 2015 in the
subcontinent and absence of
convective activity.
“There is an increase in the
temperature throughout the
State due to very strong El Nino
conditions, which were there in
2015, and this global phenomenon is affecting the Indian subcontinent throughout,” she said.
“This time Bengaluru is
hotter than Delhi. Its temperature is in the range of 37
AMU VIOLENCE: AMUTA
DEMANDS CBI PROBE
Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University
Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) has
demanded a CBI probe into
Saturday night’s campus violence
which led to the death of two youth
in cross firing between rival gangs.
At an emergency meeting of the
Executive Committee of AMUTA, a
resolution was passed stating that
unauthorised occupants in different
hostels of the University were
acting with impunity only because
they were getting “patronage from
some sections of the University
administration”. The resolution
further states that only a CBI probe
would “reveal the sponsors and
financers” of this conspiracy which
led to such large scale violence.
The resolution stated that the
present crisis on the campus was a
result of a “power struggle” within
the University administration for
peddling favours and obliging
favourites within the campus.
Speaking to reporters, AMUTA
Secretary Mustafa Zaidi said the
violent outburst is a fallout of the
accumulated mishandling caused
by “gross violation of norms and
procedures” by the University
administration in recent years. PTI Villagers gather to fetch the water, after spotting a water tanker filling well in Shahpur, Maharashtra on Monday
degree Celsius, and we
(Bengaluru) have been recording 38 degrees for the last four
to five days,” she said.
“It (Bengaluru) has surpassed the highest-ever value of
38.9 degree Celsius that was
recorded on May 22, 1931. This
observatory has been recording
temperature from 1867,” she
added.
“There is a complete
absence of convective activity
in the atmosphere, which has
led to rising temperatures, forcing the rains to play truant in
this season”, she said. Giving
reason for the absence of convective activity, Agnihotri said
it is due to lack of moisture over
land areas.
“The absence of convective
activity is because of lack of
moisture over land areas. So,
the two anti-cyclones in
Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal,
positioned during this season
are unable to pump in sufficient moisture over the land
area. As a result, there is no
rains and therefore, the temperature is continuously
increasing,” she added.
Apart from the Bengaluru
, heat wave conditions prevailed
throughout the state with
Northern Karnataka bearing
the brunt. In the southern districts the City of Palaces
Mysuru recorded the highest
maximum temperature of 39.9
degree Celsius, the highest in
123 years for the month of
April. Adjoining Mandya also
saw the mercury soaring to
Goa Govt bans over
500 mining trucks for
speed limit violation
PTI
Panaji: The Goa Government
on Monday banned over 500
trucks, transporting iron ore
from mining sites to the jetties, from operating after
these were found to be
indulging in violating speedlimit rules.
Directorate of Mines and
Geology issued suspension
of work orders to 538 trucks
spread across the mining belt
of Goa after public protests
over speeding trucks.
Two women had died at
Tilamol village in Quepem
taluka after a truck carrying
ore ran over them two days
back.
“We have noticed that
several trucks are exceeding
the maximum speed limit,
which is 40 kilometre per
hour. The violations were
noticed through (GPS) Global
Positioning Systems (GPS)
PRATYUSHA BANERJEE SUICIDE CASE
Kerala elections: VS,
Pinarayi file papers HC grants anticipatory bail to boyfriend Rahul
PNS n KOCHI
everal Ministers in the
C ongress-led
UDF
Government, frontline leaders
of the CPI(M)-led LDF like
Opposition Leader VS
Achuthanandan and CPI(M)
Politburo member Pinarayi
Vijayan and several other
leading aspirants filed their
nominations on Monday for
candidature in the Kerala
Assembly elections to be held
on May 16.
Pinarayi, contesting from
his home constituenc y,
Dharmadom in Kannur district, filed the papers after
arriving at the district collectorate at the head of a demonstration. Eight other Left candidates, including central
committee member EP
Jayarajan and TV Rajesh, also
filed their papers. Pinarayi is
considered by many as the
Left’s Chief Minister candidate.
Achuthanandan, 93, LDF
candidate in Malampuzha
S
where he is contesting for the
fourth time, filed his papers at
the district collectorate in
Palakkad. Scores of supporters had accompanied him on
the occasion to the collectorate. The nonagenarian
Marxist is also the most popular campaigner of the Kerala
Left.
Among the Ministers who
filed nominations on Monday
were PK Jayalakshmi of the
Congress, Shibu Baby John of
the RSP and MK Muneer and
PK Abdu Rabb of the Muslim
League. Former Minister S
Sarma, former RS member
TN Seema, sitting MLA V
Sivankutty, all CPI(M),
Francis George, Antony Raju,
both from Left ally
Janadhipathya
Kerala
Congress, and Congress’s PT
Thomas were among the leaders who filed papers on
Monday.
Senior BJP leader PS
Sreedharan Pillai, party candidate in Chengannur, also
filed nomination on the day.
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
a relief to accused in the
Banerjee suicide
IcasenPratyusha
Rahul Raj Singh, the
Bombay High Court on
Monday granted an anticipatory bail to him after observing
that prima facie there was no
evidence on record to show
that he had abetted Pratyusha’s
suicide.
Hearing Rahul’s plea seeking pre—arrest bail, Justice
Mridula Bhatkar of the high
court stated, “From the statements of witnesses, it is clearly seen that harassment and
disputes were there between
the applicant accused (Rahul)
and the victim (Pratyusha). But
prima facie, there is nothing on
record to show abetment”.
“For an offence to be made
out under section 306 of IPC
(abetment to suicide) there
should be instigation, intentional aid or an intent that the
person should commit suicide. It is necessary to show
whether the accused had mens
rea (intention),” the judge
noted.
While granting anticipatory bail to Rahul, Justice Bhatkar
directed Rahul to appear before
the Bangurnagar police, who
are investigating the case, thrice
a week for two weeks.
Averring that harassment
or disputes could be a reason
for a person to not like another person and take steps to end
his or her life, the judge said:
“For that person, the behaviour
of the other person may be the
cause of his or her death.
However, for an offence of
abetment to be proved, there
should be evidence to show
instigation, provocation and
intention”.
“How a person will react to
the situation is unpredictable
and sensitivity differs from
one person to another. Under
such circumstances, unless the
intention of the person held
responsible for the suicide is
brought on record prima facie,
it cannot be said that it is abetment,” the judge said.
Earlier in the day, the Judge
heard the last telephonic conversation between Rahul and
Pratyusha recorded on April 1
an hour before the actress
committed suicide.
On April 1, “Balika Badhu”
fame Pratyusha (24) was found
hanging from a ceiling fan at
her seventh floor flat in
Harmony residency building at
Goregaon in north Mumbai,
She was taken by her live-in
boyfriend and TV producer
Rahul Raj Singh to Kokilaben
Ambani Hospital, where she
39.6 Degree Celsius, the highest in 43 years. The situation
was much worse in
Chitradurga where the bulb
broke the 40 degree Celsius
mark to touch 40.4 deg Celsius,
the highest in 123 years.
The meteorological center
said the maximum temperature
was appreciably above normal
at many places, especially in
South Interior Karnataka.
Raichur in Northern Karnataka
recorded the highest reading of
43 degree Celsius.
According to Government
records Karnataka is going
through one of the worst
droughts in three decades.
Around 3.1 crore people and
22759 villages are drought struck,
leading to a massive exodus of
people. Mass exodus and migration to the cities are taking place
in Karnataka in search of food,
water and shelter.
In Bengaluru, wells have
been dug as deep as 1,200 ft and
there has been a six-fold dip in
water table in urban areas and
three-fold fall in rural
Karnataka since 2005. Areas
such as Mysuru, Chitradurga,
Tumakuru, Kalaburagi, Karwar,
etc are staring at worst days to
come since beside the rapid
depletion of ground water,
whatever water is left is also
contaminated.
Union Government has
approved `723 crore for
Karnataka, against the demand
of `1,417 crore for damage to
the rabi or winter crop due to
widespread drought.
was declared dead on admission later that evening.
Alluding to the last conversation that she had heard in
her chamber earlier in the day,
Justice
Bhatkal
said:
“Throughout the conversation,
the applicant accused is asking
the victim (Pratyusha) not to
take any drastic steps and
assured her that he would
return home immediately.
After perusing all the facts of
the case, this court is prima
facie of the view that the police
can investigate the case without
any custodial interrogation of
the accused”.
Rejecting the Prosecution’s
argument that it was “confused” on whether to invoke
murder charges against Rahul,
the Judge said: “The
Prosecution’s argument that
they are suspicious and may
want to invoke section 302 of
IPC against the accused cannot
be appreciated at this stage”.
Seeking Rahul’s custody
for interrogation, Special Public
Prosecutor Nilesh Pawaskar
said that the investigators were
considering if the murder
charges were to be invoked
against Rahul in the case.
“We are confused and still
seeing if section 302 of IPC is
applicable. The probe has
revealed that the accused is a
drug addict. We want to see if
he is also a peddler and had
administered drugs to the victim. Several other girls have
approached the police saying
that they had been duped in the
past by Rahul,” Pawaskar said.
The prosecutor also told
the court that the police was
also probing if Rahul coerced
Pratyusha to abort her pregnancy.
Holding that the investigators did not need Rahul’s custody to invoke section 302
(murder) of IPC in the case, the
Judge wondered: “Why is the
police complicating the case?
Right now, the offence registered against the accused is
under section 306 for abetment. Show me the evidence
for this section. Show me mens
rea (intention), instigation and
facilitation”..
installed on these trucks,”
Director of Mines and
Geology Prasanna Acharya
told PTI.
He said the trucks have to
strictly adhere to the maximum speed limit, which is
applicable to loaded and
empty trucks.
The Mines and Geology
Department has also informed
the mining firms to debar the
trucks transporting their ore
from violating the norms.
“We have also asked them
not to allow the trucks, whose
licences have been suspended
for violating the norms,” he
said.
As per the data, total
6,120 trucks are registered
with the department having
fixed GPS and on an average,
these vehicles collectively
undertake 4,000 trips every
day.
PTI
Telangana, AP
continue to boil
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
or Hyderabad Monday
turned out to be the hottest
F
day of this summer as the mercury for the first time crossed
45 degrees Celsius. As the mercury continues to rise and shatter records of several decades
making it the hottest year in the
living memory, Ramagundam,
Khammam and Nalgonda also
recorded temperataure of 45
degrees followed by 43 degrees
in Medak and Nizamabad and
42 degrees Celsius in Adilabad
and Karimnagar.
YK Reddy, In charge director of Hyderabad Meteorlogical
Center said that the present
heat wave will continue for
another three days. “People
are advised to take maximum
precautions”, he said.
24 more people died in
Nalgonda over the last 48 days.
More than 200 people have
already succumbed to the heat
wave in the two Telugu states.
The oppressive heat was
forcing the people to remain
indoor and most of the busy
roads in the city wore a deserted look for most parts of the say.
nation 07
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
78% polling in 4th phase as voters defy violence
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA
ver 78 per cent voter
turnout was recorded durO
ing the fourth phase of West
Bengal Assembly elections for
49 seats in North 24 Parganas
and Howrah on Monday amid
some sporadic incidents of
violence. The sporadic violence entailed brutal clubbing
of a 3-year-old because one’s
parents belonged to the
Opposition camp and a candidate “evading death by a
whisker” when Trinamool
Congress goons attacked him.
Sporadic incident of violence also meant 4,173 complaints, about 1,500 more than
the third phase received by the
Election Commission, Chief
Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta
said. Notwithstanding the complaints, the central forces
looked more proactive on
Monday driving away hooligans and their Quick Response
Teams reaching instant relief to
the attacked voters.
One such team led by EC
personnel approached the victim child’s mother and escorted her to the polling booth. “I
cast aside all the terror created
by the gun-totting Trinamool
goons and cast my vote with
the help of the central forces,”
said the home-maker at
Halisahar.
Even as the Congress, Left
and the BJP congratulated the
Commission for nudging the
State CEO office hard the
A Central Force jawan keeps vigil as
voters stand in a queue to cast votes at
a polling booth during 4th phase of
assembly elections in North 24
Pargana on Monday
PTI
CRPF went about handling
the mischief-mongers in effective manner, sources said.
In the list of complaints
lodged with the Commission
was the one where senior
Trinamool Congress leader
and Minister Purnendu Bose
was seen leading his henchmen
inside a booth at Shanti Nagar
School for rigging polls and literally driving away the CRPF
jawans by using his status who
protested his action.
The BJP promptly
demanded re-polling in the
entire Rajarhaat-Gopalpur seat
from where Bose is contesting.
“We want re-poll at Rajarhat-
Gopalpur and arrest of
Purnendu Bose,” Jayprakash
Majumdar of BJP said. ECI also
took suo motu action seeking
instant action-taken report
from the District Magistrate
sources said.
At Dum Dum North constituency CPI(M) candidate
Tanmoy Bhattacharya was
saved by a whisker when local
goons attacked his car. Broken
shreds of glass pierced his
hand which bled profusely.
“Had I not put my hands on
my head the glasses of shattered wind-shield would simply enter my brain,” he said.
Four Trinamool persons were
arrested under “attempt to
murder” charges. Another
CPI(M) candidate Debashis
Bhowmick was beaten up at
Barrackpore.
In Howrah BJP leader and
Bengali film star Rupa Ganguly
was heckled by Trinamool men
even as she protested against
Howrah Deputy Mayor Minati
Adhikary leading a gang of bik-
RS Ethics Panel for Mallya’s...
From Page 1
The committee had sought details of the liabilities on Mallya’s airline Kingfisher from 13
banks, which furnished their replies according
to which the total liability on Mallya’s company is `9,431.65 crore. Of this IDBI’s liability alone
is `1,687.04 crores followed by the `1,223 crore
by Punjab National Bank. The Ethics Committee
decided to crack the whip on the ground that
Mallya never declared these liabilities in the last
10 years, which a member is supposed to do
annually.
The Ethics Panel took up Mallya’s issue after
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari referred
notices by Opposition members to it last
TERRIFIED COPS...
From Page 1
Two bullets hit Khan in his neck,
police said. The kin of the slain SI
alleged that Khan was bumped off
in a conspiracy. They refused to
perform the last rites until the
murderers were nabbed. “It is a
conspiracy as other policemen fled
from the spot. We want a probe. We
will not conduct the last rites till they
are arrested,” said Wahid Khan,
Akhtar’s elder brother. Later
Furkaan’s accomplice Aurangzeb
was arrested from a hospital where
he was admitted for a gunshot
injury, said police. Deputy Inspector
General (Meerut Range) Lakshmi
Singh said, “The police arrested one
of the criminals, identified as
Aurangzeb, with bullet injures. The
UP Police has declared a reward of
Rs 50,000 on each of the
absconding gangsters. We have
suspended Dadari SHO Home Singh
Yadav. Six police teams have been
formed to conduct raids in Delhi
and NCR.” UP CM Akhilesh Yadav
has announced Rs 20 lakh
compensation to the family of the
brave police officer. SI Khan was a
native of Aligarh district and had
joined the UP Police as a constable
in 1998. He is survived by wife, two
sons, and a daughter.
month. The panel started the procedure on
March 14. The 10-member committee headed
by Singh comprises Satish Chandra Misra
(BSP), Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP), Sharad
Yadav (JDU), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Mukul
Roy (Trinamool Congress), Neeraj Shekhar
(Samajwadi Party), A Navaneethakrishnan
(AIADMK) and Devender Goud T (TDP).
Moving towards getting him deported, the
Government had revoked the passport of
Mallya, who is in the UK since leaving India on
March 2. Government sources said deportation
and extradition are the two measures likely to
be adopted against him in case Mallya does not
return India on his own.
In U-turn, India cancels...
From Page 1
China also has regularly
attempted to block or interfere
with my human rights work at
the UN in Geneva, in particular,” Dolkun said.
He also rejected any comparison or association to
China’s recent veto by the UN
Security Council Sanctions
Committee of Pakistani militant leader, Mazood Azhar.
“Such an unjustifiable comparison seeks only to delegitimise my decades of impassioned work as a strictly nonviolent campaigner for Uyghur
rights,” Dolkun said.
Dolkun accused China of
suppressing human rights
activists under the pretext of
‘War on Terror’. “I have been
labeled a terrorist by China primarily as a means to delegitimise the human rights work
that I do to support the Uyghur
community. China often calls
people it doesn’t like (e.g.
peaceful human rights activists)
‘terrorists’ and tries to link
credible activists with violence.
Since 9/11, China has used the
`War on Terror’ as a justification for its repressive measures
in East Turkestan and tries to
get the rest of the international community to see all
Uyghurs as violent -- a claim
that clearly does not hold up to
scrutiny if reliable information
is available,” Dolkun told The
Pioneer in response to an
email.
Dolkun is a leader of
Uyghurs’ struggle for greater
political and religious freedom
in
Xinjiang
Uyghur
Autonomous Region of China.
Uyghurs are Turkic Muslim
ethnic group who consider
Eastern Turkistan or Xinjiang
their historical home and have
been fighting for its independence. Isa left China in 1997
and sought asylum in
Germany. Though now a
German citizen since 2006 Isa
has been actively campaigning
against “atrocities” on Uyghurs
and “human rights” violation
by the Chinese government
and its security forces in the
Muslim dominated region
Xinjiang
India, Pak to break ice at Foreign Secy
From Page 1
“They may talk about how
to go about the CBD,” said the
source. This will be first formal
meeting between Jaishankar
and Chaudhr y after the
announcement of CBD by the
Foreign Ministers in Islamabad
last December.
Jaishankar was to visit
Islamabad in January but it got
stalled due to the terror attack
on Pathankot airbase by
Pakistan-based Jaish-eMohammad
terrorists.
JNU rusticates...
From Page 1
“The order has directed the
students to deposit the fine by
May 13 and failing which, the
hostel facility would be withdrawn and further regist
ration will not be allowed,” the
official added.
Under the university
guidelines, Khalid has been
found guilty of violating the
rule which prohibits “furnishing false certificates or
false information in any manner of the university, arousing
communal, caste or regional
feeling or creating disharmony among students and violating discipline and conduct
Says dance bar job
better than begging
PTI n NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court on
Monday rapped the
T
Maharashtra Government for
An activist of a rival political party gets into agurments with BJP candidate Rupa Ganguly at a polling booth in Howrah
on Monday
intervene as the police was not
taking action against
Trinamool workers who had
jammed the booth.
BENGAL POLLS
ers to intimidate voters. In the
melee Ganguly herself a candidate allegedly shoved a
Trinamool woman who in turn
filed a police complaints
sources said.
Former cricketer and TMC
candidate Laxmi Ratan Shukla
also filed a complaint against
Ganguly who denied the
charges and said she had to
However, the two foreign secretaries had an informal brief
interaction during a SAARC
meeting in Nepal in March.
The meeting comes in the
backdrop of Pakistan High
Commissioner Abdul Basit’s
recent comments that the bilateral peace process was suspended, evoking a sharp reaction by Indian side, which
maintained that communication channels were on at various levels. It also made it clear
it wants to see action on terror
and Pathankot first before the
dialogue could be resumed.
Announcing Chaudhry’s
visit, the Pakistan Foreign
Office in Islamabad said:
“Pakistan is looking forward to
active participation in the
Heart of Asia meeting, reflecting our commitment to efforts
for promoting long-term peace
and stability in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan had hosted the fifth
Heart of Asia Ministerial
Conference in Islamabad on
December 9, 2015.
in the university”.
Bhattacharya has been
found guilty on the same lines as
Khalid, in addition he has also
been found responsible for “causing or colluding in the unauthorised entry of any person into
the campus or in the unauthorised occupation of any portion
of the university premises.”
“These charges on the part
of student are very serious in
nature, unbecoming of a student of JNU and calls for strident disciplinary action against
them.” reads the order sent to
each of the students involved.
Reacting to the administration’s decision, JNUSU vicepresident Shehla Rashid Shora
called it a “farcical” enquiry
report and “completely rejected” to accept it. “The punishments are all based on onesided statements from ABVP
members,” Shora added.
The JNUSU has said that
they will launch a country-wide
protest against the Central
Government. “The V-C is taking directions from the Centre...
Students across the country
have assured support to us.
People from all walks of life are
supporting JNU students
against this targeting.”
The ABVP said it is “a
great disappointment” and
accused the university of surrendering to “anti-India section of JNUTA as well as leftist student organisations”.
Dance bar row: SC
raps Maha Govt
“There was rampant
booth-capturing by the
Trinamool goons. The things
was brought to the notice of the
Observer but there was no
result,” she said. The EC had
sought reports of Ganguly’s
movements from Howrah DM.
Till 3 pm the police had
arrested 56 people from North
24 Parganas sources said
Pratima Dutta an Independent
candidate complained that she
could not give agents in at least
200 booths because they were
either driven away by the
Trinamool men or were not
allowed inside on technical
grounds. Left Front-Congress
alliance backed Independent
candidate Pratima Dutta, wife
of murdered green activist
Tapan Dutta, alleged her
polling agents were driven out
or not allowed to enter the
booths in her constituency
Domjur in Howrah.
About 78.05 per cent
polling was reported from the
PTI
two districts till 5 pm. While
North 24 Parganas reported
79.16 percent polling about
75.46 percent voters cast their
votes in Howrah. The percentage was likely to go further
up EC sources said.
By evening both the
Opposition and the TMC
claimed to have secured majority. “Today’s vote has given us
majority and in the next two
rounds we will go far beyond
200-mark,” said Trinamool’s
Mukul Roy while CPI(M)’s
Surya Kanta Mishra said “after
today’s feet we are eyeing 200
seats.”
Top TN leaders rush to file
papers on auspicious hour
PNS n CHENNAI
op leaders of all major
political parties in Tamil
T
Nadu, including J Jayalalithaa
of the AIADMK, filed their
nomination papers with
returning officers in charge of
the constituencies from where
they are contesting. Jayalalithaa,
Chief Minister and general
secretary of the AIADMK submitted her nomination paper to
Padmaja Devi, returning officer in charge of the RK Nagar
constituency from where the
former is seeking re-election.
Accompanied by her close
friend Sasikala, the AIADMK
supremo handed over the nomination papers at the stroke of
12:30 and completed the formalities in three minutes time.
Senior AIADMK leaders
accompanied their supremo
who greeted the people with
her customary victory sign.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi,
the 93-year-old chief of the
rationalist DMK, who is also
the party’s Chief Ministerial
candidate filed his nomination
paper from Thiruvarur, 330
km south of Chennai. The
DMK leader entered the cham-
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa along with her close
aide Sasikala Natarajan leaves after filing nomination papers for upcoming State
Assembly polls, at Tondiarpet zonal office in Chennai on Monday
PTI
ber of the Returning Officer
Muthumeenakshi at 12:40 and
handed over the nomination
paper at 12:45, the time selected by a battery of astrologers.
According to astrologers in
Chennai, Monday is the most
auspicious day during the April
22 to April 29 period when
nomination papers are accepted by the returning officers.
Karunanidhi travelled from
Chennai to Thiruvarur by his
specially designed caravan
which boasts of a host of modern gadgets, including CCTV.
Karunanidhi clan is leaving
no stones unturned to ensure
his victory in this election as
this could be the nonagenarian’s last electoral battle. Rajathi,
Karunanidhi’s third wife, is
accompanying her husband to
keep a close watch on the
health of the party’s most precious possession. Dayanaidhi
Maran, Karunanidhi’s grand
nephew and a close confidante
of MK Stalin, is also accompanying Karunanidhi to keep a
close tab on the leaders interacting with the DMK chief.
Bedlam in Parl over U’khand, Ishrat
From Page 1
Amid frayed tempers, the
Lok Sabha continued its proceedings. But the Rajya Sabha
witnessed repeat adjournments
in pre and post-lunch session
before it was adjourned for the
day shortly after it reconvened
at 3 pm.
Union Home Minister
Rajnath Singh in his brief intervention in the Lok Sabha rejected the Opposition charge of
dismantling Opposition party
Governments and maintained
that the two States had turned
politically volatile not on
account of “my party’ but due
to the “crisis” within “these parties”. The Home Minister did
not name the Congress. He said
there will be a discussion in the
Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha
where all can participate and air
their views.
Minutes after the first day’s
business proceedings commenced, Congress members
in the Lower House stormed
the Well with party president
Sonia Gandhi joining them in
raising slogans against the
Government. Leader of
Congress Mallikarjun Kharge
and his party colleagues staged
a dharna in the Well as their
notice for adjournment motion
on the issue was rejected by the
Chair. Speaker Sumitra
Mahajan allowed Kharge to
raise the issue only after the
Question Hour.
“It is a murder of democracy,” Kharge said as the Lower
House assembled for the day,
telling the Speaker that he has
given a notice for an adjournment motion on the issue.
Members of JD(U) and AAP
were also in the Well along with
the Congress.
Amid a noisy protest by the
treasury benches, Kharge later
said during Zero Hour that the
Union Government was purchasing MLAs, pressurising
MLAs to install BJP
Government “by killing
Constitution”. The Speaker
reminded Kharge that the matter is before the Supreme Court
and hence he should not say
anything further. To which,
Kharge said he is referring to
the action of the Central
Government and not the ruling of Uttarakhand High Court
which had revoked the
President’s Rule.
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader
of Opposition Ghulam Nabi
Azad raised the issue accusing
the Central Government of
“deliberately provoking” the
Opposition and “inducing”
disruption so that the House
does not run. Azad said
President’s Rule has been
imposed in the past also, but
never in such a “crude” way.
As Minister of State for
Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi objected to the
raising of the Uttrakhand issue
saying the matter was subjudice, Azad said the Centre
“which disrespects the court,
cannot be trusted”.
Leader of the House Arun
Jaitley asked Congress members to debate the issue when
the proclamation comes up
for discussion. “But today, you
cannot by an alternative
motion anticipate a discussion
which is to take place when the
proclamation comes up. You
cannot discuss it at the preproclamation stage,” he said.
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M)
countered Naqvi saying Jaitley
had said in the last session that
discussion on issues, even if
sub-judice, cannot be prevented in the House. “Apply your
own precedents,” he said.
Raising the Ishrat Jahan
issue during Zero Hour in Lok
Sabha, Kirit Somaiya (BJP)
sought to know whether an
official committee which went
into the disappearance of four
documents in the Ishrat Jahan
issue has submitted its report.
Kharge sought to utilise the
issue to have a dig at the
Government wondering how
the issue could be allowed to be
raised as the matter, like
Uttarakhand President’s Rule,
is sub-judice.
On
his
part,
P
Chidambaram (Home Minister
during the UPA rule) hit back
in a series of tweets saying the
affidavit controversy is only to
“divert attention” from the real
issue, which is whether it was a
“fake” encounter or not. The BJP
will raise the issue of his tweets
in the House on Tuesday.
The senior Congress leader
said, “Coming to the affidavits,
the Home Minister does not
sign affidavits. It is signed by an
Under Secretary.” The BJP has
recently
alleged
that
Chidambaram was acting on
the directions of Sonia when he
filed a second affidavit in the
case in an attempt to create
roadblocks in the way of
Narendra Modi’s becoming
Prime Minister
not granting licenses to dance
bars on account of non-compliance of some conditions and
said it is better for women to
perform then begging
on streets or doing something
“unacceptable” for earning
livelihood.
A bench comprising
Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva
Kirti Singh dealt with certain
pre-conditions for grant of
licenses to dance bars and
said, “conditions subsequent
cannot be equated with condition precedents”.
“It is better to perform in
the dance bars then begging in
the street or doing some unacceptable things for livelihood,”
it said, adding that the State has
to protect the women’s dignity
at the work place.
“What is this? Why have
you not complied with our
order. What certificates you
(Maharashtra) want? I had told
you last time that you must
maintain constitutional norms,”
it said.
The bench, however,
acknowledged the plea of
Additional Solicitor General
Pinky Anand, appearing for
Maharashtra, that state has to
ensure that there is no
“obscenity” in dance bars and
the dignity of women is protected there.
Dealing with contentious
conditions, it asked both dance
bar owners and the police to
comply with mutually-agreed
terms which were part of earlier court orders.
It asked all dance bars to
get criminal antecedents of
their employees checked by
local police, besides installing
CCTV cameras at all entry
points of dance bars.
The court also asked dance
bars to adhere to conditions
like there should be railings to
demarcate performance area
with the place where audience
will sit and watch.
Simultaneously, it ordered
police not to ask the dance bar
applicants to furnish NoCs
from municipal bodies, health
and fire departments on the
grounds that these documents
must have been sought when
the hotel or restaurants had
come into being.
At the out set, the ASG said
that over 150 applications for
grant of licenses have been
received and only 39 offered
themselves for inspection.
She also said that some of
the dance bars have partly
complied with the conditions,
leading the court to ask about
the specific terms.
The court has now fixed the
matter for further hearing on
May 10. During the hearing, the
bench did not agree to certainterms including the one which
said that the dance bars will not
be serving liquor and they
should not be in close vicinity of
schools or religious places. “How
can it be? Have you banned
liquor?,” the bench asked.
Earlier also, the court had
taken strong note of non-compliance of orders asking
Mumbai Police to grant licenses to dance bars in ten days.
Today,
Deputy
Commissioner of Police
Pradeep Sawant appeared in
pursuance of the order and
apprised the court about the
licensing process.
Senior advocate Jayant
Bhushan, appearing for Indian
Hotel and Restaurant
Association, had alleged that
Maharashtra has not complied
with the direction to grant
licenses to the dance bar owners within ten days after they
complied with the modified
pre-conditions and had urged
the court to summon a responsible officer to the court.
Prior to this, the court had
rejected certain conditions like
providing live CCTV footage to
police on the performances in
the dance bars and asked
Maharashtra government to
grant licenses to owners within 10 days after they complied
with modified guidelines.
The bench had granted
three days to dance bar owners
to comply with the modified
conditions.
The court had modified
conditions of separating the
stage and audience areas by a
railing and said a three- feet
high railing will be put up in
the front. The bench had also
allowed verification of criminal
antecedents of dance performers and setting up of greenrooms for them.
Among other conditions
which the court allowed was
putting up of non-transparent
partition between restaurant
and permit room area and the
petitioner Indian Hotels and
Restaurant Association agreed
to it.
opinion 08
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
www.dailypioneer.com
paper with passion
The pendency problem
Government and judiciary responsible for mess
oor infrastructure and personnel shortage have plagued the Indian judiciary for decades, though it is unlikely that the Chief Justice of India's impassioned plea, moving as it may have been, to the Government will lead to
radical reform. However, if the unprecedented act of the country's senior-most
justice breaking down before a high-profile audience that included other Supreme
Court judges, High Court Chief Justices, former Chief Justices of India, the Union
Minister for Law and Justice, and the Prime Minister can force some momentum into the issue and push it up the nation's priority list, then that shall be an
achievement, no doubt. There are no two ways around the fact that protecting
and upholding the rule of law lies at the core of every state and is the single
most important responsibility of the state mechanism. Without the rule of law,
there is no state, no society, no civilisation. The importance of the judiciary (along
with law-enforcement agencies, which are, generally speaking, also in an equally bad shape) in this equation need not be further emphasised but let it be said
that a creaking judiciary, already bursting at its seams, is as much a threat to
national interest as say a terror attack. Unfortunately, there is little to suggest
that this issue is getting the attention it deserves.
Every now and then, the matter
comes up usually with a news story
or a panel recommendation, and people shake their head in dismay, and
soon its back to square one.
Everybody is aware of the facts on the
ground — the appalling judge to population ration, the crippling vacancies,
the ever-growing burden of pending
cases and how justice is often delayed
to such an extent that it might as well
have been denied. Everybody is also
well-aware of what needs to be done
to fix this problem: Increase the
number of judges. It may not be possible to pull up the numbers overnight
but it can be done over a period of
time, once a long-term plan is put in
place. In the short-term, one can also
experiment with bringing back from
retirement some old hands. These are fairly obvious suggestions and have been
floating around for ages. The problem is that precious little has been done to
implement them.
In this regard, the Government is, of course, to blame, and Justice Thakur
was well within his rights to bristle at the accusation that court breaks add to
pendency problem. That said, it is somewhat unfair for the judiciary to place all
the blame at the Government's doorsteps. For example, on the limited issue of
the number of working days for judges, while the Chief Justice has drawn attention to his hardworking colleagues, it is also a fact that in the lower courts especially there is little accountability for attendance and performance. There are many
steps that the judiciary can also take, but hasn't, to fix the situation. There is
rampant corruption in the judiciary and it needs to be checked before it erodes
public faith in the system. Red-tapism, nepotism and bribery are common in
the lower courts, while in the higher courts there have been several instances
of ineptitude and moral turpitude. Even Chief Justices of High Courts and the
Supreme Court have come under the scanner, and repeatedly so.
P
Securing the Indo-Pacific
India’s evolving stance on the South China Sea
he mention of the South China Sea dispute in the joint communiqué issued
by Russia, India, and China after their 14th annual trilateral meeting in Moscow
this past week is an interesting development, indicating the evolving stance
of all parties on the issue. This is the first time that the South China Sea dispute has been mentioned in an RIC statement, and it's easy to see why: Later
this year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague will be hearing a case
on China's territorial dispute with the Philippines in the Spratly Islands, and many
believe that there is a strong possibility that the decision may not go in favour
of the Asian giant. Beijing does not even recognise the legitimacy of the PCA
and continues to insist that all such disputes must be resolved bilaterally. However,
after the PCA ruled that it had jurisdiction over the case, and other major powers in the region and outside also publicly supported this stand, Beijing is now
clearly seeking to strengthen its position before the hearings. Towards this end,
it is seeking to make its stand more palatable to the international community by
officially committing itself to maintain international law, while, at the same time,
sticking with its bilateral-only position.
It is in this context that one must view
the RIC joint statement which on the
one hand commits Russia, India and
China to uphold the “principles of
international law” by respecting the
UN Convention on the Law of Sea, the
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties
in the South China Sea, and the
Guidelines for the implementation of
the DOC, while at the same time also
states that “disputes should be
addressed through negotiations and
agreements between the parties concerned”. This is a carbon copy of unilateral statements made by Chinese
Government on the South China Sea
issue. That Russia has toed the
Chinese line is not surprising, given
that only days before the meeting
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had publicly supported a bilateral resolution of disputes as opposed to the internationalisation of disputes.
India's position though is little more complicated. In general, India, especially under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has repeatedly highlighted the sanctity of international laws in such cases. It has also mostly sided with the Philippines
and Vietnam in their territorial disputes against China. Hence, by now agreeing
to sign a statement that legitimises the bilateral approach strikes a somewhat
discordant note. This is moreso the case when one compares the RIC statement
with the joint statement issued only days earlier by Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter. That statement expresses support for “a rules-based order and regional security architecture” and emphasises a commitment to “working together and with other nations to ensure the security and stability that have been beneficial to the Asia-Pacific for decades”. This
statement clearly favours an international mechanism over a bilateral one.
T
Pranab babu sets
the record straight
A SURYA PRAKASH
In The Turbulent Years: 1980-1996, the President acknowledges that Rajiv Gandhi erred in reversing the Shah
Bano judgement and opening the Ram Janmabhoomi site. He also takes the blame away from PVN Rao
hose who feel that the
Congress and historians aligned to it have
been less than fair to
former Prime Minister
PV Narasimha Rao, can derive
some comfort from the opinions
expressed by President Pranab
Mukherjee in the second part of
his autobiography titled The
Turbulent Years: 1980-1996 on the
major issues that confronted Rao
during his tenure.
Mukherjee touches on many
of the explosive social, political and
economic issues that the country
was faced with during those
decades including Rajiv Gandhi’s
fateful decision to upturn the
Shah Bano judgement, the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the
balance of payments crisis of 1991.
However late in the day, Mukherjee
acknowledges that Rajiv Gandhi’s
decision to bring in legislation to
nullify the court’s verdict in the
Shah Bano case — the Muslim
Women (Protection of Rights on
Divorce) Bill — “drew criticism
and eroded his modern image”.
Further, in the President’s view, “the
opening of the Ram Janmabhoomi
temple site on February 1, 1986,
was perhaps another error of
judgement (on the part of Rajiv
Gandhi). People felt these actions
could have been avoided”.
This is just a fleeting and
euphemistic reference to a rather
sordid engagement that Rajiv
Gandhi had with both the Shah
Bano affair and the construction
of a Ram temple at the disputed
site in Ayodhya. What Mukherjee
does not talk about is the political game-plan behind Rajiv
Gandhi’s decision to have the
locks to the temple opened and
thereafter to send his Home
Minister, Buta Singh, to Ayodhya
to participate in the shilanyas ceremony to mark the construction
of the temple. Since he was
accused of Muslim appeasement
in the post-Shah Bano phase,
Gandhi did a neat about-turn to
try and appease the Hindus by
displaying his commitment to the
construction of the Ram temple.
This ceremony, organised by the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad took
place on the eve of the Lok
Sabha poll in 1989 and Gandhi
was hoping that this gesture will
help him garner the Hindu vote.
These moves led to communal
polarisation in large parts of
north India.
Given Mukherjee’s long association with the Congress and his
proximity to many Prime
Ministers, these observations, however sparse, are very significant for
T
one reason: To set the record
straight in regard to the sequence
of events leading to the destruction
of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
While it is true that Rao was
the Prime Minister on the day the
disputed structure in Ayodhya
was raised to the ground
(December 6, 1992), the fact is that
it was Rajiv Gandhi who had the
temple unlocked. Thereafter, it was
Rajiv Gandhi who ensured his
Government’s official participation
in the shilanyas ceremony, which
virtually signaled the construction
of the temple. If Gandhi had not
taken these initiatives, there could
never have been such a political
build up leading to the demolition
of the Babri structure.
Over the last two decades, the
Congress has, with the connivance
of obliging sections of the media
and academics, tried to cover-up
Rajiv Gandhi’s key role in the
Ayodhya controversy and put the
blame entirely on Rao. As a
Congress veteran and as an astute
observer of national politics,
Mukherjee has sought to put the
record straight.
Mukherjee acknowledges that
Rao’s inaibility to prevent the
I do not think there
will be any stormy
thing in the House.
We have financial
business. We have
demands for grants.
Parliamentary Affairs
Minister
—M Venkaiah Naidu
IT WAS RAJIV GANDHI
WHO HAD THE TEMPLE
UNLOCKED.
THEREAFTER, HE
ENSURED HIS
GOVERNMENT'S
OFFICIAL
PARTICIPATION IN THE
SHILANYAS
CEREMONY, WHICH
VIRTUALLY SIGNALED
THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE TEMPLE
demolition of the Babri Masjid was
one of his biggest failures. But, he
does not blame Rao for not imposing President’s Rule in Uttar
Pradesh on the eve of the demolition on the assumption that the
State Government would not live
up to its word. Mukherjee says:
“There are many who blame PV
for the destruction of the mosque.
I was not in the Cabinet at that
time and, therefore, not part of the
decision-making regarding the
Babri Masjid issue. However, I
believe that the Government of
India was confronted with a
Hobson’s choice. It did not have
many options. The Union
Government could not dismiss an
elected State Government simply
because it was apprehensive that
the latter might not fulfill its obligation to maintain the safety of the
Babri Masjid”.
People argue in hindsight that
the Union Government should
have dismissed the State
Government under Article 356.
But this is wisdom in hindsight.
“How could President’s Rule be
approved by Parliament? The
Congress did not have a majority
in the Rajya Sabha”.
SOUNDBITE
I am comfortable if people do not recognise
me. Stardom is something I never craved for
in the first place.
The President has also sought
to correct yet another historical
injustice perpetrated by the
Congress over the last two decades
— namely, to deny Rao the credit for the spectacular economic
turnaround that he achieved in
1991-1996; for unshackling the
entrepreneurial potential of
Indians; and for making Indians
believe in themselves.
Mukherjee has fulsome praise
for Rao on many counts and
regards the economic reforms
introduced in 1991 as Rao’s
biggest achievement. The country’s economy was in a perilous
state when Rao became the Prime
Minister in June, 1991. When he
came on the scene, India’s foreign
exchange reserves had crashed
and the country was on the brink
of default. It had dollars just
enough to pay for petroleum
imports for two weeks. The rate
of inflation was 13 per cent and
soon climbed to 17 per cent.
Manufacturing and industry had
come to a halt and the crisis was
such that the previous
Government had mortgaged gold
to the Bank of England to raise a
measly $200 million for imports.
This was the biggest economic challenge any Prime Minister
had faced and Rao picked up the
gauntlet. Mukherjee says, “These
reforms put the country on a high
growth trajectory and helped
towards achieving our true economic potential”. He says Rao,
“with great foresight” chose
Manmohan Singh as the Finance
Minister and gave him “full freedom to navigate the financial crisis and introduce far-reaching
changes that have made India the
economic powerhouse it is today”.
Further, Rao held the additional charge of the Industry Ministry
himself and, thereby, “also played
a direct role in dismantling the
Licence Raj”.
The other major, rather, spectacular achievement of Rao was the
manner in which he tackled the
problem of militancy in Punjab.
Mukherjee says he displayed great
sagacity and brought militancy to
an end in Punjab and established
a popular Government headed by
Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Although he ran a minority
Government, Rao completed a
five-year term because of his
“political deftness”.
All those who believe that Rao,
one of India’s greatest Prime
Ministers, has been denied his
rightful place in the pantheon of
national leaders, must be grateful
to the President for setting the
record straight.
Hitler once famously
said, ‘But who
remembers
Armenia?' The
answer is the whole
world. That's who.
Actor
—George Clooney
Actor
—Arvind Swamy
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Shift focus
Sir — This refers to the article,
“Vajpayee’s legacy on Modi’s
shoulders” (April 25) by Balbir
Punj. It is unfortunate that most
of our financial and economic
newspapers focus more on issues
that are irrelevant. They still
believe in the Nehru-Gandhi
socialist philosophy. Instead of
focusing on the larger issue, like
the big story of the Indian economy taking a U-turn, they continue to drag on issues like the
unfortunate death of Shaktimaan.
Premolal
Via web
Saving earth
Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Meeting the climate goals”
(April 25). It should be mandatory for nations to take measures
to curb climate change. Our
earth can be saved only if all the
nations coalesce and resolve to
fight against climate change on
a priority basis. At a micro
level, schools and colleges can
play a pivotal role in spreading
awareness about the small steps
that can be taken.
Charvi Kathuria
Delhi
Before it’s too late, let’s
fast-track judicial reform
T
his refers to the report, “CJI weeps over burden on judiciary” (April
25). Chief Justice of India TS Thakur’s breaking down while addressing a joint conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High
Courts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence on the stage, should
not come across as his ‘weakness', but this reflects the true nature of a
human being who feels and reacts like others.
On the face of it, Justice Thakur was solicitous about people languishing in jails for long, owing to huge pendency of cases in the courts and
thereby causing delayed hearings, often at appallingly long intervals. This
plight stems from an inadequate availability of judges in courts while the
common man blames the judiciary alone.
However, it augurs well that Modi instantly realised Justice Thakur’s pain
and promised to do the needful at the earliest. Hopefully, this burning issue of
appointment of judges will be addressed by increasing the number of judges.
Azhar A Khan
Rampur
Failed candidate
Modi wave
Sir — This refers to the article,
“First Family caught in a political cleft-stick” (April 23) by
Ashok Malik. Projecting
Priyanka Gandhi as the chief
ministerial candidate in Uttar
Pradesh is bound to fail. How
can one forget her rash comments on Prime Minister
Narendra Modi during the 2014
election campaign? Moreover,
her husband, Robert Vadra’s
role in land grab cases in
Haryana and Rajasthan will add
fuel to fire.
Krishna Kacker
Via web
Sir — This refers to the article,
“First Family caught in a political cleft-stick” (April 23) by
Ashok Malik. Election strategist
Prashant Kishore can’t just take all
the credit for Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s victory in the
2014 Lok Sabha election. It was
the Modi wave that propelled the
BJP-led NDA to power.
Polestar
Via web
Tough task
Sir — This refers to the article,
“First Family caught in a political cleft-stick” (April 23) by
Ashok Malik. With two strong
regional parties — the Samajwadi
Party and the Bahujan Samaj
Party — fighting in Uttar
Pradesh, it will be difficult for
other parties like the Congress
and the Bharatiya Janata Party to
dethrone either of them at the
present juncture.
Venkataraman Jagadesan
Via web
Kishore’s planning
Sir — This refers to the article,
“First Family caught in a political cleft-stick” (April 23) by
Ashok Malik. The BJP must keep
a close watch over the plans
adopted by election strategist
Prashant Kishore for the
Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
There can be no denial of the
fact that much of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s victory in the
Lok Sabha elections was due to
this man. Same was the case for
Nitish Kumar’s win in Bihar.
Sg
Via web
Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
3rdeye 09
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
From a child to the Left candidate, from old
people to women — unnerved Trinamool
Congress goons are targeting all.
—CPI(M) State committee secretary
SURYA KANTA MISHRA
Whither our national security?
FIRST
COLUMN
They are trying to malign TMC. These
incidents of violence are result of infighting
between Congress and CPI(M)
—TMC vice president
MUKUL ROY
ASHOKA JAHNAVI PRASAD
Recent revelations in the Ishrat Jahan and Samjhauta Express terror cases indicate that the Congress leadership of the day may
have been attempting to steer the investigations in a specific and politically motivated direction. This is deeply worrisome
Studying the past to
understand future
J
With the advent of meticulous science that’s unhindered
by disciplinary boundaries, India must explore the vast
archaelogical treasure trove that lies at its disposal
nderstanding how societies respond to catastrophes is as relevant to our likely future as to our comprehension of past ages.
A recent DNA study of a corpse from the time of Justinian revealed
a pathogen of the same strain of the Bubonic plague as that which
ravaged Europe from 1347-1351 CE. Holistic analysis of the 430426 BC burials in the Kerameikos of Athens during the Great Plague,
including DNA and strontium isotope analysis, paleopathological and
histological analysis, dietary pattern and dental microwear studies,
plus calculus biomolecular and biodistance analysis, will add new
information. On the other hand, new approaches to the study of texts
and funeral rituals will shed light on how the survivors in classical
Athens understood and reacted to the disaster.
DNA analysis of humans, animals, and pathogens; strontium isotope analysis of movements of individuals over the course of their
lives; source analysis of clays and metals; plus technical studies of
the chaîne opératoire of pottery manufacture, establishing whether
the inspiration, the pot, or the potter moved, illustrate the rapid advance
of archaeological science.
The study of the 1,500 skeletons from the rescue excavation of
the recently discovered cemetery in the deme of Phaleron in Athens,
covering the period 750-470 BC, some with hands bound and showing evidence of torture before death, combined with the study of pottery and other objects buried with bodies, will provide a vast amount
of new information about the history of Athens, including the identity, behaviour, and beliefs of its inhabitants.
In all such interdisciplinary efforts, a thorough grounding in the
relevant texts and archaeological evidence is essential to avoid error
and understand the historical significance of the information recovered. Similarly, the recent presentation of a strong scientific evidence
regarding the burial of Philip II of Macedon in Tomb I rather than
Tomb II at Vergina, accompanied by what are believed to be the bodies of his wife and new born daughter who, although murdered after
Philip's death, are now thought to have been interred beside him,
sheds dramatic light on the dynasty that produced Alexander the Great.
The wealth of new categories of data becoming available and new
approaches to the interpretation of the past will require inter-disciplinary skill sets. A number of universities are rising to the challenge.
University of Sheffield, has for long combined the study of archaeology with archaeological science; University of Cambridge, at the behest
of its vice chancellor is considering how the new age of the storage
and organisation of big data can be brought to bear on the vast amount
of material recovered by archaeological excavation; Harvard University
has started a programme on the Science of the Human Past and entered
into a collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and the Max Planck Institute in Jena to study ancient DNA; and
University of Arizona has created a new interdisciplinary programme
via a Center for Mediterranean Archaeology and the Environment, offering joint degrees for co-majors in one area of Mediterranean archaeology and one field of archaeological science. The state-of-the-art
Laboratory for Archaeological Science will open this spring at the The
American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The future belongs
to those prepared to cross narrow academic boundaries.
We in India have an archaelogical treasure trove at our disposal. Meticulous science, unhindered by disciplinary boundaries, can
reveal new insights which have the potential to revolutionise social,
physical as well as biological sciences. Inter-disciplinarians, arise!
ust like Alice in Wonderland, one
cannot but say, “curiouser and
curiouser” as one is confronted
with the growing suspicion that
either deliberate efforts were
made, or are under way, to tamper with
investigations in some of the most
important and high profile cases involving national security. These include the
Ishrat Jahan encounter killings of 2004,
the Samjhauta Express bombings of
2007 and the Malegaon blasts of 2008.
We suddenly find that cases against
those allegedly involved, supposedly
members of ‘saffron’ terror groups are
suddenly falling apart as the accused
and witnesses retract their earlier statements or turn hostile, while investigative agencies appear distinctly unconcerned over these developments.
On the other hand, new documents
surfacing in the public domain seem to
suggest that crucial evidence was either
overlooked or suppressed and a distinct
set of bias in the manner the investigative agencies have handled these cases.
In either case this bodes ill for our security establishment and for the public at
large. Curiously, all of this occurred
between 2004 and 2008, which was just
prior to the 2009 general election. Is it
now a case of chickens coming home
to roost?
Events that lead to large scale
mayhem and carnage are bound to be
politicised. This is not just true of us,
but is a common response the world
over. For example, at this moment, the
United States is grappling with the 28
pages of the 9/11 report that continue
to be classified. There are allegations
that suggest that those pages relate to
evidence of complicity on the part of
Saudi officials providing assistance to
the perpetrators of the attacks. While
political considerations will be an
important factor for Governments in
deciding whether to release or suppress
details of investigations of such events,
letting politics decide the course of
investigations is negotiating a slippery
slope, fraught with danger, as it can
destroy the credibility of those in
Government and of the agencies themselves. Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that this is exactly what
has transpired in nearly all the incidents
of terror in India that we have been
confronted with ever since the events
that led to the killing of Ishrat Jahan and
her fellow travellers.
Events pertaining to their deaths is
now under the consideration of the
courts with some police and
Intelligence Bureau officials facing
criminal charges at the behest of the
Central Bureau of Investigation.
However, important documents have
come to light that show that political
interference at the highest levels of
Government may have been responsible for irretrievably damaging cohesion
between our intelligence and law
enforcement agencies.
It now emerges that P
Chidambaram, then Union Minister for
Home Affairs, was less than truthful in
explaining as to why he amended an
affidavit in which the Government had
informed the court that Ishrat Jahan
and her companions belonged to a
U
DEEPAK SINHA
The NIA concluded
that the Samjhauta
Express attack was
the handiwork of a
hardline Hindutva
group, which it
believed was also
involved in the
earlier Malegaon
attack. This was
despite the fact that
the US and UNSC
had placed
sanctions on
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba,
and named Arif
Qasmani and
Dawood Ibrahim as
the masterminds of
the bombing
Lashkar-e-Tayyeba terror module
assigned to assassinate Narendra Modi,
then Chief Minister of Gujarat. This,
despite the NIA having gleaned these
details from their interrogation of
David Coleman Headley, the US citizen of Pakistani descent who was a
member of the LeT and intimately
involved in the planning of the 26/11
mumbai attacks. While Chidambaram
now finds himself in a bind to explain
his actions, the Congress has been quick
to distance itself from his actions, suggesting it was a decision taken by him
of his own volition. This explanation is
difficult to digest, given our knowledge
of the Congress working culture.
What is even more troubling is the
manner in which the Samjhauta
Express bombings have been investigated. This terror attack occurred around
midnight on February 18, 2007, on the
bi-weekly train service connecting
Delhi and Lahore. Bombs were set off
in two carriages, both filled with passengers, near Panipat, 80km north of
New Delhi. In the resulting carnage 68
people were killed and dozens more
injured, mostly Pakistani nationals.
The attack seemed like an obvious
attempt to disrupt improving relations between the two nations, as it
came just a day before Pakistani Foreign
Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri
was to arrive in New Delhi to resume
peace talks. While this is the known
modus operandi of terror groups working in tandem with the Pakistani intelligence establishment, the NIA concluded that the attack was the handiwork
of a hardline Hindutva group, alleged-
ly Abhinav Bharat, which it believed
was also involved in an earlier attack at
Malegaon in 2006.
This was despite the fact that on
July 1, 2009, the United States Treasury
and United Nations Security Council
placed sanctions on Lashkar-e-Tayyeba,
and named Arif Qasmani and Dawood
Ibrahim as the masterminds of this
bombing. In 2009, Qasmani was further
subjected to a travel ban and his assets
frozen by the ‘1267 Committee’ of the
Security Council, which continues to
this day. Meanwhile, the NIA has not
given a credible reason for not pursuing the LeT angle.
Now, as its case falls apart in court
with a key prosecution witness, Yashpal
Bhadana, a member of Hindu fundamentalist group Abhinav Bharat turning hostile, the Director General of the
NIA has been forced to eat humble pie
and meet his counterparts in the US for
information about Qasmani’s involvement. This is a perfect example of too
little eight years too late.
Shockingly, though not surprisingly, a Congress spokesperson defended
the NIA for not pursuing this obvious
line of investigation against the LeT by
suggesting that the motives of the US
and the UNSC are suspect. This comes
from a party that while in Government
for decades attempted to convince the
international community, and especially the US of Pakistan’s role in fomenting and fostering terror in India.
Finally, the real import of details
made public by Wikileaks in 2010 of the
August 3, 2009 cable records of US
Ambassador Timothy Roemer’s obser-
Becoming an agent of change
In his address on Civil Services Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly called upon the bureaucrats to come out
of their silos, work as a team with other all sections of society, and bring about positive change in the nation
he 10th Civil Services
Day was celebrated with
much fanfare at Vigyan
Bhawan in New Delhi. The
celebrations were designed in
such a manner that not only
does this day become customary in the lives of public service personnel but also generate interesting professional
revelations about every civil
service professional in India.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, in his address, suggested to critically analyse this day
in terms of the goals achieved
in the last 10 years and resolve
to move ahead with
fresh determination.
In his oratory style, Modi
stated that the journey of a civil
servant brings in many halts,
but rukawat (obstructions)
and thakawat (tiredness) are
the most prominent of them
all. He further said that
rukawat may dishearten but is
not undesirable; on the other
T
hand, thakawat is not only
undesirable but dangerous.
Modi also highlighted the
motto of sewa parmo
dharmah (service is the greatest religion) and stressed that
he wanted an energetic team
to govern the country. He
advised the civil servants to
“reform, perform and transform”. He further said that
transformation in governance
will neither be visible nor
will it be meaningful unless
they are augmented with jan
bhagidari (public participation). He called upon the civil
servants to engage with the
people, so that Government
schemes and initiatives can be
better implemented at the
ground level.
He noted that the transformation in governance shall not
come merely by issuing circulars, but has to be inculcated
in the mindset of senior, middle and junior level officials so
that the transformations
reflect in the innocent smiles
of a child, the faithful eyes of
an old man and the vivacious
exultance of a young man.
The Prime Minister’s cautionary advice on issuing circulars by various departments
of the Government of India is
quite relevant. Recently, the
Ministry of Civil Aviation
issued a circular, advising all
ministries to issue necessary
guidelines for permitting
Government servants to travel in private airlines instead of
only Air India on official tours.
However, some of the
ministries have not yet decided any policy in this regard.
The move of the Union
Government, to delegate
authority, to relax the condition of travelling by Air India
to the respective ministries, is
to expedite the process, keeping in mind the jurisdiction of
allocation and transaction of
the business, the interregnum beyond March 31, in this
case may prove to be a bottleneck for Government officials.
Similarly, the news about
a circular slashing extended
leave of bureaucrats while
they are on official tours was
widely reported in the print
media. Such circulars leave
the public servants in conundrum. Guidelines in this
regard are issued from time to
time by the Department of the
Personnel & Training, and
any other guideline cannot be
in divergence from the one
issued by DoPT.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi was rather amused with
the way several departments
functioned in a silos, that
results in many departments
battling each other before the
Supreme Court, even though
they work for similar goals.
He shared with the gathering
at Vigyan Bhawan that there
can be no ill motives for such
a scenario except perhaps the
lack of systemic provisions for
team work.
The primary benefit of
teamwork is that it allows an
organisation to achieve something that an individual working alone cannot. This advantage arises from several factors. When people coordinate their efforts, they can
divide their roles and tasks to
thoroughly address an issue.
For example, in hospital settings, teamwork has been
found to increase patient safety more than when individual
efforts are made to
avoid mishaps.
Modi stressed upon the
need of the concept of competitive cooperative federalism
in public services in India. The
idea is to enable public servants to compete with each
other to promote governance
initiatives in the spirit of “co-
vations from a “candid conversation” he
had with Rahul Gandhi at a dinner
hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh for visiting Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton in mid July 2009 is likely to become clear. Gandhi had purportedly stated that “the bigger threat
(to India) may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community.”
Both Gandhi and Singh need to clarify as to how they came to this conclusion less than six months after the most
devastating attacks faced by the country at Mumbai had been orchestrated
by the LeT from across the border.
The fact that investigations in all
these matters were only in their preliminary stages, and as we see now, not particularly well directed, one cannot
help but suspect that the Congress leadership and the Government of the day
were attempting to steer investigations
in a specific and politically motivated
direction. However, if all of this is an
incorrect interpretation of factsm, and
we are to accept the allegations that are
now doing the rounds, that investigative agencies are changing course
because of the new political dispensation, it is then imperative that the
Supreme Court deal with the issue in
all earnestness. Clearly, those found
guilty of subverting national security
must face the consequences, regardless
of the position they may be holding or
earlier held.
(The writer is a military veteran
and consultant with the Observer
Research Foundation)
think
now
PANKAJ KP SHREYASKAR
operative, competitive federalism”. He said that exemplary
models for being considered
for the Prime Minister Award
during the Civil Services Day
should go up significantly. At
present only around 74 cases
are shortlisted which is high,
but comprises of less than
five per cent of around 650
districts in India.
Appreciating the great
work done by officials in areas
listed as priority by him, Modi
also put on record his commendation for the work done
by the Committees of
Secretaries which had been
formed at his initiative to look
into key areas of governance.
He pointed out that the
officers associated with these
committees worked voluntarily after office hours and on
holidays. He said that these
teams had successfully broken
silos, and presented fresh
ideas and suggestions.
hen we honestly ask
ourselves which person in our
lives mean the most to us, we
often find that it is those who,
instead of giving advice, solutions,
or cures, have chosen rather to
share our pain and touch our
wounds with a warm and tender
hand. The friend who can be silent
with us in a moment of despair or
confusion, who can stay with us in
an hour of grief and bereavement,
who can tolerate not knowing, not
curing, not healing and face with us
the reality of our powerlessness,
that is a friend who cares.”
W
—Henri JM Nouwen
Out of Solitude: Three Meditations
on the Christian Life
money 10
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
We should not make haste
because Paris Agreement is to
be implemented post 2020.
There is enough time for
ratification and all countries
should be allowed to follow their
national processes
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER
PRAKASH JAVADEKAR
BUZZ
FROM
GOVT
Despite challenges, this is going
to be the golden age for
developing countries like India,
where many economic indicators
are very promising
CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER
ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN
Banks find themselves in a predicament of their own making
SANDEEP BAMZAI n NEW DELHI
banks find themselves in a predicament of
Stheirtressed
own making. As deadlines to offload debt-converted-to-equity looms large
on the radar, these banks,
which have invoked Strategic
Debt Restructuring, are finding it tough to find buyers for
these assets. In the last fortnight or so, SBI took control
of 29 per cent equity in troubled Rohit Ferro while the
GOL Offshore board under
the same SDR approved conversion of 74 per cent of debt
to equity of the post issue
capital of the company. On
April 8, infrastructure major
A B G Sh ipy ard ' s b o ard
approved induction of a
strategic investor. This is the
second such attempt after
the debt laden company
failed in December 2015 to
bring on board Germany-
Banks, which have invoked Strategic Debt Restructuring, are finding it tough to find buyers for ABG Shipyard's assets
based Privinvest Holding for
financial collaboration.
The company management says it has an order
book of $2 billion and its
December 2015 quarterly
revenues are a pitiful `2
crore showing the mismatch.
The country's largest private sector shipbuilding firm
had consolidated net debt as
on March 31, 2015 totalling
`6,953 crore but total liabilit i e s we re upw ard s of
`11,000 crore. The company's FY15 debt-equity ratio
was the highest at 5.63 since
the last five years. In FY
2015, the company reported
a loss at the operating level
itself as the top line contracted miserably to `450
crore from `1,662 crore in
t he preceding ye ar and
`2,524 crore in FY12- the
highest revenue level in the
last f ive ye ars. For t he
December 2015 quarter,
ABG Shipyard was under
the cosh with the financials
revealing a `1043.72 crore
operating loss and a net loss
of `1266.23 crore. The company clearly caught in a
death spiral for the quarter
ended December 31, 2015
reported standalone sales of
`2.00 crore, down -78.59 per
cent from last quarter sales
of `9.34 crore and down 93.46 per cent from last year
same quarter sales of `30.56
crore.
The 22 bank consortium
led by ICICI Bank and SBI is
reported to have invoked
the
St r ate g i c
D e bt
Restructuring (SDR) provision on April 15. While it is
believed that the banks are
actively pursuing the possibility of a change of ownership and management of
ABG Shipyard, they are
making no real headway in
the process. Another option
that banks are exploring is
to sell the assets of the
shipyard to recover their
money. The banks may well
be taking all steps at
protect their interest
and maximise value
of their exposures,
but it is a zero sum
game. Since March
2014, ABG Shipyard has
been in the middle of a corporate debt restructuring
(CDR) under which lenders
led by SBI agreed to recast
`11,000 crore of loans, offering the firm a two-year hold
on interest payment, reduced
borrowing cost and extend-
PNS n NEW DELHI
inance Ministry lowered
interest rate on PF deposits to
F
8.7 per cent for 2015-16, evoking
strong protest from trade unions
that dubbed the move as 'antilabour'.
As against the decision of the
Labour Minister-headed Central
Board of Trustees' to provide 8.8
per cent rate of interest on PF
deposits for 2015-16, the Finance
Ministry has approved 8.7 per
cent interest rate, which has
implication for over 5 crore subscribers of the Employees'
Provident Fund Organisation
(EPFO).
"The (EPFO's apex decision-making body) CBT, at its
meeting held in February 2016,
had proposed an interim rate of
interest at 8.8 per cent to be credited to the accounts of EPF subscribers for 2015-16.
The Finance Ministry has,
however, ratified an interest rate
of 8.7 per cent," Labour Minister
Bandaru Dattatreya said in a
written reply to the Lok Sabha on
Monday.
Trade unions including RSSbacked Bharatiya Mazdoor
Sangh (BMS) have lodged their
protest against the Finance
Ministry's decision of lowering
the interest rate approved by the
CBT.
"BMS strongly condemns
the cut in EPF interest rates and
will hold demonstrations at EPF
offices on April 27," BMS General
Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said,
adding the Fund is managed by
The (EPFO's apex decision-making
body) CBT, at its meeting held in
February 2016, had proposed an
interim rate of interest at 8.8 per
cent to be credited to the accounts
of EPF subscribers for 2015-16.
“The Finance Ministry has,
however, ratified an interest rate of
8.7 per cent," Labour Minister
Bandaru Dattatreya said in a
written reply to the Lok Sabha on
Monday
the CBT, an independent and
autonomous body.
"The step taken by the
Finance Ministry to over-rule the
recommendation of the CBT is
not acceptable. It is a wrong step
and is an encroachment by the
Finance Ministry in EPF's functioning," he said.
Echoing similar views,
Indian Trade Union Congress
Vice President Ashok Singh said,
"It is wrong. When the CBT
agreed on 8.8 per cent, who is
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to
interfere in it."
He
agrued,
"The
Government does not provide
any monetary support to EPFO
and it is the workers' money.
Thus the Government has no
right to interfere in this. We will
strongly protest it and it will also
be an issue in the Bharat Bandh
on September 2."
Commenting on the Finance
Ministry's decision, All India
Airbus delivers first
made-in-USA aircraft
AFP n NEW YORK
uropean aerospace giant
Airbus delivered its first
E
made-in-the-USA aircraft on
Monday to mark a new stage in
its battle for the home market of
rival Boeing.
Airbus handed over an
A321 passenger jet assembled in
its Mobile, Alabama, plant to US
carrier JetBlue, three years after
beginning construction of the
facility and just seven months
after it was inaugurated.
"Going from breaking
ground on this facility three
years ago to handing over the
first Alabama-produced A321
today is an amazing accomplishment," said Airbus chief
operating officer John Leahy in
a statement.
With nine other aircraft in
its single-aisle A320 family currently being built at the plant,
Airbus aims to get production
up to four aircraft deliveries per
month by the end of 2017.
The facility is the Francebased company's fourth around
the world. It also produces aircraft in Hamburg, Germany;
Toulouse, France; and Tianjin,
China.
The plant was built on the
site of a World War II bomber
support base in Mobile, with the
goal of beating back some of
Boeing's native-son advantages
in the huge US market.
The company is focused on
the estimated 5,000 new passenger planes expected to be
ordered in North America over
the next 20 years.
About four years ago,
Airbus had a 20 per cent share
of the US market, against 80 per
cent for Boeing. Since announcing the Mobile plant in 2012, its
market share has doubled to 40
per cent.
Another important aim is
greater access to the huge US
defense budget. Airbus's identity as a foreign maker helped
undermine its fight in 2011
against Boeing for a USD 30 billion Pentagon contract for aerial refueling tankers.
The United States accounts
for about 35 per cent of global
defense spending. But last year
Airbus ranked just 84th on the
Pentagon's list of top contractors, according to BGAAeroweb.
Trade Union Congress General
Secretary Gurudas Dasgupta
said, "It is a gross interference by
the Finance Ministry undermining the interest of workers.
This unilateral decision will seriously affect the quality of life of
retired people."
He added, "It is anti-workers
and anti-people. It is highhandedness of Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley. We will protest against it
and there will be agitation and
strikes."
Expressing similar views,
All India Trade Union Congress
Secretary and an EPFO trustee D
L Sachdev said, "This is an undue
interference in the working of the
EPFO. It is not acceptable. If the
Finance Ministry interferes in the
working of the workers' organisation then what is the status of
the CBT. We strongly condemn
this."
This is probably the first time
that the Finance Ministry has not
ed the repayment period.
Thus, ABG Shipyard, the
largest private sector ship
builder in India got a fresh
lease of life with a 22-lender
c ons or t iu m cl e ar i ng a
`11,000-crore corporate
debt restructuring (CDR)
proposal, which included a fresh working capital loan of `1,800
crore.
T h i s
b e c ame t he
second largest
CDR package
in the history of India's banking sector. ABG’s CDR was
one of the largest loan recasts
undertaken in recent years by
Indian banks, second only to
the `13,500 crore debt recast
for engineering and construction firm Gammon
India in July 2013. Lenders to
Gammon India invoked the
SDR provision in November
2015. According to SDR
norms issued by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) in June
2015, banks can convert a
part of a defaulting firm’s
debt into majority equity and
assume operational control.
They will then have a 18
month window to find a
buyer for at least 26 per cent
of this equity.
The ABG Shipyard CDR
package included a two-year
moratorium on interest payment apart from a fresh
working capital loan of
`1,800 crore. This is rescheduled for eight years now. The
deeply ailing Surat-based
shipbuilder, which moved
the CDR cell last November,
had a debt of `11,000 crore
on its books. This included
Ultratech Cement
Q4 net up 10% at
`722.56 crore
Rajan warns against deep
LOOTERA
FinMin lowers EPF rate to 8.7%
for FY16, trade unions protest
given concurrence to the rate of
interest on EPF as decided by the
CBT, which is headed by the
Labour Minister.
The latest move comes on
the heels of the government
withdrawing two proposals pertaining to EPF. Buckling under
pressure, the government rolled
back its move to tax EPF as well
as tighten withdrawal norms.
The EPFO had provided
8.75 per cent rate of interest in
2013-14 and 2014-15, which
was higher than 8.5 per cent in
2012-13 and 8.25 per cent in
2011-12.
Its estimates, worked out in
September, projected that the
body can easily pay 8.95 per cent
rate of interest as it would leave
a surplus of `100 crore.
The EPFO pays rate of
return to its subscribers on the
basis of returns it generates from
its investments.
However, despite the
employees representatives'
demand for 9 per cent rate of
interest for the fiscal, the CBT at
its meeting held on February 16
decided to provide an interim
interest rate of 8.8 per cent for
2015-16.
Later, Dattatreya had assured
that the Employees' Provident
Fund Organisation will not revise
its interim interest rate of 8.8 per
cent downward for 2015-16.
On the interim announcement, he had said the prevailing
situations need to be analysed
and after that the CBT will again
meet in future to decide the interest rate.
saga
PNS n NEW DELHI
ltratech Cement on
Monday reported 10 per
cent rise in consolidated net
profit to `722.56 crore for the
March quarter helped by higher infrastructure spending and
decline in raw material, energy
and logistic costs.
The flagship firm of the
Aditya Birla group had clocked
a net profit of `657.20 crore in
the year-ago period.
Consolidated net sales rose
by 5 per cent to `6,850.46 crore
in January-March from
`6,516.52 crore in the same
quarter of 2014-15, it said in a
BSE filing.
The firm said "operating
costs reduced with operational
efficiencies, a judicious fuel
mix and fall in fuel prices."
Domestic cement grew 15
per cent during Q4 2015-16,
while grey cement sales stood at
13.20 million tonnes (MT)
against 11.51 MT in Q4 201415.
White cement recorded
sales of 13.12 Lakh Tonnes
(LT) as against 12.24 LT and
wall-care putty posted sales of
3.85 LT against 3.52 LT during
the quarter under review.
On acquisition deal with
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL),
Ultratech said the acquisition of
cement plants in Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
and Andhra Pradesh with a
capacity of 21.20 MT per
annum at Rs 15,900 crore (USD
107 per tonne) is expected to
conclude in the next "12-13
months".
U
discount model in startup space
MUMBAI: With concerns being
raised about cash-burn in burgeoning e-commerce sector,
RBI Raghuram Rajan on
Monday made it clear that getting revenues through deep
discounting is not a viable
business model for startups.
"If the only reason you are
getting revenues, not profit, is
because you are selling based
on 50 per cent discount, it can't
be viable in the long run," he
said.
He was quick to acknowledge that many businesses are
in different stages of their lifecycle with some trying to establish the viability.
"All these businesses are
trying to establish viability,
some are still being financed in
a big way," he said, adding that
it is natural for some of them
not to work which will lead to
shutting down the business.
He was speaking after
delivering the YB Chavan
memorial lecture here at state
secretariat.
The remarks come amid
dwindling valuations of some
successful Indian startups,
which are being partly attributed to the high stress on discounting in the business
model. Many of the startups
depend on capital injections
from venture capital funds
and some have also closed
down.
"I think this (shut down)
is a natural process and we
should not stand in the way
and lament too much," Rajan
said, making a strong case for
policies which will make it
P-Notes invt climbs to `2.23L cr
NEW DELHI : Investments
through participatory notes
(P-Notes) into India's capital
markets increased to `2.23
lakh crore in March after hitting 18 month low in the preceding month.
This also marks the first
rise in investments via P-Notes
in four months. Prior to that,
since November, the total value
of investment through this
route in Indian markets had
been falling.
Used mostly by overseas
HNIs (high networth individuals), hedge funds and other
foreign institutions, P-Notes
allow investors to invest in
Indian markets through registered foreign portfolio
investors (FPIs), the key drivers
of Indian markets.
It saves time and cost for
them, but the flip side is that
this route can also be used for
round-tripping of black
money.
According to Sebi data,
total value of P-Notes investment in Indian markets (equity, debt and derivatives) rose to
`2,23,077 crore at the end of
March from 2,17,740 crore in
the preceding month.
The Februar y figure
marked the lowest level since
August 2014, when the cumulative value of such investments
stood at `2.11 lakh crore.
Total value of P-Notes
investment in Indian markets
stood at `2.58 lakh crore in
October, `2.54 lakh crore in
November, `2.35 lakh crore in
December, `2.31 lakh crore in
January and `2.17 lakh crore in
February. It was `2.54 lakh
crore in September.
Of the total, P-Note holdings in equities were at `1.38
lakh crore at March-end and
the remaining holdings were in
debt and derivatives markets.
However, quantum (per-
`2,000 crore of term loans,
`7,700 crore of working capital loans and `1,800 crore of
fresh working capital loan
extended by the consortium
l e d by IC IC I B an k .
Ac c ord i ng to b an k i ng
sources, ICICI Bank, which
leads the consortium of
lenders, has around `2,600
crore exposure to the comp any, fol l owe d by SBI
(around `1,600 crore). Other
lenders include IDBI Bank
(`1,400 crore) PNB, BoB and
Exim Bank (`700 crore each).
Sources close to developments have stated that the
Ministry of Defence has
issued an advisory that none
of its bids will be opened,
which may well turn out to be
a big setback for the company for it will be out of the race
for various Indian Navy
orders viz. landing platform
docks (LPD), the order size of
which is expected to be in the
vicinity of `6000 crore. While
the construct of the SDR provision was to give banks more
leeway to reconcile stressed
assets, a mountain of which
has piled up over the past few
years, sadly it appears to be
delaying the inevitable and
giving companies breathing
space. RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan in a first,
instead of brushing elephants
and camels under the carpet
read the right act to the
deeply distressed banks giving
them till March 2017 to clean
up their books by recognizing
stressed assets and providing
for them. Cronyism which
included a massive bribe for
loans scandal involving even
bank chairmen and illicit
practices of ever greening of
NPAs has only accentuated
the problem.
centage) of FII investments via
P-Notes fell to 10 per cent last
month from 10.7 per cent in
February.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex climbed 10.17 per
cent during the period under
review.
Last month, Sebi chairman
UK Sinha had said strong
measures have been put in
place to check any misdemeanors including misuse of
the instrument.
Till a few years ago, PNotes used to account for
more than 50 per cent of the
total FII investment, but their
share has fallen over the years
after Sebi tightened disclosure
norms and other related regulations.
As things stand, P-Notes
make up around 15-20 per cent
of the total FII investment in
India since 2009.
While it used to be much
higher, 25-40 per cent in 2008,
the reading was as high as over
50 per cent at the peak of stock
market bull run in 2007.
In absolute terms, value of
P-Notes investment rose to a
record of `4.5 lakh crore in
October 2007, but dropped to
`3.22 lakh crore in February
2008 and `60,948 crore in
February 2009.
PTI
easier for startups to exit so
that resources can be used
productively.
Given the competitive
nature of things, it is also
essential to have safety covers including health insurance, unemployment insurance and pensions, he said,
adding that such nets can
ensure "social peace".
Welcoming that it has
become "reputable" for being
an entrepreneur, Rajan made
a plea for being resilient,
saying "the enterprise started by an entrepreneur can
fail, the people should not
fail".
He said the conditions
for starting up are improving
by the day on the back of
i nte r ve nt i ons by t he
Government and regulators
which have upped the infrastructure and logistics support.
However, there is a lot
which needs to be done, he
said, flagging skilled talent as
a key prerequisite for the
country.
There are many other
soon to be introduced aspects
which will help the startup
ecosystem, Rajan said, pointing out to Bankruptcy Code
which he expects to be introduced in the current session
of the Parliament, and also
the introduction of the Small
Finance Banks.
He also said that the
bankers while dealing with
stressed loans with small businesses should also understand that the smaller firms
do not have the same mettle
to take every case to a court
as a big business does.
"I said easy exit (for startups) but it should not be
unfair exit. With respect to
small firms, creditors often
have draconian powers which
large firms can limit in courts.
Something like Sarfaesi. A
large firm has a better way of
dealing with it in the court
than a small firm has.
"The banker may have
much more power over the
small firm with Sarfaesi than
it has over large firms.
Because we want to get the
money back from the large
firms, we continue to make
the power harder. So, we have
to be a little careful. Balance
it out. The small firm should
not be put out of business too
fast while large firms stay in
business too long simply
because the large firm has
easier access to good lawyers.
Rajan said the credit to
micro enterprises has gone up
to 7.5 per cent of the loans
from the earlier 6.5 per cent.
Pointing to the problem
of malnutrition which afflicts
a big number of Indian children, Rajan said it has a "devastating" impact as it makes
kids incapable to taking right
decisions when they grow up.
"We need to tackle malnutrition on warfooting," the
academic-turned-central
banker said, adding that the
social sector programmes of
the government are essential
for entrepreneurship and the
Startup India initiative. PTI
P2P lending: RBI to consult
Sebi before finalising rules
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank will
soon come out with a concept
paper on peer-to-peer (P2P)
lending, and will hold consultations with capital markets regulator Sebi before finalising the
rules, Deputy Governor R
Gandhi said on Monday.
"A concept note on P2P
lending will be put up on the RBI
website for public comments
shortly," Gandhi said at an NBFC
event organised here by an
industry body.
Based on the feedback, the
contours of P2P lending will be
decided in consultation with
the Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi), he said.
"Sebi has come out with a
paper from the securities market
side, from the lending and borrowing side we will come out
with a paper," he said.
P2P lending has been engaging the attention of financial sector regulators globally for quite
some time. It is the practice of
lending money to individuals or
businesses through online services that bring together lenders
directly with borrowers.
Thus far, the growth of such
activity in India was at a low level
but P2P lending has shown
accelerated growth over the last
one year in the country, he
said.
"While encouraging innovations, the RBI cannot be oblivious to the risk posed by such
institutions to the system,"
Gandhi added.
In the first bi-monthly policy of the current fiscal, RBI this
month announced that it will be
coming out with concept paper
on P2P lending, saying it has
shown at accelerated growth
over the last one year.
In the context of non-bank
lenders or NBFCs, Gandhi said
RBI is actively looking to reduce
complexities, make regulations
easy to follow and harmonise
them within the sector to the
extent possible.
"Instead of too many categories, can we harmonise the
regulations across and reduce
the number of classification.
That work is going on," he said.
Gandhi however said RBI's
stand is to harmonise not
equalise the regulation.
"That is similar entities
should be subjected to similar
regulations. This is driven
primarily to remove arbitrage,"
he said.
PTI
money 11
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
Govt sets target to reduce patent
examinations time to 18 months
PNS n NEW DELHI
iming to drastically reduce
the time taken for first
A
examination of patent applications to 18 months from about
5-7 years, the Government has
initiated various steps, including hiring of more examiners.
The reduction in examination time will happen gradually and they are fixing
monthly, quarterly, half-yearly
and annual benchmarks to
achieve this ambitious target,
Department of Industrial
Policy and Promotion (DIPP)
Secretary Ramesh Abhishek
said on Monday.
“Right now the examination time is 5 to 7 years (for) the
first examination of patent
applications. We have a target
to bring it down to 18 months,
which I am told is the benchmark in the US for the first
examination after the applications are filled, by March 2018.
That is the target we have set
for ourselves,” he said at a
Ficci function here. Similarly,
for trademarks earlier the
examination time was 13
months, he added. “We have
already hired 100 odd extra
examiners for trademarks and
this examination time has
come down to 8 months now
and we have a target to bring
down this time to one month
by March 2017,” Abhishek said.
In March, the Commerce
and Industry Ministry has said
that as many as 2.37 lakh
patent applications are pending
with the government, mainly
due to shortage of manpower.
The total number of patent
applications and trademark
registration requests pending as
on February 1, 2016 are
2,37,029 and 5,44,171 respectively. The DIPP Secretary further said delays in examination
of patents and trademarks
application is one of the problem in the intellectual property rights (IPRs) area.
The Government currently has 130 examiners of patents
and designs and it has has
recruited additional 458 new
examiners, he informed.
“We are also hiring 263
examiners on contract. So now
we have 130 plus 458 plus 263,”
he said adding capacities are
being created, e-processes have
been introduced, online exam-
ination has started with a view
to reduce pendency of applications across the country.
Further, he said there were
some issues with regard to
computer related inventions,
“so we have set up a committee, which is examining the
whole matter and it will give its
report after April 30.”
“So we will look at the view
of various stakeholders and
we will take a balanced view,”
he added. For start-ups, he said
patent rules are being amended to provide for fast-tracking
examination for patents by
start-ups. “We have appointed
a panel of about 80 lawyers,
who will provide free consultation and legal advise to startups. The rules will be notified
soon,” he said.
Import of milk, mobile
phones, other items
from China banned
PNS n NEW DELHI
ndia has banned import of
milk and milk products, certain
Imobile
phones and a few other
items from China after finding
them sub-standard or not following security codes.
Commerce Minister Sitharaman
said in Lok Sabha that India
banned import of milk and milk
products from China as their
quality was unacceptable.
Sitharaman said some mobile
phones, which do not carry
International Mobile Station
Equipment Identity number or
other security features, and some
steel products have also been
banned from importing from
China. “Complete ban of import
from any country is not possible
now due to WTO rules even if we
have problems diplomatically,
or militarily,” she said.
Over two lakh new Central Government jobs by 2017
PNS n NEW DELHI
n a good news for people seeking
Government jobs, over two lakh
Iposts
are estimated to be created by
the Central Government in its various depar tments. The C entral
Government has projected in the
budget estimates for 2016-17 an
increase of about 2.18 lakh in the
existing workforce of 33.05 lakh, as
in 2015, by 2017.
The Home Ministry will add
5,635 new jobs to take its strength to
22,006 in 2017. Similarly, there will
be 47,264 new posts in police departments to take its total to 10,75, 341
in 2017 from 10,28,077 (its strength
in 2015), it said. There will be
increase of 10,894 in staff strength of
the Defence Ministry to take the
manpower count to 51,084 in 2017,
according to the budget estimates presented by Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley. Minister of State for Personnel,
Public Grievances and Pensions
Jitendra Singh on Monday said the
projection has been made after due
NIFTY 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP CHANGE
BHARTIARTL
354.3
364 354.3 358.95
5.85
TCS
2,402.30 2,457.05 2,402.30 2,453.00 35.95
AMBUJACEM
223 224.4 221.35
224.2
3.3
ADANIPORTS
231 233.7 230.25
232.7
2.6
BPCL
960.1
982 958.75
976.1
10.2
BAJAJ-AUTO 2,512.75 2,559.90 2,512.75 2,547.00 24.85
KOTAKBANK
671.1 682.85 671.1
682.5
6.4
IDEA
117.45 119.15
117 118.65
1
ACC
1,424.00 1,429.60 1,406.00 1,426.05
11.9
INFY
1,212.05 1,224.80 1,201.10 1,219.25
8
YESBANK
877.1 885.5 871.15
881
5.25
GRASIM
4,016.00 4,055.00 3,990.00 4,034.55 21.55
ULTRACEMCO 3,288.00 3,327.60 3,256.85 3,288.00
16.9
INDUSINDBK
982.4
987 974.15
986
4.5
BOSCHLTD 19,820.0020,099.0019,650.0019,874.95 86.95
ICICIBANK
253.1 255.35 251.15 253.05
1.05
M&M
1,325.30 1,333.95 1,317.25 1,330.30
4.3
HCLTECH
841.25
850 841.25 847.35
2.2
HINDUNILVR
880.5
889 875.5
886
1.8
HDFCBANK 1,100.00 1,100.00 1,084.50 1,094.15
2
LT
1,270.00 1,277.60 1,257.10 1,267.00
1.9
COALINDIA
288.6 290.9 286.8
288
0.2
ZEEL
401.1 402.9 395.65 399.85
-1.25
TATAPOWER
70.1 70.45 68.75
69.7
-0.25
ASIANPAINT
870.4 870.4
856
865.8
-5.75
AXISBANK
474 477.35
465
472.2
-3.65
CIPLA
532.5 533.85 523.5
527
-4.35
WIPRO
558.1 561.75 551.1 552.65
-5.3
DRREDDY
3,158.45 3,168.90 3,097.55 3,110.00 -31.95
INFRATEL
374 377.2 363.95 367.85
-3.85
EICHERMOT 20,190.0020,190.0019,909.9519,950.00 -219.95
LUPIN
1,556.30 1,557.00 1,535.50 1,540.00
-18
HEROMOTOCO 2,991.00 3,023.50 2,957.20 2,962.00 -35.05
TATAMOTORS
417.6 417.6
410
412
-5
TATASTEEL
352.5 353.7 344.55 349.05
-4.6
SBIN
200.95 202.55 195.8 197.35
-2.8
BHEL
125 127.7 124.25 125.75
-1.8
SUNPHARMA
820 821.15
802
808.5
-11.7
ITC
321.3 325.5 320.4
320.7
-5.1
HDFC
1,120.00 1,127.50 1,106.30 1,114.00
-17.9
TECHM
481.8 484.7 469.1 471.95
-7.95
ONGC
216.45 216.45 211.7
212.5
-3.6
POWERGRID
146.1 146.1 142.55
143.6
-2.45
AUROPHARMA 782.95 786.1
761
765.5
-13.7
GAIL
369 369.4 357.7
359.6
-7.1
HINDALCO
101.15 101.35 96.55
99
-2.1
BANKBARODA 162.25 162.45 156.55 158.55
-3.4
NTPC
143.8 143.85 138.05 140.55
-3.1
TATAMTRDVR
303 304.3 295.35 296.95
-6.6
MARUTI
3,806.10 3,842.00 3,715.15 3,730.00 -86.05
RELIANCE
1,044.45 1,044.45 1,012.30 1,014.55
-24.4
NIFTY NEXT 50
SCRIP
OPEN HIGH LOW
LTP CHANGE
SRTRANSFIN
955.4 988.7 955.4 978.55
24
GLENMARK
820 834.9 814.2
834 20.35
UBL
748.5 781.25 730.3 773.65
18.8
DABUR
266.55 269.25 262.55
268
3.1
HINDPETRO
850 863.4
844
861.4
9.65
ASHOKLEY
105.4 107.45 105.35 105.95
0.6
CASTROLIND
396.5 400.9 392.95 394.85
2.1
JSWSTEEL
1,342.10 1,354.25 1,325.20 1,350.25
6.95
PIDILITIND
599 608.4
587
601.6
2.75
RECLTD
171.5 174.25
169
172.3
0.7
IOC
424.55
430 422.4
430
1.5
MCDOWELL-N 2,415.00 2,450.60 2,415.00 2,438.95
6
TITAN
374.9
375 369.25 372.55
0.9
UPL
523.05 526.8 514.5
524.5
1.2
ABB
1,349.40 1,379.00 1,326.10 1,339.00
1.65
BEL
1,174.80 1,186.35 1,166.25 1,170.00
0.6
GSKCONS
5,995.00 6,021.05 5,950.00 6,010.00
2.9
SHREECEM 12,700.0012,936.3012,555.7012,699.95 -21.65
OIL
319.1 319.2
314
316.2
-0.8
BRITANNIA 2,813.00 2,837.00 2,800.00 2,812.85
-9.75
GODREJCP 1,355.00 1,374.75 1,353.05 1,362.10
-4.9
GLAXO
3,646.60 3,680.00 3,625.20 3,652.50 -14.05
LICHSGFIN
459 459.7 453.2
457.4
-3.1
DIVISLAB
1,067.95 1,076.65 1,056.85 1,061.85
-7.6
BAJAJFINSV 1,859.90 1,860.00 1,834.05 1,834.05 -13.45
IBULHSGFIN
675.95 741.3
613
669
-4.95
RCOM
57.4
58.2
56.1
56.6
-0.5
COLPAL
851.25
855 837.25
842
-7.95
PNB
90.4 91.15 88.45
89.25
-0.85
NMDC
100.2 100.45
98.1
98.95
-1.05
CUMMINSIND
877 883.85
855
867
-9.3
CADILAHC
334
335 328.75 331.75
-3.95
OFSS
3,613.70 3,613.70 3,555.00 3,564.25
-45.7
CONCOR
1,362.00 1,369.85 1,336.25 1,341.90 -17.45
NHPC
23
23.1
22.7
22.75
-0.3
BAJFINANCE 6,998.90 7,019.90 6,829.45 6,879.95
-91.2
SAIL
45.95
46.3 44.95
45.25
-0.7
PFC
176.5 177.8
173 173.45
-2.7
PGHH
6,470.15 6,483.15 6,370.00 6,384.90
-101
DLF
122.1 123.4 119.15
120.5
-2.05
HINDZINC
172.1 172.15 168.05
169.1
-3
MARICO
258 261.25 252.5
254
-5
SIEMENS
1,180.00 1,180.00 1,147.25 1,149.00
-24.5
EMAMILTD
1,039.00 1,047.00 1,009.00 1,010.00 -24.45
TORNTPHARM 1,474.25 1,474.25 1,418.80 1,424.00 -36.45
BHARATFORG
814.6 820.35 792.1
794.6
-21
APOLLOHOSP 1,356.00 1,369.00 1,320.05 1,323.20 -35.15
VEDL
105
105 100.55 101.75
-3.15
CAIRN
145 148.7 143.9
144.8
-6.85
MOTHERSUMI
270
270 258.8
261.2
-12.7
Bse 500
Script
Traded
3MINDIA
8KMILES
AARTIDRUGS
AARTIIND
ABAN
ABB
ABBOTINDIA
ACC
ADANIENT
ADANIPORTS
ADANIPOWER
ADANITRANS
ADVANTA
AEGISLOG
AIAENG
AIL
AJANTPHARM
AKZOINDIA
ALBK
ALLCARGO
ALOKTEXT
ALSTOMT&D
AMARAJABAT
AMBUJACEM
AMTEKAUTO
ANANTRAJ
ANDHRABANK
APLLTD
APOLLOHOSP
APOLLOTYRE
ARVIND
ASAHIINDIA
ASHIANA
ASHOKA
ASHOKLEY
ASIANPAINT
ASTRAL
ASTRAMICRO
ASTRAZEN
ATUL
Last
Price
13465
1930
470.3
526.6
187
1346.2
4683.3
1429.8
82.9
231.9
33
33.05
524.5
112.55
987.3
620
1481
1312
58.6
157
4.67
387.5
928.65
223.9
41.95
34.7
55.35
615.95
1324.55
161.6
279.6
160.3
159.9
142.15
105.95
862.75
430
120.8
1172
1755
Abs Change
Change
%
103.1
0.77
-11.55 -0.59
-0.35 -0.07
-18.65 -3.42
-0.1 -0.05
11.05
0.83
25.85
0.56
13.55
0.96
0.75
0.91
1.4
0.61
-1.05 -3.08
-0.35 -1.05
-0.1 -0.02
3.7
3.4
-6.4 -0.64
2.6
0.42
-17.6 -1.17
-14.45 -1.09
-1.6 -2.66
-3.75 -2.33
-0.02 -0.43
-12.85 -3.21
1.95
0.21
3.05
1.38
2.6
6.61
-0.55 -1.56
-1 -1.77
-0.7 -0.11
-36.1 -2.65
-1.25 -0.77
3.85
1.4
-1 -0.62
2.4
1.52
-0.9 -0.63
0.65
0.62
-8.85 -1.02
-0.6 -0.14
0
0
-11.1 -0.94
-1.1 -0.06
consideration and keeping in mind
t he f utur ist ic v ision of t he
Government. “The Government,
wherever required, takes into consideration creation of new posts.
The budget estimates on the strength
of Central Government establishments will help provide good governance,” he told PTI.
The Civil Aviation Ministry will
have 1,080 more posts to reach a total
of 2,140 by 2017. The Ministry's staff
strength as in 2015 is 1,060, according to the budget estimates.
CCL
CEATLTD
CENTRALBK
CENTURYPLY
CENTURYTEX
CERA
CESC
CHAMBLFERT
CHENNPETRO
CHOLAFIN
CIPLA
CLARIS
CLNINDIA
COALINDIA
COLPAL
CONCOR
COROMANDEL
CORPBANK
COX&KINGS
CRISIL
CUB
CUMMINSIND
CYIENT
DABUR
DALMIABHA
DBCORP
DBREALTY
DCBBANK
DCMSHRIRAM
DEEPAKFERT
DELTACORP
DEN
DENABANK
DHANUKA
DHFL
DISHMAN
DISHTV
DIVISLAB
DLF
DRREDDY*
DYNAMATECH
ECLERX
AMTEKAUTO
41.95 (6.61)
-0.46
4.1
-0.56
-1.43
-0.63
-0.17
2.36
1.78
0.93
-0.82
-1.05
-0.56
1.26
0.07
-0.87
-1.58
0.11
-1.34
-1.87
-2.21
0.79
-1.22
1.06
0.49
2.59
0.89
-1.06
-2.96
-0.3
0.55
2.96
1.35
-1.14
0.42
-2.82
1.12
2.37
-1.12
-1.8
-0.52
3.21
0.85
Current (Chng %)
Current (Chng %)
297.50 (7.97)
-0.9
45.3
-0.45
-2.6
-3.95
-3.05
12.6
1.05
2.05
-6.45
-5.6
-0.9
8.25
0.2
-7.4
-21.45
0.25
-0.55
-3.6
-44.85
0.75
-10.75
4.8
1.3
21.95
2.95
-0.5
-2.9
-0.5
0.85
2.55
1.2
-0.35
2.55
-5.8
3.95
2.1
-12.05
-2.2
-16.45
70.05
11.35
NSE: GAINERS
BSE: GAINERS
M&MFIN
193.95
1148.85
80.2
178.65
621.95
1795.1
547.55
60.1
222.6
782.5
525.9
160
662
287.95
842.65
1335.5
219.7
40.4
188.9
1984
95.35
867.65
459.25
266.8
869.3
335.75
46.6
95.15
163.75
154.3
88.7
90.1
30.3
615.5
199.75
357.5
90.7
1060.95
120.2
3119.6
2254
1350.15
BHARTIARTL
358.95 (1.66)
TCS
2,453.00 (1.49)
JKLAKSHMI
364.00 (4.42)
AMBUJACEM
CEATLTD
1148.85 (4.10)
ADANIPORTS
232.70 (1.13)
OBEROIRLTY
278.95 (3.51)
BPCL
976.10 (1.06)
-12.35
-10.2
-4.65
17.95
0.1
1.5
-12.65
-0.15
0.35
-124.55
5.1
-5.95
0.4
-3.8
-1
-1.25
0.5
-41.05
-5.1
0
-19.95
3.55
-5.3
-18.35
5.75
-1.95
-1.5
7.05
7.5
-4
-27.45
2.1
0.05
17.35
9.25
-14.1
-3.15
-6.25
-4.25
5.75
-9.8
-23.15
-4.45
-47.1
0.28
2.25
EDELWEISS
EICHERMOT
EIDPARRY
EIHOTEL
ELGIEQUIP
EMAMILTD
ENGINERSIN
ENIL
EROSMEDIA
ESCORTS
ESSELPRO
EVEREADY
EXIDEIND
FAGBEARING
FCEL
FDC
FEDERALBNK
FINCABLES
FINOLEXIND
FORCEMOT
FORTIS
FRL
FSL
GAIL
GATI
GAYAPROJ
GDL
GEOMETRIC
GESHIP
GHCL
GICHSGFIN
GILLETTE
GLAXO
GLENMARK
GLOBOFFS
GMDCLTD
GMRINFRA
GODFRYPHLP
GODREJCP
GODREJIND
GODREJPROP
GPPL
GRANULES
GRASIM
GREAVESCOT
GREENPLY
AUROPHARMA
AVANTI
AXISBANK
BAJAJ-AUTO
BAJAJCORP
BAJAJELEC
BAJAJFINSV
BAJAJHIND
BAJAJHLDNG
BAJFINANCE
BALKRISIND
BALMLAWRIE
BALRAMCHIN
BANKBARODA
BANKINDIA
BASF
BATAINDIA
BAYERCROP
BBTC
BEL
BEML
BERGEPAINT
BFUTILITIE
BHARATFORG
BHARTIARTL
BHEL
BHUSANSTL
BIOCON
BIRLACORPN
BLISSGVS
BLUEDART
BLUESTARCO
BOMDYEING
BOSCHLTD
BPCL
BRITANNIA
CADILAHC
CAIRN
CANBK
CANFINHOME
CAPF
CAPPL
CARBORUNIV
CARERATING
CASTEXTECH
CASTROLIND
767.6
448
470
2539.05
388.45
220.9
1837.7
19.6
1480
6850.25
657.4
569.35
105.6
157.95
96.55
887
558.75
3659.9
396
1168
916.9
257.4
577.55
796.35
358.85
125.75
41.1
558.1
390
116.35
5908.5
430.5
49.9
19836.8
974.65
2808
331.2
145.15
206.95
1222.5
435.3
993
192.5
1063
5.93
395.45
-1.58
-2.23
-0.98
0.71
0.03
0.68
-0.68
-0.76
0.02
-1.79
0.78
-1.03
0.38
-2.35
-1.03
-0.14
0.09
-1.11
-1.27
0
-2.13
1.4
-0.91
-2.25
1.63
-1.53
-3.52
1.28
1.96
-3.32
-0.46
0.49
0.1
0.09
0.96
-0.5
-0.94
-4.13
-2.01
0.47
-2.2
-2.28
-2.26
-4.24
4.96
0.57
57.05
19939.45
232
105.55
148.45
1010.65
180.5
665
189.6
166.3
186.3
256
143.9
4146.8
21.5
179.25
48.15
280.6
359.5
3324.5
178.3
148.3
37.1
360.7
118.85
578.9
289.7
230.2
334.8
133.4
254.5
4361
3655
831.5
175.55
72.85
12.21
1129.3
1359.1
360.55
332.5
172.4
131.15
4040.25
133.9
206
224.20 (1.49)
-1.55
-225.2
1.8
-0.85
5.1
-25.1
-1
-27.4
6.65
-1.25
-3.15
-9.15
0.6
37.8
0.2
-6.25
0.7
-1.1
-6.4
139
-1.6
-1.3
-0.35
-5.55
-3.05
14.15
-7.15
0
3.95
-3.3
-6.05
-39.9
0.65
18.5
-1.05
2.4
0.03
-32.3
-8.35
-6.05
-4.3
-0.9
3.55
19.35
-1.7
5.65
-2.65
-1.12
0.78
-0.8
3.56
-2.42
-0.55
-3.96
3.63
-0.75
-1.66
-3.45
0.42
0.92
0.94
-3.37
1.48
-0.39
-1.75
4.36
-0.89
-0.87
-0.93
-1.52
-2.5
2.51
-2.41
0
1.19
-2.41
-2.32
-0.91
0.02
2.28
-0.59
3.41
0.25
-2.78
-0.61
-1.65
-1.28
-0.52
2.78
0.48
-1.25
2.82
Similarly, the Department of
Atomic Energy will add 6,353 new
jobs to take the total of manpower to
38,025. There will be an estimated
increase of 2,072 posts in 2017 in the
External Affairs Ministry as against
the actual strength of 8,913 in 2015,
it said. Mines Ministry will have 4399
new jobs by 2017.
The staff strength of the ministry
is 8,503, as in 2015. Similarly, the
Personnel Ministry will see a jump of
1,796 new posts from 8,568 in 2015,
as per the budget estimates.
SENSEX
GRINDWELL
GRUH
GSFC
GSKCONS
GSPL
GUJFLUORO
GUJGAS
GULFOILLUB
GVKPIL
HATHWAY
HATSUN
HAVELLS
HCC
HCL-INSYS
HCLTECH
HDFC
HDFCBANK
HDIL
HEIDELBERG
HEROMOTOCO
HEXAWARE
HFCL
HIMATSEIDE
HINDALCO
HINDCOPPER
HINDPETRO
HINDUNILVR
HINDZINC
HITACHIHOM
HMT
HONAUT
HSIL
HTMEDIA
IBREALEST
IBULHSGFIN
ICICIBANK
ICIL
ICRA
IDBI
IDEA
IDFC
IDFCBANK
IFBIND
IFCI
IGL
IIFL
IL&FSTRANS
INDHOTEL
INDIACEM
INDIANB
INDIGO
INDOCO
INDUSINDBK
INFRATEL
INFY
INGERRAND
INOXLEISUR
INOXWIND
INTELLECT
IOB
IOC
IPAPPM
IPCALAB
IRB
ISGEC
ITC
J&KBANK
JAGRAN
JAICORPLTD
JBCHEPHARM
JBFIND
JETAIRWAYS
JINDALPOLY
JINDALSAW
JINDALSTEL
647.1
246
74.3
5975
141.2
563
530
515.5
6.82
36.4
450
341.75
21.85
45.1
845
1111.6
1092
81
96.55
2967.4
245.2
18.25
216.2
98.3
54.85
859.95
890
169
1362
46
9649.95
301.2
87.1
56.1
671
253.1
1035.5
4185
71.1
118.25
43.85
51.9
366.95
25.65
564.3
214.75
78.95
105
89
99.95
1014.15
264
982.4
366.65
1217.05
662.6
208.6
270.5
226.4
31.65
428
289.6
497.05
212.25
4308
321
69.4
166.4
67.9
248.9
208.5
626.45
492.5
44.15
72.8
-15.85
-5.85
0.9
-16.45
-1.7
18
-1.85
-9.3
-0.03
0.2
6.8
3.7
0.4
-0.6
0.05
-19.8
-0.3
-2.05
-2.15
-33.6
-7.15
-0.35
8.1
-2.65
-1.5
7.65
5.7
-3.1
-44.6
-0.35
119.9
-0.8
0.9
-1.25
-1.9
1.15
-4.9
8.65
-1.4
0.7
-0.4
-2.05
-11.9
-0.6
-14.2
3.5
-1.1
-0.05
-0.25
-0.6
12.95
-6.55
2.65
-5.05
3.2
-3.6
0.4
1.05
-2.9
-0.25
-0.7
-21.35
-2.5
-8.2
-132.5
-4.7
-3.35
-3.2
-1.1
3.85
-0.55
10.5
-9.5
-1
-0.2
PNS n NEW DELHI
fter making it mandatory
to carry larger pictorial
warnings on cigarette packets,
the Government is now working on a proposal to completely ban foreign direct investment
(FDI) in the tobacco sector.
At present, FDI is permitted in technology collaboration
in any form, including licensing for franchise, trademark,
brand name and management
contract in the tobacco sector.
However, it is prohibited in
manufacturing of cigars, cigarettes of tobacco and tobacco
substitutes.
According to sources, the
Commerce and Industry
Ministry is proposing to even
ban FDI in licensing for franchise, trademark, brand name
and management contract in
the sector. It would eventually
-2.39
-2.32
1.23
-0.27
-1.19
3.3
-0.35
-1.77
-0.44
0.55
1.53
1.09
1.86
-1.31
0.01
-1.75
-0.03
-2.47
-2.18
-1.12
-2.83
-1.88
3.89
-2.63
-2.66
0.9
0.64
-1.8
-3.17
-0.76
1.26
-0.26
1.04
-2.18
-0.28
0.46
-0.47
0.21
-1.93
0.6
-0.9
-3.8
-3.14
-2.29
-2.45
1.66
-1.37
-0.05
-0.28
-0.6
1.29
-2.42
0.27
-1.36
0.26
-0.54
0.19
0.39
-1.26
-0.78
-0.16
-6.87
-0.5
-3.72
-2.98
-1.44
-4.6
-1.89
-1.59
1.57
-0.26
1.7
-1.89
-2.21
-0.27
JISLJALEQS
JKCEMENT
JKIL
JKLAKSHMI
JKTYRE
JMFINANCIL
JPASSOCIAT
JPINFRATEC
JPPOWER
JSWENERGY
JSWSTEEL
JUBILANT
JUBLFOOD
JUSTDIAL
JYOTHYLAB
KAJARIACER
KALPATPOWR
KANSAINER
KEC
KIRLOSENG
KITEX
KOTAKBANK
KPIT
KPRMILL
KRBL
KSCL
KSK
KTKBANK
KWALITY
L&TFH
LAKSHVILAS
LAOPALA
LAXMIMACH
LICHSGFIN
LINDEINDIA
LT
LUPIN
LYCOS
M&M
M&MFIN
MAGMA
MAHABANK
MAHINDCIE
MAHLIFE
MANAPPURAM
MARICO
MARKSANS
MARUTI
MCLEODRUSS
MCX
MHRIL
MINDTREE
MMTC
MOIL
MONSANTO
MOTHERSUMI
MOTILALOFS
MPHASIS
MRF
MRPL
MTNL
MUTHOOTFIN
NATCOPHARM
NATIONALUM
NAUKRI
NAVNETEDUL
NBCC
NCC
NESCO
NESTLEIND
NETWORK18
NEYVELILIG
NHPC
NIITTECH
NILKAMAL
25891.03
Low
25585.93
Current value
25678.93
Previous close
25838.14
Change (Pts)
-159.21
Change (%)
-0.62
Mumbai
Delhi
Kolkata
mean that FDI would be totally banned in tobacco segment
in any form.
The ban would eliminate
the possibility of indirect flow
of overseas funds to the tobacco sector, even through foreign
technology collaboration
including licensing for franchise, trademark and brand
name, they said.
The ministry has already
circulated a draft Cabinet note
to seek views of different
departments including health,
finance, commerce and Niti
Aayog. The move also assumes
significance as India is signator y to the Framework
Convention on Tobbaco
Control, under which it has the
responsibility of reducing consumption of tobacco products.
It is now mandatory for
all tobacco products to carry
larger pictorial warnings covering 85 per cent of the packaging space. Major cigarettes
manufactures including ITC,
Godfrey Philips and VST
had raised serious concerns
over this move.
BPCL gets green nod for Bengal `694-cr LPG project
NEW DELHI: State-owned fuel retailer BPCL
has got green nod for its `694-crore project of
developing LPG import terminal as well as storage, bottling and bulk distribution facilities at
Haldia Dock Complex in West Bengal.
At present, domestic production of LPG is
around 12.38 million metric tonne per annum
(mmtpa), much lower than the estimated demand
of 18.65 mmtpa for this year. The proposed project aims to boost supply and help achieve the
63.1
608
283.25
364
85.2
41.05
7.88
7.68
4.71
68.05
1349.35
390
1283.75
882.65
300.3
1037
217.35
290.2
126.65
231
457.95
679.95
151.3
850.6
215
404.7
34
112.5
128.25
69.1
80.85
577.55
3570
456.75
266
1265.45
1541.8
19.85
1326.85
297.5
91.5
30.3
204.35
444.25
39.6
254.25
46.8
3734.3
192.45
882.5
400
699.5
39.4
236.4
1708.35
261.85
291.5
491.15
35413.6
70.05
18.2
196.1
478.15
44.2
790
89.15
1001.75
74.7
1559.9
5875
42.2
70.75
22.75
494.3
1271.7
-1.95
-15.95
-3.3
15.4
0.7
0.25
-0.29
-0.16
-0.1
-1.65
6.45
12.9
37.6
9.4
-1.9
3.3
4.45
-6
-0.95
-5.05
8.7
3.9
1.25
-15.1
-0.75
-11.6
-0.3
-0.25
2.55
-0.8
-0.85
-6.3
-17.95
-4.2
-0.9
2.35
-16.35
-0.3
3.2
21.95
2.2
-0.15
1.6
1
0.7
-4.45
-0.45
-83.05
-0.7
12.1
-7.35
-8.85
-0.35
-1.05
-11.8
-12.15
5.65
2.85
-139.1
1.2
0.05
0.25
7.2
0.1
-18.8
0.5
-1.55
0.9
24.9
-80.25
-0.3
-0.7
-0.25
-4.4
21.95
-3
-2.56
-1.15
4.42
0.83
0.61
-3.55
-2.04
-2.08
-2.37
0.48
3.42
3.02
1.08
-0.63
0.32
2.09
-2.03
-0.74
-2.14
1.94
0.58
0.83
-1.74
-0.35
-2.79
-0.87
-0.22
2.03
-1.14
-1.04
-1.08
-0.5
-0.91
-0.34
0.19
-1.05
-1.49
0.24
7.97
2.46
-0.49
0.79
0.23
1.8
-1.72
-0.95
-2.18
-0.36
1.39
-1.8
-1.25
-0.88
-0.44
-0.69
-4.43
1.98
0.58
-0.39
1.74
0.28
0.13
1.53
0.23
-2.32
0.56
-0.15
1.22
1.62
-1.35
-0.71
-0.98
-1.09
-0.88
1.76
VITAL STATS
25891.03
High
Commerce and Industry Ministry is
proposing to even ban FDI in licensing
for franchise, trademark, brand name
and management contract in the
tobacco sector. It would eventually
mean that FDI would be totally banned
in tobacco segment in any form
A
NIFTY
BSE: SENSEX
Open
Govt may ban FDI in
tobacco sector totally
GOLD
29150
28500
28650
SILVER
40810
40810
40810
66.68
74.95
96.32
0.60
NIRLON
NMDC
NOVARTIND
NTPC
OBEROIRLTY
OCL
OFSS
OIL
OMAXE
ONGC
ORIENTBANK
ORIENTCEM
PAGEIND
PCJEWELLER
PEL
PERSISTENT
PETRONET
PFC
PFIZER
PFS
PGHH
PHOENIXLTD
PIDILITIND
PIIND
PNB
POLARIS
POWERGRID
PRAJIND
PRESTIGE
PRISMCEM
PTC
PUNJLLOYD
PURVA
PVR
RADICO
RAIN
RAJESHEXPO
RALLIS
RAMCOCEM
RAMCOSYS
RATNAMANI
RAYMOND
196.8
98.55
764.75
140.1
278.95
494.8
3602
316.9
145.2
212.15
95.8
151.75
12746
356.9
1099.4
717.85
263.45
173.75
1769.35
39.4
6350
305.1
603.1
622.1
89.15
192.85
143.5
93.4
165.6
86.7
64
23.2
53.2
815.9
91.4
33.5
551.55
193.65
443
787.5
481.05
397.05
Government's target of making LPG available to
each household by 2018.
“Based on the recommendations of the Expert
Appraisal Committee (industry), the environment
ministry has given environmental clearance and
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance to the
BPCL’s project in West Bengal,” a Senior
Government official said. The green nod is subject to certain specific and general conditions, the
official said.
-1
-1.3
27.75
-3.05
9.45
4.05
-2.05
-0.65
-0.05
-4
-2.75
-1.9
-109.4
-4.65
22.45
-28.25
0.7
-2.35
13.7
-0.2
-117
3.8
4.35
-18.9
-0.9
-2
-2.7
-1.3
-2.5
-0.7
-0.2
-0.15
1.15
-8.15
-1.25
-0.1
-21.3
-0.2
-6.1
-9.9
-12.2
-2.55
-0.51
-1.3
3.77
-2.13
3.51
0.83
-0.06
-0.2
-0.03
-1.85
-2.79
-1.24
-0.85
-1.29
2.08
-3.79
0.27
-1.33
0.78
-0.51
-1.81
1.26
0.73
-2.95
-1
-1.03
-1.85
-1.37
-1.49
-0.8
-0.31
-0.64
2.21
-0.99
-1.35
-0.3
-3.72
-0.1
-1.36
-1.24
-2.47
-0.64
SREINFRA
SRF
SRTRANSFIN
STAR
STRTECH
SUNASIAN
SUNDRMFAST
SUNPHARMA
SUNTECK
SUNTV
SUPREMEIND
SUVEN
SUZLON
SWANENERGY
SYMPHONY
SYNDIBANK
SYNGENE
TAKE
TATACHEM
TATACOFFEE
TATACOMM
TATAELXSI
TATAGLOBAL
TATAINVEST
TATAMOTORS
TATAMTRDVR
TATAPOWER
TATASPONGE
TATASTEEL
TCI
TCS
TECHM
TECHNO
TEXRAIL
THERMAX
THOMASCOOK
TIMKEN
TITAN
TNPL
TORNTPHARM
TORNTPOWER
TREEHOUSE
61.6
1357
979.05
1103
90.7
18.95
167.55
808.95
212.1
355.95
790.55
205.65
14.62
59.8
2453.45
69.9
370.25
141.05
424.65
91.65
418
1941.55
121.25
498
411.35
296.2
69.4
570.4
347.55
268
2448.3
471.8
511.25
110.6
770.65
186.85
513.9
373.5
230.7
1426
235.25
80.95
-2.25
2.3
26.65
-20.9
-1.2
-0.35
0
-11.2
-2.2
-1.35
-10.65
-2.7
-0.21
-0.3
-22.05
-1.05
-1.65
3.45
12.15
-0.15
10
-11.9
1.05
0
-5.6
-7.3
-0.55
11.85
-6.25
-4.35
31.1
-8.2
-6.3
-4.45
-5.65
-0.3
0.65
3.1
0
-33.3
-5.35
-2.95
-3.52
0.17
2.8
-1.86
-1.31
-1.81
0
-1.37
-1.03
-0.38
-1.33
-1.3
-1.42
-0.5
-0.89
-1.48
-0.44
2.51
2.95
-0.16
2.45
-0.61
0.87
0
-1.34
-2.41
-0.79
2.12
-1.77
-1.6
1.29
-1.71
-1.22
-3.87
-0.73
-0.16
0.13
0.84
0
-2.28
-2.22
-3.52
NSE: LOSERS
BSE: LOSERS
Current (Chng %)
Current (Chng %)
69.40 (4.60)
RELIANCE
1,014.55 (2.35)
MOTHERSUMI
261.85 (4.43)
MARUTI
3,730.00 (2.25)
CARERATING
1063.00 (4.24)
J&KBANK
TATAMTRDVR
296.95 (2.17)
CAIRN
145.15 (4.13)
NTPC
140.55 (2.16)
PERSISTENT
717.85 (3.79)
BANKBARODA
158.55 (2.10)
3.05
-0.3
-1.15
0.9
0
-2.05
0.15
-22.6
5
-7.55
0.02
-9.8
2.85
-1.2
-0.6
-0.02
-2.8
-0.7
-54.65
3.15
-2.6
6.9
-2.4
-0.2
-6.9
-1.65
-1.7
-5.9
-6.85
-6.1
-186.25
-42
-20.65
-9.6
-1.3
0.35
0
-8.35
-3.85
-7.8
-0.15
-8
3.75
-0.15
4.45
-0.1
TRENT
TRIDENT
TRITURBINE
TTKPRESTIG
TTML
TUBEINVEST
TV18BRDCST
TVSMOTOR
TVSSRICHAK
TVTODAY
TWL
UBL
UCOBANK
UFLEX
ULTRACEMCO
UNICHEMLAB
UNIONBANK
UNITDSPR
UNITECH
UNITEDBNK
UPL
VAIBHAVGBL
VAKRANGEE
VEDL
VGUARD
VIDEOIND
VIJAYABANK
VINATIORGA
VIPIND
VOLTAS
VRLLOG
VSTIND
VTL
WABAG
WABCOINDIA
WELCORP
WELSPUNIND
WESTLIFE
WHIRLPOOL
WIPRO
WOCKPHARMA
WONDERLA
YAMNINV
YESBANK
ZEEL
ZENSARTECH
ZYDUSWELL
5.65
0.25
6.85
-19.15
-0.01
-0.75
0.25
-8.4
-68.4
-2.4
-1.2
18.35
-1.05
0.25
6.75
0.85
-2.7
4.9
-0.09
0.05
1.2
6
-0.05
-2.8
38.6
-0.4
-0.25
-0.3
-1.25
-4.75
-7.35
-3.1
11.65
9.2
-44.7
1.15
-0.15
-5.8
17.3
-5.3
-16.4
-2.65
-0.1
2.7
-2.15
-50.45
2.2
RCF
RCOM
RDEL
RECLTD
REDINGTON
RELAXO
RELCAPITAL
RELIANCE
RELIGARE
RELINFRA
RENUKA
REPCOHOME
RKFORGE
ROLTA
RPOWER
RTNPOWER
SADBHAV
SAIL
SANOFI
SBBJ
SBIN
SBT
SCHNEIDER
SCI
SEINV
SEQUENT
SFCL
SHARDACROP
SHILPAMED
SHOPERSTOP
SHREECEM
SHRIRAMCIT
SIEMENS
SIMPLEXINF
SINTEX
SITICABLE
SJVN
SKFINDIA
SKSMICRO
SMLISUZU
SOBHA
SOLARINDS
SONATSOFTW
SOUTHBANK
SPARC
SPICEJET
47.6
56.65
66.9
172.45
114.8
492
401.25
1016.15
276
546.6
13.62
651.45
411.55
77.1
52.3
9.89
283.1
45.3
4152.8
516.6
197.3
399.9
143
71.75
180.1
155.05
125
264.7
480.75
377
12540
1604.7
1152
269.2
82.4
35
29.75
1285
580.95
887.6
294.25
3440
155.5
18.1
290
69.35
6.85
-0.53
-1.69
0.52
0
-0.41
0.04
-2.18
1.85
-1.36
0.15
-1.48
0.7
-1.53
-1.13
-0.2
-0.98
-1.52
-1.3
0.61
-1.3
1.76
-1.65
-0.28
-3.69
-1.05
-1.34
-2.18
-1.4
-1.59
-1.46
-2.55
-1.76
-3.44
-1.55
1.01
0
-0.65
-0.66
-0.87
-0.05
-0.23
2.47
-0.82
1.56
-0.14
1635
54.15
103.35
4465.75
6.6
410
39.1
323.1
2385
315.5
99.05
772.15
39.75
181.3
3277.6
238.5
130.45
2438.8
4.97
20.15
524.45
320.9
198.4
102.05
960.25
106.55
31.9
460
114.85
293
399.9
1653
865
573.25
5850.35
108.45
99.35
188
755.9
552.4
1007.15
387
31.3
878.5
398.15
946
744.1
0.35
0.46
7.1
-0.43
-0.15
-0.18
0.64
-2.53
-2.79
-0.75
-1.2
2.43
-2.57
0.14
0.21
0.36
-2.03
0.2
-1.78
0.25
0.23
1.91
-0.03
-2.67
4.19
-0.37
-0.78
-0.07
-1.08
-1.6
-1.8
-0.19
1.37
1.63
-0.76
1.07
-0.15
-2.99
2.34
-0.95
-1.6
-0.68
-0.32
0.31
-0.54
-5.06
0.3
world 12
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26 , 2016
Cruz, Kasich team up to stop Trump Barack Obama to send
Hillary Clinton campaign slams
Trump for mocking Indians
PTI n WASHINGTON
epublican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John
R
Kasich have said they will
coordinate with each other in
an effort to stop frontrunner
Donald Trump from becoming
the party nominee which the
real estate tycoon dismissed as
an act of “desperation”. Texas
senator Cruz and Ohio governor Kasich issued statements
that they would not compete
with each other in several
states to try and stop Trump
from securing the necessary
1,237 delegates before the
Cleveland convention in July
which they hope would make
it a contested convention and
thus open up their paths to the
White House.
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can
unify the Republican Party
and win in November, our
campaign will focus its time
and resources in Indiana and in
turn clear the path for
Governor Kasich to compete in
Oregon and New Mexico, and
we would hope that allies of
both campaigns would follow
our lead,” Cruz’s campaign
manager Jeff Roe said in a statement.
Kasich’s campaign also
issued a similar statement.
“Due to the fact that the
Indiana primary is winnertakes-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping
Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to
keeping him under 1,237
bound delegates before
Cleveland,” said John Weaver,
chief strategist for ‘Kasich for
America’. “We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and
given the current dynamics of
the primary there, we will shift
our campaign’s resources west
and give the Cruz campaign a
clear path in Indiana,” he said.
“In turn, we will focus our
time and resources in New
Mexico and Oregon, both areas
that are structurally similar to
the Northeast politically, where
Governor Kasich is performing
well,” Weaver said.
As of on SundayTrump
had 845 delegates to Cruz’s 559.
However both Cruz and
Kasich’s campaigns asserted it
is only they who are best suitable to get the party’s nomination.“Donald Trump doesn’t
have the support of a majority
of Republicans – not even
close, but he currently does
have almost half the delegates
because he’s benefited from
the existing primary system.
Our goal is to have an open
convention in Cleveland, where
we are confident a candidate
Washington (PTI): Hillary
Clinton’s presidential campaign on Monday slammed
Republican frontrunner
Donald Trump for mocking
an Indian call centre worker
during an election rally, saying it shows disrespect
towards the community and is
reflective of his “dangerous”
divisive rhetoric. “Donald
Trump mocking Indian workers is just typical of his disrespect that he has shown to
groups across the spectrum,”
said John Podesta, chairman
of the Clinton Campaign.
“He has run a campaign of
bigotry and division. I think
that’s quite dangerous for the
country when you think about
the fact that you need friends,
allies. The kind of campaign
he is running breeds disrespect across the globe and
breeds division and danger
here at home,” he told
capable of uniting the party and
winning in November will
emerge as the nominee,”
Weaver said.
“Having Donald Trump at
the top of the ticket in
November would be a sure disaster for Republicans. Not only
would Trump get blown out by
Clinton or Sanders, but having
him as our nominee would set
the party back a generation,”
Roe said. Trump reacted tweeting “Wow, just announced that
Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going
to collude in order to keep me
from getting the Republican
nomination. DESPERATION!,”
Trump said. “Lyin’ Ted and
Kasich are mathematically dead
and totally desperate. Their
donors & special interest
groups are not happy with
them. Sad!,” he tweeted.
resident Barack Obama on
Monday said the US would
P
send up to 250 more special
reporters in Germantown,
Maryland after formally
launching ‘Indian- Americans
for Hillary’, an effort by the
community to rally behind
the Democratic presidential
front runner.
Podesta was reacting to
Trump’s use of a fake Indian
accent to mock a call centre
representative in India during
a campaign rally in Delaware
last week.
The real estate tycoon
said that he called up his credit card company to find out
whether their customer support is based in the US or
overseas. At the same time, he
described India as a great
place, asserting that he is not
angry with Indian leaders.
DONALD TRUMP TWEETS 'DESPERATION'
AFTER CRUZ, KASICH DECIDE TO ALLY
Washington: Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump
tweeted "DESPERATION" to describe the announcement that
his rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich will ally to stop the real
estate tycoon from becoming the party's Presidential nominee. Texas senator Cruz and Ohio governor Kasich issued statements late on Sunday that they would not compete with each
other in several states to try and stop Trump from securing
the necessary 1,237 delegates before the Cleveland convention
in July which they hope would make it a contested convention and thus open up their paths to the White House. "Wow,
just announced that Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude
in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination.
DESPERATION!," Trump said. "Lyin' Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special
interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!," he tweeted,
again. Cruz's campaign manager issued a statement saying that
to stop Trump, Cruz will focus on Indiana and not in Oregon
and New Mexico.Kasich's campaign also issued a similar statement.
PTI
AFP n ANKARA
urkey has killed almost 900 alleged
members of the Islamic State group
T
since January through artillery fire
country. Kalin said a total of 2,770 people had been detained — 1,232 of them
were foreign nationals. Out of the
detained, 954 suspects were formally
arrested pending trial, he added.
Turkey, which has been hit by attacks
blamed on jihadists, including two
deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul that
targeted foreign tourists, began to carry
out air strikes against the group in Syria
last summer.
Ankara also allows US jets to use
its air base in southern Turkey for air
bombardments on the extremist group
in Syria.
Turkey began its air strikes following a suicide bombing in July last year
blamed on IS extremists, which killed
34 people in the border town of Suruc.
In recent weeks, the Turkish border
town of Kilis has come under frequent
attack from rockets fired across the border from Syria, prompting the army to
respond to each strike with howitzer
fire.
Kalin said Turkey had not yet
received intelligence to ascertain if the
border town was deliberately targeted
by the IS group.“There is a chaotic war
on the Syrian side,” he said. “Some of
(the rockets) might be landing (in
Turkey) by mistake and some might be
fired deliberately.”
forces military trainers to Syria
to help rebels fight Islamic
State group jihadists. Obama
was in Germany for talks with
Chancellor Angela Merkel, and
both were to be joined later by
the leaders of Britain, France
and Italy in a meeting expected to focus on the fight against
the IS in Syria and Iraq.
In a speech on transatlantic unity, Obama hailed
NATO partners’ progress so far
in pushing back IS, which he
called “the most urgent threat
to our nations”.
“A small number of
American special operations
forces are already on the
ground in Syria and their
expertise has been critical as
local forces have driven ISIL
out of key areas,” he said, using
an alternative acronym for the
militant group.
“So, given the success, I
have approved the deployment
of up to 250 additional US personnel in Syria, including special forces, to keep up this
momentum,” added Obama,
OBAMA HAILED
NATO PARTNERS’
PROGRESS SO FAR
IN PUSHING BACK
IS, WHICH HE
CALLED “THE MOST
URGENT THREAT TO
OUR NATIONS
speaking in the northern city of
Hanover. “They’re not going to
be leading the fight on the
ground, but they will be essential in providing the training, in
assisting local forces as they
continue to drive ISIL back.”
On Sunday Obama had pressed
for all parties to the Syrian conflict, including the regime’s
ally Russia, to return to the
negotiating table and “reinstate”
an internationally-brokered
ceasefire.
“I spoke to President
Vladimir Putin early last week
to try to make sure that we
could reinstate the cessation of
hostilities,” Obama said.
That was the clearest indication yet that the White House
believes the ceasefire has all but
disintegrated, as regime and
rebel bombardments claimed
26 lives on Sunday. Eight weeks
into the declared truce between
President Bashar al-Assad’s
regime and non-jihadist rebels,
violence has escalated around
Aleppo, with dozens killed by
government air strikes and
rebel rockets.
The surge
in fighting and stalled peace
talks in Geneva have dimmed
hopes for quickly resolving
Syria’s devastating five-year
conflict, which has sparked a
major refugee crisis in the
region and Europe.
The White House has
argued that the ceasefire, while
imperfect, is worth pursuing
and is the only way out of the
brutal war But its stance is
bringing Washington and its
allies into ever more conflict
with rebel groups on the
ground, which continue to be
on the receiving end of regime
attacks. Syria’s conflict, which
began in March 2011 with
widespread anti-Assad protests,
has since spiralled into a multifront war that has killed
270,000 people and drawn in
regional and world powers.
Afghan leader implores
Pakistan to battle Taliban
AFP n KABUL
fghan President Ashraf
Ghani on Monday
A
implored Pakistan to battle the
Taliban instead of trying to
bring them to peace talks, in a
new hardline stance after a
brazen insurgent attack killed
at least 64 people. The assault
last Tuesday on a security services office in the heart of
Kabul appeared to be the deadliest on the Afghan capital
since the Islamists were ousted
from power in 2001. It cast a
pall over international efforts in
recent months to jumpstart
Pakistan-brokered peace talks,
which stalled last summer after
the Taliban belatedly confirmed
the death of longtime leader
Mullah Omar.
“I want to make it clear that
we no longer expect Pakistan to
bring the Taliban to the negotiating table,” Ghani said in a
sombre address to both houses of the Afghan parliament.
“But we expect them to launch
a military operation against
their sanctuaries and leadership
based on their soil. If they can’t
target them they should hand
them over to ourjudiciary.”
Afghanistan for years has
accused longtime nemesis
Pakistan of sponsoring the
Taliban insurgency. The
Pakistani government recently
admitted after years of official
denial that the Taliban leadership enjoys safe haven inside
the country. “There are no
good or bad terrorists...
Pakistan should act on them as
a responsible government,”
Ghani said. Ghani’s remarks
reflect his frustration after he
expended substantial political
capital since coming to power
in 2014 in courting Pakistan in
the hope of pressuring the
militants to the negotiating
table. “Ghani is clearly running
out of patience with Pakistan,”
Kabul-based analyst Mia Gul
Waseeq told AFP. “His risky
and ambitious diplomatic outreach to Pakistan has failed to
yield results.” Ghani vowed a
tough military response against
the insurgents and pledged to
enforce legal punishments,
including executions of convicted militants. “The time for
amnesty is over,” he said. “For
the Taliban who are ready to
end bloodshed, we have left the
door open for talks. But the
door will not be open forever.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid rebuffed Ghani’s
remarks, saying the group
would press on with their jihad
against the US-backed government. The Taliban earlier
this month announced the
start of their annual spring
offensive, vowing “large-scale
attacks” across Afghanistan.
The announcement came
even after a four-country group
comprising Afghanistan, the
United States, China and
Pakistan held meetings since
January aimed at ending the
drawn-out conflict. Last
Tuesday’s attack, which also left
nearly 350 people wounded,
was seen as the opening salvo
in this year’s Taliban offensive,
widely expected to be the
bloodiest in 15 years.
Pak’s Sikh politician killed by Hindu rival
GLOBE
TROTTING
Kardashian West ‘froze’
on stage with Prince
...as truce
falters
AFP n HANOVER
Turkey kills almost 900 IS members in Syria raids
and air raids, the state-run Anatolia
news agency said on Monday, citing
military sources.
The country, a member of a US-led
coalition fighting IS, has killed 492 “terrorists” since January 9 in air raids,
while another 370 were killed in artillery
strikes which also destroyed arms
depots, the agency said.
The figures could not be independently verified. Over 3,300 IS suspects
have thus far been deported, Ibrahim
Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish presidency, said on Monday, adding that the
government has imposed an entry ban
on nearly 41,000 foreign nationals.
“They are made up of people suspected of ties with the Daesh terrorist organisation,” he said, using an Arabic
acronym for the IS group. Turkey has
in recent months cracked down on
alleged IS sleeper cells throughout the
250 more troops to Syria
PTI n PESHAWAR
Hadid celebrates her 21st
b’day with bf Zayn Malik
Aniston transformed
hubby’s wardrobe
prominent Sikh politician
in Pakistan who was
A
gunned down last week was
killed by contract killers hired
by his miffed Hindu rival after
he failed to secure a ticket for
elections, police said on
Monday, days after Pakistani
Taliban claimed responsibility
for the murder. Baldev Kumar,
a Swat district councilor and
minority leader of Imran
Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI), was arrested by the
police for his alleged role in the
murder of Dr Sardar Sooran
Singh, also of the same
party.52-year-old Singh was
the Special Assistant to Chief
Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KP) on Minority Affairs.
Kumar hired contract killers by
promising them Rs one million.
He was miffed after being
overlooked for the ticket which
was given to Singh who was
comparatively new entrant to
the PTI, Deputy Inspector
General (DIG) Malakand
Division Azad Khan said at a
press conference.
“Baldey Kumar planned
Singh’s killing with help of his
friend Muhammad Alam, former-nazim from Shangla.
Alam fixed his killing plan
with Saeed Jan and promised
Rs one million for killing and
Rs two lakh were paid in
advance. “Saeed Jan hired
Mukhtar and Behroz Khan
and sent them Buner’s Pir Baba
for targeting him.
Mukhtar and Behroz Khan
attacked Sooran Singh on last
Friday at his doorstep in the Pir
Baba area of Buner after returning from a funeral,” the police
officer said.
He said that soon after the
murder, police received information and arrested the attackers. During interrogation, the
accused confessed to have
killed Singh in lieu of money,
saying they were hired by Saeed
Jan.
The accused’s confession
led to the arrest of Saeed Jan,
who, during interrogation, said
that he planned the killing
after being asked by
Muhammad Alam and Kumar,
the DIG said.
Kumar targeted Singh after
he could not get a party ticket
for provincial assembly on
reserved seats for minority for
2013 elections. PTI gave ticket to Singh, who had joined the
party in 2011 and elected general secretary of minorities’
wing of the party after intraparty elections, Khan said.
Nepal begins reconstruction of quake-damaged sites
London: Reality TV star Kim Kardashian
West has recalled the moment she met
Prince and “froze”. The 34-year-old reality TV star has posted a photograph on
Instagram of her standing on stage with
the ‘Purple Rain’ hitmaker - who died on
Thursday at his Paisley Park home - back
in 2011 and revealed she was left speechless, reported Femalefirst. She captioned
the picture - which received 857 thousand
likes, “I will always remember this
moment with one of my favourite artists!
I was so star struck I froze RIP Prince.” The
pair met when the music icon invited the
brunette beauty to join him on stage at
Madison Square Garden in 2011. But
when he shimmied up to her and indicated
she should dance with him, she simply giggled and awkwardly clapped instead.
New York: Gigi Hadid celebrated her milestone 21st birthday on Saturday. The
gorgeus model marked the day with her
nearest and dearest, inviting both her
boyfriend Zayn Malik's family and her
own for a weekend on the beach in Malibu.
Ex One Direction star Zayn shared a number of sweet snaps of the fun weekend on
his Instagram account on Monday, with
his mum, sisters and Gigi's model sibling
Bella all joining in the fun. The family's
all here! Zayn Malik invited his mum
Tricia and sisters Doniya, Waliyha and
Safaa to Malibu beach over the weekend
to celebrate his girlfriend Gigi Hadid's 21st
birthday The family's all here! Zayn Malik
invited his mum Tricia and sisters to
Malibu beach over the weekend to celebrate Gigi Hadid’s birth day.
Los Angeles: ”Former “Friends” star
Jennifer Aniston gave husband Justin
Theroux’s wardrobe a makeover. The 47year-old has incorporated a splash of
colour into her husband’s closet because
she was fed up of him wearing bland garments all the time, reported People.
“Colour! Not just black, it’s quite adorable,”
she said. The actress, who was crowned the
world’s most beautiful woman of 2016 by
People magazine on April 20, shared that
her fashion sense has altered since she got
married eight months ago. “Well, let me
tell you. I think I’m pretty much the same
but he really enjoys me in a skinny jeans,
which I loathe. But I think I have more
skinny jeans these days than normal,” she
said.
PTI n KATHMANDU
mid chants of Buddhist
scriptures, Nepal Prime
A
Minister K P Sharma Oli on
Monday offered prayers at an
ancient temple here to mark the
reconstruction of five heritage
sites demolished by last year’s
deadly earthquake.
Oli prayed at the 17th century Anantapur Buddhist temple, situated at Swayambhunath
stupa, a UNESCO world heritage site which was severely
damaged in the April 25 earthquake last year along with
more than 600 other historic
structures in Nepal.
A day after he led a day of
Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prassad Oli, center, performs a ritual to initiate
reconstruction work in Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal onMonday. AP
mourning to mark the first
anniversary according to the
Bikram Era calendar, Oli used
the occasion to announce the
start of reconstruction of heritage sites in the capital which
were damaged by the temblor
that killed nearly 9,000 people
and caused widespread devastation.
Besides Swayambhunath,
construction works also began
at three other sites damaged by
the quakes in Kathmandu valley.
The reconstruction of the
monuments damaged during
the quake at the famed
Basantapur Durbar Square also
officially kicked off on Monday.
world 13
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
ISRAEL FREES YOUNGEST PALESTINIAN PRISONER
Sri Lanka Prez’s party
opposes federal solution
PTI n COLOMBO
ri Lanka Freedom Party led
by President Maithripala
SSirisena
has rejected the coun-
Palestinian 12-year-old Dima al-Wawi, imprisoned by Israel for allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing attack, hugs her father, after her release from an Israeli prison
near the West Bank town of Tulkarem on Sunday
AP
try’s main Tamil party’s call for
a federal solution to the minority community’s political independence, saying it is “unconstitutional” and will strengthen “extremism”. “ Sri Lanka
Freedom Party (SLFP) is very
clear in its
policy to oppose a federal
solution. Such a solution would
be unconstitutional and would
lead to disturbances by
strengthening extremism”, said
Mahinda Samarasinghe,
Minister of Skills Development
and Vocational Training.
He said the government
would not go beyond the 13th
amendment to the Constitution
adopted in 1987 on India’s initiative.
“We will examine the 13A
to see what powers remaining
to be granted.
We can consider that but
not a federal solution,”
Samarasinghe, 60, said.
Sri Lanka’s main Tamil
party TNA-controlled northern
provincial council adopted a
resolution last week seeking a
federal solution to the longpending issue of political independence for the country’s
minority Tamil community.
The resolution adopted by
Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
aims to have the federal solution included in the current
process of formulating a new
constitution for the country. A
new constitution replacing the
current 1978 constitution is
expected to be adopted by
early 2017.
The Tamil demandor a
federal solution dates back to
the days when Sri Lanka, then
Ceylon, came to be granted
independence by the British in
1948. Later, the campaign was
extended to a separate state
demand when the LTTE fought
a decades-old war with the government to carve out a separate
Tamil homeland. With the
defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the
Tamil leadership has adopted a
softer approach to give up on
the separatist demand.
Federalism as a solution
has never won the approval of
the 74 per cent Sinhala majority who fear that it would lead
to the division of the country
along ethnic lines.
30 children
killed in
Burundi
road crash
Nairobi (AFP): Nearly 30
schoolchildren and their supervisors were killed and many
more injured when their truck
crashed in eastern Burundi
overnight, a local official said
on Monday.
About 130 students from
Kigugu secondary school in
Rutana province were on their
way home from a visit to central Burundi when the packed
vehicle overturned outside
Musongati, local administrator
Revocate Nibigira said. “The
(Roman Catholic) father superior of Musongati parish and a
nun who was accompanying
them died on the spot, with 13
children,” she said.
“There are already 27 dead
in all,” she added, making an
estimate on the basis of casualty figures from hospitals in
the area, which took in almost
100 victims of the accident.
“Some of the injured are in a
very bad way.”
The children had been on
their way home from a visit to
the choir of Notre Dame of
Gitega high school in the centre of the small, densely populated country in central Africa.
India following ‘tricky two-sided’
China policy: Chinese media
PTI n BEIJING
ccusing India of following
a “tricky two-sided” China
A
policy to “maximise gains at
minimum costs”, an article in
the state media here said India’s
stand on a negotiated settlement in the disputed South
China Sea is aimed at securing
membership of the China-led
SCO grouping.
“Indian diplomacy rests
on engagement with major
world powers instead of clinging to a particular country. By
adopting an ambiguous strategy, India places itself in a position that all the major powers
woo it, but it never explicitly
promises anything regarding
the policies of other nations,”
the article in the state-run
Global Times said. “This makes
these countries hope about
wooing India while not willing
to break ties with it due to its
ambiguous stance. India has
been trying to maximise its
interests with minimum costs,
which so far has achieved satisfying results,” the article ‘New
Delhi may get dragged into tussles’,” said. Referring to the
joint statement issued after the
April 18 meeting of foreign
ministers of Russia, India and
China (RIC), it said India
struck a common stance
toward the simmering tensions in the South China Sea
(SCS) backing a negotiated
settlement to solve territorial
disputes. China opposes the
Philippines’ arbitration under
the UN Convention on Law of
Seas (UNCLOS) on the SCS
but is open for a negotiated settlement. “Having established a
comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination,
China-Russia relations have
warmed up in the past two
years and Russia has expressed
understanding and support for
China’s stance in the South
China Sea. But India’s attitude
is tricky,” it said. “For years,
India has remained a prudent
yet ambiguous stance over the
SCS issue. At a sensitive
moment such as now, India
expressed the same attitude as
China and Russia, indicating a
changing state of mind of
India,” it said. “One possible
reason is that India has been
striving for full-fledged membership of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation
(SCO). In July 2015, SCO Ufa
summit launched the process of
accession for India and
Pakistan. “But India’s inclusion
into the SCO has not been
completed. India needs to
prove that its accession can play
a constructive role for the unity
of SCO members and the international effect of the SCO,” it
said. “In addition, what rights
India will be entitled to after it
enters the SCO will be determined by the existing members. Against this backdrop,
India taking a consistent stance
with China and Russia in diplomatic matters will facilitate its
accession to the SCO and help
it better play its role within this
regional framework.
“This may be part of India’s
consideration,” the article said
adding that India at the same
time agreed to share military
logistics with the US. “By joining the communique in support of China’s stance on the
South China Sea, India seemingly tries to strike a diplomatic
balance at a high level. Yet it
doesn’t connote any change in
India’s diplomatic intentions to
seek a balance between powers,” it said. “India’s moves to
substantively bolster the US in
military cooperation and
meanwhile disappoint the latter right before the South
China Sea arbitration outcome
is released indicates the duality of India’s policy.
In this picture provided by the Office of Her Majesty's Press Department, Queen Rania of Jordan, center, touches an injured baby during her visit to Kara Tepe municipality
camp in the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday.
AP
Official count confirms big Tutsi general killed WHO warns of ‘marked
win for Serbia’s pro-EU PM in Burundi attack increase’ in Zika cases
AFP n BURUNDI
Tutsi general and security
advisor to Burundi’s vice
president was killed on Tuesday
in an attack by heavily-armed
men, along with his wife and
daughter, a security source
said. It was the latest bloodshed
to hit a country which has been
engulfed by a political crisis
which erupted in April 2015
when President Pierre kurunziza decided to run for a third
term in office, which he won in
July. The resulting violence
has left at least 500 people dead,
while more than a quarter of a
million others have fled the
countr y, prompting the
International Criminal Court’s
chief prosecutor to announce
today she was opening a preliminary probe into the crisis.
The latest attack took place
in the capital Bujumbura as
General Athanase Kararuza
was dropping his daughter off
at school in the northeastern
Ghosha district, the high-ranking security source said. He had
been recently named as advisor
to Vice President Gaston
Sindimwo, also a Tutsi. Under
the constitution, the vice president must always be from a
different ethic group and a different party than the head of
state. Kararuza also served as
deputy commander of the
African Union-led peacekeeping force in Central African
Republic from December 2013
until late last year.= “They
attacked him with rockets and
grenades, his security detail
AFP n PARIS
A
Vojislav Seselj, center, a Serb ultra-nationalist politician, talks to members of the media before casting his ballot at a polling
station in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday.
AP
Belgrade: Serbia’s pro-EU
Prime Minister Aleksandar
Vucic won a landslide victory
in general elections, the electoral commission confirmed
today after nearly all ballots
were counted.
Vu c i c ’s
Serbian Progressive Party won
48.25 per cent of the vote
which would give him 131
MPs in the 250-seat parliament
— down from the 158 won in
the last election, the commission said based on 98 percent
of votes counted. The Socialists,
Vucic’s coalition partners in the
outgoing government, came
second with 11.01 percent of
the vote. They were followed by
the far-right Radicals led by
ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seselj,
who won 8.05 percent of the
vote. Seselj was recently acquitted of war crimes charges arising from the 1990s Balkans
conflicts.
The anti-EU and proRussian Radicals were set to
return to parliament with 21
MPs, having failed to win any
seats since 2012. Four other
political groupings just passed
the five percent threshold needed to enter parliament, according to the commission. They
were the centrist Democratic
Party, a new liberal party called
“Enough is Enough” (“Dosta je
bilo”), a liberal coalition led by
former Serbian president Boris
Tadic, and a eurosceptic and
pro-Russian coalition, DSSDveri. Several groups representing ethnic minorities — for
which there is no threshold —
would also be present in the
assembly after the vote, which
was Serbia’s third in four years.
Vucic, premier since 2014,
called the early election saying
he needed a clear mandate to
press ahead with the potentially
unpopular reforms required
to join the European Union.
he UN’s health agency
warned on Monday of the
T
potential for a “marked
tried to respond but unfortunately General Kararuza and
his wife were killed,” the source
told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “His daughter succumbed to her injuries
in hospital although the doctors did everything to save
her.” Several other security
sources and the main
spokesman at the presidency
confirmed the attack and death
of Kararuza, who served in the
former Tutsi-dominated army.
Shortly after the attack, the ICC
chief prosecutor confirmed she
was opening a preliminary
probe into the violence in
Burundi. “Those who killed my
colleague General Kararuza
and (perpetrated) other similar attacks are trying to sow
divisions in the army and the
police,” presidential spokesman
Willy Nyamitwe wrote on
Twitter. Under an Arusha peace
deal which paved the way for
the end of the 1993-2006 civil
war that pitted the then Tutsidominated army against Hutu
rebels, killing an estimated
300,00 people, there was to be
strict parity between the two
ethnic groups.
increase” in Zika infections,
and the spread of the virus to
new parts of the world, even as
the outbreak declines in Brazil.
Largely contained to Latin
America and the Caribbean,
Zika’s range is likely to expand
as summer arrives in the northern hemisphere — and with it
virus-transmitting mosquitoes.
“As seasonal temperatures
begin to rise in Europe, two
species of Aedes mosquito
which we know transmit the
virus will begin to circulate,”
World Health Organization
assistant director general
Marie-Paule Kieny told a Zika
science conference in Paris.
“The mosquito knows no
borders.” Add to that the risk of
Zika-infected men passing the
virus on to women via sex, and
the world “could see a marked
increase in the number of people with Zika and related complications,” Kieny said.
At the same time, with
cooler temperatures in the
tropics and subtropics, the outbreak in hardest-hit Brazil was
“clearly on the decline,” she
added, without providing numbers.
About 600 disease experts
from 43 nations are in the
French capital to pore over
scant but increasingly worrisome data about Zika. Despite
a flurry of research, very little
is known about the virus —
how long it can hide out in the
human body, the degree of risk
of sexual transmission, the full
list of diseases and disorders it
may cause, and all the mosquito types capable of transmitting it.
Recent scientific consensus
is that Zika causes microcephaly, a form of severe brain
damage in newborns, and
adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre
Syndrome, which can cause
paralysis and death.
“It’s not what we know but
what we don’t know that is concerning,” infectious diseases
professor David Heymann of
the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine told
AFP on the conference sidelines.
“We can’t make recommendations (for prevention) if
we don’t understand the full
potential of a virus or bacteria.”
Kieny described Zika as a
“global emergency” and a
“growing threat”. There is
no vaccine or treatment for the
virus, which in most people
causes only mild symptoms —
a rash, joint pain or fever.
The most urgent priority,
Kieny said, was for new tools
for quickly diagnosing Zika —
particularly in pregnant women
whose babies risk severe disability.
Developers in the United
States, France, Brazil, India
and Austria are working on 23
vaccine-development projects,
Kieny said. But it could take
years, and the feasibility of an
“emergency-use” vaccine was
being examined. Until then, the
first line of defence remains
mosquito control and bite prevention, the experts said, and
advising women in endemic
regions to put off pregnancy.
sport 14
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
Real sweat on Ronaldo’s fitness
With Portuguese star condition unsure, Madrid take on cash-rich City in epic UCL SF
AP n BARCELONA
eal Madrid heads to Manchester
City for Tuesday's first leg of their
Champions League semifinal
with one major concern: the fitness of
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Both star strikers, who have scored
74 goals between them this season, are
nursing right-leg injuries.
Ronaldo strained a muscle in a win
over Villarreal on Wednesday, ruling
him out of Saturday's match at Rayo
Vallecano — that Benzema exited before
halftime with a leg injury of his own.
Coach Zinedine Zidane said that
Ronaldo, who trained on Sunday, will
travel with the squad to England.
Benzema is a bigger worry for the former France great.
"We're going to assess Benzema,"
Zidane said after Saturday's match. "All
I can say is that it's not a knock. I hope
that it's nothing serious and that he'll
be available for Tuesday."
While fitness is the focus for
Madrid, crosstown rival Atletico
Madrid is preparing its defense to
handle Bayern Munich's impressive
attack in Wednesday's other semifinal.
The 10-time champions have
already found their savior in case
Ronaldo and Benzema have not fully
recovered to face City.
Gareth Bale rose to the occasion
when both his strike partners were out
on Saturday, scoring two goals to lead
a 3-2 comeback victory at Rayo that
kept Madrid in the fight for the Spanish
league title.
For Bale, Madrid has the "psychological" advantage of playing the second
leg back in Spain.
"If we get a good result in the Etihad
Stadium, back at the Bernabeu our fans
are always going to help us," Bale said.
"As long as we don't lose there, we'll be
very confident at the Bernabeu."
Under former Madrid manager
Manuel Pellegrini, City is in fine form
domestically in April. Besides a draw
against lowly Newcastle, high-scoring
wins — 3-0 over Chelsea and a 4-0 rout
of Stoke on Saturday — are a reminder
of City at its best.
Kevin de Bruyne has been the
inspiration behind the revival, as a
dynamo in midfielder since returning
AP n LONDON
R
singles
Lalpekhlua bags top FPAI award
Mumbai: Mohun Bagan and India striker
Jeje Lalpekhlua was on Monday declared
winner of the 'Indian Player of the Year'
award by the Football Players Association
of India (FPAI) at its annual awards function
held at the Cooperage Ground here. The 25year-old from Mizoram received the highest
number of votes from fellow professional
footballers, beating the challenge from the
short list of India captain Sunil Chhetri,
Bikash Jairu, David Lalrinmuana and
Dhanachandra Singh, to win the coveted
award. Nigerian striker Ranti Martins, who
played for East Bengal in the I-League, was
named the 'Foreign Player of the Year'.
Manipur-born Udanta Singh of I-League
champions Bengaluru FC and the
triumphant team's coach Ashley Westwood
bagged the 'Young Player of the Year' and
'Coach of the Year' awards, respectively.
Sunny backs Salman's appointment
New Delhi: Former India cricket captain
Sunil Gavaskar on Monday said there was
nothing wrong with IOA appointing Salman
Khan as the Indian Olympic contingent's
goodwill ambassador and cited the
example of how IPL "benefitted" through its
association with Bollywood stars. "Why not
a known face who is not really a part of that
particular profession. If he can bring a lot
more awareness to that particular
profession then why not? I don't see
anything wrong in it. How has IPL been
benefitted by having Bollywood stars in it?
It has helped considerably in bringing the
crowd to the stadium," Gavaskar was
quoted as saying by NDTV.
eicester winger Riyad Mahrez became the first
African to be named English football's player of the
L
year on Sunday, straight after the Algerian helped his team
close in on the Premier League title.
Mahrez was flown by helicopter to the Professional
Footballers' Association ceremony in London after scoring his 17th goal of Leicester's astonishing title charge
as the leaders beat Swansea 4-0 at the King Power Stadium
in central England.
Mahrez was on a six-man shortlist including
Leicester teammates Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante for
the vote of their fellow professionals in English football.
"I'm very grateful to receive this award," Mahrez said.
"It's extra special because if the players vote for me, it's
because they've seen I've been great this year, so I'm happy.
But it's more team things. Without my teammates I
wouldn't get this award."
The 25-year-old Mahrez is only the second winner
of the PFA award from outside England. Uruguay striker Luis Suarez won it in 2014 while playing for
Liverpool.
Unlike Suarez, Mahrez was an unknown when he
moved to England two years ago, joining Leicester from
second tier French side Le Havre for less than 500,000
pounds (then about $820,000). The transfer now seems
one of the best bargains ever in English football, where
the record fee is the 59.7 million pounds (then $99 million) that United paid for Angel Di Maria in 2014 before
selling the winger the following year.
Real Madrid's Karim Benzema (third left) hugs Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring against Villarreal on April 20. Both players are injury doubt for the Champions League semifinals against Manchester City
after two months out. The Belgian was
rested against Stoke in preparation for
Madrid. "Now almost everybody is back
and it gives us a different feeling," De
Bruyne said.
WOLFSBURG RELEASE BENDTNER
WOLFSBURG: Wolfsburg says it has ter-
minated the contract of Nicklas
Bendtner, releasing the Denmark striker one season early.
Bendtner arrived in Wolfsburg in
2014 but failed to settle in. He fell out
with Wolfsburg's management several
times over off-the-field issues and had
been told not to come to training at the
RONALDO STRAINED A
MUSCLE IN A WIN
OVER VILLARREAL ON
WEDNESDAY, RULING
HIM OUT OF
SATURDAY'S MATCH AT
RAYO VALLECANO —
THAT BENZEMA EXITED
BEFORE HALFTIME
WITH A LEG INJURY
end of March.
Bendtner scored three goals in 31
Bundesliga appearances. He still had
another season on his contract.
Wolfsburg reached the quarterfinals
of the Champions League but was
eliminated by Real Madrid. The slumping team is 10th in the Bundesliga with
three matches left.
JUVENTUS BAG SERIE A TITLE
ROME: Juventus clinched its fifth straight
Serie A title with three matches to spare
after Napoli was beaten 1-0 at Roma on
Monday.
Juventus won 2-1 at Fiorentina on
AP
Sunday and Napoli needed to beat Roma
to prevent the Bianconeri from clinching the title. Radja Nainggolan scored for
Roma one minute from the end.
Juventus leads Napoli by 12 points,
with Roma two points further back in
third.
It was Juve's 32nd Italian league title
- not including the two honors that were
taken away after the 2006 match-fixing
scandal known as Calciopoli.
Later, AC Milan will visit last-place
Hellas Verona and relegation-threatened
Carpi will play Empoli.
Monday is Liberation Day in Italy,
a national holiday.
Rower Bhokanal qualifies for Oly
PTI n NEW DELHI
rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal on
Monday qualified for the Rio Olympics
Iafterndian
winning a silver in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and
Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta
at Chung-ju in South Korea.
The 25-year-old armyman clocked
7 minutes and 07.63 seconds in the 2km
course to finish second. The top seven
in the finals qualify for the Rio Games.
Nashik-born Bhokanal, who trains
at the Army Rowing Node (ARN) in
Pune, was on course for a gold medal finish as he was leading the five-man field
till the 1,500 metre mark but Korean
Dongyong Kim (07 mins 05.13 secs)
overtook him at the final stretch.
"We are very much delighted that
Dattu Bhokanal has qualified for the Rio
Games in men's single sculls event by finishing second in the Asian Olympic qualifying event in Korea," Rowing
Federation of India Secretary General
Capt. Girish J Phadnis told PTI from
Mumbai. "His Olympic qualification is
a welcome development for the sport of
rowing which has been doing well for
some time. We have been having a Indian
rower for every Olympics since 2000," he
added.
India could not, however, book a Rio
Dynamos launch football academy
New Delhi: Delhi Dynamos FC on Monday
announced the launch of the club's first
academy in partnership with TDI
International School, Sonepat. The
academy is scheduled to start from July 1,
2016. Preceding this to build the
atmosphere, the club would conduct a
month-long summer camp from June 1.
The academy at TDI International school
would tap into the sporting heritage and
talent in Haryana. Nestled in a sprawling
200 acre TDI City, the academy boasts of
world class infrastructure catering to age
groups between 6 and 17 years.
berth in the men's light weight double
sculls as the pair of Vikram Singh and
Roopendra Singh finished fifth in the
finals. Only top three qualify for Rio
Olympics in this category.
Phadnis also said that Bhokanal will
be the lone Indian rower taking part in
Rio Games as no more qualifying events
are left now. By virtue of qualifying for
the Rio Games, Bhokanal is expected to
be included in the government's Target
Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme which
funds medal prospects in their training
and preparation.
Bhokanal will be the ninth rower to
represent India in the Olympics after
Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh (Sydney
2000; men's coxless pairs), Paulose
Pandari Kunnel (Athens 2004; men's singles sculls), Bajrang Takhar (Beijing 2008;
men's singles sculls), Manjit Singh and
Devender Khandwal (Beijing 2008;
men's lightweight double sculls) and
Sawarn Singh (London 2012; men's
singles sculls) and Manjit Singh and
Sandeep Kumar (London 2012; men's
lightweight double sculls).
Born in Nashik in 1991, Bhokanal
comes from a humble background and
took to rowing in 2012 at the BEG Centre
at Kirkee in Pune. In 2013, he shifted to
ARN, Pune for better training.
He won two gold medals in the 2014
National Rowing Championships, representing the Services and represented
India at the 2014 Asian Games in China.
Bhokanal's best international
achievement so far was winning a silver
in men's single sculls in the 16th Asian
Rowing Championships in China last
year.
Considering Bhokanal's rise to the
top level in such a short span of time,
Phadnis said that he can even spring a
surprise and finish at the podium in Rio
Games.
"He took to rowing very late. He has
been rowing for just four years only and
he has won a silver in Asian
Championships last year and now he has
qualified for the Olympics. He should be
in the top 10 in Rio but you never know
he can spring a surprise," Phadnis said.
Asked if Bhokanal may be sent
abroad for training to prepare for for the
Rio Games, Phadnis said, "We will discuss it with Bhokanal and his coach once
they return from Korea and take a call
whether he will go abroad or not. Time
is short now but for sure he will go for
high altitude training."
Boxer Mary Kom,
nominated by the
Narendra Modi
government to the
Rajya Sabha, arrives
at Parliament house,
in New Delhi on
Monday
PTI
Mahrez has provided inventiveness and flair to
Leicester's attacking play, contributing not only goals but
also 11 assists to help transform a team that fought for
Premier League survival last season. Now a guaranteed
starter, Mahrez was an unused substitute this weekend
a year ago when Leicester beat Burnley to finally escape
the relegation zone.
Leicester started the season as a 5,000-1 title outsider
but is now set to become English football's first maiden championship winner since Nottingham Forest in
1978. "The secret has been team spirit," Mahrez said. "We
work so hard for each other. We are like brothers, it's
everywhere on the pitch. That's our strength."
The team, which is owned by Thai duty free retail
giant King Power, will be guaranteed the Premier League
trophy by winning two of its remaining three games.
Only Tottenham can now deny Leicester the title.
The second-place London team is eight points behind
after also mounting a surprise title bid.
A Tottenham player picked up the PFA ceremony's
second-biggest accolade after 20-year-old midfielder Dele
Alli was voted young player of the year.
Alli, who was playing in the third tier last season with
MK Dons, has made an instant impact in the Premier
League, scoring 10 goals and providing 12 assists. He was
unable to attend the ceremony because he was preparing with his teammates to face West Brom.
Ryan Giggs became the latest illustrious Manchester
United great to be handed the PFA award for "meritorious service to football," following in the footsteps of
former managers Alex Ferguson and Matt Busby, and
European Cup winner Bobby Charlton.
The former winger, who was voted PFA player of the
year in 2009, is now assistant manager to Louis van Gaal
at Old Trafford. Giggs made a club record 963 appearances for United and remains the most decorated player in the English game, having won 13 league titles, four
FA Cups the Champions League twice.
Nadal wins Barcelona Open
MAIRAJ WINS INDIA'S
FIRST SKEET MEDAL
AT SHOOTING WC
AP n BARCELONA
PTI n NEW DELHI
and Monte Carlo. No other player has won a tournament nine
times.
afael Nadal beat defending
champion Kei Nishikori 6-4,
R
7-5 to win the Barcelona Open
India to host 2018 Judo C’ship
New Delhi: India will be hosting the 2018
Commonwealth Judo Championships in
Jaipur, besides organising the Asian Cadet
and Asian Junior Judo Championships in
September in Kerala this year. The
Commonwealth Judo Championships was
allotted to India, by the Commonwealth
Judo Congress held on April 23rd at Port
Elizabeth, South Africa. "It is a great privileged that Judo Federation of India has been
allotted to organize and conduct the
Commonwealth Judo Championships,"
said Man Mohan Jaiswal, General Secretary
of Judo Federation of India. "This will be the
first time that Commonwealth Judo
Championships will be held in India. It will
Agencies
be held in Jaipur.”
Mahrez is first
African to win
PFA POTY award
for the ninth time on Sunday,
equaling Guillermo Vilas' record
of 49 career clay-court titles.
Nadal added this title to his
trophy from Monte Carlo last
week as the 14-time Grand Slam
winner regains form on his
favorite surface ahead of next
month's French Open.
"I'm very happy because
besides this being one of the most
important tournaments that I
have won, this is another week
that I am playing very well,"
Nadal said. "These have been two
fantastic weeks, weeks I have
been striving for for a long time."
Nishikori had won the tournament for the last two years after
early exits by Nadal.
In an entertaining clash of
the two top-seeded players,
Nadal proved more decisive
under pressure, saving seven of
eight break chances in the first set
while converting the two chances
SANIA-MARTINA LOSE
SUTTGART (GERMANY): Sania
Rafael Nadal poses for a photo with the trophy after winning the Barcelona Open AP
he got.
The Spaniard then bettered
second-seeded Nishikori through
several superb rallies in a backand-forth second set to win key
points and claim his 69th career
title in his 101st final.
"I was playing against the No.
6 player in the world, and if you
don't play at your best you aren't
going to win," the fifth-ranked
Nadal said.
Besides matching Vilas'
Open Era milestone from the
1970s and 1980s, Nadal added
Barcelona to his list of tournaments he has won a record nine
times, along with Roland Garros
Mirza along with her partner
Martina Hingis suffered an upset
defeat in the women's doubles
final of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament as they conceded one set advantage to go down
to Caroline Garcia and Kristina
Mladenovic here.
The top seeded Indo-Swiss
pair lost 6-2, 1-6, 6-10 in an hour
and 21 minutes to the second
seeded French combination here
on Sunday night.
The Indo-Swiss duo had an
ideal start to the final match as
they bagged the opening set
rather comfortably.
But the French pair came
back strongly in the second set to
down their higher ranked opponent and then clinched the match
in the tie-breaker. Garcia and
Mladenovic were more aggressive, hitting 25 winners as compared to 16 by Sania and Martina.
shooter Mairaj Ahmed
Khan made a successful start to
Ihisndian
campaign at the ISSF World
Cup by winning a silver medal in
men's skeet event in Rio de Janeiro.
Mairaj's feat gave India its first
skeet medal at a World Cup.
The 40-year-old Indian shooter finished with an overall tally of
14 in the gold medal match but lost
out to Marcus Svensson of Sweden
in a shoot off after the latter was
also tied at 14. Tamarro Casandro
of Italy won the bronze.
Mairaj shot 122 in the qualifying, 15/16 in semi-final stage of
six-men final round and then
14+1 in the gold medal match.
Mairaj's best international performance previous to this was a
team gold in the Commonwealth
Shooting Championship in 2010.
Out of 26 World Cup appearances this was his best ever finish
in his first-ever final round.
Earlier in the year, he became
India's first ever skeet shooter to
win an Olympic quota place.
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
boundarymeter
4s
6s
546
219
Mumbai Indians
lead from front
Wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv’s 81 with Rayudu’s
65 proves too much for Kings to chase
AGENCIES n MOHALI
iding on some excellent bowling from
Bumrah and McCleneghan, Mumbai
Indians defeated Kings XI Punjab by 25
in their IPL league fixture here on Monday.
Earlier, Parthiv Patel top-scored with an
enterprising 58-ball 81 to power Mumbai
Indians to a competitive 189 for six in their
Indian Premier League match against Kings
XI Punjab here on Monday.
Invited to bat, Mumbai Indians rode on
Patel's knock, his best in IPL, and Ambati
Rayudu's 65 off 37 balls to record their highest score against Kings XI Punjab in the cashrich league.
Jos Buttler blazed his way to 23 off 13 balls
with the help of three fours and a six. Patel
smashed 10 fours and two sixes, while
Rayudu hit four boundaries and as many
maximums.
That triggered a flurry of late wickets as
the Punjab bowlers staged a late comeback.
But by the time Johnson finally managed to
send Parthiv back to the pavilion, Mumbai
were well on their way to a big total.
The total could have been more had it
not been for Mohit Sharma's brilliant last
over in which he conceded just four runs.
Mohit was the most successful bowler for
KXIP with figures of 3/38, two of them coming in that final over.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians were dealt a
body blow in the first over itself with nothing on the board, when medium pacer
Sandeep Sharma had skipper Rohit Sharma
caught behind by Nikhil Naik with his second delivery.
Patel and Rayudu ensured there was no
R
Mumbai Indians Parthiv Patel (left) with Ambati Rayudu during their match against Kings XI Punjab on Monday
MUMBAI RODE
ON PATEL'S
KNOCK, HIS BEST
IN IPL, AND
AMBATI
RAYUDU'S 65 OFF
37 BALLS TO
RECORD THEIR
HIGHEST SCORE
AGAINST KINGS
XI PUNJAB
FIGURATIVELY
Runs
added by
Parthiv
and Rayudu; this is the
highest 2nd wicket
partnership to start at a
team score of 0 in the
Indian Premier League
137
3000
T20
run
s completed by Ambati
Rayudu; he is the 15th
Indian batsman to the
milestone.
Faisel Features
further setback for the next 15 overs, as
they put on 137 runs runs for the second
wicket till Rayudu was dismissed by Axar
Patel.
Rayudu was lucky to get a life when
Axar dropped an absolute sitter at deep
midwicket off the bowing of Pardeep
Sahu. Rayudu was batting on 33 then.
During the rebuilding phase, the two
batsmen mixed caution with aggression and
helped their team to safety before opening
up to play freely.
Even as Rayudu smashed Glenn
Maxwell over long-on for a maximum to
up the ante, Patel followed suit and flicked
Sahu over long-on for a six in the 11th over
at the Punjab Cricket Association IS
Bindra Stadium.
Rayudu then hit Axar for a straight six
and a four through the cover region.
Rayudu got to his half century in 31 balls,
while Patel reached the landmark a little
later after facing 41 balls.
Patel followed that by hitting Mohit
Sharma for two boundaries, and then sent
a full-pitched Mitchell Johnson delivery
through cover for a four. He did not stop
there as Johnson was soon lofted over midwicket for another boundary.
Rayudu then once again got into the
act, striking Axar for two towering sixes to
increase MI's run rate. However, going for
one too many, Rayudu holed out to Manan
Vohra at deep midwicket.
Mohit Sharma was the most successful among the Punjab bowlers. The medium-pacer was a bit expensive in a wicketless first spell, but did better in his second
spell to return figures of 3/38.
iplt20.com
Giants look to avoid rising Sun ‘Are mindful of Pune's batting’
PTI n HYDERABAD
PTI n HYDERABAD
n a roll after three consecutive
wins, a resurgent Sunrisers
O
Hyderabad will start as overwhelming
otwithstanding Rising Pune
Supergiants' poor run in
N
IPL-9, Sunrisers Hyderabad men-
favourites against struggling Rising
Pune Supergiants in an Indian Premier
League match, here on Tuesday.
After losing two games in a row,
Sunrisers turned their fortunes around
by posting comprehensive wins against
Mumbai Indians (by 7 wickets),
Gujarat Lions (by 10 wickets) and
Kings XI Punjab (by 5 wickets).
The Hyderabad outfit is occupying the fourth spot in the eight-team
standings with six points from five
games.
On the contrary, Mahendra Singh
Dhoni-led Supergiants are languishing at the seventh spot with just two
points from five encounters.
SRH captain and swashbuckling
Australian batsman David Warner
has been in great form and is presently the highest run scorer with 294 runs
from five games which includes four
half centuries.
Warner is just behind Royal
Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat
Kohli who is leading the chart with
367 runs from five games.
But for SRH the big relief would
be the return to form opener Shikhar
Dhawan after a poor show in the first
three matches of the season. Dhawan
regained his touch with unbeaten 53
against Gujarat Lions and 45 against
Kings XI Punjab.
Other SRH batsmen, including
Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan and
wicket-keeper Naman Ojha, have
also been making useful contributions
for the side in crucial situations.
Despite the absence of the seasoned Nehra, SRH bowlers have
made an impact to make it difficult
for their rivals.
In Nehra's absence, seamer
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been leading
SRH's bowling department and is currently the second- highest wicket taker
with eight scalps from five games.
But it is young Bangladesh leftarm pacer Mustafizur Rahman who
tor VVS Laxman considers the
debutante side as a formidable
unit and said his team will have
to put its best foot forward when
they clash with them in their IPL
match on Tuesday.
"It goes without saying that
(RPS Captain M S Dhoni) Dhoni
will be looking forward to use
Ashwin against Warner and
Shikhar. I believe that Pune has
got a very formidable batting line
up," Laxman said.
"Lot of people talk about
Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Faf
Duplessis being similar. They are
all extrordinary T20 players. We
cannot at all be complecent or we
cannot at all underestimate the
batting strength of Pune. We are
very mindful," he added.
The former Test batsman,
however, exuded confidence that
SRH can take on any opposition
Live on Sony Max
SRH vs RPS
HYDERABAD
TUESDAY | 8:00 PM
Rising Pune players during training
HEAD
TO
HEAD
M0
SRH 0
RPS 0
has been the most impressive. He has
been using his variations to perfection
to earn the accolades from his skipper.
Besides, the likes of Barinder
Sran, Deepak Hooda and Bipul
Sharma have also been impressive
with the ball although they leaked
runs on some occasions.
New outfit Supergiants, on the
other hand, have been struggling to
find the right team combination, a fact
which head coach Stephen Fleming
duly accepted.
After the win over Mumbai
Indians in the tournament opener, the
Supergiants have suffered four consecutive defeats — against Gujarat Lions
PTI
(by 7 wickets), Kings XI Punjab (by 6
wickets), Royal Challengers Bangalore
(by 13 runs) and Kolkata Knight
Riders (by 2 wickets last night).
And come on Tuesday, skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager
to break the sequence of reverses and
get the Supergiants' campaign back on
track. Having moved to Pune this year
from the banned CSK, where he
enjoyed great success, Dhoni will be
keen to replicate that in his new jersey
with a bit of help from his teammates.
So far, it hasn't been a smooth
campaign for India's twin World
Cup winning captain, barring the
tournament opener against defending
champions against Mumbai Indians.
For a team comprising Steve Smith,
Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane, Thissara
Perera besides Dhoni, such results are
surprising. The Supergiants have also
been dealt a severe blow in the form of
Kevin Pietersen, who have been ruled
out for the remainder of the tournament.
if it sticks to its plans and executes
them well.
"But, I believe that if we concentrate on our plans and try to
execute our plans, then we can
do well against any opposition.
It's more about concentrating
and playing to our strength,
while strategizing for each and
every oppositon batsman or
bowler," he said.
Noting that the MS Dhoniled Pune team would look to
bounce back strongly, Laxman
said no team can be ruled out as
it is still the early part of the long
IPL tournament.
"I was reading that Fleming
was disappointed with the way
they started their campaign. But,
they got an exceptionally talented side with Captain MS Dhoni
leading from the front. I am sure
they will look to bounce back
strongly. We have seen in the past
someone like Mumbai Indians
lost lot of the matches and went
on to win the IPL.
"So, it is just the start of the
tournament and no team can be
ruled out. I am sure they would
like to bounce back. We have
seen this in IPL where it's all
about momentum. Once you
start winning the matches, then
you win continuously and once
you start losing matches, you
start losing consecutively two or
three matches. It's all about
momentum. Pune will be looking forward to win. That's why it's
going to be a very important
match against them," he said.
‘Trying to find result-oriented combo’
PTI n PUNE
disappointed Rising Pune Supergiants head
coach Stephen Fleming said they are still strugA
gling to find the right combination after the new
outfit slumped to its fourth consecutive defeat in
the ongoing Indian Premier League.
After the win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in the tournament
opener, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led
Supergiants suffered four consecutive
defeats — the latest being the two wickets loss against Kolkata Knight Riders
Sunday night — to languish at the second last spot in the eight-team standings.
And Fleming said it is always difficult
to build a new team.
"We just need to move on. As a new team we
are trying to develop a culture and some camaraderie, it does take a lot more work. So we are
working hard but it's tough," the former New
Zealand skipper said.
"We are just trying to find a combination.
Because we are new team, we are trying to understand what combinations will work. It's not ideal
but if we win 2 or 3 games in a row we probably
will settle down. We are conscious about it and are
just working on the combinations that will
give us the results we need," he said.
A disappointed Fleming minced no
words in criticising his bowlers for failing to defend 160 last night, which
according to him was a "very good score"
on the slow-paced MCA ground pitch.
"What we are not doing is winning cricket and that's all what matters. I thought
today's performance was poor, the performance on the field was very poor. 160 was a
very good score on that surface. There was lot of assistance for the slow bowlers but we just didn't adjust.
We didn't use our spin, we didn't create enough pressure and kept Kolkata in the game," he said.
SA: Four sports banned from hosting tournaments
AP n SOUTH AFRICA
our of South Africa's leading
sports federations were on
F
Monday banned by the sports minister from bidding for or hosting
major international events for at
least a year over their failures to create opportunities for black players.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula
made the announcement after
receiving a report on "transformation" in South Africa's five biggest
sports: Rugby, cricket, soccer, athletics and netball.
Rugby, cricket, athletics and
netball all missed targets they agreed
on with the government. Soccer was
the only one to meet its target.
"I have therefore resolved to
revoke the privilege of Athletics
South Africa (ASA), Cricket South
Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa
(NSA) and South African rugby
(SARU) to host and bid for major
and mega international tourna-
ments," Mbalula said in a statement.
The ban comes into effect immediately, Mbalula said. He said he will
review his decision when he has
received the results of the federations'
transformation efforts for 2016-17.
That could be at the end of next year,
or maybe only in early 2018.
His move complicates South
Africa's intention to bid for the
2023 Rugby World Cup. The South
African Rugby Union has already
announced its intention to bid.
World Rugby will release tender documents to interested countries in
May, and countries must formally
confirm their intention to bid in June.
South Africa, host in 1995, has
been trying to hold the Rugby
World Cup again since 2011 but
failed in three successive bids.
Under the decision announced by
Mbalula on Monday, SARU wouldn't be allowed to bid for 2023.
Both the rugby and cricket
federations said their officials would
go into closed-door meetings with
sports ministry officials after the
announcement. Athletics South
Africa said it would need to study
the "pronouncement" made by
Mbalula before commenting.
Mbalula's decision should not
affect the 2022 Commonwealth
Games, which has already been
awarded to Durban.
The South African government
has been pushing for years for the
country's mainsports — especially
rugby and cricket — to create more
opportunities for black players. More
than two decades after the end of
apartheid, those two sports are still
generally dominated by whites despite
the fact that blacks make up over 80
percent of South Africa's population.
All five federations agreed on
various transformation targets with
govt in 2015. Those agreements
involved getting black players
involved at school, age-group, right
up to provincial and national level.
CricketBriefly
‘PLAYERS COMMENT DISRESPECTFUL’
KOZHIKODE: The ICC on Monday said
that certain comments and actions by
some of the West Indies players after
clinching the WT20 were "inappropriate,
disrespectful and brought the event into
disrepute". After clinching the WT20 on
April 4 following a thrilling last-over win
over England in the finals, West Indies
skipper Darren Sammy had launched a
scathing attack on West Indies Cricket
Board (WICB) in an emotional speech at
the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The ICC
Board, which held its second meeting this
year at the ICC Headquarters in Dubai
yesterday, said: "The Board considered the
behavior of some of the West Indies
players in the immediate aftermath of the
final, and unanimously agreed that certain
comments and actions were inappropriate,
disrespectful and brought the event into
disrepute. "The Board acknowledged an
apology by the WICB but was
disappointed to note that such behavior
had detracted from the success of what
was otherwise a magnificent tournament
and final," it added.
MARSH RECEIVES OFFICIAL WARNING
HYDERABAD: Kings XI Punjab batsman
Shaun Marsh has received an official
warning and reprimand for breaching the
IPL Code of Conduct during his team's
match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv
Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Marsh admitted the Level 1 offence (Article
2.1.8) of abuse of cricket equipment or
clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and
fittings during a match. Glenn Maxwell was
also fined for breaching the IPL Code of
Conduct during the same match.
‘NEED TO CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM’
MUMBAI: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper
Gautam Gambhir on Monday said the
team needs to continue to do what it has
been doing so far in the Indian Premier
League. On balance in the team, Gambhir
said, "Look people are saying this because
we are right at the top of the table, you
wouldn't have said it had we been in the
middle or somewhere down. T20 format
you can't say which is the most balance
side because this is a format where one
individual can take the game away from
you." "It is still the start of the tournament,
we need to keep continuing the way what
we have done in the last five games,
because we have realised what has
happened last year, we were right at the
top of the table till the 12th game,
suddenly we did not qualify for the
playoffs, so we have got to learn from the
mistakes, hopefully the way we have
started we can continue the same way,
winning is a habit, its a good habit to
have," he said.
‘WOULD HAVE CHASED 200 VS RCB’
RAJKOT: Gujarat Lions opening batsman
Dwayne Smith says they would have
faced no difficulty even chasing down a
200-plus target since the RCB attack lacks
teeth. "Their bowling line up is not as
strong and even a target of 200 runs
could have been chased against them on
this wicket," Smith said.
AGENCIES
vivacity 16
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 26, 2016
f the last few year was all about going
bonkers on Minions, bananas, Elsa,
Anna, and Olaf, this year it’s about
going into the wild with Mowgli,
Bagheera, Shere Khan, Kaa and Baloo.
No, not the movie but parties.
Most themed parties are mostly
influenced by the latest animation that
hits the screens. Owing to the demand
party suppliers manufacture a bulk of
merchandise. But what happens to them
when a new film comes along? Where do
they end up, and more importantly how
good is it for business?
“With the success of every animated
movie or cartoon characters, we can see
a huge demand for that particular theme.
Animated movies are highly appreciated and are in trend, likewise, the movie
Jungle Book has marked a huge demand
for jungle theme party props. People do
really go crazy over certain animated
movies especially kids and organise parties preferred themes since it is much in
trend. Considering the business line we
see a huge increase in the sale and make
sure we stock our store with a good variety to choose from. For instance, when
Minions got famous we had to create an
entire theme and it sold like hot cakes,
such is the story with every animated
movie,” said Ritika Nangia, team
Funcart.
According to Wanna party
founder, Arppit Ram Maheshwari a
new animation movie definitely surges
the demand for that particular character. “However, for the kids to be really into
the characters and doing theme parties,
there daily TV cartoon time helps them
learn more about the character and that
becomes the base for the liking of the
character. Therefore, even though Jungle
Book was an excellent movie and Mowgli
is my personal favorite (as Jungle Book
cartoon was aired in late 80’s and early
90’s) but since there is no TV shows
around Star Wars and Jungle Book currently being aired, there is definitely some
demand for them but it’s not over the roof
as the party supplies available around
these characters is none to very limited.”
But unlike the west where party
themes are decided even before the
movie hits the screens, Indian’s take it
slow. So if you are looking for a themed
party on Kung Fu Panda 3 already, you
will be disappointed. Sharon Timmins,
from Partyhunterz told us that though
they try to get hold of the newest theme
merchandises as soon as it is available it
is often difficult to procure it immediately as the movie releases. “It is mostly
because of the issues in licensing that it
becomes very difficult to get merchandise as the movie releases, unlike the US
where the products hit the store within
a month of its release. But we try not to
dishearten our customers so we personalise products for themes like background
scene setter, flag banner centerpieces et
al,” she said.
Gaurav Chaddha, from Party in a
Box, however, feels that the swift change
in preferences of the theme does not
I
Glad Shraddha and I
had different steps
TIGER SHROFF is known for his
dancing skills, but the actor
confessed that his Baaghi co-star
Shraddha Kapoor made him
anxious and says he was glad
that they had “different steps”.
“Shraddha is a fantastic
dancer. After seeing ABCD 2
and her dance in Sun
sathiya, I really admire
her dancing skills,”
Tiger said.
“Our first schedule
together was shooting
of the song Let’s talk
about love for Baaghi
and when she came for
the shoot, she was high
on Sun sathiya. I got so
nervous. Luckily, we had
different steps. She has
been winning all the
dance competitions since
childhood,” Tiger said in
a statement.
Baaghi, which brings
forward a story of two
rebels and how they
turn out to be
emotional anchor for each other, is
helmed by Sabbir Khan and
produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. It
will hit the screens on Friday.
I chose Shah
Rukh purely
because
nobody
understands
ordinariness
better than
him. I needed
somebody who looked
very confident and
sure. The kind of
person he is...he puts
his heart and soul in a
character
—ANAND L RAI
ANURAG
KASHYAP used
the digital
platform to
reveal the first
look of his
forthcoming
thriller Raman
Raghav 2.0,
featuring
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal. In the
poster, Nawazuddin, who will be
essaying the role of a notorious
serial killer, can be seen with red
eyes with the backdrop of a metal
tool drenched in blood while his
entire portrait is coloured blue.
“And here comes the first look of
Raman Raghav 2.0 (sic),” Kashyap
posted on Twitter.
Won’t compromise
for a man: Theron
CHARLIZE THERON says that she
has and would never
“compromise” for a man. The 40year-old says that she “never
tried to be less assertive in
order to make a man feel
better”. The Sweet November
actress, who has been single
since splitting from Sean
Penn last year, wants to
be with someone who
will ‘appreciate’ her
ambitious nature, rather
than try to curb her big
dreams. “I've never
tried to be less
assertive in order to
make a man feel better.
I've always dreamed
big and wanted to make
the best of my life,” a
magazine quoted her
saying. “I never wanted
to compromise...
otherwise I wouldn't be
happy. I've always wanted
a man who recognises my
dreams and goals and
appreciates all those aspects
of my character and is confident
enough in his own self not to feel
threatened by that,” she added.
Let the party pop
SHRABASTI MALLIK tracks few of the party suppliers in town and
finds out how demands for themed parties are changing with every
animation movie and how companies try to sell the merchandise
before the next big release
affect the business much because, in
India, the demand begins after a few
months of a movie release.
Themed parties are nothing new but
the rate at which demands are increasing is quite remarkable. And for what, too.
Earlier, people used to organise theme
parties only on birthdays but now that
range has diversified. Birthday parties,
baby showers, bachelorette parties, bridal
showers, holiday parties, festivities and
more — you name them. Party suppliers
in the city will have something quirky to
help you with.
Bachelorette and baby showers are
one of the most selling categories. Not
long ago people would gift flowers but
now I see all ages gifting balloons.
“Balloon bouquets are also one of our
biggest revenue catchers,” said Timmins
and added, “Now I can say after years of
being in the business we have literally
seen kids grown into teenagers and that
journey to see that once her eye was
always drawn to the princess theme and
tiaras now she would just look at things
that are for a photo prop both wearables
like hats and wigs and glow products.”
WHERE DO THEY GO?
While Funcart tries to sell off most
of the merchandises during the season
when they are most in demand,
WannaParty sells it on sale or online to
sites like First Cry and Amazon.
“There are times that people do not
buy it then but wait for the popularity to
go down a little. So, we sell items when
they are in trend and the remaining stuff
goes at an off and people who did not buy
it before order it on sale. We make sure
we are not stuck with a theme’s items for
long,” Nangia pointed out.
Timmins, on the other hand, shared
that since they operate throughout the
country, they have a large network. “We
normally get out of stock but the best
thing with these popular releases is that
it is watched even years later by kids,” she
added.
IT COMES AT A PRICE
If it is the prices that you are thinking about right now, you will be happy
to know that these companies have categories their products in a way that will
not pinch your pockets. The prices at
Funcart, for example, varies depending
on the theme products that a customer
wants. “For instance, a person selects just
a set or polka dot plates, balloons, and
cutlery, something like that, the package
would easily come at `500. The point here
is that we want things to be accessible to
every person regardless of their income,”
Nangia gave us the figures.
While at Partyhunterz the basic part
amenities range from `3,000 to `5,000
(approximately), Maheshwari said, “Our
products pricing starts form `15 to `500
and one can spend from `5,000 to
`15,000 for buying everything for a
party at our stores.”
Are you still thinking how, when and
where to plan your next big party?
Fastest fingers A golden treat
world-first milestone in sustainable and
responsible tourism management has
A
been achieved through an eight-year collab-
Nineteen-year-old MRITYUNJAY
SHARMA played the piano for
103 hours and set a Guinness
Record for the longest
marathon playing the
instrument. He tells S MALLIK
how he struggled to stay awake
and practised non-stop for
days on end
nWhat was the inspiration behind
your decision for a World record in
playing piano? How do you feel?
I was in fourth standard and had the
habit of reading a newspaper in the
morning. One day I read news published in the regional newspaper stating that a man created the Limca Book
Record in marathon guitar playing for
long hours. I asked my father curiously if I could do the same in piano. My
father told me that when I grow up and
have more knowledge then I can do it.
He told me that it was not the right time
for me. That aspiration was somewhere
in the core of my heart to play the piano
for Limca Book of Records which was
realised after 12 years in March 2015.
And later in October 2015, I was also
able to win the Guinness World Record
title in the same record of playing the
piano. I strongly feel that we young people of India should attempt to contribute in our respective domains
and add more laurels to the nation
and I am happy that this world
record title is with us.
nWhat level of training and prac-
tice went behind this goal?
I was very lazy by nature so it was
tough initially. You can get the coaching for CA, IAS but you don’t have
classes to teach you the habit of
sleeplessness. No one can teach you
how to deal with stubborn sleep at
2 o’ clock in the night. You not only
have to forget your sleep but also have
to play the piano melodies. You will have
to follow your intuition. I had to learn
the habit of less sleep to get this title. It
took me four months in getting habitual of a sleepless schedule mentally,
physically, psychologically. My human
performance mentor Priti Rishi Lal (faculty at Lady Irwin College) took care of
my health related issues and made sure
I performed well physically, mentally
and emotionally. It was tough to sit for
four to five hours in one strain because
I didn’t know what exactly has to be
played for the record. And it feels good
to mention that I played 20-24 hours in
debts to run my immediate expenses. I
must mention Billy Gupta, alumni of
SRCC batch of 1964, who with all his
batch mates did what my family could
not do. I cannot express my emotions
to them. So through this interview, I
want to say something for my family,
“No matter how hard it was, you made
it easy. You sacrificed everything for me.
I promise you, I’ll keep doing the work
which makes you and my nation proud
in the crowd.”
one strain three times. Knowing how to
do this is enough to pump your confidence, later practice is all that is
required. I did 72 practice sessions of 40100 hours which helped me to play 32
Indian classical music ragas, around 700
popular music compositions from
Bollywood including patriotic songs,
popular regional songs of India and my
own compositions in the official record
performance at SRCC auditorium.
nWhen did you start playing piano?
I got my first lesson on piano at the
age of three. My life till now has been
all about the piano. I used to get irritated in morning assembly of my primary school because I had to close my eyes
and chant prayers. I still remember that
I got the idea about playing harmonium in morning assembly so that I could
not close my eyes.
nWho is your Guru?
nWhat is your next plan of action?
nHow has your family supported
you through your journey? What
were their reactions?
If anyone has a supporting family
like me, then he/she can achieve any
unrealistic dream. My dream was in the
same condition when I conceived it. But
when my family started believing in me,
the journey became easy. My family
believes that crisis of resources cannot
defeat aspiration. That is what exactly
happened in my case. I practiced in the
room of 10 square yard, I do not know
how my family slept on those nights
when I was practicing. My mother made
sure that I get the porridge at 3 am, coffee in the late night et al. My father took
n Any message for the budding
My fingers were inactive until guru
Sudhanshu Bahuguna inspired me,
enlightened me to believe that my
dream of playing the piano for uninterrupted seven days was possible to
achieve. He made me able to play the
longest that the world had ever seen.
oration between EarthCheck, world’s leading
scientific benchmarking, certification and
advisory group and Taj Hotels Resorts and
Palaces, one of Asia’s largest hotel companies.
Fifty individual hotels in the Taj Group
portfolio, ranging from Rambagh Palace,
Jaipur to Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and
Residences, London, have been awarded
EarthCheck Gold Certification, with data
revealing an average 28.6 per cent reduction
in energy, water and waste and
USD$6,107,585 in savings for the group.
Stewart Moore, EarthCheck founder and
CEO said that Taj is the first hotel group in
the world to have 50 hotels achieve Gold
Certification in the same year, having completed a minimum of five years of continuous benchmarking through EarthCheck
Certified.
“Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has confirmed its position as a true worldwide
leader in responsible tourism, and a genuine
Will you take up piano as a career?
Now, I want to set the record for
‘Most piano hits in one minute’ record
title for my country. This record is currently held by a Hungarian pianist Bence
Peter of 765 key hits in one minute. My
wish is to get this title in the name of
India. Unfortunately, I do not have a
grand piano and my family cannot
afford to purchase it for this dream. I am
hopeful to find a supportive hand to
help me bring the tile to India soon. Of
course, I shall take up piano as a career
and would continue my higher studies
in piano from Trinity starting July.
pianists in India?
Yes I would love to say through
the voice of The Pioneer, “Dear
young pianist of my country, follow
what your heart says. Life is short and
limited in a few number of years.
Please do today that you are planning
to do tomorrow.”
Mall of India, Noida saw the soft launch of The
Pirates of Grill, the buffet concept restaurant with
twist. In collaboration with All India Federation of
the Deaf, Pirates of Grill hosted a lunch for these
under privileged people at their newly opened
outlet in the mall
source of inspiration to the international
tourism community,” Moore said.
Rakhee Lalvani, associate VP, public
relations, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces said,
“The Taj EARTH sustainability programme,
which is accredited by the globally recognised
certification for environmental excellence in
the hospitality industry, EarthCheck, is an initiative which reiterates the company’s conscious efforts towards sustainability and is
aligned with the Tata ethos of keeping communities at the heart of doing business.”
Since 2008, Taj Hotels Resorts and
Palaces enrolled in EarthCheck Certified and
have achieved the following milestone saving
achievements:
l558 million megajoules of energy; an 11.9
per cent reduction, equivalent to 172,232 typical four person Indian households for a year.
l1.8 billion litres of water; a 24.8 per cent
reduction, equivalent to 719 Olympic sized
swimming pools.
l11.4 million litres of waste; a 49.3 per cent
reduction, equivalent to 344 20ft standard
cargo containers.